Family Issues Part I

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"Hello, Weiss. So good to hear from you after such a long time." The man, her father, spoke quietly and evenly as always. "I am assuming from your tone of voice that you already know why I am calling you, though."

But behind that evenness and calm surface she could feel every syllable filled with a kind of edged, subtle disappointment that threatened her in ways she couldn't quantify if asked. Aside from the threat of tuition withheld, and an end to her time at Beacon, of course. That, at least, she could easily quantify for people if they asked.

"Y-Yes, Father." She stammered, letting Blake slide a chair under her and taking the seat. Sitting and with Ruby and Blake both beside her, she felt herself calm at least enough to talk, and tried to do so. "Blake- That is to say, my teammate, she showed it to me when she herself saw it. I was doing an assignment with my partner, though, and thus only just found it."

"Blake." The man said the word like it was dirty, asking after a second, "That would be the Faunus you've been saddled with, no?"

"Yes, Father." Though the idea she'd been 'saddled with her' didn't sit well, now was not the time to argue it. Instead she offered information in volume, to hopefully answer whatever questions her father could have and please him. Or at least avoid aggravating him by making him need to ask her. "She is my partner's sister's partner, and she was… Coming out to me, I suppose. I was curious, and the location was supposed to guarantee our privacy-"

"What was the place's name?" He asked quietly, interrupting her as easily as breathing.

And while she didn't like throwing a place under the bus for what was probably just some random paparazzi or passerby seeing a chance…

"A small and private karaoke and bar named, I believe, Dine and Dance Dust to Dust." She was genuinely unsure of the place's name, though, and rapidly offered as a backup. "I-I'm unsure, though, since it was meant not to be a big deal and I was distracted. I did, however, purchase food there. So checking my financials should provide details."

She was already throwing innocent people under the bus as it was. She at least wanted to throw the right place under it. All would be innocent, of course, but they at least did fail to uphold her promise of privacy. So while innocent, she could see a way to rationalize at least pinning it to the ones that had a responsibility they'd failed.

"I will certainly be reviewing your financials, of that you can be sure, young woman." Even when he agreed with her suggestions he was aggravated and aggressive. It was as she'd expected, though, and she masked all but a grimace at his snappish tone. Even if she was certain Blake's more sensitive ears would hear him nonetheless. "And just so you aware if I see anything related to catering to your pet we will have a very different second phone call."

"Yes, Father." Her hand curled into a fist at the 'pet' remark, but Blake's hand on her shoulder eased the aggravation somewhat. "I assure you I have purchased nothing for my…" At a glance from the Schnee Blake grimaced and nodded, earning a small frown from Weiss, "For my p-pet. I would never squander SDC finances on such- Such wastrels."

"Good. At least you understand something then, even if this ought never have happened. Keep your pet leashed in your room and your hands on her there only from now on." And just like that Blake had been commodified into some petty plaything and, even if she seemed resigned to it and willing to suffer it for Weiss' sake, it rankled her. Still, Jacques sounded somewhat pleased when she didn't argue, and he went on dryly, "At least you're a woman as well, so there's no chance of sullying the family line."

"A line you married into and have no claim on…" She wanted to say, just to see him flinch. Or hear him flinch, at the very least, since he'd not elected to make a video call. As savory as it would have been, though, she knew the canned response to give, "Yes, Father. I would never… Never sully our name with such disgustingly flagrant and irresponsible actions."

"Hmph. Good girl, at least in this regard you have some damn understanding of the way you ought to behave." The man sounded angry to be pleased, somehow. Like he'd wanted an excuse to more heavily punish her, or shout her down. Who really even knew, maybe he did? "I will be filing suit against Beacon and this karaoke place for these fallacious, clearly fictitious claims, however."

"W-What?" But Beacon hadn't done anything! Fighting for her cool, though, and knowing that either pleading or demanding would only worsen the situation, she tried to argue, "Father, please, Beacon isn't involved in-"

"Not directly, they are not, no. You're quite right about that, my dear." The man freely admitted, sounding almost amused at her for pointing the fact out. Which to be frank was probably the case, and he continued in the same haughty, 'educating you' sort of tone. The kind he often used and that she always despised to its deepest core. "First and foremost, Beacon is an institution of prestige and old acclaim. As such, they like to overly negotiate our supplying prices, and if we protest too loudly a gaggle of nitwit lawyers shows up to heckle us about 'contractual obligations. And they didn't even inform me they were placing you on a team with one of those animals!"

"I doubt they knew, Father." She tried gently, still hoping somewhat naively to protect Beacon from her father's politicking and capitalistic shenanigans. "She was hiding the fact, after all. I wouldn't be surprised if no one in the staff was made aware."

"Negligence is no excuse, but you're right. I shall ensure that is added to the list of charges." She bit her lip hard enough that it hurt in response, Aura or no, but he was unaware of the fact and went on. "Negligence in not knowing who was attending their school, or for not informing me about who was on my daughter's team, the result is the same. And after not making you the leader? The absolute disrespect!"

"Yes, Father." He was seeking a way to go after Beacon, she saw that now. Hopefully he wouldn't hurt the school too terribly. "I am sorry to cause trouble, Father."

"Hmph. As you should be. No daughter of mine should be absent-minded enough to let someone see her indulging herself with one of those half-breeds." Again, the only thing that calmed her was Blake's hand on her shoulder, telling her it was okay not to snap or lash out. That it was fine to let it go. So she did and, when she was silent, the man sighed, "Go about your day, girl. I have lawyers to call, and if you are seen hiding away that will be an admission of guilt on the matter. So be normal, as though nothing strange is going on."

"Yes, Father." She answered quietly, "I understand. I'll… Keep my head down without it being apparent, Father."

"Good girl. I'll be in touch." And that was all he had to say before he ended the call..

No goodbyes or 'I love you', or even assurances that the problems he saw with her having a Faunus teammate would be resolved. Even if she didn't see the same problem, she'd have seen the gesture of his assurances as something kind. But no. He was done and so the conversation was over. As usual…

"Weiss? Are you okay?" Ruby asked, standing beside her and watching her carefully. Something on Weiss' face must have worried her because the young Rose blinked quickly and grimaced, forcing a smile on her face that even Weiss herself knew was pinched and forced feeling, "Do you… Want a hug? Would that help?"

"No. Of course not. I'm not some child that needs hugs when she's sad, you know." She pouted, and then grimaced and then, after a second of thought, held an arm out. The younger girl took the opening and knelt, sliding in for a hug that was, admittedly, very comforting and warm. "Thank you…"

"Of course! You're my bestie more than the restie even if you're kinda testy, Weissy." Rub murmured. Weiss able to hear and feel her words reverberate in her chest from how the girl had leaned down into the hug, thus pushing Weiss' face against the younger and larger girl's chest, and the chuckle that followed her silly little rhyming joke managed to sap some of the Schnee's anxiety in spite of herself. Eventually, Ruby asked a quiet, "That better, yet?"

"Yes, I… I feel better, yes." And surprisingly, that was the truth. Though when Ruby pulled away she did find she missed the warmth the girl held. Ignoring that and turning, she stood and met Blake's pensive gaze, "What do you want to do about this, Blake?"

"What do I want to do?"

"You're as involved as I am, Blake." Moreso, even, given that her father might paint her as some carnal fiend and Weiss the victim. How he could spin that, she had no idea, but she was sure the army of SDC lawyers would have ideas about it. Cocking a hip and resting a hand on it she went on, "If you want, you could hide behind my father's lawyers and he'd protect you. If only because it would help to protect me."

"I- That is a terrible idea, Weiss. Sweet, but terrible." Blake murmured, seeming surprised and even rather pleased at how swiftly Weiss moved to protect the both of them. That quickly gave way to aggravation, though, and Blake crossed her arms defiantly. "I'm a Belladonna, if you remember. I highly doubt your father would want anything to do with me that wouldn't fall into the category of 'bad ends'."

"Perhaps you're right, and I don't fancy trying to hide the fact from him. More for the likelihood of failure and reprisal than anything else, though, to be frank." In truth, it was most likely that he'd just try to press on menagerie politically to get concessions. Even that, though, was almost certainly not something Blake would tolerate. And if she resisted what her father decided to do, then she'd become the target, not someone to be protected. "Then again, what do you want to do?"

"What can we do?" Ruby asked, using her Semblance to bolt to her bunk and sitting there while petals fluttered. For once, Weiss ignored the childish display, and let Ruby go on. "I heard your dad mention Beacon."

"He wants to sue Beacon for allowing this to happen. Or for not letting him know I was on Weiss' team, and what I was." Blake answered quietly, ears flicking to show Ruby how she'd heard. In case she was going to wonder, that was, though Weiss suspected that Faunus had to explain such frequently enough to just do those things. "And no," she added quietly when Ruby opened her mouth, "he doesn't care if Beacon knew what I was. He calls it negligence in failing to inform him, or failing to vet their student applicants."

"That's dumb…"

"Yeah, it really is." Weiss nodded with a tired sigh, more experienced with her father's foolishness than either of them could possibly understand. And in ways she wasn't about to explain, for that matter. "My father sees an advantage and now he's going to find ways to press it to his benefit. And he will press it now, with or without my consent."

"A true tyrant after all. At least the Fang was right about that, if absolutely nothing else..." Blake murmured, strolling over and sitting on Yang's bed comfortably. Reaching up she idly ran a thumb along the back of one of her ears she thought for a moment. Finally, she blinked and looked to Weiss, "You can't try to stop him yourself, right?"

"No." She answered quietly, her voice resigned and weak even to her own ears. "If I try to, he could withhold tuition payments. Or send his quite literal army of highly paid lawyers to force Ozpin to cancel my standing at Beacon. If I resist hard enough, he could have me declared mentally incompetent and force me home to 'recover'."

"He'd do that?"

"He threatened my mother with it, once upon a time. And for all my father's innumerable faults, being a man to threaten emptily is not one of them." Back when the Board had stripped her of any business controlling powers. She could scarcely remember it personally, but Winter had been old enough to remember. "It would be purely temporary, I am sure. A measure meant to get me home and, likely after a few months, one he would reverse."

"Hard to trade his daughter for business rights if she's 'incompetent', right? I imagine that would be most of the purpose there." Blake challenged, digging at her father more than her. The insult was meant, she was sure, to be empty and untrue, and so when Weiss only nodded Blake scowled, "Damn… He's that bad?"

"He is, yes." And so much worse, but now was very much not the time for her to vent about that.

"Then why don't we go to Ozpin?" Ruby asked quietly, blinking when the two older women turned to look at her. Quietly, unsure now that two eyes were on her demanding more information, Ruby stammered on, "I-I mean, if we warn him, he could prepare ahead of time. And Weiss' dad wouldn't know about it, right? So she'd be safe, and Beacon would be ready to defend itself."

"And if we tell Ozpin what to expect from Weiss' dad, he might protect her too." Blake added, giving Weiss a look and then smiling thinly. In that moment, as Blake began to speak, Weiss could see the old terrorist in her. The scheming and underhanded brilliance of the lifestyle coming through, if for a far more peaceful usage. "With Beacon ready, and Ozpin knowing to expect foolishness about you from your father, we could prepare any number of defences. He can't declare you incompetent, for instance, if Beacon runs a standard psychological evaluation on you, now can he?"

"No… No he very well couldn't, I suppose." Beacon had its own army of lawyers, and decades of prestige in the field of Hunters and everything involving them. If they'd already pre-cleared her then any allegations from her father's lawyers would fall on deaf ears at worst, or those that knew otherwise at best. "And if they didn't know who and what you were, they could prepare a defence for that as well. Or even fake evidence to say they did, with you on hand to validate whatever they claim."

"Then we need to do that, and do it now. Before her bastarding father can make any moves at all." Blake spoke sternly and firmly and rose when the other two nodded, even if Weiss was somewhat thrown off balance by her suddenly more colorful language. Flicking her Scroll out the Faunus explained, "I'll message Yang to let her know what we're doing, and what all is going on. But we need to go."

"Right." Turning, Weiss grabbed her bag and slid her Scroll into it. "Ruby are you going to-"

"Try and stop me!" She crowed loudly and suddenly, dropping off of the bed in a theatrical, flamboyant 'T' pose, grinning widely in spite of the circumstances abounding. More serious in tone, but still grinning widely like a mad woman, Ruby added, "Team RWBY always stands together, bestie more than the restie. We got your back no matter what!"

"She's ridiculously flamboyant and loud, but she's right." Blake offered, Scroll open and finger flicking keyes rapidly as she typed her message. "If the White Fang taught me anything good, it was that a team sticks together. And a Schnee and a Belladonna being friends? What more could I have ever hoped for when it comes to equality of the races?"

"Of course, Blake. It's definitely useful for both our sides." Weiss rolled her eyes at Blake's seeming need to make everything somehow justified outside of simply wanting to do the thing in question, but didn't see a point in arguing. She was, after all, correct. "We should get going."

"We should."

"Yep!" With her two 'subordinates', as weak a claim as that was, ready to go Ruby turned and pointed to the door. In as triumphant and commanding a voice as a fifteen going on sixteen year old young woman could manage to make, their team leader ordered imperiously, "Team RWBY, roll out! Operation Weiss Cream is a go! Follow your glorious leader into battle!"

"Oh for the love of the Brothers, Ruby…" Weiss sighed, shaking her head mirthfully as the young woman blasted by and out the door. It was her way of trying to make everyone feel better, Weiss was sure. Giving Blake an amused look, the Schnee shrugged, "I suppose we should follow, before our 'glorious leader' runs into a wall and knocks herself out."

"Yes, we should." Blake's Scroll pinged quietly and she read it quickly, adding a simple following, "Yang will meet us at the elevator. Said to hurry up since she's pissed and there's plenty of walls to punch."

"That… Sounds about right, yeah." Yang had plenty of self control, Weiss knew, but she was still prone to snap at things. A fault that the blonde woman was aware of, though, hence the message. Even if it was no doubt meant partially in jest. "Well, lead the way, Blake."

"Why am I going first?"

"Because I don't want to, and this is all at least technically your fault." Weiss answered genuinely, shrugging when Blake rolled her eyes at the friendly barb. Standing, though, Weiss followed the Faunus through the door and into the hallway.

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"Well, that's rather problematic, to say the very least." Ozpin answered after around an hour of explanations, including one on why Blake had hid who and what she was. Which earned a sigh and a sip of his warm coffee from the man, and, "I'm very disappointed that you felt the need to hide your heritage though, Miss Belladonna."

"I'm sorry, Sir, I-"

"I'm not disappointed in you, young lady. You and your partner can rest easy on the fact that I find nothing lacking in you for your decisions." He assured her, smiling and drumming his fingers on the table when she blinked at his interruption. His eyes, smarter and sharper than the young Faunus remembered seeing at his speeches, slid to her partner in the seat beside her and his smile widened, "You can calm yourself with that information, I hope, Miss Xiao Long."

"Y-Yeah." Yang blinked, surprised that her simple tensing had been so easily read and called out by the man. Folding her arms across her chest and shifting in her seat, the blonde grimaced slightly and then shrugged, "I mean, yeah, sure, Headmaster. I wasn't, like… Gonna do anything, but…"

"I know, Miss Xiao Long. You can rest assured I took no offence, and I understood entirely. So breathe easy." And from the way he said it and the small smile on his face, he hadn't been concerned in the slightest. Which made sense, Blake supposed. He was the Headmaster, so he was probably strong enough to deal with Yang if she snapped and went off. "All of you should breathe easier, in fact. You did well in coming to me, and your behaviors in this and the surrounding matters have made me proud of you all. Very proud of you all, in fact."

"Can we ask… Why?" Ruby tried gently, sat on the far side from where her sister had been sat in the little arrangement of chairs in the man's office. Nervous, Ruby rubbed the sides of her thighs and rushed to add, before the man could even hope to respond, "O-Or, like, are we supposed to already know why? Is this one of those situations?"

"No, Miss Rose, this isn't some test like you've seen in the movies. You can breathe easier on that front as well." The man chuckled at that, to show he meant no disrespect or insult, and took another drink from his mug. Still smiling, he finally started to explain for them, "Miss Schnee and Miss Belladonna have every reason, in the logic of the kind at play here, to have hated each other. You, Miss Schnee, I would have sooner expected to be in my office demanding she be removed from your team entirely. Or leaving back to Atlas when I refused such a demand, that is."

"I would never-"

"I know, Miss Schnee. My previous summation of you was wholly wrong, and for it, for that failing I mean, I do apologise." He smiled, giving Blake herself a look as well. She'd only really shifted a bit in her seat, but he had apparently seen the argument in her face or stature. He didn't comment on it, though, much to her gratitude, and instead went on, "Not only did you accept each other in private, but you did so publicly as well. And when push inevitably came to shove, you came to me to protect each other when protecting your selves could have been so much easier."

"O-Of course, Sir." Weiss' response was predictably canned and anxiety riddled, the girl shifting anxiously in the seat beside her.

"It would have been silly to hold Weiss' last name against her and then ask her not to hold my ears against me." Which, to be fair, Blake had done, at least initially. She'd never claimed to be perfect, though. And now she knew the hypocrisy and mistake for what it had been now that she had some of that wonderful hindsight.

Hindsight was, after all, 20/20.

"Thus my pride in you all." Ozpin answered, nodding brightly and taking yet another drink of his mug. Then, standing and moving to the pot on the little tray against the wall beyond his desk, he went on excitedly while he refilled his mug, "Your preconceptions were challenged by facts you couldn't deny. And so you engaged with them and, like adults, changed your understanding to better suit what you had been through. And now with your minds changed, you came straight to me to deal with problems, rather than hide from them like so many might have."

The praise coming from so high an official was, to be frank, quite the boost to their egos. Enough for the four women, including Ruby who hadn't really done much to be involved but was certainly there too, were sitting straighter and smiling more surely.

"Now then, team." Ozpin finally said, brightly and easily, as he made his way back to his chair and eased into the seat. Smiling, he took a long sip of his drink and looked first to Blake. "First step of my plan is first, then… I need you to get in contact with your parents, Miss Belladonna. I need to have a few words with them about this matter and your friendship with Miss Schnee."

"Sir…?" Her parents? But they weren't involved in this, and she didn't understand why Ozpin would want to involve them.

Those questions and doubts must have shown, though, because Ozpin smiled reassuringly and nodded his head.

"You trusted me to help you resolve this, ladies." He answered somewhat vaguely, interlacing his fingers and giving her a slow, wise nod. "Now trust me with it. I assure you, nothing will go wrong now that you have involved me."

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Argus :

You're fine, just handle what you've got going on! I'm just glad you're enjoying the story.