"I don't see why I have to come along." Weiss's whining found no appreciation from Ruby, who tapped both index fingers together as they passed down the street.
"I was... um... well." Clearly, she wasn't exactly having an easy time finding the right words. Weiss, however, was in one of those rare moods where she was willing to give the girl a little more time to explain. Since she'd found her crying, the young heiress had a bit of trouble getting actively upset with her leader; a bad habit, yes, but one that would pass eventually.
After a bit of scurrying around and fidgeting, Ruby seemed to come across an excuse; or perhaps it wasn't an excuse - Weiss honestly couldn't tell.
"I just... I kind of wanted someone to talk with during the trip."
"Really, that's it?" Weiss curled a brow, crossing her arms and holding back the urge to scoff. According to Yang - and her own observation at the beginning of the year - the little quickster wasn't all that keen on conversing with people. The only exceptions, again according to the blonde, were either close friends or people who mentioned weapons.
Was she to take this as Ruby solidifying their friendship officially?
A part of her wanted to believe they'd reached that point long ago, as in, after the whole 'leader' scuffle. Yeah, Ruby seemed more comfortable with her, but Weiss always had this tickle in the back of her mind that Ruby hadn't yet forgiven her. As much as it made her cringe inside, the taller of the pair knew she'd been rather cruel to the girl; and over something so childish too.
"Yeah." Ruby looked ahead a little easier, appearing to let her honest voice flow free of any shackles; she couldn't quite explain it, but Weiss knew Ruby was speaking true now - as weird as it might have sounded. "I... I know I'm not exactly the best leader out there, and I don't always know what the right decision for things is, but that's why I want to talk: to hopefully learn a few things."
"So basically: you're feeling guilty over helping the guy Yang hates, and now you want me to solidify your decision."
The way Ruby stumbled on the sidewalk, subsequently drawing a few eyes to herself, proved to Weiss she was right on the money. A cheeky look found itself imprinted across the goth's expression, and it seemed they were back to square one with how Ruby caved in on herself again. The attempting 'best teammate' however was not about to let the head of her team fall back into that trap again, and so opted to put a stop to the nonsense herself.
"You made the right call."
"Huh?" Ruby sent a curious gaze, and Weiss merely shook her head.
"You heard me."
"Uh... do you really mean that?" Ruby's look of wonder fell quickly into suspicion. "You're not just saying that to make me feel better, are you?"
"For all her power and bragging, your sister isn't exactly all that observant. Yang's the type of woman who'll leap first, rather than think things through. I may not know everything about her, but I recognise a reckless rouge when I see one."
"Reckless rouge?" Ruby's inquisitive tone snapped a tripwire in Weiss's head, and she mentally slapped herself.
"It's something a few of the upper-class in Atlas would say; think your average lingo, but for rich people."
"So... fancy talk." Ruby slipped on a playful grin, and Weiss allowed a single chuckle to puff out.
"So they try to say. Trust me, there's nothing 'fancy' about it. They just don't want to admit they're using grade-school insults." A devious grin befell the usually prim and proper lady throughout the line of backhanded insulting. "They think mentioning colors through different languages somehow sets them above the children calling each other 'losers'."
Ruby's giggling thereafter was infectious enough that Weiss soon found herself silently following along. The fit lasted only a moment before both women escaped its clutches, and it was here Weiss chose to finally question her giggly teammate.
"So, where are we going anyway? You never told me before."
Ruby came to her soon earlier that day, saying she was going out and asking if anyone wanted to come. At first she got a round of denials, and apparently deciding this was unacceptable, she questioned each of them on why. Yang was training with Nora, so she was out of the picture, and Blake claimed to have an appointment soon, which left Weiss as the only one remaining.
While Blake's excuse was flimsy at best, Weiss herself was no better: she had no excuse to give. Ruby, upon learning that, hit her with the puppy eyes, downright begging for her to accompany the girl on her little 'trip'. She realistically could have said no, but right as she was about to do so, something happened. For a brief moment, Weiss saw not the girl pouting at her, but rather the tear-stricken face of a little girl who'd had her beliefs shattered. Yang may have apologized, and she probably meant it too, but Weiss... well...
She was more sensitive to the very thing Ruby had gone through, and though it was mostly decided through split-second empathy, she chose to accompany the young woman on her trip. While somewhat inconvenient for her later schedule of study and review, seeing Ruby's smile chase away the phantom image in her mind made it worth it.
"You know Coco?"
"Who?" Ruby looked at her with a perplexed expression, and to be quite frank, Weiss felt a little insulted. "What?"
"You really don't know her?"
"I thought I made that obvious." Weiss was in full defense mode now, stiffening her expression as she held onto her dignity. It wasn't a big deal she didn't know this 'Coco', but the face Ruby was making screamed silent insults her way, and Weiss didn't particularly enjoy it.
"I... guess." Ruby looked back to the street. "I mean, we passed her by on our way to initiation at the cliffside: Velvet and her wished us luck; you even thanked her."
Oh...
That... that didn't bode well. In all honesty, Weiss didn't exactly pay much mind to anyone other than Pyrrha during those two days: simply throwing out automatic responses to those who addressed her. As shameful as it was, now that she looked back on it that was just how she'd been. Ruby though, she was one of the few who actively forced Weiss to acknowledge her; due almost solely to the bad spirits shared between them.
"Ah... I see." Weiss slipped into recovery mode this time. "Her name must have slipped past me. I'm certain once I see her I'll remember."
This, of course, was a complete lie, but Ruby didn't need to know that. As far as Weiss was concerned, she'd just offer up some basic responses to whatever Coco talked about until she got a read on the woman. If Ruby felt comfortable enough to remember her, then she must have been just as childish.
Weiss knew she had this in the bag.
"Yeah, well..." Ruby rubbed her own arm, looking somewhat embarrassed. "She offered to touch up my nails, so I told her 'yes'."
"Wait, that's it?" Weiss sent another look at Ruby. "You're just getting a manicure?"
"Is that what it's called?"
Weiss flatlined.
"Are you telling me you didn't even know what it was and you said yes?"
And Ruby fell into defense mode herself.
"She just told me she could make my nails look nice!" She didn't exactly flail her arms, but Ruby's response was animated. "And I've never done something like that before, so I wanted to try it!"
"Then why did you ask us to come? Wouldn't it just be Coco and you?" Seeing as she was making Ruby upset again, Weiss stuffed away her outburst, attempting to lower the volume of the conversation naturally as they turned a corner. The mall was straight ahead, and seeing as Ruby was taking quick glances to it to confirm, Weiss was stuck following at her side: completely blind as to where her leader was taking them.
"Coco said I should bring someone else along: something about more people making for better gossip."
With a mental facepalm, Weiss Schnee realized just what her leader dragged her into. Ruby probably meant what she said earlier about talking, but neglecting to mention Coco kind of soured the woman's ability to really accept the sudden change. Even so, Weiss puckered up and braced, even as she spat accusations.
"A rumor monger, great."
"She's not that bad." Ruby brushed her off, but Weiss wasn't amused.
"If she's having you drag one of us along, then yes, she is."
Ruby simply pouted; she wasn't getting through to her friend now, and it was highly likely she wouldn't do so any time soon either. Weiss chose to stay quiet as well, hoping the girl would smarten up sometime soon... or, at least after the day was done.
The inside of the mall wasn't as crowded as Weiss expected it would be, so there was at least that to spruce up her mood again. She wasn't exactly angry at Ruby or anything like that, but she was a tad disappointed in how gullible the young woman was quickly turning out to be; something she'd hopefully be able to rectify before anything serious came of it.
"So..." Weiss began again as they passed through and along the small crowd. "Where is she?"
"She said to wait for her at the fountain just outside the food court..." Weiss, after receiving that answer, looked to see the strange face her partner was sporting. It was an odd mix of tangled confusion and a strip of loss. "Just... uh... along here..."
Oh no...
"Ruby." Her tone hadn't been accusatory in even the slightest margin... and yet Ruby jumped - this pretty much told Weiss everything she needed to know. "You don't know where that is, do you?"
"Uh... no."
"And why is it you never mentioned this before we left?" Weiss curled a brow, crossing her arms as her posture dropped. "Or maybe I should be asking why you hadn't told Coco this either."
"I didn't think about it at the time!" Ruby popped back. "I was... I was excited to be invited out for something. I usually didn't go through these things back at Signal."
Wonderful. Dealing with Ruby was starting to get both a little grating, and even somewhat sad.
"Didn't you have any friends?" Not the best way to start off, but Weiss was thinking of hitting the nail on the head right off the start; if nothing, it would make the following conversations a bit easier.
"I did, but they usually never went anywhere." Rubbing the back of her head, the small girl sounded a little less chipper. "They were the quiet kids though, so we never did anything big like this."
Manicures are considered big to you? To be fair, Weiss herself didn't have anything in the way of 'real' friends while she was growing up, so she could somewhat relate to not knowing what certain outings would be classified as. All her acquaintances were mandated by her father's various events and gatherings he held to butter up the other upper class families of Atlas.
But even she knew something as simple as a day out wasn't anything huge.
Weiss shook her head, she was taking this far too seriously. Assuming she was being a little hard, she threw a little grumble into the air.
"Figures: so you spent all your time chatting at class, and probably never after, yes?"
"That's about right."
"Fine." Weiss then stopped her walking, and Ruby paused as well.
"What's wrong?"
Weiss held up a hand, stepping over to an old woman sitting on a nearby bench. The elder raised her head, and Weiss let her shoulders relax.
"Pardon, but would you be so kind as to direct me towards a local fountain? I heard it was somewhere nearby, and probably outside one of the restaurants or cafes."
"Oh, sure thing dolly." The woman smiled, pointing up north. "Just on up ahead there."
Weiss smiled and nodded.
"Thank you."
"No problem."
With that, the heiress pulled back up to Ruby, who just tilted her head with a curious eye.
"Follow me."
"I, uh..." Ruby chuckled and rubbed the back of her head - this was becoming a habit now. "I probably should have thought of that, huh?"
"It doesn't matter, now come on." Weiss started walking. "I need you to point out Coco for me; I doubt I'll find her otherwise."
"Okay." Ruby then pointed right ahead. "She's over there."
"Huh?" Weiss whipped her vision ahead again, and saw a single woman through the cracks of the crowds, who was sitting quaintly on a bench before the fountain. Right as she saw her, Weiss finally remembered. "Oh, yeah: Coco... I remember now." She cast an eye to Ruby. "She's the head of team CFVY, right?"
"Yep." Ruby practically skipped the rest of the way, and then froze. Weiss, wondering why her teammate looked as if she'd been encased in a block of ice, came up from behind and took a gander.
There was a second Ruby.
"Bwa?" She couldn't help letting the undignified sputter slip out; getting a full view of her leader's doppelganger somewhat fried her brain. This lock-up only lasted a second however, as Coco's call pulled both girls right from the hole they'd mentally fallen into.
"Ruby! Glad you made it. I've been waiting for you." She waved them over, and so they stepped up. Ruby was somewhat stiff with her movements, and Weiss could understand why: this was... to call it 'weird' would be letting it off easy.
This was downright bizarre.
"Huh?" Coco's head shot between both the Ruby at Weiss's side, and the one sitting next to the woman on the bench, who was staring down at the floor. The girl then let out a small chuckle, followed by a whistle. "Well well well, I knew there was something familiar about you." She nudged the imposter with a cheeky grin. "So... who's the original, and who's the fake?"
"I'm the original!" Ruby called, rushing over to the group. Seeing her partner shoot out fast enough to leave a trail of petals told Weiss she needed to keep up, and it was this second of heightened senses that had her spotting the other woman of the group, who was sitting on the fake Ruby's lap.
How Weiss hadn't seen her first was a mystery she'd never solve.
"H-hello again." Ruby stilled, looking at her mirror, and as Weiss stepped up, she noticed Ruby was adorned in a strange face even she herself couldn't decipher. "F-fancy seeing you again."
"Y-yeah." The voice was male, which once more had Weiss thrown to the wind.
"Hey, uh..." Ruby was twiddling her thumbs. "Are you okay? Yang didn't hurt you too badly last time, did she?"
What?! Weiss hadn't been told Yang beat anyone up recently... Obviously, that notion changed almost instantly. Hold on!
Actually, Yang did beat somebody up, and looking at the imposter had Weiss reeling back in everything they'd discussed and went through only yesterday.
Oh boy...
So this was him: the guy who supposedly molested Ruby. Looking at his appearance, she could definitely understand why Yang had been so freaked out, and downright enraged: the weirdo had most certainly taken some inspiration from Ruby. The problem, however, was that Weiss didn't have the faintest clue what to do now that they were looking right at him.
And in truth, she wasn't sure they needed to.
The boy was practically shaking on the spot, indicating that - at least in this scenario - he was the powerless one. His fear was subtle, there wasn't a doubt about that, but Weiss had spent a good portion of her life growing up watching liars spew out nonsense, and he was certainly uneasy at the very least. Still though, even if he was afraid, he wasn't doing anything right now, so they had no reason to antagonize him yet.
Besides, Ruby claimed it was an accident, and now was the perfect time to confirm whether that was the case.
"I-I'm fine." The guy didn't sound like he was dangerous, or even angry for that matter. "I don't blame her or anything, if that's what you're worried about." His voice seemed to ease up a little. "I'd probably do the same if I stumbled across someone touching my little sister."
So he was admitting it. Honesty was a good thing, but he'd outright proven Yang's suspicions true. Still though, Ruby claimed it was an accident, and so Weiss was still willing to wait. Actually, as she ran that last sentence through her head, she noticed something... off.
"Still, she shouldn't have been that rough." Ruby allowed the words to tumble out, and although her voice was still small, it at least wasn't as low as before; she was perking up again.
Weiss didn't want to sour the mood, but she picked now as the perfect time to butt in.
"About that..." Her eyes met with his. "Pardon the intrusion, but would you mind explaining why you were touching Ruby?" Weiss crossed her arms again. "From what Yang's told us, you weren't exactly touching her in what I'd refer to as an innocent area."
Coco tilted her head towards the guy, clearly itching for the answers just as much as the rest of them; all except the woman in his lap, who merely made herself comfortable, completely unbothered by everything implied.
"I... I don't know."
"What?" Weiss kept her tone from spoiling, but even so, she hardened her look. Apparently, all this did was have the boy looking away.
"I said I don't know." He shut his eyes, and his face seemed to scowl a little; although, it was still marred with disguised fear. "I was leaving a local club and on my way home, and then everything just disappeared."
"Disappeared?" Weiss, now, wasn't exactly sure where he was going… as in, at all.
"Yeah. I know it sounds weird - because it is - but I'm telling the truth. I was fumbling around in the dark when I ended up grabbing something. The lights came back on, and I was... well: grabbing Ruby."
That last bit came out lower, and Weiss considered just how ridiculous it in and of itself sounded.
"See!" Ruby shot back out. "Just like I said!"
The younger woman's eyes were stabbing Weiss through, as if she was shouting it over and over in her head. Ruby was using this as an 'I told you so' claim. It sounded stupid, like, really really stupid: the excuse was paper-thin upon a first hearing.
And yet Weiss accepted it.
Make no mistake, she normally wouldn't have believed such a thing at all had the circumstances been different, but there was something keeping the whole idea from being dubbed outright illogical.
Ruby said he looked almost blind back when he first grabbed her. While that alone wasn't exactly a good defense on his part, it was still evidence in its own right. Ruby had, back when they'd first had the argument over everything, worded it in such a way that made him out to be blinded somewhat, and his claim right now matched that perfectly. Now, one could argue that they shared that excuse together, but there was one perk that made such a thing impossible.
Both Yang and Ruby claimed the elder sister had beaten him up, leaving him injured on the ground. This meant there was no time for Ruby to even ask him what was going on, meaning that his explanation right now matched Ruby's without him having any prior knowledge she'd seen it as so. If anything, he'd probably assumed she saw him as a creep, just like Yang had.
His claim right now was done under the belief that Ruby thought he was trying to touch her.
This mattered mainly because this was his first time explaining himself, and he must have known his excuse was flimsy too. Any sane person would have claimed to be drunk, or even drugged, and yet he spoke his piece in all its ludicrous detail, just so happening to line up perfectly with Ruby's initial claim of how spaced out he appeared.
This didn't completely clear him of all charges, but it did give Weiss enough of a reason to await and see what he was normally like before jumping to conclusions.
"So..." Coco chimed in, snapping her fingers. "Anyone going to fill me in; you're chatting away, and I ain't getting nothing."
"I don't mind." Ruby said, although her face wasn't so sure. "But can we get out of here first: I don't exactly feel comfortable talking about it out in the open, and I don't want another 'Yang' situation."
Coco shrugged.
"Sure."
And then she got right up in Ruby's face.
"But~ I want a full explanation about the 'Yang' situation too."
"O-okay!" Ruby almost fell due to how fast Coco leapt.
"Right then." The aforementioned one stood, sweeping her bangs to the side and adjusting both her glasses and purse. "Follow me ladies… and gent. You're about to get the best damn makeovers of your lives!"
"I-I thought we were just doing our nails?" Ruby piped up, only for Coco to laugh.
"We were, but I'm feeling like fire right now. Consider it a bonus for making this evening more that worth it~"
Weiss silently gulped; what had they gotten themselves into? Her eyes fell on the red-dressed woman, who stood from the fake Ruby's lap, taking his hand and pulling him to his feet. She then slipped in close to him, as in, real close. Now, the heiress wasn't exactly an expert in friendships, but that woman was far too touchy with the boy for her to be 'just friends' with him.
And like that, Weiss was doubly suspicious of everything.
Great... And that's what I get for thinking today would be normal.
Author's note
...
Oh boy, here we are back again. This time we actually have a slower chapter.
Weiss and Ruby end up chasing down Coco, only to meet up with our resident cosplayer; oh no. Questions are shared, and Weiss looks at him with less of an evil eye - not fully forgiving, but willing to give a chance.
I wonder how he'll screw it up.
Anyway, that's all for this time; catch you later.