One shot while I get back into writing…again. Also, as a side note, I might not be around to write a lot because I might be getting a job soon.
Yay…
Anyway, as a result of sleepless nights due to hoping that I die in the next four days- because, you know, as soon as I get work my life is practically over anyway- this happened.
(^^^^^^)
Perspective is how one looks at things with tilted head and curious eyes, all angles being presented to them- it is also picking just one of said angles to look at things from, thus the reason having perspective on things wasn't always as good as knowing everything. The good saying 'two sides to a story' meant that you knew everything about a situation before jumping to conclusions; hence its superiority over the common perspective of one's often-narrowed vision.
What this essentially means is that one with expanded horizons and an open mind could see that even the darkest of corners are only dark because people see them as such, the coldest people are cold because no one bothered to tilt their heads and pay attention to the words they spoke. Perspective spoke of many different ways one could look at things, but also spoke of the only way people looked at things- for example, an old man is wise because he is old and has lived longer than you, yes?
Ruby would disagree; old people are wise because they have seen things that made them think twice and accumulate knowledge faster than one could think. War veterans aren't always spouting cautions simply because of the horrors of war, but because they have seen and experienced things that changed their fixed ideologies and made them learn that employing one or two tactics against a varied enemy wasn't going to work forever.
The students of Beacon's perspective on one Cinder Fall was this; Cinder was manipulative, shrewd, cold, heartless and many other less-than-flattering things people saw. She was awful, despicable, a true demon in human skin- a wolf in sheep's clothing.
What Ozpin saw was a terrorist with ideals that rivalled his own, ideals that threatened the shaky peace that they held with the other Kingdoms of Remnant. He saw destruction wherever she went, he saw murder and kidnappings because of her affiliation with the White Fang, he saw power-hungry smouldering orange eyes that burned themselves into your nightmares because you knew, just knew, that if you were more powerful than her she'd come for you. He saw someone with allies that were nothing more than 'means to an end'. He saw pain that followed her, ruined families in her wake and an upcoming war because of her ideals that differed ever-so-slightly from his.
Ruby's silver eyes stared deep into the orange embers that were Cinder Fall's eyes, and she knew instantly that Ozpin was narrow-minded and wrong, that the people only saw a mask and that the upcoming war wasn't a war at all; it was revolution.
She didn't agree with Cinder's methods of course, but the results…now that was something else; of course having witnessed her friend Pyrrha's death at the burning hands of Cinder had made her outlook slightly jaded on the woman, but at the same time she knew that what really mattered were the angles presented, and not just what she saw. Hence why she was staring into those eyes- those power-hungry eyes that Ozpin saw, or the bloodthirsty and cold eyes that everyone else saw.
And she knew, instantly, that Cinder wasn't a bad person. Oh don't get Ruby wrong, Cinder wasn't good, but the words 'good' and 'bad' had different meanings for each person you asked, and thus Ruby saw something no one else did- it was only there for a second, but Cinder could see that Ruby saw more in a second than most people 'close' to her ever could.
It frightened her.
Ruby saw, through the embers of Cinder's eyes, the pain and loneliness of having no family to call her own, no friends- true friends, not just people she picked up off the street- and no reason to live other than the collection of power she'd accumulated through her years for a goal that Ruby couldn't see. The eyes showed a lot of things, but never had they shown anyone the reason for someone else's existence.
"You pity me, now, don't you?" Turning her head like a curious pup, Ruby gazed at Cinder- pity wasn't something she knew how to give. Of course this woman knew nothing of her other than the 'stupid, idiotic yet clumsy dolt' she could be, which meant her next words shattered everything Cinder thought she knew.
"Dad never showed me how to pity someone; why should I, anyway?" Cinder looked baffled, the glass and magma bow with an arrow primed for the girl's chest lowering quietly and slowly; Ruby elaborated with a soft smile, one she was known to give to those she had the pleasure of enlightening with her own unique perspective. "You chose to do this, all of this." At that she lifted her arms wide, embracing the city with a smile that grew softer and softer, almost a straight line but not quite. "You don't deserve pity because you don't want it. Dad always said that if someone doesn't want something, don't give it them because then they'll hate you."
This child in front of her became something newer and newer every word she spoke- it sounded stupid, but that was one thing that Cinder did know. Ruby's words were given out stupidly, but when you truly listened, truly understood the girl, then you knew that her words were wise beyond her years. She always cited that her dad said this and her dad said that, but in reality her father only taught her how to talk- Ruby's wizened outlook wasn't passed down, she'd know. She's met Taiyang once or twice and that man was a soft spoken idiot through and through. No hint of a wise bone in his body and no knowledge beyond 'the one hundred different ways to bisect a Beowolf'. It still confused her to this day- how does one man learn enough about one creature to know how to split it in two more than one hundred ways!?
"Your father's an idiot, he'd never tell you something like that." She lifted her bow, prepared to launch a point-blank arrow into the girl's face that was still giving that bone-chillingly calming smile, a smile that told her that she knew something that Cinder didn't. it annoyed her. Her fingers loosened themselves to a slackened form, ready to release the arrow and be done with this, but something was telling her to simply walk away.
Ruby's grin faltered for a second before coming back twice as powerful. "Yeah, he isn't the smartest, and he's not the greatest in terms of…uh…knowledge, but he's a nice man." Ruby's grin faltered again. "But…he's a bit…wrong about a lot of things."
Cinder's eyebrows lifted- was this girl about to say something else that made her think? She didn't like it, but she was also quite enamoured with the girl. She was a mystery right now. All her research and her reconnaissance, her spies and even Emerald had told her that this girl was something simple- someone with very little on her mind other than becoming a Huntress and living the dream that many got in their heads. Of knight and shiny armour, or slaying Grimm and saving humanity, of keeping peace and making civilians stay safe. The Ruby she was looking at now seemed to be someone else, something else, something that people would be hard-pressed to see even if she allowed them to. It was only Cinder's unique talent for spying people with hidden intentions that revealed what Ruby was.
Or, more of, what she had used all her life.
A mask.
"Go on."
Ruby didn't miss a beat- though internally she sighed in relief that she'd not lost her head yet. "he's got a narrowed sense of vision- all of that 'seeing the world in black and white'? that's him. He's…naïve in a lot of ways." She giggled a little at Cinder's blank yet understanding face; it seems she's met the man. "He's also got weird…outlooks on life- he sees a world that needs Hunters and Huntresses to save them, a world where the Grimm are evil and humans are good."
She glanced sideways, looking at a small stone as if it were the most interesting thing in the world; right next to that stone was where Pyrrha had just been…before that arrow loosed by Cinder killed her, and all that remained was the golden headpiece that the Amazonian woman wore. Her eyes snapped back to Cinder- deep sadness in the silver orbs, but a look that Cinder hadn't ever seen before; acceptance. Of what she had no idea, but she knew it was something to do with Pyrrha's death.
"He also sees you in the wrong kind of light as well." She sighed. "Everyone does, really."
Having gotten rid of her bow, Cinder tilted her head slightly, looking for all the world as confused and as curious as a person like Cinder could get. Ruby kept intriguing her with each sentence; she wasn't wrong in a lot of things she's said, either. "how so? They see me as a terrorist, a monster- in ways I am."
"In ways, yes." Ruby sighed; today was just not her day. Having possibly gotten Roman killed, as well as having nearly killed Neo, and crippling countless other White Fang soldiers to get here was weighing her down. She'd never killed before- no one deserved to have their life taken away from them no matter how despicable they were.
Cinder frowned ever-so-slightly, as if knowing her next question's answer already. The bow that was no longer in her hand came back, arrow drawn to the string and levelled at the unsuspecting girl's head. "And what do you think?" her voice was venomous, spiced with an odd combination of subtle curiosity and not-so-subtle spite.
Ruby, in response, bit back over her shoulder, not aware of the arrow poised to split her head in two. "I highly doubt you care what I think." For emphasis she snorted, making Cinder roll her eyes in return, though they narrowed on her form.
"Humour me."
It took a full minute of agonising waiting before Cinder got an answer that she didn't expect.
"I think you don't care what they think, what I think, or what anyone thinks. I think you don't want to know how you're misguided, that your ideals are pure but your methods are wrong, that your idea for a future with Hunters and Huntresses has both its merits and its disadvantages." Ruby turned her whole body back to Cinder now, eyes widened as she saw the bow lifted and arrow poised to strike. "You're not a bad person, Cinder, but you're not good, either; you're a neutral entity trying oh-so hard to keep the world from crumbling, but at the same time the way you execute your plans show your methods are evil while the plans themselves are pure."
"You see too much with those eyes of yours."
Ruby simply nodded. "I see things people don't want me to see; and things they do, too." After that, silence reigned for a full minute. "No one expects the 'red-headed dolt' to be the most observant person around."
"You don't think I'm evil?"
"Misguided, yes. Destructive, yes. But no, you're not evil, nor are you good; you're pretty much neutral, as I said."
The bow disappeared again- today was a rush for Cinder. First she battled her way through the different floors of Beacon to get to the dying body of Amber, only to find the body dead with the soul extracted and placed into a different vessel; namely, Pyrrha. Then she killed said girl in a bid to get the rest of the Fall Maiden powers, only to learn that they'd been transferred to somewhere else and she'd have to start looking all over again. Now she was talking to probably the most philosophical fifteen-year-old on the planet. This girl was making her think of everything she'd done and everything she was going to do. She made her see things that most never saw and things that some did. It was giving her a headache, but for some reason she liked what she was hearing; a fresh perspective that was trying to act neutral in her opinion, despite witnessing the murder of her very apparent friend right before her eyes.
Cinder walked away that day with thoughts in her head and a small, if near-invisible, smile on her face.
Ruby's last words lingered in her head as she made her way to Haven; she had plans to change, thoughts to concentrate on, an entire lifetime of memories to look through.
Ruby, on the other hand, felt that she'd made a new friend today- she knew they were, at best, acquaintances, but it was nice to embellish the truth sometimes.
(^^^^^^)
Cinder walked away, but not before inquiring one last thing that had been stuck in her head.
"How do you see the things you see when people show you something else?"
Ruby simply smiled knowingly, her mask slipping slightly. "It's all a matter of perspective."
Cinder just looked at her for a minute more. "You intrigue me." And like that, they both left the presence of one another- Ruby to mourn all those that died today, and Cinder to change her plans.
Ruby threw up her mask again at the sight of white hair, and charged with the energy someone her age should have when dealing with a friend. "WEEEEEEIIIIISSSS!"