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So, uh, here we go….
Feel free to skip my Ironwood breakdown-
Ironwood is, and was from his introduction, a villain. Absolutely, irredeemably evil and corrupt.
But not in the ways Salem, Cinder or Watts are.
No, his evil is much more understandable, relatable and real. It's the evil of a man who knows what is at stake, and has been pushed by that into enough desperation to embrace fascism. He's also a man that has always viewed himself as the hero, the one to lay on the proverbial grenade. To take charge and do what is needed.
That is why, back in the Beacon seasons, he was quick to backstab Ozpin and seize personal control of security for the Festival. It's also why his personal every day Scroll had access to everything from command of his fleet, to his ENTIRE ARMY OF DRONES, to the Penny Project's files. Even back then, he was an authoritarian dick with a massive hero complex that saw himself as the one to bring victory. The hero.
Then in V5-6, we find out he's abandoned the entire world to secure Atlas. Rather than dig in his heels, grit his teeth and fight like a cornered dog the way the Arbiter saw the UNSC, he immediately abandoned everyone and withdrew. The reason, in my opinion, is that he can't control Vale, Mistral, Menagerie or Vacuo.
So he abandons them until they cede to his plans.
He's so self-righteous that even factual criticisms of how he has treated Mantle piss him off, and you can see him want to just shut Nora and others up. He runs similarly roughshod over the Council, abusing his political power to seize essentially total control via his two seats. And we KNOW he did that because the MOMENT he lost his second seat, the Council were on him.
So, at this point, I have demonstrated he is a self-righteous, hero-complex, authoritarian man motivated to the worst ends of these by desperation. Literally all of this is sympathetic - it's understandable, which is WHY so many people viewed him as in the right through all this.
Then V8 happens and it's clear he is still putting himself as the righteous hero, the one who knows better than EVERYONE else.
And that turns it up to eleven…
He decides to abandon Mantle to die, so he can escape to whatever end he might, and every one of these facets of him is turned from seven to TEN. His authoritarianism, paranoia, and need to be the one in control all dial up, along with his desperation. His cold logic decides that Mantle is already dead, and so killing those in Mantle is immaterial. Hell, I could devil's advocate it as being an act of mercy. What's less painful, a bomb that ends you in a flash, or a Beowolf that slowly disembowels you? And besides, the intent is all to secure what he sees as the best course forward.
Then his Semblance comes in, and seals the deal in such a splendid analogy to fascism I was shocked to see it written.
Because fascism typically isn't motivated by pure reason, reacting logically to everything. No, it's based on desperation borne out of fear. Hitler may had despised the Jews, but how much of that was due to very real fears based on his conspiracism? And even moving off him, how many of his soldiers acted out of that desperation and fear?
Ironwood isn't Hitler, btw, the analogy is illustrative not directly comparative.
Now, I want to be clear, I don't hate Irondaddy.
I FUCKING ADORE HIM, actually.
He is a beautiful, complicated, shattered man, crushed by weight of expectations and secrets he couldn't share freely. A man whose fear, desperation and trauma shattered his psyche, but who couldn't, by reasons of who he was, step away and allow others to handle the issue.
He is a man who, in a simpler story, would have been the stalwart admiral, always leading his forces in service of the fight.
But RWBY has always been just a bit deeper, a bit more real and human, which is… Kinda funny, given its material.
Ironwood is a brave depiction of how easy it is to fall to fascism, to evil, while opposing him. And I am being entirely heartfelt when I say he is my single favorite character in almost all of modern media, setting aside the likes of Thel and the Chief. And in terms of more classical media, he only falls short of the likes of Aragorn, Frodo and Gimli.
He is a beautiful, broken man who stood against the tide until it finally broke him and he became the evil he fought, and that makes hima tragedy.
And I think this take of the character is charitable and would do well in both Ironwood's stans and everyone else's appreciation of the character and the show as it stands.
Now that's done, I wanna be clear-
I like Ironwood, a lot, and I'm not trying to force my opinion onto anyone. I simply think this is the most charitable and accurate reading, which accepts all but the most RADICAL 'Ironwood is the only good guy, ree!' kinds of rhetoric.
Now, onto the chapter, which, regardless of THIS fuckin' AN, is over 4K~
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Fiona sighed as she was finally allowed to leave the medical wing, pressing out past doctors who ignored her and soldiers who turned typical, baleful glares on her. Sometimes, those hot, angry eyes lingered on her Happy Huntresses broach. And just as often, on her anxiously flicking ears. But the hate was all the same, and she ignored it as best she could, making sure to keep a tight hold on the Specialist badge that had been forced onto her by the General's jackboots.
'Just a formality', they'd said, but god, it felt like an iron weight dragging her to the bottom of the ocean…
"You too, eh?" She started at the voice and turned on a heel, looking up at the grinning Huntsman from earlier.
What was his name…?
Something bird-related, but damn it, everything had been so crazy over the last hour she'd forgotten. Which was bad, she knew, but there'd been a hell of a lot going on!
"Um, w-what?" She finally stammered, unable to recall his name.
"You got smacked with it, too." He grumbled, holding up a lanyard with a little ident-card hanging off of it like hers. It read 'Branwen, Qrow', in the short glance she got of it before he flicked his hand up and caught the little card in it. "Specialists… Bah. Just havin' the card makes ya feel dirty, no?"
"Y-Yeah." She nodded, turning to him and grimacing, "I, uh, kinda hate it. A lot, actually."
"Don't worry." He laughed, clapping her on the shoulder and grinning. "Once we figure out how to save Mantle, we'll get it sorted."
"How?"
"Not a damn clue." He shrugged, jabbing her shoulder with a hand. "That's why I came lookin' for you. You look like the clever, planning sort."
"I-I do…?" She blinked, flushing at the tall, broody looking man's sudden praise.
"Mhm." He nodded, "So… Any ideas?"
"I don't really know enough about what's going on to come up with anything?"
"Fair." He hummed, pursed his lips, and asked, "Wanna grab somethin' to drink?"
"W-What?"
"We'll grab somethin' to drink and I'll catch you up on, uh, well, everything I guess." He shrugged, smirking lopsidedly and seemingly unaware of the heat creeping up her neck. He scratched at his stubble and added, almost shyly, "Unless, uh, you just… Ya know, don't wanna eat with-"
"I like rice." She cut him off quickly, "If, um, you wanna eat and talk?"
"Sounds good." He nodded, smiling that lopsided smile again and turning. "Let's just find some jackboot to flaunt our rank over to get directions, hm?"
"S-Sure." She nodded, staring at his back as they walked away.
Tall, dark and broody...
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The Arbiter sat on the bed he'd been given in Atlas Academy's dorms and stared at the metal bracket which now capped his arm. It was an expensive, fine mechanism, created within the hour by some of Atlas' finest engineers. But it was cold and dull, silver with a deceptively simple socket mechanism recessed into it for a prosthetic to be fitted. A prosthetic he'd been told was already in production, Penny's father hard at work in his workshop ever since they had returned and she had spoken to him.
But his hand was gone…
It had been a price worth paying, and he wouldn't breathe otherwise to anyone, but to be crippled shamed him deeply. Were he free of his path, he was unsure he could have lived with the shame of it…
But he had too much left to do to value his honor too highly.
He looked up at the sound of his door sliding open and nodded his head in greeting, "General."
"Arbiter Vadam." The man answered, standing in the door for a moment, then looking at Thel's ruined hand and then the floor. Finally, he looked over his shoulder and spoke to the machine behind him, "Wait outside."
"Yes, General."
Once the machine was outside, the General sighed and turned to him, lips pressed into a thin line. After a moment, he said, "Your tracker was not supposed to be used unless-"
"-I turned violent and sought to kill you and your fellows." Thel rumbled, holding up his ruined arm and nodding. "I have paid the price for your fears, and done so innocently, with no guilt for the crimes it was intended for. I paid the blood price for your trust. Do I have it now?"
"I…" Ironwood froze, for a moment, processing Thel's words and then nodding stiffly. "Yes. You've earned it, I believe."
"You are not going to apologize?"
"No, I am not." The General answered instantly, firmly, shaking his head and explaining, "I would do the same thing again. I had to secure Atlas against the threat you posed, even only potentially. Apologizing now would just be insulting."
"Good, then you understand all that I could say." He rose as he spoke, pacing down the bed to his armor, laid out on the cloth of his cloak spread out on a table at the foot of the bed.
It had been cleaned, and gleamed with its bronzed alloying once more, and he hummed pleasedly on seeing it. It had been cleaned, but not repaired, and he let a finger run along the scarification on its shoulder, where Beowolf claws had scraped through the top layers of the armor. His breastplate sported a dent as well, though he did not remember its source, and the crest of his helmet sported another deep groove. He reached for it and paused, staring at the outstretched stump of his arm, and then he frowned.
"You get used to that." Ironwood chuckled from the door and, when the Arbiter turned, he added with a grimace. "I'm not laughing at you, Arbiter, I'm… Reminiscing."
"Oh?" Slowly, he raised his right hand and tugged the glove off, showing the Arbiter his silvered hand, and Thel hummed. "Ah, yes. I suppose you know the shame of it, then,"
"Atlas teaches that there is no shame in scars and maiming taken in the defense of another." The General answered quietly, tugging his glove back on and smiling forlornly. "But yes. I know the shame of it."
"I see…"
The next few moments passed in a strangely amicable silence, as he donned his kaidon plate. It was good, to feel the weight settle on his shoulders once more. Reassuring in an old, ever familiar way. His sword felt strange in his armored side-hand, but he could use it in either, and eventually put the discomfort out of mind to pull his cloak on. Its ties had been replaced with heavy, brass magnets that drew his curiosity and he turned to the general to voice it.
"A modification I ordered." He explained before Thel could even speak, gesturing at his hand, "Tying it on would be hard, even for simple knots like those, so I commissioned powerful magnets. They will adhere to your armo- Your combat harness, I mean, and if someone attempts to use your cloak against you, it will come free."
"Convenient." He rumbled, growing the cloak around his shoulders and fastening the magnets to the armored segment that ran just above it her of his shoulders. It held acceptably well and he paid the general a nod for it, "You've my thanks."
"Not needed." The General rumbled, "When you are ready-"
"We need to speak?"
"Salem is here." He nodded solemnly, "I'm hoping for the Spartan's ship to help if she comes for Atlas."
"She is not already?"
"No, she's only attacking Mantle."
"Then why discuss our defence of Atlas?" He pressed simply, turning to the uniformed man and cocking his head to the side in a wide, questioning way. "If she is attacking Mantle, why would we not defend it first and foremost?"
"I was under the impression you'd been informed of my orders."
"I have been." He nodded gently, "Thrice over. By your craft's pilot, by the Spartan, and by one of the nurses who helped tend to me."
"Then why-"
"Because surely one of the most powerful men on Remnant, leader of the greatest military of the entire planet's history, would not back down from defending his Kingdom without a fight." Thel rumbled loudly, taking a single step towards the man and meeting his eyes. "Such would not be to form for what I have come to know of Humans."
"That's not what I've been told." Ironwood argued simply, voice flat, hands clasped behind his waist and eyes hardened to the very iron that was his name-sake. "I was told the UNSC often ran from the Covenant, abandoning entire cities to save who they could."
"As they did." He rumbled back, "But only after they had saved all they could."
"We have-"
"I did not see your fleet limping away, belching fire into the black of space!" Thel roared, cutting the man off and gesturing towards Mantle beyond the walls of Atlas Academy. "You have a fleet. And army! Defences! The UNSC would have their men and women evacuating every man, woman and child they could even now! But you only allowed a single flight, and prioritized your soldiery and Dust!"
"We need those to fight later!"
"Fight for what?" He demanded lowly, "The ruins of your Kingdom? Its shattered families?"
"The world!" Ironwood answered gravely, turning his back on him and sighing. "I'm doing everything I can."
"You are not." Thel answered simply, taking a seat on the edge of his bed and pausing to think. After a moment, he spoke, "There was a world, once, that my fleet came upon."
"During the war?"
"During the war." He confirmed with a grave nod, "It was a small world. A few dozen human ships against fifty of our own. Frigates against battleships. They were doomed. Yet, they stood their ground, belching everything from fighters and bombers to troop transports and supply conveyors onto the planet's surface to make space and evacuate the people. As our fleet moved in, their frigates and destroyers made to meet us, while their carriers, what few they had, lingered."
"I didn't come here for a lecture, Arbiter." Ironwood interrupted, "Or to listen to a story."
"I am not lecturing you, nor spinning a tale." Thel rumbled earnestly, "Please, hear my words. You told me you trusted me, did you not?"
"Fine." He sighed, "But make it short. We have work to do."
"They were making space." Thel explained, abbreviating as best he could as he went on, "I found this out much later, mind you. But such was their aim. Pilots left knowing they would not, and could not, return to dock. Hangars to shelters. Civilian ships across the system flocked to aid in the evacuation. And from outside of it, too."
"More civilians came from outside the system, desperate to aid their fellows." Thel went on, "Those who could not aid in the evacuation, for size or whatever else, joined the surviving fleet. They acted as shields, physically blocking their militarized kin from our fire while the battle raged. They abandoned a third of their people still, and lost half their fleet skirmishing with my own, but…"
"They were tenacious. Vicious." The Arbiter finished, meeting the General's eyes when he looked back up. "Why should you be any different?"
"The strategy meeting needs to start soon." The General answered quietly, "Are you going to participate or not?"
"I will, yes." He sighed, standing and gesturing for the general to take the lead.
Hopefully, the steely General had heard the wisdom in his words.
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Once more he found himself in the General's prestigious office, though this time he was not made to stand. Instead, an array of seats had been set around a circular holo-display of Atlas, Mantle, and the great beast hovering nearby. Below, entire segments of Mantle were lit in red, yellow, orange and green, marking out sectors being assaulted by the Grimm while Atlas sat enclosed in a blue circle that represented its shields. Beyond Atlas, its fleet waited, useless and almost unmolested save for the occasional stray Grimm that wandered towards it and was subsequently annihilated by flak and particle cannons.
The Spartan stood beside his seat, wary even of the wide-bottomed, reinforced seats that had been given to them, and Qrow found a place in the other. Opposite of them, Ironwood sat with the Ace-Ops' leader at his side and an unhappy looking Fiona on his other side.
"Where is Ruby?" The Arbiter asked when it was clear they were not waiting for anyone. "Or Jaune?"
"Mister Arc is training." Ironwood answered simply, grimacing and finishing, "And Miss Rose is… Busy."
"With-"
"She's helpin' Penny and her, uh, father design your new hand." Qrow grunted, cutting him off and turning to pay him a long, hard look. "Thank you, by the way. Ruby is… I'll never be able to pay you back."
"There is nothing to repay." He assured the man, brushing by as best he could and adding, "And we've work to do."
"Right." Ironwood nodded, turning to the Arbiter's armored friend. "Now that we're all here-"
"The Black Sun stands ready to assist with evacuation and defense." The Spartan cut in to say, "Of Mantle."
"Of Mant-"
"The Black Sun is equipped with numerous ground support measures, up to and including light-MAC bombardment." The Spartan explained simply, "Further, Menagerie has already approved the intake of refugees, which the Black Sun will transport. It's main bay will soon be emptied for that purpose."
"And the few Hunters in Menagerie are offerin' to come up and help evacuate, too." Qrow grunted, leaning back in his seat and propping his foot up on the holo-display. "The Happy Huntresses already agreed to coordinate 'em, too."
"Assuming," Fiona smirked as she turned to the General, "that you let us."
Slowly, the Arbiter turned a look on Fion and then Qrow, and finally turned to the Spartan at his side. Just as slowly, the armored man bobbed his head. And, when he turned back, Fiona was smiling. She'd talked to them before the meeting… And they'd agreed to support her plan.
Clever, charismatic little girl.
"The Grimm won't just allow us to act uninterrupted." Ironwood pointed out lowly, but… Patiently. "We should focus on saving what we already have."
"Salem can be easily distracted by your fleet, if it moves to defend Mantle as well." Thel offered quietly, waving a hand at the officer and adding, respectfully, "The might of Atlas can buy time to save as many people, and as many supplies, from the city below as it can. We only ask for the time."
For a long, quiet moment, Ironwood though, staring at the map of his Kingdom with a deep frown.
Finally, he sighed and stood, "I'll buy as much time as I can. But I won't allow the fleet to fall below forty percent of its strength. Atlas will need to be safe-guarded when it moves. And this assumes you have a proper solution for Salem. I don't believe she'll wait to siege Mantle and Atlas out."
"I have a plan." John grunted shortly, chuckling. "A borrowed one."
"I'll take what I can get." Ironwood sighed, but he didn't sound unhappy at the idea. "Please, go ahead."
"When Reach came under attack at first, it was a smaller fleet." The Spartan began, "While I was waiting, Jorge and I spoke. He told me their initial solution to the problem."
"Which was…?"
"If we can't simply overpower Salem." The Spartan answered simply, "Why not send her very, very far away?"
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"Father reports he is sixty percent through design-trials." Penny reported brightly as she came into her friend's room, which was a simple enough Atlesian dorm with four recessed wall-beds and the amenities set across from them.
"That's awesome, Penny." Ruby smiled warmly, sitting up on her bed in the Atlesian pajamas she'd been given while her clothes were cleaned. "Did he have any trouble with the drive mechanism after all?"
"Only some mild problems mapping the internal drive-processor to the hand he was given. But he has resolved it now, thanks to Specialist Adel's insight on how they designed their grips." It had been surprisingly in-depth, considering he did not, himself, have any such hand. Smiling, she went on, "It should be completed and produced within four hours."
"Wow." Ruby murmured, hopping off the bed and pacing towards her, toying with her fingers in what Penny knew was a display of anxiety. Quietly, Ruby said, "Your dad sure is amazing… He's not pushing himself though, right?"
"Oh no, he has a team working on it right now." She explained quietly, watching Ruby's fingers work anxiously and going on, "Roland has also forwarded biological information from his database. Ruby, are you okay?"
"Am I-" She guffawed weakly, waving it off and turning to pace back across the room, hands clasped behind her head, "Nah! I'm just fine. Nothing to worry about."
"You were playing with your fingers." Penny pressed, watching her friend worriedly. Her hips swayed more as she walked than normal, by a whole two degrees of motion. And her voice had wavered as well. Plus, her intensive scan registered an elevated heart-rate. "Ruby, I am worried about you after what happened. You ingested something after all."
"What?!" Ruby spun on her heel, waving her hands in the air, "No, no, no, it's not that! They, uh, pumped my stomach when I got up here. I am running on 'E'!"
"Then you are hungry?" Penny asked, pacing forward and peeling a glove off of one hand so she could close it around Ruby's collar. "Elevated heart-rate, heavy breathing, sweating matches a fever-"
"P-Penny." Ruby squeaked weakly, drawing green eyes back to her. "I'm, uh, just nervous."
"About… The battle?"
"N-no, um, that's not- Could you let go of my throat, it's very, uh, distracting?" Penny blinked, thoroughly confused - she hadn't been touching her throat, but her collar, to check her temperature. Still, if Ruby did not want her to touch her, she would refrain, and removed her hand accordingly. Ruby sighed, backing up a step and murmuring, "T-Thanks."
"Of course." Penny smiled and cocked her head, "Now, please, what is wrong? If you are hungry, I can retrieve a snack for you."
"...ready have one, but thanks."
"I am sorry?" Penny asked, cocking her head the other way, "You were mumbling, I did not hear you."
"I-I, um, I said I'm okay, thanks." Ruby answered, turning and grabbing the chair at the vanity to sit down in. Turning, she drummed her fingers on the vanity's wooden top for a moment before, finally, she squeaked, "S-So, um, do you like… Boys?"
"Boys…?"
"Like, um, like-like." Ruby tried awkwardly, chuckling, "Gods, that's so silly to say…"
"Ah." Penny blinked, looked up the terminology and then nodded, "I appreciate all humans, Ruby. Aesthetically and otherwise."
"S-So, you like girls too…?"
"I like everyone, yes." Penny's brow furrowed, "I believe that I just-"
"I'm gay!" Ruby suddenly shouted, laughing awkwardly and rambling fast enough Penny almost had to add a processing run-time to back-process the words for her, "I-I mean, um, I'm more ace than gay- I-I dunno why I said I was gay- I mean, I-I like people, but only some- Um, some people, it's weird and complicated and- Like, i-it's like being bi, I guess, but- Gods, this is hard-"
"You are identifying yourself to me as demiromantic, asexual." Penny cut in, cataloguing the details and referencing each of them online until she found the right one. Ruby rounded on her, wide-eyed, and Penny asked, "Is this incorrect?"
"N-N-No!"
"Very good." She smiled, clapping excitedly, "I got it right! Oh, and thank you for sharing."
"Y-Yeah, um, I…"
"Is there something else?" Penny asked quietly, watching her return to her nervous finger twiddling.
"U-Um, well…" Ruby sighed and slapped her hands against her cheeks, then flashed to stand scant inches from Penny in a shower of falling petals. "C-C-Can I kiss you? Um, pretty please?"
"Oh." She blinked, "Of course."
"O-Oh, um, okay." Ruby smiled, and reached up to cup the sides of Penny's face, tugging her down just a bit so Ruby could reach.
Penny registered millions of sensations all at once - tastes, textures, temperature - as their lips touched and was happy. So much new experience! But next she registered Ruby's trembling, and reached out into the internet for information.
She was anxious, she realized, bouncing the query back into the search - Why? This was what she wanted.
'When partners do not engage, it is a sign of dislike.' Her algorithm came back instantly, and Penny felt her heart plummet, bouncing back a search on what to do. Her algorithm answered quickly, 'Participate.'
A rational input - How?
Her algorithm could not reach a consensus and Penny was displeased - List multiple?
Penny took the information, processed it, and imported the information all in the two seconds it took for Ruby to start to pull back. Penny followed, as her algorithm dictated, and pressed herself against the woman. Ruby stiffened, then, hands flying to her shoulders, but she didn't push her off or away. Which her algorithm dictated was a sign of consent - happiness, even!
Following the algorithm's instructions, she snaked a hand up to wrap around Ruby's throat - gently, but posessively, as the sources dictated. Ruby shuddered and pressed into her, a hand closing around Penny's wrist, and Penny was pleased - the algorithm dictated this was a positive result!
Next, as the algorithm dictated, she snaked her other hand around and down, dipping towards Ruby's-
Ruby pushed against her and Penny pulled back, watching her flush and pant. Quietly, Penny asked, "What is wrong…?"
"I-I'm not, um, ready for that. S-Sorry." Ruby murmured ashamedly, which was strange.
Why would she be ashamed?
"That is alright." Penny smiled, cocking her head to the side. "Are you feeling better now?"
"Y-Yes, actually." Ruby smiled, massaging Penny's wrist in a rather comfortable way. She flicked a look up and down Penny's face and asked, quietly, "Y-you're, um, okay with this…?"
"Yes." Penny smiled, "You asked to kiss, so I presume that very good friends kiss. Should I not be okay with this?"
"Uh…" Ruby blinked, but didn't pull away. Instead she leaned back into the hand Penny had shifted to settle in the small of her back - the second option the algorithm had suggested for an experience that would please Ruby. "Penny, do you know what kissing like this means?"
"No?"
"Uh…"
"Shall I look it up?"
"Y-Yes, you should." Ruby nodded, anxiety suddenly returning with a vengeance. "A-And, um, let me go."
"Why?" Penny asked, releasing her and sending a background search for the information.
"I-I should have made sure you understood before I- Damn it!" Ruby murmured, pacing away and gnawing on a finger.
Ruby made it two steps before Penny's information algorithm returned the likely results, which Penny ordered referenced to her earlier information - Oh.
"I see." Penny murmured, blinking and smiling as Ruby turned to her, silver eyes wide and nervous, "Kissing either means a sexual interest for release, which you dictated you did not have - twice, in fact. It can also mean a romantic desire, for companionship by way of courtship. Is this correct?"
"Y-Yeah." Ruby nodded, casting her eyes to the floor. "I-I'm sorry, I should have made sure you knew before I- Before we… Did that."
"It is quite alright." Penny blinked, and then when Ruby didn't speak, asked, "Which is it, then?"
"What?"
"Were you indicating a purely carnal interest in me?" Unlikely as it was, it was still on the algorithm's list, and therefore deserved to be asked. "Or were you indicating a romantic one?"
"T-The second…?"
"I see." Penny beamed, cataloguing the information and re-listing every ounce of the kiss as something entirely different -her first romantic kiss! How wonderful. After a moment, Penny asked, "Would you like to do so again?"
"Wait," Ruby blinked, "are you saying you… Like me too?"
"Of course." Penny nodded, closing the distance with the other woman and taking both her hands. "You were my first friend. It was a new experience for me. And while I confess, I do not understand this new step- If you want to take it, I am happy to join you and experience it all, too."
"Really?"
"Mhm." Penny nodded, "Happily so."
"Okay…" Ruby smiled sheepishly and stepped close, resting her forehead against Penny's again. After a second she said, quietly, "I-I'd like to kiss again, then?"
"Sensational!" Penny beamed, returning her hands to where they had been and leaning in to recapture the woman's lips the same way she had before. Ruby shuddered once and pressed against her, wrapping her arms around Penny's shoulders, and Penny squeezed her throat ever so slightly.
Ruby shuddered again and leaned against Penny even more and Penny registered the reaction as a positive tell.
Her first girlfriend - sensational!
She forwarded the news to her father.
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Pietro looked up from the scattered parts and pieces he was toying with and tapped a greasy finger to the flashing icon on his desk's holo-display. Penny's face popped up, animated, pixel-based avatar mouthing the words for her, "Father! Ruby and I are now together. I have a girlfriend! I am spending the evening in her dorm, please send for me if you need me! Love you."
"I-I love you too, sweetheart." He waited patiently until Penny's smiling icon flickered away, indicating her disconnection, and turned to bellow, "Reese! Where's my damn scattergun?"
XxX-XxX-XxX
I can have a little Nuts 'n Dolts.
As a treat.
Aso, fun fact-
This chapter was written before either of the two combat chapters previous. I had some issues with those! Lol
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Black Raptor 1 :
Watts and Tyrian dying is literally things not going to plan, soooo…. XD
Also, she doesn't know all about what's going on with the Spartans and Thel, since they're kind of new on the scene. As for the rest of the cast, the last arc has all happened within the same day as Adam's death. So not enough time has passed for them to have moved much of anywhere, or done much of anything, yet.
G119 :
I will likely never, ever, ever write Ironwood as anything but the wonderful, lovable shithead he is. But I wrote enough about him at the top. XD
Joecola :
Oh buddy, I have some ideas for Fiona, no worries.
It was not better to ditch Mantle. Just in so many ways. All Salem would need to do is follow behind it until they had to land for Dust and food.
And yes, Chief cock-blocking was my favorite bit of the chaptoir too~! Nuts 'n Dolts is one of my favorite ships.
Nantono :
Spoilers~
Rook435 :
This story isn't actually reaching its total end-point! The first 'Book', so to say, is but there is more in the works. Glad you're enjoying!
Gamma-X :
Indeed, bruddah.
Khajiit of Lordran :
This one would not answer these questions, for such would be full of too many spoilers. However, this one is very happy to read your reviews and also to know you enjoy the story.
Simply Christian :
Watts' problem is arrogance. He thinks his way of thought is the only one that prevails, and so self-preservation ought to win out in this instance. Thel cutting off his own arm, crippling himself in a way shameful to Sangheili society, is something Watts simply couldn't foresee.
I also covered Thel's thoughts on the withdrawal above, but as for Qrow -
Qrow is Ironwood's friend. He despises Atlas, as he should, and disagrees with Ironwood's enabling of its worst tendencies, but he still has faith in him.
KPMH2001 :
I responded to Irondaddy above~
In my mind, Jorge HAS to be a really good, if technically unqualified, technician and engineer. His armor and gun BOTH look way too custom for me to think anything else.