A/N: Happy Saturday! For once I'm not posting the chapter in the middle of the night like a terrible person! As always, thank you guys SO much for reading and for the reviews and for pretty much being all around fabulous.
Hugs,
Defenestrator
Green eyes stared down at even greener grapes. The cafeteria was awash with noise as always, but Pyrrha couldn't help but feel as though their usual table was far quieter than what she was used to. Practically all of team RWBY was stuck in their dorm recovering, and Ren was likewise stuck in their own dorm room, with only Nora for company. At least Jaune was still here, sitting beside her and demolishing a steak.
Pyrrha glanced in Jaune's direction, spotting Weiss in the distance headed their way. The heiress was carrying Ruby's bag. Pyrrha smiled. How sweet - they were already sharing personal items. She leaned in close to whisper in Jaune's ear as Weiss neared their table, "Remember, be discreet. Act natural."
"Huh?" The blond swordsman looked up from sawing off another strip of overcooked meat. It was like trying to cut through the leather that wrapped his sword's hilt. In retrospect, getting the cafeteria steak had been a pretty bad idea, but he just hadn't been able to resist.
He followed Pyrrha's eyes to the approaching heiress, "Oh, right, natural. I can do that," to prove his claim, he dropped his knife and waved to the white-haired fencer, "Hey Weiss! Uh... nice weather we're having." the sky outside was gray and dreary, and the walkways were damp with drizzle. "I mean, it's just so... normal... am I right?"
Pyrrha quietly stomped on Jaune's foot underneath the table. He was being about as discreet as a whale in a pile of kittens.
Weiss spared him an incredulous glance as she slipped Ruby's bag from her shoulder and set it on the bench along with a thermos of the cafeteria's soup of the day. She'd been hoping for chicken, but it was some kind of watered down vegetable-miso instead. Not ideal, but it would have to do.
"Pyrrha, do you know if they've cleared out all the breakfast supplies yet?" Weiss straightened her uniform out of habit as she reviewed her mental list. Soup: check. Toast: un-check. Plus she needed to get something for herself, and it occurred to her that Blake might want something other than plain toasted bread if she was still lucid. She'd make her a sandwich, or something.
The red-headed warrior smiled apologetically, "I believe there are still some fruits left."
"Just fruit?" Weiss scowled in the direction of the food line. Toast would really be better.
Pyrrha eyed the thermos sitting next to Ruby's bag. "You must be bringing food back for Ruby. That's very sweet of you." Pyrrha offered a genuine smile to the heiress. "Just like Nora - she's been bringing Ren all of his favorite foods as well."
Weiss blinked at the news about Lie Ren. Apparently he was well enough to eat. "He's taking a course of antitoxin, right?" She briefly wondered if that wild girl he was partnered with was the one giving him his shots. That would be unfortunate. "Has he been experiencing any side-effects? Just so I know what to look out for with Ruby and Yang."
"Well, he hasn't been moving around a lot," Jaune rubbed the top of his boot, a rueful grimace on his face, "...but that's probably because of the, er, you know. Hole in his chest. So... maybe that doesn't count."
Pyrrha nodded. "Nora really has been taking great care of him, though. It's easy to see how much she cares." Warm green eyes locked with blue, bolstered by a knowing smile. "Don't worry Weiss, I'm sure you'll take great care of Ruby."
"Um. Thanks?" Weiss frowned a little at the sudden, intense eye-contact. Why was Pyrrha acting so strangely today? And why was she persist in talking about Nora when she had clearly inquired about side-effects?
The heiress felt a confused and somewhat-frustrated blush creeping up on her, so she shifted her attention back to the task at hand and scooped up Ruby's book bag, "I'm... going to go speak with the kitchen staff. Could you watch this soup for a minute?" she turned and strode down the aisle between tables almost before she'd finished speaking, leaving the thermos on the tabletop.
"Well, she seemed... about the same as usual?" Jaune looked to his partner for her opinion once Weiss was out of earshot.
Pyrrha's smile widened at Weiss's flustered departure. "Yes. It doesn't look like she's ready to talk to us about it yet." Her heart went out to the heiress. She was well familiar with the tricky, precarious nature of having feelings for a teammate. Pyrrha turned her gaze back to Jaune, warm green meeting quizzical blue. She nudged him with her elbow, smiling affectionately. "You aren't jealous, are you?"
"Jealous?" Jaune put a hand over his heart, feigning horror, "Me?" he gave a half-hearted laugh and poked at his food, "Of course not. Though it is kind of too bad... I guess this means they're both taken, huh?" He abruptly realized who he was talking to and tried to backtrack, "Not that either one of them would've been interested in... I mean, not that I'd be interested, just, you know, er...because... they... are..." Jaune reached blindly for words, "not into guys? And I'm not into girls who aren't into guys. Except as friends. Or, you know, partners, in case you're not into guys. I mean, because it would be totally fine if you weren't and I... uh...," he cringed and picked up his fork, "... I'm just going to stop talking and finish this."
Pyrrha grinned and opted to say nothing, sparing her less-than-eloquent partner from further embarrassment.
On the other end of the cafeteria near the tables where the toasters and soda machines were, Weiss got to work. She explained to the kitchen staff what she needed and they gave her a whole loaf of cheap sliced bread, half of which she sent through the conveyor-belt style bagel toaster, and the other half of which she used for peanut butter sandwiches. They would keep well if no one was up to eating them right away, and they didn't need to be refrigerated. On a whim, she made a tuna sandwich as well. If Blake didn't want it, Weiss would eat it herself (though tuna was not her preferred sandwich type).
Wrapping these supplies individually using the abundance of napkins provided next to the straws by the soda machine, she finished packing Ruby's book bag, picked up an apple from the bowl of fruit left from breakfast, and was ready to go.
Weiss needed to stop back by the table where Jaune and Pyrrha were sitting to retrieve the thermos of soup. Midway through the crowded sea of tables, she paused, thinking over what the red-haired warrior had said before. It seemed like she was concerned for Ruby for some reason or another. Maybe... because Weiss was the one looking after her?
All that talk about her taking care of the younger girl... Weiss supposed she had been a little hard on Ruby. She wasn't exactly used to being in charge of semi-invalids, but... well... she was trying. She felt that frustrated blush return as she hiked the bag up on her shoulder, resolving to be more patient with her team while they were recovering.
The heiress crossed the rest of the busy cafeteria to the table.
"Thanks," she snatched the thermos and shot Pyrrha a determined glare, "and I'll have you know that I will be taking great care of Ruby, so you can stop worrying about her and focus on your own teammate."
Pyrrha blinked, momentarily startled by the fierce declaration. Her smile then returned full force. "She is certainly in good hands." Her eyes drifted to the side as her thoughts drifted to Ruby's older sister. Yang gave off a fiercely protective vibe, and according to Blake she didn't yet know about the situation... Brows furrowed in worry, Pyrrha brought her gaze back to Weiss. "Just, be careful around Yang, ok?"
"Please, she's nothing I can't handle," Weiss rolled her eyes as she turned to leave. Nothing she couldn't handle as long as she stayed out of reach, anyway. The pain medications had really made her clingy.
The heiress picked up her pace as she exited the doors of the cafeteria. The chances of everything being exactly the way she left it hovered very close to zero. She would just assess the damage and deal with it when she got there.
Pyrrha watched her go, all smiles. "I think those two are going to be just fine."
"This is... actually kind of boring."
"...Yes."
Blake shifted against the shower tiles, sitting with her head resting on her knees. Yang shifted beside her, sitting stretched out as much as possible in the small space. After realizing that Yang couldn't walk more than a few feet without beginning to heave from pain, they had decided to "hide" in a bathroom shower stall.
It honestly wasn't the best hiding place in the world, but there weren't many other options in these sparse dorm rooms. Not unless they wanted to hide underneath a bed or something, which was a terrible idea given Yang's condition.
In a twist of fortune, the cool shower tiles actually soothed the brawler's back, eliciting a string of contented sighs that in turn elicited small smiles from Blake, glad to see her partner relaxing. A quick glance at the frosted glass door gave her a muddled view of the rest of the bathroom and the open door that lead to the bedrooms.
Somewhere in the back of her mind Blake knew the pain meds were messing with her perception of time, but it really did feel like they'd been sitting here for hours. Weiss should be back soon. She would find Ruby and... Blake lifted her head suddenly. Weiss and Ruby. Her visible eye glimmered with hazy mischief, wrought by the medication. She still needed to tell Yang...
Blake slipped an arm around Yang's shoulders and pulled her into a secretive huddle. "Did you know... there's a rumor going around school."
Yang tilted her head towards Blake, clearly interested. "Yeah? About what?"
"A rumor about Weiss and Ruby."
Yang's eyes darkened almost imperceptibly at the idea of someone spreading rumors about her little sister. "... What kind of rumor?"
"...That they're together."
"They're WHAT." Yang tore away from Blake and scrambled to her feet, making straight for the shower door with eyes blazing red. "If Weiss has laid one single finger on my little sister I'm going to-"
"Yang!" Blake scrambled to her feet as well, suddenly fearful for the heiress's life. Adrenaline momentarily cleared her head - it was time to switch tactics before someone ended up dead. She grabbed the raging brawler's shoulder, gently pulling her back into the shower. "It's just a rumor, it could be nothing."
Yang rounded on her partner, still clearly livid. In retrospect, it might not have been the best idea to bring this up while squeezed into a shower together. Blake instantly switched to Plan C. "Honestly, I think it's kind of cute."
Rage promptly morphed into confusion. "What."
Bingo. Blake pressed on, "It's very cute. Think about it - it's classic. A seemingly insurmountable rivalry that blossoms into heartfelt romance, forged through the heat of battle."
"...Okay..." Yang raised an eyebrow, eyes officially cooled to amethyst once more. "I'll give you that. But come on... Weiss?" She crossed her arms. "Ruby could do so much better."
"Better than the heiress to a multi-million lien Dust Company?" One with questionable business practices - but she left that part out.
Blake could practically hear Yang's gears grind to a halt. They stared at each other in silence.
Slowly, surely, the blonde brawler grinned.
Blake grinned right back.
Outside the room, Weiss fished for her door key, moderately relieved that there was in fact still a door to unlock. After that exploding cake prank those few weeks back, she really wouldn't put anything past the more 'free spirited' half of the team. Even if they were currently drugged out of their minds.
She pushed the door open and stepped inside, eyes narrowing slightly. Ruby was conked out on her bed, probably drooling on that magazine draped over her face. Blake and Yang, however, were nowhere to be seen. Half of the red curtain lay crumpled across the mattress on the floor.
Weiss glanced around the room, ascertaining that the pair of teammates had in fact disappeared and weren't just hiding up on Ruby's bunk or something. Though how they would get up there with Yang in her current state was beyond her. How had she even gone anywhere in the first place? Had Blake dragged her away?
"Ugh, I knew something like this would happen," Weiss set the bag of food supplies down next to Ruby's bed, noting that everyone's pill containers were in place and the throw-up trashcan was empty. Then she looked at Ruby and her heart jumped with a very small amount of panic. She was breathing, right?
Weiss stood beside the bed and watched for a second.
The younger girl's chest rose and fell evenly in sleep.
Of course she was breathing. Why wouldn't she be? The heiress chided herself and moved to rescue the magazine covering her partner's face. She really should have borrowed Ruby's card to check out these materials.
When she lifted the weapons magazine, she froze, momentarily stunned by the sheer number of drawings on her partner's face. Stars and huge, comical eyebrows and... was that a rabbit? "Of all the childish, idiotic, absolutely ridiculous..." she put a hand to her temple in an effort to still her oncoming headache.
Quietly, carefully, hoping Weiss was distracted enough by her own ranting, Yang emerged from the bathroom and crept up on the fuming heiress. Closer… closer… inches away… She pounced, crushing Weiss in a hug from behind and sending the both of them sprawling on top of Ruby.
"Welcome back Weissssssssss!"
Hidden by the brawler's cheerful greeting, a camera shutter quietly clicked behind them. Blake smiled down at her scroll, typed a short message, and hit send.
Heading back down the hall to their last class of the day, Pyrrha and Jaune were deep in the middle of a scintillating conversation.
"...and that's why baguettes make fantastic beginner's practice swords."
Bleep!
Further explanation interrupted, Pyrrha glanced down at her scroll. A message from Blake? With a picture attached no less... She opened the message, and stared wide-eyed at a photo of Yang, Weiss, and Ruby in a dog pile on the heiress's bed. The message underneath was brief.
Yang took the news well.
Pyrrha positively beamed. She handed her scroll to Jaune to let him see. "It looks like things are going well!" She put a hand to her chin. "Maybe we should throw them a party."
"You've been talking to Nora a lot, haven't you?" Jaune squinted at the picture. Did Ruby have a pink mustache? "Anyway, it looks like they're already having a pretty good time."
Pyrrha flushed slightly at Jaune's comparison. "I suppose Nora and I have discussed this at length, yes." Shifting her weight, she folded her arms. "You may be right though, it might be too soon for a party. We still don't even know how quiet Weiss wants to keep all of this."
Pyrrha put a hand to her chin once more, looking pensive. "The heiress to an organization as large as Schnee Dust Company taking on a romantic partner would be huge news for tabloids."
"We could always swing past after class. They're probably going stir crazy, cooped up in their room anyway," Jaune suggested as they crossed the threshold into their history lecture room, "And yeah, I guess that is the sort of thing those columns go for. Ooh, did you read the one about the largest cat in the world? I saw it in the grocery store this one time and it looked completely fake like it was made out of felt or something but apparently it was real."
Pyrrha tilted her head in fascination as she sat next to Jaune at their usual spot near the center of the classroom and pulled out her notebook. "I wonder if it gets mistaken for a lion," she thought aloud. The image of an obese warrior-cat with a lion's mane in fierce battle armor came to mind. Smiling to herself, she went silent as class began.
"Yang Xiao Long let go of me this instant," Weiss shrieked, struggling to get out of the brawler's bear-hug. Her hair fell over Ruby's face in a tangle of white.
The younger girl groaned as the combined weight of her wrestling teammates crushed the air out of her lungs. Muzzy with painkillers, she swiped the heiress's hair out of her face, "Urg, ow, guys, hey, get off, that tickles."
Blake stood back and smiled at the mayhem. Medication hazed thinking process or not, she knew Yang's plan of "let's hug Weiss and maybe she'll forgive us for the markers" was doomed from the start, but it certainly never hurt to try. Unless perhaps Weiss killed one of them. She certainly looked as though she was about to.
Yang felt a gentle tug at the back of her bright orange tank top.
"Yang, you're crushing them."
"Oh," the brawler blinked down at Weiss and Ruby. She stood first, briefly forgetting to let go and bringing the heiress up along with her, then blinked again and unceremoniously dropped Weiss from her arms back onto the bed. She returned to Blake's side, sporting a sleepy lopsided smile. "Sorry about that."
Weiss landed across her partner's lap, hair a mess and coat askew. She propped herself up on one elbow, pointing at Yang, "You. Get back into bed and don't ever ever do that again."
"Okay, ow," Ruby grimaced, trying to shift to get Weiss's weight off her injured leg. "Ow."
The heiress noticed after a second and jumped off, nearly cracking her head on the underside of Ruby's bunk. Terrific. She leaned back over to inspect the bandage. If that wound had opened again...
"Don't think I've forgotten about you," the irate heiress shot a glare at the highly-amused Faunus. This was probably all her fault. Maybe even her idea. And if Weiss could ever prove it, she was going to make her miserable for at least a week after she was off her medication.
But for now, she was going to be patient.
She straightened her hair and tugged her clothes back into place. "There's food in Ruby's bag. It's just toast and sandwiches. Don't make yourselves sick or anything. And Ruby, let me see your leg."
Weiss took a look at her team leader's face and felt her color rising again. Priorities, she told herself. Leg wound first, marker removal second.
Yang slinked away to her mattress on the floor, kneeling at the other side of Weiss's bed rather than lying down. Bandaged fingers reached out and stroked gently through Ruby's hair. "Hey little sis. Don't you worry about a thing. Weiss is going to take great care of you. I will personally see to it that she treats you right." The brawler leveled a gaze at Weiss that seemed to declare "or else."
Weiss met Yang's gaze evenly, still furious after the unexpected manhandling. And what was that about her taking care of Ruby? First Pyrrha, now Yang. Did no one think she could look after her team leader for a couple of days?
Blake appeared behind her partner holding Ruby's bag, her scroll discreetly hidden behind its bulging sides filled to the brim with sandwiches. "Yang, Weiss is right. If you aren't hungry, you should go back to bed."
Yang reluctantly tore her gaze from Weiss and herself from Ruby. "Fffffiiiiinnnnnneeeee. I am a little sore anyway." She stretched out face down on the mattress, smiling as she felt Blake sit right beside her. Focused amber eyes search intently through the pile of sandwiches. Blake smelled tuna, and she was going to find it.
"Hmph," Weiss scooted back a little on top of the bed covers and rolled up the edge of Ruby's shorts to take a better look at the thick, gauze bandaging. It seemed clean, which really only meant that she wasn't bleeding freely. Weiss dusted off her hands, making a mental note to redress the wound in a little while. For now, she procured a washcloth from the bathroom and tipped some rubbing alcohol onto it. "Here, let me see your face."
Ruby scrunched her nose up and ducked as the heiress started on her forehead. "Yuck, that smells awful."
Weiss followed her with the washcloth, "Well your face looks awful. Hold still so I can fix it." The alcohol made the marker smear so the pink mustache scrawled across Ruby's face blurred into a wide stroke of mangled color before it came off.
"There's something on my face?" Ruby's color-streaked brow furrowed.
"Yyyyyes," Vandalism. Absolute vandalism. Weiss darted an acerbic look at the pair of teammates digging through the sandwich bag. When she got most of the marker off, she shook out the cloth, "There. Let me just rinse this so you don't smell like alcohol for the rest of the day."
When she crossed the room again, this time with a washcloth soaked in warm water, Ruby was staring at the grey light from the window, silver eyes bleary. "Is it morning?"
"No, you dolt, it's-," Weiss caught herself. She sat back on the edge of the bed, tucking her legs up so she could turn to face her partner better, and adopted a less snappish tone, "... it's the middle of the afternoon." The others seemed focused on eating. Or sleeping.
Weiss stole a glance at Ruby's confused expression. She really wasn't very good at this. "Do you... want something to eat? I brought some soup. Here, let me finish this too," she put a hand on Ruby's shoulder to hold her still while she wiped the last of the marker and alcohol smell off her face.
Shifting a bit to stretch her legs out, Blake quietly watched her teammates from behind the exquisite tuna sandwich she'd finally located, which she had already nearly finished. She would definitely have to thank Weiss for this delicious meal later. Her lips quirked in a small smile. She had to admit, Weiss really was trying her best, and to her credit so far none of them were dead or re-injured yet.
One lone amber eye shifted between Weiss and Ruby, the former gently removing the last of their beautiful artwork from the latter's face.
"Blech," Ruby wiped her face with her wrist, pushing away the washcloth, "I'm clean, I'm clean."
"Right, fine," Weiss rolled her eyes and pushed the cloth into her partner's hands while she got up to retrieve the thermos of soup.
Amorous rumors aside, it never failed to amaze her how the younger girl somehow managed to bring out a much softer side from the usually icy heiress. It really was... so... very...
"...cute."
Weiss heard a sound and noticed Blake's amber gaze. She bristled a little at the idea that the other girl had been watching, "What did you say?"
Blake's eyes widened a fraction. She hadn't really meant to say that out loud. This mental fog from the medication was more dangerous than she thought. She backpedaled, "I... said thanks... for the sandwiches. Tuna is my favorite." She stuffed the last bit of sandwich in her mouth before she let anything else slip. Still lying beside her and apparently still awake, Blake felt her partner stifle a snicker.
"... you're welcome," Weiss gave Blake a suspicious look before she handed the thermos to Ruby, who insisted that she could drink soup from a cup by herself.
Weiss did another survey of the room. The contents of Ruby's bag still littered the floor at the end of the bed. The trashcan in the middle of the floor remained miraculously empty. Blake and Yang seemed at least somewhat settled down.
With no classes or activities due to everyone's injuries, the afternoon was an open book: one she intended to take advantage of, if her duties to her teammates allowed. She set the food out on top of the bookcase under the window in a neat row: plain toast on one end, sandwiches on the other. The apple she set over on her desk.
"Is there anything I can get anyone?" she asked as she gathered the mess of Ruby's papers off the floor, smoothing and organizing them as she went, "Otherwise, I'm going to do some studying."
Yang made a dismissive noise, slightly waving one hand. Blake shook her head slowly, "I'm fine, thank you." The pain medication was finally starting to take its toll, and after a full morning of mischief, the faunus wanted nothing more than a solid nap. Blake started to get up to return to her bunk, but stopped when she felt a hand on her arm.
She looked down to see Yang sporting puppydog eyes that could rival Ruby's. Blake froze, feeling a flush creep up her neck. Her partner's desire for hugs was insatiable. With the slightest hint of an eye roll to signal acceptance, she allowed herself to be pulled down into another crushing hug. Blake sighed, muffled somewhat by Yang's mane of hair. At least it was comfortable. Together, the troublemakers drifted to sleep.
Ruby sprawled across the heiress's bedspread for a few minutes, picking out designs in the wood on the underside of the bed suspended over her. She found a fire sword, a dragon on a cloud, and a couple of skinny beowolves before she followed the others into dreamland.
Weiss listened for a little while, alert for any changes in their conditions. Then she set out pencil and paper and cracked open the first of her library books: Field Treatment of Grimm-related Injuries and Other Afflictions.
Next time her teammates encountered something out of their league and got hurt (because it would certainly happen), she was at least going to be able to patch them up a little.
The afternoon hours marched on. Outside in Beacon's courtyard voices called to one another as classes were let out and students rushed to dinner. Weiss didn't pay them any mind as she continued to add to her growing collection of notes, complete with diagrams and page number references.
She'd long since discarded the bandage she'd been wearing; her aura had reduced the gash to a tender sliver of pink along the blade of her hand. A day or two more and it would be entirely healed. She couldn't expect as much from Ruby and her sister's more serious injuries, of course, and the Grimms' poison apparently interfered with the natural recovery abilities associated with one's aura. She sighed and shifted the napkin-wrapped remains of her apple to the edge of the desk and kept working.
Ruby wasn't sure exactly what had woken her, or how long she had been awake. She shifted onto her side and watched Weiss take down notes from a thick book with a blue cover. Her thoughts were fluid and very hard to hold onto for more than a couple of seconds. Like mist, or really slippery fish, or something. Ruby rubbed her eyes with her fist. Ugh. "Hey, Weiss?"
The heiress turned in her seat, shifting her attention from the book to her partner, "Yes, Ruby?"
"What are you doing?" the younger girl's voice came out groggy with disuse.
"I'm studying," was the succinct reply.
Ruby picked at the edge of the bandage on her leg. "How come?"
"Because that's what you do when you're in school." This explanation was met with no response, so Weiss slid back to face her desk. She had flipped another page and started copying an illustration of a death stalker's stinger when Ruby's voice broke her concentration again.
"Hey, Weiss?"
She gripped her pencil a little harder, "Yes?"
"Do you think you could maybe read some out loud?"
"What? Why?" Weiss turned again, frowning at her partner.
"Well, I mean, you don't have to, but it's just kind of boring lying here and I can't figure out which way the letters are going in this," she gestured vaguely; the weapons magazine lay open and somewhat crumpled near her knees, "and I like your voice when you're not mad and thought that if you're not mad, uh, maybe you might read some?" Ruby quirked the whole rambling sentence into a question and followed it with, "You're not mad, are you?"
Weiss watched her partner grimace as she pushed herself up so she could sit against the headboard. She rolled the pencil between her fingertips, a little uncertain of what to do with the unusual request, "No, I'm not mad. But the others are asleep."
"You could read quietly," Ruby all but pleaded in a very small, extra quiet voice, and, well, that sealed the deal. Weiss flushed, set her pencil aside, and squared up her notes.
"I suppose it couldn't hurt," she grumbled as she picked up her chair and moved it over next to the bed, "Only for a little while, though."
Ruby slid down till she was comfortable and waited, patient and foggy with medicine while the heiress got situated.
Weiss hesitated, holding up the field-treatment book, "You seriously just want me to read this out loud?"
"Mmn?" Ruby blinked and slurred out, "What? Yeah, whatever you want. Just for a little while?"
Weiss set her jaw for a second. This was... kind of embarrassing. But her partner was sick and really who cared? Not Weiss. Not at all. With any luck, Ruby would be asleep again in two minutes anyway. So the heiress set the book on the edge of the bed, took a deep breath and started where she'd left off.
She leaned a little forward over the book so she could read softly and still be heard, "An alternative to the pressure immobilization technique is a constriction band wrapped a few inches closer to the heart than the bite marks on the bitten limb. This should be applied tightly enough to only occlude the superficial veins..."
Ruby closed her eyes and listened, not so much to the words as to the even cadence of her partner's speech.