Fandom Distorted Mirror [IC]

[Indolent]

Neo raced off in the direction of Emerald.

When she caught up to her colleague, she was going to give her such a stern....finger wagging.

Spoiler: That Bird

Not really tho

"Go away," Came Neo's reply, her tone a strong brisk, emotions raw still from the confrontation with a particular android, "I don't know why you're following me around, it's not like we're even fri... friends." The reluctance in uttering the final word was plainly clear not only to Neo but to the thief herself, prompting an uncomfortable lull.

Neo would see Emerald slowly reassemble in person, a flow of smog coalescing from the top down, with her arms crossed defensively, her eyes still downcast as before. "I didn't expect to run into her here, thought she really was dead." The whisper was so meek it might have been as if she lost her voice, as she quivered in frustration, "I just want to go home, we don't belong here. Why are we here? I'm not meant to have friends, like them, the hero's life isn't for me. She's probably right, I'm never going to be a good person so why bother?"

There was no real rhyme or pattern to her sentences, a definitive indication of the embroiling feelings she was barely able to manage atop her thoughts.

 

[Indolent]

Anybody else may have snapped or said something rude at the offer of help.

These people didn't know her or Emerald. As far as they knew, Neo had just been on the side of Team Bad.

But having already lost this world's version of her favorite person in the world? She glanced from Gretchen to Hazel and shook her head.

Reaching out, she gently ruffled Gretchen's hair before pulling back and tipping the brim of her hat.

She'd be back and she'd bring Emerald with her.

"Okay, I'm 99% not sure what to make of that gesture but I think it was good?"

Gretchen was more askance at the fact it was a different Neo that had done the gesture, even though the Neo she was kinda sorta friends with might have not done the selfsame gesture but regardless, her words didn't come from a place of malice. It was genuine uncertainty as what to make of the act and it was a fleeting rumination all of a millisecond that Gretchen decided, shrugged, and tried to call out to the departed Neo to be careful.

Maybe it was weird to proffer farewells to known villains, especially when one of them had explictly declares she didn't give a single flipping crap about her world. Maybe she was just being absurd about it but she was hopeful that Emerald was really just saying things off the cuff than her actual feelings.

"I'm absolutely fantastic now that you've made it here!" Penny all bout shouted back as she squeezed Cinder, one of the few people on Remnant who the maiden could hug without fear of doing so too hard and frankly in danger of the opposite happening. She found herself suddenly swept off the ground in a spin as Penny's boosters righted them to standing with a cheerful grin. "We have an astonishing number of topics to catch up on."

"It is delightful to see you again too!" Penny replied, Gretchen making the lethal mistake that team RWBY hadn't in their reunion and getting too close to the hug; she was swept up in it in another swirl of flight, penny's enthusiasm doing wonders for the room's tense energy and her iron limbs doing anything but wonders for the pair's spines. "Salutations to you too, Hazel! I am sorry, I have run out of arms. but know that I am very excited to see you! However-" She began, willing herself to frown again as she spun the tri-hug to face where Emerald had been standing just a moment ago. "we still-"

"Yeah, it's aweshooomygooooooddddd." Gretchen seamlessly transitioned from sharing in the enthusiasm to the expression of pain laden within her features, the sheer pressure of the hug barely mitigated any by the presence of a maiden in Penny's grasp. The room was spinning and she knew why it was spinning but she wasn't sure if the pain was addling her perception in the moment, exaggerating the tilt and vertigo feel to the gyration itself.

Hazel could only pretend to sympathize with his sister, his features contorting to reflect those feelings exactly. He raised a hand as if to ward off the need for the apology, a brimming smile fabricated to set the android at ease. "We can hug later."

"-Oh. She is- they are both gone."

... She had essentially two tasks here. One was to ensure that Weiss Schnee or Ozpin was not trying to inflitrate their ranks with people wearing familiar faces as disguises. That's why she was able to talk her way onto the sort of task that she was normally ill suited for; Penny's eyes and sensors were incredibly difficult to fool. semblances and grimm that affected the mind were no concern to her, and even the invisible couldn't hid from her. In fact, it was a very good thing she made sure she was the one to meet them! Who knew what sort of dastardly deeds the evil Emerald and Neopolitan might have gotten up to had they been allowed into the resistance under the the guise of the native specimens! She believed she had done a very good job with task one

The second task, of course, was making sure anyone who was trying to infiltrate them didn't just run away. Which they just did, because she'd gotten excited and let her feelings get in the way of what was assuredly a very important task

"...Ironwood is not going to be very happy about this." she said with anxious, distressed frown as she released the other two and hovered back to the ground. She debated pursuing them, but she was not what the resistance called a 'stealth operative'. While she was very proud of her disguise that she wore getting here, chasing misses Emerald and Neopolitan through the streets may have drawn unwanted attention, and when Cinder was...

"Hazel is correct. We should make for the meeting spot as fast as possible. Follow me!" she declared, burying whatever concerns she might've had with a flourish of her trench coat as she zipped over to where her hat had ended up to screw it back onto her head. before she hunched over slightly and power walked for the door to lead them out the building and down a side street.

"They'll find their way. I think." Gretchen assured Penny, her left arm situated against her flank in the lumbar region as she attempted to press against a particular crick in her spinal column. A resounding pop ushered relief to her features, a happy sigh concluding with a "Worth it." She fell in line behind Hazel, content to take up their rear while keeping an eye out for the six-o-clock while Hazel squarely fixed himself to the center, claiming the entire circumference of the clock in his roving surveillance.

 

[MidwayLives]

"Go away," Came Neo's reply, a her tone steadily growing brisk, emotions raw still from the confrontation with a particular android,

Neo huffed and shook her head no.

Neo had kept her distance from Cinder and her other acolytes. The only thread that tied her together with them was Roman and he'd been snipped out for what...

Felt like forever at this point.

Through whatever circumstances had brought her to this alternate world had also brought Emerald.

She was all Neo had.

She couldn't leave her like this, alone in a world full of emptiness.
​

"I don't know why you're following me around, it's not like we're even fri... friends." The reluctance in uttering the final word was plainly clear not only to Neo but to the thief herself, prompting an uncomfortable lull.

Neo was at a loss.

She'd been doing who knows what after Roman died and had no idea of the connection Emerald had to Cinder/how the battle at Haven transpired.

So to see her clearly struggling was difficult to put it lightly. The girl had been out of it after the fight with Carneilan and Neo had tended to her without complaint. There weren't many figures in Neo's life growing up or otherwise that'd shown they'd give a damn about her besides Roman. So when she saw Emerald in that sorry state?

She tried to do what he would have done for her.

Being friends though was something Neo hadn't expected to come out of Emerald's mouth. The word itself more than anything else. Neo had thought the two of them on a similar wavelength. They worked together, they'd have eachother's backs without complaint, they'd help out when need be, but friends? No, that's what other people called eachother, people better than the two of them could ever hope to be in this lifetime or any other.

...Well, maybe, the other Neo had a shot. Now that she didn't have her murder-happy older self fighting with her over a boy who would never have loved her the way Neo wanted. He'd have just been a face trying to fill the void of another. Her other could continue to grow and be better than her and for as long as she continued to stay here? Neo would do whatever she could to make that a reality.

And she'd be there for Emerald too.
​

Neo would see Emerald slowly reassemble in view, in a fashion of smoke in reverse flow starting from the top down, with her arms crossed defensively, her eyes still downcast as before. "I didn't expect to run into her here, thought she really was dead."

Once again, there was that hesitance lurking within Neo bubbling to the surface.

She'd taken Malachite and murdered her without a second thought. If the lady wished to be in their way? Then there was no need for subtly or trickery when deciding how to deal with her. Neo simply brought out Hush and skewered her like the pig that she looked to be. Call her cold-blooded, she knew many certainly would and she couldn't blame them. This kind of sick enjoyment was part of why her other self had opposed her so vehemently in trying to gain her Roman's affection. Maybe she should have asked Emerald to leave the room. Or at least been a less messier with the death.

She'd never seen Emerald kill anyone personally but it was just the idea.

Killing for her was as euphoric as doing daily stretches was for someone else. It worked off excess stress and calmed her mind and soul. It let her feel happiness when it'd been so disparagingly bleak in this world. For the two of them anyway. She couldn't read minds. She couldn't know how it felt for Emerald to kill. To take another's life.

So to see this affecting her so much...

Neo took another step forward...
​

, "I just want to go home, we don't belong here. Why are we here? I'm not meant to have friends, like them, the hero's life isn't for me. She's probably right, I'm never going to be a good person so why bother?"

Neo shook her head once more from side to side, this time a bit more frantically.

She couldn't let Emerald fall into thsi rut. To be consumed by despair.

It'd doom not only her but the both of them and Neo wasn't going to let the other girl worry anymore than she already was.

She threw up her hands in reply to the question.

She didn't know how she'd gotten here, who'd sent her here, and why?

It couldn't have been a semblance or if it was? It was one of the cruelest she'd ever seen or experienced. To force her to go through the greatest tragedy in her life not once but twice? To see a woman with a semblance just as devastating as hers reduced to such a state? They were as much of a monster as Ozpin or Salem.

The truth was that Neo had no answers and she didn't know how to comfort Emerald. She didn't and it was pissing her off and threatening to push her over the edge of her own precariously perched mood.

"....!"

Activating her semblance if only so briefly, Neo glanced over to a welcome image that always made her feel better.

The illusion quietly shattered and Neo turned towards Emerald.

Her mind was awash with thoughts. Many of which she didn't want to stop and figure out right now.

She just wanted to get past this horrible feeling welling up inside her. She wanted nothing more than for it to go away!

Just! Go! Away!

Emerald suddenly felt a small presence on her person.



It was Neo holding her tightly.

The edges of her eyes holding back the faintest signs of tears.

*sniffle* ​

 

[MyrtenRose]

"I'm absolutely fantastic now that you've made it here!" Penny all bout shouted back as she squeezed Cinder, one of the few people on Remnant who the maiden could hug without fear of doing so too hard and frankly in danger of the opposite happening. She found herself suddenly swept off the ground in a spin as Penny's boosters righted them to standing with a cheerful grin. "We have an astonishing number of topics to catch up on."

...Yep, that's Penny alright. Cinder couldn't hold back the smile on her face from widening considerably and keeping it so in spite of any flashes of pain from the hug. Penny's brand of adorable joy was just as the maiden remembered, and even a few laughs escaped her after they got pulled up to standing in the blink of an eye, thanks to the robot's boosters. "Yeah, I guess we do, huh? Count me as somebody looking forward to every minute of that." And it was absolutely true. Penny's exuberance might have been strange and too much for some people, but not for her. A lonely childhood had left her open to anybody who'd might want to be a friend, and honestly? There were quite a few times she found she preferred a friend like Penny, in comparison to the likes of Watts's usually measured distance and Hazel's calm support. Not that she didn't appreciate them, because she did 100%. Tyrian had his moments of the same sort of pure excitement, but with Penny that was practically a guarantee.​

"It is delightful to see you again too!" Penny replied, Gretchen making the lethal mistake that team RWBY hadn't in their reunion and getting too close to the hug; she was swept up in it in another swirl of flight, penny's enthusiasm doing wonders for the room's tense energy and her iron limbs doing anything but wonders for the pair's spines. "Salutations to you too, Hazel! I am sorry, I have run out of arms. but know that I am very excited to see you! However-" She began, willing herself to frown again as she spun the tri-hug to face where Emerald had been standing just a moment ago. "we still-"

Case in point. Cinder maintained the smile even in the wake of getting more constricted in the threeway hug. Penny's enthusiasm as infectious as it was boundless. "...Huh? What is--" The young maiden began to question in response to the frown.​

"-Oh. She is- they are both gone."

... She had essentially two tasks here. One was to ensure that Weiss Schnee or Ozpin was not trying to inflitrate their ranks with people wearing familiar faces as disguises. That's why she was able to talk her way onto the sort of task that she was normally ill suited for; Penny's eyes and sensors were incredibly difficult to fool. semblances and grimm that affected the mind were no concern to her, and even the invisible couldn't hid from her. In fact, it was a very good thing she made sure she was the one to meet them! Who knew what sort of dastardly deeds the evil Emerald and Neopolitan might have gotten up to had they been allowed into the resistance under the the guise of the native specimens! She believed she had done a very good job with task one

The second task, of course, was making sure anyone who was trying to infiltrate them didn't just run away. Which they just did, because she'd gotten excited and let her feelings get in the way of what was assuredly a very important task

"...Ironwood is not going to be very happy about this." she said with anxious, distressed frown as she released the other two and hovered back to the ground. She debated pursuing them, but she was not what the resistance called a 'stealth operative'. While she was very proud of her disguise that she wore getting here, chasing misses Emerald and Neopolitan through the streets may have drawn unwanted attention, and when Cinder was...

"Hazel is correct. We should make for the meeting spot as fast as possible. Follow me!" she declared, burying whatever concerns she might've had with a flourish of her trench coat as she zipped over to where her hat had ended up to screw it back onto her head. before she hunched over slightly and power walked for the door to lead them out the building and down a side street.

"...Oh." She let out herself, only now noticing that the pair had indeed disappeared. She had been so wrapped up with the unexpected but not unwelcome return of a friend that she hadn't been aware of the duo's departure. Whether that was a good thing or a bad thing, she wasn't sure. The two had helped them, sure, especially with a ship that had almost threatened to crash but...​

Yuck.

This whole song and dance of reuniting and it feeling so good made her want to wretch.

Emerald and her were here for a goddamn reason. Not to watch a mini-Cinder and her ginger friend talk shop.

...Even if a bit of that annoyance stemmed from a touch of jealously on Neo's part.

A reunion with a certain someone would have been nice....

...this Neo just seemed to have a hateboner for every little thing that Cinder did or said. Hell, that might have very well applied to just existing. The teenager didn't know what she'd done to earn such ire, but she knew one thing: it had honestly gotten quite old by this point. Exasperating as heck. And Emerald apparently had a hand in peoples' suffering, which...yeah. So perhaps it was for the best that they chose to leave. "Well, um...if you want, I could talk to Ironwood about it, in your defense?" Cinder offered as she followed the freshly disguised Penny out the door. She didn't want to see Penny punished when she'd only just returned from the dead, as far as the fall maiden was concerned.​

 

[MyrtenRose]

Spoiler: That Bird

Not really tho

"Go away," Came Neo's reply, a her tone steadily growing brisk, emotions raw still from the confrontation with a particular android, "I don't know why you're following me around, it's not like we're even fri... friends." The reluctance in uttering the final word was plainly clear not only to Neo but to the thief herself, prompting an uncomfortable lull.

Neo would see Emerald slowly reassemble in view, in a fashion of smoke in reverse flow starting from the top down, with her arms crossed defensively, her eyes still downcast as before. "I didn't expect to run into her here, thought she really was dead." The words came, a meek whisper as it weird, as she quivered in frustration, "I just want to go home, we don't belong here. Why are we here? I'm not meant to have friends, like them, the hero's life isn't for me. She's probably right, I'm never going to be a good person so why bother?"

There was no real rhyme or pattern to her sentences, a definitive indication of the embroiling feelings she was barely able to manage atop her thoughts.

Emerald suddenly felt a small presence on her person.

It was Neo holding her tightly.

The edges of her eyes holding back the faintest signs of tears.

*sniffle*

"How precious." The military operative remarked. Both her and Jennings were observing the scene from a distance, atop one of many of Mantle's buildings. A combination of things had led to her zeroing in on the general area the intruders had to be in. The abundance of cameras that she could interface with, that was one. Another was Jennings, whose computerized mind processed and shifted through all the footage for signs of the group at inhuman speeds. A third was that they had elected to jet around the city in pursuit. All those things had significantly cut down on the time it might otherwise have taken to pursue. And while it was very efficient, as she thought fitting of someone carrying the rank of Special Operative...Gwen did not believe it stood out, or was worthy of exceptional recognition. No, in her eyes, this level of efficiency was just simply to be expected. Nothing beyond the norm.

Though, perhaps, it was premature of her to think it efficient. For while she had tracked the group to this general area as quickly as she could manage, it was only through their own actions that let her narrow it down further. The two of them, out in the open in that emotional display she witnessed from afar. It was sheer luck, not skill or talent that let her hone in on the pair. What's more...it was only the two of them. Not the group of five that had been sighted on the cameras. There was no sign of the rest, none she could spot from here at least. A hand rose to press two fingers to her earpiece. "This is Special Operative Helios to all units in the vicinity of-" Gwen's head turned to read the street names nearest her position before reciting the names. "-I have located two of the trespassers. Be on standby for when I find the rest." There was no doubt in her voice, only the complete certainty that she would find them all soon enough.

There was also something of interest she saw beyond their presence. That brief projection of a certain image, before the whole thing shattered to pieces. Had that been one of their semblances?

"Jennings."

"Yes, Master Helios?"

"Send in a report to the Colonel, and to command in general, that I have discovered the group that snuck their way in with their masquerade, and that I shall have the whole bunch of them apprehended soon enough."

"As you command." The glow on his faceplate flickered as he did so. With that order issued, her attention had turned back to the pair in the distance. Until the rest were found, the soldier was fine with maintaining a respectable distance to observe from. "Come on now...lead me to the rest of you." She murmured to herself, rubbing her fingers together in anticipation.​

 

[Gus Gungus]

Neo's suspicion faded somewhat at the mention that team WTCH had parted ways. It in fact disappeared entirely, a small, saddened frown on her face as Tyrian spoke. She came out of a it all a bit more confused than when he started talking instead of the reverse, and she sidled out from behind Emerald and gestured to the side of herself with a questioning head tilt, where a shimmering copy of Eve came into existence, frozen in a power stance with blade ready to strike something or another down.

The bartender's eyes narrowed at the mention, but professionalism dictated she kept her own mouth shut.

Lupin, for his part, Leaned as far away from Tyrian's appendage as he could without falling off his stool.

"...I'm... I'm Lupin. And these people have unlawfully kidnapped mepleasehelp-"

SHATTER

The Eve likeness handled the sudden advent of Mercury's fist being put through it the same way all Neo's illusions did, crumbling away into a hail of glass-like illusion stuff as Merc sipped his whiskey without looking back over.

"It's actually super lawful and a real job a lot of people do, but also you're clearly in a bar full of criminals so shut up. Hell kind of a name is Lupin anyway?"

Letting the man sit with that message however he liked, he got back to the matter at hand and vaguely waved the scorpion faunus to the next stool down.

"So listen, T-Dog. Not that we're not all happy to see you still kickin' and not completely wacko, seeing as the last time we hung out you were up to like five breakdowns a day and we honestly totally wrote you off as a ticking time bomb, because we are. And if you wanna just hang out, have a drink or two and shoot the breeze, then by all means pick your poison. But no calls to adventure and no drawing us into some deeper conspiracy, okay? We're doing our own thing here."

He motioned to the lady behind the bar again.

"Yo barkeep. Glass him."

She'd know what to do.

Emerald, meanwhile, had resigned to ignoring Tyrian entirely and was instead boring into the bartender's soul with an aloof, robotic stare that seemed rooted in another reality.

"Yeaaaaaaaaah, or how about we not for even one second consider working with terrorists trying to destroy the four kingdoms and all the people in them or act like there's a universe where that isn't completely retarded? 'Damage our rep'? The hell is wrong with you, lady? Ever hear of being a crook with class?"​

 

[Gus Gungus]

Every word, every sentence, every insignificant detail ranging from the punctuating pauses she exercised for effect to the various inflection and enunciation used for emphasis was committed to memory, engraved in his mind's eye as he digested it all. While affixed still as a statue in thoughtful pose, his gaze rested upon Weiss unflinchingly. When she delivered her inquiry at the end, he took the liberty to study her for a minute, perhaps to the councilwoman's disliking, as a moment's reprieve for himself to arrive at a decision. The very first indication that he had was a contemplative sigh accentuated with the creasing of his brow. In the next second, his hands separated as he leaned back momentarily, before rising to standing and brushing himself down to avert any unwanted wrinkles within his attire before gazing downward to the seated councilwoman. His features reclaimed the signature stoicism he was renown for throughout Atlas, potentially giving her an impression of the wrong sort.

Ector gingerly clasped the sloping neck of the bottle wherein dwelled the high quality beverage Miss Schnee indulged herself with throughout the meeting with his right, his left supporting its base as he moved forward to refill her glass with more of the acrid drink. It was a gesture that spoke volumes more than words ever could allow, a nonverbal assent to everything she had outlined, a clear statement that he was truly and well interested in what she had to say. However receptive she was to it, the Colonel took the liberty furthermore to replace the bottle, before recouping his composure and peering over the left shoulder towards Liza, his features tense with an underlying message that only she would understand innately. Glancing back to Weiss, she saw a countenance drastically different from the one displayed seconds before.

From Liza's perspective, the sustained silence that descended in the wake of the councilwoman's proposal had to have been like watching a blizzard collide with a firestorm. Like two acts of God, two inexorable forces of nature tempered and contained within the bodies of two relatively young commanding authorities who had the shrewdness to see the world for what it was and the appetite to see it changed by the time they left it. A meeting of the minds, one not content to merely acknowledge the inequable wheel they lived in while ultimately becoming two more spokes in it; but to break the wheel, to wrench the world free of the parasitic claws that had long gripped it in their vices and see it returned to what it always should've been to start with. The only question was if the two were compatible. A blizzard and a firestorm were very different things, after all.

Weiss had many ways of assessing a person's character, but one of the simplest and truest (if among the most archaic) could be found in analyzing their semblance. They were the embodiment of an individual's soul, after all, their core ideals and desires made manifest, and there was often a correlation to be made between someone's strength of spirit and the intrinsic strength of their semblance. Weiss's own was hereditary, but her grasp of it was so strong largely due to a particular affinity with it, a desire to arrange what she saw as a disorganized, chaotic world into an intricate pattern that made sense to her. One that was beautiful to look at. Borous Carnelian was a man who'd spent his entire life avoiding the consequences of his actions, as effortlessly and insurmountably as he avoided the strikes of his foes on the field of battle. Blake Belladonna's, she suspected, was of a similar nature to his, Eve Taurus shaped the spite and acrimony of the world around her into a destructive force she could lash out with, while Yang Xiao Long's was a simple statement of indomitability, the lionheart who would never be conquered or broken down no matter how numerous or heavy the blows life dealt her, but instead became stronger for them.

Those who never discovered their semblance at all were often weak-willed, like the Roman Torchwick of another Remnant, or simply gripped by uncertainty or doubt in some way, their very soul itself shackled and anchored down by some hangup or another. It wasn't a universal truth, but it worked as a sort of loose reference point for Weiss to take into account alongside other factors. For a man like Llewelyn Ector, the relationship between semblance and disposition wasn't terribly difficult to piece together. Like the heiress, he wanted to burn it all down.

And by her assessment, his semblance was just about the only one in all of Atlas that might've been even more obscene than hers.

That was why she was so confident, and why not once during the colonel's prolonged silence did Weiss flinch, squirm, or demonstrate any kind of doubt or regret for the extent to which she'd just tipped her hand to him. The expression on those porcelain features was every bit as smooth and confident as the soldier's own, discerning in how they met his gaze with steeled calm while she awaited his decision. One eyebrow did raise when he stood up, but that was the extent of it, and she neither uncrossed her legs nor made any other kind of movement as she processed his every look and action just as keenly as he had hers. The moment he broke all that tension and started pouring her glass, though, not even she could keep the corners of her lips from quirking upward in a benevolent smile.

"Well-dressed and a gentleman. I might've put a bit more effort into myself if I'd known I'd be entertaining such a charmer this evening, you know."

Weiss herself probably would've admitted that she wasn't the biggest fan of men. It wasn't anything so base as mere bigotry or prejudice, simply an aversion born from repeated and scarring encounters with an example of the gender at its very worst during her most formative years, like a traumatized dog rescued from a fighting ring who couldn't help but feel a bit more on edge around those with deeper voices and larger frames. She recognized it as one of her more inexcusable emotional weaknesses, and like some of her past feelings towards faunus had worked hard to divorce it from her everyday treatment of those pertinent; but it was a bias that lingered in her all the same, and while none of her attempts at romantic liaisons had ever gone terribly well she wouldn't have denied she felt safer in the arms of her own sex. She hadn't cut all those poor, brave little bachelors down so viciously at all those formal events just to be sadistic, after all.

But if she ever did find herself falling for a man? She imagined he probably wouldn't have been terribly dissimilar from this one. Too bad. That dog trainer/bodyguard of his had certainly landed herself a catch.

She alternated between sipping and nursing her glass throughout the rest of the colonel's words, no objection raised to his use of her first name, and with each passing second only grew more assured in her decision of who to trust. Every word that came out of his mouth completely aligned with her own views of the matter, to an even greater extent than she could ever have hoped for based off fleeting impressions of someone she didn't know, and she found herself wearing another faint smile by the time he concluded, sharp mind evaluating her own options. The flattery definitely didn't hurt, either.

Truthfully, she hadn't been entirely sure precisely how deep she wanted to bring the colonel into the fold. Weiss harbored no illusions as to the ethical barrenness of many of her actions in recent months, simply being willing and more than capable of severing such emotional strings for what she saw as the betterment of the world in the long-term. Those holding Remnant under their thumb were lacking in those moral compunctions themselves, after all; it was how they established themselves, how they got ahead in the first place at the expense of others whose softer hearts and kind ways sadly made them easy targets to the morally void. It was the only lesson she actually would've thanked her father for. She wasn't ready to disclose absolutely everything just yet, and there were certainly still a few matters she planned on keeping close to her own chest. But perhaps...

Maybe it would have been more efficient to have a man like this as a confidante, a true ally rather than a tool to deploy the way she had Carnelian. Now that Yang was gone she already found herself missing the candor and openness she'd been able to speak to the girl with, and the thought of someone who truly believed in her and not the image of herself she wanted to project was far from an unappealing one. Even in the most cold, pragmatic terms, friends were more valuable than puppets.



"...Hard decisions indeed. You seem like an open-minded sort, colonel, and I ask that you keep that mind open while you're listening to everything I'm about to disclose to you."

She pursed her lips. A few moments had passed, Weiss's fingers intertwined elegantly on her lap as she held the colonel in her cool gaze and weighed over the options in her mind. Finally, she gave a firm, resolute nod, and took a breath before launching into it from what she saw as the most crucial point.

"I've unearthed a great many conspiracies and secrets during my climb to power in Atlas. One of those secrets concerns the existence of..." She forced a slight scoff out through her nose. "...A man. One who thinks himself a god, though the truth of the matter is he's really not so different from Carnelian, or my father, or any of the other men we were just speaking of. But he is older than all of them put together, and he's very, very powerful. Powerful in ways that defy the imagination, ways that have been lost to our species for so long they're regarded as little more than the stuff of myths and nonsense."

The air in the room seemed to be growing chiller, a few of the candles Weiss had lit flickering in the warmly lit environment.

"Humanity isn't entirely unaware of this man. A cabal of our most esteemed figures; headmistress Salem in Vale, Leonardo Lionheart in Mistral, our own General Ironwood here in Atlas... they took it upon themselves to conceal this man's very existence from the rest of us, even as he lurked in the shadows and gathered strength, building an army of grimm to serve at his beck and call. Arguably a wise choice when it comes to the general populace, because I have no doubt the very nature of this man would cause mass panic across the kingdoms were word of it to spread. But by concealing him from the rest of us? From the elected officials and delegates of the world? They took our ability to defend ourselves from this man away from us. They chose to shoulder that burden themselves, without ever giving the rest of us a say. And having uncovered this conspiracy, having witnessed the fruits of their labors?"

Her lower lip curled, and she made no effort to keep the disdain from her voice as it cut through the silence again decisively.

"There's not a doubt in my mind that they failed. They weren't up to the task, they were unable to do anything more than slow this man down and hold off the inevitable for a few years, and now he's ready to march and we find ourselves left in an extremely compromised position thanks to those 'noble few' and their misguided arrogance. Their conceit in keeping the war they all knew full well was coming hidden away from us, even though they never had a plan to fight that war properly. So I took matters into my own hands. I reached out to this man. I observed him, accumulated my own power, arranged my pieces against him under the pretense of 'preparing' Atlas for his arrival one day. And through a particularly impressive stroke of tactical deftness-"

She smirked in time with her own boast, but it was offset by the sudden cold breeze that swept through the room and snuffed out all the candles even as Weiss withdrew a cigarette from its case and elegantly inserted it between her lips.

"-I've even stolen some of that same breed of ancient power he wields away from him. Right out from under his nose, really. Abilities and artifacts he'd currently be in possession of, or soon would be, were it not for the fact that he saw me as little more than putty in his hands who could be shaped and molded and dominated in accordance to his whims. He's a powerful man, colonel; but in truth? I don't consider him an impressive one."

And what was more? He hadn't even begun to comprehend how badly she was actually going to humble him. How could he? It was the kind of thinking he was entirely incapable of conceiving of, that a species he saw as so far beneath him could actually have grown and prospered enough throughout the ages to finally mobilize and wipe his foul stain of an existence away from the world they shared for good. In her eyes it was just another factor that evened the scales, one that made him weak. That gave her the utmost confidence in herself that he was not unbeatable.

"I won't lie to you and pretend some of the things I did to secure that perception weren't unscrupulous. Nothing overly barbaric-- simply the necessities. But the ones who'd take me to task for them are those same few who dropped this crisis into our laps to begin with, along with their well-meaning but ultimately naive disciples. And all of it was done to ensure that when the day of reckoning finally came? When he arrived, expecting a city I'd already bent and twisted into the ideal shape to receive him? That the kingdom of Atlas would stand prepared to give this pathetic wretch of an existence a fight he never saw coming." She nodded once, firm and assured. "And we do. But the situation has changed. His impulsiveness has gotten the better of him. That day will be upon us sooner than even I was expecting, and we need make certain all of Atlas is prepared. Which is where a man like you comes in."

Despite the tale of ancient horrors and supernatural might she was relating to him, cutting through it with all the clarity and surety of a beam of light was still very much the same fierce and resolute Weiss Schnee who had won the confidence of the people of Atlas to begin with, who'd assured them all she could and would keep them safe against whatever threat was to come. That much had never been a fabrication, and someone as perceptive as the colonel could see it in that moment, plain as day: Weiss Schnee may not have been truthful about everything, but in her heart of hearts she was exactly who she said she was.

She waved a hand.

"But I'm getting ahead of myself, of course. That was only the overview. You asked for everything, and assuming neither of you have anything else to do tonight I'd much rather take it from the beginning. So tell me, colonel..."

Curls of blue light suddenly erupted from the corners of her eyes, and the cigarette she'd readied but never struck anything to light ignited where she held it primly between her lips seemingly of its own accord, tip burning an icy blue.

"...What's your favorite fairy tale?"​

 

[MidwayLives]

When Tyrian busted through the doors, about twenty guns were suddenly pointed at him from the bar, the kitchen, and the upstairs banisters.

Neo barely reacted to all the commotion, a concerted frown on her face as she stared deeply into the glass she'd been drinking out of, already halfway through her second as some sort of realization hit her. Whether she intended to share it or not was lost to time as she turned her head, saw the scorpion faunus not two inches from her face, and just straight up disappeared.

Not for very long though; she reappeared on the other side of the more talkative members of MNE with a deeply suspicious frown that flitted between Tyrian himself and the rest of the bar, clearly expecting someone else to be there.

"Hey..."

Tyrian sat up straight in his chair.

"Were these guys always pointing guns at me???"
​

Neo's suspicion faded somewhat at the mention that team WTCH had parted ways. It in fact disappeared entirely, a small, saddened frown on her face as Tyrian spoke. She came out of a it all a bit more confused than when he started talking instead of the reverse, and she sidled out from behind Emerald and gestured to the side of herself with a questioning head tilt, where a shimmering copy of Eve came into existence, frozen in a power stance with blade ready to strike something or another down.

Tyrian's eyes narrowed and his left arm immediately moved up to prepare to shoot the illusion.

Catching himself at the last minute, Tyrian growled and brought his arm back down.

"Yeah. Her. She rejoined the group apparently and I don't care how many of them I gotta go through..."

His pupils glowed brightly before returning to their normal hue.

"I've got personal business with her."
​

Lupin, for his part, Leaned as far away from Tyrian's appendage as he could without falling off his stool.

"...I'm... I'm Lupin. And these people have unlawfully kidnapped mepleasehelp-"

The tail slowly started to pull back as Tyrian took in what the man had said.

Looking over at Emerald and Mercury...

'Oh yeah.'

Then to Neo...

'No. No way. Too nice.'

To come to the conclusion of...

"Sorry. It's out of my hands. I think she'll treat you the nicest for what it's worth." His stinger curved to point at Neo.
​

"So listen, T-Dog. Not that we're not all happy to see you still kickin' and not completely wacko, seeing as the last time we hung out you were up to like five breakdowns a day, because we are. And if you wanna just hang out, have a drink or two and shoot the breeze, then by all means pick your poison. But no calls to adventure and no drawing us into some deeper conspiracy, okay? We're doing our own thing here."

Tyrian took that...pretty well all things considered.

He didn't rage out like he'd been prone to lately(something Trifa would have mockingly congratulated him on)or deny the comments about his mental health.

Mercury was pretty on point all things considered. His mental health had been on a steep decline since losing his tail to now.

"I'm glad to see you guys too and don't worry. This is my business." Tyrian said while eyeing that drink that Neo had been scarfing down like a hungry little gremlin.

"A...drink? I..." He'd made it a point to not indulge himself around his team but the time in the arena had given him a entrance into the world of alcohol. It helped dull the pain of wounds that hurt just enough to make sleeping difficult but not bad enough that he needed to go see an 'actual' doctor. He didn't wanna fall into that hole again. He'd been one of the few faunus fighting there who hadn't formed a dependency on the good stuff. "...I guess one won't do me any harm. Give me the strongest you've got."

Strong people, strong drinks, y'know.
​

Emerald, meanwhile, had resigned to ignoring Tyrian entirely and was instead boring into the bartender's soul with an aloof, robotic stare that seemed rooted in another reality.

"Yeah, how 'bout we not for even one second consider working with terrorists trying to destroy the four kingdoms and all the people in them or act like there's a universe where that isn't completely retarded? 'Damage our rep'? The hell's wrong with you, lady? Ever hear of being a crook with class?"

As he waited for his drink, Tyrian's tail tensed up at Emerald's words.

Had Fox...Had that bastard been here??? Was it all connected as to why they were in the first place?!

"You."

He gestured to the bartender.

"The Shadow Fang goon that came in here...What did they look like? Did they say where they were going??? What did they want??"

He wouldn't involve Mercury and his friends in his mission. It wasn't their fight and quite frankly the three of them seemed pleased enough with how...whatever they were doing was going so why bother that? If anybody needed to get hurt or injured in his one-er-two person crusade against the Shadow Fang let it be him.​

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

"They'll find their way. I think." Gretchen assured Penny, her left arm situated against her flank in the lumbar region as she attempted to press against a particular crick in her spinal column. A resounding pop ushered relief to her features, a happy sigh concluding with a "Worth it." She fell in line behind Hazel, content to take up their rear while keeping an eye out for the six-o-clock while Hazel squarely fixed himself to the center, claiming the entire circumference of the clock in his roving surveillance.

"I... please do not take this the wrong way Gretchen, but it is not them disappearing forever that has me concerned" Penny said with a small frown hidden behind her Incredibly Devious Disguise as they walked at a brisk pace through the back streets "It is them coming back and doing harm. The Emerald and Neo of Remnant one were part of a small group directly responsible for Beacon falling entirely in Remnant one. Many people died in the attack on Beacon here, but the loss of life in the other Vale was approximately three hundred and eighty five percent worse, and included mr. Ozpin and the fall maiden. They are very dangerous individuals, and I should have been paying much closer attention."

...this Neo just seemed to have a hateboner for every little thing that Cinder did or said. Hell, that might have very well applied to just existing. The teenager didn't know what she'd done to earn such ire, but she knew one thing: it had honestly gotten quite old by this point. Exasperating as heck. And Emerald apparently had a hand in peoples' suffering, which...yeah. So perhaps it was for the best that they chose to leave. "Well, um...if you want, I could talk to Ironwood about it, in your defense?" Cinder offered as she followed the freshly disguised Penny out the door. She didn't want to see Penny punished when she'd only just returned from the dead, as far as the fall maiden was concerned.

"No!"

It was a very emphatic no, and Penny immediately clasped her hands together tightly, her expression still hidden. "Not that I do not think you would do a good *hic* job defusing any anger *hiccup* in a calm manner or anything of the *hic* sort!" she was quick to clarify. "Any frustration the general may feel with me will be justified; I will be okay."

the sidestreets and alleyways eventually took them just before where one joined with a main thouroughfair, a large van idling inside of it. Penny opened the back and gestured inside with a beaming smile for the incredibly basic seating within. "The meeting location is a short distance away, so please take a seat and I will drive us efficiently and safely to our destination!"

 

[MyrtenRose]

"I... please do not take this the wrong way Gretchen, but it is not them disappearing forever that has me concerned" Penny said with a small frown hidden behind her Incredibly Devious Disguise as they walked at a brisk pace through the back streets "It is them coming back and doing harm. The Emerald and Neo of Remnant one were part of a small group directly responsible for Beacon falling entirely in Remnant one. Many people died in the attack on Beacon here, but the loss of life in the other Vale was approximately three hundred and eighty five percent worse, and included mr. Ozpin and the fall maiden. They are very dangerous individuals, and I should have been paying much closer attention."

There it was. She already knew that, having connected the dots once she learned her counterpart in the other Remnant was evil. That if she was fighting for the right side here, and that other her had been fighting for the wrong one there, then the same thing must have applied to Emerald, and Mercury, and all of them. Plus, that Neo had been standing with the other villains back at Haven, she'd seen it personally. But knowing all that, didn't make it any easier to hear it being spoken aloud. Maybe she was being weird about it, but hearing it vocalized made it seem all the more real to her. "Hey, don't blame yourself entirely. I could have been more focused too." Cinder countered, refusing to let Penny shoulder that burden alone.​

"No!"

It was a very emphatic no, and Penny immediately clasped her hands together tightly, her expression still hidden. "Not that I do not think you would do a good *hic* job defusing any anger *hiccup* in a calm manner or anything of the *hic* sort!" she was quick to clarify. "Any frustration the general may feel with me will be justified; I will be okay."

the sidestreets and alleyways eventually took them just before where one joined with a main thouroughfair, a large van idling inside of it. Penny opened the back and gestured inside with a beaming smile for the incredibly basic seating within. "The meeting location is a short distance away, so please take a seat and I will drive us efficiently and safely to our destination!"

"If...if you say so." She conceded, both not wanting to argue with Penny(that just felt so inherently wrong) and also slightly smiling at those hiccups. Adorableness overload. And as soon as they got to their ride, Cinder immediately called dibs. "Shotgun!" The fall maiden scrambled for the corresponding seat.​

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

SHATTER

The Eve likeness handled the sudden advent of Mercury's fist being put through it the same way all Neo's illusions did, crumbling away into a hail of glass-like illusion stuff as Merc sipped his whiskey without looking back over.

"It's actually super lawful and a real job a lot of people do, but also you're clearly in a bar full of criminals so shut up. Hell kind of a name is Lupin anyway?"

Letting the man sit with that message however he liked, he got back to the matter at hand and vaguely waved the scorpion faunus to the next stool down.

"So listen, T-Dog. Not that we're not all happy to see you still kickin' and not completely wacko, seeing as the last time we hung out you were up to like five breakdowns a day and we honestly totally wrote you off as a ticking time bomb, because we are. And if you wanna just hang out, have a drink or two and shoot the breeze, then by all means pick your poison. But no calls to adventure and no drawing us into some deeper conspiracy, okay? We're doing our own thing here."

He motioned to the lady behind the bar again.

"Yo barkeep. Glass him."

She'd know what to do.
​

She did

Or at least she thought she did, until Neo caught the look in her eyes and very gently grabbed the hand that had subtly snatched one of the glasses from under the bar to slowly push it back down and slowly shook her head, bemused.

"Hey..."

Tyrian sat up straight in his chair.

"Were these guys always pointing guns at me???"
​

They were, only just now beginning to reholster the various firearms and go back about their business

Emerald, meanwhile, had resigned to ignoring Tyrian entirely and was instead boring into the bartender's soul with an aloof, robotic stare that seemed rooted in another reality.

"Yeaaaaaaaaah, or how about we not for even one second consider working with terrorists trying to destroy the four kingdoms and all the people in them or act like there's a universe where that isn't completely retarded? 'Damage our rep'? The hell is wrong with you, lady? Ever hear of being a crook with class?"

"Ain't hear no argument from me ma'am" The bartender was quick to reply as she gently tried to tug her hand free of Neo's to no avail. "But the ol' boss did business with em, and seein as you've been the old boss and all, figured I wouldn't wanna burn no bridges."

Tyrian's eyes narrowed and his left arm immediately moved up to prepare to shoot the illusion.

Catching himself at the last minute, Tyrian growled and brought his arm back down.

"Yeah. Her. She rejoined the group apparently and I don't care how many of them I gotta go through..."

His pupils glowed brightly before returning to their normal hue.

"I've got personal business with her."

Neo looked over with an even more baffled frown, a few question marks appearing and shattering over her head with the sound of tinkling glass at Tyrian's immediate reaction, and even more at the news that Eve had joined the Shadow Fang. That... that sounded wrong. It wasn't like her and Eve had any deep conversations or anything, but she'd seemed so.. emphatic about how the shadow fang were in the wrong, and fought so hard against the grimm alongside them in the fight on the train. She'd even given Neo one of the best high fives of her life, even if it had been super fucking awkward.

...Well. It wasn't like the last few months had done anything for Neo's confidence in her abilities to read people. Roman, Cinder... maybe she was just wrong again. Her gaze turned taciturn as she stared down at the bartop, lost in thought. The bartop's wooden swirls seemed to be spinning around each other, and it was making her pleasantly dizzy-

"...Ma'am... c-can i have my hand back yet?"

Oh. She quickly let go, only a little bit offended that this lady sounded so scared of her.

Tyrian took that...pretty well all things considered.

He didn't rage out like he'd been prone to lately(something Trifa would have mockingly congratulated him on)or deny the comments about his mental health.

Mercury was pretty on point all things considered. His mental health had been on a steep decline since losing his tail to now.

"I'm glad to see you guys too and don't worry. This is my business." Tyrian said while eyeing that drink that Neo had been scarfing down like a hungry little gremlin.

"A...drink? I..." He'd made it a point to not indulge himself around his team but the time in the arena had given him a entrance into the world of alcohol. It helped dull the pain of wounds that hurt just enough to make sleeping difficult but not bad enough that he needed to go see an 'actual' doctor. He didn't wanna fall into that hole again. He'd been one of the few faunus fighting there who hadn't formed a dependency on the good stuff. "...I guess one won't do me any harm. Give me the strongest you've got."

Strong people, strong drinks, y'know.

"Ooohhh" The barkeep said, giving Tyrian a quick nod as a veil of understanding draped over her heart as she finally figured out what 'glass him' actually meant. She obliged.

As he waited for his drink, Tyrian's tail tensed up at Emerald's words.

Had Fox...Had that bastard been here??? Was it all connected as to why they were in the first place?!

"You."

He gestured to the bartender.

"The Shadow Fang goon that came in here...What did they look like? Did they say where they were going??? What did they want??"

He wouldn't involve Mercury and his friends in his mission. It wasn't their fight and quite frankly the three of them seemed pleased enough with how...whatever they were doing was going so why bother that? If anybody needed to get hurt or injured in his one-er-two person crusade against the Shadow Fang let it be him.

At the question, a confident frown crossed her face as she picked up Neo's now empty again glass to wipe it out. "ten thousand Lien." she answered, straightforward and professional before her eyes flicked over to the other three. "'Course, if the bosses wanna give you the friends n' family discount, I can knock it down to six thousand."

Lupin almost choked on the handful of peanuts he'd surreptitiously nicked from the bowl without any of them noticing, the only impressive thing he'd done all evening. "T-that's even more than my bounty! I-I mean kidnapping fee- oh whatever. I may be a thief, but you information brokers are the real crooks, that's absurd!"

"Shadowfang's premium information" The bartender replied briskly as she raised an eyebrow at the man. "Nasty enemies to have on your tail, dangerous people to make enemies of, and keep their cards close to the chest. Also-" She said as she jerked her chin at a few of the other workers. "Thanks for remindin me. Boy's, put 'im up in a guest room till the issuer gets here. I'll put the funds in your usual account, ma'ams" She added deferentially "Bit surprised you took a week off just for some bounty huntin though"

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

It had been a weird few days for Yang Xiao Long, because nothing interesting happened.

She hightailed it with Ilia to her secret hideout, and was kinda baffled to see it like... wasn't secret nor a hideout. Sure, they had to come in through the sewer system (which honestly wasn't even that bad; it was almost kind of annoying how clean atlas sewers were compared to the run she had to do down in mantle back in her world), but the hideout was... a hotel room. A pretty slick one even, with a nice view of the Atlas skyline, a bed that looked hella comfortable, and a couch that Yang actually knew for sure was pretty comfortable too. They even had room service. It was... weird.

Unfortunately, she didn't know how exactly she was gonna even get in contact with the resistance people. She wasn't a computer science nerd, but she'd seen enough movies to assume that if Weiss wanted to, she could've made it so her scroll could be used to track Ruby's if she called her straight up. She also couldn't exactly go out on foot and catch up to them, even if Ilia knew where they were, because...

She pulled the curtains aside and peered on the rooftop she'd last seen her. Sure enough, there she was in all her one armed glory. Yang shot her a cheerful smile and a wave, incredibly glad that this time she was just on the rooftop and not clinging to the outside of the window like some terrifying sister shaped arachnid with five too few limbs. Another problem that she didn't wanna bring down on the resistance; one she had a sinking feeling would've been even more dangerous than Weiss' people.

"I think I'm gonna have to take care of her today." Yang said aloud as she pulled the drapes back closed.

 

[MidwayLives]

At the question, a confident frown crossed her face as she picked up Neo's now empty again glass to wipe it out. "ten thousand Lien." she answered, straightforward and professional before her eyes flicked over to the other three. "'Course, if the bosses wanna give you the friends n' family discount, I can knock it down to six thousand."

"What."

Tyrian looked in the pockets of his jacket and found nothing. The same went for his regular pockets.

Where the hell was he supposed to scrounge up ten thousand lien???

'Force her....' 'MAKE' her tell us...' 'She's no threat to us, it'll be easy...'

The idea as tempting as it was as Tyrian's frustrations began to mount, it wasn't viable. If he threatened her then she'd just feed him bullshit until he backed off and it'd only end up getting him in deeper trouble than he already was. Lien just wasn't something that Tyrian tended to hang onto or give much thought to. Fighting to earn a day's pay was how he'd made a living before and since then he was lucky enough to have had a friend like Trifa who actually down a steady job. But he couldn't ask her to drop money for something that she wasn't even that gung-ho on in the first place. She hadn't wanted to go to war with the Shadow Fang and he did.

"UGhhhhhh....."

Tyrian grabbed the glass he'd been given and took a big swig out of it and then placed it back down.

"Agh....I really needed that. Okay, okay, I don't got that much cash on me. Is there anything I can do fto get the money?? Catch guys like this??" His tail pointed to Lupin. "I'll do whatever it takes, I just NEED that information!"​

 

[MidwayLives]

She pulled the curtains aside and peered on the rooftop she'd last seen her. Sure enough, there she was in all her one armed glory. Yang shot her a cheerful smile and a wave, incredibly glad that this time she was just on the rooftop and not clinging to the outside of the window like some terrifying sister shaped arachnid with five too few limbs. Another problem that she didn't wanna bring down on the resistance; one she had a sinking feeling would've been even more dangerous than Weiss' people.

The Masque gladly waved back with the only hand she had. A warm smile met Yang's.

As the time passed by, the Masque hadn't left her spot. She'd gotten hungry every now and again but let the feeling subside after a while. She could always find something to eat later! She wanted to enjoy this for as much as she could! It'd been a hot minute since she'd seen this Yang let alone talked to her! There were times that the Masque wished she could close the distance. To give the hug-or pat on the back rather-that she felt this Yang deserved! The other Yang would have thrown her to the ground and beaten her black and blue at the mere suggestion of a hug.

And the Masque would have loved every second of it.

"Hehehe..."

The difference between the two was practically night and day in her mind. Corrupted by the life she'd lead or not, be it begrudgingly or otherwise she did love her Yang! She was strong, funny, and even beautiful in ways that made the Masque jealous. But she wasn't a good person. Even she could tell you that. This Yang had called her 'sis' and didn't want to fight her! She just wanted to talk! Back then the Masque couldn't quite deal with all the difficult feelings that dredged up! But time in jail had let her come to terms with a few things.

-She missed Maria like crazy. It'd been far too long since somebody had lovingly embraced her and called her 'Masqueykins'
-She had a guardian angel watching over her. The same angel that gifted her the sword strapped to her back. Finished her weapon might have been but wielding it with one arm still wasn't gonna fly. -She had to figure out how to get a replacement arm and fast. The sword was nice and had an edge sharp enough to cleave through the bars of her prison cell! If for some reason Yang and her friend(who was cute as a button by the by!)wanted to fight her, they'd have the advantage for sure! Swords just weren't her thing even after those years spent living among bandits. But she knew in her heart that Yang wouldn't do anything like that! Innocent people could get hurt and that'd be bad!

...For them.

So, no need to worry about something that wasn't likely to happen right? Maria told her that worrying too much would turn your hair grey! Or one of the voices in Maria did. The Masque believed it was the Granny one! She always talked so nicely to her even after the Masque felt she wasn't doing enough for her bestie/Maria's 'daddy'. But there was another more personal reason as to why the Masque had come here. Sitting atop the rooftop, her feet dangling off the edge, she looked up at the sky above.

"Weiss..."

The SDC heiress was among those lucky enough to have gotten a spot among Ozpin's inner circle. She always spoke with such conviction and determination to do what she believed was the right choice to make. The Masque believed in her and she hoped that Ozpin did too. In her own view of the world, Weiss didn't see the Masque as an equal. She was just one of Ozpin's 'creations'-a twisted amalgamation of what a 'good little girl' would have been under somebody like him. Just an idiot who couldn't do anything right. It hurt the Masque every day to feel like she was thought of in such a disheartening manner.

But she didn't care.

She liked Weiss and she was gonna tell her how she felt about her.

Feelings and all.

The idea alone brought a smile to her face.

 

[Gus Gungus]

"Ooohhh" The barkeep said, giving Tyrian a quick nod as a veil of understanding draped over her heart as she finally figured out what 'glass him' actually meant. She obliged.

"What'd you think I meant?! Were you about t'justhithim with the glass?! There wasn't any SETUP for that!" Mercury slurred, sounding a bit... not himself.

"Shadowfang's premium information" The bartender replied briskly as she raised an eyebrow at the man. "Nasty enemies to have on your tail, dangerous people to make enemies of, and keep their cards close to the chest. Also-" She said as she jerked her chin at a few of the other workers. "Thanks for remindin me. Boy's, put 'im up in a guest room till the issuer gets here. I'll put the funds in your usual account, ma'ams" She added deferentially "Bit surprised you took a week off just for some bounty huntin though"

Mercury slowly glanced between Lupin and the barlady, face a mask of hushed awe. Also totally out of it in a way that a 17 year old who just pounded two doubles of whiskey like it was medicine he didn't like the taste of could be. Meaning he was well on his way to actually being like, five times more blasted than Neo was from her fruity grenadine juice.

"Whoooooahhhh, so that's how it works! Cool, cool, cuz I was seriously confused on how we actually, y'know, exchange you for money... But I didn't wanna say nothin'."

He suddenly hopped out of his stool, if only to sloppily shoulder bump Neo out of the way before she could order another drink like he was pretty much totally convinced she was gonna do, having no small amount of experience dealing with alcoholics. And also to indicate he wanted another himself.

"...uh... b'maybe just a beer this time... Ulp."

It might've looked and sounded a lot like he just threw up in his mouth a bit, but nobody could prove it.

Emerald, meanwhile, was still totally commited to the performance despite these idiots sandbagging her, calmly sipping her second cosmo at a far more measured and less stupid pace than her nitwit former teammates. Who she wasn't even a little bit surprised to observe had the tolerance of a couple of teenagers sneaking vodka and OJ at their first school dance. Not after the state Mercury had been in by the end of the ball that one time...

"Can you get them some water and more salty stuff? He's here as a favor to his dad. Neo's totally legal but just has the body weight of one of those orphans from Annie, that's all."

Both were apparently just totally ignoring Tyrian until he chilled out from whatever extremist related vendetta he was into, genuinely not even the slightest bit interested.​

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

The Masque gladly waved back with the only hand she had. A warm smile met Yang's.

As the time passed by, the Masque hadn't left her spot. She'd gotten hungry every now and again but let the feeling subside after a while. She could always find something to eat later! She wanted to enjoy this for as much as she could! It'd been a hot minute since she'd seen this Yang let alone talked to her! There were times that the Masque wished she could close the distance. To give the hug-or pat on the back rather-that she felt this Yang deserved! The other Yang would have thrown her to the ground and beaten her black and blue at the mere suggestion of a hug.

And the Masque would have loved every second of it.

"Hehehe..."

The difference between the two was practically night and day in her mind. Corrupted by the life she'd lead or not, be it begrudgingly or otherwise she did love her Yang! She was strong, funny, and even beautiful in ways that made the Masque jealous. But she wasn't a good person. Even she could tell you that. This Yang had called her 'sis' and didn't want to fight her! She just wanted to talk! Back then the Masque couldn't quite deal with all the difficult feelings that dredged up! But time in jail had let her come to terms with a few things.

-She missed Maria like crazy. It'd been far too long since somebody had lovingly embraced her and called her 'Masqueykins'
-She had a guardian angel watching over her. The same angel that gifted her the sword strapped to her back. Finished her weapon might have been but wielding it with one arm still wasn't gonna fly. -She had to figure out how to get a replacement arm and fast. The sword was nice and had an edge sharp enough to cleave through the bars of her prison cell! If for some reason Yang and her friend(who was cute as a button by the by!)wanted to fight her, they'd have the advantage for sure! Swords just weren't her thing even after those years spent living among bandits. But she knew in her heart that Yang wouldn't do anything like that! Innocent people could get hurt and that'd be bad!

...For them.

So, no need to worry about something that wasn't likely to happen right? Maria told her that worrying too much would turn your hair grey! Or one of the voices in Maria did. The Masque believed it was the Granny one! She always talked so nicely to her even after the Masque felt she wasn't doing enough for her bestie/Maria's 'daddy'. But there was another more personal reason as to why the Masque had come here. Sitting atop the rooftop, her feet dangling off the edge, she looked up at the sky above.

"Weiss..."

The SDC heiress was among those lucky enough to have gotten a spot among Ozpin's inner circle. She always spoke with such conviction and determination to do what she believed was the right choice to make. The Masque believed in her and she hoped that Ozpin did too. In her own view of the world, Weiss didn't see the Masque as an equal. She was just one of Ozpin's 'creations'-a twisted amalgamation of what a 'good little girl' would have been under somebody like him. Just an idiot who couldn't do anything right. It hurt the Masque every day to feel like she was thought of in such a disheartening manner.

But she didn't care.

She liked Weiss and she was gonna tell her how she felt about her.

Feelings and all.

The idea alone brought a smile to her face.

An indeterminate amount of time later depending on whether Ilia had any sort of length of conversation with Yang in that hotel room that could be retroactively had before this, The door to the stairs of Ruby's building suddenly slammed open from a violent kick, and Yang strode onto the gravel covering it with a determined, powerful stance.

"RUBY ROSE!"

she paused with a good distance still between them, the chilly Atlas winds whipping through her hair. Her stare was solemn, though without malice, as slowly raised a hand to point at masque.

"I HAVE COME... TO CHALLENGE YOU!"

She let the weight of her words fully settle over Ruby's shoulders, before she equally as slowly raised her other hand to hold up what she had next to her cheek.

"...TO GO FISH!"

It was a deck of cards

 

[MyrtenRose]

"I think I'm gonna have to take care of her today." Yang said aloud as she pulled the drapes back closed.

"Hmmmmmm...NOPE!" Ilia rejected the possibility of Yang doing anything like that, right away, because it was absolutely up to her. She started rattling off the reasons why. "That's not happening. Because one, you punched me in the stomach and kicked me through a wall. Two, you came close to making your freaky armed double attack. Three, you ALMOST brought down some of the Schnee security team thanks to the LOUD explosion of a motorcycle. Four, you stopped me before I could zap our pursuer like I OBVIOUSLY SHOULD HAVE before she could follow us back to my secret hideout, which brings me to Five, that this is now no longer a secret or a hideout thanks to YOU. Six, that applies to more than just the red-clad messed up evil Ruby, assuming Weiss can indeed track you through that arm you stubbornly and stupidly refuse to get rid of. Seven, you HELPED that WEISS like a STUBBORN STUPID GIRL. I could have given her to the resistance and all this would be FINE, but noooooo you just didn't want to USE your HEAD to think at all I guesssssss. Eight, you called out my looks at Eve like that, WHICH WAS NOT ANY OF YOUR BUSINESS." Ilia angrily bounced in the hotel doorway of Yang's separate room inside the expensive and large hotel suite like she was Captain Raymond Holt. "Nine, all this means you OWE me. Like huge. So you are absolutely definitely certainly UNQUESTIONABLY not going to go over to her, because I just said you aren't. You are going to leave her to me. Is that understood?! IS THAT UNDERSTOOD?!" She roared a second time to make sure the silly hot girl got the message.

"Which brings me to...Ten." The chameleon stomped on over to said curtain and ripped it back open, but only slightly. Just enough to poke an eye through and catch a glimpse of the other side.​

The idea alone brought a smile to her face.

"Cute. I'mma zap her."​

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

"Hmmmmmm...NOPE!" Ilia rejected the possibility of Yang doing anything like that, right away, because it was absolutely up to her. She started rattling off the reasons why. "That's not happening. Because one, you punched me in the stomach and kicked me through a wall. Two, you came close to making your freaky armed double attack. Three, you ALMOST brought down some of the Schnee security team thanks to the LOUD explosion of a motorcycle. Four, you stopped me before I could zap our pursuer like I OBVIOUSLY SHOULD HAVE before she could follow us back to my secret hideout, which brings me to Five, that this is now no longer a secret or a hideout thanks to YOU. Six, that applies to more than just the red-clad messed up evil Ruby, assuming Weiss can indeed track you through that arm you stubbornly and stupidly refuse to get rid of. Seven, you HELPED that WEISS like a STUBBORN STUPID GIRL. I could have given her to the resistance and all this would be FINE, but noooooo you just didn't want to USE your HEAD to think at all I guesssssss. Eight, you called out my looks at Eve like that, WHICH WAS NOT ANY OF YOUR BUSINESS." Ilia angrily bounced in the hotel doorway of Yang's separate room inside the expensive and large hotel suite like she was Captain Raymond Holt. "Nine, all this means you OWE me. Like huge. So you are absolutely definitely certainly UNQUESTIONABLY not going to go over to her, because I just said you aren't. You are going to leave her to me. Is that understood?! IS THAT UNDERSTOOD?!" She roared a second time to make sure the silly hot girl got the message.

"Which brings me to...Ten." The chameleon stomped on over to said curtain and ripped it back open, but only slightly. Just enough to poke an eye through and catch a glimpse of the other side.

"I've actually been meaning to ask you about that" Yang replied conversationally towards the whole lecture as she started rifling through one of the drawers in the room. Lotta hotels she'd stayed in before usually had one, but this might've been too fancy "Ah ha!" she beamed as she produced a deck of cards, before she side eyed Ilia with a raised eyebrow.

"How did you afford this place? Like... you were as broke as me when you got here, right? All our savings don't exist here."

 

[MyrtenRose]

"I've actually been meaning to ask you about that" Yang replied conversationally towards the whole lecture as she started rifling through one of the drawers in the room. Lotta hotels she'd stayed in before usually had one, but this might've been too fancy "Ah ha!" she beamed as she produced a deck of cards, before she side eyed Ilia with a raised eyebrow.

"How did you afford this place? Like... you were as broke as me when you got here, right? All our savings don't exist here."

Ilia was already out of sight as the chameleon went on to go zap Ruby. Nevertheless her voice replied from out of sight elsewhere in the hotel suite: "I got a side hustle." Whether a joke or an obvious lie or just plainly true, it was hard to tell. Because she was more focused on going to take care of the Masque.​

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

Ilia was already out of sight as the chameleon went on to go zap Ruby. Nevertheless her voice replied from out of sight elsewhere in the hotel suite: "I got a side hustle." Whether a joke or an obvious lie or just plainly true, it was hard to tell. Because she was more focused on going to take care of the Masque.​

"Hey"

When it was clear that Ilia was actually not just pulling a chuckle gun on Yang and actually thought this was how it was going to go down, the cheeky tone disappeared out of Yang's words as well as she frowned. "Ilia, do not. Since we're doing lists, two things; one, don't underestimate my sister, even my fake one. She's got one arm because she tore the old one off and blew it up so she could escape. She's dangerous, and unlike Weiss she's not gonna go down in one shot." She warned.

The next words were less frustrated and more pleading. "And two, I got questions for her that I can't ask if she's in a shock induced coma. What are you gonna do with her even if you do catch her, turn her into the police? That work for Weiss? who, despite my super clear statement otherwise, you still think works for Ozpin? I guess that's three things, not two, but whatever you know what I meant"

She sidled over to the door and planted her shoulder on it with a frown. "I know people are having a lot of fun playing 'judge the yang' the last few days, but I did get myself out of Weiss' place on my own. I know what I'm doing. Just let me talk to her."

 

[MidwayLives]

An indeterminate amount of time later depending on whether Ilia had any sort of length of conversation with Yang in that hotel room that could be retroactively had before this, The door to the stairs of Ruby's building suddenly slammed open from a violent kick, and Yang strode onto the gravel covering it with a determined, powerful stance.

"RUBY ROSE!"

she paused with a good distance still between them, the chilly Atlas winds whipping through her hair. Her stare was solemn, though without malice, as slowly raised a hand to point at masque.

"I HAVE COME... TO CHALLENGE YOU!"

She let the weight of her words fully settle over Ruby's shoulders, before she equally as slowly raised her other hand to hold up what she had next to her cheek.

The Masque was genuinely startled as Yang appeared and called her by her actual name.

So many people had referred to her as 'The Masque', being addressed as 'Ruby' just felt so...off.

At the mention of a challenge, Masque's smile began to disappear. Had Yang really come over here to fight her? That wasn't what she wanted...

Hopping to her feet, Masque reached for the hilt of her sword and her bottom lip trembled. Why couldn't they just talk like they had before? People were gonna get hurt if they fought and that'd make Yang sad wouldn't it?

Why couldn't they-
​

"...TO GO FISH!"

It was a deck of cards

The Masque's smile returned just as quickly as it'd left.

"Aw Yang!!"

So beside herself with giddiness, Ruby glanced from side to side.

No sign of her friend. So this wasn't some kind of sneak attack to try and knock her out.

She couldn't go back to those cells, she...just couldn't....

No, this Yang wouldn't lie to her....

"I accept your challenge, Yang!"

Granny taught her how to play cards in between fiddling with her prosthetic arm!

But....

The Masque blinked.

"Guess I was daydreaming too hard...."

Nobody on this roof but her and her thoughts.

​

 

[MyrtenRose]

"Hey"

When it was clear that Ilia was actually not just pulling a chuckle gun on Yang and actually thought this was how it was going to go down, the cheeky tone disappeared out of Yang's words as well as she frowned. "Ilia, do not. Since we're doing lists, two things; one, don't underestimate my sister, even my fake one. She's got one arm because she tore the old one off and blew it up so she could escape. She's dangerous, and unlike Weiss she's not gonna go down in one shot." She warned.

"No." Her rebuttal came out in a harsh growl, beyond done with people treating her like she was made of glass, that she wasn't strong enough or tough enough to handle someone younger than she was. She had been a part of the White Fang for a reason!!! She'd had the same sort of training Blake had before the cat faunus had gone to Beacon. She could have gone to Beacon too if she wanted! She wasn't somebody who needed to be protected!

"How about instead, you shut your mouth and not underestimate me?"​

The next words were less frustrated and more pleading. "And two, I got questions for her that I can't ask if she's in a shock induced coma. What are you gonna do with her even if you do catch her, turn her into the police? That work for Weiss? who, despite my super clear statement otherwise, you still think works for Ozpin? I guess that's three things, not two, but whatever you know what I meant"

"Well that's just too darn bad, isn't it? I just gave you a whole list of reasons you owe me, so any questions you got? Too bad, they have to wait. And man are you really, genuinely not thinking? Why would I turn her into the cops? I just told you not so long ago I know where the resistance has been hiding out at. Which by the way, includes several familiar people I think would be interested in having a captive Masque. If you can't even figure that much out on your own...just stay here."​

She sidled over to the door and planted her shoulder on it with a frown. "I know people are having a lot of fun playing 'judge the yang' the last few days, but I did get myself out of Weiss' place on my own. I know what I'm doing. Just let me talk to her."

"Oh yeah? How long that take you?" : |

Despite her words she hadn't moved to exit the hotel suite yet.​

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

"No." Her rebuttal came out in a harsh growl, beyond done with people treating her like she was made of glass, that she wasn't strong enough or tough enough to handle someone younger than she was. She had been a part of the White Fang for a reason!!! She'd had the same sort of training Blake had before the cat faunus had gone to Beacon. She could have gone to Beacon too if she wanted! She wasn't somebody who needed to be protected!

"How about instead, you shut your mouth and not underestimate me?"



"Well that's just too darn bad, isn't it? I just gave you a whole list of reasons you owe me, so any questions you got? Too bad, they have to wait. And man are you really, genuinely not thinking? Why would I turn her into the cops? I just told you not so long ago I know where the resistance has been hiding out at. Which by the way, includes several familiar people I think would be interested in having a captive Masque. If you can't even figure that much out on your own...just stay here."



"Oh yeah? How long that take you?" : |

Despite her words she hadn't moved to exit the hotel suite yet.​

"Way shorter than most prisoners of war, from what I remember from history class." She snarked dryly. Her heart clearly wasn't in it though, and there was a deep huff of air as she glowered in the direction of Ilia's voice.

"...look. You haven't even talked to this Ruby yet. Hell, I don't know if you've ever talked to my real sister. But that big scary monster out there you're in a rush to go kick the ass of is a kid. That you want to attack, in broad daylight, with no questions, or trial, or whatever."

There was a genuine simmer of resentmet to her words as she crossed her arms. "I can understand Weiss. She's an adult, she's made some terrible choices, she's a Schnee. Sure. Fine, I buy the distrust, I get it. But if you actually think you're doing the right thing by attacking some one armed girl who's got a smile like that without even giving her a chance to talk... then maybe you're the one I'm misjudging, Ilia. If that's the case then... good luck with whatever you're going to do. I'm going to talk to my sister, and I don't think I'm coming back here."

She didn't sound even vaguely happy with the words, but she nonetheless turned to open the door and leave


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

he Masque's smile returned just as quickly as it'd left.

"Aw Yang!!"

So beside herself with giddiness, Ruby glanced from side to side.

No sign of her friend. So this wasn't some kind of sneak attack to try and knock her out.

She couldn't go back to those cells, she...just couldn't....

No, this Yang wouldn't lie to her....

"I accept your challenge, Yang!"

Granny taught her how to play cards in between fiddling with her prosthetic arm!

But....

The Masque blinked.

"Guess I was daydreaming too hard...."

Nobody on this roof but her and her thoughts.

Nobody except her reversed fake sister, who eyed her with a moderate amount of concern as she took a few steps closer. "Uhh... you good, sis? Earth to Ruby? Ten four officer Rose, do you copy?"

 

[MidwayLives]

Nobody except her reversed fake sister, who eyed her with a moderate amount of concern as she took a few steps closer. "Uhh... you good, sis? Earth to Ruby? Ten four officer Rose, do you copy?"

"Yang!"

She was actually here! Here she was worried her mind had been messing with her again...

There was so much she wanted to do!! They could play and talk and not have to fight! But first she wanted to address the elephant in the room.

"I...um I'd give you a hug but..."

The Masque gestured to the tied off sleeve of her shirt.

"Sorry..." ​

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

"Yang!"

She was actually here! Here she was worried her mind had been messing with her again...

There was so much she wanted to do!! They could play and talk and not have to fight! But first she wanted to address the elephant in the room.

"I...um I'd give you a hug but..."

The Masque gestured to the tied off sleeve of her shirt.

"Sorry..." ​

T-T

She rolled her eyes and managed to make her smile almost completely hide her heart breaking before she shook her head. "Dunno if you noticed sis, but I'm not exactly rocking the maximum number of limbs either" She replied with a wry grin as she waggled her prosthetic arm. "Which means you don't need to apologize for anything. But it also means I know you're a fool. A FOOL, RUBY ROSE!"

She extended her arm with a smirk, and there was a brief hiss of pressure releasing before it dropped to the ground with a thump, still clutching the cards.

"You only NEED ONE ARM!"

The bold declaration was followed with example as she shot forward to sweep the young rose up in a bone crushing, one armed hug with a nefarious cackle.