Ruby Rose December Catchall

[guidemyway]

Who: Ruby Rose and you!
What: TDM Prompts along with some other stuff.
When: Throughout December
Where: At her house, and outside of Milton

Content Warnings: Violence against dragons, after effects of poison, injury, possibly cave related danger, kitchen related danger.



Red Like Roses

[So it's been about a month since Ruby got here, and she was getting used to the grind of working to survive. It was tough, but she was not a stranger to tough. It made trying to lighten the mood all the more important when she could find the chance.

Which is what the spoils of her scrounging around through vacant houses the last few days had allowed her to do today. She had managed to come across some snowboarding gear in one house that fit her well enough and she was going to use it.

If someone's out and about they might find a few extra bits of gear she had dug out at the base of a hill just outside of town. If they looked up the hill Ruby could be spotted sliding down it at breakneck speed. She was actually pretty good, and didn't have much trouble carving into turns to dodge around trees or brush on her way down.

If she catches sight of someone during her descent she'll raise an arm up and give a quick wave as she turns to approach them.

...Hopefully people don't mind a thrust of snow in their face as she comes to a sharp stop. Oops.]

Fills My Dreams (Misty Falls Cave)

[Ruby wasn't the type to back down from a request or a challenge. Hiking up and exploring an old cave? Count her in. The very next morning she's got a bag packed, and her folded up scythe ready to go on an adventure.

The trip up the hill isn't exactly eventful but her silver eyes are wide with awe as she travels along the frozen river with whoever decided to come along with her.

Once they arrive at the waterfall she lets out a brief sigh as she lets her pack hit the ground in a moment to give her aching shoulders a bit of a reprieve. Then she immediately looks between the half frozen waterfall and her companion with excitement.]

Do you see that!? That is sooooo cool!

[And then she snorts.]

Like literally- Because it's frozen, right?

Descends from Shadows (Serpents Breath)

[Now this? This was more up Ruby's alley. She was a monster hunter by trade back in her own world after all. So she was going to step up not only for the good of the town, but because she could not resist the challenge herself. Sure her scythe was only half working here, and sure, she didn't have the abilities she had back at home, but that just made things more interesting, right?

While it takes her some time she does manage to track the beast down while it's still asleep. She looks to be actually beaming with excitement as draws her scythe and readies it.

Without hesitation she'll rush in and take a swing at a creature while it's none the wiser- but the initial strike glances off it's harder back scales. This is probably going to be tougher than she initially thought.

Anyone care to jump in and help?]

Brings Me To The Place You Rest

[It's a few days after the fight with the Stoor Worm and Ruby is pretty darn wiped. Whether the creature had been slain or managed to get away didn't particularly matter. The important thing is that she managed to get away with her life and limbs still attached.

...A handful of injuries, some wooziness, and a killer fever from getting up close and personal with a poisonous monster were the biggest things she had to worry about now. But she could handle that on her own, right?

Anyone passing by her cabin one day may see smoke billowing out one of the windows followed by a shriek. A few moments later. It's only a small kitchen fire, but a bandaged up Ruby is doing her best to panic and put it out right about now.

She could use a hand.]

Wildcard

[Feel free to hit me up at jjabarrett on plurk or discord to plot something out or feel free to choose your own adventure.]

Comments

HE'S THE WORST

[guidemyway]

[Wow. Bigby sure was stone cold about that teasing. It must be because he can't smell himself. It would be way more embarrassing if he could.

Or at least that's all Ruby has time to think about as she pulls of her totally super smooth recovery. ...She stares back with a hint of a glare.]

That was totally careful- I mean- Okay maybe 85% careful, but whose judging?

[Outside of Bigby himself. Either way she is actually making more of an effort to be careful as she approaches and starts to enter the cave.]

I haven't needed anyone to carry me since I was a kid, and I'm not going to start back on that anytime soon.

[bigbaddy]

[ Please, Ruby. Don't you know this sort of attitude is only going to amuse an old man wolf even more?

Even if - thankfully for her - he doesn't express it on the outside nearly as much as he's feeling it on the inside as he's moving, following her in the direction of the cave, finally properly entering it. Bigby glances around him a little, like he's looking for possible traps - especially with that sign warning of danger - but speaks up just as casually as a moment ago while he's at it. ]

Oh, yeah? Who carried you when you were younger?

[ Please, not like Bigby knows much about traditional family structures.. For an entire variety of reasons.. ]

[guidemyway]

[Ruby's glad that he's not visibly saying anything. That means she can mostly focus on following into the cave without acting any more childish than she already had been.

The next question gets a half hearted little shrug out of her, but she smiles all the same.]

Mostly my sister, but I guess my dad and uncle did the same when they were around and in the zone.

[Ruby's family structure wasn't exactly normal either.]

[bigbaddy]

[ .. around and in the zone, huh.

That's saying a lot in very little words. And it's not even like it's something Bigby can't understand, given his own completely absent father. At least it does sound like they were somewhere there for Ruby, but.. sheesh, did her sister really have to pick up all the slack?

(Would it have changed anything if any of his siblings had at least given a shit about him, Bigby wonders. Probably not, right.) ]

Your sister could carry you? She sounds like a strong girl.

[ Let's instead focus on the positive here. Especially since they're heading into a cave with actual danger signs on the wall, Bigby is noticing now. Not a time for heavy conversations about absent parents, nope siree. ]

[guidemyway]

[Ruby's pretty good at that. Maybe it's not something she should be proud of though.

Instead she focuses on the talk about her sister.]

There's almost no one around whose stronger than her. She bench like four of her for a warm up.

She's pretty much always been there for me.

[Save one or two times but they still found a way back to each other in the long run.

She pushes in through the cave and it doesn't take long for things to start to feel a little tight.]

...What about you? Any family back at home?

[bigbaddy]

.. nah.

[ It's not entirely the truth, but.. well, the one family member who really meant something to him is gone, so it might as well be the truth. Why care about a bunch of brothers or a father who never cared about him in the first place? It's easier to think of himself as someone who just doesn't have anyone.

Besides, he doesn't want to compare Ruby's warm and fond memories of her family with his own awkward ones. ]

It's just the sort of thing that happens when you grow older, right? [ Though Bigby is significantly older than he comes across-- but even the age of his physical appearance works for this when it comes to mundies like Ruby, he supposes. ] You have to start fending for yourself. Though it sounds like your sister might be sticking around a little bit more than that in your case.

[guidemyway]

[Ruby let's that question hang for a moment. She understood what he meant. The team her dad, uncle, and mom had been on growing up had fractured and splintered away. Her team had almost done the exact same thing after the fall of Beacon. Ruby wasn't so sure she had ever felt quite so isolated after that, even if she had temporarily made a new team during that time.]

I guess- But... It still sounds a little sad. And it's not like you have to do everything on your own.

[There's a pause before she speaks up.]

Yeah. We're kind of in it for the long run together. We're part of a team back home- It's kind of like a second family with her in there too.

[bigbaddy]

[ There are a lot of things you have to do on your own.

If there's anything Bigby has learned during his life, it's exactly that. No one is going to look out for you, so you have to look out for yourself. You have to have your own back. You have to get things done yourself if you want them done at all. You have to carve out your own place in any world, or it just won't allow you to exist.

Those aren't lessons he wants to impart on a young girl like Ruby though. Not when she actually has support. ]

I hope you won't have to do everything on your own then, kid.

[ Maybe that's part of the reason he's here with her in the first place, rather than letting her go off into the cave by herself.

He doesn't want her to do it on her own. ]

[guidemyway]

[Ruby let's those words hang for a little. She had gotten so used to carrying different burdens on her own, it was weird hearing someone say that she shouldn't have to do things on her own. Even if it was the most obvious thing in the world when it was said out loud.]

Yeah- But... Sometimes you have a responsibility to handle things yourself. Sometimes you're the only one who can.

[bigbaddy]

[ He glances over at her in the darkness of the cave. ]

.. like what?

[ It's not like the idea of prophecies is foreign to Bigby, considering those were all over the place in the Homelands.. But surely most other worlds don't work that way. The mundy world sure didn't. ]

What kind of thing could there be that only one person in the entire world could do?

[guidemyway]

[She gives a little shrug.]

Well- Okay. Maybe not just me, but it's pretty close. What I can do back home is kind of rare, and unfortunately it's someone there who made it that way.

[It's really awkward to think about- It felt a little less real before she realized what had happened to her mom.]

I've got an ability that works really well against the monsters back where I'm from- And I'm one of the few people that do it.

And there's someone who's really not a fan of that. And not a lot of people knew she even existed until I came around.

[bigbaddy]

[ Talk about a complicated story. But then again.. complicated stories are basically what Bigby's entire world is made up of, so he can keep up, even if he has to think for a moment. ]

So there is someone in your world who wants to keep the monsters around.

[ That feels like the logical conclusion to him. Ruby has a power that's very rare, so the world probably has a lot of trouble with those monsters otherwise. And yet there's someone who's not a fan of what she's doing.

He frowns, thinking about it. Bigby can think of some reasons, but rather than assuming.. ]

Why?

[guidemyway]

[It was complicated and a lot of it went right over Ruby's head. But- It was nice to have more of a chance to talk to someone who was more detached from it. She hadn't really had the chance to do that much at home.]

Yeah- She's uh... A very complicated person, I guess you could say.

[That was the lightest way to put that by far.]

A bad break up. Scorned by the gods. She's had a long time to nurse a grudge.

[bigbaddy]

Ah. That type.

[ With anyone else that definitely would have been a sarcastic statement.

But to Bigby.. that is actually relatable. It sounds like exactly the sort of thing that could have been describing several people in his own world, really. If anything, the only surprising thing is to find that Ruby's world has so many things in common with his own, unlike most mundies he comes across. ]

Yeah, you don't easily change those types. The moment they make up their mind about something, they'll stick to it. Your best option is likely finding some way to get rid of her altogether. [ Sorry, Ruby.. Bigby isn't particularly merciful, after all..

But he means well!! Should he fight her for you, Ruby? He will, okay. ]

[guidemyway]

[Ruby is actually a little surprised that Bigby knows the type, but it's his answer that gives her a little more pause than she'd like.]

That's another problem in itself. Getting rid of her isn't really an option because of the hole she's dug herself into.

We have to find another way around that.