Weiss Schnee
She couldn't decide if this was better or worse then being locked in that council room. On the one hand it separated her from her father, but on the other hand, she was certain that this road needed to be redone.
"I assure you that this research is important. I wouldn't be funding it unless it was."
"If you are so sure about that, why couldn't you convince my father?!" Her outburst at the man was twenty minutes too late, she was well and truly away from the castle at this point, nearing the invisable border between the noble estates and the common neighbourhoods. Though that 'invisible line' was sort of a false title nowadays.
"At least this researcher isn't in a faunas neighbourhood..." She closed her eyes and let out a sigh. Talking to herself wasn't exactly the most princess like of behaviours, but she wouldn't be talking to herself if someone else had come with her. She honestly couldn't tell if her father thought she had noticed he was just trying to get her out of the room or not. The princess of Vale herself being sent to check on one researcher that had the councils direct funding, it was an odd situation, the most annoying part being that Ozpin refused to say what exactly this researcher was researching.
"Which is why im here..." To do the things her father wouldn't even spare a single knight to go check.
Quaint. The nicest word she could use to describe the building. From just a glance she knew the carriage she rode here in was worth at least double the construction cost of this... 'Workshop'.
"Perhaps that says more about the crown then the owner of this building." She pondered as she stepped up to the door. Her royal wardrobe certainly hadn't helped prepare for a dive into this part of Vale. Wide stone brick streets had given way to dirt roads with barely enough room for her carriage. Statues and gardens, replaced with alleyways and only the odd small tree in a corner. This 'researcher' was being judged before Weiss even met them, having forgotten the fact that this was just a way for her father to send her away, she was now taking this seriously.
She spent a good minute or two looking over the door, she expected a knocker or a doorbell, and was instead met with a door that she could only imagine somehow made the building less structurally sound just by being there.
"Am i... just supposed to open the door and go in...?" She asked to nobody in particular while staring down the door handle. Somehow it was winning there staring contest, and she could tell it was smug about it.
"I mean, how else are you supposed to get inside?" A squeal. That was the name of the noise that came out of Weiss in response to this stranger saying something right next to her. She immediately turned after her jump and stared at the girl. "Hi!" She gave a toothy grin and reached out, opening the door for Weiss. The princess realised that the handle had won there contest.
"I... I am perfectly capable of opening a door on my own..!" Weiss was stammering, it wasn't a good look on her, or that's what she thought at least. The stranger laughed a bit in response, and Weiss took a moment to get a better look at her.
Her hair was a red so dark it looked black in most places, her physique was strong, one of a hard worker, and yet she held an almost childish aura. The pure red cloak wasn't helping, but Weiss could tell it was magical in some way.
"I know. Just wanted to help." She said it like it was so simple, she hadn't expected such an attitude from a peasent.
Peasent. That word felt wrong, she didn't like thinking of this girl that way.
"W-well...! Thank you..." Weiss had never felt more embarased in her life.
"Anyways, I'm Ruby! Ruby Rose." She held out her hand in greeting and seemed to wait for something.
"Is... Is she waiting for me to introduce myself...?"
She couldn't possibly be. Weiss had been anointed as princess of Vale not two days earlier, and Schnee's weren't exaclty difficult to spot. Yet, Ruby awaited her response.
Slowly, she took her hand and shook it. "Weiss... Weiss Schnee."
"Woah... like those people in charge of Atlas?" Weiss felt like facepalming.
"Yes... My family." Weiss could actually see the alarm bells ring in Ruby's mind.
"What!?"
"Jeez... no need to yell you know... i- I mean ummm... no need to uhh... raise your voice...? your... majesty..?" Weiss had to resist calling her cute.
"For both our sakes you can just talk to me normally..." She was holding her forehead at this point. The more Ruby talked the more confused she got about this situation.
"So like... if your a princess... why are you here...?"
"To see you apparently..." She gestured to the 'workshop' that they were standing in. The building, as it turns out, wasn't the workshop itself. Rather, it was an apartment building, and the workshop was only one of the many, many doors from the hall.
The apartment itself was small. Only three rooms, which all could have fit in the space of a standard living room of a middle class house. The fact that this is where she was doing her research... it didn't fill Weiss with confidence.
"Ozpin was... reluctant to say what exaclty you were researching. I'm here to see if this 'project' is worth taking over his funding for now that he is no longer the ruler of Vale." She figured that Ruby knew less about this situation then she did.
"I mean... Ozpin is still a rich dude isnt he...?" Ruby tilted her head as she spoke, Weiss swore she looked just like the puppy she could never convince her father to let her have.
"Yes. But your funding comes directly from Vale's treasury itself, which Ozpin is no longer in charge of." In truth, Weiss could probably cancel the funding and Ozpin would just begin funding Ruby from his personal bank. Her being here mattered less and less the more she thought about it. "What is it exaclty that your researching?" That was the really confusing part. All of this magical material, paper, everything scattered around and she couldnt tell what any of it was for.
"Oh. Well... I'm trying to crack the Dragon Formula." She said it like it was so simple. "Right, umm... a creature Formula is a spell meant to change a humans species, the spell is usually broken down into 'Phrases' that you need to cast the spell. Formulas will usually be made up of one to three phrases- B-but the Dragon Formula is made up of five...! A-and...-" Weiss rolled her eyes.
"I know all this you dolt! My family used to be the only dragons in Remnant!" She wasn't sure if the history lesson was necessary.
"Used to be? Are there more now?" Apparently it was.
"No... the opposite. My grandfather inherited the throne after most of our family was killed by..." She shook her head, now wasn't the time to get into this. "We've been trying ever since... but no one has even figured out the first Phrase in... well... since my ancestors first became dragons." She stepped over to one of the few workbenches. It was covered in paper with magic circles, a few vials of Dust, and even a few books, though the subject matter didn't seem appropriate for Ruby's research.
"Wow... maybe thats why Ozpin made me not tell anyone about this..." Ruby's mumbling was something Weiss wanted to lecture her on. But curiosity beat out her annoyance.
"What makes you say that?"
"Oh..! Well umm... I've been at this for five years right? I've umm... only got the first two Phrases so far..." Ruby said it like it was disappointing, like she should have been doing better. Weiss was staring at her, trying her best to spot a lie that wasn't there.
She had worked out two of the Phrases? Here?! In only five years?!
"I was thirteen when I started... probably didn't help much." She awkwardly scratched the back of her head as she spoke.
Weiss re-examined the room with this new knowledge. "If that's true... how did you not know about my family?" Her gaze passed over the fridge, stove, pantry, all way too small for clearly how much they had been used. "Have you... spent most of the last five years here...?"
Ruby laughed a little. "Yeah, its difficult to stop sometimes so I sleep here when I can." Weiss hadn't even seen a bed yet.
"What gives you such determination...?" Weiss looked back at her from the corner of the room she was inspecting. Ruby was wearing a sad smile in response to that.
Weiss decided she hated seeing Ruby sad.
"My umm... my mum. She used to read me stories and..." There was more to it. Weiss didnt need to hear it now, at least not yet.
"May I ask-" So she interrupted the girls painful story. "- What exaclty are you?" Ruby looked a little stunned at the question, but her expression softened after a few seconds.
"I'm a human, and as you can guess..." Determination flickered behind her eyes.
"I want to be a Dragon." Weiss felt a new surge of confidence about Ruby. She was now sure that she hadn't been lying earlier.
Because she just had, and she was terrible at it.
It was a need, not a want.