Chapter 16

By some miracle, Blake managed to get back to Weiss's room with a turtle neck in tow before the others returned. She quickly hopped back into the bed, both with the hope of somehow making it seem like she hadn't lied, but also simply to hide her shame under the covers. The faunus hid herself down, burrowing desperately. Maybe if she could hide it would help her avoid addressing how she felt, how the bed soaked in the scent of her mates made her squirm, and wonder if they might get to play some more later that day.

She whimpered and forced her face harder into one of Weiss's pillows. Her neck itched, her body taunting her in a way, just reminding her of what had happened. Impatient and embarrassed, the faunus brought her hand to her neck, trying to soothe the slight itch of the healing mark. It was no relief tho. All she could think was that she would have to tell the other two eventually. But… how?

"She's not asleep, she is moving." Blake could almost hear Weiss counter as her ear flicked up from being smushed into a pillow.

"What, have you never moved in your sleep?"

"I! How should I know?"

"I dono, probably by waking up even an inch from where you went to sleep?" Yang argued with a playful tone.

"When did she put on a sweater?"

"I'm up!" Blake turned over, playing drowsy and finding it all the easier because of how tired she truly was.

"You ok" Yang checked, seeing the remnants of worry over Blake's features.

"Yeah." Blake wasn't quite sure if it was a lie, but she was sure that was the most she was willing to share for the moment.

"Ok." Yang nodded apprehensively of the answer.

"Well, if you aren't, then cheer up, because we brought food!" Weiss cheered, doing her best to bring up the mood as she grabbed a small tray she used to do homework while in bed and repurposed it as a table for the trio to share a breakfast in bed.

"Scooch." Yang ordered, slipping in next to Blake.

The faunus just yelped and followed. Before she knew it, Weiss had crawled over the both of them and plopped down on the other side of Blake. Once more the faunus found herself surrounded by her lovers. "You sure you're ok?" Weiss leaned into Blake's shoulder.

The faunus tensed for a moment before she felt both the others wrapping arms around her in a hug. "Whenever you want to talk about it…" "We're here." "You just take your time." "And eat your breakfast." "We'll be right here." Blake melted, powerless against the other women and their unyielding patience and love.

"I just hope I didn't do anything last night that wasn't ok." Yang offered with a soft nuzzle into her marking on the faunus's neck.

"Me too." Weiss worried as she mimicked Yang.

"Neither of you have a right to be this perfect!" Blake complained.

"Deal with it." Yang kissed Blake's cheek before sitting back up and snatching a slice of bacon from one of the plates she and Weiss had brought.

"Exactly." Weiss agreed, snatching some fruit and offering it up to the faunus.

"I love you dorks."

Blake couldn't find it in herself to explain to the other two what they had done; what it meant to her, but she did manage to relax and snuggle into her soulmates as they finished breakfast and turned to just cuddling in bed. They managed to stay there until well into the afternoon. There had been nothing to steal them away from their reprieve. All they occupied themselves with was chatting idly, dozing in and out, cuddles, and gently teasing behind the faunus's ears. It was everything they needed; to relax, a lazy Saturday in bed with each other to recuperate after having pushed so hard for so long. Lounging only ended up being interrupted by Ruby stopping by to remind her sister and teammates of her hopes for a game night.

"So! So! So? Game night? Game night? Game night?" Ruby bounced eagerly.

Yang who had opened the door looked back, more checking to see that Blake could handle it than anything. A small smile from the faunus as she brought up her shoulders to cover her neck seemed to be enough to convince Yang she was up for it. "Yeah! Let's do it! How's in an hour?"

"Wait! Are we doing a game night?" Weiss popped up, seeming to have suddenly gotten an idea. "Be righty back." She made sure to leave Blake with a kiss before scurrying off and out of the room to talk to the other two.

"Hey, why'd you close the door." Yang questioned.

"Shh!" Weiss hissed. "I have an idea!"

"Oh! Idea? I like ideas!" Ruby rubbed her hands together evilly.

"What's going on?"

"Well, I don't know what it is, but Blake is clearly still upset or worried about something."

"Oh no!" All of Ruby's excitement died down.

"Yeah…"

"Well, what if it is a faunus thing?"

"Huh?"

"A faunus thing? Isn't that kind of…" Yang grimaced. "Just cause she is upset and a faunus doesn't mean it is a-"

"Shh!" Weiss interrupted once more. "I! I know how it sounds… especially coming from me…" She dropped her head just a little. "But really, think about it. Where the hell did her sweater come from? It's not mine. So she must have gone back to her room for it while we were grabbing breakfast. Why would she do that? The only thing I can come up with is that she went back to talk to Ilia about something."

Yang tilted her head from side to side, trying to think of any other explanation or reasoning.

"All I was going to suggest was that we should invite Velvet and Ilia too. Best case scenario, I am right, and having them around will maybe ease her nerves just a little, worst case scenario, she gets to see the friends she hasn't gotten to spend any real time with in the past two weeks." Weiss explained. "Just… trust me, ok?"

"You really think this is the issue; that this will help?"

"I do." Weiss doubled down, worrying that she could be wrong, but still believing it for the best.

"Ok." Yang nodded and gave her soulmate a supportive hug. "You mind grabbing them and getting all set up for us?"

"Yes!" Ruby cheered. "Soulmate Pictionary!" The idea snapped into her mind. "Can it be soulmate Pictionary?!"

"Yeah, that sounds perfect Rube." Yang chuckled.

"Thank you Ruby. We really appreciate it."

"Course. Gotta go get Penny now!" Ruby rushed off with a wide grin.

"Hope this works."

"You came up with it." Yang chuckled anxiously. "But… you do know her better than me at this point, so I believe in you." She plopped a kiss at Weiss's forehead. "Now come on, we gotta go give our kitten some snuggles."

"Everything ok?" Blake lifted her head from her pillow as Weiss opened the door back up.

"Yup! Just planning the game night."

"Yay!" Blake waved excitedly.

"Yeah. Now scooch. Cuddle time part deux." Weiss playfully ordered before jumping on the faunus.

Blake faked a shiver as the trio began to get ready to head off for game night. "Hey? Weiss?" She rubbed her arms and rose her shoulders as if they could cover the markings more than the turtleneck she was already wearing.

"Hmm?" The heiress questioned as she slowly got changed.

"Do you have a scarf or something? Just something light to keep me warm while we play?"

"You sure? You already look kinda toasty." Yang hugged the faunus from behind, offering all her fiery heat if Blake needed.

"I don't need a huge jacket or anything, just a small scarf would be perfect." Blake pressed herself against Yang, adoring the blonde's comforting touch.

"Umm, yeah. Right here." Weiss distractedly pulled a scarf down from its place hanging in her wardrobe.

"Thanks Weiss." Blake took it, wrapping the fabric as tightly around her neck as she could.

"Mhmm, yeah, sure." Weiss fiddled with her clothes, anxious and worried that she had decided wrongly and that whatever was wrong wasn't anything to do with being a faunus.

"Everything ok." Yang leaned down to kiss at Blake's neck, just over where she had bitten.

"Yeah! Yeah! Just chilly!" Blake half lied, turning into the other woman and snuggling to her for warmth she didn't so much need, but that she still thoroughly adored. The faunus wasn't upset with the marks; not really at least. She was just… embarrassed? Even she couldn't quite figure it out. When the woman thought about the markings… it didn't upset her, in fact, it brought a small smile to her face, to know she was theirs and they were hers. But then, on the other hand, she felt comparatively young, barely out of her teens and already marked? Not that it should be shameful, but marks, within menagerie and faunus culture at least, were in so many ways all about announcing one's status as taken or owned. The later Blake had never been such a fan of, especially when she reflected on how Adam often fantasize about owning a mate with a bite being so special. But, even though neither Yang nor Weiss ever asked consent, Blake still felt like she had infinitely more say in the marks they gave her.

In a way, she had no opposition to anyone knowing she had been marked. Blake almost actually felt proud at the thought; to display how loved she was? But… she also felt so hesitant about it… and most certainly like it would be inappropriate to display the marks before at least talking to her mates. But how in the hell could she tell them? Describe in painful detail exactly how much the simple bite meant? Would the non-faunus women understand? Would they get how it felt, respect it, or would they just be weirded out by it?

"Breathe." Yang's firm voice snapped Blake from her anxious spiraling and dissecting of the whole encounter yet to happen.

"Huh?"

"Breathe. You are so tense. You need to breathe." Yang soothed, a hand already behind Blake's ear and doing it's best to aid in relaxing the faunus.

"Not fair." Blake crumbled into Yang.

"What's not fair kitten?" Weiss appeared directly behind her with a hand joining Yang's.

"Not fair that you two are so good at this."

"Good at what sweetie?" "Teasing you?" "Petting you?" "Loving you?"

"Yes." Blake grumbled low and wishing to do nothing more than rip off her sweater and scarf to predominantly display the mating bites of such wonderful women, or at least that she had the courage and self assuredness to do so.

"Come on, we have some games to play. Remember?"

"Yeah." Blake purred dazily and allowed her mates to guide her off and away.

"Ahh! Blake!" Ilia cheered as she spotted the trio heading down the hall to the common room.

"Long time no see!" Blake rushed ahead, trying her best to tip off Ilia that Weiss and Yang need not know she visited earlier that morning.

"Ahh! Sorry we couldn't talk more this morning!" The warning flew right over chameleon faunus's head. "I was… well, you saw I was busy." Ilia gave an anxious laugh and hugged her friend. "But why the scarf? I thought you were ok with the-" Ilia pulled playfully at the scarf only to have Blake stop her.

"Shh!" Blake hissed despite the fact Ilia was already whispering. "I… I am, but liking it or being ok with it and wanting to flaunt it are two very different things! Especially when my mates don't know what it means!"

"I told you, she went to see Ilia this morning!" Weiss whispered to Yang.

"Good. maybe this will help."

"What! Why didn't you tell them!" Ilia demanded in a hushed yell of a whisper.

"How? How do I go about telling them? They aren't faunuses. They don't know anything about it; what it means, how it feels. I- just…"

"Really! I can not believe you haven't told them!" Ilia reeled. "It's not that complex, it is just a m-"

"Ilia, I love you, but shut up. I will tell them, I will just do it in my own time… whenever… whenever I figure out a way to explain it all to them." Blake pushed Ilia back slightly hoping to get her point across firmly.

Ilia just grumbled, not quite getting the point or Blake's issues at all. If she was comfortable with having the other two's bites, why not be comfortable explaining it to them! "They should know though."

"Yeah, yeah." Blake rolled her eyes before guiding them to the couch where everyone else was already seated.

"Gotta admit, looks like you were right." Yang confessed to Weiss in a whisper. "She seemed to need to talk to Ilia about something? I couldn't tell what they said, but they were definitely whispering about something.

"Let's just hope this works and she feels better after."

"I'm sure she will. We just need to be there for her. Now come on, we gotta catch up." Yang pulled Weiss along with her and plopped them both down to Blake's left.

"Ok! Who's ready for some Pictionary!" Ruby lept from her seat as she seemed to do her best impression of a firecracker exploding.

"Picture airy!" Penny echoed, trying to capture the same energy despite the game clearly not being in her memory's vocabulary.

"Ok, Rube I love you, but if you want us all to play by classic Xiao Long house rules, you need to announce them this time." Yang warned, not wanting a repeat of last time.

"Oh! Oh god! Yeah! Umm! Well, it is normal Pictionary, but you can charades it out as much as you want too. Just no words." Ruby winced. "I may have not mentioned that a couple times with other groups and gotten in a lot of trouble."

"Sound effects are to to be limited, but are slightly permitted." Yang added.

"Oh! Yeah! Kinda! But don't like do it intentionally." Ruby specified. "But other than that, classic and traditional rules."

"Sounds good. "Yup!" "Works for me" "Sure Ruby." "Fun." A variety of replies petered out as Ruby picked up some paper and pencils.

"I have some stock things that usually go well for Pictionary, but it is always more fun when we add in some of our own! Go ahead and write three things down, fold the paper up, and toss it in the hat!" She presented a wide-brimmed hat that looked best for entirely avoiding any sun at all whilst sunbathing.

It took the members of the group a while to all come up with their ideas for the game, but eventually, the wide-brimmed hat had twenty one more sheets of folded paper. "Eek! Yay!" Ruby clapped her hands. "Unless someone else wants it, I'll go first?" She checked. No one seemed to have the slightest objection save for the chameleon faunus who seemed to fidget impatiently in her seat. However, instead of objecting aloud, she simply curled into Velvet who seemed more than happy to have the contact. "Yay yay!" Ruby cheered, moving on, and grabbing the hat before giving it a small shuffle. When the small red-robed woman pulled out one of the small pieces of paper, she squinted and pushed her mouth to the side. It took her a small second, but once she had an idea, she was quick to zip towards the large drawing pad on the easel she set out earlier that afternoon in a flurry of rose petals. All she drew was a stick figure with one foot on a line that made a ground and a knee up. Doing much more to get her word across, Ruby ran in place.

"Person?" Velvet questioned, focusing more on the drawing than on the woman more charadesing than following what would have probably counted as rules in other groups.

"Running!" Penny guessed, the first to get it because she oh so seldom ever pried her gaze off of her girlfriend.

Ruby stopped in place, holding her index finger on her nose and pointing to her girlfriend.

"Run, running, ran?" Penny tried alternative options.

"Run!" Ruby cheered.

"Oh yeah. Umm, someone is always a bit of a stickler about having to get the word or phrase exactly right. Less official rule, but, it is more fair if we all go by it." Yang announced for the rest of the crowd.

"Oh, yeah. Haha, guess I forgot to mention that." Ruby winced. Most of the group just shrugged, but Ilia looked overjoyed. "Ok! So who wants to go next?"

"Please? I'd love to." Ilia rose her hand.

"Course! Here you go!" Ruby tossed the sizeable marker to the faunus before plopping back down on the couch so close to Penny that she might as well have just been sitting in the woman's lap.

"Good job Rube!" Penny smiled and snuggled the other woman.

"Love you." Ruby cheered and inched further onto Penny's lap as she threw her arms around her.

"Ok! Ok! Y'all ready for this?" Ilia pretended to hype herself up while she thumbed through the hat, looking for her specific addition to it.

"YEAH!" Ruby thrusted up a fist far beyond over-excited only to see everyone else lackadaisical relaxing into their seats and not cheering with her. "Uugh, I mean, yeah…" She corrected herself to a whisper and little more than a jazz finger or two.

Ilia quietly pulled one of the folded papers open with her thumb, capitalizing on the moment everyone else had their eyes focused on Ruby to confirm her pull before she started. "Ok! Ok! I'm ready!" She did her best to conceal her plan and the grin it brought to her face.

"Yeah." Ruby whispered under her breath, unable to fully subdue her excitement.

Ilia turned her back on the rest of the group and began to draw. At first, no one really had even the slightest idea what she was going for as it simply looked like a number of lines, but when Ilia began to connect them, it became much clearer that she was aiming for was a mouth.

"Teeth?" "Mouth?" "Speak?" Different voices called out their guesses.

"Umm! Tooth! Mouth! Bite!" Ruby finished up with a quickfire bunch of guesses.

Ilia spun around, mimicking Ruby's gesture from earlier with a finger on her nose and a finger pointing to Ruby.

"I! Umm? Which one?" Ruby laughed anxiously. "Tooth, mouth, or bite?"

Ilia held three fingers to denote the third of the options.

"Bite? It's bite?" Blake crumpled into Yang on the couch, feeling personally called out despite knowing better as the youngest of her team members cheered the word.

Ilia nodded, but her hands gestured to denote that there was more and that the word was not a word at all and it was in fact a phrase.

"M- more than one word?" Yang perked with Blake shifting into her uncomfortably.

Ilia nodded quickly before holding up three fingers once more. After it seemed the majority of the group understood. Next, she rushed to draw three or four small stick figures before adding small faunus traits to each of them. First, she added bunny ears to one, then the spots on her face which often discolored with her emotions, and then cat ears that resembled Blake's.

"Umm? People?" "Humans?" "Group?" "Face?" "Ears?" Guesses rolled in, but none of them were what Ilia was looking for. Giving up on the drawing, Ilia pointed at the spots on her face directly.

"Uugh? Face? Freckles?" Ruby squinted and scrunched up her face frustrated with the harder word.

Ilia rolled her eyes and marched over to her girlfriend to point at the most explicit example of a faunus trait in the room.

"Ohh Bunny ears!" Ruby lit up.

"Ears?" "Hearing?" "Sound?" "Animal?"

"It's not just me now is it?" Velvet questioned somewhere between awkward and actually enjoying the wild guessing.

Ilia shook her head and moved on to Blake and pointed at her ears without pulling off the bow which they all already knew hid them.

"Uugh? What?" Blake hid herself under the arm Yang had slung over her shoulder. "What's going on?" She questioned tensing at her friend so violently pointing to her ears.

"Oh! It's faunus? It's faunus, isn't it babe?" Velvet's ears fluffed up just a tad.

Ilia hopped up and down with an eager nod.

"Faunus bite? But what about faunus bite or bite faunus?" Velvet tilted her head from one side to the other as she tried to figure out what exactly Ilia's phrase must have been.

"No!" Blake's eyes went wide with the realization of what Ilia was doing.

"Faunus bite, faunus bite, faunus bite, faunus bite." Ruby muttered under her breath as if it would bring her the final word.

Velvet continued hemming and hawing, trying to figure out the final word so distractedly that she didn't even notice Ilia approaching her until the faunus plopped down in her lap. "Oh! Hey babe!" Velvet cheered, taken out of her thoughts for a moment as Ilia pointed between the two of them. "Hmm, soulmates?" Velvet questioned for a moment before she realized the answer.

Velvet, however, didn't get the chance to call it out. "Faunus mating bite." Blake glared with murderous intensity as she whispered the answer.

"Blake got it!" Ilia cheered, the phrase out there now, and it had clearly caught the attention of both the cat faunus's soulmates.

"What's a faunus mating bite?" Ruby wondered aloud as if on cue.

"You are an asshole!" Blake accused, slipping out from under Yang's arm before hopping off the couch and storming out.

"Blake! Wait what's goin-" Yang lept over the back of the couch to follow and stop Blake, but the moment her hand landed on the faunus's shoulder, the semblance's visage broke to reveal Blake had already run off.

"Blake? Yang? What's going on?" Weiss questioned, hopping up onto her knees and looking back to the other two but only seeing Yang. Her head darted back to Ilia and Velvet. "What? What happened? Why has Blake been upset all day?"

"I- I- I-" Ilia stammered, caught in a failed plan.

End of Chapter 16

So! As has been the trend with this fic, I am posting one extra chapter ahead for free elsewhere, and then there are another 3 chapters beyond that that you can find on the web somewhere... hint hint, the links will be on my Tumblr: Hopefulbadgerjunara

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