Chapter Twenty-One: Nurture.
Weiss paced back and forth anxiously outside her team's bathroom, her thoughts flying about her head. Everything had happened so quickly once the medics arrived for Pyrrha. Ruby had continued to cry and whimper as she stayed curled in on herself flinching whenever Yang or the Heiress touched her. Even Nora's bright usual expression was replaced with one of worry as she approached with Ren behind her. Each had tried to comfort the crying wolf telling her Pyrrha would be fine and that they knew she didn't mean to do it but nothing seemed to work. It had been in that moment when Yang adjusted her arms letting go of Ruby just a little that there had been a flash of crimson light and a burst of Aura petals and the wolf was gone.
"Oh fuck me." Yang groaned, slamming her palm into her face.
Weiss blinked in confusion, where had Ruby gone? "What?" She glanced about looking for the suddenly missing wolf.
"Blake she's gone, think you can track her?" Yang shook her head as she got up and dusted off her backside. Seeing a confused Weiss the blonde gave a chuckle, "Ruby's semblance is speed, if she want's to she can move faster than our eyes can follow. And right now she did what any scared wolf would do when she saw an exit, run, and run fast."
"That dolt." Weiss muttered she got up, Yang and herself were only trying to comfort her and when she saw a moment of escape she took it? That dolt of a wolf. Now they had to go track her down and convince her that everything was all right. "Where did she go?"
Blake looked around taking deep breaths of the air trying to track Ruby. The smell of roses permeated the air but there was a heavier trail that was heading towards the door, motioning for her team follow her Blake began to track down the wolf. The panther just hopped that Ruby had remained on the campus somewhere; if she had gone into Vale then it would take several hours to track her down. But as she followed the trail it became apparent where the wolf had run off to, the dorm.
A large sigh was released form the remaining girls as they opened the door to their room and quickly located the wolf, who had locked herself in the bathroom. Blake had to press her Faunus ear against the door to confirm it but she could hear the muffled sniffles of the redhead through the wood. Yang's first instinct was to kick down the door and get to her sister, both Blake and Weiss had quickly intervened if they scared her Ruby might bolt again. That had lead to a semi-heated debate between the Heiress and the brawler on how to best get to the wolf without scaring her. Blake had offered to pick the lock, which earned her an odd stare from both girls to which she simply shrugged muttering something about how the simple lock would only take a second to open.
Which was where the three members of team RWBY found themselves now. Weiss pacing in front of the door, Yang sitting crossed legged facing the door eyes fixed on the door for any movement, and Blake sitting on her bed reading a particularly steamy chapter in one of her books ears alert for any sounds that may come from the bathroom.
Weiss finally paused in front of the door and crossed her arms glaring at the wood. She had come down to three ideas. One, let Yang breakdown the door and hope Ruby didn't bolt for the window or make it past them and out the dorm. Straight forward, to the point and efficient. It also had the greatest risk. Two, have Blake pick the lock on the door letting them get the drop on the wolf and force her out to let them comfort her. A bit backhanded and sneaky but also efficient. Though this could backfire quite quickly, if Ruby felt threatened she might lash out and then would feel worse. Which left her with the third option.
With a sigh Weiss settled her mind and turned back to face the other two members of her team. Yang continued to stare, lilac eyes slightly unfocused and filled with worry. Blake had closed her book and was now looking at her with a raised eyebrow raised, obviously she had been waiting for her to reach a conclusion on which course of action they were going to take. That made Weiss pause, why was Blake waiting for her? Shaking her head the Heiress put the question aside for later.
"I need you two to leave." She said breaking the blonde's stare.
Two slow blinks brought lilac eyes up to her own, "Why?"
Weiss took a deep breath, "I'm going to get Ruby out of the bathroom and talk to her, but we also can't overwhelm her so the best course of action is for only one of us to remain while the other's leave." She explained her plan flatly trying to keep the blonde from arguing.
"So why don't you and Blake go?" Yang challenged as she rose to her feet fluidly. "She's my baby sister, I can get her to open up."
"Yes I'm sure you could but you are also fairly tactless when it comes to get people talking." Weiss gave Yang a stare as she remembered the night they had their little 'talk'.
"Oh come on," Yang groaned roughing up her hair with a hand. "You so can't hold that against me, you were being an idiot and I did what I had to to get you talking and to realize it."
"Yes and while I do thank you for that, Ruby right now is also being an idiot and blaming herself for something that she didn't do." Weiss countered.
"That doesn't mean I'd make her face it like-" Yang tried only to have a cold glare sent at her. "She's my sister, I've got to be there for her."
Weiss felt her face soften as Yang struggled with her own emotions, "Yang I understand. I get the whole big sister-younger sister deal, that's one of the few family dynamics that I do understand. But right now Ruby doesn't need her sister, she needs someone who can be objective as well as comfort her. You'd try to dismiss her actions and she wouldn't get over it. I can help her come to terms with it and comfort her at her pace." She watched as Yang continued to struggle with her emotions. "I know I don't have the best track record when it comes to emotions but I know I have to be the one to do this. If I can't, then how can I say I can protect her?"
Slowly a knowing smirk pulled at Yang's lips as she shook her head and closed her eyes. "Alright fine, you get this one. But if you screw this up Schnee dust will have two meanings." Yang's eyes snapped open in a brief flash of crimson but it was quickly replaced by lilac.
Weiss rolled her eyes and looked at the black haired girl who had remained silent, "Is this plan suitable for you?"
"Honestly I'm not sure if it will work, but at worse you just call Yang and myself back and while Yang pounds you into the ground I work on getting Ruby out. At best you get Ruby out and we start figuring out what to do next." Blake shrugged as she walked back to her wardrobe. "I'm assuming this could take a few hours so I suggest we take clothes for tonight and tomorrow." She went about collecting her clothes; honestly she was a bit relieved that Weiss had suggested she and Yang leave. It wasn't that she thought Ruby had gone feral but the image of a feral wolf was a hard image to get out of the mind, she still had nightmares from her one encounter. And if there would be anyone who could get the wolf calmed down it would be her mate, though she also highly doubted that either girl would acknowledge that, yet.
"Yes that would be for the best." Weiss agreed. "I'll let you know when you should head back." For her plan to work she needed no interruptions from the outside once she convinced the wolf to come out.
"Alright, so I agreed to go but I'm going to point out a slight problem." Yang stared as she gathered clothes into a bag, "Where exactly are Blake and I suppose to go?"
Weiss paused, frankly she didn't really care where the two went but since this was her plan she supposed that she would have to provide a place for the other two. Sighing she pulled out her scroll and brought up her bank account and motioned for Blake to come over and do the same, "Go into Vale an rent a room and order whatever you want from room service." As she did she explained she transferred nearly two thousand lien into the panther's account making her amber eyes bug out slightly. "I'm sure you won't need it all but better safe than sorry and at least you won't blow it all in a second, unlike someone…" She left her sentence to linger off as she glanced at the blonde who still had her back to them.
Blake smirked and quickly put her scroll away before the blonde could ask what was going on. "Bit of advice, Ruby's a wolf, you need to take it slow on getting her out, let her come to you and let her make all of the first moves, she might not be in 'attack mode' right now but it might not take a lot to set her off again. While you run the lowest risk of setting her off you still have to be careful. Don't rush anything." She whispered her advice to the Heiress on best how to handle the wolf before turning towards her partner, "Right, I think we'll be fine. Ready Yang?"
"Sure thing Kitten." Yang smiled as she turned around, before fixing the Heiress with a burning glare. "One shot Schnee, you screw up and it's the last thing you do." Weiss nodded, her stomached turned slightly it would be bad for everyone if this didn't work. The blonde returned the nod before walking to the door and holding it open for Blake, "Well then shall we see what trouble we can get up to tonight Kit Cat?"
Blake rolled her eyes and walked out the door before calling over her shoulder "Good luck Weiss." Before Yang left she narrowed her eyes at Weiss one more time before shutting the door.
Weiss sighed again for what felt like the millionth time in just this hour before rolling her shoulders trying to get them to relax. Closing her eyes she rolled her head around relaxing her neck, as she did she slowly let her jacket slip off her shoulders catching the fabric by the sleeves before it could hit the ground. Normally she would feel extremely uncomfortable with out her jacket over her bare shoulders but now that she was alone, well mostly alone but Ruby was in the locked bathroom so alone was a good word, she felt relaxed. Placing the white jacket in her hamper she continued to remove her gear. Next was the white belt around her middle, while it looked like a sash that was neatly tied into a bow in the front it was a highly durable cloth belt that held her preloaded Dust cartridges and vials of Dust on her back pouch. As it unclipped she opened the pouch and unloaded the Dust into a metal container in the bottom of her wardrobe each in its proper place. With that sorted shut the container and placed the belt and pouch on top.
Next were her heels, bending over she unzipped the back zippers and slipped them off putting her bare feet on the wooden floor of the dorm as she placed them in next to the container. The small tiara was next, the pins coming that held it coming out with only a slight pull to her hair. With a few quick motions she pulled her hair out of its side pony tail letting it fall free down her back and past her hips. With a quick glance to the bathroom door to be assured that it was closed she moved her hands to the back of the dress and undid the clasps that held her corset-topped dress tight to her body. Catching the falling material to her chest Weiss checked the door again before stepping out of her dress. The Heiress felt a small chill creep up her spine as she stood in just her bra and panties. As quickly as she could she undid the strapless material around her chest and pulled out a fresh nightgown.
Once she was redress in her night cloths she walked over to the door making sure it was locked, then going over to the window she pulled the curtain casting the room in a mute light since it was only early evening. Flipping on a two lamps to their lowest setting Weiss felt as if she had created a comfortable environment for when the wolf came out. Crossing back to the bathroom door the Heiress gave a few soft knocks knowing the redhead would hear.
"Ruby?" She started in a soft voice, trying to keep all Blake's advice in mind while she spoke. "It's just me out here now, so when you're ready to come out I'll be here waiting." She cringed at her words, they sounded awkward and out of place to her. The Heiress was really far out of her normal comfort zone and had no idea on how to handle emotion situations well. The last time something like this had happened it had been her in Ruby's position and Winter in hers, and that had been twelve years ago.
With a sigh Weiss leaned against the wall next to the door and slowly lowered herself down to the floor. She had been thinking about her older sister a lot more than she normally did lately, usually she kept it to a minimum but seeing how Ruby and Yang interacted at brought her sister to the forefront of her mind. Winter was more equipped and balanced to handle the world of high stakes politics that was required for the SDC, she was smarter and stronger and much more adapt with her semblance that Weiss was. Everything just came naturally to the eldest Schnee even being a Schnee was easy for her where Weiss struggled. But all that had changed five years ago.
Weiss shook her head a cleared her head, she couldn't let herself get lost in the past now, now she had to focus on Ruby now. She had to keep herself here so she could comfort Ruby when she decided to come out of the bathroom. She would have to do her best to make sure Ruby felt safe and relaxed.
Resting her head against the wall let her eyes close and focused on her breathing. As she relaxed she started to hum to herself an old tune she had learned from Winter. The older girl would sing it to her at night when Weiss found it hard to sleep, the tone was soft and flowed through her causing a soft smile to tug at her lips as she continued to hum.
A click from the door brought Weiss instantly from her humming as her eyes darted towards the door. She watched as the door slowly creaked open until a single silver eye flashed in the darkness, "W-W-Weiss?" Ruby's voice was soft as it called to the Heiress through the small crack.
Weiss nodded, "It's just me Ruby." She tried to keep herself from grabbing the door and forcing it open to get at the wolf, she had to remember Blake's advice. She heard the redhead sniff a few times before the door began to open wider, slowly revealing her partners face. Weiss' heart shattered.
Ruby's eyes were red and swollen from her crying, tear streaks covered her cheeks. The wolf ears that were normally perked up where folded back tightly against her hair, her silver eyes that where normally happy and full of life where dimmed and subdued and now looking down at the ground.
"Oh Ruby." Weiss cried as she slowly reached out to touch the wolf's face. Ruby flinched back at her movement the door closing slightly. Weiss stilled her movement remembering Blake's words. Ruby had to come to her for this to work. Keeping her hand up and steady she waited for the wolf to come forward again.
She heard the wolf sniff a few times again as the door slowly reopened and Ruby slowly came towards her hand. She felt the wolf nuzzle into her hand, slowly she began to move forward moving her hand into the crimson tresses, silver eyes fluttered closed as Weiss scrapped at her scalp with her fingernails. Moving back slightly she drew the wolf further into the room, the wolf following the retreating hand instinctually.
When she was close enough Weiss slowly moved forward and encircled the wolf with her arms placing her face at her neck. She felt Ruby take a few more sniffs before she suddenly pulled herself in closer and began to sob again.
The Heiress pulled the wolf into her lap and sat back against the wall again rubbing small circles into her back. She ran her lips across the wolf's hair placing small kisses on her ears and whispering comforting words to the redhead.
"I'm sorry." Ruby kept repeating as she pulled herself in closer, "I didn't mean it, I'm sorry."
"Ruby we know you didn't mean it." Weiss tried to comfort her partner. "We know you, you wouldn't act like that."
"But I can." Ruby suddenly stiffened as she pulled away allowing Weiss to see her eyes, fear burned in the silver. "I could lose myself at any moment and hurt anyone of you. I don't what that happen, I don't want to hurt anyone." She tried to pull away from Weiss but the Heiress just pulled harder. "Weiss let go, I don't want to hurt you."
"I'm not letting you go Ruby." Weiss continued to pull against the girl's struggles.
"Please, Weiss. I can't do that to you." Ruby begged tugging at Weiss heart but she still continued to refuse to let the wolf go. "Weiss let me go." The final words came out as a growl.
"I WON'T." Weiss yelled back making the wolf pause in her fighting and allowed herself to be pulled back to the Heiress' neck. "I will not let you to go. Not now, not ever." Running her hand back up into the crimson tresses she ran her hands through the silky hair occasionally scratching at Ruby's skin.
Ruby began to cry again as she pulled herself closer to Weiss. The Heiress leaned her head against the wolf's continuing her motions with her hands trying to sooth her partner. She would occasionally press small kissed into her hair and ears earning her small whimpers from the girl. Minutes slipped by as the two sat there, slowly Ruby's cries lessened and she began to relax into her partner.
Eventually Ruby pulled back to look the Heiress in the eyes, her eyes were even redder now but Weiss could see they didn't look as distressed. Leaning forward she pressed her lips into the younger girl's, the wolf sighed and relaxed into the kiss wrapping her arms around Weiss' neck. The Heiress did her best to keep the kiss tame, now was not the time to get lost in the emotions that were running through her.
Pulling back she heard the redhead whine slightly at the loss of contact. Ruby tried to press herself forward but Weiss pushed her back. Confusion flashed in silver eyes.
"Ruby we need to talk. I need to understand what happened so that way I can help you." Weiss explained, Ruby's eyes instantly went to the floor making her sigh. "Ruby, remember if we're going to do this, I have to understand your wolf side just as much as your human side, do you understand?"
Ruby nodded, "I just don't want to scare you." She muttered.
Weiss reached forward and lifted up the younger girls chin making her look her in the eyes. "Ruby, you will never scare me." Leaning forward again she placed a light kiss onto the wolf's cheek, the taste of salt invading her mouth. "First though we need to get you cleaned up." Motioning for Ruby to get up and then guided her back into the bathroom. Placing the wolf next to the sink she pulled out a fresh washcloth and wetted it down. "When we get back into the room change into your nightwear so you can be comfortable." She said as she wiped down the wolf's face gently. Ruby nodded along as she allowed the Heiress to work. Once she was satisfied her partner's face was clean she guided her back into the room and motioned for her to get her night cloths. Ruby then retreated back into the bathroom to change.
Weiss sat down on her bed with a heavy sigh, getting the wolf out of the bathroom had been easier than she thought now she just had to get her to open up about what had happened in the arena. Ruby returned a few minutes later with her clothes in her arms and in her usual nightwear, long sleeved black shirt and long pajama pants. She had stopped wearing the stocking cap after she revealed herself to Weiss.
Once she placed her cloths in her hamper the wolf looked down at the ground nervously. Weiss rolled her eyes and sighed again, "Come here Ruby, we can't talk with you way over there." The Heiress patted the spot beside her. Slowly the wolf crossed the room and sat down beside her partner. Weiss looped her arm around the wolf's middle and pulled her in closer, Ruby relaxed into the embrace and curled into her side. The Heiress allowed a few minutes to pass to get the wolf to fully relax before she began to talk, "Ruby?" The girl gave a small noise to show she was listening. "Will you tell me what happened in the arena?" She felt the redhead stiffen.
Ruby buried her face into the Heiress shoulder before muttering, "I lost myself."
Confusion flushed through Weiss, what did she mean by that? "Can you explain?" Ruby curled in on herself trying to make herself smaller causing Weiss heart to hurt. "Please Ruby I want to help you."
Ruby took a shuddering breath before backing away and looked up at her partner. She could see the resolve of the Heiress shine in her ice blue eyes. She knew Weiss would not back down from this. "You know I'm a wolf Faunus, but do you know anything about the wolf population?"
Weiss flushed slightly, "I have to admit my knowledge of Faunus populations are not very good."
"It's okay, I mean I really didn't expect you to cause it's kinda a trick question." Ruby explained, she saw the confusion in Weiss eyes and quickly continued. "Wolves are usually a very reclusive Faunus species and stay very far away from Kingdom populations tending to stay out far in the frontier, I guess you could call me an anomaly." Weiss gave a small snort at that which earned her a cute pout from the redhead.
"I'm sorry Ruby, please continue." Weiss smiled at her partner.
Ruby nodded, "Well that's because wolves are genetically closer to our animal counterpart than any other Faunus species. Where most Faunus have about a ten to fifteen percent genetic match, wolves have nearly double that. Because of that wolves tend to be more…" Ruby paused trying to find the right word, "Animalistic?" She tried the word and shrugged.
"Meaning?" Weiss raised an eyebrow at the redhead.
Ruby took another deep breath before continuing, "Meaning we tend to be more wolf like in our nature." Once again confusion flashed through Weiss' eyes prompting Ruby to continue. "I mean we can actually lose ourselves to our nature, our wolf nature turning us feral and when that happens…" Ruby shuddered and could feel the tears building up in her eyes.
Weiss reacted instantly by pulling the wolf back to her neck and began rubbing soothing circles into her back. "I'm right here Ruby, nothing is going to happen to you. You don't have anything to worry about."
"But I do." Ruby cried, "Once a wolf goes feral there is nothing that anyone can do to bring them back, they attack and kill indiscriminately and the only way to stop them is to put them down." Ruby cried harder as she buried herself deeper into the Heiress neck. "And I went feral, I almost killed Pyrrha. If Yang hadn't attacked me and forced me to stop I would have drove Crescent Rose into her and killed her." Ruby's sobs racked her body as Weiss tried to sooth the distressed wolf but she once again found herself fighting to keep her close, the younger girl once again pushing hard trying to get away from the embrace.
Weiss finally had enough of the fighting wolf, "RUBY." She snapped sharply causing the redhead to stop, "You are not going feral." She kept her voice firm but comforting, "If you were do you think you'd be at my neck right now? You said feral wolves kill indiscriminately; a feral wolf would not be able to sit still and calmly breath in next to an exposed throat." She felt Ruby's breathing hitch, "I have had you at my throat for nearly an hour now and you have not once moved to attack me in anyway save trying to get out of my arms. Now listen when I say 'you are not going feral'."
"B-But what if it starts out slow?" Ruby whispered.
"Ruby you said there is no going back once they go feral, and yet here you are your usual self." Weiss continued, she was not going to let Ruby be afraid of herself. "Ruby you're not losing yourself."
"Then explain what happened in the arena." Ruby cried, tears began to pour down her face again.
Weiss hesitated, she didn't have a good explanation for what happened at the arena. "I don't know." She admitted. "But from everything you said it doesn't sound like you lost yourself. Something else happened and we need to find out what happened. And I promise you we will find out what's going on."
Ruby took another breath at the Heiress neck and began to relax again slipping into silence. Weiss slipped her hands back into the crimson tresses running her hand through her hair. After a few minutes of silence Ruby spoke. "Weiss, I'm scared."
Weiss heart broke at the words and pulled the girl closer, "I know Ruby. But I'm right here; I'm not going to let you go no matter what happens. I'm going to stay with you through all of this."
"But what if I hurt you?" Ruby asked, her voice small and uncertain.
"I'm not going to let it get to that point." Weiss vowed as she pulled her wolf in closer. "We're going to figure this out."
Ruby nodded, "I need to apologize to Pyrrha. I didn't want to hurt her, she need to know that."
"She's in the infirmary right now and they'll probably keep her over night, we can go in the morning." Weiss said as she pressed as kiss in between Ruby's ears, there were once again perked up slightly.
Once again they lapsed into silence. Weiss ran through all of the facts she had been told; Ruby was a wolf and they could go feral and once that happened it would end badly, but Ruby hadn't gone feral something else had happened to her. Something that worried her.
The Heiress' mind brought forward words Yang yelled at her not long ago; She was a Huntress in training, if she wanted to protect something then she had to protect it. And she would, she was a Schnee and no one could stand in the way of a Schnee when they set their mind on something.
"Weiss?" Ruby spoke up again making the Heiress look down at her wolf.
"Yes Ruby?" She asked looking down at her bright silver eyes.
"I…" Ruby hesitated her eyes looked down; Weiss could see the wheels turning in her head. "I need to show you something." Slowly the wolf pulled back away and began to shift her shirt around. Weiss felt her face begin heat up as the wolf pulled the black material over her head.
"R-Ruby what are you doing?" She looked away from the girl as she removed her shirt. "We- we shouldn't be doing that… yet." She muttered the last part.
"Weiss I need to show you more about myself." Ruby explained making Weiss look back up. Her brain stopped functioning all together when she saw what Ruby had done.
Ruby now had her back to the Heiress her shirt clutched to her front keeping her slightly decent but that wasn't what made Weiss' brain stop. There on the wolf's bare back were long red scars that crisscrossed her pale skin than ran from her shoulders to her lower back. They were slightly faded from time but they were still obviously there. Not even noticing her own actions Weiss reached out and touched one of the marks making the wolf shiver at her touch.
Finally finding her voice Weiss whispered, "Ruby, what happened?" Not removing her hand from the pale skin Weiss realized why she never felt the scars when she was rubbing the wolf's back, they were not raised or lowed into her skin, obviously they had been treated but whatever treatment had left the marks.
Ruby shifted to face her partner still clutching her shirt to her chest, "When a wolf reaches maturity we feel something called 'The Calling', its part of our instincts. It calls us forward to a place where the first wolves are supposable descended from. When it happens we can't fight it and we just have to go, it happened to me when I was fourteen, my mom had explained it to my dad and uncle so they told me to go and sort it out."
"They let you leave at fourteen?" Weiss asked her voice raising slightly.
Ruby shrugged, "There wasn't a whole lot they could do, I kept sleepwalking towards the place, they kept finding me on the edge of Patch so they finally gave in." Ruby turned back so Weiss was once again looking at her back and started to put her shirt back on, Weiss adverted her eyes to allow the wolf some privacy. As she redressed Ruby continued, "I really didn't have an idea on where I was going just a general direction so once I got to Vale I had to do a lot of wondering and walking around just following my instincts."
"Where did it take you?" Weiss asked looking back at the wolf now that she had her cloths back on, Ruby turned back and looked at the Heiress. She could see a small pleading look forming on the redheads face and with a small smile she opened her arms enough for the wolf to crawl back into her arms. Silver eyes flashed with happiness as she quickly returned to the Heiress lap and nuzzled into her neck. Shivers shot up through the white haired girl as velvety soft ears tickled her skin.
"Deep in the south of Vale, near the boarder with Vacuo." Ruby continued as she settled in. "The region there is very mountainous and the forests there are old and large, that's where the wolves come from. It's called the 'Den' and it's a place where wolves can learn about their species."
"So what happened to your back?" Weiss asked hesitantly, she didn't know if it was sore subject for the wolf.
Ruby did flinch a bit, but nuzzled closer into Weiss neck quickly. "A lot of young hormonal wolves in one area is very dangerous. More so for me because I'm female." Weiss shuddered at the implications of her words.
"They didn't do anything did they?" Weiss asked; ice crept into her voice at the mere thought of someone hurting her wolf. Weiss paused monetarily, when had she started referring to Ruby as 'her wolf'? Would Ruby be okay with that? What was did she mean when she used 'her wolf'? The Heiress pushed the thought aside; she could come back to it later.
"They tried." Ruby muttered making a spark of ice shot through the Heiress. "I, ah, always fought back and won but not without damage." Weiss relaxed slightly, "There's another reason we go there during our maturing period." Ruby continued, "It's really, really easy for young wolves to go feral, it wasn't uncommon for one or two to lose themselves once a month sometimes more. And when that happened we had to stop them…" Ruby nuzzled in closer and the Heiress could feel her neck grow wet again.
"Shhhh." Weiss whispered as she pulled her wolf in closer, "It's alright Ruby, I'm right here, you're safe." She felt Ruby nod and nuzzle in closer taking a few deep breaths. Again Weiss started to run circles into Ruby's back as her other hand threaded through silky crimson strands.
After a few minutes she felt Ruby relax and her breathing shallow out. Ruby's tail curled around her front placing it over the Heiress lap as well. Weiss stared down at the black fur as it twitched a little, her knew Ruby's hair and ears were silky but just how soft was her tail? The only contact that she had had with the wolf's tail was when it brushed against her legs but now it was right there against her lap and with in reach. Would Ruby mind if she touched her tail? Would she be crossing a line that she didn't know about? Was that a line Faunus had?
Weiss was fighting against her want to touch her tail over the unknown of if she was crossing a line in their new relationship. Was it too much too soon? They had said there were going to take it slow and start from the beginning. She didn't know if touching Ruby's tail was too intimate or not.
"Weiss." Ruby muttered at her neck as she nuzzled in closer giving a sound of content. The Heiress heart thundered in her chest as her wolf settled in closer. Settling her mind Weiss reached out slowly and ran her hand lightly over the black fur of Ruby's tail. Soft and silky were the only words she had to describe the feeling of the fur, whatever Ruby did to wash her tail left it feeling like the finest silk. At her touch the redhead muttered again and pulled herself even closer breathing in her scent.
Not willing to wake Ruby Weiss decided that it would be best if they went to bed. Holding her wolf close the Heiress maneuvered them under the covers and pulled them up over their shoulders. Ruby mumbled at bit more before settling back into her sleep. Weiss brushed a few stray strands of crimson hair out her wolf's face before placing a soft kiss on the girl's forehead and settling in herself.
Before she slipped off into her own slumber Weiss swore again that she would never let anyone get between her and the wolf in her arms. She would protect Ruby.
Yang smiled widely as she lead Blake down the street towards one of the late night clubs, "I have to admit I'm not overly enthused by leaving Ruby in Weiss' care but I haven't had the chance to go clubbing in a while so this is a welcome break. And I get to get my party on with a pretty kitty." She winked at the black haired beauty on her arm.
Blake rolled her eyes at the blonde, she wasn't a fond of clubs but if it kept Yang from thinking of the Heiress and her younger sister then she would deal with it. "I'm sure they're fine, Weiss hasn't called and she said she would if something went wrong so we just have to assume that everything is going well."
"It had better be, cause if she hurts my baby sis-" Yang growled.
"You'll turn her into Schnee Dust." Blake finished with a sigh, "Really Yang you need a new threat, that one's getting stale."
"Oh I'm sure I'll find a new one." Yang grinned.
A disturbance ahead of them made the two girl stop; the bar just a head of them opened its door and a patron was thrown out onto the street, "Get bent you damn drunk." A gruff voice yelled out as the door closed.
The figure that had thrown to the ground slowly sat up and rubbed its head, "Well that was rather rude." Yang groaned as she recognized the voice. She watched as the figure drew out a flask from his back pocket, yep that's him.
"Damn it." Yang groaned out loud as she dropped Blake's arm earning her a confused look from the panther. "Why the hell is he here?" Following along in confusion Blake kept looking between the drunkard and her partner.
The man finally seemed to notice the two girls and a wide grin crossed his face, "Well if it isn't my favorite matchstick, whacha doing out here Blondie?"
Yang stopped before the drunkard and shook her head; Blake stood behind her and crinkled her nose, the man smelled like a brewery and stale smoke. Before Blake could has Yang what was going on the blonde stuck out her hand and offered it to the man, "That's my line you old bastard." Blake could hear the sigh in the blonde's voice as she trucked the man up.
He gave a bit of a wobble as he stood only to stand tall and give them both a roguish smile, "Language matchstick. What would your dad think?"
"He'd probably care less." Yang scoffed; looking at her partner she saw the look of confusion that crossed the panthers face. With a sigh she turned towards her and gave her a large smile, "Blake, I'd like you to meet my uncle. Blake Belladonna this is Qrow Branwen. Qrow, Blake is my partner."
The man, Qrow, gave Blake a once over before turning to Yang and looking her in the eyes. "Kid, did you know she's a Faunus?"
A/N: Here have some whiterose comfort. More about wolves and what happens to them, remember way back in like chapter 8 when Ruby said she can only tell the person she trusts the most about what happened? Well we all knew whom she would tell. Moving along, next week we go back to our bees cause more Xiao Long history time and a bit of action, fun fun.
With that: Many thanks to all, call centers are now open for your thoughts, and may the sun shine lighten your heart.