"What took you so long? I thought you were going to send us a message!" Yang complained as the door to the dorm opened.
"Sorry, sis!" Ruby apologized. "We got busy and then we decided to all get supper, so here we are!"
"Hello. I'm Winter, Weiss's older sister." Winter introduced herself to Yang and Blake.
"Winter, huh?" Yang asked as she took the offered hand. "I'm Yang, Ruby's older sister."
"Blake." Blake introduced herself when Winter offered her hand again. "Teammate."
"Perfect." Winter smiled. "So let's go get something to eat."
"What'd you have in mind?" Yang asked.
"She wants cafeteria food." Weiss sighed as she dropped her and Ruby's school bags near the desk.
"Let me guess… salad." Yang smiled at Winter who returned the smile challengingly.
"Burgers." She replied. "Bet you I can eat more of them."
"You're on!" Yang grinned as she turned to Weiss. "Your sister's got a lot of confidence."
"Oh, that's not confidence." Weiss sighed again as she left the group to take Ruby's hand since she was waiting for everyone out in the hall. "She went to college."
"I can't believe I lost…" Yang groaned as her chin pressed into the table in front of her.
Her eyes were trained straight ahead as she watched Winter devour yet another burger while Ruby kept score on her scroll a quick glance told Yang she'd fallen eight burgers behind and they hadn't even been there for half an hour.
"I told you." Weiss said as she dropped her fork into her empty salad bowl.
"Well, I thought she'd be like you." Yang said in reply to Weiss.
"To be honest, I'm not sure who in the family Weiss takes after." Winter admitted as she finally wiped her mouth with her napkin and picked up her cola. "She's the only one who doesn't really care for meat."
"It's not that I don't like meat, it's that I'm not a fan of the taste of grease." Weiss stated simply.
"Yeah, she'll have a burger sometimes." Ruby supported her girlfriend.
"Anyhow, now that we're finished, would you mind if I left to finish looking over the contract?" Weiss asked Ruby. Ruby nodded and Weiss gave her a small peck on the forehead as she rose from her seat. "I'll be back at the dorm later, so don't worry if I'm late, okay?"
"Sure." Ruby nodded. Weiss walked away, leaving Winter as the W in team RWBY.
"So why are you here?" Blake asked cautiously. "I'm sure there are better things you could be doing other than eat with Weiss's classmates."
"You could say that." Winter answered with a smirk. "I wanted to see what sort of life Weiss has made for herself since starting Beacon."
"Why now though? Wouldn't it have been better to wait till next year?" Blake asked in return.
"That was the original plan, but when she announced her courtship with Ruby, things progressed faster than I would have preferred." Winter replied.
"So you're not a fan of this wedding bull either." Yang stated, summing up Winter's statement.
"Couldn't have described it better myself." Winter replied, bumping Yang's fist with perfect timing as if she'd been expecting it.
"Can I ask you guys something?" Ruby asked, breaking into the conversation.
"Sure." Winter replied quickly, turning to the scythe wielder.
"Well, I know we have to find a way out of the contract, but what exactly do we do?" Ruby asked.
"I was wondering that as well." Blake interjected.
"I'll help if I can but I'm not so great at doing that sort of thing." Yang said. "But if you can point me in the direction of a plan B that doesn't involve a contract, then I'm all ears."
Winter smiled at the three so willing to help her sister. She realized it was just a matter of time before Weiss made friends, and she felt relieved that even after just four months together, they were willing to stand up for each other regardless of how hopeless the situation seemed.
"Hey, guys. Who's that?" Nora called from across the cafeteria. A second later she was leaning over the table staring at Winter. "It looks like Weiss got old and grew boobs!"
"Nora, cut that out!" Ren reprimanded her as he approached and pulled her back by the collar.
"Sorry, she does that sometimes." Pyrrha apologized as she approached with Jaune.
"And that's why we can't make new friends!" Jaune whispered harshly to Nora who ignored him as if he'd never even spoken. Ren shook his head in defeat and released her once again since she wasn't putting up any resistance.
"Hey guys, this is Weiss's sister." Yang said with a wave to Winter. "Winter's visiting for a bit."
"Cool! I didn't know she had a sister!" Nora responded excitedly. "What if she also has a robot dinosaur hidden under her bed?"
"I'm pretty sure that's not possible." Ren replied.
"Actually, our family does have something that resembles a Tyrannosaurus ten floors below our bedrooms at White Castle." Winter offered.
"See! I told you!" Nora flicked Ren on the forehead before jumping onto the table so she was looking straight up at Winter. "You're so cool. And you're bigger than Weiss!"
"Thank you…" Winter replied, starting to understand the tired expressions on the rest of her team's faces.
"Okay, down Nora." Yang laughed, pulling her back to the bench beside her.
Winter looked around at the group and Jaune jumped to attention.
"Right, um… I'm Jaune." He introduced himself. Then he said each of his teammate's names while they said their greetings in turn. "And we make up team JNPR. And we live across the hall from RWBY."
"You're good friends, then?" Winter asked with a look around the group. Everyone was nodding, so it seemed she could speak freely. "Then can I request your help too?"
"That was actually something Weiss asked me to do while she was looking it over." Ruby told Winter. Then she turned to the newly arrived team. "We need to break her marriage contract."
"Just tell us what you need!" Pyrrha nodded.
"Sure thing." Jaune agreed.
"I'll help if I can." Ren said with a glance at Nora.
"I'll break it's legs!" Nora yelled, getting the attention of everyone in the immediate vicinity before they realized it was Nora and returned to their meals.
"Then first, thank you all. Weiss might be too stressed to say it but I'm sure she really appreciates your willingness to help." Winter gave a small polite bow to the group. "And then if you're okay with it, I'd like to start assigning jobs to everyone."
"Sounds good." Ruby spoke for the group.
"I just need to know how JNPR is with legal terminology." Winter looked at the group imploringly.
"I'm alright…" Jaune said with a shrug.
"I should be fine as well." Pyrrha nodded.
"I've had some experience." Ren stated.
"I can read!" Nora exclaimed excitedly.
"Alright…." Winter didn't know what to make of Nora's comment, but decided against questioning it. "Ruby, Blake, Pyrrha, Jaune, Ren, Weiss and I will work on the contract. Yang and Nora, I want you two to go research the local customs and laws for Mystral. Anything pertaining to marriage I want you to bring to me, and you can start thinking something up in case we can't crack that contract in time."
"Are you sure you'll be okay with Nora?" Ren asked Yang.
"Pfft… what's the worst that could happen?" She replied dismissively.
"Then let's get going." Winter stood and led the way out of the cafeteria.