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R0 - 2 Meet the Intern

The Next Day...

12:15 PM \ Clear \ Visibility: 27km

Rhodes Island Pharmaceutical Inc.

Ruby Rose wondered why would a pharmacy needed to be so heavily armed. And it hadn't been this active when she first visited...

Whoever would try robbing the place would be screwed, that's for sure.

At first, she thought she had gotten lost, but the faunus guard- a riot police, really- gestured for her to follow when she showed her school ID, without even asking if she had the appointment.

Ruby fell into step behind with a nervous laugh, already feeling smaller under the gaze of the other personnel nearby. A few stopped and were visibly puzzled at her, much to her chagrin, but most offered friendly waves and the slightest nods to greet her before returning to their duties.

All of them were faunus, she noticed, which was kinda cool. There weren't many of them in Patch, and she'd only had met faunus exchange students who had been from other schools. Some of them wore armor, and but most toted weapons of all shapes and sizes.

Score.

While walking through the halls, Ruby took in what she could about the place. It did look and smell freshly furnished, and it wasn't bigger on the inside as she had thought. The walls were a mix of drab gray and bleach white, and the corners lined with blue.

Her eyes glinted with curiosity at the several complicated-looking hardware installed in most of the rooms she passed. Although Ruby was fairly well-versed about machinery, considering her time in the forge, she couldn't imagine how the ones here were used to help people. Well, if she stayed long enough, maybe she'll find out herself when she gets to use them.

After the excitement, though, Ruby balked at the thought of possibly breaking any one of them- since that would put a serious cut into her cookie budget.

Utility and efficiency were evidently in mind when the place was built, Ruby noted, but it wasn't completely without life or personality. Afterall, while there were little in the way of decorations or pictures, at least there was the odd potted cactus outside of a room they passed.

However, in almost every corridor, she would frequently see the great symbol depicting the pharmacy's icon: A rook chess piece within a triangle. She wasn't sure what was written at the bottom, but she could make a guess. It's the name of the place, surely.

'Rhodes Island.'

Then, as she passed one room, she had to pause as she laid her eyes on one of the medical beds. She had been certain this was a pharmacy, but it could apparently double as a small clinic. Still, on one of the beds, laid a body...

It was covered in a sheet, but the obvious indent of a person was there. The guard with her stopped too, but turned to her instead of the body, waiting patiently. He was probably used to scenes like this...

As she stood in respectful silence, what must be a part of the staff came and stopped beside her by the doorway. Underneath the pharmacy's signature dark blue-trimmed uniform, they wore a lab coat that made Ruby assume they must be a doctor.

However, for some reason, the person wore a face mask, fully hiding their features. They paused, looking over the body in silence. Ruby imagined they were a friend or family, who might be feeling the familiar feeling of abject misery after the loss of a loved one.

Ruby, while young, was no stranger to death. Her dream of being a Huntress wouldn't spare her of that, she knew. But, she promised herself that no one would die when she graduates as a fully fledged Huntress.

If she heads out for a mission, she'll do everything she can to save everyone. Then, after the day was saved and everything was restored to order, she'll return home, without fail.

She heard the person sigh heavily, likely preparing themselves, then walked up to the bed. After another pause, they reached out, grabbing the sheet, and gingerly pulled it off the body.

Out of morbid curiosity, Ruby watched as it revealed the form of a faunus girl, whose ears were laid flat on her head, still and lifeless. She had bright orange hair stylized with a number of green ribbons. She also looked maybe a year or two older than Ruby, and wore an oversized black coat atop a simple bunny-themed green shirt.

The masked person seemed to pause as they beheld the sight. She didn't know who they were, but it broke Ruby's heart all the same. The girl was dead, yet their face had such a serene smile, a smile which-

Whap!

"Owwww~ Doktaaah...! So mean~!"

Ruby blinked.

After a moment, she paused, closed her eyes, counted to three, then opened them again.

"Kroos, I told you, you can't sleep here." the masked person said in an unfamiliar language, who Ruby now confirmed was a man.

"Mou~ But it's so comfy here~" the 'dead' girl whined, who sat up and was holding her slapped cheek. "Oh, I know~ Sleep here with me! There's plenty of room, see~"

"You can sleep in my office later after I talk with our guest. Look, she's already here."

Both turned to Ruby as the masked man pointed her way. Numbly, she waved back when the not-corpse lazily gave a wave of her own.

"Hi-hiiii~ newbie~" the girl said with a fairly evident accent. "Bai-baii~ newbie~" The faunus girl then languidly climbed out of the bed, stretched, and began to shamble the other way like a newly risen B-rate zombie.

The man didn't say anything more and simply sighed, then walked ahead.

...

Did that person just revive a dead girl by slapping her back to world of the living?

...

...

Ruby was so confused.

In the end, she had come a little too early.

With nothing else to do but wait in the corridor in front of the room for her interview, which thankfully had a few seats, she idly observed the comings and goings of the few personnel that passed by.

There weren't as many people as she had seen from bigger hospitals like in Vale, but it felt a little like the school clinic back in Signal- A school that's home to budding hunters and huntresses that were all prone to all sorts of scuffles and accidents. Ruby was no exception, and definitely not her sister.

Still, Ruby couldn't remember if she had ever seen her school nurse be so armed to the teeth.

Not that she's complaining. On one hand, it was eye candy!

She tried not to stare too much at the weapons, such as the guard standing next to her was holding. It looked like a cross between a sniper rifle and a crossbow. While it does look like it was- in her humble opinion- vastly inferior to her Crescent Rose, Ruby could appreciate the sentiment for a classic.

Though, the guard didn't seem to carry any ammunition. The armored rig he wore on top of his dark, yellow trimmed uniform could hold Dust and spare bolt tips, but not arrows. Earlier when she looked over his shoulder, to which she tried very hard not to stand on her toes, she didn't see any sling or sign for a quiver.

More than that, she couldn't make out any signs that the crossbow could turn into anything else. There were no signs for a mechashift as far as she could tell. Then again, she was still a total newbie, like her uncle Qrow kept saying.

For all she knew, it wasn't just a tricked out crossbow, but a chainsword too! She wondered if she could borrow it for a closer look, just for a few sec-

A firm hand settled on her forehead. Ruby didn't need to see behind the gas mask- which reminded her of a cat, now that he thought about it- to know the guard was giving her a bewildered look.

Ruby hastily leaned back and looked away, cheeks flushed, and went back to twiddling her fingers for the twentieth time. Again, she wondered if she went to the wrong place for an internship. She'd been here for only a little while, but she's already overwhelmed.

It didn't help that it was taking so long, essentially leaving her to stew.

"Miss Rose?"

For Oum's sake, maybe they'd even only taken one look at her application and were laughing so hard at how terrible it was. Maybe so much that they got so sick, and couldn't get to work! But it wasn't her fault! Uncle Qrow probably made her look bad!

"H-hello, Miss Rose?"

Wait, Qrow didn't help her with it, nor did her dad. While he totally would- provided she turned on the waterworks- teachers aren't allowed to help students.

"Um..."

And she wouldn't be able to turn to anyone outside the family without dying of embarrassment.

That only leaves one ...

"Is Ruby your nam-"

"It's Yang!" she all but shouted.

"Hie?!"

"Eek!"

"Hyah!"

Three nearly simultaneous cries of surprise echoed in the corridor, but Ruby couldn't be sure who the third was. She'd be thinking about it a little more had she been not trying to stop her heart from leaping out her throat.

"You are... Yang? Not Ruby Rose?" the girl, who came out of the office, was a brown-haired faunus with bright cyan eyes. Like almost all of the staff in the pharmacy, she wore a dark blue coat with what must be 'Rhodes Island' written on its sleeve. Though, hers looked less new and had some wear and tear.

"Ah, yes! That's me! Yang's my sister. I am Rose- er I mean, Ruby! Rose is still me but it's Ruby, yeah! I'm Ruby... kill me..."

"Uhm... okay." the girl hesitantly nodded, then turned to the guard nearby, who was standing in attention and was holding a hand over his heart. Probably in a salute? "Thank you Miss Jessica, you may go and join the others."

Ruby stood up as the guard nodded and briskly walked away, leaving the two alone. Ruby wanted to apologise for earlier, but she supposed she could just look for him later.

"My name, is Amiya." the girl, Amiya, fluently said "It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Ruby."

"Ah, Ruby is fine." she replied, dusting her combat skirt. "Nice to meet you too, Amiya."

Amiya nodded, smiling. "Come in, the doctor will see you now, Ruby." she said and held the door for her.

Ruby swallowed.

'Here goes...'

What would you think about Jessica, without context, in her Pioneer armor?

Part 2 will be posted within a day. I don't have a beta, so I have to comb over what my brain managed to regurgitate bit by bit. Thoughts so far?