Fandom Distorted Mirror [IC]

[Gus Gungus]

The door did swing open after all of those wild slaps, kicks, and knuckle raps coming together in an ungodly assault on the ears, but when it did open up, it was immediately and obviously clear that the person on the other side of that door was decidedly not Yang. In perhaps a weird reflection of their days at Beacon, the dorm just opposite the one that Yang had chosen was occupied by the smaller ginger bruiser, though she had no team to share it with. The now cuffless Valkyrie(apparently she had found somebody willing to help to remove the damn things from her wrists) glared at Weiss with annoyance that she didn't even bother to hide. "What is-"

Once Weiss recovered from the molotov cocktail of shock, mortification and sheer unrestrained disappointment she felt upon seeing Nora's face (in record time), the hyperactive huntress's words were cut off by the open palm the heiress belted her full across the cheek with to instantly freeze her over in a block of ice, blue eyes flaring with the primordial energies of both Winter and Spring. A glyph propulsion followed, promptly yeeting the Norasicle all the way to the back of her room.

"...Two one-five, two one-six... Oh."

She dismissed her silliness in light of the fact that no one of remote consequence had witnessed it. She'd been refraining from drinking lately, hence the marked increase in nicotine consumption, and as an admittedly small woman apparently her tolerance had gone down. Having dealt with that interruption, she immediately about-turned to resume her rant where she'd left off and see it through to completion. Facing the correct door this time.​

 

[MyrtenRose]

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Once Weiss recovered from the molotov cocktail of shock, mortification and sheer unrestrained disappointment she felt upon seeing Nora's face (in record time), the hyperactive huntress's words were cut off by the open palm the heiress belted her full across the cheek with to instantly freeze her over in a block of ice, blue eyes flaring with the primordial energies of both Winter and Spring. A glyph propulsion followed, promptly yeeting the Norasicle all the way to the back of her room.

"...Two one-five, two one-six... Oh."

She dismissed her silliness in light of the fact that no one of remote consequence had witnessed it. She'd been refraining from drinking lately, hence the marked increase in nicotine consumption, and as an admittedly small woman apparently her tolerance had gone down. Having dealt with that interruption, she immediately about-turned to resume her rant where she'd left off and see it through to completion. Facing the correct door this time.​

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

"HEY! Whatever it is you think you're accomplishing, I hope you realize that I'm not affected in the slightest! I warned you against trying to play mind games with me, Yang Xiao Long! I told you it wasn't going to work! So here it is, NOT WORKING! Do you hear me?! Honestly, what is the matter with you?! Are you completely tone deaf?! I haven't been under enough stress lately without you and your deadbeat mom needlessly trying to compound it?" She lashed out with another petulant, agonizing kick, this time only saved from overbalancing by the glyph she had the good sense to conjure to root her in place. "Here are the facts: Was I looking forward to speaking again? Yes! Will I be just fine if we don't?! Also yes! Is Ozpin arriving soon and are you going to feel stupid when I slay him, lead Remnant to prosperity and figure out how to send you and your dumb family packing back to your world so you're all out of my hair FOREVER? ALSO ALSO YES! So you just do whatever you want, Yang! Be like everyone else and leave everything to Weiss, I'm used to it! I'll take care of ALL YOUR PROBLEMS while you sit in your room ignoring me like some sort of disapproving parent! YOU'RE the one who's gonna regret not appreciating me when I'm gone, you miserable BRAT! Care for a preview? Look, I'm walking away right NOW! Here I go! You better be paying close attention!"

Despite the drunken fervor of the words and the final, emphatic slap she gave the door to accompany them, it was going to take at least a full minute without any signs of life for her to make good on that stakeless threat after she finished speaking. If such was what she received, she vented her remaining angst in the form of a terse huff and turned to stomp off, doing an impeccable job of retaining her dignity in spite of the unsteady lurch trying to take hold of her step. In her opinion.

The first sign of life was the not cool, graceful, badass, or even girlish squawk that escaped Yang as her slow depressive spiral was interrupted by about two hundred decibels of angry Schnee as she scrambled towards the back of the bunk and raised her fists with her prosthetic's weapon form extending as Fight and Flight took hold at almost the exact same time. It took a good thirty seconds for any other signs of life to show outside of hyperventilation once Weiss was done, Yang's emotions tangled up in a mixture of baffled amusement, still depression, and sheer terror.

"I... what??? My mom's here too!? what did- I- have I been here too long? Did you need something? Did you ask for me and I missed it?? Are you okay?! Like I know you just said a whole bunch of times that you were okay but-"

By the end of it Yang's fists were lowering, and there was an edge of very genuine concern to her voice as she scooted herself towards the edge of the bed with a slight wince. Partially because this was like, the most Weiss-ish she'd seen this world's Weiss to date, and partially because it was also the most distraught she'd seen her, even counting the time she got frozen in place, attacked by about thirty people, and then zapped by the zap zinging zapper herself.

Regardless of whatever hole Yang was doing her best to think herself into, someone she cared about in distress was going to take precedent 100% of the time.

 

[Gus Gungus]

There was something so uncomforting and eerie about seeing grimm displayed in such a manner that for a short while even the experienced huntress was stunned into silence. Her eyes drifted about the room, taking it all in and also discreetly trying to scan for where Maria could be in this room before her gaze settled on the old creepy man. "Doctor Merlot. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that I was expected. I'll get right to it then. I want to know everything you did, in complete detail. Nothing left out."

She didn't quite see Maria. But in the corner of the cluttered lab she did see a roughly human-sized figure cocooned in what looked to be the fabric of her cloak, clinging upside-down to the ceiling like a bat. Apparently Merlot had come to accept this as normal in his workplace.

"And I want to strap you to an operation table, trigger your transformation into a bird, lay your entrails out side by side in a neat row and determine what, if any, physiological properties this 'magic' may possess." He answered without missing a beat, still neglecting to look up. Finally, and only after several more adjustments to the apparatus, he did, pushing the tray away from him and settling back to regard Raven with a smug, simpering stare.



"Yet I hardly imagine that to be a likely eventuality. Alas, my dear, it appears we shall both leave each other's company disappointed. Unless you can give me a single reason I should share any information willingly with a puppet of that insufferable wench, Salem."

The first sign of life was the not cool, graceful, badass, or even girlish squawk that escaped Yang as her slow depressive spiral was interrupted by about two hundred decibels of angry Schnee as she scrambled towards the back of the bunk and raised her fists with her prosthetic's weapon form extending as Fight and Flight took hold at almost the exact same time. It took a good thirty seconds for any other signs of life to show outside of hyperventilation once Weiss was done, Yang's emotions tangled up in a mixture of baffled amusement, still depression, and sheer terror.

"I... what??? My mom's here too!? what did- I- have I been here too long? Did you need something? Did you ask for me and I missed it?? Are you okay?! Like I know you just said a whole bunch of times that you were okay but-"

Weiss seemed to find the abject bafflement in Yang's tone more insulting than if she had given her the shouting match she came in search of, brow scrunching up at the audacity of trying to hide it even while the (severely impaired) part of her brain responsible for rational thinking worked overtime to process the cues it was being given. "Don't give me that, you know exactly what I'm talking about! You're obviously trying to manipulate me somehow by ignoring me! And that Branwen woman said... not your mother, dunce⁠, good riddance to that wastrel⁠—I mean the other one, she told me you're aaaaaallllllllllllll about hating Weiss now, wow, what a unique and independently formed opinion, Yang, hey everyone⁠—"

She lurched a step or two back from the door and looked both ways with her arms splayed wide like she was the sloppy adolescent drinker at a concert, still somehow prim and balanced despite it all. There was absolutely no one around.

"⁠—Anyone else have a scalding take fresh from the huntsman-huntress echo chamber about how I'm some sort of soulless empty person?! Anyone else going to condemn me or belittle me because I have a better plan than you all, and Salem and I'm WINNING?! No, please, by all means make yourselves feel better about... hic!... YOURSELVES! What do I care?! I'm the ice queen, I was born with no feelings! Feel free to keep harshly criticizing every aspect of my existence! It's never been a problem for me before! Ha!"

She brought her knuckles to her mouth to cover a snort, like she had told an in-joke only she would get and was also still the biggest fan of her own sense of humor in Remnant. Which she was.

"But you, Yang? Really? I'm not even (hic!) angry. I just want you to know how crude, tasteless and downright tacky I find your method of (hic!) subterfuge to be! They call me cold, but you must be a cruel, sadistic person of the highest caliber to even consider taking all you know about my life and using it to (hic!), to infiltrate my subconsciousness you devious, cunning little MINX, I can't even believe I—"

Weiss wasn't one to waste a good diatribe, which in her somewhat goofy state she genuinely believed this was. Hence, she didn't stop talking. But something about uttering the words 'cruel', 'sadistic' or even 'devious' in the same breath as the name of the girl who almost burned her kitchen down trying to make pasta just struck the logical side of her as so absurd it jumpstarted that entire portion of the brain, and somewhere deep inside her cloudy state of consciousness two synapses sparked together to form a genuine, actual thought.

Spoiler: Internally

Spoiler: Externally

"—IIIIIIIIIIIiiiiiiiiiiii have the hiccups."

They sounded like baby panda hiccups. But more important than that was the fact that certain things, and certain assumptions she may have rashly made based off those things, had all clicked into place by the time she fell against the door, catching her forehead on the back of her hand and using it to brace herself against the cool metal as she she burst into giggles. The huff that punctuated them sounded rueful, though, that rare note of sincere apology Yang had heard on a number of occasions (if few) inflecting her speech.



"I'm... hic! I'm sorry, Yang. I suppose I've just been stressed lately and I was eager to see you, but given the nature of all this I was being... dumb." Admitting it had her shudder. "And I'm just really hic! paranoid right now and I was led to believe some things. It's dumb. This is so dumb. I realize you must be... very tired. Please don't hesitate to let me know if it's anything I can help with."

Her voice was soft, not even the heady buzz of alcohol enough to keep her from feeling ashamed at how absurd she must've seemed right now. Though the words carried the strained tone of an awkward goodbye, Weiss didn't move away from the door just yet; nor did she remove her hand from where it was steadying her even after she stepped back, gazing wistfully at where her fingers made contact as she strained her ears to await a response. Even hearing her voice was enough.​

 

[MyrtenRose]

She didn't quite see Maria. But in the corner of the cluttered lab she did see a roughly human-sized figure cocooned in what looked to be the fabric of her cloak, clinging upside-down to the ceiling like a bat. Apparently Merlot had come to accept this as normal in his workplace.

...That's not something you see everyday.​

"And I want to strap you to an operation table, trigger your transformation into a bird, lay your entrails out side by side in a neat row and determine what, if any, physiological properties this 'magic' may possess." He answered without missing a beat, still neglecting to look up.

...might have just cracked the top ten list on things I didn't wish to hear today. Or ever.​

Finally, and only after several more adjustments to the apparatus, he did, pushing the tray away from him and settling back to regard Raven with a smug, simpering stare.

"Yet I hardly imagine that to be a likely eventuality. Alas, my dear, it appears we shall both leave each other's company disappointed. Unless you can give me a single reason I should share any information willingly with a puppet of that insufferable wench, Salem."

"Because, you miserable reprobate-" Raven stomped on over towards the doctor and despite the presence of the cuffs on her wrists and the insane hybrid hanging onto a corner of the roof, she leaned her face in with a dangerous looking expression on her face, as if she could make good on any threats despite the handicaps currently plaguing her. Though she didn't actually touch the man, say by grabbing hold of his collar and yanking him closer, she was still close enough to make out all the individual hairs lining his face...if she actually cared enough to do so. "-We may not be the closest of friends but I still count her as a friend nevertheless. Tock. You did something to her, some invasive therapy or some crap like that. Whatever neutral words you want to use to paint it as "not as bad" as it really is. You did something to her head and it's really done a number on her. I saw it. Now, I don't know if it can be easily fixed, or fixed at all, but you're going to walk me through everything you did to her out of necessity. Like me or not, hate Salem or not, it doesn't matter. Necessity may demand we work together, and though my distaste for you is plentiful, I will bury that feeling and work with you, because something worse is coming for all of us. You know what else is necessary?"

"ALL OF US BEING AT OUR ABSOLUTE BEST TO DEAL WITH HIM! SOMETHING SHE CAN'T BE WHILE SHE'S MESSED UP IN THE HEAD BECAUSE OF YOU, YOU WRETCHED MADMAN!"

Raven exhaled, taking a step back and glancing over at the shadowy figure up there, gesturing for peace and calm. "So you are going to tell me. Your life is just as much on the line as any of us. Just because you're in this place, maybe far away from the conflict...don't let that get to your head. With him coming, none of us will be particularly safe. Somebody that messes around with his grimm may be least of all. That is why you're going to tell me. It's as much self-preservation as anything else. And not just from me." ​

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

She didn't quite see Maria. But in the corner of the cluttered lab she did see a roughly human-sized figure cocooned in what looked to be the fabric of her cloak, clinging upside-down to the ceiling like a bat. Apparently Merlot had come to accept this as normal in his workplace.

"And I want to strap you to an operation table, trigger your transformation into a bird, lay your entrails out side by side in a neat row and determine what, if any, physiological properties this 'magic' may possess." He answered without missing a beat, still neglecting to look up. Finally, and only after several more adjustments to the apparatus, he did, pushing the tray away from him and settling back to regard Raven with a smug, simpering stare.

View attachment 750227

"Yet I hardly imagine that to be a likely eventuality. Alas, my dear, it appears we shall both leave each other's company disappointed. Unless you can give me a single reason I should share any information willingly with a puppet of that insufferable wench, Salem."





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Weiss seemed to find the abject bafflement in Yang's tone more insulting than if she had given her the shouting match she came in search of, brow scrunching up at the audacity of trying to hide it even while the (severely impaired) part of her brain responsible for rational thinking worked overtime to process the cues it was being given. "Don't give me that, you know exactly what I'm talking about! You're obviously trying to manipulate me somehow by ignoring me! And that Branwen woman said... not your mother, dunce⁠, good riddance to that wastrel⁠—I mean the other one, she told me you're aaaaaallllllllllllll about hating Weiss now, wow, what a unique and independently formed opinion, Yang, hey everyone⁠—"

She lurched a step or two back from the door and looked both ways with her arms splayed wide like she was the sloppy adolescent drinker at a concert, still somehow prim and balanced despite it all. There was absolutely no one around.

"⁠—Anyone else have a scalding take fresh from the huntsman-huntress echo chamber about how I'm some sort of soulless empty person?! Anyone else going to condemn me or belittle me because I have a better plan than you all, and Salem and I'm WINNING?! No, please, by all means make yourselves feel better about... hic!... YOURSELVES! What do I care?! I'm the ice queen, I was born with no feelings! Feel free to keep harshly criticizing every aspect of my existence! It's never been a problem for me before! Ha!"

She brought her knuckles to her mouth to cover a snort, like she had told an in-joke only she would get and was also still the biggest fan of her own sense of humor in Remnant. Which she was.

"But you, Yang? Really? I'm not even (hic!) angry. I just want you to know how crude, tasteless and downright tacky I find your method of (hic!) subterfuge to be! They call me cold, but you must be a cruel, sadistic person of the highest caliber to even consider taking all you know about my life and using it to (hic!), to infiltrate my subconsciousness you devious, cunning little MINX, I can't even believe I—"

Weiss wasn't one to waste a good diatribe, which in her somewhat goofy state she genuinely believed this was. Hence, she didn't stop talking. But something about uttering the words 'cruel', 'sadistic' or even 'devious' in the same breath as the name of the girl who almost burned her kitchen down trying to make pasta just struck the logical side of her as so absurd it jumpstarted that entire portion of the brain, and somewhere deep inside her cloudy state of consciousness two synapses sparked together to form a genuine, actual thought.

Spoiler: Internally

View attachment 750212

Spoiler: Externally

"—IIIIIIIIIIIiiiiiiiiiiii have the hiccups."

They sounded like baby panda hiccups. But more important than that was the fact that certain things, and certain assumptions she may have rashly made based off those things, had all clicked into place by the time she fell against the door, catching her forehead on the back of her hand and using it to brace herself against the cool metal as she she burst into giggles. The huff that punctuated them sounded rueful, though, that rare note of sincere apology Yang had heard on a number of occasions (if few) inflecting her speech.

View attachment 750214

"I'm... hic! I'm sorry, Yang. I suppose I've just been stressed lately and I was eager to see you, but given the nature of all this I was being... dumb." Admitting it had her shudder. "And I'm just really hic! paranoid right now and I was led to believe some things. It's dumb. This is so dumb. I realize you must be... very tired. Please don't hesitate to let me know if it's anything I can help with."

Her voice was soft, not even the heady buzz of alcohol enough to keep her from feeling ashamed at how absurd she must've seemed right now. Though the words carried the strained tone of an awkward goodbye, Weiss didn't move away from the door just yet; nor did she remove her hand from where it was steadying her even after she stepped back, gazing wistfully at where her fingers made contact as she strained her ears to await a response. Even hearing her voice was enough.​

Yang had veeeeeeery slowly moved to stand up from her bunk as Weiss launched into the vicious character attack upon her and everyone she knew, still looking more confused than hurt by anything. She didn't try to step forward until Weiss had started to trail off, but she did make to close the distance and gently place her realhand on her shoulder with an otherwise wry grin.

"Nope, you caught me. All this time everyone thought you were brainwashing me, it was the other way around. Starting my own cult, and you're my first member!"

As long as Weiss didn't completely wig out at the shoulder touch, she moved to put her other hand on the matching shoulder and start to guide Weiss towards one of the bunks. "And my first order as super supreme cult leader is for you to sit down for a few minutes and just... y'know, relax. Five minutes before you go back to managing thirty different plans and their fifty different contingencies or whatever your big brain's doing, kay?"

If that all went over without anything worse than shots fired back, she sat down on the bunk across from Weiss and gave let her cheeky grin grow for a second before she huffed and looked away, the front dropped again as her smile wavered and she rubbed the back of her head.

"So uh... in all seriousness, I'm sorry for whatever that was about, but my mom's kind of an asshole if you didn't know." She said, not yet aware they were talking about entirely different Ravens. "and that you were apparently waiting to talk to me. I've been... I'm not even sure how long I've been in this room. Thought it'd only been a few hours." Or a few days. She genuinely had no idea. "But however long it's been since that night I..."

She trailed off and drummed her fingers on her knees, her words drying up from something other than unsurety. Yang hated feeling powerless. Losing a fight, yea, whatever. She had a teensy bit of an ego, but it could take a hit just like the rest of her; really damn well. But... that night, with the other her, tossing her around, feeling her up, just saying whatever bullshit she wanted to spew with Yang too weak to say anything back, to fight back, Just like that night with Adam, except it wasn't just a moment, it was-

She realized just how long that quiet had drifted on, and how hard her iron fingers were digging into her knee as the pain dragged her back out of the hole in her head.

"...Thanks. For not letting it go farther than that." she finally finished in a weak, awful quiet that didn't match Yang Xiao Long at all.

 

[Gus Gungus]

"Because, you miserable reprobate-" Raven stomped on over towards the doctor and despite the presence of the cuffs on her wrists and the insane hybrid hanging onto a corner of the roof, she leaned her face in with a dangerous looking expression on her face, as if she could make good on any threats despite the handicaps currently plaguing her. Though she didn't actually touch the man, say by grabbing hold of his collar and yanking him closer, she was still close enough to make out all the individual hairs lining his face...if she actually cared enough to do so. "-We may not be the closest of friends but I still count her as a friend nevertheless. Tock. You did something to her, some invasive therapy or some crap like that. Whatever neutral words you want to use to paint it as "not as bad" as it really is-"

"-Brainwashing-"

Merlot corrected, apparently bemused more than threatened by her proximity as his eyes wordlessly rolled up to Maria where she was hanging from the ceiling. The next time Raven did the same she could see the cocoon had shifted, formed an opening, and in the shadowy depths of its folds two pinpricks of silver light peered out from the darkness. It was hard to shake the feeling that they were fixated directly on her, occasionally blinking.

You did something to her head and it's really done a number on her. I saw it. Now, I don't know if it can be easily fixed, or fixed at all, but you're going to walk me through everything you did to her out of necessity. Like me or not, hate Salem or not, it doesn't matter. Necessity may demand we work together, and though my distaste for you is plentiful, I will bury that feeling and work with you, because something worse is coming for all of us. You know what else is necessary?"

"ALL OF US BEING AT OUR ABSOLUTE BEST TO DEAL WITH HIM! SOMETHING SHE CAN'T BE WHILE SHE'S MESSED UP IN THE HEAD BECAUSE OF YOU, YOU WRETCHED MADMAN!"

Raven exhaled, taking a step back and glancing over at the shadowy figure up there, gesturing for peace and calm. "So you are going to tell me. Your life is just as much on the line as any of us. Just because you're in this place, maybe far away from the conflict...don't let that get to your head. With him coming, none of us will be particularly safe. Somebody that messes around with his grimm may be least of all. That is why you're going to tell me. It's as much self-preservation as anything else. And not just from me."

Merlot took it all on board with an ill-fitting air of aplomb and a quirked eyebrow as he stroked his chin, minimal reaction to raising of her voice. His own didn't change, simply staying the course of that same wizened, chiding tone as he peeled his crinkled lips back in a teeth-baring smirk.

"And if I told you I have no objection to meeting the man who sires the Grimm? On the contrary, it would be my absolute delight, woman. I even have a number of improvements to his design I'd be all too happy to submit. 'Twould be a riveting conversation, I'm sure. A true lifetime achievement for me."

He simpered, making a pretense of taming his wild bush of hair that didn't fool anybody.

"That's one of two reasons everything you said means nothing to me. The second? Well, I'm afraid it's rather simple. You see, I have very little interest in miss Jade's usefulness as an instrument of combat. I'll put my faith in miss Schnee and the military where that's concerned, thank you very much. As a case study, though? The fascinating psychological ramifications of employing simple mentalist torture on a mind so old, one who's lived such a life?"

His smirk grew into a dark, cruel grin, and it had never been more clear what the operative word when Raven described him was. 'Madman'.

"Why, it's nothing short of astounding. Who knows, perhaps the woman's psyche and my study of it could be an invaluable step in perfecting this technique in future? So for now, miss Branwen, I'm afraid I remain quite unswayed."

Yang had veeeeeeery slowly moved to stand up from her bunk as Weiss launched into the vicious character attack upon her and everyone she knew, still looking more confused than hurt by anything. She didn't try to step forward until Weiss had started to trail off, but she did make to close the distance and gently place her realhand on her shoulder with an otherwise wry grin.

"Nope, you caught me. All this time everyone thought you were brainwashing me, it was the other way around. Starting my own cult, and you're my first member!"

"It's incredibly dumb that people thought that... If I wanted to brainwash you I would have..." She muttered in a bitter half-joke, arms folded and a bit of a petulant slouch to her shoulders as Yang approached rather than giving her the prompt dismissal Weiss wanted. She was too mortified to want anything else, even if that wasn't actually what she wanted at all. It was complicated.

As long as Weiss didn't completely wig out at the shoulder touch, she moved to put her other hand on the matching shoulder and start to guide Weiss towards one of the bunks. "And my first order as super supreme cult leader is for you to sit down for a few minutes and just... y'know, relax. Five minutes before you go back to managing thirty different plans and their fifty different contingencies or whatever your big brain's doing, kay?"

She did stiffen up a bit at the first touch, shoulder twitching away as if to push the hand off without any actual force put behind the motion, but there was no volcanic eruption of ice or frost to follow. The second hand met less resistance, and there was a similar lack of any real struggle in the way she set her heels in place when Yang started using her superior strength girth to steer her over towards the bed. She eyeballed it warily.

"Well, I shouldn't really be taking breaks unless it's to sleep... That's sort of why I was waiting for you to come to me. Ozpin's almost here and I still have so many dust requisitions to make... And the midnoon air formation drill is in..." Her eyes flickered towards the clock. "...Ugh... now. But, well..."

Yang had never felt shoulders as tense as the ones she was guiding before. They were like the Weiss she used to room with at Beacon's on the night before any given exam, only it was that times a billion plus a lifetime of unresolved emotional fraying. Divided by drunk. For as many faults as she may have had as a person, nobody could claim she hadn't poured every fiber of her being into this task she considered her calling, the latest in an endless ladder of royal tests.

It was strange, though. At Yang's hilariously transparent compliment she couldn't help but titter with a toss of her ponytail, and some of that stress seemed to dissolve in her hands as her muscles relaxed a little bit and she plopped onto the bunk when prompted; retaining balance with a palm elegantly propping her, knees tucked together at a slight angle to her hips.



"Whatever you say, Super Supreme Leader. But please, keep the shameless flattery coming if you expect me to stay a whole five minutes. After all, your opposition is an entire morning's worth of your friends telling me how reprehensible I am."

"So uh... in all seriousness, I'm sorry for whatever that was about, but my mom's kind of an asshole if you didn't know." She said, not yet aware they were talking about entirely different Ravens. "and that you were apparently waiting to talk to me. I've been... I'm not even sure how long I've been in this room. Thought it'd only been a few hours." Or a few days. She genuinely had no idea. "But however long it's been since that night I..."

She trailed off and drummed her fingers on her knees, her words drying up from something other than unsurety. Yang hated feeling powerless. Losing a fight, yea, whatever. She had a teensy bit of an ego, but it could take a hit just like the rest of her; really damn well. But... that night, with the other her, tossing her around, feeling her up, just saying whatever bullshit she wanted to spew with Yang too weak to say anything back, to fight back, Just like that night with Adam, except it wasn't just a moment, it was-

She realized just how long that quiet had drifted on, and how hard her iron fingers were digging into her knee as the pain dragged her back out of the hole in her head.

"...Thanks. For not letting it go farther than that." she finally finished in a weak, awful quiet that didn't match Yang Xiao Long at all.

A strangely guarded look disrupted Weiss's glow of reignited self-approval when Yang mentioned her actual mother, and she went from an evasive lower lip bite to half-parting her mouth as if to say something. But whatever words had been formulating dissipated in the face of the ones the huntress went on to speak, the expression replaced by an alert, studious frown as Yang's voice and face took on the note they did.



Oh no.

"Oh no," she echoed her first thought verbally, mainly to give herself the time to think of something more substantial. Anything, really. She was seeing Yang as she had never seen her right now. A way she never wanted to see her. A way she simply wasn't meant to be seen, and one Weiss in her shroud of emotional detachment had never even really considered as a possibility. She jolted forward before she could stop herself, grasping the metal hand digging into her knee in a fashion far less tactful than the younger woman had initiated contact earlier as her very nature warred with what she wanted to say. Stunted as the result may have been, any trace of the self-indulgent glutton for compliments appeared to vanish like mist, replaced by eyes that were truly penitent for the first time Yang had seen since that night in the cellar.

"Yang, I... don't thank me. Forgive me. Please forgive me. Not only for not being there soon enough, but for not even considering how you might be... I, uhm, I d-don't even really know what to say right now. Here I was acting a fool and shouting myself hoarse while you've obviously been... going through something. It's just... you're so strong, and... and majestic that it's all too easy to see you as bulletproof sometimes, and I've really missed you, and..."

'Majestic'? What in Dust's name, Weiss? She's not a deer. Her constant perfectionist's inner voice that followed her around and criticized everything she did had plenty more to say, but Weiss tuned it out with an extremely mild glower that only made it as far as her eyes. She was in no mood to hear it, but that voice was right; she was floundering. Sincerity was a fatal toxin to most prominent Atlesians, and she forced herself not to think about the fact that she appeared to be no exception.

That didn't matter right now. If she had ever actually dared stake a claim to being Yang's friend, then she had to be capable of better than this. There had to be more she could do for someone who made her feel the slightest bit better about humanity just by existing, the boldly audacious spirit whose mere proximity made Weiss feel twice as sure of herself as she normally did, which could be deceptively variable for as assertively as she carried herself. If she, someone who styled herself a healer of Remnant's oldest wounds couldn't even comfort her in her time of need, then... who was to say Branwen wasn't right in some of the things she said?

She just had to think. She had to use her assets. Money? No, that was stupid. The eye thing? No. Weird. Zwei? Elsewhere. What else did she... oh. Oh.



Well, maybe she did have something. The question was, could she bring herself to use it? To actually deploy a weapon the very act of keeping all this time made her look so completely sentimental, so infantile, so lame? She didn't know.

But she supposed she'd just have to try.

Weiss sighed, and for a fleeting second it was like Yang could actually see the physical act of swallowing her gargantuan pride show on the councilwoman's face as she braced herself and smoothed out her bangs a bit.

"Actually, maybe there is a way I can help with this. Shut up and close your eyes for a second. Well, no, I guess I was the one speaking. So I'll shut up and you close your eyes."

She huffed, somehow still nowhere near tipsy enough not to feel idiotic doing this. Assuming Yang complied, Weiss exhaled hard and stood up from her bunk to elegantly stride across and deposit herself next to Yang on hers, exercising every last ounce of sheer mental discipline to banish the lingering mortification from her face. The huntress felt cold, delicate fingers pry her own flesh and blood hand open, and in the next moment a small, neatly folded slip of paper was pressed into her palm, worn and crinkled by age but having tellingly been smoothed out and pressed time after time to maintain its legibility. The fingers fell away, and the heiress cleared her throat lightly to indicate Yang could look again as she averted her gaze, like she was embarrassed about how the note might have been taken.

Spoiler

"One, please. As in... I'd like to give you one. Wait, does this make more sense if you hand me the note?" She scowled, annoyed at her own listlessness and projecting that annoyance outward. "I don't know how coupons WORK, Yang! I'm RICH!"



She couldn't say she was altogether familiar with hugging, either.

But as with most things, Weiss gave it absolutely everything she had.​

 

[MyrtenRose]

"-Brainwashing-"

Merlot corrected, apparently bemused more than threatened by her proximity as his eyes wordlessly rolled up to Maria where she was hanging from the ceiling. The next time Raven did the same she could see the cocoon had shifted, formed an opening, and in the shadowy depths of its folds two pinpricks of silver light peered out from the darkness. It was hard to shake the feeling that they were fixated directly on her, occasionally blinking.

"Yes. That."​

Merlot took it all on board with an ill-fitting air of aplomb and a quirked eyebrow as he stroked his chin, minimal reaction to raising of her voice. His own didn't change, simply staying the course of that same wizened, chiding tone as he peeled his crinkled lips back in a teeth-baring smirk.

"And if I told you I have no objection to meeting the man who sires the Grimm? On the contrary, it would be my absolute delight, woman. I even have a number of improvements to his design I'd be all too happy to submit. 'Twould be a riveting conversation, I'm sure. A true lifetime achievement for me."

Her head shook in disbelief, incredulously staring down Merlot. "How is--no, what I am saying? Should've expected that much. Of course you of all people would be delighted by the possibility. Depraved minds attract equally depraved minds."​

"That's one of two reasons everything you said means nothing to me. The second? Well, I'm afraid it's rather simple. You see, I have very little interest in miss Jade's usefulness as an instrument of combat. I'll put my faith in miss Schnee and the military where that's concerned, thank you very much. As a case study, though? The fascinating psychological ramifications of employing simple mentalist torture on a mind so old, one who's lived such a life?"

His smirk grew into a dark, cruel grin, and it had never been more clear what the operative word when Raven described him was. 'Madman'.

"Why, it's nothing short of astounding. Who knows, perhaps the woman's psyche and my study of it could be an invaluable step in perfecting this technique in future? So for now, miss Branwen, I'm afraid I remain quite unswayed."

"I had hoped the logic would have been enough." She muttered, so low that even in this close proximity it was difficult for Merlot to hear, though there was no doubt he noticed her mouth moving. "Very well then." She raised her voice back up to normal. "How about this, then? No experiments on me, nothing that would harm the people that matter to me or be a detriment to the cause I stand for, the purpose I've dedicated my life to...but if you do this for me? I'll...….owe you a favor." Reluctant as she was to make that offer to a criminally mad doctor, if it worked and got him to see reason. If it put her in a better position to help a friend, then...

That sacrifice was worth it.

"Any favor that doesn't break those guidelines. No experimenting on me, no hurting anyone important to me, or runs against what I've dedicated my life towards. Other than that? A favor for a favor. Any. Favor."​

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

"Yang, I... don't thank me. Forgive me. Please forgive me. Not only for not being there soon enough, but for not even considering how you might be... I, uhm, I d-don't even really know what to say right now. Here I was acting a fool and shouting myself hoarse while you've obviously been... going through something. It's just... you're so strong, and... and majestic that it's all too easy to see you as bulletproof sometimes-"

"-I should be. Hell, I can't afford not to be."

The spirit was back in Yang's voice with none of the confidence as she cut Weiss off, a vicious frustration sharpening her words a lethal edge that was then turned right back on her own heart. "There's so much at stake Weiss. I know you know that, and I know you're doing everything you can to do what you think is right, but... that doesn't mean the rest of us can slack off, a-and hell, it doesn't really mean anything for the fight back home, not really; my family and everyone else stuck here are just... trying to get back to the starting line. If I stumble here, I won't even make it back to that, and how freaking sad would that be? I need to be bulletproof. Taking help, being part of a group effort is one thing, but needing to be rescued? Being... freaking deadweight? Another problem on your list to solve, or my uncle and sister's?"

She looked back up towards the bunk above her with a jagged frown.

"That sucks Weiss. I suck. I need to do better. I can't be the one who needs rescuing when there's so many people who haven't gotten my training or lucked out on the semblance lottery who need it more. I need to be, what did you say? Majestic?" She tried to finish with a weak grin as she turned back to the heiress.

That didn't matter right now. If she had ever actually dared stake a claim to being Yang's friend, then she had to be capable of better than this. There had to be more she could do for someone who made her feel the slightest bit better about humanity just by existing, the boldly audacious spirit whose mere proximity made Weiss feel twice as sure of herself as she normally did, which could be deceptively variable for as assertively as she carried herself. If she, someone who styled herself a healer of Remnant's oldest wounds couldn't even comfort her in her time of need, then... who was to say Branwen wasn't right in some of the things she said?

She just had to think. She had to use her assets. Money? No, that was stupid. The eye thing? No. Weird. Zwei? Elsewhere. What else did she... oh. Oh.

Well, maybe she did have something. The question was, could she bring herself to use it? To actually deploy a weapon the very act of keeping all this time made her look so completely sentimental, so infantile, so lame? She didn't know.

But she supposed she'd just have to try.

Weiss sighed, and for a fleeting second it was like Yang could actually see the physical act of swallowing her gargantuan pride show on the councilwoman's face as she braced herself and smoothed out her bangs a bit.

"Actually, maybe there is a way I can help with this. Shut up and close your eyes for a second. Well, no, I guess I was the one speaking. So I'll shut up and you close your eyes."

She huffed, somehow still nowhere near tipsy enough not to feel idiotic doing this. Assuming Yang complied, Weiss exhaled hard and stood up from her bunk to elegantly stride across and deposit herself next to Yang on hers, exercising every last ounce of sheer mental discipline to banish the lingering mortification from her face. The huntress felt cold, delicate fingers pry her own flesh and blood hand open, and in the next moment a small, neatly folded slip of paper was pressed into her palm, worn and crinkled by age but having tellingly been smoothed out and pressed time after time to maintain its legibility. The fingers fell away, and the heiress cleared her throat lightly to indicate Yang could look again as she averted her gaze, like she was embarrassed about how the note might have been taken.

With the amount of shock on Yang's face when she complied at Weiss' initial request and opened up her eyes to see that godawful doodle-Yang looking back at her with a far more powerful smirk than she felt capable of mustering right now, one could've been excused for thinking she'd actually died. There wasn't an actual universe where she expected Weiss to take something so dumb, a parting joke with warm accents to ensure the heiress know that even though Yang was ostensibly leaving to join the resistance that had sworn to kick Weiss' ass that they were still, y'know, on good terms. Paper, concrete confirmation that Yang intended to keep the promise she made when she left. It was never something she expected Weiss to keep, let alone ever cash in. She wouldn't have expected her Weiss to keep it, and she loved her Weiss like a sister, which if anyone knew Yang Xiao Long, that was saying a lot.

Why was it always Weiss Schnee hugs that were the only ones capable of catching her off guard?

"Weiss... this.... this is so.... so lame..."

If there was meant to be even a teasing bite to those words, it was lost in just how hard and warm Yang hugged Weiss back.

For as much as Yang desired to be the foundation that held her loved ones, what she needed most in life was just someone who returned the favor, to a degree she didn't even realize herself. It was what she was searching for when she was on the hunt for her mom, after she lost it in the form of Summer. It was what she found in her team, and for the first few months it was Qrow's burden to bear in this world. But she'd been away from them for so long, and even after reuniting, while Ruby might've been the most important person in Yang's life, that was a role she would never let her sister fill, that her mind absolutely refused to add any hardships to. She'd always be her protector first, before anything else, especially before her own self.

So just how much this hug ended up meaning to Yang couldn't have been more overstated. If this all ended up being simple manipulation, the she-witch Schnee coiling another soul around her finger to her own violent ends, it was the most masterful play she'd made to date.

She took a deep breath when she finally found the strength of will to release it, and pushed Weiss' shoulders back with a wry grin.

"Well this sucks. That was supposed to be for when you needed a hug snow priss, not when I did. You basically just, regifted me. That not an Atlesian faux pass or something?"

She huffed and clasped her hands together as her smile softened. "...But thanks. because I did need that."

She cleared her throat and crossed her arms instead, then uncrossed them so she could sit up, lean against the wall, and recross them. "...Sooooooooooooo. Did you need something? Maybe something extra cool, badass, and huntressy that only someone as majestic-" She was definitely never letting that one go "-as me could do so we can both forget how uncool I spent the last uh-" She glanced up at the clock and winced "-way, way too long being? Also what do you mean 'Ozpin's coming?'"

One hug wasn't enough to dig Yang out of the hole she'd spent the last night digging, or rather the entire time in this world digging and the last night power drilling. But it was enough to stop the digging, and start the climbing. And enough for her to realize that made like... no sense, for what Yang knew of the situation between Weiss and Oz.

 

[Gus Gungus]

"Weiss... this.... this is so.... so lame..."

If there was meant to be even a teasing bite to those words, it was lost in just how hard and warm Yang hugged Weiss back.

"Mrrrrrrngh," Weiss's grumbled warning was vague, incoherent, and yet somehow impossibly terrifying even from the depths of Yang's shoulder as she buried her face further into it, limiting herself to a dismayed hum so as not to spoil the moment for the brute while also gently communicating the implicit health detriments of milking a situation she already found so mortifying. For both of them. Weiss would've died of embarrassment, Yang of severe burns.

But despite her sour mumbling, there was no squirming, no screeching, and no effort whatsoever made to break off the embrace on her end until Yang did. Gestures of intimacy and affection, while faked aplenty during her lifetime, didn't exactly number high on the list of skills Weiss had committed herself to mastering. Not only did they not service her goals, they were almost antithetical to them. She was no machine. Keeping her feelings at a distance required a focused mind and active effort, even if her early life experiences had set her well on her way, and she couldn't afford to let herself become compromised or entangled. This whole Yang affair had been a simple distraction provoked by curiosity at first, but as they grew closer Weiss was able to rationalize her as an anomaly; Someone who wasn't from this world, who in all likelihood wouldn't be here for very long. She didn't necessarily have to restrict everything if there was no fear of a long term attachment, or so she reasoned.

That still didn't make her the most seasoned hugger. There was a vulnerability to the act she could never quite fully surrender to, one she would've been loathe to admit was as linked to her size as much as it was past experiences. In short, she was short. If Yang had stood up with the way they were hugging right now she wouldn't even have been able to touch her feet to the floor, just dangled from her like a necktie. For her, a woman who had spent years cultivating an aura of absolute poise and indomitability, an embrace meant succumbing; giving herself over to a grip from arms that were almost always bigger than hers, often stronger. Weiss had too many memories where that surrender meant fear and pain to ever get fully used to the idea.

Except for right now, apparently. From the moment Yang's arms accepted her, the councilwoman's muscles were like elastic in how quickly weeks of tension seemed to desert them. It was a sensation so potent it actually drew a soft, involuntary whimper from her in her buzzed state, one that immediately had her stiffen back up again as one of her hands' purchase on Yang's back dug in just a little tighter in wordless caution not to say a single. Word. Indignity of it all aside, this was nice. Weiss would've gone so far as to say she deserved it. Even with all her eloquent verbiage she had difficulty articulating why exactly she felt so safe around Yang, but she did, and being the little spoon in a hug when the strong arms around her were ones she trusted completely was... quite different. Her own, much daintier set of arms wrapped even gave a reluctant squeeze in protest when Yang's finally moved to separate them, nevertheless relenting as she did. Not like she had much choice.

She took a deep breath when she finally found the strength of will to release it, and pushed Weiss' shoulders back with a wry grin.

"Well this sucks. That was supposed to be for when you needed a hug snow priss, not when I did. You basically just, regifted me. That not an Atlesian f-"

Watching the soft, compassionate look Weiss's face had relaxed into revert to full brat mode on command as soon as Yang started talking was like watching milk curdle, and she considered the act of shushing her with a finger to the lips fair game in light of how patient she'd been when the brute had the audacity to cut Weiss Schnee off before. While she was trying to tell her she missed her, no less.

"One, shut up. Two, a hug has no monetary value and thus cannot be gifted or re-gifted. Three, a document will arrive within the hour confirming this never happened. Sign it. And four..."

The sharp, extremely focused look she got in her eyes whenever she was glaring right through somebody crystallized like a layer of ice over a pond, and she released Yang's lips to instead cup just underneath her chin, meaning to lift it up by a few centimeters from wherever it was.

"Back to shut up again, only it's relevant. Look, far be it from me to object to the notion of wanting to better yourself. After all, consider who you're speaking to; Perfection didn't come entirely naturally," she drawled, not quite perfect enough to resist from tossing her ponytail with a self-indulgent smirk. "I can even help if you so wish. But these self-effacing remarks you're already starting to pepper in with your charming colloquialisms? Those I don't care for. Listen to ME, Yang Xiao Long—!"



It wasn't quite as bombastic, given there was less to work with in these Atlesian dorms, but there was still a flurry of motion and a flare of familiar energy as Weiss executed an impressive tumble across the bed to follow Yang to her new position, the pointer finger she thrust for her face clearly communicating that she had no intention of giving her an easy escape.

"—You are a REMARKABLE young woman, and there are already MORE than enough people in the world who'll try to tell you you aren't without you agreeing with them! Just like there are plenty of reprobates out there who're going to wanna hurt you, stifle you, do ANYTHING in their power to deprive you of yours, because they resent it, just like my father resented mine, and if you insist on beating yourself up every time they take a crack at it you might as well be JOINING THEIR RANKS! I won't abide by that Yang, do you hear me??? I expect BETTER of you!"

Spoiler

Lying there after being taken out by that pinpoint glyph-pillow combo, Yang's unique perspective offered her a clarity no one else in the kingdoms possessed with respect to Weiss's management tactics; being yelled at by an older, more ruthless, boss-of-an-entire-company Weiss was basically like that time she yelled at Blake from the chair, just more drunken and insane. There was no bite in the bark she used for Yang though, her radiant splendor and authority more than enough to get her point across in her mind. By the time she sat back up, Weiss was at an appropriate distance, sitting with her legs curled beneath her in ladylike fashion and a benevolent smile on her face like none of it had ever happened.



"Which isn't to say I don't fully understand where you're coming from. But for dust's sake, be reasonable with yourself. You're, what, a twenty-year-old woman on a foreign world dealing with some of its most vicious killers, one of whom is an unhinged older mockery of you? All things considered, I think you're doing quite well by the standards of anyone who isn't me."

She cleared her throat and crossed her arms instead, then uncrossed them so she could sit up, lean against the wall, and recross them. "...Sooooooooooooo. Did you need something? Maybe something extra cool, badass, and huntressy that only someone as majestic-" She was definitely never letting that one go "-as me could do so we can both forget how uncool I spent the last uh-" She glanced up at the clock and winced "-way, way too long being? Also what do you mean 'Ozpin's coming?'"

There was no point even arguing with Weiss on that last point. She just wouldn't have it. As things inevitably took a turn down the current affairs lane, however, Weiss's smile faltered briefly before evaporating entirely as soon as she mentioned Ozpin'. Part of digging into Yang's state of mind more was in anticipation of having to field questions like this, or more specifically how reluctant she was to do so; Conversing with someone who wasn't from this world almost let Weiss forget the weight of it sometimes, and as unrealistic as it was it had only taken about a week of pressing Yang for her information on the Relic of Knowledge before the councilwoman started to favor leaving the particulars of the conflict they were both embroiled in out of their discussions.

Still, as cold as the air in the room seemed to have suddenly become, she did find it in her to spare the first part a small, indulgent roll of the eyes.



"Know what else are majestic? Dogs. Of which you are a fluffy one. But while I'm afraid the same restrictions apply to you as your associates vis-a-vis leaving the academy, Ironwood's been kind enough to agree to a meeting tonight that should settle where we all stand in time for the final preparations. Once we're in that phase, well... I'm sure I could find a few uses for a capable huntress if the offer still stands. Oh, but wait, I forgot⁠—" A hand went to her chest and she rolled her eyes again, the smirk the motion paired with the only sign Yang got that she was being teased.

"⁠—You 'suck'. So just let me know if you see one around anywhere, won't you?"

Her simper was downright infuriating, one hand parting her bangs out of her eyes to reset them after all her yelling and rolling around. When she refocused her eyes on Yang to address her last question, however, it was with a more solemn, reticent air. She forced that gaze to hold steady, as much as it may have wanted to do otherwise.

"...I'm through with Ozpin, Yang. It happened almost as soon as you left; Guess I was cranky that week. A trivial border dispute with the Shadow Fang, of all things, but after the Cinder Fall of your Remnant intervened he came out looking a fool. Because she betrayed him. Immediately. Like I told him she was going to." She threw her hands up in disgusted fashion like a teenager recounting a domestic dispute, still a bit too drunk for this conversation in all honesty. Her inner workings were already beginning to ice over again, as warm as the preceding moment may have been. "Naturally, after she vanished with Spring he needed someone to take his juvenile aggression out on. Blake practically shines his shoes for him, so there was never really any doubt as to who. He told me he intended to come to Atlas and claim our relic, I informed him that was impossible, he attacked me. Silly me, I didn't take kindly to that. I must be old-fashioned."

One hand gripped her chin between thumb and forefinger in thought, genuinely thinking over what to reveal to Yang and what to keep to herself for the time being and how to best fill in the remaining blanks.

"That was weeks ago. He'll be along. The timeframe for his arrival isn't exact, but... it's soon. And Atlas stands prepared. I'm sure you still think I'm digging my own grave here, but I watched him for years, Yang, and during that time I learned that he is not infallible. That means he's not unbeatable. And I've been busy. It's not quite thirty plans and fifty contingencies, but my protocols to protect the civilian populace of both cities are all ready to be deployed. The kingdom's in for a bit of a shock, but there won't be any significant loss of life to speak of. Meanwhile we're at the height of our military power, I've been engaging in rigorous daily training sessions to maximize my ability to harness the power of both Winter and Spring, our world's Fall will be taking the field with me once we draw a line under this little squabble in Mantle, and I was able to turn both Ozpin's silver-eyed monsters against him with even less resistance than I anticipated. Because he's a moron, and everyone hates him. There are other elements at play I can't clue you in on right now, but that's about the gist. So..."

She cracked one eye open with a devious smirk, tone having gradually built its way back up from cold and analytical to playful and self-aggrandizing.



"Ready to admit you're impressed by me yet, or would you prefer to hold off until he's dead?"​

 

[Gus Gungus]

"I had hoped the logic would have been enough." She muttered, so low that even in this close proximity it was difficult for Merlot to hear, though there was no doubt he noticed her mouth moving. "Very well then." She raised her voice back up to normal. "How about this, then? No experiments on me, nothing that would harm the people that matter to me or be a detriment to the cause I stand for, the purpose I've dedicated my life to...but if you do this for me? I'll...….owe you a favor." Reluctant as she was to make that offer to a criminally mad doctor, if it worked and got him to see reason. If it put her in a better position to help a friend, then...

That sacrifice was worth it.

"Any favor that doesn't break those guidelines. No experimenting on me, no hurting anyone important to me, or runs against what I've dedicated my life towards. Other than that? A favor for a favor. Any. Favor."

"Pah. What use have I for a conditional favor from a fossil's lackey? Anything a huntress could provide for me is already at my disposal." He promptly dismissed the notion, having taken to outright ignoring the huntress's threatening proximity in favor of returning to his microscope adjustments. A few twists of the dials later, however, had his mouth twitch in realization, eyes squinting thoughtfully without coming away from the eyepiece.

"...Although... Favors are things miss Schnee leverages to her advantage most exquisitely, particularly under stress, and she is quite diligent about providing for those under her employ who bring her unexpected gain. Mayhap I could finally persuade her to fund one of my more... neglected projects." He sighed wistfully, as if lamenting a lost lover. "Levy your favor towards her, and perhaps I will allow you to peruse my notes on the adjustments to your friend's subconscious. To be delivered to your quarters after you comply with whatever the councilwoman may ask of you, naturally. Beyond that, dear bird, I'm afraid we are at an impasse."​

 

[MyrtenRose]

"Pah. What use have I for a conditional favor from a fossil's lackey? Anything a huntress could provide for me is already at my disposal." He promptly dismissed the notion, having taken to outright ignoring the huntress's threatening proximity in favor of returning to his microscope adjustments. A few twists of the dials later, however, had his mouth twitch in realization, eyes squinting thoughtfully without coming away from the eyepiece.

"...Although... Favors are things miss Schnee leverages to her advantage most exquisitely, particularly under stress, and she is quite diligent about providing for those under her employ who bring her unexpected gain. Mayhap I could finally persuade her to fund one of my more... neglected projects." He sighed wistfully, as if lamenting a lost lover. "Levy your favor towards her, and perhaps I will allow you to peruse my notes on the adjustments to your friend's subconscious. To be delivered to your quarters after you comply with whatever the councilwoman may ask of you, naturally. Beyond that, dear bird, I'm afraid we are at an impasse."​

"Hmph. So be it." She huffed and turned away, both disgusted with the man and frustrated that she had even bothered to come here in the first place. I should have known better. What a waste of time. Her desire to not be here was enough that even though he only briefly ceased talking, she was already a foot out the door when he spoke up again. That had her pause and consider. On the one hand, a favor to her wasn't altogether that much worse than a favor to this lunatic. Suffering whatever that favor entailed for a friend's sake...okay. Yet on the other hand Schnee herself is a proven manipulator and liar, there was no telling if they would actually hold up their end of the bargain once they got what they desired...and the whole problem she wished to fix was somebody serving on Schnee's behalf without truly wanting to do so.

"...no. Screw you then." Raven resumed her exit out of this cage. She'd just have to solve the dilemma without that knowledge...fine. She'd done worse missions with less. First thing was getting somebody to remove these damn restraints. Luckily, not that long after leaving she managed to run into someone agreeable enough. Almost literally in fact. Robyn seemed so occupied with her thoughts that she barely noticed where she was going, only jolting out of it when Raven held her back. She asked and Robyn obliged but whatever was preoccupying her mind took over once that was done and the leader of her rebel faction was gone just as quick as she had arrived. The youngest Branwen watched her go before she exhaled, letting out a breath of relief as she felt the comforting feeling of her aura returning swell inside.

She went on her own way soon after, her mind likewise falling into deep thought as she went. She did her best to think up ways she could help the older faunus, the best methods of aiding her. It felt like an hour of her going over things, poking holes in potential approaches, and just cursing this whole situation in general. Ultimately it seemed to her the best course of action on her end...was the most obvious and easiest one. Easiest being relative, considering. With the damage that lunatic had inflicted on her, there was no telling how she might react...but Qrow's words much earlier were right. If anybody could figure it out and ease her troubles...yeah. Raven's thoughts did briefly linger on what else the crazy doctor might have done, things implanted or who knows what...but once more she reasoned that if there was anything along those lines, it could be handled. To that end, the huntress went to go track down Tock herself.

-------------------------

It did take some time to find the faunus the normal way, Raven forgoing any attempt to portal to save the effort for later, but she did manage. After being dismissed by Schnee, the croc had gone straight for the gym in the academy. Currently keeping busy going to town on a punching bag...briefly a memory of the two of them back to back in a bar fight flashed in her head and brought out a small smile before Raven pushed the memory away. She approached Tock from behind. Yet before the faunus could question her presence or even turn to meet her gaze, Raven used the aura that had returned to good use as a circle of dark red sprang to life. A certain somebody got shoved through before she could react and Raven stepped though herself, both to make sure the croc couldn't go back through before it snapped closed...and to explain this to a presumed very confused Glynda. Said explanation only began after demanding Goodwitch restrain the faunus with the use of her semblance. It didn't take that long for Raven to explain what she knew after that, but even with only that much information the severity of the situation was clear. Glynda pledged to sort this out as best they could. That would have to be enough.

A fighter of the croc's caliber would have been a welcome asset but with her current condition Raven didn't believe a battlefield was the best place for her at this time. That, and well, if she managed to deprive Schnee of something...Raven was just spiteful enough in that regard to stick it to the lying traitor. Once that was settled, she strained her limited aura again with another use of her semblance, this time aiming to get to her wayward brother, wherever he was.​

 

[MidwayLives]

Contact.

Not having it had always been something Ruby struggled with ever since she was a little girl. Sure, she had the bandits and then when Yang came into the picture, she 'had' her too. But no matter the nice gestures thrown her way or any kind of warm reception Yang hoped for or tried to pass onto her sister, the Rose simply wouldn't bite. She hated the feeling of being alone and had she known what her childhood actions would have driven her Yang to, she would have been more receptive/kinder, anything at all, but she loved bullying more than she hated loneliness. Striking out on her own as 'The Red Masque' didn't help much in the regard. Some people who didn't know who she was and assumed her to be a lost girl gave her food and shelter. She appreciated it but it wouldn't last. It never would, she'd leave in the night-often stealing as she went.

Once she met Ozpin and reunited with her Yang, things only got worse instead of better.

Her Yang wanted nothing to do with her and told her over and over why that was the case.

Nowadays, Ruby couldn't really blame her. But as she stood around the halls of the academy, she couldn't shake the feeling stirring in her very bones.

Weiss had been so busy. Busy working to achieve her goals. Ruby admired that tenacity about her. It....It just left them little time to talk. Maybe she didn't deserve that time, certainly not every waking moment of Weiss's attention. It was almost funny. In a building full of those that'd been brought here from Jabberwocky's event, she still felt so small and alone.

"I...Wonder how she's doing."

The last time they'd talked...

That'd been a sweet day.

Compare the last time she'd SEEN her though....

Spoiler: couldn't find the 'right' pic : (

It'd defintely conjured up feelings in Ruby. Some of which told Ruby to save Yang from her counterpart. The other....well...Ruby didn't wanna elaborate on them. In the end she'd ended up running away and left her sister to do whatever she wished with the other world's Yang. It'd been a mistake and even now, Ruby could hear Qrow's threat to her over and over again in her head. That'd he presuambly end up coming to blows with her if he caught the Masque hangignn around either of his nieces. ...Hmm, still was weird to think of them having that relationship when this world's Qrow was her father.

....

Ruby wanted to know how she was doing. Nobody would mind if she stopped...doing whatever she'd been doing(guarding!)and go check out Yang, right? Sheathing Crescent Rose onto her back, Ruby vanished in a trail of rose petals. Getting to where Yang had been taken hadn't been the hard part. No, that was going to come next. Stepping towards the door to let herself in, Ruby's breath hitched. What if Yang was just sleeping? It'd be rude to wake her up just to say hi. But if she was awake? A smile appeared on her face.

'Then I'll be happy to see her.'

That smile would quickly disappear just as quickly as it'd appeared as Ruby heard another voice in the room. Being the ever nosy one, she pressed her head to the side of the door. It was....Weiss? Well, Ruby supposed that wasn't much of a surprise. As they talked, Ruby generally zoned out and probably would have been caught if either party concluded and went for the door. Until she heard the following.
​

and I was able to turn both Ozpin's silver-eyed monsters against him with even less resistance than I anticipated.

Ruby's hand stopped reaching for the door.

She inched back.

'Monster?'

No, she couldn't have heard that right....could she?

Weiss was the one who said she saw potential in Ruby despite her upbringing, her loyalty to Opzin, her willingness to TRY.

It endeared the former bandit to the councilwoman. Perhaps more than Ruby would have cared to admit.

Monster....

After the talks they'd had, the 'push' Weiss gave her to keep on trying, to keep doing her best in order to show she could be civilized. To be a better person.

Had it all been nothing but talk?

Her eyes drifted downward and her smile faded away.

Usually when she was sad, she knew what to do to get her spirits up. Hiking her hood up and turning away from the door, she started to walk away.



​

 

[Gus Gungus]

As she ignored whatever that faint, catchy whistling was, it begged the question exactly how many times Weiss had refilled that wine glass she'd been holding in relation to her body weight when she crawled over to Yang's lap, tried to rest her head in it, and missed. She was still about as graceful and articulate of a drunk as could be, but this was definitely on another level from her default tipsy-poised.



"Yang, be honest... Do I talk too much? Sometimes I feel like I do, but I always just have so much to communicate, and I don't mean to box you out of the conversation or anything but I just want you to understand so you can be proud of me and it's mostly improvised but sometimes I say it 10 or more times in the mirror before I arrive which is common practice for business conferences and political speeches but in everyday discourse it's definitely considered odd, right, it's just that if I misspeak then people might think I'm not communicating clearly and if I'm not careful they'll start saying I look tired or my womanly emotions are getting the best of me and the next thing you know there's a motion of no confidence, I'm being audited, how am I ever supposed to relax when I'm never more than a hair's breadth from losing everything I've ever WORKED towards in this stupid city—!"

Like many of her grandiose verbal addresses, if left uninterrupted this went on for some time. Conversational cohesion didn't appear to be as high on her agenda as simply getting to unload some of her stress on Yang again, some rare cracks showing in the untouchable, incorrigible ice queen's aura of dauntless confidence when it was just the two of them; exposing the neurotic, highly-strung gremlin beneath.​

 

[MyrtenRose]

So cooooooooold.​

 

[Gus Gungus]

"...no. Screw you then." Raven resumed her exit out of this cage.

"Wh- It was your offer!"
​

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

"One, shut up. Two, a hug has no monetary value and thus cannot be gifted or re-gifted. Three, a document will arrive within the hour confirming this never happened. Sign it. And four..."

The sharp, extremely focused look she got in her eyes whenever she was glaring right through somebody crystallized like a layer of ice over a pond, and she released Yang's lips to instead cup just underneath her chin, meaning to lift it up by a few centimeters from wherever it was.

"Back to shut up again, only it's relevant. Look, far be it from me to object to the notion of wanting to better yourself. After all, consider who you're speaking to; Perfection didn't come entirely naturally," she drawled, not quite perfect enough to resist from tossing her ponytail with a self-indulgent smirk. "I can even help if you so wish. But these self-effacing remarks you're already starting to pepper in with your charming colloquialisms? Those I don't care for. Listen to ME, Yang Xiao Long—!"

It wasn't quite as bombastic, given there was less to work with in these Atlesian dorms, but there was still a flurry of motion and a flare of familiar energy as Weiss executed an impressive tumble across the bed to follow Yang to her new position, the pointer finger she thrust for her face clearly communicating that she had no intention of giving her an easy escape.

"—You are a REMARKABLE young woman, and there are already MORE than enough people in the world who'll try to tell you you aren't without you agreeing with them! Just like there are plenty of reprobates out there who're going to wanna hurt you, stifle you, do ANYTHING in their power to deprive you of yours, because they resent it, just like my father resented mine, and if you insist on beating yourself up every time they take a crack at it you might as well be JOINING THEIR RANKS! I won't abide by that Yang, do you hear me??? I expect BETTER of you!"

Lying there after being taken out by that pinpoint glyph-pillow combo, Yang's unique perspective offered her a clarity no one else in the kingdoms possessed with respect to Weiss's management tactics; being yelled at by an older, more ruthless, boss-of-an-entire-company Weiss was basically like that time she yelled at Blake from the chair, just more drunken and insane. There was no bite in the bark she used for Yang though, her radiant splendor and authority more than enough to get her point across in her mind. By the time she sat back up, Weiss was at an appropriate distance, sitting with her legs curled beneath her in ladylike fashion and a benevolent smile on her face like none of it had ever happened.

"Which isn't to say I don't fully understand where you're coming from. But for dust's sake, be reasonable with yourself. You're, what, a twenty-year-old woman on a foreign world dealing with some of its most vicious killers, one of whom is an unhinged older mockery of you? All things considered, I think you're doing quite well by the standards of anyone who isn't me."

Yang let out a flummoxed grunt as the pillow slapped her upside the head, and she was slow in sitting back up. Mainly so she could keep the pillow over her face a little longer, so the embarrassed flush she had at getting this kind of big sister pep talk (in a very Weiss way granted) and needing one in the first place could stay hidden till it passed to let Yang hold onto whatever shreds of cool and dignity she may have had left in this encounter.

"...This isn't exactly a reasonable situation in the first place, but... yea, alright, I'll try." She eventually managed with a wry grin.

"Know what else are majestic? Dogs. Of which you are a fluffy one. But while I'm afraid the same restrictions apply to you as your associates vis-a-vis leaving the academy, Ironwood's been kind enough to agree to a meeting tonight that should settle where we all stand in time for the final preparations. Once we're in that phase, well... I'm sure I could find a few uses for a capable huntress if the offer still stands. Oh, but wait, I forgot⁠—" A hand went to her chest and she rolled her eyes again, the smirk the motion paired with the only sign Yang got that she was being teased.

"⁠—You 'suck'. So just let me know if you see one around anywhere, won't you?"

"Weren't you the one who said that we were retiring that joke?" Yang answered with a snort, wholly unmoved by the return to the proverbial doghouse by the bastion of cool composure she had built up for herself with the power of 'leaning on the wall with your arms crossed with a smirk'. "But hey, just because I suck by my standards doesn't mean I can't be useful. My standards include the fact that I could still totally kick your butt if we went toe to toe, and you're Weiss freaking Schnee, so."

"...I'm through with Ozpin, Yang. It happened almost as soon as you left; Guess I was cranky that week. A trivial border dispute with the Shadow Fang, of all things, but after the Cinder Fall of your Remnant intervened he came out looking a fool. Because she betrayed him. Immediately. Like I told him she was going to." She threw her hands up in disgusted fashion like a teenager recounting a domestic dispute, still a bit too drunk for this conversation in all honesty. Her inner workings were already beginning to ice over again, as warm as the preceding moment may have been. "Naturally, after she vanished with Spring he needed someone to take his juvenile aggression out on. Blake practically shines his shoes for him, so there was never really any doubt as to who. He told me he intended to come to Atlas and claim our relic, I informed him that was impossible, he attacked me. Silly me, I didn't take kindly to that. I must be old-fashioned."

One hand gripped her chin between thumb and forefinger in thought, genuinely thinking over what to reveal to Yang and what to keep to herself for the time being and how to best fill in the remaining blanks.

"That was weeks ago. He'll be along. The timeframe for his arrival isn't exact, but... it's soon. And Atlas stands prepared. I'm sure you still think I'm digging my own grave here, but I watched him for years, Yang, and during that time I learned that he is not infallible. That means he's not unbeatable. And I've been busy. It's not quite thirty plans and fifty contingencies, but my protocols to protect the civilian populace of both cities are all ready to be deployed. The kingdom's in for a bit of a shock, but there won't be any significant loss of life to speak of. Meanwhile we're at the height of our military power, I've been engaging in rigorous daily training sessions to maximize my ability to harness the power of both Winter and Spring, our world's Fall will be taking the field with me once we draw a line under this little squabble in Mantle, and I was able to turn both Ozpin's silver-eyed monsters against him with even less resistance than I anticipated. Because he's a moron, and everyone hates him. There are other elements at play I can't clue you in on right now, but that's about the gist. So..."

She cracked one eye open with a devious smirk, tone having gradually built its way back up from cold and analytical to playful and self-aggrandizing.

"Ready to admit you're impressed by me yet, or would you prefer to hold off until he's dead?"

Yang's eyes widened a few times during that whole spiel, the smirk finally breaking even if she didn't yet push off the wall as she let out a low whistle.

"...Well. Ok then. That's uh... a lot."

Atlas and Oz weren't buddy buddy anymore? That was good news, as far as Yang was concerned.

Weiss had the Spring Maiden powers? That was... what was that? Did that mean Vernal had... She shifted a bit, rubbing her arm as she glanced to the side. There wasn't really any love lost between her and the now former Spring Maiden. One version helped her mom almost get Weiss killed, and this one got specifically warned about the fate of the other, and still, somehow, thought it was a good idea to work with the bad guys. But even so.

The Silver Eyed monsters part though... "You... you got Ruby to join up with you? I... wow. Ok then. How???"

As she ignored whatever that faint, catchy whistling was, it begged the question exactly how many times Weiss had refilled that wine glass she'd been holding in relation to her body weight when she crawled over to Yang's lap, tried to rest her head in it, and missed. She was still about as graceful and articulate of a drunk as could be, but this was definitely on another level from her default tipsy-poised.

"Yang, be honest... Do I talk too much? Sometimes I feel like I do, but I always just have so much to communicate, and I don't mean to box you out of the conversation or anything but I just want you to understand so you can be proud of me and it's mostly improvised but sometimes I say it 10 or more times in the mirror before I arrive which is common practice for business conferences and political speeches but in everyday discourse it's definitely considered odd, right, it's just that if I misspeak then people might think I'm not communicating clearly and if I'm not careful they'll start saying I look tired or my womanly emotions are getting the best of me and the next thing you know there's a motion of no confidence, I'm being audited, how am I ever supposed to relax when I'm never more than a hair's breadth from losing everything I've ever WORKED towards in this stupid city—!"

Like many of her grandiose verbal addresses, if left uninterrupted this went on for some time. Conversational cohesion didn't appear to be as high on her agenda as simply getting to unload some of her stress on Yang again, some rare cracks showing in the untouchable, incorrigible ice queen's aura of dauntless confidence when it was just the two of them; exposing the neurotic, highly-strung gremlin beneath.

Apparently that was gonna be a question answered later as she watched Weiss try to put her head in the lap of a standing person with the sort of confusion that could only be obtained by being the standing person in that situation.

The guilt came hard and quick; She was out of sorts because she what, lost a fight? Got bullied? Moderately sexually harassed by her evil clone? Maybe she was underselling that last one a bit now, but the point was she was shouldering one person's problems; Weiss was doing so much more than that, and she'd clearly needed a friend this last month. Not that Yang wanted to besmirch the Heiress' social skills, but she doubted that was a long list of people. So she just rolled her eyes, sat down next to Weiss, and gently rubbed her shoulder as she let the former heiress get it out of her system.

Even if she didn't understand like, 75% of the politics specific nonsense Weiss was throwing at her.

There was a pause in her motion as her aura tingled, a vague sense of familiarity poking at the sides of her senses, but before she could've acted on it, it was already moving away.

 

[Gus Gungus]

"Weren't you the one who said that we were retiring that joke?" Yang answered with a snort, wholly unmoved by the return to the proverbial doghouse by the bastion of cool composure she had built up for herself with the power of 'leaning on the wall with your arms crossed with a smirk'. "But hey, just because I suck by my standards doesn't mean I can't be useful. My standards include the fact that I could still totally kick your butt if we went toe to toe, and you're Weiss freaking Schnee, so."

Okay, no way in hell was she letting that one slide. It was phenomenal how quickly poised, laser-accurate Sassy Schnee could emerge even from a Weiss channeling all the majesty of the drunk white girl at a party in reaction to digs at her pride. "Yes, well, since you're so insistent on committing to that bit I hardly see why one so much more accurate needs to be taken out behind the shed and shot. You know, like that movie?"

Weiss didn't care for that movie.



"Incidentally, the dog in that movie is a labrador. Energetic, blonde, loyal, dumb but cute. Something to think about."

She politely brought a hand to her mouth to cover a a girlish giggle, her transition into a light, teasing tone and smirk that was downright mischievous a seamless one as she left it in Yang's hands to work out whatever that meant. So much to unpack in so few words. Was it an insult? Compliment? Flirtation? Threat? Only she knew. She was well aware she could go on at length sometimes, but anyone with a competent silver tongue knew real power lay in the unsaid.

"Anyway, no. I respect your grace, ferocity, and how much of your potential you've been able to realize yourself, Yang, but I have access to the best tutors and facilities money can buy; My training would break you. And I do it three times a day." She gave a drawn-out, gratifyingly languorous stretch and tossed her hair like she was in a shampoo commercial, complete with self-generated CGI as blue light exploded from the tips of her eyes. "Also? Basically a god."

She looked every bit as smug as one.

The Silver Eyed monsters part though... "You... you got Ruby to join up with you? I... wow. Ok then. How???"

As much as she was enjoying Yang's ministrations (and had used her own hands along with some verbal encouragement to guide Yang's into giving her what was more or less a backrub by the time her messy venting petered out), she did eventually turn around to bequeath that question a response with a look and ponytail flick that were amused, faux-modest, and quite frankly ratchet as hell.

"Well, you'll never believe this. The poor thing's completely smitten with me! She broke into my house just after I cut ties with Ozpin, raving on about a new arm. Apparently somehow she got it in her head that you had stolen yours from me."

For a moment the eyes probing Yang were as sharp and severe as fifty Goodwitches, but all that tension evaporated like the ice in a Freezerburn offensive as Weiss waved her hand and gave a gentle windchime of a laugh.

"As if you would ever do anything I didn't want you to! Anyway, I've been keeping her on the hook ever since while I domesticate her. Early signs are extremely promising, Yang. She's done a complete 180 on Ozpin, her former ways, everything! She's actually almost stable. I still intend to have her committed to a mental health facility once I've gone as far as I can go, but if I may say so? I have really outdone myself with this one. Not only do I now have two empowered slayers of Grimm to deploy against him, but the Grimm Reaper and Red Masque were his favored daughters. The man was insufferably proud of the warped little creatures he managed to twist them into. When he arrives here he's going to be absolutely furious!"

There was no evidence in her tone, smile or phrasing that indicated she saw that as anything other than a good thing. She'd carved out a career through preying on 'powerful' men and their many flaws, impulses and insecurities for years, and Ozpin forming a dangerous fixation with punishing her offered nothing but advantages in her mind.

"I can't take all the credit. We've spoken about you once or twice; I was surprised how highly she thinks of you, even if you were just brainlessly coddling a serial murderer. You did a fine job of it, though! I suspect her encounters with you were what led her down this train of thought to begin with. So seriously, well done. Those don't seem like the actions of someone who 'sucks' to me, but what do I know? I'm only a peerless genius."

The air quotations around 'sucks' were as clear an indicator as any that she wasn't planning on letting go of that any more than Yang was her (highly regrettable) use of majestic.​

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

Okay, no way in hell was she letting that one slide. It was phenomenal how quickly poised, laser-accurate Sassy Schnee could emerge even from a Weiss channeling all the majesty of the drunk white girl at a party in reaction to digs at her pride. "Yes, well, since you're so insistent on committing to that bit I hardly see why one so much more accurate needs to be taken out behind the shed and shot. You know, like that movie?"

Weiss didn't care for that movie.

"Incidentally, the dog in that movie is a labrador. Energetic, blonde, loyal, dumb but cute. Something to think about."

Yang snickered despite herself initially, but looked absolutely affronted at the back half. "Hey! what did you say? Who you callin... cute? I'm majestic, thank you. C's on the other end of the word, Schnee."

Hey, if the world really was about to come crashing down on Atlas, she wanted to make sure she got all these shots in while she could. Whatever Weiss meant by the unsaid was either unnoticed or unremarked on, Yang remaining entirely unruffled

As much as she was enjoying Yang's ministrations (and had used her own hands along with some verbal encouragement to guide Yang's into giving her what was more or less a backrub by the time her messy venting petered out), she did eventually turn around to bequeath that question a response with a look and ponytail flick that were amused, faux-modest, and quite frankly ratchet as hell.

"Well, you'll never believe this. The poor thing's completely smitten with me! She broke into my house just after I cut ties with Ozpin, raving on about a new arm. Apparently somehow she got it in her head that you had stolen yours from me."

For a moment the eyes probing Yang were as sharp and severe as fifty Goodwitches, but all that tension evaporated like the ice in a Freezerburn offensive as Weiss waved her hand and gave a gentle windchime of a laugh.

"As if you would ever do anything I didn't want you to!"

Yang's own eyeroll was positively of Schnee proportions at that as she let out a long, drawn out sigh as she used both hands to gently turn Weiss back the other way and go back to what she was doing, because sweet merciful oum did this girl have some wicked knots back here. "Why did I know you were gonna give me crap about that? Listen, I didn't exactly know at the time you and Oz were already mid-messy breakup. I was trying to make sure I didn't, y'know, expedite the problem" She drawled before she let Weiss continue.

Anyway, I've been keeping her on the hook ever since while I domesticate her. Early signs are extremely promising, Yang. She's done a complete 180 on Ozpin, her former ways, everything! She's actually almost stable. I still intend to have her committed to a mental health facility once I've gone as far as I can go, but if I may say so? I have really outdone myself with this one. Not only do I now have two empowered slayers of Grimm to deploy against him, but the Grimm Reaper and Red Masque were his favored daughters. The man was insufferably proud of the warped little creatures he managed to twist them into. When he arrives here he's going to be absolutely furious!"

There was no evidence in her tone, smile or phrasing that indicated she saw that as anything other than a good thing. She'd carved out a career through preying on 'powerful' men and their many flaws, impulses and insecurities for years, and Ozpin forming a dangerous fixation with punishing her offered nothing but advantages in her mind.

"I can't take all the credit. We've spoken about you once or twice; I was surprised how highly she thinks of you, even if you were just brainlessly coddling a serial murderer. You did a fine job of it, though! I suspect her encounters with you were what led her down this train of thought to begin with. So seriously, well done. Those don't seem like the actions of someone who 'sucks' to me, but what do I know? I'm only a peerless genius."

The air quotations around 'sucks' were as clear an indicator as any that she wasn't planning on letting go of that any more than Yang was her (highly regrettable) use of majestic.

"...hm"

It wasn't like this was something that came out of nowhere. Around six thousand people had told her Weiss was a sociopath, a manipulator, and a all around big brain supervillain with a god complex. Weiss included. Like she'd literally called herself a god in the last two minutes. Yet this was honestly the first time Yang had really, truly, had to confront it. Because a normal, well adjusted person didn't talk about another person like Weiss was talking about Ruby.

Domesticating. Monster. She didn't even see Ruby as a person, saw her crush as nothing but a tool to twist her out of Ozpin's hands. And that was the thing, really. Objectively, this was a good thing, through and through. Ruby needed to be away from Ozpin if she was ever gonna be better. She definitely was gonna need some professional help after the life she lived, after all was said and done here. The endgame Weiss wanted here was nothing but morally just and logically sound, and all she had to do to get here was treat Ruby like a problem instead of a person. A subhuman monster.

Yang wouldn't be Yang if that didn't piss her off. Just as much as herself for seeing the logic in Weiss' actions as she was at Weiss for thinking like that. That she saw the unfairness in it was the reason she took a deep breath before she tried to reply "Well... thank you, then. For getting her away from him. It wasn't brainless coddling, thank you, I knew, err, well, I thought it was gonna be a lot of work to pull her off of him, but I had to start somewhere, and it.... looks like you finished it. So, again, thank you" she said, her words wholly earnest before they got just a bit softer. "Just... don't forget she's a person, okay? I know she's not my real sister or anything, and that's she's done some truly awful things but she's still-"

"Miss Xiao Long? I'm here to change your bandages."

Yang quickly jerked her hands back from Weiss' shoulders as the door slid open, Likely doing far more damage to Weiss' reputation with whoever this was with the guilty look on her face and her hands wringing in her lap than if she'd just continued with the platonic backrub. The doctor didn't seem to react outside of a quiet smile as he saw the pair of them and started walking towards them, giving Weiss a deferential nod as he did. "Miss Schnee. Apologies, but I need a bit of time alone with the patient."

Yang rolled her eyes with a slight grin. "I mean, hey, if she wants to stay and see just how majestic I am under these-"

Wait. Why the hell did she recognize this voice? This wasn't the same doctor as before. A second glance was enough to realize that those combat boots didn't go with that medical coat, and as her eyes traveled up his form and saw that same fucking face as the guy who wouldn't let her see Blake and almost fainted on the way here. "Uh, since when-" he reached out for Weiss' elbow

Yang didn't know why. The action was almost hilarious innocuous, a practically accidental brush against the former CEO. Yet the moment it happened, She knew it was bad. Something about the look in his eyes, the ever so slight rush in his steps, long years of training a body to do something on purpose helping her realize with a practically accidental motion really wasn't. One instant, she shot to her feet, ignored the pain beneath her bandages, and full force tackled the fake doctor into the wall. "WHA-"

She got one half syllable in before his aura flared the brightest it ever would in his life, before it exploded. Along with him, Yang, the entire dorm room, and the three surrounding them.

The guard was gone entirely; whatever might've been left of him was scattered across the wreckage of the room in a mixture of bits and mist, a human life completely obliterated in a painless instant.

Yang wasn't so lucky.

Her aura had shattered before she even hit the wall she'd been thrown into behind her, and every inch of her felt on fire in a wholly wrong way from the usual. It was downright inhuman reflexes that had her shift her prosthetic over her face before the blast, but while it might've shielded her from the worst of the heat and force, it had pocketed the entire side of her forehead with a flechette of black and red shrapnel, a sharp hiss coming from the remains of her arm as the biomechanical pressure in Merlot's design spewed the liquid inside it across the ceiling. Her stomach felt drenched, a fountain of something pouring across it from the screaming wound above it, and one leg was tortuously crushed against a heavy piece of wall while the other was mercifully unfeeling.

"...S-s-shit..."

Only then did the sweet release of the dark take her eyes.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Another hand touched someone else nearby, but it was far more firm, if polite, and the results were not so immediately catastrophic. She was a teacher at the academy, well respected, tenured, and deep voiced. It carried well as she cleared her throat after clasping Merlot's wrist while he was en-route through the halls. Her hand lit up almost immediately, and Merlot was deep enough into Weiss' cabal to recognize the effect; what particular parasitic semblance was afflicting the woman.

or rather, who's semblance.

"Doctor." She said, calmly enough. "In a few seconds there's going to be an explosion. If you'd prefer one not happen here, I'm going to need one of two things. One-"

The sound that reverberated through the halls and shook the glass free from the door nearby in a comically quiet in comparison tinkle wouldn't have been out of place in the wars of old.

"-proof of death of Miss Schnee. Barring that, I'd need to exchange a few words with her. On behalf of the Shadowfang."

 

[MidwayLives]

'Monster...'

Before Ruby could do any further thinking over of that, an explosion knocked her to the ground.

"Yang!"

Drawing her scythe from her back, she turned and barreled back into the midst of that mess.

'I'm sorry I left you in the clutches of my Yang....Whatever happened just now....'



'Whoever's behind it is gonna pay!-'

Or at least they would afterwards.

The room was in ruins and Yang...wasn't much better. Racing over to Yang's side, Ruby knelt down by her not!sister's side.

"Yang! H-Hold on! We'll...I'll..."

This place was supposed to BE where Yang would be treated. Only it was now a smoking pile of rubble.



These wounds...

Grabbing onto the rubble with her prosthetic hand, Ruby tried to push it off Yang's legs. Blasting it with Crescent Rose didn't seem like the brightest idea given the proximity of the rubble and Yang's mangled legs. "It'll be okay, Yang. I promise!...." ​

 

[MyrtenRose]

Yang didn't know why. The action was almost hilarious innocuous, a practically accidental brush against the former CEO. Yet the moment it happened, She knew it was bad. Something about the look in his eyes, the ever so slight rush in his steps, long years of training a body to do something on purpose helping her realize with a practically accidental motion really wasn't. One instant, she shot to her feet, ignored the pain beneath her bandages, and full force tackled the fake doctor into the wall. "WHA-"

She got one half syllable in before his aura flared the brightest it ever would in his life, before it exploded. Along with him, Yang, the entire dorm room, and the three surrounding them.

The guard was gone entirely; whatever might've been left of him was scattered across the wreckage of the room in a mixture of bits and mist, a human life completely obliterated in a painless instant.

Yang wasn't so lucky.

Her aura had shattered before she even hit the wall she'd been thrown into behind her, and every inch of her felt on fire in a wholly wrong way from the usual. It was downright inhuman reflexes that had her shift her prosthetic over her face before the blast, but while it might've shielded her from the worst of the heat and force, it had pocketed the entire side of her forehead with a flechette of black and red shrapnel, a sharp hiss coming from the remains of her arm as the biomechanical pressure in Merlot's design spewed the liquid inside it across the ceiling. Her stomach felt drenched, a fountain of something pouring across it from the screaming wound above it, and one leg was tortuously crushed against a heavy piece of wall while the other was mercifully unfeeling.

"...S-s-shit..."

Only then did the sweet release of the dark take her eyes.

"So...cold..."

It had taken a little while, but Nora had managed to force her way out of the frozen block of absolute cold that the ice queen Weiss left her in. A can-do attitude, some super strength, a little lightning and voila she got out of that freezing prison. But that didn't keep the chills from coursing through her body afterwards, though the feeling of the lightning also coursing through her helped. There came a couple deep breaths as she stood there and she briefly entertained the idea of trying to give Weiss a piece of her mind for that but ultimately decided against it. That would just probably end with her being a Norasicle again. So instead of that, the tiny bruiser plopped herself down on a bed, scooped up the TV remote, ready to flick through all the channels until something captured her interest and eased the boredom that was sure to set in--

That plan changed super fucking quick with what followed. It all happened so quick and was so unexpected that she hardly knew what happened at first. The far too loud bang absolutely dwarfed the sounds of the TV. The door and walls didn't hold up under the pressure and the former in particular shot right towards her, both that and the sheer force knocking her off the dorm bed with a pained grunt. She laid there for a few moments, definitely hurting but not as bad as it could have been. If she hadn't managed to find somebody to get the aura-suppressing cuffs off...

But she had, luckily. Even so...her limited aura had completely broken from the explosion's force. "...What the hell." Nora shoved the door off and got to her feet a few moments later, the sound of her own voice weirdly distorted and muffled with her still ringing ears. She quickly glanced around at the wreckage that had been this dorm, now in pieces and several small fires blazing around. Ears ringing, aura gone, a...Nora reached up to her forehead and it came away with a fair amount of blood. Yep, there was a gash on her forehead but all things considered--

"Yang!" Nora suddenly blurted out in concern as she at last thought about who her next door neighbor in the dorms of Atlas Academy was. Yang was tough for sure, almost as tough as she herself was and that was saying a real lot but the way the blast came in, it was obvious it started in that room or at least closer to that room. Nora quickly raced out of the wrecked room and though she wasn't as fast as the first other person to rush to Yang's aid...​

The room was in ruins and Yang...wasn't much better. Racing over to Yang's side, Ruby knelt down by her not!sister's side.

"Yang! H-Hold on! We'll...I'll..."

This place was supposed to BE where Yang would be treated. Only it was now a smoking pile of rubble.

These wounds...

Grabbing onto the rubble with her prosthetic hand, Ruby tried to push it off Yang's legs. Blasting it with Crescent Rose didn't seem like the brightest idea given the proximity of the rubble and Yang's mangled legs. "It'll be okay, Yang. I promise!...."

…she was stronger. She only glanced at Ruby for a split-second, hardly enough time to figure out if that was like Ruby-Ruby who'd managed to figure out what had gone down and gotten over here or if that was the Masque. She reckoned the latter but right now it hardly mattered. She was trying to help their Yang. "You're right it will." Nora agreed as she helped shove that rubble right off Yang. She would have tried to pull the unconscious blonde up too but she left that to Ruby if she wished to do so. Instead Nora turned and looked around, trying to find where Weiss was and help her out too. It didn't matter if Weiss was an enemy or not or if she was way more of an ice queen than regular Weiss had ever been...it wasn't in Nora to not help somebody caught in ground zero of...this.​

 

[Gus Gungus]

It was true. Weiss was a sociopath.

Not in the petulant, derogatory way flustered people liked to fling at her when she calmly and efficiently sidestepped their every attempt to appeal to things like empathy. Not in the sense of an insult or colorful turn of phrase. She was literally sociopathic. Something inside her had broken a long time ago and never fixed itself, the way she processed the world forever strained by the loveless, isolated trauma of her youth. The more she saw, the more she hurt; the more she hurt, the more numb she became, and in the lonely cold of that numbness there crystallized a haunting, icy clarity. It took longer than she would've liked for her to figure it out; lots of pain, lots of tears. But figure it out she did. The way the world worked.

People were awful.

Everyone was awful. Everyone used one another. Everyone lied. Some people were just better at hiding it than others, and the measure of how much somebody could achieve in life ran parallel to how good they became at it. At using people. At lying. At hiding it.

So as she withdrew from her family, she observed. And as she observed, she learned. Her father had used her mother to improve his stock, marrying into a wealthier, more prestigious bloodline. Her mother used her father so she'd never have to work again, so she could lounge around the house all day drinking and ordering exotic gifts and animals for herself in a desperate bid to stave off her own numbness. She had been the first to notice—Even as a child, Weiss could feel her judgment in the way she used to call her cold, empty; And eventually, in the way she stopped communicating with her altogether. She had always deluded herself into thinking there was still some string of sentiment there, however thin, and it wasn't until recent events that she came to accept the simple truth that she had given up on Weiss. Her father... Well, she honestly didn't think he ever saw the issue. On the contrary, the few times she could ever recall being shown affection by the man were when he witnessed that cold, calculated side of her. He seemed to take pride in it. Another lie; he saw only his legacy, the ruthless tycoon in the making who might one day prove worthy of inheriting his position should Winter have continued to disappoint. Even then, his only concern was in how he might one day use her.

Winter was supposed to be the exception. The one outlier she spent those early years of her life being unable to account for. She was patient with Weiss. Firm, but understanding. She never judged her or tried to manipulate her, only tried to help her adjust. There were times when she even protected her, at significant cost to herself.

She left. She lied. There were no exceptions.

It only got worse from there. Winter had spat in his face, Whitley adapted to fill the role of bootlicker, and her father needed no excuse to favor the male amongst his two remaining prospective heirs even as his eldest daughter abandoned him, his wife pulled further and further away from him, and Weiss was left to bear the brunt of the rage he carried home from work every single day. Looking back, it seemed so funny to her. So petty. He really was such an angry little man, and yet so fragile. Weiss lost count of the times she was forced to endure one of his tangents about how Winter and Willow had 'let their emotions get the best of them'; all while ranting and raving until he was red in the face, flecks of spittle flying from his mustache, sometimes literally stamping his feet. It made her sick to think there was ever a time in her life when she was afraid of men like that. That she had let them control her. It was during one of those same rants that she decided emotions were for tools, and made a conscious decision to bury them so deep inside herself she would always be the one in control them and not the other way around. For a time, that proved... Difficult. She was cold, yes, and numb; but more than either of those things she was alone, and unhappy, and she hated how the world was and the fact that she had to live in it. In those years after Winter left, she cried more than she would've cared to admit. Just about every time she had a moment to herself, really. She couldn't help it, though even then she was ashamed of it. That she didn't know better. That she wasn't stronger.

She remembered exactly when it was that the tears had stopped. She was seventeen; an escape from the prison she was living in had been denied to her, her father flatly refusing the notion of another heiress traipsing off on a wing and a prayer to pursue the lifestyle of a huntress. Even after passing every test he set before her to prove she was capable, even after scarring herself in the process. All of it had just been to indulge her, with the added benefit of testing her resolve for his own purposes. More using. More lies. A few weeks later she was told to perform in a gala at his behest, and that was the last night Weiss Schnee ever let her emotions get the best of her. She was angry. Her lyrics reflected it. Some might've said she let him have it.

He had friends at that gala; Prospective business partners. He was embarrassed. More than that? He was furious. More furious than Weiss had ever seen him, but this time she told herself she'd be prepared for it. She had her semblance now. She could defend herself now. Things were different now.

They weren't. It didn't matter. He grabbed her, emotion took over, and she froze.

Even with her laser-sharp eye for details, whatever happened between then and when she next had a clear picture of things was a blur. All she knew was that she regained her senses at the bottom of the cellar stairs. She appeared to have tripped and stumbled down them, giving herself a black eye. And a bruised neck. And tearing her dress. And locking herself in, for what turned out to be three days.

She refused to acknowledge the truth of what that happened that night, even in memory. Not the events, not the emotions she felt during them, not anything. The only thing she acknowledged was the lesson, and the fact that it was the last time.

And it was.

The last time he ever put his hands on her.

The last time she ever let her emotions dictate her response to a situation.

The first time she drank properly, because it was that cellar. Her mother had let her try, but she never really developed the taste for it before then. That night she drank so much she made herself sick, then kept going.

Most importantly? It was the night Weiss Schnee's heart finally turned to stone. When she emerged from that cellar it was with purpose; she knew what she had to do, she knew where she needed to start, and she felt nothing.

It was the last time she ever cried.

Her aura had shattered before she even hit the wall she'd been thrown into behind her, and every inch of her felt on fire in a wholly wrong way from the usual. It was downright inhuman reflexes that had her shift her prosthetic over her face before the blast, but while it might've shielded her from the worst of the heat and force, it had pocketed the entire side of her forehead with a flechette of black and red shrapnel, a sharp hiss coming from the remains of her arm as the biomechanical pressure in Merlot's design spewed the liquid inside it across the ceiling. Her stomach felt drenched, a fountain of something pouring across it from the screaming wound above it, and one leg was tortuously crushed against a heavy piece of wall while the other was mercifully unfeeling.

"...S-s-shit..."

Only then did the sweet release of the dark take her eyes.

Until now.

She didn't understand. She didn't understand what was happening. She didn't understand what was happening to her, or how, or why... why Yang...

Many had speculated as to the precise nature of this whole weird dynamic between her and the other world's Yang Xiao Long, who was manipulating who or whether they were playing 2D or 3D chess or shogi or one of those other weird games Yang liked. The answer wasn't so terribly complicated; Weiss had totally been manipulating her, from pretty much the very first moment they met. Whether the brute was aware of that (Weiss suspected she at least partially was) or chose to admit to it or not, it was true. She had separated her from her sister and uncle, isolated her physically and emotionally for weeks and made herself the only person Yang could turn to as a friend or confidante. She had manufactured a bond and nurtured her obvious preexisting attachment to the face, voice and body she shared with some half-baked imitator to the point that Yang defended her from an assailant from her own world. She had released her from her custody after an appropriate amount of time, knowing full well she'd make her way back to Ironwood's louts and plead her case for her, making the eventual alliance she pressed them all into that much smoother.

But while that happened something else had also been happening. Again, Weiss didn't quite understand it, and her instinct when she didn't understand something was to lean into it, observe it and poke it with every stick under the sun until she did.

Yang was... a good person.

She wasn't awful.

It wasn't just that she was optimistic or kind. Those were a rare enough breed in Atlas, but it wasn't as though Weiss hadn't run across them. Usually she just dismissed them as moralizing or naive (see attached file: Nora Valkyrie), and it had taken her a full week of trying to figure out what Yang's angle was initially for her to realize what the difference was.

There was no angle. She didn't... want anything from her. Certainly she harbored no delusions as to Yang's opinion of her life decisions, but the moment Weiss told her to shut up about it she promptly did, forever. There was no ulterior motive, no agenda, no sanctimony. The rest of their time together... it had just been pleasant. Whatever her initial intent may have been, it was the first time Weiss had ever given so much of her time to someone who wasn't trying to use her, and honestly not once in any of her ventures—social, business or political—Could she recall encountering someone who stood to gain nothing from knowing Weiss Schnee. Past that, she was just so... vivacious, so different from anyone she'd ever met before in this cesspool city, and as much as Weiss liked to lord over her she was smart and mature beyond her years and almost as funny as she herself was, and, and she was just so lonely-

What was happening to her? Why did she feel this way?

Feel?

She had to slow down. Had to think. What had just happened? How had that happened? How could she have let that happen???

She couldn't. She couldn't think.

There were three main reasons why what just happened had happened. One⁠—And this was key⁠—She was still a long way from sober right now. Two, when Yang pulled her hands away so abruptly Weiss had twisted back around to face her with a sullen, borderline pouty glare. Three, when she finally did glance over at the 'doctor' as he addressed her Yang's subsequent remark immediately had her attention snap back her way with a scoff, scandalized and incredulous as she tried to parse why that mental image had her silver tongue turning lead.

Those three factors were why Weiss might well have ended up dead long before any fated clash with Ozpin had it not been for another factor; The same one who Weiss had just had a whole mess of confusing and incoherent thoughts about in the span of about two seconds.

"Y-Y-"

There was no mystery as to her location by the time Ruby and Nora burst into the room. She was strewn in the midst a pile of debris in the room's corner, dazed but otherwise without major harm as the shattered remnants of an Arma Gigas even more mangled than Yang faded away around her. It had been pure instinct, as well as the presence of a huntress, that saved her, really; an impulsive reaction to the sudden burst of movement and shout that had her default to her (now second) most valued protector. The ethereal set of armor was already mid-lunge by the time it was fully formed, and it scooped her up in its plated arms just in time to turtle up around her and shield her from the brunt of the explosion, propelling them both across the room like bullets.

"Y-Y-Yuh-Yang I, I, I, I-"

She was also hyperventilating through her fingers, both hands having flown to cover her mouth in lieu of a single notion of how else to react, brain somehow firing on both too many cylinders and too few for her to string two words together past her heaving breaths. While she was always pale, right now the councilwoman was a ghostly white as tears that felt much warmer for their absence on her cheeks through the years poured freely, an emotional core that had lain dormant since that night save for the occasional spark currently threatening to go supernova. If watching the distasteful version of Yang bloody herself had brought her even the slightest pain, then what someone like her was feeling right now was indescribable.

This was her fault. She let a single chink in her armor emerge and the Shadow Fang had immediately struck at it like the vipers they were. She had to fix this.

She had to fix all of it.

There was only one real place to start.

It was the only place she could think of to be right now, and that was by Yang's side as she crawled through the rubble to reach her, still fighting a losing battle to control her breathing and far too tunnel visioned to register either Ruby or Nora as presences or the fact that she was fairly certain she'd never crawled anywhere in her entire life. She immediately choked back a sob on arriving, plainly distressed by some combination of Yang's blood and the crookedness of her legs as she gently picked the shrapnel out and made sure her form was straight.

"I-I'm-m s-s-so suh-so-ho-rry I can f-fix this, p-puh-please l-let me t-try-!"

She kept apologizing over and over again like she had failed to live up to a standard, gingerly trying to smooth out some of Yang's bangs as a way of easing her perfectionist's brain before she began. The shakiness of her hands just ended up displacing them more, given THIS ALL REALLY WAS THE MOST FRIGHTFUL SHOCK ALL SHE WANTED WAS A BACKRUB AND YANG'S HAPPINESS IN THAT ORDER. She forced her shoulders to obey her and started steadying herself with deep, deliberate breaths, clasping her hands together before laying them both flat on Yang's stomach and concentrating on reaching the primordial power within herself.

This really wasn't how she wanted to tip her hand on this. The four maidens, two of which she technically accounted for, could do so much more than fling firebolts and conjure blizzards with their hands. They were blessed with the gift of tapping into the same ancient magical energy Salem and Ozpin did, a power that quite literally came from the gods. The dependence on elemental techniques she'd observed in what little she'd been able to study of other maidens had baffled and frustrated her long before she ever became one; it was so... limited. That wasn't going to beat Ozpin. That wasn't perfection.

It wasn't enough for her. She had access to every resource, every archive, every transcription of every legend and fairy tale harkening to a time when all of mankind could use these gifts freely.

And most invaluably, she had Fria. Harsh as it may have been to remove the prior Winter Maiden's power without her consent, the woman wasn't the type to hold a grudge; it had only taken a little candid conversation for her to agree to pass on some of her more practical knowledge, and Weiss had spent her time hungrily applying her insight with the same diligence she did every other task. The fruits of that diligence were being brought to bear now as the blue and red lights streaming from under her eyelids intensified, and aura the same blue shade as hers flickered into formation around Yang's body before it reverted to her color and started flaring much, much brighter than usual, its healing benefits magnified as it was fueled by the application of external energy straight from the pages of storybooks. She'd managed to reign in her panic by now, urgency sharpening her mind and allowing her to grasp more steady breaths as she ignored the painful pangs in her chest.

"Icanfixthis. Icanfixthis. Icanfixthis-"

It was the same mantra that echoed in her head when she finally climbed out of that cellar. One she had at varying points applied to Ruby, Remnant as a whole, and now Yang.

Who else could?

Another hand touched someone else nearby, but it was far more firm, if polite, and the results were not so immediately catastrophic. She was a teacher at the academy, well respected, tenured, and deep voiced. It carried well as she cleared her throat after clasping Merlot's wrist while he was en-route through the halls. Her hand lit up almost immediately, and Merlot was deep enough into Weiss' cabal to recognize the effect; what particular parasitic semblance was afflicting the woman.

or rather, who's semblance.

"Doctor." She said, calmly enough. "In a few seconds there's going to be an explosion. If you'd prefer one not happen here, I'm going to need one of two things. One-"

The sound that reverberated through the halls and shook the glass free from the door nearby in a comically quiet in comparison tinkle wouldn't have been out of place in the wars of old.

"-proof of death of Miss Schnee. Barring that, I'd need to exchange a few words with her. On behalf of the Shadowfang."

"Ah."

He summed up his feelings on the matter with unusual tacitness as he stared the woman dead in the eye, his own eventually drifting shut in time with the echoing boom as he heaved out a weary sigh that carried on well past its conclusion. Well, this was what he got for leaving his lab.

"For heaven's sake, Alice." Eventually his eyes opened back up to give his former colleague among the academy faculty, Alice, an exasperated tut. :| "Proof of death, you say?"

He nonchalantly fished out his scroll, and the reading he saw after he swiped through a few screens to observe his employer's aura reading and vitals had him smirk with his typical preoccupied breeziness as he stored the device away again.

"Hmh. No, I'm afraid not. You'll find she'll not allow herself to be felled by a lackey of a lackey's lackey, dear child, but she rarely refuses the opportunity for a civil discussion. Would that it were ever your organization's first choice."

He gave a patronizing little titter, for all intents and purposes the jolly old man as he extended his bionic hand for her to take at her discretion.

"Shall we, then? Protocol dictates we proceed to the councilwoman's office in scenarios such as this one. She's nothing if not a structured woman, lacking in an appointment as you may be. Miss Schnee shall await us there."​

 

[MidwayLives]

The mechanisms in Ruby's arm groaned and shuttered as she screamed in frustration. If only she had better leverage or if she was just stronger...if only...
​

…she was stronger. She only glanced at Ruby for a split-second, hardly enough time to figure out if that was like Ruby-Ruby who'd managed to figure out what had gone down and gotten over here or if that was the Masque. She reckoned the latter but right now it hardly mattered. She was trying to help their Yang. "You're right it will." Nora agreed as she helped shove that rubble right off Yang. She would have tried to pull the unconscious blonde up too but she left that to Ruby if she wished to do so.

Ruby could only give a quick nod of thanks.

They hadn't talked much. Truthfully, before she'd talked to Weiss, it's likely the time Nora and Ruby would have met would have been as enemies.

Another life taken under the Red Masque's banner.

Instead, she'd helped Ruby save a life.

...Or so she hoped.

Gently holding onto Yang's hand, Ruby nervously chuckled.

"I-It'll be okay, Yang. It's fine! You'll be..."

Seeing Yang-any Yang-in this kind of state. It reminded Ruby of what could have been if she hadn't saved her Yang and herself from the Beowulf when they were kids. It'd cost Ruby her right arm and left more than enough trauma surrounding said stump than she could ever hope to come to terms with. The only act of kindness she'd shown her Yang in the years they spent growing up together. Had Ruby known she'd grow to regret what she did or that she'd be given a second chance in life. She would have stopped the Beowulf before it took her arm. So her Yang wouldn't need to see the sister she'd tried so hard to love covered in blood. Otherworldy or not, Ruby sure as hell wished she wasn't seeing Yang looking like this.

"You'll be okay..."

If she couldn't make it up to her Yang, she could at least help save this one.
​

And most invaluably, she had Fria. Harsh as it may have been to remove the prior Winter Maiden's power without her consent, the woman wasn't the type to hold a grudge; it had only taken a little candid conversation for her to agree to pass on some of her more practical knowledge, and Weiss had spent her time hungrily applying her insight with the same diligence she did every other task. The fruits of that diligence were being brought to bear now as the blue light streaming from under her eyelids intensified, and aura the same blue shade as hers flickered into formation around Yang's body before it reverted to her color and started flaring much, much brighter than usual, its healing benefits magnified as it was fueled by the application of external energy straight from the pages of storybooks. She'd managed to reign in her panic by now, urgency sharpening her mind and allowing her to grasp more steady breaths as she ignored the painful pangs in her chest.

"Icanfixthis. Icanfixthis. Icanfixthis-"

It was the same mantra that echoed in her head when she finally climbed out of that cellar. One she had at varying points applied to Ruby, Remnant as a whole, and now Yang.

It was suffice to say Ruby's feelings about Weiss were complicated.

On one hand she admired the councilwoman's determination to do what she believed in. No matter what others may have thought.

On the other it stung to be thought of as....just a monster.
​

Who else could?

....But this wasn't about how Ruby felt about Weiss.

This was about saving somebody both of them cared about.

Reaching out she gently placed her flesh and blood hand atop Weiss's.

Yang wouldn't be able to see or notice until she woke up but Ruby wanted to do this.

To show she was here and she wasn't going anywhere.
​

 

[MyrtenRose]

It was the only place she could think of to be right now, and that was by Yang's side as she crawled through the rubble to reach her, still fighting a losing battle to control her breathing and far too tunnel visioned to register either Ruby or Nora as presences or the fact that she was fairly certain she'd never crawled anywhere in her entire life. She immediately choked back a sob on arriving, plainly distressed by some combination of Yang's blood and the crookedness of her legs as she gently picked the shrapnel out and made sure her form was straight.

"I-I'm-m s-s-so suh-so-ho-rry I can f-fix this, p-puh-please l-let me t-try-!"

She kept apologizing over and over again like she had failed to live up to a standard, gingerly trying to smooth out some of Yang's bangs as a way of easing her perfectionist's brain before she began. The shakiness of her hands just ended up displacing them more, given THIS ALL REALLY WAS THE MOST FRIGHTFUL SHOCK ALL SHE WANTED WAS A BACKRUB AND YANG'S HAPPINESS IN THAT ORDER. She forced her shoulders to obey her and started steadying herself with deep, deliberate breaths, clasping her hands together before laying them both flat on Yang's stomach and concentrating on reaching the primordial power within herself.

“I...um...”

Suffice it to say, Nora had next to no idea what to say. That was a true rarity for her, the girl with such a hyperactive motormouth that often even the super fast Ruby failed to keep up with Valkyrie’s overly energetic train of thoughts. The fact that she was so uncharacteristically quiet now said a lot about the seriousness of the situation. She had never really been one to have a problem with talking, not even when it came down to shouting at and staring down experienced generals and headmasters. But seeing Weiss, this Weiss, like...that? It was weird to take in. Weird, but she wasn’t sure she’d say it was unwelcome. Perhaps there actually was more of Weiss that Nora knew in this councilwoman than she gave the older woman credit for. At the very least it didn’t seem to be just an act. Why would she have been...Weiss hardly seemed to even notice her or Ruby also being present. Nora only managed to watch with a frown on her face.​

And most invaluably, she had Fria. Harsh as it may have been to remove the prior Winter Maiden's power without her consent, the woman wasn't the type to hold a grudge; it had only taken a little candid conversation for her to agree to pass on some of her more practical knowledge, and Weiss had spent her time hungrily applying her insight with the same diligence she did every other task. The fruits of that diligence were being brought to bear now as the blue light streaming from under her eyelids intensified, and aura the same blue shade as hers flickered into formation around Yang's body before it reverted to her color and started flaring much, much brighter than usual, its healing benefits magnified as it was fueled by the application of external energy straight from the pages of storybooks. She'd managed to reign in her panic by now, urgency sharpening her mind and allowing her to grasp more steady breaths as she ignored the painful pangs in her chest.

"Icanfixthis. Icanfixthis. Icanfixthis-"

“...Wait hold on you can pull a Jaune in this universe—wait wait no hold on are you combined with Jaune in this universe???” Not even remotely the case but she could be forgiven for even briefly thinking such for because this was a crazy messed up world, that looked a lot like Jaune’s semblance sorta and she’d never actually met the Jaune that had been a part of this world. Seemed a legit question from where she was standing. As did her second question.
​

The fruits of that diligence were being brought to bear now as the blue and red lights streaming from under her eyelids intensified, and aura the same blue shade as hers flickered into formation around Yang's body before it reverted to her color and started flaring much, much brighter than usual, its healing benefits magnified as it was fueled by the application of external energy straight from the pages of storybooks.

"Hey wait, why you glowing red from your eyes now too? Last time it was all blue..."​

....But this wasn't about how Ruby felt about Weiss.

This was about saving somebody both of them cared about.

Reaching out she gently placed her flesh and blood hand atop Weiss's.

Yang wouldn't be able to see or notice until she woke up but Ruby wanted to do this.

To show she was here and she wasn't going anywhere.

“Hey, um, guys. Not to interrupt what you’re doing Weiss or uh, what’s no doubt meant to be a heartwarming show of support...but maybe we should get Yang down to like...you know, the medical wing before we do any of that? I don’t know what the heck’s going on or who’s attacking or what, but if they’d go this far and know you’re here...they might follow up with more?”​

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

Miles away, Lucie let out a quiet breath over her coffee as she felt a release of tension in her soul, one of the knots tied to her across Remnant pulling itself undone as another tightened to a quiver. So it was now then. The pieces were finally in motion, and at the worst possible time. Such seemed to be her luck these days.

She leaned against a support pillar in a small hangar attached to a modest Morsten Enterprises warehouse carved out of Atlas’ underside, watching the nondescript airship on approach trundle through the sky on approach. She smiled despite the timing, a heady dollop of relief mixing itself in with the frustration and dread at what this arrival meant. The airship touched gently down to the pad as the hangar doors slid shut behind it, and the side doors hissed as they slid open. Even getting it here had been a harrowing ordeal; normal Shadowfang transportation routes had been almost entirely eradicated by Carnelian and Schnee’s little crusade, and cargo didn’t get much more precious than this. Snake felt like she skirted closer than she would’ve liked to mixing her own name with that of the Fang, but when your family dynasty was communications, even suspicion was a tool to direct rather than an impending doom above their heads; There was certainly someone the records would eventually lead to, and she couldn’t imagine that someone was going to have a good few weeks in the coming days, but it wouldn’t be the illustrious young Morsten heir.

No, her biggest problems were stepping off the ship right now, regardless of how genuine the smile was on her face as she walked to meet them halfway and led her forehead thump against Bear’s chest, startling a rare, small smile of his own from the ancient warrior as he placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. “Hello again, little snake.”

“You are all dreadfully, abysmally late. I know I shouldn’t have, but I had quite genuinely started to worry you’d all died in your little escapade. Tiger and Bull have been here for weeks already.”

Blake gave an apologetic huff as she stepped out the hatch herself in full Talon gear save the mask, giving the talon’s other shoulder a squeeze as she passed. “ Sorry. Trust me, I’m aware this isn’t ideal. Greki misjudged.”

“Shocking.” Snake drawled, forcing herself upright and giving Bear’s forearm a fond touch before she turned and made to fall into step just behind Blake’s side. “I take it the meeting with the Argent pack didn’t pan out?”

Blake’s face was inscrutable as she seemed to pick up her pace. “The opposite.”

“Pardon?”

“Rejoice”

Blake froze in place as Snake stumbled and furrowed her gaze at the words. The voice sounded very familiar, but very wrong, and she turned with a quirked brow back towards the ship to see Greki Argent practically posing in the threshold of the airship’s door, both feet planted, legs straight, and an imperious tilt to her head as she stared down at the till then retreating pair. Rather, it was someone who greatly resembled Greki Argent, but was most certainly not her. Her silver hair was cut shorter and far more maintained, her loose clothes functional and weather resistant yet elegant, and while the scars of desert life pricked at her skin, there was a steely beauty to her eyes and poise as she placed a hand against her chest

“My father has deemed the Shadowfang worthy of the pack’s full support. Anyone who could tame my sister’s foolish urges clearly has the chuptza to lead the faunus in these trying days. You? You now have Feri Argent with you in this fight. Your enemies?”

She shook her head with a mournful tut.

“They have no Feri Argent. A pity to them.”

Snake turned towards Blake with a bemused smile, and The Hand gave a short sigh before she continued, answering the look under her breath as Snake followed.

“It was not worth the trip.”

There was a rumble of muted laughter from Bear as he followed in their wake, a downright affronted Feri staring in shock from her pose before her sister pushed her out of the airship to follow the rest.


--------------------------------------

The healing light that coursed through Yang’s form was miraculous, but it didn’t make the process any less disturbing to watch from so up close. The sound of bones reconnecting was not a pleasant one, and the wounds oozed and sputtered from the pressure that formed from the act of forcing them closed. But they did close. For a moment, there might have been a question of whether it was enough; all three of the conscious women in the room had seen enough violence and death in their days to know that surface wounds were usually far from the most dangerous one could have.

Then Weiss screamed loud enough to wake Yang even from the depths of a traumatic brain injury still trying to recover, and she screamed right back in a mixture of the fiery pain rocketing back through her senses, genuine fear of death, and a frightening amount of angry resolve to kick the shit out of whatever was trying to kill her. She flailed, clocking at least one, if not all three of them, with a limb as her mind was pulled out of the sweet abyss of quiet rest, and immediately stopped flailing a few seconds after with a pained grunt as every single inch of her body protested the action with even more pain.

She laid there and stared at the ceiling, dimly aware that her arm was gone (again), and far more keenly aware that doing anything other than breathing was going to just going to hurt more than trying to breath already did. Regardless, she spoke, a dry and cracked edge to her quiet words.

“What...What just happened? Weiss, Weiss are you-!?”

Despite the pain, she made herself sit up with a shudder as her eyes wildly started to shift across the room, only to see they thankfully didn’t have to travel far to see the Schnee nearby. She collapsed right back down with a grateful sigh, despite it all a tension uncoiling from her shoulders as she let herself go limp in a defeated relief.

“..........Hey sis. Hey Nora. Hey Snowflake. Guess that explosion wasn’t as bad as I thought it was.”

-----------------------------------------

Alyss, who had always spelled her name that way and was ever annoyed at her old colleague for doing so incorrectly, met his confidence in Weiss’ fate with a calm shrug. “Apparently the chances were slim, so not particularly unexpected. That’s fine then. Just so we’re clear how this works though; we stop touching, we die. I die, you’re probably going to follow shortly after. I’d prefer to be alive by the end of this, if its all the same to you.”

Then she gestured with her free hand down the hall for the headmaster’s office, moving in step with Merlot if he obliged.