Insurance
Part of this Au
Ruby: Huh,
Weiss:...
Ruby: Hhhhuuuuuhhh,
Weiss:...
Ruby:Hhhhuuuuu-
Weiss: What!?
Ruby: Did you know? * holds up a magazine* That we have a 25% mortality rate?
Weiss: Yes.
Ruby: And you didn’t tell me?!
Weiss: This is something that you should already know.
Ruby: Really?
Weiss: Yes, Huntress have some of the highest mortality right out of any profession. That’s why widowers and families of said Huntress or Huntsmen, are taken care of for life, and why Hunters have such a large pension from the Academies.
Ruby: Wait, does that mean I’ll be right when I retire?!
Weiss: If you survive that long, not that I have too worry about Lien.
Ruby: Oh, I wonder what kind of upgrades I put on Crescent Rose then... Wait, there’s a job with a higher mortality rate, 39% rate?!
Weiss: Let me see.
Weiss: Oh, Bureau Officers, they’re just inferior hunters, kingdom drones, it’s unfortunate, but they tend to drop like flies whenever any real danger emerges.
Officer Jaune: Thank you for your kind observation, Ms. Schnee.
Ruby: Jaune!
Jaune: Hey, Ruby.
Weiss: Oh, my apologies, Officer.
Ruby: What are you doing here, Jaune?
Jaune: None, taken Ms. Schnee. Firsthand I’ve seen my fellow officers almost off themselves on the daily, huuuh *Sighs heavily, turns to Ruby* I’m on break, saw you, and strolled over to say hi. *Looks around suspiciously* Yang and her partner aren’t here, are they?
Weiss: We’re-
Ruby: Yangs back at the dorm, hey why do die so much?
Weiss: RUBY!
Ruby: Sorry, I meant why do your buddies die so much?
Weiss: RUBY!!
Ruby: Double sorry! I’m just curious! I mean are you guys just that bad?
Weiss: RUBY ROSE!!!
Jaune: No offense taken, *Sighs again and sits down at they’re table* Ruby, you know what our job is right?
Ruby: Uh.
Weiss: You apprehend Non-hunter based Criminals with Aura.
Ruby: That.
Jaune: Exactly, well that and paperwork, so much Dust and Darkness damned paperwork. Can’t even pursue a known criminal without righting damn thesis.
Weiss: *Chuckles*
Jaune: Anyway, as your partner said earlier, we are effectively lesser Hunters, we have Aura and we have our weapons, and we have training, but we aren’t exactly the one-woman armies you two are, we can’t exactly handle Huntsman level combat.
If I got good shot in on you two, with *Pulls out his Thunderer, sets the safety on, and puts it on the table* It might stun you for a few seconds, or even knock you out, but that’s entirely dependent on your own skill with Aura and conditioning as a huntress, but it’s also not meant for Hunter level combat, it’s good for knocking out a your regular Empowered gangbanger though. Even, If I set it to max power, there’s good chance you would dodge and I’d be out of power in two to four shots, and - *Notices Ruby is ogling his gun, and Weiss is looking at the dust canister.*
Jaune: Please don’t touch my gun, it’s aura-locked. *Ruby stops reaching for the gun*
Ruby: Oh.
Jaune: It would release a pulse of electricity that would, probably, burn your hand, nothing you couldn’t handle, but it would hurt and leave me with less power later.
Weiss: *Stares at the canister* That’s the lowest premium grade dust, Grade Three, correct?
Jaune: Yes, it is. It can hold up to 3000 MegaWatts, and passively absorb electricity out of the air, if slowly, deplete it and I couldn’t use it for almost a month.
Weiss: As to be expect from any premium grade Dust, passive elemental absorption is to be expected. Who did you procure your Dust from, if you know and are at liberty to say?
Jaune: The Bureau buys all the dust in bulk from a wholesaler from a various in kingdom supplier, sorry, but we don’t buy out of Kingdom, and unfortunately it’s highly illegal to modify Kingdom supplied equipment, so I couldn’t change it even if I wanted too.
Weiss: A shame, I could offer you grade deal, up to premium grade two, seems like a sore point, though. Your seems quite worn also.
Jaune sourly: It is, and I’d love to take you up on the offer, but Bureau does not like it when Officer’s go around modifying equipment, because it’s technically theirs, the last time I asked, the Man at Arms nearly through out the fifth story window.
Yeah, I’ve been using this particular dust for since I join five years ago, the Bureau expects you to use every bit of dust until it’s depleted.
Anyway, while not official policy, the Bureau does not like the idea of they’re officers having Huntsman grade weapons.
Ruby: Why? Aren’t you the good guys?
Jaune:.... Kinda.
Ruby looks to Weiss.
Weiss: Atlas doesn’t have a Bureau, everything in this regard has been folded into the Military Academy.
Jaune: Ruby, you should know this, Officers have no jurisdictions over Academy and they’re Hunters. We’re not to get involved with them barring the most severe situation, and we’d die in droves if we did. We’re not worth it, is putting it kindly, even if we had huntsman grade weapons-, give me a second.
Ruby and Weiss wait patiently.
Jaune: My job involves following and monitoring suspected Empowered, if they are not registered, they could have unlocked they’re aura yesterday or ten years ago, I have no idea how actually skilled they are, this is why I build a report and a case, to form a picture. If I make a good picture and I’m correct, then I’ll know how dangerous they are before confronting them, if I’m wrong, I die, because like Ms. Schnee said, we are inferior Hunters.
*Pulls his collar slightly down, revealing a grizzly, scar an inch below his collar bone, a depression in the skin formed by knotted flesh, to Weiss and Ruby’s disgust and horror*
We don’t get trained as hard.
We don’t train as hard.
We don’t have the time.
We get six months to train, then we’re on the force.
We get second or third-hand gear, and expected to serve.
Any improvement afterwards is entirely on the officer, I’m one of the most skilled officer and I’m only alive due to having more Aura than average. If you two came at me with intent to kill, I die.
If I make mistake in judgement, I could take on someone who’s trained they’re whole life outside the view of the Kingdoms, armed with Aura and killing intent, and who knows what semblance.
And that’s not even covering so scared kid who woke up one day with the ability to take all the oxygen out of the room, we’re men and women against the unknown and the unknown often win.
The only advantage we have is numbers, they’re roughly ten Officers to each Hunters, and that’s still not a lot, that’s around a hundred though officers across an entire Kingdom.
And that doesn’t cut it.
That’s why we don’t have mechashift, super dust weapons, Ruby. If we die, that millions down the drain, and somebody else has that super-weapon to sow havoc with.
It’s better to arm us with the minimum because it mostly works.
Weiss and Ruby stare at him silently.
Jaune sighs: Sorry, I don’t mean to make it sound like I’m going to die, or to have gone and made it so heavy.
Weiss: Why try then?
Ruby: Why would anyone ever join then?
Jaune: Despite what I said, it pays well and has good benefits, and sometimes you kinda get forced in.
Ruby: What?
Jaune: Actually, ignore that. I joined because I wanted to do some good, and others join because of the power of the position. We might be ‘lesser hunters’, but we are still Aura Empowered and given weapons that could dissolve a man into sludge or punch wholes through a concrete wall. We might as well be untouchable compared to most people. That’s a lot of power, with little supervision.
Weiss: That’s disconcerting.
Jaune: It is, I do my best, * A strained smile appears as his fingers briefly tighten around his Thunderer, but quickly let go* But, I can’t be everywhere at once. I wouldn’t hold it against you two if you ever took out one of my more violent colleagues.
Weiss: ... I’ll keep that in mind.
Jaune: And others, they do it for the paycheck, they just have to have an aura, and it’s easy money, just drive around all day, keep a watch in the area, and maybe punch a guy or two.
Ruby: That’s not heroic.
Jaune: We’re not heroes, I’m not a hero, we’re at best kinda helpful...
Most of the times our reports are useless too, more often than not, the police will tip us off about a crime, we’ll cross compare it to our notes on any individual in the area, investigate them, and two hours later some Hunter caught them in a crime... By the way, we do appreciate that, I don’t mean to come off ungrateful.
It’s just frustrating, and that’s without all the wrong arrests, and agh.
*Jaune stands up*
Jaune smiles kindly at Weiss and Ruby.
Jaune: Alright, I need to stop complaining. You two are the real heroes by the way, never let anybody tell you otherwise.
*Walks off*
Ruby frowns: Things shouldn’t have to be that way.
Weiss: It shouldn’t... but, sometimes it is.
Ruby: I don’t want things to be that way.
Weiss: Ruby.
Ruby: I’m going to do my best Weiss, to make things better, for everybody, or die trying.
Weiss nods, then chuckles: Well, there’s a 25% of that happening.
Ruby: But, that means a 75% of success!
Weiss smiles: I suppose so.
