@Silvan Haven @Write @Crimmy @Plank Sinatra @Ayazi @LokiLeo789

Schwarz Sisters and All That Shiz

"Ah, thank you, Beryl-san!" came Dawn's impeccably polite and gracious reply, as she primly accepted the already sweating cup (more like a mug, though, honestly) of iced green tea, bringing it to her lips and taking a long drink. "Oh, wow, this is a nice blend! Hey Jer, do you know what all's in it?" she called over to the humble kichen lad, before muttering a small list to herself along the lines of "some orange peel, some echinacea root, ooh, a hint of apple, that's platinum good, I wonder how that got in there", before being snapped abruptly out of it by a hand, clad in fingerless biking or climbing gloves, snapping its fingers in front of her.

"Hoi?" she looked up.

Smirking in amusement, the psychedelic exorcism enthusiast of the assembled gang wordlessly pointed straight forward, over to her other side. Following his direction, she turned—

And immediately giggled, gingerly accepting the pouch of chocolate chip cookies from her big sister's mouth, careful not to damage their gooey sweetness in any way during the final bit of transit. In an amazing feat of facial dexterity, any attentive person would have noted that the older girl's smile managed to somehow widen at her sister's reaction, despite the delicacy of the passengers it carried.

An attentive person would have also noticed that, while April had matched Akuma-kun's care when delivering Dawn's cookies, her own were recieved with far less circiumstance, merely dropping the package into her hands with only a small bleh to herald them.

Hahah, what a silly girl.

Of course, Tanner Oshino was a very attentive man, and also took this opportunity, after winking cheekily at his two adoptive nieces, to answer that call that had just come up on his scroll. He didn't take the time to look at the ID.

Only three people had this number, and only two of them used it, and only one would have any reason to call him right now.

"Yo, Taichou-san."

"Always with the nicknames, huh, Tanner? And here I'd just thought we'd moved past that." the voice at the end of the line replied, just as flippant and ripe with good humor in its low and smooth feminine tones as his own was. "How're the kids holding up?"

"They've already got half of your son's classmates wrapped around their little fingers, talking practically. And what can I say, something good happened—"

He turned his lone opened eye to the dark Atlesian devil at the counter, and then thought back to the young looking man outside the dorms he had been chatting with.

"Meaning of course, the old stomping grounds are really nostalgic. You'll never guess who I've been running into, Holly."

"Oh, really?" the most powerful woman to ever hail from Shiroyama sounded intrigued. "I'm on my way to the station right now, so if you can keep them around..."

"A-hah, that's quite the demand to place on a sleazy old fart like me..."

"These are--"

"So good!"

"...But I get the feeling I can manage it."

Skye's ears perked up beneath her hood. "So you are a Hunter, and you go to Beacon Academy? I had no idea just from looking at you. I thought Hunters always had their weapons with them, like your friend with the oversized handguns. You must be really good."

She lost her brief positive mood when Luke mentioned his sisters, and in its place came a cold emptiness. She was becoming far too familiar with that feeling lately. She supposed she should have put two and two together, the similarities were obvious in retrospect. Still she had been caught off guard by the revelation, possibly because she hadn't wanted to see it. After seeing so many happy families today she supposed her mind had started shutting it all out. Now, however, she was reminded of her own loss and how she still had yet to truly deal with what had happened. Even weeks later. But that's not Luke's problem. Right now I need to remember where I came from. The sooner I do that the sooner my rescuer can get back to his own. I'll deal with my personal problems later, in private.

Skye took a deep breath and tried to visualize the hospital grounds as Luke had asked. Pushing aside the blurred memories of flat streets choked with people and noise and enormous buildings she focused on where her journey had started. It wasn't as hard as she expected which was very surprising. She suspected Luke's patience with her had something to do with that.

"Alright, very pretty lobby, giant glass window I walked into, sliding door... Immediately outside was a wide sidewalk and a street, a loop coming off the main road. Everything was unnaturally flat. That's been throwing me off pretty badly all over this city, that and all the straight lines. Natural terrain just isn't symmetrical, you know? Ah, right, of course you know. Honestly, I recall a distinct lack of memorable landmarks, but I do remember airships landing on the roof. We didn't have many airships where I came from. Just the one, and it was old. The hospital itself had fancy architecture like I've never seen before, it looked like it was made almost entirely of glass... It had to be six stories at most. This isn't really helpful, is it?"

Sangue took a moment to take in what Lauren said. She mentally noted that she should categorize her leader's flexible weapons as "dildo-guns."

Ben's "dildos-guns" were strong enough to hurt Manticores. They fired powerfully, and it most definitely seemed like it would hurt if it hit a person.

She decided to at least remember what to call them if she wanted to spar with him later.

She continued watching Lauren and her father interact in what was probably the most vivid display of conversation she had seen between a family in silence.

@Krayzikk@Kaithas@Plank Sinatra

@Write

Gratia Mindaro - Behind the Café

"Pay her back by staying safe."

Gratia Mindaro gently removed her hand from the pale, shaking grasp of her friend. There was more that needed to be said, to be properly addressed rather than left to fucking rot at the wayside, but there was nothing further that could be done right now. As much as it pained her, she couldn't keep pushing now. One goal had been already been accomplished. She could still handle the rest at a later date.

"You're not okay," she continued, her onyx eyes seeming to stare quietly at Nuit. "But you will recover."

She would make sure of it.

"Go take care of whatever bullshit you have now. But we will be going over your options."

Sender: HBG (Hot Bar Girl) ((Apparently on team BASL)) (((Also apparently named Lorena *swoon*)))
Recipient: Estelle Sidos Van Heurassein Nuit
Message:
Ta-da! Found it! It wound up in my lingerie order hahaha ;D I've already put your finder's fee onto the card so no sweat on that end! Give it back to you when I see you???

Estelle glanced at her scroll and smirked at the smiley face. Shoving it back into the pocket of her jeans. She had previously asked Bianca about her mystery hot girl. Lorena Negasi… Apparently she even has a hot name. The one who had apparently scammed her. She still didn’t feel scammed. She got something out of it at least, if anything it was just a bad deal. She should’ve bargained for more – but it would do.

This will not do idiot. Go get your credit card back.

“Right. My card.”

Estelle decided that it’d be best to head towards the dorms, that’d be where she’d find most students on family day. So she made her way through the always beautiful campus on an absolutely beautiful day. I wonder if Lorena is looking for love.

She’s one of your students now, that’s the kind of thing that puts you in jail or on some kind of fucking fetish site.

“Too bad.” Estelle finally managed to get to the dorms after a short time walking from the café. She walked into the building passing past the VGGB and JCBL dorms finally reaching the BASL dorm. With a quick inhale and a glance up at, something, perhaps hope itself, Estelle barged in.

“Lorena get my credit card out of your lingerie becau-“

She was met with at least five faces staring back at her. Scanning her for something. She wasn’t sure what.

Shoot yourself before they ask questions.

“Um, sorry am I interrupting?”

---

"Merci Gratia. Vouz avez ma parole." I said smiling through a single tear. Once more I attempted to hug my best friend, but this time I wouldn't be taking no for an answer. Besides, we were behind an alley way, her stone cold reputation couldn't be destroyed back here. I gave her a light kiss on the cheek and my wings fluttered awake. "As soon as we get back we will go over my options and we will decide on something, okay?"

Of course, the downside to staring down Ben as hard as Lauren's father was that it prevented him noticing something else. Namely, stripper Amaranth Desire skirting around the showdown to the girl bending over to search under her bed. As she approached, though, carefully, an alternative course of action presented itself.

She was still registering everything said, but speaking would have broken her cover.

Her Semblance ramped up to slowing everything ever so slightly, letting her mind target and process the changes in status of the three people she was most concerned about looking toward her as she moved. Ben was talking about the Manticore battle, so he was unlikely to look--besides, that death glare was likely consuming the small parts of his poor straight male brain that weren't absolutely blocked out with NOT LOOKING TOWARD THE BED anyway. Lauren's father was leveling the death glare at Ben, so he was somewhat distracted too. Costa was the real issue--for the moment, she seemed to be watching her husband delivering a staredown with not insignificant amusement, but Amy would still be in her line of sight once she got to the strained jeans sticking up from under the bed.

She hesitated, once she reached Lorena. Wasn't too late to back down. She could go back to her original plan, just make Ben's temptation worse rather than risking a trip out a window herself.

...



Her hand moved, in a blur of motion, and to her sensitive ears all hell seemed to break loose.

Sequentially:

1. Her hand hit Lauren's ass with a clap of palm on denim that, bless its threads, would likely need therapy later.
2. Estelle barged into the room, saying something about Lauren's lingerie.
3. The territorial part of Amy's brain registered a threat.
4. Her eyes locked with Estelle's, and she squeezed.
5. Stuff got awkward.

@FlitterFaux

Lucas Schwarz

I don't look like a Hunter? What's a hunter look like to you, white? Is it because I'm Shiroyaman? Jap man can't be something besides a wageslave? Because my name means black?

......

Lauren, I don't think I can ever pull that card out of my hat and take it seriously, sorry. It doesn't work at all, no matter how much you teach me.

Still, though, it wasn't surprising to hear that I didn't look the part entirely much, with my decidedly pedestrian hoodie and khakis and aforementioned lack of weaponry. It was a bit disheartening, sure; but on the other side of the coin, I knew that it'd be foolhardy of me to expect to have even come close in these three weeks— ten months if you counted my preparatory torture of an extended cram session last semester and a half— of my neophyte Huntsman career...

No, even scratching the very surface of my Mother's ability was still entirely beyond me.

It would be a long time before I simply radiated power from my very being, like Mom.

"Well, it's funny you should mention that— Do you remember the loud girl in that cafe dressed in yellow?" I asked rhetorically, rubbing the strangely-empty feeling out of my wrists. "She's my little sister, and just this morning I actually passed of my weapons to her."

Handed down a hand-me-down. How appropriate, right?

"I'm working on something new right now, but it's a bit slapdash... Not to mention stuck in the conceptual stage. But, that'd be your reason why."

Believe me, I'm no good at all. In fact, I'm barely hanging in there with all my might. It's just a happy coincidence that I'm unarmed right now...

Well, that and the fact that Jericho Piper isn't actually the norm in terms of how Huntsmen are in our days off and on the town. From what I'd gathered from him regarding how things are in Mantle, his first run-in with the Valic idea of "gun control" was going to be... a bit of a culture shock.

Then again, so was Vale being somewhat grounded in Slice of Life as opposed to Cyberpunk Urban Fantasy...

"I said relax. Now— Six stories high, and a lot of windows. Flat landscape." I repeated the list back to myself, knocking each one off the list that failed to meet the required categories. Luckily, I hadn't needed to use Google-sensei just yet. I normally would be hopeless on this sort of thing, but I had made a point to get on the express line towards familiarizing myself with the hospitals of the City of Vale ever since Lauren expressed a desire to rope me into her usual hijinks.

I was pretty sure I knew which one she meant, then. Especially with it being in relatively open airspace, with few other discernible landmarks, the hospital in question had to be...

Well over 5 miles away. If not 10.

"That's a heck of a walk we're about to be going on... You're really lost, aren't you?"

It was a blunt way of putting it, and more than likely to send poor Skye into another salvo of entirely unnecessary self-denigration, but my straight man act was far too refined and reflexive for me to stop at this point.

If I'd known that this was going to be what I was getting into, I'd have brought my bike...

Of course, it would also be pretty awkward to ask a complete stranger to ride double.

Damned if I do, damned if I don't.

Story of my life.

Gren waited paciently, but the sushi cart seemed pretty busy. Though he found it odd that they didn't notice him, perhaps they just couldn't afford the time to actually make Gren "Two of everything". In hindsight, that was a bit of a dick move on his part to make their sole chef make everything on the menu twice. As Gren considered something more reasonable a girl bumped into him. She seemed started at his appearance and called him a monster. Somehow, this just got a chuckle out from him. It's been a while since anyone was startled by his appearance. Despite all his hang ups, Beacon had been fairly accepting of who he is. Of course this girl still seemed a bit scared of Gren. He decided to play a bit of a joke on her.

"I'm not a monster, but I am hungry. And you do look cute enough to eat."

Gren than gave the girl a big, toothy smile. He meant to do so jokingly, however a few seconds afterwards he realized how she might've taken it wrong or even threateningly, since his stomach than audibly rumbled. And just to make matters even more awkward, Scoot poked his head over Gren's shoulders and looked down at the girl, using his telepathy to send her a simple message. "Food! Food! Eat! Eat!" Gren of course didn't hear this and so laughed it off his smile and tried to salvage the situation. "Jay Kay. Name's Gren. What's your name?"

@FlitterFaux

@FlitterFaux@HereComesTheSnow@FlitterFaux@Abillioncats@Crimmy@Onarax



"Hmph, 'fried' you say Shuai, but I'm afraid I do not make such a primitive dish. Behold, tempura tuna", he responded as a montage of making the batter, applying it to the fish, frying it, and taking it out to put it onto a neatly organized dish with sauce took place. With that ready it was only up to Shuai to take that... And the request salmon sushi.

Unfortunately they did not bring salmon, but Varius was not one to be unprepared.

"My family may not be here today, but our delivery networks never rest. I took the liberty of sending a notification to the fishery in town", with a click of his fingers a crate parachuted down in the middle of the food court relayed by a helicopter with his family company's logo on it before flying away. Upon Shuai opening the crate to deliver the contents to the stand he would find it was full of salmon. Soon as it was taken to the stand, Varius would proceed to prepare the salmon sushi as if nothing abnormal had happened.

"I hope the food is to your liking dear customers", an incredible display... Such was the power of wealth one supposes.

@HereComesTheSnow




Skye nodded and smiled, a bit of warmth gradually returning to her mood. She remembered the girl in yellow, April. She had been loud indeed, in voice, color, and then there was that baffling moment with the salt. A little hard to forget, even as overloaded as Skye was at the time. So Luke had given his sister his weapons even before he even had a replacement ready for himself? And he had taken it upon himself to help Skye find her way back. Not to mention he had been trying very hard to reassure her and make her feel better, as inconsolable as she may be right now. Luke was a good man to say the very least.

Then she remembered her mask probably made it hard for Luke to see her smile, and not for the first time she wondered if she should just take it off. The nursing staff had made it pretty clear she did not look well enough to be outside, so she had kept it on. But then she had not expected to start a conversation with a really nice person either. If he didn't think she was being outright rude he surely thought she was odd. He wouldn't be wrong but...

Relax. Luke must be getting tired of trying to get her to calm down, and she didn't blame him. She had been pretty deep in anxiety by the time they had met, and she wasn't shaking it very well. Hearing that she had wandered far enough for this to be a long trip by Luke's standards did not help matters. But she decided to at least try to take Luke's advice and not waste his generosity. She nodded once, her inner debate on the matter of her mask momentarily forgotten.

"That... makes sense. I've been walking since early this morning. Eleven or twelve miles, but I'm sure a lot of that was me going in circles. Or... squares.
We should get moving, I guess. I'd like to help you keep your promise to not be gone long. Is there a faster way?" Thinking back, though Luke had seemed pretty exasperated with his sisters, they all had looked so happy.

"You're very lucky to have each other." She blurted out suddenly, without warning.

Shit. I really just found a way to make myself seem even weirder. Well, that's a thing now.

"You and your sisters, I mean."

Gods, I'm still talking? Pretty sure he can figure out what I meant.

"You can never be sure how long you have, you know?"

Yeah, he's a Hunter to be, I don't think that's anything new to him.

"Every moment is precious."

...Skye. Shut. Up.

"It just takes a moment and then it's gone forever-"

Shut the fuck up!!!

Finally she snapped herself free of whatever compelled her to burden Luke with her unnecessary words. She brought a hand to her masked face and shook her head. "I'm sorry. I don't know what... I just haven't been sleeping well. Maybe I'm a little worse off than I thought. R-right then. Is there a faster way to get back to the hospital? Before I say something else stupid?" She looked up at Luke, hoping she hadn't just completely creeped him out. She felt something wet on her cheeks as she did. Am I really... crying? She decided to keep her mask on for now.

As Estelle had barged in she took in a few sights currently displayed in the BASL dorm room. There was a young man she could identify as Benjamin, he seemed to be recounting a story to the two older inhabitants in the room. She didn't recognize them as faculty and they were too old to be students, so it seemed they were someone's parents.

Now that was where the oddities began.

Coming form underneath a bed, a lone ass hung proudly in the air. Most likely Lorena she'd recognize an ass with the ability to steal a purse from a hundred yards. Fair enough. But, then, there was this girl.

She seemed to be a Faunus as well which lead to her identity being that of Amaranth Desire another of her students, some sort of bird as well. She seemed to be clutching Lauren's ass with a fair amount of veracity. It looked rather painful truth be told.

The other Faunus made eye contact with Estelle, eye contact that felt targeted not simply a courtesy. So Estelle simply prayed that no one had heard her earlier outburst.

The young woman cleared her throat and took a step further into the room. "Truly, I'm sorry if I'm interrupting. I'm just looking for my credit card. Which I believe got mixed up in Lorena's lingerie order" Amaranth seemed to get defensive, almost territorial as she took another step in towards her and Lorena. So she let her Mistralese accent, an accent commonly attributed to the language of love lay on a little thicker than usual.

"My name is Estellise Sidos Van Heurassein Nuit, it is nice to make your acquaintance, I'll be all of your teacher in the coming week for Survival." She said, her voice sounding like Jericho Piper after two beers pure velvet, smooth and sweet to the touch. She would admit one small truth however, whoever Amaranth Desire truly was, she had an odd way of showing defensiveness. It was a kind of fun getting to be the 'other woman'.

Lauren Negasi was squirming.

She'd never been one for modesty, especially the false coin that was modesty around other people; after all, what had endeared Ben to her in the first place was a vicious neck snap that was just as much about titillating him as it was about winning a fight. He'd returned fire with a lecherous ass grab not too different from the one she was on the receiving end of now, before the eyes of the whole combat class. It was her first hint that there was more to him than the passive, pushover white boy that she'd assumed he was. Her first sign that she'd misread Ben Lloyd.

Having her ass grabbed so proudly before the eyes of her parents was, similarly, a move that awestruck her without actually surprising her at all. Sangue had no idea what the hell was going on, no doubt, and Amy was far too aloof to make such a possessive move - especially before the eyes of adults. They weren't even just adults, they were adults who happened to be her parents, and thus had no motive to be so lustily grabbing the proud product of many years of endless exercise. That only left one suspect - her first suspect, these days, for matters such as this.

A suspect who had suddenly become very, very vulnerable to her whims.

"Caaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaap," Lauren moaned loudly from under the bed, stifling an evil snicker. The Prince of Lies waited a second for the husky cry of pleasure to settle down into Ben's horrified virgin ears before continuing, "Not with a-nother audieeeeeeeence!"

Only there was no response - as a matter of fact, things had only gotten a little louder around her. Cap was saying something - Uninterrupted? That shit didn't even phase him? S-So masculine... - and then all of a sudden there was another voice which--

“Lorena *indiscernible* credit card out of your lingerie *indiscernible*-“

what

“Um, sorry am I interrupting?”

There was a squeeze. A harder squeeze. One that kept Lauren from pushing her way out of the bed, writhing like a poisoned weasel, as was her wont.

N-Not Cap, not Cap at all! Worse!

Amy!?

Of all the times for you to get flirty!

Two women, with her in between them! Fuck! This was Cap's fantasy, just not in the way she was comfortable with! For once things had gone too far for her, Ben! Too far! The safeword is 'school integration!' And right now she wanted it! Let the black girl back into the dorm!

She had the axe in her hand, maybe she could chop her way through the floor...

They were for breaking things in emergencies, and this was sure as shit an emergency!

Luke, I'm sorry! I'm sorry for everything! I know how you feel now! I've been electrocuted too now - I mean, spiritually, not really...literally, like you, and obviously I'm much sexier and you have a long way to go for these gains...but I get it, little bro! I'm done torturing you! Done molesting! I'm done molesting you too, Cap! I won't harass you or crawl into your bed with an ice Dust crystal or grab your balls at a family reunion or anything!

But she had to get the fuck out of here!

IS THAT A FUCKING SPIDERWEB!?

OHHHHHHHHHH BRUH

THE NIGGA FEARS THE SPIDEEEEEEEEEERS

Lauren's legs, clad in a pair of men's skinny jeans clearly made too tight for her, started kicking at the ground.

"swiiiiiiiiiing loooooooow, sweet chaaaaaaariiiiiiooooooooot"

"My name is Estellise *indiscernible* Heurassein Nuit, it is nice to make your *indiscernible* teacher in the coming *indiscernible* Survival."

Wait, am I in Survival?

...

Amy was going to kill her. She was going to die under this bed. With fucking spiders, bruh.

"COOOOOMING FOR TO CAAAAAARRY ME HOOOOOOOOOOME"

@FlitterFaux

...

She was crying.

I couldn't see the tears behind the mask, nor could I tell from any inelegant blubbering that Skye had failed to hold back, but she was definitely crying.

The hitch in her shoulders. The warble in her tone. I may miss a lot of things—



"Skye."

I turned my head back to her, looking over my shoulder to stare at the mask that had begun looking more and more like a shield. I regarded it coolly for a moment, trying to think of what to say—

And the words that came were undoubtedly incorrect. The correct, polite thing to do would have been placation, a gentle and patient thing that reassured her. But it also tiptoed around the issue. It would be a simple, pithy statement that ignored the roaring undercurrent to what she'd been telling me. If I were a better linguist or wordsmith, I maybe could have dropped in some subtle hints that would have addressed it—

But I'm not. In fact, subtleties are bluntly lost on me.

So instead of being polite and socially correct, which wasn't an option.

Instead of placating her.

Instead of holding back.

I went the opposite direction. I let her have it. I went whole-hog and decided I would force my way through that shield instead of pry it off.

Not an open hand. A closed fist.

Brandishing the plain truth— No, this was wielding it.

The undisguised truth. Whether it was my true feelings or the universal truth of the matter, I couldn't say that it mattered at all to me in this moment. For all I was concerned, the two were one and the same—

So I told her as much, straight to her face.

"You've been saying a lot of stupid things ever since we've met."

My words were, once again, harsh. But this time there was a meaning to them beyond a tired and played out comedy routine.

"In fact, you've been saying them so much that it's been bugging the hell out of me. You can apologize all you want, but I'm not gonna let them slide any longer."

Harsh, but all true. They said the truth hurts— and it's easy to see why. Hurled at a girl who's practically in tears before you, it's a heartless, monstrous thing.

Even if it needs saying, it's certainly hurting me to play this role.

I'm not Gratia Mindaro. I'll never have her sangfroid composure. I don't now, and I certainly didn't then. She bowled straight through to those truths without worry for whatever she walked over to get there— I couldn't do that every single time like her.

But it didn't mean that I was entirely incapable of addressing the heart of an issue.

Especially not one that I couldn't stand any longer.

"Every other word out of your mouth is you taking shots at yourself. That's really stupid. Is your end goal to make me hate you, or something? You keep trying to convince me you're terrible, for some reason."

Harsh. Incorrect.

True, and what I thought was right.

What I wanted to do, regardless of any of these.

"And this goes way beyond not sleeping well, too, so you can't excuse it with that, either. Not a chance in hell you can. I'm dumb, not blind. Nobody's this depressive or self-defeating over a couple of hours tossing and turning, I can guarantee that it takes something way more. Something infinitely worse than a few bad nights and being a stranger in a strange place."

I know that for sure.

Far more surely than anyone else you could have come across.

Sorry, Skye. You got the worst matchup possible right out of the gate.

"So, I'd really rather it if you just told me..."

'You can never be sure of how long you have.'

My eyes tightened.

'Every moment is precious.'

Yeah.

'All it takes is one moment...'

And then it's gone forever.

"What happened?"

You failed someone, didn't you?

At least, you think you did.

Whether or not it's your fault— That's not the question, is it?

Even if it's not, you'll never shake the idea that it was.

That you could have done more and saved what you didn't.

"Please, just tell me what's actually eating you alive, alright?" Even I could feel that there wasn't any humor or happiness in the smile I was showing her— But there didn't need to be. Just as what she was doing was plain as day to me, I bet that I could make it plain as day to her—

"I'd really rather worry about that. Not about some dumb stroll or the millionth promise to my sisters I break. I'm a lousy older brother, that'll never change—"

—But I've only once broken a promise to myself.

I get it.

I really get it.

So save us all some trouble, and save yourself from the demon inside your head. Save yourself from eternally wallowing in misery and never letting yourself see the sun. Save yourself from being imprisoned by chains of your own making.

I know it's heavy.

I know that crushing feeling— Viscerally so.

Let me bear some of that weight for you. I can take it, you know? I've done this for four years. I'm more used to it than anyone has any right to be.

Than you should ever have to be.

Tanner likes to tell me that people get saved only by themselves, and that others can only help or lend their strength—

So I can't be the one to save you, but I'm here to help.

To lend the strength of experience with this kind of weight. It's not a bother at all, if I can help you as I was helped not even a year ago.

Nobody needs to be where I was, and nobody needs to be where you are.

You're a person in need, Skye. Let me help you a little.

I'm a Huntsman.

"So you can tell me. It'll be the smartest thing you've said all day."

That's what we do.

was it something I said?

Andromeda took a moment to consider what had just happened.

p r o b a b l y

"Ah great," She let out a long breath, accompanied by her eyes traveling around the upward perimeter of her vision. It took her a second longer to realize that Ferris leaving in a huff meant that she was very much alone at the table now. Yeah, that was definitely not gonna happen, not right now. "H-hey-!"

Andromeda swung her legs around the seat, her feet barely touching the floor before she pushed herself up with one hand and started after her teammate, her empty plate in the other hand. Andromeda slid the first few steps, her boots squeaking on the tile, before she got a grip and made to catch up with Ferris' larger strides. "Wait up!"

Stepping up alongside Ferris, taking two steps for every one of his to keep up, Andromeda glanced up at him. Uhhhh.

"Hey, uh, sorry for asking?" She started cautiously, half expecting him to start sprinting away, which would be far more of a pain to catch up with. She wasn't exactly sure what had cause his sudden shift in mood, but Andromeda was willing to bet that the current day had something to do with it. Oh joy, family issues; she didn't want to touch that with a ten foot stick. With that in mind, she decided to go with something a fair bit more neutral. "Are you... okay?"

Mentally, Andromeda braced herself.

@Crimson Raven

@HereComesTheSnow




That look in his eyes...

Luke's next words came as no great surprise, though she found they stung more than she would have expected. It was only the cold, raw truth; she was saying some of the dumbest things she had heard in quite some time. Even the most patient and understanding individuals were bound to get sick of it. And after that last round of compulsory word vomit? Luke had had enough. She understood. Everyone had their limits, even someone as kindhearted as him. But it still hurt. Not because she felt attacked or offended, but because she had driven him to this.

You've done it now. Maybe now you can shut your mouth after you swear it won't happen again? You owe him that at the absolute least. She opened her mouth to do just that, but Luke had more to say, and his next words shattered her preconceptions.

Skye could take a direct physical blow without flinching, or even budging. She could ignore the pain and never lose focus on her defense. But Luke's words alone were enough to cause her to jerk back as if he had actually struck her, as if she had no defenses to speak of. She even stumbled back a step, arms reflexively covering her stomach. He's upset about... how I speak of myself?
Is he right? Am I trying to make him hate me? Why would I...?

Luke kept digging, tearing apart whatever flimsy excuses she had made like the insubstantial things they were. He was like a predator going straight for the neck, too relentless and swift to be stopped. A Hunter more than just in title, and in a moment of clarity she realized where he was going with his words. It was then that she felt terror, more than any Grimm had inspired. Oh no. Please no. Don't ask me that. Anything else but please don't go there-

But he did ask.

'What happened?' It wasn't the same question the doctors or the people from Beacon asked, not the impersonal request for the facts of her situation. Lucas Schwarz had seen right through her, mask and all. He had gone right for the metaphorical throat and slain her in one decisive strike. She knew she couldn't lie. There was no running from this. He had asked the one question she subconsciously knew she had been hiding from, but had done nothing to prepare herself for. All she could do was close her eyes and take a deep, shuddering breath. When there was no hiding and no running one could only resign themselves to their fate. And face it head on.

You can tell me, he says. Unbelievable. I had no intention of telling anyone, it's not anyone else's business or problem but mine. Does he have some kind of semblance that can make people he's just met open up and tell him their deepest personal secrets? Doubtful. It's far more simple than that, isn't it? She knew now this had been a long time coming. Her inability to keep herself together was proof enough of that. Luke was a perceptive man and a Hunter. He had only needed to notice the crack in her mask, and his nature, his desire to help, had taken over from there. She had not recognized him as a Hunter for what little of his physique was apparent, but in his eyes she could see now what truly separated a Huntsman... from a girl wielding Dust and aura like a cudgel.

No more masks, Byakko. They never suited you anyway.

Skye pushed her hood back to reveal her freshly dyed hair and faunus ears. Might as well make this literal as well as figurative. She fully untied the red and white ceramic mask that had served as her surrogate face today. Beneath this was a face that could have been considered attractive in a way, a bit more angular than the female ideal with a longer, more prominent nose. But currently this face was far from pleasant in any sense of the word, and not just for her fresh tears. She was clearly gaunt, underfed, and her pure white skin looked unhealthy beyond just the unusual color. There were dark circles under her eyes as if she didnt just have difficulty sleeping but had not slept at all in days. Against these things her almost all white irises and few facial scars were less noteworthy but added to her unnerving visage. Her eyes met Luke's, and in her gaze was a weariness that went beyond mere lack of sleep, confirming what he had already deduced. She held the mask against her body, suddenly looking small despite being taller than Luke.

"Alright. You truly want to help me, and I... I think its about time I faced this. So... the whole story. I haven't told anyone yet, but you deserve more than just the short version." She looked around, having been so focused on their tiny part of the world, she had actually managed to briefly ignore her surroundings. As expected some people were staring.

"Is there someplace more private we can go? This is going to be hard enough without an audience."

@Write

Gratia Mindaro - Behind the Café

"Fine."

She didn't object to the second attempt at a hug, simply waiting it out until Nuit finally pulled away. That was all she needed to do.

@Silvan Haven@LokiLeo789

--



“Thanks Beryl!” Vega firmly grabbed her cup and took sip that made her somewhat euphoric. “Ah yes, you can never go wrong with a tea like this” raising her cup in front of Geni. “Here try some of it” as she placed down on the table and inched towards Geni.

@Plank Sinatra @Kaithas @NarayanK @Write

A lot of things happened at once, and the Cap was torn in a whole lot of directions.

The first was the low chuckle, unvoiced but instead rumbled in his chest. Karma really was a bitch. He gave Lauren’s father a long-suffering look with a sheepish shrug, and with reluctance, broke eye contact to survey the scene.

If the big Vacuan wanted to have words about it, alright. But it was time for Cap to restore some order.

“Ms. Nuit,” He greeted with a little wave, deciding to address the foreign element first. Lauren and Amy were familiar, the owl Faunus wasn’t. Deal with the variable first. The smile on his face turned a little wry, eyes drifting again over the scene. “Not interrupting at all. Good to meet you, actually. Not sure I’m in your class, but some suggestions might be helpful sometime. Surival is pretty important, y’know.”

“And I’m sure Lauren,” Pivot of focus, addressing the most pressing issue now. “Will be glad to get you your card. In just a sec.”

His best friend was not pleased. Not with that attempt to get away, and the mournful singing mostly muffled by the bed above her. And especially not with being caught in between the two Faunus girls. Her schemes were collapsing in on her in the worst way. As much fun as it was to see, and as much as this was definitely a bed of her own making (heh)...

Let’s see if I can’t bail you out this time, babe.

“Amy? Maybe not the time, huh?” The light pat on her wrist was pretty instructive, but just for good measure blue eyes met blue and an almost imperceptible incline of his head indicated the teacher and parents in the room. ”Handle it a later.”

Whether she got the message or not, his teammate was gonna have to let go in a minute. Lauren’s predicament didn’t exactly leave a lot in the way of handholds, but he crouched a little and got a grip on one of her (kicking) ankles and turned his full attention patiently to her. The chuckle did make it out, this time, if only quietly.

”And you.” Ben pulled her out from under the bed in one smooth, leisurely motion, giving his friend an amused look as she stopped mid lyric. You owe me. He let go of her ankle and crossed his arms instead, smile widening a little. ”Hey, babe. We’ve got visitors.”

“And that’s the wrong end of the bed for what you’re lookin’ for.”

"Au revoir." I said quietly making my way back towards the café entrance. I knew deep down that Gratia wasn't one to hug back. But I hoped in a way for something, I guess.

Once I returned back in the café I picked Hayley out of the crowd immediately and grabbed her hand. "Come with me." I said under my breath, completely passing by Jer and the others. I sat her down in the seat in which I had told her she would be moving to Vacuo and immediately started filling out the same paperwork she had brought me from before.

"I need your last time." I said quietly pausing as my pen neared the surface of the paper, waiting for my permission to begin rectifying what I had done.

"Dodici." She said quietly.

I felt a twitch make its way through my face.

"Dodici?"

"Yeah, my uncle's name is Sonny but he's my only real connection to the family. I'm not like one of the super important one's that got..."

She had suffered enough. "Hayley Dodici, you own this coffee chain now. You're going to need to do with it whatever you will. Please think long and hard before making any drastic decisions and if you ever need anything my number is written down here." I said looking the girl in the eyes.

"What? Seriously?" She started but I raised my hand and simply slid the forms across the table.

"You'll need to fill those out." I said as my scroll went off in my pocket for the third time since I had sat down. The car was here and Papa was getting in soon.

I walked out of the office and glanced over at Jericho's position.

"You still want to come along and pick up my dad Jericho?" I asked looking him in the eyes for perhaps the first time today.

Sangue blinked as Amy suddenly grabbed Lauren.

She blinked again when she heard an unfamiliar voice suddenly enter the room, though she did not turn at this instant.

And she blinked again when she saw Lauren's legs flailing around wildly.

Everyone seemed to suddenly quiet down, and soon, the red-haired woman slowly turned to the person who entered the room. She was a very pretty person, though her features were very unfamiliar to Sangue. The redhead kept her idle expression as her eyes trailed down, as if to take a mental picture of the woman like an x-ray generator.

As everyone fell more quiet than before, Sangue slowly glanced between Lauren('s legs, which were pulled out by their leader), then at Ben and Amy, and then at Costa and "Pops."

Turning back to the white-haired woman in the room, her gaze became locked onto Estelle in curiosity. She did not answer the woman's question of interrupting anything, as none of her friends did, but she bowed politely at the stranger, as she thought it'd be rude to not greet her.

She remained quiet.

@Krayzikk@Kaithas@Plank Sinatra@Write