Weiss Schnee sighed as she looked at her reflection in the display fountain of the Beacon Memorial (in name only).

Music played melodically through the Atlas benefit, it was even one of her favorite scores, but tonight it may as well have been white noise.

Ball goers walked right by the Vale and Beacon exhibit of the gallery, looking at the ice sculptures, or the live orchestra band...or the large portraits of her grandfather, or father, ...or her.

It was revolting, it wasn't like Beacon was the reason they were having this event anyway...no it was her father, it was her, the heiress. Who cared about any of the students or even citizens devoured by Grimm or worse...

They paid attention to the cadets under Ironwood who's pictures were numbered in shrine...but even that was sparsely admonished.

Her eye caught a boy...for a brief moment she thought ht was Neptune but upon closer looking, saw that he simply had blue hair like his...if anything he looked like an even greater ponce. He smirked at her suavely but she rolled her eyes and looked away.

Just for a minute she thought she could converse with someone who had been there, or suffered through that ordeal...so she didn't feel so alone. Instead she had to stand like a fixture before all these people who clearly wouldn't have been here anyway if it weren't for free horderves, or brownie points with her father.

"Impressive..." she heard someone say to the side of her.

Weiss turned to see a waiter holding champagne out for her...with brown skin and hair, and a short short hair cut. "That you've managed to stay awake through that..." -gesturing at the band as he went on-

Weiss narrowed her eyes, then suddenly it donned, he was Flynt Coal the leader of Team FNKI from the Vytal Tournament...she just didn't recognize him without his sun glasses or hat, or earring.

"I mean the guy on the strings is alright, but the brass? Got no passion...no soul." he continued.

"Flynt!" Weiss said in a hushed, but actually pleasantly surprised voice.

"One and only. At your service..." He said with a slight head bow.

"Not that I'm not glad your here, but what are you doing here?" she added under her breath still.

Flynt glanced at the portrait of her old school.

"After Beacon fell, came home, same as you. I do this gig when I'm not playing in dives in Mantle. Besides pops could use the money. Champagne miss?" Flynt said cordially with an exaggerated snobby aristocratic accent at the end.

"Thank you..." Weiss said rolling her eyes, "Is that what you think we sound like?"

Flynt shrugged "Some of you anyway, ...definitely that brother of yours."

Weiss held in an actual loud giggle and snort at that.

"Well I didn't think it was THAT funny but hey, i'll be here all week." Flynt said like a comedian as he extended his tray to someone else who took a glass without looking.

Weiss composed herself, "All week? Gods help us all." she teased.

"I'm actually shipping out to Haven in a week or so after this..." he continued in all seriousness.

Weiss cocked her head, "Why?"

"Captains orders." Flynt replied and glanced at a military cruiser passing in front of the moon outside the large gala windows.

"...Or in your case, your big sisters orders. She's requesting reinforcements for the quelling of uprising up there. Don't want that mess happening in Mistral next." he said gesturing at the ruins of Beacon Academy.

Weiss sighed, Winter was gone fighting the good fight, her Team mates were all with people they loved, who understood. She, was all alone here, and now she realized even this new familiar face was going to be leaving too.

"No, of course not." she nodded getting back to the conversation, then looked at the shrine herself.

"Not that people here will give a damn..." she said shamefully.

"...You will.." Flynt said from behind her in a serious tone.

The way he said it was sportively vindicating. "I know that now..."

She turned to look at him smiling at her. When the smile wasn't jeering or antagonistic it was...actually quite charming, him in a type of clean cut uniform didn't hurt either.

"Can't judge all Schnee's by their cover, as it turns out." he added.

She genuinely smiled back, "Thank you Coal." She toasted the air at him in gratitude and finally sipped the champagne. "That's actually quite good..." she said savoring the taste.

"Cold ones are always best..." Flynt smiled, and had she not known any better...it seemed as though he might have been checking her out briefly when saying that. He smile was certainly different...which made her blush involuntarily, and became suddenly conscious of the leg showing in her side slit.

Flynt cleared his throat and went on:"Let me play at one of your gigs and we'll call it even..." he joked.

"Perform, with you? You think I have the skill now?" she asked quoting him from the tournament.

"Well...you sing better than you fight so..." he said passively before quickly smirking. She gasped and held herself back from hitting his arm, but he still winced away at the shoulder movement, grinning mischievously like a cat.

"Are you incapable of anything but sass?" she chided back, holding in a smile and...failing.

"Just maybe." he teased.

She chuckled then somberly regarded his waiters outfit, and his lines about his father wrung in her ear.

Weiss sighed, "...Flynt..." she began seriously, "I'm sorry my family...father...did what he did to yours..." she was obviously uncomfortable about this and wasn't even looking his way.

"I swear, if I had any say in the matter, or had known..." Weiss tried to put words together.

Flynt put a hand up, "I get it."

"Really?" Weiss asked looking up at him.

Flynt looked at the band finishing and readjusting for another round, "I heard it when you were singing." he said, "You sounded like you were done."

Weiss:"Done?"

Flynt:"With being one of them."

He turned back to look at her as he said it. She could tell he meant this room of indifferent and selfish people that wouldn't even look their waiter in the eye or thank them.

She smiled slowly, thankfully. She hadn't realized her voice had carried to as many people as she wished it would in the back of her mind.

"But hey, about that skill...if you feel like a rematch I'm happy to whoop your butt before I deploy."

Weiss locked her jaw, raising a brow...somewhat thankful for the tension being gone from the moment, "You won't be whooping my butt, or anything of the kind..." she said wit her typical huffiness. But it wasn't snooty, it was teasing, sort of.

Flynt shrugged, "That a no?"

Weiss sighed and looked at the gala guests, her father and the brown nosers, the Neptune wannabe walking towards her then suddenly flirting with another girl who walked in front of him.

She glanced back at Flynt, smirking in that aggravating way that, that in this context made her not help but smile back.

"No..." she said tracing a finger on her champagne glass rim, "I'd like that."

His smirk was replaced with a grin at that, the one she found herself preferring.

"No tackling this time?" he teased.

Weiss was going to retort and be coy back, but then she noticed Whitley looking away quickly like he did whenever he was pretending not to snoop. She rolled her eyes.

"Seriously though..." she sighed, "...Not that I don't want to keep talking, you should probably get back to it before you get in trouble from my father...but thanks for coming by...I needed the laugh..."

"It's a nice laugh." Flynt said and tipped the open air where his hat brim would be, and spun on his heels without spilling a drop to move on.

Weiss chuckled, "Show off..." she jeered after him.

"And proud of it. I'll make my rounds again if your sticking around Schnee..." he turned bowing again before gliding into the row of shoulders and vanishing.

She raised her glass towards him as he left. That did help; talking to someone else who just knew where she'd been, and what she'd seen, or to just laugh at herself and this "event" to her honor.

She suddenly remembered and looked over quickly at brother who was now once again by her father. Great...

Before she could move on, Whitley tugged on Jacques' shoulder and gestured at her, Jacques turned to her, and motioned her forward with a finger. That little...

She walked forwards and stood idly by her father and brother while he began to brag about her and her time in Vale and how "fair" their faunus labor laws were now...

To be continued as we proceed into the canon events of Volume 4