Pressed up with her back against the front door, arms splayed and eyes shifting, Weiss Schnee protected both her home and her heart from this alluring, outrageously attractive heartthrob standing right outside.

"That's Blake? Holy s—" Weiss cleared her throat, stopping herself from her obscene utterance. "No, no. A Schnee handles these types of situations with dignity and grace. Get it together, Weiss."

Taking a deep breath, Weiss pulled herself from the door and straightened her dress, making sure every seam was in place. Reaching for the door handle, she thought again and peeked at the entrance mirror for a final hair check. Patting down any loose strands she may have had, aside from the fact that Blake's hair was practically made up of loose strands, she let out a short huff. Once again, she reached for the handle, pressed her thumb on the latch and pulled the door open.

"I'm terribly sorry, I just—h-hey, where are you going?!" Weiss opened the door, only to see Blake storming off down the walkway. The young heiress scrambled to follow her, heels clacking along the ground.

"W-wait, I'm sorry! Don't just walk away from me, I hired you!" Her words lined with desperation, as well as building anger.

"You haven't paid me yet, I can leave if I want to. Clearly I'm not needed here, and I certainly don't need to stick around only to have doors slammed in my face by bratty princesses in cushy mansions."

Blake was almost to the end of the walkway when Weiss grabbed her hand and stomped her feet into the cobblestone pavement, halting Blake's furious march abruptly.

"You're not going anywhere. Look, you've made the trip. You were relatively on time. You're here, you're dressed, and I'll pay you right here and now if you want, just please don't go," Weiss shouted, a little red in the face.

The taller girl turned to look down at her captor, squinting slightly in confusion. And maybe a little astonishment, too.

Turning around fully to face the girl, Blake took one step closer to Weiss so their bodies were mere inches apart. Weiss was shook up a little, both embarrassed at their proximity and just how damn attractive Blake really was, but she stood her ground. There was no way she'd let her leave now, not after all the trouble she went through to find her. No, she was a Schnee. This was a battle she was going to win.

"You know, you're making demands and pleading at the same time. Does that make any sense to you?" Blake asked coldly, trying to intimidate Weiss a little more.

Weiss took notice of their stances and shifted up the slanted walkway so that she stood at the same height Blake was. "It doesn't matter if it makes sense. I need you here today, and I promise I'll make it worth your while. I'm sorry I slammed the door in your face. I was just… surprised, is all. I didn't expect you to react so childishly, I admit, but—"

"Whoa whoa whoa, excuse me?" Blake put her other palm up to shut Weiss up, "Childishly? I arrived on fucking time and you had the gall to slam that door in my face, as I was about to introduce myself to you. Are you sure you're in any position to be making accusations?"

Weiss seized Blake's other hand like a cobra snapping at its prey and brought it down violently, Blake trying to resist in the process. Weiss really hated when people did that to her. "For one second, will you listen?! I just," Weiss let out an exasperated breath, "Okay. Look, again, I apologize for doing that. I'm just a little high on tension here and I was getting nervous around the time you were supposed to come. Now will you please stop trying to make a break for it and come inside?"

Blake raised an eyebrow at her persistence. 'I don't think she's going to let me go anytime soon, so I might as well follow through. I need compensation for travel expenses anyway. Christ, what did I get myself into?' She twisted her hand out of Weiss' grip and took her hand in hers, inspecting the digits carefully. Weiss looked a little offended by the action, but she let it slide. "So. I'm supposed to be your date?" Blake inquired callously.

Weiss' face lit up, a wide smile replacing her angry pursed lips, "Does that mean you'll stay?!"

The taller girl shrugged, still holding onto her hand, "If I take one step onto the sidewalk, you'll probably tackle me down, even if it gets your pretty little dress dirty. Or maybe you'd call out your family's private helicopter and have them shoot me down, who knows?"

"Well, you're probably not wrong. That helicopter pilot's a nasty one. To be honest, you might not have gotten off my property alive," Weiss poked her other finger into Blake's shoulder, "And I'm thinking that you're thinking that I'm one of those clichéd, got-a-car-for-my-sixteenth-birthday-but-it-wasn't-the-right-color-so-I-had-a-fit-and-cried-to-Daddy, debutante, I-know-how-caviar-tastes rich girls. Am I on the money?" Weiss joked, not realizing her self-directed pun.

"Oh, you're on the money all right." Blake scoffed and took another glance around the front yard of the Schnee household. The place was lined with well-maintained plant-life, complete with a koi pond accented by a tasteful bridge arching over it. Smaller waterfalls lined the sides of the yard, with lights that hung over bushes leading from two Victorian styled lampposts back to the pillars that guarded the front porch area. Blake could only imagine what the backyard looked like. "Seriously, you're literally living on money. How much do these water features and lights cost? Do you realize that there aren't any subway stops near this place? I had to walk a long way to escort you, Miss Schnee. You should be grateful."

Miss Schnee twitched at the comment. She should be grateful? She should be grateful?! Oooh, this little—

Well, yeah, she should be grateful, now that she thought about it. But she will be damned if she let this irritating, brutish beauty catch on.

Weiss still stood, her hand in Blake's. The heiress looked into her hired girl's hazel eyes, trying to understand her a little better, even after the misplaced conversation they just had. From the minute or two of interaction, she figured two things. One, this girl… was probably, genuinely nice. She still could have left, and no, Weiss wasn't about to tackle her onto the sidewalk and drag her back to the house by the hair, cave-man style. Two, this girl was, for some part, an annoyingly good tease. She was stubborn, capable of blatantly refusing Weiss' demands. She was sarcastic, not much unlike Weiss herself, but. You know. That was different. Only Weiss Schnee could be sarcastic around Weiss Schnee. Even Blake's sense of sarcasm itself was on an entirely different level that you couldn't even feel, but you know, ooohhh, you know it's there. She had no qualms about making digs at Weiss' front yard, rude. No consideration for what may or may not line up with her clearly biased preconception of her, rude. Arrogantly tried to intimidate her with that weird, strangely sexy smugness into letting her go, rude. On top of all that… on top of all of that, she was just so… damn it! She was just so great to look at. What a goddamned rude girl.

The momentary lapse in banter created a bit of an awkward air, which Weiss certainly caught on. "A-Anyway, let's just go inside. I need to introduce you to my parents." Weiss let Blake hold onto her hand, but she led her back up the walkway to the door she left hanging open.

Upon entering the house, Blake's eyes could not stop roaming. The house itself was just as extravagant as the front yard, but not so much as she'd thought. She'd expected the girl to have a butler waiting for her, classical music playing in the background, and the halls pretty much devoid of life, as everyone would be gathered in the ballroom. Or something. That's what big houses have, right? Ballrooms? But no, at most, the house was more or less reminiscent of an upper class suburban home. It's almost as if you could sense the lavishness of the family itself, but they were holding back when it came to home décor. Perhaps by influence of the daughter?

"Please stay down here, take a seat, make yourself at home, whatever you want. Mother is upstairs getting my sister ready, and Father is probably entertaining his associates elsewhere. Oh, and did I already tell you about the venue? We're going to a local vineyard out a few miles, the grapes are all in and there's this gorgeous view of the autumn leaves in the distance, and I said that it would be great if the processionals could take place in front of the view, but they—sorry, I guess I can tell you all that later. I'll be right back!" With a swiftness, Weiss was up the stairs and out of sight.

"… She rambles a little, hm?" Blake surmised. "If I'm not careful, she's going to end up doing all the talking, and somewhere along the lines, our stories won't match up. I'll be sure to let her know to cool it."

Blake stood alone in the receiving area, unsure of where to go or what to do. She decided to go ahead and explore her immediate surroundings, her interest piqued by the hanging portraits aligned exquisitely along the walls. Usually when people have portraits of their family members on the walls, they tend to be ragtag, unorganized frames thrown up whenever there was a new addition. This home, however, had each portrait looking perfectly in its place. It's as if this family planned to have these two daughters and thus ordered each frame, mapping out every occasion they'd need to use them. It really just looked a little too neat, Blake thought. Speaking of daughters, Blake's eyes fell onto one picture portraying two young girls, one wearing a familiar off-center ponytail, the other with her hair down, but with two braids crowning her head from front to back and ending in a small bow. Both girls had snowy white hair that shone brilliantly, framing each of their flawless faces.

'Is that her sister?' Blake questioned in her mind, trying to guess what she might look like now. 'Looks like everyone in this family is attractive,' her eyes scanning the rest of the portraits in the hallway, identifying who may be the mother, father, aunts and uncles. Hearing light steps coming from the stairs, she stood up straight, throwing her hands behind her back.

Weiss returned from her journey, bringing an equally beautiful woman with, jeez was this a trend? With silvery-white hair down with her. When she saw Blake, she looked surprised, but it soon melted back into a warm smile.

The older woman stood, clad in a simple yet expensive looking black dress with silver jewelry almost matching Blake's, her lustrous hair tied off at the end over one shoulder. Weiss and her mother presented themselves at the foot of the stairs, both of them looking absolutely stunning. Blake was in for a rough ride.

"Blake, this is my mother, Argent. Mother, this is Blake, my... date." Weiss couldn't hold back the incriminating cough that invaded her throat.

Blake waited until Mother Schnee held out her hand, and took it gently, "I-It's nice to—I mean, it's an honor, ma'am."

Argent giggled, emanating a strangely loving aura that made Blake feel like it was saying, "good luck with my daughter, you're going to need it."

"So you're Blake. I must say, my daughter failed to mention what a winsome young lady you were, dear."

"Oh, I'm not.. I mean, thank you. Very much. You too. I-I mean, you're lovely. Ma'am." The tinge of red on her cheeks and stumbling on words indicated that Blake may be a little flustered around older women. Calm down, Blake.

Weiss rolled her eyes at Blake's complete 180 in attitude when it came to her mother. 'Well sheesh, way to be a total charmer to a married woman, Belladonna.'

But she understood well. Weiss' mother was elegant and charming; everything Weiss hoped she could be. In contrast to her father, her mother was more understanding and approving in what Weiss wanted to do, and she was proud of that. Not that her father was a bad parent or anything, it's just… his idea of success, perfection, intelligence, and pretty much everything else in the world was all so quantified. The higher your numbers were, the taller you stood in his eyes. His cold, cutting business etiquette tended to leak into familial affairs. Weiss' mother was almost the only thing her father swept that state of mind away for, however. Unfortunately for Weiss, as well as Winter, his ego was pushed onto their lives, thus steering them both in the direction of the Schnee Company. The Schnee sisters would marry business partner children, creating a monopoly overreaching nearly the entire continent. Male or female didn't matter much to him, they had the technology to produce children no matter the circumstances. What he wanted was that his daughters obey his wishes.

Winter had done a good job of sticking it to him today, though. She was marrying a huge business rival's daughter, also the inheritor of an extremely successful, out-branching company. Through doing exactly what he wanted, she was doing exactly what he didn't want.

She'd never admit, but she was totally stoked after hearing this news a couple months back. While today, Weiss was in fact trying to impress her father with an unsavory rapscallion who perhaps, maybe, I don't know, won a Nobel Prize a while back, Weiss only hoped she could perform a similar feat in the near future.

Argent looked at Blake up and down, seemingly nodding in approval. "Your outfit is to-die for, Blake. You've got to tell me where you got your accessories when we get to the venue. For now, I need to finish prepping Winter, but please let my daughter show you around. She can be a handful at times, but she means well." She lightly squeezed Blake's shoulder in assurance and turned to head back upstairs, "it was a pleasure to meet you, Blake." With that, she was off.

Once Mother Schnee was up the stairs, Blake crossed her arms and looked at Weiss with half-lidded eyes. "All right, handful. Show me around."

Weiss snapped back at her, "I'm not going to show you around. And why.. why were you so shy around my mother?! You're practically a jerk to me. Got a thing for older women?" She prodded.

"N-no, that's not it! She's just, she's your mom! Wouldn't you be nervous meeting your girlfriend's mom? I wanted to make a, um, a good impression." She wasn't defending herself very well.

"We aren't girlfriends, for the record."

"But we are supposed to be a thing, remember? It's what you hired me for. To be your date. Dates usually mean, I don't know, that something's going on there," Blake gesticulated while she spoke to indicate some intangible meaning.

"Sometimes friends can be dates, too! It's like when you don't have a date-date to your highschool's prom so you're like, 'hey, wanna be my date?' to a friend and they're like 'yeah, ha ha, and after we'll go to a twenty-four-seven diner and maybe watch the sunrise on the beach' and.. well, the point is, it's… I'm. Okay, yes, you're supposed to be like, a romantic date, but still!"

"… You watched the sunrise on a beach after your highschool prom?"

The offhanded question startled Weiss, but she somehow appreciated the humorous intent. "As a matter of fact, yes I did, and it was very pretty and very cold."

"How poetic of you."

"Thank you."

The two stood in the receiving area, not really sure where to go from here. They couldn't exactly wait all those hours until the wedding, so Weiss decided to rescind her earlier decision of not showing Blake around the house. After all, it would be strange if she just left her standing there alone.

Along the mini-tour, Blake had to ask, "So where's your dad? You said parents, but I've only met one."

"I think he's in the backyard right now, attending to his own guests. I imagine he'll want to speak with you when we get to the vineyard though, so be prepared," Weiss warned. "Knowing him, he'll want to make sure you're a worthy woman of his prized daughter."

Blake pretended to shield her eyes from the sun and dramatically scanned the room, "Prized daughter? I don't think I've met her yet either."

Her acting earned an offended breath from the heiress, "You impudent little—" Weiss cut herself off from potentially driving Blake off again, no matter how much she wanted to put her in her place, "Ahem. He'll just want to discuss your affairs and evaluate how you present yourself. Check for himself if the girl I brought home is uncouth or offhanded in any way. As much as I'd love to show him such a cavalier individual in the coming years, today I am trying to be on my best behavior."

"I'll try my best not to come off as 'uncouth.' What should I say then, o glorious Princess Schnee?"

Brushing off the mocking comment, Weiss shot a glance at her. "I don't know, anything to make you seem impressive?"—Somehow Blake looked slightly insulted by the insinuation that she was not already impressive—"How about telling him you do… free-lance labor alongside your prosperous career at your law firm, all while attending university with a full load of classes?" Weiss threw a hand up frankly, as if it was just so obvious and simple to make up an elaborate lie like that.

Blake brought her head back surprised and a little frightened at how accurate Weiss' 'made-up' story for her actually was. She decided that she'd spare her the details for now, though. "If you say so."

After what seemed like forever, in actuality only a few hours had been killed by The Weiss Schnee Grand Tour. In the kitchen, Weiss brewed some fresh coffee for Blake out of obligation while they awaited the call to head to the venue. She fought with Blake over how much sugar the girl took, and while Blake insisted she liked her coffee black, Weiss insisted that she didn't need to be shy. Needless to say, Blake caved and pretended that yes, she was in fact being shy. Give her two sugars, please.

Feeling proud of herself for her astounding hospitality, Weiss beamed as she checked the clock on her microwave again. It read '9:46.' It would be around this time that the guests would start heading to the vineyard, though the actual receiving of the guests wouldn't officially start until around noon. Her sister wasn't especially nitpicky about when things went down, but her fiancée... Weiss cringed at the thought of her, was a different matter. She looked calm on the outside, but you had to be within the Schnee inner circle to know what she was really like. Sure, maybe she was calm, but she was.. she was just plain scary. And Weiss was sure that she didn't want to drag on the duration of the wedding any longer than it needed to be, lest it get in the way of her and Winter's wedding night. What Winter saw in that woman, Weiss would never know.

Weiss opened a kitchen drawer and rustled through the contents before pulling out a silver wristwatch with a matching silver band and slipped it over her left wrist. "We should probably get going. I'll have the three limos pulled around to the front, and we'll be in the first one."

Blake was trying to gather her thoughts as the flurry of information hit her, "First off, do you keep wristwatches like that everywhere in your house? And second… limos? As in, limousines?"

The heiress looked at her, back at her wristwatch, and back to Blake, "Of course I do? One should always keep track of the time, Blake. And yes, we're taking a limousine to the venue. Is this genuinely surprising to you?"

"… No, no I guess it's not." Blake could believe it, she and Weiss truly did live in completely different worlds. That much was apparent by the sterling silver accessories she claimed to keep around the house. You know, just lying around.

Some minutes later, Blake followed Weiss down the walkway, past the scene of their previous altercation, and into the first limo parked in front of the property. At this point, Blake shouldn't have been surprised at the opulent interior. Leather seats, tinted windows, a mini-television and a rather extensive spread of chilled champagnes.

"Swanky," the hired hand commented.

"A tad."

"You call this 'a tad?' I… Okay. That's fine. Now tell me why there were three limos needed here?"

Weiss rested herself onto the cushioned armrest, right next to one of the doors of the limo. "You ask an enormous amount of questions for someone who's supposed to work for me for one day."

"If you want the act to pass, I have to know details. From the way you make your father sound, I suspect he won't be fooled so easily. So can you please tell me so I can be proper arm candy?"

With a sigh, the young heiress sat up straight before explaining the ride situation, "We're in this limo because you're my date. My father and his associates are in the next limo, because, well, he's my father. Head of the company, it sort of comes with the territory. My mother and the rest of my extended family and guests are in the last limo. The other guests will find their own way to the venue I imagine, I know my friends are driving their on their own."

"Oooh, the Princess has friends?"

"Oh ha ha ha, yes it's hard to believe, I know." Somewhere along the lines, Weiss began to regret clicking on this girl's profile. The two fought like cats and dogs, how could they possibly pull off having a deeper connection at the wedding? Fed up with dealing with this nearly-stranger, Weiss decided to try and find out a little more about the mysterious girl that sat across from her.

… That was easier said than done. Where would she start? Honestly. This was giving her a headache.

"So… um. Why is it that you do this?"

Blake's eyes flitted to Weiss', "This?"

"I mean, why did you have a posting searching for a job? Any job at all, for that matter. Forgive me for being intrusive, but that can be a little dangerous. Is there any special reason?" Weiss tiptoed into the question, but she persisted. If there was something Blake didn't want to tell her, that'd be fine. But she figured she'd try.

"Dangerous? Coming from the girl who emailed a stranger at four in the morning, asked for a picture, and requested I come over three hours later."

"Well I should know what you look like, shouldn't I? And what's up with that?! Withholding my right to view the person I'm interested in hiring."

Blake sighed as she set her elbows onto her knees, leaning forward to face Weiss. She glanced to the darkened partition separating the two girls from the driver, and looked back to Weiss for an answer. And she did. "Oh, don't worry, he can't hear us," Weiss rapped on the window lightly, "Soundproof."

Looking a little more relieved, Blake continued, "Okay. I'll lay it out for you. I don't post up pictures of myself until I get hired because I'm afraid of people contacting me for one thing, and when I show up in person, they have… other things in mind. It's, um. It's happened before. I know it can get in the way of landing a few jobs, but I figured it was worth the extra protection for myself."

Weiss found herself listening to Blake's words intently, taken aback by the girl's concerns and worries. She leans forward on her knees as well, if only to hear her better.

"The entire reason that I do odd jobs is because, for better or for worse, they tend to pay more than any retail job I could find in my area, and there's no need for commitment. Like you guessed earlier, I actually am attending university right now, but I have to put myself through, and student loans are simply not going to cut it. I also live alone, no roommate. The expenses build up, I need my free time to study… and I end up in places like this, trapped in a limousine, headed to a wedding with the uptown girl-next-door." Blake wrung her hands at the confession; she didn't mean to make it sound like such a sob-story, but it just kind of came out that way. She couldn't help but feel slightly abashed, wondering if perhaps she had said too much to a girl she just met mere hours ago.

Weiss was speechless. No, more like she was awestruck. Here she was, raging about how annoying this girl was, when in reality she clearly had it rough and was trying the best she could out of what she had. Oh, Blake. 'I had no idea… This poor, poor—'

"No. Don't give me that look."

Wait, what?

"What look? I'm not giving you a look." She was so giving her a look.

"You're starting to think how sorry you feel for me, and how misunderstood I am. The reason you think I'm so mean to you is because I have it rough. Right?"

Weiss huffed, "O-of course not! I was simply admiring your diligence, is all. Not everyone can rely on themselves for support."

Eyebrows were raised. Heads were turned to hide rosy tints. Belladonna says, voice marked with suspicion, "All right."

Weiss turned back to face Blake, genuinely having changed her opinion of her. A little.

"Do you not mind living like that?" she asked gently.

"It's not that I don't mind, I just sort of have no choice. I don't have any family to ask for help. It's not a big deal, I manage it just fine. I just don't want people like you to start pitying me over that, is all." She gave Weiss a reassuring smile.

Oh god.

'Oh god.'

A flustered Weiss turned in her seat to face the window, staring out into the passing scenery.

'You seriously have some nerve to smile at me like that, with your blasted good looks and your heroine-worthy backstory. Uuughhhhh.'

Weiss, still trying to hide the apparent embarrassment on her cheeks, set an elbow atop the seat and covered her mouth with the palm of her hand. In a slightly muffled voice, she told Blake, "We're just about here. Look outside."

Before the pair was a vast scene, greenery as far as the eye could see. Rows and rows of blue and purple grapes in the foreground, with fruit trees in the back, and even further in the back you could see the orange and red leaves Weiss was gushing about earlier. A grand display of wedding furnishings was laid out across a field in between patches of grapes, an enormous white tent covering a large portion of the area. Inside the tent, you could see a stage and numerous dining tables in front of it. Right outside, a large archway covered in greenery and ice blue and lilac colored flowers, several white chairs lined up in two sets of rows with a long, flower-laden walkway down the middle. Parting the field away from the rest of the vineyard were large trees, seemingly out of place, but they added a certain atmosphere that hinted, "Hidden in plain sight." Attached to the trees, and spread over certain areas of the field were crystalline lights, strung up and hung low, sure to add that much extra beauty come nightfall.

It really was a spectacular sight. If Blake could sum up what she was seeing in one word, the only thing to come to mind would be: enchanting.

Another thing caught Blake's eye. There was a girl. No, two girls, standing near a decoration barrel, with wood that seemed to match the dark trees. A shorter one, with short dark brown hair, tipped with… red? She was waving at the limo, okay. And the other, a blonde. She was currently… was that, was that a turkey leg?

Blake, feeling a little frightened already, looked to Weiss for an explanation. Our young heiress was covering her eyes, and shaking her head.

a/n: Lotsa backstory here. Admittedly a little long-winded, but! That was pretty much it, though. Everything from here on out will probably, most likely just be antics. Lots of Weiss antics. And maybe lots of Yang with turkey leg antics as well.

Also, does Blake seem like a bit of a jerk? Well I hope so. That's the dynamic here. It'd be boring if they got along right off the bat, right? She's.. a bit of a meanie in this story first off, to be perfectly honest. Like throwing a cat into a new house for the very first time. But, I have plans.

Also also, I'll tend to reference real-world things here and there in the coming chapters, with no regard or reason to try and change the name to fit in with RWBY lore. Just go with the flow. And let me know if y'all like it!