Fandom Distorted Mirror [IC]

[MyrtenRose]

[Slight time skip]

Once all the remaining people working on Salem's behalf met up again, once more at Tock's little hideout...

For the longest time no one said anything. The silence that hung in the air was heavy, and it wouldn't take a genius of Arthur's caliber to read the mood of the room. Despondent, defeated, emotionally crushed...whether the collective feeling that filled the room was born from guilt of being unable to save a friend from death, or shame from not managing to prevent another from being taken or simply from dealing with the ramifications of their actions, or all of it together, everyone present felt it in spades. From Tock sitting on the couch rubbing a hand against her forehead to the Raven leaning against a wall and hiding her dismayed expression behind the mask and everyone in between.

After who knows how long, Tock finally broke the silence, casting a glance throughout the room at all of them. "So. One of yours, gone. Another's heavily wounded because he lost his damn mind. The rest of us aren't feelin' that much better. The spring maiden fled, and she took our fall maiden with her as she ran. The relic's irretrievable, the tower's destroyed, the school is in ruins, communication beyond the city is down, and as Salem would put it: there's a negative energy throughout the city now. A festering invitation for grimm to come a'knocking, and to top it all off, we're not a single step closer to figurin' out how to get you crossworld lot back home." She summed up brusquely. "Did I miss anythin'?" The crocodile rhetorically questioned, slouching further back into her couch.

"Far as I can tell, the one small comfort is the fact that he didn't get the relic either." She shook her head. "Only silver linin' in all this."

"Wrong." A voice suddenly countered, spoken from the other side of the front door and so well-timed(hardly a moment between 'this' and 'wrong') that it was abundantly clear they had an eavesdropper. Tock's eyes widened. That voice...​

 

[Gus Gungus]

"It's open!"

He had nothing else to contribute right now. Seemed he was making a habit of that lately.​

 

[MyrtenRose]

"It's open!"

He had nothing else to contribute right now. Seemed he was making a habit of that lately.​

It was perhaps most appropriate that he of all people said that. The person on the other end didn't have a problem with letting herself in, the door swinging open and she stepped in with a purposeful stride before shutting it behind her. There was a few lingering seconds of a scrutinizing glance for the masked huntress leaning against the wall adjacent to the door before she removed her own and turned her attention towards Qrow. "You've been busy."

The second Raven Branwen's eyes were difficult to read as she stared down her brother for a short time until continuing. "Taking a cozy train ride through the kingdom, slaying a horde of grimm, all to lead back here once again. A fight at Haven. Somehow it ended up being much more of a mess than ours. A disaster to watch...but a welcome distraction." One hand reached into a pocket and pulled out a pocketwatch, tossing it casually to the floor where it bounced a couple times before settling still. "That pathetic Leonardo never noticed this slip away from him...but I did. You should count yourself lucky, brother. We have a large problem in front of us, but at least one of us kept our eyes on a goal instead of wasting time getting caught up in the chaos. This world is strange-" Something that had been clear to her from the moment she awoke in a broken and abandoned version of Tai's home and compounded when Vernal(who was a whole can of worms by herself) had tried to fry her with lightning among the woods. "-and how we found ourselves on it is a mystery, from what I've seen and heard." One of her hands moved to her back.

"But not an unsolvable one." She declared, pulling her hand back to her side, where she held up the relic of knowledge. Her eyes moved to look Tock's way. "More than one silver lining. While you were all fighting around the courtyard, I went right by under their noses." She peered at the group at large next until those crimson eyes rested on Yang with an uncertain look.

It was one thing to know that there was another version of yourself out there, described in detail and able to infer more beyond that. It was quite another thing to see her before your very eyes, something that left the still masked Raven speechless. It was not so for Tock, who was unburdened by the tense history between so many of them. Because of that, the crocodile was actually smirking in amusement and on her feet, slinging an arm around that Raven.

"Ray! There's a you out there that's actually a maiden! Looks like you drew the short straw, huh?"

"..." Urge to punch rising.​

 

[Gus Gungus]

And as the yelling intensified, somebody else charged in with a blast of rounds that both announced her presence and propelled her forward at great speeds. A powerful haymaker struck the redheaded faunus in the face at that point, knocking the bull loose and off Blake. A second after Eve hit the ground wherever, the red sword was thrown like a spear intent to run her through and impale her to the ground. Following that, the blonde glared down harshly at Blake.

"Get up, you dumbass. You aren't allowed to get captured twice. He doesn't need a useless cat stuck in some prison cell. Only so many times that could happen before he decides you're better off discarded for your weakness." There was a grin of such savagery that it seemed she wouldn't personally mind if that did happen, if only to notch another kill to her count. Still, it was his will she followed, not her own.

"Now hurry the hell up."

"We're having a CONVERSATION!"

Eve screamed with frustration as the cathartic brawl the two faunus obviously sorely needed to have was interrupted before it could get going, before she even had a concept of who by. It was pure instinct that drove both palms to clap together and stop the blade within an inch of her face, sent tumbling across the street by the blow before righting herself in a crouch as her eyes met this latest intruder's with far more hatred and familiarity than Yang probably felt the two seconds they had known each other warranted. She actually gave a bitter snort at the irony of it. Of course. Look who it was, planting her feet so valiantly in the middle of something she had absolutely no place in yet again. In her erratic, unstable state, it wasn't even clear if Eve could distinguish this Yang from the one she'd been butting heads with on and off ever since she put herself between Blake and the help she so dearly needed, but in the faunus's frenzied mind the distinction was perfectly clear.

This was the one she wouldn't have to feel bad about.

The sentence had been growling, volatile, a threat delivered in butt-out tones as though Yang were just any bystander off the street trying to insert themselves into a lover's spat. But now that she knew just who was intruding her sinister aura was starting to reassert herself, Wilt and Blush finally made one again, the slide of metal against metal enough to conjure forth a dark smirk on her face.

"You really have no idea how much I'm going to enjoy this, hot stuff. And Blake..."

The last of the blade entered the scabbard with a quiet shink, the voice she used to address her love low and cautioning even as she dropped into her own preparatory stance.

"Everything I said still stands. If you run from me again, what happens next time we meet is on you."​

 

[Gus Gungus]

It was perhaps most appropriate that he of all people said that. The person on the other end didn't have a problem with letting herself in, the door swinging open and she stepped in with a purposeful stride before shutting it behind her. There was a few lingering seconds of a scrutinizing glance for the masked huntress leaning against the wall adjacent to the door before she removed her own and turned her attention towards Qrow. "You've been busy."

The second Raven Branwen's eyes were difficult to read as she stared down her brother for a short time until continuing. "Taking a cozy train ride through the kingdom, slaying a horde of grimm, all to lead back here once again. A fight at Haven. Somehow it ended up being much more of a mess than ours. A disaster to watch...but a welcome distraction." One hand reached into a pocket and pulled out a pocketwatch, tossing it casually to the floor where it bounced a couple times before settling still. "That pathetic Leonardo never noticed this slip away from him...but I did. You should count yourself lucky, brother. We have a large problem in front of us, but at least one of us kept our eyes on a goal instead of wasting time getting caught up in the chaos. This world is strange-" Something that had been clear to her from the moment she awoke in a broken and abandoned version of Tai's home and compounded when Vernal(who was a whole can of worms by herself) had tried to fry her with lightning among the woods. "-and how we found ourselves on it is a mystery, from what I've seen and heard." One of her hands moved to her back.

"But not an unsolvable one." She declared, pulling her hand back to her side, where she held up the relic of knowledge. Her eyes moved to look Tock's way. "More than one silver lining. While you were all fighting around the courtyard, I went right by under their noses." She peered at the group at large next until those crimson eyes rested on Yang with an uncertain look.

It was one thing to know that there was another version of yourself out there, described in detail and able to infer more beyond that. It was quite another thing to see her before your very eyes, something that left the still masked Raven speechless. It was not so for Tock, who was unburdened by the tense history between so many of them. Because of that, the crocodile was actually smirking in amusement and on her feet, slinging an arm around that Raven.

"Ray! There's a you out there that's actually a maiden! Looks like you drew the short straw, huh?"

"..." Urge to punch rising.​

He was already standing by the time the door swung open, arms folding and face ready to confront the figure who walked in as he stalked over to park himself between her and the rest of the room, ensuring her first stop was him. Crimson eyes met crimson, his own pair narrowing with an unfazed glare as the two of them stood face to face, his true feelings guarded behind the multitude of walls that he'd immediately put up the moment he heard that voice come through the door.

"So you've been here all along too, and it took you this long to get involved. Now that can only be my sister."

He sized her up with eyes hovering on the relic a second or two longer than anywhere else, sent an errant glance across the room to the Raven he actually liked, then settled back on her with a distinctly unimpressed shrug.

"You're gonna have to wear a little bell or something so we can tell you apart."​

 

[MyrtenRose]

"So you've been here all along too, and it took you this long to get involved. Now that can only be my sister."

“Don’t be like that, brother. Tell me, how likely Is it that you would have accepted my help if I offered it earlier without having the very thing you need most? All things considered, I find the chances of that would have been slim to none.”​

"You're gonna have to wear a little bell or something so we can tell you apart."

“Absolutely not.” Both Ravens said so near simultaneously that it was next to impossible to tell which had started first. After they realized they had both refused, the two shared a brief look which ended with the masked one looking away with a disgruntled “hmph.” Like she needed any more reminders that they were technically the same person. Dealing with a selfish bandit mirror of herself was going to be difficult enough without them agreeing on something.​

 

[Gus Gungus]

“Don’t be like that brother. Tell me, how likely Is it that you would have accepted my help if I offered it earlier without having the very thing you need most? All things considered, I find the chances of that would have been slim to none.”

"Like I'd ever leave you to be some other Remnant's problem if I knew you were here. Y'know some of us still have a little humanity, sis. Remember what that's like?" He made sure to phrase and deliver that concept like he was explaining it to a five-year-old, eyes still boring into her like two smouldering orbs of judgment. He stepped forward, in no way comfortable enough with her presence around the others yet to step aside or uncross his arms, though he did wave a hand vaguely down at the relic. "Great, so now you're around. Being all moody and looking out for number one, like always. Big whoop. Except why bring us the relic when we just got totaled trying to take it for ourselves? Doesn't exactly gel with your 'survival of the fittest' crap."

“Absolutely not.” Both Ravens said so near simultaneously that it was next to impossible to tell which had started first. After they realized they had both refused, the two shared a brief look which ended with the masked one looking away with a disgruntled “hmph.” Like she needed any more reminders that they were technically the same person. Dealing with a selfish bandit mirror of herself was going to be difficult enough without them agreeing on something.

"Yeah, I'm just gonna go ahead and ask you both to never do that again."​

 

[MyrtenRose]

"Like I'd ever leave you to be some other Remnant's problem if I knew you were here. Y'know some of us still have a little humanity, sis. Remember what that's like?" He made sure to phrase and deliver that concept like he was explaining it to a five-year-old, eyes still boring into her like two smouldering orbs of judgment. He stepped forward, in no way comfortable enough with her presence around the others yet to step aside or uncross his arms, though he did wave a hand vaguely down at the relic. "Great, so now you're around. Being all moody and looking out for number one, like always. Big whoop. Except why bring us the relic when we just got totaled trying to take it for ourselves? Doesn't exactly gel with your 'survival of the fittest' crap."

“Because, little brother-“ She hissed fiercely to remind him of something he might have forgotten while traveling with some lesser version of herself. “-this situation is bigger, much bigger, than any single one of us.” She explained using that same condescending tone that he just had. “I didn’t think I’d need to explain that to you but I guess that’s just one more thing I’m quicker on the draw with than you are.“ Her eyes narrowed as he stepped up closer. “If you got something else you want to say-“

She reached out and jabbed her index finger into his chest. “-then do us all a favor and get it off your fucking chest quickly. We have more important things to deal with, that’s glaringly obvious. Like it or not, I’m here. And believe it or not, I want to get home as much as any of you. So. Can you get over it or do I need to go find someone else more willing to accept the situation?”

​

"Yeah, I'm just gonna go ahead and ask you both to never do that again."

“I won’t.” The masked Raven replied.​

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

Eve's rage was single-minded, and Blake was able to get the leverage to flip her and send her crashing back-first into the street with a grunt. But those hands didn't loosen, not even a little bit, and there was animal savagery in the eyes that burned with every bit as much violence, seething anger, and betrayed accusation as Blake's had in the seconds since making that grab for her throat. She less shook and more rattled the Shadow Fang elite as she seethed through a clenched jaw, tone evoking the same juvenile frustration as before ramped up to a million.

"NONE OF THIS WOULD'VE HAPPENED IF YOU JUST LISTENED! IF YOU DIDN'T THINK YOU WERE SO MUCH GODDAMN SMARTER THAN EVERYONE ELSE, THE PEOPLE WHO CARE ABOUT YOU!"

Wilt had been abandoned, but Blush still hung from her side, and there was a ringing ptang that lingered in both their ears as Gambol Shroud was struck with terrifying precision an inch from Blake's hand, ricocheting wildly back into the night and serving as good a notice as any that Eve was feeling much more herself again. Her other hand still held the throat in that relentless vice, and Eve pushed off the ground with her foot to try flip them over so she straddled the other faunus instead, transitioning to trying to force Blush horizontally down across Blake's jugular as an alternative method of choking her out.

"LIKE THERE'S SOME BIG PICTURE NOBODY ELSE CAN SEE! WHAT IF THERE'S NO BIG PICTURE, BLAKE? WHAT IF YOU'RE JUST CRAZY?!"​

The anger broke in favor of a brief moment of surprise as her hands just missed grabbing at her weapon. when it came to a contest of pure strength it was one she was never going to win, so she didn't even try and fight Eve as she tried to flip their positions, instead using the motion to curl her legs underneath the other faunus to plant her feet against Eve's gut for extra leverage, grabbing blush with both hands, and pushing with all her might from both angles to try and free hers-

And as the yelling intensified, somebody else charged in with a blast of rounds that both announced her presence and propelled her forward at great speeds. A powerful haymaker struck the redheaded faunus in the face at that point, knocking the bull loose and off Blake. A second after Eve hit the ground wherever, the red sword was thrown like a spear intent to run her through and impale her to the ground. Following that, the blonde glared down harshly at Blake.

"Get up, you dumbass. You aren't allowed to get captured twice. He doesn't need a useless cat stuck in some prison cell. Only so many times that could happen before he decides you're better off discarded for your weakness." There was a grin of such savagery that it seemed she wouldn't personally mind if that did happen, if only to notch another kill to her count. Still, it was his will she followed, not her own.

"Now hurry the hell up."​

Blake rolled to her feet in a move of deft grace that was entirely at odds with the violent scream that tore from her as she found her lungs her own again. Gambol's ribbon wrapped around her arm to pull it taut, and it once more pulled the trigger from where it landed to this time return safely to her hand, and Yang found herself staring down its barrel as the wild glare was turned onto her.

"I HAD THAT!"

Blake's anger towards Eve had been raw, wild, and hurt, but her words dripped with a far more venomous and caustic anger when she addressed Yang, meeting her savagery head on; if words could bite, she'd be tearing out the blonde's throat. Somehow, almost all the violence Blake had been forced to inflict since the start of Beacon had been on the very faunus she was trying to save. Mainly Ilia. But Yang was human, and in Blake's eyes, the exact representation of what humanity was down to its core. Violent. Savage. Cruel. Killers who caused pain for the sake of it. Just because this one happened to be on her side didn't mean she wasn't the perfect specimen of what she was fighting so hard against.

Its why that other Yang had thrown her for such a loop. It was like seeing a vicious fighting dog suddenly revert to acting like a puppy.

The sentence had been growling, volatile, a threat delivered in butt-out tones as though Yang were just any bystander off the street trying to insert themselves into a lover's spat. But now that she knew just who was intruding her sinister aura was starting to reassert herself, Wilt and Blush finally made one again, the slide of metal against metal enough to conjure forth a dark smirk on her face.

"You really have no idea how much I'm going to enjoy this, hot stuff. And Blake..."

The last of the blade entered the scabbard with a quiet shink, the voice she used to address her love low and cautioning even as she dropped into her own preparatory stance.

"Everything I said still stands. If you run from me again, what happens next time we meet is on you."​

She lowered her weapon as Eve spoke to her, somehow entirely unsurprised that the other faunus had managed not to get impaled on her own sword despite how determined she seemed to fall on it herself. She turned to meet her gaze, and slowly shook her head.

"...You've made that clear. but just remember Eve; You ran first"

The cut of raw, hurt anger in her words was back, and she gave Eve one last look before the Blake standing there vanished into mist as the real one disappeared into the shadows of the streets.

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

“Because, little brother-“ She hissed fiercely to remind him of something he might have forgotten while traveling with some lesser version of herself. “-this situation is bigger, much bigger, than any single one of us.” She explained using that same condescending tone that he just had. “I didn’t think I’d need to explain that to you but I guess that’s just one more thing I’m quicker on the draw with than you are.“ Her eyes narrowed as he stepped up closer. “If you got something else you want to say-“

She reached out and jabbed her index finger into his chest. “-then do us all a favor and get it off your fucking chest quickly. We have more important things to deal with, that’s glaringly obvious. Like it or not, I’m here. And believe it or not, I want to get home as much as any of you. So. Can you get over it or do I need to go find someone else more willing to accept the situation?”




“I won’t.” The masked Raven replied.​

"She didn't have an Ozpin to tell her how to work the relic like we did. That's the real reason she's here, or she'd already be trying to get home. Without us"

Yang was sprawled onto Tock's couch rather than seated at the table, a bag of broccoli raided from the faunus' freeze laying over the right side of her face. She'd hit the pavement after her double's punch completely unconscious, and whatever was left of her aura before the punch wasn't enough to leave her without a split cheek and a nasty black eye, and that was just the external damage. Her aura was finally starting to play catch up, but it was gonna take awhile till she was back at a hundred percent. When Raven entered, she couldn't even pretend to be excited about what she carried even though the relic was why they'd come here, so in a sense this mission was a success.

As she glanced over to where Neo was slumped next to the window and staring out of it with a blank expression and Watts was doing something with a furious intensity on his scroll, it sure as hell didn't feel like it.

She sat up and tossed the bag aside to glower at her mom, a dark storm behind her eyes as it dredged up the memories of their last conversation and how it had ended.

"There you go. Situation accepted. Hand it over to Ruby, she can get our answers, and then you can go back to hiding from Salem under a rock back home instead of from Ozpin here."

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

Whatever the furious typing was came to an end, and Watts immediately stood as his scroll snapped shut

"Good luck with that. Hazel, lets go. Tyrian, are..."

His intent had been to stand up, drag both his teammates by the arms if he had to, and head straight for the train station, but as his eyes glanced back over Tyrian he hesitated.

"...perhaps you should stay" he eventually settled on staying, before he quite literally attempted to drag hazel out the door.

Obviously, if Hazel objected they didn't get very far

 

[MyrtenRose]

Whatever the furious typing was came to an end, and Watts immediately stood as his scroll snapped shut

"Good luck with that. Hazel, lets go. Tyrian, are..."

His intent had been to stand up, drag both his teammates by the arms if he had to, and head straight for the train station, but as his eyes glanced back over Tyrian he hesitated.

"...perhaps you should stay" he eventually settled on staying, before he quite literally attempted to drag hazel out the door.

Obviously, if Hazel objected they didn't get very far

If the big guy planned to, he wasn’t the first. Tock raised one arm from where she still stood next to the increasingly more annoyed Raven she knew and used it to block the doorway. “Wait a tick. Who said you could leave and where is it you plan to be going? We ‘ave some serious shite to go over.”​

 

[MyrtenRose]

"She didn't have an Ozpin to tell her how to work the relic like we did. That's the real reason she's here, or she'd already be trying to get home. Without us"

For a split-second there was a look of plain hurt on her face, but it came and went so fast that it was easy to believe that they had just imagined Raven's stony solemn look had broken. "Tell me you're not actually dense enough to think that's true. If that's what I intended, I wouldn't have come here. I would have gone to Salem, posed as her-" One hand extended backwards in her other's general direction without Raven turning. "-and asked her directly. I could have been here and gone before you ever realized I had the relic or that I had even been on this world in the first place. Instead I am here. Yang, if I thought so little of you that I would be fine with leaving you on some strange Remnant worlds away from ours, I would never have bothered to save your life on that train all those years ago."​

She sat up and tossed the bag aside to glower at her mom, a dark storm behind her eyes as it dredged up the memories of their last conversation and how it had ended.

"There you go. Situation accepted. Hand it over to Ruby, she can get our answers, and then you can go back to hiding from Salem under a rock back home instead of from Ozpin here."

Her stony glare managed to hold up even while meeting that dark glower from her daughter. "No. I'm not handing it over. Not again."​

 

[MyrtenRose]

"We're having a CONVERSATION!"

Yang raised her head up to the empty sky above them, idly pointing a finger in that direction. "You see that?" She started off serious, but gradually shifted into cruel mocking. "It's all the cares that I don't give about your conversation, just floating away."​

The sentence had been growling, volatile, a threat delivered in butt-out tones as though Yang were just any bystander off the street trying to insert themselves into a lover's spat. But now that she knew just who was intruding her sinister aura was starting to reassert herself, Wilt and Blush finally made one again, the slide of metal against metal enough to conjure forth a dark smirk on her face.

"You really have no idea how much I'm going to enjoy this, hot stuff.

"Not as much as I've enjoyed this night." She wickedly smiled, thinking of how she'd taken that one kid off the game board permanently as well as finished off her own counterpart. "Here's hoping I can finish this night with a bang. Make it truly unforgettable." ​

Blake rolled to her feet in a move of deft grace that was entirely at odds with the violent scream that tore from her as she found her lungs her own again. Gambol's ribbon wrapped around her arm to pull it taut, and it once more pulled the trigger from where it landed to this time return safely to her hand, and Yang found herself staring down its barrel as the wild glare was turned onto her.

"I HAD THAT!"

Blake's anger towards Eve had been raw, wild, and hurt, but her words dripped with a far more venomous and caustic anger when she addressed Yang, meeting her savagery head on; if words could bite, she'd be tearing out the blonde's throat. Somehow, almost all the violence Blake had been forced to inflict since the start of Beacon had been on the very faunus she was trying to save. Mainly Ilia. But Yang was human, and in Blake's eyes, the exact representation of what humanity was down to its core. Violent. Savage. Cruel. Killers who caused pain for the sake of it. Just because this one happened to be on her side didn't mean she wasn't the perfect specimen of what she was fighting so hard against.

Its why that other Yang had thrown her for such a loop. It was like seeing a vicious fighting dog suddenly revert to acting like a puppy.

Yang didn't flinch from the barrel was trained on her, that callous grin not leaving her face for even a moment as she let out a snort at the indignant yell from Blake. "No you didn't. I'm about to have words with the one who did. Now go on, shoo shoo." She gestured for Blake to run off in an utterly disinterested manner. She had only even stepped in to interrupt their little talk so Ozpin could find some use for the faunus. If it had been just up to her, she would have been a hundred percent cool with one of the Shadow Fang's top dogs being taken once more and never having to lay eyes on her again. Allies come and go, that was the nature of it. Someone else that Ozpin could convince, they would come around to take the cat's place. Just as someone soon would for Jaune and Nora.
​

"...You've made that clear. but just remember Eve; You ran first"

The cut of raw, hurt anger in her words was back, and she gave Eve one last look before the Blake standing there vanished into mist as the real one disappeared into the shadows of the streets.

Once she was gone, Yang let out a quiet "finally" under her breath before lifting her arms up and cracking her knuckles, absolutely ready and looking forward to this.​

 

[Gus Gungus]

“Because, little brother-“ She hissed fiercely to remind him of something he might have forgotten while traveling with some lesser version of herself. “-this situation is bigger, much bigger, than any single one of us.” She explained using that same condescending tone that he just had. “I didn’t think I’d need to explain that to you but I guess that’s just one more thing I’m quicker on the draw with than you are.“ Her eyes narrowed as he stepped up closer. “If you got something else you want to say-“

She reached out and jabbed her index finger into his chest. “-then do us all a favor and get it off your fucking chest quickly. We have more important things to deal with, that’s glaringly obvious. Like it or not, I’m here. And believe it or not, I want to get home as much as any of you. So. Can you get over it or do I need to go find someone else more willing to accept the situation?”

"Don't." He growled simply as a hand immediately came in to slap the finger away from his chest, eyes narrowing to slits. Despite appearances, seeing the sister who turned her back on her family didn't fill him with quite the same feelings of hostility and anger as it might've done another in the room; their dynamic was too storied for that, and when he looked at her all that occurred was a profound feeling of disappointment he didn't bother hiding. But he wasn't letting her trample him without resistance, whatever eleven seconds she had over him in total accumulated living time be damned. "And don't think for one second I'm too stupid to realize what it means when you get all defensive. Whatever, Raven. Glad you still care."

He glanced over when Yang interjected, frown shifting deeper at the exchange that followed, and popped an eyebrow again at Raven's conclusion. All the same, he held out an expectant hand.

"What, you planning on makin' us take it from you? Now's not the time to be yourself."

​

 

[Gus Gungus]

"...You've made that clear. but just remember Eve; You ran first"

The cut of raw, hurt anger in her words was back, and she gave Eve one last look before the Blake standing there vanished into mist as the real one disappeared into the shadows of the streets.

As if Blake needed any further evidence of how much sway her words held over whatever fevered condition Eve was submerged in, the unhinged howl that reached her ears was animal in its frustration and scorn, so far past the breaking point that the breaking point was barely a dot on the horizon.

"I KNOW, AND I'M NEVER MAKING THAT MISTAKE AGAIN, DO YOU HEAR ME?! IT DOESN'T MATTER WHERE YOU GO, I WILL FIND YOU! SO JUST KEEP RUNNING!"

"Not as much as I've enjoyed this night." She cruelly smiled, thinking of how she'd taken that one kid off the game board permanently as well as finished off her own counterpart. "Here's hoping I can finish this night with a-

"SHUT THE FUCK UP AND DIE!"

An echoing, thunderous clang reached Blake's ears wherever she was making her getaway as Eve burst off her back foot and let Wilt collide with that particular set of gauntlets for the first time, the exchange of strikes and slashes that followed matching intensity with sheer violence every step of the way as from the sound of it things got vicious not long after she exited the scene.

Probably no surprise with those two.​

 

[Indolent]

Whatever the furious typing was came to an end, and Watts immediately stood as his scroll snapped shut

"Good luck with that. Hazel, lets go. Tyrian, are..."

His intent had been to stand up, drag both his teammates by the arms if he had to, and head straight for the train station, but as his eyes glanced back over Tyrian he hesitated.

"...perhaps you should stay" he eventually settled on staying, before he quite literally attempted to drag hazel out the door.

Obviously, if Hazel objected they didn't get very far

If the big guy planned to, he wasn’t the first. Tock raised one arm from where she still stood next to the increasingly more annoyed Raven she knew and used it to block the doorway. “Wait a tick. Who said you could leave and where is it you plan to be going? We ‘ave some serious shite to go over.”

Yeah, he didn't elect to go anywhere from seat he was reclining in, the same seat just so happened to be next to his maimed partner. Hazel looked to the crocodile faunus, his features pensive, before he affixed it back onto Watts.

"I assume you were looking for our missing teammate; have you found Cinder?"

As for the twin Ravens, he didn't know what to make of that whole ordeal beyond the foregone conclusion of the intensity in the atmosphere rising due to the doppelgangers' history. At the very least, her appearance was a silver lining. Or rather the relic's was. He wasn't sure what to make of this Raven beyond exercising severe skepticism because if she was anything like Bandit King Crow, that was problematic. And apparently that she's also a Maiden.

He flashed back to Vernal whipping his ass for a split second... A disheartened frown rung his features in an instant.

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

For a split-second there was a look of plain hurt on her face, but it came and went so fast that it was easy to believe that they had just imagined Raven's stony solemn look had broken. "Tell me you're not actually dense enough to think that's true. If that's what I intended, I wouldn't have come here. I would have gone to Salem, posed as her-" One hand extended backwards in her other's general direction without Raven turning. "-and asked her directly. I could have been here and gone before you ever realized I had the relic or that I had even been on this world in the first place. Instead I am here. Yang, if I thought so little of you that I would be fine with leaving you on some strange Remnant worlds away from ours, I would never have bothered to save your life on that train all those years ago."

"Uh huuuuh. you'd show up with the relic" Yang drawled, putting up one finger in a count that was about to continue "not able to to tell Salem what happened to the rest of us, why you didn't take the rest of us with you through your portals, why you didn't just portal to Salem when she knows Raven can, without knowing if the thousands of year old wizard lady who's been playing a shadow war with Ozpin for a thousand or so years put in any kinda failsafe for if, oh I dunno, a whole bunch of dopplegangers of dubious loyalty were running around, aaaand yea. You're right, we should totally believe that would've worked and you're here for good vibes!"

She snorted and rested one arm on the back of the couch while the other gave a lazy wave, breaking eye contact.

"Actually, no, no, you're right, I'm sorry, I dunno where I got that idea, that you'd lie to get what you want from us. not like you put on a fake face when I finally found you, or worked with Cinder, who would've killed Weiss-" Her hand gripped the back of the couch of its own accord, the gentle sound of fabric straining much more than it wanted becoming an undercurrent to Yang's voice "-if Jaune hadn't had his finest moment and wasn't a complete tool like he is here, all for some long con game to get what you wanted, even if it got your best friend dead."

She let herself freeze for a moment when she was done, before she slumped over the back of the couch as her dull glare returned. The building frustration that had been at the back of those words buried again under a tone of unconcerned sarcasm

"Yea. No Idea where that thought possibly could've cropped up."

There was clearly a disconnect between uncle and niece in terms of opinions on their connecting relative. Or how to handle her without pissing her off.

Whatever the furious typing was came to an end, and Watts immediately stood as his scroll snapped shut

"Good luck with that. Hazel, lets go. Tyrian, are..."

Her stony glare managed to hold up even while meeting that dark glower from her daughter. "No. I'm not handing it over. Not again."

Her eyes closed, her face scrunched up into a frown, and she put one arm up in mock exasperation and actual confusion as both those happened.

"Uh. Can we keep this to one stupid idea at time, please?"

 

[Indolent]

"She's... so... intensely scary. Or scary intense. Both." Gretchen commented on Raven numero dos, her hands fidgeting some with Brosel set between them as the stoat observed the room in rapt attention.

If that elicited a reaction of any kind from either, the huntress would have proffered nothing but a sheepish smile and attempted to make herself smaller under their eyes. But that probably wasn't going to happen, whatever this was happening took their focus.

"This makes my family drama look tame."

 

[MyrtenRose]

"Don't." He growled simply as a hand immediately came in to slap the finger away from his chest, eyes narrowing to slits. Despite appearances, seeing the sister who turned her back on her family didn't fill him with quite the same feelings of hostility and anger as it might've done another in the room; their dynamic was too storied for that, and when he looked at her all that occurred was a profound feeling of disappointment he didn't bother hiding. But he wasn't letting her trample him without resistance, whatever eleven seconds she had over him in total accumulated living time be damned. "And don't think for one second I'm too stupid to realize what it means when you get all defensive. Whatever, Raven. Glad you still care."

Raven just crossed her arms wordlessly, not confirming or denying anything. She wasn't going to give him the satisfaction.​

He glanced over when Yang interjected, frown shifting deeper at the exchange that followed, and popped an eyebrow again at Raven's conclusion. All the same, he held out an expectant hand.

"What, you planning on makin' us take it from you? Now's not the time to be yourself."

"Uh. Can we keep this to one stupid idea at time, please?"

She glanced peripherally over her shoulder at the other Raven and Tock, before her eyes roved over the room entire and all the people within. If she forced their hand into trying to take it...no, forget about trying, they would take it. Reluctantly she handed it over without a fuss.​

"Uh huuuuh. you'd show up with the relic" Yang drawled, putting up one finger in a count that was about to continue "not able to to tell Salem what happened to the rest of us, why you didn't take the rest of us with you through your portals, why you didn't just portal to Salem when she knows Raven can, without knowing if the thousands of year old wizard lady who's been playing a shadow war with Ozpin for a thousand or so years put in any kinda failsafe for if, oh I dunno, a whole bunch of dopplegangers of dubious loyalty were running around, aaaand yea. You're right, we should totally believe that would've worked and you're here for good vibes!"

She snorted and rested one arm on the back of the couch while the other gave a lazy wave, breaking eye contact.

"Actually, no, no, you're right, I'm sorry, I dunno where I got that idea, that you'd lie to get what you want from us. not like you put on a fake face when I finally found you, or worked with Cinder, who would've killed Weiss-" Her hand gripped the back of the couch of its own accord, the gentle sound of fabric straining much more than it wanted becoming an undercurrent to Yang's voice "-if Jaune hadn't had his finest moment and wasn't a complete tool like he is here, all for some long con game to get what you wanted, even if it got your best friend dead."

She let herself freeze for a moment when she was done, before she slumped over the back of the couch as her dull glare returned. The building frustration that had been at the back of those words buried again under a tone of unconcerned sarcasm

"Yea. No Idea where that thought possibly could've cropped up."

She took her daughter poking holes in that idea pretty well, all things considered. As in she kept herself from rounding on Yang and snapping angrily at her impudent daughter. This was bigger than any of them and the history between any single one of them after all. It would just paint her as a giant hypocrite(or even more of one to some) if she acted like those words didn't apply to herself as well. She took all the obvious sarcasm on the chin, letting the anger she felt in response just stay buried within until it all diffused long after she was finished running her mouth. It probably didn't hurt that Yang was clearly heavily injured either, in terms of refraining from snapping back at her.

Her counterpart wasn't as silent. "Yeah, stick it to her!" She erupted in a rare display of parental enthusiasm even if it wasn't for her own. After that settled and she fully grasped what she'd just said she coughed in an attempt to regain her serious composure. "Ahem. Forget you saw that. Definitely your Qrow's influence..."

The angry silent Raven refused, whirling around to glare daggers at her counterpart who returned an equally intense glare at the bitch.​

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

Tyrian usually wasn't one to hate people. If they did something against him, he'd usually challenge them again at a later date. That was how he perceived life and handled the daily challenges thrown his way.

That was before he woke up and found himself restrained like some kind of animal to a chair.

Bandages were wrapped around his self-inflicted wound and the stump of his tail.

But those didn't hurt him nearly as much as what came next.


....Watts was really going to leave him here?

Bound here?

Tyrian said nothing, he couldn't say anything.

But as far as he was concerned, their friendship was over.

Not that it'd been much of one in the first place.​

"...Wait, are those bandages tying him to the chair???" he asked, his face squinting into a baffled frown.

In his defense, he'd been incredibly focused on what he was doing.

If the big guy planned to, he wasn’t the first. Tock raised one arm from where she still stood next to the increasingly more annoyed Raven she knew and used it to block the doorway. “Wait a tick. Who said you could leave and where is it you plan to be going? We ‘ave some serious shite to go over.”​

Yeah, he didn't elect to go anywhere from seat he was reclining in, the same seat just so happened to be next to his maimed partner. Hazel looked to the crocodile faunus, his features pensive, before he affixed it back onto Watts.

"I assume you were looking for our missing teammate; have you found Cinder?"

As for the twin Ravens, he didn't know what to make of that whole ordeal beyond the foregone conclusion of the intensity in the atmosphere rising due to the doppelgangers' history. At the very least, her appearance was a silver lining. Or rather the relic's was. He wasn't sure what to make of this Raven beyond exercising severe skepticism because if she was anything like Bandit King Crow, that was problematic. And apparently that she's also a Maiden.

He flashed back to Vernal whipping his ass for a split second... A disheartened frown rung his features in an instant.

Watts sighed and rubbed at his temple.

"Yes, Hazel, that."

He took a step back from Tock and flexed his hands to activate his rings, a screen appearing in front of him that turned itself horizontal and floated up to rest against the ceiling before expanding, with a map of Mistral on its face.

"Vernal grabbed Cinder at approximately twenty thirty two-"

"-Do you know what approximately means-"

"-and, after a brief interruption" drawled with a short glance towards Qrow "-took off at speed in the direction of south by southwest." A small red dot appeared on the map and shot off into the distance before it vanished "You might ask how I can know this if the tower is destroyed, crippling communication throughout Remnant-"

"Its because you upgraded our scrolls to a local network. No one was going to ask that, but i'm sure we all think you're smart anyways!"

He took a deep breath. "Are you done?"

"Are you?"

He glared at Yang for a few seconds before he continued "Yes, thats why. S(If you're not don'e then I'm not that's all I'm saying)outhwest was the opposite of the direction we travelled to be here. Vernal was routed, at least mentally, by Emerald, and when you are routed, you retreat. Where is the one place we know for sure that Vernal would call home?"

Yang sat up slightly and drummed her fingers on the back of the couch with a suspicious frown. "Okay, so, you know where she is, or you think you do. Why are you trying to jet out to get her alone? You do remember she's a maiden, right? My sister and I are one of the few people who have fought a maiden, you got two other vets here, that one-" she added with a jerk towards who, in terms of sheer firepower, was obviously the most powerful person in the room "-if we decide to let her come, and you're... trying to go by yourselves?"

Watt's glare shifted from exasperated to something colder. "...You all have your relic. And I think you've done quite enough already. Ask your questions, and then get on with whatever gets you home. We helped you, and it ended with a destroyed CCT tower, one friend dead, and another maimed. I think its best if we handle our own problems from here"

"..." Yang... didn't really agree with that assessment, but she also wasn't the one who's friend had just died or teammate was missing a tail, and she turned her glare off to the side with an uncomfortable frown.

That, very briefly, broke with a snort at her not-mom just randomly cheering like a soccer mom at her laying into her real mom :T

 

[MyrtenRose]

"...Wait, are those bandages tying him to the chair???" he asked, his face squinting into a baffled frown.

In his defense, he'd been incredibly focused on what he was doing.

"Well yeah he's tied down, I don't know what the hell kind of state of mind someone who willingly stabbed himself after losing his tail is in. Don't want to risk anything nuts." Tock answered, at least a little sorry about that since fellow faunus and all that.​

Watt's glare shifted from exasperated to something colder. "...You all have your relic. And I think you've done quite enough already. Ask your questions, and then get on with whatever gets you home. We helped you, and it ended with a destroyed CCT tower, one friend dead, and another maimed. I think its best if we handle our own problems from here"

"Okay kid, but I live 'ere same as you. Lemme tell ya, the last thing you want to do is take two guys and go after a maiden. Especially when she took one of the two head-on and laid him the hell out in the world's most dangerous game of chicken. Even if you think you know where your friend is, going at it like that is only gonna end one way and it won't be pretty. Better believe that."​

 

[Indolent]

Yang sat up slightly and drummed her fingers on the back of the couch with a suspicious frown. "Okay, so, you know where she is, or you think you do. Why are you trying to jet out to get her alone? You do remember she's a maiden, right? My sister and I are one of the few people who have fought a maiden, you got two other vets here, that one-" she added with a jerk towards who, in terms of sheer firepower, was obviously the most powerful person in the room "-if we decide to let her come, and you're... trying to go by yourselves?"

Watt's glare shifted from exasperated to something colder. "...You all have your relic. And I think you've done quite enough already. Ask your questions, and then get on with whatever gets you home. We helped you, and it ended with a destroyed CCT tower, one friend dead, and another maimed. I think its best if we handle our own problems from here"

"..." Yang... didn't really agree with that assessment, but she also wasn't the one who's friend had just died or teammate was missing a tail, and she turned her glare off to the side with an uncomfortable frown.

"Watts," Hazel interjected, his tone low, "I understand how you feel but you cannot blame them for what happened. Or at the very least, exclude them. The enemy will leverage everything that's happened since and we don't have an idea of what the timeline is like--"

"Okay kid, but I live 'ere same as you. Lemme tell ya, the last thing you want to do is take two guys and go after a maiden. Especially when she took one of the two head-on and laid him the hell out in the world's most dangerous game of chicken. Even if you think you know where your friend is, going at it like that is only gonna end one way and it won't be pretty. Better believe that."

Could you not?

Hazel smoldered for a moment before relenting and continuing.

"Anyway... everything's changed, no doubt. And Ozpin's forces might endeavor to having a maiden under their thumb if not two. We need the others to get our teammate, your partner, back. And yes... Vernal managed to deplete my aura entirely. Cinder is new to her powers, Vernal isn't. It's foolish."

"Hey, I'd help you, of course!"

"Foolish, I said."

 

[MidwayLives]

The chair Tyrian was strapped to creaked as he struggled ever so slightly against his restraints. His teeth gritting as he did so.

As if the shame of losing his tail, the thing that identified him as a faunus, wasn't enough.

He was strapped here like he was a prisoner.

It made him angry.

....Still, he said nothing.

He just wanted to be out of here. Away from them all.​

 

[Gus Gungus]

There was clearly a disconnect between uncle and niece in terms of opinions on their connecting relative. Or how to handle her without pissing her off.

Her counterpart wasn't as silent. "Yeah, stick it to her!" She erupted in a rare display of parental enthusiasm even if it wasn't for her own. After that settled and she fully grasped what she'd just said she coughed in an attempt to regain her serious composure. "Ahem. Forget you saw that. Definitely your Qrow's influence..."

"Eheheheh..."

This was all so awkward for him. He took the relic following the sheepish half-laugh and eyed it up for a few seconds, mouth a thin, wary line as he considered momentarily... then sidled over to Ruby, one hand slipping into his pocket as the other extended it towards her.

"This feels like your thing."

Watt's glare shifted from exasperated to something colder. "...You all have your relic. And I think you've done quite enough already. Ask your questions, and then get on with whatever gets you home. We helped you, and it ended with a destroyed CCT tower, one friend dead, and another maimed. I think its best if we handle our own problems from here"

Qrow was silent at that, but his downturned expression and grim countenance he wore communicated more than he could've with words. At least, ostensibly. What he was really thinking was how miserable it made him feel that this kid didn't get it yet, that if he continued to follow this path as Salem's chosen then he was in for a whole lot more failed missions and friends he didn't get to say goodbye to.

Speaking of which...

"Shut the hell up."

Mercury's shutdown was brusque, firm, almost militant in how he so-casually dropped it with authority as he entered the room, two bags slung under one arm and another over his shoulder. Emerald was behind him, only recently awoken and finding herself brought up to speed in a short amount of time by the sort of bedside manner you'd expect from her partner. Needless to say, her eyes were still a little red, and she didn't speak or look at anyone as she followed behind him, doing her best to blend into the wallpaper.

"I don't care about however your big brain wants to justify this to itself, Watts. But try to pin what happened on anyone other than you or me while I'm around again and I'll kick your teeth in so hard your head flies all the way back out your ass. That's a promise."

There was no anger in the threat, nor did it carry the playful, contentious edge the two team leader's barbs typically did.

The fact was, they both had a responsibility they hadn't been up to. In Mercury's mind, that was where it ended.

"Okay kid, but I live 'ere same as you. Lemme tell ya, the last thing you want to do is take two guys and go after a maiden. Especially when she took one of the two head-on and laid him the hell out in the world's most dangerous game of chicken. Even if you think you know where your friend is, going at it like that is only gonna end one way and it won't be pretty. Better believe that."

"More than just two guys." Mercury corrected, dumping one of the bags on the floor and sliding it over to where Neo sat with his feet. Emerald had already made her way over there, so unsure of what to say she was honestly uncomfortable with even trying, but she sat alongside her and held out her hand for their team's other girl to take if she wanted it, at least a little further along in how to be sensitive about this kind of thing than her partner was.

He hadn't been idle since they got back here, but he hadn't been involved in broad discussions either. His time had been spent digging and then packing, a lush, secluded alcove under an oak tree not so far from Tock's house now the site of a new landmark in the form of a freshly disturbed patch of earth, along with a few sticks roped together into a rough tombstone that Roman's hat now hung from.

"Tyrian's coming too. You people can't keep him here."​