"Bring back the head of the golden dragon." Ruby read off of the quest board. They'd come from the inn to try and do a question together, but Ruby had sped up and gotten to the quest board before her. Rose petals littered the floor of her path. Someone with a broom was glaring at Ruby, looking between her and the rose petals. Weiss offered a word of advice as she walked by.
"Don't worry, they disappear on their own after a few minutes. Don't bother sweeping them." Weiss caught up to Ruby.
Ruby pointed to the dragon quest. "Yang isn't very good at keeping her presence a secret." She said, with a hint of amusement. Weiss was glad Ruby wasn't to worried. The two girls scoured the board, and another quest caught Weiss's eye. 'Slay the red dragon'
...
"You're not so good yourself, it seems." Weiss nudged Ruby and glanced at the red dragon quest.
"Ah... hahahaha... Yeah.." Ruby rubbed the back of her head awkwardly.
"No matter." Weiss sighed with a smile. "Let's grab something wolf related."
Just as Weiss was reaching for a wolf slaying quest, someone else brushed hands with her, reaching for the same paper. Weiss looked down and saw a girl shorter than her pull her hand back. Her hood covered most of her face, but Weiss could see a brown eye peeking out from behind it. A pink eye. Weiss blinked, and the girls eye was back to brown. Had she imagined that little splash of pink? Probably. The girl ran off before Weiss could say anything, leaving the quest paper behind.
"That means we get it right? She left." Ruby asked, watching the girl run off.
Weiss nodded, unable to follow the short girl with her eyes for to long as she ran into the crowd of people talking and chatting in the guild. Despite the gloomy atmosphere, people still chatted. That was comforting. Weiss brought the quest to the front desk, where the guild secretary, or whatever you call the person that accepts quests for you was called, gave them permission to go.
They went to the forest, a quest to hunt 15 shadow wolves in their possession. After they'd gone a little ways into the forest, Ruby changed into dragon form. She poked Weiss on the shoulder before doing so, remembering her words from last time 'Warn me next time!'. Weiss felt touched that she'd remembered.
[[So! How do you usually hunt them?]] Ruby asked, telepathically.
"Since this forest is so wide and open, and the trees aren't readily climbable, I'd go at them one at a time. Find one, and strike its heart. I've trained enough to have a 97% rate of success when stabbing their hearts!" Weiss added proudly.
[[Hmm. So how should we do it together? I can grab some as a dragon and rip them to shreds, but then you wouldn't need to pierce their hearts.]] Ruby batted at her head, scaring away a bird that had tried to land on her horns.
"We need their nails! That's the proof that we've killed them, we take off their nails and bring them back in a bag. So don't completely destroy them please." Weiss raised an eyebrow at Ruby. "And maybe we can split up the number of wolves to kill. Just, make sure you get the nails."
Ruby nodded, her heads horns scratching a tree as she did. She hissed at the tree in an irritated manner. Weiss tried not to laugh. They walked for a little bit more, when Ruby piped up again. [[Weiss? Can I, offer a suggestion?]]
"Go on." Weiss said, looking up at her.
[[I have a good nose! I think I can track the wolves faster if I just follow my nose. But sometimes I get to into tracking, so I might go faster then you can run. Do you want to sit on me? Like a ride on a horse!]] Ruby puffed a tiny flame out of her mouth as she sent her words into Weiss's head.
Weiss stopped, and Ruby stopped next to her. "Would you be ok with that? I don't want to demean you in any way." She hesitated.
[[Nope! I'm fine! Yang gave me rides on her back before I could fly, I think it'd be fun to give someone a ride! And you're so light, I'd barely feel it.]] Ruby's tail wagged. Huh, so dragons do wag their tails. Cute. Weiss was unsure of how to climb on Ruby, but a moment later, Ruby laid down on her stomach. [[Climb aboard!]] She moved her tail over for Weiss to use as a stepping stool. [[Also, you might want to take your cloak off and sit on it. My scales aren't sharp, but they all go one way so if you rub against them wrong it might hurt you. Humans are fragile.]]
Weiss took her advice. As soon as she climbed up, she set her cloak down. Ruby's line of back scales, the line of raised scales that goes from the head to the tail on a dragon, was easy to sit on if Weiss bundled the cloak up on top of them. She was able to get a firm grip on the part of Ruby where her wings connected to her back with her hands. [[It's fine to grab there, I can't feel a thing! That area is strong enough to hold up by body when flying, it can take you touching it.]] Ruby assured her.
And off they went. Ruby was right, she did start to move about rather quickly. Quickly, and silently. It was like they'd become a ghost, Ruby was so light on her feet. Weiss leaned down onto her, using the blockage of Ruby's head to shield her from the wind. Ruby stopped suddenly, and jerked her head to the left. She crawled slowly and stopped again. Weiss could see a group of 5 shadow wolves ahead. The hadn't noticed her and Ruby yet.
[[You take 2, I'll take 3?]] Ruby stared at the wolves intently. Weiss patted her back gently as an agreement.
Ruby pounced. She tore into of of the wolves ravenously, getting the others into a defensive formation immediately. Ruby bit a huge chunk out of the wolf, then turned to the others. Weiss gracefully zipped by, piercing of of their hearts. It struggled to stay on its feet, but fell within a few seconds. The wolves attention stayed on Ruby, and she grabbed another, shaking her head with it in her mouth. The last two wolves wised up and tried to run, but Ruby jumped over and cut off their exit point. She stomped on one, and Weiss stabbed the other.
"That went beautifully!" Weiss exclaimed. "Normally I'd have lost those two that tried to run, or I'd have to spend the rest of the day tracking them down!" Weiss smiled brightly at Ruby, splatters of wolf blood on her face because of Ruby's intense method of attacking. "Thanks so much!"
If Ruby wasn't already red, she would have been turning that color right now. She looked over at her kills, and went to them, dragging them into a pile for Weiss. Weiss gagged a little, but set to work, taking out the nails from one of their feet. [[Can I help?]] Ruby asked curiously.
"It might be a bit hard since your claws are so big." Weiss joked, focusing on her task.
[[But you forget–]] Ruby said, turning human again mid sentence. She was covered in blood. "–I can be human to!" She finished. Ruby sat down next to Weiss, and Weiss explained how to pull out the nails carefully. Ruby go the hang of it on about the 4th wolf. "So now what?" Ruby asked when they'd collected the nails from all 5 wolves.
"Normally I'd just leave them here. So you can eat them if you want." As soon as Weiss finished speaking, Ruby went up in a puff of smoke and turned dragon again. She pounced on the wolf pile, munching and crunching happily. Weiss turned away and tried not to puke, the sounds of Ruby eating creating horrible imagery in her mind. When Ruby was done, Weiss couldn't help but wonder. "Is it hard, to go back and forth between human and dragon?"
Ruby, dragon, tilted her head. [[I don't think so? It's like... Putting on a cloak. It's easy to take off and put back on. Unless you're really tired. Which I'm not!]] Ruby jumped in place, scaring some nearby animals. Little rabbits and birds ran for cover.
Weiss nodded. "Well, the day is young. Let's find some more shadow wolves." Her and Ruby did indeed find more. A group of 3 that they took down easily, and a group of 7. The group of seven was more difficult, Weiss almost got her head bit off, but Ruby bit the wolf that tried to do that to her clean in half. They collected all their nails, and it was barely noon. "Wow. I'm not sure if they're going to believe we did all this so fast." Weiss mumbled to herself, looking at the 15 shadow wolves wortho of nails in the bag she held.
[[Why wouldn't they?]] Ruby asked curiously.
"Well, it took me 2 days to hunt down 10 of them in this big forest last time. Even with another person, it would still take longer than an afternoon. And it's not like we can say you just 'went dragon' and ate half of them." Weiss put the nails in her waist pouch and folded her arms. "Maybe if we just stay out till dusk it'll look believable." Weiss was standing, facing away from Ruby as she spoke. To someone just coming upon them in the forest, it would look as if a dragon was about to eat an unsuspecting girl from behind. And that's just what happened.
Weiss heard the clink of a metal sword, and turned just in time to see someone jumping at Ruby with a sword. An enchanted sword, by the looks of it. That would certainly cut through Ruby's scales. One second Weiss was about to scream, and the next, she was high above the forest in Ruby's claws. She gasped. [[I'm so sorry! Someone snuck up on us and was going to slice me! I didn't want him to hurt you so I panicked and ran!]] Ruby apologized profusely.
Weiss was in awe, the wind blowing in her face an exciting and exhilarating feeling. She yelped in joy. Ruby heard, and got a little less tense. Ruby stopped flying forward, and hovered in place, her wings beating the aor noisily. [[Are you ok? I didn't scratch you, did I?]]
Weiss had to yell to be heard over the flapping of wings and natural high wind. "No! I'm good!"
Ruby made a happy growl, and started flying higher. Weiss excitedly gripped her claws. Ruby flew up so high they reached the clouds, and then she let herself fall. Weiss smiled and screamed as they fell, Ruby making a swooping dive bomb at the last second to avoid crashing into the trees. Weiss was having a blast. When Ruby finally landed, Weiss's hair was an absolute mess. Weiss flopped down onto the grass, as Ruby had landed back in the forest. A different area of the forest then where they were before, but still. Weiss panted heavilu, the adrenaline from her adventure still coursing through her veins.
Ruby turned human again, and lied down next to her. "You liked it?" She asked with a grin.
Weiss covered her mouth and tried to calm herself. "...Yes! It was fun!" She blushed a little attempted to hide her excitement by looking to the side, but Ruby saw through her ruse immediately.
"I love you." Ruby said, putting her hand on Weiss's.
It was still hard for Weiss to say, but she wanted to return the sentiment. "Me too." She said, heart full to the brim.
They returned to the guild, Ruby in human form. It was late afternoon, early evening. As soon as they entered, they heard yelling. "I'm telling you, we saw it! It was in the forest, it grabbed some girl and flew off in a flurry of rose petals!" A group of guys were frantically telling the guild front desk person something. Weiss felt her gaze drawn to them. Had they said.. 'Rose petals'..? "It was that prissy white haired girl that's been around recently, we'll probably see missing posters for her in the next–"
One of the guys tapped his friend, and pointed at Weiss, who was standing nearby to get in line after them. "You!" Another one of them shouted. "You got eaten!"
Weiss stared at them blankly. Quick, quick. Think up something to say. "...Clearly I haven't been, as I standing here."
"But but! You! In the forest! A red dragon snuck up on you out of nowhere and snatched you!" The first guy said.
"I doubt I'd be alive if that happened. Are you guys okay? Did you hit you heads?" Weiss reached out a hand and tried to sound genuinely concerned.
"No! We saw it! We all saw it! Where were you today if not in the forest?!"
"Well I WAS in the forest, but not being eaten by nonexistent dragons. I was with my friend–" Weiss looked over to Ruby. "–and we were hunting shadow wolves. We got 15 of them, I wouldn't have had TIME to get kidnapped by a dragon or we wouldn't have gotten all these. If you'll excuse me, may I give them to the front desk?" Weiss took out the bag of nails. The guys stepped aside and left her pass, Weiss handing the bag if nails and the quest paper to the guild secretary.
One of the guys spoke up again. "Even if it didn't get you, there is a dragon out there! Multiple people have seen it, we found footprints and scrapes from its claws and horns on the trees!" Weiss recalled one of Ruby's horns scraping against a tree earlier and winced. "And, there are eyewitness accounts of it disappearing into a cloud of rose petals!"
A few people in the guild who had been eavesdropping on the conversation looked to Ruby. In just a week, Ruby had gained a reputation as 'The peppy girl who somehow gets rose petals everywhere'. The guys noticed everyone looking to Ruby.
"What? Why is everyone looking at her?" he glanced at Ruby. "You a dragon?"
Ruby took a deep breath and sighed. "Yes, I am." Weiss nearly fainted. "You can tell from my razor sharp claws–" Ruby held up her human hand, with short fingernails "–and my large lizard like tail and wings." She motioned to her back, which was void of the said tail and wings she was referring to. "Truly, the epitome of dragoness, wouldn't you say?" Ruby smiled cutely at them.
The brushed her off after that. All except one of them, who kept staring at her suspiciously. Ruby ignored him, and went about her business. Weiss received the money for the quest, and they sat at a table. Ruby had told Weiss earlier that Yang and Blake would meet them at the guild for dinner. When Yang and Blake showed up, Ruby dashed over to meet them and tell them about her day. And her dashing over was like instant teleportation, with a trail of rose petals.
The guy still watching them spluttered his drink and pointed. "Th-that! That's just like the dragon! That's kinda suspicious right? Right?! Am I alone on this?!" His friends ignored him, to his chagrin.
Weiss felt like they'd just dodged a bullet, as she sipped her drink and eyed the group of grumbling guys nervously. Ruby dragged over Yang and Blake, excitedly talking about their day. She would randomly stop and whisper into Yang's ear at times, probably when she had to say something dragon related that Blake couldn't hear. Although, Weiss had to wonder if maybe Blake could hear Ruby's whispering. She did have four ears after all.
After Ruby was done talking, Yang spoke up. "Weiss? There's something we need to tell you." She sounded serious. Was everything ok? "We secretly stalked you this morning because of what you said, and well..."
Blake finished for Yang. "You're being followed."
"Oh." Ahhhhh there it was. The thing she'd been subconsciously avoiding.
"By 4 different people." Yang added.
...Wait what?