As Weiss opened her eyes, she was greeted by an ever-more familiar sight. The gentle glow of the morning sun shimmered along the ceiling, rolling and waving through the shadow of an old oak just outside the window gently shaking with the breeze. She could faintly make out the smell of sizzling bacon in the air, and faint voices echoing through the house. Even still, it was quiet in her and Blakeâs room, save for the rustling of her blankets as she slowly rose.
Even a week and a day after moving in, Weissâs mattress still sat directly upon the wooden floor, askew and alone in the corner of her room. Blakeâs side of the room was worse off, a half-dozen cardboard boxes of their belongings messily scattered. Weiss was thankful that she hadnât had any personal belongings she cared to bring with her from Los Angeles, aside from what sheâd need for school andâ
And for Vytal Fight.
âAh.â
She shakily stood from her mattress, the aches and pains of the previous nightâs game slowly creeping in. She carefully walked over to the full-body mirror Blake had on their side of the room. At the sight of herself, she sighed.Â
Her hair was a tangled mess, and her face hadnât fared much better. A light bruise had formed on her upper cheek near to her ear, a painful reminder of the fierce slap sheâd taken. The exact details of the injury were difficult to make out. Half of her vision was blurry, and despite her efforts, she couldnât focus it. She tried blinking to rid herself of the blur, but all it did was sting.
The doctor said sheâd been lucky, that if Cinder had struck even a fraction of an inch closer Weiss wouldâve lost her vision permanently. That she had made it out with only a scratched cornea and two deep cuts was âbetter than the worst she couldâve done,â according to Velvet, but it scarcely felt like it. Weiss had never considered herself a vain person, all-in-all. The makeup, clothing and careful crafting of appearance was always a requirement of being a Schnee, not of being herself. Still, that she would carry this scar with her for the rest of her life? This scar that sheâd received from her?
It was more disheartening than infuriating. At the same time, though, it almost felt more⊠honest, that she should carry a scar with her. It just made more sense.
Mm.
She carefully peeled off the dirtied bandages along her cheek and eyebrow and tossed them into the little black trash can beside the mirror. The bandage on her palm was a little more painful to remove, but she did it all the same, wincing through it. She walked back to her mattress and kneeled to open her bag, extracting from it a box full of fresh bandages. As she tried to open the paper packages they were individually wrapped in, a drop of blood fell onto the hoodie she wore. The red soaked into the black fabric, turning the shade askew. She hurriedly grabbed a paper towel from her bag and dabbed at the wound. It seemed she still bled some, despite the stitches.
Frustration at the inconveniences brewing, she walked back to the mirror and finally reapplied the bandages. Upon looking at the hoodie, though, she sighed. It was two sizes too large and had a cartoon bunny on the front. She was thankful Jaune had lended it to her seeing as her dress had been rendered quite unpresentable, but cleaning it and getting the blood out before she returned it would be yet another thing to worry about. Sheâd never really had to wash her own clothes back home. The maids always took care of it. While she wasnât opposed to learning, she couldnât even begin to guess where to start and could only hope that one of her teammates knew how to go about it. Maybe Rubyâ
Oh. The hairs on Weissâs arms stood up straight as a warmth engulfed her face. She buried herself in her hands, hiding her blush only from herself.
âOh, god, Weiss⊠what are we doing?â She whispered to herself.
She leaned forward and touched her forehead to the cold mirror, cursing under her breath as she recalled the most terrifying event from the previous night.
Sheâd told Ruby her feelings.Â
After the match, but before the fight, as the fireworks were blasting and the audience was blaring⊠well, the excitement and adrenaline had gotten to her. When she stared into Rubyâs eyes in that moment of bliss, she just couldnât help herself.
Ugh, what was it I even said? Weiss looked into her own eyes, so close as they were in the mirror, and tried to recall the words. I canât stop thinking about you, and I donât know why.
A chill ran down her spine. It wasnât a confession, but that didnât make it feel any less intimate. She wondered how on Earth she would explain it if Ruby asked, but, would she even remember? BesidesâŠ
âŠdoes it even matter, now?Â
She sighed. The mirror fogged up in response, turning her face into a pale blur. She pulled her forehead away from the glass before walking back to her mattress and ungracefully falling into it. Seeking anything to distract her, to ground her from falling too deep into her own head, she grabbed her pillow and held it tightly to her chest. It didnât work. The uncertainties of everything still haunted her, with one particular question weighing her down more than any other.
How could I possibly help Ruby?Â
For what felt like the dozenth time, Weiss buckled under the weight of having lived a sheltered existence. She didnât know the words to calm Ruby, to reassure her that she didnât care she wasâŠ
âŠwas what, exactly?Â
Weiss immediately came to a few solid conclusions: Teammate, friend, fascination. Sheâd held no doubts on those fronts any longer, but Ruby was more than that, too. She was an entire person, with an entire life, and Weiss had only the smallest sliver of insight into it. Sheâd been so preoccupied with preparations for that ridiculous match that she hadnât even asked Ruby the most basic questions about herself. She hadnât even realized Ruby was⊠well, like Penny, it seemed. She was the only point of reference Weiss had, but she knew even less about her.
She didnât know what to think, nor did she know where to even begin. The general idea was understandable enough, but there was so much about it that eluded her; Why someone would want to switch genders, how one was supposed to act around them, how they even did it. The last was of particular interest. Penny seemed a little scruffy, but Ruby was so⊠not. The image of rubbing Rubyâs back flashed across Weissâs mind, and a warmth once again crossed her cheeks.
At least Iâm not a lesbian, Weiss mused to herself.
âŠwait. Is that how that works?
She pursed her lips and looked towards the ceiling. Too many uncertainties, too many big and scary questions. Blegh.
The pit which slowly began to form in her stomach grew deeper. In response, she set her jaw. Her mattress suddenly felt a little less comfortable, and her thoughts became a little more structured.
We need a game plan. She had to be better for Ruby. She had to be there for her, and she couldnât stay in the dark on it all. If an abundance of questions was her first obstacle towards that goal, then sheâd simply have to find the answers.
She tossed her pillow to the side and reached over to her bag, pulled out a silver aluminum laptop, unfolded it and opened Safari. Iâll just google it.
WWW.GOOGLE.COM
SEARCH: _______________
Her text cursor blinked idly as she pondered the surprisingly difficult question of what exactly she needed to look up. The words escaped her, and she didnât quite know where to begin. All she could do was try.
WWW.GOOGLE.COM
SEARCH: BECOMING A GIRL
About 2,400,000 Results (3.1 Seconds)
AdriennesGuide.com - From Girl to Woman, How To Survive Adolescence
KansasCityClinic.org - Everything You Need To Know About Puberty
Youtube.com - Top 10 Magical Girl Transformations
Susie.org - What Do I Do If Iâm A Boy, But Wish I Was A Girl?
She clicked the fourth result, and a wall of text appeared. Weiss traced along each and every word, trying to wrap her head around it all as well as she could. She noticed something, though, in that some of it sounded strangely familiar. Where had she�
Ah. Calaveraâs. Rubyâs words stuck with Weiss like glue, quietly traveling along with her all this time.
âYou feel like no one gets you, right? Like they donât even try to. You go through your life trying to be as happy as you can, where you can, but then these stupid societal expectations get put on you by everyone. Even by the people who supposedly love you. They say youâre supposed to just grin and bear it, but every day you get more and more angry because you feel like if they'd just listen to you and let you explain, from the bottom of your heartâŠâ
âThen theyâd understand.â Weiss softly repeated her own words. She closed her eyes and gently sighed. âOh, RubyâŠ.â The air felt still as Weiss blankly stared at the screen, that same familiar feeling in her chest pulsing, the pit deepening. In that second, she wanted nothing in the world more than to hold Ruby once again, as closely as she could. It was the only thing she could think to do.
Her search was interrupted as the door creaked open.Â
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I edited the entire thing. It took about 10ish hours?
Chapter 1- Received many improvements to environmental descriptions and body language.
Chapters 2 & 3- I'm not incredibly happy with them. They feel a bit directionless. I added some Weiss thoughts in them about the upcoming Autumn Tournament that makes it feel like something more ominous and challenging is on the horizon. I've yet to read through that entire section again, but I'm hoping it will make those early chapters feel more purposeful.
Chapter 9- Released just yesterday. Received some much-needed polish and styling updates. I moved the explanation that Ozpin had called Winter to earlier in the chapter so it felt a little less disorienting, and I added some flavor text at the beginning to serve as a spacer from the Cinder fight.
All other chapters- General grammar fixes, and some light improvements to environmental descriptions and body language. No major content changes of course, as there never will be, but I made it just a smidge more fluent.
I'm too tired to update all of the chapters tonight with their new edited versions, so I'll just update Chapter 9 and do the rest tomorrow. Overall, I'm very happy with the work I did today. Drive lists 531 edits. I also took a lot of notes. Good stuff.
June 7th, 2023
Part one of today's project was to get this blog set up.
Now, part two is to read through all (currently) 50k words of the fic, do some light editing, refresh myself on the smaller things I'm trying to keep track of, and then use that information to better inform myself on what I need to do with the pacing over the next few chapters.
It takes the average person about an hour to read 15k words, but I'm a slow reader. So, oh god. This'll be a long one.
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