INFLUX.

 ⠀⠀⠀❛ ⠀Aaand I see you appreciate the value in a good combat skirt,⠀ ❜⠀she continues, gesturing at her own skirt in kind — uh, skort. Close enough. It's all in the skirt spirit !  ⠀❛ ⠀It all works ! It's a little intimidating actually, eheh... But, y'know, in a cool, mysterious kinda way. I feel like I should take notes—⠀ ❜⠀

⠀⠀⠀❛ ⠀Whew— if this is how well you keep up with that toy, I can only imagine what good a shape your real weapon's in. Is it a gun ? I bet it's a gun. And I bet it's pre-tty cool.  ❜⠀She may or may not be rocking in place; all she's missing is a giant neon sign on her forehead begging to hear about her weapon of choice.

⠀⠀⠀WAYWARD⠀⠀chips of shaved ice are scattered every which way as she shakes her hair out, wiping along Crescent Rose's blade carefully to ensure no melting ice lingered. It'd take a lot more than some ice chunks to leave rust, or even a water stain, but it just seemed like a courtesy ! She's been trying to sculpt with Crescent Rose's blade for a good hour or two now, which may not sound like a lot from a sculptor's perspective, but when you have a hulking weapon as your tools... Well, that's a lot of duds. Despite these repeated failures, Ruby seems to be in remarkably high spirits. Is this the result of hard-earned maturity ? Have the annals of time finally tempered her restless spirit, giving her a sense of humility in the face of competition ?

⠀⠀⠀❛ ⠀This one looks like blue cheese, ⠀ ❜⠀She remarks with a pat of her glove against the side of her... creation, flashing a wide grin at the ( self-proclaimed ) disposer of discarded would-be sculptures. Ruby puts up her fists, shadowboxing with nothing in particular — it's absolutely the prospect of seeing this lady send ice chunks flying everywhere with her own two hands that puts the pep in the Huntress' step, forget all that other stuff.

 ⠀⠀⠀❛ ⠀It's aaall yours. Give it the ol' what-for— !⠀ ❜⠀

⠀⠀⠀Neopolitan was standing mere feet away, hot cocoa in one hand and a... somehow familiar-looking headless cookie in the other. Maybe the real kindness would be to just pretend she never noticed her and keep walking — it's difficult to know just what a person knew or didn't know in this place, and with her especially, that's a big gamble. Ruby recalls an anonymous gift left on her doorstep during her last visit, though, and decides against her first instinct. Her second instinct is to edge closer, holding out one of the gingerbread Zweis still wrapped in cellophane.

 ⠀⠀⠀❛ ⠀Hey... Want one ? If you move it left and right, it makes it look like he's winkiiiing.⠀ ❜⠀Yeah, that'll sell it.

⠀⠀⠀❛ ⠀Hmm...⠀ ❜⠀ONE⠀might think a slight aversion to eating or drinking random stuff was in order after her and her friends' latest adventure (mis-adventure ? … no, adventure ), but trepidation had no place on a girl's birthday. She spent quite a bit of time studying the card, although there was nothing really there to study aside from the obvious message. Well — that and... whoever it was had beautiful handwriting. She could never get the hang of that fancy cursive stuff... But if they're already going through the trouble of writing a card, why not sign it ?

⠀⠀⠀Ruby only realizes it's an ice cream cake when she notices signs of it thawing through the clear material of the lid, which makes her let out some sort of unidentifiable ( but very sharp and pitiful ) squawking sound as she ushers the cake indoors. When she's shutting the door behind her with her foot, the answer hits her with an abruptness that has her back leaning against the wood.

⠀⠀⠀It's an ice cream cake.

⠀⠀⠀All she knows is that this free food is delicious, she could eat it all night long, and maybe there actually is a limit to the word 'free' — because she can feel a pretty potent stink-eye being aimed at the back of her head. Ruby slowly turns on her heel to confirm the feeling, and spreads her arms in defense — which may or may not have caused a couple of iced brownies she'd been saving for later to tumble dejectedly across the ballroom floor. Hopefully no one steps on one.

⠀⠀⠀❛ ⠀Heyheyheyyy, c'maahn, I'm a little huntress—!⠀It's also my birthday, I'm a little birthday huntreeess— ❜⠀Her eyes land on Blake mid-sentence, and suddenly this encounter takes a complete back seat. With a single finger held up in an 'excuse me one second' sort of gesture to the less-than-convinced stranger, she promptly zips off in a brief flourish of petals.

⠀⠀⠀❛ ⠀Oh, I was looking for you ! I narrowed it down to nnnot the dessert table. ❜⠀

⠀⠀⠀❛ ⠀BlaaaaaaaAKE—⠀ ❜⠀THE⠀extra emphasis at the end was, of course, due to her colliding with her— a vice-like hug with an emergence of petals. The hug had so much force behind it that it left her feet dangling ( more like swinging emphatically ) in the air for a few moments, but what else was she supposed to do ? It's hard being here without any of her teammates, all for different reasons. Weiss was her partner and bestie, Yang was her sister, and Blake... Well, Blake was her person. It felt like they'd arrived on this island together, so it made the whole place feel off when one was here without the other.