Disclaimer: All characters are owned by Rooster Teeth.
Chapter 1 – Meeting
Weiss Schnee
Weiss gently massaged her temples as rain hammered the window next to the chair she had taken occupancy of. She had been sat there for the past hour feeling the stupid rain gradually increase the headache she had woken up with. And to make matters worse, the chair was terribly uncomfortable. Clear plastic split into two indented balls, to her the chair was a clear indication of the companies dedication to style over substance. The only reason she could think of that her father would be interested in the company was that he had recently come under fire by the media for his questionable treatment of faunus employees. If only they knew...
"I'm incredibly sorry Miss Schnee," the receptionist politely interrupted her thoughts. "Mr Scarlatina has just asked me to inform you that he and your father may be another thirty minutes."
Weiss sighed internally.
"Thank you," Weiss smiled back with the mask she had been taught to use her whole life. "I don't suppose there is a café nearby, is there?"
"Oh yes, just turn left outside the main entrance and take the second right." the receptionist replied with a smile. "They have the most amazing little desserts."
Weiss stood and gave the woman a small nod of acknowledgement as she made her way towards the elevator. Fortunately, the elevator didn't take long to reach the main atrium and she strode across it quickly, eager to get some fresh air. Opening her umbrella, she stepped outside and took a deep breath. While she hated the chill that rain often brought with it, the smell of petrichor had always been calming to her. With a genuine smile on her face, she set off towards the café.
With her naturally brisk pace, it didn't take her long to reach the café and step inside. Warm, cinnamon scented air greeted her to remove the chill that had begun to settle in. She poked her umbrella outside and shook off as much of the rain as she could before turning to look at her new waiting area. They were not too busy, but her first impressions of the place were very good.
If Weiss was to guess, tea seemed to be the main theme for the place. Light brown, wood tile floor stretched across the whole café and led into cream walls that held paintings of forests. She recognised some of them as Forever Fall and some as the Emerald Forest, one was a beautifully hand-drawn picture of a copse of Atlas Pines but the others were unknown to her. She looked at each painting until her gaze fell upon the counter made of dark brown wood.
As she walked towards it, she took in the rest of the store. It seemed to be split into two parts. One side was comprised of circular tables of the same dark brown wood the counter was made of and to each table there were three comfortable looking plush chairs coloured dark green.
The other side of the store in contrast held a massive bookcase that matched the rest of the décor, filled with books. The same plush chairs were present here as well, but in this area each one had a small table next to them. Against one of the walls was one long, slightly scratched up couch that looked more like something that would be more at home in a family sitting room. Well, a normal family's sitting room at least.
Over all the effect was rather pleasant. Feeling that this place would perfectly suit her needs, she walked up to the counter. No-one seemed to be present at the moment due to there being a lack of customers so she took the time to look over the food selection they had and saw that while they had a lot of pre-prepared sandwiches, they also made fresh ones for order too. She also took a moment to look at their cakes but seeing how she had never had much of a sweet tooth, most of them didn't appeal to her; however there was a lemon snow cake that didn't look too sweet that caught her eye. She had just finished deciding whether to indulge herself a little or not when she saw a door behind the counter open up, and a raven-haired girl that looked to be her age step out.
The girl was slightly taller than herself, though Weiss was wearing heeled shoes so they were more eye level than they usually would be. The girls hair was pitch black and a pair of cat ears stuck out from the locks. Her uniform was a plain light brown button up shirt that held a name badge the read 'Blake' with black pants. The girls eyes however were striking. Bright amber and rather unnerving, they seemed to be squinting at her as she made her way closer to the counter.
"Can I help you?" the girl asked, her toned tinged with hesitancy and suspicion.
"Yes," Weiss smiled pleasantly despite knowing exactly why the girl was looking at her that way. "Can I get a latte, a chicken salad sandwich and a slice of that snow cake please?"
"Sure thing," Blake nodded slowly and began to enter the order into the register, one eye constantly flicking in her direction. "Is that fresh or from the fridge?"
"Fresh please," Weiss replied.
"Of course, ma'am," the girl finished entering the order and reached over to hit her fist on the door she had just come through.
After a couple of seconds, the door opened and Weiss felt her breath catch as an incredibly beautiful girl with wild blonde hair and lilac eyes stuck her head out.
"Sup?" the blonde asked and looked around quickly. Her eyes widened as they fell on Weiss and her head snapped back to Blake. "Is that..."
"Chicken salad sandwich," Blake cut her off.
"But that's..."
"Yang not now," the girl said sternly, her cat ears flattening.
"Fine, fine," the blonde girl replied. "One chicken salad sandwich coming up, hackles."
Weiss heard Blake tut as she turned around.
"That will be 9.50 Lien please," The girl said. Weiss pulled her card from her purse and pressed it against the reader to pay. "Thank you."
"We'll bring it over for you." Blake replied and handed over the receipt.
With a small nod of her head, Weiss took it and made her way over to the side with the bookcase as it was less occupied. She ran her hand over the books, reading the titles on each of their spines until finally she found one that caught her interest. Bringing her hand up to the top end of the book she tipped it towards herself until she could get the book out of the overstuffed area of the shelf. With her book in hand, she sat in one of the plush, green chairs and began to read while waiting for her lunch to arrive.
"Good read?" she heard from in front of her a few minutes later. "That's one of my friend's favourites."
Weiss looked up to see the blonde haired girl from earlier standing before her holding a tray. Up close and more than just a head, the girl was even more beautiful than she had earlier thought. Her wild blonde hair reached all the way down the girls back allowing the observer's eye to take in the girls body at the same time, which from what she could tell was near flawless; even Weiss, who was very happy with how she looked, couldn't help but be a little jealous. She was tall and every inch of the girl that she could see looked to be powerful, lean muscle. Her chest was generous enough that her work shirt seemed to be struggling to hold it, the open button that revealed some cleavage was enough for Weiss to assume the girl had chosen a shirt that was a size too small on purpose.
"Gotta admit, never thought I'd see a Schnee in here," The girl said as she placed the tray down on the small table beside her.
"I can leave if I am unwelcome," Weiss replied.
"Nah, its fine,"The girl replied with a chuckle. "Just unexpected is all, especially after everything with your father."
"I am not my father," Weiss replied shortly. In the two weeks since the new controversy had hit the news, she had become increasingly frustrated at being held responsible for his actions.
"Sorry," the girl replied, her face falling. "That was rude of me, I have a habit of putting my foot in my mouth."
"Clearly," Weiss replied. Though for some reason the sight of the girl downcast face abated her annoyance.
"Anyways," the girl shifted uncomfortably. "I'll leave you to your lunch."
Weiss watched as the girl began to walk away only for her to stop and turn back.
"Oh by the way, there's a 5 Lien fee if anything is spilt on the books, so please be careful," she said carefully. "Especially with that one, Blake will riot if anything happens to it."
"I will be sure to take the utmost care then," Weiss replied with a small smile.
"Great," the girl was walking slowly backwards now. "If there's any problems with anything just ask for Yang, uhh... that's me."
"I'll keep that in mind, thank you," Weiss felt her eyebrow raise and her lips form a smile as she watched the girl stumble due to her leg bumping into the side of one of the chairs.
"Great," Yang repeated and made her way back to the counter. Weiss could have sworn she saw Blake give the girl a small shake of her head.
With a genuine smile on her face after the encounter, Weiss settled back into her chair with her book and slowly ate her lunch. She knew the coffee would only aggravate her headache later, but for the moment she very much needed the extra boost. The food was better than she expected it to be. The quantity of everything on the sandwich seemed to have the perfect ratio, and the quality was great as well; it was also big enough that Weiss was barely able to finish it. The cake had a nice texture to it as well and ended her meal nicely. Though she had no real experience to judge from, it was moist and full of flavour without being overwhelming so Weiss was more than satisfied.
It wasn't long after finishing everything that she received a message from her father, ordering her to make her way back to Scarlatina Design. She groaned in frustration at being summoned but she knew she couldn't keep the man waiting, as she didn't want to risk causing him any annoyance, especially today.
She took note of her page in the book and cleared up her things to take them to the counter. Both Blake and Yang were there this time talking about something that she couldn't quite make out but the blonde girl was wearing a smile that could brighten up any room. Blake noticed her approach and walked up to the counter to accept the tray.
"Was everything okay?" She asked cautiously.
"Perfect, thank you," Weiss replied. "What time do you open tomorrow? I may stop by for my morning coffee too, if that's okay?"
Weiss made a point to meet the Faunus girl's eyes as she spoke so as to make it very clear that it was a question she would respect the answer to.
"We open at 6AM," Blake smiled back with a slight nod after a moment.
"Thank you," Weiss smiled back and turned to leave but stopped. With a small smile on her face, Weiss turned around and spoke mainly to Yang. "I'm Weiss, by the way. It was a pleasure to meet you both."
The smile that spread across Yang's face was reward enough and with one last smile of her own, Weiss turned and left the café.
Cold wind whipped across her face as she stepped on the street, her umbrella bending slightly from the wind that seemed to be hammering down with renewed vigour. On her way back to Scarlatina Design, the image of the blonde girl's smile forced its way back into her mind and refused to leave. Wide and toothy, it had seemed to have made the girl's eyes shine intensely, and much like the headlight of a truck in the dead of night, the image was now burned into her mind.
Lost in pleasant thoughts, she barely registered that she had arrived at her destination.
"You sure took your time," She heard her father say in his usual droning tone. Growing up hearing it, she had become convinced that he did it on purpose in an attempt to make his client fall asleep, and not know what they were signing. A thought backed by the knowledge that her father was not beyond using such devious technique to get ahead.
"Sorry father," She replied with an incline of her head as she had been taught.
A white car with blue trim and the Schnee company logo plastered on the side pulled up to the sidewalk and a driver stepped out to move quickly around the car to open the door for them.
"The embarrassment of having to ask the staff of such a business where my own daughter had wandered off to when I had ordered you to remain in the waiting room," He sneered.
"I was hungry," Weiss replied. Even though it was the truth, she couldn't help but feel like a child as those words left her mouth. She received a hard glare in return.
"Schnee's do not make excuses, Weiss," He growled as he leant forward. "You are my daughter and you will do as I say, do you understand?"
Weiss felt a shiver run through her body as her father's cold, blue eyes locked onto her. Eyes that she had unfortunately inherited.
"Yes father," Weiss nodded.
"Good," he squinted and moved back to a proper sitting position and addressed the driver. "Take us back to Schnee tower."
They spent the journey back to her father's office in silence as usual and Weiss mentally chastised herself for having once again buckled under her fathers gaze.
It wasn't until she let out an imperceptible sigh and the scent of coffee hit her nose that she remembered the pleasant afternoon she had had. That memory somehow found its way back to the smile Yang had given her, it was also the thought that she may be able to see it again tomorrow that finally managed to pull her from her from her self-destructive thoughts.
For the first time in many years, Weiss had something to look forward too.
A/N
So this is the start of my Freezerburn story. I've been wanting to do this for a while now but honestly, writing Weiss has always been a daunting prospect for me since she is a character that skirts a fine line between kind and bitchy so it is very easy to push her over that line. However I'm hoping I can do her justice here. As for updates, this story will be updated as I write the chapters but I am still working on my other series so I'm not sure when the next chapter will be up. I will do my best to make sure it is not too long of a wait. I also dont intend for this story to come for too many chapters, I'm think 15-20 at most.
But yeah, with all that said, please Follow/Favourite if you enjoyed what you read and let me know what you thought in a review. Criticism is always very helpful.
