Roman was walking through the street, you think he would spot out like a sore tomb between this people that was so unimportant Roman could swear they were just copy pasted shadows to fill the background
But he didn't, he was good sneaking by and going unnoticed even before he meet Neo, and he knew better how to do the opposite since there was a reason he's favored kind of dust ammunition was the ones similar to fireworks, the more destruction 'the more attention' he always said and he was right
But somehow Roman didn't see someone right in front of him, "hey watch-" Roman cut himself when he couldn't see the person he clashed with "salutations!" Said a robotic but energetic and innocent voice making Roman look around until he's feet bumped into something making him look down to see…
"And I thought little red and Neo back then were weird" said Roman looking at a ginger green eyed girl resting on the ground making him jump back a little
"Ehh… hey? Are you going yo lay there like a corpse or…?" Asked Roman has the girl stood up at light speeds and greeted him once again "salutations!" Said Penny
"Salute to you has well floor girl" said Roman with a confused tone that changed into he's usual sassy one in a heartbeat
"My name is not miss floor, I'm Penny, Penny Polendina" said the girl with a happy tone making Roman wipe he's smile off, he was either dealing with a smartass or a dumbass and he didn't know which was worse
"Well my friend, this has been a unique experience but I have better things to do" said Roman walking away before he turned around and saw the girl in front of him "what? How did you-" then Roman was cut by Penny "how did you call me?" Asked Penny with a more serious tone
"floor girl? Although If you want I can make another like greenie or the second best red head, number one is me of course" said Roman with a smile but when Penny's face didn't change he's did into a more serious one
"You called me a friend" said Penny making Roman's face change once again to one of confusion "do you consider me a friend?" Asked the girl with a tone that to Roman had a similarity to pleading
Sadly Roman had a weakness, he hated kids because he always hated seeing those sad little faces full of innocence that would sooner or later crash and burn, and he might have been projecting for he's own childhood so he did something that might destroy he's reputation if he ever let it be known, he let out a loud sigh and said "yes kid"
The girl jumped in happiness "splendid! We will have so much fun, painting our nails, talking about cute boys and- wait a minute, you are a boy" said Penny "wow really?" Asked Roman with a slightly tired tone
"Yes, although is weird you're surprised as well, are you-" Penny was cut by Roman "listen up floor girl, that was sarcasm, learn to use it because you'll find a lot of people who uses it" said Roman
"Understood, but my name still isn't floor girl, is Penny, Penny Po-" she was cut once again by Roman "and that, is a nickname, I give nicknames to most people I meet" said Roman with a tired smile, this kid hasn't insulted or pointed a gun at him yet she's the most tiring kid he's interacted with
"Oh, thanks for telling me hat friend" said penny making Roman look at her rising a eyebrow "that was a nickname" said Penny, Roman shrugged since she was technically correct which was the only kind of truth Roman sometimes liked to give
"Anyway kid, why is a kid such has you going all around vale alone, don't you know there's criminals all around? You could get attacked by some nasty criminal, even by one of the important ones that appear on the news" said Roman with a slightly mocking tone, it wasn't everyday he approached to someone who wouldn't recognize the guy who's been in the news for the past month
"Well I… I-uhm, well… they're around" said Penny before hiccuping, Roman could smell the lies from a mile away, she was even hiccuping from the panic which is a weird mechanism but Roman has seen weirder, like Junior high pitching he's voice when intimidated or Neo's eyes going white when scared or the Malachite sisters and whatever that twin witchcraft crap they were doing was all about
"You ran away then? Must say, I didn't expect it from someone so innocent looking" said Roman with a mocking tone
"I didn't run away!" She hiccups again, "I just wanted to explore vale on my own" said Penny and since she didn't hiccup then Roman took it has true, he already got her all figured out
"Sheltered kid taking a second to see the real world" said Roman, "follow me kid" added the master thief
The two walked to a cafe and Roman made the girl order because he was still a wanted criminal, she didn't order something for her so Roman took a Black cup of coffee for himself, luckily for Roman she even paid for it
"So floor girl, you just revealed to me that you were exploring which means you aren't from here" said Roman and Penny nodded "I'm a Student from Atlas, I came here to participate in the Vytal festival" said the normal girl happily and determined but Roman frowned in response
"So a huntsman in training?" Asked Roman with a sore look on he's face and the girl nodded happily while saying "affirmative" before noting he's expression "what's the matter Hat friend?" Asked Penny
"You are innocent, so let me fix that" said Roman putting he's coffee down and lighting up a cigarette "what do you mean?" Asked Penny
"When I was a kid I ran away from home and after a while I became a huntsman in training in mistral, there I made a team and helped me learn to fight to become to person I'm today" said Roman with a monotone tone looking at the sky
"You're a huntsman?" Asked Penny weirded since she went through the files of all the huntsman's and huntsman's in training of vale she had available and her friend didn't appear on any of them
"Ha! No, abandoned it at the start of the second year" said Roman
"Why?" Asked Penny confused, entering to one of the academy's was a prowess, something not many would abandon after a year and laugh because of it
"You see my team was formed by misfits, me the run away farmer boy with a stick, then the academy prankster Peter Stachio, but everyone called him Boogie because he was a cockroach Faunus and a he really liked to go around bugging on everyone else's problems with he's pranks, mainly by hiding things under our beds, I still remember when he put fireworks under mine, that inspired me to make a custom dust round that acted like fireworks in a way, that fat cockroach" said Roman with a smile
"If he was your friend then why are you calling him cockroach? Isn't that an insult?" Asked Penny confused
"Friendly banter" said Roman confusing Penny more "it's when a friend insults you but both of you know he's just joking and just doing it for a laugh" said Roman a bit annoyed making Penny say "oh, I see, your eyeliner makes you look like a girl" said Penny, Roman sighed "you need practice"
"Then there was Snake Sustrai, despite what the name implies he isn't a Faunus, but he did have a hypnotic semblance with he's red glowing eyes, the sucker made a Beringel who got past the defenses snap he's own neck. He knew every trick in the book to manipulate and trick but he himself was really easy to manipulate and trick" said Roman laughing a bit before he's smile dropped
"Then Charlie melon, but everyone called her chameleon, I think you might know why, she was weak and constantly wanting validation and protecting, a giant mess of a person if you ask me. And together we formed team SSTM, can't remember what the name stands for since we always changed it to prank people" said Roman with a weak smile on he's lips
"Team steam!" Said Penny before she shut her mouth with her hands and Roman looked at her "yeah maybe" said Roman, Penny went into the available files of teams in haven, searched for STMM and found the team and what the name stood for, she didn't keep searching for information since she thought Hat friend would tell her the rest and she was enjoying spending time with her friend
"Yeah, I think it was steam, see kid? You're smart" said Roman "thank you, hat fr-" Penny was interrupted again by Roman "so listen and listen closely" said Roman with a serious and a bit angered tone making Penny focus entirely on him
"When we got to our second year we got a mission on the borders, a large amount of Grimm, many immigrating from vale or Atlas. Griffons, they like to attack while their prey is distracted fighting or talking, then Sphinxes and manticores, the first likes to make the latter do the dirty work and kill the tired survivors but they are still strong enough to hold their ground with their claws even if they prefer to attack at distance, kinda like me in a way, and finally a couple of king taijitus, no idea how they got there but our job wasn't to know, just kill" said Roman and he's face was expressionless
"Boogies semblance allowed him to alter animals and Faunus making the animals aggressive monsters alike to the Grimm while the Faunus just transformed physically although it did have side effects, I can still remember how it once made a team we once worked with eat flys, we laughed at them for weeks" said Roman with a fragile and nostalgic smile
"Then Snake after making a Sphinx fight to the death with he's flock and cut the head of a king taijitu… was caught by the other, now I see the irony of him dying to a cheating snake" said Roman, he wanted to laugh but he was just trying to laugh to don't cry
"I'm sorry for your loss" said Penny, even if she never had that many friends before, she couldn't imagine feeling the pain of losing one in such a horrible way
"Then we jumped out of the academy immediately, we stuck together for a while and worked for a woman named malachite till Peter left one night without a word, Chameleon tried to kill me because she preferred being Miss malachite's pet even if she had a obvious crush on me, and I escaped to vale and became the man I'm today" said Roman crushing he's cigar on he's fist before throwing the ashes and crushing them with he's boot, not changing he's expression
"I'm so sorry" said Penny, she couldn't imagine being abandoned and not betrayed like that
"You got spirit kid, but the real world doesn't care about spirit, the real world is a cold dark place" said Roman standing up seeing a bus approaching "want to be a huntsman? Then heart my advice, Don't, but if you insist Then prepare to play the part and die like every other huntsman in history and be forgotten afterwards, just like how no one cared about Snake and what he accidentally left behind" said Roman still looking at the bus
"Im sorry what happen to your friendships, but It doesn't mean all the world is like that, and even if it is… it'll change it" said Penny remembering her mission
"Well it's been a experience talking to you kid, but I fear this is where we part ways" said Roman
"Wait! You never told me your name" said Penny distraught about the fact she didn't learn the name of her first friend in vale
"Roman, Roman Torchwick" said Roman before using he's cane to grab on the approaching bus to make a dramatic escape only he could do
Penny took a second to process everything, put the information together and run the simulations, she now realized she was talking with the most wanted criminal of Vale, she checked the file of team STMM and saw the names on it, 'Snake sustrai' 'Roman Torchwick' 'Peter Stachio' and 'Charlie Melon'
Penny just stood there, thinking
She became friends with a criminal, who used to be a student who saw one of he's friends die in front of him which was something every huntsman May suffer one day, but who now hurt other people for he's own personal benefit
She was always told about how criminals were the worst of the worst, and Roman never denied that, he's constant comments about huntsman's and people in general even proved he wasn't that good of a person even further, but he talked so calmly and friendly to her
He even seemed to truly think he was doing her a favor by warning her of the dangers huntsman's go through
She checked the profiles of team Steam one more time
Snake was death but according to the archive he had an unwanted daughter who he probably never knew of, being the oldest on the team (19) probably explained how he got into that situation. The mother took a lot of money from the Sustrai family before she and her daughter disappeared, no registers of where she might have went but Penny found a archive of a student of Haven academy called 'emerald sustrai' and she had red eyes like snake… she'll search to see if emerald got into the tournament later
Peter now has a casino in Vacuo, although the police suspect it might be a cover for some illegal operation, he also has several charges of illegal weapon forging and modification at he's name although none of them went through yet, there's also rumors of cannibalism from he's part and theory's about him faking Grimm attacks with he's semblance
She couldn't find much on Charlie but she did find several new articles of the spiders gang lead by little miss malachite and some captured members mentioned a chameleon but that was a year ago and they didn't go into details
And finally Roman Torchwick… most wanted in vale, stole millions worth in dust the last months, several charges for murder, assault, holding modified weaponry, modified dust rounds and stolen atlas weaponry, kidnapping and destruction of property; still at large
Normally after reading this she would have just seen a tragedy and three unrelated monsters, like ironwood always told her, if she meet Torchwick knowing who he was beforehand she would have arrested him and taken him into custody, but now she saw a victim that could have been so much more, a old friend who isn't the same, a desperate traitor and a misguided kid turned into a monster, so she decided to sit down and think now that she had seen four tragedy's