When Cobin exited the Clock Tower, the walk back to his shop suddenly seemed very long. It felt as though him and Goodwitch talked for a very long time, and Cobin found himself emotionally exhausted. He really didn't have any protest to undergoing counseling, or revealing these things to Goodwitch, but it didn't make it any less difficult to talk about. Also, Goodwitch herself was terrifying in the way she simply seemed to be able to extract information from him like a book she was reading. He figured it must have come from years and years of teaching and purveying over teenagers. And when the meeting was over, she had just turned to her computer and seamlessly transitioned into working on something totally unrelated, there was no coffee or taking a minute to gather her thoughts, her brain was already halfway into her next task for the day before he even got out the door. Cobin shook his head, Every woman on this planet is terrifying, he thought.

He sighed, stuck his hands in his pockets and made his way down the path leading away from the clocktower. There were students milling about in the plaza, studying or chatting with one another, but always in groups of at least two. It was a space that seemed devoid of introversion, except for one. On the far end of the plaza, away from the Clock Tower, the girl with platinum-blond hair that Cobin had always seen with Ruby's group sat alone, reading a book.

Cobin stopped, because there was just something off about the scene. In his time as a member of the Special Forces community, he had been given the opportunity to take courses such as "Combat Tracking," and "Combat Hunter," which more or less boil down to high-level and specialized situational awareness training. A basic hypothetical situation that might be presented in one of these courses might be something along the lines of: You're in a crowded market square, and in this market square there is a vender that absolutely no one approaches, and one that everyone seems to stop at. What does this mean?

The platinum-haired girl had this space around her, this border that nobody seemed to want to cross, but all of the groups of people who sat on or near this border seemed acutely aware of her. They whispered instead of speaking loudly and laughing, like the closer you got to her the more the space became like a vacuum. Also, for someone who was trying to relax and read a book, she looked very tense; her back was straight, and despite the fact that her legs were crossed, they were positioned in such a way that would be optimal if she needed to suddenly launch upward from her seated position. She also just looked generally… uncomfortable, in some deeper indescribable way. Cobin was tired, but his curiosity got the better of him, and he walked over to her.

"Good morning," he said, stopping a pace or two away from where the girl sat.

The girl looked up, maybe a bit surprised but not startled. "Oh, it's you," she said, sounding sort of annoyed.

"Yep, it's me," Cobin said, ignoring the girl's tone of voice.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"Well that's a pretty broad question," Cobin said, deciding to dish back a bit of sass of his own, "I'm here at this school because I live here, I'm here in this plaza because I just got finished with a meeting at the Clock Tower. But as to why I'm here on this world, your guess is as good as mine," he said, smiling at her.

She scowled slightly at him, "No, I mean-"

"Why am I standing in front of you right now?" he said, cutting her off. Cobin was polite but he believed very deeply in treating others in the exact way that they treated him. If this girl was going to try and out-bitchy him, she was going to have a very bad day.

"Yes," She said, scowling a bit more now.

"It's because you look fucking miserable," Cobin said, going for the blunt approach.

The scowl quickly became a look of genuine surprise, "What… what do you mean?" she asked.

"Are you somebody's daughter or something?" Cobin asked, ignoring her question.

The girl diverted her eyes, looking down and away from Cobin's gaze. "Everyone is somebody's child," she said.

"You know what I meant," Cobin said, "You come from a different kind of blood than most people here do, don't you?"

The girl looked back up at him, and actually chuckled a bit, "I keep forgetting that you're really not from here at all," She said.

"You're right, I'm really not," Cobin said.

"You know," the girl said, "No offense or anything but it really annoys me how everyone around me is suddenly so obsessed with you, as if you're important or something," She put her book down and folded her arms, a look of smugness coming over her face, "We're training to do something that our entire world hinges on, we have to study and work ridiculously hard, and suddenly none of that matters because this new soldier guy is just so fascinating," she said.

Cobin shrugged, "I don't get it either," he said.

The smugness went away quickly, "Excuse me?" she said.

"I said I don't understand it either," Cobin folded his arms as well, returning the gesture, "I don't think I'm important, I'm just some old grouchy dude who fell out of the sky. What I do know that is my entire life is now more or less at the mercy of a very generous principle and eight of his students who all could probably rip me limb from limb with their pinky fingers." Cobin smiled at her, "And yet for some reason, they haven't. Despite the fact that I am a massive asshole."

"Yeah," the girl said, "So what does any of that have to do with me?"

"It has everything to do with you," Cobin said, "Believe it or not, I do actually care about you people. There's a lot of shitty things you all could have done to me but you haven't, it's been quite the opposite in fact. So I want to know why you're the only person in this plaza sitting alone, and why all of these other people seem to be acting like you are surrounded by an invisible wall or something."

Whatever mask the girl had been wearing for the entire conversation seemed to drop from her face. She frowned slightly, maybe sad but also possibly indifferent. "Are you aware of the Schnee Dust Company?" She asked him.

"I've been here for a week," Cobin said, "I'm still just trying to find a McDonald's."

"A what?"

"Nevermind. So, the Schnee Dust Company?"

"Yes," the girl said, "my family owns it. We're one of the biggest Dust companies in all of the four kingdoms. We bring it all the way from the mines into the storefronts. It's sort of a big deal," She said.

"I can imagine," Cobin said, "So all of these other students are…"

"Afraid, jealous, angry… take your pick," the girl said, "They don't want to have anything to do with me and I don't want to have anything to do with them. That's our relationship."

"What about Ruby and them?" Cobin asked.

"That's different," she said, "They're my teammates."

"But they're more than that, too. Right?" Cobin asked.

The girl got quiet again, she shifted about on the bench, uncomfortable. "Yes," she said finally. "But…"

Cobin held up his hand, stopping her from saying anything else. "What's your name again?" he asked.

"Weiss," She said, "Weiss Schnee."

"Rockland Cobin," He said, "But your friends seem to have taken a liking to the nickname 'Rocco,' so I guess that works too," he smiled at her.

Weiss looked up at him, "Mister Cobin?" She asked.

"Yes?"

"Did you really come over here just to see if I was alright?" she said. Her facial expression showed little emotion, but demanded an honest answer.

"Yes," Cobin said, "And if you ever want to read somewhere not surrounded by all these prying eyes, you're welcome into my shop. The front door is normally closed but all of your friends seem to have little trouble getting in through the skylight, so feel free. Anytime." He said. Weiss nodded in response, maintaining eye contact as she did. She didn't say anything, but Cobin half expected that; handing out 'thank you's' didn't seem to be in the girl's nature. "Alright then, I'll be on my way," Cobin said. He stuck his hands back in his pockets and turned, walking away from her, "See you around," he said over his shoulder.

…

Weiss watched the man walk away, eye's locked onto him like a homing beacon. The conversation had been very disarming for Weiss. The girl, ever since she was little, had treated conversation like a competition, an attitude possibly derived from her family's many years of business dealings and boardroom meetings. To her, even if it wasn't an argument of any kind, there was always someone who had the upper hand while conversing, and someone always walked away on top, no matter how pleasant and non-confrontational the topic. Weiss made it her business to never be the one to 'lose' the conversation, but she just had. In fact, she hadn't just lost it, she had lost is catastrophically, entirely. The man had broken through every single one of her defenses in less than five minutes. Then, finally, when they had reached the end, he had shown her only kindness. Weiss felt like it should terrify her, but she didn't feel that way. In fact, she felt…

Well, she didn't really know what she felt.

Weiss shook her head and picked up her book from where it sat next to her on the bench, and attempted to continue reading. She was suddenly very aware of just how uncomfortable she had been, sitting alone in the plaza, and only got through about half a page before it became to distracting to deal with. She let the book fall into her lap and looked up at the big blue Vale sky. She only had maybe forty or so minutes before lunch was over and her next class started, it didn't make sense to relocate now. But…

Oh to Dust with it, she thought. And with that, she picked up her things, and left.

…

When Cobin returned to his shop, there was already more work waiting for him. In the driveway sat what appeared to be a utility van, probably used by the resident plumbers or engineers. On the driver's side window was as sticky note that stated simply "Tire rotation/coolant/oil." Cobin figured he could handle that, and brought the van in and up onto the lift. Despite the fact that it allowed his guests to literally drop in on him without notice, Cobin actually liked the skylight a lot. It was well designed and around midday provided enough natural light for him to work without having to waste electricity. The beams of sunlight powered in from above him in streams, catching a bit of dust that hung in the air as they came in. With the sunlight, and the work to do, and the music playing, it was all sort of peaceful…

"I was the guy you once knew as a jerk,

who made records on the side now I do it as work.

So you BET that I take pride in throwin' you in the dirt

You would too, if you knew what it's worth…"

His mind wandered back to Weiss and whether or not he had handled that correctly. He was brief, more brief than he would have been normally but at the time it felt right. He said what was on his mind, and left the girl to her own devices. Weiss had been the one that he was still most distant from after his week here on this planet, and it had felt like a missing piece. His picture of this world was still new and incomplete, but the puzzle felt like it was more-together than before.

While he was still busy removing the first wheel, there was suddenly an all-too-familiar thudding noise from above him. Oh god not again, he thought, stepping back and looking up. Sure enough, there on the roof of the van stood Weiss, looking down at him. "Hello," she said, rather quietly.

"The car," Cobin said.

"What?"

"You're on the car," he said, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Oh, sorry." The girl said, jumping off. And in much the same way that Ruby had, she landed next to him on the floor of the shop more gracefully than the laws of physics should have allowed. What made it even more impressive than when Ruby did it, was that Weiss managed to do it in heels.

"So," Cobin said, "Feel free to sit and read anywhere you want. It's not immaculately clean in here but the door is open so there's fresh air at least."

"Actually," Weiss said, "The book seems rather uninteresting now."

"Hmm?"

"So you really have no idea how you got here, or why?" Weiss asked.

Cobin shook his head, "Nope, I'm just as confused as everybody else."

Weiss nodded, accepting this answer. "So why do you think you're here?"

Cobin shrugged, but how troubled he was by the question was obvious on his face. "I wish I knew," he said. "I feel like I have something I could contribute here. But I don't know why, or how, or what. But it feels like it hinges on you, and Ruby, and Pyrrha, and the rest of them."

"Like a calling?" she asked him.

"Maybe," Cobin said, sighing, "It feels like maybe it's my connection to the universe. If that makes any sense."

Weiss nodded again, "I have to get to class," She said.

Cobin nodded, "Makes sense, it is the middle of the school day."

Weiss walked past him, and toward the door. As she exited, she called back at him "Hang in there, Rocco, it's only been a week."

Cobin smiled, chuckling to himself. "Yes," he said "only a week."

…

Despite her little detour, Weiss made it to Oobleck's history class comfortably early, which was good because it was going to take her a minute to get her mind refocused for the task at hand. The rest of the team was already there, as usual. The sisters were laughing and giggling about something or other, and Blake was quietly going over her notes, but she did offer a smile every time the other two girls said something especially entertaining. The world seemed… at peace. Weiss made her way over to her teammates and sat down with them.

She opened her book again and began reading, but after a few seconds she suddenly said, "Okay, I'm on board with helping out the soldier guy." Suddenly Ruby and Yang were silent and Weiss felt eyes on her. Sure enough, when Weiss looked up from her book, the three other girls were staring at her. "What?" She asked.

"Uh… you weren't already on board?" Ruby asked.

Weiss sighed, "I mean, I guess I was. But now I'm… affirmative about it," she said.

"So what changed?" Blake asked.

Weiss closed her book, it was reasonable to assume that she just wasn't going to get any further into it that day. "I don't know," she said, "I just think he's going to be important somehow."

Yang nodded. "It's a weird feeling, isn't it? But I feel like that too."

"I mean, he's sort of already improved things," Blake said, "Cardin actually helped Velvet pick up her books when she dropped them this morning while leaving class. I think Cobin actually managed to get it through his head that he can't just be an ass to everyone."

"His names Rocco!" Ruby said.

"Girls! Are you talking about that new military chap?" The presence of Oobleck was upon them so swiftly and suddenly that they all recoiled a bit, and Blake almost fell out her chair. "He's a fine instructor if I do say so myself!"

"Uh… Yeah," Ruby said. I didn't even notice him come into the room, she thought. "So you've met him?"

"Why yes!" Oobleck exclaimed, "We had a pleasant little chat down near the cafe. I must say though, the man has to work on his handshake." Oobleck sipped from his thermos.

"So what do you think of him Prof… I mean Doctor?" Weiss asked

"Well I think he's a splendid addition to our staff here at the academy," Now Oobleck paused, seeming to think for a moment, "But his clothes are rather awful."

You're one to talk, thought all of the four girls simultaneously.

"Say!" Oobleck said, throwing his hands out to them, "All you young folks seem to be up-and-up with the latest fashions! If you're already so well acquainted why don't you take him out on the town and get him some work clothes fit for this institution!"

"That's... actually not a bad idea," Yang said. She turned her head to look at her teammates and they all seemed to nod in agreement.

"Well, class must be on time!" Oobleck said, "But keep me informed on how that chap is doing, I'm very interested!" he said, before zooming over to his desk to begin arranging his paperwork.

Ruby turned to her teammates, "Alright, team. Operation 'Dress Code,' lets do it."

"Hell yeah!" Yang said, grinning. Weiss and Blake just nodded their approval of the idea.

"This… is gonna be awesome," Ruby said.

…

Damn, so this one really is a day late and a dollar short. I passed out on top of my laptop last night after just the first paragraph of this chapter, and this is all my brain could churn out today. I'm excited about the next couple of chapters, but they might come a bit slower than they have been up to this point, so I hope that doesn't cause anyone to lose interest. I think this chapter was so difficult because Weiss is just a hard character to write for me, just thinking about her and trying to get into her head makes me tired. So, the chapter that focuses on her is brief, and for that I apologize.

Mom's Spaghetti: Don't worry, it will come back.

Thanks to everyone who commented with their speculations on my question about the cannon, I'll be taking it all into consideration moving forward.

I hope you're all excited for 'Operation Dress Code!"

-Wahs.