Precisely one hundred forty-seven minutes and twenty seconds since the convoy set out, and exactly six minutes and thirty-four seconds since their team put down a Grimm assault, Penny noticed the shivers. Ruby had promised Qrow and Clover that the blows she’d sustained were nothing, and the two had returned to the back of the truck with only a weighing wash of their eyes. Now, in the passenger seat next to her, Ruby huddled under her cape and tried to shake inconspicuously. Her eyes were downcast and chin was drawn inward. Penny couldn’t understand the theater. She smiled at her best friend. “Ruby?”

Ruby wrenched her face toward Penny’s, surprise momentarily loosening her tightly drawn features. “Y-yes, Penny?”

She drew her eyes toward the men in the rear. “Why did you lie to -”

Ruby’s hand clapped over Penny’s mouth like lightning, its cloth confines momentarily abandoned. “ Not so loud! ” She hissed. When Penny nodded Ruby removed her hand; only then did her mortification melt into something more sheepish. She kept her voice low. “You noticed, huh?”

Reading the room, Penny also dropped into a whisper. “I validated it with my diagnostics just now. Why assure them that you are fine when your aura is dangerously low?”

“I...didn’t want to look weak.” Ruby grimaced. “Doesn’t sound too good when I say it out loud, but it’s true. Clover already treats me like a kid - I don’t need him worrying he has to manage me. Or worse, taking me off the convoys…” Another shiver overwhelmed Ruby, and she paused to let it pass. “I figured it would be no problem, honest. Just turns out this truck is less insulated than I thought it was. Heh. I guess robots and hunters don’t usually need the heat.”

Penny felt her brow crease as she considered this. “I don’t understand. Clover treats you as a capable member of his team, and I believe that is how he truly sees you.”

Ruby sighed. “Maybe. Maybe I’m overthinking the encounter with Robyn. Maybe I’m just used to leading. Maybe...I dunno.” These possibilities did not appear to lighten her mood. Ruby’s face remained pensive as she held herself tight against the cold.

As the moments wore on, time counted by the bumps in the ice road, Penny recalled an ancient socialization class. Humans sought physical contact with one another; entanglement could release serotonin. “Ruby,” she said, “I am capable of projecting heat fluxes at or exceeding that of a comparably sized human being.” She slid closer to Ruby.

“Is th-that so,” she chattered.

“With your permission, I would like to cuddle.” Ruby started at that, stunned enough to forget her chill, and Penny returned the hand over her mouth from moments before. “This will be the most efficient way to transfer my heat to you. It would be the pragmatic thing to do.”

She lowered her palm from Ruby’s face. Her best friend looked frazzled as she sized Penny up, perhaps deciding whether to take her seriously. “Right, of course. The pragmatic thing,” she said, shaking her head lightly. “Okay, I guess we could try that.”

They passed an awkward minute then, the drone driver studiously ignoring them as they struggled to discover the right position. Ruby ended up hanging diagonally across Penny’s thighs, arms tossed around her neck. Penny supported her friend’s back with one arm and rested the other lightly in her lap. They’d drawn Ruby’s cape over both of them, fixing it such that it passed for a blanket. Penny eyed her friend. Already it appeared to be working: Ruby’s cheeks had acquired a healthy flush. “I can’t believe we’re doing this,” she muttered into Penny’s hair.

“I am so glad you agreed to it!”

“You’re so soft.” Ruby spoke as if in a trance, low and unaware of anyone else. “I thought I remembered you being more metal - y, but you…” she trailed off into a deep inhale.

Curiosity welled in Penny until it overflowed. “Do you like it?” She didn’t understand why she was asking. “My new body, I mean.”

Ruby seemed to calculate. “...Yes, I do. Is that okay?

“Of course! I like my new body, too. Aside from the new synthetics and improved weaponry, it also came with numerous backend improvements to my hardware and operating system.”

It was nice to have Ruby chuckling against her like this. “I’d love to hear about those.”

And they passed the ride like that, chatting and laughing. Even when Ruby’s aura recovered, they stayed like that. When Qrow caught them as they disentangled from one another Ruby just smiled. Penny found that she was smiling, too.

---

Penny frowned. “Where is Ruby?”

“Couldn’t make it,” explained Clover, patting Marrow on the back. Marrow grumbled sleepily. “Huntress duty down in Mantle today. Marrow here drew the short straw.”

“Pfft, short straw? Nooooooo. Couldn’t be. Love these drives to death. Endless wastes spread before me while you and your new boy toy flirt in the back.”

Clover’s brow fell an uncharacteristic fraction, casting a quick scan over his shoulder. Qrow had already disappeared into the trunk. “All right you, do your job.” He shoved Marrow harder than was strictly necessary and swiveled toward the back of the truck.

Penny smiled to quell her own nerves. “At least there are penguins?”

Marrow sighed and climbed in ahead of her.

Penny had no idea how to talk to Marrow. He was still the newest of the Ace Ops and the two of them had yet to work closely, but that didn’t stop Marrow from cracking joke after off-color joke for the first fifteen minutes of tundra. Humor wasn’t her strong suit at the best of times, but honestly, she had thought that she’d been doing well lately. The more she kicked herself for letting him down, the quieter she got. Eventually Marrow gave up and pulled up a game on his scroll. Penny didn’t bother reporting him to Clover.

Marrow wasn’t easy. Not like Ruby. Ruby, she understood.

A memory overtook her. Ruby, cradled on her thighs. Inhaling deeply. Warm and flushed despite the cold. A happy ride spent licking wounds.

Penny’s aura was fine, and she could suppress her temperature sensors besides. But as she thought of the girl no longer in her lap, she began to shiver.