Ruby had been working at the Beacon Cafe for nearly a week when Pyrrha got sick. For someone so seemingly strong, she did seem to get sick easily. Yang had come down with a common cold and taken a single day off as to not get any of the customers sick, and somehow Pyrrha had managed to catch the cold and was now confined to her room for a week. Ruby's reaction had been, 'Wow, she gets sick dramatically.'

But this brought Beacon Cafe to a small… problem. Weiss was busy, Nora was on vacation, Yang was taking another sick day, and Blake was taking care of her. So this left a shift to Jaune, Ruby, and Ren.

Ruby was a beginner. Ren didn't specialize in serving. Jaune was… Jaune.

So Yang took it upon herself to call around until there was someone who met the qualifications. Ruby, after sitting in a plastic chair, bored, for an hour, learned that this person was named Cardin Winchester. Her reaction was to shrug and look down. After working for a week, Ruby's excitement had died down and she was absolutely tired of meeting new people. Jaune looked… scared.

But, again, Jaune was Jaune.

Cardin Winchester was a big, burly guy who seemed pretty friendly. He made conversation with Jaune and Ren, and mostly ignored Ruby. She didn't mind much, she was concentrating on not screwing up. She was already much better, and Penny decided that she wasn't as bad as Blake when she first started. (She still wanted to know what Blake had done. She would probably never find out.)

On this specific shift, the much-talked-of Coco and Velvet showed up for the first time. As much as Ruby wanted to meet them, it was not to be, because Cardin got that half of the cafe. As he walked away from the table, Ruby craned her neck to take a look at the customers. In doing so, she tripped and nearly broke her customer Neo's now empty tea cup.

Velvet was a tall girl wearing a heavy coat with long brown hair. Coco had brown hair up in a beret and an orange light scarf. Ruby, after quickly apologizing to Neo, jogged over, to spy learn about the new customers. They seemed to be having an in-depth conversation about teeth. Coco seemed to be impatiently tapping her finger.

Ruby watched them for another minute. Or two. Or five. And then realized that there were three unhappy customers directly behind her who all wanted food.

After only about three days, as promised, Ruby had stopped needing the little notepad as much. She was getting good at memorizing orders, and every time Sun and Neptune came in, all she had to say was 'Sun's order' and whoever was behind the counter knew exactly what she was talking about. She only used it occasionally, when someone new had a complex order. This specific person was a young woman named Cinder, who nearly every other employee (including Penny) had warned her about. All something along the lines of 'Don't make Cinder mad.'

Sorry, guys.

After waiting three minutes to get her food because Ruby was spying on Velvet and Coco, Cinder was already ticked off. Then Ruby was unable to remember her order, and when she took out her notepad, realized she didn't have a pen.

Cinder was angry, and that wasn't good. Her amber eyes narrowed and her mouth twisted into a sinister leer.

Ruby panicked. "Uh, uh, I'm sorry, I can get, uh, I'm really really really-"

Cinder silenced her with a glare. "What is your name?" she drawled.

"Um, R-Ruby?"

"Rrrrruby. How long have you been working here?"

"A-about a week?"

"New," she muttered to herself. 'I'll let it go."

Ruby's eyes widened in fear. They really weren't kidding.

After borrowing a pen from Emerald, who seemed to come every other morning, she left Cinder's table, deciding to pass on the Don't make Cinder angry information to the newest employee, Cardin. He had left Velvet and Coco's table, but as Ruby passed, she noticed something. Velvet, the one with the long brown hair, seemed to be crying.

"Uh, not to intrude, but are you alright?" Ruby inquired, stopping next to their booth.

Velvet nodded. Coco snarled. "She's okay now, no thanks to that-"

Velvet had cut her off, reaching over and covering her mouth. "I'm fine. Thank you for asking." She had a faint British accent that seemed warm and oddly soothing.

Ruby nodded, walking back to the counter to turn in Cinder's order. I wonder what's bothering her.

"Hey, Jaune," she handed the paper to him. "Cinder's order. You were right about her."

The blond raised his eyebrows. "Made her mad?"

Ruby grimaced. "She's really scary, actually."

Jaune nodded knowingly. His gaze wandered the room and landed on Velvet. "Hey, what's with her?"

"She seemed upset. I think Coco was about to say someone's name before Velvet cut her off."

Jaune blinked and his eyes seemed to widen in realization. "Uh, were you serving those two?"

"No, Cardin."

Jaune nodded and went to the coffee machine to prepare Cinder's order without another word.

Huh.

Two hours later, the last shift was over. Cardin said his goodbyes and left, while Ren, Ruby, and Jaune regrouped in the back room to discuss their shifts. Ruby repeated her story of Cinder and the odd thing that happened with Velvet, but Ren looked just as baffled.

"That is odd. Perhaps Coco could-"

"Incoming video call from your hyper friend!" Penny shouted loudly. Shouted? Shouted. Just because she was a phone didn't mean she couldn't shout.

"Nora," Ren confirmed, picking up the phone and hitting the green accept button. Nora's face materialized on the screen, slightly blurry.

"Hi Ren! Oh, and hi to you guys too!" she yelled. It was altogether possible the concept of phones was not a thing Nora completely understood, because she was yelling as if Ren were on another planet.

Ruby and Jaune voiced their helloes, and decided to continue their meeting with Nora. After Ruby explained the Velvet situation, the copper haired girl waved a hand rapidly through the air as if she were in class.

"Yes, Nora?" Ren sighed.

"Maybe she was sad because I wasn't there! Or, maybe because Cardin was serving her and she wanted Ruby or something? Or, I got it, maybe she didn't get a food she wanted! OR she wants to ask Coco out but can't get up the courage! ORRR," Nora stopped, noticing that everyone was staring at her. "What?"

"You might be onto something," Ruby said, at the same time as Ren sighed, "None of those make any sense."

"I like Ruby better than you," Nora whined, sticking her tongue out at the black haired boy. "Anyway, what did you mean by that?"

"I meeean… Coco was about to say a name, and Velvet looked fine when she walked in, and Jaune always acts weird around Ca-"

"I do not act weird," the blond defended. He and Nora got into a small do-too-do-not argument while Ren and Ruby exchanged a look. Jaune turned to face them.

"FINE! It's true. Cardin's a jerk, okay? Don't tell Yang."

Nora's mouth dropped open in anger and Ruby shouted, "We HAVE to tell Yang!"

Jaune shook his head pathetically. "No, no, nonono. I don't… Cardin knows that I live at the cafe. And if I tell Yang, he's gonna tell my parents."

This time REN's jaw dropped in anger. Ruby had actually never seen the quiet dude show any emotions before.

"We need to fix this somehow! If he's literally making our customers CRY, we have to fire him!" Ruby was in full on rage mode at this point.

"But-"

"Jaune!" Ruby cut him off. "I'm sorry, but this isn't just about you! He made Velvet cry, and-"

"We don't know that for a fact, but-" Ren tried to say, as Nora also made another unintelligible comment.

Ruby slammed her hands down on the table. "We need a solution!"

Everything went silent.

More silence.

Then Nora: "We could break his legs!"

Then more silence.

"No." (Ren.)

"I wish Pyrrha were here," sighed Jaune.

Hey, all. I am SOOOO sorry that I completely lied two weeks ago when I said I would update next week. Been super busy! THANK YOU for the favorites and follows and for putting up with my flaky self. I can't really tell you when the next chapter will come out, but if I put it off too long the guilt will seriously come back to haunt me. Anyway, next up- Pyrrha recovers and Nora accidentally finds a solution! (Well, it was PROBABLY an accident…)