Okay, back to writing... strange fanfiction reviews are working... it is almost like they are beetlejuice, because if you say beetlejuice's name which is beetlejuic- haha nearly got me again...

Chapter 21:

Ruby stood on the small circular piece of elevated wood, as the raven and magenta haired man began to pull the length of rope with small altering coloured notches on it taught on the underside of Ruby's arm. She was already getting tired of this. But Pyrrha had insisted that he could do what she wanted.

That didn't make the whole situation any less of a drain on her. Just the simple fact that she had to stand up on the pedestal was annoying her. He began to move Ruby's leg and pulled the rope taught and smiled.

"Now... is this a formal party?" Ren asked Ruby as the girl shrugged her shoulders. "It is Yang's end of season party, before she goes into her relaxing season." Pyrrha spoke up as she took a sip from the cup of tea she had holding another one that Ruby assumed was for her. She just hoped that her coffee or tea making was nowhere near her skills in cooking.

Ren began to smile at some idea brewing in his head. Ruby was about to ask when Pyrrha handed her the second mug. Ruby gave it a quick sniff and rolled her eyes at Pyrrha. "What is wrong with it?"

"It smells burnt..." Ruby got out as she took a small slip. "And tastes sour as well... do you really not know how kitchens work?" Ruby continued to whine as Ren chuckled as Nora walked up quickly as Ren spun around and planted a kiss on her lips and walked off. Dancing down the hallway as if he was happy with his idea. It was a strange thing Ruby had to admit. This is the kind of thing she would normally mock. But decided to hold her tongue on the matter.

Nora rolled her eyes at the sight of the man and placed an identical mug on a desk as she looked at Ruby who climbed down from where she was standing to spare a glance back at the mug, placing it lightly on a table near her. She could not finish it unless she cringed really hard and plugged her nose.

She already felt like she was a little sick from the small sip she already took. "Yeah... I wouldn't really trust Pyr's cooking... I mean... if there is a faster way to get some food born illness... I don't know it. I mean... like one time I saw her burn a pot of water... literally set the water on fire." Nora continued as she took a sip from her cup.

Pyrrha began to pout and crossed her arms as Ruby and Nora seemed to bond over tearing down what she made. "She does however know how the mind works to near perfection. It is slightly terrifying. I mean... it is as terrifying as seeing Yang fight inside the ring..." Nora continued as Ruby began to sulk at the mention of her sister's name.

Pyrrha violently began to drag her hand across her throat to try and signal to Nora not to continue that topic. She had seen a few times when someone mentioned Ruby's family that she would almost always go and collapse onto herself. Almost as if she was about to relapse.

Something Pyrrha learned was a real threat every time she had left Ruby alone. At first she was just over thrilled to stay in the bed and swaddle herself in the massive blanket. Almost like she just wanted to stay there. But as the couple of weeks had moved on, she began to close in more and more on herself. Like she was just dreading what was to come.

Nora didn't see what Pyrrha was doing and only saw Ruby get down. Unsure of which part it is that she said. Nora was about to continue when a hand was clasped over her mouth. Pyrrha looked over from Ruby to see Ren leaning down and whisper something into the ginger haired girl's ear.

Pyrrha could see Nora's face lighten up from understanding as the man pulled back from the girl and walked over to the small desk like thing and pulled out a pencil from the small groove in the windowsill next to him.

The tall red head took a seat next to Ruby on the small wooden platform like thing and began to rub her back to try and soothe Ruby from her own thoughts. She knew what ever traversing she was doing must have been hard, but she also had to ease Ruby back into the world of reality. She needed, to be reminded.

This was something that she found to be the hardest. Whenever Ruby thought about her past she always closed in on herself and began to beat herself up. Once Pyrrha even witnessed she was literally about to.

"Ruby... come on, we both know your train of thoughts right now, won't end in any good place." Pyrrha spoke to Ruby calmly hoping that she could be snapped from the train. "I'm not thinking about that... I'm trying to figure out how the hell I'm meant to talk to Yang... last time we talked... I probably broke her nose, and kept bringing up, how she is only related to me because my dad was a lecherous man. Something I always knew was a sore spot for her. That is the problem... I know what buttons to push if I want to hurt them."

"I'm sure she'll be happy to see you cleaning up. I know if I were your sister I would be happy by that. But I know if you stop doing this... closing in on yourself... you'll do wonders healing from your addiction." Pyrrha spoke as Ren looked at the duo and back down to his drawing. "Well, if you two want to go get a cup of coffee or tea... or something, I can finish a mock up and send it to you." Ren spoke as Ruby could just barely make out from the way the pencil top moved that he was writing down the numbers he clearly took down.

Ruby stood up and spoke, "You know I'm looking for something akin to a red hoodie... and some jeans... right... or something akin to that..." Ruby wanted to clarify about that. She didn't want to mislead him. Her tastes are far more simple compared to either of the two girls in the room. He just smiled, his eyes never leaving the page as he dragged the pencil across the page. "I'm aware. And provided you come here a couple of days before the party, just in case I need to take in or let out anything, you'll enjoy the outfit."

Pyrrha looked at Ruby and gestured towards the front door. Ruby nodded as Pyrrha downed her mug and walked with her. Smiling, just because she had come to realise after three weeks that Ruby's mind and stories were unique. They were perfect in a way, her mind was so sharp it could pick apart almost everything of her past, the only difference was the violent edge of her mind was always pressed against her own actions. It was something that Pyrrha understood but it also perplexed her deeply.

"Do you want to go get coffee or maybe a bit to eat?" Pyrrha asked as Ruby mumbled something under her breath. Pyrrha turned to face her as she gestured her to speak up. "Hot chocolate... I really want some hot chocolate. And maybe some ice cream..." Ruby said quietly causing Pyrrha to chuckle. She had no idea how this woman, who was a heroin addict wanted something people would give children. "Fine, let's go..."

Ruby rested her head on the small colourful table. She was bored of the entire situation. She was bored at the entire thing, and had no idea why Yang and Blake got out of it, they had seen her slip just as much as they did. She reasoned that if anything they should be in here long before she was due to the obvious signs. But here she sat as a child psychologist was explaining something that was boring her further than the yellow walls.

She finally had enough of this man speaking so she cut him off. "So tell you what, let's play a game of quid pro quo. I ask one question about you, and I get one truthful answer. You ask one question about me and you get one truthful answer. And we keep going back and forth until you get angry and leave to go give some long speech to my parents using words they probably don't understand to make it seem unthinkable that I am anything else but a drug fiend."

"What makes you think I'd be angry?" he asked as he sat back causing Ruby to smile an almost sinister smile. "That counts as your question. But your answer, I'm smarter than you. Judging by the degree you have on your wall, I'm a lot smarter... I mean... Vacuo... was signing your name really that hard?" Ruby asked gesturing for him to answer her question.

The cogs began to turn in his head but slightly slower than what Ruby was accustomed to. "No, I just enjoyed the campus more, not to mention that Vacuo is the second leading school for child psychology. But why do you think you are smarter." He asked, not used to dealing with a child like this. But he also hadn't seen many fifteen year olds who did heroin.

"Since I was four I had an IQ that rivalled modern geniuses. Not to mention that I did a lookup of your name on the way. You ranked eighty seventh in your graduation year... is that why you had to drop from real psychology and picked up learning about how the drool spewers think at your safety net of a safety net school?" Ruby continued her pressing, she really wanted to see what it would take to break this man. It would make it worth her time being there worth it.

He smiled finally coming to a conclusion as to what she was trying to do. "I picked child psychology because a child's mind is a lot more complex than an adult's. And Atlas had yet to open up a course that would allow me to go directly into it. Why do are you trying to get to know more about me though?"

Ruby just shook her head as he talked. It was pathetic to her. "You seem to be confused with the rules. You could have asked so much, but fell into my trap. I'm not trying to get to know more about you. I'm merely fucking with your mind. Final question, how does it feel to get outsmarted by someone who is fifteen and on a large amount of heroin right now? I mean... it has to feel bad..."

The man's jaw just slackened as she talked standing up. He knew what she was doing, but it just seemed to work a lot more than whatever he had experienced before from adults. Ruby just stretched on the small chair as she yawned into her hand. Slightly confused as to how Weiss convinced her to go back to her family.

"It feels no different. But why are you ac-" He lied hoping she wouldn't catch it, but that was something Ruby noticed just from the way his knuckles tensed at her answer. "Nope, you lied. Unless you really get your ass whooped by little girls on a regular basis... which is sad... I'm also pretty sure it is illegal." Ruby joked placing her feet onto the table and pulled her hood down over her eyes. She was ready to sleep. This was ridiculous to her.

The man stood up seeing that he wasn't going to get much more from the girl at this point. Once Ruby heard him leave and the door closed she smiled. 'Weiss... you aren't going to believe how funny this is... now if they'll just give me back my phone, or laptop, or anything I can contact Weiss with outside of class.' Ruby thought as she shoved her hands into her large pocket and just let how tired she was take over.

"Hey... Pyrrha... I'm curious... with my experience with shrinks they are very nosey... why haven't you tried that?" Ruby asked as she took a sip from the porcelain mug in front of her. Just enjoying the warm beverage flowing down her throat. She noted that it was the best hot liquid flowing down her throat.

"My tactics are different than the textbook. Just because I often deal with drug addicts, hypochondriacs, a couple of children, and depressed people. For the hypochondriacs, the children and the depressed people, you can use text book. But drug addicts... they are different. If you press too hard, they get violent. Press too softly and they don't change. And you've experienced both of those. But are yet to notice my tactics." Pyrrha spoke taking a drink from her mug in front of her and took a little bite from the muffin that was in front of her.

"I mean, Yang, Blake and from what I heard, your parents pushed back hard. From my experiences with Sun, he doesn't push when he stops enabling... but instead of treating you like a pay check, I treat you like a person that needs help." Pyrrha continued as Ruby began to laugh to herself. "That is a weak answer... but sadly true for me." Ruby just got out as she shook her head.

Pyrrha saw her phone on the table vibrate and a notification that she received a message from Ren. She opened the message and saw a photo of the design smiling. Ruby moved the phone down so she could look at it. The design seemed simple to her. The only exception was it looked like it was much more ready for the cold compared to the summer nights. "If he can pull it off fully... that will do..." Ruby spoke as she turned back to her hot chocolate. Saddened only by the fact most of the remaining marshmallows had already started to melt forming a protective skin.

"Damnit..."

Author's Note:

Sweet... about four hours to write this... now to edit, and get back to blue dragon for an hour or so before I head to sleep... enjoy it... and as far as I know the reviews are still working...