Greetings All.
Only took me a YEAR to write the next chapter. To be fair, it was was a year ago since I had a week of vacation from work.
(It was Thanksgiving 2017 when I wrote chapter 1. Credits and "easter eggs," as promised last chapter, can be found at the end,)
And thanks to pokeman1280 for prodding me to keep going.
Now, on to chapter 2!
Chapter 2: The Rose Errant
The streets of Vale were cast in shadow, a light dusting of snow littering the sidewalk. A man in red sunglasses waited by the door of a shop. He had no idea why the Boss wanted to knock over this place, but he just did as he was told. Keep a lookout.
Which is why the red Kam-Arrow SS parked by the curb made him nervous. With tinted windows all the way up, rock guitar could be faintly heard thrumming within. The thug rolled his eyes and sighed. Probably some teenager. He went and rapped on the window which, curiously, he couldnt see through.
It rolled down a little, the music briefly getting louder before softening again. "Yes?" a feminine voice called from inside the car.
"Get outta here kid, store's closed."
"But I have a package. The old man usually comes out to get it."
"You'll have to come back some other time."
"Wait a second... are you guys robbing the place?"
The thug grimaced he didn't want this to get complicated. But they couldn't have witnesses. He drew his gun. "OK, out of the car, girlie."
Suddenly, the engine roared to life, and the car burned rubber rapidly, leaving a trail of smoke in its wake as it sped away
With a frustrated growl, the thug raised his gun and fired. The rear window imploded, bursting into a shower of crystalline bits littering the inside of the car like so many diamonds.
"Well, go get her!" yelled a man leaning out the door of the shop. "Too late for subtlety now," he muttered under his breath as he lit a cigar.
As if on cue, two aggressive looking sports cars came speeding around the block painted a matte black to blend with the darkness, and sporting red headlights which belied an infrared night vision system. Add to that brush guards that almost resembled fangs, and these things look more like creatures of the night than automobiles.
One of them stopped to let the thug get in as the other gave chase.
Just as suddenly, the red car's tires screeched, and with all the grace of ballerinas pirouette, it drifted one hundred and eighty degrees. coming to a stop in the middle of the intersection.
The pursuers in the first car seeing this only too late, dodged just in time to avoid a head on collision, instead careening to the right, straight in to a hydrant. As water gushed over the street, the second car screeched to a halt.
"Whoops!" said a voice from the red car. "I guess that's what you get for trying to rob an old man."
From the edge of the street, the cigar chomping man in a black bowler hat slow clapped mirthlessly. "Well done, Red. Now get out of the car, you've done enough"
"Um sorry, I can't do that. I kind of am the car."
At first his face paled, then he just rolled his eyes.
"Just Great" he thought to himself, "The only witness to the robbery is an Aura-Shell! Crud! this was supposed to be a simple job. We don't need the Company getting all in our business."
What was she even doing there? Mobile Shells had standing orders to avoid trouble and danger whenever possible, mostly because their "bodies" weren't even their property, but still owned by the Company. This kid sounded way too young to have bought herself out of hock just yet, and if he heard her right, doing courier work at that. At his grunt's first order to scram, she should have been headed the other way.
"But No! She has to ask if we're robbing the place!" He sighed, and regaining his composure, the thug boss grinned and looked back to the car.
"Well Red, you may have wrecked my car, but we got what we came for. So we will be seeing ya around!"
With that he raised the cane he had been casually leaning on and fired a projectile into the street, where it exploded, causing a plume of smoke and scattered debris to rise from the resulting crater, masking his escape.
"Hey, come back here Mister Robber! What about my window!" She revved her engine, preparing to pursue. After all, a little smoke didn't obscure his escape attempt from her. Whatever their shortcomings, sensors could see things eyeballs couldn't. But before she could roll…
"Structural damage detected,"
"Moisture damage detected,"
"Beginning diagnostic,"
"Safety protocol initiated, Beginning Lockdown."
"No, no, not now!" Sensor bar flashing furiously, she watched as the thug's taillights shrank in the distance.
As gravel, dust and spray from the broken hydrant rained down on her, she finally noticed the water that had begun running into the shattered back window. No doubt the cause of the failsafe AI's ill timed interruption, it just made the metallic voice all the more irritating.
Just before the emergency shut down cut her from her car's sensor feed, she heard sirens approaching.
From a nearby rooftop curious eyes peeked from under a green hooded cloak. Face remaining passive, the onlooker stared at the car below. Just as the silvery white sensor bar went dark, they heard a loud grumble emanate from the car's speakers…
"Uncle Qrow is gonna kill me!"
…..
And that's chapter 2
I was kinda going for a blend of the " Red" trailer and the dust shop robbery. Still not sure if there will be Grimm in this story, so our young hero challenges...cars that look like Grimm. :-D
The title is inspired by the book "The Ship Errant" by Jodi Lynn Nye
Something about being on vacation just makes the plot bunnies flow. And something about being "not on vacation" that makes it apparently very difficult for me to finish a chapter no matter how many times I throw it at the wall to see if it sticks.
(Yeah, uh, that sounds good, let's go with that.)
Seriously, l have spent collective hours staring at a screen this last year trying to get this chapter done. But low and behold, I take a week off work before Thanksgiving 2018 and BAM, the last bit clicks and I get it done.
Anyway, sorry if I made anyone mad because I left them hanging.
chapter 1 credits, as promised.
Chapter 1 Title is based on the book "The Ship who Sang" by Anne McCaffrey
The practical elements of the Aura-Shell idea are based largely on the shell-person/brainship concept within this book and its sequels.
"The Foundation" is also reminiscent of a shell-person union type organization found in these books.
(if one is interested, you can read the first chapter on amazon for free. It's a good primer for the whole "Brainship" concept)
Weiss's illness is partly taken from the anime "Your lie in April" in which a musician is stricken by a debilitating terminal condition with similar symptoms, and the book "The Ship who Searched" by Anne McCaffery and Mercedes Lackey, a sequel to "The Ship who Sang" in which a young precocious girl is likewise stricken, and chooses to become a Brainship rather than remain bedridden and without tactile sensation. In both works, the illness/condition is unnamed.
Aaron Benson is an OC in the RWBY x Inheritance Cycle crossover fic "A Roses Scales" and it's sequels "Reversal" and "Reconstruction", by pokeman1280. (Check them out, they are Awesome!)
(Spoiler) One of these fics also has a character with a technologically supported aura who functions in a manner similar to the Aura-Shells in my story. I think we thought of this particular implementation about the same time, but I will gladly allow him credit for coming up with it "first."
In those stories Aaron is a dragon Rider from Alagaesia who used magic to teleport to Remnant. Hinted at by the tabloids in my story.
The eldunari, from which The Company gets its name, is a part of theses fics and the "Inheritance Cycle" canon. The eldunari is a Dragon's "heart of hearts" a gem like organ into which they can transfer their soul/essence/life force if mortally injured or they otherwise feel it necessary. This was an inspiration for the Aura-Shell. It's meant to be a sort of Eldunari for humans.
The notion of Aura encompassing a whole personality and that it is supported by the energy of the body and that it can be duplicated by a generator comes largely from the RWBY fic "From Beyond" by Coeur Al'Aran. In it, Jaune dies during initiation and haunts Blake, and some of their misadventures revolve around seeking out Penny and her "Father" to make him a new body.
The "Singer's" and their Guild were inspired by Anne McCaffrey's book "Crystal Singer."
The name of Weiss's car, the T-Elsa model S is meant to remind the reader of Tesla, but is also a nod to Elsa, from Disney's "Frozen." The grill mounted sensor bar is inspired by Knight Rider, of course.
Jaune's character and his family business "Arc's Auto Works" is inspired by the fic "Arc's Metal Works" by Dyde21. In it Jaune is a weapons mechanic instead of an aspiring huntsman, and Pyrrha brings her spear in for repairs.
I think that's about it for chapter 1 Paul Xion's story "RWBY: Tomorrow and never again" has a sub plot surrounding Penny and her backstory that influenced the backstory and lore of the AuraShell, but that will come later. Thanks for all the inspiring stories!