Aftermath
Senior Year: After chapter 4

Weiss snuggled into her new cloak a bit further, eyes feeling dreamy. She hoped they didn't look half as blissfully fogged out as she felt. She still had an image to maintain. Across the room, sitting at her desk the source of her contentment was working on her weekend homework. Amazing in the field, and quick witted enough to keep up with any combat situation, Ruby still took three times as long as the rest of the team to get her homework done. Book studies had never come naturally to her. By contrast Weiss had finished hers an hour ago. It had given her the time to sit and luxuriate in her girlfriend's surrogate embrace.

Blake and Yang had finished their own homework about five minutes ago. That was unusually late for them. They also finished at the same time when Yang usually took longer. Maybe it was the different class schedules giving different amounts of homework, but Weiss doubted it. It was more likely the sideways looks and whispers between the two Weiss couldn't quite make out. It wasn't hard to figure out what they were talking about though.

Damn it, Weiss thought, her mental voice trying without success to sound agitated. I need to get the starry eyed school girl routine out of my system or I'll never hear the end of it from those two.

From Yang the looks and teasing had been expected. From Blake though... In her case it wasn't friendly ribbing. It was the sweet knowing smiles she reserved for when she was reading one of her romance novels and she thought no one was watching. Well, maybe some of Ruby's obliviousness had rubbed off, because that had to have been equally obvious. Either way it was annoying.

The day, no within the first hour, she started dating Ruby was when Weiss had been pulled into something she wasn't sure how to put into words. Could it even be considered sex? It certainly hit all the right buttons, repeatedly and seemingly without end. And then that final release... She didn't believe something like that was possible. Even after experienced it her brain refused to believe it.

By the end Ruby had forced her to call her that word: Mistress. Unbidden the erotic thrill returned with that one word, now eternally linked to the woman with the most innocent smile in the world. It was unthinkable. Both that Ruby, of all people, could be that controlling, and that Weiss had actually liked it. No, if she was completely honest with herself she had loved it. The world didn't make any sense after that.

Worse is Weiss hadn't been able to talk about it. Not to her friends! God no! What would she say? "Well, me and Ruby started dating Friday and within the first hour she was slapping me around until I called her Mistress. So how was your day?" And Ruby and her hadn't been alone to talk about it. There were disadvantages to living with two other roommates.

Well it was Sunday. All of them were tired from a day of shopping, but the two hecklers were going out with a knowing backwards glance. With any luck at all, which she wasn't holding onto, they weren't meeting any of their other friends that would happily join both the joking and in a bit of speculative gossip. Gossip that would probably never come close to the perverse reality.

As soon as the door closed behind them Weiss became scared. Not scared of Ruby, exactly. Weiss could never be scared of Ruby. She was scared of what could happen. Scared of what she would feel and want. Scared of the unknown. She knew somehow that what Ruby had already put her through was only a sliver of what was to come. What that could be Weiss didn't know.

Ruby sat down her pencil and slowly spun her chair to look at Weiss. "We need to talk," her lover said. It could have sounded ominous, but her lover's voice was too nervous for that. Did Ruby have similar anxieties and fears? But Friday she had been so in control. So capable of owning... owning the situation. Weiss had almost expected for the first words to leave Ruby's lips to have been "Strip."

Nervously Weiss nodded her head to Ruby's actual statement, burying her feelings about what she had half-hoped to hear. She didn't need to be told what Ruby had in mind to talk about. It had been what was going through her mind as well. Unconsciously she shrank into her new cloak a bit further, trying to gather the warm feelings of Ruby's love it represented.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have shown you that side of me..," Ruby started, her eyes showing an intense need to be understood. "Not without letting you know it was coming, or making sure you would be okay with it. I lost control of my desires, and I was wrong." Ruby looked down at the floor with apparent shame. "You could dump me for what I did and I wouldn't blame you in the least."

There were a lot of emotions and thoughts that came from that morning, but dumping Ruby had never been considered. "Dunce," Weiss spat, feeling a bit of contempt that Ruby would think that low of her, overriding her own conflicting hopes and fears. "Look at me! Look at what I've wrapping myself inside! Would I do this if I had any animosity towards you?"

"Ana-what?"

Reaching outside of her cloak Weiss reflexively grabbed the dictionary, Ruby's dictionary, off the nightstand and threw it at her. It wasn't the first time this had happened. Ruby just as reflexively caught it before it had a chance to land on the nose it had been aimed for.

"Look it up!" She paused and looked at Ruby expectantly. When she didn't move Weiss clarified, "no, really. I'll wait."

Confused, and a little afraid of what she would find, Ruby started flipping through the pages until she came to it. The fear that Ruby had been showing instantly washed away as she read it. "So you're not angry?"

"I'm bewildered, not angry," Weiss confirmed. "What you did to me... I still don't understand it."

Ruby nodded shyly. "I can explain it, if you want," Ruby told her, then under her breath in a manner that Weiss wasn't supposed to hear she continued, "I hope you like what you hear."

"Well?" Weiss asked testily, her frustrations from the last few days on this subject bubbling up to the top, making her more impatient than normal.

Ruby looked left and right, then sighed and got up to pace the floor. Ruby's need to stay in physical motion spoke a lot about how nervous she was.

"Me and Nora were at it for a while." Weiss throttled the surge of anger caused by that reminder of Nora, trying to give Ruby a chance to explain. "She kinda introduced me to what I did to you Friday. I'm not even sure how it started. It was like one day she just decided to teach me out of the blue. She said something about how if I was going to keep trying to Dominate her she might as well teach me how to do it right. Looking back I can see what she saw in me. I really was trying to take control even though I had no idea what I was doing. I mean I was a virgin until me and her hooked up. What did I know?"

Unexpectedly Ruby paused in both her pacing and what she was saying. She rarely paused when she went into full monologue mode. When she started again the monologue seemed slower and more thoughtful than her normal manic mindlessness. "Maybe it's kind of like what I saw in you, but in reverse? I mean, you may not realize it but you were being pretty submissive. I wasn't sure if it was just because you were depressed or if you really were a sub. By the time I ordered you to take off your clothes though I was pretty certain you would get off on what I have always dreamed of doing to you. I mean..." Another pause, but this time Weiss could see it coming as the confusion and fear had started to return to her lover's face.

The reminder of that first order, and of how Weiss had responded to it, sent a shiver down her spine. Both in fear and in arousal. How long had Ruby wanted to do that too her? As long as she had fantasized about a romantic night in Ruby's arms? Longer?

"You've wanted to... do that... to me?" The words weren't coming out smoothly, no matter how she was tryed. She wanted to deny the lust that had started as she began to relive that morning, the details coming to mind without her asking for them. "You wanted me... wanted me to be your p-pet?" Did she really just stutter? Why? She felt like she'd been a virgin all over again that morning. Maybe that wasn't too far off from the truth actually.

Ruby looked as if she wanted to deny it, but the girl didn't have a lying bone in her body. "Yeah. I dreamed of being your Mistress since the day I knew what that even meant, at least abstractly." Ruby's eyes had dropped again, seeming to be unable to look directly at Weiss anymore. "Was that wrong of me? Do you hate me for that?"

For a second she visualized slapping her girlfriend, simply to feel enough relief not to do it physically. "Dolt," she said softly, once the urge was past. "Stop being guilty and start explaining what exactly happened. I haven't been able to process any of it."

After a sigh of relief, Ruby chuckled "I couldn't either, the first time, and I knew it was coming." Ruby stared off into the past for a moment. "Have you ever watched porn?"

That was a more intimate question than Weiss had expected. Then again they were dating now, and lovers. It wasn't an unreasonable question. "A little."

"Have you seen any of the kinky stuff then? Spankings, bondage and stuff?"

Weiss actually blushed, which on her pale skin was very obvious. "Uh, I've heard about that kind of thing, but I haven't watched it. Uh... R- Robert liked to slap my butt during sex. It was okay." She couldn't say the next part out loud. She was surprised she could say the first. It wasn't nearly as good as when you did it.

There was a definite smirk on Ruby's lips at that though. "Okay you say?" she asked as if she had known exactly what had crossed her mind. "The way you reacted to it when I did it I would have expected more than 'okay,' unless he really didn't know what he was doing."

That was a bit of the Dominant Ruby that Weiss had first met the morning. It was reassuring somehow. Weiss needed to see that Dominant woman again to get through this conversation, otherwise she'd likely find any excuse to escape the room before it was over.

"Anyways, there is a lot more to it than just that. A whole world of possibilities, if you're willing to let go of your inhibitions. And don't get me wrong, everyone, no matter how kinky, has lines they won't cross. We call them limits, and they're normally established during a negotiation before the scene can start."

For the first time since they met it was Weiss's turn to ask for a definition. "Scene?"

Ruby handed Weiss the dictionary with a smile. "Look it up. I'll wait." In spite of the serious conversation Ruby couldn't stop the good hearted laugh that left her lips. "I've always wanted to tell you that!"

Weiss wanted to be angry, or at least annoyed, at being poked fun of. She couldn't. The laughter was the break in tension that she'd needed. Instead of opening up the book and give her girlfriend any satisfaction she quoted the definition perfectly. "Scene: the place where an incident in real life or fiction occurs or occurred. Also, a sequence of continuous actions in a play, movie, opera, or book."

"Smarty-pants," Ruby joked. "That second part is closest to why we use that word though. It's all an act, and when it's over it's over and we go back to reality."

"We?" That feeling of bewilderment was returning.

And Ruby's confidence was returning even faster. "We. Did you really think it was just you, me, and Nora who did this?" Weiss's expression must have been something, because Ruby couldn't stop laughing. After the first minute it actually was starting to piss her off, feeling like she was being made fun of. She was not used to being the one who didn't know anything. "I'm going to have to introduce you to Deviations soon," Ruby finally said, rubbing a few tears from her eyes caused by the giggle-fest.

"Anyways, a scene is just that, and before we can play our parts we need to define them. The basic rolls are Dominant and submissive, Master and slave, or Top and bottom. There's a lot of others as well. What it all comes down to is who is going to be in control and who isn't. Friday I was definitely the Domme, and you were my pet. A very good pet, I might add."

Shit, Ruby was starting to get some of that swagger back, and Weiss found herself reacting to it almost against her will.

"That's the start of Negotiations, which I didn't do with you. Of all the stupid things to skip... I'm still angry with myself for doing that." Ruby's eyes dulled for a second, then she shrugged. "I can't change it though, and you've forgiven me for it.

"After that it's important to know if there is anything medical to be careful about. Especially with huntsmen that's important 'cause you never know what kind of injuries they may have from the past.

"The rest of Negotiations, that's what we call it, is saying what we want and don't want to do. Those are the limits I told you about," Ruby continued, starting to sound like a teacher giving a lecture, which made sense since Weiss was basically a student to her now. "There's different levels of limits. If you give me a soft limit, I can push that a bit as long as I think you're ready for it and you don't use your safe word. A hard limit I won't go anywhere near though. Scat, for example, is a hard limit of mine."

She knew she didn't want to know the answer, but Weiss couldn't stop asking, "Scat?"

"Poop fetish," Ruby said minimally, seeming a bit embarrassed about it.

"Eeeeew."

"I know, right?" Ruby agreed. "I don't get it either, but there appears to be a lot of people into it. The more common, and even some of the obscure, kinks all have names we use so it's easier to understand each other." She paused, another smirk on her face. "I think I really will need to get you a dictionary until you learn them all. "

"If you do, I will hurt you," Weiss said levelly.

That only seemed to increase Ruby's amusement. "You are going to be an uppity pet, aren't you?" she said lovingly.

"I haven't signed on to this yet. Friday was an isolated incident. I'm just curious is all." She was lying, and she couldn't convince either of them otherwise.

Ruby didn't push it however. "Well, the only part of the Negotiations I got right was the Safe Word. That is an absolute in any scene. When I decide to gag you later we'll need to set up a hand signal or something to use since you won't be talking."

Okay, maybe Ruby was pushing it, assuming that she would be gagging Weiss later. It was a level of subtlety that Weiss didn't think her lover was capable of until just then.

"Well, last time I made you call me Mistress and submit without making sure you wanted to play. I've learned from that mistake. So, want me to show you how deep the rabbit hole goes?" It was an odd voice that she had spoken with, having equal parts of the cute and innocent woman Weiss loved, and the Dominant and indomitable woman who had left her reveling in her servitude. It sounded doubtful of what Weiss's answer would be, and confident in what she would do if it was yes. It was two sides of the same woman meeting for a single question.

And Weiss was completely unsure how to answer it. She looked within, and she found that Ruby wasn't the only one with multiple sides. Indeed, she prided on only showing the world the side she wanted them to see; the strong woman who could take on the world without fear. The woman behind the mask however was the one she couldn't show. She wouldn't know how to live with herself without it.

One more memory from Friday came unbidden. One that came later that day. In fact Ruby wasn't even there. It was Blake, asking for help, and the warm smile, and joyous laugh that she'd heard herself reply with. One released without any reservations, the masks nowhere to be seen. How the two worked together to allow her masks to drop she didn't understand yet, but it left the answer easy to say.

"If my Mistress wishes it."

Ruby's infectious smile beamed at the answer before sobering. "I do, but lets get the negotiations out of the way first this time, my pet."


Author's Note: I might be doing a few of these. They kinda popped into my head while I stumbled over my SAO and RWBY fanfics. While we're moving these lighter pieces are easier to get out, and I need to write something while I'm moving or I'll go absolutely nuts.

I'll probably return to them after the move is over to fill them out some. Next one is the negotiations themselves, this time from Ruby's viewpoint. Then there's the very special shopping trip that Ruby will be taking her on/first time at Deviations. Some of this is going to overlap with information already given in past Deleted Scenes. *shrug* Nature of the beast I guess.