A/N: HELLO AGAIN ALL! We missed you! It's great to be back! The latest RWBY volume is over so you know what that means!

But first - a quick recap because it's been a hot minute.

LAST TIME ON CATNIP
Blake and Weiss went on a nice date and it was great nice food cool symphony but then ADAM happened and Blake got stabbed in the leg and a building exploded underneath Blake and Weiss and also a locker hit Adam in the face and Blake got help and Weiss fought Adam and there was a water cooler and a net and a shotgun and Goodwitch showed up and Team Badguy fled and also SURPRISE Beacon was also attacked at the same time and they all go back and why is that Beowolf talking and Ruby's been injured! Blake and Weiss are tired! They go back to the dorm! CONFESSIONS HAPPEN! TEARS! TEA! KISSES! And then they sleep.

I also am going to go sleep soon I think - enjoy the chapter!

HUGS,
D


It was well past mid-morning when Weiss came partially awake. The cold air outside the blankets made her shiver and curl into Blake, shutting her eyes against the bright sun pouring in the window as she tucked her head under Blake's chin. Even the small motion made her hand and shoulder where she'd hit the ground last night ache. Maybe if she kept her eyes closed, she could sleep for another hour.

One of Blake's ears flicked at the ticklish sensation. In a half-asleep haze she wrapped a little tighter around Weiss, squeezing her close. "Too early... more sleep..."

Weiss had zero complaints... until she heard the dorm room door open. She shut her eyes harder, grumbling into Blake's collar.

Meanwhile Ruby, still with a bandage over her eye, leaned in.

"I don't see them," she whispered loudly.

"Says the girl with an eyepatch," Yang's whispers were no quieter. "Ruby they're right there... Never thought I'd see Weiss Schnee sleep in past ten."

Weiss bristled, hearing her name, and pushed herself up, her hair a tangled mess of white as she half whined, half snarled, "Could you please be quiet?"

"Busted," Yang continued to speak at that same level of not quite whisper, "Sorry Weiss we totally thought you'd be up by now."

Weiss narrowed her eyes at her in a look that said are you kidding me?, and then laid back down, yanking the covers up over her and Blake's heads. This move had never persuaded Yang and Ruby to leave in the past, but perhaps they would get the message this time.

"So... we're rain-checking the rain check?" Ruby's whispers were arguably louder than her normal speaking voice.

"Ruby. Yang." Even from under the covers, Blake could hear the sisters snap to attention. "Come back in one hour. And when you do, bring me tuna... and whatever Weiss wants."

"I can get my own breakfast, thank you very much," Weiss growled, already aware that she was not going to be able to fall back to sleep.

"More like lunch at this point," Yang said with the most apologetic tone she could muster, stepping into the room and hoping it didn't mean sudden death. They both sounded pretty disgruntled, but with any luck a quick trip to get food would perk them up,

Weiss just growled this time, her eyes shut hard. It was extremely childish, but she was warm and comfortable next to Blake and wanted to stay that way as long as possible before the inevitability of getting out of bed set in.

Blake's Faunus ears twitched beneath the covers, swiveling towards the sound of drawers opening and closing. She sighed, knowing that she could easily fall right back asleep, but that it would also be terribly rude to do so after Ruby and Yang had shown them so much courtesy the night prior. Pressing a silent kiss to Weiss's temple, Blake pushed the sheets away, biting back a small wince when they brushed over her leg. She turned her head to better side-eye Yang, who was also still in her pajamas. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black.

Yang caught Blake's golden-eyed stare and held up a handful of clothes. "I spaced and forgot to grab anything other than jammies yesterday," she grinned at her bleary-eyed partner. "Y'know... I really will bring you guys sandwiches if you want."

One of Blake's ears half-flattened. "I was kidding. Mostly."

"Fine," Weiss sat up again, throwing the covers the rest of the way off. "We're awake. Everyone's awake. Ruby, tell us what happened to your eye."

Ruby brightened and leapt into the room, still in her combat outfit and cloak from the previous day, having apparently turned down the chance to change into pajamas because Yang had certainly brought hers along in case she wanted to change. "Torchwick showed up on the front lawn! I saw him and he was all like, pew pew! With his cane, and I got Crescent Rose-"

"And then she ran straight into a lamp post," Yang cut in with a grin, "I'm talking full speed face-first-"

"It attacked me!"

"Torchwick was here?" Blake frowned at Ruby and Yang in turn, "How is that possible? He was at the symphony..."

A beat of silence passed.

"Torchwick has a clone," Ruby put a hand to her chin, her expression grave.

"He must have been on that airship." Weiss rolled her eyes, "How hard did you hit that lamp post?"

"I did not 'hit a lamp post'," Ruby said, complete with air quotations. "It came out of nowhere and attacked me."

"Oh is that Torchwick's semblance? Summoning lamp posts?" Yang teased, simply happy that her little sister was well enough to tease, and that her inability to keep up with her in the heat of battle hadn't come back to haunt her.

"What on earth could a low-life criminal like Torchwick want here any-" Weiss froze in the middle of gathering her hair to put it up.

Jailbreak.

Wasn't that what Professor Peach had said? Beacon wasn't a jail, though... right? She wracked her brain for where Goodwitch had said she was taking that teleporting maniac that day a couple weeks back.

"If I could summon lamp posts, I would do it much more often than once," Ruby was shoving her shoulder into Yang in some sort of push-of-war, still arguing about Roman's semblance.

"What, and ruin the element of surprise?" Yang shoved right back, nearly bowling Ruby over in the process.

Blake gripped one of Weiss's knees beneath the sheets, her own thoughts dancing around the exact same tri-colored possibility. "Do you think... it could have been an illusion?"

Ruby's shoulders slumped and she dropped down on the rug cross-legged, looking sheepish, as she rubbed her head, "No... I definitely ran into a lamp post."

"Aw," Yang threw an arm around Ruby's shoulders and ruffled her hair, "Come on now. It was more like you annihilated it. If you pass a lamppost that is bent clear to the ground, that's what happens when you cross Ruby's super speed!"

"We passed plenty of other wrecked areas..." Blake tried to smile past her growing nerves. "I'm guessing Torchwick wasn't alone?"

"Bleah!" Ruby swatted at Yang's hands and ducked out of her side hug. "Oh, uh, yeah, remember that time down at the docks? It was kind of like that, with the henchmen and all. We're not sure what they were trying to take from the tower, but I think they wanted Professor Ozpin's secret stash of magic semblance-fueling coffee. Jaune said maybe it was the answers to the final exams so they could sell them on the black market, but that's boring."

Weiss finished tying her hair back and abandoned the blankets to get dressed. If they were going to deal with that... Neo... again, she preferred not being caught in her pajamas. On the other hand, wouldn't the professors warn them of the possibility if it was an actual concern? Maybe they'd transferred her downtown, or something. To an actual prison.

"Psh, everyone knows he keeps hot chocolate in that thing," Yang linked arms with her sister before she could flee entirely, "Oh! Pyrrha was telling me something about a vault? Maybe he came to steal fancy weapons."

One of Blake's Faununs ears flattened while the other tracked Weiss's movements. She had a sinking suspicion that Torchwick wasn't after any of those things.

Jailbreak. ...She would have to ask professor Peach about it later.


"I'm going to tell them, and that is final."

"Glynda I'm telling you, this cannot get out to the public," Ironwood reached to touch Goodwitch's arm, flinching when she almost immediately pulled away.

"While I appreciate your prompt visit regarding this matter, I do not appreciate your advice to lie to my students, James." The midday sun pouring through the windows of Ozpin's office reflected sharply off of Glynda's glasses when she tilted her head down to stare at Ironwood over the top of her frames.

Ironwood ran his ungloved hand through his hair, a rare nervous habit that only Glynda's glares seemed to elicit, "If word gets out that the Atlas military allowed another kingdom's hunstman academy to hold an Atlesian prisoner, only for her cohorts to launch an all-out attack with airships full of Grimm to break her out while Atlesian forces were nowhere in sight-"

"You're worried tensions between Atlas and Vale will rise." Glynda frowned, wishing she couldn't see the logic in his argument.

"...Yes, exactly," Ironwood looked away, refusing to admit that he'd mostly been concerned with his military looking like a laughing stock for losing track of not one but two dangerous criminals in less than a month. Glynda also made a fair point, though. He sighed, looking to Ozpin, who had kept his silence thus far - as he tended to whenever he was deep in thought, "I'm sorry, Oz. I knew she would never escape... but I never imagined anyone would come for her."

For a moment the only sound was the tick... tock of the massive gears overhead. Ozpin looked up with an intake of breath, as if he'd been carefully considering his words. "It's... unfortunate, and the accuracy of their information is worrying. However, they may have overplayed their hand." He rose and stepped to the window overlooking the courtyard far below, "They retrieved their companion, but our staff and students prevented them from doing any greater harm. Should they make another attempt, we'll be more than prepared."

"And what if they make another attempt on Weiss Schnee?" Glynda crossed her arms, "Are we going to leave her in the dark about her attacker's escape?"

"Haven't you been training her for this exact situation?"

Glynda scowled at Ironwood's interjection, but the look was tempered by concern, "One week isn't nearly enough time."

"I could assign her those undercover bodyguards we discussed. She would never even know they were there."

"The same ones she personally refused?" Glynda pinched the bridge of her nose. "Ozpin," she looked to her headmaster for guidance.

Ozpin acknowledged Glynda with a nod of his head, and turned, beckoning for Ironwood to join him at the window. He addressed him amiably, "James. Out of all the students here at Beacon, who do you suppose would most understand the need to keep relations smooth between Atlas and Vale?"

Ironwood sighed as he moved to stand beside Ozpin. He lightly clasped his hands behind his back, staring at his old friend's reflection in the window. "Weiss Schnee," he answered simply, allowing Ozpin room to share his insight.

"It seems to me there's a far greater risk of events going public if we allow our students to face such a risk unprepared," the headmaster gazed down at his school, "Whereas some forewarning, a request to be discreet while we resolve the situation, assuming it can be resolved..."

"Would keep relations smooth," Ironwood sighed, realizing it was going to be impossible to sway either of them in his favor. He glanced back at Glynda, who had fixed him with a piercing I-told-you-so look. "I understand." It was not a battle worth fighting.

Icy cold silence dominated the elevator ride back down from Ozpin's office. Ironwood cleared his throat, garnering a sharp look from Goodwitch.

"Glynda… thank you." When she arched a brow at him, he clarified, "...for not telling Oz about the handcuffs."

Glynda pursed her lips, cursing her complacency. She should have looked into them more thoroughly. She knew there was no technological way a simple pair of handcuffs could have kept a teleporter in check. "James. I know there are no laws restricting black Dust usage in Atlas. I also know for a fact that you are aware of Vale's laws, where it is illegal to subject an unwilling party to its effects."

Black Dust, one of the most difficult varieties to craft, one of the most dangerous to wield, and one of the most useless in the war against Grimm, as all it did was block the user's aura. Sometimes necessary in the medical field, but in the wrong hands or in the wrong doses, it could be tantamount to torture.

"And how were you planning to keep her contained otherwise?" Ironwood shot back, regretting it almost immediately when Glynda rounded on him.

"That is not the point, James. The point is, you did not tell me about it, and now a pair of black Dust infused handcuffs has fallen into the wrong hands." She took a moment to catch her breath, mildly embarrassed over having lost her composure.

"You would have had to keep her sedated otherwise," Ironwood tried to explain, holding both hands up in a gesture of peace, "you wouldn't have been able to question her-"

Goodwitch put her hand up. "We can continue this discussion when I'm less… irate. However, if you ever bring another speck of black Dust into my school ever again, I will have you drawn and quartered."

Ironwood let his hands fall to his sides with a rueful smile. "I believe you."

Crossing her arms, Goodwitch returned her scowl to the elevator doors. "For the record, I am going to tell him... But only once you've left."

"...Fair enough." Ironwood returned his gaze to the elevator doors as well, already trying to work out how he was going to break the news to Winter.

It was going to be a long day.


Weiss ate another mouthful of yogurt, her gaze unwavering under the stares of JNPR and the Rose-Xiao Long sisters. She had rebuffed all requests to hear the events of the previous evening's chaos downtown until after breakfast, and by the measure of her current pace, it was going to be a long meal.

Not that she was against telling them. It was just that Blake needed a chance to eat, and there was nothing like replaying a traumatic event to kill someone's appetite.

Unfortunately, Blake's appetite had vanished long before her first bite, her oatmeal already cooled to an almost paste-like consistency as she tuned out the chatter of the cafeteria in favor of trying to piece together everything they'd heard from Ruby and Yang. A White Fang attack and an attack on the school on the same night? At almost the same time? Adam had no reason to attack the school... but did Torchwick? A common Dust thief? What was he after, anyway? Had he been gunning for Weiss only to discover she was in town? Why was- ... why was there a hand in front of her face.

"Hey- hey there space cadet!" Yang finally stopped waving when she saw Blake return to the present. "Pyrrha asked you a question."

"Oh, Yang- you didn't have to- I'm sorry, Blake," Pyrrha shot a split second glare at the smiley brawler, "I just asked if you wanted any syrup." When Blake only stared at her in confusion, she added, "...for your oatmeal?"

Blake blinked. She had almost forgotten they were even at breakfast. At least, the tail end of it before the lunch rush started up. They really had slept in. ...Maybe the syrup would make her cold oatmeal palatable. "...Sure."

Weiss gripped her spoon hard, ready to intervene if the others started annoying Blake. Her hackles rose as Pyrrha kept adding syrup, obviously waiting for the distracted Blake to say 'when'. Nora was starting to look impressed when Weiss reached out a hand to stop the pouring. "Okay, that's enough."

"Oh! S-sorry," startled, Pyrrha pulled the bottle back a little too quickly, pouring a line of syrup across the table.

Blake blinked back to the present again, pulled from her musings on the nature of Adam and Torchwick's partnership and finding herself faced with a bowl of oatmeal sporting a nearly inch-thick layer of syrup on top. One of her Faunus ears half-flattened in surprise.

Pyrrha stared longer than she should have at Blake's ears, but said nothing. Earlier that morning Yang had specifically requested for none of them to mention Blake's ears unless Blake herself brought them up but it was so hard to not notice them, so Pyrrha distracted herself by offering her own untouched spoon. "I can um, I can take some off of there-"

"This is perfect," Blake held up a hand to stop the advancing spoon, her lips quirked in amusement. It was… really nice, having people around her who actually cared. She leaned slightly into Weiss's shoulder as she took a spoonful of oatmeal that was roughly three-fourths syrup, and, with the entire table's eyes on her, ate the bite with a perfectly stoic expression.

Yang let out a low whistle as Weiss and Ruby both watched in disgust and consternation respectively. Nora reached for the syrup.

Jaune cleared his throat, also trying to ignore Blake's Faunus features "So, uh, Ruby, are you still okay to play that ninja fighting game this afternoon? With one ear- uh, eye. One eye, I mean."

"I? Oh, yeah! I don't need depth perception for a screen," Ruby took another mouthful of cereal, and motioned with her spoon, "Be prepared to lose, though! It takes a lot of practice to get good."

Blake arched a brow, quietly watching Jaune with an otherwise flat expression as she ate more of her oatmeal.

"And Ruby here was trained by the best, so you're basically doomed," Yang crowed, reaching past Pyrrha to slap Jaune on the back.

"You trained her?" Pyrrha asked with a smile.

"Wh- oh uh, haha no, it was Uncle Qrow," Yang waved off the suggestion, failing to hide how clearly flattered she was.

"Your uncle plays video games?" Ren asked without looking up from watching Nora pour syrup into his tea.

Weiss settled back while the rest of the table chattered on, Ruby animatedly detailing her Uncle's prowess at Ultimate Flaming Ninja Battle something something, whatever the game was. Some days it was annoying, but today having her teammates and JNPR all talking like normal... could she call it a relief? It was comforting, at least, to have their attention back off of her and Blake for a moment. It gave them a little space to eat, sort of. She looked at Blake's syrup sodden oatmeal. Did that concoction really qualify as food anymore? She watched to see if Blake would take another bite.

Blake paused mid-way to taking a bite, feeling Weiss's eyes on her. She glanced her way, then offered her the spoonful with a half-smile.

The half-teasing half smile, the forward tilt of her Faunus ears. I love you, Blake. The memory of last night came unbidden. Weiss went red and stalled before she could respond to the spoon held halfway between them.

"Blake no, are you trying to kill her?" Yang laughed from across the table, "Weiss can't handle that much sugar."

Blush still hot across her face even though she had not been thinking about going back to the room and kissing Blake because she loved her, Weiss sputtered, "Excuse me?"

"Yeah, pretty sure it would destroy you in an instant," Yang goaded her on with a lazy smile.

"And why exactly would anyone want to drink straight syrup diluted with oatmeal?" Weiss scoffed, crossing her arms.

Nora joined the fray, bringing her fist down on the table, "True, when you could just have the syrup!"

That wasn't what Weiss had been talking about at all, and she shot Nora an incredulous look. Before she could attempt to qualify her previous question, Ruby leapt to her defense. "Weiss eats ice cream. That has sugar!"

"Yeah but have you seen the sugarless abomination she calls coffee?" Yang teased.

"Yes, and we have also seen the sugar-milk that you call coffee," Pyrrha teased right back on Weiss's behalf.

As the table became engrossed in a heated discussion about coffee, Ren quietly sipped from his cup of half-syrup half-tea, watching Blake stealthily finish the rest of her own half-syrup half-oatmeal concoction. Admirable, that even in the face of so much sugar, she would let no food to go waste. Their eyes met across the table, and they shared a nod in solidarity.

With all the distraction, they never did get around to discussing the events of the previous night. That was probably just as well- the cafeteria was hardly the place to rehash the attack. As the others were gathering up their trays and dishes and headed to return them, Weiss hung back to meet Yang as she came around the edge of the table, "All disagreements about coffee aside... are you busy this afternoon?"

Yang blinked, throwing a quick questioning glance at Blake who looked equally curious and gave a small shrug in return. "Uh, not really I guess! A couple loose plans," she gestured vaguely to Pyrrha as she passed by, "Nothing set it stone though. What's up?"

Weiss lifted her chin a fraction of an inch, self conscious about asking a favor, especially now that Blake had stayed back as well. She defaulted to stiff politeness, "My training with Professor Goodwitch resumes Monday, and I've become aware that I could use a little practice sparring without Myrtenaster. Since unarmed combat is one of your strong suits, I thought you'd be the one to ask, if you have time."

Yang stared, and then stared some more, an almost giddy smile overtaking her features. That is, until she caught sight of the grim downcast expression Blake was now wearing. As exciting as it was for someone to actually ask her for unarmed combat tips... for Weiss Schnee of all people to ask out of the blue... Unless... it wasn't out of the blue. Yang checked to make sure the rest of the group was out of earshot before leaning an inch closer and lowering her voice. "Does this have something to do with last night?"

Well, framing the request as concern over training with Goodwitch wasn't fooling anyone. Weiss took a breath, figuring she may as well explain to Yang. "Adam Taurus showed up during intermission and tried to 'talk' Blake into leaving with him."

Without her bow on, it was impossible to miss Blake's ears flattening to her skull, and for a moment, Yang saw red. Luckily for the tray creaking in her hand, she took a deep breath and released it through her teeth, letting the red bleed out of her eyes along with it. "Yeah you know what, sparring practice sounds like a great idea." Yang threw an arm around Weiss's shoulders, "Pyrrha and I were planning on practicing later anyway so that's perfect! We can show you all sorts of things. Blake, you're coming too right?"

Blake sighed, her ears lifting somewhat. "I have training with Professor Peach... at least I think I do. I haven't been able to check my messages," she ducked Yang's gaze in embarrassment, "He... cut my scroll in half."

A loud SNAP reverberated through the cafeteria as the tray in Yang's grip fractured.

"Here, borrow mine," Weiss's strained offer from where she was trapped by Yang's arm was mostly an attempt to save the device from anything resembling the plastic tray's fate.

Blake accepted the device from Weiss and laid a hand on Yang's arm until she relaxed, giving them both a small smile. "I'll keep you posted."


Weiss hadn't meant for them to go straight to the gym, but ten minutes later, there they were, the ex-heiress feeling severely under-dressed in her pale blue long sleeved t-shirt and white skirt as she followed along with Yang and Pyrrha's warm up routine.

After the previous evening, the glaring need to improve her unarmed combat skills (or at least her grip), made her choice of training partner obvious. Pyrrha accompanying them was an added bonus. Maybe the red-headed champion could offer some less physical insights, even though it would be somewhat humiliating to be so abjectly outmatched in front of her, as she expected to be in this situation. Still, Weiss had a determined set to her jaw as Yang called the last few counts of the routine.

"Whew, okay then," Yang hopped up off of the floor from her last burpee, still smiling over how offended Weiss had looked when Pyrrha had corroborated that, yes, that was the exercise's real name. "Everybody all warmed up?"

"Very," Pyrrha jumped up as well, brushing strands of red ponytail out of her face.

"Literally," Weiss regretted her long sleeves, even though it was chilly outside. Also 'burpees' must have been named by a five year old. And designed by a demon. But she could take a little stamina training. Straightening up, she said, "So. Firstly. Thank you for allowing me to derail your session."

"You are always welcome," Pyrrha said with her usual grace.

"What she said!" Yang shot the cheesiest finger-guns in the world at Weiss.

Weiss resisted the urge to roll her eyes at Yang. Instead, she cleared her throat, "Secondly, do you usually practice using your semblances?"

"Eh, depends on the day," Yang shrugged. "What kind of day are you looking for? Please say 'with semblances' because I bet yours would be freaking awesome in a fistfight."

"That's not-" Weiss leaned back from Yang's enthusiasm, but cut herself off. The gym was mostly empty except for a few students near the far edges, working with the weights. She didn't really need to save face. At least, this was more important. She couldn't help her rigid posture as she continued, "Well, that would be ideal. My glyphs aren't exactly... well, most of them aren't particularly suited to offensive tactics. Not without Dust to back them up, anyway."

She'd trained for years with Dust and Myrtenaster. Ice, lightning, fire, even gravity and hard light Dust. After last night... and with her current somewhat unfortunate financial situation... it felt like her skill might depend on them too heavily.

"Psh, who needs Dust - could you imagine getting punched in the face with one of her repel glyphs?" Yang asked Pyrrha, her eyes sparkling the same way as Ruby's did whenever the topic of weapons came up.

"I would rather not," Pyrrha giggled.

"How quickly can you call up one of those things?" Yang crossed to Weiss, taking her hands in her own and examining them closely, "Are they always the same diameter? Do you have to do that fancy hand shape when you do it or is that just a style thing?"

Weiss snatched her hands away, flushing from the sudden contact and the personal nature of the questions. They were inevitable, but still, your semblance was the manifestation of your soul. She straightened her shirt sleeves primly, "I can't punch with glyphs. And that 'fancy hand shape' isn't a style thing. It's- it's helpful."

"Perhaps we should just begin with some basics?" Pyrrha suggested, sensing Yang was about to launch into another round of intrusive questioning.

"Right. Basics." Yang acquiesced. "Okay then. So Weiss, what kind of..." Yang stole a quick glance at Pyrrha, trying to think of a vague enough way to word things, "What... kind of opponent do you have in mind? Like uh... what exactly are you looking to defend against? Any specific type of weapon? Semblance? Pure hand-to-hand?"

Weiss could have answered as vaguely, but there wasn't really any point in beating around the bush.

"Adam Taurus used a katana," she hesitated for half a moment, but was fairly certain Yang could bear her semblance being compared to that of a murderous criminal, since she herself was completely the opposite. "Apparently his semblance is similar to yours. That's actually why I came to you first."

Pyrrha nodded. Adam Taurus, local leader of the White Fang. Given Weiss's family it made perfect sense why she would want to learn to defend against someone like that. Her eyes bounced between Weiss and Yang. They had all heard the lessons about aura and semblances being manifestations of the soul, so it was no surprise to see Yang's utterly crestfallen expression upon hearing that one of Vale's top ten wanted criminals had a semblance close to her own. In a show of solidarity, Pyrrha placed a hand against the small of Yang's back and focused on Weiss. "How is his different?"

"Apparently he uses his sword to store energy, instead of..." Weiss half-gestured to Yang's fists, then her hair, then, still uncertain, her entire body. The energy went somewhere. "Anyway, I didn't see it up close. Blake just warned me, and I kept out of reach, mostly." She glanced at Yang's hurt expression and crossed her arms, looking away as she added, "You're not anything like him, by the way."

After a surprised pause and slow smile, Yang heaved a sigh of relief. "Weiss I could seriously kiss you right now."

Pyrrha failed to stifle a small laugh, "And face the wrath of Blake?"

Yang squinted. "On second thought let's just get right into it. So, I'm thinking disarming techniques?"

"If the use of his semblance is contingent upon having a weapon, removing that weapon from the battle would be key," Pyrrha agreed.

"...What she said! Hand-to-hand is one thing, but hand to sword?" Yang shook her head. "The only reason that I can go toe-to-toe with opponents that have weapons is because of Ember Celica. Gives me something to block with. Without Myrtenaster, all you have is your glyphs..." Yang fired up her version of the Rose-XiaoLong brand Puppy Dog Eyes. "Are you crazy sure you can't punch people with those things?"

Being able to summon would have been very convenient right about now. Instead, Weiss colored again, hiding her shame at not being able to use a major aspect of her semblance (which could in fact punch people) by acting indignant. "I'll show you."

Turning to a free spot on the mat, she summoned up a white glyph. Her family's twelve pointed crest circled peacefully.

"Simple," she said.

With a second gesture, five more glyphs sprang up, joining the first to form a perfect ring on the floor.

"Child's play," Weiss said, though it did take more concentration to hold them all. They weren't there to do anything complicated, though, so it was no real challenge. She dismissed them all at once and called up another, this one in mid-air. Setting her teeth and holding the shape of it firm in her hand, she pivoted, dragging the glyph in a wide semicircle with her at its center. The glyph didn't move fast- just barely over walking pace- and at the end it flickered out as she dropped it.

Somehow pivoting it was more difficult than walking with one across the street like she'd done with Blake that time in the rain. She straightened her collar, catching her breath. "Not so much."

Yang watched, clearly fascinated, gears already spinning wildly in her head. "Ok. Ok so... how about..." She slipped into a basic fighting stance and slowly threw a straight right punch. "Right here? What if you aim just in front of the opponent and then summon a glyph at the last second?"

"It would certainly add an element of surprise," Pyrrha added, putting a hand to her chin.

Yang and Pyrrha seemed to be on the same page and it took an enormous amount of self control to not snark at them immediately for suggesting she use her glyphs to block. Of course she could block. Blocking wasn't what she was trying to learn to do. It was too idiotic for them to even be suggesting, and so, out of appreciation for them agreeing to help her, she didn't snap at them and instead briefly tried to assess if they meant something else. Maybe to try to push her opponent with a glyph (which she could do without the extraneous punching), or... what? Surprise her enemies by breaking her own hand on a barrier instead of landing a strike?

Then it occurred to her. It was abrupt and brilliant, like a lightswitch getting turned on.

"That's... I can maybe do that." Weiss'sbrow stayed furrowed. 'Possible' didn't exactly translate to 'easy'. She stepped back a bit. "Do you mind doing that again?"

Yang nodded, moving through the motion once more.

A small black glyph bloomed into existence right at the edge of Yang's knuckles as she extended her fist. Instead of repelling her backwards, which in a combat situation would be easy to power through anyway, Weiss used it to pull her forward, in the direction of her strike.

Well, it wasn't a hard pull. Her timing wasn't perfect either, but it might be enough to throw someone off balance.

Yang stumbled forward, but caught herself fairly quickly. She beamed a megawatt smile at Weiss. "Yeah! Yeah that's what I'm talking about!"

Weiss crossed her arms and lifted her chin, trying not to look too pleased with herself. "That's hardly going to help me in close range, but it's something."

"Close range is exactly what you want to use this for!" Yang balled her hands into fists of excitement.

"If you can redirect your opponent's attacks using their own momentum, you can control the fight," Pyrrha elaborated.

"Extra points if you make 'em trip right onto one of those springy glyphs of yours."

Weiss listened. She was serious enough about this to not snark for once. (Plus Pyrrha didn't deserve that.) However, yanking someone trying to punch her in, say, the face towards her face seemed borderline nonsensical. True, she was familiar with the concept of using an opponent's momentum against them, but her comfortable range was the length of Myrtenaster's blade. Adjusting to such a drastically different mentality would be a nightmare.

... less of a nightmare than staring down the barrel of Adam's gun, though.

Weiss crossed her arms, "I want you to know that what you're describing is extremely different from my current fighting style, which I've had literal years of practice in."

"I have no doubt you'll be able to handle the shift in style," Pyrrha projected pure confidence as she placed a hand on Weiss's shoulder, "Any opponent however will probably be thrown for a loop."

"Oh man this is gonna be great! I get to throw you around, you get to throw me around - isn't that what you've always wanted?" Yang smirked, nudging Weiss in the ribs.

Weiss tolerated Phyrra's hand on her shoulder but rubbed the spot Yang's elbow had touched.

"Close, sweaty, physical contact," she grumbled, "My favorite thing."


A/N: Boy do we have things lined up for the crew this time around.

Welcome back, and stay tuned, folks!

- Fiercesomest