...

None of us really knew what to do with that conclusion, unfortunately. It was like we all expected eachother to have the next word. It was all Jericho could do to muster an "I guess", all Bianca could do to nod and shrug before returning to a more muted smile as she nursed her soup, and all Skye could do to...

Wait, where was Skye? Was she lost, maybe? I've been navigating halls and school campuses all my life, so I understand how to pinpoint landmarks and distinctive factors between nearly-uniform buildings in style and structure— However, we couldn't say the same for our new faunus teammate, a veteran of the backwoods and neophyte in civilization.

Urbanization, that is to say. What we in developed areas consider "civilization". Good civilization, unlike gacha. Not that rurality is necessarily bad civilization.

At any rate, if she didn't show up soon, we were gonna have to get ahold of her. Despite the pause seeming like ages, it really hadn't been, so a little more benefit of doubt wasn't out of the question.

I surged forward thusly, offering the Atlesian a hand and a smile. As the most senior member, it pretty much fell to me to make this one official.

"Well, welcome aboard. Here's hoping we stick together long enough to get to know eachother this time, yeah?"

@Silvan Haven@Crimmy

Silver Applegate - Vale-Shopping Mall

Gratia turned her attention to any clothes that would catch her attention. Since Silver couldn't really do the same thing himself he tried to think of something to say. "Hey, if you don't mind me asking, where did you get that SUV? You said it's yours, but it looks like something that could be used in a war."

@Slime

Gratia Mindaro - Shopping

"Asset forfeiture."

@Crimmy

Silver Applegate - Vale-Shopping Mall

Silver thought about her reply for a moment. "... So you stole it?"

@Slime

Gratia Mindaro - Shopping

"Hunters are granted the power to confiscate any assets that could assist in criminal activity," she replied, pulling a pair of navy blue jeans off the rack. The Mistralese girl glanced at it with a critical eye, making sure that the material was to her taste and that it actually had pockets. It was fucking ridiculous how rampant fake pockets were in women's fashion. "It's legally not theft, but -"

In the end, there was no fucking difference as to who took your shit.

"You can call it state-sponsored stealing."

@Crimmy@Slime



"It was either drive away in the car or hunt down the few that escaped the mysterious building fire. I'd say they got the better end of the deal." Beryl said as she came back to them. "The shirt is good but, uh." A bit of embarrassment crept into her voice. "It's a bit hard to check how well pants fit when you can't fit your tail through them."

@Slime@Silvan Haven

Gratia Mindaro - Shopping

"You have Venetia's card, they're not going to mind if a hole fucking turns up in the back."

The Mistralese girl had found a selection of clothes, and was heading towards the dressing room.

@Silvan Haven@Crimmy

Silver Applegate - Vale-Shopping Mall

"Your last mission must've been interesting..." Silver avoided looking at his faunus teammate too much, he didn't want to see anything that wasn't meant to be seen. "Having a tail must be annoying some times, huh?"

@Crimmy@Slime



"It's a bit like having a third leg." Beryl said as she set the refolded shorts onto a nearby shelf. The shirt followed in a what was now a 'To-Buy' pile. "Great for balance and adds an extra point of contact I can use to keep me stable. Plus it packs a wallop." She added with a grin. "Though I admit it comes with some problems. Clothes tend to need adjustments unless it's specialized Faunus stuff. I kind of forgot about that today."

The grin turned slightly embarrassed again. In reality she had been so happy about getting to go out somewhere with her team that a few of the practicalities of the outing had slipped her mind. They had gone out before of course, but it usually ended up being with people from some other team as well. A chance to just spend an evening with her team was a rare and welcome opportunity.

@Silvan Haven

Silver Applegate - Vale-Shopping Mall

"Huh, it doesn't look that strong..." He was staring at her tail again without realizing it. He raised his eyes to her face. "So you make the modifications yourself when needed? What do you do if you mess something up?"

@Crimmy@Slime



With a twitch of her hips the tail arched around one end of a nearby rolling rack of clothes. The oversized otter tail curled and pulled the heavily laden metal framework towards her. Granted shows of strength lost some of their flashiness when the showwoman could increase their abilities with aura, but the young huntress hadn't been utilizing any right then. It would have defeated the point.

"I've gotten very good at sewing over the years. Mending torn clothing was a skill i mastered by the time I was eight. Didn't get new ones very often."

@Silvan Haven@Crimmy

Silver Applegate - Vale-Shopping Mall

"Wow..." The unassuming tail was just as strong as advertised. Despite of his surprise by the feat, Silver was concerned with Beryl moving the rack around like that. "Very impressive, but I think you should put that rack down before something bad happens."

@Crimmy@Slime



Beryl shrugged. "The worst that'll happen is that they ask me to put it back." She said as she perused the selection on the rack. A tight fitting tank top and much too large T-shirt also went on the To-Buy pile before she pushed the rack back to its previous position. She eyed Silver as she did so. "You going to get anything?"

@Silvan Haven@Crimmy

Silver Applegate - Vale-Shopping Mall

Sliver let a sigh of relief when Beryl put the rack back to its place. That could've caused an accident. "Right, I guess they should have some neutral clothes around here." He turned to a rack of T-shirts and looked through them. "Did you already find everything you wanted?"

I sighed as the water flowed down, running down my face and down the rest of my body. There was nothing like a hot shower after working up a sweat. I grimaced a little as I moved my sore muscles.

Did I push myself too hard? I'd perhaps been a little reckless during the obstacle course, but I really wanted to win ya know? It was fine anyway, the soreness would be gone by tomorrow.

Speaking of soreness, I found my left hand brushing over the left side of my torso...where I'd been stabbed on Friday. Modern medicine and the power of aura had allowed me to recover quickly but, it still hurt sometimes. I wasn't sure if the pain was real or if it was in my mind, but I grimaced whenever I thought about it too much.

What bothered me the most was the scar it left. It was small, but completely black, only covering where the blade had touched my outer skin. The poison had been removed from my body successfully, but it had left its mark on me.

I shook my head, enough thinking about that! It was done, and gods willing I'd never have to deal with those creatures again. I had more immediate things to concern myself with anyway. Like my long lost sister...

...we had agreed to meet up after classes today, so I was getting ready for that. I rarely got nervous about meeting up with new people, but this was different. I really wanted Amy to like me, but what if she didn't? What if she was mad that I grew up with our father and she didn't?

I took a long breath, worrying about things like this was useless. The only thing I could do was meet up with her and see what happens. I turned the water off and began drying myself off. After that I began messing with my hair, looking the mirror as I did. I was about to put my pigtails back in when I hesitated. I looked at myself with my hair down for a bit and decide maybe it was time to change it up a bit. Maybe people would start treating me like an adult with my hair down!

After messing around with my hair I got dressed and headed out of the locker room. I was ready as I'd ever be...

@Crimmy@Slime



"They have a men's section." The otter faunus said with a hook of her thumb in the far corner. "But yeah, this about all I wanted from here. Still want to hit up a sportswear shop at some point though."

@Silvan Haven@Slime

Gratia Mindaro - Shopping0

"Have you not heard of 'try before you buy', Harken?"

The speaker emerged from the dressing room, her usual garb discarded for clothing she had perused. Her turtleneck sweater was gone, replaced by an all white t-shirt (excepting the black band at the neckline) with a hemline that stopped at the waist, above the navy blue jeans she had grabbed earlier. Her coat was replaced for a denim jacket, the blue - with the slightest tinges of green - worn open. The girl didn't see the need to close her jacket, instead adjusting the sleeves to see how they fit.

"Might be too fucking small," she commented, though without any venom. She was moving, testing the range of motion that the clothes provided her. "I need a bigger jacket.

@Crimmy@Slime



"I know my size and I know the clothe's sizes. What? Do you want to make sure that the tank top's color doesn't clash with my eyes?" There maaayyy have been a hint of sarcasm in the words.

@Silvan Haven@Crimmy

Silver Applegate - Vale-Shopping Mall

"At least what you got doesn't warrant being called a disaster, right? It looks pretty good." Silver said while looking at Gratia over his shoulder. He turned back to the clothes in front of him and grabbed two plain T-shirts that matched his size, one white and the other light green. "These should be fine, right? I should get a new pair of jeans too."

@Silvan Haven@Slime

Gratia Mindaro - Shopping

"You can make sure it actually fits instead of assuming and risking a fuck-up," said Gratia. "That it doesn't feel like you're being raked over a shitty quality cheese grater. Or to make sure that you can move and fight in them with no issue."

She was already putting on her weapon belt, making sure that the jacket did not get in the way of unsheathing.

"Put them on, Applegate. Clothing is meant to be worn."