Board Thread:Speculation House/@comment-92.232.230.34-20130719223612/@comment-10390252-20130725093023

I think Ruby's reality kick will come when she confronts human death on the battlefield for the first time and realises that this isn't a game and it isn't some romantic tale from the age of fantasy heroes; as Glynda has been trying to teach her, it is a bloodly life-or-death struggle against creatures that combine animal ferrocity with human cunning and sadism and against humans with no morality whatsoever (or at least enormously twisted morality).

I can see her, in her dorm, crying her eyes out. Yang can't get through to her; instead it is Blake who helps the most. She sits down next to Ruby and tries to comfort her:

"I can't get it off...!" Ruby sobs.

"What?"

"The... the blood!" Blake looks at Ruby's clean hands and nods sadly.

"No... No, it doesn't come off.  The most you can do is try to make it things better by making sure that it is always for the right reasons and that the innocent are always protected.  It is the warrior's fate to be a killer so that others do not have to be."

Regarding Ruby's relationship with Blake, I think that Ruby is smart enough not to categorise so she won't automatically blame Blake for Adam's actions (unless Adam, out of pure malice, loudly thanks Blake for her assistance in his latest victory). However, if Blake can't let go of her past pain, she is going to hurt the others along the line because she's going to have a difficult time making objective decisions about who and what are the enemy.