A/N: We're going to start off this chapter with a very brief detour; some of what was discussed in the previous chapter gave me an idea for another little vignette to add to the story, and I figured this was probably the best spot to slip it into…
Speaking of which, if you are following this story, and did not receive any notification about the previous chapter update, as it turned out, FFN had yet another glitch in their system that day that affected notifications, whether it was story/chapter/author alerts, new reviews, unread PM's, etc. Hope this doesn't happen again anytime soon, but this is FFN we're talking about - I am fairly certain their support staff is comprised mostly of cercopithecoids, anyway.
Shannon was fast asleep in her bedroom, and in these days, a majority of the dreams that she experienced in the night involved she and her beloved Ruby in all sorts of cheesy romantic scenarios. Tonight's astral projections happened to have been a little on the extra cheesy side, in more ways than one, as they saw the two girls enjoying the rides of Dairy Land's romance attraction, Sweetheart Land, including, but not limited to, being on top of the world on Fly Me to the Moo, and cuddling each other (and maybe even making out a little) within the dark, cozy, and hunger-for-popcorn-inducing-aromatic confines of the Tunnel of Butter; needless to say, whenever Shannon did not see Ruby in the flesh during the day, she still saw her in her dreams at night - it was as though she had prospected a precious Ruby mine within the caverns of her own mind.
By the time that she and Ruby shared some hot chocolate at the Cocoa Corner, the sound that their mugs had made when they were clinked together was rather unusual - nothing like the sound one would expect a pair of ceramic mugs would make upon contact, which puzzled the bespectacled brunette. Again came that sound, although this time, there was no action from either of the two girls that could have produced any such sound, it clearly had come from nowhere... in the dream, that is... the sound had been enough of a disturbance to awaken Shannon from her slumber, whereupon she realized that the rather strange sound came from her window – it sounded as though that some little pieces of solid matter had been thrown against the glass panes. Alarmed and curious, she grabbed her glasses from her night table and placed them onto her face before she slipped out of her bed, stepped over to her window, and pulled back the curtains just in time to see what appeared to be a projectile of tiny pieces of gravel that had been launched from down below. Her bedroom window happened to face the back lot of her apartment's particular unit, which made her rather nervous as to who could have even been down there to throw gravel at her window; she quickly slid it open and peered out into the courtyard three stories below to confront a possible intruder.
"Who's there?" She asked.
"Shans! Down here!" A familiar voiced called up to her.
"Rubes?" Shannon asked as she looked down into the darkness and saw the vague form of the literal girl of her dreams. "What are you doing?"
"Come down here, and I'll explain…" instructed Ruby.
Out of a combination of curiosity and reluctance, Shannon grabbed her teal colored bathrobe that had been draped across the foot of her bed and slipped it onto her person as she began her trek down three flights of metal stairs and out into the back lot to meet up with Ruby and see what this was all about.
"Hey, Rubes," greeted Shannon with a yawn.
"Hey, Shans," Ruby returned the greeting.
"Not that I'm not glad to see you in person," began Shannon; it was a might preferable to see Ruby before her in real time, than within her subconscious. "But what brings you out on this midnight caper?"
"Okay, so, like, remember about that Hindu holiday I told you about?" Ruby asked. "Karva Chauth?"
"Oh, yeah… you… fast for your loved one…?" Shannon recalled with another yawn. "What about it?"
"Okay, so, like, now that I have a legit reason to celebrate it, there's this one ritual I gotta do with you…" explained Ruby.
"What? Now?" A flustered and certainly groggy Shannon asked. "Look, Rubes… I really don't mean to be disrespectful to your culture, but do you know what time it is? Can't this wait till tomorrow?"
"Look, don't at me, okay? Apparently, this has to be done under the light of the moon, and it took all this time for the moon to even rise," responded Ruby. "Besides, practically all your Jewish holidays start at, like, sundown."
"Point taken," nodded a sleepy Shannon as she yawned once again before she quipped, "okay… moon-enlighten me."
"Okay, so this part of Karva Chauth is where you give gifts to your loved one in the moonlight, cause the moonlight symbolizes love and happiness or something like that," began Ruby. "And, like, I don't even know if we're allowed to do this, but I thought I'd, like, kill two birds with one stone, and take a ritual from another holiday I never had a reason to celebrate till now called Rashka Bandhan…"
"What's Rashka Bandhan?" Shannon asked.
"It's a Hindu holiday that honors the bond between siblings," explained Ruby. "Obviously, I never had a sibling… but I do have, like, an honorary sister… hold out your right hand…"
Shannon did as instructed while Ruby took hold of her right hand and proceeded to roll up the sleeve of her bathrobe, but rarely getting to see her bare arm, she just had to stop and take a minute to caress it with her thumb. Even though Ruby had brimmed with self-confidence since she grew out of her younger ugly duckling phase, if there was one insignificant little thing about herself that she was still a might self-conscious about, it was her somewhat hairy arms; to see that even Shannon possessed just a little bit of arm hair as well made Ruby feel far less self-conscious over such a trivial little thing about her body. Finally, she took something that appeared to be a bracelet, and tied it around the wrist of her honorary sister, while said honorary sister held it up for a better look in the light of the moon, as well as that which emanated from the stairwell access, and could see that it was made of tiny little decorative beads.
"Oh, this is beautiful, Ruby," said Shannon as she examined her gift. "I assume this is some sort of a Hindu friendship bracelet?"
"Yeah, pretty much…" nodded Ruby. "But, it's supposed to be sacred, too, and I gotta, like, seal the deal with a prayer for you…"
With that, Ruby took hold of Shannon's hand once more and closed her eyes to begin the final ritual of these particular holidays from her culture of which she had never really given much thought to until Shannon had come into her life.
"Okay, so, like, dear Lord Shiva… or Krishna… or Brahma… or whichever one of you dudes I'm supposed to pray to, I guess you know who you are…"
Shannon stifled a smirk of a snicker; she knew that Ruby never really bothered to indulge in much of her own culture or heritage, but she did feel that it was rather touching that she suddenly decided to make an effort to, if only out of honor for her.
"So, like, please bless Shannon Tannenbaum, my honorary sister, with happiness, and prosperity, and a good life, and all that other stuff… and… like... y'know, thanks a lot, your friend, Ruby Patel… Om."
"Om?" Shannon repeated curiously.
Ruby opened her eyes and explained, "Hindu amen."
"Oh," Shannon nodded understandingly. "Well, thanks for the gift and the blessing, Rubes… it really means a lot to me."
"Yeah, samesies…" nodded Ruby before her stomach growled loudly enough for both of them to hear from where she had fasted all day. "Oh, I am, like, so eating a ginormous breakfast burrito in the morning!"
Shannon giggled at such a remark.
As strange and awkward as the moment may have been, there was something about seeing a moonlit Shannon wearing a bathrobe that made the moment feel a little more romantic than it was meant to be for Ruby. She stepped over, wrapped her arms around Shannon's waist, and pulled her in close; Shannon was already such a warm and soft person to hold, but wearing this rather plushy bathrobe made her feel warmer and all the more soft, as Ruby continued to gaze into her moonlit face with a smile.
"Happy Karva-Rashka-Chauth-Bandhan, Shans," said Ruby in an amusing attempt to amalgamate the names of these two Hindu holidays she had just observed with her perfect life partner and honorary sister.
"Thanks," giggled Shannon as she, likewise, wrapped her arms around Ruby's petite waist. "And thanks again for the sacred friendship bracelet; I'll treasure it always."
The two stood in silence for a moment and admired how beautiful the other looked bathed in the soft glow of the moonlight.
"I guess you can, like, go back to bed, now…" quipped Ruby.
"Yeah… still got school in the morning…" groaned Shannon with a nod.
"Good night, Shans…" said Ruby.
"Good night, Rubes…" said Shannon.
The moment gave both of them a sense of romance and intimacy, and with that, the two shared in a good night kiss with one another; Ruby even began to lightly lick at Shannon's soft and supple lips, as though she requested permission to take their kiss a step further, but alas, the still-shy and bashful Jewish girl could only turn her head away, much to the Indian girl's disappointment.
Now lightly red-faced, the sleepy Shannon pulled away and turned to retreat back into the stairwell to return to her third-story apartment, but she still bade Ruby a farewell: "See you tomorrow. Thanks again for the honoring me in your culture; it really touched me."
"Yeah…" Ruby waved to Shannon as she disappeared into the stairwell, while she also silently cursed her hunger pangs; she may not even wait until morning for breakfast – now that the ritual of fasting for Karva Chauth was officially over by the light of the moon, she may sneak some midnight snacks upon her return home to satisfy her empty stomach.
Shannon laid awake in her bed for a moment as she admired the sacred Rashka Bandhan bracelet that Ruby had gifted her; she still thought that it was such a beautiful and touching gesture that Ruby had suddenly decided to share in ceremonial rituals from her culture with her… for a moment, she considered how she could return such a gesture by sharing in some of her Jewish holidays with Ruby, although she was not sure if Ruby would really go for such… especially as she thought back to a story that Benny had once told her about what a fiasco inviting Luan to his family's Passover observance turned out to be – apparently, it had gotten so ugly, that Luan not only dropped an 'F'-bomb, but even an ethnic slur as well. Shannon knew all too well that it took a lot to push Luan over the edge into anger, but unfortunately, Luan's ignorance of the Jewish faith, let alone the rituals that had to be performed during their Passover observance, made her a target for unnecessarily incessant mockery, ridicule, and scorn from Benny's menacing grandmother throughout much of her visit... even Benny himself had lost his cool over the mistreatment of his girlfriend.
The combination of hearing about the botched attempt of Benny including an ignorant Luan in his family's holiday traditions, and Ruby honoring Shannon within two of her Hindu holidays had inspired the Jewish girl to consider doing more research and educating herself on Indian culture, so that she could be more knowledgeable of Ruby's heritage – especially when a rather embarrassing moment had taken place after that night…
Shannon and Ruby departed from school together one afternoon, as had become their usual routine during that semester: going into and coming out of school every day was just about the only time they got to spend together during the week, but they both had longed to spend some more quality time with one another, and Ruby, in particular, was most anxious to go out on another date with Shannon, since it had been so long since they had a date that wasn't just a quick bite of lunch somewhere like Pan-Pan Palace. Upon stepping out of the main school building, that was when Ruby offered Shannon her proposition:
"Hey, listen, you don't have anything going on this weekend, right?" She asked the bespectacled brunette.
"No, not this weekend," said Shannon with a sense of relief; not that she didn't enjoy whenever she got to visit her out-of-state cousins, but even two-hour flights between Michigan and Wisconsin for a big double ceremony in one weekend was a might stressful for the high school sophomore.
"Great, then let's go out," said Ruby.
"Oh… um… yeah, okay…" said a blindsided Shannon, who had kind of looked forward to a more restful weekend.
"You know where we oughta go?" Ruby asked.
"Um… no…" muttered Shannon. "I mean, I haven't even had a chance to think about it."
"We'll think of something," shrugged Ruby.
Shannon had given some thought to the romantic dreams she recently had that involved she and Ruby, and although they provided her with the inspiration for a suggestion, there was one little matter that would render the suggestion moot:
"Well… I know Sweetheart Land at Dairy Land is closed for the season..." the Sweetheart Land attraction would not open again until just before Valentine's Day, but the rest of Dairy Land would remain open until after Thanksgiving. "But, that doesn't mean we can't enjoy any of the other fall activities, like bobbing for caramel apples…"
Ruby looked a little peeved at this suggestion, as she rebuffed, "Girl, you know I'm not allowed to go to Dairy Land!"
"No, I don't know that," replied Shannon; this was the first time that Ruby had ever mentioned such a banishment from Dairy Land, and even so, her sudden shift in attitude put her off a little. "Why not?"
With a roll of her eyes, and a scoff from the back of her throat, Ruby explained, "Cause apparently cows are, like, sacred in India; as far as my FAM's concerned, Dairy Land's, like, a barnyard of blasphemy."
"Oy, holy cow," remarked Shannon in disbelief. For a brief moment, it made little sense to her, when she considered that she had visited Dairy Land a number of times, and recalled seeing other Indian visitors within the park... then again, from what Ruby has described, her parents seem to be far more traditional in their culture than she herself was. Nevertheless, this only further solidified what she had previously considered about how she should really take the time to study Indian culture so as to increase her familiarity with and knowledge of such out of respect for Ruby, and to avoid another faux pas such as this again in the future. "Okay, sorry, I didn't know. So, Dairy Land's off the table, then…"
Even Ruby thought it was ridiculous that her parents forbade her from stepping foot into the a-moos-ment park that was one of the biggest points of local interest in the greater Royal Woods area. All of her friends had been there, it felt silly to her that she could not go - it was not as though they lived in a country where cows were practically worshipped such as, well, India; otherwise, she would be onboard for accompanying Shannon to such a locale.
Ruby then thought back to how she had decided that it was for the best that she take charge in her relationship with Shannon, and just have her just go with the flow, follow her lead, and not worry about anything; the present time seemed as good as any for Ruby to make good on her decision, as she dismissed, "Eh, it's cool. Tell ya what, I'll think of something, and let you know…"
"Oh… um, okay…" mumbled Shannon. "I mean, I'm sure I could think of something else between now and then."
"Naw, don't worry about it, my girl; I've got this," assured Ruby.
"If you say so," shrugged Shannon with a small smile; regardless of what they would do or where they would go, to spend time with Ruby would still be a great way to spend the weekend, and she very much looked forward to such.
It was not too difficult for Ruby to come up with an idea of what they could do for their weekend date; knowing just what a big cinephile Shannon was, she had decided that a date at the movies would be just the ticket for them.
"Hahahaha! Good one!" Luan popped up out of nowhere to extend a compliment on the previously-written play on words.
Yes, thank you, Luan, for your added commentary.
"Don't mention it!" Luan said before she disappeared back into the great unknown.
Oh, these Louds and their inherent ability to break the fourth wall...
After having made her decision, Ruby produced her cell phone to get in touch with Shannon and relay her plans to her; however, she did not expect the sort of response that she would receive from Shannon when she accepted the incoming video call on her own phone.
"Hey, girl, hey!" Ruby greeted the bespectacled face that popped up on her phone's screen.
"Hey, Rubes!" Shannon returned the greeting upon the face of the Indian girl having popped up on her own screen.
"So, listen, I, like, made our plans for the weekend..." began Ruby.
"Oh, yeah, I was just about to call you…" groaned Shannon. "Sorry, Rubes, it'll have to be another weekend…"
"What?!" Ruby shrieked. "What do you mean it'll have to be another weekend?"
"I forgot all about my mom's best friend's oldest daughter getting married in Great Lakes City this weekend, so we'll be out of town again…" explained Shannon.
"For real?" Ruby asked incredulously. "I mean, do you have to go?"
"Well, we're friends of the family, we were all invited, and my mom already R.S.V.P.'d us…" explained Shannon.
"Awesome sauce…" Ruby muttered in sarcasm as she rolled her eyes.
Shannon, meanwhile, was, once again, a little put off by Ruby's attitude, as she continued, "Look, I'm sorry, Rubes… so much has been going on lately, I just spaced it is all…"
Ruby just glared at Shannon through the screen; she so looked forward to spending a weekend with her, and now, to have a wrench thrown into the works like this had completely soured her mood. Shannon really did not like this look that Ruby had given her, it made her a little uncomfortable, but she tried her best to schmooze the irritated Indian.
"I mean, I want to get together with you just as much," she insisted. "I cross-referenced all my schedules, and I made absolute sure that next weekend would be free and clear for me, and it is… I promise, next weekend, I'm all yours, Rubes; we'll go wherever you want to go, and do whatever you want to do. Just the two of us."
After a brief and silent sigh through her nose, Ruby finally nodded and conceded to the change in plans.
"Well, I guess, like, beggars can't be choosers…" she muttered. "Alright; next weekend it is, then…"
"Cool!" Shannon exclaimed as she tried to share an encouraging smile with Ruby, though Ruby still seemed reluctant to comply; it still made Shannon a trifle uncomfortable, and prompted her to apologize once again. "I'm sorry this spoiled your plans, Rubes… but, I mean, we can still make time for each other…"
"Yeah…" was all that Ruby could mutter. "Well, I guess next weekend's just as good… better than, like, no weekend at all, am I right?"
"Sure!" Shannon exclaimed in another attempt to smooth things over, though Ruby still retained the disappointment in her face, as Shannon began to stroke the back of her head. "Well… see ya…"
"Yeah…" repeated Ruby before she ended her video call with Shannon.
In spite of Ruby's initial disappointment that this could not be a weekend for just she and Shannon to go out and enjoy a day together, it was not all bad that it would have to wait until the following weekend – at least they would finally get to spend quality some time together, regardless of when they did.
Just prior to their rendezvous, Ruby informed Shannon that they would meet up at the Royal Woods Cineplex for a Sunday matinee, and also instructed her to wear something nice… which Shannon found to be kind of an odd instruction, but it did also lead to rather awkward meet-up that Sunday afternoon, when she arrived at the Cineplex in her usual orange sweater and short denim skirt, and found Ruby had awaited her arrival while she wore a white, short-sleeved blouse topped with a red buttoned vest, and a knee-length plaid squirt – not exactly fancy, but a little dressier than what Ruby usually wore to school or elsewhere. She did; however, appear to be a might annoyed with Shannon as she arrived dressed as she ordinarily was.
"I thought I said wear something nice," bemoaned Ruby.
Regardless of the seemingly senseless instruction, Shannon still defended her choice of wardrobe.
"It's just the movies, Rubes," she pointed out the casual atmosphere of their outing. "It's not like we're going out to dinner, or something."
"What if we, like, decided to go to dinner after?" Ruby noted.
"Don't you think we'd be a little full from popcorn and stuff to go out to eat after?" Shannon theorized.
"I am so not getting any artificial butter stains on this outfit!" Ruby rebutted haughtily.
Shannon suppressed a smirk at the way Ruby had carried on over everything thus far, and their rendezvous had just begun; was this not supposed to be a day for the two of them to simply get together and enjoy one another's company? Still, the Jewish girl attempted to work something out between the two of them…
"Well, we can at least still split a soda like couples do, can't we?" She asked hopefully.
"So long as it's got a lid, it's all good…" agreed Ruby.
It was settled then, Shannon and Ruby ordered a large soda from the concession stand – with a lid and two straws, and began their trek from the lobby and down the main hall into the specifically numbered theater that showed the movie that they would see.
There was one particular movie that Shannon was especially interested in seeing: the recently-released film adaptation of one of her favorite Broadway musicals, Rats, which had, thus far, been mercilessly maligned, lauded, panned, and ripped to shreds by audiences and critics alike for a myriad of different reasons, ranging from the seemingly frightening partial C.G.I. character makeup, to the eyesore of visual effects, to the lackluster musical performances, and even the decidedly ineffectual cast that consisted of the likes of bluegrass super starlet, Maddie Swish, plus-sized character actress, Renegade Williams, and British podcaster, Jim Accordion. Even the trailers looked terrible, but Shannon was not one to take the critics' words as the final say, as she much preferred to see a movie for herself and base her own objective opinion on it – more often than not, she found that some movies were hardly as awful as the critics had made them out to be. In cases such as these, it made her consider launching her own YoohooTube channel to offer her own critique of movies she had seen, even though the internet reviewing community had become something of an overcrowded niche since the earlier days of such pioneers as Pug Walker's Nostalgic Critiques or Rad Bones's Cinematic Snobbery, or even Jim Wolf's Aggravated Gamer Dork; not to mention, from her observation, if she wanted generate any kind of traffic and have her video content stand out, she would need to wear something rather clingy that would bare ample amounts of cleavage… she certainly did not want that kind of attention.
However, Ruby had already taken the liberty of selecting the movie that they would see, so that Shannon would not have to concern herself with such a trivial matter, and with this being a date (or, a reasonable facsimile thereof), she felt that the occasion called for a rom-com. Shannon held nothing against romantic comedies… except that almost all of them were formulaic, trite, and in many cases, just kept casting a lot of the same recognizable actors; this movie turned out to be no exception, with the likes of Jason Straightman and Jennifer Ampersand as the thirtysomething will-they-or-won't-they couple arch types.
In spite of the awkward and rocky start that they had gotten off to, just the same, Shannon and Ruby found themselves enjoying their outing for what it was that they had been so hungry for: a leisurely day for the two of them to spend some quality time with one another, as they sat in the darkened theater with the large soda that they shared from a pair of straws, while they held onto each other's hand, and rested their heads against the other's… each and every bit of the picturesque young couple in love… and when things began to become a little spicy between the romantic leads up on the silver screen, it made the both of them hungry for something other than just a tub of popcorn, or even a restaurant meal – Ruby could even tell that Shannon's palm began to sweat.
A couple of hours later, the two girls stepped out of the theater with the rest of the crowd after the movie had concluded, and just as Shannon could have predicted, after the initial denial, the gradual letting down of the hair, and the eventual vulnerability reveal, the two romantic leads ultimately got together in the end, all of which was something that even Ruby had to admit that she could see come from a mile away.
"Well, that wasn't exactly, like, box office gold, but it was alright, I guess," critiqued Ruby.
"I think when you've seen one of those movies, you've seen them all," said a tactful Shannon.
"Yeah, you're not wrong; kinda like those Lifesentence movies," agreed Ruby as she stretched out her tired muscles. "I'll, like, try to pick something better next time."
"Orr… maybe we could take turns, and I could pick the movie next time…" hinted Shannon before an even more helpful concept had occurred to her in that moment. "Or, better yet… we both could pick something out together…"
Ruby, however, was still very fresh in her newfound mindset that she should take charge of her relationship with Shannon, and because of that, she assured her that her suggestion would not be necessary.
"Now, don't you worry a hair on your pretty head about any of that stuff; just leave it to me…"
Ruby followed up on her words with actions, as she began to playfully pet the top of Shannon's head… and that was all it took to enchant the Indian girl. She so loved Shannon's full, thick, and voluminous hair – once she would start to touch it, it became a challenge for her to stop; it was always just so soft, and so fluffy. Shannon, meanwhile, could only stand there and smirk… she did not mind so much that Ruby admired her hair, it was more that she herself hated her own hair; the never-ending waves of curls were just so much of a hassle for her to deal with in terms of washing, brushing or combing, and maintaining on a regular basis, and she often wished to have it cut shorter, thinned, and straightened, only for her mother –who possessed even curlier hair than she- to object to such a notion, when she felt that it was something that her daughter should embrace about herself.
After a brief moment of admiring the Jewish girl's flowing mane, the Indian girl finally and reluctantly withdrew her hand and attempted to resume the conversation by reminding her of something of which had been mentioned in passing upon their initial meet-up at the Cineplex.
"So, what you say? You up for, like, grabbin' a bite somewhere?" Ruby proposed, as she was still very much in the mood for getting as much out of this weekend outing with Shannon as she could.
When she took into consideration that neither of them had eaten snacks of any sort during their movie-watching experience due to Ruby's concerns over any harm that may have befallen her outfit, Shannon felt hungry enough to take Ruby up on the offer, but before she even had the chance to provide her with an answer, she suddenly felt a vibration against her hip that startled her.
"Hold that thought…"
As a courtesy to other moviegoers, Shannon had changed the settings on her cell phone, so that in the event that somebody may have attempted to contact her while she was out with Ruby, the loud ringtone of an incoming call, or the loud notification tone of an incoming text message would not disturb anyone else in the theater, nor disrupt their viewing experience. She fished her phone from the pocket of her short denim skirt, swiped the screen to unlock it, and took notice of the text that she had just received that was sure to put a damper on the present moment.
"Sorry, Rubes; I'll have to take a rain check…" grumbled Shannon.
To hear such had brought another look of annoyance to Ruby's face as she snarked, "Oh, lemme guess… another ceremony?"
"Not exactly," responded Shannon with a certain exasperated cadence. "But mom's cleaning out our mini-storage, and dad's not home, so she needs me to help move some stuff."
"She, like, can't get help from any of your neighbors?" Ruby asked.
"Knowing how my mom's mind works, she figures it's more convenient to call upon me than it is to impose on any of the neighbors," said Shannon as she pocketed her phone. "She's probably looking for some old trinkets to sell on Fartbook Marketplace, and wouldn't want anyone else to handle them."
With an incredulous sigh, Ruby grumbled, "Fine, run along home…"
"Thanks for the movie, Rubes," said Shannon as she reached over, gave the disappointed Indian girl a hug, and a smooch on the cheek before she departed for home. "We'll get together again another weekend."
"Whatev…" Ruby continued to grumble.
Why did this seem to become something of a pattern whenever Ruby tried to make plans to spend time with Shannon? Her cousins' b'nai mitzvah ceremonies she could understand, they were family, after all, and she knew from Shannon's explanations that such ceremonies were a really big deal within their Jewish faith… but why did she have to attend a wedding of somebody with whom she was only casually acquainted? And can't her mother get any neighbors who may happen to be home at that very moment to help her move random stuff around, rather than inconvenience her daughter who had plans for the day?
All Ruby wanted was to be able to spend quality time with Shannon. Was that too much to ask? She began to think that may had been the case, because this pattern still did not stop there… as a matter of fact, the next time the pattern appeared to repeat itself, things got a little confrontational…
Shannon studying about Indian culture and Hinduism to increase her knowledge of Ruby's heritage is something that I have had planned for some time (it will be brought up again in the next Sharuby Saga installment), though the idea of Ruby suddenly finding a reason in Shannon to actually observe certain Hindu rituals wasn't planned at all, but rather, just sort of came to me after what had been written in the previous chapter as she and Shannon discuss their different views towards their respective cultures and faiths. Still, I felt like the idea of Ruby trying to make an effort to partake in some of these rituals in honor of Shannon was both amusing and touching… it's, unfortunately, one of the only high marks for her in this installment, I'm afraid.
Next chapter, we'll be taking a look at just what Ruby has been up to in this modern dance club she enrolled in, and whether or not there may be someone else coming into her world…
Also, if you could not tell, I slipped in a reference to one of Quiet Waters' fanfiction stories, Gentile Does It; it's quite a lovely Luanny story in which Benny does make an attempt to include Luan in the Steins' Passover observance, and I highly recommend it – fan artist, Meilodramatic, has even drawn a beautiful illustration for it, and I know I cannot recommend or praise her artwork nearly enough; do please check her out on Instagram if you ever have a moment to do so, she has created a number of gorgeous illustrations that were inspired by a variety of fanfiction stories, even including some of mine, such as Eyebrows of the Beholder, The Missing Loud, and This Will Be Our Year (specifically Benny and Luan as Oberon and Titania in A Midsummer Night's Dream).