Fandom Distorted Mirror [IC]

[MyrtenRose]

"I'm trying to!" The officer whisper yelled as she started to power walk for the edge of the alleyway they'd fallen into. "But I also have to try to arrest you; I don't have time to explain it really, but someone's got their semblance on me and its bad if I don't listen. So... fight back or something before I hand you over to Blaze."

She peered around the corner to see what the situation was, and caught sight of the leuitenant giving orders to the rest of the officers while clutching his side with a growl.

"I don't know how but the shadowfang have gotten in with Mistral's government. Deep. In a few months its gonna be even worse, and I don't know if I can do anything about it by myself. I..."

She took a deep, frustrated breath, seemingly being very careful in her choice of words as they stepped around the corner and started walking towards Blaze

"...There are... people like us here who are... important to me. I was hoping you knew where they wer--"

"Yes, had about enough of this." Raven interrupted, not even giving the courtesy to finish. Enough of being held down so...pathetically. The officer's grip got broken as the relatively small bird was no longer a small bird but a full sized human, more or less basically exploding free from that grasp. Hardly a second passed after that before a tightly clenched fist caught the so called officer in the jaw, followed immediately by the other from the opposite direction. The one-two combo meant to deter anything like that grab from happening again, to drop the officer to the ground...and have the sounds of her fists colliding provide cover for the sound of her own whisper. "I do." She confirmed. Raven was many things, and observant was one of them. She was reasonably sure exactly who this officer was after all she'd said, all she had just done especially with how she'd avoided the kick and the glimpse the bird had gotten of her eyes. Even if they had not actually ever met face to face before, she knew of her, and...that...that was enough.

She'd meant it completely and utterly when she had said...she wanted to be better. That extended to one of her daughter's very close friends back from their world, if her guess was correct. "Dunno-if-you-can-arrange-it-but-if-you-can-try-to-stay-close-to-the-prison-and-maybe-I-can-help-ya-later." She hissed out all in one super fast breath alongside one kick to the knocked down officer, though one she tried to make as light as possible a kick while still being convincing. Raven spun on her heel then, glaring just long enough at Blaze for her very irritated scowl to be caught by the faunus before she transformed into a bird again and took off, aiming to disappear into the maze of Mistral's many alleyways and shake any attempt at pursuit.

By then, the group of kids and their stupidly cramped car had long gotten out of her sight. But she had not lived as she had among the tribe for so long without becoming gifted in the skill of tracking. That and well....honestly, it hadn’t exactly been the most subtle of getaways. A bird’s eye view also didn’t help hurt in this regard, and so it was that before too long...said bird managed to locate them, taking extra care to determine that the fucking bird faunus had been left behind before swooping down to approach them, perhaps offer any explanations...

And also satisfy her damn curiosity because what the hell had that been?!?​

 

[MidwayLives]

"It means we are. Well, Callie, T, guy whose name I can't remember, it's been real. But the time has come for my t- friends and I to pack our shit and blow this sinking popsicle stand. I'm thinking someplace warm. If any of you are smart, you'll do the same."

Tyrian's tail swung around like a wrecking ball.

At least until the stinger caught the door latch and flicked upwards causing Tyrian to topple out of the car.

"I came here to find the Shadow Fang."

He winced and clutched at his hand, fingers bent every which way, the extremity caked in blood.

"I can't leave until I get what I need."

The tail moved to wrap around his waist. "You guys can go ahead and get out of town." It pained Tyrian to have to basically say goodbye to the only familiar faces he'd seen for months. But after the encounter with Fox and Trifa's subsequent capture by Jack and the fight with the Ashes/The Boss, he'd gotten way too sidetracked.

He had to get Trifa back and keep on tracking down Ichabod's killer.​

 

[Gus Gungus]

Tyrian's tail swung around like a wrecking ball.

At least until the stinger caught the door latch and flicked upwards causing Tyrian to topple out of the car.

"I came here to find the Shadow Fang."

He winced and clutched at his hand, fingers bent every which way, the extremity caked in blood.

"I can't leave until I get what I need."

The tail moved to wrap around his waist. "You guys can go ahead and get out of town." It pained Tyrian to have to basically say goodbye to the only familiar faces he'd seen for months. But after the encounter with Fox and Trifa's subsequent capture by Jack and the fight with the Ashes/The Boss, he'd gotten way too sidetracked.

He had to get Trifa back and keep on tracking down Ichabod's killer.

"Later Tyrian."

"Yea, enjoy dying you complete maniac."











Hold up.

"Wait, no, that's dumb as hell. Where are you even going? You're a total mess, and not even a hot one. At least come back to the bar and let's figure out our next move, you know, rationally."

She seriously couldn't believe it fell to her to say this. This kid's blood was forever caking one of her favorite outfits.

Meanwhile, Mercury threw a rock at the bird that had been circling them.​

 

[MyrtenRose]

Meanwhile, Mercury threw a rock at the bird that had been circling them.

The rock hit her straight on in the forehead and must have absorbed some of its properties because the bird plummeted straight down like a stone herself

“Really?” The bird in question talked, deftly avoiding the thrown projectile and taking one more circling lap...before she changed back once again and dropped to the ground below in a classic superhero landing. Raven stared only at Mercury as she straightened up. “Is that how you say thanks?” She seemed to ask gravely serious but it was followed through with a smirk.

“Reminds me of me. So, hey, for curiosity’s sake...any of you want to tell me what the hell that was all about?”​

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

Unlike most of the rest, or so she assumed, Raven did not manage to get any sleep on this night. For a long stretch of that time, she just laid there thinking about plenty. About the relics, about Qrow slipping back into his habit, about their world, but mostly...about her. Her daughter. It was...honestly, Raven did not know if it was more funny or sad. When it came to slaying grimm, it came easy, and naturally. Plotting raids on towns, battling against huntsmen or huntresses that got in the way, hardly anything to it. But when it came to family, especially now...uncertainty plagued her from head to toe. They had hardly exchanged any words since she had shown back up, with questionable company even. Yet there was barely any protests about that, something that was both a relief and an annoyance. Part of her was glad she did not have to try and justify their presence at length, but another part of her...wished that she had been forced to do so. At least that way they would have talked.

The simple truth was, that after all this time, all those years of being one really shitty mom...she didn't know how to approach Yang and start up a conversation. A normal conversation, something that didn't have to do with threats they faced, or the terrible situations they found themselves in, or battle plans, or anything just as serious. Half her thoughts were of what to even say to try and start one, but almost all of what she came up with was dismissed shortly after as sounding like crap, or pathetic, or hollow. Then there was the possibility Yang would not want to talk at all, and...well Raven could not blame her in the slightest if that were true. That just made it hurt all the more.

Fighting monsters, starring death in the face and spitting in its face over and over again, what did it say about her that doing such was so much easier than family matters? Nothing great.

But by the time she had worked up the nerve to get out of this room, to at least check on Yang if not actually getting to talk, life got in the way.

It was not a connection she had ever intended to form, not one she enjoyed having, but it was there, nevertheless. A spiritual tether between the former and current wielder of the might of the spring maiden. That much was obvious from a glance at their eyes, but it went so much deeper than that. And coupled with her semblance, it made the short haired Raven Branwen a unique witness to what was happening across the world. The pain the woman was suffering, the dark presence she was forced to endure, struggle against...and... "Oh hell." That was all she managed to get out before frantic yelling drew her attention. She had scarcely gotten out of her own room before the door to Yang's and Ruby's blasted off its hinges and embedded itself in the wall opposite.

She rushed over there, but stopped in the doorway. The uncertainty returned. Yet again she was unsure of what to say, could only stand there and watch.

Ruby, on the other hand, did not stand by. The raging icy winds and desperate, pleading yells and cries from Yang were more than enough to rouse her from her sleep, and she was by her sister's side as fast as her semblance would allow. She felt her aura being chipped away from the sheer cold, shivers running through her intensely, but the cold be damned! She did not have any connection like Weiss, Yang or that Raven did, lacked the insight that they already possessed to some degree, but she didn't care. She was by her sister in an instant, doing what she could to try and comfort her. Her first impulse was to ask what was going on exactly, but the storm going on in their room and the energy flowing from Yang's eyes made that clear. Somewhat.

The power of a maiden was transferring to Yang. The odds of it happening at random were not high. In fact they were probably so low that Ruby reckoned the chances were nonexistent. That meant it was a deliberate choice...and the number of people that would deliberately choose such was also really low. In that moment she believed she knew what was going on, or...had already transpired. It was not pleasant thinking. She shook her head, not dwelling on that as she roped Yang even tighter into a hug. Ruby couldn't bring herself to speak then, just doing all she could to project warmth, to be some kind of comforting presence as her older sister dealt with the whole bunch of everything that just got dropped on her without warning in the middle of the night.​

There was a quiet, strangled gasp of prostest as Ruby was suddenly at her side, wrapping her arms around her.

"R-Ruby?! No, don't! get b-back, its not safe- I c-can't, I can't-!"

Normally, hugging Yang was like wrapping your arms around the embers of a fire. Ruby felt like she was gripping a husk of ice; the cold reached down into her bones from this close, like it was trying to freeze her from the marrow outwards. That was before Yang's arms wrapped around her in turn.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I can't, I-I-"

She was hurting her sister right now.

She needed her sister right now.

She needed someone to lean against. She'd always had. Maybe not right next to her, not all the time, but Yang Xiao Long knew she could have never made it through life alone. All those nightmares even had a face now, her face but wrong, the sort of horrible husk of a monster a Yang without family end friends would end up, a truth that was just one more blade this Remnant had shoved into her heart while screaming at her to keep going.

But she was supposed to help back. She wasn't supposed to be helpless, she wasn't supposed to hurt her sister, she was her protector. the thought grounded her at the same time it absolutely terrified her, and half her was trying to calm down and the other half was drifting further and further into panic and screaming at herself to let go, to face this alone, to not drag anyone down with her again, that she could feel ruby's neck icing over against her cheek-

But Raven had found her voice again, the elder once huntress and once bandit ruler dropping to a knee by Yang. Her pale hand reached out to land on her daughter's shoulder in her own small intention of support, hardly seeming to give a single solitary fuck about the tempestuous weather inside. It wasn't anything that she wasn't used to. Her voice was louder than it would normally be at this distance, trying to rise above the sounds of the raging winds. "Yang, I...I know it's tough right now-" The words still sounded lame, pathetic to her ears, but they came out all the same. Whether it was her place to say it or not. "-but...you'll get through it, I'm sure of that. You...you're the strongest person I know." It was a sort of callback to their talk in Haven's vault, one that brought the hint of a sad look across her eyes. She hesitated before continuing on. "So use that strength. Focus. I'll...I'll be here with you."

Her head fell for a brief second then, well aware that she should have been there so so so long ago...but she could not change the mistakes of the past. She could only try to make up for it now, and in the future. She was likewise aware of the possible truth, that she could never make up for it no matter what she did...but she would try all the same. For her brother, her daughter, her...family. "If you want me to be, that is."

By that time, a few of the others stood by the doorway, drawn by all the commotion. The young Cinder stood where Raven had, staring with a widened eye..and then acted, that eye blazing gold as she used her own maiden power in an attempt to calm the winds and cold that Yang was inadvertently unleashing in her panic. Nora's head poked around the edge of the doorway, observing in silence and worried concern.

There was a jolt from Yang at the touch.

But she didn't turn away.

She squeezed her eyes shut, red flames of energy still pouring out from the sides of her eyelids. This Remnant was awful. Even the one person she'd connected with from it had been a well of sadness and ice in her own respect, someone Yang respected as much because of how she'd stood up and tried despite the world practically shoving the need to be terrible down her throat.

...but at least one good thing had started to come out of it. Maybe.

Her breathing was still heavy, but not as ragged, and the energy pouring from her eyes slowly shifted from red to soft lilac as Cinder found her work in containing the elemental fallout of the panic attack getting less and less difficult.

FInally, the winds stopped entirely, and there was a heavy silence in the room that Yang didn't seem keen to break herself at first as she just kept her hold onto her sister and slowly let her breaths start to even out and lessen.

"....Oh my gods, are you okay?!" She finally croaked out, a fretful frown on her face as she shakily pushed Ruby back and gripped her cheeks to tilt her head in both directions, checking for any serious frostbite or worse. "I-I am so, so sorry."

 

[Gus Gungus]

"Holy shit!"



And that was when an unfashionably late, uncool drunkle finally arrived, way too late to be of any use to Yang or the situation in general. It spoke to his level of sobriety and how stone cold blacked out he had been probably less than five seconds ago that he attempted to kick in the door as he muscled past Cinder and Nora, Harbinger drawn and completely oblivious to the fact that his sister had already done so.

The 'holy shit' wasn't just sparked by the condition of the room. It wasn't even just at the sight of Raven being a good mom. It was because as he dashed in he skidded a good three meters across the layer of ice the wooden slats had become, semblance in full effect and only his scythe's haft keeping him from vanishing cleanly through the open window; free arm flapping manically in the breeze like he thought he was in bird form.

But he wasn't a bird. In fact, in that moment he wasn't even a man. He was a being of pure inebriation and reflex, drunkenly riding a wave of protective instinct all the way to the source of the screaming that his gut told him was Yang's and had torn him from his state of induced unconsciousness. Not only that, but he didn't even know how close Yang and Weiss had gotten. He didn't even have any of the information required to figure out what the hell was going on.

"What the hell's is goin' on?! Yang! Red Yang!? Hurt???"

Oh, how his brain wanted that to be a complete sentence.​

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

"Yes, had about enough of this." Raven interrupted, not even giving the courtesy to finish. Enough of being held down so...pathetically. The officer's grip got broken as the relatively small bird was no longer a small bird but a full sized human, more or less basically exploding free from that grasp. Hardly a second passed after that before a tightly clenched fist caught the so called officer in the jaw, followed immediately by the other from the opposite direction. The one-two combo meant to deter anything like that grab from happening again, to drop the officer to the ground...and have the sounds of her fists colliding provide cover for the sound of her own whisper. "I do." She confirmed. Raven was many things, and observant was one of them. She was reasonably sure exactly who this officer was after all she'd said, all she had just done especially with how she'd avoided the kick and the glimpse the bird had gotten of her eyes. Even if they had not actually ever met face to face before, she knew of her, and...that...that was enough.

She'd meant it completely and utterly when she had said...she wanted to be better. That extended to one of her daughter's very close friends back from their world, if her guess was correct. "Dunno-if-you-can-arrange-it-but-if-you-can-try-to-stay-close-to-the-prison-and-maybe-I-can-help-ya-later." She hissed out all in one super fast breath alongside one kick to the knocked down officer, though one she tried to make as light as possible a kick while still being convincing. Raven spun on her heel then, glaring just long enough at Blaze for her very irritated scowl to be caught by the faunus before she transformed into a bird again and took off, aiming to disappear into the maze of Mistral's many alleyways and shake any attempt at pursuit.

By then, the group of kids and their stupidly cramped car had long gotten out of her sight. But she had not lived as she had among the tribe for so long without becoming gifted in the skill of tracking. That and well....honestly, it hadn’t exactly been the most subtle of getaways. A bird’s eye view also didn’t help hurt in this regard, and so it was that before too long...said bird managed to locate them, taking extra care to determine that the fucking bird faunus had been left behind before swooping down to approach them, perhaps offer any explanations...

And also satisfy her damn curiosity because what the hell had that been?!?​

There was a grunt of surprise and pain as those two fists slammed home, but the last kick almost put Raven off balance entirely as it passed right through the officer, and she had to draw her weapon before she could even fully turn to face her opponent to block a sudden, violent slash from tearing through her side.

The followup slash was so close to her bird form that she could feel the breeze ruffling her tail feathers; Raven was getting the sense this wasn't an act; this was the faunus trying her hardest to really arrest her; whether it was because she'd been bullshitting Raven this entire time or because whatever Semblance she'd mentioned had a deeper hold on her than the bandit queen was expecting, the only grace that kept her from getting snatched out of the air a second time by Blake's own semblance was a window cracked open just enough for a raven to slip through; she heard Blake(?) slam against it not a millisecond after she passed through herself, the faunus' arm sticking through to try and swat Raven out of the air to no avail as she let out a huff of both frustration and relief.

A quick leap against the neighboring building put her up to the roof, but wherever Raven exited, it wasn't here.

"..."

She hopped down off the roof and landed in a crouch, before making her way over to where Blaze was watching Aurora's unconscious form being dragged onto one of the Mantas with a placid frown, still gripping his side

"They... Got away."

"...Do you expect me to just believe that, Belladonna?"

Blaze turned to face her in full. He had a good foot over her in height, even slouched slightly as he was as he took the few steps required to loom over her, his wings blocking the moonlight. His eyes hardened as they met hers.

"You're supposed to be some big damn hero back home, if the briefings weren't a bunch of BS. I'm supposed to believe the girl who helped dismantle the White Fang couldn't catch a buncha kids and a god damn bird?"

'Belladonna' tilted her head up to meet his glare back, her shoulders straight and a bit of bite in her own words.

"Yes. Those 'kids' aren't just average Beacon students, and that 'bird' is..." she faltered slightly "...is also very important back home. You gave me a task. I tried. I failed. It happens."

"Maybe for you. Maybe if you're not trying."

"Didn't I just see you get hit by a car-"

His hand suddenly snatched the front of her armor, pulling her closer as his forehead butted against hers while he growled "One word, Belladonna. One word, and your head's nothin but red mist floatin' through the breeze."

Belladonna's breath quickened, her pupils dialated, and she answered. "...then do it."

"...'scuse me?"

"Do it. Say the word. Then go back and try to explain to the high leader how she lost her new toy because you couldn't handle getting hit by a car. I think we both know how that'll go."

They held each other's gaze for a few seconds, before she suddenly gripped his hand and bent in a way that made him grimace in sudden pain as he let her go, and Belladonna shoved her way past the Talon to head for the Manta.

"That's what I thought. Now come on. I know you guys aren't used to this, but we have to do this all right if the High Leader's plan is supposed to work. You're doing all the paperwork, Lieutenant".

Blaze shook his hand a few times as he turned to face her with a glower. "How's she important?"

Belladonna froze. "What?"

"Bird lady. Tell me how she's important."

"She..." Belladonna squeezed her fists together, biting her lips under the mask as a sudden tension took her shoulders, fighting against... something before they finally deflated.

"...She's the Spring Maiden."

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

Neo's eyes had darkened as Mercury so bluntly refused, as if she didn't know everything he just said, as if that wasn't the whole reason she wanted to. She stewed in silence as they talked to Tyrian instead, save for the very familiar bowler hat that manifested on top of her head as she silently glared daggers into Merc's back.

At the mention of the bar, Callie slowly shook her head.

"...I can't say I understand a lick of what y'all are talkin about. In fact, I'm startin to feel like that feelin I had that didn't make no sense, that y'all ain't the same miss Neo and Emerald we dealt with a few weeks back, is actually true. But..." She shook her head. "Whatever's goin on, whatever kinda scheme y'all are tryin to pull here on me or whoever else, the bar ain't the right call. That 'lieutenant' and his goons swept onto that scene way too damn quick. They knew we were there, spiders included, and no doubt a few of ours got nabbed back at that warehouse. They'll be watchin the bar. But... if you want your friend... well. Blanche and Char did pay for the info this trip was gonna bring." She said as she finally heaved herself out of the car as well and dusted herself off.

"I can tell you where Aurora does his business; never been too much of a secret, least to the spiders; just wasn't ever nothin' valuable either. No one in the city was dumb enough to try to hurt Aurora, not when he was in the boss' good graces. Course, now we know he was the boss, so... He's got a mansion, up on Velden street. I'll give you directions."

Meanwhile, Lupin was very discreetly trying to roll himself over the trunk and tiptoe just... away from this mess-

Raven landed right in front of him and he just... screamed as she saw a bird turn into a full grown woman.

 

[Gus Gungus]

"...She's the Spring Maiden."

Incorrect.​

 

[Gus Gungus]

Neo's eyes had darkened as Mercury so bluntly refused, as if she didn't know everything he just said, as if that wasn't the whole reason she wanted to. She stewed in silence as they talked to Tyrian instead, save for the very familiar bowler hat that manifested on top of her head as she silently glared daggers into Merc's back.

He knew, but to be super blunt didn't give a crap. When he had his back to Neo it was usually for a reason. It was the exact opposite of 'say it to my face', only tactical: 'don't say it to my back'. And it always worked.
​

The rock hit her straight on in the forehead and must have absorbed some of its properties because the bird plummeted straight down like a stone herself

“Really?” The bird in question talked, deftly avoiding the thrown projectile and taking one more circling lap...before she changed back once again and dropped to the ground below in a classic superhero landing. Raven stared only at Mercury as she straightened up. “Is that how you say thanks?” She seemed to ask gravely serious but it was followed through with a smirk.

“Reminds me of me. So, hey, for curiosity’s sake...any of you want to tell me what the hell that was all about?”

"Oh hey." He greeted with supremely halfhearted surprise, having obviously figured that bird circling was more than just a bird. He was a punk, but he wasn't the kind of punk who threw shit at animals for no reason. "Been a minute, huh? Man, the sands of time sure hit you hard. My dad's hairline was receding by the time he hit 30, y'know. I like to think I got the good genes."

"Serious question. Does it honestly look like any of us know what the hell that was about? Like, even a single one of us?" Emerald offered as an actual answer, albeit an indirect one. "Here it is in a nutshell: those guys back there were a bunch of killers and crooks from the kingdom. The cops weren't cops, they were Shadow Fang pretending to be cops. Honestly, I kinda thought the whole reason you came up to us was 'cause you had a new perspective on the situation and weren't just, I dunno, randomly wandering by looking for something to do. I mean, what are the odds of that?"
​

"...I can't say I understand a lick of what y'all are talkin about. In fact, I'm startin to feel like that feelin I had that didn't make no sense, that y'all ain't the same miss Neo and Emerald we dealt with a few weeks back, is actually true. But..." She shook her head. "Whatever's goin on, whatever kinda scheme y'all are tryin to pull here on me or whoever else, the bar ain't the right call. That 'lieutenant' and his goons swept onto that scene way too damn quick. They knew we were there, spiders included, and no doubt a few of ours got nabbed back at that warehouse. They'll be watchin the bar. But... if you want your friend... well. Blanche and Char did pay for the info this trip was gonna bring." She said as she finally heaved herself out of the car as well and dusted herself off.

"I can tell you where Aurora does his business; never been too much of a secret, least to the spiders; just wasn't ever nothin' valuable either. No one in the city was dumb enough to try to hurt Aurora, not when he was in the boss' good graces. Course, now we know he was the boss, so... He's got a mansion, up on Velden street. I'll give you directions."

"Then I guess that means all eighty million of us plus Tyrian's friend can come back to the crappy loft we were living in before and figure out our next move there. Yayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy. And what, you don't think I'd end you if given motive?"​

 

[MyrtenRose]

There was a quiet, strangled gasp of prostest as Ruby was suddenly at her side, wrapping her arms around her.

"R-Ruby?! No, don't! get b-back, its not safe- I c-can't, I can't-!"

Normally, hugging Yang was like wrapping your arms around the embers of a fire. Ruby felt like she was gripping a husk of ice; the cold reached down into her bones from this close, like it was trying to freeze her from the marrow outwards. That was before Yang's arms wrapped around her in turn.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I can't, I-I-"

She was hurting her sister right now.

She needed her sister right now.

She needed someone to lean against. She'd always had. Maybe not right next to her, not all the time, but Yang Xiao Long knew she could have never made it through life alone. All those nightmares even had a face now, her face but wrong, the sort of horrible husk of a monster a Yang without family end friends would end up, a truth that was just one more blade this Remnant had shoved into her heart while screaming at her to keep going.

But she was supposed to help back. She wasn't supposed to be helpless, she wasn't supposed to hurt her sister, she was her protector. the thought grounded her at the same time it absolutely terrified her, and half her was trying to calm down and the other half was drifting further and further into panic and screaming at herself to let go, to face this alone, to not drag anyone down with her again, that she could feel ruby's neck icing over against her cheek-

There was no way any spoken response was going to get anywhere near actually exiting her mouth, actually becoming anything more than frantic and concerned thoughts, thanks to how extremely her teeth were chattering from the sheer cold feeling spreading throughout her...her everything. But despite that, Ruby refused to heed Yang's words to back up, about how it wasn't safe, and she gave the only response she could give at the moment. That being vigorous shaking of the head and moving in to hold on even more tightly. Something that was met by Yang's embrace tightening around her barely moments later and Ruby felt gladdened by the return hug. Everyone needed support from time to time, and this was no different. She was here to hold on however she could to help, just as she knew Yang would be if this situation was reversed. It was a good feeling.

Still, didn't do much for the freezing chills wracking her body.​

Her breathing was still heavy, but not as ragged, and the energy pouring from her eyes slowly shifted from red to soft lilac as Cinder found her work in containing the elemental fallout of the panic attack getting less and less difficult.

FInally, the winds stopped entirely, and there was a heavy silence in the room that Yang didn't seem keen to break herself at first as she just kept her hold onto her sister and slowly let her breaths start to even out and lessen.

"....Oh my gods, are you okay?!" She finally croaked out, a fretful frown on her face as she shakily pushed Ruby back and gripped her cheeks to tilt her head in both directions, checking for any serious frostbite or worse. "I-I am so, so sorry."

When the raging mini-storm finally ceased, when the silence was broken, Raven exhaled in relief and actually let out a small smile before she backed up to give the two sisters a little bit of space. She'd be there to help but...hugs, embraces, she wasn't...those weren't...perhaps in time she might get used to those, but for now it only seemed painfully awkward. She simply looked on at the pair, eyes a bit wider than normal. In some ways it felt like she was not looking at Yang and Ruby, but Tai and Summer. But only in some ways. She opened her mouth as if to say something but whatever she was going to say was interrupted by the arrival of her brother.​

"Holy shit!"

View attachment 835564

And that was when an unfashionably late, uncool drunkle finally arrived, way too late to be of any use to Yang or the situation in general. It spoke to his level of sobriety and how stone cold blacked out he had been probably less than five seconds ago that he attempted to kick in the door as he muscled past Cinder and Nora, Harbinger drawn and completely oblivious to the fact that his sister had already done so.

The 'holy shit' wasn't just sparked by the condition of the room. It wasn't even just at the sight of Raven being a good mom. It was because as he dashed in he skidded a good three meters across the layer of ice the wooden slats had become, semblance in full effect and only his scythe's haft keeping him from vanishing cleanly through the open window; free arm flapping manically in the breeze like he thought he was in bird form.

But he wasn't a bird. In fact, in that moment he wasn't even a man. He was a being of pure inebriation and reflex, drunkenly riding a wave of protective instinct all the way to the source of the screaming that his gut told him was Yang's and had torn him from his state of induced unconsciousness. Not only that, but he didn't even know how close Yang and Weiss had gotten. He didn't even have any of the information required to figure out what the hell was going on.

"What the hell's is goin' on?! Yang! Red Yang!? Hurt???"

Oh, how his brain wanted that to be a complete sentence.​

His scythe kept him from sliding out the window like a total unlucky dumbass...and it was her reaching out to grab hold of him that pulled him sharply away from the window that gave him the chance to try and steady himself. It was only then that she lightly smacked him upside the head. "You idiot. How much did you have to drink, huh?" It could have been delivered way more scathingly, and that perhaps might have been expected of her, but in this case she was more teasing than anything else. She didn't really need an answer to her question anyway. Red Yang? Seriously??

Still, her mood returned to the seriousness of the situation with a grave expression emerging back onto her face.​

"....Oh my gods, are you okay?!" She finally croaked out, a fretful frown on her face as she shakily pushed Ruby back and gripped her cheeks to tilt her head in both directions, checking for any serious frostbite or worse. "I-I am so, so sorry."

She was undoubtedly freaking cold, just judging from how intensely she was shivering, but there was no sign of any frostbite...and Ruby nodded her head in answer to Yang's question. "Y-y-yeah." She stuttered. "Aura held up." It was a few slivers from dipping into the red danger zone, from breaking entirely...which spoke volumes of the severity of that freak out storm. That was not to say she was good, though.​

"What the hell's is goin' on?! Yang! Red Yang!? Hurt???"

"Yeah I'd like to know that too!" Nora chimed in from where she stood. Well, once she had calmed herself from the laughing fit that came after Qrow's wild entrance, at least.

"So would I!" Cinder agreed, stepping in and projecting heat out in waves with her magic to melt the icy floor and gradually heat up everybody in the room suffering from the chilling cold. "How did--"

"She inherited the power of the Winter Maiden." Raven stated in a matter of fact fashion, staring at her daughter with a serious and slightly sad expression. It was less a revelation than it might have been, given the elemental storm that just wrecked the place, but it was still confirmation. "Of course, it means more than just that. You don't get the power without..." She didn't say any more, just keeping her gaze focused on Yang. What Raven didn't say was not lost on Cinder or Nora, both their heads falling. Cinder had only met the councilwoman once, and briefly at that...while Nora had more than a few bones to pick with the woman, but still...that sucked to hear.

What had really gone down was actually worse than the fate they were imagining, but Raven didn't share that knowledge, or at least she didn't yet.

Ruby's face fell too. It wasn't...well she couldn't say she knew this Weiss all that well, but on some level it still felt like she had failed a partner. But she lifted her head back up quickly to meet her sister's gaze. Yang, on the other hand, did get to know her. To quite some degree. "Are you okay, though?" Ruby threw her sister's earlier question back at her.​

 

[MyrtenRose]

Meanwhile, Lupin was very discreetly trying to roll himself over the trunk and tiptoe just... away from this mess-

Raven landed right in front of him and he just... screamed as she saw a bird turn into a full grown woman.

"Oh hey." He greeted with supremely halfhearted surprise, having obviously figured that bird circling was more than just a bird. He was a punk, but he wasn't the kind of punk who threw shit at animals for no reason. "Been a minute, huh? Man, the sands of time sure hit you hard. My dad's hairline was receding by the time he hit 30, y'know. I like to think I got the good genes."

​

"That's not what matters here, okay!" Raven retorted, it taking a moderate amount of willpower to resist running a hand through her hair, suddenly feeling significantly more self conscious. "Besides I cut it shorter for personal reasons." She muttered, something that could have been easily missed by Emerald's louder voice drowning her out.​

"Serious question. Does it honestly look like any of us know what the hell that was about? Like, even a single one of us?" Emerald offered as an actual answer, albeit an indirect one. "Here it is in a nutshell: those guys back there were a bunch of killers and crooks from the kingdom. The cops weren't cops, they were Shadow Fang pretending to be cops. Honestly, I kinda thought the whole reason you came up to us was 'cause you had a new perspective on the situation and weren't just, I dunno, randomly wandering by looking for something to do. I mean, what are the odds of that?"

"...I have been scoping things out here, but for entirely different reasons. The ruckus you and they were causing just drew me in away from that, and lucky for you that it did! Though, yes, I do have a new perspective on some of that shit you all pulled me into, thanks for bringing it up."​

"Then I guess that means all eighty million of us plus Tyrian's friend can come back to the crappy loft we were living in before and figure out our next move there. Yayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy. And what, you don't think I'd end you if given motive?"

Raven raised an eyebrow.

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

There was no way any spoken response was going to get anywhere near actually exiting her mouth, actually becoming anything more than frantic and concerned thoughts, thanks to how extremely her teeth were chattering from the sheer cold feeling spreading throughout her...her everything. But despite that, Ruby refused to heed Yang's words to back up, about how it wasn't safe, and she gave the only response she could give at the moment. That being vigorous shaking of the head and moving in to hold on even more tightly. Something that was met by Yang's embrace tightening around her barely moments later and Ruby felt gladdened by the return hug. Everyone needed support from time to time, and this was no different. She was here to hold on however she could to help, just as she knew Yang would be if this situation was reversed. It was a good feeling.

Still, didn't do much for the freezing chills wracking her body.



When the raging mini-storm finally ceased, when the silence was broken, Raven exhaled in relief and actually let out a small smile before she backed up to give the two sisters a little bit of space. She'd be there to help but...hugs, embraces, she wasn't...those weren't...perhaps in time she might get used to those, but for now it only seemed painfully awkward. She simply looked on at the pair, eyes a bit wider than normal. In some ways it felt like she was not looking at Yang and Ruby, but Tai and Summer. But only in some ways. She opened her mouth as if to say something but whatever she was going to say was interrupted by the arrival of her brother.



His scythe kept him from sliding out the window like a total unlucky dumbass...and it was her reaching out to grab hold of him that pulled him sharply away from the window that gave him the chance to try and steady himself. It was only then that she lightly smacked him upside the head. "You idiot. How much did you have to drink, huh?" It could have been delivered way more scathingly, and that perhaps might have been expected of her, but in this case she was more teasing than anything else. She didn't really need an answer to her question anyway. Red Yang? Seriously??

Still, her mood returned to the seriousness of the situation with a grave expression emerging back onto her face.



She was undoubtedly freaking cold, just judging from how intensely she was shivering, but there was no sign of any frostbite...and Ruby nodded her head in answer to Yang's question. "Y-y-yeah." She stuttered. "Aura held up." It was a few slivers from dipping into the red danger zone, from breaking entirely...which spoke volumes of the severity of that freak out storm. That was not to say she was good, though.



"Yeah I'd like to know that too!" Nora chimed in from where she stood. Well, once she had calmed herself from the laughing fit that came after Qrow's wild entrance, at least.

"So would I!" Cinder agreed, stepping in and projecting heat out in waves with her magic to melt the icy floor and gradually heat up everybody in the room suffering from the chilling cold. "How did--"

"She inherited the power of the Winter Maiden." Raven stated in a matter of fact fashion, staring at her daughter with a serious and slightly sad expression. It was less a revelation than it might have been, given the elemental storm that just wrecked the place, but it was still confirmation. "Of course, it means more than just that. You don't get the power without..." She didn't say any more, just keeping her gaze focused on Yang. What Raven didn't say was not lost on Cinder or Nora, both their heads falling. Cinder had only met the councilwoman once, and briefly at that...while Nora had more than a few bones to pick with the woman, but still...that sucked to hear.

What had really gone down was actually worse than the fate they were imagining, but Raven didn't share that knowledge, or at least she didn't yet.

Ruby's face fell too. It wasn't...well she couldn't say she knew this Weiss all that well, but on some level it still felt like she had failed a partner. But she lifted her head back up quickly to meet her sister's gaze. Yang, on the other hand, did get to know her. To quite some degree. "Are you okay, though?" Ruby threw her sister's earlier question back at her.​

There was a shaky exhale of relief that Ruby was fine, but Yang wasn't meeting anyone's gaze, Ruby's included, her head hung as she let her other hand drop to rest on Ruby's shoulder as well, the prosthetic's metal chilled to the core as she said the quiet part out loud.

"I don't get the power without the maiden dying and being the last person in their thoughts. I know."

She didn't look up as she continued.

"I... I want to hope that means her plan worked, whatever it was. She was going after Ozpin directly, but.... Something, felt... wrong. Like it wasn't just Weiss' soul that touched mine" She muttered in a hoarse whisper.

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

"Then I guess that means all eighty million of us plus Tyrian's friend can come back to the crappy loft we were living in before and figure out our next move there. Yayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy. And what, you don't think I'd end you if given motive?"

Callie leered at Emerald, both hands going up as she shook her head.

"Course not. All I'm sayin, miss Emerald, is that I sure as shit do not have the fainest clue who the hell anyone is or what the hell anyone is doin in this hellhole of a city anymore. Talons workin with the police, clones or whatever is goin on here, and whoever the hell this 'he' is supposed to be-" she said with a pointed glance at Mercury "-that's got miss Neo trying to murder mr. Black with her eyeballs."

She lowered her hands. "I'm not used to not knowin things, Miss. When we don't know things in the Spiders, we do our damndest to change that. Wouldn't be any good at our business otherwise. So I s'ppose what I'm sayin is... I wanna know what this whole mess is. An' only partially so I can charge people money for it if they ask."

 

[MidwayLives]

Where are you even going?

"What does it look like? I'm gonna go beat the shit out of the rest of those gangsters. Until I can figure out where she's at..."

Punching and generally causing a ruckus is what lead him and Trifa on the road to meeting Fox.

Who's to say it wouldn't work again?

....Even if in Tyrian's heart, it was becoming abundantly clear from how he'd narrowly avoided dying to Fox and 'Jack' respectively...

He wasn't as strong as he truly wished he was.
​

You're a total mess, and not even a hot one. At least come back to the bar and let's figure out our next move, you know, rationally."

"I..."

Tyrian's tail drooped.

"...Alright. Yeah. Probably for the best.."
​

"I can tell you where Aurora does his business; never been too much of a secret, least to the spiders; just wasn't ever nothin' valuable either. No one in the city was dumb enough to try to hurt Aurora, not when he was in the boss' good graces. Course, now we know he was the boss, so... He's got a mansion, up on Velden street. I'll give you directions."

"I'm still not clicking with that. Aurora was the one behind all this-"

Tyrian's confusion/lack of understanding in regards to multiple personality disorder completely faded away.

He practically pounced over to Callie and hugged her.

"Yeah! I-I can go get her right now!"

All this time, maybe he'd gotten the wrong impression of Callie....​

 

[MidwayLives]

~~~Sometime after Tyrian's encounter with Jack~~~



Jack was the personality that'd come about as a result of the Boss desperately needing an outlet for his more 'unsavory' urges. Somethings simply couldn't be done in his position. There was too many possibilities it'd backfire and things would somehow get traced back to him. His frightinigly unhealthy levels of paranoia simply wouldn't allow that. But...who would care about a serial killer if he terrorized enough of the town? After a while the citizens would begin to grow desensitized and just accept the 'Mistral Murderer' as almost a fact of life. He'd come with the wind and his victims would never be seen again. Of course, any inspections by cops wanting to make a name for themselves or nosy members of the Ashes themselves often met swift ends. Whether by the Boss's own machinations or through the work of the Elite Guard. 'Jack' as the personality took to calling himself was a necessary evil in the Boss's eyes. He deplored the almost fetish-like way that the killer targeted faunus specifically more than any other group and the cruelty in which he did so.

...But what was the alternative in the Boss's eyes?

Give into his own twisted compulsions and blow away a decade's worth of work?

No.

Most people usually were too frightened or overwhelmed by Jack's brusque manner of abducing his-soon to be-victims to fight back. Which is why the one who did really...upset the murderer to say the least. Having fought with all he could muster against the killer who'd planned on kidnapping Tyrian like he had his friend, the scorpion faunus simply couldn't hack it. The killer's semblance was too powerful and he was just too angry to try and focus. All he'd gotten out of the encounter was a broken collarbone and slashing away some of the bandages that made up Jack's mask. If you were to ask Jack himself, that alone was more grievous than any genuine wound Tyrian could have left on his person. Much like Aurora didn't realize he was just another facet of the Boss rather than being his own person, Jack simply believed the Boss and Aurora to be little more than guardian angels. They were the ones who gave him food and shelter. All without needing to beg or plead at all. They even let him indulge himself as he pleased.

So, really, the idea of anyone actually fighting back was one Jack simply struggled to fathom.

Entering the mansion through a secret entrance in the back-better way to avoid suspicion/detection that way than if anybody caught a masked man covered in blood wandering into the Boss's mansion.-Jack clutched at the part of his face that Tyrian had exposed and swung his other arm outwards, knocking over furniture. "H-HE HURT ME....HE ALMOST EXPOSED MEEEEEeeeeeeeeeee!!" The killer couldn't believe it. All he'd wanted to do was take the boy back home with him, just like he'd done with his little spider friend.

...Speaking of which...

Trifa had been hidden away in a room tucked behind a disguised wall beneath the staircase. The room itself wasn't anything particularly wonderful to write home about. Most of the furniture was covered in dust and the chains binding Trifa's wrists and legs together looked worn and used. She obviously hadn't been Jack's first victim and if he'd had his way with Tyrian, she wouldn't have been the last. She'd tried appealing to the Boss to let her go if she promised never to speak of what'd happened to her. The only response she got was a cold one: No. It'd be too much of a headache to explain to him why 'she'd left him' and so the Boss simply asked Trifa to hold on a bit longer. Soon enough he'd get bored....the implication of what he'd do to her once that moment came was left unsaid but Trifa could feel it in her bones.

"Where is SHE?! Where is....that....BITCH?!" Jack shrieked as he angrily input the code and the wall slid open. Leaving Trifa face to face with the man who'd beaten her and kidnapped her if only to satiate his own sick desire for faunus. "You..." Jack seethed as he stomped towards Trifa who opened her mouth to plead for mercy...but she was too scared to say it. Grabbing a handful of her hair, Trifa yelped as her semblance went off. Warning of the imminent danger she was about to be put in. "Loook!!! .....Looook at what your friend....did to me!!" Pulling his hand back, Trifa could make out a tuft of pink hair and a crazed looking eye. Had this guy gone after Tyrian as well? Gripping onto Jack's hand in an attempt to pull it off her/let go of her hair, she yelled back.

"Wh-What did you do to him!? What did you do to him, you murder-happy son of a bitch?!"

Jack gasped and let go of Trifa's hair and pulled his fist back. As if he was going to slug her. Her semblance was warning her to move or to do anything but she just...couldn't! His fist came in....and stopped inches from her nose, the wind gently blowing over her face. "Heheheh....got ya." He pulled his hand back and sniffled as he placed his hand over his head again. "Didn't...get to take him too...Got away...But he got MY friend so mad at me! You saw what he did, didn't you?! You SAW what he did to ME!"

Trifa was by no means a therapist and trying to act if as this guy was speaking rationally sounded like the stupidest idea ever....But she really didn't want to be punched or kicked again. So, as strong as the urge was to tell him 'Good! You deserved it!' was, she bit it down and instead tried to put on the alluring voice she did for her clients. "...It's okay, honey. It's okay...come here..." She cooed and Jack tilted his head to the side. "Huh...?" Wasn't really much she could do bound as she was but..."C'mere, okay? Let me fix you up...I can do that if you want?" She encouraged. "Maybe your friend won't be so mad."

Jack looked from side to side. As if to check if there was anybody else here but the two of them.

"N...No....He...He doesn't like it when I'm...nice to you. He thinks you're....an animal."

That little bit of dehumanizing and racism aside, Trifa continued to try. "Well, he doesn't have to know I helped you. You can tell him you fixed it yourself. I bet he'd be so proud of you..." She complimented and Jack sniffled and sneered before eventually relenting. Coming closer, he knelt down close enough so Trifa could reach out to him. As he got as close as he did, Trifa felt her blood starting to run cold. She had him right where she wanted. It was a utility of her faunus nature that never really got much use. But if she gripped hard enough onto his face like she did to a wall and pulled...

...No...it wouldn't kill him. It'd only upset him more and give him even more of a reason to go after Tyrian. Because she'd hurt him.

"You're not gonna hurt me, are you?"

"...Huh?"

Jack looked at her, his one exposed eye wide. "I...said....You're not gonna hurt me, are you....?"

Again, as much as she would have liked to have said yes, she held her tongue. "No....honey, of course not." She reached out and began moving to try and tie the strands of his mask together to hide away that bit of his face. "I'm here to help you..." Jack said nothing and simply stared at her as she worked. She'd managed to make her own costume and gear. Fixing up a little tear in a mask wasn't going to be any problem. Still, she felt a massive sense of unease as he just stared at her quietly. Like a child sitting still for a picture. It almost scared her more than when he'd been ranting and raving seconds ago. "...So...Your friend thinks I'm an animal, huh?"

"Yes."

"....Do you think that?"

"....." Jack didn't answer.

"....It's okay if you do. You'd be surprised at how often I hear it-"

"No....I don't."

Huh. That was surprising.

"....Do you know why he does?" She figured it couldn't hurt to ask.

Jack's breathing picked up and she could feel him start to shake slightly.

"He was sc...scared of you....growing up...here...alone..."

Trifa really didn't know what to say to that. It could all have been this lunatic's deranged rambling but the idea that somebody had been scared of faunus as a kid and grew up into an adult who hated them saddened her. "Okay, all done." She leaned back and Jack clutched at his mask. It was in one piece again. "It's all better....He won't be mad anymore..." Trifa didn't appreciate being beaten up and kidnapped but she couldn't deny that there was something just...odd about seeing what she assumed to be a grown man being so overjoyed over something so minor. Still, he wasn't threatening to punch her anymore so maybe it'd be best if she didn't push her luck.


She pushed her luck.

"Hey...what's your name?"

"Huh?" He looked at her again with that same puzzled energy coming off him. As if he'd never been asked that before. "Your name, honey. What is it?" Trifa repeated and Jack stared at her without saying a word. Had she stepped over some arbitrary line? Was he going to lose his shit again?

"Jack....Is what I...call myself.....It's a nice name."

Trifa sighed in relief. "Yeah...I think it is too. Listen, Jack. Since I helped you and all...could you maybe take these off? They're kinda hurting my wrists." She raised her cuffed hands up so he could see and Jack once again quirked his head. Another weird tic she noticed about this guy.

"No."

"A...Are you sure...?"

Just then her semblance flared and she felt him place one of his gloved hands atop her left thigh.

"I...I can't do that. He'd make me...get rid of you if I did. You'd tell others about him...."

Trifa felt her semblance telling her danger was near and she could feel it alright. "W-Who?"

"My friend."

Jack slid his hand up a bit more on her thigh.

"...But that's okay....isn't it? You can stay here with me-" Jack's eyes met Trifa's and in that moment, she hoped the guy felt the fear ebbing off her.

He pulled his hand back and stood up.

"...Stay here."

He murmured under his breath as he turned to leave.

Trifa slumped against the wall. She was terrified out of her mind and unsure as to what the hell had just happened there. Had he...felt like she'd rejected him? The way he talked about this 'friend' had it been in the guy in the suit she'd talked to? Or that pink haired kid who brought her food(which she always rejected)?

So many questions and nobody willing to answer them.

Still, she had thing to hope for.

"...Stay safe, Tyrian."

~~~After the Boss's defeat~~~

After a while she'd started to lose track of time.

How long had she been stuck here? Had it been a week yet?

How come nobody had checked up on her lately? Maybe 'Jack' had gotten in trouble or something.

"Yeah, you're not allowed to visit the animal this week..." Trifa scoffed.

The cuffs had left her wrists and ankles bloody. If she ever got out of here, walking out was going to be rough.

...If.

*noises of destruction, cursing, and more*

What the hell-What was going on out there? Had Jack come back? Was he pissed off about something again?

No...she couldn't hear any wind.

"TRIFA!!! TRIFA, WHERE ARE YOU?!"

That voice...it couldn't have been...

"Tyrian?? Tyrian!!!"

The voice paused for a moment or two...

"Trifa??? Are you here?!"

Had he actually managed to do it? Did he defeat that mad man and find his way here to save her? What kind of shape was he in? Had he required help? All kinds of questions were bustling around her noggin and it wasn't until she heard the sound of a keypad being smashed and the door sliding open that she saw him standing there. His hand crudely wrapped up in torn off clothing to try and staunch the bleeding and burn marks across his body from the Boss's automated defenses. He looked like he'd been through the wringer and back. "Trifa...." He gasped. The two looked at eachother until Tyrian moved to hold his friend in a hug which was warmly returned.

At least up to a certain point.

"Ow!!" Tyrian yelped.

"The hell did you punch me for?!"

"I-I thought you might have been-"

"What?? Trying to save you?? That's why I'm here!!" Tyrian screeched.

"I thought you were Fox, okay?!" Trifa yelled back.

"Why would he-I-"

Whatever. It didn't matter. He'd found her and that was enough for him.

~~~MTEN's apartment~~~

Trifa had managed to get her costume back and after clinging to Tyrian piggyback style, she plopped onto the floor and looked at the bandages around her wrists and ankles.

"So, uh, hi."

She gave a little wave to Emerald, Mercury, and Neo.

"I've always wanted to meet Tyrian's friends....Just wish it'd been under better circumstances...."​

 

[MyrtenRose]

There was a shaky exhale of relief that Ruby was fine, but Yang wasn't meeting anyone's gaze, Ruby's included, her head hung as she let her other hand drop to rest on Ruby's shoulder as well, the prosthetic's metal chilled to the core as she said the quiet part out loud.

"I don't get the power without the maiden dying and being the last person in their thoughts. I know."

She didn't look up as she continued.

"I... I want to hope that means her plan worked, whatever it was. She was going after Ozpin directly, but.... Something, felt... wrong. Like it wasn't just Weiss' soul that touched mine" She muttered in a hoarse whisper.

Ruby didn’t exactly know how to respond to that piece of information, truth be told. Her gaze momentarily flickered away from looking at Yang even if it went unnoticed from her sister’s perspective, trying to process that. Many thoughts came from that hoarse whisper but before any of them could be voiced, Raven spoke up in her place. “I wish to speak to my daughter alone...if she is willing to oblige that request, that is.” Ruby blinked, briefly eyeing the former bandit maiden before her head turned back to look at her sister and checked to see if she was alright with that idea.

“Yang?”​

 

[Gus Gungus]

His scythe kept him from sliding out the window like a total unlucky dumbass...and it was her reaching out to grab hold of him that pulled him sharply away from the window that gave him the chance to try and steady himself. It was only then that she lightly smacked him upside the head. "You idiot. How much did you have to drink, huh?" It could have been delivered way more scathingly, and that perhaps might have been expected of her, but in this case she was more teasing than anything else. She didn't really need an answer to her question anyway. Red Yang? Seriously??

Still, her mood returned to the seriousness of the situation with a grave expression emerging back onto her face.

"Enough to whoop your ass." He retorted slightly less nonsensically, the sting of her percussive maintenance helping wake him up a bit more at the very least.

"She inherited the power of the Winter Maiden." Raven stated in a matter of fact fashion, staring at her daughter with a serious and slightly sad expression. It was less a revelation than it might have been, given the elemental storm that just wrecked the place, but it was still confirmation. "Of course, it means more than just that. You don't get the power without..." She didn't say any more, just keeping her gaze focused on Yang. What Raven didn't say was not lost on Cinder or Nora, both their heads falling. Cinder had only met the councilwoman once, and briefly at that...while Nora had more than a few bones to pick with the woman, but still...that sucked to hear.

There was a shaky exhale of relief that Ruby was fine, but Yang wasn't meeting anyone's gaze, Ruby's included, her head hung as she let her other hand drop to rest on Ruby's shoulder as well, the prosthetic's metal chilled to the core as she said the quiet part out loud.

"I don't get the power without the maiden dying and being the last person in their thoughts. I know."

She didn't look up as she continued.

"I... I want to hope that means her plan worked, whatever it was. She was going after Ozpin directly, but.... Something, felt... wrong. Like it wasn't just Weiss' soul that touched mine" She muttered in a hoarse whisper.

Ruby didn’t exactly know how to respond to that piece of information, truth be told. Her gaze momentarily flickered away from looking at Yang even if it went unnoticed from her sister’s perspective, trying to process that. Many thoughts came from that hoarse whisper but before any of them could be voiced, Raven spoke up in her place. “I wish to speak to my daughter alone...if she is willing to oblige that request, that is.” Ruby blinked, briefly eyeing the former bandit maiden before her head turned back to look at her sister and checked to see if she was alright with that idea.

“Yang?”

What followed was a period of mental whiplash more intense than anyone under the influence had any business trying to keep up with, something like 3 or 4 different giant sized pennies dropping on Qrow all at once and his eyebrows furrowed like twin escalators rising up the length of his face as he realized some stuff.

"...Oh." He was staring at his niece's expression with brows creased and mouth a set frown of concentration, like it was a paragraph written in a language he learned in school but had forgotten much of. Obviously there were many types of bonds and connections, but it took a special kind to facilitate a transferal of maiden energies, for Yang to have been the very last person in the councilwoman's thoughts after barely a handful of months knowing each other. And that look on her face... maybe he was drunk, maybe he was just reaching, or maybe the depth of familiarity Qrow had with her dad and just how similar they were was playing tricks on his mind, but Yang's weirdo behavior after they came through the portal earlier was beginning to make a certain kind of sense, and there was a shade of hurt and lack of closure there that came from a place that—if not the same—at least lived in the same neighbourhood and went to the same gym as Tai's had once. After...

"Oh. Firecracker, I had no idea you and Weiss were anything... that Weiss. Well, any Weiss. Seriously??? That Weiss??? Look, if I'd known I would've..."

The thought ended in uncomfortable silence. Done what, exactly? Showed up and been useless five minutes after the fact? Screwed up trying to get his nieces through this in one piece (physically and emotionally), again? A soft, frustrated hiss of air escaped through his teeth as Harbinger collapsed into its compacted form, the huntsman stowing it under his shoulder cowl and glancing at his sister as he pondered what exactly he could do that was actually useful right now.

"...Maybe I'm off the mark. Either way, we'll get you something to eat and drink. And let the owner know everything's fine, one of us just gets desert blizzard causing night terrors sometimes. If there's anything you wanna talk about after..." He trailed off more intentionally this time, gently hooking Ruby's hood and moving to drag her from the room, likewise hitching up Cinder and Nora to his tow truck along the way. The honest truth was, for as much as he might've wanted to help and as much as the decision of whether to give Raven any solo time was one he might've left in Yang's hands ordinarily, she was absolutely the most qualified person in the room to help Yang through what was happening right now.

She'd lived it.

Kind of.​

 

[Gus Gungus]

Raven raised an eyebrow.

Between Mercury bullying her into staying humble and Emerald's 'adopt me' vibes making her realize what she missed out on, it was right there and then that the duo staked their claim to credit for any and all future developments pertaining to Raven being a less terrible mother. You're WELCOME, Yang.

Callie leered at Emerald, both hands going up as she shook her head.

"Course not. All I'm sayin, miss Emerald, is that I sure as shit do not have the fainest clue who the hell anyone is or what the hell anyone is doin in this hellhole of a city anymore. Talons workin with the police, clones or whatever is goin on here, and whoever the hell this 'he' is supposed to be-" she said with a pointed glance at Mercury "-that's got miss Neo trying to murder mr. Black with her eyeballs."

She lowered her hands. "I'm not used to not knowin things, Miss. When we don't know things in the Spiders, we do our damndest to change that. Wouldn't be any good at our business otherwise. So I s'ppose what I'm sayin is... I wanna know what this whole mess is. An' only partially so I can charge people money for it if they ask."

Emerald, secretive person by nature that she was, just gave a weary sigh. "Sorry, Cal. It's such a crazy story anyone you tried to sell it to'd prolly ask for a refund and never come back. But it is top-secret, fate-of-kingdoms stuff. We can't just spill our guts about it 'cause we like you."

"I mean... is there a good reason we can't?"

Emerald slooooooowly turned to face a Mercury who'd been more quiet than usual, affixing his dubious look with a blank, deadpan stare.

"...Um... Salem asked us not to?"

"Sure, but it might help folks out here survive and she kinda sucks ass and sent our friend off to get mulched as far as I'm concerned." Inexperienced and unprepared though they might've been, the rest of them at least had had enough natural talent and skill that they stood a fighting shot in all this; Roman had been so out of his depth it wasn't even funny.

"...Huh."

~~~MTEN's apartment~~~

Trifa had managed to get her costume back and after clinging to Tyrian piggyback style, she plopped onto the floor and looked at the bandages around her wrists and ankles.

"So, uh, hi."

She gave a little wave to Emerald, Mercury, and Neo.

"I've always wanted to meet Tyrian's friends....Just wish it'd been under better circumstances...."

A solid 40 minutes after they got back...



"...and so there ya have it! The whole story, start to finish, nothing left out!"

Well, she liked keeping her secrets; Spilling other people's was actually kinda fun. Thus it was that Salem's millennium-old, shape-of-the-kingdoms defining secret was revealed to the world (or at least an info broker, Tyrian's hooker friend and whatever the hell Lupin was supposed to be) by two people who probably never should've been trusted with it in the first place. Not one detail was spared as far as they were aware of, the whole thing brought to life by illusions where necessary, and while she looked drained she had just enough energy left in her to take her actors (Neo and Mercury) by the hand and give their final pantomime bow to the extremely weird half-circle of people sitting around their shitty apartment that wasn't even really furnished.

"Dude, what the hell? How come I played every character who died?"

"Shut up Mercury."

"Neo killed me like what, seven times? Some of those were rough."

"Shut up, Mercury. Anyway!" She sat down on a crate and clapped her hands together with exhausted cheer. "That's the gist, but bird mom here might have some updates to make, I dunno. We stayed here, Tyrian's team scattered to the four winds, and her and the rest of the clones went on to Atlas to continue the adventure or whatever."​

 

[MidwayLives]

"...and so there ya have it! The whole story, start to finish, nothing left out!"

Trifa clapped her hands.

Then winced because her wrists and ankles still hurt incredibly bad. To the point that Tyrian had to carry her on the trip back here.

Still it hadn't taken much for her to be intrigued. She'd only ever gotten bits and pieces from Tyrian: he hadn't spoken of his team or friends much when they'd finally met up again/she built a prosthetic for his tail. These guys had apparently worked to uncover that the leader of the gang pulling Mistral's strings had also been the same guy who'd kidnapped her. Or something like that. She really wanted a nap come to think of it.

"Well, I'm onboard."

"Huh? Onboard for what?"

Trifa gestured around the room.

"For wherever we go from here. Duh."

Tyrian frowned.

"...I dunno where we go from here, Trifa. Fox was a dead end and I still haven't gotten any closer to finding out who..." His tail draped itself across the floor and he huffed. "I guess we'll figure it out." Tyrian then found himself pushed over onto his side by Trifa who again immediately winced at the effort. "Owowow....Ugh, look, Tyrian, Tyrian's friends..." She assumed everyone gathered was a friend of Tyrian's. It was nicer to think that way rather then them just tolerating Tyrian's anger/mental issues. "I got left behind in a hotel room and kidnapped by a serial killer and thrown in some kinda dungeon for..." She counted on her fingers...before foregoing it almost immediately. "My wounds are gonna heal and whether it's sticking around here for a bit more or heading out, I'm ready for it."​

 

[MyrtenRose]

"Enough to whoop your ass." He retorted slightly less nonsensically, the sting of her percussive maintenance helping wake him up a bit more at the very least.

"You can certainly try, little brother."​

"...Maybe I'm off the mark. Either way, we'll get you something to eat and drink. And let the owner know everything's fine, one of us just gets desert blizzard causing night terrors sometimes. If there's anything you wanna talk about after..." He trailed off more intentionally this time, gently hooking Ruby's hood and moving to drag her from the room, likewise hitching up Cinder and Nora to his tow truck along the way. The honest truth was, for as much as he might've wanted to help and as much as the decision of whether to give Raven any solo time was one he might've left in Yang's hands ordinarily, she was absolutely the most qualified person in the room to help Yang through what was happening right now.

She'd lived it.

Kind of.

Despite their teasing, when Qrow took it upon himself to hitch the scarlet speedster, the living lightning bolt and the avatar to Branwen tow truck services, Raven gratefully nodded at him, making a mental note to thank him later. How, she didn't quite know. Ordinarily she'd have bought him a drink, but she didn't want to be seen as feeding his bad habit, but...well it seemed he was going to keep doing it no matter what she said about it, so maybe...ehh she could concern herself with that later. Raven waited until all of them were gone and out of sight before she pulled up a halfway-defrosted chair, dropped it down by the bed and sat backwards in it, arms crossed over the top of the chair as she stared at her daughter. "Yang, I..."

"Listen, I realize I fucked up a lot of things. Either let down or used every single person who gave me their trust. Summer, Tai, my brother, Vernal, Ozpin...you. I was a blind, selfish bastard, and it hurt people. Badly. I don't...I don't want that to happen to anyone else because of me. I don't want to fuck anything else up. Especially not with...family. I don't know if we'll ever get there, us, but I'd...like to." It felt really strange and different to admit that to Yang, but it was a good kind of different. "I'm wiser now, and I don't plan on wasting it." Raven stated, followed by a sigh.

"So, while I don't know if it would really be of help to you, here, now...I refuse to lie to you. You've more than earned the truth. So...that's why I'm telling you that...you were right. There was more than just one soul that touched yours there. You know all about my semblance, how I can bond to people...it doesn't just let me teleport to them. The connection runs deeper than that, lets me know when they're in danger, or under extreme stress, or dealing with tough shit. That's how I knew you needed aid on that train, when Neo was about to finish you off. And ever since Weiss stole the maiden power from me, where I traded out one crimson eye for a pale blue one-" Raven gestured to her face. "-a weird connection exists between us because of what she did that day." She scowled.

"I can't say I'm fond of it, but it's there. It gave me insight into a lot of what happened there. I saw it, felt it. That dark presence you felt, the other soul...it was Oz. The one of this world, I mean. The one filling in for the Salem we know back home. He's taken Weiss as his new body. And in the middle of all that, she did die, but it was only for a short time. She's still around, but for how much longer...I just can't say. I don't know." She frowned in discomfort. "You didn't ask for it, you may not have wanted it but she managed to do good in sending some of her power to you and keeping it out of his hands. You deserve the magic way more than I ever did." Raven smiled, though it didn't quite reach her eyes.

"Like it or not, it's within you now. A part of her is in you now, just...just like she is with me. And if you ever need help with it, advice on how to control it, to master it...well, I lived as a maiden for years. I can help you with that, if you want me to, da--Yang." She hastily corrected, briefly looking sheepish before she recomposed herself and fell silent, staring deeply into Yang's eyes.​

 

[MyrtenRose]

"Sure, but it might help folks out here survive and she kinda sucks ass and sent our friend off to get mulched as far as I'm concerned." Inexperienced and unprepared though they might've been, the rest of them at least had had enough natural talent and skill that they stood a fighting shot in all this; Roman had been so out of his depth it wasn't even funny.

"...Huh."

"Shut up, Mercury. Anyway!" She sat down on a crate and clapped her hands together with exhausted cheer. "That's the gist, but bird mom here might have some updates to make, I dunno. We stayed here, Tyrian's team scattered to the four winds, and her and the rest of the clones went on to Atlas to continue the adventure or whatever."

"The so-called adventure didn't go so great, but you could probably guess that much. Your team-" Her gaze shot over to Tyrian. "-Dunno where your leader ended up but well, your small friend in red and the big guy in green eventually reunited with us and shared what happened to them. She traveled with Vernal for a time until they both got attacked in Argus, complete ambush. Cinder had a knee dislocated, nearly broken entirely, and came within an inch to having her story end in some random alleyway, her throat slit open by a blade. It didn't happen and she got saved by the big guy and others and managed to make her way to Atlas. Vernal was assumed lost in that ambush, taken by--oh yeah, forgot to mention. The Cinder I know more about, the bitch from my world, she's here too. Grimm arm and all. Stole the spring maiden's power from V like she tried with me. So, that's not great. A lot more shit happened, not much of it better, and don't get me started on Weiss stealing the maiden power from me either-" Raven continued on for a while longer, describing what she could up until she left Atlas.

"-and so here I am, looking to get a few people for my reasons and then I got roped into trying to help you with your mess." ​

Trifa clapped her hands.

Then winced because her wrists and ankles still hurt incredibly bad. To the point that Tyrian had to carry her on the trip back here.

Still it hadn't taken much for her to be intrigued. She'd only ever gotten bits and pieces from Tyrian: he hadn't spoken of his team or friends much when they'd finally met up again/she built a prosthetic for his tail. These guys had apparently worked to uncover that the leader of the gang pulling Mistral's strings had also been the same guy who'd kidnapped her. Or something like that. She really wanted a nap come to think of it.

"Well, I'm onboard."

"Huh? Onboard for what?"

Trifa gestured around the room.

"For wherever we go from here. Duh."

Tyrian frowned.

"...I dunno where we go from here, Trifa. Fox was a dead end and I still haven't gotten any closer to finding out who..." His tail draped itself across the floor and he huffed. "I guess we'll figure it out." Tyrian then found himself pushed over onto his side by Trifa who again immediately winced at the effort. "Owowow....Ugh, look, Tyrian, Tyrian's friends..." She assumed everyone gathered was a friend of Tyrian's. It was nicer to think that way rather then them just tolerating Tyrian's anger/mental issues. "I got left behind in a hotel room and kidnapped by a serial killer and thrown in some kinda dungeon for..." She counted on her fingers...before foregoing it almost immediately. "My wounds are gonna heal and whether it's sticking around here for a bit more or heading out, I'm ready for it."​

"Well, if you want to get out of town, I would recommend Vacuo, yes. Perfect spot for burgeoning criminals to flourish, and pretty sure that's where the group would head next. Although...there are big things going on here too. I'm not entirely sure of what, but back there...the officer forced to try and take me down, she's...she's from my world too. Being forced or coerced somehow into obeying them, and she hinted at something big and bad going down soon, courtesy of the Shadow Fang." She looked towards Tyrian and Trifa in particular. "Might want to stick around for that. Not that it's much my business what you all decide to do." She shrugged her shoulders. Is this what it felt like when Qrow fell into adopting that bunch of youngsters from teams RWBY and JNPR...​

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

"Oh. Firecracker, I had no idea you and Weiss were anything... that Weiss. Well, any Weiss. Seriously??? That Weiss??? Look, if I'd known I would've..."

The thought ended in uncomfortable silence. Done what, exactly? Showed up and been useless five minutes after the fact? Screwed up trying to get his nieces through this in one piece (physically and emotionally), again? A soft, frustrated hiss of air escaped through his teeth as Harbinger collapsed into its compacted form, the huntsman stowing it under his shoulder cowl and glancing at his sister as he pondered what exactly he could do that was actually useful right now.

She groaned, just how mortified she was at the implications of that sentence and how it was just being announced to the room like that not actually close to overpowering everything else she was feeling but absolutely jockeying for a position in the rat race that was Yang's emotional state. "Oh my gods it wasn't like that!" Yang all but whined as she buried her face in her hands. "Or at least, I, not on purpose, and it doesn't matter anyways I, dammit- she's gone so- I just... I should've done more, or...."

She didn't reply when Raven asked if she could talk alone, just adjusted her arms so her face was pressed against her forearms as they rested against her knees as she listened to everyone start to pad out. That much she was grateful for. Whatever else she was feeling, being stared at by literally everyone like she was a burning wreck on the roadside absolutely wasn't helping, especially after that angle got shoved into her face; her cheeks were burning red enough that the tears that had frozen against them had finally started to thaw.

She felt like... it was like she was five again. Throwing some fit over something, her parents watching her with the sort of disapproval that they knew she was supposed to be better than this, stronger than this, and she knew it too. There was way too much going on for her to be going to pieces, there were way too many people counting on her for her to be anything but her best. Weiss herself would probably have a god damn conniption if she knew how Yang was reacting to what she'd literally, essentially, told her what was going to happen, that this was gonna happen.

Gods, she could've killed Ruby.

Despite their teasing, when Qrow took it upon himself to hitch the scarlet speedster, the living lightning bolt and the avatar to Branwen tow truck services, Raven gratefully nodded at him, making a mental note to thank him later. How, she didn't quite know. Ordinarily she'd have bought him a drink, but she didn't want to be seen as feeding his bad habit, but...well it seemed he was going to keep doing it no matter what she said about it, so maybe...ehh she could concern herself with that later. Raven waited until all of them were gone and out of sight before she pulled up a halfway-defrosted chair, dropped it down by the bed and sat backwards in it, arms crossed over the top of the chair as she stared at her daughter. "Yang, I..."

"Listen, I realize I fucked up a lot of things. Either let down or used every single person who gave me their trust. Summer, Tai, my brother, Vernal, Ozpin...you. I was a blind, selfish bastard, and it hurt people. Badly. I don't...I don't want that to happen to anyone else because of me. I don't want to fuck anything else up. Especially not with...family. I don't know if we'll ever get there, us, but I'd...like to." It felt really strange and different to admit that to Yang, but it was a good kind of different. "I'm wiser now, and I don't plan on wasting it." Raven stated, followed by a sigh.

"So, while I don't know if it would really be of help to you, here, now...I refuse to lie to you. You've more than earned the truth. So...that's why I'm telling you that...you were right. There was more than just one soul that touched yours there. You know all about my semblance, how I can bond to people...it doesn't just let me teleport to them. The connection runs deeper than that, lets me know when they're in danger, or under extreme stress, or dealing with tough shit. That's how I knew you needed aid on that train, when Neo was about to finish you off. And ever since Weiss stole the maiden power from me, where I traded out one crimson eye for a pale blue one-" Raven gestured to her face. "-a weird connection exists between us because of what she did that day." She scowled.

"I can't say I'm fond of it, but it's there. It gave me insight into a lot of what happened there. I saw it, felt it. That dark presence you felt, the other soul...it was Oz. The one of this world, I mean. The one filling in for the Salem we know back home. He's taken Weiss as his new body. And in the middle of all that, she did die, but it was only for a short time. She's still around, but for how much longer...I just can't say. I don't know." She frowned in discomfort. "You didn't ask for it, you may not have wanted it but she managed to do good in sending some of her power to you and keeping it out of his hands. You deserve the magic way-

"...oh..."

....

"Wait, WHAT?!"

There were like... four different things in those words that Yang's brain was trying to process. Her mom trying to reach out to her in a finally not shitty way, that she really did need some sort of help with these powers if she didn't want to hurt anyone, the fact that if Raven's semblance really did work that way then all these years she knew yang was looking for her and just didn't bother, but one of them leaped far to the forefront of all of them as she jolted to her feet right in the middle of the bed, her hands gripping the side of her head as she stared at the opposite wall.

"She's.... she's...!?"

Weiss was alive.

She was alive, and almost definitely wished she wasn't.

The full weight of just what the situation was crashed on top of Yang like so many bricks, and her hands gripped at her hair on either side as a sense of horror far more insidious than the grief she'd thought she was supposed to be feeling supplanted everything else.

"...We... we have to do something then! We can't just leave her like that, we...you said you have a connection with her!" She finally whirled towards Raven, an almost manic frown on her face as she jumped off the bed and gripped her shoulders, seemingly unaware of the winds picking up around her. "well, do that! Portal to her! We have to... Well I dunno, but doing nothing isn't it!"

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

View attachment 835845

Between Mercury bullying her into staying humble and Emerald's 'adopt me' vibes making her realize what she missed out on, it was right there and then that the duo staked their claim to credit for any and all future developments pertaining to Raven being a less terrible mother. You're WELCOME, Yang.





Emerald, secretive person by nature that she was, just gave a weary sigh. "Sorry, Cal. It's such a crazy story anyone you tried to sell it to'd prolly ask for a refund and never come back. But it is top-secret, fate-of-kingdoms stuff. We can't just spill our guts about it 'cause we like you."

"I mean... is there a good reason we can't?"

Emerald slooooooowly turned to face a Mercury who'd been more quiet than usual, affixing his dubious look with a blank, deadpan stare.

"...Um... Salem asked us not to?"

"Sure, but it might help folks out here survive and she kinda sucks ass and sent our friend off to get mulched as far as I'm concerned." Inexperienced and unprepared though they might've been, the rest of them at least had had enough natural talent and skill that they stood a fighting shot in all this; Roman had been so out of his depth it wasn't even funny.

"...Huh."

View attachment 835862View attachment 835863







A solid 40 minutes after they got back...

View attachment 835868

"...and so there ya have it! The whole story, start to finish, nothing left out!"

Well, she liked keeping her secrets; Spilling other people's was actually kinda fun. Thus it was that Salem's millennium-old, shape-of-the-kingdoms defining secret was revealed to the world (or at least an info broker, Tyrian's hooker friend and whatever the hell Lupin was supposed to be) by two people who probably never should've been trusted with it in the first place. Not one detail was spared as far as they were aware of, the whole thing brought to life by illusions where necessary, and while she looked drained she had just enough energy left in her to take her actors (Neo and Mercury) by the hand and give their final pantomime bow to the extremely weird half-circle of people sitting around their shitty apartment that wasn't even really furnished.

"Dude, what the hell? How come I played every character who died?"

"Shut up Mercury."

"Neo killed me like what, seven times? Some of those were rough."

"Shut up, Mercury. Anyway!" She sat down on a crate and clapped her hands together with exhausted cheer. "That's the gist, but bird mom here might have some updates to make, I dunno. We stayed here, Tyrian's team scattered to the four winds, and her and the rest of the clones went on to Atlas to continue the adventure or whatever."​

There was an additional Neo clapping silently along with Trifa as the other one gave a lavish bow, a feathered cap manifesting on her head slowly so she could doff it in the process and then toss it to the illusionary Neo, who caught it with a surprised gasp that turned into a blush as Neo came up from her bow and gave herself a coquettish wink, before she giggled and let both illusions drift off as she hopped into one of the beanbags they had sitting around to land in it with a quiet thumph, her palms resting on her knees as she gave Merc a level smirk and a one shoulder shrug at his complaints.

Callie and Lupin were... less enthused. Callie had listened with rapt, slightly bemused attention from the start, and by the end she was grasping both temples and staring off into space, trying everything in her power to poke at least one surefire hole in the story and coming up unfortunately short. As an info broker, you got a lotta info, and a lot of it was junk. The problem was even some info she assumed was junk was now fitting into everything else she knew far neater than she would've liked.

Lupin, for his part, had obstinately just... shut his eyes and covered his ears about ten minutes in. He didn't wanna know. Not only that, he didn't even wanna know what it was he didn't wanna know. about anyone or anything.

"The so-called adventure didn't go so great, but you could probably guess that much. Your team-" Her gaze shot over to Tyrian. "-Dunno where your leader ended up but well, your small friend in red and the big guy in green eventually reunited with us and shared what happened to them. She traveled with Vernal for a time until they both got attacked in Argus, complete ambush. Cinder had a knee dislocated, nearly broken entirely, and came within an inch to having her story end in some random alleyway, her throat slit open by a blade. It didn't happen and she got saved by the big guy and others and managed to make her way to Atlas. Vernal was assumed lost in that ambush, taken by--oh yeah, forgot to mention. The Cinder I know more about, the bitch from my world, she's here too. Grimm arm and all. Stole the spring maiden's power from V like she tried with me. So, that's not great. A lot more shit happened, not much of it better, and don't get me started on Weiss stealing the maiden power from me either-" Raven continued on for a while longer, describing what she could up until she left Atlas.

"-and so here I am, looking to get a few people for my reasons and then I got roped into trying to help you with your mess."



"Well, if you want to get out of town, I would recommend Vacuo, yes. Perfect spot for burgeoning criminals to flourish, and pretty sure that's where the group would head next. Although...there are big things going on here too. I'm not entirely sure of what, but back there...the officer forced to try and take me down, she's...she's from my world too. Being forced or coerced somehow into obeying them, and she hinted at something big and bad going down soon, courtesy of the Shadow Fang." She looked towards Tyrian and Trifa in particular. "Might want to stick around for that. Not that it's much my business what you all decide to do." She shrugged her shoulders. Is this what it felt like when Qrow fell into adopting that bunch of youngsters from teams RWBY and JNPR...​

Raven's additions had Neo slowly slouching farther and farther into the beanbag, her expression drifting into a sullen growl at more than a few of the names she'd mentioned and at the idea they were just supposed to.... run away. She levelled her eyes back on Mercury, quietly daring him to agree with Raven.

 

[MidwayLives]

"The so-called adventure didn't go so great, but you could probably guess that much. Your team-" Her gaze shot over to Tyrian. "-Dunno where your leader ended up but well, your small friend in red and the big guy in green eventually reunited with us and shared what happened to them. She traveled with Vernal for a time until they both got attacked in Argus, complete ambush. Cinder had a knee dislocated, nearly broken entirely, and came within an inch to having her story end in some random alleyway, her throat slit open by a blade. It didn't happen and she got saved by the big guy and others and managed to make her way to Atlas.

Tyrian frowned

Even in the midst of his quest of looking for Ichabod's murderer, he hadn't forgotten his teammates.

He just felt he wasn't put together enough to ever go back to them.

....If he'd ever be.
​

"Well, if you want to get out of town, I would recommend Vacuo, yes. Perfect spot for burgeoning criminals to flourish, and pretty sure that's where the group would head next. Although...there are big things going on here too. I'm not entirely sure of what, but back there...the officer forced to try and take me down, she's...she's from my world too. Being forced or coerced somehow into obeying them, and she hinted at something big and bad going down soon, courtesy of the Shadow Fang." S

"I KNEW they were up to something here!"

"Well, everybody knew that much, Tyrian. Fox wasn't just hanging around here for no reason..."

"Yeah...well..." Tyrian grumbled, the wind taken out of his sails.
​

There was an additional Neo clapping silently along with Trifa as the other one gave a lavish bow, a feathered cap manifesting on her head slowly so she could doff it in the process and then toss it to the illusionary Neo, who caught it with a surprised gasp that turned into a blush as Neo came up from her bow and gave herself a coquettish wink, before she giggled and let both illusions drift off as she hopped into one of the beanbags they had sitting around to land in it with a quiet thumph, her palms resting on her knees as she gave Merc a level smirk and a one shoulder shrug at his complaints.

Tyrian got nudged again as Trifa giggled at Neo's little display.

"Your friend has a pretty cool sermblance."

"Yeah, I guess so...She's actually the one who fought the guy who kidnapped you."

"No way, she fought the dude responsible for all those murders?"

"Yeah-"

"That's so badass!" Trifa exclaimed as she looked towards Neo. "Hey, thanks from the bottom of my heart! That guy..." Trifa paused. "He was a uh, a case and a half..." ​