"Qrow's Pizzeria." A few of the letters flickered as she stared up at the neon sign. After a pause, Weiss opened the door and walked inside, being enveloped immediate by the smell of garlic and melting cheese. Before she had time to examine the interior of the place, a girlish voice squealed out "WEISS!" There was Ruby sitting at a booth, waving her arms excitedly, looking about ready to burst from eagerness. Weiss groaned internally. The initial intimidation she had felt for the girl was ceding ground to a rapidly growing skepticism
She made her way over to the booth, high heels gliding over questionable carpet. A quick glance around the restaurant painted a bleak picture. There only one table occupied other than Ruby's, an old man who was seemingly done eating. The rest of the tables were empty. If the rest of the dinner rush was like this, they probably couldn't even cover their rent.
Sitting down stiffly at the booth, Weiss adjusted her collar silently, pulled off her shoulder bag and methodically began placing her notebook and supplies on the table.
"How was your day Weiss?"
Weiss gave Ruby a curious look. "You seem….. Enthusiastic."
The uncomfortable stare the younger girl gave her in response seemed like it could melt her. She sighed and tried again. "It was fine. Let's just get started."
Ruby frowned meekly. "Uh, okay."
"Ruby! You didn't tell me you were bringing a date!" a voice rang out. Weiss looked up to see it's source swaggering up to them, her gaze meeting a beaming smile, a flowing golden mane, and two lilac eyes. Eyes which had flicked over to her now and were giving her a curious once over. The girl flashed her an inviting grin. "She's pretty. Are you trying to make me jealous?" A tinge of pink tinted Weiss's cheeks and she found herself experiencing a rare moment of speechlessness. She quickly resolved to not experience another.
"We're doing a school project Yang" scolded Ruby "And if you drive her off I'm gonna have to do twice as much homework."
The blonde looked excited "Even better! Does that mean that this little dime is up for grabs?"
"Excuse me!" Weiss snapped "I'm right here"
"I'm being a pain in the ass, aren't I?" Yang said, catching Weiss off guard with a warm smile "I'm Yang."
Her brow furrowed. "My name is Weiss." she replied, the name trailing off confusedly. She clawed deep within her stomach to find the annoyance that she knew ought to be coursing through her still. "And I will not be compared to mere pocket change. But if we get as little work done on this assignment as you are as a waitress right now, a dime is about what your tip is going to look like."
Yang snorted. "Well, if I have to work any harder for this table I might have to actually charge you for your food."
She paused "The usual, sis?" Ruby beamed a smile of confirmation "And what might the princess over here like?" Weiss narrowed her eyes at the nickname. "A slice of pepperoni and jalapeno. And a coffee please, black." Yang smiled. "Coming right up" and she skipped away.
"So that's your sister?" Weiss asked.
"Yup" replied Ruby, making a pop with her lips at the end of the word. Weiss elected not to ask about their wildly different appearances. "Don't let her get to you" Ruby added "She's just teasing. She does it to everyone."
"Right..." Weiss replied, then with an indignant huff added "Let's just get to work."
"22 credits?How do you even handle all that?"
Weiss grunted. "By actually getting my work done when I'm supposed to be doing it." On the positive side, Ruby was at least somewhat motivated. She had actually shown up having researched some ideas for a topic. "You said you brought some notes on the Atlesian-Mistralian conflict of 1860?"
"Oh,Yeah, let me see" Ruby said, sifting through her chaotic pile of papers. Eventually she found the notes she was looking for and slid them across the table to Weiss who began skimming them. Weiss hmmphed thoughtfully. The notes weren't the most thorough but they weren't too bad. She knew the details of this conflict well so if Ruby had been researching it it might as well be their topic.
"So what do you do for fun?
There was the negative side however, keeping Ruby focused on the work in front of them was a monumental task. Even without the loudmouth blonde inciting it, she was struggling to keep the younger girl on task for more than minutes at a time before she tried starting side conversations and asking Weiss questions.
"I do compete on the fencing team. But, like I said, I mostly try to keep focused on my work." Weiss prayed the brunette would take the hint.
"Fencing, huh? That's pretty awesome. What about, like, when you're with friends though."
Weiss pursed her lips and below the table, nails dug into pale palms. "I'm more of a family person honestly." She willed herself to maintain her calm.
Ruby raised a finger to object but a loud bang erupted from the kitchen door, cutting off their conversation. Weiss jumped at the noise, then slumped down in frustration, realizing that the noise represented the big sister coming back with their food. In that case, They had been here probably half an hour and they had barely gotten started! And with that blonde oaf making her way over, they were certainly not escaping distraction any time soon.
"Bon appetit Girls" Yang announced, sliding both of the plates onto the table with a clatter. Weiss' eyes trained onto Ruby's plate with a glare.
"Are you serious?" She complained in bewilderment.
Yang glanced over the table in confusion. "Uh, this is what you wanted right?"
"It's not that" Weiss ranted, turning to the brunette across from her. She gestured at Ruby's plate "Is that seriously what you're going to eat for lunch?" Ruby's plate held some sort of giant deep dish chocolate chip cookie, topped with an avalanche of vanilla ice cream.
Ruby gave a look of confusion. "Uhhh, I already ate lunch. This is just a snack"
"But you eat that all the time?" Weiss pressed."Enough for it to be 'the usual'?"
"Pretty often" Ruby's lips pulled into a cheeky smile. "Do you want some?"
"Ugh, I don't know how you're still alive eating like that."
"Well OK" Ruby deepened her voice into a mocking tone "Thank you for the invitation into Weiss's life of homework and dieting." Yang, who had been watching the argument in rare silence, burst out in laughter.
Weiss dug her nails into her palms even more furiously. How dare they? She didn't have to put up with this. She didn't have to be here at all.
An amused yet mellow voice cut through the maniacal giggling and snapped Weiss out of her fuming. "Actually, I think your friend might be right Ruby. I don't think you really even eat lunch. It would be just like you to try and survive off only sugar."
The source of the the interjection was a taller pale girl with amber eyes. She emerged from the kitchen, throwing aside her dirty apron to reveal the almost as dirty navy blue jeans and black tank top it had unsuccessfully covered. Her hair was a deep black also, cut short into bob, and atop her head she wore a black bow, the one spotless article of clothing on her body. For a thought she saw the narrow her eyes at her. She wasn't certain it was an expression of suspicion, but it was at least an oddly pensive look. Regardless the look disappeared at the sound of Yang's voice.
"Yeah. They're starting to convince me too Sis. Am I gonna have to force feed you to get you to eat some real food?"
Ruby gave a scandalized gasp. "How can you guys accuse me like that? I thought we were friends?" As their conversation devolved into a cacophony of sisterly faux-bickering, Weiss diverted her attention to the black haired girl who was watching the pair in amusement. "Hello, uh, My name is Weiss"
"Blake" she replied "But we've actually met. You're in English class with me"
"Oh" Weiss exclaimed stiffly "I guess I hadn't recognized you" She honestly hadn't realized she had ever seen this girl before. Perhaps it would benefit her to start paying more attention to her surroundings sometimes, she wondered absently.
She took a bite of her pizza, as the sisters fight wound itself down into conclusion and the group descended into an uncanny silence. It was quite good actually, to her surprise, better than many of the trendier places she had been to in Atlas. No, the problem with this place was squarely on the atmosphere. And most definitely the staff.
"Well, if you don't mind, me and Ruby really ought to be working on this project." Weiss suggested, only to be interrupted. "Can we at least take a break while we eat?" Ruby pleaded with an innocent smile. We've practically been taking a break this whole time Weiss wanted to scream.
"Soo Weiss, what are you majoring in?" Blake interjected calmly, offering Weiss an alternative to starting an argument.
"Business, focusing on Energy Management" Weiss responded "It's expected that I'll join the family business one day so I'll have to know what I'm talking about.
"No surprises there." answered Blake with a nod.
"Wait, family business? What does your family do?" asked Yang.
Weiss gave her a befuddled look. "Do you seriously not know?"
"No..?" Yang answered in confusion. "How would I?"
Blake rolled her eyes at Weiss's dumbfounded silence. "The Schnee Electric Company is the largest energy company this side of Remnant." she recited "The Schnee's are a billion dollar family." Yang and a suddenly attentive Ruby's jaws dropped, while Weiss cast a glance at Blake.
"At least somebody here is in the loop."
"So you're rich…. Like, really rich?" asked Yang. Weiss gave an icy glare at the cretinous Blonde. Her teasing continued unperturbed though. "Wait, Weiss, can I borrow $500?"
"Why do you guys tell me about you for a little now." Weiss suggested through gritted teeth. "What about Blake and Ruby, what are you two studying?" Anything to turn the conversation away from herself and hopefully to keep anybody talking but Yang.
Ruby was engineering major, Weiss found out, after managing to make sense of her excited babbling on the subject. She seemed to have noticeably more to say about artificial intelligence and quantum computing than she had about anything relevant to Atlesian History but that at least indicated she didn't sleep through all of her classes. Also, she was in the robotics club that Beacon apparently had. Yang, of course, interjected to complain about how Ruby hadn't helped her install NOS on her motorcycle yet and Ruby had explained with a tired sigh indicative of a repeated conversation that Yang's bike was electric and nitrous oxide wouldn't do anything to it. Then Yang had laughed and explained that really her only objective was for her bike to have "a speed boost button like Mario Kart"
Blake was a creative writing major, which Weiss thought was a curious financial choice for somebody currently employed as a dishwasher but she elected against voicing that thought. "Hmm, perhaps I'll have to read some of your work some time" she instead replied
"Make sure she shows you the sexy stuff, Weiss" Yang whispered loudly.
Blake groaned, covering her face in her hands. "Oh my God Yang."
Weiss's blush betrayed her but she attempted to maintain composure. "Don't mind her Blake" she replied while a sharp inhale "It's only natural that she would recommend her 'personal favorites'"
Yang shrugged. "Some of us are just more in tune with our bodies than others I guess
"Yang!" Ruby let out a squeal that sounded almost of physical pain "Gross! Oh my God! Let's talk about anything else"
Weiss took that as her cue to text her driver. Nothing productive would be happening here today clearly.
"Ok, fine." teased Yang. "We can talk more about your new friend, the ice princess"
The nickname sent a shiver down her spine. Weiss looked up from her scroll, red faced. She had meant to be surreptitious about her exit but Yang was surprisingly perceptive. The girl smiled mischievously, beckoning for her attention. Weiss finally snapped. "You are some of the most irritating people I have ever met. And who said anything about friends?" She punctuated her sentence with an angry huff.
There was a pause.
"Well" Blake broke the silence "I think my break's about finished" and she slinked quickly back off to the kitchen.
Dammit. It began to hit Weiss what she had just said and what had just happened. Yang was looking her over silently, eyes narrowed. Ruby looked like someone had just told her her dog was dead.
"That…. Didn't come out…. How I intended it." Weiss bit her lip. Both girls remained quiet. "I would just really like to get the work done" she mumbled.
Another second passed in silence, then Ruby looked over at her sister. "She's right, just let us work for a while Yang." Yang obliged and left them alone, though she didn't look like she wanted to.
Weiss took a deep breath and looked over at the girl across from her. She was hurt still, clearly. "Uh, actually Ruby" she mumbled again "My ride's about to be here now"
"What? I'm sorry Weiss!" Ruby babbled in panic "I thought you had more time"
"We'll figure something out. Tell your sister thank you for the food."
Weiss left quickly, ditching the mess she had created for a much preferable sidewalk bench, where she could wait alone.
Well, she had hoped she would be alone. But it was only a minute before the blonde girl who had been driving her insane for the past hour appeared once again to sit gently beside her.
It was a moment before eachother of them said anything. Eventually, Yang cautiously opened her mouth. "You good?"
Weiss narrowed her eyes. "What do you want Yang?"
Yang tried again "I asked if you were alright"
"I have no interest in discussing my wellbeing with you. Get to the point" Weiss did her best to put some anger behind the words, but she was too miserable to really emphasize it.
Yang put her hands up. "Don't get so defensive. Alright, shit. The point is that everybody was entirely nice to you and I assume you have it in you to be nice back. That's my little sister and my best friend in there and you aren't going to speak to them that way without dealing with me.
After a pause Weiss spoke, tersely but quietly "You're right, I'm sorry. " Yang was right, she knew that. Everyone there had been perfectly good to her and she was being rude and difficult. It still took a lot out of her to let down her guard though.
"It's cool" Yang answered, albeit with uncharacteristic hesitance for the confident girl. "I assume you'll be around at least a little more before your projects done. I'm just trying to make sure everything stays peaceful."
"Actually, I think I'll just be taking care of it for the both of us. You probably won't be seeing me again"
"That's too bad." Yang frowned. "I wouldn't have minded getting to know you better."
Weiss didn't respond.
A white Mercedes beeped from the opposite curb. "That you?" Yang asked?
"Yeah." Weiss breathed "That's me."
Schnee manor was quiet. It was usually quiet, Weiss supposed, but after the day she'd had it was offputtingly quiet. When she'd first arrived she had managed to rediscover her anger at the dimwits she had dealt with all most frustrating part was that they weren't that dimwitted; there was no excuse! Ruby wasn't stupid, Weiss could sense it even if she resisted accepting the observation. If she would put in even half as much work as Weiss did, she would probably be somebody really impressive. But she was lazy, unfocused; just coasting on the things that came naturally to her.
Then there was Blake. In a peculiar way she reminded Weiss of herself She was reasonable and levelheaded. Too levelheaded to be here, doing unserious things, palling around with unserious people.
And Yang… Weiss practically hissed at the thought of the girl. She absolutely couldn't believe that she was allowing the blonde take up her energy like this. Every time Yang had made some stupid, half-clever comment toward her, her stomach fluttered. With rage, assuredly. This incessant teasing had to have some deeper meaning. This girl was testing her but why? And why was she allowing this irrelevant waitress to test her? Why couldn't she just let any of it slide?
But then the first thing that had broken the stiff silence since she'd gotten home was the buzzing of her scroll receiving a message and of course, it was from Ruby
"Hey Weiss, I'm really sorry about today. I didn't mean to waste your time. I promise we'll get this done and we'll do it your way this time. Just let me know where and when".
Scanning over the text, Weiss sighed. Her chest ached. Ruby was a ridiculous dolt but Weiss had absolutely no business causing her to feel any guilt. Especially after she had behaved so rudely in the face of people trying to be kind to her.
Kind. Weiss wished that she was kind but she was mean and she knew it. When had she become so judgmental? It had become second nature, she didn't know for how long,.to silently put everyone she met through these ruthless evaluations. To see how she measured up against them. She never did.
Weiss quickly typed out a response. Them she spent far too long editing it. It was important to her that her point be made clear to the bubbly girl.
"Ruby, I appreciate your apology but you don't owe me one. In fact, I'm the one who is sorry. My disrespectfulness to you and your friends was completely out of line and undeserved. Let's meet again tomorrow at the restaurant if possible and try to stay on task and I will try not to be such unpleasant company"
A few minutes later, the scroll buzzed again.
"That's OK Weiss, I just figured you were having a bad day. Tomorrow is perfect. Can't wait." A smiley face punctuated the end of the message.
A weight lifted itself off of Weiss shoulders. She wasn't even mad at her. They could give this all another attempt tomorrow. She could maybe even apologize to Blake as renewed motivation, Weiss began scheming a way that she could keep the peace and still make sure Ruby and her got actually got some work done.