A/N:Ridley Scott and the late Mounty Oum own Alien and RWBY respectively.
This work was done with help from my good friend, FelipeCH98. If you get the chance, check out his community: Come Sail Away!
Plz Enjoy.
Prowling Around
"I thought you said we'd just be walking around campus…" Endo's brow went up as she detected slight deception. Why would they be at the airbus station otherwise?
"I did," Pyrrha nodded, her cohort's irritation not lost on her. "But I thought a trip into Vale would be more... informative." The toe of her shoe circled the ground as she held her arm awkwardly.
"Informative?" Endo and even Jaune questioned her motives, the latter with a stroke of his chin.
"More for me than anyone really," The redhead blushed slightly. "As you know, I'm originally from Mistralian. Even though I've been here for tournaments, I never can quite remember what's around. So... I thought we could just explore together…" She was nervously playing with her ponytail as she ended. That had all sounded better in her head.
"I don't know much about...Vale either," Endo added in without her own consent. The warrior didn't need to know that so why had she say it? Her head shook on reflex.
"So…?" Jaune floundered, feeling out of place. "... Let's go?"
Taking that as approval, Pyrrha pulled both toward the bus and their excursion began. The bus ride was fairly quiet with Jaune between Pyrrha and Endo, the blonde getting an eerie sense of danger. He could swear the giantess was contemplating ways to kill him in her head. Strange considering that she humming to no rhythm or appearing to be fascinated with something under her nails. Admittedly, his paranoia came from experience.
What am I even doing here? Endo hates me! What's Pyrrha thinking?!
Well...It's not like I don't get the animosity. She's really strong and I'm...me. It probably feels like a slap in the face to have me as a leader. And stepping on her probably doesn't help. Maybe this could be my chance to show her I'm not that bad. An Arc always has redeeming qualities! I'm a good dancer! I look handsome. At least my mom thinks so. She's never been wrong before either.
"Jaune?"
The arc was pulled out of his head to see Pyrrha's green eyes looking worried and Endo's foot tapping impatiently. "We're at our stop?" He guessed rhetorical before jumbling to his feet. How long had he drifted off? They're staring, say something Jaune! "Dinner!" Damn, he almost had it! Shaking off their confused stares, he took another swing at it. "You guys wanna go to dinner first?"
"Not hungry," Endo shot him down.
"I thought we could walk around a bit first," the redhead said, kindly. "You know, do some window shopping."
"What do need...windows for?" The trans-species girl questioned. None of theirs in the dorm were the broken. Even if they were, the school would replace them.
Pyrrha noted that figures of speech weren't the dark-haired girls strong suit.
Still, Endo allowed herself to be ushered into the city, which was quite a curious thing. It was like Beacon's campus but on a larger scale. Many people moving around and bouncing from receptacle to receptacle looking for something to keep their hands busy. The pedestrians seemed just as aimless as the students. Their legs were simply moving, carrying them. But what for?
Maybe she wasn't to know any more than they. Yet, mother sent her to mingle with them still. She chuffed involuntarily but her companions gave no notice. They were caught up in chatting with each other. They smiling but why? What did words bring to them that gave them… "joy"? Endo received plenty through scent and observation and yet nothing at all. Arc's scent was the least notable thing in world while, even at its most sly, Nikos' scent brought a tingling warmth to her skin. She could succeed in ignoring it as long she didn't acknowledge it directly. The redhead was the one worth acknowledging as a danger but until she went on the offensive, the alien could not react. At least not in a violent manner.
She tried to push her mind toward other things. She wouldn't need to try too hard.
Now, fashion wasn't ever set as one of Endo's priorities. The only importance that Ripley placed on clothing was to shield her nudity. Color coordination was a foreign term to her. So, she was a bit out of touch when Pyrrha took her inside a department store.
While Jaune rummaged through the men's section, the girls were on their own hunt. More specifically, Pyrrha was hunting for something that would appeal to Endo.
"What about this one?" She held it up to the tall form.
"It's red," her face was blank. As usual.
"This one?"
"It' blue."
"This one?"
"It's green."
"You don't like any of them?" Pyrrha tilted her head, feeling disappointed with herself. She really wanted just a bit of insight on Endo's tastes, since they were vague up until this point. Except when it came to sweets. Certainly, there had to be more layers to her than that.
"I never said that," the alien clarified, not getting why it mattered. "I have plenty of...clothes. What do I need with more?"
"Well, I suppose you don't need more," the redhead admitted. "But wearing different things can bring out certain types of beauty." She could see the giantess wasn't following her. Her fingers snapped frantically as she tried to complete her thought. "It's almost kind of like wearing a different skin."
"We're going to...skin people now?" Endo would could use the stress release by now. Ripley most likely wouldn't appreciate it, though.
"No!" The warrior yelped horrified.
Endo nearly reared back at the suddenness.
Pyrrha apologized for the scare before trying to get back to her point. "What I'm trying to say is that you, Endo, have your own wonderful features and that the right outfit could accentuate them," she held out the dress to her body again. "Know what I mean?"
"Yes…" Not at all, but if it meant ending this conversation, she'd say anything-wait a minute! Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted something. It was big, floppy, and pink. She meandered over to the shelf, entranced as she picked it up. The straw weave was sturdy enough to where she could easily feel it against her fingers. "What is this…?"
"I believe that's a sun hat," Pyrrha said, walking over to her. "It keeps the heat off you" Endo went rigid to the point where the warrior thought she was having some sort of fit. In a flash, the item was on her head and the tall girl was scanning herself in the mirror. "Beautiful…"
That made the redhead chuckle. It was kind of silly but if it made her feel special than it was a fantastic thing indeed. Hehe...It kind of made her look like a big tulip.
"Ladies…" Jaune called from behind them, making them turn and freeze. He was head to toe in western. A hide jacket, boots with spurs, a ten-gallon hat, blue jeans and a neckerchief completed his...mistake. Jaune himself was grinning with pride. "What do you think?"
"Ugh…" Endo's brain struggled to piece together the smear with legs in front of her.
Meanwhile, off to the side, Pyrrha had her hand clasped over her mouth, nearly suffocating. Her eyes watered profusely as she strived to let her friend maintain his dignity. The battle was lost rather quickly as a laughing fit seized her. One that made people turn and look.
The blonde frowned, pride stung. He didn't look that bad, did he? He reexamined himself and a part of brain told him that just maybe he did. So, he slunk back into the forest of the men's department, leaving the giantess even more confused about her "friends".
After they left, Pyrrha apologized fervently and Jaune just humbly shook it off. On a separate note, Endo silent enjoyed her purchase of one pink sunhat.
At Pyrrha's mention that she was starting to become peckish, the group headed to a niche little restaurant where the food was quality and the waiters wouldn't stop being standoffish if it killed them.
Pyrrha noticed that Endo's stony expression had a bit perplexity mixed into it. At last. Her eyes seem to wander without any real direction. "Something the matter?" The redhead posed with concern.
"It's occurs to me…" the giantess began still somewhat distracted, "I have never been inside these...stores or restaurants before today. Any of them." A warm sensation coursed through her as she soaked in the buzz of other lifeforms surrounding her. Their footsteps, voices, and their very breathing. "Are they always so...active?"
"They're places of business," the blonde teen explained awkwardly, thrown off guard by such a basic question. "So yeah."
"Business…" Endo repeated slowly, urging her recollection to kick in. "The activity of making, buying, or selling goods or providing services in exchange for money." She blinked slowly, wondering if she got the definition right. There were some words she didn't get to use that often
"That's...correct?" Jaune shrugged. What else was he to do?
Pyrrha smiled, unable to explain why the situation tickled her. It just did. She enjoyed seeing Endo's simple heart displayed so openly. It was a strange innocence she hadn't even seen before.
At that point, the waiter trudged over to them. "Are we ready to order?" He asked sluggishly, his tone as dead as his eyes. His pen lazily dangled above his notepad as he exhaled roughly.
Jaune raised his finger first, "Can I get the-", he squinted, leaning closer to the menu, "- 'Whatcha know about diabetus?' burger…?" He critiqued the apparent spelling error. "Shouldn't that be diabetes?" No that that would somehow make it positive.
"No."
"Oh...Okay."
Pyrrha took up the mantle next, if only to allow this person to get faster away from them. His bad attitude felt infectious" I'll take the minestrone soup, please!" She smiled to combat his grimy spirits.
"Sure~ you will."
Endo assumed it was her turn. The alien would just follow the examples given to her. "Cheesecake...please," she almost grunted. That word still bothered her even if she'd used with her mother a couple times.
"Skippin' straight to dessert, I see," the waiter commented, nonplussed yet somehow still being passive aggressive. Even if she was just a string bean now, she'd be a pork chop soon, he could tell. You want some cannolis too, fatty?
He skulked off to submit their orders and the three were left to continue conversating. Not having an obvious jumping off point, Pyrrha just figured starting with the basics would be good. But Jaune surprisingly beat her to the punch.
"So... uh...En-dawg, were you born in Atlas?" The teen asked, making his attempt at cool. His smile and narrowed blue eyes brought brought back his cocky mask. He leaned towards the big girl that was looking anywhere but his direction. She was far too enamored with the disarrayed scampering of people around her. Jaune's mask slid off a bit. "Ugh...chica?"
Nothing.
"Big E?"
Endo's eyes were drawn to him as he kept making noise. With a frown, she finally responded. "Are you...talking to me?"
"Yeah." He was looking right at her, wasn't he?
"Do you not know my...name?" She pondered aloud, her tone rough.
"Of course I know your name!" He responded without hesitation, not wanting to give her a reason to damage his person. Out of reflex, he put his arms in front of his face. He kept just enough space between them to peek out.
He hadn't brought the taller teen to anger...yet. So instead of lunging on him, she merely shifted in her seat. "Why did you not say it?" She had at least remembered his name.
"I was just trying some nicknames…" Jaune rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, feeling mighty foolish right about then.
"Nicknames?"
"Yeah, you know," he shrugged. "Just some friendly alternate names for someone you're close to." Who hadn't heard of nicknames before? Confusion was starting to overtake any sense of fear.
The meaning instantly struck her as she thought of her mother calling her "sweetheart" or "kid". She growled suddenly, "To you...my name is Endo." She hissed quietly.
He quickly yielded to the blank irises trying to bore a hole in his head. "Okay, got it, cool!" He coward slightly.
In hopes of cutting tension, Pyrrha attempted to get a word in edgewise. "I think this conversation started with Jaune wanting to know about your home life Endo," she spoke quickly, half of it stemming from her own biting curiosity. It would be nice to get the conversation back on track.
Endo looked to the redhead hesitantly. Her teeth grinded lightly in contemplation. She didn't have a reason to tell this girl or anyone anything. But she didn't have a reason not to either. "What...do you want to know?"
"Your mother seems like an interesting individual," the warrior said. The woman was supposedly a profound genius and it was unlikely she got those scars from nothing. God only knew what her relationship to with her eccentric daughter was like. "What is she like?"
What was she like? What did that question even mean? "She's...mother…" was the simple rebuttal the trans-species girl gave.
"Maybe I should have clarified. I meant what is her personality?"
Personality: individual differences in characteristic patterns like thinking, feeling, and/or behaving. Thoughts, feeling, and behavior. Thoughts...she didn't know. Feelings... feelings...feelings...Her birth giver didn't emote overly much. When she did, Endo only tasted her feelings. She couldn't explain them and could hardly sympathize with them, as much as she tried. Behavior. Mother behaved like mother.
The revelation of her former occupation was the first thing about Ripley that she questioned or explored. And it felt...deceitful. No, it was before that. It was as she walked through the forest, breathed in its air, and digested it colors. It was then that she realized her only parent had deprived her of it. Mm... what was this sudden pit in her stomach?
Even with no pupils or irises, Pyrrha could tell Endo's eyes were starting to glaze over. She began to worry. "I'm sorry! I shouldn't have pushed."
"Sorry...for what?" She snapped out of it sharply enough.
"Never mind," the redhead breathed out in relief. "If I haven't completely scared you off the subject, may we know about where you grew up?" She continued poking more tenderly. "What was Atlas like?"
"I've never seen Atlas."
"That's right, you didn't even know that your mom was a specialist…She must have quit before you were born." That still didn't quite make sense. Surely, they at least still lived in the least for some time.
"You had to come up in one of the kingdoms though," Jaune intuitively voiced Pyrrha's inklings which were slowly becoming his.
"No. I grew up in a cold place...a cave of metal." What was the word? "A lab."
"A lab?" The two parroted with some obvious shock on their faces. Blue and green eyes were about as wide as they would go.
Nod.
"Ms. Ripley is a scientist...maybe she's a bit of a workaholic?" The Mistralian guessed. She thought to elaborate when Endo raised a brow. The girl didn't handle slang well at all it seemed. "Does she like her job a lot? Enough to take it home with her?"
"I don't think she was...working in our home. She spent most of her time with me."
Pyrrha smiled, thinking the sentiment was sweeter than it really was. Visions of her own mother and their quality time tickled her mind. Her brain imagined hugs and kisses instead lectures and experiments. "Doing what? "She asked with pure saccharine.
"Turning me."
"Turning you?"
"Into a human."
That was an odd way of saying that your parent raised you. Pyrrha and Jaune almost thought she was attempting a jest but nothing about Endo seemed any more humorous than usual. Her eyes were just as dull and her lips just as straight.
Before any clarity could be given, the waiter arrived with their orders, just as pissy as before. At least he had the decency to leave quickly that time.
Endo suspiciously prodded at the soft looking triangle of cream she had ordered. She didn't know if she quite approved of the gooey brown coating layered over top or the dark crust underneath. Nevertheless, she took a bite of it and had nothing to regret. The melt-in-your-mouth confection had a perfect balance of sweetness, texture, and general pleasantry. A strange purr rumbled from within her throat.
"Oh my god…" Jaune muttered as stared down at his burger, the sesame seeds returning the favor. The buns were as thick as halves of a coconut and the two patties had to be the circumference of his head. With the cheese oozing out the way it was, the blonde wandered if he'd be able to pick it up. He tried it anyway and discovered the cheese was burn-your-fingers hot. Now he really wished that he better understood aura. He hastily disappeared into the bathroom to lower the chances of blistering.
Pyrrha and Endo were left alone at the table. The warrior was already about to try and pick the giantess' brain again when she realized the vacant expression she now wore. Her fingers rigidly held the fork perfectly still while her lips were screwed tight and the corner of her eyes were glued towards the men's restroom. The quivering vein in her fork hand didn't seem to bode well.
"Endo?"
Nothing.
"Endo?"
The big girl's body remained set in stone. Eyes unmoving, unblinking, as not a single muscle twitched. Was she even breathing? "Sorry!" Pyrrha apologized preemptively.
Endo spasmed when the Mistralian flicked her forehead. "Aaahh!"
Her gravelly voice squealed in shock as her head swiveled on her neck joint and her eyes rolled. She shook herself before regaining focus. Her eyes looked perturbed. "When...did you get here?" Her face reddened when she remembered. "Oh...that's right." What was with this warmth in her face? It wasn't hot in here. Was this embarrassment? Maybe...it felt like there was more to it though. What had she been thinking just now, she couldn't remember...
Arc burned his hands and she blacked out. Yes...that was what caused it.
When she smelt the blonde leader's flesh burning. His...human flesh. The scent had been mind-numbingly sweet. Sweet enough to make her go out of herself. Sweet enough for her to forget Nikos' infernal scent. But it didn't make her full of fear. No.
For some strange reason, it made her mouth water as she wondered just what human tasted like.
A/N:Goddamn, I've been pecking at this for a while. I figured I'd better do something to reassure you this piece isn't dead. I hope it turned out okay. Like I said I typed this out over a longer period of time. College will sidetrack you like that. I'm only sorry it's so short. But I'll just have to pray I can work just a little bit faster somehow. Not just for you all, it annoys me to have something in the pipes for so long as much as it does anyone.
Still, sorry to make you wait.
As always, if you think you can help me out with a comment, or even just a fav or a follow, shoot! Motivation/advice will only help. I want to thank you all immensely for reading in the first place:)
Have an awesome day and blessings to you!
