Who: Weiss & Elsa What: Two ice queens hanging out and talking about things Where: A coffee shop When: Before the most recent shenanigans Warnings: None really. Status: Complete when posted
Elsa waited patiently, having already selected a booth and ordered coffee and a snack. She was in a good mood. Despite her sister being a love-struck idiot, she was finally free in her dreams. It was liberating.
Chances are things might go bad, but for now she was going to enjoy it. Having good luck in work would probably help.
She knew Weiss through contacts between her family and the Schnees, and had reached out to actually meet in person. Contacts were good, and she hoped they could be friends.
Weiss didn’t often make time for contacts that reached out based on her family. Few of them actually talked to her directly. If they did, usually it was under some misguided idea that making nice with her would get them anywhere with her father. Still, she decided to give Elsa a chance. She didn’t know her intentions, but she was also in need of coffee. If this wasn’t anything worth her time, she’d leave. She didn’t even consider the idea that someone was trying to be her friend. Even if Ruby was always trying to be her friend.
She pushed that thought off to the side and walked into the coffee shop, gaze sweeping over the room before it settled on the girl in question. Yes, she had in fact done research after they’d spoken. There were pictures, quite helpfully, of Elsa and she made her way to the booth, taking a seat. She didn’t quite smile, but she’d never really been a smile first and be suspicious later sort of person.
“Elsa, yes?” As if she didn’t know already.
Elsa looked up, brushing some stray hair behind her shoulder and then offering her hand in greeting. Her smile was a little shy. “Yes, that’s me. You must be Weiss. I didn’t know what you liked so I haven’t ordered for you.”
Some gestures were nice but Elsa figured getting the wrong coffee could be a little disappointing.
Outside of her own preferences, Weiss really only knew how Ruby took her coffee. Cream and five sugars. But she ordered a coffee, no cream and please not a ton of sugar. She didn’t want something fancy. She just wanted coffee.
“Yes. I’m Weiss.” She studied the girl in front of her for a moment. “What did you get?” Because it was always good to know what sort of coffee people preferred. She wanted to say it said a lot about them, but sometimes it just said they had a problem with sugar. But it made sense for Ruby anyway.
“A double chocolate mocha,” Elsa answered. Because chocolate was the default answer to everything and the quickest way to Elsa’s good side. “I saw it on the menu and… I really like chocolate.”
It hadn’t needed any extra sweetener, though. The chocolate and cream had been enough.
Weiss stored the knowledge away for later. She’d never quite understood mochas or anything like that, but she guessed it wasn’t really that important. She didn’t have to drink them. Elsa made her think of Ruby and how she just said things. Whatever was on her mind in that moment...and then looked awkward about doing it.
“So you wanted to meet.” It wasn’t a question because it was already something that had been voiced. She just wanted to know why. Because that was still something she didn’t know or understand.
“Yes. Our families were often in the same circles but we’ve never met.” Elsa wrapped her hands around her drink, but held Weiss’s gaze. “I wanted to… stretch myself out more. I’m going to make a name for myself separate from my parents, or what my sister is doing. I figure I should get to know more people. And we’ve both been called Ice Queens.”
Weiss’ eyes widened just a little before her expression returned to something more neutral. They sounded oddly similar. Outside of the mocha thing. “Yes. I guess we have been.” She preferred Klein’s way of calling her Little Snowflake to strangers calling her Ice Queen. She guessed it had something to do with the way she approached people and things. She was determined to get things done the way she wanted and she wasn’t exactly warm and inviting.
“So this isn’t about my father?” It seemed obvious, but she wanted to be sure.
Elsa could be standoffish. Something she’d been working on, to varying degrees of success over the years. Her dreams had made that worse, though after the most recent ones she felt so free that maybe she could have thawed. There was fear of hurting people, like she’d hurt Anna when she was younger. But that was there, not here.
“It’s not about your father.” She wondered why it would be, but decided not to ask. That was probably dirty laundry she shouldn’t be privy to. “I’d rather get to know you.”
It was hard not to assume that people were more interested in her father than her. She didn't really hold much power. She was the heiress, but that didn't mean people looked at her and thought to get to know her for any reason outside of what might help them get what they wanted. Outside of Team RWBY. They didn't really give a shit about her company or her family, just her being her. It felt unusual.
“Okay.” She was still waiting for her to somehow change her mind, but she could talk to her anyway. “What do you want to know?”
“Where do you go to school? What’s your area of study?” Elsa leaned forward, “What do you want to do with your life?”
They were all kind of big questions, but she’d asked them of herself once.
They were big questions, but Weiss had answers to them. “UC Irvine,” she said in response to the first question. “I am...studying business and music.” It was probably an unusual combination, but that was what she wanted to do. She wanted to sing, but she couldn’t. Not where her father could see her. Klein had already agreed to help keep her secret, but then he was always very good at that sort of thing. Especially when it came to things she or Winter wanted to do.
“I…” She sighed. “What I want to do is complicated. I want to take over the family business, but I…” She looked at Elsa for a moment, not sure how to explain exactly what she wanted to do and not entirely sure she could tell people outside of the ones that she had told. “I am still putting together my ideas of how to move forward from here.” Which was a half truth. She had quite a few ideas of how she wanted to move forward. But she could risk her father discovering things before she got the chance to change things. “It would be a big change and I don’t want to do something wrong.”
Elsa took a long sip of her drink. This was obviously hard on Weiss and she suddenly felt bad for putting her on the spot. But she was curious, and maybe it would help Weiss to put it into words. She could understand not wanting to mess up.
“I understand. One is business, the other is passion. I’m sure you’ll find a way to combine the two eventually.” She’d always been good at building things. She’d found a way to combine that with her love of art. “Which is probably an oversimplification.”
Weiss almost laughed, but it would not have been a happy sound. It would have been a depreciative noise. “Business is what the Schnee family cares about,” she replied carefully. “It is a big responsibility.” She wanted to feel that she could trust more than Team RWBY and Ruby and Yang’s weird uncle, but she couldn't make herself believe it.
She quietly sipped at her coffee. “I mean to make the Schnee family worthy of its title.” Which was as close as she would ever get to telling someone not Team RWBY (as far as she knew anyway) approved that things in the business needed to change. “Nothing else matters.”
Obviously Weiss had a low opinion of her family business and Elsa wished she’d looked into it better. Her father was clearly doing things Weiss didn’t approve of, and Elsa was willing to give Weiss the benefit of the doubt on that one. “It may not mean much, but you have my support.”
Women had to stick together, as long as it was a good cause.
Plenty of people knew the business ethics when it came to her father, but most of them ignored it...or used that as an excuse to lash out at the family as a whole. She couldn’t remember how many times exactly she’d been harassed for something her father had done or been part of. Sometimes people made phone calls to trash them. Luckily, she was free from those now. But she wanted to make the business better, she wanted them to be respected the way they used to be.
Weiss studied the girl in front of her for a moment, still trying to decide whether or not she was safe. “I suppose it is something.”
Fidgeting with her drink, Elsa searched for what to say. She wasn’t the best at casual conversation, and she didn’t think Weiss seemed comfortable enough to go into much detail about the business thing. But maybe she could ask about the other things. “You said you were studying music?”
For a moment, Weiss’ whole demeanor changed and she actually did smile. “I had piano lessons when I was younger and voice lessons, of course. Mother and Father have me sing a lot at the charity functions.” She was going to sing at a coffee shop before too long, but that was a ‘Team RWBY + weird uncle + Klein + Gamora’ sort of knowledge only. She might have told Winter, but it wasn’t like Winter would be able to turn up. She sighed at the thought, deflating slightly. So she took a sip of her coffee as a way to avoid it.
“It’s just because I needed a minor. My parents said it would be fine.” Only now it wasn’t a minor, something she hadn’t talked to her parents about. “They don’t want me to do public performances, though.”
It was a gorgeous smile, and Elsa was happy to see it. “I don’t understand why they wouldn’t want you to do public performances? Are they really that image conscious? If you’ve sung at charity functions why stop there?”
“They...have certain ideas about things like this.” Like how it was too plebeian for Weiss to perform in public. Just singing in front of anyone wasn't what they wanted for her. She had a feeling that her father would have been just as happy to have her marry so he could train Whitley to take over. Not that she had any proof, but he'd already cast one child off for doing something he didn't agree with. Why not a second? Whitley was more like their father than either her or Winter. “It's not a big deal, though. It's just something that is what it is.” Even if it really was a big deal.
Elsa thought about her dreams. She loved her father, and he may have had her best interests at heart, but he’d been wrong. “Parents can be… wrong. Sometimes their advice is contrary to what’s best for you. But it’s also really hard to go against them. I don’t envy you your balancing act.”
Her parents were...something. She knew that they were right about some things and not about others, but that didn’t really change things. Not for her. She could do it in secret, but that was it. She didn’t want the company to fall into Whitley’s hands. “Some things must be done. I have a plan and I have to stick to it. Perhaps eventually my decisions will be mine. Until then, I will do what I must.” Even if she had made some decisions that were entirely hers and probably entirely selfish, but for the most part, she had done things that she was meant to do. “What is it that you want to do?”
“Make something. I went to school to be an architect. Design buildings that aren’t just functional and safe, but beautiful.” She moved her hands, lifting her palm up over the table as if describing the shape of one. “I’ve always been interested in geometry, and shapes. My parents had me in choir when I was younger, but I got too nervous for it. At least with design there isn’t usually people staring at me.”
“Oh. That sounds very nice.” She knew very little about architecture or design. Weiss didn’t really mind people staring at her, however. She was so used to people paying her and her family attention. It was making friends that was complicated. Most people didn’t really talk to her out of an honest desire to be her friend. But...that was no matter. “I sing at my parents’ charity parties all the time. People staring has never been too difficult for me, but I guess if you don’t like that, then it’s not very easy to do.” A pause. “I don’t really know anything about how to design buildings.”
“Everyone has different skills.” Elsa could sing too, but she wouldn’t be able to do it in front of a crowd. Her sister, sure, but strangers? No. “I wouldn’t be able to run a company, though I sometimes dream of being a Queen. It’s a very confusing thing, and probably a lot different.”
“Probably.” Weiss sighed. “I’m an heiress in the dreams, too. Only I’m in school to become a Huntress.” There wasn’t really something like that outside of the dreams, however. So singing it was. She could protect humanity on the side if she had to. “I think the dreams are definitely different, but we’re probably not too different from how we are in them.” At least she didn’t think she was really all that different.
“What does a huntress do?” Elsa asked, wrapping her hands around her drink and causing it to ice over a little. “Did you like it? Is it exciting? What do you hunt?”
“Protects the world from the Creatures of Grimm,” she said after a quick moment. “Which answers your last question. There are a lot of different kinds of Grimm, but they are drawn to negative emotions and they kill pretty much everything. My sister is in the army and Dad doesn’t really want me to be a Huntress, but it’s everything I’ve ever wanted.” She wilted a little, chin resting in her hand. “There’s nothing that translates here, but I guess that’s not really surprising.” “That sounds awful. That they exist I mean, not that you hunt them. So you help people.” Elsa wished her powers could actually help people, instead of hurt them. Oh there was probably a way, but seeing it wasn’t always possible for her. “So you love it.”
Weiss nodded. It wasn’t clear what she was agreeing to, but the nod worked for basically all of it. It was awful that they existed, she helped people, and she loved it. “It’s not easy, but it’s necessary. Not everyone can fight them.” And she wanted to make a name for herself. “Right now we’re in school, so we haven’t done too much, but we will.”
“I believe you will.” Elsa didn’t know where that belief came from, or why she suddenly believed in it so strongly, but she did. And she hoped that kind of belief helped Weiss.