Take advantage of the naive (Ruby)

Ruby Rose, the silver-eyed star of Beacon. There were a variety of reasons that Cardin felt she was the best place to start. Firstly, her score, while not the highest, was far higher than that Belladonna girl or even her own sister Yang. Secondly, she was so naive that if Cardin played this right, she probably wouldn’t even notice the changes the App may make to her, if the App worked at all (if it turned out to be a hoax, this aspect of his target meant he’d probably be fairly safe). Finally, he couldn’t wait to turn that chipper, happy-go-lucky bitch into a corrupted broken ****.

Course, there were a few challenges to overcome. First item on the agenda, getting her alone. Ruby had three roommates, one of whom was an older sister with a mean right hook and serious anger management issues. Additionally, pretty much all her classes were shared with at least one of the others, except biology. Unfortunately, she always sat next to Jauney boy and Pyyrha in biology, and Cardin figured his chances would be even worse with both of them there. So, what Cardin needed was a time where Ruby would be alone, outside of class time.

“Extracurriculars,” he muttered to himself. As far as he was aware, Ruby was the only one who didn’t have them, she studied in her room to catch up on the years she’d skipped instead. Extracurriculars had completely different days and times they met up, but there was still a decent chance all three of the other girls would be out at the same time. “Worth a shot, let's see.”

Cardin quickly pulled up a list of clubs and societies on his Scroll, skipping through them till he reached the meeting schedules for the one… two and… three clubs he knew they attended. Scanning through the tables, he couldn’t help but chuckle. This was probably the most effort he’d put into something that didn’t involve hitting things with his weapon in a long time. He’d have to thank… whoever the hell made this App.

Dance Class- Mon (9:30), Fri (18:30), Sat (12:00)

Faunus History Society- Wed (18:00), Fri (18:00), Sun (10:00)

Boxing Club- Fri (18:00), Sat-Sun (11:00)

There it was. A chunk of time on Friday where Ruby should be all alone in her room. Now, what to do with it…

Cardin took a long deep breath in, then slowly let it out. He’d walked through his plan dozens of times in his head as he waited for the final day of the week to eventually roll around. Now, he was sitting on a bench out of sight of the main door of the dorm building, having spotted the blonde and the faunus leave a little while ago. Now he just had to wait for- there! Cardin took a moment to appreciate the view as the prissy white-haired Weiss Schnee trotted out wearing a tight leotard. He didn’t know who in the past had decided ballerinas should wear skin tight bodysuits, but by the gods he deserved some sorta award. Waiting another minute to make sure she wasn’t going to double back to grab anything, Cardin hopped up and through the doors, heading straight for the stairs up to the right corridor. Rolling his shoulders a little, he paused just before the door to prepare himself. The route he was going to take here was one that was going to require him to swallow his pride for a while, and he had to make sure that no matter what Ruby said would raise any reaction that might sink his plans. With one last sigh, and as close to a bashful expression as he could muster, he reached up, and knocked at the door.

Ruby POV

Ruby groaned as she rubbed her sore eyes. By the Gods she hated Math. How could trigonometry possibly help her if she was up against a horde of Beowulves? It was all she could do not to just have a quick nap now she was finally alone. Grumbling to herself, she reached for and took a sip of her coffee with cream and five sugars (her “teeth-melting coffee”, as Weiss had taken to calling it), a bit spilling from her mouth as a sudden rapping at the door caused her to jump.

“Mph a secomph,” she managed to get out before swallowing. Coughing a little, she grabbed a tissue from the desk and tried to dab some coffee off her outfit. Thankfully, brown liquid doesn’t leave much stain on black. Opening the door, she was surprised to find Cardin of all people, looking like he was wishing he was anywhere except where he was right now. “Cardin? What’re you doing here?”

“Um… hi Ruby. Listen, I uh, I need…” the much taller student paused, glancing down to the floor. “This is hard to admit, ahem I need some help. May I come in?”

“Uh, sure Cardin,” Ruby was honestly taken aback. Most of her interaction with Cardin before has been Jaune sharing stories of back when he had been his tormentor, and the occasional sparring matches in combat classes. This Cardin seemed… different. Almost ****. Letting him past, she shut the door before turning back to him. “What do you need?”

“Listen Ruby,” Cardin said, nervously pacing in the gap between the rooms' bunk beds. “I know I haven’t exactly been the most friendly to you, or any of the others. But the fact is, I'm not as good as you at combat. And even though it's hard to admit it… I’d like you to teach me.”

“Wha?” was all Ruby was able to say. It was certainly true that Ruby was one of the top students in the combat class. But this was totally out of character for Cardin. The guy was proud, rude, totally incapable of change… right? Blake hated him, Nora still hadn’t given up on her plan to break his legs… but dammit, she was training to be a Huntress. And what did Huntresses do but help people who needed it. Besides, maybe Cardin wasn’t actually that bad. What if all the bullying and spite was just him getting frustrated with himself. Maybe all he really needed was a chance, a shining example to follow out of the dark path he was set on. Drawing herself up into a heroic pose, she fixed Cardin with her strong gaze. “Alright! I’ll do it! Together, we’ll make you a better Huntsman.”

“Thank you so much Ruby,” Cardin replied. “It's great to see there are people in this university willing to set aside the past for the sake of the future. It’s just really… inspiring. By the way, is that coffee I smell?”

“Oh uh, thanks I… oh yeah, Weiss made some before she left,” she answered, blushing at his kind words as she glanced over at the pot on the desk.

“The kettle in our dorm has been busted for a while, I’ve not had good coffee in ages. Grab me a cup,” Cardin said. Ruby, distracted by his complimentary words from before, didn’t register the change in tone in Cardin’s ‘request’.

“Yeah, sure,” she said, still riding high on being called an inspiration. Reaching out to the pot and grabbing a fresh mug from the shelf above it, little did she know how her simple action would affect so many lives, especially those of the two of them in that very room.

From Cardin’s pocket, a muted ding sound, too small for anyone but him to hear. Though he was smart enough not to check it in front of her, he couldn't help but let a small grin raise the corner of his mouth.

Cardin POV

Gods this was way easier than he'd expected to be. He had to sit though another five minutes or so of boring small talk and compliments, as well as some planning for when and where the two could meet for their 'lessons’. Eventually, Cardin could stomach no more of the remorseful boy in need of help act and made a pronounced glance up at the clock set above the door.

“Listen Ruby, I appreciate you being willing to help me, but I don’t know how Yang or the others will react to finding me alone with you in your room. I should probably head out before they get back.”

“Oh yeah you,” Ruby began before her eyes widened at the possible implication of being found with a boy in her room dawned on her. “Oh Gods yeah you better go, go go gogogogo.”

Cardin found himself surrounded by a burst of red rose petals before being rapidly deposited outside in the corridor. Turning quickly, he grabbed onto the door behind him just before it fully closed.

“Ruby, wait!” he said, pushing the door far enough to catch the sight of a single silver eye through the crack. “Promise me you won’t tell anyone! I appreciate your allowing me to learn from you, but if word got out… I’d just be so embarrassed. So promise me.”

“It's alright Cardin, I promise I won’t tell a soul,” she said in a pronounced stage whisper. “Now get out of here.”

Cardin allowed the door to shut then, another muted ding at Ruby’s words bringing a great big smile across his face. Casually sauntering back to the steps, it took a good bit of self-control not to give a whoop of exhilaration. Fishing his Scroll out of his pocket, he felt pure joy at the two queued notifications on the screen.

Ruby Rose- -47 -> -45

Ruby Rose- -45 -> -42

A small step, but a sure one. The App had updated like it had claimed, and there's no way that could've happened without it being genuine short of someone listening in on that conversation and doing it manually. But, that possibility was a little too paranoid for his tastes. No, the App had done what it claimed so far, and now he had gotten Ruby to agree to meet privately in the future. Things were looking up.

“Oh the plans I have for you,” he chuckled, before returning the Scroll to his pocket, and striding on down the corridor.

A/N

Nothing too hot quite yet, Cardin still laying the groundwork. Next update will pick up with Ruby and Cardin’s “training session”. Though which one is being trained… well you’ll just have to read on to find out.

In other news, thank you so much for a tremendous welcome on my debut. I expected maybe 40 max votes on the Strawpoll by the time the week ended, and y’all have blown me away with almost reaching 100 in 3 days. The Poll should be closed, unless I've done something wrong, and any who are disappointed about your rout not winning, don’t worry. I intend for each character to be corrupted eventually, either democratically through a poll, or potentially if it comes up organically as I’m writing an update. Targets of opportunity as it were. Regardless, I hope you've enjoyed this update, and I look forward to bringing you more.