#like it got terminated the second after i sent the payment for the comm

[kaidabakugou]

on a lighter note, i’m getting a new comm soon and i got the sketch last night in the middle of everything and it looks so good!!! i’m so excited to show you guyssss!🥺

[multipleservicelisting]

What 2020 Was Like for People in the Retail Industry

The retail industry was in the midst of a transformation before 2020. But the onset of the pandemic accelerated that change, fundamentally reordering how and where people shop, and rippling across the broader economy.

Many stores closed for good, as chains cut physical locations or filed for bankruptcy, displacing everyone from highly paid executives to hourly workers. Amazon grew even more powerful and unavoidable as millions of people bought goods online during lockdowns. The divide between essential businesses allowed to stay open and nonessential ones forced to close drove shoppers to big-box chains like Walmart, Target and Dick’s and worsened struggling department stores’ woes. The apparel industry and a slew of malls were battered as millions of Americans stayed home and a litany of dress-up events, from proms to weddings, were canceled or postponed.

This year’s civil unrest and its thorny issues for American society also hit retailers. Businesses closed because of protests over George Floyd’s killing by a white police officer, and they reckoned with their own failings when it came to race. The challenges faced by working parents, including the cost and availability of basic child care during the pandemic, were keenly felt by women working at stores from CVS to Bloomingdale’s. And there were questions about the treatment of workers, as retailers and their backers treated employees shoddily during bankruptcies or failed to offer hazard pay or adequate notifications about workplace Covid-19 outbreaks.

Many Americans felt the effects of the retail upheaval — the industry is the second-biggest private employment sector in the United States — and some shared their experiences this year with The New York Times.

‘That’s what I did my whole life’

Joyce Bonaime, a 63-year-old in Cabazon, Calif., has worked in retailing since the 1970s. In the past 14 months, she became one of many store employees whose lives were upended by bankruptcies — first at Barneys New York and more recently at Brooks Brothers.

Ms. Bonaime had spent about 10 years as a full-time stock coordinator for a Barneys outlet at Desert Hills Premium Outlets near her home, overseeing the shipping and receiving of designer wares, when the retailer filed for bankruptcy and liquidated late last year.

“Barneys treated people very badly at the end there,” Ms. Bonaime said. The retailer, she said, sent inconsistent messages about severance payments and the timing of store closures that limited people from finding other jobs just before the holiday shopping season.

After Barneys, Ms. Bonaime secured a full-time stockroom position at Brooks Brothers in the same outlet mall. But the pandemic forced the store to temporarily close in March, and she was furloughed. She anticipated returning once the store reopened this summer. But Ms. Bonaime’s job was terminated this month and she lost her health benefits. She is now collecting unemployment checks for the first time in her life.

When Ms. Bonaime started her career, working at shoe stores and completing a management training program at one chain, retailers had a different relationship with employees and communities, she said.

“We went through training on the bones in the foot and the muscles; we knew a lot about our industry,” she said. “We would reach out to local high schools and work with the cheerleading team and find a shoe they liked for outfits and give them a discount and make sure they had the right sizes.”

Ms. Bonaime, who is getting by right now, feels stuck. She had planned to work a few more years before retiring, but her options are limited. Businesses at the outlet mall are struggling — and it was already hard to interview last year as a woman in her 60s, she said. Amazon is hiring, but she is concerned about the risk of accidents in a warehouse.

“This pandemic just changes everything because I would have no problem getting a job otherwise,” she said. “I just don’t think there’s going to be anything in retail, and that’s what I did my whole life.”

‘I was collateral damage’

Soon after the pandemic hit, Nordstrom said it would permanently close its three high-end Jeffrey boutiques, which were founded by Jeffrey Kalinsky and acquired by the retailer in 2005. Mr. Kalinsky, a Nordstrom executive who had focused on bringing designer apparel to the retailer, retired as part of the move.

The Jeffrey stores, in New York, Atlanta and Palo Alto, Calif., had dressed the likes of Gwyneth Paltrow and even been lampooned on “Saturday Night Live.” The first location, in Atlanta, would have celebrated its 30th anniversary in August.

Mr. Kalinsky, 58, said in an interview that he was recovering from Covid-19 at the end of March when he became aware that the stores might remain shut after a temporary closure.

“It felt like I had a gun pointed at me,” he said. “The folks I always dealt with at Nordstrom were always very transparent, and I can only surmise that they were looking at how to position themselves to get through this period — and I was collateral damage.”

He had once told the Jeffrey staff that it was like the original cast in a Broadway musical, performing at an “amazing level” for customers every day. The hardest part of this year was telling employees about the closing, he said.

“That day was probably the most difficult, emotional day of my entire life,” he said. “I felt just gutted. It was indescribable.” Employees have told him that they “miss the merchandise, they miss the edit, they miss the specialness.”

His goal was for Jeffrey to carry the best merchandise but “sell it in an environment that was very democratic,” he said. “I wanted to showcase it all and wanted it all to be next to each other. I wanted the friction of Gucci next to Dries next to Comme des Garçons. I wanted to feel the tension in a good way because that, in my opinion, is how the perfect closet is.”

Mr. Kalinsky hopes to find a job designing for an American brand, saying he is not prepared to retire from retailing. He wonders if Jeffrey could have survived the pandemic by working with vendors and landlords.

“We had an impressive business, a wonderful clientele, and we would have been fine — but did we have a piggy bank for Covid? No,” he said.

A man with a van

Trent Griffin-Braaf started this year feeling more confident than ever. The transportation company he created to ferry guests from hotels in the Albany, N.Y., area to local attractions like the racetrack in Saratoga Springs was catching on.

But when the coronavirus shut down tourism, weddings and conferences, Mr. Griffin-Braaf’s passenger vans were idled and his business was in jeopardy. “We were really in a rough place,” he said.

In the late summer, his company became a carrier for Amazon and shifted to e-commerce deliveries. His team of 70 drivers and other staff include immigrants from Africa and India, workers laid off from restaurants, a struggling nail-salon owner and recent college grads “just trying to figure it out” during the pandemic.

His drivers cover a 150-mile radius around Albany, including many rural areas where the number of Amazon shoppers is increasing, he said. “All you see around here is Amazon,” he said. “Come work for Amazon.”

Many of his drivers were earning 10 hours of overtime a week during the peak holiday season. “I feel blessed to be busy, because so many people aren’t right now,” he said.

Mr. Griffin-Braaf, 36, has not given up on passenger vans. He has started driving workers living in parts of Albany with limited public transportation to their jobs at distribution centers and other businesses far from bus lines.

On the weekends, he volunteers the vans to drive families to visit loved ones in upstate prisons. Mr. Griffin-Braaf, who served time in prison years ago, said that long term, he hoped to have tractor-trailers to move e-commerce packages across the country, and to offer van service in other “transportation deserts” around the state so people could get to work.

“I know how hard it is to get a job if you don’t have a car, and I have seen how hard it is when you don’t get visits in prison,” he said. “I have lived these things.”

‘We are glad you are here’

Lauren Jackson and her two sisters inadvertently chose the wrong time to open the first Black-owned beauty supply store in their hometown, Buffalo: March 7, two weeks before the state ordered them to shut down.

So the sisters reopened it as an “essential business,” stocking hand sanitizers, masks and other pandemic necessities. Their store, the Hair Hive, reopened in early April, which helped them build a customer base while competitors stayed closed.

“Everything happens for a reason,” said Ms. Jackson, 28.

She and her sisters, Danielle Jackson and Brianna Lannie, had talked about opening the store for several years. It is five minutes from their childhood home on the east side of Buffalo, a predominantly Black neighborhood where their parents still live.

The sisters were initially intimidated about trying to break into the well-established industry.

“We didn’t want to tell anyone so they wouldn’t say, ‘You can’t compete with them,’” Ms. Jackson said. “We didn’t even tell our parents.”

The sisters got a loan from a family member and another from a Buffalo nonprofit. Lauren Jackson said she had watched other Black-owned businesses in her neighborhood come and go over the years, including salons, barbershops and restaurants that often closed because the younger generation didn’t want to take over after the founding family members retired. Ms. Jackson wants to break that trend.

“A lot of people come into the store because we are Black-owned,” she said. “They feel comfortable knowing we can relate with what’s going on with their hair. They tell us, ‘We are glad you are here.’”

‘Scared of what might be coming’

In June, as the first wave of the coronavirus was finally coming under control in New York, Feisal Ahmed got a call from his manager at Macy’s.

Would he like to return to his job selling luxury watches when the store in Herald Square reopened? “I am already there,” he told his boss. “Put me first in line.”

Mr. Ahmed was in his early 20s and a recent emigrant from Bangladesh when he started working at Macy’s in 1994. He met his wife in the store, was able to make a down payment on a house in Astoria, Queens, and saved up enough money to start his own laundry, which he eventually sold.

“I owe a lot to this job,” he said.

But after initial feelings of relief and excitement to return to work after four months of lockdowns, reality set in for Mr. Ahmed. He has gone some days without selling a single watch, for which he would earn a commission.

Last week, business picked up for a few days, driven by last-minute Christmas shopping, but it was nowhere near a normal holiday pace. “The pandemic, job security — people are scared to spend money,” he said.

Still, Mr. Ahmed feels lucky. In New York City, retail jobs make up 9 percent of private-sector employment, and many have been slow to return. At stores selling clothing and clothing accessories, employment is down more than 40 percent from a year ago, according to a recent report by the state comptroller’s office.

Mr. Ahmed said that as a member of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, he had certain job protections. But he worries about what the winter will bring, as the pandemic continues to keep many shoppers away.

“Employees are scared of what might be coming,” he said.

Multiple Service Listing for Business Owners | Tools to Grow Your Local Business

www.MultipleServiceListing.com

  from Multiple Service Listing https://ift.tt/35EywZB

[ruffsficstuffplace]

The Keeper of the Grove (Part 65)

“What.” Yang said.

“We haven't gotten… intimate yet!” Weiss added quickly. “… But we have kissed, and agreed that we're girlfriends now...”

Yang slowly pulled her arm from Weiss shoulders.

Ruby and Taiyang stopped their conversation, sensing something was terribly, horribly wrong.

Penny and Blake both took a few steps back, either from instinct or sensing the dramatically rising levels of stress hormones in Yang's body.

Weiss began to sweat. “Uh… Yang…?”

“WHAT THE FUCK?!” Yang yelled. “WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCKING-FUCKITY-FUCK?!”

Weiss looked around as heads turned, and the peacekeepers at the train station debated stepping in.

“Yang, you're causing a scene--!”

“FUCK YOU, YOU ARE NOT GETTING AWAY WITH THIS JUST BECAUSE WE'RE IN PUBLIC!”

Taiyang stormed up, a stern look on his face. “Yang, what's going on here?!”

Yang ignored her as she turned to Ruby. “RUBY! Are you and Ice Princess over here--” she made an aggressive sexy animal noise.

“Yeah, we are!” Ruby replied as she walked up.

Yang turned back to Weiss. “I thought you said you weren't interested in her!”

“People change their opinions all the time, it's not unnatural!”

Yang turned back to Ruby, frantic now. “I thought you said you and here weren't--” she made a desperate sexy animal noise.

“We really weren't!” Ruby replied. “But I was still interested in being--” she made a sexy animal noise--”with her, and then we did in between the last time we met and now.”

“What is your problem?!” Weiss asked. “Weren't you the one joking and having a grand old time teasing me and Ruby about being--” she attempted and failed to make a sexy animal noise.

Yang didn't laugh or smile this time. “I was trying to turn you off! What kind of sister thinks, 'Oh, I really want this person to date my precious, innocent little sister, better show her the fake girlfriend that looks disturbingly like her, and tell her all about the time I walked in on her trying make out with her!'?

“NO SISTERS DO! NONE!”

Taiyang blinked, and turned to Ruby. “Wait, you did what...?”

Ruby blushed, and slowly put her mask back on her face. “It's… it's a really long story we don't need to get to, ever.”

“Excuse me!” said a peacekeeper walking up to them, a squad of drones at her tail. “What's going on here?!”

“Oh, just me finding out this gal right here is now my sister's girlfriend after she explicitly told me she wasn't even the slightest bit interested in her!” Yang cried, thumbing at Weiss.

“Well take it somewhere private, or you can go solve your issues in a jail cell for disturbing the peace!”

“We will, officer, sorry for the disturbance!” Taiyang said as he stepped up, his hands out in front of him.  He glared at Yang. “Yang, tonight's supposed to be a night of fun and catching up with your sister, not yelling at her girlfriend. Behave—your criminal record's already long enough!”

Yang looked at him in betrayal, before she groaned and threw her hands up. She sulked off to an uncrowded corner of the train station, and found a nice, solid pillar to punch.

Taiyang sheepishly turned to the peacekeeper. “Sorry, officer: you know teenagers.”

She sighed. “Do I ever…? Look, it's Eve of the Ether, and obviously, your kid's been looking real forward to seeing you again; I really don't want to have to take you all in and ruin your night, so how about you all just sign these statements saying you're not going to cause another ruckus, and aren't going to complain about the charges we'll slap on you if you do?”

Taiyang turned to the others.

“Fair enough!” Ruby said.

“That sounds like a reasonable compromise,” Penny said, nodding.

“It's the least we can do...” Weiss muttered.

Blake gave the thumbs up.

Taiyang turned back to the peacekeeper. “You have a deal, officer.”

The peacekeeper smiled. “Thanks—I mean it.”

Yang came sulking back, and they scanned their IDs—real or fake—into the peacekeeper's comm-crystal. She looked a little surprised at the records popping up. “Most of these kids are from the Country, huh?” she asked.

Taiyang nodded. “Yep! They've always been dreaming of going out to see what it's like in the city states, so why not do it on the Eve? Going to be a lot of loan payments to make, but so far it's been worth it just to see the looks on their faces...” he said with a happy smile.

“Well watch yourselves out there—Candela may be one of the safest city states in all of Avalon, but that doesn't mean we don't have crime. Don't mean to insinuate anything bad about you folks, but it's a jungle out there!”

Ruby chuckled. “We live in tiny villages in the wilds, officer—we know wild.”

The peacekeeper smiled. “Don't doubt it for a second!” she thumbed behind her. “I gotta get back to work, you folks try not to get into more trouble and just enjoy your evening, okay?”

“We will, officer!” Taiyang replied.

All of the group except Yang waved goodbye as she left, before they all simultaneously glared at her.

“Nice going, Yang—you almost got us all arrested!” Ruby spat.

Yang grumbled what might have been “Sorry” under her breath, before she glared at Weiss, before she began to burn holes into the floor.

Taiyang put his hand on Ruby and Yang's shoulders. “Let's just move on and enjoy our night, shall we ladies? The night is young, but it's not going to get any younger!”

Yang and Weiss forged a temporary truce, and soon they were off on a train to Goldleaf, Candela's commercial district and the heart of the Eve's celebrations.

Meanwhile, the peacekeeper they had spoken sneaked into a deserted part of the station. She dumped her stolen uniform with the unconscious sap she had stolen it from, revealing green locks of hair underneath her hat, alongside and a pair of hyena ears. She put on her real clothes, did a thorough perimeter sweep, before pulled out her comm-crystal.

“We've found them,” she whispered as she sent over the data.

It felt strange to be back in Candela, and stranger still that Weiss felt that way.

She'd only been away for a month or so, and yet staring up at its tall skyscrapers, floating islands, and the never-ending vehicle and pedestrian traffic flowing through every available route—sights she had been seeing regularly for a decade and a half—she couldn't help but feel like it was an alien world, as freaky and unfamiliar as the Valley was when she first got there.

Penny, Blake, and Taiyang were among the gawkers at the windows, marveling at seeing these sights in person, or after a long, long absence. Weiss debated joining them, if only to see if that would rid herself of the unease.

“Hey, you okay?” Ruby whispered as she stood beside her.

The other passengers were too engrossed in their own devices or their business to notice. If they were bothered by their mask modulators' effects, they just turned up the volume on their comm-crystals, or tuned it out.

Weiss hung her head. “… No, not really.”

“Well what's wrong?” Ruby asked. “Aren't you happy to be back home? Well, kinda back home.”

“That's just it: this doesn't feel like home. Not anymore.” Weiss looked up at the ceiling. “I'm kind of wondering if it ever was, and it just won by default...”

“I… really don't get where you're going here, Weiss.”

Weiss looked at Ruby. “I… never really had anything like you guys, back when I was living here. You know: friends, someplace where I felt I really belonged, you—well, the you I know now, not the one the stories led me to believe.”

Ruby chuckled. “I don't blame you—they can get pretty messed up.”

Weiss snorted. “To say the least...” she looked down at the floor. “There's also something that feels really wrong about this place...”

“Maybe someone farted,” Ruby offered.

“My mask is air-tight and filtered beside, and it's not just here in the train—it's everywhere since we got here. I just didn't notice that much because of everything else happening at the time.”

“Huh… well, I'd suggest that maybe it had something to do with you being a you-know, but I've never really heard of anyone else saying something was wrong with the city. What does it feel like, anyway?”

Weiss closed her eyes, opened herself up to the magic all around her. Comm-crystals, tablets, the rails of the train, the power lines and conduits all around them, the buildings with their terminals, the many small magitechnical devices pretty much everything had from clothes, the roads, to even the light beaming from the streetlights as they acted as free Info-Grid data transmitters.

All of them, humming with magic, dull and thrumming like the sealed Myrtenaster, but however faintly, Weiss could feel something…

“… Tainted,” Weiss said. “Like there's something just wrong about… everything.”

Ruby paused. “… Now I have definitely never heard that before!”

“Now approaching Goldleaf Station,” the train's AI hummed. “All passengers, please step away from the doors, and make way for those disembarking. Remember: waiting your turn helps all of us get to our destinations on time.

“This announcement was brought to you by Sgt. Pick-U-Up: 'When it's time for double-time, get yourself a can of Sgt. Pick-U-Up, soldier!'”

Weiss shook her head. “Eh, it's probably just because it's my first Eve of the Ether after you-know-what happened,” she said as the passengers began to shift and prepare to move out.

Ruby shrugged. “Probably.”

They didn't step out onto the platform so much as they joined a sea of slowly moving people, some of them in costumes, others in plain clothes, tied up at the numerous checkpoints in spite of the peacekeepers and their drones clearing completely clean people at lightning speed.

As it did every year, however, there were always several someones who either blatantly broke the rules, or toed the line so far that they had to call in a supervisor.

It took all of five minutes for them to come out one of the gates and into a busy city street; they were even more people here than inside the station, but thankfully they had much more room to move around in.

They all spent a moment patting themselves down, trying to discover if any one of them had been pickpocketed, and to their relief they still had everything they boarded the train with, their cash Urochs and cred-sticks especially.

“How much money do you girls have, anyway?” Taiyang asked.

“Not much,” Penny replied. “Between the original cost of the tickets, and all the numerous other unexpected expenses we've racked up for a variety of reasons, we've had to dramatically cut down our original plans for spending money, and tonight's itinerary beside.”

“How much have you and Yang brought, dad?” Ruby asked back.

Yang and Taiyang smiled sheepishly.

“We're uh… we're actually pretty much broke right now!” Taiyaing said.

Weiss stared at them. “Are you two fucking kidding me right now?!”

“We bet it all on the fights earlier back there!” Yang replied. “We were only supposed to go a couple of rounds, collect a couple hundred Urochs extra, but then we kept winning and the MC kept offering us more money, so...” she trailed off.

“… Yeah.” Taiyang finished.

“Then what are we supposed to do now?” Weiss asked. “We only budgeted for ourselves and assumed you were going to provide your own spending money; at this rate, we probably won't even make it till midnight before we have to go home—that or spend all our time at the crappy free attractions, and trust me, you really do get what you pay for.”

“Perhaps I can help…?” said a new voice.

The group turned to see a tall, muscular teen dressed up like Piorina “Piper” Nikos, complete with a real antique Starfarer Captain's Cap and an energy lance, even if it was conspicuously missing its clip.

She smiled nervously. “I seem to have seriously overestimated how much spending money I needed for this trip, and only ask that you'll let me join your group. The Eve's not very fun alone...”

Ruby smiled, stepped up and offered her hand. “Well climb aboard, Captain Piper, we'd love to have you!”

Yang frowned and stepped up. “Woah, woah, woah! Hold up there, sister—I know you like thinking and assuming the best of people, but just because someone's dressed up as the Holy Shepherd herself doesn't mean she's automatically a saint.”

“Will it help if she's a direct descendant of her, then?” Penny asked quietly.

“Piper” stiffened.

Taiyang, Yang, and Weiss all did a double take on her, their eyes widening as they recognized the face almost constantly paraded about the triumvirate of city states in Heartland, and plastered all over the Info-Grid and HoloVision beside.

“H-How did you know…?” “Piper” whispered, her eyes frantic.

Penny pointed to her eyes with one of her life-like fingers. “My optic sensors take a lot of factors into account, such as height, body weight, and notable facial features.” She leaned in and whispered. “Don't worry: we'll keep your secret so long as you keep ours, too.”

She smiled as she tugged the sleeve of her costume down, revealed the glowing bits of rock suspended in magic underneath.

“Piper's” eyes widened. “You're Penny Polendina…?”

“If you're Pyrrha Nikos, then yes! Yes I am,” Penny replied as she pulled her sleeve back up.

“Huddle up, everyone!” Ruby called out. “Emergency meeting!”

Everyone including Pyrrha shuffled to a quiet alleyway and formed a circle.

“Okay, first order of business: Penny and Pyrrha—if that's who you really are—you two know each other?” Ruby asked.

Penny nodded. “It's rather hard not to know who Pyrrha Nikos is, given her constant presence on the media and in the public.”

“I… know her from an Info-Grid forum where she's very popular, yes,” Pyrrha replied, blushing and looking away.

“Hey, we're not judging!” Yang said. “It's not exactly unusual to like buns of steel, right...?”

Everyone but Taiyang, Ruby, Penny, and Pyrrha groaned. The last just blushed even harder and began to attempt to sink into the ground and into Avalon's core.

“That settles that!” Ruby said. “So what are you doing here by yourself? Shouldn't you be escorted by swarms of guards and stewards and stuff?”

“I snuck out,” Pyrrha replied. “They're probably already scrambling all over this city trying to find me, which is why it's very important to me that I mesh with a group that'll remove suspicion, like several people also dressed like iconic figures from history, myth, and pop culture.

“Those are excellent costumes, by the way!”

“Thanks! Blake made most of them,” Ruby said, pointing to her. “Who made yours, by the way? It looks so real, especially that energy lance! Why's it missing its clip, though?”

Pyrrha looked sheepish. “… That's because it is, and no one's manufactured ammo for it in centuries,” she muttered.

Yang's eyes widened. “Ho-ly shit. You stole the actual Sacred Vestments and Armaments of the Holy Shepherd...?”

“I didn't steal them!” Pyrrha sputtered weakly. “I legally own them as a direct descendant...!”

“Relax, I'm not judging you—I'm going congratulating you! That takes realm-sized balls right there!” Yang said, nodding and giving her the thumbs up.

Pyrrha blinked. “… I… uh… thank you…?”

“We're getting off topic,” Weiss said. “Do you actually have money on you, or was that just a lie to get in our good graces?”

Pyrrha nodded. “I do, and if I didn't, who would be stupid enough to even attempt that?”

Taiyang chuckled weakly. “You'd be surprised...”

Weiss ignored him. “So how much do you have? Just cash-on-hand, we can't use your credit line because that'll just be a giant sign saying 'Rogue Holy Shepherd Here.'”

“I know, which is why I brought a lot...” Pyrrha said as she pulled out and opened up her wallet.

Their eyes and optic sensors all widened.

“I also have a private account I can withdraw from, but I'd rather not risk it being compromised,” Pyrrha said as she put it away. “So will you please let me join you? I promise that if someone recognizes me, I will do my very best to limit the fallout to just myself!”

Ruby looked at the others. “Everyone in favour of letting Pyrrha join us, raise your hand.”

Everyone raised their hands.

Pyrrha sighed in relief. “Oh, thank you so much, you don't know how much this means to me...” she smiled.

Ruby smiled at her underneath her mask. “No problem! And just so you know, if someone recognizes us, we'll make sure you don't get roped in with us, either...” she muttered.

Pyrrha blinked. “What are you…?” she muttered, before her eyes widened in alarm and horror.

Weiss quickly removed her mask and showed her face. “I'm fine! It was all a fake!” she said quickly.

Pyrrha stared at her, bewildered.

“It's me—Weiss Schnee! I can't explain everything because it's a really long story, but I'm telling you: you can trust them!”

Pyrrha continued to stare at her, before she shrugged “… Well… I guess this wouldn't be the first time a Nikos has made strange friends in even stranger circumstances...”

“So, you still cool with being with us?” Ruby asked.

Pyrrha nodded. “But, please, call me 'Piper,' so people won't notice.”

“Got it!” Ruby said, giving her the thumbs up. “Now let's set sail for the Eve of the Ether fair for real already!”

Weiss put her mask back on, and they walked out of the alleyway, walking freely amongst the crowds as if they weren't wanted terrorists, her exiled family members, and a renegade religious figure hiding in plain sight.

“Hey, Penny,” Pyrrha asked, “I meant to ask: what are the specs of the optics you're using?”

“I'm afraid those are classified,” Penny replied. “Though, I may be persuaded to tell you if you take me out to dinner first...”

Pyrrha blushed. “… I, uh… was that a joke?”

Penny chuckled. “Obviously! I don't eat food, I'm an artificial being,” she said, before she winked.

Pyrrha cheeks heated up even further.

Yang chuckled as she listened in from the behind them. “I guess you could say the attraction between them is pretty... magnetic,” she whispered to Blake and Weiss.

They both punched her in either arm.

“Ow!”