Ruby ran her fingers through her hair, watching the back door of the kitchen click shut. She looked at the ground, the crushed cigarette smoldering on the pavement. She looked at the wall, proudly smudged with red.
Scary.
"Okay." Ruby sighed. "Dish. Dish. I'm good - no, I'm GREAT at dish." She smacked her fist against her open palm.
Standing straight, Ruby walked to the back door. She paused, looking at the spot on the wall Chef punched. Hard enough Ruby believed she'd see blood, but there was nothing. She took a deep breath, and pulled the door open.
The kitchen made her jaw drop.
Every surface positively gleamed. Nothing on the ceiling, bare floors, and the fryers looked brand spanking new! There was a blast freezer full of ice-cream and - cookies.
Ruby rushed to the freezer. She almost put her face to the glass, but stopped herself. Chef wouldn't like the smudge. Still, only inches away from the glass, she could make out a red and purple cookie, and a green cookie, and chocolate chip.
"Ahem."
"Oh!" Ruby whirled, red-faced. She rubbed the back of her neck, chuckling nervously. "I, uh, see we sell cookies here."
"Yes. It's part of our dessert courses." Chef walked up to the freezer, putting fingertips to the cold glass. Her knuckles were blooming yellow, bruised from punching the wall. "Which you will not be near during service."
"S-sure." Ruby gulped, pretending she didn't see this woman just punch a concrete wall over and over again.
"Come." Chef said, rolling her eyes. "The dish-pit is on the other side. It's also right next to the lockers, so we can put those," Chef glanced at Ruby's knife bag. "Away. Before you hurt someone."
Ruby frowned. She inhaled and exhaled quietly, shifting the bag further behind her back.
She followed Chef to the other side of the restaurant. The dish-pit was just as impressive as the rest of the kitchen. A free-standing shelf separated the pit from the kitchen, so dishes could dry and be grabbed from the other side. A wall of pegs hung spatulas, china-caps, spiders, slotted spoons and mandolins just across from the shelf.
"Wow." Ruby smiled. "This is great! Everything is so neat!"
"Yes." Chef said, her eyebrows popping up in surprise, only to be quickly wiped away. "Did you bring a combination lock?"
Ruby shook her head, hand tightening on her bag.
"Fine." Chef spun a combination out on a locker, popping it open. "You can use mine. The code is 6589." Chef leveled her gaze. "If anything is gone from this locker, you are fired."
"Yes Chef." Ruby answered. She pulled her bag off, gently putting it into the locker. She shoved her resume between her bag and the locker wall.
Then, she started unbuttoning her coat.
"What are you doing?" Chef asked, head cocked.
"I'm not doing dishes in my coat, Chef." Ruby declared, sliding her coat off, revealing a black tank top underneath. Deep white scars from knife-cuts and blisters striped her arms up to her elbow. Ruby hung her coat in the locker, and shut it.
She faced Chef, who looked a little flustered. "Chef? Are you okay?" Ruby asked.
"I'm fine!" Chef insisted, red-faced. She pointed at the pit. "J-just stay here until Sun arrives!"
"Yes Chef." Ruby said, cracking her fingers. "Where's the dish aprons?"
"Hanging in the mop closet." Chef pointed. "And the first-aid kit is up on the wall here." She folded her arms. "Any more questions?"
"Nope!" Ruby said. And she wouldn't ask even if she had more. "I'll wait for. . . Sun, right?"
"Yes." Chef answered, rolling her eyes. "He's the best I have. Try not to get in his way." Chef turned on her heel.
"Yes Chef." Ruby said, but Chef was already gone.
Ruby went to the mop closet and pulled on one of the leather aprons. She pulled on a pair of black gloves. She'd noticed a few spots of grime around the legs and back half of the dishwasher, so she grabbed a bucket, filled it with detergent and grabbed a metal scrubby. She squatted down, pulling the apron over her leg, and started scrubbing, taking away the grime.
She filled a bucket of water and splashed it around the suds, using a floor squeegee to drain the filth away. She looked around. A vent above the dish pit looked promising, so Ruby grabbed her bucket of suds, standing on the dish-pit flat. She reached up inside the vent.
Yup. Grease and filth. Ruby started pulling clumps from the vent with her hands, dropping them on the dish flat.
"What are you doing?" A voice asked.
"I'm cleaning the vent." Ruby answered, not looking back. She grabbed her scrubby from the suds and started brushing up inside the vent.
"You can clean up there?" The voice said with wonder.
"Every once in a while. The machine throws greasy soap and bits of food into the air with the steam and water pressure." Ruby pulled the scrubby out. It was caked with black gross. She felt up there with her fingers, then kept scrubbing. "Could you get me a bucket with white vinegar and warm water?"
"Sure!" Ruby heard the mop closet open, footsteps rushing away.
"Hey Weiss!" The voice greeted Chef. Ruby stopped scrubbing, craning her head to hear.
"Hey Sun." Chef answered.
"How you holding up?" Sun asked.
"I'm fine. How are you?" Chef asked. . . Warmly?"
"Been better." Sun admitted. "Kinda blindsided. Nep and I have some savings, but he brought in the rent for the place."
"I have his back. Any job he applies for, they'll get a glowing recommendation from me." Chef paused. "Do you know why Neptune was fired?" Chef asked, keeping her voice hushed.
"No Chef."
"It's because he was. . . Associating with faunus." Chef bit out.
"Ah."
"I know I haven't said anything, but Sun. Please-"
"I got it Chef, I got it. I'll keep it in my pants." Sun answered cheerfully.
"Good." Chef sighed. "You're training a new hire. One my Father brought in. Keep an eye on her."
"Your Father? Did he accidentally hire someone good?"
"I doubt it." Chef said offhandedly. "Make sure she doesn't cause too much trouble. When she fails, we'll cut her."
Ruby squeezed the scrubbie in her hand. When she fails? When!?
"Ooookay." Sun said. "Well, she's back there cleaning the vent above the pit, so I'm gonna help her out."
"She- what?" Chef asked.
Chef received no answer, as Sun's footsteps rushed back to the pit. Ruby quickly got back to scrubbing, just before Sun rounded the corner.
"Got it here." Sun said brightly.
"Thank you." Ruby answered, feeling up in the vent again. Smooth. That'll have to do. She dropped down and turned.
A buff man with a huge smile waved at her, with short, spiky blond hair and a sheer white tee straining against taut muscles.
"Hello!" The man greeted. "I'm Sun Wukong. I hear you're training with me today?"
"Something like that." Ruby replied. She dropped the scrubbie into the vinegar-water, pulling her gloves off. "Ruby Rose." She said, holding her hand out.
"Nice to meet ya." Sun said, shaking her hand enthusiastically. "Love your initiative. You been in food long?"
"For a few years now." Ruby answered, releasing Sun's hand. "What needs to happen first?"
"All work and no play, Red?" Sun grinned.
"Just until I've got a handle on things." Ruby promised.
"I like it, I love it!" Sun slapped his hands together, rubbing his palms in excitement. "We're gonna set out trashes, mats, and sanitizer for the cooks. Every station has a weekly cleaning project, so you'll see people come in an hour early some days to knock it out, but not on Fridays."
"We get busy?" Ruby asked.
"Full house every weekend since we opened." Sun went to the mop closet and threw on the spare leather apron. "Let me show you where the cans go for each station. Then we can do a bit more cleaning until the dishes roll in." Sun went to the locker area. "We need eight cans. Bags are in the mop closet."
Ruby nodded, and they got to work. Sun showed her where the cans went, which stations used them, and where they'd be tossed at the end of the night. They laid out floor mats for each station, and set out eight sanitizer buckets and towels around the kitchen. With Ruby and Sun working together, setup went quickly.
Then the cooks arrived, each of them checking their stations and prep lists, setting out cutting boards and knives. They grabbed bowls and hit the walk in, collecting green onion, chives, cherry tomatoes, radish, carrot, and turnips. The food was washed and set next to the board.
The cooks then thinly sliced the chives, halve the tomatoes, peel the carrot and dice the turnips. As Ruby ran around the kitchen, she made a note of which items were shared between stations, and how the same items were prepped differently depending on the station.
Chef, glowering watched over everyone with a critical eye. She went from station to station, adjusting the cook's efforts. This onion is too thick.
This dice is uneven. The chives are bruised. Do it again, do it again, do it again.
The tension simmered.
Meanwhile, every cook had one name under their breath. Neptune. Where was he? Why wasn't he here? Why was the Ice Queen so fucking angry?
Thirty minutes to service, and Chef called a meeting in the kitchen with the whole house. Everyone gathered near the pass. The front of house near the dining room doors, dressed to the nines in black vests and blue blazers. The back of house huddled near the line, sleeves rolled up, scars and singed hairs plain on their body.
Ruby stood in the very back with Sun, looking at Chef through a gap in the pass.
"Neptune was fired last night." Chef began.
Almost everyone immediately protested, the back of house the loudest and angriest, and the front of house adding their voices to the mix. Who fired him? Why?
Only Ruby and Sun stayed quiet, arms folded.
"Quiet!" Chef shouted. "I know it's a loss. For everyone." Her voice went small. Then, it picked back up, stern and forceful. "But we have work to do. There will be a new sous chef hired in the coming weeks."
Sun glanced at Ruby. She shrugged, looking back at Chef.
"Why'd you do it Chef?" One cook, with midnight black hair, demanded. "Neptune was the best part about working here!" A chorus of agreements echoed him.
"I didn't fire him!" Chef snarled. "You think I'd do that to myself? I don't know how he kept such an unruly, undisciplined bag of fucks like you in line, and until I find a sous who can, my workload just tripled!" She pointed at the line. "Get to your stations and get ready for service. Anyone who doesn't like it can leave, right now!"
The cooks looked between themselves. Then, midnight hair went to his station and started packing his knives. One by one, several others followed, packing up their own
Chef stood, fists shaking, eyes bent in fury.
"Everyone stop."
The whole house looked to the back. Ruby felt the weight of their stare. She felt small because of it.
You're a natural leader. Just follow your instincts. Have a shot if you get nervous.
Sure thing Uncle Qrow.
"You really want to leave like this?" Ruby demanded. "Walk out on the busiest night, in the highest rated restaurant, in Atlas?"
"The fuck you care, little Red?" Midnight hair snarled.
"My name is Ruby." She firmly corrected. "What's your name?" She asked, softening her tone.
"Dusk." He answered, folding his arms.
"Well, Dusk, I care because I'm the new sous." Ruby jutted her thumb at Weiss. "Her dad hired me this morning."
The back of house erupted.
"You!?"
"You bitch! Give Neptune his position back!"
"Fuck outta here! You don't deserve the title!"
"Hey! I didn't come here to be your punching bag!" Ruby yelled, cutting through the din like a hammer on ice. "And I bet you're not here to be a punching bag to Chef either! Well!?"
Murmured grumbles of assent.
"And Chef didn't wake up this morning expecting her sous to be fired." Ruby gestured to Chef, who stood red-faced and silent. "I can tell everyone here loved Neptune. Not just you. Not just the back, but the front of house and Chef herself. Didn't Neptune love you? Didn't he love Chef?"
Quiet nods.
"You really think he wants you to fight each other? Really?" Ruby held her hands up. "If you want to quit, do it. But don't do it in anger. This place pays well, and you all have something in common." Ruby lowered her voice. "You lost someone you care about."
"It's not like he's dead." Dusk said, his voice more uncertain.
"No. He was treated unfairly and ripped from you." Ruby retorted. "You're angry, I get it. But getting angry at each other, when everyone cared about him, is unfair. It does not honor someone who united you." She folded her arms. "I for one want to hear about Neptune. If half the staff is willing to walk out because he got fired, he must have been incredible. That's something I can learn from. That's something I can only learn from you."
The cooks looked at each other, hard gazes softening.
"He was." One cook admitted. "Best sous I ever worked with."
"Remember when he wore a bra stuffed with oranges?" Dusk said. The other cooks laughed. "He cooked the whole day in that thing!"
"He did that?" Ruby laughed, clapping her hands together.
"He did more than that! At the end of service, they'd gotten crushed, so he took em and pelted Verdant with em at the bar!" One cook piped up.
Just like that, the whole kitchen was bent over laughing, reminiscing. That one time Neptune grabbed a skillet from the oven and finished service with one hand on an icepack in his pants. The time Neptune balanced wine bottles on his head on a dare. His speed. His uncompromising competence. Everyone took these stories and passed them like a draft of joy.
All, save for one. Chef stood in the pass, fists clenched, eyes welled with fury.
Ruby met Chef's gaze. Then, she went to the back and opened Chef's locker, grabbing her knife bag and coat. She slipped her coat on, and returned to the line.
"I know I can't take his place." Ruby said, when everything quieted down. "But I'll do my best to be an excellent Sous to you. Will you give me a shot?" She asked the kitchen.
Dusk glanced sideways at Chef. Then, he met Ruby's gaze.
"I'll give you a shot." Dusk answered. The rest of the cooks nodded.
"Good." Ruby slapped her fist into her palm. "Which station was Neptune going to run tonight?"
"Oven." Dusk answered.
"Can you train me on it?"
"Now? We've got fifteen minutes until service." Dusk answered, looking at the clock.
"I'll make you a deal. You be a fast teacher, and I'll be a fast learner." Ruby smirked. She unrolled her knife bag, taking her spot on the line. "Let's do this."
As Dusk started to show her the prep and walking her through the dishes, Ruby caught Chef's gaze out the corner of her eye.
Chef stared at her in disbelief and absolute fury. As the front of house dispersed into the dining room, and the back of house prepared for service,
Chef walked to the back, shaking a cigarette from a wrinkled pack.
Ruby's shoulders fell. Shit.