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

[moralabsolutism]

[As she spoke, Rorschach pulled the journal he always carried around out of his inner pocket. Really, his trenchcoat didn't even look like it had that much space to begin with, yet he was able to carry quite a number of items around with him thanks to sewing extra pockets in for space.

He scribbled down a little bit about what she was saying in truly atrocious handwriting. One would have to squint and look it over a few times just to even start getting a sense of what he was writing. Then he looked up.]

Monsters?

[Was she speaking of literal or metaphorical monsters?]

[guidemyway]

[Ruby has luckily done this rodeo a couple of times with other people around town. It didn't make her feel a little less awkward that her world seemed to be more monster infested than others- But at least it was an interesting quirk to talk about.]

We call them the Creatures of Grimm, or just Grimm. They've mostly infested my world. They hunt humans almost exclusively and they're drawn to negative emotions.

They come in all sorts of shapes and sizes from normal animals to things out of story books. What they all generally have in common is black fur, skin, or scales, along with bony armor or claws. And glowing red eyes. They're not the most friendly of things around, believe it or not.

[moralabsolutism]

Grimm?

[That gave him pause after he wrote down the word. He was well-read enough to immediately think of the Grimm Fairy Tales and the monsters held within those stories. Rorschach wasn't someone who believed in coincidences and saw connections everywhere, so he immediately wrote down what Ruby told him about the monsters of her world, especially noting how she said they looked like things out of storybooks.]

Dark world.

[He noted. The only monsters in his own were the men who committed atrocities and evil acts. Honestly, having something that obviously screamed 'I'm evil!' when you looked at it would have made it a lot easier for him to do his job in hunting down evil and extinguishing it.]

[guidemyway]

[Ruby couldn't help but smile hearing Rorschach managed to put a pin on her world so eloquently.]

Yeah. That's one way to put it. It's not all bad- I mean, they have people like me around to fight monsters and protect people.

But nothing's ever really that easy, is it? Everyone kind of has a different idea of how to do it. And that sometimes leads to more trouble than it's worth.

[Considering she had watched one of those four kingdoms fall before she got here. Well- That was something that stayed with her.]

What about you? What's your home like?

[moralabsolutism]

[He thought for a moment. What could he say about Earth and the shitshow it was? How everything was falling about because there was too much evil in the world and not enough people doing anything about how? How one of the people he'd thought was a good guy turned out to be corrupt like all the rest?

Finally, he said the only truth that he could.]

Also dark world. On the verge of Armageddon. Might soon be destroyed.

[guidemyway]

[There's a rush of empathy in Ruby's eyes and her mouth falters between a half smile and a frown for a moment.]

Yeah. I know what that's like. I'm sorry it's looking that way there.

I hope it doesn't come to that. I know it's not easy to imagine it going any other way when you're in the thick of it.

[moralabsolutism]

Try to do what I can. Not much.

[He was one man in a world run by those with much more power and a lot less common sense than he did. Unless they all got their heads screwed on straight in a very short amount of time, Rorschach feared the worst would happen.]

But still a light in the darkness.

[He'd do what he could in his own small way. It wasn't much but at least it was something. In some ways, he felt more useful here in Milton than he ever had in the past working out of such a big city.]

[guidemyway]

Well that light- That's what you have to hold onto as hard as you can. Hopefully you'll find something more that you can do.

[Ruby was still struggling how to deal with an immortal being in her own world. And they were running out time and ways to figure that out.]

It's hard... Trying to make it work when everything feels so broken.

[moralabsolutism]

Such optimism.

[He wondered if Ruby had met Kate. Despite the sadness he felt lay beneath both of their surfaces, they both had that same unerring ability to try and look for the good in any given situation.]

But still we keep trying.

[Rorschach knew he was one man. He couldn't fix all the problems of his own world. Hell, he couldn't fix all the problems of the large city he lived in. But here? At least he could help make a difference.]

[guidemyway]

I mean- I try keep it going. My sister once told me there was a balance you had to keep with it. Too much can be blinding but not enough and you've already lost.

[And gosh does she miss her sister something fierce right about now.]

Sometimes that's all you can do. We have to keep moving forward or nothing will change.

[moralabsolutism]

Wise sister.

[He could tell Ruby missed her by the way she spoke but he was terrible at showing any emotions that involved comforting someone. Instead, he said something else.]

Speaking of moving forward...

[He began to move towards the cave entrance. It was time for them to see what all the fuss was about this place. Once he entered, Rorschach was glad for once he was small. Had he been taller or broader like some of the people here, it would have been a lot more difficult to move through the narrow passage.]

[guidemyway]

...Just about the wisest there is.

[Thankfully Ruby would be able to get by without the comfort, her dad and uncle weren't always the best at expressing their emotions.

Her eyes shifted toward the cave and gave a little nod.]

Watch my back? I'll head in first.

[While Rorschach was pretty small, Ruby was still down an inch or two on him. She'd have a slightly easier time navigating it but not by much.

And as such she ducks into the cave and starts to take a look around.]

Here's hoping there's something good in here.

[moralabsolutism]

There better be.

[Rorschach grumbled. They'd not been in the cave two minutes and already he was disliking moving through the narrow passages.

He let his eyes adjust to the gloom and kept an eye out for anything that might have decided to make its home in this place. Fortunately, the cave wasn't big enough for any large predatory animals to have found a place to slumber but something smaller like a fox, rats, or that creepy dog might have been able to get in.]

[guidemyway]

[Ruby continues along through the cave was the passages get more and more narrow. She doesn't hear any sort of creature right away but she has to admit that it's starting to get a bit more claustrophobic as it went along. She soon finds herself having to twist and go through the passages at a bit more of an angle.]

...Man- Why are caves always the worst?

[moralabsolutism]

[Rorschach agreed as he narrowly avoided smacking his shoulder for the third time in as many minutes.]

Always.

[There was more than one reason that he preferred to be in a space large enough to climb and parkour around in.]

[guidemyway]

[At the very least. It was great that they agreed on that. Ruby keeps up a little and there's a narrow passage where they have to shimmy on their sides to get through. She's almost cleared it when she feels her back foot get stuck in a spot.]

Hey- You think you can nudge or kick at my foot a little? I can't get it out.

[moralabsolutism]

What did you do?

[Rorschach said this as if she'd personally affronted him with what she'd gotten herself into. He shifted around awkwardly until he was at a point where he could nudge her foot and move it along so it wouldn't be caught on anything else.]

[guidemyway]

[Wow. Rude.]

I just took a step! I didn't think I'd get stuck!

[She is doing her best here. Once he gets her foot loose she'll give a little grunt and push forward a bit.]

Okay- Okay- Thanks.

[moralabsolutism]

Still your fault.

[Rorschach grumbled, making sure she'd be able to hear it in the small, cramped space.]

[guidemyway]

Well yeah.

But it's not like you've never made a mistake before in your life.

[moralabsolutism]

Never.

[He said, shaking his head and voice filled with dry humor.]

I'm perfect.

[guidemyway]

[Okay. That will actually get a little laugh out of her.]

You keep telling yourself that, bud.

The confidence is actually a little inspiring.

[moralabsolutism]

Have to be sure of yourself.

[At least where he was from and in his chosen profession of being a vigilante. Second-guessing yourself was a good way to end up in situations that could cost you dearly.]

Or you die.

[guidemyway]

[For all the bickering she had done, or the bright and cheerful sort of desposition she normally had, her expression actually faltered for a moment when he said that.

It was only there for a second, but the frown and sort of mournful look in her eyes was pretty clear.]

Yeah. I know a thing or two about that.

[moralabsolutism]

[Rorschach was perceptive enough to pick up on the fact that Ruby’s mood had changed. But he wasn’t quite sure why it had happened. So he just waited to see if she would say anything else. When she didn’t, he just kept moving along. He wasn’t very good with talking about emotions with people and never had been.

They were almost to the middle of the cave or at least that’s what he was estimating. Finally, he saw something up ahead.]

What’s that?

[He pointed towards where the supplies lay.]