Giles was surprised by many things so far. The plant life, the city even if from a distance, the abundance of resources in the workshop. Now though he was surprised by the cafeteria. A room full of tables, with a kitchen in the back, was no big surprise of course. The surprise was the colors and the variety.
The room was a huge long hall with an absolutely massive amount of tables running the length of it. And most tables were manned by people. They were talking and yelling and eating and so much more.
There was so much variety to them, even though they had a set uniform on they all managed to stand out one way or another, tall and short, rotund and skinny, different color skin and hair. Giles did not have much experience with people but the living conditions of E.D.N. lll tended towards almost everyone having the same type of diets and childhoods, tending towards a more uniform shape of body, skinny but strong and lighter skin colors, even on those with naturally dark skin, due to being constantly covered.
Giles followed Ferrus across the room towards the serving area. At about the halfway point Giles started to feel like people had noticed him and were staring at him. Now that he thought about it while the gas mask kept people away it also drew attention. He ignored this and at Ferrus's prompting grabbed one of the metal trays that were provided.
"So how does this work? We just grab what looks good?" Giles asked.
"You really are from another world aren't you? Yeah just grab a plateful of whatever. Ah ha i know." Ferrus replied before grabbing a plate for him and filling it with some sort of food. It seemed to be some sort of brick like food, layered with layers of red paste, white paste and a pale sheet of some kind.
"I feel like this would be a good place to start. Its pretty filling and has a good amount of different ingredients. Meat, cheese, grain and a vegetable." Ferrus said with a wry grin on his face.
Giles took it tentatively and grabbed some bottled water and followed Ferrus to a table that didn't have anyone nearby and sat down. Giles sat with his back to the rest of the room and took his gas mask off and sat it on the table next to his tray before he took up his fork. Giles poked it a bit with his fork before using the side of the fork to cut a chunk off and bringing it up to mouth and taking a bite.
"This is the most delicious thing i have ever eaten." Giles said in a worshipful whisper before really digging into the food. He finished the whole plate quickly and looked up to Ferrus, who had a wide grin on his face.
"And that's what Lasagna should taste like. At least our version. Better already huh?"
"Without a doubt it seems." Giles replied back. "So foods better here, living conditions, temperature, even the work was easier. Whats the downside to working and living in Remnant?"
Ferrus drops the smile and sighs. "Grimm come to mind, racism if your a Faunus, leftover tension from the Great war and most of humanity is limited to four major kingdoms and anything outside that gets picked off by bandits or Grimm here and there. Not that anyone talks about anything except the Grimm really, bad manners to bring up the rest usually."
"Grimm and Akrid. Fair trade I suppose. War tensions and most humans being stuck in a few "safe" places with it being a war for survival outside those areas. Pretty much the same as back home. Racism against Faunus? That's new to me. Whats a Faunus?"
"Have you seen people around here with extra ears or a tail or odd skin patterns?"
"Yeah I thought they were an accessory or a fashion thing?"
"Not even close. Those are Faunus. They are like... how to explain this without sounding racist myself? The Faunus are kinda part animal and depending on the part they are they gain traits from that animal. Rabbit Faunus tend to be timid, but have good hearing and strong legs. Cat Faunus have night vision and good hearing but tend to be aloof. If it was just the physical parts then many people would have less problem. The problem that a lot of people have is that Faunus are looked down on as uncivilized because they are often defined personality wise by the animal parts."
"Can they overcome their animal instincts? Are they truly controlled by them?" Giles asked.
"Of course they can but in some cases its a daily struggle. Not helping them are the Faunus that embrace the animal side. Bull Faunus become cruel thugs, Lizard Faunus becoming cold blooded killers, that kind of thing tends to taint the view of the whole."
"There has to be more then that, we didn't have racism on E.D.N. lll, never had time to hate someone based on how they look. We were too busy fighting to live."
"Wish we were that lucky. The Kingdoms are stable and safe. Its easy to ignore the Grimm when they aren't there. And just as easy to focus on being an arrogant ass when you think you have nothing to fear. Also its not like the Faunus just lay down and take the punishment. They protested peacefully for a while and when the kicking didn't stop, they kicked back." Ferrus said with a tired sigh.
"Good for them. No one should take a beating from their so called betters without fighting back. How did they strike back?" Giles said eagerly.
"Terror attacks, bombing, stealing from company's that mistreated them, stealing from the military."
"That's the only way to do it, bleed them slow and make their every action cost more then they could profit from it." Giles said cheerily.
"Excuse me?" Ferrus said in surprise.
"My homes history is defined by running a terrorist campaign against a superior force, while fighting for survival against the Akrid. They seem like my kind of people is all I am saying." Giles said sheepishly. He had the feeling that he wasn't agreed with here.
Ferrus sat back and rubbed his chin in thought before replying. "I understand, I guess... Just keep that opinion to your self, even among Faunus the White Fang is not really well liked if you catch my drift."
Giles just shrugged before falling into a silence as he thought about what he was learning about Remnant. Suddenly his scroll beeped. Giles pulled it from his pocket and opened the message he revived from Glynda. It was his new schedule.
"Hey Ferrus I got my schedule. Lets see here, History, that should help me learn to blend in. Grimm studies, Know your enemy. Combat class, shortened to make room for extra curricular studies, that's good, not aiming to be a soldier or whatever. All starting on Monday. This seems fair. Well I guess lunch is over. Where now?"
"I have some more involved work to do so you are being returned to your room." Ferrus said.
Giles sighed before donning his mask again and following Ferrus back to his room. Even if he was being held prisoner in there for now, at least it was comfortable.
After leaving Giles in his room Ferrus reported to Ozpin with his impressions of the boy.
"The boys life was hard before wasn't it?" Ferrus started the talk off with.
"Hmmm? I would imagine so. If his story is accurate. What do you think?"
"Even the simplest things we take for granted is a great luxury for him. He asked what freeze dried meal we were going to have for lunch. I don't think the boy has had a single home cooked meal in his life. I can't tell if he is putting up a strong front or is truly unaware of how hard his lifestyle would be to everyone else here. I told him about the Faunus and the White Fang and he cheered for them like they were the home team." Ferrus explained.
"That's troubling indeed. What of his mechanical skills? Did he seem capable?"
"Without a doubt, he figured out his way around the workshop like he was raised there. He was fixing the machines as fast as i explained what they were for and how they were supposed to work. He seemed just happy to be at a workbench. Most kids his age would be complaining to be stuck in there."
"Well lets see if he can shake of the more troubling aspects of his past then hmmm? I Shall see about arranging him to spend time around one of the teams. If what he promises is true he could advance technology by decades in the transportation and military fields. General Ironwood has been having trouble lately with his mechanized suit research, this could help a great deal. If he had a more personal reason to help, i could see him going far." Ozpin explained back.
"The personality is going to be a big issue in the future. He seems like just finding out about Atlas would send him on a war path. They seem from the outside similar to what he told us about this NEVEC from his home." Glynda added.
"Yes and with one Wiess Schnee attending this year it seems likely that it would be best if they stayed away from each other." Ferrus added.
Ozpin nodded before taking a sip from his cup and turning around in thought. After a few minutes in thought he turned around and with a grin announced his intention.
"Or maybe it would be best if he did. He seems proud of his skills. He might work harder to show up Atlas if exposed to a taste of Schnee pride. Besides with Ruby as the leader of the team i believe the two of them would bond over there love of weapon maintenance."
Just a personal note. I do not understand how racism works in real life, it has always confused me and any references to it will be awkward for me to write.
Once i was playing dungeons and dragons(5e) and i was a Bugbear Bard, i used vicious mockery, where you insult someone so hard you do psychic damage, on a goblin and my DM asked me what i said to him. I had no idea, i always found insults best used on someone you have a basic understanding of and i had no idea what to say. My DM said that Goblinoids are pretty racist against those lower on the totem pole so to say and recommended that i try that. I just called the thing useless. Couldn't think of anything else really.