It had been 2 days, 2 more days of walking hell since Weiss had been jumped by Ruby and company, and the three had decided to follow Weiss to the next town. She was beginning to get a better read on Yang and Blake's personalities. Blake was how she imagined after meeting her once, silent and sharp. But she seemed to have a soft side that came out around Yang, especially when they sat next to each other, Blake would nuzzle into her. Yang on the other hand, was NOT what Weiss had envisioned.

Unlike Weiss had previously assumed, Yang was nothing at all like her sister Winter. Winter was calm, cool, collected, and very strict about most everything. Yang seemed to be her exact opposite, in fact. She was so vocal about her love for her little sister Ruby, and so touchy. She'd randomly hug Ruby, and almost always touch the other person's shoulder when having a conversation. For Blake too, Yang would lean against her or absentmindedly rest her hand on Blake's knee when they were sitting next to each other. Physical affection. Something Weiss wasn't too used to.

Because Weiss was aware of how Yang was acting, she noticed it in Ruby now to. Slight mimicry, just as how Yang would absentmindedly touch Blake to confirm her existence, Ruby did the same to Weiss. The first few times scared Weiss, making her jolt. But Ruby often did it without realizing, so Weiss was slowly becoming used to the small love touches. Almost looking forward to them.

They were taking a break on the side of the road from walking, and Ruby was watching the clouds while sitting next to Weiss on a log. She placed her hand on Weiss's upper thigh. It rested there calmly, and while Weiss was hardly aware of it being there, she took comfort in its presence rather than fearing it.

Ruby realized what she was doing, and stole her hand away. "Sorry! Ah, I'm trying to stop doing that." Ruby rubbed the back of her head awkwardly. She was acting more and more human with each passing day.

"It's fine." Weiss said, gazing at the clouds.

"No I'm, I'm gonna stop, it'll just take a little to get it to be a habit of stopping–" Ruby started rambling.

Weiss glanced over to her. "Really, it's fine."

Ruby pursed her lips and looked at Weiss. "I don't wanna pressure you into anything.." She pouted. So cute!

Weiss looked away to hide her obvious glee at Ruby's cuteness. "Its, actually something I want to get used to. Being touched by another person and feeling something other than fear."

"Fear?" Ruby tilted her head. She put a hand to her chin, mulling over Weiss's words. Her mood dropped. "I'm sorry, I'll try not to hurt you anym–"

"Ruby, it's not hurting me. You've never hurt me." Weiss felt a stab of guilt. No matter how many times Weiss told Ruby that it wasn't her fault that she had tried to leave, Ruby seemed insistent on blaming herself.

Ruby put her hands in her lap. "Your eye."

Weiss scoffed. Her eye? She hadn't even felt that! It was when she was sleeping! She'd rather have a scar on her eye, then have been DEAD. Which is what she would have been if Ruby had just let her fall off that cliff back when they first met. didn't she tell Ruby she liked the scar a few days ago? Did she forget that? How could she stop Ruby from being so, melancholic? She wasn't sure. And the fact that she wasn't sure how to fix the situation was killing her. She needed to get away for a little while. Weiss stood and left, stalking off towards a shady spot in the trees. Ruby stayed on the log.

Weiss felt a familiar hand on her shoulder. Blake? "I need to talk with you." Blake said, before dragging Weiss off into the forest away from the others.

"H-hey!" Weiss stumbled as she tried to speak, almost tripping. Blake stopped, and squeezed both Weiss's shoulders, staring her dead in the eye.

"I hate you." She said in monotone. ...oh. Well, Weiss expected that. But she wasn't expecting it to be that blunt, considering how they'd all come after her a few days ago. "I hate you–" Blake said again, and paused. "–because you are literally me."

Huh?

Blake covered her face with one hand and peered through her fingers to glare at the bewildered Weiss. "Long story short, before me and Yang were officially 'together' I kind of, left her. When I shouldn't have. It tore a rift between us, that took a long time and a lot of effort to fix. And it still isn't perfect.." Blake rubbed her hand over her bow self consciously. "And looking at you and Ruby is like looking into a mirror!" Blake complained. Weiss was still trying to process the 'I hate you because you're me' part of the conversation, but Blake continued on. "Please. Let me give you advice." Blake said in a distressed tone.

"Are you sure, you're ok with talking to me?" Weiss asked cautiously.

Blake's bow twitched. "Hm?"

"I'm a Schnee." Weiss didn't sugar coat it.

Blake closed her eyes. "Oh. You're still on about that." She turned away from Weiss and sighed. "You ran away from your home. Didn't you?"

"Yes…"

"And that was partly because you don't agree with their practices." Blake said. "Against other people, Faunus, drago–" she stopped before finishing that last word.

"You're right, I don–" hey. Wait a second. Had she said dragon? Didn't Yang say, Blake wasn't in on the whole 'Ruby and Yang are dragons' thing? "What was that third one?"

It was Blake's turn to look uncomfortable. "...I don't know what you're talking about. I said two things."

Weiss raised an eyebrow. Did she know? "You were going to say dragon. Right?" Weiss stepped closer to Blake. "Weren't you?"

Blake didn't look Weiss in the eye and backed away. "I, uh..."

Oh my god she totally knew. And Yang thought she didn't. Weiss, had one more question for Blake... "Does Yang know you're a faunus?"

"No!" Blake almost shouted. She shook her head frantically. "She just thinks I'm, a faunus rights activist." Blake said, more quietly. "She doesn't need to know. Don't tell her!" That last part was kind of panicked.

Weiss stopped her advance and raised her hands up in surrender. "Sorry, sorry! I won't! I wouldn't just give your secret away like that. I promise." Weiss calmed Blake down. Blake looked semi-relieved. "But..." Weiss said. "Hypothetically, if you knew someone was a dragon, and were ok with them being one, but they didn't know you knew.." Weiss glanced back the way they had came, back to where Ruby and Yang were, and then looked Blake in the eyes. She avoided Weiss's gaze.

This was, kind of hilarious. Blake knew Yang was a dragon, despite how hard Yang seemed to try and keep it a secret. And considering Yang's reaction in the cave, Yang definitely knew Blake was a faunus. Both of them knew the others deepest darkest secret, but didn't reveal it to the other in fear of.. In fear of what? Incurring the others distrust? Maybe? Weiss wasn't sure. She wasn't sure about a lot of things these days. That was never a nice feeling.

Blake had been trying to help her get along with Ruby originally, but now their conversation had sidetracked. "What if she already knows?" Weiss asked.

"What."

"That you're..." Weiss pointed to Blake's bow.

"There's no way." Blake shook her head. "She couldn't possibly know, I'm too careful."

Weiss raised an eyebrow. Yang probably thought she was being careful with her dragon secret around Blake too. "Well, you know that she's a.. D.. Dr.." Blake opened her mouth wide then mouthed 'you know too?'. Weiss nodded. "Ruby is her biological sister. Wanna guess how I met her?"

"Oh my god." Blake covered her mouth. "This is, not where I imagined our little meetup going." she put her hand to her forehead. "I'm not even sure how to react. You, Yang knows you know?"

Weiss nodded. "I mean it wasn't too hard to figure out. She is blood related to Ruby."

"OK wait wait, back on topic, YOU." Blake stepped towards Weiss. "You need to try to make up with Ruby. We'll be in the next town soon. Show her around, or something. Spend time with her. Make it less awkward." Weiss felt like she'd received a psychic punch to the gut. Oof. Yeah. She really did need to make things better. Blake took her hand and started back to where Ruby and Yang were. "Come on, they'll get worried if we're gone too long."

When they got back, Weiss saw Yang sitting next to Ruby with an arm around her back. She felt a pain in her heart, sad that she couldn't be that loving person for Ruby and sad that the situation reminded her again of her sister. Weiss felt her cheeks redden slightly. 'Loving person'. She wanted to be a 'loving person' to Ruby? What the hell did that mean?! She wasn't romantically interested in her at all! This was, just a feeling of wanting to make up with a friend! An adorable, beautiful, and loving friend! Weiss had begun to enjoy Ruby's company, but that didn't mean anything! Sure sure, maybe Weiss THOUGHT she'd had a crush for a little while, but that was obviously just her mixing up platonic and romantic feelings! … And if there were romantic feelings Weiss would crush them with her bare hands.

Yang stood and patted Ruby on the back, jogging over to meet Blake. "Hey! Where'd you two go off to?" She asked, without a hint of jealousy. Weiss was glad. She didn't want either Yang or Blake to start thinking of her as a romantic rival. They were friends. Friends. Friendship was such an odd concept to Weiss.

"Just had a talk. About how to make up with a girlfriend." Blake said nonchalantly.

Weiss felt the air in her lungs hiccup, causing a cough. "HcahKKhk! We're, We'Re NoT gIrLfRiEnDs!" She said in a panicky way, waving her hands.

"Oh? Really?" Blake looked to Yang. Yang shrugged. "Sorry, I didn't mean to assume."

"You might as well beeee~" Yang whispered in a singsong voice. Weiss felt her cheeks go red and she glared at Yang embarrassedly. The girls picked up their things again, and set off once more.

The city they came upon next, was similar to the last one. Well, similar in size at least. That was about it. This city had a more dreary vibe to it. It was as if there was a looming threat of death clouded around its walls, that was visible even from the roads approaching said city. But the city was there, so they went. Weiss wasn't heading anywhere in particular with a plan, really. She just wanted to get as far away from atlas as possible. It was a good thing she set out on one of the warmer months, otherwise there was no way she'd have been able to sleep outside without freezing. Weiss handed her ID at the gate, and had Ruby use hers as well. After Yang finished giggling about the name 'White Sneeze', she seemed audibly surprised Ruby had an ID.

"You got her one? How'd you know her last name was Rose?" Yang asked Weiss curiously.

"I just guessed. Her name really is Rose?" Weiss felt slightly proud that she'd somehow guessed Ruby's last name correctly. When Blake and Yang handed their IDs, Weiss played close attention to what the guard said for them. She was curious as to what their jobs were.

"Name, Blake Belladonna. Race, human. Hails from, the outlands. Age, 18. Occupation, Bounty hunter." The guard said, and nodded. Huh, so she really WAS a bounty hunter. And Belladonna? Weiss had heard that name before... Oh Right! It was a type of plant! Winter had warned her not to go near Belladonna, or in other words, 'deadly nightshade'. A fitting name for a bounty hunter.

The guard spoke again at receiving Yangs. "Name, Yang Xiao Long. Race, human. Hails from, the outlands. Age, 18. Occupation, fire mage." Uh what. Fire mage? Mage? Mage? Weiss looked at Yang. She didn't look anything like a mage! She looked more like a melee fighter, someone who would be a big sisterly protector, or punch you in the jaw if she saw you bullying a little kid! How on earth was she a MAGE?! Also, she didn't even have a staff!

The guard didn't look to convinced at Yang's occupation, but let them through the gates regardless. Ruby's eyes sparkled. It was only the third city she'd ever been to, Weiss supposed. "Me and Blake will get a room at an inn, you two have a look around! Buy something! Maybe, talk a bit? Meet us as the guild at around dusk! Byee~" Yang took Blake's hand and ran off, leaving Weiss reaching her hands out to stop nothing but a cloud of dust. Weiss's eye twitched. But she kept herself calm.

"There's a lot more people then the other town." Ruby observed. The dreary vibe that had surrounded the city had all but vanished now that they were inside, as crowds of people skittered by, acting like an ocean of human flesh. She scooted closer to Weiss, her hand clutching the hem of her cloak like a scared child. Weiss really needed to give Ruby that red cloak she'd bought!

Weiss took a deep breath, then put a hand on Ruby's shoulder. She tried to smile to calm her down. "Do you want to go look around?"

Ruby nodded, her curiosity overpowering her shyness. Weiss led Ruby through the streets, but maybe that wasn't such a good idea. A sheltered princess with no sense of direction in cities, and a dragon that had seen less of human cities then a fruit fly. It was not an ideal traveling group. Weiss had managed out on the open road, by carefully studying maps, but here? In a crowded city? She might as well have been piece of paper floating around in the wind. Actually if she was a piece of paper maybe she'd have gotten around better.

Ruby's grip on Weiss's cloak was strong, so they didn't get separated. The hustle and bustle of the crowd eventually shoved them into an open shop. At seeing the shops contents, Ruby looked like she was about to explode from excitement.