Ruby awoke on the toilet— on the lid, actually— and she didn't know how she got there.

A bulleted list of clues:

· Head-empty feel. Siphoned?

· Jacket not on waist.

· Jacket hung up on coat hook in stall— wet?

· Legs very numb— been there a while.

· Bathroom, obviously. Nobody else in it. Should there be?

· Scroll says time is—

Ruby bolted off the seat and threw her (moist but scentless?) jacket over her shoulder, hooking it under the collar as she ran out of the bathroom. She didn't wash her hands (ew), but she had things to do— a class to attend— two of which she'd now be listed as AWOL for on her first day. She crossed the halls in a dead sprint, climbing stairs by leaping into the stairwell and letting the line dump her out on the appropriate floor like a magic elevator. The second floor (for some ungodly reason) was carpeted, so Ruby could feel her talons absolutely wrecking it as she ran down the empty corridors.

Ruby barged into Dust Applications 201 with all the rancor of a panicked bird flying in through an open window. Goodwitch, the professor for this class, didn't even flinch at the noise, didn't turn away from the board she was writing on, and just continued her lesson as if nothing was happening. Ruby scrambled, finding the bright white hair of her partner at the front of the class and (with no better alternative) running towards it, moving in a burst of feathers— not from her Semblance, but from the frazzled, unpreened feathers of her arms.

But she moved too fast, finding no purchase in her step as her plasticky keratin talons failed to grip the varnished wooden floors— because of course the hallways would accommodate easy mobility for her while the lecture halls themselves sucked ass, it's almost like this place wasn't made for her kind!

Ruby slipped like some other animal with a propensity to fail at simple ambulation (penguins?). The steep wooden steps took her with ease, smashing her ass, then her left arm, then her head as she tumbled too hard, too fast; she couldn't get her eyes to stay at a point to plot, and she didn't want to blink blind and end up replacing her guts with drywall. She was doomed to fall all the way down to the front row where her partner was, and even if her Aura kept her bones from getting broken, it wouldn't save her from the embarrassment. She'd probably hit the bottom and start squawking— siphoned or not— the nerves overpowering absolutely everything as if determined to make their owner a fool.

At least Blake wouldn't be here to see, or Yang; they didn't take advanced Dust courses like her and Weiss, and Ruby was pretty sure she remembered seeing a 'Customer Relations' for Yang and some kind of advanced tracking course for Blake during this period. It would probably just be strangers, Weiss, and Professor Goodwitch witnessing Ruby's embarrassment today. Was that better or worse?

Ruby halted suddenly as someone swept her into their arms in a move that was either impossibly suave or stupidly convenient, scooping up all her momentum as one arm slipped beneath her shoulder blades and the other held the backs of her knees— bridal style, because of-friggin'-course somebody would accidentally catch her like that, because of-friggin'-course she was doomed to embarrass every normal person in this godforsaken institution. She looked up to her unfortunate savior, thanks and apologies in a head-on collision behind her lips.

Instead of trying (and inevitably failing) to spout six or seven words at once, Ruby went completely silent as she gazed upon the face of the person holding her.

It was Pyrrha (fucking) Nikos, Honored Martial of the Vellum Archive of the Availed Doctrine Prime Temple, was almost as stunning to the eyes as her title was lengthy— 'almost' because the former so outshined the latter. Her brilliant scarlet hair cascaded down, unbraided, hiding their faces from the world and the world from their faces, isolating them like the romantic canopy around a sinfully plush bed.

Pyrrha (fucking) Nikos gazed down at her with eyes that looked like every spring season Ruby had ever seen times a million— greener than any emerald, deeper than any ocean, and kinder than the way mum had looked at mom before The Qrow Situation. Pyrrha (fucking) Nikos was immaculate: her olive skin was almost completely unblemished, her coffee-colored freckles were a perfect dusting over her cheeks, and the bridge of her nose had that strong downwards bow— powerful, but lacking in the size required to double as a ship's rudder like Ruby's. She was incredible, and had huge golden bangles around her neck that jangled down noisily over her crisp, unwrinkled uniform. Her lips were long and tan, arched in two sharp points at her philtrum, and Ruby could tell she would have the most incredible smile in the world.

Pyrrha (fucking) Nikos was the most famous woman in the public eye of the First Archivist sect, and for good reason. She was a textbook rags-to-riches story, born while her parents were on pilgrimage and sent back home to be raised by her sister and grandmother. The family abroad died in a freak Grimm attack— a roving pack of miraculously unrecorded Beowolves— while the family at home died in a freak house fire, not even a week apart. The local First Archivist monastery had taken her in, still generous even on its last legs, but Pyrrha's story from there brought the little-known monastery into global fame and inspired a modern revitalization of the First Archivist sect.

The only mark on her skin— even after years of combat and contest to become the youngest female Honored Martial— was the burn that curled her left ear in on itself, leaving red swirls of uneven tissue over her cheekbone and temple. The scar pulled her left eye almost imperceptibly narrower, and… well…

She was handsome as shit. Like, good god. She even had two little moles under the corner of her right eye, and yowza. Two days in and Ruby was discovering that having no crushes up until then was weird, because now she already had two. She had no idea who she liked more between Blake and Pyrrha, and that was only after the first part of a single interaction with the latter. Maybe she shouldn't be so excited.

"Watch your step," Pyrrha said with her gentle rose-gold voice, slow and kind, as Professor Goodwitch continued her lesson in the background. "Your partner said you had to stay with the nurse. Are you okay?"

Yep. Oh yeah. Uh-huh. It was bad. "Guh-huhhhhh— yes! Yes," Ruby barely managed to say. "Yes, I am A-okay."

Pyrrha nodded. "I can put you down, then?"

"Yyyyy—" Ruby had an idea. A bad one. A terrible one. An awful one that was the worst and made her the worst but by god she was gonna do it. "Yya-actually, I… I am feeling kinda—" she blinked hard and lolled her head a bit, just to sell it. "Woah— I'm still feelin' kinda off, yeah, c-could you, uh…" she pointed to where Weiss was. "Could you carry me? I just— these floors and my claws and, uh, y'know, I—"

"Say no more, Florabel."

"J-just Ruby," Ruby corrected, feeling immensely strange at being called Florabel by someone else. "I dunno why Weiss calls me that."

Pyrrha bumped her up, adjusting Ruby more securely in her arms as she straightened. "Do you want me to make her stop?"

A furious blush scorched Ruby's face at the notion of Pyrrha fighting for her. She furiously shook her head. "N-no! It's fine."

Pyrrha nodded and started descending the steps with all the ease of someone who wasn't carrying a weird, lanky bird-person. Save for Ruby's partner and Goodwitch, everyone was looking, all of them wide-eyed and very clearly envious, with no one but Weiss recording the detailed syllabus that Goodwitch was laying out. It didn't take long for Pyrrha's sure steps to approach the front row. Ruby stared at Weiss' head, anticipating the turn. Goodwitch moved on to another part of her presentation, her voice getting a little louder in the background as she finally turned to face whatever had been going on in her class.

"And Miss Rose is here. Alright. Sure. Welcome to class, Miss Rose. Try not to be late again, or at least warn me if you will, my email and phone number…"

Pyrrha stepped up to where Weiss was. "Weiss," she said, neutral and smoky, but with a cold undertone Ruby hadn't heard before.

"Anyways, now for a little about me! Fun, I know. I've been married to my job for all of nineteen years now, but I have been known to cheat on it with fishing…"

Weiss turned. She looked.

"...biggest fish I ever…"

Ruby met her partner's eyes.

"...donkey that I…"

Weiss looked between her and Pyrrha.

"...seven bars of gold…"

Weiss' lips smiled.

"...dragon bone coffee mug…"

Weiss' eye twitched.

"...karaoke night in case you all think I don't have any friends…"

Pyrrha set Ruby down beside Weiss.

"...and the wyvern I bagged with my publisher Shelly. As you can all see, I am cool, and if I hear the word 'spinster' in this class I will have you all doing textbook work and balancing chem equations with exponential difficulty for the rest of the semester."

Ruby shuffled into her seat. Pyrrha bowed her head to Ruby (why the hell did she do that?) and went back up the steps. Weiss returned to writing.

Had Ruby expected more? No. Had she wanted more anyways? Yes. She wanted Weiss to get up and make a big stupid scene, to complain and whine as if she reserved the right to physical contact with Ruby. She wanted Weiss to pass out and spend all day seeing her in Pyrrha's arms behind her eyelids.

But she'd gotten to her. That was what mattered. Weiss had given her the same smile as when she had just been beaten by Jaune, only at this distance Ruby could see with clarity that it was a tell. She'd gotten under the little soulsucker's skin.

Then, at the height of Ruby's schadenfreude, she saw her stuff on the floor next to her seat— the bag for her Scrollpad and her textbook for this specific class— neatly stacked, and she felt like an immense douche. "Oh, uh, thanks princess," she said like an idiot, then said even more idiotically: "Sorry."

Papers slid in front of her— two copied syllabuses from the classes Ruby missed. "Thou wilt make pictures of these," Weiss sternly ordered, not looking at Ruby. "And what hast thou to be sorry for?"

"For—" almost gave the whole game away there, phew. Weiss never woulda let her live that down. "I guess you're right. Thanks."

Weiss turned just enough to side-eye her partner with her good eye— Ruby was seated on her left— but the look was more searching than annoyed or hateful. She looked at Ruby like she'd answered wrong, like she should have something to be sorry for, but Ruby couldn't think of anything in particular.

Oh. "Sorry about…" Ruby looked away sheepishly. "The Imp. You looked, like, shellshocked there. I didn't…"

She hated talking to Weiss. She hated admitting things to Weiss. She couldn't just say she didn't want Weiss to get hurt; she did want Weiss to get hurt, but it just had to be from her. Nothing else was right. Even Yang righteously smashing her head into paste was just… grim. And not right for Weiss— Weiss wasn't supposed to die like that. Broken against a stone wall, blood leaking from her eyes like so many tears, sure, but head explosion? Too ugly for Weiss.

God, what the hell was that supposed to mean?

"Let yon moment pass thee by, Florabel," Weiss mumbled bitterly. "Twas hardly glorious."

Ruby didn't get it. She didn't get her. Verbally abusing her in front of their peers— in front of their teacher— that was okay, but now she was reduced to weak, mumbling platitudes? Had something happened? Had her brains been scrambled? Had that skull-cracking punch from Yang…

That's right. Yang punched her, Yang had killed her. Ruby had wrapped her up, taken her out of the class, then… nothing. There was a gap in Ruby's memory. A black hole, visible only by perceiving that which was around it: dragging Weiss out of the classroom, then waking up on the toilet. There was something between those moments, and Weiss was deliberately playing it off, even going so far as to say something almost close to an apology to do it.

Ruby stared at her partner, trying to get what she was missing. She did that the whole period, missing a lot of what she hoped wasn't important material in favor of studying Weiss' expression.

And Weiss said nothing about it. Her eyes flicked over to Ruby's occasionally, but Ruby's gaze didn't flee. She met Weiss' eyes so she knew Ruby was looking for something, pressuring her. That pressure surfaced red under Weiss' cheeks. There was never a 'Cease thy gaze, Florabel,' or a 'Pay thee mind' towards Goodwitch, just Weiss reddening in silence every time she glanced at Ruby.

When the class ended, Ruby gathered her things and followed Weiss. Being partners, most of their classes were shared, so Ruby just had to trail the girl to get where she wanted to go. At least, Ruby had assumed as much, and Weiss had clearly expected that of her. When the Faunus realized Weiss had lured her somewhere without people— an alcove in a hall without rooms— Ruby whirled and tried to separate. Weiss rounded on her, grabbing the back of her shirt and throwing Ruby's back against the wall, locking her down with both hands on her arms.

Her fingers were tight on Ruby's biceps, forcing her arms to stay pinned to her sides. Weiss continued to stare searchingly, like Ruby was missing something.

She inched closer. Ruby raised her chin cautiously.

Darting forward, Weiss kissed her on the cheek.

Ruby tried to recoil, but her back was against the wall, so she barged her shoulder into Weiss instead, forcing the girl off and pushing all the air out of Weiss' chest with a 'heough'. Weiss stumbled back and Ruby used the space, holding herself against the wall as she launched out one foot. Ruby went straight for the center, her back talon hooking into Weiss' lower right side as one of her front talons went around Weiss' left collar, her whole torso locked into Ruby's claws as her last two talons locked in over her right trapezius. Ruby could feel the hot meat and blood around her claws.

Ruby started to push her down, but Weiss' sculpted demeanor melted in an instant, pure fury crossing her features as her right hand grabbed the ankle above her chest, her left hand whipping her sword out of its sheath with a liquid whisper. Her blade arced out, stopping as soon as it touched Ruby's still-recovering, recently-used Aura and split past it without effort.

Ruby froze. Weiss had drawn her weapon on her, but Ruby had started it by essentially goring the girl with her talons. Even now, with an edge to her throat, Ruby could probably yank her claws hard enough to hit something important, something vital, before Weiss' could stop her leg or slash her neck. But Ruby wouldn't come back.

Mom's really extreme, often contradictory advice: 'Anything to win, fledgeling. Don't be a pussy, straight-up murder is usually a pretty good way to win, even if it doesn't seem like it.'

Mum's equally extreme, less-frequently contradictory advice: 'Oh, absolutely murder the guy, petal. Do you not remember what mom said? Get stabbin' or get dyin'!'

Tai, out of the complete blue, while Ruby had been watching TV perfectly content on her own: 'Y'know, kid, sometimes having a sword pressed to your throat is just a woman's way of flirting.'

Yang, via text a few weeks ago: 'if a hot persom tried to sta bme id jsut kiss them'

Yand, via text shortly afterwards: 'im simpyl build differnetm'

Yang, via text shortly afterwards: 'mighjt b drunks blame m dad'

Ruby's lips pressed into a thin, annoyed line. Slowly, with all the annoyance of someone with exclusively unbearable family dynamics (though she could pardon Yang), Ruby pulled her claws out of her partner and stood on both feet. "Weiss," she said expectantly.

"Florabel," Weiss answered, not removing her sword.

"Why did you do that?"

Weiss rolled her eyes. "What, pray tell, allegest thou this time?"

"You kissed me on the cheek," Ruby accused evenly. "It was weird."

"Twas queer?"

Ruby snorted.

"Florabel…" Weiss pressed her blade directly into the skin of her partner's throat, threatening to break it. Ruby raised her hands, hissing.

"Yes! Yes."

"And if I should hug thee?" Weiss asked, sudden and oddly serious. "If I should hold thy hand?"

Ruby shivered at the idea. "Eugh, no thanks."

Weiss smiled. She pulled her sword away and let Ruby breathe at last. "Verily. Twould be… weird. Quite weird. But what we do, what we have done…"

"Is totally different," Ruby claimed, shaking her head. "We do it because we have to. You'll literally die otherwise, and having to go through all this without a partner would suck. I mean, dude," she laughed ruefully. "You're Fourth. I don't even wanna imagine what kinda stuff you've done to people like me just out of mindless hate. You think I want to kiss you? Get real."

For the slightest split-second, Ruby caught Weiss' eye slipping away, and it was hard not to do so herself. That really hurt to say— it was awful, it'd be awful to anyone— but Weiss needed to hear how she really felt.

"Well then," Weiss said after a minute, raising her chin to look down imperiously at Ruby. "Thou'st wounded me again. Knowest what to do."

Ruby eyed the growing wet spots across Weiss' uniform and sighed. She asked for it, she supposed, her own punishment for immediately resorting to bloodshed; like mother like daughter. Ruby closed her eyes, raised her chin, and puckered her lips.

Weiss' mouth slammed into Ruby's like a hammer, splitting Ruby's bottom lip like an axe. Ruby squeaked and tried to pull away, but Weiss held her in the same way Ruby had held her last time— fingers gripping tight against the root of her low ponytail— and kissed her even harder, as if she could pour all her malice down Ruby's throat and drown her.

Only, the pull on Ruby's soul was negligible, so there was no lulling her into the experience. Nothing to tithe her over. Just Ruby, with her hands desperately clutching Weiss' skirt, making little noises of pain that only seemed to spur Weiss on more. When it was finally over, Ruby barely felt siphoned at all, and Weiss pulled away with the face of someone who'd discovered their milk was spoiled. Her eye was barely silvered.

Weiss opened her mouth. No words came out. She stomped away. Ruby, unfortunately, had to follow her, and she only realized what time it was when she followed her partner into the giant room of the cafeteria.

A lunch date with Weiss. After… that.

Great.