Fandom Distorted Mirror [IC]

[Gus Gungus]

"Grrrr!!!"

His tail swung for an overhead strike, missing Mercury entirely and instead smashing the chunk of ground in front of them to pieces. He'd struck with such force actually that bits of debris flew here and there as the faunus huffed and puffed. "You wanna get stuff off your chest while we're doing this? Fine!"

Tyrian lunged in for a swipe.

"I've always thought I could take you, Black."

If Tyrian's wounded response to his words registered to anything other than contempt, it didn't show. Fact was, Callows had been one of the most dangerous people at Beacon, student or faculty. He came from a life of real fighting and it showed. His reflexes were like a predator's in the undergrowth. That tail packed more raw power than either of his legs did individually, and the way he deployed it in a fight was a huge 'fuck you' to anyone who came equipped with the standard issue number of limbs for a bipedal humanoid. Anyone who took him lightly in a fight was more than likely a goddamned irrelevant idiot, something this world's Qrow Branwen could probably have attested to if he wasn't busy being a goddamned irrelevant idiot.

A fight between someone like him and someone like Mercury, the gladiator and the assassin, was always going to escalate to its most intense state in a matter of seconds. There came a point where Goodwitch had just stopped letting them pair up together. It was the right call. Someone was going to get hurt.

Mercury was pretty confident that wasn't him.

"I know you have. Thing is? I've seen you at your best."



While Mercury tended to keep that top shelf locked up and out of reach, it was a state Tyrian surrendered himself to, a symphony of slashes and stabs he worked himself up to in the throes of combat. Wild, ferocious, unpredictable.

Unless you were someone like the technique-obsessed son of the late Marcus Black.

Unless you'd seen as much of Tyrian fighting at his best as Mercury had. Above all else, there was one key statistic in the tale of the tape here he considered more crucial than any of the rest.

The only man to ever see Mercury fighting at his best had died the same night.

He rolled out his shoulder, feeling his stiffer joints pop as he worked out the tension there even as he fell into a preparatory stance.

"And I know I can take you."

It started with getting him pissed enough to—

A few more seconds passed before she stood back up, enough time that Tyrian was already on the offensive. “Shut the fuck up. You’re the one who’s lost it! Neo was the one who took the lamp, after everything we went through for it, and I don’t even know why she did that but when Arthur demanded it back, she attacked him first and then...then he punched back and that set you off...you were attacking like you wanted to kill him! You’re calling other people unhinged, say terrible things about them and that they’ve lost their minds, act like they’re the ones who should simmer down, when it is all you! You’re...you...” Cinder trailed off, unsure how to continue for a moment. Her eye narrowed with frustration after, though, and she spat out.

“You giant damn HYPOCRITE!”

She was gonna do something, yeah. She was gonna get him to stop. If that meant by force, so be it. Her bow was in her hand and a dust arrow notched and loosed before she could even blink, joined soon after by several more, aimed to work alongside her faunus teammate as she struck from range while Tyrian engaged in close quarters.

Oh, look. Little Cindy learned how to use curse words for emphasis even when she's wrong as shit. Her little moral lectures are gonna be so much more tolerable now, said fucking no one ever.

Those words, on the other hand, did register, even over the taunting ones at the back of his mind, even over the state of tranquility he could induce in the thick of the most heated of exchanges. That was what he and Tyrian had been having, a flurry of offense and defense, deflections and counters as Mercury hovered just beyond the reach of his tail and struck only when his quarry committed to something with it, bouncing deftly in and out of its range with intensely practiced grace as neither really gained or lost significant ground.

Then Cinder's tirade struck, as true and jagged as the arrows that followed it, and with just how emotional a snarl it provoked on his face it was a wonder the combination didn't let Tyrian break through his guard sooner than he did. The moment finally came, a peppering of arrows he couldn't avoid all of finally leading to a hole in his guard Tyrian immediately exploited, tail lashing out to bludgeon his aura dead-center in the chest with the force of a cannon and send him tumbling back to alight unsteadily on one knee.



"GOD DAMN IT! GO TO HELL, CINDER!"

The eruption that came from his lungs was such a repressed, scarred, primal roar that one had to wonder just how much spite and anger had truly been nurtured in the heart of Mercury Black through the years. How much of the serenity he could enforce over himself in combat was only allowed to exist because the rage had just become a part of him, sunk so deeply into the roots the tree was never going to be anything but withered and poisoned, been beaten and sculpted into feelings of bitter resentment and inadequacy that came every bit as natural to him as the combat did. As natural as breathing. The explosion was just that, a one-off slip of composure that had his knuckles pound against the concrete and remain there while he caught his breath, voice once again emerging in a voice too scratchy and raw to be considered truly venomous towards the fall maiden.

"...I knew it was gonna be like this. Em didn't wanna believe me, but I knew. You're exactly the same. You come back with your misty eyes and your lip wobbling, make all these phony little snivelling apologies, but when you get down to it you haven't changed a goddamn thing about who you are!" He snarled, a disdainful, hard-nosed noise of pure acrimony. "You're not better. You're not on some pedestal just because you and the nerd both think you're the only ones who can save Remnant now. Get this through your head: I don't give a shit about your messiah complex, but if you're gonna mouth off at me you should try opening your eyes first!"

You’re the one who’s lost it! Neo was the one who took the lamp, after everything we went through for it, and I don’t even know why she did that but when Arthur demanded it back, she attacked him first and then...then he punched back and that set you off...you were attacking like you wanted to kill him!

"Is that what happened? Is it?" He demanded with a caustic sneer, pushing himself to his feet and wiping a sleeve across his lip. "Or is that just how it's gonna go down in the big, majestic fairy tale they write about your life, huh? The one we're all footnotes in, just like Roman? Lemme tell you what I saw happen. Brainiac just dropped a walking tank on the only two people I care about. In the middle of a crowded city, if that puts it in words the savior of Remnant actually gives a shit to hear."

The sheer disgust he spat those words out with thickened the air. He made sure Tyrian stayed in his line of sight, already prepping his stance again as he marched forward with purpose.

"Neo 'attacked' him? Are you that goddamn desperate to make us the bad guys? It was a rib, you little narc. She took the lamp because it's obvious as hell Art thinks we're too much of a disaster to cut in on this thing at the ground floor. She wanted him to calm down, and he wallops her up the street? I throw everything I have at the guy and barely leave a dent in his—again, I really can't stress this part enough—walking tank, and I'm the one who took it way past the line? Kiss my ass. The boy genius got jealous of your magic blow-it-out-your-ass 'I win the argument' button so he built himself his own, Cindy, that's what happened. Breaking news at 11: HE'S THE ONLY ONE HERE WHO WANTS THIS FIGHT! HE'S WANTED IT SINCE HIS CRUSH OVER THERE BROKE HIS HEART IN A MICDYNLOD'S A FEW MINUTES AGO AND IT TIPPED HIM OVER THE EDGE!"

He jabbed a finger back towards Watts and Emerald, prompting a faint "HEY DOUCHEBAG!" to echo over in return. Mercury ignored it, stopping short of entering Tyrian's strike range to shoot Cinder another glower.

"You wanna know what I want, Cinder? Wanna know what my one big, hypocritical stake here is, 'cause believe me when I say I don't give a fuck about you guys or your magic powers or your walking tanks or whatever special goddamn destinies you still couldn't any more obviously believe you have?"

He clenched his jaw and fists in tandem, forcing himself back into the proper honed, collected headspace for this fight, and when his words bellowed out again they were less anything untamed and more the emphatic kiai a martial artist expelled from their lungs to harden their blows.

"I WANT—"



Floating butterfly kicks.

Spoiler: Then

krak

"What the fuck was that supposed to be? Pathetic, that's what it was. Get an icepack. Grab me another beer while you're at it."

"—EVERY PENT-UP SACK OF SHIT WITH ISSUES WHO WANDERS BY—"



Jumping tornado crescent kick.

Spoiler: Then

smak

"God allfuckingmighty, I didn't invent that move to watch you piss all over its legacy. Reset and hit me with 10 more."

"—TO STOP TREATING HER—"



Alternating mantis claws.

Spoiler: Then

whak

"Hold on. What is that? Come back here, you little shit, are you crying? I swear to fuck if you're crying in my dojo—"

"—LIKE THEIR PERSONAL PUNCHING BAG!"



Jumping 540 spin kick.

Spoiler: Then

crak. thwak. smak. whak.

"D-dad, I can't... no more for today. P-please."

The man's silhouetted figure loomed over him, blocking out the light and barely so much as a sweat broken as he mopped his brow, staring down at his son's brutalized form with apathy swiftly melding into something else.

Anger.

"What the fuck did you just say?"

Mercury's heels dug up sparks from the pavement as he landed, having batted Tyrian's guard aside and finally seized enough of an opening to score his hit back, boot driven into the faunus's chest to send him skidding back on his own heels in turn.

Ha! Never gonna happen. The smaller they are, the bigger you feel.

He committed a cardinal sin of one-to-one combat then, something his dad doubtless would've capitalized on if this had been back on the mat. He turned his back on Tyrian entirely, instead facing Cinder directly again at last.

That was it. That was his one and only stake in this story. He was done entertaining any ideas he could ever be a huntsman, and like Emerald he really didn't consider himself a main character in all this anymore, or have any interest in embarking on some sacred journey. The only reason he was even standing here right now was Neo.

Cinder could see immediately in his glistening eyes how personal this all was to him. How badly seeing her get beaten around by life these past few months had affected him, in his own typically noncommunicative Mercury way, how every fresh blow dealt to her body and psyche had been another failure he added to the long list that started at Haven, and what it felt like to see Arthur Watts touch down in a superhero landing during what honestly felt like the first goddamn time in months he'd seen her genuinely happy and essentially bitchslap her up the block because she made him feel dumb about a lamp. How it felt to see Tyrian jump straight on the bandwagon and make a beeline for his favorite target.

And now how it felt to see Cinder, of all people, not get a fucking clue.



"If you can't get that... then maybe we don't understand each other as well as I thought." He spat, though not for the benefit of anyone alive, and leveled her with a much less angry and much more stoically disappointed stare before his head jerked back in Watts' direction. "He's the only one here who wants this fight. He started it. You help him get his act together, it can stop. Don't?"

He snorted, a flat, mirthless noise as he made to turn his attention back to Tyrian.

"Then I will finish it. And I don't give a fuck what that means for your destiny."​

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

Watts had a voice in his head, the atonal timbre of whatever artificial intelligence package he'd installed in his suit's runtimes keeping him abreast of noteworthy developments and key observations. Mercury had something a little like that too; his was just far more literally in his head, more the crystallization of abstract intuitions that came as naturally to him as breathing than actual thoughts, and it came to him in a harsh, partially slurred rasp he seriously fucking thought he'd be done with by now.

​

Thing weighs a ton. More than Penny, less than Paladin.

5 Hazels? 6?​

Legs can go the distance.​

Rest of you stick and move.​

Watts uses aimbot. No shit.

Em signalling for something.​

Runs on dust and ??????​

Helmet limits peripheral vision. Use that.
Ow.
Ow.
Ow.
Ow.
Ow.
Don't get hit by that.


None of that made it any less the voice of a machine.

His body was its circuitry. His perception its firmware. The rhythm and flow of combat was the logic system it adhered to, the ones and zeroes that broke down the intricacies of the world around him into a format that made sense. This was his life. This was what he was made to do. In the Black family, your semblance wasn't your weapon. Your weapon wasn't your weapon. Some fancy prototype suit of power armor wasn't a weapon, it was a conditional modifier.

You were your weapon.

A weapon was something created to batter, break and steal away life. It had no other purpose. What the rest of them were using right now, the way they were using it, it was glorified pest control equipment. That was what they went to school for, were trained to use it for.

As far as Mercury was concerned, the only weapon taking the field right now was him.

The yield on Watts' shitty little scooter was making an excellent case for itself, though, and while he was already tucking and twisting in midair to attempt to contort himself around the air mines being fired at him in erratic movement patterns to test the limits of his autoaim, it was only after he felt the shimmering effect of Neo's semblance slip over his aura that he relaxed and let himself land in a more natural backflip atop two fresh magazines, locking them into place even as the spent ones landed to either side of him. He eyed the field, eyes scanning all the pertinent players and reverting to Watts in the time it took his heart to beat. Its cadence was steady, predictable, the kind that sent ice water pumping through his veins. But when he saw Neo get hit again, one look at his steel-toned eyes told Watts all he needed to know about who the bulk of his focus needed to be on.

Those eyes were lethality incarnate. And it wasn't the kind of unhinged glee Tyrian could throw himself into a fight with. It was far too composed for that.

They were the eyes of a machine carrying out a task.

It just so happened that he was gonna enjoy this one.

The heel struck hard against his wrist's shield, a spinning crescent kick that sent a ripple of a shockwave out across the rapidly clearing square even as a deafening blam had him spin for what anything more than a passing familiarity with his fighting style suggested would've been a spinning heel.

The rattling of the chain still tangled around his legs was the sole cue Arthur received to the contrary before it was joined by the intense hammering of Mercury's leg hydraulics kicking into overdrive. Their strength, and his momentum, wrapped around the tether, intended to yank Watts completely off balance again and right into the boot that lashed out to catch him under the jaw with another clang as the assassin completely inverted himself to brace against his hands, before he pushed off with a corkscrew spin and resumed his guarded keepaway tactic from before. The chain worked to keep his bearings from him, the attacks Mercury poured down on him a light smattering of hail by his standards that still packed a hell of a kick by most anyone else's, and enough seconds went by that it occurred to Watts to wonder what exactly the endgoal was here—

'Warning; unknown obstruction in right shoulder cannon.'

Hays chimed in with a warning just about audible over the clangs and cracks of Mercury's boots, but if he actually pivoted his head the marginal distance required to check no such obstruction was apparent—

'Warning; unknown obstruction in right wrist cannon A. Warning; unknown obstruction in right wrist cannon B. Warning; unknown obstruction in propulsion stability jet B. Warning; unknown obstruction in: your butt.'

The instant that last warning popped into view his entire HUD started flickering and distorting in a pixellated mess, right around the same moment Mercury emptied both his legs' barrels to propel himself backwards and disengage. Glaring spitefully, he skidded to a halt next to a shimmering mirage that promptly revealed itself to be Emerald, whose right hand snatched the other half of Thief's Respite away from him with a very irritable scowl of her own even as her left squeezed off a trio of shots for the armored figure with pinpoint accuracy for all the aforementioned areas but the last. No sooner than the rounds pelted home did the obstructions in question reveal themselves, crystallized shards of ice dust the thief had gathered up from one of the market stalls abandoned as soon as the fight broke out and jammed just about everywhere she could fit one as Mercury held his attention, and upon being struck—assuming Watts hadn't already ignited them attempting to clear the jams himself—dense blocks of ice sprang into being over his most visible weapons and much of the relevant body parts in a bid to render him immobile.





While all this was happening, the most insufferable deluge of popup ads were blitzing into existence over Watts' HUD, utterly clogging up both the readings and his view with such gems as:

HOT SINGLE VACUANS IN YOUR AREA!
World of Tanks - Play Now! Please! We sponsor so many things and I've never heard anyone talk about actually playing us!
Coming soon, that one movie you stole this idea from! You know, it's like this or whatever? (I don't watch comic stuff I'm sorry)
You Won't Believe What This Lizard Did Or How This Relates To A Product You Can Buy
Beacon Academy - Let's Not
HOT SINGLE VACUANS IN YOUR AREA!!!!!
What even is Bitlien?? Please explain it to me, I'm a dumb girl.

It all culminated with a single large window coming to the fore over all the others, where the fading view of Remnant's (far gnarlier looking) Dreamworks logo gave way to the crown jewel of the piece, a black screen and words that faded in from ancient shadow and gospels long past.

According to all known laws of aviation, there is no way a bee should be able to fly.

---



Emerald kept both her pistols leveled on Watts while she watched arguably one of the most sadistic and ruthless illusions she'd ever spun hopefully keep him occupied, the bulk of her focus on him and only cursorily breaking her eyeline as she stressed out through grit teeth.

View attachment 878989

"Okay, smart guy, I get it, I feel real bad and I'm sorry but can you just... not? I mean what the hell, dude, seriously! I know it's not your problem, but I happen to be having a shitty enough day as it—HEY DOUCHEBAG!"

She cupped one hand to her mouth and yelled at Mercury across the field like a foghorn as his new priority caught her attention, honestly still far more trepidatious of what her partner might do with his bare hands than what she actually believed Watts could do in some fancy science project.

---

​

Watts rolled to his feet with an annoying amount of nimbleness from something so heavy and bulky, aided by thrusters as his eyes suddenly shot wide at the initial spout of errors. He resisted the urge to spit out the blood pooling in his cheek from one particular nasty kick that had him bite and making himself swallow it instead as he watched the dizzying array of popups and frankly the most annoying noise assault his ears before the dreamworks movie from hell began to play.

There was, deep down, some small part of him that very much wanted to admit it was funny, but it found itself outvoted.




"Your right, Emerald. Its not my problem." "Hays, I can't hear the real you, deactivate confirmation requests. AMP protocol, single round, targetting Sustrai. Autopilot procedure 17 immediately after."

"You made that clear enough. Except now, it is my problem, because you three decided the Lamp of Knowledge was a talking stick for therapy." he growled out, his boots grinding for a split second before they cracked out of the ice in turn and he took a step forward, then another.

Two second target lock. Three second primer. About midway through this opening scene of this godforsaken movie.

"So we can talk. We can chat. But first- fire."

it almost literally came from nowhere; a small hatch suddenly flicked open near Arthur's knee, and the next a lightning dust round impacted her square in the forehead, the crackling thump of a burst of electricity bursting through the the sounds of combat down the street, scattering Emerald's concentration from both illusion and her erstwhile opponent before she felt cold steel suddenly grip her shoulder in a vice grip and hold her feet up off the ground.

"But first I am taking the god damn lamp back, and you are getting out of the way of that!"

'Aura levels pinpointed. requisite power routed.'

The shoulder cannon whirred as it swiveled, pointing straight for the side of Emerald's head, and she could see the green light begin emanating from inside the barrel-



Contrary to Mercury's technical assessment and Emerald's assumptions, Watt's peripheries were far from blind. It was Atlesian standard; most soldiers didn't even have faceplates or visors, considered a dangerous weakness to both weaponsfire and grimmclaw, and instead used sensors and cameras to screen their outer surroundings to the inside of the helm. It wasn't quite the same as three hundred degree vision, and Mercury was simply too skilled in close quarters for it to matter much, but he likely eventually noted even in their brief exchange that Watts was reacting to things he wouldn't have been able to see even outside the giant hunk of metal, let alone trapped within.

Which was all to explain just how flabbergasted Watts was when something thudded against his helmet from an outside fastball with zero warning or buildup. Watts and the shoulder cannon both craned downwards to look at what rolled to his feet, with a much quieter *clunk* after it hit the pavement.

The Lamp of Knowledge, bits of Neo's semblance still flaking off of it.

He just stared at it for a few seconds, before his free hand stuck out towards it and the hum of magnetism filled the air before it rocketed into his waiting palm, before he turned back to Emerald and, not roughly but not exactly gently dropped her back to her feet before turning to look at where Neo was standing off down the street, still locked in the follow through of her throw as she caught her breath.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This had all gotten way, way out of hand, way too fast. Maybe taking the lamp wasn't the best way of going about it, but she'd panicked a bit. She just hadn't wanted to let Emerald and Watts leave it at that, not when Emerald clearly wasn't in the best state of mind and Watts had reacted like a kicked puppy instead of the verbal eldritch horror he preferred to masquerade as. She hadn't meant to incense Watts like this either; she probably should've taken a hint that he was more than a little stressed when he came crashing down in a freaking human warship; but he also clearly could've taken the hint that team MTEN was in the middle of something when he crashlanded next to two girls crying and Mercury telling dad jokes.

Still. Bad choice.

It didn't matter anymore whether she wanted her friends to talk anymore, because this was way too much. Watts was doing his best to recreate the great war, the look in Mercury's eyes was genuinely scaring her, and Tyrian, like, almost out of nowhere had threatened to whoop her ass over this stupid lamp. She'd rolled to her feet as soon as Mercury threatened him off, but the words that followed quashed any gratefulness with a sense of helpless dismay.

Mercury could try to skirt the blame around her as much as he wanted, just like with everything else she'd done wrong in the last months: This was on her. At least partially. Whatever brief sense of anger or pride she might've been keen on defending at the start after she'd gotten socked had plummeted off the priority list and into nonexistence.

 

[MyrtenRose]

The look on her face changed so much, so rapidly while listening to everything he said, it would have been truly difficult to count them all. Among them the open mouthed shock that he’d even said that, the pained look that it had struck down to her core, the shame and guilt that threatened to swallow her, the sheer burning anger that had her wanting to snap on him in response and just throw all the pain right back. To cut him down to his core. She even leaned forward, her teeth bared with a harsh, absolutely enraged glare in her eye. She came so close to genuinely exploding, even more than she had with Emerald. Her mouth opened, ready to give as good as she got...but nothing came before she bit down on her lip.

She knew she couldn’t do it.

That was the kind of thing her counterpart probably would have done. It was definitely what her dad would have done. The thought that she could be in any way comparable to him struck her just as hard as anything Mercury had snarled at her and stung far more than all of it. She didn't want to be like that, never had. She did her best to force herself to calm down. She also did everything in her power to not focus on the sounds of what was going on Watts/Emerald or even look in that direction. One thing at a time. "You're wrong, Mercury. You're so, so wrong." She sighed and lifted a hand, throwing up another wall of ice meant to block Mercury off from Tyrian. Not any true deterrent when it came down to it, but hopefully that brought Merc's attention back to her.

"It's too late for me to go to hell, I've already been there, and I've never thought of myself as...being on a pedestal. That I deserve better than any of you, I've never thought that way, and if it has come across that way, then...I screwed up somewhere. And savior of Remnant? Majestic fairy tale about my life? Special destiny? No. No, I've never wanted to be the savior of Remnant! All I've ever wanted was to be better...to be of service and help people...to be a good person. To be the opposite of my parents! Oh, and speaking of, if there's ever a tale about me, you want to see the first chapter?! You want to know what I grew up thinking it was my destiny to be?! What I've taken special care to not show anybody before? Seems now is a better time than any."

Cinder took off the gray longcoat she'd gotten, letting it drop to the floor as she turned around. Without the coat on, the sarashi around her chest left enough of her back exposed that the scars there were plainly noticeable, the word FAILURE carved into her back in jagged, long healed cuts. "A gift from my dad, something to serve as a reminder, he said, as if he didn't do enough to make it clear to me that's all he ever thought I would be! That my place was with them, and it always would be! For 14 years I thought so too!" She grabbed the longcoat again, sliding it back on. At this point, she rose a few inches into the air and began floating over closer.

"Oh, and let me stop you before you start, no, I didn't share that looking for pity or a sorry, I only want you to understand. You've never been footnotes to me, none of you. If anyone here is the footnote, it's me! You all got into Beacon through your own skill, whether you earned it with harsh training, or experience in a fight club, or learning to survive, or whatever. The only reason I ever got in was random fucking chance. If not for that, I'd still be..." Her fists clenched extremely tight by her side, her one visible eye sliding shut for a painful moment thinking about that.

"So, yeah." She pressed on, her eye opening back up. "I made a mistake in leaving you behind when you needed me, and I was wrong, and for whatever it is worth I really am sorry. I thought what you guys needed was me to be at my strongest, to better protect you, but...that wasn't it at all. You guys needed me for something else. To have a hand to help you so you didn't fall this far. So you didn't shatter. For someone to lift your spirits and just...be a reassurance." Cinder's gaze shot to the side, vaguely in Neo's direction.

"And maybe you don't give a fuck about me any more, couldn't give two shits about my opinion...but you're wrong about so many things. For one, you're not responsible for what happened to Roman. That wasn't your fault. The blame isn't on your shoulders! It belongs to the bitch who killed him, not you! If you believe for one second that Roman would want you to think it was your fault..." She fell silent. It was still difficult to say his name. He may not have been the best fighter, or the most clever but he had spirit, and that counted for just as much if not more. "And another thing, you were a great student and a fantastic team leader. Your strategies, tactics, the way you obviously cared so damn much for your team even if you tried really hard to hide it to seem as cool as you possibly could be. The way you still care. You...if there's one thing I know, you would make a real great huntsman. Maybe the best of all of us. It's part of why...well..." Cinder gestured at the way she looked now. That was followed by the teenage maiden taking a deep breath.

"Maybe I'm not better." She admitted. "Maybe I am the same, just like you said. But I still try to be better, all the time, every day, no matter how much I sometimes get it wrong. And...and you guys are a big part of that. All of you. For different reasons, sure, but you all make me want to be the best version of myself. And believe me when I say, I 100% understand what you want more than anything. I get it. She deserves so much more than that. I...I wouldn't have thrown myself down into some nearly endless abyss trying to save her if I didn't think that." She gave an awkward smile, trying to lighten up the mood some after all she'd just said. And well, after everything almost everyone had done. Speaking of...
​

Which was all to explain just how flabbergasted Watts was when something thudded against his helmet from an outside fastball with zero warning or buildup. Watts and the shoulder cannon both craned downwards to look at what rolled to his feet, with a much quieter *clunk* after it hit the pavement.

The Lamp of Knowledge, bits of Neo's semblance still flaking off of it.

He just stared at it for a few seconds, before his free hand stuck out towards it and the hum of magnetism filled the air before it rocketed into his waiting palm, before he turned back to Emerald and, not roughly but not exactly gently dropped her back to her feet before turning to look at where Neo was standing off down the street, still locked in the follow through of her throw as she caught her breath.

"So, um...can we...stop this now?" Cinder questioned before she flew over to check on Emerald, see that she wasn't too hurt. This had been all sorts of rough. These last few days definitely had been climbing the ranks of her personal most terrible weeks ever, but she wasn't quite sure it cracked number one, even with this. Still absolutely terrible though. "And...sorry. God Watts if you ever force something like that again..." She added under her breath. She might have taken his side on it, as a partner, but...well, Mercury did make a really good point.​

 

[MidwayLives]

He rolled out his shoulder, feeling his stiffer joints pop as he worked out the tension there even as he fell into a preparatory stance.

"And I know I can take you."

It started with getting him pissed enough to—

Tyrian didn't say anything.

What was going to be solved by this point by just the two of them boasting?

They...

They'd crossed that line already.
​

Then Cinder's tirade struck, as true and jagged as the arrows that followed it, and with just how emotional a snarl it provoked on his face it was a wonder the combination didn't let Tyrian break through his guard sooner than he did. The moment finally came, a peppering of arrows he couldn't avoid all of finally leading to a hole in his guard Tyrian immediately exploited, tail lashing out to bludgeon his aura dead-center in the chest with the force of a cannon and send him tumbling back to alight unsteadily on one knee.

Tyrian still kept to his silence.

The anger was getting there.

Getting there....
​

"I WANT—"

Floating butterfly kicks.

Tyrian lifted his arms and brought them together as the kicks sent him skidding back.

The length of his tail curved up with all the tension of a coiled up spring ready to bounce.

Or perhaps more fittingly in this case like a wrecking ball ready to swing.
​

"—EVERY PENT-UP SACK OF SHIT WITH ISSUES WHO WANDERS BY—"

Jumping tornado crescent kick.

The faunus started to unwillingly cede ground.

It was still getting there. The anger that is.
​

"—TO STOP TREATING HER—"

Alternating mantis claws.

On the edge of it all.

Tyrian's eye twitched and his blocking became unglued, sloppy.

His stinger swayed idly from side to side.
​

"—LIKE THEIR PERSONAL PUNCHING BAG!"

Jumping 540 spin kick.

There it was.

Gone.

"GRRRRRRR!!!!"
​

Mercury's heels dug up sparks from the pavement as he landed, having batted Tyrian's guard aside and finally seized enough of an opening to score his hit back, boot driven into the faunus's chest to send him skidding back on his own heels in turn.

Ha! Never gonna happen. The smaller they are, the bigger you feel.

The kick sent Tyrian stumbling back.

Once he came to a stop, his arms fell to his side.

His head looking down at the ground.

His tail swinging downward, the pent up tension finally being released.

The impact...was something.

The ground shattered under the force, leaving what looked to be a sizeable gouge in the ground from where Tyrian's tail had struck it. While debris rained over the faunus and left bits and pieces scattered in his long hair, he stood still. His chest heaving with deep breaths and following exhales.

It wasn't like he lacked self-awareness.

He...He knew he wasn't well. That there were times where he got too into his spars. Some with Neo, some with others, just in general.

But that hadn't been the case here at all. He knew that to be true. He BELIEVED that was true.

He did it....

Because he loved fighting with her.
​

That was the kind of thing her counterpart probably would have done. It was definitely what her dad would have done. The thought that she could be in any way comparable to him struck her just as hard as anything Mercury had snarled at her and stung far more than all of it. She didn't want to be like that, never had. She did her best to force herself to calm down. She also did everything in her power to not focus on the sounds of what was going on Watts/Emerald or even look in that direction. One thing at a time. "You're wrong, Mercury. You're so, so wrong." She sighed and lifted a hand, throwing up another wall of ice meant to block Mercury off from Tyrian. Not any true deterrent when it came down to it, but hopefully that brought Merc's attention back to her.

As the ice wall came up, Tyrian came to a stop just inches away from it.

"What gives you the right..."

Tyrian balled his hands up into fists.

"....To say what you did....You don't know. You didn't."

It came out so quiet one could almost mishear it. He didn't care if Mercury heard him or not. It just needed to be said.

"....I loved being with Neo. The fighting, the training, every minute of it. We improved the other, we had an understanding."

He didn't say if they still did.

He didn't expect anyone else to understand but....he didn't really have time to develop or work on the intricacies of friendship or a 'life' before he was sent off to Beacon and met the rest of his soon to be team. He'd met Trifa while they were both fighting. But to Trifa it'd always just been a job. Something she did and then one day she decided she wouldn't anymore. But fighting was all Tyrian had. It was all he knew. If he'd had his way, he would sleep eat live fighting. The only thing he could go to when he felt scared, angry, or maybe even both. To run into someone who wished to engage in that passion with him. It felt absolutely amazing. To have someone who could chase the same joys he did.

In the one thing that defined who he was.

Violence.
​

He snorted, a flat, mirthless noise as he made to turn his attention back to Tyrian.

"Then I will finish it. And I don't give a fuck what that means for your destiny."

The kicks had certainly hurt.

But Mercury's words and the implications they carried?

Hurt worse than any kick or punch ever could.

And you couldn't bandage up those wounds.

Tyrian sprinted forward, his tail rearing back.

*CRASH*

It smashed through a portion of the wall. Just enough for Tyrian to jump through.

Landing on his feet, Tyrian's palm began to glow as he launched himself forward.

"You're WRONG!"

The lamp had become an afterthought to Tyrian. The sheer insistence that all Neo and him had been doing. The time they'd spent improving eachother. That it'd all been a lie. Just him finding someone weak and easy to beat on. Neo wasn't weak. She was strong. One of the strongest and incredible people he knew. He knew that she'd get stronger even still, hell, she'd done things that even with all his muscle and ferocity couldn't manage. Had he even the slightest of moments to realize what was going to happen would only upset her more?

"TAKE IT BACK!!!!"

....He would have apologized.​

 

[Gus Gungus]

The look on her face changed so much, so rapidly while listening to everything he said, it would have been truly difficult to count them all. Among them the open mouthed shock that he’d even said that, the pained look that it had struck down to her core, the shame and guilt that threatened to swallow her, the sheer burning anger that had her wanting to snap on him in response and just throw all the pain right back. To cut him down to his core. She even leaned forward, her teeth bared with a harsh, absolutely enraged glare in her eye. She came so close to genuinely exploding, even more than she had with Emerald.

Ha! Here it comes. Tense up that jaw, boy.

But he didn't. He just scowled.

If she was gonna hit him, he wanted her to make it hurt.

That was the kind of thing her counterpart probably would have done. It was definitely what her dad would have done. The thought that she could be in any way comparable to him struck her just as hard as anything Mercury had snarled at her and stung far more than all of it. She didn't want to be like that, never had. She did her best to force herself to calm down. She also did everything in her power to not focus on the sounds of what was going on Watts/Emerald or even look in that direction. One thing at a time. "You're wrong, Mercury. You're so, so wrong." She sighed and lifted a hand, throwing up another wall of ice meant to block Mercury off from Tyrian. Not any true deterrent when it came down to it, but hopefully that brought Merc's attention back to her.

"It's too late for me to go to hell, I've already been there, and I've never thought of myself as...being on a pedestal. That I deserve better than any of you, I've never thought that way, and if it has come across that way, then...I screwed up somewhere. And savior of Remnant? Majestic fairy tale about my life? Special destiny? No. No, I've never wanted to be the savior of Remnant! All I've ever wanted was to be better...to be of service and help people...to be a good person. To be the opposite of my parents! Oh, and speaking of, if there's ever a tale about me, you want to see the first chapter?! You want to know what I grew up thinking it was my destiny to be?! What I've taken special care to not show anybody before? Seems now is a better time than any."

Cinder took off the gray longcoat she'd gotten, letting it drop to the floor as she turned around. Without the coat on, the sarashi around her chest left enough of her back exposed that the scars there were plainly noticeable, the word FAILURE carved into her back in jagged, long healed cuts. "A gift from my dad, something to serve as a reminder, he said, as if he didn't do enough to make it clear to me that's all he ever thought I would be! That my place was with them, and it always would be! For 14 years I thought so too!" She grabbed the longcoat again, sliding it back on. At this point, she rose a few inches into the air and began floating over closer.

"Oh, and let me stop you before you start, no, I didn't share that looking for pity or a sorry, I only want you to understand. You've never been footnotes to me, none of you. If anyone here is the footnote, it's me! You all got into Beacon through your own skill, whether you earned it with harsh training, or experience in a fight club, or learning to survive, or whatever. The only reason I ever got in was random fucking chance. If not for that, I'd still be..." Her fists clenched extremely tight by her side, her one visible eye sliding shut for a painful moment thinking about that.

"So, yeah." She pressed on, her eye opening back up. "I made a mistake in leaving you behind when you needed me, and I was wrong, and for whatever it is worth I really am sorry. I thought what you guys needed was me to be at my strongest, to better protect you, but...that wasn't it at all. You guys needed me for something else. To have a hand to help you so you didn't fall this far. So you didn't shatter. For someone to lift your spirits and just...be a reassurance." Cinder's gaze shot to the side, vaguely in Neo's direction.

"And maybe you don't give a fuck about me any more, couldn't give two shits about my opinion...but you're wrong about so many things. For one, you're not responsible for what happened to Roman. That wasn't your fault. The blame isn't on your shoulders! It belongs to the bitch who killed him, not you! If you believe for one second that Roman would want you to think it was your fault..." She fell silent. It was still difficult to say his name. He may not have been the best fighter, or the most clever but he had spirit, and that counted for just as much if not more. "And another thing, you were a great student and a fantastic team leader. Your strategies, tactics, the way you obviously cared so damn much for your team even if you tried really hard to hide it to seem as cool as you possibly could be. The way you still care. You...if there's one thing I know, you would make a real great huntsman. Maybe the best of all of us. It's part of why...well..." Cinder gestured at the way she looked now. That was followed by the teenage maiden taking a deep breath.

"Maybe I'm not better." She admitted. "Maybe I am the same, just like you said. But I still try to be better, all the time, every day, no matter how much I sometimes get it wrong. And...and you guys are a big part of that. All of you. For different reasons, sure, but you all make me want to be the best version of myself. And believe me when I say, I 100% understand what you want more than anything. I get it. She deserves so much more than that. I...I wouldn't have thrown myself down into some nearly endless abyss trying to save her if I didn't think that."

...What in the actual shit?

Whatever it was, it did hurt. Just not like he expected it to. Not like he wanted it to. The scoff he gave when she put another barrier between Tyrian and him had been harsh, mocking, an almost reluctantly indulgent air to MTEN's leader as he turned back to face her, hardening up whatever malnourished flicker in him passed for his empathetic side and preparing the appropriate responses for whatever friendship speech this was apparently going to be. At first it looked like he was barely listening, just waiting for his turn to toss back the first sarcastic, brooding remark that came to mind to cut her off with so he could get back to what he was all about.

Don't tell me you're actually buying this snowflaky line of crap?

Everything changed when he saw the scars. Well, first everything changed when she started getting naked, because that confused him. But the jagged stitches of flesh, the message they spelled out, had an entirely different bearing settle over him for obvious reasons, his entire posture slackening with disbelief and hands falling to his sides as he rotated back towards her fully and just... stared. Why... why...

Why didn't I think of that?

"Why?"

He was practically catatonic from that point to the end of Cinder's words, pale as a ghost and breathing about as regularly as one. When he did finally speak it was loud, forceful, more aggressive than he intended, even if Cinder could tell offhand that none of the aggression was leveled at her. Not in a million years after seeing those.

But he was confused, still full of anger, had started the speech with his brain still fully disposed towards embracing his nature and laying down a beating and ended it... he didn't know.

He just knew it didn't feel great.

"Why are you—what is this? S-so that's the play, huh? Make Mercury the asshole, rile him up, then back down right away so it becomes true? Just so everyone's real nice and clear on who the biggest screwup on the screwup team is and why?! You don't get to... you don't know what the hell you're..."

He didn't deserve those words. Had done nothing to earn them. Everything that was happening right now, everything that had happened since Haven, said more about his failures, about who he was as a person, than anything Cinder ever could have. His response was furiously defiant, yet had no real teeth, a vein of raw, undenominated emotion trembling his voice as he brought a hand up as much to pinch the bridge of his nose as to shield his eyes from view.

It did little to hide the cascade of tears that started spilling out from underneath, like a river bursting a dam and thundering its way back towards the sea.

"Damn it, Cinder. G-God damn you. I—I'm s-sorry."

In the end, he didn't even know what for.

He just knew it was a lot.

Watts rolled to his feet with an annoying amount of nimbleness from something so heavy and bulky, aided by thrusters as his eyes suddenly shot wide at the initial spout of errors. He resisted the urge to spit out the blood pooling in his cheek from one particular nasty kick that had him bite and making himself swallow it instead as he watched the dizzying array of popups and frankly the most annoying noise assault his ears before the dreamworks movie from hell began to play.

There was, deep down, some small part of him that very much wanted to admit it was funny, but it found itself outvoted.



"Your right, Emerald. Its not my problem." "Hays, I can't hear the real you, deactivate confirmation requests. AMP protocol, single round, targetting Sustrai. Autopilot procedure 17 immediately after."

"You made that clear enough. Except now, it is my problem, because you three decided the Lamp of Knowledge was a talking stick for therapy." he growled out, his boots grinding for a split second before they cracked out of the ice in turn and he took a step forward, then another.

Two second target lock. Three second primer. About midway through this opening scene of this godforsaken movie.

"So we can talk. We can chat. But first- fire."

it almost literally came from nowhere; a small hatch suddenly flicked open near Arthur's knee, and the next a lightning dust round impacted her square in the forehead, the crackling thump of a burst of electricity bursting through the the sounds of combat down the street, scattering Emerald's concentration from both illusion and her erstwhile opponent before she felt cold steel suddenly grip her shoulder in a vice grip and hold her feet up off the ground.

"But first I am taking the god damn lamp back, and you are getting out of the way of that!"

'Aura levels pinpointed. requisite power routed.'

The shoulder cannon whirred as it swiveled, pointing straight for the side of Emerald's head, and she could see the green light begin emanating from inside the barrel-

"Guhh."

Emerald hadn't exactly been at her most self-possessed since the tent, but Watts definitely found a way to break new ground in delivering a mild shock to her brain. The illusions vanished, and as he hoisted her up he was left looking at a thief who was far more rattled than she had any business looking as the glow from his cannon lit up her startled expression. What? She didn't even have the lamp. She was just trying to get him to cool off. This bluff made so little sense it wasn't even worth bluffing.

Which was why she knew as well as he did that Watts was pretty much just gonna unload a cannon into her face from point-blank range.

"Why... are... you like this."

That was as much of a scathing anatomization of him as she could muster in the moment, and rather than Watts himself she diverted the remainder of her focus over towards a Lance who'd been cracking his knuckles and taking strides as motivated and purposeful as any he'd taken in defense of Morgiana towards them from the moment Watts accosted her, only stopping when she cued him to with a microscopic shake of the head.

Best not to make this any worse than she already had. She really didn't need to see Watts and the bodyguard wipe out this entire square trying to destroy each other's fancy suits.

Which was all to explain just how flabbergasted Watts was when something thudded against his helmet from an outside fastball with zero warning or buildup. Watts and the shoulder cannon both craned downwards to look at what rolled to his feet, with a much quieter *clunk* after it hit the pavement.

The Lamp of Knowledge, bits of Neo's semblance still flaking off of it.

He just stared at it for a few seconds, before his free hand stuck out towards it and the hum of magnetism filled the air before it rocketed into his waiting palm, before he turned back to Emerald and, not roughly but not exactly gently dropped her back to her feet before turning to look at where Neo was standing off down the street, still locked in the follow through of her throw as she caught her breath.

Emerald was resigned to her fate, but that didn't mean she wasn't grateful as all hell when Neo's olive branch dinged off the side of his head and made it unnecessary. She had her hands on her knees as she composed herself, breathing heavily for a few seconds, and Cinder touched down just in time to see her whirl.

TING

It was a far lighter, more hollow tinkle than the lamp striking home when she slapped him full across the visor with so much indignant aggression the taste somehow left his mouth even through it, followed by a duller metallic sound as she jabbed her finger into his chest.

"Stop pretending this was about the lamp. Everything you just did was for you. Congratulations, tin man. Despite all efforts to the contrary, you proved you're not a sociopath and have normal human feelings that get hurt just like everyone else's. Hope we made good stress relief. Know what else you proved?"

She stepped closer to him, standing on tiptoe and for all the world acting like she was the one in the powered armor and he was the one who almost just had his aura blown off his face.

"That you're the biggest kid here, bar none. And if you provoke my partner again I don't care what it takes, I'll find a can opener big enough to peel you outta that dinky little action figure of yours and show you there's more in the world to be terrified of than just Ozpin and Grimm. Got it? You haven't seen him. You don't know how he's been since Roman! You think Neo's the only one I've had to worry about?! You self-righteous—"

pop
snap
crunch

She shouldn't even have heard them, really. Part of her wasn't sure whether she actually did, or if it was some case of cosmic coincidence or maybe an aura-related sixth sense for when things had just gone horribly wrong that had her gaze whip over in the direction of the others the moment those three faint, if distinct, noises reached their ears.

It was about a second before the screaming started.

*CRASH*

It smashed through a portion of the wall. Just enough for Tyrian to jump through.

Landing on his feet, Tyrian's palm began to glow as he launched himself forward.

"You're WRONG!"

The lamp had become an afterthought to Tyrian. The sheer insistence that all Neo and him had been doing. The time they'd spent improving eachother. That it'd all been a lie. Just him finding someone weak and easy to beat on. Neo wasn't weak. She was strong. One of the strongest and incredible people he knew. He knew that she'd get stronger even still, hell, she'd done things that even with all his muscle and ferocity couldn't manage. Had he even the slightest of moments to realize what was going to happen would only upset her more?

"TAKE IT BACK!!!!"

....He would have apologized.

Mercury was still just standing there when Tyrian battered through the ice, palm rubbing tired, plainly frazzled circles around his eyes as he snapped over without turning. "Get lost."

He didn't sound in the mood anymore. Not for a fight, not for a shouting match, definitely not for the apology Tyrian probably deserved at some point. Not for anything. He just wanted to stand there, stew in his failures and barely exist right now. If he could've vanished into a crack like that bug he saw earlier he would have.

See the hand? Boy means business. You musta really struck a nerve if he wants your aura outta the picture so bad. Pity you didn't have a semblance that useful, huh? Maybe then I woulda let you keep it.

He tried to ignore the voice, tried to ignore the fact that he could see Tyrian's palm glowing in the corner of his eye, tried his best to ignore the second furious roar with a grunt and a sniffle.

"I said fuck off."

Like that'll happen. He's rushing. He's out for blood. Better do somethin', huh? He'll mess you up. It won't even be a fight if he wants you hurt bad, not with that sting of his. Not unless you hurt him first.

Mercury growled, boots kicking up sparks as they scraped off the ground and he dropped into a stance, Tyrian's speed such that he was already on him before he could even do anything but fall backwards into a defensive retreat and send droplets of moisture scattering from his cheeks.

You remember how, right? C'mon. For the love of god, you're a goddamn assassin. Figuring out ways around aura is most of the job. This kid's parlor trick isn't the only one. I know you remember. I felt it myself. Show me.

"Callows, man, I swear to god if you don't stop pushing me—"

Show me.

Tyrian's hand made contact with his shoulder, the bite of his semblance springing out around the point of contact to subsume his aura's white glow in Tyrian's purple, and Mercury's eyes went round as he did arguably one of the most un-Mercury things ever and yelped.

Show me.

Because he felt it. That part of his aura eroding away into nothing. That part of his soul being stripped away from him.

It felt...

Show me.

So horribly familiar.



Tyrian.​

So fast.

Good technique.​

Don't let him touch you.​

Monster semblance.

Five limbs.​

Don't let him touch you.

No discipline.​

Don't let him touch you.​

Tyrian felt his thumb and wrist grasped in an iron grip and wrenched away from Mercury's shoulder with a vicious yank, eyes and nostrils flared and the former skittish around the edges like those of a startled deer. The martial artist was already in motion, pivoting back on one leg even as the other came up to wrap around Tyrian's offending arm and drop its heavy heel into the crook of his neck, already forcing him at an awkward angle with his forearm still held in a vice as he roared, in equal parts shaken and furious.

Five limbs.

"I SAID—"

Inverted anaconda roll. Dislocated shoulder.

pop

Four limbs.

He wasn't done. Tyrian wouldn't be done. That wouldn't be enough. He ducked under the tail if it came in, caught the faunus's arm in its retaliatory swing and twisted, already moving around the side to bring his boot thundering down onto his opposite shoulder at an awkward angle.

Falling crescent axe kick. Separated clavicle.

snap

Three limbs.

The third strike was just pure instinct, what felt like the natural conclusion to his reactive spree of violence as he snarled, spun, and lashed out, bringing the full ungodly force of his heel in motion crashing into the side of Tyrian's knee with the most sickeningly visceral of the noises Tyrian's body made yet.

crunch

Spinning low kick. Dislocated kneecap. Torn ACL. Torn meniscus.

Down to two.

"...fuck off."

Goodwitch had it pegged. You couldn't pit these two against each other.

Someone was going to get hurt.

There was a knack to it, any good assassin learned. To hurting someone. Cheap and dirty methods of putting a person down in a way they couldn't get up from. It was all about torque, in the end. Aura wasn't the be-all, end-all. Since when did what they did have anything to do with the soul?

No. A person's greatest weakness was the same one he was trained to wield as his greatest strength: their body. Its structure. Its limitations. The ways it could move, bend, and the ways it wasn't supposed to. A fact Mercury was intimately familiar with, the set of legs he'd ended up with a constant reminder.

It only took one look at Tyrian where he lay to know his shoulder and knee were bending, or hanging, the opposite way they were supposed to be. The injury to his collarbone was less visible, though no less crippling when it came to that entire arm. It went without saying, but the pain was practically unbearable; However he was taking it, Mercury let it wash over him with a stunned, detached look on his face, eyes unblinking and heels rooted to the spot from the moment they touched back down as he stared down at his trembling hands in disbelief.

And yet somehow, not in surprise.

He barely even reacted when the others inevitably approached, however frantic or furious or whatever else said approach may have been. He didn't engage with it, didn't want to hear it, didn't want to look at them.

But he did look. As much an impulsive response to stressful situations as what he'd just done had been, his eyes searched out his partner's, be it for guidance, reassurance, or some kind of indication that it was going to be okay.

What they found was none of that.

Spoiler: Once again, Emerald was somewhere between a Blake and a Ruby on the reaction scale

But it didn't surprise him all that much either.



"...Guess you pegged me all wrong, junior. You should think you're better."

The only words he spoke were to Cinder, the killer reverting to notes of drained, toneless sarcasm in lieu of knowing what else to do. He didn't dare look at anyone else. The guilt from the ones he did was bad enough.

"You are."

Then he shrugged, turned, and walked away.​

 

[MidwayLives]

Inverted anaconda roll. Dislocated shoulder.

pop

Four limbs.

He wasn't done. Tyrian wouldn't be done. That wouldn't be enough. He ducked under the tail if it came in, caught the faunus's arm in its retaliatory swing and twisted, already moving around the side to bring his boot thundering down onto his opposite shoulder at an awkward angle.

Falling crescent axe kick. Separated clavicle.

snap

Three limbs.

The third strike was just pure instinct, what felt like the natural conclusion to his reactive spree of violence as he snarled, spun, and lashed out, bringing the full ungodly force of his heel in motion crashing into the side of Tyrian's knee with the most sickeningly visceral of the noises Tyrian's body made yet.

crunch

Spinning low kick. Dislocated kneecap. Torn ACL. Torn meniscus.

Down to two.

"...fuck off."

Goodwitch had it pegged. You couldn't pit these two against each other.

Someone was going to get hurt.

Tyrian reared back to try and strike Mercury once more.

Only then did it occur to him, to his body.

...What had been done to him.

He collapsed onto his remaining knee and seethed as one of his arms hung at his side, the shoulder bulging out.

He was in incredible pain.

But just as had been the case just moments ago.

Mercury's words hurt him the most.

"You...."
​

Then he shrugged, turned, and walked away.

"don't...."

Tyrian grit his teeth and reached out towards him.

"...DON'T WALK AWAY FROM ME!!!"

The faunus fell forward with his tail swinging wildly around him.

"You....don't get to say what you did....and...and just walk away!!!"

This pain coursing through him. Mercury had taken a methodical path in order to take him down.

Nailing each part that would be required for the faunus to hopefully stay down.

Emphasis on the 'hopefully' part there.

Pushing himself onto his rear, Tyrian's tail snaked around his arm.

'I've fought worse...'

Spoiler: the fight against 'him'

The blow sent Tyrian flying back. If it hadn't been for his tail scratching the floor/slowing him down, he'd have been launched right through the fence surrounding the arena. Instead, he fell forward onto his hands and knees as what appeared like streams of blood gushed down from his face, staining the ring.

His opponent stood over him, no, towered over him. Muscles upon muscles. A scar running down one of his eyes.

Strangely enough for a competitor, the man looked...old. If Tyrian had to guess probably around his 40s-50s.

He was also a human.

One who's father had rigged this match. The decrepit geezer had threatened Tyrian that if he didn't throw the fight?

Ichabod would be killed.

As the faunus was lost in the midst of his thoughts and the pain that came with them, the man strode forward.



"...And I was told you're this place's 'champion?'"

*thwack*

Some teeth went flying that time.

"Guess it just goes to show just how different you animals are from us huh? We've got you beat in everything. Resources, population, and..."

*thwack*

Tyrian bounced against the fence and was smashed to the floor with an overhead strike.

"Power."

'I've seen worse....'

His tail tightened around his arm.

Spoiler: a miserable sight

Ichabod had been suspicious of this 'fight' from the word go. This was supposed to be an exhibition match. Something he was sure that Tyrian would have loved. Instead, all he and the audience were treated to was a downright brutalizing. It just didn't make sense. This man....Tyrian could have taken him, Ichabod was sure of it.

....But if he couldn't then he'd seen enough.

"Boss?" One of Ichabod's four bodyguard entourage quiped. It'd been long since rumored that they were actually his sons. Born from the marriage he'd had with a cat faunus before the war. Nobody knew for sure and nobody ever brought it up to Ichabod.

"I'm goin down there." Ichabod replied, grabbing his cane.

"I've seen enough."

As he subtly used his semblance, 'Overheat', to help clear the way, Tyrian caught him approaching out of the corner of his eye.

He wanted to scream for him to stay away. They'd kill him if he didn't. Everything that Tyrian had done here would have been for nothing. He would have lost the match, the championship, and...his best friend.

....And at the rate this was going? His life.

"Tyrian!" Ichabod called out as he strode towards the entrance to the fence.

"Stop this match! Stop it now!"

Tyrian's opponent glanced over at Ichabod and seemed to mull over his orders. The refs certainly were too terrified of him to do anything themselves. Holding Tyrian by the neck in his hand, the man shrugged.

"Why should I?"

The door to the fence caught on fire almost immediately after he'd said that.

Hot enough to melt the metal actually.

"Drop the boy for a ten count. Or I'll end this match. Myself."

Tyrian couldn't feel his arms. Or his legs. He wasn't sure if he'd been paralyzed or if they'd been broken. It was all a blur

But he could still cry.

'.....but i...'

*SNAP*

The tail jerked and Tyrian cried out as he readjusted his shoulder. As best as he could anyway. He fell over onto his side, his tail flopping over onto it's side.

Warm tears streaked down his face.

'...never felt worse.'​

 

[MyrtenRose]

"Why are you—what is this? S-so that's the play, huh? Make Mercury the asshole, rile him up, then back down right away so it becomes true? Just so everyone's real nice and clear on who the biggest screwup on the screwup team is and why?! You don't get to... you don't know what the hell you're..."

"No. That wasn't the play. That wasn't the point." ​

It did little to hide the cascade of tears that started spilling out from underneath, like a river bursting a dam and thundering its way back towards the sea.

"Damn it, Cinder. G-God damn you. I—I'm s-sorry."

In the end, he didn't even know what for.

He just knew it was a lot.

"...Yeah. Me too." ​

Emerald was resigned to her fate, but that didn't mean she wasn't grateful as all hell when Neo's olive branch dinged off the side of his head and made it unnecessary. She had her hands on her knees as she composed herself, breathing heavily for a few seconds, and Cinder touched down just in time to see her whirl.

TING

It was a far lighter, more hollow tinkle than the lamp striking home when she slapped him full across the visor with so much indignant aggression the taste somehow left his mouth even through it, followed by a duller metallic sound as she jabbed her finger into his chest.

"Stop pretending this was about the lamp. Everything you just did was for you. Congratulations, tin man. Despite all efforts to the contrary, you proved you're not a sociopath and have normal human feelings that get hurt just like everyone else's. Hope we made good stress relief. Know what else you proved?"

She stepped closer to him, standing on tiptoe and for all the world acting like she was the one in the powered armor and he was the one who almost just had his aura blown off his face.

"That you're the biggest kid here, bar none. And if you provoke my partner again I don't care what it takes, I'll find a can opener big enough to peel you outta that dinky little action figure of yours and show you there's more in the world to be terrified of than just Ozpin and Grimm. Got it? You haven't seen him. You don't know how he's been since Roman! You think Neo's the only one I've had to worry about?! You self-righteous—"

"..." Well, good news, she seemed fine, as far as physical pain went. That didn't mean she was okay, but it was something. Cinder floated just off to the side, her stare moving between the armored suit and the smaller thief more than a couple times. Stuff seemed to be winding down though, despite that. Emerald just had to get the last of this off her chest and then they could all try and get past this. The maiden almost felt like a third wheel on a double date, not to say this was anything close to that, but that perfectly captured the level of awkward that she felt inside. For who knows, maybe the millionth time in recent days she was unsure of what to say, if anything.

Fortunately, or rather, unfortunately, she never got the chance.​

pop
snap
crunch

She shouldn't even have heard them, really. Part of her wasn't sure whether she actually did, or if it was some case of cosmic coincidence or maybe an aura-related sixth sense for when things had just gone horribly wrong that had her gaze whip over in the direction of the others the moment those three faint, if distinct, noises reached their ears.

It was about a second before the screaming started.

When those sounds hit her ears, they provoked such a strong feeling of apprehensive dread that for more than a few seconds after, she didn't want to move her head to see what had happened. She really really really didn't want to, but she had to. Eventually, her head slowly moved to look.
​

'.....but i...'

*SNAP*

The tail jerked and Tyrian cried out as he readjusted his shoulder. As best as he could anyway. He fell over onto his side, his tail flopping over onto it's side.

Warm tears streaked down his face.

'...never felt worse.'​

It was impossible to even say any words after seeing that. She could only stare in pure, unrestrained shock, her mouth wide open until it was covered up by both her hands, muffling any cries or noises that would have otherwise drifted out almost subconsciously. She'd almost...she'd thought that she'd managed to...​

"...Guess you pegged me all wrong, junior. You should think you're better."

The only words he spoke were to Cinder, the killer reverting to notes of drained, toneless sarcasm in lieu of knowing what else to do. He didn't dare look at anyone else. The guilt from the ones he did was bad enough.

"You are."

Then he shrugged, turned, and walked away.

If she'd heard that, it went unacknowledged in the moment. Her gaze was practically glued to where Tyrian was lying down, broken. Just as much as it felt her feet were rooted to the spot where she stood, as if weighed down by tons, like there was a ball and chain literally attached to her ankle and it was sinking straight down. She couldn't move, she couldn't speak, it was all she could do to stare.​

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

"Stop pretending this was about the lamp. Everything you just did was for you. Congratulations, tin man. Despite all efforts to the contrary, you proved you're not a sociopath and have normal human feelings that get hurt just like everyone else's. Hope we made good stress relief. Know what else you proved?"

She stepped closer to him, standing on tiptoe and for all the world acting like she was the one in the powered armor and he was the one who almost just had his aura blown off his face.

"That you're the biggest kid here, bar none. And if you provoke my partner again I don't care what it takes, I'll find a can opener big enough to peel you outta that dinky little action figure of yours and show you there's more in the world to be terrified of than just Ozpin and Grimm. Got it? You haven't seen him. You don't know how he's been since Roman! You think Neo's the only one I've had to worry about?! You self-righteous—"

Whatever Watts saw on Neo's face when he looked that way had his words come quieter, though not without their own bite as he responded with as much grace as someone who'd just gotten slapped could

"Why, exactly, is it so hard to believe it is about the lamp? In fact, I know you all love tuning me out, but I seem to remember telling you exactly what was going to happen if someone tried to take the l-"

"That you're the biggest kid here, bar none. And if you provoke my partner again I don't care what it takes, I'll find a can opener big enough to peel you outta that dinky little action figure of yours and show you there's more in the world to be terrified of than just Ozpin and Grimm. Got it? You haven't seen him. You don't know how he's been since Roman! You think Neo's the only one I've had to worry about?! You self-righteous—"

pop
snap
crunch

She shouldn't even have heard them, really. Part of her wasn't sure whether she actually did, or if it was some case of cosmic coincidence or maybe an aura-related sixth sense for when things had just gone horribly wrong that had her gaze whip over in the direction of the others the moment those three faint, if distinct, noises reached their ears.

It was about a second before the screaming started.





Mercury was still just standing there when Tyrian battered through the ice, palm rubbing tired, plainly frazzled circles around his eyes as he snapped over without turning. "Get lost."

He didn't sound in the mood anymore. Not for a fight, not for a shouting match, definitely not for the apology Tyrian probably deserved at some point. Not for anything. He just wanted to stand there, stew in his failures and barely exist right now. If he could've vanished into a crack like that bug he saw earlier he would have.

See the hand? Boy means business. You musta really struck a nerve if he wants your aura outta the picture so bad. Pity you didn't have a semblance that useful, huh? Maybe then I woulda let you keep it.

He tried to ignore the voice, tried to ignore the fact that he could see Tyrian's palm glowing in the corner of his eye, tried his best to ignore the second furious roar with a grunt and a sniffle.

"I said fuck off."

Like that'll happen. He's rushing. He's out for blood. Better do somethin', huh? He'll mess you up. It won't even be a fight if he wants you hurt bad, not with that sting of his. Not unless you hurt him first.

Mercury growled, boots kicking up sparks as they scraped off the ground and he dropped into a stance, Tyrian's speed such that he was already on him before he could even do anything but fall backwards into a defensive retreat and send droplets of moisture scattering from his cheeks.

You remember how, right? C'mon. For the love of god, you're a goddamn assassin. Figuring out ways around aura is most of the job. This kid's parlor trick isn't the only one. I know you remember. I felt it myself. Show me.

"Callows, man, I swear to god if you don't stop pushing me—"

Show me.

Tyrian's hand made contact with his shoulder, the bite of his semblance springing out around the point of contact to subsume his aura's white glow in Tyrian's purple, and Mercury's eyes went round as he did arguably one of the most un-Mercury things ever and yelped.

Show me.

Because he felt it. That part of his aura eroding away into nothing. That part of his soul being stripped away from him.

It felt...

Show me.

So horribly familiar.



Tyrian.​

So fast.

Good technique.​

Don't let him touch you.​

Monster semblance.

Five limbs.​

Don't let him touch you.

No discipline.​

Don't let him touch you.​

Tyrian felt his thumb and wrist grasped in an iron grip and wrenched away from Mercury's shoulder with a vicious yank, eyes and nostrils flared and the former skittish around the edges like those of a startled deer. The martial artist was already in motion, pivoting back on one leg even as the other came up to wrap around Tyrian's offending arm and drop its heavy heel into the crook of his neck, already forcing him at an awkward angle with his forearm still held in a vice as he roared, in equal parts shaken and furious.

Five limbs.

"I SAID—"

Inverted anaconda roll. Dislocated shoulder.

pop

Four limbs.

He wasn't done. Tyrian wouldn't be done. That wouldn't be enough. He ducked under the tail if it came in, caught the faunus's arm in its retaliatory swing and twisted, already moving around the side to bring his boot thundering down onto his opposite shoulder at an awkward angle.

Falling crescent axe kick. Separated clavicle.

snap

Three limbs.

The third strike was just pure instinct, what felt like the natural conclusion to his reactive spree of violence as he snarled, spun, and lashed out, bringing the full ungodly force of his heel in motion crashing into the side of Tyrian's knee with the most sickeningly visceral of the noises Tyrian's body made yet.

crunch

Spinning low kick. Dislocated kneecap. Torn ACL. Torn meniscus.

Down to two.

"...fuck off."

Goodwitch had it pegged. You couldn't pit these two against each other.

Someone was going to get hurt.

There was a knack to it, any good assassin learned. To hurting someone. Cheap and dirty methods of putting a person down in a way they couldn't get up from. It was all about torque, in the end. Aura wasn't the be-all, end-all. Since when did what they did have anything to do with the soul?

No. A person's greatest weakness was the same one he was trained to wield as his greatest strength: their body. Its structure. Its limitations. The ways it could move, bend, and the ways it wasn't supposed to. A fact Mercury was intimately familiar with, the set of legs he'd ended up with a constant reminder.

It only took one look at Tyrian where he lay to know his shoulder and knee were bending, or hanging, the opposite way they were supposed to be. The injury to his collarbone was less visible, though no less crippling when it came to that entire arm. It went without saying, but the pain was practically unbearable; However he was taking it, Mercury let it wash over him with a stunned, detached look on his face, eyes unblinking and heels rooted to the spot from the moment they touched back down as he stared down at his trembling hands in disbelief.

And yet somehow, not in surprise.

He barely even reacted when the others inevitably approached, however frantic or furious or whatever else said approach may have been. He didn't engage with it, didn't want to hear it, didn't want to look at them.

But he did look. As much an impulsive response to stressful situations as what he'd just done had been, his eyes searched out his partner's, be it for guidance, reassurance, or some kind of indication that it was going to be okay.

What they found was none of that.

Spoiler: Once again, Emerald was somewhere between a Blake and a Ruby on the reaction scale

View attachment 879337

But it didn't surprise him all that much either.

View attachment 879338

"...Guess you pegged me all wrong, junior. You should think you're better."

The only words he spoke were to Cinder, the killer reverting to notes of drained, toneless sarcasm in lieu of knowing what else to do. He didn't dare look at anyone else. The guilt from the ones he did was bad enough.

"You are."

Then he shrugged, turned, and walked away.​

Tyrian reared back to try and strike Mercury once more.

Only then did it occur to him, to his body.

...What had been done to him.

He collapsed onto his remaining knee and seethed as one of his arms hung at his side, the shoulder bulging out.

He was in incredible pain.

But just as had been the case just moments ago.

Mercury's words hurt him the most.

"You...."


"don't...."

Tyrian grit his teeth and reached out towards him.

"...DON'T WALK AWAY FROM ME!!!"

The faunus fell forward with his tail swinging wildly around him.

"You....don't get to say what you did....and...and just walk away!!!"

This pain coursing through him. Mercury had taken a methodical path in order to take him down.

Nailing each part that would be required for the faunus to hopefully stay down.

Emphasis on the 'hopefully' part there.

Pushing himself onto his rear, Tyrian's tail snaked around his arm.

'I've fought worse...'

Spoiler: the fight against 'him'

The blow sent Tyrian flying back. If it hadn't been for his tail scratching the floor/slowing him down, he'd have been launched right through the fence surrounding the arena. Instead, he fell forward onto his hands and knees as what appeared like streams of blood gushed down from his face, staining the ring.

His opponent stood over him, no, towered over him. Muscles upon muscles. A scar running down one of his eyes.

Strangely enough for a competitor, the man looked...old. If Tyrian had to guess probably around his 40s-50s.

He was also a human.

One who's father had rigged this match. The decrepit geezer had threatened Tyrian that if he didn't throw the fight?

Ichabod would be killed.

As the faunus was lost in the midst of his thoughts and the pain that came with them, the man strode forward.

View attachment 879402

"...And I was told you're this place's 'champion?'"

*thwack*

Some teeth went flying that time.

"Guess it just goes to show just how different you animals are from us huh? We've got you beat in everything. Resources, population, and..."

*thwack*

Tyrian bounced against the fence and was smashed to the floor with an overhead strike.

"Power."

'I've seen worse....'

His tail tightened around his arm.

Spoiler: a miserable sight

Ichabod had been suspicious of this 'fight' from the word go. This was supposed to be an exhibition match. Something he was sure that Tyrian would have loved. Instead, all he and the audience were treated to was a downright brutalizing. It just didn't make sense. This man....Tyrian could have taken him, Ichabod was sure of it.

....But if he couldn't then he'd seen enough.

"Boss?" One of Ichabod's four bodyguard entourage quiped. It'd been long since rumored that they were actually his sons. Born from the marriage he'd had with a cat faunus before the war. Nobody knew for sure and nobody ever brought it up to Ichabod.

"I'm goin down there." Ichabod replied, grabbing his cane.

"I've seen enough."

As he subtly used his semblance, 'Overheat', to help clear the way, Tyrian caught him approaching out of the corner of his eye.

He wanted to scream for him to stay away. They'd kill him if he didn't. Everything that Tyrian had done here would have been for nothing. He would have lost the match, the championship, and...his best friend.

....And at the rate this was going? His life.

"Tyrian!" Ichabod called out as he strode towards the entrance to the fence.

"Stop this match! Stop it now!"

Tyrian's opponent glanced over at Ichabod and seemed to mull over his orders. The refs certainly were too terrified of him to do anything themselves. Holding Tyrian by the neck in his hand, the man shrugged.

"Why should I?"

The door to the fence caught on fire almost immediately after he'd said that.

Hot enough to melt the metal actually.

"Drop the boy for a ten count. Or I'll end this match. Myself."

Tyrian couldn't feel his arms. Or his legs. He wasn't sure if he'd been paralyzed or if they'd been broken. It was all a blur

But he could still cry.

'.....but i...'

*SNAP*

The tail jerked and Tyrian cried out as he readjusted his shoulder. As best as he could anyway. He fell over onto his side, his tail flopping over onto it's side.

Warm tears streaked down his face.

'...never felt worse.'​

Then the genuine, very real consquences of this debacle truly hit before Watts could stick any more of his foot in his mouth, his own attempt to just completely talk over Emerald sputtering out into a shocked silence.

"....Gods, what just- Tyrian!" he shouted, thrusters putting him back the way Cinder had come to skid to a halt next to his teammate. "Hays, scan, contact emergency services-"

 

[Gus Gungus]

The tail jerked and Tyrian cried out as he readjusted his shoulder. As best as he could anyway. He fell over onto his side, his tail flopping over onto it's side.

Warm tears streaked down his face.

'...never felt worse.'

It was impossible to even say any words after seeing that. She could only stare in pure, unrestrained shock, her mouth wide open until it was covered up by both her hands, muffling any cries or noises that would have otherwise drifted out almost subconsciously. She'd almost...she'd thought that she'd managed to...

Then the genuine, very real consquences of this debacle truly hit before Watts could stick any more of his foot in his mouth, his own attempt to just completely talk over Emerald sputtering out into a shocked silence.

"....Gods, what just- Tyrian!" he shouted, thrusters putting him back the way Cinder had come to skid to a halt next to his teammate. "Hays, scan, contact emergency services-"

"Holy FUCK, you guys! Not enough flowers have been picked in the history of the entire universe 'til today for this!" A voice as unequivocally distressed as any said emphatically, Morgiana abandoning all traces of her everything's groovy bohemian stylings in the moment as she peered around one side of Arthur to catch her first unobstructed view of the maimed faunus with an unsettled gasp. "When the stars told me you'd be divided, I didn't think... I thought yall were supposed to be friends?! Not to push an agenda, but this is exactly why academies that teach our children to integrate violence as a core part of their personalities and problemsolving abilities is a harmful and outdated institution that—"

"Yeah, this excellent point can wait," her bodyguard rumbled, Lance as large next to the armor as Morgiana was tiny as he appeared around the other side, never sounding more like an exhausted babysitter than he did right now. He dropped on his haunches next to Tyrian, overlooking the injuries for a moment before he addressed Watts with a grave shake of the head.

"This look like the 'good healthcare' kingdom to you? By the time he gets seen it'll be sundown. And y'all folks'll still be gettin' processed at the nearest PD come morning."

"Hoooooooookay. Noooononono, I cannot go down for this," Morgiana muttered, a very serious bearing overtaking her suddenly as she kneaded her temples vigorously and tried to coax her brain out of the remnants of her last high with sheer friction. She started flapping her hands rapidly, a dead giveaway that she wanted someone to pick Tyrian up but had no faith in her own meagre arms' ability to do so. "Get him back to my tent, my dudes! I can help down there!"

She started jabbing her fingers frenetically towards the alley mouth that eventually led to the faded portal they'd all emerged from, Mercury already having reached it as he trudged that way without apparent want for an intended destination.​

 

[MidwayLives]

Tyrian had laid there in pain.

He'd done what he could for his shoulder.

The knee and clavicle were beyond him.

In the ring most injuries were treated by 'Doc', even nowadays Tyrian wasn't sure if he was a real medically certified doctor. He DID tend to hand out a lot of alcohol if the wounds weren't grievous enough to require immediate attention.
​

Then the genuine, very real consquences of this debacle truly hit before Watts could stick any more of his foot in his mouth, his own attempt to just completely talk over Emerald sputtering out into a shocked silence.

"....Gods, what just- Tyrian!" he shouted, thrusters putting him back the way Cinder had come to skid to a halt next to his teammate. "Hays, scan, contact emergency services-"

Tyrian's eyes lit up.

His tail swung out, the stinger carving a course through the air inches away from Watt's neckline.

It felt less like he were looking at his friend and more like an injured animal that'd found itself cornered.

His movements were weak, wobbly, his tail raised itself up.

It drove itself into the ground to steady Tyrian as he stood up.

Clutching at his arm, Tyrian huffed and puffed as he stared at the alleyway.
​

"Hoooooooookay. Noooononono, I cannot go down for this," Morgiana muttered, a very serious bearing overtaking her suddenly as she kneaded her temples vigorously and tried to coax her brain out of the remnants of her last high with sheer friction. She started flapping her hands rapidly, a dead giveaway that she wanted someone to pick Tyrian up but had no faith in her own meagre arms' ability to do so. "Get him back to my tent, my dudes! I can help down there!"

She started jabbing her fingers frenetically towards the alley mouth that eventually led to the faded portal they'd all emerged from, Mercury already having reached it as he trudged that way without apparent want for an intended destination.

"...."

Tyrian started to limp towards the direction of the portal, his stinger carving through the ground as it went. His other leg's knee clearly looking ajar with the dislocation.

Trifa who had watched the events-unwilling to get involved. These were the people who'd saved her but the bond they had? Their dynamic? It hadn't included her and she wasn't going to interfere in proceedings that didn't involve her.

This. This involved her.

"Tyrian, stop! Look at you!"

The scorpion didn't acknowledge Trifa's words.

His mind was elsewhere. Maybe it was due to the pain. Or the anger swelling within him.

He wasn't snarling. He wasn't foaming at the mouth.

He was just.

Furious.

Spoiler: that man

"Tyrian! Tyrian, it's us!" He could recognize that voice. It was his mother.

They'd finally caught wind of Tyrian sneaking out to attend the fight club and followed. It was only after they'd made a scene/threatened the guards who denied them entry that they saw the horrors that their son had willingly subjected himself to. The opponent he'd been tasked with fighting stood over his broken body, blood drenching his knuckles, and his face/mustache. Tyrian's eyes were going to swell shut at the very least if he didn't lose them altogether from the beating he'd taken. His legs had been bruised to hell and back and his face?

The less said about the details the better.

Ichabod had managed to drive off his opponent through a show of force, lighting the outskirts of the ring ablaze. Whether the man decided the optics of attempting to murder an elderly war veteran infront of an audience weren't worth it or he was genuinely intimidated? Tyrian couldn't really tell you. He liked to think it was the latter. Ichabod may have needed to get around on a cane but he was still pretty scary when he needed to be.

As his mother held him and his father was held back from pursuing his opponent by security, Tyrian could only see one thing through his closing eyes.

The man's back.

As Trifa's cries for him to stop grew louder, Tyrian gripped a part of the wall to keep from falling. His tail raised itself as he leaned against the wall to catch his breath.

That man had left and Tyrian hadn't seen him since.

He'd left Tyrian a broken bloody mess in his own mother's arms.

Now?

He'd been left a broken mess infront of his friends.

His fingers dug into a chunk of wall he'd been palming and it started to crack....​

 

[MyrtenRose]

"Holy FUCK, you guys! Not enough flowers have been picked in the history of the entire universe 'til today for this!" A voice as unequivocally distressed as any said emphatically, Morgiana abandoning all traces of her everything's groovy bohemian stylings in the moment as she peered around one side of Arthur to catch her first unobstructed view of the maimed faunus with an unsettled gasp. "When the stars told me you'd be divided, I didn't think... I thought yall were supposed to be friends?! "​

"Hoooooooookay. Noooononono, I cannot go down for this," Morgiana muttered, a very serious bearing overtaking her suddenly as she kneaded her temples vigorously and tried to coax her brain out of the remnants of her last high with sheer friction. She started flapping her hands rapidly, a dead giveaway that she wanted someone to pick Tyrian up but had no faith in her own meagre arms' ability to do so. "Get him back to my tent, my dudes! I can help down there!"

She started jabbing her fingers frenetically towards the alley mouth that eventually led to the faded portal they'd all emerged from, Mercury already having reached it as he trudged that way without apparent want for an intended destination.

She was completely silent, giving no sign that she had even registered that...at least not until she spun and rushed for the portal herself, hoping somebody else would gingerly lift the scorpion faunus up, having torn her gaze away from him and not realizing he'd stood up on his own. Cinder closed the distance to it quick, and whether it was on this side before he managed to step through or on the other side after he'd already stepped through, both her hands clutched at Mercury's jacket in a distressed manner. She pulled, not super aggressively but just enough to bring him a little closer as she lifted her head up to stare him down with an already watery look to her single eye. "Why?" She spoke softly. "Why? Why...why did you have to....why did you go s-so hard...I know Tyrian, h-he didn't help anything but.......why couldn't you.....couldn't y-you just..." Her voice trembled, her gold eye flickering slightly, desperately searching for something in his own eyes.​

 

[Gus Gungus]

She was completely silent, giving no sign that she had even registered that...at least not until she spun and rushed for the portal herself, hoping somebody else would gingerly lift the scorpion faunus up, having torn her gaze away from him and not realizing he'd stood up on his own. Cinder closed the distance to it quick, and whether it was on this side before he managed to step through or on the other side after he'd already stepped through, both her hands clutched at Mercury's jacket in a distressed manner. She pulled, not super aggressively but just enough to bring him a little closer as she lifted her head up to stare him down with an already watery look to her single eye. "Why?" She spoke softly. "Why? Why...why did you have to....why did you go s-so hard...I know Tyrian, h-he didn't help anything but.......why couldn't you.....couldn't y-you just..." Her voice trembled, her gold eye flickering slightly, desperately searching for something in his own eyes.

"It's a headscratcher, alright," he threw back at her in a tepid drawl, making no move to stop the grab but not exactly meeting her halfway in either the physical or emotional sense. He didn't even look back at first, just kept his eyes off to the side, treating her like she was Goodwitch and he still the class rebel maintaining deniability against the charge of vandalism or starting fights or whatever other minor infractions were being levied his way as the contemplative huff of air he gave parted his bangs at the center.

"Could be it's like I tried telling you guys before your partner decided twelve rounds behind the jungle gym was the way to play this. You're stressed, sure. Has stumbling across the one mystery his brain can't make heads or tails of already driven Wattstron halfway to the looney bin with a reservation? Looks like."

The tone he chose implied he was heading somewhere with this, but in the end he just resettled his gaze on her with a bitter smirk and eyes of cold steel, betraying nothing of whatever she was searching for in them.

"Still ain't the ones who shattered. Though hey, I guess we can start counting Tyrian's kneecap."

His hands rotated up to brush hers away, and before she could stop him he took a few evasive steps out of her grabbing distance and let himself fall back against the wall, his muttering of the password turning the faded lion's head mural behind him into a shimmering green pool of light that swallowed him up right as the others started closing the distance.

------------

While it was probably far from the first thing on their minds, any who recalled Emerald's prior description on first usage of the runed portals knew the travel time wasn't entirely instantaneous. The lag wasn't anything major, but those who opted towards Morgiana's esoteric means as a mode of transport were spat out at intervals, which explained why the flower child swept them all to one side as soon as she approached alongside a Lance who'd hoisted Tyrian up into his arms and looked extremely unimpressed as he tried to quell the faunus's squirming. Her babbled explanation that travellers only arrived at their destination as one if they linked up before stepping through the doorway was rushed, but made a certain kind of sense after a fashion, and no sooner than she, the bodyguard and Tyrian disappeared through the jade pool as a single convoy did Emerald quickly step up to the chalk outline herself, hissing out an impatient sigh and coldly jerking her arm out for anyone who wanted to make it through on the portal's next use to take.

The initial trio's emergence in the tent had occurred between thirty seconds and a minute before theirs, at a guess, judging from the stage Lance was at in situating Tyrian on the bed and Morgiana's in carving a path of destruction across the room like a miniature brightly colored whirlwind, trinkets, yowling cats, and jars of questionable contents flying in all directions as she tried to swiftly gather up the materials she needed in this absolute travesty of a hoarder's den. Her small army of felines padded around them curiously, keeping their distance as they picked up on the frayed energy in the room. As horrible as this all obviously was, it had to be said the starry-eyed arcanist looked almost a little too excited for whatever the treatment process she had in mind entailed, emerging from a mountain of clutter at the far end of the tent with what looked to be a jar of mummified starfish.

"Hahaaaa! Righteous! Check it out, children of Remnant. Picked up these choice speckled oasis stars from an apothecary I met at Burning Tan? Fastest naturally occurring regenerative properties in the world. All locally sourced and gathered humanely from their indigenous habitat after death by natural causes, of course. See, we're cookin'! We're movin'! Ooohohoho, man, I'm actually kinda stoked for this. Okay, okay, I need—does anyone see a bottle labeled 'eleuthero root tincture, expired'? Oh, and my deck of Major Arcana! I need, umm, I need the Magician, the High Priestess, Wheel of Fortune, the Sun, the Star, Judgement and the World—"

It was probably around about that point that anyone who didn't have a huge amount of faith in alternative medicine felt their stomach drop like a stone. If not then, the feeling definitely coalesced when Morgiana plopped herself down on the bed with a tray full of her 'surgical equipment', including but not limited to:

1. Dried starfish
2. Various herbal extracts and tinctures
3. The aforementioned tarot cards
4. Raw, unprocessed dust crystals of various colors
5. Bath salts
6. A fat blunt
7. A triangle (like the instrument)
8. Matchstick (the cat)

She desperately shushed and rocked the latter, encouraging him to settle even as she glanced back, picked up article #6 from the tray and darted over to leave it perched between Tyrian's lips, colors springing out into drifting patterns from her eyes as the end of it ignited.

"Theeeere ya go, Sweet Tea, that take the sting out some? Now lie still and stop actin' all goof bananas so mama can work."

Mercury had taken the portal first and alone, so it probably served as no surprise that he was nowhere to be seen by the time the others arrived, having come through with a grace period similar to the one Morgiana, Lance and Tyrian had before them.​

 

[MidwayLives]

She desperately shushed and rocked the latter, encouraging him to settle even as she glanced back, picked up article #6 from the tray and darted over to leave it perched between Tyrian's lips, colors springing out into drifting patterns from her eyes as the end of it ignited.

Tyrian huffed and looked away from Morgiana.

But he didn't struggle anymore.

He was just....

upset.
​

"Theeeere ya go, Sweet T, that take the sting out some? Now chill and stop actin' all goof bananas so mama can work."

The faunus didn't say anything, he didn't need to.

The fact that he wasn't kicking up a fuss anymore was proof enough.​

 

[MyrtenRose]

"It's a headscratcher, alright," he threw back at her in a tepid drawl, making no move to stop the grab but not exactly meeting her halfway in either the physical or emotional sense. He didn't even look back at first, just kept his eyes off to the side, treating her like she was Goodwitch and he still the class rebel maintaining deniability against the charge of vandalism or starting fights or whatever other minor infractions were being levied his way as the contemplative huff of air he gave parted his bangs at the center.

"Could be it's like I tried telling you guys before your partner decided twelve rounds behind the jungle gym was the way to play this. You're stressed, sure. Has stumbling across the one mystery his brain can't make heads or tails of already driven Wattstron halfway to the looney bin with a reservation? Looks like."

The tone he chose implied he was heading somewhere with this, but in the end he just resettled his gaze on her with a bitter smirk and eyes of cold steel, betraying nothing of whatever she was searching for in them.

"Still ain't the ones who shattered. Though hey, I guess we can start counting Tyrian's kneecap."

His hands rotated up to brush hers away, and before she could stop him he took a few evasive steps out of her grabbing distance and let himself fall back against the wall, his muttering of the password turning the faded lion's head mural behind him into a shimmering green pool of light that swallowed him up right as the others started closing the distance.

".......B-but........" The quiver in her voice was even more evident in that single word than any that preceded it, and she ultimately didn't manage to say anything more before he dropped back into the portal and disappeared from view. Her stare lingered on it, and she still hadn't moved by the time Morgiana, Lance and Tyrian went through. Only then did her stare break.

If only for a moment or two. After she opened her eye again, she took hold of Emerald's offered arm, though slowly. Almost lifelessly, really. Yet once she was on the other side, she was quick to instantly let go and step away, extra mindful of herself. Cinder looked towards Tyrian and Morgiana. She was somewhat skeptical of the intended treatments, but well...it couldn't really hurt, could it? Not like she herself could do anything that anyone else couldn't, she'd tried the healing trick that Weiss had done earlier, but that didn't take. Not quite ready for those just yet.

Man, if only it was that simple. Wave a little magic and make your problems go away.

Well, strange treatments aside, she was sure that her big brained partner could take care of things here. So it was with one last look at Tyrian that she did her best to slip away while all eyes were on him and his hippie doctor, leaving the tent in search of the nearest edge she could sit on and dangle her legs off of, to take in the beautiful sight of the cavern and just...think.​

 

[Gus Gungus]

The one reassuring sight as Morgiana etched runes into the surface of the various objects was Lance, whose preparations reflected the actual due process for dislocation victims of Tyrian's caliber as he formed a makeshift belt pulley and used it to raise the faunus's leg at a gentle incline from the bed. The tarot cards the mystic fanned out were already practically illegible under the weight of her scribblings, seemingly nonsensical patterns and shapes that were in truth as diverse and elaborate in construction as a sovereign language, and while one hand intensified the scratching between Matchstick's ears she used the other to arrange them neatly in a circle with the cluster of objects at their center bar the triangle.

"Y'all wanna hear this UNAPPROACHABLY FAR OUT secret about cats? That funky lil purr they give to let us know when a feline's feelin' fine? All those tiny little vibrations rock at the exact right frequency to promote healthy bone formation and healing."

She threw the burning clove incense she'd been waving around in Tyrian's face down on his lap and picked up the triangle, whispering something unintelligible in Matchstick's ear and continuing to bounce him on her lap.

"S'just one of those magical little things about the world. Okay, dudes!" The lights in the room dimmed, a wave of sibylline energy flowing out from her crystal-black eyes along with the dazzling optical array of colors as she turned to the small army of cats watching her intently. "Remember to keep it between 20 and 150hz this time. I don't need the stars to tell me the last thing anyone needs today is a repeat of the jellyfish incident. Groovy? Rad. A 1-2-3-4!"

She dinged the triangle, gave a few encouraging (but extremely awkward) rumbling noises from the back of her throat in tune with the key, and before anyone could question what the jellyfish incident was and what it meant in relation to Tyrian the entire cadre of animals started purring in unison, smooth and harmonious as a choir of fluffy angels. All this, naturally, would have appeared to embody nothing more than the utter nonsense it was were it not for the way curls of misty energy wafted up and away from the cats in droves, golden in hue and accumulating in Morgiana's hands where they touched the circle of runed tarot cards; Joining the more extravagantly colored energies being pulled from the starfish, herbal solutions and dust crystals.

They all merged to imbue the mage's hands with a glow the shade of honey, which she lay on Tyrian's leg before he could protest to imbue his normally-purple aura with a similar light. It was hard to gauge whether the sensation it provoked was positive or negative, but it was definitely... different, and whatever about her assessment of the procedure thus far had Morgiana deliver an emboldened hum.

"So... when the winds whispered of this day they never told me how heavy a cost Mercury's happy meal would incur on his eternal soul, but whatever way they blow, children, Remnant's destiny yet hangs in the balance. The beacon yet burns. There still has to be a group, and the hands of fate move ever-closer to slamming shut the window... of opportunity." Sometimes it sounded almost like she made these sentences up as she went along, but one would never guess such from her solemn, spiritually attuned bearing.

"Gneiss was known to the Forty Thieves even before I reigned. One of papa's doorways yet exists, etched deep into the tunnels of the old mines pocketing the ravine, faded, forgotten, but functional. Now it waits. There are other modes of transport, but none will ferry you there with the haste of my leylines. Do any among you yet intend to answer the call?"

Not that they would've been the most enthusiastic to start with, but two voices conspicuous in their silence were those of Emerald and Mercury. Like her partner, the thief had vanished from the moment they all set foot back in the tent, leaving Neo as the sole remaining face of team MTEN's mountain in the room.​

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

"There is no way that is medically viable."

Watts sat on his scooter at one edge of the tent with his forehead resting in his palm. his words buried by the sound of ten thousand purrs reverberating through the room. His eyes were heavy, his posture muted as he watched Morgiana do whatever it was and listened to her words. When he answered her, it was with none of the nihilistic bravado or posturing from the last time they'd been in the tent.

"We're going still, Cinder and I. We don't really have a choice. Is... whatever this is, going to have Tyrian on his feet?" He asked, before sliding his glance over to the illusionist still in the room. "And Neo, do you...."

He trailed off when he took a good look at her face. She was much closer to Tyrian than he was, right next to the cot with a comforting hand on his shoulder and a far more taut and distraught look on her face than his own. Before he could walk the statement back entirely however, she looked up, and caught his own gaze fully.

"..."

"..."

They both gave a short nod to each other, and Neo snapped her fingers before pointing in the air. A digital clock, of all things, floated into existence beside her head, and started counting down from five minutes. She gave Tyrian's shoulder one final squeeze before she stood up and strode out of the tent.


Before Beacon, Neo was almost as bad with the written word as the spoken. She struggled, and only by the grace of her aptitude at literally everything else in regards to being a huntress along with some serious help from Roman that she actually made it into the school. It hadn't mattered much, before then. She could be friendly to anyone, but her only real friend had ever been Roman, and as dumb as this sounded, he'd never needed words to understand what she was trying to say.

then she met her team, and WTCH, and so many others, and thing shifted, changed. Suddenly Roman wasn't the only one she wanted to be understood by. The intent of a joke couldn't be passed on with a sly glance and a specific gesture, comfort couldn't be passed on just with a touch or a hug. It was a struggle, but it was one worth taking; doing her best to get to know Mercury and Emerald as much as they'd allow. Asking Hazel for help with some assignments. Heckling Watts for his obvious crush on Goodwitch. Even if they weren't spoken aloud, that year was the first time in so long that Neo felt like she could exist outside of Roman's orbit, like their relationship was a home she could always return to than a lifeline that kept her afloat. She even laughed a little louder, as close to a sound that she ever made.

Then that lifeline got cut.

There weren't any texts, no illusionary walls of words, after Haven. She went back to being a blank slate, a silent mime who's best communication came from pictures and gestures. She'd lost the one who understood her, and suddenly every word she'd ever written or traced felt treacherous, wrong, a betrayal of that final request, a death sentence. It hadn't been till today that she felt the courage to try again, even with such a simple message to Emerald.

It hadn't been till today that she realized that not saying anything could be much, much worse than silence.

So whatever their last text had been before haven, it was a very simple message that took much longer than three letters should've that hit the MTEN group chat from Neo's scroll.

'Hey'

 

[Gus Gungus]

"There is no way that is medically viable."

Watts sat on his scooter at one edge of the tent with his forehead resting in his palm. his words buried by the sound of ten thousand purrs reverberating through the room. His eyes were heavy, his posture muted as he watched Morgiana do whatever it was and listened to her words. When he answered her, it was with none of the nihilistic bravado or posturing from the last time they'd been in the tent.

"We're going still, Cinder and I. We don't really have a choice. Is... whatever this is, going to have Tyrian on his feet?" He asked, before sliding his glance over to the illusionist still in the room.

"Mmmh. Let's say the Morgiana of five minutes from now has a less vaporous answer to that question, duckling," Morgiana came back noncommittally in her cryptically dulcet tones, eyes like two dark nuclei at the heart of an exploding rainbow as they stared ahead, wide and unseeing. "We'll all have a better idea whether a nice, terrifyingly high pain threshold like this itsy bitsy arachnid man's is enough for sustained upwards mobility by then. Let's just set a pretty chill bar to start and say 100% optimum ability is off the table, kay? As for the medical viability, no way, dude! I thought you of all people might appreciate that there's some seriously legit hard science behind everything I'm doing right now. Between 20 and 150hz, remember? And that's real. You can look that up, not that your boring sterilized kingdom-sanctioned views on alternative medicine are gonna-"

At a glance the shamanistic mystic's bedside manner appeared to leave much to be desired, but the reality behind the spirited chirping Neo heard fade behind her as she departed was no more insidious than a nurse who chattered away reassuringly prior to administering a shot, attempting to coax a patient out of their malaise and back to some semblance of normalcy by engaging with their interests. Just how well her Sisyphean efforts took flight remained to be seen, but it likely served as no surprise that one so eternally concerned about the Vibes™ was attempting to take far more than just Tyrian on as her patient.

'Hey'

The soft vibrating tone as the word pushed out the topmost message in an inoffensive (but needlessly lengthy) back-and-forth about the necessity of taking a train to Mistral—mostly comprised of Mercury and Emerald themselves, almost like something weird had happened between the other half of their quartet on that very needless train to Mistral—was immediately followed by two others; the duo in question's online status going green almost instantly, only to hover unresponsively for longer than could've been considered normal for either of the default texting patterns she could remember. Both tended to fire off their replies with nothing short of immediacy, Emerald's a case study in aloof, lowercase, no-punctuation-so-any-tone-you-attach-to-this-is-completely-interpretative enigma, Mercury having yet to shake off the snarky, memey affliction that was being an 18-year-old male who thinks he's funny.

These, however, took a little longer. She was about halfway down the spire leading up to Morgiana's tent when they came, likewise arriving barely a heartbeat apart.


Wow, so Neo's gonna start giving us 280-character-or-less windows into her surface level thoughts and feelings again. Gamechanging.
we're back at the room
dont even bother

---------------

Emerald's frustration was currently slipping about as noticably in the physical realm as it had in the digital one, the thief whipping her scroll for the other side of the bed she sat cross-legged on and groaning with the eruptive cadence of someone who very much wanted to start yanking their hair out but didn't have the guts. She settled for just kneading her temples with the intensity of dough instead, eyes that were so much more haggard than the amount of sleep she'd gotten at a loss as she despondently sent them Mercury's way, hoping an accusatory bite in her tone provoked the reaction she was looking for where woundedness alone had obviously failed to.



"Listen to me. You're having... a reaction right now, but you don't wanna do this. You cannot do this to me today, not after everything—!"

"What, huh? That sappy little number about family that made Neo cry tears of embarrassment and me awkwardly laugh it off 'til it was over? Sure I can."

He could practically hear her bristle even in the midst of his own reply, laconic and breezy as ever, knowing full well just how far outside her own comfort zone Emerald had had to travel just to acknowledge that side of herself—let alone let it show in the presence of others. And yet somehow, he wasn't done.

"I mean, don't get me wrong. Real nice moment and everything, but unlike you closeted dorks I just don't think eventual emotional catharsis followed by self-acceptance was ever really my endgame here. Y'know?" It was perhaps a form of karma for how many emotional sidesteps the thief herself had committed over the years that he was effortlessly shutting her out now, his back to her while he faced his own bunk and fiddled with the clasps on a gym bag, preoccupied. "That stuff just ain't my bag. Could be it's time I stopped acting like a PG-rated poser and shopped around some, took a look at what else the big, wide world has to offer a screwed-up, unhinged hypocrite like me. Hell, maybe the reason everything went so bad is I've been on the wrong side of this shitshow from day one, ever think of that? Here's a fun brainteaser I genuinely ask myself sometimes: who do I have more in common with? Roman or the psycho who took him out?"

He snorted. She couldn't believe what she was hearing; Except she so could, because it was Mercury and he wasn't nearly as complex as he thought he was. So she did her best to just tune it out, the harsh, cutting nature to his words and their purpose, the way he wielded them like a nuclear bomb crossed with a wedge to drive between himself and whoever in the room was trying to reach him. It was a tactic she was well familiar with, even if she liked to imagine she was astronomically more subtle about it.

And man did the other side of it really suck.

"...Well I was talking about Gneiss." She huffed, having shifted a hand over to massage her brow somewhere in the midst of all that and left it there, pinching the bridge of her nose. She knew just from the way his shoulders tensed, the movements he was shoving various personal artifacts into the bag with growing preoccupied, less driven, that she had scored a hit, and however below-the-belt it may have been her attention snapped up to attack the chink she'd opened up. "And your dad did a bigger number on you than anyone could've predicted if you think this whole... 'act out til everyone just abandons you' thing is gonna fly. What about Neo? What exactly are you gonna say when she gets here and sees you..."

She let a pithy exclamation of disgust voice her feelings, throwing her hands wide for no one's benefit other than her own given his back was still facing her as she gestured around at the various empty spaces in the room where Mercury's stuff had been.

"...pulling a Cinder?"

It wasn't a lot, but when you shared a semi-spacious cave room with two girls it stood out. Mostly cheap knicknacks, funny looking rocks and seashells, the odd stack of movies or comic books.

When he laid it all out end-to-end like this, it really wasn't a lot. He always was a 'one bag' kinda guy. Using the moment it took him to find a spot for the last of the comics and zip the whole thing up to think, he pulled back, slung the duffel over his shoulder and let his hair settle to one side with a jerk of the head, exhaling.



"...Gneiss is the only reason I'm buckling up for one last adventure and then 'pulling a Cinder'. And I hadn't really thought about it, but since you asked I'd say it'd go a little like—"

He spun with a sudden, more intense burst of motion than she'd seen out of him in the entirety of the last five minutes, giving her a hopeful jolt until she realized it coincided with the door swinging open and Neo herself arriving directly into the floodlights of Mercury channeling his douchiest, cheesiest, heartthrobbiest of Beacon selves, sliding her the ol' fingergun-and-wink one-two that had gotten him off the hook so many times with the opposite gender.

"—Hey beautiful. Figured you'd need someone to catch you at the bottom, but I guess this whole time I've just been the one falling. Sorry."

The delivery was like he intended them to be the last words ever spoken between them, and in his head they—in tandem with the nuclear level Smoulder™ he was laying down—would've had Neo part from the door with a newfound sense of enlightened understanding, allowing him to pass on from both the room and her life. It was all very Western-ending, he the aloof, mysterious gunslinger leaving it all behind for the only road he was ever meant to walk, they the bright-eyed towngirls who just wouldn't understand. The drama. The electricity. The echo of what might've been that would never fade, lingering like a ghost.

"BOOOO!"

The sound of Emerald booiing the actual shit out of him cut that exit strategy's throat and pumped the body full of bullets even before a pillow that felt way too heavy to just be full of pillow clocked him in the back of the head, the thief like a rabid wolverine as she scrabbled down the ladder to her bunk.

"He thinks he's being all poetic and meaningful right now, in, like, a macho way, but believe me when I say this entire conversation has just been stupid and angsty, Neo, seriously. Just don't even stress about it. I'll handle it."



She sounded less certain than usual, and there was a glimmer of uncharacteristic desperation in her gaze, though strangely she looked almost as fretful at the prospect of Neo entering the room and conversation as she did at Mercury leaving it. The amount of abject guilt wracking her over the unneeded additional emotional strain she'd already put on the other illusionist today was enough.​

 

[MidwayLives]

The one reassuring sight as Morgiana etched runes into the surface of the various objects was Lance, whose preparations reflected the actual due process for dislocation victims of Tyrian's caliber as he formed a makeshift belt pulley and used it to raise the faunus's leg at a gentle incline from the bed. The tarot cards the mystic fanned out were already practically illegible under the weight of her scribblings, seemingly nonsensical patterns and shapes that were in truth as diverse and elaborate in construction as a sovereign language, and while one hand intensified the scratching between Matchstick's ears she used the other to arrange them neatly in a circle with the cluster of objects at their center bar the triangle.

"Y'all wanna hear this UNAPPROACHABLY FAR OUT secret about cats? That funky lil purr they give to let us know when a feline's feelin' fine? All those tiny little vibrations rock at the exact right frequency to promote healthy bone formation and healing."

Tyrian grumbled under his breath.

The anger hadn't disappeared.

It was just in waiting. The blunt and the pain keeping it at bay.

But for how long...?
​

Man, if only it was that simple. Wave a little magic and make your problems go away.

Well, strange treatments aside, she was sure that her big brained partner could take care of things here. So it was with one last look at Tyrian that she did her best to slip away while all eyes were on him and his hippie doctor, leaving the tent in search of the nearest edge she could sit on and dangle her legs off of, to take in the beautiful sight of the cavern and just...think.

Tyrian glanced in the direction of the departing maiden.

"Cinder-agh..."

He'd tried reaching out to her.

But it hurt just too much.

To see her go again.
​

S'just one of those magical little things about the world. Okay, dudes!" The lights in the room dimmed, a wave of sibylline energy flowing out from her crystal-black eyes along with the dazzling optical array of colors as she turned to the small army of cats watching her intently. "Remember to keep it between 20 and 150hz this time. I don't need the stars to tell me the last thing anyone needs today is a repeat of the jellyfish incident. Groovy? Rad. A 1-2-3-4!"

She dinged the triangle, gave a few encouraging (but extremely awkward) rumbling noises from the back of her throat in tune with the key, and before anyone could question what the jellyfish incident was and what it meant in relation to Tyrian the entire cadre of animals started purring in unison, smooth and harmonious as a choir of fluffy angels. All this, naturally, would have appeared to embody nothing more than the utter nonsense it was were it not for the way curls of misty energy wafted up and away from the cats in droves, golden in hue and accumulating in Morgiana's hands where they touched the circle of runed tarot cards; Joining the more extravagantly colored energies being pulled from the starfish, herbal solutions and dust crystals.

"Grrr..." Tyrian snarled, the blunt dangerously threatening to fall from his lips.

"I...I don't understand any of this!" He whined. He tried using his good arm to push himself up....

The anger had found it's avenue and it wasn't passing it up.

It came out something like this:

Spoiler: invincible spoilers

"Where is Mercury??? Where IS he?!"

Tyrian gripped onto the fabric of his cot and his tail started to uncoil from around his waist....
​

They all merged to imbue the mage's hands with a glow the shade of honey, which she lay on Tyrian's leg before he could protest to imbue his normally-purple aura with a similar light. It was hard to gauge whether the sensation it provoked was positive or negative, but it was definitely... different, and whatever about her assessment of the procedure thus far had Morgiana deliver an emboldened hum.

Needless to say it was rightly thanks to Morgiana's interference that Tyrian had been stopped in his tracks.

....From likely further injuring himself-in a far more grievous manner-in the process.

His tail slowly resumed it's place around his scarred waist and he relaxed back in his place.

...His demeanor hadn't seemed to change though, his eyes looking off to the side, his good arm laid across his chest.
​

"So... when the winds whispered of this day they never told me how heavy a cost Mercury's happy meal would incur on his eternal soul, but whatever way they blow, children, Remnant's destiny yet hangs in the balance. The beacon yet burns. There still has to be a group, and the hands of fate move ever-closer to slamming shut the window... of opportunity." Sometimes it sounded almost like she made these sentences up as she went along, but one would never guess such from her solemn, spiritually attuned bearing.

"Gneiss was known to the Forty Thieves even before I reigned. One of papa's doorways yet exists, etched deep into the tunnels of the old mines pocketing the ravine, faded, forgotten, but functional. Now it waits. There are other modes of transport, but none will ferry you there with the haste of my leylines. Do any among you yet intend to answer the call?"

Not that they would've been the most enthusiastic to start with, but two voices conspicuous in their silence were those of Emerald and Mercury. Like her partner, the thief had vanished from the moment they all set foot back in the tent, leaving Neo as the sole remaining face of team MTEN's mountain in the room.

"I'm not spending this quest laying in a bed." Tyrian growled.

The anger in his voice not so much directed at Morgiana at all, really. Nor anyone in the room.

It just bled out into the open.

The unhappier at his current situation he was, the more the chance for the faunus to lash out only grew.

Until she approached him.
​

"And Neo, do you...."

He trailed off when he took a good look at her face. She was much closer to Tyrian than he was, right next to the cot with a comforting hand on his shoulder and a far more taut and distraught look on her face than his own.

"...Neo, I..."

He didn't know what to say.

Only that the look on her face hurt worse than any of his dislocations or bruises.

It felt like a blade struck straight through him.

As his eyes met Neo's multicolored ones, he absentmindedly ran a hand over the scar on his side. The one he'd given himself to try and defeat the Qrow of this world.

​

It hurt like nothing Tyrian had ever known before. It felt as though someone had chopped off one of his limbs. Tears streamed down his face and the only things coming out of his mouth were wails of misery and horrible horrible pain. What remained of his tail swung from side to side splattering toxin every-which way. He couldn't think straight with the amount of pain he was in. He grasped at his hair and pulled on it, anything, anything to get his mind on another sensation but the feeling running through his stump of a tail and directly into his body.

Nothing else mattered right now. He hadn't noticed Vernal attempting to flee or her trying to take Cinder with her. Or even Qrow's dogged attempt to pursue her. None of it was even registering with him. His entire body was shaking like a leaf and he wanted the pain to stop!!! Running his hand down his chest and over his scars, an idea came to mind.

It wasn't a good one mind you. Everyone of those who cared for Tyrian could have told you that much. But it was all he could think of to get his mind off his tail and onto something else. His pupils glowed a darkish purple and running his glowing hand across the left side of his torso dissipating the aura in that one spot, Tyrian grit his teeth and raised his left arm.

*SHUNK*

"AAAAAAAHGHHHHHH!!!! AAAAH!!!! AAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!"

The sensation of cold steel entering his body was a new one and almost nearly as painful as the loss of his tail. It was definitely more gruesome as the blood running down from his side where he'd stabbed himself and coating his pant leg a healthy shade of red was any indication. He'd broken out into a cold sweat at this point and he couldn't stop his body from shuddering. His vision was growing blurry. From the tears and the toll all this pain was taking on him.

The x-shaped scar across his forehead. The one he'd given himself after Cinder had left the group.

He could still remember the blood stains he'd left on the poor tree.

​

'CINDER!!!! COME BAAAAAAACK!!!! AAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!'

Neo had experienced her own pain.

One that Tyrian understood.

She'd lost someone she'd cared deeply about and here he'd thrown himself entirely in the search for someone who may have had something to do with Ichabod's murder.

For all he knew, he could have just been chasing ghosts. The pursuit lead by a teenager who could barely control his own emotions. Or be stable for a day or two.

Someone who couldn't even win a fight when it counted.

Fox, the serial killer, and now...?

Mercury.

Tyrian had lost to all of them.

What had happened lately for him to be happy about?

Well, he was staring at her.

​

Neopolitan's eyes were suddenly as wide awake as they could be. She stared blankly ahead, trying in vain to do the requisite emotional turnaround that Tyrian going from dropping some grade A girltalk on her to mentioning that he was in a racially motivated fight club demanded. By the time she managed to even form a thought on the subject and began to turn her head with a look of horrified sympathy, he was already going down an entirely different track, not even looking at her as he ruffled her hair. She huffed and flopped back down, accepting the fact that she wasn't exactly the most well equipped friend to have a conversation with him about it.

Now that Hazel was gone, she was the second person he'd opened up to about his past.

He trusted her. More than he had anyone else up to that point.

​

She knew that he got it; More than Mercury and Emerald, or maybe they just didn't want to get it; This was the first time they'd had an audience, but this wasn't the first time her and Tyrian had sparred over the last few months. They both had reasons, and neither of them had taken the time to discuss with the other, but they both understood each other perfectly.

They needed to get stronger.

...And she trusted him.

Which made Mercury's words only twist the figurative knife deeper.

The idea that he could look at someone like Neo, enjoy her company, enjoy being with her and only enjoy hurting her...?

​

"Hey. Get up."

It didn't make any sense. Neo had objectively been beaten.

"Get up. It doesn't count if you were distracted."

Anybody else would have just let it go.

The stinger of Tyrian's tail hooked the front of Neo's shirt and scooped her up off her feet.

"I said get up. What did you do back there? That wasn't a win. That didn't even deserve to be called a win."

Tyrian clenched his hands up.

"You got completely distracted. What the hell could have-"

....He had gone too far.

He'd been so caught up in everything.

Getting stronger, wanting both of them to improve, etc. He'd left behind the reason why both of them had chosen eachother to work off.

They understood the other perfectly.

And he'd spit in the face of that for ego's sake. Pushed her when it'd been clear she was beaten. The idea of either of them not shaping up had bothered him.

Gently reaching up to place his hand over Neo's, he smiled.

"Neo...I'll be ok. Ok? I'm..."

He didn't really want to say sorry. Part of him felt like it'd be as though he were just admitting that everything Mercury had insulted him of was true.

But the sadness in Neo's eyes weighed down his heart like a lead weight.

"I'm sorry."
​

They both gave a short nod to each other, and Neo snapped her fingers before pointing in the air. A digital clock, of all things, floated into existence beside her head, and started counting down from five minutes. She gave Tyrian's shoulder one final squeeze before she stood up and strode out of the tent.

Tyrian felt her hand slip away from his and watched as she departed.

It didn't take long.

He slumped back and placed his hand over his eyes. The sniffling was heard and his bottom lip trembled.

"Damn it..." He growled.

Then the tears started to flow.

"Damnitdamnit....I...Iove her so damn much."
​

 

[MidwayLives]

Trifa hadn't poked her head in as Tyrian was being treated to.

She didn't feel like she deserved to chime in. All she'd done was stand on the sidelines while he'd gotten himself hurt.

Just the sight of him broken like that...? It made her heart drop like a stone.

'What could I have done?' 'It wasn't my fight.' 'Tyrian wouldn't have wanted me to interfere'

All thoughts that floated around.

She didn't care.

Her friend was laying in a cot and she hadn't lifted a finger to prevent that.

A sigh escaped her lips as she sat on the ground outside the entrance to the tent.

Some hero....

~~~





Neither of them said anything, just waiting for the other to break the silence.





"Okay, I guess I'll be the one to say it. That was all pretty fucked up."

"Yes."

"....Bums me out that there didn't seem like a damn thing we could have done."

"Yes."

"...Ugh."
​

"Gneiss was known to the Forty Thieves even before I reigned. One of papa's doorways yet exists, etched deep into the tunnels of the old mines pocketing the ravine, faded, forgotten, but functional. Now it waits. There are other modes of transport, but none will ferry you there with the haste of my leylines. Do any among you yet intend to answer the call?"

Not that they would've been the most enthusiastic to start with, but two voices conspicuous in their silence were those of Emerald and Mercury. Like her partner, the thief had vanished from the moment they all set foot back in the tent, leaving Neo as the sole remaining face of team MTEN's mountain in the room.

"Hey, uh, Blanche and I aren't exactly top of the line fighters."

Better to be honest. They were around....well.....acquaintances.

"....But helping you find uh, whatever, you're looking for, is the least we can do. So count the two of us in."

For once, Blanche was happy Char had spoken for the both of them.

Didn't mean he was looking forward to the problems that no doubt lay ahead.​

 

[Gus Gungus]

Then the tears started to flow.

"Damnitdamnit....I...Iove her so damn much."

Can't cure that.

"Yeah, moonbeam's pretty. Wanna both list all the stuff we love? I love the clouds, the sky, the sun. All living creatures. Love the sound rain makes when it falls on hot sand in the desert. I love the moon, I love candy floss..."

"Hey, uh, Blanche and I aren't exactly top of the line fighters."

Better to be honest. They were around....well.....acquaintances.

"....But helping you find uh, whatever, you're looking for, is the least we can do. So count the two of us in."

For once, Blanche was happy Char had spoken for the both of them.

Didn't mean he was looking forward to the problems that no doubt lay ahead.

"Yeah, well. You can hang behind me when we're down there, but not that far."

Thus spoke Lance, the imposing bodyguard's bassy monotone piping up from where he was rustling supplies together into a rucksack himself, having left Morgiana to carry out her work and continue building her dating profile. It was obvious by his tone that they were words intended for the only other adults in the room, the exclamation point to which was the grave note of a sigh he finished on.

"These kids are gonna get themselves damn killed."​

 

[MidwayLives]

Can't cure that.

"Yeah, moonbeam's pretty. Wanna both list all the stuff we love? I love the clouds, the sky, the sun. All living creatures. Love the sound rain makes when it falls on hot sand in the desert. I love the moon, I love candy floss..."

Tyrian groaned.

Well, despite his best growling and annoyances, he was gonna be here for a bit longer.

So, might as well play along.

"I love...uh..."

He tried to think.

"....my friends."

Even the one who'd left him stuck in this cot.

"Fighting."

It was in his blood. It was WHO he WAS.

"My friend, Trifa."

He hadn't seen her since they'd brought him back here.

As he tried to think of something else, Tyrian slumped back in bed and continued to hold his hand over his face.

"UGHHHHhhhhh, and I love Neo."

A lot.​

 

[MidwayLives]

"Yeah, well. You can hang behind me when we're down there, but not that far."

"Gotta say that I appreciate that quite a bit! I'm not one for head on brawls."

He tended to prefer on the sidelines and age up his targets until they were so feeble that they simply didn't pose a threat. It was only in cases like Vernal's persistent attack on him that the hitman struggled to fully utilize the power of his semblance. Concentration was key and if he didn't have that? The mist for 'Beyond the Years' took it's sweet time coming out.

Clapping his partner on the back, Blanche turned back to face him.

"You hear that, Char? We got ourselves some protection."


"Char? C'mon, not the silent treatment again."

"Nah, I'm...Just thinking."

"Well damn my friend, don't think too long. We got places to be."
​

Thus spoke Lance, the imposing bodyguard's bassy monotone piping up from where he was rustling supplies together into a rucksack himself, having left Morgiana to carry out her work and continue building her dating profile. It was obvious by his tone that they were words intended for the only other adults in the room, the exclamation point to which was the grave note of a sigh he finished on.

"These kids are gonna get themselves damn killed."

That took the tone down a bit.



"...Well, if they don't tear eachother apart first."

Char and Blanche were obviously no strangers to violence. Hell, in some cases they even caused it.

But seeing the absolutely methodical way that Mercury crippled the faunus kid. It looked like just business as usual.

...All done on a friend.



"I ain't known these kids for too long. But if they were able to stick together through the shit that went down in Mistral? This is just a little speedbump. They'll patch it up. " Char stated though as he glanced over in Tyrian's direction and then the way Neo had went, he shrugged.

"....At least I hope so."​

 

[Gus Gungus]

Tyrian groaned.

Well, despite his best growling and annoyances, he was gonna be here for a bit longer.

So, might as well play along.

"I love...uh..."

He tried to think.

"....my friends."

Even the one who'd left him stuck in this cot.

"Fighting."

It was in his blood. It was WHO he WAS.

"My friend, Trifa."

He hadn't seen her since they'd brought him back here.

As he tried to think of something else, Tyrian slumped back in bed and continued to hold his hand over his face.

"UGHHHHhhhhh, and I love Neo."

A lot.

"Bro that was, like, four things, and three of 'em were about friends or the concept of friendship. You wanna see mystic Morgiana weep tears of blood? C'mon."

Despite the eerie, unsettling sight of the sibyl's impenetrable veil of bleeding colors and black eyes, it had to be said the look of relaxation on her face was as serene and amicable as they came. The same went for her voice, lost as it was among a sea of soothing feline rumbles.

"I love my cats. I love things that shine in a dark room. I love one-way mirrors but not what they represent, I love strawberries, bubblewrap, snowmen, ice cream vans... oh, oh, I love Lance!" She whirled so quickly it was startling, though only to adjust Tyrian's arm and flash the surly bodyguard a beam as bright as the glow in her palms all the way across the tent, where he snorted and pretended he wasn't listening.

"See? That's so much stuff just off the top of my head I couldn't count it all even if math were real, little dove. Now do you."

View attachment 881129

"Gotta say that I appreciate that quite a bit! I'm not one for head on brawls."

He tended to prefer on the sidelines and age up his targets until they were so feeble that they simply didn't pose a threat. It was only in cases like Vernal's persistent attack on him that the hitman struggled to fully utilize the power of his semblance. Concentration was key and if he didn't have that? The mist for 'Beyond the Years' took it's sweet time coming out.

Clapping his partner on the back, Blanche turned back to face him.

"You hear that, Char? We got ourselves some protection."


"Char? C'mon, not the silent treatment again."

"Nah, I'm...Just thinking."

"Well damn my friend, don't think too long. We got places to be."


That took the tone down a bit.

View attachment 881130

"...Well, if they don't tear eachother apart first."

Char and Blanche were obviously no strangers to violence. Hell, in some cases they even caused it.

But seeing the absolutely methodical way that Mercury crippled the faunus kid. It looked like just business as usual.

...All done on a friend.

View attachment 881132

"I ain't known these kids for too long. But if they were able to stick together through the shit that went down in Mistral? This is just a little speedbump. They'll patch it up. " Char stated though as he glanced over in Tyrian's direction and then the way Neo had went, he shrugged.

"....At least I hope so."

"Yeah, I wasn't lookin for a conversation or anything." :|​

 

[MidwayLives]

"Bro that was, like, four things, and three of em were about friends or the concept of friendship. You wanna see mystic Morgiana weep tears of blood? C'mon."

'More than just friends.'

Is what a part of Tyrian wanted to say.

But the faunus didn't know how to handle stuff like this.

Not yet.
​

Despite the eerie, unsettling sight of the sibyl's impenetrable veil of bleeding colors and black eyes, it had to be said the look of relaxation on her face was as serene and amicable as they came. The same went for her voice, lost as it was among a sea of soothing feline rumbles.

"I love my cats. I love things that shine in a dark room. I love one-way mirrors but not what they represent, I love strawberries, bubblewrap, snowmen, ice cream vans... oh, oh, I love Lance!" She whirled so quickly it was startling, though only to adjust Tyrian's arm and flash the surly bodyguard a beam all the way across the tent, where he snorted and pretended he wasn't listening.

"See? That's so much stuff just off the top of my head I couldn't count it all even if math were real, little dove. Now do you."

"...Huh."

His tail lulled to the side.

"....I like my tail. I like spiders. I like the smell of rain. I love my parents. I like shaking my hair after a shower. I like the feeling of wind in my hair."

Tyrian frowned.

A lot of the experiences that most kids could said to have had?

Tyrian struggled to think of them.

"...um."


"I can't think of anything else...." ​

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

"Mmmh. Let's say the Morgiana of five minutes from now has a less vaporous answer to that question, duckling," Morgiana came back noncommittally in her cryptically dulcet tones, eyes like two dark nuclei at the heart of an exploding rainbow as they stared ahead, wide and unseeing. "We'll all have a better idea whether a nice, terrifyingly high pain threshold like this itsy bitsy arachnid man's is enough for sustained upwards mobility by then. Let's just set a pretty chill bar to start and say 100% optimum ability is off the table, kay? As for the medical viability, no way, dude! I thought you of all people might appreciate that there's some seriously legit hard science behind everything I'm doing right now. Between 20 and 150hz, remember? And that's real. You can look that up, not that your boring sterilized kingdom-sanctioned views on alternative medicine are gonna-"

At a glance the shamanistic mystic's bedside manner appeared to leave much to be desired, but the reality behind the spirited chirping Neo heard fade behind her as she departed was no more insidious than a nurse who chattered away reassuringly prior to administering a shot, attempting to coax a patient out of their malaise and back to some semblance of normalcy by engaging with their interests. Just how well her Sisyphean efforts took flight remained to be seen, but it likely served as no surprise that one so eternally concerned about the Vibes™ was attempting to take far more than just Tyrian on as her patient.





The soft vibrating tone as the word pushed out the topmost message in an inoffensive (but needlessly lengthy) back-and-forth about the necessity of taking a train to Mistral—mostly comprised of Mercury and Emerald themselves, almost like something weird had happened between the other half of their quartet on that very needless train to Mistral—was immediately followed by two others; the duo in question's online status going green almost instantly, only to hover unresponsively for longer than could've been considered normal for either of the default texting patterns she could remember. Both tended to fire off their replies with nothing short of immediacy, Emerald's a case study in aloof, lowercase, no-punctuation-so-any-tone-you-attach-to-this-is-completely-interpretative enigma, Mercury having yet to shake off the snarky, memey affliction that was being an 18-year-old male who thinks he's funny.

These, however, took a little longer. She was about halfway down the spire leading up to Morgiana's tent when they came, likewise arriving barely a heartbeat apart.


View attachment 880754 Wow, so Neo's gonna start giving us 280-character-or-less windows into her surface level thoughts and feelings again. Gamechanging.
View attachment 880755 we're back at the room
View attachment 880755 dont even bother

---------------

Emerald's frustration was currently slipping about as noticably in the physical realm as it had in the digital one, the thief whipping her scroll for the other side of the bed she sat cross-legged on and groaning with the eruptive cadence of someone who very much wanted to start yanking their hair out but didn't have the guts. She settled for just kneading her temples with the intensity of dough instead, eyes that were so much more haggard than the amount of sleep she'd gotten at a loss as she despondently sent them Mercury's way, hoping an accusatory bite in her tone provoked the reaction she was looking for where woundedness alone had obviously failed to.

View attachment 880766

"Listen to me. You're having... a reaction right now, but you don't wanna do this. You cannot do this to me today, not after everything—!"

"What, huh? That sappy little number about family that made Neo cry tears of embarrassment and me awkwardly laugh it off 'til it was over? Sure I can."

He could practically hear her bristle even in the midst of his own reply, laconic and breezy as ever, knowing full well just how far outside her own comfort zone Emerald had had to travel just to acknowledge that side of herself—let alone let it show in the presence of others. And yet somehow, he wasn't done.

"I mean, don't get me wrong. Real nice moment and everything, but unlike you closeted dorks I just don't think eventual emotional catharsis followed by self-acceptance was ever really my endgame here. Y'know?" It was perhaps a form of karma for how many emotional sidesteps the thief herself had committed over the years that he was effortlessly shutting her out now, his back to her while he faced his own bunk and fiddled with the clasps on a gym bag, preoccupied. "That stuff just ain't my bag. Could be it's time I stopped acting like a PG-rated poser and shopped around some, took a look at what else the big, wide world has to offer a screwed-up, unhinged hypocrite like me. Hell, maybe the reason everything went so bad is I've been on the wrong side of this shitshow from day one, ever think of that? Here's a fun brainteaser I genuinely ask myself sometimes: who do I have more in common with? Roman or the psycho who took him out?"

He snorted. She couldn't believe what she was hearing; Except she so could, because it was Mercury and he wasn't nearly as complex as he thought he was. So she did her best to just tune it out, the harsh, cutting nature to his words and their purpose, the way he wielded them like a nuclear bomb crossed with a wedge to drive between himself and whoever in the room was trying to reach him. It was a tactic she was well familiar with, even if she liked to imagine she was astronomically more subtle about it.

And man did the other side of it really suck.

"...Well I was talking about Gneiss." She huffed, having shifted a hand over to massage her brow somewhere in the midst of all that and left it there, pinching the bridge of her nose. She knew just from the way his shoulders tensed, the movements he was shoving various personal artifacts into the bag with growing preoccupied, less driven, that she had scored a hit, and however below-the-belt it may have been her attention snapped up to attack the chink she'd opened up. "And your dad did a bigger number on you than anyone could've predicted if you think this whole... 'act out til everyone just abandons you' thing is gonna fly. What about Neo? What exactly are you gonna say when she gets here and sees you..."

She let a pithy exclamation of disgust voice her feelings, throwing her hands wide for no one's benefit other than her own given his back was still facing her as she gestured around at the various empty spaces in the room where Mercury's stuff had been.

"...pulling a Cinder?"

It wasn't a lot, but when you shared a semi-spacious cave room with two girls it stood out. Mostly cheap knicknacks, funny looking rocks and seashells, the odd stack of movies or comic books.

When he laid it all out end-to-end like this, it really wasn't a lot. He always was a 'one bag' kinda guy. Using the moment it took him to find a spot for the last of the comics and zip the whole thing up to think, he pulled back, slung the duffel over his shoulder and let his hair settle to one side with a jerk of the head, exhaling.

View attachment 880802

"...Gneiss is the only reason I'm buckling up for one last adventure and then 'pulling a Cinder'. And I hadn't really thought about it, but since you asked I'd say it'd go a little like—"

He spun with a sudden, more intense burst of motion than she'd seen out of him in the entirety of the last five minutes, giving her a hopeful jolt until she realized it coincided with the door swinging open and Neo herself arriving directly into the floodlights of Mercury channeling his douchiest, cheesiest, heartthrobbiest of Beacon selves, sliding her the ol' fingergun-and-wink one-two that had gotten him off the hook so many times with the opposite gender.

"—Hey beautiful. Figured you'd need someone to catch you at the bottom, but I guess this whole time I've just been the one falling. Sorry."

The delivery was like he intended them to be the last words ever spoken between them, and in his head they—in tandem with the nuclear level Smoulder™ he was laying down—would've had Neo part from the door with a newfound sense of enlightened understanding, allowing him to pass on from both the room and her life. It was all very Western-ending, he the aloof, mysterious gunslinger leaving it all behind for the only road he was ever meant to walk, they the bright-eyed towngirls who just wouldn't understand. The drama. The electricity. The echo of what might've been that would never fade, lingering like a ghost.

"BOOOO!"

The sound of Emerald booiing the actual shit out of him cut that exit strategy's throat and pumped the body full of bullets even before a pillow that felt way too heavy to just be full of pillow clocked him in the back of the head, the thief like a rabid wolverine as she scrabbled down the ladder to her bunk.

"He thinks he's being all poetic and meaningful right now, in, like, a macho way, but believe me when I say this entire conversation has just been stupid and angsty, Neo, seriously. Just don't even stress about it. I'll handle it."

View attachment 880837

She sounded less certain than usual, and there was a glimmer of uncharacteristic desperation in her gaze, though strangely she looked almost as fretful at the prospect of Neo entering the room and conversation as she did at Mercury leaving it. The amount of abject guilt wracking her over the unneeded additional emotional strain she'd already put on the other illusionist today was enough.​

Neo blinked as she stepped through the flap and came face to face with that, her expression befuddled for a split second as she took in the sight of him, Emerald, and what was missing from the room.

That was the only beat she missed before she met Mercury's smoulder with one of her own, stepping forward with a twirl that had her land with her back flush to his chest as she looked up and batted her eye lashes, the affect only marred by the edges of fierce concentration she was doing her best to conceal as the hand not clasped against her own heart traced a messy swirl of words in the air

'I thought you wanted to be the team dad, not daddy~"

She held herself there for a good few seconds before there was tinkling of broken glass as her left hand shattered in favor of the real one that gently tweaked Mercury's nose, before she stuck her tongue out at him and spun all the way around him, spinning deftly under his arms and with a gentle hop was latched onto his bag like a koala to a tree, her legs wrapped around it and her hands and chin resting on top as she gave him a calm, questioning flick of the eyebrow as the words in front of him shifted from their ugly cursive to a still pretty not great print of a different question.


'Where we going?'