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Blake was worried. They had all been stressed about making various decisions over such a short amount of time. All of them were now labeled as wanted simply for trying to save the grounded section of a floating kingdom’s capital. And while that all was a lot, she knew she could push forward with her team.
However, being Ruby’s partner for as long as she has been, having gotten used to observing the details of the actions of those closest to her, she knew her partner was struggling. So when the entire group had made their way into a Happy Huntresses hideout. Oscar had barely come back from going missing thanks to Ruby going out once they had a sighting, and Qrow was still lost and last seen with Robyn when fighting Tyrian. But as soon as they heard the details of what was required of them if they were to hide out, she saw that little flinch in her expression again.
During the reciting of everything she saw Ruby’s eyes flinch a little whenever anything was said a bit louder. It reminded her of her partner falling to the ground after they saw their greatest enemy, how her eyes had flickered. Reminded her of how she had to quickly give her partner a momentary refuge in laying against her, Weiss helping Yang as well, before they had to act once again for the greater good. She disliked that Ruby didn’t have a moment to stop when she saw the slight flinching, she knew her partner was likely trying to conceal a headache.
Everything moved too fast for Ruby to have the time to catch up, and Blake hated that she couldn’t rationally demand a moment for her. That is, until now. They can breathe now, now that they have a secure location, not much but it was good enough. When everyone dispersed and many started to look into missions, she watched from her peripheral for just a moment as she tried to look about for where was most comfortable in the fairly dirty abandoned diner.
A second sign of the headache emerged when she saw her partner tap her knuckles on her head a few times as though knocking on a door. Blake wasn’t sure what it did but she’d discovered that was simply something she did when her head hurt. She had asked her about it back during their time at Beacon and had seen it surface a few times since, but she hadn’t gotten the answer until the second time she asked about it. When it was clear to her, she saw most others leave into the kitchen, the room for plans and mission details.
Ruby did as well after a moment, to which Blake followed, but she was on a different mission. The black-haired girl looked around the kitchen, the entire center table dedicated to plans and maps. The other Happy Huntresses were showing them how to deal with the papers which Blake would ask one of her friends about later. She noticed the sheep faunus looking through papers at a smaller desk, or rather a long table taken from the main dining space.
While she didn’t want to interrupt, she didn’t want to draw attention to Ruby’s condition to the others even if she was sure they would understand, since the hooded girl liked to deal with her troubles in more private moments. She approached the cotton-haired girl, Fiona if she remembered right, catching her attention simply by approaching before she softly asked, “I hate to interrupt, but do you happen to have anything for headaches?“
She received a small smile just over the question as she stood from her chair, “Of course, and don’t worry about interrupting since you’ll be helping. Anything we would use you can use,” she led the way to the kitchen’s pantry and scanned the shelves. It wasn’t long before she found which bottle it was, a prescription bottle that’s label had been relabeled and written over, “this one should work.”
Blake accepted the bottle, the word headache written over a line and pain relief written under it. She hadn’t expected them to have anything so she smiled a little when she saw it, and spoke a soft, “Thank you.”
Fiona however then asked, “Are headaches a normal thing for you?”
The question caught her off guard, she wasn’t actually expecting any more conversation and she raised her empty hand as she clarified, “Ah, no. It’s not for me. But it isn’t normal for her either. It probably hasn’t even crossed her mind to take something for it.” A question surfaced that she couldn’t even ask, as she suddenly wondered if they would even work, if Ruby’s headache was connected to her silver eyes and perhaps made it work differently.
The smaller girl started to exit the pantry as she spoke, “Your teammate’s lucky to have you. I hope it works for them.”
Blake left behind her, her mind flickering back to a time when she wasn’t around, a thought she pushed back as she responded, “I hope so too, thanks again.”
Getting a small affirming hum in response, she looked and saw Ruby trying to coordinate who would be better with which missions. The hooded girl usually looked up at others more when she was speaking to them, Blake noted the way her hands were stabilizing herself on the table and how she seemed just a little paler than before, although it was a little hard to tell in the dim lighting. Looking around, she found a large cardboard tray filled with water bottles and grabbed one before going over.
Some of the others had left already, which wasn’t a surprise given how strictly Joanna had sounded about them helping every moment they could, even Fiona had left the room after a quick check of her desk. They couldn’t risk losing the hideout as a safe space, so she was glad the others were going out to work to earn this space for them. Ruby continued as Jaune and Ren left the room, taking a glance toward Blake, “Ah, you’re here. Good, we should probably go over to-”
The black-haired girl hated to stop her, but she did as she spoke, “Your head hurts, doesn’t it?” She saw Ruby freeze for a moment, looking at her as she put the bottle on the table. Before her partner could speak, she let out a demand, “We aren’t going anywhere until you relax for a bit.”
The smaller girl looked at her in some disbelief, or perhaps she felt strained given how her eyebrows were tensing as she moved her head, standing straight to look at Blake directly. She curled a little forward, as though trying to conceal the urge to put her head into her hands in pain, her response came quickly, “We don’t have time for that, there are people who need us.”
Blake knew she was right, she answered, “I know, and I’m sure you want to push through this. But right now I need you to be in good health.” She placed the water next to the orange container, “They won’t be helped while you’re like this. You’re struggling just to move around properly.”
Ruby knew she’d been caught, the faunus could see it easily, especially when she looked around the room to check for anyone else’s presence. So she watched as her partner received both the pills and the water and then returned the medicine where it had been found.
As she returned to the table that Ruby had started leaning her hip against, the water was emptied before Blake grabbed bottles for both of them this time. Holding them by the caps in between her fingers on one hand, she heard her partner speak, “Alright, now I should be better by the time we get there.”
Blake stopped her before she could continue, “You know I said to relax,” she approached her partner, standing beside her as she ran her fingers through the back of the hooded girl’s short hair for a second, “now come on, I’m sure we can borrow a booth to relax.”
The way she asserted it seemed to be enough as a sigh sounded next to her before her partner grabbed her free hand as she turned, to which the faunus led her back into the dining section of the building. Blake was fairly surprised that their leader was letting her lead them to the other room, that perhaps her concerns were a little more on the mark than she expected, that Ruby had been concealing a fair bit. Booths lined the nearest wall ahead of them as they exited the kitchen, so Blake led them to the corner so they could settle into a foam-cushioned booth.
Blake entered the booth first, letting Ruby go sliding in before turning to sit sideways as one of her legs were against the crack between the back and bottom of the booth and the other hanging off. Her partner looked a bit confused, or perhaps dazed from pain, to which the black-haired girl opened her arms and waved her to get closer and gained no protest when the hooded girl moved to sit between the faunus’ legs and use her torso as a backrest.
She felt the smaller girl let out a deep breath before she seemed to tense a little again as she ended up not leaning against the black-haired girl for a moment to drink some water. Ruby then laid against her again, this time doing so sideways as her legs bent to rest on the booth, which also gave space for Blake to brush her fingers through her hair. The faunus noted just how deep the breaths her partner took were, as though the girl was finally breathing.
Just when she was about to settle herself, Blake felt Ruby’s breathing start to quiver a little and as a result made sure she was still running her fingers through her hair. She wasn’t expecting her partner to talk about it as she’d been even less keen on sharing her mind than she usually was since they arrived in Argus - and even then it had only been because Blake had to help her pull things into the open. She didn’t think an answer would come, but she decided to try asking anyway, nearly whispering, “What are you thinking about, Ruby?”
A silence held the air outside of their breathing, and eventually a whispered answer came back to her, “Salem. My eyes and head have been hurting after what she said - it’s kind of hard to think right now. Or maybe it’s hard not to think.”
Blake then guessed that she was very much thinking of her mother in the gaps between mental fuzziness. And while she wanted Ruby to have the time to work through this, she needed her to try and recover first and foremost. So she softly asked, “Anything I can do to help?”
She felt her partner let out a small breath, moving a little as though she wanted to look at Blake only to decide against it and continue to lay against her. Ruby spoke a little warmly despite the clear weariness, “You’re already doing it. Don’t worry about it.”
Blake was glad for that much even if she was sure there was probably more she could do. But given how strong her partner was she knew that it would probably do more harm than good to draw more out of her. She still took the chance to use her free hand to move and hold one of Ruby’s, intertwining their fingers as she gently held it in another show of support.
Getting a small hand squeeze in return she noticed that the off-set breathing had stabilized a bit. The black-haired girl however continued to wait, hoping that her partner would find the chance to rest properly even if just for a little while. It took some time for it to happen, but once it did Blake then felt herself be healed a little too as she was finally able to relax herself.