Chapter Two.
You and Sun are sitting at a round table in the conference room of a fancy hotel in downtown Vale. It's the last day of your week long out of store training for Scroll. It's been an interesting week. Mostly it's been trainers teaching you the company values, a little bit of product knowledge that you both already knew, and a lot of simulated situations. Role playing through make believe customer interactions.
Not exactly your favorite thing. But anything is better than your last job. When you tried to hand them your notice the day after you got offered the Scroll job, they refused to accept it. You ended up having to slide it under the door before you left at the end of your shift. That was all behind you now.
Tomorrow you finally start your in store training. While at the conference center, you and Sun had met three other new employees that would be working with you named Nora, Ren and Velvet. They seem pretty chill. Well, you don't think Nora has ever been chill in her entire life. But she is definitely someone that's fun to be around. Her fiery red hair matches her personality. As well as her strong desire to wear something pink almost every day. Ren and Velvet are way more reserved. Half the time, you can't tell if Ren is awake or just sleeping with his eyes open. Very zen. Velvet is just very quiet. She is a rabbit Faunus, and you can tell she is somewhat sensitive about her long and bouncy brown ears. You can't really say you blame her. Not all people are accepting of the Faunus. Even though it's illegal to discriminate against Faunus, there are still some ignorant humans around in this world.
You know the day is almost over when you see Glynda appear at the sidelines of the on going presentation about diversity in the workplace. She always shows up to conclude every day and set out the plan for the sequential day.
"Today you will be saying goodbye to a majority of your friends here at training. Tomorrow begins your individualized in store training. While I will not have the pleasure of continuing to guide you all, as I will return to my store at Beacon, I have certainly enjoyed watching you all begin your journeys here at Scroll. Have a good evening, and be prepared to report to your stores at 9am sharp tomorrow morning."
—
Once you make it into the store, the real training begins. You get your access to all the systems and learn the basics for how to sell things. How to clock in and out. How to check your company email. All the small things.
After that, you get separated into departments for training. All the sales people went with one trainer. You, Sun and Velvet went with this huge muscly dude named Yatsuhashi. But he asks you to just call him Yatsu. Apparently Velvet has known him for quite some time, since they were young. Oh well, doesn't really matter. You are here to learn and to work, not find out all your co workers' life stories.
The absolute worst thing you have to do is your initial introduction. All of you are going to have to stand up in front of everyone at the morning store meeting and introduce yourselves, tell everyone something that you like to do outside of work, and an interesting fact about yourself.
You are supposed to go right after Sun. Perfect. It will be like following a literal ray of sunshine. Your first impressions are sure to be lack luster.
While you wait for your turn, you take the opportunity to gaze around the room and start to familiarize yourself with the faces. There seems like there was at least 30 people there this morning. It's going to take a long time to remember all the names and put them with the right faces. There's one that caught your attention as you scanned the crowd. She has silver, almost white, hair that is pulled up into a ponytail that sits off to the side. She's filing her fingernails instead of paying attention to whatever Velvet is saying about herself. You turn to watch Sun as he introduces himself and says that he loves photography and enjoys spending his time taking care of the countless plants that have overwhelmed your sunroom. Your eyes eventually drift right back to where they were before, the girl with the white hair.
Things start to feel oddly quiet and you feel a small nudge against your shoulder. It's Sun. But Glynda is too quick for him to save you.
"Miss Belladonna, as fascinating as it is that Miss Schnee has opted to file her nails during the entire meeting, you do still have to participate."
With this blatant call out, the white haired girl looks up from her fingernails with a light blush across her cheeks. Knowing she's been caught, she turns her eyes towards the people standing up in front.
You clear your throat before you begin "Well um, I'm Blake Belladonna. When I'm not at Scroll I spend most of my time either cooking or reading. And I guess an interesting fact about myself would be.." you notice the white haired girl looking towards you, actually interested in what you're saying, "that I have an extensive tea collection." A few people clap, but you don't really need the applause. You're just glad it's over and done with.
—
Today is your first day actually working on the floor. You will be following around one of the repair coordinators today. And from what you've seen so far, the two of them are pretty neat.
"Hello! My name is Pyrrha, and this is Neptune." She points to the blue haired guy sitting a few seats away. "We are the repair coordinators here at Beacon. Since there's two of you, Blake and Sun right?" You both nod quickly in confirmation. "We are just going to pair off for the day and you guys can see what it's like for us in a normal day. Blake, I think we decided that you will follow me and Sun will follow Neptune."
"Okay. Cool. Try to keep out of trouble, Blake. Don't mess up." You shake your head, somewhat embarrassed by Sun's teasing as he leaves the room with Neptune.
"It isn't too terrible, I promise." The smile that Pyrrha gives is endearing. You can tell she's one of those people that has a personality that shines like a beacon in the night. Just a good person.
"I'm not really worried. I'm sure I can handle it."
"It does take a little bit to learn all the stuff but once you have it, you'll be good as gold." Okay, maybe she's a little too perky for your personal taste.
—
Pyrrha is actually a really awesome person. She showed you some shortcuts for repair systems and helped you learn how to create and complete repairs. You even took her up when she offered to have lunch with you. Turns out that she's from Mistral and her family still lives there. She's pretty close to her mom, but she moved here so she could learn how to find her own way.
You hold the large glass door open for Pyrrha as you return from lunch, following closely behind Pyrrha as she expertly navigates the packed store. There is no way you will ever get used to how busy this place is. Along the zig zaggy path Pyrrha has chosen, you spot the silvery haired girl from the meeting. She's animatedly chatting with a customer. Even through the thick crowd, your Faunus ears can pick up on the conversation. Her voice is friendly and she seems interested in what the customer is saying. But you can tell that something is off. Her eyes, which are an interesting shade of blue, betray her voice. You shake your head in an attempt to refocus your attention back to the job you are supposed to be doing.
"Have you met Weiss yet?"
"Who?"
"The girl you were watching just now. Her name is Weiss. She's in sales."
"Oh. No, I haven't met her. She has really nice hair though."
At this point Pyrrha is laughing. "I can introduce you to her if you want. Weiss is an interesting girl, to put it lightly. A little snobby, if you don't mind me saying."
"Ah well, I'm sure we will cross paths at some point. No need to rush. Especially if she's a little high maintenance."
"Such a kind way to put it. Now, for the second half of the day, we will be doing repair pickups and handling the phones. You ready?"
"Do I have a choice?"
"That would be a no, so let's get to it!" With that you follow Pyrrha back into the repair room and take a seat next to her at the desk. You switch out with Sun and Neptune as they prepare to take over other duties.
—
You watched Pyrrha answer a few phone calls. All easy stuff. You took out a few scrolls that were ready to be picked up.
After about three hours of nothing interesting happening, opportunity strikes. Corporate is calling about a customer complaint and Pyrrha wants you to sit in with her on the call. About 20 minutes in, the repair room door swings open and a tall girl with long blonde hair sticks her head through the crack in the doorway.
"Hey Pyrrha, do you need some help with pickups? There's not any appointments waiting right now so I can grab one or two for you."
As she pulls the phone away from her ear, you can hear the lovely hold music playing from the ear piece.
"If you could, that would be a great help." Always so kind.
"Cool." As the blonde girl steps into the room to find what she's looking for she notices you sitting on Pyrrha's opposite side. "Oh hey, you must be new. My name is Yang. I'm a repair tech." You grab the outstretched hand and shake it, only to have Yang tighten her grip as you feel a few of your fingers crack.
"I'm Blake. Pyrrha is teaching me some of the repair coordinator things, but eventually I should be out there with you guys."
"Awesome. I'll let you get back to it. Nice to meet you!" And with that, her long golden hair disappears just before the door clicks shut.
—
"Sorry this call is taking so long. If you want you can go ahead and take a break and I will finish this up."
"Are you sure? I don't mind waiting."
"No, it's fine. I'm just waiting for a confirmation code at this point. When you come back I can show you how to finish the repair order."
"Sounds good. I think I'm gonna go to the cafe down the street. Would you like me to bring you anything?"
"Oh no, thank you for asking though."
A little bell rings above the door of the cafe as it swings open and you step inside. It smells like coffee and pastries. There's a glass showcase for the food up at the registers and the menu hangs up on the wall behind the barista area. Quickly you scan the menu and find the item you are looking for and hop in line.
The first minute or so you don't really pay any attention to what is going on, but after three or four minutes of the line not moving, you lean to the side to see what is going on at the register. But you can hear it before you see it.
"I just want a salted caramel latte with almond milk, with a shot of vanilla flavor, no sugar, with a shot of espresso and I would like that iced. I don't see what the big deal is."
"Ma'am, we can't do no sugar because the vanilla and salted caramel flavors have sugar in them"
"Okay, well I just don't want any additional sugar added."
Now you begin to see what Pyrrha meant by interesting. If her personality is anything like her coffee order, Weiss Schnee must be something else. You have never seen anyone tap their foot with such ferocity over a coffee before. But by the grace of the Gods, Weiss and the barista come to an agreement and the line begins to move again.
Once you complete your order and pay, you make your way to the pickup counter at the far end of the cafe. You see that Weiss is still there, waiting for her drink. Feeling like it's better to be safe than sorry, you stand in a spot about five feet away from her.
"You're Blake, right?" So much for that plan.
"I am. And you're Weiss."
"How do you know my name?" She seems genuinely surprised that you know anything about her.
"Well, I heard you give the barista your name for your order. Also, Pyrrha told me."
"Hm. What did you get?" She motions to the counter.
"I got a peppermint tea. Nice and simple." She doesn't miss the small tone of sarcasm in your voice.
"Ha, ha. Very funny." You reach out and grab your tea a few seconds after the barista places it on the counter and bring it to your lips. "I just so happen to order the same thing from the coffee shop by my apartment and they have absolutely no issues making it. I don't see why it's such a big deal at this establishment."
"Establishment huh? Fancy."
"I'm not fancy. I just know how I like to drink my coffee. And I prefer to drink it when it's fresh." The foot tapping begins again.
"Well, maybe if you weren't so busy complaining, you would've noticed that your drink has been sitting on the counter for almost four minutes already." You nudge your shoulder in that direction and roll your eyes slightly. "I have to get back to work. I guess you'll have to see me later, Weiss Schnee."
She huffs as you flash her a lopsided smirk and turn towards the doorway, making your way back to the store to finish the rest of your day.