Ruby Rose expanded her Scroll and glanced at the time before folding it and returning it to its pouch.
'I still have a few hours.'
Turning away from the airfield she began walking to one of her preferred shops- the same one that had actually gotten her into Beacon two years early, in fact. It sold magazines- both for reading and shooting- as well as Dust in various stages. Refined, unrefined, powdered, crystals, bullets, and even a few Dust slurries that were made for injection.
Some people were crazy enough to buy them, apparently.
Thankfully, it was open at all hours of the day, as well, so she never had to worry about not having somewhere to hang out as long as she had some Lien to spend.
Now that she thought about it, how did the place get repaired so quickly?
Shaking the though off, she pushed open the glass doors to hear that familiar jingle and waved to the elderly shopkeeper that seemed to always be manning the till. She wondered if he had some kind of Semblance that let him stay awake constantly, as she had never seen another member of the staff in the shop.
She could also swear that she had seen him selling cabbage out of a cart just a minute ago a few streets down...
'Nope. Don't question it.'
She knew someone that had tried to determine if this old man was omniscient or something similar, and they had come back looking more confused than ever and barely able to remember the previous few hours.
With that disturbing reminder that something on Remnant just weren't supposed to be questioned, she began rifling through the magazines in the back of the store, seeing if anything new had come in. She was pleasantly surprised to find that a new issue of her favorite magazine, Dust and Dremels, had come in.
Not to be confused with Dust and Dimples, which was also a magazine she picked up on occasion.
Behind her the jingle of the door opening sounded out and she tensed lightly, subtly looking in the mirror hanging in the corner of the shop. She was relieved to find it was just a Huntsman- perhaps in training- who was alone. Although he carried a rather large bag on his back, he also carried two weapons openly. A large knife of some kind was situated on his right while a sword was sheathed on his left. Gradually realizing that he was a customer, and not a robber, Ruby relaxed and went back to perusing various magazines. Too bad that the parts she had ordered for Crimson Rose wouldn't come in until next week...
"Er, excuse me, miss." Said a young voice behind her, making her jump and whirl around.
She wasn't sure if she had just become that engrossed in her magazine or if he had somehow managed to sneak up on her, but she still should've noticed his approach. She noted that he seemed to be about Yang's age, if not a little older. Age could be difficult to tell with Hunters at the best of time, but there were a few ways to tell such as their air color, voice, the way they acted, etc. Although his hair faded to white at the tips, his eyes still had a youthful glint and his voice wasn't deep enough- still holding a youthful sharpness- and it didn't have that same gravelly tone many professional Hunters picked up as a byproduct of yelling commands over loud battlefields. His weapons and armor looked well taken-care-of, if scuffed, worn and slightly dirty- in fact, that could be described his entire look. He was dusty in a way only someone who had been travelling for weeks could be. His boots were caked in dirt and his bag was travel worn and patched in places, although his clothes looked remarkably cleaner. His right arm was made out of metal, the sharp edges that transitioned into smooth curves to mimic musculature- save for around the forearm where a metallic bracer was worn- showed that it was made by a skilled craftsman and the blonde man's comfort in moving it showed that it was not a recent addition.
The metal of the arm itself was largely white, although it was bordered by gold much like the rest of his armor. His fingertips were a slightly darker shade resembling bronze rather than gold, and Ruby could see from the glimpse of a darker metal along the fingers and palms that the hand had magnets embedded into it, likely to provide a better grip for his sword and prevent him from dropping it on accident or if the prosthetic was damaged. Although she was surprised that another person in her age group had a prosthetic arm, she guessed it wasn't anything too shocking. Things happen all over the world, after all, and the scars that took up a large portion of his face told her what had caused it, if not the reason behind it.
He couldn't have been too much older than her, but he had the same look and smell of a Huntsman coming from outside the walls from an extended mission.
"I uh- I was hoping to get one of those, if you wouldn't mind." He continued, slightly off-put by her sudden reaction, pointing at something behind her. She glanced back and found that he was pointing at a stack of newspapers that she had been unintentionally blocking as she read. Odd, for someone around her age, to prefer paper to their Scroll.
"O-oh, sure." She mumbled in response, stepping aside to give him access to the papers. After a few moments of flipping through their respective reads in silence she decided to try and strike up a conversation. "Erm, if you don't mind me asking, wouldn't it be faster to use your Scroll?" She asked hesitantly.
He chuckled nervously in response. "Well, yes, but mine broke a while ago and I haven't had the chance to replace it." He chuckled again, rather sheepishly this time, as he rubbed the back of his head. "And uh, I'm a little broke at the moment." She could almost hear the shopkeeper's neck creak as he turned to face the two Hunters-in-training.
Apparently the blond heard it as well, as he quickly turned to face the elderly man and waved his hands in a panic. "I-I intend to pay for the paper! I have enough Lien on hand for that!" Seemingly satisfied, the shopkeep turned away, although he kept a closed eye on the two. The blond man sighed in relief and went back to browsing his paper, shooting a wary glance at the shopkeep, only to turn away from it once again when Ruby was unable to contain a snort.
"Oh? And what's so funny?" He asked, raising one overly-questioning eyebrow, forcing another snort out of the shorter girl.
"I-I've just never seen another person so readily admit they were broke in hearing range of a shopkeeper, while browsing merchandise." As she managed to keep her laughter down he rolled his eyes.
"And you've never read anything without paying for it?" He retorted as the girl tried to rein her giggles in.
"Oh, I have, I've just never admitted to it being too broke to pay for it." She countered after she had calmed herself. He snorted in response and they lapsed into silence punctuated by the turning of paper. Eventually he folded the newspaper up and walked up to the counter with a wave to Ruby, paying for it and leaving the shop.
'Well,' she told herself, remembering the short conversation with the blonde man, 'not the worst hour I've ever spent in this shop.'
Jaune settled himself onto a park bench, once more opening his newspaper and flipping through it, trying to see if there was anything major going on in the city that he should know about.
'Housing prices, housing prices, tuition, scholarships, club got burned down the other day, White Fang on the rise? Might be something to look into...'
"Hmm..." He hummed to himself, turning another page.
The paper was mostly random information from around the city, little things about what was going on, but there were a few tidbits that made Jaune worry, like the increase of Dust shop robberies and sequentially, the price of Dust was rising. Not anything shocking, but with the way things were going...
Jaune shook his head. It wasn't his problem, the police would handle it. He was training to be a Huntsman, not a cop.
He looked up from his newspaper and figured it had been long enough, stuffing his paper into the recycling bin he started a light jog towards the airfield.
The blonde made it just in time to enter the Beacon-bound airship, grimacing as he did so. He was never good with airships. So, he huddled down in a corner and closed his eyes, hoping to sleep through the worst of it.
Meanwhile, a certain red-tipped-brunette's gaze was caught, subtly following him as he settled down for his nap. She was only mildly surprised that he was here for Beacon; since he only arrived today she was thinking that maybe he was here for something else. It didn't help that he only showed up to the airship at the last possible minute. But she supposed if he was travelling it made a bit of sense, it was kind of hard to keep track of dates out in the wilderness after a while.
She debated going over there and chatting with him, but decided against it. If he was sleeping now, he probably needed it.
So instead, she found a secluded section of chairs and sat down, pulling out her scroll and browsing various media until the airship ride was over.
Another shorter chapter, but longer than the last two. The next one will be longer, probably 2-3K words, since it's initiation and I get to have fun with weapons. Those are always my favorite parts of RWBY stories.
As usual, if someone spots an error with grammar, spelling, continuity, etc., that they feel is important, comment or PM me at your discretion.
Stay sane y'all.
~MindsandMirrors