It was the not-staring that was the worst part of it. Well, that ad the whispering.
Ruby stopped as she picked up her lunch tray, reflexively scanning the crowded dining hall for her sister, or her friends, or best of all, Weiss. As she did so, she caught people glancing her way, then turning away and whispering when they saw her notice them. Honestly, some outright staring might have been better. Curiosity she could wrap her head around. It wasn't every day that they found out that the school princess was dating a social zero like Ruby. Well, she wasn't a complete zero, she needed both hands to count her real friends at school after all, even if she didn't count Weiss or Yang, or Blake, but Ruby was nowhere near as popular as Weiss.
Well, today Ruby was the same Ruby she'd been the day before, it was just that people knew something about her today that they hadn't known a week ago. Big flippin' deal. The brunette squared her shoulders, took a deep breath, and headed toward where she'd just spotted Yang.
"I honestly feel sorry for Weiss."
The comment barely registered on Ruby's attention, and she almost turned to see who'd said it, before she recognized the voice and decided to just keep walking and ignore it.
"After all," the voice continued, getting louder and more insistent if anything, "the only reason I can think she'd be dating Ruby is out of pity. Poor thing must have thought she'd died and gone to heaven when Weiss showed interest in her. It's only a matter of time before Weiss gets tired of Ruby and decides to move on to someone more… appropriate for her."
"Oh, I don't know, Cinder," a voice drawled from a couple of tables in front of Ruby. "I mean, Ruby's got at least one thing going for her that you don't."
"Oh?" Cinder turned her head, trying to figure out who'd dared interrupt her. "And what would that be?"
"Well, for one thing, Ruby doesn't have a reputation for being a nasty whore."
A bubble of silence spread from the speaker's words, and Ruby's jaw almost hit the floor when she realized who'd spoken. Mercury Black, perpetually one step short of expulsion and normally Cinder Fall's number two sycophant (ooh, Ruby would have to remember that one for Weiss), was sitting there, half-turned away from Cinder and pointedly ignoring her as he dug into his lunch. Ruby wished she could capture the look on Cinder's face, shifting between outrage and confusion and back again. It was priceless.
"Hey, Mercury, I think you've got that wrong." Jaune was fighting a grin as he set an ice cream sundae in front of Pyrrha. "A whore gets paid. I'm pretty sure Cinder just gives it away."
Now Cinder's face was locked on fury. "You little worm-"
Splat.
Ruby couldn't help but giggle. The sundae Jaune had just deposited in front of Pyrrha was now splattered across Cinder's face, ice cream and chocolate sauce dripping down and oozing down the front of her uniform. And to top it off, the literal cherry on the sundae was stuck on the end of Cinder's nose by whipped cream. It had been a big sundae.
Cinder stood there, mouth opening and closing with shock, and Ruby couldn't help but stand there and stare until she found her voice. "Uh, Cinder, I think your makeup's running. Might want to take care of that." Dammit, she was not going to laugh. Or smile. That would be mean, even if Cinder did deserve it.
Laughter erupted, sending Cinder fleeing with a shriek. Ruby smiled as she found a seat next to Pyrrha. "Nice shot," she whispered. Ruby was kid of ashamed at feeling glad over what her friend had done, but she figured it was karma. Cinder was always being nasty to everyone after all.
"Jaune's idea," the redhead said with a smirk.
"No big deal," the blonde said with a laugh. "I would have done it, but Pyrrha's got better aim."
"Oh, I don't know," Pyrrha said smiling. "It's got you a date Saturday night, assuming you're not too busy."
Jaune sat there with a look on his face like someone had slapped him across the face with a fish. "Not funny, Pyrrha. We're friends, yeah, but there's no way you'd ever be interested in an idiot like me." He started to stand up, only to find a hand firmly planted on each shoulder, shoving him back down.
"Jaune Arc, you are an even bigger dolt than I thought you were." Weiss leaned down, grabbing the sides of Jaune's head and turning him to look at where Pyrrha sat, her face heartbroken. "Pyrrha has been crushing on you, hard, since sophomore year, and everyone knew it but you-"
"Freshman year," Pyrrha interrupted softly. Weiss just nodded at the correction and carried on.
"-and now that she's finally worked up the nerve to do something about it, you tore out her heart and stomped it flat, all out of your own insecurities. Tell me, have you ever, in all four years you've been at Beacon, seen Pyrrha go on a date with anyone? Or for that matter, even be reliably rumored to be interested in anyone? And you," again one of those finely manicured hands came down, this time on Pyrrha's shoulder, "are going to sit there while this dolt thinks things over. Excuse me." And with that, Weiss gave Ruby a quick kiss before depositing her tray next to her.
Pyrrha blinked, the surprise breaking her out of her funk. "So, so it's true? You and Ruby are..."
"Yeah." Ruby intertwined her hand with Weiss's, glad they were both left-handed so she didn't interfere with Weiss eating. "Have been for a while, we were just keeping it quiet."
"I assumed my father would not understand. But he is being accepting of our relationship, or at least pretending to be," Weiss finished with a grimace. "Oh, that reminds me, Ruby. The reason I was late to lunch was Father called. He wants me to attend an art exhibition with him on Saturday, and asked if you would come."
Ruby blinked. "Trap?" she asked.
"Definite trap," Weiss said, nodding.
"I don't get it," Jaune said, giving his head a quick shake.
"My father accepted my relationship with Ruby far to easily, without more than a token protest. I even told him about Yang's mother, and all he wanted to know was how much Yang had with her." Weiss shook her head. "So we're going on the assumption that my father is playing some sort of twisted game. What the game is, we're not sure," Weiss said, stabbing violently into her salad and lifting a forkful to her mouth. Hmm, it may be time to give her father a poke of her own…
Jacques Schnee frowned as he approached the room where Weiss and her friends were playing their 'game.' When Weiss had explained that it was well past her turn to host their weekly session, he'd expected something more sober than the laughter and chatter he heard coming from inside. Quietly he opened the door just enough to listen in.
"-and that's the dracolich's turn. Okay, Weiss, you're up," came Ruby's voice from within. With a small smile, Jacques opened the door and stepped inside. He might not know what game they were playing, but it would be interesting to see how his daughter played.
"Right. Well, I'm half-dead, but I think there's enough of me left to use this thing's ribcage for a xylophone." That drew a laugh from some of the other players, and with a smile, Weiss reached forward and moved a figurine of some sort toward a larger skeletal figurine, some sort of dinosaur perhaps. "Okay, I'm moving up and hitting the dracolich." She picked up a plastic object of some sort and tossed it onto the table with a flick of her wrist. "Natural twenty, for a critical hit. And," his daughter's smile took on a smug aspect, "I still have a third level spell slot left to use for divine smite. So let's see, that's one date for my sword, four date for the smite, and one more date because it's undead, for a total of six date which doubles to twelve date." Sighing, Weiss reached for a bowl full of brightly colored objects in the middle of the table. "I'm going to have to dig deeply into the dice of shame. But I believe the appropriate expression is, 'Here comes the pain train.'" Laughing, a blonde woman next to Weiss helped her fish through the bowl.
"I take it that you've done well?" Jacques' question made everyone jump, especially Weiss.
"F-Father," she stammered, "I wasn't expecting you to visit us. And yes, I've done well. Our opponent has been dealt a mighty blow."
Her father frowned as he took in the scene around the table. Next to Weiss, a red-headed girl sat a little too close to a blonde young man, who cringed when he saw Jacques was looking at him. On the other side of the table sat two other girls with long hair, one blonde, the other with black hair. Iron control kept the distaste off his face as he noticed the feline ears on top of the black-haired girl's head. In the middle of the table books with colorful covers and papers lay scattered around a map of some sort with figurines on top of it. "What game is this you're playing, Weiss? It doesn't look like anything I'm familiar with."
"It's called 'Dungeons and Dragons,' father, and you might think of it as a form of cooperative storytelling. Ruby is the 'Dungeon Master,' and it's her role to set up the world and the situation. The rest of us each take on a role within that world, and we all work out what happens together."
"And how do you win?"
"You win if you're telling a good story and all having fun, sir," Ruby said, scratching the back of her head nervously.
Jacques gave a small shrug. It didn't make any sense to him. "As long as you're enjoying yourselves, I suppose. Who are all your friends, Weiss? Other than Ruby, of course."
"Father, these are Jaune, Pyrrha, Ruby's sister Yang, and Blake," the white-haired girl said, gesturing at each in turn. "Normally there would be two more of us, but Ren is ill and Nora didn't want to come without him."
Her father blinked. Now he recognized the red-headed girl. "Pyrrha Nikos, the model? Aren't you a little old for this?"
Pyrrha laughed. "Weiss is two weeks older than me. We and I know each other from school. It's tough, juggling a modeling career with school, but I'm determined to stick it out. I've done a lot of homework traveling."
"I admire your fortitude." He turned toward the black-haired young woman. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Yang."
This made the blonde woman laugh. "Actually, I'm Yang, she's Blake."
"My apologies. I assumed, because of the black hair-"
"Yeah, lots of people don't think we're sisters. Dad really got clobbered in the genetic lottery. Ruby's a dead ringer for her mom, I look like a blonde version of mine." Yang shrugged. "Go figure, right?"
That brought Jacques' attention back to the Faunus girl. "Excuse me, Blake," he said, stressing the name slightly, "but have we met? You look familiar."
"You may know my father, sir. He's the Menagerie ambassador to Vale," Blake said, her feline ears flicking.
"And you, young man?" Jacques asked, laughing as he looked at Jaune. "As interesting as the rest of my daughter's friends are, you're not a teenage billionaire or something, are you?"
"M-Me, sir? I'm nobody special, just boring old Jaune," the blonde said, laughing nervously.
"He's being modest. Jaune already has a full-ride scholarship waiting for him, and a six-figure job offer," Pyrrha said, giving Jaune a peck on the cheek and making him even more flustered.
"You should be proud, young man. To have an offer of six figures at your age is something to be proud of," Jacques said, smiling as he made a note to himself to look into Jaune's background. "Well, I'll let you get back to your game, but don't stay up too late. Weiss and Ruby have a busy day tomorrow."
The six of them sat in subdued silence for a while after Weiss' father had left. "Creep," Yang said, shaking her head like she was trying to clear it.
Weiss made a face. "Yang, be nice. Nobody has the right to call my father a creep except me. Creep," she added, making everyone laugh.
"Are you two going to be okay tomorrow?" Yang asked quietly.
"Absolutely," Weiss said. "Remember, I've been teaching Ruby how to act at things like this for a while. She won't be perfect, but she'll make a better impression than my father expected her to. Plus Pyrrha and Blake will be there."
"Dad has been encouraging me to take in some culture lately," Blake said with such an overacted sigh that Yang couldn't help herself. Her hand darted out, fingers digging furiously into Blake's ribcage. "No-no fair," Blake gasped, "you're not ticklish," she added as she tried to swat her girlfriend's hands away.
"Not anywhere you're gonna get to in front of everyone," Yang said, laughing, then slapped herself on the forehead as she realized what she'd just said. This just made everyone laugh at the blonde's discomfort.
"Ahem," Ruby said, deciding to show some mercy on her sister. "If we can drag our minds out of the gutter? Weiss, I believe you were about to roll for damage…."
Ruby sighed and tried to look disinterested instead of bored out of her mind as she tilted her head to look at the painting. Honestly, abstract art had never been her thing, really, and this particular example looked like the artist's cat had barfed all over it. Well, maybe it had. Ruby had heard some crazy stories about things artists had done to produce their art.
"Bored?" Weiss whispered in Ruby's ear, making her jump.
"Mm-hmm," Ruby murmured, taking a sip of her ice water.
Weiss slid an arm around Ruby's waist, pulling her close, and Ruby leaned into her with a soft sigh of pleasure. "We're not sticking around all night, thankfully. I think we can stay for another hour and still make our reservation." Ruby smiled. Said 'reservation' was the den at her dad's place, for a four-way Grimm Reaper VII death battle tournament with Blake and Yang. Weiss kissed Ruby gently on the cheek before moving her hand to give Ruby's an affectionate squeeze. "Now, I've got to go say hello and make nice with some of Father's business friends. Some of them have sons they've been trying to set me up with since I was in diapers; I'm wondering if they've heard I'm off the market yet."
"Mine," Ruby answered, her smirk making Weiss laugh as she turned to go.
After Weiss was out of sight, Ruby decided it was time for a breather. She stepped off to one side, putting a few displays between her and the crowd. Weiss had shown her how to act at things like this, but nothing had really prepared Ruby for the reality of how boring it was. Hours smiling and pretending to be interested in probably the most meaningless conversations in the world. Blech. Watching paint dry would be more interesting.
She sighed. Being with Weiss meant she'd have to learn to handle things like this, she supposed. Or at least endure them with good grace, although Ruby wasn't sure she'd ever actually enjoy them.
Was Weiss worth it? Her heart screamed Yes! but a writhing knot of doubt in Ruby's stomach said otherwise. They came from very different worlds. Weiss' dad was probably one of the richest guys on Remnant, and made more money in a minute than Ruby's dad did all year. Ruby had grown up eating what was put in front of her without complaint because that was being served, and if you didn't like it, you had the option of going hungry.
No. Ruby's fists were clenched as she battled her own self-doubt. She wasn't sure if what she had with Weiss was going to last, or even if it was really love or whatever else it might be, but she was going to let her own doubts and fears keep her from seeing it through.
"You alright?"
Ruby jumped, startled as a voice shattered her little bubble of silence. She turned her head to see a guy about her age with a green mohawk standing there, hands held up in a sign of surrender. "Sorry," he said, "I didn't mean to scare you. Saw you go off by yourself and thought I'd see if you were okay."
"Y-Yeah," Ruby answered, face flushed with embarrassment. "I just needed a minute."
"I get it. My dad drags me to these things every time if I can't come up with a good excuse not to come. I'm Russel, Russel Thrush, by the way. You go to Beacon, right? I think I recognize you from school, but I don't think I've caught your name." Russel took a step closer to Ruby, tilting his head as he smiled. "Man, you've got pretty eyes. I don't think I've ever met somebody with silver eyes before."
"I'm Ruby, Ruby Rose. Yeah, silver eyes are kinda rare. My mom had them too, but it's supposed to be a recessive gene. Guess dad carries it too."
"You know, I could use a break from this nonsense myself. Mind if I keep you company for a minute?" Russel made as if he was going to lay a hand on Ruby's arm, but before he could complete the motion, her other hand snapped out and grabbed onto his wrist. "Hey, what gives? I'm just trying to be friendly." Russel asked, trying to wrench free of Ruby's iron grip.
"You dropped something in my drink," Ruby snarled, tightening her grip. "Wonder what it was? Bet it wasn't anything I wanted there, so I think I'm gonna hold on until we get security over here. Wonder what you've got in your pockets, too. Security!" she yelled, pitching her voice to carry.
"You're seeing things. Let go of me!" Russel yelled, fighting to get away from Ruby even as she dug in her heels. "Dammit, she's got me. Sky get rid of it!" He fished in his pockets awkwardly pulled out a pill bottle, tossing it toward a boy with dark blue hair that came running around the corner.
Shoving Russel aside, Ruby ran towards Sky, hoping she could wrestle the pills away from him. He dodged away from her, fumbling the catch. The bottle bounced off Sky and Ruby's outstretched hands, rolling away.
A black leather lady's shoe came down on the wayward bottle, bringing it to a decisive halt. Ruby's gaze traveled upward to see who had come to her rescue. An older woman with not only white hair but white skin stared back at her from behind the darkest sunglasses Ruby had ever seen. Her complexion was even paler against the black old-fashioned dress she wore. "As much as I despise these types of gatherings," the woman said in an annoyed tone, "I despise disturbances at them even more. And I despise men who try to take advantage of women most of all. No matter what age the parties involved are. Are you in some distress, young lady?"
"You bet your bustle, ma'am!" Ruby said, checking her glass and finding it miraculously still half-full. "That one," she pointed at Russel, dropped something in my drink. All I've got is ice water, so it shouldn't fizz, right? And when I called him on it, he tried to ditch that pill bottle you're standing on."
"Ruby, what's the meaning of this commotion?" Jacques said as he came around the corner, Weiss barely half a step behind him.
"The meaning, dear Jacques, is that this young man, decided to try something he shouldn't have, and Ruby caught him out on it." The white-skinned woman frowned as a man wearing a badly-fitted suit came in sight. "Well, better late than never, I suppose. Here, take this, but mind your fingers, we may want fingerprints." She lifted her foot so the security guard could pick up the bottle with a handkerchief. "Young Russel over there apparently attempted to drug Ruby, but she spotted it and yelled for help. A quite resourceful and quick-thinking young lady."
"Yes, I see, "Jacques mused as he glared at Russel.
"Are you okay, Ruby? He didn't do anything, did he?" Weiss asked as she brushed a stray hair out of Ruby's face.
"Pfft, I'm fine, he didn't get much past drugging my drink," Ruby said, batting Weiss' hand away with a smile. "Oh, we might want to hand this over to the cops. Probably some of whatever he was slipping me in there."
"Uh, do we have to call the cops? I mean, no harm, no foul, right?" Russel said, backing away.
Jacques glared at him, and Ruby could see where Weiss had picked up hers. It was probably genetic. "Young man, I don't know what reason you had for this, but I assure you, the police are definitely going to be involved. I absolutely insist on it."
"Thanks for helping me out back there, ma'am. I don't think anyone would have believed me if you hadn't backed me up. I, um, I don't think I got your name, Mrs…?"
"It's Salem, most people call me Miss Salem because I never actually managed to marry, much to my regret. And you're welcome," Salem said, bowing her head slightly and toasting Ruby with her drink. "I despise men who try things like those young men tried with you this afternoon. And in the end, I'm rather glad I did. It let me put a face to a name, one I was rather interested to meet."
"I don't understand," Ruby said, giving Weiss a confused look.
Salem chuckled. "I believe you know my granddaughter, Cinder. She's been in an absolute fury for days, and I was curious to know who had managed to make her so angry. Oh, don't worry," she added as Weiss and Ruby both took a step back, "I don't intend to involve myself in whatever high school drama there is between the three of you. Just between the three of us, I think it would do Cinder some good to get thoroughly trounced. She's always been an envious, spiteful girl, for which I blame her mother."
"Cinder.. never mentions her family, as far as I know," Weiss said, carefully.
"Not surprising. The only family she has left is me and her uncle, and she hates both of us. The feeling is mutual. If it wasn't for some vague vestige of familial affection, I wouldn't have taken her in after her mother's death." Salem shrugged. "Now, merely for my own amusement, what did the two of you do to infuriate Cinder so?"
"A few days ago, it became public knowledge that Ruby and I are dating. Cinder tried to use it to put me down, and it backfired," Weiss said with a sigh.
"Ah, would that be the reason I had to bring her a fresh uniform? Good. Keep it up. Maybe Cinder will learn something from this, but I doubt it. I look forward to our next meeting." And with that, Salem made her exit, chuckling softly.
"She puts me in mind of, um, I don't know, a boa constrictor or something. All nice and slow, but before you realize it, she's got you in your clutches," Ruby said, shaking her head.
"Miss Salem is, to be frank, a nasty old bitch. Which makes it very surprising that she would save you, Ruby," Weiss said with a sigh. "Come on, video games await. I'll have Hazel drop us at your house. I'll even let you pick who I play the first round."