Ruby Daly (level_orange) wrote in madisonvalley, @ 2020-03-09 20:07:00 |
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Entry tags: | !completed gdoc, !log, ruby daly (level_orange), ~2020 march, ~~cole stewart (colestewart) |
Who: Cole Steward and Ruby Daly
Where: The high school
When: Monday
What: Ruby got in trouble
Rating: Low
Ruby sat outside the principal’s office for the first time ever. She had to wonder if this would have been the case back home if she had never had her education interrupted. Things were different. The League had taught her how to fight and her world in general had taught her life was unfair and the only way to try to fix that was to fight back.
She hadn’t gone looking for a fight, but when a kid was getting picked on that reminded her a lot of Jude, she hadn’t been able to ignore it. When telling the kid to mind his own business, the bully had thought she was an easy target because she was generally quiet at school and kept to herself. The bully now had a broken nose and was dealing with some bruising between his legs.
Ruby sighed as she waited for Cole to be done with the principal so they could go home.
***
Cole couldn’t say that he was entirely surprised to be called to the principal’s office. The world they’d come from didn’t exactly mesh with this one, and it made sense to him that Ruby would be having some growing pains. As he entered the office, he saw her sitting outside, and took the chair beside her, looking over at her.
“So, what happened,” he said, the laughter not far from his words. “They told me there was a fight.” He didn’t care about that at all. If Ruby beat the guy up, Cole was convinced that he deserved it. What he didn’t get was why she didn’t just go all Orange on the bully’s brain. She could have convinced him to leave the kid alone and not gotten caught at the same time.
***
She sighed again and leaned back in the chair. She was a little embarrassed and a little annoyed and in general she couldn’t help wondering if this would have been how high school was for her if things hadn’t gone sideways back home. She hoped not, but then again, who knew how much was nature versus nurture.
“Some kid wouldn’t let this guy named Delvin alone. Delvin’s a little loud sometimes and excitable, but he’s basically harmless, you know?” Like Jude had been before she let him down. “And I told the kid to stop and when he decided to call me a few names and to screw off -” She shrugged a little, not proud of herself, but only because how naturally the reaction had been. “I broke his nose by accident. The knee to his groin, though, was on purpose.”
***
Again, Cole was trying to keep from smiling or laughing. He was trying to be a good, responsible Guardian, and so he had to at least act like one in public. “By accident? You broke his nose by accident? Why don’t I believe that?”
Because he didn’t, at all. Not even a little.
“Sounds like you were in the right though. I’ll talk to the principal, but you know you’re not getting through this with nothing, right? And I should probably ground you or something. I mean, that’s what a good guardian would do, right?”
***
Ruby looked a little surprised and sent him a look. “You’re not serious, are you?” As she looked at Cole, she realized she wasn’t even sure if he was. While she didn’t expect a punishment as harsh as something the League might have given her, the idea of punishment at all didn’t sit well with her. She frowned. “All I was doing was defending someone. He deserved it. It’s not like I scrambled his mind or something.” She thought that counted for something. “... Besides, grounding me sort of implies I actually have a life to keep me away from.” She hadn’t even really made friends at school yet, but Ruby knew that was mostly her fault and not anyone else’s.
***
Cole couldn’t hold it in any longer, he burst out laughing, which was pretty out of place here in the principal’s office, but he really didn’t give a damn. “I’m not going to ground you, Ruby,” he said. “Actually, I think you did the right thing. But the principal is probably not going to think that way.” He frowned a little, running his hand through his hair. “I’ll talk to him. Hopefully he’ll see the error of his ways. I mean, in my mind, bullying is a hell of a lot worse than putting a bully in his place.
He paused a little, then lowered his voice to a whisper, even though there was nobody around.
“Why didn’t you just…” he put a finger to his temple. “Nobody would have been able to prove that.”
***
Oh. Ruby looked a little sheepish for a moment before she shrugged as if to shrug away the awkwardness she felt. “I just… we’re supposed to be trying to be normal, right?” She knew Liam was of the opinion she should just embrace what she could do, but Ruby still hated being an Orange. She hated the way there was always a little voice telling her to do more. She was sure it was the same voice people like Martin and Clancy gave into. Ruby paused. “Sometimes it’s hard here. I mean, some of the stuff the kids worry about or the drama they cause between each other…” She shook her head. “Maybe I’d be the same way normally, but most of the time the life or death stuff they talk about seems so unimportant.”
***
“I guess,” he shrugged. “I mean, a lot of people here aren’t, though. Nobody seems to care if people have powers. Just read the network. There are werewolves and mutants and vampires and super-heroes and all sorts of things we don’t have back home, and nobody seems to care. I mean, they don’t seem to mess with them at all, you know?”
Cole doubted he would ever be able to use his ability, because it was just destructive. It would destroy both physical things and him. But Ruby? Well, she might have been afraid of being a monster, but he knew for a fact she wasn’t. She had too big of a heart to worry about that.
He clenched his hand and put it on his knee, hitting his knee with his fist a few times. Even thinking about his abilities sometimes brought that twitch out, and he hated it.
***
“Except none of those things can mess with people’s minds. At least not the way I can.” She had read some stuff about comic book characters able to project ideas and read minds, but she hadn’t yet read about anyone able to erase memories or put new memories in place or even ordered them around like she could. If they did exist outside of their world, she wasn’t even sure she wanted to meet them - would they be like the others she knew like herself? Ruby wasn’t as confidence in herself as maybe Cole was.
She did notice his hand and she felt bad for being the one who caused it, even if she wasn’t sure why - she just felt like it had been her fault. Ruby wanted to reach out to touch his hand, but wasn’t sure if it would make things worse. She decided to go with a distraction instead.
“And it’s getting worse when I use it.” What Ruby really meant was it was getting stronger and she didn’t like that. There was always the worry she’d become just like Clancy. “Watch.” Ruby reached out with her mind to the other room, something she hadn’t even known was possible until Clancy had used her from so far away in the base. It hurt because she was didn’t practice it and she felt the headache attack her immediately as she slipped into the secretary’s mind. A moment later the secretary walked out and handed Ruby a pencil and then went back into the office. Maybe Ruby should have looked proud, but instead so looked guilty.
***
“See, that’s cool. And useful.” He paused. “Look, you’re not Clancy. It takes a special type of shithead to be that guy, and you’re a good person. It’s obvious because you worry about being like Clancy. If you were like him, you wouldn’t care at all and you’d just do whatever you want regardless of whose brains you take over in the process. And look. That bully? You could make him never bully anyone again. That would be a good thing, right? I mean, for him and for the people he’d bully over the next few years. Your ability is big and incredible, it’s true, but it also can be used for good. Mine? Not so much. I can destroy things. That’s about it.”
He would much rather have been an Orange than a Red. Unfortunately, they weren’t given choices. Honestly, he would rather have not been anything at all and couldn’t help but wonder how he got lucky enough to be the oldest psi he’d ever heard of.
***
She gave him a small nod. He might be right about a lot of it, but it was hard to explain about the little voice that wanted her to take more control. Instead, she rubbed her shoulder and craned her neck a little to one side in a stretch. It was better than thinking about the photos of Cole burned to death that she didn’t think she’d ever get out of her mind. Somewhere deep down she knew she needed to tell him the truth about back home, but she pushed the voice away - she was going to pretend it wasn’t a thing for as long as possible.
“Yeah, well… you and me both are more than just the messed up disease we have, so -” She shrugged. “How about you ground me at the ice cream place and we eat until we throw up like normal kids.” She was mostly kidding about the second part.
***
“That sounds like an appropriate punishment,” he said seriously, teasing her. “We’ll get ice cream after I talk to your principal, anyway.” Which he really wasn’t looking forward to doing, but he’d take care of it as best he could. It was weird to actually have to act like a Guardian.
Just then, the principal came out, and Cole stood and shook his hand. He gave Ruby one last look before disappearing into his office.