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Frostbyte week day 6: Secret Relationship
Another day, another neatly folded little note for Weiss. This time she found one tucked in her boots.
She had been getting these letters for a long time now. They were a little crude at first, but all the more endearing. When Weiss got her first sparkly envelope, she honestly thought she fell victim to some kind of mockery. But a week or so after the first, she got a second one too. Soon, the letters got more frequent. Nowadays she got at least one on a daily basis. Sometimes even more than the usual one per day rate.
Seriously, she knew she'd be very concerned weren't the notes had such an exquisite quality of paper or had such a sweet scent. They were written in a meticulous hand, with what looked like an expensive fountain pen. The fact that she found most of the notes in semi public places calmed her greatly. Whoever kept sending her these, they respected her privacy.
After all, the notes were completely harmless. They were a constant flow of adoration of small things and childish wonder. Weiss found it endearing to a level she often caught herself wondering about the cute little notes. Whoever made them, clearly put an enormous effort into this project.
She unfolded the secret letter carefully.
She was right to do so. This little note, tied neatly with a silky tiny bow, icy blue in color, contained a few colorful pressed and dried leaves along with a few lines from poetry about seasons. It was a beautiful few lines from a poem Weiss never heard of. She held the delicate gift and decided she'll properly pin them on her cork board later.
She placed the gift on the shelf above her bed. A brief look at her cork board and all the heartwarming little things pinned on it. They all came in the ‘mail’, well not her fully stocked calendar, but all the other things. So far she got a flat rock on a string, a handful of postal stamps featuring frogs in tuxedos, a magazine clip out about the life cycles of corals, a hasty drawing of some plant Weiss couldn’t recognize, a deep carmine tail feather of a bird, and a postcard featuring a handful of fluffy kittens. She also had a whole collection of handwritten compliments and quotes of poetry, but Weiss was very careful with those.
The written letters were meant only for her eye. Otherwise her admirer would not go into lengths to keep them private. Weiss often wondered if she should contact this person. After all, she would like to know who is working so hard to woo her. She had to admit, it was working slowly, but surely.
Sadly, she had no idea who it might be. But she had no time to dwell on that. She had a training session to attend. She looked at the clock.
She better hurry.
***
Weiss grabbed at the doorframe viciously as she focused all her attention on taking off her boots without using her hands or bending down. Because boy, was she sore?
Yes. Yes, she was very sore. She had no idea where Winter gets these ruthless training plans, but Weiss could guess criminals might have been punished by similar methods in the past. Her body and mind equally took a rough beating today. Not to mention her pride. Her pride hurt more than her butt.
All she wanted was to get out of her damned boots, take a shower, have dinner and go to bed.
That was when she finally noticed the neatly folded envelope, wrapped with an icy blue ribbon. It was perfectly perched on the nook of the coat rack hook. The letter sat proudly defying gravity and common sense.
Weiss took it.
She scurried to her bed with the loot. Got all cozied up, all her previous sores and plans forgotten, and opened it.
She couldn’t stop the smile forming on her lips as she read the note inside. It was a cliche motivational quote from a mediocre movie. Weiss knew this, because she saw the movie long ago. Also the scene featuring the quote was the only watchable part in the whole awful movie.
But somehow, it all seemed more relatable written in these elegant letters. She stared at them for a good while. Her tired and emotional brain making a stupid plan. Her body acted before she could think better of it. Fortunately she had a few sheets of letter paper lying around. A courtesy of her sister’s mild obsession of holding crucial items in stock. It only took a few minutes. At the moment, the dominant, and more impulsive part of her, thought it was a good idea.
She stood in the hallway, trying to balance her own neatly folded letter on the nook of the coat rack. She tried and failed multiple times. But she had to do this. The letter had to be in plain sight, because she knew this mysterious person wouldn’t rummage through her stuff to find a note they don’t even know exists.
And there! She finally managed to do it and the letter looked secure enough.
With that, she trailed back to the dorm. Despite buzzing with excitement, Weiss fell asleep the moment her butt touched the bed.
***
The next morning Weiss woke and, after regretting ever walking the face of Remnant, immediately started on her routine to ease the soreness so characteristic after intensive training sessions. She dozily did her stretching routine, maybe even passed out for a few seconds when some particularly tough muscle knots unraveled. She dragged herself through the room with somewhat stiff steps, but careful not to wake Blake.
The sisters were nowhere to be found. Weiss had a faint memory of them talking about some night time hunting mission. It must be very early if they haven’t returned, Weiss thought.
She decided to have a hearty breakfast. Hopefully she’d be early enough to loot some pancakes and a nice order of fruits. Her secret stock of snacks were running especially low.
Weiss took her Atlas provided hoodie from the coat rack and put it on, at the price of her overused muscles protesting. She will never ever let Winter train her this hard again, she thought. After all, her sister urged her to keep participating in the sparring matches even after her aura was depleted.
Winter also urged her to take some of the military grade diet supplements to help her with the fatigue and muscle cramps. But it would be a cold day in hell before Weiss ever took even one pill of that Brothers-know-what mix of chemicals. She needed none of those. She had a balanced diet.
Sulking her way to the cafeteria, she stopped dead in her tracks when she reached into her pocket. She found a note in not one, but each in the pockets. The envelopes were packed to bursting. Weiss suspected her secret admirer had a lot to say this time. Weiss smiled to herself as she continued her way to get some breakfast.
The letters were heavy in her pocket. She was itching to open them and soothe her persistently nagging curiosity. Weiss was full of questions and as she just now realized, a lot of fears. What if she was indeed a victim of a crude joke and now she is a laughing stock? What if she misunderstood the hints and now made a fool of herself? What if she worded something wrong and now hurt her secret admirer’s feelings? Would she really want to know who sent all the notes? How much that knowledge would change?
By the time she stepped into the cafeteria, she was a nervous wreck chewing on her lower lip. Weiss deadpanned out on the counter packed with various breakfast foods. She absentmindedly heaped all kinds of fruits and an enormous sandwich on her tray.
She was raw nerves and all her hunger was gone with the wind. Her pockets felt so heavy, she feared the fabric of her hoodie would rip and the papers would scatter through the cold tile floor. People would step on them, slip on them or even worse, snatch them and read them without permission.
Weiss sat at the table in the corner. She hastily pushed her tray out of the way to make room for the papers and ripped the envelopes open with shaky hands.
She was right. It was a lengthy letter, but there was a usual collection of gifts too. But Weiss ignored the gifts this time. She, instead, read the letter as if her life depended on it. In fact, her sanity really depended on learning the contents.
She read and read and read. The farther she got in the skillfully formed sea of words, the more she realized it was a good idea to reply. Her only regret was that she should have done it long ago.
Despite the childish and innocent gifts and notes, this letter was masterfully put together. Weiss was mesmerized by the words. There were just too many emotions she could relate to. Whoever her pen pal was, Weiss felt a bittersweet longing stronger than before. She could understand every word, every sentence and every paragraph with such clarity, it was close to being terrifying. Were the two of them casted in the same mold?
Weiss had to consciously stop herself from flipping to the last page and checking the signature. She grew agitated as she read her way through page after page.
Upon reaching the last paragraph, she found an empty space where the name should be. Weiss was close to the breaking point. She wanted to howl and rampage like a rabid animal. Her fragile heart can’t take it. She stared in bewildered disbelief at the lonely ‘Yours truly.’ at the end of the letter. She rummaged through both envelopes, but all she could find was a vast collection of stickers. They were various food items with simplified dorky faces. Very cute, but not what she needed to calm her racing heart.
“Pretty exquisite quality of paper, don’t you think?” Said a seemingly bodiless voice and Weiss nearly jumped out of her skin. “It is handmade in a little Faunus owned workshop, down in Mantle.”
Weiss rewarded Winter with a look of pure doubt. It took several moments to process what she had said.
“How do you know that?” She asked, suspicious of the answer.
“Well, of course, I was helping to pick out the perfect letter paper for something this important.” Winter said as she sipped at her coffee.
“YOU WHAT!?” Weiss blurted out. It was just her luck that the cafeteria was basically empty at this time of the day. Which meant her outburst did not bother anyone.
But Winter did not reply or comment on her reaction. Her evil older sister just kept on enjoying her breakfast with a knowing smile. A smile that Weiss hated on a visceral level. She gave her dear sister exactly 30 seconds to answer or so Brothers help Weiss, she will take her revenge one way or the other.
The seconds ticked by. Weiss decided to use a different approach.
“My dear sister. If you have information, I urge you to share it with me.”
The silence was deafening. Weiss was intent on staring Winter down, so she would budge.
“Good morning!”
“Morning, Schneeblings!” The voices in unison were clear and cheery, but sounded very tired.
The Rose - Xiao Long sisters plopped down on the other end of the small table. They both had some breakfast snacks, but they looked truly fatigued. Content and proud with the knowledge of a job well done, but utterly exhausted.
Ruby, already half asleep and on autopilot, chewed slowly on the corner of a muffin that had enough dark chocolate in it to halt the digestion of an ordinary person. Yang had a huge mug of some hot chocolate, but a pair of paper cups filled with tea and a paper bag full of goods rested on the table in front of her. The bag smelled of tuna sandwich.
Not surprising, Weiss thought.
“Mmmm! You have the sticker set! So you finally had the guts to reply!” Yang cheered, still munching on the tail end of her cocoa “I thought you’ll never get it. I hoped they would get to you sooner than later, but oh well.... How do you like them? Cute, aren’t they?”
Weiss watched as Yang downed the very last of the hot choco and wiped away the mustache of whipped cream. Weiss did not blink.
“What?” Yang stared back at her, confused.
Weiss opened her mouth to snap at the blonde. But she was beaten to the punch.
“Don’t tell her. You know it’s a secret who the letters are from.” Ruby mumbled into the table. Her face was flat on the surface and Weiss suspected she was already drooling.
“So you knew?” poor Weiss trailed her sight on the three people, her friends and family, who betrayed her “You all knew?”
“Don’t be so sour about it princess. Your Casanova explicitly asked us not to breathe you a thing.” Yang shrugged as she draped her sister over her shoulder, potato sack style. Ruby was deep in sleep and noticed not a thing. The blonde took her paper bag and dirty mug and made her way to the dorms. She turned back to wave at the Schnee sisters before she disappeared into the hallway.
They sat in silence for a while. Weiss finally remembered that she should eat her breakfast and start her day. Poor girl chewed her sandwich, sad and defeated. She felt so stupid.
“It is true, Weiss. Your secret admirer explicitly denied permission to inform you about their identity. They are very conscious of their state of being and are afraid you’d decline them of your graces. This secret mail service makes both of you happy. Who knows, maybe I can help you pick something they’d like. They like pet fish, did you know?” Winter said as she stood. She made sure to slip a small piece of chocolate to her sister’s tray “Don’t be late for training tomorrow.”
With that, the older Schnee turned to leave and briskly walked away.
Weiss was left alone at the table once more. She couldn’t decide if she should be angry, sad, or just needed some extra sleep. With sandwich in one hand, she flipped every sticker and piece of paper around. She was desperately looking for a clue, a hint or anything. But sadly, she found none.
They like pet fish. What’s that supposed to mean... What kind of clue is that supposed to be. Pet fish. All pet fish, or just a certain species of fish? What counts as pet fish, anyway? The cogs in Weiss’ head turned with such fervor, they sure made a lot of noise.
Weiss sat, chewed on her sandwich, and disassociated so hard, she didn’t even notice the students sporadically arriving for breakfast, chattering vividly as they cycled through the dining hall. They came and went, but Weiss did not notice any of it. She was just too focused on her thoughts.
Brothers know how long she sat there.
***
Weiss scrunched all her clothes into the washing machine. Did her clothes deserve it? No. Was she already tired and fed up with the day? Yes. She just wanted her laundry to be done as soon as possible.
Weiss sent a great number of text messages to her sister to tell her more about the mysterious person sending the letters. All she got back was one single answer.
‘No.’
So here Weiss was, letting her frustration bleed into her ability to handle her poor laundry. She pushed the button, set an alarm on her scroll and turned to head out of the laundry room.
An incessant beeping stopped her. Weiss looked back to see one of the machines finished the cleaning cycle.She really hoped the owner of the clothes set an alarm to come and get their clothes. It would be a shame if the perfectly clean fabric would end up crumpled.
Before Weiss realized what she was doing, she was already folding some stranger’s clean laundry. Thankfully it was mostly outer layer clothes, so she wouldn’t come across as a creep who folds random people’s underwear. That would be a shame she could never live off.
She pulled the next item from the machine. It was so morbidly different from the other garments, Weiss couldn't help her surprise. She got stuck in the process of folding it and instead, she held it at arm’s length.
It was a nightgown, or so Weiss assumed. The garment had a somewhat high neckline, framed with a thin line of frilly lace. But the color. It was the trait that made it stick out like a sore thumb. While the rest of the attire was mostly white and green, the gown was a comfortable shade of pink, decorated with a delicate pattern of little green cats playing with balls of yarn.
Weiss looked at the neatly folded stock of clothes and back to this piece. The picture in her brain couldn’t quite line up properly. But again, the edgiest goth girl she knew, also wore pink nightwear back at Beacon. So she let this fun little mystery drop. Weiss folded it neatly on top.
A few similar gowns surface from the machine, but Weiss wasn’t quite as surprised by them as she was with the kitten one. But was she growing suspicious and let’s say a little worried with every item pulled from the laundromat? Yes, she was.
While similar in tailoring and color, the pattern changed. There was a collection of cartoon parrots pattern, fruits and flowers pattern, foods with silly face patterns, colorful fish patterns, just to mention a few. All this was worryingly familiar.
Not to mention, that the fish-gown had sizable blotches of ink on the front, sadly the stain didn’t manage to truly wash out. Weiss observed the said garment for a long minute. While her brain worked at double the speed, her hands folded the ruined nightgown on the top of the tower of clothes. Upon closer inspection, more of the nightwear sported smudges of ink at varying degrees.
She left the laundry room with a vicious plan forming in her mind.
Weiss spent the time until her alarm to search the AAMW (Atlas and Mantle Web) for shops carrying a certain item. Sadly, there wasn’t an abundance for what she was looking for. Nevertheless, she put every address into her scroll and after fetching her clean laundry, she set out to spur her plan into motion.
***
Weiss woke with a nervous knot in her stomach. It was an unholy early hour, but she couldn’t help the excitement. She padded to the door on feather light steps. Opened it to a slit and nearly jumped with joy when she saw the package she left out was gone. Now Weiss could only hope that it was more a hit than a miss.
She spent the entirety of the last day preparing the package.
First, she ran around all of Mantle to find a pair of nightgowns with colorful fish as a pattern. Weiss was also brave enough to buy a t-shirt. It was awful, really. But it had a pretty fish on it, so Weiss just impulse bought it. Then she proceeded to buy a new set of fountain pen. If her guess was right, the one her penpal used was clearly leaky. Despite the leakiness, this anonymous dork still stuck to stay classy and write with a fountain pen. Weiss didn’t want any more ruined clothes. And last, but not least, she bought several different issues of magazines about keeping pet fish and building aquariums. She threw in a handful of healthy snacks too. Just to be sure.
And now it was with the person she intended it to be with. Hopefully.... But Weiss refused doubt to plague her mood. With her curiosity soothed, she could start her day in peace.
Albeit Weiss didn’t feel as sore and miserable as the day before, she followed through her morning stretching routine, showered, had breakfast and was already on her way to early morning training with Winter. And then she realized. She forgot to check around for any notes in return for her gift. But there was no time to go back now.
Winter has been waiting for her. She looked a little tired, but she didn’t let it on. Better yet, Winter was wearing that shit eating, all knowing smirk again. Weiss didn’t need more to feel suspicious. She eyed her sister, waiting for something. Anything. That grin can’t be in place of anything.
“Good morning, sister.” Weiss greeted the other. Winter nodded at her as a reply.
Weiss hated so much when her sister was like this.
The older sibling motioned for Weiss to take position on the other end of the arena. The younger Schnee complied with the order. Weiss leisurely walked, already planning her next moves. She knew her ass would get whooped, but damn if she wouldn’t try bruising Winter’s in return.
Weiss stood in a stance stable, but mostly neutral. She didn’t want Winter to read her and gain any advantage. It was exceptionally hard, because her sister had been supervising her training for years now. But Weiss liked to believe she’s been getting better at hiding her intentions during a fight. She even had the guts to act extra cocky to provoke the first move from her sister.
“Weiss,” Winter started sternly and said girl expected to be scolded prematurely “ please remind me to give you this after we finished with training.” She said as she waved a neatly wrapped envelope around before tucking it back into an inner pocket in her uniform jacket.
Weiss was too shocked to admit, this was an amazing first move to throw her off balance. She had no time to process what just happened before Winter lounged into attack.
***
Butt and pride bruised thoroughly, Weiss dragged her achy body down to the locker rooms. She needed some spare ammo for later that day. She, and the other three from team RWBY, had taken on a mission to help escort cargo and clear a grimm infestation near Amity Colosseum.
Her only guilty pleasure stemmed from the fact that this time she really got Winter. Pretty good if she could say so herself. A series of blows got the older sibling hard enough to make her aura flicker and as dirty as it was to hope so, Weiss hoped she was able to hit Winter hard enough to make her develop a nice case of black-eye.
Truly, there was nothing malevolent in Weiss. But she wouldn’t feel shame if Winter had to walk around with the telltale sign of an elbow to the eye for a few days.
Luckily, Weiss had a few hours until she had to leave. So she could have lunch without a rush and settle down in peace to read the newest letter in her possession. After all that happened, Winter was kind enough to hand it to her without any reminder.
Weiss stopped in front of her locker. After unlocking it with her scroll ID, she had to witness a flood of ice blue and mint green paper flowing out of the compartment. On the bottom of it all laid her gear as usual and a bar of her favorite chocolate.
Weiss turned the door a few times on its hinges. She would never think of stuffing a locker full with tiny pieces of paper through the slits on the metal door. At first sight, the paper looked like random garbage, but after a closer look Weiss discovered they all were little notes, cut into all kinds of simplified shapes and every one of them had a word on them.
Weiss made a quick work of gathering every piece and she realized there weren’t just random words. They were compliments! Every. Single. One. Of them.She pinched the pieces from the tile floor.
Generous. Kind. Caring. Sweet. The compliments just rained down on her. She may or may not have teared up a little.
Feisty. Well, this one made her snort out a laugh. It warmed her heart to see them written in blue ink. Her gift was loved and used. Most importantly, it arrived at its destination.
She sat on the bench between the rows of lockers and nibbled on the corner of the candy bar. She tapped away on her scroll on the sudden whim of an idea.
In a matter of minutes she found something she thought would be something both of them could enjoy. Weiss quickly booked two tickets. With that done, she rushed to the dorms with her gear in tow. At least she was aware enough to not forget about her primary goal. Weiss rushed into the room, set her things on her bed and practically skipped to the desk, fetched a clean piece of letter paper and hastily wrote her message. It was just a simple few lines, really.
“My dearest secret admirer,
I did not open your latest letter. Your cheeky messenger said it was of utmost importance that I get an envelope containing such private information into my own two hands. But I would wish to hear them with my own two ears.
Ps.: A locker could not fit the cuteness you carry in you.”
Weiss scribbled the time and date on the ticket, the paper still warm from the printing process, and wrapped it up with the mail she got earlier. She wanted her mysterious adorer to know she truly meant it.
And there she was, bolting for the landing pads. If she was fast enough, she knew she could catch Winter and ask her to deliver her response. Clearly, her older sister very much enjoyed playing a part of the messenger.
Both of them were lucky, Weiss managed to catch Winter’s flight just in time. Weiss needn’t say a word, Winter knew it all when she showed the envelope into the older Schnee’s hand. Weiss wanted to explain, say anything, but no words came to her. Winter just smiled with mirth glinting in her eyes, though one eye was framed by a ring of a faint bruise. Weiss would have found it funny if she wasn’t so freaked out.
“I’ll make sure to forward it to the appropriate person.” Winter said and hid the precious thing in her inner pocket. She looked so serious and all business.
Weiss watched them take off as she still tried hard to catch her breath. She had an idea that her breathless state had little to do with sprinting through the whole building at full speed. And more to do with her impending panic attack. She couldn’t decide if she could cry or laugh or maybe both. Both sounded tempting. Her logical brain reasoned she wouldn’t have time for any of that now. So she decided some comfort food, or any food, would have to do.
She pinned the thought on her mental cork board and set out to have lunch. Or else, she positively would crumble during their afternoon mission.
***
Weiss was right to have a high calorie meal for lunch. The mission was high paced and unforgiving, the hunt in the frozen tundra challenged every member of the team in one way or the other. Despite the circumstances, the team hunted down every target meticulously. In the end, there was no grimm in sight.
By sundown they were huddled up in the trunk of a military truck, on their way back to the academy. Yang was already deep asleep, snoring away despite the loud whirring and mechanic noises of the vehicle. Blake was closely snuggled to the blonde, but she was more like relaxing than sleeping. Ruby played some games on her scroll, or at least tried. The only problem was that she kept dozing off whenever a loading screen took more than a few seconds. At the moment, she was a napping bundle of red with two hands and a scroll sticking out.
For Weiss.... she was anything but tired. Her nerves buzzed with energy and she couldn’t wait to get home and check around. Not knowing the response was slowly driving her up the wall.
Nothing. She checked all the usual places for any trace of response. But she found none. Weiss was, to say it lightly, bummed. She worried she would overstep a line with being too forward, but she hoped that it would be welcome.
Guess that wasn't the case.
“Don’t worry, Weissy. Your little postman dove will come in the morning.” Yang said from her bunk as Weiss went and checked the hallway for the tenth time since they got back to the dorms. “It’s dark and cold out. Next time you write to your friend, ask them to send the stuff with penguins.”
“Yang. I love you. But I will skewer you if you don’t stop talking.” Weiss whipped around and stared the blonde down. That was when she felt the buzz in her pocket. Then an onslaught of buzzing happened. She had no idea where all the messages would come from, but one thing was for sure. She got lots of them. Her scroll kept on buzzing as she fished the device out of her pocket.
The landslide of messages came from her sister, of all people. It was very odd and unsettling. It wasn’t Winter’s main trait to send a great number of messages, especially half assed, one word things as she was doing just now.
The start of the convo seemed fairly normal. It was Winter letting her know she delivered the mail just as she promised. The next message reported that there will be no letters tonight, because Weiss’ penpal is lying on the floor, having a crisis. The following messages taught Weiss her penpal was going through quite an emotional roller coaster, until finally settled on ‘sugar rush’. That was the point where the messages started to become frequent and unhinged.
Weiss had seen Winter keep her cool in the most impossible of situations. How bad it could be if it made her break proper messaging etiquette she was always so obsessed about?
“I think it’s over. They finally calmed down. There will be no private training session tomorrow.” The last message said.
“Are you okay?” Weiss typed. While she was thankful she didn’t have to wake at an ungodly hour in the morning, she was also worried for her sister.
“Positive.” Came her answer and she breathed a sigh of relief. The use of military jargon greatly calmed Weiss’ nerves. She checked the chat one more time for any details that she initially missed.
Weiss was shocked to see the timestamp for the message that was the first of the more jumbled ones. According to the device, poor Winter had to deal with the sugar rush for more than two hours. That explains the abundance of messages and in some way, why her sister decided to postpone the training session tomorrow.
Her scroll pinged one more time.
“Use the extra time to prepare for your date.”
Weiss stared at the message and watched with dread as the status indicator turned to gray next to Winter’s name.
Whelp, if she managed to dodge the panic attack earlier today, she definitely won’t now.
***
Date.
It was the word written in vivid neon letters before her mind’s eye all day. Weiss doubted she could recite anything she learned during the meeting. She dearly hoped it wasn’t that important.
Probably it was.
But she couldn’t concentrate to save her life.
Date.
She would have never thought of it as a date. It was more like... going somewhere with someone. She always went to places with her Ruby, Blake and Yang. Were they dates? Nope.
Date.
She couldn’t quite believe it. Date, with capital D. She was nervous.
Nervous beyond words.
Date!
Minutes were slowly ticking by and there was nothing she could do to stop the flow of time.
Date.
DATE.
!!!!
***
Weiss had trouble remembering how to put one foot after the other. She kept a keen eye on the people. She was looking for anyone who would recognize her. Of course, her big brain realized she had no idea who she was looking for in the last possible moment. That meant she had to rely on the other to recognize her.
Thankfully there was not a huge crowd around this part of Atlas. Which Weiss pitied for a brief moment. She loved zoos and aquariums as a kid. It would be a shame if these institutes of amusement went out of fashion.
She scanned the people one more time, no one was familiar enough.
There was one thing to do. Weiss sat at one of the picnic tables and decided to wait. After all, she was a few minutes early. She settled in comfortably, she was content on waiting a little bit more, otherwise her conscience wouldn’t let her any peace for weeks to come. Besides, it was very nice not being shut in between the four walls of the academy.
Weiss was in the middle of checking the news, yes she was that boring young person who enjoyed reading the news. She saw a silhouette move around, then sit down in front of her. She checked the clock. It was 3pm on the spot.
“Salutations, friend Weiss!” Penny cheered and set down two enormous cups of slushies on the table. One was light blue, the other mint a pleasant green color.
Penny smiled sweetly, just like content cats usually do. Or at least that was what Penny reminded her of. She looked a little nervous.
“Hello Penny. Are you here for someone?” Weiss asked innocently.
“Yes.” Penny was clearly nervous.
“Oh, I hope they get here soon. It would be rude to keep you waiting long.” Weiss said, putting away her scroll and focusing her attention on Penny.
Who was fidgeting vividly. It took a few minutes for her to answer, when she did, she spoke in the softest of voices. She was far from her usual cheery and loud self.
“It’s fine.” Penny started “They are not rude. They are more like a cracky grandma. Look rude on the outside, but very sweet, soft and caring on the inside.” By the time she finished, she was sporting a faint blush.
Weiss thought it was kind of cute and she had no idea synthetic people could blush. No. As she looked closer, it looked more like a warm glow. The knowledge did not change the fact that Penny’s faint glow looked kinda very cute under her numerous freckles.
“Besides, she’s already here.” Penny murmured, barely audible. She put a thing down on the table, the familiar item successfully grabbing Weiss’ attention. Weiss could not help the stupid, dorky grin stretching wide on her face at the sight of the ticket she sent out just a few days ago.
So here they were, finally face to face. But of them were so red with embarrassment and nerves, none of them could say a coherent word. Weiss’ thoughts stormed by on a neck breaking velocity. The giggle escaped before she could stop it. And with that, all the pent up nerves broke loose. Thankfully in uncontrolled laughter this time. It would have been gravely embarrassing to break down in tears in front of your Date.
It took a good few minutes until Weiss managed to calm down enough to talk. She needed all her cunning if she wanted to properly explain to poor Penny. Who still sat at the other side of the table, defeated and her head hung low.
“I’m not sure I understand.” She finally said. Sweet Penny sounded so sad, it nearly split Weiss’ heart into teeny tiny pieces.
Great job, Weiss. You better make it right at this instant.
“Penny.” But said girl didn’t look at her.
“Penny, sweetie. Listen to me.” Weiss said softly “I’m so sorry I laughed the way I did. But you have to know I did not laugh at your feelings. I would sooner jump off a cliff than do that.”
Penny still did not look at her. So Weiss kept talking.
“I was so afraid it would be some creepy weirdo or a joke. It kept piling up and it escaped me the way you just witnessed. It’s either laughing or crying. But the crying is not pretty.” Weiss took a few seconds to think “Well, scratch that, it’s not pretty whichever way the stress decides to leave me.”
“But Weiss. I am a weirdo.” Penny said from behind her hair.
“You look completely fine to me.”
Did Weiss crawl over the table to get in an impossible position in an attempt to make Penny smile? Yes she did. Would she do it for anyone else? No way. In truth if anyone suggested anything barely similar to this stunt, she’d turn them into kebab very swiftly. But Penny was worth the risk of being ridicule material.
And it worked! The girl let out a wet snort, she was hiding a smile behind her hand.
“But -“
“Don’t even start, Penny. We are here to have fun, and I’m sorry I blew it with my panic reaction. Can you forgive me?” Penny had to admit, she liked the way Weiss said her name. It was cute.
“Yes.” Penny smiled weakly. Her good mood was thinly veiled by the fright of rejection. Still, she wanted to do this. She just wasn’t brave enough to openly ask for a date in any of her letters. Brothers knew she tried to spell it out so many times, but no matter how hard she tried, the words never made it to the paper. She never had the chance to visit a normal zoo, let alone a zoo for fish. Having this adventure with the girl she fancied? It was like a dream came true.
“But first, I have to give you something!” Penny stopped the other in her tracks. Weiss sat down right away, waiting patiently for what could come next.
“You meant the slushie?” She seemed very confused.
Penny did not answer. She just held the nondescript gift bag over the table and motioned to Weiss to take it. Which the pale girl did. With puzzlement on her face, she opened the bag.
It was some kind of garment, that was for sure. Weiss gently pulled at the item, it was some high quality material. It was a neatly folded rectangle on her lap. She pinched it and gave it a soft shake to make it unravel.
Penny concentrated on Weiss so hard, the whole world turned quiet. She was excited to give the t-shirt to Weiss. She got it shortly after she was given The package of goods. She thought the pun-shirt was hilarious and endearing, so she wanted to give something similar to Weiss. She went to great lengths to find the perfect t-shirt. And now, she had to know if she picked right.
It was a simple cut white t-shirt, only that it had a light blue and very angry popsicle screaming popsicle printed on the front. Under the popsicle ‘Icescream’ in delicate letters.
Penny had to fight to keep the laugh in as Weiss gave a thorough up and down to the garment then turned to look her dead in the eye.
“I hate it, thank you.” She said with a beaming smile and in a moment she was in the process of putting the shirt on. She looked very proud of herself when she had the shirt fully in place.
It was a little loose on Weiss’ frame, but Penny thought it made the whole picture hellishly cute.
“Oh and your slushie.” Penny offered one of the cups to her date “We can go now.”
“It is a lengthy trip if you want to see everything.” Weiss offered the crook of her arm as she started walking.
The two twined elbows and continued toward the ticket booth.
“Oh, and Penny?”
Penny did not answer, but turned to Weiss as she was sipping at her slushie.
“Icescream.” At the girl’s confusion, Weiss pointed at Penny’s t-shirt. It had a colorful, full-of-fins pet fish and said ‘Know a betta pun? Doubt it.’ It was the shirt she got from Weiss in The package.
Needless to say, Penny immediately snort-spit her snack.
The giggling duo disappeared among the various groups of people on their way to their first, but hopefully not last date.