Alright, so for those of you that don't know, meaning, everyone that reads this story, I'm CathedralOfFiction, or James, and I'm currently writing a fanfic called RWBY: Red Rover. Now, shameless advertising of my other fic aside, this is one of the days where I take a break from my writing schedule for Red Rover, so I thought I'd write about something I've been tossing around in my head for the past few days. That idea would happen to be an alternate version of the RWBYverse where all the main characters are just civilians living out their lives. I may or may not use some of the canon for my other fic, such as original characters, and Ruby Rose being a Faunus, but most likely not.
As it stands, this will be the setting of this story, which I will call, RWBY: Bystanders:
Setting: Vale, near the coast(it has to have a coast somewhere because docks)
Sub-Setting: Vale Residential District
You know enough by now, so let me just schwoop on over to the story bit of this story. Amirite ladies?(I'm never right.)
Location: Apartment 137, Evergreen Apartments
Time: 8:07 AM, Vale Time
Day: Tuesday
The small room was dark, despite the time of the early morning, and a the soft sound of small breaths could be heard from the room's lone occupant. Said occupant was a girl, of about nineteen years of age, with short black hair, with red highlights. This crimsonette was sleeping soundly as the seconds ticked, her head filled with dreams of wolves and scythes. That is, it was, until her alarm struck exactly 8:08 AM, and began ringing, a loud obnoxious tone filling the room, and startling the crimsonette out of her reverie, and out of her bed, to the floor of the room.
"Ow! Son of a biscuit!" The crimsonette, angrily rubbed her head, then stood and hit her alarm, prompting the blare of the alarm to stop. Groggily, the girl grabbed her scroll from her nightstand, and walked into the kitchen of the small two room, one bath apartment.
"Heya, sis! Get a good night's sleep?" A cheery blonde girl sat already at the table, a bowl of cereal in front of her.
"Hey, Yang. Uh, yeah. Good sleep, until my stupid alarm went off. I should just throw the thing out."
"I won't let you do that, Ruby" Ruby simply rolled her eyes and went over to the cupboards, pulling out a box of highly unhealthy cereal titled Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes and grabbed a bowl, then walked over to the table and took the milk from Yang, and proceeded to make a bowl of cereal.
"Why not?"
Yang smiled a little, and twisted a lock of her long blonde hair around her finger. "Well, you've been out of school for about a year now, so I figured, until you go to college, you're gonna need to get a job. If you have a job, you'll have to wake up early. Without an alarm clock, you won't be able to wake up early, so you need to keep the alarm clock." Ruby swallowed a bite of cereal, and scowled, clearly displeased.
"Yang, I already have a job. I'm an artist, remember?"
"How many commissions do you get a month?"
"Uh, like, 7 or 8 in a good month, like 4 or 5 on average, why?"
"How much do you charge for a commission?"
"15 Lien for a monochrome drawing, 30 Lien for full colour. Why are you asking this?"
"So what you're saying is, at best you can make 240 L(L will be the sign for Lien) in a month?"
Ruby rubbed the back of her neck and nodded. "Yeah, what about it?"
"Ruby, you can't make a living on 240 L a month! You need a real job that pays by the hour. Besides, you need to start helping out with the rent around here. As much as I love you, I can't pay forever." Ruby laughed a little, then looked down at her bowl of Marshmallow Flakes apologetically.
"Sorry, Yang. I know I need to help out. It's just-" Ruby sighed and propped her head up with her hand, her elbow resting on the table"I really want to be an artist, Yang. How will I find time to draw when I have a job?" Yang laughed a little, and reached across the table, and took one of Ruby's hands.
"Rubes, look, not every artist got their start immediately, okay? You'll have spare time to draw and do whatever during breaks, and just free time. But in the meantime, before you get your 'big break' you'll need to have something to tide you over. Besides, having some extra money would be nice wouldn't it?" Yang smiled at Ruby, then patted her hand, and stood up. "I already got you a job interview, too. It's at this really cool diner about two blocks away. I can even drop you off there every day on Bumblebee, on my way to the shop."
"What's the name of the place?"
"It's called 'The Crescent Rose Diner'. I've eaten there once or twice, and it's like, really good. Plus, the owner, a dude named Fletcher, is like, really nice, and he said he needed some extra hands, so I told him about you and he said if you came in today, he'd interview you!"
"Yang, today!? When were you planning on telling me that!?"
"Well, right about now, actually" Ruby let out an exasperated sigh, and finished her cereal. Picking her bowl up, she joined Yang in the kitchen and started to wash her bowl, before setting it in the sink.
"When do we need to be there?" Yang checked her watch.
"Well, it's 8:17 now, and he said somewhere around nine. You've got like, 40 minutes. Ruby grumbled and walked back to her room.
"Let me get some clothes out and take a shower then, Yang"
Ruby grumbled internally. Figures she wouldn't tell me until the day of the interview! Like really Yang? Giving me 40 minutes to prepare for my first ever job interview!? That is cruel. Ruby shook her head a little as she selected her outfit for the day, then walked across the hall to the bathroom, where she quickly stripped out of her pajamas, and slipped into the shower. After about 3 minutes, Ruby stepped out and dried herself off, brushed her teeth, and her hair, then got dressed. Looking the mirror, Ruby smiled. Clad in black combat boots, a pair of dark blue jeans, a silver tee shirt with a Beowolf design on it, with a red hoodie that had black sleeves, with a silver rose necklace and a pair of red headphones with rose designs on them, Ruby thought she looked ready for a job interview. I've got this, I'm gonna nail this interview! Who wouldn't hire me? Satisfied, Ruby stepped out into the hall, then back into her room, where she picked up her scroll, which she had left in there when she picked out her clothes, and her wallet, which was resting on her nightstand, then went back to the dining room.
"Yang, I'm dressed, what now?" Yang popped around the corner, holding a bundle of clothes, with her scroll and wallet clenched between her teeth. She jerked her head towards the bathroom, and raised an inquisitive eyebrow. "Yeah, there's hot water. I took a cold shower." Yang rolled her eyes, but nodded, and ducked into the bathroom, closing the door with her foot as she went inside. After a minute, the shower turned on, but by that time, Ruby was already in the living room, too far to hear it, as she watched some random cartoon, X-Ray and Vav, or something like that, waiting for Yang to get done in the shower. Just as a fight scene was starting, Yang plopped onto the couch next to Ruby. Clad her normal attire, blue jeans and kneehigh boots, with a yellow shirt with a flame design, under a leather jacket, with her hair put back in a ponytail, Yang smiled, and grabbed the remote, switching the TV off.
"Now, Ruby, we wait. While we wait though, I figured we could talk about your social life. Or y'know, you lack of social life." Yang smiled as Ruby gasped a little, looking at Yang a bit indignantly.
"I have a social life, Yang!"
"People who commission you don't count, Rubes."
"I wasn't gonna say people who commission me, Yang."
"Were you gonna say Dad or Uncle Qrow?"
"...Yes."
"They don't count either"
"Yang, why do we need to talk about social stuff?" Ruby crossed her arms, and sagged against the couch. Yang rolled her eyes and scooched over to Ruby, putting an arm around her little sister, and pulling her close.
"Because, you're gonna start a new job, hopefully. This job is at a diner, and working at a diner, unless you're cooking, will require you to interact with customers, and your coworkers. Well, cooks do the coworkers thing too, but you can't cook to save your life, so, yeah."
"Hey! I totally can cook!"
"Ruby, ramen noodles and microwave meals don't count. Anyways, you're gonna need to work with and talk to people, so you're gonna need to be more socially active. That includes making friends, alright?" Ruby pouted for a few more seconds, before sighing, rolling her eyes, and nodding with a smile. "Good!" Yang checked her scroll. It was 8:25. "Hmm, it's 8:25. He said they would be closed till lunch today, so I think maybe we can just pop on by" Disentangling herself from Ruby, Yang stood up, then frowned. "Ruby, go put your hair back up in your bun"
Ruby touched her hair, then frowned. "Why? What's wrong with it now?"
"Nothing, it just makes you look cuter, and much more professional. Plus I told you to, so you have to" Ruby smiled and stood up, then went to the bathroom, and came out 2 minutes later, some of her excess hair tied back in a bun, with one lock of hair hanging down the right side of her face, framing it nicely. "Good, now, let's go, Fletcher will be real excited to meet you!"
Yang spun on her heel and walked out, with Ruby in tow, and descended the stairs, and walked out onto the sidewalk, up to Yang's bike. Yang grabbed the helmets dangling from the handlebars, and handed one to Ruby, donning one of her own as she hopped onto the bike.
"Get on and hold on Ruby. Make sure that helmet is on nice and tight!" Ruby nodded as she got her helmet on, then hopped on the bike, wrapping her arms around Yang's waist.
"Alright, I'm ready!" Yang grinned and slowly peeled out of their parking spot, before accelerating a little bit, staying just under the speed limit as they drove through Vale, aiming to end up at The Crescent Rose Diner. After about fifteen minutes, they pulled up and parked out front of the diner, and then hopped off. The diner was, nice. It had four sets of large windows, and was situated on a pier. One set of windows, looked out over the beach, another towards the ocean, the third towards a forest nearby, and the last back towards the city. It had a nice green and gold colour scheme, and had a sign over the front door that read The Crescent Rose Diner, and it had a rose with a golden reverse crescent above it. Yang and Ruby stepped inside, and immediately caught the smell of freshly baked cookies. Looking around, they saw only a few people in the diner. A boy in a green jacket, with black hair tied in a ponytail, was washing a table while talking to a girl with short orange-red hair. At the counter, a girl with long red hair and a bronze coloured jacket was talking to a blonde boy with a black hoodie. At the table nearest to the door, a slightly older man with dark brown hair that was kept in a bun, plus a goatee adorning his face, sat while looking over some paperwork. As Yang and Ruby walked in, the man looked up, then smiled, standing.
"Yang, you're back! Am I safe to assume this is Ruby?"
"Yeah, Mr Arc, this is Ruby! She's here for a job interview. Little devil needs a job anyways" Ruby huffed a little, but then waved to Mr Arc.
"Hi, Ruby Rose, at your service, Mr Arc!" She stuck her hand out and smiled. Mr Arc took her hand and smiled back, laughing a little. "What're you laughing at? Did I say something?"
The blonde boy from the counter piped up. "Dad likes for his employees, well, for everyone, to call him Fletch. It's short for Fletcher. Trust me, it's easier if you go with it." Ruby nodded a thank you to the blonde, who smiled back, then turned back to the redhead and resumed talking. Fletch cleared a little of the table he had been working at off, and motioned for Ruby to sit.
"Yang, why don't you go talk with Jaune and Pyrrha while I interview Ruby?" Yang nodded and walked over to the counter, where she effortlessly joined the conversation Pyrrha and Jaune were having. "Now, Ruby" Fletch laced his hands together, and propped his elbows up on the table, then rested his chin on the platform created by his two hands"How are you?"
"I'm doing well, thank you!"
"Good to hear, now uh, for the questions. Name?"
"Ruby Rose."
"Age?"
"19"
"Familial relations?"
"My sister, my dad, and my uncle."
"Their names?"
"Yang Xiao Long, Taiyang Xiao Long, and Qrow Branwen, respectively"
"Alright, uh, criminal records?" As in, have you committed any crimes?"
"Not that I know of, sir."
"Call me Fletcher" Fletcher shuffled some papers then sighed, setting the stack down. "Look, screw the questions. Just tell me about you Ruby."
"Uh, well, I'm Ruby Rose, I'm nineteen and I live with my sister Yang. I like to draw, and read, and listen to music and play video games."
"More in depth? Why do you want this job?"
"To be honest Mr Arc, I really don't want it. I mean no offense to you or your diner, I just don't want it."
Fletcher smiled, and raised an eyebrow. "Why is that?"
"Well, I really want to be an artist, I love to draw, it is my passion! I've always dreamed about becoming an artist, and once I save the money up, I'm gonna try to get into an art school, then pursue a career as an artist. I might do some writing on the side, so that I have stories to go with my art, but that is besides the point."
"If you love art so much, why aren't you already pursuing a career as an artist?"
"Well, I live with Yang, which means she needs to buy groceries for 2, and pay for a 2-person apartment, as well as pay for the amount of utilities that 2 people use. I can't help much with the rent because at best I make 240 L a month off drawing commissions, and I can't pay for rent and save for art school."
"Hmm. So you want to help your sister then?"
"Yes, sir."
"You're hired"
Ruby's brow furrowed, a look of confusion spreading across her face. "I'm sorry?"
"You're hired" Fletcher shrugged and smiled.
"Why? You haven't even seen my resume or gotten any references from me!"
"You seem like a good person, Ruby. You're willing to, temporarily, put your goals on hold to help your sister, plus, you speak passionately about your dreams, which means, at least to me, that you're capable of great devotion and dedication. I also perceive you as caring and good-hearted, and you're polite. I look for all those things in an employee. Plus, let's face it, I'm running a diner. Unless you cook, all you need to know how to do is carry trays, take orders, and wash tables. So, you're hired. I promise you'll love it here, Miss Rose" Fletcher smiled and stood, offering a hand to Ruby, who grabbed it. He pulled Ruby to her feet, shook her hand, then motioned for her to follow him. "Alright, everyone, gather round!" The boy with the black hair, and the other redhead walked over, and sat down, as Fletcher pushed Ruby in front of him. He pointed at the girl with the long red hair. "Ruby, this is Pyrrha, Pyrrha this is Ruby" He pointed to the blonde boy. "Ruby, this is my son, Jaune. Son, this is Ruby" Next he pointed to Yang. "Yang, this is your sister. Ruby, you know your sister" Now he shifted his finger to the black haired boy. "Ruby, this is Ren, and the girl next to him is Nora. Ren, Nora, this is Ruby" Everyone smiled and shook Ruby's hand, as she stood there, a little embarrassed. "Alright guys, big news. Ruby here, is our newest employee. We're gonna get her one of the spare uniforms, and then she'll start today at lunch, and you guys are going to teach her how to work here at the diner. Pyrrha, you're up first, since we'll probably put her behind the counter and have her take some orders to start her off, okay? Next, Jaune, you'll teach her how to wait tables and stuff. Ren, Nora, you'll teach her how to...clean the diner...huh, you guys caught the easy ride." Everyone smiled a little brighter. "Now, I'm going to take all my papers, and go into my office downstairs, and finish up my work. The rest of you, get to work. Ren, take Ruby to get her uniform, Nora, show her to the dressing rooms. Yang, don't you have a job to get to?" Yang checked her watch and blanked, her jaw dropping a little.
"Yes actually, I'm gonna be late!" Yang shot to her feet, gave Ruby a hug and a kiss on the forehead, then ran and sprinted through the door. A second later, she came back in and tossed Ruby's bike helmet to her, then ran back out and mounted her bike, then sped off. Ruby smiled and shook her head a little. She turned to say something to Fletcher, but he was already collecting his papers and heading downstairs. Nora grabbed Ruby's arm and smiled, startling the girl, then started dragging her towards a door marked 'Employees Only', with Ren in tow.
"Nora, easy, you're going to hurt the rookie"
"Nonsense, Ren! She's fine!" Ruby laughed a little nervously as they passed through the doors into an employee lounge, with an attached employee bathroom, and two employee dressing rooms, as well as a small kitchenette, and a storage room. Nora dragged her to the storage room, and had Ruby sit down on a small bench, then sat down next to her.
"Ruby, what's your size?" Ren looked over his shoulder at Ruby.
"Huh? Why would you need to know that?" Ruby blushed and covered her chest.
"Clothing size, Ruby"
"Oh, uh, medium will do" Ren nodded, and opened a box, and started rifling through it.
"So, Ruby! We're gonna be like, best friends. Well, not best friends, because Ren is my best friend. Him and Pyrrha. Jaune too. Still good friends though! I can't wait! You're gonna come to the beach with us, and you're gonna go out on trips and stuff, and come to our parties and you're gonna get to play games and stuff and it'll be like, awesome!"
"Uh, what?"
"Well I mean, everyone who works here is entitled to mandatory Crescent Rose team trips and outings, so you will be coming with us!"
"Mandatory?"
Ren laughed. "Not really, but Nora will make you go. You can't weasel out of it, and you can't avoid it unless you are horribly sick" Ren pulled up a shirt, an apron, and a small cap, then tossed them to Ruby. "You don't really have to wear the cap, if you don't like it. Nora, show our new friend to the dressing room" Nora smiled and picked Ruby up, carrying her bridal style out of the room, with no small amount of protesting, and laughing, from Ruby.
"Alright, put on the uniform, peasant!" Nora shouted happily while Ruby looked around nervously, noticing the lack of individual stalls. "Relax Ruby, you don't have anything I haven't seen before. Just change. I promise not to look." Ruby nodded and slipped headphones off of her, then her hoodie off, then her shirt, and quickly changed into the diner uniform shirt and apron. The shirt was a dark green with a silver rose on the front, with white text wrapped around the top of it that read 'The Crescent Rose Diner' and the apron was a simple gold coloured apron with a pocket on it. Ruby grabbed her hoodie and slipped it back on, then grabbed her headphones and rested them back across her neck, before looking in a mirror and smiling. "Oooh, looking good, Ruby!" Nora laughed a little, then took Ruby by the hand, and dragged her out of the dressing room, and was about to drag her to the counter, when suddenly a hand dropped on Ruby's shoulder, and stopped her. Turning to look, Ruby saw Jaune, smiling.
"Hey, you left this on the counter when Nora abducted you" Jaune held out Ruby's bike helmet, and Ruby grabbed it, then opened the dressing room door and tossed her helmet in, then nodded to Jaune, who nodded back, before allowing Nora to drag her to the counter, with Jaune in tow. As they reached the counter, Ruby saw Ren already waiting, and talking to Pyrrha.
"...and that's why Blake shouldn't be allowed at our next airsoft match." Ren finished up some statement about a guy named Blake as Ruby, Nora and Jaune walked up. "Oh, hey Ruby. The uniform suits you." Ren smiled then turned to Pyrrha.
"Ren is right, that uniform really cuts you a striking figure, Ruby" Ruby nodded, blushing a little, right up until Nora lifted her again, and put her on the counter, where Pyrrha laughed and grabbed her, then helped her down to the ground behind the counter. "Now, all of you, scatter, except for you Ruby" Everyone stood up and dispersed through the diner, while Pyrrha directed Ruby to stand by a small console in the counter, that was just above the register. "Alright, Ruby, are you ready to go back to school?"
"Could I ask a question?"
"Fire away!"
"Why does Nora grab people?" Ruby blushed a little bit and shrunk.
"Nora can be a bit intimidating when you first meet her, considering the grabbing and abducting thing, but Nora honestly has a heart of gold, and she is a lot more tolerable once you know her. Generally, you'll get used to the grabbing after about a week. That never stops." Pyrrha laughed and shook her head a little. "Now, like I said, you're going back to school, but only for a little bit. Try to keep up" Ruby sighed and nodded. Pyrrha tapped a key on the keyboard of the console, and it lit up, displaying a small seating chart of the whole diner, as wells as a list of on duty workers, which included everyone in the room, including Ruby, which surprised Ruby, and a small section with a blinking bar that indicated text was meant to be typed there. "Alright, as you can probably see, we have our seating arrangement, our list of workers, and our order area. Now, when someone comes up here, you assign them a table, and one of our servers will take them over to the table. If there aren't any available servers, just take them yourself, and hurry back to the counter. Now, when they come up here, before you assign them a table, ask them first, if they would like to dine inside or outside, and if they would like a table or a booth. Obviously, if there are no outside seats, or no inside seats, don't ask them that, and if there are no tables, or no booths, don't ask about those, and just ask what applies. Next, if they come in and sit here at the counter, ask them what they want to drink, and use this machine here to make them a drink. I'll teach you how in a minute. Now, the order screen, is not actually for you to type down someone's order, it is actually a literal order screen, meaning, it will show the order of people waiting to be seated here, will show you the order that people's orders are being cooked in here, and will show you how long a table has gone without a server visit here. Simple rules, call out the numbers in the waiting to be seated column from top to bottom when a seat opens up, and ring up an order in by calling the order number from top to bottom. Lastly, if you see a table has gone a while without service, hit this button, to isolate the list of on duty servers, and then hit this button, to ping one of them, to bring them here, then send them to the table. Now, after you assign someone their seat, and the server takes their order, the order will pop up here, and then once it is ready, someone will bring it to you, and then you call for the person whose order it is, got it?" Ruby blinked once or twice, then nodded. It was a lot of information to take in, as Pyrrha had just hit her with a wall of words, but Ruby thought she understood. Pyrrha smiled. "Okay, next, a little lesson on behaviour. When dealing with a customer, be polite, and act friendly. If they are getting unruly or being rude, or violent, call for me or Fletch, and we'll deal with them. Next, always, always, always, make sure they are satisfied, because we actually care about their experience, and you should too. Got it?" Ruby nodded again.
"Yup, basically, be nice, and all will be well, right?"
"Yes, good to see you got the gist of it. Now, let's teach you how to make the drinks!"
-A Few Hours Later-
"Okay! We're about to open up, so Ruby, remember, be nice, and make sure they are satisfied. Blake and Sun, our other 2 servers will be showing up soon, before we open, obviously, so don't worry about running short on people. I've already texted them both, so they know that you're here, and you're new, so don't sweat it when it comes to them." Ruby smiled and nodded, letting out a small sigh. It had taken a few hours, but Pyrrha, Ren, Jaune, Nora and even Fletcher, who had come up to hand Ruby her badge, had run her through quite a few dry runs, and she felt confident in her ability to perform and even make drinks for the customers at the counter. "Remember, when they walk up, you say:"
"Hello, my name is Ruby! Welcome to the Crescent Rose, how can I help you?" Ruby smiled and put on her best face as she spoke. A bell rung, and Ruby looked over to see a girl with black hair and amber eyes and a boy with blonde hair and dark blue eyes walk in, smiling and talking.
"Blake, Sun, you're here! Meet Ruby!" Pyrrha and Nora shouted for Blake and Sun to walk over, which they did.
"Hello, Ruby, I'm Blake" The black haired girl, Blake, gave Ruby a small smile, and shook her hand, then walked over to the dressing room.
"Sup, I'm Sun, Sun Wukong! You look nice. Don't tell Blake I complimented you. Anyways, good luck on your first day, Ruby" Sun nodded and winked then walked over to the guy's dressing room.
"Well, Sun seemed nice. Blake seemed, distant. Like she didn't care much"
"Blake will open up in time, she just hasn't met you yet, so she won't seem like much at first" Ren smiled after speaking, then patted Ruby on the back. "Look, don't worry, everyone here is gonna like you, don't worry. You're doing fine, and your first day will be great!"
"Yeah! Besides, Dad likes you, which means you'll probably get easy ride here. He loves everyone here like they're his kids. One of them just so happens to be his kid, but I digress. I think you're gonna be doing a great job here. How's this, if you do really good today, we'll call up your sister, and all of us will go out to the beach after work?" Jaune smiled and cocked his head inquisitively, until Ruby smiled back and nodded. Ruby looked to Nora, expecting her to speak too, but instead was met by a crushing hug that stole all the breath out of Ruby's lungs.
Fletcher walked in and rapped his knuckles on the counter as Blake and Sun came up to the counter as well. "All right boys and girls, the work day is about to start, and we have a rookie on board, so the waters will be rough!" Ruby called out in protest to that, but Fletcher merely smiled and ignored her. "Jokes aside, this is Ruby's first shift ever, do everything you can to make it easy for her, we don't a repeat of the Arslan Incident guys"
"The Arslan Incident?"
"Last rookie was a chick named Arslan Altan, and she had a panic attack on her first day. To be fair though, there was a massive storm, and authorities ordered everyone inside, so the place was full to capacity" Jaune explained calmly. Ruby nodded.
"Okay, pep talk over, short and sweet today. Get ready everyone!" Fletcher walked back downstairs as all the servers took their positions. Blake, Sun, Jaune, Nora, Pyrrha and Ren all stood by the counter, simply waiting. The clock on the wall struck 12:00, signalling it was noon, and as if on cue, a car pulled up and a man walked into the store. He was bespectacled, had green hair, a yellow tie, a dress shirt that was half tucked in, and two mismatching shoes. He stepped right up to the counter.
Ruby smiled and put on her friendliest face. "Hello, my name is Ruby! Welcome to the Crescent Rose, how may I help you?"
"Ah, yes, I would like to get a drink to go Miss Ruby!" The man spoke excitedly, and with a copious amount of vigour that took Ruby aback for a second. However, Ruby quickly recovered and smiled.
"What drink would you like sir?"
"A Storm Flower, please, extra ice, two cherries not three, and please, add extra whipped cream" Ruby nodded and grabbed a cup, then spun to the drinks machine. A few seconds later, a mint and cherry flavoured drink with whipped cream and two cherries was in her hand, then on the counter in front of the man.
"That'll be 6 L sir!" The man nodded and took ou and 1 L chip, and set it on the counter, before briskly walking out and driving away.
"Wow! The rookie got lucky! Oobleck was going simple today!" Ruby looked at Sun confusedly.
"What?"
"Normally Oobleck, the guy you just served, comes in and orders a drink with a whole list of specific ingredient measurements and preparation instructions and demands they be followed to the letter!" Sun laughed a little. "You're really lucky. To be honest, I was kinda looking forward to seeing you struggle with Oobleck's ord-OW!" Sun was cut off by a hard elbow by Blake, who was frowning at him.
"I'm sure Ruby would have done fine with one of Oobleck's normal orders, Sun" Blake smiled reassuringly at Ruby, who smiled back, as several cars pulled up, and people started walking in. Ruby sighed a little, then turned, put on a smile and prepared herself.
"Hello, my name is Ruby! Welcome to Crescent Rose, how may I help you?" Ruby smiled pleasantly at a girl in a brown sweater, with brown and orange hair and a beret, and her three friends as they walked up.
"Table for four please?"
"Inside or outside?"
"Inside, if you please"
"Booth or table?"
"Booth, thank you"
"Alright, if you'd follow Jaune here, he'll take you to your seats!"
"Thanks, Red"
"Of course, have a nice day!" Ruby gave a little wave, then turned to her next customer, a couple, both in white hoodies. "Hello, my name is Ruby! Welcome to the Crescent Rose, how may I help you?"
-An Hour Later-
"Alright, if you'll follow Ren here, he'll take you to your table!" Ruby smiled as she assigned the 43rd customer of her shift. In one hour too. Productive day it seemed. Ruby checked the time, confirming it had only been an hour since noon, and shrugged, looking up as four people walked in. The lead one had grey hair and a cane, and Ruby immediately recognized him as the Headmaster of Beacon Academy in Vale. "Ah, hello, my name is Ruby! Welcome to the Crescent Rose, how may I help you, Headmaster Ozpin?" Ruby affected a large smile, and tried to look calm, but in truth, she was freaking out. She was standing a few feet away from one of the world's most prestigious Huntsmen.
"Table for four, outside please, Miss Ruby"
"Of course, uh, we don't seem to have any servers available, so if you'd follow me, I'll show you to your seats!" Ruby stepped out from behind the counter, picking up four menus and one ordering tablet, and began to walk away, with the four, whom she now recognized as General Ironwood of Atlas, and the other two headmasters, as well as Ozpin, in tow. As they reached an empty table, and sat, Ruby smiled again. "So, what would you gentlemen like to drink?"
"Coffee, two sugars, please" Ozpin nodded.
"Same as him, Miss" Ironwood smiled.
"Whiskey, please" The Mistral headmaster smiled.
"Cherry Dr. Grimm if you would!" The Vacuo headmaster yawned and leaned back in his chair, nodding to Ruby.
"Do you guys know what you want to eat?" All four headmasters nodded, and Ruby, just finished with writing down their drinks, got ready to write again. "Alright, fire away!"
"Steak, medium rare, with a side of mashed potatoes if you please." Ozpin continued smiling.
"Same as Ozpin, again." Ironwood rolled his neck, then smiled.
"Pasta, with tomato sauce and meatballs" Mistral headmaster was smiling as well.
"Burger, with fries." The Vacuo headmaster licked his lips, looking at a picture of the burger on the menu. Ruby took all four of their menus, nodded, and walked off. As she got inside she freaked out a little, and Pyrrha walked over, looking concerned.
"Ruby, what happened?"
"Pyrrha! Oh my Oum I just took the orders of the headmasters from the four academies! THE HUNTER ACADEMIES PYRRHA!" Ruby quietly squealed as she transferred the orders of the headmasters to the cooks, and began making their drinks.
"Ooh, that sounds like a story to tell." Ruby nodded energetically, then grabbed a tray, and placed the four drinks on it, and walked back out, smiling to Pyrrha the whole way.
"Gentlemen, your drinks! Can I get you anything else?" Ruby held the tray perpendicular to her body, pressing it to her legs as she smiled.
"Not in particular, Miss Ruby. I will call if we need anything though. I look forward to my meal, I hear this place is very nice"
"Don't worry, Headmasters, the meal will not disappoint. We serve the best!" The four men nodded, then turned away from Ruby, and Ruby smiled, then walked away, squealing internally, then externally as she passed through the door.
"Pyrrha, this is sooo coool!" Pyrrha merely laughed, and pointed to the counter, where a group of customers had appeared. Ruby sighed, but smiled and got to work. "Hello, my name is Ruby! Welcome to Crescent Rose, how may I help you?"
-Two Hours Later-
Ruby had just seated a group of tourists, and was heading back to the counter when it happened. One moment she is walking along, and the next, she is on the ground, toppled over a girl in a white tee shirt and skinny jeans. Ruby quickly rolled off the girl then stood, reaching her hands down and helping the girl, who Ruby now saw had a long white ponytail, to her feet.
"What were you doing? Don't you ever watch where you're going?" The girl looked mad, and sounded mad, as she stared Ruby down, demanding an answer.
"Well, sorry, I wasn't looking. I must not have noticed you, and that is why I ran into you" Ruby smiled sheepishly, and the girl gave an annoyed sigh.
"It's fine, look, you seem to work here, where might I find Fletcher Arc?"
"Well, he is downstairs right now, but you could wait up here by the counter while I go get him."
"That sounds acceptable"
Ruby smiled, then leaned to Pyrrha. "Cover the register, I need to go get Mr Arc!" Ruby affected a brisk walk, and descended the stairs, then walked up to Fletcher's office, and knocked twice on the door.
"One second, Ruby!" Ruby was surprised to see he knew who it was, but shrugged, and sat down outside his office, and waited. After three minutes, Fletcher came out. "What is it, Rosie?"
"Someone upstairs wants to see you, Fletch" Fletcher nodded, and Ruby stood, and started to lead the way upstairs. As Ruby got up the last step, and stepped out into the diner, she slammed straight into the white haired girl and knocked both of them over again, spilling the drink that the white haired girl had, right onto the girl herself. This time, she was furious beyond measure.
"AGAIN!? YOU LITTLE RED-"
There we go, Chapter One: The First Day, is now done. Have funs. Now, I want some noice feedback here, tell me if you want this to continue, if you want it to be longer chapters, shorter chapters, or stay the same. Also, here is a list of cameos this chapter:
Cameos:
Ozpin
Team CVFY
Dr Oobleck
Arslan Altan
There. Now, cameos do not include the characters that are actually in the story at this point, but does include characters that are mentioned, implied, or seen. So keep that in mind. Now, ta ta for now.
Love,
CathedralOfFiction
James