Five girls, a robot, a monster, and about a billion unseen bugs walked down the street, but it wasn’t the start of a joke.

“I suppose it will fall upon me to lead you girls to the best shops,” Weiss said with a tone that sounded long-suffering. Akelarre doubted it was real, the smile tugging at Weiss’ lips and the little bit of pop in her step gave away her real feelings on the matter.

“I suppose so,” she said with a grin. “Lead us to the place with the prettiest dresses, Miss Schnee.”

Weiss nodded imperiously and pointed ahead like a general in a revolutionary painting. All she was missing was a cloak, a huge horse and some Russians to invade in winter. Akelarre smiled at her own joke and walked a little faster. “Hey, Ruby,” she said.

“Hey Akelarre,” Ruby said as she looked up to her. “I, uh, have a secret to tell you,” she said.

Akelarre blinked. “Okay,” she said. She could feel the attention of the others snapping onto her and Ruby. Neo didn’t even try to pretend not to be listening in, but Yang and Blake and even Penny continued their conversation about dresses unabated. Only Penny was actually paying it any attention now though.

“Right so,” Ruby started. “I don’t know how to walk in heels. Or dance in heels. Actually, I think heels are evil.”

Akelarre nodded. “That’s fine. You can wear your boots. It’ll be safer that way.”

“Ruby!” Yang said. “You can’t not wear heels. It’s a ball, not some dance over in Patch. If you’re going to wear a pretty dress you need the shoes to go with it. Imagine showing all your kids pictures of you and your wife’s first big dance and you’re wearing big clunky combat boots. I know I’ll always be the cool aunt, but you need to at least make an effort.”

“But Yang, heels are evil. And, and we’re not getting married! Or having babies!”

“I agree with Ruby. On all counts. Boots are better for everyone. Our future babies will think that their mom was a pragmatic and tough huntress who didn’t bend to anyone’s stereotypes and who respects her toes.” Akelarre nodded firmly.

Yang huffed, hands on hips and head shaking so that her hair waved all over. “No no no. Ruby, you can’t dance well in your clunky boots. I bet Akelarre can dance in heels.”

Ruby turned to her, eyes wide and watery and full of curious hope. “Yeah, I bet you had all sorts of princess-y dancing lessons.”

“Ah,” Akelarre said. “Sure I did. Haha. Maybe leather?” Team RWBY all kind of stared at her while walking, and only Ruby’s look was openly curious. “I mean, your normal combat outfit is kinda goth like, so maybe try a leather... dress thing. That way you can keep your boots, and your toes.”

Neo sighed and walked a little faster so that she was by Akelarre’s side. She patted her on the shoulder and shook her head.

“No good?” she asked.

The shorter girl wiggled her hand a little, then pointed to herself and nodded.

“You’ll take care of it?” she asked, just to make sure.

Neo nodded, then turned to smile at Ruby before she reached up to wrap an arm around her shoulders. She pulled Ruby forwards while gesturing wildly with her free hand. Ruby paid attention, but judging by her increasingly confused look she understood it about as well as a puppy would understand English.

Akelarre smiled at seeing them go, it was nice to see her friends getting along so well. Speaking of friends, she realized that one member of their little party had been too quiet for too long. “Hey, Penny, did you have a dress for the ball?”

“I have a dress for formal occasions, yes,” Penny said.

“Did you want a new one for the ball?” Akelarre asked. “Cause if you do, now’s the time. I’m not that good with fashion stuff, but I’m sure the others could help. And I can pay, if you need the cash.”

“Thank you,” Penny said. “But I would rather just observe.”

Akelarre nodded along. It wouldn’t do to stifle her friend. “Alright. Just, if you need to chat, I’m just a few steps ahead. Oh! And I just found a neat shop that sells leather stuff!”

Ruby and Neo looked over their shoulders at that declaration and Weiss, who was still in the lead, paused to listen too. “I am leading us towards the very best fashion stores in Vale,” she said. “I don’t recall any of them selling leather... anything.”

“Well, my bugs just found this one. It’s just one block down.” Akelarre pointed off in the right direction. “Should we give it a look.”

There was a round of shrugs and the whole group suddenly found itself following Akelarre’s lead. It was a good thing they were all in shape, because the pace they kept up left most civilians in the dirt. Not quite a run, but a brisk walk made to eat up miles of wilderness in a day.

Akelarre paid attention to her gaggle of friends as she walked. They were all terribly different people, but they all seemed to get along. Ruby was still trying to understand Neo, and judging by the redness of her cheeks and the occasional shit-eatiness of Neo’s grin, the girl was making lewder and lewder gestures on purpose.

Yang was tagging along with Blake who seemed busier with a book than with her blond teammate, not that Yang wasn’t trying to start a conversation. There was something going on between those two, but she couldn’t quite pin it down.

It was the other two that had her worried. Penny was quiet, less enthusiastic than usual. Perhaps that was normal, with all the secrets that had been revealed.

Weiss, on the other hand, had no reason that Akelarre knew of to be so down. She was going to have to find the time to chat her up soon.

“Um, Akelarre,” Yang said as soon as they got close to the store. “Look, as much as I love teasing Ruby about her little crush--”

“I don’t have a crush!”

“Uh-huh,” Yang went on as if she wasn’t interrupted. “I still think that maybe you two should take things a little slower. Way slower. Like, start by holding hands. Maybe a kiss on the cheeks in a few weeks.”

The store definitely sold equipment made of leather. Things like corsets, and whips, and gags. Akelarre felt her cheeks warming just at the sight of it. The pictures behind the displays were rather vivid and suggestive. “Maybe we follow Weiss’ advice,” she said.

Neo shrugged and started for the front door, only to be stopped when five pairs of hands grabbed her and held her back. She pouted as she was bodily dragged back onto the main streets of Vale and towards the fancier shopping districts.

There were a whole lot more people here. Most of them were on the younger side, couples laughing together, groups of friends chatting amicably and some folks sitting under the shade of statues and parasols. Akelarre saw the last bit of tension escaping from her friends’ shoulders, all except for Weiss.

“This is the place,” Weiss said as she gestured to a shop sitting in a place of pride near an open courtyard. The building was tall, with a glass facade and stainless steel pillars all along the front. Dresses on mannequins stood out behind the glass, some of them being poked and prodded by the customers within. “It’s not the most expensive place in Vale, that would be some of the boutiques that only make custom apparel, but for something ready-made it will do.”

Yang clapped. “Alright, so how do we do this? Move in as a pack, or split up into smaller groups to meet up in a few minutes or do we all go in solo and hope for the best?”

“I think pairs would work fine,” Akelarre said. “Or two pairs and one group of three. Dibs on Weiss.”

“Me?" Weiss asked before her eyes narrowed. “I’m not joining your little harem,” she warned.

“I’m not trying to get you to join my harem,” Akelarre said. “And I don’t have a harem.” Neo snorted but that was easy to ignore. “I just think it would be less pressure to go with you than Neo or Ruby or Penny. And Yang and Blake are obviously going together.”

“Dibs on Ruby,” Blake said.

Neo grabbed Ruby’s wrist, then raised three fingers.

“I suppose this means we are going together, friend Yang!” Penny cheered.

Yang made a noise in the back of her throat like a kettle boiling over. “Betrayed. I’ve been betrayed by everyone.”

“Good luck, Penny,” Akelarre said as she moved towards the shop. She could see, through the eyes of her many little bigs, that Weiss hesitated to follow her, then looked at her options which were either Penny or Yang. She was quick to catch up.

“Why did you really want me?” she asked as soon as they were in the shop. It wasn’t quite as busy as it looked from the outside. The front section had all the dresses and outfits that were on sale, but all the really nice ones were deeper in the store and the second floor was practically empty of people.

Akelarre lead them that way. It helped that the dresses at the back leaned more towards monotonous colours. She didn’t think she would look good in bright colours and Weiss was definitely more of a winter pallet.

“I note a conspicuous lack of answer to my question,” Weiss said a little testily.

“Sorry,” Akelarre said. “I was just thinking. I’m not very good, socially, I mean. Don’t think I’ve ever been really, so I might not notice things right away. But I am good at paying attention to things, and I have more ears then there are people on Remnant. So I hear things.”

Weiss perked one eyebrow, looking exactly like the aristocrat she purported to be. “Are you trying to make me wary? Because if so, you are most definitely succeeding.”

Akelarre shook her head, black hair tumbling around the nape of her neck. “No. Sorry. It’s just. I heard you talking to Penny earlier. And, well, I think I’m Penny’s only friend, even if things are kind of rocky between us right now.”

Weiss stared at her, one eyebrow still raised as if waiting for the response that would inevitably come. She rolled her eyes and turned to start looking at the nearest dresses. “I’m certain you have a point.”

“My point,” Akelarre said as she tried not to be irate, “is that I heard that you have intentions to marry Penny, and as her only friend it falls upon me to vet you.”

Weiss choked, her head yanking at the side of a dress hard enough that the material tore with a screech of fabric. “You want to what?”

“I know you’re on Ruby’s team, and she seems to think highly of you, so that much is already really good. But other than that I know very little about you,” Akelarre went on to say.

“Nevermind that,” Weiss huffed as she pushed away the torn dress and turned to face Akelarre fully. She stood up to her full height, almost enough to reach Akelarre’s nose and glared up at her. “I am perfect marriage material. I don’t see why people are deeming that worthy of question recently. N-not that I want to marry Penny anyway. All we agreed to was to be companions at a ball. Nothing else.”

“Isn’t that usually how things start? You accompany someone to one ball, then next thing you know it’s ten years later and you can’t live without them?”

Weiss narrowed her eyes. “You’re projecting, aren’t you?” she asked. “You’re not worried for Penny, you’re worried for Ruby.”

“What?”

She poked Akelarre in the chest. “That’s right. You think things are going too fast with you and my partner. And they are. Ruby’s a great person and she deserves better than you.”

“That’s not at all what I was talking about,” Akelarre said as she crossed her arms. “I heard that your father was a mean person and that he might not approve of your relationship with Penny.”

“I heard that your mother was the evilest person and that she might not approve of your relationship with Ruby,” Weiss shot back.

There was a sigh from the rack to Akelarre’s left. She blinked as she realized that some of her smaller Grimmsects were right next to her having approached completely unnoticed as she argued. “And to think that I once thought that I had troubles.” A few dresses moved aside with the scrape of hangers on steel poles to reveal an unimpressed Blake Belladonna in the pinkest, most fluffy dress Akelarre had ever seen. “You two need help.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be with Ruby and Neo?” Akelarre asked.

“They ditched me for Penny and then I ran away from Yang. Don’t change the subject, cousin.” Blake narrowed her eyes and, even though she was hiding in a clothing rack, she managed to look properly intimidating. “If you want to talk then we’re here, but don’t go poking at Weiss just because she’s the evilest one here.”

“Hey!”

Akelarre huffed, crossed her arms, and looked away. “Fine,” she said.

If they wanted to talk, she’d talk.