Chapter 19: Salutations

A new friend! Sensational!

Vale truly was a sensational location in which to exist. Penny had never been to a downtown before, and she was determined to make the most of this rare opportunity. To this end, she had organized a checklist of strategic objectives that would aid her in maximizing enjoyment of this excursion.

Step One: Sightseeing.

Penny's optical sensors operated at 100% efficiency. She could see all sights around her up to a 250 meter distance.

Check.

Step Two: Try the local cuisine.

Penny saw a fruitmonger's vendor stand 4.9 meters away purveying fresh fruits and vegetables. She strolled over to the place of commerce and snatched a cantaloupe out of a pile. Biting into the melon's rind, she chewed and swallowed.

Check.

Step Three: Make friends.

Penny put the melon back down into the pile and departed. Her biometric scanners detected 33 humans, 3 Faunus, 1 dog, and 6 pigeons within a 40 meter radius. Oh, the dog got one of the pigeons. Make that 5.5 pigeons.

Penny decided she wanted a girl friend. They could paint their nails and try on clothes and talk about cute boys! The nearest Valean female, an elderly human wearing spectacles and a pale blue sunhat, sat on a park bench reading a newspaper. Penny sat down next to the woman. The woman did not respond.

Penny scooched closer. "Salutations! I am Penny Polendina."

"Please, I don't want any trouble."

"Sensational! I don't want any trouble either." Penny was glad they had so much in common.

"What do you want from me?"

Now, to extend an offer of friendship. "I'm so glad you asked. You see, I was hoping we might be able to have a special relationship."

"W-What kind of relationship?"

"I'm told that the kind of friendship I seek is characterized by being respectful to one another, ensuring harm does not come to our friends, and doing favors for each other." Penny smiled, taking care to expose her teeth and ensure the smile was optimized.

"H-Here, you can have all my lien."

"Why thank you, ma'am! What a kind gift."

"So, then you won't…won't let harm come to me?"

"Nope!"

Suddenly, before Penny even had a chance to paint the woman's nails, she stood up and ran off. What a shame – they were so close to becoming friends! Penny rose from the bench. With her third objective incomplete, she could not yet claim to have properly appreciated the city of Vale. This was unsatisfactory. She stepped forward, eager to locate a second first friend.

Penny was then on the floor.

This was wonderful! The cobblestones of the Valean street were exceptionally crafted and uniformly distributed. The white haired teenager who'd collided with her was also with her on the floor.

Hmmmm.

The white haired potential friend…

"It is really wonderful down here, isn't it?"

"What…? Who…? Is Ruby still following me?"

"To answer your questions in chronological order: I am not sure, I am Penny Polendina, and I am not sure. It would appear that I am not well informed. I shall endeavor to rectify this in the future."

The white-haired girl sat up, and Penny followed suit so that they could maintain eye contact.

Oh! Several news articles previously downloaded into Penny's memory banks from the Atlesian database confirmed this girl's identity as Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee dust company, world renowned singer, and sister of Specialist Winter Schnee.

"Salutations, Weiss Schnee!"

Weiss didn't have a plan. This became painfully obvious when she tried to outrun Ruby Rose.

"Weisswaitupwecantalkaboutthis!"

Weiss had spent enough time around her team leader to understand that Ruby's semblance allowed for incredible control of momentum and agility. There was no way she could outrun her, not in a straight race.

Ruby was gaining on her. Weiss was going to get caught, and then Ruby would drag her back, and she'd have to face the fact that she'd fallen in love with Blake, and Blake was a–

Weiss rounded a corner. Maybe she could lose Ruby in the twists and turns of an alleyway. She summoned a Glyph to overturn a dumpster in hopes of blocking the path behind her. Ruby literally ran up the wall and continued to chase Weiss while dashing on the vertical face of a building.

"WeissasyourteamleaderI'morderingyoutoslowdown!"

Weiss seriously considered it for a second. Why prolong the inevitable anyways? She was always first and foremost a practical woman, and practicality dictated that she was out of other options…

She'd been out of options during initiation. She'd run herself into a corner and nearly ended up gored by Nevermore as a result. Weiss swore to herself that she would never feel like she did that night again.

Screw practicality. Weiss Schnee made her own options.

Weiss stopped and reached into her combat skirt pocket as Ruby hopped from the wall and zoomed forward with her arms raised. Before she could wrap them around her teammate in a wide bear hug, Weiss cracked open a vial of lightning dust and summoned a Time Dilation Glyph below Ruby to speed her up. Ruby had not been expecting her speed to rapidly double. She skidded to a halt but could not brake before she tripped over a heap of trash bags and landed face-first in a dumpster.

Weiss would've stopped to check if she was alright, but there was no time. Ruby was at full aura, so there was no chance of any real harm. Weiss summoned another set of Time Dilation Glyphs and accelerated away from Ruby. Away from her team. Away from whatever Blake was.

Weiss glanced over her shoulder to see if Ruby was following her. Of course, the 0.2 seconds she took to look backwards happened to be the 0.2 seconds when some girl walked right in front of her. Both tumbled down into the street.

"It is really wonderful down here, isn't it?"

"What…? Who…? Is Ruby still following me?"

"To answer your questions in chronological order: I am not sure, I am Penny Polendina, and I am not sure. It would appear that I am not well informed. I shall endeavor to rectify this in the future."

Ah. Weiss had hit her head and was hallucinating due to a concussion. That was the only sane explanation for why this girl was talking crazy.

Yeah, because today was so sane before this. Faunus suddenly aren't animals, and I'm in love with one of them.

Weiss wanted to cry. It wasn't fair. It just wasn't. She'd finally found a family in her burgeoning team. Her father didn't have his claws dug into Vale, and she was free. And now, after finally coming to terms with her feeling for Blake, it was all torn away from her.

A̶c̶t̶u̶a̶l̶l̶y̶,̶ ̶n̶o̶t̶h̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶w̶a̶s̶ ̶t̶o̶r̶n̶ ̶a̶w̶a̶y̶.̶ ̶I̶ ̶c̶h̶o̶s̶e̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶r̶u̶n̶.

"Salutations, Weiss Schnee!"

"Oh, I'm so sorr– wait, did you know my name?"

"…yes. Yes, I did. You name appears in over 15,530 instances within my records."

Weiss laughed bitterly. "Well, it's great to finally get some recognition." She hugged her knees. "None of my other friends even knew who I was."

Tears were unbecoming of a Schnee. That didn't stop them from pouring out.

"Other…friends? Is this to mean that we are friends, Weiss Schnee? Am I really your friend?"

"Sure. I'll take any friend I can get."

And the rest was history.

Omake

Old Lady: Please, I have a family.

Penny: Yay, even more friends!

Next Chapter: Teen Yangst – In which Yang is fed up with drama threatening to tear apart her friends.

Author's Notes - Since this chapter is so short, I posted the next one as well. Fuck you, also you're welcome.