Disclaimer: All characters belong to Rooster Teeth Productions

Edited by ToxicExotic

Chapter 45 - Field Trip

Ruby Rose

The sound of spraying water and excited chatter filled the air as Ruby looked around the area in wonder. She had seen the Vale branch of the STC on television numerous times, but seeing it in person was another thing altogether. The large, white stone building was one of the tallest in Vale and it's gleaming windows were visible from pretty much everywhere. Ruby knew that its architecture was common in Atlas, but with Vale's darker tones, the building stood out magnificently. The Schnee Tower did not stand alone though, in fact the building had an entire square to itself.

The square itself was filled with various things. Large lawns of well-maintained, green grass sprawled out with a winding path of white marble between them, tables and benches were placed thoughtfully beneath lush, green trees in perfect spots where people could eat. In the center of everything was the source of the spraying sounds. A large fountain stood and filled the area with a soft trickling noise and atop it was a statue depicting a burly man wearing a button up suit with a see-through cube held in both hands; three rotating items were contained within. As Ruby got closer she could see that they were a medical cross, a Scroll, and a glowing blue orb that Ruby knew was meant to be a power cell. The man's kind face looked out over the square with a jovial smile visible just beneath his beard.

Though she would have loved to look at the fountain for longer and maybe, check out the smaller buildings along the edges, Ruby had to keep moving with her class. As they moved towards the main building which stood at the back of the square, she heard her teacher rattling off random facts about the company's founding, facts that Ruby already knew. How could she not know them when she wanted to work there in the future. The world leaders in technological innovations that were in every house across Remnant, how could she not dream of working there one day; though admittedly, it was a dream she had kept to herself. She hadn't even told Yang about it, as she didn't know if it was a dream she could make come true for quite a while. She didn't want her sister asking Weiss for any favours either. She wanted to accomplish her dream on her own merits, not because her sister was dating the future CEO of the company.

Walking through the doors, albeit the action taking two tries as the first failed due to her being so in her head that she bumped into a fellow student, Ruby stared up at the high ceiling, the entire thing one big screen that showed the clouds that filled the sky outside. She knew from books that it was a live feed from a camera on the roof, but she still found herself gawking, and completely missed the woman who had greeted them until she walked into her. Annoyingly, it was an unfortunate commonality in her life so it happening twice in less than five minutes didn't surprise her one bit.

"S-Sorry," She stammered, looking up at the tall Faunus woman to see her smiling.

"It's quite alright," The woman said kindly as Ruby backed away with a nervous smile. Straightening her dark green dress, she straightened up and passed a bag to the teacher as she looked over the class, who were already snickering at Ruby's clumsiness. "Welcome to the STC everyone, it's great to see so many students still interested in technology. My name is Abigail Jadis, whichever name you wish to use is perfectly fine by me, and I will be showing you around our facilities today."

Something entered her vision and she looked around to see her teacher handing her a name tag with her name on it.

"Please make sure to keep your badges on at all time. They will track your position in the building and will also allow you to get your lunch during our break. Now if you all have your badges, please follow me."

While Ruby was expecting to head to the elevators, she quickly realised how dumb that was with nearly fifteen students in tow, so she course corrected and made her way after her class towards the stairs.

"Ahhh," Ruby groaned and collapsed against the table.

There had been so much walking and talking throughout the day that she was glad to finally have a breather. The tour of the building had been pretty extensive so far, but they had yet to arrive at the part she was really eager for. So far they had explored the science labs and the product development floor; but while she really did like those things, especially the product development tour as she got to see all the cool things getting built for testing, she was really looking forward to what would be the last tour of the day.

The research and development department was where they came up with all the cool stuff. New Scroll designs, experimental batteries and other power sources, pretty much everything the STC ever made had come from that department. And that was what Ruby wanted. To be a mind behind those projects, to be the first person who built some random piece of tech that could change the world. She loved what she did at home, repairing broken laptops and VCRs and other stuff, because if made her extremely happy. To be able to ensure that she would never lose another tape of her mother had started her passion, but she wanted to be able to give that to as many people as she could.

Though admittedly, she had no idea what that would involve. She couldn't exactly fix everyone's VCR when they are already long since out of fashion. She had ideas of course, but they were still a long way from meaning anything. She had worked on them a little for the last week, but had quickly realised that they would never be ready…

"Salutations…"

"Huh?"

Raising her head from the table, she looked up to see a small, freckled girl standing before her holding a tray. She wore a pair of grey overalls with green accents over a white blouse, and a pair of black stockings covered her legs. Her bright orange hair fell to just above her shoulder, curling at the tips and a light pink bow poked out from the back of her head. The oddest things however was that her bright green eyes sparkled as a wide smile etched onto her face.

"Would I be able to sit here with you?" The girl said, her voice rather proper, but in an oddly robotic way. "The other tables are quite full."

"Oh," Ruby said and looked to see that her table was the only one with some space. It wasn't particularly surprising as the only person who ever really sat with her was Oscar. "Uhh… Sure."

"Thank you, Ruby Rose. My name is Penny."

The girl held out a hand that was stark white, even compared to her already exceptionally pale complexion, but as Ruby tentatively reached out to take it, the limb fell at the wrist and dangled there comically. With her own hand having stopped in mid air, Ruby looked up at the girl to see her brow had furrowed a little.

"Oh, right," She said and placed her tray down on the table so that she could reach out with a hand that actually did match her skin tone. "My apologies. My father is rather busy right now, so I have to wait to get that fixed."

"You have a prosthetic arm?" Ruby asked stupidly as she reached out to shake it for a second, her excitement of having just seen one up close for the first time started to edge out her awkwardness.

"Yes," Penny replied with a smile as she sat down. "And a leg, though thankfully that does not need fixing… this time."

Ruby felt a small smile pull at her lips due to the ease of which the girl seemed to talk about her condition, as her own had always been something she tried her best to pretend didn't exist; however, she still found herself a little jealous of her classmates. They all seemed to have such an easy time making friends, of laughing and talking about pretty much anything and everything, but it had never been that way for her. She was fine with specific conversations, or with having fun with people she was very close to, but those relationships always took time.

Though she was in her last year at school, Oscar was the only real friend she had managed to make on her own. Of course she had plenty of others, but those were Yang's friends, who she had grown close to because they were always around. But when she went off to college, she wouldn't even have Oscar any more. It worried her a lot in all honesty because she was just so awkward around new people. She had tried a number of times to practise small talk in the mirror, to try and make herself normal like she thought everyone around her was; but every time she tried to put that into practise, she fell short and it just led to people snickering at her.

The worst had been in middle school, where students had taken to calling her Rambling Ruby. They'd taunted her, mocked her shyness, even chased her when she was feeling particularly down. And though Yang had quickly seen to that and put a stop to it when she found out, Ruby still hated being chased. It did something to her, made her panic in a way she hated. She'd talked about all of those things with her therapist, but those feelings had never gone away.

After a couple of years however, she had simply given up and resigned herself to her awkwardness. It wasn't all bad though. She enjoyed hanging out with Oscar, even though she often felt bad as she knew he wanted a little more, but he seemed to understand that she wasn't interested in him that way. Then of course there was Ilia, someone who she had found herself really enjoying the company of lately. They had been in regular contact while the older Faunus was in Menagerie, and they had spent pretty much every day together since her return. Things felt easy with Ilia, she seemed to understand what it was like being an outcast and never pushed for Ruby to be anything but herself. Other than those two, she was actually rather happy when being left to her own devices.

"Forgive me for asking," Penny said kindly, though her tone made it sound like the apology was merely something she thought she should say. "But why are you sitting alone and not with your friends? Are you having a fight?"

"They're not my friends," Ruby sighed, plucking at her sandwich meekly as she wasn't too fond of mayonnaise.

"Then we are the same," Penny said happily, taking a small bit of what looked to be an egg and cress sandwich. "I have no friends either."

Much like her earlier statement, the words were said in an almost robotic way. Something about the girl felt off, yet oddly familiar at the same time. She was very clearly awkward due to her openness, and it was even clearer why she didn't have friends; but it was the same reason Ruby didn't have many friends. Penny didn't fit in. And likely for that reason alone, Ruby found a lot of the nerves that were usually associated with a new acquaintance faded away.

"I'm sorry to hear that," Ruby said with a soft voice, only for Penny to shake her head in return.

"It's quite alright," Penny shrugged with a smile. "Though it does sometimes get a little lonely."

"I can relate there," Ruby replied with an understanding nod. "So… How did you break your arm?"

"It fell down the stairs."

"Your arm?"

"Yes," Penny said with a firm nod of her head, though she didn't sound upset about it at all. "I forget to secure it and it slipped off."

"Oh," For some reason, Ruby got the feeling that much like she had a tendency to walk into people, Penny's limbs falling off was an everyday occurance. "Will you father be mad that you broke it?"

"Oh no, not at all," Penny said firmly and pulled her half eaten sandwich apart to eat only one slice of the bread. "My father is a very kind man. He will likely be thankful that it wasn't my leg that I forgot to secure again."

"That's good then," Ruby smiled, putting her own sandwich aside and eating her cookie instead. "Did you father make it for you? I assume he works he works here?"

"He did. He made all my arms and legs while I was growing up."

It was such an odd thing to hear, but even odder to hear it said so happily. In fact, Ruby doubted she would ever hear someone say such a thing in such a happy voice again. The fact that the girl before her seemed so comfortable with who she was brought a smile to Ruby's face.

"He sounds like a really good dad."

"He is," Penny said happily. "So what are you doing at the STC?"

For the five minutes, Ruby found herself in comfortable conversation with the quirky ginger. After telling her what she was doing at the STC, Penny had revealed that she was the daughter of one of the scientists in the research and development department. She had also talked about studying computer sciences at Beacon. What had been the most exciting however was when Ruby had talked about her interest in mechanics, Penny had actually detached her arm to let her inspect it.

It was a dream come true for Ruby, but she had been rather cautious at first as she didn't want to break it any more than it already was, but Penny had reassured her that her father wouldn't mind and would be able to fix it anyway. After the assurance that it was fine, Ruby had gladly accepted and spent the next five minutes looking at the incredibly complex inner workings of the prosthetic. Of course she had no idea what most of it did, but she never thought she would get to see one so close for a while. She had even managed to maybe see what was wrong with it and pointed out to Penny what looked to be a broken hinge that was no longer supporting the weight of the hand.

However, as she was handing the limb back to Penny, she heard a voice from near the entrance of the cafeteria.

"Ruby!"

Looking to her side at her teacher's voice, Ruby saw her classmates gathered around their teacher and knew she had to go. She found a small part of her was disappointed at that realisation, so turned back to Penny with a regretful look.

"I'm sorry, I've got to go explore the Scroll communications department," She groaned and stood up with her tray. "It was nice talking to you though, and good luck with your arm."

"That place is sensational," Penny said with a wide smile and went to raise her prosthetic arm, before remembering it was busted and waving with her other one instead. "Farewell, Ruby Rose. I hope to meet you again some day."

"You too, Penny."

Giving the girl a wide smile of her own, Ruby returned the wave and walked away. She was a little sad that her conversation with Penny had ended so soon, but couldn't help but be a little proud of herself for actually managing to talk with someone like they were just two normal people for once.

The tour of the Scroll communications floor had actually been much more interesting that Ruby had originally though. Listening to the technician talk about the upkeep of the equipment had obviously been the highlight, but listening to the operators talk about how they manage all the calls through the surprisingly thorough programming wasn't as dull as she expected. Thankfully however, the tour had only lasted an hour before they moved on.

It was with a smile that Ruby happily followed her teacher and Mrs Jadis down a long hallway. The walls were a stark white and if she was honest, she was quite thankful for the lights above. During the tour, she had noticed the company seemed to favour the bright bulbs and due to the white walls they had begun to give her a little bit of a headache; but thankfully the hallway to the R&D department had chosen some softer lights that gave the hallway a pleasant, yellowish glow.

Seeing Mrs Jadis stop in front of a pair of large doors, the whole class came to a halt and Ruby finally succeeded in stopping on time. Watching as the woman turned to face them, she focused intently on every word the woman said.

"Now we are at the department that no doubt most of you have been wanting to see all day," the woman said with a knowing smile. "Behind these doors is most of the projects the STC are currently working on, albeit a few secret ones that you will have to wait a few years to see. Due to these still being rather fragile, expensive, and some even having live power running through them, I please ask that you don't touch anything while you are here."

"Everyone understand that?" The teacher asked, earning a loud groan of agreement from the class and Ruby understood their frustration at their teacher's tendency to treat them like they were still toddlers. "Good. Whenever you are ready then, Mrs Jadis."

With a nod to the Teacher, their guide pushed open the doors and with palpable anticipation, the class walked through them. Ruby had expected to be impressed, but the sight that greeted her was more than what she could have imagined.

The room was huge, explaining why the corridor before was so narrow, and filled with things that Ruby would likely never know the use of. Along the far wall was an entire see-through cabinet with dozens of shelves, each one holding a half complete project behind a glass door that was marked with a number. The other walls lining the room held doors, the windows beside them showing offices and storerooms. Around the room were five large, circular tables, four of which were made of wood and sat in corners of the room, each surrounded by people talking and comparing notes on whiteboards.

The fifth however was made of glass and metal and sat right in the center of the room. The table itself was split into four sections, with each section cordoned off from the other with a glass screen, and each section held a project that was currently being worked on. From the briefest glance, one held what looked to be a prototype for a new prosthetic that was being worked on by a man in a blue waistcoat. As they approached, his head raised to look in the mirror before turning around to look at them with a raised eyebrow.

"Dr Watts," the woman said with a pleasant smile as the man stood up and stroked his walrus mustache. "I was just showing the Signal students around. Students, this is..."

"Save the introductions, Jadis," The man interrupted with an almost bored look. "If you must bother someone with this, I'm sure Dr Polendina has more than enough time on his hands. I, however, have work to do."

"O-Of course," The woman said, her smile staying on her face but no longer as bright as it was before. "Come on, students, I will show you a few of our exciting projects that should be releasing within the year."

With a murmur of excitement, the students followed the woman to a nearby table where a group of people were hovered over a smaller project. As she walked passed the man Jadis had called Watts, she met his eye and felt herself immediately look away at his glare. Lowering her head, she quickly caught up with the rest of her group.

For the next forty minutes, Ruby took in all the information she could about what she was shown. The first thing they got to look at was something simple, the new Scroll that was set to release in the summer and they even got to handle it. It wasn't anything special and mainly just an upgrade to the last one, but the technology was still cool to look at. Once they had done with that, they moved on to a cutting edge power source that, when finished, would be used as backup for hospitals and emergency shelters.

Despite them obviously not showing the important stuff that were still secret, Ruby was quite happy to look at everything she was shown. The thing that excited her most however was when they were shown the almost finished design for a projected television. It may not be a world changing piece of technology, but it was pretty awesome to her. The base that projected the holographic screen was only a little bigger than the palm of her hand, making it extremely portable. There were also sliders that adjusted the size of the projection so it was possible to use it as a standard television, or for travel by plugging it into a power outlet. With power outlets and car adaptors being everywhere now, anyone who cared about technology was excited for the release. Unfortunately, she knew it was going to be priced way out of her range.

After they had sadly moved on from the device, Jadis led them all to a door that stood apart from the others. With the curtains being closed, Ruby was unable to see inside, but the woman stopped outside the door and turned to face them all.

"And here we have the office of Dr Polendina," The woman gave a short knock on the door and a cheerful voice called for her to enter. "Doctor Polendina, the stude… Oh!" her voice faltered for a minute. "Sorry, I didn't know you were busy."

"It's perfectly okay, Jadis. Bring them in," the man replied, his voice kind and warm. "I am almost done here anyway."

With a nod, Jadis opened up the door to allow them to enter. As they filed into the room, Ruby found herself taken aback yet again; though not by the white-haired man that sat at his desk, but by the pale, orange-haired girl who was sat in a chair next to him. Penny watched as they all entered and when Ruby entered, she girl gave a wide smile and waved.

"Salutations, Ruby Rose… again."

"H-Hi, Penny," Ruby replied with a shy wave of her own, her classmates turning to look at her as the man that she could conclude was Penny's father glanced up at her with a smile.

"Now, now, Penny dear," he said kindly and held up the arm that Ruby herself had been inspecting earlier. "Best not to interrupt the students. Here you go, all fixed. Best get going before you are late for your class."

"Right you are, Father," Penny said happily, slipping the arm on and twisting it into place before giving the man a hug. Once it was done, Penny quickly made her way towards the door but stopped short and turned to Ruby with a wide grin. "You were right about what was damaged with my arm. You will be a great engineer some day, I just know it."

"Th-Thanks," Ruby stammered as the girl left while humming a tune to herself.

If the class were looking at her before, they were practically staring now and Ruby let her eyes fall to the floor. She had never been one for attention.

"I apologise for that," Dr Polendina said with a smile as wide as his daughter's. "I can handle them for now, Jadis. I believe Mr Thrush could use some help."

"Of course, Doctor," the woman who had been guiding them replied. "I shall be back in fifteen for them."

Receiving a simple nod from him, Mrs Jadis made her way out of the room.

"I'm afraid that even in my office there are not enough seats in here for all of you, so why don't you all take what you can and I shall go and retrieve the last few we need. Miss Meadows, would it be okay to get some aid from young Miss… Rose, was it?"

"Of course," Ruby's teacher said while organizing the students who had already began to scuffle in their pursuit of a chair. "Ruby, please help Dr Polendina."

"S-Sure," Ruby said, knowing it wasn't a coincidence that the man had asked for her specifically.

Following the man out of the room and towards one of the nearby circular tables for some spare chairs, Ruby held her arms crossed. She wasn't sure why he had asked for her, but she feared she might have done something wrong by looking at Penny's arm.

"Sorry for pulling you away, Miss Rose," he said finally as they reached the table and stacked a few of the chairs. "I simply wished to thank you for keeping my Penny company today."

"Oh…" Ruby said, thankful that her fears were wrong. "I-It was no problem. She's really sweet."

"That she is," The man chuckled, the sincerity of the sound making the room feel much warmer. "Though even I have admit that being raised by parents obsessed with robots, in a house with such films always playing, has clearly influenced her personality. Not many people are willing to sit down with her due to it."

"Well people can be dumb," Ruby said, feeling herself blush at having been so brazen though the man simply let out another laugh.

"That is certainly true," he grinned and picked up the chairs. "Good work on the observation of her arm too. Engineers these days have a tendency to always look for the most complex thing and miss the obvious. It refreshing to meet someone who still knows the importance of checking the fundamentals."

"Th-Thank you," she stuttered as she picked up the other stack of chairs, shocked that she had just been complimented for her skill by one of the world's most renowned engineers.

No more words were exchanged as they made their way back into the office and spread the chairs out, but Ruby already felt much better. Picking a chair at the back of the room, Ruby settled in to listen to whatever Dr Polendina was about to say.

As she listened to the man talk about what he did at the company and the projects he was working on, she realised just how far she still had to go. While she understood a lot of what the man said, he would frequently mention things and methods that she and her classmates had never heard of. It was no doubt purposeful, as if he were to talk with the full extent of his full knowledge then none of them would understand a word for at least a few years.

Nonetheless, Ruby took all the notes she could. When questions had come around, Ruby couldn't help feel like her way stupid, but once most of the class had asked theirs, Dr Polendina had looked to her. After what felt like an eternity, she had asked him what minor, personal project he was most proud of was. A wide smile had broken over his face at the question, and he had quickly launched into a little story about how he had messed around with a large toy car so that Penny could drive around and keep up with them as a child while he worked on her limbs. The story itself was heart-warming to hear and the entire class had laughed at his expression of irony that his daughter had been driving since she was five, yet still couldn't get her license.

Once the fifteen minutes were up, Mrs Jadis returned and they all thanked him for the talk before leaving and making their way over to the centre table. As part of their tour, the STC was actually giving them an early update to the Scroll's next operating software that was to release the next week. It was while waiting for her turned that she saw her walk into the room. At first she didn't recognise her, but on a second look, she saw that it was actually Weiss.

She looked so different than she always did when visiting the house, but it wasn't anything physical. She was wearing her hair the same way as always, and Ruby had definitely seen her wear those white pants and blue shirt before, but something about her was much more rigid and frightening; though not in a scary way, but more an awe inspiring way.

Whenever she visited the house, she was always relaxed. A smile always painted her features and she seemed very easy going, but at her place of work, she looked like someone that shouldn't be messed with. Was her relaxed state really just because of her relationship with Yang? Ruby thought to herself curiously, confused as to what could make someone go from pure businesswoman to a smiling lover so effortlessly.

While friendships were rough for Ruby, they were nothing compared to the idea of relationships. The idea of finding someone had always confused her as people often only said that you would know when you find that person, that you would feel it. Even Yang had told her as much when she'd asked. But Ruby had never felt it, or at least she didn't think she had. It wasn't that she didn't want something like that one day, because, if how much she enjoyed Blake's romance stories meant anything, then she did. She had just never found anyone she felt that way for.

Like her inability to communicate easily, it bothered her sometimes. Especially when she remembered how easy Yang seemed to find herself in relationships. Guys, girls, they all seemed easy for Yang. But just like her other issues, it was something she also tried to ignore.

Realising she was in her head about it again, Ruby closed her eyes and shook the thoughts away. Upon opening them, she saw Weiss was looking at her and the woman gave a subtle wave as she walked towards the office they had just exited. Unfortunately, Ruby instinctively reacted.

"Hey, Weis…"

She caught herself, but she knew it was too late. She had already taken a step forward as she'd called out and she was very aware that her classmates were watching her. Weiss raised an eyebrow, her hand already resting on the handle of the door and Ruby turned away to simply look at the floor, very aware of the snickers that were issuing from her classmates.

"Recognised by one guy's kid and she thinks she knows Weiss Schnee," one of her classmates scoffed to her friend who chuckled.

Not correcting them as she knew she had already messed up, Ruby let out a sigh and turned back to wait for her turn. She hated that she sometimes just blurted out things even when she knew she shouldn't. It had happened with Oscar about her sister's relationship with Weiss, and though Yang hadn't been angry, she had scolded her for…

"Hello, Ruby."

The sound of Weiss' voice right behind her and the tap on her shoulder drew her out of her head. Turning back around, she saw Weiss standing there with a smile on her face. The sight confused her. She had messed up and called out to Weiss when she wasn't supposed to even know her, so why was Weiss talking to her instead of continuing her business.

"I forgot that your visit was today, how are you enjoying the STC so far?"

Huh? Ruby thought to herself. Weiss shouldn't have known that she was visiting.

"F-Fine," Ruby stuttered a little, still rather confused as to why Weiss was taking this risk.

"Good, I hope my staff are treating you well," Weiss smiled again. "How is Yang?"

Again Ruby was filled with confusion. The couple had spent the entire morning talking before Ruby had to leave, so Weiss clearly knew how Yang was. However, as if sensing her hesitancy, Ruby saw Weiss' eyes flick to her left where the girl who had made the earlier comment was stood. The blue orbs filled with a cold ice that even made Ruby shiver and the realisation hit.

Weiss had heard the girl's jab and was not happy about it. Feeling a confidence well within her that Weiss cared so much for her as to risk her secret over a comment that wasn't too out of the norm, Ruby finally raised her head properly.

"She's... fine," Ruby said carefully as Weiss eyes returned to hers and became much softer. "She's spending the day at the gym."

"No doubt working out her nerves for tomorrow," Weiss said thoughtfully. Obviously Yang had told Weiss about the upcoming meeting with Raven too.

Duh, why wouldn't she?

"Yeah," Ruby said, feeling a little braver. "Typical Yang."

"Can't argue there," Weiss grinned softly, checking her watch. "I'm really sorry, Rubes, I really would stay and maybe give you and your class a more thorough tour, but I do have a meeting that I must attend. Please give Yang my best and tell her that I am looking forward to our meeting on Sunday?" Weiss paused for a minute, clearly noticing her own little error, and continued. "That last art piece she did for me was fantastic, and I can't wait to see what she has for me next."

"I'll let her know," Ruby said confidently, knowing the last part had simply been a cover as she already knew Weiss was staying over on Sunday. "I hope your meeting goes well."

"Thank you," Weiss said with an appreciative nod and made her way back to Dr Polendina's office.

Once Weiss had walked in and shut the door, Ruby turned back to her class with a smile on her face and saw them all staring at her in shock, even her teacher was staring. Feeling a little blush from the unfamiliar attention, Ruby looked back down at her notes as the engineer went through them one by one and updated their Scrolls.

Twenty minutes later, Ruby climbed up onto the bus and took her seat. The day had been much weirder than she expected. When she had set out that morning, she had thought she would just see a bunch of new tech, talk to some workers, get some information, then head home. What she hadn't expected was to meet someone new, get complimented by a world renowned inventor, and then have her entire class find out that she was friends with Weiss.

Her classmates hadn't said a single word to her since Weiss had talked to her, not even when she dropped her Scroll trying to give it to the engineer. Honestly, she quite liked that the situation hadn't caused them to snicker. For once she didn't feel like the gazes on her were mocking her for not fitting in, so with a small smile to herself as everyone took their seats on the bus, Ruby looked at her Scroll and saw she already had a message. Unsurprisingly it was from Ilia and she quickly opened it.

'How was the trip? Got some free time after work if you wanna geek out about it?'

Feeling oddly happy at the offer, Ruby hurriedly typed out a yes and settled in for the drive home. The day had definitely not been what she expected, but she ultimately decided that was definitely a good thing.

A/N

Hello :) A small side chapter today. I wanted to have a little outside story today, and I thought Ruby would be perfect for it as I want to bring the side characters in more (especially where I am in actually writing, which is Chapter 49,) so expect some more of these fringe chapters in the future. They won't be super frequent, but they will be a thing occasionally. I hope the chapter was good at least and not a little jumbled. I put a bunch of myself into Ruby here with my own struggles and sorting my thoughts out it difficult, so hopefully everything was fine. I hope you enjoyed the little side story, I know bunch of you have been asking for Penny due to her father being in the story, so hopefully I wrote her well here. She was always intended to make an appearance, but I never found the right spot, but now I have xD

Speaking of where I am in writing, while next chapter isn't a long one, the next chapter does mark a turn for the story. So I hope you look forward to that. But anyway, that's it from me. I hope you enjoyed, and thank you for reading.

Reviews

crazyringo - I know I replied to your review in PMs because it was so long, but I just want to say thank you so much for taking the time to do so. They always mean a lot to me :)

Zoro50 - I'm glad you enjoy how I write Jacques. I have purposely kept his scenes few and far between because I want to make his presence felt more than he is seen. Rest assured I do have plans for him. Ilia is something I am slowly ramping up. I don't want her to just enter the story and be supremely bitchy, as while she does have a gripe with Weiss, she is willing to tolerate her for her friends. That doesn't mean their interactions in the future will be friendly however, and I am certainly looking forward to when I get to the real stuff with her. As for her relationship with Ruby, it may go that way, it may not. As you can tell from this chapter and the little clues i have left in others, Ruby isn't exactly sure how she feels about relationships.