Author Update 2 & Omakes!

A/N: Thank you for everyone who has reached out to me, either in reviews or private messages, since the publication of my last author's update. I truly can't express how much it meant to me to have so many of you send your feelings of support and condolence, and to hear from you all how much you have enjoyed and appreciated my work. Even the anonymous randos that usually leave some of the comments that I poke fun of once in a while either held their tongues or actually sent their sympathy my way. There wasn't a single disparaging comment sent to me on "Falling Snow" after that update, not a one.

You guys are the best, you know.

This story came into being before I was with my ex, and it'll keep going now that he's out of my life. Weiss's relationships in this story aren't expressions of what I have, but are imagined instances of the healthy, fulfilling relationships that I wish that I had; a loving older sibling who guides and cares for me instead of abusing me, close friendships with all the zany chaos that ensues, and above all, a truly loving romance between a trans girl and a man who cherishes her, where the two of them together are more than the sum of their parts.

So, in that same hopeful, longing spirit with which I began "Falling Snow," I'm pleased to inform all of you that I have resumed writing it once more.

Now, with a story like this, for a readership like this, I tend to take a good bit of time plotting and writing things out to get it well and truly polished. So I'm afraid that the next chapter isn't finished yet. However, in recognition of Transgender Day of Visibility - and to give you lot some storytelling goodness - I've decided to include some omake scenes or short stories that I had saved and was planning to compile into a later release. Just to clarify, none of these are really canon to the story of "Falling Snow." I do hope you enjoy!

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Omake: That Time of the Month

(Takes place in Mistral, after the fight at Haven)

Nora Valkyrie was strong, spirited, and more than a little terrifying at the best of times. She was Jaune's teammate, Ren's lifelong best friend, and more recently, the latter's girlfriend. Nora Valkyrie also suffered truly agonizing, debilitating menstrual cramps.

That was why the normally peppy young Huntress was currently a sweaty, ruinous mess laying curled into the fetal position in her bed, moaning softly as her insides did their level best to kill her. Ruby was trying to wipe the girl's sweaty brow with a cool, wet washcloth, but Nora was curled up too tightly for the younger girl to even reach.

Yang, meanwhile, was puzzled by what was missing from the scene. "Where's Ren?"

Nora answered with a sound not unlike a moose being beaten to death with a clawhammer.

"Yeah, the boys learned pretty quick to make themselves scarce," Ruby replied with a sheepish shrug. "What can you do?"

Her sister's eyes flashed red for a second. "Oh, I know exactly what I can do." With that, the bombshell blonde stomped out of the room and down the stairs. She found Weiss polishing her sword in the living room, the white-haired girl carefully inspecting the blade for signs of wear and making sure that the Dust mechanism was clear and functioning perfectly.

"Heya, Weissy," Yang chirped, keeping her voice artificially chipper. "Do you know where Jaune and Ren are?"

"Oh, they're in the courtyard," she answered absently as she spun the revolving chamber around experimentally.

"Awesome, thanks!" Yang dropped her smile as she turned around and marched, on full-warpath, out to the courtyard. She found her quarry sitting cross-legged in a semi-circle, along with the boy Oscar. The three boys were apparently deep in meditation, so Yang chose to do the polite and socially acceptable thing.

"HEY, BOYS!" she hollered, shouting at the top of her lungs. She derived only a little satisfaction in seeing the three boys jump in surprise. Jaune tripped trying to get his feet back under himself and ended up crashing onto poor Oscar, the two of them ending up in a heap on the ground.

Jaune rubbed his forehead angrily, a red bruise starting to form from where he'd headbutted the younger boy. "Yang, what the hell?!"

She grinned widely. "Yo, Mood Ring!" she called, making it clear that she was referring to Ren. "Your girl's laid up with cramps, so why is my sister the only one taking care of her?"

Ren shrugged. "We decided long ago that it was best for everyone if I just stayed away."

"Yeah, nah, that's bullshit," she shook her head. "That might have worked when you were just friends, but now you're her boyfriend. Or did you think that upgrading your relationship status was just the fun stuff?"

"Uh…" Ren, completely off-balanced, looked to Jaune for some indication of what to do.

"And you!" Yang turned her attention to the blonde boy. "You have even less excuse, Mister Seven Sisters! Besides, what do you think happens when we're all living together and our cycles start aligning? You think you're gonna have it easy with PMS'ing Weiss?!"

Jaune blanched magnificently. "Ren, we gotta go," he said suddenly, urgently. "We're gonna need chocolate, lots of chocolate. And painkillers! Anti-bloating meds! Pads! Tampons! We gotta friggin' go, dude!"

With that, Jaune literally, physically snatched up his two fellow males, dragging them bodily out of the courtyard and into the street, presumably to stockpile the necessary reserves. Yang merely wiped her hands together, satisfied of her good work.

Then Blake cleared her throat from behind her. "Uh… Yang?"

"Yo."

The cat Faunus shifted uncomfortably. "You do remember that Weiss… well, I really don't think Weiss is going to to get a period the way the rest of us do."

Yang blinked. 'Huh. You're right. How did I forget that? Wait, how did Jaune forget that, isn't he sleeping with her now?"

"I think you terrified him beyond rational thought," Blake said with a shrug.

Yang scratched the back of her head sheepishly. "Well, I mean, what's the worst that could happen?"

[/]

Weiss stared at Jaune and his offerings of menstrual medications, tampons, and chocolate.

"Are… are you stupid?"

Jaune blinked, honestly surprised. "Huh?"

Weiss picked up a box of bloating medication and threw it at him. "I don't get a period, idiot!"

The young blonde knight was driven from the room by a storm of hurled boxes thrown his way. "I'm sorry!" he wailed.

Weiss crossed her arms and huffed. "Take this to the other girls, and then go think about what you did. And how you're going to make it up to me."

"Aren't you going to throw the chocolates at me too?"

"The chocolate can stay."

Weiss gave a little hmmph as her new fiance literally fled from her, tampons and medications in arm. He truly was a dork. She supposed that she would forgive him, after he made a sufficient show of contrition for his thoughtlessness. If nothing else, though, it at least showed that he truly did think of her as a woman like any other.

She smiled. Jaune may be an idiot, but he would always be her idiot.

A/N: You know, some trans women report experiencing period-like symptoms on a regular basis. Now, obviously, we aren't menstruating - contrary to rhetoric about transgender people, we are neither insane nor stupid - but it is possible that there is some kind of hormonal or even psychosomatic process going on. It's like a dry-firing a gun when, not only is there no round in the chamber, but there isn't even a magazine. The necessary parts aren't there, but the trigger is still getting pulled.

I know that, just recently, I experienced some kind of intense rush of hormonal, erm, arousal that had no reason behind it. I would have consulted with my endocrinologist, but all the doctors are currently in Defcon Oh Fuck, Everything's On Fire with the Coronavirus. The pseudoperiod phenomenon needs further study, but these symptoms tend not to be discussed very much, mainly due to the fear of derision that would come our way for trying to speak openly about it.

I have a friend who suffers cramps that are so bad that she's asked me to mercy-kill her before. I always feel guilty that I don't experience that sort of thing, especially since this particular friend of mine has been known to physically fight people that give me crap about being trans.

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Omake: The Yang Dialogues 2: The Return!

Weiss lowered her Scroll to see the bright, smiling face of Yang Xiao Long staring back at her.

"So…" the blond began.

"No."

"What?"

"Nuh-uh. We're not doing this. I know what you're going to ask about, and I don't want to play along if you're just going to be inappropriate."

"I wasn't going to be inappropriate!"

Silence.

"I wasn't!"

Further silence.

Finally, Yang couldn't contain herself any longer. "You do realize that this officially makes you the 'up-the-butt girl' of our friend group, right?"

The great thing about mastering her Semblance was that Weiss no longer needed to actually get up to smack Yang for being a dolt. She could simply have her Arma Gigas do it for her.

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They rode in silence, Yang driving her beloved motorcycle with her friends, including Weiss's comatose fiancee, in a cart hitched to the back of it. It was a cold and lonely ride, made even worse by the feelings of hurt resentment that hung over the group. Ozpin's revelations, Qrow's act of staggering negligence, and watching their friend - ironically, the one friend who could have done something to help, had anyone else suffered injury - clinging silently to life all made everything unbearably tense.

Plus, the icy mountain wind blowing down her shirt was cold as hell. With her Aura, she wouldn't be injured, but that didn't mean that Yang enjoyed having her tits freeze off.

That gave her an idea. With a smirk, she turned her head, looking over he shoulder for a second at the group.

"Hey Weiss!"

Weiss looked up, weary.

"Is it worse to have cold tits or cold balls?"

"What?!"

"Well, I'm freezing my tits off up here, and I was wondering if it'd be worse to be freezing my balls off. The only one who could answer would be someone with both, so I thought I'd ask you."

"Yang Xiao Long!" Weiss began squawking angrily in normal, Weiss-like fashion, as if nothing had ever happened, and that broke the heavy curtain of silence that had descended onto the group. Ruby was trying to console her partner, chastise her sister, and find the answer to the question herself, all at the same time.

Yang smiled.

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Yang frowned as she entered the hospital room, where Jaune lay in a coma, Weiss holding his hand the entire time. It just seemed off to see Vomit Boy so still. Even more than that was seeing Weiss looking so tired and listless.

"Hey, Weiss."

"Hi, Yang."

"He's going to be okay."

"I know he is…" Weiss began, only to pause and cover her mouth to hide a wide yawn. "He's my good noodle."

"Yeah, he is," Yang said with a smile. "I'm sorry that I riled you up earlier, on the wagon."

"It's fine," Weiss said, sleepily. "I mean, it's not, it's so not okay, but it's still okay."

"How did that make sense?" wondered Yang.

"I have mysteries," declared Weiss, her tone lofty.

"Speaking of mysteries -"

"No," Weiss interrupted. "I mean, there is a right answer, but you'll never know."

"Seriously? Why not?"

"Because," Weiss said with a big sleepy smile. "It's a secret to everyone."

"Ugh, fine, keep your secrets," Yang gave up, tossing her arms in the air with mock exasperation.

"You and I do have something else to discuss," Weiss's expression abruptly turned sharp. "What's this about 'calling dibs' on my sister?"

"What can I say, she's hot."

"Really, Yang?"

"Oh yeah, really. Like, hot, older woman with the whole authority figure thing going on -"

"Ew, Yang!"

"And those breasts of hers!"

"Stop!"

Yang just shrugged. "What? All I'm saying is, I wouldn't mind if she stepped on me."

Weiss's expression could not have been flatter. "Your perversions are terrible, your insinuations have ruined my life, and my disappointment is immeasurable. Besides, Winter's straight."

"So are spaghetti noodles, until they get all hot and wet."

Weiss made a face. "I swear, Yang…"

"Oh, come on, it's fine!" Yang protested. "Besides, are you saying I don't have the sort of Big Dick Energy to catch a woman's eye?"

"That's.." Weiss trailed off as a thought occurred to her, and she peered at her friend curiously. "Yang, do you… do you wish you were a man?"

"What?!" Yang yelped. "Why would you say that?"

"Well, you do fixate a lot on what it would be like if you had different… parts," Weiss explained. "Then there was that time you asked Junior to call you 'Sir,' and the way you continually questioned me about what it was like to be transgender…"

"I'm not transgender!" Yang cried, nervous. "That's crazy talk!"

"I'm just saying, it's an awful lot like how I used to behave when I was younger, just in the opposite direction."

"Is it?" Yang was visibly sweating. "I'm not… I can't be a….I mean…."

Weiss put a gentle hand on Yang's shoulder. "It's okay to be unsure, or even to experiment to find out. Whatever happens, I'll be here for you."

Yang swallowed, hard. "I...uh...bye!"

She turned and strode from Jaune's hospital room, leaving her friend to resume her vigil at his bedside. Stupid Weiss, going and putting those ideas in her head. So what if she thought about what it would be like to have an awesome dong, who didn't? And she only wanted to be called 'sir' because it felt right, like it was strong and powerful in a way that 'ma'am' just didn't.

That didn't mean that she was transgender….did it?

Stupid Weiss.

As the hospital elevator doors closed, Yang saw a blurred reflection in the brushed stainless steel. With the distortion, it looked as if her jaw were a little more squared. She crossed her robotic arm over her chest, hiding the girls, and then used her real hand to gather up her hair neatly behind her. She almost looked like… well, like her father's son.

That didn't mean that she was transgender! But… maybe a haircut wouldn't be all that bad after all?

Stupid Weiss….

A/N: This little bit came about after a trans guy messaged me, saying how Yang's behavior in the first intermission reminded him of how he used to be when he was an egg. For those who don't know, "egg" is a slang term for a transgender person who doesn't realize that they're transgender yet, and who sometimes behave… oddly. Like, I used to put on an over-the-top display of masculine behavior just to make my dad and older brother happier with my behavior, which, in retrospect, was a ridiculous Gaston act. The event where a transgender person begins to realize and accept that they're transgender is called "egg cracking," which is why I once referred to this fic as "the story cracking more eggs than breakfast!"

Now, I want to be clear that one can be a tomboy and a lesbian and not be a transgender man. Actually, it must be reiterated that sexual orientation is not the same thing as gender identity. (My dad once pulled a Quagmire and asked me to "just be gay.") Orientation is who you wanna be with. Gender identity is who you are. Even if I were completely asexual, I would still perceive myself, and wish to be perceived by others, as a woman. Same works in reverse for transgender dudes. It's also okay to wonder, experiment, and then decide that you're not transgender after all. Just to clear that up.

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Omake: Food Nicknames

(At Argus)

"So, Jaune is a Good Noodle," Ruby explained to a bemused Saphron, as they munched on cookies together in the kitchen. "Because he is both a Noodle and a Good."

"I'm with you so far," the older woman replied, spurring the girl to go on.

"And Weiss, she's a Sugar Cookie, because she's super sweet and all crumbly."

"Crumbly?"

"Yep," Ruby continued, as if this made all the sense in the world. "Just crumbs, everywhere."

"So, what are everyone else?"

"Well, my sister Yang is the spiciest of meatballs," explained Ruby. "Blake is a Mysterious Sandwich."

"Why a sandwich?"

"Because, there are many layers. And sauces. Nora, of course, is the Flappiest of Flapjacks. Ren is…" Ruby paused to contemplate. "Would it be racist to call Ren a fortune cookie?"

Saphron quirked an eyebrow, puzzled. "Why would that be racist? I mean, he isn't a Faunus, is he?"

"I don't know," Ruby said, slowly turning her head to address you, the reader, directly. "I feel as though, despite it passing technical muster due to the differences between our world and some hypothetical other world, it would still be touching on a lot of culturally-coded signals that would raise red flags in a complex sociological and historical context that would be far more trouble than it would be worth for a quick gag."

"...Ruby, who are you talking to?"

"Oh, no one. So, that covers everyone!"

"What about your uncle? Or Weiss's sister? Or that small boy?"

"Pssh, you can't give them food nicknames. That'd just be silly."

"Ah, right. Of course. How foolish of me."

"It's okay, Jaune's Sister!"

"Well then, what about you?"

Yang came up from behind Ruby and snatched her up in a noogie. "Oh, everyone knows that Ruby is an absolute cinnamon roll," she explained to her fellow blonde.

"Nooo!" wailed Ruby, as she struggled against her sister's grasp.

She would find no sympathy from Saphron.

A/N: No one said that these omakes had to make sense. It's carefully stipulated in my contract. I was originally going to call Blake a Fish Taco, until it was pointed out that that could actually carry some lewd connotations to it that did not fit with the bizarre tone of this omake.

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Omake: Pool Party Blues

(Takes Place at Mistral, Before Fight)

"Oh, come on, Weiss, why don't you want to go to the pool with us?" Ruby asked her partner. Weiss was careful to avoid Ruby's huge, silvery puppy-dog eyes, as those things carried literal mystical powers, to freeze Grimm and to make people do what Ruby wanted by guilt-tripping them. Ruby was dressed for the pool in a modest black and red one piece swimsuit with a big inflatable innertube around her waist.

"I already said no, Ruby," she explained.

"But Weeeeeisss!" whined Ruby. "It's so pretty outside today!"

The younger Huntress was correct, of course; it was a beautiful day in Mistral, where the weather hit the perfect late-summer sweet spot between being warm enough to be pleasant while cool enough so that the sun wouldn't be overbearing. That still didn't mean that Weiss was going to go to the pool with her friends.

"But Jaune's going? Look!"

Weiss did indeed look up, to see her boyfriend rocking up shirtless, wearing a pair of black swim trunks and carrying, ironically, a pool noodle. He was flanked to either side by Ren, in a similar state of undress, and Nora, whose bountiful… assets looked poised to fall free from her green two-piece as she giddily hopped from foot to foot.

Ruby dashed over to the rest of Team RNJR. "Jaune, tell her!"

Jaune looked to where his girlfriend sat, her long legs folded underneath her. The white-haired girl looked abashed for a moment, before Jaune, mercifully, caught on. "Uh, guys, I think I'm going to stay here, with Weiss."

"What?!" Ruby practically exploded with outrage.

Weiss reached out to touch his arm as Jaune made to sit next to her. "Jaune, it's okay. You don't have to stay here on my account. Go have fun with our friends."

He flopped down heavily on the couch next to her. "Nah. If you're not up to going, than I'm not going either."

Ruby was near apoplectic. "How are we supposed to have a pool party without my besties?!" She turned as she saw Yang enter, her sister wearing a surprisingly restrained yellow one-piece. "Yang! It's a disaster!"

"What? What's wrong?"

"They're not going because Weiss refuses to go!"

Yang reared her head back in confusion. "What? Why wouldn't - " she caught eye contact with Weiss, and then, a dim bulb slowly brightened. "Uh, sis… maybe we should let her be."

"I don't get it!" Ruby pouted, as Ren and Nora shared similar glances of recognition. "Why wouldn't -"

"I don't want anyone to see me!" Weiss snapped, her face red. "Skintight, wet swimwear, they'll...everyone will see…" she buried her face in Jaune's arm, unwilling to continue any further.

That, of course, was when Winter and Qrow arrived, still dressed normally. "Weiss?" asked her big sister, seeing the girl clutching onto Jaune with her face smooshed into his arm, while her friends all milled around awkwardly. "What's wrong?"

"Swimming," Weiss mumbled, her voice muffled as it came from Jaune's bicep.

"Ah, I see," the Specialist said. "What if I told you that I could help?"

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Weiss looked at herself critically in the mirror. She wore a dark blue one-piece swimsuit, swiped from Haven Academy's swim team supplies. While it wasn't a fancy swimsuit, it was decent enough, and Weiss filled it out nicely, with her long, long legs and high, small, perky breasts. Unfortunately, that wasn't the only way she had filled it out.

Try as she might - and she had tried mightily, only stopping when Jaune had refused to let her break out the duct tape - Weiss simply could not stay well-tucked in the swimsuit, and as a result, she bore a small bulge in the front between her legs.

Jaune insisted that it was fine, that she was beautiful and ravishing, that the bulge was so slight that hardly anyone would notice, and even that it was attractive on her.

Her face burned as she considered the fact that Jaune apparently approved of all of her body. She remembered the sex-education book that Winter had procured for her back at Beacon; what if Jaune touched her… places?

She blushed as she forced herself to change her train of thought. The last thing that she needed was to grow aroused in a swimsuit. But… what if he liked seeing her grow aroused, the evidence of her desire completely unsubtle and indisputable?

Maybe she needed a cold shower before going to the pool. She had upped her dosage of progesterone, and while it was already having effects - her breasts ached as they had resumed growing - they were also clearly having other effects. Or maybe she was just a randy teenager in love with her boyfriend. That was also within the realm of possibility.

Weiss took a deep breath, and then several, getting herself back under control. She could do this. It's just a pool party with her friends.

Jaune was waiting for her outside of the bathroom, and offered his arm for her to take. She kept in close, so that the bulge between her legs would be less readily visible as she joined her friends. None of them, not even Yang, gave her a second look beyond telling her to hurry up so they could get to the pool.

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The pool was moderately busy on the lovely late-summer day. Still, Weiss felt nervous about losing the towel she'd wrapped around her waist and actually getting to the pool. Of course, what she hadn't counted on was the sheer number of her friends and family deciding to "help" by drawing as much attention away from her as possible.

First, Nora and Yang had drawn quite a bit of male attention, especially since Yang had opted to change into a more revealing two-piece as well. They were bouncy, those two. Then Ren had gone and drawn away some of the hotel staff by making a huge production out of examining the Ph level and chemical composition of the pool water. And finally, just as Weiss was ready to walk over to the pool benches where the group had made camp, her sister had met her and Jaune at the small building that led to the pool.

Winter wore a ridiculous, inflatable Great White Shark costume, with her legs erupting from either side of the tail, and her face peeking out from the open jaws of the shark. That the shark had great big googly eyes only made it better.

Weiss's jaw dropped. "...Winter?! What?"

The Atlas Specialist was entirely unphased by her getup, voguing as though she were about to walk down the catwalk at Mantle Fashion Week. Jaune grinned wide as he winked at Weiss. "Well, I can safely say that no one is going to be looking at you. Ready to go?"

Weiss felt a flush of pleasant warmth as her sister and her boyfriend walked her to the pool. "You're all the best," she said. "I just want you to know that."

"Who says I'm wearing this for your sake?" Winter asked, amusement evident in her voice.

"Hey Weiss!" Ruby chirped from the bench. "Get your sunscreen on, and let's go!"

Weiss tried to keep herself under control as Jaune vigorously rubbed sunscreen onto her shoulders, legs, and arms. His hands were large and strong on her, and she had to think of the most unappealing things imaginable to keep her thoughts from lingering on what else those hands could do for her. Finally, she was ready to go.

She and Ruby ran to the pool and jumped in, followed a moment later by Jaune and the terrible Great White Shark that had devoured her sister. Winter even made threatening cello noises as she swam about, splashing her little sister and her friends.

Around the pool, the rest of the young Hunters realized that it was time to drop the act.

"Okay boys, bye!" Yang winked at the group of men that she and Nora had been flirting with as the shorter girl pulled her away with a "yoink!" The pair jumped into the pool.

Ren saw this and dropped the act. "Eh, you know what, water's fine. See ya!" He let out an uncharacteristically loud whoop as he dropped the water testing beakers at the feet of the bewildered management and cannonballed into the water.

Qrow, complete with Speedo, did a perfect dive from the board.

Oscar stood nervously at the side in his bright green trunks. "I...dunno if I'm invited…"

"Get in here, you big nerd!" Nora lunged out of the pool, grabbed his arm and literally dragged him into the water with them.

Qrow swam up to his nieces. "Hey have any of you seen Winter? She said she had a special getup, and I -"

"There is no Winter, only the shark!" Winter emerged from behind Qrow in all her fishy glory. He took one look at her and burst out laughing. He was laughing so uncontrollably that he damn near drowned after she dunked him under the surface.

Weiss smiled warmly as she looked around herself. She had her friends, her sister and her sputtering boyfriend, and her lovely Jaune with her all the way.

"I love you all," she said, beaming.

A/N: One day, I want to work up the nerve to go to the pool or the beach in a swimsuit while untucked. Just, you know, here I am, deal with it. And people are like "well, what will we tell the children?!" But you let these old, fat dudes with hairy backs wear Speedos in public, and no one's losing their minds over these Danny Devito looking geezers. While I'm no beauty queen, I think I'm reasonable to behold, and I don't think I should have to duct tape my genitals to my butthole, or go through extensive surgery to go to the pool. I mean, there are skirted swimsuits, sure, but those are never long enough. Maybe something like the Burkini, but being a brown woman in a burkini in my state would be its own brand of trouble.

Point is, it's just a small lump in the front of my bathing suit, you'll survive.

Also progesterone; helps grows nice boobies, also makes trans women get their libidos fired up.

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Entry Endnotes: This is it for this little omake thing. I just wanted to have some of the more light-hearted ones there, and nothing too lewd this time. I'm working hard on the next chapter. Thanks again to everyone for their love and support. It means more to me than I can possibly say.

Stay safe from the pandemic, as best you can. If I die, I also let some friends of mine know how this story is supposed to end, so one way or another, it'll have an ending. Be excellent to each other. I love you all!

-Mahina