A/n: Just a quick note, this has nothing to do with my "other" dragon story. More info at the bottom, hope you enjoy! The story, not the info at the bottom.
"What?! Denied again? But why?!" Ruby asked as she glanced at the document.
"Miss Rose, we went through this plenty of times, you do not qualify to become an alchemist." One of the three individuals sitting behind the desk replied calmly.
"How so? I passed the test with the highest score! My workshop has the minimum requirements for me to start, according to rules I very much qualify!" Ruby huffed in annoyance.
"Yes, perhaps, but there's one more rule you forgot about." One of the men spoke, Ruby wasn't sure which of them spoke when, for all, she cared they could be the same entity, as they seemed to be so likely minded.
"Like what?" Ruby crossed her arms, ready for whatever it would be. This always ended up like this. Ever since she attempted, they threw rules at her, and each time she was able to overcome it. She wouldn't give up now.
"Finding a bride." One of them explained calmly.
At that Ruby's face grew red, she wasn't expecting something this... Well, personal. "I... Uh, you know. I mean, I'm still young! I could easily find someone, I don't see how it's a big deal. I mean..."
Before Ruby could continue, one of the men interrupted her. "No, miss Rose. You don't understand. Finding a bride, a wife. Not becoming one. As such it's impossible for you to acquire a license since you'll never qualify under this specific rule."
The redhead could feel her ears flair up, not because of embarrassment, not entirely, but the bigger part of that was anger. "But that's unfair! I'm no worse than a man!"
"We're not saying you're worse, hence why we're sure that any of the other guilds will accept your skills and make good use of it. The alchemy guild has a long tradition and rules that are fundaments for its existence. If we started to make exceptions it would crumble underneath its own weight." It was rare for Ruby to be angry, this was one of those rare occasions. They knew this all along, yet they sent her on a wild goose chase with all the additional steps, only to take it all away from her, this time without any hope of getting it back.
"Please!" She was desperate. "I beg you, anything. Give me any task, even if you deem it impossible, I swear I'll do whatever it takes to join the guild."
The trio of man looked at each other.
oooOOOooo
As the door slammed, Yang glanced towards the source of the sound, only to notice her younger sister exiting the building. "Denied again?" She asked. It wasn't the first time and most likely not the last, knowing Ruby at least.
"No." The younger girl mumbled in annoyance as she walked past the blond, not even stopping to wait up for her.
"Huh? Wait, what? You got accepted?" Yang was too shocked about the news to really pay attention to her sister's rude behavior. "What's with the grumpy face then?"
"I wasn't denied." Ruby stopped and turned to face her sister. "But I wasn't accepted either."
"There's a third option?" Yang was now utterly confused.
"They gave me a task, if I complete it, I'll be accepted." Ruby explained with a sigh.
"Oh... Wait! It's nothing... You know It's nothing perverted right?!" Yang's eyes turned red at the mere thought of such. "That's it, I'll personally tell them what I think about them using my sister's dream like that." As she turned around towards the guild's building, she felt her arm being caught.
"Yang, no! Stop! Nobody said anything about... Ugh, about anything. It's nothing like that." Ruby shook her head and let out another sigh. "They want me to make an item out of a dragon scale."
"Huh?" It took a moment but this new piece of information calmed Yang down before there could be any damage done. She let out her own sigh, one of relief, after hearing that. "Well, that's good."
"Good? Good?! How is that good, Yang?! A dragon! That's not good." Ruby couldn't hold it in her anymore, as the wrong combination of circumstances made her explode on her own.
"Whoa, calm down there, they gave you an impossible task, meaning they don't want you in. As your big sister, I'll take that over you having to... Ugh... Nevermind." Yang shook her head.
"It's not impossible, just... Just very hard!" Ruby protested as if she herself went one-eighty on the idea.
"Ruby, dragons are no more. The only information we have about them is from elves and dwarves, and even then it's so old it mixes in any facts with fables and legends." It was always like that, while it was quite charming and refreshing to see someone regain their optimistic view on a certain topic so quickly, whenever Ruby wandered into that guildhall, she always ended up like this. New goose chase and thinking that this time she could be accepted.
"T-That's not true, there were sightings!" Ruby tried to defend her point, but Yang knew better than that.
"And each time it turned out it was a wyvern and nothing more. I'm sorry sis, but they just don't want you here, it's not your fault our town's alchemy guild is the most fundamentalistic one. Why not try another city?" While the idea of Ruby leaving wasn't the sweetest of deals for Yang, it would get her closer to her goal, right? Besides, Yang could go with her. Why not? Adventurer guilds all over the kingdom were always filled with requests.
"I can't, Yang, I always tell you that to join the alchemy guild you have to be born in the city you wish to join or be a citizen of the city for at least ten years. Ten years! Yang, that's... That's a lot of time of not being an alchemist." As the younger girl explained, Yang observed her arms flailing. It was amusing, even if her words were a bit of a bummer. Yang wouldn't mind for a change of scenery.
"Why not join some other guild? You have all that knowledge after studying alchemy. You know how to fight, you know a bit of magic and you bring in your own fair of tricks with all that alchemy stuff." Yang continued, it was hard to tell if she was trying to cheer the girl up or not at this point.
"You very well know why." Ruby answered grumpily.
"Well, yeah but-whoa!" Yang was interrupted as she noticed something under her boots in the last moment. With all her natural and learned balance, it wasn't enough to keep her from falling onto the rocky pavement. Grunting, she tried to sit up as she glanced at what it was exactly that she saved from being stomped by her heavy boots. A cat.
"Yang!" It was a split second in which all of it happened, with the younger girl yelling after her sister and kneeling next to her. "You alright? That looked like it'd hurt."
"I'm glad it lived up to its expectations then." Yang answered with yet another grunt, yet she offered a cocky smile towards her younger sister, as to not worry her too much. After that, she glanced back at the cat. It seemed to be occupied with eating a fish that was placed on a piece of paper. Well, before the accident, since right now it was looking at her with its big golden eyes. "Well? What are you staring at? Take your fish and hide somewhere before someone less observant steps on you. Shoo!" Yang waved at the cat, which was enough for it to grab its half-eaten fish and run off into one of the countless alleys.
"Think someone did that on purpose? Leaving a fish in the middle of the street?" Ruby asked as she helped Yang to get back on her feet.
"Not sure, but that cat was lucky to not lose one of its lives today." Yang said as she glanced at the ground. Something got her attention as she squinted her eyes. "No way."
"Huh? What?" Ruby's brow rose as she watched Yang pick up the piece of paper that the fish was on earlier. Seeing that, the younger girl winced. "Ew, Yang, gross."
"Speaking of dragons." Yang said, ignoring Ruby's comment as she showed what the paper's content was. "Look at this."
The redhead glanced between Yang and the piece of paper a few times as if expecting the other girl to joke. Seeing that she was serious, she focused on the content of it, whatever she could make out of it. At first, it didn't seem important, if anything it was a document from Yang's organization, the adventurer's guild, she saw a few of those, mostly thanks to Yang, who else. Still, as she continued to read, her eyes grew. "They reported seeing a dragon!" Ruby yelled, not able to contain her happiness.
"Calm down." Yang said as she placed a hand on top of the younger girl's head. "This is exactly what I told you, people constantly report dragons and it always turns out it's a wyvern or something even less dangerous if anything at all." The blonde shook her head.
"How can you be so sure with this one, huh? Yang, this is fate! Just when I need one, it appears." Ruby frowned, Yang wouldn't take this from her. This was exactly what Ruby needed.
"Ruby, why do you think this was used as a plate for a cat?" The older of the two let out a small sigh. "This is from Dragon Lake, a village that, for some reason, constantly reports dragon sighting. They want to bring in people like you, lure them in so they would stay over there, spend coins, and try to find a dragon that's non-existent. It's not the first report like that from there... This month."
"Dragon's Lake." Ruby repeated that name to herself as she nodded. It was too late, she was already forming plans on how to get there, what supplies to take, and everything else. She needed to prepare herself, it was a dragon after all.
"Ruby, no. Please, it'll be a fool's errand. I'm telling you, you won't find a dragon over there." Even as Yang was saying that she knew it was pointless. Ruby already made her mind. "Look, at least wait a week or two, we have a bigger thing set up and I already agreed to be part of it. After that, I'll go with you."
"Two weeks?! Yang! That dragon might be gone if I wait as much as a day!" Ruby shook her head. "Nuh huh, I'm packing up and leaving as soon as possible. Even if I have to travel by night." She turned around and was ready to head towards her workshop, but was stopped as Yang reached out and grabbed her arm.
"Whoa, hold on there. At least promise me you won't travel by night. First thing in the morning, but not night. Come on, at least this much." Yang pleaded with her younger sister. Ruby wanted to argue, but one glance at Yang's worried expression stopped her from doing so.
With an annoyed sigh, Ruby gave in. "Fine, this much I can promise, but nothing else."
"Right, well go get ready. You know where to find me if you need anything. Just be sure you get everything you need with you." It was clear to Ruby that she did it without Yang's full approval, still, this was her chance to finally fulfill her dream. And when life gives you a dragon...
oooOOOooo
There was a moment when Ruby was excited and full of energy, optimistic to a dangerous degree. All of that slowly deflated over time the closer she got to her workshop. Which was also her home. Why? The deflation that is. Well, rare or not, it was a dragon. How exactly would she convince a dragon to give her a scale? Was it even possible? Would it be like cutting out part of your skin? She never studied biology as such she never thought about how lizards work in regards to scales. Even then, she heard that dragons are more like... Cats. Why? She wasn't sure, but there was that.
No, she had to focus. She needed a plan, she had to prepare, just like Yang said. Otherwise, even if she arrives there and there will be an actual dragon, it'll all be in vain. She glanced around the main room. This was the workshop part of her home. With various stations, as they were referred to officially, all in order to perform basic and advanced alchemy functions. Blacksmith portion, fletcher, tanning racks, spinning looms even carpenter tools, anything to create some sort of object, or to process raw ingredients into half materials. There were of course more complicated stations. Like the enchanting one and the chemistry one. To this day most uneducated people didn't understand the difference between alchemy and chemistry, something that always made Ruby smile. Since she was one of them long ago.
Why all this? Because an alchemist profession is to create a fully enhanced object out of raw ingredients. There were of course ways to enhance a sword or armor or whatever it is people needed to have a semi-permanent magical effect, yet the effect was stronger when an object was created from ground up with a thought of a certain specific enhancement. Or a few of those. Regardless, that was what an alchemist did. Mainly. There were other, more subtle things, but they weren't as important. Mostly because they were advanced techniques and quite expensive.
Another part was that an alchemist had to at least possess a basic knowledge of using whatever object it is he created. That mostly meant armors, weapons, and tools. Although Ruby heard of an alchemist that made whole ships. Daring, but not something she would want to tap into. That's also why Yang always tried to push her towards a different type of work since she had the basic skill to apply to any of the other guilds. Yet there was only one guild she really wanted to belong to. One that was so adamant about not letting her in. But she was stubborn, she would achieve her dream.
Ruby smiled at all that. It was a lot yet she knew how to use every one of those tools she possessed. It always refreshed her resolution in becoming an alchemist. How did she afford that? A simple question a lot of people, who knew her little dream and issues connected to it, asked whenever they entered her home. Simple, she did all of the jobs mentioned above, but separately. She made weapons, clothing, armors. She enchanted things, created potions, or whatever substances were requested. She did a good job, at least she liked to think so since she always had enough customers to be able to pay all the required taxes and be able to live without money issues.
Speaking of valuables, that was something she needed to figure out if she wanted to avoid having to fight a dragon. It was perhaps one of the few constants in dragon stories, legends, and any kind of sources of information about dragon. They were greedy or at least they liked things of great value. Now, while she could survive without an issue month to month, her stash of emergency gold wasn't exactly worthy of a dragon hoard. Especially since she assumed that a dragon scale would cost a lot. She would need a lot of gold to cut out her own skin and give it to someone, which was her line of logic in regards to the scale business.
She could make something, after all, alchemy was open to anyone, just having an alchemy shop was forbidden if one wasn't formally part of the guild. Yet the issue remained the same, she didn't have gold to buy expensive materials. She didn't even have an idea of what to do, not to mention creating something from scratch was a very delicate and long process.
No, she lacked the most important resource of them all. Time. She didn't have a lot of options. She could ask Yang for some money but... First of all, she hated being dependent on Yang in any way or form. Not because she disliked her sister, quite the opposite, she loved Yang. She simply didn't want to be a bother. Not a bother, a burden. She knew her life goal was selfish, especially since it was almost impossible to achieve, at least in this city.
No, this... This wasn't the time. Ruby shook her head and looked around. Her eyes focused on one of the walls. Not just any wall, but a very important one. She slowly approached it and placed a hand on the bricks. The palms of her hands moved along the rough texture. Her eyes followed her fingers, counting. One, two, three, four, click. Her hand pressed against one of the bricks. She felt the subtle vibration of the mechanism on the other side of the wall. The secret compartment open, she glanced inside.
This wasn't something she built, not even requested, as this house stood here for far longer then her dad would remember. She wasn't even told about it, no. It was an accident she found it, while practicing her magic, one of her divination spells acted odd, which lead her to a little investigation after which she ended up with the knowledge of this small place. Why was she looking for it right now? Simple, it held the treasure she could easily smuggle and that potentially could earn her a dragon scale. Hopefully.
Reaching inside, she extracted a small pouch filled with coins. She poured them onto her hand. Gold, not much, but it was her rainy day fund in case of emergency. You never know. She smiled to herself as she counted. Just as she left it. Putting the coins back into the small leather bag, she placed it on the ground. This wasn't what she was after. She waved her hand and snapped her fingers. That dispelled a small, trivial illusion that partially worked thanks to her own magic and partially thanks to the darkness of the compartment. Once the fake wall was gone, the true treasure revealed itself. She reached towards it.
There it was, cold in her hand. Looking down, it was just as she remembered it to be. Silver chain that kept sizable neatly cut ruby in a casing made out of the same metal as the chain. She looked into her own reflection, distorted by the angles of the gem. Would she really give this out? How far could she go to try and reach for her dreams? No, this wasn't the time. She had something she could trade. Small, yet valuable. Now she just had to plan a route, pack up and do whatever she had to do, to prepare herself for the upcoming journey.
oooOOOooo
Ruby never considered herself to be a city girl. She liked the rural areas and she enjoyed traveling through all the local woods and forests, lake areas, and even a few other, dangerous places whenever she needed something out of them. Yet, at best, it took her two days to get there. Day of traveling wherever she needed to, camping for the night and heading back. All on foot. Now, after traveling for a few days on a horse? Yes, she was a city girl. She was in no way and form a traveler. At least not yet.
Still, even as exhausted as she was from her long journey, the sight of the small village that was her destination managed to bring a smile on her lips. It reminded her of the goal she came to achieve here.
Leaving her horse at the stables, she began to slowly wander through the village. While on the outside it seemed small, it wasn't. Not for the right reasons too, if that made sense. There weren't a lot of homes, but rather it had a hefty spacing between each and every building, and on top of that there was a large area in the middle of it all, presumably for some kind of special occasions. The entire place was also incredibly neat. As in clean, for a rural area that is. People seemed to smile her way which was also an oddity. Usually, folks were too busy minding their own business. Sure, there was a nod or a small smile from time to time, but not like this. Not all the time.
All of this made Ruby's neck hair stand up. This was too friendly, this was too nice. It's like this entire place had this wrong vibe about it. Regardless she hoped that they wouldn't mug her. If they tried she would have to defend herself. Fighting anything that wasn't a monster was the least enjoyable thing for Ruby. Still, if she had to, what other choice did she have?
Of course, it would be stupid to judge them all simply because they took care of their village and were friendly. Perhaps there was a reason for it all. The reason, that word reminded Ruby of why she came here. Dragon, there was supposed to be a dragon somewhere here and reported by folks of this here place. But shouldn't that make those people terrified? Or at least vary of whatever might happen? This just added another layer of worry. Something was definitely odd about this place. Still, odd or not, she was tired, and right now there was only one place she wanted to be at.
oooOOOooo
Ruby couldn't hold her smile as she felt the cold liquid move down her body. Luckily this place had an inn, which she grew afraid would be yet another anomaly of this place. Not having one. Ordering whatever was being cooked and some thin wine, she enjoyed the comfiness of the chair she currently occupied. While some people could argue that she just spent most of her journey sitting in a saddle, it was quite a different experience to sit on something that wasn't constantly on the move.
Looking down her mug, she wondered if she should get another one for when her food comes in. She wasn't much for drinking liquor of any kind, but she was educated enough to know that drinking dirty water could lead to health issues. While people weren't sure why boiled water and drinks prepared on such were the only way to avoid any kind of sickness. The substitute for that was alcohol. Which was the reason she ordered a thin wine, which was just a nice term for watered-down wine.
While considering her options, something caught her attention. Two men entered the place, which wasn't odd, after all, it was an inn. If anything, Ruby was surprised it was just her and the innkeeper up till now. No, what was odd was that one of them, who looked like a local, pointed in her direction. She assumed the gesture was supposed to be discrete, which of course it was far from it. What was more worrying was how the other man looked. In a rugged duster and a hat that seen better days. Ruby wasn't sure, but from here it looked like he was a middle-aged man.
The odd-looking fellow nodded to the villager and started to slowly walk Ruby's way. From the sound of his footstep, Ruby deduced that he had to have a peg leg. Speaking of, the closer he got, the more obvious it became that the peg leg was not the only replacement limb, as he seemed to have a hook for a hand. Was this man a pirate? Sailor? What did he do so far from the sea? Or any kind of big water? Regardless, as the man approached her, she hid one of her arms under her cloak. A universal sign of distrust, as it was supposed to signal the outside world that your hand just went for your weapon. Just in case, of course.
"Good day missy, no need to worry about this old man." He greeted her, commenting on her gesture. "This here body had enough fights in its lifetime, the best I could do is to not fall on my ass when pushed, really."
"I apologize, it's just that..." Ruby bit her tongue. That what? He looked dangerous? No, the correct word was...
"I look unpleasant? Hah, a pretty girl like yourself has all the rights to be worried when an old bastard like myself be approaching her." He laughed, his voice ragged, like someone who excessively abused alcohol. "Mind if I join you? For a moment, I ain't going to take too much of your time, missy"
"Sure I guess." Ruby nodded. She watched as the man wrestled his way onto a chair, which was the only apt description of what occurred before her eyes. "I hope it's not something I did? I barely arrived here." She added, not wanting too much silence to settle.
"Nah, it's just that whenever folks like you arrive, people here ask me to see if they should be worried or not." The man leaned heavily against the table. The wooden furniture squeaked in protest but held on bravely. "I've been a mercenary for a better part of my life, so I know a bit of this and that. Meet all kinds of folks, you see. And this here lot, they don't want to offend anyone with their basic knowledge of how things are outside of their little world here."
"I see." Ruby glanced at her mug but decided against taking a sip, even if her mouth grew dry. Additional alcohol inside her system would be the last thing she wanted right now. "If you have any questions, go ahead."
"Right." The man glanced around. "You here because of that dragon rumor?" Even if the place was empty, his voice still lowered.
"Dragon?" Ruby's brow raised at that. She decided a bit ago to hide her true intent, for obvious reason. This place seemed suspicious.
"Yeah, you haven't heard? There was a dragon some folks sighted not long ago." The man nodded as if his interrogation turned into nothing more but gossiping.
"I'm afraid I haven't heard anything. I'm a... An alchemy apprentice. I'm here to map out herbs from this area." She nodded. This wasn't a lie. Well, it was, but the process of mapping out certain areas for specific types of ingredients wasn't.
"Huh? Really? Nobody from the guild arrived as well, and our messenger came back, reported her delivered the message. That's odd." The man's brow furrowed further, something Ruby wasn't knew was possible, considering how wrinkled his forehead already was.
"Well... I don't want to be impolite." Ruby started, weaving her own little lie even further. "Your village is known for so many fake dragon sightings that people from the city learned to ignore them. Even the guild doesn't take that seriously anymore, my sister told me so and she's part of it."
At her words, the man slammed his hand against the table, startling Ruby in the process. "See those fools around here, they thought they could get people to come around here if they mentioned a dragon from time to time." The man rumbled his fingers against the wooden table. "The issue is that they forgot what from time to time meant, and now this place became a laughing stock." Ruby wasn't sure how to react to that. At least that solved the mystery of this place. It wasn't anything dangerous, just a ploy to earn coins without doing any of the hard work associated with this type of village. "But don't let it fool you." The man decided to continue, his tone of voice changing drastically. The only way Ruby could describe it would be darker. "Years ago there was a dragon in these parts. My group stumbled upon it. He killed everyone and spared only me. Was it a cruel joke? An accident on his part? Maybe I was to be the warning to leave the beast alone. Whatever it was, I'll never forget that encounter." The hook that Ruby noticed earlier landed and bit into the wood of the table. "He took everything from me, that beast."
Once more, Ruby was left speechless. She wasn't sure what to think about this anymore. Years ago, how many years ago? Did that mean there was no dragon at the present? "I'll keep that in mind." She answered quietly.
"Be careful out there, if you really came here to pick flowers." The man seemed to regain his composure in an instant. "I'll leave you be and tell the folks here that you ain't no one to be afraid of." The ex-mercenary tipped his hat as he slowly stood up, resting his entire weight against the table, Ruby was once again amazed at how solid the wooden object was. As she watched the man slowly leave, her mind started to fill with various thoughts.
oooOOOooo
Sitting on the bed, Ruby looked down at her notes. It was a thick book with her thoughts on various things. Thoughts, recipes, and whatever else needed to be written down, really. It was filled with plenty of loose paper in addition to the book being quite thick on its own. She just finished jotting down the events of today. Seeing it in front of her helped in deciding what to do next. Was there a point in her search? She wasn't even sure why she came here. It was this sudden rush when she heard about the dragon and this place from Yang. Something that already passed and left her lost and confused.
Was this really it? Would her dream of becoming a fully-fledged, licensed alchemist just fade away? Just because of a stupid rule. It seemed like that would be the case. With a sigh, she closed the book and laid down on the bed. She hugged the book to her chest and glanced around. The room was small, she didn't expect much from this inn. Still, it was clean and the furniture seemed solid. Not to mention the bed was comfy enough and it had a window.
Since she traveled this far, she might as well explore a little. Perhaps if not a dragon she'll find something else worth her time. And once she's back home? Well, she'll reconsider her dream. She could always move to a different city as Yang suggested, this could at least create an opportunity for her to become an alchemist at one point in her life. There was also the option to completely ditch that idea and join a different guild.
Perhaps tomorrow's tour around the local wilderness will give her a better idea of what she wanted to do with her life.
oooOOOooo
Yelling woke Ruby up. Luckily it wasn't inside her room, nor it didn't seem to be targeted at her. No, the yelling had to be just outside the inn. While she liked to sleep in, she stretched and peeked outside to see what was going on. There, she saw something she didn't expect to see. A group she recognized. Not just any group, but one from the adventurer's guild. Grinning to herself, she grabbed her bag and rushed downstairs.
There she saw what she hoped for, one of the group members. Her jog down the stairs had to be loud enough because the person noticed her. "Oh! Ruby, hello!" It was a girl, a bit older than Ruby. At least physically, Ruby didn't really know how the differences between their species worked. Long brown hair, lean with brown eyes, and wearing the same color of traveling robes. Oh and the pair of rabbit ears. She was a Faunus after all.
"Uh... Velvet, right?" Ruby asked with a smile as she approached the bunny girl.
The girl in question let out a small laugh. "Yes, Velvet. Although I did enjoy the other name you gave me that one time. What was it? Violet?" The Faunus winked at Ruby.
"Eh, right." Ruby smiled sheepishly as she rubbed her neck. "So uh, what you guys doing here? Also um... What's up with that yelling?" Not wanting to tower over the girl, Ruby sat down in front of her.
"Oh, well... They actually paid to contact me telepathically, since we were heading back from a mission and it was nearby. They asked us to check on that dragon sighting that apparently happened around here." Velvet's ears lowered a tiny bit at the mention of yelling. "Is that the same reason you're here? The dragon rumor?"
"Huh?" Ruby blinked, she decided it was safer to just go with her lie from yesterday. Besides, didn't that lie turn out to be the truth in the end? "Nah, I learned about the dragon stuff after I came here. I'm actually here to look for an herb." The redhead nodded.
"Oh I see, I see. What kind of herb? Maybe I could help, I know a few things about the local flora." The rabbit girl smiled politely.
"It's an uh..." Ruby chewed the inside of her cheek, trying to find a name for something that could grow nearby. Sadly, she drew blanks. She kept books for a reason. The reason being, not having to remember all those things. "Actually, the client asked for the whole thing to be a secret. You know, it's... It's an intimate matter." She hoped that her troubled look was enough to sell her lie.
Velvet's eyes grew a bit at that, but she nodded after a moment. "Of course, I know how important this whole alchemy business is to you." The bunny girl let out a sigh a second after saying that. "I think I should help the boys to calm down Coco." At the mention of it, Ruby remembered there was some kind of yelling happening outside. It became white noise for her.
"Right, good luck with that. If you guys decide to leave, at least say hi to your group from me." Ruby offered with a smile once the heavy topics were off the table.
"Of course, although I'm afraid We'll leave as soon as possible." Velvet stood and was about to head out, but paused. "Oh, right. Since we won't need it, here." She placed a small pouch in front of Ruby. It looked like it had a small marble inside.
"What's that?" Ruby asked, picking the thing up. It did, in fact, turn out it was an object similar to a small marble.
"Moonstone. It's attuned to a Lunar Pillar located nearby. It's..." Velvet's brow furrowed as she looked around. "Somewhere north from here."
"Moonstone?" Ruby glanced inside, she rarely saw those things, but from what she remembered, it sure looked like one of those. "Aren't those expensive to make?" She glanced up at the Faunus.
"Well, it's already made and I don't think we'll be around here anytime soon. So since you'll be exploring here, I thought it could at least get some use. You know, in case something happens." Velvet smiled. "I'm sure Yang would be devastated if something did happen."
"Right, thanks. If you'll ever need anything, be sure to stop by my workshop." Ruby smiled broadly, hiding the pouch into one of her pockets. One of the more secure ones.
Velvet smiled back and offered a wave, heading outside. With one last wave, she disappeared behind the door.
Leaning back in her chair, Ruby glanced at the ceiling. Was this a good or bad omen, she wondered.
oooOOOooo
Walking around the forests wasn't the most productive thing Ruby could do with her time. Especially when you're not looking for anything in particular. She didn't just go out and decide to walk till she found something, that would be even more stupid. No, her plan was to cast simple divination, one that helps to find magical trails. A spell she held dearly ever since she had to look for a certain type of magical berries.
Now, this plan did work out for a bit. For a bit, until she noticed that the trail was going in circles. Ruby wasn't much of a ranger and far from being a druid, as such, it took her a while before she noticed that certain elements of the environment seemed to be identical to things she already saw. At first, she blamed it on the forest. Well, it was a forest, trees do look alike, especially when grouped up. There was also the fact that she focused more on the trail rather then what was around her. Something that Yang would yell at her for doing, but the sole fact that there was a semi-strong trail piqued her curiosity. Besides, Yang wasn't around.
This entire situation was... Awful, to not use stronger words. Or meaner words. Regardless of what type of specific word would be used to describe her situation, it was bad. She wasn't sure what to do and to add salt to injury, dark clouds were gathering above for a bit. Now accompanied by loud thunderclaps. She decided to take things step by step. She had to find cover. She could try to run back, but the chances of getting to the village before the rain hits her were meek. There was also the option to use the moonstone, but it would be such a petty thing to use it for. Besides, she decided that after the rain, she would renew her search.
As the first droplets of water hit her skin, Ruby knew that she idled for too long. She saw a bunch of caves east from her current spot. At least she hoped these were caves. Deciding that there's no other plan, she rushed towards the location she had in mind.
As she ran, she had plenty of time to think about the possibilities. The short term possibilities. Like bears. Bears lived in caves, right? She hoped that a bear could understand that she needed shelter for the time being of the rain. Worst case scenario, she could scare the bear away with some magic. It's better than killing the poor guy. Nodding to herself, she slowed down and started to look around. It seemed that cat luck was a theme for her as of late. What was cat luck? When you throw a cat out of the window and its supposed landing on all four paws. It's a bad situation where you find a little bit of luck to get out of it. Sort of, wouldn't that cat still have broken legs?
Regardless of cat legs, Ruby spotted a cave entrance. Quite big, but it seemed enough to offer some cover from the rain. As soon as she entered it, the rain outside began to heavily pour. Even the forests cover couldn't do much against the heavy droplets that lingered against the leaves. Taking a few breathes, she glanced around. "Hello? Any bears inside?" Not hearing an answer... Well, no kind of roar or something, it's not like she expected a bear to actually talk back to her, she decided that it had to be empty. Bears tend to get angry easily, being woken up from a nap would make a bear angry. It made Yang angry. She was kind of like a bear, sometimes at least.
Still, she wouldn't be stupid enough to just turn her back on a dark cave. Summoning her magic, she created a tiny orb of light. Enough to illuminate the nearby area. She wasn't wrong when she ran here. There was someone in the cave. Although it wasn't a bear. It wasn't a type of situation where it "luckily wasn't a bear"... No, this... This was different.
As Ruby gazed into the deeper parts of the cave, now illuminated with her magic, she met a pair of blue eyes staring back at her.
What was seated before Ruby was unmistakably a Dragon.
A/n:
Like I mentioned before, this has nothing to do with my other dragon-themed AU. Actually, this here idea was the first dragon idea I had, but because I couldn't really make certain things work out, I decided to scrap it, I got some different ideas and that other dragon thing was made. Still, I still wanted to make this story to work, which I did. And here we are.
As for the entire story, I sort of am aware and did it on purpose, sort of, when I made it seem like a bit of an "RPG" scenario. Hey, I also put in a few references here and there. Because I'm a nerd I guess. I dunno. Another thing is the alchemy stuff, this was what initially I had an issue with. At first, Ruby was a blacksmith but this didn't really work out. I mean it could, but it would feel forced. As such, I decided to just screw realism and go full "RPG" mode and introduce an alchemist. An alchemist in a very broad term, since usually alchemy is more related to potion-making. Still, a lot of books, stories, settings, and games take alchemy a few steps further and make it a different type of crafter. I thought that an all-purpose crafter was a good enough idea, not standing out too much and fitting my purpose.
On a different note, something that most people reading this won't care about, I thought that a change of pace for myself would be nice. Recently I worked on a much more... I dunno, a moodier story from Blake's PoV. I wanted to get away from that before it completely overwhelms my style. Something lighter. And since this story was waiting in the backburner I thought why not go for it.
Lastly, this should have a few chapters. It's what I consider a short story. I already have bullet points for all chapters. It should be 4, epilogue included in that number.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it! Thanks for reading!