My Melody (Weiss)

Of all things Weiss expected in the park, music wasn't one of them.  Sure, people came out to play every once in a while, but they usually didn't catch her attention.  This time, her interest was caught though, mainly because of the crowd gathered around one musician.  It seemed like he had quite the following.  One group of people gave him quite a bit of applause, and left plenty of money in his guitar case.  To be fair, he wasn't that bad, although he seemed like one of the punks her father usually told her to stay away from.  She glanced back at her shadow spirits, who had been following her around ever since she had left the house.  They were hiding in the shadows nearby.  They hadn't given her any trouble today though, so Weiss wasn't totally peeved at them yet.  As the man (or troll, if Weiss had to take a guess based on his appearance) transitioned into another song, she hung back and listened, glad for a distraction, even if it was a small one.

Weiss wasn't sure what to think of the guy waving at her.  Did he know who she was?  He probably did.  LaFayettes were easy to recognize, her especially 'cause she used to flaunt her last name a lot when trying to get something she wanted.  She wasn't sure if he was referring to her or not before he went into his next song, but she had a feeling that he was by the way he was looking at her.  Was she that easy to read now?  She wasn't sure how to feel about that.  But, she did have to admit, the song was nice.  The rest of the people gathered seemed to agree, and she drew a little closer as they applauded.  "Do you always dedicate songs to random strangers?" she asked, hoping her voice was relaxed and didn't carry the usual stiff, formal tone she used when meeting new people.

Weiss blinked.  This guy seemed awfully...perky, considering he looked like a punk.  Being treated so nicely by a random stranger was throwing her off.  And it wasn't just the "I'm gonna suck up to a LaFayette in the hopes I get something" nice either.  The guy seemed genuinely nice.  Or maybe Weiss was just being naive.  After being treated like crap for so long, maybe she was just willing to believe that a stranger would try to cheer her up just because she looked a little sad.  "Fencing, I guess," she said with a shrug.  She wasn't sure when she'd be taking that up again, though.  Her parents would probably want to make sure she wouldn't try to vanquish anymore demons with her sword.  They were determined to make sure their daughter didn't do something so crazy and reckless again.  

"Joan of Arc ended up getting burned at the stake.  Not exactly a fate I wish to share," Weiss replied dryly.  No doubt some voodoo practitioners had to face that fate in the past.  Witchcraft had been seen as a pretty bad thing, voodoo was even worse.  The negative reputation it had gathered, particularly with voodoo dolls and supposed summoning of the dead, made it hard for anyone to practice it freely in the past.  Luckily, voodoo had come a long way since then.  And now here the LaFayettes were, one of the most respected families in the city, and they were renowned for their voodoo knowledge.  Weiss wasn't sure how much her parents actually practiced it though.  Apparently, they used to be pretty powerful witchdoctors back in the day.  Now, they tended to supervise things more than actually perform any rituals.  "Some would call that bravery recklessness," she replied, thinking of how her parents had reacted when they had found out she had taken on Thrax.  Sure, they acknowledged that she had saved Yang, but they were still angry that she had done such a crazy thing.  Who knew when they would trust her again.  She felt like they were giving her looks, as if expecting her to just go nuts or something.  She glanced up when the guy said he was a troll.  It looked like her earlier guess on that had been right.  "Well, I'd like to know your name first," she said, realizing she had no idea what it was.  "I'm Weiss, though you probably already knew that."

Weiss wasn't sure how to feel about that.  Dying in bed seemed a lot more peaceful than going out in a blaze of glory.  When fighting Thrax, she hadn't thought about facing her death bravely or anything like that.  She had tried her hardest to not die, mainly because if she did, then Yang would have been a goner.  It was that desperation that had led to her summoning the shadow spirits in the first place.  She was willing to do anything to come out of that fight alive, and those spirits had answered her call.  Omar certainly seemed to portray reckless bravery in a positive light.  In a way, Weiss hadn't really fought for herself, when going up against Thrax.  That had been her original intention, but things had changed once Yang came into the picture.  After that, she had fought him to save her.  It was a noble act, but she felt like the consequences were starting to weigh down on her.  "Sounds like you're describing a superhero or something.  I don't think that's what I want to be."  Weiss couldn't picture herself putting on a mask and cape and going out and saving people.  She felt like she wasn't good enough to do that sort of thing.  Sure, she could fight decently, but being noble and selfless like a superhero?  That wasn't her.  Omar seemed to fit the bill better than she did.  "Not sure if my parents would let you in.  It's probably going to be one of those exclusive parties.  After the masquerade ball, my parents are...reluctant, to open the doors to everyone again."  Sure, the ball had happened ages ago, but still.  Her parents viewed the event as them being generous to the public, and they had been rewarded with Thrax wrecking everything.  They weren't about to forget that in a heartbeat.

What Omar said basically confirmed that Weiss was thinking earlier.  Standing up for herself wasn't exactly something she was good at.  Sure, she could argue with her parents, but they always ended up winning.  She was still treated like a shiny new toy they could show off to their friends.  Besides, there was that whole issue with her shadow spirits, who were still hiding nearby.  She wasn't sure how to feel about herself because of them.  Could a good person really summon creatures like that?  Didn't she have to have some kind of darkness inside her to have pulled that off?  She had avoided thinking about that question for a while now, only because she was afraid of what the answer might be.  "They probably want classy music," she said.  "You know, stuff with an orchestra."  Her parents really lived up to the old-fashioned stereotype.  Sure, they played more modern music if they knew a younger crowd was going to be at a party.  But most of the time, their taste in music was the same as stereotypical snooty rich people in the movies.  "You really want to make a sword for a girl you just met?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.  She didn't know why Omar would go through all the trouble.  Besides, she wasn't sure if she needed a second sword.  Her old one was still fine.  It had been good enough to fight Thrax with.  

"Whatever I want, they can't give me," she said, her voice getting slightly cold as she crossed her arms over her chest.  She wanted to feel less awful, and to have a whole family again.  But those were things her parents could never give her.  They could never understand her, and they sure as hell weren't going to let Riku come back.  Sometimes, Weiss wasn't even sure how much he wanted him back.  Part of her just wanted it to be like old times.  The other part of her was still mad at him for leaving her in the first place.  She often found herself torn between the two emotions.  Regardless, Omar seemed pretty enthusiastic about the idea of making her a sword.  If it made him happy, Weiss figured she might as well let him.  She could figure out what to do with it later.  "I guess a new sword would be nice," she replied.