Don't Rock the Jukebox

Bumblebee pulled up outside of the diner and Weiss took off her helmet. The sun had long set so she was starving. A glance at her scroll revealed a worried text from Summer. “Mom’s wondering when we’ll be home. Well, she’s wondering if we caught the last ship back.” Summer was such a worrywort. She couldn’t entirely blame her, though; Vale could be dangerous after dark especially with Torchwick’s goons all around.  Yang pulled her helmet off, her shoulder-length hair falling out of it. “Tell her we’re fine. We’re on Patch, aren’t we? Sheesh, you’d think we’ve never been to the mainland before.” She rolled her eyes and helped Weiss off the motorcycle. They stowed their helmets under the seat and headed into the diner The building was relatively empty as it was close to closing, but a few stragglers remained. Weiss recognised everyone there except a Faunus girl in the corner. Who was that? There was only one Faunus family on the small island, but they were red foxes. This girl had long, black hair and some sort of black ears on top of her head. Plus, she as dressed in classic lolita. How bizarre for the island. Had she just now moved there and not introduced herself to anybody yet or something? She really stood out among the locals. But who wold move to Patch? It was a backwater. Nobody would really want to move here willingly. The girl’s lamplike amber eyes came up and locked with Weiss’ blue ones before the other girl looked away. Had she been reading Weiss’ aura? No, there was no way. Random people weren’t advanced aura users. There was no possible way that was it.  They seated themselves and Tracy walked over. “Well, how do you girls do? What can I get you for tonight?” They placed their orders—Weiss with an aura-user portion, of course—and Yang stretched back in her seat. However, her scroll went off and she sighed. “Geeze, Mom, you can calm down,” she muttered. She sent Summer a return text. “We’ll be home in like forty-five minutes. You’d think we’re inconitenent or something.” “Seriously. We can crash at Jerry’s or Selina’s house if we need to.” Weiss rolled her eyes. Summer was way too much of a worrywort sometimes. It wasn’t like there was a bounty out on their heads or anything. Well, Weiss was still second in line for the SDC, but Winter had control of the company. She really didn’t feel like she was in major danger. Between Qrow and Taiyang, she had learned to defend herself pretty well. It’d be more than enough to keep her safe against most lowly thugs. Yang threw a couple coins on the table and nodded over to the jukebox. “Wanna put some tunes on, Weiss? It’s way too quiet in here.” Thankfully, she was pretty familiar with the device. Summer had allowed her to choose some songs on it since she’d arrived in Vale. There were a lt of good songs on it. She nodded and went over, passing the Faunus girl in the booth next to the jukebox. Weiss noticed her amber eyes come up from the notebook she wrote in. Several thick textbooks lay strewn on the table. Yeah, she definitely wasn’t from Patch. The textbooks didn’t match what she’d seen natives of the island have. Quite advanced ones too. Who was this girl? Still, she could sense a sadness behind those amber eyes. Something was wrong in this girl’s life. Why had she come to Patch where Weiss guessed she didn’t know anybody? She stuck out like a sore thumb. First simply bein ga Faunus and then her dress style. Even the most casual lolita really stuck out among the jeans and T-shirts that basically everyone on Patch wore. “Want a request?” Weiss offered. Each play was only a delen, ten cents, so a few songs that might help somebody feel better would be worth it.  The girl hesitated then stood up. She went through the music sheaves a few times before nodding to herself. “Eight, sixteen, and twenty-five if you wouldn’t mind.” Huh. Not her own personal choices. Classical music was the worst. It was boring, trite, and restrictive. But she probably wasn’t the best judge of it… She’d been forced to learn to sing and dance to classical music until Winter had taken over the SDC. Thankfully, she didn’t hate music thanks to Summer showing her that it could be an incredible conduit for emotional connection. It was almost like its own form of magic.  The girl turned to go back to her booth but Weiss offered her a hand. “Want to dance?” The girl seemed so lonely and Summer had taught her to reach out to people in need. This girl could clearly use some company. Hopefully she wouldn’t come across as pushy, though. People had boundaries that should be respected. She didn’t want to push beyond what this girl was comfortable with. She could see the conflict in the girl’s eyes. She could hardly blame her. The SDC had abused workers for too long, but mainly Faunus. Winter was working with people like Sienna Khan to overcome the old ways set by Mister Gelé but it would be a long time until all of those wrongs were righted. Winter would do her best to do right by her employees. Even so, it would take a long time for the stench of Mister Gelé’s abuses to be washed away. Surprisingly, the girl put her hand in Weiss’ and it was warm. “I suppose it couldn’t hurt.” She let Weiss pull her onto the small dance floor. Weiss really was surprised. But she wouldn’t complain because this girl obviously needed a distraction. Weiss bobbed her head and got the rhythm of the song. A waltz. “Do you know anything about ballroom? It’s a waltz. Or we could move instinctively…” Surprisingly, the girl’s grip shifted so Weiss would take the lead position. She fell into the familiar steps and the girl followed along. She wasn’t the most skilled dancer Weiss had ever met but she wasn’t half bad either. “You dance well. Where did you learn?” A hopefully innocent question. She wasn’t trying to press too deeply into her past. She was trying to help distract her from whatever was obviously bothering her. She really didn’t know what might set her off or not. “My school. They offer dance classes as an alternate for gym. A lot of kids take it to have a supposed easily time instead of typical physical education.” The girl rolled her eyes. Yeah, dancing was no joke. It took a lot of coordination to be able to do properly. There wasn’t just ones own movements to worry about; one had to be in sync with their parter if it were  ballroom. Weiss had been forced back to Atlas for events from the time she’d been thirteen until recently so Gelé could try to sell her off. Thankfully, that hadn’t happened. But she had danced with so many clumsy oafs that it was outrageous. How could the upper class not take pride in such a wonderful artform?! “Interesting. I didn’t know schools could do that.” Summer had been homeschooling her for the past eleven years, so she really didn’t know anything about school. It had been private tutors in Schnee manor before that for her. “I go to a liberal arts college prep high school. They do a lot of things most public schools can’t do.” What even did that mean? She was far from sheltered, but she didn’t know anything about schools. It just wouldn’t have worked for Summer to send her to even a private school with how people would try to manipulate her for her family fortune. “I see. That’s interesting. What’s your name? I’m Weiss.” It probably went without saying that she was Weiss Schnee. Winter was still in the process of taking over the SDC but if this girl paid attention to the news and/or was involved with Faunus rights… “I did recognise you. You look like your stier. I’m Blake.” The girl hesitated. “Blake Belladonna.” That made Weiss’ eyebrows shoot up. Blake looked away, cat ears flattened. “Like the founders of the White Fang Belladonna?” While Weiss hadn’t met Kali and Ghira, Sienna had shown Weiss a few photos. Blake looked remarkably like those two. And the last name matched. It wasn’t a common last name as far as she was aware. Blake stopped dancing but Weiss squeezed her hand reassuringly. “Yes… But I’ve never hurt anybody before. I stayed with my mentor, Sienna, when the radicals broke off five years ago. I haven’t hurt anybody.” Her tone and eyes were pleading, absolutely desperate. Had something happened to make her so worried about it? From what little Weiss knew, the Belladonnas were good people. Why would Blake be so worried? “I believe you. My sister works with Sienna and I’ve met her a few times. She seems to have a pretty good head on her shoulders.” Weiss smiled but Blake’s cat ears remained pressed against her head. The ears came up and Blake relaxed into Weiss’ arms. What had happened to make her so worried about Weiss’ response? The song changed to a bolero and Weiss felt Blake shift into the lead position. “Know how to bolero?” Blake asked. Weiss grinned. “Summer’s taught me well.” She never would have learned how to dance other dances in Atlas other than the basic box step. But Summer loved to dance, so she had treated Weiss and her daughters to all styles of dance. That didn’t count all the times the three girls had caught Summer dancing with Qrow in the middle of the night in the master bedroom or living room. She got a ghost of a smile out of Blake. “You’re okay with it then? I know the bolero can bet pretty intimate.” “It’s fine with me.” With that, Blake pulled her into a rather standard bolero that would be perfectly appropriate at any Atlassian gathering. “You’re really good, Weiss. I mean I probably shouldn’t be too surprised. You are from the Atlassian upper class. I can’t imagine how many of those droll events you’ve had to go to.” Weiss rolled her eyes. “Droll doesn’t even begin to cover it. We can’t even do a proper waltz; it’s all box step. And even then half of the guys I’ve danced with can’t do that much right.” Atlassian events were the worst. She hated having to be dragged away from Vale to go back to Atlas. She had to pretend to be a submissive little doll, not the spitfire that she actually was. It was a maddening set of circumstances, but they had to keep up appearances for Mister Gelé. They couldn’t let him know she actually had a backbone like Winter di dor he would’ve pulled her from Summer’s care immediately. She did see Blake cringe. “I do have to go to event sin Vale sometimes and they’re bad enough. I can’t imagine having to be restricted to the box step all the time. That sounds horrible. Dancing should be fun, not boring.” “Agreed. It’s such joyful movement.” Weiss was a pretty kinesthetic person. She loved moving around and doing things that didn’t force her to sit down. She didn’t enjoy fighting, but the movement part was fun. Qrow and Taiyang ahd made it a game at this point so it wasn’t scary for her to approach. “It really is. Do you get to dance often?” Blake smiled, seemingly having to temporarily forgotten that was bothering her. That was good. It was mission accomplished. SHe really hated to see other people hurting. Blake would probably go back to feeling bad after they finished, but at least she wouldn’t be preoccupied for a few minutes. “Eh, not a lot anymore. Summer taught me, Yang, and Ruby to dance when we were younger, but we don’t really dance together anymore.” Ruby was in Vale’s top music university while Yang and her were barely beginning to look into what they wanted to do. Granted, Weiss knew she would work with her sister. The company was a part of her legacy. She wasn’t passionate about it, but it was the right thing to do especially with Winter being the type to over stress herself… She needed someone to help keep an eye on her that wasn’t Coco. She loved animals, but they needed to keep the company in the family. “Well, if you want to dance, I’d be willing to offer myself up as your partner.” Blake’s tone was warm and genuine. Weiss felt a little off guard. But she smiled and nodded. “All right. That sounds like it could be fun.” Ruby was gone to university and Yang hadn’t retained much interest in ballroom as they’d grown up. She’d mainly geared herself toward vehicles and handiwork. Weiss’ tastes were more geared toward the natural world and always had been. She wasn’t sure what to do with all of that and how it could help the SDC. She would have to work for it eventually. And an important part of that would be keeping up on her dance skills. She internally cringed. She would have to find a spouse at some point to continue the family line. She shoved that to the back of her mind. She was only seventeen; she didn’t need to worry about marriage now. Plus, there was no way in hell she would marry an Atlassian man. All she would do would be use and abuse her. Though finding a spouse in Vale would— Now wasn’t the time to worry about it. She was supposed to be enjoying the dance with Blake. She saw Blake’s ears twitch but she didn’t say anything. She didn’t want to assume anything but… “Are you an advanced aura user?” she asked quietly. Some of Blake’s more subtle behaviors seemed to imply it. She had reacted to something that seemed out of place. Nobody in the dinner was really talking. So what had she reacted to if not Weiss’ aura? The color drained from Blake’s cheeks and her grip on Weiss tightened considerably. “How do you know about that?” The words barely reached Weiss’ ears. Blake was so clearly afraid. Not that she could blame her. Advanced aura could potentially be used in horrific ways by the wrong people. Thankfully, as far as she knew, there were no bad advanced aura users. “Qrow Branwen. He’s a Grade Nine advanced aura user. He uses it all the time around the family.” Weiss kept her own voice low but Blake did relax considerably at that. Qrow was the best Hunter on the planet. He was known for keeping things pretty confidential. Summer was also working on advanced aura, but it was pretty slow glowing. SHe needed it to control her Chaos magic. Thankfully, Summer ad a pretty good grasp of herself so corruption wasn’t likely to happen. The song changed again to an Argisi waltz. Blake surrendered the lead position to Weiss again. She wasn’t as good similar enough she didn’t have to worry too much. It was such joyous movement that she enjoyed it. “I mean I’m a Grade Three user myself,” Weiss offered to Blake. Blake nodded. “I see. It’s hard to pick out low-Grade users even as a Grade Ten user myself. It really takes to Grade Five to be able to identify another user.” That much was true. Qrow had told her that much when he’d started teaching her. She unfortunately simply wasn’t good with advanced aura. Moving into higher Grades proved incredibly difficult for her. Oh well. It wasn’t like she would be in dangerous situations where she really needed high Grades. She didn’t even really need any Grades. It wasn’t like she’d ever go to Beacon or anything. “So do you have any hobbies?” Weiss asked. Might as well get away from the topic. Advanced aura wasn’t really something to discuss in public. Atlas would try to weaponise it if they ever learned about it. The fewer people that knew about advanced aura, the better. Hopefully Blake wouldn’t mind moving away from the topic. “I spend a lot of time at an aura breed rescue. I help do educational shows on aura raptors with our educational ambassadors like Duri the golden eagle. I also have my raven and crow, Kuro and Noire. They’re my pets but also serve as educational ambassadors.” Weiss’ eyebrows went up at that. Working with powerful birds like a golden eagle had to be intimidating. Especially for somebody that seemed about the same age as her. To care for corvids too…That was insane. But as long as she knew what she was doing… “Would you like to see one of our shows?” “It couldn’t hurt. Where are they held?” Blake told her the particular time and place and she made a mental note of it. She would have to go out there sometime. It sounded interesting. “So how did you end up with two corvids?” “They were babies somebody brought into Star of Hope. I was willing to take them and raise them. They imprinted on me and just so happened to be aura breeds.” Huh. Wild aura breeds. That was something she still didn’t understand. How could a truly domesticated animal appear in the wild like that? Even the best animal scientists didn’t have answers for wild aura breeds. It was one among many mysteries that might never be solved. “Could I meet them at some point? Are they— Okay, dumb question.” Of course they were socialised. An animal ambassador unless it was properly socialised. She had been to a few raptor rehab facilities with Summer for educational purposes. They hadn’t been aura breeds, though; they had been normal raptors. The birds had been incredibly calm despite the children being around for programs. Blake chuckled. “Thankfully, I did raise them right so they aren’t too neophobic. Most corvids are pretty neophobic. I got to take them to school with me to feed them. That introduced them to a lot of different sights and sounds. They have some pretty cool trained behaviors for shows.” That sounded like a lot of fun. She had never been up close and personal with corvids before. What it must it be like to live with them on a daily basis? She knew they were smart so to add aura breed on top of it… It must have been interesting.   Blake smiled and nodded. “Sure. They can be a little leery of strangers, but they’re generally pretty sweet.” Of course, the waltz music ended and went over to a relatively generic rock song that Weiss had put on. It was one of Yang’s favorite, but Weiss couldn’t care less about the genre herself. “Hey Weiss; food’s up!” Yang’s voice fully snapped Weiss out of the bubble she’d been in. A look at Blake showed she was also out of the little bit of fun they’d been having. Her expression quieted and she sighed. “Would you like to spend the night with us, Blake?” Weiss did notice a bag in Blake’s booth. A school bag, but it looked a little more filled out than normal. There was a small hotel on the island, but that wouldn’t be as comfortable as real home. “I couldn’t impose—” “You aren’t. Ruby’s away at university so her room is free. She won’t even know someone stayed in her room one night.” Plus, she wouldn’t be home for a few more weekends. What she didn’t know wouldn’t hurt her. “Well, all right…” Blake’s ears flicked back. Weiss pulled out her scroll and texted Summer to come get them. Blake wouldn’t be able to fit on Bumblebee with her and Yang and she was not keen to have her or Yang walk back in the middle of the night through the forest. Plus, Blake’s grief over whatever was wrong might attract Grimm. With that, Weiss headed back to her table and started to eat. Tomorrow would definitely be interesting…