Smile

Chapter 1

"I beg your pardon? Braces?"

Weiss stares up at the dentist incredulously with slightly widened eyes, her expression quickly souring. General Ironwood and her sister Winter had instructed everyone to visit the resident military doctors and dentists for the day in order to have their health gauged, given the large gap in time between now and the last time any of them had seen a doctor, and save for Ruby needing a few fillings thanks to poor brushing habits, everyone had near pristine dental health. Everyone but Weiss, that is.

"Yes, Ms. Schnee, I'm afraid to say. According to your records, you've had braces before, so it seems you've been neglecting to wear your retainers." The dentist's words make Weiss pale quite a bit, her gaze drifting off to the side before she slowly nods.

"R... Right, apparently I have..." She mutters, electing to look anywhere but at the dentist for the time being. The dentist taps at his computer for a few moments, then clears her throat before speaking.

"Our resident orthodontist has an opening right now, I think it would be prudent to get you started with them immediately. I'll let her know you're ready." With nothing more needing to be said she steps out of the room, leaving Weiss alone, Weiss immediately beginning to mutter and mentally berate herself for not caring for her health as much as she should have. Before she can mull over her fate for long the orthodontist enters the room flanked by an assistant, Weiss's frown softening the moment she notices who the woman is.

"Dr. Savoy?" She questions, being immediately met with a slightly toothy smile from the older fox faunus, "I... I wasn't expecting to see you again, it's... Certainly been far too long." Dr. Savoy chuckles slightly before nodding, then raises Weiss up into a seated position while her assistant begins to prep materials.

"It certainly has been. I wasn't expecting to see you again either, but I'm slightly disappointed that it has to be here." Weiss seems to shrink slightly upon hearing that Dr. Savoy is disappointed, a hesitant nod being given before she glances down at the floor.

"Now now, there's no need to feel bad, Weiss, you're not the first patient I've had that I've seen again, and you'll certainly not be the last, sad to say. If you're ready, let's begin. Please open up." Weiss does as asked and opens her mouth wide, exposing her pearly white teeth in all their crooked splendor, and almost immediately has to stop herself from gagging as a big chunk of putty on a tray is pushed into her mouth and she's asked to bite down. After close to a minute she's allowed to open her mouth and the putty is pried out, only for a second glob to be pushed in over her bottom teeth for another minute.

"Ugh... I hate that stuff..." She mutters once the putty is removed and she's no longer at risk of gagging, her downward gaze leaving her unaware of Dr. Savoy's slight grin.

"No one likes it, but you did very good sweetie, now comes the hard part." Once Weiss nods in response Savoy lowers her down, then she and her assistant set out to work. With calm music playing in the background, a long hour and a half passes, with brackets being cemented onto teeth, elastic tie colors selected, and wires secured onto brackets, the final part joined by pained noises escaping Weiss. Finally, she is raised up once more and given a hand mirror, lips parting enough so she can inspect her teeth, the sight of her new train tracks drawing out a whine and a frown.

"I look like a dork... Ow..." She mutters before pressing her right hand against her respective cheek, a slight wince joined by the firm press.

"Not true, you look lovely, Ms. Schnee, as pretty now as you were when you first saw me at eleven." Savoy's compliment draws a slight, uneasy smile onto Weiss's face, the mirror being handed back before she unwraps her scarf from around her neck and instead bundles it around her mouth. "I'd like you to come back in two weeks, once the pain has died off we can get you started on elastics."