"Order anything you like, Ruby." As for herself, what should she have? The burgers are so large that the only way to eat them would be resort to barbaric behavior, so they're out of the question. After all, she would hate to embarrass herself in front of her crush. The white oriented girl admitted to herself with a bit of a rose tinge to her features. On the topic of barbaric foods, ribs are definitely out of the question. There's no way to tear the flesh off another animal of their bones without looking savage. Let alone, the awkward curvature allowed for the tender meat to smear its tangy sauce on her face. Maybe she will just have to settle for a salad. Why even go out to a nice restaurant if one is only going to eat the most basic of foods? With a sigh, Weiss decided that was also out of the question.
Having been so absorbed in her menu and thoughts, the white heiress failed to notice the waitress who had approached their table. A ghost of a feeling brushed her fingers and hand. Startled she let out a small yelp and dropped the menu, only then noticing the patient waitress.
"Are you ready to order miss?" she asked with a small, but void smile.
"U-uh, not yet, but could we get some drinks first?"
"Of course! What would you like?" Still smiling a mirthless smile.
"I'll take a raspberry lemonade please."
The waitress jotted what could logically be assumed to be Weiss's order. "Alright, and for you, miss?" now having directed her attention to Ruby. Her voice had a subtle change to it. While she was friendly before, she now gave off the air of genuine happiness. Her smile no longer professionally placed, but a genuine gesture of her own. This ever-so-subtle changed rubbed the "Ice Queen's" feathers wrong.
"Milk." Curt, quiet, but clear. Again, the waitress quickly wrote down the response. Not deterred by the despondent gem response, the waitress pressed for more from the red girl.
"And can I interest you in any of our appetizers? There's a special going on today and the rest of this week; buying two appetizers gets you a free dessert of your choice." smile unwavering. To anyone else, she would just be a friendly waitress, but to Weiss, the waitress was predator, and Ruby the prey.
As the heiress of the largest Dust company on Remnant, Weiss had been drilled on every subject even remotely related to business politics; reading people was one of the more useful talents she picked b "We will take the cactus flower* and mozzarella sticks as our appetizers, and for the dessert that comes from the deal, the cookie pie." Weiss cut in.
More recording, this time, the writing was darker. "I'll let the kitchen know." The plastered smile hid a challenge behind rose-red, upturned lips. "I'll be back shortly with your appetizers."
Weiss stared after her. Now that the threat was gone, Weiss could focus on more important things. Like the feather-light touch she hadn't noticed. The whisper of contact on her hand; delicate and weightless, it could be mistaken for a hair. Steeling herself, Weiss turned to look at the source. Two hands, one's hers. Electrifying. Now that her suspicion was confirmed, wherever there was contact, her nerves burned cold. As heat rushed to her face, a chill raced to her spine. Short-lived high. Just as the two feelings reached their locations, the contact vanished. In a fluid U-turn, they plummeted down and out, leaving the young Shnee feeling an emotional roller coaster she couldn't help but feel like getting back in line for.
Two eyes, one scarred; met one silver eye, still void of feeling. Despite her heightened sense of awareness towards other's intentions, the white-haired heiress couldn't make out the enigma that was Ruby Rose.
Perhaps there aren't any intentions, Weiss thought glumly.
"Here are your appetizers and drinks." Two sets of one plate and one cup lightly clattered onto the tabletop in their respective places. "Are you two ready to order, or do you need a bit longer?"
I was so stupidly awestruck by that dolt that I didn't look through! Good going Weiss. Now you're going to look slow and stupid in front of Ruby and this stupid, testing, disrespectful, bi-
The menu was taken out from under the fair girl's sleeves. It had been collected by her competitor, but she wasn't the one that had stolen it from underneath.
"Wait, I need a some more time. I don't know what I wa-"
"Your friend ordered for you." The waitress was baiting her. Egging her to respond with fury.
"I see." With slight nod, the waitress returned to the kitchen.
White looked to Red, one silver eyebrow raised in question.
"Soup-prise." Her date deadpanned. Weiss let out a groan, reminded of a certain, annoying, brawler. Looking at the food for the first time, Weiss noticed that the "cactus flower" looked much like a rose. It's going to be a long date.
Cactus flower: circle arrangement of half onion rings on a platter, usually tight in the center and loosening out as it stretches away. It gives the impression of doing a sit-up. When up, tight in the middle; when down, loose.
/Home/
"Hey, Blake." The brawler was tense.
"Hm, yeah, Yang?" Blake put her book down, something was wrong.
"It's about Ruby." The faunus's eyes widened at the name, her cheeks a bit red, but not from the sun she was in.
"Wh-what, about her?" Smooth Blake, real smooth. The faunus critiqued herself.
"... I… I'm scared. I don't know if I'm scared of her, for her, by her, but, just… There's just, I can't." Yang drew in deeply, "I know Ozpin said she was different and would need patience, love, and time. I get that. But, what I saw. I… she… she scares me. My own baby sister scares me, Blake." The blonde looked down at the grass between her legs. The black and yellow pair had decided to go outside into the backyard because it was sunny. Something about being outside, free, made Yang open.
"Oh… why… why would you be scared of her? I mean, I know she's changed, and looks intimidating. Not to mention the fact that she rarely shows any emotion at all. Despite this, she still cares about us and would protect us." That last bit caused Blake to blush. The idea of her leader, standing over her, protecting her, it was a comfort for sure, but also an embarrassing fantasy.
"Well… it's just… ok. When I took her out to the forest, we came face-to-face with an Ursa. No big deal. Except, it didn't blindly attack us like the ones around its age would. It stopped short of us and stared. First at me, then at Ruby. After a while of staring at Ruby, it left ad though it were scared of her. Backing away slowly so as not to provoke excitement, keeping it's eyes on her the entire time, staying low. It treated Ruby like she was some sort of Alpha it had just offended. Now, I'm not scared that, like, the more apt-to-attack Grimm are getting smarter, I can handle Grimm. Like I said, I'm scared of Ruby. Scared of my little sister." Deep exhale. Apparently Yang was really stressed over this.
"What's there to be afraid of? Sure an unnatural behavior of Grimm presented itself around Ruby, but that's correlation. We don't have any evidence that it was Ruby that caused it to back out." Reasonable, but what Yang said did unnerve her. It was certainly strange of a Grimm to back down.
"Yeah… guess you're right." A short breath of relief from the blonde. "but, there's something else. And this is what really scares me. Remember when Ruby would dash around Beacon with her semblance? And how she would always just be a blur and rose petals?" While the question was rhetorical, Blake still nodded. A small smile on her face. Most of her fondest memories had been of the eternally hyper leader rushing around to be with, help, and sometimes even tackle, her friends. "Well, after the Ursa, six beowolves rushed in. One was an alpha. They spread out into their attack pattern, surrounding us from a safe distance. Which would give them the attacking advantage and force us to be on the defensive, right?" Blake recalled her studies of the mutant mutts of darkness. They liked to either wear down their prey or strategically overwhelm them with simultaneous attacks from multiple sides. "I didn't so much as blink. I… they… Blake, the six beowolves were dead and vanishing before I could even realize it. I was watching the whole time. The entire time. Not once did I take my eyes off the situation in any form. Which means, Ruby bit only moved to each of the six beowolves before my brain could even process it, but she also killed them." A shudder had escaped the bruiser. Not out of sadness, but fear.
"So? She got a bit faster over the years? That's to be expected right? Tough training and situations bring the strong to rise." As much as Blake wanted to admit it, she herself had become worried about Ruby. It was enough to ease her partner a bit further though, so it wasn't a complete loss.
"I guess that's true. She always was one to excel." A sad smile lit up the brawler as she reminisced. "But…" back to being gloomy again, Blake internally sighed. "When I saw her again. When I saw her standing over the fading alpha. I could only feel despair and darkness. Then she looked at me… her eye… her eye had something else in it. Something beyond hatred or- or, adrenaline, fear, anger, sadness, vengeance, it was darker than that, Blake. It was bloodlust. She enjoyed killing them."
"You always put up a smirk when you fight, though." Blake tried to reason and avoid the real issue. She knew her partner just liked the combat portion of things. She also knew that her partner needed to have some support in this, so Blake opted to ignore the growing pit in her gut.
"I like the fight. She liked the killing." Lilac eyes met Amber ones, they both knew there was no comfort to be found. Their leader is a monster, after all.
/Restaurant/
"You dolt, I was supposed to pay." A grumbling Weiss sat sulking on her chair. She had taken Ruby out in an attempt to grow closer, but the only she knew how was through money. How was she going to her the aggravatingly attractive girl of her dreams now! Especially with all the others that want in on the competition. The nerve! Throughout the entire dinner, Weiss would catch flirtatious glances being thrown at her date! She nearly lost it and froze the entire restaurant when the bothersome waitress came over with a dozen chocolate strawberries saying they were a gift from one of the other guests. Whether that was true or not, Weiss hated the fact that the waitress had handed Ruby such an obvious gift of infatuation… right in front of her! No class. No class at all. Everyone in the building just wants to bang her sweet Rose… wait… everyone… that includes me. I don't want to bang her! She's my friend and leader! It would be so wrong! So… so fulfilling... Weiss really had it bad for her partner. A blush had gathered on her face at the lewd thought. Or anger. Or both.
"OK?" the raspy angelic voice from her partner clearly sounded above the chatter around them despite being so quiet. Weiss looked up, not realising she had been sulking staring at the table.
She closed her eyes for a moment before letting out. "Hm? Yeah, I'm fine." She let out with an annoyed eye roll. Of course she wasn't O.K. everything in her wants to get in her date's skirt. Which really accentuated her toned legs and fair complexion. She did look quite stunning even wearing something so simple. It just wasn't fair that something so beautiful had to be so horribly tainted, she sighed. Suddenly, her forehead felt a slight pressure against. Something that blocked the light out a and pressed her hair to her face. Something that had a sweet, hit breath of hits own which lightly tickled her lips. Something that caused all this in the first place. Ruby had pressed their foreheads together. Still utterly void of any emotions, the red girl's face was partially up against Weiss's. A single silver whirlpool gazed into a scarred blue one.
Finally registering the predicament they were in, Weiss's face became several shades redder and about a hundred degrees warmer. "D-dolt!" She pushed into Ruby hoping to get her off, but she was met with solid resistance. Her hands found something soft, and instead of the push being just a brush-off moment of contact with something so delicate, they lingered for a moment. Ruby had grown taller than herself. Shock settled in. "You idiot!" she pushed herself away instead. Her heart beating faster than after a long sprint. Blinking slowly, Weiss tried to calm herself. Deep breath. She opened her eyes again. It was quiet. She glanced around the room, all eyes on the pair of unlikely partners. For the most part, the eyes were filled with envy, some had hints of other feelings such as embarrassment or anger. Envy for what? The feel she got off on the Rose or the close contact they shared. Her face became scarlet once more. She crossed her arms over her chest with an indignant sniff before lowering them to her sides as she stomped out. Long date indeed.
Once outside in the cool dusk air, Weiss sighed in relief. That had been absolutely disastrous! What was that dolt thinking! Putting her face that close. It took an exhausting effort to resist pulling that irritatingly beautiful dolt into a heated kiss. This crush of hers was nauseating. With a deep sigh, she let it all go as she looked up. The lingering light burned shades of violet, pink, and blue. She looked eastward towards the setting sun. It was sinking slowly into oblivion, and with it the light and warmth. To her, Ruby was the sun. Well, she had been. The dolt had been her first real friend. First person to show genuine love for others and unconditional compassion. Weiss was such a sappy and hopeless romantic. A third sigh.
A breeze stirred by. Like two lovers, the night brought the cold, and it held hands with the wind which brought the desire to share their love with the world. Weiss let out an involuntary shiver. Suddenly, a comforting weight was placed around her shoulders. Curious hands seeking adventure found it to be a red cloak. Another breeze sharing it's love. Instinctively, she drew the cloak close around her. It smelled of roses.
She hadn't even heard her date step up to her. The crinkling of a napkin and paper drew the blue eyes to investigate. Ruby's hands were crumpling up several white napkins and slips of paper. In question, a silver eyebrow rose above the other.
"Numbers." came the reply from the unasked question.
"Numbers? Phone numbers?" A feeling like an internal punch to the abdomen presented itself in full dignity; a pang to the heart and a hand around the throat.
A silent nod. The hands had stopped crinkling. Then raised so Weiss could see. There's got to be everybody that was in there and their sister's numbers! Despite herself, Weiss couldn't help but feel jealous, she had no right to. Ruby could do as she pleased. Without warning, the papers became a warm orange light. It danced the scythe-wielder's hand like a puppet. As there was such quick burning fuel, it would die quickly. It's last moment, it flashed into a familiar shape before winking out of existence. It left behind a smile pile of ash. The blank silver eye stared on into a scarred blue one, almost expectantly. Almost.
"You dolt. While that trick was pretty neat, it takes more than cheap parlor tricks to win me over. Now let me see your hand, we have to treat the burns before they blister. As it was not a long exposure or hot flame, just some simple burn ointment or cold water will do." Weiss took the recently burning hand into her own and squinted in the dying light. It wasn't even warm. In fact, it was the opposite. Tentatively, the snow heiress prodded the palm. Cold. Curious, she grabbed the hand on either side and ran her thumbs gently across the surface. Cold. Looking up, she was expecting a silver eye to be looking down at her. Instead, that eye was directed towards an alley.
Without warning, the hand lifted itself free and behind its owner. Fearing she had messed up, Weiss opened her mouth to speak an apology. A ghostly stirring of the wind was the only indication movement had happened. A hand full of nearly black rose petals drifted to the ground where another handful stood waiting. As the last petal touched down, the sun finally sunk below the cliffs.
Blinking several times, emotions finally boiled into comprehension. Anger, guilt, lingering jealousy, doubt, sadness, regret. The most prevalent manifested itself with a shout, "Are you serious, right now!?" Accompanied by the stamping of her foot in misguided vehemence. She looked up, sighed, looked down once more. What should she do? Should she wait to see if Ruby comes back? Should she just go home? Should she call someone? Groaning in frustration, she walked over and sat on a waiting bench in front of the food place. She supposed it wouldn't hurt to wait a few minutes to see if her partner came back.
As time ticked by, the darkness grew. By the time Weiss decided to head home, darkness had wholly blanketed the sky. With a sigh she stood up. She had probably waited ten minutes, at least. That's fair, right?
Walking alone in the dark is eerie no matter who you are. This is true even for Weiss Shnee. The choking silence did not help in any way. In fact, being able to hear her own heartbeat while walking, only made the pounding in her ears hasten. The sound of glass crashing and men grunting in pain nearly scared Weiss out of her skin. Men were shouting and more grunts were heard. Speed walking to the corner, she ran into a particular criminal with shaggy orange hair and winged eyeliner. He seemed to have the desire of being a pimp of the bowler-esque cap and cane were anything to go by. Recovering from the shock, Weiss went to draw her rapier. Nothing. Fear sprouted and flooded her veins with its deadly, paralyzing poison. An abrupt laugh.
"Aww, man. This is great. I needed an escape seeing how my other one was so rudely incapacitated" the scoffing man glared at the sound of the lessening grunts. His eyes widened for a brief moment. Desperately, he grabbed for Weiss, she would be upon him any second. Those goons were not worth the brass he put up for them. Struggling to get her into his hold. The last groan was heard. It was over.
Instincts fought back as her mind was still numbed with fear. Blindly, her arms flailed. Any and all attempts to block the opposition's arms were enacted. Contact between the enemy's arms and her own abruptly stopped. Clicking, Weiss saw he had given up. His arms raised above his head, as he tried his best not to tremble.
Red was different. Aside from having matured, something was off about her. Whatever it was, sent chills down his spine. He had raised his hands above his head in surrender, hoping that she would let him go to prison. Glancing around the corner, he was appalled. Everyone of his goons were lying on the ground. The vibrating smell of blood shadowed the air.
In the middle of all the carnage stood a monster, and in her all-too-capable hands was a seven foot, high impact sniper rifle, scythe. With one hand, she twirled the center with her fingers behind her back, after the circular motion picked up enough speed to maintain itself, she let go. Scythe still spinning behind her, it will take but a second to fall onto the ground. She calmly wiped her hands on her sides, lashed her left hand out and grabbed it once more. Immediately stopping, the momentum carried forward and something indistinguishable flicked onto the ground, however, several small specks spattered her face. Silver eye pierced the darkness and met the lined ones at the corner.
His mouth ran dry as her silver gaze pierced his soul. He tried to gulp down his fear, put it lodged in his throat. He stared onward in mute horror. She was taking deliberately slow steps. Maybe he could run. Run where? Run somewhere. Just somewhere else. Away from this hellish fiend afore him. No, he couldn't possibly make it anywhere before she was on top of him. Taking a calming breath, his senses cleared. Wailing in the distance were sirens. For once, he wished the law enforcement were here. Silver and black filled his view. She had gotten tired of walking, apparently. In his greatest effort, he meekly looked back into the eye and mask of the demon. Nothing. There is not a hint of anything in that soul-wrenching silver stare. Well, almost nothing. Beneath the surface of the cold eye was gut wrenching. The passionless eye was hungry for blood. Starving for it despite having just painted half the city with it. Closer, the sirens wept louder, but not loud enough. He had to stall. "Red. It's been awhile." He took a step back. "How have you been?" Another step. For every step he took, the tension grew.
She stared on in confusion. Why would Torchwick suddenly stop? What was going on? Who's Red? Her view of this Red character was obstructed by the corner. He was talking to this Red character like they're an impossibly dangerous Grimm. The thought alone caused Weiss's palms to sweat. He kept taking steps backwards, maybe this Red person will step into view. Torchwick's heel was along the curb. As far back as he can go without going into the street. With silent intrigue, she stared on with slight apprehension. She should be leaving if Roman was afraid, she would be mortified. Mechanical clicking and sliding sounded from around the corner, knowing that her vision couldn't pierce bricks, Weiss decided to piece the story together by analyzing Roman. His rambling had stopped and he tensed everything. His arms are still above his head and his eyes were wide with surprise.
Once she put away her weapon, I felt the ache on my arms. I couldn't hold the up much longer. I slowly lowered my arms, slowly, oh so painstakingly slow did they descend. Once they were at his side again, the sirens suddenly became louder than the deafening beat in his ears. Glancing behind him, he sighed a breath of relief. Four cop cars and an ambulance. They're going to need more than one ambulance. Turning his gaze back towards the Reaper, or, what should have been towards the the red-oriented huntress. Scrunching his brow, he looked towards the White one, also gone. "On your knees, hands behind your head." Kneeling down, he bit back a curse when the cuffs tightly fitted around his wrists, did he know how much this suit costs No? More than his life. With half the mind to kill the offending officer, the thought was quickly banished when a breeze picked up and carried a blood-splattered, practically black rose petal into view. Strange, last he had seen her, they were more of a red or scarlet. Of course when he had last seen her, she didn't lust for blood and wore her emotions on her cloak. "What happened to you, Red?"