SAPR

by Scipio Smith

Hard Shells (New)

Hard Shells

The animal shelter-cum-pet hotel — the sign above the glass doors proclaimed it to be a 'Sanctuary and Wellness Centre,' and only the picture of a cat and a dog suggested this was not somewhere to get a massage — looked clean and well-maintained but also rather small, nestling as it did between a nail salon on the one side and a sportswear shop on the other, the two establishments looking as if they were trying to squeeze the animal shelter out of existence.

The doors were glass, and most of the central strip of the outer facing wall was taken up with windows, with the red brick only appearing above and below. The windows themselves were nearly impossible to see through, taken up as they were with seemingly interminable fliers and leaflets and advertisements: a picture of an admittedly adorable-looking golden retriever suggested that you might want to consider adopting a stray animal — somehow, Ciel doubted that most strays looked so attractive — a cat asked you to consider the benefits of tracking chips; a couple of home-made notices begged for information about lost pets.

There was also a request for donations in the form of a picture of a cat sat in front of an empty bowl, looking pleadingly up at the passerby.

It was unsubtle, but undoubtedly effective: Ciel found herself reaching into her purse as she approached the door.

Her cloak flapped around her a little as she walked, buffeted slightly by the breeze that blew through the Atlesian streets. She did not feel a chill, however, despite the altitude. The temperature was kept too high for that. It might not be the case when she returned to Mantle, but that was something she would discover when she arrived.

Ciel reached the glass doors of the shelter and pushed them open with little difficulty to step inside the building. It was scarcely warmer inside than it was without, but it was brighter, the artificial light from the ceiling above banishing the gloom of night that covered the sky outside. Ciel had to squint for a moment until her eyes adjusted.

"Hey," a soft, slow, almost lazy-sounding voice greeted her. "Welcome to the Sanctuary. Blessings."

The voice belonged to a woman slightly older than Ciel — albeit not by very much — with her red hair worn in curls, wearing a shapeless lavender dress and a yellow flower-patterned headscarf. Her name was Tree Hugger, and she ran the sanctuary, even if she didn't own it.

"Good evening," Ciel said as she walked towards the front desk. She plucked a few money cards out of her purse and placed them in the donation box.

"Good karma," Tree Hugger said as the cards hit the floor of the box with a series of light tapping sounds. Her violet eyes narrowed. "Oh, I'm so sorry."

Ciel blinked. "Why should you be sorry?"

"Your vibe is … disturbed," Tree Hugger explained. She reached out for a space just in front of Ciel's forehead, as though there were a fly buzzing around her and she meant to grab it.

Ciel recoiled, taking a step back out of reach. "Whatever my vibe may or may not be, please do not try to cleanse it."

Tree Hugger rested her elbows on the front desk. "What's the matter? You want to talk about it?"

"Not particularly," Ciel remarked. "Is Penny here? I think Rainbow is bringing her by."

"Yeah, Dash brought her by, along with that other girl, Blake," Tree Hugger said. "She's pretty righteous, huh?"

"Penny?"

"Blake," Tree Hugger explained. "Real … radical vibe."

"It disturbs me somewhat that I can see what you mean," Ciel said.

Tree Hugger's lips twitched. "So, Penny's the problem, huh?"

Ciel's eyebrows rose. "What makes you say that?"

"I think she's on your mind," Tree Hugger said.

That didn't explain anything as far as Ciel was concerned, but nevertheless, she took a step back towards Tree Hugger and the desk. "Why would Penny be disturbing my … vibe?"

"You tell me; it's your vibe," Tree Hugger pointed out.

"I don't even know what a vibe is; how am I supposed to know what's troubled about it?" Ciel snapped.

"But you are troubled, right?" Tree Hugger asked.

Ciel sighed. "Penny and I … our relationship … is … it is not what I would wish it to be, and yet … I do not know how to get from where we are to where I would wish to be, or if the journey is even possible."

"All journeys are possible," Tree Hugger said. "You just have to start walking."

"I am not sure that is entirely the case," Ciel said.

"It is when the journey is a metaphor, dude," Tree Hugger explained.

"Right," Ciel murmured. "That … has not been as entirely unhelpful as I might have expected." She put some more lien — not much more; she wasn't made of money, by any means — in the donation box. "Thank you."

Tree Hugger nodded. "Also, if things don't work out with your friend, adopting an emotional support dog can be a great way to cleanse your vibe. Or a pig, if that's more your thing."

"I'll bear that in mind," Ciel murmured as she walked around the desk towards the grey double doors that led out of reception and into the recesses of the shelter proper.

Ciel stepped through, letting the doors close behind her as she walked into a corridor where the floor was made up of black and white tiles, the walls were white, and the lights bright overhead. A series of doors led off from either side of the corridor, and Ciel looked into them as she passed by, looking for a sight of Penny and the others.

The … enclosures, rooms, whatever you wished to call them, certainly made an attempt at comfort; although they were stacked high up the walls, so that some creatures were confined in spaces eight or ten feet off the ground, they were by no means small spaces, for all that they were bounded by a plastic door with a child safety lock that could only be opened from the outside. The animals were confined but not caged; they all had a blanket to play with, chew on, or lie beneath, a toy or two — in her visits, Ciel had observed that you could tell who had been left at the shelter temporarily by an owner and who had been abandoned by how many toys and possessions they had in their room — and space to move a little bit; she also knew there was an enclosed yard out the back to allow more free movement every now and then.

No, this was not a terrible place; certainly, it was better than any equivalent in Mantle that Ciel knew of. It was not perfect, but then, Ciel did not know how a place like this, a place that existed in no small part for the benefit of creatures who were not wanted by polite society, could become perfect.

Apart from anything else, who would pay for it?

She found the others — Penny, Rainbow, Twilight, Blake, and Fluttershy — in the indoor play area, where the floor was covered in a felt carpet as green as grass, and various balls and pyramids and podiums and tunnels littered the floor. The others were all gathered an orange-coloured podium, atop which a large tortoise stood, while a smaller creature stood on the level below, and seemed to be looking up with admiration.

Or perhaps Ciel was simply anthropomorphising to an absurd degree.

As she walked through the door, she heard Rainbow say, "Has anyone ever told you that you're kind of a stereotype?"

"'A stereotype'?" Ciel asked.

Rainbow, who was sitting on the floor with one arm resting on her raised knee, turned her head to look at her. "Oh, hey Ciel. I was just—"

"Insulting me?" Blake suggested.

"I was just pointing out to Blake that, for a faunus rights activist, she can be … a bit of a cat sometimes," Rainbow said.

"I am not!" Blake insisted.

Rainbow grinned. "What's that you're playing with?"

Blake looked down. Ciel looked down as well. Blake was standing up, but crouched, to bring her down closer to the tortoises, but in her hands, it seemed that she had found somewhere a ball of orange twine and had been assiduously if unconsciously creating a cat's cradle.

Blake's cheeks reddened a little, and she tried to throw the string away, but found that more difficult than she might have hoped by the way it had gotten tangled around her fingers. "That is not—"

"You eat all that tuna."

"Tuna's nice," Blake protested. "And very healthy."

"May I ask what prompted this?" asked Ciel.

"We're trying to persuade Blake to get a pet," Twilight explained from where she knelt behind the podium.

"After all," Fluttershy added, "there are a lot of wonderful animals here looking for a good home to go to."

"That would be rather difficult, considering that I don't have a home," Blake pointed out. "And if this hypothetical pet is just going to live here because I have nowhere to keep them, then what's the point?"

"Then get a dog you can take on missions," Rainbow suggested.

"I am not getting a dog," Blake said flatly.

"Because you're a stereotype."

Blake rolled her eyes.

Penny, who was kneeling down behind the tortoises, asked, “Do you have any pets, Ciel?”

“Not at the moment,” Ciel replied. “We had a dog, while we were living on the base in Vacuo. But Archie passed away, and since we moved back to Mantle, there has not really been the room.”

“Oh,” Penny said, “then what are you doing here?”

Regardless of how Penny meant it, the question felt like a slap across the face, considering Ciel’s misgivings. Nevertheless, she tried not to let it show on her face. “I,” she said, as she walked forwards, “am here to pay my respects to the Major.”

She knelt down in front of him. Major Leaf was a giant amongst his species; on the floor, he probably would have come up to Ciel’s knees or even a little higher, but when she knelt down — and with him on the podium — he was actually in a position to look down on her. His shell was mottled black and brown, rising in a high dome that did not completely cover his front, leaving a large amount of grey-green skin visible; scales were beginning to cover his thick, trunk-like legs.

“Good evening, Major,” Ciel said. “I would present my report, but I fear it is not yet complete.”

Major Leaf looked at her with one dark eye. He winked at her.

“He knows what we’re saying, doesn’t he?” Blake asked.

“Oh, yeah,” Rainbow said. “He’s really smart, aren’t you, sir?”

Major Leaf said nothing, but he almost seemed to smile; certainly, he raised his head up higher as if in pride.

Tank, standing on the level below, tried to climb upwards onto the top of the podium. He was far smaller than Major Leaf, and mostly green in colour, with a lower shell that covered his whole body, leaving only his neck, head, and legs protruding. Despite his youth, he had the beginnings of wrinkles around his mouth already, and they were accentuated as he smiled up hopefully at Major Leaf.

Major Leaf looked down at Tank. For a moment, the elder tortoise and the younger locked eyes with one another. Then it seemed almost as if Major Leaf nodded, before he pitched forwards. Ciel rose to her feet to make way for him as the Major climbed down off his lofty perch and turned around to make a sharp gesture with his head.

Tank climbed up onto the top of the podium.

Major Leaf rested his foreclaws upon the lower level and raised his neck so that, despite his descent, he was still level with Tank, more or less.

And then he seemed to nod again.

“They’re so cute!” Penny cried as Tank began to nuzzle Major Leaf, rubbing his snout up and down against the Major’s cheek.

Ciel smiled as she was not able to resist the temptation to start stroking Major Leaf on top of his head. “Do you know that tortoises like Major Leaf here can live for hundreds of years if they are properly cared for? He will outlive us all, won’t you, Major? He will see Atlas rise higher and higher, to glories undreamt of.”

“And he’ll remember us. Won’t you, sir?” Rainbow asked, her voice soft. She grinned. “And in two hundred years, when some other students are around, you’ll remember that they weren’t as awesome as us, won’t you?”

Once more, Major Leaf winked.

Fluttershy said, “Penny, have you ever thought about having a pet?”

Penny hesitated. “I … I don’t know,” Penny said. “A part of me would like one, but … like Blake said, I don’t have anywhere for them to live.”

“Well, when you both find yourselves a little more settled down, remember that there are lots of wonderful creatures in need of good homes and loving families,” Fluttershy said. “And I’d be happy to help if you need any advice.” She smiled. “And of course, that goes for you as well, Ciel, if your circumstances change.”

“Thank you,” Ciel murmured. “I will bear that in mind.” She hesitated. “Penny, may I have a word with you? In private?”

Penny got to her feet. “Alright,” she said. “But where is private here?”

“You can go up onto the roof, if you want to?” Fluttershy suggested. “It’s the fire door two doors down from here, take the stairs. Just don’t let the door close on you; it only opens from the inside.”

That wouldn’t be too much of a problem — if it was any problem at all — for people with their auras unlocked and some training, but nevertheless, as Ciel followed Penny up onto the roof, she made sure to place the doorstop she had found at the top of the stairs where it would, well, stop the door.

Then she stepped out onto the roof. Out of the bright lights of the sanctuary and into the dark of night once more, albeit a darkness as filled with artificial lights as it was with stars. The breeze ruffled Ciel’s cloak.

Penny stood near the edge of the roof, by the fire escape, leaning on the safety railing. “I like your cloak,” she said, turning her head to look at Ciel.

“Thank you,” Ciel murmured. She rather liked it herself; it was double-layered, with one layer covering her shoulders but allowing her arms to emerge, and the other covering the rest of her as far as her ankles.

There was a moment of silence before Penny said, “What did you want to talk about?”

“I … I would like to know,” Ciel said, “what it is that you plan to do.”

“Why?” Penny asked. “So that you can be fiercely disapproving?”

Ciel winced. “You heard that, of course.”

“Yes,” Penny said. “I heard everything. Did you mean it, or were you just saying what my father wanted to hear?”

Ciel took some small comfort from the fact that Penny was giving her an out. Perhaps it was a genuine question, but she doubted it; she believed that Penny had known that Ciel had meant what she was saying in Doctor Polendina’s laboratory, if only because they had talked about the same kind of thing before now. And yet, she was leaving Ciel an escape route anyway; if Ciel said that, yes, she had been soothing Doctor Polendina’s ruffled feathers, then Penny would accept that and let it pass, and they could move on to … to better things, perhaps.

And all Ciel had to do was lie.

Ciel closed her eyes. “No, Penny, I meant what I said.”

Penny looked away from her. “I see.”

“Penny,” Ciel said, her voice rising a little as she took a step towards her. “I … I am what I have been fashioned by God. I am moved by what the spirit moves in me. I cannot change that so easily, I cannot flick a switch to make myself other than who and what I am, and yet… and yet, for your approval, I almost wish I could.”

Penny looked at her. Her green eyes seemed especially bright in the darkness. “That … that isn’t what I want!” Penny cried. “That isn’t what I’ve ever wanted! Is that what you think?”

“I think—”

“I don’t want you to change who you are, Ciel,” Penny insisted. “I want you to stop trying to change me!”

“I fear that might require me to change into someone who can let fault pass without comment,” Ciel murmured apologetically.

Penny stared at her for a moment, and then a moment more. “Well,” she said, “if you wanted to change that part of yourself, I guess I wouldn’t complain.”

Ciel raised one eyebrow.

Penny smiled slightly, with her mouth closed.

Ciel snorted.

Penny’s smile remained on her face, even as she said, “Have you ever actually done it?”

“Done what?”

“Fiercely disapproved of your brothers,” Penny explained. “The way you said you would if they started … doing things you disapproved of. Wasting their time.”

“No,” Ciel admitted. “No, I have … it has never come up. I would like to say that is because my brothers are all so very upstanding — and lest you misunderstand me, there is no true scandal attached to any of them — but the truth is … the truth is, Penny, is that I sometimes think that there are moments when they disapprove of me.”

“Why would they disapprove of you?” Penny asked, disbelieving.

Both Ciel’s eyebrows rose this time around.

“You just said you haven’t done the thing that annoys me about you to them!” Penny pointed out, a degree of exasperation driving out the aforementioned disbelief.

“No,” Ciel allowed. “But I am here … At Atlas, I mean, not at the animal sanctuary.”

Penny blinked. “I don’t understand.”

Ciel turned away from her, moving towards the safety rail in her turn. She rested her fingertips gently upon the metal bars, feeling the cold of them. “I am the oldest of seven children,” she said. “My father is a non-commissioned officer, my mother has retired to look after the other six children … money is often tight. If there were fees to pay to get into Atlas, we would not be able to afford it, but even so … school supplies, uniform, a dress for the dance … I should have gotten a job where I could contribute to the family finances instead of being a drain on them.”

“Is that what they think?” Penny asked. “Is that what they told you?”

“No one has said it out loud,” Ciel conceded. “My father, at least, is proud of me, but at the same time … when I go home … I sometimes ask myself why I deserve a dress or an education more than my brothers deserve a treat or a toy.”

“Because … because this is everything to you,” Penny said. “Because this is your whole life. And because I really can’t see you working a normal job. Can you imagine yourself as a waitress or something? ‘Good evening, I am Ciel Soleil, and I will be your diligent and attentive waitress tonight. I warn you that if you order the wrong meal, I shall express my stern disapproval of your taste and choices.’”

Ciel closed her eyes and shook her head. “Penny—”

“What?” Penny declared, putting her hands on her hips and raising her head as though she were looking down — as though she could look down, despite being smaller than Ciel. “You want red wine with the fish? How plebeian of you!”

“Please stop,” Ciel pleaded gently, humour seeping into her voice.

“I simply couldn’t allow you to have fries, so here are your sautéed potatoes.”

“Stop, please, I beg of you, or you will make me weep,” Ciel implored. She covered her mouth as a titter escaped it. “I should like to think,” she declared, “that I would be capable of adjusting my behaviour to the setting and circumstance … but you may be more right about me than my pride is.”

“You belong here, Ciel,” Penny insisted. “I mean, you belong in Atlas, not in the animal sanctuary. You belong in that uniform. Because it’s not just a uniform to you; it’s a part of who you are. This is you, and you shouldn’t let anyone tell you otherwise, not even your family. You’re who you are and where you’re meant to be.”

Ciel looked at her. “And that is all that you want too.”

Penny glanced down. “It’s what I want to find out, yes.”

“How?” Ciel asked. “What is it that you mean to do?”

Penny hesitated, clasping her hands together, saying nothing.

“I will not tell,” Ciel insisted. “Whatever it is, whatever you’re planning, I will keep your confidence.”

“Will you?”

“Yes!” Ciel declared. “I know what I said to your father, and I know … I know how that must have sounded to you, but … whatever it is that you have … I suspect that you and Rainbow talked about something in the elevator without me; I would know what it was. Not because I want to judge, but because…”

“Because?” Penny prompted.

“Because I sometimes doubt that either of you have the ability to plan your way to dinner time, and I would know that you aren’t doing something foolish,” Ciel admitted. “And because I care about you and my care makes me curious. But you have my word, upon the holy book and on my honour, I will not reveal … whatever it is.”

Penny took a moment, before she said, “I’m going to transfer to Beacon next year.”

So. That was it. Of course it was. Now that Penny had said it, it seemed very obvious.

And yet it still smarted like a smack to the face.

“I … I see,” Ciel murmured. “What will you do there, without a team—”

“I thought that, since it looks like Blake is going to come to Atlas, that I could take her spot on Team Iron,” Penny said. “That way, it all balances out.”

For Rainbow Dash perhaps. “I suppose that I can see the logic in that,” Ciel conceded.

It was a tidy solution, at least on a superficial level. And Penny would be reasonably close to her friends, although Ciel would have been more comfortable if Penny had said that she had already discussed it with her friends and they had agreed that Pyrrha would take Blake’s role in Team YRBN while Penny made up the new P in SAPR.

Not that there was any chance that Sunset Shimmer would have agreed to that, but Ciel would have preferred it to the idea of leaving Penny in the care of Yang Xiao Long and Nora Valkyrie.

“How will you get there?” she asked.

“Rainbow is going to help me fill in the transfer paperwork,” Penny said.

Ciel stared at her flatly. “Your plan … is to fill in a transfer request?”

Penny nodded. “Isn’t that how everyone does it?”

Ciel opened her mouth, and then closed it again, and then finally said, “This is why I wanted to know what you were planning. Because it appears that your planning is missing a plan.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that you are not an ordinary student, Penny!” Ciel reminded her, in a loud voice and a sharp tone. “You are … do you really think that it will be that easy? Do you really think that your father, or General Ironwood, or the Council, will simply allow you to walk away?”

“Rainbow Dash—”

“Means well, and means to do right by you as she perceives it,” Ciel allowed. “But … Rainbow either thinks too little of the obstacles or thinks too much of her ability to navigate them on your behalf. I cannot believe it will be as easy as she thinks.”

“You’re just saying that because you don’t want me to go,” Penny said.

“No!” Ciel cried. “What I want or do not want has nothing to do with it; I simply… I would hate for you to get your hopes up only to see them dashed upon … the reality.”

I never thought that it was wise to wish too much,

To dream too far would only lead to being crushed.

And yet … and yet, it was a little late for that. Penny had begun to dream already.

Which meant that there was only one way to save her from disappointment.

“I will help you,” Ciel said.

Penny’s eyes widened. “What did you say?”

“If this is what you want, if this is your desire, then I will help you achieve it and make it real,” Ciel said. “I will help you get to Beacon, though Doctor Polendina and General Ironwood and all the might of Atlas stands against us.”

“Ciel!” Penny gasped. “But … but why? You could get in trouble, you could get expelled—”

“A school that would expel me for doing the honourable thing is not one that I wish to attend,” Ciel declared.

“That isn’t true,” Penny said. “I know it isn’t true. This means everything to you.”

Ciel shook her head. “There is something else that means more to me, Penny,” she said. “And if … if I cannot be your teammate, then I hope I can at least be your friend.”

For a moment, Penny was still, Ciel’s words hanging between them until the last echo of them died and only the ambient sounds of an Atlesian night remained. Then Penny flung herself upon Ciel, who barely kept her feet as Penny wrapped her arms around her.

“Thank you,” Penny whispered into Ciel’s ear. “Thank you so much.”

Ciel embraced Penny in her turn, one hand reaching up to stroke her copper-coloured hair.

No, Penny, thank you.

Comments

[Voltaje]

Wow, and then reality fucked it for Penny, it wasn't enough that Polendina, or General or the Council didn't approved, but the shcool blew up, so good luck getting into Beacon XD.

[Aemon Targaryen]

Not that there was any chance that Sunset Shimmer would have agreed to that, but Ciel would have preferred it to the idea of leaving Penny in the care of Yang Xiao Long and Nora Valkyrie.

I do prefer Penny staying with Sunset over Yang.

It was a nice chapter.

[Mastermind4892]

"Then get a dog you can take on missions," Rainbow suggested.

"I am not getting a dog," Blake said flatly.

"Because you're a stereotype."

And you, Rainbow Dash, are a pony in two worlds who enjoys the open air and the rush of speed, not to mention being stubborn and Loyal as a horse.

[Mastermind4892]

On the topic of pets, I've taken note of how Sunset Shimmer got herself a Leopard Gecko in the EG Shorts.

This is actually fitting. Leopard Geckos are perfect at being hardy and extremely adaptive; they thrive in difficult, harsh conditions like deserts, and rocky, dry grassland. Much like how Sunset has come to adapting and getting by for years in a whole other world.

[Kiue Jin]

11217328
Are you saying that Yang doesn't deserve to have nice people on her team?

[Aemon Targaryen]

11217986
No, i just prefer Penny staying with Sunset over her with Yang.

The older sister vibe Sunset gave with Penny was great.

[Luviere]

The animal shelter-cum-pet hotel — the what now?

[Lamplighter]

11726845
It's a way of saying one thing that became something else. Is it just that people don't know what the term means any more, or were you just being a wag?