Ch 75: Mirror, Mirror (1)

*Uhhhgh* "This is pointless! I told you, I can't do it!" Weiss stomped her foot and complained as the glowing white glyph in front of her flickered and died for the umpteenth time. Ever since she had learned that Ray was studying glyphs, she had been inviting him to practice with her after class when they were both free. Weiss with her semblance and Ray with his Storm Tears. They had both been making excellent progress these past two months. Ray thought that his formations, as he liked to call them rather than glyphs since they used moving his Storm Tears together in a certain way and linking them with his lightning in a specific pattern instead of generating a typical glyph, were almost ready for live combat and Weiss had mastered her Time Dilation glyph. Today, however, Ray had "encouraged" her to work on her summoning, Weiss's worse glyph that she had never gotten to work at all, and it was proving to be a very frustrating endeavor.

"Hmm, the glyph structure and Aura flow looked good." Ray said as he rubbed his chin, analyzing what could have gone wrong.

"I Know!" Weiss pouted. "I do everything perfectly. But it never works!" *Aaarrrrggg*

*Hmmmm* Ray hummed in agreement as he glanced over at the frustrated young lady. "Weiss, what do you think of corgies?"

"Huh?" Weiss asked, thrown by the random question. She had been expecting something insightful about her summoning attempt.

"Corgies. Small dogs with adorable faces, long pudgy bodies, and cute stubby legs that are just the right size for cuddling." Ray's clarification didn't help Weiss at all.

"I know what they are." Weiss said, shooting the infuriating man a seething glare, "I meant what do corgies have to do with my summoning."

"Nothing." Ray confirmed with a shrug, not daunted at all by the ever-increasing strength of Weiss's glare. "I just thought you could use a break. If everything is technically right, then the problem must be with your state of mind. You're telling yourself you can't do this, aren't you?" Ray watched Weiss out of the corner of his eye as she nervously shifted slightly on her feet, confirming that his words had hit home.

"That mentality is becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy. You are telling yourself you can't do it, so you can't. So we need a break, something to get your mind off this. Therefore, corgies! What do you think of them?" He asked again with a grin.

"They're... pretty cute, I guess." Weiss said, playing with her hair.

"Excellent! I know a corgi cafe in Vale that I know you will love. Care to join me?" Ray asked her with his best smile.

[Is he asking me on a date?] Weiss wondered as she felt her cheeks warming under his handsome smile. "I suppose." she pretended to reluctantly agree as she started trying to decide what she should wear. However, Ray didn't intend on giving her the chance.

"Alright, let's go!" He grabbed her by the hand and started to lead her towards the buses to Vale.

"Wait, now!?" Weiss asked in a fluster, starting the panic slightly. She was still in her school uniform and had already spent the whole day studying and practicing. Sure she still looked gorgeous, she always did. But still, she wanted a shower and at least 2 hours to fix her hair, makeup, and clothes before going out. Unfortunately, the inconsiderate oaf pulling her along didn't seem to care.

"Yes now." He said with laughter in his voice, "We have to if we want to get there before they close. Don't worry, you look dazzling." His flattery reduced Weiss's complaints to an inaudible grumble as they boarded the bus.

"So, how do you even know about this place?" Weiss asked once she had finally calmed down a bit. Ray pulled up a picture on his scroll and showed it to her by way of an answer.

"This is Zwei." Ray pointed to the adorable black and white corgi puppy a 7-year-old Ruby was holding up beside her and Ray's face while Yang stood behind them, giving them both bunny ears in the photo.

"He's our dog Dad got for us after Ein died. We got him from the lady who runs the cafe we are going to. Elizabeth is a sweet old lady who makes some of the best tea in Remnant and is a corgi breeder. The cafe is her way of making some extra money and letting her puppies interact with lots of people before they are adopted." He explained, swiping to another photo that showed a giggling Ruby being buried beneath a pile of cute, slobbery corgi puppies.

"So cuuuute~." Weiss squealed as she snatched Ray's scroll from him and began scrolling through the Zwei folder in his photo gallery. Ray smiled gently at the usual cold ice princess as she cooed and awwed at the lovable little corgi.

"Did you ever have a pet growing up?" Ray asked as they got off the bus, and Weiss was forced to return Ray's scroll.

"No. Mother has her menagerie, but that… they aren't exactly pets. More like Mother's trophies." Weiss explained with a lost look on her face. Ray couldn't help but reach out and give her hand a comforting squeeze.

"Sorry. It looks like I accidentally stirred up some uncomfortable memories." Weiss didn't say anything in response and just held on to his hand.

[It's so big and warm and strong.] Weiss thought, looking for any distraction from thoughts of her dysfunctional family. [Completely unlike Father's.] And she was back thinking about her least favorite subject.

*Haaaaa* she sighed, realizing if she couldn't escape it, then it might do her good to talk about it. Ray had proven to be a surprisingly good teacher who could listen and give meaningful advice on all sorts of subjects both in and out of school. "It's not that. It's just… it's hard. Mother is always drinking, and the only time she ever seems to have time for me is when she is showing me off to her friends. Sometimes I feel like I'm just another of her prized pets." Ray didn't say anything and just listened. Sometimes knowing when not to speak was as important as knowing what to say.

"Father's even worse. The little praise he does give me sounds more like he is praising himself, and he's always talking about how he wants me to behave and what he expects me to do without any concern for my wants or feelings." Ray let go of her hand to put a comforting arm around her shoulder in a silent show of support, reminding her through his actions that she had people around her that cared about her and acknowledged her efforts.

"At least I had my older sister, Winter. She was always there for me, whether it was just to talk or if I needed help with something. I don't know what I would have done if she hasn't been there for me. She even had the courage to disobey Father and follow her dreams to join the Atlas military, showing me that we could live our own lives, that we didn't have to be beholden to Father and Mother's expectations of us. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for her." Weiss tried to reassure her concerned friend even as she unconsciously leaned into him, enjoying his presence and support, as they walked side by side down the street.

"And it's not like she was the only one who ever praised me or like I was always looking for vindication. It's just, everyone else's praise always seemed so hollow and more like it was something expected of me. It made it hard to care about or stick to anything when no matter how hard I worked for something, everyone acted like it was something expected of me."

"What about your little brother?" Ray asked, hoping that their relationship might be better in real life than it had appeared to be in the anime.

"Whitley? Don't get me started on that little brat. Daddy's little boy. Always clamoring for his attention and trying to get Winter and me in trouble. He listened to and believed everything Father said and would do anything he asked of him exactly how he asked him to without question. Even when Winter or I tried to show him a better or different way, he would always yell at us for going against Father. Saying that it was pointless to defy him."

"Ouch, though, I guess that's better than becoming a bully to try and get attention." Ray winced at her description of her brother and tried to give her a different perspective on her brother's actions. He knew how important familiar relationships were. If her relationship with her parents was really as far gone as she made it sound, he wanted to do all he could to help her salvage her sibling relationship with her brother.

"You think he was only looking for attention?" Weiss turned slightly in his arms to looked at him with one of her perfectly manicured eyebrows raised in surprise.

"Well yeah. It sounds like genuine love and praise were scarce commodities in the Schnee household. You and your sister able to find your own purpose. But most kids aren't that strong. Most need their parents' guidance and support to find their own purpose and worth." Ray tried to clarify

"Hmmmm," Weiss remembered how hard she had struggled for her parents' approval when she was young. Honestly, she still longed for it. Not for the first time, she wondered if she had done the right thing leaving Whitley alone in that mansion that none of them had ever been able to call a home. But what could she do? She had had to get out of there for her own sake! To find her own path in life away from the suffocating pressure of her controlling, over-expectant parents. Weiss couldn't help but think back to the trial her father had forced her through before letting her become a huntress. A test that had left her face permanently scarred.