"So Qrow picks up a banana, and I know what you're thinking, he's going to do something hilarious with it right?"
I nodded along a small smile on my face as Tai recounts a story with him and his best friend.
"Maybe throw it at one of the gangsters, maybe toss the banana peel and some weird comedic timing makes one of them slips on it?" He raised his eyebrow. "Nope." He barely held in a laugh. "He stops fighting, right in the middle of the brawl, and starts peeling that banana. I look at him in complete shock, wondering what the hell he's doing, the guys we're fighting stop and stare at him too wondering what the hell was wrong with this guy." Tai shook his head. "Qrow just stares the one thug he was fighting with a moment ago, right in the eyes, and shoves the banana all the way down his throat and swallows it."
I barely held in my drink as I held my nose so nothing would shoot out, keeping my laughter stifled.
"Dammit Tai, I thought you said you weren't going to tell that story anymore." A man nursing a bag of ice walked into the room followed by Ruby. He was a it different then Tai, a tall and well built blonde. This dude was a bit slimmer, black hair and red eyes.
"Story? What story?" Ruby popped up.
"Nothing you need to know, shorty." Qrow pulled her cape over her head.
"I'm not short!" She whined, grabbing his hand and trying to push it away.
Qrow seemed to ignore her as he took a flask out of his pocket, taking a swig then eyeing me. "So this is the 'Alien'?"
"Yo." I greeted.
"Sup." He nodded at me, turning back to Ruby. "He looks pretty human to me."
"Qrow! Don't be racist." Ruby hurriedly chastised him.
"Actually, I'm not an alien." I felt like the joke had gone on long enough, I didn't want to use her naivety cruelty. "I'm a magician" I waved my hands enthusiastically. Okay, I couldn't resist.
"Really? Gonna to pull a rabbit out of your hat?" Qrow snorted.
"Maybe I will." Was that a thing here too?
"Pfft, I'd stop drinking for..... a month if you could do that."
My lips curled up and I flipped my hat upside-down. I stared right into his eyes as my arm went into my hat, much further than it should have, pulling out Sir Wiggles in all his glory.
Silence filled the room.
"He's so cute!" Ruby gushed as I let the rabbit out of my hands and into hers
"Huh." Tai just looked surprised as he reached over and stole Qrow's flask. "Sober for a month, that's gotta suck."
"Bite me." Qrow groaned. "Who are you exactly?" He looked at me.
"Just a lost person your….niece? Found and brought to town." I replied. "Was actually on my way to Vale and had a little semblance misshap."
"What's your semblance, some kind of space manipulation?" Qrow raised an eyebrow.
"Something like that." I smiled.
"I knew a chick who could do something like that, but create portals." Qrow sat down next to Tai. "Sound familiar?"
I was surprised by his question and noticed Tai tense of slightly. "Sorry, no idea." I shrugged, some kind of story there I guess.
"Hmm, long shot anyways." He didn't dwell on it. "So what brings you to Vale, if you got so long, you're probably not a native?"
"Yeah, bit of an outsider, just want to visit the big city for some personal projects. Wanted to start a research project on the nature of Dust and Aura." Was there even a need to hide my intents?
"Sounds boring." Qrow clearly looked disinterested.
"Well….if I remember right, there should be a Bullhead heading over to Vale in the next couple hours?" Tai seemed unsure, but I guess the timeframe was something to look into.
"I guess I should head over then, don't want to miss my chance." I stood up. "Thank you for your hospitality, I know it was a surprise to have a stranger suddenly drop in like this."
Tai let out a small laugh. "Don't worry about it, you are hardly the weirdest thing Ruby brought home." He looked at his daughter warmly. "Besides, I'm proud of her for helping someone like this, she's going to be a great huntress."
I couldn't help but admire the little girl too. She was willing to bring me to her home because she thought I was in need of aid. "You have a good daughter, I can only hope mine grows up to be like her."
Jeese, look at me thinking of Kunou's future…
"How old is yours?"
"Eleven."
Qrow spit out the drink he was sneaking. "Damn, they start earlier and earlier now."
I rolled my eyes. "Not by blood, obviously."
"Adopted?" Tai asked.
"Well, she adopted me." I let out a small laugh. "Regardless, I want to offer a gift as thanks."
"I only did my duty as a Huntress." Ruby chimed in with a bit of pride in her voice, clearly paying attention to our conversation. "I'm suppose to help people."
"Hey now, Short stuff, lets see what he's offering, weren't you eyeing that new upgrade for your weapon?" Qrow chimed in.
"Qrow, stop being a bad influence." Tai sighed, only to see the sparkles in Ruby's eyes and realize it was futile.
I couldn't help but laugh. "Your weapon has a lot of moving parts, small ones at that, I can only imagine the maintenance costs and time that go into it."
"Ugg, I know." Ruby huffed rubbing her face into Sir Wiggles. "But it's fun too ya'know? Tinkering with my baby, getting her perfect and upgrading her."
"Wait, you repair it?" I looked surprised. "Did you make it too?"
"Yup! Her name is Crescent Rose, she's my baby." Ruby beamed with pride.
Wow….I can say without a shadow of a doubt, I could not do that. My specialty is not in mechanical engineering, especially with firearms. I thought for a moment, taking out a couple ingots of Orichalcum from my ring. "These should be useful to you then, think of it as a thank you."
"Woah! What are these, I've never seen metal like this before!?" Ruby eyes them curiously.
"It's called Orichalcum, a very rare metal, it may take some trial and error to smelt them, but they're much more durable than steel, I dare say they won't suffer any damage in combat even if you use your weapon every day for your entire life."
Ruby squeed, opting to hug the metal over Sir Wiggles, the latter of whom seemed upset by this betrayal.
"Well, she's going to disappear into her workshop for a few days now." Tai shook his head as I scooped up Sir Wiggles and put him back inside my little hat where he was resting. "Thank you, she really does love tinkering with her weapon."
"Good deeds deserve a reward." I held out my hand. "It was a pleasure meeting you, but I should be on my way."
"If you're ever in the neighborhood."
"I'll look you up." I gave him once last goodbye and a nod towards Qrow who was paying more attention to Ruby than me.
What a nice family. I wonder if this is the standard or the exception to the people in this world?
Well, time to hit the road.
****
I looked out the window of this supposed 'Bullhead', it was basically a plane. Well, as much as the term could fit this vehicle. It had these large propeller wings that allowed for vertical and horizontal takeoff, it was a neat design.
I saw out the window as a massive ocean creature pierce through the water below, only to dive back down when it looked up and saw we were too high.
That was a grimm.
A very large grimm, and it looked like a type of sea serpent.
How interesting, and barely anyone even batted an eye. Just more stuff to look into later.
What should I do first? Probably find a library or bookstore of some sorts….don't want to go around asking questions that are supposed to be common sense around here.
Kind of want to try the local food as well, but I also don't' have any of their currency….Lien they called it? I may or may not have illegally boarded the bullhead using magic.
Definitely want to find somewhere to buy some of this dust. I've seen it used in almost every commercial aspect of their technological base, and it's just making me all the more interested in how it works. I noticed the lights being powered by that strange material back at Tai's house and some other appliances.
Really, it seems like they have all kinds of goodies here that I can acquire.
Not to mention his Aura everyone has, I don't actually know the exact mechanism on how one goes about acquiring it. But the vague notes Zelretch left indicate it could be a small force multiplier ontop of everything I have right now.
More power?
Sure.
On that note, I really need to have a talk with the old man about taking better records. Then again, I know his train of thought at the time was probably that he would be the only one reading it so they were basically reminders.
Perhaps I should look for gifts for my girls as well? Rin did say souvenirs, I really should get something for Kunou…
Haaah.
I miss that little fox already.
Good news is that I can pop on over and scoop her up whenever I want, bad new is I would have to explain what I'm actually doing if the time difference is too wonky.
My idle musings stopped as I saw the outline of a large city come into view. It was frankly, massive and the huge walls that surrounded it just emphasized that even more.
I could see huge guns and fortifications all over the walls. Pointing out towards the forest and what-not.
Damn, how much of a problem are these grimm that they literally require fortifications of this degree?
Honestly, I was a bit giddy to finally arrive. One doesn't' explore a completely new world so often, and a hub of activity like this was even more exciting. I ended up falling in love with Skyrim, I wondered if anything like that would pull me here?
'Welcome to Vale, please respect your fellow passengers in your boarding and unboarding procedures.' An automated voice came over the intercoms.
The vehicle touched down a lot smoother than planes I've flow on in the past, I made the idle note to find a design for these bullheads and bring it back with me at some point.
Well, that was my que. With a quick spell, I disillusioned myself to quickly disappear without any fanfare.
I had a new city to explore!
***
Alright, second chapter that was supposed to be released sunday, even if it's like 1 in the morning monday. I took a nap and set my alarm to AM instead of PM so I was a little late. And just a heads up, i don't plan on this arc taking like 60+ chapters or anything. This first round in RWBY is basically him killing time until Rin is ready to go to Skyrim. Acquiring a few materials, getting PoD and what-not. Maybe leaving behind a little chaos in his wake :). And i'm sure there will be no issue with giving Ruby a magical metal.
Anyways, if you want to support me or read 5 chapters ahead, visit my pat.reon.com/astoryforone.