Ruby

Ruby was perhaps the closest to "Mother" GLaDOS, in attitude, expectations, and mindset. Some even said that she perhaps looked like GLaDOS in a way, her sinister red eyes and severe, perfectly trimmed hair. And if anything, GLaDOS was proudest of this human-child, for she would give numerous reports back to help the computer system get a better grip on what was going on outside.

To her sisters, Ruby would remain a bit of an enigma for she was intensely social, at the same time as being quite arrogant and aloof. It was almost as though she required attention, in order to disdain it. Almost? That was exactly what Ruby was about. However that wasn't to say that she ever hated or resented her sisters. In fact she was duly proud of each and every one of them. Their survival, indeed their species (if they could be considered Human enough to be part of it) depended upon the group to remain tight and high-functioning.

She did enjoy every moment that she could with them. She could then compare their interactions with those of others - mostly rebels, some Combine, some just plain old citizens that had wandered away from City 83 (which had been loosely placed in the eastern Colorado area serving the central and mountain states' populations), or the Vortigaunts. Ruby didn't get along tremendously well with Vortigaunts. They were too ... open. Something that perhaps the other sisters couldn't understand, Indigo possibly, but Ruby didn't want to share everything she knew. Not always. She liked secrets.

And she was full of secrets. Nothing dangerous - she liked to drop locations of parts to Cobalt in passing, mention that the rebels had been seen fighting with Combine soldiers in a particular region to Violet or Purple... Little things that would make her sisters day. Perhaps in that regard, she dramatically took after "Father". Speaking just enough to let her companion know that she had a tidbit, but not quite releasing it to them.

Ruby had a cruel streak just like Father, though she extended this only to the Combine and its supporters. She would never consider torturing a real person - any non-Combine - for information. But she absolutely delighted in it when they would capture a wandering soldier. As long as Amethyst could assure them that the Combine's link to the Overwatch was disabled, she could do anything she wanted to. Sometimes this was to the distress of those who watched. But that was hardly ever a problem - the one thing she did learn from the Vortigaunts was how to wipe a person's mind of anything they'd just experienced.

Of course that was exactly the kind of thing that her first period Using Telepathy Politely teacher would scold her over. How you weren't supposed to do that kind of thing without permission. Pffah. Who needed permission? Ruby was a big follower of the notion "it's better to ask forgiveness than permission".

Her Journalism instructor also wished she'd play more by the proper rules, but she brought back plenty of interesting news items and was popular among the school's paper staff. She had to know just a little about everything, so Computer Basics gave her an actual taste of how to assemble and understand both the hardware and software - though back at home these things were probably quite different. She conferred with Amethyst on those things.

Her interest in Universal History was more about the 'why' did one war start, or 'why didn't' another species invade somewhere. Social systems were far more interesting to her than the raw numbers of casualties, or even the years when things were done. Raw numbers however were what her Betting and Odds class required, and she adored it. Gambling was something that almost all cultures engaged in, after all, and with a good grip on how to best examine the statistics on things, Ruby felt comfortable betting on events or sports even if she had no interest otherwise.

Ruby's more practical, daily-use skills got a nice workout with the Martial Arts for the Fashion Conscious, as well as the Stealth for Heroics class. Mmm, and wasn't professor Dane a hottie? Muscular and mysterious and with that husky voice that said he smoked way too many cigarettes? With both those classes, Ruby was in the top three students - it was no surprise. She needed to get in places to listen to conversations, sometimes that meant she hadn't been invited, or that she was just 'happening on by'. It was best not to get seen, but when those times came that getting caught was the only option - getting out without damage and with a lesson that she shouldn't be trifled with, was important too.

Party Planning with that squeaky odd musician Zeets was just pure fun, every girl - clone or not - needed to let loose and have some fun at times. It was Zeets who discovered that Ruby had perfect pitch, but Ruby continually asserted that she won't sing for audiences. While she did love being the center of attention there was always the fact that she'd rather be collecting the talk and secrets and discussion from around her, than being the focal point of that talk.

***

Ruby loved the little white and red flitter that Maroon had brought. Well she'd brought the egg, which called out to Ruby and she snatched it up before anyone else did (though there was little danger of that happening, each of them were obviously taken by a different small shell). It hatched into this perfectly white creature - well, perfect until she opened her wings and stood up to stretch for the meat Ruby dangled above her. Bloody red blotches, almost frightening - at first she thought the creature had injured itself in the shell, but then realized it was only a marking. She reminded Ruby of the falling ash that was ubiquitous on their world, so Ashes became her name.

Ruby admitted privately to Maroon that the largest of the dragons frightened her. Maroon however assured her that very, very few of the dragons - even the biggest - that were brought to Carramba for training and bonding purposes would ever allow harm to come to a human, and particularly not their own bond-friend. That took a little of the edge of fear off her, but still. Those were some massive creatures. Ruby thought she'd probably prefer something more sedate in size. Ridable, obviously - there was something to be said about not having to teleport anywhere yourself - but aside from that, she wondered... Would a magic-weilding dragon be able to use its magic on another world? Well, they generally could here, and 'here' was almost never their 'home' world. It would have to keep secrets, too. Definitely.

***

Ruby was enamored of these Bower dragons that were on one of the pamphlets distributed by the dragonry-prep class. They didn't necessarily have to be in the class to be able to go on one of their field trips, so Ruby decided to put in for one there.

She wasn't surprised to see eggs, but she was a bit in awe (if she could ever be said to do that) when she met the parents of this particular "black" clutch. Most of the eggs hardly looked black! Very fancy, in fact. Several drew her eye, and she wondered... What would come of this.

This one, this silvery, heavy egg caught Ruby's eye far more than the others, after she kept coming back to view them. Warm, but in a very strange way - was it radioactive? Well, that seemed to be at least partially true given the parents of this weird clutch. Ruby knew better than to hang about when the egg hatched, and the absolutely gorgeous dragonet within felt around her mind and latched on.

We will leave, Ruby told the hatchling, and I think you can take us back to my home, first...

Not a lot of effort later, and the female named Briecher had in fact taken them to the outskirts of City 83. The strangely warm dragonet cuddled up into Ruby's arms - it was as motherly as Ruby would ever get, and it was absolutely all she wanted just then.

***

"I do not really like the idea of this," Briecher said, moving her wings around a little, and trying to feel around for the next easily available shadow to slip into.

"It's good practice," Ruby stated, and they continued their trek through the halls of Carramba. Head down, wings tucked, with Ruby snugged carefully upon her shoulders, they slunk down a well-lit hall and Briecher felt around with her power just far enough to get into another closed, locked room.

"That wasn't bad at all," Ruby nodded, dismounting as Briecher shifted into her more humanoid shape. "I don't think we're in any trouble... yet."

Perhaps Ruby did that just to see her beloved dragon wince a bit. She didn't want to be in trouble! But more, she didn't want Ruby to be mad with her. She'd seen how the young woman would chastize classmates, or gently mock them. Even gentle, it was enough to sometimes get Briecher to nudge mentally at Ruby that perhaps she could stand a little taking down herself now and then.

It was a beneficial relationship to be sure. Ruby did eventually learn a little more humility, though not much more patience. And Briecher learned... oh so many things. How to get in and out of locked rooms for instance. And how to move from one world to another in the blink of an eye.

Briecher was perhaps one of the few in her clutch that might be truly heroic and noble, given her situation as it would be when they returned to Ruby's world. All the tactics they learned sneaking around the difficult and well-patrolled halls at Carramba would work very well to keep them safe in a Combine installation. And, since Briecher did have that unique ability to create what amounted to a nuclear meltdown, it would keep the Combine from easily rebuilding after any given raid on their facilities!