It was the sound of pounding rain that woke Weiss. With her eyes still closed she could feel the fresh, damp air against her face, the only part of her body that wasn't snugly cocooned beneath her comforter. She frowned, ever so slightly, as the brisk scent of rain registered in her mind. Despite her ironclad will her grasp on sleep drained from her bones rather quickly, taking with it any hope of passing out. There was something about the scent of precipitation that just got the heiress going. It was a dreadful time for it though, as she estimated it was a hair past too fucking early.

Pouting, she bunched her hands in her blankets and pulled them close, resolving to at the very least enjoy the warmth of her bed. She rocked in place to sushi-roll herself into maximum comfort and started to daydream about home, about class, about dreams (which she noted as being quite meta, but thought the word was somewhat geeky so she resolved not to use it again).

She thought of arriving at Beacon, of the pieces exam (she did involuntarily flinch when her mind tricked her into thinking she was actually falling), of training. Then of her teammates, and their impropriety. Especially Yang and Ruby. Or that boor Blake, with her nose in a book all the time. What a bookworm. Emphasis on worm. Because… Because… Weiss frowned. Perhaps that was a little too mean. She might be methodically malicious in her malignant maligning of her meager… Teammates but she wasn't cruel. At least she hoped she wasn't.

Mental alliteration and self-affirmation complete she nuzzled into her blankets once more, deciding not to think too much about what other people thought of her.

Eventually, a sound started to separate itself from the background haze of the rain. Quiet, the digital click of a scroll keyboard could occasionally be heard. Not typing, but like someone was keying through menus.

Wondering who would be up at, well whatever time it was, Weiss opened her eyes and glanced to the side. The side that contained the wall her bed was pushed up against. Hm. Rolling her burrito-like-self to the other side of her bed as quietly as possible she could see a very-awake Ruby.

The girl had never appeared before they'd gone to bed, and once the rain started to pour and then started to deliver cats and dogs the express way they'd given up waiting. She was either waiting this out in a cave or drowning in a flooded river, they'd thought. Instead, it was obvious, she'd made it back. Probably by swimming out of said river, the dim glow of the tablet caught droplets of water as they fell from the girl's bangs. A towel, seemingly unused, hang from her neck, and whatever clothes she'd worn the day before were hanging by the heater near the front door.

This, as far as Weiss was concerned, would be acceptable if the girl wasn't seated right beside the heiress' bed, dripping water from her hair all over the side of the bedspread.

"You're ruining my sheets!" Weiss hissed without much bite, pulling back and away from Ruby with mock surprise. She was careful not to be too loud, lest she wake the others, and ruin an extremely rare opportunity for some time alone with Ruby. "What happened?"

"Got stuck outside." Ruby replied sheepishly as she scooted forward and turned in place to face the heiress. Weiss winced as the girl scratched the back of her neck, sending another cascade of droplets down onto the carpet. "I flew in, didn't want to shower and wake you."

Weiss frowned a pensive frown but nodded in understanding. She surreptitiously looked down at the scroll and saw pictures of Yang, some old enough that an itsy-bitsy Ruby was visible in them. "What're you doing then sitting down soaked right beside me?"

"I need to shower off the rain and grime, but if I did I was going to wake you up," Ruby motioned with her tablet to the closed bathroom door, only a handful of paces away from the foot of Weiss' bed. "And I was a little concerned if I woke you up, you'd wake the rest of them up." She motioned to the two sleeping teamates with a sweep of her arm. "I was already worried about that when I opened the latch on the window from the outside."

With a blink, Weiss glared at the now very obviously unlocked window. "How did you climb four stories?"

"I flew."

Weiss was left to simply nod at that, though she made a mental note to ask for a demonstration of just how far Ruby's semblance could take her. "Is it fun?"

"Flying?" Ruby asked, her head tilting. Her eyes seemed distant for a moment, seeing right through the white-haired girl, peering into the distance of the past. "I don't fly like a bird, so it's not like something you'd dream about…" She shook her head, pupils shifting focusing, the cogs of her mind turning. Weiss could see Ruby's demeanor change in real time, the girl absentmindedly toweling her hair as she pondered. "It's a part of my semblance. It's like when you summon a glyph, you draw its form as if you opened your hands." She paused a beat. "Well, a bit more than that I suppose. But the flying part is like trying to align your spine in just the right way, like stretching. It's kind of like exercise, I guess. I have to focus, carefully draw that circle." She made a face, at Weiss, one that belied the fact that it didn't seem like Ruby knew what she was talking about, or at least couldn't explain it well at all. She seemed frustrated by that, her brows creasing, lips pursed, like she was forgetting something important.

"All I'm getting from that is 'It's not all that fun.'" Weiss muttered, not feeling like that explanation explained anything.

"When a bird flies it can glide, ride a current, whatever. I feel like I'm just climbing a ladder." Ruby settled on a somewhat more understandable metaphor. She perked up a bit, "If I'm carrying someone it's supposedly pretty exciting for them."

"You can do that?" Weiss allowed an iota of excitement leak into her tone.

Ruby nodded. "My semblance isn't limited to me or my weapons, if someone is willing I can use it on them too, I've practiced that. I'm not totally sure what it feels like, but I've been told it feels sort of like floating."

I have an idea of just who you practiced with. Weiss thought to herself. She remembered the raven-haired woman from the bookstore. Her excitement at possibly flying died for a moment as she held on to that thought.

"Did you have a partner before coming to Beacon?"

"Why do you ask?" Ruby's tone was non-committal.

"I met someone when we were at the bookstore," Weiss began, her brows drawing together slightly, "she had long black hair, amber eyes, and was awfully rude," Ruby sighed, lips turning a bit, "and she said she was your equal, whatever that means."

"Ah." Was all Ruby managed as she scratched at her neck, looking away from Weiss and into the rainy night. She looked deep in thought, and the heiress wondered if the brunette was thinking of putting together a lie. "You met Cinder."

"So she was."

"My partner? Yes, kinda." Ruby admitted. "She and I have been a pair for a long time. Several years. I met her right after I was kidnapped. I decided I wanted to go through Huntress training so I came to Beacon, she didn't see the point, so she didn't. She lives in Vale now."

Weiss did not like the sound of that one bit. "But you're my partner now."

"I can say with confidence she doesn't mind sharing." Ruby joked, shaking her head, not making eye contact. "She and I weren't hunter partners, we were more uh," Ruby glanced at Weiss through the corner of her eye. "Well," Weiss stare was unforgiving, unyielding, and while Ruby wasn't withering beneath its baleful glow she did seem to be struggling with her words. "It's not like a prep academy thing. We trained together, lived together, we aren't contractually bonded as Huntresses."

"So you two aren't planning on making a team once you graduate?" Weiss pressed. She already wasn't exactly happy with Ruby paying more attention to Pyrrha, adding in this new chick would be just another layer of offense. Whether Ruby knew this was a source of annoyance for Weiss or not, the Brunette didn't show her hand, but she did seem to chuckle a bit at the comment. "I don't want you running away, this is a lifetime commitment, you can't be having back-up plans or people waiting in the wings."

Ruby rolled her eyes before standing up and plopping down on the side of Weiss' bed. The older girl reached over and grasped her partner's hand and held it in her own. Her skin radiated warmth, her eyes sincerity, the silver seeming to almost shimmer in the darkness. "I'm not sure if this is because of Pyrrha," Weiss' scowl got deeper, "or something else, but I chose Beacon. I didn't even know my sister would be here and I chose it because I liked the team system. So long as you don't scurry off to Atlas with your fancy foreign Hunter certificate I'll be here for you. And my sister, and Blake, and yes, Cinder, and all my other friends." Ruby squeezed Weiss' hand. "I'm not going to leave you behind. If I have to go, I'll always extend a hand and ask you to follow." Ruby smiled. "And when that happens you'll be the best fighter you can be, and you'll be able to choose the path yourself."

The heiress glared down at their joined hands, feeling the rough grain of calluses. Faint lines tracked up along her arms, thin enough to be invisible to the casual observer. Even in their proximity the only reason she could see them was because of the way the scarred skin reflected dim light. 'The best fighter you can be'. Not the best huntress, not person, fighter. As Weiss took in more of Ruby's muscled, scarred, tense form, she wasn't sure if she wanted to be like her.

I'll figure that out for myself.

"You should take that shower." Weiss finally said, pulling her hand free and crossing her arms. "I'm not going to be able to get back to sleep anyways, just get it over with." A pause. "I have some hand cream in the medicine cabinet, you should use some."

Ruby grimaced, glancing down at her hand before nodding. "Thanks Weiss." She stood and grabbed her scroll, turning away as her ears started to darken. She disappeared into the bathroom quickly, closing the door quietly, and promptly turning the taps on. Weiss noted that through the door the noise wasn't really all that audible, and given how solid that door was it wasn't a surprise. Ruby had stayed up on purpose.

Weiss slept poorly that night. After some initial success she found herself once more quite awake, the sound of rain her only companion. Ruby had slipped into her own bed and was plainly quite asleep, and so was unavailable for gentle interrogation, and there were still a few hours before dawn would break.

To pass the time until she felt like she should sleep again she reached over the side of her bed, fishing through the bag she'd left beside it. She cursed under her breath at the crinkling of plastic, but eventually found the spine of the book she was looking for. The mint copy of Aurora Noel's classic was pulled into her lap, her free hand stretching to turn on her bedside lamp at the same time.

The present from Ruby had been awfully kind, if Weiss ever deigned to use such a term. Long hours of her childhood were spent reading, then re-reading the story, first with Winter then all on her own. She knew the entire thing by heart of course, could probably even recite it word for word from cover to cover. Despite that the platinum blonde couldn't help but crack open the book and start the tale once more.

An hour slipped by before she was pulled from her book by her own yawn. Stretching her hands over her head she decided to try again for sleep, though as she arched her back the book fell from her lap. With a curse that was a bit too loud for the tender hour she reached forward to snatch it up before it tumbled to the ground, but as the pages fanned out a bookmark fell out. Fast enough to grab the spine she let out a sigh of relief, hoisting it to safety before peering over the edge of her bed.

Sitting on the ground, slightly bent from its wee tumble, was a thin bookmark embossed with a single clean snowflake. The inset was a matte silver, while the rest of the card was a tame blue. Just like those mugs Ruby picked out.

Weiss' blinked, her face reddening at the gesture. She held it gingerly between two fingers, cursing the fact she might have to actually thank Ruby for it. Her lips pursed, those memories of Winter coming back. With a sigh she opened her book to find where she'd left off, some dramatic line about forgoing convention and grasping opportunity. As she did so she happened to flip over the bookmark, catching sight of a receipt with the price scratched out. On the margin beneath the merchants jargon was a neat little note, written in Ruby's cramped script:

For My Partner.

PS: If you're not my partner, I put the bookmark in the wrong book. I guess this is your bookmark now. Oops.