Let's see how I write events that transpire in the space of one week, shall we?

P.S. Shoutout to dashingicecream on Tumblr (great artist, btw) who drew a few of the scenes from this story! After I stopped rolling on the floor, chanting, "I am not worthy," I realised that this story is actually gaining rapid momentum. The hits over the last 3 weeks are almost double what this story had before then, and this story's been going for several months now. Seriously, you guys are awesome, and I love that there is a place for my Monochromic ramblings. I don't say it enough, but thank you all.

"And that's class for the morning," the professor announced.

Blake compiled her notes and slotted them into her bag, next to her tablet. She joined the rear of the tiny group filing out of the room. She was one of out of seven students in this class, fellow beings who either needed this Monday morning timeslot or wanted it.

She'd tried her best to pay attention throughout the lecture – and she'd succeeded, for the most part – but she was still thinking about her conversation with Yang the last night.

Her roommate had had a great deal of stories to share. As it turned out, drinking was the common theme throughout, and most of them ended with an awful-sounding one night stand or a bad hangover.

Blake had concluded that she could understand Yang's thought process and reasoning to come to a feeling of, "I don't deserve anyone better than I am," but at the same time, she still maintained that it was a selfish attitude, and didn't excuse any of what Yang had done to Ruby.

One story in particular was an answer to a question that Blake had wondered about Yang since moving to Beacon, the story of why she hadn't had a roommate for four months until Blake showed up.

"So, my last roommate was a girl named Skye Lasette," Yang had begun, wiping at her eyes with her bed sheet. "We met at the start of the semester, when we were assigned this room.

"We always rubbed wrong. She hated that I went out and drunk so much. I hated that she was so self-righteous and stuck-up. Ugh, she was an incredible bitch. Not to say that I wasn't difficult myself, but there are just those people who feel like they need to use their own negativity to bring others down with them. That was this girl.

"So anyway, it was two months into our sharing the room when it went down. I'd gone to a bar and picked up a girl. It was the first time I'd picked up a girl in a couple years. Skye had only ever known me to hook up with guys, and you know... she'd give me a lecture, and some disapproving stares, but she never flipped out, and she was okay with leaving the room. That was one thing I didn't mind about her. But then I bring back this girl... she completely lost her shit. It was some of the most hateful stuff I've ever heard, to be honest, completely out of nowhere. I don't think I want to go into exactly what she said, but I think you get the idea when it comes to homophobia. In the end, she yelled at me to get out and take the girl with me, but I rightly stood my ground.

"So we got into it. The fight, and the screaming, it woke up the entire floor, I guess, and someone called campus security in to break us up."

At that point of the story, Yang had seemed visibly distressed. It was as if remembering the vitriol of her former roommate had deeply affected her. She'd taken a few moments to compose herself, during which Blake handed her a glass of water. Yang thanked her, and went on with the conclusion of the story: she and Skye Lasette had been called in front of the administrative board to explain themselves. Skye was thrown out of Beacon for violation of university policies regarding hate speech and discrimination. Yang, being the victim of said discrimination, and the victim of a physical attack – which Skye had started, for the record – had been handled with more care. However, the ad board had determined that punishment still had to be meted out, so they gave her three months of academic probation, and rescinded her roommate privilege. After the probationary period had ended, the university went back to looking for a roommate for her, and decided on a transfer girl from Menagerie, one Blake Belladonna, who was set to commence studies at Beacon the next month.

Blake found it a fascinating story. In itself, it told her a lot about Yang. For instance, why she tended to not bring her dates back. Because of this experience, it seemed to Blake that Yang had it in her head that bringing a date back to her own room, particularly a girl, would end up badly. Maybe it wasn't the entire reason, but Blake could see it being part of the reason.

It also reminded her of how disturbing human nature could be. It made her shudder, not entirely confident anymore about Weiss's situation with her family. If there were still people in the world who held such an outdated view, that two people of the same gender couldn't be together, or that it was wrong for them to be together, and they defended it with so much hate and passion, then how could Blake so simply believe that Weiss's family wouldn't be any different?

Of course, she wouldn't voice these concerns to Weiss. She didn't want to plant any doubt in the girl, not when she was so nervously trying to build up the confidence to have the conversation with her family. And Blake didn't know for sure, anyway, that they would be so horrible. If that was the case, then she was sure that Weiss would have warned her.

She told herself that she was being irrational, nervous. She would be by Weiss's side when the time came, and it would go fine. She hoped.

The rest of Blake's Monday proceeded without much drama. Lunch was spent with Weiss and Ren, where they had promptly thanked and commended him for his cooking. Weiss then proceeded to make a fool of herself, spilling coffee all over herself. She'd warned Blake to keep it a secret – especially from Yang – with the promise of swift and terrible punishment. Needless to say, Blake did not relish the idea of not being able to kiss Weiss, so she would indeed do her best to keep Weiss's horribly embarrassing secret.

After lunch, she'd spent the afternoon in her dorm room, trying to shake Yang out of her bed. It wasn't like the Ruby situation, she'd realized – whereas Weiss's roommate had been moping in bed the other day, Yang was genuinely sleeping, and no amount of poking and pinching and prodding and urging on Blake's part was able to move her. It appeared to Blake that Yang was still exhausted from their lengthy chat during the night, as well as the day she'd spent out in the city, so she supposed it was fine.

After taking a nap of her own for a couple hours, she took off, back into the city, to start her first library shift of the week. It had started with a lot of activity, with the college students who lived off-campus coming in for an hour's intense study.

The activity had begun to wind down towards 10.00 PM, and people went home, students and library workers alike. But Blake stayed, being one of the few people who had no problem running the graveyard shift, as opposed to the older staff, with their families and children to go home to.

By midnight, cleaning was done with, and Blake no longer had any duties to do for another two hours. She wound up perusing the shelves of the parenting and family sections, making sure everything was ordered. She did her best to just scan the numbers and letters, because she knew that if she started the reading the spines, then she would want to read. Her eyes, however, kept flicking back to a thin book on the middle shelf. For Parents with a Lesbian Daughter, the spine read.

How heavy-handed, Blake mused. That was all she allowed herself to think about it, because the book honestly intrigued her. If she thought any more about it, then she would be sitting at a desk and reading it within a minute. That wouldn't happen. She liked to think her resolve was stronger than that, even when it came to her passion of books.

She finished sorting the books in the aisle, and strolled out.

Well, I suppose a chapter or two won't kill me.

Two minutes after turning on her heel and taking the book back to the reception desk, and opening it, she realized that her resolve, as it turned out, left a lot to be desired when it came to her passion of books.

It was important, though, she objected. It would help prepare her for Weiss's family, wouldn't it? Of course, it could only help her. And if there was some good advice, then she could always impart such words of wisdom to Weiss. It was her, after all, not Blake, that was in the closet to her family.

She sat back in her desk-chair and smiled smugly, satisfied with her rambling rationalizations. Then she remembered that she had to actually read the book to dig up any potential wisdom first.

Tuesday morning was graced by another unseasonal patch of rain. Weiss woke up to the gray sky and the heavy downpour. It was one of those moments where she thought she'd been hearing the noise while asleep, but she wasn't sure, because then was she really just waking up, or had she actually been awake, consciously able to hear the sound of rainfall for hours already?

Such thinking, she concluded, had no place in the morning.

"Good morning," came Ruby's voice from somewhere behind her.

Weiss sat up, discarding the slew of random neurological observations and focused instead on the usual, pleasant scent of coffee wafting towards her. Ruby stood above her, and held a warm mug in front of her.

"Morning," Weiss replied, accepting the offer. "Thank you. You made coffee this morning?"

"Obviously," Ruby said, as she walked over to her desk. She busied herself, organizing her textbooks. "I've got a lecture in half an hour," she explained.

"Okay." Weiss cocked her head as she watched Ruby move around, curious. "You... how are you feeling today? You were pretty snippy with me yesterday," she said, referring to their few, brusque exchanges. Yesterday, the day after Blake had taken her out to the courtyard for lunch and they'd discussed the topic of Yang and Ruby, it was back to lectures and classes, so they hadn't seen a lot of each other until the night came. And then Ruby had seemed withdrawn, not wanting to get into a conversation longer than a few lines. She'd ignored Weiss when she'd asked how she was doing, and had just seemed unreachable.

"Sorry," Ruby said, as if that one word could excuse her conduct. "It wasn't you, Weiss, I swear. I just had a lot on my mind, is all."

"It's fine. But do I have to remind you that I'm available to talk if you need me?"

"You don't have to remind me at all, Weiss. And don't worry. I'll be fine."

Weiss set down her coffee, and got out of bed. She walked over to Ruby and gently slipped her into a hug. "Don't you get it, you dork?" she said, amused. "You're one of my best friends. I'll always worry about you, okay? Just remember, that I'm here."

"Thank you," Ruby said, then cleared her throat: "Um, Weiss?"

"Yes, dork?"

"I have to finish getting ready to go."

"Oh," Weiss said, and released her. "Sorry. It's raining, you know," she said, noticing Ruby's cutoff shorts and t-shirt.

"I know. Like I said, I'm not ready to go yet. Speaking of which, have you seen my sweatshirt?"

"Which one?"

"The one I lent you yesterday. The red-and-black zip-up one."

"Oh." Weiss looked nervous. "About that..."

"What did you do to my sweatshirt, you fiend?"

"Hey! Don't call me a fiend! It wasn't anything bad, anyway. I just spilt some coffee on it during lunch yesterday, so I took it down with our laundry last night. I'll go pick it up later, okay?"

"How much did you spill?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Weiss..."

"I was sitting at a bench with Blake and Ren," Weiss explained. "You know, one of the ones that's got the bench seat on both sides, with the table in the middle? And Ren can be a funny guy, you know? You get him going, and he becomes the king of mundane observations. So I was laughing at something he said, and I knocked my coffee cup over and spilled all down my front."

"Did you scream like a little girl?"

"I refuse to answer this line of questioning."

Ruby shot her a conspiratorial smirk. "I can ask Blake, if I need to."

Weiss scoffed. "Go ahead. She knows the consequences for giving up something so embarrassing." Ruby's smirk grew wider, and Weiss hastily went on, "That is, if it even happened. Which it didn't."

Ruby sighed. "And you call me a dork."

After another ten minutes, she left for class, leaving Weiss with an interesting question of breakfast.

She decided to heat something up, for a change. One of the many cups of instant noodles that Ruby flooded their room with. It was hardly nutritious, but on the few occasions she'd had it, Weiss found it to be a satisfying meal. Sure, it was a far cry from the magical wonder that Ren had crafted, but it was still food.

Her phone chimed as she ate, the screen flashing with Blake's name. She opened the message:

Morning. :)

Weiss smiled. Much like herself, Blake wasn't one to blindly agree with the arbitrary association of physical actions to letters – in what universe do the letters "x" and "o" mean "kiss" and hug?" she thought – but they both agreed that use of punctuation and symbols to represent facial expressions was an obvious stroke of genius.

Morning to you too, she wrote. Where are you, so far away that you can't come here and be with me in person?

Towards the end of my lecture.

Oh, okay. How was the library last night?

It was... interesting. I found a book about us.

That confused Weiss. What do you mean, about us?

About lesbians, I mean. More specifically, parents and family of lesbians.

Weiss nodded slowly, processing the information. What did you learn from it?

Hm. Not much that I didn't already assume. It really didn't tell me anything about how a family might react to the stage of coming out – not that I was expecting it to, mind you – but it really made it out to be a case-by-case matter. But why should I be telling you what to expect from your family? They are your family, after all.

Weiss pondered the matter, as she sipped hot broth from the foam cup. Mmm. These are some good instant noodles...

Blake didn't respond for a minute. When she did, it teemed with confusion: What? I'm sorry, are you still talking to me? I thought we were talking about lesbianism and parenting... what's this about instant noodles?

Weiss blanched. Sorry, she texted. Call me when you get out?

Her phone chimed again, only ten seconds after that message. "Hey," she said.

"Well, hello there," Blake's voice filtered through the speaker. "Class let out just now. So, what's this about instant noodles?"

"Oh. I'm eating breakfast."

"And you're eating instant noodles?" Blake sounded almost incredulous. "You remember that, just yesterday, we were thanking Ren for one of the greatest meals ever. Of all time."

Weiss shrugged, even though Blake couldn't see her. "What can I say? Food is still food, at the end of the day."

"Right. So, what did you want to talk about?"

"Maybe about how we can just waste time and money talking about instant noodles over the phone," Weiss said, swallowing a noodle.

"Mm, I don't consider it to be a waste if I'm talking to you." Weiss swore she could feel Blake smiling like an idiot on the other end.

"I can't believe you just actually said that!" Weiss said, blushing. "You know, you've been really flirty with me since Sunday."

"Why shouldn't I be? We're together now, aren't we?"

"Of course we are. But there's no need to be so embarrassingly sickening over the phone."

"So, back to the book..."

"Of course."

"I brought it back from my shift. I'm coming back now, and I'll give it to you."

"How far away are you?" Weiss stood up, and walked over to the window, before feeling like an absolute fool. Of course she wouldn't be able to see Blake walking by the window.

"I can see our building."

"Do you want to come over here?"

"I was going to anyway. You didn't have to call me."

"Oh, just shut up and get over here, Belladonna," she snapped, playfully, and hung up the call.

She sat back down with her noodles, and gently blew on the laden fork she raised in front of her mouth. As she ate, she felt a warm rush of gratitude for Blake. Even though it was a fairly simple gesture, she'd been thinking about Weiss's situation. Weiss herself didn't know what to expect, but here was Blake, who at least had a range of ideas.

She thought about her family. Her father had called recently, telling her that they planned to come to Vale to visit her. She'd offered to go to them, but they'd shot her down. It was best for her to stay right where she was, apparently. He said that they were coming the weekend after next, and they'd be staying in a villa, on the outskirts of the city – the outskirts opposite to Beacon's location.

The first thing that Weiss had thought after ending the call was that that would be the day. She would go with Blake to visit her parents, and this conversation would finally happen.

There was a knock on the door, and Blake strolled in, without waiting. "Morning again," she said, walking over to Weiss with a smile on her face.

Weiss got up and walked towards her, also smiling. "Morning again," she echoed. They met with a quick kiss and hug, before Weiss dragged her over to her bed. They sat down, and Weiss held the cup towards Blake. "Want some? Not these ones, of course. I'll make you a fresh cup if you want..." She looked down at the contents of the cup. "As fresh as this stuff can get, anyway," she muttered.

"Thank you," Blake smiled. As Weiss got back up to boil some more water, Blake reached into her bag and pulled out the Lesbian Daughter book. "Here's the book," she said, waving it in the air. "I'll leave it here if you want to read it."

"How long can I have it for?"

Blake shrugged. "The normal length of time that one can borrow a book from the library. Three weeks."

"You can't do better than that? For me?" Weiss joked.

"It's about 170 pages," Blake said. "If I can read the whole thing during the witching hours of my shift, then you can definitely read it in three weeks."

"Well, thank you, anyway," Weiss said, as the water finished boiling. She prepared the cup and walked it back to the bed.

Blake took the cup in her hands. "Smells good, for what it's worth," she said.

Weiss sat on the bed across from Blake, her legs crossed. "So, I've just been thinking..."

"Yes?"

"My family is visiting the week after next, right? They want to visit me on campus, but I'm thinking that we should take the initiative... I'm thinking we should go to them, and get this over with."

Blake reached for her hand, and took it. "Are you sure? You don't want to wait longer?"

"Do you?"

"No. It's not my decision. I'm asking if you think you're ready."

Weiss took a deep breath, nodding. Slowly, she looked Blake in the eye. "I am. And I know that if you're with me, then it'll be fine."

Blake smiled, wide. She raised Weiss's hand, and pressed her lips to the back of it. "I'm proud of you. You're sitting there on this bed, in a tank top and shorts, with your legs crossed like you're still in elementary school, with half a cup of instant noodles there in your hand, and I feel nothing but pride and happiness looking at you."

Weiss looked down at her lap, blushing intensely. "How is it," she croaked, "that we've been together for three days, and you're already talking like the sappiest, most smitten person on the face of Remnant?"

"Do you want me to stop?"

"I didn't say that."

"Right."

"So," Weiss went on. "Ruby seems better, but I'm not entirely sure."

"How so?"

"Yesterday, on the off chance that I saw her, she was... moody. Brooding. We had a fun little exchange before she left earlier, but I still sense she was just putting on airs."

"Well, you can't fault her for having a lot on her mind," Blake reasoned, as she ate. "And even if she was putting on airs, like you said, at least she's making an effort to be personable."

"I do worry about her, Blake. Now more than ever."

"That's okay. I'm not telling you not to keep an eye on her. It's good that you're paying attention to her. I'm sure she's grateful."

Weiss gave a small smile. "It's funny. On Sunday I was telling you not to interfere. Now, here I am, wanting to grab that little red... I want to help her."

"Do you remember that I agreed with you on Sunday? I still agree with you, that we shouldn't interfere. It'll be fine, one way or the other."

Weiss remained unconvinced. "Mm-hm."

"Hey," Blake said, quietly. "I have another idea to run by you. It still has to do with our roommates, but it also has everything to do with us."

"I'm listening."

"Okay, so tomorrow..."

"So that's the deal," Weiss finished.

Ruby sipped her coffee cup, staring at Weiss with interest. "Is this supposed to be surprising?" she asked, after a moment or two. "It's Wednesday. You two have been spending hours together ever since Sunday."

Weiss shrugged. "We thought it would be best to just get it out in the open."

Ruby nodded, understanding. "Okay then. I'm happy for you. And Blake."

"I don't quite feel you, Ruby," Weiss said.

Ruby walked over and embraced her. "I mean it. That's great, about you and Blake. I'm happy for you both, I really am."

Weiss returned the embrace, but noted that something felt off, in the way Ruby was holding her. It felt... almost mechanical, like she still wasn't entirely there, Weiss thought. "... Thank you," she said, eventually.

Yang smiled. "So that's it?"

"Yes," Blake said. "We talked about it yesterday, and, even though we've been 'together' since Sunday, we thought it best to spare further confusion. So yes, we're officially together now, Weiss and I."

Without any warning, Yang clamped her arms around Blake in a bear hug. "That's great, hun! See, almost three weeks at your new university, and you've snagged the high and mighty corporate heiress. Now tell me: was I right? About you needing to move fast while you're still fresh?"

Blake smiled sheepishly. "Yes, you were right. Now," she said, groaning a little, "do you think you can let me go now?"

Yang squeezed tighter. "No! This feels great!"

"Hey, Blake," Yang piped up from her desk. "I want to tell you something."

Seated at her own desk, opposite from Yang, Blake turned around to face her roommate. "What's that?"

"I... just want you to know, that I haven't had any drinks since Sunday afternoon."

Blake felt the beginnings of a smile creep onto her face. "Yeah? And it's Thursday, now. I like where this is going."

Yang went on, "I was drinking almost every night, lately. After... this thing with Ruby, and talking with you, I thought, that I don't want to be one of those college kids who turns into an alcoholic right after they turn 18, you know? So, after we talked, I made the decision. I'm cutting down on going out nights, and I haven't a drink in four days now. It's only a small number, but-"

"Wow, Yang," Blake said, impressed. "That's awesome. I mean, does it matter that you're only young, or that you're only a few days sober? You saw that you believed you had a problem, and you did something to fix it. That's your life, and it sounds like you want to put yourself in a position to live better."

Yang nodded. Blake smiled, wide. "I'm happy for you, then."

Nervous. That was how Ruby felt, as she stepped off the bus on Friday evening. She had no clue what was going to happen to her over the course of the night. She wasn't entirely sure of what she wanted, either.

She walked the two blocks, feeling alone in the vast surrounds of Vale City, the bustling activity of strangers and cars and people on bicycles rushing past her. She tried her best not to pay attention when she turned a corner and saw two young men walking past her, with their hands entwined, but she couldn't fail to notice the display of affection. It made her sigh, but at the same time it helped to steel her resolve, and reminded her of why she was in the city in the first place.

The V Bar on a Friday was rather different to how the bar was on the previous Saturday, when she'd gone with Yang. Then, it had been mostly younger people, not much older than herself, that populated the space in the building. But this night was more diverse. It appeared that, while there were still a large number of those young people, there was also a substantial number of middle-aged, office-worker-looking people, with their suit jackets off, and their ties loose around their necks.

She walked up to the bar. "Hey," she said to the bartender, who smiled at her.

"I recognize you," Velvet said. "You came in with Yang Xiao Long last Saturday night, right, one of Blake's friends? Yes, that's right, you were the other girl that passed out and had to get taken back, weren't you?"

Ruby nodded, biting her lip. "That's me. Ruby."

"So what brings you here tonight? Did you come with someone?"

"No," Ruby said, shrugging. "Just me. I just came to get some drinks... maybe, I don't know..." She glanced away. "Meet someone?"

Velvet grinned. "Okay then. Have you done this before?" Ruby shook her head, and Velvet nodded. "Want some help, maybe? I can point out some cool guys for you. Or girls, if that's your thing."

"Girls," Ruby said. "But that's okay. I think I can manage."

Velvet raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure? It really wouldn't be a problem."

Ruby shook her head again, and planted both her hands on the bar. "No, thank you. This is something I want to do on my own."

"I'll get you something to drink, then," Velvet said, frowning, and walked away.

As she left, Ruby felt her anxiety jumping at her again. She glanced around the bar, nervously, at some of the other girls. Most of them were chatting with someone else, or otherwise occupied. She looked down at her hands again, just as Velvet slid a beer bottle in front of her.

"You were drinking these last time, right?" Velvet asked.

Ruby looked up, and nodded. "Thank you." Velvet walked away again, and Ruby took the chance to surreptitiously look around again. She looked at a platinum-blonde girl, on the other side of the bar, probably for longer than she should have; noticing that she was being watched, the girl locked eyes with Ruby, and smiled at her.

Ruby blushed, and glanced away. She desperately tried to cool her jitters by gulping down a mouthful of beer. When she looked up again, the blonde girl was sliding into the seat next to her.

She waved Velvet over and pointed at Ruby's beer. "One, please."

"Sure thing."

The girl turned to Ruby, who sat awkwardly on the stool. "Hey there, cutie. What's your name?"

Ruby opened her mouth, but felt like her mouth was on a five-second delay to her brain. "Ru-I'm, uh, I mean, I'm R-Ruby," she stammered, edgily extending her hand.

The blonde girl accepted it, smiling. Ruby noted that her hand was cold to the touch. "Cobie. Bit nervous, are we?"

"Um... ah... a little?"

Cobie laughed, a mirthful sound, pleasant to Ruby's ears. "That's okay," she said, teasingly. "You were lookin' right awkward and green just sittin' here on your lonesome, so I thought I might come and chat for a quick minute or two, yeah?"

Ruby found her accent almost musical. It seemed hard to understand, but she got the gist of what her new foreign companion was saying. "Thank you," she said quietly.

"No need to thank me, love, just looks like you need some help, is all," Cobie said, as Velvet came back and handed her a bottle identical to Ruby's. "So, Ruby, what do you do? You local?"

Ruby shook her head. "Patch Island. I'm studying at Beacon U right now, though. Engineering," she added.

"Neat. Now, how old are you?" Cobie asked, peering slightly at Ruby.

"18. I'm in my freshman year."

"Really," Cobie said, rather than asked. "I thought so. And you're here to look for a quick pickup, then?"

It surprised Ruby, how direct Cobie was. "Well, yeah... is... is there a problem?" she tried, tentatively.

Cobie looked at her apologetically. "Sorry, love. I didn't mean to be judgmental. But you're pretty young to be coming out to the bars on a Friday night, all on your lonesome, lookin' for a pickup, don't you think?"

Ruby frowned. "I'm getting over some things in my life. So what?"

Cobie opened her mouth to answer, but caught the eye of someone on the other side of the bar, where she'd been sitting previously. She waved at them, and looking at Ruby again. "Sorry, love, my sis is rarin' to get out of here. Didn't have a great night chasing the phillies, I'll give you the tip." She winked, as if to add emphasis.

Ruby blinked in confusion. "Okay?"

Cobie sighed. "Look, what you need to do is give this a bit of thought, yeah? You say you're gettin' over some stuff. That's cool, and I won't pry. But if you're here because you think someone messed you up and you want payback? You should probably just start headin' back to campus now. You're young. Whether or not someone your age needs a relationship is a debatable topic, and I err on both sides, but if you are going to have that romantic connection at your age, then it's best that it means something to both of you. You shouldn't be startin' to prowl around here every week, hoping some older bloke or gal will take you back to their place just for them to kick you out once you're done screwing. That's not healthy, and no one wins out of it."

Ruby shook her head. She was starting to feel irritated, and patronized. "How do you think you know anything about me? We literally just met."

Cobie shrugged, and gave her a warm smile. "I was 18 myself, once. Count yourself lucky that you actually got someone like me right now to help steer you clear." She waved Velvet over, and swiped a card in a terminal, settling her tab. She then stood up, as an almost-identical looking woman – her sister, Ruby assumed – came over. "Now, I gotta slide, but promise me that you actually listened to what I said, yeah?"

Ruby nodded, and the two blonde women left, bidding her farewell. She sat with her beer for a short while, periodically sipping, making up her mind as for what to do next.

"What are you going to do now, with that sage advice?" Velvet asked, eventually.

"I'm not going anywhere," Ruby sighed. "Was it good advice? I don't know. She probably thought she was doing her good deed for the day. Whatever. I came here tonight to make something happen."

Blake hummed to herself as she wheeled the trolley around the aisles, stopping on occasion to take a book from the trolley and put it back in its rightful place on the shelf it belonged to. It never failed to intrigue her, how people seemed to forget that particular step in the Unspoken Library Contract for the Convenience of Others. Consistently, people would just leave their borrowed books where they'd been sitting, or, if they'd felt the need to fulfill half of the Contract, they simply shoved the books on random shelves, and obviously felt satisfied with their actions.

Blake sighed at these people, but she'd come to expect as much, working in a 24-hour city library. And it wasn't that bad, she figured, because it wasn't like she had to get them reorganized before closing.

When she was done, she wheeled the empty trolley back inside the storage room. Then she made the long walk back to the reception desk, where her supervisor, Mrs Roth, sat, watching her.

"You got a phone call," the old woman said. "A Velvet called, asking if you could pick a Ruby. Capital 'R'."

Blake frowned. "Okay. Do you mind if I call her back, then?"

Mrs Roth yawned. "Go ahead. Keep it short, though, would ya?"

Blake nodded, "Of course, ma'am." The old woman got up and retired to her office, where she always said she was doing paperwork, but Blake suspected she had taken her fair share of midnight naps in there as well.

Blake picked up the phone, and dialed the number left on the message. It answered after two rings. "Velvet?" she asked straight away.

"Blake, hello," Velvet answered. "You got my message?"

"I did. What's the problem?"

"Your friend Ruby has been in here since this evening. As the night's gone on, I've been forced to watch her get rejected by several girls."

"How many?"

"Well, she's super drunk right now, and she's had a beer for every girl that's rejected her tonight."

Blake groaned. "What was she doing there? Trying to pick up a one night stand?"

"That's what she said. Look Blake, I can't let this go on anymore. I cut her off 20 minutes ago, but she's still making noise." She paused. "I know you're at work, but do you think you can pick her up?"

"I can't, sorry," Blake apologized, dejectedly. "But... I know someone who can sort it out," she said, with more hope in her voice.

"Okay, good."

"Sorry about this, Velvet," Blake said. "But thanks for letting me know."

"No problem."

They said their goodbyes and ended the call. Blake immediately called Weiss.

"Hello, this is Weiss Schnee, to whom am I speaking?" Weiss answered, formally and politely, like she always did with unfamiliar numbers.

Blake smiled, "It's me, Babe."

"Oh? Oh, Blake! Is this the library's number?"

"It is. Look, I don't have long to talk. I just got a call from Velvet. Do you know what Ruby's up to right now?"

"She said she was going to spend the night studying with Jaune," Weiss said, referring to one of Ruby's friends, who had crushed on her for the longest time before Weiss was forced to tell him about her sexuality. "Did you say Velvet?"

"Yeah, the V Bar. Ruby's spent the entire night downtown, drinking. Apparently looking for a quick hookup, as well. From what I heard, she's in bad shape at the moment. Velvet asked if I could go pick her up, but I'm still working for another five hours. Do you think you can take care of it?"

"That little idiot," Weiss hissed. "What does she think she's doing? Yeah, I'll take care of it. I'll take a cab to pick her up and come back to the campus."

Blake was relieved. "Thank you, Weiss."

"Don't mention it. I'll see you when you get back?"

"Of course."

They ended the call, leaving Blake to sink down into the big desk-chair. She ran both hands back through her hair and shook her head in disbelief. Maybe watching from afar wasn't good enough anymore. Maybe – and now she was almost certain that Weiss would agree – some interference was finally required.

Remember how I predicted that these chapters were unlikely to blow out in length...?

... Truly Yours, Kalico.