Fandom Distorted Mirror [IC]

[Gus Gungus]

Watts leered at her for a moment before he glanced over to where Mercury and Emerald were still arguing over the material and metaphorical worth of a happy meal toy before he gave a rigid nod.

"Yes. That one."

It stood to reason that the two in question, being the son of a prominent contract killer and a pickpocket of some experience, respectively, knew how to spot a nerdy Atlesian kid when he stole a furtive glance at them across a MicDynlod's floor. Back in her day Emerald would've called that kid 'tomorrow's dinner', and in the early days of Beacon Mercury's chosen moniker would've been 'lunch money'. Not like there was anyone left coughing up the lien for his 12 o'clock juicebox, and old man Marcus sure as hell never coughed up where he stashed all his lien before he torched that place to the ground and never looked back. As if he'd ever even give him that much.

It wasn't clear which of them made him first, just that if any follow-up glance went their way it was immediately obvious that both had turned and sort of just started looking at him while they talked, lips impossible to read at this range. What was clear was that whatever they were discussing now held far greater significance in their minds than the yo-yo Mercury now idly tossed down and yanked back up into his palm, and clearer still from the precise direction their gazes kept pivoting towards was the fact that whatever the conversation had turned to had less to do with Watts himself and far more with the other occupant of his table.

They faced each other for the last few segments of the exchange, and while the resigned nods they left it on suggested a mutual accord it couldn't have been more obvious that both of them were less than happy about it, the tone of the conversation drifting dangerously close to an argument at times. Mercury scowled, tossed one last comment at his Beacon partner and punctuated it by jerking his head towards the table, that customary brooding Black expression already settling over his features as he turned without further remark and made for the exit to eat alone. Emerald was left looking downcast, one hand rubbing her elbow for a second before she banished whatever her own clear reservations were and made her way over.

"So we gonna go get this stupid stick?"​

 

[MyrtenRose]

"....Shit."

It wasn't a reaction he even meant to say aloud. it just came unbidden to his lips as he realized just how bad this was. His hand slowly went through his hair as he stared at the map. He actually knew the basics of Gneiss; A cautionary tale of the dangers of non-atlesian dust his home kingdom was just a little too enthusiastic to include in the history books. That wasn't what got his attention, rattled him though. Nor was it how the news of Atlas' internal power struggle going all to hell had already reached this 'unthreatening waif's ears.

No. Its that he knew damn well what was on that ship

Who'd been on that ship.

"...Cinder. It's the staff. That's where the-"

"jesus fucking christ"

Watts sat at the back of the restaurant, well away from the rest of the 'party' as it were, one hand holding up his head while the other drummed its fingers against the table with all of the inherent patience of a hyena who hadn't eaten in a month staring at a baby seal.

How? Why? Where did his life go so wrong that he'd be sitting in a MicDynlod's, waiting for his partner, the fall maiden, get over the case of the munchies?

He didn't look up as he felt a reassuring pat on his shoulder, most everyone else in direct view as he spoke. "Your sympathy is appreciated, Neo."

She gave him a wan smile before giving his shoulder a more firm shake, giving him cause to pull his gaze more firmly towards her direction. She held up her hand, and a lantern appeared to float within it. The lantern. Then a far less discernable shape appeared alongside it; a black outline of a stick, orbiting with the lantern as she cocked her head to the side in askance.

Watts leered at her for a moment before he glanced over to where Mercury and Emerald were still arguing over the material and metaphorical worth of a happy meal toy before he gave a rigid nod.

"Yes. That one."

View attachment 876715

It stood to reason that the two in question, being the son of a prominent contract killer and a pickpocket of some experience, respectively, knew how to spot a nerdy Atlesian kid when he stole a furtive glance at them across a MicDynlod's floor. Back in her day Emerald would've called that kid 'tomorrow's dinner', and in the early days of Beacon Mercury's chosen moniker would've been 'lunch money'. Not like there was anyone left coughing up the lien for his 12 o'clock juicebox, and old man Marcus sure as hell never coughed up where he stashed all his lien before he torched that place to the ground and never looked back. As if he'd ever even give him that much.

It wasn't clear which of them made him first, just that if any follow-up glance went their way it was immediately obvious that both had turned and sort of just started looking at him while they talked, lips impossible to read at this range. What was clear was that whatever they were discussing now held far greater significance in their minds than the yo-yo Mercury now idly tossed down and yanked back up into his palm, and clearer still from the precise direction their gazes kept pivoting towards was the fact that whatever the conversation had turned to had less to do with Watts himself and far more with the other occupant of his table.

They faced each other for the last few segments of the exchange, and while the resigned nods they left it on suggested a mutual accord it couldn't have been more obvious that both of them were less than happy about it, the tone of the conversation drifting dangerously close to an argument at times. Mercury scowled, tossed one last comment at his Beacon partner and punctuated it by jerking his head towards the table, that customary brooding Black expression already settling over his features as he turned without further remark and made for the exit to eat alone. Emerald was left looking downcast, one hand rubbing her elbow for a second before she banished whatever her own clear reservations were and made her way over.

"So we gonna go get this stupid stick?"​

Cinder had always been a pretty fast eater, even before she'd unlocked her aura, discovered her semblance and eventually given the powers of a maiden. Came with the territory of growing up the way she had, where even a minute of being late to her parents calling for her might have earned her a beating. That speed was on full display here. By the time those three were meeting at that table, she'd worked her way through roughly 75% of the stuff she'd ordered. At that point, her need for food felt satisfied, or at least for now. She was still stoned as hell, but her focus drifted over to them, and even in her current state, she recognized the illusion of the lamp Neo made, and the darkened shape that floated around it too. Cinder slid out of her seat and stood up with another burp before making her way over.

"H-hey guys, I think...I think I got this under control now. So what's...what's up. What are we, er, you guys talkin' about?" She burped yet again as she glanced around at them expectantly.​

 

[Gus Gungus]

Cinder had always been a pretty fast eater, even before she'd unlocked her aura, discovered her semblance and eventually given the powers of a maiden. Came with the territory of growing up the way she had, where even a minute of being late to her parents calling for her might have earned her a beating. That speed was on full display here. By the time those three were meeting at that table, she'd worked her way through roughly 75% of the stuff she'd ordered. At that point, her need for food felt satisfied, or at least for now. She was still stoned as hell, but her focus drifted over to them, and even in her current state, she recognized the illusion of the lamp Neo made, and the darkened shape that floated around it too. Cinder slid out of her seat and stood up with another burp before making her way over.

"H-hey guys, I think...I think I got this under control now. So what's...what's up. What are we, er, you guys talkin' about?" She burped yet again as she glanced around at them expectantly.

Emerald whirled.



"You know what you're like, Cinder? You're like someone's doofy little sister they agree to bring to a party on the condition she doesn't pull something embarrassing. And then she does anyway, and everyone spends the whole night taking care of her, and they're too polite to say anything but they all think the one who brought her along must be just about the biggest moron in history. That's what you're like."

Having already decided to allow herself that one burst of bitter, disparaging invective as a mode of therapy the moment Cinder was lucid enough to hear it, and having channeled her very best, baddest bitch Beacon self for the express purposes of delivering on that promise with interest, thus did Emerald turn back to the others with shoulders cold and arms stiffly crossed, setting herself to the new task of freezing her out of the conversation entirely.​

 

[MyrtenRose]

Emerald whirled.

View attachment 876874

"You know what you're like, Cinder? You're like someone's doofy little sister they agree to bring to a party on the condition she doesn't pull something embarrassing. And then she does anyway, and everyone spends the whole night taking care of her, and they're too polite to say anything but they all think the one who brought her along must be just about the biggest moron in history. That's what you're like."

Having already decided to allow herself that one burst of bitter, disparaging invective as a mode of therapy the moment Cinder was lucid enough to hear it, and having delivered on that promise with interest, thus did Emerald turn back to the others with shoulders cold and arms stiffly crossed and set herself to the new task of freezing her out of the conversation entirely.​

"...........................................................Oh." She squeaked and actually recoiled back at the harshness she hadn't seen coming. Not from Emerald. So thoroughly unexpected. Though, perhaps she should have expected it. The sudden, startled jolt that came from hearing those words spat at her brought a lot more awareness back and she glanced back towards the table she'd been at. Not to mention back at the tent. Yeah...embarrassing was a word for it. Perhaps even too light a word. That, and how she'd almost exploded on Emerald herself in anger not too long ago had her take several steps back and not even try to defend herself. Fair's fair.

"...right. Okay. I'll just...go back and leave y-you all to it then." She turned back to the table she'd been seated at and strode over to clean up the disaster mess she'd made instead. Try her best, anyways.​

 

[Gus Gungus]

"...........................................................Oh." She squeaked and actually recoiled back at the harshness she hadn't seen coming. Not from Emerald. So thoroughly unexpected. Though, perhaps she should have expected it. The sudden, startled jolt that came from hearing those words spat at her brought a lot more awareness back and she glanced back towards the table she'd been at. Not to mention back at the tent. Yeah...embarrassing was a word for it. Perhaps even too light a word. That, and how she'd almost exploded on Emerald herself in anger not too long ago had her take several steps back and not even try to defend herself. Fair's fair.

"...right. Okay. I'll just...go back and leave y-you all to it then." She turned back to the table she'd been seated at and strode over to clean up the disaster mess she'd made instead. Try her best, anyways.

The two in front of her could practically see the guilt descend over her face like a shadow at noon the moment she heard that tone come back. A moment later, though, that shadow was eradicated under a renewed stream of callousness, and she didn't turn.

She was glad she didn't.

"Fine. Whatever you want." She was so far past done putting up with kid stuff all the time. She was a freaking career thief, not some beleaguered babysitter like Lance. Ignoring whatever awkwardness or tension that may have brought to the proceedings, she instead refocused on the multitude of problems already staring her in the face and attempted to steer things back to her original question. "So?"​

 

[MyrtenRose]

"Fine. Whatever you want."

Those words kept repeating in her head the whole time she and the poor employee who got saddled with clean up duty worked on fixing up her mess. AKA only like, 20 seconds of sweeping it all onto a tray and throwing it away, leaving the rest of like the spraying and the wiping down and the sweeping of the floor to the guy getting paid for it. But that was enough mental repeats. Her part done, she went back to Morgiana whether she was still holding up the line or actually seated now. "So...hey...can you do your thing and send me back to your tent now? Alone? So the only person I can embarrass is myself?"​

 

[Gus Gungus]

Those words kept repeating in her head the whole time she and the poor employee who got saddled with clean up duty worked on fixing up her mess. AKA only like, 20 seconds of sweeping it all onto a tray and throwing it away, leaving the rest of like the spraying and the wiping down and the sweeping of the floor to the guy getting paid for it. But that was enough mental repeats. Her part done, she went back to Morgiana whether she was still holding up the line or actually seated now. "So...hey...can you do your thing and send me back to your tent now? Alone? So the only person I can embarrass is myself?"

Morgiana and her (reluctantly) faithful knight in shining silk had at least moved on to the drinks machine by now, where the waify bohemian was engaged in a thousand yard stare, blankly trying to reconcile her desire to guzzle all the soda in the world with the establishment's complete and utter lack of biodegradable straws. She appeared to only even register Cinder's words towards the end of them, head turning to affix the clearly distressed maiden with big eyes and a solicitious gap between her lips, gaze in equal parts vacant and capable of perceiving forces in a room beyond a vast majority of the population's ken.

Then her gown ruffled madly as she executed a completely uncoordinated (yet somehow graceful, in its way) twirl to Cinder's side and delivered the wimpiest, most feeble thwap on the arm the girl had ever been privy to.



"Embarrass, you say...?"

"Don't." Something about the way she said it had Lance's eyes shoot wide open, turning with a rustle of packaging midway through the titanic first bite of his quarter pounder to level her with a discouraging, almost imploring look.

But it was too late. She spun back around, facing the disordered throng of construction workers, carpenters, and various early-morning Vacuo rough-and-tumble types and throwing two peace signs high towards the heavens as she declared aloud with a bombastically exuberant beam.

"PEACE AND LOVE, STARSHINES! MY NAME IS MORGIANA MOONFLOWER AND ALL I ORDERED IN THE END WAS A BAG OF FRUIT!"



Whatever reaction she'd been hoping for, it was promptly made evident that she had neither the confidence, imperviousness or emotional resilience to weather the one she got, shrieking and ducking behind a cursing Lance to avoid a tomato lobbed her way before his burger had even finished hitting the floor as pretty much all of them started vociferously booing, shunning and hating on her all at once.

"BOOOOO!"
"WE GENUINELY HATE YOU!"
"LET'S ALL EAT MORE ANIMALS JUST TO SPITE THIS MORGIANA PERSON!"



"U-ugh! So grody. I was fishin' for a unifying moment." She actually seemed quite unprepared for the severity of it all, and as Lance stormed over to start brawling with a gaggle of four men in particular who just would not stop throwing stuff she did her best to ignore it and turned back to Cinder with a meek, tremulous smile.

"...Well, still... I have attained embarrassment nirvana and can climb no higher. Might as well just stick with the planned schedule and roll out as one big groovy convoy now, gravy?" She looked a paler than she had a few seconds ago, but there was no denying the small, heady glow of exhilaration to her features either. "C'mon, sunflower. We're all made up of so many moving parts there's gottabe a lil friction once in a while. We get too high, we get too low, whatever's whatever! Let that diminish your shine too much and all the color in the world just starts to drain."​

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

View attachment 876890

The two in front of her could practically see the guilt descend over her face like a shadow at noon the moment she heard that tone come back. A moment later, though, that shadow was eradicated under a renewed stream of callousness, and she didn't turn.

She was glad she didn't.

"Fine. Whatever you want." She was so far past done putting up with kid stuff all the time. She was a freaking career thief, not some beleaguered babysitter like Lance. Ignoring whatever awkwardness or tension that may have brought to the proceedings, she instead refocused on the multitude of problems already staring her in the face and attempted to steer things back to her original question. "So?"​

Emerald turned around to two very different faces. Neo's face was one of palpable concern, her lips taut but gaze unaccusatory as she watched Cinder leave before turning those eyes onto Emerald with an unasked question within them.

Watts was just angry.

Not his usual disdain or irritation, or even cold practicality he'd shown most of their enemies, but honest to goodness mad. His hands were clasped in front of him, hiding much of his face save the eyes that were glaring into her own. He didn't explode or snap or anything like that, never one prone to outbursts, but there was a distance to his tone when he did answer Emerald.

"I know more than anyone Cinder can be a lot. She also almost died yesterday, watched a Kingdom willingly surrender itself to Ozpin, and right now we're not even sure if the smattering of competent adults we actually have helping us are dead or not because they decided to storm Ozpin's fortress to try and save one sociopath. Which isn't even bringing up that one." He added with a sideways glance at Neo, who'd started to look annoyed at Watts for dropping a lecture on Emerald but almost immediately lost it to a stricken frown before she stared at the tabletop in shame.

"So perhaps join me in indulging her a bit of silliness when she can afford it, unless you think she's really going to ruin your reputation so thoroughly with flower child back there."

Morgiana and her (reluctantly) faithful knight in shining silk had at least moved on to the drinks machine by now, where the waify bohemian was engaged in a thousand yard stare, blankly trying to reconcile her desire to guzzle all the soda in the world with the establishment's complete and utter lack of biodegradable straws. She appeared to only even register Cinder's words towards the end of them, head turning to affix the clearly distressed maiden with big eyes and a solicitious gap between her lips, gaze in equal parts vacant and capable of perceiving forces in a room beyond a vast majority of the population's ken.

Then her gown ruffled madly as she executed a completely uncoordinated (yet somehow graceful, in its way) twirl to Cinder's side and delivered the wimpiest, most feeble thwap on the arm the girl had ever been privy to.

View attachment 876926

"Embarrass, you say...?"

"Don't." Something about the way she said it had Lance's eyes shoot wide open, turning with a rustle of packaging midway through the titanic first bite of his quarter pounder to level her with a discouraging, almost imploring look.

But it was too late. She spun back around, facing the disordered throng of construction workers, carpenters, and various early-morning Vacuo rough-and-tumble types and throwing two peace signs high towards the heavens as she declared aloud with a bombastically exuberant beam.

"PEACE AND LOVE, STARSHINES! MY NAME IS MORGIANA MOONFLOWER AND ALL I ORDERED IN THE END WAS A BAG OF FRUIT!"



Whatever reaction she'd been hoping for, it was promptly made evident that she had neither the confidence, imperviousness or emotional resilience to weather the one she got, shrieking and ducking behind a cursing Lance to avoid a tomato lobbed her way before his burger had even finished hitting the floor as pretty much all of them started vociferously booing, shunning and hating on her all at once.

"BOOOOO!"
"WE GENUINELY HATE YOU!"
"LET'S ALL EAT MORE ANIMALS JUST TO SPITE THIS MORGIANA PERSON!"

View attachment 876948

"U-ugh! So grody. I was fishin' for a unifying moment." She actually seemed quite unprepared for the severity of it all, and as Lance stormed over to start brawling with a gaggle of four men in particular who just would not stop throwing stuff she did her best to ignore it and turned back to Cinder with a meek, tremulous smile.

"...Well, still... I have attained embarrassment nirvana and can climb no higher. Might as well just stick with the planned schedule and roll out as one big groovy convoy now, gravy?" She looked a paler than she had a few seconds ago, but there was no denying the small, heady glow of exhilaration to her features either. "C'mon, sunflower. We're all made up of so many moving parts there's gottabe a lil friction once in a while. We get too high, we get too low, whatever's whatever! Let that diminish your shine too much and all the color in the world just starts to drain."​

he gestured outward with one hand at the brawl beginning to form behind them after Morgiana's declaration, at least a bit of the sarcastic bite returning to his words that was usually as close as Watts ever got to friendly.

"Truly, such high brow and easily offendable company. How will you ever recover."

 

[Gus Gungus]

he gestured outward with one hand at the brawl beginning to form behind them after Morgiana's declaration, at least a bit of the sarcastic bite returning to his words that was usually as close as Watts ever got to friendly.

"Truly, such high brow and easily offendable company. How will you ever recover."

"Shut the hell up, Watts."

The egress syllable was hardly even out of his mouth when he was cut off by a sentence Emerald absolutely spat out through her teeth with quite possibly the most vicious, acrimonious intonation Arthur had ever been subjected to outside of a game lobby, and between her clenched jaw and twitching brow a fact materialized in the Atlesian's astute mind as plainly as the sun cresting over a mountain at dawn:

Emerald was mad too.

Madder than he'd ever seen her. Madder than anyone at Beacon had ever seen her, at the time or in the time since. She was usually so effortless about playing it close to the vest, but now it was as though she'd just been waiting to see a glimmer of anger in someone else to give her a target, waiting for even the tiniest flash of teeth she could sink her own into in return. For as far removed as Watts' anger was from his typical intellectual coldness or highbrow contempt, Emerald's standard issue phlegmatic nonchalance and breezy detachment had likewise absolutely shattered into a portrait of bitter resentment and animosity somewhere in the midst of those words that made it obvious a venomous rebuttal like this one was coming well before it did, the grip her palms held on her elbows tight to stop them from shaking as she met him halfway with far less regard for civility or etiquette or whatever the fuck it was he thought made him so much better than everyone else.

"Because no. Because screw you. Because I asked one thing of you guys, one thing that was important to me when I brought you down there, and you couldn't even respect that. But you don't give a shit, do you? This is why you're just as big of a kid as she is, by the by. No matter how hard you try to convince people you've got it all figured out. You don't give a shit what's happening outside that big, special brain of yours, any more than she gave a shit what was going on outside of her big, special, stupid mystical quest. Any more than either of you gave a shit about all the people it left behind. Not until we were right in front of you, anyway."

It took the third utterance of the profanity for her voice to crack, and that was all it took for her to rein that momentary slip of an emotion other than hostility; years of grifting, watching, studying and analyzing other people all angle towards making Watts feel like as shitty an excuse for a human being as she possibly could, because that was just how she was feeling right now. It couldn't have been any more obvious that this was about more than being embarrassed, more than Cinder, more even than what had happened with Neo. Ever since Morgiana's revelations in the tent, Emerald's entire aura had just... changed. For the worse.

And whatever it had changed into had apparently decided it wasn't in the mood for one of this kid's lectures.

"Case in point, actually. 'That one'? Her name is Neo. She's not ammo for your fucking argument, you unbelievable tool. But, again, you don't give a shit. Big, brainy Arthur W, picked up everything he ever tried his hand at no problem except the fucking nuances of human conversation. 'Cause there's no tutorial for that, is there, chief? You can't just... download it. You either have it, or you don't. And you, my guy, are never gonna have it."

It was almost like the first few weeks at Beacon again, when their personalities naturally grated one another and they sort of just naturally ended up at each other's throats. Except this was worse. Emerald wasn't disparaging him to make herself seem cool at his expense; she wanted to hurt him. And after having been friends with him for so long, she knew exactly where the jugular was. She scoffed.

"Y'know, If I hadn't met Penny I'd actually guess you were fresh off a construction line somewhere. But no. Obviously tech in Atlas has evolved way past whatever your deal is. You mentioned the word sociopath? Why don't you grab a few of those books you think you're sooooo impressive for having read on that and work your way up from there? Because whatever the word is for you, bud, it's not 'intellectual'. Intellectuals lift people up. They inspire people."

She snorted, shaking her head with a disdainful roll of the eyes.

"All you've ever inspired are feelings of annoyance, and boredom, and more than a little pity if I'm being honest. And I am not in the mood for it right now. So if you're so worried about your partner? Howsabout you go scram and actually fucking check on her, 'genius'? I didn't come over here to hear from you."

She really hadn't. That done, she turned to Neo, and everything she had just—for lack of a better word—unleashed on Watts sort of just...



Disappeared.

Not only did the anger vanish with a swiftness that couldn't have been anything but concerted; for a second, it almost looked like a glimmer of guilt-stricken awareness flashed in her eyes of just how cruel and out of line more or less everything she'd just said had been. But equally evident was the fact that it really just wasn't her concern right now, nor was Watts, nor was anything beyond how to put what she was about to say, words that were totally devoid of her customary grifter's poise and now channeled nothing save unfamiliarity and a lack of uncertainty on how to proceed as her eyes softened and her head dipped a bit in deference. Not for the first time in... well, any of this, she felt very miscast.

"...Neo? Mercury and I were just wondering... if you would like to... go get the stupid stick."

The words were carefully spoken as she rubbed her elbow again, not exactly knowing what to expect in the way of a response but looking apprehensive of whatever it may have been.​

 

[MyrtenRose]

"...Well, still... I have attained embarrassment nirvana and can climb no higher. Might as well just stick with the planned schedule and roll out as one big groovy convoy now, gravy?" She looked a paler than she had a few seconds ago, but there was no denying the small, heady glow of exhilaration to her features either. "C'mon, sunflower. We're all made up of so many moving parts there's gottabe a lil friction once in a while. We get too high, we get too low, whatever's whatever! Let that diminish your shine too much and all the color in the world just starts to drain."

She didn't even know how to respond to most of what had just happened with her there. There was the rising urge to laugh, but she did all she could to bury it, really not in the mood for another round of a laughing fit. Her mouth opened at last to say something. "I..." It was there she froze up entirely, like a deer in headlights.​

"I know more than anyone Cinder can be a lot. She also almost died yesterday, watched a Kingdom willingly surrender itself to Ozpin, and right now we're not even sure if the smattering of competent adults we actually have helping us are dead or not because they decided to storm Ozpin's fortress to try and save one sociopath. Which isn't even bringing up that one." He added with a sideways glance at Neo, who'd started to look annoyed at Watts for dropping a lecture on Emerald but almost immediately lost it to a stricken frown before she stared at the tabletop in shame.

"So perhaps join me in indulging her a bit of silliness when she can afford it, unless you think she's really going to ruin your reputation so thoroughly with flower child back there."

The reminder pouring from Watts' mouth hit hard, of all the terrible things that had happened very recently and all the terrible thoughts they'd brought about in her. She hadn't gone into this actually planning on getting high, for the first time even, but when the opportunity came...she took it. So at least, maybe for a little while, she could just...be...well. Untethered, unconcerned, and to let out some of that stress. To experience something new and be someone else for a little bit. And she was, Cinder supposed. But the experience wasn't at all what she wanted.​

"Because no. Because screw you. Because I asked one thing of you guys, one thing that was important to me when I brought you down there, and you couldn't even respect that. But you don't give a shit, do you? This is why you're just as big of a kid as she is, by the by. No matter how hard you try to convince people you've got it all figured out. You don't give a shit what's happening outside that big, special brain of yours, any more than she gave a shit what was going on outside of her big, special, stupid mystical quest. Any more than either of you gave a shit about all the people it left behind. Not until we were right in front of you, anyway."

If what had Watts had to say hit hard, what erupted from Emerald's mouth in response struck like a 16-wheeler goin' top speed down the highway. Worse, just about every sentence felt like it slipped between her ribs and jabbed her right in the heart. She stood there, petrified and practically more rooted to the spot than that one Ace Ops chick could even hope of being, unable to say anything in that moment. Unable to even move. The only thing that came from her with the cascade of tears that came from her only good eye, more and more falling from her face with each word that shot out of Emerald's lips. Yet it was silent, with the only witness to her tears being the embarrassed hippie next to her.

It was like she was in front of Dad again, forced to stand there and listen to one of his drunken rants...except it was so so so much fucking worse. Because it came from a former classmate. From someone she actually cared about. From a friend.

And because of that...never, not in any one of Dad's many painful lectures...never had she ever felt as small as she did right this second, in the middle of some fucking fast food restaurant.​

"Case in point, actually. 'That one'? Her name is Neo. She's not fodder for your fucking argument, you unbelievable tool. But, again, you don't give a shit. Big, brainy Arthur W, picked up everything he ever tried his hand at no problem except the fucking nuances of human conversation. 'Cause there's no tutorial for that, is there, chief? You can't just... download it. You either have it, or you don't. And you, my guy, are never gonna have it."

It was almost like the first few weeks at Beacon again, when their personalities naturally grated one another and they sort of just naturally ended up at each other's throats. Except this was worse. Emerald wasn't disparaging him to make herself seem cool at his expense; she wanted to hurt him. And after having been friends with him for so long, she knew exactly where the jugular was. She scoffed.

"Y'know, If I hadn't met Penny I'd actually guess you were fresh off a construction line somewhere. But no. Obviously tech in Atlas has advanced past whatever your deal is. You mentioned the word sociopath? Why don't you grab a few of those books you think you're sooooo impressive for having read on that and work your way up from there? Because whatever the word is for you, bud, it's not 'intellectual'. Intellectuals lift people up. They inspire people."

She snorted, shaking her head with a disdainful roll of the eyes.

"All you've ever inspired are feelings of annoyance, and boredom, and more than a little pity if I'm being honest. And I am not in the mood for it right now. So if you're so worried about your partner? Howsabout you go scram and actually fucking talk to her, 'genius'? I didn't come over here to hear from you."

Inspired...damn. She could only imagine the terrible feelings she inspired after what she did. Maybe those feelings were even rightfully earned by her. Technically she was still stoned, but the face that met Morgiana when she lifted her head back up could not have appeared any more lucid and aware than it did. Cinder found her voice and gave her answer at last. "No. Not gravy, and...no convoy. I...I'm sorry." Then she did her best to take the option of Watts talking to her away. She was just gone, full on sprinting out the door, the tears still coming and with no idea where she was even going beyond the vague thought of away from here. Running like Neo had with her just the night before, trying to leave them...again. She felt more like a piece of shit for it, but she couldn't stay. Maybe...maybe the apple didn't fall as far from the tree as she thought it did. Maybe she was every bit the person who didn't give a shit like Emerald had said. Maybe she was just as bad as the other Cinder from the other world, but was just better at hiding it.

Maybe she didn't deserve any friends.​

 

[Gus Gungus]

After all that, and after Lance had swiftly and effortlessly dealt with the cluster of rabblerousers haranguing her, Morgiana had simply buckled at the knees and slunk limply to the floor like a wilting flower, the bodyguard whirling with sudden desperation in his eyes as he bolted to her side in a literal crack of lightning and bundled her up in his arms, sinking to his own knees and shaking her motionless form with panicked despondency.

"Morg?! What hit you??? Morg???? MOOOOOOOORG?!??!?!?"

She groaned helplessly, a frail, trembling hand alighting against his heavily tones muscles as she tried to weakly lift her gaze to meet his.

"Lance... m-my dude... the vibes.... you gotta save 'em....."

"What in the goddamn?" He dropped her.​

 

[MidwayLives]

They faced each other for the last few segments of the exchange, and while the resigned nods they left it on suggested a mutual accord it couldn't have been more obvious that both of them were less than happy about it, the tone of the conversation drifting dangerously close to an argument at times. Mercury scowled, tossed one last comment at his Beacon partner and punctuated it by jerking his head towards the table, that customary brooding Black expression already settling over his features as he turned without further remark and made for the exit to eat alone. Emerald was left looking downcast, one hand rubbing her elbow for a second before she banished whatever her own clear reservations were and made her way over.

Char and Blanche had settled on a table for just the two of em.

It was far too late for either of them to even begin questioning how they'd been just talking about stuff neither hitman really understood to chowing down. Blanche personally wasn't too big on the fast food craze. Call him paranoid if you'd like but he always felt as though he had a problem with eating this kind of food. He'd eat and eat and eat and eventually he'd be stopping at places like this every other day or so. He'd end up a blimp by the year's end. With that would go many things: his effectiveness in combat, his boyish good looks, and most importantly: his luck with the ladies. Keeping that in mind he just settled on a large cup of water and a salad. He picked the tomato slices out for some odd reason.

....It wasn't that he didn't appreciate what the kid and her friends had done for Char and him. If it hadn't been for them fighting Ghastly and keeping the Boss occupied, who knows what could have happened? Being alive to pick at this salad with a black plastic fork didn't seem like it'd be at the top of those possibilities. But things just seemed to keep getting stranger and stranger. For a second or two, Blanche wondered if it was just a knack this group of people had in particular. Finding themselves in one crazy situation after another. He might have pondered further but something had shaken him from his thoughts.

Concern for his partner.

"Char, what's the matter? You haven't even touched your Large Mic or your sundae or-"

"Ehh..." Char pushed away his tray of food and took a sip from his soda. "I...I dunno, I was thinking maybe you're right. Saturated fats, the grease, what it can do to ya...Cause your skin to break out, shit's toxic for your health." Char rambled and as he turned his head to see Blanche's reaction, he got this.



"Char, mon ami, you don't have to lie to me. Something's clearly bothering you and I doubt it's the food." Leaning forward as he took a sip of his own drink, he smacked his lips. "Though that's NOT me saying you're not doing the right thing. But it's not like you to pass up junk food like this. What's up?"

Char frowned and slumped over, propping his elbows on the table with his head resting between them.

"....Blanche, you remember that night a couple years back? It was in that little house Aurora has on the Boss's property. " Well, while he couldn't really make sense of it, he guessed saying 'Aurora' and 'The Boss' as though they were separate people was kinda redundant. He wasn't a hundred percent, not a psychologist or whatever. "It was just the two of us, it was rainin and we'd just finished getting congratulated on a successful hit of some schmuck who was trying to move in on the Narcotics Team's turf."

Blanche didn't really seem to follow.

"....We were a part of the family for years, Char. You're gonna have to be a bit more specific."

Char nodded in the direction of Mercury.

Then it all clicked for Blanche.



"Oh Char.. Not this night again..."

Brushing aside or simply ignoring the implication that this wasn't the first time Char had bummed himself out over this particular day, Char reached over to grab his sundae and pull the cap off as he started going on. "...Ever since we bumped into his kid, it's been at the back of my head. That night..." His eyebrows furrowed and he grit his teeth. "...That fucking asshole...."

Blanche simply sighed and resigned himself to the ensuing flashback that was sure to follow.

Spoiler: flashback

Joining the Bound Ashes had always been a dream of Char's since he got decent enough to wave a sword around. Without getting the cops called on him anyway-they were still called, just not for him getting his sword stuck in his neighbor's fence or walls again-but now that he'd managed to secure a spot on the Hitman Team? The cops couldn't say shit to him. All it'd take was a bit of lien there and he could practically do whatever the hell he wanted. Who was gonna stop him? Case in point after being tasked by the illusive Boss's righthand man, Aurora Beige, that some asshole was trying to push in on territory that the organization's Narcotics Team had already claimed as their own, Char chomped at the bit to get this guy to move on. Through any means necessary.

It took a bit of elbow grease and tracking the guy down but the job was done. Char didn't personally approve of the Narcotics Team but whatever. So long as everybody was down for it, they could peddle whatever bullshit they wanted. He just enjoyed the chance to prove himself for the family he'd longed to finally be a part of. As had been the case with receiving the job, to complete it and get his pay, Char had to be invited onto the property grounds of the man that was simply referred to as 'The Boss' Nobody knew what he looked like, what he sounded like, anything. Rumor has it was that when rising up in Mistral's seedy underworld as a youth, the man that would become the founder of the Bound Ashes/the shadowmaster of the region itself , he'd murdered anybody close to him.

Friends, family, even acquaintances who he felt might have possibly remembered what he'd looked like/possibly use it against him in the future. Nobody was spared.

Except one person in the Boss's employ. The timid and weak Aurora Beige. He'd personally met the Boss and talked to him 1x1 without any proxies. None of the other gangsters could understand it. Aurora was a to put it as politely as possible: a goober. The kid acted like he'd never so much as thrown a punch in his life. Hell, most folks doubted that he'd even gone as far as unlocking his semblance. But yet nobody dared to mock Aurora openly to his face or physically put their hands on him. The first couple of wise guys who did that? They were never seen again. Aurora said they'd up and fled. Betrayers to the family was all. Needless to say nowadays both Char and Blanche knew better. Hell, even at the time folks didn't buy that for one second. Aurora had the Boss's ear and what do you do if you hear from your second in command that somebody's picking on him?

You assert your authority and make the problem disappear. Just like a magic trick.

Char personally thought Aurora looked like something of a weenie/would probably pass out at the first sign of blood(be it his own or somebody else's)but he kept those opinions to himself. Lest he end up going on a 'long trip.' Like so many other wise guys before him.

Getting onto the property grounds was a task in it of itself. Machines prowled the grounds armed with live ammunition and cameras scanned both the sky, the front entrance, the sides of the luxurious mansion the Boss called home, etc. Char would have bet a pretty penny that the fence around the mansion was electrified as well. Buzzed in by Aurora, Char stepped past the gates and strode not towards the mansion but a little guesthouse that resided on the property. It was where Aurora greeted people who wished to pay tribute to the Boss/beg for a favor of him/or to discuss business terms. It was also where members of the three 'big' teams met to get their marching orders(The Narcotics/The Community/The Hitman Teams)from the Boss through Aurora. The door was unlocked and Char stepped inside. Suppose it wasn't really necessary to lock the doors when you were living here.

"Aurora?"

No answer.

"Aurora, it's me! Char! I'm here to get my pay! I 86'ed the son of a bitch!" Char exclaimed as he restrained himself from hopping in the air out of pure excitement. That excitement took the smallest of hits when there was still no answer. Had he come late? No, he'd set his alarm and everything. He know that gangsters liked being classy and shit but he typically didn't care about following any preconceived ideas of 'classy.' He dressed how he like, fought how he liked, and so on and so forth. Nobody had said anything to him yet.

At least not until tonight.

Hearing a door opening, Char raced down the hall. Maybe the kid had been listening to music or somethin? Or maybe he dozed off? Or was doing some kind of important paperwork-Skidding to a stop and nearly tripping over his own feet in the process, Char caught himself from straight up wobbling into an older looking man who'd just stepped out of Aurora's office.

"Hey..." Char started as his eyes began to light up in growing awe. "You're...You're-"



"Marcus Black? Yeah."

Moving to step past Char, Marcus tucked his hands in his pockets and started to stroll down the hall. Not wanting to pass up an opportunity to not only meet one of the best assassins in the region and an actual member of the Boss's Elite Guard, Char turned and raced after Marcus who didn't even seem bothered to look back or acknowledge Char calling out to him until the fresh hitman was practically hovering over his back. "I-It's just so fuckin cool to meet you! I mean, I'm just so happy to be in the same group as one of the Boss's top guys!" Oh shit had he actually...? He did. "Shit, shit! M-My name's Char-"

Marcus began laughing. Being a touch confused at first, Char joined along in the laughter. After a few moments or so, it was clear the laughter had turned from joyful into a more awkward cacophony. "He..Hehehe, what's...what's uh so funny? Heh." Char asked in between chuckles and finally turning to face the younger man, Marcus flashed him a smile.

"You."



"....Me?"

"Yeah. I mean, it's just funny y'know? You thinking I give a shit about the name of some low level flunky. Hahahaha!" Marcus gave Char a hearty slap on the back, one that nearly bowled him over. "Hey, friendly piece of advice, kid? Cut out the fanboy shit. You think you and me are in the same 'group?' That's funny on it's own but you thinking you're a fucking professional?" Black snorted and the laughter seemed so genuine.. In it's intent to hurt Char's feelings. "So, yeah, you're pretty funny." Turning back around again, Marcus gave a mocking wave over his shoulder. "Bye kid." Char didn't say anything at first. He stood there with his hands at his side and his eyes blank and staring straight ahead. Looking as though they'd burn a hole through the back of the man he'd looked up to. The same man who'd just insulted him to his face.

Angry and overeager to prove himself to his peers as he was in his adult years, those feelings hadn't just come out of nowhere. Although he wasn't a physical powerhouse and looked about as intimidating as a starving kitten on it's worst day, Char had prided himself on being able to get to where he was. Sure, he wasn't gonna see his name in any articles. He wouldn't get any awards or love from the public. But he didn't need either of those things. He was just happy feeling as though he was just okay. Just adequate.

Just happy.

Which is why it'd hurt so bad. To be told that despite all his hard work? The blood sweat and tears he'd shed?

He was just another one of the Boss's mooks. Nobody to be concerned with.

"Take it back."

Marcus didn't say anything or stop walking.

"Take back what you said to me."

Still nothing.

Gripping the scabbard that housed Riot Breaker, Char grit his teeth.



"Stop walking away from me. I'm....not...DONE WITH YOU YET!"

A red glow shimmered around Char's person and Marcus's confident stride was finally broken as he looked down at his feet. Beneath him appeared to be some kind of glowing red seal with archaic symbols written across the center and sides of it. To strip someone of their power, the inherent ability that they had to themselves. What helped make them strong or even worth a damn in somebody else's eyes. To take that all away was the power of Char's semblance: The Null Zone. Of course, as a youth the extending range of his semblance was much shorter. But that didn't mean jackshit here. Char could tolerate a lot of things. Being cussed at, being punched(only if he got to punch back), or even spit on. But to just have someone coldly tear down your worth through words alone?

It hurt in a way that was impossible to describe. Keeping his hands near Riot Breaker incase a quick draw was needed, Char approached Marcus-who still had his back turned-with a growing smile upon his face. His prey had been ensnared.



"You talk pretty big for someone who just got caught in my semblance. Go on, trying using yours. It doesn't matter if it's shooting fire, or running at supersonic speeds, or even being able to fly. The second my 'Null Zone' goes into effect and you're within the effective range? You're powerless." He drew Riot Breaker from it's scabbard ever so slightly, light glistening off the peek of metal poking out. "Now, you're...you're gonna make good and apologize for what you said back there. I'm no goddamn mook. I'm a member of the Hitman Team! I actually just finished a job!" His grip tightened around the hilt of Riot Breaker. "....If you don't take back what you said, I'll add you to the list of people who've pissed me off today and regretted it."

If Marcus was perturbed at all by his current circumstances, he did an amazing job not letting it show.

"Huh. Yeah, you got me. Can't feel my semblance. What is your name, kid?"

"It's Char. Charred Lilac!"

"Gotcha. Hey, want another free bit of advice?"

"Huh?-"

Marcus swung out with a vicious backhand that caught Char in the side of the head and sent him flying against the wall. Riot Breaker fell from his hands and fell upon the tiled floors with a echoing clatter. Clutching at the side of his head at the blow, Marcus looked over at where his fellow killer had fallen. "See, your first mistake was letting me hear you draw your sword. Better to leave your enemies in suspense. Make them wonder what you're gonna do. The second I heard that sword slide out? I knew you'd be too much of a coward to put it to it's real use." Looming over Char's downed form, Char's hand quickly shot out to grab Riot Breaker but a boot to the chest and another side hook to the head stopped that. "Second mistake was lying. I knew about that 'job' Aurora sent you on. I come around here when business is slow and see if there's anybody worth paying any mind. He told me about a 'new member of the Hitman Team' that he'd sent to go mess with some guy pushing in on the druggie's turf. I go down there myself later. See if this new guy's worth a damn. The druggies tell me you didn't even kill the guy. You just scared him off."

Char could only cough and sputter as he tried to collect his thoughts after the one two kick and punch.

"Third and most important mistake?" Reaching down and grabbing Char by the neck, he propped a boot over Riot Breaker's hilt, while hoisting Char off his feet and into the air. With his grip as tight as a vice he started to squeeze. "Thinking your semblance is some kind of end all-be all-instant win card. Your semblance is only worth a damn if you are. Sure, you've turned off my semblance but who needs it? I'm doing just fine handling you-" *punch* "With my...bare....*punch* hands." After a sufficiently brutal onslaught of beatings, Marcus looked over Char's body, still stuck up against the wall by his grip. A black eye, a missing tooth or two. But Char's glare never broke.

In just the briefest of moments meeting his hero, something had changed dramatically.

He hated this man with a burning passion.

"Pardon but Monsieur Black? Please release my partner. Now."

Both head turned to greet the the new voice.



"Forgive my impertinence but is this how the members of the Elite Guard act? If so then I can't imagine the standards are too high." The boy chirped with his arms folded behind his back. "Clearly the Boss sees something in you that he doesn't with anyone else. Why waste that chance here? I admit my ignorance as to the semblances of the Elite Guards but surely the Boss would be most upset if you forced him to have to squander the resource he'd built up so high? A fate worst than death I'm sure." The boy chided and as Marcus fully turned to face him with Char still in his grip. "Seems like I'm just getting all the rugrat's attention. You got a name, boy? One I'll give a damn about?"

"Blanche. Tranquille. Member of the Hitman Team and Char's partner. Now."

A grey foggy miasma began flowing from and twirling around Blanche's body.

"Release him."

Marcus had a feeling where this was going and chuckled.

"Okay, okay. I'll let him go." His grip started to loosen on Char's collar.

"....If you can make me give a damn."

Blanche's cold and calculating stare didn't break. Even as the fog began to dissipate and he started to bow. Clapping his hands together once he'd finished kneeling the whole way, he called out in the calmest voice possible. "I am truly sorry for whatever transgression my partner has committed against you. If my apology is not sufficient then I humbly beg that you take your frustrations out on me instead of my friend." Blanche didn't look up and kept his hands together in the clapping pose. "....This is agreeable, no?"

"Blanche..." Char croaked out in shock even through the bloody nose and all.

Marcus cackled at Blanche prostrating himself before him. "See, you could learn a thing or two from this kid. He gets the bigger picture. You two, doesn't matter what team you're apart of. Apart you're all just dogshit. Together you're the mess the rest of us tolerate." Marcus flung Char to the ground at Blanche's feet and turned to finally walk his way out of the building. "Don't come at me again, kids. Unless you're willing to go as far as you have to." Light glistened off Riot Breaker and the door slammed shut behind Marcus.

Once he was sure that Marcus was out of earshot, Blanche dropped the 'cool' facade and fell to his knees as he pulled Char in close.



"You idiot!!! What the hell were you thinking?! He's an Elite Guard!!! If he tells Aurora or word gets out what you did-if the Boss finds out-"

"he insulted me, blanche."

"What-"

"he insulted me. real bad."

Blanche frowned. He knew from the word go that Char had a huge chip on his shoulder. "....Char, my dear, whatever he said to you. Whatever he thinks of us. The sad fact of life is that he's right." Blanche nearly fell over as Char thrashed and writhed in his grip at those choice words. "He was RIGHT?? He called us lackeys! We're no better than fuckin foot soldiers, Blanche! We're the fucking GRUNTS IN HIS EYES! You stood there and laid out your cards and apologized to him??? Look what he did to me! We should be chasing after him! We should-"

A cold wind drifted over the two. Even if they didn't realize it at the time.



"....it's just the way life is, my friend. It's often unfair, it's often cruel. Nothing one can do but roll with the punches as they come." Blanche sniffled. He had his roots in Atlas but his thick accent betrayed how backwoods his upbringing had been. "Marcus Black is dogshit melting on the pavement on a hot summer day. But he's also an important asset to the Boss and the Boss is our family now. You pick a fight with Black, you're picking a fight with family and you think the Boss will let that slide?"

Char said nothing but looked away.

"....you'll disappear, char. i'll never see you again."

Char began trembling.

"....so please. just let this...this go. i'll talk to abyss. See if she can talk to Aurora."

Char laid his head on Blanche's chest.

".....You're my friend, toujours."

Char cried and Blanche followed after.

The cold wind stopped and unknown to the two boys, a bandaged figure glided down another hallway. A tuft of pink hair poking out between some of the bandages.

After much backroom talk, a settlement was reached. Although the Boss was furious at the news of one of his Elite Guards being attacked, he saw it more as a test of Abyss's leadership skills if she could wrangle Char while also punishing both Blanche and him. The one exception however being that if either youth was spotted anywhere near Black? They would be 'dealt with' in whichever manner the Boss deemed appropriate. So the years clicked by and Marcus ignored the Hitman Team and they did the same. He saw them as beneath him and they saw him as a drunken asshole.

Then one day he disappeared.

"The Boss was distraught. Still can't figure out why. He had Aurora sending guys all over Mistral looking for him."

"They never did find the body."

"Yeah. Chalked it up to MIA and that was that. Never mentioned again."

But after meeting his son, both men knew the truth of what happened.

Blanche sighed and leaned back in his chair.

"Char. What happened then...It...He's dead now. We got the last laugh. It's over."

"Yeah? Then why do I feel so pissed off whenever I look at his kid?"

".....Char."

Pushing himself up from the table, Char headed for the door.

"I...I need a minute. Some fresh air or somethin. Calm my nerves."
​

 

[MidwayLives]

"oh my goooooooood...."

Trifa was in a similar boat to Char and Blanche in that she only had a periphery understanding of everything that was happening. Tyrian although promising to have been truthful had neglected to inform the spider faunus of somethings. Namely the relics or Ozpin or anything to do with that. As far as she was concerned, the only real beef there was going around was with the Shadow Fang.

Having gotten a cup of ice water, she held it against the numerous bruises on her face. All while tears streamed down her cheeks.

It seemed during lunch was the time where folks had decided to just start letting loose.

Emotionally, anyway.

Reaching into her pocket, Trifa pulled out her mask and pulled it over her head. The better to hide the tears with.



"Can you believe any of this, Tyrian?"

No response.

"....Tyrian?"
​

Inspired...damn. She could only imagine the terrible feelings she inspired after what she did. Maybe those feelings were even rightfully earned by her. Technically she was still stoned, but the face that met Morgiana when she lifted her head back up could not have appeared any more lucid and aware than it did. Cinder found her voice and gave her answer at last. "No. Not gravy, and...no convoy. I...I'm sorry." Then she did her best to take the option of Watts talking to her away. She was just gone, full on sprinting out the door, the tears still coming and with no idea where she was even going beyond the vague thought of away from here. Running like Neo had with her just the night before, trying to leave them...again. She felt more like a piece of shit for it, but she couldn't stay. Maybe...maybe the apple didn't fall as far from the tree as she thought it did. Maybe she was every bit the person who didn't give a shit like Emerald had said. Maybe she was just as bad as the other Cinder from the other world, but was just better at hiding it.

Tyrian had nearly fallen asleep with his face against the table, he was so at peace.

His inner turmoil-normally an undrainable well of mixed emotions(most of them violent)satiated by the help of drugs.

Even high as he was, he'd never forget that sight.

Cinder leaving them, him, again.

"Cinder....?"

He staggered onto all fours, shaking his head from side to side.

"Cinder...? Come...Come back." He called out even as Cinder raced through the door.

"Cinder!"

He sprinted forward on all fours and smacked the door open with his tail. With so much force that the door was nearly forced off it's hinges. Even in the depths of relaxation and harmony there was one thing that the faunus just couldn't accept: being abandoned again. He vanished out the door with the joint he'd been smoking left on the floor.​

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

View attachment 877005

"Shut the hell up, Watts."

The egress syllable was hardly even out of his mouth when he was cut off by a sentence Emerald absolutely spat out through her teeth with quite possibly the most vicious, acrimonious intonation Arthur had ever been subjected to outside of a game lobby, and between her clenched jaw and twitching brow a fact materialized in the Atlesian's astute mind as plainly as the sun cresting over a mountain at dawn:

Emerald was mad too.

Madder than he'd ever seen her. Madder than anyone at Beacon had ever seen her, at the time or in the time since. She was usually so effortless about playing it close to the vest, but now it was as though she'd just been waiting to see a glimmer of anger in someone else to give her a target, waiting for even the tiniest flash of teeth she could sink her own into in return. For as far removed as Watts' anger was from his typical intellectual coldness or highbrow contempt, Emerald's standard issue phlegmatic nonchalance and breezy detachment had likewise absolutely shattered into a portrait of bitter resentment and animosity somewhere in the midst of those words that made it obvious a venomous rebuttal like this one was coming well before it did, the grip her palms held on her elbows tight to stop them from shaking as she met him halfway with far less regard for civility or etiquette or whatever the fuck it was he thought made him so much better than everyone else.

"Because no. Because screw you. Because I asked one thing of you guys, one thing that was important to me when I brought you down there, and you couldn't even respect that. But you don't give a shit, do you? This is why you're just as big of a kid as she is, by the by. No matter how hard you try to convince people you've got it all figured out. You don't give a shit what's happening outside that big, special brain of yours, any more than she gave a shit what was going on outside of her big, special, stupid mystical quest. Any more than either of you gave a shit about all the people it left behind. Not until we were right in front of you, anyway."

It took the third utterance of the profanity for her voice to crack, and that was all it took for her to rein that momentary slip of an emotion other than hostility; years of grifting, watching, studying and analyzing other people all angle towards making Watts feel like as shitty an excuse for a human being as she possibly could, because that was just how she was feeling right now. It couldn't have been any more obvious that this was about more than being embarrassed, more than Cinder, more even than what had happened with Neo. Ever since Morgiana's revelations in the tent, Emerald's entire aura had just... changed. For the worse.

And whatever it had changed into had apparently decided it wasn't in the mood for one of this kid's lectures.

"Case in point, actually. 'That one'? Her name is Neo. She's not ammo for your fucking argument, you unbelievable tool. But, again, you don't give a shit. Big, brainy Arthur W, picked up everything he ever tried his hand at no problem except the fucking nuances of human conversation. 'Cause there's no tutorial for that, is there, chief? You can't just... download it. You either have it, or you don't. And you, my guy, are never gonna have it."

It was almost like the first few weeks at Beacon again, when their personalities naturally grated one another and they sort of just naturally ended up at each other's throats. Except this was worse. Emerald wasn't disparaging him to make herself seem cool at his expense; she wanted to hurt him. And after having been friends with him for so long, she knew exactly where the jugular was. She scoffed.

"Y'know, If I hadn't met Penny I'd actually guess you were fresh off a construction line somewhere. But no. Obviously tech in Atlas has evolved way past whatever your deal is. You mentioned the word sociopath? Why don't you grab a few of those books you think you're sooooo impressive for having read on that and work your way up from there? Because whatever the word is for you, bud, it's not 'intellectual'. Intellectuals lift people up. They inspire people."

She snorted, shaking her head with a disdainful roll of the eyes.

"All you've ever inspired are feelings of annoyance, and boredom, and more than a little pity if I'm being honest. And I am not in the mood for it right now. So if you're so worried about your partner? Howsabout you go scram and actually fucking check on her, 'genius'? I didn't come over here to hear from you."

She really hadn't. That done, she turned to Neo, and everything she had just—for lack of a better word—unleashed on Watts sort of just...

View attachment 877020

Disappeared.

Not only did the anger vanish with a swiftness that couldn't have been anything but concerted; for a second, it almost looked like a glimmer of guilt-stricken awareness flashed in her eyes of just how cruel and out of line more or less everything she'd just said had been. But equally evident was the fact that it really just wasn't her concern right now, nor was Watts, nor was anything beyond how to put what she was about to say, words that were totally devoid of her customary grifter's poise and now channeled nothing save unfamiliarity and a lack of uncertainty on how to proceed as her eyes softened and her head dipped a bit in deference. Not for the first time in... well, any of this, she felt very miscast.

"...Neo? Mercury and I were just wondering... if you would like to... go get the stupid stick."

The words were carefully spoken as she rubbed her elbow again, not exactly knowing what to expect in the way of a response but looking apprehensive of whatever it may have been.​

She didn't even know how to respond to most of what had just happened with her there. There was the rising urge to laugh, but she did all she could to bury it, really not in the mood for another round of a laughing fit. Her mouth opened at last to say something. "I..." It was there she froze up entirely, like a deer in headlights.



The reminder pouring from Watts' mouth hit hard, of all the terrible things that had happened very recently and all the terrible thoughts they'd brought about in her. She hadn't gone into this actually planning on getting high, for the first time even, but when the opportunity came...she took it. So at least, maybe for a little while, she could just...be...well. Untethered, unconcerned, and to let out some of that stress. To experience something new and be someone else for a little bit. And she was, Cinder supposed. But the experience wasn't at all what she wanted.



If what had Watts had to say hit hard, what erupted from Emerald's mouth in response struck like a 16-wheeler goin' top speed down the highway. Worse, just about every sentence felt like it slipped between her ribs and jabbed her right in the heart. She stood there, petrified and practically more rooted to the spot than that one Ace Ops chick could even hope of being, unable to say anything in that moment. Unable to even move. The only thing that came from her with the cascade of tears that came from her only good eye, more and more falling from her face with each word that shot out of Emerald's lips. Yet it was silent, with the only witness to her tears being the embarrassed hippie next to her.

It was like she was in front of Dad again, forced to stand there and listen to one of his drunken rants...except it was so so so much fucking worse. Because it came from a former classmate. From someone she actually cared about. From a friend.

And because of that...never, not in any one of Dad's many painful lectures...never had she ever felt as small as she did right this second, in the middle of some fucking fast food restaurant.



Inspired...damn. She could only imagine the terrible feelings she inspired after what she did. Maybe those feelings were even rightfully earned by her. Technically she was still stoned, but the face that met Morgiana when she lifted her head back up could not have appeared any more lucid and aware than it did. Cinder found her voice and gave her answer at last. "No. Not gravy, and...no convoy. I...I'm sorry." Then she did her best to take the option of Watts talking to her away. She was just gone, full on sprinting out the door, the tears still coming and with no idea where she was even going beyond the vague thought of away from here. Running like Neo had with her just the night before, trying to leave them...again. She felt more like a piece of shit for it, but she couldn't stay. Maybe...maybe the apple didn't fall as far from the tree as she thought it did. Maybe she was every bit the person who didn't give a shit like Emerald had said. Maybe she was just as bad as the other Cinder from the other world, but was just better at hiding it.

Maybe she didn't deserve any friends.​

View attachment 877136

"oh my goooooooood...."

Trifa was in a similar boat to Char and Blanche in that she only had a periphery understanding of everything that was happening. Tyrian although promising to have been truthful had neglected to inform the spider faunus of somethings. Namely the relics or Ozpin or anything to do with that. As far as she was concerned, the only real beef there was going around was with the Shadow Fang.

Having gotten a cup of ice water, she held it against the numerous bruises on her face. All while tears streamed down her cheeks.

It seemed during lunch was the time where folks had decided to just start letting loose.

Emotionally, anyway.

Reaching into her pocket, Trifa pulled out her mask and pulled it over her head. The better to hide the tears with.

View attachment 877137

"Can you believe any of this, Tyrian?"

No response.

"....Tyrian?"


Tyrian had nearly fallen asleep with his face against the table, he was so at peace.

His inner turmoil-normally an undrainable well of mixed emotions(most of them violent)satiated by the help of drugs.

Even high as he was, he'd never forget that sight.

Cinder leaving them, him, again.

"Cinder....?"

He staggered onto all fours, shaking his head from side to side.

"Cinder...? Come...Come back." He called out even as Cinder raced through the door.

"Cinder!"

He sprinted forward on all fours and smacked the door open with his tail. With so much force that the door was nearly forced off it's hinges. Even in the depths of relaxation and harmony there was one thing that the faunus just couldn't accept: being abandoned again. He vanished out the door with the joint he'd been smoking left on the floor.​

By the end of the tirade Arthur's eyes were almost bug eyed, shaken and surprised to a degree that might've been comical if the situation had been different. Even as Neo and Tyrian both dashed out in turn, he stayed their frozen, his hands still clasped together in front of him even as Neo started to get to her feet as the door swung shut behind the faunus. She whirled back around to try and grab Arthur's shoulder arm, but he roughly shrugged her off as stepped away from the table and readjusted his gloves as his face dropped into a dark scowl.

"Don't bother answering that Neo. You three don't have to worry about our stupid mystical quest. We'll handle it from here. It was lovely to see you again though. Emerald?"

his lips pressed together in a mirthless smile that didn't even try to pretend to be anything but nasty, before he turned on his heel and walked out the door, his obnoxious hover scooter he'd insisted on taking with them through the portal

"Lovely to see you again too. But eat shit."

Neo started to go after them, only for her eyes to widen in shock as the muted crack of one of Watts' dust rounds hitting the door from the other side went off, freezing it shut in a shot before he slipped it back into its holster and continued on without looking back.

Neo stared at the door with for a few seconds, then glanced at the large window next to it, but thought better of whatever that train of thought had been as she sighed and slowly turned to walk back over to Emerald. She nudged her hand with her own and took it if allowed before looking back up into her eyes.

This was her fault. She was sure Cinder was running off to go blame herself in a good old fashioned angry teenager self pity mope, she could see Emerald regretted her words as soon as they left her mouth, but neither of them would be like this if Neo hadn't kicked it all into motion. But she ran the last time she thought she'd hurt a friend, and the time before that.

Neither of them could've ended any worse than they did.

She didn't look angry when she met Em's eyes, not at Emerald or at Watts, or even sad. She looked concerned. scared. The staff of creation, the lamp, Ozpin, and all the grimm in Remnant weren't anywhere near the front of her mind at that moment; she just wanted to understand. Even if it was her fault, and even if trying to put all the pieces together just made things worse, she didn't ever want to run from a friend again.


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


There was likely nothing Cinder wanted to hear less in that moment than Watts' god forsaken hover scooter from hell descending on her wherever she'd run off to, Tyrian unceremoniously scooped up in his arms before being tossed onto the back of it en route, but find her they did with a downright eerie precision. It powered down, and Watts strode over to stand next to wherever Cinder was, his hands in his pockets as he stared off into the distance for a deep breath.

"Well. That could've gone better."

 

[Gus Gungus]

By the end of the tirade Arthur's eyes were almost bug eyed, shaken and surprised to a degree that might've been comical if the situation had been different. Even as Neo and Tyrian both dashed out in turn, he stayed their frozen, his hands still clasped together in front of him even as Neo started to get to her feet as the door swung shut behind the faunus. She whirled back around to try and grab Arthur's shoulder arm, but he roughly shrugged her off as stepped away from the table and readjusted his gloves as his face dropped into a dark scowl.

"Don't bother answering that Neo. You three don't have to worry about our stupid mystical quest. We'll handle it from here. It was lovely to see you again though. Emerald?"

his lips pressed together in a mirthless smile that didn't even try to pretend to be anything but nasty, before he turned on his heel and walked out the door, his obnoxious hover scooter he'd insisted on taking with them through the portal

"Lovely to see you again too. But eat shit."

Neo started to go after them, only for her eyes to widen in shock as the muted crack of one of Watts' dust rounds hitting the door from the other side went off, freezing it shut in a shot before he slipped it back into its holster and continued on without looking back.

Neo stared at the door with for a few seconds, then glanced at the large window next to it, but thought better of whatever that train of thought had been as she sighed and slowly turned to walk back over to Emerald. She nudged her hand with her own and took it if allowed before looking back up into her eyes.

This was her fault. She was sure Cinder was running off to go blame herself in a good old fashioned angry teenager self pity mope, she could see Emerald regretted her words as soon as they left her mouth, but neither of them would be like this if Neo hadn't kicked it all into motion. But she ran the last time she thought she'd hurt a friend, and the time before that.

Neither of them could've ended any worse than they did.

She didn't look angry when she met Em's eyes, not at Emerald or at Watts, or even sad. She looked concerned. scared. The staff of creation, the lamp, Ozpin, and all the grimm in Remnant weren't anywhere near the front of her mind at that moment; she just wanted to understand. Even if it was her fault, and even if trying to put all the pieces together just made things worse, she didn't ever want to run from a friend again.

Emerald had braced the moment her stream of awful, cutting invective ceased, wilfully ignoring the sounds of Cinder's retreat and Tyrian's harried pursuit as she kept her narrowed eyes locked on his in a glare and prepared for... whatever that brain of his was liable to come up with. And she did look prepared. She'd heard it all before, and she was prepared for so many things, a full scale dissection of her character the whole way down to its core through a lense of ruthless analysis she couldn't even conceive of approaching, maybe even with a few twists of Atlesian highbrowness thrown in there for flavor. Bitch. Street rat. Hypocrite. She was ready for all of that.

Just not that.



By the time Watts got up she had already shrunk to half mass like a balloon, head hanging even further and grip around her elbows tight enough to turn her dusky skin white as the shaky hands she was trying to stop just ended up diffusing the trembling all the way up to her shoulders instead. She hadn't broken her eyeline to him, enough impulsive wariness and age-old rough sleeper's instincts to be prepared for a blindside at any moment in there that it could've even still been considered a glare, but it was more the skittish, agitated glare of a deer prepared to bolt after glimpsing something it didn't like in the treeline than the merciless daggers that had come before; it finally flickered down to the floor completely as she stepped out of the way, letting him storm past without further reproach as she took a deep, unsteady breath that didn't fill her lungs at all and forced a veneer of apathy over the reply that did come.

"Yeah. Bye."

Only Neo witnessed the actual wince flicker across her expression at the crack of his sidearm, like a starter pistol that had her slink torpidly into the booth they'd been sitting at and stare down absently at her hands. Neo's touch was the first thing that made her gaze lift, though it seemed it could only alight on the smaller illusionist's for a solid half-second while she was looking at her like that before it whipped right back down again, the proverbial deer finally bolting to the safety of the emotional undergrowth.

"Don't gimme the therapy look. I'm just sick of that kid's attitude all the time. I'm just—he's just an asshole."

Her jaw clenched at the mistake, and her own irritation at it had the next words she forced out carry a much thicker tone.

"Look, it's fine. Everything's fine. For the love of god, Neo, you are not the one who needs to be—" She didn't finish that thought, some split second recalibrations carried out so she could start fresh with another sentence, hopefully less quavery than that one had been about to end. "—Listen, screw them. We're the ones with the portals to let us skip the whole big trek across the desert anyway. And we—look, I know we haven't been doing... pretty much anything you've wanted to do these last few months, we've just been dragging you places, acting like nothing even happened, and I'm sorry for that, we just, we thought it was the only way to, we thought it'd help but neither of us know anything about this, and you haven't been happy but we don't know how to help with that either, and I just—I'm sorry, okay, I'm s-sorry you ended up with two such shitty stunted idiots for friends, Neo, I'm sorry we're not him, we weren't trying to be but we need you way more than you need us, I swear to god I'm not just saying that, it's true, and I j-j-just—"



The moment she tried to meet Neo's eyes again was also when her whole detached facade finally just shattered like one of the other girl's illusions. What was only supposed to be a sniffle erupted into one of the more awful, abjectly wretched sobs Neo had ever heard, one that was already tapering into a groan as she registered the tears finally escaping their stasis and she slammed her head down into the solace of her arms in shame, shoulders starting to quake violently atop the table.

"I'm s-sorry! If it's what you want we'll go, I promise we will. M-M-Mercury even agreed."

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

There was likely nothing Cinder wanted to hear less in that moment than Watts' god forsaken hover scooter from hell descending on her wherever she'd run off to, Tyrian unceremoniously scooped up in his arms before being tossed onto the back of it en route, but find her they did with a downright eerie precision. It powered down, and Watts strode over to stand next to wherever Cinder was, his hands in his pockets as he stared off into the distance for a deep breath.

"Well. That could've gone better."

Wherever exactly it was Cinder's flight had ended up taking her to, and wherever Watts pulled up a short time later, one of two things happened.

Mercury either hopped off the back from where he'd successfully executed a flying leap onto Tyrian from across the street and made the whole scooter ride highly dangerous and uncomfortable, or (in the event Watts did the very justifiable thing and either swerved to avoid him or simply booted him off) skidded to a halt a short distance away, struggling to catch his breath after having quite simply hoofed it the entire way down the road after them like a genuine psychopath, sad little hamburger in one hand and yo-yo still clasped in the other.



"Sup. You guys thinkin' Wendy's instead, or..."​

 

[MyrtenRose]

There was likely nothing Cinder wanted to hear less in that moment than Watts' god forsaken hover scooter from hell descending on her wherever she'd run off to, Tyrian unceremoniously scooped up in his arms before being tossed onto the back of it en route, but find her they did with a downright eerie precision. It powered down, and Watts strode over to stand next to wherever Cinder was, his hands in his pockets as he stared off into the distance for a deep breath.

"Well. That could've gone better."

The maiden hardly reacted at all to the two of them touching down on Arthur's little ride, the only movement on her end coming from her eye flickering towards them for half a second before it returned to staring in front of her. Cinder had heard Tyrian call out and chase after her and it was not at all surprising seeing Watts too, knowing Arthur and his tech trackers. She hadn't responded to Tyrian's cries because she wasn't intending to actually abandon them. Not again. She'd made that promise and she intended to keep it, no matter what. It was just...to try to be alone for a while, but that didn't fly, clearly.

Oh well, not like she put any real effort into hiding anyways. Arthur probably didn't even truly need any trackers to find her, they just made it a quicker job. She'd just ran for a few minutes, no real destination at all in mind but when she figured that was enough, she just dropped to the ground and sat. That was where the two found her, seated by the entrance to one of Vacuo's alleyways. Her back was pressed against the wall and knees pulled up to her chest with her arms wrapped around her legs and chin resting on her knees.

"...Yeah. It could have." Cinder agreed quietly. She was silent for a decent amount of time after that, one of her thumbs lightly rubbing across the opposite hand's knuckles. It was oddly kind of...soothing, to her nerves. Something she needed. It was one thing to know you'd made a mistake, to resolve to not make it again...it was a whole other thing to overhear most of what Emerald had gotten off her chest back there. Because yeah, Emerald had asked only one thing, one goddamn fucking minor thing and she couldn't even manage to respect that. Don't embarrass her. Simple request. So yeah, perfect time for some idiot 16 year old to have her first experience of drugs, roll around on the floor like a six year old giggling, float up into the air like a goof, demand food and make a mess eating it. Way to go you absolute idiot, she reprimanded herself in her own mind.

But that, and the whole view that she was just like the goofy little sister dragged to the cool parties who only makes everybody look at whoever brought her like they were the world's biggest dumbass, neither of those struck her as hard as Emerald throwing it out there that neither of them had given a shit when it really counted. The older girl was frustrated and angry when she said it, but that didn't make it any less right. It was the truth as Emerald saw it, not holding anything back behind a veil of politeness. Emerald had gone all that way to come get her after she'd been taken by the spring maiden, while they were hurting from the loss they'd suffered, and she'd repaid that by abandoning them herself. All that effort and for what? Nothing? That and when they at last reunited months later here in Vacuo, she...Emerald said that was forgiven. She didn't explode on her, or attack her, or anything like that, all of which would have been understandable and completely fair.

And yet, when she asked for one freaking thing in return...

Cinder sighed. "She's right. I was being a shitty friend. But I don't...I shouldn't waste our time moping. I'll try to make it up to her later, but now...Morgiana said some important stuff back there that I didn't quite catch. And you too, you were saying something to me while I was more out of it. So...can you just hit me with the most important parts again and we can get to it instead of doing this? Because I'd really rather not dwell on how shitty I've been."
​

Wherever exactly it was Cinder's flight had ended up taking her to, and wherever Watts pulled up a short time later, one of two things happened.

Mercury either hopped off the back from where he'd successfully executed a flying leap onto Tyrian from across the street and made the whole scooter ride highly dangerous and uncomfortable or skidded to a halt a short distance away, struggling to catch his breath after having quite simply hoofed it the entire way down the road after them like a genuine psychopath, sad little hamburger in one hand and yo-yo still clasped in the other.

"Sup. You guys thinkin' Wendy's instead, or..."

"...no."​

 

[Gus Gungus]

"...no."

"VFC?"

​

 

[MidwayLives]

"Lovely to see you again too. But eat shit."

Neo started to go after them, only for her eyes to widen in shock as the muted crack of one of Watts' dust rounds hitting the door from the other side went off, freezing it shut in a shot before he slipped it back into its holster and continued on without looking back.

Blanche watched as the door was frozen shut.

He similarly glanced over to the nearby window.

No. Maybe....Maybe Char needed some time.

Having watched as Watts and soon Mercury made their way out of the restaurant, Char didn't make any attempts to stop them. Wasn't really his place. On top of that he still couldn't get over it. The fact that the chance to rub it in his face how much better of a fighter that he'd become. How many people around him actually gave a shit if he lived or died? The asshole wouldn't have given one single shit but it would have made the weight on Char feel the slightest bit lighter. Folding his arms across his chest, he looked down at the ground and kicked a rock.

'What the hell am I doing?'

He'd asked to tag along out of respect and a sense of commitment to make up for the herculean task that Neo had performed. She'd not only saved his life but possibly the life of his comrades by standing against the Boss, all by herself. But the longer he and Blanche stuck around, thoughts like this only kept creeping up more and more often. He was a grown man damn it. Why was he so hung up that happened when he was just a punk?

Because in his heart of hearts, Char knew that Marcus Black wasn't the only guy looking down his nose at him. Sure, he was probably the most open about it but...

His teammates(with the exception of Blanche and Abyss), the locals, even his own family.

He wasn't just Char to them. He was 'asshole' 'idiot' 'loser' etc.



"....I dunno what to do."​

 

[MidwayLives]

The maiden hardly reacted at all to the two of them touching down on Arthur's little ride, the only movement on her end coming from her eye flickering towards them for half a second before it returned to staring in front of her. Cinder had heard Tyrian call out and chase after her and it was not at all surprising seeing Watts too, knowing Arthur and his tech trackers. She hadn't responded to Tyrian's cries because she wasn't intending to actually abandon them. Not again. She'd made that promise and she intended to keep it, no matter what. It was just...to try to be alone for a while, but that didn't fly, clearly.

"Cinder! Cinder!!!"

Tyrian's calls for her to turn and come back came out sounding more desperate the longer they ran.

Only being interrupted once the faunus was unexpectedly scooped up by Watts. "aah!" He yelped as his tail coiled up so as not to go flying all over the place out of surprise. Once they'd actually caught up to Cinder, Tyrian quirked his head to the side. "...Cinder? Are..."

He was going to ask okay but the answer seemed obvious. Even to him-high as he was.



"...it'll be ok."

Also while he didn't have an answer for Mercury, he did give him a thumbsup for that excellent jump he'd done. Even if it'd meant he'd jumped right atop the faunus's back.​

 

[MyrtenRose]

"...it'll be ok."

"..." She didn't feel as sure about it. The last week had had some pretty high highs but also really low lows, enough that it didn't really add up to being ok. But even so, she forced a half smile onto her face, even if it didn't quite reach her eyes, and just said: "I hope you're right. Thanks Ty." Cinder left it there, her stare drifting back to Arthur.​

 

[Gus Gungus]

"There's a Dustin' Donuts, but it's kinda far. Trust me, you don't wanna get stuck with the local cuisine. It's all fried bugs and stuff."​

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

Emerald had braced the moment her stream of awful, cutting invective ceased, wilfully ignoring the sounds of Cinder's retreat and Tyrian's harried pursuit as she kept her narrowed eyes locked on his in a glare and prepared for... whatever that brain of his was liable to come up with. And she did look prepared. She'd heard it all before, and she was prepared for so many things, a full scale dissection of her character the whole way down to its core through a lense of ruthless analysis she couldn't even conceive of approaching, maybe even with a few twists of Atlesian highbrowness thrown in there for flavor. Bitch. Street rat. Hypocrite. She was ready for all of that.

Just not that.

By the time Watts got up she had already shrunk to half mass like a balloon, head hanging even further and grip around her elbows tight enough to turn her dusky skin white as the shaky hands she was trying to stop just ended up diffusing the trembling all the way up to her shoulders instead. She hadn't broken her eyeline to him, enough impulsive wariness and age-old rough sleeper's instincts to be prepared for a blindside at any moment in there that it could've even still been considered a glare, but it was more the skittish, agitated glare of a deer prepared to bolt after glimpsing something it didn't like in the treeline than the merciless daggers that had come before; it finally flickered down to the floor completely as she stepped out of the way, letting him storm past without further reproach as she took a deep, unsteady breath that didn't fill her lungs at all and forced a veneer of apathy over the reply that did come.

"Yeah. Bye."

Only Neo witnessed the actual wince flicker across her expression at the crack of his sidearm, like a starter pistol that had her slink torpidly into the booth they'd been sitting at and stare down absently at her hands. Neo's touch was the first thing that made her gaze lift, though it seemed it could only alight on the smaller illusionist's for a solid half-second while she was looking at her like that before it whipped right back down again, the proverbial deer finally bolting to the safety of the emotional undergrowth.

"Don't gimme the therapy look. I'm just sick of that kid's attitude all the time. I'm just—he's just an asshole."

Her jaw clenched at the mistake, and her own irritation at it had the next words she forced out carry a much thicker tone.

"Look, it's fine. Everything's fine. For the love of god, Neo, you are not the one who needs to be—" She didn't finish that thought, some split second recalibrations carried out so she could start fresh with another sentence, hopefully less quavery than that one had been about to end. "—Listen, screw them. We're the ones with the portals to let us skip the whole big trek across the desert anyway. And we—look, I know we haven't been doing... pretty much anything you've wanted to do these last few months, we've just been dragging you places, acting like nothing even happened, and I'm sorry for that, we just, we thought it was the only way to, we thought it'd help but neither of us know anything about this, and you haven't been happy but we don't know how to help with that either, and I just—I'm sorry, okay, I'm s-sorry you ended up with two such shitty stunted idiots for friends, Neo, I'm sorry we're not him, we weren't trying to be but we need you way more than you need us, I swear to god I'm not just saying that, it's true, and I j-j-just—"

The moment she tried to meet Neo's eyes again was also when her whole detached facade finally just shattered like one of the other girl's illusions. What was only supposed to be a sniffle erupted into one of the more awful, abjectly wretched sobs Neo had ever heard, one that was already tapering into a groan as she registered the tears finally escaping their stasis and she slammed her head down into the solace of her arms in shame, shoulders starting to quake violently atop the table.

"I'm s-sorry! If it's what you want we'll go, I promise we will. M-M-Mercury even agreed."

Oh.

Seeing Emerald break down crystallized so much of it for Neo. They would've never abandoned her. She wasn't a weight they were waiting on pins and needles to finally be rid of. She was a burden. One they'd been carrying ever since Haven. She hadn't even let them have their own feelings about Roman, because they were too busy trying to take care of her. Right up until last night, she thought, in that fleeting moment between the ground and Cinder's arms, that it was one they'd be relieved to finally be rid of. They'd cry, they'd mourn, and then they'd be better off.

She was an idiot. There wasn't anyone in the world who knew how it felt to lose someone important to them than Neo herself. She'd just never realized thats what she was to them. That it went more than one way, that she wasn't just some responsibility to them. It wasn't her choice to take that burden from them; if they wanted to carry it, then they could. Nor was she gonna pretend she could just stop being one. She could still feel it at the back of her skull, prickling her thoughts, a vicious anger at the ones who took him and at herself for not doing more to get to them, egging her on to stop indulging in anything but the hunt.

But she could do her best to make it weigh less.

She leaned against Emerald, the best comforting weight she could offer while still using her hands as she traced the air with her fingers. She still hated writing; the number her parent's last request had done on her ability to share her thoughts in any sort of out loud fashion was still going strong, but some things were more important than the requests of the dead, and as she nudged Emerald's shoulder to look up, she finished putting the last swoop on the sentence she'd traced in the air. Her handwriting was messy, and despite her efforts at putting forth a warm smile there were tears in her own eyes, but she did her best.

'I'm not going anywhere until you guys beat me off with a stick, stupid magic one or not. I promise.'

It wasn't an answer to Emerald's question, but she hoped it answered the one she hadn't asked directly.

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

"There's a Dustin' Donuts, but it's kinda far. Trust me, you don't wanna get stuck with the local cuisine. It's all fried bugs and stuff."​

Watts took a deep breath through his nose, the first acknowledgement of Mercury since he' Halo hijacked a passenger seat on their ride over. He didn't bother looking over yet, his voice far more taut than his first words to Cinder when they came.

"Mercury? Fuck off for five minutes. Team meeting and all. Fair warning that I'm just going to talk like you're not here regardless; And yes, blah blah, I talk like that anyways and whatever."

Cinder sighed. "She's right. I was being a shitty friend. But I don't...I shouldn't waste our time moping. I'll try to make it up to her later, but now...Morgiana said some important stuff back there that I didn't quite catch. And you too, you were saying something to me while I was more out of it. So...can you just hit me with the most important parts again and we can get to it instead of doing this? Because I'd really rather not dwell on how shitty I've been."​

"Let me make something very clear, Cinder; you were fine. Genuinely. Nothing worse than you've ever been. If Emerald really found your actions so disparaging, thats on her, not you."

The words came out a little fiercer than he meant, and he cleared his throat slightly as he looked back down.

"...That said, yes. You missed a few things. We know where the staff of creation is. Needless to say, we need to get it before anyone else does. Make up for missing it back at Atlas. And... and we should do it ourselves." He said, his voice going firm after a brief stumble.

"MTEN's been through enough. More than that, this isn't their fight anymore. I won't have someone who's hearts not in it tagging along out of sense of obligation and dying for it. That goes for your too, Tyrian" he said, finally looking somewhere other than off in the distance as he turned towards their former teammate.

"Cinder's- We've missed you. But... this doesn't have to be your fight either. Not if you don't want it to be. No one deserves to be thrust into it like Salem did to us before."

 

[Gus Gungus]

Watts took a deep breath through his nose, the first acknowledgement of Mercury since he' Halo hijacked a passenger seat on their ride over. He didn't bother looking over yet, his voice far more taut than his first words to Cinder when they came.

"Mercury? Fuck off for five minutes. Team meeting and all. Fair warning that I'm just going to talk like you're not here regardless; And yes, blah blah, I talk like that anyways and whatever."

"Sheesh. What crawled up your ass?"

He shot back in a voice so nonchalant it couldn't have been anything but enforced, the nonplussed flicker that had rolled across his brow at such an obvious lack of even ironic mirth in Watts' taunts slowly flattening. He made it clear just how very much not going anywhere until he was good and ready he was by leaning up against the wall, throwing the buns on his meal away and crossing his arms as he took a bite out of the patty by itself.

"Anyways. You know. No? Since... we don't go to school anymore, and aren't teams, and you trying to pull rank on anyone's sorta like a crazy ex telling everyone you're still going out a billion years later. Not surprised you missed the memo there, though."

He gave a breezy snort, picking at his fingernails with a thumb and lapsing into a guarded silence as his fellow former leader presumably commenced with the aforementioned ignoring.

"MTEN's been through enough. More than that, this isn't their fight anymore. I won't have someone who's hearts not in it tagging along out of sense of obligation and dying for it. That goes for your too, Tyrian" he said, finally looking somewhere other than off in the distance as he turned towards their former teammate.

Until that. Mercury coughed so loudly and continuously Arthur had to restart his mushy little number with Tyrian, raising a hand like he wanted a turn with the talking stick.

"Hey again. Still here, still not respecting Art's authority or compulsive need to make other people's decisions for them. If you tourists are done talking out your ass, just wanna mention?" He smirked and cocked his head back, ruffling his hair back to spike it with nothing but sheer vintage Black machismo alone. "Those tiny little arrows on the map we saw? Yeah, those are miles. There's a bunch of 'em between here and the Ravine. Enough that I'd say even one of Morg's portals is gonna take, oh, four minutes to cover the distance? Maybe five? Yeah, no, five. Guess I'm gonna need a new comic for the trip."

He scarfed down the rest of the burger meat and seemed to relish chewing it extremely loudly, next sentence commencing while his mouth was still full.

"'Courvsh—ulp—course, it could be a whole lot worse. I could be the guys who tried to cut us out, and not have portals, and have to hike the whole way across the desert on the back of a giant turtle just to make it there by sundown. No, not a joke. They're a thing. It sucks ass." His speech was laced with such casual indifference it was honestly hard to tell if he was joking, unless one happened to be familiar enough with Vacuo to know what a flatback slider was. He clucked his tongue.

"Sooooo... guess we'll be the ones picking up that stick, then. Tell you what, you guys have a price you think's fair waiting for us by the time we get back, we'll double it, we go from there. Cool? Or—And call me crazy—"



"—We don't all start acting like hysterical schoolkids who can never exist in the same room again because someone said a mean thing. Also a viable option." His sarcasm was reaching critical mass at this point, so he finally dialled it back to just ask, voice adopting at least a token effort at sincerity. "Seriously, the hell even happened up in that MicDynlod's? Did Em freak?"​

 

[MyrtenRose]

"Let me make something very clear, Cinder; you were fine. Genuinely. Nothing worse than you've ever been. If Emerald really found your actions so disparaging, thats on her, not you."

The words came out a little fiercer than he meant, and he cleared his throat slightly as he looked back down.

"...That said, yes. You missed a few things. We know where the staff of creation is. Needless to say, we need to get it before anyone else does. Make up for missing it back at Atlas. And... and we should do it ourselves." He said, his voice going firm after a brief stumble.

"MTEN's been through enough. More than that, this isn't their fight anymore. I won't have someone who's hearts not in it tagging along out of sense of obligation and dying for it. That goes for your too, Tyrian" he said, finally looking somewhere other than off in the distance as he turned towards their former teammate.

"Cinder's- We've missed you. But... this doesn't have to be your fight either. Not if you don't want it to be. No one deserves to be thrust into it like Salem did to us before."

The look on her face after hearing that was one that didn't seem convinced. Arthur had never been the most sociable, and his definition of fine probably didn't match up. Or, even more saddening to consider, that it wasn't any worse than anything she'd done before. Like it was a pattern, her being a terrible friend and she simply hadn't been at her worst here. But she didn't comment on it at all. She didn't even move until Watts turned towards Tyrian, at which point she finally stood up. "Right. The relic. Yeah, you're right, we need to get it. I'm with you." Cinder did her best to come across as all business right then, focusing on the work that mattered and putting all else aside. And despite her words to the her faunus friend earlier about his plans, her thoughts about him not joining them and making their team whole again...she deferred to Arthur on this. Much as she hoped it would happen, she wasn't going to force it. It was up to him and no one else. It was his choice.

Weirdly fitting, that. She could just picture Salem standing in the background and giving just a hint of a smile in her direction. After all, she was the Fall Maiden. The only one who could open the door and get the relic of choice. Well, the only one before all this started happening and people from a whole other world showed up.​

"Hey again. Still here, still not respecting Art's authority or compulsive need to make other people's decisions for them. If you tourists are done talking out your ass, just wanna mention?" He smirked and cocked his head back, ruffling his hair back to spike it with nothing but sheer vintage Black machismo alone. "Those tiny little arrows on the map we saw? Yeah, those are miles. There's a bunch of 'em between here and the Ravine. Enough that I'd say even one of Morg's portals is gonna take, oh, four minutes to cover the distance? Maybe five? Yeah, no, five. Guess I'm gonna need a comic or somethin'."

He scarfed down the rest of the burger meat and seemed to relish chewing it extremely loudly, next sentence commencing while his mouth was still full.

"'Courvsh—ulp—course, it could be a whole lot worse. I could be the guys who tried to cut us out, and not have portals, and have to hike the whole way across the desert on the back of a giant turtle just to make it there by sundown. No, not a joke. They're a thing. It sucks ass." His speech was laced with such casual indifference it was honestly hard to tell if he was joking, unless one happened to be familiar enough with Vacuo to know what a flatback slider was. He clucked his tongue.

"...I'm not trying to cut you out." Cinder put that out there. "Speaking only for myself, but...if you're in because you want to be and not because you feel...pressured to, then I'd be....glad to have your help. Er...no. I'd be glad to be the one helping you guys." She corrected.​

"Sooooo... guess we'll be the ones picking up that stick, then. Tell you what, you guys have a price you think's fair waiting for us by the time we get back, we'll double it, we go from there. Cool? Or—And call me crazy—"

"—We don't all start acting like hysterical schoolkids who can never exist in the same room again because someone said a mean thing. Also a viable option." His sarcasm was reaching critical mass at this point, so he finally dialled it back to just ask, voice adopting at least a token effort at sincerity. "Seriously, what the hell even went down up in that MicDynlod's? Did Em freak?"

"...Can we please not? Whoever's going or not going, can we just...focus on that?" Cinder more than asked, she pleaded.​