Ruby gritted her teeth, and marched down the hallway outside of Weiss's study. Unconsciously, she walked the path back to her bedroom, but inside her mind she battled with a torrent of emotions running through her. Memories of years passed rushed through her mind, memories of times that had passed long ago. She did her best to muddy the images, trying her best not to fall into that dark pit she did whenever this happened.
It was rare that she had attacks like these in recent weeks, but when they came they almost suffocated the ex-huntress. She made her way into her bedroom and collapsed backwards onto her bed. She clasped her hands over her face, groaning aloud. Her heart hammered in her chest as images of her former life flitted underneath her eyelids. She felt that familiar dread rotting its way through her, and her hands ached for the comforting weight of a full bottle.
Knowing where that line of thinking went, Ruby went to her tried and true method of fighting off these attacks. She pulled herself out of bed. 'I will not fall back down that hole again.' She drug herself over to her workbench, ignoring the way her heart clenched in her chest at every memory she used to smile at. She reached across the table, and picked up her old combat knife. Ruby drew the knife from its sheath and looked at it for a moment. After a second, she grabbed another item, a small red case, from the desk.
She cracked it open, revealing a series of whetstones inside. Plucking a fine grained stone from the case and pouring a small amount of honing oil over it, Ruby got to work. She ran the stone over the blade, honing the already razor-sharp knife even further. She allowed the small, menial task to occupy her mind, and slowly, ever so slowly, the dread in her heart began to fade away.
Working with her hands, she had discovered, had an odd way of grounding her in the moment, of reminding her that she couldn't change the past, no matter how hard she wanted to, and that she needed to focus on the future. She kept on with her task for several minutes, until her heart began to settle, and the rush of emotions began to fade back into normalcy. When the only sound filling her mind was the soft rasp of manufactured stone over metal, and her heart beat at a slow, steady pace, Ruby drew the blade and stone apart. Testing its sharpness with her thumb, almost cutting herself in the process, Ruby grinned, satisfied. She cleaned the blade and stone of the microscopic flecks of steel that had built up and slid the military-style blade back into its sheath.
She let out a deep breath, and with it went the last of her pain. 'I survived, that's all that matters, and now I'm here. Still kicking,' she thought calmly. Now idle, she grew a bit bored. An idea came to her, then, and she stood. Leaving the room, she briskly made her way back to Weiss's study. She knocked on the door once more.
"...Yes?" came the partially annoyed voice from inside.
Wincing slightly, Ruby stuck her head inside the study, seeing her boss glance at her with a look that very clearly showed how displeased she was to be interrupted again, and asked, "Hey, is it alright if I use the shooting range or gym over in the Security Wing?"
Weiss was silent for a moment, not expecting that. After a moment, though, she said, "You are free to use any facilities in the security wing that you wish, unless I tell you not to," then, she squinted, glaring lightly at her new assistant, "However, do not break anything, Miss Rose."
Ruby laughed quietly, and said simply, "Understood, thank you," before leaving the room. She wanted to beat off the rust that had built up over her months of 'vacation' since the incident, and get her marksmanship back up to where it was in her heyday before she went on the job tomorrow.
'Also, I really want to shoot something right about now. I might even hit the gym too.'
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As the door to her study closed once more, Weiss sighed deeply. That woman was oddly...tiring, in a way she couldn't quite place. It was strange. A part of her recoiled away from the woman every time she was near, not appreciating her presence in the one place Weiss could feel any level of relaxation, the manor (though sometimes it was fairly difficult to relax in a place that held so many unpleasant memories). Still, though, whenever she was there, that feeling she had been struggling with most of her life seemed to fade. That spike of cold deep beneath her skin she always felt whenever the silence around her was too much and she didn't have anything to occupy her mind just simply went away whenever her new employee was around.
It didn't disappear, per say, but more of faded to the back of her mind. 'How...strange,' she thought, staring at the closed door from across the long room. She added it to the list of things that were odd about that woman.
Weiss sat in silence for a moment, before the cold began to creep back into her veins, and she turned back to her work. She felt a small amount of guilt as she put pen to paper. She did promise Winter that she would spend these few days getting acquainted with her new bodyguard/assistant and relaxing, but here she was working on profit statistics. 'I already hired a new person into my life for her, this is fair,' the CEO thought with just a touch of bitterness. She shook her head, and got back to work, her mind being drawn away from the spiking chill in her heart.
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A Few Hours Later
BANG!
The .45 caliber handgun bucked in Ruby's right hand for the final time that day, and she sighed contentedly. The scent of gunsmoke suffused her, and she breathed it deeply. She had not been shooting nearly enough in these past few months. She simply had no reason to. Most days since the incident were spent in her own house (it never really felt like a home), and only went to the local range rarely.
That said, she had thankfully retained most of her skills from when she was a huntress, with the exception of her acrobatic fighting style and aura-supplemented strength. It felt good to feel Rosebud's recoil again. She was Ruby's favourite sidearm, after all. She clicked the safety on the pistol, and swapped the depleted clip for a full one, keeping the chamber clear, and holstered it.
She stretched upwards, wondering what to do next. She glanced at her watch, seeing that she still had about two hours until dinner. Deciding she may as well work out a bit, she moved into the gym, the same place she had run an obstacle course just a few days prior.. Luckily, she had the forethought to grab a pair of gym shorts from her room before coming here. She changed quickly, leaving her clothes and sidearm on a bench, she walked forward. She stood there, standing in the silent gymnasium. There was enough equipment, weights bags, treadmills, ellipticals, and even a quarter mile track around the perimeter, to train a small army, but it was completely silent.
It seemed wrong, somehow. Ignoring it, Ruby stepped out onto the track, and took off. She would only get a few steps before the echoing sound of her footsteps became too much. The building was the size of an aircraft hangar, and the silence weighed on Ruby. Looking for a solution, the ex-huntress glanced around the room. 'This is pretty damn depressing actually,' she thought.
Her eyes caught on the catwalks that crisscrossed the area above her head. She thought back to the obstacle course she had ran before, and vaguely remembered Weiss having used an intercom. An idea occured to her, and a sly grin came across the woman's face. She jogged to the metal staircase that led up to the catwalks, plucking her scroll from the bench on her way. Once she found the intercom, she fiddled with the panel, eventually hooking up her scroll to the system.
She opened up a music app on the scroll, flipping through a few pages, before stumbling onto an interesting looking playlist. It was of popular songs from several years beforehand. 'I was fifteen then. Sure, let's go with that.'
After a few seconds, the sounds of some pop song or another filled the gym, playing over the intercom system. She smiled, saying to herself, "That's better."
Once she had gotten back to the ground, Ruby got to work.
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Weiss stretched upwards at her desk, huffing out a small bit of air. She had finished all of the paperwork she had missed over her week of 'vacation', and was finally prepared for work tomorrow. She felt satisfied with what she had accomplished, but at the same time she was disappointed that she no longer had anything to do. She glanced at her new watch, seeing that there was still an hour before dinner would be served.
She kept looking at her watch, thinking. It really was a wonderfully made piece of technology. She was impressed that Ruby had the forethought to craft the tracking device. That said, some part of her hated the device and the idea that Ruby could track her. She stamped that down, though, reasoning, 'It's necessary for her job, and it was...kind of her to give me the power to deactivate and activate it.'
She shook her head, not wanting to remain idle for long. 'I should probably fetch Ms. Rose from the security wing.' Deciding that was the best course of action, Weiss began walking. After leaving the main building and walking the short path to the building that held the Security Wing, Weiss entered.
Immediately, she was greeted by the pulsing music coming from deeper inside the building. Something about it tickled the back of her mind. 'Why does that sound so...familiar...?' The CEO followed the sound of the music, and soon enough she was able to discern the lyrics.
Mirror, Mirror, what's behind you?
Save me from the things I see!
'Oh.'
She immediately recognised the tune of her own, if younger, voice. Her brow scrunched up in confusion, and she followed the music further. After walking through a few hallways, she came to the gym. The music was blaring over the intercom, and filled the room with the music that was at just shy of an uncomfortable volume. Curious, she kept her steps light, and closed the door behind her silently.
Weiss had no trouble finding Ruby in the large room, as she was the only other occupant. Her bodyguard had her eyes closed, obviously focusing on her exercise, and hung upside down on a pullup bar by her knees. Her hands were crossed behind her head, and she was doing a sit-up like motion, pulling herself upwards, before letting herself slowly fall back down.
Due to the obvious laws of gravity affecting the young woman, the exercise caused her shirt to ride up. Weiss found her eyes inexplicably drawn to the other woman's stomach. Her muscles were well defined from years of work as a huntress, and were flexing powerfully beneath her skin. It took some effort for the CEO to drag her eyes from tracing one of the many droplets of sweat that were rolling down the former warrior's abs, and just a tinge of warmth formed in her chest. 'What the hell…?' she thought, confused.
Deciding that dealing with whatever this was could wait until later, Weiss pulled her thoughts back to what she had come here to do. She ignored the fact that her mouth very suddenly felt remarkably dry, and made her way to her assistant.
She did her best to ignore how the sweat glistened on the other woman's skin.
"...That's an interesting song you're listening to," Weiss said.
She wasn't sure what she was expecting from the obviously straining woman to do upon being interrupted, but to suddenly jerk to a stop before ungracefully falling off of the pull up bar (with the ever so eloquent cry of "Shit!" accompanying her) and into a heap on the floor was certainly not it. The redhead rubbed the back of her head, thankful that her measly aura was able to keep her from getting a concussion, and said, looking up at her boss from her position on the floor, " OH, uh, Ms. Schnee, you scared me!"
The Schnee allowed a small quirk to show on her lips, saying "Well, let's hope you aren't so easily distracted on the job."
Not fully acquainted with the businesswoman's mannerisms, Ruby was only half sure the statement was in jest. She rose up, her back hurting from where her aura had failed to cushion her efficiently, and said, "It won't be a problem, don't worry. I know how to 'get down to business'," she used air quotes, "and sorry about the music, it was kind of unnerving with how quiet it was in here."
Weiss waved her hand, dismissing Ruby's concerns. It helped that seeing the woman react so spectacularly to being interrupted was somewhat amusing. "It is fine, I just came to tell you that dinner will start in an hour, and you may want to freshen up a bit before."
Ruby nodded, a smile growing over her face, "Yeah, with the way I probably smell right now, I could probably kill my sister's appetite, and that woman could eat an Ursa on a good day."
Weiss had trained for years in hiding her emotions, in wearing a mask solid enough so that whatever she was thinking was well and truly hidden, and if not for that training, she might have chuckled. As it were, though, Weiss nodded, not quite comfortable in letting her new employee see that much of her, and said, "Yes, my point exactly. Now, come along."
The white-haired woman turned and began to walk away, her misaligned ponytail swishing across the Schnee sigil on her back. Ruby gave a cheeky two-fingered salute, saying, "Yes ma'am," before scooping her things up from the bench and quickly pulling her scroll from the intercom, before jogging lightly to catch up with her boss.
The bodyguard felt great at the moment. Her body felt worked in a way it hadn't in awhile, and she felt pleasantly sore from her workout. Plus, she had seemingly made some small progress with getting on her new boss's good side.
The two walked out into the chilly Atlesian air, and Ruby shivered as it met her sweat-slicked skin. Quickly, the two woman walked the path back to the main building, and began on the way to the bedrooms once inside. They only made it as far as the top of the stairs in the main hall before being intercepted by an out of breath and visibly distressed Calvin.
"Ms. Schnee! It's urgent!" he said, panting, not used to as much running as he had just done.
Weiss was understandably startled. She raise her hands in a placating gesture, saying, "Calvin, calm down, explain what's happening."
"It's my wife," he began, "She's in the hospital. I must go, I'm sorry, but I must!"
Weiss nodded, keeping her voice soft, polite, "It's fine, Calvin, you may go."
He smiled a strained smile, and thanked her profusely, before apologising, "I haven't even made dinner yet, I am so sorry." He turned to Ruby then, opening his mouth as if he was about to say something, but couldn't find the words.
Ruby remembered their conversation that morning, and her heart went out to the old man. She stepped forward and placed her hand on his shoulder before saying, "We'll be fine. Go see about your wife, we'll hold down the fort." She tried for a kind smile.
He seemed to accept that answer, and ran his hand through his greying hair stressfully, "Yes, yes, thank you Miss Ruby, I must go." Then, he rushed away, understandably eager to meet his spouse.
Ruby didn't know what hospital Calvin's wife was going at, but she hoped he would get there quickly.
Once the large exit door closed behind the cook, Weiss let out a deep sigh. Usually, she would stamp down on these impulses so that those around her couldn't guess her thoughts, but this was different. "Isolda always was a nice woman, I hope she'll be alright."
"Yeah," the bodyguard responded. 'There's enough death in this world as is, and Calvin seems like a good person,' she thought. She had seen a lot in her short career as a huntress, but things like this always got her. "What are you thinking?" she asked the stoic woman.
The white haired woman was silent for a moment, before she shook her head and responded, "I have no idea. I'm worried for them, of course, but I've never been overly social with Calvin. I don't know very much about his wife's condition, so for all I know she could be on her deathbed."
Ruby grunted at that, not liking the idea but unable to counter it, "Yeah. Still, though, I wish there was something I could do to help. I've only talked to him like twice, but still..."
Weiss nodded to that, eyes never leaving the door the chef had left from. "I've already seen that she has the best doctors, and he knows they don't need to worry about money. I've done all I can, and so have you. At this point, all we can do for them is hope."
The huntress blinked, shocked by her boss's statement. Even though Calvin told her earlier that she had helped out her former workers, this kind of generosity was unexpected. Ruby came into this job expecting certain qualities of her boss, the kind she had come to associate with the rich over the course of her life, and of the Schnees even more so. This kind of charity was unprecedented. At least, without a massive media event highlighting their 'generosity' to the public, it was unprecedented. She thought about it, but couldn't come up with any angle that the Schnee could be playing here other than simple human kindness. She concluded it must be genuine, and said, "That is really kind of you, Miss Schnee."
The white-haired woman simply hummed.
They stood there for a few moments more, silently letting the stress of Calvin's sudden news leak out of them, before Weiss spoke up again, "I suppose that means we will have to go out to eat."
Though it was veiled, Ruby could hear the disappointment in her boss's voice. An idea occurred to her then, one which she voiced, "Not necessarily. If you don't want to deal with going out to restaurant, I could cook."
'She can cook?' Weiss thought, surprised. "Do you have...training in that field, as well?"
The redhead scratched her head, looking somewhat bashful, "I mean, I don't have any formal training, no, but I used to cook for my team way back when, and I've been told I'm alright at it."
Weiss weighed it in her head for a moment. They could go to one of the many five-star eating establishments spread around the city of Atlas, but that would mean having to dress up and posture all night, having to worry about looking presentable for all the many cameras that would be undoubtedly pointing at her. That, and it would mean putting her new assistant in the position of having to do her job as Weiss's bodyguard a day before scheduled, as well as the fact that Ruby had mentioned the previous night that she had no training in the more formal methods of eating.
On the other hand, allowing this woman who she had only known for a few days to cook for her was...unsettling. Some part of her didn't trust the other woman, and she had doubts about her abilities as a cook. The idea of someone who was unqualified to handle food cooking for just seemed wrong.
She thought over it for a few more minutes, balancing her options in her head, but eventually her paranoia won over. She shook her head saying, "No, that is alright. I would prefer to just go to a restaurant."
Usually, Ruby would have simply taken that at face value, but there was something in the other woman's tone that bugged Ruby. Through her actions these past two days and her body language right now, the ex-huntress could easily tell Weiss was uncomfortable with Ruby being here. She didn't have the slightest idea why that was, but decided that Weiss's reasons didn't matter much. What did matter was that if these uncomfortable interactions continued on like this, the next several months (years, maybe) we're going to be miserable for the both of them.
Though it was risky to contradict her boss so early in her job, Ruby decided, 'I should really speak up,' and so she did. A not-quite-frustrated sigh slipped out of Ruby's lips before she said, "Look, Miss Schnee, I get that this is your home and all, but we are going to be spending a lot of time together for as long as I am working here." Weiss met her eyes for the first time since Calvin fled, and her expression was unreadable. It sent a chill down Ruby's spine, but she continued on, "I'm not going to try and tell you what to do, but we don't know each other that well yet, and it is my job to guard your life. It would probably be a good idea to become more comfortable around each other, don't you think?"
Weiss almost, almost, brushed her off. Her response, that Ruby didn't need to be all that familiar with her to do her job(s), was poised on the tip of her tongue, but something stopped her. She wasn't about to let this woman dictate what she would do in her own house and her legendary temper was already fanning its flames, but the redhead's expression gave her pause.
She was frowning.
Now, Ruby Rose was by no means a little girl. Weiss knew from what she had read on her file that she was indeed a warrior, and that she was far from an innocent child, but something about the way the frown pulled at those bright silver eyes tugged at Weiss's heartstrings in a way little else had before. Her rebuttal died on her lips, and for a moment, she simply stared.
A moment later, she too signed, a thought going through her head, 'She has a point...maybe I should just let her do this. You better not make me regret this, Rose.' With that decided, Weiss conceded, "Alright, you may prepare dinner tonight, Miss Rose. Come knock on my door when you are done freshening up. I will be watching you cook."
Deciding that was the best she was going to get, the frown grew into another one of the bodyguard's odd little smiles, and she said, "Yes ma'am, Miss Schnee, that's fine by me."
Deciding that was the end of the discussion, the Schnee woman turned on her heel and left for her bedroom. Once she was out of sight, Ruby smiled, and, allowing just a bit of her childish nature to show through, gave a small fist-pump. "Progress," she whispered.
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Weiss sighed, staring into the body-length mirror in her room. Her hand rested against the cool glass, and she simply stared at her own reflection. Her mind wandered a bit, but generally stayed focused on Calvin and his wife.
Calvin was a good man, and had been kind to her over the years, and she was significantly concerned for him and his wife. Before she could go any further into the ruminations, though, a knock came from her bedroom door. "Yes?" she called.
"Miss Schnee," the voice of her bodyguard called though, "I'm done, so, if you're hungry, we can go and cook something up."
Weiss didn't react at first, sighing. 'You agreed to this, live with it,' she told herself. She swept up her bolero from a nearby chair and threw it over her shoulders. After just a moment, she was in the hallway, her assistant blinking in a surprised manner at Weiss's sudden appearance, evidently not having expected her to rush out of the door like she did. She recovered quickly though, and the began walking.
While they were walking, the CEO took the opportunity to look at her guard. She was wearing a maroon long sleeve T-shirt bearing a faded emblem of Beacon on the front, as well as a pair of cargo pants. Her eyes caught on the handgun strapped to Ruby's hip, and briefly wondered why she bothered to carry it with her around the house. It also aroused a bit of interest in her. Ever since her brief stint trying to become a huntress in her teens, she had only rarely held a weapon, and, even then, never a firearm. 'Now that I think of it, I don't think I've ever actually fired a gun before. Odd,' she thought.
Ruby spoke up then, "Do you have any preferences for what we should eat? I don't much care, but I know you have a more refined taste than me." Her silver eyes caught the sharp blue, and Weiss found herself a bit surprised and the genuineness she could see there. It was a simple question, asked like it would be from one friend to the next as opposed to an employee to an employer. There was none of the fearful respect that filled the voice of most of her employees, but instead a simple conversational tone. It was not something Weiss knew how to deal with.
She didn't quite know why this sent a small shiver up her spine, but ultimately the CEO ignored it, accepting that the ex-huntress had no ulterior motives for asking her preference. "I don't really care, but let's keep it simple." Not voiced was Weiss's concern that the redhead might accidentally poison her if she had to cook anything too complicated.
"Alright, I can work with simple." Ruby said, before clicking her tongue, presumably running through recipes in her brain. By the time they had arrived at the kitchen, she had apparently decided, "Alright, you guys probably have enough stuff in the pantry to make some pasta, and that's pretty simple. Fettuccini Alfredo, maybe. Sound good?"
Weiss was never the biggest fan of pastas, finding them often a bit too heavy for her palette, but she felt speaking up about it would be rude, so instead she nodded, saying simply, "That is fine."
Her bodyguard grew a small smile on her face, before turning and walking through one of the doors in the kitchen like a woman on a mission. Weiss raised a single eyebrow at that, and crossed her arms. It was not often she came into the kitchen, but she was pretty damn sure Ruby had just walked into a closet full of cleaning supplies.
A second later, Ruby came back out looking sheepish, "You uh, have a lot of soaps." Weiss just looked at her, outwardly stoic, but quietly amused. "Okay, yeah, I have no idea where the pantry is," she motioned around the huge kitchen, "and there's like eight doors in here."
Weiss remained silent, letting her bodyguard squirm a bit. She let a single white eyebrow rise up in faux annoyance before pointing a finger at the door to the pantry. Ruby thanked her, before rushing into the room. Its was a bit frustrating to have to all but hand guide the other woman around the building, but a small part of Weiss found it a bit...funny to be the one showing a trained huntress the ropes. 'That's a new feeling...' she thought.
"Woah, it looks like a warehouse in here!" the redhead shouted from inside that pantry. That made Weiss grimace. She never did see any reason for the excess that her father had insisted on keeping around beyond just flaunting their family's wealth. No one could ever eat as much food as was usually stored in the Schnee mansion. "I doubt Yang could even eat this many potatoes!", she once more called out, only proving Weiss's point.
It was another few minutes before Ruby came out of the pantry, arms laden with ingredients. Weiss watched as the other woman laid out the things that would come together to make the cheesy pasta on the counter. Not wanting to get in the way, Weiss remained on the opposite side of the counter from her assistant-turned-chef. "How do you plan to go about this?" Weiss asked.
Ruby tried to sound somewhat professional, "Well, Miss Schnee, I'm going to do my best to remember how to make this, and we are going to have a nice meal. Now, where are the pots and pans?"
Weiss was not one hundred percent certain where Calvin kept his cookware, so she gave her best guess, "I'm not entirely sure, but check those cabinets behind you." Ruby checked inside of the light blue cabinets, coming out with a single aluminium strainer.
"Well, not what I was looking for, but I'll need this," she said. The next cabinet she checked had what she was looking for, and with an "Aha!" she brought out a saucepan and boiling pot.
It was not often the billionaire actually saw someone prepare food. Most of the time it was simply delivered to her via waiter at a restaurant or Calvin at the manor. She was quietly intrigued in watching her bodyguard go about crushing and slicing garlic cloves when the redhead spoke up, "You know, this was actually a recipe my Dad would do from time to time at home."
This...was actually fairly intriguing to Weiss. She was aware that her upbringing was fairly unorthodox, and had never really understood how 'normal' families operated beyond what she could glean from her books. "Really? The sauce was his recipe?" she asked.
The redhead grinned, happy memories coming to mind, "Yeah, he always hated the canned stuff, so he started making his own. He always said 'You had to make something with your own hands for it really to be worth anything.'"
'Well, my father certainly didn't share that ideology,' the CEO thought. This talk of fathers, though, had her attention much more so than the uncomfortable idle conversation of the previous night. Careful to not even a little eagerness show for fear of looking childish, Weiss nodded along and asked, "Was he a cook?"
Ruby took a knife and cut into a block of butter, adding it to the pan, "Nope, he's a Huntsman, though he's all but retired now. He started working as a teacher at SIgnal Academy a few years ago."
"Ah, so he was just the cook in your family?" she asked, tempering her interest. She took care not to show any kind of weakness here, and did her best to remain neutrally polite as she had for so many years.
At this, he smile turned rather sad. Still though, she didn't miss a beat with her task. After a moment, she said, "Yeah, he didn't really have a choice though. My mother died when I was young."
"Oh," was all Weiss could say, her own mind flashing back against her will to a few years ago.
Fire, roaring in the night, flames so high they seemed to lick the very clouds, twisted metal yielding to the flames-
She clenched her teeth, forcing her mind back to where she wanted it. After a second, the tension was put once more deep into her mind where it belonged. Even so, Weiss felt for the other woman, a feeling she was not very familiar with. "You...I am sorry for your loss, really."
Ruby's eyebrows shot up, obviously not expecting the emotion in the normally icy woman's voice. After a moment, however, the feeling was gone and Ruby sighed, beginning to mix the slowly forming sauce in the pan. "Thank you, but I'm fine," her smile was genuine, "It was a long time ago, and I've long since finished mourning her. I do miss her though."
They were silent for a moment, and Ruby began to stir the sauce, which was coming together. She glanced over at the pot of water for the noodles, seeing that it was boiling. Weiss saw her brow furrow. She knew enough about cooking to know that sauces needed to be constantly stirred. Deciding to be polite, the Schnee woman asked, "Do you need some help?"
Ruby looked a bit hesitant to let her boss help her cook, but relented on account of her lack of a third arm. "Ah, yeah, could you stir the sauce while I deal with the pasta?"
Weiss nodded, and moved to Ruby's side of the counter and got behind the oven. She could feel the heat coming off of the gas flame, but it wasn't too uncomfortable. She picked up the spoon, and looked at the bubbling fluid with a slight grimace. Though she despised looking weak or inexperienced, she had learned that it was better than making a fool of herself by trying to do something she didn't know how to do. "I must confess, I am not sure how to do this."
Luckily, Ruby understood that, though her boss was an intelligent woman, she grew up having all the menial household tasks done for her, and had anticipated something like this. Consciously trying to make her voice sound understanding rather than condescending, she said, "It's easy. Here, look." She took a step toward her, and reached her hand for her boss's on instinct.
It was all Weiss could do not to flinch away when her guard drew close. She hated when people touched her, with the only exception being her sister. It was something she had learned to grit her teeth and bear over the course of her life, as few people saw fit to respect her personal space over the years. She had long since mastered the art of hiding those type of reactions, though, and none of her body language ever betrayed her, this time included.
Only, the contact never came. Ruby's hand hovered a few inches over where her own gripped the wooden spoon, close enough to show what the bodyguard intended to do. Kindly, the redhead asked, "May I?"
The CEO blinked. 'She...asked for permission?' she thought, thrown off by the unexpected kindness. She wasn't used to that kind of...respect. It took Weiss a moment to process this, her heart beating in an odd way what was not entirely unpleasant. When she spoke, her voice came out slightly softer than she intended, "Go ahead."
Ruby smiled and laid her hand over Weiss's.
Ruby's hand was pleasantly warm, a bit rough from calluses that Weiss attributed to her years as a huntress, but still soft enough to feel almost...nice.
"See, like this," her assistant said, guiding her hand and spoon into the saucepan, stirring in slow, smooth motions. "Just keep up that motion, slowly." her voice was almost close enough for Weiss to feel on her skin, and it made something in her shudder, though not in an entirely unpleasant way, "Just enough to keep it from sticking, but not too hard, or it'll splash."
"Okay, I think I understand," the white-haired woman said, continuing the motion as the other woman withdrew. Some small, bizzare part of her missed the contact.
For a few minutes, the worked quietly as the scent of cheesy sauce filled the air. The silence was somewhat awkward, but much less so than the previous night.
Weiss expected having to sit through the whole process of cooking a meal would feel like an eternity, but as Ruby piled up fettuccine noodles and alfredo sauce in bowls, she found herself wondering where the past thirty minutes or so had gone. 'How strange…' she thought. It made her a bit uncomfortable to think that she had lost track of time, but decided it didn't matter.
Ruby picked up each of the two bowls carefully, and said cheerfully, "I don't know about you, Miss Schnee, but I am ready to eat."
"Yes, let's," she said shortly, not thinking anything else needed to be said.
Ruby was beginning to get used to the clipped responses. They still put her down a bit, but she knew she would have to get past it if she ever wanted to enjoy her job working for the outwardly icey woman. She put the bowls on a tray, along with silverware and two drinks.
The two women made their way to the dining room, and Ruby quickly set their food down. Placing Weiss's white wine at the head of the table and her water at its right hand, the sat down to eat.
Weiss looked at the meal. It smelled wonderful, and nothing about it looked bad. Additionally, she didn't notice her guard do anything odd while preparing the dish. She had no reason to doubt its safety, yet some part of her still told her not to eat it, that it was dangerous, that she her bodyguard wasn't trained to cook. She shook her head, doing her best to clear those thoughts. 'She's already made it for me, and I agreed to let her. It would be rude not to eat.' she reasoned. Carefully, she picked up her fork, unaware of the silver eyes watching her cautiously .
Just as the Schnee was building the courage to begin eating, her assistant cleared her throat. Blue eyes snapped over to Silver, annoyed at the interruption. "You don't have to eat it, you know. I get that you were raised differently than I was, so if you don't feel comfortable, it's not too late to go out to a restaurant," Ruby said, doing her best not to sound patronising.
The annoyance on Weiss's face faded away like dew before the morning sun. 'That's very considerate of her,' she thought, before glancing back down at her plate, 'Damnit, I am going to eat this.' "No, that is fine," she began, "You already made this, I should eat it."
Without further ado, Weiss scooped up her first bite of pasta and put it in her mouth. It was rich and creamy, and had something else to it that Weiss couldn't quite put her finger on. After she swallowed, she looked back to her bodyguard and said, "This is very good, Miss Rose. You said it was your father's recipe?"
Once her boss had began eating, so did Ruby. She swallowed the bite in her mouth before answering, "Yeah, he would always make this whenever he got home from a mission, or whenever we had some kind of occasion in the house."
Weiss actually felt oddly compelled to keep this conversation going. It was rare that she ever wanted to hold up any sort of correspondence with another person beyond business, and it was a strangely pleasant feeling. "Was your father away often?" she asked politely, genuinely curious.
The redhead shrugged, "Off and on, really. After mom died, he tried to stay home as much as he could, but we still needed to eat."
Weiss frowned. That seemed rather irresponsible, leaving children alone like that. She toyed around with the thought of voicing her thoughts before deciding against it. 'It would be rather rude to insult her father, probably,' she thought.
Regardless of Weiss's inner thoughts, Ruby answered her unspoken question, "I mean, he didn't exactly leave us alone. It was me and my sister, Yang, at the very least once Yang was old enough to watch me. Usually, though, our uncle would come over for a week or so and cover for him."
Words seemed to come from Weiss's mouth of their own volition, "Ah, whenever my father was away on business I was usually just left with the staff of the manor with my siblings." Her eyes widened imperceptibly, and a small maelstrom of thoughts blasted through her head, 'What the hell was that? Why the hell did I tell her that?! What on Remnant…' She never spoke without a plan. Every syllable was planned and articulated with some intention in mind and with risks assessed. She hadn't just...blurted something out like that in years -the back of her father's hand had taught her that lesson.
The ex-huntress was completely oblivious to her boss's thoughts, and kept talking, "He would watch us pretty often. He actually tutored me in fighting for the longest time before I...uh, went off to Beacon." She stopped there, suddenly falling silent.
Ruby's sudden silence is what drew Weiss away from her inner turmoil. Her pale blue eyes scanned her employee, searching for something. Ruby took an awkward bite of her pasta in the silence. Weiss may not have been the best at dealing with people on any level but professional, but she knew the queues for when a topic needed to be avoided.
Usually, Weiss would simply allow the conversation to end there, but after listening to the other woman talk so animatedly about her family it seemed wrong for her to just fall silent. In a near-unheard-of turn of events, Weiss decided to urge the conversation along, "How was your uncle?"
Outwardly surprised, a pair of silver eyes jolted up to mean inwardly stressed blue. It took Ruby a second to process the unexpected question before she spoke up, "He was nice enough, I guess. Had a pretty bad drinking problem, though. I say 'had', but he still does it. He was always good to us though." She looked thoughtful for a moment, "It wasn't until later on that I understood why he drank. He had this tendency to get really snarky whenever he had a bit of liquor in him too." She smirked slightly.
Ruby didn't seem keen on continuing that line of thought, though. "My sister, Winter, knew someone like that. I remember when she would come home on leave she would always complain about this one man who had the same problems as your Uncle. I never did catch his name, though," She consciously regulated every word, doing her best to preserve the disarmingly pleasant conversation without losing control again.
"Oh, really? Well, I hope for her sake he didn't bug her too much." Ruby said, taking another bite of the creamy pasta, "Uncle Qrow always had a tendency to tick off people, too."
"Did he ever frustrate you?" the CEO asked.
Mouth full, Ruby shook her head. After swallowing, she explained, "Not much, really. By the time I was old enough to care about his drinking I had already accepted it as just who he was." She was quiet for a moment more, before a smile creeped onto her face, "He always hated my taste in music, though, and that could get kind of annoying."
That brought back a memory from earlier in the day, and Weiss had to, to her surprise, force herself to suppress a smile. She succeeded, and managed to keep her face neutral as she said, "Like that song you were listening too earlier while exercising?"
Ruby chuckled awkwardly and rubbed the back of her head, a habit she had retained from her teenage years, and said, "Yeah, I've always had a thing for pop music. I like other stuff too, but something about it just works for me." She seemed to have some kind of realization then, as she hurriedly continued, "Oh, uh, If you don't want me playing music on the intercom, it's fine. Or even if you don't like pop music, I'll bring some headphones with me next time!"
Weiss brought up her wineglass, taking a sip of the expensive beverage in order to hide the sly smile she could feel growing in her cheeks. "No, using the sound system is fine. No one else will need it. I don't mind the songs either." She set her glass down, her competitive side feeling a profound sense of satisfaction on what she was sure would be a bombshell for her new employee. She met Ruby's eyes as she said, "It would be rather counter-intuitive if I did, considering that I was the one who sung that song you were listening to."
The bodyguard's silver eyes grew to the size of saucers, and her cheeks colored a slight pink. "Oh! Uh, oh my gosh, I didn't realize that I was-wow, that must have been weird walking in on that! I had no idea that was your song, really!" Her hands played through her hair nervously, not worried that Weiss would be mad, but rather just embarrassed. 'Shit, that must have made me look so weird, like I was stalking her past or something! Damn it!' the redhead thought.
Weiss found herself amused. In fact, she almost laughed, but clamped down on that impulse like a bear trap. As much as she found she enjoyed seeing the ex-huntress unbalanced, she figured it would be rude to leave her feeling awkward for too long, "It's no problem, Miss Rose. I don't mind if you listen to my old music."
Relieved that her boss didn't seem to want to tease her about this, Ruby sighed, "Okay, that's a relief. I was worried I had offended you or something."
Weiss shook her head and said, "Really, it is fine." Weiss took another sip from her drink, letting the topic fall for fear of failing to suppress her own fluctuating feelings. 'This is bizarre, why am I losing my control over my emotions?' she worried, her mind conflicted between being flustered at her newfound lack of self control and accepting the company of the other woman and simply enjoying herself.
With no obvious answer coming to her, the CEO decided that for now, she would simply do her best and think about this later on. Her mind was temporarily appeased by this, but some unease still sat in her stomach. She did not know what was happening to her, and, for lack of anything else to do, she brought her wineglass up and took a long drink from it.
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Their dinner continued on like that for a few minutes more, the two women eating and talking about nothing of real importance until the hour had grown late and their bellies became full. Weiss's internal struggle continued to conflict with the enjoyment she felt, and she was eager to retreat back to the quiet of her room where she knew what was what. Once Ruby had thrown out what pasta the slight atlesian didn't eat and washed both bowls, they each retired to their respective rooms.
"Goodnight, Miss Schnee," Ruby said, suppressing the satisfied smile when her boss replied in same. Ruby shut her bedroom door and leaned back against it. It wasn't joy that she was feeling, but Ruby did feel quite content with the progress she had made today. As it was, her boss seemed much less reserved than on the previous night. 'At this rate,' she thought, 'I may even manage to make a friend out of her. Eventually. Probably. Maybe. We'll see.'
Pleased with herself, Ruby set about her nightly preparations. Somewhere deep inside of her heart, she dared to hope for the future, a feeling that had long since been vacant. As she reached for her toothbrush, however, a sharp tightness in her left shoulder checked that feeling, reminding her that nothing was ever guaranteed.
Ruby sighed, doing her best to push down the melancholy building in her chest, which was doing its best to smother that little flicker of hope. 'This will be different,' she told herself, praying that the thought was true.
She went to bed that night not happy, but hopeful for her time here. The silence weighed on her, but she fell asleep easy enough, with the knowledge that tomorrow would not be spent idle.
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Weiss sighed, finally letting her guard fully down now that she was alone once more. She sat down on her bed and held her face in her hands. She stayed like that for a time, letting the mental tension that had been building up over the last few hours slowly leak from her. She shook her head and reached down to finally take off her heels.
For the first time that night, she noticed that the chill that usually suffused her was gone, instead replaced by a feeling that was almost...warm.
The feeling sat high up in her chest sent a strangely pleasant tingle down her spine. A part of her reveled in this, but a larger part of herself was frustrated. She huffed out a sigh, shaking her head angrily at herself, 'What the hell was that?' She all but tore the tie she used to keep her hair up off of her head, and ran her hands over her face. 'Why was I so...extroverted! I couldn't even control my own face!' she thought, her mind flashing back to her almost-laugh.
She began to roughly undress herself, eager to get out of her dress and into her more comfortable nightwear. Once she was down to just her undergarments, she pulled a soft sleeping gown over her head. All the while, this feeling of frustration was building up pressure inside of her like a kettle about to boil over, and when she finally laid down in her bed, her hands came up to her face.
She found her cheeks to be uncomfortably warm, and, upon thinking back to the events of the day, found she had the strangest urge to both laugh and cry all at once. It was bizarre, and unlike anything the woman had ever felt before. 'What on Remnant is happening to me?'
'It must be because of Miss Rose,' she reasoned, 'That's the only thing that's changed, really, aside from Calvin leaving.' A shot of regret was added to the swirling cocktail of emotions currently confusing Weiss with the thought, 'I should never let Winter convince me to do this!' She rolled over onto her side, confused and bitter towards herself and not knowing exactly why.
She had an urgent need to find the root of whatever was causing her to feel so confused, which brought her back to her previous line of reasoning, 'It's because of that woman, it has to be! No, no, it's not her fault. Not really. It must have been my own actions, then! I was behaving so strangely, and now I'm paying for it because I allowed myself to get too damn comfortable around a woman who I barely know. If I don't let myself to act like that, then maybe I will feel better.'
The analytical part of her brain was temporarily appeased by this, seeing it as both logical and correctable. Though, it is a rare day when someone's brain and heart both function in tandem, so her mind being appeased did very little to calm the warring emotions in her breast. She curled up where she lay, and didn't have any ability to do anything but weather the storm her own heart had pulled over her.
In a moment of weakness, she lifted her hands away from her face and looked at them in the moonlight. They glistened with moisture, and it was only then that Weiss felt the tears on her face. 'Why am I like this?' she asked herself, but the answer to that question was much too complex to be solved in one night. The tears continued, and the woman who tried so hard for all of her life to be strong, broke down and cried quietly in the silence, alone and confused.
Not once that night, as the ice crept back into her heart, did she remember the genuine smile she wore just an hour earlier in the presence of her bodyguard. It took a long time for Weiss to fall asleep that night, and she welcomed the blissful oblivion of sleep.
At least tomorrow, she would be back to work.
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A/N:
Jesus Christ, guys, this chapter took forever to come out. I have no excuse, aside from simply my own lack of work ethic and life things getting in the way. I can't say that the next chapter will come any quicker, but it will come.
I hope you enjoyed, and don't forget to review! My one gripe with how fanfiction works is that it doesn't have a 'kudos' system like Ao3. If there was a simple 'like' feature for chapters, it would be incredibly helpful in showing authors that their work is bing appreciated.
For the first few chapters, one can tell the popularity of their work based on followers, but people can only follow once, and few who read a chapter will review it, so it created the illusion that an author's work is getting less popular, even though it is just that most readers have already followed the work. That is why, at this time, reviewing is so important to authors. So yeah, that's been nagging me for a while, and now it's been said.
ANYWAY, chapter 7 is now out, and 8 is on the way.
Eventually.
Seriously, though, I think my cousin, Alisa, may just dissect me if I don't start writing it soon, hehehe, so I'll try and do better with updating.
Hope y'all enjoyed this!