Through no fault of her own - really, it was her older sister and her dad that were to blame - the rest of Ruby's weekend was spent outside the (relative) comfort and (kinda) safety of her dorm room. Her family was great, and Ruby was glad that she got the chance to spend time with them - especially since Yang was actually home for once.
Her vivacious blond half-sister had taken on a job with a relatively prestigious journaling agency about six months ago, and Yang's first assignment was overseas. If that was where the story ended, Ruby would have been left over the moon for her success.. But that was only part of it.
What set alarm bells off in her and her father's head was that Yang's job was to document life on a military base. If the story stopped there, then Ruby wouldn't have been kept up at night. But.. Again, that was only part of it. While they were having dinner before she made the big step of traveling overseas, Yang had let slip that "potentially" she might have to "on occasion" be attached to a combat patrol.
Ruby swore that her father was going to faint right then and there at the bomb that her sister dropped. For what felt like an eternity, silence hung over their table as they finished dinner. In the days that followed, there were a lot of tears shed by all of them, and even more trying to convince Yang to not go through with it. Ruby was scared, sure, but more than anything she didn't want her best-and-only friend gone for so long. There was texting and calling, but having Yang around physically just.. Made her happy.
She was more worried for her dad, though. He spent a long time withdrawn and sullen, and even when he'd once more emerged from his solitude with a smile on his face - it was childs play for his daughters to see through that facade. They knew he was putting up a front, for their sake. Ruby may have been kind of naive and very socially awkward, but she knew her family. Still, no one said anything as the fateful day approached. With a lot of clingy hugs and wishes of good luck, they saw Yang off. And then, bawled their eyes out.
But, it seems that all their worrying was in vain. After half a year overseas, Yang had come home, finally. It was only a temporary return, yes, but she was coming home safe and sound. Though Ruby and their dad were fairly surprised to see how tanned she'd gotten, they were more overjoyed than anything at her return.
With a birthday missed and several holiday celebrations to catch up on, that first weekend they spent in each others company was one for the ages. All three of them had barely slept, spending as much time in each other's company as was near inhumanly possible. But now, it was Monday again, and that meant that Ruby had to refocus her energies on her studies.
Being a mechanical engineering student was.. Tough, to say the least. Ruby was smart - damn smart, as her father said - but the grueling pace of her classes and mountains of class (and home)work she had meant that she had little time for a social life - at least one where she actually left her room.
Even if her father didn't really understand it, he at least recognized that Ruby's venturing into the virtual world was helping her break through some of the social boundaries she found herself blockaded by. He supported her, and had even bought her the VR rig she was using now for Christmas. It was a slightly older model, but still well cared for and very functional.
As much as Ruby wanted to dive further into the virtual world, she was raised with the discipline that she needed to take care of her actual responsibilities first - no matter how much she wanted to blow them off. Besides.. Her dad was paying her tuition, so she kinda had to keep up her grades. Taiyang Xiao-Long just wanted the best for his daughters, so both Ruby and Yang had always strove to prove that they were making the best of what he had given them. She had a fantastic chance to excel at getting an education in a field she enjoyed. Really, Ruby would be an idiot to waste that chance.
Or a dolt.. Wait, where had that thought come from?
=^v^=
"I mean, I know why there's a timer.. I just wish it wasn't a whole two hours, ya know?" Ruby said with a huff, setting her chin in her palm. Across from her sat one of the first friends she'd made in WAR, another fighter-type who went by the handle HelplessKnight. Ruby didn't know why he went by that, and truth be told - she didn't really care. A big part of the allure to this kind of thing was that you could be whoever you wanted. Change your body, change your face, even use a voice modulator if you wanted.
Ruby herself, going by the handle CookieMonsturr (which, thus far three petitions had failed to allow her to change that), was largely herself, though. She made herself around an inch taller, and her pixie-cut crimson-tipped hair now flowed past her shoulders. But.. Other than that, Ruby was Ruby..
"Is there even a recorded instance of someone having trouble 'cause they dove in too often?" Knight asked, leaning back in his chair. The fighter's overly large, two-handed sword was leaning against the wall next to him, right beside Ruby's sword and shield.
"I don't think so?" Ruby answered, shrugging. "From what I remember.. All of that was based on speculation. They did a lot of tests, and some of them suggested there could be negative effects if you 'died' here and dove back in only to 'die' again - but I don't think anything was ever.. Proven."
"Well, hey - better safe than sorry, right? I really don't even want to think about how awful that'd be." Knight said with a grimace. "But, anyways, shouldn't your armor be about done now? If it is, think you can help me farm some materials?"
After being literally impaled, Ruby wasn't surprised that her armor needed some repairs. But, like with the idea that you actually experienced your character's death, there was a real-life time constraint placed upon things like crafting and repairs. Currently, the Red Devil was clad in the leathers she wore under her plate instead of the protective metal itself. The leather was protective enough, if all Ruby ever wanted to do was hunt boars in the starter forests, but if she really wanted to get back out there - she had to shell out a lot of her hard-earned coin and wait for the repairs to be done.
"Oh - yeah, sure." Ruby said, rising to her feet.
After making their way through the city of Aileshard - which Ruby used as her 'home base' of sorts, and even had it bound as her respawn location - she and her companion picked up ther (thankfully) fully repaired armor.
"Fits like a glove, perfect." She said with a grin, after equipping the restrictive armor and twisting around a little to make sure the fit was right.
"I have no idea how you manage to be as quick as you are in that stuff." Knight said with a laugh, turning to make his way out of the city gates.
"Lots, and lots, and LOTS of practice!" Ruby chirped cheerfully, following after Knight - who now had his greatsword strapped to the back of his studded leather armor.
The drawbridge over the moat was bustling that morning, which was a little surprising for Ruby. Seemed that the death of the Beringel had really been the key for trade in Aileshard picking back up again. With the veritable floodgates opened, goods, travelers, and traders were pouring in and out of the walled city. Ruby knew from past experience that things would settle back into their normal hustle and bustle routine in a few days, though.
"Hey. Doesn't that kinda look like the girl you were gushing about?" Knight said, maybe a little teasingly. He nudged her ribs with his elbow before pointing through the crowd at a figure that Ruby could juuuuuust barely make out.
"I.. Uhh.. I'm not sure, it's kinda hard to tell." Ruby said, and from Knight's answering snicker, knew she hadn't convinced him of a damn thing. But, there was no mistaking that player. The same blue-and-white armor, the same rapier on her right hip (she was a leftie too!), the same brilliant shock of snowy hair tied into a luxurious braid that cascaded down her back.
Though Ruby had only seen the other woman for a few seconds in the cave the other day, she would have recognized her anywhere. Sure, she was pretty, if Ruby wanted to put a term to it - but she was also unique in other ways.
For one, advanced classes like the Cryomage were rare. Exceedingly rare. For a player to advance to such a degree required mastery of a lot of different elements, from martial to magical, and Ruby personally didn't know of anyone who'd managed such a feat that wasn't totally committed to playing in PvP game modes.
Squinting, Ruby brought up her in-game interface to direct a scan towards the woman. Not surprisingly, all of her character details were set to 'private'. It was common for high level players to do that, so that their competition couldn't glean any insights about their abilities, fighting style, equipment, or any improvements they'd made. But, Ruby at least got one piece of usable information. Her name.
"Drifting_Snowflake.." She murmured to herself, quickly opening a notes document to jot it down.
"Hey, Cooks! You coming?" Knight called from up ahead. With a blush, Ruby turned away from the object of her studies before pushing ahead through the crowd to meet up with her friend.
"Coming, sorry!" She answered, glancing over her shoulder one last time. Was it her imagination, or was the mage looking back at her?
=^v^=
Of course she'd run into that girl here.. Why wouldn't she? Luck just didn't seem to be on Weiss' side lately when it came to keeping herself secluded. She'd been playing WAR since its launch, almost two years now, and so far Weiss had managed to just keep to herself. Quest by herself, hunt by herself, and adventure by herself. There was no reason to change that.
Sure, she'd been approached many times - more than she could count - with offers to team up with other top players. The offers she'd received were ludicrous. In game wealth beyond her wildest dreams, promises of real-life funds deposited into whatever account she wished (though, the players who offered that she swiftly reported to the administration), legendary items galore, and more beyond that.
She turned it all down, though. All Weiss was interested in was an escape, and none of those who had approached her before seemed even remotely genuine in their offers of friendship and camaraderie. The girl with the flowing red-and-black hair looked at her a different way, though. In a way that Weiss hadn't seen since she'd gotten to this world. It was a look of.. Wonder. Rapture, even.
Weiss didn't know why, but that was refreshing to her. Maybe it was the fact that, for once, she wasn't being looked at like she herself was an object. Just a tool to help someone else advance in the game. Having taken her own peek at the girl, Weiss knew that the warrior went by the rather juvenile handle of CookieMonsturr, but, if that was how she wanted to present herself.. So be it.
Glancing back over her shoulder, only to find the Monsturr in question also looking her way, Weiss quickly turned and redoubled her pace into the city. She had an agenda, and meeting a 'fan' of hers was not on it.
Rather easily, she pushed the girl and their chance encounter the other day from her mind in order to focus on restocking for her next trip beyond the safety of the city walls
~.~.~
[A/N]: For those who were curious last time - yes! Weiss is the Cryomage. And just to save you your agonizing wondering, Jaune is HelplessKnight. For visual purposes, all characters will retain their Volume Seven/Eight appearances unless otherwise noted. Ruby is a little taller, and has Summer's hair style while keeping her own hair color, but thus far that is the only difference