Author's Notes:

My apologies for getting this chapter out a week or two later than planned. I hope to keep a faster release schedule for future chapters, provided the almighty god of procrastination and laziness doesn't hunt me down. Please leave a comment/review!

Chapter 2: Monochromatic Façades

"Hah!" Blake let out a halted cry as she swung Gambol Shroud in its pistol form towards her target, gripping the ribbon that held it tightly. Soon after, she immediately flung it back with a recoil. Tsk, a few centimeters off. Her discerning eyes narrowed in disapproval. Readying herself once again, she put weight into her right arm and threw the pistol forward, repeating the exercise.

Only after her arm was so stiff that she could barely lift it up did Blake consider taking a break from her self-imposed practice. As much as she'd done a lot of rigorous combat training during her time in the White Fang, in her own eyes she was barely competent. There was certainly a lot more ground that she hoped to cover during her next few years at Beacon. Such was the nature of her perfectionist mind.

After stopping by a water fountain to re-hydrate herself, she tiredly made her way back to the dormitories.

Upon entering the dorm suite, Blake found that the only member of Team RWBY back at base was the snow-themed heiress.

"Hey," Blake called out as she closed the door behind her and walked towards her own bed for a short lie-down.

Weiss, currently engrossed in a large tome detailing the properties of all recorded Semblances since the turn of the century, drawled out a sluggish "hi." A full five seconds later, she momentarily pulled free from her book and shot a swift glance towards the faunus before immediately fastening her eyes back onto her book.

"H-hi Blake!" Weiss repeated, this time far hastier in her delivery.

Nodding, Blake dropped down onto her bed and sighed, turning her attention to her already sore arm and beginning to massage it. In the silence that followed, she let her thoughts wander for some time.

The midterms this time around were pretty difficult. I wonder how well I did… Now a week into their second semester as sophomores, none of her classmates had received their results yet. Ozpin had blamed it all on a sudden case of the flu that passed through the entire teaching staff over the winter break, a story few students chose to believe. Ruby for one was convinced that a rogue Grimm had escaped into the faculty office and devoured the entire stack of exam papers.

In regards to her team, Blake felt that she was getting along more and more with the other girls. Although she generally still tended towards introversion, she now belonged to a group where she was beginning to feel more comfortable simply being herself. This was of course slightly less true with her present company. Weiss in particular had proven to be a… fairly difficult case.

Ruby and Yang, both of whom were naturally outgoing and overtly friendly, were a lot easier to deal with most of the time. The two sisters were mostly unassuming and easily trusting, traits that Blake secretly found very comforting. And although Blake had had her fair share of problems with Weiss the previous year, nowadays it was even a lot easier to interact with her – the infamous ice queen.

However, that was not to say everything was completely easy-going between the two. Sure, when all four girls came together as a team, there was a magical kind of chemistry that formed among them. They effortlessly meshed together as both a cooperative team and group of friends. In that environment, interactions with the two sisters and Weiss were about as good as can be. Whenever Blake and Weiss were alone like at present, however, there was definitely a minor degree of awkwardness permeating the air.

Blake also felt the most self-conscious around Weiss. Perhaps it was because the heiress sometimes had the tendency to call people out and be unfairly critical at times. Perhaps it was also because both girls tended to hide their most basic of emotions when around others, if in slightly different ways.

In any case, at least she's mellowed out somewhat recently, thought Blake as the lengthy silence continued. Maybe I should read a book too. If there was one thing being alone with Weiss was good for, it was that the slight uneasiness between them made for a good portion of Blake's favorite ingredient: sheer, unadulterated silence.

"A-ahem." A silence that, to Ms. Belladonna's chagrin, was suddenly cut off by a nervous cough from the other side of the room. "Erm… Blake?"

"Yes?" Blake turned her eyes to inspect the heiress. Previously unnoticed by the faunus, Weiss had set aside her monstrously sized tome some moments ago.

"So, uhh… how was your day?" Dear lord. Weiss Schnee is attempting small talk. Someone stop the presses and radio in backup.

"It was fine," responded Blake.

"Oh," came Weiss' response, followed by a minute of agonizing silence.

Save me, Blake implored the heavens, suddenly looking for any excuse to leave the room. As much as she liked the quiet, some forms of silence were a bit much for even her to bear. Thankfully, her teammate eventually endeavored to further the conversation.

"Hey… so, what do you say we go shopping this weekend?" Weiss sheepishly proposed. "I haven't had a decent change of clothes in a while now. I think I need a new coat too."

"Okay." The prospect wasn't half bad to Blake. She was almost running out of toothpaste for one. And a new sweater for the unabating cold weather wouldn't hurt either. "Saturday or Sunday?"

"W-well, this week I have both fencing class and vocal practice on Sunday, so… maybe Saturday morning?" Weiss was nervously fidgeting for some reason.

"Sure, I'll be free then. Does that time work for Ruby and Yang?"

"A-actually," stammered Weiss, gulping before continuing. "I was thinking it could just be the two of us…"

Blake was slightly taken aback. Certainly, the two of them could in some sense be regarded as 'friends' after a year and a half, but the faunus had long held the impression that Weiss remained a bit guarded around her. At least this was definitely the first time she had ever asked to do something with Blake that didn't involve the rest of the team. After a moment of consideration, Blake chalked it up to a display of good will on the part of the heiress, as well as possibly an effort to become better friends and mend any past differences between them.

"Sure, Weiss. That sounds fun." Blake offered a small rare smile to the other girl.

"Great!" A faint touch of pink colored Weiss' face, "8 AM work then?"

Blake scrunched up her face for a second, considering. "That might be a bit too early for me. How about 9 o'clock?"

"S-sure, that's fine!"

No sooner was her confirmation uttered than the door burst open, causing both girls to jump in shock at the sudden intrusion. Weiss then heaved a possible sigh of relief at the distraction.

"WE'RE BACK!~" sung out a bouncy red contraption by the name of Ruby Rose as she plummeted into the room.

Yang Xiao Long followed her soon after, beaming as she greeted the room's inhabitants.

"'Sup, girls?"

"Hi Yang. Hi Ruby," responded a narrow-eyed Blake. These two sure knew how to make a ruckus out of nowhere.

"Maaan am I hungry!" Exclaimed Ruby, "I almost thought that class would never end!"

"Yeah, surprisingly a lot more boring than I would've thought," commented Yang.

The two sisters had just come back from their first class in a new elective both had chosen for the new semester. The four girls still took the majority of their classes together as a team, but there were a few outlying cases such as this one.

"Well, it's only 5:30 now but I suppose we can go ahead and get dinner," suggested Weiss, much to the delight of a certain auburn-haired teammate.

Yang voiced her agreement as well: "sounds like a plan! …Stan!"

She was rightfully greeted by collective groans and face-palms from the rest of the squad.

"You didn't even try that time," Weiss exclaimed.

"Meh," shrugged the blonde, "I'm tired. What can I say? Even I gotta resort to the good ol' classics sometimes."

"That was neither good nor a classic," critiqued Blake.

As the team got all their things together and made way for the cafeteria, the cat-eared faunus stole a surreptitious glance at Weiss. Most people do have more than a single layer to them after all, she mused. Though it seems snow queen here probably has a few more figurative layers than most. Before she knew it, she found herself mildly looking forward to the upcoming shopping trip.