The Schnee estate, once upon a time, was a solemn and quiet domain. Long had it been a place for warriors of the past to conspire the defence of the people to which Schnees owed servitude. Whether through decadence or technology, these meetings of warriors evolved steadily into policymakers and aristocrats discussions. Bumbling further, and greed indeed prospered into the likes of Jacques. Balls and galas became the known scene for such polished halls, a bloated service staff dedicated to carefully managing once rugged training yards. The Schnee name had become a pale shadow in so few generations.
Though it pleased many in the city, the final meeting on the property was the end of Jaques' era. The grand halls had become filled with so much of the city's headquarters as they threw off the Grimm. And it was the place to which the Huntsmen and Huntresses could finally hang up their coats for an evening of rest. Of course, Weiss was her father's daughter to some extent still, so some things were flatly unable to be forgotten.
Calls of string instruments echoed through the halls of the intact estate, spilling out of windows and into the patchwork of construction sites remodelling the city. The road up to the building now featured far less of Jaques' businessmen, and oligarchs previously resided amongst.
Now Weiss stood happily alongside her brother, Whitely, both inviting in any who stepped up to their door. Democratic elements from the army who threw off the disgraced General Ironwood's yoke, first responder leaders and their cohorts were abuzz, the police, huntsmen, and of course the new civic leaders of the city.
Weiss clasped the hand of their new Council member, "Council Woman Hill, I'm glad you could make it." Robin shook the young Schnee's hand with a calm gusto, flanking her were her Merry Huntresses. "Thank you kindly for the invitation, Miss Schnee. It's been a sickening few days for us all." The Council Woman added with a sorry-sounding laugh. Weiss bowed her head, her tone joyful "Whatever the people of the city need, the SDC and Schnee estate will surely back." Weiss ushered the group of Robin and co-inside, leaving her and Whitely once more on the step alone.
Whitely, though better than he was, still held a coin on his shoulder, it seemed. "I understand the purpose of this Weiss," Looking to his sister with a scoff, "But mother could have at least asked for something more than semi-formal." Whitely huffed, watching as Robin's huntresses barely wiped their shoes on the rug.
Though she was supposed to represent the other side, Weiss did as well irk at the dirt incumbent upon their flooring. "I…" she sighed, "I'm sure they'll at least be on their best behaviour." Smiling to her brother, a loud crash in the distance made the pair whip their heads back to the estate.
Standing atop a platter, thankfully without content, was the ginger Winter Maiden. "Ah, many apologies, ma'am!" Penny sounded embarrassed as she dropped back to the floor, picking up the waitress' platter. Weiss sighed, "Whitely, are you okay at the door for a moment?" The younger brother scoffed with a smile, "Just get going, nerd. Be with you soon." The sister scoffed an empty insult, smiling back to Whitely before rushing inside.
The waitress smiled with thanks to Penny before she moved on. The ginger Maiden continued to call out apologies right up until Weiss' hand touched her cold shoulder. "Penny! I didn't know you were up and about yet?" Penny turned with a surprised jump but quickly smiled.
"Ah, Friend Weiss! Yes, I am doing much better!" Penny laughed, though she cut herself off and lowered her volume, "Dad- Doctor Polendina managed to fix me up good." She scratched her neck as she spoke, "I'm sorry I wasn't here for a lot of the fighting, some Protector I have been?" Weiss shook her head quickly, guiding the pair of them out of the entryway, "Oh, Penny, don't worry. Everything's alright, and the people who did the worst of it are going to get what's coming to them."
A short huff left the Maiden as the pair left the populated and bright entranceway. Weiss' grip on the Maiden's shoulder remained dainty as she guided them along. The light slowly crept away from behind them as they entered the non-active halls of the manor. Penny's eyes flicked about, scanning and analyzing the tall murals and architecture of the building.
"Your family truly built a remarkable home." Penny commented, a cough of a laugh from Weiss making the Maiden turn to her, "As much as we built it, a lot of this place is far more recent. You can probably guess why." Weiss chided slightly. "The Grimm?" Penny asked with the tilt of her head. Weiss chuckled but shook her head, "No, father had an entire wing remade for his interests. I never got to see what was here before besides photos." Penny hummed, "I apologize. It does seem that you're saddened with the loss of such important halls of your family?"
A low scoff from Weiss confused the Protector, "Hardly, Penny. I'm just happy he won't be able to enjoy it in prison." Penny huffed her version of a laugh, though the conversation trailed off as they turned another corner.
At the end of a long hall of windows, such that bled through Remnant's shattered moon, Penny spotted a double door that bled out white light. "So, Friend Weiss?" Penny asked, noticing they were moving away from the larger groupings of people. "Yes, Penny?" The Schnee responded with a looming lower voice as she smiled.
"Where are we going?" Penny asked. Though ever dramatic, Weiss waited to reply, coming to the door Penny had eyed peculiarly. "Oh, well, to the actual party." The Schnee smiled as she opened the door. Penny's receptors blinked as they calibrated, but her audio feed took in the wash of laughter and voices of those who she remembered. "Penny!" They seemed to call in the chorus as she finally focused, "Friends!" Penny replied with a beaming smile.
The remainder of team RWBY and JNR stood around tables of food and drink, a fire billowing to the left side wall, a Billiards table and dartboard were being mulled about with grins and laughter. Music, particularly Yang's, roared from a wireless speaker against the far wall.
Ruby, who was lining up a shot in Pool, came running up from her spot and lunged with a hug at Penny. The Protector had anticipated the move and locked herself down, grappling with her friend as the pair smiled and laughed, "Friend Ruby!" The Maiden laughed, "Oh, Penny, I was wondering when you'd make it here!" Ruby laughed, removing herself from Penny for a moment to jump over to Weiss.
"Thanks for getting her here, Weiss!" Ruby said, hugging a smiling Weiss, "Oh, it was nothing-." Weiss tried to say before Ruby pressed a kiss to her partner's cheek. Shutting the Schnee up in a painting of red embarrassment, though Ruby had already grabbed the Maiden's hand and whisked them off into the bowls of the room.
Jaune, who stood alongside Blake and Ren sharpening his cue, laughed at the Schnee in the doorway. "Ruby has no idea what she's doing to that poor girl." The pair of Blake and Ren similarly laughed, faces in hands as they watched the red-faced Schnee hesitantly close the open door. Then open it again as she called out, "W-whitely and Winter will join soon! More drink too!" Before shutting the door, Blake scoffed behind her hand, "She can't even speak right."
The red flush looked so disheartening in the darkened hall. Weiss was breathing heavily as she tried to calm herself down in a mirror. "Pheeeeeeew, okay.. okay... Come on.." She repeated, one hand leaned on the wall while the other held dominance over her heart. "I gotta say something…" Weiss managed, heaving herself upright, turning back to the party with a start, "No, don't be dumb." She managed out with a sigh, turning back. "Come on, coward, it's been four years!" Weiss barked with a whisper at herself, turning back again.
Stopping with a stomp, "And she's a great friend, I'm not gonna risk it." Her hands went to her hair, wrenching it back as she sighed with exasperation, "Damnit." She cursed with a bark, turning with a start down the darkened hall. She had no intention of going back to Whitely or the dullards Willow wanted here, not while she was still like this.
The bleakness of the halls, though filled with the distant crescendos of violins and the hint of rap from Yang, were still. Weiss just needed a moment to herself, and nothing like that could happen while she was still in such a state. Hands forcibly binding themselves together behind the Schnee, Weiss strode with long and careful steps. "I mean…" She tried thinking out loud, which had helped her reason before, "There has to be a reasonable and logical approach, right?" She asked herself, "Cost-benefit, that's what I need." Schnees were very good with management. How else could they have gotten this far? The finest education in Atlas would help her solve this debacle surely.
Setting course for her room, Weiss knew she could find some quiet space there. She went for her scroll, wanting to message someone, "Shiße, Klein. Wo bist du?" Weiss muttered, slipping into some old Alteisen as she did so. "Right, probably working tonight." She sighed, scrolling through her contacts with even more of a sigh as she spotted Ruby. Perhaps messaging was the way to go? Say a perfect message. It was like a perfect business proposal. Weiss cursed herself, offhand hitting her head as she leaned back, "Stupid idea."
Weiss moaned in both sleep deprivation and annoyance, going back to her scroll as she turned to the bedroom hall, "Winter maybe?" She could ask the elder Schnee. But, it didn't take many memories of Winter's single dates to tell that the elder Schnee would probably not have the most remarkable advice on the front of relationships.
"No, Winter couldn't tell if a married couple were married." Weiss sighed, coming to her room with a wince. Continuing to read through possible people, "Blake, Yang… no, they're too close." Turning the doorknob and stepping through. The room was bathed in lingering darkness. The shady moonlit veranda giving the only semblance of light. Though Weiss had no need to look up to see such things. Continuing into her room, she traced her steps mentally to the outdoor window. As she crossed the halfway threshold, groans from her bed frame made her jump.
"Gah!" She squealed, coming about halfway round to see only the darkness that cascaded down from her overhung bed decoration. Her scream, however, failed to jostle the darkened silhouette gotten too familiar with. The figure lingered with a slouched frame at the bed's back. The golden eye glowing in the dark as Weiss fought to control her now rampant breathing. With a soft and quiet chuckle, the golden gaze of Cinder flicked with a lulling mutter, "My apologies, Heiress." Weiss groaned aloud as she stomped, turning her frame into the villain's direction.
"Must you loiter in the darkness?" Weiss threw her arms up as she groaned, "And in my room nonetheless?!" A low hum met her questions, "Neo has taken residence in your bonus room. I thought it prudent not to disrupt the party?" Weiss huffed at Cinder's response, "It would be awkward to have to share goodwill with a room I have attempted to slaughter, some cases twice over." A lingering sense of unease wept over Weiss as the figure muddled in the tired blackness.
The Schnee's voice was unnerved, "Cinder, are you alright?" A wave of a single hand in the black made Weiss groan, "You know what I mean." Humming dryly, a spark of light erupted from what Weiss deemed Cinder's thumb, which drew close to Cinder's face. "I am positively vibrant, Schnee." The woman groaned.
Weiss watched as Cinder's emblazon thumb scored the deep caverns of her face. Her eyepatch removed made a more than surprised Weiss' breath catch. The light faded as it embraced the edge of a cigar. "I hope you don't mind," Cinder growled, inhaling the thick roll for a moment. Smoke billowing out into the room in cascades of moonlight, "I pilfered some of what I imagined your father's tobacco, a fine Vacuo product, shame he won't indulge in them, wouldn't you say?"
The smoke continued to enrapture Weiss as Cinder spoke. Eventually, the Schnee sighed and turned for her veranda. "If you smoke, can you at least open the windows. Honestly, were you raised in a barn?" Weiss huffed, throwing open her veranda doors as Cinder chuckled behind her. "You would be surprised." The Schnee blinked at the low and craggily sound of Cinder's usually pompous voice. Her hands lingered on the doors for a moment before shakenly dropping. "Cinder?" She asked again, turning with a concerned look to the bed frames obscured dark, "Are you okay?"
No answer came. The billow and stench of smoke enraptured the room as Weiss took a step toward her bed. "I am fine…" The woman groaned, Weiss' eyes more firmly adjusting to the dark of the bedding and evening. "I just had a band encounter with destiny." Weiss' breath heightened in her nose as she looked over the woman who lounged in her bed, smoking her father's cigars and what appeared to be a hefty glass of her mother's wine. "Oh, yes, I'm sure Willow will replace it." Weiss barely heard Cinder's addendum as the cigar moved aside awkwardly in Cinder's mouth so the wine bottle could fit.
Instead, the Schnee focussed on the more damaging portion of the situation. It must have been the darkness. But that sharp burgundy of wine that dribbled like the old blackened liquid that spilt over scars and burns made Weiss's hands shake. The lightning-like scarring on Cinder's throat dipped and weaved with the blackened fluid. It was barbaric, and much of what she saw adequately fell under the mistreated category of her even brief medical knowledge. Though what was worse was the other tatters stained with similar colouring, these were not of wine by their appearance.
Touching one of the long pieces of stained material on her bed, Weiss felt the texture of medical wrap before she even needed to smell the iron-like stench. The same dark liquid was evident on Cinder's forearm, the breath in Weiss' throat clenching as she saw it.
The Fall Maiden must have recognized the attention as a golden eye flicked to the Schnee and then to the injury that was her arm. "Oh, yes. I found the bandages were getting a tad too restricting. I was forced to removed them after I caught myself upon-." Cinder's voice. Her voice trailing off as Weiss sat on the opposite end of the bed.
"You've cut yourself?" Weiss murmured, her eyes clearly squinting to make out the discrepancy in wine and what appeared to be a newer issue. Cinder groaned. Momentarily placing the bottle in between her arm and body. Holding out her hand to Weiss, "Yes, just on the thumb, not a big deal." Weiss scoffed, "How'd you manage that?" She said, feeling the nostalgia of having this very conversation happen before with Willow.
"The scissors and alcohol I had consumed did not agree when I made to removed the bandages." She said flatly, "It's fine, I've survived worse than bleeding out onto a towel." The bed's fabric was covered; at least Weiss could still rest in this bed. Depending on how it appeared in the light. Though there were more pressing concerns than that.
"Come on, let's get you up." Weiss managed, removing herself from the bed and stalking around the edge. Cinder chuckled, "And do what? Play doctor again you and I?" Weiss cringed at the notion, though she supposed something of the like. "No, I'm more concerned about you gargling on tobacco and alcohol to death in my bed." The Schnee managed, taking the cigar from the Maiden's hand, then snatching and moving the wine bottle.
Both of which Cinder only moaned in protest, "Oh, Schnees and your order of things. I'm not going to die from a brief round of self-torment, girl." A low sigh from Cinder made Weiss shake her head. "True, but I doubt someone of your stature would stop at something brief." A pause in the lulling tone was caused by the Maiden's slow nod, "You are too correct.." The affirmation sounded more like a self-pitiable acceptance than a stance. "Though I must say, this isn't a bad way to go." Cinder made another tired move for the wine bottle, only for Weiss to drag it back in her hand.
A growl from Cinder made Weiss stand taller, "You don't play this game right." Cinder mused, "I drink, and you belittle. Not refuse." The outstretched hand gave Weiss a perfect moment to pounce regardless of her opponent's words. Pulling on Cinder's hand upward, getting the Fall Maiden to her feet. Cinder's protests were countered by what surmounted as a dry heave as the sudden motion drew her stomach's contents about. "This is not a game, and you are not vomiting on my carpet." The Schnee mumbled to the groaning woman, heading the pair toward her bathroom.
It had taken seconds before Weiss was sat upon her bath, and Cinder was clutching onto the rim of her toilet as noises, not even the gods would care to hear, erupted from her. "You realize you brought this on yourself?" Weiss meandered, inspecting what Cinder had believed to be a cigar, "This is one of mother's, a heavy piece of cannabis and likely something more in the range of higher class Atlas than Vacuo."
The concert of rushing contents filled the air again. Weiss thanked the woman silently for electing to go short with her hair. It made it easier and more self-efficient in times like these. "Were you already drinking the wine before you found the reefer? Or were you so up your own ass you didn't read the package?" Weiss asked with a sarcastic scoff as the trashed woman formerly known as Cinder sputtered as she fell sideward against the cool tiled wall. "Well, funny you should ask." The woman replied, scraping a little of the bile from herself as she spoke, forcing Weiss to turn for a towel.
"I was just so in the dumps before finding your mother's little hideaway. I must have caught her when she nipped out." Cinder mused, smiling as Weiss threw a towel to her, it hitting Cinder with a rough "Umpf." To the chest. "I suppose she was getting in the mood for tonight's socializing atmosphere then." Weiss sighed. Her mother was never good as of late with speaking to others, though she had not thought the woman had also been crossing that many lines as she drank herself down.
Cinder groaned as she mopped at her face, "No, no, no. I lockpicked my way in." Cinder attested, "Your mother had thrown the pieces away, hence why I believed them your father's." Weiss had to think about Cinder's broken apart sentence structure.
At the least, Weiss could smile at the idea of Willow having made a conscious effort to remove the items from her presence in some form. Though she still blinked, "Why were you scurrying about then and breaking into rooms?" The flat brow of Weiss was met by the raised hand of Cinder, "Idle hands, Weiss, idle hands. I had a lot on my mind." Cinder mused, her smile dripping steadily back as Weiss drew in a breath, fearing another spout.
Though it only pressed Cinder deeper into the wall, "Yes, I had a particularly egregious afternoon." A stiffened laugh from Weiss drew Cinder's eye, "Is my sorrow comical? I suppose it is rather expected at this point." The Schnee was quick to turn her laugh into a more awkward smirk and scoff, "Not at all." Weiss waved her hand, "It's just I can't surmise something that would make the villain that is Cinder Fall grieve enough to despoil a Schnee supply of vice."
That did make the Maiden scoff, "It is something I'm good at, you know, besides the Dust stealing, I don't even drink often." A smirk drew over Weiss as Cinder lost the plot. "Double back," Weiss began and making sure to add a soft smile to her statements, "What was troubling you?" A raised look came over Cinder as she nodded. She was picturing herself crouched in front of Willow's door. Watching the elder Schnee leave with fascination, she used a screwdriver from a reconstruction cart and a hairpin to crack the door.
"Your mother is single now?" Cinder asked, then chuckled drunkenly as Weiss scowled, "Never in your life." The Schnee playfully swatted at the woman's leg, drawing an equally drunken chuckle from Cinder. "No, no. You're right. She's far too high in the Pool, probably has some suitor lined up already." The comment made Weiss laugh, had she not hoped it was as preposterous as it sounded.
"Actually, Neo and I had an argument." Cinder murmured out, her voice lowering as if Neo was in the vents listening in. The Schnee's humour abandoned her. Instead, she leaned in from her position, the stench foreboding ,her attempt though she pressed on. "You two looked thick as thieves before? Was it about this whole thing?" Weiss waved her hand around, Cinder in return, swatted the idea with a huff, "Absolutely not, we were of one mind with that." Cinder murmured.
The Maiden shook her head, adjusting herself to s. Allgher against the wall as she continued. "No, I…" Cinder paused, then nodded with a depressing winded huff, "I felt as though I was unfairly judged by her." The Schnee listened attentively, "Hard to imagine." Weiss added with a smirk. The comment went unwelcomed as Cinder hissed slightly, "I gave everything for a cause that betrayed me, a cause that cast me aside and nearly killed me." Cinder spat, making Weiss' mouth go thin as she considered the wording.
"And when I apologized, something I do not do often…" Cinder paused, then shook her head, "I got nothing in return." Weiss huffed, "What would Neo apologize for?-"Cinder slashed the air again, "No! No, no, it's not that. She has nothing to appologize for, I got her involved with Torchwick and it was my responsibility for Beacon." The affirmation made Weiss' expression sulk as she watched the former villain blink something maddening, making her thankful that the clumps of hair hid the more vulnerable portions of her face. "No, heh, Neo had nothing to offer me. No acceptance, no refusal, all I received was the haughty silence of someone who didn't care. I deserved an answer."
The woman releases a heavy, heavy sigh. Weiss watched as her sole hand drug itself through her hair, slightly revealing what lay on the other side of the nose's bridge. Weiss sighed as Cinder continued in her cold stare on the floor before her, "Neo deserved Torchwick." Weiss muttered, making the woman turn to her with a glare. When Cinder said nothing, Weiss continued, "Come on, you can't deny that they were a perfect criminal match." Cinder turned with a growl, "They weren't together." She muttered, "Torchwick was a professional didn't date on the job, far less with his faithful second in command." Weiss construction of their former antagonist's world shattered.
A low-toned question left the Schnee, "Then what were they?" Cinder shook her head meekly as she shrugged, "I don't know, siblings, mentor and student, father-daughter?" Cinder threw titles out, "I could never nail one down. I don't think there was a name for the connection they had, intimate without a relationship for certain." Cinder fidgeted with her hand, "It… its what you and that damned butler have."
Weiss sighed, understanding to a degree what Cinder was biting for, "Dependency." She murmured. Cinder nodded but continued on, "Right, but it was…" The pair struggled to name it as they fell into a silence. "Moreover, she and I used to work so well together, then she abandoned me." Cinder winced, Weiss' mouth going taut. "Neo was supposed to have my back here, then she failed to show up. We used to work well together, you know, way back when we ran a mock in Beacon." Cinder cut herself off as Weiss deadpanned at her, "Right… Well, we used to. We were a good team of sleuths and, until recently, good partners."
Cinder paused to catch her breath, batting her hair lightly as she continued, "Followed you all the way here from Haven, you know." Weiss couldn't say it was shocking to hear, considering she knew the underhanded things Cinder had done and Neo's knack for turning up where she shouldn't be.
Eventually, Cinder sat a little more upright, her mind ailed through her thoughts recollected. "It will be the second time in my life to say it, but…" Cinder sighed, her knees to her chest with her arm tucked around herself as she mumbled, "I'm sorry for the state of myself." Cinder groaned. Weiss smiled lightly, nodding as she flushed the toilet. "We all have those days or lives in your case."
Cinder huffed at the dry humour, "I suppose talking about it does help." She smirked, her eye flicking to Weiss. After a moment, Cinder piped up again, her head rising from her ball as she looked to her companion. "Weiss?" She asked sheepishly. Weiss smirked quietly at the uncharacteristic display, "Yes, Cinder?" The woman seemed to choke on the words, so much so that Weiss opened the toilet lid again.
"No, not that." Cinder flicked, grumbling slightly at the movement alone. "Then what is…?" Weiss asked, shaking her head as she waited for Cinder to reply. "I was... I was just wondering…" Cinder sighed, "I didn't think it'd be this hard to talk about it." The woman complained to herself, "It seemed so simple in my mind to ask." Weiss continued to observe the skittish nature of her bathroom mate, the blush creasing Cinder's face becoming the most telling element. "Oh, Cinder. I-I'm flattered, but…" Weiss hummed, only for Cinder to freeze and turn with a hand to Weiss' knee as she shook her head frantically, "No! No, no, no-no. I-I don't mean…!" Cinder sighed violently, "I mean. How does one have a relationship?" Soot barked out with an immediate cringe at her own statement.
The Schnee, in turn, had to blink for a moment, "What… do you mean by relationship?" Weiss angled her head as she squinted uncertainly. "Did you not make derogatory mentions about my mother-." Cinder cut her off in a fluster shout, "Yes! I-yes I did, but I…" Cinder groaned, shaking Weiss' leg as she heaved out the words, "I have been to… bed. With others but… how does one connect?" The explanation made the Schnee blush at the 'bed' part and then at the final issue made her sigh.
"W-well, I don't have any reliable information to give you on that." Weiss spat out, one hand nervously cuddling her knee. The uniformity of the statement failed to sway Cinder, "Oh, come on, Little Schnee! I've seen how you look at Ruby!" Weiss turned ruby as Cinder bellowed, "Surely you two must know sa perfectt connecting-"
Weiss blurted out as Cinder spoke, "We're not together!" It looked to drain the Schnee, though it made Cinder shake her head with a scoff regardless. "What? What do you mean 'you're not together? What lie is that?" Cinder initially believed Weiss to be genuinely lying, "If you didn't want to tell me because I'm the bad girl, that's fine, but come up with a more convincing…"
The statement trailed off as Cinder's mouth fell silent as Weiss turned her head downward. "Holy… You two really aren't?" Weiss' head bobbed back and forth. "Gods, and I thought I was depressing." The Fall Maiden said with a huff. "Is she with someone?" Weiss' body shrugged, making the Maiden even more uncomfortable. "Well…" Cinder said, patting Weiss' leg, "That's…"
A slow tick seemed to gradually build in Cinder as she looked up to the door with the rising of her brow. "Weiss!" She said with excitement, making the quiet Schnee jump, her face red as Ruby's hood as she did so. "I have an idea!" Cinder managed, now sat next to Weiss on the edge of her bathtub. "Okay!" Weiss shot out with exasperation. "I'm going to help you with Ruby, and we'll get Neo to help!"
Weiss groaned, "Is that a really good idea?" Cinder scoffed with a shake of her head, "No, but I'm not a good girl, and neither is Neo." Weiss sighed, "I doubt that's a good thing." Rolling her eyes, Cinder stood, "Whatever, come on, the night's young and I need you to help me with an outfit!" Weiss shook her head, "What's wrong with your current one?" Weiss had never met someone so costume happy, "Oh my friend, it's a party! And white is not my colour, now you must have some pieces, or Winter perhaps.-"
Realizing something, Weiss quickly blinked, "Shit." The Schnee said flatly as she snapped to a stand, Cinder still smirking as she watched, "What?" Weiss turned fast to the shower, throwing the thing on as she shouted, "Winter and Whitely!" Cinder shrugged, "What about them?" She scoffed as she watched Weiss move to the door, then turn and point out the shower. "Doesn't matter to you! You just shower, and I'll find you some clothes!" Cinder smirked as the Schnee threw open the door, barely calling out into the room beyond, "Black and gold, please!" Before, the door swung shut behind the rabid Schnee.