Blake hummed contentedly, stroking the back of Ruby's head as the younger girl settled down for the night. She let out a soft sigh as Ruby started snoring quietly, turning back to Weiss to continue their conversation. "As I was saying, the White Fang is just one of a number of Faunus Rights groups. The only reason they're in the news so much is because of how violent they are, while the media, especially that of Atlas, pushes the others under the rug or pretends they don't exist. The result is people thinking the White Fang represent the entirety of the Faunus community, when they actually represent a tiny, outspoken, and very violent portion of it."

Weiss nodded slowly, mulling over what Blake had said. She'd been making a concerted effort to learn more about her friend's heritage, and had been surprised at some of the things Blake had taught her. "So, most of the Faunus don't support the White Fang, then?"

"…well, they do get noticed by the human media, which is more than most faunus groups do, so there is some support for them among the common populace. That being said, if a faunus needs help, it's not the White Fang they call," Blake said slowly, choosing her words carefully. "The White Fang doesn't help people, at least, not anymore."

"…Tell me about these other groups," Weiss said after a moment.

"Well, there's the Brown Tail Aid Corps. They provide emergency disaster relief to remote faunus communities, and they're one of the largest groups. Private aircraft for transporting supplies, trained disaster response teams, stockpiles of emergency goods at dozens of pre-established locations, the full works. They're actually the second largest disaster relief organization on the planet."

Weiss listened carefully as Blake continued telling her about the various political and aid groups the faunus relied on. Yang had fallen asleep an hour ago, but Ruby had stayed up late to work on her copious amounts of schoolwork while Weiss and Blake talked.

"…and then of course there's Patch."

"What about Patch?" Weiss asked, curious she would bring it up.

"Well, back during the Faunus War, most of the kingdoms cast a poor gaze on their faunus citizens. Many of the injustices we face now actually have their roots from that time period. Patch is different. The island wasn't part of Vale then, it was a small independent settlement, and so they didn't share Vale's views on the faunus. As a result, Patch is actually quite famous for being very accepting of faunus, regardless of their past, so long as they abide by their laws. That's probably why Ruby and Yang were so accepting of my, ah, heritage," Blake explained. She ran her fingers through Ruby's hair, earning a happy murmur from the sleeping girl and smiling slightly. "I was honestly expecting her to read me the riot act when you guys caught up to me."

Weiss sighed. "She probably just thought you had panicked and fled out of sheer terror of our potential reactions, and she didn't want to scare you further. She can be surprisingly insightful sometimes."

Blake just nodded, continuing to run her fingers through Ruby's hair. Weiss leaned back in her bed, pulling her blankets close. "Goodnight, Blake. Sleep well."

"Goodnight, Weiss," Blake replied quietly as Weiss drifted off to sleep.

Ruby groaned as she felt Blake getting up, grabbing her tight around the waist to try and keep her from moving. She wanted to go back to sleep, but she also wanted Blake to not leave. She whined as Blake pried her hands loose.

"Ruby, I need to use the restroom."

With a sigh of defeat Ruby let her go and buried herself in Blake's blankets, trying to absorb as much of the left-over warmth as she could. It didn't last long enough for her liking, and soon she was crawling out of bed, yawning. She gave a half-asleep greeting to Weiss as she walked past and started laying out her clothes.

Ruby munched happily on a piece of toast as Yang and Weiss bickered, content to let them have it out. Blake sat between her and them, effectively shielding her from the argument.

She noticed Jaune making his way into the dining hall, rubbing sleep from his tired eyes. She waved him over after he picked up a bowl of cereal, offering him the seat beside her. He sat down and poked at the bowl in front of him, not really eating.

"You alright, Jaune? You don't look so good," Ruby said as kindly as she could, noting the shadows under Jaune's eyes.

"Huh? Oh, uh, I was up all night studying for the makeup test for Prof. Ooblek's class," Jaune said with a yawn, looking at her blearily.

"But we haven't even gotten our test results yet," Ruby protested, confused.

Jaune just gave her a tired look as his eyes threatened to close and his head dipped forward before he straightened up with a start.

"…Jaune, eat your cereal, then I'm taking you to bed," Ruby ordered the older boy. He just nodded in response while Ruby gave Blake an exasperated look.

Jaune yawned hugely as Ruby guided him through the corridor, heading for his dorm room. Jaune had almost fallen flat on his face twice on the way from the dining hall, so Ruby had taken the preventative measure of having his arm over her shoulder. She sighed in relief as they arrived at the door.

"Okay, Jaune, now you just need to let us in, and you can get some rest."

Jaune patted at his pockets awkwardly for a moment before realization struck him. "…I forgot it."

"Seriously?" Ruby asked dryly, unamused. At Jaune's nod she pinched the bridge of her nose. "I guess I'll call Pyrrha to come unlock it, then."

"Uh, that'd take a while. All three of them went into town early."

"…then you can sleep on my bed, I guess," Ruby offered, turning around and opening the door to her team's dorm. "It's a bit of a climb, though."

Jaune followed her and stared at the absurd arrangement of beds. "…wow, that's, uh…. Which one's your's?"

Ruby nodded towards hers, then glanced back at Jaune. "Wait. How much do you weigh?"

"Uh…."

Ruby grabbed him and lifted, ignoring his surprised squeak. "Hmm… you should be fine. You're surprisingly light for a guy your height."

"Uh, yeah, thanks," he said awkwardly, rubbing the back of his head. "So, do you have a ladder, or do I just…."

Ruby sat him down, then pointed at the bed. "Just climb into it," she snapped, feeling her lack of sleep from the night before. She'd stayed up way too late.

"Y-yes ma'am," Jaune replied, awkwardly trying to jump up and crawl into it.

After watching him struggle for a couple minutes, Ruby relented and hopped up onto the bed to pull him the rest of the way up. "You need to work on your gymnastics."

"Please don't tell Pyrrha that. I don't think I'd survive her exercises," Jaune pleaded.

"…fine, but only if you let me cuddle you."

"…wah?"

"I didn't get a whole lot of sleep last night, so I was going to take a nap, but you're here, so I'm going to cuddle you," Ruby said matter-of-factly.

"…alright," Jaune said, finding her reasoning perfectly sound.

The lay down, Jaune pulling Ruby into a hug as the younger girl curled against his chest.

"…Yang isn't gonna kill me for this, is she?" Jaune asked after a moment.

"Don't be ridiculous," Ruby murmured in response as she drifted off to sleep.

Jaune followed her into slumber soon after, snoring loudly.