𝐈𝐧 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐃𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐬 (English)

Chapter 61

Ruby was incredibly paranoid for their first "session" together. Jaune didn't call it that, just saying they were chatting, but he knew that was what she saw it as. From the very beginning, her hackles were raised – not aggressively, Ruby wasn't like that – but she was suspicious enough to pick over every word and expect an attempt at buttering her up at every opportunity.

Which was why Jaune didn't try.

Doctor Oobleck had taught him that unless someone was coming to you specifically asking for help and thus were prepared to be cooperative from the start, a therapist's first job was to build a rapport and some trust with the patient. Show them that they could be trusted to keep secrets, get them to relax around you until they felt comfortable enough to talk candidly. And, most importantly of all, their job wasn't to push the person or demand answers.

So, they talked about Signal. Ruby started off tense and wary, picking her words carefully, but after twenty minutes she was telling stories about her friends and the lesson there.

"Do you still talk to them?" asked Jaune.

"A little bit. Not as much as I'd like." Ruby tensed, wondering if that was to be an opening, but he hadn't meant it as such and she carried on once he didn't jump on it. "It's not easy to stay friends when we're so far apart, and I know we can talk online and over calls but we don't have anything in common."

"You don't talk about Beacon?"

"It makes them jealous. No. Envious. They were happy for me and jealous makes it sound bad, but they were disappointed they have to wait and it always gets awkward when I talk about how cool Beacon is."

"Hmm. I guess so. I'd argue there's no reason to be jealous when they'll get here eventually anyway."

"That's what they say but I guess it's easier to say you'll not be jealous than to actually not be."

"Guess so. I was jealous of Pyrrha, Nora and Ren when I first got here."

"Because they were so much stronger than you?"

"You don't have to rub it in."

Ruby giggled. "Sure thing, vomit boy."

"Hey now. I thought we were beyond those names. I don't even always get airsick, it was more my nerves acting up about coming to Beacon and being caught for being a fraud. The motion sickness just made it worse. Anyway, you ever thought of inviting your friends over to hang out in Vale? I could meet them."

"Ugh. No." Ruby stuck her tongue out. "They'd probably fancy you."

"Really?"

"Don't look so excited, they're underage." Like her. "And it's just that you'd be an older guy who's in Beacon, so you'd be automatically cool." Ruby sighed. "And I'm kinda worried things will be different between us."

"Different?"

Ruby shied away. "You said you wouldn't do the therapy thing..."

"I said that about your insecurity issues. This is different to that. You might not even be wrong here. Do you think you've moved on from them?"

After a moment's hesitation, Ruby decided it couldn't hurt to talk about it. "I guess? When we talk, they get excited about stuff I'd have loved back in Signal, but all I can think is it seems so childish. And it's dumb, I know, because I'm the same age as them and I am technically a child, but it's like I've had to grow up a bit to fit in here. Does that make sense?"

"Totally. You've had to take on the mantle of team leader. Plus, you spend all your time around older people so you're bound to adapt to them. I think anyone moved ahead in any school would end up the same way."