After the Storm

by Terkontar

The storm had passed and team RWBY left the grim clouds behind them, finally being able to take a breath, tend to their wounds and pick up the pieces of their shattered lives. And no matter what comes next, they'll brave this new dawn – together / Takes place after Salem's defeat, two years after the fall of Beacon. Mostly slowly burning Whiterose with some Bumblebee on the side.

29. In Vino Veritas

Chapter XXV: In Vino Veritas*

Bee-beep, bee-beep, bee-beep!

The piercing blare of the alarm clock tore through the fabric of Ruby's dreams, dragging her out unto the waking world — much to her dismay.

She mumbled a curse, or something; whatever it might've been got lost to her pillow, turning into a nondescript grumble. With a groan, she poked her arm out from beneath the fluffy covers, blindly palming around her nightstand until she got a hold of the source of that whole commotion.

Her left eye opened a crack, looking with sleepy contempt at the '10:01 AM' displayed on the screen of her Scroll. The zeros messed with her sleep-addled mind, seeming to glare back at her with judgment. To that, Ruby simply growled and shut the alarm off, promptly burying her face back into the pillow.

Soon, she heard rustling somewhere nearby, which let her know that there was a collateral casualty of that alarm going off. Well, not entirely collateral, since they'd both technically agreed on it, but Ruby still empathized with her roommate's plight on a spiritual level.

There was a yawn and some light popping, followed by more rustles and the sound of two bare feet moving across the room. Then — a while of nothing.

"Ruby?" Weiss called softly. When Ruby's only response was a muffled grumble, she made a small noise between a scoff and a giggle. "I'll go ahead, then."

The meaning behind the words was at least partially lost on Ruby, but she still acknowledged them with a hum, if only to be left alone. Or, well, intended to acknowledge them, at least; she wasn't awake enough to be entirely sure she'd managed. What she was sure of were two things: A, that her bed was warm and nice, and B, that she was still dead tired.

She vaguely remembered hearing Weiss leave the room, but never heard the door open again. It must have, even though the exact moment had eluded her, because someone started bothering her again, lightly shaking her by her shoulder.

"Hey, Ruby, it's really time to get up."

It was Weiss again, oddly enough. She had already dressed and done her hair, which meant that some minutes had clearly passed, even though to Ruby it felt like a mere moment. Funny, how time seemed to fold when lying in a nice enough bed.

"I'm awake," Ruby groaned — annoyed — making a show of half-opening her eyes to shoot Weiss a pointed look. "Just give me a few."

After she said that, Ruby's eyelids drooped, but through the narrow crack beneath their heavy blanket she saw how a soft smile crossed Weiss' pretty face — and how said smile morphed to a smirk.

"Mm? I thought we still had some shopping to do before the party, but alright."

Weiss turned on her heel and walked out from Ruby's — admittedly very limited — field of view. Though she seemingly let the girl be, she'd left behind a few little seedlings in Ruby's mind. Soon, they sprouted into feelings of urgency and vague anxiety, the confusion they gave rise to causing Ruby to stir.

Eventually, a sort of half-realization settled in, prompting Ruby to actually open her eyes and check her Scroll. Half a second later, she managed to make sense of the digits one, zero, three and five that she saw on the screen.

10:35. She'd slept in over half an hour.

The covers exploded around her as she sat up on her bed, only for Ruby to catch herself and remember that it wasn't that late yet. Letting out a groan, she began rubbing her face, feeling a teeny bit annoyed — she fell for her own goddamn trick.

Weiss was looking at Ruby from beside her desk, clearly enjoying herself. Usually the roles were reversed, so it only made sense she'd cherish that moment of vindication.

'Fair game,' Ruby internally admitted — not that it stopped her from giving Weiss a half-hearted stink eye from between her fingers. Almost got a heart attack, she had.

"Good morning, sleepyhead," Weiss teased.

Ruby inhaled deeply, her eyes fluttering shut. "Mornin'," she muttered, pressing her hand harder against her face.

"Slept well?" Weiss asked and her smile only widened when Ruby's dead stare bored into her. Rather than say anything, Ruby swung her legs off the mattress and stood up, walking over to the drawer.

Ruby had slept quite well, all things considered — at least as far as quality of sleep was concerned. Length… not so much, but that was something she brought on herself; five-hours-something of sleep was nothing more than the consequences of her actions coming to bite her in the butt.

Weiss gave Ruby a curious look. "So, who won in the end?"

What Weiss was referring to was the reason behind Ruby's late bedtime the day prior. Her and Yang had launched into a bit of a sisterly gaming contest, and it might have gotten more serious than either of them had expected. They'd been at it for hours straight, and the tips of Ruby's fingers were still a little sore from gripping the controller so hard.

Cocking her hip to the side and tilting her head, Ruby smirked, taking on the air of cool confidence — or so she hoped. "Yours truly."

At first, there wasn't much in the way of reaction to Ruby's silly pose; after maybe a second, the corner of Weiss' mouth twitched a little, and Ruby felt the pair of blue eyes briefly rove over her pajama-clad body.

Her and Yang had been going head to head for the longest time, neither of them gaining more than a couple matches over the other, nor willing to concede defeat. That stalemate of theirs had lasted up until maybe half past three in the morning; that was when Ruby had swapped her character to one neither of them was familiar with — one that she'd been happy to discover had some absolutely nasty punishing moves. Between that and knowing Yang's playstyle, she'd managed to rack up a few wins, widening the gap enough for her sister not to be able to catch up.

'Not for the lack of trying, I guess,' Ruby mused to herself. 'Good thing we checked the time.'

"Was it worth it, staying up so late?"

'Hell no,' groaned Ruby's brain.

"Duh," said Ruby's spirit. "Honor demanded it."

Weiss shook her head a little and gave Ruby a wry, knowing smile. "We'll see if you feel the same way in the evening."

Ruby brushed off Weiss' concerns with a wave. "Eh, it'll be fine. Nothing I haven't done before."

That much was true, and — just like many times before — her head was driving her nuts, just a bit. A dull sort of headache had set in, one that seemed to radiate through the front of her skull and into her eyes, making her feel all slow and a little grumpy. Ruby had never gotten wasted before, but that pain was pretty close to what she imagined being hungover was like.

Still, even though she knew the headache would go away after a while, she also knew that Weiss had a point; she figured she would try to catch a power nap just before the party, lest the pain return with a vengeance come nightfall.

Neither said anything while Ruby was grabbing some clothes to change. She wasn't looking for anything special, just comfortable; sure, she probably should put at least some effort into looking nice when she was to play the host, but her party was a while away yet, and she still had some errands to run before that.

After she made her pick, she shot Weiss a sideways glance. "Bathroom's free?"

Weiss had been doing something on her Scroll and the sudden question spooked her for whatever reason, causing her to fumble and quite nearly drop the device to the ground.

"Yes, it should be," she affirmed; although she seemed quite flustered about her little mishap, she recovered quickly, putting on a smirk. "We've had plenty of time to take our turns while you were sleeping in."

Wanting to let Weiss have her fun, Ruby played along and rolled her eyes. "Har har. Be back in a few."

Ruby walked out of the room, only to stop right outside the door and lean back inside, directing a playfully suspicious look Weiss' way.

Something was up, obviously; if there was one thing that remained constant about Weiss throughout the time they'd known each other, it was the fact that Weiss was not a morning person.

Or, would it be more correct to say that she was a grumpy morning person? The exact flavor of her grump could vary from 'prickly' to 'adorably out of it', and differed on a day-to-day basis. Eight times out of ten, Weiss would linger in her bed for at least fifteen minutes after waking up, just messing with her Scroll. For her to not only get up right after the first alarm, but also volunteer to take the first turn in the bathroom was… vanishingly rare.

In the meantime, the Weiss she was faced with was clearly wide awake, andin a good mood; hell, she looked giddy, almost! As their eyes connected, Weiss could no longer hold back her grin and made a shooing motion with her hands. Ruby just snorted with laughter at that, allowing herself to be chased out of her own room.

She wasn't so sleep deprived not to realize what day it was, and it didn't take a genius to figure out what was going on. It wasn't the afternoon party that had gotten Weiss out of her bed so fast. Sure, it was technically possible, but between Ruby being shooed away from the room and Weiss not wishing her happy birthday just quite yet, it was basically a given it was about pulling out her gift from whatever hidey hole it was stashed in.

Or, well, smuggling it inside the room, more like; Ruby was decently sure it wasn't anywhere inside. That wasn't to say that she'd checked, of course.

Not that she hadn't, but Weiss didn't need to know that.

In any case, it was nice seeing Weiss look forward to her reaction. It made Ruby a little excited, too.

She entered the bathroom and placed her clothes on the toilet seat. After taking a single look in the mirror, she snorted out a laugh.

'Looking good, girl. Really pulling off that frazzled panda look to kick off your eighteenth.'

It really wasn't a flattering sight. Surprising no-one, dark circles rounded her slightly glassy, bloodshot eyes, while a veritable nest of a bedhead messily framed her pale face. Her scalp started hurting from merely thinking of taking a brush to her tangled hair, but she reached for one regardless. Barely half a pull in, she already started cursing her past self for having been too lazy to properly take care of her hair after a late shower.

She'd come to quite like having longer hair, even though she initially hadn't expected to; still, it was hard not to miss her previous hairdo while painstakingly combing her way through that morning tangle. And don't even get her started on the drying time…

Sometimes, she felt really bad for Weiss. Ruby's hair barely reached past her collarbone and she already found it to be a pain in the butt; she straight up didn't even want to imagine herself needing to do as much maintenance as Weiss had to.

On the other hand, a part of her was quite thankful that Weiss was willing to take that burden unto herself; her long tresses were lovely, and Ruby very much liked how they felt to the touch. Not that she thought that Weiss wouldn't look equally stunning in, say, a pixie cut, but… she probably preferred it the way it was. It had sentimental value, almost.

It took her a while to make her way through all the knots in her hair. The results were… acceptable, she supposed — here and there, an unruly cowlick refused to be subdued, but it was nothing a bit of hair gel couldn't handle.

At some point while she was getting ready, the sound of laughter came from beyond the bathroom door, clearly belonging to Weiss and Blake. The two exchanged a couple of sentences, but Ruby couldn't make any sense of it. Still, it wasn't hard at all to get a read on their mood, even if she couldn't quite make out the words. Blake was probably making fun of Weiss, while the latter was playfully telling her to sod off.

'Guess it was in the other bedroom? Makes sense.'

A silly sort of relief rolled over her. When they were younger, Ruby and Yang would often make gift-hiding into a bit of a game. As it stood, she knew most of the good spots by heart, especially within her room. Granted, she hadn't been particularly thorough when she'd taken a looksie around the bedroom the other day — and didn't touch any of Weiss' spaces, for privacy's sake — but her pride would still take a hit if she somehow got beaten on her damned home field.

She finished getting dressed and put up her hair. By the time she left the solitude of the bathroom, the house had turned oddly quiet; all chatter had died down, and even the distant sound of the kitchen radio felt heavy with anticipation. It was all in her head, of course; objectively speaking, the situation wasn't all that much different from any other morning, but it felt different.

The door to her bedroom was conspicuously left ajar, if just slightly. To any other person, it probably wouldn't be much to go by, but she knew that Weiss was inside — alone or perhaps with Yang and Blake lying in ambush, she didn't care; she knew where she wanted to make her first stop. With the first traces of a smile starting to show on her face, she pushed forward and stepped into the sunlit room, not wanting to keep a lady waiting.

Weiss had been leaning against their shared drawer, fidgeting with her hands a little, as if starting to doubt herself at the last minute. The moment she spotted Ruby, she straightened her back and faced her with a… weird look in her eye. Not bad-weird, just… unusual-weird. Part of it was probably nervousness, but there was also something else. A kind of… happiness, Ruby guessed, though even she drew a blank as to what exactly Weiss had to be happy about.

Between Weiss' legs stood a rather sizable, white gift bag decorated with blue and silver glitter that shimmered in the sun. The bag reached a little past her knee, and within Ruby spotted a glimpse of a large yet flat box, making her wonder what the hell Weiss had gotten for her.

With a bright yet self-conscious smile, Weiss picked the package off the floor and stepped over, abashedly lowering her gaze. "I never was really good at well-wishes, so…" She trailed off for a little while, but did manage to push through her misgivings in the end. Tilting her head up and lightly to the side, she looked up at Ruby as she offered her the present. "Happy birthday."

The air was heavy when their eyes met, but not in a bad way — rather, it was simply filled with meaning and words heard yet unspoken. And there, within that silence between the lines, Ruby found an answer as to what that expression on Weiss' face might've been.

She was looking at Ruby like she was the most precious thing in the world.

It was just a stupid birthday, and yet it carried so much more weight to Ruby; at some point in the past, she'd simply sort of… come to terms with the likelihood of her living long enough to enter adulthood being pretty low. She was damn grateful to the Fates or dumb circumstance for letting her celebrate that date together with her loved ones, and Weiss seemed to share in that feeling of gratitude. They all had at least considered a much darker future for themselves; what they got was what they had dared not to truly hope for, alongside a promise of many more moments like it to come.

Ruby took the gift off Weiss' hands and wrapped the girl in a tight, heartfelt hug, grinning like a fool when she felt Weiss nuzzle into her shoulder. "Oh, but it already is. Thanks."

As happy as being dear to Weiss made Ruby, deep within her heart of hearts, a sense of guilt and inadequacy lingered. She was being shown such earnest care and affection, and yet still couldn't bring herself to be forward in turn. She felt quite pathetic, but didn't let it show, drowning herself in the moment.

Neither of the two was in any rush to break off the hug, letting it last for far longer than needed. When they finally pulled apart, Ruby looked inside the gift bag, then began spreading the contents across her bed.

Most of it was comprised of her favorite sweets and snacks, but there was also that weird, flat box she'd spotted before. It was its own thing, it seemed, as Weiss had gone through the effort of wrapping it neatly in white gifting paper, even putting a cute red bow on it. Dimensions-wise, it was around twenty inches tall and maybe fifteen, sixteen wide, but with depth of less than an inch; it also felt pretty rigid in Ruby's hands, at least around the edges.

It kind of reminded Ruby of a large hardcover artbook, but the weight didn't feel quite right. Not that she actually owned any, but one or two of those pretty things had passed through her hands.

She quirked her eyebrow at Weiss with interest. "What is it?"

Rather than answer, Weiss responded with a disarming — if nervous — smile, signaling with her head for Ruby to open the package.

For a split second, Ruby was tempted to give in to her excitement and just tear into the wrapping with her nails, but she thought better of it. Instead, she took her time, mindful of the care put into it.

The moment the wrapping paper was peeled off, Ruby did a double take. Rather than an artbook, she was looking at the back of a… picture frame?

A tiny noise of surprise pushed past her lips. She turned to Weiss in confusion, only to notice the girl looking at her expectantly, lower lip bitten in anticipation. Their eyes met, if only briefly; encouraged with another nod, Ruby flipped the frame around, only for the understanding of what she was looking at to slam her — hard enough for her heart to skip a step or two.

It was a painted portrait. Of her.

She opened her mouth, but didn't make any (coherent) sound. Simply saying that she was speechless would be a criminal understatement — the section of her brain responsible for speech straight up crashed, like a computer app running out of memory.

It was a thing of contrast and duality, but also of beauty. Not necessarily in the conventional sense, but the intention behind the piece was immediately clear to Ruby.

At a glance, one could say that it wasn't a particularly flattering depiction of her. She looked tired and worn down, her hair somewhat disheveled and dark circles beneath her eyes after a short night; a long, fraying tear ran from the rim of her hood, while the dark sleeve of her jacket bore clear seam marks of mending.

And yet, she still held her head high as she looked to the right side of the painting, towards the eastward sun; a tiny smile lingered on the girl's lips as she watched the new dawn from a treeline, the sky behind her a beautiful gradient of blue, soft pink and orange. With her back straight and eyes staring on ahead with weary wonder, she somehow exuded an air of quiet strength and… hope.

But what really took Ruby aback was the fact that she recognized that scene. She had been there, and had watched that very dawn. It'd been around half a year back, in the early spring, when she and her team had been on an assignment in the wilderness of Sanus, far south-west from Vale. She'd been freezing her ass off that whole night… but the view of last snow sparkling in the morning sun almost made up for it.

An uncontrollable, undoubtedly goofy grin broke out on her face as she spotted something that dashed all doubts she might've had regarding the author of that painting — in the lowermost right corner, written with neat, familiar strokes, was a single five-letter word: Weiss.

It was no commission.

Ruby was about to turn to that lovely dork and squeeze the life out of her, but before she did, yet another thing stood out to her, gluing her eyes back to the portrait.

The painting depicted her right profile, waist up. At first, she'd figured it was a composition thing, but the more she looked at the piece, the more certain she was that it had not been a choice borne of whimsy, or even artistic vision. After all, if Weiss had simply wanted to paint a portrait of her, why would she ever choose that scene in particular?

'Like, I sure had looked worse than that, but… yeah, not exactly a flattering look.'

Weiss was one to put a lot of meaning into things she created, and Ruby could feel that this painting was no different. It was… kinda intimate, actually, almost making the observer a part of the scene; even the point of view felt personal, down to the slightly upwards angle of someone slightly shorter than Ruby. Someone—

Someone who stood by her side, still looking up to her despite everything.

Ruby pressed her left hand to her mouth, her vision suddenly going blurry.

As if picking up on Ruby's train of thought, Weiss spoke up in a gentle voice. "A little while ago, you were worried that I might see you differently now. I know I said my piece back then, but… I figured I might as well just try and show you."

Ruby's body was rocked by a violent shudder as she let out a long, shaky breath through her nose. No longer trusting her trembling arm, she pushed aside the night lamp and gingerly placed the painting atop the end table, putting it against the wall. She took a step back and just stared at the portrait for a while, furiously trying to blink away the flood of her tears, futile though it was.

She sensed that Weiss had moved closer; close enough to touch, had Weiss chosen to. She hadn't, probably unsure how to read Ruby's reaction. Truth be told, Ruby wasn't entirely sure either, but… it wasn't a bad feeling, that much she knew for sure. The least she could do was to reassure Weiss of such.

Having finally torn her hand off her mouth, Ruby turned around and beamed a smile at Weiss — or tried to, anyways. It probably didn't turn out particularly pretty, considering how tense her cheeks felt, but it seemed to have gotten the message across, as a wave of relief rippled across Weiss' body.

Inching closer, Ruby reached out with her arms to strangle that thoughtful, sweet, sentimental fool in a hug. Weiss just coughed up a strained laugh, putting up with the playful chokehold without complaint. Once Ruby's grasp loosened a little, Weiss hummed contentedly, her hand running small circles across the small of Ruby's back.

Ruby just clung to Weiss without saying a word. She needed a little while to pull herself together, and it actually got a bit worse before getting better; it was nothing more than a few sniffles here and there, but bringing her breathing to a nice, steady pace took some effort.

Being up so close, Ruby heard Weiss swallow, as if in preparation to say something. Indeed, she needed not wait long for that to come true.

"It's been years since the last time I held a brush, so it's not the best, but… I take it that you like it?" Weiss asked, tone of her voice betraying her anxiety.

Ruby could kind of see where Weiss' concern was coming from. While nothing about the painting stood out to her as odd in terms of anatomy or composition, a couple of objects had turned out a little… flat, she wanted to say? The contrast didn't seem quite right, especially so with the few trees visible in the background — their trunks looked a bit too smooth, reminding her a little of rolling pins that were also slightly out of focus.

Still, Weiss was silly to worry about it.

"No. I love it. Thank you — so, so much."

After one last squeeze, Ruby pulled away, but just far enough to look Weiss in the eye; her right hand stayed on the girl's shoulder, while the other gently cupped Weiss' cheek and jawline.

She noticed many things about Weiss' face. How borderline angelic it looked, with a radiant halo of snow-white hair that shone in the daylight. How Weiss' eyelids framed her pale blue eyes in a way most unbecoming of an Ice Princess, making their gaze seem so warm Ruby was beginning to sweat. It was a face marked with a mixture of relief and happiness, but also an ounce of embarrassment and… vulnerability of sorts. Emotions that Weiss would all too often try to hide, plain for Ruby to see: in the slope of Weiss' eyebrows, and in the gentle arch of her lips — a spectacle for the audience of only one.

What she saw made Ruby feel a certain way, and thus she promptly averted her eyes, ere she did a thing most irresponsible; something she'd sworn to herself she'd not do. To distract herself, she swept away what was left of her tears and looked at her portrait again, letting her hands rest on her hips.

"I didn't know you could paint!" She didn't have to fake the amazement that colored her voice, nor the grin that appeared on her face.

Weiss let out a small laugh as she followed Ruby's gaze. "Long time ago, in a different life," she said in half-jest, then sat down on her bed. "My parents — or, well, my Father — made me try out different arts. Hiring the best tutors money could buy, then making me keep at it for a couple of years. Once I had a decent grasp of something, he'd usually stop insisting, and I dropped each and every one of them like a bad habit. Music was the only exception, and once I started gaining some actual notoriety for it, he pretty much gave up on other things."

Ruby shot Weiss a glance, a deep frown marring her brow. "Was it 'the good wife material' thing again?"

Weiss didn't seem particularly bothered by the thought. "Probably."

Ruby fell silent for a little while. Oddly enough, Weiss being so dispassionate about the notion only made her heart go out to the girl all the more.

"Did he make you hate the things he made you try?" Ruby asked quietly.

"'Hate' is a strong word," Weiss replied diplomatically, a lopsided smile sitting on her lips. With an oddly distant look in her eyes, she glanced down at her left hand and flexed her fingers as if they'd gone numb, or started tingling perhaps. "I hated sculpting; had no talent for it whatsoever, too. Other than that… dancing, gymnastics, figure skating, painting… I think I dropped those things out of spite, or simply because it was difficult to enjoy them between Father's nagging and my own resentment. So no, I don't quitehate those disciplines… although it's probably fair to say that he did ruin them for me, for a long time."

Ruby nodded; she had expected as much, though it didn't make it any less depressing to hear. She stewed on that answer for a short while, then spread her arms and pointed them in the general direction of the portrait.

"Why this, then?" she asked, a little confused. The question was innocent enough, but it wasn't until a second later that she realized it hadn't come out quite how she'd intended it to. Alarmed, she straightened her back and waved her hands about. "I mean! Umm… not— not to sound ungrateful, because I really do appreciate it… but why go such lengths?"

Weiss theatrically pressed a single digit to her chin and turned her eyes towards the ceiling. "Oh, I don't know, really." She tilted her head to the side as she looked at Ruby. "Maybe because I wanted to?" A small giggle rolled off her lips and she grinned at the sight of the face Ruby was making. "You are worth it, silly."

Weiss inhaled deeply as her eyes were drawn towards her handiwork. "Besides, I actually did enjoy myself; you don't have to worry about me forcing myself to do it, or anything like that." Her smile mostly fizzled out and faded, leaving behind but a wistful vestige. "Father's dead. I don't need his ghost to continue casting a shadow over my life. Things like this painting are like— like proof to myself. That I can take parts of my old life and finally make them mine. In a sense, I did this as much for myself as I did it for you."

Ruby didn't know how to react to that, resulting in a rather awkward pause. Not too awkward, thankfully, as it was promptly cut short when Weiss' face lit up in recognition. She snapped her fingers and bent down.

"Oh, right — before I forget." She reached underneath her bed, pulling out her backpack and starting to rummage through it; after a little while of digging, she pulled out a tiny, familiar-looking box and offered it to Ruby. "This is from Qrow."

Ruby weighed the object in her hand. It fit pretty comfortably on her palm, and had the mass to match its size. It was pretty plain — but a simple box of black cardboard, criss-crossed with a measure of red twine. As she moved it around a little, something rattled against the paper walls.

She shot Weiss a questioning look. "Any idea what that is?"

"I didn't open it," Weiss replied, seemingly about as mystified as Ruby herself was. She watched on with interest as Ruby started fiddling with the piece of string, and snickered a little when the girl, fed up with the tight knot, snapped the thread with her teeth.

A look of confusion spread across Ruby's face as she peeked inside the box; she reached inside, pulling out something that made Weiss arch her brow.

"Keys?" Weiss muttered, matching Ruby's befuddled expression.

Ruby put a finger through the keyring and brought the two seemingly identical keys up to her face. "To some locker, looks like. Or maybe a storage unit?" she mused out loud while taking a closer look. She examined the set for maybe a second or two, only to suddenly flick her wrist and snatch the keys into her grip. She grabbed the lid of the box and turned it around; on the reverse — or the inside, rather — she found a short bit of writing, penned in a familiar, messy script.

"Orchid road, huh. Says it's in Patch, but it doesn't ring a bell."

"Didn't you brag once that you know all of Patch?" Weiss teased.

"I said that I've been everywhere around the town; 's a difference, you know?"

"We could go there, if you'd like. Plenty of time before the party," Weiss suggested, looking actually rather enthusiastic about the prospect.

Before Ruby could answer, a light knock rasped against the partway-open door and a head of dark hair peeked inside the room. "Am I interrupting?"

Putting the keys and their box in the pocket of her hoodie, Ruby brushed off Blake's concern with a smile. "Nah. Come on in."

Before entering, Blake turned around and hollered for Yang to come over; a muffled, largely unintelligible yell answered, carrying from somewhere downstairs.

But Blake wasn't going to wait for Yang to get her butt over there; she briefly dipped outside the room and bent down, lifting a respectably sized gift box that had been hiding just behind the doorframe. With a grin, she walked over to Ruby and put the present in the girl's arms. "This is for you."

Inside, Ruby found the newest volume of a fantasy series she liked, as well as a paper model kit of an Atlesian heavy frigate. Her eyes had an excited glint to them as she thumbed through the pages of the booklet, only to mellow out as she realized that the box held one more item inside. She put the papercraft kit down on her bed alongside the book and gingerly picked up the glass frame that sat at the very bottom of the box.

The frame held a drawing of their team, hanging out together in front of the Beacon cafeteria; Ruby, Blake and Weiss were sitting on a bench, while Yang hovered behind them with a huge grin on her face, one arm around Blake's shoulder and the other leaning against the bench's backrest. Blake was captured in the middle of an eye roll, one evidently aimed at Yang. Weiss looked on at the scene with a smirk, while Ruby was straight-up laughing her ass off at her friend's expense.

It had a distinct, sentimental feel to it, as if being a window to the years past… and yet, even though the four of them were all wearing their old uniforms, it was impossible to mistake it for a scene from their past. A single look at Yang's arm or Ruby's — well, everything — was enough to tell that it was less of a fond memory, and more of a hopeful dream.

Ruby just looked at Blake in speechless silence; her cheeks were starting to actually hurt from all that smiling.

"Something to look forward to, yes?" Blake said, eliciting a coo from Ruby. The birthday girl crashed into Blake, squeezing her tight with eyes closed shut. "Happy birthday, dear."

"Thank you. It's great."

Another voice spoke up. "Hey, look who made it to adulthood. Good going, Rubes."

Yang pushed herself off the doorframe and stepped inside, carrying a gift-wrapped bundle underneath her armpit. She looked between Blake and Ruby, at the painting proudly displayed on the end table; after a little while, she rubbed her chin in thought and started nodding in approval.

"Mm, nice. Very lifelike. Really nailed the panda eyes there, Weiss."

Blake and Weiss both snickered, while Ruby made a show of rolling her eyes.

"Oh, shut up," Ruby groaned, leaving Blake's drawing on the bed; still, a tiny smirk did show up on her face. "Not like you're looking any—"

Before Ruby could finish, Yang lightly bonked her on the forehead with the package she'd been carrying. A dull, distinctly book-ish thud accompanied it, which probably took Ruby aback more than the lovetap itself. She blinked, then looked in confusion at the gift-wrapped bundle Yang just put in her hands — it sure felt like a book, in hardcover at that, but the dimensions were definitely non-standard.

Ruby snapped the wrapping tape that held the package together and peeled off the paper. Sure enough, what she found inside was indeed a book — one with baking recipes, to be exact. Large-format, excitingly thick, and likely of the expensive variety.

That wasn't everything, either; bundled together with the book was a plastic box that she'd almost dropped while unpacking. Within was an action RPG she'd been looking forward to for well over two years — even before the CCT system fell. It'd been out for around half a year already, but only in Vale, and, well… it's not like she had much time to play video games those last few months.

She set both items down on her bed, with the rest of her spoils, then turned back around to Yang and hugged her sister tight.

"Thanks. Love you, sis."

"Love ya too," Yang replied, patting Ruby's back. "I'm still going to kick your ass for last night, tho."

Ruby scoffed. "Like hell you are."

---

Having eaten breakfast, Ruby and Weiss set out to Patch to see what sort of scheme Qrow had cooked up. Blake and Yang were, naturally, invited to tag along, but both had declined. Blake had an appointment with Dr. Glas early that afternoon, while Yang had wanted to catch some more sleep before accompanying Blake to the meeting.

Knowing the two of them, there was a very good chance that Yang was now curling up to Blake's side, serving as her girlfriend's living blanket while Blake idled away her time, thumbing through the pages of yet another book.

It was all a little unfortunate, as there was still some grocery shopping that needed to be done, but Ruby and Weiss figured they'd manage on their own.

Ruby's Scroll led them to a nice neighborhood maybe a twenty minutes' walk away from home. Orchid Road was a fairly narrow two-lane street, lined with stubby deciduous trees and pretty townhouses of orange brick. Ruby wasn't too familiar with the area, although she'd passed through there every once in a while. It was one of the newer developments in Patch, dating back maybe ten years or so, although it had expanded since. Honestly, it was a little surreal being there; she remembered the time when it had been nothing more than a simple meadow, yet not a trace of it remained.

They'd been doing circles around the neighborhood for a little while, looking for something that looked like PO boxes or storage units, but their ten minutes of searching brought no results whatsoever; all they'd got for their efforts were a few curious glances from two young families they'd passed on their way.

Ruby glanced once more at the cardboard lid in her hand—

By Orchid Road 23, 3rd

—and cursed her uncle for not being just a little more specific.

Sure, it's not like he'd had a lot of space to work with… but he could've put a damn note inside. 'Folding paper isn't that bloody difficult, Qrow.'

They were standing right in front of the townhouse number 23; next to it was a short alleyway with trash bins and such, but no PO boxes or storage units in sight — they'd checked. Numbers 22 and 24 stood on the other side of the street, while a long row of garages stood where they'd expect the townhouse number 25.

It was said row of garages that both of them turned their attention to, freshly out of other ideas.

"Do you think this is it?" Weiss asked, a little bit at a loss.

Ruby didn't rightly know what to think. Hands on her hips, she stared ahead at the the squat structure, silently wondering what was Qrow playing at. Having taken one final look around, more out of sheer dismay rather than actually expecting to find something, she exhaled a long sigh.

"Can't see anything else it could've been," she breathed out, giving the nearest garage door a speculative look. "A garage, huh?"

"Do you think it's Qrow's?"

"Nope," she replied with a fair dose of certainty. "Don't think he has any use for one. Besides, his flat is — was? — much closer to Signal."

A lone car drove past them, briefly stealing Weiss' attention before she shot Ruby a sideways glance. "You don't suppose he got you a vehicle, do you?"

"Dunno. Not like I can legally drive anything."

Still, it wasn't entirely out of the question, nor were such gifts unheard of in her family. As it were, Yang had got her first Bumblebee for her sixteenth birthday from their dad, which was before she'd gotten her license; later, for her nineteenth, their team pitched in to buy her a replacement bike, with Qrow covering most of the expenses.

Besides, she technically knew how to drive — Yang had made sure of that.

"Hasn't stopped you before," Weiss accurately pointed out, an amused little smirk upon her lip.

Ruby snorted. "That was different."

"Well, in any case. Shall we find out?" Weiss offered, giving Ruby an encouraging smile.

Ruby sighed. "Might as well." She plucked the keys out from her pocket, only to freeze and count the garage units; arriving at the total count of seven, she turned a hesitant gaze to Weiss. "Third from the left, or third from the 23rd?"

Weiss considered the question for a second, trying to put herself into Qrow's frame of mind. Although undoubtedly clever, he was not one for order; he lived and died by his gut feeling, and wasn't prone to overthink a situation when it wasn't warranted.

She thought of herself walking down the street and counting the doors as she went, then naturally felt her stare being drawn to the nearest townhouse — number 23.

"Let's try the latter."

And so they did; after slotting the key in, it did turn without any issue — much to Ruby's relief. She'd been worried she'd look like a creep or a burglar had she tried to open the wrong one.

"Well, I guess this is it. Hup!"

As soon as the garage door lifted and Ruby took a peek inside, she let out a gasp. Eyes wide, she had to use both of her hands to cover up a joyous squeal. A heartbeat later, Weiss got to witness the girl do an adorable little jig right before scurrying inside.

What they found within was no vehicle, but Weiss didn't doubt it cost at least as much as Yang's bike.

The walls of the garage were lined with machinery. Weiss wasn't sure whether it constituted a fully equipped workshop, but Ruby certainly didn't seem to care, whizzing from one contraption to another and absolutely gushing over each and every single one of them.

Weiss recognized most of the devices, if only vaguely, having seen similar ones at Beacon, Atlas and Signal. One of the tools was called a milling machine, if memory served her right, but it was the only station she could actually put a name to — and even that limited knowledge came from listening to Ruby.

Even though tools were definitely not something Weiss would normally enthuse about, Ruby's unbridled glee was contagious, leaping onto her like a spark that begets a wildfire. It was an entirely different kind of happiness than the one she'd seen in the girl when giving her the portrait; not necessarily stronger, but much more outward and explosive. Weiss got swept up in that wild energy, smiling as she began imagining what manner of things Ruby could create in there.

After sufficiently appreciating every piece of equipment, Ruby whipped out her Scroll and immediately started calling someone. The identity of the recipient was an absolute no-brainer, so it was no surprise to Weiss when she saw Qrow's rugged face appear on the transparent screen.

"Sup'?" he asked, and though he managed to keep a straight face, the smugness in his voice was positively palpable.

"Qrow, what the hell? Are you insane?" Ruby started berating him, all the while being unable to keep a goofy grin off her face. "Like, seriously! This stuff was expensive!"

Chuckling at the scene, Weiss flicked the light switch, then reached up and brought the garage door down, providing them all with a bit of privacy; in the meantime, Qrow started laughing.

"Don't worry about it, kiddo. Besides, you give me and my generosity too much credit — your old man also pitched in," he said, then let that little nugget of information hang in the air for a while, just to let Ruby process it. "Anyhoo, I hope you're liking it?"

"Speechless is what I am!" Ruby half-laughed and half-yelled. "Seriously, thank you. But… what gave you the idea?"

"Other than you being a weapons frea— I'm sorry, a weapons enthusiast, even before coming to Signal?" he said with a grin; soon, however, his smile grew dimmer, making way for a more serious, more sympathetic expression. "Tai and I figured you could use a space just for yourself."

Ruby also lost a bit of her pep. "Right…"

Qrow carried on. "The rent for the unit 's already been covered for a year, and Tai said he'll take care of the electricity bill. Use the space as you like, just… don't run the machines all at once, alright? Fairly sure the grid isn't rated for that much draw…"

"Heh, alright."

The line fell quiet for a little while. Eventually, Qrow's voice broke through the lull. "You been to the side room yet?"

"No?" Ruby blurted out. There was a door in the right wall of the garage, but she'd been so caught up in her hype that she'd forgotten all about it. "Gimme a sec."

The door wasn't locked and readily opened, revealing a fairly small space on the other side. The room had likely used to serve as tool storage, but now it was basically empty, save for a single coffee table and a large, aged couch that occupied most of the space. A box of chocolate pralines sat on the tabletop, left alongside a note scribbled on a simple sheet of paper.

Realistically, that side room was nothing much to write home about; it was cramped and looked rather drab, what's with its concrete floor and coarse, gray walls. Still, one wouldn't think so when looking at Ruby. As soon as she'd hit the light switch, a wide grin returned to her face, her eyes shining with excitement.

"Aww, this place is so cool! And the chocolates!" She glided across the floor and swept up the pralines into her grasp. However, as she started reading the note, her face scrunched up in apparent confusion. "Hol' up. That's not your handwriting."

"Err…" Qrow let out, awkwardly scratching the side of his chin. All of a sudden, most of his usual grandstanding was gone, as though he was actually embarrassed of something for once. "See, we rented the unit from that one lady two buildings over. She got kinda nosy about all the gear that got delivered, and I didn't want to be rude, so we chatted for a bit." He sighed. "Thing is, I let it slip that my niece's name is Ruby; then, she started talking about that 'Ruby Rose from the news', and here we are."

Ruby's eyes clouded at the mention of 'Ruby from the news', and the grimace that briefly cut through her face did not go unnoticed.

Qrow gave her a wry, apologetic smile. "Sorry."

"It's fine." Ruby mustered up a reassuring tone, but Weiss could tell that the matter did bother her a little. "Why the chocolates, though?"

"Said she wanted to thank you. The couch is also from her."

A look of 'oh damn' crossed Ruby's face, if only for a flash, her confusion soon returning with strength redoubled. "Thank me? For what?"

Qrow looked just about ready to answer her, only to catch himself and shove his reply back down his throat. The left corner of his mouth was lifted by a smirk, but that amusement wasn't quite mirrored in the look he gave Ruby.

"Actually, since the cat is already out of the bag… why don't you ask her yourself? I'll send you her address."

Ruby's eyes widened and the box of chocolates dipped precariously in her hand, edging dangerously close to slipping from her grasp. She gave her lips a quick, nervous lick and glanced at the note, before focusing again on Qrow.

"I— sure, I'll think about it."

She tried to smile, but didn't fare all that well. Her gaze slipped and sought out Weiss', if only for a heartbeat. She wasn't sure why her instinctual response to being uncomfortable was to look to Weiss for— something, but she didn't dwell on it. Being as eager to move on as she was, she asked Qrow the first thing that rolled off her tongue: "So, what have you been up to?"

They chatted for about ten more minutes or so, mostly about nothing of substance. As she'd expected, Qrow wasn't going to visit. She had been ready to hear the news, though still ended up feeling a little bit disappointed. Not that she held it against him — he had an important task to fulfill, after all.

She tried to pry a bit into the progress he'd made on his little Maiden hunt, but he was understandably pretty evasive; all he was willing to share was that he was in Vacuo, and that he was following a decently promising lead. He was offering no estimates and giving no promises, but he hoped to have some info to bring back home by the end of November — or to swing by and say hello, at the very least. Ruby let it rest at that, accepting that it was the most she could realistically count on.

Still, it did bother her a little that she couldn't thank him with a proper hug.

---

The wooden table shook and rattled when Ruby dumped about thirty pounds of groceries on top of it. Not sparing her purchases another thought, she snagged a clean glass from a cupboard and poured it full of water.

After some gentle prodding from Weiss, Ruby had decided to follow up on the address she'd gotten from Qrow. His description of the lady had turned out to be fairly accurate. Miss Caelum — for that was her surname — was rather… gregarious, was the word? A pretty nice landlady, all things considered, if friendly to a fault. A twenty minutes' chat over some tea had left Ruby kind of exhausted, actually — not that it had been a particularly bad experience, just a tad overwhelming. The conversation had kept moving forward faster than she — or even Weiss, for that matter — could process, taking them on a few wild tangents along the way.

Still, they had managed to get some answers in the end. It turned out that what miss Caelum had been so thankful for was related to her daughter-in-law, Vesna. Poor lass had been visiting her family in Mantle when Atlas closed its borders, and had been stuck there when the city got overrun; had they not been evacuated, 'there was no telling what could've happened', as miss Caelum had put it.

Vesna must've been one of the first people up the ramp, who had actually gotten to see part of the group responsible for their rescue; Ruby's was the one face the woman had managed to put a name to, later sharing it with whomever cared to listen, which had eventually included her mother-in-law. Hence, the pralines in the garage.

To miss Caelum's credit, she'd extended the same sort of gratitude to Weiss after learning of her part in rescuing Mantle; the girls had left the building a little stunned, abashed, and richer in a bag of freshly-baked cookies.

An all-together positive experience, Ruby supposed… but it was barely past noon, and yet she was already tired. Not winded, no, just… spent. It had been one hell of an emotional morning, and her being only half-awake most certainly hadn't helped matters.

Reclining her back against the countertop, Ruby threw back her head and downed her drink in a handful of greedy gulps, holding out hope it could silence the annoying throbbing she felt behind her eyes.

"I'm beat."

Weiss, who'd walked into the kitchen a few steps behind her, placed a single grocery bag beside Ruby's spoils and directed a semi-concerned stare towards the girl.

"Why don't you lie down for a bit? There's still some time."

Ruby nodded. Having left her empty glass on the counter, she scuttled over to the table and started unloading the bags. "I will, once I get one more cake done."

Weiss joined in on the task, but her eyes of blue remained focused on Ruby — now with a hint of agitation to them. "Ruby, do you really need to make one more? You have already baked two."

"Well, yeah. Counting dad, it's for fifteen people. Two baking sheets aren't gonna cut it." Ruby met Weiss' stare head-on, matching it with a disarming smile. After a spell, a tiny snort broke free from her chest, followed by a flashing of her teeth. "Nora alone is probably going to eat like half a tray."

Weiss wanted to argue against that, but quickly realized that she simply couldn't — not in good conscience, at any rate. Nora was a sucker for Ruby's pastries, and she wasn't alone in that. With a small exhale of defeat, Weiss shifted just a little closer to Ruby.

"Are you going to be okay?" she asked, placing a hand on Ruby's shoulder. "Don't take it the wrong way, but you look… tired."

Ruby grabbed a nearby can and hugged it to her cheek. "That's what I got this baby for." Her playful grin did little to placate Weiss, who leveled the energy drink in Ruby's hand with an unimpressed stare. With her attempt to lift the mood falling flat, Ruby quickly switched to distraction tactics, glancing around and taking stock of the groceries spread all over the table. "Alright, let's see if we got everything."

Weiss held back a sigh, deciding to humor her for the time being. "Soft drinks?"

"Two multi-packs and three cartons of juice; should be 'nuff."

"Pork chops?"

"Prepped and marinaded."

They continued that back and forth for a little while; once everything they could think of had been accounted for, they put away the groceries and Ruby set out to work.

For the most part, Weiss was just keeping her company, but she didn't feel like she was doing a very good job at that. Between the loud whirring of the mixer and Ruby being a bit out-of-sorts, bouts of conversation were sparse and fairly short-lived. To pass the time — and to feel useful — Weiss started making sandwiches. By the time Ruby placed her final cake in the oven, Weiss had gotten quite a nice mountain going; still, she kept piling the plate higher, now with the added challenge of Ruby noshing on her sandwiches in a sleep-deprived daze.

Their sleepy rhythm was put to a halt when they both heard someone walk in through the front entrance.

"We're back!" The voice that undoubtedly belonged to Blake called from the living room, letting Ruby and Weiss settle back onto their seats. Blake joined them in the kitchen not long after, likely having followed her nose; she greeted them with a small wave, then, lured by the sweet, fruity aroma, promptly beelined towards the oven to take a peek inside.

"Hey."

Eyes of silver remained glued to Blake's back while Ruby wondered whether to ask her about the visit. Before she could decide either way, Yang poked her head into the kitchen. Unlike Blake, Yang still had her shoes and jacket on, looking fully prepared to head out again.

"We got everything?"

Ruby dipped her chin. "Yeah, I just need to finish baking this and prep the pit, then we're all—" she rattled on, only to get interrupted in the middle by a yawn, "set."

The yawn was mighty enough to warrant a look from Blake, no matter how mouth-watering the cake crust in front of her might've been. Seeing Ruby stare back at her with those sleepy, half-opened eyes and a head that she could barely hold upright brought a frown of pity to her face. Standing up from her squat, Blake stepped closer and placed a gentle but firm hand on Ruby's arm.

"Ruby, with utmost love: go and lay the hell down, okay? You barely slept and are running yourself ragged. It's supposed to be your day, remember?" She turned to Weiss, looking up to her for support. "Weiss and I can wrap things up here, right?"

Weiss said nothing to that, but the look on her face hardened with determination as she met Blake's stare with a fervent nod.

Ruby's tired, slightly bloodshot eyes began to flit back and forth between Blake, Weiss and the oven. She wrestled with the idea for a little while, as leaving her work to others didn't sit quite right with her. Still, perhaps moved by the girls' resolve, or perhaps simply giving in to her fatigue, she eventually bobbed her head and relented.

"Alright, alright, fine," she laughed, letting a grateful — if tiny — smile slip onto her lips. She got up and pushed herself off the table, shuffling towards the living room. On her way out, she waved lazily towards the working oven, giving it a brief glance. "Let it sit till the timer runs out, then leave it to cool off. Once it does, just add a layer of powdered sugar."

Blake listened along to her instructions, then stewed on them for a little while before giving Ruby's back a confident nod. "Sounds easy enough."

Just when she was about to pass Yang by in the doorway, Ruby stopped and looked over her shoulder, offering Blake and Weiss one final, sleepy smile. "Thanks."

---

"…figured I could show him around Vale a little bit. I admit, I'm a little nervous about it all, but—" Weiss trailed off, interrupted by the soft groan of a door scraping against the wooden paneling. As soon as she laid her eyes on Ruby, the corners of her mouth were lifted by a slight, warm smile. "Feeling any better?"

Keeping Weiss company were both Blake and Yang; together, the three of them appeared to have been whiling away their time with some idle chatter over their lunch.

The sight of Weiss' smile was a little too dazzling for Ruby, who was quick to shut her eyes and cover that fact up with a sheepish grin. "Yeah, a little; the headache is gone. Do I look any better?"

Amber eyes narrowed in a look of silent scrutiny. "Less like you're about to pass out, but you still do have rings around your eyes," Blake assessed after a brief while of consideration.

"Great," Ruby groaned, then turned a somewhat pleading stare towards Blake. "Will you help me cover them up later?"

Blake's expression remained relatively placid, but her perked up ears betrayed her excitement. Perhaps to hide a grin that was coming up, she brought her mug to her lips and took a sip. "Sure."

Ruby strode over and planted her elbows on the tabletop. "Alright. Anyone wanna help me out with the bonfire?"

Yang swatted that question out of the air with a nonchalant wave of her bionic hand. "Way ahead of you," she stated, propping Ruby's brow high up. "Everything's in place— other than the boombox, I guess."

"Oh."

Yang puffed in amusement as she saw Ruby deflate a bit, her look of low-key dejection lifting Yang's face in a small, fond smile. She tilted to her left and reached out, pulling up a chair for Ruby. "Sit, relax," she spoke, encouragingly patting down the seat. "It's your birthday, Rubes; you need to chill."

Ruby let her shoulders droop a little. She wasn't particularly upset nor offended; rather, she felt a little… sheepish about the matter, with her being the supposed hostess of the party. Still, she did appreciate the gesture.

Having allowed herself a small sigh, she put on a smile and took up the offered seat without a fuss.

"Thanks. So, what were you three talking about?"

And so she was brought up to speed regarding Weiss' plans for the following day. Learning that Weiss had offered her brother to hang out certainly came as a surprise to Ruby, but she was all too happy to support her friend — she felt a little hopeful, even. She gently offered to tag along, but Weiss laughed it off and declined, claiming she didn't think it necessary.

Maybe a quarter of an hour had passed when they all heard someone come in through the front of the house. Since they had been expecting the guests to start showing up any minute by then — and some of them could realistically just invite themselves in — Ruby was already halfway up from her seat when her father's voice reached them from the other room.

"It's just me," he called, as if to make them settle back down; instead, he just caused Ruby's face to lit up as she shoved her chair to the side and dashed out of the kitchen.

Tai was barely done taking off his shoes when she ran into him at full tilt. Her impetus forced him to take a step back, and her glomp stirred a bellyful laughter within his chest.

"Heh, I guess that this means you've checked out the place already?"

She playfully drummed her fist against Tai's ribcage, her pointing finger sticking out in mock accusation. "You are crazy, you know that? Both of you!"

He matched his daughter's grin. "You liked it, then?"

Ruby scoffed. "Well, duh!" she replied, amusement and incredulity blending together in her voice. She was delighted, and had so many ideas what to do with that place!

Catching some movement out of the corner of her eye, she turned around and noticed Yang and Blake standing in the doorway, watching her with quiet smiles. All too eager to rant — or brag — to an audience, she got back to her accusatory gestures and pointed back at Tai. "Dad and Qrow set me up with a small workshop in Patch! Can you believe that?!"

Leaning against the doorframe, Yang whistled in appreciation and bobbed her head along, as if to say 'damn, nice'. After a brief while, she looked up and made eye contact with Tai, then spread the corners of her mouth a little wider and… nodded, for whatever reason?

Before Ruby could act on the question rising in her mind, she felt her dad's hand land on her left shoulder, recapturing her attention.

"There's something else I want to give you," he said, looking her directly in the eyes; he was still grinning, but now there was a subtle, somber undertone to his expression. "Come with me."

Ruby let him lead her towards the stairs, but shot her sister one last, questioning glance before ascending after him; in turn, Yang just shrugged, unable — or perhaps unwilling — to offer her any insight, no matter how much Ruby pouted.

Confused, Ruby followed her dad upstairs and into the master bedroom. It looked much the same as it always had, at least for as far back as she could remember. A queen sized bed, a wardrobe, a desk with a PC, and the same old, faded, beige curtains — even the collection of the books that lined the shelves didn't seem to have changed all that much over the years.

Taiyang walked over to the desk, drawing Ruby's attention in that same direction. There, she spotted a simple, plain chest, just a little larger than a typical shoebox. It lacked any paint or ornaments, clearly meant for storage and nothing else.

Tai opened it and touched whatever lied inside with a hint of reverence. He exhaled softly, then straightened his back and pulled out a bundle of soft, white fabric from within.

For the first two seconds, Ruby's confusion only grew as she stared blankly at what she considered to be a stack of textiles. It was pleasantly soft to the touch and strikingly white, but otherwise seemed unremarkable. She took it out from her dad's grasp and by accident let it unfold a little, only for that slip to promptly shatter her initial impression — with but a brief glimpse of a red lining, Ruby immediately recognized the object for what it actually was.

Her eyes snapped back to Tai, but she couldn't find her voice; still, he easily managed to read her unspoken question. "It's your mom's spare cape," he confirmed, then rested his hand on top of the garment and gave his youngest a somewhat wistful smile. "I think Summer would want you to have this."

That was… a lot to take in. She hadn't even known that her mom had a spare cape, much less expected to ever get it.

The truth was, they didn't have all that many belongings of Summer; hell, not even that many memories, in Ruby's case. A bunch of old photos, some outfits, that kind of thing… Ruby and Yang had once been promised their pick of their mom's jewelry, what little of it there was. They were yet to receive it, actually, but they hadn't exactly been around in the last two years.

Tai however had never offered them any of Summer's clothes, either out of forgetfulness or some lingering attachment. For him to give up something as trademark as Summer's cape was pretty huge, and Ruby very much recognized it as such.

Ruby's jaw kept moving up and down, but she failed to make any meaningful sound, impotently grasping at words that escaped her reach.

"I— are you sure?" she finally managed to cough out.

He chuckled dryly and rubbed the side of his neck. "Yeah. It's better for you to have this, rather than it just gathering dust in my closet."

Ruby wetted her lower lip. "What— what about Yang? I mean, she has just as much right to it."

That concern was put to rest when Taiyang patted her lightly on the arm. "We talked about it. It's yours."

She wrestled her brain for words for a little while, only to give up and simply hug the cloak to her chest. Her throat was clenched tight and her eyes began to burn, but she didn't feel like she was about to break down completely.

She couldn't quite label the feeling that gripped her heart in that moment. It was powerful, a little overwhelming even, but not in an explosive way; filling her up near the point of bursting, but at the same time less intense than her reaction to Weiss' portrait. Not grief, for she had done her grieving; not sadness, for she was glad — and honored. It wasn't closure, either, but that was getting warmer. Perhaps she simply felt… closer, because that was exactly what she often craved — a tangible sense of connection to her mother, other than her blood, emblem, and the all too scarce, fading memories from her early childhood.

Taiyang looked at her in thoughtful silence, as though taking in the view of the young woman she'd grown into. After a while, he smiled to himself and pulled Ruby into his arms.

"She would be so angry with you," he mused aloud.

"I know," Ruby managed to croak.

"And with me. And Qrow. Probably Raven, too, just for good measure. Would've yelled at us for half a night straight." Taiyang chuckled, only to add quietly shortly after: "Then spent the other half berating herself for leaving you to clean up this mess."

Ruby pressed her mom's cloak tighter to her chest, saying nothing; a singular sniffle was the only noise she made, and it rang clear midst the silence that blanketed the room.

"But we're both so, so proud of you."

---

It wasn't long till the guests started arriving. Jaune was the first one to show up, with Velvet and Coco following suit maybe five minutes later. Between that and the sun drawing ever nearer to the horizon, Ruby took it as her cue to get the campfire going.

It was a little more time-consuming than it sounded. In truth, calling it a 'campfire' was a bit of an understatement; the stacked logs and branches reached well up to Ruby's chest, and a good few minutes had passed before the whole pile was crackling with a nice, even flame. Jaune had been keeping her company throughout, and Autumn joined them while the fire was well underway. The rest of team RWBY remained inside for the time being, drinking tea with Coco and Velvet.

Ruby was listening half-heartedly to Jaune and Autumn getting to know each other when the front door to the house opened and Blake came outside, carrying two large bags of sausages.

"Where do you want them?"

"Put them on that large log over there for now," Ruby replied, waving her hand towards a wide, stubby slice of oak; Yang had set up a few of them around the bonfire, to serve as makeshift tables for their drinks and snacks.

With her delivery finished, Blake moved in to introduce herself to the unfamiliar redhead. While her and Autumn were in the process of exchanging pleasantries, Ruby grabbed a fresh log and added it to the burning heap.

There was a dry crack as a charred piece of wood snapped and folded somewhere within the stack; it was all the warning they'd got before parts of the bonfire got loose and slid down, showering Ruby and Blake with a rain of fiery sparks.

"Shit!" Ruby let out a scream, covering her head and jumping back as if a live grenade was just going off.

Both girls managed to dodge most of the blast, coming out completely unharmed — if startled. Thankfully, none of the cinder spilled outside the fire's boundary, with the pile mostly having collapsed inward.

Blake's eyes sought out Ruby's. "You okay?" she asked a breathless question.

Hand clutched over her chest, Ruby swallowed and gave her a stiff, slightly frantic nod. "Y-yeah, I'm alright."

And yet, her heart was pounding wildly against her ribcage and her body was tingling all-over, feeling both cold and hot at the same time; her breathing was shallow and difficult, as if her lungs could suddenly hold maybe a quarter of their usual capacity before contracting again.

"Are you sure?" Jaune questioned, audibly concerned.

Some feeling — something visceral — surged within Ruby's chest, demanding to be let out in that instant.

"I said I'm fine, okay?" she uttered with harshness that surprised even her. She didn't raise her voice, no, but her tone alone was enough to take everyone aback; Autumn especially was sent reeling, having never seen Ruby be so curt with someone.

Feeling her composure get back to her little by little, Ruby gave them a sheepish smile and chuckled weakly, scratching the side of her jaw. "I just got spooked, is all."

She could tell by the looks in their eyes that none of them bought it completely, but they all, thankfully, dropped the subject.

Ruby had no clue why she'd lashed out like that, nor why the stupid sparks had gotten her so rattled. Once the moment of weakness had passed, nearly as quickly as it appeared, she was left with a burning sense of shame… and her heart only grew heavier when she saw Weiss poke her head out through the veranda door, staring at their group with worry painted over her face.

---

Not long after the bonfire incident, Ruby retreated back to the house, to touch up on those pesky eye circles of hers. She stole Blake along — partially because she could use her help, and partially because she sensed some awkward tension between her and Autumn.

While the woman of the hour was getting ready, more guests arrived. Sun and Neptune were the ones to kick off the procession, with two more pairs following soon after. Not including team RWBY, the total headcount amounted to ten: the boys, Coco and Velvet, whole team JNR, as well as three of Ruby's old friends from Signal: Autumn, Heather and Ciar, with the latter two being the last ones to show up.

Ciar was a rather unassuming young man of pale complexion, dark-haired and sporting a short mustache with a chin puff. His mannerisms were relaxed but quite refined, and he had the air of a pretty quiet guy. Although well-built and fairly tall, he seemed to have the least amount of presence of the Signal trio — almost as if he was deliberately suppressing himself, possibly with, or due to, his Semblance.

Heather, on the other hand, was a bit of an oddball. In a sense, she was the opposite of Ciar: loud, touchy and boisterous, surpassing even Yang and Nora in certain regards. At the same time, it didn't take much for her to shift to acting all timid an shy, which seemed almost out of place when paired with her statuesque body and the frame of an athlete. She was also really pretty, with striking amethyst eyes that painted a vivid contrast with her tan skin and the browns and beiges that she wore. Her dark hair was cut in a fluffy bob, with a handful of violet highlights across her fringe and around the tips.

She was clearly the type that thought fast and talked even faster — to the point of slight annoyance, as far as Weiss was concerned. For whatever reason, Heather seemed to take instant liking to her. Sadly, the feeling wasn't really mutual; the girl was clearly a big fan of their team, and her fangirling started getting tiresome pretty fast. Combined with the fact that Heather was nearly two heads taller than her, it made Weiss feel a little… overcrowded, in a sense.

Still, Heather wasn't all bad, Weiss supposed. To the girl's credit, she was sharp enough to pick up on the fact that Weiss wasn't too fond of physical contact or proximity with strangers, and backed up accordingly. She was still a little exhausting, but that was something Weiss could handle.

Yang took it onto herself to greet the newly-arrived guests in Ruby's stead. She played the part of the hostess with natural ease, but didn't need to keep them entertained for very long — maybe five minutes had passed between Heather and Ciar's introductions and Ruby's fashionably late entrance.

While she'd been away, Ruby had changed into a scarlet shoulderless longsleeve, pairing it off with a slate-gray skirt and a set of matching knee-high socks. On top, she elected to wear her stark-white hoodie, leaving it partially unzipped and letting it slide off her arms. Her outfit rounded off a simple but elegant black choker, rather effectively drawing one's attention to her neck and face.

She wore fairly minimal makeup, but what little she had put on made quite a difference — mostly by making her appear much more… well, awake. Blake knew her stuff, and she had needed but a modest application of concealer and eye shadow to prepare Ruby for the party. She had also added a touch of eyeliner, probably at her own discretion — a treat that at least one person in attendance most definitely appreciated.

Ruby got promptly swarmed by the more recent arrivals, who all took their turns giving her their hugs, gifts and well-wishes. Nora's greeting was predictably the most animate of them all, but not by much — Heather all but threw herself onto Ruby, practically pulling the poor thing into her chest.

With everyone having found themselves a seat on the many logs laid by the bonfire, an assortment of mismatched glasses was passed around. Bottles of various alcohols were soon cracked open and handed to those interested; some opted for beers, others — such as Blake — stuck with wine, whereas the majority had either Yang or Coco make them a simple cocktail.

Ruby barely managed to grab her glass of vodka mixed with raspberry syrup when Autumn grinned and leaned towards her.

"So, will our illustrious leader regale us with a speech?"

A wave of 'ooohs' and soft laughter passed over the gathering, but it quickly gave way to expectant silence as thirteen sets of curious eyes turned towards Ruby. The girl in question snorted, then leveled Autumn with a look that was in equal parts incredulous, amused and ticked off. "You cheeky…!" she laughed whilst shaking her head. "Oh screw you, Forrest."

Although the prospect wasn't exactly enticing, Ruby did consider it. She weighed her options for a little while, running her tongue back and forth between her teeth. Briefly, she made eye contact with Weiss and the rest of their team — they were all smiling, albeit not trying to sway her either way. Having finally arrived at a resolution, she slapped her thigh with her free hand and stood up to an eruption of cheers.

"Speech! Speech!" Coco started to chant, which took to the others like fire to the kindling. Some started to clap, or beat the rhythm against their knees while Ruby paced a little, thinking what to say. It went on for a few seconds, only to end in utter silence the moment Ruby raised a single hand.

However, the words stubbornly refused to come to her just when she thought she'd had them. She blanked for a little while, then laughed it off, feeling rather silly.

"Sorry, it's— it's been quite a day, and a part of me still feels like all of this isn't real," she explained, partially to stall for time, then exhaled loudly and put on a wry smile. "I guess the main reason why is because I didn't expect I'd get to celebrate it like this, with all of you."

Her eyes swept across all the gathered, and what she saw turned her smile genuine and warm. "But I am glad, terribly so. Honestly, waking up today was kinda bizarre — and kinda special. I mean, it's just a stupid birthday, but somehow it feels like a new lease on life, almost." Her roving gaze stopped on Blake. "Dunno if you felt the same on your birthday, Blake."

Blake smiled and shook her head. "Not really I think, but I hear you."

Ruby accepted that answer with a nod, then turned to the rest of her audience.

"I think I speak for all of us when I say that this past year has been wild, and not in a good way." Some murmured in agreement, whilst others laughed at the understatement; Coco just smirked, attentively listening to her speak. "There were many dark hours when I felt very small and alone. Even with friends by my side, I would sometimes get so scared and overwhelmed that I'd get physically sick. I mean, what could I and a handful of people do?"

She inhaled deeply of autumn air and the scent of burnt timber. Her lips curled a little once more, but this time it was a somber, self-conscious sort of smile. "But then I thought of Dad and you all, in Vacuo or here in Vale, and reminded myself that we were not alone. That while I might be small, insufficient and insignificant, this whole thing was much bigger than myself, my group, or even any given Kingdom. That even though I couldn't get in contact with you, you were still out there — still fighting, or even just trying to make some sense out of this chaos. Just as lost as I was."

A tiny smirk crept onto Ruby's face as she watched her listeners' reactions. Some were predictably a little confused as to where she was going with it; some were sympathetic, while others yet — namely Coco and Weiss — seemed to know precisely where she was headed.

"Not exactly a cheerful thought, no? But it put things into perspective. It meant that even if things were going to crap on my end, you might be doing better — making progress elsewhere, even. That even if something happened to me, it wouldn't be the end of everything. And that even if I was no longer there at the end, it wouldn't have been for nothing." The strain on her voice continued to rise as she spoke, to the point of it cracking a little by the end. After a quick pause to regroup and pull herself together, she cleared her throat and added: "I'm not sure if I would call it hope, but it helped. Without even being there, you took a huge weight off my shoulders."

Then, her somewhat misty eyes turned to teams JNR and her own. She devoted them a little while, taking in their sight while a bright, wide grin lifted her whole face. "And then there are those of you who were by my side, till the end. Those who protected me not only from the world, but also from myself." Her gaze fell on Weiss while she was saying the last couple of words, and it lingered there for a moment after the final note had gotten lost amidst the crackling of the fire.

Realizing she was being given special attention, Weiss blushed and looked to the side. Thankfully, no one really seemed to pick up on her embarrassment… with one exception — as she averted her gaze, Weiss just so happened to turn towards Autumn, who was watching her with a flicker of a smile on her face and a tear in her eye. The contact lasted but a heartbeat or two, until Autumn's focus flitted back to Ruby after hearing the girl take a deep breath.

Clasping her hands together around her glass, Ruby faced everyone with a slightly sheepish but heartfelt simper on her lip. "Y'all saved me, in one way or another. And now you're here, with me, having a dumb barbecue, and the sky's finally cleared. I would say that it's like a dream come true, but that's not right. Because it's much better than I ever let myself dream. Thank you."

A round of warm applause followed. Off the cuff though it might've been, Ruby's speech had left an impression on the gathered — understandably less so on those who'd traveled across Remnant with her, but even they didn't remain completely unaffected. Ruby's Signal friends probably got it the worst, and Heather was straight up crying, apparently having not been mentally prepared for the things to get quite so heavy.

After the noise began to peter off, Ruby raised her glass for a toast. "To your health, and a brighter future."

A slightly discordant choir of cheers echoed her words. Glasses were clunk and some beer got spilled as their little gathering livened up. After a moment, Heather approached Ruby to demand a hug of compensation for making her mascara runny so early into the party. Ruby laughed and happily obliged with the request. Once she was let go of, the look of a sudden realization flashed across her face and she pulled up her Scroll, putting it right in front of her eyes.

"Ha!" she huffed, flashing her teeth in a wide, satisfied grin. "Didn't even ruin my makeup! Nailed it!"

Nigh everyone laughed at her enthusiastic cry and the silly little fist bump that she did. Whether by intention or happenstance, she'd brought some more levity to those whose thoughts still lingered on her words, lifting up their spirits and bringing out the lighter smiles, ones unburdened with needless worry or sadness.

Soon, they all eased into the usual chaos of birthday parties and other such gatherings, talking and laughing between — and over — each other. After some initial catching up, Ruby and Yang handed out a bunch of straight, long sticks for grilling sausage and roasting marshmallows. Ruby also fired up a grill and brought out various goodies for making skewers, providing a decent variety of meats and veggies for those interested.

Once everyone got something warm inside their belly, Nora started nagging Ruby about the presents, and it didn't take long before some others caught on. Although Velvet didn't quite join that camp, her eyes lit up and she straightened in anticipation, trying hard to keep a passive expression. Coco quickly noticed, of course, and nudged the girl with her elbow, whispering into Velvet's ear. Be it the words she used or the act itself, it brought fire to Velvet's cheeks, and Coco clearly enjoyed every moment of that embarrassment.

It didn't take a lot of coaxing for Ruby to relent and get to unpacking. By the end of it, she'd added quite a few new books and video games to her haul, along with some jewelry and cosmetics. Team JNR got her a bunch of new tools, whereas Coco, aside from some cosmetics, brought her a fairly ornate leather collar adorned with a couple of loose strings of silver. When Ruby asked what she was supposed to do with it, Coco shrugged and said 'put it on, silly — on someone, if you're feeling spicy.'

Finally, there was Velvet, who had truly outdone herself, making it no wonder that she'd been so eager. She'd built a fully custom scope for Crescent Rose, and the way Ruby reacted was to be predicted — she positively freaked out, and if Yang hadn't stopped her, the girl would've gone to mount the scope onto her scythe in that instant. Instead, Ruby had to make do with just geeking out for the time being, and with a promise from Velvet to answer any technical questions she might have — at a later date.

After Yang helped Ruby carry her spoils inside, it was put up to a vote what game they were to start their evening with. Having failed the last time around, Yang had made it her mission to make Truth or Dare be the winner. In all fairness, she didn't need to do that much convincing, but at least some of the gathered found it rather amusing to hear her preach to the choir. Coco offered some token opposition, if just for the purpose of prolonging the fun.

Before they began playing, Velvet suggested establishing a set of forbidden words for the rest of the evening — every time someone would slip and use them, they would have to take a drink as punishment. The proposition was met with a decently enthusiastic response, and no one particularly objected. Everyone got to suggest a single word, which was then noted down on Yang's Scroll for future reference — cup, scope, Beacon and Ruby were some of the examples. Autumn had apparently woken up that morning and chosen violence, because the word she had picked was 'drink', clearly meaning to start cavalcades of punitive shots every time someone had to drink a round.

The log benches were dragged around and placed in a rough semi-circle, a little ways to the side so that the bonfire was no longer in between. It took everyone maybe a minute to grab fresh drinks and some snacks before they all settled back down on their seats midst the buzz of multiple conversations.

As was her right, the birthday girl got the first spin of the bottle, landing it on Heather.

"Truth."

Ruby pondered her options for a little while, before deciding to settle on a question that was on her mind for the past couple of days. "So, how did this happen?" she asked, spreading her arms and pointing them broadly at Heather and Ciar, whom the girl had been snuggling up to. "I mean, you mentioned that you guys got together recently, but, like… when, where, why, how? Cuz' — and don't take it the wrong way — of all people at Signal, I didn't expect you two to end up together."

"To be fair, you did miss a lot." Heather smiled wryly. "It started during the siege. The two of us and some of our old classmates volunteered to act as safepoint guards. Not gonna lie, things weren't looking pretty for a bit… so Ciar figured that there's no time like the present."

"How did she react?" Ruby asked Ciar.

The guy shot his girlfriend a sideways glance and smirked. "Called me a doofus and an idiot — her exact words."

Heather giggled and rolled her arms in a shrug. "And I kinda stand by it. I mean, did you really have to wait so long?" she questioned, sending him a pointed look that made him avert his eyes. A fond smile stuck around on her face as she continued to stare at him for a second or two, before she eventually leaned forward and spun the bottle.

Weiss was in the process of nursing her second glass when the wheel of misfortune pointed neatly at the empty space between her and Yang. Before anyone else could suggest a repeat, Yang tapped the central log with her foot, moving the bottle just enough for it to dial in on Weiss.

Weiss let out a tiny snort, but didn't otherwise object to that blatant tampering. "Fine. Truth."

"Weiss— um, I mean, is it cool if I call you Weiss?" It was a little funny, watching Heather shrink into herself at the potential overstep, only for her to absolutely light up after receiving but a simple nod from Weiss. She perked up instantly, beaming Weiss a bright, toothy smile. "Sweet! So, whom on your team you are the least likely to beat, and why?"

"Blake, probably," Weiss quickly replied, having not needed to do much thinking.

"Huh, really?" Velvet wondered. "I figured you'd say Rub—"

And thus she fell as the first victim to the very game she'd suggested.

"Drink!" Yang fired up on reflex, only for the shadow of ill-timed recognition to snuff out her grin when Autumn and Ruby both snorted with laughter. "Ah fuc—" She couldn't bite her tongue fast enough before their whole group broke out into giggles at her use of yet anotherbanned word. Yang gave her knee a meaty slap and just cackled, her head swaying side to side in dismay and disbelief. "Goddammit, you bastards!"

Once the laughter had died down for the most part — and all of the due penalty rounds had been drunk — Heather turned to Weiss once again and continued to dig deeper. "Anyway — why's that?" A moment later, the right corner of her mouth lifted in a sly smile. "Or were you just avoiding saying your partner's name?"

Jaune decided to chime in with his own two Lien and back Weiss up. "Nah. Blake is a pretty bad matchup for her."

"What Jaune said," Weiss agreed, bobbing her head in his direction. "My Semblance requires a good deal of focus, which is hard to pull off when I've got five Blakes coming at me — especially when getting the wrong one can land me in a trap. Lots of guessing. By the way of contrast, Yang can put me out of commission much faster, but I can stall, or even downright disable her, much more reliably." She rested her cheek in her palm and turned to the side, feeling a playful, effortless sort of smile tug on her lips as she laid her eyes on Ruby. "Fighting her, on the other hand, is pretty int—" She caught herself and hesitated for a spell before looking back at Heather, masking her slight embarrassment behind a smirk. "It's pretty much a coin toss."

"Really cool to look at, too!" Nora noted, grinning enthusiastically.

"True!" Blake easily agreed. "Those two can read each other so well that their fights look borderline choreographed."

Coco leaned on the armrest of her wheelchair and shot Ruby and Weiss a look that made Weiss' face heat up a little. Before Coco could say anything, Weiss just grabbed the damned bottle and gave it a hearty whirl.

"Dare," said Ciar the moment the pointer stopped.

Weiss scanned the crowd in search of inspiration before it finally struck her. With a wicked grin making itself apparent on her face, she nodded towards a certain redhead sitting opposite of her. "How about arm wrestling with Nora over there?"

Nora was all too eager to oblige, whereas Ciar approached the challenge with sportsmanly determination — albeit not quite knowing what he was getting himself into. As expected by those who were in the know, the contest was settled rather quickly, ending in Nora's decisive victory.

All things considered, Ciar put in some valiant effort — Nora was simply just that strong, even without her Semblance. As far as Weiss was aware, of all the people in attendance, only Yang could measure up to her might — and even she would get absolutely decimated if Nora got as little as a small kick of electrocution.

The drinking carried on at a steady pace, every now and then supplemented by a penalty shot or a few. A couple of turns after Ciar, Blake became the first person to take an out and drink instead of answering. The question that made her resort to that was a seemingly innocuous one, having come from Autumn: 'what was the most trashy novel that you've actually enjoyed'. Autumn's confused reaction to that cop-out was genuine — and rather entertaining, at least as far as Ruby, Velvet and Weiss were concerned.

After Blake, the bottle turned to Ruby. "Dare. Hit me up."

Blake clapped her hands with apparent glee and grinned, as if she'd already had something in mind. Taking her empty glass from her lap and handing it to Yang, she got up and stood in front of Ruby, offering the confused girl her right hand with a bit of a theatrical flair.

"Care to dance?" she asked with a sly smile, causing Ruby to sputter and turn half a shade paler. "Weiss has been bragging that she taught you how to, and you know what they say: seeing is believing."

Ruby's eyes darted around, inadvertently gravitating towards Weiss, as if pulled there by some promise of guidance. What they found instead was encouragement — why, Weiss seemed practically smug, as though she was wholly confident that Ruby could not only pull it off, but also surprise everyone who'd dare question her.

Ruby found those high expectations a little daunting, if still reassuring. In either case, she grasped the offered hand and stood up, as she'd hate to disappoint the one who was looking at her with such confidence and anticipation.

Already on her way, dragging Ruby off to the side, Blake looked over her shoulder at Weiss and waved towards the boombox. "Weiss, if you would do the honors?"

Ruby's tutor dutifully obliged, accepting the Scroll Yang passed along. After some ten seconds of indecision, Weiss finally settled on a particular track. A slight smirk showed up on her face as she saw Ruby's expression change with the first keystroke of the piano. Going by the little nod of acceptance Blake had given Weiss, she was also familiar with the dance — but likely not with the same mind-seared clarity as Ruby.

Blake was fully prepared to take the lead, but just when they were about to get their cue to start, Ruby flipped the situation on her and swapped their positions. With a yelp of surprise, Blake got instantly swept up in Ruby's rhythm; she voiced no complaints, too preoccupied with keeping up the pace to do anything else but laugh.

It was a lively dance, but not too fast. It involved a lot of hopping and pirouettes, but wasn't altogether too complex. Other than the somewhat aggressive switcheroo at the very start, Ruby wasn't being mean about the dare, keeping her pace steady and guiding Blake along until her dance partner found her footing.

Ruby herself wasn't sure what had made her so daring. Maybe Weiss' confidence rubbed off on her, or perhaps she simply wanted to put on a show — or to prove something, though what and to whom she did not know.

Many people cheered along as she and Blake pranced and spun about the lawn. Whenever she caught a glimpse of Weiss' face, she saw the same look of self-satisfied vindication, one that made her skin all warm and tingly as she basked in the glow of her pride.

They danced till they ran out of music, and as the ending notes of the coda were playing out, Ruby spun Blake around for one last time and led the girl into a spontaneous dip. A small cry of surprise broke free from Blake's chest, but the fall she feared never came; instead, she was momentarily deafened when a cacophony of clapping, whistles and whooping assaulted all four of her ears.

Ruby smirked and glanced down at the girl she held suspended with her arm. She had to fight back an impish grin as she was taking in the effects her little venture off-script had wrought. Slightly flushed and clearly bewildered, Blake just stared back at her whilst stunned into silence, wearing a face of someone who got a little more than they'd bargained for.

The dip was a bit of a spur-of-the-moment idea, and Ruby was damn glad that she didn't mess up and drop Blake to the ground — it would've been really awkward, especially after springing it up on her without any heads up. As it stood, however, she was rather pleased with herself. If Blake had wanted to check what Weiss had taught her, then Ruby damn well delivered.

Once Blake regained some of her bearings, Ruby stuck out her tongue at her before finally helping the girl upright and letting go. "Good enough?" she asked with a knowing grin.

Blake cleared her throat. "Certainly." Having made eye contact with Weiss, she flashed her a somewhat sheepish smile. "Weiss, hats off to you. Not that I didn't believe you, but…"

"Told you so," Weiss sung softly, looking about as pleased as a cat that got the cream. As soon as Ruby got close, the two of them brought their hands together in a triumphant fist bump.

Four rounds later, it was Yang's turn to challenge Coco. "So, what will it be?" she asked with a grin that was borderline carnivorous.

Because of her shades, it was usually difficult to read Coco's expression, but she clearly took her time before responding. "Let's go with truth."

Smiling ever wider, Yang leaned back and crossed her arms. "Your funniest wardrobe malfunction. Spill."

"Ooh, I know the one!" Velvet giggled.

A sharp, impressed whistle rose over the murmur of chuckles. "Wanna go to war, blondie? So be it, may the most shameless woman win." Coco seemed more awake now, as if Yang's brazen challenge had warded off any alcohol-fueled lethargy she might've felt, finally making things a little more interesting. She considered her answer for a second or two, before shooting Velvet a sideways glance and nodding, mostly to herself. "Probably that one time when we found out that I'm a little more flexible than my outfit. Had a Blind Worm jump at me from beneath the sand; I jumped backwards and landed in kind of a split, and wouldn't you know it — riiiiip. My bod just couldn't be contained."

Ruby slapped her knee with satisfaction. "Ha! See?! that's precisely why combat skirts are superior!" Not even needing to look, she stuck out her right hand to be eagerly low-fived by Weiss. Autumn and Heather giggled a little between themselves upon seeing the girls' coordination, as well as how serious the two of them were being.

"She got sooo mad!" Velvet added, trembling with barely contained laughter. "Wiped out the remaining few Grimm in seconds. Almost got Fox, too, just for good measure."

Coco turned to Velvet and smiled with saccharine sweetness. "Yes, dear, because he was laughing," she said, then grabbed Velvet by the nose and gave it a light shake, immediately bringing about a fierce blush and wiping the smirk off the girl's face. Pleased with the results, she reached out and gave the bottle a spin.

Weiss' expression fell when the bottle had chosen and everyone's attention focused directly on her. She liked it even less when Coco markedly lowered her shades and leaned forward, her teeth shining in a dangerous grin.

She was going to strangle Yang if she became the collateral damage of the dumb contest that brute had just started.

"…truth," she let out after a long while of deliberation. For a hot second there, she had actually considered chickening out and simply downing her glass, but decided against it in the end.

As soon as Coco's smile grew, she started to regret it.

"Mirror mirror on the wall, who's got the greatest booty of them all?" Coco singsonged, pleased as can be — and quite proud of the rhyme, too. "Anyone we know will do; just remember that people who aren't here can't hear you, and so can't have their feelings hurt."

Weiss' eyelids fluttered shut for a moment as she sighed with all of her being. She was already starting to feel how her treacherous blood was rushing towards her face and ears, and found the sensation rather difficult to ignore. "Out of guys, girls?"

A small part of her couldn't believe she actually asked that, but her liquid-fueled stubbornness did not allow her to just back down.

"Whichever you'd like, I'm not gonna judge your bi ass," Coco said with a laugh, only to visibly hesitate, as if something she'd said didn't sound quite right. After a heartbeat, her momentary confusion dissolved into a sly grin. "I mean, I'm absolutely going to, just not for being bi."

Barely had Coco finished when Weiss hid her face in her hand and let out a groan. "Ruby."

While Coco started to snicker, several other people laughed and snapped their fingers, pointing out that Weiss had just used a forbidden word. Weiss wasn't even mad she had to drink — hell, she welcomed it wholeheartedly, gulping down the contents of her glass without complaint. In her current position, it was preferable to staying sober… -ish.

"No. Hesitation," Coco breathed out, trying hard not to start cackling. "Okay, first of all, I'm hurt. Second of all: I definitely see where you're coming from."

"No comment?" Heather asked as she leaned towards Ruby, wiggling her eyebrows.

Ruby shrugged, allowing herself to show a tiny smile. "I mean, what can I say? All them leg days are paying off."

Coco turned plain hysterical at that deadpan remark, and it took her a good half a minute to finally calm down. After that, the game continued to run its course, with everyone getting to have at least a couple of turns. They stopped only when Heather started feeling unwell after downing three glasses nearly back-to-back and had to lie down for a bit. The music volume was turned down a notch and they all moved to less rambunctious activities to let the girl recover.

The slight lull that followed had its effect on everyone, to a varying degree. Most simply continued to chat in hushed voices, or just listened in with relaxed smiles upon their lips. Ciar kind of checked out, combing through his girlfriend's hair in absentminded silence, coming out of his stupor only when directly addressed. Ruby, however, was completely out cold, having dozed off at some point on Weiss' shoulder. Perhaps serving as testament to their drunken state, it took their group quite a while before anyone had taken notice.

"She's gotten pretty comfy, eh?" Velvet observed, speaking more to herself than anyone else.

A soft, slightly tired smile showed up on Yang's face. "Let her rest a bit. She's been running on six hours of sleep, combined. Six hours tops."

Weiss agreed with the tiniest of nods, as to not stir Ruby awake. "And today was pretty… well, maybe not rough, but probably quite draining for her."

With the collective agreement not to disturb the birthday girl, their group carried on as they had been. During the next fifteen minutes or so, Yang had excused herself to go to the bathroom, while Blake moved over to Coco and Velvet. Left effectively by her lonesome, Weiss continued to sip on her glass of spirit mixed with soda until a rather silly idea sprung up in her bored and intoxicated mind.

She pulled up her Scroll and launched the camera app, poising herself to snap a quick selfie with Ruby still sleeping on her shoulder. Having noticed what Weiss was about to do, Autumn hopped to her feet and zipped behind the pair, grinning to the camera while giving Ruby bunny ears. Weiss rolled her eyes a little, but found no harm in obliging the girl.

Besides, she'd already managed to grab a pic before Autumn could get behind her.

Weiss opened the gallery. Upon hearing Autumn's satisfied giggle, she swiped left to the selfie without the girl. Then, without much thinking, she swiped left yet again, only to inhale sharply and go back as soon as her fingers would allow her. Alas, with the girl standing just behind her and actively looking at the screen, she was still much too slow.

Weiss was positively mortified when she felt Autumn place a hand on her shoulder and lean in, hovering inches away from Weiss' ear whilst not saying a word. Without even needing to look, Weiss could just tell the cheeky grin the girl must've had on her face.

When browsing her gallery, Weiss had but briefly brought up the photo she'd taken that morning — a photo of Ruby picking her clothes for the day, to be exact. Disheveled, tired, sleepwear-clad and in all of her adorkable, bedheaded glory. A photo she had clearly taken without Ruby's knowledge, although she had nearly gotten caught red-handed at the time.

And now, Autumn had seen it.

"You saw nothing," Weiss hissed as she shot the girl a pointed glare, hoping against hope that the warm glow of the fire would hide her rising embarrassment.

"Sure, sure~" Autumn hummed, her blatantly teasing smile never leaving her face. Then, she turned towards the fire, as if pondering something for a bit. "To be fair, I probably would've done the same. She's kinda adorable when she's out of it."

Figuring she wasn't about to be sold out, Weiss let herself relax a little. She looked down at the picture of Ruby dozing off on her shoulder, all pretty and peaceful. A rather peculiar, tingly sensation rose in her shoulders and trickled down her back, eventually giving rise to a slight, fond smile that blossomed on her lips.

"Mhm."

---

After about an hour of relative quiet and slow sobering up, the party got its second wind. The autumn night was still young, after all, and so were their livers. Ren, who had barely drank anything, took over the grill and started working with the pork chops Ruby had prepared the day prior, as some of the attendees started growing peckish again.

Since they had no table at hand large enough to fit fourteen people, their eating arrangements required a touch of creativity. Ruby and Co had figured out the logistics in advance, and Weiss supplied the means — as per her agreement with Ruby, she created a long dining table made of ice, which they later covered up with a canvas tarp for at least a little bit of insulation from the chill. It probably wasn't ideal, as some cold still seeped through the table cloth, but the solution was novel enough that no one saw it fit to complain.

The party started slowing back down only some time after midnight. It wasn't to say that guests started to leave, or even that they stopped playing games; even the music volume was still kept fairly high, as there was hardly a soul in the vicinity that they could possibly disturb. For a time, there had been Taiyang, but he'd left for a night out with his colleagues just before ten in the evening, leaving the free reign of the plot to the young ones.

Rather, the slow-down was mostly due to people going into and out of the house. Their party didn't quite split into two, but there was seldom a moment when all fourteen of them were gathered around the fire. Bathroom visits grew longer and more frequent, whereas more and more people would occasionally dip into the kitchen for a cup of tea or to eat some leftovers.

The latter was precisely what Weiss was doing, hunched over a partially-eaten slice of pork, with her face buried in her Scroll. She was completely on her own — or, that was to say, had been, up until the point when Autumn strode inside from the living room. At first, the two of them pretty much ignored each other while Autumn went about making herself a cup of tea. After a little while, Weiss found her eyes to be drawn to the long bulge on the back of Autumn's hoodie, where she knew the girl's tail was hiding. Her curiosity piqued, she'd steal a glance every now and then, up until Autumn was basically done filling her mug.

"Autumn?" she called.

The girl turned around and gave Weiss a slight smile. "Yes?"

"Forgive me if I'm being rude, but… why are you tucking your tail in under your clothes? No one here would give you any grief," Weiss asked softly.

Autumn made a tiny, nondescript noise between a coo and a giggle, but didn't say anything at first. Swiping a clean teaspoon from the nearby drying rack, she walked over to the table. "You're fine. It's sweet of you to ask, actually, but don't worry: I know. I'm not doing it to hide, is all." She pulled herself up a chair and sat down, but not before tugging lightly on the hem of her hoodie and setting her fluffy tail free. "Sure, there are assholes, but they can go fuck themselves for all I care. Plus Patch is pretty good about this sort of thing."

Setting her mug down on the table, the girl began tugging on her hair and grinned a little sheepishly. "Truth is, I simply don't like freezing off my butt. That, and I'm also a bit of a klutz with it. I often end up knocking things off if I let it swish about — or worse yet, smack someone in the face. Yang can vouch for the latter."

Weiss snickered a little at the mental image of Yang getting socked right on the nose. Almost on a cue, an eruption of distant laughter poured in through an open window, as if joining in on the joke. Autumn followed the noise with her gaze; soon, a far-off look appeared on her face, accompanied by a pensive, complicated sort of smile.

"Man, I'm really glad that she gets to actually celebrate this year," she said quietly. It took a while, but eventually she'd noticed Weiss' silent question and her mouth curled into a wry grimace. "Her sixteenth birthday was a bit of a sad affair."

Weiss shifted in her seat and what remained of her grin quickly fell off her face. "Have you been there?"

Autumn looked down and nodded. "Obviously, there was no party; so soon after the Fall of Beacon, few people were in the mood for partying, least of all Ruby." She took a deep breath and soon released it in a loud, heavy-hearted sigh. "Vivi and— Heather, I mean, Violet is her last name — we swung by, just to check up on her and see if she's doing alright. She wasn't really in the mood to hang, but we kinda invited ourselves in regardless; played some games, watched a movie together, nothing much. The three of us asked Yang to join, too, but…" Rather than finish, she simply closed her eyes and hung her head, shaking it a little side to side. "I'm just glad that they're doing better."

Feeling a pang of hurt in her chest, Weiss nibbled on her lower lip. "How was Ruby dealing with things?"

"She was grieving, and in need of a friend." Something about Autumn's voice was different when she said that, and heavy with intent. When she looked up and their eyes met, it was the first time when she faced Weiss with genuine coldness about her. The skin around her jaw became taut, while her usually round eyes seemed sharper and bristled with held back anger. "I was quite livid with you and Blake at first, you know? Ruby was quick to set me straight about you, but Blake I'm still a little miffed with. Then again, I suppose it's between her and you three."

"Don't be too harsh on her. She's still beating herself up over this," Weiss argued back, if a bit timidly.

"Oh, I don't doubt it," Autumn all but spat, blatantly dismissive. Although she hadn't explicitly said it, her demeanor alone was enough to tell that she damn well agreed with Blake's conscience.

Weiss was more familiar with — and understanding of — Blake's circumstances and past traumas, but it wasn't her place to share. Besides, she saw little point in trying to argue with someone who was not only under influence, but also not particularly open to hearing her out.

That, and she would've lied if she said she didn't get Autumn's perspective.

Autumn exhaled her pent-up frustration with yet another sigh. "Anyway, back to Ruby. She was less of a mess than we had been expecting. Sad and hurting, sure, but she had that weird energy about her, you know? Determination, frustration — I don't know which, but it let her move forward. It was kind of eerie at times, honestly."

Weiss watched the girl for a while, her eyes full of sympathy. "It must've been difficult, seeing your friends like this."

Autumn gave her hair a long, rather forceful tug. "It was. Scary as hell, too." Her eyes fluttered shut, and when she spoke again, there was a crack of hurt and vulnerability that reverberated throughout her quiet words. "I mean, when something so traumatic happens to someone you're close to, you just… never know, you know?"

Weiss wetted her lip and simply nodded in understanding. She had been there, and had known that sort of dread.

After a brief bout of heavy silence, she mustered a weak but genuine smile. "Thanks, Autumn. For keeping an eye on her."

"Guess we're even," Autumn replied, matching Weiss' expression in kind. A moment later, the left corner of her mouth twitched a little, her smile gaining a bit of a teasing edge. "Miss saved-her-from-herself."

Weiss averted her eyes, grabbing her fork and promptly shoveling a piece of cold meat into her mouth, just to avoid the need to respond. She could feel Autumn's stare on her skin, as well as hear her giggle a little, but the girl apparently didn't feel the need to press the issue any further.

"Hey, I got a question for you, too," she asked, drawing Weiss' attention with that smooth change of the subject. "When you talked about fighting Ruby, you initially wanted to say something else, didn't you?" While Weiss didn't think she'd done anything to give Autumn any clear indication, her expression must've still betrayed her, as the girl smiled and inched a bit closer. "What was it? I'm curious."

That, or the question had been rhetorical to begin with.

Weiss tilted her head a little and looked at Autumn with a wry, self-conscious grimace. "There's a reason I didn't finish, mm?" She then blinked and shifted uncomfortably, belatedly realizing that what she'd just said had sounded way too standoffish. "Sorry, it— it came off wrong. It's just that what I was going to say would've sounded silly."

"I won't laugh." Perhaps sensing that Weiss was beginning to cave, Autumn slid her hand across the table, reaching out; although she didn't actually touch Weiss, the intention behind the gesture came off pretty clear. "Come on."

Weiss clicked her tongue and took a swig from her halfway-empty glass. She could barely taste alcohol in her drink at that point, which probably meant that she was well on her way to being pretty drunk.

"Ah, what the hell," she muttered after basically slamming her glass back onto the table. "I was going to say that it's intoxicating."

Autumn blinked and straightened her back, coughing out a short gasp of surprise. "Intoxicating? Well now!" Putting both of her elbows on the tabletop, she leaned forward with a wide, friendly grin plastered on her face. For all intents and purposes, Weiss' answer seemed to have intrigued her immensely. "I was about to guess 'interesting' or 'intense', but sure didn't see this one coming."

Weiss nodded, leaning over her plate and kneading the side of her neck. Even with all the alcohol coursing through her veins, actually confessing what she'd had on her mind still left her embarrassed.

"It's those two, as well. But yes, intoxicating. And empowering." She had no idea why she kept talking, but spirit, even diluted, wasn't exactly known for helping people make sound decisions. Perhaps it was because she actually started to like Autumn, or simply because it was something she wanted to get off her chest and not be judged for it. "Fighting her no-holds-barred feels like holding back a storm. She's like a force of nature — powerful, relentless, untamed, breathtaking… and yet, I can stand my ground, and match her in kind. It makes me feel like… like—"

"Like a god?"

Her knee-jerk response was to grimace at the comparison, but the more she thought about it from an outsider's perspective, the more did it fit. "I suppose it's one way to put it, yes," she eventually conceded, though the admission still left slight distaste in its wake. After a moment, she let out a small huff and shot Autumn a glance, feeling the right side of her face rise in a sheepish, lopsided smile. "Told you it's silly."

"I don't think so at all," Autumn gently disagreed. "In fact, I may be a little jealous of your outlook. To me, going against her usually felt like dodging the incoming traffic during the rush hours." She grinned when her joking — if apt — comparison was rewarded with the most unladylike snort of laughter. Chin in her palm, she turned pensive for a little while. "The way you put it is almost… poetic."

Weiss came up with a response almost immediately, but she said nothing for a time, not sure whether she should be quite so candid with Autumn. She rolled the words in her mouth, tasting them and considering while she smelled the aroma that wafted off her drink.

"Well, she's nothing if not inspiring," she finally let on, looking outside the window as she took a small sip from her glass.

Silence hung in the air after she'd said that, and although she couldn't see Autumn — quite on purpose — she could definitely sense a slight change. Seconds ticked by, and Weiss began to wonder whether she should start cursing her loose tongue. Then, a soft, barely audible hum pierced the quiet.

Weiss' eyes felt slow and heavy when she turned them towards Autumn. "What is it?"

Autumn smiled, as if trying to allay Weiss' concerns. There was something odd about the way she looked at Weiss, almost as if she'd just begun to see her with new eyes, or in a different light. Not altogether in an unkind way, but Weiss still wasn't sure how she should feel about it.

"It's nothing. Just kinda surprised that we have so much in common." Propping up her neck with her hand, Autumn just kind of stared at Weiss for a spell, letting her eyes wander across her upper body and face, as if taking her in. "You really are quite different from what I pictured from Ruby's letters and messages."

Weiss quirked an eyebrow. "Oh?"

Autumn looked off to the side and scratched her cheek. "It will probably come off as mean, but I kinda expected you to be more… well, bitchy?" The left corner of her mouth was lifted in a weak apology. "Sorry."

Weiss just laughed, the tension in her shoulders all but gone. "Oh, I can be a bitch alright," she assured her, flashing her teeth in a playfully threatening grin. "No offense taken. Though I am beginning to wonder whether I need to have a chat with Ruby, regarding what she told you."

Autumn shot Weiss a panicked look and waved her hands about. "It's nothing bad, I swear!" she assured, much louder than was necessary — it seemed that the alcohol was starting to get to her, after all. "Other than your rocky start, I guess."

"That so?" Weiss nudged the girl calmly, watching her over the rim of her glass.

After realizing that Weiss wasn't actually upset, Autumn visibly relaxed. "Yeah." With one hand combing through her auburn hair, she traced the edge of her cup with the fingers of the other. "I guess I just expected you to be, well… kinda strict and harsh, but also fair? Tough love kind of girl, and maybe a bit unapproachable. I sorta pegged you for cold, even with Rubes, or as someone who keeps their distance… but I see now that I was way off the mark." She lifted her gaze and gave Weiss a wry, apologetic smile. "Should've taken her on her word when she said you're actually very sweet."

To that, Weiss simply nodded and said nothing, hiding her smile inside her nearly-empty glass as her eyes turned towards the window.

---

Silver eyes turned towards the moon, which was already pretty far along its nightly voyage. Beneath the faint stars, 'round their fire, Coco was delving deeper into a story of her team's exploits in Vacuo. Her and Velvet had been taking turns for the last quarter of an hour or so, speaking to a fairly captive — if pretty drunk — audience. Sun and Neptune would chime in every now and then, whenever there was some context they could provide; other than that, the tale went on largely uninterrupted.

Nursing a bottle of flat water, Ruby was one of the few people present that weren't paying all that much attention. Not that she found the delivery uninteresting, or anything, but she was decently familiar with that part of the story. Moreover, she found it somewhat difficult to focus at that point — she was usually a sleepy drunk, and the scant few hours she'd slept last night weren't exactly helping the matters. Neither was the cold absence to her side, between her and Blake.

Weiss wasn't all that far, well within eyesight. She was on the porch, kind of just… chilling there, all by her lonesome, eyes staring off into the distance. As far as Ruby could tell in the poor lighting, she didn't get the impression that Weiss was upset or feeling sick, but she still worried a little. She'd regularly steal glances that way, pretending not to be bothered and telling herself that everything was fine, and whenever she looked, nothing would change. Steadily growing ever more distracted, Ruby knew deep down that she simply wanted to keep Weiss close for the night.

Finally reaching her breaking point, she caved and rose to her feet. Although she didn't quite stagger, the ground beneath her clearly didn't feel steady. She might've laid off the booze for the night already, but that did not mean she was starting to get sober — far from it.

In fact, she was positively sloshed. She didn't know exactly how many glasses she'd had that night, but it was at least five. She'd never been more drunk than she was that night — even compared to now, after she'd sobered up a little. Her speech might've been fine, but walking down a perfectly straight line was absolutely beyond her.

"Be back," she said to the group, giving Blake a light pat on her shoulder as she passed by. Although she was followed by a few sets of eyes, no one stopped her, with Coco acknowledging her with a simple 'a'ight' before launching back into her tale.

Ruby dragged herself across the lawn, all the way to the house. Consciously reminding herself of the wooden landing in front of the entrance, she managed to get inside without tripping, then made her way across the living room before stepping out onto the dark veranda.

If Weiss had noticed her approach — and quiet Ruby had been not — then she paid it no mind. "You alright?"

Whatever thought Weiss was in the midst of perished the moment Ruby spoke up. As she turned to look at Ruby, there was a slight, drunken sway to the manner she moved her head. "Quite so. 'S really sweet of you to ask, though." As soon as she spoke, whatever doubts one might've had regarding her state all vanished. Still, despite her slight slurring, she looked very much coherent — her eyes were focused and the way she smiled was relaxed and genuine. "Jus' need some air and quiet to clear m'head, you know."

Ruby's shoulders drooped a bit. "Oh." Realizing that she was disrupting Weiss, she pointed her thumb over her shoulder and took half a step back. "Then I—" Before she could finish saying that she could leave her be, Weiss cut in.

"'S alright. You can stay," she said quietly.

Something about her tone turned her words into a sweet poison, seeping into Ruby's skin and numbing her brain, almost deluding her into thinking that Weiss not only allowed, but also wished her to stay.

Ruby swallowed her spit. The responsible part of her mind screamed at her to remove herself from the situation, and quickly, as she sure as hell didn't trust herself in her state. Even though loud her reason did cry, it was of no use, as the toxins inside her bloodstream — both existent and not — wouldn't let her get away.

"O-okay."

Weiss lowered her eyes, but just before she did, the corner of her mouth moved ever-so-subtly, to the point where Ruby might've simply imagined it amongst the dim lighting. "I'm jus' too drunk to be in polite company."

Ruby processed that explanation for a sec, only for her face to crack in a playful smile. Heeding not her prior misgivings, she stepped closer and laid one hand on the railing, leaning her body slightly to the side as she shot Weiss a sly look.

"But wait, doesn't that mean that I'm not 'polite company'?"

"Yesh," Weiss affirmed, baring her teeth in an unapologetic grin. She turned around and placed both of her elbows on the balustrade, casually bending her back over the railing. She looked the girl up and down for a long second of silence, before meeting Ruby's eyes with those of her own. As she did, her mouth closed, an expression of contentment settling on her face. "But you are a welcome one."

Ruby cursed herself in the sanctuary of her mind. Weiss' change of position had quickly made her regret having gotten close just moments before. They were too close now, and face-to-face. At that distance, she could clearly smell the alcohol on Weiss' breath, as well as the sweet, nuanced notes of soda and raspberry all mixing together. She could see her eyelashes and bright irises, as well as her massively dilated pupils and the reflex of light cast by the distant fire. And, most troublingly, Ruby found it really difficult to fight intrusive thoughts in CQC.

It would've been so easy to take half a step to the side and block Weiss in against the balustrade… and then to just kiss her.

She did want to — Dust, did she ever. It was nothing new, to be honest, but she was usually pretty good at suppressing it. Not on that day, though, oh no. Basically ever since waking up that morning, that temptation lingered in the back of her mind, like a little devil perching on her shoulder. Pop culture had taught her to expect that urge to be impulsive, overwhelming and explosive, but she didn't experience it that way. Rather than being a wildfire, it burned like the steady flame of a blowtorch — a silent yearning she'd been refusing to satisfy.

She could just lean in and do it. She knew that Weiss was into her physically, and that she likely wouldn't be pushed back had she tried. Who knows — maybe Weiss would be into it, even, and the two of them could take it as far as they'd feel like in the moment, letting the hormones take the wheel. Hell, even if they didn't end up liking the experience, there was a distinct non-zero chance that whatever they could possibly regret would be lost to oblivion come the next morn—

As soon as the thought of forgetting crossed her mind, Ruby felt physically sick, with a taste both sour and bitter assaulting her mouth. She was grateful for it, though, as it ended up knocking some sense back into her.

She didn't want kissing Weiss to mean nothing. Were she to ever actually follow through, she wanted it to mean everything.

Weiss was important to her. Possibly the most important, but Ruby didn't like weighing her against Yang or Dad. In either case, she treasured her more than life itself. The mere idea of taking advantage of the situation and imposing herself on Weiss when she was drunk made Ruby feel disgusted with herself.

Moreover, she wanted to cherish the moments they spent together — especially the special ones. She wanted to remember, all of them.

She had feelings for Weiss. It had been around a year since she'd realized, and she had since gone from initial panic to quiet acceptance. Concerningly, however, those were feelings whose exact nature she was still unsure of. It could well be genuine love, but she was afraid. Not of rejection, no — in fact, she quite liked her odds.

What she was afraid of was herself. Her psyche, to be exact. At times, she felt like she was being held together by hopes, Weiss and bloody duct tape, and it was much less funny in practice than it sounded. Basically, she was concerned that Weiss had been her rock and her solace for so long that it might've been to their mutual detriment, possibly resulting in fascination that took root in obsession, trauma, or pathological dependency.

It absolutely terrified her, the notion that something so warm could stem from sickness of mind. She didn't think it was the case, and certainly didn't want to believe it, but… she couldn't exactly rule out the possibility. Not while knowing that she couldn't even control her own damn body sometimes.

Besides, even if the feeling itself was coming from a healthy place, Ruby wasn't. She wasn't ready for a relationship, and knew for sure that — for now, at least — she would've been a piss-poor girlfriend to anyone, being the way she was.

After all, other things would come with it. New expectations, activities, challenges and worries, none of which she had the energy nor mental faculties for. She would hate it if she ended up being a neglectful girlfriend, and eventually hated herself for being powerless to change it. There was a chance that being together would make Ruby's mental state better, but she was worried she'd actually crumble from the strain instead; if she did, she'd just bring Weiss down with her, and that was the last thing she wanted. Their friendship she could more-or-less maintain, but anything beyond that… she outright doubted it.

Lastly, things between them would just feel different… wouldn't they? With her whole dating experience amounting to exact zero, Ruby honestly didn't know, and she would've lied if she said that the unfamiliarity didn't scare her. Still, it sounded about right, at least in her mind. It would feel different, she thought, if they were dating and Weiss saw her crumble again — impacted Weiss differently, too, and not in a good way.

She didn't want to be a burden, or to use Weiss as a crutch. It wasn't to say that she wanted to never again show her any vulnerability, or to not need her support — she just wished to be able to stand on her own two feet again, both for Weiss' sake as well as her own.

What she did want was to be able to stand proudly by Weiss' side, as equals — even more so if they were also lovers. But she knew she wasn't healthy or strong enough for that.

Yet.

She had hope, genuinely. While she knew that her scars were likely there to stay for years still, she didn't think she'd need to wait quite so long to move on with her life. She had only started her journey with Doctor Cordelia, but she already felt a little less lost and scared. She hadn't got her footing just quite yet, of course, but the sense of going somewhere was more soothing than she'd expected it to be. She knew it would be a while yet till she'd find an actual sense of direction or feel any tangible improvement, but she trusted she'd get there eventually.

She needed time to figure out her feelings and sort herself out. But, for as long as she thought that there was a chance that the feeling in her heart was genuine, she didn't want to give up on Weiss… nor for Weiss to give up on her.

It was an awkward dance that they did, waltzing around the issue of… well, them; swaying slowly in the gray in-between, betwixt maybes and maybe-nots. She wasn't sure whether Weiss was conscious of it, and at times it felt like that stupid game, the one you'd lose the moment you acknowledged its existence. In any case, such state of things was very much intentional on Ruby's part — she was the one to take the lead in their dance of status quo, even when she herself didn't know the steps.

What kept bugging her about it wasn't her fumbling, but rather the fact that she was not a gracious partner in that dance, much to her own distaste. After all, while she would freely admit that she could be damn dense at times, she was still very much aware of the effect she had on Weiss. And yet, she would yank Weiss' chain still, selfishly keeping her close, even while knowing full well she couldn't in good conscience follow through — not for the time being, at least.

But one day, perhaps.

In that possibility, that hope — vain or not — laid the problem and the source of her greed. As long as that hope lived in her heart, she didn't want to close the door on the idea of the two of them getting together. And so she teased and played along, to make sure that Weiss wouldn't start thinking that Ruby wasn't interested. At the same time, she was actively trying to balance her act so that she wouldn't push too hard and make Weiss go on the offensive.

She was genuine, but it didn't make it right. Even if it wasn't out of malice, she still felt that it was sick and selfish of her to do that and lead Weiss on. She'd never stoop so low as to actively try and stop her from getting together with someone else, but for as long as Weiss didn't, Ruby was keeping up the long con. She felt disgusted with herself and unclean, but she wasn't strong enough to give up. She didn't want to give up.

Again, she was a selfish girl.

Sometimes, she'd delude herself into thinking that Weiss felt the same on the matter, actively trying to preserve the status quo till a time would come where they'd both be ready for that conversation. In all likelihood, she wasn't, but thinking that made Ruby feel a little better about herself — that is, until the sense of guilt would come knocking not long after. At least she wasn't lying, she supposed… but she also wasn't sure whether dancing around the issue was all that much better.

Such was her lot in life — to yearn for something so badly and have it so close, only to be unable to fulfill it. And to fear that the sweet warmth that burned in her chest was nothing but an illusion.

It stung.

Ruby's moment of reflection lasted for but a spell — not long enough for Weiss to even start thinking about growing concerned. She just kept watching Ruby with the same contented smile, blue eyes kind of roaming to and fro about her face. In the way Weiss looked at her, Ruby sensed neither expectation nor invitation, and yet she was drawn in still, like a moth about to scald its own wings.

Ruby did end up moving closer, but not for a kiss. Instead, she quietly burrowed her face in the girl's shoulder, gripping lightly at the soft fabric of the hoodie she herself had picked. That much she was willing to indulge.

The action seemed to have surprised Weiss a little, causing a small, drunken giggle to bubble up from within her chest. She eagerly enveloped the little moth with the warmth of her arms, bringing it a touch of sweet agony.

It hurt more than usual that night. As the dissatisfaction of Ruby's heart grew, the strength of Weiss' hug began to wane slowly, as if shaved off bit by bit by confusion and rising worry. For a long while, Weiss didn't speak up, but there seemed to be a wordless question in the way she held Ruby. Eventually, as seconds ticked by and it continued to go ignored, Weiss took the initiative.

"Are you okay?" tickled Ruby's ear a quiet question.

At first, Ruby didn't answer, just closing her eyes and inhaling sharply of the air that smelled of Weiss. "I will be," she truthfully whispered back.

A little scared though she might've been, she was cautiously optimistic about what the future had in store. She would sort things out, one way or the other. The one thing she was unsure of was whether the way she felt about Weiss would stay the same, but…

Had the Gods been worthy of her prayers, she would've begged. As things stood, she could only hope.

Perhaps, it would be enough.

---

It took Weiss a good while to come to. Her face tightened in a grimace, eyes clenching shut to ward off the daylight. She was feeling groggy and a little gross, but she was coherent enough not to be surprised by the fact; thankfully, she'd managed to dodge the dry mouth, but her head did hurt somewhat. The damned sun blasting her face was not helping her situation in the slightest.

Letting out an unintelligible grumble, she hid her face in the crook of her elbow. She'd love to sleep in some more, but couldn't really see it happening — not with the blasted sun hitting her right in the face if she lied on her preferred — left — side.

Why did she wake up in direct sunlight, anyways?

She sat up, wincing a little as she opened her aching eyes. It surprised her a bit, how close she was to the southern wall, but it all started making sense once her drowsy mind remembered her bedmate.

A small, amused smile brightened her face as she laid her eyes on Ruby. For whatever reason, the girl was as far from Weiss as she physically could — in fact, her left arm and leg were spilling outside and hanging off the mattress, making it a small miracle that the girl hadn't crashed to the floor yet. She was lying flat on her back, head tilted to the side, and a tiny bit of drool glistened in the right corner of her mouth.

As she continued to observe Ruby, the memories of the previous night continued to get back to her. Suddenly, the smile dropped off her face as a sinking realization began to settle in, causing a feeling of dread to trickle down her back. Face quickly turning red, Weiss instinctively yanked the comforter and pulled it up to cover herself — not that she needed to, being dressed in her usual nightwear.

So was Ruby, in fact. It was fairly easy to tell, after Weiss had rudely stolen the girl's side of the covers.

Still hugging the comforter to her chest, like a barrier to protect her from Ruby — or the other way around, perhaps — she began to blindly feel around her right shoulder and collarbone. After a while of poking and probing, she found… nothing amiss?

Even her ears were on fire by that point. Letting go of the covers, Weiss all but jumped to her feet and hurried to the bathroom. The moment she was inside and the door closed behind her, she ripped her tee off her back, so fast that static crackled in her hair.

She very carefully examined herself in the mirror — front and back, up and down, over and under. Still, no matter how much she twisted and turned, she found nothing of note. Having no reason to believe otherwise, she ascribed the mental image she'd had in her mind to simple wishful thinking. Or dreaming, rather.

Finally letting her panicked heart settle down somewhat, Weiss exhaled a breath of relief. She felt really silly — and a little annoyed with herself — but it could've been worse.

She turned on the tap and splashed her face with fresh, cold water; it didn't really help much with her burning face, but it did feel pretty nice against her skin. Raising her eyes, she gave her reflection an awkward, lopsided smile and shook her head, causing clear droplets to drip off her chin. With her face dried off, she put her shirt back on and sat on the edge of the bathtub, just to give herself some much-needed time to cool off.

She felt a little lighter, knowing that nothing untoward had happened. Had her dreams been reality, the headache and bad taste it'd bring would be much worse than those brought by the hungover. Granted, her hangover wasn't all that bad to begin with, but the sentiment very much remained.

Something would've been… lost, she felt, or maybe wasted. Something of value, though she couldn't put her finger on what exactly it would've been — all that she knew was that she would've been left disappointed.

Before she could follow down that line of thinking, a dull, muffled thud had carried throughout the house, strongly enough for Weiss to feel it in her toes. The sound of something — or someone — crashing to the floor.

All the tension that yet remained left her body alongside an eruption of bright laughter. She probably shouldn't have laughed, but the sheer incredulity of both the timing and her situation made her unable to help herself. Giggling under her breath, she left the bathroom to see if Ruby was alright.

Apparently, that was what her life was like now — silly.

She could get used to it.

---

* In vino veritas. Latin: "In wine, there is truth". Technically it's not wine that they'd been drinking, but the sentiment is very much the same, no matter the percentile.

Author's Note:

Aaand here we are again. Took me longer than I would've liked, but the chapter also turned out a lot chonkier than I expected, so that tracks. For a while there, I considered splitting this update into two, but decided against it in the end. Hopefully it isn't hard to chew your way through.

Oh, and speaking of updates. Alongside In Vino, I also added a little thing to go before the prologue. The idea's been rattling in my head for a while now and I finally asked myself 'eh, why not'. It's short (2k), sweet, and doesn't add much — if anything — to the plot, but I figured it would be a better indicator of what AtS is like, compared to the prologue. Written mostly with new readers in mind.

Anyhoo, back to In Vino. Been waiting a long while to get around to this part — the final scene between Ruby and Weiss especially, but not only that. Hell, if you can believe it, there's a pun in here that I've been sitting on for six bloody years!

As a fun-fact side-note, that last scene between the two dorks has an… unofficial theme of sorts. I've written the whole scene within 25 hours, listening to Blackbriar's "Moonflower" on repeat. The lyrics don't fit the scene in the slightest, but man, did the melody get me in the right mood! A delightful song, btw.

Quite a lot to unpack in this update, so I'm really looking forward to reading your thoughts!

On a semi-related note, I could really use one more pair of eyes. If you'd be interested in beta reading AtS, shoot me a PM or find me on Discord!

Wheeling: Welcome aboard the glacier, hope you'll enjoy your stay!

I've sent you a PM, but I know that FFN can be pretty terribad about notifications. Mine are flat-out not working right now for whatever reason, so I'm also gonna reply here.

I'm very happy to hear that you've enjoyed yourself thus far! Admittedly, I probably really should've put a slice-of-life disclaimer sometime early on, but hindsight is a bish sometimes. We'll see if the new intro helps with the expectations.

NYE is going to be… something. I shan't tell whether it will coincide with Whiterose setting sail, but it is something I've had planned out since the very beginning of AtS, and I'm very much looking forward to writing that part c: in all likelihood, the ball will be a multi-parter, or just gargantuan in size.

And yes, we will be going back to Beacon, eventually! Dunno how far into the school year for the time being, but I've got some ideas.

PS. Cute Greenhouse pic you've got there c: cat!Red is life.

Last Bastille: I was glad to hear that you didn't mind Autumn, and that you stuck around all this time. Also, big thank you for helping me beta In Vino — I really appreciate it!

Power Taco: You know, you pretty much nailed the reason why I don't really like Nuts'n'Bolts all that much. Sure it could be cute and all, but I feel that Ruby needs someone who'd give her a reality check every now and then. Poor bean could really use someone to keep her grounded.

Velvet could maybe deliver, but she and Ruby don't interact nearly enough for me to ship them.

Weiss being Ru-bisexual could be good, but I think that within the context of AtS I may prefer saying that it's Ruby who is Weisssexual. You know, because demisexuality is considered to exist on the ace spectrum, and… get it? W-ace-sexual?

I'll see myself out.

—

Actually, before I do, lemme just drop one more pun: the next chapter is gonna be called Ich Weiss Nicht.