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I smoked a nail of concentrate by the window and exhaled it. The burning rush of the mixing pro and antipsychotics flared against the inside of my skull. It was early on a Monday morning but there weren't any classes. The students and teachers had a break. I was taking my time to really soak it in.

"What are you doing?" Weiss asked from behind me.

"Taking a dab."

"You promised to quit."

"We haven't found a psychiatrist yet. I promised to quit then. Not right away. Didn't I? You can't expect me to be on nothing. Just raw dog reality? Can you? Do you?"

"I'm not sure… We better find a psychiatrist soon, then. You have a letter by the way."

I took it from her and opened it and began to read.

Dear, Professor Cloud Strife,

We would like to formally invite you on October 16th to Live Tonight with Lisa Lavender where you will appear as a guest for an interview.

Please return this letter with your reply promptly so that we can prepare. You are also welcome to bring a guest to the studio but they will not be joining you on the stage floor. The interview would last for sixty minutes and the questions would remain mostly to your position as Beacon and how you arrived to be a Professor there.

We humbly hope that you will accept. You're an interesting figure and we believe that you have quite the story to tell.

Yours by proxy,

Lisa Lavender.

I reread the letter once more while I sat at the dining room table. The morning light filtered in and made Weiss's eyes glow. I glanced up at her and held the letter out with two finger for her to look at. She took it from me. Her eyes left me and I found myself missing their caress against me while she read.

"An interview isn't a bad idea in its own right…" Weiss mumbled after a moment. I watched her lips move with such intensity that I barely heard her.

"What do I do if they ask me questions I don't want to answer?"

"You simply can not answer them. It isn't a big deal and silence is usually safe."

"Will you come with me? I'm allowed a guest."

"Of course I will."

"What should I be careful about?"

"Well… Ruby and I. Poly relationships aren't unheard of but they are uncommon. You mentioned that you want to keep your semblance under wraps and perhaps for good reason. Your family should be off limits but you should already know that. My family is off limits and I'd be careful about talking about Ruby's family."

"I don't know that much about Ruby's family anyways."

"Just things like that. It's important to maintain your secrets while keeping to your image as an educator. Remember how that reporter asked you some questions about neutral, advantage, and disadvantage? There should be a little more of that. They'll ask you what sort of things you teach like that. It's important to have that in your pocket, your teaching materials."

"But I still don't know what they'll be looking for. You know what I mean? What should I be careful about walking into? Are there traps?"

"Probably. Probably plenty of traps to watch out for. Lisa Lavender will try and catch you in a bad situation if you give her the opening. So just don't give her an opening and if you do then retreat and get back to neutral."

"You make it sound like a fight."

"It is a little bit like any battle. She'll try and put you in disadvantage with her words so that she can get a blurb or a headline. That's her job. Your job is to represent Beacon Academy and your position well. She would like to embarrass you if possible and gain that headline. She'll go after any cut if she smells blood. It's important that you not bleed and remain calm. You have nothing to hide regarding your position at Beacon. It's only your personal secrets that will be juicy for her."

"I think I understand… if only you could be whispering in my ear the whole time and giving me advice. But is there any actual reward for doing this?"

"Well, you could talk about how you worked with the Atlas military. Help reduce some of the tensions and put people at ease with those airships looming overhead. Maybe make my job a little easier if you do it right. They'll probably ask you for your thoughts on Atlas, the satellite, and the airships. Especially if they know you served in the Atlas military which they could."

"So I could end up helping you out a little? I'll do it. What else will they ask me about?"

"Raven Branwen if they know about it. You killed her and brought peace to two continents. That's serious. If they know that you're responsible they will definitely bring it up."

"It's not like I destroyed every bandit tribe…"

"But they aren't united anymore. They are fighting one another instead of just the civilized groups. Don't underestimate that fact. They were much more dangerous and competent as a group than they are as individuals. And sure, there are still some large nations which managed to remain united with Raven's fall. But they aren't the threat that they once were. Raven Branwen was a serious problem. You should expect them to bring it up. Along with Beacon's fall and the part you played in Black Out Day. And the more they learn the more interesting you will seem. You've played a serious role in every major historical event since you were born. You do have a story to tell. The more you say the more that fact will come to light. From Beacon, to Haven, to Branwen you've lived through so much."

"I didn't have a birth," I reminded her. "Oh gods, what if they ask when my birthday is?"

"Pick a date. You really should pick a date anyways if only for Ruby's sake. She'd love to have a day to dote on you."

"And you're what? Chopped liver?"

"Oh, shut up."

"You know you can just admit things to me."

"I'm warning you…"

"You could just be open about how affectionate you are. You're like a cat. You just act like it just so happens you're in the same room as me all the time. Plus you like being pet in your hair. Just open up and confess it. You're just a big fluffy white kitten." I reached out and ran a hand through the hair of her scalp and she closed her eyes in pleasure but she turned away from me. "You're needy and you like attention. You're tender deep down. And soft hearted. Just confess and get it over with. I already know."

"No way. I'm ice cold."

"You're warm and darling. At least to Ruby and I. And that's what matters. You're touch hungry and you would starve without Ruby or I around to love on you. Poor wittle thing," I whispered.

"Careful. Or else… and I'm not little!" I walked into my bedroom and she followed me. I sat at the foot of the bed and she joined me.

"Or else what? You like sex as much as I do. Don't act like you'd suddenly stop sleeping with me. You love sharing my bed and waking up in my arms. You're so adorable I just want to kiss your forehead and coo at you. And you are little. You're so small. I could just scoop you up and swaddle you. Face it, Weiss, you're baby."

"I'm not a baby!"

"You are too," I whispered.

"I'm a cold hearted bitch."

"Baby," I reinforced. "And you like it too. You love being the little spoon."

"...it feels nice…"

"I'm not blaming you. It's just adorable how you try to hide how soft-centered you are. Face it. You've got this facade where you're cold and unfeeling but you are like putty. You melt into me when I kiss you. You're absolutely so endearing. And you put on this delightful mask and try and cover it up when you really just want to be held and squeezed and doted on. You'd love it if I had a birthday so you could be affectionate as well. You just blame it all on Ruby because you have to keep that mask up."

I leaned in close to her face. She looked away and her cheeks were rosy instead of their typical pale hue.

"Look at me, darling dear."

"...no…" she whispered.

"You want to look at me. You're so winsome. Why do you resist and put on that mask? I've already seen through it and so has Ruby. You're precious and you need to get over that."

I kissed her cheek in a peck. She turned even further away from me where we both sat on the edge of the foot of the bed.

I wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her close to me. She still didn't look at me so I kissed my way down the back of her neck. She leaned into my affectionate touch. I sucked softly on the spot just under her ear.

"You better not leave a mark…" she cautioned.

"But you kind of want me to… on our honeymoon I'm going to mark up your pale skin so badly people will have no choice but to realize you're mine. And you'll let me because you like it. You like how possessive I am over you. You like it when I'm passionate towards you. Admit it. Just confess. You're not fooling me."

"So what if I like being held and kissed and touched?"

"You try and fight it; it's so cute. I did always dream of you being ice hearted to everyone but me."

"I'm like this towards Ruby as well…"

"So I have to share you with Ruby. That's not a big deal to me. And she's much more open about her affection so I can't tease her about it the way I can with you." I ran one hand down to the inside of her thigh and gave it a soft squeeze. I rubbed a little circle into her flesh with my thumb.

"So you're glad I'm a part of our threesome?" She asked.

"Of course…"

"Even though I wormed my way in through Ruby?"

"You didn't worm your way in. Ruby couldn't live without you and I was always attracted to you. Is someone feeling self conscious? Is someone feeling vulnerable? Stars above, you're like a box of caramel milk-chocolates."

"I am not!"

"You're so sweet," I mumbled. I pulled on her chin with one hand so that she had to face me. Her eyes flickered away. I kissed her gently on the lips and she sighed out through her nose. I hugged her lower lip between both of mine and she melted into my body where I held her from behind. She whimpered softly into my lips and I grinned against her's. She pulled away slightly. She reached down and removed my hand from the inside of her thigh and she cleared her throat.

"...shut up…" she managed.

"Make me," I challenged. "Prove me wrong, darling."

"Don't call me that."

"You like when I call you my darling. You're just too prideful to admit it. It's okay. I see through you. You're so soft and warm. Your aura is so gooey and creamy. You taste like a custard or iced coffee with plenty of sugar. You go down smooth. I can't get enough of it. I'm hungry for you, Weiss. Let me taste you." I kissed down her face to her neck and I slowly pushed her back down onto the bed and rolled on top of her. She spread her legs and wrapped them around my waist and let out a little moan.

"Don't you have classes to prepare?" she asked.

"I'm so busy at the moment it's not even funny."

"We can do this later."

"Is that a promise?"

"A little…"

"I'm going to hold you to that."

"I already offered to have sex with you basically whenever you wanted."

"I thought that was just to get me to stop hurting myself."

"It was… and it wasn't…"

"You really love intimacy. Gods above, you're so precious. And to think that you're mine whenever I want…"

"Basically whenever you want…"

"Maybe I should call in a sick day for all my responsibilities… Do you want me to? And we can just live in this bed together until evening and do whatever we want with one another."

"Whatever we want to each other. I… I miss Ruby. I wish that she was here with us. She really knows how to touch a woman."

"And I don't?" I genuinely wondered.

"It's not quite the same. I miss her. We have something in excess without her around. It's not like some piece is missing but rather like we have too much of something. It's hard to define and harder to explain. But I'm not fulfilled without her here. I feel like the shattered moon Diana. I'm not whole without my sister-wife."

"Sister-wife?"

"Ruby will be my sister and my wife after we're married. There's a place in my heart she fits perfectly into. Without her I feel a lack of balance. Something is wrong. There's a chunk of my heart designed to overlap with her's where we fit together. You and I fit together. But without Ruby's piece we have too much. We're three different kinds of puzzle pieces. All of us are edges. But Ruby has double wings. I have a wing and an ear and you have double ears. There's just too much between the two of us and we need Ruby to not only fill in the gap but to receive those parts of us that are in excess."

"I had no idea puzzle pieces had names like that. What did you say you were?"

"I have a wing and an ear. Ears fit into wings."

"Is it because I'm a man that I have double ears?"

"Maybe? It was just a metaphor. Don't over analyze it. That ruins it. Tabs fit into the blanks and without Ruby we just have tabs sticking out into nothing. There's too much of us and we aren't fully interlocking."

"It's a cute metaphor. What did I tell you? You're lovey-dovey, darling."

"Quit calling me darling."

"No. You like it," I insisted. "You do. You look at me with your eyes so bright. You can't help it. You've fallen into my trap and there's nothing you can do. You may as well enjoy it. I miss Ruby too. But the three of us will be together soon. And you're confident she'll agree to marry us, so we have that."

"Of course she'll agree to marry us," Weiss said. She was laying flat on her back with my body between her legs. Her hair was strung out behind her in a great silvery pool. "She begged you not to make her choose between us. She wants us. She wants both of us. She wants your babies. She wants me to help mother them. It's all she ever wanted. She dreamed of this. I bet she had all kinds of fantasies about it."

"Dark twisted fantasies. Like all of us holding hands. So vile it makes me sick to my stomach."

Weiss laughed a little. "I'm serious."

"Me too," I pointed out. "She's so perverted it's nauseating."

"Although she probably has had fantasies of the other kind as well…"

"You think so?"

"I do. You know how submissive she is in the bedroom. She's probably fantasized about the control we have over her."

"Do you?"

"Do I what?"

"You might be a seductress but you're not exactly little Miss Dominant. Do you fantasize about being dominated."

"That's inappropriate."

"Inappropriate? We're engaged and alone. Tell me your wildest fantasies. I can't make them come true otherwise."

"Oh I bet you would just like to know my fantasies. You think that would give you an edge over me. Not happening."

"Yeah. You're right. You're one hundred percent correct."

"You don't deny it?"

"That's why I want to know. I'd love to have that power over you. I'd love to make you writhe about in ecstasy. Is that a fault of mine? I openly admit it. I'd love to have the power to make your legs quiver."

Weiss was quiet and she didn't look at me down between her legs. I ran both hands under her shirt and over her tight stomach. I traced across her ribs and belly and she let out a fluttering sigh.

"Well maybe I can figure it out on my own. You do like it rough. Definitely something worth exploring. You like it when I get behind you and pull your hair. Maybe I should follow that trail and see where it leads. Would you like that? If I was more rough and controlling with your body?"

Weiss was quiet in the loudest fashion imaginable. "None of your concern," she managed.

"You're going to be my wife. It doesn't become more my business than that. That's fine. Don't tell me. I'll figure it out. I'll just have to explore and unwind you."

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-WG