Update 12 - Sun Goes Down
Mortifer
Embrace your inner lunatic. Fun times guaranteed.
- Location
- Under a rock.
[X] Yang should probably write how about what happened, so she can phrase it in a manner that's not likely to end with her dad refusing to ever let her out of his sight again.
[X] Two specific civilians- That Nora girl, and her friend, Ren or whatever it was.
[X] Yes- His weapon.
Holding her scroll above her head and looking up to it, Yang took a moment to consider how to word her statements.
Saying 'Hey Ruby, wanna hear about how I nearly died?' would probably result in her dad never letting her leave the house ever again, and that would suck. But if she didn't mention the fight at all, her father would find out through Winter's report to Signal, and then she'd be eternally grounded in her room for not telling him about he nearly died.
Maybe she should just downplay it as much as possible. Maybe work in a lot of jokes, that'll make sure her dad didn't take it too seriously.
Dear Dad, Ruby, Uncle Qrow
Sorry for taking so long to get in touch. There was a bit of an incident. Village burnt to the ground, haven't been able to find a place with good enough reception to make a proper call, you're probably only gonna get this a few days after I send it.
I swear the fire wasn't my fault, we didn't even get to town before it started burning. I haven't burnt down anything in years, and you guys don't even know about that.
Good, good, some humour was good. Needed some more puns a bit further in, though...
Well, she shouldn't go overboard, that would make people suspicious and more likely to ask Winter for more details.
Anyway, uh, yeah. Mercenaries attacked the village, we get there mid-attack. Saved some people. I got in a fight which I technically lost, but it's alright. Didn't get hurt too bad, Miss Schnee stepped in to be a hero before anything too bad happened, and she thinks I did well enough that I got a trophy! Hey Ruby, I've got a pair of harpoon gauntlets for you to take apart and examine when I get back.
She should probably make sure there wasn't any of her dried blood on any of those, that's a conversation that would probably have Yang trapped in some sort of protective sphere where nothing can touch her ever.
Not gonna lie, the fight was a bit of a handful, but I was able to handle it well enough. Real nailbiter for a moment there, but I managed to keep a grip on what I was doing. You gotta hand it to me, I'm pretty awesome. No lasting 'arm done, and even if it was a hard fight, I managed to save a bunch of people whereas mercenary guy got beaten by Winter, so I'm saying I won that hands-down.
Alright, now that dad's the only one reading this of his own free will, I'll be serious for a moment. I got beat up pretty bad in that fight. Was confined to a bed for a while so I could heal up properly. But I'm fine, I'm fine. All part of being a Huntress, right? I hit and got hit, I'm still around, people are alive because the merc didn't get free access to the civilians he was trying to shoot at. It's all fine.
Anyway, not much really happened beyond that. Nothing too important. Met some fun people. Having fun. Still a long time before I'll be home, though.
How's everything back home, anyway? How're the scythe lessons going, Rubes? Uncle Qrow, how much is Ruby exaggerating when she answers that question? Has dad had to intimidate anyone for trying to flirt with Ruby again? Give me the details, you guys are most of the entertainment I get these days.
Miss you guys.
-Yang
Looking it over a few times, Yang nodded to herself, saved the message, and put the scroll down.
She could look over the message again later, to make sure she wasn't overlooking anything. It was always best to read through these things after a break. The last time she forgot to do that, Yang accidentally contradicted a story of hers and ended up not being able to sneak out to a party.
Which was especially annoying, since Uncle Qrow had told a bunch of stories about how her father would sneak out to parties when he was a teenager. Hypocrite.
...Still, she was bored now. She should talk with someone.
And she was kinda curious about that Nora girl and her friend.
Rolling off the medical bed- Her neck may be feeling better, but Winter insisted she slept in there for a few days in case unforeseen complications pop up- Yang began wandering around looking for them.
The airship had landed in another village a few hours ago, and it was almost sunset now. Winter had hired out an apartment block- Seriously, how much money did she have?- And all the civilians saved were being sheltered there while people organised to get their lives back together.
Apparently, Winter was trying to call in a squad to exterminate any Grimm that lingered in the remains of the village so people could recover their belongings, and was helping Two locate an orphanage in the Kingdoms willing to take in the children who had lost their parents in the attack.
The two people that Yang was looking for weren't too far away from the airship. They were walking around the village, looking for a good place to watch the sunset. Well, the orange-haired girl was. The boy in green just seemed to be following.
"Walking up to them, Yang gave a shout as she approached. "Hey!"
The two turned to face her.
"Hi!" Chirped the girl. "You're Yang, right? I'm-"
"Nora, wasn't it?" Yang interrupted.
Nora looked at her.
"Ren." She whispered loudly. "Is she a mind rea-"
"I heard Two call you that ages ago." Yang answered.
"Oh, right." Nora said, before whispering at Ren again. "Totally a mind reader."
...Okay, she could have some fun with this.
"I thought I'd come and talk to you and Ren-"
"See, she knows your name!"
Ren shook his head. "You need to be quiet when you whisper, you know. Otherwise, people can hear you."
Yang continued. "-And I thought I'd thank you, for back in the village. You got a good hit on the mercenary leader guy, it made it easier to keep the two bodies distracted until Piran was able to do his thing."
"It was nothing." Nora dismissed. "I would've shot him anyway."
"I don't think we've really had proper introductions, though." Yang said. "That seemed wrong, so I thought we should talk. I'm Yang Xiao Long, Huntress in training."
"Nora Valkyrie." The girl introduced herself. "This is Lie Ren. Prefers going by his last name because he's weird. He doesn't talk much."
"I don't have to, you do enough talking for five people." Lie Ren noted.
Yang nodded. "Great to meet you. Though, I didn't see you in the village. What were you up to?"
"I was being an idiot." Ren answered. "Went off on my own to find the leader of the mercenaries. Nearly died for my troubles."
"Hey, that makes two of us." Yang noted. "I actually fought the guy."
"Why did you run off anyway, Ren?" Nora asked. "And don't dodge the question again! You can't just tell me to sit down and be safe then run off to fight someone stronger than you! Doing dumb reckless things is supposed to be my gimmick! Don't think I won't be bringing this to court, copyright infringement is a serious iss-"
"I already told you." Ren replied. "I was just... Another village we were in was being reduced to flaming ruins. I didn't want to run from the cause again."
Yang immediately felt like this wasn't a conversation she was supposed to be part of.
"So!" She interrupted. "I saw you had a nice weapon. I thought parts were supposed to be hard to come across out here."
Nora nodded. "Yeah. It's a nice hammer-grenade launcher, but it's not made of proper Hunter Weapon-grade materials, y'know? It takes ages to change form, and sometimes it jams up. Ren should've told me to make something simpler-"
"I did."
"-But on the upside, it's easy to fix. I just have to get Ren to fix it... Basically every time it shoots. And I don't have much ammo. And if I hit someone too hard it shatters and I have to start from scratch."
"We were planning on heading to Vale this year." Ren noted. "It'll take a few months to walk, but once we get there, we could probably get into Beacon based on merit, and then remake our weapons out of better materials."
Nora looked at Ren suspiciously for a moment.
"You're talking more than usual..." She muttered, thinking. "Ren! What did you make me for breakfast the day after-"
"Not pancakes, despite what you claim. I found a wolf and we rationed that until we made it to civilisation."
"So you're the real Ren after all!" Nora declared, satisfied. "Mystery solved!"
There was silence for a moment.
"Wait, no it's not!" She corrected. "Why are you so talkative recently?"
Ren shrugged. "I suppose losing a place I had called home for a few years for a second time's made me rethink my life. Aren't you sad about it?"
"Kinda." Nora admitted. "But home is where the heart is, they say, so as long as I've got you, any place can be home!"
Yang smiled. "Wow. Smooth."
Nora blinked. "...Smooth?"
"It's been a while since I heard a line that good." Yang replied. "Definitely one of the top ten of all time. You'd be a great couple."
The orange haired girl's eyes widened in understanding, and she started blushing. "Wha- No, no, I didn't mean that like that!"
Yang's smiled grew, as she suddenly sensed prime teasing material.
"Ren's my friend!" Nora objected. "My best friend! That's all I mean! We've been together forever!"
"Together?" Yang asked. "How-"
"Not 'Together Together'." Nora immediately clarified. "Just together. Tell her, Ren!"
"If Nora's capable of romantic interest." Ren explained. "Then she hasn't demonstrated the evidence around me."
"Exactly!" Nora exclaimed. "No romance here! Nope! None whatsoever!"
"The lady doth protest too much." Yang continued.
Nora sputtered for a moment, and Ren decided to take charge of the conversation.
"So." He asked. "How is Vale, anyway? Since Nora and I were heading that way."
"It's pretty cool." Yang replied. "Not as many Grimm, criminals aren't as capable of burning down villages because they're feeling cheated, pretty nice."
"It does sound that way." Ren admitted.
The conversation trailed off for a moment, before Yang restarted it on a different topic.
"So." She asked. "Are you two coming with us when we go find more orphans with Two?"
"Yep!" Nora chirped, already having overcome her embarrassment. "We owe Two a lot. She saved out lives. And we can be useful! Ren's Semblance is great against Grimm!"
"That's cool." Yang noted. "We were heading off tomorrow, I think Winter said. I'll see you guys on the airship then, I guess."
"Bye!" Nora waved. "See you later! Oh, Ren, look, the sun's setting, isn't it nice here?"
"It isn't too different from the old village, Nora."
"But there's the lake over there! The reflection is nice and shiny!"
Looking back at the two again, Yang smiled.
"You know, watching the sunset is a tradition of romantic couples as old as-"
With a burst of speed that would leave Ruby feeling too slow, Nora appeared in front of Yang and put a finger on her lips.
"Shh!" She shushed. "No. None of that. For shame."
"Are you"
"For shaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaame."
And then she was back at Ren's side, looking at the sunset.
"...Strange girl." Yang wondered. "Nice, but strange."
Looking towards the setting sun herself, Yang took a moment to consider.
"It's still early." She decided. "I'll need to be up early tomorrow, but I probably have enough time to watch a movie first. I wonder if the new Rapid and Raging is any good..."
[X] It is
[X] It isn't
The quality of the movie aside, it is likely that Yang Xiao Long has underestimated how long the movie is, and she will be waking up later than she is supposed to. By the time she awakens, the airship will be on the way, the location of the orphans will be determined to be in a snowy mountain, and to avoid losing the airship in an airship and blizzard, Winter has made plans to:
[X] Leave the younger people in the airship while searching the mountains with Two an Cent.
[X] Divide everyone into groups under either her or Two and splitting up to look for orphans.
[X] Have two grounds of three constantly searching while two people remain behind with the airship, rotating those two in to replace searchers every hour.
[X] Risk running into a blizzard by flying over the mountains, locating the orphans, and then heading to that location after landing somewhere safe.
[X] Two specific civilians- That Nora girl, and her friend, Ren or whatever it was.
[X] Yes- His weapon.
Holding her scroll above her head and looking up to it, Yang took a moment to consider how to word her statements.
Saying 'Hey Ruby, wanna hear about how I nearly died?' would probably result in her dad never letting her leave the house ever again, and that would suck. But if she didn't mention the fight at all, her father would find out through Winter's report to Signal, and then she'd be eternally grounded in her room for not telling him about he nearly died.
Maybe she should just downplay it as much as possible. Maybe work in a lot of jokes, that'll make sure her dad didn't take it too seriously.
Dear Dad, Ruby, Uncle Qrow
Sorry for taking so long to get in touch. There was a bit of an incident. Village burnt to the ground, haven't been able to find a place with good enough reception to make a proper call, you're probably only gonna get this a few days after I send it.
I swear the fire wasn't my fault, we didn't even get to town before it started burning. I haven't burnt down anything in years, and you guys don't even know about that.
Good, good, some humour was good. Needed some more puns a bit further in, though...
Well, she shouldn't go overboard, that would make people suspicious and more likely to ask Winter for more details.
Anyway, uh, yeah. Mercenaries attacked the village, we get there mid-attack. Saved some people. I got in a fight which I technically lost, but it's alright. Didn't get hurt too bad, Miss Schnee stepped in to be a hero before anything too bad happened, and she thinks I did well enough that I got a trophy! Hey Ruby, I've got a pair of harpoon gauntlets for you to take apart and examine when I get back.
She should probably make sure there wasn't any of her dried blood on any of those, that's a conversation that would probably have Yang trapped in some sort of protective sphere where nothing can touch her ever.
Not gonna lie, the fight was a bit of a handful, but I was able to handle it well enough. Real nailbiter for a moment there, but I managed to keep a grip on what I was doing. You gotta hand it to me, I'm pretty awesome. No lasting 'arm done, and even if it was a hard fight, I managed to save a bunch of people whereas mercenary guy got beaten by Winter, so I'm saying I won that hands-down.
Alright, now that dad's the only one reading this of his own free will, I'll be serious for a moment. I got beat up pretty bad in that fight. Was confined to a bed for a while so I could heal up properly. But I'm fine, I'm fine. All part of being a Huntress, right? I hit and got hit, I'm still around, people are alive because the merc didn't get free access to the civilians he was trying to shoot at. It's all fine.
Anyway, not much really happened beyond that. Nothing too important. Met some fun people. Having fun. Still a long time before I'll be home, though.
How's everything back home, anyway? How're the scythe lessons going, Rubes? Uncle Qrow, how much is Ruby exaggerating when she answers that question? Has dad had to intimidate anyone for trying to flirt with Ruby again? Give me the details, you guys are most of the entertainment I get these days.
Miss you guys.
-Yang
Looking it over a few times, Yang nodded to herself, saved the message, and put the scroll down.
She could look over the message again later, to make sure she wasn't overlooking anything. It was always best to read through these things after a break. The last time she forgot to do that, Yang accidentally contradicted a story of hers and ended up not being able to sneak out to a party.
Which was especially annoying, since Uncle Qrow had told a bunch of stories about how her father would sneak out to parties when he was a teenager. Hypocrite.
...Still, she was bored now. She should talk with someone.
And she was kinda curious about that Nora girl and her friend.
Rolling off the medical bed- Her neck may be feeling better, but Winter insisted she slept in there for a few days in case unforeseen complications pop up- Yang began wandering around looking for them.
The airship had landed in another village a few hours ago, and it was almost sunset now. Winter had hired out an apartment block- Seriously, how much money did she have?- And all the civilians saved were being sheltered there while people organised to get their lives back together.
Apparently, Winter was trying to call in a squad to exterminate any Grimm that lingered in the remains of the village so people could recover their belongings, and was helping Two locate an orphanage in the Kingdoms willing to take in the children who had lost their parents in the attack.
The two people that Yang was looking for weren't too far away from the airship. They were walking around the village, looking for a good place to watch the sunset. Well, the orange-haired girl was. The boy in green just seemed to be following.
"Walking up to them, Yang gave a shout as she approached. "Hey!"
The two turned to face her.
"Hi!" Chirped the girl. "You're Yang, right? I'm-"
"Nora, wasn't it?" Yang interrupted.
Nora looked at her.
"Ren." She whispered loudly. "Is she a mind rea-"
"I heard Two call you that ages ago." Yang answered.
"Oh, right." Nora said, before whispering at Ren again. "Totally a mind reader."
...Okay, she could have some fun with this.
"I thought I'd come and talk to you and Ren-"
"See, she knows your name!"
Ren shook his head. "You need to be quiet when you whisper, you know. Otherwise, people can hear you."
Yang continued. "-And I thought I'd thank you, for back in the village. You got a good hit on the mercenary leader guy, it made it easier to keep the two bodies distracted until Piran was able to do his thing."
"It was nothing." Nora dismissed. "I would've shot him anyway."
"I don't think we've really had proper introductions, though." Yang said. "That seemed wrong, so I thought we should talk. I'm Yang Xiao Long, Huntress in training."
"Nora Valkyrie." The girl introduced herself. "This is Lie Ren. Prefers going by his last name because he's weird. He doesn't talk much."
"I don't have to, you do enough talking for five people." Lie Ren noted.
Yang nodded. "Great to meet you. Though, I didn't see you in the village. What were you up to?"
"I was being an idiot." Ren answered. "Went off on my own to find the leader of the mercenaries. Nearly died for my troubles."
"Hey, that makes two of us." Yang noted. "I actually fought the guy."
"Why did you run off anyway, Ren?" Nora asked. "And don't dodge the question again! You can't just tell me to sit down and be safe then run off to fight someone stronger than you! Doing dumb reckless things is supposed to be my gimmick! Don't think I won't be bringing this to court, copyright infringement is a serious iss-"
"I already told you." Ren replied. "I was just... Another village we were in was being reduced to flaming ruins. I didn't want to run from the cause again."
Yang immediately felt like this wasn't a conversation she was supposed to be part of.
"So!" She interrupted. "I saw you had a nice weapon. I thought parts were supposed to be hard to come across out here."
Nora nodded. "Yeah. It's a nice hammer-grenade launcher, but it's not made of proper Hunter Weapon-grade materials, y'know? It takes ages to change form, and sometimes it jams up. Ren should've told me to make something simpler-"
"I did."
"-But on the upside, it's easy to fix. I just have to get Ren to fix it... Basically every time it shoots. And I don't have much ammo. And if I hit someone too hard it shatters and I have to start from scratch."
"We were planning on heading to Vale this year." Ren noted. "It'll take a few months to walk, but once we get there, we could probably get into Beacon based on merit, and then remake our weapons out of better materials."
Nora looked at Ren suspiciously for a moment.
"You're talking more than usual..." She muttered, thinking. "Ren! What did you make me for breakfast the day after-"
"Not pancakes, despite what you claim. I found a wolf and we rationed that until we made it to civilisation."
"So you're the real Ren after all!" Nora declared, satisfied. "Mystery solved!"
There was silence for a moment.
"Wait, no it's not!" She corrected. "Why are you so talkative recently?"
Ren shrugged. "I suppose losing a place I had called home for a few years for a second time's made me rethink my life. Aren't you sad about it?"
"Kinda." Nora admitted. "But home is where the heart is, they say, so as long as I've got you, any place can be home!"
Yang smiled. "Wow. Smooth."
Nora blinked. "...Smooth?"
"It's been a while since I heard a line that good." Yang replied. "Definitely one of the top ten of all time. You'd be a great couple."
The orange haired girl's eyes widened in understanding, and she started blushing. "Wha- No, no, I didn't mean that like that!"
Yang's smiled grew, as she suddenly sensed prime teasing material.
"Ren's my friend!" Nora objected. "My best friend! That's all I mean! We've been together forever!"
"Together?" Yang asked. "How-"
"Not 'Together Together'." Nora immediately clarified. "Just together. Tell her, Ren!"
"If Nora's capable of romantic interest." Ren explained. "Then she hasn't demonstrated the evidence around me."
"Exactly!" Nora exclaimed. "No romance here! Nope! None whatsoever!"
"The lady doth protest too much." Yang continued.
Nora sputtered for a moment, and Ren decided to take charge of the conversation.
"So." He asked. "How is Vale, anyway? Since Nora and I were heading that way."
"It's pretty cool." Yang replied. "Not as many Grimm, criminals aren't as capable of burning down villages because they're feeling cheated, pretty nice."
"It does sound that way." Ren admitted.
The conversation trailed off for a moment, before Yang restarted it on a different topic.
"So." She asked. "Are you two coming with us when we go find more orphans with Two?"
"Yep!" Nora chirped, already having overcome her embarrassment. "We owe Two a lot. She saved out lives. And we can be useful! Ren's Semblance is great against Grimm!"
"That's cool." Yang noted. "We were heading off tomorrow, I think Winter said. I'll see you guys on the airship then, I guess."
"Bye!" Nora waved. "See you later! Oh, Ren, look, the sun's setting, isn't it nice here?"
"It isn't too different from the old village, Nora."
"But there's the lake over there! The reflection is nice and shiny!"
Looking back at the two again, Yang smiled.
"You know, watching the sunset is a tradition of romantic couples as old as-"
With a burst of speed that would leave Ruby feeling too slow, Nora appeared in front of Yang and put a finger on her lips.
"Shh!" She shushed. "No. None of that. For shame."
"Are you"
"For shaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaame."
And then she was back at Ren's side, looking at the sunset.
"...Strange girl." Yang wondered. "Nice, but strange."
Looking towards the setting sun herself, Yang took a moment to consider.
"It's still early." She decided. "I'll need to be up early tomorrow, but I probably have enough time to watch a movie first. I wonder if the new Rapid and Raging is any good..."
[X] It is
[X] It isn't
The quality of the movie aside, it is likely that Yang Xiao Long has underestimated how long the movie is, and she will be waking up later than she is supposed to. By the time she awakens, the airship will be on the way, the location of the orphans will be determined to be in a snowy mountain, and to avoid losing the airship in an airship and blizzard, Winter has made plans to:
[X] Leave the younger people in the airship while searching the mountains with Two an Cent.
[X] Divide everyone into groups under either her or Two and splitting up to look for orphans.
[X] Have two grounds of three constantly searching while two people remain behind with the airship, rotating those two in to replace searchers every hour.
[X] Risk running into a blizzard by flying over the mountains, locating the orphans, and then heading to that location after landing somewhere safe.
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