Faunus hearing was a magical thing, especially when it came to hearing that was as keen as Velvet's own. It made gossiping an easy thing to do, and it cut speculation down to the raw facts. She wasn't a snoop, not exactly…however, it was hard to avoid the newest budding romance among the group. Especially one as long running, and as complicated as Yang's own. Yatsuhashi had always held a fondness for her.
Thinking about that only made the group titter on like high schoolers once more. Something that in all honesty, they sorely needed.
"He actually went to her room. He mustered up the courage, knocked on the door, and walked right in." Velvet said as she looked to Blake wide-eyed. "I told you he had it in him."
"I think you're jumping the gun." Blake goaded with a tiny smirk. "Yang has always liked him, even if she can't admit it. She asked him to meet her there, I'm sure she'll make the first move."
"He still went, didn't he?" Velvet retorted good naturedly. "It means he's just as interested. Yatsuhashi can be very bold when he wants to be."
"Put your money where your mouth is. Fifty on Yang, I'll bet you she's the one that starts something first." Blake said, going to the far wall. She pulled out a book, and the paper she had folded within. "Yang doesn't just invite a man for tea, ever. She'll make it a point to try and make him see her as the woman she knows she is."
"Then I'll have to say fifty on Yatsuhashi." Velvet replied with her usual competitive streak. "He genuinely likes her, you know."
"Write it down." It was the principle of the bet for Blake. She knew Yang, and she thought for sure that the blonde would make her move, and it would be a good one. "You want in on this, Jaune?"
"Not a chance. I mean, I know I'm a betting man, but I still say that this is not something I'm willing to throw down lien on…" Jaune replied as he looked at the paper sitting on the table, a list of bets taking place on a well-worn sheet of paper. "Yang's going to kill us if she finds out we're doing this…"
"Weiss, are you getting in on this?" Blake asked as she watched Velvet pen in numbers.
"Not with that betting limit I'm not." Weiss replied with a laugh. "Besides that, Coco still owes me five hundred lien for Sun and Ruby being together. I just haven't collected yet."
"You actually bet on that?" Blake asked, giving her wife something of a look.
"Of course I did. Back in our last year of Beacon, in fact." Weiss said pointedly.
"She was still crushing on Scarlet back then." Jaune said, cocking his head to the side, bouncing his son on his leg.
"And you honestly though that would last?" Weiss scoffed. "I knew it was doomed from the start. Even without verbally abusive tendencies, Scarlet was more cynical than the moon is fractured." In fact, the more she thought about it, the more she knew that Ruby wouldn't have made it far with him. "Ruby's the sort of person who needs people that think positively. Scarlet was nothing but the cute, socially awkward and gloomy boy who went to school abroad."
"It was the job that changed him…" Blake said quietly.
Weiss gave Blake a passing glance, knowing better than to question where that line of thinking came from. Blake had let go of Adam long ago, but, it wasn't difficult to see where she drew the similarities between both of the men. "Job or not, it's inexcusable, either way."
"Oh, I agree." Blake replied. "I just think, if he had gotten his license then and broken away from Sun's team, he would have been better off. There are plenty of jobs for hunters. Ones that would have kept him out of the darker sides of remnant. If he worked as a border patrol, or as a contracted hunter for one of Remnant's companies, he never would have changed so much. He just…didn't have the metal fortitude, that's all."
"The guy snapped." Jaune said. "I get what you're trying to say, Blake, but he outright lost it…and Ruby…she tried so hard to help him."
"Hmm." Blake nodded. "Well, you have my bets. I think I'm going to take the opportunity to have a nap. I'm more exhausted today than I thought I'd be." Although she was tired, when she made her way back to the room, sleeping wasn't on her mind. Her journal was. She thumbed through the many pages. The written words lingering in her mind, recalling what she was thinking when she actually wrote them.
Then she turned to a blank page in the notebook.
On the topic of hunters… She began thoughtfully, before pausing and scratching out the words entirely. Life changes people… That looked more accurate, more in line with what she wanted to say. It was more steadfast, concrete, and held the weight she intended it to. Confidant in this, she went on.
Life changes people, life changes circumstance, life changes everything. I really do mean that. Day by day, even the little things that we don't notice, life changes it. I know it might seem mundane most of the time, but that's a blessing. One you shouldn't take for granted. Now, I'm not saying that you have to want a boring life. Far from it, but, thrill seekers lend themselves to a whole host of risks…and sometimes…even if we don't mean for bad things to happen, they do.
Hunters are people who face these challenges every day. I'm proud to say I have a license to be a hunter. However, I am also equally happy not to live the life of one. I think that distinction is important. I have the skills to protect myself, and my family. I know how to survive in the wilds. I think, graduating Beacon was by far the best choice I could have made. It prepared me for life, and being adaptable. I don't regret my choice, but...and again, this distinction is important...I think I might have regretted it, if I hadn't settled down.
I've said this before, but you need to be who you want to be. Live how you want to live… you need to find your own happiness, and hold onto it.
However, even thrill seekers have to practice caution. Don't forget that. Double and triple check the important things, always. I'm sure that fact will be instilled into you, as you have Schnee blood running through your veins. It would be impossible for you not to know the weight of the choices you make. The sure enormity behind them…but, don't think that's the only option you have.
Never force yourselves to be someone you are not. I've come to believe that doing so, might be even more costly than anything else…
Yang and Yatsuhashi greeted the afternoon blearily, having slept in after staying up all night talking. The blonde was the first to make it down to the breakfast table, where two Faunus were eyeing her with perplexed gazed. At first, she thought her hair had managed to do something it wasn't meant to, or that something was on her face. Neither of those things turned out to be the case.
With a half curse, Yang gave Blake a look. "What now?" She asked, one blond eyebrow raised.
"You…" Blake took a deeper whiff of the air. Then she turned to Velvet. "There's no way…"
"I don't smell it either…" Velvet said, more than just a little confused.
"Smell what?" Yang wondered then. Clearly her friends had lost their ever loving minds.
"You…" Blake replied with confusion clear in her tone. "You and Yatsuhashi go and lock yourselves in your room all night, and you come out smelling like…you…" She shook her head. "What happened?"
Yang blinked a few times before she grinned. "You two thought we were shagging, didn't you?"
"Certainly seemed like that's what you were after last night." Blake nodded, her meal ignored. "Why do you think I gave you something known for having properties not unlike an aphrodisiac…mind you that part of it only works on cat Faunus such as myself…but, it is a tea meant to soothe the inhibitions…something the both of you have far too many of."
"Well we aren't cat Faunus." Yang replied with a self-deprecating smirk. "And we didn't bang."
"They must have done something." Velvet retorted. "Yatsuhashi's scent is fresh…it's just not carrying pheromones. Besides, no one passes the threshold of Yang Xiao Long's personal rooms without coming out unscathed."
Yang merely smiled, amusement carrying over into her tone. "He did stay the night…we just didn't have sex…"
That, quite frankly, caught Blake for a loop. "Then, what did you do?"
"Talked." Yang replied simply. "What?" She asked, when they both gave her looks of disbelief. "Can't two people share a bed without fucking?"
"They can." Blake agreed slowly. "You just…normally, you don't Yang. I'm surprised."
"I was too, actually." Yang said quietly. "I need to go check in with Weiss. I can't believe she let me actually sleep half of the day away."
"Yang, wait…" Blake said, stopping her. "It's a good thing, you know…slowing things down a bit. I'm happy it worked out…"
"Yeah…" Yang said with a tiny nod. "I am too."
Though, truth be told, the fact that they decided not to put a label on themselves confused the hell out of her. She was used to casual sex, but she wasn't used to waking up in bed with a man fully clothed. There was something all too domestic, and that made Yang cringe. When she finally reached the personal office Weiss used, she headed for the coffee pot. Very nearly drowning herself in the entire batch, before cleaning her mouth with the back of her hand.
"Rough day?" Weiss asked distractedly.
"You have no idea…" Yang groused. "Sometimes, I really, really, hate the fact that Blake has a sense of smell."
"No more than she hates herself sometimes, I'm sure." Weiss put away the forms she had been looking over. "It gives her far too much information, and plenty of the sort she doesn't want."
"Yeah, well, I didn't exactly want her to have any of it either." Yang groused. "How in the hell do they do it? Smell everything, and just know like that? Ugh, I'd lose my damn mind."
"She was born with it, I suppose she merely got used to having such a sensitive sense of smell." Weiss replied, as she observed Yang's work. The cracking of a bottle spring water was enough to punctuate Yang's frustration. "Would it help to talk about it?"
"No..." The empty bottle made a loud thud as it crashed into the trash can a moment later. "But not talking about it is pissing me off too."
"You look exhausted…" Weiss offered.
"I am." Yang murmured. "And I'm completely fucking screwed! I have a thing for a man who deserves way better off than me…"
"What?"
"Yatsu's a damn saint, I've said it before but, man is he ever." Yang hung her hand low, shoulders slumped, as she watched the dark brown liquid trickle into the glass apparatus below. "It would be so much easier if I could just screw him once and just…push everything out of my head for good…but he won't give me that…and the more I get into this whole stupid song and dance…the more I don't want to."
"Don't want to what, Yang?"
"Push him out of my head…"
"Then simply refrain from doing so."
"Weiss, it's…damn it, it's not that easy." Yang said, blowing hot air from between her lips. "God, I wish it was. He's so much more than I'm used to dealing with. I keep waiting for him to be some sort of jerk, but I can throw everything at him, and he just accepts it nonchalantly."
"Am I missing something profound here?" Weiss asked.
"The more we talk, the more I realize he's so damn tempted, and he keeps holding back…I keep wondering why…I was naked in front of him, he could have had me in a heartbeat…he didn't…I slept curled up by him all night, expecting him to cop a feel…he didn't…I woke up with his arms wrapped around me, and…" Yang shook her head. "He kissed me on the forehead, and left it at that…"
"I sense some lingering hesitation…" Weiss drawled.
Yang was far too lost in her own musings to take heed in the dry humor. "I've never had that happen before…not ever. He's the only guy I've ever met who doesn't at least make some sort of dirty joke about the whole thing."
"You know Yang, Blake and I shared a bed for almost two years before we even got married, and in that entire time, we never once had sex." Weiss told her.
"It was a dorm room, Ruby and I were right frickin' there." Yang shot back. "That's a little bit different."
"Even while you were away, we were celibate. In case you might be wondering, it wasn't my doing either. Blake wanted to wait. With her terrible heat cycles, it's no wonder why. If they had started up at Beacon, it would have been hell in a hand basket." Weiss explained then. "In any case, I remember wondering if I was simply that undesirable. It took me some time before I was able to put those fears to rest."
"How'd you do it?"
"I trusted Blake." Weiss said. "It just comes down to trust...and truth be told, I think this is a good thing, Yang."
"Is it?" Yang honestly didn't know. She had no prior experience to compare that didn't result in a hangover, or a woman in her bed. Men, they didn't tend to stick around. They didn't look for a simple place to rest their head every night. "This is the second time we've shared a bed….the second time that nothing's come out of it…"
"This might come as something of a shock to you, but chances are very high that he's just as lonely as you are…and just as exhausted by being stereotyped by the way he looks and acts." Weiss considered this, even as she realized the futility of it all. "If you spent all night in his company, he clearly finds you very favorable."
"Yeah." Yang murmured. "I know…I'm just…not good at this. People want me for my body, not my brain."
"Obviously, he's interested in both. It might be confusing to you, but try to enjoy that. It's probably very difficult for him, too." Weiss wasn't quite sure why she thought that way. She had some distant inkling that was the case though. "You're trying to figure things out between the two of you, and that's what's important."
Weiss wasn't joking about looking after Sun. Her father might have found the entire ordeal baffling beyond belief, but she couldn't have Sun dying on her.
She refused the mere thought of it, and she might have been a little too crude with her not so idle threats. She had put the fear of god into the SDC's medical staff, no question about it. Weiss promised retribution to any and all who might let Sun's condition worsen even slightly. She swore being fired would be the least of it, and that a license removal would be her idea of generosity.
Blake had been mindful of just what sort of people worked in this hospital.
Faunus friendly was a loose term. They weren't allowed to turn down a Faunus now, but to desire to help them? Most of those type of doctors were young, lacking the sort of experience Sun needed. The older men and women in the SDC staff had been grandfathered in, and Weiss couldn't merely fire a person for being racist…so long as it didn't hinder their performance in the workplace.
Weiss made sure her promises were crystal clear. If Sun didn't receive their best, the staff in charge of his care would receive her absolute worst.
Even with all of her promises, and threats, a hospital was still a hospital. There were rules even she had to follow. None of them were related to Sun by blood, and so none of them were permitted into his room. Not before his many surgeries, or even after them. The staff were also very tight lipped for the same reason. Neptune, as Sun's partner was given more information than Weiss, but even that was kept very minimal.
Midori was the saving grace to all of it, her tireless efforts in the medical field served her well. She both tended the wounded man, and kept Weiss in as pleasant a mood as could be afforded. "He is unwell, but, I've seen worse of hunters." She told Weiss gently after seeing what the surgical staff had to deal with. "With all of these Grimm attacks, I've heard that the north has experienced no small amount of wounded."
"What are his odds?" Blake asked.
"I wouldn't begin to guess. The factors are far too many, and our options for recovery are too few at this point." She turned to Weiss. "I'll say this. Should he survive, his recovery would be a long one. I highly doubt he will be able to resume his abilities as a hunter. You may wish to consider telling him this yourself…I could most certainly offer my professional advice, but news such as that should be heard by a friend, I believe."
Weiss silently absorbed the words, biting the inside of her cheek as she tried to fathom the raw implication. Sun wouldn't be able to go on hunts anymore. What would that mean for Neptune? Zhu? Even Ruby? "We'll look after him." Weiss said under her breath. "Money is no object." And truly it wasn't, but that wouldn't soften the blow to his ego. This she knew all too well form her own experiences. "In any case, we'll worry about that when he wakes up."
"Weiss is right. How long until he's out of the O.R. and into recovery?" Blake asked, but Midori only shrugged.
"It could be several hours. I will go back to the hospital to check on him just as soon as I am done here." She replied, gesturing out into her own personal clinic. She might have been privately employed by the Schnee family, but Weiss had a very large extended family line. Many of whom she had never even gotten the chance to know due to distance. One of her cousins seemed to have injured himself, if the icepack on his knee was any indication. "Surely, you understand…please forgive the unfortunately tardy reply you'll receive."
Weiss could only nod, pinching the bridge of her nose. "It can't be helped. Still, it would mean a lot to me knowing you'll be keeping half an eye on him."
"You should consider having him moved to my personal medical bay once he has recovered enough to do so." Midori offered kindly. "I'm not able to put in the recommendation myself. Considering his bloodline and heritage, it would be denied outright by the SDC's medical division. However, an order from you…" She trailed off, one hand resting in her deep lab coat. With the other, she nudged forward a typed letter that would only require a signature.
"Yes, that would be rather hard to decline, now wouldn't it?" Weiss laughed before her expression softened once more. "Well, then, let's consider this an order."
"Quite." Midori said as she walked passed them. "Now I you'll excuse me, I have a petulant boy in need of a splint."