"So you see Mr. Ulrich, the dust shipments simply won't be able to be there any earlier than the 16th." She replied in as apologetic a voice she could muster which, if she was being honest with herself wasn't terribly convincing. She was winning, both her and Ulrich – the emissary from Mistral Power and Electric – knew it.

The man sitting opposite her crossed his meaty arms over his chest, "the sixteenth? But that's over a month from now, surely the famed efficiency of the SDC won't let us down?" Good, so he'd fallen into the trap, not that it was a terribly complex one. She frowned for show.

"Well, if you're in that desperate a need of the dust, then I'd be happy to move the delivery date up to, say… the third?" Ulrich visibly relaxed and she had to use every ounce of her composure to resist letting a smirk snake through her practiced mask.

"Yes, that can be arranged. It's a shame those employees will have to miss the Vytal Festival, but I'm sure the knowledge they'll be helping the good people of Mistral will ease the sting… along with a generous 15% increase." It was almost comical watching Ulrich's pudgy damp face morph from a self-satisfied grin to one of complete outrage.

"F-fifteen percent!? Woman are you out of your mind? How am I supposed to go back to my superiors with this deal, I can't very well accept this!" Weiss had to take a sip of her water to keep her mouth occupied so the giggle bubbling in her throat wouldn't slip through. It's not that she actually took enjoyment in how upset he was, it was just that she had intentionally low-balled him in the beginning of the meeting. Was Ulrich so cocky that he really thought she'd ship thousands of tons of dust across the globe for that paltry sum?

Before she had a chance to put her glass back down however Ulrich had recovered himself. Clearing his throat, The older man grumbled "Yes, can't very well go back with this at all… not a deal… highway rob-… yes Miss Schnee it's quite unfortunate but you leave us no choice but to take our business do Webber Dust and Energy."

Whatever enjoyment Weiss had gained from their verbal sparring evaporated. So this was his real play, everything up until then had been a formality. Could she keep this big fish on the line, and keep the kind of profit she'd been looking for? Was he bluffing? Yes, Webber was her biggest competitor and they could generally get their product to market faster. However the dust was of poorer quality resulting in the need for more frequent shipments, leading to a greater cost in the long-run. Not to mention they continued to employ faunus… laborers to help speed along the mining process. Such wage-slavery had long ago been abolished in the SDC, and the newly reformed White Fang had been running Webber out of business slowly but surely over the past 5 years. Only their dirt-cheap dust had kept anyone turning to the disgraced company. For Ulrich to even suggest that the government of Mistral would employ such monsters was… unthinkable! Disgusting! Inhuman!

Ulrich sat back in his seat with a broad grin.

Damn! Her anger must have registered on her face. What was it, a slight narrowing of the eyes? A tightening of the mouth? She was better than that, she should have controlled herself. Don't let her weaknesses get in the way of business. No matter, she was Weiss Schnee, CEO, huntress, war hero. She could salvage this she, just needed to relax, reassess, and regain control of the situation.

"I'm sure you'd strike an… amicable deal with Webber Dust but I can assure you that they'll be far less willing to work over the holiday than I am. After all we both know they don't need any more bad press…" His smile fell just a fraction of an inch, but Weiss celebrated internally. She'd scored a hit.

"That is true, and we do need the dust… however I can promise you we'll go no higher than an eight percent increase."

"Ten."

"Nine percent."

"Ten Mr. Ulrich." Weiss repeated, shooting him one of the famous Schnee glares, which had been known to freeze board members and politicians alike to the floor as assuredly as any of Weiss' glyphs. To his credit however, Ulrich didn't balk, merely sighed and uncrossed his arms.

"Very well Miss Schnee, a ten percent increase, and the dust will be delivered no later than the third of the month". Only now, basking in the glow of victory, did Weiss let a smile through.

"I will oversee the delivery myself Mr. Ulrich, and let me say on behalf of the entire company how pleased we are to be friends with the esteemed government of Mistral once again." He heaved another heavy sigh and muttered something that sounded like "hate to see how you treat your enemies" while standing up.

"Congratulations Miss Schnee. You know, the dubious moniker of "Ice Queen" truly does suit you, you really are one cool customer." She merely dipped her head, it's nothing she hadn't heard before and while the insult once stung, she now tried to envelop herself in it, and spent every day pretending it was true. Ice was solid, strong, nothing could hurt her. "May I ask you, how do you do it?"

"And what exactly is it that I do?"

He stared at her evenly for the first time since they've been together, and she had to resist the urge to fidget. "Remain so cold. Some say it's because you're already ten moves ahead of your competition, others say you just really don't care about your money, your company, or even…"

She cut him off with a wave of her hand. "It's a little of both I suppose," telling the truth surprised her, she wasn't terribly used to it these days "In my position it's better to be unattached, see the forest through the trees and all that." Luckily he seemed to accept the explanation and finally broke off his stare.

"Thank you for indulging me Miss Schnee. I'd best be on my way" He replied grabbing his hat and placing it securely on his head "I hope to have the pleasure of doing business with The Hero of Atlas again." And with the barest of nods he turned and walked his way off the luxurious patio they had been sitting on and was quickly lost amongst the thousands of other Atlesians enjoying a sunny afternoon.

The end of their conversation had been somewhat… jarring but Weiss wasn't going to let it ruin her victory. She smiled down at her half-eaten lunch and cheered internally. Finally! That contract had taken five months to negotiate and now she had it, plus she was charging six percent higher than any of the company's analysts had projected. She was on top of the world! With a deep sigh she let her shoulders relax a little bit. She felt like celebrating, and decided to order a piece of cake. Dust when was the last time she had cake?

An unwelcome memory quickly formed in her mind, of a cake collapsing in on itself, made out of filched field rations and served on a cracked dish, tired eyes smiling at her out of grubby faces all around her, silver eyes…

With a quick shake of her head she banished the memory. She didn't need that right now, today was a good day. She should be enjoying herself!

Or so she thought until she heard the scuff of a boot directly behind her. Her shoulders tensed and her breath hitched, her left hand extended, palm downward and a glyph opened on the ground as a gauntleded hand started to appear. With her right hand she reached for Myrtenaster, and as soon as she felt the smooth familiar pommel in her grasp turned on her heel ready to explode outward and rip open the belly of…

Blake. Cerulean eyes met amber as Weiss slowly tried to get her bearings. It was Blake, just Blake, not an attack, her friend, she wasn't in danger. Her hand slowly let go of the Myrtenaster and her glyph collapsed in on itself. She closed her eyes and breathed heavily through her mouth in and out for a few sconds, and when she opened them she was able to stand up straight and address Blake properly.

The faunus was wearing her old white duster but Weiss couldn't see the hilt of Gabol Shroud sticking above her shoulder. Her hands were up in a defenseless posture of surrender. So she wasn't armed, foolish. Her eyes swept over the cat ears peeking – unbound and unhidden –over her raven locks. She'd long ago become used to her friends inhuman traits. Finally Weiss met Blakes eyes. Which, while unafraid were surprised and wary. For a moment neither of them moved.

Weiss let out a sigh, and grabbed a fork instead of her sword and brandished it at the taller girl. "You keep sneaking up on me like that one of these days I really am going to stab you." Blake finally lowered her hands and let out a chuckle

"You're going to have to catch me first." Rolling her eyes, Weiss sat back down and motioned to the seat that Ulrich had vacated.

"Though I am surprised that the CEO of the biggest corporation in the world needs to walk around her own city with a weapon" Blake asked, taking the opposite chair. Weiss let out a laugh that was too high pitched and fast.

"Oh you know, it helps to keep up the whole "war hero" image. It works wonders for SDC's public face." Weiss lied.

"Mmm I don't doubt that." Blake hummed, while signaling to get the waiter's attention. Once Blake had been able to order her tea she turned back to the heiress "But what about your private life. How are you Weiss?"

She wasn't able to scoff this one off quite as easily. Her heart was still hammering in her throat and her eyes kept looking around for something to be wrong, anything. No matter how hard she looked she couldn't find the danger. Mentally, she told herself to calm down, to relax. It was Blake, Blake was here, Weiss was fine. She was safe. But she still couldn't manage to get her breathing under control and she kept seeing shadows in the corner of her vision. Each person that walked past made her jump a little bit. It was too crowded here she needed to-

No.

She was Weiss Schnee. CEO, huntress, war hero. She wasn't going to have a panic attack in the middle of downtown Atlas, she could get ahold of herself. She had to calm down.

"That good I see." Weiss jumped. She'd been so lost in her own thoughts that she hadn't seen Blake's tea arrive, hadn't noticed that her friend was staring at her. She clearly knew something was wrong. The faunus reached across the table and touched her hand. "Weiss you can talk to me, if you need someone to listen or… anything."

She politely shook her head "No, thank you Blake I'm fine. Just too much coffee today." That was the second lie she'd told her best friend. Second best friend in less than ten minutes. "I'm assuming you didn't come all the way from Menagerie just to have a cup of tea though." Blakes face grew grave and she placed her teacup back on the table.

"No I haven't you have to go see her Weiss."

"Who's "her"?" She asked, though she knew perfectly well who Blake meant, but she needed to hear that name again.

"Ruby." There it was. With a sharp inhale, Weiss prepared herself for what she had to say next. This really was turning into a long day. "She doesn't want to see me, doesn't need me. We've been over this Blake, ever since the war, since Salem, team RWBY just doesn't…" It hurt talking about it every time, no matter how long it's been it hurt to say the sentence out loud "Team RWBY doesn't work."

Blake closed her eyes and shook her head. "Weiss this is important."

"Why?"

The faunus took a deep breath before answering the question, "Because Ruby's in the hospital, and she's been asking for you."