Y'know, it's kinda surprising how much paperwork there is to do after a breach like that. Not for me, no, ha, I'm just one of the child soldiers thrown at the problem, with great results, might I add. No, no, but for Goodwitch, who had wanted to take us to lunch, that idea's been canned for now. So, that being said, I'm currently sitting upside down on a couch and reading a book. After about twelve seconds, the novelty (get it?) wears off, and I sit back upright. Zwei comes down from the back of the couch, and lands in my lap.
"So," Ruby starts, "is anyone going to ask?"
"Ask what?" Levi inquires, currently laying down on Yang's lap. In public, too.
"What we were doing that caused… that?" Weiss says, looking confused.
I speak next, flipping the page, "It's just one of those things, I guess."
"One of those things?" Weiss asks.
"Mmm. Yeah. Why? Was it this massive buildup or something, or did it just kinda happen?" I ask, a small yawn leaving me. Despite Blake's best efforts, I haven't fallen asleep just yet. On that note, Blake's currently seated on the dresser on the opposite side of the room, glaring at Zwei. Listen, he goes home in a few days, I want a little bit of time with him, and then I have Blake for literally any other time.
"Well…" Ruby trails off, evidently deep in thought.
"Also, Lukas, when did you plan on telling us you were connected to Torchwick?" Weiss asks, her eyes slightly narrowed.
"Actually, yeah, we're not skipping over that." I say, a bit more focused now.
"I was going to tell you guys eventually." Lukas says, looking at the new knife he was gifted.
Yang rolls her eyes. "For some odd reason, I don't believe that."
"Listen, when was I ever obligated to tell anyone about my past?" Lukas snaps, glaring at Yang.
"Okay, okay, simmer down. We can go over this later." I yawn, rubbing my eyes. "If you need some time to process everything, or figure out a better way to put it, go ahead."
"You are the one who said we should talk about it when we get back, though?" Blake notes.
"That I did. But things change?"
"Like what?" Ruby asks. "What changed?"
"Well, we have a lot to chew on even without that. Lukas is clearly enough on our side, but that raises a new question… Who the hell is Roman siding with?" I ask.
"That's a dumb question." Blake huffs.
"No, no, it's not." Lukas says. "We don't know who he was working for, and we don't even know who he's working for now. If he's even working for anyone. We should look into it."
"I agree with that, but I still think his motives aren't as cut and dry as you're making it out to be." Blake says, one leg crossed over the other.
"Well, if I might add…" Weiss looks at all of us, and rests a hand on her hip as she walks across the room. "…it makes sense that he wasn't operating on his own accord. I mean, think about it. What would a petty thief like him need Atlesian armored units for? And why work with the White Fang when there's clearly contrasting interests? Blake and Sun said so themselves, the White Fang aren't massive fans of him."
"That's fair, but…" Blake starts before looking at the ground with a contemplative look on her face.
"He was telling the truth, though." Jade suddenly speaks up from the corner she was sitting in. "I could see it in his soul."
"Are we really going to trust that?" Blake asks.
"Do we have a choice?" Yang counters.
"We've worked off of less with good results, sooooo…" Ruby shrugs.
"I'm still curious as to who the hell this 'deal' was with. I mean, like, did we even think there were other players in this mess?" I ask.
"What mess, though? What's the end goal of all of this?" Weiss asks.
"Not a clue. They've got weapons, soldiers, and caused a breach. That's simple. Maybe the plan is to help a big revolt by the White Fang? Even then, though, the hell's that have to do with Roman?" Yang asks.
"This goes deeper than the White Fang, I'm sure." Blake says.
"Let's not forget that lady with the dress who broke into the CCCT. We still don't know what that was about." Weiss says.
"I hate being so in the dark…" Levi says, slightly muffled due to how he's laying.
"Sinner…" Jade whispers.
"Maybe if you turned around, you could see." Lukas says. Levi whines, but turns around, and now everyone can see his face as it's no longer burrowed into Yang.
"Not the point, we need to focus." Blake states.
"On what? There's not much we can do right now." Ruby yawns, rubbing her eyes.
"Of course there is! We just-" Blake starts, but is cut off by herself as she glances around the room.
"Right now, we should probably just relax a little." I say. "Your own words, Blake. Kinda."
"I know, I really do know, but I just… Ugh!" she throws her arms up, and then drags a hand down her face. "I feel useless right now! This whole thing makes no sense!" She then gets up, and storms out of the room.
"Blake, no-! And she's gone… fuck…" I sigh, moving Zwei off of my lap.
"What do we do? About any of this?" Weiss asks.
"We have a guy in the criminal underworld, kinda. I'll go talk to him with Lukas and Levi when the dust starts to settle. I'm sure he's currently pissed about the breach, and whenever he learns about who was responsible, he might come stomping over to campus again. Who knows?" As I finish speaking, I set down my book and pet Zwei.
"'Why dwell on it?' Really?" Weiss asks.
"I'm tired, damn it."
"So sleep, you moron!" Weiss says.
"No." I respond.
"That guy's a total quack, but he might have the info we need. Would you mind if I tagged along?" Yang asks.
"Dude, I don't even know when we'd be going. I'm just- yawn -trying to… I was going somewhere with that, but I lost my train of thought."
"Give 'em a second…" Lukas says.
I remember it in a flash. "Right! Blake! Yeah, I need to go see if I can find her, and get that sorted. From there we'll come up with a plan. Anyone want to come on this misadventure with me?"
"What about me?" Jade asks.
Well, I'm certainly skeptical about that. "Why…? She… I mean this as kindly as I can, she doesn't feel safe around you."
"She told you that?" Jade asks.
Ruby, Weiss, Yang, Lukas, and I all speak in relative unison, "Yes."
"Well I bet I can earn her trust with this!" Jade says, holding out her hand. The skin peels back to reveal the bundle of plant mass underneath, and a plant sprouts from her palm. Yang immediately bursts out laughing.
"I don't get it…" Ruby says. I don't either, but my pride won't let me say anything.
"Catnip!" Jade exclaims proudly.
"Your plan is to make her high?" Weiss asks, eyes slightly widened. It's common knowledge that catnip has a tendency to make feline faunus a little high. Not as high as an actual cat, but about halfway there.
"It'll calm her down, won't it?" Yang asks.
"If she agrees to it, maybe it'll be a step in the right direction." I note.
"She's on the roof by the way. I can see her soul." Jade says.
"Stop… stop doing that…" my voice is a bit quiet.
Jade giggles, "Hehehe, noooooo."
"Mmm…" I protest.
Yang pipes up, "Anyways! Firebird-"
"Don't call me that."
"Firebird, you need to go get Blake! I'll go make sure we have enough snacks for when she gets the munchies."
"Oh, so she's taken catnip around you guys before? At least we know what to suspect-"
"No. Just a guess. I have a few friends who smoke weed, I know what to expect." Yang says, pulling out a bunch of pizza rolls and stuffing them into the oven.
"You forgot to turn it on, Yang…" Ruby says.
"That I did!" Yang exclaims, spinning on her heel to walk back to the oven.
Sighing, I leave the room, and head to the roof. Once there, I find Blake leaning against one of the parapets, knees pulled to her chest, and her head down. Luckily, it doesn't sound like she's crying, and I walk over to her.
"Hey…" I say, sitting down next to her.
Blake takes a deep breath, and looks up at me. "Hey."
"Listen, I know that you're a bit stressed with everything right now, but we need to go one day at a time. We're all tired, and there's quite literally nothing we can do ri-"
"That's not true, Doge."
I take a breath, and gaze towards Vale. The smoke's cleared by now, thank the Brothers. "Blake… What can we do right now? I know that you want to get to find some sort of lead, but remember what Yang talked about. Burning yourself to cinders is a sure fire way of making sure that we never get to the bottom of this."
"I know, I know, but I just… You don't understand, Doge!"
"I want to. I know that I don't, I don't know the exact way that you're looking at this, but fuck, I know that we're on the same side. I may not have a full idea of how you've had to live these past however many years, but that's not the life you're living anymore. You have people to lean on here."
"I had people to lean on there too, Doge! Some of them were horrible to me, yes, but so many were nothing but kind! None of you get that!" Blake says, looking at anything but me right now.
"Maybe I don't. Hell, you're right, you're absolutely right, I don't. At the same time, though, we can't be there for you if you just shut down like this, none of us can. I want to be able to help, I hate feeling useless just as much as you do, and right now, I don't feel like I can do anything to help. So tell me, please, how can I, or anyone else for that matter, help?"
"I-" Blake goes silent, and looks at me. Her amber eyes almost seem to be boring into my very soul, and she sighs. Blake moves over towards me, and leans on me. "I don't know…"
"And that's fine… I have a plan to try and get some info, Lukas, Levi, Yang and I are going to go and meet up with someone. Lavender."
"That prick?!"
"Yes, that prick. He's useful, at the end of the day, and he did jobs for Roman before. It's probably a shot in the dark, but it's all we have for now."
Blake hums, clearly not the most on board, "Mmm…"
"We'll keep you in the loop, but like I said, we gotta find a time to meet with him to begin with."
"Alright…" Blake resigns, and buries her head against my shoulder.
"Also… uh… fuckin' hell, how do I even…"
"What…?" Blake asks, looking up.
"Jade… er… has a gift for you…?"
"Gift? What gift?"
At this point I'm less nervous and more so trying not to laugh, "Ca… Gods help me… Uh, heh, uh, catnip."
"Catnip?"
"Yeah…"
"I might accept that, honestly…" Blake mumbles against my shoulder.
"Right then… Shall we go?" I ask.
"Sure… just… gimme a few more minutes…" she says, leaning further against me.
…
"So, what else can you grow?" Yang asks, looking over at Jade.
"What do you want?" Jade asks, tossing another leaf onto the small pile of catnip on Blake's bed.
"Well, if yo-"
Levi places his hand over her mouth. "She doesn't want anything."
Yang pouts, but gives in.
"Levi. Levi. I have an idea." Jade says. Her arm's faux skin fades away as a small bud grows, which she plucks off and hands it to Levi. "Chew."
Levi, the good and obedient boy that he is, pops the bud into his mouth and starts chewing.
…
With Blake's arm wrapped around mine, I push open the door to the dorm and step inside. Levi… Levi looks like he's having fun.
"Doge!" Levi giggles. "Glad that you could join us, Levi says." Levi says.
"Did you just say 'Levi says?'" Weiss asks.
"Nope, you're done, spit it out." Yang demands, holding her hand out. Levi spits it into her hand, and Yang realizes what a terrible idea that was before dropping the chewed up bud and wiping her hand on Levi's shirt.
"Fucking wow." I say.
Jade's expression falters. "But the weed..." Jade mumbles while looking between Levi and the spit out bud. In a moment, her face contorts with disgust as she speaks through gritted teeth, "Onyx, pick that up and... get rid of it. It's tainted with sinner liquid."
"Yes ma'am." Onyx says, sliding from under Jade's tank top and grabbing the bud. He puts it into the garbage disposal, flips it on, and salutes it as a few shreds fly out and flutter down like feathers before he marches back over to Jade and returns to being an undershirt.
"Fucking wow." Blake says.
"Oh! High Blake time!" Jade shouts, skipping over to Blake after grabbing a leaf off of Blake's bed. She holds it out, the leaf about an inch in length, and waves it in front of Blake's face. "Chew this! I made it just enough to make you relax and happy without little downsides! Couldn't get rid of the cotton mouth at the end though... seems to just be a high thing?"
"I get cotton mouth from my damn sleeping meds." I mutter.
"You take sleeping meds?" Ruby asks.
I shake my head. "Haha! No, they give me cotton mouth."
"That explains a lot." Yang says.
"Oh, shut up."
"Anyways, high Blake time!" Jade exclaims, waving the catnip in front of Blake's nose.
Blake's eyes slightly widen, and she inhales the scent. She then suddenly dips forward and takes the leaf in her mouth before pulling back and starting to chew.
"So how did we get here again?" Lukas asks.
"Everyone here has problems?" Yang offers as a solution.
"That'll do it…" Weiss says.
Blake's already quietly purring, and she's clinging more to my arm as she nuzzles her cheek against my shoulder. "Hiiii…"
"Hello, Blake…" I'm already smiling a little bit. "Let's go sit down, yeah?"
"Okay… yeah…"
I walk with Blake over to her bed, and put the other leaves that are on it to the side. I'd rather not have Blake OD on me, to be blunt.
"Mmm… warm…" Blake mumbles, now nuzzling against my chest.
My hand ends up gently running through her hair, something that I've grown used to doing to her. "Let me know if you need anything, Blake."
"Heheh… I will…"
All eyes are on Blake at this point, but she seems decently content with staying still for the time being. She's just laying down, not a care in the world, and purring softly. I mean, I'll take it.
"Sooo… Now what?" Yang asks, walking over and looking down at Blake.
"Not a person in this room, Jade included, thought that far ahead. I'm just gonna try and keep her from hurting herself." I say.
"Oh, don't be like that. She's not going to find a way to hurt herself. We get it, you're sheltered, but drugs aren't that bad. Light ones, anyways. Catnip and weed are on the same page of legality."
"Doesn't mean we wouldn't get our teeth kicked in by Goodwitch if she found out!"
"Once again," Yang says, "Sheltered."
Weiss throws her hat into the ring, "No, he does have a point, I just thin-"
Yang doubles down, "Sheeelteeered! You're probably worse off than him!"
Blake's started giggling, and mumbles the word "sheltered" before giggling again. A small sigh escapes me, and I continue combing my fingers through her black hair.
"Well, I just think that as long as we're being responsible, it's okay! I think! Probably!" Ruby exclaims.
"Ruby gets it!" Jade says.
"My body feels floaty… Yang, hold me…" Levi walks over to Yang, and then flops forward. Yang hardly registers what's happening and catches him, picking him up and tossing him into her bed. She then clamors up after him, and lays him down in her lap.
"So stupid, but so hot…" Yang mutters.
Blake, while I wasn't paying attention, had rolled around in all of her blankets and comforter, and rolled herself into a blanket burrito. All I can really see of Blake is her bow poking out, which is occasionally flickering in accordance with her ears. Eventually her head pops out, and she smiles up at me with that dopey smile that's now adorning her face thanks to the catnip.
"You really are something…" I say, looking down at the currently ditzy Blake.
"I know…" Blake says while giggling. Due to her moving a little bit, she rolls to the side and slides off of the bed and hits the ground before I can catch her.
"Blake!" I exclaim, reaching towards her.
Blake hits the ground, not that hard, but hits it nonetheless. She looks up at me, and sighs. "Doooge… the ground hit me…"
"I see that… Do you, uh, want to get back into the bed?"
"Yeah…"
After getting out of the bed I pick her up, and then lay her back down in the bed. Blake looks up at me once more, still smiling. "Do I smell pizza rolls?"
"Do you?"
"Yeah, she does!" Ruby exclaims, opening the oven. "We figured- Yang figured that she might get the hungries, so she cooked these!"
Yang shakes her head. "The munchies. Not hungries."
"Same thing." Weiss interjects, nabbing a pizza roll and tossing it into her mouth. A second later, she's fanning her mouth and going "Hah! Hah! Hot!" while looking for a drink of some sorts.
Blake has started devouring the remainder of the pizza rolls, and I hear a small sigh. "And this is supposed to be the best of the first years at Beacon?" Ozpin asks, a slight smirk on his face.
"When did you get here?!" I shout, going rigid.
Goodwitch steps in next. "You left the door open."
"Oh!" Jade exclaims before looking for something. She then holds out a plant to Goodwitch and smiles. "For you!"
"No."
"Aww…"
"Would someone like to explain why Miss Belladonna and Mister Amaranth seem to be unable to tell me what year it is?" Ozpin asks, looking down at Blake, and then up at Levi.
"Seven!" Levi proclaims before being dragged back down to Yang's lap and told to shut up.
"O-okay, uh, to be fair, he, uh, may have said that regardless." I note, with my nerves completely shot.
"Be that as it may, there's clearly been a use of recreational substances in this dorm room." Goodwitch sighs. "Listen, we just wanted to stop by to let you know that we're still doing dinner, and you four are to meet us at the gate at seven sharp. Levi better be sober by then."
"Ozpin's coming too?" I ask, now shocked out of my almost nervous breakdown.
"Well, why not? We haven't had much time to do anything together since the semester started, and I feel like I sort of owe it to you."
"So you're not-"
"We can't afford to be mad about this." Ozpin simply states as if talking about the weather. "It's only two of you, and you're clearly trying to be responsible about it…" He looks at Blake in her burrito, sliding pizza rolls off of the plate and into the darkness of her fluffy fortress. "…somewhat."
"I better not have to wear something nice…" Lukas states.
Gods, these dipshits… They're my dipshits, but dipshits nonetheless.
Ruby looks over at me, "Hey, uh, Doge?"
"Yeah?"
"Look."
I look down, and Blake's apparently fallen asleep against me. I am now bound to this exact spot and position for the foreseeable future. Peak.
1. Sorry about the notification at midnight to those of you following.
2. This chapter was done a week ago. My bad.
3. Next chapter should be done before the end of March.
4. Catch you later my fluffy little lambskins. Drink plenty of almond milk and don't forget to brush your eyebrows.