RWBY Through Worlds (End)

BC76: Red Herring (Heroes and Villains)--3

The ship stopped briefly to deliver supplies and pick up others on the second day of the voyage.

By this point, Yang's cabin fever was worse, and so was Blake's morning sickness. She spent most of the morning in her cabin.

Pyrrha and Jaune broke up the monotony by following the kids around the ship.

Their adopted 5, Ben, Polly, Jodie, Davi, and Franz, were loving the ship's novelty--but would likely be bored by the end of the 10 or so days it would take to get to Menagerie.

Out of these 5, the three siblings were Ben, Jodie, and Franz, who were 15, 13, and 8 now, and the older two were mostly able to look after themselves but got riled up by the younger kids.

The two others, both only children--Polly and Davi--were not related at all, but acted like their siblings. Polly and Jodie had been close friends, which was how Pyrrha and Jaune had been inspired to take her in, and Davi was friends with Franz. Polly was 12, and Davi was nearly 9 and a half now.

Pyrrha said at least they weren't kindergartners anymore, as Franz and Davi had barely been out of that age when they first took them in.

[I know it took forever to name them, but it wasn't really relevant before. All their names are inspired by the names from a very old children's book: "Five Little Peppers and How they grew" . I changed three to fit Remnant better and I made one a girl who was a boy and one a boy who was a girl...since the show gender swaps a lot.]

Anyway they were bored but well behaved compared to some of the other kids, who used their boredom or stress at the situation as an excuse ot play tricks on the crew or hide from the people trying to supervise them, whose patience was wearing thin.

It was not a glamorous assignment, but by now the other knew better than to expect that.

Oscar and Ruby handled it pretty patiently, and Ruby at least could keep up with them. The others just tried not to lose their tempers.

Stopping at the dock here, some people begged to go ashore and stretch their legs. The captain, who happened to be Blake and Sun's old friend, again, said they could for a few hours while things were unloaded.

"Is that safe?" Oscar wondered.

"This town is pretty well defended," Roman said, chomping on a cigar. "Though it has been ages since I've been here. It's not a very likely target."

"When were you here?" Ruby asked. "And why?"

"Red, I grew up in Mistral," Roman said carelessly. "I believe this might be the very place I got on a boat to Vale. The rest is fate. Remember those days, Neo?"

Neo nodded.

"So is Neo from Mistral also?" Ruby asked.

Neo shook her head. 

"Vale," Roman said. "But that is ancient history. Anyway, Wind Path is where I was born. It's not that far from here, as the crow flies. Not your uncle, Red."

"Ha ha," Ruby said. "What about as the bandits run?"

"They wouldn't show up so close to the coast," Roman scoffed. "They have the pirates for that... We should keep our eyes peeled, but those guys never start any trouble directly. They're the smugglers. Every operation, Red--" And here he dramatically put an arm on Ruby's shoulder like he was showing her the view in a movie. "--all the moving parts have to understand their function. You heroes could learn a thing or two from us. If anyone oversteps, the whole thing could come crashing down."

"Sounds like oppression to me," Ruby said. "Like criminals keep each other criminals."

"Well...that is true," Roman said. "Unless you have the clout, like we do."