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It had taken Ruby a few days to come to terms with her new situation, though a rare show of practicality had won out in the end after a lengthy discussion with Sheriff Graham and the man she knew as David Nolan. She wasn't going to be leaving the Nexus any time soon, at least not for a permanent return to her home, and if she was going to stay in the hotel, money had to be made for the sake of general upkeep. Her skills were admittedly limited, though thankfully there was work to be had in the hotel for someone who had grown up in a world of customer service and food preparation. Getting a job in the bar had seemed an appropriate change of pace, or at least all the change she could currently handle in a world that had been turned inside out for the moment, and after she'd been accepted for the position she'd started almost right away.

In addition to being a decidedly and thrillingly more swank environment than she was used to, the clientele was definitely more diverse in that it was a room full of people she'd never met before. For all she lacked in knowledge concerning the outside world she was attempting to put forth enough effort in charming everyone to get by in terms of the standard awkwardness she had purely by being the new girl in a very strange and new environment. She'd been serving the same food and drinks to basically the same people for longer than she cared to remember, and if this was her first attempt at branching out, she didn't want to botch it up.

The small, round tray was steady on the flat of her palm as she sat a round of drinks down at one of the tables, smiling when the patrons paused their conversation to gesture their thanks, and then continued their conversation. Ruby continued on, too, tucking her now empty tray under her arm as she looked around for someone waiting to be served.

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"I'm kind of still in school," Isaac admits. Not that he spends much of his time studying while he's at the hotel, but it's also the reason he doesn't really do much work. "And back home, I was a gravedigger, for a while. They don't exactly have many openings for that, here. I mean, there's those times I help at the vet's office, but there's not really one of those here, either."

"Gravedigging?"Ruby said, considering the job and all that it would entail. "That sounds different. I can't say I've ever had the pleasure of talking with a gravedigger. How do you like it? If nothing else, the animal hospital sounds like it might be fun. Mostly." Ruby wasn't around all that many animals save for Pongo the dalmatian, though she knew she liked them.

Isaac shrugs his shoulders in the quintessential teen practiced way that he's possessed for much longer than getting the bite. "It got me out of the house," he says, which is the best he can do without going into a deeper conversation about why he would want to be out of his house and away from his father. "The animal hospital's better, though. I really like being able to take some pain away from the animals, you know, make them feel better. It's definitely better than digging graves for people you can't help."

"I would bet so," Ruby agreed when Isaac said the animal hospital was preferable to digging graves. Ruby didn't think she had the personality or, for that matter, physical stamina required for such manual labor as digging graves. Helping animals that were in pain seemed a far preferable choice. "And animals are a lot more awesome than people a good deal of the time. Well, some people, anyway."

"And some people are definitely way better than some animals," Isaac says, because he's pretty sure that Scott could give a puppy a run for its money any day of the week, seeing as he's got that whole canine charm down pat. "I've been pretty much living here, though," he admits. "Home is...rough," he settles, because he doesn't want to go into it. "And this place has free board and if I go to the right places, they don't charge me for food. It's kind of an appealing escape."

"Ah, right," Ruby said, recognizing well enough when she'd stumbled upon a pressure point and not wanting to press too much, especially since Isaac was a veritable stranger and likely wouldn't appreciate it. His wasn't a situation she'd known personally, though she certainly understood wanting to spend as little time as possible at home, even if it was for clearly different reasons. "I can definitely understand that. Have you been coming here long? You said you could tell I was new, so I figure you have to be pretty familiar with the place."

"I kind of stay here when I can," Isaac admits. "The last time I went home..." He presses his lips together firmly, reaching for the back of his neck where the number five is now burned into his skin behind his earlobe. He tugs it away, staring at the bar in front of him. "I guess I kind of know the staff of each place, by you. You looked new."

"That's rough," Ruby said earnestly, her voice softening a bit with sincerity as she gazed back at Isaac. He had such a sweet, pretty face, a kind face, and it always bothered Ruby to see anyone looking so troubled. "Do you have any friends or family staying at the hotel?" She asked, hoping there was someone to look out for him. She had no doubt Isaac could handle himself, though everyone needed friendship and guidance on occasion, especially someone who looked as sad as he did just then.

"I've got a..." He pauses, not sure if he's allowed to call Stiles a friend, because they have that mutual agreement to get along because of Scott. "Well, I've got a Stiles." And he's pretty much got no family left, though the McCalls have started to step up on that front. "I've kind of met a few friends here, which is good. It means I don't get lonely."

"A Stiles?" She said, though she was smiling again. "A Stiles sounds like a good thing to have. How is a Stiles working out for you?" She was assuming Stiles was a person, though she supposed Stiles could also be a pet. Presumably he would enlighten her further. "Loneliness is the worst," she agreed. "Especially somewhere like here, where everything is new. Or at least, that's how it works for me."

"He's a friend of a friend. We kind of don't get along usually unless Scott's there to act as the ref," he says, shrugging his shoulders idly. "And loneliness sucks, sometimes. Of course, sometimes people suck, too. It's finding the comfortable middle that I still need to figure out."

"Ah, I see," Ruby said with a nod. She'd never had a friend, or rather, acquaintance that was like the way Isaac described this Stiles person, but it sounded like an interesting situation, to say the least. Especially if they were in this hotel together without their mutual friend to moderate. "And your friend Scott. Do you get to see him when you go home?"

"I live with him, yeah," Isaac says, which is pretty much the only time he feels guilty about staying here. Mrs. McCall cooks amazing food and it's nice to have a bedroom that's his, that he doesn't have to worry about getting kicked out when Derek gets in a mood. "He hasn't exactly come looking for me, though, so either he doesn't notice I'm missing or time kind of stops when I'm here. I kind of hope it's the second."

Ruby smiled at that, leaning over to give Isaac's shoulder a very gentle, friendly pat. "I'm sure it's a time stop thing," she told him earnestly. "Of course I'm just learning about how things in the Nexus work, but honestly sweetie, you're too adorable for someone not to be missing the heck out of you."

He gives a quiet laugh, wondering if she'd find him so adorable when he sprouts claws and fangs, but given that Isaac has a tendency to flip between the kid he used to be and the wolf Derek had made him, he's not entirely sure she sees that part of him. "Here's hoping, because my ego would kind of hurt otherwise."

"And if there's one thing I cannot abide in adorable boys, it is an injured ego," Ruby said with a bright grin, glad that Isaac was smiling. She hated to see anyone feeling down, after all. "You keep that ego up there where it belongs, mister. To do anything less would be to do yourself a great disservice."

Isaac definitely likes her. And it's not just the weird smell that makes her feel like home, but he likes her because she seems pretty cool and she hasn't made him feel like a kid, while still feeling a little looked after. "You're good at this," he says. "The cheering me up thing."

Ruby's smile brightened considerably at that, pleased beyond belief that she could help. Isaac was an adorable young guy, and if reminding him of such brightened things up a bit for him, she was all the happier for it.

"Good. It makes me so happy you think so," she told him. "But I meant what I said, too."

"About?" Isaac asks, his attention only fleeting when it comes to things in front of him when he's got gorgeous women feeding him amazing food. "Sorry, I'm kind of lost."

"About you being adorable, silly," Ruby said in a faux scolding tone, though she still smiled. "I tell you what, if you ever forget you can stop in here and I'll be sure to tell you, alright?"

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