A man wonders why, despite being richer than any god, Weiss would make him pay for coffee. She considered it payment in thanks for training, despite the fact that she'd offered to help test his newly improved weapon. He's picked up that she was a bit bratty and self-centered, but he guesses that was as good as one can expect from someone who, to reiterate, is richer than god.
Regardless of Weiss' coercion in getting people to spoil her, first came the fight. Thanks to Ruby, the man's weapon had some major improvements, the start of which being that it weighed almost half as much as before. Ruby's gravity Dust engine made it far more easy to handle, plus her knowledge of tinkering had put in a few extra slots for Dust. While these were vast improvements on the old design, the new weight was slightly foreign. It was better to practice with it on an opponent that wouldn't maul given the chance.
Off in Beacon's training lots, the man and Weiss ready their weapons. While lighter and easier to hold, he already find himself missing beats he'd practiced with the old weight. With a practice swing, he feels the familiar heaviness he was used to, as Ruby's design made the weight increase with fast movement.
"Are you ready?" Weiss asked.
"As ready as I can be. Still need to get used to Ruby's adjustments. Go ahead and go!"
"Understood." Instantly, Weiss spun around, drawing her blade in circles like a baton, creating several lanterns that hung in the air. Pointing Myrtenaster, the heiress sent the orbs forward as fast-moving projectiles, which streaked the blue sky with white stars.
Well used to bullets coming at him, the man dodges out of the way pretty easily. Clutching his weapon to return fire, he finds his aim is off from the weight change. The shots ping harmlessly off of the walls around Weiss, who looks rather unimpressed. Taking an extra moment to scope in, he sent a more accurate shot her way, which necessitated jumping out of the way.
From underneath Weiss' feet, a glowing circle is formed, with several more in a line aimed forward. The heiress quickly becomes a streak as her sword points, but the man easily parries with a light-then-heavy swing from his weapon, throwing her off balance.
Now taking her opponent a bit more seriously, Weiss points Myrtenaster towards him as she brushes some hair out of her face. With a determined smile, she says, "I guess Ruby was right when she said you have talent." He hears her revolver mechanism turn and lock with a new color of Dust, and suddenly, her blade goes red.
Feeling the need to be snarky, the man says, "You should see me when I can aim." Weiss was underestimating him because of his tribulations getting used to a new weight for his weapon; now that his muscle memory was adjusting, he was ready to give her a proper challenge. "Now, shall we continue?"
Weiss' smile widens, as she summoned more circles.
The man finds himself flat on his back with a victorious Weiss standing over him after about 45 minutes. Though his loss could kind of be attributed to getting used to his weapon, Weiss outclassed him in almost every category. Her ability to use so many varieties of Dust coupled with her infinitely variable Semblance and her years of high-class training put her over him. That said, while he was almost completely drained of Aura, Weiss wasn't much better off, and he could see her glimmering shield start to fade as she reached out a hand.
"A very respectable match," Weiss said, huffing as she started pulling her opponent up. Though she was the victor, she was pretty exhausted, and had used a lot of Dust as well. "I must say, I am very impressed."
"Likewise."
With a slightly unsteady step, the man follows Weiss to the weapon lockers. After stashing their gear and a bit of cleanup, Weiss and the man start heading down the street to a nearby cafe that Weiss swears by; it's a bit out of the way, but one guesses to trust an heiress' taste in coffee.
"So, your glyphs are pretty awesome," the man says, having been informed he has a bit of a walk ahead of him . Might as well get to know Weiss better while he walks, plus conversation might help him forget his exhaustion. "So, did I see all they can do?"
Smirking, Weiss replied, "You've seen multiple uses of gravity, manipulation of fire, and ice. Those are hardly my limits; it just doesn't suit he showing off my whole hand at once. But thank you. I've put a lot of work into those."
"The way you used them like that, like, having them pull you around and then as steps in air… It was… perfect!"
"No," Weiss curtly stated, looking straight forward with a contemplative face. "I'm not perfect yet; we all have room to improve, and we all have goals to strive towards." Looking off to the side, she rethinks her statement. "That was rude, wasn't it? I said that to Ruby earlier and I think it came across as… I don't know…. Mean?"
"I wouldn't say so." Whether or not the way she said it was a bit off, she had a point. Plus, agreeing with her meant brownie points. "Without a goal in mind, you're lost. Gotta have someone to surpass or some wall to climb or whatever."
"You think? I mean, yes, but…"
"Maybe find a different way to word it?"
"Ahh, I may have to apologize to Ruby… You already know we haven't had the best start to our relationship, but I might want to say something."
"Never hurts. She's your leader, after all."
Weiss stopped and held out her arm, pressing it into her opposite's chest. "May I help you?"
Looking around, the man can't seem to find whoever Weiss is talking to, unless he missed part of the conversation. As he hones in, he hear steps from behind him; turning, he sees a ratty looking man in a long coat come out from an alley. The most important thing about him was that he was holding a long, blue knife that seemed to give off a haze, though a good runner-up would be his manic eyes.
"As a matter of fact, you can," said the thuggish man. "I, uh… lost my wallet and need some bus fare. Mind giving me a little something to help me out?" Both the man and Weiss turn to face him, and he raises his misty knife and directs to Weiss. "You…. I know you… You should have plenty to spare, right?" His way of speaking was slow, and nothing short of highly unsettling; he drew out words far longer than he needed to, as if playing with them.
"You should know that we're trained hunters," Weiss stated, not at all fazed by the knife aimed at her heart. "I would recommend stepping away right this moment, otherwise we are equipped to deal with you." Though Weiss sounded pretty badass and held no reservations about her threat, it was empty; though trained in combat, the spar had left little Aura for either side in addition to drained stamina. Neither Weiss or her companion were ready to fight a mugger, especially one that felt fine threatening the Schnee heiress.
"Equipped?" the thuggish man scoffed. "I don't see a weapon on you, girlie. Way I see it, I'm coming out of this better than you."
"Hold on." Formulating a plan, the man looks to Weiss' back pouch; reaching for it, he plucks it off and hands it to her to her surprise. "Weiss, just hand it over. It's not worth fighting for." What the mugger didn't know is that the purse-like pouch was the one she kept most of her Dust in. Even without a weapon, someone as knowledgeable as her would be able to use it effectively enough.
Weiss looks up to the man, her gleaming eyes betraying the forcibly scared look on her face. "Y-you're right." As she begins to hold out the pouch, she snatches it back as the thug reaches for it. Fake nervously giggling, she says, "You know, this actually reminds me of something."
The thug, now angrily anticipating Weiss handing over her money asked, "What? What is it?"
Weiss' er facade of fear breaks into a small smile. "I did tell you about how Ruby and I met, right?" As the man nods, she reaches a hand into her purse, grabs a bright red crystal, then swipes at the mugger, sending a crimson cloud over him. "Get down!"
Though the man knew the gist of how Ruby and Weiss met, what he remembered most is that there was an explosion involved. Prepared for that but little else, he ducks away as the Dust cloud ignites, the explosion detonating right in the mugger's face. With a cry covered by the boom, the thug is blasted into the wall and falls unconscious while the man and Weiss hit the deck.
As the dust clears, the man looked first to the mugger, slumped over with a blackened and burnt face, then to Weiss, laying on the ground with a nervous smile. Climbing up, he checks himself for any wounds, then helps Weiss up.
Upon standing, Weiss almost immediately falls over again as her foot lurches back. "Ow! Owowowow!" Balancing by holding the man's chest, she gingerly puts her foot down again before recoiling. "Ow! Ah, I must have dove down wrong!" Trying to apply pressure on her foot again, she immediately stops as it touches the ground. "I must have twisted my ankle or something."
"I see you can't walk. Should we call an ambulance?" Looking to the mugger, the man notices that he should be dealt with as well. "And what about him?"
"No," Weiss starts. "I think I'm fine, I just need to sit down for a bit." She looks to the mugger, then says, "As for him, well…" Reaching back into her pouch, she pulls out some Dust, then creates two black circles around either of his wrists, which connect to a nearby pipe. "We can send out an alert. How about this: let's go to the cafe and rest up? I'm sure my leg will be fine in a little while, so let's get our coffee."
Seeing as that would both make them trip successful and get some good quality cafe food, that sounds reasonable. The man sent out an alert notifying the police of the mugger chained to a pipe, then say, "That sounds fine with me." Thinking for a moment, it occurs to him that he doesn't know where the cafe actually is, prompting him to ask, "Wait, where am I going?"
Weiss makes as if to lead the way, then remembers her foot injury. "Well, it's actually only two blocks from here." Realizing she's incapable of walking, she shyly looks to the ground, pondering something. After a moment of silence, she asks in the sweetest voice ever her from her, "Well… C-can you carry me there? It's not that far, after all…" Looking at the man with candy in her eyes and sugar in her smile, she adds, "I'll pay instead, okay?"
Looking at the man is a woman that was maybe 5 ft tall when she wasn't in heels, begging him to carry her. Being any sort of gentleman, he says, "Of course." As if any sane person would pass up playing the hero in such a way. Doing so also meant free food, so that was a plus; for whatever reason, he had been expected to pay for her before, despite her family being, again, richer than god.
The man imagines it's to help sell her fragile princess act, but Weiss throws her arms around him, pressing her head into his chest. "Thank you~" she adds, still dripping with genuine sweetness.
As the man kneels, Weiss attempts to stumble on top of him so that he could piggyback her. She attempted to swing her leg and wrap it around, but the second he applies pressure to keep her in place, she cries out, "Ow! Owowowow!" and stumbles back off. Her leg must really be in bad shape, or at least, it wasn't a good idea to put any sort of pressure on it.
"Are you okay?"
"It's fine, just my leg. I don't think this is going to work."
The man would offer to hang Weiss over his shoulder, but her diminutive size would make that difficult and uncomfortable. However, seeing her silvery dress, long hair, and what was basically a tiara, he had an idea.
"I could try bridal-style," the man says, blushing a bit.
Weiss looks at the man and blinks. Trying to avoid eye contact, she looks at the ground and says, "Well… I mean, if you think that's best…" The man could hear her twiddling her fingers, clearly a bit embarrassed by the idea. Her shy face seemed to be trying to hide her enthusiasm for the idea, though, so she followed up by saying, "That does seem like the best solution."
"Alright, hold on," the man responds, maneuvering his arms under Weiss' back and behind her knees. Scooping her up with minimal effort, he's reminded she's very small and very weightless, especially to an accomplished hunter such as himself.
"Eep!" Weiss says, literally swept off of her feet. She takes a moment to adjust in the man's arms, then sort of cuddles into herself, clearly enjoying the extra care and attention.
The man sets off and brings Weiss the remaining two blocks bridal style, like a true prince from a storybook. Essentially cradling the heiress in his arms, he struts through the city, his confidence boosted past the normal max due to carrying a cute girl like a princess. To be fair, though she had helped with the mugger, he was feeling pretty heroic; without him, Weiss could have gotten out a lot worse than just a twisted ankle.
As the man dramatically opens the door to the cafeteria, he soaks in the fame that comes with bridal carrying a very princess-looking woman in his arms. With most of the people watching, he gently places Weiss down onto a couch next to a table and takes the seat across from her. She hands him a card marked with her name, which he graciously accepts.
"So, what would you like?"