บท 1824: 55
Chapter 55Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
"You know, I don't think I've ever actually asked you how being… what you are… works," Weiss stated idly, sitting in the library with Ruby and Penny during their free hours- with Penny being the only member of her team in Vale (Or… at all, really) currently, she was basically working off of Team RWBY's schedule. Ruby's in particular, since the two of them were the closest.
Weiss had a sneaking suspicion that either Penny was still trying to get Ruby into a lab for more rigorous study, or that the redheaded gynoid was trying to steal her corgi cuddles.
Probably the former- though… maybe they were slowly falling in love? Bah, preposterous. Weiss had clearly read through too many of Blake's saucy romance novels if she was starting to ship her teammates in real life. Seriously though- where did Blake get that many books. She apparently abandoned her entire life in the White Fang, so how was it that the ex-terrorist who came to Beacon with her weapons, the clothes on her back, a scroll, and a tiny suitcase of toiletries was the one with the largest personal library out of the entire Team? Even Ruby's collection of comics was paltry in comparison to Blake's collection- and Ruby's comic collection was actually Yang's .
That said, Ruby's collection of weapon magazines…
Weiss tried not to think about that time when she'd bumped a stack of magazines while retrieving something from their shared closet and nearly gave herself a concussion from being buried in magazines- thank gods for Aura.
"What do you mean? I mean, I'm half grimm and pretty much entirely made of grimmstuff so like…?" Ruby shrugged, idly poking at her own arm as she considered Weiss' question, pursing her lips as she turned the entire limb into a mass of black sludge before reforming it into its usual look.
"Actually- that right there. How do you know that you're still only half grimm when you told us just the other week that your entire body had dissolved into your grimm mass and the only thing that remained that's objectively not grimm is your silver eyes?" Weiss asked, pointing vaguely at Ruby's eyes before motioning at the entire rest of her Leader's body. "How is that half? From what I'd gather, that ratio is more like… one to two hundred by external volume, and one to… let's say ten thousand in terms of body mass. Maybe more. How are you half grimm?"
"Because I still have my soul, and because my eyes feel like they're half of me, y'know?" Ruby shrugged again, shifting her outfit into a comfortable red hoodie (with grimm plating, as always) and exercise pants as she sat back in her chair, idly examining her nails the way Weiss always did with hers before frowning and changing them from her usual black claws to something shorter, rounder, and painted red instead of black. "Huh. Fashion is kinda fun… who knew?"
"That's hardly fashion, Ruby. It's… a hoodie and track pants and the only thing you did was shorten your nails," Weiss sighed, rolling her eyes at Ruby's antics. "Regardless. I suppose that explanation makes sense… about as much as anything… but… if you are made entirely of grimm stuff then how are you even… sapient? Or… capable of raising an Aura? So far as I've seen, all of the studies on grimm report that they literally don't have souls or any kind of sapience beyond some kind of instinct for cruelty and violence."
Ruby shrugged a third time, noting idly that she was shrugging a lot before turning to Penny. "I dunno, I just am. What do you think, Penny?"
"I theorize that it is because of the unique balance of Creation and Destruction in your being that allows you to be the best of both worlds," Penny spoke up, her face drawn into its usual bright, cheery, utterly guileless and charmingly friendly smile. She tilted her head to the side, then pursed her lips in thought in a way that made Ruby stare at the faint, consistent red tint to her cheeks- that had to have been deliberate, right? That Penny was literally rosy-cheeked? It wasn't like she could blush for real, probably. It was really cute though, almost like Zwei… or… some other super duper cute thing? "Although, I'm not sure how it happened on a biological level, seeing as grimm do not have cells- their entire being seems to match no known chemical composition, and is largely thought of as a metaphysical construct beyond the ordinary laws of physics- almost like how Aura sometimes creates constructs of condensed 'energy' or 'light' despite those not being properly scientific terms, or like how Hardlight Dust generates glass-like surfaces when powered, despite the actual surfaces having no distinct chemical makeup beyond that of seemingly ionized air."
Ruby blinked. "... Did you memorize a book on grimm biology or something?"
"Nope! I simply cross-referenced the data using the CCT Network point in my processor," Penny explained casually, forgetting for a moment that she was probably not supposed to tell people so casually about her robot bits. "Er- I mean, I read it. On my scroll. Yes."
"Huh. Well. I mean, it's about the best theory we've got right now. Don't think it's really that important though. For most use cases my body reacts just like anyone's with regard to Aura and Dust, so like… whatever," Ruby hummed, then tapped her chin as she considered Weiss. "... Actually I just remembered! I've been thinking about how my Semblance works and if I can add elements to it like Blake's Shadow clones!"
"... Ruby that is a terrible idea- Petal Burst isn't anything like Shadow! You're using yourself as the conduit for Dust, not a temporary Aura construct that takes on the properties of whatever Dust gets used while it's forming!" Weiss protested, immediately jumping to her feet and thumping her hands on the table as she leaned forward, cutting down Ruby's idea in an instant. "Even if you can use Dust with your Semblance- which is no guarantee considering how few Semblances there are that can actually incorporate Dust safely into their effects without it being completely redundant, the amount of control you'd have to have over your Aura would be insane! If you don't get the modulation exactly correct then depending on the Dust type you could freeze, burn, electrocute, petrify, explode, melt, dissolve, erode, or completely disintegrate yourself!"
"Statistically speaking, that last one is actually already what happens when Ruby uses Petal Burst," Penny stated idly, holding up one finger to indicate her thoughts. "Given that I have been staying near you all for the last week and a half, I have compiled a sizable amount of data on Friend Ruby's Semblance using my own internal array of sensors and have come to determine that, outside of the latent grimm influence and passive Aura constructs in the form of petals, using Petal Burst actively at a high enough level to become the burst part of Petal Burst instead of just activating wildly enhanced speed causes Ruby to actively dissolve into her own Aura and effectively act as though she has…"
Penny paused, frowning as her words came to a halt. "I almost wanted to say no mass given the acrobatics that ensue occasionally, but that isn't quite true. Her impacts still have weight to them, and she's consistently capable of knocking others over with the wake of her speed, plus her fight with the Beringels showed that she definitely still has mass or else she wouldn't have been able to spiralize them so effectively… so… I think that means that Petal Burst alters Ruby's effective mass depending on use case? It is hard to tell without a full sensory suite like those of a high end Atlesian science lab- speaking of….?"
"No, Penny, I'm not going back to Atlas with you," Ruby sighed, thunking her head against the table and grumbling a little- truly, Penny had a one track mind with regards to that. It wasn't even that she wanted to take Ruby to Atlas to see the General anymore, it was just Penny's sheer curiosity and lack of high end research equipment that led to the redhead wanting to take her fellow redhead back to Atlas for a thorough medical examination. "Also, what do you mean I have variable mass?"
"You contain the essence of enough grimm that your strength overpowers giant class Deathstalkers and are filled with hundreds of weapons, thousands of bullets, and several dozen kilograms of Dust in powder and crystal form," Penny deadpanned, pointing at the chair Ruby was sitting in. "If you did not have variable mass, you would have broken the chair. And possibly fallen through the floor. That said, I think Petal Burst would be less… effective as it is now if your body was not as amorphous and mass variable as it already is. Likely, your grimm nature enhances an already impressive speed Semblance to a frightening degree."
"... Yeah okay that's fair- also what do you mean it's frightening? I'm not scary am I?" Ruby asked, looking between Weiss and Penny awkwardly while scratching at the back of her neck.
"Ruby, I once woke up in the middle of the night to get water and when I saw one of your Rosebuds making cookies in the kitchenette I almost lost bladder control," Weiss sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose as she sat back down and slumped with disbelief at Ruby's own obliviousness to her terrifying nature. "You're an amalgamation of hundreds of grimm, sleep right above me with enough explosive yield in your body that a single errant spark could annihilate a good half of Beacon's grounds, and can summon grimm on a whim. You have an artillery cannon that turns into a giant scythe for a primary weapon, and, in this case, your Semblance makes you so fast that not even Shade Erinace can keep track of your movements at higher speeds and she's a third year with a speed Semblance!"
She paused, shaking her head. "Did you know that there was a betting pool over what your Semblance was? People seriously thought it was a teleportation Semblance because of how fast you move between points. That's terrifying ."
"... I didn't know that- wait, there's rumors about me? Why!?"
Weiss blinked. "Ruby, you're on a team with me , Weiss Schnee, world famous operatic, classical, and pop singer and heiress to the Schnee Dust Company. You're also on a team with Blake, who is now openly admitting that her father is the Ghira Belladonna that used to lead the White Fang and is now chieftain of Menagerie, and your sister has won the Vale regional tournament three years in a row, and only stopped to apply to Beacon, giving her almost as much of a reputation locally as Pyrrha , who we also hang out with on a regular basis. And of all of us, you are a wolf faunus with two traits-"
"Corgi!"
"... corgi, whatever. A faunus with two traits, wears grimm bones and has grimm powers, and has the single most powerful weapon in the school . Team RWBY and JNPR are extremely famous on campus, and were made even moreso by dealing with Team CRDL."
"... What happened to them anyway?" Ruby asked, scratching her head slightly as she tried to process this new information. "I kinda forgot that they got kicked out like three weeks in…"
"They were shuffled to a lower level combat school nearer the Vale council building," Weiss answered, snorting dryly. "Serves them right. Anyway. Back to the matter at hand- Penny?"
"Yes, Friend Weiss?"
"Do you think we'd be able to find out more about Ruby's biology if we used Beacon's science labs?"
"That sounds like a stupendous idea! Let's go now!"
"Wait hang on I actually do need to study Penny no-!"
Notes:
"Penny no!"
"Penny yes!"
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