Weiss and the rest of the women listened intently with mirth to the story that Ruby and Summer were telling the group. Which was specifically about the way the Rose-Branwen's were 'announced' to the Family Welcome Ball.

"It was so funny!" Summer began, "I guess Raven didn't hear me when I said that we had an announcer for ourselves becau-"

"I thought you said we had to announce ourselves!" Raven groaned as she held her head against the table in sheer embarrassment.

Yang just placed a comforting hand on the black-haired woman's back, but still had an expression of pure entertainment plastered on her face. Kali, on the other hand, was trying - and failing miserably - to suppress her laughter at the presumed next actions that she knew Raven most likely took in the story. Then there were Blake and Weiss who fared better than Kali, but still held incredibly amused smiles and anticipated the following events of the tale. However, Weiss noticed that the only one who seemed like she was half-listening to the story was a certain fashionista; who was most likely waiting for a very absent Rabbit-Faunus.

"Anyways," Ruby continued, "So Ma takes that as some kind of cue to literally kick the doors to the entrance open and, I kid you not, everyone in the Banquet Hall jumps from it,"

"Then, guess what happens next," Summer challenged with a grin.

Everyone just looked at the redhead's expectantly; barely being able to suppress their laughter any longer. Well, Raven still had her head on the table with her arms sprawled all over it in absolute defeat, with Summer offering her a hand to hold which she semi-gladly took. And even Coco was listening intently at this point.

"She freaking bellows our names! Like, doesn't even properly introduce us. She just, with no context at all, cups her hands to her mouth and stated our names!" the younger red-head exclaimed with a fit of giggles.

Upon revealing the incredibly embarrassing action that Raven had done, everyone at the table was suddenly consumed by laughter. Even Weiss herself was laughing out loud at the story. The former heiress imagined that many of the guests were probably utterly baffled by the dark-haired woman's actions, because it was pretty unprecedented to even occur at an event like this.

Raven groaned yet again and then whipped her head up from the table, "Why would you tell them this?! Especially Kali. She's never going to let me live this down."

"Oh you've got that right..." Kali confirmed as she wiped a tear from her eye, "Raven Branwen!" she bellowed with cupped hands as if she were the dark-haired woman during the story. This earned another round of giggles from the women, and maybe an attempted punch in the arm from a certain dark-haired one; which the Faunus swiftly dodged.

As she was coming down from the hilarity of the situation, Weiss then noticed that her table was receiving rather unfriendly stares from the majority of the people around them. The former heiress didn't exactly blame them, as they were being somewhat obnoxious; but honestly, she didn't really care. She was having a great time despite where she was.

Yang and Ruby's mother's had proven to be great company for the night. They were funny, kind, and made the three girls feel extremely welcome. They chatted about many things; most of which were about old memories that the three older women shared during their own time at Beacon. They've discovered, with mild surprise, that during her adolescence Kali was somewhat of a delinquent and playgirl - well, they weren't really surprised about the latter what with the woman's horrible tendency to flirt. When the girl's questioned the women about Kali's 'conquests' the older Cat-Faunus vehemently told Raven and Summer to not say a word.

But regardless, Weiss was genuinely enjoying herself. She was so used to adults chastising or criticizing her that she completely forgot that people like Summer and Raven existed. She slightly frowned at the preconceived notion that she developed towards adults as a result of her upbringing, but her musings were suddenly interrupted by someone 'bopping' her nose with their finger.

"Something the matter, Weiss?" the 'nose-bopping' assailant asked,

Weiss swatted at the girl's hand, "No, I'm fine Ruby. Why do you ask?"

She turned her head to face the girl but then felt a familiar warmth slowly reach her cheeks. Ruby had her head leaning on her right hand, and was just staring unabashedly at the heiress with a ghost of a smile plastered on her face. The sincerity behind those silver eyes made the former heiress internally squirm and suddenly, Weiss found it very hard to keep eye contact with the girl.

"It's nothing really. I was just thinking that your smile was super beautiful and that your frown doesn't really sui-"

"Jeez Ruby, get a room would ya?" Raven's voice interrupted; her remark was followed with what seemed to be a smack on the head to which the dark-haired woman uttered an 'ouch!' to. Weiss wouldn't know because she was diligently staring down at her lap, cursing her cheeks for betraying her composure. She then chanced a glance at the younger redhead girl, and saw that her eyes slowly widened in realization,

"Oh my Ou- did I just say all of that out loud?"

This question, be it rhetorical or not, was followed by laughter. In response, Ruby sinked down into her chair in embarrassment. Weiss, on the other hand, inwardly groaned at the ordeal and wondered why Ruby found it so easy to give out compliments just like that. Did she not know how ridiculously cheesy they sounded out loud? Was she just one of those people who offhandedly said what was on their mind? Weiss was then annoyed at the next thought that she had...

Did Ruby just give anybody compliments?

The former heiress' thoughts were interrupted yet again by the redhead; who abruptly perked up and leaned close to the still slightly blushing girl. Weiss tried to lean away, but was blocked by Blake who was on the other side of her. She gave the Cat-Faunus an apologetic look, but it didn't seem like the girl minded at all. If anything, she looked like she was enjoying herself as she watched the interaction between the two.

"Gosh, I'm sorry Weiss! If I'm not paying attention enough I'll just say what's on my mind, and I guess your smile was on it, and there's also the fact that I get suuper nervous when I'm around really attractive and pretty people and I just end up stammering like an idiot and babbling on and on to fill in the silence when it gets really awkward because of my weird word-vomit kind of like now and-"

"Oum, Ruby. If you say anymore I think our little white princess is going to implode," Yang interjected

Blake then poked at Weiss' head, "See? Her blush is reaching up to her ears,"

Then Ruby, much like Raven, slammed her head down on the table in embarrassment with an unceremonious thud. Weiss slightly winced at the sound because even the tableware and cutlery clinked as she dove onto it.

"Why am I so laame"

Yang giggled, "Aww, Rubes! Don't think of your awkwardness as a negative. If anything, it's part of your charm!"

"It's more like she inherited it from her mother," Kali remarked as she took a sip of wine,

"I was not that bad!" Summer stated as she pointed at her daughter. The said daughter then shot up and pointed an accusatory finger right back at the older redhead,

"So it's your fault!"

"Wha-? No it's not!"

"You only have yourself to blame, Kiddo" Raven pointed out as she defended her wife.

"Well can you guys really blame me!? I mean look at her," Ruby began as she gestured wildly at the former heiress; who reddened even more at being suddenly addressed in such a way, "She's like, the very definition of Atlesian beauty! You are part Atlesian, right? Wai- never mind, don't answer that it's beside the point! As I was saying: I can't be the only one who gets all stupid and flustered whe- Agh!"

Weiss interrupted the girl yet again but shoving, rather roughly, a hand against the girl's cheek to push her face away. This caused the hyperactive girl to have her neck at an awkward position, but Weiss didn't care. The former heiress didn't think that she could handle any more of the redhead's babbling and needed her to stop. As Yang put it, she was literally about to implode from the rapid expulsion of praise that she was getting from Ruby.

"Oh my freaking Oum, stop talking you stupid dolt..."

Raven and Summer abruptly guffawed at the way in which Weiss handled their daughter, "Oh my gosh, and she's exactly like Vi!" the redheaded woman exclaimed,

"What was the name that the Ice Queen would call you, Kali?" Raven asked as she turned to the Belladonna, "It was similar to what Weiss here said but I can't remember the exact term,"

Kali smiled, "It was dunce. She would call me a dunce."

For a moment Weiss gave the three women a questioning gaze, but it went away as soon as it came. By the way they were referring to her mother, they made it seem like the four of them were really good friends. Especially with the nickname that they gave her, which was very reminiscent to the name that people would refer to Weiss as. She never knew about her mother's past as she kept those memories buried deep within her mind. On the rare chance that Weiss would actually interact with her mother and ask about her Academy days, Viktoria would just dismiss the girl. So, whenever people would tell the former heiress that she resembled the woman, she wouldn't really know how to react. She barely knew her.

"Um.. Weiss? My neck is still bending at a position that it really shouldn't be bending at?"

To this, Weiss swiftly retracted her arm from the girl's face and flushed yet again.

"you're on a roll tonight, Weissy!" a certain fashionista said as she wiped an imaginary tear from her eye,

Weiss whipped her head around to face the brown-haired girl, "Don't you have a certain Rabbit-Faunus to be pining after?"

The fashionista's face reddened slightly at the question and she tried to recompose herself, "I don't know what you mean." the girl stated, with an unconvincing shaky voice.

"Oh Please, Coco," Blake interjected, "every time the doors have opened, your head would whip around to see who it was like a puppy,"

"Don't act like you haven't been making eyes at a certain blonde the whole night, Blakey" Coco retorted,

It was Blake's turn to blush at the sudden accusation, "I have not been-"

"I won't deny it." the mentioned blonde interrupted.

"Yang, what the hell!?"

The yellow-haired girl shrugged and gave the Belladonna a wink, "What? I don't blame you."

Blake just face-palmed and Weiss could hear that she muttered something about 'the stupid fucking flirtatious women around her.'

"Oh, and Velv won't be coming tonight." Ruby suddenly mentioned. Weiss could see that the fashionista visibly deflated upon hearing this information,

"Aww, why not?" the brown-haired girl whined.

Ruby rubbed the back of her head awkwardly, "uhhh, I'll just say this since it's not exactly my place to say; but she's not here mostly due to family circumstances so she was excused from the 'mandatory-ness' of the Ball, and she's working right now at her waitress job."

The fashionista just nodded silently at the redhead's words but then perked up, "She works at a restaurant, right?"

Ruby tilted her head, as she probably thought that the fact was assumed, "Um, yeah. Why?"

Coco turned to face Weiss, "Well you were promised a dinner from our little redheaded friend..."

Their said 'redheaded friend' began to blush in remembrance at the proposition that she made for the former heiress. She then started to laugh nervously, "Ohhh right, I did promise something like that,"

"You didn't think that we'd let you forget something so important, did you? Weissy?"

The addressed girl just smiled with vehemence at the fashionista, "not in a million years."

In reality, the former heiress wanted to kick the brown-haired girl from beneath the table, but she didn't want to risk hitting anyone else in the crossfire. She inwardly rolled her eyes at the obvious incentive that the fashionista had for suggesting that they relocate to a restaurant where a certain Rabbit-Faunus was currently working at. She then looked around the table to see if anybody minded the proposition, and unsurprisingly it seemed like nobody did. Even the adults seemed like they were okay with it. At least, Weiss assumed that they were coming.

"Oh thank Oum, does that mean we're going to leave now?" Raven asked,

"Yeah, I'm starving. This rich, big-wig food isn't filling at all," Yang added.

Summer just shook her head at the two women, "Yes, that means we're leaving now. And us adults will get our own table at the restaurant so you guys can have your double date in peace,"

"Awww yeah! Go wingman mom!" Yang exclaimed as she went to high-five Summer. Her mom just smiled at her yellow-haired daughter and high-fived her back.

Blake, Ruby, and Weiss, on the other hand, immediately flushed at the older redhead's assumption and simultaneously sputtered out protests towards the woman,

"It's not a date!"

"It's not a date!"

"I wasn't even asked on a date!"

Coco and the others at the table began to laugh at their reactions, and that was when Weiss decided that she had enough. The former heiress abruptly stood up, which resulted in her chair being shot backwards, "Let's just get this ni-"

"Oomf!"

Weiss' eyes widened at the new voice and she turned to face the person that she accidentally assaulted. The former heiress then went up to them without looking to see who it was and began apologizing profusely.

"Oh my goodness, I apologize sincerely fo-"

She was about to finish her apology, but then she recognized just who she rammed her chair into when she decided to look up. Weiss then didn't feel the need to apologize at all. Her apologetic expression transformed into a steely glare in a matter of seconds when she addressed the man before her.

Calculating, steely blue eyes connected with piercing, resentful similarly-coloured ones.

"Hello, father."

Man I am on a roll with these abrupt endings, aren't I? Anyways, that was chapter 7 guys! I hope y'all enjoyed it as much as I did while writing it. Keep letting me know what you guys think! (P.S. has anyone binged the new season of OITNB yet? Omg it was soooo good!)

Until next time,

MediocreWriter.