Blake woke up first again. She didn't move until Weiss shuffled awake behind her.

Blake eyed all the objects in the room again. Not much had changed, except at some point one of the maids had brought in a large basket for her to sleep on.

Blake wondered if she'd ever get used to the room or the bed or sleeping with someone hugging her. Probably not the baths, but maybe the food.

"Hey Blake," Weiss mumbled behind her, when she awoke, "Last night I dreamed that you were actually four or five or seven smaller Blakes in one Blake costume."

Blake blinked.

Weiss crawled over to Blake's front. She poked Blake in her joints.

Blake blinked.

"Nope! I guess there's just one Blake here." Weiss giggled.

Blake blinked again.

"Now cmon! Thursdays we get pancakes!"

They went through the breakfast rigamarole again. Weiss and Blake were alone at the giant table and Weiss carried the conversation until pancake mountain arrived. Blake pushed the plate between them so Weiss could help herself.

After breakfast, Blake was brought before a veterinarian in a cluttered doctor's office that smelled like salt and rain. Weiss sat next to her, kicking her legs off the examination table. She held Blake's hand for as much of the check-up as she could.

Blake's height and weight were recorded. They guessed her age to be the same as Weiss's. Her reflexes checked out ok. They scanned her Aura. They checked her vision; Blake pointed at a lot of letters.

And there was a very through examination of Blake's teeth.

"Our resident vetrinarian specializes in sharks, and teeth are the most important part of the shark," Weiss said.

"Actually, uh," said the vet, "I specialize in birds, but the 'Schnee Dust Company's Shark Wrangler' position paid too well, so..."

There was more tapping against her teeth. Everytime Blake flinched, Weiss squeezed her hand.

Eventually, the horrible ordeal was over.

"So I'm going to be honest; your teeth aren't great," the vet explained, "But luckily, most of them appear to be baby teeth, so you haven't ruined your life yet, ahaha."

Blake said nothing.

"I also don't know if you're supposed to have fangs or not. If you are, then something's seriously wrong because your teeth look human-normal."

Blake continued to say nothing.

The vet coughed. "Well, just make sure you brush morning and night and floss once a day. And wait at least fifteen minutes after eating anything to do so, so your mouth's acidity levels can level out."

The vet addressed all that to Blake, but Weiss answered. "Yeah, I'll definitely do that!"

It turned out, Weiss meant that, like, immediately.

Blake was brought into the bathroom again. She tensed and eyed the tub warily.

Weiss brought in a chair and put it in front of the mirror. She placed Blake in the chair and fixed her hair and the collar of her pajamas.

Blake regarded her self in the mirror for the first time since she got here. Her hair looked marginally less tangled, but her eyes were sunken and her mouth defaulted into something resembling a frown. Blake tried smiling, only once.

Weiss unwrapped a new toothbrush and squeezed a drop of toothpaste on it.

Weiss opened Blake's mouth and started cleaning Blake's teeth through adhesive-assisted surface abrasion.

Blake managed to stay still until one of the bristles stabbed into her gums. Weiss was significantly less dexterous than the vet.

Blake emitted a muffled, frothy hiss and turned her head away. She spat out the toothbrush and clamped her mouth shut.

"No kitty!" Weiss tried to wrestle Blake's mouth back open, "You heard the vet! If I don't brush your teeth you'll get cavities, and all your teeth will fall out and the tooth fairy won't even give you full price for them and afterwards you'll only be allowed to eat soup! And that gets boring, Blake! Soup all day every day will get reeeeeaaally boring."

Blake paused struggling.

Weiss sighed. "Ok, fine, did you want to brush your own teeth then?"

Weiss put the toothbrush in Blake's hand. A piece of froth dripped onto her wrist.

Blake stared at the brush. She opened her mouth to the mirror to see inside and she regarded the toothbrush.

She stared for a while.

Blake sighed internally and held the brush out to Weiss. "just," Blake said. She cleared her throat. "be gentle."

Weiss failed to supress a giggle. She leaned over and slipped the toothbrush into Blake's mouth and the brush on the far side of Blake's molars.

And then Weiss slipped and jabbed the inside of Blake's cheek with the brush.

Blake flinched back again.

"Sorry! I'm sorry- I- wait here-"

Weiss dissapeared for a little while. Blake rubbed her mouth and sunk into the chair. She returned with a two pack of finger toothbrushes. She started unwrapping it.

"Oh no! We forgot to ask the vet to check you for allergies."

Weiss lifted Blake's arm and rubbed the toothbrush on Blake's arm. She set her scroll on a timer for thirty minutes and ran up to the medicine cabinet and pulled out an epinephrine injector.

"Blake, if you feel weird at all, let me know."

Blake did, but not because of any immune system response.

And as soon as the timer rang, Weiss looked up with a gentle smile and patted Blake's head. She slipped on the finger toothbrush and dabbed a bit of toothpaste on it.

Then she crawled up the chair to straddle Blake.

"This way I won't slip, Blakey, and this toothbrush is softer."

Weiss held her breath as she tilted Blake's head back and pulled her chin down with a thumb and rubbed Blake's teeth with the latex finger toothbrush.

It wasn't objectively pleasant, but it was a lot better than with the actual toothbrush, maybe because Weiss was brushing slower or because she had more control over her fingers directly.

At first Blake made eye contact but later opted to stare at the ceiling.

After Weiss finished with the top row of Blake's teeth, Weiss climbed off Blake and prompted Blake to rinse her mouth. The she climbed back up for the lower set of teeth.

After the last tooth was brushed, Weiss leaned back and procured a roll of floss and wrapped a piece around her pointer fingers.

"Sorry if this hurts, Blakey," Weiss soothed.

Weiss flossed all of the spaces between Blake's teeth. Each one throbbed for a little bit.

After Weiss finished, Blake was prompted to rinse her mouth one last time.

And then it was over. Blake's mouth felt wierd. Clean, maybe. She rubbed her jaw.

"Kk, Blakey," Weiss carried Blake to her bedroom, "Wait right here for a moment while I fix my face. And don't eat anything for half an hour."

Later, Weiss pushed Blake by the shoulders into the library where she recieved tutoring. She deposited Blake in a nearby table.

Weiss dove into her own studies. The tutor brought a set of alphabet flash cards. Blake pawed at them idly for a while.

"Blake, Blake!" Weiss sat down across from Blake. "I finished early so I can help teach you to read!"

The tutor also appeared nearby, but didn't say anything.

"See this one?" Weiss grabbed a card. "It's the letter 'A'."

Weiss grabbed another card.

"This one? It's also the letter 'A'."

Weiss flipped through the pile of cards and pulled all the 'A' flashcards out and showed them to Blake. It took up rest of the tutoring session.

Dinner was some kind of chicken with vegetables and gravy. Blake had been looking forward to it.

At one point, one of the maids approached and bowed.

"I'm sorry, but it appears your father had some trouble at the offices yesterday and the Lady has absconded to assist with such matters."

"She relays an apology and a promise to eat dinner together tomorrow."

Weiss paused eating her food, instead opting to look at it for a while.

"So..." Weiss said, "Does that mean we can take dinner in my room today?"

The maid cogitated at the wall. "I don't see why not."

Weiss had to forcibly drag Blake away from the table and the food.

"Yay! Room food!"

Blake stopped struggling when she saw the food was accompanying them to the bedroom.

Weiss turned to the Faunus girl in her arms. "Remember what I said about ants, Blake! Don't spill anything."

Weiss wheeled a rolling table out besides the bed. The maid placed the trays on the table and bowed and left.

Weiss placed Blake on the bed they ate for a while.

At some point, Weiss got excited. "I know what will help you learn to read! I'll read you a story so you can be inspired!"

Weiss pulled an economics textbook and placed it open on her lap. Upside down. She ate while she told the story, but never spilled any food on the book.

"Once upon a time there was a beautiful princess," Weiss said, "With magical powers. Everyone loved and feared her, and gave her wonderful gifts of food and clothes."

"And though she was smart and powerful, she was lonely, because," Weiss said, "because of reasons."

Weiss flipped the page.

"But one day a dashing prince appeared in the kingdom. He decided to woo the princess with romantic gestures, but the princess always refused."

"And this happened over and over, until the princess decided to give the prince a date."

"And then, after they opened up to each other, it turned out they had a lot in common, and soon they were married."

"And the kingdom, now strenghened with a wise and emotionally fulfilled princess, consolidated it's power and lay waste to the surface dwellers. The end!"

Weiss closed the book.

Blake chewed another piece off her chicken.

"Did you not like the story, Blake?" Weiss pouted.

Blake chewed some more.

Weiss smiled. "That's okay, I'll find another one. Ooh, ooh, I'll bet you'd like a story about a kitty, right?"

Blake paused gnawing on her cooked bird corpse.

Weiss then procured a math textbook. "This story's called 'Puss in Boots'."

Weiss then told a story about a cat who collected shoes to build a house out of. Blake thought the first story was better written.

This went on until Blake realized some of her hair got in her gravy.

"Kitty nooooo!" Weiss said. She closed the book and ran to grab Blake. "You know what this means, Blakey?"

And Blake sighed and braced for bath time.

Baths were still horrible, harrowing tribulations, and Blake still struggled to avoid this one. And afterwards, during oral hygiene time, she decided she hated the bathroom most of all the rooms.

Afterwards, Weiss ran up to Blake with some clothes.

"I had one of the maids buy you your own jammers, Blakey."

Weiss held up a shirt and pants set. They had small cats and jugs of milk printed on thier pattern.

"They're kitties, just like you! Do you like them?"

Blake blinked.

Weiss smiled. "Yay!" she dressed Blake.

And then it was bedtime again. Blake held her arms out so Weiss could carry her more easily.

"I can't wait until all the papers go through, Blakey." Weiss snuggled Blake's back again. "It's been so much fun now that you're here."

Blake patted Weiss's hand and drifted off to sleep.