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look it's chapter two

The Goat, the Sheep, and the Lamster

 

2 

 

The white wall was oddly adorned with some orange.

 

"Oh, it's you."

 

Ruby took a step back in surprise. She had a cellmate and predictably, she had already met her, "...Weiss, was it?"

 

Weiss nodded without looking at Ruby. The moment they reached the institution, she and Weiss were separated to their own menial tasks of changing and storing any personal items they came in with, with the guards. Ruby had also forgotten the small screwdriver she left in her pocket which the bailiffs had failed to find, but the officers certainly did not. She was thankful they did not question it further as some sort of smuggled weapon and simply confiscated it as items Ruby came in with. 

 

Weiss was organizing the contents she was given for her stay. Despite it being, well, a jail, Weiss had kept her toothpaste perfectly aligned with the sink edges, and her toothbrush sat parallel to it as well, close enough to the paste but not enough to touch. The sheets were laid gently and neatly over the bottom bunk's mattress, and the bar of soap sat on the other side of the sink, not too close to any corner whatsoever. It almost looked like some sort of weird feng shui. Ruby responded to this neatness by flinging her contents onto the top bunk and placing her tooth care products without even looking on the sink as well. Weiss visibly winced.

 

"Evidently we will need to lay some ground rules here," Weiss began, "First off, you may not step on my bed to get to the—what did I just say!?"

 

Ruby was seated cross-legged on her bunk, "But how else would I get up here?"

 

"I don't know, climb the walls." 

 

"What? I'm not a ninja, Weiss."

 

"That's not my problem," Weiss took a long breath before continuing, "Second, since we share toothpaste, you will push it out from the bottom, not the middle. If I see unevenly compressed toothpaste, Ruby Rose, you will regret more than just that prison sentence."

 

"Hey, you know my name!" Ruby stated rather pointlessly.

 

"Yes well I asked about who I was forced to share personal space with, and luckily it was you and not some loud unhygienic brute."

 

"Luckily? That's surprisingly nice, coming from you," Ruby was relieved her cellmate was Weiss and not some loud unhygienic brute too. Well, she'd make one exception.

 

Weiss rolled her eyes, "Don't get used to it. Third, there is a huge glaring problem at that corner over there."   

 

Ruby glanced at Weiss' pointer finger, and noticed a silvery seat situated next to the sink. It was hard to make out clearly from the dimmed lights of the hallway, but Ruby soon realized the horror of her reality.

 

"Oh cra—" 

 

"Yes, exactly that. We'll have to take turns when one of us has the need, but we must time it so that one of us is out of the picture when it happens," Weiss narrowed her eyes, "This is non-negotiable."

 

"Okay, toothpaste and sheets? Sure why not, but this, this is definitely negotiable."

 

Before Ruby could even finish her sentence however, Weiss broke her own rule and stepped onto her bed, grabbing onto Ruby's collar and pulling her mere millimetres from Weiss' face. Despite the baby-blue colouring of Weiss' irises, they did nothing to lessen the impact of said eyes staring deep, deep, deep into Ruby's very soul. 

 

"So help me God Ruby, I've barely recovered my sense of smell from earlier today. They already took away my freedom, let me keep this, Ruby. Let me keep this." The royal dagger directed Ruby to Weiss' nose, and for a moment Ruby imagined this same girl but without said feature on her face. She'd look like one of those puppets with the flappy mouths that wouldn't be all too unfitting for a girl like her. Her brain finally took charge of her wandering mind and realized that she too would be affected by this sudden lack of privacy.

 

"Okay okay geez...I mean, I'd rather not do that.. here either, especially with you here, but if there's an emergency, I can't make promises or anything like that." Ruby found herself twiddling her thumbs and staring down at her bed away from her new demanding roommate. 

 

Weiss huffed and threw her arms akimbo, "You are a grown girl Ruby. I'm sure you can control your...needs for certain times of the day like a proper human being."

 

"No, back at school I could go whenever I wanted to as long as I asked the teacher! One time they thought we were using it as an excuse to ditch class and so they forbade us from going during class at all. You know what happened Weiss!? A poor kid had an accident the very next week! It was horrible, everyone kept making fun of him! I would never wish anyone to be in his shoes ever!" She raised her shoulders and sat back up straight on her bed, glaring her own albeit far less intense daggers back at her stingy cellmate. For today, she would not lose this battle!

 

"How old are you!?," Weiss did not take on Ruby directly and shifted her eyes back to the wall once again, "I would be sincerely concerned about the quality of those students if that had happened at all in a normal environment."

 

Ruby growled, getting up on her knees now, "I just don't want you policing when I have to go!"

 

"Dire circumstances call for dire actions, Ruby!" Weiss pulled out a notebook and pencil from under her bunk, writing times and dates down on her pad, "Now, I will definitely need this much time to—"

 

Ruby almost pulled the notepad right out of Weiss' grasp, "Wait, are you writing this all down!?"

 

"I can't expect you of all people to remember the times anyway. It works to be organized," She started to tap her chin with the pencil, "I'm sure you need no more than five minutes to get this done say, a few minutes before lunch."

 

"But Weiss! It's just p—"

 

"Do not finish that sentence, Ruby Rose!" Weiss jerked her head at Ruby's direction in terrifying speeds Ruby could not possibly comprehend. How on earth did she not instantly snap her neck like that? 

 

"But what's the problem with po—"

 

"Ruby. I do not want to hear such an uncouth word in my presence. Do you understand!?" The brunette was suddenly faced with far more face as Weiss pushed her head far closer to Ruby's than need be. Ruby's eyes widened in surprise before she calmed down enough to pull herself a little further from the sudden invasion of personal space. Weiss was dead serious. Even more than usual, if that was possible!

 

The younger girl crossed her arms, "Fine, but I still can't make any promises."

 

Weiss sighed, "We'll settle on that for now. For the next rule, I think you need to—"

 

"Poop!" Ruby heard a very familiar voice echo across the corridor. She was about to peer out the bars for any dazzling blonde that could be in the many cells when Weiss barged in front of her and screamed back.

 

"Oh you snivelling little—!"

 

Ruby quickly pulled Weiss back before she could bang on the bars signalling to any of the guards of their predicament. She didn't know what they would do if they found that the two of them was causing unrest, but Ruby definitely did not want to find out. Weiss struggled in futile before giving up and retreating back to her bunk. She said no words as she threw the covers over her head, finally lost far too much patience to deal with this day. Ruby could not blame her. It was only the first day. She may not understand the girl's adversity to such a crude word, but even the little things did not want to go her way. 

 

The brunette was about to step onto Weiss' bunk to get onto her own, but remembered the rule and attempted to crawl up the walls instead. It took a few minutes but Ruby eventually pulled herself up onto her bed, aggravating her shoulder in the process. She twitched slightly before trying to relax onto the frankly uncomfortable mattress. Eventually the mental exhaustion wore away at her consciousness.

 

-

 

"I didn't brush my teeth!"

 

Ruby rocketed out of bed, noticing a narrow ray of light beaming in through the window. She landed in front of the sink and picked up the toothpaste, squeezing inconsequentially as her mouth foamed up. It was already morning, so she figured she'll have to brush twice as much for the day. The only sounds radiated from her rapid brushing before realization dawned on her.

 

Weiss wasn't awake?

 

For someone who cared so much about organization in a jail, of all places, Ruby assumed she'd be up the moment the sun cracked. Yet here she was, watching a blanket slowly rise up and down covering the abrasive girl, who was oddly calm and peaceful. She was a very pretty girl from any angle and certainly did not have the stereotypical appearance of a drug dealer or a thug. Had Weiss never spoken a word at all, Ruby could've believed her claims of innocence, and well, there wasn't exactly a reason Ruby had to not take the girl's words seriously; it just didn't feel natural for Ruby to agree with her. Weiss had a very confrontational aura. 

 

Ruby continued brushing in silence when she noticed a little bit of black in the corner of her eye. A shadow loomed nearby the bars and Ruby took a step closer for a quick peek, briefly wondering how she hadn't heard any footsteps or other noises alerting her of this person's presence. She was suddenly met with golden eyes and saw a rather tall, though not quite as tall as a certain sister of her's, woman appear out of nowhere. She was dressed in the same garments as the guards, though Ruby could not believe she was one. The rest of the guards Ruby saw on her first stay were slouched and had half-lidded eyes, as if they wished someone would shoot them before they continued working a second more in their miserable jobs. This woman stood with excellent posture and appeared more like a military officer than anything.

 

"Ey Blake, is that my sister down there or what?" Ruby's eyes widened when that familiar voice bounced around the corridors once again, no doubt disturbing the rest of many inmates.

 

"There's no Xiao Long in this cell, Yang."

 

For a moment Ruby was confused as to why this Blake's eyes pointed above her cell, but then she realized her dimly-lit walk of shame down the aisle hid the second floor of cells that lined this particular building. Was her sister right above her then? She had not called out to her sister the night before, fearing that she'd anger the many prisoners asleep at the time, but Yang seemed not to care nor did any sleeping inmate seem to mind. Ruby quickly extracted her mouth's contents into the sink and clamoured closer to the bars.

 

"Oh no no, my sister's last name is Rose! You don't need to look up the rollcall to find her, I already told you what she looked like!" Yep, that was her sister alright.

 

Blake said, deadpan, "A miniature version of me does not give me anything to go by."

 

"Yang, is that you?" Ruby asked, though she kept her voice down. Even if the other inmates did not care, she didn't feel like facing the wrath of her own cellmate at this moment, especially when her sister would probably escalate the situation.

 

"Ruby! It is you! Oh dumb sister of mine, what did you get yourself involved in now?"

 

Blake put away her clipboard that held roll call and, seeing her task complete, stepped out of the corridor back to wherever the offices for the employees must be, leaving the two awake sisters alone.

 

Ruby crossed her arms in protest, not that Yang could tell, "Just following my dear sister's wise footsteps."

 

"Sis! I didn't know you finally grew enough balls to beat up your bullies!"

 

"No no! I meant like, following you by doing—you know!" Ruby turned away from er, above her, but considering there was really only one way out she was mostly turning away from the bars.

 

There was a pause before Yang continued, “And is dad taking all this well?”

 

Her father had not reacted well to Ruby's verdict, which didn't surprise her. She hadn't expected to get off scot-free of course, but her lawyer had some sort 'brilliant' plan, he called it, wherein Ruby was duped into buying what she believed was merely a bb gun and thus she was not responsible for her very much illegal purchase. Aside from the point that she never purchased any gun whatsoever, but no one believed her when she 'claimed' she had created the weapon all on her own, not even her own lawyer. With the single exception of her father, everyone else believed she was covering for some sort of gun trafficker and that she had somehow stole blueprints for the ones she had. She was surprised no one was charged with perjury, but Ruby certainly hoped should they ever need a lawyer again they'd somehow avoid the state-funded one. She never did find out if her father posted bail for flicking off the judge, not to mention the plethora of other problems her dad would have to face. A lump formed in Ruby's throat, and she couldn't help but gaze at the ground, wishing she had an interest in time machines instead of weapons so she could do over that part of her life again.

 

"About as well as you’d expect."

 

"I figured. When we get out we need to buy him dinner or something."

 

Ruby slouched, leaning onto the wall, "We gotta do better than that."

 

"We have plenty of time to think of something! Anyway you’ve always been the good little sister, so how far did you go to even land in this place? Were you designing a gatling gun!?"

 

"I wish," Ruby said, "Even if I did something like that, that wouldn't be enough to send me here I'd think."

 

"You're right. I can't even imagine my sister doing anything wrong at all!" Yang began, "which means someone messed up bad." Ruby could hear her sister's knuckles crack, "If that's the case..."

 

Ruby shook her head, "Nooooo Yang, it's not something that can be solved by fisticuffs! At least, I don't think so. Unless your knuckles can pound the disbelief out of them."

 

"Well sis if you're not up to telling your own older sister exactly how you got here, then I guess all I can do is guide you while you're here! So, how long's your stay?"`

 

"Six months."

 

"Ooooh, good sentence."

 

"What? How is that at all good?" Ruby almost wanted to throw something at her sister, but the only thing that could really work was a bar of soap, and if that went missing Ruby was sure a guard would discover a body in her cell sooner or later.

 

"Mostly because I'm getting out around then too. For your entire stay, Yang Xiao Long's got ya covered!"

 

Ruby exhaled, "Oh, well that's a relief."

 

"The most important advice I'll give you is to develop a strong, positive relationship with your celly, or at the very least get along with them."

 

"Oops," Ruby responded almost immediately.

 

"You messed up already!? Ruby I know you've never been a people person but you've always been a nice girl!"

 

Ruby shook her hands, though as a visual it would've been pointless as the two sisters were not facing one another, "I didn't do anything wrong! The girl I'm living with is a jer—wonderful person with absolutely no flaws!" 

 

"Huh!?" Yang exclaimed in bewilderment, clutching the bars tightly attempting to fruitlessly pull them off so she could see what had caught her sister off guard.

 

Weiss had sat up rather suddenly, her eyes barely open and her hair seemingly as dislevelled as possible, but Ruby knew someone right above her whose hair could end up even more chaotic. She blinked a few times before shifting off the bed in slow motion, so groggy was she. She even began brushing her teeth, staring at the cabinet that lacked a mirror, and expelled the contents of her mouth before murmuring, "Sebastian, cup of coffee please."

 

"Uh, good morning?" 

 

Weiss took one look at Ruby.

 

"Fuck."

 

"Ruby? Ruby? Yo Ruby? Your sister's still hanging!" Weiss could see an arm swinging at the top of the other side of the bars and she didn't hesitate to stomp right towards the arm, giving it a swift tug.

 

"Ow! What gives!?" The arm disappeared instantly.

 

"You!" Weiss growled, banging the bars, "You were the insolent oaf who called out last night!"

 

A loud laugh was unleashed upon the cell block, "Ahahah! That was you! Oh my god that's priceless!" 

 

"Yang, can you please not antagonize my cellmate?" Ruby was unsure what to do, the arguing was beginning to intensify and she had to admit, she was terrible with confrontation, at least verbal confrontation.

 

"I can't help it! She can't, she can't handle the word p—"

 

"Of course I can handle such a word! It's just very crass and I would rather you not ever say it in my face!"

 

"Since when did I ever say it in your face?" The giggles continued to ring out and Ruby wondered if the rest of the inmates were dead to the world or something. The two of them certainly weren't managing their volume levels very well.

 

As if on cue, the same golden-eyed guard called Blake entered the picture, "We're having noise complaints from here. Yang, do you want another write-up? Because you're going to get one if you keep this up."

 

"Aw c'mon it's already morning! People should be awake."

 

Blake though didn't disagree, still continued with the warning, "Yes but this hour is usually a quiet relaxing time. Please keep that in mind."

 

She then turned her attention to the bottom of the two cells, "Which one of you was making all that noise?"

 

"And what if I am?" 

 

The correctional officer glanced downwards at Weiss, a judgemental stare that looked to Ruby almost on purpose. Weiss did not back down, her chest sticking out and her head, while arched up, kept strict eye-contact on Blake at all times. Ruby could already feel the tension in the air the moment these two clashed, wondering if perhaps this was the tropical storm of an eventual category five hurricane threatening to rip the trees and roofs off this very facility. It was natural after all for someone who seemed intent on going through life her own way, no matter how many people or feelings she may need to tramble to conflict with one whose duty was to keep such troublemakers at bay. Who would triumph? Ruby hoped it would be Blake, assuming the sides of the battle were as transparent as they seemed, and nothing in the background could complicate it.

 

Blake grabbed hold of a bar, "If you keep up that attitude your first impression will also be your last impression."

 

Weiss turned away, not absorbing any of Blake's warnings, "What would I accomplish by impressing a ragtag bunch of degenerates like you?"

 

"You do realize which side of the bars you're on, don't you? Surely you're not that obtuse."

 

Weiss pulled herself closer to the bars as well, inches from the guard's hold, "The cage does not define the felon."

 

Ruby wondered what constituted as 'normal'.

 

The two held their glare until Blake was summoned by her superior for the day's meeting. A different employee, one might call the lunch lady had this facility been a public school, carted around breakfast throughout the cellblock. Only two meals were to be served in the cafeteria for security purposes and the morning was most agreed upon to be the most stressful time of day. Few people were considered morning folk especially in a building filled with those who often did their work in the dead of night, so moods would naturally be testy, leading to the wise decision of keeping everyone locked up tight during the early hours. The two trays slipped into her own cell were as dreary as the drab whites that draped every corner and wall. The toast was drooping despite being singed, as if the yeast itself was too sad to do its job. Was this the quintessential example of life in the slammer? When something that should've been physically impossible defied all odds to drop your spirits further?

 

"Yes, the food is as abysmal as it looks, you can stop staring now," Ruby blinked and noticed Weiss had already started eating. She was giving her a refreshing change of pace in terms of expressions. Instead of disgust it was almost like empathy, empathetic disgust.

 

Ruby poked the eggs, but her stomach broke through her hesitance and soon the two trays became two empty trays sitting on the corner of the desk. Weiss had returned to her bedside, peeking out the narrow window situated behind her pillow. Ruby stole a glance as she washed up at the sink, noticing that the view was mostly the horizon peeking over the tall, chain-linked fences surrounding the surprisingly vibrant green grasses of the exercise yard. Weiss sunk back into her mattress, prefering to sleep the time away and not offering any sense of conversation to Ruby, who was ultimately glad for that decision. She was unsure how to react or respond further to Weiss' intense demeanour, but Ruby supposed that wasn't an unexpected personality to find in a place like this.

 

A few hours later, they both heard a click behind them and the door to their far-too-small personal space automatically slid open. Their door was not singled out either, as every door opened itself at the same time just as the clock struck ten-thirty. The simultaneous noise echoed throughout the corridor, followed by murmurs that grew in volume until the numerous inmates that lined the building all began mingling at once. Weiss took this opportunity to step out, leaving Ruby alone who wanted nothing more but to spend these six months inside her cell as much as possible. Weiss was one thing, but what if this prison had six hundred Weisses? It was better to sit inside and not risk such potential calamities.

 

Luckily, even if there were six hundred Weisses, among them all there was at least one Yang who came clamouring down to the entrance fairly quickly. She approached Ruby and gave her a familial noogie, before seating herself on Weiss' bed, the disturbed wrinkles that would no doubt enrage her, and pulling a reluctant Ruby just realizing this down with her.

 

"Rubes! Oh when was the last time we even hugged? It's been too long!" Ruby was forced face-first into bountiful flesh, leaving her lungs gasping for relief. The crushing embrace lasted a few more seconds before Yang heard the panicked muffles coming from her dear little sister.

 

"What was that Ruby?"

 

Ruby took a deep merciful breath, "I missed you too sis."

 

Certainly Ruby had seen Yang not too long ago at this very same building a month back, but that was through the visitor's area on the other side of the entire institution. There, the concrete walls weren't quite as menacing; its polished finish felt inviting to the unfortunate relatives of such lost souls. Ruby did not see a single iron bar in those rooms, only chairs and tables gathered around with generic pot plants and office-like fluorescent lights completing the interior set. If it weren't for the expressionless guards posted at every door it would almost look like a normal room. During these rare monthly visits, Ruby and Yang's hugs were bordering on hollow just because Yang was forbidden to use any sense of exertion like she always used to do when she gathered her young sibling in her arms. They just didn't feel as genuine as the near painful experience Ruby just had, but the hug would've felt far better had they both been outside the setting as opposed to within.

 

Blinking back to reality, Ruby shot back up to her feet, smoothing out the neatly laid blankets she and Yang had just ruined. Yang watched, still not budging from her spot with an air of fascination, like what Ruby was doing was so uncharacteristic it had to be observed for further study.

 

"What are you doing?" Yang finally said, before Ruby grabbed both her arms to tug her sister off the bunk.

 

"We can't sit here. It's Weiss' bed. If everything isn't back to its place she'll kill me," Ruby answered rather quietly, but Yang instead pulled her sister right back into her chest, letting the force of a second body propelling in her own put Yang onto her back.

 

"Yaaaaang!" Ruby pushed off from Yang, standing up yet again.

 

Yang flashed her sister a wide grin, "You can't let her walk all over you. Take charge! Be dominant! If you don't get any control back you're really not going to have a good time in here."

 

"Well maybe talking to no one and never disturbing anyone will make the time fly by!" Ruby reasoned.

 

"As if!" Yang sat back up, "Nothing will make the time fly by. Trust me." 

 

The elder sister threw out her arms, inviting Ruby to jump back in, "C'mon sis, I know you need lots of hugs. Hundreds of hugs. Thousands of hugs! A whole hugging parade!"

 

Despite the practical chokehold she was in earlier, Ruby could not resist the offer and gave up on maintaining Weiss' personal space. She'll have to deal with that inevitable snowstorm later, but her sister was right. She needed all the hugs in the world after these past few days. The disappointment in her father's eyes was not a memory she could wipe off in a whim, even if he too disagreed with the blatantly unfair sentence she was given. Yang did not seem to have even a single judgemental bone in her body, no matter where in life she was herself. This time Yang's arms wrapped around Ruby's body tightly, but gentler than before, and the two stayed like so for a few silent minutes.

 

Finally, Ruby looked up at her sister's warm features, "You know, I never really understood why you left us so early."

 

Yang's eyebrow popped up a notch, "You brought that up out of nowhere."

 

"Well until now I never had a chance to ask, so here I am, asking!"

 

Her older sister grinned, a slight chuckle could be heard through her smile, "Trust me Ruby, if you were in my place you'd have done the same."

 

"Why? You didn't have a fight with dad or anything did you?" Ruby wondered aloud, though Yang probably wouldn't have delivered her answer in her usual peppy way if it was something as confrontational as that.

 

"Of course not. I love dad, would do anything for him," Yang said, "Besides without me taking up a table spot there was enough room for Zwei!"

 

Ruby tugged at her sister's shirt, a small pouty frown popping up on her face, "Don't change the subject! A family of you, dad, Zwei, and me would be almost perfect, wouldn't it?"

 

Yang bounced off the bed with Ruby still in her arms, "Hmmmm, I guess I could move back in after this stint."

 

"That still doesn't answer my—"

 

"Ruby, come upstairs to my much less boring pad!" She bolted out the cell, holding Ruby in one arm and awing those that witnessed her great upper-body strength. Yang then literally threw her sister onto the bottom bunk of her bed, which structurally looked identical to her own, but after a closer look she could tell the cell was personalized just as well.

 

As soon as she sat up, Ruby could see a photo of her family taped to the wall. She saw her father, a tall sturdy man beaming with pride as he stood next to his two small children, Yang, age ten and Ruby, age six. There were no pets by their sides yet, but hugging Ruby from behind was a beautiful woman dressed in a stark white trenchcoat, which if Ruby had not known of this photo herself, could easily be mistaken for a labcoat. Yang stepped up to the photo and gently peeled it off the wall, placing the picture in Ruby's palm.

 

"Here, put this up in yours," She said, "I'm sure you need it more than me."

 

The younger girl remained silent, her eyes fixated on the old photo she hadn't seen in years, particularly on the figure in white holding her younger self. Ruby could suddenly feel her pulse thumping within her chest the longer she gazed, her teeth gritting in response, and her fingers tightening on the photo like instinct, but Ruby fought back her death grip that threatened to crinkle the photo. She slowly placed it down on her lap just as Yang tossed another picture to her. This next one was less difficult to absorb as it was just an adorable shot of her dog Zwei as a young puppy. All of Ruby's tense muscles relaxed and a smile finally adorned her face as she gathered the small pile of photos Yang was contributing to in her hands.

 

Yang crouched down to level with Ruby sitting on the bed, "I'll tell ya why I left someday Rubes, but I can't yet. You know why?"

 

"Why?" Ruby's question was through the faintest of voices.

 

"Cause it's time for lunch!" Yang flung her arm towards the largest of doors that they could see from their vantage point, her finger extended as far as possible that it slightly turned upwards. This obviously did not imply that the cafeteria was in the sky.