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Sandcastles are for children. Weiss stands by this statement, if only because it is all she ever heard from her father. (And as little girls know, their father’s word is law.)
So when Ruby invites her to partake in this silly little game of collecting grains of sand to make mountains out of molehills, she lets out an exasperated sigh and hasn’t the faintest idea what to expect. Why would anyone derive even a modicum of joy out of such an act?
“Hey, Weiss, can you fill this bucket for me?” Ruby gives her no other instruction. Perhaps she missed the memo wherein Weiss has never done this sort of thing before.
“With what exactly?” The handle of the bucket is an outrageous shade of orange that clashes against the bright blue pail. Absolutely unthinkable. How can anyone parade around with this thing? In public?
“Um. With water? The castle’s gonna fall apart if we just… blah.” Ruby accentuates her ‘blah’ with a flick of her wrists and a ‘pbbbfft’. Raspberries are also for children. “Please? Pretty please? You’re already closer to the shoreline!”
Weiss hates Ruby’s idea of bargaining. It’s based upon nothing but playground antics (or so she’s heard), but it was her own undoing that led up to this. She was the one who wanted to spend time with Ruby, even if it meant all of this nonsense. “Fine, fine. I’ll be back.”
Oblivious as ever to Weiss’ grumpiness, Ruby calls out to her with a chipper, “Thank you!”
And it’s really, really hard to stay mad at Ruby when she does that.
When Weiss returns, she sets the bucket down by Ruby. “Are you… building a moat? What about the castle? Don’t you start with that first?”
“Pssh. Weiss. Think about it. What came first? Nature or people?”
“You’re just making this harder on yourself.”
“I am?” Ruby hops to her feet. “You do it, then, since you seem to know how to build sandcastles.”
Weiss can’t believe that Ruby Rose is playing dirty. Her pride simply won’t go down this time. Pursing her lips, the young heiress starts pushing mounds of sand around. “D-do you mind, Ruby? I can’t focus when you’re hovering over me—”
Ruby rests her hands upon Weiss’ and says in a gentle voice, “We’ll make it together. Then you can show off to Neptune on your own or something.”
“Wha—? I didn’t come here to stare at him. Or impress him. Why do you think I’m bothering with all this?”
They continue to squabble as Ruby shows Weiss the ins and outs of sandcastle engineering. So much so that time flies and the tide begins to crawl in. “Hurry, Weiss, finish that tower, then we’ll snap a photo with our scrolls!”
“I can’t believe my hard work is about to be swept away. There! It’s done. Hurry up and preserve this moment, Ruby, look at what I made!” A telltaleclick! goes off before the sea licks at Weiss’ heels and sends her running after Ruby. “How many shots did you take? Did it come out all right?”
Ruby is somber. “… You have a really nice smile in this photo, Weiss. You look so happy here.”
Oh. Well. Of course she’s happy. Didn’t they establish that a while ago? “Keep it, then, don’t share it.” Please, Ruby, don’t be as dense as the rocks in the ocean Jaune nearly smashed his head on.
“I guess a picture’s worth at least three words.”