91

Chapter 91 Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

"Dad!" Penny cried, immediately losing her previous melancholy mood as she all but vibrated in place, her arms wrapping around Ruby even tighter as she wiggled and grinned so wide her eyes sparkled in delight. "You're here! I thought you wouldn't arrive for another week!"

"Heh, yes, that was the plan but I wanted to surprise my darling little girl!" Pietro responded, chuckling lightly as his chair whirred and lowered him down- four legs all moving in sync as he held his arms out for a hug. "How have you been, Penny?"

"I have been wonderful!" Penny answered, bright and cheery and full of life as she jumped into her father's arms, Ruby smiling a bit awkwardly as her girlfriend all but tackle hugged her father and saying nothing for now- Penny hadn't seen Pietro in some time now, and although video calls were nice to keep in touch, nothing really beat the feeling of having a loved one in one's arms. So she stayed quiet as Penny babbled on about all of the things she'd been doing lately- things that she'd already told Pietro, but still wanted to talk about anyway. ""I have had such an amazing five months with my dearest wishing star Ruby! I have made so many friends- more than I could have ever hoped for before, and I got to try on clothes, paint my nails, even talk about cute girls! We fought grimm together and went to classes and ate food- real food, and not just the standard nutrient bars that Atlas Academy provided! And we read books and watched so many movies and I found out that I am very good at colony simulation games and Ruby helped me upgrade Floating Array and we went to Patch and I was introduced to Mr. Bronze who reminded me a lot of you and he's the one who sold Ruby a lot of her weapons and we had ice cream and went to the park and then we got kicked out of the gardens because our Auras mixed too much and we accidentally flooded a gift shop with rose petals and then Ruby took me out flying as a Nevermore and we fought a Sea Feilong and the additional Aura and Dust channels within Floating Array allowed me to completely defeat the Sea Feilong's lightning blast with my own plasma cannon! And Ruby and I went on a bunch of dates and we cuddled together and took naps together and even though I cannot properly sleep like a human it was still amazing and the beds at Beacon are so soft and the ones in Ruby's home in Patch are even softer and more comfy and living there was so nice that I want to go back there again and again! It is so pleasant and cozy and it feels warm even though the home does not exude any more warmth than the average building that my temperature sensors can feel but it feels as though my Aura resonates with it and- and-..."

Penny paused, slowly relaxing as she curled up in Pietro's lap, nuzzling into her father's shoulder as he wrapped large, strong arms around her somehow so much more delicate looking frame. "I missed you, dad. I wish you had been here for all of those moments, instead of just coming now."

"I wish I'd been there as well, Penny. But I'm here now, and we've got all the time in the world to catch up- oh, speaking of! Ruby, I read over the technical specifications you sent me about a potential upgrade to Crescent Rose- would you like to discuss it while we take a trip back to where I'm staying for the next few months? I've got some wonderful ideas just from the data included, and I think that if we put our heads together we can make something absolutely amazing!" Pietro grinned, nodding towards Ruby and motioning her to follow along as he turned away towards where a car was waiting by the road- a rather severe looking man in Atlesian military dress (the formal, stuffy, parade kind, not actual soldier armor) standing by the door without any kind of expression on his face. "Though, I must admit, my expertise is in Dust mechanics and prosthetics more than it is weapon systems- the work you've done is marvelous on its own and seeing just how it compares to Atlesian design, well…"

He chuckled and shook his head, all three of them heading to the car as a group as Pietro just sighed and winced a little bit once he actually remembered what the weapon design curriculum at Atlas Academy was like… and what the engineering corps of the Atlesian Military was like. 

"I wish they were half as dedicated to the art of creation as you were, instead of providing mass produced weapons for the lowest possible price," he finished, deadpanning slightly as he shifted his bulk out of the chair- Penny stepping down and standing to the side while the massive chair folded itself down into the trunk of the awaiting car, with Pietro slowly making his way into the car on slightly wobbly legs. 

Ruby just chuckled a bit awkwardly, clearing her throat a bit as she followed Pietro into the car, with Penny joining them in the back seat a moment later. "Haha yeah… I've seen some of the design documentation you've shown me. I can't believe they've only managed to have like a six percent performance increase in the standard battle rifle in the last twenty years! I mean, I guess it's cost effective but the polymer was all wrong and the frame molding won't last and- ugh… I'm so glad I don't have to work for the Atlesian Military, I think I'd go crazy yelling at people for how many corners they cut…"

"I am very glad they did not cut corners with me, though I suppose it helps that I am a one of a kind production prototype model rather than a mass produced instance," Penny postulated as she shut the door behind her and settled into the third seat, leaving Ruby comfortably sat between her girlfriend and her girlfriend's father while the driver (who was, thankfully, not wearing that really tall hat that some Atlesian operatives wore) slid into the front seat and wordlessly began driving them through the streets. After a moment, Penny spoke up again and pointed out of the window with an excited look on her face. "Oh- that is the Valeburger that banned all of us from its premises!"

Pietro blinked. "However did you manage that, darling?"

Ruby blushed and looked away. "Penny and I got a little too affectionate and my Semblance went off and I flooded the entire restaurant with rose petals… and Yang was laughing too hard and choked on a rose petal and used her Semblance to burn it out but she… um… set a chunk of the area on fire. And then Weiss froze it with a Glyph. And there was a lot of screaming. And I think Nora was yelling too? Um… yeah we had to pay for the damages and never go back."

"... Ah."

The ride was silent for a moment- the man in the front completely sealed off via a polymer barrier with a sliding slat in it so he wouldn't listen in unless they wanted him to. Ruby took the time to examine the interior of the vehicle, which was a lot more opulent than she was used to- her own dad's car was pretty small and cramped and only barely had enough room for her dad and Uncle Qrow in the front, and with her, Yang, and Cinder awkwardly crammed in the back. Really it would be worse if Ruby couldn't shrink into a puppy and just sit in Yang's lap, but still. The car they were in now was… big. Smooth, sleek leather interior, a minifridge set into the center console in front of Ruby, plenty of space to lean back and spread one's legs… it wasn't the kind of opulent limo that Ruby had seen in some movies, but it was definitely a pretty big car all the same. It was nice having leg room for once, actually.

"Yeah, it was… a big mess," Ruby finished, slightly delayed and a little lamely, clearing her throat awkwardly as she twiddled her thumbs and leaned back slightly, trying not to feel too awkward about revealing the chaotic shenanigans that she had inadvertently gotten Penny dragged into. "Um… what else…"

"Ruby and I have been removed from no less than twelve separate locations throughout the City of Vale due to impromptu displays of affection resulting in an excessive amount of rose petals!" Penny grinned cheerfully, leaning against Ruby's shoulder without a hint of awkwardness and grabbing onto her girlfriend's arm in a casual side hug. "She is very comfortable to hold, and extremely difficult to not want to smooch senseless, which results in many instances of her Semblance activating and filling the air with rose petals. It is extremely adorable, and it also causes her grimm features to shrink as a result, which is extremely fascinating!"

"They um… they go away the more positive I feel," Ruby explained, shrinking her grimm mask down deliberately to its more puppy-ish, smaller state- eyes closed, and with the stripes missing- while her other bone plates scaled down and the majority of her eyes vanished all at once. "I don't really know why but… it does. And it's nice. Because sometimes I don't like seeing pretty much everything around me at once." 

"That is fascinating… " Pietro murmured, leaning down slightly and poking at Ruby's shoulder plate, an amazed look of scientific wonder in his eyes. "I wonder how it all works- It must be a function of your biology. While the scans Penny made were inconclusive, I have to admit… I do want to see how some of the equipment in Atlas Academy handles scanning your makeup- are you made of biological cells or is it undifferentiated matter? And for that matter- what are grimm made of anyway? It's almost impossible to actually get a good look at their internal structure due to them dying in captivity and being otherwise impossible to incapacitate without killing them, but you could unlock a whole new set of scientific study into grimm!"

Penny smiled. "I said the exact same thing!"

Ruby groaned a little, palming her face and sighing as father and daughter began excitedly babbling about the things Penny had found out about Ruby's physical nature over the last few months. "Yeah…. Yeah."

"Mister Polendina? We're here."

The driver paused, finger holding down the intercom button for a moment as he listened to something Ruby could only just barely make out from his earpiece.

"... The General is inside. He wants to see your guests."

Notes:

Uh ohhhhh someone's in trouble....