Ruby Rose | Team RWBY (eyesofsilver) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2017-06-09 17:06:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, asami sato, ruby rose |
Who: Asami and Ruby
What: Recruitment
When: June 9th, evening
Where: Engineering Department Awards Ceremony, UC Irvine
Warnings: Low
Status: Log | Complete
The hard part of the night was over. Ruby had managed to do her presentation and accept her award without falling on her face, or freezing up because of how many people were there as each major within the Engineering Department who was up for different awards. Though maybe that had been the easy part given that people were now mingling. When she was talking about her particular project, that had been easy. It was the having to accept an award in front of people and now everyone mingling and talking to one another that was hard.
Somehow she had managed to duck out of a conversation that had involved way too many people. Smiling and nodding had definitely been a thing until she just ducked and got out of the small circle, cup of punch in hand as she found a spot that wasn’t congested with people and making her claustrophobic or feeling anxious.
Now she just had to find Yang or Uncle Qrow or her dad and it would all be good.
Too many people.
These kind of awards were always exciting for Asami. Just the general principle of the thing, but also whenever there was a girl up on that stage she felt so proud. Girls even going into some of these fields were rare enough, but anyone who was good enough to survive the competition and all the other crap that got thrown at women in STEM fields was worth a second glance.
The one girl in particular that she had her eye on looked like she was trying to make an escape. Asami’s heart went out to her, clearly she didn’t do well in crowds. Still, she caught up to her, aware she might be intimidating in a red dress and with perfect hair. “Excuse me, Ms. Rose? I was wondering if you wanted to talk shop a little bit.”
Gotta find-- no! Attempts at finding family felled by… Asami Sato of Future Industries. Okay. Breathe. Breathe. Even though she was definitely intimidating, not just because of how she was dressed but who she was in general. Ruby suddenly felt very…. Young. Which unsurprising. The rest of the students who had presented were graduating seniors and grad students. Ruby still had another year left at UC Irvine all while being the age of a first year.
“Um yes, sure. I mean, that would be great. Fine?”
Or stumbling over her words worked as well. She was supposed to be professional and not over excited. And oh god.
Asami wasn’t really that much older than Ruby, and she’d also started out young. She’d just lucked out in having a supportive father.
Cue guilt.
“Why don’t we go outside. You can get some fresh air and we can get away from all of these people?” Asami knew how to work a room, but she also knew when someone needed to flee that room.
“Outside is good, yeah, let’s do that.” Maybe she’d be able to focus again. Ha, as if. However, it was better than being around so many people who might try to come up and talk to her. Might not help in the locate the family game but that was also currently on hold given the conversation that was to take place.
“This way.” Asami gestured for Ruby to follow her, cutting across a hallway and into an unused room. She opened the glass doors to a patio, and held them open for Ruby. “Freedom!”
Fresh air was good. Or just the lack of being around people. Either way, it was good to be outside on a balcony and away from people. While some people might be paranoid about going off alone with someone, Ruby wasn’t. One, she knew who Asami was in terms of her place in the industry. Two, the type of things people might be concerned about were things Ruby typically didn’t think of or even consider as possible because of her perchance of seeing the good in everyone.
“So, what did you want to talk about?”
Way to sound way too familiar with someone. So much for her attempts at being professional.
“We can start with a real introduction,” Asami said, winking and tossing her hair back over her shoulder. She held her hand out. “I’m Asami, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Oh. Right. There was the whole proper introductions and everything that needed to be done. Professional.
“I know who you are.” Yes she was smiling and excited, then realizing her response, her eyes widened and she nodded, “Ruby Rose. Likewise.”
Ruby was adorable and Asami loved her already. "I was hoping to offer you an internship. You won't just get paid good money, but also get credit towards your degree, valuable experience and the option to come on full time once you're out of school. But you’re not forced to stay with Future Industries if you don’t want to."
Was this happening? She’d just been talking on the network when she first joined about wanting to do an internship, and when asked about companies had mentioned Future Industries and Stark since they were the two big name companies. But she hadn’t really expected that she’d be able to.
And a paid internship at that?
“Ohmigod, yes, that would be amazing! I would love to be able to work for you or intern or whatever.” Why wouldn’t she want to stay at Future Industries? Okay. So Ruby had no idea what the atmosphere would be, had no idea what she really wanted to do beyond just helping people.
“Fantastic!” Asami was pleased, and if Ruby wasn’t a prospective employee she’d hug her. “We also have additional training and learning opportunities, and an amazing workshop and R&D department, if I do say so myself.”
The additional opportunities really just made it better to Ruby. After all, she was actually curious and interested in learning when the chances came up, she’d studied real hard for her GED to be able to start at UC Irvine early after all. Because she enjoyed the challenge and the learning.
“That’s amazing. I mean I’m not surprised that you would have those things, but still!”
Ruby’s excitement was infectious, and Asami responded in kind. “I’ve made it a point to help girls like you. So many never get the opportunity, and you’re something special. It would be remiss of me to not offer you a chance.”
And there was that term again. Special. “I’m really not. Special, I mean. I just really like building things and hope to be able to help people with the things I can make or create.” All she wanted was to be normal and while she got a lot of crap for her age and general jealousy, she still clung to the fact she wasn’t special. Not like that. “But still, thank you so much, I won’t let you down.” No way would she waste this opportunity.
While there was nothing wrong with being special, that was obviously a kind of issue for Ruby, so Asami let it drop. “Okay. I’ll give you an email and you can send us your class schedule. We can work around it. Next week you can come to the corporate office and we’ll get you your ID and access card, and I’ll personally drive you down to R&D to show you the labs and workshops.”
Asami would never turn down a chance to show off that department.
Thank god that was dropped. It was just awkward and not something Ruby was good at dealing with. Just let her work and tinker and build, that’s all she wanted. But still, she nodded. “Yeah, that sounds really good!” True the following week was finals week, but she could work around that when emailing Asami and HR (she figured it would be HR).
And exciting because who wouldn’t want a personal tour by Asami of the labs and workshops?
With that settled, Asami made her next offer. “Is there someone you’re waiting for, or do you want some help in escaping this pomp and circumstance?” Ruby reminded her a little of how uncomfortable Korra got at official functions. A lot worse in a few ways, anyway.
“My family’s here so I should probably go find them.” Or one of them as she’d been attempting when Asami had come over to talk to her. So as much as she would love to get out and away, she knew that she shouldn’t. Besides, hopefully once they all got together they’d be leaving anyway. “But thank you for the offer. Both of them really.”
“It’s not a problem,” Asami said. “I think I can probably run interference for you while you look for them. Keep people talking so they ignore you. I’m good at these kind of functions.” She didn’t like them, but she was good at them.
Ruby nodded some. It might be a good plan. She was hoping her height could be used to her advantage of not being noticed, but the added help would be appreciated. “I know I keep saying it, but thank you.” Because really. She just wanted to find her family and leave, or at least have that level of familiarity until they could leave.
Asami had no family, neither blood nor found, and she felt a pang at that. But she just nodded and smiled. “Just follow my lead.”