((ZWEI! Just a cute little White Rose fic about the two of them roaming around a thrift shop. Based on Lindsey Stirling's music video for her cover of the Macklemore song 'Thrift Shop.))
Ruby walked down the sidewalk with Zwei, sipping a tasty berry lemonade as she waited to see her most favorite queen. Zwei trotted happily down the pavement, thinking about chasing criminals and other cool dog stuff. He stopped to expel his waste, thankfully doing so in a grassy patch and not on the sidewalk or the street.
"Good job, Zwei! In the grass, I don't have to clean it up!" Ruby cheered. Zwei barked in agreement. At least, Ruby figured he was agreeing with her. She always thought she could tell what Zwei was thinking. He was usually thinking about a fresh can of Gentleman's Best Friend. The Roast Beast flavor was his most favorite.
Ruby stopped at a snack shack for a refill on her drink and to order a drink for Weiss.
"Could I get a strawberry lemonade and a White Russian with chocolate, hold the Russian, please?" She asked the cashier. The green haired girl laughed at her order.
"Hon, that's a long way of saying 'chocolate milk'..." The girl mentioned. Ruby smiled.
"My girlfriend likes to feel special! Also, it usually confuses the server when I say it that way!"
"No street food slang gets by Chartreuse Toppsy!" The server bragged, her short bob of hair bouncing as she mixed Ruby's drink and poured Weiss's chocolate milk. "I have some frozen milk cubes if you'd like some. It's a bit of a scorcher today."
"That sounds perfect. Could you put extra chocolate sauce too, please?" Ruby asked.
"Cold and saucy, coming up!" Chartreuse cheered, grabbing a bottle of chocolate syrup and some frozen chunks of chocolate milk. Almost like serving iced coffee with coffee cubes, which Weiss always enjoyed.
The idea of cold coffee grossed Ruby out. The bitter bean juice was supposed to be hot... and as far from 'bitter' as one could get it, in her opinion.
"Here you are, Little Red!" Chartreuse handed Ruby the two drinks, and Ruby flipped her more than enough Lien and told her to keep the change. "Thank you so much! MAD CHEDDAH!" The green girl cheered, her hair bouncing as she jumped for joy.
"Ruby Rose, are you harassing that poor girl?" Ruby heard the voice of her white queen, looking up to see her in casual clothes.
"Hey, Snowdrop! You didn't dress to upstage me today!" Ruby chortled as she hugged her queen and kissed her on the lips.
"I always upstage you! I just didn't actively try this time!" Weiss snapped back. It was supposed to be a joke, but Ruby rolled her eyes.
"You're so extra, Nice Queen!"
"Isn't that why you love me?" Weiss retorted as Ruby passed her the chocolate milk. "Oh Gods! It's even iced! Ruby, have I told you lately that you mean the world to me? Because you do!" Weiss sipped her chilled milk, sighing as the cold chocolate goodness touched her soul.
"So what should we do today, Petals?" Weiss asked her flowery girlfriend. Ruby grinned at that new pet name. She considered their options.
"Hmm, something cheap. Even free, if we can get away with it." Ruby suggested.
"So what, just roam around Vale until we can find something to do?" Weiss replied, Ruby nodding. "Well, that's not the worst idea you've ever had, so let's do it!"
"Somewhere cold, hopefully," Ruby added, wiping sweat from her brow with a napkin. The two girlfriends took off in search of cheap things to do. Vale had more than its share of time-consuming activities, but most of them required more than a few Lien.
Just walking around the city with Weiss and Zwei was perfect for Ruby, though she would definitely love getting out of this heat. Even in her coolest summer duds, she was sweating like crazy. She could only imagine how Weiss felt, as she wasn't entirely used to the warmer climate.
It was cold year round in Atlas, she'd always told Ruby. Especially further north where it snowed all the time.
Ruby stopped at a small store and cheered. "Check it, Weiss! It's a thrift shop!" Weiss looked confused and curious.
"A what?" Weiss asked, making Ruby fall over. "Seriously, what is it?"
"A thrift shop, Weiss. It's where us not-rich folks go to find nice clothes and other cool junk. They deal in secondhand goods and take donations, and you can get tons of sweet deals."
"Hmm... that sounds really cool. Is that what you'd like to do?" Ruby nodded, and the three of them walked into the store.
"Welcome to Leftovers, the thriftiest of thrift stores! Excuse me, ma'am, you'll have to bag your dog if he's going to come in with you. Here you go," The woman behind the front counter announced. She handed Ruby a nice cloth bag, and she threw it over her shoulder and scooped Zwei into it.
Cool, now he would get to rest. All this walking was great, but being carried was always fun, too.
"That bag is yours to keep, ma'am. Happy hunting, and may the deals be with you!" The woman recited, and Ruby and Weiss set about perusing the store.
"Where should we begin?" Weiss asked her Gemstone excitedly.
"Well, unless there's a particular item you're looking for, the obvious starting point is clothes. Let's check them out." So the two of them took to the clothing racks. Weiss was entranced by all the prices.
"Ruby, this top costs like 40 Lien in a regular store! Double that in a boutique!" She cheered. Ruby chuckled.
"Yeah, that's how thrift stores work! They don't care about labels or price tags. Since they take donations, they make a profit no matter what. Ooh, I bet you'd look fine in that top, Snowdrop!" Ruby complimented, Weiss blushing ten shades of red. "Ooh, those jeans would go nicely with it!"
"These are from Diamond Dust Denim! They're easily worth 200 Lien! Don't mind if I do!" The white queen snatched up the jeans happily. She looked around for a few other suits and asked the cashier if there was a fitting room. The woman with the pink hair pointed her to the back of the shop, where there were curtained stalls.
Ruby and Weiss piled into one of them together and tried on their threads, grinning and complimenting one another each time they changed. They perused the general merchandise for a few moments also. Ruby found a new chew toy for Zwei and a video game Yang would enjoy.
Weiss scooped up a few books for Blake and a couple music discs for herself, as well as a disc of Ruby's favorite band.
The flowers made quite a haul, spending less than a hundred Lien on goods that could easily cost a boatload at retail prices.
The girls and Zwei journeyed back to the dorm, which they found empty.
"I'm so glad you're back in town, Ruby," Weiss confessed, sitting on her bottom bunk.
"Weiss, I spent a week in Patch. You make it sound like I left forever."
"And you make it sound like there's a difference!" Weiss snapped back, realizing what exactly she'd said. Ruby's eyes turned to hearts as both girls blushed ten shades of red.
"Aww, you really missed me that much?" Ruby blushed even harder.
"Of course, you dolt! You're my favorite shade of red, after all!" It was Weiss's turn to blush now. Ruby smiled and took a seat next to her on the bed.
"Hey, what say we have a shower, change into some lazy clothes, and have some quality snuggles while the Bees are out tearing up the town?" Ruby suggested. Weiss nodded with a smile.
After their shower, the two of them threw on their pajamas and cuddled up together in Weiss's bed, settling in for a movie on Ruby's Scroll.
BORK! Zwei begged at the side of the bed, and Weiss could never say no to her most favorite Corgi. Zwei nuzzled in between them and fell asleep, having a dream about fighting Grimm and eating turkey.
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Recommended Listening:
'Thrift Shop' by Lindsey Stirling and Tyler Ward
((This was written for the ZWEI prompt of the challenge. I usually just write a shippy fic with Zwei hanging out in the background. Anyway I really dig the idea of teaching the rich SO how to shop when they're broke or not as well-off now. Anyway...))
