Chapter ten

Pre-convention photographs

Weiss had been asked to photograph the group's cosplays over the weekend, assuming that all of the assignments that each of the girls were given got done.

Winter had refused to let the fact that her younger sister now had friends and a somewhat active social life get in the way of her academics.

Thankfully, her time of working crazy shifts was starting to wind down so Winter actually had the weekends off now. This allowed the sisters to spend time bonding with each other.

Weiss had told her about the group's trip to the bookstore and Winter had insisted that she be taken there so she could pick up a few books. Though, Weiss secretly thought that it was more to see if the place was up to her standard.

The older Schnee sister was pleasantly surprised when she saw the interior and even muttered "Very homey" when she thought Weiss couldn't hear her even though her younger sister did.

Winter had wandered away from her sister since they had different tastes in literature. Weiss was more into mythological fantasy while Winter's tastes aligned more with historical fiction. Both of the Schnee siblings had put their long white hair into ponytails and were dressed similarly though Winter had chosen a grey top instead of a light blue one.

She had picked up a novel of acceptable length and was lightly skimming it when she heard a soft voice coming from behind her. "Weiss? What are you doing here?"

When Winter turned around, she saw a girl standing in the aisleway. Her amber eyes looked down at the book she was holding, as her cheeks flushed with embarrassment.

"My younger sister is currently elsewhere within this bookstore. I'm Winter, her older sister, and based on your familiarity with my sister, you must be one of her friends. Am I correct?"

Blake was a bit taken aback by how… formal Weiss' older sister was but she brushed it off with a small nod. "I'm Blake, And I am one of Weiss' friends, yes."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Blake. As I just said, I'm Winter." She offered her hand to Blake who gave it a light shake. "So, this is your place of employment I presume?"

Blake nodded again, a very faint smile on her lips. "Yeah, at least while I get my degree."

"I see, and what are you studying?"

"Library science at Beacon University."

Before Winter could comment, Weiss happened to find her first. "Here you are, Winter. You just wandered off…oh, hi Blake. I forgot you were working today."

The younger Schnee's cheeks flushed red with embarrassment as she stared at the two. "So, um… I see you've met each other…"

"Indeed, we have. I was just asking…" Winter looked at Blake.

"Blake Xiao Long."

"Ms. Xiao Long, what she was currently pursuing as a degree." Winter stepped towards a book that caught her eye and took it off the shelf.

"Well, I should get back to work. It was nice meeting you, Winter. See you later today, Weiss." Blake smiled softly again before she put her nose back into her book and was gone.

"She seems nice, if quiet," Winter commented once the sisters were heading home.

"She is that way yeah. Her sisters are most definitely not the same way. Ruby is spunky while Yang is rambunctious, they're the ones who are most likely to cause trouble. Blake would probably just let them cause mischief while she read a book. Granted, that's just from what I know about them and should probably be taken for a grain of salt."

Winter nodded as she eased her foot onto the brake. "Duly noted. I shall keep that in mind."

Blake hadn't been expecting to see Weiss before the photoshoot, much less meeting Weiss's older sister when the two came into the bookstore.

She was so embarrassed that she had mistaken Winter for Weiss. Though, in her defense, the two sisters looked so identical that if she didn't know that Weiss had an older sister, she would've thought that they were identical twins. They were that similar to each other in terms of appearance.

But personality-wise they seemed a bit different. Weiss was still subdued around the group but she was slowly starting to open up to them. Not that Blake could blame her, she was still somewhat closed off as well. To her, Winter seemed like she was almost entirely closed off and… frosty.

Blake frowned as that pun came into her mind and sighed as she mentally blamed Yang for it. Speaking of her adopted sister, she was watching a movie with Ruby and Neo on the couch when Blake arrived home after her shift was finally over.

"Blake, welcome home! How was your shift?" Ruby asked as she paused what they were watching.

"It was... interesting. I met Weiss's older sister today. Other than that, it was the same as it always is." Blake shrugged before she put her key on the hook next to Yang's.

"Was Weiss' sister hot?" Yang asked which earned her weird looks from both of her sisters and an additional eye roll from Blake.

"Yang, your girlfriend is literally right next to you. Besides, I wasn't checking our friend's sister out."

"What? It was just a question. Neo doesn't mind if I look around as long as she's the only one who revs up my engine."

Neo softly smacked her arm while Blake groaned and Ruby looked confused until her silver eyes widened. "Ewwwww, Yang! Why?!"

Neo frowned and furiously started to sign to Yang. [They don't need to know that! Why would you tell them that?] Part of the girl was annoyed, but the other part just accepted that Yang's mouth would outrun her thoughts.

Ruby stood up. "Anyway, pivoting away from that we have the photo shoot with Weiss later today. So I hope everyone has a cosplay that they want to wear. I intend to show Weiss that team RBYNP spirit!"

The three older girls looked at her with puzzled expressions. "Wait, what did you call our little group?" Yang asked.

"Ruby, hun, no offense but um…." Blake said softly but Neo interrupted her.

[That made absolutely no sense… like at all,] she signed quickly.

"It doesn't? Awww… I spent all night thinking of that." Ruby deflated a bit before she shrugged. "Oh, whatever. It doesn't matter.

"I'm sure you'll think of something," Yang said as she stood up. "Now, I'm going to get changed into my cosplay."

She started to walk towards the staircase and was followed by Neo and Blake. Ruby was lost in thought for a few minutes before she hopped up and followed them as well.

They had arranged to meet at a park that was halfway between where the sisters and Weiss lived. The photographer had gotten there earlier than usual. She needed a location for photos that wouldn't be intruding on any of the people in the park.

Once Weiss had found a good spot by the river that meandered through the park, she saw a text from Yang that the sisters and Neo were on the way but that Penny had to cancel at the last minute.

She sent a text back saying where she would be setting up. Weiss then took her α5100 from its case and started taking pictures from various angles to make sure that the lighting in the background was right and to warm up her artistic inspiration.

She even tried taking one that was on a delay so she could tell how the picture looked with a person in it. Once she was satisfied, she laid back in the grass and watched the sky as it slowly went from blue to orange and pink.

Weiss felt her scroll buzz in her pocket and saw a rather unnecessary text from Yang that they had just arrived.

Her light blue eyes widened as she saw her… friends, and they looked very, very different.

Yang's normally blonde hair was covered in a wig that was dark red except for a small silver strand near her eyes, which were also red from colored contacts. Her right arm, except for her hand, was covered in silver paint. On her shoulder was what looked like a pauldron.

Ruby had on a long green wig that was tied in a ponytail, her unique silver eyes also green from contacts. Her outfit consisted of knee-high socks, a dress shirt, and a skirt that were all yellow. Pom poms of the same color were in her hands.

Like Ruby, Blake was in a dress shirt and skirt though the shirt was black with the skirt being white with purple trim and a chain. But unlike her redheaded sister, Blake's legs were covered in sheer black stockings and her normal long black hair was instead purple as were her eyes.

Ringing her eyes were dark bags that Weiss guessed she had applied using makeup. Whether it was her own or one of the others, Weiss didn't know. She had a feeling that it was Neo's makeup though.

Neo's multi-colored hair was still the same way, but the colors were different. Instead of brown and pink, her hair was a split between very light purple and light blue. She had on a blue vest over a form-fitting purple shirt, leggings, and blue heels. Like the others, she wore false contacts giving her dark blue eyes rather than her natural brown.

Weiss's jaw dropped at how different all four of them looked. "Wow, is this what you guys look like cosplay wise when you go all out?"

They all looked at each other and nodded as Neo slowly signed to her. [The only real difference is that for a con I would've dyed my hair instead of having a wig on.]

"Yeah, what Neo said. Long hair and wigs… don't mix," Yang said with Blake nodding before they both winced slightly.

"Well, you all…. Just wow! That's all I can say." Weiss was just completely flustered and amazed at how good they all looked in their cosplays. "Okay, how we get some basic pictures before we move onto more elaborate ones?" she asked.

"You're the boss. We're your models so it's up to you, Weiss," Blake whispered softly.

"As my gloomy sister said, we're at your disposal. So, let's go, go, go!" Ruby waved her pom poms excitedly.

"Indeed, let's begin." Yang cracked her knuckles while Neo simply used her scroll to take a picture of herself.

It took Weiss a second to realize that they had slipped into the roles of their characters, with the possible exception of Neo.

She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths, letting just a sliver of the mask that she had worn while in Atlas come over her again. Weiss was nothing if not professional when she wanted to be anyway.

For the next half hour, she directed her four models to various positions and poses. Weiss got pictures of just one of them, duos, three of them, and all four of them together.

She took picture after picture; some were normal while others were silly while others still were serious. She probably got upwards of a hundred photos before Yang, Blake, and Neo couldn't take it anymore and they pulled their wigs off.

"Ah, it feels so good to have that infernal thing off. I'm so dying my hair for the convention," Yang said before sighing in relief.

"I understand why we didn't do it for this… but can we do it next time we cosplay these characters, and we're not at a con?" Blake asked, taking a long gulp of water afterward.

"I don't have long hair like you three, but the wig is certainly itchy," Ruby chimed in as she grabbed one of the water bottles and plopped onto the ground.

"We can take pictures without them. You're all still in cosplays so it's still a cosplay photoshoot as far as I'm concerned." Weiss said as she sat next to Ruby.

The photographer's attention turned to her camera as she deleted pictures that weren't up to her high standard. While Weiss was doing that, Yang and Neo had literally fallen on top of each other while Blake turned her attention to the river which was backlit by the sunset.

Weiss saw an amazing opportunity for an impromptu photo. She lifted her camera and got up, moving closer to Blake. The girl's head moved at the footsteps and gave Weiss a side profile, part of her face covered by her black hair.

Weiss lifted her camera and it clicked as a new picture was taken. She blushed just a bit as a small smile appeared on Blake's lips and the girl turned to her. "Was that good? For a photograph I mean, Weiss?"

"Y-yeah it was perfect. Did you anticipate that I'd want to take a picture of you against the sky?" Weiss asked as she got closer.

"Maybe, it is awfully picturesque don't you agree?" Blake turned so her eyes met Weiss's own.

"Yes, it is." Weiss nodded.

They didn't notice that the other three were silently watching until Blake's gaze turned to Neo and Yang and her amber eyes narrowed. "Is there something that you two wish to say?"

Neo shook her head while Yang squeaked before turning her gaze away. "Well, uh nice weather we're having right?"

Weiss snorted. "Real smooth, Yang."

Yang stammered for several seconds while Ruby laughed softly. Neo's eyes just rolled while Blake and Weiss both sighed, the former in annoyance while the latter in exasperation.

Weiss photographs the girls' who are in full cosplay after a day where Winter meets Blake. The characters the girls' are cosplaying are from something if you have a guess feel free to leave it.

Until the next chapter

Dragondeathdrop