It's just a simple question.
It was a cool and breezy weekend day at Beacon…
Key emphasis on it was a cool and breezy weekend day. It was going to be the perfect day to hop to Vale, and go window shopping around at Stuart's Little Ammo Emporium, maybe (most definitely) grab a couple (dozen) Triple Decker Choco Loco Fudgy Cookies at Gingerman's Bakery.
But, no. Today was possibly, no, most definitely the hardest battle that Ruby ever had to face. And it started when Yang asked her one simple question…
—
"Valean or Atlesian?"
"...Huh?"
"C'mon, Rubes, just gimme your answer, Valean or Atlesian?" Now, why would Yang ask that? Both her and Ruby were native to Patch, the national language that they both taught was Valean, and as far she knew, they were both monolingual. Well, actually, maybe Yang knew a little bit of Menagerian from Blake, and Nora and Ren taught Ruby a couple of Mistralian words, but does knowing a couple of words in another language really count as knowing it? Probably not. Also, wouldn't this question be better for Weiss? She's from Atlas, and she probably knew Atlesian, heck, she probably spoke it while at home! Nonetheless, Ruby had to answer Yang's question:
"Uh… Valean, I guess?" Ruby could only answer truthfully, was Yang going to show off some new words that she learned, had she said Atlesian?
Oh, oh! Maybe Yang was going to give her a Valean or Atlesian dessert depending which one she answered. She did score a perfect on Oobleck's latest quiz, after all. Aww, then, maybe she should've answered Atlesian, she had already tried out a bunch of bakeries in Vale, but not much from Atlas, other than an Atlas specialised sweets store, or two.
Yang readied up a smirk…
"Whoever moves first is Gay."
The world went Static.
Whoever moved first was Gay?! Did Ruby hear her right?! Maybe she should ask her again, but… did talking count as moving? Yang didn't seem to be moving, in fact, she didn't say a single thing afterwards. She just… stood there, completely relaxed, cockily grinning.
That must've meant that she heard her right.
How could Yang do this her?! Ruby couldn't afford to be Gay! It went against everything she was, everything she fought for, she could never be like…
Like…
Like Summer and Raven…
But Ruby didn't want Yang to be like those two, either, no, Yang could never be like those two. Ruby wouldn't know what to do with herself if Yang was Gay…
Did…
Did Yang want to die? Neither of them would be able to move, they'd be trapped here, in their dorm room forever! Stuck in endless stasis…
What if they had to pee!
What would everyone else start to think? Would they just be left there, frozen for eternity? Would anyone be watching after them? What would Weiss and Blake think? Did Yang get everyone to agree to leave them alone? How'd she do that?
…
Or was this a trap? Yang was in a pretty relaxed stance, as if she was prepared to stay still for a while. Was this meant to trap Ruby? Put her in endless torment? Eternal ruin? She didn't know…
—
It was starting to get long, the mind started to wander…
Ruby started to think back on all of her favourite sweets, those delectable, decadent sweets…
The Ube milk tea from Bubba Bubba Boba, where she'd always whenever she was feeling down back in Patch… the vanilla-ey, root-ey, sweet potato…ey taste. Heavy, yet light, refreshing, yet relaxing. And the tapioca pearls… It wouldn't be boba without the pearls, that's why it's called 'Boba!' The glossy, fun feel of those pearls, that soft and squishy texture, yet would get hard and dense if it was left out for long! That only ever happened that one time when Ruby spent just a bit too long working on Crescent Rose's prototype.
Oh! Crescent Rose! How could she forget about her Baby?!
The carefully rifled tubing that took Ruby ages to get juuuust right. The feather-light hair-trigger spring that would allow for rapid firing, but wouldn't accidentally discharge if Crescent Rose was dropped on the ground (not that Ruby would ever do it on purpose), it was hard to admit, but Ruby maybe, kind-of, accidentally may have misfired a couple of holes in the house while perfecting the spring (she may have accidentally elbowed Crescent Rose off of her workbench when that happened, BUT, IT WAS COMPLETELY ON ACCIDENT). The collapsible blade, oh, that took a while, the gears kept getting loose, and the sharp parts kept flopping all over the place!
…A couple of fingers (and limbs) may or may not have almost been lost while she was test-swinging. And speaking of test-swinging and practice, it took forever to perfect her technique, at first, Ruby thought that she had made a mistake picking a top-heavy weapon just like her Uncle, but that one 'incident' with getting launched into, and disintegrating, a baby Grimm was the inspiration for her recoil-based fighting style.
Ah, those were good memories…
—
It was getting cold. A seeming ice age had hit Beacon, their room was covered in snow, the window had long since shattered from turbulent tundra wind, it had been, what seemed like a millenia, since Ruby saw Yang, instead of a mound of snow. Ruby was suspecting that Yang was conserving her aura, she knew that Yang could easily melt all of that snow.
Maybe she was cheating?
Ruby couldn't see what Yang was up to, maybe she was wiggling around in that snow while Ruby was out here suffering, having to stand stock still.
Maybe she could cheat?
Yang also wouldn't be able to see her, and it's not like there was a referee watching over, it was just working on an honour system between the two of them.
No.
Ruby would be the Straight One, she would be superior in this 'game' (was it a game?). Only Gay people would cheat, and she was not, is not, will never be Gay.
—
It was getting hot. The heat came after the cold, and oh, how it was long. The snow had melted off of Yang… She still wasn't moving.
Good.
That means that the both of them were being honourable.
The heat was sweltering, blistering… sweaty. Sweat fell off of Ruby's face like a waterfall, yet it was a dry savannah inside her mouth. Any drop of liquid would suffice… but her mouth was shut tight. If she had the opportunity to; she would even lick the sweat off her own face…
—
It was dark, black… nothing. Ruby long since seen anything, or anyone, Yang had just… disappeared.
Vanished.
When the darkness approached, everything went black.
Ruby was oh so lonely and oh so tired.
But she was not Gay.
Ruby remained still, she remained Static, she remain-
"Uhh… You alright there, Rubes?"
Huh?
"You were sweating a lot there, geez, I didn't think you'd take this joke so seriously" Yang… started talking? They were… in their dorm room? It was still bright out?
"Man, I saw this one guy on RemRok going around saying 'Valean or Atlesian?' and then, going 'Whoever moves first is gay.' Some of the reactions were hilarious, heard some peoples' flights almost got delayed. Uhh… sorry, again, I guess."
Oh… it… it was a joke. Haha, Ruby supposed that a silly little joke from Rik Rok would actually be the be all and end all for determining if someone was Gay.
Yang motioned for Ruby to follow as she started out the door, "You were headed to Vale, right? I've got some stuff to do there, too, c'mon, I'll buy you a cookie from Gingy's, y'know, for acing Oobleck's quiz."
Ruby started to follow Yang out the door, and she got to thinking…
Yang had moved first, that meant that she was Gay, right? But it was just a silly joke. There's no way that Yang would be Gay…
…right?