In the docks of Vale, dozens upon dozens of abandoned warehouses lined up neatly in rows adjacent to the non-functioning cranes that once were the lifelines of trade in Remnant. In those abandoned warehouses, everything from squatters to the homeless could often be found in them. With the city lacking in anything resembling affordable housing for its poorest, they were bound to flock towards the only 'free' shelters in town. Unfortunately, that also meant that criminal enterprises found it exceedingly attractive to set up. Whis was why Schwarz was currently dangling Roman over a pier directly outside a half-wrecked warehouse, with his goons watching close by, not daring to involve themselves.
"Shake him a few more times, then I may be satisfied." Ruby instructed Schwartz to start bouncing up and down again, making the master thief hold onto his bowler hat even tighter.
"Y-you're a menace red! A godsdamned m-menace! This ain't professional at all!"
"Blackmailing me back at the dust store was not professional either." Plus, she wasn't the one dangling from her rigging right now, so he had little to no say in the matter.
"NEO! Stop recording and help me!" Off to her side was Roman's partner, Neopolitan, or just Neo as she preferred, who simply recorded the entire thing on her scroll. A huge grin on her face as Roman kept shouting (begging) for help.
"Don't bother, I've already bribed her." With one large ice cream sandwich and allowing her to pet Schwarz for an hour. Neo was just that sort of person, and her rigging was right up her alley.
"Yeeeaaargh! I know a couple of people! Really powerful people! They'll come get ya if you don't let me go right now!" Roman added another demand quickly after a quick look directly under him. "ON THE PIER!"
"Oh? Where are they then? If they were here, I would notice by now."
"Oh for fuc-" Ruby had called his bluff easily, with Roman's latest heists no one powerful was dumb enough to associate himself with him, too much attention, as Junior had said. Speaking of, the reason why Ruby found where his hideout was due to him, as a sort of 'apology' for springing that White Fang job on her. Though she did get paid handsomely, and with a bonus. Junior really did not know they were the White Fang, so she could forgive him for that, Roman however, was another matter entirely.
After a couple more seconds, Ruby felt a tap on her shoulder. Turning her head slightly to the left, Neo had stopped recording, and was now instead looking at her with a smile. On her right hand, she displayed the screen of her scroll to Ruby, a line of text displayed on it.
'Okay, I think he's learned his lesson. There's also something that he can pay you back with, ask him about his new baby.'
Sighing, Ruby still had something she wanted to do tonight as well, so she decided to wrap up everything now. Commanding Schwarz to stop, she dangled Roman by his legs just in front of her, coming face to face with the thief now. His hair frazzled and completely 'messed up' as he often complained about. With one of her finger claws on his forehead, she brought it up (downwards?) to directly make eye contact.
"Neo here says that you have a new 'baby' that I can take as compensation. What is it?"
Immediately, Roman scrunched his face up in reaction. "No! Anything but that! I waited a couple of months for it, I need it for my operations here-" He cut himself off before he could say anything, but Ruby got the gist of it.
"A vehicle? Tell me, now. " She dug her finger deeper into his head for good measure, causing him to yelp.
"Yeow! Okay, fine! God, you're like a loan shark. It's a floating bullhead we got for my operations, but can you take it after we're nearly wrapped up here-"
"Where."
Snapping his head to Neo again, he gave her an incredulous look. "Neo! Are you really going to let her take something we worked that hard for?!"
Neo had anticipated he might ask a question like that, and so she had something on her scroll ready for him to read in response.
' You liked it, I didn't. Besides, I told you involving her was a bad idea, you reap what you sow.'
Groaning, Roman knew he was fresh out of options, and under Ruby's intense gaze, relented. "Kids these days and their semblances I swear…Fine! It's not with us right now, it'll come back in a week or two, come back in three and it will be here waiting for ya. Now, let me go!"
Ruby looked to Neo for confirmation, and she nodded her head. It was probably humorous that she trusted someone like Neo, cruel and sadistic as she was to keep her word over someone like Roman. Or actually, it made perfect sense now that she thought about it. However, there was one last thing she could do…
"Tell me, can you swim?"
"Pshhh, yeah, of course, what kinda thief can't-oh no. DON'T YOU DARE-"
Splash
Roman was unceremoniously released into the waters below him, with how shallow it was Ruby was not concerned about him injuring himself. With a sigh, she patted herself off and turned in the other direction, back to Vale itself. Neo however, gave her another expectant look, it was one Ruby was accustomed to by now.
"Sorry, Neo. Not tonight, I have some other things to do." Sometimes, she and Neo went out on 'enthusiastic walks' that were more or less peaceful. Not for some unfortunate thugs and gangs that they often ran into but at that point it was their fault for challenging them in the first place. Preying on two girls at night was something that apparently came with being a thug in Vale apparently.
Neo frowned, but still nodded in understanding, Ruby thought it was anyways. She displayed some new text on her scroll instead.
'Alright, how was your meeting with the legendary Taurus then? He live up to the hype?'
How did she know about that? Ruby hadn't told anyone aside from Junior and the Malachite twins, perhaps gossip went far even in the criminal underworld.
"Not…exactly. Too stuck in his own beliefs, and not enough in living." At least, that was how Ruby thought he was. She knew of those too consumed by their ideas, or their alliegances and whatnot. Like the cardinal of the Iris Libre, the idea she dedicated herself to was her faith, and yet her nation was the one that split into two. Where were her beliefs when her sister rebelled? Where was the god that she had faith in then?
Neo raised an eyebrow at her, Ruby didn't really expect her to understand all too well, and she was fine that. Instead, she tried to pat Schwarz, who hid behind Ruby. Her massive size that was nearly twice her own height did not help matters, and made the scene quite comical. Ruby would never admit this to her, but she found it easy to be with the short and probably psychopathic criminal because she was short as well. Everyone in her household may as well have been a giant, so finding someone around the same height as her, let alone get along was a hard thing to do.
"Next time, I promise. Besides, you may want to fish Roman out soon."
The entire time in the background, Roman was hurling insults and whining about his current state. "-and my clothes! These clothes are designer brands, they don't take in seawater very well! You mark my words, little red, one day, you'll know how it feels to have your clothes smell like seaweed-"
Ruby left soon after, for she didn't need to hear the rest of it. It wasn't all bad, however, in a week's time, she was going to get something she had long saved up for, for free, even.
As she made her way out of the docks district, Ruby stretched her back. It had been a while since she went to Vale's waterfront, and with her already at the docks, it was just a stone's throw away from visiting her. Might as well do it today, especially before that Sovereign had a chance to talk to…her. Turning in the direction of where the Royal Palace was, Ruby began walking forwards, her destination being Vale's only remaining Battleship.
The process in which museum ships were saved often depended on two things. Luck, and how historically valued it was by those who remembered it, so basically, even more luck. Some ships that served in all of the battles were often too damaged or unsuited to become museum ships due to their long service, while others simply could not find the funds to convert them into one. Most ships ended up in the scrapyard after their time of service, it was a fate that most understood, lamentable as it was.
Valéan, however, escaped that fate. Launched in the midst of the Great War, it could be said that she saw through three distinct eras. She was there when the King of Vale fought the Mistralian and Mantellian armies on the deserts of Vacuo, when the King of Vale stepped down and formed the first council and finally, when the Faunus gained their (limited) rights as citizens. All of this was seen by her, and that was it, only witnessed by her form, her spirit.
In the small hours of the morning, Valéan watched over the calm waterfront in front of her again. Since becoming a museum ship at the end of the Faunus Rights Wars she had found her biggest foe yet, boredom. Fixing her auburn hair, all Valéan really could do when there were no visitors was to make sure her dress was impeccable. She may not have been active in the Navy anymore, but she still kept to the standards that it once held. Shame the newer ships didn't seem to share in her views, however. All they called her these days was 'Grandma', like the brats they were…
"Bonjour, Grand-mère…ça faisait longtemps…"
And there was this new brat as well. The most recent ship Valéan knows of yet is the most similar to. All of the new ships she knew of were those that no longer had naval artillery as their main weapons but instead used new-fangled things such as missiles and other fancy Atlesian weaponry. Instead, the ship that was currently behind her was exactly like her, only far larger, and had main guns a couple of inches larger than her own. Twelve-inch guns versus sixteen-inch weren't exactly equal after all.
"And has no one beat into you the phrase 'respect your elders', Miss Rose?"
Valéan looked at her guest on her decks, she still had that ridiculous outfit on. What happened to dressing primly and properly? Those youngsters these days had no idea what style was if modern fashion was like that.
"My father has. But everyone calls you that, so I am just following the norms of these lands."
They most certainly do not call her Grandma all the time- "Ahem." With a twitch on her left eye, Valéan calmed herself as her guest continued on.
"But I do need some…guidance."
"Oh? Are you, coming here for guidance? A rare sight, but perhaps I can help you in these matters. Come, let me impart upon thee my wisdom…" Ruby Rose coming to her for guidance was rare, which meant she got into something she could not handle. At times like these, it was up to the seniors to steer their juniors back to the correct path, and was also her way of not going insane with boredom.
She went deeper inside her vessel, and Ruby followed her in soon after. Whatever it was, it was bound to be a story worth remembering…
AN:
Hello, been a while since the last update but here we are. Got busy with my Blue Archive fics (on AO3) but hey I've finally remembered this fic existed. I've seen some comments regarding the Valean Navy and its Royal Navy influence. That is true to an extent, but I'm basing it more on the Marine Nationale more than anything else, as you may have guessed from the French. Weirdly enough, they aren't represented too much in fiction so here's my small contribution to it. Also, stop telling me to update quickly, it's not gonna make me write faster if you put a review asking me to do it.
Translation for "Bonjour, Grand-mère…ça faisait longtemps…": "Hello, Grandma…long time no see…"
Be civil in the comments below.