Chapter 2: Confudi Adventus
She had arrived to the shuttle pad first and was passing the time admiring the airships she could see. While everything at Atlas Academy was quite uniform compared to Beacon, a few ships had personal touches that she liked.
“Salutations friend Ruby,” she heard Penny say as she walked onto the pad. “Friends Jaune and Ciel have not arrived yet.”
“That is what I just said.”
“Why didn’t Ciel come with you?,” a sense of dread started washing over her.
“She was making sure friend Jaune got here on time, as per my request, “Penny paused there waiting before she continued, “to give you time to acclimate to her upcoming presence.”
“But why, Penny?” Ruby asked her robotic friend.
“In your last six encounters with friend Ciel you demonstrated the following signs of discomfort; closed body language such as crossed arms, restricted or short verbal responses, forced smiles, and/or excessive fidgeting.” Penny listed off with her usual exuberance, “since I did not wish for you to suffer any anxiety right before our outing, I determined it would be best to ask her to fetch friend Jaune.” Another short pause, “did… did I do something wrong?”
The worried look in Penny’s beautiful eyes immediately put her on the back foot. “No, no, no!” She pulled Penny into a hug, reveling in the feel of warm skin. She realized she was holding this hug too long but Penny obviously didn’t mind. “I just worry that Ciel doesn’t like me, is all,” she muttered quietly into her friend’s ear.
“Let me alleviate your worries, friend Ruby. Ciel does not like you.”
WHAT! SHOULD SHE MAKE HER COOKIES? OR PERHAPS ACT A LITTLE MORE PUT TOGETHER? SHE COULD ACT LIKE WEISS!
“It is impossible to know you and not love you. Only if it is just a little bit. And it better be.” Penny’s smile never changed and most certainly didn’t match her tone. It was in fact terrifying.
“Again I’m going with huh?”
“It’s a classic for a reason,” she heard Jaune say from behind her, making her jump. She turned to launch herself at him for a hug before noticing Ciel watching from just behind him. The noise Penny made told her that her friend recognized the hesitation. “Hiya Crater-face.” Jaune lifted her into a hug of his own and she enjoyed the flowery body wash he was using on occasions.
She shot him a long wink. “Hiya ex-partner. How’s your training going with, well, everyone?” She didn’t actually need a vocal answer. His frame was muscled with gains that would have seemed impossible when they first met. Maybe that was why this hug wasn’t as, as, good as Penny’s?
“He is making great strides in all measured statistics, as well as ones that Atlas does not keep official records on.” Ciel stated as she walked up to hug Penny before stepping back to stand beside Jaune.
“I wasn’t aware that you were involved with his new training, were you Penny?” she asked.
“No, I was not,” she answered and then after a pause, “interesting.”
“So what do Weiss’s statistics show?” Ruby wondered aloud.
“Weiss?” Ciel asked surprised, “um, I am uncomfortable speaking about another Huntresses progress.”
“But you just announced Jaune’s…” she began.
“Our ride is here everyone,” Penny announced, interrupting her and yanking her towards the ship. For a moment she thought Ciel and Jaune shared “a look.”
‘Keeping secrets is hard without programming forcing you to,’ she thought as she pulled Ruby into the seat with her. Yes; this forced friends Jaune and Ciel to sit together but, as they were engaging in coitus regularly, she was sure they would not mind. In fact friend Jaune let friend Ciel into the seat first so that he was seated across from Ruby.
“Are my boots safe, Vomit-boy?” Ruby asked in a teasing manner. Penny knew the story, friend Yang told everyone, always making sure friend Jaune was present when she did so. When queried about why she told such a story around him, friend Yang said, “he’s my friend and sometimes friends embarrass each other. You ever hear me tell that story behind his back, you have my permission to drop me off the side of Atlas.” This seemed a ridiculous thing to say, but friends Yang and Jaune did enjoy a camaraderie that was not observable with any of the others. Friend Nora said they were the “team mom and dad,” as if that would explain it. It did not, however she figured that since it was something friends would do.
“How do you handle friend Jaune’s airsickness? Do you have unprotected sex with him beforehand to take his mind off of it? Is that why you were late this morning?” Friends Ciel and Jaune’s faces did not indicate that they were taking her “ribbing” in the stride in which it was intended. In fact friend Jaune looked far more embarrassed by this than any Vomit-boy comments, and friend Ciel’s eyes had opened so wide that it looked physically uncomfortable.
“Penny! How did you know.” Ciel asked, sounding as shocked as she looked. The statement MUST have been a faux-pas, as even Ruby was staring at Jaune like he had stolen the last cookie, or touched Crimson Rose without permission!
“My Semblance, Petaflop. As I explained it to you before, it allows my human brain to process and store information on the same level that my processors did. I remember everything that I knew before becoming a real girl. I am sorry. I did not know that I was not supposed to know you two had been having sex.” Friend Jaune made a weird choking noise.
“JAUNE ARC!” Ruby was yelling now, but not at her which seemed strange, “HOW COULD YOU?!?”
Friend Jaune looked shocked when Ruby yelled at him, and when he opened his mouth no words came out. Friend Ciel took his hand to reassure him but this seemed to make Ruby angrier. The ship landed and, before friend Jaune got his thoughts sorted, Ruby Petal Burst away.
Penny’s eyes had become wreathed in green flame which made him twitch. “Is…is Ruby in love with you, friend Jaune?”
Ciel stood up and tried to impose herself between them. Even looking at her back, he knew she was shaken. “No, Penny, Ruby does not love Jaune. Not like I do.”
“You love me?” he heard himself say, “not pillow talk? You’re actually IN love with me?”
She turned to look him in the eyes, “yes I am. I do not know when it happened but I have completely fell for you. In fact, I was going to ask you to move in with me. It would let Ren and Nora have a room to themselves and I have made space for your things in anticipation of your acceptance.” He stood up and gave her a gentle kiss.
“This is a beautiful moment that will be a treasured memory for years to come.” Penny said wiping a tear from her eye, “but when my eyes stop leaking I have a query.”
“You two love each other and have stated that Ruby does not love friend Jaune. So WHO does Ruby love.”
Ciel caught his eye, silently asking permission. He nodded.
“Penny, I am no expert, but I am fairly certain Ruby is in love with you.”
“I have to go.” Penny said quietly before running out of the ship and taking off.
“Do you think they’ll be okay.”
“Want to follow after them just to be sure?”
“Jaune, do not use your tactical skills to pretend to read my mind.” Ciel answered him not, quite, smiling.
