Fandom Distorted Mirror [IC]

[Gus Gungus]

She couldn't help but snort at the returned hand sign. Well, a quieter half-snort. Something like that, though her expression snapped back to serious. "...when you hit the road? What...what do you mean?" She questioned with a raised eyebrow, the follow-up things he himself asked her seemingly ignored for now.

"You know, for when I get outta town. Scram. Bail." He kept his tone flippant, though seemed in no hurry to clue her in comprehensively as he stepped aside and politely gestured down the catwalk, Emerald and Neo visible some distance behind. "Figured it'd just be awkward if I stick around for the carpool back to home base once we're done. I can just make my way from there, rip the bandaid off clean."​

 

[MyrtenRose]

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"You know, for when I get outta town. Scram. Bail." He kept his tone flippant, though seemed in no hurry to clue her in comprehensively as he stepped aside and politely gestured down the catwalk, Emerald and Neo visible some distance behind. "Figured it'd just be awkward if I stick around for the carpool back to home base once we're done. I can just make my way from there, rip the bandaid off clean."​

She had figured that’s what he had meant, but hearing it come from his mouth...that, and the fact he was using the word I, not we. That he was going to leave them too. “I guess it’s a little hypocritical, coming from me, but leaving...I don’t think that’s a good...” She trailed off with a sigh. “I can’t stop you. Your choices are your own, even if I think...I know that it would be a mistake. Even if it would be more than a little awkward to stick around, given Tyrian and...yeah.” Cinder admitted. Still, she wasn’t looking to get into a big argument right here and now, so she just stepped up a little closer towards him and the catwalk beyond and asked:

“Well...where would you go then? Or what would you do after that?”​

 

[Gus Gungus]

She had figured that’s what he had meant, but hearing it come from his mouth...that, and the fact he was using the word I, not we. That he was going to leave them too. “I guess it’s a little hypocritical, coming from me, but leaving...I don’t think that’s a good...” She trailed off with a sigh. “I can’t stop you. Your choices are your own, even if I think...I know that it would be a mistake. Even if it would be more than a little awkward to stick around, given Tyrian and...yeah.” Cinder admitted. Still, she wasn’t looking to get into a big argument right here and now, so she just stepped up a little closer towards him and the catwalk beyond and asked:

“Well...where would you go then? Or what would you do after that?”

He gave an absent grunt in acknowledgment, if not quite agreement, turning away from the overlook to trudge back down for where the others were waiting, bearing instantly more sullen at even an avoided lecture. "Totally different bag than when you did it. It should be pretty clear by now that I can't be around people."

He exhaled heavily as though it were some minor, yet vexating inconvenience, like forgetting change for the bus.

"No idea where I'll go. Just away. I think telling anyone specifics kinda defeats the point."​

 

[MyrtenRose]

He gave an absent grunt in acknowledgment, if not quite agreement, turning away from the overlook to trudge back down for where the others were waiting, bearing instantly more sullen at even an avoided lecture. "Totally different bag than when you did it. It should be pretty clear by now that I can't be around people."

He exhaled heavily like it was some minor, yet vexating inconvenience, like forgetting change for the bus.

"No idea where I'll go. Just away. I think telling anyone specifics kinda defeats the point."​

"That's not true at all. You slipped up, tempers ran hot, but...you were with Emerald, and Neo, and Tyrian, and those others hanging around for a long time, while we...our team split up and--" Cinder cut herself off with a shake of the head. "No. I'm not going to go into a whole thing. It's just...you're better than you think you are. And...well...like you said, we...kinda have things in common. We just...understand. Right? So I'm not going to tell you what to do, or beg you, or demand or anything. All I'll say is...what would make your dad more proud, if you left on your own to do...whatever, or if you stayed? Which would have him express more approval?" She didn't say anything more, walking right past and joining the others. She was well past ready to go do this job.​

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

The month that followed Aurora’s capture had not been a good one.

When he awoke from his concussion, it was in the back of a JMDLU SWAT Manta, gravity cuffs already around his wrists, and a military doctor shining a light into his eyes as he held his cheeks roughly to keep his head straight. Whatever the woman saw got a grunt as she let go and stood up.

“He’ll live.”

His position in the Bound Ashes meant he knew more than most about how things went from here, even if he’d never been subjected to it himself. Processing, jail, messages sent to his legal representation, and on it would spin from there, even if he didn’t quite understand why he’d been arrested in the first place. No one seemed to be forthcoming about why either, any questions or pleads met with stoic faces or threatening snarls from the officers he was with, no answers to be found in the hostile silence. The manta was taken to the station, he was printed, photographed, and booked, and he found himself in a cell shortly after.

That was it. None of the other steps happened. Mistral still couldn’t make phone calls, but no one even offered to pass on a message, or come and tell him why he was arrested, what he was charged with, when his trial was, anything. He was alone, in a cell with a cot, a sink, and a toilet, and with food that was passed through a slot on the floor twice a day, a guard standing directly outside his cell at all times. No one talked to him. No one came for him. It was just him, alone, with not even a phone or anything that could be a ‘phone’ left in reach.

Finally, a week later, someone came. Two guards came into his cell and hoisted him to his feet, and dragged him if necessary out of the cell and further into the complex. He found himself in an interrogation room, a single lamp swaying slightly from the ceiling, and a large mirror dominating the wall on one side, with who knew who watching from the other side as the officers with him strapped his gravity cuffs into the table and forced him into the chair, before they took position at either side of end of the room. They were both faunus. In fact, if he thought back, every guard that had been outside his cell had been one.

The woman who finally entered the room didn’t appear to be one, nor like she belonged here at all. She wore atlesian silks instead of a uniform, pale skin and fiery orange hair complemented by softer, darker blues and black heels that clacked against the tiled floor as she strode into the room and alighted herself into the seat across from him. She smiled apologetically, her words soft and remorseful as she spoke the first words.

“I’m so, so sorry. You were never meant to be down there for so long. I’m sure you have many, many questions, but before I can answer any of them, I have one for you first; to who am I speaking to?”

 

[MidwayLives]

The month that followed Aurora’s capture had not been a good one.

When he awoke from his concussion, it was in the back of a JMDLU SWAT Manta, gravity cuffs already around his wrists, and a military doctor shining a light into his eyes as he held his cheeks roughly to keep his head straight. Whatever the woman saw got a grunt as she let go and stood up.

Everything hurt.

Nothing more than his heart.

Well.

His head was a close second.

He didn't know what had transpired beyond believing it'd had something to do with that deranged scorpion faunus. The one who had the connection to that spider faunus that loathsome murderer the Boss used to take care of nuisances discreetly. In exchange the Boss...looked the other way when the murderer indulged in his less than savory urges. Which started at leering after young faunus to murdering them once he'd had his fill of them. Aurora thought the association was sick and beneath the Boss: an amazing man that Aurora would have gladly risked his life for. But whatever the Boss wanted, he got, and as his most loyal subordinate and comrade Aurora would follow every word, every instruction. Without even a glimmer of hesitation.

That he hadn't seen or heard from the Boss at all upon waking up in a crater and being assaulted by Tyrian and then knocked out by police didn't damper that devotion.

It only scared him.

He didn't fidget or struggle. Instead, he merely whimpered and sobbed.

"Bb-boss...where are you?? Where are..."
​

“He’ll live.”

He let his head lull once the doctor was done.

"you....? *sob*"
​

His position in the Bound Ashes meant he knew more than most about how things went from here, even if he’d never been subjected to it himself. Processing, jail, messages sent to his legal representation, and on it would spin from there, even if he didn’t quite understand why he’d been arrested in the first place. No one seemed to be forthcoming about why either, any questions or pleads met with stoic faces or threatening snarls from the officers he was with, no answers to be found in the hostile silence. The manta was taken to the station, he was printed, photographed, and booked, and he found himself in a cell shortly after.

The entire process was absolutely humiliating.

Least of all because he knew that with his makeup running from his tears, his mugshot must have looked like a clownshow.

His body ached and he knew not why. Not of the battle the Boss had. Only thoughts of Callows and those friends of his. They must have been behind this somehow.

His crying didn't stop even as the picture was taken.

"eh...ehh...wahhhh....*sob*"

But he didn't give them anything. Anything on the Boss or the murderer-both of them were too connected. If he blabbed about one, it'd lead into investigating the other. He was a lot of things but a snitch wasn't one of them.

It was also true enough that Aurora had always been the one to give the orders on the Boss's behalf. If it was something that needed to be explained in person and not over a scroll(least of all now with everything down)or computer, Aurora was the guy for it. But he'd always made sure to keep his hands clean and a air of distance from the illegal acts he gave out to the Hitman/Narcotics/Community Teams and the Elite Guard and the rest of the Familia. There were certainly those who knew of Aurora's connection to things, it was something of an open secret after all but nothing concrete for most people. On top of that most of the police department was in the gang's pocket. If they needed one of their boys bailed out, it was done with no questions(for the most part) asked. Anyone who tried blackmailing Aurora or taking advantage of his demure demeanor?

Well, they weren't long for this world.

Spoiler: the last guy

It'd been a busy night for Aurora. Being the right hand to one of the most powerful and yet most mysterious men in Mistral was always gonna keep him on his toes. But even for someone like him who didn't stop to question any of the Boss's demands, he couldn't pass up what at the time had seemed like a good soul offering him dinner at what passed as a fine restaurant in these parts. Aurora had never met the man before in his life and probably should have been more leery of just following anybody who so much as gave him attention but despite the things he was asked to do, Aurora didn't wish to give off an air of being unapproachable. That was bad for the role he was in/it tarnished his usefulness to the Boss. Something he just wouldn't allow.

Given his recent encounter with one certain bandit, it was something he needed to work on still.

"Mmm! That food was absolutely delicious! Thanks again!" Aurora said as he patted his stomach. As mentioned, he tried his best to fit in with the local community. When people catered to him, he knew why that was but tried to remain humble and respectful above all else. Those who didn't appreciate his kindness or attitude generally weren't seen around after whatever encounter they might have had with him, he always thought that was odd. The man sitting across from Aurora who hadn't really seemed to touch most of his food smiled back. "Yes, yes of course! Now, I'm aware you're probably a busy man Mr. Beige-"

"Please, call me Aurora. You make me sound like an old man when you use 'Mister.' I'm only 17..."

"Ah, my apologies. Aurora, I was wondering if you could spare a bit more of your time, I have some...business I'd like to discuss."

That caused a raised eyebrow.

"Business?" Aurora looked the man over. If Aurora was being honest with the long brown trenchcoat and fedora, Aurora would have had him pegged for either two things:

-A serial flasher which might have brought into question how he afforded all this food. ...Unless he expected Aurora to pay for it all. Which was pretty rude.
-A noisy private investigator who may or may not have stuck their nose where it didn't belong.

"I don't think I've ever seen you...until today. The Boss never mentioned anybody fitting your description meeting me today,"

"See, well with all due respect Aurora, that's probably for the best. Because this business I'd like to discuss probably isn't something you'd want reaching your Boss's ears."

Aurora's eyes narrowed and he gestured around to the remaining staff of the restaurant. They got the hint and without forewarning, the other guests were quickly ushered out. Some not even being allowed to finish their meals. It wasn't often that Aurora exerted his influence openly like that but when this suspicious figure brought up the Boss, he didn't want anyone else listening in. Once the guests had been escorted out, the staff quietly wished Aurora well before leaving themselves but not before closing the blinds and flipping the sign from 'OPEN' to 'CLOSED' as they departed.

"Alright. Let's talk business then...." Aurora let it drag on and the man folded his arms across his chest.

"Sorry, Aurora but what do I get out of introducing myself? With your connections, why...If you were able to find the time to put the effort to it, you could have me, my friends, my family and everyone I've passed by on the street gone in a day's notice."

"Smart man." Aurora complimented as he grabbed his empty dishes and rose from his seat and headed to the kitchen. "If you don't mind, I don't like leaving a mess. Care to continue this talk in the kitchen?" The man hesitated for a second but reluctantly followed behind the teenager. Pushing open the door with his foot, Aurora set about putting on a pair of gloves and washing the dishes. "But if I might make a suggestion? If-and lets keep it to a hypothetical, okay?-let's say someone supplied you with whatever groundbreaking revelation you're going to tell me. What do you think would happen if I were to go and hold a conversation with them? Much like the one we're holding now. We talk, pleasantries are exchanged, and I give your description. Lo and behold they happen to know you! What do you think they'd be willing to talk about?"

The lights overhead showed just how pale the man had gotten.

"....Alright, you made your point. My name's M. Hammer. Private eye. That's all you get."

"That's enough." Aurora let that rest there, the implied threat doing enough carrying. "Thank you."

There was a brief window of silence as Aurora continued to clean.

"Now, Mr. Hammer...? This business you mentioned..." Aurora started and the man reached into his jacket and pulled out a scroll. On it appeared to be images of what appeared to be a drunken Blanche saddled with an assortment of women. Engaged in 'naughty activities' of a kind. Aurora blinked. "Would I be mistaken to say that the man in these photographs was Blanche Tranquille, a member of the Bound Ashes's Hitman Team? Guess you know how he spends his time off work, huh? Think the wife knows?" Aurora shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. "...Is that really what you invited me here to talk about? Extramarital affairs aside, what Blanche does on his freetime doesn't concern the Boss or me. He's a grown man. Let him and the missus sort it out in court if need be." He added on. "If his wife hired you to track me down, she wasted her money. She could have come to me directly and I'd have given her the same answer."

"Yeah, well that's the thing. She's not taking the whole 'being cheated on by the man who shared vows with her' so well. She figured that with Blanche's role in the Ashes, she'd be allowed to relax and live a life of relative luxury. Not to share a bed with an adulterer." Aurora started stacking the clean dishes on the counter next to the sink. "I'm not following you. Are you expecting me to punish Blanche? Like I said, his personal business isn't mine to care about. If his wife wants a divorce, I can recommend a number or two I'm sure."

"She wants money."

"Blanche gets a sizeable paycheck for his services. Again, if this is all you wished to talk about, your time would have been better spent contacting a lawyer."

"Not from Blanche. She knows it'd get tied up in the courts and who knows when she'd get the money? Five years from now? Ten? So, that's where I come in. Say, a few photos pop up here and there. Sure, Blanche might be able to recover. But what do you think that'd do to his loyalty? That I conversed with his direct superior and his superior didn't give a damn. Maybe he'd start getting ideas. Ideas he'd share with his friends." As Aurora set down the last dish, he placed his hands on his hips and slowly looked over at the detective. "You know it's probably just my imagination but I'm getting the strangest feeling you're....threatening me."

"Threatening is an ugly word. I prefer to look at it as doing a service for a grieving woman."

Aurora tugged on his gloves, pulled them firmly on his hands. "I'm guessing you'd get a cut of whatever I'd pay to keep this whole thing hush hush?"

The detective didn't answer.

"Mmm. You're sure about this?" Aurora asked and without a second thought, Hammer placed a small card in Aurora's left hand. The card carried an address and number to Hammer's office. "If I wasn't sure, I think we both know I wouldn't be here right now, Mr. Beige." Turning towards the door out of the kitchen, Hammer called out. "I'd say call me when it's convenient but given how you'll have to explain this to your Boss, I'd estimate 'asap' is probably better, yeah?"

Aurora chuckled.

*riiiiip*

Before he pushed the door open, Hammer had heard the noise. "What the-" Looking back, he saw Aurora flick the two halves of the once whole card down. "What the hell are you doing?? Making those ain't cheap y'know!" Aurora merely laughed again. Were the lights messing with his head, Hammer wondered, as he squinted at Aurora. Had the kid always looked that....big? "Money's so important that you'd risk this for it. I only have to wonder..." The speed at which he moved seemed superhuman, 'Aurora' was upon Hammer before he could even realize what was happening. One meaty hand wrapped around his throat and pinned him against the wall. This wasn't the same kid he'd invited to share a meal with! This...This was something else entirely! This entity stood up straight unlike the slouched way Aurora usually carried himself, their muscles bulged against the seams of Aurora's pink sweater and his normally poofy hair drooped into a ragged looking pink mess, masking most of his face from view. Except for those two piercing green eyes, looking as fragmented as the....thing they belonged to.

"What use is money to a dead man?!"

"W-Wait *cough* I-I can delete the photos! I-I can....We can make a deal-"

*THWACK* *SQUELCH*

The wall had been given a new coat of 'paint' and one of Aurora's gloves looked like it'd been tossed in the wrong laundry pile. Whatever remained of Hammer's head fell to the floor in a grotesque pitter-patter as the one who'd swiftly and gorily murdered him tossed the corpse to the ground.



"I'll not be threatened by anyone. I don't care who they are, what influence they claim to have over me. None shall threaten my eternal apex."

He stomped on what remained of the skull and crunched it underfoot.

"No one."

Reaching out to grab a meat tenderizer off the shelf, he raised it above his head.

"Not."

*THWACK* *squelch*

"Ever."

*THWACK*

"Huh?"

Aurora looked around for a moment or two. The last thing he remembered was that asshole private eye threatening him. Once the Boss got word of this, he wouldn't punish Aurora. He'd have another one of the Hitman Team deal with it and a member of the Narcotics Team could help stage it like a drug overdose. Whatever would have worked the best. He just hadn't expected things to have apparently escalated so badly he'd beaten the man to death with a meat tenderizer.

"Ahhh....AHHHHHHHHH!!!"

He...He must have attacked. Yes...That's what had happened. Aurora had made it clear he wouldn't agree and the man thought he'd get physical. Try to rough Aurora up so he'd agree. W-Well...W-Who was defenseless now?? Huh???

....Probably the man who's head was broken like a scrambled egg.

"Oh geez....UGH.....They have a meat grinder around here somewhere...."

And Blanche's wife left town without a word a week later. He still wonders if she found out about the affair....affairs.

​

That was it. None of the other steps happened. Mistral still couldn’t make phone calls, but no one even offered to pass on a message, or come and tell him why he was arrested, what he was charged with, when his trial was, anything. He was alone, in a cell with a cot, a sink, and a toilet, and with food that was passed through a slot on the floor twice a day, a guard standing directly outside his cell at all times. No one talked to him. No one came for him. It was just him, alone, with not even a phone or anything that could be a ‘phone’ left in reach.

If they were treating him like this, it didn't bare thinking about what Callows or any of those others had done.

Had they discovered the Boss's connection to the murderer? Had...They actually apprehended the killer?

No....Aurora would have been informed. They wouldn't have had just him sitting in a cell. They would have wanted to question him. Try to get whatever they could about the 'Mistral Murderer'

But he wouldn't do it. He wouldn't turn his back on the Boss. Not now, not ever.

.....He just wished the ringing would stop. Every night it was the same.

He'd toss and turn. Hold the pillow against his ears.

"RINGRINGINRINGRINGRINGRINGRING"

Like clockwork.

"will somebody please pick up the phone..." he pleaded.

But nobody did.

​

Finally, a week later, someone came.

Finally!

He'd never lost hope in the Boss. Not even after all this time! Not even after the ringing threatened to drive him crazy!

Help had arrived and salvation would carry him out of here!
​

Two guards came into his cell and hoisted him to his feet, and dragged him if necessary out of the cell and further into the complex. He found himself in an interrogation room, a single lamp swaying slightly from the ceiling, and a large mirror dominating the wall on one side, with who knew who watching from the other side as the officers with him strapped his gravity cuffs into the table and forced him into the chair, before they took position at either side of end of the room.

Salvation had a funny way of looking like two guards.

"No...nononono! NO!" He struggled as best as he could.

It wasn't enough, not by a long shot.

It might have taken a touch more effort than expected but eventually he was hauled where he needed to go.

"W-What is wrong with you people??? I haven't DONE anything wrong! Where's my lawyer??? D-Don't you know I am?-"
​

They were both faunus. In fact, if he thought back, every guard that had been outside his cell had been one.

Faunus...

Faunus....All of them....

They'd all been...

"No....No!"

Had they infiltrated deeper than the Boss's spies knew?! While Aurora didn't share the Boss's seeming absolute contempt of faunus-kind, he'd believed that leaving the Shadow Fang to it's own devices for the most part wasn't well-advised. Least of all when the Bound Ashes were still bleeding money + men in Atlas, a region that the Boss was obsessed with. Though of course you'd never hear that kind of talk escape Aurora's lips. It was either that or just a spot of ironic fate.

Neither was good for Aurora.
​

The woman who finally entered the room didn’t appear to be one, nor like she belonged here at all. She wore atlesian silks instead of a uniform, pale skin and fiery orange hair complemented by softer, darker blues and black heels that clacked against the tiled floor as she strode into the room and alighted herself into the seat across from him. She smiled apologetically, her words soft and remorseful as she spoke the first words.

As the woman entered, Aurora looked her up and down.

No, not in that way.

She....looked different than most. Well, she hadn't manhandled him yet for one. She also wasn't wearing an outfit that screamed 'resist. i dare you.' and after being dragged to and then out of his cell and forced into a chair, it was a welcoming sight. Even if the well....'luxury' of an outfit like that brought up another potential concern in Aurora's mind. One he summoned up his courage to try and dispel.

"Whatever actions Satin Jeune and any other men/women in Atlas that claim to be affiliated with the Bound Ashes are completely and utterly unsanctioned by the Boss." He said it so efficiently and without a hint of his cowardly front that you'd think it was something he rehearsed.

Satin had his loyalty to the Boss.

Aurora had loyalty to the Boss and no one else.
​

“I’m so, so sorry. You were never meant to be down there for so long. I’m sure you have many, many questions, but before I can answer any of them, I have one for you first; to who am I speaking to?”

Whatever thoughts and concerns Aurora may have had. Namely his treatment as such, that opening question took him for quite the loop.



"You....You and whoever these faunus really are. Masquerading as actual authorities or whatever. Knock me out and drag me to god knows where. I don't talk to anyone or hear anything for what feels like forever and when things finally change, I'm dragged kicking and screaming into this room-WITHOUT a lawyer present I might add-and here comes you, you dressed in your Atlas finest(too good to be Mistralian) and ask me...."

Aurora's eye twitched.

"....Who I am?"

His left hand balled up into a fist and for a split second, it looked like he was going to try something-

"RINGRINGINRINGRINGRING"

His eyes returned to normal and he whimpered.

"I-It's Aurora Beige! My NAME is AURORA BEIGE!" He looked over to the one-way window. "Will someone PLEASE answer that scroll???" Then he turned his attention back to the lady who apparently had questions of her own. "Who ARE you people???"​

 

[Gus Gungus]

"That's not true at all. You slipped up, tempers ran hot, but...you were with Emerald, and Neo, and Tyrian, and those others hanging around for a long time, while we...our team split up and--" Cinder cut herself off with a shake of the head. "No. I'm not going to go into a whole thing. It's just...you're better than you think you are. And...well...like you said, we...kinda have things in common. We just...understand. Right? So I'm not going to tell you what to do, or beg you, or demand or anything. All I'll say is...what would make your dad more proud, if you left on your own to do...whatever, or if you stayed? Which would have him express more approval?" She didn't say anything more, walking right past and joining the others. She was well past ready to go do this job.

Mercury scoffed, and if Cinder had ever found herself troubled by the thought of her fallen counterpart and the common ground in their darker natures then she couldn't have been reassured when he turned his barely turned his head to answer without much of that concern visible in his own right.

"He'd approve of what happened to Tyrian, that's for sure."

That was all he said in turn, trailing her back to the others in time to see Emerald lapse into a momentary shutdown state at the sight of Cinder approaching since she'd been too preoccupied to think out the logistics of who they were walking towards and left herself with no time to prepare an apology of any sort. Nor, truthfully, did she even really want to be the first person in this entire fiasco to apologise. She wasn't as forgiving as Neo, and still occupied that awkward zone after a falling out with friends where she felt bad for the way she acted but also raw over how she was treated.

'Warning; targets labelled 'friendlies' in-'

"override" Watts snarled, before both barrels hissed in ignition before filling the air with a barrage of dust rounds; His arm seemed to unerringly track Mercury through the air, twisting a adjusting with a motion far more mechanical than organic, and the rounds weren't aimed to hit Mercury so much as around him, exploding in concussive blasts of flame as they neared like the anti air guns of the old wars.

"Neo."

Tyrian looked down at her once the beam had launched her wherever it had.

"Just give us the lamp. It'll stop all of this."

He enjoyed fighting Neo. It was the one thing that'd helped keep all his pieces together when it looked as though the stress was going to tear him apart.

His tail reared up to slam down if she so much as did anything but what he'd asked.

He really hoped she did.

She didn’t move as he spoke. All Cinder did in those few seconds was listen. Every word only seemed to piss her off even more, if the worsening expression on her face was any indication. “He’s unhinged?!” She repeated in disbelief.

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!”

Because even if the first truly nasty overreaction of the morning came from her, even if Neo shouldn't have taken the lamp to begin with, even if Mercury had escalated everything to a ridiculous level and now seemed to be doing his best to make sure no one ever looked at him the same way again, it didn't change the fact that for one reason or another when push came to shove every single member of team WTCH (in attendance) had gone from treating them like friends they hadn't seen in a while to high placers on the 'threats to the future of Remnant' scale in about five seconds. All of them. The same Tyrian who'd been tagging along with them for months. The same Watts who never did anything without thinking it through a zillion times or more first. The same Cinder who... well, who she just expected more from.

She told them they'd been doing bad. It was literally one of the first things she'd said to them in that alley yesterday. Yet until it was already too late—and discounting a single effort to hug Watts that would've found a more accepting target in a cactus—no one tried to steer Mercury away from violence, no one just called Emerald out on her bullshit and tried to figure out what the hell was the matter with her, no one even gave Neo half a goddamn chance to hand over the lamp they were all so eager to jump down their throats over because it was like they were all waiting for a shot to work out their frustration in a schoolyard brawl instead. She fully recognized, and was very much kicking herself over, the part she had to play in that; but in hindsight Watts had been wary of them from the word go, sizing them up like they were threats to his heroic destiny and not the same people he started this magical little quest with, practically sneering down his nose at them and everything about the current state of their lives the second he got a look at them. And she just couldn't stop hearing something she overheard Cinder say. About how all this was because Neo 'took the lamp, after everything they went through for it'.

After everything they went through for it?

Ha. Yeah. She had some issues with that.



It didn't change the fact that the maiden had been the one to deescalate in the end, or try to, and she really was still about as blameless as it got when it came to the melee's inciting incident. More blameless than Emerald, at least. She wasn't angry at Cinder, had never truly been angry at anything other than what felt like a profound lack of seriousness during what ended up being a very distressing moment for her, but she couldn't pretend she didn't feel the way she felt, either; at best, pitied. At worst, judged. Sure, maybe that pity was sincere and well-meant. Maybe Cinder's guilt had been authentic. It didn't change anything that had just happened. Didn't change that somewhere and at some point someone had drawn a line between their two teams, dictated everything on the other side as 'something to be wary of'.

She was pretty sure it hadn't been them.

She broke off the taut, uneasy stare she'd been giving Cinder for the entirety of her approach, offered her an unwieldy attempt at a comforting shoulder pat, handed Neo off to her and turned to take point on the way back to the tent alone.

Tyrian's left hand balled up into a fist.

"Trying...."

His tail slinked over the side of the bed, nice and slow.

"Trying...." He repeated. "I wonder how hard he's trying if I'm stuck laying in bed like this while he can walk away from this like nothing happened!" Catching himself at the last second before he got too worked up and potentially injured himself further/lashed out at Morgiana, he panted and nestled back against the pillows. "Sorry, sorry. Again. I'm...."

Tyrian's gaze couldn't meet hers again.

"He was my friend. I went to him when I'd heard a serial killer had kidnapped Trifa-that spider faunus you might have seen with us. She's the one who got gunk all over Lance. Biological webbing, heh." Noticing that he was stalling what he really wanted to say, he sighed. "He...He actually was willing to help. All of them were but he was biting at the bit to help me out. It meant a lot to me. I can't even remember if I thanked him, Emerald, and Neo enough. However many times I did it wasn't enough, still isn't. Wouldn't have been able to do it by myself. The guy was....just too strong." Tyrian hissed out with a heavy reluctance lingering on his words.

"I can admit he may have had his point. I can admit that....I've...I've gotten too caught up in my own business. So eager to fight, so eager to get stronger, better. Without realizing just how far I was going." He looked down at his injuries with a miserable look on his face. "I don't want to sound ungrateful. You're doing all that you can for me. That means a lot. This....This isn't even the worst anyone's ever left me."

His thoughts wandered back to that one rigged fight.

"....but it was the first time someone i looked to as a friend ever hurt me like this." He said, his voice cracking.

"I don't doubt you'll heal me as best as you can. I probably won't be hopping all over the place. But I'll be back on my feet. But....the pain goes deeper and I'm not talking about my bones." He shook his head from side to side. "I'm here. I said I'll help find this relic, fight alongside the others. I meant it. But...."

Tyrian's eyes glistened slightly.

"....i don't know if i want to be near him again. ever."

Anyone curious about Morgiana's affinity for, or proclivity towards, combat or violence of any kind received a clue as being in immediate radius of Tyrian's brief wave of mounting hostility seemed to elicit an actual physical reaction in her, the magus looking more frail and haggard than before and shrinking back on her side of the bed like a wilting flower until she was almost falling off as she held her nerve and maintained her benevolent healer's bearing nevertheless. The shadow of her princely bodyguard falling over him once more served to remind him of his place, and after she listened to the rest upon concluding she glanced back up at him with an expression that was patient, if tired by this point.

"Hold that thought, duckling."

Then she gripped his entire leg like it was a fallen log blocking the road, and above the heavenly symphony of purring rose the most sickeningly vicious krk-KRAK any still present in the tent had ever heard as she wrenched hard and set his knee back in its proper direction. The motion was bizarrely painless from Tyrian's perspective, and so, strangely, were the rest of his injuries, a fact Morgiana seemed justifiably proud of as she scooted back on her knees and beckoned towards the floor with an encouraging 'ta-dah' motion.

If he took her up on that offer he found no overt difficulty in doing so, though his bones were stiff and joint mobility poor around the affected areas. He was also probably noticing a certain loss of sensation, 'certain' meaning 'universal'.

Morgiana looked very satisfied with herself as she fell back, letting herself tumble freely off the bed and into the waiting mass of cats as she cozied up to them and waved off a concerned Lance who stooped down to check on her.

"See? The hardest of sciences. Though um, my medical opinion compels me to suggest you abnegate the foray into the deep dark with destiny's children, Sweet Tea, though you may be among them. Pain is vital to survival scenarios, and you won't be feeling any for a few days."

It was then the rustling of the room's bead curtain drew their attention, and if that failed then the dumbfounded voice of Mercury as he filed back in with the others and immediately caught sight of a standing Tyrian no doubt did the trick.



"You should not be putting weight on... anything."​

 

[MyrtenRose]

"He'd approve of what happened to Tyrian, that's for sure."

“...” That statement got her to wince as she walked on, but she couldn’t bring herself to stop or even turn around to face him again. If she did that, she would have...well, she doubted her ability to handle it without losing whatever remained of her composure. She wore her heart on her sleeve on the best of days, and with everything that happened so close together and the lingering influence of her high, she felt her emotions flowing even more strongly. If she let it all out again, she wasn’t sure when she would be able to stop and that wasn’t something they could afford. They couldn’t keep delaying this relic retrieval.

So she didn’t turn, she didn’t stop, she didn’t slow down. She didn’t even speak. At least not from anything he said or did.​

She broke off the taut, uneasy stare she'd been giving Cinder for the entirety of her approach, offered her an unwieldy attempt at a comforting shoulder pat, handed Neo off to her and turned to take point on the way back to the tent alone.

Her stride did slow when her gaze met Emerald’s, the look in those red eyes getting a nervous response in her own and a deepening frown. Almost before she knew it, she was right there in front of the pair again, her feelings of unease intensified with each single step she’d taken. She stood completely still then, her mouth briefly widening to say something but she still couldn’t, and that hesitation was enough that she still hadn’t said anything after the awkward shoulder pat and the hand-off and Emerald walking away.

Ultimately she said nothing, her mouth closing again after a few seconds and head slowly turning to look at Neo. Cinder let out a deep breath and gave a genuine smile, if a really brief one. Even with all the pretty crappy stuff going on, at least there was some good in Emerald and Neo being closer than ever before, if that hand holding had been anything to go by.

If the slightly smaller girl allowed it, one of Cinder’s own hands moved to grab hold too, a gesture that was as much for her own benefit as it was Neo’s, but even if not she followed silently after Emerald.​

It was then the rustling of the room's bead curtain drew their attention, and if that failed then the dumbfounded voice of Mercury as he filed back in with the others and immediately caught sight of a standing Tyrian no doubt did the trick.

“....”

Make that two good things, given how it appeared Tyrian had recovered pretty well all things considered! The only thing that kept her from trying to go for a hug was she didn’t know if that would hurt and make things worse, because yeah what Mercury said. It had taken her a while to put weight on that leg again after Blake had finished her off.

“Er...how do you feel?”​

 

[MidwayLives]

"Hold that thought, duckling."

"Okay...."

Maybe she'd have some more good advice to give him-
​

Then she gripped his entire leg like it was a fallen log blocking the road,

"Hey Tyrian, you feeling any-"

"Wait, Morgiana what are you-"
​

and above the heavenly symphony of purring rose the most sickeningly vicious krk-KRAK any still present in the tent had ever heard as she wrenched hard and set his knee back in its proper direction. The motion was bizarrely painless from Tyrian's perspective, and so, strangely, were the rest of his injuries, a fact Morgiana seemed justifiably proud of as she scooted back on her knees and beckoned towards the floor with an encouraging 'ta-dah' motion.

"AAAAAH!"

"AAAAAAHHH-hhhhh....huh?"

That didn't hurt?

He usually had to drink more than a couple glasses of alcohol before he had a feeling like this.

...or lack therefore of.

Trifa looked over. He wasn't on the ground screaming in agony, so good sign??

"T-Tyrian?? A-Are you ok?"

"I...I don't know-"
​

he took her up on that offer he found no overt difficulty in doing so, though his bones were stiff and joint mobility poor around the affected areas. He was also probably noticing a certain loss of sensation, 'certain' meaning 'universal'.

He hesitated before standing up.

Alright so far...

He took a quick jab.

"Nothing."

"What?"

"...Just nothing."

No pain. Nothing.
​

Morgiana looked very satisfied with herself as she fell back, letting herself tumble freely off the bed and into the waiting mass of cats as she cozied up to them and waved off a concerned Lance who stooped down to check on her.

"See? The hardest of sciences. Though um, my medical opinion compels me to suggest you abnegate the foray into the deep dark with destiny's children, Sweet Tea, though you may be among them. Pain is vital to survival scenarios, and you won't be feeling any for a few days."

"I...I can't begin to thank you." Tyrian patted his various scars.

Then he took a couple more practice jabs.

"....But I can't stay behind. It wouldn't be right."

....For him.
​

It was then the rustling of the room's bead curtain drew their attention, and if that failed then the voice of Mercury as he filed back in with the others and immediately caught sight of a standing Tyrian no doubt did the trick.

"You should not be putting weight on... anything."

Trifa was nearly bowled over as Tyrian immediately moved to all fours and reared up his tail.

That voice!

What had been done to him! How angry he'd been! How upset he was that it'd gotten that far.

"Tyrian,, stop!" Trifa pleaded as she picked herself up. "She just spent all this time trying to help you! You can't just....Just....piss it all away five seconds later!" Pissed off as she was-her 'greeting' to Mercury was evidence enough of that-she didn't see a point in Tyrian only potentially injuring himself further for what exactly? A victory? What would he do with it? What would it really solve? They'd still have to do this. They couldn't walk away.

She knew Tyrian couldn't.

"It's not worth more, new, pain, Tyrian."

In the midst of his staredown, Tyrian blinked and it looked as though it dawned on him just what he was doing again. Letting his anger dictate his next course of action. "Ugh...No...." He rose back to his feet...but left his tail uncoiled. He looked back at Morgiana. "Thanks again...for everything." He moved towards Mercury until he stood straight across from him.

At this range he was sure his stinger would land a grazing blow.

That'd be all he needed.

But, as angry as he was and as understandably cautious as he was to approach Mercury as though nothing had happened, he relented.

"Apparently I'll be fine." Whether not being able to feel anything constituted as 'fine', he wasn't entirely sure.

"Mercury. During that fight. You....You had a point about me. I...I did go too far."

Regardless of how strongly his mind was urging him to say 'fuck that' to the idea of bygones be bygones and attack, it wouldn't have felt right to walk and act as though he'd done nothing wrong. As he'd laid here in bed while Morgiana treated his injuries, he'd come to admit that Mercury hadn't been entirely mistaken in the source behind his insults. Tyrian had let things get out of hand during his spars with Neo. From taking what was supposed to be a mutual if unhealthy way to improve eachother to going after Neo after she'd already been beaten. It....It hadn't been right.

That didn't mean he approved of what had been done to him.

He didn't...or rather couldn't think of anything else to say. Better to leave it there for now. Lest his anger get the better of him yet again. Stepping past Mercury, he leaned against a section of the tent's interior, close enough to stand near the others, but far enough to give Mercury a wide berth. just content to be able to move both arms and not have a jetstream of pain shoot through him.

He still hadn't wound up his tail. The stinger swaying from side to side behind him.
​

“Er...how do you feel?”

"Honestly?"

Tyrian patted his shoulder.

"....I don't know. It doesn't hurt. It doesn't really feel like anything. Good, bad, indifferent. None of them."
​

 

[Gus Gungus]

Trifa was nearly bowled over as Tyrian immediately moved to all fours and reared up his tail.

That voice!

What had been done to him! How angry he'd been! How upset he was that it'd gotten that far.

"Tyrian,, stop!" Trifa pleaded as she picked herself up. "She just spent all this time trying to help you! You can't just....Just....piss it all away five seconds later!" Pissed off as she was-her 'greeting' to Mercury was evidence enough of that-she didn't see a point in Tyrian only potentially injuring himself further for what exactly? A victory? What would he do with it? What would it really solve? They'd still have to do this. They couldn't walk away.

She knew Tyrian couldn't.

"It's not worth more, new, pain, Tyrian."

In the midst of his staredown, Tyrian blinked and it looked as though it dawned on him just what he was doing again. Letting his anger dictate his next course of action. "Ugh...No...." He rose back to his feet...but left his tail uncoiled. He looked back at Morgiana. "Thanks again...for everything." He moved towards Mercury until he stood straight across from him.

At this range he was sure his stinger would land a grazing blow.

That'd be all he needed.

But, as angry as he was and as understandably cautious as he was to approach Mercury as though nothing had happened, he relented.

"Apparently I'll be fine." Whether not being able to feel anything constituted as 'fine', he wasn't entirely sure.

"Mercury. During that fight. You....You had a point about me. I...I did go too far."

Regardless of how strongly his mind was urging him to say 'fuck that' to the idea of bygones be bygones and attack, it wouldn't have felt right to walk and act as though he'd done nothing wrong. As he'd laid here in bed while Morgiana treated his injuries, he'd come to admit that Mercury hadn't been entirely mistaken in the source behind his insults. Tyrian had let things get out of hand during his spars with Neo. From taking what was supposed to be a mutual if unhealthy way to improve eachother to going after Neo after she'd already been beaten. It....It hadn't been right.

That didn't mean he approved of what had been done to him.

He didn't...or rather couldn't think of anything else to say. Better to leave it there for now. Lest his anger get the better of him yet again. Stepping past Mercury, he leaned against a section of the tent's interior, close enough to stand near the others, but far enough to give Mercury a wide berth. just content to be able to move both arms and not have a jetstream of pain shoot through him.

He still hadn't wound up his tail. The stinger swaying from side to side behind him.

MTEN's leader didn't back off or falter as the faunus got in his face, though he did scowl and bat the tip of the tail away if it ever hovered too close to show he wasn't gonna be playing doormat regardless of how justifiable an axe Tyrian had to grind. He kept a stiff jaw and sharp eyes as he listened, thoughts professionally concealed behind the steel-hardened demeanor, but the second Tyrian was through his features crystallized into what could've been considered a bold choice of response:



A quintessential 'bitch please' face.

His next words were out before Emerald could stop him, hardly a class act in maturity and contrition but in his mind the kind of relaxed, indifferent approach to open discourse that might've stopped little things like friends brawling through a city or Tyrian's crush becoming Neo's latest terrible life choice.

"I mean, I went too far. You just have a super obvious thing for Neo and a way of showing it I got issues with."​

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

Everything hurt.

Nothing more than his heart.

Well.

His head was a close second.

He didn't know what had transpired beyond believing it'd had something to do with that deranged scorpion faunus. The one who had the connection to that spider faunus that loathsome murderer the Boss used to take care of nuisances discreetly. In exchange the Boss...looked the other way when the murderer indulged in his less than savory urges. Which started at leering after young faunus to murdering them once he'd had his fill of them. Aurora thought the association was sick and beneath the Boss: an amazing man that Aurora would have gladly risked his life for. But whatever the Boss wanted, he got, and as his most loyal subordinate and comrade Aurora would follow every word, every instruction. Without even a glimmer of hesitation.

That he hadn't seen or heard from the Boss at all upon waking up in a crater and being assaulted by Tyrian and then knocked out by police didn't damper that devotion.

It only scared him.

He didn't fidget or struggle. Instead, he merely whimpered and sobbed.

"Bb-boss...where are you?? Where are..."


He let his head lull once the doctor was done.

"you....? *sob*"


The entire process was absolutely humiliating.

Least of all because he knew that with his makeup running from his tears, his mugshot must have looked like a clownshow.

His body ached and he knew not why. Not of the battle the Boss had. Only thoughts of Callows and those friends of his. They must have been behind this somehow.

His crying didn't stop even as the picture was taken.

"eh...ehh...wahhhh....*sob*"

But he didn't give them anything. Anything on the Boss or the murderer-both of them were too connected. If he blabbed about one, it'd lead into investigating the other. He was a lot of things but a snitch wasn't one of them.

It was also true enough that Aurora had always been the one to give the orders on the Boss's behalf. If it was something that needed to be explained in person and not over a scroll(least of all now with everything down)or computer, Aurora was the guy for it. But he'd always made sure to keep his hands clean and a air of distance from the illegal acts he gave out to the Hitman/Narcotics/Community Teams and the Elite Guard and the rest of the Familia. There were certainly those who knew of Aurora's connection to things, it was something of an open secret after all but nothing concrete for most people. On top of that most of the police department was in the gang's pocket. If they needed one of their boys bailed out, it was done with no questions(for the most part) asked. Anyone who tried blackmailing Aurora or taking advantage of his demure demeanor?

Well, they weren't long for this world.

Spoiler: the last guy

It'd been a busy night for Aurora. Being the right hand to one of the most powerful and yet most mysterious men in Mistral was always gonna keep him on his toes. But even for someone like him who didn't stop to question any of the Boss's demands, he couldn't pass up what at the time had seemed like a good soul offering him dinner at what passed as a fine restaurant in these parts. Aurora had never met the man before in his life and probably should have been more leery of just following anybody who so much as gave him attention but despite the things he was asked to do, Aurora didn't wish to give off an air of being unapproachable. That was bad for the role he was in/it tarnished his usefulness to the Boss. Something he just wouldn't allow.

Given his recent encounter with one certain bandit, it was something he needed to work on still.

"Mmm! That food was absolutely delicious! Thanks again!" Aurora said as he patted his stomach. As mentioned, he tried his best to fit in with the local community. When people catered to him, he knew why that was but tried to remain humble and respectful above all else. Those who didn't appreciate his kindness or attitude generally weren't seen around after whatever encounter they might have had with him, he always thought that was odd. The man sitting across from Aurora who hadn't really seemed to touch most of his food smiled back. "Yes, yes of course! Now, I'm aware you're probably a busy man Mr. Beige-"

"Please, call me Aurora. You make me sound like an old man when you use 'Mister.' I'm only 17..."

"Ah, my apologies. Aurora, I was wondering if you could spare a bit more of your time, I have some...business I'd like to discuss."

That caused a raised eyebrow.

"Business?" Aurora looked the man over. If Aurora was being honest with the long brown trenchcoat and fedora, Aurora would have had him pegged for either two things:

-A serial flasher which might have brought into question how he afforded all this food. ...Unless he expected Aurora to pay for it all. Which was pretty rude.
-A noisy private investigator who may or may not have stuck their nose where it didn't belong.

"I don't think I've ever seen you...until today. The Boss never mentioned anybody fitting your description meeting me today,"

"See, well with all due respect Aurora, that's probably for the best. Because this business I'd like to discuss probably isn't something you'd want reaching your Boss's ears."

Aurora's eyes narrowed and he gestured around to the remaining staff of the restaurant. They got the hint and without forewarning, the other guests were quickly ushered out. Some not even being allowed to finish their meals. It wasn't often that Aurora exerted his influence openly like that but when this suspicious figure brought up the Boss, he didn't want anyone else listening in. Once the guests had been escorted out, the staff quietly wished Aurora well before leaving themselves but not before closing the blinds and flipping the sign from 'OPEN' to 'CLOSED' as they departed.

"Alright. Let's talk business then...." Aurora let it drag on and the man folded his arms across his chest.

"Sorry, Aurora but what do I get out of introducing myself? With your connections, why...If you were able to find the time to put the effort to it, you could have me, my friends, my family and everyone I've passed by on the street gone in a day's notice."

"Smart man." Aurora complimented as he grabbed his empty dishes and rose from his seat and headed to the kitchen. "If you don't mind, I don't like leaving a mess. Care to continue this talk in the kitchen?" The man hesitated for a second but reluctantly followed behind the teenager. Pushing open the door with his foot, Aurora set about putting on a pair of gloves and washing the dishes. "But if I might make a suggestion? If-and lets keep it to a hypothetical, okay?-let's say someone supplied you with whatever groundbreaking revelation you're going to tell me. What do you think would happen if I were to go and hold a conversation with them? Much like the one we're holding now. We talk, pleasantries are exchanged, and I give your description. Lo and behold they happen to know you! What do you think they'd be willing to talk about?"

The lights overhead showed just how pale the man had gotten.

"....Alright, you made your point. My name's M. Hammer. Private eye. That's all you get."

"That's enough." Aurora let that rest there, the implied threat doing enough carrying. "Thank you."

There was a brief window of silence as Aurora continued to clean.

"Now, Mr. Hammer...? This business you mentioned..." Aurora started and the man reached into his jacket and pulled out a scroll. On it appeared to be images of what appeared to be a drunken Blanche saddled with an assortment of women. Engaged in 'naughty activities' of a kind. Aurora blinked. "Would I be mistaken to say that the man in these photographs was Blanche Tranquille, a member of the Bound Ashes's Hitman Team? Guess you know how he spends his time off work, huh? Think the wife knows?" Aurora shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. "...Is that really what you invited me here to talk about? Extramarital affairs aside, what Blanche does on his freetime doesn't concern the Boss or me. He's a grown man. Let him and the missus sort it out in court if need be." He added on. "If his wife hired you to track me down, she wasted her money. She could have come to me directly and I'd have given her the same answer."

"Yeah, well that's the thing. She's not taking the whole 'being cheated on by the man who shared vows with her' so well. She figured that with Blanche's role in the Ashes, she'd be allowed to relax and live a life of relative luxury. Not to share a bed with an adulterer." Aurora started stacking the clean dishes on the counter next to the sink. "I'm not following you. Are you expecting me to punish Blanche? Like I said, his personal business isn't mine to care about. If his wife wants a divorce, I can recommend a number or two I'm sure."

"She wants money."

"Blanche gets a sizeable paycheck for his services. Again, if this is all you wished to talk about, your time would have been better spent contacting a lawyer."

"Not from Blanche. She knows it'd get tied up in the courts and who knows when she'd get the money? Five years from now? Ten? So, that's where I come in. Say, a few photos pop up here and there. Sure, Blanche might be able to recover. But what do you think that'd do to his loyalty? That I conversed with his direct superior and his superior didn't give a damn. Maybe he'd start getting ideas. Ideas he'd share with his friends." As Aurora set down the last dish, he placed his hands on his hips and slowly looked over at the detective. "You know it's probably just my imagination but I'm getting the strangest feeling you're....threatening me."

"Threatening is an ugly word. I prefer to look at it as doing a service for a grieving woman."

Aurora tugged on his gloves, pulled them firmly on his hands. "I'm guessing you'd get a cut of whatever I'd pay to keep this whole thing hush hush?"

The detective didn't answer.

"Mmm. You're sure about this?" Aurora asked and without a second thought, Hammer placed a small card in Aurora's left hand. The card carried an address and number to Hammer's office. "If I wasn't sure, I think we both know I wouldn't be here right now, Mr. Beige." Turning towards the door out of the kitchen, Hammer called out. "I'd say call me when it's convenient but given how you'll have to explain this to your Boss, I'd estimate 'asap' is probably better, yeah?"

Aurora chuckled.

*riiiiip*

Before he pushed the door open, Hammer had heard the noise. "What the-" Looking back, he saw Aurora flick the two halves of the once whole card down. "What the hell are you doing?? Making those ain't cheap y'know!" Aurora merely laughed again. Were the lights messing with his head, Hammer wondered, as he squinted at Aurora. Had the kid always looked that....big? "Money's so important that you'd risk this for it. I only have to wonder..." The speed at which he moved seemed superhuman, 'Aurora' was upon Hammer before he could even realize what was happening. One meaty hand wrapped around his throat and pinned him against the wall. This wasn't the same kid he'd invited to share a meal with! This...This was something else entirely! This entity stood up straight unlike the slouched way Aurora usually carried himself, their muscles bulged against the seams of Aurora's pink sweater and his normally poofy hair drooped into a ragged looking pink mess, masking most of his face from view. Except for those two piercing green eyes, looking as fragmented as the....thing they belonged to.

"What use is money to a dead man?!"

"W-Wait *cough* I-I can delete the photos! I-I can....We can make a deal-"

*THWACK* *SQUELCH*

The wall had been given a new coat of 'paint' and one of Aurora's gloves looked like it'd been tossed in the wrong laundry pile. Whatever remained of Hammer's head fell to the floor in a grotesque pitter-patter as the one who'd swiftly and gorily murdered him tossed the corpse to the ground.

View attachment 883133

"I'll not be threatened by anyone. I don't care who they are, what influence they claim to have over me. None shall threaten my eternal apex."

He stomped on what remained of the skull and crunched it underfoot.

"No one."

Reaching out to grab a meat tenderizer off the shelf, he raised it above his head.

"Not."

*THWACK* *squelch*

"Ever."

*THWACK*

"Huh?"

Aurora looked around for a moment or two. The last thing he remembered was that asshole private eye threatening him. Once the Boss got word of this, he wouldn't punish Aurora. He'd have another one of the Hitman Team deal with it and a member of the Narcotics Team could help stage it like a drug overdose. Whatever would have worked the best. He just hadn't expected things to have apparently escalated so badly he'd beaten the man to death with a meat tenderizer.

"Ahhh....AHHHHHHHHH!!!"

He...He must have attacked. Yes...That's what had happened. Aurora had made it clear he wouldn't agree and the man thought he'd get physical. Try to rough Aurora up so he'd agree. W-Well...W-Who was defenseless now?? Huh???

....Probably the man who's head was broken like a scrambled egg.

"Oh geez....UGH.....They have a meat grinder around here somewhere...."

And Blanche's wife left town without a word a week later. He still wonders if she found out about the affair....affairs.

If they were treating him like this, it didn't bare thinking about what Callows or any of those others had done.

Had they discovered the Boss's connection to the murderer? Had...They actually apprehended the killer?

No....Aurora would have been informed. They wouldn't have had just him sitting in a cell. They would have wanted to question him. Try to get whatever they could about the 'Mistral Murderer'

But he wouldn't do it. He wouldn't turn his back on the Boss. Not now, not ever.

.....He just wished the ringing would stop. Every night it was the same.

He'd toss and turn. Hold the pillow against his ears.

"RINGRINGINRINGRINGRINGRINGRING"

Like clockwork.

"will somebody please pick up the phone..." he pleaded.

But nobody did.



Finally!

He'd never lost hope in the Boss. Not even after all this time! Not even after the ringing threatened to drive him crazy!

Help had arrived and salvation would carry him out of here!


Salvation had a funny way of looking like two guards.

"No...nononono! NO!" He struggled as best as he could.

It wasn't enough, not by a long shot.

It might have taken a touch more effort than expected but eventually he was hauled where he needed to go.

"W-What is wrong with you people??? I haven't DONE anything wrong! Where's my lawyer??? D-Don't you know I am?-"


Faunus...

Faunus....All of them....

They'd all been...

"No....No!"

Had they infiltrated deeper than the Boss's spies knew?! While Aurora didn't share the Boss's seeming absolute contempt of faunus-kind, he'd believed that leaving the Shadow Fang to it's own devices for the most part wasn't well-advised. Least of all when the Bound Ashes were still bleeding money + men in Atlas, a region that the Boss was obsessed with. Though of course you'd never hear that kind of talk escape Aurora's lips. It was either that or just a spot of ironic fate.

Neither was good for Aurora.


As the woman entered, Aurora looked her up and down.

No, not in that way.

She....looked different than most. Well, she hadn't manhandled him yet for one. She also wasn't wearing an outfit that screamed 'resist. i dare you.' and after being dragged to and then out of his cell and forced into a chair, it was a welcoming sight. Even if the well....'luxury' of an outfit like that brought up another potential concern in Aurora's mind. One he summoned up his courage to try and dispel.

"Whatever actions Satin Jeune and any other men/women in Atlas that claim to be affiliated with the Bound Ashes are completely and utterly unsanctioned by the Boss." He said it so efficiently and without a hint of his cowardly front that you'd think it was something he rehearsed.

Satin had his loyalty to the Boss.

Aurora had loyalty to the Boss and no one else.




Whatever thoughts and concerns Aurora may have had. Namely his treatment as such, that opening question took him for quite the loop.

View attachment 883151

"You....You and whoever these faunus really are. Masquerading as actual authorities or whatever. Knock me out and drag me to god knows where. I don't talk to anyone or hear anything for what feels like forever and when things finally change, I'm dragged kicking and screaming into this room-WITHOUT a lawyer present I might add-and here comes you, you dressed in your Atlas finest(too good to be Mistralian) and ask me...."

Aurora's eye twitched.

"....Who I am?"

His left hand balled up into a fist and for a split second, it looked like he was going to try something-

"RINGRINGINRINGRINGRING"

His eyes returned to normal and he whimpered.

"I-It's Aurora Beige! My NAME is AURORA BEIGE!" He looked over to the one-way window. "Will someone PLEASE answer that scroll???" Then he turned his attention back to the lady who apparently had questions of her own. "Who ARE you people???"​

"Oh, Mr. Aurora, I assure you," The woman replied, a calming smile on her face as she clasped her hands together and rested her chin on top of them

"we're not masquerading as anything. Our authority here is very real, as will be the consequences if you deign not to cooperate. But I can't imagine that will be a problem. However..." The smile turned more cheerfully disinterested as she closed her eyes and huffed. "You aren't who I was hoping to speak to. Here." She reached into the small handpurse she'd brought into the room with her and produced a powered down scroll and gently placed it on the table in front of him. "I'm sure you've been waiting for this call for some time. I know you've been having trouble reaching your erstwhile boss, but fret not, I assure you he'll pick up this time."



While Aurora didn't do most of the bloody work of the life himself, he'd been around it long enough that the sound of two pistols chambering rounds behind him as their safeties were clicked off was as easy to decipher as the implication.

"Because if he doesn't, You're not leaving alive."

Her tone hadn't changed, nor her expression, save for how her eyes were half lidded as she regarded the man seated across from her.

" Tell him that I need to speak with him, about news both good and bad. Tell him he has to be here, now, and I promise I'll do everything I can to get you out of here in one piece."

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

Neo got a true sense of just how fed up Emerald was getting with the whole 'communication' process when she jerked away from the shorter girl's hands and just suddenly ensconced her in an embrace. It was no less tender than the one Morgiana had subjected her to right before everything went to shit, but far fiercer, Emerald's face heated and heartbeat arrhythmic with self-consciousness amid her efforts to get right down to brass tacks and choose the most simple, direct route of expressing what she wanted to get across. Genuine hugs of affection from Emerald Sustrai were about as rare as a solar eclipse, and always carried the vaguest inkling of the thief's covetous nature; arms tight around her upper back, chin resting in her crown so the words that came out soft and uncertain were little more than a mumble.

"I love you too. But you both need to stop pulling away or I'm seriously gonna kick your asses."

Her eyes went to Mercury, who'd been watching with an eyebrow raised in muted surprise ever since she went for the hug, but failed to meet her gaze now as his own wandered across the cavern instead. She only let Neo go when she got the impression the girl wanted out, separating them to arm's length but keeping her hands firm on her upper shoulders as she collected herself into a look of genuine warmth, uncharacteristic of her in what she hoped was a reassuring way.

"And since it should be obvious to anyone with eyes how majorly rich that is coming from me, the tradeoff is I'm gonna try be more... available. Approachable? Whatever. Look, I'm here no matter what you need. Just... help a girl get a clue what that is?"

Emerald ending her sentences questioningly or with anything less than total self-surety was almost as uncommon as a hug from her, but just to show she was serious where one hand fell away she let the other rub down Neo's arm and encircle her hand rather than walking away with a harrumph and one of those mean girl power struts this time. She did, however, turn to Mercury, eyeballing him like the crown jewel of a collection and sarcastically offering him her free hand.

Neo's shoulders briefly went rigid when Emerald locked her in her arms instead of following her very clear hand signs to continue onward, but the tension in them released in time with a keening wheeze through her nose as she sagged against her fellow illusionist, all the anxiety and stress she'd been coiling into herself as she tried to weigh Mercury's sudden desire to jet with the upcoming reunion in the tent right before they descended into hell. A grimm based hell. Emerald's childhood home, but recolored as hell, sunk into the ground, overrun by grimm, just like how Neo's childhood home had been.

It was a really, really long breath.

But eventually her arms snapped around Emerald's waist as she gave a huff of a sigh and a slight nod, though after a few seconds she looked up with a slight, if tired, smirk and let go with one arm so she could snap and point into the air, a tiny emerald and Mercury appearing to float in front of them, rapidly flitting through a book that had Neo's face on the cover as well as every single page, Roman's tiny angelic form shouting instructions from above, because she was apparently oh so easy to read so why exactly did she need to bother giving a clue?

Whatever trite smugness she was feeling in that minorest of jab as they separated vanished with a tiny gasp of surprise as Emerald's hand looped around her own, and she almost immediately likely made Emerald regret that decision as she latched onto the arm in a full on resuming of the hug but localized entirely to Emerald's appendage, all but nuzzling it with a smile that was entirely genuine which made it all the more obvious that Neo was being that annoyingly affectionate on purpose but also just clearly wanted to. When Emerald extended the offer to Mercury, she turned to face him and put on her best saleswoman smile, gesturing to the extended hand like it was a brand new car and not an attempted affirmation of the relationship he was determined to run away from.

"No thanks. Don't get me wrong, cute moment, great emotional growth all round. But check this out."

He pointed, where past the jungle of interconnecting bridges and platforms linking the cavern together his eyes spotted Cinder and Trifa sitting over one of the place's more scenic (if risky) precipices.

"One of us should prolly get over there before someone pulls a Neo."

She narrowed her eyes at him, getting distinct impression he was trying to weasel out of the moment.

"One: way too soon, dick. Two, Tyrian's skank sticks to stuff and Cinder can fly."

He was already jogging away. "Yeah, but now's the time to round up the kids for the school bus anyways!"

She shot Neo an exasperated look. "Um, okay, but have you considered how literally no one wants to talk to you right now?"

"Have you considered my ass? C'mon, it'll be a good practice run for the tent!"

"Ugh!" She rolled her eyes and started after him, keeping a spry pace with Neo in tow unless she had any overt objections to walking hand in hand.


Whether it was the good kind or bad, fate doubtless had as heavy a part to play as Mercury in interrupting the excruciating awkwardness of this moment. He made no efforts to hide his heavier-than-normal footfall as he approached along the catwalk leading to the two's overlook from behind, no indication that he planned on acknowledging what had happened as he kept his bag slung over one shoulder and extended his voice towards them in a casual tone.

"You two still along for the ride on this? Daylight's burning. Think it's past time we moved out."

She let out a huff with a annoyed snarl and gave him one of the few forms of sign language she'd ever bothered to learn, the one everyone knew that only took one finger. Her face wilted into something far more vulnerable when he looked away, but she steeled it into something more determined than anything else as she gave a nod to herself, and moved in step with Emerald.

She was pretty sure it hadn't been them.

She broke off the taut, uneasy stare she'd been giving Cinder for the entirety of her approach, offered her an unwieldy attempt at a comforting shoulder pat, handed Neo off to her and turned to take point on the way back to the tent alone.

Ultimately she said nothing, her mouth closing again after a few seconds and head slowly turning to look at Neo. Cinder let out a deep breath and gave a genuine smile, if a really brief one. Even with all the pretty crappy stuff going on, at least there was some good in Emerald and Neo being closer than ever before, if that hand holding had been anything to go by.

If the slightly smaller girl allowed it, one of Cinder’s own hands moved to grab hold too, a gesture that was as much for her own benefit as it was Neo’s, but even if not she followed silently after Emerald.

There was a barely perceptible, hopefully comforting additional pressure on Emerald's arm as they neared Cinder, and she let Emerald go without fuss and something that was vaguely bordering on a proud and relieved smile at the tactic she chose to take that particular reunion with. There was a bit of leeriness in her eyes as she turned to face Cinder, but it faded as soon as the maiden smiled, and she matched it with her own and took her hand as well, albeit far less obnoxiously affectionately and instead like a normal person before they made their way into the tent.

Anyone curious about Morgiana's affinity for, or proclivity towards, combat or violence of any kind received a clue as being in immediate radius of Tyrian's brief wave of mounting hostility seemed to elicit an actual physical reaction in her, the magus looking more frail and haggard than before and shrinking back on her side of the bed like a wilting flower until she was almost falling off as she held her nerve and maintained her benevolent healer's bearing nevertheless. The shadow of her princely bodyguard falling over him once more served to remind him of his place, and after she listened to the rest upon concluding she glanced back up at him with an expression that was patient, if tired by this point.

"Hold that thought, duckling."

Then she gripped his entire leg like it was a fallen log blocking the road, and above the heavenly symphony of purring rose the most sickeningly vicious krk-KRAK any still present in the tent had ever heard as she wrenched hard and set his knee back in its proper direction. The motion was bizarrely painless from Tyrian's perspective, and so, strangely, were the rest of his injuries, a fact Morgiana seemed justifiably proud of as she scooted back on her knees and beckoned towards the floor with an encouraging 'ta-dah' motion.

If he took her up on that offer he found no overt difficulty in doing so, though his bones were stiff and joint mobility poor around the affected areas. He was also probably noticing a certain loss of sensation, 'certain' meaning 'universal'.

Morgiana looked very satisfied with herself as she fell back, letting herself tumble freely off the bed and into the waiting mass of cats as she cozied up to them and waved off a concerned Lance who stooped down to check on her.

"See? The hardest of sciences. Though um, my medical opinion compels me to suggest you abnegate the foray into the deep dark with destiny's children, Sweet Tea, though you may be among them. Pain is vital to survival scenarios, and you won't be feeling any for a few days."

It was then the rustling of the room's bead curtain drew their attention, and if that failed then the dumbfounded voice of Mercury as he filed back in with the others and immediately caught sight of a standing Tyrian no doubt did the trick.

"You should not be putting weight on... anything."

That was the worst noise ever. Of all time. Cinder felt the involuntary shiver as it passed up Neo's hand and arm after starting in her legs and before it made it all the way up to her ears, but other than that and the inanimate smile briefly plastered on the girl's face, she didn't react past that. She released Cinder's hand, stepped forward to give Tyrian a congratulatory (extremely gentle) hug-

MTEN's leader didn't back off or falter as the faunus got in his face, though he did scowl and bat the tip of the tail away if it ever hovered too close to show he wasn't gonna be playing doormat regardless of how justifiable an axe Tyrian had to grind. He kept a stiff jaw and sharp eyes as he listened, thoughts professionally concealed behind the steel-hardened demeanor, but the second Tyrian was through his features crystallized into what could've been considered a bold choice of response:

A quintessential 'bitch please' face.

His next words were out before Emerald could stop him, hardly a class act in maturity and contrition but in his mind the kind of relaxed, indifferent approach to open discourse that might've stopped little things like friends brawling through a city or Tyrian's crush becoming Neo's latest terrible life choice.

"I mean, I went too far. You just have a super obvious thing for Neo and a way of showing it I got issues with."

-That, for reasons completely unrelated to what Mercury just said out loud and made extremely uncomfortable assertions with earlier, turned into a twirl that ended with an extremely showy and over the top offer for a manly hand shake, Neo locked into a complete power stance with her knees bent forward and her other hand planted in a fist against her hip, while she shot Mercury probably the most withering glare she'd ever levelled at someone not named Vernal Zerrin.

"This has all been delightfully awkward, painful, and exhausting, but now that everyone's here could we get on with things?"

Watts hadn't moved from where he'd been seated earlier, the only shift from him a brief drift from his haggard, tired glowering to a brief terror that he was about to see the hippie and the pit fighter engage in engorged carnal physical therapy just right there in front of his salad. That was it though; his expression barely shifted when either Mercury or Emerald walked in, and whatever agreement he and Neo silently made had apparently not been the same one the other had been thinking of, Neo coming out of either her handshake or her lonely, handshakeless pose with a befuddled frown as she tried and failed to meet his eyes that instead focused on Morgiana, clearly expecting her to lead the proceedings from there.

 

[MidwayLives]

Oh, Mr. Aurora, I assure you," The woman replied, a calming smile on her face as she clasped her hands together and rested her chin on top of them

"we're not masquerading as anything. Our authority here is very real, as will be the consequences if you deign not to cooperate. But I can't imagine that will be a problem. However..." The smile turned more cheerfully disinterested as she closed her eyes and huffed. "You aren't who I was hoping to speak to. Here." She reached into the small handpurse she'd brought into the room with her and produced a powered down scroll and gently placed it on the table in front of him. "I'm sure you've been waiting for this call for some time. I know you've been having trouble reaching your erstwhile boss, but fret not, I assure you he'll pick up this time."

"I-I can't do that! I can't bring the Boss into this!"

He'd never tell them anything about him. As far as Aurora knew, the Boss had always been there for him. Through thick and through thin.

What kind of right hand would he be if he just sold him out to these guys?

"Anything you have to say I-I can just pass onto him! That's how this has always worked!"

At the revelation of the scroll, Aurora looked as though he were looking down the barrel of a gun.

"RINGRINGIRINGRINGRING...."

He had to answer it....
​

While Aurora didn't do most of the bloody work of the life himself, he'd been around it long enough that the sound of two pistols chambering rounds behind him as their safeties were clicked off was as easy to decipher as the implication.

"Because if he doesn't, You're not leaving alive."

He heard the guns click.

"Y-You're not serious....Y-You wouldn't just murder a kid in cold blood....would you?!"
​

Her tone hadn't changed, nor her expression, save for how her eyes were half lidded as she regarded the man seated across from her.

This woman....

She was dead serious.

How had it come to this? How could he have messed up this badly?! To let himself get captured?!

He reached for the scroll, his hands trembling and shaking.

'I'm so sorry, Boss....'

He held the powered off scroll to his ear.

"H-Hello hello, it's Aurora..."

"Aurora."

It'd been too long since he'd heard that voice. He hadn't even been able to keep track of the days...

"Boss! Y-Yes it's me! You've gotta help me! I...I was caught, I-"

"Enough. Calm down."

Aurora paused and realized just how panicked he really was. He'd been hyperventilating and hadn't even realized it. The thought of being killed as though he were just a nobody had scared him to his core in a way that nothing else as of late had even come close to. Doing his best to gather his bearings, he tried to relax his breathing.

"S-Sorry, Boss..."

"I've been trying to reach you for days. What's going on? Where are you?"

"That's the thing, Boss. I-I don't know. Last thing I remember, I was in a crater and that guy-Callows attacked me! Some guys I assumed to be police scared him off and they knocked me out! Boss! You've gotta help me! They're gonna kill me! I don't think they're cops, I think they're-"

Shadow Fang.

While he could have likely taken control at any time and gotten a clearer understanding of things himself, the Boss had been reluctant to do so. The very last thing he'd seen before he grew too weak to remain in control/Aurora resurfaced was trying to crawl out of that very same crater that Aurora had woken up in. Whatever happened then had been beyond the Boss's knowledge for the most part. He had a vague idea of things-Aurora had been moved somewhere and had been pulled away from anything the Boss could have 'used' to contact him. Either authorities not on the gang's payroll had intervened after the damage he'd taken was too much and arrested Aurora or...

They'd gotten a hold of him.

While he seemed to hold an almost inexplainable contempt for faunus-though given one was a member of the now rogue Hitman Team, he could see past it. If only to further his own means and ends-he'd left the Shadow Fang to do as they pleased relatively speaking. The last thing he needed while attempting to tidy up the loose end that 'Jack' had created by kidnapping Trifa/assaulting Tyrian was a turf war. If the animals made a move he'd deal with them then and only then. Otherwise they were deemed as trash beneath his notice.

"Boss?!"

"....I see. Have you told them anything about me?"

"T-That's just it, Boss! They know how I'm connected to you! They want to speak to you about some stuff! Please, you've gotta come down here or else they're gonna kill me and oh Boss I don't wanna die-" Aurora's pathetic mewling and pleading for his Boss to save him turned into white noise as the Boss seemed to mull that over. If Aurora's fears were true and the Shadow Fang had taken advantage of the chaos caused by those wretched children sticking their nose in his business and captured Aurora, the fact that they'd asked him to 'contact' him was....concerning.

"....Alright. I'm on my way. Relax, my dear Aurora."

"Please Boss, hurry! They're gonna kill me!!!"

"No. They won't."

"click."

The scroll was set down and 'Aurora' seemed to sit up straighter in the chair and what had just seconds ago appeared to be the bruised lanky frame of a lean teenager had transformed into the built wall of muscle of a man twice his age. His usual tuft of hair was shaken out so his hair fell down to partially obscure his face as he finally looked up. The scroll looking small to his hands which looked like they'd been through the wringer with weathered and dry skin.
​

" Tell him that I need to speak with him, about news both good and bad. Tell him he has to be here, now, and I promise I'll do everything I can to get you out of here in one piece."

"You...Managed to figure out the special 'relationship' Aurora and I have. Do you know about I and the 'Mistral Murderer' as well? Had you been spying on me all this time? Or did you figure it out yourself? If it's the latter then color me impressed. You're certainly smarter than the rest of your ilk." He placed both palms flat on the table as he slowly turned his head upwards to look at the woman across from him. "But given what you all are...."

"I suppose that's not saying much."

It was him. Not Aurora, not Jack but the one who'd lead the Bound Ashes from behind the scenes.

Santana Crimson: The Boss.

"Aurora said you had something you saw necessary to share with me. Well, I've arrived."

He leaned back in his seat.

"So speak."

Those two words alone might not have meant much to anyone else but given who this was and the kind of people he was addressing, it wasn't hard to see what he was trying to invoke.

A human asking their pet to sit, stay.

Speak.
​

 

[MidwayLives]

A quintessential 'bitch please' face.

His next words were out before Emerald could stop him, hardly a class act in maturity and contrition but in his mind the kind of relaxed, indifferent approach to open discourse that might've stopped little things like friends brawling through a city or Tyrian's crush becoming Neo's latest terrible life choice.

"I mean, I went too far.

Tyrian's tail swatted the ground.

Not hard enough to leave an imprint. Just enough effort that one might put into taking care of a fly or a pesky gnat.

"I'm..."

Trifa watched in horror as Tyrian moved back towards Mercury. Was this seriously going to happen again? Please no-

He stopped and gave Mercury a mild poke on his left side.

"Trying to take responsibility so the LEAST you could do is LET me do that. I got angry AND I-"
​

You just have a super obvious thing for Neo and a way of showing it I got issues with."

He blinked.

Had that numbing sensation passed through...all of him or just the afflicted areas?

"Guess I better make sure, huh?"

He gave Mercury another harmless poke on his right side and then another on his chest and another on his stomach.

Before Mercury either asked Tyrian what he was doing/stopped him, Tyrian stepped back and shook his hand.

"No. No I felt that. Guess it's just those parts you messed up."

Trifa sighed.

Well, it was kinda juvenile but it had a lot less dislocations involved so a win all around!
​

She released Cinder's hand, stepped forward to give Tyrian a congratulatory (extremely gentle) hug-

"Huh?"

Tyrian looked over his shoulder.

Ah.

"...Hey Neo. Listen, I-"
​

-That, for reasons completely unrelated to what Mercury just said out loud and made extremely uncomfortable assertions with earlier, turned into a twirl that ended with an extremely showy and over the top offer for a manly hand shake, Neo locked into a complete power stance with her knees bent forward and her other hand planted in a fist against her hip, while she shot Mercury probably the most withering glare she'd ever levelled at someone not named Vernal Zerrin.

He took the handshake.

With as much enthusiasm as he could muster.

It wasn't a lot.

But this carried a lot more.

"thanks neo."

He smiled.
​

"This has all been delightfully awkward, painful, and exhausting, but now that everyone's here could we get on with things?"

Watts hadn't moved from where he'd been seated earlier, the only shift from him a brief drift from his haggard, tired glowering to a brief terror that he was about to see the hippie and the pit fighter engage in engorged carnal physical therapy just right there in front of his salad. That was it though; his expression barely shifted when either Mercury or Emerald walked in, and whatever agreement he and Neo silently made had apparently not been the same one the other had been thinking of, Neo coming out of either her handshake or her lonely, handshakeless pose with a befuddled frown as she tried and failed to meet his eyes that instead focused on Morgiana, clearly expecting her to lead the proceedings from there.

Char and Blanche casually made their way back in for whatever was gonna go down next.

Minutes before they walked back in:

"You think they're done fighting eachother?"

"Maybe. I dunno. They're kids."

"Teenagers. I don't think they'd like us callin em kids. Kinda patronizing, no?"

"I call one of em 'Pinky' and she fought the Boss. I don't think she minds."

"....Wanna go see if there's more drama?"

"Oh yeah."

 

[Gus Gungus]

But eventually her arms snapped around Emerald's waist as she gave a huff of a sigh and a slight nod, though after a few seconds she looked up with a slight, if tired, smirk and let go with one arm so she could snap and point into the air, a tiny emerald and Mercury appearing to float in front of them, rapidly flitting through a book that had Neo's face on the cover as well as every single page, Roman's tiny angelic form shouting instructions from above, because she was apparently oh so easy to read so why exactly did she need to bother giving a clue?

Whatever trite smugness she was feeling in that minorest of jab as they separated vanished with a tiny gasp of surprise as Emerald's hand looped around her own, and she almost immediately likely made Emerald regret that decision as she latched onto the arm in a full on resuming of the hug but localized entirely to Emerald's appendage, all but nuzzling it with a smile that was entirely genuine which made it all the more obvious that Neo was being that annoyingly affectionate on purpose but also just clearly wanted to. When Emerald extended the offer to Mercury, she turned to face him and put on her best saleswoman smile, gesturing to the extended hand like it was a brand new car and not an attempted affirmation of the relationship he was determined to run away from.

If making Emerald regret stuff was in any way Neo's intention then never had she experienced payoff more immediate. She could practically feel the exact moment the thief blankly processed the illusion, lost whatever frustrated tension breaking second wind she'd received, became excruciatingly aware of herself and shriveled up, however far outside her emotional wheelhouse such an earnest appeal mandated putting herself apparently having left her more vulnerable than usual to even light bouts of teasing. She was flustered and squirming by the time Neo took her arm, albeit a directionless, paradoxical squirming with no actual intent to break away, existing solely to vent how acutely self conscious she felt in that moment.

"Hey, I meant we can pick up what you want us to know! Not magically read your mind and figure out stuff you don't even know about yourself, I—I'm just saying we understand more than you think we do! Like, we both know you wanna freak sometimes, when you can't say what it is you're thinking, and Roman used to help with that so we just thought—we really have gotten way better. Seriously."

Every corner she talked her way out of just led to another corner. She was trapped in the world's tiniest box, one of her own making, and in that moment looked like she wanted to curl up into a ball on the floor and keep curling, just collapse like an imploding neutron star and leave nothing but particles to mark her passing from the universe.

But she couldn't do any of that, so she just held Neo's stupid hand.

"So dumb. Whatever. I'll stop talking."



The walk that followed was a quiet one, though it and the preceding conversation at least offered one minor point of enlightenment on how the hell the pickpocket and Morgiana had ever even remotely tolerated one another: Emerald was a bigger cat person than most faunus.

He stopped and gave Mercury a mild poke on his left side.

"Huh?"

He poked him back.

He gave Mercury another harmless poke on his right side and then another on his chest and another on his stomach.

Like hell he was taking that lying down. "You pokin me, huh? You pokin me?"

Every jab was duplicated, every prod parroted, an exchange so furious it made their one on the battlefield look positively humble. He was fighting for something so much better than Neo now: his manly pride.

"Betcha still can't take as much responsibility as I am right now."

That, for reasons completely unrelated to what Mercury just said out loud and made extremely uncomfortable assertions with earlier, turned into a twirl that ended with an extremely showy and over the top offer for a manly hand shake, Neo locked into a complete power stance with her knees bent forward and her other hand planted in a fist against her hip, while she shot Mercury probably the most withering glare she'd ever levelled at someone not named Vernal Zerrin.

He took the handshake.

With as much enthusiasm as he could muster.

It wasn't a lot.

But this carried a lot more.

"thanks neo."

He smiled.

That was why a few seconds into this extremely uNcOmFoRtAbLe handshake Neo found herself unceremoniously hip bumped into hoarder valley with a monstrous cacophony of clanging pots, pans and yowling cats, many of which were thankfully semi-happy to cushion her fall. A necessary casualty in the name of the greatest poke war Remnant had seen since its equivalent of Facebook in 2010.



Emerald stood transfixed, what had initially been a stare of trepidation not a million miles off from Trifa's now slowly morphing into a head tilt of fascination.

"Sometimes I forget boys just straight up don't make sense."

"This has all been delightfully awkward, painful, and exhausting, but now that everyone's here could we get on with things?"

Watts hadn't moved from where he'd been seated earlier, the only shift from him a brief drift from his haggard, tired glowering to a brief terror that he was about to see the hippie and the pit fighter engage in engorged carnal physical therapy just right there in front of his salad. That was it though; his expression barely shifted when either Mercury or Emerald walked in, and whatever agreement he and Neo silently made had apparently not been the same one the other had been thinking of, Neo coming out of either her handshake or her lonely, handshakeless pose with a befuddled frown as she tried and failed to meet his eyes that instead focused on Morgiana, clearly expecting her to lead the proceedings from there.

That expectation was hindered slightly by the sight of a Morgiana who looked to have expired some time after rolling off the bed in the wake of the healing, sleepy mumbles having given way to stark, stark silence.

That was, until a robed hand shot out to grip Emerald's ankle like the villain at the end of a horror movie. The thief looked down at the human embodiment of fatigue where she lay, as flower-like in appearance as ever, which was only part of why her reaction was bemused rather than threatened. "Hi, Morgiana."

The mystic murmured something inaudible, prompting Emerald to drop down with a much more audible sigh, not uncrossing her arms as she angled her head to listen to the ensuing sentence. She rolled her eyes, but nodded and got up to give Watts a one-word answer as she strode past him alone towards the most far-off compartment of the tent, built into its own collapsed portion of the cave wall.

"Wait."

It was a bulkier flap into a more dimly lit alcove than any of the tent they had seen, and in relation to the rest of the structure's homely, if cluttered, atmosphere this one just felt... wrong. As if the furthest reaches of a chill present in that part of cave but nowhere else just about played on the senses when one looked at it. Of note was the fact that the cats plainly avoided it, some going so far as to pause their whimsical perusal of the other rooms to sit and stare attentively at the entrance from time to time. Emerald's hesitation was much briefer, a soft, restrained sigh to brace herself before she slipped under the flap and out of sight, and it was almost like clockwork how quickly Lance fell into a guarding position behind her, wordlessly blocking off the entrance with arms folded.​

 

[MyrtenRose]

"Honestly?"

Tyrian patted his shoulder.

"....I don't know. It doesn't hurt. It doesn't really feel like anything. Good, bad, indifferent. None of them."

“Oh. Okay.” She wasn’t quite sure how to take that. “I guess that’s—“​

"Guess I better make sure, huh?"

He gave Mercury another harmless poke on his right side and then another on his chest and another on his stomach.

Like hell he was taking that lying down. "You pokin me, huh? You pokin me?"

Every jab was duplicated, every prod parroted, an exchange so furious it made their one on the battlefield look positively humble. He was fighting for something so much better than Neo now: his manly pride.

"Betcha still can't take as much responsibility as I am right now."

“Uhm...wut.”

“I don’t get it.” It didn’t seem there was much else to do but to wait. To stand there and try to make sense of what was even going on right there.​

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

If making Emerald regret stuff was in any way Neo's intention then never had she experienced payoff more immediate. She could practically feel the exact moment the thief blankly processed the illusion, lost whatever frustrated tension breaking second wind she'd received, became excruciatingly aware of herself and shriveled up, however far outside her emotional wheelhouse such an earnest appeal mandated putting herself apparently having left her more vulnerable than usual to even light bouts of teasing. She was flustered and squirming by the time Neo took her arm, albeit a directionless, paradoxical squirming with no actual intent to break away, existing solely to vent how acutely self conscious she felt in that moment.

"Hey, I meant we can pick up what you want us to know! Not magically read your mind and figure out stuff you don't even know about yourself, I—I'm just saying we understand more than you think we do! Like, we both know you wanna freak sometimes, when you can't say what it is you're thinking, and Roman used to help with that so we just thought—we really have gotten way better. Seriously."

Every corner she talked her way out of just led to another corner. She was trapped in the world's tiniest box, one of her own making, and in that moment looked like she wanted to curl up into a ball on the floor and keep curling, just collapse like an imploding neutron star and leave nothing but particles to mark her passing from the universe.

But she couldn't do any of that, so she just held Neo's stupid hand.

"So dumb. Whatever. I'll stop talking."

View attachment 883543

The walk that followed was a quiet one, though it and the preceding conversation at least offered one minor point of enlightenment on how the hell the pickpocket and Morgiana had ever even remotely tolerated one another: Emerald was a bigger cat person than most faunus.




View attachment 883546

"Huh?"

He poked him back.





View attachment 883549

Like hell he was taking that lying down. "You pokin me, huh? You pokin me?"

Every jab was duplicated, every prod parroted, an exchange so furious it made their one on the battlefield look positively humble. He was fighting for something so much better than Neo now: his manly pride.

"Betcha still can't take as much responsibility as I am right now."






That was why a few seconds into this extremely uNcOmFoRtAbLe handshake Neo found herself unceremoniously hip bumped into hoarder valley with a monstrous cacophony of clanging pots, pans and yowling cats, many of which were thankfully semi-happy to cushion her fall. A necessary casualty in the name of the greatest poke war Remnant had seen since its equivalent of Facebook in 2010.

View attachment 883551

Emerald stood transfixed, what had initially been a stare of trepidation not a million miles off from Trifa's now slowly morphing into a head tilt of fascination.

"Sometimes I forget boys just straight up don't make sense."





That expectation was hindered slightly by the sight of a Morgiana who looked to have expired some time after rolling off the bed in the wake of the healing, sleepy mumbles having given way to stark, stark silence.

That was, until a robed hand shot out to grip Emerald's ankle like the villain at the end of a horror movie. The thief looked down at the human embodiment of fatigue where she lay, as flower-like in appearance as ever, which was only part of why her reaction was bemused rather than threatened. "Hi, Morgiana."

The mystic murmured something inaudible, prompting Emerald to drop down with a much more audible sigh, not uncrossing her arms as she angled her head to listen to the ensuing sentence. She rolled her eyes, but nodded and got up to give Watts a one-word answer as she strode past him alone towards the most far-off compartment of the tent, built into its own collapsed portion of the cave wall.

"Wait."

It was a bulkier flap into a more dimly lit alcove than any of the tent they had seen, and in relation to the rest of the structure's homely, if cluttered, atmosphere this one just felt... wrong. As if the furthest reaches of a chill present in that part of cave but nowhere else just about played on the senses when one looked at it. Of note was the fact that the cats plainly avoided it, some going so far as to pause their whimsical perusal of the other rooms to sit and stare attentively at the entrance from time to time. Emerald's hesitation was much briefer, a soft, restrained sigh to brace herself before she slipped under the flap and out of sight, and it was almost like clockwork how quickly Lance fell into a guarding position behind her, wordlessly blocking off the entrance with arms folded.​

"....Really."

It wasn't the secretiveness that had Watts slowly moving his hands up to massage his the sides of his temple. He could understand that. They, as a unit, had hardly proven themselves capable and trustworthy in the last half hour, nor did he particularly expect to be welcomed with open arms to everything about the forty thieves regardless, nor even did he want to.

But to say this new delay grated upon his very soul was the mildest of wordings one could give

 

[Gus Gungus]

​

"....Really."

It wasn't the secretiveness that had Watts slowly moving his hands up to massage his the sides of his temple. He could understand that. They, as a unit, had hardly proven themselves capable and trustworthy in the last half hour, nor did he particularly expect to be welcomed with open arms to everything about the forty thieves regardless, nor even did he want to.

But to say this new delay grated upon his very soul was the mildest of wordings one could give​

Lance's shoulders were like a miniature landslide when he hefted them in a shrug, brow a straight line as his words came indifferent and familiar.

"Respect is earned, sir."

Thankfully, they weren't waiting long. The sound of Emerald's footsteps was practically nonexistent, so the first sign of her return was the shifting of the flap itself before she ducked through, counting through what looked to be a number of tiny glowing shard fragments in her hand. They resembled unprocessed dust crystals in composition, yet unique was their coloration, or more aptly their inability to settle on one. Like Morgiana's eyes, their shade was ever-changing, the gentle luminous rays leaking through Emerald's fingers bearing some resemblance to gems themselves as her eyes reflected vibrant sliding hues.

She pressed one into Lance's palm, while Watts had three flung in his lap with impressive accuracy given she didn't glance up at him once during her rapid crossing back over to her team. They each received one in turn, and the remainder of the crystals she distributed to the rest of the room save Tyrian and Cinder until everyone was holding one of their own.

"Don't lose these. Keep yours somewhere it won't break," she advised brusquely, general words with no specific recipient.

"The old magiks flow through dust to the soul as rivers one day ferry rain back to the ocean."

It occurred to anyone who looked Morgiana's way during her sudden input that ever since channeling whatever rejuvenating energies she had towards Tyrian she'd looked... bad. Like a plant that hadn't been watered in weeks. She was as white as her bedsheets, her frame even more delicate and wiry than before, and the entirety of it shook with the effort as she tried to heave herself up over the bedside like she was elderly or infirm, only managing it when Emerald beat Lance to the punch and looped one arm under hers with a concerned frown. She looked like she wanted to say something, but Morgiana limply waved her off once she was settled before easing back into her mountain of pillows with painstaking slowness, nevertheless managing to select a pose that agreed with her botanical sensibilities as she sculpted the pillows into both throne and armrest and perched her chin on her fingers, still rife with coy mystique despite her condition.

"When the hour casts its darkest shadow and your fate appears inescapable, shatter the crystal upon your aura and speak forth the magic word to your salvation: 'Ascend'."

She wiggled her hands a bit for effect, though it was a frail, languid motion, utterly outstripped by the graveness with which she darted in between them to deliver an ominous postscript.

"But heed well. Should your aura deplete fully the link between soul and body will grow too tenuous to withstand the suction, and you need to absolutely not do what I just said. Seriously. No use if your aura's broken. Don't even try, don't ignore that. That's all I got otherwise. I'm bushed. Emerald, precious, you know where the old Gneiss door is. Show these lovelies the way-way down while I hibernate 'til you get back."

She smiled, and peaceable though the look was a strong breeze could've blown it away at this point. Emerald's deadpan stare spoke volumes about her opinion of all the cryptic doublespeak Morgiana was so partial to, but a second later she relented from and gave a comprehending nod in farewell, turning to lead the way out of the tent in a brisk stride without giving anyone any kind of prompting to follow. As Mercury filed out after and the others started to in turn, Cinder and (ironically) Arthur were stopped by the shaman's voice weakly imploring them from the bed.

"Sunspot, paladin. Let's jam separate from the others for a sec."

Whether or not they expressed further impatience or dismay didn't appear to register with her, gaze by now totally fixated on the cherry blossom she twirled between thumb and forefinger as Lance gave her a curious glance from his post by her bed.

"You too, prince of trees. I need private words."

For the first time since they'd set eyes on him the bodyguard looked genuinely surprised by something, creased brow sent her way questioningly to no response. Eventually, he gave a consternated huff and a nod, accepting the lack of forthcoming clarification and striding out to await them by the entrance instead. Morgiana finally looked up then, carefully studying Watts then Cinder in turn, her unblinking stare always the most bizarre juxtaposition of open and ambiguous.

"I have to send him with you. Lance. The stars said it was important."

It was a conversation of firsts, as they took note of the curious sight of a Morgiana whose feelings on a concept set before her were clearly and abjectly negative. For a moment it was as if she genuinely had no idea how to proceed with that, but eventually decided on a pout, the flower a gentle blur as it continued to twirl.

"They also said other things, but it's... the details don't always linger very long. Divinations kinda feel like dreaming, but you know when it's the kind where you're like 'whoa... what was I just dreaming about?' That kind. But I'm pretty sure they said he wasn't coming back. I'd very much rather that not happen."

Her eyes flitted up, studying the two of them with an expression of vacant ambivalence.

"Like so many things, the fates are a river. Things flow in the direction they started from, but what if a tree falls? I can't say anything to him straight up. Death is a trap whose jaws are more deadly when you perceive it. But... well... the two of you believe in the fates about as little as anyone I've ever met. By coming to embody traits so counter to the paths you were made for you've already shorn destiny's roots; Humility."

Her eyes hovered over Cinder.

"And self-sacrifice."

Then Watts.

She sighed, pensive and morose. "Your futures are completely undecided, ducklings. It's what makes you chosen. Emerald and her friends aren't quite there yet. For better or worse, your originals forged their own paths—theirs were always muddled, defined for them by others. Like I said, things flow in the direction they start from. Events are on the cusp of their zenith, and none of them are ready for the coming storm. But you two are. You don't do destiny. All of which beckon Morgiana the mystic to a simple conclusion: if anyone can heed these warnings in a meaningful way it'd be you two. So... heed well, surface children. Like Lance, the remnants of team MTEN must descend today."

She inhaled, final words characterized by a deeply solemn tone.

"But one is fated not to return with you."

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

Emerald had marched the others down the scaffolding, across the network of rope bridges and into the waterlogged passage they all arrived through, leading them down the rows of chalk portals to where their lines were the most neglected and faded. The further she went the more of the settlement names had been scratched out, and by the time she stopped before the mangled letters GN I S the adjacent portal genuinely looked like it had been the first one ever scrawled there.

She told them to check their gear while they awaited the three stragglers, and when Lance approached with Cinder and Watts in tow she was staring at the decrepit sign with an inscrutable frown while Mercury tipped water from his boots with a frustrated grimace. She glanced over sharply when the water sloshing gave them away, immediately glowering with a dull scoff and turning towards the rest at large.



"Finally. Okay, uh, awkward, but we all need to link up and go through at once or we'll come out the other side at different times."

Staring daggers at Mercury's back like he was a mark, she immediately swiped out to snatch hold of his wrist before he could react, drawing a sarcastic yodel as he pinwheeled for balance.​

 

[MyrtenRose]

Thankfully, they weren't waiting long. The sound of Emerald's footsteps was practically nonexistent, so the first sign of her return was the shifting of the flap itself before she ducked through, counting through what looked to be a number of tiny glowing shard fragments in her hand. They resembled unprocessed dust crystals in composition, yet unique was their coloration, or more aptly their inability to settle on one. Like Morgiana's eyes, their shade was ever-changing, the gentle luminous rays leaking through Emerald's fingers bearing some resemblance to gems themselves as her eyes reflected vibrant sliding hues.

She pressed one into Lance's palm, while Watts had three flung in his lap with impressive accuracy given she didn't glance up at him once during her rapid crossing back over to her team. They each received one in turn, and the remainder of the crystals she distributed to the rest of the room save Tyrian and Cinder until everyone was holding one of their own.

"Don't lose these. Keep yours somewhere it won't break," she advised brusquely, general words with no specific recipient.

"Wow..." Cinder whispered with a childlike curious excitement as she looked down at the crystal once Watts handed it over to her. It was a super unique looking thing from all that the young maiden had seen before. It was like a dust crystal, but whereas most of those are static in color...this one broke the pattern. It shifted, changed, like the hippie's or that small faunus girl's eyes. It was like Raven's whole collection of dust stored in her blade's sheathe, but all merged into one and constantly moving between colors at random. It was sublime.

She couldn't help but wonder what this thing could do, her thoughts briefly running wild with the boundless imagination of a kid.

Though, her stare lifted from the crystal as Emerald spoke up, and all thoughts about that ceased at once as her hand slowly wrapped around it. The maiden nodded and considered for a second of where the best place to put it was...before slipping it into a pocket on the inside of her gray longcoat, trusting that was secure enough. It would have to be.​

"The old magiks flow through dust to the soul as rivers one day ferry rain back to the ocean."

It occurred to anyone who looked Morgiana's way during her sudden input that ever since channeling whatever rejuvenating energies she had towards Tyrian she'd looked... bad. Like a plant that hadn't been watered in weeks. She was as white as her bedsheets, her frame even more delicate and wiry than before, and the entirety of it shook with the effort as she tried to heave herself up over the bedside like she was elderly or infirm, only managing it when Emerald beat Lance to the punch and looped one arm under hers with a concerned frown. She looked like she wanted to say something, but Morgiana limply waved her off once she was settled before easing back into her mountain of pillows with painstaking slowness, nevertheless managing to select a pose that agreed with her botanical sensibilities as she sculpted the pillows into both throne and armrest and perched her chin on her fingers, still rife with coy mystique despite her condition.

"When the hour casts its darkest shadow and your fate appears inescapable, shatter the crystal upon your aura and speak forth the magic word to your salvation: 'Ascend'."

Good thing her imagination hadn't gotten too extensive, given what the weakened Morgiana said. Cinder would have taken a few steps over to offer help but both Lance and Emerald would have beaten her to that, so she didn't and just listened to the explanation offered. The crystal had to be broken and a single word spoken, and then it would...get them out of the worst situation? Not the wildest thing Cinder had imagined but it had a certain elegance to it. Like someone rising up into the air, onwards to a better, more beautiful place.

Spoiler: Hmm, perhaps...

She wiggled her hands a bit for effect, though it was a frail, languid motion, utterly outstripped by the graveness with which she darted in between them to deliver an ominous postscript.

"But heed well. Should your aura deplete fully the link between soul and body will grow too tenuous to withstand the suction, and you need to absolutely not do what I just said. Seriously. No use if your aura's broken. Don't even try, don't ignore that. That's all I got otherwise. I'm bushed. Emerald, precious, you know where the old Gneiss door is. Show these lovelies the way-way down while I hibernate 'til you get back."

Though clearly not without its own dangers, and now Cinder's thoughts drifted towards what would happen if she tried to do it while auraless. Morgiana said the link between between her body and her soul would be too weak, fragile then, so...the teenager pictured her soul drifting away from her empty body, heading for...god knows where. Not at all a comforting thought and Cinder outwardly shuddered at the idea. She did all she could to push that thought out and away, not wanting to think about it for even a split-second longer.​

As Mercury filed out after and the others started to in turn, Cinder and (ironically) Arthur were stopped by the shaman's voice weakly imploring them from the bed.

"Sunspot, paladin. Let's jam separate from the others for a sec."

Whether or not they expressed further impatience or dismay didn't appear to register with her, gaze by now totally fixated on the cherry blossom she twirled between thumb and forefinger as Lance gave her a curious glance from his post by her bed.

"You too, prince of trees. I need private words."

For the first time since they'd set eyes on him the bodyguard looked genuinely surprised by something, creased brow sent her way questioningly to no response. Eventually, he gave a consternated huff and a nod, accepting the lack of forthcoming clarification and striding out to await them by the entrance instead. Morgiana finally looked up then, carefully studying Watts then Cinder in turn, her unblinking stare always the most bizarre juxtaposition of open and ambiguous.

Hmm?

Her eye widened a bit with curiosity, both with her being addressed for a moment of privacy and with the nickname the hippie had used for Arthur. Paladin...a heroic champion...huh. Oddly fitting. But her curiosity didn't linger on that for too long, far more drawn to whatever Morgiana had to say to them in private.​

"I have to send him with you. Lance. The stars said it was important."

It was a conversation of firsts, as they took note of the curious sight of a Morgiana whose feelings on a concept set before her were clearly and abjectly negative. For a moment it was as if she genuinely had no idea how to proceed with that, but eventually decided on a pout, the flower a gentle blur as it continued to twirl.

"They also said other things, but it's... the details don't always linger very long. Divinations kinda feel like dreaming, but you know when it's the kind where you're like 'whoa... what was I just dreaming about?' That kind. But I'm pretty sure they said he wasn't coming back. I'd very much rather that not happen."

Cinder stayed respectfully silent, but the expression on her face showed she agreed with that. Morgiana clearly needed someone looking after her at the best and worst of times, and...well, the most ominous meaning of him not coming back was...yeah. She may have only just met him like super recently, and he struck her as kind of a dick almost immediately, but...she didn't want anyone else around her to die if she could help it. God knows there had been enough of that already. Too much.​

"Like so many things, the fates are a river. Things flow in the direction they started from, but what if a tree falls? I can't say anything to him straight up. Death is a trap whose jaws are more deadly when you perceive it. But... well... the two of you believe in the fates about as little as anyone I've ever met. By coming to embody traits so counter to the paths you were made for you've already shorn destiny's roots; Humility."

Her eyes hovered over Cinder.

"And self-sacrifice."

Then Watts.

"I...uh..." She couldn't finish saying anything beyond that, and in truth she had no idea where she was going with that anyway. She had even less idea how to take that sentence. Particularly the part about Arthur embodying self-sacrifice, that was what she suggested right??? Her gaze moved in an instant, side-eyeing Watts with more than a fair bit of concern.​

She sighed, pensive and morose. "Your futures are completely undecided, ducklings. It's what makes you chosen. Emerald and her friends aren't quite there yet. For better or worse, your originals forged their own paths—theirs were always muddled, defined for them by others. Like I said, things flow in the direction they start from. Events are on the cusp of their zenith, and none of them are ready for the coming storm. But you two are. You don't do destiny. All of which beckon Morgiana the mystic to a simple conclusion: if anyone can heed these warnings in a meaningful way it'd be you two. So... heed well, surface children. Like Lance, the remnants of team MTEN must descend today."

She inhaled, final words characterized by a deeply solemn tone.

"But one is fated not to return with you."

Yet even that concern paled to what followed, and she was silent now not out of respect but just trying to wrap her head around that. Around what it could mean. Fated to not return??? Part of her wanted to stay, press Morgiana for more about what that meant, but...doing so would delay the hunt for the relic out there, a target for who knows how many dark forces out there. That, and...Morgiana hardly seemed in any condition to say any more, truth be told. Like it was a minor miracle she'd said as much as she had.​

She told them to check their gear while they awaited the three stragglers, and when Lance approached with Cinder and Watts in tow she was staring at the decrepit sign with an inscrutable frown while Mercury tipped water from his boots with a frustrated grimace. She glanced over sharply when the water sloshing gave them away, immediately glowering with a dull scoff and turning towards the rest at large.

"Finally. Okay, uh, awkward, but we all need to link up and go through at once or we'll come out the other side at different times."

Staring daggers at Mercury's back like he was a mark, she immediately swiped out to snatch hold of his wrist before he could react, drawing a sarcastic yodel as he pinwheeled for balance.

She had left alongside Arthur and Lance but it was almost like even she herself was unaware of that. Her brow was so furrowed, and gaze so unfocused on anyone or anything in particular, it was not clear whether she'd even heard what Emerald said. She was completely lost in her thoughts now, her hands hanging loose and empty by her sides for anyone to take if they wished. She was just struggling to try and process those final words. What they could mean. Who they were even talking about. How such a thing could possibly be prevented. If it even could be.​

 

[MidwayLives]

he pressed one into Lance's palm, while Watts had three flung in his lap with impressive accuracy given she didn't glance up at him once during her rapid crossing back over to her team. They each received one in turn, and the remainder of the crystals she distributed to the rest of the room save Tyrian and Cinder until everyone was holding one of their own.

Tyrian and Trifa held theirs and looked them over.

"It's beautiful..."

Tyrian quirked his head and had less of a stunned reaction.

Truthfully, he was still taken aback by how well of a job Morgiana had done in letting him walk around.

Trifa's crystal was hidden in a pocket on her suit/Tyrian's was hidden in well, a pocket. Didn't exactly have a shirt or jacket to hide it in.
​

"When the hour casts its darkest shadow and your fate appears inescapable, shatter the crystal upon your aura and speak forth the magic word to your salvation: 'Ascend'."

A last resort then.

Tyrian's torso was a petri dish of moves he'd taken/seen as 'last resorts.'

Some more painful than others...
​

Emerald had marched the others down the scaffolding, across the network of rope bridges and into the waterlogged passage they all arrived through, leading them down the rows of chalk portals to where their lines were the most neglected and faded. The further she went the more of the settlement names had been scratched out, and by the time she stopped before the mangled letters GN I S the adjacent portal genuinely looked like it had been the first one ever scrawled there.

"Merci...."

Normally, Blanche wasn't one to complain about trivial things like this. Back when he'd been working for the family/didn't have to worry about his own boss trying to brutally murder him by flinging him a good twenty feet in the air and then having him crash back down, he made good enough money that he could wear the finest shoes, the best suits, smoke the big cigars. Everything that came with leading the good life.

Maybe he was looking the gift horse in the mouth, afterall, he could have been dead and then worms and dirt would have gotten into his boots just as well as this water, no?

"Getting cold feet, Blanche?"

"No. More like damp feet, honestly."
​

"Finally. Okay, uh, awkward, but we all need to link up and go through at once or we'll come out the other side at different times."

Staring daggers at Mercury's back like he was a mark, she immediately swiped out to snatch hold of his wrist before he could react, drawing a sarcastic yodel as he pinwheeled for balance.

Blanche and Char looked at eachother.



"Holding hands, eh?"

"Gotta be honest Blanche, you're really not my type."

"Nor you mine, my friend. A bit too eccentric for my tastes."

The two men then held hands.

"Still, let's do this."

"Agreed."

"Room for one more?" Trifa asked as she grabbed onto Blanche's other hand.

"Ohohoho, of course not my dear.~"



"that's not gonna leave any sticky residue is it-"


​

She had left alongside Arthur and Lance but it was almost like even she herself was unaware of that. Her brow was so furrowed, and gaze so unfocused on anyone or anything in particular, it was not clear whether she'd even heard what Emerald said. She was completely lost in her thoughts now, her hands hanging loose and empty by her sides for anyone to take if they wished. She was just struggling to try and process those final words. What they could mean. Who they were even talking about. How such a thing could possibly be prevented. If it even could be.

In somewhat better spirits after his poking session with Mercury had defused some of the internal tension boiling inside of him, Tyrian walked a bit slower so as to catch up with Watts and Cinder. He'd even let Trifa go on ahead without him.

He reached out to take one of Cinder's hands.

"Cinder?" He asked.

"You ok?"​

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

Lance's shoulders were like a miniature landslide when he hefted them in a shrug, brow a straight line as his words came indifferent and familiar.

"Respect is earned, sir."

Thankfully, they weren't waiting long. The sound of Emerald's footsteps was practically nonexistent, so the first sign of her return was the shifting of the flap itself before she ducked through, counting through what looked to be a number of tiny glowing shard fragments in her hand. They resembled unprocessed dust crystals in composition, yet unique was their coloration, or more aptly their inability to settle on one. Like Morgiana's eyes, their shade was ever-changing, the gentle luminous rays leaking through Emerald's fingers bearing some resemblance to gems themselves as her eyes reflected vibrant sliding hues.

She pressed one into Lance's palm, while Watts had three flung in his lap with impressive accuracy given she didn't glance up at him once during her rapid crossing back over to her team. They each received one in turn, and the remainder of the crystals she distributed to the rest of the room save Tyrian and Cinder until everyone was holding one of their own.

"Don't lose these. Keep yours somewhere it won't break," she advised brusquely, general words with no specific recipient.

"The old magiks flow through dust to the soul as rivers one day ferry rain back to the ocean."

It occurred to anyone who looked Morgiana's way during her sudden input that ever since channeling whatever rejuvenating energies she had towards Tyrian she'd looked... bad. Like a plant that hadn't been watered in weeks. She was as white as her bedsheets, her frame even more delicate and wiry than before, and the entirety of it shook with the effort as she tried to heave herself up over the bedside like she was elderly or infirm, only managing it when Emerald beat Lance to the punch and looped one arm under hers with a concerned frown. She looked like she wanted to say something, but Morgiana limply waved her off once she was settled before easing back into her mountain of pillows with painstaking slowness, nevertheless managing to select a pose that agreed with her botanical sensibilities as she sculpted the pillows into both throne and armrest and perched her chin on her fingers, still rife with coy mystique despite her condition.

"When the hour casts its darkest shadow and your fate appears inescapable, shatter the crystal upon your aura and speak forth the magic word to your salvation: 'Ascend'."

She wiggled her hands a bit for effect, though it was a frail, languid motion, utterly outstripped by the graveness with which she darted in between them to deliver an ominous postscript.

"But heed well. Should your aura deplete fully the link between soul and body will grow too tenuous to withstand the suction, and you need to absolutely not do what I just said. Seriously. No use if your aura's broken. Don't even try, don't ignore that. That's all I got otherwise. I'm bushed. Emerald, precious, you know where the old Gneiss door is. Show these lovelies the way-way down while I hibernate 'til you get back."

She smiled, and peaceable though the look was a strong breeze could've blown it away at this point. Emerald's deadpan stare spoke volumes about her opinion of all the cryptic doublespeak Morgiana was so partial to, but a second later she relented from and gave a comprehending nod in farewell, turning to lead the way out of the tent in a brisk stride without giving anyone any kind of prompting to follow. As Mercury filed out after and the others started to in turn, Cinder and (ironically) Arthur were stopped by the shaman's voice weakly imploring them from the bed.

"Sunspot, paladin. Let's jam separate from the others for a sec."

Lance's callback managed to break at least a small part of Arthur's dour mood, a brief flash of a rueful smirk at that admittedly deserved back talk, and he remained silent until Emerald made it back out to the main room. He caught it nimbly enough in hand, no look of surprise or offense at the method as he slpayed them out across his fingers analytically; Dust and aura was something he understood far better than the medical sciences, and his focus was on them till Morgiana finished her instructions and warnings. He stood up when most of the rest did, tossing the crystals to Tyrian and Cinder in turn as he made his way towards the exit only to freeze up when Morgiana called out his and Cinder's not actual names. He gave his partner a questioning look, then sighed and turned about face. Wasn't like there was any harm in delaying for one more conversation.

"Of course, miss Morgiana. If this is about what happened above groud, I promise I still have every intention of working with the others as a team to get the relic and everyone safely back."

"You too, prince of trees. I need private words."

For the first time since they'd set eyes on him the bodyguard looked genuinely surprised by something, creased brow sent her way questioningly to no response. Eventually, he gave a consternated huff and a nod, accepting the lack of forthcoming clarification and striding out to await them by the entrance instead. Morgiana finally looked up then, carefully studying Watts then Cinder in turn, her unblinking stare always the most bizarre juxtaposition of open and ambiguous.

"I have to send him with you. Lance. The stars said it was important."

It was a conversation of firsts, as they took note of the curious sight of a Morgiana whose feelings on a concept set before her were clearly and abjectly negative. For a moment it was as if she genuinely had no idea how to proceed with that, but eventually decided on a pout, the flower a gentle blur as it continued to twirl.

"They also said other things, but it's... the details don't always linger very long. Divinations kinda feel like dreaming, but you know when it's the kind where you're like 'whoa... what was I just dreaming about?' That kind. But I'm pretty sure they said he wasn't coming back. I'd very much rather that not happen."

Her eyes flitted up, studying the two of them with an expression of vacant ambivalence.

"Like so many things, the fates are a river. Things flow in the direction they started from, but what if a tree falls? I can't say anything to him straight up. Death is a trap whose jaws are more deadly when you perceive it. But... well... the two of you believe in the fates about as little as anyone I've ever met. By coming to embody traits so counter to the paths you were made for you've already shorn destiny's roots; Humility."

Her eyes hovered over Cinder.

"And self-sacrifice."

Then Watts.

She sighed, pensive and morose. "Your futures are completely undecided, ducklings. It's what makes you chosen. Emerald and her friends aren't quite there yet. For better or worse, your originals forged their own paths—theirs were always muddled, defined for them by others. Like I said, things flow in the direction they start from. Events are on the cusp of their zenith, and none of them are ready for the coming storm. But you two are. You don't do destiny. All of which beckon Morgiana the mystic to a simple conclusion: if anyone can heed these warnings in a meaningful way it'd be you two. So... heed well, surface children. Like Lance, the remnants of team MTEN must descend today."

She inhaled, final words characterized by a deeply solemn tone.

"But one is fated not to return with you."

If this had still been the first meeting, the level of smug Watts would've directed towards the bodyguard at those orders would've been detectable from the surface. As it was, it only made his brow furrow slightly in suspicion, his eyes attempting to meet his own questioningly as he made his way from the tent. When he didn't meet the look, he turned it back to Morgiana in silent wariness.

By the time she finished, those eyes were far less confused; they had more in common with a frozen corpse than anything else. It wasn't that he didn't buy the fortune; he'd seen enough of Morgiana's semblance, and enough magic of other sorts at this point, to take her claims of divination at something close to face value.

"...I already know what is required of me. Thank you, Morgiana." He said, his words toned to match as he turned on his heel to leave. "We'll heed your warning."

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

Emerald had marched the others down the scaffolding, across the network of rope bridges and into the waterlogged passage they all arrived through, leading them down the rows of chalk portals to where their lines were the most neglected and faded. The further she went the more of the settlement names had been scratched out, and by the time she stopped before the mangled letters GN I S the adjacent portal genuinely looked like it had been the first one ever scrawled there.

She told them to check their gear while they awaited the three stragglers, and when Lance approached with Cinder and Watts in tow she was staring at the decrepit sign with an inscrutable frown while Mercury tipped water from his boots with a frustrated grimace. She glanced over sharply when the water sloshing gave them away, immediately glowering with a dull scoff and turning towards the rest at large.

"Finally. Okay, uh, awkward, but we all need to link up and go through at once or we'll come out the other side at different times."

Staring daggers at Mercury's back like he was a mark, she immediately swiped out to snatch hold of his wrist before he could react, drawing a sarcastic yodel as he pinwheeled for balance.

"One question before we go, or rather a clarification;" Watts said, seated in his scooter-ala-mecha-armor well above the water. His expression was schooled into a far calmer one by the time they'd reached their destination, and his words were brusque as he pointedly refused any offered hands for the moment.

"I'm aware Morgiana needs to keep the mystique around herself for her aesthetic, but what specifically happens when we use these?" He said, waving the dust crystal he'd been given in his hand.

 

[Gus Gungus]

"One question before we go, or rather a clarification;" Watts said, seated in his scooter-ala-mecha-armor well above the water. His expression was schooled into a far calmer one by the time they'd reached their destination, and his words were brusque as he pointedly refused any offered hands for the moment.

"I'm aware Morgiana needs to keep the mystique around herself for her aesthetic, but what specifically happens when we use these?" He said, waving the dust crystal he'd been given in his hand.​

"Of course, sir. Would anyone else like to be spoonfed absolutely all the information all at once?" She questioned, affecting such copious amounts of eager-to-please airline hostess cheer it was somehow acrimonious. Even her breezy, robotic turn towards the others was pitch-perfect, only for her to pinch her brow with a dull sigh when at least Mercury immediately put his hand up.

"Great. Then it's like a one-time instant teleport thing. If you're in a jam just use it like Morgiana said and it'll shoot you back here rubberband style."

She spun her pistols around a few times before holstering them, and Lance's towering frame hovering near her prompted a wry, penetrating stare, like she was daring him to ask her more things.

"You've tried running salvage down here solo a couple times, right? Know the most likely spot for a bird to fall?"

She shifted a hand to her hip, tone far less gleefully forthcoming for this answer. "The other portal comes out in the old mining tunnels. It's collapsed, but we can squeeze through to get to an overlook of the town. It, uh, it'll be tight."

He caught her meaning, eyeballing his divinely sculptured shoulders as she was. His sigh was deep, his movements resigned, and he undid his cufflinks with idle agitation as he strode forward and through the portal without waiting, its ethereal jade erupting to life in response to a mutter too low to hear.​

 

[MyrtenRose]

He reached out to take one of Cinder's hands.

"Cinder?" He asked.

"You ok?"

She didn’t move for a little while, didn’t even react to the hand holding or the question. At least not initially. Cinder was just thinking that extensively about what she’d been told, but eventually she did respond. She slowly looked at him and just as slowly shrugged. “I...I don’t know.” She admitted but then tried to turn the topic away from her. “Are...you?”​

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

View attachment 884592

"Of course, sir. Would anyone else like to be spoonfed absolutely all the information all at once?" She questioned, affecting such copious amounts of eager-to-please airline hostess cheer it was somehow acrimonious. Even her breezy, robotic turn towards the others was pitch-perfect, only for her to pinch her brow with a dull sigh when at least Mercury immediately put his hand up.

"Great. Then it's like a one-time instant teleport thing. If you're in a jam just use it like Morgiana said and it'll shoot you back here rubberband style."

She spun her pistols around a few times before holstering them, and Lance's towering frame hovering near her prompted a wry, penetrating stare, like she was daring him to ask her more things.

"You've tried running salvage down here solo a couple times, right? Know the most likely spot for a bird to fall?"

She shifted a hand to her hip, tone far less gleefully forthcoming for this answer. "The other portal comes out in the old mining tunnels. It's collapsed, but we can squeeze through to get to an overlook of the town. It, uh, it'll be tight."
​

Watts sniffed and put both his hands up in a shrug. "Apologies. It seemed like important information to have. Now I know that if my aura breaks to not slam it against whatever's killing me to send it up to your lovely little thieve's den to wreck havoc. But yes, questions, annoying, etc-"

He caught her meaning, eyeballing his divinely sculptured shoulders as she was. His sigh was deep, his movements resigned, and he undid his cufflinks with idle agitation as he strode forward and through the portal without waiting, its ethereal jade erupting to life in response to a mutter too low to hear.​

He blinked as Lance just stepped through on his own with a flummoxed frown that quickly shifted to something strangely close to dread for anyone who wasn't privy to the conversation they'd just had before he snatched Cinder's hand and gestured towards the portal. "Right, well, we should probably follow him. Urgently"

 

[Gus Gungus]

Watts sniffed and put both his hands up in a shrug. "Apologies. It seemed like important information to have. Now I know that if my aura breaks to not slam it against whatever's killing me to send it up to your lovely little thieve's den to wreck havoc. But yes, questions, annoying, etc-"

He blinked as Lance just stepped through on his own with a flummoxed frown that quickly shifted to something strangely close to dread for anyone who wasn't privy to the conversation they'd just had before he snatched Cinder's hand and gestured towards the portal. "Right, well, we should probably follow him. Urgently"​

A touch on his forearm, lighter than air and yet slightly pinchy, was all the initial reaction Watts's sass garnered, an uninformed Emerald apparently more interested in addressing that than his sudden sense of neighborly concern for Lance. If the sight of the enforcer striding through alone made his blood run cold then there was a good chance the face awaiting him did little to thaw it, curious a kinship with it as he felt.



"My lovely little thieves' den has done you more solids in the last twelve hours than you've had snooty little comments about it to make. But for the sake of the hypothetical that wouldn't do anything, genius, since odds are whatever's killing you won't have a soul unless I keep getting these whiffs of civilized judgment from your direction."

Then the grip became a firmer one on his elbow and she spun him around, letting his team take point as she started marching him forward while dragging Mercury behind her like she was a beleaguered, young, hot single mom and they the bickering set of boys she had to keep apart. It was abundantly evident her concern lay more with checking over her shoulder that Neo was ready than indulging the sudden alarm, or either of their respective flavors of bullshit for that matter.

"Now you wanna quit being sketchy? He's like the last person you should be worried about. We won't come out 'til a good five minutes after he does anyway, so you're wasting your breath—"

From the perspective of anyone listening, the thief's voice was buried under a layer of muted distortion the moment they stepped through the shimmering green pool of light; as if their heads slipped below water before she finished speaking. Yet the visible sensation was far more disconcerting. Unlike the previous, disparate times they'd all taken the portals, when the physical effect on their end had been instantaneous, the chain of life still linking the more conventional plane of Remnant with those taking point—which, in a twist of mild hilarity, was most likely Char and Blanche given how the groupings shook out—meant they found themselves stepping through and simply... continuing to walk.

What lay before them was nothing. Literal, infinite, vacuous nothing, only the occasional streak of vibrant color to disrupt the glaring void, beating like they pulsed with the lifeblood of the world itself. Other than that there was no sight, no sound outside what came through the portal. Just a neverending wall of black, and the light cast by the portal only went so far before the ground, too, disappeared beneath their feet, right up until the last link on the human chain stepped through in Neo.

That meant she got the best view, provided she didn't blink. It was barely a fraction of an instant, if that, but the moment she was fully across the threshold she saw Mercury more or less explode in front of her, his entire being suddenly transformed into a silver, flaring silhouette radiating light the exact shade of his aura. The same thing happened to Emerald just beyond him, with the caveat of her color being a light green, and the entire way up and down the row the experience was the same as everyone witnessed the person in front of them momentarily transform into a being of pure aura, or perhaps whatever it was aura was derived from. The experience as a whole was so abrupt, stark and incisive against the oppressive darkness that the best way to describe it was as a mashup of a rainbow, fireworks and a rollercoaster.

Then every single one of those silhouettes turned into beams, shot forward as if from the end of a railgun as everything got real hyperspace real fast.

---

From there the process, at least from their point of view, was once more entirely instantaneous. The dazzling array of colors was still burned into their retinas when they felt themselves slowing down, becoming corporeal again, a pleasant sense of weightlessness their only fleeting memory of the journey itself to be had once their adrenaline spikes faded.

That, as it transpired, would be another couple of minutes from now. Their next feeling of weightlessness was far less pleasant as rather than a simple collapsed tunnel like Emerald had indicated their destination ended up giving an ironic twist to her final sentence: it was most definitely, completely underwater. They managed to ascertain that they were in a vertical mineshaft of some sort, recognized mangled bits of debris floating here and there, and that was all they got before the portal's emerald light sputtered out, leaving them to react however they did to suddenly finding themselves miles underground in a submerged tunnel with no light and no air.

Needless to say, the next few seconds were chaotic. Mercury was among the quickest to react in a purposeful way, his bouts of fight-or-flight perhaps those with the shortest fuse, and while his legs did enter a brief period of frantic scrabbling for some sort of bottom as their weight pulled him down hardly a second went by before he got his bearings, tightened his grip on both hands in his, and started kicking up; smooth, powerful thrusts that less pushed and more propelled him through the water.

Unfortunately, Emerald had almost the exact opposite reaction. Being mid-word on one side of the portal meant she was mid-choking down water on the other, no hope of even attempting to close off her airways reflexively like the others had, and her brain responded the way pretty much every brain ever did when its set of lungs filled with something other than the air they were expecting: unmitigated panic. Her garbled sounds and instinctive, frenzied thrashing were very much cause for concern, though one would've been forgiven for assuming otherwise given just how she vigorously shook off any efforts to help, ripping her hand away from Mercury's the same moment Watts caught a boot in the back of the head to push her away and up with intent to detach herself completely from the rest.

She knew all the sayings, proverbs and aphorisms about what happened when you tried to save someone from drowning, and the one thing Emerald had never wanted to do was pull anyone down with her.

Admittedly in a less literal sense, but still.

---

Mercury's head was first to breach the water's surface, followed shortly by Neo provided she didn't wriggle loose of his grip, hacking and sputtering as the torch in his hand whirled to illuminate the air pocket they were in. Their heads were skirting the mineshaft's ceiling, less than a few feet between it and the water for them to bob and draw precious breath in. He was already turning, scanning the heads beginning to pop up from the depths one by one and gauging them against Emerald's swim speed and where he last had a sense of her, the conclusion he drew having him sucking down air a few times before he held it in and—

Let it all leave his body in a single relieved exhale when the thief finally surfaced in a violent display of flailing, splashing and coughing, either having been helped despite her efforts or simply possessed enough inherent cultivated survival instinct to eventually thrash her way to air before she blacked out. She was clearly as discomposed by the unexpected swim as anyone else, an almost god-fearing desperation in the way she wrapped her arms around the first wooden strut in grabbing range and clung to it, shoulders shaking as her windpipe did its best to expel foreign liquid. Absolutely none of which was going to stop Mercury from giving her hell.

"The collapsed mining tunnels?! COLLAPSED?! That's really the first word that came to mind?! Sure, technically true, but isn't that kinda like telling a stab victim they might die OF TETANUS?"

"OBVIOUSLY IT WASN'T FLOODED LAST TIME, DICK!"

Her rebuttal came in such a furious, hoarse, indignant scream over her shoulder that even he was jolted to silence, expression blank save for the single eyebrow he raised as he mentally upgraded her from 'discomposed' past 'thrown' and straight to 'as shaken as she had ever been'. She kept her back to the rest, forehead against the strut, unmoving save for the heave of her shoulders; the breaths she was trying to take feeling like they wanted to simply leave the rest of her behind to drown.

It was a few seconds before she spoke again, but the upside was that when she did it was only with a slight strain as she finally rotated herself around to face everyone, her own torch clicking on.

"...Is everyone here? Can anyone not—*koff*—swim?"​