Disclaimer: See first chapter.
CFVY
"Ooh, Ren, look at this one! This one's a hammer! And a rocket launcher! I can do so much with this one!" the girl was saying.
Ruby was only half paying attention to the two in her shop. The girl was extremely loud and energetic, and Ruby almost wanted to tell her to go work off some steam in the training area to calm down a bit, but the boy, on the other hand, was calm despite his partner's...energy.
Which meant that this was entirely too normal, and not the result of enough caffeine to make even Ozpin go 'Okay, maybe I should slow down'.
So just working it out wouldn't have done anything. She was busy working on Aneisadora anyways, Velvet's weekly maintenance, because apparently the faunus needed it literally that afternoon for a major bout.
Why she waited until the last second, Ruby didn't know but she intended to find out!
She was distracted from making sure the second diode connected appropriately to the third and the base when a few small boxes of ammunition hit the counter gently. She looked up, seeing the boy in green, probably the girl's partner.
Said girl was now waving the hammer around like she had already bought it, and Ruby almost half wanted to ask if she was about to make a sale on it, but she saw the weapon on the girl's back.
A forty two A grenade hammer. That kind of firepower is something usually only her dad could have brought to the table, if the girl mixed the right kind of dust with it she could effectively level the entire shop without too much hassle.
Again, Ruby wished that she could go to Beacon, if only to glance at everyone's unique weapons. "Forty two?" Ruby asked as she looked down at the boxes.
"You appear to be out of the thirty five's," the boy commented quietly.
"Yeah, there's been a run. I have an order coming in later today if you want me to hold a few boxes for you. I'd just need your name and scroll number," Ruby said.
The boy nodded and quietly put away the far more expensive forty two caliber ammunition. She glanced to his waist, seeing what looked like a pair of gun daggers. Mistralian, both of the weapons were, although the boy's was variable caliber.
How it handled that and mechashift, Ruby was eager to find out. Before she could ask, the girl was in front of her face. "Uh uh. His eyes are up there," she said, pointing to the boy's face.
"Nora, she's just looking at the weapons."
"And how am I supposed to know that!? She could be one of those wacky arms salesmen that go around knocking on people's doors and asking if they know about-"
"Those are called door knockers, Nora, not 'arms salesmen.'"
"And I am an arms saleswoman? This is a weapons shop," Ruby interjected. Nora gasped, and pointed her finger at her.
"She knows! Ren, she knows! I should get out of here! Also that hammer is awesome and would totally make a really good birthday present!"
"Nora, your birthday isn't for another four months."
"...Weiss' is soon?"
"I'm not going to ask how you came about that information," the boy said gently. He turned to Ruby, "If you could save a few boxes for me of the thirty fives. Three boxes? Under Ren?" Ren asked.
Ruby nodded, quietly writing down on her scroll how many boxes she needed to save. The thirty fives were popular with most huntsman, seeing as they were small, but with the right elemental dust could still pack enough punch to get most Grimm. The problem then became the 'dust' portion.
Nora whistled innocently as she tried to leave, only for Ren to reach out and grab her, demanding she put the hammer back. She gave a half hearted glare, before putting the hammer that was almost as big as her head back onto the shelf.
Ruby didn't have to heart to tell her of the new anti-theft system that she had installed with her new window. Steel iron bars that would keep even Grimm out, and even keep the would be thieves in. And because Ruby could handle most thieves, even if only because most of them weren't Torchwick, it would give the police time enough to get there.
And not to mention that Ruby knew she wasn't about to walk out. It was the innocent whistling that really let her know.
Transaction mostly done, she watched as the two left, talking about whose birthday was actually up next and whether Ren would essentially buy Nora the hammer for either her birthday, or for graduating the semester, or any other celebration.
Even bringing up a stack of pancakes. Ruby wasn't sure what that was all about, but pancakes did sound good right now. But she had a job to do, and she was going to do it!
The maintenance didn't actually take that much longer. She was good enough that she knew what she was doing, able to finish it in near record time. What used to be a three hour job now took only an hour and a half, and she was confident enough to say that it was still just as good a job as ever.
She pushed it off to the side, before taking a small cloth and pouring some cleaner on it. It was normal for her nowadays that every time she had a customer who didn't buy the weapon, she'd go through and wipe it down.
Ruby used to use her Semblance for it, and she definitely got her usage of it, but considering there weren't that many customers nowadays she could effectively take her time. Her excitement had waned, so her near involuntary usage of her Semblance had dwindled.
She wiped down the hammer, making sure that it was just as sparkly clean as it should be, when the bell rang again. She gave a quick glance to see the large bunny ears walk through, along with a...giant man? A giant. A giant with a giant Valean curved great sword.
If it worked for him it worked for him. Coco was right behind him, Ruby could tell because of the beret, and then an unruly mop of brown hair. Had Velvet brought along her entire team? "Hi, welcome to Summer's Weapon shop!" Ruby declared, standing up easily.
"Hi Ruby. Here for Aneisadora," Velvet said with a smile. Ruby nodded and went behind the counter. The giant was behind her, almost cradling Velvet with a single hand. "This is Yatsuhashi, my partner in Beacon. You know Coco, and that's Fox. He's blind, yes, but don't feel bad if you accidentally say something. Also don't feel bad if he makes any sight puns, he has an entire army of them."
"No, I have an entire book of them," Fox declared as he looked around, despite being blind. "Also, I really like the pink here, I think it brings out the best of colors."
The floor and walls were not pink.
"Like that. Ignore that," Velvet said, her face flushed slightly. "Two thousand, right?" she asked as she reached for her lien card.
Ruby nodded. "Yep. That price hasn't changed yet and probably won't for a long time. I'll make sure to let you know if I have to for some reason. Also the third aperture was a bit wonky, did you hit her on accident?"
Coco glanced at Ruby. "No, she fell and didn't want to admit it. That's why Aneisadora is here so early."
Velvet flushed. "Coco, I told you not to tell her that!"
Yatsuhashi was grinning behind her. "Velvet, nobody expects you to be perfect. If you make an accident, just say. It is better to know one's mistakes and be humble about them than to pretend to be perfect."
"We're hunters. We're supposed to be perfect."
"I never got that memo. When did you read that, and which book was it in?" Fox asked from the corner. He was running his hands close to the newly made dust counter after the Torchwick break-in, but he wasn't actually touching anything. Could he feel dust?
"Fox, stop teasing her."
"Sure, sure. I can see what you're doing here."
Velvet and Yatsuhashi groaned. "Fox, stop!" Velvet finally said. She pulled out her wallet. "Please, before Fox unloads any more blind puns on us."
"Ha!"
Ruby giggled as she took and ran the card. It was rare for a huntsman to be blind, but it wasn't unheard of. Aura allowed all kinds of things, and he probably had some kind of blindsense Semblance, or some other ability that allowed him to keep his balance and navigate the world around him.
She handed the card back to Velvet. "Have you thought about a carrying case or something? More than just the pack on your back," Ruby asked.
Velvet sighed. "They keep telling me its a good idea, but at the same time I like keeping it in a place that lets me reach it at any time. Gives me more opportunities to just...take a picture," Velvet explained. Ruby nodded.
"I could try to make a simple pack that doesn't get in the way but still allows you to grab it whenever, but protects Aneisadora so that way if you fall it's not likely to hurt her," Ruby tried.
Yatsuhashi turned to stare at her, and Ruby got the sincere feeling that he was judging her. "Could you? I wouldn't quite know where to start..." Velvet answered quietly.
Ruby shrugged. "Sure. I can whip up a few designs and send them over to you. If you don't like any of them, it's not a problem," she said. Velvet smiled and nodded, taking a step back only to step straight into Yatsuhashi's stomach. Seriously, he was a giant.
"Yatsu, please don't glare at Ruby," Velvet said.
"I'm making sure she wasn't taking advantage of you."
"Oh, I'd pay to see that!" Fox claimed from the side. Coco threw her beret at him, before the hat made a round trip like a boomerang. Ruby barely got to see her hair before the hat was back on her head.
"She's a friend, Yatsu. She had plenty of time already, and she's helped me out a lot. Enough that once I pass the finals I'll finally be in the same classes as all of you!"
Ruby widened her eyes. "Wait, you're passing everything!? Congratulations! I know that you were super stressed about it before," Ruby said. "Because there was an accident or...?"
"No, I got pinned between a Nevermore, a cliff, and a King Taijitu. Even Goodwitch said she'd have taken a few hits there," Velvet admitted. "Broke my leg and both arms, along with my shoulder. Wasn't allowed to take the Year One finals, so these three passed while I was held behind."
"You never did tell me the specifics. Dad said it's a normal thing though."
Coco walked up. "Happens to at least one or two teams a year. Even in the most controlled of circumstances, accidents happen. You said your dad told you it's normal? Who's your dad?"
"Taiyang Xaio Long. He's a teacher over at Signal. Their semester is just about to get out too," Ruby explained.
"Taiyang, Taiyang...any resemblance to that other Xiao Long, regular Yang?" Fox asked. "She's been causing a major ruckus around the dorms."
Ruby felt the back of her head start to sweat. "Yeah, that's my sister. She's...a partier."
Yatsuhashi nodded. "We can not control ones family, but only the family that we choose," he said.
Ruby wasn't sure if that was intended to sound wise and just fell flat, or if that's just how he was. Velvet and the others nodded along, as if they agreed. Why though, Ruby didn't know.
A few minutes later found the four leaving, and the shop empty once more. Ideas for how to to lock Aneisadora up and protect her while still allowing photography...it was like...armor, for the weapon.
A kind of protective case...she'd have to get right on that.
Unreasonable Demands
Ruby stared at the clock, waiting for the day to end. It was going by so slowly, each tick of the seconds hand feeling like it dragged on for hours. She wasn't using her Semblance this time, she remembered to check first!
The bell rang again, and suddenly Ruby pushed herself back up. Now was not the time for admitting that she was bored beyond believe and wanted nothing more than to go out in the forest and brutally slaughter dozens of Grimm, now was the time for the weaponsmith Ruby, the shopkeeper!
Although Grimm Slaughter Nine was calling her name...no! She'd play tonight. After homework. Bad Ruby!
"Oh this is quite quaint," an almost unreasonably high pitched voice called out. It was rather posh, and had that unique accent that belonged only to the rich.
Ruby was at a crossroads. While she had unreasonable deals, mostly in that she charged Yang and Dad an extra fifty percent and charged Uncle Qrow an extra quarter with each purchase, and charged Blake, Jaune, and Pyrrha a bit less because they were Yang's teammates, she kept to her prices for the most part.
The hardest part was at times like this, where someone would come in and she could tell if they were going to be the bad kind of rich, or the 'rich enough to not care' type of rich.
She had yet to come across the good type of rich. She supposed they had to exist, there were nearly ten million people on Remnant after all, but she'd never met any.
"Mom, please. I'm just here for Firespitter," a much younger higher pitched voice said. Firespitter...right, Ruby remembered her. A Valean axe mixed with a flamethrower, using a specialized sixty percent red dust crystal to continue spitting flame. She remembered having to work out the math on that part; it was notoriously complicated, using nearly three different red dust crystals in order to align and alight the fuel mixture properly.
Granted, said fuel mixture was also called 'the air' and she didn't want to explode the entire atmosphere, so there was that. And all of her tests had worked! Kid paid top lien for it, and better yet had even asked her to show her how it worked without Ruby prompting her.
That was in itself a good move, and it only made Ruby happier. After all, a huntress that knew her weapon in and out was necessary.
"I just don't see what's so good about this 'fire yawner'. Certainly you can just keep using Axeman until your graduation?" the taller woman asked. They came into view around the corners, just as Ruby pulled out Flamespitter.
The youngest girl was about Ruby's height, and about her age too. She was probably about to graduate from Flare, and that meant that she had to pass at least three tests using a custom designed weapon. Most people used their friends weapons, if they had them, or attempted to fabricate themselves.
Some, like Crimson here, wanted her to make one for them that would be assured to work, and then have lots of practice to be halfway decent by the time of the graduation tests. "Dad's weapon is good, but it's not custom. Graduation requirements, Mom," Crimson said as she walked up.
The woman behind her was much taller, and had that thin face that was plastered with makeup and faked everything. Ruby was glad that Zwei was upstairs; he'd been sneezing the last day and a half ever since he'd gotten his nose stuck to the flour container and had been essentially a white corgi rather than his usual colors.
"Requirements, smequirements. We can just pay the board, have you graduate that way. You're already perfect, honey."
That...that wasn't how Flare worked. "Oh, and how do you know that?" the woman asked. Oh, Ruby hadn't meant to say that aloud.
But she had to explain then. She wasn't going to be looking forward to this, "Flare works on more than just a board. Also the teachers have to fill in on whether someone's combat capable. You can have the best grades in the world but if they don't think you're combat capable, you're not even allowed to apply to Beacon. Or any other others."
"What's so great about Beacon anyways? She can just stay here in Vale, where it's safe and perfect. Just like she is!"
"Mom..." Crimson said, her face flushed. Ruby didn't blame her, being talked up by her mom must've been embarrassing.
Although that did wonder if Mom would've talked up Ruby much the same. Would she be embarrassed by it? Would she have even thought that...anything could happen?
"Well you are! Straight A student in Flare, best graduate they've seen in years, and suddenly I find out that her dad's weapon simply isn't 'good enough'. Just because it's basic doesn't mean it's bad."
"I agree," Ruby said, "but the tests are more to show that you're comfortable with a wide variety of weapons. If you lose your own in the field, you're not going to have a choice if you come across another one."
"Isn't that why they're all so close up and brutus? Like that one, on the wall!" the woman said, pointing to Crescent Rose. "That looks just...so heinous!"
"Crescent Rose is my personal weapon," Ruby claimed. "I designed and built her myself. She's not just a scythe either, but a high impact sniper rifle capable of killing Grimm at nearly two hundred meters, and under five."
"Oh boo hoo, you can fire a gun. Anyone can fire a gun."
"Mom, let's just pay for Flamespitter and go home."
"No, no! You shouldn't have to pay full price! I'm sure that the nice shopkeep would let you have it for a discount."
Ruby shook her head, "Sorry ma'am, there's been a contract signed," she said, "that detailed the price and deliverables."
"I don't remember such a contract!"
That was weird, because she had signed it.
Literally, standing in front of Ruby, just as she had then, complaining about how high the prices were despite the fact that Ruby was well aware her prices were almost too low for Vale. If she charged half again what she sold them for, that'd be about average with, say, Mistral. And Mistral's hunter level was much lower than Vale's.
Ruby would know, she checked it that morning.
"Either way ma'am, I can pull it out to show you. It also includes a demonstration from me on basic maintenance and usage."
"Criminy doesn't need any demonstration!"
"That would be...no, that's a really bad idea," Ruby shook her head. "Flamespitter's complicated, and the blueprints were some of the hardest I've ever worked with. You want to have someone go over this with Crimson, otherwise someone, probably her, will get hurt."
"She'd never get hurt by anything! She's far too good for that!" Ruby looked at Crimson, who had a small black eye on one side of her face, and a large scar coming down from her throat. The girl shook her head. "I suppose it doesn't show it though. How this then, for a fifty percent discount I will prove to you that she can do anything, and beat you in that brutus contraption you call an arena."
"Mom that's a really bad idea-"
"That's a really bad idea, and illegal anyways. Fifty percent wouldn't even pay for the materials, let alone labor costs," Ruby said.
"Fine. I want to talk to your manager!" she said, pointing her nose upwards.
"I am the manager."
"You!? You're far too young to actually be anyone of import. Twenty five, or we're walking and you will never sell again! We'll make sure that you go out of business permanently!"
The bell rang again. "Hey Rubes, got some more," her dad's voice called out as he hauled in a large bag of dog food. "Oh you have customers. Hold on then."
"Oh!? You must be the owner then. Your cashier is doing a horrendous customer service job! She refuses to give me a discount despite the fact that I am Madame Dawnful!"
Who?
Taiyang's face looked as confused as Ruby's was. "Sorry Ruby..." Crimson muttered from the side. "I just wanted to come in and pick it up, and we had a few hours so I figured now..."
"No, it's not your fault," Ruby replied. She knew that she shouldn't feel jarred by the insults coming from 'Madame Dawnful', but each one was hate-filled and hurtful.
"She has done nothing but belittle us and my perfect Crimson this entire time! She is of the worst employees I have ever had the awfulness to work with, and I demand that you do something about it at once!"
Ruby didn't think that she had been doing that bad a job. She'd done just fine with all of those other helicopter parents who demanded only the best for their kids under the assumption that their kids weren't going to be hunting giant abominations of flesh and hatred along with a career that was lucky to be measured in years, let alone decades.
"Ruby? What was it that she was wanting?" Dad asked her.
"A twenty five or fifty percent discount for their custom weapon. Based upon a spar in the arena."
Her dad blinked at her. "Yeah...that's all on you. I'll just drop this off upstairs..." her dad said, doing absolutely nothing except making the situation worse as he hefted the fifty pound bag of dog food over the counter and upstairs.
"I, hold on there! Are you not the owner!? Why are you not disciplining your employee!?"
"Because this ain't my shop! It's her shop!" Taiyang shouted from the top of the stairs. Ruby sighed.
"Thanks for the help there!" Ruby shouted back. She ignored the sarcastic 'you're welcome! And what did Zwei get into up here!?' coming from the upstairs. Well, she had been planning on going to help him clean up, but not anymore...
"Mom, let's just pay and go. As Ruby said, there's a contract stating the price and it's pretty fair. Even professor Saffron thinks so," Crimson said.
"Saffron wouldn't know the difference between a fly and a gnat," Madame Dawnful said.
Professor Saffron was one of the teachers of Flare, and the one that Ruby had actually talked to about transferring to Flare to, ages ago. It hadn't worked out, due to...some reason. Ruby wasn't actually too sure, but it was high praise honestly. Meant her prices were fair without undercutting everyone else.
Ruby gripped Flamespitter up, and idly put it on the counter, it's blade facing towards them. "Once you pay, you can walk out the door. But I have to say this, and will say this again and again; do not get lower purity dust. It will explode. If you get higher purity dust, it will explode. It is calibrated for sixty five percent. If you do not have sixty five purity red dust, do not use it," Ruby warned.
"This can't be that difficult," Madame Dawnful said as she grabbed it out of Ruby's hands, and immediately pressed the one button that she shouldn't.
Flamespitter was mostly an axe, but towards the handle was a smaller canister for the air intake. It's also where the three dust crystals were, and they did as they should have, taking in air and amplifying their heat together in a radiant aura.
Naturally that meant fire erupted from the far end, straight towards Crimson.
Ruby acted without thinking, flaring her aura and her Semblance, grabbing Crimson in under a second and throwing her to the ground near some of the other weapons. Her aura flashed, taking in the heat from the flamethrower and the usage of her Semblance.
Flower petals scattered around. "Ma'am, don't make me call the police," Ruby said, her voice low. Madame Dawnful's eyes were wide, and she very quickly put the weapon down.
"Maybe...maybe you should learn, Crimson," she said. "Do you...have a place to sit down?" she asked. Ruby pointed to a small chair off in the corner. It was one of Zwei's favorite places to sit and watch people as they walked by, barking at the dogs that walked around.
Ruby let out a sigh of relief as Crimson looked over the weapon, and Ruby took it apart to show off the inner workings.
Helicopter parents. Every shop has to deal with them at some point. I did my best to deliberately make Madame Dawnful...off.
Also, this officially designates the end of Volume 1! And to coincide, near perfectly, The Weaponsmith has received more views than all of my other stories almost combined! It's absolutely incredible and I hope that you're all enjoying the story as much as I am writing it.
Until Next Time!