Denature Trepidant
“I never thought my baby sis would be coming to me for dating advice,” Yang declared as she helped her sister get ‘dolled’ up.
“I never actually asked you for dating advice for me,” Ruby felt the need to correct her sister who had purple eyes at the moment.
“You got asked on a three way date. Trust me you need my advice,” Yang insisted as she looked over her date kit for something to help her sister’s eyelashes.
“If I got asked then I don’t need the help,” Ruby said dryly. “And I told you it’s clearly not like that.”
“Right. She’s a detective and my girlfriend is a potential murderer. If that’s not an excuse for her to latch onto to get a date then I don’t know what is. This Weiss or whoever clearly is into you and hell even I've seen Velvet being all clingy when I come around until she found out we were related,” Yang dismissed her sister’s concerns.
“You’re not the slightest bit worried she might be one?” Ruby asked amused.
“How long have we known Pyrrha? Do you really think she, of all people, is gonna be a murder?”
Ruby hummed at that knowing she couldn’t refute it. Pyrrha was one of the nicest people she'd ever met.
“Seriously though you should try to live a little and have fun even if nothing comes from it,” Yang advised her sister who shot her a deadpan look in return.
“There you go. Not too much and it even goes with your whole look. Even if you keep the sneakers. No idea how you get away with that,” Yang said with a shake of her head.
“I kinda know the owner so she gives me a pass as long as the rest is on point,” Ruby admitted.
“You actually know Cinder Fall? Damn. That’s impressive. How’d you meet her?” Yang asked curiously as she packed up her supplies.
“Came into the blood bank a while ago actually. We actually fought a bit before we straightened everything out. Couple misunderstandings and all that,” Ruby waved it away.
“You fought someone?” Yang asked incredulously.
“With words Yang,” Ruby said with a long, suffering sigh. “Anyway she agreed to let me have a free meal in return for sweeping it all under the rug so she didn’t get any negative press.”
“Probably explains why there’s no bruising on your face. I’ve seen her once or twice, and the woman looks exactly like the sort of person who knows how to fight. She and her new girlfriend both.”
“Are you sure you don’t want this not date to be an actual date?” Yang asked.
Ruby pulled her feet onto the small bed and tucked her chin into her knees. “I mean kinda. They’re both really pretty, but I know these sort of things never work out for me. I figured since there’s clearly something between them I’d kinda set them up over the evening after we meet your girlfriends officially,” Ruby admitted.
“Damn you are one self sacrificing lady,” Yang said as she ruffled her own hair. “You know it’s ok for you to actually take something you want for yourself from time to time right?”
When Ruby merely hummed instead of replying Yang realized that was as good as she was gonna get for the time being.
“At least try to have some fun alright?” Yang asked her sister.
Ruby merely nodded as she gave her sister a quick hug and left to make her reservation even though she was going to be early.
Yang saw her phone ring and picked up. “Hey Pyrrha. Yeah, did you know you’re a potential murderer and I might be your next victim?”
Yang waited for the playful laughter to cease before she continued. “I know right? Anyway about tonight…”
“Welcome to Dusk til Dawn. Do you have a reservation?” The doorman greeted Weiss.
While the club upstairs was a bit more free in who it let in, the downstairs restaurant was exceedingly exclusive as far as she could tell, but she hadn’t detected a pattern into why that was yet.
“Yes Weiss Schnee. I believe I’m with Ruby Rose and Velvet Scarlatina.”
“And so you are,” the man said, crossing out her name in the book as he gestured for her to follow.
Weiss blinked as she saw Velvet and Ruby making small talk at the table.
Ruby had on a strapless red and black dress that worked to accentuate all her curves that was almost sinfully low in its cut, and her hair also had gentle curls added into the ends to give it a softer look.
Velvet herself had on a lovely conservative dress although she looked just as delightful as Ruby. Her cute hairband from a few days ago was also in place although this one was a simple brown that matched her hair almost perfectly.
The waiter held her chair out for her as he handed over menus to the table and left.
“You look lovely. Both of you,” Ruby offered as she perused her menu.
“I see you got them to allow you to wear sneakers,” Weiss said in jest.
Ruby smiled at that. “Yes I explained to them that lady stilts were a death trap for me, and I’d be far less embarrassed if I could stay upright.”
Velvet giggled even as Ruby gave her a faux glare.
“I don’t see any grilled cheese on the menu unfortunately,” Weiss joked trying to lighten the mood, well aware that it was her fault from their last interaction.
“You appear to be correct. It would appear your private eye training serves you well,” Ruby countered as she flipped the page in the menu, and Weiss winced.
Clearly this needed to be addressed sooner rather than later so Weiss put down her menu.
“I’m sorry.”
Ruby blinked at her and put her own menu down to give Weiss her full attention, an action Velvet mimicked.
“I didn’t mean to make it seem like I was only asking you and Velvet to dinner because of a case. Trust me I wouldn’t have done it if I wasn’t interested in getting to know you both. I’d have just met at a coffee shop or some other public location,” Weiss apologized.
“I would very much like to treat this as a date situation if that’s alright with the two of you,” Weiss said, her cheeks flaming red.
She noticed Ruby’s own cheeks were slightly rosy, and Velvet’s appeared as red as her own.
Before anything else could be said the waiter had come back for their orders. Weiss’s training, and early life had her rattle off a fairly high end dish she was sure would be on the menu, and the nod the waiter gave her proved her correct.
Velvet’s order of a very rare steak was amusing, but not as much as her very fancy salad she asked for.
Ruby’s was…well she had no idea what to make of it. She supposed she’d see what it was when it got to the table.
“I’m afraid I don’t know that name or dish,” Weiss admitted as the waiter left to place their orders.
“Oh, it’s Menagerian. I spent time there studying cause I wanted to find out more about my family history and picked up a few things. It’s a tasty dish. You can both try some if you like when it gets here,” Ruby offered.
“So how long have you been a detective? Or private eye I suppose?” Ruby asked politely as she sipped at her red wine.
“A few years now. My sister was trained by my mother, and my sister trained me in turn after our mother…passed.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. I’m sure she’d be glad you’re apparently carrying on the family tradition though,” Ruby said trying to comfort her.
“She always had a knack for noticing things in school, and for fighting,” Velvet confided in Ruby who smiled a bit.
“Is that so?”
“Yeah there were these bullies who used to pick on me. Make fun of me for being a ‘rabbit’ cause I ate mostly salads, and they’d mock me and do stupid stuff like that.
But Weiss would just swoop in, and ‘pow’ right in the jaw or sweep them off their feet until they started leaving me alone!” Velvet praised her friend who flushed lightly.
“Sounds like a great friend,” Ruby praised as she smiled softly at Weiss whose face was in her hands as her cheeks flamed red.
They carried on speaking for a few more minutes until their food arrived.
Velvet in complete opposition to her usual refined self dove right into the steak with reckless abandon causing Ruby to laugh at her softly, and even Weiss felt a giggle in her throat.
“Sorry it’s been so long since I had a good steak,” Velvet apologized.
Ruby merely smiled and took a few small portions of her meal to put on small plates she pushed toward the other two although the only ingredient Weiss recognized immediately was a pomegranate.
“Excuse me ladies,” the waiter interjected as he came back once more.
“There’s a pair of women to see you. They claim you were expecting them. Miss Xiao-Long, and her partner Miss Nikos?”
“Ugh of course Yang,” Ruby complained. “Yeah that’s my sister. They’re here to meet Weiss. Please, bring them over and put it on my tab,” Ruby ordered the man who nodded and left to bring them over.
“Sorry. My sister is…well you’ll see,” Ruby lamented as she took a fortifying sip of her wine.
“Sup ladies,” a boisterous blonde declared as she arrived at the table with bright smiles.
“Oh my favorite! Ruby you shouldn’t have!” Yang declared as she took Ruby’s dish and pulled it towards herself.
“You said you’d behave Yang,” another voice rang out as yet another beautiful woman sat at the table.
“Hello. I’m Pyrrha Nikos! It’s nice to meet you all, and to see you again Ruby,” the red haired, and strangely enough green-eyed woman declared as she sat down.
“Pyrrha,” Ruby greeted politely as she glared at her sister who smirked and continued to eat her food.
“Do you two ladies know what you’d like?” the waiter asked once more.
“A medium rare steak and potato for me please. I get a feeling if I get anything else my sister will just eat it,” Ruby complained.
“Of course ma’am. And you?”
“I’m not sure. Surprise me with something from the seafood section?” Pyrrha asked Weiss as she handed the waiter the menu back.
“Is there a problem?” Pyrrha asked, noticing Weiss was still looking at her.
“Sorry I just heard your eyes were red or you had red contacts,” Weiss tried to play it off.
“No you must be mistaken. My eyes have always been green,” Pyrrha explained as Weiss frowned at that.
“Yer probably thinking of Emerald,” Yang said, barely managing to swallow before she spoke. “She’s the one I was dating a little while ago with Pyrrha who had eyes that were always red. Not sure if they were contacts.”
“You broke up? You’re dating just Pyrrha now?” I thought you were dating both of them?” Ruby asked in confusion.
“Nah. We decided we were happy with just the two of us,” Yang said, smirking at Pyrrha who was pouring them both a glass of wine from one of the bottles at the table.
“Emerald had met this girl Coco, or shades, or something, and they’re a thing now. They work with the boss lady upstairs doing something,” Yang said gesturing to the ceiling, which proved exactly how good the sound proofing was as no sound came through even though the club was in full swing already.
“Sorry. I told you I’m bad with names,” Ruby apologized to Weiss as she rubbed the back of her head.
Weiss just waved it away. It was annoying, but she was apparently still present close by. They’d just be forced to go upstairs although the name Coco sounded familiar to her for some reason.
Seeing Velvet look uncomfortable she reached out to grab her hand.
“Velvet?” Weiss asked softly, noticing Ruby paying attention.
“She’s the girl I dated for a while in college. We broke up. It wasn’t messy, but it wasn’t exactly clean either,” Velvet said with a shrug. “A lot of unresolved feelings and things left unsaid. Kinda both of our faults really.”
“Well if Weiss needs to talk to this ‘Emerald' we could be close by and you can talk to Coco if you think it’ll help,” Ruby offered.
“I’m…not sure I’m ready for that but maybe,” Velvet allowed.
Ruby’s phone rang and she frowned before she answered it. Everyone at the table stopped as Ruby cycled through several facial expressions, none of them good before she snapped her flip phone closed.
“I have to go,” Ruby declared as she started gathering her purse and jacket.
“What’s wrong?” Weiss asked.
“Someone broke into the blood bank. It might have been a junkie looking for a fix or something, but I need to go and help take an inventory of things,” Ruby explained before she put her hand on Velvet’s shoulder.
“You stay here Velvet. There’s no reason your night out should be ruined too,” Ruby said with a pat. “Remember it’s on my tab so get some dessert alright? And get home before midnight young lady,” Ruby said with a wink as she put on her jacket.
“Surely we should go with you, just in case there’s a problem,” Weiss protested, her hunting instincts saying it was a very poor idea for Ruby to go alone and that something bad could happen to her.
“Weiss, there’s police there most likely if the private alarm has been triggered so I’m sure it’s fine. Make sure you get your case solved, and that Velvet gets home safe alright?” Ruby asked as she stood up and left.
“She’s always such a workaholic,” Yang complained as she shook her head. “Even as kids, always trying to help and save people. Figures the one night she actually bothers to take for herself some asshole junkie manages to ruin it.”
“I’m getting a really bad feeling about this,” Weiss said as she fidgeted nervously.
“Only one thing to do then,” Yang said with a sigh as she held up her plate toward the nearest waiter.
“Yo can we get some to-go boxes? Oh and throw an entire cake into a box. And the wine.”
“You know your sister has to pay for that love,” Pyrrha said with a sigh toward her girlfriend.
“She’s loaded,” Yang said dismissively. “If it turns out to be nothing we’ll just take it back to one of our apartments and have a night in or something,” Yang said to her girlfriend who just fondly rolled her eyes.
“We know where Ruby lives so if you want to hurry after her you can. She only has a few minutes head start on you at the moment,” Pyrrha calmly suggested.
Velvet looked at Weiss who just nodded. If her feeling was correct this was important and connected to everything somehow.
Finding a cab and getting over to the blood bank took nearly fifteen minutes and of course as soon as they tried to enter the area they were stopped.
“You can’t come in mams. It’s a crime scene,” The officer whose name tag said Marrow on it replied gently.
“Please, our friend works here, and she got a call saying the place was broken into. We just wanted to make sure she’s alright,” Velvet begged.
“Doctor? Dark hair, silver eyes,” Weiss added.
Marrow held up a hand for a moment as he spoke into his radio.
“She’s being questioned while with the paramedics,” Marrow said and then winced as Velvet grabbed onto his hand and pulled him several steps forward.
“She was hurt?” Velvet demanded her voice demanding answers as she practically snarled at the man who shivered.
“I don’t know I was just ordered to keep everyone out,” Marrow stuttered as Weiss put a hand on Velvet’s shoulder to calm her down.
“Sorry she’s just a friend and we’re worried about her.”
“She’s ours,” Velvet growled and Weiss shot her a look at that as the girl forced herself to calm down.
“You really shouldn’t be here, but just no word to the press alright? I would really like to not get fired,” Marrow said nervously.
“We promise,” Weiss said as she mentally began cataloging everything she saw on the way back to the storage area they were directed to.
“For the last time no, other than the description I gave you no I didn’t recognize him, and that was all that was taken,” Ruby’s irritated voice came through the open door.
“Ruby, you're alright!” Velvet exclaimed as she ran over to hug the sitting woman who had an ice pack to the back of her head.
“Yeah if you can believe it. These guys seem to think I’m seconds away from dying,” Ruby said, gesturing to the EMT who chuffed good-naturedly at her.
“Doctors are always the worst patients” one of them snarked at her and Ruby nodded as she handed the pack back over.
“How did you get hurt? I thought there were police here?” Weiss asked as she glared over at an officer in the other corner of the room.
“No, crazy thing, there was nothing out of place when I got here. I guess they tripped one of our silent alarms or something and then the company called my phone. Then I went back here just to make sure and this tall blond guy goes running past and shoves me over,” Ruby complained as she rubbed the back of her head.
“Are you alright?” Weiss asked worriedly.
“Yeah, not even a bump. Lucky me,” Ruby groused. “Still I was pretty sure I told you not to ruin your night,” Ruby complained.
“It’s fine. We can always reschedule,” Weiss said, waving off the concern as Ruby’s eyes flicked towards the clock in the storage area.
“Your sister said we could always just head back over to her place to finish as well,” Velvet offered.
Ruby shook her head. “I gotta write down what was stolen and tell the police.”
“I thought you said nothing was out of place?” Weiss asked.
“Yeah that was before. I went back here and Mr. Shoves a lot took off. Weird thing though,” Ruby said looking at Weiss.
“The only reason I noticed anything missing was ‘cause one of the freezer doors was open,” Ruby explained.
“Don’t tell me,” Weiss said, already having a sinking feeling and idea where this was going.
“No idea why, but only your blood was gone,” Ruby said.