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Two days later, Weiss found herself once more following her partner into Patch, this time early in the morning. Patch still was not empty by any means, of course. But there were only a couple dozen or so customers, scattered amongst the tables. And a third of those appeared to be last night's customers who had, well, fallen asleep at the bar and the tables. Another third were their friends, apparently, there trying to wake them up - or to eat with them. The rest looked tired, probably in early from their own missions or up early to leave on them.
Or, she supposed, just coming or going from work…
There was no rule saying everyone here worked a ship, after all.
"This is…"
"Quiet?"
"A different beast entirely, yes." Weiss smirked at her partner's sigh and roll of the eyes, easing back in her seat and looking around at the sparsely populated bar. They were tucked away at one of the larger corner tables, under the upper platform, but even so it was striking - even if, as Pyrrha had said, the place never truly closed.
"To an extent." Pyrrha nodded, "In a few hours, though, it will be back in full form. The lull is from around three in the morning to seven or so, when customers start to trickle in."
And they had come at five, well before any of that. Which Weiss figured Pyrrha had set up on purpose, and which she appreciated. Privacy wasn't needed for a business meeting like what they had arranged, of course. But it was nice regardless. And thinking about that…
"Tell me more about who we are here to meet." Weiss said, adding a belated, 'please' when Pyrrha raised an eyebrow.
"Yang Xiao Long is the combatant." Pyrrha started simply, looking around as if she expected saying her name to summon her. When it did not, she turned back and went on, "She's a brawler and needs space when she does it, but… Mainly, I want her for her strength."
"Strength?"
"Hand someone that can punch an Ursa through a building an axe," Pyrrha shrugged, "and she can fell a tree and carry it away, more than likely."
"Indeed." They had droids, of course, but it took several to clean a tree and haul it, and they needed supervision more often than not. Someone strong enough to carry smaller ones on her own would be heaven sent - even if she only supervised them, it would be. "And her sister?"
"An astounding engineer…" Pyrrha smiled, flicking a look behind and above Weiss and adding, "And watching us."
Blinking, Weiss turned and looked up, into the overhead landing that served as additional seating for the guests - and, she'd gathered, the preferred seating for the people staying even further above. Luminous silver eyes gazed down at her from the dark, before the shrank back and a red hood hid them. She was sitting alone, for the moment, but Pyrrha had made it clear they were a paired thing. Most likely, she figured, the hooded girl was waiting on her sister, or scouting them out, to make sure they came and were who they claimed.
Or both - it never failed to pay to be cautious.
She voiced the first idea, if only to be polite, and Pyrrha shrugged, "I don't know them well enough to guess at who wakes up when, or… Or how they are, I suppose. I only know that Xiao Long is a good fighter, but comes with her sister. As I said."
"As you said." Weiss nodded, sighing, "I'm just…"
"Fishing?" Pyrrha offered, "Trying to quell your anxiety?"
She felt heat creep up her neck, but waved the woman off regardless. "I am quite adept at business negotiations, thank you very much, Nikos. My father made sure to include myself and my sister at every available turn, to…" She grimaced and sighed, "To inherit the Schnee business and name."
For a moment, Pyrrha was quiet and Weiss only stared at the table. Until the other woman's warm, rough hands clasped her own and she looked up into her soft smile, "You have inherited their legacy, and already are making good on it. You are a thus far successful captain looking to expand, even slightly, in under half a year. This is impressive, Weiss. Do not hang your head."
"I…" More heat crept up her neck and she could only manage to nod and murmur, "I-I suppose."
And damn her stutter…
She was saved by heavy footfalls on the stairs behind her, and turned as a powerfully built blonde woman turned to approach them. She wore simple grey cargo pants, with boots almost up to her knees fronted layered armor plates that were nicked and scarred in places from no doubt thorough use, and a loose black shirt that left her arms bare. Or rather, her arm bare, the left covered in corded muscle and scars while the right ended in a simple socket-joint just above the elbow, where scars spiralled around it like teeth had ripped at the skin.
"Pictures last longer." Weiss blinked, looking up into unamused lavender eyes and then turning around sheepishly as the blonde stepped around her and dropped onto a chair. She flicked Weiss a look, but only spoke to Pyrrha, "My sis is working on my arm, one of the gears are stuck, but you can believe it'll be up and running on the job."
"It is not me who requires convincing." Pyrrha smiled gently, "But I'm sure neither of us expected any less."
"We did not." Weiss agreed, grateful for the hand out of the - admittedly small - hole her misstep had caused. Taking it, she leaned forward and asked, "She's that good of an engineer, then? To entrust with something so intrinsically important?"
"I mean, we don't have options, but…" The blonde sighed, running her fingers through her hair and nodding. "Alright, yeah, work time- Sorry, I had to be up late on a job for the part Ruby needed. I'm a bit out of it."
"I see…"
"I-I'm not normally, though!" She rushed to add, reading perhaps a bit too far into Weiss' words and rushing further before Weiss could correct her assumption, "I'm just, you know- I do my job. It's the priority, when I'm working. S-So, you know, I-"
"I understand you perfectly." Weiss cut her off, smiling and granting her a genial nod. "And I agree. When you are on a job, that ought to be the priority. Being tired now is perfectly acceptable, so long as you know to rest properly before we hit the field."
"R-Right, yeah, of course." The blonde nodded, trying for a cocky smirk and leaning back to rest a foot in one of the spare chairs around the table. It was obvious, and weak, peacockery, playing herself up as brave and confident and strong, and Weiss saw right through it.
She let it go, though.
Instead, she said, "My ship is an older model, relatively speaking. And poorly armed, as well as poorly outfitted."
"You're selling this well…"
"I'm selling it frankly." Weiss corrected her, spreading her palms out on the table and sighing quietly. "I will not sell to you straits which are not the ones you will find yourself in. How could you trust me if I forced you into a contract like that? Risked your sister like that? Not after…"
Her words died as her throat tightened painfully, and Weiss had to close her eyes and take a breath to keep from breaking. Even now, it hurt so much… And thinking about it, being reminded of it all, made her head ache. And her eye throb painfully in its mostly false socket. A warm, calloused hand took hers again and yanked her out of the sudden moroseness that fell onto her, and she smiled as her hand closed around Pyrrha's.
"I would not do to you," Weiss finished, "what has been done unto me."
Xiao Long flicked their hands a look, and then Weiss one, before she finally sighed, bobbed her head understandingly, and grunted, "Fair enough…"
"With that settled." Weiss smiled, pulling away from Pyrrha and reaching into a pocket to draw out her Scroll, which she sat on the table. Gesturing at it, she said, "A draft of the contract I am offering - including an upfront payment of one thousand Lien apiece, and a guarantee to one of the quarters aboard my ship for your personal use. Along with reasonable limits upon it, of course."
"Only a thousand…?"
"If you want more," Weiss smiled sadly, "you will have to wait some time for us to come into it."
It was a complete bluff, of course, but then how in all the skies could Xiao Long have guessed that? Oh, she suspected it, of course - it was too obvious of an option not to. But she couldn't know it for sure, and Weiss knew she couldn't risk it either, and her little glower confirmed as much. But, after a few moments, she sighed and nodded, reaching for the Scroll to read the contract.
While she did, a shadow passed over Weiss and she turned as a small girl arrived.
She was thin, even more-so than Weiss herself, and stood with her hood tucked up tightly around her head and her shoulders scrunched up. Unlike her sister, she wore a pleated black skirt with thin trousers under and, from what little Weiss could see under her cloak, a simple black blouse. But Weiss' gaze was draw to her eyes almost instantly, where two wide, lensed ocular implants had been installed, with a framed bridge running around behind her ears for support and a thin one running over her nose. The 'eyes' they produced glowed dimply as she flicked Weiss a look, shrank away, and slipped around the table.
"H-Here, sis…" The younger of the two murmured, handing over a simple prosthetic that had been very obviously upgraded over time, with a thick barrel on the outside of the forearm and layered armor stacked over the whole thing's top.
"Thanks, 'lil sis." She nodded, taking the arm and wincing as she connected it to the socket and it whirred gently to life. Curling and uncurling the fingers, she smiled and held it up, extending the barrel out past her fist and retracting it. "Civilian prosthetic, best I could afford. Baby sis, though? Tricked it out with armor, a gel system to take hits, and a damn blunderbuss."
"I-It's just a slug thrower and some basic impact gel inside simple sacs under the plates." The girl amended quietly, flicking Weiss and Pyrrha looks and, when they didn't say anything, adding, "Yang knows that putting random stuff in there makes it jam, so it's not a blunderbuss…"
"A blunderbuss is just a gun that fires shrapnel, sis." Xiao Long smirked toothily, "So-"
"It's impressive regardless." Weiss cut in, shaking her head at the little argument but heading it off before it could distract them. "Did you study somewhere?"
"N-No…" She shook her head, luminous eyes glowing out from under her hood, "My uncle teaches me, when he's… You know, around. And the rest I've figured out."
"You have an uncle…?"
"Uncle Qrow." Xiao Long nodded, tapping her sister's arm and offering her the contract to read. And then, when she tried to scuttle off, grabbing her shoulder and pushing her into a seat with a roll of her eyes. Turning back to them, she went on, "He's a scout, works for the Kingdom directly, tracking really bad Grimm down on the ground."
"I see…" Weiss pursed her lips, frowning, "Forgive me, but that should pay quite a lot. Shouldn't it?"
"It pays well, yeah…"
"Then why are you so desperate for work?" Weiss asked, "Why not just rely on his income?"
"Because we don't want to bum off him forever, and people die down there." Xiao Long scoffed, gesturing at Weiss and smiling, "Obviously."
"I-I…"
"What Yang means," Pyrrha cut in, flicking the blonde a sharp, hard look when Weiss couldn't find her own words, "is that they do not want to be dependent on him. Independence is what they want, so they want to work. It's just… Difficult, given their circumstances. Isn't that right, Yang?"
Somehow, the way Pyrrha said the woman's name seemed to cow her on its own, and the blonde nodded. "Right, yeah. Sorry, I was just… Joking."
"Rather dark for a joke…"
"Gallows humor is the best kind." She shrugged, "At least, that's what my Uncle always says."
"I suppose…"
"T-The contract seems fine." The younger sister cut in quietly, flicking each of them a luminous look as if they might snap at her for speaking up. When they didn't, she spoke to her sister, "The signing price is kinda low, though…"
"It also includes room and board, to an extent." Weiss spoke up, "And a guaranteed percentage of every mission pay-out. As well as, in three months, say on what operations we undertake at all."
"It is a very good deal." Pyrrha pressed, laying a hand on Weiss' forearm and smiling brightly, "And Weiss is a trustworthy captain. One that leads from the front, where possible, and listens to her crew. You'll be hard-pressed to find someone that will take you into a better station than this."
"Andbesides, if we want more," Yang shrugged and added, "we have to wait. And no guarantee they take us on after, is there?"
"I guess not…"
"So," Weiss smiled, "shall we sign and celebrate with a nice breakfast together, before we prepare for our first job?"
"And that job is…?"
"Setting out sensors in the far south." Pyrrha explained, smiling widely, "Along the coast-line, where we may very well be able to gather some nice, fresh fish…"
"A fish fry does sound nice…" Yang muttered, sighing and flicking Weiss a look. "I'm going to guess you're the type to grab a bunch of random crap to bring back and sell, though."
"If you are asking if I intend to fish and bring back what we can…" Weiss nodded, "Yes. Yes I do."
The sisters exchanged looks, shrugs, and then signed the contract without any further argument. Weiss would have to have it printed and submitted to Atlas officially later, but for now, she was content to stand and head for the bar. The cooks were already at work, and the smell of roasting vegetables and meat was enough to make her mouth water almost as much as the thought of fresh fish did.
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