AN: And we are back! Quick note, if you prefer to read stories without the author's ramblings shoved in there, then the AO3 version of this fic will be notes free.
Ruby walked into the office building. It was the one she'd been told held an entrance to the tunnels leading to Beacon underneath it. The lobby was a warm assortment of colors, complete with tables and comfortable looking seats placed within.
She was excited to be starting today. She'd fidgeted in her bus seat for the entire ride into Vale. But half of that came from being nervous by Ruby's guess. She'd had trouble sleeping last night as well, no matter how hard she tried she'd slept fitfully.
Ruby took a deep breath and approached the front desk. Behind it was a woman with long brown hair who looked rather bored. She tapped a pencil to a beat only known to her, while staring at a spot on the wall. It was only when a large man standing off to the side coughed meaningfully that she noticed Ruby.
"Sorry, I hadn't noticed you. Welcome to Wizard Writing. Is there anything I can help you with?" She asked.
"I'm Ruby Rose. I'm here for my job," Ruby mentally chided herself. How would she know if she was part of Beacon or someone who got lost? "I mean I know Ozpin and all the, you know, stuff. All the Beacon stuff."
Ruby had to fight from hiding her face in her hands. That was the worst introduction she could have done.
"Yes I know all about the Beacon stuff. I'm Velvet by the way." The receptionist said with a small laugh, "Yatsu and I were told you'd be coming by this morning. Let me grab the sphere and you can go in through the elevator on your right."
Velvet opened a drawer and put on a pair of thick, elbow length gloves. Opening another drawer she pulled out a striped sphere identical to the one before, and gave it to Ruby.
"Why do you need the gloves?" Ruby asked.
Yatsuhashi started to move, but Velvet waved him back, "It's fine Yatsu. She doesn't know, and you weren't too different in the past. I'm a changeling, Ruby."
Before Ruby's eyes a pair of rabbit ears grew on Velvet's head. It was a surreal experience, and Ruby had to stop herself from making any kind of rude reaction.
"Changelings usually aren't that welcome, especially when most of us like to have some part of us something other than human when we can," Velvet's ears twitched, "But Beacon can use someone who can change into anyone else. Well, they could if I wasn't hiding a broken ankle under this desk."
"You'll heal quickly, Velvet," Yatsuhashi said, "You weren't hit by silver like there is in the sphere, so you'll be fine."
Velvet breathed out a large sigh, "I know Yatsu, it's just boring that we're stuck here. Sorry Ruby, we didn't mean to keep you waiting. You can head down and start. Welcome to Beacon."
Ruby felt a wave of relief wash over her when she stepped into the elevator. She pushed the down button and waved as the door closed. She was glad Velvet was kind, Ruby didn't know what she'd do if she made a misstep and actually offended her. She'd have to get used to things like that happening, especially if she worked alongside anyone that had something supernatural about them.
After a minute the elevator reached the bottom. A quick walk through a tunnel, that was shorter than the one Ozpin had taken her through, and she was back in Beacon's headquarters. Almost as soon as she entered the room, Yang came over and put an arm around her shoulders.
"Hey Rubes! I hope you slept well, because they found us a ghost to bust. Something nice and easy to start out."
Ruby's eyes lit up, "Where is the ghost? Is it haunting a burial site that is being developed? Or maybe, it's in an old house that a young couple bought."
"Easy there little sis," Yang started to guide her through the scattered gatherings of people, "First off it's in an old mine. You remember Rockbrook a few miles from Vale? And how it's supposedly haunted by the ghosts of the gold rush?"
Ruby nodded. Rockbrook was mostly a tourist attraction. It had some history about the frontiersmen, but the history ended up overshadowed by gift shops and ghost tours constantly talking about supposed sightings that no one could confirm.
"As it turns out, it actually is haunted. Something made one of the ghosts angry, and now it's lashing out." Yang opened the door to the armory and led Ruby inside.
"Has it hurt anyone?" Ruby asked, concern etched onto her face.
Yang's smile faded, replaced by a somber image, "Yeah. We usually don't know anything is wrong until something actually does go wrong. Luckily the worst someone got here was a concussion."
Ruby felt a wave of determination come over her. She wouldn't let anyone else get hurt, not if she could do anything about it. "How do we take care of it?"
"Pyrrha and I are going to load up the truck," Yang said with a grin, "You're going to talk to Peter and learn a little about ghosts."
"She'll do more than learn a little!" Port boomed.
Ruby jumped at the sudden noise. She had no idea how he walked up behind them so quietly. Maybe it was something that came naturally to older huntsmen. Port began explaining his experience with ghosts. While he did, Ruby couldn't help but notice how Yang snuck away.
"A ghost is a perfect first target. I remember the first time I tangled with one. Nothing I could do would touch it, until I used a frying pan from the nearby kitchen. You see, it was made of pure iron, the only non magical substance that can touch a spectre. As such you'll have an iron bar in the supplies your partners are collecting."
Ruby was taken aback by how much Port said and how quickly he did it. But she wasn't going to back down. She was going to make a good first impression. "I read a little about ghosts yesterday, Peter. Doesn't salt hurt them too?"
"Correct! When salt is thrown at a spirit, they temporarily disperse, usually for no more than a minute. You can also use it to make a line which the ghost cannot pass themself, but they can use their innate abilities to break the line. But most importantly is you have to find a way to put it to rest. Sometimes you can convince it to move on. Other times you must burn whatever is tying it to our world, usually its corpse, but sometimes an object of importance to them."
"Hey Ruby. We got started before you came in, so we're ready to go now," Yang called.
"Thanks Peter," Ruby said with a small nod of her head. She was starting to understand why Pyrrha and Yang didn't want to talk to him very much. You could ask him a simple question and his answer would be three times as long as it needed to be.
"Anytime, my dear. Whenever you need the advice of an old master, come to me."
Ruby left the armory, following Yang into the garage. Pyrrha was already there, with the truck running. The three of them climbed in and began driving towards Rockbrook.
"Have you two ever-" Ruby let out a grunt when Pyrrha stepped on the gas.
"Dealt with a ghost?" Yang guessed from her front seat. Ruby could see that she was already holding onto the door handle with a white knuckle grip, "Plenty of- fuck! Plenty of times. Pyrrha, didn't we talk about this already?"
"Sorry Yang. This is just how I drive, I don't know how to change it." Pyrrha's face remained unnervingly calm as she moved into an incredibly tight spot in the next lane.
Ruby had been planning to ask more about the ghost, but it became extremely apparent Yang hadn't been joking about Pyrrha's driving. She wove in between cars, nudged into places seemingly impossible to get squeezed into, and did it all faster than Ruby had ever driven. Ruby was too terrified to ask anything more. The only thing that made her feel better is that she could tell Yang wasn't enjoying herself either.
When they reached Rockbrook, Ruby walked out of the truck on shaky legs. The town consisted of one main road with all of the tourist attractions, and smaller streets branching out containing markets and houses.
"So where do we start looking for this ghost?" Ruby asked.
"You're looking for The Miner too?" An unknown voice responded.
Ruby cursed herself for saying something like that in the open, before turning around. The woman that had asked the question was rather… purple. She wore blue jeans, but her shirt, shoes, and even hair were all a shade of purple.
"Hi, I'm Psiah."
AN: A number of things happened here. We are introduced to Velvet the changeling/shapeshifter, which will be the stand in for faunus in this world. I usually don't like explaining things in author's notes, but I don't see a way to do it in story. I hope that bit of exposition was alright. I also hope I'm doing well with Ruby's characterization. I'm trying to lean a lot on the part of her that's learning how to do things and is generally awkward. As for Pyrrha's driving, I have no idea where that came from. I just thought it would be an interesting quirk for her.
Finally we have Psiah (pronounced sigh-uh), something of an interesting name I know. This is because it comes from an interesting girl. Psiah is a friend of mine and she has a "bit" you could say, and it fits in rather well to this setting. So I asked her if I could use her as a character and she agreed. In return I got to make a cameo in her fic Kinda Dead, it's also an urban fantasy setting focusing on Ruby and Yang. Since they're so close and we started uploading around the same time, we have a joking rivalry going on. I definitely recommend giving hers a read