Rubys: 1—

"Holy shit," another friggin' new person muttered— out of the shadows, as per (friggin') usual, because nobody just came out and said 'hey!' these days. "Y'know, when I heard you choked that faschie out, I thought 'as if', but now? Wowa, based alert."

Ruby craned her neck up and around to see the new arrival: a (nother) human (because apparently Ruby's the only Faunus stupid enough to get roped into this place), tall and lanky, with light honey skin and amber eyes. Their black hair was shorn close on both sides and the back, all the long hair up top was gathered in a single braid that fell down between their shoulder blades. They had leather pants (insane) and platform boots (aren't they gonna be fighting?) with a tattered denim jacket, its holey front decorated with at least twenty different buttons, only two of which Ruby understood and one of which she vaguely recognized: an IEFAAAIGWTLB (I Escaped Fourth Archivism And All I Got Was This Lame Button) button, a 'CERTIFIED C!NT' (self-explanatory) button, and a button of one of the identity flags with gray, pink, and white stripes, respectively.

"Holy shit, wait, dude," they (she, right? Ruby wasn't good with flags) said, "What're you, like, ten?"

Ruby made an indignant noise somewhere in her big schnoz. "I am not friggin' ten, I don't even look ten. Are you gonna help or what?"

The new person shrugged, but crouched down next to Ruby and extracted a small, rectangular thing from their jacket pocket, then unzipped the thing and took out a tiny, wavy piece of metal. They jammed it in Ruby's handcuff, raking it in and out of the lock, and repeated the process until both feathered arms were free.

"Thanks," Ruby said, accepting the person's hand as they pulled her to her feet. Ruby rubbed her smarting left arm and looked around for her sling. "What were you doing?"

They shrugged. "Stalking. I'm Blake."

Ruby felt that name in her own throat, Bll-AY-kuh, and scrunched up her face to cover up the need to repeat it.

"I heard you've got Gille's, I've had friends with it. I'm not gonna be weird if you tic."

"Blake," Ruby repeated, releasing it fast and hard like a great sigh of relief. That almost instantly scratched the itch, but it wasn't quite right (which was always the worst, because it usually took a while if the first was that good but still didn't get it), so she had to do it at least five more times before her throat felt satisfied.

Blake, the super cool and amazing person they were, just stood there with their arms folded, patiently saying nothing and making Ruby's heart flutter unexpectedly at how she was being so kindly treated (pleasantly ignored like it would go away and they could trust her, because it would and they could, and nobody but her family ever did that) like a person who wasn't a huge pain to tolerate and now that she looked at it their hair was so cool and their eyes were so shiny and they smirked and Ruby's face got all hot and she felt her ears get hot too and she didn't know what she was supposed to do because she'd never found a person who was both nice to her and attractive and those were her only two criteria for attraction but they both had to be met to be attractive as a person like they couldn't be super beautiful and also weird like her while also being racist and this person looked cool and they smiled at Ruby (smirked, really, but who's counting? Ruby is, haha) and— and—

When Ruby woke up again, having gotten too worked up over Blake for the lackluster sum of blood in her body, she found herself lying next to her luggage case, sprawled across an unrolled sleeping bag. She was, thankfully, still in her cassock, because the thing's chest was too thick to really need a bra and too tight to even fit with one. Unthankfully, this meant she woke up feeling like her sweat was sweating.

Looking around, hoping she'd been taken somewhere secluded to change out of her cassock, Ruby was sorely disappointed. There were a ton of people, all asleep In bedrolls and such, their snoring bodies tossed haphazardly across the floor of a large atrium. When she heard people whispering close by, however, she froze.

"Look, I just… thanks for helping her out. That's all I wanted to say. And I like your undercut. That's it."

It was Yang's voice, and Ruby had very recently met someone with an—

"Bruh, did you see what she did to old-money? Praxis. It woulda been cringe if I hadn't helped. Plus, like, apparently this school has security? But no nurse? On the first day? Ya bro, I had to creech. Sus as hell."

Yep. Blake.

Ruby could hear Yang's protracted, gormless blink. "Uh… yeah. Thanks for noticing those things, I guess. I thought the weird, like… secret service was, uh… sus. As well. I thought that, too."

"Yeah. And thanks, I know the cut's slick. I call it the Liberator."

"You named your own haircut? That sounds…"

"Pretentious? Yeah. It's ironic."

"Coo-ooooool, okay, yeah. Sure. Uh. Goodnight? What was your name?"

"Blake."

"Then goodnight, my… dude?"

"I don't care."

"O-oh… cool. Sleep tight. I guess."

"I don't sleep, but goodnight to you, too."

Yang audibly started something, then clapped her teeth shut before she could get any deeper in the rabbit hole. After a few moments, her footsteps came Ruby's way. "You're awake," Yang sighed, approaching her sister. "You alright?"

Ruby sat up, words hanging from her lips.

'That crazy weird bigot named me her nemesis'; 'I'm gonna murder the headmaster'; 'Oh my god, how did you talk to Blake without exploding? They're so hot'; 'Did you say secret service?'

"I'm fine," Ruby lied, shrugging repeatedly as guilt tugged between her shoulder blades. "Is something happening tomorrow?"

Yang nodded. "Oh, yeah, we're apparently taking a hike to the Emerald Forest— the big one beside the school— to study Grimm and stuff. I think."

Ruby sighed. Sure, she hated Grimm, but that didn't sound so—

"Then it's back inside for written trials— basically doubles as, like, a little break— then we've got combat trials." Yang smiled brightly at her sister. "The whole day is super packed."

Ruby deflated, losing the tiny nugget of relief she had. So much stuff, so much moving, then thinking, then moving— was he trying to make her pass out? Did he think it was funny?

Yang, being a good sister, noticed Ruby's dour expression. "But I'm sure you'll be fine!" she tried to assure. "I mean, they'll have to have the nurse here tomorrow; just try to take it easy on the hike and see if you can get a transfusion while we're still testing! You're crazy fast at tests!"

Ruby frowned. "I… okay, I guess."

Yang cocked her head. "Are you okay, dude? You look like you don't wanna be here at all."

Ruby panicked, throwing her hands out. "N-no! Of course I'm okay! And Beacon is… it's Beacon! Of course I wanna be here!" Ruby stretched her shoulders back instead of shrugging this time, hopeful that Yang wouldn't catch onto how guilty she felt. "It's just… a lot. I get accepted into Beacon, get in a fight, pass out, and now I'm meeting new people— weird people— it's a lot."

'And the headmaster is harassing me'; 'And I don't want to be here'; 'And I don't wanna hurt your feelings'; 'And I don't wanna disappoint mom and mum'; 'And mom would probably kill me if I left— like, actual murder'; 'And this is what Uncle Tai wanted, right?'; 'And this is the best thing that could've happened to someone like me, right?'; 'And what right would I have to reject this?'; 'And how many other Faunus have you seen here?'; 'And why would I ever want to throw this away when so many others tried so much harder— I didn't try at all— but other Faunus who deserve it more than me probably get rejected in droves?'

Yang nodded, understanding (even if she really didn't). "I get it. Just… hang in there, alright? You're doing great; I mean, you've gotten this far."

Ruby winced. Yang didn't notice.

"You can do it, Rubes," Yang claimed, flashing her sister a warm smile and thumbs-up. "I know you can. I believe in you."

Ruby smiled back as hard as she could. Yang took it at face value, dismissing the way Ruby furiously cranked her shoulders back as just another tic, and stepped away. She had an empty bedroll just a few feet to Ruby's side, and fell asleep about four seconds after she crawled into it— no staring at her phone, no tossing and turning, not even half an hour of staring at the ceiling before she was sawing logs. How the hell she did it, Ruby had no idea.

Speaking of, Ruby pulled out her phone, flipping over so the light didn't disturb her sis—

From the corner of her eye, across the effing room, Ruby saw her. That one blue eye, blazing brightly where there should be darkness. Ruby had thought the stellar eye-glow to be a trick of the light earlier, but no, Weiss' unmistakable, piercing blue star of an eye was pointed at Ruby like a quasar, staring. She didn't turn. She didn't blink. Ruby met her gaze fully.

The shape of the eye crinkled as if she were smiling, but Ruby couldn't see her face in the far-off curtain of darkness she lay behind. Just the eye.

Ruby flipped over.

The eye was on her back.

Ruby stared at her face. Her throat rumbled.

"Caw."

Her reflection scowled.

"Caw. Fuck!"

Not right. She frowned harder.

She never liked the way she looked when she frowned, but it was almost all she ever saw in the mirror. When she frowned, it pulled the entire lower half of her face down like a dejected fish, her nice lips shuffling out of the way and tucking themselves in as if to purposely make room for the centerpiece: her giant nose. Her huge, pointy, bird-beak of a nose. The bridge of it was like a wall that split her face, making a perfect right triangle with a hypotenuse that was probably measured in nautical leagues.

Ruby used to like it. She used to think it was really cool, having a weather vane for a nose, but that all turned around the same day she met the bully who made her caw.

"F—" Ruby thrashed her head and punched the top of the metal sink, cutting herself off because she felt how loud that one was gonna be. "Fuck," she said more normally. "Caw. Fuck. Caw."

She was in the bathroom. It was pretty large, and also the only place she couldn't feel Weiss' eyes on her. That'd made her buckle after less than an hour of trying to sleep through it (as if she was going to sleep regardless) (oh god, when had she last slept?) (not counting blackouts?), and the feeling made her want to ticc out so badly that she feared waking everyone up. So, with no one in this room, and it being a bit deeper in the adjoining hall to the atrium, she felt okay with letting herself breathe.

"Fuck!" she said loudly— not shouting, but loud. "Fuck! Fuck!"

She didn't have it— that rasp, that scratch. The sound haunted her.

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!"

"Caw! Caw!"

"Fuck! Caw! Caw!"

Ruby craned her neck around in circles, rotating it as much as she could, past the point of pain, as if she could tickle the itch by doing that. "Fuck!" she cried at a different angle, so close, "Fuck! Caw! Fuck!"

For the most part, Ruby had been able to avoid coprolalic tics. It'd been a point of pride, actually; her mother had taught her very well how to tic in other ways that hit the same spot as a curse word did, so she never ended up spouting more than one or two unbidden profanities in public, and she'd pretty successfully redirected the ones that did stick over time. Her mum had given her something she couldn't cultivate herself in time, so Summer had always been the more… verbose of them.

But that wasn't by choice. She couldn't help it. Mom, on the other hand, could help it, but she swore more than her and Summer combined. It was as if she wanted to see her wife explode in curses whenever they were out, and it was kinda fucked up in Ruby's opinion, but she was pretty sure they did love each other. 90%. 88%.

60%? They did hug… but that usually just led to a lot of butt-grabbing… and they kissed… but never anywhere but the mouth, and never… normally.

"Fuck! Fuck!"

50%. Yeah. 50%. Right?

'Get out of my house, Raven.'

'I— I—'

'Get! Out!'

'I'm not a fucking villain, okay! I made a mistake! We all make mistakes!'

'We don't make those mistakes! That was— AGH, Raven! That was everything! That— that— Fuck! Fuck! Fff— fuck! Raven!'

'I can get it back, Sum!'

'Don't— fuck!— don't 'Sum' me, fuck!'

'Baby, you're—'

'Shut the fuck up! Fuck! I know! It's— fuck! It's your fault! Get out!'

'Summer—'

'Don't touch me! Fuck!'

"Fuck!"

She didn't know.

"Fuck!"

She didn't even know what had happened to her tuition money. She knew her mom went out with Uncle Qrow and they got drunk— too drunk, evidently— but she never learned where that money actually went. It didn't really matter.

She'd hoped to flub all the Beacon applications. She'd made sure to write a lengthy, typo-ridden cover letter that criticized the school for not letting in enough Faunus students— well researched, of course, but she planned on leaving the citations out, just to make sure she didn't get it. She'd written it a couple weeks after she'd made her weapon at Signal, the first day she'd actually used it. The day she learned she didn't want to be a Huntress.

Then she'd show her moms the list of engineering-focused schools she'd already researched. She'd show them the cost comparisons she'd already made. She'd show them the 6-year plan she'd already written.

Then, one day, she got robbed. She got angry. She killed a couple people.

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!"

She didn't want to be a Huntress.

Ruby's Aura glowed as she punched the bathroom mirror. That was out of anger, but an itch in her knuckles sprouted from it, and she didn't care to stop herself. She punched the wall until her crimson soul fizzled, leaving behind nothing but meat and bone to thwack-thwack-thwack into the wall, skin cutting on the shards still stuck, until her whole fist was covered in red.

Seeing the blood she was losing made her head swim. She stumbled back to the wall and slid down it, holding her lacerated hand.

Everything felt so compact. Her head felt tight, squeezing around a brain that was over-full with all the contradictory things she needed to do to get out of here. Her chest was too small for the amount of anxiety in it. Her gut couldn't process everything she was trying to bottle up inside it.

She wanted to go home. She didn't want to disappoint anybody. She didn't want to fight. She didn't want to be a coward. She didn't want to hurt. She didn't want to be weak. She wanted to tell someone about Ozpin. She didn't want him to find out.

Mom wanted her to do this. Mum wanted her to do this. Uncle Tai wanted her to do this. Uncle Qrow wanted her to do this.

Yang wanted her to do this— Yang knew she could, and so did Ruby. She knew it would be so easy if she really tried— even with Gille's and the anemia and the hollow friggin' bones— she knew she was made for it. She hadn't lost a spar at Signal. She hadn't lost any sanctioned matches, either. She'd won bronze at inter-kingdom combat competitions, and she'd only done that because she didn't want to get scouted too hard while still making her moms proud.

She'd passed all her graded Hunts with better scores than most of her class, and she'd only been doing the bare minimum. She had a Semblance that was the perfect combination of her mothers': the nigh-instantaneous teleportation of her mom combined with the short-range capabilities of her mum, plus the ability to route between multiple points with a delay— it wasn't even fair.

She really could do it. She could get up and pilfer a blood bag from the infirmary, then do the transfusion herself. She knew how; she'd done it before— not the pilfering, but she was confident she could figure out where their blood was, and from there it was just like how Signal and mom had taught her. That'd be enough for a while. She'd be gassing on the hike, probably, but she could blow through the test and get another transfusion once they got back. The combat trials would be a walk in the park.

She didn't want to do it.

The pressure of expectation crushed down on the weight of her desire, the two making her stomach churn as she tried to pinch the guilt between her shoulder blades.

And now she was getting coerced into it, now she had this headmaster harassing her, now she had this Fourth-Archivist girl who despised her, now she had this other person who thought it was so cool that she got violent with a bigot.

Ruby inhaled, sucking a heavy breath through her teeth. She nearly passed out from the immediate headrush, but the feeling of something on her cheeks made her jolt. She wiped her face.

Oh, god, was she crying? Ugh!

She was pathetic! She was such a friggin' wimp— so what if she didn't want it, this was a once in a lifetime opportunity! This was hers! What was she doing?

She was crying. Full-blown, now, even as the lingering mom in her brain chastised her. Tears spewed out of her eyes, her throat thickening with mucus as more started to dribble from her giant, awful nose. Like a giant middle-finger from the universe, one of the mirror shards she'd broken was perfectly angled to taunt her with her own nasty, ugly-crying face, and the more she tried to suck it in and hold tight, the harder the next wave of sobs came out.

Ruby pressed her fists so hard against her eyes that she saw colors, so she didn't see who opened the bathroom door. She only heard the creak, and she didn't care. This was it. She was weeping openly in a bathroom, uncleaned eyeliner stinging her eyes and probably dripping down her face, covered in snot and tears, blood on her hand and now on her face from her hand, broken, bloody glass scattered around— this was her lowest moment.

Ruby was raw, naked to the world, and she didn't care. She took another deep breath. If this was the lowest moment, it could only go up— just like Uncle Tai had always said— which meant it wouldn't get any worse if she let everything fall out like a verbal waterfall. The whole story. Not wanting to be a Huntress, getting coerced into the school, everything. No matter who it—

"Florabel."

Ruby looked up at Weiss, her shoulders pinching back so hard they felt like they'd somehow come through her sternum. Her hand started to jolt, her knuckles needing again. She never stopped sobbing, but now she started cawing and 'fuck!'ing. She wanted to leap up and start punching, scratching, choking, but her body barely moved. Her limbs felt like lead.

Weiss watched, nothing in either of her eyes, her white one visible with her bangs tucked messily behind her ear. She just stared, no movement to her lips, nor to her face. She stood perfectly still.

"F-fuck, g-go aw—"

Weiss slapped her hand over Ruby's mouth. The pull came again, and the top of Ruby's soul was siphoned into Weiss' palm. The tiniest drop of silver sloshed over her milky eye.

It was nice. Like Ruby was a puppet, and all her strings had been… it wasn't like they'd been cut, rather like they'd been loosened. Like her puppeteer had them all yanked tight, then someone told them to chill out. Like someone had come to take over the 'Caw!' and 'Fuck!' shift, and now Ruby could go home.

It felt good, that nothing. Ruby leaned towards it.

The palm flew away from her mouth. Ruby looked up at her. Weiss looked at her own hand as if her gaze could disassemble it. She looked at Ruby. She shook her head furiously and scowled, reaching deep in her pocket.

"W-weepest not, Florabel," Weiss mumbled, tossing a periwinkle handkerchief to the other girl. "I have yet laid thee low."

Ruby blinked.

Weiss looked at Ruby, her lips curling like she had an insult to fling or something awful to spew, but nothing came out. Instead, she turned on a heel, threw open the door, and left.