Chapter 2

The Homeless Idol

Monday : March 3rd 2025

So, how does a girl live as a homeless idol? Well, for Ruby the day starts at the crack of dawn. A trip to Hungies for a coffee and a breakfast sandwich, (Hungry Jacks or Burger King for our American readers) is followed quickly by a trip to the gym. A shorter than usual morning workout is followed by a shower and a change of clothes. 

Next Ruby finds a nice place to sit for a while with free wifi, usually a Cafe. Sipping on a hot chocolate, she spends about an hour or two replying to as many of the social media mentions as she can. As her followers count as grown larger, Ruby finds this once simple task taking up more and more of her day. Eventually her fingers start to cramp or her vision starts to blur, so it's time to change tasks for a little while.

Next up is finding work. Living paycheck to paycheck has never been taken more literally. Browsing city job boards, online “help wanted” ads, and calling up photographers, producers, and friends in the area for work was part of the daily routine for Ruby, and usually it can land her a pretty full docket depending on what city she's in. 

Some days she'll find herself a video game studio, acting as a voice actress. Others she'll be at a photo studio, posing with this season's latest skin tight jeans or stylish jacket. Sometimes she'll be working behind the camera, such as helping an aspiring Vtuber set up their motion capturing rig for the first time. Sometimes she'll be doing much less exotic work for the evening, working as a waitress, or a DoorDash driver, or babysitting. Generally speaking, Ruby didn't care what the job was. If it was legal and ended with her getting a stack of cash at the end of the night, she was usually down.

As she finished up her social media updates and quest to find future work, it was time to focus on today's business. Today was an interesting addition, because Ruby would be playing the part of a Vampire…

“You walk through the temple as the lighting strikes outside, the stained glass coloring the light beautifully as it illuminates the floor. In the distance lies the treasure this adventure had all been for, the chest of truth…” 

Around the table the three nerdy looking yet brave adventurers listened intently. Pencils close to hand, character sheets and journals full of math and skills plopped down in front of them. They took in the scene Ruby’s lips painted for them, the end of a two day adventure.

 Markie's card shop in Melbourne had a twice weekly Dungeons & Dragons meeting. Whenever Ruby was in town they practically begged her to come and act as a DM, or “Dungeon Master”. Effectively a DM plays as an all seeing, all knowing god. Not only do they control the storyline of the game, but they also indirectly control the fate of the characters, challenging the actions of  players via dice rolls. It was a very math heavy game, and something often seen as the exclusive realm of the super nerd. Among friends games could last for years across several meetups, but these public meetings were much more concise and brief.

When Markie first hired Ruby, it was 100% based on her looks. The idea of having this uber attractive girl acting as a DM was sure to sell seats at their public meetings regardless of how good of a story weaver she was. However much to the store staff's surprise, Ruby took her role no differently from any other acting job she had done in the past. Borrowing a rule book, she familiarized herself with the game just as she would memorize a script of a movie or play in the days leading up to her debut. When she arrived for her first day, she had a small journal all her own of a story she had in mind, a journey she wanted to take her players on.

“You're party cautious steps forward into the cavernous halls of the cathedral…” Ruby hisses out in an over dramatic way before one of the players Gavin the Great raises his hand and speaks.

“I want to roll for perception, check for any traps” Gavin speaks and his party nods in agreement. Ruby gives off a devilish grin as she first rolls a dice to get a number to beat. 

“Okay, go for it!” she then chirps cheerfully. Gavin picks up his trusty green twenty sided dice and rolls. It stops at twelve. Ruby ponders for just a moment, thinking of what to say as the story moves on.

“The room seems empty and abandoned, like not a soul has stepped in her for hundreds of years and yet, there is a clearly defined path marked out in the dust on the floor.” Ruby explains, continuing to paint the picture of this scary Gothic cathedral in the minds of her players.

“I don't trust it!” Shouts Nugget the dwarven barbarian before adding on.

“I'm going to throw my hammer into the room!”

“Roll!” Ruby replies, her wicked smile returning.  She has set a trap, a final challenge for her players to face or avoid based on their decisions, and so far, they are falling into her clutches! 

“Sixteen” Nugget announces.

“You hurl your hammer into the main room of the cathedral and it clatters to the ground with a metallic and wooden tang. And then, in a flash of pure darkness…”

Ruby smiles sadistically as stands up from the table. Slowly, she makes her way around to sit on the table beside Nugget, her eyes gleaming with the desire of a hungry predator. In an instant Ruby disappears, and in her place her character appears. 

“Hello travelers, welcome to my cathedral! I am Starfire, Queen of the Vampires!” Ruby began, gently, seductively even, taking Nuggets chin and forcing him to look up at her.

“It was rude of you to awaken me from my slumber, but since you're here, why don't you join me for dinner?” Ruby says evilly, licking her lips. Poor Nugget blushed deeply with embarrassment as he looked back up at Ruby, so stunned by her transition from this beautiful yet normal spunky girl to this genuinely terrifying, evil creature of the night, if only in their imagination. 

“You vampire, me smash!” It was Gronkin the Barbarian, the third member of the team that broke Ruby’s enchanting curse and managed to speak up first. He threw a pencil eraser at Ruby, likely imagining it was a rock in lore, but she just laughed evilly at the pathetic attack. Gracefully, twirling around the table past Gavin like a ballerina, Ruby locked eyes with Gronkin and spoke.

“Oh a Barbarian! I haven't seen one of you in ages! Oh how I will love watching you squirm as I crush you like a worm under my boots, scum!” 

“That Barbarian could break you in half Starfire! Back off, we're here for the chest of truth!” Gavin warned, trying to give his best hero voice. But as Ruby spun around the weight of her acting crushed him like a bug. 

“And you must be Gavin the Great! I've heard a lot about you, a nation's best vampire hunter huh? Well, Gavin, it would be my honor to slaughter you in honor of my fallen brother and sisters in which you have killed. If the chest of truth is what you seek, you will have to go through me first!” Ruby announces as she pulls her character sheet out from her back pocket!. 

 By now the eyes of other tables around the store have started to notice the strange happenings over at Ruby’s table. Gavin, Nugget, and Grokin have all unwillingly become part of a play, their plight and story no longer a campaign of three. Now their final battle will play out on the public stage for all to see and Ruby is the puppet master of their fate! With all eyes now firmly locked onto her table, the real battle began!

…

Two hours later, Ruby’s campaign is the only one that has been completed, as everyone had paused to watch the chaos unfold. The chest of truth remains unopened, as all three adventures fell during the final battle, but as a contingency prize, Ruby gave each of the players a little gift box full of candy anyway as a thank you for putting up with her tomfoolery.

“Just so you guys know, I only had like seven HP left, you almost killed me.” Ruby said, showing her math as the battle had gone on. 

Gavin the Great had been the last to die, making a last ditch effort with the Holy Hand Grenade before rolling a one and dropping it at his feet to blow himself up. This slightly embarrassing ending aside, he was beaming, thrilled by how the game had turned out. Gronkin the Barbarian meanwhile was slightly heated. Ruby teased him, or more his character, constantly until he basically wore himself out with constant attacks. Once his abilities and skills were drained, Ruby executed him under the heel of her boot like a cane toad. But Nugget got arguably the worst/best fate. Early in the fight Ruby cornered him and ate him, giving Nugget a kiss on the cheek in real life to signify his death. Nugget was the shyest of this trio, and he now sat in stunned silence amazed he had gotten a kiss out of this deal somehow. 

“Anyway, thank you guys so much for playing! I'm still learning this whole D&D thing, so I hope this campaign was fun!” Ruby said as she started to pack up all her things. 

“Wait, seriously?! Are you new to this? That was incredible, your acting skills are amazing!” Gavin said enthusiastically.

“Almost a little too good, you genuinely started to piss me off.” Gronkin added on as he sucked on a lollipop from Ruby’s gift box.

“Hehe, sorry about that, it was nothing personal. I am an actress, so getting into the character and bringing them to life is what I do best!” Ruby explained. 

“How did an actress like you get into D&D?” Gavin asked genuinely.

“Uh, I don't know? I saw a help needed ad and I was like, ‘Mate, I can help you out!’ I've worked off and on here ever since, whenever I'm in town pretty much.” Ruby laughed. 

“Oh, so you won't be back next month?” Nugget asked, it was the first thing he had said since his falling.

“It kinda depends? I just go wherever the wind takes me.” That was a slogan Ruby stole from her father, something he would say a lot before leaving the house. “I'll go wherever the wind takes me today, as long as I know I can find my way back home tomorrow.” For just a brief moment, Ruby felt a small pain in her heart, but quickly shook it off. This was not the time or the place. 

“Oh…” Nugget sighed disappointedly. 

“You just want another kiss from the pretty actress don't you mate?” Gavin laughed and punched him in the shoulder gently.

“Man, shut up! No. I just… that was actually a lot of fun…” Poor Nugget was now bright red and couldn't bring himself to look at Ruby as Gavin chuckled beside him. Ruby meanwhile glanced at the clock, it was almost 9pm. 

“Gentlemen, its been really fun, but I have to get going. I've got a busy day tomorrow. Enjoy the rest of your evening and see you around!” With that another usually unusual day for Ruby Starfire came to close. With a choir of “Goodbye Ruby,” behind her and a paycheck in hand, she returned to her Holden to find a nice quiet place to make camp for the night. 

Although today's events had been nothing but positive, now relaxing in the bed of her UTE outside of a Cashies, Ruby’s mind was left to wander. She had been living like this for almost a year now, basically the day she graduated from school. It seemed so long ago, the luxury of living in a house, taking a bath whenever she wanted, watching TV and it felt even longer since she saw her dad. Looking up to the skies above and the dark rolling clouds of New South Wales Australia, she couldn't help but wonder if her dad was still up there somewhere? Gliding along the clouds like he so loved to do.

She looked over towards her boots, sitting by her feet in the corner of the UTE’s bed. They were custom cowgirl boots, a trophy of one of her first successful photoshoots, modeling for a company that made them. Bejeweled into the side of the shaft of the boot, was the Starfire's Family Crest. A heart shaped ruby jewel, crowned with gold and surrounded by the wings of an angel. It was the crest Ruby herself was named after, and the recent addition of the angel's wings was made by Ruby in honor of her father. A wingless version of the same jewel sometimes hung around Ruby’s neck, normally when she felt she needed a little luck. Tonight however it lay in her hand tucked beneath her pillow as she said a silent prayer and fell asleep. Tomorrow was going to be a long day.