Chapter 14

She examined her figure in the mirror. Bruised, scarred, beaten, dirty. There wasn't a clean square inch of skin that didn't have some kind of damage on it. Everything was black and blue, every cut was still in the process of scabbing over, and by god did everything hurt. Every joint, every muscle, every bone. All of it hurt. At this moment she was sure that if she could, she would have all of her skeleton extracted and massaged bone by bone until everything felt normal again. She was unsure if it was even physically safe to have this many injuries in one body. Wasn't this effectively massive internal hemorrhaging?

"Ow…" she winced, slowly turning in place. Her back ached oh so dearly as she bent over the bathtub and turned the faucet on. "Everything hurts."

The hot water started to pour into the deep clawfoot tub, the steam billowing upwards and out the open window. She had no problem being naked with the window open, as the bathroom was high enough up and facing the forest, where no student or faculty could be to observe her. Besides, it was a nice enough day out and she didn't really care since she was in so much pain. This bath was gonna be sublime. She tried to roll out a knot in her shoulder, but every movement stung and made her want to fall over and collapse onto the floor and pass out. Being a Huntress sucked for what it did to her body.

"Where's the…"

She pulled open the cupboard under the sink, sorting through the bottles and rolls of toilet paper. Her hand found the familiar feminine curves of one particular green one.

"Ah, there we are."

She pulled it out, popped the lid off, and proceeded to pour a fairly large dollop of the green goo into the tub, just under the faucet. Almost immediately the smell of green apples started to emanate from the rolling bath water, rising up with the steam up to the ceiling and into her sinuses. She exhaled, letting the freedom of nudity overcome her. It was just such a wonderful feeling, this openness she felt, right then and there in the bathroom. No class, no problems, no Grimm, and certainly no clothing. It was beautiful. She moved over to the low shelf next to the tub where her duffle bag sat open with her clothes in it.

"Oof."

She winced as she bent over the bag, rifling through it for her candles. They'd fallen all the way down to the bottom, beneath her gear and her towel, out of sight and in an awkward position. She pulled the three little candles out and set them on the edge of tub, carefully lining them up next to the faucet so they didn't fall in. Back into the bag she went, grabbing a single fire dust cartridge from the bottom and popping it open, rubbing the fine red powder onto her fingers. She reached over one of the candle wicks and snapped her fingers, igniting a small flame and lighting it. She kept the fire dancing around her fingers and carried it over to the next two candles, lighting them as well. She wiped the fire off on the damp edge of the tub, her fingers sizzling as they extinguished. She poured the rest of the fire dust into the water, turning it a soft pink and listening for the sizzling sound in the bubbles. Fire dust, when mixed with bathwater, tended to provide a soothing, fizzing sensation on the skin, and that is what she was most looking forward to.

She did a quick perimetre check, making sure no one was around, and pulled out a long, skinny glass bottle from her bag along with a fat glass flute wrapped in a hand towel. She unwrapped the glass, and set it down on the edge of the tub next to the candles. She set the bottle down on the table next to the tub and stood upright, and padded over to the window and looked out, making sure that really no one was gonna see what she was up to. She stood a moment, feeling the sun beat down on her bare body, and loving every second of it. She sighed, and yanked the blinds shut, bringing the room to a sweet dim light of just the candles. She bounced, bounced back over to the tub, ignoring the shooting pains in her body as she picked up the bottle again.

"Thank you, Junior Xiong." She pulled the wax seal off the lid of the bottle. "I absolutely love you."

She popped the cork gently out, set it down in her bag, and poured the deep purple, nearly black liquid into the glass, nearly brimming it with the strong-smelling stuff. Yes, what she was about to do was illegal, but technically she didn't exist and neither did the man who had supplied her, so who would be able to prosecute her? She set the bottle down and loosely put the cork back in and set it out of reach. One glass would probably be plenty for a girl her size and with her metabolism. She checked the water for temperature, and satisfied with what she found, reached over the tub and shut the faucet off. Down in the bottom of her bag was a little cardboard box. She grabbed it, opened the lid with a flick of her wrist, and gently shook the contents out over the soapy water, littering it with about a hundred sweet-smelling rose petals, a decent mix of red and white. She smiled down at them.

"Perfect."

She groaned as she got up again, moving over to the counter, where she'd left her record player.

"Alright, what do I want today? Brahms? Beethoven?"

She plugged the player in to the wall socket, and picked up her fairly sparse record collection.

"Ooh, haven't listened to this one yet." She mused, picking up the one from the bottom of the pile. "Gymnopédie. Sounds foreign. Alright, Erik Satie, impress me."

She de-sleeved the record and carefully extracted it from its polymer dust jacket and set the two things aside, carefully ensuring the fragile vinyl disk didn't fall to the tile floor. That would be an expensive accident. With the grace of a swan, she laid the record onto the turntable and lifted the cursor over the edge, keeping the cueing switch in the up position as it spun up to speed. Thirty-three and an third revolutions per minute, the best speed in her opinion for audio file listening. She looked at herself in the circular vanity mirror for a moment, examining the bruising on her face. At least the vogue-esque makeup had kept most of it at bay. She opened the vanity door for a moment and grabbed her one and only colour of lipstick and slammed it shut, carefully reapplying the deep red colour to her lips, puckering at herself in the mirror for a moment.

"Byoutiful."

She dropped the cueing switch and sauntered over to the tub, reaching once more into her bag and pulled out a flat heart-shaped box and opened it, the aroma of cocoa hitting her in the face with that sweet smell of sin. She set it down on the little low table, lid open, and stepped into the tub. She frowned and winced as the incredibly hot water gripped her legs. She slowly lowered herself in, feeling the heat of the water creep up her body as more and more of her body slipped into the thick mountain of pink apple-smelling bubbles. Her body settled in to the tub very gently, her muscles relaxing.

"Ahhh-ahhhhhhh, that's nice…"

She leaned back, resting against the sloped back of the tub and slipping herself down so her chin touched the water. She took a deep breath, filling her lungs with air and letting her bum float off the bottom of the smooth tub, letting out a sigh and closing her eyes, sinking back down under the tall mountain of suds. The tingling sensation of the infused dust in the water moved over her skin in slow waves, moving up from her feet, up her legs, around her hips, up past her chest and down her arms in slow rhythmic pulses. She enjoyed this feeling a moment longer, her eyelids fluttering open lazily as the music from the record player started the opening chords. One hand came out of the water slowly and she wiped it daintily on a nearby hand towel, and picked up one of the little chocolates from the heart-shaped box. She popped it into her mouth and reached for her glass, her arm covered in soap and flower petals.

"Thish ish perfecc." She said quietly to herself, mouth full of chocolate and nougat.

She took a long sip from the glass. As soon as it entered her mouth, she was greeted by the smooth, fruity flavour of blueberries, blackcurrant and licorice or all things, hitting her a lot harder than she'd prepared for. But the taste lingered as she swallowed, pooling through her mouth and roaming around her tongue, taking little nips at her taste buds every moment or so. As the flavour faded, it was replaced by faint notes of peppery spice and just the smallest hint of oak right at the back. She swirled the glass in her hand for a moment, watching the purple liquid spin slowly around in it.

"Ugh, this pairs so well, Junior." she grabbed another chocolate. "Ish almosh like you know what you're djouing."

The heat of the water was biting into her cuts a little, but the soothing sensation of the dust in the water, coupled with the drink taking the edge off was making her feel so much better. And her old pal's choice in drink was more luxurious than she'd been expecting. She was hoping for something lighter, something more along the lines of a cheap blend. This was far too expensive for her. But goddamn it, she deserved it. She genuinely felt like she was floated on a cloud of air. There wasn't much more she wanted out of life at this moment. She took another deep sip and sighed, feeling all the weight lift from her shoulders and her spine decompress.

Being a Huntsman was dirty, painful, sometimes literally backbreaking work. It took a lot out of a person, from their will to carry on, their fighting spirit, right down to their blood and entrails in the most extreme cases. Every day new kinds of Grimm were discovered and every day Huntsmen from all over the world fought and died to protect the lives of millions. She'd never pictured herself being one of the unfortunate souls who would have to lay down their lives in combat. On the contrary, she always pictured herself like her mother, being a fearless and destructive force of nature that nothing could kill. Of course, the irony wasn't lost on her as she quickly realized she had always idolized herself. But that was okay, sometimes. She'd looked up to Summer Rose, and now she was Summer Rose, and by her own account she was living up to her own high expectations. But sometimes, even the strongest warriors needed a break from the action. A little time to themselves.

They certainly couldn't be expected to be one hundred percent attack at all times, that would be absurd. She understood that behind every fearless warrior was someone who just needed a little R&R every so often. And that was exactly what Summer Rose needed at this very moment, was a little bit of time away from the front lines. Classes were going well, she was proving herself a capable leader and friend, and she was enjoying settling in to this new life she'd found herself stuck in. But at this moment, she wasn't complaining. The friend she'd made in Raven was more than she could ever have asked for, especially in bringing out the unbelievably soft side the woman had been hiding away from the world under that scary facade.

She took another nougat-filled bundle of sin and had herself another sip of the thick purple drink, setting the tall glass down with dainty fingers. The soft smell of green apple, chocolate, and blueberry-blackcurrant reminded her of the smell of Little Cindy's hair from two days before, and of her sweet little smile when she gave her the lollipop. Poor girl was spoiled rotten. But she deserved it, really. When she'd lost so much when her village burned to the ground. She deserved every sweet thing in the world. Except of course for the sweet purple drink in her cup at the moment, that was for when Cindy was older. Like, thirty.

But more to the point, it was a good thing that she'd unlocked her semblance, as it meant that she could better protect herself, it just sucked at how violent the method was. She'd planned this whole routine she was gonna go through, with candles, matches, little bits of newspaper to burn. Anything that would have been nice to ease the small girl into her fire-based semblance, despite being debilitatingly pyrophobic. But all fears can be overcome with the proper counselling and training, hence the regiment designed to properly associate the girl with her powers. But now, despite all of Ozpin's rigorous praise, she knew that the poor child would likely be too afraid of even herself to ever use them.

But she'd seen Ozpin's methods up close. He had been able to convince the timid blond boy across the hall that it was safe to get on a catapult six hundred feet above a cliff and let him fling him off into Grimm-infested territory. So getting his own adopted child to come out of her shell with fire powers would be a walk in the park for the old wizard. Probably actually a walk in a park, he tended to like doing that in the park next to the school to clear his head. It was a great park, if she thought about it. A good place to train cardio on the long pathway the circled it, and with plenty of open sparring space it was good for combat practice too. So getting Little Cindy out there to practice not burning the forest down would be good for her.

She sighed and took another sip. Her glass was getting dangerously empty, she noticed. Somebody might have to remedy that for her. Alas, she was alone, so she groaned and sat up, reaching over the edge of the tub for the bottle again. With her glass refilled and the bottle placed back behind her head on the table, she settle back in and grinned to herself. The chocolate was also disappearing quickly, but she only had herself to blame for that one, as three of the chocolates were actually strawberry-flavoured and she'd already sucked those into herself as soon as she'd seen them on the drawing on the inside of the box.

There was a soft knock at the door.

She nearly jumped at how suddenly she was interrupted. She turned her head to glare daggers into the door, hoping somehow they'd penetrate and murder the individual unlucky enough to be standing on the other side. She sighed.

"Hello?"

"Summer? It's me, it's Rae."

She softened.

"Oh. What's up?"

"Can I come in?"

Ruby looked down at herself for a moment, and then to the glass in her hand. She wasn't exactly in any position for guests.

"Uh, I'm a little busy?"

"Oh. Right, sorry."

"No, you can come in. As long as you don't look."

A scoff from the other side of the door. "As if."

The latch clicked softly and the hinges creaked as the door slowly opened. In hobbled her partner, wearing a plastic brace over her right foot and shin. Her outfit normally would have included skinny jeans or tight-fitting slacks, but due to her injury and leg brace she couldn't wear them. She instead seemed to be currently favouring the regular plaid uniform skirt and a navy blue Beacon Academy hoodie. She eyed her up and down as she approached with a significant limp. A cute look on the tall woman, for sure. She turned and closed the door behind her.

"S'up, Rae?"

"Just wondering where you were." she groaned as she kneeled down next to the tub. "Got some stuff I wanna talk about."

She pulled some of the soap bubbles up towards herself to hide her nudity.

"Yeah, yeah, for sure."

Raven took a sniff of the room, frowning.

"Wait, what is that smell? Apple? Cinnamon?"

"Uh, yeah, it's my bubble bath solution and the candles."

She did her best to hide the cup in the bubbles as well, but unfortunately the dark purple drink was sort of hard to miss.

"What are you drinking?" Raven reached through the bubbles and grabbed the cup from her hands and brought it to her face. "Is this wine? Are you drinking wine?"

She flushed. "Maybe."

Raven took a sniff of the drink. "Hoo! What is this, a merlot?"

"It's a Syrah."

"How in gods' name did you get alcohol? Aren't you like, seventeen?"

She looked away.

"Uh, from the bartender."

"Summer, it's illegal to sell alcohol to minors."

"Yeah, and Hei's a criminal, what do you expect?"

The woman paused a moment.

"You know, that's a fair point."

She grinned up at her partner, fidgeting around in the bath.

"I could have just said 'I know a guy' and you'd have taken that at face value."

Raven chuckled. "You're right, I would have. Anyway, what even is all this? What's with the bubble bath, wine, rose petals, classical music…"

"It's just a bit of a romantic gesture, Rae-Rae."

"For who? You? Are you trying to romance yourself?"

She pointed a finger at Raven's nose, flicking a dollop of soap onto it.

"Hey, nobody in the world loves me more than me, so sometimes I have to show myself that."

"Ha!" Raven laughed. "You know, you really are a strange individual, Mere."

"And you love me for it."

"Tsk. You wish."

She reached out and tapped some more suds onto Raven's cheek.

"You'll come around."

"We'll see."

At this moment, the door burst open again and in came both Qrow and Taiyang.

"Hey, girls, what's going on, are we having a union meet-"

"Hey!" Ruby yelled, jumping nearly all the way out of her skin and pulling her arms up to her chest to cover herself. "Get the fuck out!"

"Whoa, sorry, we didn't- that you were in the-" Qrow stumbled, shielding his eyes, but not really making an effort to leave. "We just thought you were-"

"OUT!"

She turned over and stuffed her hand into her duffle bag again, and pulled out her 1911, spinning and levelling the barrel at the two bumbling fools. Raven shrieked and ducked out of the way. Ruby kept the sights aimed directly at Qrow's crotch, as he was closest to her.

"Hey, whoa, that's a little unnecessary, don't you think?"

"Get! Out! You perverts!" She screamed with a little more humour in her tone, just enough so Raven would chuckle. "This is a bathroom, the hell did you think I was doing?!"

"Look, we saw Raven go in and we-" Tai started.

"JUST LEAVE! That's an order!" she yelled, cocking the hammer on the pistol. That got their attention, and they bolted, apologizing profusely and slamming the door. As soon as she heard them leave earshot, she lowered the gun, and started to giggle.

"Stupid boys."

"Summer, why the fuck do you have a gun in the bathroom? And why did you just point it at our teammates?"

"Re-laaax Rae, it was just to scare them off. Besides…" she lifted the barrel up and pointed the bottom of the grip to her partner. "There's no magazine in it and the trigger lock is still on. It's not gonna fire."

"Yeah, but they didn't know that."

"You're right, and that's why they left."

She tucked the weapon back into her duffel bag, letting it fall to the bottom underneath her gear, and took her glass back from her partner.

Raven smirked. "Stupid boys."

"Boys suck."

"You're right, they do. Awful things, they are."

"Too bad they're necessary for the advancement of the species."

"Yeah. If only we could just create babies with science, we wouldn't need them."

Ruby paused a moment for thought, frowning into her wine glass.

"You know, that's not a half-bad idea, I might just look into that."

Her partner rolled her eyes with a bemused grin.

"Whatever you say, Mere. Man, this bath thing seems like a really good idea. Maybe I should have one."

"You're right, it's a great idea." Ruby bit her lip. "Care to join me?"

Her partner seemed to flush.

"I thought we agreed this wasn't the kind of relationship we had."

"It's not, but you said you needed a bath. This just saves water, you know?"

She seemed hesitant.

"Mmm, maybe not. I will have a glass of wine, though."

"Ah-ah-ah, nope." she said, stopping Raven's reach for the bottle. "Only if you get in the tub."

"For real?"

"Them's the rules, Rae."

She sighed. Ruby's eyes lit up.

"Alright, fine. Just this once, and you can't tell anyone."

"We're drinking alcohol, Rae, obviously I'm not gonna tell anyone."

The look on her partner's face seemed to indicate this might not be just a one time occurence. Raven stood up slowly, bracing herself on the edge of the tub as she did to keep the weight off her bad leg.

"Please don't look."

"Rae, we change together, I've seen you naked. Well, almost."

"Yeah, but… please?"

"Alright fine."

"Th-thanks."

Ruby directed her attention away as her partner moved over to the door again, locking it with a soft click of the twist latch. Not that a measly door lock would stop their teammates if they really wanted to get in, but it was the thought that counted.

"Hey, can you flip the record over while you're over there?"

"Sure."

Sure enough, she heard the distinct sound of the player lid opening and the vinyl disc being lifted off and flipped over. The static sound of the edge of the record faded in, followed by the soft chords that signified the beginning of act three of the symphony. Then the unmistakable sound of a sweater being pulled off.

"Actually, there is one thing you can check for me…"

Ruby eagerly turned to look. "Whassat?"

"I fell pretty hard on a rock during the mission and my back has been killing me, and I can't see it in the mirror. Can you see anything wrong?"

Ruby squinted to see. Raven had her back to her, her hair pulled forward, and her sweater off and in her arms. her wide, muscled shoulders were exposed to the dim candlelight, the light flickering off each taught rise and valley of corded muscle that stretched across her well-toned back. She tried her hardest to not oggle the substantial triceps and traps, even if they did ripple aggressively as the woman breathed. Right in the middle of her back, however, running down her spine and bridged by her bra clasp, was a substantial purple and blue bruise. Ruby winced.

"Ooh, yeah, right in the middle. Looks pretty bad, actually."

"How bad?"

"I'd probably suggest you see a chiropractor."

"That bad, really? Like, right now?"

"No, but I'd put it on your list of things to do. Geez, no wonder you didn't sleep well last night."

"Yeah, my back's been killing me. That and my ankle."

"Good thing you're getting in the bath, then."

"Y-yeah…"

She turned away again to give her privacy, and dug back into her duffle bag for another glass. Off to the side, there was a second one, also wrapped in a hand towel for safety. She unwrapped it and set it on the edge of the tub, next to her own. The sound of plastic clasps opening was next, followed by the sound of a leg brace falling to the floor.

"Okay, I'm coming back over. Your eyes better be closed."

Ruby put her hand over her eyes.

"Yes, ma'am."

"Okay…"

She could hear the sound of bare feet padding softly over the slick tile. Even for a woman so tall and so dense with muscle, she could move with barely a sound. This was probably due to years training to be a thief and a bandit, however. But it would probably serve a good purpose as a Huntress as well, she figured. Good for sneaking past particularly hard of hearing Grimm, like Beowulves and Ursai.

"Are you in yet?" she giggled.

"Shut the fuck up, Summer. I'm getting in now."

Ruby pulled her knees up to her chest to give her companion space to get in. The tub was definitely large enough for the two of them, even though her partner was a substantial eleven inches taller than she was. A foot came through the surface of the water, fizzing through the mountain of fruity-smelling bubbles. Raven's hands squeaked on the edges of the tub as she lowered herself in, sinking down until her butt landed on the bottom with a dull thump.

"Okay, I'm in."

Ruby opened her eyes. True to her word, there was her partner, sitting with her body mostly below the water's surface, her back pressed all the way up against the other side of the tub. She had her arm draped tightly against her bosom, covering her chest from view. Ruby smirked.

"Having a height problem there, princess?"

"Shut up. I'm too tall for this bathtub."

"Scooch down, then! Put your feet in my lap."

"Wha- no!"

Ruby rolled her eyes and reached out under the water, and grabbed one of Raven's ankles. The woman squawked briefly as her leg was yanked forward, making her body and butt slide closer to her. She relented, and stretched both her legs out, bringing them to rest on the tops of Ruby's thighs. She too stretched her legs out, resting them just to the left side of Raven's hip.

"There, better?"

"I guess."

"Well, your titties are covered, so you don't have to worry about me peeking."

"That wasn't-"

"Yessss it was, Rae-Rae, I can read you like a book."

"Shut up."

Ruby turned and grabbed the wine bottle again, popped the cork off and filled the second glass with the deep purple wine. She handed it over to her companion, who nervously took it in her fingers. She put the bottle down on the floor and picked up her own glass.

"There you go, my love."

"Th-thanks."

They sat opposite each other for a moment, Raven's cheeks thoroughly red. Ruby maintained eye contact and wiggled her eyebrows every time her gaze was met. After a few awkward moments, they both burst out laughing.

"Ahh, this is fun, ain't it?" Ruby laughed, poking Raven in the stomach with her toe.

"This is the gayest thing I've ever done, Mere."

"Oh? Not even that time you kissed me in the bank?"

"Bitch, you kissed me." she said, taking a sip of her wine. "Oh, fuck, this is good."

"I know, right? Want a chocolate?"

"Hell yeah."

Ruby handed the box over and let her take one, careful to not tip it too far and spill the chocolates into the bathwater. Raven took one and tossed it up, leaning her head back and catching it in her mouth. As she chewed, she winced.

"S'amatter?"

"Cranberry."

"Oh, not a fan?"

The woman shook her head, her long curls fluttering around. "Not particularly. Got anything with coconut in it?"

Ruby looked into the box. "I dunno, I might have eaten them all. I think this one does."

She gestured to a brown and white conch shell-shaped one. Raven shrugged and picked it up, tossing it up and into her mouth again.

"Yuff, coconuff."

"Glad you're entertained."

"Fankff"

Ruby chuckled. "No problem. How's your ankle doing?"

"Hurts pretty bad. I'm tryna ignore it."

"Need me to massage it?"

Raven shrugged. "I mean, at this point, I've already got my feet in your lap, you might as well. Not like this could get any gayer."

Ruby grinned mischievously and carefully lifted her partner's healing ankle off her lap and held it in her hands. She began to gently rub her thumbs into the fleshy bit of her leg, just above the joint.

"I dunno, we could be playing the pocky game."

"The fuck's the -ow- pocky game?"

"Do you know what pocky is?"

"Isn't it that stick candy? Filled with chocolate?"

"Yeah, exactly. The Pocky game is where one of us puts the bare end between our lips and the other has to bite off more and more pocky until they either feel uncomfortable and back off or get so far down that they kiss the person."

Raven blinked.

"You know, at this point, I think we've gone far enough overboard, I'm just gonna ask. Do you have any pocky, 'cause I'll try anything at this point."

Ruby laughed.

"No, I do not have any pocky. I like your enthusiasm, though."

"Oh."

"Wow, you seem disappointed."

"Don't promise me -ow- chocolate and then expect me to be okay when you say there is none!"

Ruby took a sip of her wine. "Right, the pocky is what you're disappointed about, sure."

"Shut the fuck up, Summer."

"You know, you're literally the last person on the face of the planet I thought I'd be sharing a bath with, like, literally ever."

"You know, a couple weeks ago, I'd have said the same thing, Mere."

"No, but seriously. I mean, I guess all you needed was a little time to warm up to me, and we found out together that you're just a big softie. There's redemption for you yet, Rae."

"I… don't know what you mean, but okay."

Ruby let herself get a little lost in the fantasy for a moment, mumbling "maybe this time around you'll stay with him."

"What was that?"

She perked up again.

"Oh, nothing, nothing. Say, have you made any progress with our plan?"

"You know, actually, that's what I came to talk to you about. I have some news."

"What, really?! Wait, is it good or bad?"

Raven bit her lip. "Good."

"Ooooooh, tell me, tell me, tell me!"

"Jeez, you seem excited."

"Raven."

"Right. Well, he asked me out."

Ruby nearly exploded.

"Yeah! Finally! What did you say?"

"We have a date tomorrow afternoon at Chez Gaston."

"Oh, Raven!" she dove for the woman, wrapping her arms around her neck, keeping her wine glass clear of the flowing black hair. If this woman was anything like her daughter then spilling wine in her hair would mean instant and gory death, something she wished to avoid for the time being. "I'm so proud of you!"

This was the first real step forward back to the 'real' present she remembered. She just needed to keep this little relationship going for a few more months and they'd be sufficiently on track for the future.

"Summer, not so hard." Raven barely managed to breathe out. "You're squishin' my tits."

"Oh, sorry." she retracted, scooching back down to her end of the tub. "Sorry, I'm a hugger."

"Oh, I noticed. Can you maybe not be when we're naked? It's a little awkward."

"Sorry. I'll try to contain myself for next time."

"Thank you. I'm not saying I don't appreciate your hugs, just… you're very boney, and I'm a little…" she gestured to her chest. "...sensitive."

"Oh hoh?" Ruby glanced down at the mound of bubbles obstructing her view and cocked her eyebrows.

"Head out of the gutter."

"Fine." she pouted. "You know, we need to go shopping."

"Wha-why?"

"To get you a date-ready outfit for tomorrow!"

"What, now?"

"Yes, now! Fashion waits for no one, Raven! What were you even planning on wearing?"

She took a timid last sip of wine. "I dunno, my red coat over my uniform?"

Ruby's eyes twitched. Quite violently.

"No!" such an affront to style wouldn't stand. "You need to be taught what proper date attire is."

"It's not like I can wear pants! I have to keep the brace on until my ankle heals all the way!"

"Who said anything about wearing pants, my love? Now, come on! We have important shopping to do!"

She stood up, soap and water dripping from her body and hopped out of the tub. Raven gawked as she dashed around the bathroom, naked, hurriedly putting the wine bottle away in her bag and unplugging the record player, carefully re-sleeving the vinyl disc and stacking it neatly. She grabbed a towel from the rack and dabbed herself off quickly, tossing it at the hamper in the corner and missing. She grabbed a second towel and dashed back over to the tub, holding it out lengthways.

"Get up, get up! Get toweled off, we have places to be!"

"S-Summer, you're not wearing any clothes…"

"Ignore that, hurry up." She looked away for privacy. "C'mon, the stores aren't open all day!"

"How do you have such good body confidence?" she asked, standing. Ruby wrapped the towel around her partner and stepped back, collecting her clothes from the ground.

"Well, I'm very short, so there's not that much body to be confident about. Plus, I used to live with only girls so we all kinda got used to it after a while."

"I, uh, I'm gonna need more practice."

"Feel free to bare it around me, dummy. Now dry off and get dressed!"

She ran to the door, her underwear barely on and her shirt only halfway buttoned up. She pulled it open just enough to stick her head out. Just down the short hall was their common area of their dorm, where Tai and Qrow were sitting lazily on two beanbags. She whistled to grab their attention.

"Hey! Assholes!"

Tai looked up from his magazine. Something about sports, judging by the cover.

"What's up, kiddo?"

"Get me my phone!"

"You're not gonna point a gun at me again, are you?"

"Only if you don't get me my goddamn phone, hurry up!"

"Right, fine." he chuckled, pulling himself upwards. In the sunlight that was coming in through the large picture window, she saw exactly why Raven was so taken by him. He was beautiful.

"Hurry!"

After a moment of him searching her desk, he grabbed the phone and carried it over. Ruby took it and tossed it onto the sink vanity, before turning back to the blond boy.

"Thanks."

"What are you two doing in there, anyways."

"We're doing 'mind your business', Taiyang. Now, I recommend you take your boy over there and visit the nearest clothing store before tomorrow."

"Why, though?"

She stuck her arm through the door and grabbed him by the collar of his t-shirt, and yanked his face close to hers.

"Because, moron," she whispered through clenched teeth. "I swear to god, if you show up for lunch tomorrow wearing beige cargo pants and a vest, I will kill you."

"That's all I own, though!" he whispered back.

"Then go and buy something else?"

"But what? A suit?"

"Something nice!" she seethed at him, keeping her voice low enough so no one would hear. "A nice pair of dress pants, a dressy shirt, something that looks like you payed attention and put some effort in. Pretend I'm there with you. Pick something I'd like."

"Y-yes, ma'am."

"Now go, tout suit."

She shoved him away by his collar and slammed the door again. Raven barely had her skirt back on, her shirt was still unbuttoned, and she was still fully red in the face. Ruby paid her no mind as she grabbed her phone and dialed her neighbour. The line rang for a second.

"Hello?"

"Glynda, it's me, it's Summer."

"Uh, hey, what's up?"

"Hey, don't sound so happy to hear from me, now. Grab your car and meet me around the front of the dorms in ten minutes, we have to go shopping."

"Ooh, what are we going for this time?"

"My partner has a date tomorrow, and has no viable outfit for it." she said, winking at Raven from across the bathroom. She stuck her tongue out in retaliation.

"Why didn't you say it was an emergency?! I'm on my way."

The line ended. Ruby nearly jumped for joy, sliding her legs into her pants and tossing Raven's hoodie at her with her foot.

"C'mon, hustle!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming!"

Ruby grabbed her makeup bag from behind the mirror and punted her partner out of the bathroom, yanking her cardigan down over her head as she hit the light switch and slammed the door shut.

This was gonna be an excellent experience for both her and her partner.

Because it had been a while since she got to play dress up with her sister, and this was gonna be the closest thing to that. Raven was the closest thing she had to a sister, especially considering this woman was quite literally the spitting image of Yang, just six inches taller and with shining black hair. Her heart swelled as they bolted from the room, racing down the hallway, with Ruby helping her disabled teammate not stumble along on her bum leg. The boys had luckily already left the room, hopefully to fix Tai's atrocious outfit. He'd better, if he wanted to live.

By the time she'd bundled her partner into the back seat of Glynda's claustrophobic little off-roader, she'd already come up with a few designs and ideas for an outfit.

It was gonna be perfect.

Or she was gonna die trying.