Arclight Foundries

Penny… Wasn't a normal girl, Jaune learned fairly quickly in the following week she and Ruby both spent in his little shop helping him out.

It started with little things, like the fact that even on long nights in when he would cook for them, Ruby would eat but Penny wouldn't, and Ruby never seemed to even question it all that much. The third day they'd come in, the trio had spent ten hours together, some of it working and some of it just hanging out, and not once did she eat anything or even get a drink, or bring her own either since she didn't carry a bag or anything like Ruby sometimes did. She also talked a bit weird, but he'd heard weirder ways of speaking from people coming and going in Ansel and that at least could be explained away with her being sheltered a bit as she grew up.

And then, the most interesting part, were the two soldiers that always came with her when she was here. Always the same men, and they always stood just beside the stairs at the bottom of them regardless of where he or Ruby went, and ignored them both almost entirely, only speaking to Penny when they reminded her of 'appointments' or 'meetings with her father'.

Both were heavily armored, the dark white plating all Atlesian soldiers wore absolutely covered in scars of old battles ranging all the way from small pockmarks where rounds had bit into the armor and glanced off ineffectually to small scratches from claws and blades alike. His experienced eye saw patches across every inch of it too, where ruined plating sections had been replaced from whatever had punched through them.

The undersuits beneath the armor were thick and protective, made of black material somewhere between cotton or dark denim and leather, with segmented sections around the legs and joints for added protection. Thick, dark cloth connected the plating to show rank and position, and the holsters with the heavy looking and yet smoothly designed sidearms they both carried were made of fine-looking and well-stitched leather, with bullpup rifles held across their c.h.e.s.ts.

"I'm sorry if they are a bother to you, Friend-Jaune." He turned from where he'd been looking at them to the object of his curiosities, the small woman standing behind him and helping Ruby stock the fresh ammunition and Dust vials on the shelf, restocking the small amount of merchandise that had been bought through the week. "My father has them, because of his work with the Atlesian military, and I do as well. If they are bothering you terribly, I can ask him to keep them away or leave."

"You don't have to leave, Penny." He rolled his eyes, taking another vial from the crate she was holding on her shoulder with an arm, standing on a short ladder above her and reaching down for the ones he needed. "I just… Have to get used to having heavily armed guards in my store all the time, that's all. And I will get used to it, Penny. Eventually..."

"Still, I am sorry that something such as this is required by my father and the general." Penny added, and Jaune noted the 'general' bit but didn't ask. Her business, not his to b.u.t.t into, he reminded himself. "Friends should not do things that bother each other, Father always says. And yet I bother you by being here, with my guards."

"Penny, friends do things that bother each other constantly." Jaune pointed out, the small ginger looking up at him with a confused face, brows knitting together and head tilted cutely. "Friends don't not bother each other, they accept the things each other do that do bother each other. Ruby bugs me with her crumbs getting all over the chair-"

"Hey! I clean up after myself!"

"-and I know I bother her with having to sit and watch her do most of the actual lifting and moving around the store and shop. Even if she won't admit that," he added when she tried to argue that too, waving her off with a hand. "You wouldn't complain about just about anything I did, Ruby. You're too sweet to, like a girl shaped cookie."

"I did not know Ruby tasted like a confection…" The small woman said curiously, and he sighed but didn't bother to correct the small woman and instead gave her head a gentle pat to get her attention back.

"Point being, don't stress over having guards or bugging me, Penny. It's normal for friends to bug each other a bit, and sure, this bugs me. But I'll live." Another gentle pat on her head, and a resisted urge to see if the guards had opinions about that since it would kind of go against the grain of what he was saying, and he plucked another vial. "Now come on, we need these loaded before more students start filing in. Honestly, I don't know why ammo is getting bought up so fast…"

"Beacon Academy first-year students begin accepting minor missions after the third month of their educations, to be monitored by a Beacon professor or hired aid for the task. Atlas has supplied two dozen low ranked Specialists for the tasks already." Penny pointed out crisply, the duo on either side giving her looks at the sudden bounty of information. She blinked, looked between them worriedly, and then explained, "Um, my father told me."

"He did?"

"Yes." Penny answered him, smiling widely and stifling a tiny hiccup he barely noticed, "I assure you that I do not have the records of Atlesian military orders form the last three months memorized. I am a normal girl. And normal girls don't do that. So I don't."

"Penny…" Ruby w.h.i.n.ed weakly, and the ginger hiccupped again between him and her. "Why me…?"

"Because I am a normal girl." Another hiccup, and Jaune's brows rose. Behind him, he heard the Atlesian soldiers shuffle awkwardly, and Penny added, "And I promise that I have very normal knees. Like a normal girl. Right, Ruby?"

"Oh my gods, I said that once…" Ruby w.h.i.n.ed again, thumping her head against the empty box she was holding a few times before very quietly whining, "Penny, normal girls don't go around telling everyone they're normal girls… That's abnormal. Which is… Like, the opposite of normal."

"I'm… Going to start putting things on the shelf again, now." Jaune pointed out quietly, laughing awkwardly, "And I am going to just… Ignore this conversation, Penny. Okay?"

"I am confused…" She said quietly, and gods is Jaune didn't sympathize with that feeling. "But, if my friends want to end the conversation, then I shall do so. Because that is what a friend would do."

Penny was not a normal girl, definitely, and Jaune knew it. And he knew Ruby knew whatever actually was going on with her and wasn't telling. But he wouldn't press either of them for it, it wasn't his business and if they needed him to know, they'd tell him. And besides, they were friends, and friends wouldn't do that kind of thing to each other.

Or at least he wouldn't be the kind that did, or his mom would have his hide over it when she found out.

XxX----XxX----XxX

"Honey, I'm home! Is dinner on?" He rolled his eyes at Coco's words as she pushed through his door, sitting in his chair behind the counter to rest while Ruby and Penny hung out behind the wall in the 'break room'.

"No, Coco, dinner is not 'on' at three in the afternoon. Sorry about that, and try not to pout, okay?" He chuckled though, as the woman walked to his counter and smiled down at him widely, before finally asking, "What's up, Coco? Do you need something? If I had to guess from customers coming in today, ammo and Dust?"

"Maybe later, but I'm good for now." She answered, leaning against his counter with her arms spread as wide as her smile, and both warned him he was about to get teased monstrously. "Wanted your opinion on my outfit, actually. Not a lot of things I can do to spice up the uniform when classes are out, wondered what you thought."

The outfit was surprisingly simple, for Coco at the very least, though that may have been due to it just being her uniform touched up for her to head out. Black dress shoes, tight black pantyhose and the almost trademark Beacon skirt for the bottom half with no real additions made to it. Her beret was present as it almost always was, skewed on her head on the opposite side of a warm-looking brown scarf that matched it and hung down her back on the other side.

Her thin brown jacket was fancy looking enough for her though, even if it somehow managed to be plain at the same time, and colored the same as her beret and the scarf. And she must have been watching his eyes, because as soon as his eyes glanced over her bust she leaned down and smiled, three buttons on the top open and letting him see the pale expanse of the top of her b.r.e.a.s.ts plainly. She adjusted and her b.r.e.a.s.ts swayed, and he caught sight of something lacy before his ears scorching finally registered in his mind and he looked away blushing, hearing the woman laugh.

I-It's, uh, it's really… Nice, Coco." He stammered, which only made her laugh even louder and stand while he g.r.o.a.n.e.d sufferingly and asked, "Why are you bullying me, Coco?"

"Sorry, sorry, I know I shouldn't get you way too worked up with your-" He straightened suddenly, waving his arm to cut her off and gesture behind the wall at the same time, and her eyes blinked in confusion. They landed on a small backpack in the doorway a second later, and Ruby said something to Penny he couldn't quite make out, and she made an 'o' of realization. "Ah. Er, well, sorry. Was only teasing is what I was saying, and I was trying to make sure you were… Okay."

"I'm fine, Coco." He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose and trying his best to get the image of Coco's 'assets' out of his mind. "Seven sisters, Coco. Seven. I have seen b.r.e.a.s.ts before, and not just the tops of them either."

"Oh?" She smiled, and he knew he'd made a mistake when she made that curious sound and smiled. Leaning over and thumbing another button at the top of her b.r.e.a.s.ts, she smiled almost predatorily and asked, "It's pretty warm in here, you know. And if it won't bother you to see a pair of b.r.e.a.s.ts…" She teased the button and he choked on air, and she laughed as she straightened again, "God, you're fun to tease, Jaune.

"Just don't push it too far…" He warned, and her smile vanished.

"I won't." She promised in a low voice, nodding at him and suddenly serious, c.o.c.king a hip and resting her fist on it. "You just lemme know if you need to breathe, Jauney boy, and I'll back off. Teasing, walking, f.u.c.k.i.n.g, whatever the hell we're doing. You know how I am."

"You worry, even if you… Tease me frickin' insufferably." He finished for her, the woman humming but not actually answering him. She was too closed off to answer him directly like that. It just wasn't her style. "Don't worry, Coco, I know what you mean. I'm fine. Now, what'd you actually need?"

"I wanted to take you out, actually." She answered with a small shrug, "Business meeting, since I'm an investor now. Gotta talk about what ya need or it might flop. Learned that lesson a while back, and the hard way. So, we're grabbing coffee together. I get to sort out business crap, and you get some nice company. And a nice enough view, too, judging from your reaction earlier. Good?"

"I wish you'd told me… I'm kind of busty- I mean busy! I'm kind of busy right now. Coco, no, don't you frickin' even start-" She smiled even wider at his slip, chuckling under her breath almost to the point of laughing, and he stood with an aggravated sigh. "Fine, fine, but you say nothing about that, Coco. Not a thing. Deal?"

"Sure, if you say so, boss." She nodded, crossing her arms under her bust almost like she was teasing him. And given her smirk, she probably was.

"Ruby!" He called out, waiting for her to poke her head around the corner with a cooking in her mouth. "You can watch the store while Coco and I head out for some business stuff. Right? Shouldn't be hard. Just watch the counter and lock the door at the right hour. You know the times and prices and stuff."

"Sure." She said, giving Coco a curious look mixed with something else he couldn't place. "Just message me if you're gonna run later, 'kay?"

"Can do." He turned back to Coco and waved a hand at the door, "Go on then, lead the way to wherever you like, I guess. But try and account for me? I can't dump a hundred bucks on a cup of something to drink and a snack."

"Yeah, yeah, I'll buy." She said, rolling her eyes and wrapping an arm around one of his when he came around the corner, leaning close enough that he caught that smell of chocolate she was always covered in and feel the side of her bust on his arm. Dragging him towards the door she smiled, "Come on, poor a.s.s, let's go. Got some stuff to hash out over some nice, hot Joe. And with a nice, hot Cocoa as well, lucky little engineer."

He just rolled his eyes and let her lead him along at a nice, gentle pace he knew she was setting for his benefit. Coco was like that, loud and boisterous in how she walked and talked and even dressed, but gentle when her hands landed on you.

Unless you'd earned a beating, he was sure the caveat came.

XxX----XxX----XxX

"You okay?" She asked when they finally walked through the doors of the large and entirely indoor cafe she'd led him to, taking twice as long so they could stop and let him rest for safety's sake as they went. "We can wait before we go in to get a seat, if you want to. Cool air outside might help, you think?"

"I-I'm fine, Coco." He took a breath, ignored the faint tightness in his c.h.e.s.t, and straightened beside her and pulled out of her supporting grip around his waist slightly for space. "Just the cold, body temperature dropping can be bad for me. Makes me shiver and that makes my heart work more… Yeah, you get the idea."

"Yeah." She looked around the moderately high-class entryway, a sort of mix between a much smaller version of a hotel lobby mixed with a Mistralian aesthetic. Dark wooden panels on every surface, warm paper lanterns that cast almost orange light, and thick red carpets everywhere they went. "You, uh, you good with a place like this, then? I love their coffee cakes is all, but I don't want you somewhere you don't like. Kinda kills having a nice night out, even if we have business crap to deal with too, if you don't like it."

"It's… Different, but fine." He shrugged, smiling thinly while the ache in his c.h.e.s.t ebbed as his heart eased. "Food is food, you know? I'm not too picky, even if I can't drink coffee thanks to my heart. Caffeine gets it pumping a bit more than the doctors like in any amount more than, like, a couple of chocolate bars would give me."

"And my stupid a.s.s decided to take you to a coffee joint, knowing that…" She sighed, giving him a strained look with a raised brow and stiff smile, "Do you need to go somewhere else, then? I'll buy a taxi if you do, I don't mind and this is my f.u.c.k up, so-"

"No, no, it's fine." He cut her off, smiling as best he could and bumping himself free of her grip. Or trying to, at least, since he only got free when she realized he'd tried to move and let him go. Grimacing and putting his hands on his hip, he mumbled, "So, um, that was just a bit less smooth than I thought it would be…"

"Anyway," he moved on before she could do more than get out a single chuckle, "I don't mind, Coco. It's fine. We have work to do, so I don't want us wasting more time running off somewhere else. Besides," he offered a smile and an exaggerated wink that drew a surprised snort of amus.e.m.e.nt from the woman, "how could I say no to the place the lady picked? It'd be very un-gentlemanly."

"So a guy going into a business meeting in jeans and a white shirt covered in oil stains is a 'gentleman' now?" She prodded his forehead with a finger, the blonde grimacing and giving his long-sleeved shirt a look when she stepped back. "You sure, though?"

"It's fine, Coco." He said for what felt like the tenth time, letting himself be tugged back into her grip again with a roll of his eyes. "I can walk, you know."

"Yeah, I'm the hands-on type, though, Egni." She half-joked as she closed with him again, snaking an arm around his shoulders and pulling him back against her. "I like to be affectionate, you know? Just how I am, I guess. S'not a bad thing, is it? You don't… Mind, do you?"

His head came to rest almost on her shoulder like a girl would normally rest on her boyfriend's so he had to put an arm around her waist for support and lean against her side. If only to avoid seeing down her shirt, he had to look up at the woman. And with their faces so close, and whatever she wore filling his nostrils with coffee and something sweet, she smiled down at him and raised a brow questioningly at him.

"N-No. It's, uh, it's fine, I guess." He tried to shrug, freezing when he felt something soft against his shoulder and saw her bust shift towards his face with the movement, and saw Coco's smirk turn into a smile when he felt his cheeks burning. "S-Sorry, Coco, I, uh, I didn't mean to do that."

"I'm not going to bite you because your shoulder bumped one of my t.i.t.s, Jaune. Unless, you know, you ask me to." She winked and waggled her eyebrows, squeezing his shoulder in a friendly way and tugging him with her towards a set of heavy looking, dark wooden doors with a suited man standing next to them and pointedly avoiding looking at their display. "What kind of tables you got open right about now?"

"Two bottom floor dining style tables, one first floor booth seat, and three second floor privacy booths, Ma'am." The man said quietly after a second to check a Scroll discreetly tucked into his jacket pocket. "Everything else is currently occupied, I am afraid. I am truly sorry for any inconvenience."

"I'd love a privacy booth, if you don't mind. And I'd like two of your cinnamon coffee cakes, and one vanilla, with some rolls and butter too, and an endless supply of that vanilla bean espresso Karl makes." She gave Jaune a look, as though waiting for him to order his own stuff, and rolled her eyes when he shrugged helplessly. Thinking for a second, she smirked almost viciously and said, "Hot cocoa for my friend here, let him get a good taste of something rich and hot."

"As you say, Miss Coco. I shall pass your name to Ser Franz as always, Miss Coco." The man bowed slightly, sweeping an arm towards the door and looking to him before explaining probably for his benefit, "There will be a staircase to the right of this door. Simply proceed up and select an open table at your convenience. There will be a small black box on the table, simply switch it on and swipe your Lien card."

When they got upstairs, he was met by a moderately large room with a couple dozen booths around the edges and a bathroom set into the center of the back wall opposite the stairs. All but a few of them had heavy, black velvet curtains drawn, probably the 'privacy' part of the 'privacy tables'. In the center of the room, about ten feet from any tables, a bevy of waitresses picked up drink refills and snacks Jaune didn't see the origin of and carried it back to the tables to gently and subtly tuck through the divide in the curtains without opening them or looking inside, or waited for their table to send for something.

They took one of the open ones, a 'u' shaped couch made of comfortable leather with a heavy-looking, dark oaken table in the center. Warm, orange lighting was cast by four lanterns with small orbs of light on each corner of the box the couch sat in. At the back of the area was a small square with a clear seam, recessed into the wall over the back center of the couch-like booth. When they finally settled down on the comfortable seat, she sat directly across from him and, inside a minute, a waitress arrived with their drinks and pulled the curtains shut.

"I like places like this," Coco started after a sip of her coffee from the small, black mug she'd been given and sighing contentedly. "It's private, secluded, and still serves good food and drink. And with the curtains like this, we can do and say whatever we like and neither be seen nor heard."

"Y-Yeah?" He stammered, taking a sip of his own drink suddenly nervously. It was rich and thick, but not too much of either, and the smell of the chocolate and coffee quickly filled the air in the small area. And it was warm, somehow, in spite of it being a restaurant and little else. "I like it too, I think. It's… Nice."

"Hm." She hummed in thought, staring into the mug with a small smile before glancing to him over her sunglasses and plucking them from her face, laying them on the table and setting her mug down in the same motion. "Now, I gotta know, why do you do what you do, Jaune?"

"What?"

"Why do you do what you do?" She repeated, smiling thinly and waving at him with a hand. "Making weapons, armor, bullets, selling Dust vials, all that. You have to have a reason for the passion I see when you're working, and I would love to hear it."

"I…" He took another sip of the warm drink and set his mug down, looking at the woman flatly. Time for seriousness, he sensed and understood. "Why do you ask, though? While I think of how to actually, you know, answer that properly."

"Because when someone is driven, you can tell. Passion is like… I don't know, fire, I guess." She explained, holding up a hand and gesturing towards a lantern, "Or a light, even, since I don't have any fire. Passion is like a light. Easy to get, for a while, but it burns out eventually. For some, that's sooner, and for others not so much."

"Your reason for your drive, Jaune, is what interests me." She went on, "Because if your drive might fade, soon, then that makes the investment riskier. True for Hunters as much for businesses, I've found in my experience. So I always ask people what their drives are, see if it will hold up for long enough."

"And if it doesn't meet your standards?" He asked worriedly, already knowing the answer even before she gave it.

"Then I won't put any more Lien into your projects." She shrugged, watching the first small cake arrive on a tray, pre-sliced and with a pair of small plates for it. She reached for one herself while she spoke, "I'll still be your friend, still hang out, and all that. But I can't put money into it in the same way. So?"

"Do you… Know the name Arc?" She shook her head and he grimaced, nodding and sighing. "Typical, I guess… We're more famous out on the frontiers, but did you know there's a statue of one of my ancestors on Beacon's boulevard? The fountain?"

"The one with the shield and sword?" She guessed, and he nodded.

"Crocea Mors, yeah. At least, I think so, on that statue." He nodded with a reminiscent smile, remembering the ancient sword fondly. "It's an ancestral sword, the one back home, the one I hung down in the shop?" She nodded, "That's its twin, I made her. I named her Twin Mors, and yeah, I know that's kind of lame, but…"

"I want to protect people, Coco, even if I can't be a Huntsman like my dad. More than that I..." He continued, leveling her with a gaze so intense, and sudden, and filled with emotion that Coco actually binked at it. The intensity, so raw and pure, caught her off guard. "I want to create, to protect people all across Remnant. More than anything, more than breathing or even living, I want to help people. Save lives. In my own way, living my own life no matter what- No matter what the hell it takes, people say about it, or what I have to do, to do that..."

"You would have made a fine Huntsman. Jaune." Coco said finally, and soberly, after several long and tense seconds. Reaching across the table she laid a hand over one of his and smiled, "I'm going to help you, no matter what it takes, as long as you keep that fire of yours burning."

"I will." He promised simply and firmly, and she nodded as she leaned back.

"Good." She said simply, picking up the small plate and holding it in a hand, taking a small bite, seeming to appraise him anew for a long second before finally asking in a quiet voice, "So, what do you want to know about me? And don't say nothing," she added when his mouth opened, "I know you have questions, and it's only fair that I'm as open with you as you are with me for this to work. And I am nothing if not fair."

"Well," she added, tilting her head in thought, "I would still be drop-dead s.e.xy if I wasn't fair, but still. Other than that."

"Why are you so nice to me?" He asked, the woman humming and raising an eyebrow confusedly. "I-I mean, we met because of Velvet, but… I don't know why you're so nice to me. Investing in my mobility armor, taking me out to eat, all of it… Why?"

"I admire you." She answered simply, pointing at his torso with her fork indicatively. "Just walking can kill you, Jaune. Plenty of people would be lazy out of fear for that, but not you. You got shit you want to do, and nothing will stop you, including potential death. And that," another point of her fork, "is badass."

"I mean…" He shrugged, smiling unsurely and taking another sip before responding. "Not really, if you ask me. I don't… do anything. You go out and fight giant monsters, Coco. You and Velvet both. That seems way more, um, badass to me."

"Do you know why I fight?" She asked quietly, staring down at the table with a flat face, eyes glazing over as she remembered something and spoke without waiting on his answer. "When I was young, I lived outside the walls. Little town off on Mistral's border named Animasia." He grimaced and she caught it, somehow, without seeming to react besides asking, "You know it?"

"My, uh, my dad was part of a team that went there after it… Fell." He answered, avoiding her gaze almost guiltily. "He was supposed to save it, but… A storm grounded their Bullhead, so they had to walk."

"And they didn't make it in time. I know." She took a breath, and Jaune saw something he felt few ever had or ever would in that moment. Coco trembled, if only for a split second, before she exhaled and continued, "I was one of the few survivors, inherited my family's money after that and got adopted by my new dad. Good guy, he didn't… Do it for money."

"I got hurt bad, though." She went on, reaching up with a finger to wave at her face vaguely. "Dust got all over my face and in my eyes, scorched my retinas a bit, makes me s.e.n.s.i.t.i.v.e to the light. S'why I wear sunglasses everywhere, and why I love places like this that are darker than most. I can take off my glasses and be okay."

"And you fight to prevent other villages falling?" He guessed, drink forgotten until she took a sip of hers and he remembered it.

"No," she said simply, "I do it because I can. It's selfish, I know, but… Everyone expected me to fall apart, treated me like glass, so I fought them." She shrugged, looking back to him and smiling, "We're alike, in that regard. We want what we want, and we're getting it. Even when it's hard or… Complicated."

"I can see it, yeah." He nodded understandingly, and he could. "And I don't think it's that selfish, since you're still helping people. You just-"

"Want to live my life, no matter what anyone says, or what it takes." She repeated what he'd said earlier, smiling a new smile at him. Thinner and angled, almost… Proud, or something like it, that he didn't recognize. "As I said, Jaune, I admire you. I see myself in you, and I like what I see."

Her eyes roved over him and he swallowed anxiously before she clicked her tongue and went on, "So, what is it you need then? From me, I mean. And aside from my wonderful company, or a nice view."

Rolling his eyes, he started to explain, "I need compact computers, and… Some kind of helmet that can have a visor and monitoring system integrated into it. Air filters, too, and monitoring suites for the armor itself and the tools I'll be using. I hear there's a good on in Atlas, but…"

"Money, right?" She shrugged, and he stiffened when she stood and scooted around the table to his side, leaning on his shoulder comfortably almost like he had earlier and looking up into his eyes with a small and knowing smile, almost lying stretched out on the couch beside him and pushing her c.h.e.s.t up towards him. "Tell me more, Jaune. And try and do it without looking at my c.h.e.s.t, if you can, yeah?"

"T-Then can you fix the buttons?" He asked, voice rising a pitch without him wanting it to and cracking.

"No, but I could undo a few more, if you want." She offered, a hand rising and fingering the same button dangerously close to open as she had earlier teasingly. "Or do you want to tell me about these Atlesian computers instead? Because I can tell you from experience, they don't care what happens behind these curtains."

He wisely chose not to push her anymore, he was afraid his heart couldn't take it.