#she WILL fight yatsu to not share with him

[sirazaroff]

Velvet’s TRUE BUNNY FORM ⚡️🐰⚡️

[bestworstcase]

In vol10, how do you think they’ll play the specific ramifications of what Yatsuhashi did to Jax at the end of before the dawn?

The book left me with the impression that Jax would be a shell of his former self. In the animatic we get a glimpse of Gill and Jax but the gist of that interaction is a smile they share. Likely this is meant to suggest their bond is stronger after the events of before the dawn; but in this case I’m more interested in the possibilities/impacts Yatsuhashi’s mind wipe may have on a main vol10 antagonist’s mental state; and how that may effect the story and its themes.

I don’t love the idea of sweeping this “wound” Yatsuhashi inflicted on Jax under the rug with a hard reset. Kind of want it to matter for these characters, y’know?

Maybe Jax is a little spacy and this time he’s going along with what he thinks Gill wants because he vaguely remembers her as his one anchor and doesn’t exactly remember why he wanted this so much in the first place? (I knew someone who had dementia and he wouldn’t always admit that he didn’t know what was going on and he just went with it; but he was so scared and confused all the time.) Jax is following Gill now.

Maybe instead Jax has brief moments of clarity where he is exactly the person he was before Yatsuhashi domed him but then most of the time he’s dissociative, glassy eyed, and barely there; and Gill’s pulling him along trying to jolt him back to who he used to be. All while hiding his condition from their followers.

I’m not married to any one manifestation/interpretation but I am interested in this being a further exploration of the unraveling of the Self and self-actualization. What are your thoughts?

we-ell as is often the case (lol) im pretty far out of step with most of the fandom here because i am and have always been really skeptical of the face value reading of that scene. like “yatsu completely erased jax’s memory and the book ends with jax in a vegetative state” never made sense to me to begin with –

that is an outcome yatsu spend the entire story worrying about because he’s scared of his own semblance to the point of hating it whenever he has to use it, so i’m inclined to take any “oh god what have i done!?” freak outs in that vein, in the heat of the moment while there’s a battle happening and yatsu was just fighting for his life with a guy determinedly trying to turn his memories into porridge, with a large grain of salt.

in addition:

yatsu and jax have counter-semblances; yatsu can completely negate the effect of jax’s semblance on somebodies mind by literally just jostling them – erasing the most recent couple seconds of their memory. he doesn’t even need to target the false memories specifically, just touching their mind with his semblance is sufficient to negate jax’s.

because of this, yatsu is naturally resistant to jax’s semblance.

doesn’t it follow logically that jax might likewise have a natural resistance to yatsu’s? oil doesn’t mix with water any better than water mixes with oil.

furthermore,

The boy shook his head. “No, no—he’s fine. The meditation exercises Yatsuhashi taught him seem to be helping his memory.” Velvet nodded. She had a suspicion it was more than just the mediation exercises that were helping Edward. No one knew for sure what Yatsuhashi had done with his Semblance when he’d tried to heal Edward’s mind … even Yatsuhashi wasn’t sure. His ability was to erase memories, but it was possible that there was more to Yatsu’s Semblance than that. It was something Glynda had emphasized in their second-year classes at Beacon: Semblances can grow as people do. It was reasonable to assume that he might have been able to nudge Edward’s mind enough to give him better recall and help reverse his degenerative mental disease. But Yatsu had always focused more on controlling his power than testing its limits and seeing what else he could do. He hated messing with people’s minds.

edward caspian is an elderly man living with some type of dementia whose mind yatsu tried to heal with his semblance, and evidently he succeeded to some degree. and the narrative framing contrasts this fact—that yatsu can heal damaged minds—explicitly with yatsu’s fear and dislike of his semblance in a way that suggests his fear is not necessarily rational. it’s rooted in a traumatic childhood incident where he did cause very real harm by accident, yes, but because of that trauma, yatsu focused very narrowly on restricting and controlling his semblance and consequently thinks of it as strictly a horrible, dangerous curse with no potential for anything good.

(he is, in this way, very like qrow.)

now! the specific circumstances of the struggle between jax and yatsu are, i think, worth taking into consideration here. jax is trying to pull yatsu under control again by twisting his memories; yatsu counters by trying to make jax forget an unspecified (but likely quite brief) amount of time in order to neutralize jax’s semblance.

(i think the motivation is very important: regardless of whether yatsu did or didn’t push his semblance harder than he meant to, he was pushing it toward the goal of eliminating the threat posed by jax’s semblance, under the kind of stakes we’ve seen incite changes in semblances for other characters, and this is in the context of the narrative already being pretty unsubtle about setting up for yatsu’s semblance to evolve in some way.)

this occurs at a point during the battle in which it is now clear to everyone that the crown has been defeated. jax is injured (“A bullet pierced his left arm. He cried out and saw blood. He felt the burning pain.”)

moments ago used his semblance on his twin sister to force her to keep giving him aura, believing she would otherwise leave him to die. the reason yatsu wins this struggle is gill funnels her own aura from jax to yatsu at a critical moment, and then tells yatsu that 1. she was never under jax’s control at all, and 2. she did all of this, including betraying him, because he’s her brother and she loves him and she knew she and he would both die if she didn’t stop him.

in every other instance, when yatsu jostles someone out of jax’s control, they’re disoriented and hazy for a little while afterward. so jax has that on top of having just been shot and his sister betraying him but also revealing that his long-held self-hating belief that the only reason she stuck with him and gave him the aura he needed to live was because his semblance compelled her obedience was completely untrue because his semblance doesn’t work on her at all, and he’s just suffered a crushing martial defeat in the cause he staked his whole life on.

of course he’s just laying there sobbing silently in stupefied shock!! i just don’t think that jax having what is a completely understandable emotional reaction to, waves hands, all that as seen through the eyes of a boy who’s terrified of his own semblance is a cut and dry case of tabula rasa.

what i think might have happened is that yatsu did something to jax’s semblance. think about it like this: on top of being the kind of high stakes crisis that could easily have caused yatsu’s semblance to evolve on its own, the pivotal moment occurred when gill took the aura that was powering jax’s semblance and gave it to yatsu instead.

jax’s semblance can:

twist real memories

implant false memories

yatsu’s semblance can:

repair memory damage

erase real memories

we know, from what’s going on with oscar and ozma, that mingling two people’s auras over a long period of time results in a convergence between the two consciousnesses; and we know, from jaune’s discovery of his semblance, that a similar but far more limited phenomenon occurs when two auras are mixed temporarily—jaune is able to amplify weiss’ aura for her while she is unconscious. and we know from qrow and clover that even without any aura-mixing, two people with similar-but-opposite semblances can incite growth in each other’s semblances by way of shifting perceptions and challenging beliefs about what is possible—qrow gains more control over his semblance by learning to see it from clover’s point of view.

so what happens if you mix the auras of two people with similar-but-opposite semblances while those two people are actively semblance-wrestling? well,

i’d think that the likeliest outcome is for the semblance receiving aura to change in a way that reflects or imitates the semblance it’s receiving from, and perhaps vice-versa.

and if you think about what jax’s semblance does and what yatsu’s semblance does and the way yatsu’s negates jax’s—what do you get if you add memory-twisting to a semblance that can both erase memory and heal damage to the mind’s ability to remember, and refract the memory-twisting through the prism of a character who finds the very idea of messing with someone’s mind repulsive? well, my answer would be that you change the memory-twisting into something that seeks to heal instead of seeking to control… like, say, untwisting cognitive distortions to cause the target to see something clearly. for example.

alternately: what happens if you give yatsu jax’s ability to use his semblance on many people all at once, while yatsu is striving to block jax’s semblance? maybe breaking every binding jax had all at once, rather than (as before) having to jog every victim’s memory one at a time.

or maybe you inflict that horror and fear of messing people’s minds on jax, essentially reflecting his semblance back at him in a way that causes him to feel how yatsu feels about these powers—even if only fleetingly.

or—well, we know it’s possible to steal somebody’s semblance, and the basic essence of yatsu’s is about erasure. might it be possible to erase a semblance? wipe the semblance itself back to whatever inchoate protean state a semblance has before it manifests for the first time? push it back down into the unconscious again?

now that we’ve gotten clear confirmation that jax isn’t, like, in a vegetative state, i think it’s pretty likely that either,

yatsu really did wipe way more of jax’s memory than intended and has since used the healing side of his semblance to repair most if not all of the damage, even at the risk of making jax dangerous again, because his conscience (rightly!) compelled him to do so – a thematically salient narrative direction vis-a-vis salem and, ultimately, also the god of light, or

yatsu made an incorrect assumption and what actually happened is more along the lines of similar semblances ricocheting in an unpredictable way – which opens doors for a lot of dynamic things to do with jax as a character and potentially allows for his semblance to be more/less of a danger now depending upon the needs of the vacuo arc.

so there’s some narrative advantages in either direction. i do tend to think that the relationship between the asturias twins will be different and specifically more balanced than in the book, less because of semblance-induced changes to jax’s psyche than because he knows now that he not only can’t but doesn’t need to compel her to not abandon him. there’s a layer of fear/resentment in the way jax views her in the book that is pretty effectively shattered at the end and her betrayal was explicitly predicated on gill facing the choice to save herself by letting him die, and her not being able to do it.

all that said i think it would be fun if jax didn’t really remember much of the battle, because those are the minutes that yatsu was specifically trying to erase, so he remembers gill not leaving him to die and those revelations but also has to trust her account of how the battle turned so decisively against them prior and you get the push-pull between the new revelations and his older resentment and distrust of her motives.

[bluecheeseinmyoffwhites]

Very late, but, https://www.tumblr.com/blue-cheeseinmyoffwhites/756639587329277952/rwby-asks-are-open-im-bored?source=share

Who's you're favorite character?

Quick shoutout to the lovely @tumblingxelian for their amazing RWBY content check them out on YT

Let’s do Top 5

Mercury Black

This is solely because of his fighting style. If I could fuck up some stuff with my legs I’d probably be a dick about it too. I started RWBY during V2 & he was one of the first faces I met. I remember LOVING his design & liking his cool laid-back attitude. He started gaining my attention in Volume 3 after his fight with Coco & Yatsu, then won me over after his fight with Yang. I remember being baffled after his prosthetic reveal, & after learning about his allusion it all came together. For the longest time I was trying to decode his semblance (I thought it was something to do with wind manipulation) then V6 came around & shut all that down. I understand he hasn’t been very popular as of late, but I think he has so much potential & they just need to give him more screentime in V10+

Sun Wukong

I appreciate an unconditionally positive character. Sun & Mercury have always just been so cool to me. His design is great too, I like his monkey traits & how he shows his abs. His weapon is genuinely top 5 in the series, & his semblance matches his bright personality. One of my favorite fight scenes is Blake & Sun vs Sea Feilong & his contribution played a big part of that. I did like his appearance in V4-V5 & I was excited to see his gun-chucks return against Ilia. I think he is a great foil to Blake & serves her character arc really well.

Cinder Fall

Sorry but Cinder Fall is just that bitch. I hate everything she does & that’s why I love her. She knows what she wants & can easily get people on her side to do her bidding. She actually pushes the narrative & I consider her to be the main antagonist. The animators take real care when it comes to her battles. She has not missed a SINGLE fight she has been in. Seriously every one has been a hit: Glynda, Amber, Ozpin, Pyrrha, Raven, Neo, Winter, Penny, etc etc. Anytime there is a fight involving Cinder it’s going to be rememberable in some way, especially the Raven vs Cinder fight. I vividly remember my mind going numb watching it for the first time. I do feel they made her a little OP but it’s whatever. I really like her character arc & how she’s slowly turning into a Grimm. I loved her backstory, a lot of people didn’t because it’s just “Cinderella but dark” but like…..that’s kinda the entire point of this series, dark retellings of fairytales. She’s a great foil to Ruby & actually learns from her to gain victory in V8. I just want them to have a proper fight.

Qrow Branwen

Qrow Qrow Qrow. I love their man & want to give him hugs. If there’s one thing RWBY does amazingly, it is setup & payoff. I love his they slowly teased him in V1-V2 as a badass & then finally let us visualize it in V3. He doesn’t take crap from anyone & says what’s on his mind. Love Love LOVE his relationship with Ruby (forever holding onto my cracktheory that he’s her real dad). He acts as her mentor & influenced her fighting style. I like how he became the leader of the team for some time & how his laid-back attitude conflicts with him suddenly having to take care of 8 kids. But he does it anyway. His fight scenes are also amazing. He always looks so confident. His first appearance in V3 he had that super dynamic fight against Winter. In V4 he fought Tyrian & showed Team RNJR (& us) the difference between students & Huntsmen. V7 is where he really shined for me. He finally had a relationship that wasn’t affected by his semblance & can just chill for a while. I very much enjoyed his relationship with Clover & was heartbroken by what happened after. But those last 2 fights with them were pretty great. I hope his semblance evolves into Good Luck as well.

Yang Xiao Long

I like all members of Team RWBY but Yang stands out for obvious reasons. She had the best Trailer for one. Also her fighting style is the most different from her teammates. They’re all swing-swing-slash & she’s all punch-punch-kick. Like Cinder, Yang gets the best treatment when it comes to fight scenes. She’s been marketed as the strongest member & it shows over & over again. Her semblance is super cool & makes her look like a Goddess. I like how her character arc revolves around her fighting style & we can actually see her improvement throughout the volumes. I like how she is the most vocal about the whole trust situation in V5-V8. She lost her arm for this war, she of all people deserves some answers. I really adore her relationship with Blake & I think their story is perfect. She’s the heart of the team & it’s most present in V5 when she is the one reuniting the team.

[thelastbraincellofthehive]

Well, I'm watching volume 3 and honestly I have so many thoughts about it I'm gonna make a first half and second half post. Buckle up because y'all now this is a wild ride! Also buckle up because this is were I start having some very controversial opinions lol.s

The show was airing the first half of this volume when I first got into it (it was somehow because of some amazing Ever After High fanart lol I still remember) so actually, Yang and Mercury's fight was my first experienced hiatus, you can imagine my distress lol.

Every volume the list of women who could step on me grows. But honestly, Winter is on top of that list. It's like they created her with all my weaknesses in mind...

The vytal festival fights are hilarious lol as the kids said, It was nice to see them all fight in a controlled and friendly enviroment instead of fighting actual murderers.

Yatsu and Coco and that poor team in the chapter 1 flashback did fight actual murderers tho, RIP to them (?

It's brawl in the family will forever be one of my favorite episodes lol Winter and Qrow simply steal the show everytime they're on the screen!

Also, I get other ships with the characters and understand why people doesn't like Snowbird... But I've had many people who don't watch the show watch that fight scene and the general consensus is always that they were flirting. That's the most sexual tension I've seen in this show, and we've had actual romantic partners interacting more than once lol

Anyways I ship Snowbird/Qrowin...

Subject change. Remember that scene when Mercury goes to tell Cinder he saw Qrow? At the end Cinder tells he and Emmerald to 'go to their rooms' ...but arem't they supposedly sharing a room since they're partners? Beacon teams all share a room so I don't get why they wouldn't lol.

I wish we could've seen more of Ciel Soleil, honestly, she was such a cutie lol. Kinda hoping She's brought back someday. If you are a fanfic writer and haven't tried to use Ciel as something like Penny's awkward and superserious bodyward in an AU, you should think about It, girl has potential!

"If you were one of my men I'd have you shot!" "if I were one of your men I'd shot myself" still one of the most iconic and epic moments in the series lol Go Qrow!!

Neon!!! God I loved Neon in this volume lol that girl is insuferable! She's also GayAF, I know It.

I'm the one is such a banger of a song! Top 3 of the volume, easily. Also, that fight is awesome, I adore seeing all the clues for what happened next now that, you know, I know what happened next lol.

Velvet worried about Coco <3 let these two be girlfriends!!

Winter fighting Qrow because he was drunk it's so painful after we learn about her family life. Trauma is a bitch.

Also, can I just say that I miss Willow? I knew I was gonna love her, but it was even more than I was expecting, I hope we get more Willow soon.

That scene in Ozpin's office when Ironwood looks at Oz, Glynda and Qrow before sighing and leaving is so telling of where his story was going. He was part of a team, yet he felt like it was him against the world. It's sad how much the others tried to show him their trust, but he was so into his fear that he couldn't see it.

I know this is a very controversial topic for the whole FNDM and that it was disproved multiple times, but I'll never get why would it be so bad if Ruby was Qrow's daughter. The signs are all there, It would make so much sense, and I don't feel it would've taken anything from the story. Alas, it wasn't meant to be*shrugs*

Penny tackling Ruby to the ground as a greeting is tradition <3 also she's always looking back at Ruby with the biggest smile on her face before leaving <3 God Penny is the most adorable girl I've ever seen. And my Nuts and Dolts shipping heart is so happy<3 and sad

Seeing Weiss and Winter interact always warms and breaks my heart at the same time, it's so obvious there's a lot of love there, but half of the time they don't really know how to show it. Again, trauma is a bitch.

Yang, baby </3 my heart breaks for you everytime I watch chapter 6. Honestly, I never fully forgave Mercury after that lol.

Pyrrha. Deserved. Better. Say it with me Rooster teeth!!!! God the whole vault scene is painful.

Also, Glynda: "We're still the same headmasters and teachers you knew the day you arrived to Beacon" Pyrrha: "This is literally the first time I met half the people here!"

Yes, I'm using dumb humor to deal with trauma

I lowkey ship WeissxFlynt honestly... Flynt's cool, I want more Flynt please.

But my imposible otp for Weiss still hasn't been introduced. If you follow me you know who I'm talking about and I'm willing to die on that hill. RT I'll forgive you for literally everything aside the v8 finally if you make them canon. Literally!!

You only get off the hook for v8 if you give me Nuts and Dolts.

I stan my point that Ironwood was hoping to have Penny eventually become a maiden and that's why she exist in the first place. I'm guessing the whole thing with the virus made him reconsider and that's why he turned to Winter later? Maybe?

Anyways, I still can't believe this is the tame half of the volume. I guess time to keep going and get my heart rip apart again. Good talk guys!

[hiddenhistoria]

Find the word tag VIII

Tagged by @zmlorenz and @sleepyowlwrites, thank you both! My words are: flower, friend, fragrance, fun, free/ air, break, clear, danger, and excite/ suspect, sick, safe, and solid. As always, snippets from These Cursed Paths.

Flower

She makes towards the kitchen, feet soundless, hand reaching for her gun. The parsen is still on the set table, waiting to be feasted upon. She looks away, ignoring the pang of her chest, and focuses on the task at hand. No intruders here, either. Jehona figures they must be watching the entrances. 

And she is right. 

Another Kairanese girl has made base in the living room, facing the front door. She doesn’t hesitate. The girl slumps much like her companion outside. Jehona sweeps through the rest of the house with the same efficiency, finding two more girls, one in each bedroom. Only the last one, a Kairanese that must have been Rumaysa’s age, is vigilant enough to sense her coming into her room and put up a fight. Jehona breaks the only flower vase she owns over the girl’s head. She makes a mental note to replace it and the wilting flowers that have fluttered to the ground before Rumaysa finds out.

Chapter 8

Friend

Another shot pings on the cobblestones. Rumaysa bites her lip to stop from making any noise. Her leg shakes from the strain and she leans against the wall of a building, moving at a crawling pace. Rounding the corner, she drags herself along the wall. Even her head fails her, her eyesight going blurry as she slides down, sitting on the road, the yielding a reprieve for her battered body. Everything hurts: her leg, her shoulder, her hands. The crutches escape her grip, clanging as they hit the ground. 

“Who’s there?”

Rumaysa starts, hope blooming in her chest. She knows that voice, the cold uninterested timbre it adapts with strangers. Her eyes, which she didn’t even realize had slid closed of their own volition, fly open. “Jehona?”

And it is indeed her best friend rushing towards her, brown locks flying with the wind, voice frantic. “Rumaysa?” She crouches down in front of her, placing blessedly cool hands on her flaming cheeks. “Are you hurt? What are you even doing here?” Jehona’s eyes do a sweep of her sprawled body, the brown dark with worry and panic.

Chapter 5

Fun

“Can you even worry?” he snips back.

She shrugs. “If I try hard enough. Now, I’ll operate under the assumption that you actually got some information to share with the class—” Hideyoshi nods. “—so we’ll retreat for tonight. I doubt we’d be able to go out again, either way, what with the uproar you’ve caused.”

“That would be advisable,” the gargantuan remarks, pulling a miraculously clean kerchief from somewhere on his person to wipe at his face. “I’d also advise you against wearing that cloak next time we go in. You’ve made an enemy.”

Jehona turns on her heel, leading them back. “All in a day’s work, Hideyoshi,” she throws over her shoulder.

“Of course she’s flippant about it,” he mutters under his breath and she smirks to herself. He’ll make her life hard and, in turn, she’ll make his life hard. Thankfully, riling the gargantuan up is fun.

Chapter 10

(Hideyona, Hideyona!)

Free

“Pity,” she laments, circling again to find the girl’s fingers. “Your poor friend will have a hard time wielding a sword with nine fingers. That is, of course, if she doesn’t contract an infection first and die. I haven’t cleaned this basement in ages.”

The subject of her attention whimpers and Jehona is reminded just how much she absolutely hates her job. She drives one more proverbial knife in. 

“If you want to blame someone sweetie, let it be your friend, who keeps her silence while you are threatened.” Jehona unfolds the girl’s fist gently and the girl sobs. 

That seems to do the trick. “No, wait! Wait! We don’t know! We don’t know, I swear!” The leader all but screams.

Jehona circles back to meet her eyes. “You don’t know?”

“I swear on my life we don’t. That is information shared on a need-to-know basis and we don’t need to know,” the girl reasons. “For this reason exactly, if nothing else.”

She accepts the explanation with a sigh. It makes sense. These girls are just grunts come to kill her. And she doesn’t have any more time to waste with them. 

Jehona sets the dagger on the floor about two meters from the girls, hilt facing them. “That wasn’t so hard, now, was it?” She looks at the tear-faced girl. “You scared your poor friend for nothing. I have to go now. Use this—“ she points to the blade, “—to free yourselves. And do try, please. I’m not keen on coming back to four rotting corpses in my basement. Have a good day, ladies.”

With that, she walks out.

Chapter 8

Air

He smiles at the soldiers. “At ease, Wolves. Mirmengsi to all of you.” 

“Section Commander, sir.” Erisa appears at his elbow and salutes. She’s a tiny woman, barely reaching his shoulder, always shrouded in an air of seriousness that he can’t disperse no matter how many stupid jokes he cracks. Even Jehona hasn’t resisted that long in her more serious moments. The two four-pointed stars on her left breast catch the morning light as she faces him.

“Major Arlet, good morning,” Klevis greets, turning on his heel and motioning her to follow. He’s aware of the eyes that closely follow their movements. There’s an ongoing rumor about the nature of his relationship with Erisa, which has now turned into wishful thinking on the Wolves’ part since neither one of them has done anything to encourage the rumor. They’re just a bunch of romantic fools, in his opinion. And they’re going to have to wait a while longer to see a romance blossom between him and her, given he’s aromantic and Erisa is done with his shit. The only pro to the rumor is watching the serious facade crack a little more each time a pair of eyebrows is wagged in their direction. Coincidentally, that is also the only con.

Chapter 11

Break + Clear

She rolls her eyes. “Not in Hideyoshi’s presence, Maysa.”

“Why not?” he protests with narrowed eyes. Jehona likes to think he can feel the jab she’s about to send his way.

“Because,” she starts slowly like she’s talking to a toddler, “in order to explain, I’d need to break the law. I fear you’d faint at such a transgression and, as you can clearly see—” Jehona gestures to the black lump in her lap, “—I can’t move fast enough to catch you, darling.”

He glowers and Maysa snorts, all worry for Klev momentarily forgotten, alongside inquires about RT’s powers. Jehona is too good at this. Hideyoshi stops in front of her chair, impossibly tall from this angle. And, honestly, every angle she can reach at 1.65m. “Even if that were the case, you couldn’t possibly carry me, chīsame no yatsu.” 

She leans forward, narrowing her eyes. “Say that last bit in Lukovian, coward.”

He leans down, resting his hands on the table. They’re practically nose to nose. “E vockël.”

Jehona gasps and, from somewhere behind Hideyoshi, Rumaysa snorts. Some best friend she is, laughing when an asshole calls her ‘little one’. Even RT wears an amused smile at that. Klev really found the day to abandon her. “Why don’t I shoot you and then we’ll find out if I can or can’t carry you, you abominable shit giraffe?”

“Can an ant carry a giraffe?”

She scowls. “If the ant tears it to pieces first, it sure as fuck can.”

Hideyoshi straightens with such a saccharine smile, her teeth hurt. “Why so irritable, chīsame no yatsu?”

“Listen here, you uncivilized dickheaded gargantuan,” she starts, ready to inflict bodily harm. Luck, however, seems to favor him as the door slams open at that moment with a bang that has RT starting and Rumaysa glowering.

Chapter 12

(HIDEYONA, HIDEYONA!)

Danger

Rumaysa rolls into the bunker with a disapproving frown, ready to chide Dezi further for wandering. Until she catches sight of Kass clutching him, silently crying and Jehona by her side, smiling like an idiot. She looks from her to her cousin and her cat, then shakes her head. “Nevermind. Seems like I’m already asleep.”

Afraid not, Jehona signs. 

The rumble of her wheels sends Kass’ heartbeat through the roof. Rumaysa draws nearer with the sort of look anyone with a grain of common sense wouldn’t want to be directed at them and, fine, Kass is terrified. Dezi wiggles out of her arms as if sensing danger and not wanting to be caught in the crossfire and even Jehona takes a step back when Rumaysa cranes her neck and addresses her by her full name. “Kassiani Trantis.”

Kass swallows. She is screwed. 

“How dare you—“ her voice cracks and Kass sees her eyes well with tears. “How dare you not hug me after all these years—“ 

She doesn’t wait for Rumaysa to finish, dropping to her knees and throwing her arms around her umzadya. 

“—you asshole?” Rumaysa finishes with a sob on her shoulder.

Chapter 13

Excite

They clamber to their feet slowly, stiff as Jehona pushes thoughts of an angry Rumaysa from her mind with a shudder. Up on their feet, they’re a head taller than her, all gangly limbs and awkward posture. Most probably a recent growth spurt then. With a messy head of very wet brown strands, blue eyes, and a smarting of faint freckles on their cheeks, they remind her inexplicably of a puppy. A very excited puppy.

“I’m RT,” they say, extending a hand and almost hitting her arm. “Non-binary.”

She smiles despite herself, grasping his hand and shaking twice. “Jehona. A very kind woman, as you can tell.”

They laugh at that, allowing her to place their hand on the crook of her elbow, effectively getting them out of the rain. “Thank you, Jehona. I was starting to lose hope of making it back home tonight.”

“You didn’t. It’s dawn.”

Chapter 1

Suspect

Jehona looks then and what she finds on his face stuns her. It is understanding, written plainly on the arch of his brow and the line of his lips, in the way he looks at her, all of the pieces she’d laid bare for his inspection and does not flinch or judge or hate, as she’d expected him to. “Look at what you’ve done,” he says quietly, running a hand through his hair. “How can I hate you when you’re just like me?”

Her chin trembles.

“Really, siren.” Hideyoshi smiles a small, heavy smile. “That was rather rude of you.”

An inexplicable spark warms her chest, chasing away the terrible cold. “For what it’s worth, I am sorry for what I did to Tomoki and Yukito.”

“I’m not the one you should be apologizing to.”

She snorts. “Well, yes, but I suspect if I went to apologize to them, I’d have injured them for nothing since your clan members would most definitely kill me on sight.”

Chapter 12

(HIDEYONA, HIDEYONA!)

Sick

By the time the parsen is done, the house around her is sparkling clean and orderly, their little dining table set and ready, and Jehona a mess of nerves and anxiety. She has worked herself up into a frenzy and she is sick of it. This must be how her dad felt last night. His anger makes so much more sense now. 

Restless energy plagues her and she takes to pacing the length of the living room. Her injured leg throbs dully; she’s overworked herself in her measly attempts to pass time. Jehona plops on the couch, stretching her leg out, and sighs deeply. She is being ridiculous. The events of the previous night have set her on edge and she’s letting hypotheticals get to her. It won’t be long until her father comes back, whining about how he’s ravenous and all will be well. There is no good reason for them to dispatch Captain Trantis’ squad to the third district. They’re usually assigned to the sixth district and they do a damn good job of keeping order there. Whatever reason the President-General has for sending men into that district, he surely wouldn’t endanger good capable men. Not with the threat of Austeria hanging over Lukovia like an axe ready to drop. Avniel may be many things but a fool he is not.

Chapter 4

Safe

Klevis just sighs. “Now that’s out of your system, back to my genius idea. Jehona is going to live with Hide.”

“Klev, dearest, weren’t you harping on about me needing to be safe?” Jehona points at Hideyoshi’s glower. “Does that look like someone who won’t kill me the first chance he gets?”

“I am no murderer.”

“With the right incentive, everyone is.”

Hideyoshi only glares harder. “Fine, then I won’t sully my hands with your blood.”

“You sure about that?” Jehona smirks. “A hasty conclusion, given you haven’t even heard of my latest nefarious deeds.” 

He narrows his eyes. “What did you do?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know.”

“This is getting a little out of hand,” RT comments. “Any grownups want to intervene?”

Rumaysa snorts. “Sorry, RT. Those are in short supply around here.”

“Klevis, what did she do?”

Klev shrugs. “How am I supposed to know? Is this about those four Nonaka girls who breached your house?”

Chapter 8

Solid

She shifts in her wheelchair now, finally pulling the infernal device off of her leg and dumping it aside unceremoniously. “Not that I’m not eternally grateful to have found you two there—“ Rumaysa meets Jehona’s eyes, deciding to bite the bullet, so to speak, “—but what were you doing in the third district?”

Her best friend’s anger has always been something akin to spears of solid ice and has been used as such: with calculation and precision. And rarely has it surfaced, a trait Jehona shared with her mother. Both were too adaptable and solution-oriented to be sweeped by emotions. Except for tonight, apparently. 

“We?” Jehona’s voice is a burning brand, in the way something too cold feels hot to the touch. “What were you doing there, Rumaysa? Do you think this is a fucking game? That shithead would’ve killed you!”

Rumaysa finds she doesn’t have much patience tonight. “I asked first.” She says matter-of-factly, eliciting a snort from Klevis. Rumaysa can’t quite tell if it’s from amusement or disbelief. It seems he himself can’t either.

Chapter 5

Some of these are a little too long (yes, I’m talking about the Hideyona bits) sue me. I’ll pass this on to @writingamongther0ses, @sleepy-night-child, @fictional-semantics, and anyone else who thinks they can find these words in their manuscripts: smooth, shatter, sliver and smirk.

[zwei-the-penguin-with-a-pen]

‘Celebrity Status’

Superstar fashionista. Pop idol. Professional Huntress. Official badass. Many adjectives and titles could describe the fantastically famous Coco Adel. She was staggeringly successful and wanted for almost nothing. She had her best friends with her most of the time, as Fox and Yatsuhashi played music with her. She had legions of adoring fans who loved her style, her music, and her clothing collections.

A cutie to share all of it with would be the icing on her coffee cake.

She had yet to find such a lady. Not for lack of trying, of course. She always talked to this girl or that girl, but most of them seemed to think she wasn't approachable. She would positively LOVE to throw her latest fashion ideas on a lady friend... and then tear them right back off of her. She had broken many girls' hearts without even trying.

She broke men's hearts as well, but only about as often as she broke their kneecaps. She quite enjoyed breaking their kneecaps.

Coco had dated her fair share of women, but becoming a celebrity had changed the dating scene a lot for her. It was more difficult to meet people when they were terrified of speaking to you. Being on a pedestal was fine with Coco until it came to meeting women. Oh well, one of these days the perfect girl would come along.

These coffeehouse gigs were a fun way to meet fans of her music. The clothes and the fighting were amazing, and fashion was always her strong suit, her music was her passion. She would make a sample with her keyboard synthesizer, and Fox would create sultry sounds with his guitar strings. Yatsuhashi made a beat, Moonstone added a bit on the low end, and a masterpiece was born.

Moonstone wasn't performing with them tonight, and he might not perform with them ever again. He was having some family issues at the moment. A new bassist wouldn't be that tough to find. Another girl in the band would be fantastic, Coco thought.

"What's this place called again?" Coco asked no one in particular. She knew the place was in Vale, near From Dust Til Dawn, but she forgot the name again.

"Jumping Beans, or so the sign says." Yatsu stretched and yawned as he answered. They were traveling low-key for this show, and sleeping in a van was not fun for the extravagantly tall man. He pointed to a sign across the street from their hotel. Coco nodded, tossing her beret off her head and checking her hair in the mirror.

"You look perfect, Coco!" Fox told her. She rolled her brown eyes at him.

"You say that every single time, yet I somehow still don't believe you." She replied, and the two of them laughed. They filed out of the van and entered the hotel, checking in at the counter and retiring to their room for now. They had a few hours before the concert, so they might as well rest up.

\/\/\/\/\/

Coco stood in the backstage area, which was more or less just the back of the coffeehouse, practicing her set in her mind. Her most popular song, 'Coffee' was not on the setlist, but she might perform it for an encore.

She glanced out at the packed coffee shop. Her audience was chomping at the bit for this show and the autograph signing afterward. In the small sea of faces, she locked eyes with a faunus woman holding a camera. Her chocolatey eyes melted Coco instantly. She had the cutest pair of rabbit ears atop her head. Brown hair framed her adorable face and cascaded down to her collarbones.

The woman tried to maneuver her way through the crowd toward Coco, flashing a badge and calling "News Crew" at everyone that stepped in front of her. Coco longed to run toward her and pose for a photo, and even more to chat the gorgeous rabbit girl up, but someone called for Coco to come to the stage. She waved to the photog and pointed at the stage.

Rabbit Ears nodded back, pushing her way toward the small stage.

Coco took the stage in her usual extravagant fashion, smashing a key on her keyboard and kicking outward when it produced an explosion sound. "Welcome to Jumping Beans Coffee Shop! I'm your hostess for the evening, the forever fabulous fashion queen, COCO ADEL!!!" She yelled into her microphone. The crowd roared for her.

She grinned at them all and jumped right into her first song, 'Girl is a Gun'. It was a bit different acoustic, but she still pulled it off with aplomb. She jumped around and danced away as she sang, her fingers effortlessly dancing across her keyboard. Coco kept her eyes on the photog with the rabbit ears.

"Yo, Rabbit Ears! Come closer to the stage! Be sure to get Fox and Yatsu in the pictures, too!" She called out between vocal lines. The photog's eyes turned to stars.

"Did you just talk to me?" She yelled, awestruck.

"Yeah, you're the one with bunny ears and a camera! Come closer! I don't bite! Well, not without permission, at least." She joked. The bunny girl moved right up next to the stage. Coco could hear her singing along to the song they were playing. She reached forward and tickled one of the girl's rabbit ears.

She lost it at that. "OH, MY GODS COCO ADEL JUST TOUCHED ME!!" She shrieked happily.

"You've got a pretty decent voice there, Honey Bunny. You want to come and sing one with us?" Coco offered. Hearts poured out of the girl's eyes at the remark.

"Gods, YES! Could we do 'Coffee' please?" The cutie asked her. Coco was hoping to save that one for later, but who was she to deny her beauty the song she wanted? Coco played the opening sequence on her keys, Fox and Yatsu filed in, and the two women sang into Coco's microphone. Coco took her hand and danced with her after the singing finished, the rabbit girl enjoying herself.

"Meet me after the show and the signing! I'd like to see your photos! Also, sorry for grazing your bum with my hand..." Coco told the photog after the song was over.

"It's fine, really! You're my favorite person in the world, so you can touch my arse all you like!" Rabbity smirked and winked.

A few more songs came and went, and Coco and the crew went on to sign autographs. The whole signing, Coco could hardly take her eyes off that woman on the multicolored couch. She snagged up a crew pass for their upcoming full band show with Weiss Schnee and her band and signed the back, leaving her phone number and a winky face.

"Hey there, Babbity Rabbity!" Coco said with a smirk as she plopped onto the couch, scooching as close to the girl as possible. Bunny blushed at that. "So what's your name, Miss Daily Dust?"

"Velvet Scarlatina..." The girl answered breathlessly. Coco smiled.

"Well, Velvet Scarlatina, can I please see your photographs?" Velvet pulled out her camera and scrolled through the shots from the concert and the signing. "Wow, you must be the best photographer at your newsstand! A regular Peter Parker, I'd say." Coco smiled even wider as Velvet turned ten shades of red. "You should totally take photos at our next show! It'll be a full band affair at the Rooster's Teeth!"

"I tried getting tickets, but it sold out ages ago. I also don't think my boss will send me to a show that size." Velvet frowned.

"Well I'd love to see you again, so take this. It should get you in with no questions. If anyone gives you any attitude, send them to me and I'll tear them apart."  She winked.

"Thank you so much!" Velvet tried to say as she stood, though it came out as a jumble of syllables. Coco smiled and stood up, hugging her new friend.

Velvet let out an 'EEP' as she felt a squeeze at her rear. Coco smirked hard at her as she left the coffeehouse. She could hear Velvet cheering from outside. She must have enjoyed the squeeze, or perhaps the phone number was the cause of her happiness.

Her Scroll lit up with a message from her new favorite girl.

\/\/\/\/\/

\/\/\/\/\/

\/\/\/\/\/

Day 5: Team CFVY Member

Do you guys remember ‘Coffee’? I wrote it ages ago. Well, this is kind of a parallel to that fic. The same concert from Coco’s POV.

[dolgelo]

[ i’m so late to the party  ( sad dance )  but i saw this around more than often, so catch my rp plots wishlist, while i’m sure i’ll want to add more things once this is already posted and that i hadn’t thought about before...

Mitsuru taking care of a baby out of necessity with someone else of S.E.E.S. for a short yet stressing period of time; it would not be hers in any way, it could be a friend’s one or even one other member’s of S.E.E.S.’s. the situation, being as awkward as it sounds like, would make a funny thread. she’s always looked like the group mom but i imagine her being done with a small child in the very first three minutes ahaha.

MOULIN ROUGE AU WHEN????? WHEN??

middle school days, with original S.E.E.S. figuring out what it means to share living spaces and finally forming the bond that will keep them united till the tragedy of Ken’s mom happens.

summer festival with S.E.E.S. some members !  honestly, i swear it’s never given too much importance while it remains perhaps the turning point, if you think about it; after the summer festival, ALL goes downhill. it’s their last moment of happiness, as the movie and stage plays really show more than the game, and i am up for all its feelings and fun.

being trapped with someone in Tartarus for a couple of days and the fear of not finding a way out??? the Reaper chasing them down ???  good stuff.

bad ending !!  protagonist kills Ryoji in the last day of the year and his words come true: unaware they won’t see the next spring season, S.E.E.S. lives in a happy illusion as the world around them crumbles and they can’t quite recall of their promise and will to fight. sad blissful days as the world ends and their own lives are consumed by Nyx.

other bad ending !!  Mitsuru ends up marrying her fiancé soon after graduation and losing her Group’s inheritance rights. other party visits her after a while to see if she’s okay -- spoiler: she’s not.

teach her how to cook something decent and she’ll be always in your debts. or just make her try food/street food she never experienced if you can.

Shirakawa Boulevard knows more than you think...

more Yakushima shenanigans YOU GUYS SHE HAS A MANSION THERE.

Camping S.E.E.S. still needs to happen @alternea.

adult Mitsuru and other(s) members of S.E.E.S. returning for an afternoon to the dormitory in a wave of nostalgia??

future Nov 4th don’t get any easier.

college au.

child Mitsuru !  and her puffy cheeks. it is said in the cd drama that, for example, Yukari’s mom was a long distance relative of the Kirijos, and that her wedding with estranged her from the ‘’’’’’aristocraxy’’’’’’, but Yukari would often visit the Kirijo house for fancy meetings. plus, Mitsuru spent lots of years in the Kirijo hospitals, as a test subject, together with Strega and other orphans and children, who said she couldn’t have met any one of them there too ?

   Welcome to the akimitsu dumpster heyy:

UMM transistor au. WHEN??

just... intimacy. during thunderstorms??? hailstorms?? both?? that’s a nice aesthetic.

Akihiko can you train this girl for self-defence without making it look awkward?

fiancé social link scene, with Akihiko. a classic, but still good.

okay but in an alternate hypothetical universe where Mitsuru is married off to her fiancé, and they meet by chance years later when she’s on a trip alone and ALL their emotions come out at once and they confess BUT she’s married so it’s technically wrong, but the man is a douchebag so not really and they spend the night together??? yea that may be coming from a rather known fanfic but who cares, the concept is good.

travelling to some far off destination out of Japan together where no one knows who she is and they can DO AAAAA?? SIGN ME UUUPPP.

the spicy ramen type of threads. please get it, don’t let me go on.

“hey mr detective Sanada, for *insert very serious Public Security VS Kirijo Group reason here* we need you to arrest Kirijo Mitsuru but she’s nowhere to be found” you feel?

hospitalized Mitsuru (after a fight?? was she shot? she fell down a set of stairs?? we may never know--) can only calm herself down knowing he’s by her side...

happy domestic fluff !!  

again, Shirakawa Boulevard knows way more than you think...

confession in the heat of the moment??? jealousy being somewhat repressed when she sees him happy being with someone else, if he finds this special person, but also: Akihiko, tell the truth, just how many girls have you been with during your trips.

“you ride Yatsu if I can try the police car”

I... probably forgot something, didn’t I ? ]

[grimgrimory]

Crosshares Kingdom AU Chapter 7

Stomachs growled in the dining hall, and Coco took a bite out of the food in front of her.

It was a plate full of green and red vegetables with variety of sauces and ornaments; decorating it like some sort of culture festival. Eyes were on Coco, including knights, chefs, and guests. But Velvets eyes were particularly alarming as they watched every movement and express Coco made while eating.

In Valiric, temperatures were much below the freezing point of any fruits or vegetables to grow. With the exception of tree bark, green bacon they liked to call it, she was used to an all meat diet. That said, she had to force herself not to gag out of reflex.

Coco had steeled herself before hand and was still hesitant to eat each bite. She wasn’t going to act like a child who refuses to eat their food because she didn’t like it, even if Ruby and Nora were the first two to complain about the menu. She was going to eat it, and she was going to enjoy Velvet’s company. That was that.

“Hmm. You don’t have to force yourself.” Velvet looked worried as her knight in shining armor was having trouble eating the food that she had offered. But with much persistence and patience, Coco managed to swallow her next bite of food to ease Velvet’s worries.

“I spent and entire week with nothing but water. I’m not that picky enough of an eater to decline a meal.” Coco was right in the sense that she usually isn’t the pickiest of eaters, and spending two weeks, not one, really threw her regard of bad tasting food out the window. However, she had declined a meal from someone of equal standing or maybe higher than that of Velvet during her time in Lonther. She offered the excuse that she couldn’t because it was her nature not to expect anything in return of favors. Her stomach was empty, but really didn’t want to stay too long for people to start remembering her.

In this case, she had taken a partial residence with the inn owner just outside the main gate. It was the furthest away from the castle, but it was the first one to be alarmed of an outside attack. So not wanting to stay long wasn’t an option and the little show from before definitely had her face memorized. Rumors were already starting to accumulate where Cardin was dragging Velvet by the ears and Coco was the only one to take action. They all shared their differences, but the one thing they all agreed upon was the fact that Cardin wounded up with a broken rib cage.

Today was her second day in Jili, and Coco already stood out far more than she had planned. It almost was a joke to her how things ended up. She still got a free meal out of it, and a job that she still didn’t know how much she got paid. And during those two days, she was hired as a knight, protected the princess from being a political piece, stopped a couple of thieves from doing who knows what, and might get offered up a position to train soldiers in maneuvering.

It felt rushed the way she was doing things, but it was much too slow than she would have hoped for. By this time, Coco had wanted to at least know what happened to her people; or at least make contact with Fox or Yatsu. With nowhere else to turn, she was heavily debating to ask if the people if Jili would want to help her find more information regarding the West Rampage.

Unlike her to hold things off, Coco felt it was too inappropriate now considering they were going to have a war against Giramwen. It was best to hold off for a little while, letting things die down.

But I don’t know if waiting a little while is going to help.

Coco was thinking that if she waited too long, it would lead to the death of her people if they weren’t killed already. It was hard for her to stay calm as she was, even if it was just for the show.

She was tired, weak, and hungry. But the plate of food in front of her was going to help with two of those three things.

Coco made up her mind to enjoy the rowdy laughter of cheers and the food that would be flung at each other when Velvet wasn’t looking. These were a strange group of people she was going to be staying with; but with enough time, she might even consider them family.

***

Ren was alone in the cover of the night as he stood prowling at the forces of Giramwen. He was expecting in the least that they would take this battle of there’s a little seriously; but like his expectations he had with Nora, shattered the longer he was around.

They were drinking, laughing, and made no signs of being weary of spies. He would have thought it easy to just walk in and they would hand it over if he just asked. They were a sad excuse of soldiers, even if he they had the best toys to back it up.

He wasn’t worried about the forces of Giramwen at all. No, he was worried and scared about a different outcome.

Off to the side, far from the crowd of drinks and cheers, were hundreds of wooden cages dimly lit by a faint light. In there, were the men you would expect to find at war. They were strong and hearty, seemingly that the wooden cage was made of twigs and would crumble if they stared too long at it. There were faunus mixed in with the cages who were frightened of the upcoming battle.

He knew at a glance that they were slaves going to fight in this battle, and would love nothing more to flee from battle. He was surprised that they were as calm as they were, that might have been due to the fact that they had them far away from Cardin’s forces and they found comfort in each other.

This raised a lot of problems for Ren knowing that Velvet wanted to stay peaceful throughout this entire battle and didn’t want anyone to get hurt badly.

The problem didn’t rise because they were under prepared. It came from not wanting to kill anyone.

Observing further, he noticed that one cage door was just open. This cage was apart from the wooden one’s he had seen, as this one seemed specialty crafted with heavy steel and metal. And yet, the two people who were in the cage remained seated on the ground with their back leaning against the bars. One was much more hulking than the others that were similar to him. Everyone else felt like children compared to him, even if he was sitting in an open cage.

The other one in particular had caught Ren’s attention because he seemed to have caught his.

He had burnt orange hair and was leaning on the exit of the cage hinges. And without even looking at Ren, he pointed towards him and told Ren to come to him.

No normal person would have been able to notice Ren, who felt was an adept when it came to stealth, but nothing about these two felt normal.

Not wanting them to alert others, he slowly made his way to them.

The faunus in the cages seemed surprised as some of them stood up and ringed their hands against the bars. It was the soldiers who kept them from making any noise and sat them back down on the dirt. How weird was it that these people got along with the faunus so easily? He guessed that was to be expected since they were all prisoners of war and made no further thought of it.

“You here to kill us or here to help us.” The man sitting down asked still meditating in place.

This took Ren a second to think that if they were to go to battle, they might eventually having to kill each other. But he didn’t come here to kill them, he came here to observe. “Here to help. Anything you need.”

“I think we’re fine.” The orange haired man said giving Ren a quick glimpse. His eyes were clouded and felt dead as it hadn’t bothered looking directly at the dim lit fire that illuminated their small cage. His eyes were that of a dead fish, losing all life and purpose.

Ren felt that he hadn’t lost his meaning to live, and wanted to confirm. “Are- are you blind?” He wasn’t too sure his he should be walking in such a  dangerous territory.

“Born with it.” He said almost as a set response obviously getting asked that a lot. “Names Fox. The beast of a man you see sitting down is Yatsuhashi.” He brought his arm out to shake Ren’s hand. Ren obliged with the gesture, even if the handshake was a bit different than he was used to. Instead of grasping the palm and giving it a heavy shake, Fox went further than the palm and grasped his wrist. After being satisfied, Fox let go with a smile and began talking.

“You from that desert city just up ahead?”

Ren felt that a day of running in the sand didn’t count as just up ahead, but not other villages were close enough for him to be familiar with. “From Jili, yes.”

“Hey Yatsu, do you know if she got kicked out Jili?” Fox asked with Ren knowing that there must be context to that sentence to understand it.

“As far as I’m aware, she only got banned from Zenith and Giramwen. But maybe Lonther now since they went to have an alliance with them.” Yatsu easing his meditative posture into a formal sitting.

What Yatsu said had bothered Ren just a bit. Not that whoever they were talking about got banned from two kingdoms, but the last part of what he said.

“Wait, Lonther allied with Giramwen?” They both nodded at Ren’s question as he stood in awe.

Great, was he the one who was going to tell Pyrrha? He felt that he could tell someone to relay the message, she;s going to be heartbroken that her family had allied with tyrants.

“You think that what was happening with Jili then?” Ren asked as Fox turned away to peer on the lit camp of drinkers.

“Look around. You tell me why they wanted to be ��allies’ with the Kingdom of Faunus.”

Ren peered into the cages to see heavily wounded faunus. Some were better off than others, seeing how some could stand and others were curled in a fetal position. These people hadn’t seen the faunus like people the way Jili did, and instead used them as fodder for their own troops to stay unharmed. The soldiers who followed these two seemed to be unharmed and were caring for the faunes’ wounds.

“You might want to get going.” Fox said pushing Ren away from his door to close the cage. “And tell your troops not to lay a hand on the faunus. You figure something out so we don’t end this battle in a genocide.” With that, Fox pushed Ren away for him to run back to Jili.

He had obtained some valuable information about the state of their soldiers. Even if they had 10,000 troops, those who were fighting were not.

“The battle will be in about two days during the early hours. Be ready to fight, not to kill.”

***

Coco had once again failed to get any sleep for this day. She had spent all of the morning talking with her goddess before the time passed enough for the raising of the sun. Her eyes strained much more than she had with the sand, but the combination of the two was almost unbearable.

She would have gone straight to sleep right away at the inn if they hadn’t called her to the training grounds. She was going to train the troops how to understand maunvering and adapting to sudden changes in behavior. She wasn’t feeling for any mock battle today, so if she does get the opportunity to teach, she knew it was going to be a slow day that involve a lot of self studying.

When training her own troops, she first taught them how to whistle like a bird. It was odd considering they were going in the heat of battle, but it helped when it came to giving commands. Plus, she loved it when people couldn’t whistle and it was a symphony of incoherent rambling. And soon, she will drill all the battle toons in their heads where they can’t forget it even if they tried.

Coco chuckled hysterically fumbling over like a drunkard towards the castle. Between hunting for rations and trying not to die in the cold, she would have to guess that whistling was the only thing in Valiric that nobody had anything against. For the older ones who hadn’t quite freeze to death, it still gave them something to do with their lives.

“Coco, glad you could make it.” Sun was waiting for her by the training ground entrance. He too was one of the people who spent all of last night dining and failed to get any sleep. HIs yawn was loud and exaggerated and Coco thought that going into this training was going to be the only way for her to stay awake.

“Happy to help. So, anything in particular you would like me to teach them?” Coco had brought a book with her she had carried throughout her journey. It recorded anything she had found useful and effective during her time hunting. She wasn’t one who likes writing things down in a book because it allowed her to forget. This was another reason she didn’t like paintings of people or places. WIth a written recording of it, it allowed people to forget because they can afford it. Since they have it written down, they don’t need to remember it because it will do it for them. A book is more useful as a fire starter than it is to write in Valiric.

Though, it does come with so useful notes that she could just have people read as she slept. She was sure that these people weren't completely useless in that...sense.

Coco drifted off into sleep for a second to walk it off like it was a stretch. She was going too days without sleep. She had done longer before, but she wasn’t moving and hunting around as much requiring more energy. But if she made it through today, she was planning on sleep throughout the entirety of the next few days.

“Sorry to ask a new comer for help. The job would usually go to Pyrrha, but she retired from the battlefield to look after her husband.” Sun scratched his head with subtle hints of embarrassment. They both looked at the soldiers that Coco was going to be training for the day when that name clicked to her.

“Nikos, right?” Coco was positive that was her name, and was at least a little familiar with her situation.

“Oh, you’re friends with Pyrrha?” That got Sun’s attention.

“Little less than friends than to say that she’s a little famous in the west.”

“Really, I should tell Pyrrha this.”

“I wouldn’t do that.” Coco quickly said before he made any rash decisions. “She’s known as the bastard child of Lonther last I heard.”

“Really?” He had mixed emotions of stunned, shocked, and disappointment.

“You said she retired after she got married. I’m assuming that her husband was…” Coco began snapping her fingers trying to remember the name. It occurred to her that she might have never heard the name because her family was trying to keep it a secret.

Coco chose the word commoner and Sun nodded rapidly at this. She didn’t want to offend the ex-princess of Lonther by saying peasant, but that is what her husband was. The only people who have 8 children are kings trying to get a male successor and the poor who can’t afford a job. Lonther itself was a fine kingdom, having what you’d expect from a normal one that is. Isn’t made out of sand or snow, and doesn’t have a tyrant ruler. The classical kingdom of pruned knights and armor with no quirks of their own. But their ideology was much more different than that of Valiric’s even though it shared common themes with the world. It was said to admit, but Valiric may be the only kingdom that elects their leaders the way they do.

“It doesn’t madder.” Coco cut herself off before she disrespected Pyrrha more than she already needed. She was sure that she already heard everything the world had to offer, and was living a happy life in Jili. “Let’s see what these troops of yours have to offer.” They both smiled choosing to ignore their gossip.

***

“Whistle. It’s just a whistle!” Coco was beginning to grow more and more frustrated at these people. Not only could like four people here whistle, more than half of them couldn’t even make a sound. The worse one of them was Ruby.

“I’m trying to!” She cried knowing she was going to be the next person singled out. “I just don’t know where to put my tongue.”

“There are several things you can do with your voice that doesn't even involve your tongue. In this case, make an ‘S’ sound and play with your lips till even the smallest bit of sound comes out!”

Ruby began to spit out hums as the blood vessel on Coco’s forehead might just pop open out of her head.

“It’s no use teaching her. I've been trying to get her to snap her fingers.” Weiss was one of the people who already knew how to whistle along with Penny, Yang, and Sun. She had given them the book she brought while she played catch-up on the two most incompetent people here.

“And Nora, I don’t even know what you are doing. Am I going to have to show you lot how to do it again.” Sun began to panic a little not wanting her to demonstrate again. It was a whistle she practicly made for the faunus. A drawback is that they panic at the sound and start saying things like ‘awp’ as they try to gain conscious again.

“I can show Ruby.” Both Weiss and Penny said at the same time. They glared at each other and were just about ready to go into a cat fight if Yang hadn’t calmed them.

Coco felt it must be tiring for Ruby having to deal with those two, or that just might be Coco’s lack of sleep catching up to her.

It was looking pretty bad.

“Like Coco said,” Sun shouted at the troops. “This will help you communicate longer distances than shouting. If you don’t know how, you can just blow on the tip of a pine cone.” A thud came behind him but he chose to ignore it. The screams that came after, not so much. “What happened?!” Sun might have been more scared than the screaming women pointing at Coco who was face deep in sand.

“Coco just passed out. Is she sick, is she dying!” Ruby began to run around in panic forcing Yang to stop her.

“That would make sense.” Penny said calmly as a yellow bird landed on her shoulder. “She hasn’t slept for two days.” Penny was looking at the bird as if they were communicating with each other. She followed it with an “ah, I see” and “must be rough”

“What are we going to do now?!” Sun was more depressed than anyone else here seeing as their day of training face planted into the sand. He probably shouldn't leave her here, but couldn’t either.

“I can take her.” A volunteer behind him sounded like she was more telling him than asking. He didn’t even want to look at this mess that fell before him and tried not to look at Coco being dragged away. This was just perfect.

***

Velvet was in the market square before the events of her day occurred. She was making some runs to specialty shops where she met Blake finishing up her shift. She looked a little tired, but was happy to help Velvet search for a gift for Coco.

“What kind of gift are you looking for?” Blake asked masking her yawn with a stretch.”

“I don’t know yet. Something she likes hopefully.” Velvet wanted to have a second opinion on this, but it seemed that Blake was as clueless at gift giving as Velvet was. “Your dating Yang. What does Yang usually give you.”

“Well, Yang gives me more personal gifts so to say.” Blake stopped walking after she said this. She was worried that she said to much towards the innocence of Velvet, but she just smiled with her hands behind her back. “You’ll get it when your older.” Blake sighed in relief happy that Velvet didn’t catch that.

“What’s that supposed to mean.” Velvet pointed puffing her cheeks and mumbling quietly to let only Blake here. “I’m at least a year older than you.”

So the morning went on in a variety of shops, some having fancy jewelry while others were more hand crafted. Blake had to stop some owners from saying too much on what to do if she gives her this alone at night, but most dared not to be too chummy with the princess. They browsed and shopped. Made a little small talk to pass the time.

“So, what do you think of Coco?” Velvet asked looking at her feet. She must have been worried about it much more than anyone else was.

“If I would have to say one thing about the Cardin ordeal, that was expected of her.” Blake looked content with that answer as Velvet looked more and more confused. “Did you know that Coco and Cardin met before?” Blake began to clarify.

“I knew something along the lines after what she said, but I don’t know the whole story.”

“Did you know I was there the first time Coco met Cardin?”

“Really now. Is that when you were living in…” Velvet wasn’t so sure if she should bring up such a touchy subject about living in Giramwen. It was nice for people, but hell for faunus.

“She’s actually the reason Ruby, Yang and I are here.”

“Wait, she helped you get out?!” Velvet squealed with a bit of jealousy in her voice. She calmed down and asked her what happened.

“Well, you know that the three of us grew up in Giramwen, right?” Velvet nodded as Blake continued. “I don’t know why she came, but Coco visited Girawmen on a whim of some sort. This was the time of Cardin’s coronation where he was going to be named the next heir to the throne after he got married.”

“You think that’s why-”

“Definitely.” Blake said without hesitation getting a little serious. “Pyrrha married Juane and was no longer a princess at this time. And Lonther already had their next heir take the throne so that wouldn’t have worked. Nuwara would have gone to war if they receive such an insult and would use them as an example for the rest of the kingdoms. The problem with Zenith is that they don’t have a princess and you’d probably be in debt before you made it in. Valiric would freeze anyone who made it up there, and I heard they were an isolated country. Karvel is, well…”

“Karvel.” Velvet finished Blake’s train of thought.

“A pain yes. And Baca is more of a island resort than a kingdom. So Jili, like it or not, is the only place ready for a political arrangement.”

“Well, I get why he wanted to marry, but how does Coco get involved?”

“I’m getting to that. So, pretty much all faunus knows what it’s like to be in Giramwen.” Velvet nodded profusely in agreement. “Well, I met Yang who promised to get me out of there. So, we were planning on leaving at the time when Cardin’s was going to become the heir. Distracted and the sorts. What we didn’t know, that he wanted to make an example of all the faunus on that day by killing half off us.”

“That’s horrible. Why would anyone think to do such a thing?” It seemed that Velvet was about to cry knowing that she was going to marry such a man.

Blake calmed her down saying it didn’t end like that and she didn’t get taken away by Cardin. “Needless to say, they were looking for us.” Blake continued. “So after Yang and Ruby put up much of a fight, about a hundred faunus were were on their knees prepared to be made an example for a political campaign.

“Just… I need to know. How many people died?”

“None.” Blake said proudly letting Velvet calm down. “When everyone was trapped, pinned and cornered, Coco cared not of what was going to happen towards her, walked up, and punched Cardin in the nose.”

“She actually did that?” Velvet pressing Blake to see if she was exaggerating.

“Without a moment's hesitation. And when he tried to fight back, she did it again.”

“What about the guards? What did they do?”

“I didn’t get a good look, but Yang swears that she caught them laughing at Cardin having his nose broken.” Blake smiled at Velvet knowing they were a perfect match together.

“That does it!” Velvet stood proudly with her ears standing high. “I’m going to give Coco the perfect give to thank her on the behalf of Jili and all faunus.”

Blake did like the idea of that. She had tried to thank Coco in the past but she left too quickly for anyone to give her thanks. Yang let her become a knight immediately after coming here saying that Coco wouldn’t accept a gift for doing the right thing. But if it came from Velvet, she might actually take it.

“I see Yang give you gifts all the time Blake. I’ll get something from the same store that Yang shops at for you. She said when I found someone I like, I can’t go wrong with that store.”

“Wait!” Blake said almost in a daze realizing what Velvet was going to do.

“What’s wrong? I want Coco to smile at me the same way that you smile at Yang when you get a gift from her.”

“D-do I really smile?” Blake asked defeated as fire began to fill in Velvet’s eyes.

“Very much so. It’s kind of hard not to notice when you get silent and start acting all fidgety.”

Blake Belladonna got to her knees Velvet looked around in excitement trying to spot the tent. They knew. Everyone knew. She had spent months trying not to be one of those girls, but if Velvet could figure it out, everyone knew. And the nights. WHAT ABOUT THE NIGHTS! She said so much, so loudly. She was always trying to remain a mute about these things, but Yang always made sure she enjoyed her company. This was bad. Really really bad.

“Look, there it is!” Velvet skipped along to an unmarked black tent that stood hidden, but proudly amongst the other shops.

Blake couldn’t even find the words to shout at Velvet from going in there. Her life was over. No, its been over. She just didn’t realized she was poisoned for so long.

Velvet stuck her head in like a school girl in love, then she stood still, in shock. All color drained from her skin as she ran out crying.

She went on her knees and tried to begin to wipe her eyes from tears. “Why would someone sell things so disgusting?!” She stopped crying and sniffled, looking into Blake's eyes. If she wasn’t crying, Blake would have been. But what Velvet said next made Blake do just that. “PERVERT!” Velvet began to cry with no ending in sight as a small tear began to form in Blake’s.

“It’s too late now! We’re in this together!” Blake picked Velvet up, both girls fully in blush.

“Don’t make me go back in there!” Velvet began to panic as more and more eyes were watching. Velvet was acting like Blake the first time Yang introduced her to this store. And as such, she knew where to grab Velvet to prevent her from running. It was the point of no return, and she wasn’t going back empty handed.

Blake marched into the erotic tent: scared, tired, and ashamed with a blistering bunny furrowing over her shoulder.

“Oh, hi Blake.” The storekeeper smiled, delighted to see a familiar face. “I just got a new book called “The Secrets of Love”. I’m telling you, those people from Basa come up with the most interesting positions.”

Blake began to cry.

***

The walk back to the castle remained without incident. Both of them were too embarrassed to talk to each other, and Velvet had her ears dropping down like a dog with her tail between her legs.

Velvet was carrying a quadruple sealed black bag that the store keeper had suggested and gave them for free. He said it was to promote business and have them come back.

“Dirty old man. I’m not ever coming back.” Blake looked in her bag to read the title of the book again. At least she had something to read.

“Hi there darling!” Yang came whistling up from the direction of the training ground. “Ooh. I see you went to that store. And my surprise, I never imagined Velvet getting anything from that store.” Yang peered at the black bags that they both carried. It was doubled stitched to avoid being torn, and she recognised them after all the times that Yang had to hide it after shopping with Blake.

Velvet began to panic having Blake speak up. “One’s for you, one’s for me. I didn’t want to touch it considering where it’s going to be.”

“I find that hard to believe.” Yang called her bluff. “ I can see that you’re carrying a book Blake by the way the corners on the bag look. And there is no way you’d let our innocent Velvet go in there without wanting something for her own. Or Coco.”

“Yang!” Blake yelled.

“I’m kidding, I’m kidding. But I do have to say Velvet, bold choice for your first time.”

“I’m only ever going there once!” Velvet cried through the tears. Yang and Blake patted her on the back.

“Don’t worry Velvet, everyone goes in that store at least one time.” She chose to leave out the part that she could count the amount of people bold enough to walk out of there with a bag on two hands.

“Yeah. And I’ve talked to April sometimes when I see her in there.” Yang said.

“Mom?” Velvet’s voice cracked after saying this.

“Oh that’s right. You weren’t supposed to know.”

At this point, Velvet’s tears ran dry and could only stand dumbfounded. It was the sad truth she needed to grow accepting of. And even more so if she wanted to be with Coco.

“Enough of that.” Blake changing the subject. “I thought that you were training with Coco today?”

“We were, but Coco hasn’t slept in todays and passed out on the spot. Check it out.” Yang began to whistle in a  pattern similar to that of a bird. “That means forward right position. Still don’t know what that means, but it seemed useful.”

“Wait, Coco hasn’t been sleeping?” Velvet overheard coming back to reality.

Blake thought back on the previous two nights where Coco went to wander the desert and the night she spent to eat at the castle. “I guess she hasn’t.”

“Good, now’s your chance. Take Coco to your bed and practice on her.”

Velvet flat out refused to do anything to Coco in her sleep, something Blake wished from Yang, but she did agree to have Coco sleep in her bed considering that was the closest one here.

“So.” Yang said as the two of them watched Velvet run off towards the train grounds. “What kind of book did you get there?”

[mattmercerbignaturals]

A Garden for Two Ch. 2 (2148 words)

Ruby had become a regular at the gardens with Beacon’s unofficial caretaker. Every Thursday night, right after training with her team, she would show up just before nightfall and they would watch the sunset together through the dome and talk. The waning light would cast the room in a soft orange glow, allowing some of the flowers to pop in ways that were nothing short of dazzling. After several weeks had passed, one day, Ruby showed up in a very un-Ruby-like mood.

 She flopped down onto the makeshift stone bench, as she had grown tired of attempting to sit cross-legged, citing that it made her limbs fall asleep. Her face was set in a deep frown as she propped her head up on her fists.

“What do you do when someone needs help but won’t let you help them?” Yatsuhashi cracked open an eye, turning to face his friend.

 “If I had such an answer, I would share it.” That isn’t helpful. The eye closed and his breathing evened out. Quiet took over, leaving Ruby alone with her thoughts. Well, her thoughts and an incessant tapping noise. The girl looked to her friend to see one massive foot moving back and forth, the sole of his boot striking the concrete over and over. She looked to his arms, usually calm and relaxed. Now though, she could trace the veins on his forearm like a roadmap. Finally, there was his eyes. They were shut like he was afraid something would pluck the eyeball from his head, his face scrunched in a manner that made it plain he was anything but relaxed.

 “Are you OK, Yatsu?” His eye opened again and he nodded.

 “Of course.” He opened his other eye, cocking his head. “Are you?” She nodded, plastering on a smile that looked more like something stolen from a mannequin than a normal human facial expression. He shot her a look and the face crumbled. She leaned back, letting out a groan that was much louder than one would’ve thought her tiny body could produce.

 “Cardin’s a big jerk!” As the name left her lips, Yatsu’s hand clenched into a tight fist and his jaw tensed. His mouth barely opened as he replied.

 “Yes, yes he is.” Ruby popped from her seat, pacing back and forth across the stone.

 “What gives him the right to bully other people just because they’re weaker than him, huh? So what if Jaune’s a bad fighter, and not good at school work, and smaller than him? That doesn’t mean he can pick on him! When someone needs help, you’re supposed to actually help them! Not make everything worse. But nooooooooooooooooo! Cardin needs to show off and prove how big and tough he is!” She threw her arms in the air in exasperation. “All it shows is that he’s a big dumb jerk.”

 “I take it that this “Jaune” is a target of his as well?” She nodded.

 “Yeah! We all see it! Cardin trips him in the hall, slaps his books out of his hands, and shoots spitballs at him in class. The worst of it is that Jaune won’t let us help him. We’ve all offered to step in, his partner Pyrrha’s even tried to actually stand up for him but he stops us every time.” She groaned, plopping down on the stone bench again. “Why won’t he let us help him?” Yatsu had all but given up on his attempts at meditating, instead choosing to rest his hands on his knees.

 “I would tell you if I knew.” For a moment, the only sounds were chirping birds and blowing leaves.

 “Wait a second, you said “as well”, is Cardin bullying one of your friends too?” Yatsu inclined his head, his mouth set in a thin line. “Can I ask who?” He was quiet for a beat.

 “Do you remember my teammate Velvet? I mentioned her some time ago.” Ruby nodded.

 “The Faunus girl, right? With the big bunny ears?” He nodded, it took a moment for Ruby to process what he said but when she did, her eyes went wide. “Cardin’s bullying an upperclassman!?” Yatsu simply sighed, nodding again. “Why doesn’t she just beat him up and get him to stop?”

 “I could ask the same of your friend, Jaune.” Ruby wrung her hands, eyes finding the floor. If she thought that would help, she would’ve suggested it by now.

 “Jaune’s not the best fighter…” Yatsu gave a grunt of acknowledgement.

 “I can’t say the same for Velvet. As for her reason for not standing up for herself…” He sighed. “She says that violence doesn’t solve these kinds of things.” He shook his head. “Unfortunately, she seems to be unable to be swayed to another course of action.”

 They were both being silly. Jaune should let Ruby and Co. deal with Cardin then he’d leave him alone. Velvet should easily be able to beat him up, maybe even his whole team. Ruby groaned, throwing her hands up in the air as her voice slipped into a mocking tone.

 “She sounds like my dad. He’s always saying stuff like that “violence never solved anything”, “drink your milk”, “no boys until you’re thirty” blah blah blah. Then why do we fight Grimm if violence isn’t the answer, huh?” She crossed her arms, thinking back to all the times she brought up this argument. None of them ever ended up swaying her dad, he just said that “that’s something entirely different” and sent her to her room or something.

 Yatsu chuckled into his fist. A sound that made the butterflies in her stomach begin to flutter. She shouted internally for them to quit it before shifting her attention back to her friend.

 “My father said much of the same, Dad on the other hand always told me to not leave bruises.

 Ruby scoffed and gestured to her massive friend.

 “I think if you hit someone, it’s going to leave a bruise no matter what.”  

 Yatsu smiled and looked up into the orange tinted skies above. It had been a gorgeous day on campus as some warm air finally made its appearance, balancing out the autumn chill.

 “I wasn’t always this large, Ruby. Even I was small once.” He said with a chuckle. Ruby waved him off.

 “Sure you were, I’ll believe that when I see it.” He stared at her for a second before pulling out his Scroll and typing out a message. Well, if one could consider jabbing one finger into the keypad, hitting several keys simultaneously, and then frantically hitting delete over and over to be “typing.”

 “I’ll have proof momentarily.” As if on cue, the Scroll dinged and he smiled. Ruby plopped down next to her friend and he turned the screen to her. She was greeted to the image of six children with a stout man with closely cropped sandy brown hair and a wicked scar that went diagonally over his lips. Standing on the man’s right, his arm on his shoulder, was unmistakably Yatsuhashi.

 “Oh. My. Gosh!! You were so small!!!” The boy was barely four feet tall and couldn’t have been more than fifty, maybe fifty-five pounds if Ruby was being generous. Yatsu nodded his head, another n small smile finding his lips.

 “Indeed, I was.” Ruby stole the Scroll away, tapping the screen for a closer look at everyone. The children were lined up in front of the stout man, all throwing up two fingers in a V shape. They looked positively adorable in their little white outfits that were at least a size too big and the bright white belts that some of the kids were using like a headband.

 “The guy with his hand on your shoulder, that’s your teacher, right?” Yatsu nodded.

 “Correct. He’s also one of my fathers, Clay. He ran the studio out of the back of our home.” Ruby nodded, studying the man again. Not only was the scarring evident on his face, his hands held a fair few of their own. He was also missing one of his front teeth.

 “It’s the tooth, isn’t it?” Ruby cocked her head to the side. “You’re staring at his missing tooth, aren’t you?” She began to babble out a response. Stupid Ruby, stupid stupid stupid! Dad always told you not to stare at people, that it was rude! Yatsu held up a hand.

 “It’s fine.” He took a breath and nodded. “Clay… had a rough life before he met my other father, Oliver. You see, the style he teaches is known as bajiquan, or “eight-extreme fists”. It’s been passed through his family for generations as they were among the few who preserved the tradition after so long. He was an only child and when he told his family that he was never going to produce a biological child to pass along the art, they were… less than enthused.” Before she could think about it, she found her hand going to his arm, giving a gentle squeeze. She pushed the Scroll into his face with the other.

 “Does this look like a man who regrets the choices he’s made?”  Yatsu was silent for a moment before shaking his head.

 “No. No he does not.” He placed a massive paw over hers. “Thank you, Ruby.” He stared down at the picture again before chuckling. “It’s funny in a way, Clay passed on some of his teachings to me, hoping I would never have to use them, especially against bullies.”

 “You never had to, right? I mean, who was going to mess with the Master’s son? That’d be stupid.” Yatsu shrugged.

 “You would be surprised what children think they can get away with when adults aren’t looking.” Rub’s eyes widened.

 “Wait, you were bullied?” He gave a halfhearted nod.

 “It wasn’t for long, barely two months, but it happened. Like you said, I was small and some of them thought I received special treatment from Clay. They might have been right on that latter account, but my father did his best to treat all as equals.”

 “Well, how did you deal with them? Did you tell your dads? Did you beat them up?” Ruby hopped to her feet in an instant, throwing out flurries of kicks and punches at nothing in particular. Her mind screamed at her to stop, that she was embarrassing herself again but the laugh that came from her friend made it worth it.

 “I stood up for myself and said that I wasn’t going to take it anymore. Naturally, they pushed back against me and then, yes, I beat them up.” Ruby threw her fist in the air, nearly jumping for joy.

 “Good!” She smiled, sitting back down at his side. For moment, they say in peaceful silence. The fractured moon was rising up into the air, night having taken hold. She stared upwards at it before sighing. “Why won’t Jaune and Velvet do what you did?” Yatsu’s gaze followed Ruby’s. His even breathing helped enhance the calming effect of the area and she felt her hand creep towards his on the stone.

 Bad Ruby! No! You’re just friends and even if you weren’t, he’s eighteen and you’re fifteen! What if he’s seeing someone? What if he doesn’t even like girls? But still, her hand inched onwards. Thankfully, his voice broke her out of her trance, causing her to shake her head.

 “I cannot say. We can only hope that they come around in time.” Ruby felt heat travel up her cheeks as Yatsu turned to her. “Your cheeks are red. Are you feeling well?” She hopped up to her feet, throwing up her hand in a salute that she knew she’d mentally flog herself over later.

 “Never better!” She gave an awkward laugh. Ruby needed to get out of there before she embarrassed herself any further. So, she faked a yawn, adding a soft moan and stretching to hopefully make it look more natural. “It’s getting late and I have class tomorrow I should get going.” Yatsu stared at her and for a moment she thought he was going to call her bluff, or worse, offer to walk her back to her dorm. Yang would never let her hear the end of it if that happened. He checked his Scroll and nodded.

 “You’re right, I’m sorry for taking up so much of your time.” Just then, the piece of technology chimed and the face of a dark-skinned girl with bright blonde, almost white, hair appeared on screen. A small smiled played at her large friend’s lips. “Goodnight Ruby.” She nodded vigorously, waving off his mention of monopolizing her time.

 “Goodnight Yatsu, sweet dreams.” He nodded

 “To you as well.” Ruby nearly sprinted from the gardens as she tried to justify holding hands with Yatsu in her mind. We’re just friends. F-R-I-E-N-D-S. She repeated the thought all the way back to her dorm.