The RubyWay Chronicles: Part 1
Mar 17, 2016 19:50:12 GMT -5
Post by Ruby Tyler on Mar 17, 2016 19:50:12 GMT -5
“You’re sure you want to do this?”
“I have to, Ruby.”
The look in his eyes was one she had seen before, on the face of almost every hunter she had met outside the Order: loss, grief, and the desperate need to confront the thing that had taken away what was good and precious in their lives.
“Fine. Then I’ll train you. You’ll never survive out there otherwise.”
When she’d come to Maryland, the goal was to start her PhD studies, wrestle on the side, and try to live as normal a life as possible.
As usual, life had other plans for Ruby Tyler.
The book showing up on Hardaway’s doorstep had thrown her for a loop - she knew what it was, but she hadn’t expected that he did too. Slowly, haltingly, the story came out, about Angie and how her life and his had been destroyed by things neither of them understood/ The last thing Ruby wanted was to have to deal with the man who’d done his level best to kill her over the last year, but in the end, she knew what she had to do.
“What’s this for?” he asks, looking down at the broom handle she’s just given him. It’s six thirty in the morning, he’s just woken up from a nightmare, and now Ruby Tyler is apparently planning on beating him with sticks.
There’ve been worse mornings.
“Welcome to your first day of training. Before we get started, let's go over a few ground rules. First is that whatever happened out there stays out there. In here, you're my trainee. I'm not going to hurt you or send you into a dangerous situation before you're ready. Otherwise this is just a waste of my time. Second is that everything I do to you is for a reason, and if you bitch too much about it then I’m gonna duct tape your mouth shut during sessions. Third, if I’m driving, you do not touch my radio. Any questions?”
“...A lot, but I feel like you’re gonna hit me if I ask them.”
“Probably right. Let’s get started.”
Picking up her own broom handle, Ruby twirled it in her hands and squared off with Hardaway. She showed him three simple strikes - high, middle, and low - and the corresponding blocks. They took turns blocking and striking, barely moving from their spots on the floor as Ruby walked them through the exercise, until the movements became second nature to the both of them. They worked like that for over an hour, with only the sounds of Ruby’s voice and the clack of wood on wood filling the room. When she felt her concentration fading, she called for a stop and went to grab two bottles of water out of the fridge, tossing one to Hardaway before opening her own and taking a long sip.
“You don’t use a staff.”
“What’s that?”
“Bow and arrow, swords, knives, daggers, guns… I’ve seen you with all those things. But never a staff. So why are you training me to fight with a weapon you don’t use?”
“It’s not about the weapon right now. The most important tool you’re ever going to have as a hunter is the ability to center yourself. When you’re in the midst of a fight with something, the last thing you need to be doing is overthinking and second-guessing yourself. If I can get you to a place where you’ll rely on your instinct, then you’ve got a good chance at surviving whatever’s in that book you brought me.”
“Why do you care whether or not I survive?”
Ruby sighed and rolled her eyes. “Weren’t you listening before? If you die then I’ve wasted entirely too much time and effort on you and I’d rather not spend the rest of my life wondering what else I could’ve done with this time. You ready to get back to work?”
“Yeah.”
They returned to the center of the room, only this time Ruby stood off to the side instead of directly in front of him, leaning on her staff.
“So now that you’ve got the moves down, it's time for the next step. Hold your staff in the middle block position, look straight ahead, and don't move.”
“And what are you going to do?"
“I'm going to teach you how to find your empty space. I'll move around you; now and then I'll strike. Don't move unless you have to block me.”
Instinctively, he threw a high block and Ruby just shook her head, a mischievous grin playing on her lips as she started to walk around him.
“Don’t try and outthink me, sug. I already learned how to do this.” As she moved, she noticed his eyes shifting toward her and she tapped him on the head with her staff. “I told you. Eyes forward. Don’t follow me. Every time I catch your attention straying, you’re gonna get tapped.”
For the next two hours, Ruby worked him up and down, talking and correcting him when necessary - which was often. She chalked it up to his many years spent in a wrestling ring, where he had to pay attention to what his opponent was doing. His frustration grew with every tap and every correction, the struggle evident on his face.
The next thing Ruby knew, he was swinging the staff at her head. She brought her own weapon up to block, then neatly switched her grip and hooked Hardaway’s staff, sending it flying across the room as she glared at her student.
Of course you can’t trust him, she thought. Once a violent bastard, always a violent bastard.
This time, she drove the end of her staff into his midsection, hard enough to knock the breath out of him for a moment but not cause any actual damage.
“You… are not human…” he told her, putting his hands on his knees as he took deep breaths, his expression matching the stormy one on Ruby’s face.
“I am perfectly human, thank you very much. I just have training and reflexes that you don’t, at least not yet. And you’re never going to get them if you keep trying to decapitate me with broom handles,” she told him, her tone matter-of-fact despite her irritation with him. He had the ability for this, but she worried that when it came down to the wire, he'd lose focus just as he had with her and it would lead to him doing something irrevocably stupid. For a moment she wondered if Ren had harbored such thoughts about her during her own training, but Ruby could not afford to get lost in what ifs right now.
“Go pick up your staff. We'll go another few rounds and call it a day before you get any more bright ideas about taking me out of commission.”
Hardaway looked like he was about to argue, but whatever he saw in Ruby’s expression made him reconsider what he was about to say. Instead he did as she instructed, holding the staff in middle block position once he'd retrieved it. Ruby stood directly in front of him and their eyes met for an instant before Hardaway trained his gaze on a spot just above her head.
Ruby took a deep breath and started circling him again, watching to make sure that he wasn’t following her with his eyes. For the first time since they’d begun this exercise, he was completely still and calm, waiting… for everything and nothing. On her second pass, Ruby turned on her heel and struck at him, and was rewarded with the thwack of wood on wood as Hardaway blocked her. Ruby raised a brow at him, her lips forming into a smirk.
“I know kung fu,” he said with a grin, which made Ruby roll her eyes.
“Don’t get too excited, Neo. We still got a long way to go before you can do that with your eyes closed and me striking from behind you.”
“Wait, seriously?”
Ruby just laughed and threw a towel at him. “Go take a shower. You smell like shit.”
“I have to, Ruby.”
The look in his eyes was one she had seen before, on the face of almost every hunter she had met outside the Order: loss, grief, and the desperate need to confront the thing that had taken away what was good and precious in their lives.
“Fine. Then I’ll train you. You’ll never survive out there otherwise.”
When she’d come to Maryland, the goal was to start her PhD studies, wrestle on the side, and try to live as normal a life as possible.
As usual, life had other plans for Ruby Tyler.
The book showing up on Hardaway’s doorstep had thrown her for a loop - she knew what it was, but she hadn’t expected that he did too. Slowly, haltingly, the story came out, about Angie and how her life and his had been destroyed by things neither of them understood/ The last thing Ruby wanted was to have to deal with the man who’d done his level best to kill her over the last year, but in the end, she knew what she had to do.
“What’s this for?” he asks, looking down at the broom handle she’s just given him. It’s six thirty in the morning, he’s just woken up from a nightmare, and now Ruby Tyler is apparently planning on beating him with sticks.
There’ve been worse mornings.
“Welcome to your first day of training. Before we get started, let's go over a few ground rules. First is that whatever happened out there stays out there. In here, you're my trainee. I'm not going to hurt you or send you into a dangerous situation before you're ready. Otherwise this is just a waste of my time. Second is that everything I do to you is for a reason, and if you bitch too much about it then I’m gonna duct tape your mouth shut during sessions. Third, if I’m driving, you do not touch my radio. Any questions?”
“...A lot, but I feel like you’re gonna hit me if I ask them.”
“Probably right. Let’s get started.”
Picking up her own broom handle, Ruby twirled it in her hands and squared off with Hardaway. She showed him three simple strikes - high, middle, and low - and the corresponding blocks. They took turns blocking and striking, barely moving from their spots on the floor as Ruby walked them through the exercise, until the movements became second nature to the both of them. They worked like that for over an hour, with only the sounds of Ruby’s voice and the clack of wood on wood filling the room. When she felt her concentration fading, she called for a stop and went to grab two bottles of water out of the fridge, tossing one to Hardaway before opening her own and taking a long sip.
“You don’t use a staff.”
“What’s that?”
“Bow and arrow, swords, knives, daggers, guns… I’ve seen you with all those things. But never a staff. So why are you training me to fight with a weapon you don’t use?”
“It’s not about the weapon right now. The most important tool you’re ever going to have as a hunter is the ability to center yourself. When you’re in the midst of a fight with something, the last thing you need to be doing is overthinking and second-guessing yourself. If I can get you to a place where you’ll rely on your instinct, then you’ve got a good chance at surviving whatever’s in that book you brought me.”
“Why do you care whether or not I survive?”
Ruby sighed and rolled her eyes. “Weren’t you listening before? If you die then I’ve wasted entirely too much time and effort on you and I’d rather not spend the rest of my life wondering what else I could’ve done with this time. You ready to get back to work?”
“Yeah.”
They returned to the center of the room, only this time Ruby stood off to the side instead of directly in front of him, leaning on her staff.
“So now that you’ve got the moves down, it's time for the next step. Hold your staff in the middle block position, look straight ahead, and don't move.”
“And what are you going to do?"
“I'm going to teach you how to find your empty space. I'll move around you; now and then I'll strike. Don't move unless you have to block me.”
Instinctively, he threw a high block and Ruby just shook her head, a mischievous grin playing on her lips as she started to walk around him.
“Don’t try and outthink me, sug. I already learned how to do this.” As she moved, she noticed his eyes shifting toward her and she tapped him on the head with her staff. “I told you. Eyes forward. Don’t follow me. Every time I catch your attention straying, you’re gonna get tapped.”
For the next two hours, Ruby worked him up and down, talking and correcting him when necessary - which was often. She chalked it up to his many years spent in a wrestling ring, where he had to pay attention to what his opponent was doing. His frustration grew with every tap and every correction, the struggle evident on his face.
The next thing Ruby knew, he was swinging the staff at her head. She brought her own weapon up to block, then neatly switched her grip and hooked Hardaway’s staff, sending it flying across the room as she glared at her student.
Of course you can’t trust him, she thought. Once a violent bastard, always a violent bastard.
This time, she drove the end of her staff into his midsection, hard enough to knock the breath out of him for a moment but not cause any actual damage.
“You… are not human…” he told her, putting his hands on his knees as he took deep breaths, his expression matching the stormy one on Ruby’s face.
“I am perfectly human, thank you very much. I just have training and reflexes that you don’t, at least not yet. And you’re never going to get them if you keep trying to decapitate me with broom handles,” she told him, her tone matter-of-fact despite her irritation with him. He had the ability for this, but she worried that when it came down to the wire, he'd lose focus just as he had with her and it would lead to him doing something irrevocably stupid. For a moment she wondered if Ren had harbored such thoughts about her during her own training, but Ruby could not afford to get lost in what ifs right now.
“Go pick up your staff. We'll go another few rounds and call it a day before you get any more bright ideas about taking me out of commission.”
Hardaway looked like he was about to argue, but whatever he saw in Ruby’s expression made him reconsider what he was about to say. Instead he did as she instructed, holding the staff in middle block position once he'd retrieved it. Ruby stood directly in front of him and their eyes met for an instant before Hardaway trained his gaze on a spot just above her head.
Ruby took a deep breath and started circling him again, watching to make sure that he wasn’t following her with his eyes. For the first time since they’d begun this exercise, he was completely still and calm, waiting… for everything and nothing. On her second pass, Ruby turned on her heel and struck at him, and was rewarded with the thwack of wood on wood as Hardaway blocked her. Ruby raised a brow at him, her lips forming into a smirk.
“I know kung fu,” he said with a grin, which made Ruby roll her eyes.
“Don’t get too excited, Neo. We still got a long way to go before you can do that with your eyes closed and me striking from behind you.”
“Wait, seriously?”
Ruby just laughed and threw a towel at him. “Go take a shower. You smell like shit.”
This is gonna be a great way to introduce me to the Anniemaniacs.
Anyone who ever watched Exodus knows what I spent the bulk of last year doing in the wrestling ring. If I wasn’t up against Kevin Hardaway, I was busy trying to take out some other big bad in the company. It was a never-ending battle between good and evil, with me being the only one still fighting the good fight by the time the place shut down.
Let me tell you, that gets exhausting after awhile.
So I’m excited for this match, Annie. It’s nice to have some good old-fashioned competition between friends, isn’t it? You’ve got talent for days, kiddo, and by now I’m pretty sure every wrestling fan in the world knows the name Annie Zellor. I mean hell, you’ve been all over the United States and Canada, you’ve been competing in Japan and the UK… someday you’re gonna have the words “international superstar” before your name. Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if people are throwing that phrase around now.
And then you add in your music career - really looking forward to the next album, by the way - and all the planning you’ve put into your party, and then you’ve got a boyfriend to pay attention to… you make me look lazy compared to when I was your age. I thought I was busy with wrestling school and trying to maintain my GPA and not kill my junior year roommate, but you? Damn, it’s exhausting just watching you sometimes.
That’s why, as much as this is another introductory match for me here in FGA? I’m confident that I’ll be the one with my hand raised in victory when that final bell rings. You’ve got a lot going on, which is great, but we all saw how easy it is for you to lose focus when you were guest refereeing that match for Savannah and Salem. And trust me, when you’ve got the Huntress after you? The last thing you want to do is allow anything outside that ring to distract you.
Friendly competition is friendly competition, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to win, Annie. I already beat Nero here in FGA. Putting on a match of the night with you will absolutely make people pay attention to me here, but winning this match? It’s going to show everyone who’s still on the fence about me that I’m not just another face on the roster. I’m here to make an impact. I’m here to show the world what Ruby Tyler can achieve when put in a situation that requires actual skill, instead of beating the crap out of someone with steel chairs and then tossing them in a casket and then a hearse.
So let’s go out there and put on a show the fans won’t forget, Annie. You can bet that I’m gonna be bringing the best I’ve got, and I know you will be too.
Just remember to keep your head in the game, kiddo. Otherwise you’re gonna wind up prey for the Huntress.