Ruby nervously drummed her fingers on the steering wheel, her mind a million miles away. It had been a little over a month since she had met Weiss, and things were… nice. Very nice. Ruby couldn't remember a time when she was this happy coming home. No, that wasn't entirely true. It had been years since she last thought of this, and she wasn't about to start foolishly chasing after the ghost of her past again. She was better now—it was over.
Shaking her head vigorously to clear her head, Ruby reigned in her train of thought and focused on her current source of happiness: Weiss. Helping the other woman recover brought new purpose and meaning to Ruby's life. Her expenses may have gone up, but she made more than enough to support both her and Weiss comfortably. Simple things that never occurred to Ruby, or rather things she never bothered to pay attention to, became apparent.
Plates, utensils, and other kitchen-wares were purchased the moment Ruby was free. The supermarket was a circle of hell Ruby never wanted to return to, but she made it out alive and it was all thanks to Weiss. And truth be told, Ruby was starting to get sick of take-out and microwave dinners.
The white-haired woman was, for a lack of better words, spectacular. Everything she did was done with a certain je ne sais quoi that Ruby couldn't quite place her finger on. And like a prima ballerina effortlessly crossing her grand stage, or a snowflake swaying with the wind, Weiss flitted through the small apartment—and Ruby's mind—with grace and poise.
"One coffee with cream and five sugars," chimed a familiar voice.
Ruby jumped in her seat, startled out of her wits, and glared furiously at the perpetrator. "Penny!" she yelled, her heart racing in fright. "How many times do I have to tell you to stop popping out of no where?"
"But I was talking to you for the past five minutes," Penny replied with a perplexed expression.
"You were? Oh," Ruby said settling down. She scratched the top of her head and leaned back into her seat. "Sorry, I've been pretty out of it lately."
"Want to tell me what's on your mind, friend?"
"Eh, I dunno." Penny handed Ruby's coffee and watched her take a tentative sip. "It's kind of personal…"
"You can tell me anything!" the ginger haired woman chirped. "That's what friends are for, and we're the bestest of friends."
"I've known you for two weeks."
"Bestest of friends!"
"You can keep saying it, but that doesn't make it true," Ruby grumbled in annoyance.
Penny was about as green as greenhorns could get, and Ruby was unfortunately assigned to show her the ropes. The bright orange-haired woman was about Ruby's age, give or take a few months, and so far the best word she could use to describe her her was "unique".
The reasoning behind it was simple enough to comprehend, if not a little mean. Penny was amazingly athletic, versatile, and intuitive, all traits that would benefit her career in the long run. But the downside was that she had the common sense of someone trying to learn how to be human. Ruby knew there was a story behind Penny's "peculiarities" and it made her a little more tolerant, yet when she pulled stunts like these it made Ruby reconsider her standing.
"Can we just forget I said anything?"
"But you haven't said anything," Penny replied, blinking in confusion.
"Perfect!" Ruby exclaimed. "Let's get going then."
"You do know you've been making this extremely troubled face the entire time, right?" Ruby opened her mouth to deny the allegation, but after catching a glimpse of her reflection in Penny's clear emerald eyes she stopped. "Putting all jokes aside, friend, I'm here and willing to listen."
The sincerity in her voice put Ruby at ease. So in a last ditch effort to retract her earlier statement, Ruby asked, "Promise you won't judge?"
"I'll leave the judging to the judges," Penny laughed, "but if this is illegal I'm gonna hafta cuff'ya!"
"Wait, what?"
"Was my 'joke' ineffective?"
"No," Ruby deadpanned, "it was just bad."
Ruby walked down the path between the parking lot and her apartment, feeling like a ghost in a shell of a body. The morning sun felt like oppressive and bitter, and the birds chirping overhead only sounded like jesters mocking her. And to make matters worse, the conversation she had with Penny still weighed heavy on her mind, draining what little energy and brain power she had left.
But when she pushed open the door to her apartment and stepped inside, she put on a bright smile for the person that waited for her to come home. Weiss sat with her chin in her palm at the small table in the living room, tapping her slender fingers. A small meal sat on the table, just enough for two people.
"Hi Weiss," Ruby greeted, her voice hoarse. "What'd you cook today?"
Weiss smiled. "Pirozkhi. You haven't try it before. Bread buns stuffed with meat and vegetables."
"Sounds delicious. I'll be right back after I change."
"Of course."
Ruby walked into her room and closed the door, then began the tiring process of changing out of her work clothes. The bed looked awfully inviting, but she wanted to spend time with Weiss more than she wanted to sleep. That bed would always be there. Weiss might not.
She re-entered the living room in a baggy t-shirt and a pair of shorts and sat down at the table to a raised eyebrow from Weiss.
"Do you wear anything beside big clothings?" the white-haired girl asked.
"Eh, they're comfortable," Ruby replied with a smirk. "When you're wearing a bulletproof vest all night, stiff clothes just don't feel good when you're trying to relax. Besides, who am I trying to impress?"
She quickly buried herself in her food as she realized that she was actually trying to impress Weiss, but didn't want to say so. She didn't want to scare the other girl off. She seemed so fragile and delicate, like a flower that would wilt and crumble if you clutched it too hard.
"Well how was the night?" Weiss asked.
"Mmmph." Ruby held up her finger and swallowed another bite of her pirozkhi, which was as delicious as anything Weiss made. All of her meals were traditional Russian dishes, but they were fantastic and something Ruby hadn't had much of before.
"It was meh," Ruby said when her throat was clear. "Some guy tried to shoplift a pair of Affliction jeans, and when someone saw they called us in and we caught him. And then it turns out he also had a bunch of meth in his pockets. Like, how stupid do you have to be? Oh yeah, I'm gonna go shoplift and possibly get arrested. Better make sure I have all my illegal drugs on me while I do it."
"He sounds like he has problem with brain," Weiss deadpanned. "Most Americans I have met so far seem to be that way."
"Oof, but what about me?" Ruby asked in mock dejection.
Weiss grinned. "You are exception as far as I can tell."
"As far as you can tell? You've been living with me for a whole month now…"
"You say… the jury is still deciding?"
"It's 'the jury is still out on that one.' It means the decision is still up in the air. But really? You can't tell by now that I'm not some deadbeat with half a brain?"
Weiss took her time chewing and swallowing, then answered. "I am teasing you Ruby. You are my favorite American by far."
Ruby blushed and had to focus on her food. Eventually she raised her head again, and while Weiss was eating, she took an opportunity to study the girl's face. It was beautiful, absolutely gorgeous like sculpted ice. The discoloration was completely gone, and Ruby could tell that her figure was filling out again as well, now that she was eating again.
And even better, her eyes were different too. When she had found Weiss they had been empty and dull, like unpolished glass. But now they seemed to shine a bright, clear blue. The sight made her smile.
"Your smile. What is it for?" Weiss asked.
"O-Oh, nothing, this food is just super good!" Ruby laughed. "Mmm, so at work today, Penny and me got this stuuupid call for a cat stuck up a tree. I'm not even kidding you, it was literally just a cat stuck up a tree. Someone called us for a domestic incident, but it was really just some dude and his girlfriend fighting over how to get this thing down. Dude was afraid of heights and his girlfriend was afraid of cats. Penny was trying to understand how to process the whole thing, and I had to stop her from actually writing an incident report."
Weiss raised an eyebrow. "Why would you stop your… friend from writing a report?"
Ruby recoiled in mock surprise. "Sheesh, are you kidding? Do you know how much stupid paperwork this job already involves? A ton, all so we can't get sued if someone takes us to court for being abusive or some crap. So anyway Penny is trying to take down the whole thing, and I actually had to grab her pen from her and hide it. I swear that girl is one of the craziest people I've ever met."
"But you work with her," Weiss deadpanned without looking up. "So you must like her."
Ruby cocked her head to the side as she put down her fork; she had finished with dinner. "Huh? No, it's not like I have a choice or anything, I just got assigned as her training officer for a while. And I mean I guess I like her, she's really not all that bad once you get past her strange way of speaking. She's really upbeat and positive, and almost overly friendly. But I guess that isn't necessarily a bad thing."
Ruby sighed and rested her chin on her hand, then stared out the living room window at the rising sun. "So huh, yeah I guess I kind of like her. She's a pretty cool person."
With the light of the sun in her vision she didn't notice Weiss' frown, or the way the other girl narrowed her eyes at the last statement. She was too busy thinking about what they could do together; tomorrow was one of her days off.
She loved taking Weiss to new places, seeing how the girl reacted, finding out what she liked and what she didn't. The girl was still a puzzle, but one Ruby felt she was beginning to figure out, piece by piece.
It must have rained recently, although Ruby didn't quite remember it. The sun sparkled off of the water droplets on the window, and the brunette had a sudden idea.
"Hey Weiss," she asked, turning her head to face the other girl with a bright smile. "You ever been to an aquarium?"
Ruby eyed the map of the aquarium critically. "Alright, so they've got… the shark exhibit, the deep sea exhibit, the seals, the tropical fish, and the freshwater exhibit. Exits are…" She pointed them out to Weiss one by one, who was watching over her shoulder. "Here, here, here, aaand here."
"Why do exits concern you?" Weiss questioned.
They were in the lobby of the aquarium, a large open space with ocean designs on the walls, a few glass tanks with various fish in the center, and a large whale skeleton hanging overhead. People milled around them in large and small groups, the shrieks of children competed for attention with the quieter conversations around them, and Ruby did her best to look inconspicuous. She was off-duty, but she still kept her service pistol concealed under her shirt. The way she thought of it, a cop was never truly off duty.
"Eh, it's a cop thing," Ruby said. "It's kind of subconscious by now. In case there's an emergency or a gunman or something, you always need to know the ways in and out of a place."
"Smart," was the white-haired girl's terse reply.
Ruby smiled. "Yeap. Let's get going!"
She grabbed Weiss' hand without thinking and led her out of the aquarium lobby and into the deep-sea exhibit. Her actions caught up with her as she realized how smooth and warm Weiss' hand felt, but it would be too awkward to let it go now. She felt her cheeks heat up, and a small smile graced her face.
Weiss didn't say anything, didn't object, and didn't let go of her hand.
"Ooh, look at that guy! He's got so many teeth!"
Ruby peered through the glass, nearly pressing her face against it. The shark on the other end swarm toward her, and Ruby got a fantastic look at it's six rows of razor sharp teeth before it turned away and swam the opposite direction.
"And oh, look at that one! I think he's called a sawtooth? Look at all the crazy teeth on his long nose thing! I wonder if they're sharp…"
She turned to find Weiss staring at her in apparent amusement. The other girl wore a grin in a fantastic way, and her eyes were lit up like Ruby couldn't ever remember seeing.
"What's so funny?" Ruby laughed.
"Nothing," Weiss replied, then stepped closer to the glass and peered into it. "You are funny when you get excited, that is all."
"Oh am I? Well what about you, I haven't seen you get excited yet!"
Weiss smirked. "Ruby. I am excited."
Ruby's mouth made a little 'o,' and then she turned back to the shark tank. In front of her, a group of leopard sharks circled around each other in a tight ballet.
"Ooh, that's so cool."
"You like sharks?" Weiss asked from beside her.
"I mean yeah, as much as I like any other animal. They're pretty awesome, as far as fish go. I'm not normally a huge fan of them, but sharks are kind of an exception."
Weiss nodded.
"What about you?" Ruby asked.
Weiss turned and looked at her. "Me? I love sharks."
Ruby laughed. "You love sharks? Why is that?"
"They are sleek and fierce, yes?" Weiss replied, turning back to the tank to watch the graceful predators glide through the water. "They are also misunderstood. They do not attacks humans because they want to eat them, they only mistake them for their prey, which are seals. A human from below the water looks much like seal."
"Huh. Well you know there's a seal exhibit too!" Ruby said. "And you can even eat lunch in this cool cafe that sits overlooking the seal area, so you can eat and watch them and all the cute little otters and stuff."
Weiss stood and crossed her arms. "By the way you speak of it, we would eat there even if I objected, yes?"
"Well, I mean, if you didn't want to… no." Ruby said sheepishly. She stood and rubbed the back of her neck. "But it'd be really cool if you did…"
Weiss raised a white eyebrow at her.
Of course, they ended up eating at the cafe overlooking the seal exhibit. The glass walls allowed them to look down on the elephant seals and the like, and since it was a weekday, the aquarium wasn't crowded at all, allowing them the perfect spot. The tables were small and round, the air was cold and clean, and the food was surprisingly delicious.
"Well cmon," Ruby said through mouthfuls of a chicken sandwich, "at leasht you gotta admit da food ish good.
"Talking with your mouth full is rude in most cultures. I do not believe America is different," Weiss replied.
Then she smiled, and Ruby's heart leapt into her throat. "But you are right. The food is decent."