Chapter 31

I stopped as I saw yet another familiar figure. Weiss stood with her back to me examining some dust vials while muttering quietly to herself.

"Hello?"

"Wha?!" Weiss nearly dropped the vials in her hands before catching the dust and carefully setting them back on the shelf. She angrily whirled around. "Don't sneak up on me like that. Who do you think you a..." she stopped upon seeing me, and scowled. "Oh...it's just you."

"JUST me? You're gonna break my heart, Princess."

"Hmph. First off, I told you to stop calling me that." she said jabbing a finger at me. "Second, what are you doing here? I'm trying to restock on some of my ice dust."

"Same as you, just came here to buy some dust." Wait a minute now that she's here... "Hey Weiss."

"What?" Weiss asked impatiently, crossing her arms.

"You're the dust expert right? Which dust has the most powerful explosion?"

"Most powerful explosion?" Weiss thoughtfully tapped her cheek. "That would be...steam dust." she said slowly. "It's not very destructive by itself but...if you're looking for explosive force alone, it can't be beaten."

"Steam dust?"

"Yeah, steam dust. Water and fire. What, do you live under a rock or something? Why do you ask anyway?"

"Hmm...come here for a sec."

"Hey! Don't ignore me!"

I quickly walked through the shop leading us to the front, before gesturing to the display glass in front of the old man. "Of all the dust here, which is the most popular kind of dust?"

Weiss rolled her eyes, but pointed to a bright yellow crystal in the center. "Lightning dust. It's by far the most commonly used. Showing up in vehicles, houses, military, and just about anywhere else as a power source."

"It's used that much?!" I think I'm starting to get why the dust shortage was such a big problem in the show. If such a big power source went missing, it would be crippling to a kingdom. Not just lightning, but every other type of dust missing would likely cause other issues. "How much lightning dust could I get with this?" I asked, putting all of the money on the counter.

The old man hummed, thumbing through the bills before typing 58368 and dividing it by 825.

"Seventy." he muttered.

'If lightning dust is 825 lien each and steam is 495 then if I wanted 15 steam dust crystals, how much lightning could I get? Damn it, this is just like those hypothetical math problems they ask you in school!'

After a few calculations with the old man at the register, I had my answer. "I'll take 60 lightning dust crystals and 15 steam." Sorry for using your money Aero, but it's for a good cause. That'll leave him with a little over a thousand lien. "Alright, for now just load them up in my backpack." The old man didn't respond, instead just giving me a confused look. Weiss, for her part just stared at me slack-jawed. 'Why is she looking at me like that, do I have something on my face?'

"You...you DOLT!" Weiss shouted, throwing her arms in the air.

"What?"

"Dust is incredibly volatile! You can't just throw it into any old backpack! Do you want to die?!"

"Oh."

"OH?!" Weiss marched right up to me and grabbed me by the wrist, immediately tugging me out of the shop. "I swear, you're even worse than Ruby!"

"H-hey! What are you doing?"

"You're coming with me to get a proper dust briefcase! As a representative of the Schnee company, I refuse to just sit by and allow you to get yourself killed because of our product."

Despite any protests I voiced, Weiss ignored me and pulled me along. Thankfully, no one I knew was around to see me being yanked around town by a girl, and it wasn't long before a designer store came into view.

"Welcome to Insights Designer." A woman with blonde hair greeted me and Weiss with a business smile as we came through the door. "My name is Linda, let me know how I can make your experience as good as our high-quality wares."

"Yes, thank you." Weiss said smiling politely, still holding onto my arm. "We would like to purchase a briefcase designed for holding dust."

"Wonderful." Linda said, lightly clapping her hands. "And what sort of grade material are you two looking for?"

"The cheap kind..."

"The GOOD kind." Weiss corrected, shooting me a sideways glare.

"Excellent. We at Insights Designer host a wide variety of not just briefcases, but other top-quality goods too. If the two of will wait right here, I think I can help you with what you need." She said with her fake cheer. "Excuse me for a while, I'll try not to take too long."

"Ugh..."

"Oh hush." Weiss lightly chastised, sitting us down on a bench before finally releasing her grip. "Do you have something against me or something?"

"Huh?" 'Why'd she think that?' "No of course not. Did I mention that I hate designer clothing stores? It's cold, everything costs too much, there's always that weird new clothes smell and the employees are pretentious."

"Well, yeah...I suppose I understand that last part..."

"But, I've had my share of good memories in stores like these too when I was younger."

"When you were younger?"

"Wanna hear about it?"

"Well." Weiss said gesturing around the empty shop. "Doesn't look like I've got much else to do."

"My mom used to take me to stores like these all the time. I mean, it's not like I was happy about it back then either. But it was either go in, or sit alone in the car while my mom picked out tacky outfits."

Weiss leaned against her hand, seeming a bit more interested. "Were they really that bad?"

"Haha, yeah. I mean, she was always worried about what would keep me warm, or how long they'd last, but she didn't really know what passed as cool for kids. I used to drive my mom up the wall, hiding in the clothing racks all the time. Pretending that they were each my little secret fort and giggling while she had to look for me."

"That sounds childish."

"Well duh. I was a kid after all, kids do dumb fun stuff. I mean doesn't every kid?"

"No..." Weiss said quietly. "Not every kid..."

"Huh? What are you-" Oh...shit. Sensitive subject...

"I'm sorry for the wait." Linda interrupted, returning with four different briefcases, and completely missing the current mood. "The first option is the Marce Jobs brand, this one is perfect for organizing-"

"Great, I'll take it."

"Various types..." the woman stopped in surprise. "Oh...well, good." Wanting to leave as soon as possible, I pulled out the amount required, ignoring my bleeding heart as I spent a tenth of my lien on a glorified leather case. "Thanks for shopping at Designer Insights. I know you'll be back again soon!"

The trip back to From dust till dawn was...uncomfortable, Weiss didn't say much until after I'd gotten my dust. "Alright Aero." she said quietly. "I should get back to team RWBY."

"Hold on a second." 'I don't want to end our meeting on a bitter note.' Weiss blinked in surprise at the sudden action. "Just...wait a little bit okay?" I know Weiss hasn't exactly had the best childhood. If she doesn't want to talk about it, it's not my place to say anything. Especially since I've got my own experiences I'd rather no one knew. "Old man, I wanna buy that dark blue one in the corner." After handing me the crystal I turned back to Weiss. "You came here to get some ice dust but hadn't yet gotten around to it right?"

Weiss paused, looking at the crystal in her hands and then back to me. "I could have bought that myself, I didn't need you to do it for me."

"I know. This is me showing how grateful I am for helping me out. It's just my little way of saying: Thanks for making sure "I didn't blow up."

"Oh...well, thank you. I appreciate it."

"Here, catch."

"Catch? Catch wha-huh?!" she fumbled for a moment with the dust crystal tossed at her before securing it tightly. "H-hey! Didn't I just tell you how dangerous these things are?!"

"Ah...shoot...guess I could have been a bit more careful huh?"

For a moment Weiss just stared at me with an utterly stupefied look on her face. I think I made her mad again. The silence lasted until...

"Pfft." a.. rare smile appeared on her face. "You...you are utterly impossible." Weiss chuckled, shaking her head hopelessly. "Thank you for your gift, but..." The heiress walked right in front of me and gave a stern look. "Be. More. Care. Ful." she said, jabbing her finger at me for every syllable. "My family has a reputation to keep. If you blow up a dust shop, and the explosion doesn't kill you, I will. Got it?"

"G-got it..." 'Jeez, Weiss can be scary sometimes."

"Good." Weiss said with a huff. "Now come on, you and I are going to be late for the next period if we don't hurry."