Ruby went with her.

Ruby went with her.

She didn't join her sister on the airship to Patch.

No, as soon as the midterms were over and they were dismissed for spring vacation, Ruby Rose simply walked into the private SDC airship. She hadn't asked Weiss— why the fuck did they just let her in— why'd they smile and wave— why did they high-five her like— like she'd planned this!

Ruby patted the empty spot right next to her, her cheeky grin beaming as bright and cocky as the white leather booth she sat in. Weiss slid in, maintaining a glare and distance appropriate with her suspicion— that being 60% lid closure and 0 feet of distance, because despite being extremely distrustful at the moment she couldn't physically prevent herself from putting her body against her partner's body.

Ruby tilted subtly, her body a metronome for the cheeky little hum she was doing under her breath. She pulled out her Scroll, perfectly content to tap around on it and say absolutely nothing about how she'd boarded this vessel, why she'd boarded this vessel, and why she was being so smugly abstruse!

Weiss straightened her back, folded her hands over her lap, and schooled her features. She became feminine grace manifest: her posture demure, her aura mindful. "Ruby," she addressed the girl eventually, keeping her voice a level tone.

"Hm?" Ruby responded, not so much as looking at the other girl.

Weiss grit her teeth, hairline fractures splitting her composure. "What are you doing?"

Ruby shrugged, still not looking. "I dunno, going to my friend's house?"

Stupidly, dumbly, the stupid dumb idiot she was, Weiss immediately felt like an ancient, forgotten implement had run through her torso. "J-just—"

The evil, nefarious, scheming Ruby Rose giggled. "Sorry, sorry…"

Weiss sigh—

"Best friend."

Weiss seized her, knocking the unbearable girl flat onto the cushions of the booth, trying to hold her down and do… whatever would sufficiently represent her fury against the girl, but Ruby simply threw her arms around Weiss' waist and pulled her in for a crushing hug. Weiss kept trying to faff at her, but with her arms shrimped up against the girl's chest she couldn't really do anything. She simply had to go still like prey in Ruby's jaws, and accept the kisses that were peppered all over her face.

"Don't be a baby," Ruby fondly admonished. "You can be my best friend and my girlfriend, dummy."

Weiss' heart clenched, and she immediately felt tears trying to sting her eyes and sinuses. But, with effort equal or superior to a gods-given labor, she managed to keep them down. "I hate you," she mumbled into her best friend/girlfriend's boobs. "You're the worst. I should've stuck with Neptune."

Okay, that might've been a little close to actually mean. Weiss looked up to assess the dam—

Ruby drew her up with the ease of someone who threw around an unwieldy 60-80-something pound weapon with ease, and pressed their lips together with the hungry, desperate affection of someone whose every kiss might be her last. Weiss deliquesced, pulled into Ruby as if the girl was an inescapable vortex.

Just as quickly, she was released. Ruby pushed her up, holding her at arm's length so she could match Weiss' wilted gaze. Her lips twitched upwards. "You were saying?"

Weiss flopped down onto her and huffed. "How did you even get in here? Why did you even get in here? They're supposed to only permit certain passengers."

"Then it's a good thing a certain someone talked to a certain someone else to get a certain level of clearance," Ruby mused, just as smug as she was at ease. "And has been taking every opportunity to schmooze with the pilots every time they landed, therefore ingratiating herself to the point of inherent trust."

Ruby continued, her gaze sliding somewhere else. "As for why, well… I know the midterms were stressful for you, so… y'know." She shrugged, but the shake of her grin gave away that sliver of doubt— the one Weiss so badly wanted to kiss and bite away as soon as she saw it. "Thought I would, um… reward… you. And, well…"

Weiss leaned into her, silently beseeching the girl to draw back what words had trailed off. Ruby pursed her lips, nervous.

"I… talked to your, um… mom. And your sister. And… your brother. And they all demanded I come with you to meet them."

The words sank into Weiss.

They were a little too much.

Weiss' throat worked. "You…" Her mouth labored. "My…"

Ruby grimaced. "A-and I was gonna come anyways! I promise. I really wanted to, um… hang around. You. For the break. Instead of hanging around dad and Yang. They like to drink beer and have burp at the TV. It's weird. I think my sister's a dad sometimes? She, like, wears dad's tropical shirts. She takes pictures in them— sends them to Blake, I think? But all the buttons are open. So it's, like, a sex thing. And like I guess I understand— not it being sexy on Yang— ew— but like a shirt in general? Remember that one time you— waitnevermind— I just— I wanted to come, I wanted it to be a nice surprise and I'm really sorry the surprise isn't nice— I promise I'm not coming just cuz your mom said she'd make cookies and your sister said she'd eat my dog if I didn't come— crap, I shoulda brought Zwei— I'm sorry, I know you like him— oh and speaking of dogs I also wanted to dog walk you around the manor while everyone else is asleep as a reward for how good you've been and I know we haven't been doing the pet stuff as much lately but I really do want to just kinda got caught up in the midterms stuff which I'm so proud of you for getting through which is the real main reason I wanted to come with you because I love you and you deserve a reward for working hard and kinda putting up with me cuz I know I can be a lot."

It took a while for Weiss to free herself from the stunlock of her girlfriend's words. It took an additional while for her to realize them. She sat up, feeling surprisingly better— somehow, Ruby was so unsure and so doubtful, her own delicious anxieties spewing out in such a huge tirade that Weiss felt momentarily stable in comparison. If her problem was having problems all the time and a short fuse for tolerating them, Ruby's problem was having problems all the time with a really long fuse for tolerating them. Ruby remained supine across the cushions, gradually bringing her hands up until her palms laid over her eyes.

"I'm sorry," she croaked, miserable. "I— I'm really sorry. I thought you'd like the surprise."

Weiss stared at her. Something hot and stringy lashed about in her guts, whipping down her abdomen, through the muscles in her legs, her arms, spiraling around and strangling all the tendons in her fingers. Her eyes went to the pilot's section. Her eyes went around the interior. No people, no cameras, nobody to witness her body moving on its own, pitching until she was crawling over Ruby on hands and knees, holding herself up to touch as little of her as possible, to see as much of her as possible. Ruby's palms were pressing on her eyes. Ruby's fingers were clutching her hairline.

"I'm sorry," she said again, biting her breaths. "I should've asked— I'm sorry."

Weiss' eyes glazed over. Saliva rose on her tongue. A hand reached down, plucking one of Ruby's wrists, pulling it away to reveal the silver beneath. It shone wetly, desperately avoiding Weiss' gaze. Weiss' guts clenched hard.

She was so rarely like this, now. The doubt only came in glimpses. It never ground her to a halt.

"Weiss! S-stop bleeding!"

"That's… not how that… works."

"Shut up! Just— stop freaking bleeding!"

"Try… kissing it… better."

"Be serious!"

"Oh… great idea… dying… le'my last sight… be you… scared… 's it bad I think… yer hot when… yer… scared?"

"S-stop… looking at me," Ruby mumbled wetly, her other hand flopping away to dangle from the booth. "You're… weird."

Weiss felt her lips part from her teeth. "No."

Ruby made a whining noise and squirmed. "Go away. I'm trying to be sad."

"I can see that."

Another whining noise— music to her ears.

Weiss cupped her cheek and tilted it up, watching the column of her throat as she breathed and whined and squirmed. "You're so pretty when you're pathetic."

Ruby pushed lightly at her wrist. "S-stop being horny— you're supposed to be mad."

"I don't want to be mad. I want to be horny."

"We're in—" Weiss ran a thumb down her throat, making her voice crack. "Weiss—"

"What were you saying?"

Ruby writhed beneath her, all the doubt and the anxiety and the apology mixing up with the way her breath hitched at Weiss' thumb going down her windpipe, then tracing back up, cresting her chin, pressing into her plush bottom lip just to feel it twitch beneath her touch.

"We're— Weiss—"

"We're what? We're… Huntresses? We're partners? We're breaking up?"

Weiss' hand drifted, fingers caressing her cheek until they landed on her ear. She traced the shell with a fingertip from the soft, round tip to the warm, pierced lobe. She had one of her smaller silicone plugs in, just to keep her Aura from overhealing the gauges. And, Weiss realized, probably to hide it from her family, too. She appreciated that. The girl's gauges weren't particularly impressive yet, but the other Ws of her family might jump to conclusions about the kind of person she was. She didn't even have her other myriad ear pieces in, just little silicone studs where they would be. Such a thoughtful girl.

"N-no!" Ruby yelped, going bright red at how loud her denial had been. "I'd never—"

She twitched. "Finish your sentence."

"It's hard— to talk— when you're—"

Weiss realized her other hand had snaked up under the hem of Ruby's shirt, pressing into the hot skin of her abdomen. "You've done better against worse."

"That doesn't—"

"If your next words do not complete what you were going to say, I'll stop."

Ruby seized up, mouth tightening.

Weiss kept her gaze impassive. She wanted to eat her partner alive, but there was a certain satisfaction when Ruby chose to be taken, even when it could be forgone with the implication. Obviously Ruby did want it. Obviously Ruby could stop her. Obviously Ruby could twist until it was Weiss beneath.

But it wasn't as fun to be led by the obvious. It was fun when those silver eyes looked up at her, determined, her mouth a rigid moue, only for both to crack. For the eyes to twitch away, for the pout of her lips to give when she sucked the bottom one between her teeth. For her neck to pull slightly upwards, lifting her ear to meet Weiss' mouth when she bent down and whispered, "You were saying?"

Ruby screwed her eyes shut. "We. Are on. An airship."

Mirth rose in Weiss' chest, and she let it free with chuckles that she pressed into Ruby's neck. "Excited to join the mile high club?"

"I—" Ruby yelped when Weiss bit her. "That's too high!"

"It's only a mile," Weiss mumbled through the skin in her teeth.

"Not— the—" Ruby sucked in a breath and ripped her head back, robbing Weiss' tongue of her warm flesh. She hissed in a hot whisper, "YouknowwhatImean!"

Weiss admired the bright red spot she'd left. It'd be fine. They had concealer. "Good. If I'm running the risk of being caught on all fours in the middle of the night, leashed to you, I get to give you one good hickey."

Ruby groaned, but begrudgingly presented her neck once more.

"So, Ru-by," Winter started, visibly testing the word on her tongue— as if it wasn't quite enough name, and her mouth was overcompensating.

Weiss rolled her eyes, correcting Ruby's hand to grasp the soup spoon for her soup without even looking. "Don't act like she's a stranger, you've been in the field with her."

Winter cocked her heat and squinted at the girl who was her sister's stated leader, partner, and unstated owner. She squinted very hard, enough to make Ruby shrink into her chair. At least, she tried. Weiss kicked her under the table and she straightened.

"The, um… giant squid Grimm," Ruby supplied tentatively. "You, um… the air support."

Winter brightened with recognition— not that anyone but Weiss would recognize the objectively minute change in expression. In Ruby's eyes, she probably just looked a little less constipated. "I remember now," Winter stated. To Weiss' ears, her tone was of begrudging respect and acknowledgement. But, to Ruby's ears, it probably sounded more like someone describing a pothole they'd run over.

And of course, Winter said nothing to that. Weiss didn't expe—

"Sorry, Ruby. It's stressful being the General of a nation like Atlas; so many stupid things to deal with, they start overriding your memory centers with…" Winter huffed and rolled her spoon. "Frankly, bullshit."

Weiss gasped. "S—sis—"

But Willow acted before Weiss could get the word out. She leaned over and smacked her older daughter on the back of the head, so hard and so suddenly that the force of the blow dipped Winter's nose in her soup. She sat back up and glared at her mother, the look ruined by the coating of red soup over the tip of her nose.

Beneath the awful, scowling scorn of the High General of Atlas, Willow remained unflinching. She thrust her own soup spoon towards her eldest daughter. "Don't you glare at me, child; and you will keep that language in whatever barracks you got it from— while you're in my house, at least."

Winter, now beet-red, turned forward. She muttered, "I am the General."

"And I am your Mother," Willow retorted, capitalizing her title. "Remind me: what rank would you be if you were still swimming around in your father's wrinkly sack?"

Weiss gagged. Whitley loudly slapped his hands over her ears. Winter dropped her spoon.

Ruby went ballistic.

She started laughing so hard that it had recoil, tipping her onto the back two legs of her chair as she cackled, eyes squeezed shut, howling and pointing at High General Winter Mirabelle Schnee like she'd just been pantsed in the cafeteria. Winter's blush went supercritical, each piercing guffaw from Ruby boiling away her patience, making her even hotter, boiling more patience away— a positive void coefficient that pushed her into full meltdown. She thrust herself up to her feet, jabbing her finger at Ruby like it was the point of her sword. Fury was a white-hot corona in the nuclear blue of her eyes as she demanded, "I will not be made a laughingstock! Atlas law dictates my honor—"

Weiss locked in. She rose like an eclipse against a blue star. This sent Ruby's balance to shit and made her tip to the floor like the dolt she was, but Weiss remained unflinching, her body a deflecting shield against her own sister's wroth-infused index finger. She stared down the Schnee scion like she was any other Grimm. "Your honor what."

Dishes shatter. Red paints the table.

"Kick her butt, Weiss!"

"Teach her respect, Winter!"

High General Winter Mirabelle Schnee, for the first time anyone at the table had ever seen, hesitated. For the briefest moment, her expression was in freefall. Undecided. Collapsing between various states of rage and confusion as her own flesh and blood, her own sister, rose up and challenged her— and she found she could not dismiss it!

Weiss was a seasoned Huntress, mere steps away from her full license— and yet, some could say she already earned it on the merits of her own journey. Her own growth. Winter, meanwhile, was a General. And what came with being a General?

Paperwork. Forms and slips and chits and slates and tablets and emails and a million different methods of correspondence that needed her attention so much more urgently than her saber did. She was stressed— why else would she blow up at Ruby, of all people— but more importantly, she was stressed and rusty. She had reason to hesitate.

But that only lasted for a moment.

Winter honed tenfold, scowling, her voice like an icicle lobotomy. "My honor and my reputation will not be besmirched by some…"

"What? Dude, what does that even mean?"

"I-I dunno, uh… I just… wanted to be supportive? Balance it out?"

White hair is painted red. A salad fork bounces off Ruby's head.

"Hm. You know what, Whitley?"

"What?"

"Redneck country bumpkin! With a bad taste for hair dye!"

Weiss' atoms fused.

Redneck? Redneck? Ruby, a redneck country bumpkin? Is that what she thought of the woman who, on multiple occasions, literally saved her life? Or did she think that Weiss was actually so lowly, now, having spent so much time outside the high life of Atlas, that a redneck country bumpkin was what she deserved? As if that was an insult? If Ruby was a redneck country bumpkin, then Brothers bless her for it! Brothers bless those redneck country bumpkins and their flannel shirts and their stained tank tops— Gods, what she would give to throw Ruby out in a country field and make her labor in a stupid sexy cowboy outfit! Then come back to her all sweaty and raw from labor, just needing some soft, pampered Atlas girl to work all her frustrations off! How dare her fantasy be shamed! How dare her love be scorned!

And Ruby's hair dye was only slightly kitschy!

—-HSHSHSHSHSBSH—-

"You're gonna make a good step-bro."

"Aw, thanks."

"No problem."

A mass of red and white splotches— barely distinguishable as two people— rolls by them in a horrid, hair-pulling, screeching mass of sisterly violence.

"Wait, what?"

Winter crossed her arms. "I just thought you were better than—"

Weiss went for her like a raccoon with roid-rage, launching herself fully across the table to tackle the taller woman. Winter fell back, tripping over her own chair, but she managed to throw Weiss off her before she could hit the ground. She recovered just in time to catch another charge from Weiss, turning with her sister's momentum to throw her across the table.

Weiss skid across the surface, hot gazpacho splashing over the back of her dress— a growing pool of red like an oozing stab wound— as she landed on Winter's soup bowl. The High General of Atlas went for her with fury in her eyes, grabbing at her ankles, but managing to only catch high-heeled kicks against her Aura. Weiss flailed, blindly grasping until her hand found her partner's own soup bowl. She arced back around with it, throwing a splash of gazpacho that covered Winter's face.

Winter (who was a grown adult closer to her thirties than she was to Weiss' age) wailed like a child and scrambled after her sister, clambering onto the table on all fours. Ruby and Whitley took that as a long-overdue sign to seek cover from collateral. Willow merely pushed her dish forward, where it was promptly collected by an unfazed Klein, and folded her hands beneath her chin. She watched the show impassively.

There was a lot of screeching. And a few curses. Hair pulling, slapping, outright punching— their fight had it all. Ruby and Whitley, once they had found a place of safe cover together, watched and cheered them on with rapt interest. Willow stared, her eyebrows rising as their conflict knocked around any utensils, decorations, and dishes, covering the table with wine and gazpacho.

Winter threw her heavily, making Weiss bounce off the table's surface. She slid through a slick puddle of wine. Winter lunged after her, caging Weiss beneath her body.

"Give up," Winter panted, her face painted with a flush that blended in with the gazpacho dripping from her chin.

Weiss stared her down. "I'll never give up on her."

Winter grimaced, a shout rising behind her grit teeth, but the clearing of a throat cut through the air like a knife. Both of the sisters looked up.

Willow stared down at them from less than two feet away, a small splash of wine contrasting her pale cheek. Klein dabbed it away on a handkerchief. "Girls," she said in a strangely normal tone. "Are you two done?"

Winter threw herself off her sister, tripping over herself to get off the table and bow frantically to Willow. "I am deeply—"

Willow snorted.

Winter froze stiff at the sound. Weiss, still on her back, had front-row seats to watch her own mother absolutely crack up, turning beet red as she took the handkerchief back from Klein (who was also looking at her with grave concern) and covered her mouth. Her shoulders hitched, and muffled squeaks erupted from her in a cavalcade. Her eyes screwed up tight, giving her the wrinkles of someone in severe pain. Weiss blinked like she could clear the apparition away, but something was happening— a bad reaction with her meds, maybe an interaction with something in the gazpacho or the little bit of wine she'd had—because it wasn't going away.

Willow just sat there. Giggling.

"Oh—" the older woman said, breathless as her mouth parted her butler's cloth. "Forgive me. I haven't seen you two go at it like that since… since you were eight, Weiss. I think." She chuckled a little more, closing her eyes as if to relish the reel of mental pictures she'd taken.

Then, all at once, Willow composed herself: she sat up straight, drew a deep breath, set her jaw— she glared at her two daughters and said with all the mettle of a Huntress, "Now! Apologize, both of you!"

Weiss flipped over and whined, "What! What'd I do!"

Willow's finger darted towards her like the point of a rapier, striking a weak point she didn't know she had. "You started the fight. Even though," the finger crossed to Winter like a laser beam or a loaded gun, making Ruby and Whitley duck away from its path of destruction. "You started the conflict. Seriously? Challenging people to duels? In my house? And— of all people—"

The finger moved again, catching Ruby between the eyes before she could scramble away from it.

"This perfect angel? Who has so graciously seen fit to help fix your charity case of a sister?"

Ruby piped up defensively, "Hey! She is not a—"

Willow waved her ascent argument away and cut in, "No, sweetie, Weiss is definitely a charity case, and I can't be more thankful to have such a kind benefactor as yourself."

Ruby looked at her partner in dumbfounded appeal. Weiss shrugged and said, "I mean… I kind of am."

"Kind of?" Whitley mumbled, earning an elbow and a glare from Ruby.

Willow clapped twice, silencing them all as she stood to fill the room with matronly pressure. She glared first at Weiss, who chambered off the table to stand and meet her gaze with dignity. "Apologize to Winter," she commanded.

Weiss scowled, but made no further arguments as she turned on a heel, bowed at the hip, and told her sister, "I'm sorry. Even though you deserved it."

Winter scoffed, then looked up to her mother like she was a teenager again, like she could actually say 'Seriously? Mo-oooom, she's not apologizing enough!' and stand a solid chance of forcing her sister into a better apology. And, perhaps realizing she was a grown ass woman and the literal High General of the nation of Atlas itself, she sighed. "I… apologize."

"And to our guest," Willow tutted.

Winter turned and bowed to Ruby, who reflexively curtsied. "I should not have been so rude to you," she said, then straightened up and shook her head with a chuckle. "To have Weiss Schnee beat up her own sister in your defense, well…"

She trailed off. Ruby rubbed her neck and chuckled awkwardly.

"Klein?"

Weiss jumped at her mother's voice.

"Could you clear the table?"

"Of course, ma'am."

Willow snapped at her daughters. "You two, help him."

Weiss squeaked. "But—"

Winter reeled. "Help—"

But Willow silenced them with a glare that could wither Grimm. Worse, Ruby was already rolling up her sleeves and moving to help the butler as well. Ashamed, Winter and Weiss bowed their heads, moped their way to Klein, and accepted a burden greater than any Huntress or General could be expected to bear: chores.

Ruby brushed her. Weiss sighed into her thighs.

"Sweet baby," Ruby cooed, working through a tangle that had Weiss hissing. "Putting my pampered girl through manual labor…"

Weiss turned slightly to glare, but the jangle of her tags mixed with Ruby getting through the knot of hair. The combo of senses kinda turned her brain off, making her head flop back down on her partner's lap to mutely receive her reward of brushies. Ruby laughed with a level of satisfaction that bordered on scary.

"But you did so good."

The words buzzed through Weiss' brain, arcing down her spine like an electric shock. Warmth pooled in the wake of it, making her face flush and fingers twitch. She grabbed Ruby's free hand and stuck the side of it in her mouth, holding the salty skin between her teeth. This pleased her greatly.

Ruby snorted. "Do I need to get you a chewie?"

Weiss went rigid at the idea: a chew toy, just for her. For her to enjoy in her cage, to gnaw to her heart's content— or, to her molars' content. Doing tricks with it to earn treats… she felt so near to something. A completion of sorts. But she didn't know what was missing from the image in her head. How much more like a pet could she be?

Weiss blinked herself out of philosophizing. That was for people, not pets. Pets got to lay down and nuzzle into Ruby's thighs, and make whatever sounds they wanted when the brush lovingly tugged at their follicles. Weiss moaned, placidly lapping at the skin in her mouth.

Ruby snorted again. "Can't believe she called me a bumpkin."

Weiss lightly squeezed the flesh between her teeth, communicating her concurrence.

"Who knew I had such a fierce attack dog."

Weiss clamped her canines on Ruby's hand, demonstrating that she was, in fact, a fierce attack dog. The muscles of her partner's palm flexed beneath her teeth, but Ruby only hummed, content. She understood her so well.

"You coulda let me, though. She looks like a fun fight."

Weiss bit hard.

Ruby jolted and hissed, but didn't rip her hand away from her partner. "Joking," she said with a laugh. "Just joking."

Weiss removed the hand, turned to glare at Ruby, and put the hand back in her mouth.

Ruby giggled. "Are you jealous?"

Weiss bit hard.

Ruby did not take her hand away. "You are."

Weiss bit harder. She felt a buzzing energy try to push her away for a moment, only to be suppressed, letting her canines threaten the wholeness of Ruby's skin. Ruby did not take her hand away, however, and merely stared at Weiss with a horrifying depth to her eyes. The silver was sharp, there, jagged and toothy. Aching for something carnal. Weiss could see how hard Ruby wanted her own teeth on Weiss.

She also saw that look collapse from Ruby's gaze, replaced by that succulent doubt Weiss was so fond of. It was worth a little jealousy, to see the monster come out, then to watch Ruby frantically tamp it down. She gnawed at the hand.

Ruby finally pulled her hand away. She set the brush on the nightstand. She looked at Weiss.

"You think I'd ever leave you? For anything else?"

There was a weight in her words that made Weiss feel heavy. Anchored. Bolted to the bedsheets.

Ruby reached out and ran her thumb along the shell of Weiss' ear. Her eyes betrayed nothing. "Go get your leash."

Weiss slid off the bed, her stomach in knots as she crossed the room on all fours, feeling those eyes tracking her. The cold metal of her gaze. She always did that when she was about to make a concerted effort to fuck the life out of Weiss, or when she was debriefing the team on a bad Hunt, or when there were more people trying to kill them than Grimm. Or when there's a woman they could reasonably capture, wailing and pawing at her gouged eye, screaming about her dark mistress, her Grimm Empress, on her knees in front of Ruby; Ruby, who was being tugged at by Yang; Ruby, who stood perfectly still as Blake and Yang demanded she back away; Ruby, who Weiss could barely see at the end of the dark tunnel; Ruby, who looked back at her partner with perfect silver, polished steel, unforgiving chrome; Ruby who did not capture that woman; who everyone said, 'was fighting back'.

Ruby took the leash from her mouth. Weiss expected that edged silver look— craved it, even. Instead, she was met with soft gallium as Ruby cocked her head at her. "You okay? You look like you're shaking."

Weiss nodded.

Ruby squinted, but decided to trust her partner as she leaned forward and clipped the leash onto Weiss' collar. She gave it a testing tug. Weiss' heart swelled as the leather pulled her neck. "You up for a walk?"

Weiss tried to wag a tail that she didn't have. Ruby somehow saw it and giggled.

"Cutie."

"A-arf."

Ruby beamed at her. It made Weiss want to boil herself alive. Affectionately. Somehow.