Chapter 52
Weiss doodled in the corner of her puzzle book. She hummed absently to herself a little tune that Klein used to use to get her to fall asleep when she was a child. Für Elise, she thought she remembered. The last hour or so had been generally uneventful since they had left the crash site. The snow still fell, fluffy and thick. She stopped doodling, observing her work. A little girl in a dress, a big smile, and a huge scythe. She blushed. Oops. She had doodled Ruby. Again. Ugh, this was what she kept doing in the corners of her documents at work. She rolled her eyes at herself, slapping the book down on her lap.
"What's up, Weiss-cream?"
Okay, that was certainly an improvement from her previous attitude, she thought. Ruby's voice had a noticeable cheerful chirp to it. Much like she was used to. Weiss faked a sigh, turning in her seat.
"I accidentally doodled you again. I'm really sorry."
Weiss liked the way Ruby laughed. She liked the little squeak she made when she inhaled. The way the edges of her mouth crinkled upward. The way her...Oh god, I'm in love again. Her face went scarlet red. She turned her attention out the window, not wanting to make eye contact.
"What, this is a common occurrence for you? That's kinda freaking adorable, Weiss. Can I see?"
Weiss blushed, covering her smile with her hand and handing over the puzzle book. It left her hand, the papers shuffling in Ruby's fingers. Weiss glanced over, catching Ruby's smile out of the corner of her eye. Ruby snickered.
"That's me? Damn, I'm adorable! You're a very good artist, Weiss-cream."
Weiss scratched the back of her head nervously.
"Y-yeah but only on doodles of you in my work. I'm fairly certain that about twenty-percent of documents submitted to my finance department have little pictures of you on them."
Ruby laughed again, damn her. She grabbed her puzzle book back.
"Ever draw any nudes?"
Weiss turned fully red.
"Ruby! No! D-don't be absurd! I would never be so crass!"
She was lying. A lot. And it seemed like Ruby knew by the amount her eyebrows became suddenly raised.
"You hesitated. Weiss, are you a pervert?"
Weiss pursed her lips and looked away. Ruby's interrogative tone was much too adorable for it's own good. She crossed her legs and lay her palms upon her knees.
"Maybe."
"Do you enjoy nudity?"
Weiss cocked her head sideways.
"Well, yeah obviously. I spend most of my time at home naked, so I think I enjoy it a little. Oh, and pretty much any time you call the house and I answer, I'm naked."
Ruby eep'd. That had certainly garnered a reaction.
"Are you serious?! Don't you live with your parents and your brother?"
"Correction. They live with me, it's actually my house, in my name. They have their own wing of the building, and I have mine. So I spend a lot of time walking around without my clothes on. If they catch me, that's their prerogative."
They chuckled together, remembering the accidental flashing of Whitley they had done the other morning. Weiss sighed, smiling.
"Yeah, I don't really spend a lot of time without my clothes, Weiss-cream. I just don't ever really feel comfortable in my skin, you know?"
Weiss nodded, looking over at her driver.
"I understand, Rose-Petal. But, if I might interject, you are absolutely astonishing without your clothes on. Like, I remember when we were just starting at Beacon-"
Ruby cut her off.
"You mean when I was fifteen? Weiss, I was a kid then."
"Don't interrupt me, Ruby, I wasn't finished. As I was saying, I remember little-you being adorable as fuck, and now adult-you is all sexy and buff. Puberty hit you like a runaway train, Ruby."
Ruby blushed, and frankly, Weiss did too. Much harder. She had never really been this forward with anyone before.
"Y-you really think so?"
Really. Did Ruby just not own any mirrors? Like, at all? And every single one of her compliments on her gorgeousness had just gone ignored? Wow, rude.
"Are you implying that you aren't aware of just how sexy you are, Ruby? Because seriously. Given the opportunity, I would look at you naked all the time. You know? Like, I know that my own body is a little unimpressive..."
She pulled up her shirt and poked herself in the stomach. The tiny amount of tummy flub she had squished under her finger. She could feel her gymnast's abs still under there, but years of coffee and chocolate muffins in her office had let her fill out a little. But only a little, as she kept her workout routine fairly regular.
"...but I don't think I'll ever be as physically attractive as you are, Ruby."
Ruby pined, blushing.
"N-no, Weiss, I-I don't think so. Y-you're pretty attractive, I think. Much more than me."
Weiss crossed her arms.
"I'm not contesting this, Ruby. You are a hundred and twenty pounds of 'I'd like to do sexual things to you' and stuff. Wait, I tell you what. You said you're not comfortable with nudity?"
Ruby shrugged, blushing. Like, her whole face, right down her neck and into her hoodie was now red.
"W-well, when I'm at home alone. I've been more naked with you than I have been in awhile, and that's a big improvement for me, actually."
Weiss nodded, fiddling with her bra's strap over her shoulder. The damn thing wasn't adjusted correctly. She had bothered to adjust Ruby's undergarments earlier that day for her, after she had noticed that the poor girl seemed to be uncomfortable in her clothes.
"Ruby, I have an idea. Are you comfortable with being naked around me?"
Her driver shrugged, paused, then nodded.
"I think I am. We have been naked together before. And we've taken showers together, the last few days notwithstanding. Why do you ask?"
Weiss turned sideways in her seat, smirking.
"What if we were to get naked right now? And just kinda hang out in the truck with the heat turned up? Sound like fun to you?"
Ruby laughed. Weiss's eye twitched. Did this girl have to be both sexy and adorable? It just wasn't fair.
"Weiss, we can't be naked right now! I'm driving! Isn't there some kind of law against that?"
"Nope. Provided you keep your shoes on, it's fully legal. Being inside a personal vehicle counts as private property, so public nudity laws are moot. Driving without shoes is still illegal in this country for some stupid reason, however."
Ruby's face indicated amused confusion.
"How and why do you know these laws? Do you often drive naked?"
Weiss shrugged.
"From time to time, usually late at night. Like, actually, there was this time I was out at like three in the morning in my Sanus Motors Rinkhal convertible, driving around with the top down, and being a nuisance without my clothes on."
Ruby laughed. This was good. A happy Ruby was a healthy Ruby, she thought.
"You really hate clothes, don't you?"
Weiss nodded excitedly.
"Yep. Clothes are for jerks. So do you want to get naked with me?"
Her driver looked over at her, a warm and honest smile on her face. It had been a little while since she had seen the patented Ruby smile being used. It reminded her that one of the few things that made Ruby happy was her perverted jokes and snide remarks.
"Absolutely, Weiss-Cream. I would be honoured to disrobe with you."
Weiss clapped her hands together cheerfully. She reached over to the centre console, turning the heater knob all the way up. She unbuckled her seatbelt, reaching down and pulling off her boots, gently placing them on the floor of the truck's cargo area. She looked over at Ruby.
"Would you like me to go first, or do you want to?"
Ruby pursed her lips and pondered.
"I think I'd prefer you to go first, if you don't mind."
Weiss plopped down onto the bench, smiling broadly.
"I really don't mind! Hey, feel free to watch. I do owe you for the other morning, after all."
Ruby seemed to be in a perpetual state of red. She was really trying to focus on the road it seemed. Weiss giggled, hooking her hands under the bottom of her hoodie and hoisting it above her head. The white and blue garment was tossed behind the seat. She moved her hands immediately to the rim of her rather tight and low-necked t-shirt, pulling it up to just under her breasts. The underwire of her brilliant pink bra stuck out at the bottom of the shirt now. She glanced over at Ruby, a smirk on her face. The other girl suddenly turned away, glowing red. Weiss could feel the heat in her own cheeks as well.
Ha! She's a pervert too!
And there was Inner Weiss, front and centre again! With a silent laugh, Weiss grabbed her shirt again and pulled it all the way off, fighting momentarily with her excessively long hair through the opening at the top. She sat for a moment, sans chemise, folding her shirt neatly, before placing it, too, behind the seat. Her hands came to her pants button, easily pulling it and the tiny zipper fly open. She lifted her bum, forcing the tight skinny jeans down her legs to her knees, pausing for a second. Another quick glance at Ruby made her chuckle. The poor girl was almost steaming out her ears. Weiss sent a sultry wink her way, hoisting her legs up onto the bench seat. She pulled at the cuffs of her pants, forcing them over her ankles, fighting the tight denim fabric down her calves. The pants came off, and she tossed them over her shoulder and onto the back seat. She sighed, sitting for a minute in her bright pink undergarments. She looked over at Ruby. Still blushing.
"Your turn!"
Ruby laughed nervously as she slid over to her on the seat. Weiss reached down and grabbed the laces of her driver's combat boots, pulling them loose with ease. Ruby's legs complied, lifting up and letting the boots get pulled off. Weiss placed them on the floor, as she knew she needed to give them back in a second. Ruby giggled above her.
"What happened to 'driving without shoes is illegal', Weiss-cream?"
"Well, I can't get your pants off without taking your boots off first, Rose-Petal."
"Are you trying to get my pants off, or something?"
Weiss sent her an evil smile, grabbing her waistband with her hands.
"Bum up!"
Her driver complied, lifting her hips off the seat. It was much easier to slide off the girl's loose-fit jeans off her wide hips than it was her own. Weiss lifted each of Ruby's legs, sliding the pant legs down off them, leaving the girl now pantsless. Weiss looked at the legs presented before her. They were mildly tanned, and extraordinarily well toned. She had an awful idea. Ruby's legs were still open slightly. She leaned her face way down, placing her head between the glorious legs.
"W-Weiss, what are yo- ohhh..."
Ruby's voice hitched the instant she placed her lips upon the inside of the right thigh. Weiss whipped her head back up, her long silver-white hair flipping around and landing on her back. She observed her driver, who was now shaking a little.
Good. Give in to your feelings of pleasure, apprentice.
Weiss laughed, smiling. She leaned her face over and placed an affectionate kiss on Ruby's right cheek. The girl swooned.
"W-Weiss why?"
"Becaaause I can. Now. Off with your top!"
Her driver shivered with what she assumed was pleasure. Her own body shivered with pleasure. Getting the opportunity to strip in front of Ruby was certainly exhilarating.
"C-can you hold the wheel?"
Weiss complied, grabbing the edge of the wooden wheel with her left hand, keeping it steady. She watched the road out the windshield, keeping Ruby in her peripheral. The other girl was violently red as she hoisted her favourite red hoodie up over her head, tossing it behind the seat. Ruby returned her hands to the wheel, and Weiss slid herself back over to her side of the bench, re-fastening her seatbelt. Ruby made a noise.
"S-so are we g-going all the way, or..."
And further, if my luck holds.
It was Weiss's turn to blush. She wiped the coy smile from her face, turning back over to her driver.
"Do you want to?"
The girl's face glowed red, but she nodded, her fluffy brown hair flopping over her face.
"Y-yes I do."
"Alright. Bras first, Ru. We'll do it together, alright?"
The girl nodded again, her hands coming up to the front clasp of her rather dull looking grey bra. Weiss leaned forward on the seat, her hands finding the rear clasp on her own considerably more vibrant garment.
"Ready?"
Ruby nodded.
"Okay, three...two...one...go!"
Weiss unclasped her bra, and it slid from her shoulders and down her arms. She looked over to Ruby, who was holding the wheel straight with her knees, and had unclasped her own bra, her considerable breasts heaving forward out of their cramped confines. She gestured to her, collecting the grey garment from her and placing them both behind the seat. She looked back over at the now permanently red-faced girl, who nodded at her head slowly. They both hooked their thumbs into their waistbands. Weiss kept her eyes on Ruby's legs. Her heart fluttered.
"Okay, go."
And down went the lacy fabric, over her knees and past her ankles. She shivered. She was now fully naked, and after a quick glance over at Ruby, she knew that she was, too. Her heart raced. She felt so free. As naked as they had got in the past together, including in the last few days, had always been in the dark, or in limited light situations. She looked over at Ruby, who had put her combat boots back on. It gave her an idea, again. Hopping up on the seat, Weiss reached into the cargo area and slid one of her bags over, flinging the zipper open and lifting the top. She reached inside, grabbing a pair of black leather boots of her own, tossing them to the floor. Ruby had finished lacing up her boots at this point as Weiss forced her own feet in her high-cuffed and very stylish boots.
"There. Now we're even. How do you feel, Ru?"
"Very horribly exposed."
Weiss chuckled, a warm smile coming to her face.
"Are you uncomfortable? This was more just to be funny than to make you feel-"
"No, I'm good. I'm just not used to being naked outside of the shower or my bedroom. Like, even at Dad's house or at the barracks I don't ever get one hundred percent naked."
Weiss mused. Sliding over on the wide bench and pressing her hip against Ruby's, placing her left hand on the well-muscled thigh of the younger goddess.
"So how do you feel? Still anxious?"
The girl shrugged, her permanently red face breaking out into a small but noticeable smile.
"W-well, a little excited, actually. You aren't offended by the scars, so I'm already more comfortable around you than some of my squad mates. A-and you've already shown an interest in me-"
It was Weiss's turn to cut Ruby off.
"Obviously I am interested in you, dolt! You know, I'm convinced you're messing with me now, like, how do you not know that you're that fucking hot."
Her girlfriend squirmed in her seat, clearly still anxious about being naked. Weiss squished herself closer to her friend, placing one arm around the girl's shoulders and the other around her stomach. She traced slow circles across the pink scar tissue on Ruby's otherwise ab-tastic tummy.
"Ever measure your figure?"
"Uh, I have to to get my uniform fitted."
Weiss paused, waiting for Ruby to understand what she was asking. Annoyingly, she didn't. Weiss poked her in the boob, making Ruby squeak.
"Wanna tell me? I'll tell you mine!"
Ruby shifted, reaching up to scratch herself on the collar.
"Uh, thirty-eight, twenty-eight, thirty-eight. Oh, and uh, thirty-four at the frame. The military tailor told me I have a 'perfect hourglass figure', which I doubt. Why, what are you?"
Weiss blinked a few times. That figure was a perfect hourglass. And yet Ruby had the audacity to deny it. Gosh.
"Thirty-two, twenty-eight, thirty-two, and thirty at the frame. I am quite a bit slimmer than you, you know. Also now I have empirical proof that you are hot. You just described the perfect hourglass figure."
"But I'm all muscular and stuff. And the sca-"
"Don't say it. The buffness is making my panties soaked. You're unfathomably sexy."
"But you're not wearing any..."
Weiss paused mid-giggle. She looked down.
"Oh."
You're on your own from here, Me.
"Sorry about your seat, then."
Chapter 53
"You enter into the cave, and you notice that you are shrouded in darkness very suddenly. You notice that there is a tiny stream that runs along the bottom of the cave, no wider than a foot or so, and no deeper than a few centimetres. What do you do?"
Ruby tapped the steering wheel, thinking. They had been questing in Dragons and also Dungeons for the past hour or so, and they had only made it to the second page of the quest booklet. As she was playing by herself, she was playing it very safe.
"Can I roll for perception?"
"Go for it."
Ruby tapped her scroll, and the little twenty-sided die app tumbled a virtual dice block a few times, before it settled on the number fourteen. She checked her perception modifier, satisfied that it was plus three.
"I rolled a seventeen."
She could hear Weiss shuffling the booklet's pages as she rooted around for some more information. She hummed quietly.
"Right. That's good enough for me. So you have a look inside the cave, and see that just down out of the light's reach there are two goblins. You see that they are armed with short swords and light armour."
Ruby reached up and scratched the exposed skin just under her left boob, blinking idly.
"Can I roll for stealth?"
"Of course!"
She tapped the dice app again, and it tumbled around for a moment. Ruby sniffed, rubbing her nose with her hand. She glanced over at Weiss, who was reading through the game manual, her long, luscious, delicious, inviting...
Focus on the road.
...legs crossed, and her frameless glasses on her face. She seemed deep in thought. The app bing'd at her, indicating that it had finished rolling the virtual die. She took a glance at it, begrudgingly tearing her gaze away from her nude passenger. The app read twelve.
"Yeah, not so sneaky. The goblins have noticed you, and have now run over to you. Roll for initiate, Rubes."
Ruby sighed, reaching down and tapping the app again. It cycled a few times, before landing on nine. She sighed again, dejected. Weiss took the scroll from the seat, and gave it a few taps, picking up her pencil with her left hand and scribbling down a few numbers on her note pad to indicate each of the goblins' initiate number and hit points. Ruby tried to sneak a glance, but clearly her dungeon master was smarter than she was, and had already leaned the notepad away, placing it on the far side of the wide seat.
"Alright, so goblin A attacks first. I'll roll for attack."
She tapped the app, changing the dice set to a pair of ten-sided dice. It tumbled for a minute, before landing on eleven. Weiss grabbed her character sheet, removing eleven of the available health points.
"You're up next, actually. Here."
Ruby took back the scroll, placing it on her thigh. The metal back slapped against the exposed skin, a little cold. She prodded the screen, selecting the single eight-sided die and setting it for a tumble. It stopped on eight, and with her modifier was thirteen total. Weiss's eyebrows raised from behind her glasses, scribbling down some more numbers on the notepad. She reached over and tapped the screen again, tumbling the pair of ten-sided dice again. Ruby tried not to shiver at the closeness of Weiss's hands and her very naked inner thighs. She shivered anyways.
"Okay, you've been attacked again, and you now have eight less health again. These goblins have shitty attacks, jeez. I'll let you roll again to attack, even if it's out of turn."
Ruby rolled again, landing on a total of twelve. Weiss hummed cheerfully, scribbling in the notebook again.
"Alright, goblin A is now dead, and goblin B is now on the attack. Lets see, he hits with four attack. You're up next."
Ruby tapped the scroll. It landed on thirteen, the maximum for her current weapon.
"Yep, goblin B is now dead. You stand above the two dead bodies in the cave. You're free to act as you please."
"Pickpocket them, if I can."
Weiss nodded, reading the manual again.
"On the two goblins you find a total of thirty gold and two short swords, which you may keep and resell if you please. But you don't have to, if you don't wanna."
Ruby nodded, humming her agreement.
"I'll certainly take the gold."
Her dungeon master scribbled the changes onto her character sheet for her. She put aside her notebook and her game manual. Ruby turned her head to the right, watching her passenger fiddle with her seatbelt. She slid over.
"Weiss, what are you doing?"
"I had a thought, and I want to have more pictures of us on my phone."
She held up her scroll, the front-facing camera opened up. Their faces came up on the screen. Ruby caught sight of the roundness of the top of her breasts in the image. Her face went visibly red.
"W-wait, Weiss, we're naked still! We can't take pictures of that!"
She had little time to react or say anything before Weiss had pressed they hips and faces together closer, snapping a few pictures. Ruby conceded, smiling up at the camera. Her passenger slid back to her side of the truck, smiling down at her camera's gallery and flipping through the pictures.
"Hey, I got all of our tits in this one. I'm setting that as my lock screen."
Ruby sighed.
"Do you have to be a pervert all of the time, Weiss-Cream?"
The woman nodded, her boobs jiggling a little from the movement of her head. Ruby shivered and looked away.
"Yes, literally always. You know why, right?"
Weiss slid back over on the bench and wrapped her fingers around her right breast. Ruby blushed, instinctively pushing her chest into Weiss's hand, as the coldness of her fingers made her shiver.
"Wh-why's that?"
Without looking down, Ruby could feel Weiss's fingers start to trace slow circles on her boob. It was certainly increasing her level of 'comfort'. A quick smooch was placed on her cheek, turning her face a vibrant shade of red again. Her heart threatened to hammer itself from her chest cavity.
"Because I looove you."
And now it had. Great. She tried to distract herself by making idle conversation.
"So, uh, d-do you wanna talk about sports?"
She heard Weiss's laugh pick up again. She clenched the steering wheel a little harder. How dare she have an adorable, lyrical laugh! How dare! Her face was certainly heating up again. What a cruel fate indeed.
"Ruby, why are you so adorable?"
Any harder and her fist was going to crush the wheel into dust. Weiss had an abundance of sweet things to say at any given moment, and it was giving her heart palpitations, damnit! She reached over and cranked the heat up as high as the dial would turn, trying to alleviate her shivering. A long and pleased sigh came from the passenger seat.
"Shut up. You're making me feel things again."
She caught glimpse of a smirk out of the corner of her eye.
"Good things?"
You don't even know the half of it.
"S-sorta. More like gushy-lovey things."
"Are you horny?"
Oh for fuck's sake.
"What! No! Weiss! Stop being so weird!"
More laughter. Her knuckles were white at this point. Unfortunately, Weiss was right. She knew she was supposed to like how she was feeling, but she still couldn't bring herself to fully get comfortable with enjoying it.
"Okay, whatever you say, Rose-Petal."
Fuck it.
"Alright fine, yes I'm horny, geez. Are you happy now?"
Ruby huffed, turning her attention out the driver's side window. There was a momentary silence in the cab. The awkwardness was thick. She shot a glance over to Weiss, who had now sat upright, her head back and her legs crossed. Her face was just as red as her own.
"W-well if that's the case I'm sure we can remedy that at the next rest stop, Ruby."
Her hand unconsciously twitched, and the steering wheel's tilt-telescope lock mechanism snapped from the force of her arm twitching upwards. She yelped, as the wheel was suddenly dangling freely in the column, and she fought to keep the truck in a straight line. Lucky for her and her annoyingly alluring passenger, the steering shaft was still connected, as otherwise they would currently be in the ditch. Probably on fire. Ruby thought her face was already on fire as it was. Weiss made a concerned noise as the truck rocked back and forth under them.
"What the hell was that?"
Ruby chuckled sheepishly, glad she could finally mask her sexually charged woes under a real issue.
"Oh, the uh, the steering column's come off of the dashboard. I guess it was finally time for it to break, eh?"
Once the truck was travelling in a straight line again, her passenger spoke up, a little annoyed.
"Well. Fine time for it. I'm a little upset that my mechanics didn't pick up the metal fatigue when they did that detailing yesterday. Huh. I guess you can't expect much when you pay someone ninety-grand a year to do one fucking job. What would have happened if we were travelling any faster?"
Her arms crossed across her chest. Ruby obviously couldn't tell her that it had been a subconscious reaction to her previous suggestion, especially considering that she wanted to accept the invitation.
"It's no issue, I can fix it while we're driving. Can you grab my tool box under the seat?"
Weiss nodded, leaning way over on the seat and sticking her head underneath. Ruby took this opportunity to copiously check out her passenger's delectable body. The snow had let up a little and the sunlight was shining in through the passenger-side window, reflecting off of the mirror-smooth skin on the woman's back. Ruby's eyes followed the sculpted curves further down. Her eyes found a bum.
WAAAAA HOLY SHIT, THAT ASS!
"Ruby, please stop staring at my posterior and drive the broken car."
Her attention snapped back to the road. How did she know?! Her head was still under the seat! Witchcraft was afoot! The seat bounced with a clunking noise, and Ruby turned to see that her holy shit, still naked girlfriend had hoisted the heavy red toolbox up onto the seat and had cracked it open. She held a Phillips head screwdriver out in her hand.
"Scalpel?"
Ruby smiled, holding out her own hand and keeping her eyes on the road.
"Zip-tie, actually. One of the big ones if there are any left. Maybe two."
Her hand was suddenly filled with a warm, squishy and round shape, with a little protruding bump that pressed against the pad of her hand. Her brow furrowed, and she pursed her lips.
"This is your boob, isn't it?"
Weiss cooed her answer.
"Maaaaybe!"
Ruby gave the breast a playful squeeze, exciting a loud chirp from the boob's owner. Weiss recoiled, jumping back to her side of the bench. It was her turn to be coy.
"Now can I have those zip-ties?"
Three corrugated plastic sticks were placed in her hand, and she quickly made them into a single long zip-tie, stringing them together like a chain. She brought the new master tie up under the dash, fidgeting around with it, and holding the column up against the dashboard with her knees. When the long tie was in what she hope was the right place, she pulled them all taut, zipping the column up against it's broken bracket. She gave the whole thing a wiggle. It was on, if a little bit sketchy.
"Fixed it?"
Ruby nodded, smiling.
"Yeah, I did. I learned that trick in one of my dad's old hot-rodding magazines. You're supposed to do that when you're painting the interior floor pans to keep the wheel from touching anything in the cab, and I guess it works here too."
She blushed as Weiss leaned over the middle of the seat and gave her a kiss on the cheek, her delicate hands cupping her face.
"My hero!"
Ruby shrugged it off, giggling.
"Naw, I'm no hero, ma'am. I'm just your average citizen, looking out for the public, you know?"
There was laughter all around. Weiss jumped back up on the seat and leaned over into the cargo area, and Ruby could hear her shuffling around in the candy bag. She glanced to her right, and her eyebrows shot upward. Weiss's nude posterior was within a foot of her head. She had an evil idea. She leaned her body over and placed her mouth right next to the lovely, shapely, perfect bum.
"You better not kiss my a- YOWCH!"
Ruby giggled through her teeth, pulling them off of the pale white rump. Weiss dropped her butt onto the seat, frowning comically large.
"You meany! Why did you bite me?!"
"Because I love you?"
Weiss opened her mouth to speak but quickly closed it. She sat down deeper in her seat, crossing her arms over her bare chest.
"I guess you win this round. Wait, what's that smell?"
Ruby frowned. There was no smell. She gave the air a few sniffs anyways to humour Weiss.
"I don't smell anything..."
"No, no. It smells like the gas station. Which is weird because it doesn't smell like fuel or sweaty truckers. It's like...cotton candy?"
Ruby took another strong sniff. Now she smelled it. Her heart stopped.
"That's certainly not a good smell. I wonder if..."
She checked the gauge cluster, looking specifically at the temperature gauge.
Oh fuck!
Two hundred and fifty degrees. Her heart leaped into her throat. That was considerably too hot for regular running. She could smell it now. The ethylene glychol in the coolant was burning, and the heater fan was pushing the smell into the cabin at full force. Ruby very quickly popped the transmission lever up into neutral, and dropped her hand to the ignition key, shutting the motor off. The large vehicle continued to roll forward at speed, and her hand fell down under the dashboard to the two chromed pull handles that sat up under the wood fascia panel. She gave the first one a yank, and it pulled all the way out. She tried the second one. It was stuck. She gave it a few more yanks, but it refused to budge.
"Oh..."
"Oh? Oh what?"
Weiss sounded very worried. Ruby sighed, pulling the truck to the side of the road and stopping, holding a shaking hand out to Weiss.
"Pants."
"Uh, sure. Do I need some too?"
Ruby was too worried to make any jokes, despite the many opportunities that pantsless gave. Her loose jeans were placed into her hands.
"Yeah if you don't want to freeze. Hoodie?"
She pulled her pants on over her boots and her legs, neglecting any underpants. Weiss dropped the red hoodie into her lap, and Ruby could see her pulling off her boots in the corner of her eye as she pulled the hoodie over her head and bare breasts. She hopped up on the seat, pulling her coat and scarf up off the floor of the cargo area. She slid her arms into her sleeves, zipping up the excessively long zipper. She wrapped her scarf around her neck. She looked over at Weiss.
"Get your coat on, We're going outside."
"Wait, what happened to the truck?"
Ruby said nothing as she pulled the handle on the door. It creaked open. She dropped down on the ground, her boots sinking into the snow. She reached up under the dash, yanking the hood release latch before slamming the door shut. She tried not to shout as she powered around to the front of the truck. She climbed up onto the bumper and lifted the hood. She fell off the bumper as her face was suddenly shrouded by steam. She coughed loudly.
"Hey, are you okay?"
Weiss was now standing next to her in front of the truck, her body tightly wrapped in her white coat and her flannel pyjama bottoms. Ruby sighed and climbed back up the bumper, gesturing for Weiss to follow. The vehicle shook, indicating that she had. She opened the top on the coolant overflow tank. It was completely full. She sighed, replacing the cap and screwing it tight. She looked down at the back side of the radiator grille.
"Well. That explains it."
Weiss smacked her on the arm.
"Explains what? Ruby, please tell me why we're parked on the side of the road and why you're all worried?"
Ruby pointed at the little steel flaps that sat between the grille and the radiator itself.
"The cooling flaps are stuck shut. The engine overheated. And it smells like coolant quite bad, which means that it's actually burning. So something is wrong with this engine."
"Is it broken for good?"
She shook her head, rubbing her slowly freezing nose with the sleeve of her coat.
"No, no. We'll just have to let it cool off first. It will probably need a bit of service when we get home, but it will be fine for now. The head gaskets are probably a little singed."
"Cool off? Should be pack some snow in the engine bay?"
Ruby's concerned expression broke for a moment.
"Well, we could, but the temperature shock would crack the engine block, and then we'd have real problems. And I can't afford to replace this engine."
"So what do we do?"
Ruby shrugged, dejectedly closing the hood.
"We wait it out. It should take no more than an hour for the engine to acclimatize again."
They climbed back up into the cab, and Weiss seemed overly upset by this new setback. Ruby couldn't bring herself to be upset by this.
"An hour? Ruby, we're going to be late for the party! I'm calling for a tow truck."
She slumped down in her seat, listening to Weiss pull out her phone. She sighed.
"Hallo. Können Sie bitte einen Abschleppwagen unserer Stelle schicken? Autobahn vierundzwanzig, Meile neunundneunzig."
Ruby looked over. She guess that Weiss was calling her contact at the RAA. This was certainly not how she wanted her day to have gone. First the maybe-boyfriend thing, then the car crash, and now this? She was not excited about the feeling in her gut now.
"Na, ich mochte nicht ob sie mit anderen beschäftigt sein, schick mir einen sofort! Nein, keine Entschuldigungen!"
There was a silence. Wiess had a very angry expression on her face.
"Danke. Verdammt Scheiße."
Ruby smiled lazily. She enjoyed the way that Weiss's accent was soft, yet commanding in the way that she verbally abused people in her native language. The car was getting cold in the cab. Her breath was now starting to condensate in front of her face. Weiss angrily tossed her phone up onto the dashboard, hopping over and snuggling close. For warmth? Eh, probably. Ruby slung her arm over her girlfriend's shoulders, pulling her close. The lump of shivering under her arm started humming Für Elise, quietly and softly. She sighed.
She was really not excited about their destination now.
Everything was crashing down around them.
It was a bad omen.
And Ruby hated it.