POV: Ruby Rose
Chapter Twenty Five: The Gift That Gives Again
The smell of pancakes cooking brings me out of my sleep and back into the realm of the living, I crawl out of my covers and stand up to crack my back. Surprisingly enough my dad was cool enough to let Weiss and I share my room, but only after agreeing to the conditions that the door stays open at all times and that we cannot share the bed. And because Weiss is my guest I insisted that she sleep in my bed, leaving me on the floor. I grab some clothes and quickly change out of my pajamas, exchanging them for a pair of red shorts and a black t-shirt with a red rose in the center of my chest. I consider waking Weiss but decide against it, knowing how grouchy she can be in the morning and instead quietly walk across the room to the door. With my clothes sorted I walk down the hall towards the living room, a sudden rumbling starting in my stomach because of the wonderful smell that fills the air more and more as I get closer to the end of the hall.
When I get to the living room I look to the kitchen to see my dad behind the stove with his back towards me, making breakfast. He turns around to add another finished pancake to the stack and notices me, a smile appearing on his face. "Morning Ruby, Weiss still asleep i'm guessing?" I nod in acknowledgement and make my way over to the counter, taking a seat on one of the stools in front of a massive layout of food. "Help yourself! I was trying to be sure I made enough, and in the process I may have gone a little overboard." He turns around and grabs two plates from the cupboard, handing me one and keeping the other for himself. I grab myself some pancakes, liberally coating them in butter and syrup before I start to chow down. I hadn't noticed until I had started to eat just how hungry I was, quickly finishing my first three pancakes before going back for more.
"So did you sleep ok? It was nice of you to take the floor so that Weiss could have the bed, but if you want if you want you know the couches are always an option." I finish chewing and swallow before I answer, my usual happy tone starting to come back now that i'm a little more awake. "Yeah I slept pretty well for being on the floor, but then again I was pretty tired from the trip here so we'll honestly have to see how it goes tonight. I thought about the couch but i'd rather sleep in my room in honesty, a creature of habit." He chuckles and we go back to eating, I finish my pancake and I suddenly feel really full. I stand up from my chair and walk my plate over to the sink, when that's taken care I open the fridge to get myself some milk. I grab the milk jug and put it down on the counter while I grab myself a glass, I stand on my tip toes and grab a glass from the shelf. I fill uncap the milk and fill my glass to the brim before recapping it and placing the jug back in the fridge.
As I turn to go back to my seat I and suddenly reminded that someone is missing. "Where's uncle Qrow?" My dad just shrugs his shoulders and stands up from his seat. "No idea he got called for a mission two nights ago, but he should be back sometime later tonight he said." He pauses and turns around, placing his plate in the sink. He leaves the kitchen and moves over to the living room to take a seat in his recliner. "Did you two have anything planned for today, or are you just going to hang around the house?" I follow and take a seat on the couch adjacent to him before I answer. "I figured i'd take Weiss out to do something in town, but I don't really have anything specific in mind. I'll make it up as I go along." After my answer my dad simple nods, leaving a long silence that hangs in the air before I can hear Weiss coming down the hall.
I sit up straight so that I can see from where I'm sitting, spotting Weiss standing at the end of the hall still looking rather sleepy. "Good Morning Princess!" I call out happily, causing a slight pink tint to appear in her cheeks. She is still wearing her white nightgown with a pair of Flannel pajama bottoms, her hair has been brushed slightly but not to the extent that it normally is. For someone who hates mornings, she sure does look great. "Good Morning Weiss, there's food in the kitchen if you want. I made pancakes." Dad says as he grabs for the remote and turns on the TV. Weiss does her best attempt at a smile in the morning and replies. "Thank you but I think I'm ok for now, I don't normally eat just after I've woken up. Thank you though I'll eat in a little while." Dad nods and starts flipping through the channels in an attempt to find something that interests him. Weiss on the other hand, makes her way over to me and takes a seat next to my right on the couch. Much to my surprise and benefit, Weiss even takes my hand in hers and when she's sure dad isn't looking gives me a quick peck on the cheek. Whispering "Good morning, Dolt" in my ear before turning herself to be able to see the TV better while leaning against me for support.
The simple action is out of character for Weiss but in a good way, which makes me ecstatic considering she's starting to come out of that shell of hers. Dad puts on a news channel and a reporter appears on screen to talk about the local events in patch over the last day or so, the more she rambles on the more bored I start to become. I do my best to keep myself entertained because Weiss and my dad both seem relatively interested the news and I don't want to disrupt them. This goes on for about twenty or so agonizingly boring minutes, the same old stories being reran and overanalyzed before a story finally catches my attention. "In other news the notorious criminal, Roman Torchwick is once again fleeing from authorities after yet another dust store robbery last night right here in our very own small town of Patch. Just going to show that nowhere seems to be safe from this massive wave of dust thefts, all residents of Patch are warned to keep an eye out for any suspicious activity. If you have any information on Torchwick or any of his associates please contact Patch Police Department."
Torchwick and the White Fang are coming to Patch of all places for dust? Something doesn't seem right about this…
"Weiss does your family's company supply that store by chance?" I ask as the news anchor moves onto the next topic. Weiss contemplates for a few moments before she answers. "I think so, last time I checked we supply all but a few shops in Vale. Why?"
"I was just thinking, all of the shops that have been robbed recently have all been connected to your family. I don't know I was just thinking that maybe these criminals are targeting your family for some reason." Weiss's gives me a strange look but quickly returns to a smile. "It wouldn't surprise me in the slightest, a lot of people don't like my family for a lot of different reasons. They could be trying to get back at my family for something my father did to them in the past, it could be thugs hired by one of our competitors to try and gain an advantage over us. To be honest it could be a lot of things, but i'm not going to worry about it considering i'm on vacation and thinking about my family's business is something that i'd rather not spend it on. I get enough of that as it is." There is a momentary silence that hangs in the air before she continues, trying to quickly change the subject.
"But enough of that, what should we do today? I don't know much about your hometown so I don't really know what there is to do around here." I can't help but smile as I answer. "Well I don't really have anything too special but I was thinking we could go to town and walk around, I could show you around some of my favorite places. Maybe we could get lunch?" Weiss stands up from the couch and flashes me a smile as she turns to head to the kitchen, calling out to me as she walks. "Sure that sounds great, let me just get some breakfast and do my hair and i'll be ready to go."
"How much farther is it Ruby?" Weiss asks as we walk on the path that sits next to the main road that leads into town. "Yep, just over this hill and were there." I check my scroll for the time and see that it is just after nine o'clock. After Weiss got her breakfast, we both got dressed and took care of our hair, and got out of the house and on our way it was only about eight fifty. So all things considered our walk into town has only taken about ten minutes, which considering the distance we are right on time. The two of us make it to the edge of town and look down the small two lane street. "Look, Weiss! That's my favorite bakery in town, and oh over there is the sport and rec center. Where do you want to go first?" I ask excited to show off the town I love to someone I care so much about like Weiss. "Is there anything going on sports wise today? I might be interested in seeing a sparring match or something like that, or maybe we could even get some practice in if your willing."
"Sounds like fun, there's almost always a match on because it's open to the public. But if there isn't one or it's boring, it wouldn't hurt to get some practice in with my sweetheart." I reach behind my back and tap Crescent Rose, giving Weiss a somewhat arrogant smirk to make sure I get her attention. "You seem confident, think you can beat me do you?" Weiss questions her heiress tone starting to slip back into play, I keep a playful arrogance to my tone and continue to tease her. "Well I don't know…Maybe." My comment gets me a look of annoyance that is so common from Weiss. "Well we will just have to see won't we, Dolt." I giggle only seeming to add to her annoyance but she says nothing and starts to follow me down the road. We walk along the sidewalk passing houses as we go, after about four blocks we take a right down one off of one of the smaller feeder roads that leads to the rec center. The smaller road takes us right up to the entrance after about another three blocks of walking, I've walked this route a countless number of times throughout my childhood on Patch. Considering that we are just a small island we don't really have too much to do, so a lot of mine and Yang's younger years were spent hanging out around town.
When we get to the double door entrance of the building I step forward and open the door, holding it for Weiss before following inside. The inside of the building somewhat resembles the training arena at Beacon, but instead of having one large circle to compete in the middle of the room is split up into four smaller circles. Each having it's own referee and set of competitors, in front of us is a table with a clipboard on it to register to have a match. I pick up the clipboard and grab the pen, signing Weiss and I up on the next available match which should be in about twenty minutes. While we wait, I take Weiss's hand and the two of us walk to the bleachers the surround the arena's floor and take a seat. We sit together for about fifteen minutes before the current matches start to get boring to me, so I change my attention to Weiss. "Hey Princess are you ready for our match? I think I may even finally get to try out your gift, it's only fitting after all."
Weiss seems confused for a moment and then she seems to put two and two together. "Oh the dust rounds I got you, I thought you used them already?" I smile. "Well I did but only a few test shots at the training targets, I haven't tried them against a real opponent yet. So now I guess i'm getting my chance."