solitarysnow | (no subject)

"Us?" Ruby parrots, glancing around the room - there is no us, is there? It's just her and Weiss.

But then she notices the way Weiss is looking at her, and wow, Ruby would absolutely be the first person to die in a horror movie, because she sees Weiss looking at her like that and thinks it's kind of nice to have her attention so focused on her.

But, uh, yeah. She's still scurrying over to the bed, sitting down.

"Whaat did you need me for, again? -- Hey, where did Yang and Blake go?"

"I specifically requested their absence, and they were kind enough to comply." A beat. "It's us, as in like, the royal we." God, does Ruby have to make her overstate everything? Now it just sounds awkward.

Weiss clears her throat.

"Anyway. As you well know, the dance is this weekend. The dance that I personally slaved upon for weeks! My blood, sweat and tears were poured into this event, to ensure every tiny detail is nothing short of perfect. Do you understand?"

She's pacing in circles as she talks, only to stop just then to lean right over Ruby. This time, her finger jabs into her chest. "And I will not allow you to ruin it!"

Ruby raises her hands in surrender as soon as Weiss's finger meets her chest, palms flat and facing Weiss. Lock her up, officer! Throw away the key!

"-- I'm not sure how I'm gonna ruin it, but I promise I won't do the thing you don't want me to do?" Ruby finally says, tilting her head as she tries to figure out what Weiss is even getting at. Sure, she can be a klutz, and she can't dance, but she isn't sure how she'd ruin it. Maybe trip into a table or something, but everyone'd laugh that off.

"... Are you sure Yang and Blake aren't listening at the door? That'd be a Yang thing to do."

To Ruby's credit, Weiss considers that for a moment. It does, admittedly, sound like a Yang thing to do. However, she is not so naive as to accept such a question at face value!

"Are you trying to get me to open the door so you can make your escape? Well, too bad! I'm wise to your ways, Ruby Rose!"

And possibly overestimating her just a little.

"Now tell me!" She folds her arms over her chest, stretching as tall and intimidating as her stature allows. Good thing Ruby is short. And sitting down. "What are you planning to wear to the dance?"

Edited 2017-07-28 17:02 (UTC)

Ruby really is being overestimated - she was just worried about Yang listening in, for real. She glances over at the door again, then tilts her head at Weiss's question.

"... Clothes?" She guesses, blinking. "Clothes are okay, right? -- Probably what I usually wear?"

"Absolutely not!" Weiss flares, then pauses a moment before amending. "I mean-- yes, clothes, obviously, but not these clothes. Were you honest-to-god thinking of showing up to a dance in these-- combat boots, and your cape that hasn't been washed at least since start of term?" She flicks at the red fabric dismissively, nose crinkling in distaste.

"Do you even own any party dresses?"

"What's a dress?" Ruby jokes, at least until she sees Weiss's face and quickly rubs at the back of her neck, shakes her head.

"I mean, uh - no. I've never really been to any parties. Will everyone else be that dressed up? I don't think - no, okay, Yang probably does have a party dress somewhere."

"I knew it!" Weiss claps her hands together in triumph. "Of course you don't own any party dresses. You're hopeless."

"Luckily for you, I've prepared for this exact occasion. Observe!" Walking over to the bedroom closet, she flings it open to reveal all its contents shoved off to one side, making space for one very important dress. It's brand new, black and red and semi-opaque above the chest, tied at the waist with a bow.

"Well? What do you think?" With how pleased with herself Weiss sounds, the question feels mostly rhetorical.

Edited 2017-07-30 21:37 (UTC)

Something about the way the closet is arranged - everything shoved to one side to make way for a dress that's clearly Ruby's - is. Nice? It's comforting and nice, like Weiss really is thinking hard about her, wants to make her happy. That's an odd thought.

-- The dress is also odd. She tilts her head at it for a good ten, twenty seconds, then points at the area above the chest. "Uhm, it looks nice, buuut... I mean, it's not showy or anything, but wouldn't that show my." She pauses, thinking.

"... Weiss, quick question, do I have cleavage?"

A pause. Weiss leans in a little closer, scrutinizing the general area of Ruby's chest with squinted eyes before concluding: "No, you're good."

"You're mean, Weiss!" Ruby huffs, tears in the corner of her eyes.

Then straightens up, of course, giving the dress another look. "Honestly, though, it does look really nice... uhm. Could you help me try it on? I have no idea how you get that thing on."

"Really?" Weiss's brow furrows, but she doesn't argue further, only angles her head away with a huff. "Alright, fine. Just-- you can change out of your own outfit, right?"

"I mean, I put it on and take it off every day?" It's more of a guess than a statement, but Ruby's pretty sure it's true. She brushes out her outfit, then starts to unbuckle the dress - pauses.

"... Hey, how much of this should I take off, exactly?" All of it, is the obvious answer, but of course that would require her to be in her underwear around Weiss. There's a long pause, and then Ruby straightens up in an unnatural way as she stands up, bites at her lip. "Uh, maybe I can actually try it on by myself!"

"Uh," Weiss echoes, blinking slowly. "Okay?"

God, Ruby can be weird sometimes. And she means weird by Ruby-standards, which is saying something.

"You sure you've got this? I mean-- you do know you have to take off your whole dress to put on another, right?"

"Yeah! I mean, I can't have two dresses on at once. That's like. Basic." Don't screw this up, Ruby. It's definitely a subject. She knows that much. Geography? No. "Geometry?"

... "Can I buy a vowel?" She jokes, then rubs the back of her neck. "A, anyway. Uhm. Turn around? So I can... you know... take my dress off."

"...Nnno," Weiss drawls, then turns around as asked.

"Tell me if you get stuck. If you tear it, I'll kill you."

"Was I at least close?" Ruby asks, then there's the sound of rustling fabric pretty much as soon as Weiss turns around. Her cape, dress, belts - they all get shucked in about a minute flat. Ruby likes collapsing into bed when she gets back to her room, so she's at least practiced in getting her somewhat complicated outfit off.

Weiss can definitely hear Ruby's steps as she moves over to the closet to, gingerly removes the dress from it. She holds it up to her body in the mirror, not that Weiss can see, then... well, puts it on. It's not as complicated as she'd thought - her arms go into the sleeves, her head goes through the, uh, headhole. It's basic.

She spins a little in the mirror, actually liking the way it fits her. It really is her color, and Weiss has a nice eye for this kind of thing. For a moment, she lets her mind drift to storybook princesses...

Then realizes it's about to fall off her shoulder and hurriedly catches it, realizes there's a - something? - in the back that she can't quite get closed. "You can turn around! But, uh, there's a zipper in the back that I can't reach. Or maybe it's a button? Something to hold it closed."

Alright. Weiss isn't going to admit it, but she can maybe see what has Ruby acting all funny about this. It... is a little awkward, staring at the wall and listening to the clicks and shuffles as the other girl takes off her frankly impractical outfit. It's difficult to focus on anything but those sounds, what with the lack of any other presence in the room-- but focusing on them too much makes Weiss feel kind of creepy, so she's glad that it doesn't take long before Ruby's addressed her again.

"Yeah, there's a zip. Hang on, I'll get it."

She turns back around and steps towards her, settling behind Ruby's slender back to pull the zip up. There's the instinctive urge to linger, but that's stupid, because it takes two seconds to pull up a zipper, and how in the world would she justify that. So Weiss pulls it up in two seconds like normal, and placates herself by brushing her hands down Ruby's waist, as if to smooth the fabric down.

"So..." she begins as she moves to the side, to join Ruby in the study of her reflection. She laces her fingers in front of her lap, rocking once on her heels. "I think you look nice. Obviously. Which is why I picked it." There's a beat, then the first sheepish note to her voice the whole evening: "You like it, right?"

Ruby is glad she's facing away from Weiss - that means it's harder for Weiss to see the way her cheeks flush as Weiss's hands run along her back, as she brushes her hands along her thin waist.

And then she realizes she's looking right into a mirror, and feels kind of dumb. "Uh." Ruby starts eloquently, then shakes her head.

"Yeah, it's... I didn't know I could look like this, Weiss? I mean, that's kinda stupid to say, since I don't even have make-up on or my hair did or anything, but. I feel kind of like a princess. Now I get why you dress so nice," she rambles for a moment, leaning back and forth on her heels. She's still wearing her boots, no reason to take those off.

"Oh, I should get nice shoes too, right? I can, uh, handle that myself. ... Probably not heels. Unless. Uh. Unless you think I'd look good in heels?"

Weiss grins, a little lopsided, and bounces barely-noticeably on her feet again before catching herself. Ruby's cute. And she's happy with her dress. The offhanded compliment doesn't pass her by unnoticed, either, even though it's really more a statement of fact than anything else. Still.

"I got you heels," Weiss admits, shrugging one shoulder. "It's not that hard, once you get used to it."

She produces the pair of shoes from the corner of the closet, and places them on the floor before Ruby. "Give it a try."

"Give it a try, huh..." Ruby says suspiciously, glaring at the heels like they're the culprit in a crime novel. Slowly, she slips out of her boots, slips her feet into the heels. They're kind of nice, in a way, and she's quick to tap the front of them against the ground to make sure they're on snug.

Alright. Now to take a step. "A step..." She murmurs. She raises one leg, at the knee, slides it forward, then presses her foot into the floor.

She then spends about fifty seconds waving her arms desperately to try and keep her balance before finally maanging to stand back up straight.

"-- am I supposed to dance in these?"

Okay-- Weiss is positive that reaction is highly exaggerated, and she offers Ruby a pointed eye roll to be sure that gets across. "I literally got you the lowest heels I could find, just so you know."

(In part because she knew Ruby would struggle, and in part because it's absolutely crucial that at no point does she appear taller than Weiss. Even if she is. It's just important.)

Still, she remembers her own first pair of heels from a couple years back, the way her knees would wobble as she moved in circles across her own bedroom until she could get used to them. And she softens, holding her hands out to Ruby.

"Let's... start with walking."

"Walking! I can do walking. I'm a pro at that," Ruby chatters, her own knees wobbling - must be nostalgic for Weiss - as she sets herself up, arms no longer pinwheeling.

She takes Weiss's hand eagerly, squeezes it tight, even intertwines her fingers with Weiss's. It's an incredibly affectionate gesture, and one Ruby doesn't even think about before doing.

"One foot in front of the other, right? No need to sashay my hips or anything?"

Weiss looks down at their now very joint hands, and swallows against the rush of warmth climbing up her neck. She wonders, at times like this, if Ruby is secretly far more sophisticated than her appearance lets on; she couldn't imagine holding onto someone like this without even a thought. The other option being, of course, that Ruby actually is that simple -- both astonishing feats in their own right.

"Please, no. That'd be weird." Weiss sighs, though a light smile plays on her lips. "Let's just get you walking across the room without falling on your face."

And she takes a small step back, guiding Ruby along.

"You sure? My hips are kinda nice, I think!" Ruby laughs easily, elbowing Weiss's side gently. She isn't even sure what she's getting at anymore, honestly - words mostly just come tumbling out of her mouth whenever she's around Weiss.

She grins back at Weiss, then takes that step with her. Jokes aside, she does wobble more than a bit, but it's a brief thing. The issue is her balance, really - lifting her leg, setting it down, all of that works. It's the new center of gravity that's throwing her off, the natural part of walking where only one foot is on the ground. With her balance points reduced to the heel of her shoes and the front of her foot, keeping herself firmly on the ground doesn't come as easy.

She taps her heel lightly against the ground. "... I think it actually would be easier if I did move my hips?"

"No comment," Weiss mutters, and pulls on Ruby's hand harder. Her gaze does, however, flicker over to Ruby's hips just for a moment. They're fine. Whatever. She refuses to get into a discussion of Ruby's dumb hips.

Except Ruby won't let it go that easily, because of course she won't. "Oh my God," Weiss groans in response, her head lolling back. "Then move your hips. I don't care."

"Not like sashaying!" Ruby huffs, leaning up after Weiss as she seems to give up on life.

"I just mean, like, a little!" She protests, giving Weiss's hand a needlessly fond squeeze before pulling away, taking a few steps.

There is a swing to her hips, but it's not goofy or even exaggerated. It's subtle, almost. Like a model's walk. Or, well, a model that doesn't do the big hipswings. Tiny hipswings. Is she making sense?

The point is, it's more elegant and subtle than anything. Even if that impression is ruined by Ruby immediately pumping her fists, whirling on her heel to face Weiss properly again.

"See, the, like, momentum? Keeps me even. It's easy!"

It's... surprisingly graceful, the way Ruby walks. Maybe Weiss shouldn't be too shocked at the sight -- their dope of a leader maneuvers herself around quite effortlessly in battle, after all, so it's not as though she's a total klutz.

Still, between the outfit and how she carries herself now, Weiss can't help but stare. Just a little. Who knew Ruby could look actually mature? And that it'd be... kind of attractive?

Of course, she negates the effect all on her own the next moment, which comes more as a relief than anything. Weiss clears her throat. The warmth has reached her cheeks when she wasn't paying attention, and the best she can do now is hope it doesn't show.

"... You know what? Maybe you're not a lost cause."

"Of course I'm not a lost cause!" Ruby huffs, brushing out the dress as she walks over to Weiss, leans in to poke at her nose.

"If I was, you wouldn't have bothered with all this, right? I know you don't like to waste your time."