Fandom Distorted Mirror [IC]

[MidwayLives]

Against all odds, inexplicably she was still here. Though there was no reply to his calling out, not so much as a whisper or the creaking of any floorboards signifying movement.

"..."

Guess she wasn't in a talkative mood. That was okay, this was all probably just a lot to take in.

"Well, I'm gonna get going but I left some stuff for you on the porch! I'll be back later tonight, okay?"

He paused as he left the bags by the door and started to step off the porch.

"...Have a good night, stranger."

With that done he headed off towards the Boss's Mansion.

At least four automated security cameras swiveled to gaze upon him before he'd even reached the porch.

He knew about the turrets lurking within the bushes. They'd made many a mess of those who tried ignoring Aurora's pleas to not get close to the Boss's abode. It took a while but people eventually got the hint that he was a man who greatly valued his privacy. For whatever the reason might have been, only Aurora and the Boss himself knew for sure. Reaching for his identification he held it up to the cameras.

"Aurora Beige: Access granted"

"Phew..." He could breath a bit easier once he heard the turrets turn away. Pushing the doors open, he promptly locked them behind him and gave a look of scrutiny across the foyer of the mansion. It was meticulously cleaned without a shred of dust in sight. Everything from the staircases to the handrails were polished to the nth degree. There were automated services that the Boss reached out to or had installed when the mansion was first constructed to handle such endeavors, being that he couldn't trust another living soul to not use an opportunity to try and spy on him. Aurora was the sole exception. The boy attempted to do what he could to clean and keep the place in top condition. There were some people that didn't hold positive opinions of the Ashes and for the most part Aurora understood their concerns.

'They're just using Mistral's tragedy to line their own pockets' True in a way he supposed what with the various rackets-er, markets the organization tapped into profits were still being made. But what was the alternative for these people? What would satisfy them? To shut everything down and send everyone home where they'd struggle on how their family would afford their next meal or how they'd pay for things? Every business had a seedy underbelly to it if you looked hard enough and for as much as he praised the good work the Boss and others did for Mistral and the other regions that the Boss had tried tapping into, there was still much that needed to be done.

'They don't care about Mistral or it's people, they only want power.' If he could be honest for just another moment: who didn't want to hold some level of power in society. If you couldn't stand up for yourself or those around you and influence your future, what did you really have? Earthly possessions that won't accompany you into the afterlife, debts that'd haunt you all the way to your grave and beyond, financial and physical concerns. To have any modicum of stability in one's life is in it's own way power. What the Bound Ashes sought to do was enrich Mistral and keep it together but in order to do that, tough decisions need to be made, certain people need to be made examples of, so on and so forth. Life was very rarely pretty if you didn't ignore the hardships that plague everyday people.

'If their Boss cares so much about Mistral, why doesn't he show himself? Who even is he? WHAT is he???' Rumors spread like wildfire from the moment the Boss had first founded the organization, the most ludicrous that Aurora had heard ranged from the Boss actually being a cabal of wealthy socialites from different industries hiding behind an illusive individual moniker known solely as 'The Boss.' Aurora understood people's need to put a face to their concerns, to their praises, to have something to focus on and point to when things were good or things were bad. But if the Boss, reclusive as he was, did everything and more from the comfort of his own home what was the harm? Why set yourself up for potential disappointment if this elusive figure you'd built up in your head with preconceived notions didn't even come close to meeting them?

His opinion?

He'd known the Boss for years. He trusted the Boss's judgement and his decisions full stop. There were lots of people in Mistral who only made it 'dirtier' in Aurora's opinon. They were the ones who treated others like dirt when they were only trying to get through this day and the next, they were the ones who failed to contribute anything of value to society and the Boss simply didn't believe Mistral had a place for them: Alive or dead.

So, it was with great respect and admiration that Aurora did his duties and did them well. Because in his heart of hearts he always knew the Boss would be there for him.

Forever.

~~~

Once he'd traversed the stairs and entered his quarters, the change happened.

Aurora's lean physique grew more defined, more muscular than simply toned. His muscles bulged against the top he'd been wearing. His posture itself seemed completely different as Aurora had tended to favor something of a hunched over approach when he walked. Helped to further perpetuate the image of a physically weak cowardly teenager who believed in his goals but still had a lot to learn and understand about the world around him.

Now?

The man stood straight up without a hint of fear or weakness in his body language. His arms stayed at his side but his hands were clenched and whereas a general air of friendlines and approachability exuded from Aurora, the same couldn't be said here. The aura that radiated now sent a message, a clear enough one at that.

Stay away. If you value your life.

No longer was there a sixteen-seventeen year old boy standing in the mirror.

There was only the man who'd been playing a sickly masquerade.

This was the leader of The Bound Ashes.

Various aliases were used over his career in Mistral's crimeworld but those who worked for him knew him by only one title.

'The Boss.'

Aurora's attire was swapped out for something more fitting of a figure who's very mention alone to his underlings demanded complete and utter respect and loyalty. Aurora's flowing hot pink locks were done up in a manner more suiting a professional and yet despite being within the privacy of his own home, this was a man who couldn't stand in even the light of his own reflection.

The shadows had been where he'd gotten his start as a youth and they were where he'd remain.

A soft gust of wind took up the pile of Aurora's discarded clothes and deposited them into a nearby hamper for washing at a later date. He'd instructed Aurora to call the Hitman Team as soon as he'd leaving his garbage by the wayside for that drunken nothing he'd deigned to bring onto his grounds. He'd chided the boy on it many times, too many to be bothered to recount them all, but his naivety would and had landed him in trouble before. Trouble that could prove potentially irksome given the one fact that he'd deliberately gone out of his way to hide from anyone and anything: That they along with 'Jack' all shared the same body. If one went then they all did. Such was the misfortune of lavishing his privacy and yet needing somebody out there that only he could trust to be his eyes for the outside world. It was an inconvenience but one that he'd learned to live with.

Life was full of speedbumps, large and small, no matter how slow you'd went as you traversed your life you'd end up hitting a couple of them along the way. You didn't let them slow you down no matter how long it took you to get back up. No, rather you did whatever it took to get you back up and moving. Hesitance and laziness were the keys to failure. Act firmly and decisively and deal with the consequences as they rose up.

Marcus Black having a son was one such problem.

The personal lives of his subordinates didn't matter much at all to him. So long as they did what was asked of them and didn't make fools of the organization and by extension him? They were typically free to do what they liked for the most part. Within reason of course. Marcus....was an interesting case. You didn't traverse the underworld like the boy who'd grow up to become 'The Boss' had without trying to learn more about those around you while keeping your own cards close to your chest. Marcus was one of the best and he'd certainly proved it on more than one occasion. To the degree that through a third party of course(through scrolls in this case)the Boss had asked for his services to take care of a few minor nuisances for him rather than deploy the whole Hitman Team to deal with it.

He did.

With prejudice.

More jobs were given to him and he'd completed them all the same. So it was with the slightest hint of caution given what he'd known about Marcus's frightful semblance that he gave him a role as one of his Elite Guards. All while keeping any and all interactions with him to a minimum or through Aurora(who as far as anyone knows simply hadn't unlocked his semblance)as that semblance if turned against the organization or him specifically would be quite the mess to clean up.

As it turned out, it seemed somebody had made sure that wouldn't be a problem.

Marcus quit reporting in, no texts, no visits, nothing.

The other guards weren't surprised. They'd debated trying to kill him themselves as they'd never truly felt the smug bastard belonged among them-the Boss's most loyal servants.

Aurora simply disclosed that Marcus's position would be left closed and he'd be presumed deceased.

"To think all this time you had a son running around. I can only wonder what you said to him." the Boss murmured as he walked over to his desk and pulled out a folder containing files on those he'd taken on as his Elite Guards and even those who'd failed to make the cut(most of whom were dealt with as the 'loose ends' that they were). "Did you brag about your career to him? Or did you mention us only in passing?" He looked over the folder and it's contents intently before slamming it shut.

"....Does your boy have the same potential that I saw in you?"

The thought nearly brought a smile to the crimelord's face but stopped about halfway. He'd already told Aurora how to proceed on that front and he'd taken up enough time to muse things over. There was a visit he needed to make before getting down to business and it needed to be done as himself, not as Aurora. Descending the staircase only after checking the feeds on his security monitors to make sure things were clear, he made his way down to his mansion's basement. The winding staircase in sync with the ebbing darkness only further served to mask the Boss in shadows as he walked down until he reached a metal door with a keypad installed on the wall beside it.

Inputting the code was simple enough and with a beep of authenticity, the door's lock gave way and the Boss pulled it open. Stepping inside and pulling it shut behind him, he settled in on a nearby couch and clasped his hands together. The room was plain enough with grey bricks lining the walls and the couch he was sitting on the only piece of furniture present within the room. It was also cold enough that when the Boss deigned to speak, his breath could be seen.

The woman blindfolded and chained up in the center of the room couldn't see it, however. She could only shiver and whimper. Various cuts of differing sizes were scattered along her body and teeth marks lined her bare shoulders and thighs, her attire torn up as it was.

"How are you enduring?"

No 'how are you doing?' 'are you ok?' 'do you need anything?

He addressed the obvious prisoner with about as much as care as a human being would give to an ant when they nearly crushed it underfoot.

The woman shivered and coughed. Her voice came out as hoarse and weak.

"Please....Let me go-"

"No."

She struggled against her chains in frustration at his quickness to shut down and trample upon her hopes.

"Why...Why are you doing this...? I told you I'm not with the Shadow Fang....I don't have anything to give you..."

"No. You told him that and he didn't care and neither do I for that matter. The Shadow Fang are deplorable terrorists who follow their leader as willingly as a cult would follow their master off a cliff's edge. It's absolutely pathetic but what can you expect from a bunch of uncivilized animals?" The gangster waved off the notion of the faunus organization being on the same level of reasoning as humans like him with such a casual air to it, you'd swear he'd been joking.

But he wasn't, not by any degree.

"Still, they keep to their business and I keep to mine. An unspoken of agreement if you will. I'd not go as far as to say a gentleman's agreement given...." He let that statement hang, his implication of distaste for faunus in general clear enough. "I've no interest in capturing one of their own. It'd only invite a headache and one I'm in no mindset to entertain. That also isn't why he took an interest in you."

"....What?"

"He spotted you and your friend from the moment you stalked around Mistral on your task to...seemingly harass and make nuisances of yourself in the local community. In his admittedly twisted mindset the two of you were beautiful. Not in the same way you or I'd view something as beautiful of course but rather in a more possessive manner. You and your friend were his to do with as he wished from the moment he laid eyes upon you. To fufiil whatever urges crawled inside his head. If it's any consolation he'd have taken both of you if your friend was around."

Trifa for her part had dealt with all kinds of terrible situations. From seeing the poor life choices her fellow fighters had been forced to make while in the fight club, to having to gun down one of her own kind after he'd murdered her father, to some clients getting a bit too handsy. But this was absolutely on a whole other level. This...This guy, the one who'd captured her and beaten her to within an inch of her life right outside her motel room didn't desire any of the usual vices that she'd seen consume many a man. He just wanted her and Tyrian to reach the sick desires locked up in his screwed up head. The wounds lining her body were proof enough of that.

"Please....You...You talk about him as if you know him...Can't you convince him to let me go?"

The Boss didn't respond right away.

"Please! I won't tell anyone! We'll leave town and nobody will know!-"

"That's enough."

Trifa whimpered and went silent.

"I do know him. He's a deplorable degenerate that I could honestly do without."

"So??! Why won't you help me you son of a bitch!?"

"Because he's a useful tool. Anybody that needs to be disposed of? He does it. Anybody I need disappeared on the fly? He does it without a second thought. I can't speak as to whether or not he'll kill you but all I can ask of you for now is a favor." Trifa could hear him rising to his feet. "Just....endure this for a little longer. Soon you'll grow numb and then it'll be as if you don't want to leave. Goodbye."

"Wait...Wait!! Please don't leave me!!!"

The Boss said nothing, ignoring Trifa's pleas as he opened up the door.

"You won't be alone for long."

"....Wha-What...?"

"He wants your friend too and he knows where he's at."

That was all he said and as Trifa's screams echoed in her room, he paid it little mind.

Aurora had some meetings to make.​

 

[MyrtenRose]

Penny's eyes suddenly lit up like bright green flashlights and scanned down the length of Yang's arm. "No bugs detected! Miss Yang Xiao Long is clear. Now, to your sister! She will be so glad to see you unharmed, I can't wait to relieve her of this point of stress!" She continued as she loosened her grip to get a more stable one around Yang's back

"Wait but what aboueeEEEET-"

Penny's thrusters kicked in before Yang got more than a syllable into that sentence, and the pair quite literally rocketed back towards the mine.

"..."

Well that was something. Raven leaned over, grabbed the wheelchair she had been cursed to use for the time being, and threw it out of the truck towards the snow. Yet it didn't land on the snow itself, as a sturdy layer of ice found itself formed atop the snow thanks to her magic, giving the wheelchair a more stable ground to rest on. Raven clambered down in extra cautious slowness to drop into the chair and as soon as she did, more ice formed by her. It gave the maiden a path to slide along and follow after Penny and Yang, albeit nowhere near as swiftly. "James. Winter." She greeted politely enough when she passed them by.

Ilia was the last to get out, and it was with a profound sense of trepidation that the chameleon faunus approached the much larger man. "General Ironwood?" She questioned with a shaky voice. "You're in charge here, right?"​

 

[MyrtenRose]

"..."

Guess she wasn't in a talkative mood. That was okay, this was all probably just a lot to take in.

"Well, I'm gonna get going but I left some stuff for you on the porch! I'll be back later tonight, okay?"

He paused as he left the bags by the door and started to step off the porch.

"...Have a good night, stranger."

With that done he headed off towards the Boss's Mansion.

A few minutes passed in complete silence as she waited, making absolutely sure that he was gone before she did anything. Once she was certain of that, she finally poked her head out and looked over at the bags. An eyebrow raised before she strode over to them. Clothes in a few of them, definitely seemed more her style. Functional too, no dresses or anything like that. Sure beat the hell out of a lot of the stuff back there in that closet. There was some candy in one of the bags, definitely a good snack for on the road. "...Okay then." She stared at the envelope she'd just pulled out of another. There had to be more than a thousand's worth of lien in there. "Well now I'm gonna feel bad. Slightly." Vernal muttered as she slipped on a pair of trousers over the boxers she had on, and a dark grey vest to go over the tank top followed by a pair of boots. That done, she went over the last bag--

"...Really?"

The expensive bottle of mistralian wine she slid into another bag, but the random bouquet of flowers just got tossed aside to the ground. The fuck was that about? She shook her head and shrugged before stepping back inside with that now empty last bag. The former maiden was careful to step around the few pools of vomit she'd accidentally left around(little too much to drink) and approached the counter, where she had set a few of the more valuable things she thought might sell well at a pawn shop or the like. Enough to get her back on her feet and out of Mistral. Book passage...somewhere. All the items on that counter got swept into that empty bag before she strode on out of the place, grabbing the other bags too.

And with that done she just went to go walk on out of here to leave the whole place behind. Though she did leave a little thank you post-it note on the door. Some courtesy, at least. Now I just gotta find the right pawn shop to sell to, or a fence on the street who'll buy hot goods. Her eyes glanced upwards as her face scrunched up. If I remember right, Malachite's the one who knows her way around this city. If anybody knew the best buyers on the street, it'd be her. Or hell, maybe she'd buy direct. That'd be a life-saver. ​

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

Eve Taurus was a hero

That was what was whispered through the halls of Tengu when the Bull talon was brought up. It was a complete one-eighty from her reputation not two months before. There was already a simmering resentment towards her after the split; no matter how much the High leader publically preached that she and the brothers and sisters that left with her were free to walk their own path towards justice for the faunus, the whispers going through the castle then had been of treachery and betrayal, a belief that boiled to a roiling hatred when the White Fang struck during the attack at Beacon. Her name was spat with the same vitriol as Weiss Fucking Schnee herself, and only The Hand’s insistence that she handle the White Fang general stayed the hand of countless faunus who wanted the glory such a kill would bring.

It was startlingly how quickly the wyrm of the rumor mill had turned in her favor, though perhaps not unsurprisingly. The memories of what she’d done for the White Fang when it was still whole had never left the zeitgeist; the anger pointed at her before was the to the level that only a betrayal of a hero could bring, and as the whispers continued through Tengu’s ever quiet halls, the idea that she might return was already circling after the first day she was imprisoned. A vain hope for the return of the savior, the sort of silliness that should’ve stayed in fairy tales, yet the words took a stubborn root in the Shadow Fang’s collective consciousness, and that was the reason Eve didn’t find a knife slipped between her ribs on that first mission. As her successes continued, the whispers grew louder and multiplied, right up until the day she received her new mask.

Eve Taurus; the hero reborn. A warrior who fell from the path and saw just how hopeless trying to fight alongside the humans was. A noble soul who realized where her true place was and climbed back out of the false light to fight alongside them in the warmth of the shadow. An example that every faunus could be redeemed. The trust was not, perhaps, all consuming; she’d fallen once, and the enemy was insidious in its twisted morals and honeyed words. But her presence lifted morale, and emboldened those among their number who had been shaken by the White Fang turning against them that they had made the right choice in staying with the Shadow. Even her unaffected and solitary demeanor was extolled as a virtue; a form of meditation or perhaps self penance put upon herself by her heroic nature.

It was all bullshit.

Ilia knew it was. She knew E- no, Taurus better than most; she may not have been as tangled up in Sienna’s dealings as the duo of Taurus and Blake, but all three of them had been close friends. She’d seen the weaknesses of Eve Taurus’ heart, just as the other two had seen hers. And there was no way the stubborn bull had just let go of the hatred for Sienna and the fang she’d seen in her through Blake’s eyes. She could actually could believe that everyone else was buying it; she could see Snake’s fingerprints all through the rumor mill, doing her job, but Ilia also could believe that Lucie and Sienna were underestimating just how dangerous the ticking time bomb they’d invited to their table was.

That's why she wasn’t going to let it just happen, and why when Eve came back from some trip from her tower, the door was gently pushed shut behind her without her input, Ilia leaning against the wall behind it as her skin shifted back to its normal colors.

“Kinda tired of you avoiding me, Eve.”

 

[Gus Gungus]

Ilia was the last to get out, and it was with a profound sense of trepidation that the chameleon faunus approached the much larger man. "General Ironwood?" She questioned with a shaky voice. "You're in charge here, right?"

"It's Ilia, isn't it?"

It may have come as a surprise to the young faunus that Ironwood recognized her on sight, though it probably shouldn't have been too much of one. She was speaking to someone who had once held the highest ranking clearance in the Atlesian military, and spent the last several years of his career quashing attempts by the White Fang and its derivatives to establish proper footings in Solitas.

What he said next, however, may have been somewhat more surprising.

"I've been informed of the situation you may be facing. Penny's father is the highest authority on aura in Remnant; if anyone may be able to assist you, it's him. I'll have you brought to his workstation."

Thank goodness for unlikely allies in unlikely times, and the fact that letters would always be a viable mode of long distance communication.

---





A delivery of that promise, some more harrowing Penny manhandling, and one very comprehensive account of the no-less-harrowing events experienced by the other Remnant's Yang Xiao Long since the night this one lost worldwide communication later, the green glow around her aura at its point of contact with Robyn faded as she was—So to speak—released from oath. No detail had been spared, the sole piece of ambiguous wording employed being the precise nature of the 'altercation' with her own world's Ilia Amitola on the night she attempted to take Weiss into her custody; beyond that, every act and experience had been related with total sincerity, validated by Robyn's own means of determining the truth. The revelation that Weiss had her own agenda. That she saw Ozpin as a means to an end. The chip, how the councilwoman had toyed with and deprived Yang of her aura for the full month and a half. The strange kindness she showed despite Yang in spite of that and the genuine rapport the two young women appeared to have built. Her own perception of the night of her failed rescue, shedding further light as to the outcome of her encounter with the perpetrator of the Argus base massacre that Qrow had witnessed the beginnings of, a wrinkle in the story that had troubled the former general ever since. It didn't stop there; She further detailed her release, how the moment Weiss finally saw what she was doing to Yang as veering from necessity into cruelty she had let her go, and the subsequent encounter with two of Ozpin's deadliest enforcers. Including the rather... unsettling nature of the one with her own counterpart.

It was a long story. One heard by just about everybody present in the resistance who elected to respond to his intercom notice, since clearly he hadn't been wrong on his inkling that the intel she gleaned could've proven pertinent to them all. They were all packed into the foreman's office the former general had claimed as his own, which couldn't have made it any easier for Yang to relate every excruciating detail of the story with all those eyes on her. Ironwood encapsulated his feelings on it once she was finished in the form of a tersely sympathetic sigh through his nose, opening his eyes from where they'd drifted shut halfway through and regarding the young huntress with a newfound, genuine respect.

"Qrow spoke very highly of you to me. To anyone who'd listen, really. Now that I'm finally meeting you properly, I can see why. I'm tired just from hearing that story."

Not for the first time, it occurred to him that the two had, in fact, technically had two prior encounters of the fleeting—and portal facilitated—kind. Far too much had been going on, just about all of it terrible, to get an accurate measure of her either time. He was fairly certain he had one of her now, and with his own deep-rooted paranoia of Ozpin and the unknowable forces he held dominion over one aspect in particular leapt out.

"...Your encounter with your other self paints a troubling picture. I'm... very sorry you had to go through that." She had been brave during her account of it, but he knew how he'd be feeling if he had come face to face with a version of himself that unhinged and depraved. "There's no official record of her birth. Prior to your arrival no one was even sure of her name. But what you've described... coupled with some other recent accounts of her activity throughout the kingdom, it's completely inconsistent with every prior psychological pattern we had. Something... very disturbing appears to be happening to her."

Winter, having stood at attention near her general and bored two holes in Yang with those sharp blue eyes for just about every second of that report, wasted little time chiming in and making her feelings heard as she whirled her gaze around on him. "Sir, forgive me, but I hardly see how that's the biggest takeaway. Weren't you listening? If what this girl says is accurate—and we just verified it is—then that makes this entire conflict pointless, we can—"

"Winter."

There was a slight note of desperation to her voice that neither Yang nor anyone familiar with the incarnation of Weiss's older sister from Remnant One could ever quite recall placing on the military woman. "—If you just let me talk to her—"

His voice was a bit more steely as he cut off her insubordination before it could go any further. "She doesn't want to talk to you."



"...But she..."

The look on who he had long considered his best and most loyal operative's face had him deliver a contrite sigh as she trailed off, and he went on in a kinder tone. "...I'm sorry, Winter. I know it was the first time she reached out to you in years. I know you think there was something more to that than mere scheming, that the depth of her involvement with Ozpin had her scared. In light of what we just learned, maybe that's true, I don't know. But what you have to accept is that she never forgave you. She used you, both to undermine me and determine the location of Fria, and when she was done chewing you up she spat you out again when she had no further use for you. I spoke to her several times while imprisoned; she was quite forthcoming about that much. You did everything she wanted you to do, without fail. Again, I'm sorry, but you need to hear this. You just... can't be trusted as a judge of her character. Not an unbiased one."

The look on that normally disciplined face at the severity of that dressing-down was heartbreakingly crestfallen, but she bit her lip and slowly turned back around to face forward again, her sole response given in a much quieter voice. "Sir."

"Which leads me to my next point." His eyes turned back to Yang, and while still respectful there was something close to skepticism in them as he contemplated quietly. "...Winter may be familiar with who Weiss Schnee was once, but I've become extremely acquainted with the woman she became. Psychological manipulation is her bread and butter, miss Xiao Long. I'm not questioning your own intelligence or hardiness, but... we're talking about a woman who seized control of an entire kingdom and has its civilian populace thanking her for it. Who successfully conned Ozpin into making her his chosen Winter Maiden, and now withholds two relics from him behind a safeguard of the most powerful military in the entire world. With her recent actions and some context courtesy of Winter, I'm inclined believe she may have been involved in the disappearance of her father several years ago. She would've been... seventeen when she did that. By her eighteenth birthday, she had complete control over all his holdings."

Winter's posture had noticably stiffened during that last part. There was nothing stern or castigating about the tone the ex-general took with her, but neither was it a tone that minced any words.

"There's simply no way a nineteen-year-old huntress has ever been exposed to such an intelligent and calculating mind over such an extended period. You don't have the experience necessary to evaluate whatever psychological toll someone like that may have taken on you. I'm not trying to undermine your abilities or anything you've told us, it's just facts; not to mention she already had some rather glaring weak points to exploit in the form of your obvious sentiment for your own teammates. Your mother and uncle both expressed concern that you may have... 'gone native', so to speak, and you have to admit it's hard to blame them. Are you aware of what Stockholm syndrome is, miss Xiao Long? Can you really be so sure that there isn't something here you're missing, that she may even have wanted you to come here and paint this sympathetic view of her to us? Please remember that people's lives and wellbeing are the chips you'll be gambling with before giving your answer. That's what she does. She gets people to sympathize; to empathize. I'm not so sure she's done either of those things herself in a very long time. Whatever we may think of that, you can't deny her her results."

He let his fingers steeple on the desk before him.

"...Robyn may have verified that you believe everything you just told us, but that doesn't offer any verification of its objective accuracy. What you're proposing is we put this conflict aside and attempt to broker some form of an alliance with her, but I can't help but point out that Weiss Schnee is unbelievably dangerous in her own right. She's committed a litany of serious felonies, regardless of where her true allegiances lie. Conspiracy to unravel the kingdoms as we know them, to incite war. And let's not forget how she empowered a madman. She has a demonstrated history of lying, of betraying allies. It all just seems..."



"...Risky. Yeah. Let's go with that. So I'm not really sure what to make of it, honestly."

His gaze roved over towards the back of the room, across those gathered.

"What I do know is that leaving such crucial decisions in the hands of a select few behind closed doors is what landed my kingdom in the mess it's in to start with. That's why I'd like to make this open forum. I'm sure everyone here has valuable insight or a point of view to share, and to anyone willing to I'd like to encourage it. Whatever our approach is toward the councilwoman from here, we'll come to that conclusion together."

However briefly, his eyes flickered over towards Winter and then back again before she noticed.

"And everyone gets a say. All of you can speak freely, but please. One at a time."​

 

[Gus Gungus]

Eve Taurus was a hero

That was what was whispered through the halls of Tengu when the Bull talon was brought up. It was a complete one-eighty from her reputation not two months before. There was already a simmering resentment towards her after the split; no matter how much the High leader publically preached that she and the brothers and sisters that left with her were free to walk their own path towards justice for the faunus, the whispers going through the castle then had been of treachery and betrayal, a belief that boiled to a roiling hatred when the White Fang struck during the attack at Beacon. Her name was spat with the same vitriol as Weiss Fucking Schnee herself, and only The Hand’s insistence that she handle the White Fang general stayed the hand of countless faunus who wanted the glory such a kill would bring.

It was startlingly how quickly the wyrm of the rumor mill had turned in her favor, though perhaps not unsurprisingly. The memories of what she’d done for the White Fang when it was still whole had never left the zeitgeist; the anger pointed at her before was the to the level that only a betrayal of a hero could bring, and as the whispers continued through Tengu’s ever quiet halls, the idea that she might return was already circling after the first day she was imprisoned. A vain hope for the return of the savior, the sort of silliness that should’ve stayed in fairy tales, yet the words took a stubborn root in the Shadow Fang’s collective consciousness, and that was the reason Eve didn’t find a knife slipped between her ribs on that first mission. As her successes continued, the whispers grew louder and multiplied, right up until the day she received her new mask.

Eve Taurus; the hero reborn. A warrior who fell from the path and saw just how hopeless trying to fight alongside the humans was. A noble soul who realized where her true place was and climbed back out of the false light to fight alongside them in the warmth of the shadow. An example that every faunus could be redeemed. The trust was not, perhaps, all consuming; she’d fallen once, and the enemy was insidious in its twisted morals and honeyed words. But her presence lifted morale, and emboldened those among their number who had been shaken by the White Fang turning against them that they had made the right choice in staying with the Shadow. Even her unaffected and solitary demeanor was extolled as a virtue; a form of meditation or perhaps self penance put upon herself by her heroic nature.

It was all bullshit.

Ilia knew it was. She knew E- no, Taurus better than most; she may not have been as tangled up in Sienna’s dealings as the duo of Taurus and Blake, but all three of them had been close friends. She’d seen the weaknesses of Eve Taurus’ heart, just as the other two had seen hers. And there was no way the stubborn bull had just let go of the hatred for Sienna and the fang she’d seen in her through Blake’s eyes. She could actually could believe that everyone else was buying it; she could see Snake’s fingerprints all through the rumor mill, doing her job, but Ilia also could believe that Lucie and Sienna were underestimating just how dangerous the ticking time bomb they’d invited to their table was.

That's why she wasn’t going to let it just happen, and why when Eve came back from some trip from her tower, the door was gently pushed shut behind her without her input, Ilia leaning against the wall behind it as her skin shifted back to its normal colors.

“Kinda tired of you avoiding me, Eve.”

Eve didn't feel like a hero.

But then, she was starting to think maybe she was wrong for ever having done so in the first place. The rumors and whispers Snake helped propagate only served to remind her of that, everywhere she turned, in the eyes of every faunus who were starting to look at her the way they once did again. The way they had when she was seen as the savior of the faunus, their protector, their sword in the darkness. The champion of a righteous cause.

It... it was bullshit. It was painful how obvious that seemed to her now, after everything, after what she'd stood by and watched the love of her life become surrounded by these people, all of them validating her, all of them playing into this ideal that she was some kind of reckoning for the humans. That she was anything other than a screwed up little girl who had been affirmed, glorified, and lionized so much that she honestly didn't even know if there was any kind of a way through anymore, if there was even a hope of her ever being truly important in her eyes again. That didn't mean she was going to stop trying, though, even if currently her efforts to drum up some kind of significance in her old partner's eyes and an actual regard for her approval again amounted to the most hilariously petty hot-and-cold treatment imaginable after everything they had been through in recent months. The events of the last two specifically had only served to crystallize one thing in her wild, angry, and confused mind, a thought that disturbed her more and more the longer she spent here.

Blake wasn't a reckoning. This wasn't any kind of a righteous cause. These were just a bunch of angry, messed up people indulging each other.

And for better or worse, she was a part of that now. She didn't know where else to go, what else she could do, she couldn't... she couldn't keep away from her.

So here she stayed. She did everything she was told, and did it well. But there was something different about Eve Taurus, something Sienna and Lucie's reach couldn't quite erase, even if her sheer competence in this type of work more than made up for it. She wasn't... glorious anymore. She didn't bask in the glory or adulation of her fellow faunus; she shrank away from it. Everyone knew she had always been standoffish, but where once she stood among her brothers and sisters and drank in the praise after every successful assignment... now, outside of what the missions necessitated, she hardly said a word to anyone. She just wanted to go to her tower and be alone.

Suffice to say, anyone who put themselves in the way of that was clearly either extremely brave or had something on their mind. Generally, she didn't care which.

It was up to Ilia to decide which category she more identified with as Eve stood there, her stalker's stride into the room supplanted by a posture that was very, very still. If Ilia weren't so familiar with her, the sensation wouldn't have been too far removed from that of the hunter who wandered too far into the lion's den. Who had disturbed it, and who now found themselves on precariously thin ice as its entire bearing fell to an eerie, watchful calm. The stance of a predator who hadn't quite decided how to respond to such an intrusion yet. Who was waiting for a show of weakness.

"Know what I'm tired of?"

Her voice was scratchy and unforgiving, even if it didn't quite have the anger she reserved for enemies. A gloved hand slowly went up, removed the stupid fucking overly exalted mask they all seemed to think was enough to make them important, and tossed it over onto her bedside table with a loud clatter like it was something she'd picked up from a gift shop.

She turned, and there was something dark about the intent she started striding towards Ilia with, pace slow, measured, and completely unconcerned with whatever the hell this was supposed to be as she let it carry her all the way up to Ilia's face in a show of predatory aggression.

"I'm tired of people with your face thinking they're important to me somehow. Well, guess what? I'm avoiding everybody. You're not special. You're just some kid who idolized me a few years ago snooping around my room. So let me ask you this one time, and you better think carefully about your answer. What the hell do you want?"​

 

[MyrtenRose]

"It's Ilia, isn't it?"

It may have come as a surprise to the young faunus that Ironwood recognized her on sight, though it probably shouldn't have been too much of one. She was speaking to someone who had once held the highest ranking clearance in the Atlesian military, and spent the last several years of his career quashing attempts by the White Fang and its derivatives to establish proper footings in Solitas.

What he said next, however, may have been somewhat more surprising.

"I've been informed of the situation you may be facing. Penny's father is the highest authority on aura in Remnant; if anyone may be able to assist you, it's him. I'll have you brought to his workstation."

Thank goodness for unlikely allies in unlikely times, and the fact that letters would always be a viable mode of long distance communication.

"I...yes that's me, and...well, thanks for that but there's more that--" And he was already walking away. "...okay, guess I'll bring it up later." Ilia had commented to herself at the time. Much later, with Ilia among the group after all had been laid out in the open before her like that? It really seemed to her like holding off on the whole 'the Shadow Fang want to meet' thing was the right call to make. At least until all was said on this particular topic. After all this was done, that was probably the best time to talk about that.​

Winter, having stood at attention near her general and bored two holes in Yang with those sharp blue eyes for just about every second of that report, wasted little time chiming in and making her feelings heard as she whirled her gaze around on him. "Sir, forgive me, but I hardly see how that's the biggest takeaway. Weren't you listening? If what this girl says is accurate—and we just verified it is—then that makes this entire conflict pointless, we can—"

"Winter."

There was a slight note of desperation to her voice that neither Yang nor anyone familiar with the incarnation of Weiss's older sister from Remnant One could ever quite recall placing on the military woman. "—If you just let me talk to her—"

His voice was a bit more steely as he cut off her insubordination before it could go any further. "She doesn't want to talk to you."

"...But she..."

The look on who he had long considered his best and most loyal operative's face had him deliver a contrite sigh as she trailed off, and he went on in a kinder tone. "...I'm sorry, Winter. I know it was the first time she reached out to you in years. I know you think there was something more to that than mere scheming, that the depth of her involvement with Ozpin had her scared. In light of what we just learned, maybe that's true, I don't know. But what you have to accept is that she never forgave you. She used you, both to undermine me and determine the location of Fria, and when she was done chewing you up she spat you out again when she had no further use for you. I spoke to her several times while imprisoned; she was quite forthcoming about that much. You did everything she wanted you to do, without fail. Again, I'm sorry, but you need to hear this. You just... can't be trusted as a judge of her character. Not an unbiased one."

The look on that normally disciplined face at the severity of that dressing-down was heartbreakingly crestfallen, but she bit her lip and slowly turned back around to face forward again, her sole response given in a much quieter voice. "Sir."

There was a look of sympathy on Robyn's face throughout the entirety of that exchange between the former general and his most valued specialist, but it was kept to just that. The leader of the small pack of anti-authority huntresses didn't say a single word in regards to that. The complicated relationship between the two Schnee sisters, it didn't seem like her place to comment on or say anything about really. Though she did, if Winter allowed, moved to rest a hand on her shoulder, nothing more than a gesture meant to give some degree of solace to this...troublesome situation.

The young fall maiden, her face looked just as much sympathetic as Robyn's, if not more so. She knew well how it felt to have manipulative and or downright cruel people among your family, but the sympathetic look on Cinder's face was little more than a brief flash of emotion before her head lowered slightly, eye gazing downcast.

She'd missed a hell of a lot. So much had gone on...if she'd been here in Atlas at the time of some of it, maybe it could have been different. Perhaps sticking with Arthur could have gotten her into Atlas sooner, and if she had, then...well, it seemed from the sounds of that cellar conflict that they had needed a maiden of their own to help. She was still learning, and she had no delusions that she would have matched up to the older Winter Maiden alone. By herself, that would only, inevitably, end one way. But with all those people, and her magic and even her semblance lending itself to fighting against ice and unfreezing those ice sculptures some of them had been turned into, then maybe...

But there was no point dwelling too long, focusing too hard on what ifs. She couldn't go back and change the past.

Her face scrunched up as she fell into deep thought, trying to think about how best to say what she was feeling. In her silence, another spoke up.​

"...Robyn may have verified that you believe everything you just told us, but that doesn't offer any verification of its objective accuracy. What you're proposing is we put this conflict aside and attempt to broker some form of an alliance with her, but I can't help but point out that Weiss Schnee is unbelievably dangerous in her own right. She's committed a litany of serious felonies, regardless of where her true allegiances lie. Conspiracy to unravel the kingdoms as we know them, to incite war. And let's not forget how she empowered a madman. She has a demonstrated history of lying, of betraying allies. It all just seems..."

"...Risky. Yeah. Let's go with that. So I'm not really sure what to make of it, honestly."

"Um...if I'm really allowed to speak, then...I would advise you not to do so. Maybe Yang saw a different side to this Weiss than I have, but the side I saw, it didn't suggest that you allying with her is a good idea. A truly good person doesn't take a seat at that guy's table, not in my eyes. I was there, I saw that seat. I saw all of them. Er...yeah, if any of you guys didn't know already, I...I've seen some of Ozpin's castle. Weiss took me as a prisoner there when she manipulated her way into setting Blake free. A chain of events that gave Ozpin back one of his agents and allowed for the destruction of Haven's CCT. Long con or not, that is on her hands." ​

"...Your encounter with your other self paints a troubling picture. I'm... very sorry you had to go through that." She had been brave during her account of it, but he knew how he'd be feeling if he had come face to face with a version of himself that unhinged and depraved. "There's no official record of her birth. Prior to your arrival no one was even sure of her name. But what you've described... coupled with some other recent accounts of her activity throughout the kingdom, it's completely inconsistent with every prior psychological pattern we had. Something... very disturbing appears to be happening to her."

Now that she was over the initial shocked surprise that she'd experienced when Yang first shared that bit of news, the wheelchair bound Raven expressed only furious disgust with this other Yang. Her counterpart, on the other hand, expressed the same shock she had...except to a much greater degree since it was her daughter that had been the offender in this case. So shocked was she that even once the account was done, once Ironwood's remarks had finished, even until now with Ilia's words hanging in the air...that expression remained, the huntress only barely and dully listening to the others.

What has he done to you?​

"What I do know is that leaving such crucial decisions in the hands of a select few behind closed doors is what landed my kingdom in the mess it's in to start with. That's why I'd like to make this open forum. I'm sure everyone here has valuable insight or a point of view to share, and to anyone willing to I'd like to encourage it. Whatever our approach is toward the councilwoman from here, we'll come to that conclusion together."

However briefly, his eyes flickered over towards Winter and then back again before she noticed.

"And everyone gets a say. All of you can speak freely, but please. One at a time."

"...You told me before that I reminded you of her. With the choices that I've made to get here. If that's true, except that she's gone further than I ever have...painful as it might be...I don't think we have many options beyond continuing as you have already. I wouldn't call it an ideal option but it might be the only real one left to us." Cinder said.

"I don't buy it." Ruby countered, perhaps in spirit if not in letter breaking Ironwood's desire for one at a time speaking. With all the hugs and sincere love and appreciation that she'd expressed to have her sister back, free, standing alongside her, with all that having already been done, the silver eyed huntress focused on this with the utmost seriousness. "I agree with my sister. Okay, look...I may not know the happenings of this world a whole lot. I don't know the specifics of what led the other me astray here, or with Blake, or Yang, or Weiss. But I know my team partner. This Weiss may not be exactly the same, but I can see a lot of the Weiss I know in there. At the attack on the cellar, consider...the three she froze. Yang, me, and Winter. That doesn't strike me as a random selection, I think it was personally chosen. Not to manipulate, but out of a genuine desire to not inflict harm. I believe that there's some chance we could work with her."

Ruby stepped closer to Ironwood. "I'd just like to point out further, that back home? Salem's goal has always been to divide us. To leave us weakened and easier prey for her to take advantage of. If the Ozpin of this world works the same way...despite whatever problems we may legitimately have with one another? In the face of such a threat, I don't think unity is that bad an option."

A few seconds after those words faded into the air, the not-crippled Raven finally spoke up. "I...wouldn't be so sure." She remarked, a hint of wary sadness to her voice. "In the time since that debacle in the cellar of Schnee manor...okay, granted, the connection I have with Tock has always been spotty at best. Erratic. My semblance encountered difficulties with her in a way it doesn't with anybody else. But now, it's been way worse than I remember it ever being. I don't know what's been done to her, or where she is, after we left her in Schnee's clutches. I don't suppose there's any intel on that, is there?" Raven questioned, feeling more than a little guilty since it had been she who dragged the faunus into that mess, and who had been forced to leave her behind.

"Nevertheless...something is wrong. Whatever's going on there, I very much doubt it is good. Just putting that out there, before we decide as a whole to get in bed with--" Raven suddenly winced, thinking back to her own daughter and INSTANTLY rolling back on her words, changing them to better ones. "Before its decided to make an agreement or alliance with Weiss Schnee, or any of the soldiers that follow her. Do I even have to go on about Carnelian and everything he's done?"

"Hrm. Well, if anything we sure do have a lot of different thoughts on this, that's for sure." Robyn snarked from where she stood, hands in her pockets. She herself...wasn't quite sure which way she leaned more towards. She'd been more sure some time ago, but now...not as clear cut. For now she refrained from saying anything that established her as favoring any one particular view on this. Nora was also quiet, not only dealing with the aftermath of the food competition but also...she really wanted to smack this Weiss upside the head. Saying that out loud though might have prompted more back and forth than she cared to deal with right now.​

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

"It's Ilia, isn't it?"

It may have come as a surprise to the young faunus that Ironwood recognized her on sight, though it probably shouldn't have been too much of one. She was speaking to someone who had once held the highest ranking clearance in the Atlesian military, and spent the last several years of his career quashing attempts by the White Fang and its derivatives to establish proper footings in Solitas.

What he said next, however, may have been somewhat more surprising.

"I've been informed of the situation you may be facing. Penny's father is the highest authority on aura in Remnant; if anyone may be able to assist you, it's him. I'll have you brought to his workstation."

Thank goodness for unlikely allies in unlikely times, and the fact that letters would always be a viable mode of long distance communication.

---



View attachment 719772

A delivery of that promise, some more harrowing Penny manhandling, and one very comprehensive account of the no-less-harrowing events experienced by the other Remnant's Yang Xiao Long since the night this one lost worldwide communication later, the green glow around her aura at its point of contact with Robyn faded as she was—So to speak—released from oath. No detail had been spared, the sole piece of ambiguous wording employed being the precise nature of the 'altercation' with her own world's Ilia Amitola on the night she attempted to take Weiss into her custody; beyond that, every act and experience had been related with total sincerity, validated by Robyn's own means of determining the truth. The revelation that Weiss had her own agenda. That she saw Ozpin as a means to an end. The chip, how the councilwoman had toyed with and deprived Yang of her aura for the full month and a half. The strange kindness she showed despite Yang in spite of that and the genuine rapport the two young women appeared to have built. Her own perception of the night of her failed rescue, shedding further light as to the outcome of her encounter with the perpetrator of the Argus base massacre that Qrow had witnessed the beginnings of, a wrinkle in the story that had troubled the former general ever since. It didn't stop there; She further detailed her release, how the moment Weiss finally saw what she was doing to Yang as veering from necessity into cruelty she had let her go, and the subsequent encounter with two of Ozpin's deadliest enforcers. Including the rather... unsettling nature of the one with her own counterpart.

It was a long story. One heard by just about everybody present in the resistance who elected to respond to his intercom notice, since clearly he hadn't been wrong on his inkling that the intel she gleaned could've proven pertinent to them all. They were all packed into the foreman's office the former general had claimed as his own, which couldn't have made it any easier for Yang to relate every excruciating detail of the story with all those eyes on her. Ironwood encapsulated his feelings on it once she was finished in the form of a tersely sympathetic sigh through his nose, opening his eyes from where they'd drifted shut halfway through and regarding the young huntress with a newfound, genuine respect.

"Qrow spoke very highly of you to me. To anyone who'd listen, really. Now that I'm finally meeting you properly, I can see why. I'm tired just from hearing that story."

Not for the first time, it occurred to him that the two had, in fact, technically had two prior encounters of the fleeting—and portal facilitated—kind. Far too much had been going on, just about all of it terrible, to get an accurate measure of her either time. He was fairly certain he had one of her now, and with his own deep-rooted paranoia of Ozpin and the unknowable forces he held dominion over one aspect in particular leapt out.

"...Your encounter with your other self paints a troubling picture. I'm... very sorry you had to go through that." She had been brave during her account of it, but he knew how he'd be feeling if he had come face to face with a version of himself that unhinged and depraved. "There's no official record of her birth. Prior to your arrival no one was even sure of her name. But what you've described... coupled with some other recent accounts of her activity throughout the kingdom, it's completely inconsistent with every prior psychological pattern we had. Something... very disturbing appears to be happening to her."

Winter, having stood at attention near her general and bored two holes in Yang with those sharp blue eyes for just about every second of that report, wasted little time chiming in and making her feelings heard as she whirled her gaze around on him. "Sir, forgive me, but I hardly see how that's the biggest takeaway. Weren't you listening? If what this girl says is accurate—and we just verified it is—then that makes this entire conflict pointless, we can—"

"Winter."

There was a slight note of desperation to her voice that neither Yang nor anyone familiar with the incarnation of Weiss's older sister from Remnant One could ever quite recall placing on the military woman. "—If you just let me talk to her—"

His voice was a bit more steely as he cut off her insubordination before it could go any further. "She doesn't want to talk to you."

View attachment 719794

"...But she..."

The look on who he had long considered his best and most loyal operative's face had him deliver a contrite sigh as she trailed off, and he went on in a kinder tone. "...I'm sorry, Winter. I know it was the first time she reached out to you in years. I know you think there was something more to that than mere scheming, that the depth of her involvement with Ozpin had her scared. In light of what we just learned, maybe that's true, I don't know. But what you have to accept is that she never forgave you. She used you, both to undermine me and determine the location of Fria, and when she was done chewing you up she spat you out again when she had no further use for you. I spoke to her several times while imprisoned; she was quite forthcoming about that much. You did everything she wanted you to do, without fail. Again, I'm sorry, but you need to hear this. You just... can't be trusted as a judge of her character. Not an unbiased one."

The look on that normally disciplined face at the severity of that dressing-down was heartbreakingly crestfallen, but she bit her lip and slowly turned back around to face forward again, her sole response given in a much quieter voice. "Sir."

"Which leads me to my next point." His eyes turned back to Yang, and while still respectful there was something close to skepticism in them as he contemplated quietly. "...Winter may be familiar with who Weiss Schnee was once, but I've become extremely acquainted with the woman she became. Psychological manipulation is her bread and butter, miss Xiao Long. I'm not questioning your own intelligence or hardiness, but... we're talking about a woman who seized control of an entire kingdom and has its civilian populace thanking her for it. Who successfully conned Ozpin into making her his chosen Winter Maiden, and now withholds two relics from him behind a safeguard of the most powerful military in the entire world. With her recent actions and some context courtesy of Winter, I'm inclined believe she may have been involved in the disappearance of her father several years ago. She would've been... seventeen when she did that. By her eighteenth birthday, she had complete control over all his holdings."

Winter's posture had noticably stiffened during that last part. There was nothing stern or castigating about the tone the ex-general took with her, but neither was it a tone that minced any words.

"There's simply no way a nineteen-year-old huntress has ever been exposed to such an intelligent and calculating mind over such an extended period. You don't have the experience necessary to evaluate whatever psychological toll someone like that may have taken on you. I'm not trying to undermine your abilities or anything you've told us, it's just facts; not to mention she already had some rather glaring weak points to exploit in the form of your obvious sentiment for your own teammates. Your mother and uncle both expressed concern that you may have... 'gone native', so to speak, and you have to admit it's hard to blame them. Are you aware of what Stockholm syndrome is, miss Xiao Long? Can you really be so sure that there isn't something here you're missing, that she may even have wanted you to come here and paint this sympathetic view of her to us? Please remember that people's lives and wellbeing are the chips you'll be gambling with before giving your answer. That's what she does. She gets people to sympathize; to empathize. I'm not so sure she's done either of those things herself in a very long time. Whatever we may think of that, you can't deny her her results."

He let his fingers steeple on the desk before him.

"...Robyn may have verified that you believe everything you just told us, but that doesn't offer any verification of its objective accuracy. What you're proposing is we put this conflict aside and attempt to broker some form of an alliance with her, but I can't help but point out that Weiss Schnee is unbelievably dangerous in her own right. She's committed a litany of serious felonies, regardless of where her true allegiances lie. Conspiracy to unravel the kingdoms as we know them, to incite war. And let's not forget how she empowered a madman. She has a demonstrated history of lying, of betraying allies. It all just seems..."

View attachment 719814

"...Risky. Yeah. Let's go with that. So I'm not really sure what to make of it, honestly."

His gaze roved over towards the back of the room, across those gathered.

"What I do know is that leaving such crucial decisions in the hands of a select few behind closed doors is what landed my kingdom in the mess it's in to start with. That's why I'd like to make this open forum. I'm sure everyone here has valuable insight or a point of view to share, and to anyone willing to I'd like to encourage it. Whatever our approach is toward the councilwoman from here, we'll come to that conclusion together."

However briefly, his eyes flickered over towards Winter and then back again before she noticed.

"And everyone gets a say. All of you can speak freely, but please. One at a time."​

"I...yes that's me, and...well, thanks for that but there's more that--" And he was already walking away. "...okay, guess I'll bring it up later." Ilia had commented to herself at the time. Much later, with Ilia among the group after all had been laid out in the open before her like that? It really seemed to her like holding off on the whole 'the Shadow Fang want to meet' thing was the right call to make. At least until all was said on this particular topic. After all this was done, that was probably the best time to talk about that.

There was a look of sympathy on Robyn's face throughout the entirety of that exchange between the former general and his most valued specialist, but it was kept to just that. The leader of the small pack of anti-authority huntresses didn't say a single word in regards to that. The complicated relationship between the two Schnee sisters, it didn't seem like her place to comment on or say anything about really. Though she did, if Winter allowed, moved to rest a hand on her shoulder, nothing more than a gesture meant to give some degree of solace to this...troublesome situation.

The young fall maiden, her face looked just as much sympathetic as Robyn's, if not more so. She knew well how it felt to have manipulative and or downright cruel people among your family, but the sympathetic look on Cinder's face was little more than a brief flash of emotion before her head lowered slightly, eye gazing downcast.

She'd missed a hell of a lot. So much had gone on...if she'd been here in Atlas at the time of some of it, maybe it could have been different. Perhaps sticking with Arthur could have gotten her into Atlas sooner, and if she had, then...well, it seemed from the sounds of that cellar conflict that they had needed a maiden of their own to help. She was still learning, and she had no delusions that she would have matched up to the older Winter Maiden alone. By herself, that would only, inevitably, end one way. But with all those people, and her magic and even her semblance lending itself to fighting against ice and unfreezing those ice sculptures some of them had been turned into, then maybe...

But there was no point dwelling too long, focusing too hard on what ifs. She couldn't go back and change the past.

Her face scrunched up as she fell into deep thought, trying to think about how best to say what she was feeling. In her silence, another spoke up.



"Um...if I'm really allowed to speak, then...I would advise you not to do so. Maybe Yang saw a different side to this Weiss than I have, but the side I saw, it didn't suggest that you allying with her is a good idea. A truly good person doesn't take a seat at that guy's table, not in my eyes. I was there, I saw that seat. I saw all of them. Er...yeah, if any of you guys didn't know already, I...I've seen some of Ozpin's castle. Weiss took me as a prisoner there when she manipulated her way into setting Blake free. A chain of events that gave Ozpin back one of his agents and allowed for the destruction of Haven's CCT. Long con or not, that is on her hands."



Now that she was over the initial shocked surprise that she'd experienced when Yang first shared that bit of news, the wheelchair bound Raven expressed only furious disgust with this other Yang. Her counterpart, on the other hand, expressed the same shock she had...except to a much greater degree since it was her daughter that had been the offender in this case. So shocked was she that even once the account was done, once Ironwood's remarks had finished, even until now with Ilia's words hanging in the air...that expression remained, the huntress only barely and dully listening to the others.

What has he done to you?





"...You told me before that I reminded you of her. With the choices that I've made to get here. If that's true, except that she's gone further than I ever have...painful as it might be...I don't think we have many options beyond continuing as you have already. I wouldn't call it an ideal option but it might be the only real one left to us." Cinder said.

"I don't buy it." Ruby countered, perhaps in spirit if not in letter breaking Ironwood's desire for one at a time speaking. With all the hugs and sincere love and appreciation that she'd expressed to have her sister back, free, standing alongside her, with all that having already been done, the silver eyed huntress focused on this with the utmost seriousness. "I agree with my sister. Okay, look...I may not know the happenings of this world a whole lot. I don't know the specifics of what led the other me astray here, or with Blake, or Yang, or Weiss. But I know my team partner. This Weiss may not be exactly the same, but I can see a lot of the Weiss I know in there. At the attack on the cellar, consider...the three she froze. Yang, me, and Winter. That doesn't strike me as a random selection, I think it was personally chosen. Not to manipulate, but out of a genuine desire to not inflict harm. I believe that there's some chance we could work with her."

Ruby stepped closer to Ironwood. "I'd just like to point out further, that back home? Salem's goal has always been to divide us. To leave us weakened and easier prey for her to take advantage of. If the Ozpin of this world works the same way...despite whatever problems we may legitimately have with one another? In the face of such a threat, I don't think unity is that bad an option."

A few seconds after those words faded into the air, the not-crippled Raven finally spoke up. "I...wouldn't be so sure." She remarked, a hint of wary sadness to her voice. "In the time since that debacle in the cellar of Schnee manor...okay, granted, the connection I have with Tock has always been spotty at best. Erratic. My semblance encountered difficulties with her in a way it doesn't with anybody else. But now, it's been way worse than I remember it ever being. I don't know what's been done to her, or where she is, after we left her in Schnee's clutches. I don't suppose there's any intel on that, is there?" Raven questioned, feeling more than a little guilty since it had been she who dragged the faunus into that mess, and who had been forced to leave her behind.

"Nevertheless...something is wrong. Whatever's going on there, I very much doubt it is good. Just putting that out there, before we decide as a whole to get in bed with--" Raven suddenly winced, thinking back to her own daughter and INSTANTLY rolling back on her words, changing them to better ones. "Before its decided to make an agreement or alliance with Weiss Schnee, or any of the soldiers that follow her. Do I even have to go on about Carnelian and everything he's done?"

"Hrm. Well, if anything we sure do have a lot of different thoughts on this, that's for sure." Robyn snarked from where she stood, hands in her pockets. She herself...wasn't quite sure which way she leaned more towards. She'd been more sure some time ago, but now...not as clear cut. For now she refrained from saying anything that established her as favoring any one particular view on this. Nora was also quiet, not only dealing with the aftermath of the food competition but also...she really wanted to smack this Weiss upside the head. Saying that out loud though might have prompted more back and forth than she cared to deal with right now.​

Yang sat in her seat through the general's lecture and as the others spoke with a quiet and thoughtful calm, only breaking it to shoot Ruby the softest smile Remnant 2 had ever seen at her words. After Robyn essentially abstained though, she felt it was finally time to speak up, and she took a deep breath before she leaned back in her seat and held up a finger.

"Right. Let me just get one thing out of the way first; I don't think Weiss Schnee's a good person. At all."

She let that float through the air for a few seconds before she lowered her hand and continued, eyes closed to shut out the world as she organized her thoughts. "A few people have already mentioned some of the reasons why. She knew about the attack on Beacon; if my super amazing sister hadn't of been there, there's a real good chance that it would've been a disaster on the scale of what happened back home. She's put the Ultimate Murder General in charge of the Atlas military, a guy who's literally dead back home because Atlas thought his crimes against the faunus were too much to let him live. Uh, no offense" She floated halfheartedly to the various Atlesians in the room.

"Only a mild amount taken!"

"Thanks, Penny" She answered with an eyeroll before continuing. "She chipped me like a pet dog. And yea, she let Blake out, and she's sat at Ozpin's table. These are all seriously messed up things that you can't just sweep under the rug and call no big deal, and you shouldn't even if you could." She flexed the hand not leaning against the back of the chair a few times before she sighed and opened her eyes, choosing her next words with more careful thought than just care.

"...But... I think she still has the potential to be a good person at the end of everything. I know you said she's a master manipulator and all, but... this isn't going to make much sense to most of you, but there's like... two different flavors of differences between us from my remnant and the people from here; they either are almost the same person, but their history is different" She said as she raised a finger before she raised another "or they're practically a different person with the same name. Sure, there might be some personality overlap, but their.... I dunno, their core is different. People like my not Uncle, or this world's Nora. Weiss.... Weiss is the first kind."

She sat up a little straighter and rested her palms on her knees as she spoke. "I'm sure most of you already know this, but Weiss' home life was awful. If she really did kill her dad, I'm just gonna be blunt and say he deserved it" She said, doing her best not to look at Ruby as she did so. "She's so used to people not being there for her-" There was a bit of a sharp cut to her words as her eyes glanced over both the General and Winter "-that she feels like unless she's doing it herself, its not going to work out. Our Weiss was the same way when she first got to beacon honestly. Trusting people hadn't earned her anything but pain. This one didn't get to make that trip to beacon, so... honestly? I can't say I'm surprised she's ended up like this."

Her hands gripped into fists as she continued with a determined edge to her voice. "...But she is still Weiss. This isn't Stockholm syndrome or my brain being turned around, not unless she's got some way of spying on the Weiss Schnee back home to play the part. And she's as vehemently against Ozpin as anyone in this room; I can be as sure of that as I can be that I love my sister. She may have seriously hurt people or worse fighting Ozpin in her own way, but she's been fighting him from the start. and because she is Weiss, I can say for sure that that's never going to change. So either we can suck it up and deal with the fact that we'd be fighting along someone who's done terrible things to defeat the literal king of darkness, or both sides of this Atlas nonsense can kick the shit out of each other until Ozpin comes to eat the scraps. " She finished with a shrug before she settled back into her chair with crossed arms.


...There was more to it than that honestly. About how even this Weiss deserved to finally have someone in her corner in life, about how her rare genuine smile was as warm as the one she knew. That for all the terrible things Yang just said, when Yang talked to her she saw someone broken and deservedly furious at the world that had done nothing to help her rather than some callous monster, that it was no wonder that someone as amazing as Weiss Schnee felt like she was the only one that could do what was right when her life had been like this.

But she had a feeling that'd just play into everyone's stupid Stockholm syndrome accusations more than help her case.

Penny had listened to everyone else go with a serious, thoughtful frown and her hands clasped behind her back. When Yang was finally finished, Penny's frown deepened, and she briefly opened her mouth, but... a somewhat uncharacteristic hesitance took her, and she closed it again as she looked down to the floor

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

Eve didn't feel like a hero.

But then, she was starting to think maybe she was wrong for ever having done so in the first place. The rumors and whispers Snake helped propagate only served to remind her of that, everywhere she turned, in the eyes of every faunus who were starting to look at her the way they once did again. The way they had when she was seen as the savior of the faunus, their protector, their sword in the darkness. The champion of a righteous cause.

It... it was bullshit. It was painful how obvious that seemed to her now, after everything, after what she'd stood by and watched the love of her life become surrounded by these people, all of them validating her, all of them playing into this ideal that she was some kind of reckoning for the humans. That she was anything other than a screwed up little girl who had been affirmed, glorified, and lionized so much that she honestly didn't even know if there was any kind of a way through anymore, if there was even a hope of her ever being truly important in her eyes again. That didn't mean she was going to stop trying, though, even if currently her efforts to drum up some kind of significance in her old partner's eyes and an actual regard for her approval again amounted to the most hilariously petty hot-and-cold treatment imaginable after everything they had been through in recent months. The events of the last two specifically had only served to crystallize one thing in her wild, angry, and confused mind, a thought that disturbed her more and more the longer she spent here.

Blake wasn't a reckoning. This wasn't any kind of a righteous cause. These were just a bunch of angry, messed up people indulging each other.

And for better or worse, she was a part of that now. She didn't know where else to go, what else she could do, she couldn't... she couldn't keep away from her.

So here she stayed. She did everything she was told, and did it well. But there was something different about Eve Taurus, something Sienna and Lucie's reach couldn't quite erase, even if her sheer competence in this type of work more than made up for it. She wasn't... glorious anymore. She didn't bask in the glory or adulation of her fellow faunus; she shrank away from it. Everyone knew she had always been standoffish, but where once she stood among her brothers and sisters and drank in the praise after every successful assignment... now, outside of what the missions necessitated, she hardly said a word to anyone. She just wanted to go to her tower and be alone.

Suffice to say, anyone who put themselves in the way of that was clearly either extremely brave or had something on their mind. Generally, she didn't care which.

It was up to Ilia to decide which category she more identified with as Eve stood there, her stalker's stride into the room supplanted by a posture that was very, very still. If Ilia weren't so familiar with her, the sensation wouldn't have been too far removed from that of the hunter who wandered too far into the lion's den. Who had disturbed it, and who now found themselves on precariously thin ice as its entire bearing fell to an eerie, watchful calm. The stance of a predator who hadn't quite decided how to respond to such an intrusion yet. Who was waiting for a show of weakness.

"Know what I'm tired of?"

Her voice was scratchy and unforgiving, even if it didn't quite have the anger she reserved for enemies. A gloved hand slowly went up, removed the stupid fucking overly exalted mask they all seemed to think was enough to make them important, and tossed it over onto her bedside table with a loud clatter like it was something she'd picked up from a gift shop.

She turned, and there was something dark about the intent she started striding towards Ilia with, pace slow, measured, and completely unconcerned with whatever the hell this was supposed to be as she let it carry her all the way up to Ilia's face in a show of predatory aggression.

"I'm tired of people with your face thinking they're important to me somehow. Well, guess what? I'm avoiding everybody. You're not special. You're just some kid who idolized me a few years ago snooping around my room. So let me ask you this one time, and you better think carefully about your answer. What the hell do you want?"​

If there was one thing that everyone who knew of the existence of Eve Taurus knew, it was that she was a peerless and vicious warrior. Ilia wasn't a slouch in combat in any sense, but there wasn't any doubt in either of their minds about who would end up on top if things got bloody. So it was a confidence in an entirely different sector that, in the face of that aggression, she just scoffed and roughly shoved past Eve to walk further into the room.

"We're the same age, dumbass, give or take a few months. But no, trust me; I know I'm not special to you. You made that clear a long time ago"

She reached the bed and turned to sit onto it with a heavy thump and crossed her leg over the other so she could rest her elbow on it as she gave Eve a level frown, a complete departure from the bashful gaze of the Ilia she last had to talk to.

"So believe me when I say I don't wanna be here anymore than you want me here. I'll make this quick, and its an easy question." She said before she narrowed her eyes.

"What's your game here Eve? And please, don't give me that loyal to the cause BS."

 

[Gus Gungus]

"Um...if I'm really allowed to speak, then...I would advise you not to do so. Maybe Yang saw a different side to this Weiss than I have, but the side I saw, it didn't suggest that you allying with her is a good idea. A truly good person doesn't take a seat at that guy's table, not in my eyes. I was there, I saw that seat. I saw all of them. Er...yeah, if any of you guys didn't know already, I...I've seen some of Ozpin's castle. Weiss took me as a prisoner there when she manipulated her way into setting Blake free. A chain of events that gave Ozpin back one of his agents and allowed for the destruction of Haven's CCT. Long con or not, that is on her hands."

"It certainly demonstrates a lack of regard for the lives she comes to view as the opposition to whatever it is she's trying to achieve. She may hold herself to a higher standard, but the reality is nobody in that kind of position of power can ever believe they have that kind of executive authority. When lives become statistics it's a slippery slope," Ironwood hummed, a contemplative air to his note as he turned Ilia over in his gaze. How ironic he himself would have found the words, had he been privy to future events on another world.

Winter had been given a cold bucket of water by Ironwood and didn't respond outwardly to Robyn's hand, though neither did she shrug it away. That didn't mean she was just going to remain silent, though, and Ilia had a sharp glare leveled her way as her lips pulled into a frown. "You don't understand. You all keep just... making yourselves enemies to her! No different than the White or Shadow Fang have ever done. That isn't the type of society we live in, and you're just further reinforcing her belief that it is! She's making terrible decisions because she sees them as necessary, but she's not a violent person! She can't even stand the sight of blood!"

Ironwood's eyebrow was sharp as he raised it, but after a moment or two of holding his gaze on his second he opted not to comment. The familiarity her perspective offered may not have been entirely devoid of value, he reasoned.

"...You told me before that I reminded you of her. With the choices that I've made to get here. If that's true, except that she's gone further than I ever have...painful as it might be...I don't think we have many options beyond continuing as you have already. I wouldn't call it an ideal option but it might be the only real one left to us." Cinder said.

Ironwood didn't give much indication of how he took Cinder's words, though the lines around his frown did deepen and he gave a single, sharp nod.

"I don't buy it." Ruby countered, perhaps in spirit if not in letter breaking Ironwood's desire for one at a time speaking. With all the hugs and sincere love and appreciation that she'd expressed to have her sister back, free, standing alongside her, with all that having already been done, the silver eyed huntress focused on this with the utmost seriousness. "I agree with my sister. Okay, look...I may not know the happenings of this world a whole lot. I don't know the specifics of what led the other me astray here, or with Blake, or Yang, or Weiss. But I know my team partner. This Weiss may not be exactly the same, but I can see a lot of the Weiss I know in there. At the attack on the cellar, consider...the three she froze. Yang, me, and Winter. That doesn't strike me as a random selection, I think it was personally chosen. Not to manipulate, but out of a genuine desire to not inflict harm. I believe that there's some chance we could work with her."

Ruby stepped closer to Ironwood. "I'd just like to point out further, that back home? Salem's goal has always been to divide us. To leave us weakened and easier prey for her to take advantage of. If the Ozpin of this world works the same way...despite whatever problems we may legitimately have with one another? In the face of such a threat, I don't think unity is that bad an option."

Both Ironwood and Winter cast at least slightly nonplussed, taken aback looks Ruby's way at that insight, from somebody more or less echoing the same opinion as her sister without the month and a half of potential psychological wear to cast that opinion in a suspicious light. Gradually, though, the former general's features hardened, as a lack of true familiarity with Ruby Rose or why she might offer a valuable perspective of simple, unprejudiced human decency gave way to the visible thought that she may have simply been parroting her older sibling.

Winter's wide eyes, however, didn't subside, and there was an uncommon note of passion to her voice once more as she whipped her head around to face the general again. "Sir, she's right. Whatever her intentions may have been with these two, she... her machinations had already... disposed of me, there was no further use for my safety, she had absolutely no manipulative rationale to remove me from the fray-"

"Having enough of a conscience to be averse to mowing down her own flesh and blood in a crossfire doesn't exactly prove anything." He pointed out impassively, though not harshly. "But noted."

A few seconds after those words faded into the air, the not-crippled Raven finally spoke up. "I...wouldn't be so sure." She remarked, a hint of wary sadness to her voice. "In the time since that debacle in the cellar of Schnee manor...okay, granted, the connection I have with Tock has always been spotty at best. Erratic. My semblance encountered difficulties with her in a way it doesn't with anybody else. But now, it's been way worse than I remember it ever being. I don't know what's been done to her, or where she is, after we left her in Schnee's clutches. I don't suppose there's any intel on that, is there?" Raven questioned, feeling more than a little guilty since it had been she who dragged the faunus into that mess, and who had been forced to leave her behind.

"Nevertheless...something is wrong. Whatever's going on there, I very much doubt it is good. Just putting that out there, before we decide as a whole to get in bed with--" Raven suddenly winced, thinking back to her own daughter and INSTANTLY rolling back on her words, changing them to better ones. "Before its decided to make an agreement or alliance with Weiss Schnee, or any of the soldiers that follow her. Do I even have to go on about Carnelian and everything he's done?"

"Tock..."

James's countenance was grim as he gave a heavy sigh, another casualty he held himself personally accountable for.

"It's not clear, but... there have been some unconfirmed reports of a woman matching Liadan's description among Weiss's security retinue. I can't say for certain it's her, but given how many faunus live in Atlas to begin with, to say nothing of how many are as distinctive as she is..."

It didn't carry the weight with him that it once did, but there was a moment of silent remorse given for the possibilities that entailed for who had formerly been a staunch core piece of Salem's shadow council, just as he himself had.

Winter couldn't quite account for that herself, and looked troubled as she tried to justify it. "...That's not... but you all keep... I was frozen but I saw it, you unleashed her in our home and she looked like a monster, nobody is even... You all just keep attacking her! You're all so scared to engage her on her level and simply talk! She sees herself as above the rest of the world, how else is she supposed to respond to that?! Has there even been a single instance where she was the one attacking you people first?!"

Neither had much to say on Carnelian. That spoke for itself. After several heavy moments, though, Winter still tried to speak up in defense of her sister.

"That isn't... I was always harsher towards the faunus than she was growing up. We both grew to be better than that. It's not like she... he's a better swordsman than anyone in this room, and a friend to our father, he has respect for our name, that's all, she wouldn't..."

But regardless of how true it was, all of it sounded weak. Even to her own ears. She finally cleared her throat, boiling it down to a simple sentence before she dug the hole any deeper.

"...He's another tool. That's it. I can't condone it, but I know that's how she sees it. I fail to see how he could possibly be worse than Ozpin, and I don't doubt my sister has a plan to deal with him when the time comes as well. Borous was always... I don't know. I don't think he even wants to be alive anymore, truth be told."

Ironwood said nothing. The man was a product from before his time, true, and it wasn't as if he hadn't made efforts to diminish the man's power over the years, to erase his legacy. But the very regime he was advocating was the one that had found an unapologetic monster like Carnelian not guilty, and the one that had allowed him to continue existing. Weiss purported to change that, and if anything he looked... more thoughtful than he had when he simply decried the act of her appointing him through and through.

"Right. Let me just get one thing out of the way first; I don't think Weiss Schnee's a good person. At all."

"I'd be extremely concerned if you did. It's not what I'm accusing you of," Ironwood immediately replied with an arched eyebrow, his jaw setting a bit tighter as he caught the faintest whiff of someone just a bit too eager to defend her stance. Or thought he did, anyway.

"She's so used to people not being there for her-" There was a bit of a sharp cut to her words as her eyes glanced over both the General and Winter

Both the former general and his most trusted second were silent for the majority of Yang's words, understandably valuing her insight perhaps more than anybody else's in the room given her exposure to the councilwoman's current state of mind over the last couple of months. When she got to this point in her counterargument, however, she drew two entirely different reactions from the duo at the head of the room; one of them blinked, a bit taken aback at the suggestion that he could've done any more than he had. He had seen something in Weiss from an early age, that was true, had always tried to offer her a dependable shoulder and counsel when she seemed troubled. He even tried to steer her towards the pursuit of becoming a huntress when she expressed interest in it, regardless of whether that interest lay in Beacon or his own academy, but Jacques would hear nothing of it. He knew Jacques to be a cold, insidious man, but not one of that nature; Weiss was never forthright about the subject even when she confided in him the most, and he simply assumed her troubles to be of the garden variety teenage sort. He... it wasn't as if he he had known...

The other person that glare was directed at, as Yang either did or probably should have realized when she made it, was a Schnee. A troubled, emotionally distressed Schnee, yes, but a Schnee all the same. If anything, those parameters only made the ensuing reaction all the more volatile.

"EXCUSE ME?! I'm sorry, did things in your head play out a certain way where I'd simply let that slide? Who the hell do you even think you ARE?! What makes you think you have the right to hold that sort of opinion against me, much less voice it aloud?! Do you have ANY IDEA what it was like for the two of us growing up?! WE WERE THE ONLY ONES WHO WERE THERE FOR EACH OTHER! Do you honestly think Weiss wouldn't have taken the first opportunity to leave that home once she was legally entitled to, had she been the elder?! You think YOU wouldn't have?! What was YOUR home life like?! AND I'M NOT TALKING ABOUT AN EMOTIONALLY WEAK FATHER, OR A MOTHER WHO RAN OUT ON YOU, I'M ASKING DID THE FAMILY YOU DID END UP WITH TREAT YOU WITH THE RESPECT THEY OWED YOU GROWING UP?! DID THEY MAKE YOU FEEL LIKE YOU DESERVED TO BE ALIVE?! WEISS AND I DIDN'T HAVE THAT! NOR DID OUR BROTHER! YOU HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT, NO RIGHT TO MAKE ANY SORT OF PRESUMPTIONS BASED OFF THINGS YOU OBVIOUSLY DON'T HAVE THE SLIGHTEST NOTION OF, YOU INFANTILE MORON, AND YOU HAVE EVEN LESS OF A RIGHT TO PLAY THE BIG SISTER TO-"



"Winter!" Ironwood cut across, though it was with more of a nonplussed air of concern and a desire to keep the woman from embarrassing herself further than anything as she more or less broke down at the slightest provocation from a Yang she'd been staring daggers at since the moment she first arrived here. The former special operative looked about as close to unsteady on her feet as she could get as she caught her breath, using her hand to cover her face.

"I, I need to be excused sir."

"That's fine."

He watched her go while she did so, and seemed eager to move things along once the door shut in her wake. His expression as he heard the rest of what Yang had to say out took extra care to exercise reason over emotion, though quite frankly it was a bit sterner for the absolutely unprecedented reaction she had just provoked from somebody he held in high esteem.

"...Miss Xiao Long, I understand your position. And I understand that the suggestion that you may be compromised may feel patronizing, or insulting in some way. However... please try to understand my position in turn, and that very little of what you just said does anything to negate what I said. As I've mentioned, she is a woman of great intelligence. Older than whatever version you know at the very least, smarter and more ruthless. And she knows how best to get somebody like you to sympathize with her, even if it doesn't even end up registering on your consciousness that you're the one being manipulated. I don't harbor any illusions that Weiss has somehow convinced you she's the hero in all this, or that you believe she's in the right. What your uncle told me about your moral compass alone practically eliminates that as a possibility. But you are quite clearly empathizing with her, strongly, at that. There are many ways into someone's psyche, more subtle and insidious than anything the victim could ever possibly hope to be aware of. I... believe we all just witnessed the fallout of one of them."

His eyes flickered over towards the door Winter had left through, and for the very first time throughout the discourse the guilt in them was undeniable.

"You do raise a good point, though. Ozpin is humanity's enemy, one we should all strive to band together against. I don't think it's unfair to be concerned about the state of my kingdom after he's gone, however; and the type of person who holds the keys to it."​

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

"It certainly demonstrates a lack of regard for the lives she comes to view as the opposition to whatever it is she's trying to achieve. She may hold herself to a higher standard, but the reality is nobody in that kind of position of power can ever believe they have that kind of executive authority. When lives become statistics it's a slippery slope," Ironwood hummed, a contemplative air to his note as he turned Ilia over in his gaze. How ironic he himself would have found the words, had he been privy to future events on another world.

Winter had been given a cold bucket of water by Ironwood and didn't respond outwardly to Robyn's hand, though neither did she shrug it away. That didn't mean she was just going to remain silent, though, and Ilia had a sharp glare leveled her way as her lips pulled into a frown. "You don't understand. You all keep just... making yourselves enemies to her! No different than the White or Shadow Fang have ever done. That isn't the type of society we live in, and you're just further reinforcing her belief that it is! She's making terrible decisions because she sees them as necessary, but she's not a violent person! She can't even stand the sight of blood!"

Ironwood's eyebrow was sharp as he raised it, but after a moment or two of holding his gaze on his second he opted not to comment. The familiarity her perspective offered may not have been entirely devoid of value, he reasoned.




Ironwood didn't give much indication of how he took Cinder's words, though the lines around his frown did deepen and he gave a single, sharp nod.




Both Ironwood and Winter cast at least slightly nonplussed, taken aback looks Ruby's way at that insight, from somebody more or less echoing the same opinion as her sister without the month and a half of potential psychological wear to cast that opinion in a suspicious light. Gradually, though, the former general's features hardened, as a lack of true familiarity with Ruby Rose or why she might offer a valuable perspective of simple, unprejudiced human decency gave way to the visible thought that she may have simply been parroting her older sibling.

Winter's wide eyes, however, didn't subside, and there was an uncommon note of passion to her voice once more as she whipped her head around to face the general again. "Sir, she's right. Whatever her intentions may have been with these two, she... her machinations had already... disposed of me, there was no further use for my safety, she had absolutely no manipulative rationale to remove me from the fray-"

"Having enough of a conscience to be averse to mowing down her own flesh and blood in a crossfire doesn't exactly prove anything." He pointed out impassively, though not harshly. "But noted."




"Tock..."

James's countenance was grim as he gave a heavy sigh, another casualty he held himself personally accountable for.

"It's not clear, but... there have been some unconfirmed reports of a woman matching Liadan's description among Weiss's security retinue. I can't say for certain it's her, but given how many faunus live in Atlas to begin with, to say nothing of how many are as distinctive as she is..."

It didn't carry the weight with him that it once did, but there was a moment of silent remorse given for the possibilities that entailed for who had formerly been a staunch core piece of Salem's shadow council, just as he himself had.

Winter couldn't quite account for that herself, and looked troubled as she tried to justify it. "...That's not... but you all keep... I was frozen but I saw it, you unleashed her in our home and she looked like a monster, nobody is even... You all just keep attacking her! You're all so scared to engage her on her level and simply talk! She sees herself as above the rest of the world, how else is she supposed to respond to that?! Has there even been a single instance where she was the one attacking you people first?!"

Neither had much to say on Carnelian. That spoke for itself. After several heavy moments, though, Winter still tried to speak up in defense of her sister.

"That isn't... I was always harsher towards the faunus than she was growing up. We both grew to be better than that. It's not like she... he's a better swordsman than anyone in this room, and a friend to our father, he has respect for our name, that's all, she wouldn't..."

But regardless of how true it was, all of it sounded weak. Even to her own ears. She finally cleared her throat, boiling it down to a simple sentence before she dug the hole any deeper.

"...He's another tool. That's it. I can't condone it, but I know that's how she sees it. I fail to see how he could possibly be worse than Ozpin, and I don't doubt my sister has a plan to deal with him when the time comes as well. Borous was always... I don't know. I don't think he even wants to be alive anymore, truth be told."

Ironwood said nothing. The man was a product from before his time, true, and it wasn't as if he hadn't made efforts to diminish the man's power over the years, to erase his legacy. But the very regime he was advocating was the one that had found an unapologetic monster like Carnelian not guilty, and the one that had allowed him to continue existing. Weiss purported to change that, and if anything he looked... more thoughtful than he had when he simply decried the act of her appointing him through and through.




"I'd be extremely concerned if you did. It's not what I'm accusing you of," Ironwood immediately replied with an arched eyebrow, his jaw setting a bit tighter as he caught the faintest whiff of someone just a bit too eager to defend her stance. Or thought he did, anyway.




Both the former general and his most trusted second were silent for the majority of Yang's words, understandably valuing her insight perhaps more than anybody else's in the room given her exposure to the councilwoman's current state of mind over the last couple of months. When she got to this point in her counterargument, however, she drew two entirely different reactions from the duo at the head of the room; one of them blinked, a bit taken aback at the suggestion that he could've done any more than he had. He had seen something in Weiss from an early age, that was true, had always tried to offer her a dependable shoulder and counsel when she seemed troubled. He even tried to steer her towards the pursuit of becoming a huntress when she expressed interest in it, regardless of whether that interest lay in Beacon or his own academy, but Jacques would hear nothing of it. He knew Jacques to be a cold, insidious man, but not one of that nature; Weiss was never forthright about the subject even when she confided in him the most, and he simply assumed her troubles to be of the garden variety teenage sort. He... it wasn't as if he he had known...

The other person that glare was directed at, as Yang either did or probably should have realized when she made it, was a Schnee. A troubled, emotionally distressed Schnee, yes, but a Schnee all the same. If anything, those parameters only made the ensuing reaction all the more volatile.

"EXCUSE ME?! I'm sorry, did things in your head play out a certain way where I'd simply let that slide? Who the hell do you even think you ARE?! What makes you think you have the right to hold that sort of opinion against me, much less voice it aloud?! Do you have ANY IDEA what it was like for the two of us growing up?! WE WERE THE ONLY ONES WHO WERE THERE FOR EACH OTHER! Do you honestly think Weiss wouldn't have taken the first opportunity to leave that home once she was legally entitled to, had she been the elder?! You think YOU wouldn't have?! What was YOUR home life like?! AND I'M NOT TALKING ABOUT AN EMOTIONALLY WEAK FATHER, OR A MOTHER WHO RAN OUT ON YOU, I'M ASKING DID THE FAMILY YOU DID END UP WITH TREAT YOU WITH THE RESPECT THEY OWED YOU GROWING UP?! DID THEY MAKE YOU FEEL LIKE YOU DESERVED TO BE ALIVE?! WEISS AND I DIDN'T HAVE THAT! NOR DID OUR BROTHER! YOU HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT, NO RIGHT TO MAKE ANY SORT OF PRESUMPTIONS BASED OFF THINGS YOU OBVIOUSLY DON'T HAVE THE SLIGHTEST NOTION OF, YOU INFANTILE MORON, AND YOU HAVE EVEN LESS OF A RIGHT TO PLAY THE BIG SISTER TO-"

View attachment 719983

"Winter!" Ironwood cut across, though it was with more of a nonplussed air of concern and a desire to keep the woman from embarrassing herself further than anything as she more or less broke down at the slightest provocation from a Yang she'd been staring daggers at since the moment she first arrived here. The former special operative looked about as close to unsteady on her feet as she could get as she caught her breath, using her hand to cover her face.

"I, I need to be excused sir."

"That's fine."

He watched her go while she did so, and seemed eager to move things along once the door shut in her wake. His expression as he heard the rest of what Yang had to say out took extra care to exercise reason over emotion, though quite frankly it was a bit sterner for the absolutely unprecedented reaction she had just provoked from somebody he held in high esteem.

"...Miss Xiao Long, I understand your position. And I understand that the suggestion that you may be compromised may feel patronizing, or insulting in some way. However... please try to understand my position in turn, and that very little of what you just said does anything to negate what I said. As I've mentioned, she is a woman of great intelligence. Older than whatever version you know at the very least, smarter and more ruthless. And she knows how best to get somebody like you to sympathize with her, even if it doesn't even end up registering on your consciousness that you're the one being manipulated. I don't harbor any illusions that Weiss has somehow convinced you she's the hero in all this, or that you believe she's in the right. What your uncle told me about your moral compass alone practically eliminates that as a possibility. But you are quite clearly empathizing with her, strongly, at that. There are many ways into someone's psyche, more subtle and insidious than anything the victim could ever possibly hope to be aware of. I... believe we all just witnessed the fallout of one of them."

His eyes flickered over towards the door Winter had left through, and for the very first time throughout the discourse the guilt in them was undeniable.

"You do raise a good point, though. Ozpin is humanity's enemy, one we should all strive to band together against. I don't think it's unfair to be concerned about the state of my kingdom after he's gone, however; and the type of person who holds the keys to it."​

Yang handled Winter exploding on her with a surprising amount of grace, which was to say she kept it to a frustrated glare as she bit her tongue in lieu of getting drawn into a game of trauma volleyball with the other older sister in the room. It was probably more than needed to be said, and honestly didn't help her case here like, at all.

But damn if the thought that her own Weiss went through that hell by herself when winter left didn't leave a nasty and dark pit in her stomach. She didn't care how bad it ever got; Ruby wasn't ever going to face anything alone as long as Yang was still kicking. When the parents checked out or worse, it was their duty to step in, as strong an oath as any hunter's or enemy of whichever flavor of dark lord they happened to be facing down.

But again, time and place. This probably wasn't it, and Yang genuinely regretted letting those words slip out as she watched Winter go with a muted frown As for Ironwood's last statements, she made herself calm down and just shrugged.

"Really nothing else I can say to make you think its my own thoughts and not Weiss using my brain as a propaganda garden except that I'm way more sure of my mental fortitude than your standard twenty-ish year old. Honestly though, I'm super not qualified to make any comments on Atlas in the aftermath or any of this political stuff. I'm a huntress. I kill grimm and bust bad guy skulls. And my very professional opinion on that front is that if we wanna take down Oz and keep the kingdoms safe, the best bet to do that is to reach out to Weiss and see if you guys can reach a middle ground on that front"

 

[Gus Gungus]

If there was one thing that everyone who knew of the existence of Eve Taurus knew, it was that she was a peerless and vicious warrior. Ilia wasn't a slouch in combat in any sense, but there wasn't any doubt in either of their minds about who would end up on top if things got bloody. So it was a confidence in an entirely different sector that, in the face of that aggression, she just scoffed and roughly shoved past Eve to walk further into the room.

"We're the same age, dumbass, give or take a few months. But no, trust me; I know I'm not special to you. You made that clear a long time ago"

She reached the bed and turned to sit onto it with a heavy thump and crossed her leg over the other so she could rest her elbow on it as she gave Eve a level frown, a complete departure from the bashful gaze of the Ilia she last had to talk to.

"So believe me when I say I don't wanna be here anymore than you want me here. I'll make this quick, and its an easy question." She said before she narrowed her eyes.

"What's your game here Eve? And please, don't give me that loyal to the cause BS."

Spoiler

There was a disbelieving, almost shook aspect to Eve's expression as Ilia completely no-sold her show of aggressive intimidation and barged right past her, apparently even more pushy and stubborn than she remembered. And now there were two of them loose in the world. Great.

"Kid's more a state of mind, you insufferable bitch."

She may have temporarily accepted that she wasn't going to immediately buzz off for now, but that didn't mean she was happy about one of the key conversations she'd been avoiding since returning to all this foisting itself on her. She crossed her arms in favor of following, blue eyes unblinking with a pent-up aggression as they stayed locked on the chameleon faunus the whole way over to her bed, and leaned against the wall herself with a malignant glower. She did genuinely think about the question, though.

"...Why should I have to answer? Why should I have to do anything other than be here, be willing, and be good at it? Did this turn into a religious sect when I wasn't looking? Is that what it's all about now? Do I not believe hard enough for you, Ilia?"

There was venom to her words, and the grin her lips twisted into was really more of a vicious sneer.

"Or are you still just jealous that I'm better than you at it? What, were you eyeing up that Talon spot when I came back?" She gave a mock pout. "Guess what? I don't care. Mask's a mask, and if you want my genuine advice then you should just learn to live with being the runner-up. I'm sure if we pulled Blake in here and asked her it's not the only thing she'd attest to me being better at."

It was funny.

She really did used to get along with Ilia.​

 

[Gus Gungus]

But again, time and place. This probably wasn't it, and Yang genuinely regretted letting those words slide as she watched Winter go with a muted frown As for Ironwood's last statements, she made herself calm down and just shrugged.

"Really nothing else I can say to make you think its my own thoughts and not Weiss using my brain as a propaganda garden except that I'm way more sure of my mental fortitude than your standard twenty-ish year old. Honestly though, I'm super not qualified to make any comments on Atlas in the aftermath or any of this political stuff. I'm a huntress. I kill grimm and bust bad guy skulls. And my very professional opinion on that front is that if we wanna take down Oz and keep the kingdoms safe, the best bet to do that is to reach out to Weiss and see if you guys can reach a middle ground on that front"

"...Well then I'm afraid I'm sorry. But quite frankly... that only goes so far here," he returned honestly, then turned a contemplative frown as he awaited any further opinions. Preferably from those less... close... to the subject at hand. "I'm not so eager to give someone who's stacked her deck by manipulating those of good intentions the opportunity to do so again. Maybe you'll understand when you're older."​

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

Spoiler

View attachment 720033

There was a disbelieving, almost shook aspect to Eve's expression as Ilia completely no-sold her show of aggressive intimidation and barged right past her, apparently even more pushy and stubborn than she remembered. And now there were two of them loose in the world. Great.

"Kid's more a state of mind, you insufferable bitch."

She may have temporarily accepted that she wasn't going to immediately buzz off for now, but that didn't mean she was happy about one of the key conversations she'd been avoiding since returning to all this foisting itself on her. She crossed her arms in favor of following, blue eyes unblinking with a pent-up aggression as they stayed locked on the chameleon faunus the whole way over to her bed, and leaned against the wall herself with a malignant glower. She did genuinely think about the question, though.

"...Why should I have to answer? Why should I have to do anything other than be here, be willing, and be good at it? Did this turn into a religious sect when I wasn't looking? Is that what it's all about now? Do I not believe hard enough for you, Ilia?"

There was venom to her words, and the grin her lips twisted into was really more of a vicious sneer.

"Or are you still just jealous that I'm better than you at it? What, were you eyeing up that Talon spot when I came back?" She gave a mock pout. "Guess what? I don't care. Mask's a mask, and if you want my genuine advice then you should just learn to live with being the runner-up. I'm sure if we pulled Blake in here and asked her it's not the only thing she'd attest to me being better at."

It was funny.

She really did used to get along with Ilia.​

She met Eve's glare halfway, yet broke it off with a dark frown as she glanced to the side.

"....You broke her heart, you know."





This Ilia was a decent actress when she put the effort in, but when she didn't she wore her heart on her sleeve more often than not. There was a quiet and painful rawness to those words that didn't fade so much as get buried under the anger of her next words as she met Eve's cold eyes with her own. "Or maybe you don't. You were the one who left after all. Typical for you to leave the mess for us to clean up while you played big, moral hero, but Blake never really recovered from this one. it gutted her Eve. She was a shell of the girl we both love." She failed to stop a small, painfully sad smile from flickering across her lips that was far less telling than how her skin started to shift to a light blue and green as her gaze dropped and she continued. "Maybe I am just second place. Maybe I'm nothing but a stopgap between you two getting together again. and if it does go down that way, then... fine. As long as Blake's happy, I'd take it. But you want my 'genuine' opinion?"

The colors were already shifting again as she snapped her gaze up to Eve with a growl.

"That's not how this all breaks out. You wanna know why you have to answer? because I'm not letting you do that to her again. Blake can ignore what she saw all she wants. Sienna can tell me I'm overreacting as many times as she feels like. I saw you back at Haven and Beacon, what you really think about Sienna and the Fang. That doesn't just... go away. A stubborn jackass like you doesn't just 'see the light'. You're going to do something stupid, and its going to break her heart again."

She stood up, her skin a mix of vibrant reds and yellows as she slowly strode forward.

"And that's why I'm here, to tell you something really simple; Don't. Just leave. Go find whatever hole that the Eve who was my friend died in, the one who understood how evil the humans were, the one who didn't feel this compulsive need to ruin Blake's life, crawl back in it..."

she stopped a few inches away, glaring daggers into the eyes of the taller girl.

"...and either disappear or finish the job. Or I'm going to do it for you."

 

[MidwayLives]

"...Risky. Yeah. Let's go with that. So I'm not really sure what to make of it, honestly."

His gaze roved over towards the back of the room, across those gathered.

"What I do know is that leaving such crucial decisions in the hands of a select few behind closed doors is what landed my kingdom in the mess it's in to start with. That's why I'd like to make this open forum. I'm sure everyone here has valuable insight or a point of view to share, and to anyone willing to I'd like to encourage it. Whatever our approach is toward the councilwoman from here, we'll come to that conclusion together."

However briefly, his eyes flickered over towards Winter and then back again before she noticed.

"And everyone gets a say. All of you can speak freely, but please. One at a time."

Grey sat quietly among the others gathered.

He wanted to hear what the others had to say before he gave his piece.

It'd been....somewhat worrisome to put his ideas before the others. He'd been so caught up in practically his own little world.
​

"I don't buy it." Ruby countered, perhaps in spirit if not in letter breaking Ironwood's desire for one at a time speaking. With all the hugs and sincere love and appreciation that she'd expressed to have her sister back, free, standing alongside her, with all that having already been done, the silver eyed huntress focused on this with the utmost seriousness. "I agree with my sister. Okay, look...I may not know the happenings of this world a whole lot. I don't know the specifics of what led the other me astray here, or with Blake, or Yang, or Weiss. But I know my team partner. This Weiss may not be exactly the same, but I can see a lot of the Weiss I know in there. At the attack on the cellar, consider...the three she froze. Yang, me, and Winter. That doesn't strike me as a random selection, I think it was personally chosen. Not to manipulate, but out of a genuine desire to not inflict harm. I believe that there's some chance we could work with her."

Ruby stepped closer to Ironwood. "I'd just like to point out further, that back home? Salem's goal has always been to divide us. To leave us weakened and easier prey for her to take advantage of. If the Ozpin of this world works the same way...despite whatever problems we may legitimately have with one another? In the face of such a threat, I don't think unity is that bad an option."

A few seconds after those words faded into the air, the not-crippled Raven finally spoke up. "I...wouldn't be so sure." She remarked, a hint of wary sadness to her voice. "In the time since that debacle in the cellar of Schnee manor...okay, granted, the connection I have with Tock has always been spotty at best. Erratic. My semblance encountered difficulties with her in a way it doesn't with anybody else. But now, it's been way worse than I remember it ever being. I don't know what's been done to her, or where she is, after we left her in Schnee's clutches. I don't suppose there's any intel on that, is there?" Raven questioned, feeling more than a little guilty since it had been she who dragged the faunus into that mess, and who had been forced to leave her behind.

Yang sat in her seat through the general's lecture and as the others spoke with a quiet and thoughtful calm, only breaking it to shoot Ruby the softest smile Remnant 2 had ever seen at her words. After Robyn essentially abstained though, she felt it was finally time to speak up, and she took a deep breath before she leaned back in her seat and held up a finger.

"Right. Let me just get one thing out of the way first; I don't think Weiss Schnee's a good person. At all."

She let that float through the air for a few seconds before she lowered her hand and continued, eyes closed to shut out the world as she organized her thoughts. "A few people have already mentioned some of the reasons why. She knew about the attack on Beacon; if my super amazing sister hadn't of been there, there's a real good chance that it would've been a disaster on the scale of what happened back home. She's put the Ultimate Murder General in charge of the Atlas military, a guy who's literally dead back home because Atlas thought his crimes against the faunus were too much to let him live. Uh, no offense" She floated halfheartedly to the various Atlesians in the room.

"Only a mild amount taken!"

"Thanks, Penny" She answered with an eyeroll before continuing. "She chipped me like a pet dog. And yea, she let Blake out, and she's sat at Ozpin's table. These are all seriously messed up things that you can't just sweep under the rug and call no big deal, and you shouldn't even if you could." She flexed the hand not leaning against the back of the chair a few times before she sighed and opened her eyes, choosing her next words with more careful thought than just care.

"...But... I think she still has the potential to be a good person at the end of everything. I know you said she's a master manipulator and all, but... this isn't going to make much sense to most of you, but there's like... two different flavors of differences between us from my remnant and the people from here; they either are almost the same person, but their history is different" She said as she raised a finger before she raised another "or they're practically a different person with the same name. Sure, there might be some personality overlap, but their.... I dunno, their core is different. People like my not Uncle, or this world's Nora. Weiss.... Weiss is the first kind."

She sat up a little straighter and rested her palms on her knees as she spoke. "I'm sure most of you already know this, but Weiss' home life was awful. If she really did kill her dad, I'm just gonna be blunt and say he deserved it" She said, doing her best not to look at Ruby as she did so. "She's so used to people not being there for her-" There was a bit of a sharp cut to her words as her eyes glanced over both the General and Winter "-that she feels like unless she's doing it herself, its not going to work out. Our Weiss was the same way when she first got to beacon honestly. Trusting people hadn't earned her anything but pain. This one didn't get to make that trip to beacon, so... honestly? I can't say I'm surprised she's ended up like this."

Her hands gripped into fists as she continued with a determined edge to her voice. "...But she is still Weiss. This isn't Stockholm syndrome or my brain being turned around, not unless she's got some way of spying on the Weiss Schnee back home to play the part. And she's as vehemently against Ozpin as anyone in this room; I can be as sure of that as I can be that I love my sister. She may have seriously hurt people or worse fighting Ozpin in her own way, but she's been fighting him from the start. and because she is Weiss, I can say for sure that that's never going to change. So either we can suck it up and deal with the fact that we'd be fighting along someone who's done terrible things to defeat the literal king of darkness, or both sides of this Atlas nonsense can kick the shit out of each other until Ozpin comes to eat the scraps. " She finished with a shrug before she settled back into her chair with crossed arms.

Before all this 'other world' nonsense, Grey didn't know Ruby Rose or Yang Xiao Long.

But after listening to what they had to say, he was glad that he did.

They were young but Yang had something that nobody else in the group could say they had.

A chance to talk with Weiss.

One brief glance down at his arm showed how well the alternative had gone.
​

"EXCUSE ME?! I'm sorry, did things in your head play out a certain way where I'd simply let that slide? Who the hell do you even think you ARE?! What makes you think you have the right to hold that sort of opinion against me, much less voice it aloud?! Do you have ANY IDEA what it was like for the two of us growing up?! WE WERE THE ONLY ONES WHO WERE THERE FOR EACH OTHER! Do you honestly think Weiss wouldn't have taken the first opportunity to leave that home once she was legally entitled to, had she been the elder?! You think YOU wouldn't have?! What was YOUR home life like?! AND I'M NOT TALKING ABOUT AN EMOTIONALLY WEAK FATHER, OR A MOTHER WHO RAN OUT ON YOU, I'M ASKING DID THE FAMILY YOU DID END UP WITH TREAT YOU WITH THE RESPECT THEY OWED YOU GROWING UP?! DID THEY MAKE YOU FEEL LIKE YOU DESERVED TO BE ALIVE?! WEISS AND I DIDN'T HAVE THAT! NOR DID OUR BROTHER! YOU HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT, NO RIGHT TO MAKE ANY SORT OF PRESUMPTIONS BASED OFF THINGS YOU OBVIOUSLY DON'T HAVE THE SLIGHTEST NOTION OF, YOU INFANTILE MORON, AND YOU HAVE EVEN LESS OF A RIGHT TO PLAY THE BIG SISTER TO-"

Grey watched Winter practically erupt into a righteous fury with his eyes widened behind the lenses of his mask.

When he'd been turned away by her earlier, he'd chalked it up to her assuming he was just little more than a gossip seeking stiff. Just a fool who'd gotten way in over his head just trying to make his big hit story.

But now he could see that Winter's relationship with Weiss was...complicated to say the least. More than he could have ever anticipated.

Once she was gone and Ironwood and Yang finished speaking, he cleared his throat.

"...If it's quite alright with everyone else, I have my own thoughts on the matter before us."

Rising to his feet, Grey inhaled and exhaled.

He had his hangups about sharing this. He really did.

'They can think what they'd like. That I'm no better than a tabloid writer, that i'm trying to profit off the misery of others. No skin off my nose.'

He pulled out his scroll.

"Before I joined this resistance, I wasn't anyone too important. Son of a retired Atlesian soldier, father and I didn't get along. Wanted me to join the military like he did. Wasn't in my heart to hold a gun and follow orders. Instead I wanted to pick out the cracks and flaws in what I'd believed as a child to be the perfect society. Mantle, Atlas, it was home and it was my utopia."

He paused.

"But then I grew up and decided to look out the window for a change. I'm no general, or politician, or...." He glanced over to Ruby and Yang. "Or a huntsman. I'm just Grey Winters a reporter.. I've never so much as thrown a punch or got into a scuffle I could win growing up. My semblance, 'Ghostly Whispers' lets me exude a fog that causes hallucinations, paranoia, etc etc. I perform best in stealth operations but even then as I said my fighting skills leave a lot to be desired iff there's any skill at all."

"I'm not perfect. I'm no fighter. These aren't exaggerations or self-deprecation. Just cold hard facts. While we continued to struggle against Atlas's forces and Weiss's by extension, I played to my strengths and recorded audio samples from different encounters, different skirmishes, video footage of things I'd believe would help us in the long term. Anything to try and break Weiss's hold over the people of Atlas. They see her as a hero, the one who'll keep them safe, the one who'll protect them. When we stormed her mansion on that fateful mission, she proved without a shadow of a doubt that she had the power to back up such beliefs. Veterans tossed aside like children, our strengths didn't matter to her, she overwhelmed us as if we were gnats. We didn't stand a chance..."

He glanced over to Yang.

"And yet....she let us go. I don't for a second believe that she couldn't have killed all of us if she'd felt so inclined. But for as much as I believe her rule to be wrong, that she should answer for the wrongs she's committed, she didn't do it. Instead we were left with our tails between our legs like a dog left to lick it's wounds. I simply don't believe we have what it takes to defeat her in a head on encounter. Perhaps it's defeatist, perhaps it's cynical. But...It's just how I feel." He lightly shrugged.

"I don't know if I was anyone of note in your world, Yang. Or if I played as much of a role as I like to think I do here. But....I believe you. Fighting Weiss simply won't get us anywhere. I agree she must be stopped but brute force isn't the way to do it. Maybe a miracle could happen. Perhaps she could be taken by surprise, we handcuff her....then what?"

He shook his head and tucked his scroll away.

"I've poured hours over the footage I've obtained. Anything I believe might turn Atlas's opinion of Weiss on it's head. For them to see whom she'd aligned herself with and begin to doubt that she's whom they believed her to be. But...nothing seems to have stuck. In our defeat and her declining to kill us, she's painted us as no better than thugs, fools who don't see what she's trying to do for Atlas and it's people to the point that we'd invade her home and attack her. Perhaps we could have done things different, should have done things differently....But I'd prefer not to wager lives on could/should/would haves. Or for those from another world..." He reached for his mask.

Pulling it off over his head, the man behind Grey just looked....tired. Bags under his eyes and a five'o clock shadow that hadn't been groomed at all.

"On plans that'll only get them hurt."

He sat back down.

"If we can't fight her and we can't convince Atlas to turn on her.....I genuinely think Yang has the right idea. Talking may be the only way we come out of this."

He paused for a moment or two.

"And not in handcuffs or caskets. That's all." ​

 

[MidwayLives]

The expensive bottle of mistralian wine she slid into another bag, but the random bouquet of flowers just got tossed aside to the ground. The fuck was that about? She shook her head and shrugged before stepping back inside with that now empty last bag. The former maiden was careful to step around the few pools of vomit she'd accidentally left around(little too much to drink) and approached the counter, where she had set a few of the more valuable things she thought might sell well at a pawn shop or the like. Enough to get her back on her feet and out of Mistral. Book passage...somewhere. All the items on that counter got swept into that empty bag before she strode on out of the place, grabbing the other bags too.

The Boss's 'business' with Trifa settled for now, Aurora returned with a sigh.

He didn't much like the entity that called itself 'Jack' at all. They disgusted him with how far they were willing to go to satisfy their urges.

And he usually got saddled with cleaning up the messes.

Food was left every now and again for Trifa so she didn't get hungry. The times that the Boss would give him permission to do so anyway.

Today wasn't one of those times. He had a job to do and with the tower down he'd have to do it in person.

As he closed the doors to the Boss's mansion behind him, he nearly fell over in fright as he heard the turrets beginning to whirr to life. "Hold on! Hold on, it's still me!!" He raised his ID card and once the cameras got a good eyeful, everything was silent once more. "...Geez." Before he headed off the grounds though, he spared a glance over in the direction of his guesthouse. The bags were gone which meant that she'd seen them! He was so relieved for that! When she'd bumped into him, she'd seemed so down on her luck. Maybe all she needed was just a genuine act of kindness to get her back on her feet! "Hey! Hey, did you like the gifts??" He called out.

Only to get no response.

Oh no...What if she didn't like them?

Did he mess up again....?

"Hey! Are you okay??" He raced over knowing full well the Boss wouldn't like this mini detour. He was really sorry.

"Are you-"

*crunch*

"....Oh."



She'd disregarded the flowers and taken some of his pricier belongings and knicknacks from just a brief glance.

The Boss would tell him he was too naive to be a true gangster. But it didn't mean it hurt any less.

"....I thought I was being nice..." He sniffled.

He plopped down on the porch and glanced over to the now crushed bouquet. Bringing it close to his chest, he sighed.

"Guess you weren't much of a gift huh?"

Just as he was ready to sulk, he felt something sticking to the back of his sweater. "Ugh, what the-" Pulling off the object, he realized it was just a sticky note. Must have been hanging on the door and fallen off when he'd finally gotten around to getting over here.

'Thank you.'

"...."

He stood up and placed the note back on the front door.

A reminder that despite the things one had to do to keep their community safe, there were always opportunities to help uplift others.

"*sniff*"

~~~



For years the self-proclaimed 'Hitman Team' had been one of the Bound Ashes's biggest profits.

Whether it was political favors(say so and so had an unfortunate 'accident')or straight up murders, they'd act without hesitation or question. All they needed was a face and name and semblance if necessary and they'd get the job done and be back in time for dinner. For the most part anyway. There were some missions that required more figurative time in the oven but they'd pull through all the same. The team itself was composed of cutthroat types who'd appreciated a venue to strut their stuff without needing to worry about the law breathing down their neck. If cops got too mouthy, stick a few wads of lien in their hands and set them on their way. If they still persisted show them why you were part of the Hitmen Team and they were just a bunch of fucking pigs.

Despite the colorful and effective semblances that the members of the team had, their leader lacked one herself.

And she was perhaps the most dangerous of them all.

Able to round up and lead such a motley group into becoming one of the gang's shining stars. The 'Drug Team'/'Community Team(the one Blanco's in charge of/'Finance Team' all had their ups and downs but the Hitman Team's leader, Abyss went out of her way to make sure that she or those under her command ever gave the Boss a reason to bitch about them. For the longest time they were so effective they were earning the biggest paychecks to show for it.

When the wealth started drying up however....well....

The Boss had set his ventures beyond just Mistral. From Vale to Vacuo and beyond, he had his ambitions set high. No matter how hard he seemed to try though, Atlas was always so close and yet so far. He'd made contacts for some of his boys to meet and one way or another Atlesian intelligence would be tipped off and their contacts would be arrested or 'disposed of' before they could meet. Pouring more lien into the growing sore seemed to be the only method in which to try and solve this problem. Thing is that the money wasn't endless. Sacrifices needed to be made and so for one reason or another the Boss chose the Hitmen Team's salary. When their checks cleared and they'd realized that their Boss whom they'd been loyal to for their entire careers was shunting them for some foreign expedition?

...They didn't take it well to say the least.

The other teams stopped socializing with them and they were no longer invited to 'family' meetings. It was as if the Boss was trying to send them a message. One that said 'don't like it? too bad' in regards to their pay being cut. Abyss didn't know who exactly the Boss was, he'd always operated through scrolls, computers, or that dorky little pink-haired kid. But that didn't mean she couldn't find out for the right price. The team made a pact among themselves that if anyone squealed about what they were going to do, they'd be killed on the spot by the others.

They'd find out the Boss's identity.

PIs were hired under the table and given the task.

They waited for over a week and no responses, not even a scroll call.

Then the next week came and they got a package in the mail. Seemed like some kind of picture frame. Only...it appeared to have what looked to be a scalp framed in the center. A fresh one at that. More and more of these grotesque frames continued popping up in the mail until Abyss felt they'd gotten the whole collection. They were the private investigators she'd hired. One of the Boss's Elite Guards had captured them and chopped them up and preserved the pieces in formaldehyde. Attached to the last package sent was a note from The Boss.

'Stop.'

So they did, too proud to admit it aloud but too terrified to resist the Boss any further.

If they wanted to live they'd do what he said when he said it....

Which given the stigmatization by their peers and the recent lack of work had left them sitting in their shared apartment, exasperated and bored out of their minds. But they refused to openly complain to the Boss or Aurora. They wouldn't admit it but they didn't want to be the next ones on the literal chopping block. Some of them handled the isolation better than others, some members of the team not so much...

"Ughhhh, c'mon guys, you're telling me you're not the least bit BORED?! I'm so goddamn tired of being cooped up in this place like a fucking chicken in a henhouse! We're fucking professionals, we should be out on the streets at some of the finest restaurants that a shithole like Mistral has to offer! Ordering everything as expensive as possible and then skimping out on the bill when we've had our fill! We've done it before! The looks on those asshole's faces was something else I tell ya!" Char exclaimed, pacing back and forth after having risen up from his seat and grabbing a stress toy that one of the others had bought for him in the futile hope it'd calm his nerves. "....Look, I get we're scared but-"

"Nobody here's scared, you dipshit."

Another voice chimed in, this one a rough one belonging to one of the Team's more 'savage' members. Sitting on her chair with her feet propped up on the coffee table, the owner of said voice couldn't help but snort in derision at Char's expense.

"If anyone's scared, I'd wager all the lien in my wallet that it's the jackass who's pacing a goddamn hole in the floor. We fucked up and we paid for it. S'all we can do is sit and wait to see what offers roll in and when they do. Best thing to do in the meantime is to do whatever the fuck we want. But if you're gonna sit there and whine about what we 'should' be doing then you can go ahead and take a long walk off a short pier, Char. I ain't in the mood for it and I doubt anyone else here is." Violet mocked only for Char to flip her off in return, a gesture she gladly shared. "I'd say great minds think alike but you're no where goddamn close, pal."



"Gee who else to chime in but the Hitmen Team's resident c-"

"Finish that sentence and Love and Peace will fill your ass full of lead. You'll finally be useful for something then, Char! Holding my bullets."

His aura flared around him resembling the shimmer of glass as he reached for his own weapon. "Yeah?? Why don't you go ahead and try it? I've been dying to use 'Mirror World'-"

"Hahahahaha!"

The two both turned their heads, Char quicker than Violet.

'The hell's so funny, Blanche?"

The eye-patch wearing member of their group held up his hands and snickered.

"Ahaha, it's nothing I suppose. Just that a lover's quarrel between two killers isn't exactly the entertainment I'd expected for today but by all means..." He teased with an accent that most certainly would have been construed as French in our world. Char simply scoffed and looked away. He was proud of it's semblance and the potential it had to take out entire teams if he used it right and didn't underestimate his opponents but Blanche's was something else. Over time it'd turn the strongest young guy with rippling muscles into a decrepit mummy barely capable of moving under your own power. Good for when your targets tried to hide in large crowds. The effects reversed if Blanche was either knocked out or killed but ugh....Getting turned into a geezer just sounded like a terrible way to go. Violet was less willing to let Blanche speak his mind.

"Yeah? If you think love's so funny, Blanche? How about a kiss..." She drew one of her pistols, in this case 'Love' and brandished it at Blanche. "Or better yet how about a kiss from this?"

Blanche merely smirked.

*siiiiiiiip*



As the sole faunus of the team, Vanille had to fight an uphill battle to be respected by some of her peers like Violet and Charred. Others like Blanche grew attached to her from day one but whether that was out of a healthy respect for her skills and semblance or just her looks, she couldn't quite say and neither did Blanche for that matter. More for his own continued well-being if nothing else. She sat on her own chair, her legs kicking back and forth as she sipped from the coffee she'd gone out and bought. The dry spell of work was disappointing but to be expected given that they'd probably need to work their asses off to get back into the Boss's good graces.

As she watched Blanche and Violet go back and forth, she slowly gazed over to their leader of their team who'd been watching this go down with an impassive look on her face. You never could tell what the woman was thinking and the faunus loved that. Kept her and the others on their toes.

"Violet. Blanche. That's enough."

"But he started-"



"I don't care who started it. I'm ending it. Now. You're both grown adults and professional hitmen. This kind of behavior is downright embarrassing. Do better." Abyss scolded in a manner more befitting a teacher disciplining a rowdy student than the leader of a band of killers calling out her subordinates. Violet holstered 'Love' and turned away with her arms folded across her chest.

"I know times are tough and if you want anyone to blame? Blame me, not the Boss. I still don't agree with him making moves towards Atlas. Not when Mistral's still a hellhole and a half but he's in charge and I'm not. I can only decide on what we do. I'm the one who hired the PIs and I'm the one who begged for leniency from the Boss. It's my fault we're sitting here on our asses. So if you need somebody to vent to, take it out on me."

Everyone else was silent.

"H...Hey, uh, look, Abyss. I-I didn't mean to sound like I was whining or anything, y'know? I'm just so goddamn pent up. We have some of the best semblances for this line of work and yet we're stuck here twiddling our thumbs! It's just...frustrating. I know the Team messed up and we're on the Boss's shitlist but how the hell are we supposed to make it up to the guy if he doesn't give us a chance??"

Then as if on cue the door was kicked open and everyone except Abyss and Vanille drew their weapons.

"EEEK!!!"

Vanille gave a wave.

"Hi Vanille....Long time no see..." Aurora replied, trying to be as cheerful as he could be with three killers pointing the tools of their trade at him. Blanche chuckled and Violet and Char rolled their eyes. They knew who Aurora was, obviously anyone worth a damn in the gang did, but for someone who somehow had the Boss's ear the kid was a total stooge. Didn't have his semblance unlocked and cowered at the first sign of aggression, even someone who was considered something of a schmuck by his peers like Char didn't think too highly of him.

But at the end of the day he was their superior and they knew to respect that much at least.

Abyss leaned forward in her seat.

"What brings you here, Aurora? I doubt it's just a friendly visit."

Settling in on the black sofa once everyone had stopped pointing weapons at him, Aurora shyly wiped away the beads of sweat from his forehead. "Hehehe, just business as usual, Abyss! Got an order straight from the Boss for a mission he's got for you guys. It's an important one too."

"Holy shit, you're not fooling....? Nah, who am I kidding, you couldn't fool the stupidest hobo in Mistral. You're telling the truth, Aurora and I think I can dig it! We were just talking about how we're all so excited to work on a fresh mission! Give us a-" Aurora held up a hand to cut him off. "Fresh start after you tried betraying the Boss?' Aurora questioned to which all the enthuasim that'd been in Char just seconds prior disspiated as though Aurora had just let air out of a balloon. "Personally, I think you guys are all respectable enough people and I've never had a problem with you myself but you're all lucky that the Boss didn't just decide to have you all killed. You'd betrayed him and by extension the family. Not something that's easy to come back from." He tapped his forehead.

"That's where this job comes into play. Seems like Malachite's been bumped off. New folks in charge of the place."

Vanille nearly spat out her drink. Not at the news but because Violet slapped her on the back in shock. "Somebody finally offed the fat bitch and it wasn't US?!! That's such a fucking rip!!!"

Char seemed kind of cheesed at the missed opp himself. "Yeah! Taking her out would have been a great way to show the Boss we're still loyal and then some jagoff goes and does it instead! What a total rip!"

Blanche was just disappointed he didn't get to look upon that face once more-with all the lack of proper depth perception that one eye afforded him. "Alas I'll miss that beautiful face and those soft lips-"

Violet, Char, and Vanille all shouted Blanche down. "Smh, absolute philistines..."

"Enough. Does the Boss want us to track down who did her in? Must have been some ballsy types to go after someone like her. Don't think there were too many people in Mistral that she didn't at least have some kind of dirt on." Which was just another reason the Boss was glad the bitch was dead. Aurora shook his head and held up his hands. "Nononono, listen closely you guys. What I'm about to say might seem shocking but here goes-"

"WHAT?!" Was the collective reaction of everyone but Abyss and Vanille.

"So the smug SOB had a kid, eh? Didn't think he had it in him to be father material but if he's gone and kicked the bucket too? Three guesses as to why." Guy was a shitbag through and through. She wouldn't have been too surprised if the reason he stopped showing up was because his son did him in or something. "You want us to take out his kid? Doesn't matter to me either way, a job's a job at the end of the day and my men need the pay."

"No, no killing,at least not right away.The Boss just wants to see iif him and his friends are skilled fighters. If they are then great! i'll try to bring them onboard into the family. If they're nore worth a damn though..."

Violet perked up and grinned.

'THEN we kill the lil fuckers!"

"....Yeah, pretty much." Aurora mused thought the gleefulness that Violet had was definitely lacking. "Don't feel like you guys need to rush, doesn't seem like they're in much of a hurry themselves. Take your time and think about how you wanna approach this. Do it all as a team unit? Or maybe try picking them off two at a time? Figure out what works best for you, I don't like to micro-manage and I trust you, Abyss..." Aurora stated before sighing and looking away. "...Even if you did betray the Boss."

For the first time since Aurora had walked into the room, Abyss smiled.



"My team and I will do our best, Aurora. You and The Boss can count on that."

"Great! I expect good things from you guys.....Please don't let me down." With a wave and hug from Vanille aside, Aurora was gone and well on his way again. But this time with a bit more pep in his step and trails of wind blowing past his person.

'Jack' wanted to get out and find the 'Scorpion' that he'd desired just as much as the Spider.~​

 

[MyrtenRose]

"...But... I think she still has the potential to be a good person at the end of everything. I know you said she's a master manipulator and all, but... this isn't going to make much sense to most of you, but there's like... two different flavors of differences between us from my remnant and the people from here; they either are almost the same person, but their history is different" She said as she raised a finger before she raised another "or they're practically a different person with the same name. Sure, there might be some personality overlap, but their.... I dunno, their core is different. People like my not Uncle, or this world's Nora. Weiss.... Weiss is the first kind."

"I obviously can't speak to if this Weiss is indeed the first kind, but as for the potential to be good?" The not crippled Raven shook her head. "I must disagree. There is a point of crossing the line, you know. Going beyond the point of no return. Way I see it, Weiss has long since crossed that line. You say you can't sweep the stuff she's done under the rug, but then you try to excuse actual murder by claiming the victim deserved it. Yes, Jacques Schnee was no nice man, I won't suggest otherwise, but to say what you just did...it doesn't matter what her motive is! Murder. Is. Murder!" Raven finished a bit more loudly passionate than might have been necessary. That was the kind of crap thinking she'd long since left behind, the values that tribe of thugs and killers had tried to instill...thrown away for a reason. Fighting in self-defense was one thing, but that...no.​

Her hands gripped into fists as she continued with a determined edge to her voice. "...But she is still Weiss. This isn't Stockholm syndrome or my brain being turned around, not unless she's got some way of spying on the Weiss Schnee back home to play the part. And she's as vehemently against Ozpin as anyone in this room; I can be as sure of that as I can be that I love my sister. She may have seriously hurt people or worse fighting Ozpin in her own way, but she's been fighting him from the start. and because she is Weiss, I can say for sure that that's never going to change. So either we can suck it up and deal with the fact that we'd be fighting along someone who's done terrible things to defeat the literal king of darkness, or both sides of this Atlas nonsense can kick the shit out of each other until Ozpin comes to eat the scraps. " She finished with a shrug before she settled back into her chair with crossed arms.

"Suck...suck it up?! We're not talking about a schoolyard bully here, we're--ugh!" The huntress cut herself off with a disgusted growl, not desiring getting into a lengthy argument with Yang here. She had an admirable heart, but...as much as Yang might have denied it, from where she was standing it definitely looked like Weiss had on some level, gotten to Yang. "One question then. If the person we were talking about here, if that person did all the same depraved stuff we're talking about and implying here, but it wasn't Weiss, didn't wear that familiar face and instead looked like a complete stranger...would you be so staunchly speaking up in their defense?"​

Winter had been given a cold bucket of water by Ironwood and didn't respond outwardly to Robyn's hand, though neither did she shrug it away. That didn't mean she was just going to remain silent, though, and Ilia had a sharp glare leveled her way as her lips pulled into a frown. "You don't understand. You all keep just... making yourselves enemies to her! No different than the White or Shadow Fang have ever done. That isn't the type of society we live in, and you're just further reinforcing her belief that it is! She's making terrible decisions because she sees them as necessary, but she's not a violent person! She can't even stand the sight of blood!"

Ironwood's eyebrow was sharp as he raised it, but after a moment or two of holding his gaze on his second he opted not to comment. The familiarity her perspective offered may not have been entirely devoid of value, he reasoned.

That hit a lot closer to home than she would have liked. Doing terrible things because she deemed them necessary, despite not liking violence, not enjoying having to hurt people...yeah, that definitely struck a chord in Ilia. She'd been there. Had almost gone through killing people herself, all for that greater good, but she hadn't in the end. Blake had reached out, pulled her back...and this assuredly did have her thinking about her approach with Weiss here. The thing was, if they were to be believed, Weiss had already crossed that line. The chameleon faunus couldn't help but darkly wonder if Blake would have been as forgiving with her if Ghira and Kali had indeed lost their lives. What would Blake do here, that had been a question long since coursing through her mind many times on this Remnant, and right now she wasn't sure of the answer. Though perhaps her silence was an answer in itself.​

"I'm sure most of you already know this, but Weiss' home life was awful. If she really did kill her dad, I'm just gonna be blunt and say he deserved it" She said, doing her best not to look at Ruby as she did so.

Both Ironwood and Winter cast at least slightly nonplussed, taken aback looks Ruby's way at that insight, from somebody more or less echoing the same opinion as her sister without the month and a half of potential psychological wear to cast that opinion in a suspicious light. Gradually, though, the former general's features hardened, as a lack of true familiarity with Ruby Rose or why she might offer a valuable perspective of simple, unprejudiced human decency gave way to the visible thought that she may have simply been parroting her older sibling.

Winter's wide eyes, however, didn't subside, and there was an uncommon note of passion to her voice once more as she whipped her head around to face the general again. "Sir, she's right. Whatever her intentions may have been with these two, she... her machinations had already... disposed of me, there was no further use for my safety, she had absolutely no manipulative rationale to remove me from the fray-"

"Having enough of a conscience to be averse to mowing down her own flesh and blood in a crossfire doesn't exactly prove anything." He pointed out impassively, though not harshly. "But noted."

Spoiler

Ruby herself looked away as Yang talked about...that, and while she couldn't quite bring herself to agree there...the general message Yang was trying to send was one that she still supported. By the time Ruby lifted her gaze to look over at Ironwood and Winter, she caught just the briefest glimpse of that wide-eyed look on the former general's face. She opened her mouth to speak again but closed it again after a few seconds before any words came actually spilling out. Her brows furrowed as she listened to the others continue instead.​

"Tock..."

James's countenance was grim as he gave a heavy sigh, another casualty he held himself personally accountable for.

"It's not clear, but... there have been some unconfirmed reports of a woman matching Liadan's description among Weiss's security retinue. I can't say for certain it's her, but given how many faunus live in Atlas to begin with, to say nothing of how many are as distinctive as she is..."

It didn't carry the weight with him that it once did, but there was a moment of silent remorse given for the possibilities that entailed for who had formerly been a staunch core piece of Salem's shadow council, just as he himself had.

Winter couldn't quite account for that herself, and looked troubled as she tried to justify it. "...That's not... but you all keep... I was frozen but I saw it, you unleashed her in our home and she looked like a monster, nobody is even... You all just keep attacking her! You're all so scared to engage her on her level and simply talk! She sees herself as above the rest of the world, how else is she supposed to respond to that?! Has there even been a single instance where she was the one attacking you people first?!"

Neither had much to say on Carnelian. That spoke for itself. After several heavy moments, though, Winter still tried to speak up in defense of her sister.

"That isn't... I was always harsher towards the faunus than she was growing up. We both grew to be better than that. It's not like she... he's a better swordsman than anyone in this room, and a friend to our father, he has respect for our name, that's all, she wouldn't..."

But regardless of how true it was, all of it sounded weak. Even to her own ears. She finally cleared her throat, boiling it down to a simple sentence before she dug the hole any deeper.

"...He's another tool. That's it. I can't condone it, but I know that's how she sees it. I fail to see how he could possibly be worse than Ozpin, and I don't doubt my sister has a plan to deal with him when the time comes as well. Borous was always... I don't know. I don't think he even wants to be alive anymore, truth be told."

Ironwood said nothing. The man was a product from before his time, true, and it wasn't as if he hadn't made efforts to diminish the man's power over the years, to erase his legacy. But the very regime he was advocating was the one that had found an unapologetic monster like Carnelian not guilty, and the one that had allowed him to continue existing. Weiss purported to change that, and if anything he looked... more thoughtful than he had when he simply decried the act of her appointing him through and through.

"...Oh." Raven wasn't sure how to feel about that possibility about Tock. The croc faunus, among Schnee security? That didn't...the woman had lived a very long time, and was as stubborn as they come. To fall in line with someone else's tune, that soon, that deeply troubled Raven. "Is Weiss really that convincing when she does talk? Just that...successfully manipulative?" She quietly questioned. That hardly seemed possible, for someone as loyally steadfast as Liadan had been. Between Yang and that possibility though, there were new levels of concern for the depths of Weiss's manipulative ability.

Whether her silence after that was on account of thinking about that or not really having an answer for Winter when the elder Schnee sister asked if any of them had even tried talking with Weiss first. Or if the heavy silence was in thinking about Carnelian, or maybe it was all three. Whatever the case, the silence lingered.​

"EXCUSE ME?! I'm sorry, did things in your head play out a certain way where I'd simply let that slide? Who the hell do you even think you ARE?! What makes you think you have the right to hold that sort of opinion against me, much less voice it aloud?! Do you have ANY IDEA what it was like for the two of us growing up?! WE WERE THE ONLY ONES WHO WERE THERE FOR EACH OTHER! Do you honestly think Weiss wouldn't have taken the first opportunity to leave that home once she was legally entitled to, had she been the elder?! You think YOU wouldn't have?! What was YOUR home life like?! AND I'M NOT TALKING ABOUT AN EMOTIONALLY WEAK FATHER, OR A MOTHER WHO RAN OUT ON YOU, I'M ASKING DID THE FAMILY YOU DID END UP WITH TREAT YOU WITH THE RESPECT THEY OWED YOU GROWING UP?! DID THEY MAKE YOU FEEL LIKE YOU DESERVED TO BE ALIVE?! WEISS AND I DIDN'T HAVE THAT! NOR DID OUR BROTHER! YOU HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT, NO RIGHT TO MAKE ANY SORT OF PRESUMPTIONS BASED OFF THINGS YOU OBVIOUSLY DON'T HAVE THE SLIGHTEST NOTION OF, YOU INFANTILE MORON, AND YOU HAVE EVEN LESS OF A RIGHT TO PLAY THE BIG SISTER TO-"

​

"Winter!" Ironwood cut across, though it was with more of a nonplussed air of concern and a desire to keep the woman from embarrassing herself further than anything as she more or less broke down at the slightest provocation from a Yang she'd been staring daggers at since the moment she first arrived here. The former special operative looked about as close to unsteady on her feet as she could get as she caught her breath, using her hand to cover her face.

"I, I need to be excused sir."

"That's fine."

He watched her go while she did so, and seemed eager to move things along once the door shut in her wake. His expression as he heard the rest of what Yang had to say out took extra care to exercise reason over emotion, though quite frankly it was a bit sterner for the absolutely unprecedented reaction she had just provoked from somebody he held in high esteem.

More than fine, that was perhaps for the best that Winter be given some time to herself. Though not all felt that way, it seemed, as the fall maiden shot a glance around. Apparently she didn't see much of a reason to stay for the moment as she too made her way for the door after Winter. A lot of what she might have said seemed to be covered by others anyway, and if they reached a consensus on how to proceed before she returned, well. She'd just accept that and go along with said plan, whatever it might be. "Hey." Cinder greeted when she caught up with Winter after that departure. "Are...are you going to be okay?"
​

His eyes flickered over towards the door Winter had left through, and for the very first time throughout the discourse the guilt in them was undeniable.

"You do raise a good point, though. Ozpin is humanity's enemy, one we should all strive to band together against. I don't think it's unfair to be concerned about the state of my kingdom after he's gone, however; and the type of person who holds the keys to it."

"Yes. Nobody knows that, has concerns about that, more than I do but that is something we can discuss once we are past the problem currently in front of us all." Robyn pointed out to them all in the wake of that emotional episode.​

"Really nothing else I can say to make you think its my own thoughts and not Weiss using my brain as a propaganda garden except that I'm way more sure of my mental fortitude than your standard twenty-ish year old. Honestly though, I'm super not qualified to make any comments on Atlas in the aftermath or any of this political stuff. I'm a huntress. I kill grimm and bust bad guy skulls. And my very professional opinion on that front is that if we wanna take down Oz and keep the kingdoms safe, the best bet to do that is to reach out to Weiss and see if you guys can reach a middle ground on that front"

"...Well then I'm afraid I'm sorry. But quite frankly... that only goes so far here," he returned honestly, then turned a contemplative frown as he awaited any further opinions. Preferably from those less... close... to the subject at hand. "I'm not so eager to give someone who's stacked her deck by manipulating those of good intentions the opportunity to do so again. Maybe you'll understand when you're older."

"If...if we do it this way, if we do remove Weiss from power in the way you intend...will it be a smooth transition back to you in charge? Is that even possible? I don't know your military very well, or where many of their true allegiances may lie, but I'm trying to think about not only us, not just the soldiers, but also about the people that military is pledged to protect. Weiss kicked my butt last time, and admittedly I do want to pay her back for that but if we go about it this way...the armed forces wouldn't fracture or anything, would they? Would we be ready to face Ozpin?" Nora asked.​

"And yet....she let us go. I don't for a second believe that she couldn't have killed all of us if she'd felt so inclined. But for as much as I believe her rule to be wrong, that she should answer for the wrongs she's committed, she didn't do it. Instead we were left with our tails between our legs like a dog left to lick it's wounds. I simply don't believe we have what it takes to defeat her in a head on encounter. Perhaps it's defeatist, perhaps it's cynical. But...It's just how I feel." He lightly shrugged.

"You feel that way only because I didn't get a chance to try." The other Raven addressed Grey, utterly bold words coming from somebody in a wheelchair. "In other words, you're wrong. If I had been able to confront her head on...powerful as she might be, trust me when I say that you wouldn't feel the same way. She's good. I'm better." ​

"If we can't fight her and we can't convince Atlas to turn on her.....I genuinely think Yang has the right idea. Talking may be the only way we come out of this."

He paused for a moment or two.

"And not in handcuffs or caskets. That's all."

"Just give me the time I need to...recover from...this. You'd have far improved chances with me also in the fight." Raven promised. "Even if I alone am not enough to help balance the sides in that conflict?" She jerked her head in the direction of the exit door. "I'm not the only maiden you have now. I could help get...Cinder..." There was still more than a hint of distaste when she said that name. "...up to better fighting shape. Between us and all of you...don't be so convinced that we can't win a fight." ​

 

[Gus Gungus]

She met Eve's glare halfway, yet broke it off with a dark frown as she glanced to the side.

"....You broke her heart, you know."





This Ilia was a decent actress when she put the effort in, but when she didn't she wore her heart on her sleeve more often than not. There was a quiet and painful rawness to those words that didn't fade so much as get buried under the anger of her next words as she met Eve's cold eyes with her own. "Or maybe you don't. You were the one who left after all. Typical for you to leave the mess for us to clean up while you played big, moral hero, but Blake never really recovered from this one. it gutted her Eve. She was a shell of the girl we both love." She failed to stop a small, painfully sad smile from flickering across her lips that was far less telling than how her skin started to shift to a light blue and green as her gaze dropped and she continued. "Maybe I am just second place. Maybe I'm nothing but a stopgap between you two getting together again. and if it does go down that way, then... fine. As long as Blake's happy, I'd take it. But you want my 'genuine' opinion?"

The colors were already shifting again as she snapped her gaze up to Eve with a growl.

"That's not how this all breaks out. You wanna know why you have to answer? because I'm not letting you do that to her again. Blake can ignore what she saw all she wants. Sienna can tell me I'm overreacting as many times as she feels like. I saw you back at Haven and Beacon, what you really think about Sienna and the Fang. That doesn't just... go away. A stubborn jackass like you doesn't just 'see the light'. You're going to do something stupid, and its going to break her heart again."

She stood up, her skin a mix of vibrant reds and yellows as she slowly strode forward.

"And that's why I'm here, to tell you something really simple; Don't. Just leave. Go find whatever hole that the Eve who was my friend died in, the one who understood how evil the humans were, the one who didn't feel this compulsive need to ruin Blake's life, crawl back in it..."

she stopped a few inches away, glaring daggers into the eyes of the taller girl.

"...and either disappear or finish the job. Or I'm going to do it for you."

Once again did Eve's mouth open as it was all turned around on her, a dangerous look in her eye that only worsened the longer Ilia went on as it looked as though at any moment the former sword of the White Fang was going to cut her off. But she never did. Instead, by the time the stealth operative was finished her mouth had become a tight, sullen glower, though that lethal look never once left her eyes no matter how much certain portions of the words provoked a defensive sadness in them.

It wasn't an empty look. The thread Ilia was pulling on was not a safe one.

Appropriately, the smaller girl's last approach was one made either secure, or not so, in the knowledge that the bull's hand was now tightly wrapped around Wilt's handle, though no move was made to draw it as she instead twisted all the dark thoughts she felt bubbling up into a malicious snarl and finally broke her silence.

"Sure, Ilia. It's all my fault, right? Is it convenient for you to think that way?" She made a sound that was the exact midpoint between a snarl and a scoff. "I'll bet it is. Just like it's convenient to believe that an entire species is evil, like we're not the ones who basically work for the goddamn embodiment of evil. Like we haven't both played our parts in making sure that's how the rest of history is going to view our people. 'Oh, buh-buh-but they already see us that way'—"

Her lower lip curled out, tremulous and sniveling as she emulated an impotent little stutter. Those exaggerated features aside, the voice didn't sound all that far away from Ilia's.

"—Shut the fuck up. Do you actually HEAR yourself? This is what's wrong with her. This is what's wrong with ALL of you people, NONE of you can hear how stupid you really sound. Things were changing. It was too slow, it wasn't gonna be enough in our lifetimes. Not nearly enough. But it was happening, and now all that's happening is everyone is terrified of us. The faunus are mentioned in the same sentences as Grimm. That hasn't been the case for a long, long time. So you tell me, Amitola; which direction are we really headed in?"

If Ilia had been expecting Eve to put up some kind of a front, to do anything other than let her true feelings show on her sleeve in response to such targeted words against her, it couldn't have been clearer over those few seconds that she had misjudged her. That was who she was; Eve Taurus, the woman who took all the venom the world sent her way and threw it right back. Who weaponized it. And she might've been playing nice, might've been carrying out everything she was told to do with that same lethal efficiency, might've been avoiding conversations so none of this came tumbling out at the first provocation. But like hell was she gonna act like she was a perfectly oiled cog in whatever cult they all wanted this to be. She was doing the work. She was just as good at it as ever.

But when this little bitch of all people decided to get in her face and start acting sanctimonious, she quite literally just didn't have it in her to do anything less than make her true feelings known. She wasn't going to let herself be brainwashed like the rest of them. There were some very select reasons that she was here, and none of them involved believing that this was the right way. Not even close.

She sneered, and started to pace a slow, measured circle around Ilia like she was every bit still the hunter trapped in the lion's den. If there was one thing she definitely didn't respond well to, it was threats, and she had every intention of reminding Ilia just who it was who should've been feeling threatened here.

"Surprised? Not what you expected to hear? There's more. I'm here for one reason, and if you wanna know what it is so bad then I'm happy to oblige. I'm here because it's the only place an ugly, broken, twisted up little ruin of a faunus like me belongs in the world. I'm exactly where I should be. I'm among my own kind, a whole lot more than I would've been if I just tucked my tail and crawled back to Menagerie with the non-ferals. I'm just the only one here who seems to be able to recognize all of this for what it really is: Bullshit. There's nothing noble about what we're doing. There's nothing righteous. We're just a bunch of pissed off animals living in an echo chamber, all rabid, all justifying one another's hatred. Well, that's fine. Suits me. You can justify how much you hate humans all you want, use all the pretty little arguments Sienna brainwashed you into actually believing. What do I care?"

If Ilia had in any way forgotten the sneering, chiding, patronizing tones of an Eve Taurus who believed every single word she was saying, how they could worm your way into their psyche out of sheer domineering conviction, how small they could make you feel, she was receiving a stark reminder in every single one of those. On her third lap around, she lunged in suddenly from the girl's peripheral so there was less than an inch between their faces, eyes flared wide, Wilt drawn in a flash, and teeth bared as she carefully gauged how much she flinched, if at all.

"But don't you DARE use Blake to justify how much you hate me. That's just a little more bullshit than even I can stomach, and I'm the whole goddamn Bull. We both know exactly why you don't like me. I've known it since the first puppy-eyed glance you sent my girlfriend's way; it was obvious. For a chameleon, you really couldn't be any worse at hiding your feelings. But that's okay, Ilia." Wilt's tip slowly came away from where it had risen up to rest lightly against the smaller girl's chin, something almost affectionate in the way she used the flat of the blade to pat her there before she resumed pacing. "We don't have to talk about that. You already had a better idea, anyway; let's talk about Blake. I've been thinking a lot about her lately, actually. About what happened to her. About who's to blame. About why she's barely even a PERSON anymore. I think you're right, you know. I think it really was me who got the ball rolling on that one. But it'd be rude of me to take all the credit."

Once again, she paced out of sight of Ilia's peripheral vision. Only this time, she didn't circle back around, and if Ilia herself tried to turn she felt Wilt's edge on her neck to discourage her from doing so.

"When I first caught wind of him, I assumed it was Ozpin. Then I realized just how bad things had gotten around here all on their own, and I figured, 'maybe Sienna's to blame'. Both strong contenders, don't get me wrong. Only lately, these last few minutes especially, I've been wondering if maybe something... different happened. What if Blake wasn't brainwashed, or intimidated? Not solely, anyway." She shook her head. "What if she was hurt, because of what I did, because of all of it; what if she was just vulnerable, and during that time along came a lonely little vulture who'd had her beady eyes fixated on Blake's back longer than she could even remember? Who's starving, who'd been waiting so long for an opportunity to swoop in and become the person she thinks she always should've been in Blake's eyes? Maybe it doesn't even know it's doing it. Maybe it does. It always was good at blending in with its surroundings, so who knows. Either way, it just can't help but see the opportunity. What if, when Blake was angry, when she was hurt, when she was at her lowest point and all the hate twisting her up inside was at its VERY STRONGEST and she needed somebody, ANYBODY to tell her no, what if instead all she heard was YES? What if this pathetic, shapeshifting little reptile, who'd gotten real good at justifying her own hatred over the years, helped Blake justify hers, told her everything she was feeling was right and fair and that she should embrace it because her only real priority was convincing Blake to let her crawl into bed with her the second I was gone? Since you're so eager to bring it up, I think you have the right idea, Amitola. I think we should talk about that."

For the first time during the entire speech, Ilia's aura tingled faintly. An almost imperceptible effort to tell her what was probably already sinking in. This wasn't just talk. It wasn't mere bluster or idle threats.

Eve was unhinged.

Ilia was in danger here.

This was the type of faunus who grew in the darkness cast by an organization like the Shadow Fang.

When she heard her voice again, it was right by her ear, so loud she could practically feel it reverberating around the inside of her skull.



"AND THEN MAYBE WE'LL TALK ABOUT WHO'S REALLY THE ONE IN DANGER OF DISAPPEARING HERE, AND WHY YOU SHOULD NOT HAVE COME TO THIS TOWER!"​

 

[Gus Gungus]

"If we can't fight her and we can't convince Atlas to turn on her.....I genuinely think Yang has the right idea. Talking may be the only way we come out of this."

He paused for a moment or two.

"And not in handcuffs or caskets. That's all."

Ironwood was silent throughout much of the time Grey had the floor, organic hand's fingers interlaced with his prosthetic's as he took the man's words in carefully. All of them.

"..."

There... there were so many... They were all muffled because of the mask, too. Why... why was this person wearing a mask again? And was that a knife? When it was finally over, James subtly snapped to attention like he had been drifting off with his eyes open and loudly cleared his throat, being very faintly awkward and wooden in the way truly only he could be sometimes.

"Ahem, yes, thank you. A truly nonpartisan perspective is always important. We didn't... necessarily need your whole life story, though."

Journalists.

"Well ah liked it!" Cobalt whispered to Grey encouragingly from where they were hiding in the corner waiting for all this heavy stuff they had nothing to contribute to pass, leaning over to nudge his ribs.

"I obviously can't speak to if this Weiss is indeed the first kind, but as for the potential to be good?" The not crippled Raven shook her head. "I must disagree. There is a point of crossing the line, you know. Going beyond the point of no return. Way I see it, Weiss has long since crossed that line. You say you can't sweep the stuff she's done under the rug, but then you try to excuse actual murder by claiming the victim deserved it. Yes, Jacques Schnee was no nice man, I won't suggest otherwise, but to say what you just did...it doesn't matter what her motive is! Murder. Is. Murder!" Raven finished a bit more loudly passionate than might have been necessary. That was the kind of crap thinking she'd long since left behind, the values that tribe of thugs and killers had tried to instill...thrown away for a reason. Fighting in self-defense was one thing, but that...no.

"I won't weep over Jacques Schnee, and he definitely reaped what he sowed in that regard. But on a matter of principle, I'm inclined to agree," he pointed out, switching his gaze back to Yang again with a raised eyebrow. "Weiss had other options to reach out and she never availed of them. Forgive me for taking the stance of devil's advocate here, but I do have to point out that judging Winter so harshly for doing what she felt necessary to escape a toxic home environment and then excusing Weiss committing a far worse crime to the same end seems to indicate a lack of perspective at best. At worst, it's mildly hypocritical. It doesn't help with the impression that you may be favoring her."

With that being said... he knew Weiss. He sighed.

"...But I will also point out that people can be pushed over their breaking point sometimes, and that doesn't mean they can't come back. To think so is equally as close-minded."

More words that would've sounded very ironic, had a certain few in the room had any foresight of their world's impending events.

"...Oh." Raven wasn't sure how to feel about that possibility about Tock. The croc faunus, among Schnee security? That didn't...the woman had lived a very long time, and was as stubborn as they come. To fall in line with someone else's tune, that soon, that deeply troubled Raven. "Is Weiss really that convincing when she does talk? Just that...successfully manipulative?" She quietly questioned. That hardly seemed possible, for someone as loyally steadfast as Liadan had been. Between Yang and that possibility though, there were new levels of concern for the depths of Weiss's manipulative ability.

Whether her silence after that was on account of thinking about that or not really having an answer for Winter when the elder Schnee sister asked if any of them had even tried talking with Weiss first. Or if the heavy silence was in thinking about Carnelian, or maybe it was all three. Whatever the case, the silence lingered.

His countenance was solemn as he fielded that question, biological hand scratching his beard. Now that she had left the room, he could be blunt. "Well... Winter is one of the strongest willed people I've ever known, and Weiss has her trying to rationalize and explain her every action for her. With respect to miss Xiao Long, I'm far from convinced she isn't experiencing a lessened version of the same effect. People..."

He frowned, a flicker of something breaking across his expression before he immediately banished it.

"...People are kind, broadly speaking. Certain types of people... they see that Weiss wasn't reared well, that she lacked a strong guiding influence growing up. Or take it upon themselves to assume the ones she did have..."

His eyes were sad as they stared at the door Winter had departed through.

"...Failed. Winter deserves better than that perception, if I can be blunt. She tried to be there for Weiss while experiencing a great deal of suffering and hardship of her own. Not everyone can be strong in that type of situation; I know for a fact that a vast majority of people born in Atlas wouldn't have been as strong as she was. If anything, I should've..." He trailed off for a second, unsure of how to put what he wanted to say.

"...I knew both those girls had a difficult relationship with their father. I just never imagined... it wasn't until years later that Winter told me what was really going on in that house. I'd like to say I couldn't have known better, but... I should've. I was the one trying to... well, I wanted to help them. I pushed for Weiss to attend the academy, just as Winter did, but Jacques, he... he wouldn't risk losing another heir. He knew exactly what he was doing, but I suppose if anyone failed in that entire scenario... it was me..."

His voice almost sounded like he was only coming to that realization as he spoke the words, a genuine mournfulness in how he stared at the door now. Finally, he snapped back to the matter at hand with a brisk clear of the throat.

"...But Tock? I don't know. Liadan isn't that type of person, to be frank. She wouldn't defect from Salem out of a desire to reach Weiss or turn her. Either she believes wholeheartedly in all her goals and what she's done to achieve them, or... something more sinister is at work."

"Yes. Nobody knows that, has concerns about that, more than I do but that is something we can discuss once we are past the problem currently in front of us all." Robyn pointed out to them all in the wake of that emotional episode.

"While potentially handing Weiss everything she needs to simply sweep any remaining opposition off the board when all's said and done. I have the future of a kingdom to think about."

"If...if we do it this way, if we do remove Weiss from power in the way you intend...will it be a smooth transition back to you in charge? Is that even possible? I don't know your military very well, or where many of their true allegiances may lie, but I'm trying to think about not only us, not just the soldiers, but also about the people that military is pledged to protect. Weiss kicked my butt last time, and admittedly I do want to pay her back for that but if we go about it this way...the armed forces wouldn't fracture or anything, would they? Would we be ready to face Ozpin?" Nora asked.

He looked troubled at that, surprised by such a shrewdly raised point by one normally as wild and unpredictable as Nora. "It's... difficult to say, to be honest. When the allegations against me are proven false I should be rightfully reinstated, both as general and to both my council seats. Due process will run its course, but there will be... inquiries. I effectively allowed all of this to happen."

His jaw tightened with the admission.

"...That's... a very observant point, miss Valkyrie."

"Just give me the time I need to...recover from...this. You'd have far improved chances with me also in the fight." Raven promised. "Even if I alone am not enough to help balance the sides in that conflict?" She jerked her head in the direction of the exit door. "I'm not the only maiden you have now. I could help get...Cinder..." There was still more than a hint of distaste when she said that name. "...up to better fighting shape. Between us and all of you...don't be so convinced that we can't win a fight."

He huffed at that, unable to feel as though they were getting away from the point a bit. "It's not a question of who the strongest maiden is, Raven. Your survivalist way of thinking isn't much good here, nor are your showy magic powers. Weiss is extraordinarily powerful, but she's also Atlas. There are very few scenarios where direct confrontations with her or her forces don't lead to all of our immediate captures. The only reason we made it out of her basement was because she grew annoyed by us; essentially, she let us go. The majority of the populace sees us as enemies of the kingdom. She doesn't even regard us as proper threats to her position at this point."

Although... his eyes opened a bit wider, and two of his fingers tapped together where they were steepled as he recalled a very recent report. He'd been going to wait for a separate briefing to bring it up, but now that she mentioned it...

"...Though that does get me thinking... there is a possibility we could change that. A report I heard recently. A way of possibly securing a piece of leverage over her, something we can use to either negotiate or expose her regime depending on what we decide. The only problem is it's a bit... unscrupulous."

He waited to see how that registered with the room before going any further.​

 

[MidwayLives]

"Well ah liked it!" Cobalt whispered to Grey encouragingly from where they were hiding in the corner waiting for all this heavy stuff they had nothing to contribute to pass, leaning over to nudge his ribs.

Grey slumped back into his seat and pulled his mask back on.

'Knew I should have just kept to myself. Speak up....and get blown off....'

He turned over towards Cobalt and patted the hand he'd been nudged with.

"Thank you." ​

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

"I obviously can't speak to if this Weiss is indeed the first kind, but as for the potential to be good?" The not crippled Raven shook her head. "I must disagree. There is a point of crossing the line, you know. Going beyond the point of no return. Way I see it, Weiss has long since crossed that line. You say you can't sweep the stuff she's done under the rug, but then you try to excuse actual murder by claiming the victim deserved it. Yes, Jacques Schnee was no nice man, I won't suggest otherwise, but to say what you just did...it doesn't matter what her motive is! Murder. Is. Murder!"

"...he was 'No nice man'?"" Yang repeated, a dangerous glint in her eyes as she frowned at Raven. A small part of her knew going down this line of argument was just gonna shoot her own efforts towards this whole mess in the foot, but that wasn't something she was willing to let slide. "That's really the words you're gonna point at Jacques Schnee? The guy who beat his kids and ran his mines so heinously that he's practically reason number one why the white fang turned into what it did?"

She crossed her arms and settled into a glower as the general answered Raven himself, waiting for him to finish before continuing her response.

"I won't weep over Jacques Schnee, and he definitely reaped what he sowed in that regard. But on a matter of principle, I'm inclined to agree," he pointed out, switching his gaze back to Yang again with a raised eyebrow. "Weiss had other options to reach out and she never availed of them. Forgive me for taking the stance of the devil's advocate here, but I do have to point out that judging Winter so harshly for doing what she felt necessary to escape a toxic home environment and then excusing Weiss committing a far worse crime to the same end seems to indicate a lack of perspective at best. At worst, it's mildly hypocritical. It doesn't help with the impression that you may be favoring her."

With that being said... he knew Weiss. He sighed.

"...But I will also point out that people can be pushed over their breaking point sometimes, and that doesn't mean they can't come back. To think so is equally as close-minded."

More words that would've sounded very ironic, had a certain few in the room had any foresight of their world's impending event

Yang scoffed at first, but begrudgingly nodded as Ironwood finished.

"...You guys can honestly stuff this murder is murder crap. Jacques Schnee was an awful human being who controlled every aspect of Weiss' life from the word go. There are people sitting at this table who either have or tried to kill for less, and we're working alongside them just the same to beat Ozpin. Again, I'm not saying Weiss made the right choice; She didn't. James is right, there were better ways. but if thats the thing on Weiss' frankly long list of crimes that makes you squeamish about working with her to defeat the actual devil, and if that's what convinces you she couldn't be a better person if she didn't feel like she was the only one who could be trusted against Ozpin, then the number of people you guys are comfortable with are gonna go down real quick."

His countenance was solemn as he fielded that question, biological hand scratching his beard. Now that she had left the room, he could be blunt. "Well... Winter is one of the strongest willed people I've ever known, and Weiss has her trying to rationalize and explain her every action for her. With respect to miss Xiao Long, I'm far from convinced she isn't experiencing a lessened version of the same effect. People..."

He frowned, a flicker of something breaking across his expression before he immediately banished it.

"...People are kind, broadly speaking. Certain types of people... they see that Weiss wasn't reared well, that she lacked a strong guiding influence growing up. Or take it upon themselves to assume the ones she did have..."

His eyes were sad as they stared at the door Winter had departed through.

"...Failed. Winter deserves better than that perception, if I can be blunt. She tried to be there for Weiss while experiencing a great deal of suffering and hardship of her own. Not everyone can be strong in that type of situation; I know for a fact that a vast majority of people born in Atlas wouldn't have been as strong as she was. If anything, I should've..." He trailed off for a second, unsure of how to put what he wanted to say.

"...I knew both those girls had a difficult relationship with their father. I just never imagined... it wasn't until years later that Winter told me what was really going on in that house. I'd like to say I couldn't have known better, but... I should've. I was the one trying to... well, I wanted to help them. I pushed for Weiss to attend the academy, just as Winter did, but Jacques, he... he wouldn't risk losing another heir. He knew exactly what he was doing, but I suppose if anyone failed in that entire scenario... it was me..."

His voice almost sounded like he was only coming to that realization as he spoke the words, a genuine mournfulness in how he stared at the door now. Finally, he snapped back to the matter at hand with a brisk clear of the throat.

She settled into a sullen silence rather than walk back her words towards Winter or the general in the face of his remorse after Winter's fury. She knew it wasn't anything hypocritical that birthed those words. Unfair, maybe, but it aligned perfectly with her own thoughts on family and responsibility to them. Tch. Maybe thats why the other Raven was so quick to write Weiss off. She may not have been a bandit and a killer, but she left the Yang of this world in an even worse place than her mom did her. No wonder she didn't realize just how much it must've hurt Weiss to live like that, to think that J. Schnee was anything less than a monster like Adam Taurus or Cinder Fall were.

...Her eyes flickered downwards with a softer and more troubled frown as she realized just how bitter her thoughts were going. This... this wasn't her. contrary to popular belief, she felt pretty sure Weiss hadn't pulled some mental shibari on her; she'd just been honest, about both her virtues and faults. But... everything about this whole field trip from hell really was starting to weigh on her.

He huffed at that, unable to feel as though they were getting away from the point a bit. "It's not a question of who the strongest maiden is, Raven. Your survivalist way of thinking isn't much good here, nor are your showy magic powers. Weiss is extraordinarily powerful, but she's also Atlas. There are very few scenarios where direct confrontations with her or her forces don't lead to all of our immediate captures. The only reason we made it out of her basement was because she grew annoyed by us; essentially, she let us go. The majority of the populace sees us as enemies of the kingdom. She doesn't even regard us as proper threats to her position at this point."

Although... his eyes opened a bit wider, and two of his fingers tapped together where they were steepled as he recalled a very recent report. He'd been going to wait for a separate briefing to bring it up, but now that she mentioned it...

"...Though that does get me thinking... there is a possibility we could change that. A report I heard recently. A way of possibly securing a piece of leverage over her, something we can use to either negotiate or expose her regime depending on what we decide. The only problem is it's a bit... unscrupulous."

He waited to see how that registered with the room before going any further.

Her words were a bit more careful as she continued, a little less fire and a little more sympathy to the rest of the room as she replied.

"...Without knowing what it is I'd just say... be careful with that line of thinking, yea? Weiss let me go because I was honest with her. Because I treated her like an equal- and an enemy, before any of you start-" She couldn't help but add with a dry glare at no one in particular "-but an equal rather than some anime villain or a grimm with a chic ponytail. I... really, super honestly wanna stress I'm not qualified to make any sort of comment on Atlas politics outside of Weiss honestly seeming to have the place's best interests at heart. But if you guys do agree with me that if we want to defeat Ozpin then making peace rather than war with Weiss is the right choice, then... just talk to her first. Try to compromise with no chips on the table, because once you start busting out the blackmail, she's gonna stop seeing a negotiation table and start seeing another roadblock to what she thinks is progress."

 

[MyrtenRose]

"...he was 'No nice man'?"" Yang repeated, a dangerous glint in her eyes as she frowned at Raven. A small part of her knew going down this line of argument was just gonna shoot her own efforts towards this whole mess in the foot, but that wasn't something she was willing to let slide. "That's really the words you're gonna point at Jacques Schnee? The guy who beat his kids and ran his mines so heinously that he's practically reason number one why the white fang turned into what it did?"

She crossed her arms and settled into a glower as the general answered Raven himself, waiting for him to finish before continuing her response.

"Don't misunderstand. I would have gladly taken him down and thrown his worthless ass in jail myself if I had the opportunity to do so. I'm not excusing anything he did, and he would have deserved a life sentence in prison for what he did."​

With that being said... he knew Weiss. He sighed.

"...But I will also point out that people can be pushed over their breaking point sometimes, and that doesn't mean they can't come back. To think so is equally as close-minded."

"..."​

"...You guys can honestly stuff this murder is murder crap. Jacques Schnee was an awful human being who controlled every aspect of Weiss' life from the word go. There are people sitting at this table who either have or tried to kill for less, and we're working alongside them just the same to beat Ozpin. Again, I'm not saying Weiss made the right choice; She didn't. James is right, there were better ways. but if thats the thing on Weiss' frankly long list of crimes that makes you squeamish about working with her to defeat the actual devil, and if that's what convinces you she couldn't be a better person if she didn't feel like she was the only one who could be trusted against Ozpin, then the number of people you guys are comfortable with are gonna go down real quick."

"...…." Okay, she conceded that there Yang had a point. The huntress Raven side-eye looked over at her maiden counterpart...

…...who upon recognizing that she was likely the one who her daughter meant, the maiden raised a cup to her lips to take a drink and try to ignore that.

That was none of her business. After she had drunk enough, she lowered the cup again. Ironically it might have been the less overly friendly Raven who was more open to the possibility of Weiss ultimately eventually becoming better than she was now. "I...know that if anybody is to end up a better person than they were, or...try to be..." Raven's expression reflected that she wasn't talking just about Weiss here. "...they have to desire it themselves. Sometimes they have to be forced to realize it. So, Yang, having spent the most time with Weiss...can you say that's what this Weiss wants? She desires to improve in that way, personally? Not talking about what she wants for Atlas, but for herself. Or, if she doesn't right now, do you truly believe you could convince her of that?" ​

"...But Tock? I don't know. Liadan isn't that type of person, to be frank. She wouldn't defect from Salem out of a desire to reach Weiss or turn her. Either she believes wholeheartedly in all her goals and what she's done to achieve them, or... something more sinister is at work."

"Yeah. It's the latter that has me most worried." ​

"While potentially handing Weiss everything she needs to simply sweep any remaining opposition off the board when all's said and done. I have the future of a kingdom to think about."

"Yeah, well, we all do. Just saying we shouldn't spread ourselves too thin considering what we're all up against here. This is an uphill battle, that's for sure."​

He looked troubled at that, surprised by such a shrewdly raised point by one normally as wild and unpredictable as Nora. "It's... difficult to say, to be honest. When the allegations against me are proven false I should be rightfully reinstated, both as general and to both my council seats. Due process will run its course, but there will be... inquiries. I effectively allowed all of this to happen."

His jaw tightened with the admission.

"...That's... a very observant point, miss Valkyrie."

"Hey! Just because I like to have fun and enjoy life and can enthusiastically out-eat any of you...it doesn't mean that I'm airheaded!" ​

He huffed at that, unable to feel as though they were getting away from the point a bit. "It's not a question of who the strongest maiden is, Raven. Your survivalist way of thinking isn't much good here, nor are your showy magic powers. Weiss is extraordinarily powerful, but she's also Atlas. There are very few scenarios where direct confrontations with her or her forces don't lead to all of our immediate captures. The only reason we made it out of her basement was because she grew annoyed by us; essentially, she let us go. The majority of the populace sees us as enemies of the kingdom. She doesn't even regard us as proper threats to her position at this point."

Although... his eyes opened a bit wider, and two of his fingers tapped together where they were steepled as he recalled a very recent report. He'd been going to wait for a separate briefing to bring it up, but now that she mentioned it...

"...Though that does get me thinking... there is a possibility we could change that. A report I heard recently. A way of possibly securing a piece of leverage over her, something we can use to either negotiate or expose her regime depending on what we decide. The only problem is it's a bit... unscrupulous."

He waited to see how that registered with the room before going any further.

"Well, not to be too presumptuous, but I believe I can speak for the room when I say we're all ears."
​

"...Without knowing what it is I'd just say... be careful with that line of thinking, yea? Weiss let me go because I was honest with her. Because I treated her like an equal- and an enemy, before any of you start-" She couldn't help but add with a dry glare at no one in particular "-but an equal rather than some anime villain or a grimm with a chic ponytail. I... really, super honestly wanna stress I'm not qualified to make any sort of comment on Atlas politics outside of Weiss honestly seeming to have the place's best interests at heart. But if you guys do agree with me that if we want to defeat Ozpin then making peace rather than war with Weiss is the right choice, then... just talk to her first. Try to compromise with no chips on the table, because once you start busting out the blackmail, she's gonna stop seeing a negotiation table and start seeing another roadblock to what she thinks is progress."

"...Or maybe just most of the room."

​

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

Once again did Eve's mouth open as it was all turned around on her, a dangerous look in her eye that only worsened the longer Ilia went on as it looked as though at any moment the former sword of the White Fang was going to cut her off. But she never did. Instead, by the time the stealth operative was finished her mouth had become a tight, sullen glower, though that lethal look never once left her eyes no matter how much certain portions of the words provoked a defensive sadness in them.

It wasn't an empty look. The thread Ilia was pulling on was not a safe one.

Appropriately, the smaller girl's last approach was one made either secure, or not so, in the knowledge that the bull's hand was now tightly wrapped around Wilt's handle, though no move was made to draw it as she instead twisted all the dark thoughts she felt bubbling up into a malicious snarl and finally broke her silence.

"Sure, Ilia. It's all my fault, right? Is it convenient for you to think that way?" She made a sound that was the exact midpoint between a snarl and a scoff. "I'll bet it is. Just like it's convenient to believe that an entire species is evil, like we're not the ones who basically work for the goddamn embodiment of evil. Like we haven't both played our parts in making sure that's how the rest of history is going to view our people. 'Oh, buh-buh-but they already see us that way'—"

Her lower lip curled out, tremulous and sniveling as she emulated an impotent little stutter. Those exaggerated features aside, the voice didn't sound all that far away from Ilia's.

"—Shut the fuck up. Do you actually HEAR yourself? This is what's wrong with her. This is what's wrong with ALL of you people, NONE of you can hear how stupid you really sound. Things were changing. It was too slow, it wasn't gonna be enough in our lifetimes. Not nearly enough. But it was happening, and now all that's happening is everyone is terrified of us. The faunus are mentioned in the same sentences as Grimm. That hasn't been the case for a long, long time. So you tell me, Amitola; which direction are we really headed in?"

If Ilia had been expecting Eve to put up some kind of a front, to do anything other than let her true feelings show on her sleeve in response to such targeted words against her, it couldn't have been clearer over those few seconds that she had misjudged her. That was who she was; Eve Taurus, the woman who took all the venom the world sent her way and threw it right back. Who weaponized it. And she might've been playing nice, might've been carrying out everything she was told to do with that same lethal efficiency, might've been avoiding conversations so none of this came tumbling out at the first provocation. But like hell was she gonna act like she was a perfectly oiled cog in whatever cult they all wanted this to be. She was doing the work. She was just as good at it as ever.

But when this little bitch of all people decided to get in her face and start acting sanctimonious, she quite literally just didn't have it in her to do anything less than make her true feelings known. She wasn't going to let herself be brainwashed like the rest of them. There were some very select reasons that she was here, and none of them involved believing that this was the right way. Not even close.

She sneered, and started to pace a slow, measured circle around Ilia like she was every bit still the hunter trapped in the lion's den. If there was one thing she definitely didn't respond well to, it was threats, and she had every intention of reminding Ilia just who it was who should've been feeling threatened here.

"Surprised? Not what you expected to hear? There's more. I'm here for one reason, and if you wanna know what it is so bad then I'm happy to oblige. I'm here because it's the only place an ugly, broken, twisted up little ruin of a faunus like me belongs in the world. I'm exactly where I should be. I'm among my own kind, a whole lot more than I would've been if I just tucked my tail and crawled back to Menagerie with the non-ferals. I'm just the only one here who seems to be able to recognize all of this for what it really is: Bullshit. There's nothing noble about what we're doing. There's nothing righteous. We're just a bunch of pissed off animals living in an echo chamber, all rabid, all justifying one another's hatred. Well, that's fine. Suits me. You can justify how much you hate humans all you want, use all the pretty little arguments Sienna brainwashed you into actually believing. What do I care?"

If Ilia had in any way forgotten the sneering, chiding, patronizing tones of an Eve Taurus who believed every single word she was saying, how they could worm your way into their psyche out of sheer domineering conviction, how small they could make you feel, she was receiving a stark reminder in every single one of those. On her third lap around, she lunged in suddenly from the girl's peripheral so there was less than an inch between their faces, eyes flared wide, Wilt drawn in a flash, and teeth bared as she carefully gauged how much she flinched, if at all.

"But don't you DARE use Blake to justify how much you hate me. That's just a little more bullshit than even I can stomach, and I'm the whole goddamn Bull. We both know exactly why you don't like me. I've known it since the first puppy-eyed glance you sent my girlfriend's way; it was obvious. For a chameleon, you really couldn't be any worse at hiding your feelings. But that's okay, Ilia." Wilt's tip slowly came away from where it had risen up to rest lightly against the smaller girl's chin, something almost affectionate in the way she used the flat of the blade to pat her there before she resumed pacing. "We don't have to talk about that. You already had a better idea, anyway; let's talk about Blake. I've been thinking a lot about her lately, actually. About what happened to her. About who's to blame. About why she's barely even a PERSON anymore. I think you're right, you know. I think it really was me who got the ball rolling on that one. But it'd be rude of me to take all the credit."

Once again, she paced out of sight of Ilia's peripheral vision. Only this time, she didn't circle back around, and if Ilia herself tried to turn she felt Wilt's edge on her neck to discourage her from doing so.

"When I first caught wind of him, I assumed it was Ozpin. Then I realized just how bad things had gotten around here all on their own, and I figured, 'maybe Sienna's to blame'. Both strong contenders, don't get me wrong. Only lately, these last few minutes especially, I've been wondering if maybe something... different happened. What if Blake wasn't brainwashed, or intimidated? Not solely, anyway." She shook her head. "What if she was hurt, because of what I did, because of all of it; what if she was just vulnerable, and during that time along came a lonely little vulture who'd had her beady eyes fixated on Blake's back longer than she could even remember? Who's starving, who'd been waiting so long for an opportunity to swoop in and become the person she thinks she always should've been in Blake's eyes? Maybe it doesn't even know it's doing it. Maybe it does. It always was good at blending in with its surroundings, so who knows. Either way, it just can't help but see the opportunity. What if, when Blake was angry, when she was hurt, when she was at her lowest point and all the hate twisting her up inside was at its VERY STRONGEST and she needed somebody, ANYBODY to tell her no, what if instead all she heard was YES? What if this pathetic, shapeshifting little reptile, who'd gotten real good at justifying her own hatred over the years, helped Blake justify hers, told her everything she was feeling was right and fair and that she should embrace it because her only real priority was convincing Blake to let her crawl into bed with her the second I was gone? Since you're so eager to bring it up, I think you have the right idea, Amitola. I think we should talk about that."

For the first time during the entire speech, Ilia's aura tingled faintly. An almost imperceptible effort to tell her what was probably already sinking in. This wasn't just talk. It wasn't mere bluster or idle threats.

Eve was unhinged.

Ilia was in danger here.

This was the type of faunus who grew in the darkness cast by an organization like the Shadow Fang.

When she heard her voice again, it was right by her ear, so loud she could practically feel it reverberating around the inside of her skull.

View attachment 720202

"AND THEN MAYBE WE'LL TALK ABOUT WHO'S REALLY THE ONE IN DANGER OF DISAPPEARING HERE, AND WHY YOU SHOULD NOT HAVE COME TO THIS TOWER!"​

Ilia was shaking by the end of it as she winced away from the screaming in her ears, though whether it was from fear or anger she couldn't have answered herself. She also couldn't say whether it was bravery or sheer stubborn stupidity that had her open her eyes back up with a resolute glare past the tears that were trickling down the side of her face and a weak smile. Her own words were deathly quiet compared to Eve's furious rancor, yet no less emotion drifted behind them.

"...If that's how you want to think it went down between us, then fine. Glad we cleared up where we stand, and glad to hear you admit just how full of shit you are with your own mouth. That this hero of the faunus thing is still the act it always was."

She made to step around Eve towards the door, still talking as she went " So if you don't want me watching your every move, making sure that you don't mess everything up with one of your moralistic tantrums, then you might as well follow through with that threat Taurus. Maybe that will be enough for the others to see I'm right about you."

She paused as she grabbed the handle, turning her head towards Eve with a sniffle.

"...There's a talon roundtable in two hours. thats what I was supposed to tell you. Try not to choke to death on your hypocrisy before it"

Then, if she wasn't stopped, she slipped out the door and was gone.

 

[MyrtenRose]

Eyup...this is the place, alright. The former maiden thought as she ran a hand over a particular part of the wall. If the spider emblems that signified lil miss M's preferred base of operations were anything to go by, at least. Vernal still thought a crime syndicate having a signature mark like that was foolhardy, but from what she recalled the lady had been big on style like that. Establish presence, dominance, illustrate how far her reach extended and all that jazz. She could understand it to some degree, but she had always figured it was better to slip under the radar. To not be as noticeable. That was the way the Branwen tribe had worked, anyhow...and perhaps it was because of that, the life she'd be born into, that her semblance had revealed itself to be a way for her to move about unseen by any curious wandering eyes. She pulled her hood a little tighter, closer around her head just as she shot a cautious glance around. But no matter, she had not come to get into a whole thing about how some other group operated. That was their business, not hers.

Her hand lowered back to her side and she strode right in without any further delay. "Heya, Miss M, you around?" She called out as she entered. "Dunno if you'd remember me, been a while. Got a proposition for you."​

 

[Gus Gungus]

Yang scoffed at first, but begrudgingly nodded as Ironwood finished.

"...You guys can honestly stuff this murder is murder crap. Jacques Schnee was an awful human being who controlled every aspect of Weiss' life from the word go. There are people sitting at this table who either have or tried to kill for less, and we're working alongside them just the same to beat Ozpin. Again, I'm not saying Weiss made the right choice; She didn't. James is right, there were better ways. but if thats the thing on Weiss' frankly long list of crimes that makes you squeamish about working with her to defeat the actual devil, and if that's what convinces you she couldn't be a better person if she didn't feel like she was the only one who could be trusted against Ozpin, then the number of people you guys are comfortable with are gonna go down real quick."

"I'm not interested in debating the ethicality of murder with a teenager. You may be surprised to learn you're not the only one who cares for Weiss's wellbeing, and bringing about the premeditated, calculated end of a person's life through whatever means before she even turned of age was in absolutely no way a healthy or positive experience for her. Just look at what it led to. Should you ever find yourself complicit in the killing of another human being, miss Xiao Long, I hope for your sake you treat it with the gravity and seriousness it warrants."

There was a somewhat more scrutinizing thoughtfulness to the way he was peering at her now, almost like her blase choice of words and apparent flippancy when it came to the subject had him... wondering something. It was quickly banished, though. While Yang would probably never forget the unjust reaming he gave her after the Vytal Tournament debacle or the arm he had commissioned in an attempted apology for that, it was probably for the best that she and the general of her world had never had too many reasons to speak one-to-one. They were a pair of stubborn wills, good intentions, and unwavering faiths in their own perspectives that honestly probably could've gone back and forth engaging in discourse for days an all sorts of minutiae.

So it was probably a good thing that, on this particular point, he agreed with her.

"...But you're absolutely right. Plenty of us here have done what we've thought to be necessary. I certainly have. I'd be extremely surprised if I never do again. It's simply Weiss's trustworthiness that concerns me when it comes to discussions of an alliance, that's all; that depending on her judgment she could very easily come to view us as obstacles to the world she wants to see realized, no less necessary of removal than Jacques Schnee was. And the fact that you seem almost overly protective of her clouding what are otherwise some very insightful opinions. You'll understand if I'm a bit cautious about such lines of thinking; they're what kept me from realizing she was a threat until too late."

That much, at the very least, he didn't have any shame in admitting, though that wasn't to say the words were spoken without regret. He left it there.

Her words were a bit more careful as she continued, a little less fire and a little more sympathy to the rest of the room as she replied.

"...Without knowing what it is I'd just say... be careful with that line of thinking, yea? Weiss let me go because I was honest with her. Because I treated her like an equal- and an enemy, before any of you start-" She couldn't help but add with a dry glare at no one in particular "-but an equal rather than some anime villain or a grimm with a chic ponytail. I... really, super honestly wanna stress I'm not qualified to make any sort of comment on Atlas politics outside of Weiss honestly seeming to have the place's best interests at heart. But if you guys do agree with me that if we want to defeat Ozpin then making peace rather than war with Weiss is the right choice, then... just talk to her first. Try to compromise with no chips on the table, because once you start busting out the blackmail, she's gonna stop seeing a negotiation table and start seeing another roadblock to what she thinks is progress."

"Well, not to be too presumptuous, but I believe I can speak for the room when I say we're all ears."

He gave a grave, reaffirming nod to Yang's words, shifting slightly in his chair as his gaze drifted over toward the window and he pondered on how to proceed.

"It was brought to my attention some time ago that Willow Schnee had taken the youngest, Whitley, and left Solitas. I believe the word was they headed for Vacuo, about the only kingdom left that hasn't been destabilized in recent months. From what Winter informed me, she had disowned Weiss, the fortune, the Schnee name, all of it. By all accounts, their intent was to start a new life. Seems like something that could've been a very brave decision if she had made it a long time ago, but I digress. I wondered at the time how she had managed to procure the funds to do so, since I don't imagine sneaking that out under her daughter's nose would've been easy."

His tone was almost too neutral in his next words, like he had a very strong opinion of what he was about to relate that he had to force into a professional casing of iron to keep his composure.

He barely succeeded.

"...Some recent details have emerged that have shed some light on that. Apparently... Willow had cameras installed throughout the Schnee Manor a short time after Whitley was born. Cameras only she knew about, which captured... a great many things. Things that might have made a lot of things turn out very differently, if she had ever found the courage to make that footage public. If she hadn't been so afraid of the scandal."

He tried to find it in himself to afford some sympathy for the woman, but he couldn't. His scoff was bitter. When he spoke again, however, he had managed to force a more professional quality back to his tone out of sheer will.

"...But it appears the one she finally found the strength to use those cameras against was the same daughter who probably needed it the most. Supposedly, she has footage that incriminates Weiss of her dealings; footage she sold off into the underworld for an exorbitant sum of money, enough that she and Whitley can live several comfortable lifetimes over. Hnh. I always knew that woman was shrewder than she let on..."

He shook his head, making the effort once again not to let his disgust rule his words. Putting his own personal feelings on the particulars aside, when he spoke again there was a graver edge to the words.



"Weiss's tenure as councilwoman has not been kind to the organized criminal element, and with more or less complete executive control over the military her ruthless efficiency towards them has tripled of late. There's always been a steady criminal element inside the Donut, but from what I understand Weiss has effectively burned them out root and stem; now she's already turning equally promising reforms toward Mantle. Suffice to say, all sorts of unsavory characters have been ripping each other to pieces trying to get that footage, but the one who's held onto it the longest is an individual known by the name of Jabberwock. No one knows who they really are, or even their gender; only that they're responsible for the Semblance Pits, a series of extremely illegal fighting rings held in elaborately constructed bunkers scattered across the tundra. Whoever they are, they're extremely well-connected and resourceful. During my time as general, we were only ever able to locate three such bunkers, while my intelligence suggests there may be as many as a dozen. And I was making it a priority."

He scowled.

"Yet apparently, Weiss and Carnelian have even found a way to take them to task. They feel threatened, but lack the credibility to do anything with the footage themselves. Esoteric semblances, digital doctoring... what happened at the Vytal Tournament let the world know to be skeptical of even their own eyes, and there are a million ways the councilwoman could spin such a leak to imply conspiracy. It's quite literally what she's been doing for months. The population loves her; they're not going to put any stock in allegations made by some elusive criminal. So Jabberwock's solution, naturally, has been to organize a tournament. I'm not sure if they do it for profit, recruitment, or even just the sport of it all. But they're offering the footage up as grand prize, and they've sent feelers out to the four corners of Remnant to invite any skilled warriors with a vested interest in seeing Weiss's regime fall apart to participate—Or simply anyone who wants to hold something over a Schnee. That does include people who could actually make practical use of the footage, and I can't imagine the councilwoman is feeling great about it."

He stood up and moved over to the window, gazing out across the wastes as snow drifted down.

"It's taken time, but from what I understand it should be ready to commence in a matter of weeks. They are, however, still accepting participants. It's something nobody under my military command could ever have gotten within a million mile radius of, but... well, we're not the military anymore. I was going to propose we simply flood the field with our most capable and see if we could use whatever's on there somehow, but if we truly do decide and alliance with the councilwoman is worth pursuing—which I'm not considering a matter put to rest yet, by the way, since we basically just bickered for a few minutes..." His eyes narrowed, tone musing, and he turned around.

"It could serve as a token of good faith. A good one, at that. But be warned. The fights are unsanctioned. There are very few rules. There's no aura threshold like the Vytal Tournament; the fight stops when it breaks, and that can often lead to life-threatening injuries. And the other combatants aren't going to be your run-of-the-mill criminals or huntsmen—They're likely to be some of the deadliest in all of Remnant. Competing in these freakshows is not something I suggest lightly, and I certainly wouldn't encourage anyone to line up and throw themselves at the idea. Somehow I feel like you're all going to anyway though."

He couldn't help but let an understated ring of sarcasm creep into his voice, despite the mood.​