Jaune Arc was just not having a good day, no one was really, still he just wasn't as used to the things involving Huntsman as the rest of his friends, so his stress tolerance had been the lowest of them all. He had just left in the middle of the Self-Directed Sparring class and was currently relaxing on his bed in his comfortable blue bunny onesie.
He couldn't believe it wasn't even dinner time yet.
And then the window of his room was opened, from the outside.
And then Ruby Rose hopped on through the open window, from the outside.
Her red cloak fluttered against the wind she had brought in, making her look majestic, if her cloak hadn't been covered in burns and patches of ice. "Gods, Jaune, you just wouldn't believe how sensitive Weiss can be!" She exclaimed without ever having looked in his direction as she took off her cloak and hung it up on a nearby coat rack.
"Uh, Ruby?" He uttered, absolutely confused.
Then she turned around, and saw him dressed in his pajamas for the first time since she had entered his room, "Aw, cute, and no cast this time, cool." Then she hopped next to him on his bed. "So, tell me what happened on October 26th when you were seven? And please skip introducing everyone, just pretend I already know them." She had popped open a bag of cookies as she looked at him expectantly.
"Uh, Ruby?" He uttered, absolutely confused, and then her face twitched.
"Gah! No! Do repeat anything! I have enough of that as is, just tell the story, we only have like ten minutes." She groaned and complained.
Jaune took a glance at a clock hanging on the wall, in eight minutes it would be six pm, dinner time. He blinked away his confusion and looked back at Ruby. "Why are you here?" He asked his friend.
Again Ruby groaned. "Ugh! C'mon Jaune, we're friends! Can't we just chat suddenly? Why does everything I do have to be questioned by you?"
"…Ruby, this is my room, I just wanted to relax after everything that's happened today. Can't I get a bit of peace before I meet up with everyone for dinner? And I'm pretty sure it's going to be a little hectic there too." Jaune gave his piece as he sat up in his bed.
Suddenly, Ruby's face twisted, and then in a flash of rose petals she was grabbing her cloak off the coat rack. "Oh yeah, I'm sure today was so hard for you!" She bit back with harsh venom, and then she started to fumble with the shoulder pins of her cloak. "I'm sure that everything that has happened today was just a little too much for you! But! Don't worry! I'm sure tomorrow everyone will for-forget all about today, you'll all be smiling and laughing and… and none of you will forget the prom-promises that you make, not with each other at least!" Her voice almost broke during some words, and so she said them extra bitterly, then her hands jerked violently, ripping out a pin. "Fucking… stupid pin." She grumbled.
"Ruby?" Jaune got out of his bed and approached his friend. "Are you okay? Sorry if I sounded like a jerk, it's just that's today ha-"
"I know! I know that today has been terrible! I know that everyone has a bad day today! And when I wanted to talk to them about it, you all saw that I wouldn't understand, that my day had gone well, that I didn't have anything wrong happen to me today, that I wa-was…" Again her voice broke and her breathing came out in huffs. "That I was better off than everyone else, that- that I was the outsider amongst our group."
Jaune could almost hear sobs in her voice. "Ruby, I don't think anyone thinks that, they just need time for things to cool down before they're more comfortable to talk about it."
A bitter laugh escaped Ruby. "Yeah, I'm sure in just a few days each one of you will laugh about today. Especially you, right? That somewhat annoying girl, who was two years younger than you, who was immature and naïve, that girl broke into your room and acted like she knew you. She acted like she thought you and her shared something stronger than a bond of convenience built between two people deemed incompetent by others. That annoying bitch! She just waltzed right into your room and then what!? She just started fuckin bitching and moaning about the most stupid th-"
"Ruby! Calm down!" Jaune shouted as he grabbed her by her shoulders and stared into her eyes. "I don't think any of those things about you, and our friendship is something I cherish very much, it's one of few things that keeps me going when I don't think I can."
Another bitter laugh and she spoke with heavy emotions. "The cheerful girl, the happy girl, the girl who believed in fairy tales, the girl… the girl who wanted to be a- be a hero." Tears poured from her dull silver eyes, and sobs shook her voice. "She… she got lost a long time ago." Another laugh broke through her sobs. "I don't even like cookies anymore! They all just taste like sugar to me!" A mixture of uncontrollable laughter and unrestrained sobbing racked her body simultaneously.
"I… have no idea what you're going through, but I'm here for you, I promise." Jaune hugged his friend tightly.
The intensity of her laughing and crying ramp up in response. "I kn-know! I know! You'll always be here! You'll always promise to help in some way! And guess what? Tomorrow you'll do absolutely nothing! I'll break down again! Someone will hold me and tell me they'll help and tomorrow I'll try again, and then soon enough I'll break down again! It never ends, Jaune! Why is this happening to me?! You never listen! No one ever listens! Jaune, I've told you countless times, and it never ends. Whether today is flawless or a tragedy happens, I've died and it just keeps going! It's too f-fucking hard, I can't do this anymore, I just want it to fucking end! End! Why won't it end!? End!"
Jaune held on to his friend as she spent minutes crying and laughing, during that time he had considered who he should be calling to check up on her. His first thought was her father, and then any necessary professionals.
"Don't bother." She had stopped crying for a while now, but her hands were still clinging onto the front of his thoroughly soaked pajamas. "Times up." Her voice was unbelievably hollow, completely devoid of all emotions, and then she looked up, and her blood soaked eyes only emphasized just how empty her dull silver eyes looked.
Jaune glanced at the clock, in a few seconds, it would be six pm, dinner time. "Do you want me to text everyone that you aren't feeling well?" He asked as he stared into her dead eyes without flinching.
"Jaune? Can you show me the smile you give Ruby Rose?" Her hollow voice was small.
He responded with a wide grin. "Anything for a friend."
"Jaune? Can you promise you'll still be holding me in three seconds?"
"Of course, I promise."
"Thanks." And then Ruby grabbed him by the collar, she pulled him down and she stood on tip of her boots.
And then the clock struck six pm.
What? My emotionally charged OOC!Ruby is in character now? Cool!
Anyways, I've had this idea for a while now, but I could never write her exactly how I imagined a broken and tried Ruby would be, and now we have her! Great! And then her dialogue became way easier to picture.