"Oh wow, did you see that?" Yang laughed, shoving handfuls of Double Butter Orville Reddenglocker popcorn in her mouth. "He took that guy's head off with a nine iron! How is that even possible?"
"I'm so glad you appreciate classic cinema," Blake said sarcastically without looking up from her book.
"Hey, 'Undead Zombie Golfer From Hell - Part Fore' is a classic!" Yang protested, fisting more popcorn in her mouth from the oversized bowl she had in her lap. "Besides, it has to be tons better than the smut you're reading." Blake's cat ears twitched a bit with frustration.
"It's erotica, not smut. Smut is what you read online about fictional characters having sex when there's one only one bed at the Inn, erotica is sophisticated and intellectual." Blake said mechanically, as this was a rebuttal she's had for many years now. Yang just shook her head.
"You're missing out, babe," Yang said with a giggle, leaving a buttery kiss on Blake's cheek.
"Great, now I smell like movie food," Blake replied dryly with a smirk. Yang was about to make a joke about Blake's lips soon smelling like movie food when her Scroll began to buzz, the custom ringtone meaning it was Ruby calling. Yang sighed over being blocked by her sister but answered the phone anyway.
"World's Greatest Sister speaking, how many I help you?" she answered, expecting Ruby to make a wisecrack and start some friendly sisterly banter. But instead, Ruby sounded very fragile, her voice hoarse like she had been crying and worst of all, she sounded scared and afraid.
"H-Hey Yang. Um, are you busy? Can we talk?" Ruby said quietly. Yang switched from Silly Wife to Protective Sister mode and paused the movie. Blake picked up on the sudden change in mood and wordlessly mouthed 'Is everything ok?' to which Yang sullenly shook her head no.
"Yeah, I'm here. Let me go upstairs to my room so we can talk alone," she said. Blake gave a supportive thumbs up and sent a quick text to Yang's scroll letting her know she was there if she needed any help. "Okay, I'm in my bedroom now. Door's closed. What's up?"
"Love is overrated" Ruby sighed with bitterness into the Scroll, taking Yang aback.
"Okay, Pod Person, who are you and what have you done with my sister? That's something the real Ruby Rose would never say." Yang ribbed, trying to at least make Ruby smile, but she could tell by the defeat in her sister's voice it wasn't working. "Seriously Ruby, all jokes aside, what's wrong?"
"So there is much more stuff in this dang mansion and Weiss found a closet hidden behind this big clock, right? So we moved it and she found this jewelry box inside and I made a joke about how the necklaces were so ugly no wonder they were hidden…"
"And that was a problem because….?"
"BECAUSE the jewelry was her Mom's and she hid them from Jacques so he wouldn't touch them," Ruby whined, her voice cracking slightly. Yang visibly winced over the phone like she had been punched in the gut.
"Oof, that's bad. But you apologized, right?" Yang asked. There was a moment of silence before she could hear Ruby take a deep breath before she spoke.
"I never got the chance. Weiss got really angry and said I was being childish and demeaning and I said I didn't know they were her Mom's and she said it shouldn't matter, they were still something of her family's and then…I dunno, we kinda lost track of it and just started screaming at each other. She said something about regretting everything and slammed our bedroom door shut and I've been sitting here crying in the guest bedroom and…well, I just needed someone to talk to." Ruby murmured, barely keeping it together. "Am…am I getting a divorce?"
"Hardly," Yang said as comforting as she can. "Rubes, remember when I was 13 and you read my diary? Remember how mad I was?"
"Oof, how could I forget?" Ruby lamented. "I believe your exact words were that you were going 'rip my head off and bury me in the woods and not a single court in the world would convict you' and Dad had to pull you off of me. I think that was the day we discovered your Semblance too."
"Oh, I forgot all about that!" Yang said, laughing.
"I slapped you to get you off of me and next thing I know, you almost burn the house down because your hair caught on fire. You shoved Dad and nearly sent him flying through the wall." Ruby added with a giggle, her mood improving for the first time since the conversation began.
"Good times, good times," Yang said with a hearty laugh. "But my point is, I didn't stay mad at you for very long, did I? In fact, I apologized to you later that day, though I still wasn't thrilled you read my diary."
"It was so boring," Ruby snickered. "just a bunch of silly poetry and you kept going on about that boy you had a crush on."
"Ugh, Chen Lecnl ? So glad I came to my senses about boys." Yang shuddered. "Give me a girl any day of the week."
"But you're saying I should apologize to Weiss, huh?" Ruby admitted, her voice regaining that sad weariness.
"Look, Rubes, you know I love you and I'd never BS you or tell you something you didn't need to hear. You dropped the ball big on this one and you messed up, but now you gotta woman up and apologize. It's the right thing to do." Yang said. Ruby sighed again over the phone and sniffled a bit.
"She's going to be mad at me…."
"Yeah and honestly, she has every right to be. You insulted something very precious to her, Ruby. I know you're her 'Dolt' and she has that whole morosexual thing going on, but that doesn't mean you have a free pass to be insensitive about her family. Her Dad was a jerk, but the rest of the Schnees are her heritage, one she's very proud of. How would you feel if someone insulted Mom-I mean, Summer?"
"You can call her Mom too," Ruby said with a soft grin. "She was my Mom just as much as yours."
"I know, I know…" Yang admitted. "It just feels, I dunno, weird, I guess? Anyway, I'll do that, thank you. But yes, you need to apologize to her. The sooner, the better."
"Thank you, Yang. I know I could count on you." Ruby said, her voice regaining some of its cheerful chipper. "Love ya! Talk to you later."
Ruby hung up her Scroll and dried away any tears that had lingered on her cheeks. She sat up from the bed she was sitting on glanced at her reflection in an elegant full body mirror that was probably worth more than her house on Patch.
"You can do this, Ruby. You are a Huntress. You snack on danger and dine on death. You. Can. Do. This!" she hyped herself up, puffing out her chest. She marched towards the master bedroom and knocked gently, but hearing no reply, she opened it anyway. "Weiss? Can we talk?"
"Why? Are you hear to mock more of my family?" Weiss said bitterly, sitting on the edge of their bed, clutching a photo of her Mom holding a baby Weiss in her arms.
"Weiss…I'm sorry. What I said was totally uncalled for and I really, really screwed up. I'm so sorry. Snowflake. You're mad and you're hurt and you have every right to be. Can…can you forgive me?" Ruby said empathetically, her silver eyes pleading. Weiss hesitated and then all at once felt the anger flush out of her system like washing the dirt off her body in the shower. There was still some hurt, but she could tell Ruby was honestly sorry about that.
"You…are forgiven," she said softly. "But please be more mindful next time?"
Ruby restrained her urge to flying hug tackle Weiss, but instead just gave her wife a big hug and a soft kiss on the forehead.
"I promise, Weiss. I promise."
"Love ya more, sis!" Yang said, hanging up her Scroll. She stretched her neck as it was a bit sore from keeping her Scroll scrunched between her shoulder and chin and headed back downstairs to the living room. Surprisingly, she heard the noises from the DVD as she got closer and closer to the living room.
'That's strange,' she thought. 'I could have sworn I paused it?'
When Yang finally turned the corner into their living room, she had to stifle laughter. Blake was crouched on the couch, her knees up to her chin, her golden eyes locked in mortal terror at the TV screen. She had at some point restarted the movie and was now glued to the blood-soaked drama on their flat screen.
"No! Don't open that door!" she yelled at the TV. "He's in there with the putter and oh no, he knocked her jaw off!" she moaned. "Why is everyone in this movie so stupid?!"
"Ya know, I heard curiosity killed the cat, I just never figured it would be the Undead Zombie Golfer from Hell who would do it," she said, catching Blake off guard. Blake fell off the couch in a heap, startled and spooked.
"Yang!" she protested, as her wife laughed so hard she was losing breath.
"Oh my gods, you should have seen the look on your face! It was classic."
"You are sleeping on the couch," Blake huffed, grabbing her book and stomping upstairs. She didn't mean it and both women knew it, so the empty threat was not taken seriously.
"Worth it!" Yang smirked. "Just be sure to check under the bed for any razor-sharp golf tees. He uses those to pin his victims to the floor!"
"I'm divorcing you!" Blake yelled, trying to hold back her laughter. Yang chased her up the stairs, arms outstretched and legs stiff, walking like a stereotypical zombie.
"Braaaaaaaaains!" she moaned. "I need kitttty braaaaaaaainnsss!"