Olivia settled into a routine over the next few days, starting with waking up earlier in the morning in order to study and do homework then. She found that waiting until after classes to do it each day was a bad idea. Olivia could only do paperwork for so long, and certainly wasn't up for doing homework after sitting around in classes all day. By doing her homework early in the morning, she was finishing assignments while at her best.

And for the most part, that was how she managed to get by in her classes. Unfortunately, her current assignment from Professor Oobleck had left her stumped. It required more intricate knowledge of history to pull points from varying moments in time that were important. Olivia lacked the depth of knowledge or patience to search for so many different points of interest, and her temper was at an all time high every time she tried to go back to it.

And so it was that later that day, after she'd gotten rid of some of her pent up aggression by challenging an entire team in Miss Goodwitch's class, that Olivia begrudgingly sought Weiss for help. The Schnee heiress cheered her on with the rest of their team after the match was over, along with team Lion. Olivia was the first to try and take on an entire team. She was just glad that Goodwitch had approved the bout. One weakling wouldn't have been enough to soothe her frustrations.

"Good job, Olivia!" Ruby cheered loudly, throwing her hands up into the air, "I like how you lured two of them into Oath's path at the same time! Russel didn't stand a chance!"

'Was that what one of their names was?' Olivia shrugged half-heartedly, glad for the praise but knowing it had been a simple enough feat to not truly deserve it, "After the first throw, it was pretty obvious which ones weren't paying attention to their surroundings. You always want to take advantage of an opponent's weak points, exploit them to their fullest, and use them to claim victory. It's your best chance at success."

Ruby nodded happily, glad for the advice. Blake raised an eyebrow, a slight smirk on her lips, "Be careful not to forget your own in the meantime. A presumed weakness could just as easily be a feint designed to create openings in your defense."

Olivia hummed agreement, "I wouldn't expect to come across something like that against any of these opponents, but Blake makes a good point. There are a lot of intricacies in a fight. Awareness is key."

Ruby opened her mouth to say something but was interrupted by Goodwitch down on the stage, who had finished up piecing the arena back together after Olivia's fight, "If no one else would like to issue a challenge, we'll move on to the next spar," she waited a few moments, and when no one stood to interject, continued, "Well then," her eyes traveled down to her scroll before returning to the stands, "Weiss Schnee and Lie Ren, if you would both change into your combat attire, we'll get the next spar underway."

"Wish me luck!" Weiss said uncertainly, trying to keep a positive attitude in the tone of her voice but failing.

"Luck has very little to do with a fight," Olivia scoffed, glancing over at Ren. The rest of team Lion cheered him on as he made his way down the stairs, "How about tips instead?"

"Tips are good, too," Weiss confirmed, lips twitching into a hesitant smile.

Olivia turned to follow Ren with her eyes as he made his way into the mens' changing rooms, "Ren is a close range fighter without much mobility, but with plenty of skill to make up for it. Both of his weapons are fast fire rate, low impact. Use your black glyphs to block his shots. Do the same if he throws one of his weapons. He uses them like boomerangs, so if you can keep one or both from returning then you'll deprive him of a weapon. Don't get cocky, though. He's adept at aura control and is just as dangerous with his bare hands. Stay on your toes, and use your speed to your advantage."

Olivia turned back around to regard Weiss, then drop her face into her hands while shaking her head, "And for Oum's sake, don't write that down. You don't have time to check notes in the middle of a fight, Princess. Commit them to memory and… do your best."

Weiss slowly placed her notepad and pen back away with an embarrassed smile before drawing herself up, "Th-thanks, Olivia. I'll try and keep all that in mind…" she nodded firmly to the other two and set off for the changing room, hands anxiously clenching her skirt. Olivia realized with a start that this would be her first fight against others in either of their two teams, the rest having been against fodder.

"She's doomed," Olivia stated with a sigh, sitting back down between Blake and Ruby.

"Hey! Have some faith in Weiss! She can do this!" Ruby chided, leveling a glare at Olivia.

"Problem is, I have a lot more faith in Ren," Olivia retorted, "I've spent a good portion of the last month sparring against him and Nora. Neither of them are pushovers. Weiss has her work cut out for her if she wants to win this one."

"Well, all we can do is cheer her on for now," Blake replied with a simple smile, "I am glad you're taking your deal with her seriously, though. Teammates are supposed to help each other."

Olivia shrugged, "I need her help with homework later, so I'll do what I can now to pay it forward."

"Still," Blake bumped her shoulder into Olivia's side, giving her a smile that was almost doting, "Progress is progress. I can't tell you how happy I am seeing you two getting along."

"Me too!" Ruby interrupted cheerily, drumming her feet against the wooden bleachers, "We're finally a team!"

Olivia smiled, refraining from sharing the entire reason she'd wanted to get her frustrations out on an entire team in the first place, 'No point ruining their moment,' and she had to admit... even if Weiss was a Schnee, 'It's nice being able to help someone…'

"So, how much you betting!?" Nora exclaimed from a couple rows beneath them, turning to face the remainder of team Rainbow, "Twenty lien says Ren comes out on top!"

Olivia smirked, "Oh my, Nora~ Are you sure you want Ren on top of another woman like that? That's awfully generous of you~"

"What!?" Nora crossed her arms with a glare, "That isn't what I meant and you know it!"

Blake turned to the side to hide a laugh with a cough, while Ruby's face went red. She managed to peek through her fingers to look between them at Nora, "I-I'll take you up on that offer! Weiss is gonna win this one!"

"Ha!" Nora stood with her arms crossed, seeming to almost look down her nose at Ruby despite being several feet lower than her on the bleachers, "Put your money where your mouth is then, Red!"

Ruby dug in her pocket and pulled out twenty lien, dropping down to the row below to slap it on the bench between them, "And if Weiss wins, you have to do our laundry for a week!"

"Upping the ante, are we?" Nora chuckled, putting her hands on her hips, "In that case," Nora put a hand to her chin, trying to think of something Ruby would have to do in exchange, "If Ren wins, you have to bring breakfast up to our room for a week! Hope you can carry all those pancaaaakes~"

Ruby grinned confidently and held out her hand. Nora roughly slapped hers into the grip and shook it, sealing their bet. The ginger Mistralian raised her eyes to Blake and Olivia, extending the challenge, "Anything you two want to lose~?"

"I don't have any spare lien," Blake confessed weakly.

"Oh~? Someone doesn't believe in their teammate," Nora mocked jokingly.

"I've seen them both fight," Blake said carefully, glancing to Ruby with some hesitance, "And Olivia isn't the only one experienced at sizing up opponents. I know a bad bet when I see one."

"What!?" Ruby crossed her arms, turning away to face the stage while she pouted, "My partner will show all of you! Just wait and see!"

Olivia shook her head with a smile and watched as both Ren and Weiss exited their respective changing rooms. Ren went to the far side of the arena. Weiss stopped near the edge nearest the changing rooms and pulled her rapier free from her hip, leveling it in Ren's direction with her left hand.

'Myrtenaster'… Is that even a word?' Once again, the ways of hunters in training confused her. At least the name Weiss had chosen sounded high class, just like the rest of her.

The timer began its countdown, display showing a large picture of both Ren and Weiss with their current aura levels below. Ren pulled his weapons free and aimed them in Weiss's direction, bending his knees in preparation to move the instant the timer reached zero. Weiss closed her eyes for a moment and let out a deep breath.

The buzzer sounded loudly, announcing the beginning of the fight.

Weiss waved Myrtenaster between herself and Ren, conjuring a spinning black glyph that blocked the shots he fired across the arena floor. Already, he was moving, running in a clockwise circle near the outside edge to circle around to Weiss's side.

Weiss waved Myrtenaster once more, firing off four ice dust projectiles that curved out around her black glyph and honed in on Ren. Unlike with her fight against Olivia, though, Weiss immediately followed it up by dropping the black glyph and creating a white one behind herself. While Ren was in the middle of dodging in a forward roll to avoid her projectiles, she flew into the fray to catch him off guard.

Myrtenaster slammed in a straight lunge against Ren's chest as he came up from his roll, knocking him backwards. Ren rolled with the hit as well as he could, using his hands to backflip away and slide to a stop on his feet, dagger scraping against the floor to maintain his stability.

Weiss didn't let up, rushing back within range to slash at his chest. Ren leaned just out of reach and retaliated, becoming a flurry of blades that Weiss struggled to deflect. With one particularly good attack, Ren caught the edge of her rapier within the gap between his blade and pistol and pushed it to the side to leave Weiss defenseless. He spun quickly, lashing out with a brutal kick that caught her in the ribs and launched her across the arena floor.

Weiss hit the ground hard, sliding several feet before struggling to her feet. She was given little warning before one of Ren's daggers came streaking through the air in her direction. She dodged awkwardly and waved her rapier, turning around to cast another black glyph in the dagger's path behind herself. It slammed into the glyph's smooth surface before getting knocked off course and falling to the ground off the stage.

Weiss breathed out in relief and turned back to level her rapier between herself and Ren once more. The Mistralian took a moment to give her an appreciative nod, then returned to his combat stance, left hand now weaponless.

'Hopefully she doesn't let that get to her head. Another aura infused blow could cripple her chances,' Olivia didn't need to look at the screen to sense that Weiss's aura was down to eighty percent. Ren had likely added his aura when he kicked Weiss in the side. Their levels were nearly identical at the moment, both having gotten at least one solid attack in so far.

Weiss raised her offhand to the side of her blade and ran it down it's length, the blade itself beginning to shimmer blue. Ren eyed it warily, preparing for whatever it was that Weiss had planned. Olivia sat forward in interest, seeing a new attack for the first time.

'The Princess certainly didn't use that during our fight.'

Weiss suddenly slashed her rapier through the air, the shimmering blue flying off it like water. Ren realized the implications an instant before the ice dust took effect, throwing his hands up to protect himself as the ice took hold on the floor in front of him. The dust expanded outwards, an array of piercing shards flashing into existence and slamming into Ren's arms.

Ren was knocked backwards, recovering quickly and using an aura infused hand to break off the ice spreading across his forearm. His senses warned him just in time to dodge to the side, Weiss having launched herself above the ice to flash downward in a straight lunge with added speed from one of her glyphs.

Ren caught Weiss by the wrist as she passed and spun on his heel, bodily throwing her back towards the ice she'd conjured. Trapped between the ice and Ren, Weiss had no choice but to try and defend herself against the flurry of attacks that came her way a moment after. She backed further into the grouping of ice shards, dodging from side to side, narrowly avoiding Ren's attacks that would then shatter ice in their wake.

Weiss finally ran out of places to retreat to, backed completely against the mass of ice behind her. Ren slashed out with his dagger and caught her rapier once more, knocking it to the side and striking out with his fist. The aura enhanced blow caught her directly in the stomach and blasted her backwards through the sheet of ice. Weiss gasped in pain, hand reflexively opening to let Myrtenaster fall free and clatter to the ground between herself and Ren.

Olivia groaned audibly, feeling Weiss's aura plunge in response to the blow. Caught between Ren and the ice, she'd taken the full brunt of the attack and was now down to less than forty percent. Weiss struggled to her feet, falling back to her knee once before standing shakily. She watched Ren with wary eyes, glancing at the rapier between Ren and herself.

'Come on, Princess. Remember what you have at your disposal. Your weapon isn't all you have to depend on.'

Olivia sighed as Weiss dove for the rapier, putting herself in a terrible position against Ren's follow up attack. The heiress was caught in the chest by his dagger, the edge slamming into her aura and propelling her backwards, still weaponless. Ren glanced to the screen above them and raised his pistol, firing off the last few rounds needed to drop Weiss below fifteen percent.

"That's the match!" Goodwitch called out loudly, knowing Ren to be careful and already waving her riding crop to rid the stage of excess ice.

Ren put his weapon away and extended a hand down to help Weiss up from the floor. She accepted with as much grace as she could muster, sweating profusely from exerting herself so much in the match. Olivia couldn't quite hear the words they shared, but Weiss smiled afterward and nodded thanks before retrieving her weapon and heading back up to the stands.

Nora loudly swiped the lien off the bench and grinned coyly at Ruby, "Make sure you bring plenty of bacon, Ruby~"

Ruby slumped, arms crossed and refusing to meet Nora's gaze, "Lucky shot. Ren won't beat her again, not when Olivia is going to train her!"

"What, me?" Olivia balked, "My tips weren't good enough?"

"Not even close, Olivia!" Ruby replied fiercely, staring her down, "As team leader, I order you to train Weiss with all you've got! Team Rainbow won't be beaten by the likes of team Lion!"

"You do remember I lost to Pyrrha, right?" Olivia asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Doesn't count. Pyrrha is Pyrrha," Ruby huffed.

"You don't have to if you don't want to, Olivia…" Weiss spoke up weakly, having overheard most of their conversation while heading up the stairs to them, "Your tips definitely helped me improve somewhat."

'May as well make the most of it.'

Olivia sighed in exasperation, "Alright, alright. Enough with the reverse psychology. I'll train you," she stared at Weiss, "In exchange, you're helping me with my homework later, and I'd better get an A+ on it."

"I wasn't trying to…" Weiss began to argue before trailing off, looking at Olivia in surprise, "You'll actually help me train? For real?"

"Quid pro quo, Princess. You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours," Olivia corrected.

"I accept," Weiss smiled widely, sitting back down on the bench and smoothing her skirt out before crossing her legs. She looked back over to Olivia, "Do you… want to start after class?"

Olivia shrugged, "If you're up for it. Your aura took quite a beating just now. Sure you'll recover in time?"

"If we take it slow…" Weiss turned to look over the class, "There are plenty of bouts left before then. I think I'll be alright."

Olivia nodded agreement and sat back, relaxing as class continued on. She leaned back a little so that she could see Weiss past Ruby and spoke to her behind the younger girl's back, "I suppose there's some things we could go over while we wait for class to finish."

Weiss brightened, "You have more tips?"

"Something like that," Olivia raised her chin towards Myrtenaster, "Can you create glyphs without that?"

Weiss looked down at her weapon and placed her fingers lightly on its length, "Only my white glyphs. They act as propellants. The black glyphs require gravity dust, which I keep stored in my rapier."

Olivia nodded understanding, "You should have used a glyph to knock your weapon back towards yourself instead of diving for it, then. You could have kept yourself in a defensive stance and reclaimed your weapon without putting yourself in such a terrible position."

Weiss's eyes widened, staring down at Myrtenaster, "You're… you're right. I never thought of trying that."

"Can you control the size of your glyphs?"

"Yes."

"And you can move them?"

"Yes…" Weiss frowned, "It's difficult to control, though."

"But not impossible, right? You kept your glyph moving with us on the boat," Olivia pointed out.

"True. It does take quite a bit of concentration. What did you have in mind?"

"Do you think you could block off someone's barrel? Keep them from firing their weapon off completely?"

"That's…" Weiss pondered the question for a few seconds, then placed a hand on Myrtenaster and raised the other. At the end of her index finger, a small black glyph appeared. She trailed her finger in the air, concentrating hard to make the glyph move along with it. After a handful of seconds, she gasped, letting the glyph disappear and breathing heavily for a moment, "It's far too difficult to control something so small with that much precision."

"We'll come back to that, then," Olivia smirked, giving Weiss a look of appreciation, "You might not be as hopeless as I thought, Princess. Your semblance has a lot of potential, with the right mind to guide you."

"Oh~?" Weiss smiled, accepting the praise with some small color in her cheeks, "That sounds like an offer I can't refuse."

"Nope," Olivia stated simply, ruffling a hand through Ruby's hair, "Our fearless leader ordered it, remember? We don't have any choice in the matter."

"That's right!" Ruby grinned, straightening her hair back out, "If Olivia can't beat Pyrrha, then Weiss will!"

Olivia laughed, "I wouldn't quite go that far, kid. One could dream, though."

"You never know. Given enough practice, anyone could become capable of competing against me," Pyrrha spoke up kindly, a hopeful glimmer in her eye.

Olivia remembered how devastated the Mistralian champion had seemed after their spar, and gave her a conspiratorial smile, "I guess I have no choice then," she turned back to Weiss with an evil grin, "You're going to train harder than you ever have before, Princess. I hope you're up for the task."

Weiss sat up straighter, "I look forward to it."

"Hold on to that confidence. You're gonna need it."

Yang spoke up from the side, leaning forward to look past Pyrrha, "Do you want to come with me in the mornings to work out, Weiss? You're going to need it if you want to contest with Pyrrha's athleticism."

Olivia tapped her chin with her index finger in thought, turning to regard Weiss and her extremely lithe form, "It wouldn't hurt, Princess, and would definitely be worth it in the long run."

"I go to the gym most mornings anyway," Yang added, "I could definitely show you the ropes so you could go on your own time, even. You wouldn't always have to go with me."

"I-I think I'll take you up on that," Weiss accepted, flashing Yang a smile. It quickly grew into a frown, "You aren't going to try and make me do anything extreme, are you? I'd rather not suffer the rest of the day."

Yang waved a hand dismissively, "I know you aren't up for the type of work out I'm used to. We'll start small and you can work your way up to more on your own time. I'll just focus on teaching you the basics."

"Then I will gladly join you, Yang. Thank you."

"No problem, Princess~" Yang smirked and winked at Olivia while Weiss groaned into her hands.

Class continued with some light conversation between the group, exchanging banter and plans alike. Olivia agreed that she would spend three days each week after Goodwitch's class training Weiss, while the heiress would give her help with classwork whenever Olivia needed it. All things considered, she thought she'd gotten the better half of the deal.

'Help with my homework, and I get to beat up the Princess? Why didn't I start doing this whole 'teammates' thing sooner?'

Once the final spar had ended, Goodwitch excused the class and fixed up the arena for the last time, exiting through the door at the back of the stage while the class filed out up the stairs. Olivia stretched, waiting behind with Weiss while everyone else said their goodbyes.

"Don't be too hard on her, Short Stack. She might like that~" Yang whispered in passing, trying to get a rise out of her.

"You never know," she smirked right back, "Maybe I do, too~"

Yang laughed and followed after the rest of team Lion. Ruby and Blake paused at the door, the faunus trying to give her a hard stare that demanded she behave. Olivia made a small shooing motion with her hand, unnoticed by everyone except Blake. She nodded and left, leaving only Ruby remaining aside from the two of them.

"Good luck, you two! Train hard!" Ruby cheered, pumping a fist in the air, "I'll have a game set up for when you get back!"

"Thanks, kid. See you in a bit," Olivia smiled, giving her a wave as she left then turning to face the heiress, "Alrighty then. You ready?"

Weiss nodded nervously, eyeing Oath on Olivia's back, "How are we going to do this? Just… fight until my aura gives out again?"

Olivia pulled Oath free and flexed a small amount of aura into it, causing the weapon to straighten out into its full length. She smirked at the look of worry on Weiss's face before returning the weapon to her back and stepping past to the stairs, "First things first. Brainstorm."

"Brainstorm?" Weiss mimicked back questioningly, following a few steps behind Olivia as she walked down to the arena floor.

"Yup, brainstorm. What uses does your semblance have? The most important thing is knowing your limits, but at the same time, discussing it now might inspire you to try something in the future. Catching an opponent off guard is always a great way to turn the tide, and it won't be until you know what you can do before you start wondering what you could do."

Olivia eyed Weiss up and down, crossing her arms, "So, tell me all there is to know about the Schnee semblance. Different glyphs, that summoning thing you mentioned. All of it."

Weiss rested a hand on Myrtenaster as she began describing each of the different glyphs she could use, the abilities she'd seen her sister pull off but had yet to duplicate, and eventually, summoning."

"So wait, you have to stand still in order to use them?" Olivia frowned.

"As far as I've seen. Winter always does while she's using hers," Weiss confirmed, "Why. Is that so bad?"

"Well, just imagine trying to summon against someone like Nora, who has a strong ranged attack. She'll get a free shot on you every time you try. You'd never get a moment to spare to control it," Olivia placed a hand to her chin, "I could see them being valuable outside of combat, though."

A thought occurred to her, and she snapped her eyes back over to Weiss, "Have you ever killed a nevermore?"

Weiss shrugged, "Only a few adolescents, why?"

Olivia rolled her eyes, "Because you could literally fly, Princess. That's a huge advantage in more scenarios than you'd think," she pulled out her scroll and opened up her contacts, swiping down until she found Qrow's name.

"Hey, you wanna be a pal? My teammate and I need to kill a nevermore. Know of any around Vale?" Olivia hit send and waited, tapping her foot against the floor impatiently.

"I think you're getting a little ahead of yourself, Olivia…" Weiss spoke up nervously, "I have to kill it myself, and I don't know if I could handle a nevermore as I am now. Certainly not a nevermore the same size as the one you took down during initiation…"

"It doesn't have to be massive," Olivia replied, but let herself relax a bit, "I see your point, though. Does anything you kill now count towards what you'll be able to summon later? You've already unlocked your semblance, after all."

"They'll count," Weiss answered, glad that Olivia had backtracked on what appeared to be immediate plans, "I even have something special hidden up my sleeve once I'm capable."

"Good," Olivia replied truthfully. Her scroll buzzed and she looked down at Qrow's reply, stating that he didn't know of any currently but that he'd have Ozpin keep an eye out.

"We'd better work on getting you to that point first, then," Olivia pulled Oath from her back and extended it out once more, "Now, I want you to come at me with everything you've got. No holding back. I'll focus on defending myself, but if you leave too large of an opening, I'll retaliate. Sound fair?"

Weiss nodded in determination and pulled Myrtenaster free, holding it between the two of them.

"Whenever you're ready, Princess."

Weiss began her assault, dashing in to slash, lunge, or hit Olivia with her projectiles. Olivia took it all in stride, relying on her sixth sense to control her reflexes while judging Weiss with a critical eye. Her stance was decent, if too stiff. Her footwork was nearly perfect, if far too slow. Her attacks were quick, but lacked the strength to break through Olivia's defenses.

On and on for the next half an hour, Olivia kept track of points she would bring up later. By the end of it all, with Weiss breathing heavily and sweat pouring down her face, dust expended and limbs shaking tiredly, Olivia returned Oath to her back and stood with her hands on her hips.

"That wasn't half bad, Princess. You almost had me a few times."

"...Don't… patronize… me…" Weiss struggled out, standing with her hands on her knees. Her hair had started to fall loose, braid coming undone after all of the frenetic attacks she'd attempted near the end when her strength was failing and desperation began to cloud her judgement. Her aura shimmered in places, still healing the bruises on her arms and legs from where Olivia had retaliated during that time.

"I'm not. That was a good fir- er, second attempt," Olivia replied truthfully, "And it gave me a lot of information. We'll get you in championship condition in no time."

Weiss frowned, doubting Olivia's words when the spider faunus still stood there, as pristine as she'd been when they first began. Olivia couldn't help it. Her semblance did most of the work for her when it came to physical strength and speed. She wasn't even out of breath.

"Well…" Weiss drew herself up, standing tall once more, "If you say so… I'll trust your judgement, Olivia."

"Good," Olivia replied easily. She walked past Weiss on her way towards the stairs and waited for the heiress to collect herself enough to follow. On the way back to the room, she listed out all the faults she'd found in Weiss's fighting style, and offered up as many suggestions as she could think of. Olivia didn't mind so much when Weiss pulled her notebook back out and jotted down notes while they walked, paying close attention to everything Olivia said.

Olivia swiped her scroll past the lock on their door and opened it up to step into their dorm, "So, when you're on the defense, you want to concentrate on breaking your opponent's momentum. Once the fight starts swaying in the other person's favor, it can be very hard to get it back under your control. Best to do something sooner, rather than later. Even if you'd had to sacrifice taking a hit from Ren earlier on, it would have been better to keep yourself from being back into the ice completely."

Olivia waved her greeting to Ruby and Blake, the former sitting on the floor playing the fighting game she'd mentioned while Blake sat up in her bed, reading. Weiss followed through the door that Olivia held open for her, pen scratching away at her notebook with handwriting that still managed to look neat and tidy. Weiss moved to her desk immediately to finish, then looked back up at Olivia expectantly.

Olivia shrugged, "That's all for today, I'm afraid. I expect payment in the form of you being my study partner, due tomorrow morning before you go to the gym with Yang. Fair?"

Weiss nodded, already turning back to reread through her notes, "I'll be happy to help. You've given me so much to think about already… How do you keep track of all this while you're fighting?"

"You don't," Olivia confessed honestly, "It becomes second nature after you've been in enough fights. That's why letting you attack me was so important. It let me think about what I would have done differently in your shoes and gave me time to remember why I do the things I do."

Weiss set her pen down and wiped a hand across her forehead, grimacing when it came back slick with sweat, "I think that's enough for the time being. If you don't mind, I'm going to take the first shower."

Weiss waited until Olivia nodded her acceptance before heading over to her dresser and grabbing a change of clothes along with a towel. Olivia sat down next to Ruby and pulled out her own scroll, flipping it in her hands while she waited for the younger girl to finish the current match she was playing in.

Once Weiss had stepped into the bathroom and firmly locked the door, Blake raised her head from her book, "So, how'd it go? It sounded like it went well."

Olivia shrugged, "Weiss has a ways to go before she'll be able to stand toe to toe with someone like Pyrrha, but I think I can mold her into a force to be reckoned with. Give me a month... maybe two? She'll be a power house soon enough."

"I'm glad you didn't come back arguing. She might just be growing on you~" Blake smirked, turning back to her book.

Olivia shivered visibly, pulling her arms in closer to herself as if struck by a sudden chill, "Don't make me puke. I'm tolerating her, at best," she poked Ruby in the shoulder, "And that's mainly for your benefit, kid. I can't stand when you make that face."

"What face?" Ruby turned to look at her, eyes going wide and lip trembling slightly as if she was about to cry.

Olivia narrowed her eyes and pushed her to the side playfully, "That one."

Ruby giggled and went back to her game, managing to finally finish up the boss battle she'd been in. She backed out and set it up for two players, waiting for Olivia to connect her scroll before going to the character select screen. She navigated through them, only having played the game a few times before and more than ready to try out some characters that she hadn't yet.

Olivia paused overtop a smaller female character with no visible weapons and shot Ruby a raised eyebrow.

"That's Mantis," Ruby pointed more closely to the screen, drawing Olivia's attention to the character's hand, "She uses a sword with an invisible blade. It has decent reach and power, but she's really hard to play because you can't tell how far her attacks are going to go," Ruby pointed off to one of the other characters, "You might want to try Yuliana instead. She's more um… noob friendly."

Olivia let out a mocking gasp, holding a hand to her chest lightly, "You don't think I can handle a little challenge?"

"I mean… Mantis is really hard to play, Olivia."

Olivia selected Mantis anyway, interested in the similarity between their abilities and hoping to have a more intimate understanding of how to use her because of her own experience.

Ten minutes later, Olivia had to agree with Ruby. Mantis was hard. No amount of focusing on her sixth sense would allow Olivia to sense anything happening on screen. It simply didn't work that way. She gave up with a frustrated sigh after her fourth loss in a row and lay back on the carpet, putting her arms behind her head.

"I give, kid. You're better than I'll ever be."

"Aw, c'mon! Don't quit now! You did better that time!" Ruby looked down on Olivia with hope-filled eyes.

Olivia chuckled, "Sorry. You'll have to get Yang over here if you want to keep going. I don't think Blake or Weiss are really going to be up for it either."

Ruby sighed, "Fiiiine," and backed out to the main menu, letting the menu music play in the background while she disconnected her scroll to message Yang.

While Ruby was busy with her scroll, Olivia heard the shower turn off and could feel Weiss stepping out to dry herself off. Olivia tried to take her mind off it, but with nothing else to do, noticed her attention continuing to drift back to what the heiress was doing. The heiress began running the towel across her smooth arms, across her back, over her chest, down between her…

'Alrighty then!' Olivia hopped up quickly, pocketing her scroll and moving over to her dresser to change her top out for something more Vale appropriate, "I'm going to head down into the city for dinner. I'll be back in a couple hours if you want me to bring you back anything."

"Why don't we all go?" Ruby perked up, message to Yang still incomplete in her hands. Blake's head lifted up from her book as well, head tilting to regard Olivia.

"I haven't had dinner yet, either. Did you have a place in mind?"

'Anywhere but here?' Olivia gave a half-hearted shrug, easing up as the conversation served to distract her, "I could go for pretty much anything right about now. I had a pretty light lunch."

"Pasta?" Ruby chipped in.

"Sounds good to me..." Olivia lost focus, not hearing Ruby's response as she felt Weiss moving the towel down slowly, across her smooth stomach, past her hips, down her legs, back up her thighs until she reached...

Feeling the heat going to her cheeks, Olivia stammered out a quick, "Uh, let the Princess know. I'll grab Lion!" and darted from the room before the other two could protest. She crossed the hall and knocked on Lion's door a moment later, using a bit more force than was necessary.

Olivia could feel Yang hopping up from her bed to walk over and let her in. The blond's face brightened, "How'd training go?"

Olivia stepped in past her, breathing a sigh of relief as Weiss faded further out of range, especially once the door closed behind her, "As well as could be expected," she looked over at Ren where he sat on his bed, her mind still struggling to force the mental images from her head, "Well done, by the way. Sorry I wasn't rooting for you as loudly as Nora was. Different teams and all that."

Ren smiled lightly, "That's fine, Olivia. I wouldn't expect you to go against your team like that."

"What brings you to our dorm?" Pyrrha asked, noticing that something seemed off about the spider faunus.

"Nothing much," Olivia replied easily, finally getting herself under control, "We're all going down into Vale for dinner. I was wondering if you wanted to join us again like last time."

"Too late!" Nora replied energetically, shooting Olivia an apologetic smile, "Pyrrha already ordered us pizzas for delivery. They should be here soon."

"Maybe next time?" Pyrrha smiled.

"Alright," Olivia backed up to the door and gave a little wave, "You guys enjoy yourselves, then. Guess it's a team dinner this time around."

"Have fun~" Yang opened the door for Olivia once more and closed it gently after she'd stepped out, leaving the faunus alone in the hall. She felt out tentatively, and breathed out a breathless 'Thank Oum' when she felt Weiss fully clothed and sitting at her desk, fixing up her hair.

Olivia opened the door back into the Rainbow dorm and flashed a smile, "Looks like Lion already has plans. It's just us," she glanced over to Weiss, "You in, Princess?"

"Of course. I'm a little hungry after training earlier. Ruby mentioned pasta? Any place in particular?" Weiss ran a brush through her hair while she spoke, looking between the rest of her teammates.

"Ruby? I don't know any places like that," Olivia confessed.

"Me and my family went to one a while back. I think I can find it," Ruby replied, pulling out her scroll to bring up a map of Vale for directions.

"My family and I," Weiss corrected absentmindedly.

"My family and I," Ruby copied back automatically, still searching for the restaurant. She gave them a thumbs up a few seconds later, grinning widely, "Found it~ I thought I remembered it being on Main but it's a couple streets over."

"I'm ready when you all are," Olivia offered, making some minor adjustments to the coat she'd pulled on while making her hasty retreat. It hid her veins like most of her clothes, making her appear like any other human.

"One minute," Weiss replied, quickly fixing her hair back into a ponytail with practiced ease. She finished it off with the small crown piece, testing it to make sure it was firmly planted before nodding happily, "Okay, I'm ready."

Blake closed her book and hopped down to the floor, still dressed in her combat outfit from earlier. She'd only had to fight one of the weaker students, and was still pristine regardless. Ruby hopped up from where she'd been sitting on the edge of Weiss's bed and grinned.

"Team Rainbow, let's head out!" Ruby led the way out the door, followed by the rest of the team as their leader marched down the hallway giggling.

Olivia became lost in her own thoughts while the others conversed, her mind drifting off to what had just happened.

'That was only natural, right? I had nothing else to take my attention off her, and I'm so used to focusing on what's she's doing since she's a Schnee…' Olivia nodded to herself, 'Totally understandable.'

So what if she couldn't stop picturing Weiss naked?

'I've just been away from Melanie too long. I got all worked up because she was supposed to meet me tonight, and then our plans fell through because Miltia got sick… That's it,' a little alone time later and she'd be good as new, no more thoughts straying dangerously close to betraying her own race, 'Nope. None at all.'

'On the other hand, I've never reacted that way when it was Ruby or Blake freshening up…'

"Olivia?"

The spider faunus flinched, surprised by Weiss's sudden presence next to her. They had made it all the way down to the Beacon grounds and were making their way towards the bullheads in the distance. Ruby and Blake blazed a trail ahead of them, a dozen steps ahead of the two that took up the rear.

Weiss frowned, then shifted into a coy grin, "I thought you couldn't be surprised?"

Olivia could feel her heart beating wildly in her chest and put a hand to it, trying to relax, "I'm not… usually. Just something on my mind is all. What's up, Princess?"

"I wanted to say… thank you. I don't think I did earlier," Weiss confessed slowly, eyes straying away in embarrassment. Her eyes fell to the ground, shoulders slumping sadly, "When I first found out we would be on the same team, I… I almost quit right then. Ruby was there with me, though. She told me over and over how nice you could be, that you just needed to warm up to me first. I didn't really believe her, but… part of me wanted to, wanted to hope that was she was saying was true," Weiss's eyes returned, locking on to Olivia's own, "I'm glad I stayed, and I hope we can get to know each other better…"

Olivia's breath caught at the admission, magenta eyes trapped by cold blue, "Me too, Princess… You've been… a pleasant surprise, to say the least. And if I'm being honest…" she sighed, looking down to the pavement, "Part of me wanted to leave too. I spent so long dreaming of coming to Beacon and joining a team with Ren and Nora, only to end up with a Schnee…" her mind went back to the ginger boy she had murdered in retaliation, spurred on by her fellow assassins and criminals. She felt regret clutch at her chest tightly, worming it's way deeper into her heart, "I'm sorry for the things I did…"

"I forgive you," Weiss smiled and winked, "See? One of those redeeming qualities that Ruby mentioned~"

'You wouldn't if you knew the truth…' Olivia faked a smile in return and increased her pace, ready to get her mind off it all, "Let's leave the past behind us, eh? I don't know about you, but right now, I'm ready for a nice meal out with my team," she smirked for real, eyeing the heiress, "By the way, I'm paying."

"By all means," Weiss smiled in return, hefting her purse, "I suppose that means I've got the tip, huh?"

They both laughed, ready to begin a fun night out between friends.

Olivia could only hope it stayed that way.

Dinner ended up running much later than any of them had anticipated. Olivia eventually called it a night when Ruby fell asleep at the table, head buried in her forearm and hair hanging dangerously close to her bowl of leftover pasta sauce.

Olivia helped support Ruby on the walk back to the bullheads, and then the rest of the way to the dorm. Blake unlocked the door for them, holding it open so that Olivia could get Ruby inside. She shrouded her limbs for a moment, and hefted the smaller girl as carefully as possible up into her bunk bed.

Ruby grumbled the entire way, and didn't bother worrying about her pajamas. She wrapped herself tightly into her blanket and rolled over to face the wall, snoring quietly within moments. Olivia smiled and headed over to her dresser, glad to see that both Blake and Weiss were doing the same. The spider faunus stepped into the bathroom and changed before brushing her teeth, walking back out in her skimpy top and shorts.

Blake and Weiss had already finished up as well, both heading to their respective beds. Olivia crawled into her own and sighed contently. It had been a fun night out, all things considered. They'd done away with talk of school or training, and instead focused on some of their favorite memories. Ruby had been the one sharing the most, but even Olivia had managed to include a few of her own.

Wrapped up in her thick blanket, Olivia relaxed, letting her body sink into the mattress. After only a few minutes, she could hear the quiet breaths of a sleeping Blake, could feel the speed that her chest was rising and falling and knew she was asleep. Weiss remained awake, turned away and facing the wall on her side of the room.

After a few more minutes, the heiress shuffled around, eyes falling on Olivia who opened hers in response to stare back across the gap separating them.

"Having trouble sleeping, Princess?"

Weiss sighed, eyes appearing slightly troubled, "I was just wondering if you needed to… do that thing again. I didn't want you to be stuck awake after we had such a nice day. It wouldn't be fair, you know?"

Olivia rolled on to her side, considering Weiss's proposal for only a moment before deciding to reject it, "That's alright. I've gotten used to you now. There wouldn't be much point to it anymore, honestly."

"Oh," Weiss replied quietly, eyes downcast. She looked back up, a hesitant smile on her lips, "I suppose I should be happy, huh? You're finally more comfortable around me."

Olivia shifted awkwardly, turning to lie on her back and stare up at Blake's bunk above her, "Yeah… you could say that..."

"Well then," Weiss's eyes flickered over to Olivia once more, thinking the faunus wouldn't notice since she was no longer looking at Weiss directly, "Have a good night."

"Weiss?" Olivia spoke up as the heiress began to roll back over, her mind urging her to make the offer anyway. She could remember the feeling she'd received from Weiss before. The need the heiress had for the physical affection she'd been deprived, even if only in a platonic setting.

Olivia thought better of it, though. She knew the real reason why her body wanted her to hold the heiress in her arms, to feel that warm, gentle skin against her own once more, and her mind fought against it in firm disagreement, 'I couldn't possibly go down that route. Teammate or not, she's a Schnee. Even for her, that would be far too much of a step away from her family's values. I'll… I'll try and get into contact with Melanie tomorrow. I'm just not in the right state of mind right now. Once I've gotten it out of my system, I'll be able to go back to normal...'

"Nevermind, Princess. You have a good night, too."

"Okay…" Weiss replied, a hint of the disappointment she felt reflected in her voice.

'Or am I just imagining what I want to hear?' Olivia rolled over to face the wall and shut her eyes tight, forcing herself to focus on other things in the room with her sixth sense.

Weiss finished rolling over as well, and within ten minutes, was firmly asleep.

Olivia struggled for another hour before dreams finally took her. It wasn't the usual nightmares that plagued her that night.

She dreamt of lying in the snow, white flakes falling from the heavens to drift down and land lightly on her face. No matter how long she lay there…

She never felt the cold.

Oof. This was a fun chapter to write. Seems like Olivia is fairly dead set on rejecting any possible feelings she might have for the heiress. How long will that last, I wonder? Olivia does have a fairly strong force of will, but with even more of her time now being devoted to one on one interactions with Weiss, will she be able to hold out?

I get the feeling that Melanie might be getting visited a bit more often in the coming weeks~

Thanks for reading,

- Sybaen

PS - If you haven't checked it out yet, I released a new story called 'RE: Generation'. Feel free to check it out if you've got a few minutes, and follow if you enjoy it. The first chapter is only 1.5k words, so it's pretty quick. Chapter two will be released tomorrow, and I'll be updating the AN at the end of Ch1 to better reflect my thoughts on it. I got plenty of good feedback, and look forward to having a third on-going story to set my mind on.