Chapter 5 – Against the Grain

In which Weiss Schnee and Ruby Rose meet for the first time and nothing at all goes horribly wrong.

"Hey, watch it!" Weiss snapped, nearly tipping over onto the floor from the impact with the baby-faced girl who'd rammed into her. "You need to be more careful!"

"Eeek! I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to –"

As the girl, who'd actually fallen down, tried to pick herself up, one of her hands gripped one of the trolleys being pushed by Weiss' porters. The case her fingers landed slid atop the one beneath it, and when she attempted to pull herself up without looking carefully at her surroundings (this seemed to be a theme with this girl), she sent the entire stack of Dust cases tumbling.

"Imbecile! Do you know how much those are worth?" Weiss stamped over to the downed cases to check their security, as Dust was known to be quite volatile. If this little klutz had inflicted too much damage just now, there was a chance that the Dust might combust and start a fire. By the shattered moon, it could theoretically explode depending on the form and nature of the Dust in the case.

Though that would be unlikely…it takes a high surface area to cause an explosion, and I don't mix powders in any of my cases to avoid this particular thing.

As Weiss knelt down and flicked open the box and surveyed it for damage, she forced herself to breath deeply. Yes, this girl's clumsiness had ruined her proud moment, but she had taken precautions to ensure her own safety and the safety of those around her. The student could have thrown any case from a mountaintop and it still wouldn't have caused anything more than a small fire. Since they weren't in a field of dry grass or a volatile Dust mine, there was truly no risk here.

The case was powders, which was unfortunate, but it had only begun sparking. There was no blaze yet, meaning that not enough of the Dust had been agitated for anything dangerous. If Weiss merely smothered it and deprived the few blinking flickers of oxygen, the damaged particles would burn themselves out.

As I thought, our safety policies were enough. Had there been a mixture of types of Dust, they might've been quite hazardous, but the SDC never –

"Oh, your Dust is toasty…sorry, lady." There was a clicking noise, and Weiss turned around to see the girl removing a magazine from her sizeable rifle and shaking out some Dust crystals from it. "Here, I'll replace it for ya."

She chucked the Dust from her and into the open case that Weiss was kneeling over. As soon as the two different forms of Dust met, there was a sudden release of heat, and Weiss was consumed by fire.

Her aura was raised, so there was nothing about it that could've hurt her, and the explosion was over quicker than it had even begun, but that also meant the sudden burst of heat and light essentially scorched Weiss' entire upper body and face. The ends of her once beautiful white hair were now lit ablaze, and her shoulders and neckline were quite singed. Weiss wiped a line of soot out of her eyes and growled at the girl.

"S-Sorry!"

"You'd better be!" Weiss screamed, only to regret it when she remembered that the entire school was watching. Not only would this be trending on social media and inciting a stern call from Father, but it was potentially ruining Weiss' reputation among her peers before it even began.

How fair was that? Weiss did nothing wrong – she wasn't even moving when the little thing responsible for it all struck her, and her Dust was entirely safe – but she would be the one blamed for this if she did anything other than get on her hands and knees for this…this…this pest!

Oh, I'm supposed to be the better person surely, and if not, the headlines will read "Schnee Dust Causes Explosion – Heiress Explodes from Dust and Explodes at Minor caught in the Blast."

"Very well," Weiss said through gritted teeth.

She closed her eyes for a moment, knowing that in this day and age of scrolls filming every minor interaction, forced smiles were always seen through. She needed to control her emotions here.

"Very well," Weiss said with a neutral face and tone after a moment. "As long as no one was hurt, I suppose it's alright."

"But you got hurt! Are you okay? Oh, geez, your hair is still burning a little bit on the ends…"

Weiss turned away and decided to just ignore the ratty harlot before her. Her porters' heads were all facing their shoes, none of them eager to be reported by the heiress to daddy dearest for staring at her moment of embarrassment. Again, it was truly unfair. Weiss had never 'tattled' on a servant, and yet she still for unknown reasons had some sort of reputation as an ice queen bitch among some of the manor staff. It was nothing more than a brainless stereotype of the spoilt rich girl – Weiss had met spoilt boys, like Henry Marigold or Jebbries Oqu'ana, but neither of were regarded by their staff with half as much fear simply because of their gender not aligning with the narrative of the snooty princess.

"Gentlemen, please continue with your work," Weiss said, struggling to control the anger in her voice. It wasn't for these men, who'd had nothing to do with anything here, but she was so riled up that she might've even snapped at Blake had she been present. "If possible, avoid from interactions with the student body. Furthermore, to avoid repeats of this incident, I would advise you all to abide by the SDC Dust Handling Regulation Guidebook and keep one hand on the top of –"

"Oh my gosh, you have wings!"

The little girl, the same little girl who'd just blown up Weiss, had spoken right over her when she was clearly addressing her employees. It wasn't control that prevented Mount Weiss from erupting now but sincere shock at the audacity of this miscreant. Never had she been subjected to such disrespect in Atlas.

"They look so pretty, like a dove or something!"

An instinctive part of Weiss was about to correct her error with Father's lie, but once again this girl shocked her by…

"H-Hey! Get your hands off of me! Don't you dare touch my wings!"

Now, in the entire world of Remnant, the full population spoke the same unified language. There were certainly regional dialects with varying lingo – Menagerians referred to bananas and plantains as 'treedroppers,' and there were parts of Mantle that called smaller automobiles 'smokers' for some reason. Not to mention, the world was full of accents. The planet was a diverse place, with many diverse cultures found within.

But still, the same syntax and majority of vocabulary was shared by one and all, from Menagerie to Solitas and back. Thus, it was particularly confusing for Weiss to find someone who spoke an entirely new language where 'Don't you dare touch my wings' meant 'I invite you to go one step further and start stroking them the wrong way.'

"They're actually super soft! Oh my gosh this is awesome! Can I keep a feather?"

"Stop that at once!" Weiss shouted, but her pleas went unheard.

This hellion that called itself a girl was not only touching Weiss without having asked for approval in advance, but she was also moving against the feathers in Weiss' wings. It caused her a great deal of discomfort, and Weiss' face contorted as it continued. Her back was to the girl causing her this pain, so the irate look of growing displeasure went unseen.

Weiss tried to step forward, but there was the same Dust trolley that had been disturbed right in front of her. Its porter was restacking the boxes that had been knocked down, and the wheels only moved forward or backwards, not left or right, meaning that Weiss had no means of escape. In her haste to get away, she moved too close, and the girl followed her, trapping her up close to the trolley. As she seemed to lack all regard for others' boundaries, she'd gotten so close to Weiss that there could be no more than two inches of space between Weiss' back and her chest. If Weiss tried to sidestep out of the way, she risked losing her footing and knocking down more of the fragile Dust.

"Stop it! Stop it, you're going the wrong way!"

"Huh? Oh, sorry."

The dreadful sensation was replaced by a more pleasant one as the petting went back into the right direction, but Weiss' feathers were still ruffled, literally, and many had been bent out of shape. It wasn't agonizing, but it felt about the same as hair being pulled, and the continued touch wasn't helping.

She's still…She's still going, and she still hasn't even asked if I'm okay with this!

"Stop it!"

"What? I'm going the right way!"

"I said stop!"

There was too much going on, and all of it had this monstrous child at the center of it. Exploding, being interrupted, the lack of permission, the physical bother – it was a world of inconveniences, and while none were life-threatening or torturous, the unending stream of one discomfort after another caused Weiss' temper to boil over.

Her wing, the same one being petted, flapped backwards, striking the little girl and pushing her away from Weiss. Weiss couldn't see it, but the sound of her hitting the ground filled Weiss' ears.

"Get off of me, or I swear I'll – arggggh!"

Now no longer stuck between a trolley and a troublemaker, Weiss was free to back up and turn around to witness the scenery around her. The other students were all a minimum distance away, forming some sort of invisible circular boundary as they whispered among one another. Scrolls flashed and tongues wagged.

The pest from before was still on the ground with a trail of blood dripping down from her nose. She was lying on the side of her body, clutching her face with one hand and propping herself up with the other.

The temper that Weiss had been restraining for this entire time could find no more room to be swayed, and Weiss turned her back on the scene. "Hmph."

The whispers grew louder.

Infuriating. That was the only way to describe the situation with Ruby Rose.

No. It was the only way to describe Ruby Rose herself.

Insufferable, inexcusable, insane…none of these words did justice for the downright juvenile behavior of this so-called huntress.

Headmaster Ozpin was giving his speech to the proud incoming class of Beaconites while Weiss and the undeserving whelp who'd caused her so much grief sat in the unfilled desks of an empty classroom while Deputy Headmistress Glynda Goodwitch stood before them. She was a famous huntress, known the world over for her exceptional combat skills and firm moral character, and she was very clearly upset with the two students.

"Miss Goodwitch, she blew me up!"

"Please refrain from any more outbursts, Miss Schnee. I would prefer this interview remain civil."

Weiss could practically scream right now. Her mountainous anger and frustration at the unfairness of this all only made it hard to control herself, and that in turn built up more rage. It was a vicious cycle working against Weiss, and awareness of how poorly her temper was serving her did nothing to soothe it.

"Now, if you would simply explain your sides of the story – in calm voices and one at a time – I will deliberate on this. Ideally, we can reach a mutually satisfactory arrangement. Both of you are promising young candidates for Beacon Academy, and I would see neither of you punished on your first day if we can avoid this."

"S-She hit me!" exclaimed Rose, holding back tears.

Weiss did her best to ignore the fact that Ruby Rose's outburst was not commented on, as acknowledging it would only serve to exacerbate her anger.

"Miss Rose, would you please start?"

"I was just walking on my own because Yang abandoned me, and then I bumped into her by mistakes, and she started yelling at me about how I had broken her luggage, and I felt kinda bad so I gave her some of mine, but then her stuff was sparking and it blew up in her face and she got angrier and angrier and I –"

Goodwitch placed a hand on her shoulder. "Miss Rose. Breathe."

Weiss saw it in that moment.

This girl, Ruby Rose, she knew Goodwitch from elsewhere. Perhaps this was a relative or family friend, or maybe Mr. Rose had contributed a sizeable donation to Beacon's coffers, but it was obvious to Weiss that the pair had interacted before. Goodwitch was responding to Rose's verbal cues and interpreting her body language far better than someone who'd never seen her before.

"It's going to be okay," continued the Deputy Headmistress. "This isn't the end of the world. Beacon insurance covers the loss of Dust during transit. I'm more concerned with the altercation that resulted in an injury."

"Her wings were super cute, so I petted them, and then she said to do it the other way so I apologized and did." Ruby looked up at Goodwitch with tears in her eyes. "And she hit me!"

"That is not what –"

"Miss Schnee."

Weiss balled up her fists and stared down at her knees. "Apologies. Ma'am."

Her tone was too angry, and Goodwitch was clearly unimpressed, but Weiss could barely care. This…This nepotism was going to ruin her before she ever had a chance.

"Miss Rose, is there anything else you'd like to tell me?"

"N-No," said Ruby. Her aura had healed up her nose, but there was still some crusted blood along her lip that gave her this perfectly piteous look. Weiss could practically see Glynda Goodwitch's sympathy at the puppy-dog eye wielding sycophant.

"Very well, then. Miss Schnee, please explain your recounting of events."

"She bumped into me and knocked over several cases of Dust, causing one case to become volatile. When I attempted to check it for reasons of ensuring our safety, she recklessly threw her own personally owned Dust into the mixture and cause an explosion. More damage was inflicted upon me by her during this event than by me upon her."

"That's not true! You were fine!"

"Because I raised my aura and you d–"

"Ladies! Both of you! Restrain yourselves."

Weiss did restrain herself, whereas Ruby Rose stuck out her tongue.

And Glynda Goodwitch decided to let that go. But hey, at least she sighed at Ruby's antics.

"Miss Schnee, please continue."

"I let this property damage and reckless endangerment go, but Ruby Rose continued to harass me. She repeatedly touched my wings without my consent and –"

"You said to go the other way!" butted in Ruby. "I thought that meant you were okay with it!"

"No, I told you to stop going the wrong way. At no point did I ever indicate I would find it acceptable for you to lay your filthy hands upon me!"

"Miss Rose, enough interruptions. Miss Schnee, please remain calm. I know this is a potentially stressful situation, but both of you are expected to conduct yourselves with behavior befitting of –"

Schnees.

" – huntresses. Now then. From the sound of it, this consists of two separate events. Regarding the former, it was an accident that caused some already volatile Dust to combust; as I mentioned, Beacon's insurance covers such costs. Does this resolve the matter in a manner satisfactory to you two?"

"My Dust was not volatile until –"

Goodwitch sighed again. "Moving on, then."

Of course. Of course Ruby got asked if she had anything else to add, while Weiss was…

You know what? I don't care. That's it. She's biased, and nothing I say or do will ever sway her one way or the other, so there's no point. Why waste time worrying? Who even cares what this little jackanape gets up to? I certainly don't.

"As for the brief skirmish, it sounds like it was a misunderstanding. Miss Rose believed she'd received approval to touch Miss Schnee's wings and acted on it, while Miss Schnee did not intend for her statements to be interpreted as such. Thus, the injuries inflicted upon Miss Rose were done under the assumption that they were self-defense."

Despite Weiss having promised herself to be above it, she found herself speechless once again. "I…but she…"

"Miss Schnee," Goodwitch said, adjusting her glasses. "I am attempting to move past this little incident for all our sakes. Both of you appear to be partially at fault – Miss Rose for instigating, and you for escalating. If you'd prefer, you can both receive detentions for your actions when the school years begin."

"No, ma'am," Weiss said. "I clearly see how this incident is being handled, and I have no intention of…ahem…dragging this matter out."

Goodwitch could clearly hear the disapproval in Weiss' tone, but she ignored it. After all, why pay any mind to the words of the new spoilt heiress when her own personal favorite was off the hook for her destruction of property and unwanted physical contact?

"Very well. If that is all, then –"

The door burst open, and in rushed a huntress with enough blonde hair to knit into a sweater.

"You! You hit my sister!"

Weiss looked to Ruby Rose, who had no familiar resemblance whatsoever to this wall of muscle and poorly informed fashion statements, but unless this were Glynda Goodwitch's younger sibling, Weiss figured it was her.

Weiss rose to her feet. "I did no such thing! Your sister repeatedly grabbed at my wings and rubbed them with no regard –"

The girl was upon her within the second, closing the distance between them rapidly and pressing Weiss into her chair. "Yeah, I heard. She bumped you once by mistake so you broke her goddamn nose, you stupid pigeon! You'd better apologize, or I'll – hey! Lemme go!"

Glynda Goodwitch had risen, and her huntress weapon was pointed at the blonde sister. Weiss knew of her famous semblance, Telekinesis, and its ability to stop an enemy the size of an Ursa Major dead in its tracks. Against that, this female rhinoceros of a huntress was easily contained.

"Miss Xiao-Long, if you continue to threaten your fellow students, I shall see to it that your permanent academic record reflects such belligerence."

Xiao-Long, still immobilized, didn't take her eyes off Weiss when she answered. "She hit Ruby so hard that her goddamn no–"

"This issue has been resolved," declared Goodwitch. "You will let it go, or I will be speaking with your father."

There was a brief flash of worry on the blonde's face, followed by a death glare aimed at Weiss. Her head nodded minutely at Goodwitch by a millimeter (the full range of motion allowed by one restrained within her mental grasp), and she was released.

"You stay away from my sister," growled Xiao-Long, moving over to a stone-faced Ruby and wrapping her up in her arms. "You hear me?"

Ruby swallowed. "Y-Yang, go easy on her, she –"

"Rubes, you didn't do anything wrong. I heard from everyone who saw it what happened." Yang's eyes narrowed at Weiss. "Some people think the world just belongs to them, and there's no helping that. Now c'mon, let's get you –"

"Is this really how it's going to end?" asked Weiss.

All three women turned to look at her.

"Miss Goodwitch, she attempted to assault me. She openly threatened me, and her insults were race-based. She called me a…a pigeon."

It could've been worse, Weiss thought to herself in the privacy of her own head. At least it wasn't 'seagull.'

"Oh, you little…that isn't what –"

"AND!" Weiss decided to be the one to interrupt someone else this time. "And now they're both getting off scot-free despite inciting every incident involved in this turn of events."

Weiss took in a deep breath and decided to take the plunge. If this went wrong, she would probably be expelled for the accusation, but she didn't learn from Kali and Ghira to back down when justice was being perverted.

"You mention knowing her father…their father, if they're sisters. Is this how Beacon operates?"

Goodwitch's prior looks of compassionate understanding or defeated annoyance were now swallowed whole by the stern, business-only expression on her face. "Miss Schnee, if you are implying what I believe you are implying, then I assure you that you are sorely incorrect."

"So you deny knowing Rose prior to today?"

Goodwitch paused momentarily. "I was present when the headmaster presented her with an offer of admission to Beacon."

"The headmaster presented her with an offer of admission personally?"

"Yes," answered Goodwitch instantly. "For her brave actions during an attack by dangerous criminals. Miss Rose earned her spot in Beacon."

"So neither you nor the headmaster are close friends with the Rose family?" Weiss asked. "Professor?"

She didn't know for sure if that were the case, but this was all a little too perfect for it to be as squeaky clean as Goodwitch insisted. Rose getting special treatment and a free pass from trouble, Xiao-Long's father being referenced with such familiarity…

Goodwitch was silent, and Weiss couldn't help but wonder why she didn't deny the allegations of favoritism if they were truly as unfounded as Goodwitch insisted.

"You sly little bitch," said Xiao-Long, putting her hand on her hip. She scoffed, looking between the professor and Weiss. "You're trying to blackmail her to get out of trouble. You know, I don't want to bring up the stereotype that rich folks are manipulative little shits, but…"

"But you will anyways, because you're a dullard who lets prior biases define how she sees people she hasn't even met!" Weiss angrily said back. "You weren't even there, but you were prepared to assault me w–"

"CHILDREN! ENOUGH, ALL OF YOU!"

The desks in the room all rose about an inch off the ground, only to fall back down instantly with a clattering racket. Weiss knew not if this were an intimidation tactic or an involuntary reflex from the psychic semblance, but she could tell from the look on the teacher's face that she was at the end of her rope.

"You will all drop this matter at once. If I hear of any more arguments involving the three of you, regardless of who starts or stops it, I will expel all three of you. I assume this is suitable motivation to stay away from one another, as you three are evidently too childish to control your own emotions?"

I don't know what I expected. I had my Dust ruined and got groped with numerous witnesses, then a blonde simpleton nearly attacks me, but it's a communal temper tantrum from all three immature students when I call these two out. I can only imagine the patience of the Belladonnas to put up with this and far worse for nearly two decades.

Weiss didn't push any further. Expulsion meant shame on the Schnee family name, loss of her dream school (though she was having doubts if Beacon was truly that), and separation from Blake. Or worse yet, Blake might voluntarily withdraw from Beacon to stay with Weiss, which would be a true nightmare in that Weiss dragged her best friend down with her.

"Yes, ma'am."

"Y-Yes."

"Got it."

It didn't miraculously end when they were dismissed to the hall temporarily converted to student housing. Goodwitch's threat of expulsion guaranteed there would be no further physical violence (neither sister seemed to want to risk the punishment for that), but Xiao-Long felt comfortable enough pushing her luck by approaching Weiss.

"Just stay away from Ruby, okay? Go be a prick on your own team and leave her alone."

Weiss folded her hands behind her back, not trusting them to react if this got too heated. "Your sister grabbed me without my consent and began to rub her hands along the back of my wings, disrupting my feathers and causing my great distress. I pushed her off of me, causing an injury that she fixed with her aura in a matter of seconds. Do not paint her as some tragic victim in this. She instigated both incidents despite my verbal requests for her to stop."

Rose tugged on her sister's sleeve. "Yang, let's just go. This has already been the worst first day ever."

"You've got some real nerve, talking like that," fired off the blonde, ignoring her sister. "Some of us didn't buy our way into Beacon."

Weiss merely raised an eyebrow.

"What, you're still on about this made-up nepotism thing? We're both at the top of our classes, and Ruby stopped a robbery done by a bunch of mobsters."

Yang patted her sister on the back proudly, but the little girl seemed absorbed in thought.

"I didn't even catch any of thieves…and Ozpin…Q-Qrow…"

Weiss decided she'd had enough of the Roses or Xiao-Longs or whatever name they went by, especially if they were going to continue to call her the names of unrelated bird species. "You mentioned staying away from me. I accept. Offer me the same courtesy, and we'll remain out of each other's hair."

"Can't say I'm okay with how this went, but you got yourself a deal."

Neither shook hands, but a nod was exchanged to seal their verbal deal. After all, it wasn't like either party particularly wanted to spend more time around the other. Weiss truly had every intention of avoiding the dimwit duo, and she didn't doubt that the elder sister felt the same about her. But it wasn't her who was the true problem.

Ruby's a classless fool who lacks any and all concern for the feelings of others around her. I'll probably have to worry about her when some stupid antic of hers propels her my way like it did this afternoon. I'm going to need someone to watch my back for the next four years…

Speaking of which…

"Blaaaaake," Weiss moaned, saddling up next to her with wide open arms. "May I?"

Blake nodded, and Weiss melted into the comforting hug of the one person she could truly trust in this word. Well, one person excluding Klein. Or Blake's parents.

"Rough first day?"

Weiss nodded frantically.

"I didn't see you at the headmaster's opening speech," Blake noted.

"Ran into some trouble," Weiss mumbled into Blake's shoulder. "Should be done with it now."

Blake silently patted Weiss on the back.

Weiss looked down at the book in the other Faunus' hands and recognized it as the same science fiction novel from before. "Heh, were you just reading that for the whole time?"

"Yep. Okay, well, not the whole time, but most of it."

"Sounds like there's a story there. Tell me?" Weiss requested, needing the distraction. She could listen to Blake talk about anything, and it would help her calm down.

Blake bookmarked her spot and folded her book shut. "Alright, but I'm gonna vent about my own bad day for a bit. Maybe not bad, but just…slightly vexing at times."

"That's fine." She was so comfortable like this, just lying next to Blake, that Weiss needed to open her eyes to avoid drifting off into slumber. "Vent away."

"Okay, so I was just minding my own business sitting up in a tree, reading this here page-turner, when this random girl comes up and…okay, so I didn't see her coming even though I'm normally so aware of everything around me, right, because I was so engrossed in my book, and she just…boo! Just like that. Boo! She does it with a smile, like it's the most humorous thing in the world and not a trick played by two-year-olds with one-year-olds for the victims. I fell out of that tree flat on my face."

"Ouch." Weiss rubbed Blake's unharmed cheek. "Poor thing."

"Yeah, aura saved me, but it's the principle of the thing. What if I had been hurt? All for her stupid little prank."

"Oh my gosh, you have no idea just how right you are, Blake," Weiss said.

Ruby Rose seemed to think that just because Weiss had protected herself from the Dust explosion and she hadn't from a minor shove, she was the victim here. It was not so. Had Weiss possessed poorer aura control…okay, that would never be the case, but had it been someone else in Weiss' position with poorer aura control, that burst of fire could've blinded her. Er, blinded them.

"Protecting yourself from injury doesn't absolve them of blame," Weiss said, applying the statement as to both Blake's and her own experience. "Otherwise, self-defense is only self-defense if it fails."

"Exactly. It's like she couldn't even comprehend that, even though it's simple logic."

"People like that are the worst."

"Anyways, I dusted myself off and ignored it. Like Mom always says, we have to be the bigger people, or the world is never going to get any better. So, yeah, I turned the other cheek in spite of the fact that this bit…this individual of a vile nature caused me to tear a page out of my book!"

Weiss looked down at the abused book and saw that, indeed, it had suffered minor scuffs on the cover and did seem to be torn.

"The nerve," Weiss said.

"Yeah…and it was brand new! Apparently, her explanation that I was looking bored was enough for her to justify jumping up on me like that. And that wasn't the end of it. Randomly, later on, the same girl comes up to me out of the blue and starts pestering me with questions. I didn't know what was going on, and she kept asking for gossip and rumors. You know I don't buy into spreading that kind of stuff around."

Weiss nodded. Both of their esteemed families had been burned by bad press in the past, and thus the pair of them typically did their best to avoid rumormongering. Having felt the effects of such phenomena tended to turn one off from furthering its impact.

"She eventually bugs off when I tell her that I was just reading my book the whole time, but then she goes and starts bothering everyone around me. I'm talking everyone, okay? She's a girl on a mission, peppering the entire student body with questions like she knows they're on a test that she forgot to study for. This is a huntress on a mission, and she's obsessed with getting the scoop on whatever drama had taken her fancy. Lemme tell you, it really soured my mood."

"I would imagine."

It wasn't strictly as bad as what Weiss had gone through, but that didn't mean it had been any less annoying to Blake. Bad experiences weren't competitions for who could boast suffering the worst. Besides, hearing Blake's story helped remind Weiss that this school wasn't just going to be an endless storm of thinly-veiled Faunophobia, nepotism, and unbearable sisters. Most of the issues would probably be the kinds of things Blake faced – inconveniences, immaturity, and teenage drama.

"So who was this mysterious villain that assassinated your undeserving book and poured copious volumes of water on the rumor mill?"

Blake shrugged, jostling Weiss slightly as her shoulders rose up. "Don't know. I didn't catch her name; I was too busy trying to get her to leave me alone to ask." Blake drummed her fingers against the book. "It's probably better that way; I'd like nothing to do with her if possible. But I do know that she was obsessed with someone named Ruby."

Weiss didn't outwardly react, but her eyes did drift over to Blake's. "Ruby?"

"That was the person she wanted gossip about." Blake didn't seem to notice Weiss' apprehension and continued on speaking normally. "Apparently, she hadn't been around to see this big incident and wanted to know the juicy details from anyone who had. It almost seemed personal, the way she hounded me and the other students for details. It really grated my nerves."

"By any chance, was this nemesis of yours upsettingly blonde with light purple eyes?"

Blake paused for a moment, thinking. "I can't recall her eye color. H-Hey, wait a second, how did you –"

Weiss only hugged her fellow Faunus harder. "I'm so glad we're best friends, Blake."

Next Chapter: A Friend to Last a Lifetime

In which Weiss Schnee scopes out the competition and makes eye contact with a few folks.

Author's Notes

Me: *gives Weiss a happy*

Me: But I'm going to have to take something away. You understand, surely?

If everything was going well, it wouldn't be a story. Thus, Weiss and Ruby+Yang are starting at a slightly worse spot than in canon.

Is there a literary term for the feeling of upset that you get when you know a character is correct but then read about them getting unfairly mistreated, shut down, or ignored at each and every turn? I see it so often (esp. in Jaune fanfics) as a quick and easy tool to enrage and engage readers. For me, it's the same impossible-to-dispel displeasure at watching internet ragebait videos but in writing form.

Well, whatever it is, I hate it whenever I see it, but I'm not above hypocritically using it.

Happy rats, and don't do crime!