Weiss had a coil in her stomach the whole day.
She tried her best to pay attention in her literature class, but there was always the sharp edges of anticipation tugging at her. A small, slow thing begging for her attention. She was afraid to give into the feeling. She was too preoccupied, too busy to examine these feelings and what they meant. But mostly, she just wanted it to go away.
Ruby had texted her the address during lunch. Weiss looked it up on her phone. It was a small, homely looking place, close enough to the school that it didn't bother her much to walk. She liked the cold anyway.
So when her last class ended, Weiss was a little slower than the rest to pack up her bag and walk out of the school. She ran her hands through her hair, fixing herself up in the bathroom before she left school proper, the last edges of apprehension still tugging on her sleeve. She'd already texted Klein to inform him of her whereabouts. Though his response was no less respectful and professional as his usual texts, Weiss could almost feel the bleeding edge of smug joy in his words. It made her smile a bit, knowing that there was someone around to root for her enough to be smug about her successes.
Though she wouldn't exactly call this whole thing a success. Not yet, at least. At best, it was just progress. Though perhaps that was what her yardstick for success should be by now. Weiss walked out of the bathroom, but didn't get very far before a familiar figure gently stopped her. Principal Ozpin stood in front of her, both hands resting easy on his cane, his grey hair in no less of a mess than usual.
"Hello, Miss Schnee. Not in too much of a rush, are you?" he asked her, a small smile on his face. He looked at her almost expectantly. There was something about his personality. It was almost fatherly. It compelled Weiss to put her trust in him. Weiss held both hands in front of her, fingers interlaced.
"Not in particular, Principal Ozpin. Is there something I can do for you?" she put her airs about her, though it was in a more genuine fashion than the usual people she was forced to genuflect for. She could almost feel the cold chill of her father's gaze on her back. It made her stand up a little straighter.
"Your continued safety and education will do enough for me for now, Miss Schnee. However I was hoping to catch you, to check in on you. How was your first week here?" Principal Ozpin asked, in a manner that made Weiss think that maybe he already had some sort of inkling.
"I'm coping well with my studies, so far. I'm confident I will improve more with this curriculum as the days go by," Weiss bowed her head in deference. Principal Ozpin huffed a short breath out of his nose, and adjusted his glasses.
"I'm glad to hear it, Miss Schnee. But I'm asking how you're feeling," he said, amused in that old, wise way that he was. Weiss chewed on her bottom lip.
"I'm sorry, sir," she said, standing up even straighter still, her body tensing a little. "I'm doing fine. The students here have been treating me fairly, as I should expect."
He made a little 'hmm' sound in the back of his throat.
"I'm… actually going over to Ruby Rose's house now," Weiss offered up, tentatively. Ozpin smiled.
"That's very good to hear, Miss Schnee. Please do not hesitate to talk to me, or any of our teachers here should you feel that something is making you uncomfortable or upset," he nodded his head. "Miss Rose is one of our more… extraordinary students. Yes, she's certainly very gifted in her studies. But I find she has a certain spark about her- something quite unquantifiable. I'm happy to hear you're making friends, Miss Schnee."
Weiss nodded mutely at him, processing his words. A spark. Beyond all reason and logic, Weiss knew almost exactly what Ozpin meant. It was as if she'd always known the meaning, but hadn't learned the word for it yet. Weiss didn't quite yet know what to do with this information. Only that now she felt the little tug grow more insistent and demanding. Ozpin smiled and reached into his jacket pocket.
"Besides your social life, we here at Beacon do believe it is also important to keep up on extracurricular activities. I know you must have had plenty of activities back in Atlas, so I do hope you find something here to your liking. That said, I do have a suggestion. Call it a gut feeling," he handed her a small brochure. It advertised the Beacon Academy fencing club, with pictures of students all over in fencing gear, looking fierce and determined. Weiss took it curiously, then looked back to Ozpin. He smiled, then walked off without another word.
Weiss skimmed the brochure once more, then kept it in her bag. She began walking out of the school.
Curiouser and curiouser. Weiss couldn't exactly complain about Ozpin's mysterious, seemingly benevolent actions. But she sure could be puzzled by them. A glowing recommendation of Ruby Rose, calling her extraordinary- was that why he had meant for her to show Weiss around on the first day of school? Was this all planned? Weiss pursed her lips, then shook her head. Far too much of a stretch. She refocused her mind on the task at hand: going over to Ruby Rose's house.
She had checked and re-checked the route many times, so walking over there, Weiss felt as if she had already traveled this way all the time. There weren't that many people walking on the streets, but those that did pass her by didn't pay her much mind. She preferred it this way- she had enough to worry about at the moment without someone accosting her on the street.
Growing up in Atlas, Weiss wasn't very accustomed to seeing so much land dedicated to such little housing. The places in Mantle (not that she had much experience in Mantle, besides pictures and videos she'd seen for one reason or another) were all high-rise buildings. A dense concrete jungle, misshapen and irregular, all jumbled up together in a perpetual shade under Atlas City. Even Atlas didn't have many big places that were dedicated solely towards residents. Schnee Manor was the exception to the rule, of course. But that was about par for the course for the Schnees.
So she was surprised to see all the rows and rows of houses lined up along the street before her. It gave her a real homely feeling, like there was a real sense of community in the neighbourhood that she would never have experienced anywhere in Atlas. Of course she'd never had to deal with 'neighbours' before anyway. Vale was starting to present its appeal to Weiss. She could see why someone without her family's wealth and power would enjoy living here.
As she rounded the corner, she spotted the house she was looking for. It was painted orange, with a brown wooden fence around the place. There was a doghouse and bowl in the front yard, and the mailbox read 'Rose-Xiao-Long'. Weiss furrowed her brow, briefly wondering what Ruby's home life was like. Certainly good enough to be inviting her over, but... Maybe Weiss should have done some extra research on Ruby. Not like there weren't a million conflicting reports of her all around school. Not to mention her own conflicting feelings. She hummed in quiet contemplation before she opened the fence gate and started walking up the path to the house. The snow was starting to fall down quite heavily at this point, and the cold was getting a little frostier than she was used to. Weiss wrapped her coat tighter over herself as she carefully walked up the porch steps.
She took a deep breath, but as soon as she reached out to ring the doorbell, the door opened. Weiss jumped back, startled. The face of the blonde girl from homeroom, the one that Ruby had always sat next to, greeted her with a cheery smile. She had big lilac eyes and a fierce mane of blonde hair that cascaded all down her back. She was tall and built strong. Her tank top ended just above her midriff, so Weiss could see the definition of her abs. If she had the time to process it, Weiss would have been a little bit intimidated and a lot jealous.
"Hel-lo," she sing-songed. Weiss didn't really know what to do except wrap her arms around herself for warmth and scowl a little bit. What was she doing here?
From upstairs, she heard Ruby's voice call out, "Yang?"
The aforementioned Yang grabbed her by the arm (with restrained force, Weiss noted as she saw the size of her biceps), and pulled her inside, shutting the door behind her. Weiss gasped in surprise and irritation, a full scowl on her face.
"Hey!" she cried out. Yang place a finger on her lips.
"I'm Yang Xiao Long, Ruby's big sister. Pleasure to meet you, Weiss Schnee," Yang held out a hand. Weiss looked at her, then slowly shook it. It seemed to please Yang greatly. Weiss, for her part, took this all in considerable stride. She still felt the edges of irritation creep up at Yang for yanking her so abruptly into the house, but she tempered herself, not really wanting a repeat of her first actual meeting with ruby (there was the inklings of guilt again). Weiss cleared her throat.
"You're her older sister? How are you two in the same grade?" she asked, focusing her attention on her curiosity instead of anything else. Yang smiled all wide with perfect, straight white teeth.
"Because baby sister over there is a genius," she said simply. Almost as if on cue, Weiss heard Ruby call out for Yang again.
"Was someone at the door?" she called from upstairs. Yang grinned.
"I just wanted a chance to meet with Ruby's new little friend first," Yang said, and Weiss quirked her brow. "It's not every day someone cusses my sister out and then is invited into our home."
Weiss started blushing madly. Yang crossed her arms and cocked her hips, the expression on her face as smug as could be.
"Well," Weiss huffed out, her face still red. "She bumped into me!" Her tone was defensive and indignant, but the edges of it fell away as she caught herself being yanked back into those feelings of guilt and regret. "I didn't mean to-"
"I'm not going to give you a hard time about it," Yang said, chuckling. "Ruby seems to like you."
She said in an offhand manner, almost talking to herself rather than Weiss. Yang shrugged. Weiss wasn't entirely sure what to say in response to that. In her mind there was the half-baked thought that she kind of liked Ruby too, but she shut it down in almost a panic.
From behind Yang, another figure appeared. This time it was the black-haired girl also from homeroom. Weiss frowned.
"Is this another sibling?" she asked, even though the girl looked nothing like the other two. Fair was fair- Ruby and Yang didn't bear much resemblance to each other either. The girl quirked a brow at her.
She stood almost as tall as Yang, which meant that they both were about a half a head above her, with striking golden eyes. A black bow sat atop her head, and she stared at Weiss like she was appraising her, and not finding herself very impressed with what she saw. It made Weiss want to shrink into herself a little bit.
"No. I'm Blake Belladonna. Just a friend of Yang and Ruby," she said coolly, and Weiss had a small inkling that almost everything that came out of Blake's mouth was said coolly.
"I'm-"
"Weiss Schnee, yes. Heiress to the Schnee Dust Company," Blake cut her off. Weiss clutched her bag a little tighter and avoided her gaze for a second before looking back at Blake.
"Yes. I am," she said, pride in her voice, though she could almost hear her father's voice in the back of her head scolding her for her hesitation.
Blake made a small noise in the back of her throat, a quiet little contemplation. Yang cut back in.
"Anyways," she said. "It's about time you and Ruby got on to doing- whatever it is you guys are going to do," she said with a wink. Weiss started blushing again.
"Ruby! Your friend Weiss is here!" Yang called upstairs. Immediately there was a thud and the sound of a door being slammed open. Ruby poked her head down the stairs and saw Weiss behind Blake and Yang, her face a shade of pink that Ruby hadn't seen before.
"Weiss!" Ruby exclaimed, bounding down the stairs two at a time. "It's- um. You're here," she said, a small smile on her face.
"I am," Weiss said, pursing her lips and clenching and unclenching her fist. Ruby shot a look at Blake and Yang.
"What'd you guys do?" she leaned forward accusatorially. Yang stuck her tongue out and poked Ruby in the head.
"Nothing, calm down," Yang said, breezy and unbothered. Blake nodded in agreement. Ruby still eyed them with suspicion. Then she turned to Weiss.
"Come on, let's go upstairs to work on our history project," Ruby jabbed a thumb back upstairs, beckoning Weiss away. She nodded.
"Oh is that what the kids are calling it these days?" Blake jabbed lightly at Ruby, who grimaced. Weiss blushed more, if that was even possible. Yang started cackling, leaning a shoulder on Blake.
"Ew, oh my god, Blake!" Ruby cringed at her, then covered her ears and ran up the stairs.
"Have fun you two! Don't do anything I wouldn't do!" Yang called out after them. Weiss just went up the stairs and rounded the corner, following Ruby. She shut the door behind Weiss, locking it with a decisive 'click!' and sighing heavily.
"I am, so sorry about those two. They're terrible- they're like really terrible. I don't even really like them, like really," Ruby buried her face in her hands. Weiss crossed her arms and quirked her brow.
"Yes you do," she stated matter-of-factly. Ruby uncovered her face and rolled her eyes, but ultimately conceded.
"Yeah, I love Yang a lot, and Blake is pretty much like family," she smiled, rubbing her arms sheepishly. A corner of Weiss' mouth turned upwards, it was a bare hint of a ghost of a smile, but she couldn't really help herself for some strange reason. It made Ruby visibly loosen up. She started bouncing on the balls of her feet, an almost unconscious motion, as she considered her next words.
"So… you find the place okay?" Ruby asked, hands behind her back as she slowly paced around her room, legs sticking out with each step in an exaggerated manner. Weiss wrinkled her nose.
"It wasn't very far. I found my way here easily," Weiss replied. Ruby nodded mutely, looking at the ground. Weiss bit her lip, then looked around the room, taking it in properly.
It was… well it was very suited to the younger girl.
It wasn't particularly messy, just a couple clothes strewn over a chair in the corner. There were various posters on the wall- blown up views of fictional machines, with each part labelled individually. A cork-board above the desk with pictures and ticket stubs pinned to it. The desk itself was a mess of odds and ends. There was a whole toolbox on one end, and various papers scattered about. Atop her shelves were stacks of books, but none like the ones she had. They were were worn down and well read, some of them yellowed with age, but obviously used often still. There were a couple photos in frames in some sections of the shelves. One of her parents, presumably, with her and Yang as kids, all crowded around the living room couch, hugging each other. There was another of her, Blake and Yang, a more recent selfie taken of them in a car. Yang was smiling toothily wearing a pair of sunglasses as she rested a hand outside the window of the car, the other on the wheel. Ruby was smiling wide, and Blake had a fond expression on her face as she stared at the camera. Nobody wasn't smiling in all her photos.
It made the coil in Weiss' gut return, only this time it decided to give the performance once more, but with feeling.
"It's… a nice place," Weiss said quietly, hesitant. Ruby paused, whipping her head to look at Weiss, who locked eyes with her. Ruby raised her eyebrows, then scanned her room over once.
"Thanks," she said finally, and Weiss let out a breath she didn't know she was holding.
Nervous. That was the word. Weiss' mind clicked the word into place, sticking it beside the coil in her gut.
"So… shall we get started on the history project?" Weiss offered, flexing her fingers behind her back.
"Oh, right. Yeah, totally," Ruby blew a strand of hair out of her face and went over to her desk, clearing the mess out, placing it in a corner in her room. She dumped the loose clothes in her closet, and pulled her laptop out from under the pillow on her bed. She beckoned Weiss to sit at the desk, and she complied, putting her bag down finally.
They started working on the project, at least at first.