RJ one shot (post Distorted Mirror Images)
Disclaimer: any portrayals of mental or physical disabilities are not intended to mock, nor will they be 100% accurate to real life, though I hope that they're realistic and sympathetic regardless.
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"Dear Diary, it's been three days since I got back from that 'Remnant' place, and I'm still not sure it wasn't all some weird dream or something like that. I mean, people who are part animal (eat your heart out, James Patterson!), shadow monsters who eat souls (I think, I'm still not quite clear how they worked…), and every other person and their dog has superpowers? Like, that has to be fiction!
"And I'm serious about the superpowered dog thing; the me form that world had him, it's not just hyperbole.
"Anyway, I might as well go over what's been going on the last few days since recent events (?) sorta distracted me from you. I'll probably write down the whole weird trip in another book so this get clogged up with tangents.
"So after Ruvys (the "hocus pocus" version of me) sent me back I found myself before this whole "adventure" started: in the bathroom, having just gotten out of the shower. Thankfully I was still in the clothes I got in Remnant, thank god, so I was prepared just in case someone decided to barge in on me ( as they've been known to do…).
"As if on cue someone pounded on the other side of the door, which nearly caused me to jump right out of my skin! Fortunately, the fact that I recognized that particular, no restraint knock kept me corporeal.
"Ruby Jones, if you don't open this door right freaking now then me and my tiny bladder will break it down!" Ah Barb, subtle as ever.
"Knowing she absolutely would break the door down (see "the funeral incident") I rushed for the knob and, making sure it wasn't locked (because we have to manually lock our bathroom door done some reason), yanked the door open.
"It's OK!" I quickly assured my agitated sister, "I'm not dead! I'm back!"
"Being the concerning sister she was (note the sarcasm), Barb yanked me through the doorway and went inside herself, slamming the door behind her. "Mom and Dad wanna talk with you," she said.
"So Barb was clearly in one of her moods, best not to press as to why she was in a mood. I headed downstairs and into the kitchen, where it just so happened my loving and amazing parents (dealing with us and six other foster kids and exchange students on top of that? Yeah, they're kinda Superparents.) were waiting.
"I immediately blurted out apologies. For what? I don't know, but being gone for a week might have slipped in there. However when I finally took a breath they wondered what I was apologizing for and told me they wanted to confirm what time I needed to be at my school's Special Olympics since I'd volunteered to help with them.
"This threw me for a loop; I'd been in Remnant for what felt like at least a week, and apparently barely any time at all had passed here? I guess that made sense since nobody was freaking out that I'd suddenly reappeared, but still took me a moment to process that. I informed them, and then they told me to get my shoes on and get in the car.
"So, confession time, I completely forgot that Barb's boxing team had a match against Atlas Academy today! It basically all came back to me in a rush; before my whole adventure (dream?) happened this match was all Barb could think about, and for the entire week leading up to this she trained practically nonstop. It didn't take a genius to pick up on how important this was to her.
Skipping a lot of boring stuff that happened on the way to Beacon Academy (Barb trying to hurry everyone along, Katrin taking forever to walk out the door, and us having to explain to that Belden the intricacies of Boxing, etc) it turned out we really weren't the first people there; the whole lot was practically filled with cars, and it took us a few minutes to find a spot to park. Once the car stopped Barb bolted right for the main doors, leaving the rest of us in her dust.
"And I thought I was fast running track!
"Anyway, we left Barb in her own (she was tense enough as it was without us hovering over her) and made our way to the gym to find seats. Fortunately for us Miles, Jennifer, Samantha and Lie Ren were already here (either for the school play or Jen practicing for an upcoming gymnastics competition, I don't remember which) and had saved spots for the five of us so we had a good view of the ring.
"(Random thought, but why is it called a "ring" if it's a square? At least with "rink" that doesn't make you think of a band of metal that you wear on your finger. ...unless you still have an accent like Katrin.)
"It took a while for Barb's match to come up, but when she finally stepped into the ring she looked absolutely fierce: hair tied back in a ponytail, mouth guard in, and her boxing gloves at the ready, looking like she'd deck the first person to look at her wrong. On the other hand, her opponent was the exact opposite of intimidating: her red hair was done up in two ponytails on top of her head, her sports bra and shorts were bright pink, and she had a little star painted on her face like a mole. (Another random note, why are miles called "beauty marks" when they're so ugly?) Also, she was shorter than Barb.
"When the fight started it looked like Barb was in for a hard time, because this girl (we found out her name was Meg) would not let herself get hit; Barb threw punch after punch, but somehow Meg was always able to dodge out of the way. At one point though I heard her say something about "cat like reflexes", but honestly, I was too busy chewing my fingernails off to care.
"You know, because sympathetic anxiousness.
"Just when it looked like all hope was lost, Barb managed to land a hit! After that it was all over for Neg and she went down after a few more hits, staying on the may until the 5 count. She actually got proactive in the next round, but ultimately she got knocked down again and this time she didn't make the count and Barb won the match! That was apparently the worst of her troubles, since she pretty much cleaned up the rest of her matches, and it's confirmed she's gunna be in the finals!
"Hang on, Jen says it's dinner time. She's helping Belden cook some French food tonight, they charged Sam and Barb with keeping Katrin far away from the kitchen! Brb!"
"Dear Diary, Cont.
"OK, so, first off, dinner was delicious! I seriously want to go visit France someday and try it straight from the source! Second, I just remembered something that happened yesterday.
"So you remember when I mentioned Beacon's Special Olympics? (Of course you do, I just wrote in you.) Well, those were actually happening the day after Barb's match, so I basically did have a lot of time to rest after getting back from Remnant. But anyway, we headed back to Beacon the next day at around 10 in the morning to help set up, Barb, Jen and Miles tagging along as well to help with other stuff at the event.
"By 11 the Olympians and their families started arriving, as well as other people who wanted to support them. I was supposed to be a coach, so I was looking for one person in particular, a girl around my own age named Taylor. (She's kinda like Sam in that she's Ginger too.) She's a sweet girl, really nice when you get to know her, but because of her autism she's a little shy and has trouble talking to new people (among other developmental issues).
"Anyway, I found her and her dad and lead her over to where the other kids were, while her dad went over to the bleachers. On the way I told her about the adventure I had, which she told me she loved, and she talked about the newest robots she learned about.
"FYI, she really likes robots. Real, fake, doesn't matter, she loves them all! It's how you can tell she's a good person.
"Getting back on topic, she was already in her gym clothes so we headed over to the field where she'd be competing. There were already a bunch of other kids there with their "coaches", though a couple still had their parents with them. (This one kid with artificial legs and a young girl who seemed to be staring at nothing in particular.) The first event Taylor was in was a straight sprint, which was simple enough: everyone would start in position, the caller would count down from 3, and then all they had to do was make it across the finish line.
"So...turns out it doesn't matter if you're a double amputee like that kid was, because he easily made it across the finish line ahead of everyone else! (Taylor managed to come in third, just behind a girl who used crutches to help her walk.) He was like...who was the character again? Ran really fast, had tiny wings on his helmet…?
"Oh right, the Flash! (Bad RJ, forgetting something so basic!)
"So between that and the next event Taylor really wanted to talk to the boy with the robot legs, so we headed over and I introduced ourselves. The boy in question said his name was Yuri (which I always thought was a girl's name, judging by the show's Miles usually watches) and that he lived a couple towns over. He was alright, if a little bit cocksure, and he seemed to be somewhat low key arrogant. Not that Taylor minded, since she kept asking him questions about his legs, which he usually politely brushed off.
"The next event was a scavenger hunt, so I'd actually be helping out moreso that in the sprint. Each team was given a list of three items to find, and we either had to bring them back to a judge or at least take a picture if the thing was too big or heavy to carry. Our list was pretty simple: find a white rock, something green, and a new friend.
"We found the white rock in the display for the event today, which was made out of a bunch of different colored rocks arranged to spell out "Beacon Special Olympics". (Kudos to everyone who worked on that, it looked awesome!) The "something green" was also pretty easy to find, we just took a picture of one of the other coaches who'd dyed their hair green, which normally looks kinda ugly to me but this girl somehow made it work.
"I thought "a new friend" would be hard because of how shy Taylor usually is, but to my surprise she made a beeline for Yuri and tried to drag him over to the judge. Once I caught up with her and explained things to him and his coach they went along with us. And it turned out that they found everything on their list as well, so we were going to the same place anyway. Needless to say, Taylor was super happy with how that turned out.
"Once the hunt was over they announced that everyone could take a half hour break so we could eat lunch which was good, because I was feeling tired from all this for some reason. (Maybe I was slightly out of shape from lazing around Remnant for a week, I dunno.) I quickly grabbed a granola bar from the snack station that was set up (Mikes and Jen were rubbing it, ftr) and then took Taylor to get her own lunch. We sat down with Barb, who was talking with Mr. Heyman, the Civics and History teacher, and just shot the breeze about whatever; I tried telling her about Remnant and everything that happened to me there, but the crack she made that I should be competing next to Taylor told me she didn't believe me.
"I, of course, punched her in the arm for the remark and dropped it. She just chuckled. (She could easily break me in half if she wanted to, and I learned at a very early age that the goto pulling of the hair had dire consequences.)
"The final event was a relay race, with everyone assigned to random teams, and they'd each do one collective lap around the track. Not gonna lie, I was a little bit worried for Taylor in this one. You see, we never actually got around to practicing for a relay race, and one of the symptoms of her autism is that she has a hard time trusting new people (well, when they don't have "robot legs", apparently…). And on top of that Yuri wasn't on our assigned team, and he was pretty much the only person here, aside from my close associations, that Taylor bothered interacting with.
"Throwing caution to the wind I I lead Taylor to her position for the race, going over what she had to do one more time. She nodded, which meant she was actually listening, but she kept staring ahead at nothing particular, which meant it was more of a reflex nod than anything else. Since I was grasping at straws anyway, I told her "Do your best, and maybe we can talk to Yuri one more time."
"If you'd spent any time with this girl, you'd see that she lit up like the Fourth of July when I said that!
"So the race started and the baton was pass off a couple times before it was handed to Taylor by that girl I mentioned before (you know, the one with her dad who was staring at nothing?), who held it out expectantly. Taylor hesitated for a moment, but then I saw her face steel up and she grabbed the baton, running forward with ferver. And not only did she pass it off without any trouble, but she was actually the first person from her leg of the race to do that!
"Which just goes to show you that you can accomplish anything with the proper motivation, no matter who you are.
"Ultimately her team finished second overall, but they was only because Yuri was the last runner on his own team to go. Still, I was happy for Taylor that she did her best, and she was happy that I was happy, and that she'd get to hang with Roboboy for a little longer.
"However, before any of that there was an "awards ceremony" of sorts. Some people might call it patronizing to give everyone a trophy even if they didn't technically win, but I say that everyone tried their damnedest and they should be congratulated for their efforts! So I stood next to Taylor in a line of all the participants and their coaches/parents as the coordinators gave a speech about how we were all amazing and how we should get discouraged because we might not do something as well as someone else that weirdly hit home for me considering recent (possibly?) events, and then everyone was given a small trophy that had the words "Maximum Effort" on the base. (Whoever was in charge of these things has clearly seen too much Deadpool.)
"After that was over and after Taylor's father congratulated her the two of us went over to talk with Yuri again. I actually talked to his foster mother this time too; she's a nice lady, but also weirdly intimidating in a way, I can't really explain it. Still, she was nice, I guess.
"So why am I writing any of this down when I could be chronicling my Awesome, Weird, Exciting, Scary Remnant Adventure? Well...I guess it's to help ground myself in reality. I mean, I just spent a week in this amazing place with a bunch of copies of myself, and the minute I get back home I find out that barely any time has passed! And my 15 year old brain is like "Did that really just happen? Was it all just some weird fever dream from getting lightheaded in the shower?", and I'm the only one who knows this happened, so it's not like I can bond over nachos with anyone about their own experiences like this. (And don't even get me started on how I don't want to go near the parts of the Internet where stories like this usually end up!) ...I guess this is sorta like Inception, where all the characters have this one item that keeps them anchored to reality, only for me it's like "Hey Barb, remember when you boxed against Meg that one time?"; I won't be the only one who remembers that, so even if all the piece don't fit together exactly, at least the important parts will.
"...or something like that. Maybe I'm putting to much thought into this, but regardless, it still feels good to write all this stuff out.
"Anywho, that'll about do it for this entry, Diary. I'll write more when something interesting happens, but for the moment I need to get myself ready for the big Overwatch event that's happening tomorrow; I'm gunna try playing a Healer this time, so I need to get some practice in with Mercy and Lucio. Peace!
"P.S. Remember to get Sam back for putting whipped cream in my high tops this morning. I am a vengeful god, after all."
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Two down, only four more one shots to go!
So this one was a lot of fun to write, and just because I could use contractions (though it did help); this is the first time in a long while where I've written in the First Person. Takes me back to the days of writing Maximum Ride Fanfiction…!
But enough about nostalgia, let's talk about what happened in this chapter! Firstly, I promise to stop backhandedly focusing so much on "Yang" in these things, they're supposed to be about Ruby, after all.
Second, "Penny" won't be so much of a major focus either, though this was more if an accident than the Yang thing. (It just so happened that both OCs I chose to focus on first immediately gave me ideas on how to handle Penny in their respective worlds.)
So, interesting fact about myself; I was homeschooled for most of my life, so any knowledge I have about the typical goings on in a public school come from second hand accounts or the media at large. As such it's always something of an extra challenge to write about things in a school setting, but I still try my best and hopeful what comes out is at least believable. (Which is kind of why I enjoy writing in the RWBY fandom so much, because the school setting is mostly backdrop for the shenanigans that go on.) This also goes back to my philosophy of "you don't need to have experienced something first hand to write about it" in the context of writing fiction. Though I still think you should at least have a decent grasp on how the real thing works before writing so you can add that grain of truth that helps sell the lie.
Anyway, next time we'll check in with Rubin after she gets back to her home world. Did any of the lessons she learned in Canon Remnant stick? Tune in to find out.
And be sure to follow me on Twitter ( the_layman215) and check out "Let's Finding Love" on YouTube, where I and my friend suffer through cringy anime visnovels in our quest to find Best Girl. (And for your amusement, of course.)