July 20th, 1999, At a hearing clinic at the next town over.
Ruby was getting tired of the silence. As she sat in a chair in the center of what was called "the quiet room" with both of her parents, Ms Arc, and Jaune, as well as a Doctor Sustrai, she couldn't help but struggle to contain her nerves. Doctor Sustrai was by all accounts, an expert in her field. That was lost a bit on the fact despite being a professional hearing aid technician, she wasn't looking the part with her emerald green dyed hair and nose piercing.
[Okay Ms Long, were going to go ahead and start working on calibrating your Implants first, I see you brought your own, and I must say the red color of these Transmitters suit you perfectly.] Emerald signed to Ruby with a smile.
Ruby smiled back as her nerves started to get to her, she glanced around the room, Jaune gave her a thumbs up when she looked at him. She could see Mina was excited to be part of this from her ear to ear smile. Her father also gave her a thumbs up when she looked at him, and her mother was clearly as nervous as her based on the way her right leg was shaking and her arms folded across her stomach.
Emerald sat up and start putting the microphone parts of hearing implants on each ear having calibrated them carefully over the last forty five minutes they had sat there. Once she had them both connected she sat down and typed a couple things out. Ruby found it hard to not fidget with the wires connecting from the Hearing aids to the doctors computer.
Emerald was speaking while signing to Ruby, [Okay, so were going to start simple, I'm going to send a test signal to your right implant, and your going to tell me if you hear it, assuming that you do, you can tell me if it's soft or loud okay?]
Ruby nodded but found it insane that she was being asked to understand the concept of loud or quiet when she's never experienced either before. [How will I know if it's too loud]
[It it's painful it's too loud, if you can't perceive the test signal without having to concentrate on it, then it's too quiet.] Dr Sustrai signed to her.
Ruby relaxed in the seat and was trying to fight her own nerves as she thought of everything that has transpired over the last few weeks. From her operation, to that "thing" Jaune and her did a few days before in his room that she didn't want to think too hard about right now lest she start blushing.
All of her thoughts were kicked out of her head when she experienced something she couldn't explain. She didn't have the words to describe it. But she must of flinched because everyone in the room's eyes were on her all the sudden.
[Were you able to hear that?] Emerald signed.
Did she, I mean she had no idea what it meant to "hear" anything, but what she just felt was completely alien. When the sound went through her head from her right ear she immediately covered her mouth with both hands and stomped her feet in her chair.
[That was a sound right? I heard that?] Ruby frantically signed to the doctor.
[If you did then congratulations, you just heard your first "beep"] Emerald said. [Now was it painful, or do you feel like it took a lot of effort to hear it?
[No it, I guess sounded fine.] Ruby signed as she then had to wipe a tear from her eyes. She felt a hand on her shoulder as Jaune had moved his chair closer to her. [God that's really weird to say!]
[Lets go ahead and give the other one a go now shall we?] Emerald said with a smile. As she turned to face her parents to say something to them she could make out. As she glanced around she could see Mina was smiling and almost giddy in her seat her dad with beaming with joy and her mother had long since stopped shaking and was staring with a look of awe and joy.
Then from the other side came a rather painfully uncomfortable "beep" [Ow, okay that was painful]
[Ah okay lets lower the levels on the left microphone a bit and we'll try again.] Emerald said [Let me know how this works out for you]
She barely heard it. And signed as such. It took a few attempts to raise it to a good level. Ruby gave a thumbs up when she felt it was at a good level. When Emerald turned to talk to Ruby's parents again she turned and looked at Jaune who had been respectfully quiet the entire time.
[I can't believe this is happening, I'm actually freaked out and I'm just hearing "beeps"] Ruby said through shaking hands. A Combination of her own nerves and excitement was threatening to overwhelm her.
[We might have to take you to see Episode one again once your ears are on so you can hear that awesome song during the Darth Maul fight.] Jaune signed out.
[God, Music, that's always just bee a thump in my chest or something other people experienced.] Ruby signed nervously.
Jaune pointed at the doctor again who waited for her to look at her. Emerald then signed out. [Okay so we got to balance the audio intake between the two transmitters so it's sounds like a single tone when you hear something through both ears okay? You should only hear one tone and not two separate tones.] Emerald pushed a Kleenex box over to Ruby's side of the desk as she sat there. [Your going to need this.]
What started off as two constant sounds, gradually began to merge together into one sound, Ruby waved her hand to signal that she only hear one sound now. Far different that what she was hearing from each ear, now the sound came from all around her. The consistent sound was playing hell on her sense of balance until she got used to it, and was holding Jaune's hand for stability in the meanwhile.
Emerald looked at the computer for a few moments while saying something to the other people in the room. Jaune would later explain that Emerald was telling the "Guests present" that her calibrations went well and everything was ready for Ruby's implants to be turned on fully, Emerald also asked that everyone keep it quiet until they werer directed to do so as she was going to freak out a bit at first.
Emerald turned to Ruby [Okay kid, this it, this is the moment you've been working towards for all these months, are you ready?]
Ruby's breath caught in her chest. She wasn't even able to sign out she just nodded an excited yes.
[You won't hear much at first, I'm going to bring you slowly up to the same level we had you calibrated to so your not overwhelmed okay?]
Ruby squeezed Jaune's hand and signed with her free hand [Okay, I'm ready]
Emerald counted down from three...
Two…
One…
And then.. nothing, not at first at least. But as Emerald was taping a volume button to bring her up to level something was happening in her head. At first it was a tickle in her head. Right around her ears, a soft almost unnoticeable vibration. Although not really one, she didn't know how to quite describe it. The vibration, no, sensation grew stronger, and started to take a pattern that was in tune with her own chest movement.
Once she realized what she was hearing the sound got more frantic and she heard a sharp tone when she gasped. "I'm hearing myself breathe!"
"R-by" she heard something from where emerald was sitting, her eyes shot directly to where she was sitting.
Emerald smiled and said "id yu jst heer me?" Ruby's eyes shot wide as she realized what that sound was "What? was that her voice!"
[I didn't understand you, but I think I just heard you!] Ruby signed as tears started leaking out of her eyes.
Emerald looked over to Ruby's parents and said "Wll sai hai to er"
Summer was first, because Ruby could read her lips she found it easier for her to make out what she was saying. "Hai Swwetie! Haw Arr Yu?"
Ruby let out a nervous giggle and cover her own mouth when it came out, she could feel the tears coming out of her eyes as she was getting a bit overwhelmed with the situation as her brain struggled to understand what was happening to it. She signed out [I sound like that?] with her hands shaking the whole time.
Jaune signed to her, Ruby could hear a sort of swish sound as the fabric of his shirt brushed against his arms. A sound his brain more than likely filtered out but her's simply never had to learn how. [That was your giggle, I hear that quite a bit actually] Jaune said as he inhaled in sharply and rubbed the tears out of his eyes.
Ruby heard every bit of it. She always just assumed that Jaune was quiet, but he was actually kinda noisy it turned out.
"Yu do eing otay ober there ti-gar?" she heard another voice say, one that sounded, gods she didn't even know how to put it, more solid than her mother's or the doctors, she looked over at the source of the voice and saw her dad smiling at her.
[Was that you just now?] Ruby signed to her dad
Tai smiled and spoke as he signed to help her understand better what he was saying "Yeah, that was me you just heard there."
Ruby took a moment and grabbed a Kleenex and wiped her eyes off as she signed out [You sound different!].
Tai translated for his wife and her mom chimed in. "Mst Guies sond diffrnt than gurls Rby"
Everyone was pretty quiet, as ruby let that sink in as the room fell largely silent, she could hear something that when she tried to emulate it in her mouth sounded like a faint "biz" sound that fell over the entire room, she looked around as she tried to pinpoint where it was coming from.
Jaune was smiling looking amused at this but didn't move too much, her parents just looked confused in general, and Mina still had a shit eating grin. Ruby eventually followed the sound up towards the fluorescent lights in the ceiling and she chuckled out when she realized that was the sound.
She pointed up at the lights as a sob escaped her throat, she was officially overwhelmed and quickly found herself in the comfortable arms of her boyfriend as she cried it out for a second. As odd as it sounded the sounds her own voice made as she sobbed proved to be soothing, because they were her sounds. They were sounds she controlled. She looked at the others and signed out [I didn't realize the lights made a noise.]
She heard the sharp exhale from her boyfriend and the faint giggle from her mother. Her father smiled and signed [Those things must be working pretty good, I don't even really notice that anymore.]
Ruby smiled and giggled which still threw her off seeing as she heard it. She ended up quickly covering her mouth in surprise, and then that just made her giggle again.
Doc Emerald then with a big smile spoke and signed out "Alright kid, did you want to turn those off for now or did you want to brave wearing them out of the quiet room"
Ruby wiped her eyes off with a Kleenex shocked by the sound of the Kleenex being pulled from the box and she tried to say "I wan tu war them out"
Everyone went silent for a moment, Ruby felt completely embarrassed at how weird that sounded to her. She looked at her mother who was tearing up badly, as was her father. She looked at Mina who just looked shocked to say the very least. She looked at Jaune who had the biggest beaming smile at her before he signed [So Ruby has spoken! I say lets give her that one.]
Emerald signed [Okay, but if it gets overwhelming, you can detach the transmitters from the sides of your head with a small tug, and don't forget to turn them off, as you know there held on by the magnets in your skull so it won't hurt.]
Ruby nodded and stood up hearing the rather annoying sound the chair made when it was pushed back, she visibly winced a bit at that part.
[God damn do all chairs sound like that?] Ruby signed to Jaune.
[Well they do on concrete if I'm being honest.] Jaune signed back as she took his arm.
Hanging off her arm she signed [I'm honestly a bit nervous, so hold on okay?]
"Jau-ne rde bck wit her otay?" Mina said to Jaune
[She's not letting go so I don't have a choice. See you tonight] Jaune hand signed back, Ruby was fascinated by how his fingers occasionally made a noise with certain gestures.
Ruby hear her mother talking to her father "We shuld wrk on lang goo age clsses fer her sun."
"Let her Ejoy thas furst hun" Her father said back.
Ruby couldn't quite understand what she said until Jaune signed out a translation followed with [I mean, it's so you can eventually just talk like everyone else, you won't need someone to interpret anymore.]
The walk to the car was an exercise in confusion. She was bombarded with so many noises that she found herself stopping to investigate every tiny sound every one else took for granted.
First she had to stop because of the loud sounds of a car driving by. She also had to stop when she heard a bird chirping. It didn't help that she didn't know how to focus on a direction and aim herself in the direction of a sound, so every time she heard something she would look around until she just happened to see it.
She also had a terrible time with gauging distances, everything sounded to her like they were the same distance, or sounded like they were right next to her head, her parents chatter sounded like they were right next to hear head despite being a dozen of feet away.
Every time it welled up in her, every time she felt like she was about to panic, she felt a squeeze of her hand by Jaune who was next to her. Focusing on that helped her make it to the car with out having a panic attack due to the sheer sensory overload of her newly discovered hearing.
Jaune helped her inside and closed the door, leaving her in relative silence for a few moments until he got into the seat next to her. And clicked his seat belt on. Ruby just rubbed her face feeling absolutely and completely fatigued. She stared at him for a few minutes as she watched him, every time he moved she heard the leather in the seats make a sound. She listened to his breath as he chest moved. When he went to scratch the faint stubble on his cheek she heard the soft sound of his finger rubbing against his skin.
She wanted to try something. For a moment she sat there and thought about how his name sounded for a few moments before she gave it a shot "Jooane?" She said a bit loudly which caused him to flinch in his seat. He turned and looked at her silently chuckling, his chuckle coming out as a sort of strange breathing.
[That's going to take a bit of getting used to.] He signed to her, the faint sounds of his movements being picked up by her ears.
Ruby signed [I just can't-] she paused to think of how she wanted to word what she wanted to say this [I just can't believe how noisy everything is. I mean was that sound off in the distance the entire time we were outside?]
[What sound?] Jaune asked Ruby.
She tried to emulate it, it came out like a soft monotone but constant drone that was barely above a whisper. Jaune snapped his fingers with, well, a snap.
[I think your hearing the freeway] He signed to her as her parents started to open their doors causing the car itself to make several distracting beeping noises, just ones that were different from the test sounds she had heard earlier.
[Wait, that was the freeway, the freeway is like ten miles away isn't it?] Ruby asked.
[Well I guess I sorta take it for granted but yeah, you hear a lot of small background noises like that every day, just like the lights in the room.]
Ruby sighed out and closed her eyes when her attention was drawn to a noise coming from the front of the car, sounding like someone speaking but changing their pitch, and a series of noises that sounded… well if she was being honest she hoped not all music sounded like that.
[For god's sake Tai, she just got her ears turned on, don't force her to listen to country!] Jaune signed which elicited a loud giggle from Ruby.
"Tay plse chnge the st-ation, she snds lik she's be torterd bck ther" Summer said to her husband.
Tai looked back and fingered signed [This sounds alright right?]
Ruby shook her head no and signed back [I'm actually wondering what on earth is wrong with you all if this is music]
Summer reached out and changed the station to a something else with an entirely different sound to it. The song had a more, she have the words to describe it, bass sound, with longer softer tones. It also helped that the person singing it didn't sound like… well she didn't know what to compare it to but she thought that this song was nice.
She couldn't but help notice how the song made her feel good to listen to. The song itself also felt like it was kinda familiar to her somehow. As the car started driving she thought about it. She looked at Jaune who looked like he was lost in thought until she tapped his hand.
[what song is this?] Ruby asked.
[This. Ruby we danced to this song at the dance last year. It's Aerosmith the song is called "Don't want to miss a thing" ] Jaune signed to her.
Ruby closed her eyes and took the song in, she tapped her chest to the beat and began to hum in a monotone until it matched up with her memory of that night. Once she realized she was listening to the same song she fell in love with Jaune dancing to she opened her eyes and looked at Jaune and signed [Yeah, I like this one.]
"Serry Tay, luks lke she a ricker gurl" Summer said to her husband eliciting a groan from her father.
The rest of the car ride was pretty easy after that, normally she'd fall asleep from boredom on long car rides like this, but there was just too many new noises to experience to make it possible for her to not be awake an alert.
She didn't want to miss a thing after all.
So this was absolutely one of the chapters I was looking forward to writing. It was kind of a challenge to try and write out Ruby in this chapter as she was experiencing things that we take for granted for the first time. I watched, a metric crap ton of videos of people reacting to their implants being activated for the first time. I also added my own experience after having my own hearing "restored" after never noticing it diminish over the course of several years. (actually I just had a blockage in my ears removed I never knew was there). So, the point is, the thing that happens is you get overwhelmed, and yeah something as simple as a noise coming from something you never noticed made noise before can sucker punch your brain and cause to become overwhelmed. One thing in particular I pulled from my own experience was the bit about not being able to gauge the distance of sounds. Having everything sound like it's next to you even if it's rather far away.
the point is, I hope I did this subject even a smidgen of justice. but i'll wait and see what people say. if someone who had been through an experience like this wants to share in the comments and tell me what I screwed up, hey i'll take the feedback.
That said, I do want to talk about the comments, as some of us writers know, every once in a blue moon the website sorta poops itself a bit, so as a result, a review written by a guest from the 19th, never showed up till after the last chapter came up, and I kinda want to address it. I wish whoever you are, you had an account so I could give you a proper shout out. But the idea that I actually helped someone by doing what I consider hobby was, I don't have the words honestly, but I got weepy. My wife wondered what the hell was wrong with me. Whoever you are, I hope things work out and get better for you. I hope you can find those people you can care about and cherish and I hope you can find your way past your feelings of guilt. I think you have a potentially great future ahead of you.
As for everyone else, thanks for reassuring me I didn't make Ruby jump the shark by having her express how she felt about Pyrrha, it's always a bit controversial to have a character speak ill of the dead, and I knew that was a gamble.
As always, thanks to everyone who read this today, and as always I hope you all have a great day!
