Considering it was dawn, and the sheer height of the structure Yang was looking for, finding the bell tower was pretty much the easiest thing in the world. In no time, she was quietly scaling the darkened spiraling stone staircase. At least, as quietly as she could with her boots echoing with each step. The wooden trap door at the top of the stairs stopped her for only a moment, and she was grateful for her gloves as she pushed it open and stepped through - that thing looked incredibly splintery.

Once she stepped up to the tower's top, the sight that met her stopped Yang dead in her tracks, frozen. Ruby and Weiss, fast asleep on the floor of the belfry, practically on top of one another. Well, to be precise, it looked more like Ruby had sprawled all over her partner in a quest for warmth - one arm haphazardly thrown over the heiress's shoulders, a leg across her hips, face buried in her shoulder...

The nice thing to do would be to let them sleep. They'd probably been up all night in the cold, diligently keeping watch. And they did look awfully cute...

But they had gotten a telegram. Yang had a message to deliver. Clearly she had no choice but to wake them.

Yang moved so that she was standing right over them and crossed her arms, smirking like there was no tomorrow as she announced nice and loud, "Rise and shine, lovebirds."

"Five more minutes..." Ruby mumbled against the base of Weiss's neck, snuggling closer for a few more moments before getting dumped on the floor by the very awake, very unhappy heiress.

"Ruby Rose what on Remnant did you even think-" Weiss shot to her feet, redder than Crescent Rose's paint job as she kicked free of the blanket wrapped around her legs.

Ruby sat up from the pair of mussed bed rolls, rubbing her eyes while she tried to get her bearings. Her dark hair was a mess. "Ugh… is it morning?"

"It's been morning for the past hour," Yang crouched down to ruffle her little sister's hair, throwing the already disheveled locks in to utter chaos. She leveled a sly, sidelong glance at Weiss. "Did you sleep well?"

"Yes. No," Weiss spat, indignant. She marched partway around the curve of the bell to the other side of the belfry and back, scowling, "What happened to that boy? He was supposed to be keeping watch."

"He said he was going home to bed once it was light," Ruby combed her fingers through her hair and shoved some old boxes that had fallen onto the corner of her bedroll, "I guess he didn't wake us up?"

"He probably didn't want to disturb such a sweet scene~" Yang poked Ruby's cheek before standing and stretching out her back. She was still a bit stiff from Blake repeatedly tackling her to the floor. And into walls. And furniture. And maybe knocking her off of the balcony once.

"Weiss, I didn't do it on purpose," Ruby whined as the heiress snatched her blanket and bedroll out from under her.

"That's no excuse," Weiss's ears still burned with embarrassment as she bundled her things together and used the polished surface of the brass bell as an imperfect mirror, straightening her coat and hair. She snapped at Yang, "What are you even doing here? Aren't you looking after Blake?"

"Blake is just fine - sleeping like the dead, in fact. Didn't even wake up for that telegram guy. You're still banned by the way," Yang pulled the tiny square message from her jacket, offering it to Weiss.

Weiss regarded the slip of paper with incredulity, "She sent a telegram?"

"We should have breakfast," Ruby broke in before the heiress could get started, pumping an enthusiastic fist to attract attention, "We can talk about plans and check on Blake and I'm pretty sure there's toast and jam and some kind of crazy valley sausage."

Overall, the young team leader deemed the night of keeping watch a middling success. The town was Grimm free, but only by virtue of the complete lack of bat attacks. She hadn't even gotten to see one, which was enormously disappointing; however, the knowledge that there were still at least nine days before Chuck came back to check up on them put the spring back in her step.

The town bustled with folks going about their daily routines. Most of the men had long since left for the mines, but the kids broke ice in the buckets set out for their dogs and cats, and folks carried pitchforks and other odds and ends on their way down the valley to repair fences or watch the sheep. A couple of teenagers dragged a roughshod wagon off towards the trees among the steep hills. Ruby and Yang waved. Weiss ignored them.

It was biting cold- moreso than the day before. By the time they reached the cabin Ruby's nose felt like an icicle and she was remembering distinctly the winter Yang had dared her to lick Crescent Rose and she'd gotten stuck.

"Brrrrrrrrrrrrr," Ruby shouldered the door open, shifting to freezing-cold team leader mode. She pointed to her sister, "Yang, fire. Weiss, check on Blake? I'll start the scrambled eggs."

"You got it sis," Yang gave the fireplace a quick once-over, finding a small pile of wood, sticks, and a stack of paper resting beside it. The unopened box of matches sitting on the rust red bricks beside an iron poker was practically begging her to set something aflame. She set to work with a smile, calling to Weiss as she tossed some of the sticks into the firepit. "Hey so, I'm not sure if Blake will be... jumpy," she made a pouncing motion, "or not when she wakes up. If you get what I mean. Be careful up there."

"Wonderful," Weiss grumbled as she shed her coat and set it and her bedroll on the couch, claiming her space. The stairs creaked as she marched up, ready to duck if her teammate decided to take a running dive at her, or something.

Light filtered through the tiny window in the back wall of the loft, illuminating the pair of twin beds. One was naked of everything but its sheet; the other was a mountain of blankets, quilts, and pillows.

Weiss stood at the top of the stairs, watching the pile of bedclothes suspiciously, "Blake? Get up. We're making breakfast."

"Not... so loud..." Blake's muffled voice drifted through a small gap between two of the larger pillows - both of which tumbled away moments later when a cherry red woolen beanie pushed through, resting just above slowly blinking bloodshot amber eyes. Blake felt as though she had been chewed up by a Goliath and spat out, and then trampled, and then dropped from an airship.

Her head throbbed, the light pouring in from the windows burning holes into the back of her skull, even when she squinted. Her gaze drifted from the window, to the stripped twin bed, then down to her own fortress of warmth. "Where... how did I..." She reached up to put a hand to her head, blinking in confusion when her fingers encountered an unfamiliar hat which she promptly pulled off. Her eyes drifted from the vibrant red beanie up to Weiss, who was cautiously keeping her distance. The last thing she remembered was the tavern, reading her book and drinking apple cider that had a slight tang to it... Velvety black ears flattened against her head. "...I don't want to know, do I?"

"You drank yourself past coherence and spent the entire evening cuddling with Yang," the heiress tossed her white hair back over her shoulder and turned to descend the stairs, "that's what I gather, anyway. Breakfast is soon, if Ruby doesn't burn down the kitchen first."

Blake sank back down into her pile of blankets to hide the bright red mortification creeping up her neck and ears as Weiss disappeared to the lower floor, desperately hoping that the heiress was just exaggerating for the sake of teasing. Determined to face the day as normal regardless of whatever she may have done during her drunken stupor, Blake wriggled her way free of her pillow and blanket fort and grabbed for her bag, missing once or twice before properly grasping it and trudging over to the bathroom.

Once she was cleaned up and clothed for the day, Blake carefully made her way downstairs, finding the rest of her team in the kitchen. Ruby was using an oversized wooden spoon to push around... something... in a frying pan while Weiss hovered over her, and Yang was focused on the stack of dishes by the sink built into the low bar-style countertop that jutted out from the kitchen wall. The plates, silverware and cups that the brawler was washing looked as though they hadn't been used in a decade or so. Blake braced herself on the counter, enticed but also slightly nauseated by the smells of breakfast permeating the area.

"Yang."

The brawler in question glanced up from her dishes, face lighting up in an instant. "Well good morning, bright eyes. How are you feeling?"

The soft, subdued tone coming from her usually over-enthusiastic partner was a welcome surprise. Almost as if she knew to avoid loud noises... Blake's eyebrow quirked in wonder at just how much familiarity the blonde had with handling hangovers. She then remembered she had been asked a question. "Sound hurts." She thought for a moment longer. "Light hurts... Thinking hurts."

"Aw, Blakey, here," Yang filled one of her freshly cleaned glasses with cold water from the sink and held it out with a smile.

Blake ignored the nickname and took the proffered drink with a quiet murmur of thanks and took a sip, relishing the feel of the cool liquid. "Thanks for this," she held up the glass, "and for... helping me, last night," her eyes dipped down, "Sorry for the trouble." Yang's laughter caught her off guard.

"Oh come on, it wasn't that bad. You're pretty comfy actually."

Blake paled. "...Comfy?"

"Yup! You were cold I guess and snuck into my bed at some point."

Blake suppressed a groan, lightly touching her fingers to her temple. First Weiss, and now Yang. If she wasn't careful, she was going to get a reputation. "Sorry."

"Don't be!" Yang waved a plate, dismissing the apology, "I'm used to it. Ruby used to do the same thing, every winter. And anyway, you're always welcome."

"E-excuse me?" Blake nearly dropped her glass.

The sly smirk on Yang's face signaled she was probably being teased, but the brawler's eyes seemed genuine as she leaned forward, eyebrows wiggling. "You can share my bed anytime~"

For once, Blake was glad for the hangover, as she could blame it for the red flush that was currently exploding across her face. She smacked Yang's arm, earning a good-natured laugh from the brawler who went back to her dishes as Blake escaped further into the kitchen to see what her less flirtatious teammates were up to.

"Ruby, it's burning," Weiss stood, arms crossed, at her partner's elbow.

"It's not," Ruby scraped hurriedly at the edge of the pan with her wooden spoon, "It's just a little crispy on that one side."

"And a little runny on the other," the heiress watched Ruby stir the blackened pieces back into the clear-orange slime on the less-heated side, "Is it even possible to have a dish both burned and raw?"

"It's fine, it's fine," Ruby tried to center the pan over the heat and fiddled with one of the knobs to see if it would help, "This oven's just different than the one I'm used to."

"You're turning it down? So we'll have warm burnt-raw eggs. Great."

The younger girl tightened her grip on the spoon, "Look, if you want to cook, Weiss-"

"I'm not the one who volunteered," the white-haired girl made room for Blake, "How about you, Blake? Awake enough to handle yourself in the kitchen?"

Blake held her hands up. "I've never been great with eggs, but..." she eyed a small packet of what looked like some kind of fat purpleish sausages sitting by Ruby's half-empty carton of eggs. With a glance back at the iron poker sitting by the roaring fire in the fireplace, she grasped the cold package, "I think I can still make myself useful."

Fifteen minutes later, Ruby had finished burning the eggs and sat with her team at the small kitchen table, downcast over the half-breakfast, half-charcoal meal. Blake's sausages looked amazing, if a little stabbed-to-death. Weiss contributed by pouring glasses of milk.

"So," the young team leader tugged the collar of her shirt, glancing at her big sister, "mayyyyybe next time I'll start the fire and you can cook."

"Hey, you did your best! That's what matters," Yang placed a hand on Ruby's arm, giving it a small reassuring squeeze.

Beside her, Blake nodded, humming in agreement before taking an experimental bite of the blackened mass that was supposed to be eggs. Her bow crunched backwards, ears flattened against her skull, her face miraculously passive as she reached for the glass Weiss had just set beside her, quietly draining half of it in one shot.

"Um..." Yang glanced warily at her own plate of... 'food', "Well, we can also work in improving your best."

"Drinking eggs raw from a tin can would be a step up," Weiss scraped the blackened mess on her plate directly into the trash before taking her seat.

Ruby shrank under the enormity of her failure, "Well, uh, sorry for now, guys. At least Blake's sausage is good, though, right?"

When they headed in to town, they found out that Gregor, the chief miner from the night before, had posted notices on all of the bulletin boards in the square that his employees were not to associate with a certain white haired heiress, complete with an unflattering picture drawn in what looked like crayon. This of course left her sputtering with fury.

"Is he in grade school? Kindergarten? What sort of petty, idiotic child-" Weiss bit back the rest of her words as the others drew her attention to the few townsfolk going about their business. They were looking from the notices to her and back, and the heiress gritted her teeth, blushing all the way to her collar.

So they explored the hills that day. Some of Gale's assistants provided the girls with maps of the area, which they divided into sectors according to what they thought they could cover each day. Some of the village boys and girls pointed them to the head of the steep trail snaking up the side of the mountain, and Ruby and the others were off.

The pines whispered as the four teammates trekked beneath their boughs, footsteps muted by thick carpets of dead needles.

This was familiar work. They spread out to cover more ground. Ruby scoped out the high crags through Crescent Rose's magnifier sights while Blake kept her ears to the ground. Yang's aura burned bright as she called out, looking under boulders and brush for any sign of Grimm, and Weiss took to the trees, studying the lay of the land and it's make up. The likelihood of fissures opening up during mining operations would play a big part in whether they continued searching for crevices on the farther sides of the mountain or directed their energies into getting access to the mines.

Ruby lowered her rifle, cloak snapping behind her as she hopped down from her perch on a jagged chunk of fallen rock to check up on her team. Blake was nearest at hand. Ruby packed Crescent Rose away as she approached the Faunus, "Hear anything?"

Blake remained still, head pressed gently to the earth, listening to her partner's enthusiastic stomping which despite its distance was roughly equal in volume to Ruby's lighter footsteps coming from directly behind her. Yang's raucous attempts to flush out any nearby Grimm had thus far only succeeded in terrifying the local wildlife, but it had helped make one thing fantastically clear. Blake could hear no echoing evidence of hidden depths below.

"The ground here is solid," she confirmed, nodding to Ruby as she rose from her crouched position and brushed a bit of dirt from her hair. "If there are any crevices that run down into the mines, they must be farther up the mountainside."

The bushes just to their left exploded in a flurry of birds and squirrels desperately fleeing from the irritated brawler that came crashing through the stiff brambles seconds later. "There is NOTHING out here. Absolutely nothing." Yang retracted her gauntlets, folding her arms in a huff as Blake came to her side. She had really been hoping for a bit of action. "Wherever these lily-bat-things are hiding, it isn't the forest."

"Liliac," Blake corrected, gingerly picking twigs and leaves out of her partner's tangled mane of gold.

"Right, those," Yang punched a fist into her hand, eyes locked on Ruby. "I'm thinking we're going to have to lure one out."

"It would be nice to have some kind of, y'know, excitement," Ruby bumped her fists one on top of the other. The lightning bolt last night had been pretty cool, and she'd forgotten to ask Gale about it in the morning (though it was polite not to ask about strangers' semblances. Maybe it was a type of Dust?), but she was here to shoot Grimm, and so far they hadn't seen so much as a scrap of bone mask. The were banned from the mine where most of them lived for now, and so far the hidden crevice thing was a bust, so a trap did seem like a good idea. The trouble was, luring them out would have to involve a lure. Ruby crossed her arms and stroked her chin, the picture of contemplation, "Maybe we can catch one. Like, in a box or something? If one of us acts as bait."

But who?

Weiss dropped lightly to the ground beside the group. "Not that I'm in an enormous hurry to get back to the village that posts un-wanted posters of me in the square, but I am getting tired of staring at rocks and trees. Not to mention I'm positively starving."

She fussed with her clothes and picked pine needles and sap from her hair a moment before noticing Ruby and the others' looks. "... why are you staring at me like that?"

A/N: This is going to be the best trap ever.

Thanks for the reviews and favs! You guys are great.

-Fiercesomest