Neopolitan sat on her bed and looked over her battle costume, sighing sadly. Emerald glanced over at her, head canting to the side. "Hey Neo, what's the matter?"
She looked up from her outfit, pouting perhaps just a bit too over-dramatically. "Between everything with Cinder, and Schnee's class the other day, my clothes have taken some serious damage. I want to get them fixed up, but I don't have nearly enough lien to make it happen."
To her surprise, Ciel perked up with a bright smile. "I can help you! I'm quite skilled at sewing. Hmmmm, but I don't really have any appropriate supplies with me. Now that the CCT is operational again, I've been meaning to go into town to contact my parents. Would you like to come with me? While we're out, we could purchase what we need to get your combat gear back in shape."
On the one hand, getting her precious clothing back in respectable condition was important to Neopolitan. But she wasn't sure if taking a trip into the city with Ciel was the most enticing proposition. She had shown herself to be competent and occasionally interesting. Hell, she'd even been willing to get drunk with them. And she wasn't half bad as a captain either. But as a person, they were so different, Neopolitan wasn't sure they could actually get along, especially when it was just the two of them.
But... she needed her clothes fixed. It was of the utmost importance. "Yeah, okay. I'm craving some food that isn't mass-produced in a cafeteria anyway." She glanced over at Emerald who was currently giving her A Look. Neo just shrugged with a cheeky smile as she and Ciel left the dorm and made their way out of the school. "So... You know about sewing and junk?"
"Mmm, when your parents are hippies, you spend a lot of time doing things in a more old-fashioned way. Either because it's green, or because capitalism is the devil, or just to stick it to The Man. Mom helped me make my outfit from whatever simple fabrics we could find, stitching it together with an old-fashioned foot pedal sewing machine. So I suppose I would just like to say that I understand wanting to keep your clothing in good condition. Mine is a reminder of how much my parents support me even when they don't understand me."
Neo moved with her away from the school and along the path into the city in contemplation for a moment. It was weird not only to have Ciel reveal a part of herself, but to find herself feeling a connection to her. "It might sound weird but... those clothes were the first nice thing I ever owned. Growing up without parents, on the street, I never really got to own things. There was just stuff I could get away with using. But after I hooked up with Roman, that was his gift to me, something to make me feel like less of an urchin."
She could see that Ciel was having a little difficulty choosing her words. "I'm sorry. Maybe this is presumptuous. You don't have to explain yourself. But... I thought you were no longer fond of Roman? Why does his gift mean so much to you?"
"Yeah, Roman is kind of a scumbag," she signed with a little chuckle. "But in this case, those clothes don't make me think of him, exactly. You can't really be yourself living on your own, not owning anything, not having any direction, just surviving. Having something that was just mine, only for me, that was the first time I really understood who Neopolitan was. Maybe it's shallow, but the clothes really do make the woman in my case."
"It would be rude of me to judge you. I can't know what it was like for you, to put that outfit on for the first time. If it makes you feel more like yourself, then I just have to be certain I give this repair job my very best." Ciel smiled brightly at her, and perhaps for the first time Neo actually felt like Ciel was more than just an acquaintance or a team member. Not that she would dare ruin things by admitting as much. But she thought it, and that was enough for now.
The people at the hobby store knew Ciel by face and name despite the fact that she couldn't have been in Vale for that long. It was dorky, and maybe kind of sweet. But mostly dorky.
"Oh, Ms. Soleil! Are you here for more thread already? I know they work those students at Beacon pretty hard, but you were only here a week ago!"
"No Eunice, thank you. I'm actually helping my teammate this time." Granted, Ciel had a way of talking like an old woman sometimes. But in this moment, Neopolitan actually forgot for a second that she and her captain were the same age. She could have passed for a youthful grandma.
"Oh what a sweet young girl you are. If only everyone your age could be so considerate. Well, take your time and let me know if you need anything~"
The two girls stepped down an aisle and immediately poor Neo felt utterly overwhelmed with the realization that the world of mending clothing was much more intense than she ever would have imagined. Special scissors, various kinds of needles, thread in colors she didn't even know existed. "Hmmm, so we'll need white thread... dark brown... And some of this pink here."
Neo stopped her as she went for the third color, reaching for a different one a few spools over. "If we're doing this, we're doing it right. The shade of pink needs to be perfect." She held it up to her hair for reference before passing it back to her with a little nod.
Out of all the silly things that she'd done to make Ciel stumble or blush or go goofy, she never would have expected that one-upping her on color theory would be the thing to trip her. But the poor thing was actually blushing a little as she took the third spool from her, quickly turning away and moving further down the aisle. "Uh, and probably also something to polish up your corset and those boots. As you say, we ought to do it right."
A shared interest in sartorial finery probably shouldn't have been enough to affect either of them. But Neo could definitely detect a hint of something new as she and Ciel made their way toward the CCT center. Their chatter was both more animated but also came in starts and stops. Ciel's face was tinged with more red.
However, Neopolitan's theory about all of this shifted somewhat when the two of them sat down at a terminal and called up the girl's parents. She was starting to think that maybe at least a part of her embarrassed awkwardness was having someone see the vast difference between herself and the people who spawned her.
Sure, you could see the similarities here and there – dark skin and blue hair and those little forehead markings. But everything else about them was so stark. "Heeeyyyy there's mama's little baby~!" Ciel's mother looked quite a lot like her, only with longer more unruly hair and much looser clothing.
"Glad to see you are not dead, beta. Still, we heard about the trouble with your communications out there and knew we might not hear from you in a while." Her father was even more of a conundrum, a mountain of a man with an impressive belly. But it was clear from one look at him in his floral shirt and home-made jewelry that he was basically a big teddy bear. "Is this the robot girlfriend you were telling us about? She's a cute one."
"Oh my god, I'm meeting your parents before Penny is? Ciel, she's going to be so upset." Neopolitan knew there was no reason to dig in like that, but she couldn't help herself. And judging by the look of confusion on their faces, Ciel's parents didn't know sign language like she did.
"Uhh, ahah... No, you guys, this is Neopolitan. Penny's the one with red hair and green eyes." Yep, her face was burning hot now.
Her father roared with laughter, slapping his knee. "Riiiight right! The criminal! Nice to meet ya young lady." He finally seemed to connect the dots to her hand motions and foolishly brought his hands up to his mouth, talking louder now. "Nice. To. Meet. Yoouuuu."
The poor girl covered her face in embarrassment, groaning shamefully. "She's mute, not deaf, we've been over this..."
Giggling, Neo finally decided to give her a break and retrieved her scroll to type out a message they could hear. "Nice to meet you too, mama and papa Soleil. Don't worry, we're taking good care of your daughter, and mostly keeping her out of trouble." The two on the screen were both chuckling now, and Neopolitan had to admit that it felt good to be on nice terms with someone's parents. That was a new sensation.
"Okay well anyway it was good talking to you too and now that the CCT is back up I'll be sure to call more often and I love you and goodbye!" Ciel quickly shut down the feed and turned back to Neo with a hangdog expression. "Can we go get food now?"
"Say the words again, because I'm finding it really hard to believe," Neopolitan signed as she sat down across the table from Ciel.
Ciel sighed and hastily took one of the paper bags from her, dragging it across the table and opening it up. "I've never had a burrito. How is that so hard to believe? Vacuo and Atlas both have climates that aren't really good for creating popular, interesting foods. I've always been content with simple foods."
"Sister, there is no food more simple than the burrito. You just toss a bunch of perfect ingredients inside and wrap her up tight. It's compacted delight." Neo unwrapped a portion of the foil and dug in.
Ciel followed her lead, about to take a bite before looking back across the table at her warily. "You made sure they didn't put any onions on this right?"
"Yes, dude, I know, you're allergic. I gotchu." One of the things about being non-verbal that Neo kind of enjoyed was the fact that she could talk with her mouth full and it wasn't rude. Very few people could say that.
Ciel shrugged and finally chowed down like a normal person. You could instantly see the change in her face as she took a few more healthy bites, causing Neo to chuckle softly. "Sorry for doubting you. I'm always so paranoid about my throat closing up and suffocating. I prefer being able to breathe..."
"Hey, you don't have to worry about anything. Me and Em, we got your back. We turned on everyone who ever meant anything to us. It's just us now, and that means you're our new family, like it or not. And we look after family. Okay?" Neo hadn't meant to get quite so serious, and Ciel clearly hadn't been expecting it either.
Finally her smile bloomed after a moment or two and they went back to eating their burritos in peaceful silence.
When they got back to the dorm, Emerald and Penny were out. Not in a mood to do actual homework, Ciel sat down with her impromptu sewing kit and Neo's clothing on the floor. Neopolitan sat down next to her, getting comfortable and watching as she did her magic. Unlike the others, Ciel really did not talk unless she felt it was necessary. It was oddly comforting, as was the visual imagery of her slender hands working the needle over and over again, closing up each of the tears and fractures in the cloth.
She wasn't an idiot. Neopolitan knew exactly what was happening. Aside from hanging out as a team, she'd spent one day with her team captain and was already developing a big stupid crush on her. This was nothing new. She'd already gotten her idiot feelings for Emerald. And then she had made a drunken comment about wanting to get into a fight with Yang so she could climb her 'like a tree' whatever that meant. And now she was being just as easily swayed by someone who was, frankly, far too good for her. Sure, those nerds in RWBY could make that kind of thing work.
But Neopolitan wasn't a good person. She had ended up at this school because she was undeniably bad. And no amount of heroics could actually change that. People like her didn't really matter, but she was a part of this team now, and if she could at least be good back-up for real heroes like Penny and Ciel, then that would be good enough.
"You're quiet..." Ciel mused thoughtfully. Neo shot her a 'no shit' look, and she just chuckled softly. "You know what I mean..."
"Just trying to think of a good way to pay you back for all this. Fixing my stuff and all." It felt like a good lie, a safe lie. The kind of lie that was essentially true.
Ciel just shrugged, not even losing the pattern in her stitching when she glanced to see what Neo was signing. "You didn't really have to put up with me today. But we hung out like regular teens and it was... nice. Got to see my parents briefly. Had a burrito for the first time ever. Besides, like you said, we're family... You don't keep score with family..."
Neopolitan hummed softly in agreement. That had never been her experience with family before. But she could get used to it. "Whatever you say, Sunny."
