For all that Yang didn't understand just what she was talking about, the blonde bastard had a point. Louise had to agree that though the machine might be offensive to her idea of what counted as alive, P.E.N.N.Y. was still leaps and bounds ahead of most people she'd had the displeasure of being acquainted with. Not that she believed harlots and traitors like Zerbst or Montmorency were a worthwhile measuring stick.
Digression aside, it hadn't been anything but benign since they'd met and it wasn't the one to blame for the atrocity that was its creation. P.E.N.N.Y. was the third step in Atlesian research into the soul; phase 1 being responsible for the Aura detecting devices in use all over Remnant, phase 2 having proven the possibility of stabilizing a wounded creature and preparing their soul for transfer, and Phase 3 combining the previous two with existing robotics research for use on humans. From what Louise could gather from the fake human, phase 2 hadn't been tested with anything more advanced than a dog before the failure that resulted in the abomination that was ordering ice cream.
Well, if nothing else, she was at least secure in her runes' ability to use P.E.N.N.Y.'s origins in the Atlesian Knight program to make sure it was genuine.
Turning from the blonde to the orange haired thing's fumbling at the register, Louise nodded. "Yes... I guess you're right."
"Okay?" Yang said questioningly, looking to her sister.
Shrugging, Ruby asked, "Are you feeling alright, Louise? You've been kinda... weird and spacey."
"I'm fine." She replied with a shake of her head. "Sorry, I... I was focused on something else. Anyway, did you two find out what your uncle was doing at Master Cynric's business?"
"Not yet, but we're working on it. Uncle Qrow might act tough, but he always caves when his two favorite nieces are involved." Yang answered with a cocky smirk.
Rolling her eyes, Ruby gave her a shove. "We're his only nieces."
"So? Trust me, we got this."
"If you're sure." It wasn't as if Louise had proven any good at investigating in the past, so she'd trust them to do it. For now. "What about Summer?"
"Nah, wouldn't work." Yang sighs. "Dad's in denial and who knows what him and Ozpin've fed him. I doubt he'd tell her anything and she's been out of the loop for, like, a decade."
"What about on your end? Maybe someone who works there's learned something?" Ruby offered.
As if they would trust a failure like me with important information. They probably wouldn't think I could keep it a secret and they're not-
Shaking her head, both in answer and to stop those depressing thoughts, Louise closed her eyes. Master Cynric said she needed to have faith in herself and she'd promised to try. "No, they... I'm supposed to be focusing on Beacon, so I don't think they'd tell me if they did."
"Are you sure you're ok-"
The table shook as P.E.N.N.Y. opened her arms to drop four large cylinders between all of them. "I have successfully purchased the ice cream!"
"Penny, this is way too much!" Yang shouted, staring wide-eyed at the containers that were bigger than her thighs.
Already having torn hers open, Ruby cheerfully agreed around a mouthful, "Mmhmm, 'ish a'rot, bu' 'ish goo."
Reeling back in disgust from the child's display, Louise turned to see the machine staring at her in hopeful expectancy. Clearing her throat and trying not to listen to the disturbing sounds coming from her team leader, the pinkette reached up to pat the thing on its head. "Good... good work?"
Praising others was a strange experience.
----------------------------------
By the time Ruby had finished demolishing half of her food and collapsed in heap of bloated child and melted confections, the three others had also stopped. Yang because she apparently didn't want to gain weight, Louise because she could only stomach so much of that strange sweet potato flavor and should probably get something that wasn't misleadingly purple in the future, and P.E.N.N.Y. probably stopped just to blend in.
So with their ice cream slowly turning into vats of liquid, P.E.N.N.Y. asked, "So what are we to do now? Should we commence with painting our nails, and trying on clothes, and talking about cute boys?"
"Well, I don't know about you, but there's this one fine~ specimen at Beacon I've got my eye on." Yang said with a salacious grin.
Between the abrupt shift in topic, the use of the term 'specimen' reminding her uncomfortably of Doctor Vahlen, and the fact that a lifeless machine wanted to talk about courtship, it took a moment for Louise to understand just what the blonde was implying. When she did and connected that to how everyone at Beacon had a sickening interest in her familiar, the pinkette stood up with a slam of her hands on the table.
"No! I refuse to take part in this discussion."
Surprised, Yang asked, "Wha- What are you doing?"
Already on her way to the door, the pinkette declared, "I'm leaving!"
"Aww... Come on!"
"No!"
"Friend-Louise?"
She didn't respond, stepping out the door with haste. It was one thing to not point out their perversions, it was an entirely other thing to indulge them. That being said, she wasn't displeased when she heard them calling out to her a few minutes later, Yang carrying her groaning sister alongside P.E.N.N.Y.
"You know you don't have to be embarrassed about liking someone, right? We won't make fun of you or anything."
Choosing not to comment, Louise held her chin high and marched on. Now if only she had had a plan for where she was going. It was still midday and admitting that she'd stormed off without a destination would make her look foolish.
Status: Healthy
Magicka: (12010/12010)
Choose:
[] Wander deeper into Vale with the excuse of shopping.
[] Kwama Korp
[] POV Switch: Cattleya
[] Write in.