Arclight Foundries - Chapter 6

"You know, people at Beacon have been talking about you." Ruby said a few days later while walking with him through Vale's shopping districts. Busy boulevards packed with people along the wide avenues, from Hunters to civilians, and people on both sides carrying bags as they made their way to and from stores along the interwoven. "I think it's because Coco and her friends have been talking about you."

"She's been talking about me at Beacon?" He asked, turning a corner from one of the largest boulevards onto a side street with smaller, more homely shops that tended to be run by small families or up and comers like himself.

"Talking about you? Heck, I heard she went off on a short mission to scout around the walls and killed a bunch of Grimm and said how nice your rounds were to use." Ruby explained with a bright laugh, a chill wind blowing over them a second later and making her shiver before she pulled up her hood and tucked her cloak around her black corset, looking at a tree starting to drop brown leaves already as they passed. "Fall is coming on hard this year, by the looks of it. Fast, too, by the feel of it. Gonna have to buy some wool leggings next time a certain someone pays me. You gonna start selling Dust-Furnace fuel?"

"Yeah, probably should. Would bring in a little extra Lien all on its own, and when a Hunter's already buying, they might buy rounds or whatever else they need that I already have in stock." He sighed, running a hand through his messy blonde hair and grumbling, "Need a haircut, one of these days soon. Getting too long."

"Yeah, probably, or you could just tie it back when you're working." Ruby commented, looking at the small shops as they passed by, almost all of them indoor with wide windows facing the walkway full of displayed items and banners for the stores. "S'what I did for a bit, when I was little and my hair was too long to work on my baby safely. And for a while in Signal, too."

"You had long hair?"

"Ohohohohoh, yeah. Yeah, I really, really did." Ruby chuckled, shaking her head and stepping closer to him as the crowds worsened, a hand coming up to land on the bottom of his elbow gently. "Down to my butt, actually. Like Yang's, except, you know. Not blonde, and I kept it in a big braid with a little black ribbon."

He tried to imagine Ruby with that long of hair braided, hanging past her waist, but somehow it… Didn't fit right, and Jaune said as much, "I can't see it, you seem too much like a short-haired girl to me. I can't imagine you having to deal with constantly braiding that thing like that."

"Yeah, it was a pain in my toosh." She sighed, shrugging beside him and looking at the floor as they walked. "Yang always says it was cute, though. So, I dunno, maybe I should give it another try I guess?"

"Only if you want to, I think you're cute enough as is, though." He smiled when she stumbled, the girl pouting up at him with narrow silver eyes, and he couldn't help the loud laugh, "S-Sorry, Ruby, I couldn't not tease you a little bit."

"I mean, you could have…" She grumbled, pouting and staring ahead of them defiantly. After a second, feigning an offended tone as best she could, she asked, "So, what is it you needed me for? Or did you just want to make fun of me? Because that would suck. Like, really hard."

"And…?"

"And if you were just picking on me," she turned, smiling up at him and wiggling her eyebrows with a shit-eating grin plastered across her face, "I'd tell Yang you asked me out, and she'd come 'meet' you."

"N-No, thanks, I'm done teasing you, I promise." He rolled his eyes, fishing in his pockets until he found what he was looking for and pulled the small envelopes out, "One has your pay, not much but still. And the other has some Lien in it, I want you to get a decent work outfit and a locker to keep at Arclight. Get something good and sturdy, and take it on back to the shop, alright?"

"You're buying me work clothes?" She asked, taking the envelopes and grinning widely, "Best boss ever! I'm going to get some cute leather overalls, and some heavy boots, and some new gloves and oh! A helmet! Maybe even some nice, fitted goggles for when I'm handling the Dust and cutting metal, and-"

"H-Hey, now, Ruby." He chuckled awkwardly, watching the girl literally jumping up and down in excitement. "I didn't give you that much Lien for it, so unless you want to use your pay on it too, don't go overboard. Okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, I won't blow too much on it or get anything that isn't useful, Boss." She grinned, sliding the two envelopes into a case that always hung off the back of her waist under her collapsed scythe. "So I'll head on back and wait there, or do you want me to come back out and meet you?"

"I'll send you a message and let you know, I need to license some materials to be shipped in and check prices for the materials to make Dust-furnaces. Might take a bit, and you can open up and take orders without me around, at least." He gave her a look, brow raising questioningly, "Right, Ruby?"

"Y-Yeah, of course!" She waved him off with both hands, laughing and planting them on her hips cockily, "I will have you know I am a fully grown woman, thank you. I can manage a store front for a couple hours, Jaune."

"Look kinda short to me." He joked, the woman's shoulders scrunching along with her face as she pouted at him.

"I am a perfectly normal size I will have you know, thank you, Jaune." She nodded curtly, eyebrow quirking, and added, "I drink my milk, just like my mom said. So I am a perfectly normal sized girl with perfectly normal knees."

"Uh, what about you knees-"

"Shushushushush!" She cut him off rapidly, waving her hands and bouncing a step away from him, smiling brightly all the while. "No teasing me, Jaune, it's mean to tease. Do you need anything else from me, or can I, you know… Go shopping? And, uh, is it okay if I get a little fridge to put behind the counter?"

"A fridge?" He blinked at the suggestion, the crowds pushing past them to either side surprisingly quieter than he would have expected. Beyond the dull roar of a crowd in and of itself, of course. "Why would you want a fridge?"

"N-Not, like, a big one. Just a little one, for drinks and stuff. I could put it behind the wall, too, actually. Off to the side of the stairs, we aren't using the space, a-and I thought you might like having a drink on hand down there. S-So I was offering, since you paid me when you didn't have to, and-"

"Ruby, it's fine. I was just, you know, surprised. I hadn't thought about it." There was a bit of space behind the wall that ran behind the counter, to either side of the stairs. It was fairly wide, and just dead space right now with some boxes and stuff tossed around. And if he wasn't using it, and Ruby wanted to, he didn't see a reason not to let her.

Nodding, he fished in his pocket and pulled out his wallet, holding some more Lien out to her after a couple more seconds, "Grab a table and some drinks, too. I'll get chairs later for it, but you can use it for a break room when you're around. And do homework and stuff in it, if you want to too. Just get it cleaned up, set it up how you want it, and keep it clean. Okay?"

"I'll keep it clean, I promise!" She took the extra Lien, bolting in for a hug and squeezing him gently and practically shaking in excitement. "Thank you, thank you, thank you, Jaune~!" And then she vanished, leaving behind complaining passersby and rose petals spinning into the air in her wake.

Along with Jaune standing in their midst, shaking his head with a small smile on his face, of course.

Taking a breath, he turned and started to make his way further up the boulevard towards the more international and business sub-districts of the larger shopping as the crowds thinned and the kind of people in it changed. From families, couples and groups of teens spending time - and Lien, of course - together in Vale to more professional businessmen and women in suits and skirts, mixed with and occasionally even escorted by the colorful splashes of Huntsmen and Huntresses, or the heavy thudding and clanking of armored mercenaries and soldiers in Atlesian and even Valean - similar to Atlas, but green and olive rather than the whites and blues of Atlas - soldiers escorting especially important looking people. .

The nature of the Kingdoms required that kind of compartmentalization and military oversight, his dad had taught him, with sections of the city made for purpose and simply updated as time passed, either with taller versions of themselves as space grew in demand or with more modern parts involved. Wires, electrical work, plumbing maintenance, structural changes to the buildings to make them safer in case of everything from natural disasters, including Grimm attacks, to - now, with things how they were in the world - terror attacks like bombings.

He'd considered, for a few months actually, working to protect people by keeping the Kingdoms strong. But that would have entailed too intimate a relationship with the military for his liking, unfortunately. He had no problem with military men and women, of course, but the discipline and training tended to block out creativity and passion from being involved in the work related to it.

Which went a long way to explaining why buildings throughout Vale were bright and colorful in spite of design rather than because of it. The owners and those living in the buildings adding paint, flags, flowers, and whatever else they could to brighten the dull grey buildings that the Kingdom Engineers had built for them to use. A foreign concept, almost, to someone like Jaune who had come from outside the Walls. But a sadly necessary one, with so little space and so many bodies occupying it.

'The idealism of pure freedom couldn't stand against the iron-fisted need for the survival of a species', another thing his father had taught him.

And these offices and businesses had no need of the kind of brightness most people needed, outside of plants outside their buildings. Instead, they simply left things as they were, dull grey concrete buildings with small windows and heavy, dark wooden doors. Signs hung over or on the doors of each with the name of what they were, and slogans in some cases, and many had soldiers standing outside and flags flying to show their more military or international leanings.

It was one of these Jaune approached, smiling awkwardly with his ID in hand and waving at one of two soldiers in Atlesian armor, "Hey, guys. Having a good day today?"

"Good as we can, cold as it was this mornin'. Supply officer said winterized gear attachments wouldn't be available for a few weeks yet, even if the damn weather turns 'fore then." The lead soldier, in older looking and scarred armor with chevrons on his shoulders and the right side of his chest, said with a shrug. "Good day to you too, though, Jaune. In spite of the damn chill comin' down off the mountains. Business goin' well on your end, I hope?"

"Yeah, had a few good orders come in last few weeks, and I heard that Beacon is going to start sending first years on missions." He smiled, raising his eyebrows in what he hoped was a rogueish way, "And maybe that means I'll end up with a few more good sales over the next couple weeks."

"Ah, Vale's making a true merchant of you already I see, eh?" The soldier snorted when he shrugged, shaking his helmeted head and sighing. "Here for business again, then? I see you got your ID out already, glad you're on the ball with the protocol."

"Yeah, I, uh, I looked it up like you told me to after the last couple times of messing up and causing problems." He smiled, holding the card out for the soldier to take and look over with practiced and careful motions.

"Yeah, don't worry about it too much, Jaune. We get folk in all the time that do a hell of a lot more than ask us to explain stuff to 'em and pass an order through with a couple missing papers." The soldier nodded, handing him back the ID and holding out his hand for the next thing, a piece of paper summarising what he needed and why he'd come. "Thank you, Jaune, for cooperating. Private Reddin, check him."

"Spread your arms and legs, please, Sir." The young woman demanded, letting her small rifle hang off her neck by the strap while she thoroughly patted him down for anything suspect. After around a minute, she stopped, standing and turning back to the older soldier. "Clean and cleared, Sir."

"Alright then, Jaune, head on in." The old soldier nodded, handing him back the second sheet and stepping aside, his own weapon hanging over a shoulder comfortably. "And don't mind Reddin if she gets a little handsy with you, she's a young blood still."

"Sargent-" The woman stuffed, grabbing her rifle's grip a bit harder than necessary and marching back to stand beside the door stiffly. Turning, she sighed, "Please go inside, Sir, and have a nice day."

"Sure, I'll-" He blinked, fishing in his pocket for his buzzing Scroll, and checking the message icon to see that it was from Ruby. "I'll, uh, let me just send a message really quick and I'll head in. I know you guys don't like Scrolls being waved around inside."

"Your consideration is appreciated." The Sargent answered, standing next to the door and half watching him boredly. The man knew Jaune wouldn't do anything, but it was all a part of his job in and so he had to regardless. "Take your time, Sir. Go on in whenever you're ready."

Nodding, he flicked open the message and read it through, "Hi, Jaune, I got everything and kind of ran into someone. Do you mind if she comes back to the shop with me? She's my new friend, and she's not going anywhere else she wants to actually go for the day, and she's kind of different."

The hell did 'different' even mean? He sighed, typing out a message back to her, "It's fine as long as she doesn't get into anything, and don't let her into the workshop. If she breaks anything or gets hurt, it's on you."

"I won't. I can't wait for you to meet her." She sent back, and he rolled his eyes before heading into the office to place his orders.

Nothing special, just a refill on Dust - as expensive as that was getting now - and some metal, wiring and fabrics to be shipped in for his special project. Some of which he wasn't even paying for, thanks to Coco's coming in to invest in his ideas for the suit he was manufacturing. Surprisingly for him, she hadn't even pushed for him to militarize it like he'd been expecting after their first conversation. Instead, happy surprise that it was, she wanted him to make it for more civilian uses. Like Jaune himself did.

Once that was done, he started to make his way back to Arclight and meet this 'different' new friend of Ruby's. Hopefully she would be a bit saner than Coco or Ruby had wound up being, he was already missing quiet, easy evenings.

"Ruby!" He called when he finally pushed into the store half an hour later, listening for a second before he heard her call out a 'Hi Jaune' from the new 'break area' behind the wall. "How's the break area coming along? Not making a mess back there, are you?"

"No!" She called, poking a head around the corner and smiling widely at him, "I'm getting charged really quick, though, so no peeking or I'll call Yang and tell on you."

"Why didn't you change when you got back?" He rolled his eyes, leaning against the wall by the door and crossing his arms while he waited. After a few seconds of listening to her shuffling around back there he called out again, "Where the new friend you mentioned, Ruby? Back there?"

"I am moving the locker for friend-Ruby!" He heard a girl call out, followed by a heavy clanging of metal being placed. "Does this look good, friend-Ruby?"

"What?" He heard her say, followed by, "Yeah, Penny, it looks fine. Can you, uh, tuck it a bit more into the corner though? And put my clothes in it when you're done, please?" Another dull scraping sound, metal on concrete screeching familiarly behind the wall near the stairs, and then Ruby called out to him again, "Okay, I'm clothed, come on back and take a look, Jaune."

Her outfit, once he got back there, was simple enough. Thick and dark grey canvas material overalls and heavy black boots, with a thick black shirt with long sleeves made to protect her arms from Dust and sparks alike. Her hair was short, but she kept it tied back under a dark red rag with a leather strap around the bottom of it to keep it tightly secured.

A set of Vacuoan goggles, a solid face of polarized glass the would cover the eyes and top of her nose both along with a hanging but latchable mask to protect her mouth, rested on her right shoulder with the leather strap under her arm securely. Gloves made of the same leather and with metal on the knuckles for protection hung off her right side on a loose belt around her waist, and a satchel with 'AC' stitched onto it hung off her left with a few tools already in it shining bright and new.

"So," she struck a pose with her tongue out, smiling and asking, "How do I look, Jaune? Do I look professional?"

"Actually, yeah. You do look kind of professional now, Ruby." He nodded, looking at the pleasantly smiling ginger beside him. Who was currently sitting on the floor and smiling up at him. "Uh, hi? I'm Jaune. Jaune Arc."

"And I am Penny. Penny Polendina. You are the proprietor of this establishment?" Nervous for reasons even Jaune himself didn't fully understand properly, he nodded, and somehow her smile managed to widen, "May I please go into your workshop? I have a very vested interest in engineering!"

"Uh, I guess-"

"My father is an engineer, and he works for Atlas!" She added before he could speak, eyes widening almost manically, "And friend-Ruby said you are working on something fun! So may I please see it? I would very much enjoy helping you with it, if you want. Do you require a computer system for the suit?"

"Uh, actually, yeah. I could." He answered, quickly adding, "I need someone to help me program internal computer systems to help manage the movement and set up a HUD system for the helmet when I get around to it to manage fuel and energy and that kind of stuff."

"Wonderful." She said, clapping where she sat and grinning up at him, "Then let's go and see it, shall we?"

"Uh," he started after a second, looking at Ruby and then back to Penny. "You have to get up first, you know?"

"Oh yes, that is quite right." She nodded, standing next to him and bouncing towards the stairs before he could say anything else. Patiently waiting, she spoke to them both, "Please, shall we? I should like to see this project as I am quite interested in it and father has asked me when I shall be returning to the base."

"Base?" Jaune asked, the ginger blinking.

"Home." She corrected, smiling pleasantly, "I said home. Father would like to know when I will be returning to my home. Which is an apartment. With normal apartment things that teenage girls need, like chairs and food."

"Uh-huh." He nodded, sighing and shaking his head. Of course Ruby would bring over someone else insane to add to the gaggle of mental ward patients he was apparently accruing. "Ruby, you okay to finish setting up down here while I show our new friend around?"

"Uh oh…" Ruby said, before Jaune heard Penny gasp.

"Did you just say I was your friend, Jaune Arc?"

XxX----XxX----XxX

: Codex Entry :

Military :

Auxiliary Military Services :

Civilian Service Branches :

Kingdom Engineers :

Due to the inherent nature of the restricted space that comes from living within a Kingdom's Walls, the internal structure of Kingdoms - excepting Vacuo, for cultural reasons that make the Engineers non-viable - is strictly controlled and monitored. Building construction typically, though exceptions are often made for those inclined to petition the Council directly and able to finance, are handled and regulated by the Kingdom itself via a subcategory of its military known as Kingdom Engineers.

The Kingdom Engineers, also known as the 'Engineers of the Kingdom', are a civilian service branch charged with the duty of maintaining the Kingdoms structures. From managing and maintaining the great walls that protect the Kingdoms mere existence, to updating civilian and administrative structures inside the walls, the Engineers handle all the duties of construction, maintenance and upgrading of structures to newer and safer versions. Regardless of whether the standing structure can be updated or will need to be torn down and replaced.

The duties of a Kingdom Engineer are important for the continuation of the Kingdom, and therefore it follows that the words and instructions of one within the bounds of their field are legally required to be followed by civilians at all times. For the greater good, this includes being barred from housing districts for the duties they see to.

Remember, an Engineer built your home, your store, your hospital, your school and even the great Walls that protect you themselves. They deserve your respect and obedience, for the greater good of all the Kingdom!