It was a weapons shop. Filled with Swords, Shields, Maces, and various other weapons. Ruby let go of Weiss for the first time that day, and flitted about the products, commenting on how shiny they were or how cool they looked. It was amusing to hear her calling them the wrong names. A hammer was a ball sword. A scythe was a curved/sideways sword. An arrow was a tiny flying sword. Funny little things like that. It seemed that just about every piece of metal that could be used to hit someone was labeled some kind of 'sword' by Ruby. Weiss felt her rapier blade at her hip. Yep, her sword was the best thing for her.
What about Ruby though? While she was a dragon, in human form she was a bit soft and squishy looking. No scales to speak of. And no claws, either. Getting Ruby a sword or something might be a good idea.
"See anything you like?" The blacksmith running the shop said. He had a large black beard that looked like it could hold a few secret knives in, if he wanted to use it that way.
"We're just looking." Weiss said, gravitating back towards Ruby. Ruby look like she was in heaven. It made sense, for a dragon, Weiss supposed a store full to the brim of shiny things WOULD be very entertaining. Weiss took ahold of Ruby's sleeve, and tugged. "Hello? You in there?" She held back a smile.
It took a few seconds for Ruby to answer. "Huh?" Ruby blinked, remembering where she was. "Oh! Oh yes I'm here! I just... Its so pretty~" she gushed. "I wanna get a curved sword~" she said wistfully.
Hm. Curved sword. A scythe? Weiss made a mental note of that. "Come on, we don't want to bother him to much." Weiss said to Ruby gently.
Ruby pouted but let herself be dragged away. As the were about to leave, they heard a crash. A nail on the shelf above the blacksmith came loose, and a spiked ball and chain came falling at his head. Why did he have that hanging up there? Was all Weiss could think, before she saw a gust of rose petals next to her where Ruby had been a second before. Ruby was standing on the counter, holding the spiked ball in her bare hands, moving it away from the blacksmiths head. She dropped it a second later, on the side of the counter visible to Weiss "Owch!" She yelped.
The rose petals that had scattered about the shop settled, and Ruby whined softly. Weiss saw a bit of blood fall from Ruby's clenched fists. "Ruby! Get down from there!" Weiss barked. She rushed over and took hold of the girls hands, examining them. How was dragon healing? Did she need to bandage it? Another drop of blood fell. Yes, bandages were definitely needed, dragon or not.
"It bit me!" Ruby squeaked, tears in her eyes. Weiss had to turn away as not to laugh.
Weiss helped Ruby off the counter, and tuned to the blacksmith cautiously. "Do you have any bandages we could borrow? Or, do you know where we can get some? We're traveling, and not familiar with the area."
The blacksmith stared blankly. "Uh. Am I drunk? Or did that girl there teleport herself onto the counter to save my hide?" He started moving again, still listening, but moving about to find some bandages.
Weiss thought carefully. How odd was Ruby's power? Could Weiss explain it away by claiming Ruby was a mage? Ah, maybe that was how Yang was a mage! She used her dragon abilities, or her 'semblance' and just told everyone it was magic! Perfect, that'd be perfect. "She's, a mage! Or, trying to be one. She doesn't have a lot of common sense. Hence the spiked ball grabbing." Weiss shrugged
"I didn't know it had TEETH." Ruby interjected.
Weiss glared at her. "They're not TEETH you dolt, look at it!" She grabbed the chain and pulled the ball over. "Its spikes are sharp. Lots of tiny swords, see?"
Ruby's eyes widened. "I do see..! Oh!" Ruby looked back to her hands. "How do I make my hands stop bleeding?"
Weiss winced. "You, can't? Not really? You have to wait for them to heal naturally. It helps to wrap them up so the wound doesn't get infected. Maybe sterilize it with some alcohol."
Ruby nodded, staring at her own blood. She smiled at it. "Heheh.. Heheheh..." Um what. Why the hell was she– AH! THAT'S RIGHT! Yang said some of Ruby's emotions, and her crying reflex especially, were screwed up! ...Maybe it'd be best to leave before ruby started laughing like a maniac over the sight of her own blood. Weiss took the bandages from the confused blacksmith and went back out into the city streets. A bad idea.
People were everywhere. And because Weiss didn't have Ruby's iron grip on her cloak, she could feel her getting swept away. Weiss tried her hardest to keep close to Ruby, but she lost sight of her. Why were there so many people?! She soon found out. All the crowds were headed to one place in particular. the center of town, where a man with a booming voice boasted about how he had 'fought with a dragon' and lived to tell the tail.
Weiss put her hood over her head. She didn't want any unnecessary attention, or possible recognition, if this guy really was such a big shot. Uhg. Royalty's were such a hassle. She ignored the irony of her thoughts, and looked over the sea of people for Ruby. She spotted her, neat the front. Weiss almost swam through the crowd to get to her.
"–volunteer! Anyone up for the challenge? Ah! How about you, little girl?" Weiss heard the guy say as she got close. She saw the man on the platform take Ruby's hand and pull her up. He yelped and shook his hand when he let her hand go. "Oh what?! Are you bleeding?"
"Yes, I, touched a ball of tiny swords!"
"...tiny swords?"
"Tiny swords! It was a ball, with tiny swords, and then a line of more metal connecting it to a stick!" Ruby told him enthusiastically.
"Do you mean a spiked ball and chain."
"Yes that." Ruby nodded, her hands dripping blood.
Weiss finally made it to the edge of the stage. "Ruby!" She hissed in a whisper.
Ruby looked down. "Oh! Hi We–"
"SHHHHHH!" Weiss hissed. The last thing Weiss needed was her name to be broadcast to this crowd. She held out the bandages and motioned for Ruby to follow. Ruby jumped. "Wait no–!" Weiss yelled before Ruby landed on Weiss, knocking the wind out of her and making her collapse under the surprise attack. Weiss sat up, truing to regain her breath, her hood having fallen off. She took hold of Ruby's hands and immediately started wrapping them in bandages. "I swear you're worse then a toddler sometimes!" she scolded.
Ruby pouted. "I didn't know it had tiny swords..!"
"That's not–" Weiss finished tying up each of Ruby's hands "–what I was referring to."
Weiss tried to leave the area, but Ruby pulled her back. "Can we see what he's talking about?" She gave Weiss puppy dog eyes.
The man had continued his tale after Ruby jumped off stage, or the temporary wooden platform that had been set up in the middle of the town square, and seemed to have dropped the idea of getting a volunteer after his first attempt ended up being some weird girl with bloody hands. He claimed he had fought a dragon. A feat anyone would be inclined to hear about. But how truthful were his words? "Unfortunately, I was unable to slay the beast. But! I managed to snag THIS off its hide!" He held up a golden yellow dragon scale, which glittered in the sunlight. The crowd ooed.
And Ruby stared. She had an unreadable expression on her face, and she mubled under her breath. "...Thats Yang's scale." Ruby turned and looked at Weiss, bewildered. "Weiss, that's Yang's scale!" Ruby looled close to panicking. Why? Was it such a big deal that someone had one of Yang's scales?
"Ruby, calm down. Is that bad?" Weiss asked.
"Well no, but actually yes." Ruby bit her bottom lip. "It'll glow if she gets near it. Normally it'd be fine for him to have it, but we're in the same city.."
Weiss nodded. "Ok, we'll tell her. It'll be alright." Weiss took hold of Rubys arm, and pulled her against the flow of the crowd. She noticed a nearbye scraggly old man with one eye covered by an eyepatch watching her as she left, but quickly forgot about it. The two girls were able to find a safe place away from the crowd, more calm and quiet. The whole city wasn't filled to the brim with people, its just that near the main gate there was a crowd going to see the dragon slayers tale at the town square.
Weiss and Ruby sat together on a bench. Ruby looked sad. Weiss could almost see a blue aura surrounding her. It didn't feel right to see Ruby so glum. She was obviously worried about he sister, and the state of her hands must've troubled her as well. Ah. Her hands. "Here, let me redo the bandages. I was in a hurry back there, they're kind of loose." Weiss undid the bandages on Ruby's hands and... Nothing. Nothing? No cut, no scar, no scrapes or anything whatsoever! The bandages were covered with blood, but Ruby's hands were perfectly normal.
"You were right Weiss, they did heal!" Ruby smiled happily.
What? How did that happen? Weiss supposed that dragons may have had increased healing or something, but even so it had been less then half and hour since Ruby had been injured! Weiss poked and prodded one of Ruby's hands, examining every inch of it. It really was completely fine. Weiss felt a bout of jealousy wash over her for a moment. Her foot was mostly alright now, but it had taken days to heal, even with a healing potion. Ruby must have had some stupidly good immune system or something, Weiss thought. Maybe eating a lot of those miracle heal fruits, the 'peachys', had given her a higher healing rate? Or perhaps, it really was just that dragons healed fast.
Whatever it was, after Weiss pushed aside her jealous thoughts, she was glad Ruby was feeling better. It was nice. Both her and Ruby were happy and calm, now would be a perfect time to.. "Hey Ruby..." Weiss tried hard to keep down a smile. Ruby hummed softly to acknowledge Weiss's question as she gazed happily at her healed hands. "I have something for you, close your eyes." Weiss pulled over her pack, which was sitting about a foot away from her, as she'd set it down when they'd sat on the bench. She reached in and pulled out the red cloak she'd had stuffed in the bottom the last few days. She put it in Ruby's lap.
Ruby opened her eyes, and stared curiously. She picked it up and held it out, letting the mounds of cloth flow from her hands. Red. So much red. Just that alone was making Ruby's happy, but then she realized she could WEAR it. "When did you..?" Ruby asked as her lips curled into a smile.
Weiss covered her mouth and looked aside. "When I was leaving, I saw it in a shop. I was already planning on getting it before I wanted to leave, but, I knew if I left without getting it I'd never see it again." Weiss stole a glance at Ruby to see if she looked any happier. "Now do you believe I'm not mad at you?"
Ruby didn't even hear her, she had a wide grin on her face, her cheeks flushed red. She pulled the cloak close, and buried her face in it, inhaling its smell. She peeked her eyes out from under it, still red face and smiling. "It smells like you~" She sung softly. Weiss couldn't stop her on cheeks from matching Ruby's now, and screamed internally as she leaned over and gently hit Ruby on the shoulder to hide her embarrassment. Ruby laughed. "Thank you Weiss~" Ruby sung sweetly.
She stood up and put the cloak on, her eyes sparking. She twirled in place, then hugged it tightly around herself. It was adorable. And Weiss was definitely having a gay panic™ moment.
She'd given her the cloak, and Ruby liked it~! Any thoughts about worrying over Yang's scale situation was banished from both girls minds, as they relished in the peace giving a gift had graced them with. Weiss was still blushing over Ruby saying 'it smells like you'. It made sense, she had used it as a blanket one night. But still. Did Ruby like her smell? How did she smell? Did she need a bath? Weiss suddenly felt very self conscious over her 'smell'. She didn't THINK she smelled bad. But then again, her nose wasn't as good as a dragons. Do I ne"ed a bath?" Weiss wondered, half out loud.
Ruby pranced over to Weiss, and sat next to her, snuggling into her side. "If you take a bath, I want one to!" She chirped. She nuzzled her face against Weiss's neck and shoulder, breathing deeply. Smelling her? "I love your smell~" Ruby mumbled softly.
Weiss nearly imploded on the spot, her face beet red. Rather striking against her white hair, and noticeable from almost a mile away. It tickled, having Ruby nuzzle her like that. But a pleasant tickle. "Hah.." Weiss tried to speak, but couldn't get any words out. Maybe for now, it was best to just sit there and rest up. It was certainly more comfy that way. Weiss moved one of her arms, and put it around Ruby. Ruby reached up and gently held the hand of Weiss's that was on her shoulder.
Weiss's head was completely blank, she wasn't aware of any of her surroundings, all that existed in the world was Ruby. Ruby sitting next to her, leaning against her, holding her hand, so warm. So very, very warm.
'You can't love her!' One side of Weiss's brain scolded her. 'It'll just be even more painful when some assassin sent to get you kills her!' Weiss glanced over at Ruby, feeling her heart swell over the girl. Ah, it was already too late. There was no way this could be anything but love, despite Weiss's best attempts to keep her feelings platonic. Weiss hugged Ruby with the arm she'd put around her tightly. She never wanted to let go.