Disclaimer: See first chapter.

Semblance Incontinence

Ruby stared at the clock. It was the middle of the day, or rather middle in the morning, and she'd opened up not two hours before. 9:23 AM. She could do this. She could do this.

Could she, though? Yeah, she could. She was doing this perfectly right. So what if she was bored right now? She had a bunch of other things to do!

She grabbed her duster and went to work, making sure that all of their weapons were perfectly clean and tidy. There was no speck of dust anywhere on them. The small gray particles of dust. Not the dust energy source dust. That was an important distinction, Ruby knew.

Dusting was done fairly quick. She ignored the rose petals, knowing they'd go away on their own. Oh, she still had a bit of work to do for Signal! She could go and do that right now, that might keep her mind occupied for a few hours!

She went and grabbed it, racing back downstairs to the counter. Wait, she'd completed it last night hadn't she? She looked over each piece of paper, seeing them already all filled out.

She could do more design work for Jaune's custom mechashift weapon. Although she'd already flooded his phone with three different designs, and he hadn't gotten back to her on any of them! Although that was to be fair, she'd only come up with some of them last night, and he may not have the right scroll app to be able to open them.

Speaking of the scroll, that was another thing! She still had to beat Mega Death Ninja 2, and she was right at the end of the story mode! Wait, her save file got corrupted, that's why she'd stopped the first time around. She could always restart it, but that would mean going through all the levels again, including those annoying hovercraft instant kill levels.

She could go out and train in the hard light area. But it was early in the morning, so she was totally going to do that! It's not like she'd get a customer right away, if at all. Beacon was in session, Flare was in session, Signal was in session...which explained where her Dad and Uncle Qrow were.

She grabbed Crescent Rose, ignoring the way Qrow's advice came back to try out some of the other weapons in her store. She did a few dozen flips and slashes, practicing against a target that wasn't there. Her imagination helped out a lot, seeing a bunch of ursa and beowolves as mere targets.

Tiring herself out quickly, she ran back to her chair, spinning it quickly in one side. She could turn on the news, but that would require putting her tv down here. Oh, but then she could load Ultimate Battle Night Four! She'd been wanting to play on the big screen, and it wasn't like anyone would see her.

Instantly she came down and plugged the tv in, letting it warm up as the game connected to her scroll.

She let out a loud sigh as her scroll gave the 'low battery' warning. Of course it had! She'd forgotten to charge it up last night. Instantly she ran back upstairs, grabbed the charger, and came back downstairs to plug it in.

Unfortunately it couldn't run while it was charging, something about how the dust battery didn't like it. She could throw a few sticks for Zwei too, but he was currently out like a light, sleeping peacefully on the countertop.

Oh, she could balance the numbers for her accounting books! Yeah, she was good at that and that was another thing that needed to be done.

Part of that still required her scroll, but she could at least add everything up and compare it to her budgets. Yeah, she'd do that real quick.

She was up and back down almost faster than she could blink, her rose petals starting to annoy her nose. She swatted them away with a small burst of aura, making sure they all burnt up instantly. That was a surprisingly large amount of petals on the floor, wasn't it?

It didn't take very long to add up all of her expenses, and she compared it to the list of revenues and sales she'd gotten. Was she paying herself for this? As a sole proprietor, probably not. That's okay though, she wasn't really in it to make money, she was in it to make people's lives easier! And to kill time for her to be allowed into Beacon.

Mostly the Beacon part, but she was still a huntress in training, darn it!

Books mostly balanced at least as far as they could, she realized the dust crystals from her latest order needed polishing. She grabbed a nearby rag and gently reached for each one, dusting off the small amount of rusted material on each crystal.

She wasn't sure why dust rusted when its purity was so low. Did they mix it with metal or something? Oh, that was another thing she could do! Look up dust compositions! And wasn't that one of the classes she'd take at Beacon too, according to Yang?

She pulled her phone off the charger, opening up her basic web app as she searched for the information. Her phone dinged as the low battery warning came up again, but it's not like she was going to be doing this for long!

The CCT was surprisingly slow today, Ruby thought, as the pages just wouldn't load. She did have other encyclopedias she could use, if she felt like it. Growling, she put her scroll back on the charger and went upstairs to just grab a regular book. She grabbed one from her...special shelf.

She spun around in her chair, reading quietly. The book was entertaining, but it wasn't the usual type of literature she enjoyed. Recommended by Blake, incidentally, during that horrible dinner meet a bit ago. It was a good book, if a bit...raunchy. Yeah, that was the term for it.

In an instant she got to an inappropriate part, and she sighed and put the book down. She shouldn't be reading that during work hours. How Blake got away with it she didn't know, and she couldn't just text Blake with 'why you read smut!?'.

Ruby looked at the clock, now feverishly bored out of her mind. She let out a mild scream, rose petals surrounding her.

It was only 9:28.

Weapon Dropoff

Ruby stared down at the scroll, ignoring the message that popped up from her sister. She was in the middle of a fight, darn it! A new game, Virtual, had just come out and Ruby was all too excited to play it, and it wasn't as if she had anything else to do today.

Today was one of her forge days, and she had around ten items that she needed to replicate or improve upon. Small blades, pistols that needed to be re-barreled...the list wasn't long, but it was impressive to most of the other smiths that she knew.

So her shop was closed, but Yang had asked if she could bring her team around anyway. Supposedly Jaune was done with the design ideas, and wanted to give them to Ruby right away, especially as he was apparently having trouble in combat class.

Ruby knew she was being impatient. She tapped her foot against the floor, wondering idly if she should start up a new game of Death Ninja 3 or not. It was an older game, sure, and Yang would make fun of her for it, but it was one of her favorites. And she was good at it, so that helped too.

Another two minutes went by before Ruby rolled her eyes and started it up anyways. It hadn't originally been on scroll, but rather some other console, but it had been ported so many times that it was easy to do.

There was a knock on the door fifteen minutes later, just as Ruby had beaten the third level. She blinked, seeing Yang there waving furiously. Behind her was Blake, who was trying to look as if she wasn't with Ruby's sister. Behind them, Jaune and Pyrrha were lagging a bit behind.

Ruby hit the switch under the desk to open the door, before she turned off the scroll game. Hopefully Yang hadn't seen anything-

"So Ruby, Death Ninja 3 again?" Yang asked with a grin. "I thought that game was...you know, ancient."

"It's still fun! And I needed to kill time because you guys were so late. What took you so long anyways?" Ruby asked. "I have to be over at the forge in half an hour. I'm gonna have to run to get there on time now."

"Sorry. Yang took thirty minutes in the shower when she told us ten," Blake answered.

"Blake! You're not supposed to tell her that!"

Ruby nodded. "That fits. Always give Yang at least twice as much time in the shower as she says she needs. It's why our home in Patch had two showers. One for Yang, one for me and Dad! And Qrow, when he was around."

Yang glared, holding her hair close. "I can't help it if I need more time than most for this gloriousness!"

"It is quite nice," Pyrrha said quietly. "Jaune? This is your weapon, it's up to you to present to the smith."

"Her name is Ruby," Yang said.

Ruby held up her hand. "No, I get it. So what are you looking for, Jaune?" she asked. The blond scraggly man looked at her for a moment, before he sighed and presented his scroll.

Ruby grabbed it, focusing on it. There was some talk in the background, but she wasn't hearing any of it. Designs flew around in her head. It was a decent drawing of a sword and a pistol buried together. The sword actually separated from its hilt, so two guns at once.

There were no specifications on dust sizes or ammunition size, Ruby noticed. The sword half would transform into a larger pistol, and the shield would do its own transformation to be a smaller one. Doable, although ammunition would be difficult to find in the proper size.

Unless...she enlarged the sheath a bit. She'd add a few more inches of height to it, she'd be able to use .38 ammo, the same for the sword. The sword half would be easy enough. The hardest part is that he wanted it to stick to the shield in the same way as it did now, with the same color scheme.

"Is it doable?" Jaune asked.

The sound of his voice kicked Ruby out of her mind. "Oh, yeah, totally! Glad you liked the two guns idea. I'm thinking I can add a few more inches to the hilt, so you can use the more common .38 instead of the much harder to find .35. I don't think I've seen any that size, at least for Grimm hunting. Also means that the same ammo can be used for the sword half and the hilt half."

"That would be...good yeah? How heavy of a shot is that?" Jaune asked. He sounded wary, as if he was agreeing with something he wasn't sure he should.

"Gambol Shroud's pistol fires .38's," Blake said. "We can go down to a firing range and I have you shoot using her for a bit," she said. "I'd suggest Mio but Mio fires...45's?" Blake asked.

"Yes, I use .45's. Jaune could probably handle that, but he's still getting used to the recoil on some of the others."

The boy rubbed the back of his head. "Thanks again for helping me with this Ruby...I wouldn't have known where to start."

"Yeah, my baby sister is the best!" Yang cheered from the sideline.

"I'm still getting paid for this Yang, don't forget that," Ruby reminded her with a grin. "And don't worry, there's no family discount so if you need me to use my awesome powers on Ember Celica, you're out of luck."

"Ruby! I thought I taught you to only use your powers for good!" Yang cried out, overacting to the best of her ability.

"Fine, there is a discount. A negative fifty percent discount," Ruby grinned. Yang tossed the numbers in her head as Pyrrha and Blake giggled behind her. The blonde girl narrowed her eyes at her sister.

"Hey..."

Ruby grinned. She turned to Jaune and tried to school her face into being somewhat serious again. "But I will need Crocea Mors. I can make most of the pieces and parts today, but it's going to take me a few days. What day do you need it back by?" Ruby asked.

"We are going out to the Everfall forest in a week or two, and Jaune will have to practice with it for a bit before I say he's good enough," Pyrrha answered. "A few days ought to be good. Say...Saturday?"

Ruby nodded. "I can have it ready by Friday night," she said. Already the gears were turning in her head about how to do this. This was the first mechashift weapon that she would make for someone else since she'd started Summer's Weapon Shop. She'd done plenty of maintenance, but never made an actual weapon. Most of the sales so far had been ammunition and dust, occasionally a few people buying in old weapons from Qrow's collection.

Quite a leap.

Pyrrha and Jaune nodded, and they slowly headed out the door, Crocea Mors left on the counter. Ruby could tell that Jaune wasn't feeling well about it. She wouldn't blame him if he decided that he wanted to stay. If she had to leave Crescent Rose with someone strange she'd probably do the same thing!

Yang gave her some finger guns before pulling her over the counter for a hug, running out the door, Blake not too far behind. Ruby watched them go for a moment, before the door clicked and locked behind them.

She gave a large sigh, looking over at the sword and shield on her counter. "Zwei, am I doing this right?" she asked after a moment. The dog trotted down the stairs, panting lightly. He tilted his head before he gave an enigmatic woof.

Ruby nodded. "Right. Alright, onwards, to the forge!" she shouted, gathering her notes on all the items she would need.

The Forging

Ruby narrowed her eyes over the forge gear. She had a lot of experience and time in a forge, and she had to take a moment to make sure everything was right before she got started.

"Everything should be in order, Ruby," an older gentlemen, the man who actually owned the thing said. "Basic materials over there. You're already paid for the rental, but any extra materials you'll have to keep track of what you use."

Ruby nodded. She paid for the time in the forge, and the materials. Honestly, the blacksmith was amazing for even letting someone else in his forge. Ruby knew that if she had one she wouldn't let anyone else in it.

It had all the basic equipment that she'd need. Templates, the actual forge, several large barrels of oil and water respectively. "If you need anything, just call out. It can be hard to track what you need in here, so if you need help. Please." he said.

"Will do. Thank you again!" Ruby grinned. She clutched Crocea Mors to her chest, and waited for him to leave and shut the door before she sighed. The first thing she had to do was something she hated; taking off her cloak.

The forge would get way too hot far too quickly. She had three gallons of cold water nearby for drinking, set off to the side. She reached for the blacksmith gloves, a piece of hardened leather so thick that it made most baker's gloves look like soft mitts. She kept her sturdy boots on, keeping on a loose shirt and tight pants underneath. She was going to be needing as much breathing room as she could get.

She reached off to the side, slowly letting the forge warm up. Her scroll was put off on top of her cloak and combat dress, and she was mostly ready now.

Her first step would be to reforge Crocea Mors into the new shapes. After that, she would have to actually go and pull it apart, putting in the apparatus for the mechashift and guns.

It wasn't an easy thing to do. There was a reason she was charging Jaune a not-inconsiderable sum for this. Yes, it was her first one, but honestly, she was more than capable.

She sat down on the cushioned seat, ready for the inevitable sweat to start to roll down her back and forehead. It was gross, but necessary.

Ruby grabbed the main blade, looking over it for the imperfections and type of steel. It hadn't been tempered well, she noticed through the cracks and scratches on it. It hadn't been treated well.

"Alright...let's get you going first," she said, letting the sword lay deep into the forge point first. She was going to have to do this part quick, because otherwise it would suck-

The tip glowed white as she took it out, quickly jiggling the blade to get it out of the hilt. It was stuck in there pretty well, Ruby noticed, and she sighed as she flipped it around. She needed to weaken the metal a bit before she could work on the hilt and sword separately.

Heat, quench, heat, quench. The hilt snapped off, the blade falling quite literally off the hilt. She cheered as she put the hilt off to the side, letting the blade melt into a template for a sword.

For a mechashift weapon, that was the easy part. Now it was time for the hard part.

She had to wait until the sword was mostly liquid and malleable, the steel almost closer to putty than metal. She had to jam a metal piece, made of a bit stronger steel than the blade, into it, creating a soft opening. She didn't need much room, but she needed to split the darn thing in half.

Pieces into pieces, pieces into pieces. The templates were filled and put off to the side, the oil tempering them as smoke and steam filled the room. The windows were open fully, and although Ruby felt awkward about letting people see her forging clothes, she knew that no one would be able to see through the steam and smoke.

The blade was the simplest piece, and then came the hilt. She hated tearing the thing apart, it was a beautiful piece, but it needed to be done. A gun simply couldn't fit in it the way that it was. Crocea Mors was a classic, but Grimm slaying had moved on a long time ago from the classics.

She let the hilt hollow out, splitting it in exact halves before she let them out into the oil and water. They should be able to click together near perfectly, Ruby hoped as she wafted away the smoke and steam.

She gripped a few steel bricks, and grinned to herself as now came the hard, hard part. Making all of the individual parts for it. Springs, gears, switches, hinges, triggers, safeties. She would have to spend most of the rest of the time on those things as she tossed in a few other steel bricks, watching them melt into the malleable metal they should be.

Nearly two hours in she had to take her first break. She'd finished Crocea Mors' new pieces, and was now waiting for them to solidify and temper before she could take them to the grinder. After that, she'd take the pieces back to her shop and put them together.

Which meant it was time for step two of her master forging plan. Re-do some of the other weapons she'd sold already, craft some more of the specific parts she'd need for other maintenance of basic weapons, and start on a collection for mechashift parts so that way she wouldn't need to spend a load of lien on the forge whenever she got a special order.

It was almost mechanical, the work she ended up doing. Pour some pieces, heat them, quench them, push them, pull them. And like a machine, Ruby was going as fast as she could. Sweat dripped into her silver eyes, and she blinked it out as soon as it got there.

There were three gallons of water by the side, and within three hours half of it was gone. Four pieces had already been made and were ready for the grinder, not including Jaune's new one. After that...the smaller pieces were easier to grind out in her own shop. For now, she had to deal with what she had.

The heat was almost overwhelming. It was a bad idea if she wasn't in the forge as much as she was to take off her shirt, but take it off she did. She needed a breeze in here, to help take the edge off.

Two hours later, the other half of the water was gone, and she was waiting for the final pieces to cool. She reached down and turned off the forge, laying back against the chair as she recounted how many bars of steel she ended up using.

Nearly twenty bars of steel, each one weighing around five pounds, so a hundred pounds of steel. Sixty feet of leather for the hilts, and around thirty feet of special dust-coated wire for the dust components.

All in all, a rather successful day. Ruby made sure the windows were open before she turned on the grinder, putting on some headphones as she turned to the larger pieces that were still sitting there, waiting for her to take the edge off.

Some of them, like axes and such, were fairly easy to grind down to an edge. She'd had a lot of blade experience when it came to grinding, considering how many edges she went through when first designing Crescent Rose. Even now, she had to use a special dust-coated whetstone to make sure the edge was as sharp as possible, because otherwise the blade would simply cut the rock.

The swords were about as easy, but the hardest was the single flail she was restocking. It had a lot of points on it, which made for far too many angles to grind down.

Within another few hours, she finally relaxed back down. She glanced down at her scroll, looking at her aura. Down to a quarter, from all the dozens of sparks and the heat that had been attacking her for nearly the full six to eight hours.

There was a knock on the door as the blacksmith opened it. "Ruby? You doing okay?" he asked. He seemed taken aback by seeing her without her combat dress.

"Yeah, I'm almost done. Thanks again Mr. Cyanton. I appreciate it," Ruby answered. She worked her way up to standing, stretching out her arms and legs.

"Of course. Not a worry Ruby. We'll handle the charges when you're done," Mr. Cyanton said, closing the door behind him. Ruby nodded, even though he'd already left, and slowly worked her way into her combat skirt and usual clothes.

She hefted Crescent Rose back onto her belt where it should always be, and slowly moved the pieces into small boxes, not caring if they got the cardboard a little wet. She needed to keep the pieces separate for now, especially for special orders like Jaune's.

It wasn't so much a wheelbarrow that she used, but rather a dust-powered pallet cart. It would hover in midair for a bit, only around one or two inches in the hair, but enough to be able to move it around pretty easily.

She opened the back half of the wall, slowly pushing the cart out, before she went and shut the door, slowly maneuvering the cart out to the front. Mr. Cyanton was already there, a small calculator in his hands with his glasses looking down at her.

"Twenty bars of steel, thirty of the wire, and sixty leather," Ruby announced as she got closer. Mr. Cyanton nodded and quickly added everything up. A few moments later Ruby had her receipt, a few thousand lien lighter than she had been earlier.

She had left the store fairly early in the day, right after Yang and the rest of team PABY...she couldn't help the snort escape from her nose. Team Peabody. Who'd ever heard of that? Was that even a color!? She supposed it had to have been, because the Headmaster of Beacon had said it, but it was still...peabody!

Ruby supposed she should apologize to the next person she finds that's named Peabody. It wasn't polite to be laughing at their name. On the other hand, they'd probably agree with her that it's a terrible name...

The sun was setting far off in the mountains of Vale, setting the sky ablaze as Ruby pushed the small hovercart. It had to weigh nearly two or three hundred pounds, if not more. Although she did only use a hundred pounds of steel, so it couldn't have been that much. Crocea Mors didn't add that much weight.

She turned onto the street's alleyway, behind every one of the major shops on the street. Tukson looked as if he was receiving a book order too, a small truck parked outside. "Hey Ruby," he said, glancing down at her cart. He was standing mostly inside with a scroll in his hands, probably taking inventory.

"Hey Tukson," Ruby answered back, wiping the sweat off her brow as she got to her own shop. The backdoor was only slightly larger than the front, and she quickly opened the lock and slid it open, pulling the hovercart the last few feet inside.

The door slammed shut a moment later, and Ruby breathed a sigh of relief. First major forging day, done! She had been excited for it, and it had gone off without a hitch!

Except one. Where was the darn light switch...? Of course she'd locked herself in without the lights on. "Zwei! Can you hit the lights for me!" Ruby cried out.

The lights came on a moment later as Zwei barked happily from the other side of a door.

Three pieces instead of two. I couldn't figure out how to stretch Ruby's boredom into 2000 words, so instead it's only 1000 and pushed another segment into it. Also, as a note, I am not a blacksmith. Do not take my half-assed wikipedia and youtube combination of blacksmithing as to be how it actually is.

Until Next Time!