Okay back to this story, a story which I add is somewhat relaxing to write. I also think it is time to add some drama. If you've read my 'Sound of Silence' don't worry. Or at least not yet anyways. *Insert Evil Laugh*

Chapter 3: The First Encounter

Nora didn't think it was possible to be bored to death, but there she was. She was already debating the pros and cons of a forced lobotomy. The only instrument she had on hand was a letter opener on the desk, just within arm's reach. But seeing as the place she was she had no doubt that there was some further boring thing that would stop her. She has already been in the office with Ren and two other doctors going over a long list of rules.

Nora already having forgotten most they mentioned and praying that there wasn't anything like a test going to happen to make sure she knew them. "Blake, Weiss, stop. She stopped listening half an hour ago." Ren stated nudging Nora's chair to force her attention back into the room.

"Nora, this isn't a joke. If either Doctor Weiss or myself even have the slightest doubt about your mental well being you can be here from an extra week till this place closes down. We both need to make sure you understand the rules." Blake stated rather dryly then what she preferred but she wasn't used to people flat out ignoring her. It was something new and she already hat a passionate hatred towards it. She was positive Weiss only remained silent to keep her tongue.

She had already been reprimanded on a few occasions by losing her temper to both staff and patient alike. It had became so common with the staff, most had already started a betting pool to see who she will snap at to cause another reprimand. The common one amongst everyone was in fact Blake was going to be the one to cause it. Blake being one who enjoyed the fact it caused a lot from her to cause that snap.

"Yes I understand. It's just you guys are so boring. It's like I've found sloths that are more interesting. Which yes isn't saying much because sloths are already so awesome, but they still can get their point across faster." Nora spoke as she flailed her arms around wildly. Practically begging to just end this discussion. She wasn't sure how much longer she could hold out for. She really couldn't do it much longer.

"I got it Blake, Weiss. Nora, what they have been trying to tell you, is your roommate is-"

Ruby sat on her bed, knees placed clean up to her chest. She had a book out that Blake gave her for last Christmas. But she really wasn't reading it. She had read it thrice over in just under a year. She was more so doing a mental game Ren taught her. She had already made amends with going into the alternative safe room. It was as a guarantee. She was more so doing it to prevent her mind from going soft.

Ren walked up to her open door and knocked on it lightly, to grab her attention. "Hey, Ruby." Ren's gentle voice grabbed Ruby's attention more.

"Hi, D-D-D-Doctor R-R-R-Ren." Ruby stumbled out as Ren walked in. Ruby noticed the red haired girl walking in just behind Ren. Someone she didn't recognise. "I-I-I-I'm R-R-Ruby." Ruby stuttered as Nora looked around the room.

"I'm Nora. And I'm going to be your roomie." Nora practically shouted, as she plopped down on the spare bed in the room. Ren rolled his eyes at the bluntness of Nora's action. It was one of the many things he had just got done explaining to not do. To make matters worse he could see Ruby trying desperately to control her breathing.

"I promise she is just slightly hard to deal with at the start. She gets easier I promise Ruby. By the end of the two days you'll feel a whole lot better" Ren said walking over to Ruby trying to limit Ruby's line of sight from the excitable girl getting ready to start bounce on her bed. It was a guarantee that Ren always knew that would happen. Nora jumping on all new beds she was meant to sleep on.

"My break is at five if you want to have a game. I still don't like how I'm yet to win." Ren commented as Ruby just looked at him, unsure if she should take him up. It would be the much needed distraction she needed. But she doesn't like beating someone repeatedly in one week. Especially when the person was one of the few who didn't cause her stress.

Ruby just nodded. Whilst she would loath what was bound to happen because of it, but she needed any and all distractions she could get her hands on at this point. The less she had to deal with Nora the better. For the both of them.

"Okay." Ren started standing up as he turned to face Nora who instantly stopped jumping and sat down as Ren started to glare at her. "Nora. Behave yourself. Someone while bring you your first dose of medication. Before you even start to, yes you have to take them. All of them." Before Nora could even start to argue, Ren was already out the door.

`"I'm already bored!" Nora yelled as she laid down on her bed. Ruby looked over. Not even sure if she was serious, or just really good at sarcasm. Even with Ruby's perception, it was useless when she couldn't see their faces.

"Ren left only two minutes ago." Ruby stated. As she turned back to the book. No longer caring about what she meant. Not that she particularly cared to begin with. It was more so to remind her that the flow of time was the same in there as it was everywhere else.

"Wait... what happened to your stutter?" Nora asked as She began to count the tiles in the roof, just curious as to why the stutter just evaporated along with Ren's presence. It was a shock. She wasn't used to people with a stutter let alone one that seemed to disappear when certain people weren't around.

"That only seems to happen when I'm around the staff." Ruby spoke as she turned the page. Not in the mood, not that she ever was, it is just she already didn't like her odds if this invader has already been scolded by Ren. Ruby had never seen anyone getting scolded by him. She had seen other staff, even Blake. But Ren, the man of seemingly endless patients, having run out of just that on one person.

"Right, odd. Well I find a lot of things odd. Like it is okay for people to imprison animals but the second an animal imprisons a human I'm suddenly being arrested for releasing a group of pandas into an elementary school. Wait what is a group of pandas called?" Nora pondered aloud as Ruby quickly realised that she truly belonged there. Just not in her room. Any other room, yeah Ruby wouldn't care.

Patients had always came and go. They just shouldn't be going into her room. "Embarrassment. A group of Pandas is an Embarrassment." Ruby said just loud enough for Nora to hear as she resisted the urge to fix Nora's bed. An eternal battle that she was loosing. She just prayed for some distraction to happen, one long enough so that Ruby could fix Nora's side of the room. Which Ruby doubted would happen.

"Huh. Seems about right. But tangent aside... heh that is a funny word. Care to show me around? Before that raging poo face comes by here with those pills. Granted a trip would be nice but I'm not the type of person who likes taking a medicated one. Well there was that one time in Alaska but we all were pretty much gone by that point." Was about all Ruby paid attention to out of Nora's rant. She wasn't trying to be rude. It was just the state of that side of her room. Ruby would have compared the excitable red head to a tornado, the only thing that stopped her was the fact a tornado would have caused less of a mess.

"I would stay and just take them if I were you. If not you'll be forced to take them. And if you still refuse to take them you'll be restrained as the use actual force. You may not like them but I'm sure your doctor has a reason as to why you were prescribed them." Ruby attempted to be the voice of reason as she finally lost the battle entirely.

She closed her book, and walked over to Nora's bed. She quickly moved the other occupant of the room out of the way and began to fix the mess she had caused. She pushed the sound of her giggling as far from her mind as she took a step back to observe the finished work. Loathing the nagging in the back of her mind that it was off. She quickly pulled Nora up as she began to fix the mess that Nora had made.

As she stood back once more to take another look, she let a smile grace her lips. 'Yes got it in two attempts. But now I won't be able to get back to my first distraction.' Ruby thought as she walked back over to her side of the room. She could see Nora looking at her slightly amused. "Your sheets were crooked. It was starting to make me go crazy... well further." was about the closest Ruby ever found herself to a joke.

Before either girl could make some comment, Weiss walked in with an orderly just behind her. "Ruby, Blake asked me to check up on you as I'm Nora's Doctor for these two days." Weiss started as Ruby nodded her head. "Before I do that, Nora take these pills. You will have to take similar ones every eight hours. Take these now, and I'll hand you your schedule for the next forty eight hours. If you struggle even in the slightest you will be restrained and a full assessment will be made." Weiss continued as Nora rolled her eyes taking the small paper cup the man handed her.

She looked inside and just saw a pale colourful concoction of pills. "You will be taking five different ones, to help even out your behaviour. As well as the prescribed medication according to your recent medical file." Weiss spoke snapping the Nora from her train of thoughts that already was closer to a trainwreck. Not that it was about the medication. No it was because she was busy thinking about what she was going to do once she got out.

Nora quickly swallowed the pills in the cup ignoring the need for water. She just wants the whole ordeal over with. Dreading the whole, 'meant to open up' that Ren kept reminding her that needs to happen. Nora hated opening up, and it was a fact that both her and Ren knew the reason behind.

"Here is your schedule, Ruby should be able to explain it better. All you need to know, the things mentioned in red are mandatory. No exceptions. Now I have to get going." Weiss stated dryly. Exactly what Ruby had come to expect by this point. But Velvet swore by every god that she could name that Weiss was actually really nice, Ruby just never saw that niceness third hand. Let alone first hand.

Before Ruby could even drift from her thoughts naturally, Nora broke that train of thought by snapping her fingers in front of her. "Hey, Ruby. You've been out of it for a while. Granted it was only like five minutes, but I've never seen anyone get that zoned out before. I was starting to worry. And I know it is a total noob thing to even think but I have no idea where anything is. Do you mind showing me around?" Nora asked, she was just looking for something to do. Judging by the paper she was handed she still had another hour before the first mandatory thing of the day.

As Nora assumed Ruby was debating the option over, she took her first true glance around the room. It was minimal, two beds on opposite ends. There was a window dead centre on the wall opposite the door. It allowed in a modest amount of light, just enough to remove the need for the artificial light during the day. And two identical dressers on either side of the window to give the room symmetry. The white walls she wasn't overjoyed with but if it all goes to plan she won't need to look at them for long.

"Okay... I suppose I can." Ruby muttered as she gestured for Nora to leave ahead of her. As Nora walked out, Ruby closed the door just behind them and began to go about the ritual she always had when she was leaving her room. As the ritual began to come to an end she turned around to see Nora tapping her foot impatiently. "Sorry... I kind of need to do it. If I didn't I would be pulling my hair out all day... and probably have my already high dosage upped... and I really don't want to have that happen." Ruby muttered looking down as she began to start the same mental math puzzle Ren taught her on his first day there.

"I'm not questioning it. I just found it slightly odd. But in saying that the oddest thing I've ever seen until I came here was Ren staying up till five in the morning to compose a legal argument that I'm not mentally stable enough to stand trial." Was Nora's excitable defence to a statement that never got said. Not that Ruby didn't think of it, she just learned a long time ago that it was better to not defend her mental state. She had long since learned from the time she had been at Beacon that even the staff have mental quirks. It is just some are better equipped to handle them. Ruby once had the same ability to handle some issues by herself. Now days, she had none. All the tools she had had were striped from her in the blink of an eye all those years ago.

"Let's just get going." Ruby whispered to herself, to remind herself simply. This is real.

Author's Note:

Not as much drama as there could have been... I wonder why? No I kid it is because I seem to be only able to write this either really tired or really late at night. And while also binge watching some Christmas specials or Christmas movies... that last part could just be because of the season. Which brings me to my next point... there is a Home Alone 6. I'll just leave on that note. I bid you all a good night.