"Hell yeah I wanna get sucked off!"

Weiss scowled even though— to be quite frank— hearing that from Nora was not at all surprising. "You understand what I'm saying, right? Ruby here—" she hated saying the name— "Will siphon your very life-essence into her being."

Florabel— poor Florabel, honestly— looked between Nora and her partner, extremely lost, extremely confused. It made Weiss sick. "But, like, she's gonna kiss me, right?" Nora asked, sounding a little too desperate for Weiss' liking. "Because hooh, mama— Rubes (I'm gonna call ya Rubes, soz), d'ya think you could crank those stilts aaaaaaaaaall the way up when ya do? I'm not gonna lie, I'm tryna slip a disc just from kissing you."

Florabel turned to Weiss as if she could respond for her. The best she could offer was a tepid, apologetic shrug. The Faunus readdressed the ginger: "Uh, look, Nora, uh… one: please do not call me 'Rubes,' in the context of…" she waved between herself and Nora. "This. Two: this isn't, like, a gratification thing for me—"

Weiss winced, because it was definitely a gratification thing and Florabel was about to learn that the hard way.

"Three: I… guess I… could? Could you even reach that high? Do you have a step stool?"

Nora whooped. She hollered. She jumped up and clicked her heels.

Maybe Pyrrha would've been the better option.

This was only further proven when Nora zipped away, disappearing around a corner of the JNPR dorm with metallic clamor, loud arguing (there wasn't anyone else in the dorm), and a cat's yowl. She returned with a step-ladder. Florabel stared like she was offended, but unsure which part was actually offensive.

Nora set up the step-ladder and climbed a couple rungs, getting high enough that Florabel still towered over her, but wouldn't have to do more than somewhat crane her neck down from full height. Just seeing the setup made Weiss uneasy. Her partner's look said that she felt the same, but she didn't need a look to know that.

God, Florabel was so tall. More than six feet, easily. She'd never looked down at Weiss like that. One of her feathered arms lifted and she cupped Nora's face, her middle and ring fingers lifting along the girl's jawline, bringing her wide eyes and puckered lips up to meet her. She gave Weiss an embered look that made her chest hurt.

She bent down to kiss Nora.

"Uh, Weiss?"

Weiss didn't realize she'd turned away until she had to turn back. "Yes?"

Florabel was barely an inch from meeting her lips to Nora's. "Am I just gonna know what to do?"

"How would I know?" Weiss said, scoffing. "I've not met anyone else like me."

Florabel scowled. "You seriously can't describe it?"

"Thinkest me a teacher on these subjects?"

"I wouldn't know, you never talked about it."

"I offered."

"Load of good that did us."

Nora went 'ooo-ooh' against Florabel's lips. "Lovers' quarrel."

"Shut up," the not-lovers who were not quarreling in the room said, which had the unfortunate effect of reddening them simultaneously. Nora giggled.

"Just kiss the damn woman," Weiss grumbled, her own voice sounding wretchedly green.

Ruby snickered— again, right against Nora's lips, which— "Don't sound too happy about it, you cuck."

Weiss stomped her feet, probably steaming out of her ears with how much heat she felt surging up her face. "I— I am—" 'I don't want this!'"I am not a cuckold! This is for your own good!"

"I wouldn't mind," Nora said horribly, "We have a chair."

"Oh my god," Weiss groaned. "I do not want to sit in your cuck cha—"

"Nora, shut the fuck up."

Weiss froze at the husk in Florabel's voice. It felt so real, the vibration on her lips, like she was Nora— no, like she was Florabel, with her lips on her own. The feeling flooded through her like frozen lightning. She was rooted where she was, her eyes locked to Florabel, unable to make a sound as the Faunus closed the distance between her mouth and Nora's.

It felt like she was watching lifetimes pass. It felt like she was watching something forsaken. It felt like she did belong in the cuck chair.

Her lips tingled with want. And… rocks. The taste of a rock. But pink. How a rock smelled— if sniffed pinkly— spreading lukewarm dust in her mouth, through her mouth, like a breath drawn so deeply that it broke through the barriers of flesh and seeped into her. Which didn't make sense. Or it did. Did it stand to reason that whatever Florabel siphoned, Weiss siphoned too? Was she getting any of it? This didn't feel like much; was she just inexperienced or was she unable to open the siphon more?

Florabel opened one silver eye— that was as much as Weiss could see from this angle, at least— and it glowed visibly. Her gaze narrowed at the girl beneath her.

Why am I doing this

Weiss made some kind of noise— maybe she moved, maybe she gasped, too lost in the moment to notice— and it slowly drew Florabel's eye towards her. Her irises had been like steel, or like mercury, or silver, or any of the hundreds of shiny grey metals that all looked the same. Now they were like moonlight. Or the moon itself. The eye did not widen. It did not move either. It was content to glare its cold light at Weiss Schnee, even as Nora pawed at her collar and groaned.

Why are you still here

"Flor—"

Yes

"R-Ruby, let her go."

Florabel raised an eyebrow. She lifted the corner of her mouth as if to taunt Weiss with the sliver of visible tongue— no, she was smirking. Why would she be—

"Ruby! Get off!"

She won't make me

"Ruby!"

Come on, make me

"I will!"

Florabel released the other girl with a pop. Nora started to wobble, her eyes rolled halfway up into her head, a dumb smile on her lips. She tipped off the ladder. Florabel caught her offhandedly by the collar, not even looking, holding the girl (who looked very dense) up with one hand. The silver glow was affixed solely to Weiss. Florabel's lips moved slowly.

"You can read my mind?"

Weiss blinked.

"Oh my god!" Florabel exclaimed, whirling Nora around onto a nearby bed as if by accident, her eyes not moving from Weiss. "You can! That's why you've been— oh, that is so fucked up!"

Weiss threw up her hands and groaned. Nora snored. "Sorry I can't live around thee when all I'm going to hear in my head is 'I miss you so much, please fuck me, please Weiss, I can't stand it without you, I hate you, I want to murder you, but please kiss me.' It's unbearable! I can't get any work done!"

They were both shouting. It wasn't pleasant.

"As if you're out studying! You're 'picking up shifts', probably out sucking some poor loser dry!"

Weiss gasped. "I am not! I don't do that!"

You did when I was with Pyrrha

Florabel's face twitched in disgust at her own thoughts, then anger at Weiss. "God dammit, I literally can't think for myself now! Fucking thanks, Weiss!"

"I saved your life!"

Then you broke up with me!

"Then you broke up with me, you asshole! What a cool fucking thing to spring on someone who just fucking died!"

"I didn't break up with you, we weren't—"

Oh I know her ass is not

"We weren't what?" Ruby challenged, striding towards her. She listed on her fingers: "We had a special thing, we were kissing, we were banging, we were together!"

Weiss opened her mouth.

"We both know our fights weren't strictly platonic."

"We weren't dating! There was never a date!"

"There fucking would've been if some psycho terrorists hadn't crawled out of the woodworks and murdered me!"

The words in Weiss' mouth felt terrible; she spit them out instinctively. "Then I suppose we dodged a bullet!"

Ruby raised her chin to glare down her nose. Her face didn't soften, but the steel of it was hammered into something more sinister and less outwardly furious. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

Weiss' tongue felt rotten. "I mean thou hast problems, Florabel. Ones that you need to solve."

"Problems?" Ruby laughed. "You— you're saying I've got problems? Yeah! Yeah, no fucking shit, idiot! Sor-fucking-ry I thought I could rely on you, my literal fucking partner, to be there when I need it!"

"I was always there."

"And what about now?"

"I'm here!" Weiss blurted. "But I am here to help you, I'm not going to siphon all your insecurities away— and you have so many!" Now Weiss laughed, cold and cruel even as it came out. She hated it. "I've been listening, whether I like it or not! I cannot fix thee! There's a single thing I could tell you to help— one thing!"

Ruby scowled, but remained silent. Weiss took a deep breath.

"Leave the Academy," Weiss told her. "Get thyself out of here."

"I can't."

Weiss marched to her and belted Ruby across the face with an open hand, striking skin and not soul. The Faunus didn't budge. Her Aura sparked around the red handprint. "Stop saying that!" Weiss commanded. "God, Florabel, I thought you were strong! That's why I made you—" she cut herself short, feeling her throat choke up at the word. "But all you've done is prove yourself a puppet to the whims of other people."

Ruby grit her teeth. "Well not all of us are here by fucking choice! I got drafted into this while I was fucking drugged, okay!"

"You. Can. Leave! You're an adult!"

"And do what!" Ruby rebutted, throwing her hands out. She stared for a long, tiring moment, her arms falling until they were limp at her sides again. "Do what, Weiss? Go live with my parents? You met them. There's a reason I stayed here for winter break."

"Your sister—"

"I don't want to rely on her! I don't want to rely on anybody! I— I didn't!" Ruby paced, pulling at the small braids of her hair, loosening some of them and making her pretty hair wild. "I don't wanna leech off my parents, I don't wanna leech off my sister, I just want to live for myself— Huntress money is good!" She rubbed her temple with the heel of her palm. "I was gonna apply to college, but now I'm in the most acclaimed Hunters' Academy in the fucking world, I'm the only Faunus here I've seen, and you just want me to fucking leave? For what! I can't chase my stupid dreams without money, you think my parents are gonna pay for tuition after I abandon the most prestigious institution on the fucking planet?"

Weiss should not have said anything. Instead, she said, "Pay for your own tuition."

Ruby died inside and Weiss felt it. Her tone was ice. "You really don't know shit, do you? Somehow I keep fucking forgetting that you're just some racist little cult-kid."

Weiss should have stopped talking. Instead, she said, "That has nothing to do with anything."

"You know Faunus make 13% less on average for the same job as a human? Assuming they even get the job?"

Weiss needed to stop. "You could save—"

"Wage withholding is twice as prominent among Faunus."

Why were words still coming out? "Talk to your—"

"I tried," Ruby stated coldly. "I had a job in my freshman year at Signal, mum made me get one. Did you know Faunus labor laws are structured entirely different from human ones? Bovine and equine Faunus often grow faster than humans, so protections against Faunus labor actually end at 12 rather than your 16."

Finally, Weiss had no words left to fail her. Ruby had plenty, though.

"I never got my last check. My last three, actually. My boss kept them. I confronted her about it, so she fired me. I tried to get other jobs near Signal so I could clock in on time after class. Apparently the lady went off about me, and suddenly all the little places with 'work needed' signs didn't need work from Ruby Rose."

Weiss opened her mouth. Even though she should have said nothing at all, some words slithered out of her throat and limped off her tongue. "That's… just one place."

Ruby deadpanned at her. "Maybe I don't want to be a Huntress, but that doesn't matter. I'm… here. It's an opportunity anyone like me would kill for. It's protected money— nobody can take it from me— all I've gotta do is something I'm good at." She shrugged, but her voice sounded too dire for a shrug. "Better people have it worse."

"That's… that's not…"

Please shut up and say you're sorry

Weiss held herself as if it was her who had just had a whole emotional moment, which she didn't deserve at all, but she did it anyway. "I just… I want you do do what's best for you."

No, god damnit, just shut up and say sorry

"What I want to do is not struggle for money until I die." The words had a hopelessness that didn't sound right from Ruby. "What do you want me to do?"

Weiss put her face in her hands. "I—"

The loudest sound in the world blew their moment to smithereens: the door swinging open, courtesy of one scarlet shoe. Weiss scrambled from it, tripping on something stupid, releasing an embarrassing noise until her fall was arrested by arms hooking under hers. Weiss didn't look up at Ruby— partly because they'd just been having a very emotional argument and this was not the time to be longingly staring into each other's eyes in this kind of compromising position— mostly because her eyes were stuck on the sight of the Honored Martial of the Vellum Archive of the Availed Doctrine Prime Temple. Pyrrha stomped in with Jaune carried under one arm as well as Lie Ren carried over her shoulder.

"Nora! It's your turn for—"

As Pyrrha kicked the door closed, she noticed Weiss and Ru— Florabel. Her eyes drifted to the bed where Nora was happily snoring, kicking her legs and making kissy-noises in her sleep. She set Jaune and Ren on the ground, revealing both to be unconscious but unhurt.

"You," she growled, though neither Weiss nor Florabel were sure which one that was directed towards. The Fourth and the Faunus looked at each other.

Lamp

Florabel heaved Weiss aside, tossing her towards a dresser where she grabbed the stout orange table lamp and chucked it First-wise. Pyrrha locked in on the incoming projectile, hands already moving to catch it, only for Florabel to appear from a burst of black and red, her skirt flaring out mid-air. She grabbed the lamp in a flash and kicked one of Pyrrha's arms aside, both hands slamming the lamp in her statuesque face without resistance, which probably would've worked against anyone who wasn't (sober) Pyrrha Nikos.

Pyrrha stepped into the lamp as it exploded over her Aura, one hand shooting out to grab Florabel's handsome shirt and jerk her in, her other arm wrapping around and locking one bird-leg in her grip. She scratched wildly with her other leg, but it only made Pyrrha's colossal Aura glow. Weiss tensed, rapidly—

No, no wait, I think I got this

Watch this shit

"Pyr!" Florabel groaned, falling limp in her ex-girlfriend's grip, one arm draping over her forehead. "I missed you so much, I— I had to see you, but the Fourth got her Semblance in me! It's mind control, Pyr! That's how they do it! It's mind control!"

This was genuinely the stupidest thing Weiss had ever seen her partner do, and she had seen her do some very stupid things. It worked, of course, but that did not detract from its idiocy.

Pyrrha smirked widely, affixing Weiss with a triumphant glare. She opened her mouth to announce her victory. Florabel crawled her way up the girl's jacket to kiss Pyrrha deeply.

The feeling on Weiss' lips was familiar, and no more pleasant the second time, but seeing Pyrrha Nikos fall prey to her own ego again more than made up for it. After a while, Florabel blinked out of her arms and reappeared in front, leaving a stunned First behind.

The Faunus grabbed Weiss by the hand and yanked her out of the room. She sprinted much faster than necessary— so full of burning First that she couldn't help herself— until Weiss' legs couldn't keep up with Florabel's insanely long stride, at which point she skid to a halt, did something rapid and forceful, and chucked Weiss.

Into a janitor's closet.

Florabel closed the door behind her, making the room pitch black save for her uncanny, glowing eyes. Weiss watched them dart around.

Ah. Whoops

Florabel laughed nervously. "Aha, uh, guess it's full circle now, huh?"

"Only if you start throwing me around," Weiss said too quickly, because it was too easy to talk to her and say idiotic things, even now.

Ruby's eyes affixed to hers, bright and wide. "You started it."

There were so many things going through Ruby's head, and none of them could be shown to an audience of minors. Weiss scowled. "We're not fucking in the closet."

Fighting?

"It started as a—"

"We're not fighting in here, either."

Weiss couldn't see Florabel deflate, but she knew she had. Trying to achieve at least moderate comfort, Weiss scooted around in the thing she had fallen into— a mop bucket, most likely.

Oh hey I wept in that

Florabel sighed. Her eyes slowly shifted left and right, topics slipping across her psyche— anything to keep Weiss there and keep her talking. "So, uh… I can Semblance, still."

Weiss nodded. She was pretty sure Florabel saw it. "Aye. Thou canst 'Semblance'."

"Got a better verb for it?"

"Valish isn't my first."

"I thought I was."

"You know how desperate that makes you sound?"

Shit, I'm pretty desp— NO GETOUTOFMYHEADGETOUTOUTOUT

"Stop reading my thoughts!" Florabel demanded.

"Stop thinking so loudly."

"I'm serious."

"I cannot decide whether I hear them or not. If I could, my paychecks would be half as large."

"Rub your wealth in my face, whydontcha."

"The wealth of a barista."

Florabel snorked. "Princess."

Weiss sucked in a breath. In the tight closet, it was as loud as breaking glass.

"Uh… sorry."'

Weiss didn't know what to say. She didn't know how to do any of this. She thought distance would help the poor girl, but those two months had only made her more despondent. She thought Florabel would… what was the saying?

"Pull myself up by my bootstraps?" Florabel answered. "You know that's literally impossible right?"

Weiss blinked. "You can…"

"Not really," Florabel said preemptively. "More just vague and ominous vibes with varying degrees of clarity."

"Oh. That's…"

"It's kinda spooky."

Another long and silent moment.

"You, uh… sure you don't wanna try to kill each other? It's been a while."

Weiss was sorely tempted, but found it in her to say instead: "I apologize. For the things I said. The… ignorance. 'Twas unbecoming of me."

I mean 'twas definitely becoming of you but still

"I forgive you."

Weiss sighed.

"Does this mean we can be ne—"

"No!" Weiss said too quickly, jolting up so much that it scooted her mop bucket to an awkward angle, one where she had to crane up to meet Ruby's bright silver eyes. "No, just… I don't know. Thou'st disrespected thyself, still— in ways besides thy nonconsensual schooling. 'Tis no flippant thing, Florabel." She shook her head. "Ruby."

I still hate it

Florabel snorted. "What, do I need to 'prove myself' or some stupid shit?"

Weiss winced. "In a way, yes."

"I mean, we both know I could just kill you right now, right? Like, super easily?"

"I don't know about 'super' easily…"

"I do. Seriously. You suck."

"Then do something else!" Weiss hissed. "I'll know thy worth when it lieth before me!"

"So, wait, if I do something that proves I'm unilaterally better than you— which I already am and we both definitely know it— seriously please try me— then that would give me the right to be your rival, not the other way around? Even though you're the one that sucks?"

"Now thou'rt actually being a cunt."

"Whatever. Sorry."

Weiss scooted in her bucket, trying (and failing) to whirl around and properly face her partner. "Hast thou any ideas?"

Florabel exuded shrugsome energy. "I'll just win the Winterfaire Singles, or something," she suggested. "I don't think Blake wants to do the team stuff anyways."

"You'll 'just' win the whole category?"

"You wanna join me on Doubles?"

"I… probably shouldn't. I can still only take one hit; I don't want to bring thee down."

"You… don't? That's literally what nemeses do."

"We're not… whatever. Fine. Sure."

FUCK YES DUDE

"Aha," Florabel laughed casually. "Ha. Cool. Sick. Uh… woop-woop."

WOOOOOOOO