The annual Atlasian fundraiser, orchestrated by the Schnee family every year, was the must-attend event of the year. All the elite would gather in the name of humanity, altruism, kindness and would donate substantial amounts of money to charity. It was supposed to be a grand gesture, akin to a noblesse oblige, for the poor and the destitutes. To show that those on top did care and wealthy didn't often rhyme with greedy.
….Bunch of crap, was what Weiss thought about it. It was just an opportunity to steal a glimpse inside the prestigious Schnee Manor. It's not like they didn't organise parties and galas, but they did it in city halls, galleries or hotels. The manor rarely opened its doors for visitors and those socialite vipers all but jumped on the occasion. After all, who wouldn't want to get inside the house of one of the most prolific families in Atlas.
Jacques jubilated at the attention of course. He even mediatized the event and took it as an opportunity to assert his power by flaunting his wealth. Weiss thought it was ridiculous, and the golden fountain in the middle of the main hall was even more so.
She sipped her champagne as she watched her father laugh pompously. He liked to mingle with the elite, probably securing connections which she should be doing too. But Weiss didn't feel like abiding by his demands lately. She smirked remembering his reaction earlier while she came down the stairs wearing a low cut red dress, red lipstick, ruby red dangling earrings with her hair down, she looked bestial. Which was completely different from the outfit her father had chosen for her. She enjoyed seeing his moustache twitch struggling to hide a frown from his guests. She would probably get an earful later but right now she couldn't care less.
"You wanna dance?" She was brought out of her thoughts by Henry Marigold's voice. He was smiling lazily down at her.
Weiss huffed. "Henry. Done gallivanting with the ladies?"
He shrugged. "They're all so boring." He then winked at her. "None of them could come close to you."
God was he obnoxious. Weiss simply scoffed. "Get lost Henry." She then sauntered away from him.
The fact that she was assimilated into such a person made her bristle. Her father had pushed her into dating the Marigold heir which she acquiesced at the beginning but never intended to actually do it. She simply went out with him in public places and did enough casual touches to make people think they were actually an item…. Even Henry thought she had a thing for him. The fact that she never agreed to meet him in private or never even kissed him flew over his head. He simply thought she was being shy. Such an ignorant fool.
"Hey!" Henry grabbed Weiss by her wrist and yanked her towards him. "I don't like your tone, snow angel." He smiled viciously.
Weiss gritted her teeth, his hold on her wrist tightened almost making her wince. To hell with her father, if this arrogant punk was behaving like that she was going to bite his head off.
But before she could open her mouth, a hand roughly grabbed Henry's wrist making him loosen his own grip and let go of Weiss.
"Now, now, this is not how you should treat a lady." A friendly voice chimed in, making Weiss glance up to see an attractive woman grinning brightly at Henry who grunted as he extracted himself from her grip.
The woman stood tall still beaming like a light bulb. She wore a velvet red suit with a black choker, her hair was disheveled but fashionable nonetheless and she had striking silver eyes.
Henry advanced menacingly to her. "Why don't you mind your own business. Hm?"
Before the woman could retort, Weiss slid between them and pushed Henry away making him stumble. She came closer to him and grabbed his tie while digging her heel on his shoe making him gasp and wince.
"This is my one and only warning. Do not get physical with me and do not call me snow angel ever again." She tugged him by his tie and whispered to his ear. "Else I will have to add a new set of jewels in my collection…" Henry blanched as she let him go and immediately scurried away.
Weiss heard the woman snort and turned to face her.
"My God what did you say to him? He looked like the Grimm reaper was after him…"
"Enough for him to leave me alone, without your help." She said curtly.
The woman nodded with an air of finality while still adorning that obnoxious smile. "That you did."
Weiss raised her eyebrow then shook her head and walked away.
She arrived at a balcony, away from the party but she could still hear the orchestra playing from afar. It was a beautiful evening, the sun had set leaving space for a curtain of stars with the moon shimmering brightly in its center. She hummed delicately as she slightly swayed with the murmur of music.
A cold gust of wind blew, making her hair flutter. She shivered as she rubbed her arms. "I should have brought a coat with me…" she muttered.
On cue, she felt someone drape a coat over her pale shoulders. She turned swiftly, finding the woman from earlier.
"This should keep you warm."
"..." She didn't say anything, normally she would have chastised this stranger for following her all the way here and disturbing her rare moment of peace. But tonight she didn't seem to care about anything and simply chose to let it go.
They stood in silence for a while. Weiss basked in the warmth of the coat, it was deep red and had this lingering scent of roses that seemed to ease her.
"This is crazy…" the woman said then chuckled. "I was about to leave when I stumbled upon you on this balcony and I thought wow…" she looked at her with her dazzling silver eyes. "Finally an opportunity to be alone with her."
Weiss scoffed. "Is this your way of saying that you were stalking me Miss…?"
She smiled. "Just call me Ruby."
"Ruby…" Weiss found herself enjoying the way this particular name rolled off her tongue. "Were you stalking me?"
Ruby shook her head. "No but…" she rubbed her neck sheepishly. "I admit that I kinda wanted to follow you after that little altercation with your boyfriend…"
Weiss ignored the 'boyfriend' comment and stared suspiciously at Ruby who raised her hands in surrender.
"But I figured you'd be in a bad mood so I didn't! I just grabbed my coat and was ready to call it a night."
Weiss hummed. "And yet you're here with me alone."
Ruby giggled. "I am. The universe must have divined this…"
Weiss rolled her eyes. "Are you always this cheesy?"
Ruby shrugged and leaned on the railing, the moonlit highlighted her red tips and gave her eyes an ethereal glow. "Only with you."
Weiss huffed and faced away hiding her blush, she must've taken one drink too many.
She felt Ruby getting closer and tilted her head up to gaze into pools of silver, it was so clear she could practically see herself reflected in it. Ruby took a lock of white hair and began twirling it lazily with her finger.
"I could be a better boyfriend than him…" She breathed and at this distance Weiss could smell a hint of alcoholic drink mixed with something fruity.
"...who?" She murmured.
Ruby scrunched her nose as if she had eaten something bitter, Weiss found it amusing and cute. "... Henry Marigold."
"Ah.." Weiss had forgotten about that detail and already didn't say anything previously about the boyfriend comment. She smirked, deciding to let it be and see where this would go. "And how so?"
Ruby leaned away and raised her index finger. "Well first I wouldn't grab your wrist like he did earlier…"
Weiss' lip tilted upward, that was a nice start.
"... Second, I would never have left you alone at a party to go flirt with other girls, I mean why would I do that ? I have you I-I mean hypothetically of course."
Weiss couldn't constrain her laugh and giggled, she found Ruby's babble adorable.
"...third… I could be such a gentleman, I mean… opening doors for you, pulling out chairs…buying you flowers... I'm all for chivalry." She winked at that and Weiss rolled her eyes, unable to suppress a smile.
"Fourth…. I bet I could do things that he never did, or never could do liiike eating cookies through my nose! I swear I can do it!"
Weiss couldn't contain herself, she guffawed. She laughed for a long time and eventually leaned against the railing while breathing heavily. She didn't remember the last time someone made her laugh into tears, in fact she doubted it ever happened.
Ruby smiled brightly. "See! I can even make you laugh." Weiss snorted then shook her head still wiping her tears.
"Fifth and finally…" Ruby trailed as she stepped closer to Weiss, she adjusted her coat and stared deeply in her eyes. "My clothes would suit you better than his…" she leaned in to whisper in her ear. "Plus red looks really good on you."
Weiss lightly pushed Ruby and faced away from her. The air was suddenly too hot for her to handle despite the goosebumps running along her arms.
"Curse this dolt." She muttered under her breath.
"What was that?"
Weiss huffed and faced her again. "I was simply wondering what to do with you."
Ruby hummed, seeming deep in thought. "Can I give you some advice?"
"No."
"Fine...You should leave with me tonight and dump him tomorrow."
Weiss leveled her with a stare. "Ruby I live here."
Ruby shrugged. "All the more reason to do so."
"...and if I say no?"
"I'll find another way to steal you from him."
"...which is?"
"I have cookies and a corgi in my house."
Weiss found herself laughing heartily again. This stupidly attractive dolt sure was something, she had never met anybody like her. Leaving with her was highly tempting.
She bit her lip as she eyed Ruby, the more she talked to her the more she was finding it difficult to refuse her, it was rare for her to enjoy herself with someone. And the fact that Ruby was extremely pleasant to the eye wasn't making the matter easier…. plus, she did say she had a corgi…
She closed the distance between them and leaned into Ruby to brush their lips together in a light kiss. "Lead the way then…" she murmured.
Ruby grinned broadly then grabbed her hand leading out of the balcony but abruptly stopped before that. She twirled then bowed her head gesturing to Weiss to go first. "Ladies first."
Weiss raised her brow. "Really?"
Ruby winked. "Oh but I insist, snowflake"
Weiss rolled her eyes and stepped forward. "You're such a dolt." She stopped at the door and peered over her shoulder. "Oh and Ruby?"
"Yes?"
"Henry isn't my boyfriend." With that she turned away and continued walking.
Ruby raised her brows and blinked a few times, she then shrugged and hurried after Weiss. "I could still be a better boyfriend than him!"