6A mother doing her best.
The sun was shining, dogs barking and for anybody out on a jolly stroll the day was perfect. Not to hot and not to chilly, perfect dress weather. For one Ruby Rose she loved it she didn't have many excuses recently to go out in a sun dress and just indulge herself walking around town. Practically skipping she adored all the loving smiles and merry hello's passed between people. Ruby was followed by a young white-haired individual who didn't quite share her absolute gleeful outlook but still smiled none the less. Weiss Schnee was the adopted daughter of Ruby; long story short Ruby is a sucker for hard-luck cases.
As Weiss got to the store that her mother had disappeared into her arm shot out towards the wall for support. She wasn't out of shape by any means but keeping up with her mother was a full-time job. One that she felt she deserved to be paid for! Her mother had that ever-present cheerful smile that wormed its way onto her own face after she caught her breath. One look had Ruby hovering over her daughter worried.
"Weiss! Are you alright? Was I going to fast again? I'm sorry honey it's just so pretty out today don't you agree?" Weiss shook her head after looking carefully at her guardian. Five foot eight inches of sugar spice and a whole heap of kick-ass if she ever got mad. Her slim frame supported curves that had proven dangerous to many a man, from her developed hips to her toned stomach and simple c-cup breasts. Many men had tried, and failed, to get that wife material. Ruby was a caring mother, excellent cook, money-maker, business woman, and defender of those she called family.
Ice-cream was shoved in the young girls face. Vanilla, the safest of options considering her mother always beat her to the store and never bother to ask. Weiss never bothered to correct such a kind gesture either and simply smiled and took the treat.
"Thank you mother." Weiss gave a tentative lick as electric shocks shot through her body. Let it never be said that Weiss didn't enjoy the basic amenities such as plain vanilla ice-cream. She chose not to advertise it to the world, but she did let her world know that she appreciated it. "It's very good!" Her words made Ruby beam with that contagious grin that spread like wildfire even to the passerby.
"Is there somewhere you'd like to go Weiss?" She was stunned, back in her previous home her guardians never saw fit to ask her what she wanted. Even after a year of living with the best example of what humanity had to offer, she still found herself unsettled.
"How about the park mother?" The park was always a safe pick. Today was perfect weather for a stroll and Weiss loved seeing the other kids playing with the dogs.
"To the park!" Ruby held out her hand and Weiss took it gratefully. She may have had a rough upbringing for fourteen years but that didn't mean she had to treat everyone harshly. Lesson one of living with her mother. Lesson two was to strengthen her arms, specifically the muscles in her shoulders as she realized her mistake to late. A beautiful sunny day out with her daughter going to the park, Ruby nearly took off in a dead sprint yanking poor Weiss' should out of place.
Once at the park, Weiss huffed as she rotated her arm experimentally. Feeling that everything was in place she fumed that she had dropped her frozen treat about halfway through the marathon here. Taking a step forward with her eyes wandering everywhere she was always stunned at the inherent beauty of nature. Trees with multi-colored leaves, a gentle breeze, dogs barking and little children playing catch or just simple walking and chatting. The simplicity brought a small grin to her face as she sat down on a nearby bench.
After watching one family toss a frisbee back and forth with their dog chasing it Weiss felt a pang in her heart. Being groomed for a CEO position for 'the family businesses' had only one benefit, the best educator's money could buy. Weiss was homeschooled to the point of college graduate at thirteen, then they dropped off in favor of more business studies and high-class mannerisms. Needless to say the heiress wanted no part of that. Point was she was lonely. Once Monday hit her mother would go to work and being a single parent meant long work hours just to make ends meet. Weiss would help where she could but being cut off from her previous fortune she couldn't aid monetarily. Small price to pay in her opinion.
The white-haired beauty took in the scent of the park and shivered at the wonderful tingle of freshly cut grass and strawberry? Taking another sniff of the air confirmed that there was strawberry tickling her nose. Closing her eyes and rapidly sniffing, yes like a dog, her nose met something extremely cold. Her eyes flew open and a hand wiped the tip of her nose to warm it up. Looking in the general direction she saw her mother holding a white cone with red ice in it.
"I noticed you dropped yours on the way here. It's not ice cream sadly but I know how you lo- "No other words were said as Weiss snatched the slushy away and devoured it. After wiping her mouth clean, she turned towards Ruby with an apologetic smile but never meeting her eyes.
"T-thank you for the treat, and the thought. I'm sorry I grabbed it out of your hands like that." While Weiss did enjoy the basics, she had a certain weakness for anything strawberry. It was such a rare treat that she basically turned feral and guarded it like gold till it was gone. Safely in her stomach where no one could reach it. Ruby only laughed.
"No need to apologize sweetie, I know you love strawberry that's why I got you some. I'm glad you enjoyed it!" She wished she could treat her daughter more often but responsibilities and plans always got in the way. Though her next plan should bring a smile to her face. Ruby wasn't as thick as she led people to believe, she had more than noticed the longing look in her daughters' eyes. She knew that staying home like she did without company was probably killing the young woman. After a few more minutes, and another two slushies, Weiss was tugging at her dress. The signal that she was done for the day. While Ruby would have loved to stay, she did have work tomorrow which made her smile falter. A look at Weiss made everything better as her smile was as bright as ever. The week wouldn't be so bad.
The rest of the night pasted easily enough with little conversation filtering between the women. No words were necessary and they both took care of chores like clockwork. The clock struck ten, the sun having set long ago, and Ruby was rubbing the sleep from her eyes as she poured over the endless pile of papers in front of her. Near silent footfalls grabbed her attention and she turned to see Weiss doing her best to sneak up on her.
"Honey, I've told you that you can't sneak up on me." Ruby let out a muted chuckle as Weiss huffed and folded her arms.
"Can't I help you one of these days? You always stay up so late and never get enough sleep." Weiss sounded genuinely concerned as she always did when it came to the tedious paperwork.
"Weiss, it's not that you can't help. I know you can, you're more than smart enough. I don't want to burden you with such a boring task." Ruby scratched the side of her head and brushed a stray bit of hair behind her ear. Before she could turn around Weiss stamped her foot.
"Mother I demand you let me help you! You need proper rest for work and I just stay here and take care of chores in a few hours. I can stay up and have this done before you leave for work!" Ruby nodded her head to her daughter's words of wisdom. Words that she had heard many times before and rang no less true this time around.
"Weiss, I trust you and I have complete faith that you could do it. But this is my work and I'll get it done like I always do."
"Then I could- "Weiss made to move and grab the pen, but Ruby put an arm in front of her to stop her.
"I'll not hear another word young lady. This is my responsibility, not yours. You will go to bed and get some rest. Be up bright and early to start your chores that way you can have the day to yourself.
"But- "
"No buts Weiss, go to bed." It wasn't often that Ruby broke out the stern voice on her own daughter but when she did, she could see Weiss' heart shatter like glass. Small fractures at first then it all came crashing down. She turned her chair around and the only sound that filled the room was the scratching of pen on paper. During a pause she heard Weiss stomp off and slam the door behind her causing Ruby to flinch. She hated doing that to the young girl, but she didn't need to be so eager to grow up. Stay young, stay innocent, stay out of the nasty adult world as long as you can. Those lessons wouldn't stick no matter how hard Ruby tried though. The pen fell from the older woman's hand and she stood up and plopped face down into the pillow on her bed.
Weiss was on the other side of the door and could hear her mother crying into the pillow. Her mother fell asleep like this after every instance of her snapping at Weiss. She immediately felt terrible and silently got up and went to her room. Grabbing her pillow and squeezing the non-existent life out of it until she wore herself out and fell asleep.
Weiss' eyes slowly drifted open to the sun glaring in her window, highlighting her pale features. Looking over she spied the alarm clock on her nightstand and it light up with the numbers 1:05. Running some mental exercises to wake up she started to panic, if it was five after one and the sun was shining she had overslept! Rushing to get some clothes on and hurried into the living room to find the dishes done, carpets vacuumed, furniture dusted and a note on the back of the couch with a plate of cookies. Walking over Weiss wisely ignored the cookies and read the note, left by only her mother.
Weiss,
You needed your sleep, so I took care of everything before heading out for the day. Just relax sweetie.
DON'T TOUCH MY COOKIES!
xoxo
-mom
Tears welled up in her eyes again. Not only had her mother stayed up late to get that stupid paperwork done but she even got up early and took care of the chores Weiss was supposed to do! Running back to her room she checked the alarm clock and found the ringer turned off. Throwing it down on the bed she stomped away and looked around. Surely there was something that got missed for her to do!
As Weiss was on her hands and knees with multiple cabinets flung open the main door creaked, pouring sunlight in to reveal Ruby. The older woman looked with wide eyes at the mess in the kitchen and saw the culprit a few second later.
"Mom! I can explain, I was ju- Wait, why aren't you at work?!"
Damn kid was sharp. As Ruby stood there, she crossed her arms under her chest and cocked one hip to the side. A clear message of 'fix the kitchen'. Weiss sheepishly looked behind her and then back. Pointing over her shoulder she wore a guilty grin.
"Not my fault?" Flimsy at best and they both knew it.
"So that's your excuse? You make a mess and then try to run from it? How responsible of you." Her mother's words were like a slap in the face as she busied herself cleaning the kitchen. At least she had found something to do! Even if it took her making the mess in the first place. As she turned back around, she saw her mother polishing off the last cookie from the plate and once again she found herself wondering. How the hell does she retain her slim figure while managing to wolf down an entire plate of cookies by herself!?
"Better, Thank you Weiss." No malice, no anger, only unconditional love in her words and eyes. Weiss ran over to her and wrapped her arms around in a tight hug.
"I'm so sorry about last night! I was out of line I won't do it again I promise!" Ruby shifted in her daughters grasp and returned the hug.
"Of course you will honey, you worry about your mother so it's perfectly natural. I'm not mad, I'm proud of you. It takes guts to speak your mind to your elders. You knew when the conversation was done and look. Everything is fine after a bit of sleep." She leaned down and kiss the top of her daughter's head.
Once again Weiss found herself crying and refused to let her grip loosen. It took ruby nearly prying her off with a crowbar before she relented. "It's ok sweetie, I promise. Besides didn't you read my note? I said I was heading out not going to work." The younger woman stood in confusion as Ruby walked over to the front door and Weiss finally saw a cage with a towel draped over it. It rattled slight but otherwise was mostly silent.
"M-mom, what's that?" She pointed at what was clearly a cage as her mother was cooing and trying to coax something out using one of her prized cookies!
"Come over here sweetie, it's a surprise." More cooing sounds as Weiss slowly took baby steps forward. She couldn't say she was scared. Cautious, tentative? Not scared, she was Weiss Schnee! Daughter of Ruby Rose! A stray though passed through that one day she should get that changed to more accurately reflect the person she acknowledged as mother.
As the young woman drew closer, she saw Ruby playing with a brown ball of fur that was panting at the belly rubs with the remnants of a cookie beside its head. White fur covered its belly and four stubby legs kicked randomly as Ruby hit sensitive spots with her hand. A brown tail wagged furiously showing how happy it was and then it spotted Weiss. It jumped on al fours and walked over to her. A black nose was the end of a snout covered with more brown fur. White streaks went from the tips of its tall ears down to its forehead. Black beady eyes closed as it sniffed her clothes and bark happily, its tail resuming its wagging. Weiss heart melted in an instant and she dropped to her knees to softly pet the puppy.
Looking at her mother Ruby nodded, and Weiss curled both arms around the pup and hugged it close. The puppy didn't try to squirm free or lick her face instead it took all the loving gleefully as Weiss was in tears.
"Happy birthday Weiss." She looked at her mother with tears streaming down her face.
"Best birthday ever, thanks mom!"