Yang wondered if Penny would ever show up.
They had agreed to meet yesterday, but that was two days ago. The delay caused concern and raised eyebrows. 'What happened?' she thought. 'Did she have to cancel and just forgot to tell me?' She looked skyward, not sure what to make of the situation. 'I mean, if that was the case, I'm pretty sure she would'a let me know.' Despite the little time they had spent together, it was clear that Penny was not the most well-adjusted person by any measure, which fueled Yang's concern. This, in turn, brought back memories of a certain detail:
Penny had mentioned seeking approval from her teammates before the hiccups.
'Why did she have to ask her teammates?' Yang's eyes blinked. 'That's so weird, like isn't she a team leader? Unless...'
She remembered the image of the Atlesian soldier and the black car. In retrospect, both seemed out of place compared to the police, Hunters, and firemen who had arrived at the scene. Wouldn't that soldier be back in Atlas, or at least stationed at one of Atlas's military bases in the Kingdom of Vale? Then, it hit her: the social awkwardness that might have resulted from being sheltered, the seemingly unnecessary need for permission to explore Vale, the out-of-place soldier and car, the way she destroyed the pier...
'Okay. Something's up.'
"Salutations!"
Yang turned around and was shocked to see Penny waving happily at her. She was the same cheerful girl she had gotten to know over the past few days, just like that. However, there was someone else beside her whom she hadn't seen before: a brown-skinned girl with a blue cap, dressed in a nice white shirt and blue skirt. Black fingerless opera gloves and overknee socks over black shoes completed her look.
'Weird,' she thought. 'She took one more day to show up with someone else when she normally would'a been by herself.'
Nonetheless, Yang put her right hand on her hip with a smile; finally, she felt comfortable enough to let more of herself shine. "Yo," she greeted back. "Who's that?"
"I am glad that you've asked!" Penny motioned towards the girl. "This is one of my teammates."
"Ciel Soleil," Ciel filled in. "17. Hails from Atlas. Member of Team PASL. Status: Inactive."
"And I'm Yang!" She raised her hand in the shape of a forward fist, inviting a fistbump. "Nice to Ciel, Ciel!"
Ciel likewi—
"Ah!"
Penny stepped in to protect Ciel from a punch that wasn't. When Yang looked, she saw her pupils shrink before her and chuckled. "Penny, y'know I was only inviting her to a fistbump!"
"I do not know what a fistbump is." She slowly lowered her hands. "What would you mean by one?"
'Penny never learned what fistbumps are,' Yang lamented. 'Oh well, that's what being sheltered does, I guess.'
"A fistbump is a way to greet people," she explained. "It is also a way to celebrate a moment of success."
"A rather informal greeting," Ciel began, "one common among lower- and middle-class citizens."
It took Penny a bit, but just like clockwork, she got it. "Ohhh..."
"Watch."
Yang faced sideways from Penny and raised her fist, pointing forward halfway up to the right of her torso, inviting Ciel to stand opposite her. "This is a fistbump." Ciel raised her fist, and the two bumped. Yang then turned a hundred and eighty degrees, reeling her fist back—"This is a"—and thrusting it forward.—"punch. You punch when you are in danger."
"Basic self-defense mechanism," Ciel began. "The punch is one of many options to defend oneself from enemies in unarmed close-quarters combat. Environmental apparatuses as improvised weaponry is optional."
"Appa... huh?"
"It's okay," Penny said, "I already know what a punch is." She turned her head towards Ciel. "But it is still fun to learn from you two." She smiled as she raised her fist in the same manner as Yang.
"There we go." Yang fistbumped Penny.
"Sensational!" As Penny pumped her hands excitedly in the air, Yang chuckled heartily.
"Sooo, ya wanna come see Vale with me?"
"Mmmm..." Penny narrowed her eyes, then smiled. "Yes."
She started walking further into the city, beckoning the two to come. "Follow me!"
Being the leader of the group, she couldn't help but wonder: why did Penny take another day to show? Why was Ciel even here? Every day, Penny seemed less and less the socially awkward, home-schooled teenager and more and more a person with unnecessary walls around her for God knows why. Once she told her what a dress was called, now she wondered what was even going on with her life.
The confusion was far too great to ignore.
"Yo, Ciel," Yang said, "what happened with Penny earlier?"
No response.
"Didn't she say she got permission from you and the rest to come here?"
No response. Yang squinted.
"So, Penny... Why didn't you show up yesterday? You're the team leader, right? And if you are, why ask 'em permission to come here when it's the other way around?"
No response. Yang saw Ciel's mouth stirring. This went on for a while, leaving Yang wondering if the two would say anything when the silence broke.
"It's complicated," answered Ciel.
It was apparent that she wouldn't get a straight answer anytime soon. Not only did she still have those questions from before, but "exciting" new ones like, 'What's stopping them from answering those simple questions?' and 'Is she okay?' were here to linger, too.
But this was not the time to stand around and hypothesize. She was here to make up for lost time, dammit.
"Whatever, let's..." Yang sighed. "Let's go hang somewhere in this city."
Penny saluted Yang, exclaiming, "Yes, Yang!" before following her deeper into the city alongside her teammate.
. . .
Today was Thursday, somewhere in the middle of Team RWBY's week-long Fall Break.
Yang and Penny had already lost a few days of hangout time, but that was fine since they were in no rush to hang out every day anyway, especially since they both had their own teammates to be with. That said, Penny had no qualms frequently visiting Yang, who for a first friend was being pretty great, at least in her mind.
She wanted to bring Ruby along, but she was busy hanging out with Jaune and his teammates. Blake was busy reading the latest novel that the Beacon library had. Meanwhile, Weiss was performing a ballet routine, which she said she was about to do in preparation for practice with Pyrrha.
Once again, Yang went by herself.
Penny and Ciel had followed Yang into Vale's metropolitan area, which was bustling with activity; crowds of pedestrians were commuting to and from work, but there was the odd student or group of students wandering about, messing around, and (possibly) causing trouble. There was also the occasional family heading wherever the kids or parents wanted to go.
There were also cars.
"Do we have a map?" Penny asked, inviting Yang's laughter.
"Maps?" Yang turned to her. "Where we're going, we don't need maps."
"But what if we get lost?"
Ciel cleared her throat, then explained. "People build mental maps of where each location is and how to reach them. At first, you will find yourself reaching for your Scroll's GPS functions, but over time, you will need them less as those maps build up."
Penny was fascinated by Ciel's explanation, and Yang could tell. Though it was common, the way Ciel broke it down made her want to find out more. That would have to come another day, though, since she was here to have fun.
Speaking of that...
Yang started walking, Penny and Ciel in tow. As she scanned her surroundings, she immediately saw a good place to eat: a small takeout food stand where people were lining up. "Wanna eat?" she asked when she saw a free-standing sign displaying the prices of its most famous food.
Hot dogs: 600 Lien each.
Hamburgers: 800 Lien each.
Milkshakes: 300 Lien each.
"Sure!" Penny exclaimed. "Do any of us have Lien?"
"Yes." Ciel took out her wallet and flashed it to Yang and Penny.
"Sweet, here's..." Yang reached into her pouch and found nothing but her Scroll. She checked again, this time reaching into her short jacket for any hidden pockets that might have come with it.
Still nothing.
"Ffff..." She shivered. "Did I really leave my wallet at Beacon?"
Penny tilted her head. "Huh?"
Yang checked again, this time stopping herself from checking her pouch again. She whined, her hands falling to her sides as she frowned. "Ciel, how—" Ciel was already in line, with two people joining behind her. She sighed. "What about you? Got money?"
Penny took out a thin wallet from a hidden pocket in her apron dress. "Yes!"
"How much?"
"1,100 Lien."
Yang thought about it; three hot dogs would cost them 1,800 Lien, while three hamburgers would be a whopping 2,400. The only thing they could afford were three milkshakes for just 900 Lien, but then again, Yang's stomach had growled on the way to the metropolis. 'It's gonna take more than just milkshakes...' She was just about to ask Ciel how much she had when she saw her standing right at the counter. Although she had hoped that Ciel had the final 700/1,300 Lien, the odds for food certainly didn't look good.
"Welp, what now."
"Is it not enough?" Penny frowned.
"No... but thanks for trying."
As Yang started to walk away, an idea flashed in her mind like a light bulb. Suddenly, Yang brightened up. "Oh, I know!" Yang raised a finger. "There's a *lotta people with Lien out here, right now! Why don't we start looking..."
And so Yang set off on her second adventure, this time in search for someone to cheat out of their money. Not even a minute and she found her target: a man sitting against a wall near an alleyway. She smiled; 'Operation Swindle is a go.'
"You know what I think, Penny?" Yang scratched her chin, her smirk growing wider. "Because I've already found a way... but first!"
Yang whispered in Penny's ear. Her friend listened without knowing what was going on.
"I can do that!" Penny loudly blurted out, which sent Yang into a panic as she whispered into her ear again, this time to lower her voice. "Okay," she responded again, this time whispering back.
"Good." Yang looked at the man sitting down. "Hey there..." She leaned in, hands behind her back as she slowly approached him. "You wanna see something good?"
She felt her gag reflex; even if she planned on faking a Scroll call to get herself out of the act, her own words made herself nauseous for that brief moment. 'Just like last time in that club,' she remarked, sickened.
"Uh..."
"If you do, I can..." Her smirk grew larger. "...but it's gonna cost ya." She wagged her finger. "1,000 Lien, take it or leave it." She winked.
At first, the man boredly reached into his pocket with the apparent expectation of something mediocre, but suddenly, that vague uninterest turned into panic as he scrambled to find his Lien. Panting, he found himself glancing back at Yang—"Crap," he muttered—as he backed away, continuing a useless search for Lien the world doubted was there.
Not laughing at this moment was the hardest thing Yang had to do today. 'Guess there's people out here as bright as me,' she—
"I can give you my Lien!" Penny blurted.
"What?!" Yang gasped, backing up when she—"Gah!"—bumped into a street lamp behind her, leaving her with a small headache at the back.
"Really?!" exclaimed the man in surprise.
"Yes!"
Unbeknownst to him, Penny was calling Yang with her other hand.
Yang was still trying to recover from her headache when she felt her Scroll rumble in her pocket once more. Then as she went to take it out, however, it slipped out of her hand onto the sidewalk it slid across, forcing her to dive right for it as she screamed. In the nick of time, she caught it, barely. Now there were a few people stopping to watch her slide, almost colliding with people, for a brief moment before carrying on with their lives. Realizing what just happened, Yang groaned as she got back up, turning to face Penny who was coming to see her again.
"Dude, Penny," Yang began, "I was just about to score us a thousand."
"But it was fun!" Penny smiled innocuously. "I want to deceive more people with false crimes alongside you!"
"That's not—" Yang paused, then sighed. "Penny, do you even know what a con is?"
Penny blinked. "A what?"
"You know, those acts where we earn money or something else by gaining someone's trust enough for them to give us their things."
"Ohhh..."
Penny squinted; was she sure what Yang was doing right? No way this was the same person who peacefully dealt with Weiss and took her biking across the streets of Vale... Then again, she did sneak behind her teammates' backs, just recently getting (begrudging) permission because she was so insistent on seeing her friend.
"I get it now!" she proclaimed.
"Good, you get it." Yang took a deep breath. "Just, don't mess up the next one the next time we don't have enough for two hot dogs." She started walking away from the man as she muttered to herself, "Whatever, I wasn't that hungry anywaaays~"
"Here are your hot dogs."
Yang and Penny turned around to see Ciel presenting them with hot dogs enclosed in paper wrappers. While Penny celebrated by grabbing one and thanking Ciel, Yang facepalmed in further embarrassment.
'All that work for nothing,' she cursed.
. . .
Penny dribbled a soccer ball towards her goal, then threw it into the air and then punched it into the net. As her trajectory calculations predicted, the ball landed dead-center.
"Touchdown!" Penny excitedly leapt into a slide on her knees across the artificial grass.
"1-0," Ciel announced without pause. "Yang, you're up; Penny's in the lead."
Thus came the problem: what happens after a touchdown? Penny and Yang were improvising a whole game from the ground up; in fact, Yang was starting to think of having the scorekeeper pass the ball when a lightbulb went off.
"Rock paper scissors for the ball," she suggested.
Penny's eyes lit up as soon as she heard those six words. Yang was not only game for something she came up with on the spot, but even adding elements of her own. "Sure!" she exclaimed, then she held out her free hand. Yang followed suit.
"Rock! Paper! Scissors!"
The two drew. Penny, rock. Yang, paper.
"Awww, you go!"
Penny reeled back the ball and then threw at an incredible speed. Gasping, Yang caught the ball, feeling its spin grind against the tip of her nose. (Lucky her, she'd engaged her Aura.) Although she was spooked by how close the ball got to hitting her, she laughed it off and started bouncing it against the ground herself, coming straight for the opposite goal. Penny dashed right after her, but she threw it into the air.
But Penny intercepted it, leaping from the side.
As the ball bounced towards the field's bounds, Yang broke into a sprint in her determination. The moment the ball bounced, Yang grabbed the ball, her foot only barely halfway past the border.
'Couple more and I would've fouled,' she thought, examining her situation when she started dribbling again, heading for that goal. Ciel kept a steady eye. Penny ran. Yang threw the ball into the air once more.
This time, she threw it not too high up.
She punched.
"1-1," announced Ciel.
Yang breathed heavily. She hadn't played a game like this before, but it was exhilarating. They hadn't even set any solid set of rules in stone yet, but whatever they had, it worked in a way that she, in hindsight, didn't expect.
As the two played on, and as Ciel continued to be the scoreboard, more rules and instructions emerged. On foul, rock-paper-scissors for which side passes the ball. The visiting team can try to interfere with the ball's trajectory in a free hit.
Semblances are allowed.
Not that they ended up using any; Penny didn't really have a Semblance, and for Yang to use hers would've been unfair. She kept it in mind in case she eventually unlocked it, however.
Once again, Yang scored, bringing the game's score to 3-6.
"Whew!" She wiped the sweat from her forehead. "Game set?" she asked Ciel, who nodded.
"Game set."
Yang turned to Penny, who was walking up to her, cheering. "That was a fun sports game, Yang!" she exclaimed. "We should try this one again!"
"Yeah—maybe 'nother time, though!"
"Oh..." Penny frowned. Yang patted her shoulder with a bright smile.
"It's okay, there's always room for next time, right?"
Her redheaded friend smiled back. "I believe you're correct."
"Great!" Yang was about to walk off to find a vending machine when she realized: they still hadn't come up with a name for their sport. Admittedly, it was rather easy; she'd prompted Penny if she wanted to play sports, and she said "yes." Whatever came to mind, it became part of the sport. Most likely, she'd thought of not only soccer, but also basketball, volleyball, and rock-paper-scissors. That last one wasn't even a sport, but oh well, it was a sport made on the sport, anyway. "Hey, Penny..." she began.
"Proceed!"
"Why don't we call it 'Pennyball'? I mean, you came up with most of the game."
A whole sport, named after her? She didn't imagine it would happen sometime within her lifetime, but here she was, with her human blonde friend making that dream reality as her teammate and acquaintance watched on. Already she was starry-eyed.
"Pennyball is a good name." She hiccuped. "I mean, it is a great name!" No hiccups.
"Then Pennyball it is."
"...Hooray!"
The infectious joy never got old to her. "Alright, let's get drinks."
"Okay!"
As Penny followed Yang, the latter hinged upon the hiccup again. This time, she was more aware of the phenomenon; after all, she'd witnessed it before. 'Wait.' Yang blinked. 'Penny hiccuped after she said her teammates said "yes" to her exploring Vale. She hiccuped when she said she needed... water...' Then, it hit her.
'She hiccups when she lies.' She gasped.
"Yang?"
"Oh, it's nothing," she swore. "Almost thought I left something."
"Do you—"
"Nah, it's fine." She pulled out her Scroll and presented it to Penny. "Got it with me."
. . .
Yang chucked her energy drink into a nearby recycling bin as she whistled. Today has been an eventful day, between Ciel's appearance, the hilariously twisted soccer game, an attempted, ultimately pointless con that almost ended in the three losing Lien, and even a possible first glimpse into Penny's life, however concerning that was. Apparently, Penny didn't have as much control as Yang thought she had, which... begged the question of just what kind of life she was living.
Was she living an unusually restricted life, or was there much more than meets the eye?
Just as she was about to say something, she spotted street signs across where the three were. The signs listed two names of streets in brown-and-white; Paxon Ave and Iona Street.
'Iona Street...' Yang hinged upon that particular street name as another set of signs instructed them to cross the road. So, they did, but as they did, Yang smirked...
"Hey," Yang said. "So I've been thinking of getting into real estate more lately... And y'know? Last time I looked for properties, I got really lucky because now..."
Penny leaned in, anticipating what Yang was about to announce. Yang stopped on the sidewalk to point her hand towards the street name sign saying, "Iona Street".
"I own a street."
She paused. Then, Penny burst into laughter. Yang looked to see her covering her mouth, slapping her knee.
"That was indeed an excellent pun, Yang!" Penny exclaimed.
A few people shot quick glances, but otherwise continued business as usual. For Yang, however, that was more than just business as usual; she hadn't even sat down to tell her what a pun was, yet she easily got it anyway.
'She's not lying,' she thought, 'she really is a fast learner.'
Now, she had to wonder: if she was allowed to live a normal-er life than she has now, could she have become popular in school? She weren't sure if by her Atlas Academy Years, she would be the same person she's with now, but one thing was for sure:
For someone without much social interaction in her life (from her guesses, anyway), she was sure getting it, and fast to boot.
. . .
"Weiss, can we talk?"
"Sure."
Yang and Weiss sat down at a cafeteria table, having finished their breakfast. They were dressed in their usual outfits. Weiss, for example, wore her signature white bolero with red lining on top of her dress while Yang wore her jacket, shorts, and boots. Although the semester was yet to resume, classes were soon to resume in time for winter finals in a few days.
Yang's mind still lingered on Penny's (apparent) living situation. In fact, that was why she came to see Weiss. Indeed, as she thought her teammates might still be afraid of her, she tried to figure out how to talk to her.
"So," Weiss wondered. As Yang observed, she saw the hidden fear in her supposed poker face; the pupils were shrunken and she swore those eyes were trembling. "Let me make a guess: It's about Penny. Am I correct?"
"Yeah. And there's something about her that I want to tell you."
Weiss folded her hands. "Proceed."
"So, Penny. You know her, right?" She nodded. "Fun girl to be around, little understanding of the world, fast learner, a shocking amount of firepower..." Yang took a deep breath. "What if I told you that she's not living normally."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"You see, she was supposed to show up two days ago," Yang continued, "but only showed just yesterday. Apparently, she has to be allowed to go around the city first. I mean, c'mon. You'd think that moving outta home to a Huntsman Academy would be the free-est time of your life."
"..."
"And then there's all sorts of weirdness going on. Like, why did she have to show up with someone else beside her, and why did some military guy from Atlas walk her to a black car instead of a police car that night." Yang shook her head. "I don't know, I just don't think she should be walking with a bunch of red tape wrapped around her at just 17. She's supposed to have some free reign, y'know."
As Yang explained, she noticed that Weiss's mood had sunk while she explained Penny's situation. It was happening again; first that confrontation in that alley, now here in the cafeteria. At this point, she had to wonder if Weiss and Penny were really different from each other. Obviously, Weiss didn't need to ask her teammates for permission on basic things, but Penny did.
Which was why she had every reason to be suspicious of the way Penny was being raised.
"Weiss?" Yang looked at Weiss with worry. "
"May I suggest what you should do?" Weiss asked. Yang nodded. "Bide your time with Penny. If she does not want to—or cannot—spend quality time with you, then please don't make her. I understand she's not in the most ideal time in her life, but take it into consideration going forward."
Yang understood, but that didn't do wonders to ease her mind. "I will, I will." She took a deep breath. "I'm just worried for her, that's all."
. . .
"Salutations!"
Penny waved to her father Pietro, who faced her in his spider-legged wheelchair. As always, he was dressed in a set of casual yet formal clothes that she thought suited his age. She hadn't seen Pietro since she started going to Atlas Academy. Fall Break, then, was the first time in a while that she got to see him, which made her all the more happier. Even better, he was able to make time for his own arrival at Vale as he'd announced in a Scroll call.
"Hey," he greeted back, "How are you, my beautiful daughter?
"I'm doing excellent!" Penny invited a hug from Pietro, who happily reciprocated. "How about you?"
"I'm doing excellent myself, Penny." He smiled, eyes closed. "Thank you for asking."
"So, how are your studies?"
"My studies are going well!"
"And are you making friends?"
"Yes."
Penny couldn't help but to stand there with her hands on her hips in pride as she saw the pleasant surprise on Pietro's face. "Yang Xiao Long is my first friend!" She began. "She's not only teaching me about the world, but she's also bringing me motorcycling, to the stores, to the park, to the pier..." Her words trailed off and she frowned, thinking about the incident on the pier. Still, her smile returned as quickly as it had faded. "And she's even bringing me to deceive people with false crimes along with her!"
At first, Pietro seemed proud of Penny for finally making a friend. But when Penny suddenly paused, he knew exactly why, for he had heard the news for himself.
"Is there something wrong, father?"
"It's nothing, Penny," Pietro began, "but, I want to warn you about a little something."
"Sure!" "What is it?"
"This one... is about role models." Pietro cleared his throat. "I'm glad that you found a friend that you can be with, and I'm glad that you have found her to be good with you. But, I'm worried about any bad habits that could arise."
"Do tell."
"First, is your friend trying to get you into... into any illegal activity?"
"Oh, no father. She is teaching me good things actually!"
"And is your friend teaching you to treat others poorly?"
Yang? Teach her things that only the baddest people in the world would want to do? Preposterous; as if! She's on track to enter the Vytal Tournament as a fighter and become a Huntress in four years, for God's sake! Why give up her current, bright future for something so short-sighted, so much worse? At the same time, she couldn't help but feel that Pietro was giving her a hard time over making a friend.
"No."
She didn't hiccup. For that, she thanked the world.
Pietro let out a relieved sigh. "I am glad, Penny," he said. "Now, I'm not trying to say that you have a bad role model for a friend. You're free to be with her."
"Yay!" His daughter pumped her fists.
"But." He raised a finger. "I want you to know so you can know what's going on better. Do you understand?"
"Yes, father!"
"Good." He took a deep breath as stretched gently in his highly mechanized wheelchair. "Now, you're free to stay here with me for the remainder of our trip. But just in case you want to go, your driver's waiting out the door."
Penny saluted him. "Understood."
Once again, thanks to Merion for proofreading this chapter!