Here we are, a WHOLE month later!
Oh. I literally just noticed that, and, uh, I feel awkward. And lame.
Apologies and all that, but I admit, I admittedly started things off REALLY roughly, and I consider myself fortunate that this got as much attention as it did regardless of that. Smoothing things will be a wee bit difficult.
Which is why I officially hit up a beta, EmperorLuffy-swell person, awesome all the way-and they're helping me iron things out. I've been developing this with their help for a while now, so consulting them to help me progress will be pretty important for me. And build up my confidence. They're a big reason why this story was born in the first place, with our occasional spitballing and all that.
Alright enough stalling, let's get started!
"Here ya go! All set up!"
Ruby declared to Cinder while handing her a Scroll. The older female takes it into her hands and gets a good look at it, turning it over and back. It seemed suitable enough for efficient use, as she's rarely had one of her own before. And so long as it's main function, communication, was fully intact, then she wouldn't exactly complain.
Cinder was a bit annoyed by the portrait taken of her, though. Not that it was a bad portrait by any means. It was perfectly serviceable. Though getting a decent look at it, she may have leaned in a bit too heavily on the stoicism of her expression. It made her look like she wasn't exactly interested in anything. Which also wasn't completely untrue, but it still bothered her to actually see it on her face. Regardless, it's all served it's purpose, being a new means of communication for her that she could use safely and with a bit of security.
She was still surprised that Ruby went out of her way to make sure that this particular avenue was cared for as soon as possible. She was really taking her supposed role as head of a guild rather seriously, despite her looking incredibly chipper.
Of course, Cinder has seen a brief instance of her strength when she helped drive off the Remnant Holy Knights. So at the very least, the young woman was definitely not all talk. She had a very strong ambition and the will to see it through, she could sense that much about her. And apparently, she managed to gain quite a following because of it. Or perhaps other potential factors that she wasn't quite aware yet. She'll keep an eye and ear out for anything interesting.
But right now, she was too busy munching on another piece of milk bread roll. Her tenth one in under the span of two minutes.
It was a rather long wait, and she was rather hungry. And it would be a bit of a nice change of pace to eat some actual food rather than devouring anyone who threatened her one too many times. Not that it wasn't enjoyable or fun. A nice change of pace would be nice, is all.
"I'm actually quite surprised they allowed you to do this." Cinder noted as she was moving alongside Ruby, who had her hands behind her neck. "Recruiting a dragon like me into your ranks."
"It's my guild, I can recruit whoever I want!" Ruby smiled brightly while having her hands in the air. "So long as they wanna join, of course. I'm obviously not going to force someone to join up with me if they don't want to."
"You bribed me with milk bread rolls."
"And you accepted it."
"Soo..."
"You could have easily said no, and I would have been fine with that. But ya didn't, did ya?" Ruby clicked her tongue and pointed towards Cinder. "You accepted the milk bread roll, which is also an extension of friendship, and then we ate some together. With all that out together, that definitely makes us friends!" She lightly skipped on the spot with her fists out. "It's just common sense, is all!"
"That sense isn't as common as you think it is..."
"You'd be surprised just how much hostilities can cease if you simply offer the other person food. It's surprisingly effective in certain situations." Oscar noted while tapping the Long Memory on the ground. "Even if, uh, the food doesn't taste all that good. The gesture tends to reach forth more than the actual quality of the food."
"I'd better be offered quality food in exchange, or else someone's getting chomped on." Cinder deadpanned.
"A...fair conclusion, I guess?" Oscar smiled awkwardly. Man, talking to a dragon was a bit more intense than expected, even though she was currently in a more human form.
Cinder huffed, then stared back at Ruby, then up towards Jaune who was walking beside her. It was a rather strange set of events. It was like all the clashes between them haven't even happened, and now they were just causally standing side by side. He even went through the trouble of healing her after she had willingly placed her life in her hands. Had it been anyone else, she would have fought tooth and claw to the absolute bitter end. None of them were worthy of taking her life, not when she's gotten so far in it. This Knight, however, was worthy of taking her head. She would not have minded dying at his hands, for he has earned that accomplishment.
Yet instead, he healed her and helped fight off her pursuers. It was a peculiar action to her and she couldn't help but replay it multiple times. At first she thought it was mostly at Ruby's whim that he let her live, but she immediately shook it off. The look in Ruby's eyes was very simple and to the point. If Jaune wanted to kill her right then and there, she would have accepted that decision as well. It was completely Jaune's choice to help her, despite having fought with her so many times.
It was strange, for a knight to voluntarily choose to spare a dragon's life. Even when she willingly offered it, no less! It was quite a strange ordeal all around. Which somewhat left her wondering about his true intentions. There was no way that it could have been that easy. There had to be a gimmick to it, a trick, a ploy.
He didn't seem to be the type to come up with those, but she wouldn't underestimate the possibility of hidden cunning.
What are you up to, really? She thought while her eyes stayed on Jaune, eyes narrowing. Was all of this an elaborate ruse to get her guard down so that he could strike when she was most vulnerable? Possibly. Though with this he was literally inviting her into his home, so this would be a bit more elaborate than she would expect. Still, it was a possibility she wouldn't ignore. Until she burned this sense of uncertainty away, she would observe him and discern for herself what he was really after.
Oh.
During her dive into her thoughts, she hadn't realized she already ate all of her share of milk bread rolls.
Damn it all to hell.
"You can make more of these, right?" Cinder turned to Jaune while pointing at the empty bag, in which he turned to her with a smile.
"Sure! It's pretty easy, so long as I have all the ingredients."
"And we've made sure to stock up on those, so it'll be alright." Oscar lightly rolled his shoulder with a chuckle. "You have no idea just how much he has to keep things like that in mind, with the friend circle that we have."
"WHOO HOO!" Ruby beamed as she hopped about a bit while pumping her fists. "We got here first! Weiss can't sass me about being late this time!"
"I'm sure she'll find something else to use for that eventually." Jaune noted with a raised finger
"All too true."
"Friend Ruby!"
"Penny?!" Ruby beamed while turning to see her friend slowly hovering to her side. Cinder managed to her a look at her. Penny wore a wearing a flared, green dress with a white collar, sleeves and dress, the latter two of which are ruffled. This dress is adorned with a green, glowing pattern, which also strangely matches with glowing green lines occasionally going up and down her body. Under such is a black, skintight bodysuit hugging her womanly form, paired with running glowing green lines to boot. Long orange hair that reached her waist, and there appeared to be an ahoge on top of her head. Though the most standout detail was the swords levitating behind her back.
Cinder guessed she was rather ditzy.
"The preparations have been completed, just as you requested!"
"Fantastic work! Also, you arrived just in time!" Ruby blinked as she looked around, realizing that Penny was the only one who arrived. "Uh...Penny? Where are the others?"
"Apologies, Friend Ruby." Penny raised her hand as her ahoge drooped slightly. "It seems that the rest of our friends are running rather late. It will be a while before they all arrive to this destination."
"And Weiss was getting on our case on being on time." Oscar shook his head while scratching the side of it. "It's pretty likely that she's going to be at least a little bit embarrassed over this, due to how punctual she prefers to be. I don't think she's going to feel very good about being one of those who's late."
"Oh well." Ruby hummed while folding her arms with a sigh. Though after some thought, she lifted her head back up and nodded. "You know what? No worries! We can just give Cinder a tour of the place on her own. Everyone's already got a decent idea of what to expect from our base, but this is her first time hearing or seeing it. It only makes sense, doesn't it?"
"Yeah, that seems pretty reasonable." Jaune agreed while turning to Cinder. "Looks like you're getting a bit of early access, despite being the newest member of the crew. Hopefully this doesn't make the others too jealous of you."
"I doubt I'll care." Cinder deadpanned.
"Fair enough! Penny, mind doing the honors?"
"Roger Roger!" Penny beamed while snapping her fingers.
In a bright flash of light, the digital camouflage falling down and revealing the true appearance of the base. Cinder was briefly surprised by it, given that the place was both camouflaged and shielded from potential harm that would befall it while it's inhabitants were absent. She could tell that much. The appearance of the building was rather quaint. It carried a varied combination of red and black, with the sleekness of some of the surfaces managing to reflect a bit of the sunlight beaming down on it. And around the very top of the building, there appeared to be the figurehead of a noble wolf standing on a peak. Around it, appeared to be a flag with rose sigil. There was a brief shimmer around the entire compound, until it flashed and shines off of the sunlight once more.
Around the very front of the building was a large rosy statue of a howling wolf, standing atop a leafy pillar. Surrounding the building were several more of similar imagery, almost like a pack following the Alpha. Around the side of the building we're a swirling spiral of stairs that led to the second floor. Rose petals seemed to be constantly floating around the entire facility, occasionally disappearing and reappearing after enough time has passed. There also appeared to be a sentry opening somewhere in the middle of the front, in the shape of a digital monitor, possibly for identification purposes for sentry duties.
On the outside there seemed to be several lounging areas for spending a bit of time. In several places around the building, there were several comfortable looking hammocks that were hovering on their own,.as well as proper shade via curtains. Spending time under the sun, or just getting some fresh air outside with several advanced cooling fans for the hotter days. Several gears and cogs could be seen, and the decks appeared capable of becoming much larger and longer than they appear. There also appeared to be a watering hose nicely wrapped up around a hook, with a few driers on the side.
One would notice the assortment of automatic artillery hidden within the walls. They seemed charged and dormant, yet felt like they could fire the instant the order was given. Or an entire shield skin to the camouflage surrounding them and protecting from enemy attacks from outside. Cinder half expected them to fire up on her the moment she stepped any closer, but they remained dormant. So far so good, she guessed.
Wait. Was that a circular sticker with Ruby's face in the front of the entrance? It had a picture of herself winking with a peace sign and sticking her tongue out slightly.
That felt so childish and yet it simultaneously made sense that Ruby would place that there.
"Soooo cool! It's finished!" Ruby beamed with sparkling eyes.
"I honestly thought we wouldn't ever get it done. At least not this soon." Jaune sighed while scratching his head. "Especially since some of us had to do some bits of heavy lifting in order to fix certain things."
"But it was all worth it! Because the place looks fantastic! Let's get a look inside and show Cinder around! C'mon, Cinder!" Ruby gestured for her to follow as she and Penny rushed inside with enthusiastic and sparkling eyes. Cinder shook her head and massaged the bridge of her nose. It's just a base. She didn't get the big deal of being so excited over such a reveal of something so absurd. She turned to Jaune, who simply shrugged. Then towards Oscar, who only followed Ruby inside. Rolling her eyes, Cinder decided to simply go along and follow the overly excited women inside.
Though after she did so, her eyes widened a bit as she actually began taking in what was on the inside of the base. She expected something simplistic and not all that extravagant. All those expectations were immediately cast aside once she actually got a good look at the place.
"What is this...?"
First and foremost, the inside of this base felt like it had FAR more space inside than it appeared to have outside, and that briefly disoriented her a little bit. Regardless, she kept her head straight as Ruby and Penny were eager to show the place off to her, while Jaune and Oscar did a decent job keeping the attention somewhat grounded. She was able to spot the residential quarters easily enough, due to the gathering of beds in which she could see in a few of them. Though each one seemed to have been customized to suit certain members of the guild, which had her guessing if she herself would be able to customize her room should she pick one out. Each of them appeared spacious enough to walk around in, as of each one had enough room to fit her true form while still having plenty space left for other things alongside herself. She also noticed that scattered throughout, are rose plants.
Well...it all certainly didn't look like a secret death trap for her. It looks too...cheery? Happy? Something about it was throwing her off, but she was keeping her eye on certain threats to her that she could eliminate in the shortest amount of time. Then her eye shot back to Jaune, who was overseeing the entire space. Did he really help build all of this?
"We should go ahead and get this started. First thing's first. Kitchen and Dining Area, anyone?" Jaune gestured over to the space in question.
Cinder turned over to the area in question as Jaune lead her through it. Though with one more step further, she stopped in place and was stunned by the various smells that she picked up within the area. Way off in the corner, she could see an oven that appeared to be in the midst of baking something already, with a soft and warm humming sounding throughout the room. And a few feet next to it, appeared to be a rather large fridge, which stood tall and was colored red and black, with the symbol of a rose right on the door of it, which glowed briefly every now and then with glittery rose petals. Though curiously, she could see that there was some sort of digital panel right on the right of the fridge door, next to the handle.
"A code?"
"Yep. This is for precautionary reasons. There are some friends amongst us who can't help but help themselves to a bit of snacking...which turns into an entire snacking spree. Thus, as the guy who's always making food for everyone, I have to take measures to make sure no one is taking more than what's reasonable." Jaune folded his arms and shot an accusatory glance towards Ruby, who turned to the side and began whistling. "Ain't that right, guild leader?"
"Jonathan, I have no idea what you mean." Ruby hummed sweetly, turning towards him with fluttering eyes.
"Don't let those puppy dog eyes fool you. Underneath them is a ravenous wolf." Jaune half-whispered to Cinder. "If I let her cook by herself, she'll eat as much of the food as she eats. She's not the best at impulse control."
"It's your fault for making yummies!" Ruby pouted.
"And yet alas, you're the one who makes the choice to eat as much of them as you possibly could." Jaune huffed as Ruby's currently indignant yet embarrassed expression. "There's no sense in denying it. Everyone who knows you well know this is true, Ruby. Remember your little rampage when it came to strawberry cream puffs."
"They all belonged to me!"
"You're kind of proving his point." Oscar sighed tiredly.
Cinder somewhat blocked out the cheery bickering, as she took a look around the rest of the area, seeing that there was a particularly long table that nearly slammed the entire length of the room, which seemed to be enough to seat at least ten people or slightly above that. Though given that she could also see several other tables around, which were circular in shape and had the center image of a blossoming rose, she had a feeling that this area was also prepared to have extra guests aside from the guild crew, if need be.
Though she couldn't really focus on that, when the room smelled more and more like strawberries, and she turned to the oven that was generating the persisting aroma. She then turned to see Jaune remove something with said oven, and the aroma grew much more powerful, as if it were all around her. Ruby for one, immediately went for the source of the scent, though was immediately stopped by Jaune.
"Hold it! Geez, at least let them chill down a little bit."
"Mmmrmm..." Ruby grumbled with folded arms.
"Don't sulk." Jaune rolled his eyes. "Again, you've only proved my point."
"Grrrh."
Cinder scoffed a bit at the girl, though she admitted that she too was drawn to the scent of the dessert that had recently been taken out of the oven. Jaune appeared to be making a few more adjustments to it. Despite cooling down to a more manageable level, the sweet scent of strawberries was still quite strong and sweet. After some time, Jaune allowed Ruby to finally take a strawberry cream puff. Rose petals danced around her as she held her cheek after a bite. Cinder looked at them for a bit, uncertain. She looked to Jaune, who nodded quietly to her. Back to the treats, she reached her hand out cautiously, stopping for a moment as it hovered over one. Sighing, she actually manages to take one. Sniffing the treat and taking in the scent of strawberries, she didn't smell anything else form it. After another look to Jaune, she finally takes a slow bite.
".. It's sweet." Cinder looked towards Jaune as she quickly eats the rest of the treat. "That oven must be highly capable."
"We made sure a lot of things around this area is highly capable. Oven can bake just about anything, fridge can keep things refrigerated really well, the pantry is where some of the groceries are safely stored, along with some other pro cooking supplies, until we're ready to use them." Jaune turned to the fall pantry and larder in question. Appearing tall and structured, there were dedicated spaces in said pantry for cooking supplies and unprocessed goods. There was a glass casing that allowed for said supplies to be viewed, though the glass itself had a slight shining sheen to it that gives the impression that trying to break into it would yield no results. Within it, she could see the assortment of cooking equipment nicely lined up in an orderly manner.
"Of course, it won't mean much if there wasn't a similarly highly capable user of this equipment. You too, are highly capable at baking." Cinder was already in the middle of eating another treat alongside Ruby. Jaune made sure to take note that he might have another gluttonous eater on his hands.
"I try."
"And you've succeeded."
"With our assortment of strawberry cream puffs, we shall move onwards!" Penny beamed while also having a cream puff on hand. Ruby and Jaune soon followed after Penny and Oscar. Cinder looked back, somewhat hesitant to leave the assortment of scents that weller up within the kitchen and dining area. This in of itself was enough to convince her that maybe this wasn't such a terrible idea. Though she'd still wait a little bit longer before making a proper conclusion.
"Alright then, we're moving on!" Ruby beamed while pointing outwards towards the next spacious area. "Here it is, the training room! Doubles as a simple workout room, tho."
For the moment, Cinder didn't particularly see what was so impressive about it. That is, until Penny stepped into the fray and waved her hand. Then, the seemed to come to life.
Several holographic projections manifested all over the place, and appeared as several different things at once. Firstly, it was easy to tell that the holograms were of the hard-light variety, for most of the figures that were attacking one another actually managed to leave a bit of an indent. Such as dummies carrying rifles that shot and pierced through the walls that attempted to impede them. There was even a distinction between the opposing sides, such as reds going against blues.
And then there were digital black shadows that soared over the obstacles and attacked several reds and blues while they were caught off guard. They appeared a lot like they were certain types of Grimm. One of them clawed at some of the holograms, deftly missing before a shot through it's head dissipated it into digital particles.
Cinder guessed that another function of this room was immersion, for there was a brief spread of digitally green particles, as the spacious area managed to mimic that of a small field, where several scenarios of that scale could be replicated in relative safety. Chunks of ground would be torn out from an explosive blow like it would be in the real world, though it would gradually repair itself over time in order to maintain the realistic feeling simulation. It even had a sky box where the sky was cloudy but otherwise mimicked a relatively nice day, even if it's within the midst of hardened battle. A heavy enough impact could disperse the digital realistic illusion.
As impressive as all of this was, it was easy and obvious to know who was in charge of this space.
"How do you do it?" Cinder turned to Penny, who smiled as she raised her hand. A green dot lit up each of her fingers, and she swiped them to the side. After that, the current scenario vanished, and the training room returned to it's default state, which was a green digital room full of glowing moving cubes.
"This room was personally constructed by me, so I have a better grasp on its controls better than the others!" Penny beamed, briefly wiggling her fingers. Cinder watched as the green cubes glowed brightly as they moved at her command. "Just a wee bit of the good ol' techno-sorcery!"
"You appear to be quite adept at it." Yes. If there was anything that was capable of being a very powerful danger with the proper motivation, it was this 'Penny' girl. For a moment she wondered why they didn't bring her along if they were out to subdue her. That would have surely turned the tides to their favor if that had one more person with her level of power.
"With a lot of practice! With some trial and error on the side." Penny beamed while her floating swords hovered over her head, glowing green lines and glowing lights appearing over them, before a gentle wave of her hand caused them to vanish. "I can affect some of the settings of the room, such as the weather and geography. Like so!"
The setting shifted from that of a cloudy sky box to a sunny and cloudless one, with the digital sun's warm and cozy rays beaming down on the inhabitants. Before long, Penny shifted to another setting.
Cinder now experienced the sudden cool and breezy as the wind blew across the grassy field that managed to generate, complete with several patches of rose petals dancing along said wind. In another shift, she felt a more sweltering heat as the sun reappeared, except it was somewhat unmerciful and unrelenting with it's heat beating down on them. It didn't take long for her to notice that they were in a desert setting, complete with sand being picked up and swirled around with the wind. The simulated sand even felt real, as it was rough and coarse and irritating. It beginning to get everywhere.
Cinder was not a fan. Neither were the others.
The setting shifted once more, and the environment changed to something a bit more bearable to a degree, such as a dense green forests. The trees reached high towards the sky, enough to the degree that the sky could barely be seen through the surplus of greenery. The sound of croaking frogs, the buzzing of insects, and even the chirping of various birds helped it convincingly appear to be an actual forests they're currently residing in.
After enough demonstration, Penny eventually reset the room to default, returning it to the glowing cubed stage that it was. "And that's a few of the settings we can practice battle in! There's several more that I can conjure up at the top of my fingers!"
"We can all adjust the settings of the training room, but only Penny can do so remotely." Ruby points out with a raised hand. "Many simulated battle stages came from some of the video games we play together!"
"Is that right...?" Super advanced technology combined/infused with magic. That seemed to be Penny's specialty, given what she's seen from her so far. Cinder has to guess that Penny was one of their more powerful and versatile members precisely because of this attribute of hers. She wondered just how far the young woman could take it, if she felt inspired enough.
Would they have come up with something to kill her, if they so inclined? Did it ever cross their minds during the time they were enemies? It seemed like something Jaune would have at least put on the table if he was ever serious about his attempts at slaying her. Did he really never consider it? And if not, did he not take her seriously enough as an enemy to consider that option? Was it a sense of honor that he wanted to fight her with his own power all those times?
Things were making less sense to her as time went by.
"I think we've shifted through enough of the training room's settings at the moment. There's still more we gotta show ya! Let's move on a bit more!" Ruby beamed as she and Penny pointed forward to the next space. Jaune turned to Cinder and shrugged, while the latter rolled her eyes but nevertheless followed after them. It didn't take long for Cinder to see that Ruby seemed quite proud of this particular section, given the beaming smile she was sporting as she and Penny were both displaying it before them. "My definitely gonna be my favorite area!"
"She was quite insistent on putting this one together." Oscar noted while scratching the back of his head with a smile.
"This is where our friends will entrust the constructing, refining, and upgrading of their weapons! Courtesy of little ol' me!" Ruby points to herself with a wide smile. "And Penny!" She also points to Penny, who was also smiling.
"All the nuts and bolts of weapons and gear, we handle them all here!" Penny exclaimed with jazz hands for emphasis.
It wasn't a joke that Ruby was particularly enthusiastic about this particular section, for it was decorated with all sorts of blueprints and schematics for various weapons and gear for the crew to utilize and improve on. Of particular note was something relating to a scythe; that was given quite a bit more emphasis than the others, if only because Ruby had been busy with these plans before. Several blueprints centered around this scythe, both in written form and in holographic form, as well as several saved drafts on her Scroll. Though upon further look, several weapons had holographic displays and written drafts, and it was likely they belonged to the rest of their comrades. There was even several displays of the weapons in motion, including steps about how the gears would react with one another and how the weapons would fire of they're projectile focused.
Several container filled with workshop equipment specified even towards improvements to the building itself, including armaments and battle mechs of some sort. Mini-battle mechs to defend the base when it's not occupied, and auto-defenses to protect from the outside. Shielding, warning system, sentry system, scanning, and more. These plans would hover across the screens with various concepts and designs in play, indicating that they weren't quite complete just yet.
"There are plenty of devices and tech that we wanna construct and put into action so we can make our base the best of can be. But in some aspects, we don't have the for them yet." Penny placed a hand on her cheek. "More to the fact, I don't quite have a complete idea of how to construct them yet, materials. It's going to be quite a factor into making sure that these plans come further into completion." Penny smiled. "For potential base attacks, I wish to be able to employ laser defenses!"
"Those shields have to be top notch!" Ruby pumped her fists.
"As you can see, they're pretty excited about some of these plans." Jaune noted while watching the two of them. "The standard preparations for the base are complete, though things will need to settle more before we can begin on those upgrades and such. Once we get back to work we'll be able to work out way towards making some of these concepts a reality...within reason. We shouldn't get too crazy."
"But what if I wanna-" Ruby began.
"There's limits to how crazy we can get, Ruby. Unless we wanna get yelled at for property damage."
"Phooey."
Cinder observed the duo's dynamic. It was becoming more and more apparent that Jaune was the more grounded of the two of them, given how he tried to tone down Ruby's excitement and wants to more reasonable levels. Though he also made the somewhat unreasonable decision to save her life, something which Ruby also supported. The pragmatic choice which would have resulted in less future difficulties for them would have been to simply let her die. They've actively chosen what was sure to be the more difficult path, and it was a mutual agreement between them once that was made clear.
Why?
Try as she might, she couldn't get a concrete read on him. She clenched her fists, before unclenching them with a sigh as she shook her head. It's pointless to be frustrated over something like that, but she couldn't help it. Her eyes simply continued to focus on him as she awaited proceeding onwards, tugging on her scarf and keeping her eyes vigilant for anything.
"Anyway, let's move on. There's still a few places to tour!" Penny raised her hand in salute.
"The briefing room is way over there." Oscar briefly gestured over to the next room as they all stepped forward. As such, there was a long circular table with chairs surrounding it. And sitting above said table, appeared to be a glowing orb of sorts that was occasionally showing holographic images of events passing by. "Here we mostly have meetings about where we're going next, what expeditions we might go on, and overall the area where we manage the more detail aspects of organizing ourselves and our movements."
Across the board where several holographic messages about what was going on at certain times around their current area, and several other points that were of interest. Messages regarding the news, reports of new assignments and potential expedition areas, and notifications from Beacon HQ. There were a few that were building up already, and it seemed to be in response to Ruby having finalized her decision to forming her guild. The connection here seems to indicate that Beacon will still be associated with the Red Riding Hood Guild, though it will be on much less of a leash now that it's gained the ability to stand on its own. Mission updates and reward notifications may come mostly from Beacon. Though a bit interesting to Cinder, it also kept track on who was currently out on the field at the moment, given that the ones Ruby had named had their names somewhat blank and colorless. And the crew members currently in the base had digital rose petals surrounding their colored names.
Though Cinder noticed that there was one mission in particular that was 'locked', and was saved for later after certain qualifications have been met. Whatever it was about, keeping the mission on standby gave off the impression that they were waiting for something first before they took it on. It also left her wondering if they were
"This is the library." Oscar calmly gestured outwards with a hand, taking note of the array of books that filled up the space with earnest. "We kinda do most of our research here, and we gather more books on certain subjects that pertain to our objectives, that haven't been completely uncovered yet."
The setup from the library was nicely organized, having certain sections to them. There was a section dedicated to storybooks, which had the image of a cloud hovering in the sky with a child sitting on top of said cloud. There was also a section dedicated to light novels of different genres, with the given image of both a sword and a blaster. Through another section, there was a gathering of book related mostly to research material, focused around the alteration of environments, weather patterns, potential enemy hazards, and the relations between these things. The image for this section was a map. And yet another section with it's dedicated subject, appeared to be an encyclopedia of supernatural creatures of a wide variety of sorts. With this, there was the images of the faces of three creatures that were either roaring, hissing, or smiling in a friendly manner. And then there were also several books centered around construction of magical and scientific constructs, which had the image above it with the representation of a sparkling star in the center of a gear.
"Aside from the workshop, this is also a favorite room of mine." Ruby smiled sincerely while taking in the room. "I'd like to come here and read storybooks and light novels with Blake whenever I can. Doing a lot of studying and researching here will do is all some wonders."
"Knowledge is its own kind of power." Oscar agreed.
"And over here, the bathing area!" Penny flew over with a array of green sparkles.
Getting a closer look, Cinder was somewhat impressed by how clean the water was, alongside how there seemed to be a fountain right in the middle that poured said water into the bath. A rose tree was seen right on top of the fountain, glistening and sparkling beautifully. Colorful rainbow bubbles floated peacefully all around the room, sometimes calmly bouncing away from one another when they occasionally collided. Along the side seemed to be a steam adjustment, then there was how much pressure there should be for the nearby showering areas, and there was even a bubble setting. The amount of bubbles floating about, was somewhat on the low setting, as there were only about ten at a time at the moment. The scent of strawberries filled the air, the current choice of bath scent.
"You can tell that we'll be refreshing ourselves here often." Jaune scratched the back of his head with a low smile. "As you can see, there's been quite a bit of effort into this one as well. Weiss in particular was very specific about getting various amount of bath scents in advance. She likes a little bit of variety about smells when she's squeaky clean.
"Yang does too. Especially when she breaks out the hair conditioning. She sometimes does my hair, and it might be a bit more relaxing here." Ruby raised her hand, bringing it through her doing black and red hair.
Cinder looked at the shimmering water with a tilted head, her tail gently falling against the ground several times. Taking a moment, she tugged on her cloths for a bit and sniffed, before she winced and pulled back from it. That bath suddenly looked very enticing right now. It might feel good for a long soak. Maybe as a dragon she'd even wash her sca-
No.
She immediately incinerated that thought when it came into existence, making sure every trace of it was nothing but ashes. That was unnecessary, unneeded. Bathing in human form would be more than sufficient. She clutched onto her scarf, narrowing her eyes and shaking her head. She grits her teeth at the several seconds she even allowed herself to go down that route, jaws clenched and-
"Cinder? Are you okay?"
Cinder snapped out of her episode to realize that Jaune was looking right at her, having noticed that she was tensing up considerably without having spoken a word. She could see that Ruby, Oscar, and Penny could also see her in the state she was in and have been trying to get her attention. Did she block everything out until Now and she hadn't been paying attention? She then realized that Jaune was still standing intently at her, concerned. She looked away instantly once she processed this, not completely aware of the blush brushing across her cheeks.
"I'm well."
"You sure?"
"Certainly."
Jaune nodded, though he still made note of her pause as he turned around to the next area. "Well, just in case, it's probably a pretty good step that we're introducing the infirmary next, huh?" He gestured forward with a smile.
It was stocked to several bits of medical supplies, up to bandages, potions, medicine. Many of them were on a shelf that could be accessed by any of the crew, though not without a slight bit of approval. There were several medical beds line up on each side of the room, each of the sheets and pillows nicely adjusted and well placed, with the former having been fluffed for maximum comfort. On the sides of them were several trays with supplies that were set for the purpose of cleaning up. And separating some of the beds were curtains, for the sake of privacy of need be.
"I'm kind of the spearhead of this particular area, given I'm the groups healer." Jaune scratched the top of his head. "Though given my priority role, I would hope that we wouldn't have to sit in here longer than we have to. For if we end up here for a long time, it means I haven't exactly been doing a great job protecting the others from getting too heavily hurt."
"You're doing fine." Ruby reassured while patting his shoulder with a sweet smile. "And you're only going to get better and better."
"Hopefully."
"Do you cherish your role as both a healer and a protector?" Cinder looked to Jaune as she tugged her scarf. He scratched his cheek with a finger before nodding.
"I'd say so. With the amount of training I've done, can safely say that I'm a pretty capable magic knight. I've got offense, defense and support all covered. I just specialize in the latter two, that's all."
"And a bit of a last stop...the storage room!" Penny beamed while gesturing to the large room in question. Where most of the extra supplies are placed and where they would be safely and securely contained until further notice. To a degree, it also seemed to work as a sort of treasure room, given Cinder could see of gold here and there, specifically within metallic chests that glistened off of the light above them.
"Ya see, a lot of things we can't find an immediate use for but might consider later, will go in here." Penny smiled with another gesture. "And until those times for usage come, they're likely to remain here until further notice. In a safe place."
"I see." Cinder noted while lightly rubbing her chin. "You manage to find a use for the useless."
"...Not the most common way to put it, but I guess that works." Jaune shrugged with a bit of a smile.
That covered all of the areas, thus the quintet made their way back to the center of the base. Ruby's Scroll beeped several times, and she checked it to see what the notification was. After reading through it, she sighed slightly.
"Guys, it looks like the others are going to be running late." Ruby relayed while turning towards them while pocketing her Scroll. "They won't be here until later. How much later? No idea."
"Well, that's a bit of a bummer." Jaune uttered while folding his arms. "Do you at least know if they're going to be arriving all at once or one at a time?"
"Given the different assignments, that's probably not gonna happen." Oscar scratched his head.
"It would seem we will have to wait a bit longer." Penny smiled patiently.
"Darn." Ruby sighed while scratching the side of her head with a grunt. Though after thinking it through, she raised her head back up with a smile. "Ah well! At the very least we can keep the place warm until they all get back! We can confirm for them that the base is up and ready to go!"
"That might be best." Oscar scratched the back of his head with a bit of a sigh. "I guess that's settled. We're pretty much ready to go, but I guess we won't be in complete operations until we're all gathered together. I don't think we'll be doing any serious movements, but we should be able to take on a few missions until everyone's gathered together."
"That sounds fair. Until everyone's assembled, we can settle for the small scale assignments for now." Ruby agreed. Then at that moment, she heard another fit of beeping from her Scroll, and she once again took it out of her pocket. As she read the newest message, she gasped in a fit of surprise. "Oh gosh! We gotta get outside!" Ruby hurriedly dashed to the entrance in a blur.
"Lady Goodwitch and Ozpin has arrived. This is probably going to be complicated." Penny relayed with a slightly worried smile.
"Oh crud." Jaune panicked and held the sides of his head. "This is seriously sudden!"
"Glynda and Ozpin?" Cinder turned towards Jaune with curiosity. She's recalled hearing their names at certain points during their travels.
Ruby briefly appeared outside of the base with her hands on her knees, before she stood back up while greeting the newcomers with a smile. "Hi, Miss Goodwitch!"
"O-Ozpin! Sorry for not responding earlier." Oscar reiterated while standing up straight.
"Hello!" Penny also greeted with a smile and wave. And it was after her, that Jaune and Cinder also exited the base to greet the newcomers.
The one recognized as Glynda Goodwitch, was a statuesque blond woman with jade colored eyes. She donned purple form fitting robes that graciously hugged her body and revealed slights of her ample cleavage, a pointed witch's hat that had a glowing green eye with a yellow pupil in the center, and a jade necklace around her neck. She pushed her glasses up as they shined briefly. There was a certain atmosphere around her that brimmed with authority, and that air could not be ignored.
Right next to her was someone who was a lot more relaxed, but nevertheless had a similarly powerful presence to him. Ozpin, who dressed in a black and green suit, paired with a green scarf around his neck. His eyes were much calmer, yet they also seemed to be very knowing and understanding, to a degree.
Both of them were currently gazing at the young ones before them, who were hurrying to collect themselves before the two of them. Cinder found the display to be quite telling, to a degree.
"Ruby. I've received your notice. And would like to personally confirm with you that you've been approved for Guild Leader status. You have my congratulations for your hard work." Glynda began, her voice stern yet simultaneously supportive.
"Thank you, Miss Goodwitch!" Ruby beamed brightly with shining eyes.
"However, there is a concern that I should also address personally. And it regards your newest addition to your grouping..." Glynda slowly turned to the one known as Cinder, who looked back at her indifferently. Ruby looked in between them, and rubbed the back of her neck.
"W-Well, you see, she's, uh-"
"Calm yourself. This isn't a reprimand. Simply an observation. And depending on how that progresses...a warning." Glynda calmly reassured, yet also made sure that caution was instilled. "So...you are the infamous HellFire Dragon, Cinder Fall."
"...And what if I am?" Cinder responded once again with indifference, folding her arms under her breasts as her tail idly seated behind her.
"Oh dear." Penny worried while looking in between the two of them.
"Ruby. Have you informed your other guild mates of this decision?"
"Yes, I have. I let them know ahead of time." Ruby awkwardly looked to the side. "The face to face reaction is what I'm really worried about..."
"Quite."
Ozpin meanwhile, simply looked at Cinder with hints of fascination. "What a surprise. I wouldn't have thought that I'd have the opportunity to see an actual dragon. One of the mightiest supernatural creatures in our world. Oscar, how did you all come to know each other?"
"It's a bit of an awkward story, Grandmaster Ozpin." Oscar nervously rubbed his shoulder. "Though to put it super simply, it took quite a bit of time to really understand a bit of the truth behind the rumors about her, then us joining Jaune on an encounter with her. One thing led to another and now...well, she's with us."
"What a fun story!" Penny clapped, before she cleared her throat.
"Quite." Glynda acknowledged, before returning her attention to Ruby. "Ruby. I will not condemn you for this decision. You've made your choice based on your own morals and judgement, and thus I will not relinquish it from you. However, you should be prepared to endure the consequences of this decision."
"Yeah, I kinda figured." Ruby lightly twiddled her fingers together. "I left the choice to Jaune on whether or not we should have helped her. He felt like we should, so I supported that by taking her in."
"Mr. Arc, is this true?" Ozpin questions, in which Jaune flinched and nodded from the sudden attention on him. "And what drove you to make such a decision? You're aware of how dangerous dragons can be, are you not? Given how you've come to conflict with her firsthand."
"I know, I know." Jaune uttered while running a hand through his hair, shaking his head before resolutely reaffirming himself. "Even so, I don't regret my decision at all."
"Neither do I." Ruby agreed with a similarly resolute nod. "This choice wasn't wrong. I'll help the others realize that. We'll prove it."
"I have no intentions of dissuading you from doing so. I'm simply confirming if you are indeed aware of the risks of this decision." Glynda acknowledged while turning to Cinder. "Must I include that she herself is aware of the risks of her decision to remain with you?"
"Tch."
"Her presence could mean several omens." Ozpin rubbed his chin in casual thought. "May her appearance be a catalyst of certain approaching calamities? Will others that know of her existence seek to slay her for the glory of taking her head? Or will others wish to control her and use her to conquer or destroy their enemies?"
Cinder's eyes glowed fiercely.
Suddenly, a blazing heat manifested around the group. The younger ones leapt back with surprise as the inferno briefly rose up into the air. Before long, the stomp of a large scaly foot made the ground tremble, and the heavy breathing, paired with flames, filled the air. Ozpin slowly looked up, and realized he was making contact with a dragons golden eye glaring right at him.
"Are you threatening me?" Cinder growled viciously, her wings flaring outwards.
"W-Woah! Cinder, hold up!" Jaune briefly stepped in front of her with placating hands.
"Oh? Sorry, my inquiries sometimes get away from me." Ozpin apologized, looking back into her large eye without a hint of worry. "You seem to react quite violently towards potential threats towards your personal freedom. I do wonder how far you are willing to go in order to protect it."
"As far as it takes." Cinder growled again, baring her fangs towards the elder wizard. "I shall maintain and protect my freedom. It matters not who or what I must dominate, devour, or destroy in order to do so."
"Cinder, relax!" Ruby also hurriedly jumped in front of her with waving hands.
"I'll be sure to keep that in mind." Ozpin smiles quietly. "I do find your ability to shift into a human form fascinating. You can blend in quite easily with that."
Cinder growled lowly, steam and smoke still leaving her nostrils and maw, before she closed the latter and sits back with a scoff. Ruby and Jaune sighed at the close call, while Oscar and Penny still looked rather worried for them, coming to each of their sides.
Oscar folded his arms behind his back. "Well then, I'm dreadfully sorry to have disturbed you. I wish you good fortune on your endeavors." With that, Ozpin was well on his way. Glynda watched him leave with a glare of annoyance, before she turned to Ruby with an adjustment of her glasses.
"Ruby. You are a guild leader now. Therefore, I encourage you to do what you truly believe is best. Both for yourself and for those that support you." She tipped her witch's hat with a nod. "Have a good evening."
"Thanks..." Ruby slumped her shoulders as Glynda also left the group behind, as she was catching up to Ozpin. Ruby watched as Glynda smacked him across the head with her hat before she placed it on her head and soared off into the distance. The latter was left holding his head before proceeding onwards.
There was a moment of silence as the quartet was standing with a rather irritated dragon in their midst, and it was rather clear to them that she hasn't calmed down quite as much as they've hoped. For several seconds, they wondered if she was going to say anything about the veiled warnings to her, or if she was going to fume quietly.
She finally broke the silence.
"Understand this." Cinder coldly began, making sure the others could hear her. Especially Ruby and Jaune. "I will not allow my path to pursuing my desires to be impeded. If I find that aligning myself with you prevents me from achieving them, then I will conclude that you are indeed my enemies."
"Oh. Oh dear." Penny clasped her hands in worry, while Oscar took a few steps back. Ruby and Jaune briefly looked at one another, before the latter with his hands raised. Ruby folded her arms and observed from where she stood.
"Hey hey, easy. Look, Cinder. None of us are a threat to your desires. Not in the slightest." Jaune shook his head. "Just for curiosity's sake, though. What do you want?"
Cinder growled lowly, her eyes quietly glowing, before plumes of smoke left her nostrils.
"I wish to be stronger. Feared by my enemies. More powerful than any of them. My desires can only be fulfilled through strength." Cinder muttered lowly. "I've never had the luxury of living a life that I can have pride in. I refuse to go back to a life where the most I can do is survive to the next day with no sense of contentment. For a mighty dragon, that is an especially pitiful existence. I cannot and will not accept it. I must attain the strength to hold onto my freedom, that opportunity to gain some self-respect for my life, lest it slip through my fingers again. Everything I want, everything I achieve, everything I do. I wish to do so by my own ability, power, and will. Come hell or high water, I will prove my superiority and be recognized for it. As of right now...I have not earned any of it."
The low growl sounded off throughout the area, the dragoness' voice booming with frustration.
Jaune took a breath and kept his hands raised.
"Okay, I get it. Basically, you wanna prove yourself, to yourself, as well as others." Jaune smiled. "Well, so do I."
Cinder blinked. "What might you have to prove?"
"That I'm capable of taking on the dangers of the world and protecting my Guild, no matter how intense or powerful they are. We're going to be doing a lot, you see." Jaune briefly gestured to Ruby. "Ruby's our Guild Leader. And as silly as she can be-"
"Very true."
"-she's the one we count on to cut a path forward. While she's doing that, someone has to watch her back, as well as the entire guild. That's where I come in." Jaune nodded. "We make serious attempts at overcoming any challenge we seek, and then coming back alive and well. That's how we really know we've accomplished something during our adventure. And that brings us an extra step closer to proving ourselves worthy of the things that we're looking to achieve."
"Basically, we're like you in that area. We all have things that we wanna prove to ourselves, and we're willing to work hard to reach for and grab them." Ruby briefly adjusted her cowl. "You can trust us on this, Cinder. You're amongst friends."
"As well as kindred spirits." Oscar noted while tapping his cane on the ground. "Each of us strive for the strength to shape our own stories. To take our fates into our own hands."
"There are dreams that lie waiting on the sky, and a lot of us wanna fly up and reach them!" Penny beamed while spreading her arms. "Oh! You have wings, Cinder! You can fly through the skies whenever you want! You'll be able to reach them super easily!"
"It's not that literal, but I like the spirit." Jaune gave Penny a thumbs up, before turning back to Cinder. "So you see, at the base, we all want the same thing. Just in different directions. I'm sorry if it appeared that we weren't taking it seriously, but I promise you that we are. You don't have to worry about any of those things happening to you, because none of us are gonna let it. Especially not me."
The dragoness lowly growled while sitting on her haunches, her eyes flaring up and her wings folded against her back. He seemed to be making quite a few declarations that he fully believed in his ability to keep, regardless of how difficult it might be to do so. And this would certainly be incredibly difficult to keep. Her wings briefly flapped again, picking up a bit of wind. After some thought, she briefly raised her right paw, opening and closing it, light gleaming off her claws.
"So...you are truly and fully prepared to defend me and my desires?" Cinder uttered. "I have a place I'd like to carve out for myself in this world. There are several things that will inevitably get in my way. Other species of supernatural creatures will threatened by my presence, and seek to crush me. You being by my side assisting me will also bring others to antagonize you in order to eliminate me. And then there are those who wish to simply use me for conquest. And therefore..."
Her claws dug deeply into the ground, her eyes lit up for several moments, and plumes of smoke threatened to leave her maw. She growled viciously for several moments, before she composed herself and sat up straight.
"...enslave me." She narrowed her eyes. "I would sooner be slain than enslaved."
"Well, neither is gonna happen. Because you've got us, and we can take on anything the world throws at us that tries to say otherwise." Jaune reassured. He had no idea why Ozpin placed these things in her head. Or rather, he simply bringing out several anxieties she's had underneath the surface. Either way, he wasn't okay with that approach. "No one's going to manipulate you on our watch."
"Do you have the confidence to live up to those words?"
"I've got confidence to spare in regards to keeping my promises, and I've been honing the ability to back it up. All I need from you is the opportunity to prove it." Jaune nodded. "How about it? Again, were sorry if we didn't seem serious enough to you, but we'll fix that right now. I'm promising to support you. You with us? We can help you succeed."
Cinder hummed quietly at the offer. Calming down a bit, she might have gotten a bit incensed over nothing. She didn't sense any dishonesty in Jaune's words. And she could definitely see the steadfastness in his eyes that he'll do whatever he can to live up to and keep to said words. She found herself feeling a bit respectful of that aspect.
'You can't do it.'
She froze up briefly at the voice, which she long thought to be distant. And yet, it sounded like it never left.
'You don't have what it takes, Cindy! You're too weak of heart, will, and power to even make a pitiful half-assed attempt at this!'
'They will hunt you down like the savage creature you are, the inevitable second you step out of line. And they will not think twice about it.'
'Hide it behind false bravado if you wish, but you'll see the truth in time. Happiness is not your destiny. It never was. Never has. And never will be.'
The voices. Those accursed voices are digging at her again. Even when she's distanced herself from them physically, it's like their presence was still haunting her mind. The voices over her shoulder almost always being there. Taunting her. Demeaning her. Dispiriting her. And with each and every one, she found herself lowering her head a bit in her mind, on the edge of a pitiful whimper.
Then, before her head touched the ground, she recalled a fond memory. And suddenly, her head lifted back up, eyes blazing. Though to the ones observing her, it only took her a second. Whilst her mind perceived it as a decision taking hours.
"You seem to believe rather highly in your capabilities. I suppose I didn't take you seriously on that either, considering how easily I doubted you the second something came up to question your intentions. In that regard, I apologize too."
"Don't worry about it. It's a bit of a rocky start, not all of us make the best of calls at the beginning. But we can still get better." Jaune raised his hand, closing it into a fist. "That mean a yes on trusting us?"
Cinder nodded gruffly. And with her currently sizable fist, she went on to bump her fist against Jaune's, allowing a low hum of acknowledgement in response. It felt more sincere, doing this as her true self. The form she was born with, and comfortable with. And here she was, fist bumping with a knight. Whoever heard of a dragon fist bumping a knight, anyway? Well, at the very least, they can claim that they've done something rare.
"I trust you."
"Great. Now that that's settled, I've got something to strive for. Making sure that that decision you made wasn't wrong." Jaune confidently thumbed his chest. "Leave it to me!"
"Jaune. Do you realize how awesome this is?" Ruby beamed brightly with her hands on her cheeks. "You fist bumped a dragon!"
"I know, right?! Isn't it cool?!"
"Totally cool!"
And while Ruby was gushing with Jaune over the rarity of such an experience, Cinder pulled her paw back and laid it on the ground, her wings closing. The voices were still quietly taunting her, but they seemed a bit farther away now. It was always hard to ignore them while her guard was down. She's thought once or twice about giving into them. To cut her losses and simply accept that she wasn't cut out for whatever heights she was reaching. But she didn't get this far by giving up, no matter how painful it was. This was her another challenge for her to overcome. There was only one thing she could do in order to truly silence those voices forever.
I'll prove them all wrong.
Ah, Cinder.
Still trying to prove she's the best. Still wants to exhibit that 'I'm better than you and I can prove it' energy, except she wants to do it more legitimately in this world. And as always, thanks to her various vices, she's still gonna get in her own way, almost as much as her enemies will. Because if there's one thing we definitely know for sure about Cinder, it's that more often than not, she's her own worst enemy. Unfortunately for her, that hasn't changed too much, despite this being a drastically different Remnant. And because this is a different Remnant, some things have been slightly better for her, other things have been MUCH worse.
On the brighter side, having kindhearted souls like Ruby and Jaune with her will eventually prove to fall into the former camp, big time.
Until next time!