Lauren was yanked out of the darkness without ceremony, hoisted up by her ankle and plucked into the air effortlessly by Ben in a single fluid movement. Before the eyes of everyone in the room, she flew up above his head for a span that couldn't have been longer than half a second - yet, in that time, her legs responded on impulse and locked tightly around his ribs, tucking his head underneath her chest and wrapping that head up tightly in the crooks of her arms.

She could feel her Redwood savior's smug smile as she tightened around him like a padlock.



Oh Cap, you beautiful redneck blacksmith's boy, you will spend many moons hammering in my forge for this kindness!

"Don't be stupid, Cap, a lady doesn't store her sexiest stuff under the bed! There are spiders down there." She gave his long hair a reproachful ruffle for not warning her about any information a third grader would know about spiders and their preferred haunts. "Lingerie goes in the lingerie drawer, ya fuckin' goose. Now come on and bring me over there!"

Her legs tightened painfully (for either Ben or the jeans of his that the boxer was wearing) around her Captain's ribs and she tilted her head at the middle drawer of the dresser next to her bed.

It seemed that now that she was able to make eye contact with the others and be heard without being muffled, her confidence had returned in full. She shot her parents and Sangue a warm, comforting grin, and even winked at the space between Amy and Estelle's staredown - so that whoever wanted it could claim it.

"C'mooon, Cap, hurry up! This room is my safe space, it's not supposed to be so tense!"

@FlitterFaux

Luke Schwarz

I was extremely successful.

Moreso than I usually even dared to imagine. In my attempt to shatter that metaphorical mask, I had S-ranked the challenge so hard that the literal one covering her face came off.

My eyes, just fractionally, widened at the result.

A face so gaunt it almost looked like a skull.

White eyes sunken and ringed, practically pits filled with the color of quartz.

Skin so pale it was like sheet— If not translucent.

She looked like hell.

Oh, geeze...

I was in for something really rough— But that was alright.

Now even moreso than before, I could tell that she would need it.

To unload before the fraying gave out completely.

"Yeah, I know a park on the way. We can stop there."

I turned myself forward again, sparing her a glance—

It was striking how small she looked, despite just about towering over me.

I started off, saying nothing for a while. It tracked, judging from how disheveled her entire existence looked, that I was rushing headfirst into something that left miles of trauma and regret. Therefore, it'd be pointless, and actually counterintuitive of me to try and initiate small talk. As we walked, jogged, and sometimes even ran, I only offered a few words of advice and explanation regarding our surroundings— tips about metropolitan living, mostly. How not to get lost again.

I'm a mountain boy who comes from a small town, sure, but it was a small town that had exploded enough after the war to gain a bit of an urban area of its own— Not that it held a candle to Vale, but it meant that I knew, even hailing from what was effectively the boonies, these things better than you would think.

Other than that, though, I didn't press or pry. We wouldn't talk until we reached the park and some isolation— I had a hunch that she had a whole a lot of thoughts to collect on the matter.

I wondered if I wasn't making a mistake somehow, at points; diving all the way into the problems of a complete stranger was insanity by any measure—

But I suppose I've never been sane, if that were the case. Even back when I was just a kid, I was an anti-bully ranger who never thought before he acted.

I saw someone in front of me that I wanted to help.

That was all it took. I put on airs of consideration way too much, honestly. I've always simply followed my desires when it came to this—

No more.

No less.

I would rush headlong into whatever I wanted if it had somebody to save within—

For better, or for worse.

---

The Mauveine's walked into a barber shop in the heart of the city; they all caught a train and called a taxi to the closest barber shop with the best reviews. During the ride to their destination, Charon indulged very little of how things were going, trying to dodge their questions by asking some of his own: asking his mother how work was going in her robotics career, and asking her sister about how grad school was going. Still, he couldn't avoid their questions about how he was doing, but he decided he would wait for the right time and place for it.

In the meantime, they practically took control of what happened to Charon's monster of hair, telling the female hair stylist how short she should cut his bangs, shaving off his sideburns, and generally cutting his hair much shorter than it was to begin with.

In the end, Charon looked into the mirror and admired his now short, clean, and neat hair.

His sister ran her fingers through his hair before combing a stray strand into place, "There! doesn't that look and feel better? I sure think it does compared to that mop you had before!"

Charon glanced at the hair stylist, who was vacuuming up all the severed hair that laid on the floor below him. His hair was significantly shorter, with the longest hair being only on the top of his head: his bangs were cut short, and the side and back of his head were shaved down.

"I will admit, it does feel better when it's cut this short," he rubbed the back of his head, which was incredibly soft to the touch.

Charon then got up, put most of his gear back on, as well as his hat and walked over to the register to pay. He tried to reach for his wallet, but his sister stopped him, "No no, I'll pay for it,"

Charon glanced at Chelle with a surprised look on his face, "I mean you can if you-"

"Actually, Chelle, I'll pay for it," Raelyn interrupted Charon, who shifted his gaze to her, "No it's fine Mom, I'll-"

"I basically told the hair stylist what to do while Charon just said: clean it up. I should pay for it,"

"Now hold on-"

"Yes dear, but I brought more money with me, you should save yours for later,"

Why does this always happen?

Charon silently swiped his card while his mother and sister bickered over who was going to pay, apologizing to the hair stylist.

"OK, lets go!" Charon marched out the door while both of them processed what he just did. He held the door open while they walked past him, pouting about their loss.

---

The Mauveines took a cab to the place Charon got most of his parts for his drone: a small hardware workshop on the other side of the city. Charon had told the cab driver to take the long way, despite the increase of the cost. It was worth it though, the cab driver took the scenic route there, on the highway, past the harbor, and far enough away to get a good picture of Beacon Academy.

Charon gave the driver a little extra as they got out of the cab for his extra consideration. The three Mauveines stood on the sidewalk for a moment and Charon retrieved all of his gear from the back of the cab, and once he had everything, he a gave thumbs up to the driver which he then drove off.

Once Charon had everything put on, he looked back to his Mother and Sister, who were looking through their pictures of the city while waiting for Charon.

Charon smiled, and walked over between them, looking at their pictures with them, "Well, what did you think? that was the fastest way I could show you most of the city, so..."

"I thought it was nice, but I didn't realize how big this city was! I guess I'm too use to the cities in Atlas,"

"But it's nice to get out of Atlas though, right Mom? I think Vale is nicer than Atlas in that it's not freezing all the time,"

"It is a nice change, I will admit: I had to buy some lighter clothes when I first got here since it was so mild," Charon turned around to face the store, it had a pretty generic name: "Beacon Supply Store and Workshop", with some parts of the sign having a few sign of rust, wear and tear, and the neon "e" in "Beacon" was burned out.

Oh Scott, how did you let this happen?

"So why are we here again?"

"To find out why my drone's battery keeps leaking acid,"

"You have a drone? What for?"

"For reconnaissance on missions. You remember my little hobby of fixing up and puttin' together robots and drones at home? Well it helped me in the long run," Charon took his drone out of the left gauntlet and showed it to his sister, who inspected it thoroughly before handing it over to Raelyn.

"And you put this thing together all by yourself?"

"Sort of, I took an old Atlas drone and made some adjustments to it, which was mainly it's homing feature, that lets it return home on my command or on low battery."

"So how are you going to fix it?" Raelyn asked whilst giving the drone back to Charon.

"The owner of this place is real nice: name is Scott, and he helped me do a lot of the programming for the drone and my left gauntlet. He'll know what's wrong it." Charon opened the door to the shop, ushering in both of the girls as they entered the small establishment.

There were several aisles that had shelves with many assorted goods for home improvement, vehicle parts, and robotics, as well as another door in the corner opposite of the entrance that lead to a workshop room. A teenager manned the registrar, who was checking stock. The man looked up as the bell rang for the door, adjusting his glasses and sitting up straight on his stool.

"How can I help you three?"

"Looking for Scott?"

The teenager pointed at the workshop door, "In the shop,"

"Thanks," Charon heard what sounded like a buzz-saw coming from the shop, and Charon turned around to his sister and mother, "You guys can wait here, this will just take a second."

---

Charon walked through the workshop door to find a middle-aged man in old worn-through jeans, a T-shirt with various colors of paint stained on it, and some black work gloves and a brown workshop apron sawing through a piece of metal with a cold saw. The man looked up and noticed Charon walk in and stopped what he was doing, "Charon! How are you doing my boy?" He took his gloves off and shook Charon's hand.

"Doing good Scott, here with family, so I need to make this a short visit." Charon put his drone on a nearby workbench, opening the battery compartment.

"Oh! Is your drone acting up again?" The man gently inspected the drone, peering inside the compartment to take a good look.

"The battery leaked again, making the same mess as last time."

"Oh? and you used my solution I gave you?"

"Of crourse."

Scott rubbed his chin, "Hmmm... does the drone stay on while it's in your gauntlet?"

"Yes actually, that way I can use it again without constantly having to turn it off and on all the time. You recommended me to do that."

"Did I say that? Well how often do you use it?"

Charon rubbed the back of his head, "Erm... not all the much now that I think about it, at least, not recently."

"Aha! that must be it!"

"OK...?"

"Since your drone stays on, it's constantly draining battery, so what's happening is that the battery runs dry and starts to leak the potassium carbonate fluffy stuff."

"So how does that exactly happen?"

"A reason for battery leaks is that as batteries discharge — the chemistry of the battery changes and some hydrogen gas is generated. This out-gassing process increases pressure in the battery. Eventually, the excess pressure either ruptures the insulating seals at the end of the battery, or the outer metal canister, or both."

"So how do we fix it?"

"We turn it off! Or at least program it to do that when it returns to your gauntlet. Here I'll go ahead and reprogram it, and if it does this again, you take this thing straight back to me, free of charge!" The man skittered off with the drone over to his computer in the corner and plugged it into the drone.

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

Varius Gilver

"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.

@Abillioncats@FlitterFaux@Onarax@Lucius Cypher@HereComesTheSnow@Ryonara

Shuai Taidan - Food Cart at the Food Court

"Oooh, you guys should run a delivery service," commented Taidan as he watched the crate parachute down onto the courtyard. "That was super quick."

The resident pyromaniac of Canvas slipped past the crowds of surprised customers and other sorts of folks towards the crate, circling it once with his hands held against his hips just to make sure that his teammate's family hadn't dropped anything dangerous on them. Not that he thought Varius was gonna kill them or anything, and besides, he was 100% certain someone as fiery as he was couldn't be so easily snuffed out by anything hidden in a wooden crate that smelled of fish and seawater, but it was equally likely that Varius had ordered some sort of mutant Grimmfish instead like that one time they went to Vacuo on vacation.

He stepped up towards the crate and opened the top just a tad.

It was definitely just normal salmon.

He nodded firmly to himself. That was exactly what the customers had ordered, so all was fine.

He threw a thumbs-up Varius' way. Time to get to work~!

Conduits of energy awakened just under his pale skin, the rush of burning blood cycling through every part of him as the liquid fire within his heart impressed Him upon the World. The intangible, invisible essence of Shuai Taidan's identity detaching from his skin as his Semblance, the six divine arms leaping to action as they awoke from his back.

Santouliubi

Each one stretched out towards the crate, grabbing hold of the heavy wooden container of fish and raising it up into the air as if it weighed nothing. The scent of salt and raw fish was immediately apparent, and Taidan could see a lot of passerbys wrinkle their noses in distaste for the fish. He himself wasn't too bothered, it was just fish after all!

He walked back towards the food cart, the crate dangling in the sky behind him, held aloft by those invisible extensions of his Aura. It wasn't necessary for him to use that power, but if he was doing waiter business, there was no way he was going to just touch the crate with his bare hands! It'd be rude to the customers, even if he could totally just go wash his hands.

Wasn't that just justifying laziness?

Nah, just a way to avoid more work than usual!

The crate was set down next to Varius with a slight rumble, and Taidan watched his teammate work with the same incredible speed as before.

"Hey," he said after a moment, a note of curiosity entering his voice. "Does your family make helicopter blades too?"

Still, he wasn't waiting for an answer any time soon, taking the finished salmon sushi (and the previous tuna tempura) to their respective customers.

"Apologies for the lack of fried tuna, senorita," he said politely as he reentered character, bowing to Emerald as he held out the plate to the catgirl. "Our chef preferred to provide you with a more ... exquisite tuna tempura."

He immediately brightened up a second later, dazzling smile finding its way to his cute face as he handed the salmon sushi Teàrlag's way. "Oh, and he's your sushi, teach! Enjoy this meal your cute students made~! It's as equally good as our grades, right?"

---

Teàrlag Cirsium - Student Counselor, Dust Apps Teacher, currently at Food Court

Oi, Taidan. Don't think you can get away with trying to bribe me into being more lenient on your team's marks. I know it was your idea, so don't go pushing it onto your silver-haired mate polishing his knives back there. I'm not that much of a pushover that your sparkling purple eyes and soft, pretty features combined with handing me over some really nice-looking grub can convince me to help you brats out. It's not you're cute or anything! And besides, this isn't even deep-fried, so it's not enough either!

I guess that was more on me. I guess I should've gone for some fish and chips, but it doesn't look like these blokes have much in the way of potatoes. Unless that Varius asked his family to deliver some fresh potatoes over, but what kind of teacher would that make me, getting my students to work even harder for my sake just to grab some spuds?

I mean it's not like I appreciate all this hard work into giving me this salmon or anything, but more on top of that?

I'm not somebody who'll so easily leech off the kids I've been hired to take care of. That goes against the spirit of the duty-of-care thing I had to sign, you know? And it's why I refuse the luchadora girl's offer to pay for my salmon. Even if it'd be convenient, losing my hoodie to her temporarily isn't something I should fuss about. Think of my dignity too. Teàrlag Cirsium isn't going to be known as someone who borrows money from students.

"I can pay for myself," I tell the girl even as I take the sushi from Taidan and hand him some lien. "Just give me the hoodie back."

The hoodie isn't that important. The bunny ears are stupid. But it's mine, okay?

@Crimmy@Abillioncats@Onarax@Lucius Cypher@HereComesTheSnow@Ryonara@Sho Minazuki

Annabelle Valentine

Just because the door is open...

'You look cute enough to eat.'

A switch flipped inside her head.

He has no idea what he just said... She knew she had a problem with impulse control. She knew full well she sometimes took things a little too far, which led to her actions backfiring. Sometimes very badly. She knew this could be a teacher or something for all she knew. She also knew that when someone made it this easy she could never resist the temptation. And he was giving her whole seconds of golden silence to work with as he tried to play his own little joke on her. Resistance, for her, was an exercise in futility.

Her body language and expression shifted, but not too suddenly or drastically as to seem exaggerated and incincere. 'Honestly startled and painfully awkward' became 'shocked, embarrassed, and uncertain' with the slightest hint of 'might be awkwardly aroused.' She gasped and shrank away from him, though she was already pressed up against the food stand. She supposed that worked to her advantage, maybe giving the illusion of being cornered with nowhere to go. Shy and vulnerable was the image she was going for.

At the same time she raised her right hand to partially cover her mouth while her left arm came up to just below her chest. She summoned a deep blush which spread across her face quickly, as if it were natural. Ah, miss Valentine you are a natural born actress. The classes didn't hurt, either.

"C-cute enough.. t-to eat? Oh my... you don't mean!? _{S-so forward!}" She spoke quietly as if she was shy and didn't want others to overhear. Privately she hoped she had an audience with good hearing.

Gren, as he introduced himself, dropped his own act fairly quickly, making it clear he was just kidding. She had expected that, but couldn't tell yet if Gren had bought what she was selling. What she sure as hell did not expect was to hear was a voice in her head heralding the appearance of the cutest rat, no ferret, she had ever seen on top of Gren's head.

Holy shit, either I've just finally fucking snapped or I've just become a goddamn Disney princess and can now talk to animals.

She almost lost her focus at the shock of her sudden development of telepathic powers/full blown mental break. She would have, too, at any other time. But so dedicated was she to her quest of mercilessly teasing Gren for his poor choice of words... Roll with it, girl.

"Oh, ahaha, o-of course. That's what you meant." She looked down and to the side, sheepishly, and wrung her hands together as if nervous. She then gasped, pretending to just notice the ferret that had already partially short circuited her mind. Her face lit up and that was hardly part of the act; the fuzzy little creature was stupidly adorable. "Is that yours?! C-can I touch it?" She did not wait for a response instead reaching up to offer the mustelid her hands to inspect and, hopefully, climb onto. At the same time she stood on her toes and learned forward, making sure Gren had a great view of her cleavage. Much to her gratification the fluffy thing climbed right into her hands and even let her hug it close to her chest. It was so cute she felt like she could just die, and she giggled with honest delight. The repetition of 'Food!' in her head was still pretty distracting, but she was coming to terms with her own insanity.

She spun around to face the super cute waiter and made sure to lean forward onto the counter just a bit too much. " Excuse me, I think this little guy is hungr- huh?" He was gone. Fortunately not far, though, and he was very easy to spot. Oh you have got to be kidding me! That's his semblance?! So cool.... Oh I feel the envy, and it burns. Though she made light of the thought in her head the blatant show did sting a little. Despite how hard she had tried her own semblance eluded her.

Eeeh, envy is an ugly color on you, Valentine. Besides you are worki- HOLD IT!! There is a parachute attached to that crate. That crate that just appeared out of nowhere. That crate. Was. Just. Airdropped. A part of Annabelle's world collapsed as she put together the possibilities and saw devastating lost opportunity. The seniors needed supplies. She needed the seniors numbers. She could have offered to acquire said supplies, asked for shopping lists sent to her number, and gotten all their numbers at once and done them a huge favor! It would have been perfect. But they could just airdrop whatever they wanted in, anyway. Crap.

Outwardly she only smiled at the multi-armed pretty boy, Shuai, she thought he had been called. "Wow. Just... wow." She applauded as well as she could with a ferret in her arms then leaned even farther forward to admire the tempura that was slid towards her and Emerald. It looked utterly delicious, and she wasn't even that hungry. She took a piece and offered to the ferret, placing it down on the table. Then she realized just how far she was leaning over. Oh. Not part of the plan but...

Bringing back a furious blush to her face she shot straight up, grabbing the back of her skirt. She looked behind her, wearing a mortified expression, studying Gren's face to see how well her plans were coming along.


@HereComesTheSnow





For a while Skye had only to follow Luke through the crowded streets, silently listening to the advice he offered. It had been a long time since she last had the opportunity to follow someone else's lead. It was a strange sort of relief, not having to be the first one into the unknown, the pathfinder everyone else depended on. She had only to keep pace with Luke and watch his back. Actually, not even that. She constantly found herself forgetting how a city worked, that its walls and defenses kept the enemy outside, and the people within were almost completely safe. The concept of safety had become so foreign that she could no longer wrap her mind around the fact that she did not have to be on guard constantly. It was going to take some time to get used to.

She found herself breathing hard, sweating, and her heart was hammering in her chest. Not from physical exertion, her aura and the Dust in her body easily kept her moving despite her actual weakened condition. The problem was the fear. She survived first by controlling the negative emotions that attracted Grimm in the first place. One could not hide from the creatures very well if they failed to do so. Skye was good at it, too. She was still alive, after all. But she had never been pushed so far over the edge.

Facing the fear of death? Easy. Familiar. Well practiced.

Facing her fellow human beings after such a complete lack of exposure? Unfamiliar. Nerve wracking.

Facing everything she had gone through all at once and confiding in someone she hardly knew, no matter how kind and understanding he was? Unbelievably terrifying.

There was only one thing that had frightened her as badly as this. And she was about to revisit that moment. Just as soon as they reached..

The park. She stopped in her tracks when she saw it. A small oasis of nature in the middle of a maze of stone, glass, and metal, but not quite true nature at the same time. It felt at once artificial, uncomfortable. But it was also a vast improvement over the choked streets teeming with noisy people. Here, at least, there would be room to breathe. And, most likely, no Grimm. It was just a few scattered groups of people, herself, Luke... and her past.

"Luke. I..."

If they were going to do this there couldn't be any doubts.

"I don't actually make a habit of just telling anyone about... what I'm going to tell you. Granted I haven't had anyone to tell that wasn't already a part of it until I came here, but.. what I'm trying to say is... I'm asking you, please don't tell anyone. Any of it. Especially anyone from Beacon. Please... I need you to make me a promise. I need someone I can trust. It's a lot to ask, I know. I would understand if you changed your mind. But if you want to know what really happened out there..."

She had been staring at the ground, unable to meet his gaze, but now she forced herself to look into his eyes. A part of her still wanted him to change his mind. A childish part that still believed she could run away and hide from this forever. But if she was being entirely honest with herself that was a very small and quiet voice in the back of her head. Most of the child she had been was stripped away long ago. Far more desperately than to escape she wanted to find her way back from that wilderness she was still trapped in. But, even though she had managed mostly under her own power this far, she knew she couldn't make the rest of the journey alone. Please... tell me that I can...

"Can I trust you?"

Amaranth Desire: Going Full Paragon

There's something funny about confidence.

The most easily angered people in the world are not those who lack it entirely, nor are they the completely sure. The former tend to think getting mad is pointless because it doesn't matter in the end anyway, the latter tend to be aware of their own strengths and limitations enough to not be bothered by things they shouldn't be.

Amy wasn't entirely sure which of the two extremes she should currently be at regarding this situation, but she was utterly confident that she was at one of them.

Her semblance was still active, so her perception was moving a little faster than everyone else's--she heard the Survival instructor's introduction in slow motion, had time to let her heightened hearing absorb every dulcet detail of Estelle's Mistralese accent. Amy wasn't in survival, but that didn't really matter at the moment.

It put her at ease, actually.

Judging by the way Estelle held herself and the barely perceptible tick upwards in its intensity as she got closer, it wasn't supposed to. Her grip--which was never that tight to begin with, only leverage made it difficult to evade--slackened as she got closer, and by the time Ben tapped her on the wrist, Amy'd already let go, only still resting her hand there in thought until contact.

Making Lauren squirm was fun while it lasted, but the reasoning part of her mind came back into control and her feathers started to smooth down.

Regardless of how it all turned out, she and Estelle were radically different in terms of appearance, appeal, and demeanor. Any pissing contest here wouldn't be productive, nor would it mean anything.

They should move on.

She glanced over at the Lauren-Ben conglomerate, a slight smile falling on her lips. "I'm not quite sure Ben agrees that this is a safe space, Lorena. Well, not for him at least."

@FlitterFaux@Onarax@Abillioncats@Sho Minazuki@HereComesTheSnow@Ryonara@Crimmy@Lucius Cypher





Emerald struggled a little bit to keep up with Anna's insane monologue, which quickly derailed into some rant about luchadoras Wait we have those here!? and then Anna saw Gren and freaked out and then a crate fell from the sky full of FISH and Emerald's nose picked up the incredible scent of fresh salmon.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah...." Emerald stood there looking dumbstruck and euphoric for a moment before she wiped the drool off her face and snapped back to reality at the sound of Mr. Waiter's voice.

"Apologies for the lack of fried tuna, senorita," he said politely as he reentered character, bowing to Emerald as he held out the plate to the catgirl. "Our chef preferred to provide you with a more ... exquisite tuna tempura."

Emerald took the plate eagerly, quickly focusing on her prey meal as she received it."Hey I don't care what you wanna call it I'm gonna eat it! Thanks Mr. Waiter!" She quickly sat down at a nearby table, but before she started to devour her tuna she looked towards Annabelle who was...what the heck was she doing with Gren? I don't understand what's happening...nevermind that!

"Annaaaaaaaaaaaa our food is ready come eat it! We sisters have to eat together!" Emerald said this even as she started to stuff her face with tuna. My hands moved on their own I swear. You've gotta believe me...Scoot. She wondered if the ferret could pick up her thoughts.

@FlitterFaux

Luke Schwarz

"Yeah. You can trust me."

Whether or not I was running headfirst into a fool's errand with those words didn't matter. Secrecy about the past wasn't new to me, and if Skye could open up to a basically complete stranger like myself...

Didn't that suggest that she'd soon be able to tell people on her own? I wouldn't even need to blab. She would really save herself, like Tanner always said of people.

All I needed to do was be present for it.

"Nothing said here will frivolously leave my lips, don't worry. I'm not much for the rumor mill."

All that aside, it didn't hurt to clarify myself further. Call it indulgent, but I never got to say a cool line for real these days, you know? As the everyman, I was stuck always being disoriented and confused...

But, back on the point:

This wasn't something to back out of. Even if I couldn't help, I had promised I would listen.

That could be enough. It could not.

Whether it was or it wasn't, it was something I wanted-- No, needed to do. I had a sinking feeling, brought on by knowing how these scenes always went in stories, that I had just gotten in way over my head...

But what mattered was that, at least, I could keep my word on it.

"What a weirdo." Gren thought to himself. He wasn't sure if this girl was quirky or actually trying to flirt with him, but he'll try to play it cool. Or at least as cool as he could be when he's hungry. The girl was immediately enamored by Scoot, who was more than happy to hop onto her hand and cuddle with her, even if his current interest was getting grub. Gren chuckled and crossed his arms. "Sure. I call him Scoot. He's soft and cute right now, but if you keep playing with him he'll get excited and well... He might make a mess all over you." Intentionally attempting at innuendo, the strange girl was soon accompanied by none other than Emerald. "This makes sense. Emerald has a way of attracting the loony ones." Gren remembered the first time he saw Shiro and Emerald together. Chaotic, though contained. He made a wide grin at the thought as some fish was airdropped from the sky. Somehow not the oddest thing, nor the use of one of the student's semblances to serve food. In fact, the multiple insivible arms made it far easier for the student to not only serve but prepare dishes. Gren felt a little bit less guilty about wanting one of everything now.

Still Gren's first priority was to get some grub, and that hasn't changed just because he met a cute girl. Trying to get the man's attention as soon as possible Gren placed his order. "Twenty slices of mackerel and ten slices of salmon sashimi!" Gren hoped Varius got his order as Gren took out some Lien to pay as soon as possible. With that out of the way Gren turned his attention back to the two girls who bumped into him. Emerald had already gone to a table while the mystery girl was leaning over to feed Scoot. Gren caught a glimpse of her absolute territory, however his face did not show any reaction. Intentionally so, because he realized anything short of ignorance could easily oust him as some sort of pervert. Rather not have that. Instead he motioned towards the table Emerald was sitting at. "Why don't we take a seat instead of standing around?"

As for Scoot, he was having a jolly good time. Having spent most of the day lazing around and eating bugs, he finally found one of his friends and he took him to a place that had good food. Not only that but it also had this nice girl who was very soft and smelled very nice who also gave him food. Scoot's never seen this girl before, but she was a good girl in his books. If the ferret had books anyways. The little albino marsupial wiggled and squirmed in the Anna's grasp, eventually escaping it to sit on her shoulder. However Scoot did this because he heard a voice call out to him, the voice of Emerald. The little creature, still fairly naive to his own power, could not truly distinguish the voices in his head to the voices he hears with his ears, and thought that Emerald simply spoke out loud. More importantly she had a lot of food at her table, so Scoot jumped form his elevated position on Anna's shoulder onto the table Emerald was at. In a show of some domestication, Scoot didn't immediately just start eating Emerald's food, and instead stood on it's hind legs looking at the cat faunas.

"Food?"

@Abillioncats@FlitterFaux@Crimmy

@Plank Sinatra @Kaithas @NarayanK @Write

Once upon a time, Ben would've asked why she was searching under the bed then. Or why she'd forgotten all about the weapon she wanted to grab. These little, logical things.

It had only taken a couple weeks to learn such questions were pointless with Lauren.

Whatever he might have said would've been muffled by the midriff in front of his face, anyway, so he didn't bother. He couldn't see, either, so again he didn't bother. Traversing the room with his eyes closed had been something of a safety mechanism for a while, he didn't need any help finding his way over to Lauren's bureau. He gave her shoulder a little squeeze while he walked over, whether to express his exasperation or affection was up to her. Probably a bit of both. He only stopped walking when he could reach out and touch the dresser, electing to lean waaaay back so Lauren could actually reach the drawer without hopping down. It was pretty clear she didn't intend to.

At Amy's comment, though, he twisted his head juuuust enough to be heard when he spoke. His face still wasn't really visible, but it sounded like he was pretty amused.

"Nah, I'm pretty safe in here. First couple days didn't kill me so I'm good. Good effort, though, Desire."

"Ahhh, thank you, Cap! I will remember your strength, vitality, and rugged determination when I select my sperm donor!"

Laughing, Lauren cupped Ben's neck and drew him closer into her defined stomach for support. She arched backwards (an effort that strained her chest forward considerably against the already-tight maroon fabric of Ben's long-sleeved shirt and atop Ben's head) and slipped one hand down under the drawer to pull it open without the use of the two handles. She switched hands to lay her left on the back of her best friend's neck, stretching her right backwards in order to comb through her underwear drawer--

God damn, I'm a goddess.

--and, unbeknownst to all present, even the no-doubt curious Cap she was currently striding atop of, the old switcheroo took place.

Her hand had plucked the credit card safely from underneath Ben's collar where she'd left it, and she gave the sleeve of Ben's shirt an imperceptible shake to slide the black card from underneath her black palm and into her drawer full of black underwear. A few garments shuffled aside obscured it briefly; reaching underneath them and pulling the Palladium card out from the opposite side of the drawer she'd planted it was child's play for anyone who had spent two months in Windpath learning sleight-of-hand in her teens from a one-eyed blackjack dealer who went by the name Venti Veinte.

But that was neither here nor--

There.

"Triomphe!" she crowed in Mistralian with only a trace of the local accent, producing the metal-plated credit card so that it shone in the dorm's light before it was flicked across the room to Estelle. "There you go, ma'am, one credit card! Your finder's fee for the commission on the sale of those legal goods you let me borrow? Already on there!"

And now to hit Estelle with a trick Lauren knew first-hand she was useless against - the ol' neuro-linguistic programming.

"I'll see you in class sometime, eh, sensei?" she asked playfully, closing the drawer behind her with a slam of her palm and tracing all her fingers through Ben's hair. "I've got a funny story about the sale, actually, you'll really dig it. I'll tell it to you after my family leaves."

She jerked her head towards her Pops with a slight wink; her grin was sharp and proud.

Nay, my dear Captain, my fair hooker, my hapless snake. This is not dark magic you see before you--this is merely the untapped science of charisma.

And there was always a method to science.

Annabelle Valentine

!

Oooooh 'Bella... He's not easy at all! Damn! I wasn't really paying attention. He tossed the ball right back at me and I totally missed it! This is...

This is going to be so much fun!!!

This Gren guy was playing it pretty close to the chest, even after she knew he had seen, well, more than she had meant to show off. She carefully considered a few possibilities, staying in character and letting relief show on her face. Hmmmm, obvious problem: playing the shy moe girl in this outfit is not going to make sense to anyone who takes a moment to think about it. Though I do have ways to address that, right now that's just gonna seem strange.

She looked back at her waiter and smiled, calming down the blush on her face. "Thank you very much! You guys are pretty amazing!" She meant it, too. While it was pretty easy to impress her these senior huntsmen had skills to back up their general hotness.

Duh. They are senior huntsmen. Now problem two: Might be coming on too strong or not strong enough by Gren's standards. Unfortunately all I can do is pay attention and fine tune my approach. Probably not being too subtle, though. He did drop that innuendo.

She heard Emerald call out to her to come and eat together like the sisters they now were. She giggled but at the same time realized balancing her mission to screw with Gren and honestly getting to know Emerald might be another wrench in the works. "I'll be right there!" Hm. It seemed like Gren and Emerald knew each other. Craaap, am I screwing with one of my new sister's friends? Better tread carefully just in case. She looked at Gren but didn't meet his eyes. "G-go on ahead. I'll catch up."

She flicked her credit card out from her wrist strap then mentally cringed a little. Shy, awkward girls do not do smooth card tricks. I hope he didn't see that. There's problem four if he did... "Excuse me, but may I add one of those to my order?" She addressed Shuai and pointed towards what looked like.. a sandwich making deal? She felt like she should know what that was called but it wasn't coming to mind. She smiled at the sandwich(?) master and moved a bit closer in his direction. The guy with the shiny cyborg arm had caught her eye again, too, and she was trying to decide how to approach him. The game she was already playing with Gren didn't leave a lot of time for having fun with him, as well Guess I have to just be straightforward and honest about this. Bummer...

"Ummm.. I know this is coming out of the blue but.. can we talk about your arm sometime? I'm a big nerd when it comes to robotics and cybernetics." From her other wrist strap she produced something like a business card. Her mother had forbidden her from actually getting involved in anything as serious as an actual business, claiming Annabelle needed to learn how to be more responsible and mature. Whatever that means. I'm plenty mature and responsible. When I want to be. "I know you're probably really busy, but if you don't mind helping out a freshman, here's my number."

She turned to the other hottie, the one the more exotic outfit and dark hair. "And may I have one of your creations however it's traditionally made, please?" OK, that should do for now. Hopefully my efforts here will bear fruit, however minor those efforts may be. She gave them both a bright smile before returning to Shuai to collect her card and her tuna. Hmmm. I did mean to literally buy all the tuna but.. that's probably a bad idea now that I think about it. With one final thank you she excused herself to go join Emerald and Gren.

Problem five: The whole game is pointless if Gren is gay. Though, that would be hot in its own way... And there are ways to test that theory.

She sat down next to Emerald and looked between the two of them. "So you two already know each other?" She dipped some of her own tuna and tried a bite while she waited for a response. Wow, that is good sauce...

Gren sat down at the table Emerald and Scoot was at, careful not to break his chair. One would think heavy stools would be common place for a school like Beacon, but than again perhaps most don't expect 300+ lbs guys to be using them. Fortunately the seats held and Gren settled in. As Scoot begged for food Gren petted the little guy on the head and glanced at Emerald. Though it's barely been a few hours, Gren felt like it's been weeks since he last saw her, and a lot had changed about her. No... Nothing had changed about her. She just made more friends. Made Gren feel downright pitiful considering his luck at meeting new people. Still, perhaps he could turn his luck around with this new girl. Anna seemed nice enough but an oddball nonetheless. Gren couldn't really get a read on her; she seemed hyperactive and chipper like Emerald, but she seemed fairly meek and shy towards Gren. Yet she also seemed plenty flirty with Varius.

Maybe this girl was just nervous around Gren? It wouldn't surprise him. Boar faunas aren't exactly known for their rugged good looks. It doesn't help that Gren tries to cultivate a somewhat intimidating aura in order to assert dominance over others. In hindsight, that sort of thing is probably why he doesn't have friends. Gren briefly considered trying to cultivate a different image, but he's tried the nice guy thing before. It didn't really pan out, or perhaps he wasn't trying enough? Perhaps he was trying to hard? Admittedly Gren did have a tendency to put on an act for others. Whether it was to look smarter, kinder, stronger, or wiser. For someone of such big bulk, he seemed to fancy himself an actor. It reminded Gren that he needed to check his costume for the wrestling match later.

Putting aside these melancholy thoughts Gren rested his head on his hands and looked at Emerald. "So, who's you're new friend? She seems nice enough. You called her your sister earlier though I don't think she's a faunas, so I'm guessing you and her are pretty close?" Just as Gren asked the Anna came back to the table with a question of her own. She just wanted to know more about Emerald and Gren's relationship, or whatever it is they had between the two of them. "Yeah. Emerald is friend with a friend of mines, so we met up and hanged out a bit. I also helped Emerald with her weapons to give them a bit more of a bang. As you can imagine, I'm a bit of a freak when it comes to weapons and tech. Just an amateur tinkerer, but I'll play with whatever toys I get my hands on."

@Abillioncats@FlitterFaux

@FlitterFaux@Onarax@Abillioncats@Sho Minazuki@HereComesTheSnow@Ryonara@Crimmy@Lucius Cypher





Emerald smiled at Scoot and tossed him a piece of tuna. There was no way she could deny something so cute and fluffy after all. From that point on Emerald focused entirely on eating her tuna. She'd been waiting eagerly for this moment after all.

At some point while Emerald was munching Gren sat down at the table with her. Gren then inquired about Annabelle. Emerald took a moment to actually swallow what was in her mouth before answering.

"Well her name is Annabelle and I met her while waiting in line to order this tuna actually. She literally appeared out of nowhere, but I figured out fairly quickly that we're destined to be soul sisters..." She was going to say more, but the urge to keep eating was too strong and she stuffed her mouth with another bite.

Anna, as if on que, sat down at the table. "So you two already know each other?"

Gren beat her to answering. "Yeah. Emerald is friend with a friend of mines, so we met up and hanged out a bit. I also helped Emerald with her weapons to give them a bit more of a bang. As you can imagine, I'm a bit of a freak when it comes to weapons and tech. Just an amateur tinkerer, but I'll play with whatever toys I get my hands on."

Emerald nodded, agreeing with what the boar faunus said. "Yeah I was testing the changes to my weapons just before I came here actually. I liked the results."

"Ahahah, yeah we did kind of just meet. But that's the funny thing about destiny, huh? We still need to celebrate later. I've never had a sister before."

Then the subject of modifying weapons came up and Annabelle was all ears.
"Oh, really?" She couldn't deny her honest interest now. Anything related to tinkering always got her attention. She leaned forward and propped herself up on her arms which she crossed under her breasts. Now with the girls pressed together and lifted she watched Gren's face very carefully. She needed to determine if she was just wasting her efforts. When they started talking about Emerald's weapons having more 'bang' she turned to look at her soul sister but kept Gren in her peripheral vision, giving him ample time to sneak a peek. Or to not sneak a peek.

"Are you guys talking about explosives? Please tell me you are. I'm a bit of a tinkerer, too."

Understatement.

"I tinker with things all the time, actually. I like playing with all sorts of things, the bigger the better. I mean, I really shouldn't brag but I am pretty good with my hands. Oh, oh! Emmie! If you show me yours I'll show you mine!"

And now the ball is back in your court, Grenster.

So her name was Annabelle and Emerald just decided to make the two of them sisters out of the blue. Gren supposed he shouldn't be surprised. He was rather envious how easily Emerald makes friends. Shortly after Anna came to the table and joined the conversation. Gren looked at Anna as she spoke and he just couldn't get a bead on her. He wanted to just dismiss her as some ditzy airhead but the way she kept positioning herself and talking made Gren wonder… Was she trying to come onto him?

Gren remembered seeing a video about this. Was Anna into Gren? ”Can't tell.” Gren would have to keep his wits about himself and keep looking for signs. He would have to go in deeper. Anna was being rather coy with her words so maybe she was just trying to fluster Gren. But he will remain the indomitable pillar he is! She'd have to do a lot more to move him. And so he had to strike back.

”Ah, so you like guns eh? I'm a fan with all types, whether it's lithe and sleek or big and thick. Nothing like firing a big hot round with a satisfying explosion. Or even something more, rapid fire, just banging away, getting messier by the passing second.” Gren leaned back and leered at Anna to gauge her reaction. ”Of course that's just guns. For a hunter like myself I prefer more… Close encounters. Make it personal. Because nothing pleases me more than the feeling of two hot bodies colliding, engaged in primal yet passionate hand-to-hand.”

All the while Scoot continued to nibble at the food, eventually just helping himself while everyone was talking.

@Abillioncats@FlitterFaux

@FlitterFaux@Lucius Cypher





Emerald nodded enthusiastically, being the naive, innocent girl that she was, had no idea how twisted and perverted her friends were. If she had known, she would have been red as a strawberry. Instead she casually finished off her meal before Scoot could nibble any more of it.

"I'd love to show you my guns Anna! In fact, do you want to come over to my dorm? One of my teammates is there right now, he got pretty beat up on our last mission so he probably could use some cheering up anyway. They say positive attitudes actually help you heal, I guess it's true cause look at me! I got freaking stabbed and poisoned on Friday and I'm already walking around!"

Emerald looked at Gren. "You can come too if you wanna. The way you're talking it sounds like you'd get along with Oswald great."

Hmmm am I forgetting something? Oh right...my parents. I haven't seen dad yet...I'll just uh...tell them to come to the dorm...yeah...

@Lucius Cypher@FlitterFaux@Abillioncats@Sho Minazuki

Shuai Taidan - Food Stand

"Gotta go fast, Varius!" the ponytailed prettyboy called to his teammate as he noted down Gren's order on a notepad he'd magicked out of the pockets of his waiter outfit. "How fast can you do twenty mackerel slices and ten of salmon sashimi?"

It was a really big order, but it also meant that they were going to get a heapload of revenue too! Although if Varius' helicopter phonecall costed a lot, then they might not have made any profit at all! That would be bad, but seeing everyone here enjoying their food was profitable too. Not in the actual hard cash way, but it was nice. He made his way around the cart, handing out orders and accepting requests in the waiter persona he'd gotten up, before popping over to accept Annabelle's order.

"Of course, senorita," he replied, handing over what she wanted and taking the payment, before he broke character once again, "but nice acting there! Needs to be a bit more consistent, though."

@Crimmy@Abillioncats@Lucius Cypher

Annabelle Valentine
Pretty sure he's not gay...

Shuai... Ah, of course he knew she was acting. He had seen her when she first got here, before Gren's arrival startled her. Come to think of it his clothes did not look machine made, and his charismatic smile... Could it be he was a pro at acting and she hadn't even noticed? He even complimented her on her own little act with Gren. She felt a little giddy to hear that. Even though I'm just fooling around. And he's right about being consistent, too. Gren's more on top of things than I expected.

"Thank you~!" She whispered with a wink before she had left.



Gren...

He did look, but he was pretty slick about it. Just a side glance. So I am getting to him, right? What exactly is it about this one that he can play it so cool?
If he's not gay then... maybe I'm just not his type? He looks like he might prefer tall, strong girls, probably blondes, most guys want blondes. Tch, should have gone with blonde today.

But maybe it's not even that. I did underestimate this guy right out of the gate. And there are some pretty clear signs that inconsistency should be my middle name, can't deny that. And he just throws the barely concealed innuendos right back at me, doesn't skip a beat.

He's... probably onto me, isn't he? Damn, I hope not. But I wasn't really paying attention when I started this. I just saw the opening and did like I always do. But if he caught on right away and I'm just now considering this... ugh, he's probably been laughing at me this whole time! I like a challenge but if I never had a chance at all...

Or maybe, just maybe, I'm reading too much into this. There is a simpler explanation, though that might call for a 'mission abort', too.

"Wow, strong, smart, weapon saavy, and with the manual dexterity to top it all off? Your girlfriend is one lucky gal!"

I'll see your hot 'n heavy combat enthusiasm and raise you a probing question, Sir Gren. This has to get me somewhere. With any luck it will even throw him off balance...

And then Emerald started being adorable.

Wha- My new little sister... can't be this cute! S-she's missed every blatant shot Gren and I have taken at each other?! Hey, is she even younger than me? She could be older. Mmm, doesn't matter. Older or younger she's just too cute. I am a little worried about this stabbing and poisoning business. Isn't Rule One of sisterhood to always look out for one another? Oh no, if she's already going on missions that must mean her team is full! How can I watch out for her if that's the case? Ffffuuuuu... Maybe someone else would be able to trade places with me? Gods I suck, I didn't even notice my own sis was all bandaged up! Well, it's OK, Anna, she said we should go cheer up her other teammate. Maybe I could talk to him about it? I know! I'll bribe my way in! Genius! Money doth have its perks, heheee.

"That sounds like a great idea, Emmie!"

@FlitterFaux@Lucius Cypher





Emerald cheered enthusiastically when Anna agreed to come over. "Yay! This will l be so much fun! We'll head over as soon as you guys are done eating!"

"Wait a second..." Emerald said, sounding confused. "What do weapons have to do with Gren's girlfriend?" Emerald paused, then her eyes widened with realization. "Wait Gren, you have a girlfriend!? That's so cool! Who is she? Can I meet her?" Emerald had even less of a grasp of what was actually going on than Anna or Gren probably realized.