04/26/1999... 6:30 in the morning...
Jaune prepared for his school day like any other, opting to not wear the long coat he purchased at Ruby's advise after the unpleasantness that took play mere days ago in Colorado. he pulled on his "Offspring" pull over hooded sweater instead.
"Even this will catch me some weird looks I guess." Jaune thought as he reached for his bottle of Fluoxetine to take his morning pill. He noted that lonely sounding rattle in the bottle. he popped the lid of the bottle and looked at the single circular pill at the bottom.
Jaune shook his head and swallowed the pill dry before he put the empty pill bottle back on his shelf as he walked out to where his mother was in the kitchen. When he saw her he waved to get her attention.
Mina didn't have to work today and was drinking coffee still in her night robe to get the taste of morning sickness out of her mouth "Morning Tiger, what's that look for?"
Jaune shrugged and signed out [Just took my last pill, did you call in a refill yet?]
"Yeah I called in a refill three days ago, I'm still waiting on the pharmacy to tell me when it's ready for pick up." Mina said with a smile as she set Jaune's thermos on the counter in front of him.
As Jaune put just the right amount of creamer and sugar in before he poured himself a thermos full of coffee as part of his routine his mother kept talking. "Yeah they told me it'd take a bit longer to get your medication refilled than normal. I'll call the pharmacy later on today though, it should be ready by now."
[If you have time Mom, I'm worried about things getting weird without me being on my medication.] Jaune signed with a half smile.
"Either way you need to get to school, get moving! Besides your supposed to tell your friends about how Ren and Nora are moving here this summer!" Mina said with a smile.
[Man, what is is with summer being so stacked up with stuff going on anyways?] Jaune signed to his mother
"It's less of a pain in the ass to do things without having to revolve it around you kid's school schedule." Mina joked.
Jaune tilted his head in agreement as he sipped his coffee. satisfied with it he sealed his thermos and signed with his free hand. [I guess either way I better get to school.]
"Raise an acceptable level of hell my boy!" Mina said as she made a half hearted fist pump into the air while sipping her coffee.
Jaune collected his school bag and thermos and waived "Later" to his mom as he head out for the day.
7:00 am elsewhere in town ...
Elsewhere in town Yang had just finished getting ready for the morning and way almost out the door, only to see it was partially blocked by someone's leg. Yang could only sigh out and call out to her mother "Mom uncle Qrow is passed out at the front door again, I'm going out the back!"
Yang's mother came out in her messy work overalls, dingy gray and splattered with oil from the last car she worked on for a client. "Yeah I saw that. my Idiot brother must of thought it would be okay to get wasted again since he didn't work today."
"What are we going to do with him?" Yang asked her mother "He can't keep doing this to himself, I can hear his liver screaming from here."
"Leave him be hon, he hasn't been himself since Lisa died." Raven said as she pulled her black hair back into a messy ponytail.
"That was four years ago..." Yang said as she shook her head. "I get that the bombing was a pretty damn awful thing, and his fiance didn't deserve to die in it. But he can't keep doing this."
Raven sighed walked over to Qrow and kicked him in the side "Move dipstick, your Niece needs to get to school and your blocking the door!"
Qrow responded by rolling far enough that he wasn't blocking the door anymore. "See, problem fixed" Raven said with a self satisfied smile on her face."
Yang shook her head "Treating a symptom, not the disease mom..." as Yang opened the door "Is not fixing the problem."
3:30pm….
By the end of the school day of that school day Jaune, Yang and the others were all say around a table at the school. Jaune leaned over as he listening to the others talk about their days. Jaune made a few casual observations about his friends. He noted that Blake and Weiss always seemed to sit next to each other. How Yang always seems to try and sit between him and Ruby when she can. Little things that he realized he never noticed with his old friends.
"It was because you were always hung up on me" Jaune heard the voice of Pyrrha say behind him as he felt a hand touch his neck leaving a warm wet feeling on it. "You never paid any attention to anyone else while I was around."
"Are we really doing this at school?" Jaune said in a nasally voice.
"Oh well if you don't want me here just say so" Pyrrha leaned on the table next to him as her bloody hand. "Don't you normally take a pill by now?"
"I ran out" Jaune said to Pyrrha.
"Well that's a bummer. I guess we can pick this up later on tonight." Pyrrha said as she ran her fingers through her hair sending a splatter of blood flying into the face of the obvious Ruby sitting nearby.
"Not if I can help it..." Jaune just said to Pyrrha gritting his teeth.
Pyrrha laughed as she ran her fingers across his cheek leaving a bloody streak across it. "You can't help it. You never had control here." The bloody hallucination leaned in close "Who don't you admit it to yourself, you rather like seeing me like this." Pyrrha's voice turned sinister "Me being dead left you free to hook up with any stupid little bitch you came across!"
Jaune felt his heart rate increase and his breathing quicken as Pyrrha put a hand on his shoulder near his neck and squeezed "I could end it right now, put a hand around your neck and squeeze, it would look like you choked on something. You secretly want it don't you?"
Jaune snapped back out of it the second he felt someone shake nudge his shoulder. All the others saw was Jaune's eyes glass over and him put on a look of deep concentration. Ruby was now standing next to him looking at him with concern as she signed to him [You good?]
Jaune just signed and signed back [Yeah I just had some stuff on my mind is all.]
"Don't leave us in the dark, what's bugging you?" Yang asked.
Jaune had to think on his feet and come up with an excuse for what happened [Well it turns out two of my old friends from home are moving out here this summer.] Jaune signed with a sheepish grin [I guess that's bugging me a bit.]
"Why would this bother you?" Yang asked him back directly while interpreting for the others.
Jaune just leaned back in his seat and silently exhaled. Blake answered your question "I take it they were mutual friends of your ex?"
Jaune signed out [Yeah we were all one big happy family of sorts., that was until I moved here and she took her own life.]
"Well you do know your going to have to introduce us to them right?" Weiss said to Jaune.
Jaune just nodded to Weiss with a grin on his face thinking "Well yeah that was the idea"
Ruby smiled at him and shifted her eyes at Weiss as if trying to remind him of something.
[Oh, uh that's right Ruby you and I had plans today right?] Jaune signed out.
Ruby smiles and signs back [Yes we did, let's get going!] as she stood up prompting Jaune to wave by the the others and walk off with ruby.
4:30 pm...
I would be about an hour later when Jaune got home, it had been fourteen hours since he took like last antidepressant and it was starting to affect him slightly. He and Ruby Walked into his front door. Ruby playfully knocked on the nearby wall out of habit with a soft smile on his face that Jaune couldn't seemingly enjoy at that moment.
"Hey Jaune, come in here for a moment!" Jaune heard Mina shout out from another room in the house. Jaune signed to Ruby where his mother was in the house and went to go talk to her.
Ruby followed Jaune into the Kitchen. Jaune signed out to his mother a quick [What's up?] As the pair sat at the counter.
Mina signed as she spoke starting with a serious sounding "This concerns you too Ruby" Mina turned to her son "So... I called the Pharmacy."
Jaune shrugged and signed out [Don't leave me in suspense mom, what's up?]
"It looks like there's a national shortage on your medication, it looks like they won't have a refill ready for you till the end of the week" Mina said with a tired and frustrated look on her face. "Were going to have to make due till then."
Ruby shot worried looks between Jaune and Mina as Jaune signed out [Yeah I'll see what I can do till then. Maybe I can probably make due without my medications.]
[Dude, are you absolutely sure your going to be okay? I mean isn't it a really bad idea to cold turkey off of those?] Ruby signed out before putting a hand on Jaune's shoulder
Jaune thought back to his earlier hallucination and rubbed his shoulder thinking for a moment before signing out.[It's really not a great idea to cold turkey off of any kind of medication that you've been on for a while.]
"It is, I'm going to call your doctor to see if we can ease you into something else sooner than that." Mina said to Jaune.
Jaune nods and signs [I'll make through it for now, Ruby and I were going to do a thing though so we better get on that.]
"Leave the door open." Mina said with a smirk. "I'm still to young for grandkids."
Fifteen minutes later Jaune sat in his bed with ruby next to him holding his drawing pad. Jaune signed with his free hand [Okay you said you needed some help with something regarding Weiss.]
Ruby signed back [Yeah I need you to draw Weiss's legs]
Jaune just blinked at her. [Yeah, I don't tend to stare at her legs hon.] as he looked off to the side
Ruby tilted her head and raised an eyebrow signing [Your a guy... I know you looked at least once.]
[Can I draw your legs instead, their roughly the same shape.] Jaune signed back.
[I knew you looked] Ruby signed with a smirk
[Oh piss off] Jaune signed back with a grouchy put off look.
Ruby loudly laughed at Jaune's expression for a solid minute before she agreed to it. She signed with a teasing look on her face [Do you need me to take my pants off as a reference?]
Jaune's face turned beat red and he somehow managed to stammer while signing out [I-I Think I c-can draw them by memory]
Ruby just smiled at how easy her boyfriend was to tease. She ended up watching as he flipped to an open page and drew out a pair of legs, keeping it as PG as he could. Ruby stopped him at one point.
Jaune turned and looked at her [You don't need to get overly detailed, I'm just using your art talents to brainstorm.]
Jaune nodded and stopped to watch her sign. Ruby signed out. [Okay I did some thinking on this, her legs are getting better but she said that her left knee was still having severe pain issues from her accident.]
Jaune nodded and signed [So what am I doing here?]
Ruby traced her fingers around the left knee area and had Jaune out what basically amounted to a sort of knee brace, when she stopped she thought it over and had him make a few changes and then signed [I think that would help, he would help her take pressure off her knee by letting that brace take on most of her weight.]
[How is that different than her current leg braces.] Jaune signed out with a puzzled look on his face.
Ruby signed out [Well this is focused on the area's where she needs them, so they won't be nearly as heavy or restrictive for her.] Ruby rubs her neck afterwards [I think... I kinda have been secretly chatting up her sister about it.]
[Okay so what else are we doing?] Jaune signed out.
[I'd like to see what we could come up with for her right ankle, that's the weakest part of her legs right now I'm told.] Ruby as she leaned over and started tracing lines she wanted to to draw for her.
Jaune couldn't help but notice her arm was slowly creeping up the back of his shirt as he drew. It took almost twice as long, nearly an hour, but they had sketched out an idea for a ankle brace, one that could in theory still allow her to wear one of her normal shoes.
Ruby looked at it and gave it a thumbs up before signing [Looks perfect!]
Jaune smiled [I aim to please!] as he leaned over and softly kissed her.
Ruby smiled kissing him back [Careful, your mom's home.]
[I am being careful you dolt.] He signed as Ruby rested her head on his shoulder. [So what brought this all on anyways?]
Ruby sighed out [I guess I just felt guilty. in a few months I'm going to be able to maybe hear for the first time, and I just want to see if we can't help Weiss back on her feet.]
[Your worried that we'll end up leaving her behind?] Jaune signed out in confusion.
Ruby signed out in front of her [Well, I mean Blake still her issues, but Weiss is doing an amazing job being there for her. Yang has no problems at all..]
[Besides a scorching case of "bitch"] Jaune signed back causing Ruby to give him a light smack in the chest.
Ruby signed out a softly signed [Asshole...]
[I warned you I was like this.] Jaune smirked as he signed [I guess I see your point though, I mean eventually it'll just be me and Weiss with something physically wrong with us.] Jaune paused and nudged her [In like five years, or did you forget that your not going to instantly understand spoken English right away?]
Ruby shrugged [Well Yeah I guess that's true...] she signed out.
[Still, if this works, this will be a hell of a thing Ruby.] Jaune signed with a smile.
[Yeah, I'll run the drafts by Winter next time I see her!] Ruby smiled as she signed. Ruby then glanced at the clock on Jaune's nightstand [And I better get home... Thanks for this Jaune.]
Jaune kisses Ruby one more time. [No worries hon. Anytime you need help. Just ask okay?]
As Ruby left the room. Jaune's eyes glassed and he leaned back in his seat. [I'm going to need you in the next day or two, all of you. Might as well pay it forward.]
Jaune closed his eyes as he heard the dripping from the corner. He didn't see anything yet. But he knew that was coming, the dripping sound of blood that he knew really there. But his guilty soul wouldn't let him ignore it. Not tonight.
[This is going to suck...] Jaune muttered as he tried to ignore it...
So after several chapters of the gang reacting to events that happened around them, we got a proper story arc going now, this is slightly inspired by true events as I just had a fun week of my 9 year old having to go a week with out his ADHD medication, and it got me thinking how bad it would be if Jaune had to cold turkey his own Anti-Depressants. It also turned out to be a good time to help Weiss work towards getting out of her chair, and give Yang a proper story arc while also introducing uncle Qrow.
If your wondering why Jaune is slipping back into hallucinations so quickly? Well it comes back to one line back from "Take one twice daily" where Pyrrha mention that his medication wouldn't make her go away, no one really caught it. but he is taking the wrong medication to cope with hallucinations. so it's now like they actually were gone. they just seem to be more severe when he's no one his antidepressants.
I don't have to much more to say than this for now. So thanks again for reading, I hope you all have a great day!
