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Schnee Sibling Brunch
Among other things, Whitley had to admit that this was... nice. Yes, nice, that seemed like the proper way to refer to how the relationship between him and his sisters had developed recently. Much of the animosity had faded away and allowed them to grow better and healthier interactions with one another, though they had yet to reach that stage and seemed to be in this awkward phases where none of them knew exactly how to talk to one another.
Or maybe it was just him. Weiss and Winter seemed to talk easily to each other well enough, and while he could have conversations with Weiss, with some struggle, talk between him and Winter was of a much more difficult manner, since neither one of them seemed to really know where to start there.
Hopefully these brunches Klein had suggested should help, having the three of them get together every once and awhile to talk about their weeks, and break some ice between them. It could work, he thought, afterall there were only three of them here, and in his experiences, the three of them together had never been particularly unpleasant around one another, just passively hostile at worst.
On the table, Weiss' scroll buzzed, slightly moving as it vibrated, while she gave an annoyed huff and chose to ignore it. That in itself isn't anything noteworthy, but what was that this was not the first time this had happened, and it had been going off nearly every minute since they sat down to eat.
"Aren't you going to answer that?" Winter asked, having taken a sip of her tea.
"It's only Ruby," Weiss said with a roll of her eyes, trying to focus on her own cucumber sandwich.
"Ruby?" Whitley asked.
"Yes, Ruby. She's one of my teammates, you've met her before."
Whitely tried to think of the faces of Weiss' friends, but while he knew what they looked liked, he couldn't say he ever got their names. "The one with the arm?" he tried.
"No, that's Yang. She's the one in the red hood."
Oh yes, the one who crashed the sandwich tray last week. Wait...
"So the one named Ruby Rose is the one in the red cape?"
"Yes, what about it?"
"Doesn't that seem a bit on the nose?"
Weiss Schnee picked up her snowy-colored napkin and laid it across her lap, to protect her white dress from any stains or spills. "Of course not."
"What does she keeping texting you about?" Winter asked.
"Well..." Weiss said, only to pause, looking as though she was not certain how to explain herself. "Okay, so you two know about the recent... situation with our parents, correct?"
A heavy tension suddenly appeared over the table, and Whitley felt his appetite vanish.. Everything between his father and mother, his father in particular, filled with him complicated feeling and emotions that he didn't know how to place or work through. So the best course of actions on dealing with them was to ignore them and hope that they somehow worked themselves out when he's not paying attention to them. Yes, that seemed like a good idea.
"Well, as we both know, Mom recently took up to dating again and-"
Winter made a gagging noise.
"Could we not talk about that please?" Winter said, putting a fist to her mouth, her skin taking on a slightly green complexion to it.
"Yes, I feel like there are other things we can talk about," Whitley added, wishing the subject could be about anything else than this. The thousands of square miles of barren icy desert outside the city would be a more interesting thing to talk about in his opinion.
"Are you going to do that every time someone brings up Qrow?" Weiss asked, glaring at Winter. "I would think you would be a bit more mature about this, at least more so than Whitley."
Yes, Qrow. That ragged-looking man. Whitley didn't care for him.
Wait.
"What do you mean more mature than me?" Whitley asked, staring daggers at Weiss, who only seemed to grow in annoyance with the oldest sibling at the table.
"Okay, listen," Winter said, interrupting anything Weiss could have said to defend herself. "I'm happy for Mom wanting to move on, I really am, and while she would have to dig through the bottom of the barrel to find worst than Jacques, there are still plenty of options better than Qrow Branwen!"
"You're over exaggerating," Weiss said, taking a sip of her coffee.
"I am not! He is an uncouth, vulgar, vagabond! Every encounter I have had with the man has ended with me wanting to stab him in the throat!"
"That's a bit violent, don't you think."
"Also! He's a drunk! That's the last thing Mom needs right now!"
"Actually, Ruby told me Qrow hasn't had a single drop since we got to Atlas, and Yang says that he wants to take her to one of the meetings he's been going to."
"Weiss, while Winter and I have some obvious reservations about Mother and Qrow being... together." Again, Winter gagged, harsher this time, like she was fighting to keep her food down. "Why don't you seem to bothered by this prospect?"
"Because unlike you two, I can be a mature adult when it comes to such matters."
"Right," Winter said, barely under her breath, like she was trying to hide her comment, but didn't want to do it very well.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Weiss shot back.
"You know what," Winter sneered.
Whitley sighed, feeling a headache coming on. "So anyway, the texts from Ruby, what does that have to do with Mother and Qrow?" Winter heaved again.
With a sigh, Weiss picked up her scroll and began to flick her thumb across the screen. "Every since they started dating-" hruk "Ruby has gotten a bit too over-exuberant over the idea of them together, to the point where she has completely gotten ahead of herself and wants them to get married so we can be cousins."
Winter dropped her spoon, and with sluggish movement pushed her omelet to the center of the table. "I'm done, I can't stomach anything else right now."
To a degree, he shared the sentiment.
Weiss continued, ignoring Winter. "For the last week she has sent me more than a hundred texts, about things like 'Cousin Activities', and 'Cousin Weekends', and has even gone as far as to threaten me with matching t-shirts." With a sigh Weiss continued to scroll through the long list of messages she seemed to have been sent. "There's even something here about-wait, what?"
"Is something the matter?"
"Yeah, for some reason she's talking about Jaune being my brother-in-law? What?"
"Seriously? This again?" Winter groaned.
"Jaune?" Whitley asked.
"He's the blond guy with the sword."
Oh yes, the one who knocked over the drink tray last week.
"The one with the bad haircut."
"It's not a bad haircut, I rather like it." Winter continued. "A while ago, he and I were on a team to eliminate a grimm that had been stalking an outpost in the tundra. A Krampus to be precise."
A Krampus? Oh yes, their grandfather had first gotten his name as a Hunstman for killing a particularity dangerous one that had been known to target the children of Mantle when he was a young man.
"Well we were separated from the rest of the team and ended up fighting it on our own, and while he had several close calls in the end we managed to kill it."
"So can you summon it now?"
"No, Jaune got the killing blow on it. Anyway, the weather had gotten so bad by that point and turned into a blizzard, we were forced to take shelter in a way-station until it had subsided. We spent a couple of hours together alone and well, he's not half bad."
"So you're dating him then?"
"I suppose," Winter said, averting her eyes while a slight red came across her cheeks.
"Wait, you're dating someone?" Weiss asked, and Whitley could only look on in confusion why already Winter was looking frustrated. "Since when?"
"What?" he asked, a degree of confusion coming over him. Did she not hear their conversation?
Winter could only groan, dragging a hand across her face before she looked Weiss hard in the eyes. "Weiss," she firmly said, staring Weiss down from across the table.
"Yes?"
"Me, Winter."
"Okay?"
"And Jaune, your friend."
"What about him?"
"We. Are. Dating."
For several seconds, Weiss had this odd look on her face, like she was trying to figure out a difficult puzzle that kept cheating without her knowing. "I don't understand."
"See!" Winter cried out, hand outstretched and pointed at Weiss. "She's been like this whole time! It's like she's physically incapable of comprehending that I am dating Jaune!"
"Who is dating Jaune?" Weiss asked, clueless.
"Me! Weiss! I am dating Jaune! We have gone on three dates so far. Just last night, we spent an hour walking around the mall downtown. We had ice cream and then made out."
"Okay, you're saying a lot of words that I individually understand, but the order you are saying them just doesn't seem right to me. Winter, are you having a stroke?"
"No I am not having a stroke!"
"Wait," Whitley said after a thought. "You're dating? Since when do you have time for a social life?"
"Shut up," Winter snapped. "Also, just what the hell does Ruby mean by 'brother-in-law'? We are not getting married! Marriage isn't even on the table yet!"
"Yet?"
"Shut up again!" She turned back to Weiss. "First of all, you're friend is way over the line here, and she-"
Suddenly, Winter frozen, her words and anger dying as quickly as they had come, and her expression had shifted into something akin to fear from an unwelcome realization.
"Winter?" Weiss asked, and Whitley contemplated poking her with a fork.
Winter next words came out weary, and defeated. "I just recalled some insults Qrow once threw at me regarding our mother, and it occurred to me he could actually carry some of those out." Without explanation, not that he felt that such a thing were needed, Winter pushed her chair out and slowly made her way to the door, her forming retreating into the hallway beyond.
"Is she going to be okay?" he asked.
"Why wouldn't she be?" Weiss said, reaching forward to take Winter's small bowl of melon slices.
There was then a loud, and muffled scream of anguish from down the hall.
"Right..." Whitley then took the remains of Winter's omelet, knowing she would not return for it.