#ignore my inability to draw guns. or facial expressions

[high-qualitymoron]

"wait, screenshot redraws are considered cringe? well, shi-"

idk if this counts as a redraw tbh. i’m just doing what i want. anyway i’ve been working on this the past couple weeks bc i liked the idea, still haven’t outlined in pen but whatever. happy cringetober

[im-the-king-of-the-ocean]

Dead Souls Living Ch12 Preview

to start off the new year (a couple days late, but I’m never on time :P), here’s a look at Souls Ch12.

The chapter will pick up with Penny’s POV just after she and Ruby have escaped Atlas and arrived down in Mantle.

Fic Summary:

Once accepted into Beacon Academy, Ruby never thought anything could get in the way of her training to become a Huntress. Then mysterious forces attacked, Beacon fell, and she wakes up to find the Atlas Military has kidnapped her (and declared her dead to the world) under the guise of keeping her and her silver eyes safe.

Now Ruby, alongside Penny, who is similarly assumed-dead-but-not-really by the world, fights to define what it means to have legendary magical powers and protect Atlas and Mantle from the forces, both inside and out, that could destroy them, and all of Remnant.

.

The rain goes from a steady drizzle to a downpour by the time they reach the house.  Penny doesn’t pause to do a full scan of the building like she intended.  Getting Ruby out of the cold is far more important.  If there’s a threat, she’ll have to address it as it comes.  Not ideal, but Penny’s good at adapting.

In one fluid movement, the Huntress who’d found them where they crashed shoves the house’s door open with her shoulder, drops her semblance, and barges her way inside.  Reflexively, Penny winces at just how rude their entry is, but she hurries in after the Huntress regardless.

A warm, snug, little kitchen waits for them on the other side.  As does an older woman wielding a frying pan like a bat.  The lenses of her eye prosthetics open all the way when she sees them.  “May?”  She splutters, lowering the pan.  “What on Remnant is going on?”

“Long story.”  The Huntress, May, collapses down in one of the chairs at the kitchen table.  She gestures with one hand to Penny, still holding Ruby tightly in her arms.  “Needed a safe place.”  May closes her eyes, rubs her temples, and mutters something about overtaxing her semblance.

The older woman rounds on Penny, who stiffens.   Panic comes over her.  She shouldn’t have followed May.  She can’t trust that May hasn’t just led her into a trap.  How could she have been so foolish?

“It’s alright.”  The older woman reaches a hand out toward Ruby.  “I—”

Penny flinches back.  She clutches Ruby to herself, keeping her out of reach.  She can’t let anything else bad happen to her friend.  She already waited too long to do anything and Ruby had been hurt worse than she would have been if Penny had just acted sooner.

“Your friend isn’t in good shape,” the older woman speaks slowly, cautiously.  “We can help her.”  She pauses.  “You trusted May enough to come all the way here with her, yes?”  She waits for Penny to nod in response.  “Don’t you think you should be able to trust me too, then?”

“I…” Penny looks down at Ruby.

There’s no indication, like a raised heartbeat or a change in tone, to indicate the woman is lying to her.  But, Penny doesn’t know all the tells in existence.  Maybe this woman has ones she’s not aware of?  

Penny frowns, listening to the continuous patter of the rain against the windows.  She can’t just go back outside either.  Even if it weren’t for the weather conditions or the military’s pursuit of them, Ruby is still in bad shape and, at some point, Penny is going to have to stop ignoring all the critical alerts her systems have been sending her.

All things considered, the best strategy would be to hide out somewhere for a while.  She’s already risked trusting May.  That hasn’t ended badly (yet).  Staying here is (currently) the best option.

Penny looks back to the woman.  She opens her mouth, but whatever sentences she’d managed to put together in her mind, they vanish before her lips can get them out.  She gulps.

The woman takes her inability to speak in stride.  “I have a fire going in the other room.”  She gestures to a doorway leading further into the house.  “You can warm up in there.  While you do,  I’m sure I can find something more comfortable for you to wear around here somewhere.  May will go fetch a doctor.”  Before Penny can interrupt, the woman adds, “a discreet doctor.”

“At least let me drink a cup of coffee first,” May mutters.  Then, she looks at the woman.  “Sieben?”  She holds up her scroll.  “Fi says there’s a lot of military activity around Polendina’s pharmacy.”

Penny does her best to keep her wince an internal expression.  It’s not that she doesn't care about her father.  She just…she hadn’t really planned.  She hadn’t wanted him to worry.  She figured she’d be able to tell him everything after.  

She hopes Dad is alright.

“If you can get ahold of Klein,” the woman is saying back to May.  “But, he may be hard to reach.”

“I have my ways.”  With a grunt, May pushes herself up.  She walks over to a coffeepot on the counter, pours some into a mug, drinks it, gets a thermos out of a cupboard, pours more coffee into that, takes a sip, and then heads toward the door.

May takes a fresh coat off a hook by the door, puts it on, and then turns back to Penny.  “Don’t worry.  You’ll be safe here with Maria.  We’ll make sure of it.”  Then, in the blink of an eye, she disappears into the night.

“Come along then.”  Maria motions for Penny to follow her through the doorway she gestured to earlier.

Careful to not jostle Ruby, Penny follows.  They enter a cozy-looking room with a thick rug Penny’s feet sink deeply into and a crackling fire in the hearth.  Situated near the fire is a soft-looking, if a bit tattered, sofa.  Penny makes her way over to it.  Maria goes off to find them blankets and clean clothes.

As Penny gently places her down upon the cushion closest to the hearth, Ruby stirs.  Blearily, she opens her eyes.  Ruby looks around.  She inhales sharply.  Scrambles to her feet.  Cries out when she puts weight on her bad ankle.

Penny catches Ruby before she falls.  “It’s okay.  You’re okay,” she hurries to tell her.  “I got you.”

“Penny?  I—where?”  Ruby struggles between breathing and getting words out.  “Are we safe?”

“We’re…” Penny trails off.  She doesn’t know how to answer the question.  By all appearances, they should be safe with May and Maria.  The women seem kindly, or, at least, nice enough.  They’ve given no reason for Penny to suspect them of anything.  But…

She had no reason not to trust Ironwood or the AceOps before all this, either.  She’d trusted them implicitly, even.  Now?  Sure, there has been no overt statement that things are different.  Penny can return up to Atlas if she chooses to.  It doesn’t feel like she can’t return.  She hasn’t done anything wrong.  She hasn’t broken any laws.  She should be able to go back to Atlas.

That had been the plan, hadn’t it?  Get Ruby out of immediate harm’s way, and then go back and talk to Ironwood.  Make him understand what he was doing to Ruby wasn’t right.  Surely, he’d see that it wasn’t a good way to go about things, that he needed a new strategy.  Ironwood just wanted to protect everyone, so he’d lost sight of the harm his actions did to a single soul.  Penny just had to remind him.  Right?  Right.

He’d shot her.

When she’d gathered Ruby up and flown her away from the cylinder of ice her panicked snowstorm created, Ironwood had been on the outside.  His eyes met Penny’s.  She’d opened her mouth to speak.  He’d raised his gun.  Ironwood had seen all her blueprints.  He knew where her vulnerabilities where.

He’d shot Penny’s foot to compromise her rocket.  He’d made her fall.  Plummet.

He’d treated her like an enemy combatant.

If she can’t trust those she’d always been able to have faith in, how can she possibly trust people she’s only just met?

Penny finally brings herself to look at Ruby.  She looks far past exhausted, but she holds herself tense and ready.  Prepared, if they need to go.  Ruby can’t keep pushing herself, though.  Penny may not know much about being human, but she does know quite a bit about the physical limitations of the organic body (when you’re constantly aware you’re significantly stronger than the average flesh-and-blood person, you tend to learn a lot about that sort of thing, as to not break them when interacting).  Ruby needs rest.

She needs Penny to tell her she can rest.

Careful to keep her tumultuous thoughts off her external facial expression, Penny wraps her arms tightly around Ruby and hugs her.  “We can stay here,” Penny whispers to Ruby.

“Okay.”  Ruby smiles softly back at her.  Something twinges in Penny at the show of trust.  

Is this the right decision?  She’s putting Ruby in an even more vulnerable position.  What if they do need to leave without warning?  What then?  

But Ruby is tired, and needs to rest.  Sleep.  Penny’s ability to judge character and decide who she can trust may be faulty, but she can still set priorities.  Right now, her Top Priority is caring for Ruby.  Tenderly, Penny guides Ruby down onto the sofa and sits beside her.  She draws Ruby in close, and increases her body temperature incrementally, until it’s at a heat level that can comfortably warm Ruby up.