Chapter 1859: 90
Black Rose Blooms SilverCyberQueen_Jolyne
Chapter 90
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
"Have I ever told you how much I just… really love spending time with you, Penny?" Ruby asked idly, threading her fingers between Penny's as they walked along down the street in downtown Vale, the red Huntress resting her head against her taller girlfriend's shoulder and swinging their hands back and forth. She smiled, squeezing Penny's hand gently and pulsing her Aura gently- feeling a return pulse a moment later as they synced up.
"Every single day since we began our relationship, wishing star!" Penny answered cheerily, knocking her head against Ruby's and giggling as she squeezed Ruby's hand in return. The air around them pulsed with the scent of spring and roses as Ruby's aura created illusory rose petals to swirl around the two of them. "I love spending time with you as well! I know it is technically frowned upon to pick favorites among friends, but in the short time that I have known you, you truly have become my super bestie better than the restie!"
"Aww, and you said those weren't real words," Ruby teased, grinning and sighing happily as she pressed closer to Penny, neither of them having really anything they wanted to do- they'd already perused through several weapon shops and, although Ruby hadn't had the budget to get anything other than an old, surplus, Atlesian gen 2 heavy machine gun (smaller, technically, than Coco's Gianduja, but Ruby was already planning to upscale it quite a bit to deal with its armor penetration and overheating problems) for sale from one of the shops she frequented, they'd still had fun nonetheless! Just going in and buying a couple issues of Weapons Magazine and Shooting Gallery Monthly and Weekly Weapons was worth it- plus they'd gotten some extra ammunition and spare casings from two shops that Beacon didn't come pre-stocked with.
Because, shocker, Beacon didn't provide premade cases for autocannons. Who knew.
Well, Penny at least had gotten to see Ruby negotiating with the shop owners that had clearly known her for quite some time now- Mr. Calico seemed to be quite enthusiastic about Ruby's presence and had called her "Dustfort's best customer for six years in a row" with a wide, friendly smile. He'd also shown her a truly magnificent greatsword almost as tall as Yatsuhashi and had stated it was directly inspired by Ruby because it was also a punt gun of horrifically devastating caliber. Unfortunately, they had already spent Ruby's weapon budget on the heavy machine gun.
Penny, meanwhile, had not touched her budget much, and thus Ruby had gotten a second weapon for essentially free thanks to Mr. Calico applying such a large discount just for his favorite customer.
"They may not be in the dictionary, but they are real words to me now," Penny explained with a little giggle, letting go of Ruby's hand slightly reluctantly so she could wrap her arm around her girlfriend's shoulder and hug her close. Ruby, of course, naturally responded with a happy little squeal of delight and all but smushed herself against Penny's side in a tight hug that made it quite difficult to actually walk but was enjoyable nonetheless.
Everything was perfect- even with the threat of the White Fang and gods knew what else looming over them, life went on and they could still enjoy their time together. They continued to laugh and chat as they walked along, bumping against each other and hugging and kissing each other on the cheeks and lips as rose petals swirled around them and their Auras pulsed against each other-
Up until the sight and sound of an assembled crowd stopped them both short in confusion- what was an Atlesian display stage doing in the middle of the square?
Penny blinked, hanging back slightly as she furrowed her brow, Ruby immediately taking a guarding position before her without a spoken word even as they continued forward- mingling into the crowd even as Ruby grabbed Penny's hand and sent thin threads of grimmstuff along Penny's arm and into her hair, covering the familiar orange bob of fluff in thick, black spikes that formed into a near identical copy of Ruby's hairstyle, albeit with Penny's pink and red bow still visible.
"Something… feels strange about this," she remarked, frowning at the stage and chewing her lip- small tic that she seemed to have developed after spending so much time amongst her friends, her servos whirring quietly as she held onto Ruby's hand and squeezed, a tingle of worry sparking in her processor as she tried not to let her body build up too much heat to the point that she had to vent- in such a large crowd, it surely wouldn't go over well. "An Atlesian military demonstration? In Vale? The General must be truly concerned about something…"
"Maybe… it might be nothing, though? I think I heard about a few of these pitches before, usually they're just to sell new Knights to the Kingdoms' standing militias, right?" Ruby asked, trying to hold out hope as they took an unobtrusive position in the crowd that allowed them to see the stage without being seen by the soldiers milling about. "Oh- it's starting!"
"Ruby… I'm not sure staying here is a good idea- the General undoubtedly knows what I look like now and changing my hair does not seem like it will be an effective disguise…" Penny murmured, biting her lip and looking quite nervous, trying very hard to not be noticed by the soldiers standing guard even as General Ironwood's image projected itself from the stage.
"The AK-130 has been a standard security model of Remnant for several years, and they have done a fine job. Wouldn't you agree? Wouldn't you agree!"
The projection bowed as the audience clapped politely, the AK-130 drones coming to life as they simultaneously moved in unison to take a jerky bow towards the assembled people. Ruby and Penny said nothing, sticking close together and watching in silence as the presentation continued- General Ironwood's image pacing back and forth as he pumped his fist for emphasis to accentuate his words.
"But... the kingdom of Atlas is a kingdom of innovation, and 'fine'... Well, that's just not good enough, is it? Presenting... the Atlesian Knight-200!" As he spoke, the doors to the mechanized cases present on the stage all rolled up at once, and revealed six of the newer, more humanoid, shinier automatons standing at attention before activating and kicking over their obsolete predecessors and standing dramatically over the crumpled bodies of the now deactivated AK-130s- much to the applause of the watchers, who ate it all up without an ounce of concern. Penny, meanwhile, just frowned and held tight onto Ruby's hand, Ruby squeezing back as she felt the waves of concern and worry rolling through her girlfriend's core.
"Smarter, sleeker, and admittedly, a little less scary-" The demonstration, heedless of their concern, continued as the new, white and black robots moved in response to Ironwood's words and took a variety of silly, human-ish poses as a demonstration of their so called approachability- finger guns, flexing, even blowing kisses at the appreciative crowd. "-these models will become active later this year, but they won't be alone! Now, the Atlesian Military has always supported the idea of removing men from the dangers of the battlefield. However, there are still many situations that will undoubtedly require... a human touch."
"Penny, I think you're right. I'm sensing a lot more stress in those soldiers than I think they should have, I didn't notice until now because I was focusing on you but… there might be something wrong. I think the General might know about some of the stuff we don't," Ruby muttered, chewing her lip and stepping back until she was shoulder to shoulder with her girlfriend. "And… the way he's treating those robots…"
"Is it… wrong that I feel bad for them? That… I think that they should be treated better? Does it make me less human?" Penny whispered back, frowning heavily as a well of intense fear rose up in her core- was it so silly that she wished that her fellow robots be treated with more humanity, that she wished that the General hadn't chosen to put on such a vulgar display of military power and unfeeling progress in the middle of Vale?
"Penny no- you're not like that. Even those robots aren't like that," Ruby murmured, filling her voice with as much sincerity as she could as she turned and took Penny's hands in her own, squeezing gently as she brought their entwined hands up between them almost as if in prayer. "Caring about someone or something doesn't make you less human- it makes you more human. It's… it's a complicated topic and I don't think now is a great time or place to go over it but you're valid and you're allowed to feel what you feel and no one can take that away from you. C'mon, we should get out of here before we're spotted- we don't have to watch the rest of the demonstration… even if the weapon designs are cool, you're clearly distressed and we should get away before it gets worse."
"R-right… I am sorry, wishing star. I… This demonstration has made a real mess of our day together, hasn't it?" Penny asked, tilting her head slightly as she allowed Ruby to lead her out of the crowd slowly.
"Any time I spend with you is well spent, Penny. Good or bad," Ruby shook her head as they made their way to the edge of the square, more and more grimmstuff leaking from Ruby's hands and covering up the identifying features of Penny's outfit. While disguising Penny, Ruby herself shapeshifted into an entirely different person to the point that it almost didn't look like her at all- slowly enough that nobody noticed, but quickly enough that by the time they walked away, they weren't recognizable as Ruby and Penny at all until they turned the corner and were well out of viewing distance of the soldiers in the square.
Penny sighed, the two of them stopping in an alley as she stopped to take a moment to collect herself, shaking her head and groaning. "The more time I spend away from Atlas, the more it feels like I do not want to go back… I love my home, and I love the people there, but… when I am in Atlas, it feels like the people in the Academy and the military only see me as an asset, or a soldier. Even those who do not know of my nature expect me to follow so many rules and commands to the exact letter, and it makes me feel so inhuman … like I am no more than the Knights that the General showed off today- preprogrammed for a single role, and expected to carry it out until I either am destroyed or replaced by a better model. I… I do not like that. I prefer Beacon, where it is warm and happy and the people are nice and free and the Academy doesn't make me wear a terrible gray and white uniform and I can laugh and not have to deal with dozens of regulations and- and…"
"I understand. And it's entirely understandable," Ruby nodded slowly, continuing to hold onto Penny's hands as she slumped slightly, running her thumbs against the back of Penny's hands and giving her a soft, gentle smile. "But you're here now, and we're working to get you transferred over. We just need a little more time, firefly, and then no one will ever be able to tell you what to do ever again."
"I… look forward to that day, wishing star," Penny murmured, ever so gently as she took Ruby into a soft, tenuous hug. "Can… can we go back to the dorms now?"
"Of course we can, Penny. Anything for-"
"There you are darling! I've been looking all over for you! Oh- I'm sorry to interrupt!" came a voice- kindly and old and accompanied by the sound of gentle whirring as the man in question interrupted their moment.
"Dad!?"
Notes:
I fuckin love Pietro man I wish my dad was that cool
Weekly Power Status
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Ranking 
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