A Fang Reformed (RWBY SlightAU)

LloydAbsolon · Feb 8, 2024

Hello, the name's Absolon. This is actually a cross post from another site that I can't link due to it being a rule violation. On the other site this is a Quest and if you're interested in participating a search of 'A Fang Reformed' should have it as one of the top results. I can link to the other archive on SB if you don't want to wait on updates here. https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/a-fang-reformed.1126382/

Anywho, that influences how I'm structuring this cross-post. Throughout the story will be spoiler boxes that detail votes, rolls, and clarifications. They should not be necessary for the reading experience and are included for completeness' sake. Additionally because when reading through any sort of quest I like to have that information readily accessible and thus it is so.

As for update schedule, I'll be posting to this site once a day at 2:00p.m. CST until we're caught up. Which, according to my calculations should take about 4 months or so. Once we're caught up the schedule will follow my posting schedule on SB, which is typically 3-5 updates a week (trending to 3) of 5-10k words (trending to the upper end).

Lastly, my usual schedule on the other site for running lives is 2 days on and 2 days off. There are also aspects that need updating, like the Investigation page, that I need to find the time to deal with, so apologies for that bit of sloppiness.

I lean against the railing at the bow of the ship as it pulls into port. My gaze stuck downwards at the rippling reflection that stares back at me. Green eyes marked with worry and too little sleep, with brown hair that has grown longer than I like. I should get it trimmed down to size soon, but hiding away in my cabin the entire trip hasn't exactly given me a chance to ask for assistance. I might have remained in there until just this moment if it weren't for the excess of nervous energy bubbling inside me

I barely get a chance to spot my leopard-like ears tucked away under a drab gray hoodie before my reflection gets cut off at the head. The ship draws close to the pier and announces an end to my journey. Guess I'm home then, although a proper homecoming may not be in the cards with what I must do.

I scan the skyline for a moment, finding a lack of airships on patrol. The same result as the previous twenty minutes; just as it should be, but not what I was expecting. I suppose I shouldn't gainsay my good fortune and instead I take inventory of my belongings before departing. My Wit's End is at my hip, exactly where the thin blade should be, gauntlet on my non-dominant hand which would be hard to misplace, and a quick check of my pockets provides evidence that the two scrolls haven't gotten up and walked away. A third should be in my room, a backup at the ready in case the worst happens. I could go down and check on it, with my semblance it would be a trivial task, but at that point I'd just be putting things off.

I take a breath to regain my calm. Just a bit longer and this will be all over and done with. I've been jumping at enough shadows for the past few months, ever since my escape from Atlas. I hope Nettle and the others got out alright, but if not at least their sacrifice was not in vain.

Regardless I depart the ship and look for any signs of anything being out of place. Just like my skyline scan I don't find much of anything. There's a crowded although easy-going bustle at the marketplace just at the end of the docks. I even catch a few faunus, some with aquatic traits and some without, swim up to the ship with apparent wonder. Of course most of them are kids, probably only interested by how strange the sight is while their parents want nothing to do with it or the reminder of the wider world.

Even that doesn't stop the small smile that forms. Although I have to wipe it away just as quickly as I huddle in and pull my hood over myself. I could let it down; here would be the last of all places that I receive discrimination for my features. That isn't the reason for why I'm doing it, but going by the behavior of the kids and a lack of apprehension amongst the crowd I'm somewhat at a loss. From everything I can observe Kuo Kuana is as lively and crowded as ever.

Nothing has changed and it just doesn't make any sense. I know I wasn't beating any Atlesian airships to my home. Not with having to take a boat and the incredibly circuitous route I was forced to take. I know I didn't get away entirely unnoticed from my last job. It's possible that I overvalued how important this information is; it has been around for eighty or so years at this point.

However, a complete lack of a response is disconcerting. I would have expected a clandestine visit and that I'd avoid them by taking so long, or at least that they would find some sort of scapegoat to blame the robbery on. As far as I can tell that didn't happen. As holed up in my room as I was I had nothing better to do than watch the news like a hawk for anything even slightly related. At least until I lost CCTS signal and couldn't get any more updates.

I shake my head and dispel these thoughts. It doesn't matter why Atlas isn't responding, this will help Menagerie and that's what matters.

Without the threat of oblivion at the hands of Atlas hanging over my head I take a languid stroll to my destination. A small compound that is the base of the White Fang's presence on Menagerie. Well, it's less of a compound and more like a few buildings built close together and connected. Kuo Kuana is tight on space as it is and there was never a real need for the Fang to have a presence here. Honestly it would be more of a symbolic gesture if it weren't for the people running it.

Speaking of the Albain brothers, I spot them as I enter the reception room. Both of them are wearing their distinctive red fox-like hoods no doubt to emphasize their faunus features. Fennec's ears poke out of the top of his hood while Corsac's tail is hidden from view. Obviously they were prepared to receive me and I don't need to see the table set with tea for three to come to that conclusion.

"Come, take a seat brother Rovere. We hope that your mission went well and the trust of the White Fang has been well placed in you," Fennec announces softly, already pouring tea and taking a seat. His eyes may be downward, ostensibly focused on his self-appointed task, but his fox-like ears are trained towards me, betraying where his attention really is.

It's more or less what I was expecting so I have no problem taking a seat opposite of him and only afterwards does his brother deign to sit as well. Much like the rest of my homeland, this room has hardly changed at all. Still very much function over form, only this small rectangular tea table with enough room to seat two people comfortably on each side. The room more often serves as an entryway into the rest of the compound. Not many members stay within Menagerie and any business of importance is usually discussed with the Chieftain at the Belladonna residence.

"Illia," I ask, more as a statement than as a question. She's the only one who I think could have spotted me to tell the brothers of my arrival.

"Indeed, she spotted you as soon as you departed. I must say it's not a great endorsement of your skill," Corsac states with a forceful cadence. Combined with the not quite glare he's giving me, it's an intensity I was not planning on dealing with today. Something has him keyed up; could be the cost of the operation or something else, although I can deal with that after our business is concluded. "Nonetheless, you are here so I assume you have something to show for your efforts."

As an answer I slide my spare scroll to the brothers and wait for one of them to pick it up before speaking. "Just information on the construction and maintenance of a CCT relay," I say deliberately casually. Still, I can't stop the smirk that forms.

Fennec, with the scroll already in his hands and pulling up the information, cannot hide his interest, "It seems my brother is too harsh on you. Is this everything they have?"

I shake my head, "It's enough to build and run one, but I'm not willing to bet I got all of Atlas' secrets." At least I hope it's everything that we need. It's not like I'm an expert in this field, but everything looked right from my layman's understanding.

He frowns, "A shame; I suppose it was too difficult to acquire the information for a full tower."

"Unfortunately," I agree, "The opportunity for this sort of fell into my lap and security was too tight to push my luck. It was a close enough call to acquire this and no doubt they'll up their security after what happened. "

Corsac leans to look over the information as well and give his perspective, "Perhaps it's for the best. Constructing this will take enough time and resources as it is. Curious that Atlas hasn't come knocking around."

His last statement is more for his brother than myself and Fennec responds, "Maybe they suspect Mantle. Or one of the other Kingdoms. After all, our limited resources hardly make us the best suited to make use of this." He isn't convinced even as he provides the counterargument and his brother is even more skeptical. He turns towards me as if remembering that there was something else to discuss, "Regardless, you have done a great service for the White Fang and so we shall return the favor. You have our blessing to set out on your next endeavor."

"I never made it a secret that I was planning on going," I bite out, unable to keep the heat out of my voice. My annoyance at the situation only compounded by frustration at my slip of control.

Corsac replies with a vulpine smile, "True, but neither did you ask for permission. Why, running off to Beacon; if it were anyone else we'd be concerned you were planning to cut ties. We all know that not to be true, but with this," Corsac takes the scroll from his brother's hands, waving it about like a prop. "No one can deny your loyalty."

Fennec picks up seamlessly after his brother, "Indeed, and while you're in Vale we do have a favor to ask of you. In your free time, if you could check up on the Valean branch we would be most appreciative. There shouldn't be any problems, but an extra set of eyes never hurts." Despite doing his best to make it sound like a request, I and the brothers all know it's an order.

A bit stiffly I stand up and excuse myself, "Thank you for your time gentlemen. Unfortunately the boat sets off in the morning, so I must take my leave." It's an ignoble escape and the Albain brothers smirk at my departure. I only allow myself to relax and let the tensness in my frame dissipate after I've left the compound.

I really should have expected that from the brothers. Not that I wasn't expecting something along those lines but I feel a bit more trust and leniency should have been earned by this point. It's not like our motivations are at cross-purposes. Although the brothers don't go out of their way to harass or stifle me. They just know the influence they wield and how much they can assist with or ruin my life and have no reservation in reminding me if it assists their ends.

Even then I have no doubt they'll assist with the relay and help Menagerie in the process. Of course that's to serve their own goals and gain influence outside of their corner of the Fang. It does bring to mind that I have another scroll I could spare with all the plans and information I grabbed from Atlas. I could grab that and bring this to Chieftain Belladonna's attention. It would mean that the brothers won't be able to wring as many concessions out of Menagerie if I did so, but that's half the point. Plus I can't deny that a little rebellion will make me feel better and remind them that I can't be messed with without consequence.

-No, it's best not to upset the brothers. They can make my life a lot harder if I give them reason to. Just get ready to leave tomorrow. (3)

-Go talk with Chieftain Belladonna and hand over the info I have about CCT relays. Maybe even sneak in a talk about some other topics. (1)

No, I can't risk bothering the Chief with this. Not only would it spark some form of backlash from the brothers but also the Chief isn't exactly well-inclined towards the White Fang since the split five years back. I wouldn't be unwilling to face him regardless although I don't think it's all that necessary and I don't have much time here anyway. Better to just grab my things, get ready to leave, and hunker down for the night.

A few short minutes later I'm outside of a particular house. It's a bit on the small end and the outside is more than a little worn. Unsurprising since it's only supposed to house two people and one of them is never where he's supposed to be. Upon entering the familiar scritch-scratch of a pen across paper reaches my ears, only to stop a moment later. A figure in a white dress shirt and black pants that was previously hunched over his desk in the corner perks up when he hears the door and slowly rises.

He's a bit different from the last time I saw him. Previously short black hair is now full of grays, similarly with his well-kept beard which is wilder than the meticulous trim I remember. And, it might just be me, it seems like he's gotten shorter. His emerald eyes light up when he recognizes who I am, but before he can speak I preempt him. "Been a long time old man," I pause trying to remain nonchalant, "Still, thanks for the letters. Wish I could have written back more; I know I don't do it as much as I should."

"Oh, don't worry about that, I have my own things to take care of. I can't spend all of my time piecing through your scrawl," Dad responds good-naturedly as he takes a moment to look me over. "It's good to see you," he pauses, bereft of words for a moment, "you've grown so much."

"Oh, enough about that," I wave him off, not wanting to let the atmosphere get too heavy. Instead I pointedly ask, "What's going on with the house? Don't tell me a worthless layabout like you doesn't have enough time on his hands." I could keep up the act, but I let some concern show, "Has anyone been bothering you?"

"No, no one's been bothering me. Unless you count the young 'uns asking me 'why do you look like that,' 'where's your tail,' or 'where're your ears?' As for the house, sorry to say but I found something to take up my time," He announces utterly unrepentant. "Captain Sycamore asked me to show his guards some of my moves."

"Better not be talking about your dance moves."

"Just because you can't appreciate them doesn't mean no one else does," he responds, getting closer and raising his voice. I don't wait for him to continue his faux-outrage or respond in kind to play into the act. Instead I rush up and embrace him. Immediately his front of anger falls and he returns the hug, "It's good to have you home, Ochre."

We stay in that companionable silence for a few moments. Dad breaks it when he steps away, "So, how long are you staying this time?"

I shift to the side not looking at him directly, "Just a day."

"The Fang must be running you ragged if you're too busy to stay longer than that." His tone remains level and supportive despite everything.

"Actually," I reply full of giddiness, "this won't be for the Fang. Officially at least," I append. "I'm going to Beacon! Aside from the personal benefits it'll assist in networking with influential Huntsmen from all over Remnant, especially with the next Vytal Festival being held there. Who knows, maybe I'll even learn and get enough support to help out here. A Huntsmen academy, or even a proper combat school will be a huge step up from the level of training normally available, and-"

Before I can chatter anymore Dad cuts me off, "you don't need to convince me son. I've been proud of you for a long time and going to Beacon isn't changing that. Adding to it sure, but never changing. I know you have grand plans for the future, whatever those will be, and I know you'll do great things. You've always had a bit of your mother in you like that, driven or at least stubborn if nothing else."

It's hard not to react to the mention of Mom, but Dad continues on without a break in his cadence, "Now, I know you don't have much time. You have your own preparations you need to make. But how about I show you some of my moves again, for old time's sake."

It's all too easy to let a smile come naturally and push off my heavier thoughts. "I'd like that, but be warned: I've practiced plenty on my own. Don't assume you have the upper-hand anymore." What passes afterwards is a couple of rounds of sparring which turns more into instruction by the end.

Dad still has years of experience on me though the gap isn't as insurmountable as it once was. Then again I was a kid back then and I've spent a few years surviving mostly on my own. I might prefer the cities, but not everything the White Fang had need of me to do could be confined there. I had to deal with my fair share of grimm and pissing matches amongst disgruntled members.

After that is a small dinner between the two of us before I have to call an early close to the night. The ship sets off at dawn and I can't afford to miss it. Who knows when the next ship could come in and showing up late to school would be a horrible error.

Either way I step into my old room and it's just as I left it. Dad must not go into it too much given the layer of dust that has built up. I go to ensure the spare outfit I left the last time I was here is present and in good shape. I'm willing to suffer a lot of indignities, but no way am I going to be stuck in this boring hoodie the whole way to Vale if I can help it.

I open the closet, casual clothes stored off to one side and my outfit front and center. It's an orange renaissance-style cape and coat with green highlights. A similarly colored hat sits on the shelf above that. Reassured, I pack a few things for the trip and settle in for the night.

Nothing unusual stops me from making it back onto the ship. I didn't have any time to talk with anyone else. Not that there are too many friendly faces outside of the White Fang for me to catch-up with. After the stress of lying low for the past month or so I'm in no mood for social interaction anyway. I'm not in the mood for much of anything really and I waste a few days just lying around. It should take a few weeks longer to arrive in Vale and by then Initiation would be a week away. I'm not optimistic enough to think we'll arrive on time, but I've built enough lead time in my plan to account for any minor delays.

Fortunately I don't have to worry about whether I've been accepted or not. I received confirmation that my application was accepted shortly after departing from Mistral, before CCTS signal got too weak to do anything. It was a bit of a gamble to mention my time in the White Fang, but I didn't want to have to watch what I had to say all the time. I had enough of that in Atlas thank you very much. Especially since the topic of what I was doing anytime in the past four years was bound to come up. Not that I've done much of anything worth real scrutiny aside from my last mission which I'm fine with never mentioning in polite company.

Of course I didn't out and out name-drop the Fang. I left enough clues, referring to it as an equal rights organization with a murky past, that anyone with half a brain should pick up on it while also giving some plausible deniability for both sides. Just as naturally, I didn't mention that I'll still technically be a part of them. Rather framing it as a split from them, my chance to get away as it were. Who knows how if they'll buy that, they accepted my application though I doubt I'll be free from scrutiny, but the Fang in recent years hasn't been too keen on its members growing too independent.

Tangent aside, I have to find something to do with my time. I still want to take it easy, but brushing up on a few things wouldn't hurt and with my semblance I can work on my combat skills without any worries. Maybe even hit the book, my knowledge of Dust is admittedly not the greatest and I'm pretty sure it's a class for the first semester.

I could also familiarize myself with the happenings in Vale or the rest of the world for that matter. I have and will be out of touch for well over a month. Plus looking into things with the Fang in Vale is something I'll have to do at one point or another.

On that topic I do still have a few contacts, both in the Fang and out. I could queue up a couple of messages to let them know I haven't died and see if anything comes of it. Lastly I guess I could hang out with the crew, they already know about me but I wasn't exactly sociable during the trip over. That and without anyone else boarding from Menagerie they're my only option for real physical contact that I have at the moment.

Message and call some of my contacts to see how they're doing. (6)

Train a skill + for which one (options are listed in the character sheet and under the skills section of the mechanics) (6)

Read up on the news around the world. (6)

+Mobility (5)

+Combat (2)

Begin investigating happenings in Vale, particularly anything about the White Fang there. (1)

Talk with the sailors (0)

I queue up a bunch of messages to the people in my contact list. A lot of them are affiliated with the White Fang in one way or another with very few deep connections. My message is a bit generic just letting them know that I'm okay and have been traversing the wilderness to explain my lack of contact. I briefly waver on whether or not to break the news that I'm going to Beacon and ultimately decide not to. Some of them might take it the wrong way and while the brothers may have given their blessing there's no reason to risk Sienna's attention if word reaches her.

Unfortunately I'll have to wait until I get a CCTS signal for the messages to send. Same goes for looking up the news; not going to get much of that in the middle of the ocean when the Kingdoms can't even guarantee a signal to all of their towns and villages. Still, the system was built with this limitation in mind so my messages will be sent automatically and alert me when signal has been restored. Until then I'll have to spend some time working on myself.

With that decided I get to work, find a spot to brace myself, and activate my semblance. I take in a familiar quiet, the sounds of deckhands and low-chatter cut off entirely as I step into my mirror world. Only the chugging of an engine and the crashing of waves against the ship really disturb the peace. We're still moving which might pose a problem depending on how far we travel in my mirror world, but I can alway reset it to get around those issues. Plus a little bit of turbulence should help me with the exercises I have planned anyway.

With a flex of my will and an unnecessary wave of my hand I distort the ship into a crude obstacle course. While it might be worthwhile to run around it as it is, I'm going for a more familiar exercise to start out with. After a bit of finagling the course is set and ready to run, complete with vaults, low ceilings, bars to simulate branches and poles, some uneven terrain to make things difficult and an odd obstacle added in to break up the uniformity.

I pull out my scroll, even if I can't access the CCTS twice-over thanks to my semblance and lack of signal, the timer still works and that's all I need it for. Plus with how my semblance works even if I break it accidentally it will be safe and sound in the real world. Unfortunately the same doesn't go for the meager amount of Dust I have, so any recoil maneuvers are off the table. Just another item to add to the shopping list when I get to Vale.

Nothing I can do about that so instead of worrying I just run the course over and over again. I keep going until my aura dips below half and step out of my mirror world, checking the time around fifteen seconds had passed. I could keep going, but even on a well-stocked and defended ship the threat of grimm is ever present and I have to be ready and willing to defend myself. Thus I spend what remaining time I have going over the stances and exercises Dad showed me while I wait for my aura to recover or for a CCTS signal to return.

That continues for almost a whole week until I finally receive any messages on my scroll. Even then I doubt that I got all of them given the spotty signal. I quickly mark the conversation I don't have a response for as waiting for one so the CCTS will check for a response next time I'm within range. Without the signal to respond I have to queue up messages again.

This takes up more time than previously as I delve into more elaborate messages now that I have a response. Really it's more akin to writing letters than the usual short messages people write when using a scroll. It at least gives me something to do between my exercises so I'm not too put out by it.

Most of what I received is equally as generic as the message I sent out. Usually just an acknowledgement that they received what I sent and maybe a few details about how they're doing. Not that I was expecting many juicy details; I hardly stayed in one place long enough to build any strong contacts so I'm barely more than a stranger to most of these people. There are, however, a few exceptions to that like the Clovers.

Well more like the mother Coral. Jasmine is a bit too young to be dealing with the Fang in her mother's opinion not that I disagree. Still, they both have quite a bit of goodwill built towards the Fang and myself in particular. I helped them out when the Schnee Dust Company saddled Coral with her husband's debt after he passed away. All perfectly legal according to them. Coral couldn't handle the mines the SDC wanted her to work at and with no one else to turn to she reached out to the Fang.

We got more people out of that work camp in Mistral than just them, but they're the only ones from that batch that decided to stay within the Kingdoms and passed me their contact info. She is also one of the few that gave me a message longer than a few sentences.

Apparently the Fang set her up with a part-time job at some bookstore in Vale, where the drop off happened, until she got on her feet. Now she's working as a waitress and trying to get through nursing school with some financial assistance from the Fang. We certainly aren't going to turn down trained medical help; aura can cover a multitude of sins, but it isn't perfect.

Jasmine, meanwhile, is healthy and in school. Seems like she has taken to the change in circumstances rather well from what Coral is telling me. Another thing she mentions is that if I need a place to crash while in Vale that her apartment is always open. Aside from that she mentions that there's been some rumblings about the Fang going on, but she doesn't have too many details for me. In fact it seems more like she's asking me what's going on although it's not a direct question and phrased more conversationally.

Curious, but not something I can deal with now. Instead I turn to the next message. This one comes from Olive, a human I met in Vacuo and one of the rare people I know from outside of the Fang. Honestly if it weren't for how we met, him assisting me after a bout of heatstroke, I might just ignore him entirely but I haven't paid back that debt just yet. His message is a simple one asking me to stay safe and a link that I can't open. I can guess what it is and I suspect he believes that I'm involved with the White Fang. At least that's what his occasional linking to articles and statistics of the unflattering variety would imply. He's not hostile or pushy about it, more like he's obliquely trying to convince me to cut ties.

After him I check on my conversation with Nettle, my nominal superior during my time in Atlas. She hasn't responded either which is somewhat expected considering what we pulled off but also concerning. I can only hope things turn out alright, but if they don't it wouldn't be the first time I knew someone bit it or got caught. Mantis, the Fang member responsible for smuggling me out of Mistral, however did respond. It's a demand for answers about what was going on and why I was so jumpy before I left. I'm not answering any of those questions, so I do my best to deflect and hope she isn't too upset by that.

Three days out from Vale is when I finally get a signal that lasts longer than a few minutes and can finally properly check the news. Atlas is my primary concern although muted since I know now they weren't raiding Menagerie due to my actions. I skip past the usual dross about SDC production numbers and arguments about Mantle until I find something interesting.

There's a press release from the Atlesian military about an upgraded model of the AK-130. A robot that I'm very familiar with thanks to my actions and semblance. Supposedly it is still in development and Atlas plans to unveil the new model during the Vytal Festival. Something that I'm more than a little skeptical about.

I don't know the General personally, but what I know about Ironwood says that he wouldn't go through with this sort of announcement unless he was absolutely certain about its performance and deployment. Nothing more embarrassing for the snowy Kingdom than having to amend any of their plans after making any sort of declaration. Presumably this means that the model is already well out of the prototyping stage and production has already spooled up, likely during my absence. I'd bet good Lien that these new models are already making their rounds in Atlesian facilities even if Atlas is holding on to its toys from the other Kingdoms until they can be properly shown off.

That isn't the only news I can find concerning Atlas. More related to my recent theft there's a number of system updates to the CCTS, almost double what was scheduled this time last year. There is more than a little uproar and complaints about the necessary system downtime this will require from a multitude of civilians, but is as good as confirmation that my actions, or at least the result of them did not escape notice.

I can't find much of anything of note on Vacuo, not surprising as Vacuo is always quiet. There is a hubbub about some Shade students getting kicked out for their misbehavior, but nothing of any real importance. If anything noteworthy did occur in Vacuo it would be a sign of the end times. Or another Great War, that's what happened last time.

News out of Vale is reporting a rise in crime, particularly robberies relating to Dust. Seems what kicked that off was a whole train of Dust disappearing; reportedly stolen by the White Fang. That's bigger and more blatant than usual operations if true. Although, it is perfectly in character for something Adam, the current leader of the Vale branch would do.

He was always more focused on appearances and sticking it to the humans than actually helping out his fellow faunus. At least that's the reputation I've been able to get out of the people I've talked to that actually worked with him. Well, once I got past their admiration for his skills or how he's a symbol for the wider Fang. Regardless, the Dust, if he stole it, is something we could make use of, but knowing him it'll be solely to cause more chaos than anything else. Personal disagreements like this is the main reason why my operations have largely steered clear of Vale until now.

Other than that Mistral is reporting the start up of a new tournament season following the induction of a new year of students entering combat school. This coincides with a release by the Mistral police announcing a new crackdown on crime. Reportedly this is in response to the Valean crime wave and I'm certain it'll be just as effective as last year's crackdown. Digging past that there is also a mention that Mistral's champion, Pyrrha Nikos, will not be attending Haven Academy though where the young tournament champion decided to go, if she even plans on continuing her Huntress education, is not elucidated on.

Between checking the news, catching up over the scroll, and training, my time in these last three days has disappeared. Before I know it we're docking and I can tast the sweet air of Vale. Sweet slightly polluted air. Menagerie may be home but I will always love the capitals of the Kingdoms, minus Atlas of course.

The ship was slightly delayed, but I made it with plenty of time before initiation. Four days to be exact. Now while I'd love to partake in the wonders of Vale I have some work to do.

Shopping and a check in with a hotel are already scheduled. However, I could meet up with the Clovers and see about that spare room. It's only for a few days so it shouldn't be an issue. Although, since I still have access to a discretionary fund courtesy of the Fang, staying in a hotel won't hurt my funds. Meeting with the Clovers will take up some time which is the only downside to that course of action.

Regardless of where I choose to I will have to find some way to occupy myself before heading to Beacon. I could hit the streets, look into the going ons of Vale, or even start looking into the White Fang here. The Albain brothers would prefer this to be a discrete check-in, both to get an honest assessment and to downplay their involvement/interest in broader White Fang concerns. Either way, directly contacting them isn't my go-to option. That leaves me with checking out the CCTS, talking with some locals, and maybe walking around a little to see what shakes loose.

Initiation is coming up so more training won't hurt. Also there's the whole crime wave going on. While it's no skin off my nose if some Dust gets stolen I could do with some more information about the matter. Who that comes from isn't currently a concern on my mind. Speaking of which, making some inroads with the criminal community can be a useful source of information, especially if the Fang has gone underground in Vale.

Vale's a big place, I'll hit the streets and see what's out there. (look for places of interest) (3) [Hindsight note: This ended up not really panning into anything and the subsequent write-up has been slightly diminished]

Meet the Clovers to check in and ask to stay with them. (3)

Look into the recent robberies and talk with some shopkeepers. Purely information gathering I'm not looking to get caught up with whoever is responsible. (investigation check) (2)

Train a skill + for which one (further options are listed in the character sheet and under the skills section of the mechanics) (1)

+Combat (1)

Start looking into the White Fang. See what I can find about their activities and whereabouts. (investigation check) (0)

Look into the recent robberies, with a bit of luck I might even be able to find out their next target. I'll need some more information before I decide how I want to approach this. (Investigation check) (0)

Try to make contact with the criminals of Vale. (criminology check) (0)

I set out to the store and on the journey over I parse through my thoughts. By the time I get there I have a rough schedule for the next few days. First things first though I'm in dire need of Dust and with the robberies I doubt the price is going to get any better than they are now. Thankfully the store I chose on a whim hasn't been robbed yet, but the prices end up being around twice what I'm used to.

From past experience I know my discretionary account refills to five thousand Lien a month, although spending half of it consistently or all of it in a single month draws scrutiny from the higher ups. Something I'd prefer to avoid if I had any say in the matter. Still, it's more than enough to grab some good quality Dust. With the increased prices I wipe out half the account by grabbing a few cartridges worth of mid-grade Dust as well as some of a higher quality in case I need it.

I still have to grab some school supplies and the like for Beacon, but this trip has my wallet hurting more than a little. Well not my wallet, I keep a healthy amount of Lien on me in case the White Fang ever decides to cut me off though I'm not keen on spending that if I don't have to either. I guess I can check to see if there's anything that the Clovers can spare, if not I'll suck it up and grab what I need while I'm out on the town.

With Dust acquired I send a message to Coral letting her know I want to take her up on her offer. She responds back with her address as well as letting me know that she might be on her way to night school by time I arrive. Jasmine will let me in if she's gone so no worrying about not having a place to stay. I just have to deal with a nine year old all on my own.

I take my time walking to the apartment, enjoying the chance to properly stretch my legs and absorb the sights and names of establishments as I pass them. I'll look them up later, maybe even check them out personally if I find anything interesting. I even use this lazy stroll as a chance to relax and properly unwind. While my outfit may stand out I can pass for a human as long as I cover up, both with long sleeves and something to cover my ears. Useful in the work I did with the Fang, plus not drawing that kind of attention is a good habit to keep.

It's past sundown by the time I reach the Clover residence, a small apartment in the middle of the third floor hallway of the complex. I knock on the door and a short wait rewards me with it opening. In the doorway stands a girl who barely comes up to my hip with a head of faintly green hair tied up in a braid. It goes well enough with her cream colored sundress and with my height I can see a rabbit tail poking out the back. Jasmine looks up at me with bright hazel eyes, her face scrunched up as if trying to remember who I am.

"Hello Jasmine, your mother said I could stay for a few-"

"You're Mr. Oak," she calls out before I can finish my introduction. She could have at least done me the service of remembering my name properly.

I don't have the heart to correct her though, "Close enough. Can you show me where I'll be staying?" She lets me in and shows me to a nook of the main room with a couch and a small t.v. Getting there we had to pass the kitchenette and a small dining table with a bowl Pumpkin Pete's cereal poured out, half-eaten, and with a spoon still sticking out.

All the while Jasmine peppers me with questions that I try to answer in the most boring way possible. With any luck she'll get distracted and do whatever she wants soon enough. With it being so late I shouldn't have to wait too long before she goes to bed.

As I get settled in I pull out my scroll and she tries to peek at what I'm looking up. It's only the places I passed on my way over so I have no issue with the invasion of privacy. However, it prompts her to start talking about all of her favorite places around Vale and Cecil's Pizzeria pops up more than once throughout her recounting. Still, there is only so much a child can deal with a lukewarm reception and after a few minutes she returns to her cereal and her own scroll.

Dealing with her was easy enough, but her mother will require a more considerate touch. I won't have to deal with her until morning, when that time comes I'm sure we'll talk at least for a little bit. She'll likely wonder why I'm here and I should have an answer ready for that.

I imagine Coral's unlikely to complain regardless of what I tell her, given how much the Fang and I have helped her out. That doesn't mean I can't gain some more trust by sharing that I'm going to Beacon; Huntsmen have a good reputation and that's sure to rub off on me if she knows I'm going to be one. I don't know if she would tell anyone about that, however she's been in Vale for over a year now and going to school thanks to the Fang. If she hasn't been arrested within that time I'm sure that she can keep a secret or two.

Disclosure- I'll let her know I'm attending Beacon. Aside from having the reputation of Huntsmen rub off on me it'll also let her know where I can be found in an emergency. (4)

+Don't ask her about forwarding any info. It might be best not to let it slip that I'm looking into the Fang. Even if she could keep a secret, it's too big of a risk. (2)

+Ask her to let me know about anything that goes down with the Fang. I'm not going to let slip why I'm asking and hopefully she'll pick something up when, not if, some grunt ends up needing medical help. (1)

Nothing- Absolutely nothing, just say I'm staying for a few days and deflect or refuse to answer any further questions. Might make her suspicious, but I'm only planning on staying for a few days. (0)

Next to nothing- I won't be telling her about my stay at Beacon, but I will mention that I'll be in the Vale area. She might draw her own conclusions based on that, but she won't have anything to back it up. (0)

Morning comes far too soon. The previous night was spent far too freely by me looking into the places I saw yesterday. I only noticed how late it was due to a silence that settled in the apartment. I had focused too much on my work, assuming that Jasmine would go to bed at a reasonable time for a child instead of playing on her scroll for as long as she could stay awake. I'm no stranger to working on little sleep though. That and I only plan on taking another relaxing stroll through Vale today, so I doubt my lack of sleep will affect me overly much.

As I get ready for the day I spot a pair of shoes by the door. Coral's based on the size. The shape of the shoes are paw-like so I assume she isn't bothering to hide her faunus attributes. I might have a misread on how much faunus are harassed over something like that, at least in this part of Vale, if she's that comfortable displaying her heritage. Not like it'll change how I dress, I'm already used to my outfit and I can't wear it without the hat. The hat completes the look, there's no way I can go without it.

Thoughts on fashion are dispersed by Coral walking out of her bedroom. She's dressed in a rose colored shirt with teal shorts and she has bags under her blue eyes. I know she's in her late twenties, but the stress of a job, school, and raising her kid has added a few years to her face. She stumbles around the apartment quietly on her paw-like feet with her head swiveling back and forth letting her long blonde hair swish freely.

Coral sends me a half-hearted wave as she makes her way into the kitchenette and shortly after which the telltale sound of a coffee maker starts up. I ask her to make me one as well while I ready myself for the day. Not long after I find myself seated across from her with coffee in hand. She nurses hers and takes until she's halfway through the cup before she manages the energy to start up a conversation. "I know I've said it before, but I can't thank you enough for what you did for me and Jasmine."

"Don't worry about it, it's what we do. Besides, you're already repaying me," I shoot back, downplaying my involvement. She seems like the type to appreciate a more subtle and humble approach so hopefully it endears me in her eyes.

She makes a noncommittal noise and shoots me a bleary look before continuing, "Speaking of which, what brings you in the area? Far as you've told me you haven't stepped in Vale since you helped us out." She takes a moment to sip at her coffee.

A mistake on her part as I've already prepared an answer for this question, "I'm here to see the sights, check out the nightlife, stay a few years at beacon. You know, the usual tourist experience." Coral nods along as I answer, seemingly expecting a non-answer and not paying too much attention. She even nods at the mention of Beacon without further response for a few seconds, taking another sip in the meanwhile. The look on her face is delightful as she is about to respond right before the verbal spanner gums up the proverbial works.

She visibly works through my casual statement almost blank faced until she reaches the moment of realization. Surprise tinged with happiness dawns on her features before sliding into excitement and apprehension. With sudden energy she stands up, her eyes darting to my meager belongings. "You're going to Beacon!? Do you have all your supplies, or your textbooks? If you need some we can stop by Tukson's and see what he has. Oh, what about shampoo and personal products, you've packed so little. If you need some help I'll be free later this weekend."

"Could you calm down a bit please," I reply somewhat abashedly, unused to this kind of maternal fretting. "I mean, it's not that big of a deal. Besides I can take care of myself; no need to go out of your way on my part." I pause, regaining my composure, "Although any school supplies you can spare would be appreciated."

Coral winds down from my response but keeps looking at me with sudden interest. "Pfft, not a big deal you say. You don't have to feign indifference with me, you're already Jasmine and I's hero, I won't think any less of you." She glances at her scroll, checking the time, "I'll see what I can find and get it ready for you, but I should get around to making breakfast before it's too late."

I nod at that and return to my work on my scroll. Breakfast turns out to be a simple bacon, eggs, and toast. Jasmine pops out of her room halfway through it cooking, evidently getting ready to go to school. When it's set before us we all talk a bit at the table, mostly about our plans for the day. Jasmine babbles about whatever's caught her fancy, some sort of show she was watching on her scroll I think, before finishing breakfast and being prodded by her mother to finish her preparations.

Coral and I talk a little bit as she cleans the dishes with her asking if I could be back by the evening to watch Jasmine while she's at night school. I already planned for a bit of my time being eaten up by the Clovers so it's not a big ask. With a little mental shifting of my schedule I agree easily enough as we all make our way outside.

Coral walks Jasmine to her school while I make my way through the city. I'm not going to be checking out any of the clubs or bars this early, or at all today given my new obligation. I do, however, have a list I'm working my way down. The top of that list is that Tukson's place Coral mentioned. I didn't pass it on my entry into Vale, but given the context I assume it's the bookstore the Fang set her up with a job at. That's reason enough to check it out in my books, heh, though I need to grab textbooks for Beacon as well.

Technically I can put that off for a while more. The first week of classes are supposed to be book-free due to the uncertainty of passing initiation. However, I am supremely confident in my skills that I might as well get it over and done with.

It's only a few minutes of walking until I reach the bookstore. Probably why Coral or the Fang chose that particular apartment now that I think about it. The outside is pretty respectable with two big windows bearing the logo of the business and a big sign reading, 'Tukson's Book Trade.'

Once inside the entire place is filled with books all over the place. The only spot that isn't dominated by books is the counter with a cash register and a bell. Even then there are some books shoved off to the side. Behind the counter is a set of double doors with windows revealing even more books in the back and presumably some stairs considering the size of the building. The eponymous Tukson lives here given those details, either that or there's a whole second story full of books.

The man himself is nowhere in sight, so, after a quick perusal I ring the bell. While this might be a White Fang front that's something I'll have to investigate at another time. Right now this visit is all business, or the opposite. It's getting a bit hard tracking which is supposed to be which, honestly. No time to think any further about that as a big man in a burgundy and black shirt wheels himself through the set of doors with a set of books under his arm.

"Welcome to Tukson's Book Trade, home to every book under the sun," he announces the practiced line and gives me a quick glance as he sets his books on the counter. "Is there anything I can help you with?"

The man continues to look at me with hazel eyes filled with a level of indifference only years of retail can produce. I take note of his short black hair and sideburns; I'm not seeing any obvious faunus features, although that would be par for the course if this was a front for the Fang. If need be I can double check with Coral that this man is indeed Tukson.

"Tukson, I assume," he nods as an answer and I continue, "I'm looking for some textbooks. If you have any of these in stock I'd greatly appreciate it." I pull the required texts for Beacon up on my scroll and set it on the table so he can read.

If he's surprised at a prospective Huntsman showing up at his store he doesn't show it. "Yeah, I have some of them. All of them if you don't mind previous editions." I don't so I let him know it's fine. "I can go grab them from the back. Do you prefer paperback or hardback?"

I briefly quibble about my response. Considering my current funds I'd prefer digital. On the flip side if this is a front for the Fang then I know my money, or at least a part of it, would be going to a good cause. Of course I'll be paying with my discretionary fund so there's a bit of humor in all this. I'll be paying for something from the White Fang with their own money with said money ending up back to me, courtesy of the Fang.

It takes me a moment to notice that I've been standing there without saying something while Tukson waits by the door for my answer. I quickly reply, "Paperback," before I can get lost in my thoughts again.

Slightly embarrassed, I decide to be slightly more productive with this trip. I settle in against the counter and activate my semblance. The doorway Tukson was standing in closes shut as he disappears due to my entrance into my mirror world. I hop over the counter and make my way into the backroom myself. Tons of books are stacked on shelves all over, but I don't pay them much attention. Instead I head over to a staircase nestled in the corner of the room and make my way upstairs

Up there, like I thought there would be, is a small bachelor's pad. It's more well furnished than the Clovers' apartment. The furniture is of higher quality and there's also a rug that probably looks a lot better when it's not distorted by my semblance. Always annoying to have to deal with the loss of detail, but not much I've done has been able to change that. Only changing my positioning or perspective in the real world decreases the extent of the deformities although I could refresh it and see if the pattern makes any more sense to me with a different variation.

I shake my head, thinking about my semblance isn't helpful and even if I have all the time in the world it's a bad habit to get into when I'm nominally on the job. The op in Atlas and subsequent boat trips must have done something to make me this scatterbrained. Regardless, I spend some time looking around for anything of interest. Nothing pops out to me in the kitchen nor the living room. Tukson doesn't seem to have a t.v. but he does have a few bookshelves up here as well. With those areas checked I pop into his bedroom.

There are some clothes in a hamper off to the side of a big bed, but that's not what interests me. On the other side is a safe doubling as a night table. While I don't know how to crack a safe it doesn't matter. With a bit of effort I will the front of the safe to pop off. Inside are what appears to be some Lien cards and papers I can't read with how the letters are running into each other. I also check under the bed and there is something under there though I can't tell what it's supposed to be.

I could run my semblance again and see if anything is more recognizable on the next go around, but quickly discard that. I'm here for books today, any intel I gain from this adventure is pure gravy. Stepping out of my mirror world I miss the sight of Tukson as he slips into the back room during my recovery. It's only the matter of a few minutes until he returns with books in hand, ready to ring me up.

The damage the books bring me is to the tune of a couple hundred Lien. I didn't use my budget at all the previous month so spending a bit more this month won't be unexpected. By this point I realize that dragging a bunch of books along for my trip through Vale isn't the best of ideas. I'll just have to suck it up and drop them off at the apartment. Sure, I could ask if he could deliver to the Clovers with how close they are. However, there's no need to draw any attention to them

LloydAbsolon · Feb 8, 2024

Challenges

You have a set of skills with a rank numbering from 0 to 10 and when you have a challenge you compare your skill rank against the challenge rating of the task at hand which also numbers from 0 to 10. Depending on the difference between your skill rank and the challenge you will gain a modifier ranging from -50 if your skill is 2 points lower than the challenge to +50 if your skill is two points higher as well as a proportional bonus if it's somewhere in between.

Afterwards you roll a d100 plus or minus the relevant modifier. A success is any roll that results in a 50 or higher. Your skill rank can be modified by things like circumstances, tactics, or cooperation from teammates.

Combat

Combat is decided by the same mechanics as other challenges with a few exceptions. Instead of using just your Combat rank it is augmented by Mobility, Dust (if you're using it), and Grimm(if you're fighting grimm). Specifically it is Combat + 1/2(Mobility) + 1/2(Rank of Dust used) + 1/2(Grimm).

Notably the Dust modifier is not dependent on your Dust skill as most Dust is refined before you use it, although higher ranked Dust is exponentially more expensive. Mobility can be capped by certain environments. Fighting in a cramped corridor, for example, will prevent you from using your full mobility. Semblances and circumstances can also further modify these attributes.

You can lose a number of rounds in combat equal to your Aura + 1 before your Aura breaks. You can of course keep fighting afterwards, but a failure at that point will likely be fatal. This goes for your opponents as well; most human opponents and some grimm will require multiple rounds to defeat.

As long as you don't outclass an opponent, that is having an augmented combat score at least 2 higher than theirs, you will receive some amount of chip damage from the fight. This only matters if you have back-to-back fights, otherwise your normal recovery will handle it. Aura recovers at a rate of 5% every hour and if broken does not come back online until you reach 20% of your max.

Dust

Dust is divided into ranks based on potency and cost. Basic Dust is available increasing in volatility up to rank 5 and exotic forms of Dust appear at low quality at rank 3. The type of Dust used typically won't provide any mechanical benefit, but is there as a form of flavor nonetheless. Additionally most weapons are rated to handle up to rank 4 Dust with more specialized/customized weapons able to handle higher ratings. Most Huntsmen in training will use rank 1 Dust moving on to rank 2 usually when they start completing missions on their own. Most professional huntsmen stick to rank 2 dust to save on costs with having reserves of higher ranks for when they're needed.

Crits

If a 100 is rolled it will be applied to your practical crit counter and if a 69 is rolled it will be applied to your social crit counter; only natural rolls count for this. Once enough of either has been rolled you'll gain either a practical crit token or a social crit token to be spent communally. Each crit can be broken at the start of weekly planning to grant +4 training actions for the week.

A practical crit token(PT) can be spent to add 2 to your skill rank for one (1) check. Additionally a PT can be spent to provide a +1 bonus to the whole of a combat scenario. On the other site these tokens could be spent retroactively and we will have to see if I continue such a system on this site.

Social crit Tokens(ST) can be spent during social interactions to achieve an 'optimal' result. After an ST is spent another poll will open up where you will vote on what you want to achieve with the interaction and afterwards the best path available to achieve said goal will be chosen. This does not guarantee success and if you vote to achieve something impossible it will essentially waste the token, but otherwise not harm the relationship. Normal social events/conversations will be subject to the narrative, not any specific mechanic.

Addendum

Social crits should be used with the intent of going after something specific. It can be as small as changing someone's emotional state, getting a favor out of them, or convincing them to do a particular course of action. Doing the listed options but better is too vague for me to work with most of the time, especially in multiple option votes. There are scenarios where this does not hold true, but those are the exceptions and are only so because divining the intent from chat/voters is relatively easy to determine in some instances.

Skills

In order to raise a skill a certain amount of progress is needed to achieve the next rank. This progress is gained either through training or by encountering challenges. Any challenge that calls for a roll (i.e. doesn't end in an automatic success or failure) will grant progress to raising your skills. A point of progress is roughly equivalent to 2 hours of dedicated training/learning, although progression is skewed towards larger gains for this setting than reality.

In this system there are no breakpoints, all progress is beneficial; if you are 90% of the way to level 4 from level 3 you will use 3.9 as your skill level for any tests using that skill. The amount of progress needed to achieve a rank, as well as its rough competency level, is listed below with the numbers in parenthesis being the sum total of all previous levels.

0[Layman]: 0
1[Hobbyist]: 10
2[Basic/Trained]: 50(60)
3[Highschool]: 150(210)
4[Collegiate level]: 300(510)
5[Graduate level]: 625(1135)
6[Rookie Professional]: 1,250(2385)
7[Experienced Professional]: 2,500(4885)
8[Veteran Professional]: 5,000 (9885)
9[Renowned Expert]: 10,000 (19,885)
10[Prodigy/Trendsetter]: 20,000(39,885)

You can also specialize in specific styles and techniques for Aura and Combat skills that provide benefits when certain conditions are met. Costs start at 50 points for basic techniques and 25% of progress is added to the base skill while training styles and techniques. You start with this combat style, Duelist: when in a 1v1 fight add 1 to your Combat skill. Below is a short explanation of what each skill entails.

Aura(Knowledge): Your knowledge of Aura, what it is and what it does. Provides a bonus when training Aura(Practical) and any Aura techniques.\
Aura(Practical): Essentially your health bar, your aura lasts Aura+1 failed rounds before breaking, not accounting for any Aura usage from Semblances or for other reasons.
Craft: Your ability to build, repair, and maintain your chosen craft. A craft type must be specified for this skill; there is no general Craft skill, although there may be overlap.
Combat: Your ability in Combat of all kinds. This is assuming that you are equipped with a weapon you are trained in.
Criminology: Your knowledge, both practical and theoretical about criminal practices in the Four Kingdoms and beyond. Includes knowledge of gangs, fences, criminal hideouts, and best practices for how to find them.
Culture: Your measure of cultural knowledge regarding the peoples of Remnant. This includes knowledge of customs, dialects, celebrations, and knowledge of cultural contributions and literature.
Drive: Your ability to pilot specifically land based vehicles. While there may be crossover from this skill and driving a mech any other vehicles such as boats and airships will require a further distinction as represented by a theoretical Drive(airship).
Dust: Your knowledge of Dust, safety procedures, and how to use it. At higher levels includes the knowledge and ability to safely refine Dust.
Grimm: Your knowledge of types of Grimm, their habitats, and weaknesses. Half of Grimm is added to your Combat score when fighting Grimm.
History: Your knowledge of past events and the motivations driving them. Higher levels don't necessarily mean you know more history, but rather gaining historical insight as to the why's of things happening; being able to evaluate past events with a historical lens, and connect past events with common causes.
Investigation: Your ability to examine a scene, location, or person to determine a sequence of events or discover obscured details. Tracking is an ability under Investigation.
Law: Your understanding of the legal code of conduct and your place/responsibilities within it. Also includes knowledge of the Kingdom's bureaucracy and how it functions.
Medicine: Your ability to properly diagnose and treat wounds and illnesses.
Mobility: Your capability for movement both in and out of combat. Also represents your degree of competence with acrobatics as well as your top speed. Up to half of Mobility is added to your Combat score depending on the environment in which you're fighting.
Performance: Your ability to perform musically or theatrically. Like Craft there is no general skill and a type of performance must be specified. Acting and Impersonation fall under this skill.
Politics: Your understanding of inter and intra-Kingdom relations. Also includes your understanding, not necessarily capability, of statecraft.
Semblance(Knowledge): Your knowledge of Semblances and their mechanics. Lower levels focus on what's generally common for Semblances and how they work while higher levels either display an extensive knowledge of Semblances or more fundamental knowledge of how Semblances work.
Stealth: Your ability to remain undetected by various means, the most obvious of which is remaining unseen. This also includes hiding within a crowd or low-level disguises. Impersonation of a specific person or a profession/background you are unfamiliar with falls under Performance.
Survival: Your ability to survive in the wilderness. Includes the identification and harvesting of wild plants and animals, navigating through the wilderness, construction of shelter, and knowledge of herbal remedies.
Tech: Your ability to use, NOT create, and understand current technology. Construction of technology will typically fall under a Craft skill, except for programming. Higher levels express either familiarity with a plethora of UIs or as programming knowledge.

Every week we will have five (5) actions to choose and an additional two social actions that can't be used for anything else. These actions can be split into the broad categories of: training, social, investigation, and eventually organizations and missions.

A weekly action typically entails 8 to 12 hours of work spread out over multiple days.
Organization actions will unlock once we have an in-story reason for us to begin recruiting people and will be further detailed when that time comes. These entail recruiting for and managing our own branch of the White Fang or whatever splinter organization we end up running.
Mission actions cost 2 actions each and will unlock once we reach our second year at Beacon, assuming we stay that long and avert its destruction of course. These include official huntsmen missions that we take our team on and even some personal missions. Before this is unlocked any events like the Docks from the end of season 1 will be voted on at the same time as deciding how many investigation actions we'll take for the week.
Training actions are what they say on the tin, but with a team backing us up we can begin to explore more options like team fighting or experimenting with Ochre's semblance. Unless these actions explore something new like testing out Ochre's semblance in new ways they will not be written up. A training action will provide 5 to 10 progress dependent on off-site rolls.
Social actions are also what you would expect. If we decide to use a weekly action for talking with more characters we gain two social actions for every weekly action spent.
Investigation actions are the designation for continuing our work for the White Fang and personal investigations. This includes following leads or searching for information to find more of them for specific investigations.

In addition to this there will also be a section about classes and one social action chosen by me to represent other characters having their own agency and seeking Ochre out.

Aside from training actions, progress will also be awarded from the classes we attend. Each class will provide six (6) points of progress each week. Each semester lasts 16 weeks

LloydAbsolon · Feb 8, 2024

Ochre Rovere
Age:18
Species: Faunus(Leopard: ears and spots)
Weapons: An unnamed mechashift gauntlet/buckler and Wit's End: a mechashift shotgun-rapier/rifle
Outfit: An orange and green Renaissance style coat with a fencing cape and hat.
Crit Tokens: 1 Social. 2 Practical.

Aura(Knowledge): 3 (13/300)
Aura(Practical): 5 (147/1250)
Combat: 5 (1193/1250)
Craft(Weapons): 2 (80/150)
Criminology: 2 (50/150)
Culture: 3 (12/300)
Drive: 0 (2/10)
Dust: 2 (94/150)
Grimm: 3 (179/300)
History: 4 (267/625)
Investigation: 4 (393/625)
Law: 2 (52/150)
Medicine: 1 (0/50)
Mobility: 5 (7/1250)
Performance (Acting): 2 (31/150)
Performance (Piano): 3 (206/300)
Politics: 2 (23/150)
Semblance(Knowledge): 3 (33/300)
Stealth: 3 (28/300)
Survival: 2 (117/150)
Tech: 2 (4/150)

Duelist: when in a one v. one fight add 1 to your Combat skill.
Team fighting: Gain double the combat modifier from working with a team or a partner.
Acrobatic: When fighting use your mobility at a .75 multiplier instead of .5. This is affected and restrained by mobility affecting semblances and restrictive environments.

Ochre can at any time activate his semblance to go into his mirror world, which resembles the real world but gets more inaccurate/distorted the further he travels from his origin point. There are no living creatures in this mirror world, only plants, terrain, and man-made creations. Ochre can bring one other person that he is in physical contact with into his mirror world.
While there Ochre can manipulate the terrain at minimal aura expenditure. Additionally the mirror world runs at an accelerated time, every 12 minutes inside the mirror world is equivalent to 1 second outside of it. While using his semblance Ochre, and anyone he brought to the mirror world, is not conscious of the real world and cannot move his body.
Machines like Scrolls and Atlesian robots act mostly as normal barring any errors due to distortion. Things or actions that need a CCT signal will not work, but short range signals like a robot to its control platform can if both are close enough to Ochre's origin in the mirror world to not be too distorted. Additional details and limitations are as follow:

Details will get more distorted the finer they are and how hidden they were from Ochre's point of view when he activated his semblance (he can read a few pages from a closed book before all the words start turning into illegible gibberish.)
Distortions are not consistent between activations of Ochre's semblance. This can be used to create a composite image of distorted information if done enough times.
Ochre cannot increase the parameters of his semblance (i.e. cost, how fast he can manipulate the environment, or how distorted objects get within his mirror world) but he can grow more skilled with using what he does have.
It costs 15% of Ochre's maximum Aura to remain within the mirror world per hour of accelerated time. This will decrease as Ochre's reserves increase (which can be done by increasing the Aura(practical) skill.)
Ochre can only manipulate the physical matter of his mirror world, excluding air and fire. He cannot manipulate things like gravity or temperature.
Aura damage carries over to the real world, and Dust brought in from the real world (that is dust that you carry with you) used in the mirror world is also used in the real world.
If Ochre runs out of aura in the mirror world he is automatically booted out of it along with anyone he brought in with him.
Destruction of objects will not carry over from the mirror world to the real world.
Objects and terrain do not update in the mirror world. If something changes in the real world it is not reflected in the mirror world. It is a snapshot of the world at the time Ochre activates his semblance.
Objects from the mirror world can not be brought into the real world.
Ochre can use his semblance on grimm, but unlike with other people they do not show up in his mirror world. Instead the grimm disappears disappears entirely, starting from where Ochre makes contact with the grimm and radiating outwards. The aura cost for a single beowolf was 35% of his total aura and it takes longer to activate his semblance this way than is normal. It is not known what will happen if he runs out of aura in the middle of this process.

I will admit most of this has become vestigial due to the direction the Quest has taken. I mainly keep it in mind and somewhat up to date out of habit/bragging rights.

Discretionary Budget (5000/5000L)
Personal Funds 18,500L
3 cartridges of Rank 2 Dust (54 uses total)
1 cartridge of Rank 3 Dust (10 uses total)
1 cartridge of Rank 1 Dust (20 uses total)

Crime Primer: A primer on Mistrali crime syndicates signed by Roman Torchwick. Source: Being a leading role in the capture of Torchwick and his subsequent working with authorities.
Dinky Flag: A green flag with 'Ochre' spelled out in orange letters. Blake procured it from somewhere. Source: Tying (and arguably winning) against Pyrrha Nikos.
Blush: Adam's hilt for his weapon that also serves as his firearm. Taken in the aftermath of the Mountain Glenn raid. Source: Defeating Adam in single combat.
Plushes: A cat plush and a custom made snowflake one. Apparently my girlfriends want me to have some way to remember them in my room. Source: Blake and Weiss.
Mutant Deathstalker Figure: A custom made model of Merlot's pride and joy in grimm manipulation. Kind of tacky honestly. Source: Defeating Merlot

LloydAbsolon · Feb 8, 2024

AU Changes

These changes are to either fix what I see as something that doesn't fit the setting or otherwise break it, as well as to help facilitate the premise of the story. Granted with how little detail is paid to some things a lot of what this quest will be about will be invented whole cloth with me doing my best to make sure everything fits into the setting. That being said the changes are as follows:

Obviously that the MC exists in this setting at all. In addition to this Ochre has a backstory and has already had some effect on the world and the knock-on effects will be seen in story. As for the OC team he's on, I believe there's enough room in canon for them to have been present in the world, so there will be no changes to the world based on their existence.
Members of the White Fang are no longer so hate-filled as to be cartoonishly evil. Rather there are members of all types in the WF with human-hating fanatics still existing but not the norm.
1. Subsequently the White Fang as a whole tends to be more sensible and less violent than their canon counterparts. They aren't innocent by any means, but also aren't a borderline death cult. I.e. working to end or severely hurt civilization as they know it is likely to put off a lot of members.
Jaune is no longer world shatteringly uninformed, just a normal somewhat impulsive teenager. He now knows what Aura is as well as what the bare basics of what a Huntsman is and what they need to know. He still shows up to school without Aura under the impression that it would be unlocked at school.
Amity Colosseum now has basic anti-tampering measures. In a world full of semblances that work by line of sight and can be very discrete (see Pyrhha and Glynda) I refuse to believe that there would be any high-stakes tournament that didn't take precautionary measures to outside tampering.
While never explicitly stated in the show(at least to my knowledge), in this continuity faunus can have more than a single trait. It is far from common but otherwise has no special attribution or stigma attached to it.

I reserve the right to make further changes as needed if issues come up. I'll do my best to inform you of any changes that I decide on.

Thoughts on Canonicity:

I'll be blunt, I believe in death of the author. That is that a work is to be evaluated based on the content within and the interpretations that I can derive from it. A creator's statements concerning elements, themes, characterization, or any other aspect of their work therefore can only inform my understanding of their work, never dictate it.

It is with a similar expectation that I wish my work to be received with. My statements are only ever to provide what my interpretation of my own work is and while I try to keep those in mind when writing the actual text that I have written trumps whatever I have to say. This is because I fundamentally believe that I, and anyone else, can make mistakes and include elements or themes entirely by happenstance or accident. If you disagree that's fine, I'm not going to take that away with you, but this is to inform why I refer to this hierarchy of canon as I do.

RWBY for all its questionable quality and creator actions is still the highest canon. If something in the show implies or states one thing it trumps all other supplementary material. As stated previously there are elements that I will change as I believe they conflict with the world itself, but these changes are never to be made lightly. I can understand if anyone disagrees with this sentiment, but I believe working within the bounds of canon and with the tools the writers provided is not only a more challenging experience, but a worthwhile one to pursue in this instance.

The next highest is supplementary material. That is; supplementary episodes such as the World of Remnant series, novels such as After the Fall and Before the Dawn; games such as Grimm Eclipse and Arrowfell; even merchandise as the best available somewhat canon map I can find is a design for a blanket (I really wish I was kidding). These are treated with dubious canonicity meaning that I may take elements from them, but I will not have the same wherewithal when making changes or adapting them. Generally expect that general elements will be ported over rather than specifics.

For the lowest rung of canonicity is authorial statements. Once again the writers can be wrong about their own work. Whether this is because of genuine errors, redrafts, changing their mind, or any plethora of reasons. Therefore anything from this category is taken with a huge grain of salt if not dismissed outright. If it wasn't worth including in the material I don't see it worth my time to seek it out, evaluate, and understand it.

As I said I can be wrong about things and have changed my mind on certain things when evidence is provided. However, if you wish to do so please keep in mind the hierarchy of canon in the spoiler box above and please provide references. With that being said, if you have questions about the material I'm not afraid to answer them, although a statement along the lines of 'canon doesn't address this' is likely to pop up more often than not.

QM Ethos

If you prefer to keep some of the magic alive by not knowing how I run a Quest like this or my exact thought process regarding certain decisions and the hand I guide them with I would advise not opening up the next spoiler box. For those of you who are interested it's an explanation of my general process as well as certain options that I have prohibited myself from using.

It is not my intention to be an adversarial or hostile QM. While I wish to provide a fair challenge and an interesting story I also want us all to be on the same side so to speak. I believe that a story in this format is supposed to be a collaborative effort. Therefore wasting my time and yours with trap situations or artificial difficulty leads to less fun all around on top of a worse quest.

What this means is that I abhor trap options in general and seek to eliminate them entirely. There may be choices that are suboptimal or harm certain long-term plans or relationships, but that is under the general understanding that the character (Ochre) is working as best he can with what information he has available and will not self-sabotage outside of certain, character-motivated, instances. I will admit I have failed in this, albeit accidentally which brings me on to my next point.

I am what some would describe as an improv writer. While I do have a broad plan for the story as a whole and even well laid out plot threads I by and large set no expectation of specific scenarios outside of a handful of instances. Even then I do not hold firmly on to those expectations as I believe doing so does more harm than good. What this means is that a lot of the time the path not traveled is a mystery to me and even the one we're embarking on is similarly shrouded.

To me that's half the fun of this kind of experience, the uncertainty and discovery of the journey. I also happen to believe that it lends itself to a more organic and worthwhile expression of the plots and characters. There are downsides however, mainly length. As I'm sure you'll be able to tell I meandre during sections and break off in tangents somewhat frequently.

This is a result of this Quest being very much first draft material despite how much I reword or edit this that fact will not change. A complete redraft would include a total overhaul of what has been established and is outside the purview of what I believe to be a normal Quest structure. However, I assume as a purveyor of a Quest such as this that you are able to understand the limitations of this medium and are able to accept such a state of affairs.

LloydAbsolon · Feb 8, 2024

Albain Brothers

Facts:

The brothers have a number of agents seeded throughout the Mistral branch and more that were left over in the Vale branch.
The brothers are located on Tutoa Tasi, an island to the South of Ostro.
Tutoa Tasi has a CCT relay and has been reinforced and staffed with a mind for defensibility.
I warned Sienna against the brothers and the two of us have been cooperating in an attempt to remove their influence.
The behavior of the brothers recently has not been indicative of their usual modus operandi of patient operations.
Agents underneath the brothers have been stoking racial tensions in Mistral, particularly in the Southern city of Ostro.
Ostro is a hot-bed for racial unrest, particularly from humans towards the faunus.
Human-passing agents of the brothers have been recorded interacting with human-oriented groups and criminal syndicates.
The Argent Brotherhood is one such group and has connections with two criminal groups under it.

Conjecture:

The brothers are rushed due to the short time-frame of my betrayal and rise to power.
The brothers have been in contact with and receiving assistance from reluctant elements underneath Sienna's leadership.
Chitra, a sub-leader under Sienna has been working with the brothers and is a replacement lined up to take over Sienna's spot.
The brothers are working with the Argent brotherhood for some sort of gain.
The brothers plan on stoking tensions to a breaking point and incite an incident at Tutoa Tasi
Said plan is likely to involve using one of the groups under the Argent Brotherhood as a scapegoat to sow chaos in the White Fang and incense the faunus into violent action behind the brothers.
Said plan may also be to discredit me in particular as well as drive a wedge between Sienna and I.
Racial tensions are likely to boil over even without the involvement of the brothers and possibly lead to a power struggle in the city.

Leads:

Tutoa Tasi is a bit of a mystery, but if I want any hope of dealing with the brothers permanently I'm going to have to drag them out of their den. There has to be some sort of weakness or something about the settlement that I can exploit.
The Argent Brotherhood has to be stockpiling supplies for their plan. Finding something damning would legitimize our actions and maybe we can discover the exact details of the plan.

Conspiracy

Facts:

Cinder Fall was an agent of Salem who attempted to steal the power of the Fall Maiden through some sort of grimm sorcery.
Cinder had messages in which a 'W,' 'T,' "H,' and a 'Her' were referred to.
Cinder was working with Roman Torchwick and Adam Taurus to weaken and destabilize Vale.
The footage from the Paladin incident has been altered in such a way that Arthur Watts is the primary suspect and has most likely survived.
A charity set up by Watts after his 'death' was responsible for bankrolling the efforts of Cinder and setting up safehouses that have since been raided.
After knowledge of Watts' likely survival, Atlas has revised their security protocols.
Tyrian Callows disappeared from a prisoner transport due to a sudden appearance of Grimm.
Salem is an immortal, undying being with the ability to control the grimm.
Magical relics are located underneath each Huntsmen Academy with the exception of Beacon.
The location of the relic of choice is only known to Oz
Leonardo Lionheart, headmaster of Haven Academy, provided the cover identities for Cinder and her followers, Emerald and Mercury.
Lionheart has been determined to be in league with Salem from further evidence found by Qrow and the rest of the Oz's conspirators
Emerald and Mercury are incarcerated under the watch of Atlas.

Conjecture:

All conspirators aside from 'H' can be identified and placed.
Tyrian recruited Cinder sometime in the past, likely just after the murder of her step-mother and step-sisters. Possibly hunting the Huntsman Rhodes who was also found dead at the scene.
Watts is unlikely to reside in Atlas with the increase in security and surveillance.
Watts and Salem have other safehouses not connected to the conspiracy.
Oz plans on capturing Lionheart to compel answers out of him, failing that his assassination is already planned.
Salem desires the relics, though her end-goal remains unclear.
Salem's control of the grimm is located in some way, likely by distance.
Salem can create new varieties of grimm and enhance them with magical properties.

Leads:

Watts and Tyrian, despite their capabilities, can't realistically expect to remain entirely under the radar. Enough investigation into various reports and footage should turn up something eventually.
Reports of strange grimm behavior may provide some insight into where exactly Salem herself has been traveling.
Salem and her conspirators are unlikely to remain entirely passive. Looking into occurrences in the Kingdoms may provide a lead of what they're planning next.

Missing Maiden

Facts:

The previous maiden was Orchid Moutan, a girl who was evidently not suited to being thrust into such a powerful and dangerous position.
Moutan ran away from Haven Academy over a decade ago.
Moutan has not been seen back at her village or in any villages in the area.
Bandit tribes and nomad groups are in the area. Among them the Branwen tribe
Strange weather patterns were observed over in Western/Southwestern Mistral a few months after her disappearance
Said weather patterns diminished in severity until suddenly picking up again.
Said weather patterns were spread out over the geography of Western/Southwestern Mistral
A survivor from one of the Branwen's raids affirmed in their testimony the usage of powers similar to that of a maiden.
In a conversation, Raven Branwen did not deny that the maiden is a part of her group.

Conjecture:

Moutan likely was heading back to her village only to run into some sort of tribe or nomadic group in the area and fall in with them.
The strange weather patterns could be because of Moutan practicing her powers.
The resumption in severity is indicative that Moutan died and her powers transferred to someone else.
The range of which the weather patterns were observed indicates that whoever the maiden was did not stay in one place.
The previous could be deliberate, though more likely that the maiden is also a part of a nomadic group.
The Branwen's would have knowledge and arguable motive to recruit the Spring Maiden.
Going by Raven's words she is most likely the new Spring Maiden.

Leads:

With how certain I am that Raven is the Spring Maiden, all I need to do is look into her activity enough and I'm sure I'll find some example where she's slipped up and used her powers explicitly.

Dust Robberies of Vale:

VPD Report:

This particular investigation into the thief Roman Torchwick began a week after a train robbery at first suspected and then later confirmed to have been perpetrated by the White Fang. Due to a previous lack of connection the start of Torchwick's crime spree was at first attributed to either him appeasing his ego or in an attempt of profit similar to his attempts to steal and monopolize the coffee supply of Vale. Thanks to this, early resources were misallocated to tracking where the Dust was being sold in Vale. While this resulted in the capture of a number of smugglers and gray market dealers, it did not prove fruitful in tracking him down.

Torchwick's escapades had more of an effect on the city than just wasting the VPD's resources and costing shops some money. The price of Dust rose to just over 400% what it was going for in other Kingdoms which had some impacts that the city is still wrestling with the aftermath of. I haven't been able to look too heavily into it, but reports show that operations conducted by the Valean Guard in the surrounding countryside with an increase of Perimeter Defense missions being posted on the mission boards.

These missions were largely taken up by the resident Huntsmen with a consummate decrease in other missions being accepted, particularly those more than a day or two walk away from Vale as rates for transit and fuel increased due to the shortage. Additionally Search and Destroy and Bounty missions had the lowest acceptance rate during this period falling to the lowest level since the founding of the Academies and institution of the mission board system.

That does bring into question how much of those affects were intentional on the part of Torchwick, Cinder, Watts, and now Salem. It's hard to determine how much or little they're actually planning out their moves, but I can't imagine they were entirely unaware of how they'd be weakening Vale's defenses in the short term. Even if it doesn't play into their larger plan it serves well enough as a distraction, pulling away resources as Huntsmen are encouraged and incentivized to pick up the missions that were left by the wayside with increased payouts.

In regards to a similar issue, early reports to the VPD were redacted on account of the involvement of men from the Xiong family and public reports bore no mention of these men nor the fact that some of the perpetrators were known to the police. The exact reason as to why has been chalked up to corruption and/or intimidation of certain individuals as well as a sentiment that it was best to not disturb the peace and risk inviting the grimm so close to the Vytal Festival.

Others protested this decision, but the partnership between Torchwick and the Xiong family ended before it could reach a conclusion when he came to an agreement with the White Fang. At the time it was unknown why either of the two would partner with the other and only with the testimony of Torchwick has it been revealed that the White Fang was paying him to smuggle the Dust out of Vale for their own uses. In revelation that much of the Dust that has been transported out of the city are of the explosive variety officers are advised to be on the lookout for bombs or the threat of them.

As far as I'm aware there are no plans to release this information to the public at all and the report is for internal usage only. Trust in the VPD is in a precarious state right now with many questioning why they didn't catch Torchwick sooner and the sheer amount of arrests and reprimands due to corruption being both a triumph and admonishment for the VPD. Even with the precautions it's more or less an open secret amongst the stations and it's only a matter of time until someone speaks up or the press catches wind of things.

Torchwick's spree would continue on for almost two months without much of a breakthrough until Liuetenant Flint received a tip off from one of his informants later revealed to be now Officer Rovere. At first unsubstantiated, but upon further investigation it was revealed that the White Fang was using the under-staffed Agricultural District gates to leave and enter the city with quantities of Dust on their person.

Very few of these individuals were arrested even after cycling more resources to better police the area as their ties to the White Fang could not be definitively proven in most instances and they were not carrying any other form of contraband. Despite this reports of lone faunus or groups of them would slowly peter out as it was suspected that Torchwick caught on to the investigation and took steps to prevent detection.

Regardless, enough evidence and reports accumulated to show that their point of origin, and Torchwick's likely base of operations, was located in the Industrial District, another fact confirmed by Officer Rovere's private investigation. It was suspected that there was another way the Dust was leaving the city, due to the foot-trafficking not accounting for the amount of Dust stolen. With Torchwick's testimony as well as the small fleet of bullheads the White Fang had in their possession it has been determined that a mix of airships and naval ones were used to smuggle the rest of the Dust out of Vale.

A lot of this is unsurprising, carrying Dust is not a crime no matter the crime spree that's ongoing and Torchwick, or someone else, was bound to notice an uptick of cops along their routes. That bit about using bullheads or airships to move Dust is news to me. It isn't entirely unsubstantiated, but I'm pretty sure the majority of Dust was moved by boat with the bullheads being a recent addition courtesy of Cinder. Really the biggest surprise is finding out that Flint's official rank is Lieutenant, but I suppose that explains why he has his own office while the majority of officers and detectives just have a desk.

Things would settle into a holding pattern where Torchwick continued evading police patrols and investigations until Officer Rovere provided another tip-off. This time a list collated from information held by the Xiong family. The list was a reference sheet to the associates, contacts, and informants of the Xiong family and included a sizable number of then current VPD officers. After receiving this information Lieutenant Flint discussed matters with Officer Rovere and the latter was accepted into the VPD on a provisional basis after the relevant paperwork was submitted.

The list provided was not enough to prompt any arrests, but it did prompt a request to the council in order to investigate the CCTS records and determine the truth of the matter. This resulted in a litany of hard-evidence of corruption for cases which are still ongoing and more pertinently revealed some officers leaking information to Torchwick. Eventually this would culminate in the combined operation of the VPD and Huntsmen that resulted in the capture of Torchwick, his associate Neoploitan, and his base of operations. Officer Rovere is credited as the liaison for the Huntsmen forces as well as for the knowledge of Torchwick's whereabouts and plans for that evening.

Shortly after this operation concluded Officer Rovere put in a request to interrogate Roman Torchwick and it was approved despite his inexperience and lack of training on interrogation techniques. The manpower shortage following the purge of corrupt elements within the VPD is the key cause behind this decision with additional mitigating factors being Officer Rovere's familiarity with the suspect and the stipulation that the interrogation would be overseen by a member of Beacon's staff. Unfortunately no transcript or audio of the interrogation exists, but afterwards Officer Rovere indicated that Roman Torchwick would be amenable to a plea deal of some description.

From what I've heard going around Torchwick has been cooperating primarily with the recent issues involving Spider and Wave. For the most part he's playing dumb on exactly how much he knew about what the White Fang were up to as well as only vaguely alluding to Cinder, never bringing her up directly.

Once the prospect of the White Fang collecting explosive Dust to possibly use in bombs was brought up Torchwick swore up and down that if he knew about that he would have stopped them or revealed their plot to the police. I didn't think this would convince very many people on the force, but he brought up how he apparently revealed Spider's spy plot involving the now defunct Lady Browning's Preparatory Academy For Girls. He even mentions the Vale News Network reporter, Lisa Lavender, and she corroborates that he did indeed give her the information and that led to the foiling of the plot and dissolution of the academy.

If I had to guess, I'd say there's more than a little bit of revisionism going on here. Torchwick certainly isn't the kind of guy to care about much else other than saving his own skin so I imagine there was more to whatever happened than him acting out of the goodness of his heart. It does, however, earn him a few sympathizers and helps dull the criticism of his detractors. I imagine he'll keep playing it up for as long as it benefits him, but there's not much I can do about the situation.

Being such a prominent and leading figure into the investigation has led to a number of questions and scrutiny both from the public and from members within the VPD. Most revolve around how he acquired his information, the ethics by which he did so, and the ethics of the VPD for accepting evidence that could have potentially been acquired illegally.

An investigatory probe was launched to ensure there was no wrongdoing by any of the parties involved and cleared that there was no case for misconduct. Officer Rovere's private investigations only provided intelligence on where Torchwick was acting and was not used as proof of his crimes. Any further investigations into if Officer Rovere broke the law, willingly or otherwise, during his private investigation has been declined with manpower shortages cited as the cause.

I haven't personally dealt with any of this scrutiny just yet. After the initial glow of the operation I guess people started wondering how involved I was and used my absence from Vale as an opportunity to look into the matter. Thankfully, Frost and Flint seemed to have put an end to their foolishness. Not that I'd give them very good odds at finding anything incriminating, I was careful with disclosing what information I did. The only thing that I can think of that someone might find if they look deep enough is Yang and I tearing up Junior's club.

The Apprehension of Adam Taurus:

VPD Report:

In the interest of brevity this report will not concern itself with duplicate details from the Roman Torchwick investigation nor will it involve itself in the apparent conflict of interest brought from Lieutenant Rovere's newfound leadership of the Valean branch of the White Fang.

While such connection can be concerning to some it is a separate matter that has already been investigated and is monitored in case the situation changes. Instead this report concerns itself with information not gone over in the Torchwick investigation, background information, and the timeline conducted after Torchwick's apprehension.

The start of our timeline begins a week prior to Torchwick's involvement with the robbery of an SDC aligned train and a sabotage of the network. Undetonated bombs were recovered from the scene, planted close to where the Dust was stored. Some were detonated, likely in an attempt to damage the SDC's finances or infrastructure. The reasons why are both readily apparent and revealed to be personally motivated by later developments.

I'll admit, I wasn't aware that the original plan was to blow up the train or that some of the explosives went off anyway. Blake never brought it up and what sources I could find didn't mention the attack on infrastructure either. However, it does make a degree of sense. The influx of Dust was greatly delayed by this strike and Atlas, nominally in charge of security, spent far longer than I would expect to re-secure the rail line.

Such evidence indicates that the theft of the Dust was not the primary concern for the White Fang. It is possible that a change in circumstances impacted the decision making of Adam Taurus, then leader of the Valean branch, and resulted in his grander plan for the city of Vale.

This likely resulted in his need for a partnership with Roman Torchwick. Although, going by his testimony he was paid to do so. Tracking the source of these financials has proven troublesome for the VPD and the issue was wrapped up before the matter could be presented to the council.

It is unknown how much knowledge or involvement Lieutenant Rovere may or may not have had with these events. Involvement is likely to be minimal based on the timeline available and when Lieutenant Rovere arrived in Vale.

Such is not considered to be ironclad proof, and lacking anything to connect him, it has been decided there is no need to look into the matter. If Lieutenant Rovere has any information about the event or who was involved he has exercised his rights granted by the Vytal Peace Accords.

Regardless, such an event was determined to be under the jurisdiction of the Valean Guard and no official resources were assigned by the VPD. It was not until reports of White Fang grunts assisting Roman Torchwick with his robberies that the VPD got involved. Initial efforts were stymied by a variety of factors. Two amongst them stand out as the largest.

The first was the recent connection and relationship between Torchwick and the men of the Xiong family. The second was the dying favor and misconception from the officers concerning the White Fang and their previous administration under Ghira Belladonna.

While it was recognized that there was a change in leadership as well as how the organization generally conducted itself, such changes were not readily apparent to common officers. Most WF violent tendencies were focused on Atlas and Mistral, Kingdoms that 'deserved' the retribution in the minds of many, or constrained to the outskirts and wilderness of Vale; thus not known to many officers at the time. This ideation of the WF did not impact all officers equally, but its contribution to the delay in activity cannot be ignored.

This doesn't seem all that likely to me. The leadership and common composition of the VPD has never been strongly in favor of the faunus. I can't discount that it had some impact, but to say it was a leading secondary cause for the delay doesn't sit right with me either.

More likely this is an attempt by the VPD to excuse their earlier incompetence and perhaps explain away why there's a closer relationship between the Union and them than there really should be. After all, the common conception would be that my leadership is more similar to Ghira's than not. No matter how much I try to point out that I'm not the same, actions speak louder than words.

With Torchwick's crime spree ongoing, there were more official resources devoted to solving the case and subsequently also to track down more of the WF's involvement and proliferation of Vale. The latter goal was clearly of lesser priority to the officers on the grounds and the Captains of various precincts.

This is not to say that no effort was expended, or that it was not above the norm, but results drastically fell below what was expected by our internal measurements. Such measures were considered outdated and cast to the wayside following the internal purge following the CCTS records investigation and considered concluded with the arrest of Roman Torchwick.

This would not last for long; a month later the internal cohesion of the Valean White Fang disintegrated. Three broad factions formed from this chaos with two of them soon rallying and coalescing behind Lieutenant Rovere's leadership. The third was identified as the instigators behind the Valean branch's sudden rise in aggression and followed Adam Taurus.

Resources were still spread thin due to the recent loss of manpower and furthermore by the intervention of Mistrali crime syndicates Spider and Wave. However, the third extreme split of the White Fang was eventually edged out of the city by the more moderate factions and considered a non-threat.

During this time it should be noted that Lieutenant Rovere and the men under him began complying with and assisting VPD efforts around the city which was instrumental for a restoration of stability. After which it was then revealed, due to Lieutenant Rovere's personal investigation, the location of Adam Taurus and his plan to attack the defenses of Vale for what appears to be ideological motivations.

Such motivations were not shared by all of the men apprehended at his base in Mountain Glenn, but anti-human sentiment was a common feature and has been presented to the courts as circumstantial evidence for their eventual trials.

Said suspects were apprehended with the assistance of Lieutenant Rovere, his team OAAK, and his organization. Of which included the notable members of Maple Minerva and Blake Belladonna. The inclusion of the latter was approved with nebulous reasons as to why. In light of her and Lieutenant Rovere's relationship an investigation has been opened to determine if any misconduct has occurred in this instance.

This is news to me though that doesn't mean it hasn't happened. I suppose it could be taken as them not finding anything explicit enough to warrant questioning me in purpose. Still, it's not a nice reminder that my personal life gets picked apart like this. Then again, with the circumstances as they are I can see how an initial read of the situation would imply that this was a mixing of business and personal affairs.

The VPD were included as a defensive role in order to prevent escapees and hold off the grimm with the usage of armed bullheads. Such a measure was approved because of the recent purge and the assurance that no members of the VPD would inform the suspects ahead of time. Something that could not be guaranteed for the Valean Guard.

Again another fabrication of the VPD. They went with me because of the favor trading I conducted and a chance at glory for themselves. This is just the excuse given for why we didn't go through the proper channels. It also completely fails to entertain the idea of approaching Oz for his help. He has just as much, if not greater, an obligation to defend Vale as the VPD and no one is going to take the accusation that he couldn't be trusted seriously. I suppose as Oz's protege and the provisional licenses we were ostensibly his representatives by default.

As such, most of the fighting and apprehension of the suspects was conducted by members of the Valean White Fang and provisional Huntsmen OAAK + Belladonna. Many of the former had received training with the VPD as a part of the watch program instituted by the Faunus Relations Task Force that Lieutenant Rovere was and is a member of. Additionally, while still Huntsmen in training, members of OAAK + Belladonna were all provisional Huntsmen under the accreditation of Beacon Academy and thus there were law enforcement officers present during this altercation.

As far as reports can tell, no grievous misconduct occurred and all individuals involved performed admirably despite the loss of life. Three members under Lieutenant Rovere's command and twenty-one under that of Adam Taurus. Such losses are considered favorable considering the severity of Taurus' plan and the man's capture by Lieutenant Rovere.

The suspect in question was received with a broken aura, minor damage to the head, and a brand over his left eye with the letters 'SDC.' The former two are attested to by Lieutenant Rovere's report. Both are argued to be necessary because of the situation and the continued resistance of the suspect after breaking his aura. No other witnesses exist to corroborate this sequence of events, but since no permanent harm was done it has been logged as a minor incident and dismissed accordingly.

It is somewhat interesting that the report notes grievous misconduct. That implies that there was some level of misconduct involved. Something that we can neither prove did or did not happen. In fact this whole thing is written with a sort of passivity on the VPD's part.

I would expect them to talk up their contribution more, but the circumstances didn't really allow for them to cover themselves with glory. This could be a cause for resentment or perhaps they just want to distance themselves from my image and that of the Union.

The brand, however, explains partly the motivation behind Taurus' actions. It does not provide insight into why the rest of his men would follow his plan. In fact many expressed surprise or doubt when Adam's brand was first mentioned before becoming incensed at the proof provided.

As best can be surmised, loyalty to Taurus was due to one of three factors: enmity towards humans, genuine loyalty, or fear/coercion. Some tried to plead ignorance as a fourth factor, but such has been considered too unlikely considering the squatting in Mountain Glenn's tunnel network and the presence of bombs and high amounts of explosives on the Glenn-Vale line.

Additionally, knowledge of Taurus' brand was not released to the general public immediately following the completion of the operation. This was due to a mixture of squabbling amongst the Valean Guard, a desire to rest and recuperate, and as a ploy to delay public outrage among the Kingdoms until the authorities of each Kingdom was informed and given ample time to prepare themselves accordingly.

A measure that proved useful in controlling the subsequent chaos and no significant rioting was reported across Vale. Lieutenant Rovere is partly responsible for this as well due to his leadership amongst the faunus, communication with the public, relationship with Weiss Schnee, and personal investigation into the matter. However, since the suspect is in Mistral it is not a matter for the VPD to involve itself further.

The court cases for many of the suspects have been logged into the system, but with the influx of suspects from the previous corruption investigation, apprehension of Spider and Wave members, as well as a general slowdown due to the Vytal Festival it will be some time before all cases are heard. Many are still awaiting for their schedule to be determined, with only Adam Taurus having his trial scheduled a week after the Vytal Festival concludes.

Nothing too surprising here, but I would argue that it's possible for some members to have been unaware of the plan. I can't imagine that everyone would have knowledge of the bombs or be allowed anywhere near them. Furthermore, the underground section of Mountain Glenn is much greater than I think most people realize. It is entirely possible for the outskirt guards to believe they're merely defending their brothers and sisters while they work on something important while being unaware of what the grander plan was.

That being said, I find it unlikely that there would be many such people. In a camp that close-knit and relatively small rumors spread like wildfire. That and my own men sounded out people to see who could be influenced and who best to avoid. I imagine if anyone didn't hear the plan, or some variation of it, from their friends then they certainly heard it from my or Sienna's men.

Lastly, the date for Adam's trial is unsurprising. It would be poor form to have the celebration for peace marred by both a reminder of a near attack on civilization and an execution.

Not that I expect either to be a very public affair; public executions were never all that popular outside of olden Mistral and Mantle. A population living in fear just attracts the grimm after all and thus such executions primarily took place after someone proved themselves to be a threat. Otherwise the issue was pushed 'out of mind' so to speak with banishment as the most common punishment during the times. Although that's more of a generality than a hard and fast rule.

Either way, I doubt Adam's trial will last for very long or result in anything other than his death. Probably for the best that I don't plan to be in Vale during the time. Otherwise I imagine my presence would be requested in one degree or the other. Thankfully there's more than enough evidence to ensure a swift conviction without my assistance.

The Cabal of Cinder Fall

Ochre's Report

This is kind of odd. Ochre gave me access to his notes, including this report(?), in order to assist him with the conspiracy. Only this is a lot more put together than that mess of a thought-board he's so crazy about. What he doesn't know is that his previous versions are also accessible with the way he set everything up. Of course they're just as messy as ever, but that's not the point. It's kind of endearing that he decided to clean up his notes for me. Especially since he had to tread over stuff he'd rather not think about.

The start of the investigation into Cinder Fall can arguably be traced back to her attack of the Fall Maiden. An attack that Qrow was apparently responsible for thwarting. Amber has expressed an interest in thanking him in some way, though I haven't kept up with what her plans are other than a loose eye. Probably going to get him a trinket or something.

I know she shares a similar sentiment towards myself though I'm not sure how that will be expressed. I'm still waiting for such. Best guess is that she's waiting until she's settled accounts with Qrow before repaying her supposed debt back to me.

I don't want to say that Ochre doesn't deserve it or that anything untoward is going to happen; I'm just going to keep an eye on that woman. Discounting Ochre's usual charm; he was also the only person she had contact with thanks to his semblance while she was recovering. Being all alone with only Ochre to talk to for hours on end…

My involvement starts with my mission to look into the White Fang as well as my hobby kick-starting my investigation into Torchwick. The head start was nice, though looking at things in retrospect, unneeded in this instance. According to my agents we still had quite a bit of time before Adam's plan would reach completion.

I'm still unsure what exactly Cinder was getting out of the plan aside from a distraction and raising the tension within Vale. I'm simply missing whatever pieces are supposed to tie this together and Cinder didn't leave us with any notes to work with. It's clear enough that her goal was likely the full acquisition of the Fall Maiden's power, but that doesn't explain if that would be the end of it or what her motivation could have been.

I think he might be missing the obvious here. Who's to say that she had any sort of grand plan at all? I didn't interact with her much, but I've known more than a few people who just wanted to tear the world down because of what they've been through.

There is the obvious conclusion that it feeds into Salem's plans and her apparent desire for the relics. However, that doesn't mean that Cinder agreed with those aims. It's just as likely that she could have been seeking naked power and never planned on cooperating further. Although that goes out the window slightly based on how she siphoned Amber's power.

We only have a brief description from Qrow, but apparently she had some sort of grimm to assist her. Unidentified by all accounts though he wasn't particularly focused on what the thing looks like. Oz notes that Salem does have the ability to control and morph the grimm to some degree. That means this is likely a new creation, as terrifying as that is to consider.

I have to agree. The grimm are bad enough on their own, but are usually solitary. Different breeds of grimm don't usually interact well with others. If Salem can modify the grimm to her whim then she could potentially design new variants that cover each other's weaknesses and work together. The only thing getting in the way of that is the generally low intelligence of grimm, but that's something that can be solved with enough time I'm sure. I hate how I'm thinking through things from her perspective.

It does bring up the question of how exactly the grimm was able to interface with Amber in the first place. Grimm don't react well to aura in general nor do they have the capability of affecting someone's soul according to Oz. At least under normal circumstances. Best anyone can guess is that Salem imbued the creation with magic much like Oz did the maidens in the first place.

That's good because it implies she had to make the same sacrifice as he did and is thus limited in this tactic. Although it's also bad in the sense that Oz theorizes that it would be a small amount of her overall power. Much easier to use his normal method of inheritance and pervert it rather than distribute the power wholesale. James and Atlas were able to make something that was supposed to do something similar.

I'm surprised that he just glosses over that like that isn't something horrifying. We're talking about something that can steal someone's aura, their very soul, in the hands of Atlas. The Ochre who first arrived at Beacon would be frothing at the mouth because of something like this. I guess Weiss has done a lot to mollify his opinions towards Atlas…

Whether it actually worked is another question, though it presents another more horrifying alternative. Is there anything stopping Salem from inheriting the power of a maiden?

I'm sure Oz has set up a safeguard so she is specifically excluded even if she somehow qualifies as a 'young woman.' Her age certainly wouldn't make me think so, however, I can't discount that her immortality may make things more difficult. However, if she already has the ability to grant a transfer of the power remotely, what could she accomplish in-person?

I can't imagine that Oz hasn't considered that possibility so there might be further safeguards in place. Nor do I think Salem wouldn't have attempted such all on her own. The fact that the maiden system hasn't fallen apart before this is evidence enough that this isn't a major concern.

I don't have anything to say to the contrary. I just find it funny how the structure of this all plays out. It's like he was writing his notes and then came across a worrying possibility that he then had to convince himself was impossible. He's most certainly more concerned than his words imply. I should probably talk to Professor Ozpin and get a definitive answer so he doesn't have to worry.

Whatever the reason may be it's not something I can affect nor does it help with locating her cabal in the first place. Not that anything from this mess really helps with that. I know, or at least suspect, that Cinder was working with Arthur Watts and that it was his charity that was bankrolling her operations in vale. This includes the hotel she, Emerald, and Mercury were staying at until the start of the second semester. However, that doesn't give me any clues on what he's up to or where he is. Cinder certainly isn't talking; neither is Emerald.

Mercury is much more cooperative, as is Torchwick. Although both know nothing of value. I suspect the same is true for Adam, though he's also unwilling to say much. Which, honestly, is a blessing in this instance. We don't need to deal with the fallout of the VPD gaining an interest in the conspiracy. It wouldn't be the end of the world; just a good thing we don't have to deal with that additional pressure.

Either way, all of them are locked up with Torchwick and Mercury getting the better of the deals. Arguably Mercury comes off the best out of everyone for now. He didn't even provide much assistance, just the deal I cut him and he gets to live in stringent, albeit slightly comfortable, house arrest. However, Torchwick was negotiating for two even if Neo's involvement with Cinder is more speculative than the rest.

Emerald is much worse off. She's kept in a largely automated holding facility in the wilderness of Atlas, far from any population centers. Her only human contact is the occasional soldier and other inmates. Said inmates are also involved with the conspiracy, but like her, their crimes aren't serious enough to warrant an outright execution. The hope is that they, and by extension her as well, will eventually crack and reveal something during the routine interrogations.

I'm not sure if that's actually paid off by now. I imagine this sort of arrangement is more for Oz and James' conscience than any practical benefit. Still, it provides the option of checking in on them when I'm in Atlas. Although I think I'd be a particularly poor choice in that regard.

Emerald hasn't been taking her change in circumstances well. More morose and depressed than anything else. It appears she's either figured out that Cinder has died or that she's been abandoned by her. I can't imagine the truth helps here or my involvement in such.

I'm not sure what to make of most of this. To start with his relationship with Torchwick and that Neo girl. It would be hypocritical of me to say he shouldn't bother, but I don't like it. He may pretend that it isn't a big deal to him and they're just criminals. However, I know my boyfriend. He gets attached to people even if he doesn't want to admit it

Then there's how he was involved in Cinder's death. He said he didn't feel much because of that and while I believe him I also think he's holding that against himself more than a little. Maybe not because of his feelings or the lack of them, but if she really mattered so little he wouldn't make a note of it.

It's not like Emerald would know that he's responsible for what happened to Cinder and I know he's good enough to make it seem like he was uninvolved. I wouldn't call it guilt; I'm not sure what I'd call it, but I'll help him through it all the same.

The only other lead we have into the conspiracy is Leonardo Lionheart. The headmaster of Haven Academy provided the cover identities for our trio, and Neo as well I suspect. Maybe she would have something to tell me if I didn't catch her as early as I did. She certainly seems like the type to butt her nose in other people's business. Although I suppose it's for the best.

I can't imagine Torchwick would have been too cooperative without her detainment. She also would have made apprehending the trio problematic as two illusionists would be very troublesome to deal with. And I can admit having her help with Merlot was more than a little instrumental in that entire operation going well.

This is what I mean. There's no need to bring up Neo and Torchwick again in this report. He's already noted that they didn't have anything to contribute. Well, more explicitly with that girl in this section, but it's still not necessary. This is more reminiscing on a 'what could have been' than anything else. Although more in the sense that he's thankful things didn't turn out this way.

As to where Leo slots into all this is otherwise unknown. To Oz it has to be a recent development, though I'm not going to pretend that he and I operate on the same time scale for what is recent. At the very least he has turned up enough evidence that he's convinced Leo has to be removed from the board. Something that he's in the process of taking care of, though I'm not sure how that's going to be pulled off. I suspect he's going for a capture to get answers from Leo directly. Not that he'll let Leo get away if capturing him isn't feasible

It's not really the subject of the report, but I know Ochre feels the same. It fucking sucks that the one faunus headmaster turns out to be a traitor. How much of a disaster would this be for this to get out? Honestly it's so infuriating and even more so with the rising tensions in Mistral. Neither of us know who Professor Ozpin plans on having as the next headmaster.

So few of our people have positions of power in Mistral. While Huntsmen work is more balanced in that representation that doesn't make it a sure thing. Especially since whoever it is has to be approved by the Mistrali council. Could he push through his pick regardless? Probably. But would he burn his influence to do so?

Merlot Machinations

Ochre's Report

Blake handed this off to me in order to review it for anything concerning. Little wonder why with how Ochre starts this little report of his. All the charm in the world to spare in person but far too blunt in his prose. I get that he wants to get to the salient points quickly, but he wrote this so she could help him. That doesn't happen if he scares her off with the first sentence.

Adam's brand is what kicked off this whole mess. Kind of funny to think about in retrospect, but even if it didn't lead to something so major I was going to look into it anyway. Although, the pressure to get results quickly may have had a favorable outcome on the investigation. Truthfully, things would have been way more convenient for me if I had just killed him down in those tunnels.

...Okay, I can kind of see where Blake is coming from with some of her comments. Like there's no way he doesn't realize this paints him in a bad light. It's almost like he wants us to find some sort of fault with him. The only solace I can find is that this was written before that big talk we had with him. I can only hope that he's gotten it through his thick head that we love him and will stop doing stupid things like this.

Still, Adam's testimony provided a good starting off point. From there I was able to narrow down where he received his brand and subsequently escaped from. An off the books SDC work camp run by Mulberry. There isn't a clear story as to what happened, but as best as I can piece together it goes something like this:

Adam was working at the camp under unclear circumstances. His family could have been there, but there's a lack of evidence to point to that. He could have ended up there for a multitude of reasons. However, going by what I know, he must have been at the camp for a few years and he was only a teenager when he received his brand. I'm unsure how exactly that works out with SDC protocol.

Officially it shouldn't, but as I've come to learn the criticisms against our labor practices have more truth to them than lies. Especially in Mistral. Atlas is little better from what I can tell, but Father doesn't let me rummage around his affairs easily. That and most of the workers in Atlas are with the refineries rather than any mining work.

One day he ran afoul of Mulberry, or his head of security. I suspect that he caught a glimpse of or was snooping around their dealings with Merlot. Possibly looking for some way to escape. There's a certain sense in that since Merlot's ships may have seemed like they would be easier to sneak onto than the regular, more heavily manned, SDC vessels. Either way he received a brand over his left eye for his troubles.

Yes, that absolute travesty. I'm not going to even try to fathom a guess as to who thought a brand with the letters 'SDC' was a good idea. Honestly, I can think of no better way to mar our reputation. If it wasn't for the evidence Ochre found I'd have said this was a deliberate attempt to smear our name by our competitors.

Really this whole endeavor is poorly thought out and only a detriment to the company. There was no need to run an off-the-books camp when we could have simply purchased the mineral rights. All this pain and suffering to save a few Lien and we ended up losing much more than that because of this debacle.

From there he was more or less an outcast as far as I can tell. Maybe not wholly out of maliciousness, though I doubt that was much of a balm to him. Or even something he considered. However, this led to a deliberate ignoring of his presence that I believe allowed him to escape.

I sent my men to investigate the camp which had since been destroyed by some sort of grimm attack. Many of the guards and workers there perished with only a select few surviving by hiding away in an underground panic room. When relief finally came to them, they attempted to destroy as much evidence as they could, but the act of a sentimental member ensured that enough could survive to provide a connection between Mulberry and Merlot at this time which was ultimately helpful in mollifying public opinion.

Is this something he has to deal with on a regular basis? I certainly hope not. Knowing Ochre he would have looked over the evidence in obsessive detail even the more macabre bits. Just overlooking all that death and destruction, even after so long, can't be good.

With the help of Weiss and Whitley, we were able to uncover more instances of Mulberry and Merlot's relationship as well as portray Mulberry as the culprit behind the branding. This was somewhat corroborated by a pair of witnesses we were able to find and secure before anything could happen to them. Although that's more to do with our endeavors to salvage the reputation of the SDC than dealing with Merlot who's the more interesting of the two.

I really haven't shown him enough of my appreciation for what he did for me. I know just how much of himself he was putting on the line to defend me. Maybe a nice night just the two of us is in order. And a long morning after.

Those kinds of thoughts aside, he really has done a lot to help us with our reputation…and as a family. It's the first time I've seen Whitley and Winter cooperate on anything. Although Winter had hardly any input on the course of things. Ochre was simply too expedient with his investigation for her to help out at all.

I suppose Mother offered to help in her own way, but her assistance is more useful for dealing with Father. Something to go over with Ochre while we're at the estate.

As far as anyone can tell he really had no connection to the conspiracy at large. That doesn't mean he wasn't dangerous. The man was experimenting with grimm and is a large reason for why Mountain Glenn fell. An event that had him in hiding and conducting his research in the shadows.

We were only able to find him because of his long-running partnership with Mulberry. The latter would provide him with the Dust he needed. Particularly necessary because the islands Merlot established his bases were lacking in Dust deposits. Not wholly devoid of them, but hardly enough for his needs. He would probably expend more Dust having his bots mine exclusively for the substance than he'd get back.

He's not wrong. Many of those islands to the North are under the loose claim of Vale and are thus under my purview in the SDC. It only took a cursory look at the survey data to determine that any operations would operate at a vast loss and they were poor enough to not warrant a second look even with the increase in technology since said surveys were conducted. Factor in the distance, the expertise needed, and having to fight off the grimm and it's just not worth it.

Even with solely automated workers and defenders the margins would be far too thin. Although, I understand that this Merlot was quite apt with his advances. It isn't often that Atlas is impressed with anyone else's work, much less Winter.

There isn't much more to be said about the matter as it was really just a matter of drudgery to locate the bases in the first place. I had to employ the services of Raven to locate where he was exactly and provide transport for our operation. The make-up of which included myself, Oz, Glynda, Neo, Cassandra, and Penny with the assistance of Pietro.

I'm not going to presume I know better than Ochre on who was necessary for this excursion. However, I find the way he ends this sentence odd. Like he's listing Penny and her father(?) as a single entity. Could just be a grammatical error, though he's usually more diligent than that. Maybe Blake has some idea what's going on here?

Oz let me take the lead for the most part and in the end I was the one to take care of Merlot. Fortunately, because of this, and with the assistance of Neo, I was able to do so without him raising any alarms or enacting any more drastic measures like sabotaging his research or the facility. This allowed us a pretty significant windfall. Although, as I understand it, Atlas is still working through the spoils and seeing what insights they can learn before they even think of passing it on to the rest of Remnant.

This feels short for how impactful this was supposed to be. Outside of his notes about the camp this report isn't very detailed. Of course it doesn't have to be, Merlot is just a footnote in the end. However, I know Ochre usually has an eye for details which makes it odd that things aren't that way here.

He practically glossed over how exactly he discovered Merlot's base as well as his infiltration. He's hiding something about all this, I just know it. Oh, I know it's nothing 'serious' as he'd describe it. However, that just means that it's something he knows we'd disapprove of. Probably did something stupid no matter how much I've tried to make him promise not to. I swear despite his best efforts he's only going to make me worry about him more.

LloydAbsolon · Feb 8, 2024

Reserved, will be updated once I finally get around to it.

LloydAbsolon · Feb 9, 2024

After the effort of a few minutes my books are dropped off and I'm on my way to the next two locations on my list. A bit of a distance, but fortunately both places are close together. The first is the one I'm least interested in, Milane's Weapons and Parts. Inside the store is a dark-skinned girl, likely Vacuan based on her attire which is an off-yellow half-top and a skirt with a slit on the side held up by a purple sash. Her hair is white and her body is marked with tattoos of suns, moons, and stars. She looks up as I enter, but doesn't bother to say anything. With my Wit's End at my hip she assumes, rightly, that I'm here to browse.

Most of the merchandise is standard non-mechashift guns and blades. The type sold for personal defense in case of grimm. Utterly standard stuff although at a good price, as well as a bunch of parts I wouldn't know what to do with. I only picked up the basics for routine maintenance and never designed my equipment in the first place.

Not that I'm in the market for anything new either, although if I need to make a commission I guess this place could be workable. It's hard to tell honestly as there are a collection of mechashift weapons in a display case with security shutters, but I lack the ability to evaluate if they're of higher quality than my current gear. I could find some use for this store if I had to recommend it to someone or get some weapons the quick and somewhat expensive way. Right now though there's nothing for me here.

Across the street is my other target, a Mistrali tea house named Heaven's Delight. The name on the sign is bracketed by three lines on each side and hanging from the front are three Mistrali style lanterns. Something about the sight tickles the back of my brain as I try to remember what it stands for.

Culture Check: Rank: 2 vs Challenge: 2

Final modifier: +0

Dice: 1d100
6 = 6

It's familiar, but I can't remember what it stands for off the top of my head. I step inside for some tea, hoping it'll jog my memory and to rest my legs for a bit. Inside is about what I would expect out of a tea house. Plenty of tables to sit at and not at all crowded at this time of day.

I take a seat and pull out my scroll to see if I can find anything about what I saw. Unfortunately I don't find what I'm looking for immediately. My tea arrives and I tool around a bit longer with my search before giving up. It'll come to me later, or at the worst I can look it up later while I'm looking for news or something. Even a search with my semblance to hopefully make this not a complete waste of time fails to deliver anything useful. Everything is either too distorted or there are not any details present in the first place.

Defeated, I head back to the apartment where I spend most of my time compiling a route of Dust stores to interview and a list of articles to check out. Watching Jasmine takes up more of my time than I'd like, though I have enough to prepare for the weekend properly. Luckily Coral won't have night school during that time so I'm free to pursue my own interests. After a quick night's rest all that's left to do is beat feet and see what I can find out.

Investigation check Skill 3 vs Challenge 1/2/3/4

Final DC: Autopass/25/50/75

Dice: 1d100
34 = 34

It's incredibly easy to find the man responsible, one Roman Torchwick. He hasn't exactly tried to hide his involvement with no precautions to hide his face and the news blaring it for all to see. It's almost like he's inviting the attention for whatever purpose, perhaps to stroke his ego. Even then it hasn't stopped him from dancing around the police response; getting away long before any authorities arrive on scene and retreating to a hideout that hasn't been discovered yet. One big exception is when a Huntress happened to be in the area which still had him leaving before the police showed up. Most likely he has some informants feeding him information or providing sabotage from the inside.

A bit less obvious is Torchwick's activities, both prior and new. Previously he kept to less volatile high value objects like jewelry, precious metals, art, and in one bizarre instance coffee. Only recently has he gone on a tear through the Dust market, cleaning out as much high-quality Dust as he can. Maybe he was incentivized by the train robbery? With that Dust prices are sure to rise and with his thefts they're rising even higher.

If that was the case it doesn't account for the gap in time between when the news reported on the train and the night of the first robbery by Torchwick. There's a gap of a whole week between said reports. While some of that can be chalked up to the need for planning; Torchwick has been hitting one to two, sometimes even three stores a night consistently. There is no reason to assume he needed a whole week to start this spree so something is up, even if I can't put my finger on it.

Moving on to the stores hit, the majority of them are SDC affiliated or insured. This isn't as big of a clue as it might look at first glance. Most high-quality Dust stores are SDC affiliated almost by default since they make it a requirement to purchase certain grades of Dust. With over a seventy percent market share they're virtually a monopoly and it'd be harder to find a store that doesn't sell any Schnee Dust than one that's affiliated.

Any other data I could pull from the stores robbed is muddied by a lack of details. With inventory and response times unavailable to the public it's too difficult to draw any further insight at this time. All that leaves me with is the help. Torchwick wasn't pulling these jobs off on his own. There just isn't any way with the volume of Dust stolen and the transit required. He's left a significant trail of manpower and finding where that leads to is my next step.

Without surveillance footage being released to the public, a move prompted by the SDC to protect their interests and not cause a panic, I'm left with tracking down and talking to the shopkeepers one by one. Not that they make it easy, they try to answer a minimum of questions and when it becomes obvious I'm not there to buy Dust they ask me to leave. I even tried to talk with the owner of Dust2Dust who's store was robbed the night prior. However, competing between repairs, insurance, and the police meant that I wasn't able to ask any meaningful questions.

It takes a while but eventually a picture emerges about Torchwick's helpers. All of them wore black suits, red ties, and red sunglasses. The uniform suggests criminals of the organized variety. I can't find any info on Torchwick being connected with any gang in Vale which points to a likelihood that he's borrowed or hired help from someone else. With that in mind I try to narrow down who these goons belong to.

Criminology check: Rank: 2 vs Challenge: 1

Final modifier +25

Dice: 1d100+25

78 + 25 = 103

It barely takes any time to find that answer as well. A quick description of the grunts popped into a CCT search gave me a number of reviews mentioning people of a similar description at a place called Junior's. A nightclub and possible headquarters of Junior Xiong, the owner. It was so easy to find the information that I can't imagine the police have missed it. Even if Torchwick is the figurehead and ringleader behind these efforts I can't imagine that the police would leave such a lead unfollowed.

That leaves the obvious conclusion, tha the police are on the take or at least enough of them are. If Junior has the police in his pocket it makes sense how easily Torchwick has been dodging them. In addition to this, the official reports omit any mention of Torchwick's helpers only confirming my suspicions. It seems Junior and his organization have grown complacent with how public their information is. They probably don't have any major competitors in the area and with the police on their side see no reason to refine their efforts. That might have worked for them up until now, but I have my own ways around that. At the very least it's a lead for if I decide to follow up on this.

That will have to wait for another time. Tracking down this disparate information has taken up my free time and my flight to Beacon is about to take off. At least it was a nice distraction from my duties with the Fang. I could continue looking into things, but I decide to take a break instead. Got to make sure I'm rested and ready for whatever happens. That mainly entails messing about on my scroll and seeing if anyone catches my eye. Granted I'm not certain which of these people will actually pass initiation so I'm unsure how much I should bother with them.

Over in a corner with her back against the wall is a girl in an old naval uniform. Her eyes are darting all across the room trying to keep watch of everyone. (3)

There's a blonde girl talking with a girl in a red hood. The red one looks pretty young though. Probably just moral support wishing her friend luck at Beacon. (2)

There's a boy and a girl next to each other with similarly brown hair and eyes. Probably siblings if I had to guess. (1)

Someone is curled up around a book in the corner. The universal body language of: don't bother me. It might be fun to mess with them a bit. (0)

There's an orange-haired girl bothering a guy with a pink stripe in his hair. The bonds of brotherhood demand I help him out. (0)

Someone has attracted quite the crowd around them. Not that I can tell who it is with everyone in the way. Though someone with that much attention on them is worthwhile to check out (0)

I spend a bit of time scanning the room in between bouts of playing with my scroll. I spot more than a few colorful characters or the effects of one in the case with a crowd gathering around them. Still, none of them are like the girl I set my sights on. While everyone else is excited or anxious she's the only one who seems outright terrified. There's a bulky case blocking off a side of her which further closes her off. The case is either her luggage or weapon, I could check but I won't bother.

As for the girl herself she has short, uneven, and utterly unruly hair that's white like the puffy dress shirt she wears. Said shirt is mostly covered by a long blue coat, the type that wouldn't be out of place on a Mistrali captain during the age of sail. Her teal eyes lock onto me as I make my approach. Obviously she's wound up tight, acting more like a cornered animal than a being possessed of reason.

I take a seat some distance away from her. Although even this action has her startled and trying to scoot away. She runs into the case next to her and is unable to get any further away. She whips her head back around seemingly not understanding how her position could have trapped her.

Okay, I have to take this easy and let her open up a bit. "Hey, I'm Ochre. What's your name?" Not a winner by any metric, but I'll see if she bites.

It takes her a moment as her eyes continue to drill into me and she lets the question hang. A few seconds more has her relax, however infinitesimally, and tear her eyes off of me. She's looking at the rest of the room instead of me when she answers, "Marina." The clipped answer appears to be all that she's willing to give until she suddenly appends woodenly, "Nice to meet you."

It's not much but it's progress, so I give her a bit more to latch onto. "Excited for Beacon? We're going to be split into teams tomorrow. Have you given any thought about who you'd like to be bunking with for the next four years?"

It doesn't take her as long to answer the second time. However, it's as if she's carefully searching for the right words. "Someone…strong…I guess. Someone that knows what they're doing more than me." The words aren't promising though it seems like it was a good question to ask as she's stopped looking around the room and focused on me. She's still jumpy but progress is being made, however little that may be.

Steer the conversation towards friends and family. Maybe reminding her of loved ones will settle some nerves. (4)

Talk shop about weapons and grimm. If she's heading to Beacon she's going to have something to say on the topic. (4)
(Due to this tie I decided to sort of combine the top two options)

Ask if she likes boats, she seems like the type (1)

Just start talking about myself. Something's got her rattled and not pressing her might be the best way to get her to open up or at least calm down. (1)

Steer the conversation towards where she's from. A more neutral topic and thoughts of home might be just what she needs. (0)

Ask her why she's going to Beacon. If she's this frightened just on an airship, how will she handle dealing with grimm. (0)

Keep going with the teams bit. Ask her what's her ideal team, try to get her mind off whatever's bothering her. (0)

"So…"I trail off leadingly and take a second to think. "What kind of weapon do you have? Mine is a shotgun-rapier with a rifle transformation." I tap my hip where Wit's End is hanging off.

Marina doesn't respond for a second then she gives me a small smile. The transition was a bit sudden like she had to process what the right response should be. "Let me show you," she starts reaching for her case, seeking to open it up before stopping herself. "Actually, the people here told me not to take it out until we get to Beacon." I tilt my head, asking a question without saying a word. A gesture that puzzles the girl until she hesitantly adds, "They're intimidated by it." She fixes me with a look while her hands hover over the latches regardless.

"That's fine, I'm sure I'll see it in action soon enough. Just tell me about it for now."

She quickly puts her hands in her lap and starts speaking with an energy in her voice that was, until now, lacking. "It's an anchor. I modeled it after the ship's so that's what it is. It has a chain so I can throw it and pull it back. It also helps when shifted into a cannon. I've skewered a lot of feilongs with it and pulling them in by the chain is fun, just wish I could use it as an anchor more." Marina looks more than a little put out that she hasn't smashed as many grimm as she'd like with her giant anchor.

She's spoken more now than the rest of the conversation so I shoot her some encouragement in the form of a smile. A smile that she mirrors back to me as I continue, "have you given it a name?"

"Bitter End…it's a nautical joke," she says with a weird look on her face. Like she's embarrassed but trying to keep a smile regardless.

"Cool," i say, deciding to push the conversation onto another topic. "Anyone help you with that? Like help making it or show you how to use it?"

"Captain Smoke," she answers confidently like I'm supposed to be aware who that is. She takes my questioning glance to mean something else, "He helped design it. Tried to show me some tricks with his extendable flail. They were less than applicable. But! I learned alot fighting grimm!"

"That's great, sounds like he's a good man."

"Yes…he was," she responds, her tone unchanged but casting her eyes downwards. So that's the issue, or part of it. Not how I'd have preferred to handle things, however she isn't panicking anymore so I'll take it as a win.

"Do you want to talk about it," I offer her the chance to unload.

She gives me a small shake of the head and a quiet, "No." A few minutes later she lifts up her head. Before we can continue our conversation the announcement of our arrival to Beacon chimes in. I gather my stuff and head out while she lifts her case over her shoulder and starts following after me. She keeps two to three steps behind me as we head to the auditorium. It's not too big of a deal since we have to go to the same place anyways, I just hope she doesn't make a habit of this.

Once in the auditorium there isn't much to do except wait until orientation starts. Said orientation ends up being an underwhelming speech from the headmaster, Ozpin, followed by a perfunctory set of instructions for initiation tomorrow from his assistant, Ms. Goodwitch. After that we are all dismissed and allowed to find a spot on the floor to sleep tonight. All the whale Marina sticks close to me. Not quite right on top of me, but always keeping me in her sight and within a few steps if she can help it.

It's still early in the night and with initiation starting tomorrow I think I'll forego any last second training. I'll either flex some more of my social skills or I can turn in early for once, as if. I do spot some people I didn't catch on the airship. Those being a certain heiress, Weiss Schnee, and the Mistral tournament champion, Pyhrra Nikos. Guess that answers where she went instead of Haven.

In addition to that I spot a certain someone with her head in a book. Even if her upper ears are covered I would never fail to recognize the Chief's daughter from anywhere. Blake Belladonna should be a part of the Fang here in Vale under Adam. I don't know how or what she's doing in Beacon, but I'll probably have to deal with her at some point. RIght now she's being bothered by the blonde and the young girl I saw on the airship, now bereft of her red hood. Regardless of what I choose to do I doubt I'll be able to shake Marina so whoever I talk to I'll be bringing a plus one into that conversation.

Maybe I can split blondie and red away from Blake. She might appreciate that and I'm sure they'll be better conversationalists. (5)

That orange-haired girl is still buzzing around that guy with the pink streak in his hair. I could talk with them and see if she'll spend her energy fussing over Marina instead. (4)

Blake is already being bothered by two people. What're another two on top of that? (4)

While I'm not the biggest fan of the Schnees, Weiss is here rather than Atlas. There might be some family division I could profit off of. (3)

No one. Turn in early for once. (2)

There's a blonde guy in a pumpkin pete onesie. His choice of attire has me morbidly curious. (2)

Marina is right next to me. I could keep talking with her and see what else I can learn about her. (2)

Pyrrha is setting up a bit away from everyone else. Now seems like a good time to strike up a conversation before she gets swarmed or goes to sleep. (2)

Those siblings from the airship are still close together. I could go see what their deal is (2)

I have been putting off my investigation into the Fang thus far. I've had my reasons and I'll get around to it when the time is right. Still, no reason not to get my foot in the door when I can. With that in mind I make my way over to Blake. Her usual outfit is traded out for some black and white pajamas. Additionally, as I saw before, it seems she's making an effort to hide her cat ears with a black bow. Sure it matches her hair, but does she really think that's going to work for the next four years?

Maybe she's only doing it for tonight to avoid any hassle. I'm not one to judge, I'd be doing the same right now if I could. Unfortunately I can't wear my hat with my nightwear, it just would go with the outfit. This did reveal my ears to Marina, but if she was surprised or put off by my faunus features she hasn't shown it.

With Marina in tow I approach the cat in the corner and catch the tail end of her conversation, "...almost as lovely as this book." Blake stares at the two girls with an unimpressed look and when it seems they aren't getting the hint she continues. "That I will continue to read," they still aren't getting it, "As soon as you leave."

Time to play the part of the valiant hero, "Hey Blake, are these people bothering you?"

She looks confused for a second before her features smooth out, "I'm sorry, do I know you?" Ouch right in the ego. Sure the last time we met was at the handoff for the Clovers over a year ago, but I thought I stood out enough to warrant some memory. Maybe it's the lack of outfit. Yeah, that must be it; these pajamas just aren't flashy enough for her to remember me.

I could just remind her about that, but three other people and her clear desire to not broadcast her status shoots that down quickly. "Ah, I overheard when you said your name earlier. These ears aren't for show after all." I wiggle my ears, recovering as best as I can. Blake shoots me a suspicious look, but there's not much I can do about that right now.

"You were listening in on us? And here I thought you were as cool as a cat," the blonde says, emphasizing the words 'cool' and 'cat.'

I ignore the base level remark since she's given me an opening to take this conversation elsewhere. "Yes, sorry about that," I say with faux remorse. "It was really more of an excuse to talk with the two of you anyways." I start pulling the conversation away from Blake, which fortunately works with Marina following my lead and the other two following the momentum.

"Huh? Why would you want to talk with us," the other girl asks.

"Why wouldn't I want to talk with you? You," I point to the young girl who has red-tipped black hair and silver eyes, "are a year or two early into Beacon. I assume you have the skills to back it up. That alone makes you exceptional." The girl herself demures, but her friend gets a smile on her face. Blondie probably gets plenty of compliments but her friend doesn't seem as lucky.

Speaking of blondie she has a torrent of hair. So much so that it must be a pain in the neck to drag it all around, literally. "As for you," I point towards her, "I don't doubt that you understand how eye-catching you are with all that hair." I keep my eyes focused up top on her lilac colored eyes or her friends' instead of her, admittedly voluptuous, figure.

"Ah, so you did all that just so you could check me out," blondie replies with some cheek while her friend lets out a muted 'Yaaaang' that neither of us pay attention to.

"I can certainly appreciate beauty in many forms, but no." I swivel my head towards Marina, partly to shift attention to her, partly to make sure she's still there with how quiet she's been. "Marina here has been following me around and I figured she could do with some socialization with someone who isn't me. Blondie, presumably Yang based on her friend's comment, softens as she gives me a look of understanding.

"Gotcha. Well I'm Yang and this is Ruby," she says, nudging the younger girl.

"I'm Ochre, it is a pleasure to meet the both of you." That went about as well as could be expected. Now I just have to figure out how I want this to go.

Topic: Huntsmen business- Talk about what weapons we use and what grimm we've slain. A nice safe topic for everyone involved. (2)

A crowd is fine - talk to everyone if they want to join in they can join in. Taking this route I assume the conversation will be dominated by Yang and I with Ruby chiming in every now and then. Marina might join in, but she seems to need a bit more prompting than the other too. (1)

Split up - I'll push Marina off on one of the girls, it'll be good to force her to get involved in some way plus I can focus my attentions and conversation more if I only have to worry about one person. (+ for Ruby or Yang) (0)

+Ruby (0)

+Yang (0)

Topic: Why Beacon- figure out why they're here, what they plan to get out of it and if their future goals might align with mine. (0)

Topic: About them-talk about personal details, like where they're from and how their family is like. Might be a sore topic for Marina, but not everyone at Beacon has the same baggage, surely. (0)

Topic: Hobbies-Talk about what we like to do in our free time. I personally like to keep up with some conspiracy boards and ARG's, not like I believe them. Plus I might be able to pick their brains about the whole Torchwick business if they know about it. (0)

I choose a safe topic considering I don't know what might upset Marina. "I'm sure the both of you have some stories about grimm, considering where we are."

"Uh-huh, we might," Yang responds unimpressed, "but you're the one who suggest it so spill."

I rack my brain for any interesting stories, or at least ones where I don't have to change too many details. "Well, there was one time where me and a few friends were camping out in the deserts of Vacuo."

"Oh, what were you doing there," Yang interrupts.

"I, uh, one of my friends got it in his head that some nomads had stumbled across a Dust deposit and wanted to get to it before anyone else staked a claim on it. But that's not what this story is about," I say quickly. Re-centering the topic before she can ask too many questions.

"We had just set up camp and were getting ready for bed when Felix stepped out to take a leak. Apparently he wasn't too careful about where he decided to do his business because a few minutes later we all hear him hollering on his way back to camp. When I stepped out I saw him running back to camp with his pants down and a deathstalker on his tail." yang and Ruby both let out a small giggle although the younger girl has some trepidation on her face.

"It was a small one mind you," I reassure her, "but before I could rush back into the tent to grab my weapon the deathstalker trampled over it. It got the fabric caught on one of its claws which scattered everything inside across the desert. Fortunately Hickory and Holly were smart enough to grab their weapons BEFORE looking to see why Felix was screaming and he still had the beast's attention even as he was running all over the place.

They were doing good work chipping away at it, but weren't able to land any decisive blows. I couldn't do much with my weapon thrown somewhere in the sands so I did the next best thing I could. I grabbed a coil of rope we had with us and tossed one end to Hickory while I held on to the other. Thankfully he picked up on the plan pretty quickly and we got set into position.

As Felix was making another pass around he stepped over the rope line. Quickly, Hickory and I pulled it taut just as the deathstalker crashed into it. It broke the rope, but still messed up its balance enough that it face-planted into the sand burying its claws and stopping it for a moment. With it stuck Holly jumped at it and sunk her over-sized axe straight into its head finally killing the thing." At the conclusion of my story Ruby lets out a small cheer while Yang gives an appreciative clap.

I let the moment settle for a bit. However, before I can speak up again Ruby suddenly gripped by horror asks, "What about your weapon? Did you find him or is he still lost out there?" He?

Ruby's personification of my weapon aside, I answer her, "Don't worry. I found it after a few hours of looking. My low-light vision came in handy so I didn't have to wait until morning before I could recover my Wit."

"Oh is that his name," Ruby asks with more cheer in her voice than I expected. Yang seems like she wants to make a comment, but has taken a step back in the conversation now that her friend is engaging in it.

"Wit's End, is the name actually. Also the whole incident convinced me to never go without some amount of personal protection which is why I got this." I lift up my bare left hand before realizing my gauntlet isn't there. I quickly hid away the offending appendage, "Right, I had to put that up until tomorrow. Well, I got a mechashift gauntlet-buckler. It doesn't have any real offensive capabilities, but it's helped me out of a sticky spot a few times."

"Oh! And what'd you name her," Ruby asks, practically vibrating in place.

Dumbfounded, I reply, "Why would I name a shield?"

That isn't what she wants to hear and she visibly wilts at my comment. At this point Yang steps in to push the conversation forward, "So about that Dust. Did your friend ever find it and make bank?"

"Nah, the whole thing ended up being a bust. The nomads hadn't found anything and were actually just scamming tourists when they made their stop in the city for supplies. Course we didn't know that until after we caught up to them. Didn't even have to cajole them into admitting to it, apparently they'll respect anyone that can survive in the deserts out there.

"Given the story I assume you're from Vacuo," Yang says looking at Marina and I, "Beacon's a long way from home isn't it?" I don't actually know where Marina is from, might be ship bound based on what I know of her. I shoot her a look and she looks at me blank faced before she motions for me to take the lead.

"Actually from outside of the Kingdoms. Been moving a lot these past few years though, ended up visiting all four Kingdoms at least once." Yang gains another look of understanding in her eyes, I'm not sure what conclusion she drew from that little information. She is about to ask another question before I cut her off, "You're deflecting at this point. You owe me a story so you better pay up."

Yang lets out a good-natured chuckle as she cracks her knuckles. Then she smiles at Ruby who must read something in her expression that I don't as she starts panicking. "Well I don't have anything as exciting as that with how Signal and my dad kept me to weak baby grimm, but I do have one about Ruby."

"Yang no," is Ruby's strangled cry.

Callously ignoring her friend's pleas Yang continues, "She was out late at night practicing with her scythe. This was when she was, like twelve so she still hadn't gotten a handle of it. Our dad's a Huntsman so our little home in Patch was always clear of any threatening grimm so none of us were too concerned." Oh, that's new information. I hadn't pegged them as sisters given how different they look. I keep quiet though, no reason to interrupt the story over that.

"I remember dad saying, 'Just let her keep at it. She'll be in bed soon.' Cut forward to the dead of night and Ruby is still practicing while the rest of us are in bed. When, suddenly, she shrieks, waking us all up." At this point Ruby has shrunk in on herself, likely remembering the events herself.

"Dad rushes out as soon as he can and I follow behind after grabbing Ember Celica. Once I get outside I find dad keeled over on the ground shaking and Ruby looking mortified. I almost panicked until I saw what started all that ruckus."

"Yang stop," Ruby cries out, hiding her face behind her hands. But Yang knows no mercy as she begins cracking up at her retelling of the story.

"Apparently Ruby lost her grip of her weapon and a tiny nevermore about half its size grabbed it. The poor thing could barely fly with that much weight so it kept swaying side to side just out of Ruby's reach while she kept trying to jump and take her weapon back. She even resorted to throwing rocks at it trying to knock it out of the air. Eventually Dad was able to stop busting a gut for long enough to walk up to the grimm and crush its head in his hand, but Ruby was so embarrassed she wouldn't talk to us for a week."

Now that the story is over Ruby is no longer shrinking away from us, but doesn't look too pleased with her sister. It looks like she wants to say something to counter the embarrassment from Yang's story but decides not to at the last second. Instead she deflates and pouts, "It's no fair, you have all these embarrassing stories about me, but I don't have any about you."

"Don't sweat it Rubes, I'm sure you'll get some when you're older." Ruby almost starts complaining again but Yang talks over her, "Besides, you have some cool stories yourself. Why don't you tell them about your first real bit of Huntress work."

Yang's prompting doesn't yield the result she was looking for as Ruby whines, "Buy Yaaang, I didn't even do that much. Miss Goodwitch did far more than I did and he still got away."

I decide to help Yang draw her sister out of her shell, "Oh. This sounds interesting, and you owe me a story as well."

"Wah, bwuh," Ruby makes more noises of confusion as she looks between myself, Yang, and even Marina and upon finding no support she pouts again. "Buncha meanies. Uh, give me a second to set the mood." She takes a moment to compose herself and contrary to her protestations she starts her story off with a bombastic tone.

"So there I was, late in the evening minding my own business, listening to music, and looking for more Dust to feed Crescent Rose. When, suddenly! A tap! On my shoulder! Some guy in red sunglasses trying to get my attention with his sword pointed at me and demanding all my Dust." Hmm, interesting.

"Well I wasn't about to surrender my hard-bought Dust to this ne'er do well. So I go witchya! Booya! Ka-chow! And sent him flying." Ruby has gotten well into her story at this point, speaking rapidly and gesticulating wildly. "Then I saw some of his friends so then I went. Bam! Pow And whooom, out the window! But the mastermind hid behind his men when we got outside so I had to whap 'em first!

And who is this mastermind I hear you ask?" No one asked or even looked slightly confused, but I can't bring myself to care with how into this she has gotten. "Why it was none other than Roman Torchwick!Then he shot some Dust trying to blind me and jumped to the roof, so I woooshed after him. Uh," Ruby starts to lose her manic energy, "he had backup waiting for him up there in a bullhead and was just about to get away, when suddenly! Wham!

Miss Goodwitch comes slamming down and fighting him and she's all like, weew! Phew! Pew pew pew! With her semblance until someone inside the bullhead went all fwooosh! Summoning a bunch of fire to burn up everything Goodwitch was using to attack them! And then! Uh, they got away," she finishes lamely, looking suddenly down at the completion of her tale.

Yang, however, couldn't look happier as she grabs her sister in a headlock. "That's my baby sister alright! I told you she was amazing!"

Ruby cries out, "Yaaang stooop!" But Yang does not stop. Accepting her fate Ruby eventually comes to the realization that someone hasn't spoken up yet. "How about you Marina? Do you have any cool stories?"

Marina almost freezes when put on the spot like that, but she does respond haltingly. "There was a time that we were attacked by a feilong too quick for us to get a decent shot at. I was able to land a hit with my harpoon and everyone on the boat grabbed onto the chain to hold it still. Then the Captain got the heavy cannon locked on and blew it to bits." Everyone waits to see if there is any more to the story which causes Marina to take a hint. "The end," she questions more than states.

"Lame," is Yang's immediate response to which marina cringes away from. Yang does have the decency to display some contrition afterwards. "Well, it was nice talking with the both of you, but I think Ruby and I should start settling down for the night. We can talk more when we have class."

With that yang walks off and after a moment Ruby follows. Then she briefly turns around to yell out, "It was really nice talking with you!"

"Too much energy," Marina comments, which shocks me given how little she's spoken so far.

"I think you might mean they're too upbeat," I say. She shrugs at my statement as if to say, 'same thing,' but I don't pay it too much mind. I'm on a streak for good deeds and plan to add one more to that tally before the night is done.

My chosen target is a man of Mistrali features with medium-length black hair that has a streak of pink in it and a long-suffering expression of someone used to the torment he's in. His tormentor, a bubbly orange-haired girl in pajamas covered in hearts darting around and talking to the boy even as he's lying on the ground trying to go to sleep. He doesn't look like he'll be up for any conversation right now, but that's fine.

Take one for the team and tackle the bubbly girl myself. Maybe he and Marina can be silent together. (+Topic) (3)

Topic: Hobbies- I'm tired of talking about Grimm and Weapons for a bit. Talking about things I like will help me to unwind a bit (3)

Sic the girl onto Marina and sit next to the poor boy. No words, just comradery. (No topic, not that you guys won't communicate, but now is not the time to strike up a conversation with him.) (2)

Topic: Why is she so energetic anyways? Is she always like this or is it just pre-initiation jitters? (0)

Topic: Personal stuff- obviously she and the boy know each other and I'm more likely to get this information from her than him. Maybe segue that into where she's from and her home life. (0)

Topic: Beacon- What brings her to sign up to be a Huntress. (0)

I let out a sigh, why does doing good have to be so bothersome? I steel myself for the trial I'm about to put myself through and catch a bit of what the girl is saying. "Can you believe it, Ren? We're here! At Beacon! And going to stay a whole night. Not that I didn't think we'd both make it here. I mean you're the perfect student and I'm, well, I'm me. Hey are you listening?" The aforementioned Ren remains quiet with his eyes closed. "Ooooh, I get it. The old pretend to be sleeping trick, perfect! Now no one will suspect that we're together. Well not together-together…"

At that point I start tuning her out and get ready to execute my maneuver. I step into the circle that she's been making around Ren and stick out my hand. "Ochre Rovere, a pleasure to meet you miss…"

On pure reflex from my introduction and seeing my hand the girl grabs the proffered appendage with both of hers and shakes vigorously. "Valkyrie, Nora Valkyrie." A beat passes before she notices that she's no longer bothering her friend. "Ah, a clever one aren't you? But you'll have to do better than that to catch me," she exclaims while still holding my hand. A polite cough draws her attention to that fact which she quickly rectifies.

At this point Ren is watching us with lidded eyes and Marina is looking to me for direction. I motion with my head towards Ren and let them figure it out. Last I see is the two of them staring at each other as if they're trying to determine how the other works.Ignoring that I bring my attention back to Nora who's looking at me suspiciously with her blue-ish eyes.

"Don't think I don't know what you're doing mister. You're here to steal Renny!"

"I'm not into guys," is my automatic response. That gets her to relax a bit before she fixes her gaze on Marina.

"Is she here to steal Renny?"

I give Nora a flat look, "I don't think Marina could steal anyone with how little she talks."

"Really? You don't see it," Nora flails her arms in the general direction of Ren and Marina. "Look at them, they're obviously communicating in some secret silent language. I should know, I 've been with Ren for years and have only scratched the surface of the silent language. Like if he looks at you with his chin tilted a few degrees to the left with his right eyebrow raised that means, 'Nora there are grimm in the area and we need to keep quiet, remember?' Although in your case it would probably be your name and not mine so he might need to raise his other eyebrow instead or give you a wink or something."

It's not 100% applicable, but she's starting to remind me of some of my online conspiracy friends when they get on about whatever they believe in. "Do you like looking into stuff like that?" At her look of confusion I elaborate, "You know, stuff like secret languages, the real history, or crypto-grimm?"

Her confusion doesn't abate, "What are you talking about?"

My mind goes to the most basic example I can think of, "You know how there is supposed to be some secret grimm in the Loch Nell lake that no one is ever able to get a good photo of?"

"Nelly! Yeah I know him. I'm gonna smash him to pieces and become the most famous hunter there ever was!"

"Huntress," I correct absent-mindedly.

"Oh, potato. Tomato." I'm just going to ignore that. Now how to break this to her?

"You do know that Nelly doesn't exist right?"

"He won't when I'm through with him!"

"Okay, you'll kill the Loch Nell monster at some point," I concede, "but that's not what I was getting at earlier. Do you like engaging with that sort of stuff? Like picking up on small clues and speculating on what they mean or how they fit into a bigger picture until you have a clear idea what's going on?"

"Nope," she responds energetically, popping the 'p' at the end. "That sounds kind of boring. Why don't you just find someone who knows the truth and just break his legs to find out?" She says with a disturbing combination of viciousness and innocence.

"Sometimes I do," I smile thinking back to the last time I had to rough someone up for information. That Atlesian technician probably didn't deserve that, but it felt nice to take Atlas down a peg for once.

My comment does seem to mollify Nora who more placidly responds, "Oh, maybe not as boring as I thought. But no, I don't do anything like that." She takes a moment, her face scrunched up in thought. "I guess I like working out. Lifting up big heavy things makes me feel super strong even if aura and I think my semblance helps out a lot with that. Oh and sometimes I like to pop on some tunes and read a book. That and hanging out with Renny who makes the best pancakes, don't you Ren?"

She takes a moment to look at Ren who has managed to fall fast asleep throughout our conversation. Then she actually manages to look sheepish as she rubs the back of her head. "Heh, it is pretty late and we have a big day tomorrow. I should head to bed myself. It was nice chatting with you. Oh, and if you could get your friend to cough up the secrets of the silent language I'd appreciate it."

I look to Marina to see if she has any clue what Nora is talking about and she just looks confused. Not like I was expecting anything different, but some insight would have been appreciated. Oh well, not much I can do about that. Without further ado I find my way back to my sleeping spot for the night, Marina not too far away, and settle in until morning.

LloydAbsolon · Feb 10, 2024

Waking up it's just a matter of getting ready for the day and a quick breakfast before I find myself standing on a jump-pad at the edge of a cliff. Overlooking the Emerald Forest where initiation is supposed to take place. I pay only enough attention to Ozpin and Goodwitch's speech to get the gist of what I need to do. Land, find a partner, grab a relic, and get out. Killing grimm is obviously encouraged. I'm confident I can take on anything the forest can throw at me, although there might be one or two grimm that'll give me trouble. I won't waste my good Dust on any weak grimm, but I do need to decide on a plan of action for the more troublesome ones.

Conservational: Save my rank 3 dust only for grimm that can give me real trouble. (Wait until outclassed by around 1 combat score before using rank 3 dust.) (3)

In between: Save my rank 3 dust for any grimm that represent a peer challenge (roughly equivalent combat score) or greater (1)

Cautious: Use my rank 3 dust on any grimm that would give me even the slightest bit of trouble. Conserve aura at all costs. (Use rank 3 dust on any combat that isn't an auto-success) (0)

I have to wait a little while for my turn to launch, but when I do I'm ready. Springing forward with Wit's End in hand for emergency maneuvers I angle myself towards the weak branches along the treeline. Ones that would break off instead instead of wrenching my arm out of socket when I grab them.

Mobility check: Rank 3.1 vs Challenge 2

Final Modifier: +27

Dice: 1d100+27

24 + 27 = 51

While I miss a few branches I'm still able to bleed off a good bit of momentum. I cut it pretty close to needing a few more recoil maneuvers than I planned. However, the few I did use and a bit of tree running proved all that was necessary to have me safe and sound on the ground. Well, maybe not safe for too long with the sounds of grimm nearby.

I set myself into a ready stance and wait for them to come to me. The small clearing gives me enough room to remain mobile so there's no point in trying to find a better location to fight. My patience is rewarded when six beowolves stalk into the clearing. The wolf-like grimm are led by an alpha who is the only slight challenge among the pack and even then this is barely a warm-up

Combat Challenge: 4(Combat)+1.55(Mobility)+ 1(Dust) + 1(Grimm)=7.55 vs Alpha 3.2(Combat) +2.5(Beowolf backup)=5.7

Difference 1.85 FInal modifier +46

Dice: 1d100+46

22 + 46 = 68

The first thing I do is shift Wit's End into rifle mode and start shooting the alpha. This halts their attempt at encirclement as they all rush in to attack, lacking the same ranged advantage that I have. A harsh leap off the ground has me sailing over my first assailant, a grimm of the normal variety who hoped to catch me from a blind spot. Another quick transformation finds my rapier sinking into its head, slipping around its bone plates and killing the beast instantly. While grimm may have some cunning, that doesn't mean they're actually that smart about it. They tend to repeat the same set of tactics over and over again across groups and these grimm certainly aren't old enough to know any better.

The rest of the pack isn't idle while I kill their packmate. They move towards where I'm landing but a few quick shots have them scattered or wounded enough for that to not be an issue. A second beowulf falls to a lucky shot from my shotgun-rapier. Followed quickly by a third as I step into the guard of another, accepting a small chip at my aura for a quicker kill. By this point who wins the fight is merely a matter of academics as I don't even need to use Dust to continue the slaughter. While an alpha can prove troublesome without enough packmates it's hard for it to find an opening where I'm distracted.

Once the rest of its packmates are dead I give the alpha a mock salute. With nothing else to do it charges at me like the nearly mindless beast that it is. A step off to the side and a stab at its foreleg has it crashing against a tree. After that it is only one flourish away from death. With my performance concluded I take a bow, hat in hand. I certainly hope that Beacon has some way of watching right now. Otherwise I'd have just done all that for nothing and that would be more than a little embarrassing.

Some shifting of the foliage is all the warning I have that I do indeed have an observer to the show I put on. Turning around I spot Marina, who is back in her naval uniform this time, lugging around an anchor that's a bit taller than she is. Not quite my size, but it's impressive that she can carry that at all. Either way I guess she's my partner now, not that I mind too much. Before I can make a comment she grabs my arms and stares directly into my eyes.

"That counts right," she asks in a flat tone and lets go just as I'm about to break out myself. Then, with more resolution than I've come to expect from her, she states, "You're the leader now. What are we doing?"

Setting aside whatever the hell that was, I set up against a tree, "Give me a moment." While I could spend a bit of time looking for clues or trails to wherever these ruins are I instead activate my semblance. With a flick of my will a pillar of earth rises into the air giving me a complete view of the forest along with a patch where the trees thin and stonework pops from the foliage. Destination found I step back into the real world and motion Marina to follow.

Survival check: Rank 2 vs Challenge 1

Final modifier +25

Dice: 1d100+25

94 + 25 = 119

Keeping in one direction heading towards the ruins isn't difficult. It appears that years of initiations have left a somewhat clear path leading to our destination. Sure, it meanders and twists as not everyone has a semblance as useful for finding where they need to go as I do. It is a simple enough matter to ignore the bend and alternate paths that crop up as I'm confident enough in my woodsmanship to not get turned around. This does save the two of us some time, which I'm not sure if that matters or not. It's not like they can grade initiation with the criteria outlined, this seems like a very pass/fail scenario.

Regardless, it probably reflects well on us that we aren't lost and helpless in the forest. Or at the very least it reflects well on me. I have to keep a loose eye out for Marina to make sure she doesn't fall behind. Seems to me that she's not too used to the woods which fits with what I've learned about her.

The only thing that interrupts our journey is a pair of ursa. Ursas? Ursai? Unimportant. Neither of them are especially large so it's only the matter of moments to dispatch my target. Its size and lack of numbers to distract me has me leading it around by the nose. Easily dodging its clumsy strikes and whittling it down in a display of pure skill. Unsure of Marina's skill level I left her with the smaller of our two foes, ready to jump in if she starts to struggle

Ochre Combat: 4(Combat)+1.55(Mobility) + 1(Grimm)+1(Duelist)=7.55 vs 5.4(ursa)

Difference: 3.15

Final Modifier: Auto-pass.

Marina Combat: 3.4(Combat) + 1.92(Mobility)+.5(Dust) +.79(Grimm)=6.61vs. 5.2(ursa)

Difference: 1.41

Final Modifier: +35

Dice: 1d100+35

40 + 35 = 75

My preparations prove unneeded as Marina dances around the battlefield waiting for the ursa to charge her and miss before throwing her anchor. Most of the time it clips the beast and she can pull the anchor back if she takes a moment to set up properly. However, for the most part she pulls herself towards the anchor with some sort of winch mechanism she holds onto. This combined with a few recoil maneuvers leads to her pinballing from point to point at a rate that the ursa simply can't keep up with. It does get a few licks in at one point when she chooses to reel in her anchor instead of herself, but halfway through the fight it's a foregone conclusion.

For the finisher Marina slams her anchor down behind a tree, transforming it into its cannon form and firing it immediately. The harpoon inside strikes the ursa straight through the chest, a shot that on its own is already lethal at this point. Then the harpoon rapidly retracts and reels the ursa towards my partner, slamming it into the tree and shattering the trunk into splinters. As if that wasn't enough she rapidly shifts her weapon back to anchor mode and pulps the poor thing's head into paste.

"Enemy defeated Captain," Marina calls out with a big smile as the ursa dissipates into nothingness behind her. Despite the difference in attitude from yesterday I choose to encourage her, it beats the alternative in my mind.

"Good job, you didn't even need my help. Now let's get going, those relics won't find themselves." She gives me a cheerful, "Aye, aye,' as we continue our trek through the woods. Fortunately with my scouting and the path we're taking we make good time, easily bypassing another encounter with the grimm based on how much time we save.

In no time at all we find ourselves at the ruins. Evidently our path saves us a lot of time as all of the pedestals still have the relics we're looking for on them. Said 'relics' are modeled after chess pieces, two of each colored piece. With that choice of aesthetic it makes my decision painfully easy. I walk towards and pick up a light colored queen. Somewhat anticlimactically I might add, I figured it would be a bit more difficult than this or at least take a while longer. Guess Dad really did know his stuff.

As we're leaving the ruins I spot the pair of siblings I've noticed around but haven't spoken to yet. The brother is wearing an orange poncho with a red bandana tied around his neck making him look like some kind of ranch-hand. The sister is dressed in what appears to be a Great War uniform, Valean based on its green coloration. We pass them and I give a quick greeting, but quite frankly I don't know them so I'm not sticking around.

Before I exit out of their range entirely I overhear the brother asking his sister, "You think there's some sort of test, like we have to pick the right one?"

"I don't know, just grab the same one he did. He looked like he knew what he was doing," she replies. After that we pass out of earshot. Our return journey is more peaceful on the return thanks to the other initiates slaying grimm on their way through.

Nature does abhor a vacuum though. It seems that the dearth of grimm has brought out a particularly large and spiky variant of the ursa. It seems it came out of whatever hidey hole in search of stragglers. It's large enough to earn the distinction of ursa major although that's an informal designation, not a type of grimm on its own. Unluckily for it I have a full aura and I haven't had a good workout yet.

(as said previously for mechanics anything 50 or above is considered a success and a hit while below is a failure and taking damage. All rolls are done from the perspective of Ochre or allies so high is always better and low always worse)
Ochre Combat: 4(Combat)+1.55(Mobility) +1(Dust) + 1(Grimm)+.5(Marina)=8.05 vs 8.2(ursa)

Difference: -.15

Final Modifier: -4

Marina Combat: 3.4(Combat) + 1.92(Mobility)+.5(Dust) +.79(Grimm)+.5(Ochre)=7.11 vs. 8.2(ursa)

Difference: -1.09

Final Modifier: -27

Dice: 1d100-4

17 - 4 = 13
Dice: 1d100-4

90 - 4 = 86

Dice: 1d100-27

53 - 27 = 26

Dice: 1d100-27

25 - 27 = -2

The massive bear-like grimm charges the two of us and I try the same tactic that brought down its lesser brethren. Unfortunately this one's beefier legs prevent the same success I've seen previously and its lankier limbs send me sprawling about as it tramples some trees. One of said trees catches on the chain for Marina's anchor; trapping it and preventing her from getting out of the way of a sideswipe that sends her flying off into the woods around us.

It's a bad start but I don't let that stop me. I deploy my gauntlet into buckler mode, deftly sending a claw off to the side as I take a step under the Ursa's frame intent on distracting it. It sends a few ineffectual swipes at me, but its proportions prevent the strikes from landing with any amount of force. Eventually it tries to lay flat and crush me, however, expecting such a trick I brace myself against the ground and all it accomplishes is stabbing itself on my Wit's End with extra force. A pull of the trigger lifts it enough into the air for me to retrieve my weapon from its innards as well as make an escape before it can crush me.

The ursa recovers before I can take advantage of its prone state although I bought enough time for Marina to retrieve her weapon. It's still early into the fight so I hold off on swapping to higher quality Dust but a few more rounds of this will make me consider it. Before we rejoin the battle in earnest, the ursa is distracted by a bullet pinging off the side of its massive skull-plate. The siblings are there with the brother holding a revolver that looks massive in his already big hands and the sister with a rifle trained on the grimm raining bullets into its hide. Honestly I could take this grimm on my own, but many hands make light work and I'm not going to turn down the help.

Ochre Aura reduced to 4/5

Marina Aura reduced to 2/4

Grimm health reduced to 3/4

Ochre Combat: 4(Combat)+1.55(Mobility) +1(Dust) + 1(Grimm)+1(Team)=8.55 vs 8.2(ursa)

Difference: .35

Final Modifier: +9

Marina Combat: 3.4(Combat) + 1.92(Mobility)+.5(Dust) +.79(Grimm)+1(team)=7.61vs. 8.2(ursa)

Difference: -.59

Final Modifier: -15

Brother Combat: 3.57(Combat)+1.28(Mobility) +.5(Dust) +1.48(Grimm) +1(Team)=7.55 vs 8.2(ursa)

Difference: -.65

Final Modifier: -16

Sister Combat: 3.75(Combat)+ 1.21(Mobility) +.5(Dust) +1.28(Grimm) +1(Team)= 7.74 vs 8.2(ursa)

Difference: -.46

Final Modifier: -11

Dice: 1d100+9

34 + 9 = 43
Dice: 1d100+9

36 + 9 = 45
Dice: 1d100+21

50 + 21 = 71
(Last modifer increased due to switching up a grade of Dust)

Dice: 1d100-15

50 - 15 = 35

Dice: 1d100-15

41 - 15 = 26
(Marina did not get a third turn due to running out of aura)

Dice: 1d100-16

52 - 16 = 36

Dice: 1d100-16

4 - 16 = -12

Dice: 1d100-16

67 - 16 = 51

Dice: 1d100-11

59 - 11 = 48

Dice: 1d100-11

15 - 11 = 4

Dice: 1d100-11

87 - 11 = 76

With the extra backup we all rush the ursa confident in victory. This turns out to be a bit overzealous on our part as we end up getting into each other's way enough for the ursa to whip around and catch my partner with its claws. Concerned about her, the brother unloads his revolver into the grimm as he swivels his head to check if she's alright. This bout of distraction earns him a kick from the back legs as the ursa charges his sister and she tries to do something with her weapon.

Whatever it is isn't pulled off in time as it barrels directly into her with its jaws bearing down about to bite. I shoot off the ground with assistance from a recoil maneuver and I go to knock away its head or grab at its skull-plate. However, between the suddenness of my movements and its own motions I miss my target and end up with its teeth biting down on my buckler.

I don't have much time to think before it promptly smashes me into the ground. That and with my arm stuck in its gove I've finally had enough and cycle Wit's End to a higher caliber of Dust. I aim as well as I can at its face and keep pulling the trigger. That gets a good reaction out of it as it starts yelping pain letting me go. In addition to hurting it, the bright flashes of my discharge so close to its eyes has it backing up and stunned. With momentum finally shifting over to our side of the fight the Great War cosplayer finally does whatever she was trying to do before.

Her rifle turned shovel is halfway in the ground which, presumably with the help of her semblance, causes a sinkhole to appear beneath the ursa trapping it for a few moments. Those moments turn out to be just long enough for her brother to come out with his weapon shifted into the form of a long serrated knife. He stabs the ursa in the underside of the head where there is no bone plating and pulls the trigger several times until his weapon runs empty and the beast stops moving.

We all take a moment to catch our breath, although I take a shot of my own just to make sure the damn thing is dead. "Thanks for the assist, that one ended up roughing more than I thought it would."

"Oh, think nothing of it pardner. We just did what anyone would do," the brother says, offering his hand which I take. "Name's Autumn Russet and the girl over there is my twin Kelly." He points somewhere behind me.

"Ochre Rovere and she's Marina. I, uh, don't actually know her last name yet." I check to see where he's pointing to and spot Kelly helping Marina who looks dead on her feet. Even then she gives me a thumbs up and a muted, 'We got it Captain.'

Her state is unsurprising considering the beating she took from the ursa. I can't even blame her, she just got unlucky with the positioning and pace of the fight. If she could've gotten out of close range with her weapon she should've been able to get one or two good hits in. That's not the world we live in though so all I can do is see if I can think up anything that would help her out in a fight for the future. However, I'm glad that she seems to be in good spirits in spite of her performance.

After a minute or so of recovery Marina is ready to walk again. I'm sure she can get a burst of energy if we get ambushed by grimm again, but getting your aura shattered does a number on you no matter who you are. Thankfully we were already over halfway to Beacon so any more encounters are unlikely. We do hear some more shots going off from the direction we came from as we're almost back at school grounds. However, we all aren't in the best shape to help anybody so we have to let it slide.

The mishap with the ursa may have delayed us a little, but we still end up as the first team to return successfully. We're then led to a common room to rest up and wait for the others to finish initiation which shouldn't take too much longer. While there I decide now is as good of a time as any to know my new companions a bit better.

Autumn is a giant of a man standing a full head and half taller than me. His ranch-hand ensemble is completed by brown chaps over his jeans and a pair of similarly colored boots. Kelly, his twin, is about a head shorter than he is, which still makes her one of the tallest women I've seen in my life. There isn't much else to complete her military fatigues aside from her combat boots and a small pack on her back.

Both of them have tanned skin and working man muscles from their work on their farm, located just outside the agricultural district of Vale. The farm is also the impetus for their stay at Beacon, as while they did go to combat school at Pharos, that was as far as they planned to take their education. That is until a grimm attack came down on their farm. No one was hurt, but the harvest for that year was ruined. With their parents already in debt a decision was made to sell the farm and take jobs in the city. The twins hope to start contributing when paid missions become available in our second year.

Our talks are interrupted by an announcement that the final initiates are making their way to Beacon along with instructions for us to assemble in the auditorium for team announcements. Luckily all of us don't have to stand up on stage all at the same time and can mill around until our group is called up. It seems teams have already been decided based on how Autumn and Kelly are kept as part of our group. And what a group it is; an old style duelist, an age of sail naval officer, a cowboy, and a Great War recruit. We look like someone smashed together all the pictures in a history book.

It doesn't take long until we're called up by Ozpin announcing the teams. We were the first ones done so it makes sense that our team name was among the first to be figured out. The headmaster calls out our names with a steady voice, "Ochre Rovere. Marina. Aoi. Autumn Russet. Kelly Russet. The four of you retrieved the white queen pieces. From this day forward you will work together as team OAAK(Oak) led by Ochre Rovere."

After that we're casually dismissed from the stage while I'm occupied by my thoughts. So much so that I pay barely any attention to the rest of the ceremony. I only catch that Ruby is leading team RWBY with her sister Yang on it and that Nora and Ren are on team JNPR along with Pyrrha Nikos and led by the guy with questionable nightwear. Which seems a bit unfair since Ren seems like he'd be okay at the job given his experience with Nora. I don't understand how they choose leaders here, after all I wouldn't have been my first pick either. Then again none of us really did much leading in our short time together so I might have just been the best pick of some underwhelming options.

I don't let my thoughts keep me down. This will at least be an invaluable experience for if I'm ever to turn to Fang around. Sure, I've done a lot as a field agent, but there is only so much of an effect one man can have. If I want to achieve anything with the Fang I'll have to grow past that and start gaining a following. Not that I necessarily need the Fang.

My goal has been more or less a better Menagerie. The White Fang is an incredible asset for spreading the interests of the faunus, and by extension my home, if used properly. However, while the past five years under High Leader Sienna Khan has had the Fang more active and successful than ever I can't discount people like Adam Taurus.

I don't have a problem with the violence or the threats of violence per se. The faunus as a people and a nation of citizens have a right to protect our lives and interests. If Atlas can throw their weight around for the past eighty years despite losing the war then it's only fair that we can do the same. But, people like Adam are self-destructive at best and a bomb waiting to go off at worst.

As lost in my thoughts as I am, I nearly miss it when all of the students are dismissed. Then we are led by the staff to our rooms for the next four years. Our room is situated across from that of team CRDL and next door to JNPR with RWBY across the hall from them. With how Beacon has set their schedule we only have the rest of the night to unpack our essentials before classes start tomorrow. I and the rest of team OAAK unpack our meager belongings, none of us had much to pack it seems, which brings to mind something for me to think about as I look over the uniform.

The Beacon uniform has long sleeves, which is good as I'd prefer not to deal with that in addition to the other problem. That being that there is nothing to cover my ears and hats aren't allowed as per the dress code. Accessories like a bow or a hair clip are fine, but I'm not going to act like Blake and do something that silly to try and hide them. I couldn't pull that off, nor would I want to. I'm going to have to show the rest of class that I'm a faunus and that itself will bring some questions, especially about the past and where I'm from.

While the staff may know about my purportedly past affiliation with the White Fang that doesn't mean I should let everyone else know about it. Then again I am of a relatively more moderate faction of the Fang so not being as tight-lipped about things may allow me to feel out the opinions of others and change my rhetoric accordingly. They might not all be faunus, but that doesn't mean I can't make connections with people who'd be sympathetic to the cause if the Fang has a change in the heart of its leadership.

Lastly, I can be open about it. Yeah I worked for the Fang, but I never did anything that I'm not proud of, even if it wasn't always legal. I'll be certain to steer clear of incriminating myself, although stories like what happened with the Clovers are sure to win some people over.

Whatever I decide to do I won't be crowing about how my past affiliation is actually one that's still present. At least to the student body at large. I might see about telling some people I trust in the future if I feel the need to. Speaking of which, I'll be bunking with my team for the next four years and some would say they deserve to know who their leader really is.

My concern is more about how they will react. The Russet twins worked out in the countryside so their contact with the White Fang was likely minimal. Even then I'm sure they heard stories about certain activities of the Fang. Ultimately I'm not sure how they would react, but what little I know about them has me think they're pretty laid back people for the most part.

Marina, on the other hand, is still an enigma. She does seem attached to me though, even more so since I've been officially declared the leader. She's currently setting about some small nautical knick-knacks on her side of the room and looks to me for approval each time. Aside from that I have no insight into how she would react.

Team: Full Disclosure: Tell them I'm still technically part of the Fang, although on leave for a certain sense of the word while I'm at Beacon. I can decide to tell them about my one official task here at a later date if I want to. (2)

Beacon: In the past: I'll admit but downplay my involvement with the Fang and citing ideological reasons as to why I've split off from them. (2)

Beacon: Reserved: I'll try my best to keep my past association with the White Fang as hidden as I can. This means not talking about my past much, at least without heavily revising my history. (1)

Team: Equality: Don't tell them anymore than I'm telling the rest of the student body. (1)

Team: In the past: Don't tell them I'm still technically a part of the Fang, but do let them know I was a part of them in the past. (1)

Beacon: Loud and proud: I won't admit to anything explicitly illegal, but I might talk about the more sympathetic cases that sit in a gray area if the moment is right. (0)

Team: Some, but not all: I'm not sure if I can trust everyone on the team, but I can let some know I'm still a part of the Fang. (+ for who) (0)

+Marina (0)

+the twins.(0)

The first day of class is a new experience for Marina and I. While I've picked some things up on my own, Menagerie didn't have what I would call a school system. So, when a sheet outlining the classes goals and schedule is handed out to us we both look at each other hoping that the other has the answer. Then we turn to Autumn who says, "Don't worry about it. They'd hand these out at Pharos, but none of the teachers ever followed them too closely. Just pay attention and you'll be fine."

This continues until we get to grimm studies with Professor Port who didn't bother handing out a syllabus. Instead he went off on some long-winded story about him fighting some grimm. It could have been interesting if he spoke in any tone other than the low-drone he addresses the whole class with. Instead of listening to him I start reading from the book for the class. I don't even bother using my semblance to read any faster since I just want this class to be over. The only bit of excitement for the day is when he releases a boarbatusk for Weiss to fight.

At least the people are nice and we can suffer together. Ruby parked her team next to us in every class she could. Additionally there was a second year rabbit-girl in our history class that Kelly insisted we adopt into our seating. Her name is Velvet and once it was discovered I was reasonably well acquainted with History I got saddled with helping her through class.

I even met the Pumpkin Pete aficionado that is Nora and Ren's leader, Jaune. He settled his team on the other side of RWBY and Nora tries to get my attention despite there being a whole team in the way. Sometimes this meant passing notes or attempting to speak the 'silent language,' as she calls it. Her attempts at doing so lack any attempt at subtlety as she makes exaggerated faces and wild movements instead of the slight adjustments of Ren.

Speaking of him, he and I still haven't talked, although he does shoot me a smile when Nora isn't looking. Somehow she senses that he did something as she immediately whips around to look at him. Somehow divining that he did something she turns back to give me an 'I'm watching you' gesture.

Just as class finishes and we're leaving for the day, Yang bumps into me asking if I have time to talk with her later. I agree easily enough, but beg off for today. I read the syllabus for History and found that the Faunus Rights Revolution and the subsequent formation of the White Fang are on the curriculum. I came to the quick conclusion that I wouldn't be able to keep quiet when the matter comes up and I should talk with my team first. And if I'm already doing that I might as well rip the whole band-aid off at once and come clean. I'll have to trust they won't report me or tell anyone else.

Back in our room everyone sprawls out on their beds except me. With the exhaustion of yesterday and the slow pace of today I can't blame them. I give them a moment to collect themselves and observe how they've spruced up the room. In a sense I haven't had my own room since I was thirteen so it's a bit of an experience seeing how everything's been decorated.

The twins have pushed together their two beds to clear up space, but left them apart just enough to set some of their belongings between the two frames. Marina followed their example, but the two of us didn't bring as much as the twins so the set up comes off as more intimate than utilitarian like the twins. I'll have to grab a night table or something to fill the space, I don't want anyone to get the wrong idea.

The twins' side of the room is decorated in posters filled with warm colors like red and orange with some green from Kelly's contributions. The posters themselves are mainly of landscapes of nature with Autumn's containing more than one farmstead while his sister's are mainly of forests or fields. On top of that they've put on display some of their personal items like Autumn's deputy badge and Kelly's old Valean flag. There's also a wood-block that Kelly is whittling down and a few comics with a monster or horror bent to them that I assume belong to Autumn.

The other side is technically Marina and I's, but in reality is just hers on account of how little I brought with me. I can't justify spending any Lien on decorations with how low the discretionary account has gotten and my frugality with my own money. There's always next month, though I'm sorely tempted to grab a few cork boards to help with theorycrafting. Marina didn't have much with her either although she did hang up a picture of a ship and set out some nautical knick-knacks that look well-worn. Stuff like a compass with scratch marks all over it, a weathered journal, a miniature anchor, and a ship in a bottle that is half built. For the last my partner admitted that she didn't have the parts to complete it.

Finishing up my observation I've given my team enough of a moment to breath and collect themselves from the trials of today. However, I have to stop them before they can get distracted by their hobbies or personal projects. "Hey guys, I got something I have to tell you. It's pretty important." With their attention gathered I open the door to the hall just to make sure no one is secretly listening. Spotting no one I close the door and continue, "What I'm about to tell you, you can't share with anyone. Is that clear? Can you promise me that?"

"Aye aye Captain," is Marina's response, a lot more energetic and chipper since I first saw her.

Autumn on the other hand just waves my worries away, "You don't gotta worry none about me spilling. You have a right to your privacy, even if you share some of it with us."

"What my lug of a brother said. You're our leader and we gotta follow your orders after all."

"Well, I'm a faunus-"

"Thanks we couldn't tell," Kelly interrupts.

"And as you may know there's a certain organization out there," I state meandering on until I remember who the audience in front of me is. "Oh I'll be blunt, I'm a part of the White Fang."

The shouts of surprise that I was expecting don't come and the first response I get is from Kelly, "So? That change anything about you going to Beacon? Or you being the leader?"

"Uh, not. To both of those."

"Yeah, it's not like you hate us or anything. I've seen you chatting with all those girls and you don't seem too put out by them not being a faunus," Autumn replies nonchalantly albeit a bit more hesitant.

I turn to Marina who gives me a resolute nod with a glimmer of something in her eye. "Have you killed anyone," she asks with a level of intensity.

"No, actually. At least not directly. I can't say I haven't beaten anybody up or cost them their job or something like that, but I haven't killed anyone myself yet."

Marina sinks into herself a bit at my response and Autumn follows up with, "Then it's settled. This doesn't change anything between us and you can trust us to keep your secret. Though I do admit I am a bit curious. Do you have your own grimm mask like everyone else in the White Fang?"

"What! No," I yell, outraged.

"Really 'cause that's what they always say on the news. That the White Fang want to strike fear into the heart of man like the beasts of grimm," Kelly chirps.

"Okay, first off that whole trend was started by Adam who is a massive tool and an edgelord to boot. I have no clue how it caught on with the newer members. Second, there is no way I'm wearing that fashion disaster of a piece of headwear. No way in hell does the red, black , and white go together with what I have going on." Kelly starts laughing at my comment as does her brother after a moment. "What's so funny?"

"Oh, I just didn't see you as the kind of guy to care about fashion."

"I mean have you seen what I usually wear? You guys can be plebs all you want, but I know that appearances matter. Not that you'd know what's stylish if it hit you in the back of the head."

"What do you mean by that," Kelly squawks.

"Don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about, little miss olive green fatigues."

"Those were my grandfather's!"

"That doesn't make it better!"

"Hey, hey now settle down you two," Autumn steps up to play peacemaker. "You're both wrong," he finishes with a shit eating grin.

"Excuse me," we both scream.

"Your outfit is just what you wore on the farm."

"Your outfit is THE stereotype of a cowboy." Kelly and I both look at each other before looking away, then I remember we have someone else in the room. "At least you know what style is Marina."

With herself addressed personally Marina rejoins the conversation. "I agree Captain," she yells out with her newfound energy. "Your style is the bee's knees." I cringe at her unironically saying the phrase 'bee's knees.' Instantly her expression shifts to worry and confusion, "Did I say something wrong? I was just repeating something I hear Ruby and Yang say. Is it actually something bad?"

Autumn and Kelly just laugh at me as I have to explain to Marina what slang is and how some it goes so out of date that it becomes uncool. Despite all the teasing from Kelly and Autumn a slight smile worms its way on my face. It seems these next few years won't be so bad.

Aura(practical) raised from rank 4 (0/625) to rank 4 (15/625) Source: semblance usage and combat

Combat raised from rank 4 (0/625) to (25/625) Source: Instruction, training, and combat

Criminology raised from rank 2 (0/150) to (1/150) Sourcer: Challenge

Culture raised from rank 2 (0/150) to (2/150) Source: Challenge

Grimm raised from rank 2 (0/150) to (10/150) Source: Combat

Investigation raised from rank 3 (0/300) to (11/300) Source: Challenge and investigation actions

Mobility raised from rank 3 (0/300) to (38/300) Source: Training and Combat

Politics raised from rank 2 (0/150) to (3/150) Source: News action

Survival raised from rank 2 (0/150) to (1/150) Source: Challenge.

LloydAbsolon · Feb 11, 2024

As I described before on the other site this is where the real meat of the quest comes in. For the sake of brevity I will be culling heavy parts of these votes and only showing the options that won. This is where the majority of our actions are decided although the approaches to said actions may need an additional vote for things like social actions. So let's break down what all this entails.

Every week we will have five (5) actions to choose and an additional two social actions that can't be used for anything else. These actions can be split into the broad categories of: training, social, investigation, and eventually organizations and missions.

A weekly action typically entails 8 to 12 hours of work spread out over multiple days.
Organization actions will unlock once we have an in-story reason for us to begin recruiting people and will be further detailed when that time comes. These entail recruiting for and managing our own branch of the White Fang or whatever splinter organization we end up running.
Mission actions cost 2 actions each and will unlock once we reach our second year at Beacon, assuming we stay that long and avert its destruction of course. These include official huntsmen missions that we take our team on and even some personal missions. Before this is unlocked any events like the Docks from the end of season 1 will be voted on at the same time as deciding how many investigation actions we'll take for the week.
Training actions are what they say on the tin, but with a team backing us up we can begin to explore more options like team fighting or experimenting with Ochre's semblance. Unless these actions explore something new like testing out Ochre's semblance in new ways they will not be written up. A training action will provide 5 to 10 progress dependent on off-site rolls.
Social actions are also what you would expect. If we decide to use a weekly action for talking with more characters we gain two social actions for every weekly action spent.
Investigation actions are the designation for continuing our work for the White Fang and personal investigations. This includes following leads or searching for information to find more of them for specific investigations.

In addition to this there will also be a section about classes and one social action chosen by me to represent other characters having their own agency and seeking Ochre out.

Aside from training actions, progress will also be awarded from the classes we attend. Each class will provide six (6) points of progress each week. The semester will last for 16 weeks. The current classes for our first semester will provide training for Combat, Mobility, Dust, Grimm, History, and Survival. Plus an additional class to be decided by the next vote

Archeology (Investigation/History) (2)

First Aid (Medicine) (1)

Debate (Law/Politics) (0)

Drama (Performance(Acting)) (0)

Foreign studies (Culture) (0)

White Fang: General Investigation (Investigation Check) (3)

Robberies: Junior Xiong: Junior, or at least his men, have something to do with the Dust robberies. Time to pay him a visit and get some answers. (Possible social, possible combat, possible stealth and investigation checks) (3)

Yang (QM Pick)

Blake: It might be best to get the whole White Fang issue over and done with before I let too much slip with the school. Although I don't have to talk to her about that. (4)

The Clovers: I could check in with them as well. It hasn't even been a week since I've left, but we could do something to show that I appreciated their hospitality. (4)

Marina: Her change in temperament is for the better, although it was a bit sudden. I could see if she'll open up about it or maybe just talk about something else. (2)

Weiss: Anyone else in the Fang would skin me alive for associating with a Schnee, but I owe Ruby to at least try and make nice with her team. (2)

I'm not really used to working in a team, and while it might not be my biggest concern it will be important for the Vytal Festival and fighting Grimm. Train team fighting combat style: Gain double the combat modifier from working with a team (0/75)(3)

I've never tried dragging a Grimm into my mirror world before. With a team watching my back I can go off into the forest and try it out. Might do something, might do nothing. I won't know until I try. (3)

Not everyone at Beacon can be as great as the rest of the people I've met. Take for example Cardin Winchester, leader of team CRDL. Once again I have to seriously question how leaders are chosen at this school. Is it just to make the names easier? Because surely no one else on his team can be as bad as him.

Okay, maybe I'm wrong on that one since the rest of his team just seem to join in or enable his behaviors. Still, what are the odds that all the assholes in our year end up on one team? At least I don't have to deal with such hostility when hanging out with the people I'm actually friendly with. Uh, maybe; jury is still out on the Schnee, but I haven't talked to her so I'll withhold my judgment, or now.

Back to Cardin, he does petty shit like scoff as I walk by or call me an animal just at the edge of my hearing. I do my best to ignore him since he isn't worth my time, but I can't help myself from responding all the time. This all comes to a head in combat class. The sparring portion of the class is divided into two sections. The first is the semi-randomized battles that determine everyone's grades and the second is where a random student who hasn't fought that day can be challenged by another student. Just as my luck would have it I'm the lucky winner by the graces of rng.

Cardin calls out, "I'll be the one to put that animal in his place." Goodwitch admonishes his naked racism but doesn't actually punish him. Furthermore she thinks it's a great idea to let a student attack another student with malicious intent, even if she's supervising.

The poor judgment of my teacher aside, I don't really see the point of the fight. I saw his match yesterday and honestly he's nothing impressive. A thoroughly mediocre fighter with an equally mediocre fighting style. I doubt he'll be able to do so much as touch me. He doesn't even have the decency to make his moves flashy to make up for his incompetence.

Although, perhaps an overwhelming victory is just what I need to shut him up. That, and if I wanted to dish back some of his torment I could absolutely humiliate him without issue. I briefly toy with the idea of using my semblance on him so it looks like I take him out with one punch but eventually discard it. Even if no one believes him if or when he talks about my semblance he would know about it. Not the worst thing, but I'm not about to give up an advantage like that during a Vytal year and especially not to someone like him. Maybe I'd use it if I was up against Pyrrha to even the odds in my favor, but she's not my opponent.

Ultimately I decide to just utterly dismantle him. Give him no time to fight back and make him look ineffectual. It's not as cruel or as biting as I could be, but this is a lesson for him and nothing more. I put the finishing touches on my outfit, deciding to leave my hat off for the fight as a reminder to Cardin as to why exactly what's about to happen is happening.

I strut up to the arena with not a care in the world. My posture deliberately shows off how uninterested I am in this fight. Something that sets my opponent into a scowl. Not that it does anything to assist his already lackluster appearance. He's in his gray platemail with a yellow bird as the symbol front and center with a mace in his hand. The man can't even dress himself properly and thinks he can stand up to me.

I signal to Goodwitch that I'm ready even though I haven't drawn my weapon. She mutters something under her breath, but counts down to the start of the fight regardless. Upset that I'm not giving him the attention he thinks he deserves, Cardin starts off aggressive, winding up a huge overhead swing.

I step towards him and lift my gauntlet shifting it into buckler mode and deflecting his mace off to the side. As I do that I hit him with an uppercut from my right, lifting him slightly off the ground. Before he can get away from me I shift my buckler back, grab him by the shoulder, and quickly shift it again. The expansion of the buckler slams into his head and I press down on his shoulder sending him to the floor at my feet.

My target vulnerable I kick his mace off to the side of the arena. Leverage working in my favor as he has to choose between keeping his arm in socket or his mace. Either is fine with me. After divesting him of his armament I drop onto his midsection and start wailing on his face. His natural instincts to protect his head prevent him from counter-attacking. By the time he regains his wits to try a reversal his aura has already dropped below twenty percent and the match is over.

Yang bumps into me again after classes end for the day. Now that I don't have any immediately pressing business to attend to I decide to hear her out. We're almost precluded from our conversation when Ruby calls out, "Hey, Yang. Where are you going? We have team exercises to do."

"Sorry Ruby. This will just take a few minutes. Ochre and I are gonna swap tips on how to make an impression on the opposing gender."

Ruby blanches, "Ewww. Yang! You didn't have to tell me that. Whatever, just show up at the field whenever the two of you are done being gross." Ruby proceeds to run off with the rest of her team. Only Blake pays any more attention to the two of us as we head outside for some privacy. However, it's a short-lived moment as she soon follows behind her leader and the Schnee heiress.

"Was that really necessary," I ask with a raised eyebrow.

"Probably not, no. But it was the best way to get Ruby to stay away. This isn't something I want her to know about so if you could keep it between the two of us I'd appreciate it."

"I can keep a secret. I wouldn't be where I am today otherwise." Yang doesn't seem entirely convinced by my truthful statement, though her curiosity wins out on her caution.

"So, I've been looking for someone and your comment about being from outside the Kingdoms reminded me of her." Oh, this is all a misunderstanding.

Since I'm not planning on hiding that much of my past I go ahead and clear it up, "I doubt that I know whoever it is you're talking about. I'm from Menagerie; sorry if I gave you the wrong impression. I tried to keep things vague since I ran with a bad crowd for a little while if you catch my drift."

Understanding dawns in her eyes as does a tinge of disappointment. "Ah, is this something I have to keep under wraps or…"

"I'm not planning on hiding it, just don't spread it around."

"Ah, going to let the cat out of the bag, just not yet."

I fix her with a look considering recent events, "Yang I just laid out a guy for his racist behavior, maybe cool it with comments like that for a bit."

"Sorry. Didn't realize it was that touchy of a subject for you."

"It's not usually, but context matters," my mind briefly flashes to a certain faunus who happens to be her partner. "That and not everyone will be as understanding as I am about this kind of stuff."

"Pssh," Yang dismisses my soft-handed warning. "Anyone that can't take a little joke probably wouldn't get along with me anyways. Though I'm curious. If you're from Menagerie, how does Marina fit into all of this? Forgive me if I'm wrong, but she doesn't look like a faunus to me."

Marina isn't as far as I'm aware, which is partly why her question confuses me. "Excuse me, but what do you mean by that exactly?"

"Well, the both of you mentioned traveling around a lot. Or you did, Marina mentioned something about a boat so I assumed you guys traveled together and were siblings or something like that."

"I only met Marina the day before initiation," I remark bluntly to prevent further misunderstandings.

"Oh. Just with how the two of you were acting it just. I guess it reminded me of how I am with Ruby and-" Yang cuts herself off halfway through, deciding this tangent had gone on long enough. "Anyways, even if you aren't from the same place you've been all around the world right?" I nod in affirmation and Yang pulls out her scroll with a picture pulled up on it. "Then maybe you've seen her, her name is Raven Branwen if that helps any."

The woman in question is in some sort of red and black outfit holding on to the hilt of a sword. She has long black hair and what looks to be red eyes. The hint of someone else's hand just behind her sword hand and another's arm off to the right suggests that this is a group picture. The quality of the image hints to the fact that this isn't the original image either, but rather a picture of a picture. Said quality makes it difficult to determine if I've seen her before but my gut is telling me no. The name, however, I think I've heard off-handedly once.

Criminology check Skill 2 vs Challenge 4.

Final Modifier: -50

Dice: 1d100-50
53 - 50 = 3

Where was it? Vacuo? I can't discard it as a possibility, even if nothing of importance happens there. Atlas? Maybe, I did hear a lot of complaining from the soldiers during my times sneaking about Atlas facilities, it's possible one of them knew her and that's what's twigging my memory. Mistral? I mean Mistral has a lot of places to hide so someone disappearing there with only a bare hint of their name is a real possibility.

It could just be my memory acting up on me trying to forge a connection where there is none. No, that doesn't feel right either. The only thing that I am certain of is that if I have heard of that name before it certainly wasn't in Vale with how little I visit.

"Hellooo? Remnant to Ochre, you there?"

"Sorry, just thinking." Yang has a hopeful expression on her face, it seems like this might be the first time someone has even recognized this much about this woman. It makes the following words hit even harder. "Sorry, I haven't seen her." The words are like a punch to the gut, her slight smile shattering. "I think I might've heard the name before though. Not sure where, but definitely not in Vale," I hastily add to hopefully soften the blow.

It doesn't restore all of Yang's good cheer, though it does raise her spirits. "Thanks, I think that's the most I've gotten out of anyone since I started looking into this. Even if it's just telling me where not to look."

"Who is she, if you don't mind me asking?"

"She's my mom. She-she left soon after I was born. Just up and vanished in the dead of night."

"That's rough," I don't know her well enough to really say or do much else. "Your dad doesn't know where she could've gone?"

"Heh," she spits out the sound, "I can hardly get anything out of him or Uncle Qrow for that matter. It's like they just want to forget that she was ever a part of their life!" Yang takes a moment to collect herself, "Sorry, I shouldn't be dumping my problems on you so don't worry about this. I can handle it on my own."

A twinge of familiarity passes through me as I grab onto her arm to stop her. Even I am surprised that I did so, my mind working in overdrive for something, anything to say.

Shared hurt: Yang lost a mom to abandonment rather than death. I can relate even if my own loss is related to the latter rather than the former. Maybe a bit of reminiscing about the past would lift her spirits. (2)

Promises for the future: Looking for her mom is all well and good, but that can't be all she's looking forward to. Share my own dreams and aspirations and try to get her to think about her own future. (1)

Tit for tat: She asked for my help with her search even if I wasn't able to help all that much. I could ask for an equivalent exchange to even the score, maybe she knows something about my investigations. (1)

A reason why: Probe into why exactly Yang is looking for her mom, at first blush it seems Raven just abandoned her. At the very least it will provide some insight into her character. (0)

A better now: It's clear she's invested in this search for one reason or another, but she's been able to put it off for this long. Bring her mind to the now and let her forget about her worries for a bit. (0)

"I lost my mom too," the words tumble out of my mouth before I can really register them myself. "It's not entirely the same, I know. But I think I can relate at least a little bit." Anger flashes across her face and she tears her arm out my grapes, but stays to hear me out. "I know how that kind of hurt can leave you listless and how it can fester."

"That reminds me more of Summer than it does of my own mom."

"Summer," I can't help but question.

"Ruby's mom, and, well, my mom too. Raised me more than Raven ever did anyways. I think I was too little to really appreciate all that she did for us, but in my mind she was like a supermom to Ruby and I. Then one day she went on a mission and just never came back. I didn't even know that she wasn't my actual mom back then."

"It doesn't take away from the impact does it?" I already know the answer so I continue on, "The worst part for me was how everyone changes after the fact. Like everything was in this perfect bubble where you think you've got it all figured out and suddenly people are acting like they never had before and you just can't handle it."

Yang looks like she knows exactly what I'm talking about; the wan expression on her face is still an improvement over what was there before. "Yeah, it hit my dad pretty hard. I almost couldn't recognize him with how lifeless he had become. Was yours the same way?"

I shake my head slightly, "I think he put up a strong front for my sake. I was young back then so I think I missed some of the signs. Especially with how everyone else started treating us afterwards."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, the thing is, my dad's a human. One of the few in Menagerie. He and Mom ran off for their own reasons, but that's not what's important here. Before that all the people I knew treated us well enough. With some perspective now I can tell it was always at a distance, but it didn't feel like that at the time, it was just normal.

When my mom passed they started distancing themselves even more and my friends stopped hanging out with me as much. Everyone started looking at us both like we were going to turn rabid at any second. That, uh, that may have played a role in me joining up. Felt like I had something to prove you know."

"I'm so sorry that you had to go through that," Yang responds, her tone a bit flat. The statement is more of an acknowledgement of our commiseration in suffering than a genuine apology.

"We've all had our struggles," I recognize and dismiss her concerns with that one statement. Something she picks up on since she doesn't continue the pity party.

"How'd she go?"

"A sickness passed through Kuo Kuana, that's the main town by the way. We didn't have the means to make enough medicine and a lack of trade or means to contact the outside world meant that hard choices had to be made of who the medicine should go to. My mom didn't make the cut."

Yang's face scrunches up with a mixture of sympathy and anger, "That's just so-"

"Cruel? Cold," I cut her off. "I've had time to think about it and it was the right call. I don't blame anyone for the rotten luck, or the hard measures taken. I do hold a bit of a grudge against the people responsible for keeping Menagerie in such a state. I'm not gonna tirade you about the politics of it all, but I decided that I'd do my best to bring my home up to par with the rest of the world."

Yang chews on my words, her expression still sour although with her feelings turning inward. "It's admirable that you're able to carry on like that. I-"

I interrupt her again, "Stop that."

"What," she croaks out.

"I said, stop that. I know that line of thinking and it's not helpful. Even if finding your mom or whatever it is you want to do in the future seems small or selfish that doesn't mean it's any less worthwhile a pursuit. It doesn't make you any less of a person. Hell, my own wants for the future are pretty damn selfish, I'm demanding that the world change to how I want it to be."

"Still- But-" I interrupt Yang each time she's about to find herself wanting and coming up short of some preconceived notion of how she should act. "Fine, I'll drop it. Happy, now," she snaps at me.

"No, but I'm glad to get a smile out of you." It seems she didn't notice our banter sparked such a reaction. Now that I've pointed it out she wipes it away. "My dad and I had an argument the first time I came back from a mission for the Fang. He was furious and I couldn't see how he couldn't understand why I was doing it. Except he did, enough at least.

I thought I had essentially lost another parent, except a night later I found a letter in my pack that wasn't there before. I'll skip over most of it, but one phrase stuck with me all these years." I stand right up to her, stare directly in her lilac eyes, and echo the words that I needed to hear at the time. "I don't know what you're planning for the future, but whatever it is I know you'll do great things."

"Even if it's to drink booze and go to parties," she snarks at me with a light smile playing on her face.

"Then you'll be the best damn party-girl in all of Remnant." She snorts at my response, but otherwise maintains a good mood. "But I think we both know you'll be doing more than that."

"Thanks. Almost feel like I owe you one after all that."

"Think nothing of it," I dismiss immediately. "Although I'm looking into those glasses wearing thugs your sister mentioned if you know anything about that."

Yang's mood shifts to a more interested bent, her previous cheer settling just behind a mask of professionalism. "Junior's men?"

"You know him?"

"You could say that." A call on her scroll interrupts our conversation, looks like Ruby wants to know what's taking her sister so long. "Hey sorry about this. If you need my help later just hit me up, but I gotta go now. Bye!" With that she runs off to join her team.

While I already had plans to look into Junior and his men, the end of my conversation with Yang further reinforces my desires. That doesn't mean I'm going to rush him down straight away and shake him for answers. Although, I might do that, just later. First I start looking into any businesses he's associated with starting with his club, Junior's.

Turns out it was wrecked in some sort of bar fight, at least officially. Not that I believe it one whit, probably some rival gang decided to show up and try teaching him a lesson. Too bad it didn't have much of an effect. The number of businesses that he owns is quite large so I doubt doubt this has harmed him in the long run aside from some loss in rep.

Still, with his probable base of operations out of commission I have to find where his backup or temporary headquarters are. I find a lead to a sister location of Junior's, Club Jupiter. There's even a post on the site for the now destroyed club directing patrons to go to Club Jupiter while Junior's is undergoing renovations. With how blatant he was with his operations in his old club I can't tell if this decision is extremely bold or extremely stupid. I'm going with the latter until I see proof otherwise.

I'm not going to go off on just some conjecture I've gathered from the CCT. So one day after class I hit up the area around Club Jupiter. As I stake out the area I notice a good number of men, in the same black suit and red tie attire that's linked to both the robberies and the previous club, enter and exit the building from some side and back door entrances. As good as confirmation that I'm looking in the right place. A quick check with my semblance shows a layout similar to the pictures I've seen of the inside. I'll do some more investigation to find out the exact floor plan if I happen to need it.

As far as I can tell there are four main ways I can approach this. I could spend a little time over the next few days investigating with my semblance; looking for the best way inside and see what information Junior keeps in his office. Then I can go for a real attempt and grab as much info as I can get my hands on. If I get away clean and don't find the info I'm looking for I can just move on to another approach. Criminals aren't well known for keeping records on their illegal activities so I might not find what I'm looking for. Then again most criminals don't all but broadcast their location on the CCT so who knows with Junior.

The next approach is to just walk up and talk with the man and see what I can pry loose from him. It might be his boys that are doing the bulk of the heavy lifting, but it's Torchwick who I'm really after. There might be some honor among thieves, but with the right incentives I'm sure I can make him talk. Speaking of incentives I can make some pointed statements and some subtle or not so subtle threats to get what I want. It might mean burning a bridge in the underworld before it's even built, but that might just be worth the information I'm looking for.

The last approach is essentially to blitz him. Unless he has access to a caliber of fighter above what I'm used to I don't think his goons will be too much trouble. The benefits to this is if everything goes according to plan then I can check his files and interrogate him all in one fell swoop saving quite some time.

The risks are also just as great. He could escape or one of his goons could destroy the information I'm looking for before I get to it. That and I don't think he'd be too happy to answer any questions that I have. Plus if the police are in his pocket like I think they are, there's a real chance I could get arrested if I'm caught.

Additionally, as I'm reminded each day at Beacon, I don't necessarily have to do this on my own. Not that I particularly want to drag anyone else into trouble over this, but some extra backup may be just what I need..

Diplomacy was never an option: Without a real show of force Junior could feed me whatever line he wants, but if I have both his documents on the matter as well as his own word I'm certain I can find the truth. (Combat followed by Investigation checks) (4)

+Yang (3)

Threatening: Junior might not be willing to give up his fellow criminal for some sweet words and a flash of Lien. Make sure to point out to him the consequences if he refuses my request. (social, higher chance of combat). (2)

+Marina (1)

Diplomatic: I can try talking with him, maybe offer some incentives, and see what he can tell me. Might tip Torchwick off that I'm looking into him, but that might be a risk I'm willing to take. (social, little to no chance of combat (1)

With a friend: I don't have to do this on my own. I could bring someone to try for two approaches or just as some backup. I'll be sure to keep in mind my partner's strengths and weaknesses when deciding our course of action. (+ for who. Does not guarantee they will come. Will try to follow the next highest approach.) (1)

Quiet: Sneak in as best I can and see what I can turn up. (Stealth and Investigation checks.) (0)

I took this result to mean, along with the general sentiment at the time. That the plan was to bust down Junior's door with Yang. Admittedly this is a result of poor vote structuring on my part.

"So why exactly are you looking to talk with Junior in the first place? Isn't that supposed to be the police's job," Yang questions while we wait for the airship to dock and allow us to depart on her motorcycle. It's a nice yellow machine that beats the hell out of walking.

I mull over her question a bit before answering, "Honestly, I've been looking into this whole thing as a bit of fun. Everyone needs a hobby of some sort after all." While normally I would be wary of providing my real motivation for this kind of investigation since it's pretty much a hobby and most people react poorly to 'I'm doing something illegal for fun.' However, I think it'll do Yang some good after our last conversation.

"You really plan to stomp on Junior and his guys just to keep yourself entertained?" I can hear the smile in her voice even as she's turned away from me.

"Well, more to keep myself entertained with the info they provide, but yes. There a problem with that?"

"Not at all. Just good to find out that you know how to have a good time." Yang jumps onto her bike and looks over her shoulder at me, a yellow helmet and goggles completing her outfit. "You ever ride a bike before?"

"Yes," I lie through my teeth as I take a seat just behind her.

"Cool, cool. I don't have to hold back then right? Just hold on and watch where you put those hands." Either she's calling my bluff or she's just naturally like this. Regardless of which I hang on tight and bite back any yelps or screams on the way there. With how much hair Yang has hanging in the back I don't think I could do so without ending up with a mouth full of hair. If that happened I don't think I'd survive her wrath, so a quiet clenching terror is what I put up with until we reach our destination.

Parking the bike against the side of the street and shutting off the engine Yang asks, "So what's the plan? Aside from beating everybody up I mean."

"Well you were able to take care of everyone on your own last time so…"

"I had the element of surprise on my side against Junior last time. Besides, isn't the plan to get whatever documents they have or whatever BEFORE they're destroyed."

"Yeah, yeah. It wasn't a serious plan anyways. Just give me a moment to sneak in and take out some of the guys by the office. Then you can make your way inside and cause a ruckus and I'll focus down Junior like I did Cardin. You can take care of the girls long enough until I can assist you right?"

"Please, it'll be a piece of cake," she remarks, playfully shoving me off. With our plan decided I get to work heading to the roof, my goal: the ventilation. A work of moments with my Wit's End and my strength has the way clear soon enough and I make my way inside. We came late enough that the noise should be covered up by the music and club goers inside.

Stealth Check Rank 3 + .5 (Semblance) +.5(circumstance)=4 vs Challenge: 3

Final modifier: +25

Dice: 1d100+25
22+25 = 47

Dice: 1d100
38 = 38

I make my way through the vents, but I must've been louder than I thought as I hear someone on the other side shuffling around and saying something that gets drowned out from my perspective. I try to keep still hoping that they'll think it's something else, but they must still be on edge from what happened down at the other club as they continue to investigate. I catch one of them saying that they should just shoot the vent and at that point I decide I've been made and make my entrance.

My opponents are four men, in black suits just as I was expecting, and none of them are on the level of skill needed to stand up more than a moment against me. Though I do notice a couple more of them run into the offices so I have to chase after them. I do catch someone, probably Junior, yell out, "Oh, not you again!" Hopefully Yang can keep up with the extra attention until I deal with these guys.

Yang Combat: 4.05(Combat)+1.41(Mobility)+.5(Dust) =5.96 vs 6.3 (Malachite twins +Junior)

Yang's semblance: After a loss in combat add +.5 to combat for the next roll and deal double damage if successful.

Difference: -.34/.16

Final modifier: -8/+4

Dice: 1d100-8
9 - 8 = 1

Dice: 1d100+4
43 + 4 = 47

I rush into the offices after the thugs, three in total, who are already in the process of gathering some documents and one of them is even using a bit of fire Dust to burn them. Two turn towards me as the third continues his work, stopping his destruction of documents to smash in the monitor to a computer. I dispatch them without too much work and even shoot a look of disappointment at the one who smashed in the monitor. Doesn't he know that doesn't do anything?

What takes me more time is putting out the flames before they can spread and destroy any more information. Hopefully anything truly important is better hidden than what these chuckleheads can grab in a few moments.

With the office as secure as I can make it, I rush out to see how Yang is faring and find out she's not doing so hot. The Malachite twins are swapping out with one another as best they can to keep her from gaining momentum on either of them and when she starts to build up some steam she's disrupted by Junior who shoots at her with his rocket launcher. I don't know why he thinks it's a good idea to shoot high explosives within a building, but it goes a long way in explaining how his original club got so trashed in the first place.

If the circumstances have Yang worried she doesn't show it. As soon as she spots me, instead of asking for help, she quips, "What took you so long?" It shouldn't be too difficult to take Junior down and even the odds. Although if things keep up the way that they are Yang may be dangerously low on aura by the time I can help her. Alternatively, I can tell none of these fighters can keep up with me one on one so if I use my semblance I should be able to dispatch them in no time at all.

Hold off: Yang's not in trouble yet. I'll hold off for now, but if her Aura breaks I'm not going to hold back. (2)

Use my semblance on just Junior: He seems to be a bit less experienced with combat than the two twins; it's possible that he'll mistake my semblance for something else. Even then one person knowing is less than two (1)

Use my semblance on Junior and one of the twins: This runs the chance of information about my semblance getting out there, but it's unlikely that it'll be connected with me in the long run and even then they won't know everything that I can do. (0)

No, this shouldn't take more than a moment or two and if things take a turn for the worst I can always use it then. Junior's men were taken care of in Yang's initial assault and the club goers left as soon as the fighting broke out. Good, I don't have to worry about anything else besides me and my prey.

I drop down on top of Junio, a stab glancing off his side as he shifts his rocket launcher into a bat. The rocket powered swing goes wide as I duck underneath it and make a stab at his midsection. As committed as he is to his attack it goes through, taking a chunk of his aura off in the process. "What is it with you kids and attacking my club? Is this your idea of fun?"

Instead of responding I keep up my assault, my Wit's End a flurry of blows and shots as I make a variety of stabs nicking him with the blade and pelting him with shells. He does his best to ward off my attack with his bat. However, the defensive posture I've forced on him makes it all too easy to herd him into a corner. Once there I let up on my assault and let him take another swing that I dodge just as easily. Then I assist with the momentum of his swing, making him overextend and slam his bat into the wall next to him. Now defenseless, another stab breaks his aura and a slam from my buckler takes him out of further combat.

Yang's Aura reduced to (3/5)

Ochre Combat: 4.04(Combat) +1.56(Mobility)+ 1(Dust) +1 Duelist= 7.6 vs 4.3(Junior)

Difference> 2: Autopass

Yang Combat: 4.05(Combat)+1.41(Mobility)+.5(Dust) =5.96 vs 5.3 (Malachite twins)

Yang's semblance: After a loss in combat add +.5 to combat for the next roll and deal double damage if successful.

Difference: .66/1.16

Final modifier: +17/+29

Dice: 1d100+29
62 + 29 = 91

Dice: 1d100+17
35 + 17 = 52

While dealing with Junior I keep my eye, as best as I can, on Yang. She's doing much better now that she isn't stuck in a three on one fight. At this point she is covered in some sort of fire around her and her eyes are a fiery red. Her semblance is responsible for both, I assume. The twin girls attempt to keep up their strategy from earlier. Anticipating an attack Yang dodges under the slash of a twin, the one in a red dress, and steps into her guard. Then she punches her in the sternum with her bracers firing off and flinging the girl off the ground.

The twin in the white dress runs in with her legs swinging. Apparently her heels are her weapon, not that it does her much good. Yang spins around on the balls of her feet and with a quick one-two punch sends that twin flying across the club. Yang returns to her airborne opponent who is about to meet the ground. My impromptu partner allows no such thing and starts juggling the poor girl like some kind of fighting game character. She ends her combo with a strike across the jaw that sends the twin in red skidding across the ground, leaving her low on aura for sure.

Even then it seems the two of them still have the spirit to keep fighting until I step in. I point my blade at the twin in white who looks ready to keep fighting until I motion over to where their boss is passed out in the corner. That is finally enough to break her resolve, "Mil, stop. We aren't winning this one." Thankfully the other twin follows her sister's judgment as she stops her rush back towards Yang. She, meanwhile, walks over to me and slugs me in the arm, thankfully with her bracers off.

"That's for taking so long. Did you find anything interesting?"

I make a so-so gesture as I haven't actually looked over the papers I save, "Maybe. I think I'll have a chat with Junior there before anything else. Think you can keep watch of the twins and the goons while I work him over a bit?" Yang shoots me a thumbs up as I grab Junior and make our way up to the offices.

Once there I seat Junior in one of the chairs and give him a few taps on the face to wake him up. After his eyes shoot open I loom over him and force him to look at me, a wide smile on my face like the cat that caught the canary. "Hello Junior. Shame we had to meet like this, but some of your boys have been very naughty. Stealing all the Dust in Vale, why some may count that as an attempt to weaken the defenses of the Kingdom. And we know what happens to people who do that don't we?"

That seems to get him worked up as he responds, "That wasn't me! Torchwick's the one you want. He was just paying some of my boys to help him with his jobs. I didn't know what he was planning. Fat lot of good it did me. All he's done is get my men beat up by little girls," Junior spits out looking through a window at Yang, "and you on my doorstep. His Lien barely pays for the hospital bills and bribes to keep my boys out of trouble."

"So you were negotiating with him. A split of the Dust to fund your troubles perhaps," I take a shot in the dark hoping it's right or that he'll correct me.

Junior winces at my statement, seems I'm not too far off the mark. "I may have brought up that the terms weren't working for me. But as soon as I did he dropped my men completely. Saying he'd already found a source of labor better trained and already housebroken."

"And who might that be," I ask, a pit forming in my stomach.

"A bunch of animals," Junior chuckles, finding some humor in the situation. I refrain from an urge to knock him around. It'd be counterproductive and might upset Yang. Instead I motion him to continue. "The White Fang's partnered with Torchwick, they're following his orders."

"Why? The Fang isn't one to take orders from a human, and the Vale branch wouldn't think of even working with one, so tell me: why would they do that?"

"I have no clue how Torchwick managed to convince them. I'm a crime lord not a fortune teller." The tell-tale sound of police sirens start to pierce the walls of the club. "Ah, looks like your time is up. Better get going if you don't want to spend a night in jail."

"Hey, get ready to go! Police are on their way," I yell out to Yang, careful not to use her name and give Junior anything to go on if he feels like the vengeful type.

"So? They can arrest this creep and lock him away then." Right, I knew there was something I forgot to tell her.

"Can't! He has some crooked cops in his pocket. Can't be sure if the ones showing up aren't his." Maybe this would go differently if I knew someone on the force, or if I was sure that the headmaster would back me up if I bring Junior in. As is I have neither of those so I do the next best thing and do a quick search of the office.

Investigation Check: Rank 3.04 vs Challenge 3

Final Modifier: +1

Dice: 1d100+1
93 + 1 = 94

I quickly lean against a desk and step into my mirror world. With my semblance I have plenty of time to look for places to hide important documents, even if the side effects make them difficult to read. After a few moments in my mirror world I find a false bottom in one of the desks. I'll check that in the real world in just a few moments. Before I do that I split a safe in the corner of the room with a flex of my will. Only a few papers and a hefty amount of Lien cards spill out, not likely to be what I'm looking for, but it can't hurt to check.

I step out of my mirror world and ask one more question, "What's the code to the safe?"

It seems that isn't something Junior was expecting as it takes him a second to answer, "It's 7929." I go ahead and punch it in, but am greeted by a beep and no unlocking. Seems like the thing is time delayed so that's a bust. I go ahead and grab the memory from the computer terminal, the one the grunt tried to smash up as well as a folder from the false bottom desk and any other piece of paper I can grab. I can look at it all when I don't have to worry about being caught by some cops.

"Hurry up, they're almost here," I hear Yang yell out from one of the side exits and I hurry on over to her and the motorcycle waiting for me. Thankfully the incompetence of the Vale police department works in our favor as we're able to get away without being stopped. I'm not too worried about Junior going after us, given the caliber of fighters he had at his main base they shouldn't be too much trouble and he must know I'm more interested in Torchwick based on my inquiries. Even if he did I likely got my hands on some things he'd rather keep hidden.

Once we get a decent distance away Yang stops the bike and looks at me, more than a bit irate. "Why didn't you tell me about the police beforehand?!"

"I'm sorry. It honestly slipped my mind with everything going on."

"Fine," she says with a tone that implies it's anything but fine. "What now?"

"Well first thing, we're going to need a place to crash for the night." Airships only run to Beacon so late in the day after all. This is a common enough occurrence with students going out for a night on the town that as long as we wake up early we won't miss class. Unfortunately I can't just bunk with the Clover's again, not only would it be rude to show up with a girl unannounced, it'd also send the wrong message when I have plans to thank them for their hospitality later in the week. That and there's really only one spot for us to sleep and two bodies.

With that in mind I get the two of us set up with a hotel room for the night, only a single bed to conserve on funds. Yang can take the bed, I'm used to sleeping on much worse after all. Once in our room I start to go through what I gathered from Junior.

The burnt pages are my first look and they seem to be some sort of contact list. Likely that of his men, the police under his sway, or maybe even other people in the underworld. I can't really tell which since all it's only a list of names and contact information with some random letters off to the side. While I could sift through it or call them directly I have much more juicy info to deal with right now.

Like the folder I took from the false bottom desk. Turns out Junior was just as interested in what Dust Torchwick was stealing as I was. The papers inside turn out to be a series of reports from his men about where and what kind of Dust they took from various stores. The reports aren't dated exactly, but cross-referencing what stores were robbed and matching them up with the reports gives me a timeline that matches up with what Junior said. That his men were working with Torchwick until recently. Of course this could be because he hasn't received the reports of the newest robberies yet, the gap in time isn't that big.

Regardless of if he's lying about the White Fang I go over what type of Dust has been stolen. It runs the gamut of all types although I note that there seems to be a preference for fire and other kinds of explosive Dust. While all Dust may be volatile, not all Dust is explosive, at least not all in the same way. Additionally from some of Junior's notes written in the margins it seems like none of the Dust is being sold on the black market, at least not in Vale.

It wouldn't make financial sense to ship it anywhere else and if Torchwick isn't in this for the money then he has a different plan in mind. Likely of the explosive variety and if that isn't a scary thought. I let out a sigh as I put down the papers; this was supposed to be a relaxing investigation. Something I do for fun, not something with real consequences.

"Wow, all alone in a hotel room with a girl and you're too busy looking at papers. Why, a girl like me might be upset that I'm not worth your attention," Yang's teasing pulls me out of my thoughts as she steps out of the bathroom. Apparently she wanted to shower before sleeping since we'll be cutting it close to getting to class on time as it is. "Did you at least get anything good?"

"Yeah. Kind of. More concerning than good."

"Concerning how?"

"Well, you know how there's been Dust robberies going on for the past few weeks?"

"Kind of," Yang shrugs. "I haven't really kept up with that stuff aside from Ruby stopping that Torchwick guy that one time. Why, what's up?"

"Well non of that Dust has been going anywhere as far as Junior and I can tell."

"And that's concerning how," Yang questions without a care as she flops onto the bed.

"What do you think Torchwick is doing with all that Dust? If he isn't selling it here in Vale, he's losing out on a lot of Lien, so whatever he's doing is more important to a thief than money. On top of that the Dust he's collecting trends to the explosive kind, so either he has some sort of big plan in mind or this all a very expensive vanity project." I pause a bit before deciding to trust Yang with the next bit. "Plus Junior implied he's working with the White Fang after dropping his men and what we've gathered tells me he's probably truthful there."

"Why would the White Fang want to work with a guy like Torchwick? Aren't you guys against that kind of thing?"

"Not all branches are, but Vale certainly is. It only raises bigger concerns for me though. Adam Taurus, he's the one in charge of Vale for the most part, isn't the most composed or shall we say rational individual. If he's willing to work with a human it has to be for something big in his mind."

"If it's that bad then isn't this something you should bring up with Goodwitch or Ozpin or something?" Yang makes a good point, but I've already dismissed that option from my mind for multiple reasons.

"The main problem is that all this information should already be known by the people in charge. What am I going to do? Walk up to them with info they already know and demand they do something," I bite out, unable to stop the frustration that tinges my voice.

Yang in response gets up and gives a consolatory pat on my shoulder, "Hey, you found all this out in like a week right?" I nod. "How much do you think you can find in two or three more? I'm sure if you work on it you'll have something actionable in no time."

Her reasoning is sound, even if I don't like the state of things as they are now. I don't voice that since I just want to relax. "Isn't it my job to cheer you up," I say with a teasing lilt in my voice.

She makes an affronted noise, "Of course not. That's Ruby's job. You only filled a part-time position once. Now I hope you weren't hoping for the bed tonight because I'm not sharing."

"Yeah, I wouldn't want to ruin your beauty sleep after all," I tease back before settling in for the night.

LloydAbsolon · Feb 12, 2024

Full disclosure this entirely slipped my mind until just this moment. I have no real excuse and it's a black mark on my otherwise timely record. Either way, you're not here to read me complain, so here's the update.

After our night out on the town Yang and I return to suspicious and teasing stares from the rest of teams RWBY and OAAK respectively. I can only hope that Yang deals with the former and I can endure the latter. Although Marina looks more confused than anything. With the information I gained from Junior my investigation into the White Fang has jumped in priority. Not that I'm going to jump into that right away. I'd rather take some time off than bounce from one investigation to the other.

Unfortunately I don't know how much of a ticking clock I'm working against here so I settle on a compromise of sorts. I was going to have to deal with Blake anyways so might as well get it out of the way. If I happen to dig up some info on the Fang while doing so, then that's just good fortune isn't it?

Today Blake happens to be in the library, likely hiding from her team based on the book in her hands. She still has her bow on, which causes me to frown even if I understand the sentiment behind it. Maybe I could talk with her about it in addition to matters of the White Fang. Or I could talk to her about something else. I'm already looking into the Fang and if she really has cut ties she might not feel like telling me anything.

I could bring up her parents. I know they worry after her with how much influence the Albain brothers have been able to gain in Kuo Kuana just by providing assurances that she's safe. She also looks to be the dour sort, but that could just be a mood. Either way I could bring up the Clovers, reminding her of the good she's done is sure to give her some good cheer. I might even extend that to an invite to the little get-together we're having. I know Coral won't mind having the opportunity to thank her in person.

The Clovers: I'm meeting with the Clovers later on which reminds me that Blake is the other half of them being set in Vale. I could tell her about the little get-together and it's sure to raise her spirits to remind her of some of the good she's done. Plus I know the Clover's would love the opportunity to thank her as well. (3)

About the Fang: I know she was a part of the Fang at least until a year ago. I don't know if she still is, but I need to know what she knows before this whole situation blows up into something bigger. (2)

The Bow Conundrum: She can't honestly expect that to work for four full years can she? Maybe I can get her to listen to reason or at least show her teammates. (1)

Her Parents: I know that Blake hasn't talked with her parents as much since splitting with the Fang. Maybe I could talk her into sending some letters. (0)

Her team: Talk about her team and how she's settling in. Maybe if the conversation is going well I can talk her into revealing her past to them. It worked well enough for me and Yang doesn't seem to mind my own past. (0)

After a moment of deliberation I think the best plan is to get her in a good mood. Both to disarm myself as a potential threat, given I don't know the current state of her allegiances, and to provide a positive impression of myself.

Granted, I should have some good will with being on good terms with her team leader and partners. As well as when I stopped the two of them from bothering her the night before initiation. There might be a bit of dissonance between those last two statements but I pay it no mind. Instead I walk up to Blake and give a polite cough to get her attention. She briefly looks at me with her amber eyes before returning her attention to her book.

"What do you want? Ruby and yang should be in our room if you're looking for them."

"Actually I'm here for you, but let me say something first before we start talking business. I'm here for the same reasons you are," I give her a vague statement. It should be a safe move and how she interprets it will tell me a lot about the current state of things.

She tries to act nonchalant, but her eyes betray her as they dart towards the nearest exit. She gives a theatrical sigh as she closes her book and stands up to make her retreat. "I really don't know what you're talking about. I just want a quiet place to read and you clearly don't."

Blake's chosen perch in the library, a little nook away from everybody else, prevents her from an easy escape as the only way out is through where I'm standing. Of course I don't give ground, stymying her escape and allowing me to continue without having to chase her.

"You know it really hurts that you don't recognize me Blake," I say glibly. "But no one from Menagerie wouldn't recognize the Chief's daughter would they?" In response to my words Blake stares at me with narrowed eyes, having given up on her escape for now. "I mean you didn't even bother changing your name. Did you really think that no one would make the connection? It's not like the Belladonna name is of public record or that Ghira was the previous leader of-"

"What do you want," She cuts me off sharply before I can expound on how paper-thin her cover identity is. Well, not paper thin, her bow is a bit thicker than that. Bow-thin? Nah, that doesn't have the same ring to it. Fabric thin? Fabric thin.

My critique of Blake's obfuscation skills aside I continue on, "Well, I was going to have dinner with some mutual friends of ours and was wondering if you wanted to come with?" She bristles at the words 'mutual friends,' which is enough of a hint that I suspect she's not on too good of terms with the White Fang anymore. Before she can get the wrong idea, however, I append, "The Clovers specifically."

The building tension in Blake's frame is quickly replaced by confusion, "The who?"

"You know, the Clovers." simply repeating the name doesn't appear to be enough to jog her memory so I elaborate, "I came by a bit over a year ago in the dead of night a few miles away from the outskirts of Vale with two faunus who needed a new home. You were at the drop off and took them the rest of the way into the city. I was in the same outfit I wear during combat exercises. Jasmine, the little girl with a rabbit tail, held onto you as soon as she saw you because she wanted to touch your ears. I even took a picture of it, here I can show-"

"Yes, yes I remember now," Blake responds with a bit of a blush in her cheeks. I don't know why she'd be embarrassed, it's a cute picture. Maybe she's just ashamed that she forgot about the Clovers. Yes, that must be it. I'll still hold onto the picture for potential blackmail material later though. "What do they want?"

"They don't want anything. I'm just thanking them for giving me a place to stay before initiation. Although, I think they'd be more than excited to thank you in person as well."

"I don't think that's a good idea," Blake says, looking away and rubbing her arm.

I'm getting the impression she's being hard on herself about one thing or another so I press on, "C'mon. Think of Jasmine, she'd love to see you again. Are you really going to break the heart of a nine year old? It's just one night I promise."

My badgering slowly ships at her fortitude until she finally crumbles, "Fine, I'll go. But not a word of this to anyone."

I give a fist pump at her declaration. More to sell the idea that this was a victory than an indicator of my excitement for it. Blake scoffs at my display and I decide to slide into phase two for this conversation, "Great. Now I just need one more thing from you." Blake gives me a bothered look, but it seems she's willing to suffer whatever idiocy she thinks I've got in store for her. Unfortunately this next topic is not as upbeat as the previous and given some indicators she's put out it's likely not one she'll be too happy to deal with.

"I need everything you know about the Vale branch." Instinctively she starts to deny it but I cut her off, "I don't care if you were previously or no longer are a part of a certain group, but this is too important to hold anything back on. Here, let me show you why," I pull up an image on my scroll and show her.

I finally broke down and decided to buy two cork boards and a whiteboard from the on campus bookstore. The picture I'm showing Blake is the sum total of my investigation into the robberies of Vale. Apparently she's having difficulty following my superbly put together clues and theories as she's squinting at the image and blowing up certain parts of it.

"What exactly am I looking at here? And what does DRV mean?"

"Dust Robberies of Vale," I reply like it should be obvious. With how serious the investigation has gotten I can't keep treating this like a hobby so I gave my investigation and official name. Maybe I'll change it later when I get more evidence but it works for now.

"Uh-huh," Blake continues, not acknowledging my brilliant naming convention. "What about the bits this orange string connects to?"

"Oh, that. That's to show a suspicious link between whatever's connected," I supply helpfully.

"Yeah, and what about this green one?"

"That shows the timeline, see how it starts at the earliest incident and continues on to now?"

"Okay, what about-"

Blake starts picking apart the organization of information some more before I stop her and put away my scroll. "Look, that's not important. Just know that this Torchwick fellow is stockpiling a lot of Dust for something big and the White Fang is helping him do it."

"Adam would never work with a human." The immediate disbelief in her voice confirms my thoughts on the Vale branch, but that hardly makes things less concerning.

"I know. So whatever he's getting out of it has to be something big right?"

That gets her attention on the matter as she straightens up and starts taking my concerns seriously. "What do you need to know?"

With that I start working her over and probing the information she provides in an attempt to jog her memory further. Turns out despite being what was essentially Adam's second in command, Blake left much of the running of the Vale branch to him. He in turn passed the responsibility off to someone else, letting them handle the smaller matters while he did whatever he wanted. Not surprising since Adam doesn't seem to be too big on the whole long-term planning business, still frustrating.

She does provide some good information though; a confirmation that the White Fang were responsible for the train robbery, although they planned to blow it up initially. Something she put a stop to and is the reason she's here at Beacon. Additionally she gives me the location of the camp they were at up until the night before said robbery.

She also provides me with the contact details of a few members of the Vale branch, but her contact list is startlingly low for being in the area for a few years. Apparently Adam didn't like it very much if she went and did things without him which is concerning, but a different kind of concerning than a madman with a city's worth of Dust.

The last bit of useful intel I can get from her, and its usefulness is still in question, is that the night before the train heist Adam was talking with some sort of human girl. Unfortunately Blake wasn't present for whatever meeting they had and only saw the woman when she was leaving. All that she is sure of is that the girl had black hair and had two other people with her.

"That's all of it? You're sure," I question.

"Yes I'm sure! We've gone over this three times already," Blake snaps back at me.

"And each time we uncovered a little bit more. These might seem like small details now, but trust me they all add up to a bigger picture. Maybe another look at the board will help."

"No," she declines my helpful bundle of information with a yelp. After a moment she gives a polite cough and with a more sedate tone continues, "No, I'm sure that's everything I remember. Now can you leave me alone so I can read in peace?"

"Fine, we'll be through with this for now. But what about the Clovers?"

"What about them?"

"Well we should be meeting up with them in," I pause to check my scroll, "a couple hours actually. We have to hurry up if we don't want to be late." At my command Blake stares at me clearly unimpressed and likely wondering why she ever agreed with my request in the first place. She still follows me out to the airship after letting her team know where she's going and I fill the time on our journey informing her on what I know about Coral and Jasmine.

I leave out the parts about how they're still connected with the Fang, however small that connection is. Primarily because I don't know how much of a deal she'll make of that. Considering our venue for tonight it's unlikely it'll come up in conversation, so I'm not too worried. Before too long we find ourselves outside of one of Jasmine's favorite restaurants, Cecil's Pizzeria.

"Why did I agree to this again," Blake lets out with a low groan and her face on the table. The sounds of children running around and loud noises from an arcade room not agreeing with her.

"To see some of the good you've done," my bland reply is enough to get a small smile out of her. Shame it doesn't last too long under the assault of noise. Originally I wanted to go to something a little more upscale as thanks, but Coral firmly shot down that idea. She didn't want me to spend too much Lien on them, even though it wouldn't be my money I'm spending, and assured me that Jasmine would prefer this kind of venue anyway.

Given that the little gremlin is all smiles as she chows down on some pineapple pizza, the heretic, I can't really argue that Coral is wrong. Right now we're in a private room that helps block some, but not all, of the noise. Jasmine is wearing a cheap plastic tiara, courtesy of me lying and saying it's her birthday. She even begged and cried until they brought one out for Blake who was incapable of resisting the girl's pleas to put it on.

"See, you're so pretty with it on Miss Bell," Jasmine chirps, obviously pleased with herself. I, of course, snap a photo of the two girls while I can.

Something that Blake glares at me for while she grumbles under her breath, "Blake isn't a hard name to say." Not that Jasmine cares to listen to what she has to say on the matter.

Despite being the one responsible for this trip Jasmine has hardly paid much attention to me. Only a brief, 'Thank you Mr. Oak,' which I'm pretty sure her mother prodded her into saying. Maybe it's the fact that Blake is a girl which is causing such attention. Not that I mind; better her than me after all, and I already know how much of a bother that kid can be. Hopefully the pizza and the game room keep her distracted enough so Blake doesn't suffer too much.

Speaking of which, Jasmine drags Blake off in that direction to show her all the flashing lights and game cabinets. Blake must not have a lot of experience with kids if she's allowing herself to get caught up in the flow like that. With all that going on Coral has become something of an afterthought, although I think she's fine with that. With all the stress she's under she seems to be happy enough just to relax, even if said relaxation is occurring here of all places.

Stay and talk with Coral. Catch up with her, see how she's holding up and offer her some room to vent. Today is about her and Jasmine after all and Jasmine's already taken care of. (5)

Follow Blake and Jasmine. No, one should be left to suffer like that on their lonesome. I'll tag along and provide moral support for Blake and help her deal with the little munchkin. (0)

Blake can suffer as I have suffered for a little while longer. Besides, Coral could use a friendly ear right now. "I know it hasn't been too long since we last saw each other, but how're you holding up?"

"About as well as can be expected," Coral states before taking a sip of her drink, her pizza small and hardly touched. The quality of food here leaves something to be desired. It seems that Cecil's caters mainly to the younger demographic rather than food connoisseurs. "It's been rough balancing school and a job with taking care of Jasmine, but I make it work."

"Anybody bothering you? I can have a talk with them if that's the case," I joke.

The both of us know it's a serious offer, but Coral does me a service by giving a little laugh despite the lack of humor. "No, no. People are surprisingly friendly in Vale. Although…"

"Go on, spit it out. Maybe I can help."

"Well, I wouldn't want to impose. It's just that some people have been getting a bit pushy lately."

"Pushy how," I question, not liking where this is going.

"It's nothing big. I just had a gentleman stop by my door asking me to come to a meeting for one reason or another. I was already busy with school and I had to decline. He left, thankfully enough, when I explained the circumstances. But he complained that I 'wasn't doing enough.'" Coral doesn't elaborate any more than that, but I can pick up on the context clues.

"I'll look into it. Even then you shouldn't have to worry about anyone cutting you off. That's a home office kind of decision," I reassure her. This is definitely out of the ordinary, the broader White Fang would consider it repayment enough if she occasionally helped out with some medical services in the future. To try and intimidate her into doing more while she's in the middle of schooling isn't something that would be on the table under normal circumstances. I can't pay too much mind to it right now, though if need be she has my number and I can worry about these matters some other time.

"Thank you, truly. It's a load off my mind," Coral lets out more mellowed out by my mention that she doesn't have to worry about her financials being harmed. "But we shouldn't talk about little old me all day. How're you? How are things at Beacon"

"Things are going well, but get this. The powers that be decided that I should be the leader of my team. Can you believe that? Me? A leader," I play up my exasperation at the situation for her amusement.

"I believe many things about you Ochre. Being a leader is amongst the least of them." Coral's reply pierces straight through my joking tone and causes a bit of heat to rise to my face. Something that draws a pleased hum from her lips, a hint of mischief sparkling in her blue eyes.

"So what are you learning in school," I hastily change the subject. She knows exactly what I'm doing, but indulges me with a caring smile. Though the subject of what she's learning is soon turned around on me and through that she learns who my classmates are. She continues to tease and fluster me when she finds out that most of the people I know are girls and the only guys I'm acquainted with are either on my team or I haven't talked to.

She even needles out that Yang and I had gone out in Vale together, although I'm quick to shut my trap before I incriminate myself. She teases me over it even more, asking when I'll bring Yang around for her to see and I have to come up with some weak excuses. I can't just out and out say I beat up a criminal and had to flee or else the cops would arrest me. By the time Blake and Jasmine come in from the game room I'm unsure which of the two of us had a worse time.

Blake is visibly frazzled as Jasmine regales her mom about all the games she played and how she even got a good time in some racing game with Blake's help. It seems that isn't all they did because in Blake's hands are a pair of stuffed animals, a bunny and a dog. I don't know if jasmine simply mistook what Blake's features are due to a faulty memory and Blake not showing them off again or if that's what they got out of the claw machine and they didn't bother sinking more Lien in it.

I check the time and it's starting to get late. Not wanting to get caught out again for another night, and maybe just a little bit influenced by wanting to escape the teasing of the Clover matriarch, I make my excuses and say my goodbyes. Blake is as relieved as I am, but has to hand over the plushies in her possession before we can go. Of course Jasmine has her own idea on the matter and tries to convince Blake to take the rabbit plush with her. She keeps trying to say no and it takes me motioning towards the time for her to finally give in and indulge the actually child, taking the plush and agreeing to a promise to visit again soon.

Fortunately we both make it to the airship in time for us to not be stranded in Vale for the night. Neither of us talk much on the trip to Beacon, and I don't try too hard considering that Blake glares at me whenever she catches me looking at her. Despite that i catch her a few times looking at the plush forced onto her with a small smile. Once we get to Beacon she doesn't bother thanking me for the night. Which is fair considering everything. Instead she runs off ahead to get back to her dorm room and I take a slower stroll planning out the next bit of my free time.

With the information I've gathered I can't really put off investigating the White Fang so for the next few days I start looking up what I can between classes and after school. It's not what takes up all of my time, but I have to touch base with all the things I've heard about and verify them before adding them as part of my investigation.

Investigation Check Rank: 3.04 vs Challenge: 1/2/3/4

Final DCs: Auto-pass/24/49/74

Dice: 1d100
62 = 62

With the help of Blake's information it's easy enough to narrow down where the White Fang made camp before they pulled off their train heist. The downside is that it's in the Forever Fall Forest and that kind of distance is a bit too much to travel on a school day. I could make it if I really needed to, my weekends can be pushed around to allow for some travel.

Fortunately I might not have to, we have a field trip out to the forest as a part of our Survival class. However, that's not until a month and a half from now and the addition of waiting even longer is sure to bury anything I might be able to find all that much further. Although I don't expect to find much there regardless, given that there's no reason for the Fang to still be there or leave something behind. Especially since it's already been over a month since the train heist.

That's not really what has my attention anyways. More something I can go after if I don't have any better leads to follow. Plus with the field trip on its way there's a good enough opportunity to check it out if I need to. No, what got my attention is related to Coral's comment, specifically that she was invited to a meeting by the White Fang. It isn't unusual for the Fang to hold meetings, but considering the nature of the organization for the past five years it's not exactly something that can be done in the open.

Typically such an event would be held in a trusted venue, but based on how the Vale branch is acting that would raise some flags unless whoever managed the venue was in on it as well. Otherwise news would make it to Sienna and while I doubt that would stop Adam it is attention that he wouldn't want to deal with. I can't necessarily rule out the possibility that there is an owner that Adam trusts enough to hold these meetings, but I also can't pinpoint where that would be with the scant information I have. I could ask Coral if she was provided a specific place to go, but I've already decided I was going to keep this sort of stuff away from her if I could help it.

Instead I focus on the next most likely place for the Fang to meet up, a warehouse. Renting a warehouse isn't too big of an expense for the Fang, and given that most of them will store very little or only inconsequential items with little to no oversight makes them a perfect place for the Fang. They're especially useful for recruitment when prospective members who haven't been vetted yet are brought in to possibly join the Fang. Even if they get cold feet and tell the authorities all that has to be done is use a different warehouse for a few months and the heat will be gone.

I do find a number of places that could be used for this purpose, warehouses that are owned or operated by shell companies. The only problem with that is I can't tell which are necessarily a part of the Fang and which are criminal ventures. Who knows I might even have the place Torchwick is hiding all his Dust on my list. I'll have to check them out at a later date to narrow down which are the kind I'm looking for, but I'm certain I'm on the right track at least.

Speaking of tracks, I'm able to confirm that the Dust stolen from the train hasn't made its way on the streets either. Which speaks well to Torchwick and the Vale branch working together. It still doesn't explain the difference in time between the two or who the mystery woman who talked to Adam is, or even if she is involved in any of this at all. Still, a mysterious figure showing up right before a major Dust robbery would be suspicious even if a Dust robbing crime spree didn't start a week later. I would look into who she is more if it wouldn't be like trying to find a needle in a haystack.

Aside from that I double check that it's really the White Fang involved. A few shopkeepers later and a quick perusal through news reports that are more detailed now that it's White Fang goons instead of Junior's goons and I've confirmed that little fact. What little store data I got my hands on also corroborates the kind of Dust Torchwick has been prioritizing. It's not much, but it's always good to confirm any information I receive with multiple sources.

Putting aside that investigation for a while, I focus on a different enigma. Marina has settled into a deferential role with strange bouts of energy now that teams have been decided. While not entirely out of the realm of possibility when paired with her previous behavior it is quite a change. She also spends a good portion of her time people-watching, either in the cafeteria or outside, which happens to be what she's doing right now. Seated on a bench in a bit of greenery between Beacon's buildings and staring at teams or individuals as they go about their day.

Said activity gives me a few options on how to approach her. While I could always just walk up and bluntly ask as to what's caused her change in behavior I could instead ask what she's doing and make a bit of a game guessing things about people. Or I could start off a bit oblique, I know she's had some trouble in her past and lost some people. She didn't want to talk about it back then but we're partners now so she might open up. I could also just let the whole thing lie, though that wouldn't sit entirely right with me. Not every mystery has to be solved though, so I could just talk to her about the team, classes, and how she's settling in here at Beacon.

Play along: She's people watching and likely for a reason. It might just be for fun, but that doesn't mean I can't join in and bond with her about it. (4)

About the Now: I don't necessarily need to know about her past or what motivates her if I have a good handle on her character. Instead I could ask about how she's settling in and if everything is alright. (3)

Blunt: Why she's changed so much in her attitude from before initiation to now. Even if she doesn't want to open up it might be best to get to the root of this issue. (0)

About the Past: Marina has had her fair share of troubles from the sounds of things. Figuring out what those are and how they've affected her might be the best way around this issue. (0)

"Whatcha doing," I ask my partner as I take a seat next to her. She makes a bit of a humming noise with a tilt of her head, but doesn't elaborate more. Acting like that is enough for me to understand. "Sorry, I think you need to spell it out a bit more clearly."

Marina spins around in her seat to face me, her expression neutral. "I'm watching people," she replies before spinning back around to continue her task. Thanks, I didn't get that part. I put aside my frustration to ask her why and as soon as I do she turns back around. "I'm trying to figure them out. How they can act so…I'm not sure how to describe it."

This time she hasn't just snapped back to what she was doing, instead she stares at me intently with teal eyes. "Well, I'm not too sure how to explain it either based on what you've said. But I know everyone is in the middle of their own stories, so what seems strange to us might make sense to them." Marina nods, easily accepting my answer even if I can tell it doesn't quite satisfy her. "How about we take turns picking people out and see what we can tell from each of them and make up some story for why that's the case?"

Marina gives a muted okay and I take the lead in the game, "Look at him." I point to a guy who looks like he's in his third year running from the campus bookstore with a stack of books in his hands and a scroll against his ear. "Notice how it's late into the first week of school and he's only now getting his books?"

"Didn't you take the crew to get our books yesterday," she questions with genuine confusion. The crew being what she refers to our team as and I haven't been able to explain to her the difference to her satisfaction.

"Yes I did, but he's not a first year. At least I hope he isn't since he looks like he has a few years on us. While we don't need any books for the first week of school that doesn't apply to the higher year students."

Marina makes a noise of understanding and I continue, "That combined with how he's on a call with someone makes me think that he put this off as long as he could until one of his professors called him out on it or assigned him homework he needed the book for. He probably didn't have the money for it and had to call someone to add some more Lien to his account. That person being one of his parents, who's on the call chewing him out for not getting it done sooner."

"That would explain the embarrassment with a touch of fear I'm getting from him." I don't comment on it, but she must be able to pick up on people's emotions real well with how certain she is about her statement.

"So, we might be right. But that doesn't matter for this game. As long as we have something plausible to work with we can use that until further information disproves it." She nods and I get the impression she's taking a further lesson on the matter than just the game we're playing. "Anyways it's your turn. Pick someone out."

After a few moments of searching my partner sticks her finger out at someone, "Her. She's terrified, but also excited. Apprehension bubbling off her, but she still has hope about something."

I take a moment to look over to the girl Marina is talking about. It's a faunus girl who appears to be in her second year. One hand is holding a box of some kind, one that I can't make out from the distance, and the other has her scroll with something pulled up that she's reading. I refrain from making any comments, "Well, it's your turn. You tell me what's happening."

She thinks about it for a few moments before she reveals her story, "Someone gave her that box telling her there are goodies inside, but the weight makes her think it's something else. She's using her scroll to find out what it could possibly be."

I humor her and ask a follow up question, "And what do you think could be in the box that she'd be concerned about?"

"Snakes," is Marina's flat reply. While I highly doubt that there are snakes in that box that's not the point of this game so I make a noncommittal noise and choose my next target.

That being a guy peeking around a corner who's looking at a couple on a bench halfway across the greenery from Marina and I. I can only get a glimpse of his backside from our angle so I can't tell too much about him. "See that guy. I'm betting that one of the people in our couple over there is someone he's got a crush on and is looking at them with jealousy."

"Not jealousy," Marina corrects. Huh. Well, different strokes for different folks I guess. However, Marina's comments has me thinking.

"I'm guessing this is the work of your semblance. Something to do with emotions?"

"Yes. It makes dealing with people complicated." Well that explains some of her behavior especially if there's a feedback component. That time on the airship might've simply been the first time she's been around so many people. It doesn't fit perfectly but it works well enough for now.

Something from that initiation night niggles the back of my brain as I ask, "And what about Ren? When we met, the two of you seemed to have a stare off."

"Ren. Ren is too good at hiding his." If she has anything more to say on the matter she doesn't and I've already delved a bit more into the personal side of things than I was planning for anyways.

Marina and I continue our game for an hour longer. I can't say she really improves with her stories, but she makes a genuine effort. Annoyingly enough I can't get her to challenge any of my assertions no matter how ridiculous I make the scenarios. Even if I directly challenge her she simply nods and goes along with whatever I say. After that the two of us head to our dorms for the night. We have some training planned for the weekend, but I have one more thing to take care of first.

It takes a day and some favor trading with Yang to get this to all work out. She does tease me a bit, claiming that I'm a dog for going after so many girls at once. Of course she knows I'm only doing this to get ahead of the whole White Fang issue that's sure to come up at some point. Thankfully it's still early in the year and nothing has come up where I let slip something that could even hint at me being a part of the Fang. So aside from my teammates, Yang, and Blake, no one else should know about any association I have, past or otherwise.

This should be helpful as without that Weiss shouldn't have any problems with me. Well, aside from me being a faunus if she's one of those kinds of people. Or how I stayed out late one night with Yang. Or how I dragged Blake off on short notice not all that long ago. Okay, she might have some reason to dislike me, but it won't be because of my association with the Fang.

Still, I ready myself for a potentially charged conversation. Weiss is walking back to the dorms by herself after some training with her team. Yang is able to keep up her part of the plan and distract the other two. I'll have to thank her for that and for giving me the time they'd be done with training. She even offered to help me break the news to Weiss, but I declined. I'd rather get a measure of the Schnee on her own.

I've prepared as much as I can, so I approach Weiss and with a short bow introduce myself, "My name is Ochre Rovere. I'd like to formally introduce myself and chat for a bit if that's alright with you Miss Schnee." It doesn't hurt to be polite in this instance and I'm sure it's something she's more used to than the casualness of her team.

"At least you know your manners," she rings out imperiously with a small scoff at the end. It's clear she'd rather hit the showers after a day of practice, but she puts that aside for now. "Very well, I can make some time for you. What is it you'd like to discuss?" That comment about manners could be read into a few ways. I discard that for now; these are nominally peace talks in my mind.

The question remains on how best to proceed. I could just lay everything flat out and hope that relations between our two teams are more important than my past association with the Fang. I could also take a subtler approach and just hint that I was a part of an organization that I no longer agree with and let her draw conclusions from that. It's a softer approach that doesn't have the same impact as just declaring it, but also doesn't have the same sincerity that a more blunt approach would. Lastly I could just make nice with her as best as I can and let her find out at her own pace from how I act at school. I'm not sure about the viability of that, but it is an option.

Blunt: There's no point in trying to beat around the bush. While she might react negatively right off the bat, there's a certain sincerity in not trying to lead her around on this matter. (3)

Hinted At: I could hint at my involvement with certain phrases while trying to ingratiate myself to her. She could view this as either manipulative or tactful depending on a variety of factors. (0)

Avoidance: Don't bring up the Fang. I'm sure I can find something to talk about, maybe I can even win her over enough that when my association with the Fang does come out our relationship can survive. (0)

It's best to take care of this directly and as fast as possible. I haven't been yelled at by an heiress yet so this will be a new experience. "It's about my past actually," I say with as much contrition as I can manage. Weiss is on the ball despite any tiredness she might feel; her polite expression falls and her eyes narrow in on my leopard-like ears. "Yeah. Looks like you got it. I was a part of the White Fang. Was." I emphasize hoping that'll ratchet down any possible hostility.

"You're telling me this, why exactly? Are you hoping for some kind of forgiveness for all your kind has done" she replies her tone cool and level which is somehow worse than if she exploded at me.

"No, I left the White Fang since I disagreed with how they were conducting themselves. That's not what this is about, this is to clear the air. I'm not planning on hiding it, but you deserve to hear about it from me rather than someone else."

"Yes, I deserve to find out that someone who I thought could be a friend was actually a filthy terrorist. Thank you oh so kindly for informing me." I could argue with her that that was clearly not what I meant. However, I must swallow my pride a little and let her get this off her chest. "Do you have any idea how much the White Fang has done to my family? Done to me?! What I've been through due to the actions of your people?"

"They aren't my people any more," I break through her tirade when she gives me a good opening. Sure I might be lying, technically, but it's still true that I disagree with how the Fang handles certain things. Not that anyone here needs to know about that right now. "And I might have a small idea of what's been done to you. I wouldn't presume that I know all of it though."

At my comment Weiss' fury turns from an icy storm to a cold chill, still biting but much more bearable. "Hmph, I've known people who I consider to be Aunts and Uncles of the family be attacked and even killed just for associating with the Schnee name. Do you have anything to say for yourself?" While I could point out that those people almost certainly did more than just associate with the Schnee name or the SDC, that wouldn't help. I also happen to have a much more pertinent example in my pocket anyways.

"Did you know there was an attack planned on your fifteenth birthday concert?" It's a rhetorical question so I don't even bother letting her answer, though I do note that she froze up when I mentioned the word 'concert.' "Of course not. I happened to be in Atlas at the time and convinced the guys planning it that there was no point in attacking the daughter of Jacques. Not matter how good it would make them feel it wouldn't bring their families out of the mines, it wouldn't make the man change his heart, it wouldn't make things right.

I'm not defending everyone in the Fang or even most of them. There are some real pieces of work who call the White Fang their family. But the White Fang is not a monolith, and I'm sorry. I wasn't more influential among the White Fang and I couldn't stop them, so I'm sorry." Some of the weariness of the week comes out in my voice. More than I was wanting to if I'm being honest, but it has some effect on the Schnee heiress.

Her hostility is on pause, but her distrust is not. Not that I blame her, if the positions were reversed and she was apologizing for all the ills of the SDC I'd be wary of her. "You said you left the White Fang, correct," her tone demands an answer.

"Yes." It's a simple response; I could elaborate on what disagreements I have with them or point out that they aren't the type to let me go to Beacon under normal circumstances. Ultimately I don't trust myself to handle any more complicated of an answer.

Her eyes bore a hole in my head as if searching for the truthfulness of my answer. Fortunately she doesn't discover any of the liberties I've taken with the truth. "Fine."

"Fine? That's it," I question.

"Don't think this means everything is okay between us. I don't know what you've done for the White Fang and quite frankly I don't want to know. But you said you left them," Weiss states imperiously, her tone softening at the last sentence. "I'm choosing to believe you. So even if we're not starting out on even footing I'll at least give you a chance. It would be discourteous of me to do otherwise."

She doesn't conclude our conversation with any grand gesture of friendship or anything of the like. Rather with our business concluded and herself calmed down she takes stock of her current state and scrunches her nose. "Now if you wouldn't mind I must take my leave; we can speak another time. Right now I would find myself a terrible conversationalist."

With that she walks past me, luckily her desire for hygiene is a higher priority than checking her surroundings. Otherwise she would have seen the rest of her team spying on us. I'm not sure why I was expecting any real privacy on the matter after I told Yang what I planned to do. She, Ruby, and even Blake look at me with expectation on their faces. I briefly toy around with messing with them but decide this isn't the kind of situation for that and shoot them a thumbs up instead.

Ruby and Yang let out a bit of a cheer as the younger sister hugs the older. Blake's expression doesn't change much, but I know I've given her something to think about. Honestly I don't know if Weiss would take a confession from her the same way she did from me. Our relationships are too dissimilar to really compare and she might think that Blake was hiding it from her. Regardless I mentally wish them the best of luck figuring that mess out.

With my business concluded my team and I have a clear schedule to start training while we don't have any classes. I do impose on them a little bit to head to the nearby forest so I can test my semblance on some grimm first. It takes barely any time to find some beowolves and even less time to whittle them down to one last surviving member. Autumn restrains the monster, not letting it cause any trouble, as I walk up to it. I place my hand on its midsection and activate my semblance.

It isn't as smooth as my usual entrance into my mirror world is. Normally it is seamless even if I'm bringing another person in with me. Although I don't have as many experiences of that to compare this to. This time it was almost like the whole world stuttered for what felt like seconds. Once those seconds passed the stuttering stopped and I found myself in my mirror world with no beowolf in sight.

Not sure what to expect I step back out of my mirror world as quickly as I can. I return to the real world sprawled on the ground with the beowolf gone. A bit of discussion with my team later and I find out that after activating my semblance the beowulf disappeared and I took a dive onto the grass like a puppet with their strings cut. The latter is normal for my semblance if I spend enough time in my mirror world, but the former is new. Unfortunately checking with my scroll I find that my aura has dropped to almost sixty percent after one measly beowolf.

I have enough in the tank for another go so I have one of my teammates record the process with a scroll as I wipe out another beowolf. A review of the footage shows that the area I'm in contact with is the first part to disappear with the effect radiating outward from the point of contact. With how most grimm need a head to live this could be a useful one-hit-kill move as long as I use it on anything other than the double headed king taijitu. Although given the rate of aura this costs I can only see using it as a last ditch desperation move. Even then I don't know what would happen to me if I exhaust my aura in the middle of the process.

As the final day of my first week at Beacon comes to a close I finish some business that fell to the wayside throughout the week. Most important of which is writing out a letter for dad, letting him know that I'm alright and have made some friends. I deliberate a little bit on whether I want to include details of Blake's stay at Beacon so he can pass that on to the Belladonnas but decide against it. I wouldn't want to betray Blake's trust for no reason. I might have a talk with her about reconnecting with her parents at some later point, though that's for future me to worry about.

I plan to send the letter as soon as I can, but given travel times to Menagerie and how relatively uncommon it is for ships to dock there it will likely be a couple of months before I receive a reply. Plus I have to account for grimm attacks an piracy so I'll be writing a few more letters to be sent out among other ships. Just another reason why Menagerie desperately needs those relays ASAP.

Other than that I keep in contact with Olive and reach out to Mantis. For Olive I decided to let him know about my attendance at Beacon. Partially to assuage his worries and partially so I don't have to deal with him sending me 'subtle' hints to leave the Fang.

According to him, he had started looking into White Fang activity in vale after I told him that's where I was heading. With that information I ask him if he could keep an eye on it regardless and see if he can forward anything interesting to me. He might not be able to investigate things as in-depth as I can given the distance. But who knows, he might come across something I missed or neglected.

Meanwhile with Mantis my conduct is much more business-like. Thankfully she's given up on trying to get me to fess up about the last job I did and welcomes the new status quo wher the two of us trade info and stories. Having someone with insight with all of the White Fang branches is useful to her while I primarily use her to confirm some things concerning current policy at headquarters as well as some trivia.

Through her I find out what was up with the symbols around Heaven's Delight teahouse. The three lines on each side of the name and the three lanterns out front refer to the Third Watch. A story about how the less than legal parts of Mistral cooperated with the authorities to ensure the city's defenses. Nowadays it's typically used to indicate a neutral ground where people on both sides of the law can meet if need be, as well as a gray market of sorts. Not usually selling anything illegal but rather selling items without going through the legal hoops to do so. In addition some establishments peddle in information, although they usually stick to surface level stuff.

Some of that may have been useful to me if I knew about it a week prior. As it is I've already gone through all the surface level information I could care for and I doubt I'll need to arrange a meeting with any criminals anytime soon. Maybe if I have to form my own splinter group of the Fang, to stop whatever idiocy Adam is planning, I could use it to conduct a meeting with the police if I had to.

Combat Raised from (25/625) to (33/625) Source: Class & team training.

Criminology raised from (1/150) to (4/150) Source: Challenge & raid on Junior

Dust raised from (0/50) to (6/50) Source: Class

Grimm raised from (10/150) to (16/150) Source: Class

History raised from (0/300) to (9/300) Source: Class

Investigation raised from (11/300) to (18/300) Source: Class & Challenges

Mobility raised from (35/300) to (41/300) Source: Class

Stealth raised from (0/300) to (3/300) Source: Challenges

Survival raised from (1/150) to (7/150) Source: Class

Discretionary budget reduced from (2200/5000L) to (2000/5000L)

LloydAbsolon · Feb 13, 2024

White Fang: Meeting at a warehouse: The White Fang have to be operating out of somewhere in Vale and I have a decent idea as to where this could be. (Investigation check) (3)

Robberies: Suspicious Timing: I'm not sure what could have prompted Torchwick to start his crime spree, but I'm certain the train robbery wasn't it. Maybe I can dig and find out. (Hard Investigation check). (3)

Ruby (QM)

Autumn: He's plenty big and has an amiable temperament. I could pick his brain about my investigations, see if he noticed something I missed as a foreigner. (5)

Kelly: As much as she makes fun of my style she's still a part of my team. I owe her at least some of my time. (5)

Ren: We may not talk all that much, but Ren is a good friend and a member of a team I haven't interacted too much with. (4)

Marina: She's opened up to me about her semblance. That alone hasn't unraveled the full mystery of what's going on with her, but it's a start. (3)

Train a skill (+ which skill) (3)

I'm not really used to working in a team, and while it might not be my biggest concern it will be important for the Vytal Festival and fighting Grimm. Train team fighting combat style: Gain double the combat modifier from working with a team (8/75) (2)

+Investigation (2)

We're in Grimm Studies with Professor Port who hands us our tests from the previous week. These won't affect our grades due to the disparate education levels of everyone involved. However, they are graded to show how we would perform and demonstrate how he wants the class to be run.

Unfortunately most everyone is unhappy with the results myself included. I stare at my 67, a result of my previous lack of education and lack of diligent study on the creatures of grimm. It doesn't help that some of the questions are explicitly about the stories Port tells in class.

Even Weiss seems upset at her test, a 92 from what I can see and Ruby hid hers as soon as she got it back. Yang isn't too bothered, nor is Kelly; the two of them proclaim they didn't even bother studying and got something in the 80's. Nora folds hers into a paper airplane and throws it about which, knowing Nora, means she either did really well or really poorly. The worst among us has to be Marina who similarly lacks any formal schooling and has the poorest grasp of the material. Seems studying a variety of grimm wasn't as much of a concern for her when she lived on a boat. The only one of us that's truly happy with their results is Autumn.

Somehow he got all of the questions correct and even got all the extra credit granting him a whopping 115. Autumn isn't what anyone would call a scholarly or academically rigorous student. Such that when Weiss sees his score and the fact that it's higher than hers she confronts him, "I've seen you sleep through half of the classes we're in. How on Remnant did you manage this?"

"Well I don't sleep through this one for starters little miss. Maybe if you did the same you wouldn't have any reason to complain," Autumn responds in a drawn out manner, relishing in his superior academic position.

"Excuse me-" Weiss starts before Ruby cuts her off.

"But, like half the questions were things like what grimm Port fought on his mission to a Vacuan ruin. Or which grimm he suplexed into the mouth of a taijitu. How're we supposed to remember those kinds of things?"

"Well for me it was easy. See it was actually two grimm that he knocked into the taijitu's mouth; an ursa and a beowolf. And it wasn't a suplex, it was an Atlesian shoulder toss."

"How do you even remember all that? I don't have anything like that in my notes." That response comes from Blake. She has her test out and is referencing the questions with the notes she's taken in class.

"Well for me it reminded of the time I was wrestling with Betty, she was one of our cattle you see, and Ranger, our dog, went to break it up barking all the way. Granted I didn't pull off no fancy wrestling move and all we really did was kick up some mud, but…" Autumn trails off as he notices that we're clearly not getting what he's talking about. "Ah, I guess you just had to be there for it to make sense."

"I was there and it makes even less sense knowing about it," Kelly complains which prompts her brother to bark out a laugh. His response doesn't stop the rest of us from glaring at him as we realize he's going to be the reason why the class isn't graded on a curve and that he couldn't help any of us with the material even if he tried.

Not long after that it's lunch time, me and my team sit down with our food already in hand. I spot JNPR waiting in line but RWBY isn't. Instead Ruby is staring at us, me specifically, and Weiss is trying to talk to her about something. Whatever it is doesn't seem to work out too well for her as Ruby finds her resolve and stomps off in my direction. Yang and Blake, meanwhile, trail behind their leader with Weiss still pleading with the young Huntress.

I don't catch much of what they're saying due to the volume in the room. However, soon enough Ruby stands directly opposite of me, one hand on her hip and the other outstretched with a finger pointing accusingly at me. "Mr. Ochre, if that is your real name. What are your intentions with my sister!?"

I'll give her some props, she was able to say that with quite some conviction. The usual nervous energy that pervades her words and frame is completely absent this time. Naturally I refuse to engage with the question and instead delve into pedantry, "Ruby, my last name is Rovere, not Ochre."

"If that is a real name," is her blithe reply.

"Of course it's a real name. It's from a Valean dialect that translates-"

"Don't care! Now fess up mister or you'll regret it."

"What are you even talking about Ruby," I question evasively. In the meanwhile I check out her teammates to evaluate their thoughts on the matter and to see if I can gain any support. Weiss has her head in her hands like she can't believe that Ruby is actually doing this. Yang is shooting me a toothy smile and a thumbs up like she isn't somewhat responsible for all this. And Blake is acting like this isn't a big deal, however, with the lack of a book in her hands I can tell she is at least somewhat interested.

"Don't act like you don't know. We all saw you and Yang come back after a night out in Vale. And you," Ruby wheels around to lecture her sister. "Don't think I didn't notice Bumblebee missing that night. Little miss I won't let anyone else ride her."

"Ruby, you know that's not what I-" Yang tries to interject, but Ruby just shushes her before returning her attention to me. I look at my team and only find Autumn and Kelly smiling at the whole ordeal and Marina with her brow furrowed analyzing the situation.

"She was just showing me around. I'm new in Vale, remember? We just lost track of time and had to spend the night out in a hotel." It's not like I can admit that we went to beat up some criminals and can't talk about it because the police are corrupt.

"So you admit it! The two of you even stayed in a room together!" I didn't say that, but it isn't wrong either and admitting it was to save money doesn't seem like a great idea right now. "Dad warned me about guys like you. Although you have less stubble than he said you would." As if remembering her dad's words Ruby brings her hand to her chin rubbing at imaginary stubble.

"Ruby, that's enough. You really got the wrong idea here. Ochre is just a friend," Yang pipes up, nervous now that her dad has been brought up in the conversation.

"Uh-huh. Just like all those other friends who happened to be boys that you didn't want dad to know about. Try again Yang, I'm young, not stupid."

I didn't want it to come to this, but if anyone will understand beating up bad guys hopefully it's Ruby. "Fine you got us. We snuck out to smash together the heads of some criminals that had information I wanted."

"Oh, don't you try that. I'm not falling for that again." Again? I look at Yang who gives me a sheepish smile at my accusatory glare. With that not working I need some other way to get Ruby off my back.

A distraction: All this focus on Yang and she didn't even notice that I drug Blake out for a night on the town as well. She doesn't need to know it was to meet the Clovers though. (5)

Turnabout is fair play: Turn it back on her and fluster her. Why would I chase after Yang if Ruby is right there. This, uh, this might not be the best idea. (3)

Up to eleven: Yang didn't do anything to stop this so some payback is in order. Confirm whatever outlandish suspicions Ruby has and exacerbate them. It'll probably fluster her and she'll find out I'm just messing with her. Eventually. (1)

Deny deny deny: Just keep shutting down her attempts. She has to give up eventually, right? (0)

A little help here: Plead with everyone I can, mostly Weiss, to stop this. This isn't behavior that anyone should have to see much less air out in the cafeteria. (0)

I shift my posture and draw out each word as much as I can to show that I'm more relaxed than I actually am. "My, oh my. All of this attention on Yang. Aren't you forgetting someone?"

The sudden shift in my demeanor leaves Ruby confused. One second she's cornering me and now it's like I don't have a care in the world. "What do you mean? This is about you and Yang, so don't distract me by talking about anyone else!" She tries her best to rally, really she does, but if she's going to force me into this situation I'm going to have some fun with it.

I briefly make eye contact with Blake who immediately stiffens up and shakes her head. Something that Yang catches but doesn't comment on. Then I smirk theatrically, staring Ruby down and locking her silver eyes with mine. "But what about Blake," I state with inflated cheer.

"Ochre," Blake demands that I stop with her tone but I ignore her. Admirably, Ruby is able to remain strong and not immediately turn to look at her teammate.

"I bet that she came back to the dorm pretty late one night," I pause dramatically and smile with a bit too much teeth. "I bet you noticed a few days later a little rabbit plush among her possessions."

Ruby, caught in my momentum, gasps, "That was you?!" She turns to Blake who has a full blush on her face, but doesn't say anything to defend herself. Seems she is more embarrassed about hanging out with the Clovers than the implication she was alone with me.

Ruby, of course knows none of this and the sight of the normally stoic Blake blushing is all the confirmation she needs. "How awful," she spins around to look at her sister, "Yang he's two-timing you! What could you possibly see in him!?"

"I keep trying to tell you it isn't like that. Everything he said about beating people up is true, we're just friends." Yang tries to grab onto her sister's shoulders to calm her down, but the silver-eyed girl just disappears into a flash of rose petals and reappears in front of her white-haired partner.

"Weiss! Help! My sister is in denial and defending a scumbag," Ruby screams while shaking the aforementioned girl.

"Hey," I yell out, but at this point I realize I may have lost control of the situation.

"Unhand me at once Ruby! You should be ashamed of yourself. Making a scene like this in front of everyone at school. Do you want our team to be the laughing stock of Beacon?" Thankfully Weiss seems to have her head in the right place and is attempting to de-escalate the situation.

"But Weiss," Ruby whines, "what would you do if it was your sister? Think about it, some strange guy you don't know has captured your sister's heart and he doesn't give a rat's butt about her."

"Ochre Rovere you despicable being! I should have expected nothing less from you!" Well there goes that small bit of support. I turn around to plead with my team for some backup, only to find they have abandoned me and are sitting with JNPR. My treacherous team aside it looks like I have to pull out the big guns; I hope you can forgive me for this Blake.

"Okay that's enough joking around. You see what really happened was-"

"We kissed," Blake interrupts in a rush. What the hell Blake!? I'm drowning here and you pull this? Your team isn't going to think less of you for hanging out with a kid!

"GASP!" Unfortunately the situation keeps spiraling as Nora has found her way into the conversation.

"Did you really just say gasp Nora," I ask more for my own sanity than anything else.

"I'm sorry, but it's all so surprising. It's like a textbook whirlwind romance until now. Didn't you see that you had the heart of a maiden captured and all in your grasp and you throw it away! First by going out with Yang then AGAIN with Blake!"

Her words have me lost and confused, "What are you talking about Nora?"

"Marina of course! That girl who's been following you around and is on your team, dummy. Plus I have it on good authority with my grasp of the silent language that she's totally into you! How could you betray her like that?!"

"Nora, nothing is going on between me and Marina. Stop saying stuff like that."

"Yeah right," she blows off my perfectly reasonable statement. "I saw the two of you couple watching in the park a few days back. If that's not a date I don't know what is."

"Wait, wouldn't that be after the times he came back with Yang and after Blake came home late," Ruby decides to interject both at the worst time and with the worst information.

"Oh no it's worse than I thought! He didn't just date and dump her, he's been leading them all on!"

Weiss sniffs imperiously and lets out a vitriolic, "Scum." Thanks Weiss, really feeling the Schnee hospitality right now.

Yang grabs Nora and Ruby in a headlock before the two can keep feed off of each other. "Okay seriously this has gone on long enough. Ochre and I aren't dating. End of statement. And whatever is going on with him and Marina is their business. Let's just drop this and move on."

"But Yaaaaang. What about Blake? She said they kissed."

Fortunately instead of turning to me they turn to Blake, who under pressure hurriedly says, "It was an accident."

Seeing my opening I pounce on it with a cheshire grin. "Oh, how do you kiss someone accidentally Blake?" That diverts all of their attention to Blake who they proceed to badger with questions. Not that I bother keeping up with it. I finally have the chance to eat my lunch without further distractions. Although I do receive an apology from Weiss and Ruby, upon Weiss' insistence, over the comments they made earlier.

It's a sad state that I'm looking forward more to stalking the streets than I am to dealing with my classmates. Seriously, after that mess I'll have to find a way to get back at them, minus Blake; I think she's suffered enough. Plus I'll have to find something creative for my team, you don't just abandon a man like that no matter how much he's getting ganged up on.

That's for later though, I have more important work to do right now. Said work is checking out some warehouses for signs of White Fang activity. I bet I'll have better luck during the night so I take a nap after classes and rest as well as I can on the ride over. I'm going to pull an all-nighter so I don't have to worry about a hotel room tonight, but I'm going to pay for it tomorrow. If I really need to I can just sleep in my semblance. It won't do anything for my physical tiredness, but I can afford a few docked points in combat class anyways.

Investigation Check: Rank 3.06 vs Challenge 2/4

Final DC: 24/74

Dice: 1d100
58 = 58

While it would be incredibly convenient for me to find an active White Fang meeting during my first time checking for them I'm not that optimistic. I settle for asking around the industrial district about any going ons in the night, acting like a concerned brother for a fake family that bears some resemblance to the Clovers. I don't get much to go on at first, but combined with my previous research I narrow down which warehouses are in discuss and from there find which of the ones remaining are likely to be used by the Fang.

Said list narrows even further until I'm left with three warehouses that I'm reasonably certain the Fang are currently using. Likely they have them on rotation so even if one gets compromised they still have the others to fall back on. I'm certain they have more lying around for that eventuality, but without anything more to go on I can't tell which those would be.

Since my plan is to stalk around in the industrial district I had changed out of my school uniform into my 'casual' clothes. That being the drab gray hoodie I brought with me, much to my internal grousing. These next two weeks can't pass by fast enough, after that I might be able to justify buying some actual clothes.

Despite my fashion crises, my choice of attire serves me well in this part of town this late at night. Disguised as a down on their luck teen I don't get many strange looks or pointed questions. By this point with my investigation closing in on the final three warehouses my questions become a lot more precise and leading. Especially with other faunus like the one I'm approaching.

He's over a decade older than me and appears to be a factory worker getting off from a late shift. His skin is leathery and small horns poke out of his head. I'm unsure what animal those features belong to, but it doesn't affect my approach. I feed him a line about how I'm starting to feel a bit concerned about my family with everything going on and how I've heard there are some meetings in the area to help with that kind of situation.

He takes the bait and shoots me a sympathetic look before asking if I'm sure I'm ready for something like that. Of course I say I'm sure and I try not to let my frustration or excitement show too much. I don't need your concern old man, I just need you to tell me what I want to know.

Fortunately this is a common enough occurrence for the Fang and the man I'm talking to isn't one of those paranoid sorts. I get confirmation that one of those warehouses is indeed a meeting spot as well as the usual meeting days. I'm also told I don't have to worry about masking up as they'll have those available for new recruits.

Originally after the transition from Ghira Belladonna to Sienna Khan there were stricter restrictions on who could join, such as needing someone to sponsor you. Nowadays it's different, the White Fang has transitioned from a top-down structure with a clear hierarchy to a cell structure with parallel power structures. That combined with how every cell needs more bodies means that such requirements are hardly enforced. It's a mess that will take years to untangle if we ever do.

I can't do anything about that though; instead I focus on scouting out my chosen warehouses which only further confirms they are what I'm looking for. Unfortunately I'm not lucky enough to stumble on a meeting in progress on my first time out. So, after a night of searching I return to Beacon.

Thankfully things seem to settle down here over the following day. Blake avoids looking at me as much as she can and Yang keeps a bit of distance. That's to be expected after what happened. It is a bit of a surprise when Ruby apologizes to me for a second time. It seems that she thought my late night adventure was motivated by what happened and her team had a meeting on the matter soon after I left.

She practically begs me to just talk with her instead of running off next time, which I hesitantly agree with to get her to stop blubbering about it. I don't bother to tell her about my investigation, but do tell her I wasn't angry with her. While she may be likely to find out about my investigations given that Yang and Blake are on her team, there is no reason to spread that around.

While I may have resolved to get some payback over the lunchroom debacle at some indeterminate point in the future, all of those concerns are currently washed away by my exhaustion from last night. That must be why when Autumn got it in his head that the two of us needed to discuss things man to man I didn't really question it. Nor did I question why we needed to bring our weapons with us.

In fact it's a surprise to me when he tells me to hit him with my best shot. Even more so when essentially on auto-pilot I do so. Then with the first blow thrown he starts getting into the fight, trying to keep my needle-like weapon away from him with his oversized knife. While I may be exhausted it would take truly unfortunate luck for me to lose to Autumn in a one on one fight. Even ignoring the difference between our skill levels he simply hasn't honed his fighting style to focus so heavily on one target at a time like I have.

A few minutes of sparring with me not holding back due to exhaustion has him running on empty in terms of aura and he surrenders. That outcome, as predictable as it is, doesn't put a dent in his mood and he approaches me afterwards with a big smile and a bigger hug. "Feeling better now, leader? My pa always told me the best way to mend a friendship between guys is a good ol' fashioned punch out. Also told me it don't work too well on girls, but nevermind that."

I break out of the hug with more effort than I care to admit. "You know I wasn't all that upset right," I state rather than question. He just nods like he's accepting the answer though it's clear he doesn't believe me. "No, seriously it wasn't a big deal. Just…school stuff."

"It don't matter what it was, we left ya to fend for yourself. Even if it was pretty funny." Of course he says that with a shit-eating grin. If it wasn't for his low aura I'd have stabbed him just for that. As is, I shake my fist at him in a mix of faux and real anger. Although in the wake of the fight we just had I find it difficult to really hold onto that outrage. I am brought to the realization that this is our first real moments along together and with that realization there are a number of questions that float through my mind.

Grimm studies: No seriously how is he so good in that class? Is it some sort of trick or does he and Port just 'click.' (3)

Backup: I'm going to look into some dangerous matters, and while I have no doubt that the team would help me out if I need it, I could talk about it and get his explicit support ahead of time. (3)

Team: We are on the same team after all. I could see how he and Kelly are settling in and maybe he's gained a bit of insight about Marina. (1)

Investigations: I'm not a native to Vale, but Autumn is. Even if he lived in the countryside he might have some insights that I'm missing. (1)

Family: He and Kelly have talked a bit about their parents. Maybe I could find out more about them. (0)

Missions: He and Kelly have made it clear that they're looking forward to their second years when they can start earning some money to send to their folks. Maybe talk with him about it and see what we can work out ahead of time. (0)

School: I could pick his brain about what he thinks of Beacon and in particular our classmates. (0)

"What's your secret?" Those are the first words that come out in my tired state.

"Huh?"

"Grimm studies," I elaborate. "How do you do it? Is it some sort of cheat sheet or is Port a friend of the family or something like that?"

"Nah, nothing like that." Autumn looks like he wants to continue but forces himself to stop and think about the matter thoroughly. "Y'know I didn't think it was anything special at first. Thought all of ya were just belly-aching about doing so poorly, but now that I think about I think I got an answer for you."

I wait for him to continue, but his smile just gets bigger the longer I wait. Eventually I fold, "Okay, can you tell me what it is?"

"I could."

"Smartass."

Autumn belts out a booming laugh, but doesn't make me beg for it. "Well I guess it starts with my uncle Cyprus. Though he wasn't really my uncle, he was actually a friend of my grandpa. Now you know how the Great War was bloody business and left many places without many people to defend it." It's a rhetorical question but I nod anyway.

"Well, while grandpa Russet lied about his age and went off to war my uncle didn't. He stayed behind to keep everyone safe. He always made it seem like he was the law in his stories with how he was always off hunting some grimm or saving someone. But between you and me, I think he was making some of it up to compete with grandpa's stories."

Autumn's brown eyes seem to sparkle as he keeps on talking, "Don't get me wrong, grandpa had some great stories. Daring charges and some frank heroism that's a classic for those late-war recruits, but that was always more Kelly's thing than mine. Now you might think me small minded, but changing the world ain't really what interests me. Rather all I want to do is make my little patch of Remnant safe and happy. If the rest of the world benefits that's just extra.

At least that's always what drew me to uncle Cyprus over grandpa. Sure he might exaggerate, maybe even make up some of his stories, but that little kernel of keeping your community safe. Well, that always got my attention and I guess all my experience with that translates to Port as well. Like it's not that he's trying to be a braggart. He's trying to convey how serious all those grimm he's fought are; he just doesn't know any other way to do it."

It's not what I was hoping to hear so I press the issue, "Okay. But how does that translate to how you keep up with what he says and remember it so well? I know you aren't taking notes." The big lug shrugs at me as if he doesn't quite get it either.

"I think it has something to do with the cadence. Like, it's a subtle thing but a lot of what he says isn't the important part and I know his tone doesn't help you all too much, but it's so much like uncle Cypress' that I just get it. Maybe try to see if you can pick it up. He tends to sweep a bit low in his drawl right before any of the important bits and picks up after he's done saying whatever that important bit was."

I'm not sure how well applicable that would be. Before this talk I couldn't even tell anyone that Port changed his voice at all during his lectures. Obviously there has to be something to it given how well Autumn has done for himself. "Well enough about that I guess. Anything new with you that you wanna talk about?" I could move on immediately, but these kinds of relationships should have a bit of give and take.

"Nah, I already got what I wanted out of this. Though maybe next time don't beat me like a drum the whole time. A man's got to have some pride you know."

I wince, it was a bit brutal of me to wipe the floor with him, especially on auto-pilot. I'm not going to apologize though, I know he'll just wave it off. We've already 'made-up' in his mind just by having that little fight. "Well in that case I might have to impose on you a little more."

"How do you mean," Autumn asks with a big smile. Given his disposition I doubt this will be much of an imposition on him regardless.

"Well I have some business in the area due to a prior obligation. I might end up needing you to help out with some parts or if I get into a sticky situation."

"Ah, you didn't need to ask about that. Kelly and I will always have your back, we're stuck with you after all." His smile belies that he doesn't mind all that much that he's stuck with me.

"I know, but it would be impolite to just assume."

"Right you are. I appreciate you asking nonetheless, but you don't need to worry 'bout neither Kelly or I. I'll talk with her, but we got your back when you need us. Well when you really need us, not just to save yourself some embarrassment." I nearly chase after him for that reminder, but with his height and his wingspan I'm rendered useless with just one outstretched hand. I don't want to escalate the matter, so despite everything I let the matter drop on our way back to the dorms.

The next day I'm more well rested, but still sort of glide through the day not paying much attention to class. I only notice it's over after a nap in History with Velvet waking me up. Thankfully I didn't snore and Dr. Oobleck gave me some slack, whether that's because I'm ahead in history or I'm one of the few students in his archeology class I don't know. With myself rested I have to seek out something to tire myself out again. I need to get my sleep schedule lined back up with everyone else before I suffer through too much of this. To that end I check in with what the rest of my team has planned.

Marina is people watching again, this time with Ren and Nora. If I had to guess that's Nora's doing, likely trying to force the secrets of the silent language from them. While interesting and sure to be a blast to witness it's not exactly what I'm looking for. Autumn, meanwhile, is reading some of his comics back in our dorm so I disqualify spending more time with him immediately. That leaves Kelly who fortunately is doing some training which isn't too hard for her to include me in. With that settled I leave with her and head to one of the training yards.

At the press of a button a backstop for our bullets pops out as well as some moving targets. Furthermore Kelly digs into the dirt with her shovel and creates a short trench in a mere moment. She hops in then turns to me, "What are you waiting for peacock? Afraid of a little dirt?"

I don't fall for her bait and follow in after her instead. I pull out my Wit's End in rifle mode and we take turns shooting at the targets. At first it's a companionable silence as the two of us compete to see who's the better shot. I'm usually able to land my groupings closer to the center, but Kelly is more used to this perspective and is able to land her shots quicker. The silence never turns tense or awkward, but I'd feel better if I could fill up this dead air.

Semblance: I could talk to her about her semblance and even share a bit of mine. Come to speak of it I don't even know if Autumn knows his so I could ask about that as well. (5)

Team: While I'm sure her brother is settling in well I can check to see how she's doing. Maybe talk about our tactics a bit. (3)

Fashion: She's the only one in a drab uniform. Even her brother brings more color to the team than she does. Maybe I could convince her to accessorize a little bit. (2)

Missions: She and Autumn have made it clear that they're looking forward to their second years when they can start earning some money to send to their folks. Maybe talk with her about it and see what we can work out ahead of time. (1)

Investigation: Similar to her brother Kelly is a Vale native and may have some insights I've missed. (1)

Family: I got some insight into their uncle Cyprus from Autumn. I could ask her about their grandfather. (0)

School: Our classmates are a bunch of characters. I could check to see her thoughts on them. (0)

"So what was that bit about me being a peacock," I break the ice with something I know she can't help but respond to.

"As if you don't know how you dress. I swear you're trying to make my eyes bleed," Kelly responds. It's not hostile, just some good-natured ribbing although it's wrapped around a genuine dislike for my choice of clothing.

"Hmm, as if you have room to talk soldier-girl."

"I'll take that as a compliment," at this point she sets her weapon against the walls of the trench, more engaged with our bit of banter than shooting for the moment.

"Yeah," I drawl out, letting her fall into my trap. "You'd fit right in with Atlas."

"That's a low-blow and you know it." Kelly looks at me with narrowed eyes, but no real heat.

"That it is," I agree, then gesture to the trench around us. "So this is the work of your semblance?"

Kelly takes my implicit order with aplomb. "Yeah, it's terrakinesis. I can work with rocks as well, but those eat up too much aura to be worth it most of the time. Also it's more efficient if I'm already making a change to the ground and am nearby, hence the shovel."

"I think it's technically called a spade since it has a point."

"Whatever," she shrugs, "There's not much more to it than that. What about yours?"

"Mine is a bit more complicated I admit. It's like I step into a different world and can perform some short range scouting. I can also bring someone in with me, though I have to beat them fair and square. They don't just disappear like those grimm we tested it out on."

"Mhm, useful enough. A bit annoying for team cohesion though," Kelly has frustration written on her face like everything isn't quite lining up how she'd like.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well if you were to use your abilities to the fullest that would mean that you have to either engage the enemy or the enemy has to come to us. With my semblance I'm more used to setting up defensive positions and whittling down the opposition. Works wonders on grimm who don't know any better, not exactly something we can always count on especially during the Vytal tournament. So either you limit yourself or we split our team apart. Like I said, annoying."

I make a noise of understanding. "Well, while we're on the subject, mind if I pick your brain about some team tactics?" Kelly shrugs and motions for me to continue. "Okay so an important factor to consider is that my semblance works on accelerated time. So any fight I have in it will only appear to last like a second to the outside world. Does that change anything?"

"Not really, you still have to touch them first right?" I nod. "Then it doesn't change much. It makes it more viable and we can assist with the setup, but it still doesn't work well with what I can do."

"So I'm thinking it might make sense to split the team then." I continue past Kelly's disapproving look, "You and your brother can hold a hard-point with Marina and I ranging out to take attacks of opportunity."

"Speaking of her, does she know her semblance?" Kelly doesn't agree with my statement but doesn't have a real counterargument.

"Yeah, it's some sort of emotional sense. Not sure about the specifics, but that's the short of it."

"Not combat useful then. Unfortunately you're right, it's best to use her mobility. Gods know that we won't get the most out of her sitting in a foxhole."

"How about your brother? Does he know his and does that change anything?"

Kelly lets out a short laugh, "Hah. No, he doesn't know what his semblance is and I half expect if he discovered it he'd mistake it for something else entirely."

"Sheesh, lacking a little faith in your brother, aren't you?"

"Please you haven't seen him get his hand stuck in a cookie jar because he wouldn't let go of the cookies. He might do well in Port's class, but that's clearly an aberration."

"I talked with him about that actually. Turns out Port shares some similarities with an uncle Cyprus you guys know."

Her expression turns thoughtful as she digests that bit of information, "Yeah, I suppose he does in a weird way."

A moment passes between us as silence builds up once again. Before either of us go back to our weapons I figure I have one more question to ask her. "So aside from not liking the tactical situation, how do you feel about the rest of the team?"

"Well Marina is nice enough I suppose. Doesn't really try to have an opinion of her own. Almost like she's afraid we'll bite her for saying something any of us disagree with." I nod along that's not too far from the impression I got from her. "Doesn't seem like she's the bad sort though so I think she just needs some more time in the oven so to speak. Oh, and I guess you're not half bad yourself," she says the last part like it's supposed to be an afterthought, but I know she's just trying to mess with me.

"Alright enough talking," I say, hefting my Wit's End to take some shots and shooting her a grin. "We still have some daylight so let's get back to beating you at your own game."

She shares a grin with me as well and grabs her own rifle. "As if! You know if those were real grimm I'd be smoking you right now. Accuracy doesn't matter if you got an ursa barreling down on you."

Turns out some shooting practice and banter is all I need to get my schedule back on track. Normally at this point I'd start into the next bit of business I have lined up, but I'm really not looking forward to searching through a whole bunch of nothing in the hopes I find something related to the strange gap between the DRV and the train heist. I do some mental re-shuffling and I should be fine. Maybe pack in some light reading about crime scene investigations today instead of later this week. With my mental load adjusted I wander about the campus putting it off as much as I can as I really don't want to do it.

In my wandering I find Ren on his own. A rarity in itself, but I suppose Nora can't be bothering him all the time. If he needed some quiet he's surely found out ways to escape over the years he's known her. Right now he's sitting in one of the student kitchens that you can book time for with something cooking in the oven. As he waits he's reading some book that's about floristry, of all things.

Silent Language: Okay, Ren, hear me out. I have the perfect prank for us to play on Nora. (8)

Hobbies: Seems like he's cooking something and he has that book. He probably knows a bit of what I like to do in my free time from when I talked with Nora. Something to talk about though. (4)

Nora: The two of them obviously have some history together and seem friendly if not fond of each other. Talking about his friend(?) is an easy subject that he might appreciate. (2)

Relationship: So are he and Nora actually a thing? Would he even want them to be a thing? Inquiring minds want to know. (0)

JNPR: I really haven't talked all that much with the rest of his team, but I can find out how he's fitting in at the very least. (0)

Travels: Him and Nora have traveled after something happened in their past. I'm not going to ask about that directly, but maybe he has some interesting stories to share (0)

Jaune: What's the deal with his leader? He really seems underprepared for what Beacon expects of its students and he doesn't have the excuse of being from outside of the Kingdoms like some others. (0)

A wonderful idea strikes me and I smile. But first I have to work my way up to that, so I take a chair next to Ren. It's a prep table rather than a dining table. Beacon has these rooms set aside more for team bonding exercises than as communal kitchens; though you can clearly reserve a time for one person as Ren has done.

As I sit down Ren looks away from his book towards me, a smile in his eyes rather than on his face. With my presence acknowledged I wait for him and once he gets to a good place to stop he sets the book down and gives me his full attention. "Ochre. It's a pleasure to talk for once without it being so crowded."

"I know what you mean," I agree easily enough, thinking back to earlier this week. "Honestly I don't know how you deal with it so well."

"Typically I don't make myself noticeable." Ren's tone is flat and monotone, but I damn well know his expression would be mirthful if he didn't have such a good mask.

"You win this one," I grumble. "So, that book. You have a sudden interest in flower arrangements?"

"Not particularly. It seemed tangentially related to something I already do or did I suppose. When Nora and I traveled on our own I could leave some of the hunting up to her, but not gathering any herbs or edible plants; she was a bit too excitable at the time. That brought up an interest in herbology, which led to gardening, which has led to this," Ren says, pointing at the book. "I don't think I'll keep up with it though, it doesn't interest me."

"You're still reading it even though it doesn't interest you?"

"Indeed. Never know when a piece of knowledge will be valuable." I can't argue with that, I've had my fair share of run-ins where a piece of trivia helped sell a disguise.

"So you mentioned gardening earlier and you're cooking something now. I'm guessing that is what you do to relax."

Ren thinks over my statement for a few seconds before coming to a decision. "I think my answer to that is no. It's not like I particularly enjoy those things on their own, rather they are an extension of things I've been doing for years. It's routine."

"So you've been doing something you don't enjoy in your free time because it's normal for you?" Ren just shrugs at my question in a way that says, 'well someone has to do it.' I switch to a different tack, "I mean there has to be some part of it that you enjoy, otherwise you would've gone mad by now."

"I suppose the quiet that accompanies such activities has an allure of its own." I get the feeling that his response is more to placate me than any real sentiment behind his words. I know better than to keep pushing at this point, besides I have something better in mind anyways.

"So you know that silent language thing Nora was going on about?"

"I may have heard of it." A raised brow is the only thing that belies his amusement at my question.

"Well, do you want to mess with Nora a bit?"

"I'm listening." After that the two of us workshop some signals between the two of us and by the next day we have something workable between the two of us.

Our plan is put into action throughout our classes starting with some innocuous activities like passing a pen after receiving a stare and a wink or a slight move of the head to signal when to pass messages during Port's class. It doesn't take long for Nora to notice and she even attempted to pre-empt one of my signals by passing an eraser before Ren could. Fortunately it was easy to predict some interference with our plans, so Ren continued with the fallback of passing his notes over so I could copy a section from them.

In survival class with Professor Peach we have a practical class over the care and harvesting of certain herbs. With our signals to one another Ren and I work together passing our tools to one another in complete silence. We have to improv a little bit because we weren't certain what the exact procedures would be, but Ren's experience proved fruitful as he coached me over what tools we were likely to use the night prior.

History is the highlight of the day when Dr. Oobleck asks a question about a battle during the late stages of the Great War. I raise my hand, look at Ren to keep up the charade, and answer. "The turning point of the battle was when a Vacuan regiment snuck behind enemy lines and broke down communications between the Mantle and Mistrali forces using signal codes provided by a Valean spy."

My answer happens to be a word for word repeat of what Ren has written in his notes about the matter. Of course we arranged this beforehand as I knew this battle would come up due to the syllabus and its importance. I simply told Ren exactly what to write down and a little bit of practice made it easy to execute. It also has the desired effect on Nora as she looks like she wants to scream, only holding herself back due to being in Oobleck's class.

By lunchtime the day after Nora is fuming. All throughout class she tried to demand answers out of Ren, me, Marina, the rest of my team; really anyone and everyone that might know what's going on. Now she's trying to get Jaune to do something about the matter.

"I don't know Nora. I mean Ren has always acted like that," the blonde-haired boy says clearly, not wanting to get in the middle of whatever's going on.

"But not with him," Nora yells in response, waving frantically as Ren and I eat together in complete silence. We decided that lunch would be more of a freestyle experience where none of what we did with our body language actually meant anything just to see what Nora would read into.

"Can't you see, he just did a weird full body-shiver and a neck twitch. He's clearly trying to steal Renny so that his team can finally be team Ochre (OAAKR). Like how Ruby's team name is hers, that's his dastardly plan we have to stop him."

"Nora, I don't think that's how that works," Pyrrha tries to calm her teammate down.

"Oh now you're on their side." Pyrrha tries to protest, but Nora verbally bulls her over, "If we lose Ren we'll no longer be team Juniper, we'll be team Junip. That isn't even a color, is that what you want!?" Nora continues to complain at her team until a sudden moment of realization passes over her. Then with suspicious eyes she accuses them, "This is what you want! With Ren gone we won't be team Juniper we'll be team Jaune (JNN). Was this your plan all along?! Is this a conspiracy!?"

I figure Nora going into a full-blown meltdown would be taking the joke a bit too far so I look at my partner to see if it's time to enact our exit strategy. A shared look and a nod later I know we're on the same page. We both wait a moment and he taps his finger on the table, the final signal to end this all and have one last joke at Nora's expense.

Simultaneously we both look at her with an expression Ren assured me Nora would get. Heads tilted to the right, eyes half-closed, and a faint upwards twitch of the lips. Sure enough as soon as she caught sight of us doing that she stopped herself completely. She does a double-take at the two of us, not quite believing her own eyes before suddenly she clutches her stomach and falls to the floor, her laughter booming across the cafeteria.

A few minutes later Nora finally collects herself enough to talk, although she keeps interrupting herself to laugh every so often. "Okay, heh, okay. You got me good." Nora descends into another bout of giggles. "You really had me going there for a moment, but I can appreciate a good prank. You do know what this means right?" She stares right at me, which is not at all any less foreboding when she's laughing while doing so. "PRANK WAR!"

I look to Ren for any support, but my silent brother is just looking at the two of us with amusement. Is this a double cross? Did he somehow plan for all this? Is this what he does to entertain himself? Let people go up against Nora only to be crushed by her limitless energy!

Despite Nora's proclamation of a prank war the weekend interrupts any retribution. Ren helpfully informs me of the rules to a Nora prank war, including things like safe zones and safe times, such as weekends. I do wish he'd be a bit more helpful or take his share of the blame, but I'll just have to deal with that later. For now I have the least interesting job to do, sifting through and discarding a whole bunch of the going-ons of Vale until I find the one thread that connects the train heist to the Dust robberies.

Investigation Check Rank 3.06 vs Challenge 5

Final Modifier: -49

Dice: 1d100-49
28 - 49 = -21

Just as I expected, the majority of my time is dominated by checking news articles for events that happened in the week between the train heist and the start of the robberies. Also as expected the majority of them are completely irrelevant and the one's even tangentially related aren't big enough to have been the cause for the robberies or to indicate a strong link between the two.

Eventually I work my way through all the events I can check up on and find nothing. My gut is telling me that these two events are related though, so I start looking at events prior to the train robbery. Then, since I'm checking before the train heist anyways, Blake's comment about a mystery woman comes to mind. If it wasn't something that connects these two events then it might be someone. With that in mind I start looking into ships and airships that made their way into Vale over the month preceding the train heist.

Unfortunately that is a lot of data to go through and not all ships have a passenger manifest as a matter of public record. For those I have to resort to matching up any customs reports for disembarking passengers to the ship in question, which is its own process. Ultimately I just don't have enough time to do it all before my schedule comes crashing back down on me with classes starting again tomorrow, I'll have to continue this at a later date if I want to follow through with this.

With a whole lot of nothing done I put my scroll down and find myself alone with Marina in our dorm. Autumn and Kelly stepped out to make their own dinner in one of the kitchens. Sure they'll bring back whatever they don't eat, but the cafeteria is still open for students this late at night so I'm not worrying about that.

Instead I look over to my partner who's clutching at her white hair while reading one of our textbooks, it seems like her performance in class has her knuckling down on the material. I don't think she will make much progress with how stressed she is so I decide to take her mind off the matter for the moment. A breath of fresh air and a clear head will help her more than keeping at it right now.

Deference: She has a habit to fold under pressure from her teammates and especially me. I could ask about that and see if I can help with the issue. (2)

Study: After a bit of talking I can help her work through her books and explain things she's not getting immediately. It will certainly be less stressful than her bashing her head against the material. (2)

Ship-life: I have my own experience traveling the seas from my travels for the Fang. It would be interesting to see how they stack up with the mariner life. (1)

Semblance: I'll admit I'm curious exactly how it works and how much it's affecting her, might as well ask. (0)

Nautical Knick-Knacks: With how worn her decorations are I assume there's a story behind them. Maybe they belong to people she knew. (0)

Friends: She spent some time people watching with Ren and Nora. I could talk to her about that and push her to spend more time outside of the team. (0)

I walk up to my partner and nudge her shoulder before she can tear any more of her hair out. "Come on, let's take a walk. We'll deal with that afterwards." Without any complaint Marina complies immediately, putting on her shoes and following me outside. I don't comment, we'll have plenty of time to discuss it anyways.

We walk and keep walking, eventually lapping the campus grounds multiple times. I'm pushing to see if she'll break and speak up if I keep silent, but I have to give up on that after nearly half an hour of silence. "You know you don't need my permission to speak, right?"

"Yes?" Marina stares at me confused, like the answer to my question was obvious.

"So why didn't you? At any point you could have spoken up before now."

"We were walking." I give her a look at her lame excuse to which she appends her statement with a quick, "Sorry."

"Marina," I say, stopping and looking at her. "I don't care if you agree or disagree with me. But this whole thing of just going with the flow is not helpful. We're supposed to be partners, so I need you to be able to call me out if I'm making a stupid decision. Can you do that for me?"

At my question Marina vigorously shakes her head and grabs her arms, huddling in on herself. A reflection of the time when I first met her on that airship. "Marina, what's wrong," I ask hurriedly.

"I-I can't. I just can't," She chokes out her voice almost sobbing. I grab onto her to steady the girl and ground her in the real world as I drag her off somewhere less public. I remember how she acted on the airship so maybe a more closed off space will help her out. The best I can do, without just dragging her off to the dorms, is the backside of Beacon over where the cliffs for initiation are.

By this point she's settled down a little, likely because I'm taking charge of the situation. "Marina why can't you," my plea doesn't draw a response from her. "Tell me why this is such a problem," I order instead.

"It's- Have you ever been adrift, Captain?" I shake my head no, I've been fortunate enough not to suffer that fate. "It's horrible at first, but then oddly comforting. Floating on the ocean waves, almost nothing that you can do can help you. You're just at the mercy of the elements and the grimm, but it's freeing. No longer being in control and having to worry whether you live or die.."

I can't exactly relate, but I can tell there's more to her issues than just. "So how did it happen? You being set adrift I mean."

"We-" she stops herself and looks away from me before continuing. "I don't want to talk about how I did it, but I brought a grimm down on us while we were sailing. I know I did! It was so stupid," at this point she starts hitting herself with her own arms and I have to restrain her.

"Continue," I demand. I'm going to have to take charge until we work through this issue.

"I didn't get a good look at the thing with where I was, but it was massive. Captain Smoke ordered me to grab a bag from his quarters and get into a life-raft even though I wanted to fight. I got in and barely cut the line when the monster did something to the ship. I was knocked around and could barely tell what was going on.

When I regained my senses all the paddles were gone with our ship nowhere in sight. The bag only had a few emergency supplies among other things. I couldn't panic because of the grimm. I just had to accept my fate and everything felt so empty, like I couldn't bring myself to care to even think anymore. That was so much better than it was during the attack."

She's stopped struggling and trying to hurt herself at this point, but I keep holding onto her. Partially to prevent a relapse and partially because I think the physical contact is helping her hold herself together. I think I've got the crux of the issue, but I push her to tell the rest of the story. "You made it back to land somehow and chose to come to Beacon. How'd that happen?"

Marina gives me a rueful chuckle, "I didn't choose to come to Beacon, not really. I was spotted by some travelers on their way to Vale when I washed ashore. Grimm attacked us on our way to the city and I helped fight them off. After that they kept telling me I should be a Huntress with the kind of skills I had and when we got into Vale they brought me to some official who agreed with them.

He walked me through applying and put me up in a tiny room in some boarding house. The people there made meals for me and showed me how to take care of myself, but when it came time to board the airship they told me I had to go on my own and you know the rest from there."

At least I've found out the source of her issue, though I'm unsure what's the best approach. I decide to start off slow and see how she responds. "Marina," I state definitively, staring her in her eyes. "This is an order. I need you to start making decisions and having opinions of your own, at least one a day. You don't have to act on any of these and if you're still questioning your judgment you can talk about it with me or anyone else on the team. Okay?" She nods at me but I press her again, "I need you to say it."

"Okay, I'll come to you when I decide to do something." Not what I was looking for, but I'll count that as a win.

"Well how about we get back to studying for now. Did anyone tell you to do that?"

"Ah, no actually," she actually seems nervous to admit that.

"That was a good decision so let's get back to that. I'll even help you out." She nods and we return to our dorm with a stilted discussion of what questions she has and what issues she's dealing with in class. I'll set something up with the rest of my team so we can make sure she's progressing in her studies and I do as good of a job as I can when we return to our room. It's another thing to add to where I can in my schedule, but I find the time for it.

Combat Raised from (33/625) to (42/625) Source: Class & team training.

Dust raised from (6/50) to (12/50) Source: Class

Grimm raised from (16/150) to (22/150) Source: Class

History raised from (9/300) to (18/300) Source: Class

Investigation raised from (18/300) to (34/300) Source: Class & Challenges & Training

Mobility raised from (41/300) to (47/300) Source: Class

Survival raised from (7/150) to (13/150) Source: Class

Team Fighting style raised from (8/75) to (20/75) Source: Training & Tactics discussion

LloydAbsolon · Feb 14, 2024

White Fang: Meeting at a warehouse pt 2: I've found a place where the White Fang are meeting. All that is left is to decide how I want to approach the situation and execute it. (Possible Social, possible stealth, investigation, and combat checks) (3)

Robberies: Dust Hunt: Torchwick has to keep the Dust he sells somewhere if it isn't being sold on the black market. I already have a list of some suspicious warehouses, now I just have to narrow down which one is his. (Investigation check. Possible stealth and combat checks.) (2)

Coco(QM)

Jaune: Something is up with him. He's somehow gotten into Beacon despite not being anywhere near qualified. I don't have to talk to him about that, but it has piqued my interest. (2)

Yang: Her and I had a nice moment two weeks ago. That combined with knocking some heads together has provided the perfect foundation for a future friendship. (2)

Velvet: She's in our history class and I'm stuck making sure she can pass this semester. Maybe I could check in with her, find out her situation and learn more about her team. (1)

Ruby: She was pretty apologetic after everything was made clear to her last week. I could spend some time to assure her that I'm not upset with her. (1)

Pyrrha: Nora and Ren's other and much more famous teammate. I've only seen her around class and barely exchanged many words with her. For some reason she seems more than happy with that fact. (1)

QM Note: At this time I decided to favor Velvet and Pyrrha over holding a tie or rolling to break it as they had not yet had screentime.

Train a skill (+ which skill) (1)

+Investigation (1)

I'm not really used to working in a team, and while it might not be my biggest concern it will be important for the Vytal Festival and fighting Grimm. Train team fighting combat style: Gain double the combat modifier from working with a team (20/75) (1)

"Now, remember students; the study of Dust is a science, not magic. As long as you follow these instructions you can refine and prepare Dust crystals and munitions even out in the field. Not all of us can be so lucky to have all the Dust we need on hand all the time." Professor Heartwood starts our experiment in Dust studies with a small speech and a glare towards the Schnee heiress; though the latter is hard to tell due to her wavy red hair obscuring one of her eyes.

Her reason for disliking Weiss is immaterial to me as I'm struggling enough in this class as is. Dust has never been one of my strong points; a life of living in Menagerie and running with the Fang is not exactly conducive towards learning about the matter in any more depth than 'face towards enemy.' The rest of my team are in a similar boat, Marina due to a similar lack of need and the Russet twins due to Pharos discarding Dust synthesis from its curriculum.

Pharos' decision might seem short-sighted to some, but I see what it truly is. There are only so many hours in the day and what is more important for a Huntsman's survival: learning how to synthesize Dust in the field or getting better at combat and using said Dust? Maybe this course would have had a point when the academies were founded eighty years ago, but the rise of the SDC and other smaller Dust corporations has led to high quality Dust being easily accessible to any who can shell out the Lien for it.

Love them or hate them, even I can't deny that the SDC is indirectly responsible for saving thousands of lives just with their Dust quality. That isn't accounting for how cheap they've made it with their 'innovative' choice of labor practices. I'm not going to excuse them for the latter, but when combined with the former it's yet another millstone around the neck of the faunus rights movement. To change the SDC at this point risks the stability and safety of the Kingdoms of Remnant, not that that's going to stop me from trying. But the whole situation is rather more complex than SDC bad, faunus good. I push such thoughts out of my mind for the moment; prevaricating by thinking about the complex topic of the various levers that hold back equal rights won't help me finish this assignment.

Dust Check: 1.24 + 1.5(Multiple attempts & Clear instructions) = 2.74 vs Challenge 3

Final Modifier: -7

Dice: 1d100-7

83 - 7 = 76

Mentally I curse at Headmaster Ozpin for being the old fashioned sort. Dust studies is a part of the required curriculum for Beacon even though Haven and Atlas have already removed it from theirs. I understand Vacuo's needs with how, let's say destitute, the Kingdom is, but Vale isn't like that. Valean Huntsmen don't have to scrimp and save every Lien they can since the Kingdom and its citizens can actually pay Huntsmen a fair wage for slaying grimm.

Not that any of that helps me right now. Our experiment is to combine various Dust cast offs, like the few grains of ground up Dust that survive from a shell casing or leftover from other Dust working attempts. The end result will barely qualify as the lowest quality Dust sufficient for usage in firearms, unless someone is proficient enough to combine enough Dust to be able to attempt going up another grade in the limited time we have in class. However, since even Weiss isn't breezing through this class I doubt anyone in our year will accomplish such a thing.

I can only pray to whatever deities that may or may not exist that I never end up in a situation where any of this is ever useful. The day that I have to make my own Dust might as well be the day I die because things are surely well and truly fucked if basic logistics break down that much.

I don't even think this would be useful for Menagerie. Our main problem there is not having sufficient training or favorable terrain to make Dust extraction viable for any of the deposits that we know about. That in addition to a lack of industrial mining equipment and any amount of shipping worth mentioning means there's very little incentive to even mine the stuff in the first place. Sure, an expansion to Kuo Kuana would be nice, but the limiting factor there is the level of natural defenses versus the quality of fighter we have. A steady supply of Dust would help augment the latter, but that's more than outweighed by the loss of natural defenses around the Dust mines that we would need to begin with.

Despite my internal monologue after many attempts I am finally able to get the Dust to form correctly. It takes some doing and a little bit of aura, but at the end of the day I have some Dust rounds that I'll probably just use for target practice. They are of lower quality than the stuff I bought when I came into Vale, but even with the rising Dust prices I think I'd rather stick with buying Dust rounds rather than making my own. Heck, the amount and quality of the Dust I made would only go for twenty to thirty Lien in the stores right now.

After History ends for the day Velvet tells me that her team leader, Coco, wants to meet with me. Understandable given the situation and I have no problem agreeing and being led off to meet with her. Team CFVY just got done with a mission, although without Velvet. According to her she can't join in on missions and her team's mission selection is heavily restricted until she gets herself sorted out academically. Before I can comment that I'm certain she'll do fine with my assistance we meet up with the rest of her team stepping off from a bullhead. Her teammates Fox and Yatsuhashi walk past me to the mission terminal to confirm their success and presumably get paid. Meanwhile Coco walks up to me and the two of us size each other up.

She's dressed in fashionista chic with a black beret and sunglasses. Her outfit is full of blacks and soft browns, though highlighted by some accessories like her scarf, bracelets, and a loose belt with a golden belt and ammo designs wrapping around her waist. In her hand is a handbag which I assume to be her weapon. I'll give her this, she knows how to stick to a theme.

Coco hums as she lowers her sunglasses to look me in the eyes, "Not quite what I was expecting from what V told me about you. She assured me that you knew the importance of presentation." She noticeably looks over my uniform and its lack of accessories before sliding her sunglasses up.

I take the implicit question for what it is and answer, "Unfortunately my current style is reduced to this outside of my combat attire. Circumstances and a lack of funds prevents me from a sorely needed update."

Coco smiles at my response like it was the exact thing she's looking for. "I think I can help with that. You're already helping V, but I'm her leader so I can't have her owing anyone. Not to impugn on your character, but it's just best to settle any debts before they get too big, you feel me?"

I nod, her logic making sense to me, "So what are you suggesting?"

"You, me, and a quick shopping trip. Me and the boys just earned a bit of pay as you can see and I need to pick out a few things for my Fall wardrobe anyways."

"You make a tempting offer, but I'll be able to sort this all out by the beginning of next week anyways, so I'm not tempted." Of course that's only because the Fang will be filling my discretionary account back up at the start of the new month next week.

Coco stiffens and radiates disappointment, though I don't know whether that's because I refused her easy offer of restitution or that she no longer has an excuse to go shopping. "It's never that easy is it? Fine, if you have a better idea I'm all ears." My mind immediately races towards that White Fang camp in Forever Falls and while I doubt that I'd want to spend my favor with team CFVY on something I'll be checking out myself in a month there are other things I could have them help with.

Such as helping with my Torchwick investigation, I'm going to be hunting around for the warehouse he's hiding his Dust in and while I doubt I'll find it on my first night out it wouldn't hurt to have a second year Huntsmen team willing to help me out. It would lead to them finding out about the White Fang's involvement in the matter, but that might be a benefit to me anyways. Similarly I could ask them to cover me while I check out the White Fang meeting later on in the week. Depending on how I approach the situation I might not need them for anything other than the most dire of circumstances, but the extra backup could end up saving me a lot of trouble.

I could also ask for an introduction to any trustworthy police officers, if she knows any, and spend my favor wringing them for information. Not only would this help solve some of the information holes I've come across during my investigations it would also give me a greater degree of options for cases like my run in with Junior. Of course I could also save the favor for a later date, but with mission schedules as erratic as they are I can't be entirely certain that I'd be able to cash it in when I need it.

Hold on for later: It's unlikely that I'll get a blanket favor like this one in the future. It might be best to wait for an opportunity that really needs it. (1)

Spend it now: It's best to spend the favor now. The assistance and information that it can bring now will pay dividends later. (+ for which) (1)

+Police Contact (1)

+White Fang Overwatch (0)

+Torchwick Dust Bust (0)

QM Note: Another time where I had to weigh in to break a tie. This one towards spending the favor immediately.

I mull it over in my mind a bit before coming to a decision, "Well if you know any trustworthy cops in the VPD I could do with an introduction and if you have some rapport I wouldn't mind leaning on it."

Coco looks at me, her expression inscrutable with her eyes behind her sunglasses. "An odd request, but yeah I have someone in mind. Why're you asking anyways? Have much trouble with the police?"

"I may have found some information that implies the cops aren't entirely trustworthy," I answer evasively. If I want to bring her into the investigations I'm planning that can happen at a later date.

Coco is silent for a moment then she pulls out her scroll, "I'll send you the details of Detective Flint. He isn't a beat cop, but he's always treated us right on the missions we've worked with him."

"And you're sure he's trustworthy?"

Coco shrugs, "I trust him. He's stuck his neck out for us more than he needed to on more than one occasion. Either he's on the up and up or he's playing a real long game with not much benefit in sight. Are we square now?" I nod, that'll have to be good enough considering my circumstances.

With that Coco and I go our separate ways with Velvet following her team leader. I thumb through the details I just got and make a call. "Detective Flint here. I'm assuming Coco sent you my details?" My scroll shows me the picture of a man who has short gray hair and a prominent mutton chop beard dominating his severe features.

"Yes, I'm Ochre Rovere and if I could trouble you for some information about the Dust robberies I'd be grateful."

"You're a student at Beacon," Flint's tone indicates it's a statement not a question. Despite that I answer in the affirmative. "Then make sure you use this well and don't go spreading it around. I'd recommend that you forward anything you find to the police, but if you're asking me directly instead of putting in an information request then I'm sure you have your reasons. Now what are you looking for exactly?" I fill him in on what I'm looking for and thankfully he pulls through. I offer him my thanks as I sift through the information.

Most of it confirms what I already guessed from the data I got from Junior, that Torchwick has been stealing explosive kinds of Dust. However, the police response data helps out much more, especially with my upcoming investigation into where Torchwick is hiding the Dust he's stolen. This combined with my earlier investigation into the White Fang leaves me with a large majority of the docks, industrial district, and a small amount of the commercial district to look into.

It takes a bit of information trawling before I narrow down that Torchwick has to be moving Dust outside of Vale or that he has several locations he's using simultaneously. I rule out the latter as too unlikely. Even if the police are turning a blind eye, which is somewhat in doubt given his change in henchmen, all it takes is someone finding one of his locations and posting it on the CCT to create a whole lot more work for him. Thus, working off of the former theory, I decide that the commercial district is too unlikely as well. It's heavily trafficked and close to where the robberies take place so the likelihood of concerned citizens stumbling over his cache is too high. Plus given that he's working with the Fang that many faunus in that kind of area attracts a lot of attention especially at night.

The data I just received from Flint indicates it's unlikely that Torchwick has been hiding out in the docks. It has a higher police presence and the police response to the robberies has combed the docks several times over. So unless Torchwick has as deep of a hold of the police as I suspect Junior has they should have stumbled over his storage cache by sheer accident. So with only the industrial district left on my list I start my search.

Investigation Check: Rank 3.11+ .5(prior investigations) +.5(police information) = 4.11 vs Challenge 4

Final Modifier: +2

Dice: 1d100+2

30 + 2 = 32

With all the data I've gone over my list of possible targets is actually quite small. I am able to narrow that down further to a certain section of the industrial district. I have to actually go into Vale to check the remaining places as there isn't exactly an easy way to discern their activity or affiliation over CCT. Unfortunately there is only so much time in the day. I'm able to knock out half of my list, but Torchwick's hideout isn't among them. I'm certain that I will discover it on my next outing, but it's still frustrating to know that I'm so close and have to stop because of school of all things.

I board the last airship of the night to Beacon and take a stroll around campus when I arrive. Mostly to decompress and go over my information one more time before bed. It's around the dorms that I hear the telltale grunts of someone exerting themselves. It's not too unusual for someone to be training this late, but it is a bit strange that it's occurring so close to the dorms. Typically people will train in the training fields or if they want privacy they'll reserve time in some of the practice rooms. The only reason why someone would practice near the dorms, aside from convenience, is to keep their training hidden while being over on their allotted practice room time; Beacon does try to prevent their students from overworking themselves.

My curiosity piqued, I take a look at the person in question and find myself looking at the blonde haired knight cosplayer going through some sword drills, poorly. He's been working at it for an hour at least looking at the sweat that's built up on his face, although a few empty water bottles and a towel nearby suggest that he's been at it for longer. His work ethic would be admirable if he actually knew what he was doing, but as is he's barely making any progress for the amount of effort he's putting in.

At this rate I'd give him a few months, maybe even a year before he'd be at the level I'd expect of a Beacon initiate. It's obvious to me that he wants to keep his training a secret, possibly even from his own team as futile as that would be. I could talk with him about how he even got into Beacon in the first place. I'm certain that he faked his way in somehow. While I don't care for the man himself, or whether he should or shouldn't be here, he is Ren and Nora's leader and getting him to shape up or ship out can only help them in the long run.

Alternatively I could give him some pointers, at least enough that his drills and form are no longer an embarrassment. Failing that, I could talk with him about seeking some help from his teammates. He's on the same team as Pyrrha Nikos of all people, if anyone could spare the time to help him out it'd be her. Or I could just talk to him about anything else for that matter, like why is he using a weapon that doesn't even use Dust or how he's settling in as a leader.

Team Talk: Jaune might be trying to hide this all from his team, as ineffectual as that would be. Talk with him to accept help from his teammates or at least open up to them about this. (3)

Weapon: The sword and shield combo that Jaune uses is a classic, but also horribly outdated. There has to be a reason why he's using that rather than something more modern. (2)

Assistance: I'll show him some basic forms and ensure he can make some progress on his own. (2)

Confrontation: I can reasonably infer he shouldn't be here, but I'm more interested in how determined he is to be here. I can push him a bit and find out. (1)

Leader: Jaune and I serve a similar role on our two teams. It'd serve us well to work together and the man looks like he could use a friendly ear on that matter. Especially if he feels he doesn't belong. (1)

QM Note: Yet again another tie, this time I synthesized something out of the top 3 contenders.

"You're doing it wrong." Jaune reacts to my sudden greeting by fumbling his sloppy strike. The momentum carries his sword out of his hands and he reaches to grasp it, but his coordination is deficient so he ends up juggling his sword for several seconds before it clatters to the ground.

He quickly picks up his sword and waves it around in my face, uncaring of proper safety. "Aha, that. Well that. You see, that was actually a form of swordsmanship passed down in the Arc family for generations."

"Cut the shit Jaune, I'm not here to bust you down for improper swordsmanship. Well not too much. You'll want to work on your footwork before getting too invested in those forms."

"Well, uh, if you aren't here for that what are you here for?"

Jaune is still waving his weapon in my face, evidently not getting the hint that his weapon may be dangerous. Well it's not dangerous to me since I have my aura, but it's the principle of the matter. "First off," I pull out my Wit's End and knock his sword out of his hands before sheathing it. "Don't point your weapon at anyone you aren't ready and willing to hurt. Second, work on your grip Jaune, that was just embarrassing."

Jaune groans, "What do you think I've been working on? It's sad enough that everyone is so far ahead of me as is, but I can't even hold onto my weapon like a proper Huntsman."

I'm not too interested in how he feels he stacks up to everyone else, but his comment grabs my attention. "Is this a consistent issue for you?"

"Huh, I mean I guess. But everyone has to get a handle on their weapon so to speak." he laughs deprecatingly at himself. "It's just a little harder for me, you know. Still getting used to it."

"Give me your sword, Jaune."

My demand startles him for a moment, "What?"

"Your sword. Pick it up and hand it to me." This time he complies without an issue and is mindful enough not to point his sword at me again. I grasp it with my gauntleted hand on the blade just above the hilt. "Show me how you hold it." I take a careful look at how he wraps his hand around the hilt. "I'm assuming this is a hand-me down or something."

"Yeah, how'd you guess," his tone is genuinely curious like it isn't obvious that the positively ancient sword wasn't made for him specifically.

"Well, aside from its age, your hands don't fit the hilt. It's too big for them. It wasn't made for you and you never had it resized."

"Well I just figured I had to get used to it and besides I have some growing left to do, probably. So it should be fine right?" He has the most hopeful of expressions on his face, like the thought that he might have to change anything about his chosen weapon would physically hurt him.

Given that, I have to break this to him gently, "You know that Huntsmen weapons are personalized for a reason right?"

"Of course," he blusters before catching himself. "I mean if you could tell me so I can make sure that I have the right idea I'd really appreciate it."

"Well, aside from any number of personal reasons, small imperfections like the hilt not fitting right can cause your weapon to react erratically or prevent the full force of a blow from transferring through. You don't have a lot of those problems with a sword and shield, but those tiny details can be disastrous. Doubly so when you start adding Dust to your combat repertoire."

"But Crocea Mors doesn't even use Dust so it should be alright, right?"

I decide to switch tracks, "Jaune you know that if you don't get it sized correctly it will be that much harder for you to catch up with everyone else right?" His face scrunches up; he doesn't like what he's hearing but can't argue against it. "Besides, you'll want to get it modified to handle Dust at some point. It's simply too much of an advantage for Huntsmen to do without."

"I'm not doing that!"

I've danced around the issue for long enough. "Jaune, why are you so against altering your weapon?"

Jaune, previously filled with indignation, deflates at my question. "Well it was my great-great grandfather's. He used it in the Great War, so it's a piece of my family's legacy. I don't have a right to change it."

"Then get over yourself or get a new weapon." My tone is purposefully harsh, I've gained an understanding of Jaune's measure and I'm not going to let him weasel his way out of the harsh reality. "Do either of those or deal with holding your team back! Do you really think that the grimm or some bandit is going to care about your family history when you fight? If you think that some weapon remaining unaltered is worth your life or that of anyone who relies on you then you really don't belong here."

I don't take pleasure in pressing on what's probably an insecurity for Jaune, but I'm not about to have his issues cost the life of anyone I know. His guilty expression shows that my message has got to him so I soften my voice. "I don't care if you want to honor your great-great-whatever, but that honor is not more important than your life or anyone else's for that matter. I'm not going to force you to do anything, but at the very least get that hilt changed and consider what I'm saying. If you don't want to do that at Beacon for whatever reason I can send you the details of a weapon shop in Vale that can work on it for you."

"Yeah, if you could do that I'd really appreciate it. I don't need my team to worry if I'm going to hold them back because I couldn't get something as simple as my weapon right."

"Well that's another thing."

"There's more," he cries out.

"Hold on, it's nothing serious. Just consider that your teammates aren't stupid and have likely figured out that something is going on. And that, maybe, they'd be willing to help you out if you asked them to."

"I can't do that, I'm a big enough burden as is. I couldn't possibly ask them to spend their time helping me out when it's my fault I'm this far behind to begin with."

His attitude this entire time has been centered around himself and his problems. He refused to listen to reason for his own self-improvement and only changed his tune when I brought up that someone else might suffer the consequences. With that in mind I turn his self-centered attitude back on him, "Okay, but have you asked if any of them want to help,"

"What do you mean?"

"Exactly what I said. Did you ever consider that your team might want to help you? Like they see you as their friend or even their leader and want to help because of their own desires?"

"I, uh, no I didn't, actually." I can tell he isn't sold on the idea, but he has the decency to look sheepish over not even considering his teammates' feelings on this.

"Well, think about it. I know I'd help out my teammates if they needed it and, though I don't know them that well, I can't imagine your team is any different." I check the time on my scroll and start heading to my bed; I don't have all the time in the world to get these lessons through his thick skull. "Regardless, you should stop these late night workouts until you get your weapon properly fitted."

The day after passes by without much issue, though Jaune does his best to avoid me whenever I look at him. This earns me some dirty looks from Pyrrha and Nora, though I think Nora only joins in because Pyrrha is doing it. There's no helping it, however, the moment I decided to step in and talk with Jaune was the moment that I wouldn't tolerate his behavior. Not that he's a bad guy or anything, but he has a chip on his shoulder and an inferiority complex and I'm not going to deal with both of those when I'm trying to help the guy out.

When class lets out Jaune practically rushes out of the class towards the weapon lockers. I can only assume he took some of my words to heart. His departure does not go unnoticed by the rest of our classmates, although only one of them bothers to chase after me.

"Hey. You know not even Cardin can get Jaune to run off like that. And here I thought you got along so well with us blondes. What'd you do to him anyways," Yang questions casually, like she isn't too concerned about what the answer is.

"I just told him some things that he didn't want to hear. He'll get over it or he won't, but someone needed to say it."

"Sheesh, didn't think you could be so harsh with a guy. Or was it because he was a guy that you were so harsh with him?"

"Don't you worry, if you were doing something as stupid as him I'd be just as harsh."

"Oh, what was he doing?"

"I'm not going to say," I shut her down mercilessly. "Even if he doesn't like me, what's going on is his issue and he'll have to work them out himself or with his team."

"I can respect that," Yang blows a stray piece of her hair off to the side. "So what's been up with you? Find anything interesting since our little dance at Junior's?"

"Don't say it like that. You know how your sister got the last time." I glare at her, but she only laughs at my perfectly justified concerns. "And for your information I have found some things. Well something, I'm pretty close on another thing but it hasn't panned out yet."

"Well what is it," she asks, leaning in obviously interested.

I draw out a long hum until she starts getting frustrated with me, "I don't know. Is there a reason why I should tell you?"

"You ass. You can't just bring me around to beat some information out of someone and not expect me to be interested. Plus my sister ran into Torchwick as well so I'm doubly invested."

"Fine, fine," I've had enough of our banter so I fold easily enough. "It's only tangentially related, but there's a White Fang meeting coming up and I figured I'd drop by."

"Because they're working for Torchwick right?"

"Exactly."

"Cool, because if anyone else heard you say that they'd be pretty worried." I mentally go over what I just said and can only agree with Yang. I really was too casual earlier. "So, you hitting that place like we did Junior's?"

"I haven't decided yet, but if I do, do you want in on the action," I float the question to her even though I'm certain of her answer.

"Hmmm, I don't know. Is there a reason why I should?"

"You ass," I respond back to her as she did me and all I get is a wide grin from her for my troubles. It's as good as confirmation from her, so I don't push for a direct answer; I want to change the topic of the conversation anyways.

Family: She mentioned her dad and Uncle Qrow. I could ask about them and share some stuff about my own dad. (6)

White Fang: I don't have many people to talk about the Fang with, but Yang is one of them. I could share the disagreements I've had with the Fang and how I think we could be better. (4)

Raven: We ended up talking more about her second mom than her first. Maybe it's something she wants to talk about and didn't get the opportunity last time. (2)

Ruby: I'm a bit curious about what it's like growing up with a sister and the weird family situation they found themselves in. (2)

Night Scene: Our night at Club Jupiter wasn't the first time that Yang has wrecked a place. I could ask around and see what else she's been up to. (1)

"So I heard you talking about an Uncle Qrow the last time we talked."

"Huh, what does that have to do with anything?"

"I'm changing the subject," I blithely reply

"Yeah poorly. What if I wanted more deets on what the White Fang are up to?"

"Well you aren't getting that, although…"

"Although what? You can't leave me hanging like that!"

"I mean I could, but I won't. Not this time at least. I was just thinking of my time back in the Fang."

"Oh you got any sick war stories or daring spy missions." Her tone is joking, but I can tell she's interested in the subject.

"Maybe some other time. I'm more interested in talking about how the Fang is run and how it could be better."

Her mood does a complete 180, "On second thought we could talk about Uncle Qrow-"

"Too late," I cackle melodramatically, "You only have yourself to blame for this."

A snort escapes from her, "You're such a dork you know that."

I ignore the obvious denigration of my character. "I'm not cruel enough to subject you to a whole treatise on my thoughts of the Fang, but I am interested in your perspective."

"Like how? I don't really have much to add aside from how it sucks that the faunus are treated, but I'm not sure that violence is the answer."

"Well in the general sense the White Fang has never been more successful at least from the perspective of the common faunus. There are statistics to support this."

"That doesn't make it right though," Yang says crossing her arms

"And I'm not saying that it is. I prefer the threat of force to actually using said force, but a threat is useless if you don't follow through."

"I'm not sure that makes your position better than theirs. Even if it was, that still doesn't make it right."

"But you had no problem with beating up Junior and his goons," I challenge with a raised brow.

"That was different," Yang waves off my point. "Those guys knew what they were getting into when they signed up with that sleazebag."

"Okay, but couldn't you make the same argument about the people oppressing the faunus? Like the SDC or even Atlas to a degree? Don't get me wrong, I have a problem with how trigger happy the rest of the Fang is. But there is a discussion to be had on where the line for acceptable violence is"

"I can't help but notice that you refer to it as violence in the general sense, but when it comes to what you want it's force." Yang points that out and I don't have an immediate rebuttal to it. "But I think I get what you're saying."

"I'm not entirely sure that you do. From my perspective the faunus have been pushed around for most of our time on Remnant because we aren't willing or strong enough to stand up for ourselves. The one time that we banded together to actually fight for our rights led to us winning the Faunus Rights Revolution."

"And let me guess you want the White Fang to be that group of faunus willing to fight for your rights as you say."

"No actually," my comment catches Yang off guard. "I think that the White Fang overall is too volatile to be trusted as it is currently. Maybe if it radically changes in the near future, but as it is right now it's near impossible to disavow or forbid a cell from going too far. It is far too easy for a cell to go rogue. I believe that the Fang needs a stabilizing influence. I do have my preference on if that should be from an outside force or an internal structure, but that is outside of the scope of things I wanted your thoughts on."

"Okay, so we've drifted a bit too far in this discussion. Are you sure you don't want to just talk about my Uncle Qrow," she jokes, but I can tell she's not too thrilled with the discussion we were having.

I take the out that was offered, "Sure go ahead. Just remind me that I owe you a cool story at some point."

She smiles at my olive branch. "Well he doesn't show up too often, but when he does stop by he always makes sure to hang out and spend time with us. Sometimes it's just playing some games to pass the time, sometimes it's helping us out with some pointers like how he helped Ruby get a handle of her scythe."

"Sounds like a good guy, though you had a different tune when you talked about him last."

"Yeah that," her expression turns brittle, like she doesn't like thinking about the matter too much. "I'm just upset that I learned more about my mom from some stranger than I did from him or my dad. Uh, no offense Ochre."

"None taken, though since the topic of dads has come up I am interested if he's anything like mine."

"Well I can't exactly answer that without knowing about him first now can I?"

I ignore the cheekiness in her reply to answer seriously. "Well he taught me what I know about swordplay and was always supportive of me even after I joined the Fang. Which admittedly wasn't the best decision at the time even if I don't regret it. I can't say that I've interacted much with him over the past few years due to my traveling with the Fang, but from his letters he's very reserved. He tries to keep everything to himself even when he's trying to lift my spirits."

Yang nods along with my explanation as if everything is slotting into place. "Yeah that sounds a lot like my dad after he- Well after he got better. It took him a while, but I think he poured all of that love and energy that he had into me and Ruby. He taught me how to fight like your dad did for you. He tried to do the same for Ruby, but she always skipped out on the lessons whenever she had the chance."

"That didn't cause any problems? Ruby skipping lessons I mean, sounds like your dad was trying to keep her safe and I know my dad wouldn't back down if I was just being a brat."

"Well there's actually a story behind that. One day when Ruby wouldn't have absolutely anything to do with training she went up and hid in a tree. Well that day Uncle Qrow was stopping by and decided to see if he could get her to come out.

The first thing she said was she didn't want to do any more boring training with dad. So, naturally, Uncle Qrow asks if she wanted to train with him and with Ruby being Ruby she was all over what he was showing her and fell in love with his scythe immediately. Thankfully dad took it in good humor, because at least she was training to protect herself now even if Qrow won't let him forget that he's the favored uncle."

"Is everything with you and Ruby some sort of story," I can't help but ask. "You sure seem to have a lot of them."

"What can I say? I've grown up with her my whole life so there's a lot of stories to tell. Are you saying you don't have anything like that?"

"Not anything that I'd consider too interesting aside from what I've already told you. My dad and I had to keep a certain distance from the other kids in town after my mom passed and while I have plenty of stories from my time in the Fang, those aren't really applicable to what we're talking about right now."

"But you still owe me a story right," she prods at me for an earlier comment.

"Yes, yes. But not now I have some planning I need to do if I want this whole meeting to go how I want it to."

"Sure, sure. Just get all of the information you wanted from me and leave. I see how it is."

"Exactly," is my dull reply. I'm not going to rise to her bait, I'm cutting it close on time as it is. "I'll let you know if this is the kind of party you'd want to be at." With that I retreat to my dorm to begin my preparations.

Once in my dorm I pull out my scroll and cork board to review the information I have. Given that this seems to be a run of the mill recruitment meeting from the guy I talked to I have a few options available to me. First is that I could enter with all the other faunus and get a front row seat to whatever the Vale branch is peddling to its members. There is a downside that someone might recognize me, but that's a minor concern at best. The other downside is that the level of information that I could receive would be on the smaller side as there's only so much that the higher ups would want to show the grunts.

My second option is to sneak in. Naturally this carries a risk of getting caught, but if I pull it off I could gain access to information I otherwise wouldn't be able to and I can always default to fighting my way out or retreating if things get tough. If I am spotted it will alert Torchwick and the Vale branch that someone is after them which might make my life harder.

Thirdly I could round up a few of my friends and raid the place. I'd be able to search for information at my own leisure after we've subdued the local branch members and I could question any leaders like how I did with Roman. Since this is the White Fang and I have a friendly face in the VPD I won't have to run away though there might be questions about why I'm so interested in the Fang if I stick around. Additionally this will certainly get Torchwick and the Vale branches attention and given the severity of the response they will definitely take precautions against this sort of thing in the future.

Lastly, I could take charge of the meeting. I'm from the Menagerie branch and it isn't unheard of for members from Menagerie to take a more direct role when they visit other branches. Since I'm working under the Albain brothers, even if only technically, the only person that can outrank them is theoretically Sienna Khan; though I'm certain all of the branch leaders would disagree with that.

As long as they fall in line I'll have my choice of information to choose from and it's only their willingness to disobey the broader Fang that could keep any information from me. The downside is that it would signal to the Vale branch that the broader Fang is looking into the matter and given that they're going off the rails already they could turn even more volatile. I am certain that Torchwick wouldn't care about the internal struggle any more than how it affects him personally.

Attendance only: I'll attend the meeting and see what info they hand out. It won't be everything, but it might be enough. (5)

Stealth: I'll join in on the discussion, but from afar and while they're having their meeting I'll see what information I can pilfer. (2)

Hostile Takeover: I can go with the boldest of plans and just take over the whole meeting. It would allow me near complete access to the information they have and I can sow the seeds of doubt in some of the rank and file. (1)

Force: What worked on Junior can work on the Fang. As long as I'm willing to deal with the consequences later I'm sure that nothing they have can stand up to my team and Yang (0)

I'll take it nice and slow; right now my greatest asset is that I'm not known to any of the actors involved. All of my other plans run the risk that I could be found out and make my life harder in the future, and it's not like I can't enact any of them after I'm done with tonight. I do impose on my team a little bit who, despite some grousing at having to be out of Beacon for the night, agree to wait out nearby in case I somehow need some backup. It shouldn't be necessary since I'm not going to be drawing much attention to myself. The only downside is that I have to pay for some hotel rooms late at night, but since my stipend is coming in next week I'm not too concerned.

I take the second to last airship to Vale while my team takes the last one. The inconvenience is a small price to pay to keep attention on myself as minimal as I can with the precautions I'm taking. I keep in contact while my team finds a place to wait in case I need them. These types of meetings only take around an hour so they shouldn't be waiting too long.

Once inside a greeter in the usual white and black outfit of the White Fang hands me a grimm mask like the one he's wearing. This will actually be the first time that I wear one of these abominations, something I mentally curse at Adam for once again. At least it doesn't clash as much with my 'disguise,' that same gray hoodie which I swear I will burn as soon as the week turns and I can get a wardrobe that doesn't make me want to kill myself. That's a concern for later though, right now I scan the warehouse and see how everyone is split up. There are three distinct groups, you have the guys running the show, the veterans, and the newcomers; each are visually distinct even at a distance.

The guys running the show are all dressed in the same white and black color scheme, though they all have personal flourishes like a dash of color or customized grimm masks. They are also standing at each of the entrances and exits as well as have their own section to themselves with a table and chairs with a few of them pulling their scrolls out and sharing information.

The veterans are much the same, although lacking the personal touches that a lot of the higher ups are able to get away with. Evidently that's a privilege you have to earn under Adam's branch. They are also the most numerous bunch and are crowding around a makeshift stage waiting for everything to start. Some are also in casual clothes for their own reasons, though a few that are like that are also sticking close to one member or another. Likely these are people that are being dragged into the Fang by their friends.

The newcomers are much like myself, dressed in casual or work clothes with a fresh mask plastered on our faces. Most of them don't fit quite right so it's easy to pick us out of a crowd and subtly signals to the other members that we're not to be entirely trusted. At least until we start adopting more of the style and mannerisms of the rest of the group. That's not really an option for me with my obligations as they are, but if need be I could sink a few weeks worth of time setting up a cover if it's really needed.

I make sure to stay firmly in the middle of the pack of newcomers. Not too far out to draw the attention of the enforcers at the doors and not too close to draw the scrutiny of the veterans. If this branch had anyone that cared deeply about espionage I would be at the exact place they would look, but Adam and his branch are not the least bit subtle so I'm not concerned.

The meeting starts without a hitch which is good, the less things that go wrong tonight the less they'll think I was ever here to begin with. I've been through this whole song and dance before and there aren't any surprises. The meeting goes over the goals of the White Fang, equality for faunus kind, and breaking down why exactly our current methods are the right way to achieve said goal. It's a gross oversimplification of the matter, but the people who show up to these kinds of meetings are already predisposed to accepting these kinds of justifications. Some may even think that all of their actions can be excused under the notion of fighting for equality.

I make the right motions and sounds to not draw attention to myself. The same can't be said about one of the new members next to me. He's a bit on the small side with his antlers brushing up against the grimm mask in a way that I can't imagine is comfortable and he's not engaging at the same level as the rest of the crowd. In fact he keeps looking around like he really doesn't want to be here right now.

If anyone else notices his behavior then I'm certain he'll get a pointed conversation from one of the higher ups questioning how motivated he is for the cause. I can't afford to help him out and keep my cover so I don't. I'm not going to make any excuses for it, but if I worried about everyone that gets crushed on my path to achieve my goals then I might as well quit while I'm ahead.

At the end the speaker requests that all of the newcomers meet up either with their sponsor or one of the groups that are forming to find out where we can provide the most assistance. Normally newcomers are strung along for multiple meetings before drawing them into normal operations. In most cases smaller shows of commitment are how we encourage newcomers to help out, a little bit of Lien here or a bit of information there until enough trust has been built up to bring them on in full. You have to show a certain level of commitment before being allowed to help out personally with the Fang. I know things are different between the branches and I'm not as familiar with the Vale one as I should be, but there shouldn't be as much of a manpower crunch here as there is in Atlas.

That's not the important part though, merely confirmation of my prior suspicions. No, the real score is that with those relaxed recruitment standards I can potentially walk away with some useful information. The speaker mentioned three groups to offer our help to, but I count six. The first is the leadership which I immediately strike as an option. There's no way I could approach them as I am now without drawing suspicion and they're not likely to answer my questions to begin with.

The three groups that the speaker promoted are the grunts, informants, and suppliers. The grunts are the dumb muscle, that's in reference to moving things around or providing some physical assistance when necessary; at the very worst these guys are guards, not soldiers. It's possible that this is the exact group that's helping Torchwick manage his Dust after it's stolen, at least physically. If true then joining up with them will point me right to him. That does rely on Adam and his subordinates not considering that anyone could try sabotaging them from the inside; it is Adam that I'm talking about so that possibility is just as likely as the alternative.

The informants are the people that, either through connections or personally, have access to the information that the White Fang wants. They are also the best source of information for me to find out the extent of the Fang's operations in Vale. While the Dust robberies may be the most concerning activity that they're doing right now that doesn't mean that there isn't anything else going on. I can potentially salvage these ventures or turn them against Adam in the case that I have to step in and shut down whatever idiocy he's planning. If I want to keep up the charade any longer than tonight I'll have to learn on Detective Flint and I don't think he'd appreciate that the information he gives me ends up with the White Fang.

The suppliers are in charge of procuring material for and funding the White Fang and are the most distant of the groups. As long as you provide what you promise and show up to a meeting every now and then you're left alone, at least under normal circumstances. I'm not interested in the various suppliers, rather I'm more interested in the person managing them. Someone has to keep track of everything that the Fang collects from its members and is responsible for distributing it where it's needed. It's a rather inglorious, but vital part of any organization and I'm certain whoever is in charge is overworked so even a relative amateur such as myself would be a welcome sight.

Then there are the other two groups that have formed which are entirely filled with veteran members. The first one is obviously the enforcers and brutes of the organization, and are likely the ones hitting the stores with Torchwick. The other is a mystery to me as they have all shapes and sizes among them. I can't get too close to overhear anything that either group is talking about. I can still approach either one of them, though my status as a newbie may prevent me from learning anything meaningful about their plans as well as draw some attention to myself.

Mystery: I'm not certain what this group is in charge of, but the fact they're on their own and not mixing with the leadership or any of the other groups means that whatever they're in charge of is important enough for a group to be dedicated to it. (4)

Informants: The Fang reaches far and wide into the city of Vale. I could ask around and get a feel for what's going on. (3)

Suppliers: I'm interested in the man behind the logistics of the Fang. There's a lot I can learn about what's going on if I can get him to share some of that data. (1)

Grunts: Almost certainly the group responsible for assisting with the Dust after it's been stolen. If I want to follow that trail this is where I should go. (0)
Enforcers: The goons in charge of helping Torchwick with his robberies. It's possible that I could find out where they're likely to target next. (0)

Going over my options I believe I can find most of it out on my own, I would only be saving myself some time. The mystery group provides a real opportunity to gain insight on what the Vale branch is planning and I'm unlikely to just stumble on that kind of information while searching through the CCT or the streets. I have to be careful when approaching them, I don't exactly look like I fit in at the moment.

I adopt a cocky swagger to my movements that reminds me of when I first ran off to join the Fang, the familiarity adding to the disguise. The group quiets down and stares at me as I approach. One of them separates from the group and the rest resume talking amongst themselves, but I can't hear them over the ambient noise nor can I afford to spare them much attention.

The person who greets me is a woman with a mask that covers her eyes, nose, and chin but leaves her mouth visible between a set of teeth. She has brown hair with a bald spot and a scar visible on the left side of her head and a horn poking just barely out of her hair on the right side. "What do you think you're doing here cub? Can't you follow directions like all of the other kiddies?"

She's less than impressed with my bravado, but her appearance gives me more than enough to work with. I respond with an easygoing smile and an exuberance that I haven't felt for years. "Well yeah, but all of those guys are just doing busy work. I want to teach those humans a lesson and I know I can't do that with those chuckleheads." I dismissively point with my thumb over my shoulder, not even bothering to look at the groups I'm talking about.

She gives me a vicious smile as her tone turns eager. "Well if you wanted to do that I think you should talk to the boys over there." She nudges her head in the direction of the enforcers.

"Yeah, if I wanted to end up in a jail cell maybe," I scoff. "I'm pretty sure I've seen the big guy on the news for some robbery or something. Besides, I'm sure you guys have plenty of dumb muscle. Lumping me in with guys like that would just be a waste of my skills."

Her body tenses when I mention the robberies, "You think pretty highly of yourself don't you?"

While I could demure in the face of her suspicion I know the best way out of this is to continue. "Please, I'm the best. I learned how to lie, cheat, and steal since I was kid and earnt my fair share of survival skills wandering from village to village. Not to brag or anything, but I've made a pretty good living as a thief since I came into Vale. Acceptable targets only, of course."

"Well I certainly haven't heard of you mister thief."

"Exactly."

She seems to accept that because afterwards she leans back, relaxes, and holds out her hand. "I'm Heather. You got your aura unlocked?"

"I'm Umber," I say, shaking her hand. "And yeah I do. Swindled it out of an old Huntsman with a sob story and a bottle of booze."

She doesn't show it, but my response must please her. She takes a moment to look over at the group then back at me before motioning to follow her. "Guys, this is Umber. Think we can get any work for him while we're out of town?" The group looks at me with suspicion, but thanks to Heather's introduction I have my foot in the door. The increased scrutiny does mean I have to be careful with what I say and how I act if I don't want to raise suspicion.

Performance(Acting) check: Rank 2 + 1(familiarity) = 3 vs Challenge 2

Final Modifier: +25

Dice: 1d100+25

87 + 25 = 112

The act of an over-enthusiastic kid looking to join the White Fang to prove himself fits like a well-worn glove. I do have to add some vicious and denigrating remarks about humans to fit in, but that only helps sell my story for the rest of the group. It doesn't take long for them to resume talking about their plans like I'm not an outsider listening in. I know I wasn't expecting much out of Adam's branch, but I thought it would be a little harder than this.

From listening in on the conversation I put together that the Fang is looking in the wilderness to the Southeast of Vale for a new base of operations. All of that Dust has to go somewhere and they're looking for a place to put it. They even probe me about if I'd be able to go with them when they set out to scout the area in two weeks.

I decline for multiple reasons, however, the line I feed them is that I have a variety of scores in the works. I jokingly tell them that with the cops going haywire chasing after that Torchwick guy that now's the perfect time for some thievery. I can tell it doesn't go well with most of them as they'd rather I put my efforts towards the Fang, but I have to make my excuses and keep my cover however I can.

It's not much longer that everyone starts making their way out of the meeting, my group included. On our way out I receive a mask that fits a bit better and a job from Heather. She wants me to leave a mark on some guy's nightstand to show him that the Fang is capable of getting to him if we want to. It should be easy enough that I could do it the next time I'm out in Vale. She also mentions that if I do well enough that she can help fast-track my progress in the White Fang and even get me a custom mask. I have to feign interest in all of that, but make sure to get her contact info on my spare scroll. I doubt that I'll use it, but it may prove useful in the future and it doesn't cost me anything.

When I meet up with my team I have two grimm masks that I have to be mindful not to break on sheer principle. I hand them to Marina to hide with her belongings, which she agrees to. She'd get less scrutiny for having them than I would and I can easily ask for them in the future. Afterwards I give the team a brief rundown of what went on, but a lot of the information is either incomplete or just reinforces what I know.

The main bit that sticks out was what I learned from Heather's group, the Fang is setting up a base somewhere Southeast of Vale. Unfortunately Southeast of Vale covers a lot of wilderness and is full of caves that the White Fang could hold up in. There is also the ruins of Mountain Glenn, but that place fell for a reason. It simply isn't defensible enough for a large White Fang encampment and the caves around it are likely a better option anyways. I'll have to look into that later; right now my team and I hunker down for the night and make our way to Beacon in the morning.

It takes the next few days to fully get over another late night excursion. I get a comment from Miss Goodwitch that if I'm going to keep gallivanting around in Vale then I should really reconsider whether I have the will to be a Huntsman. I have stellar grades in her class and haven't missed a day of school yet so she can bite me for all I care. Thankfully the rest of my team had the easy job of overwatch so their performance in class isn't affected nearly as much. Though, it is hard to tell for Marina with how much she struggles with the material.

Miss Goodwitch isn't the only person to notice my recovery. Fortunately Oobleck doesn't seem to mind as long as I participate when called on and keep getting good grades, he's easily my favorite teacher at this point though that isn't saying much considering the competition. Oobleck's tolerance of my behavior doesn't mean that everyone else is okay with it. Which leads me to Velvet asking if I'm alright and what exactly I'm doing in Vale late at night anyways. I appreciate the concern, but it's not like I can answer that honestly. Instead I turn it back around on her, "I don't know. You've been in Vale longer than I have, what do you do for fun?"

"Not much anymore," she responds with her ears drooping. Jeez she must be real skittish if such a simple redirect works on her so easily. Then again that fits with what I've seen of her; I'm certain if I didn't keep up my daily stare downs of Cardin he'd have tried to pull something on her by now. Still this is the most we've spoken outside of whenever I'm tutoring her in History. She's been a more active participant in conversation ever since Coco settled her 'debt' with me, which makes me think that was more for Vel's comfort than her own.

Debt: with how she's acting there must be a story behind that. I can also reassure her that it wasn't a big deal to me. (4)

Hobbies: her earlier comment has me concerned. She may need to study, but having an outlet is important too. (3)

Weapon: I've never seen or heard about her weapon, it's gotten me curious about why that's the case. (2)

Circumstance: how exactly did a second year have to retake History of all classes. (1)

Team: I've met her leader, I could ask about the rest of her team and how their different schedules work out. (0)

There's a lot to unpack with what she just said and how she's acting. I'll start with the former, "Vel, what do you mean by that exactly?"

Her brown eyes widen as if she didn't expect that I'd actually question her on the matter. Instead of answering me immediately she looks off to the side and slouches. Only speaking up after a moment longer, "You, uh, you don't have to worry about that Ochre. I just want to get caught up on my studies. I'll have plenty of time for things after that."

"You know that doesn't make me less concerned?"

She cringes at my words and hurriedly replies, "It's fine. I'm fine, really. I, uh, I spend some time drawing out weapon designs." She says the last part while looking directly at me like that will somehow be enough to get me to stop bothering her about it.

"Do you do anything that doesn't involve school or being a Huntress?" She doesn't answer my question; shrinking in on herself is answer enough. She is evasive but unlike with Jaune the direct approach makes her shut down instead of opening up. I also don't have the authority to demand answers from her so I lighten my tone. "I'm just worried for you Vel. You'll get more done if you aren't putting yourself in a pressure cooker constantly."

"I understand. Can we please just get me caught up with History? Then this won't be an issue at all," she pleads with me, but I have to hold firm.

"I know I'm not the first one to talk with you about this." I don't actually, but if Coco is willing to take on some imaginary debt to help Velvet out then I can't imagine she's fine with Velvet stressing herself out for her sake. "Don't you think we have a point if we're all saying it?" It is slightly upsetting to use peer pressure to force Velvet to take a break, but I have to remind myself it's for her own good.

Plus if she's willing to be concerned about my well-being then I have just as much of a right to be concerned for hers. She doesn't respond to my comment and isn't even looking at me; I can tell that she's thinking over what I said, but doesn't have the ability or the confidence to articulate why I'm wrong. "What did you used to do for fun?"

"Ah, well I used to join Coco on her shopping trips. I don't like them as much as she does." I motion for her to go on. "Then there was playing games with Fox, he's into these collectable card games and I guess they're kind of fun. Or spending time with Yatsu, he's into the more physical things but doing yoga with him was pretty relaxing."

"Vel. Those are all great, but, uh, was there anything that you did on your own. For yourself I mean," I prod gently. I doubt that she's that much of an extrovert, maybe she just clues in on what other people are doing and mistakes that for having a hobby.

"Um," she taps the pads of her fingers against one another, putting off answering my question as much as she can. "I…design weapons?"

That is supremely unhelpful, but maybe I can work with it. "Okay, is it specifically the designing of weapons that you like or is it drawing anything at all?"

"I guess it doesn't have to be weapons specifically. I did some sketches of buildings and landscapes, but they aren't that realistic."

I could tell her that her drawings don't have to be realistic, but I don't think that's what her problem is. "Well, drawing is a skill like any other, you won't get better if you don't practice." My words draw a firm nod out of her so I take it that I'm on the right track. "Just take some time out of your week to draw whatever you want, however much you want." I'm certain with her problems she won't go overboard and stop studying altogether or something silly like that. I can tell she's still on the fence so I give her the last push over. "You know that Coco would agree with me."

After that her shoulders lose a lot of tension as she accepts her defeat on the matter. "Could-could you not mention any of this to Coco? She doesn't need anything more to worry about with me." If she felt like she owed me for some minor help then how much does she believe she owes Coco for all the help her leader's given her.

"Yeah I can do that, and don't worry about owing me anything for this. We're both faunus so we have to look out for each other from time to time." Velvet relaxes when I mention the lack of debt, but her expression turns sour when I give my excuse for doing so. "Sorry, bad memories associated with that turn of phrase?"

"You could say that."

"Want to talk about it?"

It looks like she wants to say no but forces herself to talk anyways. Even after I said to not worry about owing me anything it seems she doesn't want to take any chances. "Things weren't that great for me back in Pharos. People kept on picking on me because of my ears. I could deal with it, but one day a group of students from Mistral decided to help me out." She spits out Mistral with the same vitriol I reserve for Atlas.

"They kept trying to tell me about how bad the humans were for picking on me and how it'd be better if they were taught a lesson and other stuff like that. I didn't believe any of it, my dad is human after all, but I didn't want to bring that up because now I was finally being left alone. Then one day the leader of the group tried to drag me for a 'meeting' with other 'concerned faunus.'

I knew enough that I shouldn't get involved so I kept trying to decline, but he kept saying that I 'owed' it to them for all of the protection they gave me over the school year and if I didn't want to join up there were other ways I could pay him back." She shudders at her retelling and I don't blame her. "I kept saying no and eventually it came out that my dad is human and suddenly all of that talk about how faunus have to stick together is thrown out the window and I'm getting picked on by both sides. So excuse me if I don't buy into that line again."

She finishes with more venom than I thought she'd be capable of. Then she gives me the cold shoulder and starts storming off. I chase after her and tap her shoulder to get her attention. She whirls around on me, her face full of displeasure. "Vel, sorry about bringing that up it- I know what it's like. I may have grown up on Menagerie, but my dad's human and, well, just trust me when I say I know what it's like." Her face softens at my admission, but any hope of talking further has been poisoned from our previous discussion and I don't stop her when she makes to leave again.

After the blow-up with Velvet I begin to dread having to approach a certain person who has taken issue with me. Not Nora, though she may have declared a prank war on me she hasn't done anything this week and I'm almost to the weekend. No, it's her teammate Pyrrha who has a problem with me, ever since I tried settling Jaune straight. We may have not talked much before that, but she has shown that she's more than willing to display her displeasure. She has a polite and friendly, if halting, demeanor for everyone else, but when it comes to me it's all stares and terse replies.

I'm doing this for Ren and Nora. No. Wait, Nora and I are in a prank war, why would I do this for her while that's going on? I'm doing this for Ren. But wasn't he responsible for the prank war in the first place, at least partially? Okay, it's not important why I'm doing this, I've decided that I'm going to do it so I'm doing it.

I catch Pyrrha after class, and find her following after Jaune. I knew that his teammates would catch on to his suspicious behavior. It must be his lucky day; his secrets are safe for another day due to my foolhardiness. "Pyrrha! Wait up," I call out and she turns to me. By the time she turns around Jaune has gone around a corner and she's lost sight of him. "I think we should talk."

"I'm not the one you should be apologizing to," she replies, her tone cold and frustrated.

"I'm not here to apologize," I say defensively.

"Well you should. Can't you see what effect you've had on Jaune?"

"I meant what I told him and that's final. I don't care who you are, I'm not apologizing. "

My words cause her expression to turn to an interesting mix of pleased and frustrated before being replaced by a polite mask. "What did you tell him then? If you aren't going to apologize for it then you must stand by what you said."

"I do," I affirm with a nod. "Don't think that means I'll tell you though. Yang tried the same thing and she didn't get anything out of me. What we talked about will stay between the two of us unless he decides otherwise. I'm giving him that much respect." Pyrrha loses some of her hostility although she remains standoffish. "Just offer him some help. We both know he needs it and he might open up with you."

"Are you trying to blow me off," she asks with suspicious green eyes.

"No, but that's as close as I'm getting to breaching his privacy, so that's the best you're going to get." She seems to accept that, but it leaves us at an impasse that I have to find a way around if I want this to continue.

Provocation: It's clear that she still has an issue with me. Maybe I can take a page out of Autumn's book and settle this with a fight. (5)

Truce: We don't have to get along with each other, but our friends would like it if we did. I'm willing to be cordial if she is. (4)

Jaune: Why does she care about him so much anyways. Outside of him being her leader I can't see why she'd bother. (1)

We continue to stare at each other in silence neither one of us backing down from our positions. I decide to break it, "Grab your weapons, we'll settle this in the ring."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

I think it over before I offer her the only thing I have, "If you want an apology, you'll have to beat it out of me." That seems to work for her and I reserve a private session in a training room and request a proctor for our duel.

When we arrive at the reserved room a displeased Miss Goodwitch greets us, "I don't suppose there's anything that I could say to dissuade either of you from this course of action." We both shake our heads, if this was something so simple as to be solved by words then we wouldn't be here. Well that and I'm excited to see how I stack up to the invincible girl. "Of course not," Goodwitch mumbles, before counting us down.

Unlike my short match with Cardin I know I can't take any chances with Pyrrha. I have my buckler out and deployed, ready to block any shots and probing strikes, and my Wit's End hovering threateningly. We're both limited to the same quality of Dust for this duel like we are in combat class. This isn't a competition of who can spend more for an advantage, it's a matter of skill.

The two of us step towards each other, but she doesn't make any hostile moves. She's giving me the courtesy of the first strike even though I'm the one who challenged her. It's a bit overconfident to be so certain of her victory, but I'm not proud enough to turn down the advantage. I continue our slow dance of closing the range, keeping an eye on her sword and shield, I doubt she's unprepared for someone getting inside her guard. I could use my semblance on her, but I decide not to. This match isn't important enough for me to reveal that just yet. That, and I want to see if I can beat her without the crutch.

Ochre combat: 4.07(combat) + 1(Duelist) + 1.58(Mobility) - .5(Semblance) = 6.15

Ochre Aura: 5/5

Pyrrha combat: 5.06(Combat) + 1.84(Mobility) +.5(Semblance)= 7.40

Pyrrha Aura: 5/5

Difference: -1.25

Final modifier: -32

Dice: 4d100-32

Options: Individual.

25-32=-7,37-32=5,29-32=-3,14-32=-18

I feint with Wit's End, but my real attack comes from my left hand. My buckler shifts over to my gauntlet and I grasp her sword. My attempt to rip it out of her grasp is unsuccessful as she immediately charges me with a shield bash that I duck under only to receive a kick to the face when she predicts my movements. The only consolation I can take from the exchange is that if I was going to use my semblance I had plenty of opportunities to do so, even if one of them would have been embarrassing.

Pyrrha doesn't care for my internal monologue as she retreats to her effective range, throwing her shield to stop me from just charging her. Then she starts raining down bullets as her sword is shifted over to a rifle. Somehow her shield bounces back and she grabs it to hide behind while shooting at me. I shift my rapier over to its rifle and mirror her stance with my buckler supporting the barrel and blocking bullets.

Even as we exchange fire and I can see that her aura is taking hits I know that this is unsustainable. Her weapons are simply more suited to this style of combat than my own. So I advance as much as I can and she gives ground. Just as I'm about to breach the zone of close combat the bullets stop. Instead Pyrrha shifts her weapon to a third form, a javelin. With a burst of Dust and a flick of her arm said javelin travels straight at me like a rocket.

I try to get my buckler in position to block, but it takes more effort than it normally does. I barely miss it as the javelin sails just over it and slams into my chest laying me out. I have the wherewithal to both notice that I should've been able to block that and see Pyrrha recall her weapon to her hand. I don't know what her semblance is exactly, but I know she's using it on her weapons somehow.

Unfortunately before I can get back up her weapon is pointed directly at me. I'm able to bat it away and get some more damage with a few shotgun shells and some grazing hits, but nothing definitive. I know when I'm beat, so when my aura finally drops below the twenty percent mark I don't try to keep fighting.

My breathing is labored by the end of it and I understand thoroughly how it felt to be Autumn after that fight. I am still able to offer a friendly handshake which, surprisingly, Pyrrha takes. Even more surprising is that she has a smile on her face and has worked up a small bit of sweat. Seems that despite not landing a good hit I caused her to put in a little bit of effort, small mercies.

"With this duel concluded I'll take my leave. If I find out that either of you continue fighting outside of my presence there will be consequences," Miss Goodwitch announces, ruining the moment Pyrrha and I were having. Once she's gone I'm left with Pyrrha who's looking at me expectantly. Time to face the music I suppose.

"Very well a deal is a deal. Pyrrha I'm sorry for the anguish my actions have caused you."

She frowns at my apology, "You're supposed to apologize to Jaune not me."

"He can beat his own apology out of me if he's so concerned about it," I joke. That still isn't what she wants to hear so I offer her something else, "He's not prepared for Beacon. I was concerned that he would put you, Ren, and Nora in danger if he couldn't shape up. He wouldn't listen to reason so I made him listen." I keep my explanation vague, partially to let her draw her own conclusions and partially so I can retain the barest justification that I didn't betray Jaune's trust.

"Why couldn't you just say that in the first place?"

"It's guy stuff, trust me you wouldn't understand. I think he's worse than I am in that respect, so when you offer to help him out, be real insistent about it and make sure he understands that it's something that you want to do."

Pyrrha's confident demeanor crumbles when I give her my advice and she shifts her weight between her feet repeatedly. "What makes you think I'm going to offer to help him in the first place?" I just look at her like the answer should be obvious. No one gets into a fight on someone else's behalf if they aren't interested in that person's well-being, and I don't believe for a second that Pyrrha hasn't noticed Jaune's deficiencies. Evidently she's weak to being pressed on that topic as she starts stuttering before she makes an excuse to leave. Not like I mind particularly much, I need some time to nurse back my aura and my ego.

Aura(Practical) raised from (15/625) to (25/625) Source: fighting Pyrrha.

Combat Raised from (42/625) to (60/625) Source: Class, team training, & fighting Pyrrha.

Dust raised from (12/50) to (19/50) Source: Class & Challenge

Grimm raised from (22/150) to (28/150) Source: Class

History raised from (18/300) to (29/300) Source: Class

Investigation raised from (34/300) to (50/300) Source: Class, Challenges, & Training

Mobility raised from (47/300) to (58/300) Source: Class & fighting Pyrrha

Performance(Acting) raised from (0/150) to (8/150) Source: Challenge & infiltration

Survival raised from (13/150) to (19/150) Source: Class

Team Fighting style raised from (20/75) to (28/75) Source: Training

LloydAbsolon · Feb 15, 2024

Robberies: Junior's memory: I have the memory from that terminal one of Junior's goon smashed up. I can plug it into my spare scroll and see what I find. (tech check) (3)

White Fang: Tuksons Book Trade: Tukson is probably involved with the Fang in some way. I could investigate his store in further detail or just ask the man himself. (Possible social, possible stealth and investigation checks) (3)

Nora(QM)

Autumn: After our conversation I know he's got my back for future endeavors. I could still make an effort to further our friendship. (4)

Marina: I've given her some time to herself. I could check to see how she's dealing with her issues. (4)

The Clovers: Coral has let me know that she has some time off from work and school. I could swing by and see her if I feel like it. (3)

Ren: The bastard has left me to pick up the check with Nora so to speak. Obviously he should take responsibility for his actions. (3)

Train a skill (+ which skill) (2)

+Combat (2)

Team fighting combat style: Gain double the combat modifier from working with a team (28/75) (2)

In History the topic of the Faunus Rights Revolution has finally come up. It's a brief segment according to the syllabus, mainly due to how recent it was. Four decades may seem like a lot of time, but historically speaking that's just not enough to understand the full significance of a multi-year long war, nor map out all of the consequences. One of those consequences was the formation of the White Fang and that is a big enough topic all on its own.

Over the course of the class Oobleck asks, "Have any among you been subjugated or discriminated because of your faunus heritage." Velvet and I both raise our hands and he continues, "Dreadful simply dreadful. Remember students it is precisely this kind of ignorance that leads to violence. I mean, I mean, I mean just look at what happened to the White Fang." Given how he repeated himself I understand that he's not too comfortable with bringing modern politics into his classroom, so I hold back any well-informed commentary I could provide.

He isn't wrong though, the White Fang was originally set up to symbolize the cooperation between faunus and humans. More specifically how we could be so much stronger working together than standing apart. Back then it was largely a diplomatic organization trying to gain the support of the Kingdoms to raise the quality of living of faunus and even modernize Menagerie so that it could take its place as the fifth Kingdom. This of course didn't happen as the other Kingdoms, Atlas and Mistral in particular, shut down anything aside from internal reforms and even then there was still demonstrable inequality.

This brought about the second stage of the White Fang under Ghira Belladonna. That reminds me; I'm still absolutely baffled how no one has even questioned Blake about her last name. We're literally reading about the formation of the White Fang and nobody seems interested that she shares the last name of the second high leader. Did no one bother researching anything about the material? I mean I didn't expect many people to, but Weiss always seemed so studious. I thought she at the bare minimum would look into it, but since I haven't heard her blowing up at Blake for being associated with the Fang I can only assume she missed that, somehow.

My continuing disbelief of Blake aside, this second stage of the Fang grew to be about activism and giving a voice to the faunus of the Kingdoms. This is where the focus on Menagerie started to weaken as it was clear to many that there was no political will for it and the new recruits happened to be primarily from the Kingdoms so they had no stake in pushing for it. Quite ironic considering that Ghira is currently Chieftain of Kuo Kuana.

There's not much I can really comment on about this era other than it being as ineffectual as the previous one. Sure there were protests that made Atlas and the Schnees look bad or cost them a tiny amount of Lien. None of that generated any change though, Ghira was too scared to take action that could paint the Fang in any amount of a bad light. Especially since the news at the time was obsessed with how the White Fang were 'generating negativity' and 'attracting the grimm.' Why, those poor faunus should just shut up before they get good people killed.

Which of course brings us to the most recent change with Sienna Khan taking up the mantle five years ago. If the main problem was that the humans were too concerned to change, or even address our problems, because they feared the grimm then the solution was obvious. Make the humans fear the White Fang more than they do the grimm. Its beauty is its simplicity; its horror is its uncontrollableness.

I can't proclaim innocence; I took advantage of the chaos of the situation to make a name for myself in the Fang and achieve some of my own goals. However, I can recognize that there is a problem. The White Fang had to be restructured so Atlas couldn't just crack us in half with its army and specialists. This has led to disunity among the organization, at best the branch leader of a Kingdom is able to control all the operations that go on there. At worst it's a free-for-all where anyone can claim they represent the White Fang and carry out terror attacks in their name.

There is no way for Sienna to impose her will on any of the other branches aside from stern letters or a show of force. The former is ineffectual and the latter would show the rest of the world that the Fang isn't as united as Sienna wants to pretend we are. I doubt that was Sienna's plan all along, but her intention doesn't matter, it's simply unsustainable. All it takes is one radical to gain a following and soon enough the White Fang will splinter apart and cause another group to splinter off until there are hundreds of splinter groups all claiming to be the real White Fang and fighting amongst each other for influence.

That's not even going into how the position of high leader is more up for grabs than it has ever been. As soon as Sienna decided that violence was an acceptable measure for forcing change that very idea itself became a part of the Fang whether she wanted it or not. Sure, she's been able to coast on her reputation of finally making the White Fang effective, but it's only a matter of time before someone thinks they can do the job better and decide to show the rest of the world how weak Sienna's hold over the Fang really is.

Back to the lesson at hand the rest of the class finishes up a discussion of the battle of Fort Castle where General Lagune lost disastrously to the faunus. Pyrrha attributes this victory to Lagune's blunder in attacking at night and the night-vision that many faunus have. It's technically correct, but is vastly oversimplified. I don't know why I'm expecting a high level of discourse on the matter from a bunch of people training to smash in grimm skulls, but I'm disappointed nonetheless.

In truth the battle was lost before it ever began. Lagune had marshaled a large portion of the army to squash the faunus rebels, but was unable to do so because we weren't playing by his rules. This had two natural consequences, both obvious in hindsight. The first was that an army of that size requires a lot of Dust and food to keep operational and those shipments were by nature less defended than the fort itself. The second was that by taking the army away from various areas the risk of grimm attacking settlements had risen. All of that combined with the slipperiness of his target left him in a no win scenario.

He couldn't retreat his forces without it appearing that he lost in the mind of the public, and while that may have been best for Atlas overall it wouldn't have been the best move for the man or his career. He also couldn't afford to stay holed up in Fort Castle as every day that he spent there would lead to a similar situation of him losing influence with the added injury of grimm preying upon the citizens of Atlas. So he chose what was the least bad option for him, attack at night and hope for the best.

While I could take any number of insights from this series of actions, the one it highlights the most is that Atlas isn't as invincible as it wants the rest of Remnant to think it is. They've spent so long being the only Kingdom with an army that an inferior foe can wipe the floor with them. It also suggests that this attitude extends beyond just the military, although with how the military seems to run Atlas that distinction may just be academic, and that brings up its own question.

How would Atlas defend itself if another Kingdom was able to catch up with their technology? Have they even thought about that or are they so caught up in their own superiority and the illusion of peace that they're completely unprepared. I may not be the best with terminals and scrolls, but if even I can get away with state secrets then what hope does Atlas have if any of the other Kingdoms decide they want to do so. If the classes at Atlas are anything like what I'm dealing with then I doubt that they've drawn any lessons from this battle other than Lagune was a fool and never fight faunus at night. Atlas won't fall because it lacks in military might or technological advances. No, Atlas' lack of perspective and arrogance will be the reason why their hegemony over Remnant will break.

After class ends I check with Coral to see if she's free for me to stop on over for the night. Jasmine happens to have a sleep-over with a friend of hers so it will just be the two of us at the apartment. Fortunately her professors have canceled her classes for the night as well. Given that I'm planning on checking out Tukson's store this week, this provides an opportunity to talk about her work with the man and what I can expect from him. I say some brief goodbyes and make my way to the Clover residence bringing my schoolbag with me. It's not ideal, but I have homework I need to complete and I doubt that Coral wants me to take up all of her free time.

When I arrive I find Coral in the nook with the couch and the t.v. with some sort of legal drama going on. She's brought out a little workstation that has one of her nursing books and a notebook next to it, likely going over the material during commercials. She even set another one for me on the other end of the couch, but from the shorter height and decorations of colorful flowers and animals, I assume it's for Jasmine originally.

I take the implicit invitation and sit on the opposite end of the couch, setting my bookbag between the two of us. I reach in to pull out what I need for homework, but instead of my textbook I grab something soft and silky. Confused as to why such a thing would be in my bag I pull it out and discover that it's a bow, a bow that looks a lot like Blake's. I doubt that she put it there and there's only one person who has reason to mess with me; well three technically, but Cardin or Jaune wouldn't do something like this.

Nora has to be the one responsible, but I can't for the life of me figure out why she would do something like this. I can't imagine that Blake would give up a bow of hers for a prank like this nor would Nora steal from someone uninvolved in our prank war; that is explicitly against the rules Ren outlined for me. So it can't be to get me in trouble with Blake or anything involving her and not even my team knew I was meeting up with Coral so it's not that either.

The only thing that comes to my mind is that rumor that's been going around since Ruby confronted me in the cafeteria. That the reason why I spend so much time in Vale is picking up chicks and otherwise gallivanting around in nightclubs. I haven't done anything to squash that rumor because it is a helpful cover and the effort to get rid of it would be entirely too time consuming. I have to assume that Nora's plan was to cause some drama in my non-existent love-life.

Just as I'm about to put that all out of my mind and work on my homework I notice that Coral is looking at me. More specifically she's looking at the bow in my hand. "It isn't what it looks like," I reply reflexively.

"There's no need to be embarrassed Ochre," Coral says with a lilt in her voice before I can elaborate or reword my statement. "If you want to keep something of your girlfriend's close at hand I'm not going to blame you. You're both a bit too young to be incorporating each other's colors after all."

Something about her tone of voice makes me shuffle around avoiding her eyes. "No, it's nothing like that. Just one of my classmates messing with me, none of that stuff," I clarify.

"Mhm," she agrees with me in a way that distinctly sounds like she isn't agreeing with me. I groan in frustration which only causes her to grin at my misfortune.

Colors: Incorporating another's colors is a statement that the two of you plan to spend your lives together, or are at least in a serious relationship. She isn't wearing anything of her late husband's colors. I could turn this back on her and find out why that is. (4)

Tukson: I'm going to be dealing with the man soon enough. Finding out about his character could be helpful. (3)

Nora: I should clear up this misunderstanding before Coral gets the wrong idea. Maybe she'll even have some advice to deal with a certain orange-haired girl. (2)

School: We could swap stories about how school is going. She'll appreciate being up to date about my friends and I can get some understanding of what exactly she's learning. (0)

Despite her willingness to let the matter go I feel the need to protest. "Blake and I hardly know each other. We barely even worked together and we're not even on the same team."

Coral hums neutrally, "That's a shame, she seems like a cute girl who could use some help relaxing." She notably doesn't point out what I'd get from such a relationship as if inviting me to ask the question. Since I'm trying to change the subject I don't.

"I think it's too early to be thinking anything like that. I have a whole lot I want to accomplish before I think too hard about romance."

"I used to think the same way before I met Jasmine's father. Even thought like that while dating him, but having a kid puts things in a different perspective." She lightly warns, but the pensive expression she adopts betrays that her mind is elsewhere.

I try my best not to come off as insensitive, but my curiosity gets the better of me. "About him, if you don't mind me asking, but why the…" I trail off as I wave my hand to her then around the apartment.

"It's fine Ochre, I've made my peace with it." She sets aside her work and turns off the television, the gravity of the matter warranting that much respect. "At first it was out of necessity. When you helped us move to Vale we couldn't take much with us. I had to wear something that wouldn't signal who I was and I couldn't justify packing anything but the essentials and valuables at the time.

After we got settled in Vale I put off getting anything in his colors to provide for Jasmine and then enrolling in school and purchasing all the supplies needed for that. One day I realized that I hadn't worn anything to show our connection for months and that took me some time to process. Ultimately I think he'd want me to move on, our real connection is Jasmine anyways and he'd want the both of us to be happy. If that means finding someone else and raising her together with them then so be it. Not that I'm looking right now, I'm still young and I'll have the time for it later if I want to."

Her reasoning makes sense, though I don't think everyone would agree. I know from personal experience that dad took longer to heal after mom died. Though there are some extenuating circumstances around that like the treatment we received and him being over a decade older than Coral.

"Thank you for telling me," I'm honest with my thanks, but I have an ulterior motive behind my next words. "I didn't think that landing here in Vale would be so rough on you. Could Tukson not help you out more than he did?" She's never told me that she worked for Tukson explicitly, but from what I've pieced together he helped her get set-up in Vale.

"He was already helping us out so much when we arrived that I couldn't possibly impose on him any more. He even gave up his bedroom to Jasmine and I before we were able to start renting this apartment. Besides, he would need that money to help out the next person."

"So you'd say he's a good man," I ask pointedly and bluntly.

Coral picks up on my tone and she starts telling me about Tukson, "Yes he is, he joined up back when Ghira was involved and he tries to help people out before anything else. Though he will push back if he needs to, he's had to toss out more than a few ruffians who thought they could bully him in his own shop. He is a real homebody though, never really saw the need to go out in Vale when he has all the books he could want right at home."

I mentally translate what exactly it is she's telling me. She trusts Tukson and believes he joined the Fang for the reasons it used to stand for, staying with the Fang after the transition to try to keep helping people. Her comment about him being a homebody is probably true, but also signals that he hasn't been involving himself in the recent activities of the Vale branch and that if they were to try to force the issue he'd push back on it.

"Does he still help people out from time to time," I question trying to find out how involved with the White Fang he has been.

Coral shakes her head, "No, unfortunately he hasn't had the opportunity. Which is a shame, we need more people willing to help out in the world."

"Well at least you're working up to doing that," I reference her schooling with a slight nod towards her books.

"Ah, yes we should get back to that shouldn't we?" She resets her workstation and turns the television back on, a clear signal that our conversation has gone past any more serious discussion. I don't press back on that and instead fall into an amiable amount of small talk as the two of us work on our respective tasks.

The information Coral provided me about Tukson makes me alter my plans a little. I can't bring myself to intimidate him when I know how much he's helped them out, not that that particular plan was high up in my list of priorities anyways. The furthest I'd go is invading his privacy and searching through his stuff to see what info he has on the Fang. It'd be simple enough to distract him with Autumn or Marina while I break into the second story of the shop. Though if he is on the outs with the White Fang like Coral implied then he might not have much information on hand. After all, if the Fang isn't using him for his services and he's not joining them in the streets then it's unlikely that he'd have much leading back to them at the moment.

That doesn't mean he has nothing though, at the very least he has a point of contact within the Vale branch and that person may be just as concerned as he probably is about where the Vale branch is heading. That would be information he keeps on the scroll and while I have some pride in my subterfuge I'm not confident enough to swipe it off him.

I'll likely make greater gains if I talk with him and then it's a balancing act of how much I want to reveal. At the very least I could mention our mutual connection, the Clovers. He likely has a soft spot for them given that he housed them for a while and that might be enough for him to trust me. Alternatively I could lean on my connection with the Fang and promise that I can help him out. Technically I don't have the authority to do this, but like with many things in the Fang permission doesn't really matter as long as you get results.

Lastly I could be more blatant than I have been in the past and outright state I'm here from Menagerie to set the Vale branch back on the right course. That probably isn't even a lie at this point. It does run the risk that he might not believe me or think I could do it as well as that the information might spread; but Coral trusts him and he must be able to keep a secret if he's been working with the Fang for the past five years.

Friendly: While I didn't mention it when I met him before I can let him know I'm friends with the Clovers and see what information that can get me. (3)

Outside Help: I can mention that I'm from the Menagerie branch and I'm here to help. He might open up more if there's hope for things to go back to how they should. (3)

Mercenary: It seems like he's on the outs with the Fang or at least this branch. I could provide him some assistance and more helpfully permission to break away if he wants to. (1)

Stealth: I can rope one of my friends in to distract him while I search his living area. (0)

QM note: At this point I started rolling to break ties; Friendly won

I walk into Tukson's Book Trade with Autumn, who immediately beelines to the comics when we enter. He wanted to swing by some shops to see if they have any comics he's interested in and since I was already going to a place that I knew had some that made the decision to invite him along easy. He's in his school uniform and I would be as well if it wasn't for Nora.

I got called for a spar in combat class that wasn't even worth my time and when I went to my locker to change I found out that Nora got access, somehow, and sprinkled my entire outfit with glitter. That was frustrating enough, but I fought without issue and it was over after a few minutes. However, she snuck back to my locker and covered my uniform in glitter as well. I could have changed into one of my backup uniforms at that point, but I didn't want to risk another outfit.

Instead I'm in my new set of casual clothes: a dark orange jacket with a brown undershirt and a green scarf to add some color. I already dropped off my clothes at a cleaners so they can clean Nora's mess and ordered some more uniforms in case this becomes a recurring issue with her.

Nevertheless I have a job to do so I walk up to the counter and ring the bell. While I wait I argue with myself about how exactly to proceed. I want to go bold and proclaim that I'm here to fix everything wrong with the Vale branch, but that seems ambitious and I don't know if Tukson would believe me to begin with. Rather my caution wins out and I'll go forward with a less bombastic course of action.

By time Tukson makes his way to the counter Autumn walks up next to me, his hands empty. "Welcome to Tukson's Book Trade, home to every book under the sun," Tukson's slogan is just as automatic now as it was the first time. When he recognizes it's me he looks over to Autumn and then to me. "If you're looking to return anything, my return policy is two weeks. I'd be happy to buy them back from you at a fair price if you'd prefer."

I shake my head at his assumption, "No don't worry about that; I made it in. It's laundry day for me." He nods readily at my excuse. "Oh, before I forget I want to give you my thanks."

"If it's about the books, don't sweat it. I'm just doing my job."

"It's not about that. You actually helped out some friends of mine not too long ago. Coral and Jasmine to be precise," I see his eyes narrow in on me and Autumn, but I don't let that phase me. "I helped them get into Vale in the first place so it's good that someone like you was there to help them out." He relaxes fractionally, but is still tense. Probably because Autumn is there, so I give him some reassurance. "Don't worry he's in the know. If he had a problem like that I wouldn't be in Beacon any more would I?"

That works as he returns back to matters of business, "So how can I help the two of you?"

I decide to ease his worries a bit more and get Autumn out of the conversation. I bump my teammate with my shoulder which gets him to speak up. "Actually sir I was wondering if you had any horror comics or anything of the like."

Tukson looks like he wants to immediately deny having that sort of restricted material, but my earlier comments must have helped as he relents. "I have some stuff in the back, if you don't mind I could grab it."

"Oh I don't want you going out of your way on my behalf. If it's okay with you I can check it out myself. I promise anything I don't buy will be put right back where I found it."

Tukson isn't entirely sold on the idea until he looks at me and I give him a nod. "Fine, head on back. What you're looking for should be on the left-hand side of the second shelf from the right."

Autumn goes around the corner where neither of us can see him and I pick up on the conversation. "I'll be frank here Tukson I'm looking into the White Fang here in Vale and things aren't looking good. Anything that you can give me I'd appreciate."

"Why are you interested in any of this to begin with?"

There are any number of answers I could give him, but I have to give him something. I'm not promising him anything or letting him know I'm here to solve the problem so I have to give him a stake in the situation or risk not getting anything valuable. "At first it was a personal curiosity, something to pass the time you know?" The look on his face clearly tells me that he doesn't know where I'm going with this. He isn't interrupting me, however, so I'll take that as a win. "Then I found out that the Fang has been working with Roman Torchwick to burgle all of the Dust in Vale. Now I'm not as familiar with the Vale branch as you are, but does that sound like something Adam would do normally?"

His expression turns sour, "I'm sure he has a reason. There's always a need for Lien and Dust."

"Yes, but that's the issue. None of this Dust is being sold, instead it's being stored, mostly outside the city. That means whatever they're planning it's something bigger than a quick score. I just want to get ahead of the issue before anyone does anything stupid."

He lets out a sigh as if admitting defeat on the matter but a slight paling of his features show that he understands how severe the situation is. "I can't say I'm too surprised to hear that, but I don't think I have much to give you."

If true, that's unfortunate, but not unexpected. Still I don't let any of that show on my face. "Don't worry about what you have to give me. I'm well experienced in putting together disparate pieces so anything could help. Although any knowledge about inner workings or a word to someone that might be sympathetic would go a long way."

"Fine, but none of this to the authorities unless things really go to shit. I might not agree with everything they do, but these are some good people," he demands, his tone heavy. I nod easily enough, it's not like he can do much to stop me from betraying his trust if I need to.

We pull out our scrolls to share information as he details what exactly he's sending me. The first of which is stuff I mostly know about already which is the warehouses used for meetings, though he has more on his list than the active ones I narrowed in on. He also has the location of a karaoke bar where meetings are occasionally held.

Secondly he provides me with the name and contact information about his point of contact within the Fang. It only takes some searching on the CCT before I connect a name to an address and have another location I can search. The rest is stuff I already know or suspect like how the Vale branch is putting the squeeze on its members to contribute more. Apparently for shopkeepers such as himself they've been pressing for a ruinous amount of Lien, weapons, or Dust. Given what I know, that's likely to equip their new recruits and with how much they want they're stocking up for some serious fighting.

By the time we're finished Autumn has a small stack of comics and a few books, which he pays for. Then we make our way to our next stop, another comic shop. Despite being in Vale longer, Autumn hasn't trawled the CCT for any interesting locations like I have, so it's his first time at many of them. He's on the hunt for more of his comics and I have to kill time until my clothes are cleaned. If some of the shops we check out were on my radar for White Fang activity, well that's fortunate now isn't it?

The stack that Autumn's walking around with both limits our outing and draws my attention. Horror material isn't illegal per se, but it is restricted in various amounts depending on the Kingdom you're in with Vale having the laxest restrictions and Atlas having the strictest. Although, Vacuo and Mistral don't really follow their restrictions; Mistral from a lack of enforcement of the law and Vacuo due to a lack of ability to enforce the law.

Legality aside, it still carries a stigma. Not so much in the cities themselves but in the outlying settlements. When you're not as protected as the big four there is little reason to put up with anything that could attract grimm. Admittedly it has me curious as to how he got into the hobby in the first place, but I don't have to ask about that.

Horror: What got him so interested in imaginary monsters and terror when we're training to fight monsters straight out of nightmares. (4)

Velvet: Him and his sister went to Pharos, the same school Velvet said she went to. Did either of them know about her back then? (3)

Farm Life: He's lived most of his life on a farm. While I have some experience roughing it in the wild it might be insightful finding out the differences between the two lifestyles. (1)

Family: He mentioned his mom and dad moved to Vale after they sold the farm. I could learn about them and see if he wants to introduce the team to his folks at a later date. (0)

Jaune: Out of everyone I expect Autumn to understand my position the most. I won't spill any secrets, but I could see if he agrees with my decision in principle if nothing else. (0)

"What's up with all that," I ask as we leave another shop, gesturing to his ever growing stack.

"Ah, I think I know where you're going with that. Thinking about how I could be interested in these fake tales when we deal with the real thing so to speak." I'm no stranger to liking fake stories, but I feel like we're heading in the right direction so I nod. "Well that's the thing, I'm not looking for something that's like the grimm. I'm after something new."

He looks at me expectantly like this is a conversation that he has with some frequency and I'm supposed to feed him a line to go off of. "Let me guess, everyone says you can pick up a story where there's a scary new grimm if you're looking for something new."

"Got it in one," Autumn chuckles. "But nah, the problem with stories like that is that grimm come in two flavors: beatable and apocalyptic with almost no in between. I'm looking for that in between, a sort of personal terror that a person could conceivably fight against but isn't expected to beat.

Besides, even if the grimm are the scariest things for some people that hasn't stopped anyone from contorting their minds to come up with new and more horrifying creatures. If I'm honest the grimm have nothing on the sheer terror that the mind of man can produce." He says that last bit with genuine wonder. As if these creations of man, as horrible as they can be, are beautiful for merely existing.

It's a side of him I don't see often and feel a little bad about pulling him out of. "That's enough Autumn. I'm no stranger to scary stories, real and fake, I get the appeal. I was more wondering what got you into all of that to begin with."

"Ah that," he responds, scratching the back of his head, the faintest hint of a blush coloring his tanned cheeks. "There's not much of a story to it. One of my friends in Pharos brought one of his stories for one reason or another. Between the two of us I think he was trying to impress a girl with how brave he was. As if not being scared of something stuck in the pages of a book was something impressive.

Well I read it, and honestly it wasn't that scary. But it did have interesting ideas and that's the crux of it for me," he says hefting the stack of comics and books. "Most of these are going to be bad, that's just the nature of the business. A lot of them will be interesting, though. The only ones not worth my time are the ones that fail to be creative."

I understand the sentiment, "Yeah I get that. That reminds me, you and Kelly went to Pharos right?" He nods back at me. "Well I found out that Vel went there too and, well, let's say there was an issue there and I'm wondering if either of you knew about it."

"Touched a nerve you shouldn't've?"

"You could say that."

"She the one that gave you that thrashing last week," He asks, holding out one of his hands in a placating gesture and a grin that betrays the humor he's taking out of the situation. "Don't worry I ain't gonna judge you for taking an interest in a girl that can kick your ass."

I grumble at his take, but I can't correct him unless I want to heap more comments on myself. "You're avoiding the question."

"Ah, sorry about that," he says absolutely unapologetically. His expression shifts from the grin he's sporting to something more melancholy. "Now you got to remember that we were a year behind her and I suspect whatever went down happened in that year. All I know is that people would come around and pick on her without her putting up much of a fight.

Our schedules didn't really sync up either and with Kelly and I having to help out on the farm there wasn't much time to dig into her situation. Didn't stop Kelly from trying to involve her with her friends when she could, but Velvet wasn't receptive and kept to herself." He casts his eyes down towards his shoes, "After a while you just kind of stop trying you know, but that doesn't take out the sting. I think it did Kelly a lot of good when she found her in Oobleck's class."

We continue on to the next shop in silence. Both agreeing that there isn't anything more to talk about on the matter, it's in the past. But unable and unwilling to bring up something else for the moment. Halfway through checking the next shop I receive a message that my clothes are ready for pickup and we swing around to pick them up and return to Beacon, enough time having passed that Autumn is telling me about the creatures and scenarios of his various stories.

Like a parasite that grows into your muscles and slowly takes over your body while keeping you aware the entire time, but unable to stop it. Or a cave that attracts people, like how negative emotions attract grimm, only to keep them trapped and unable to leave for food or water. I think he's taking the opportunity to talk shop with someone that gets what he enjoys out of the material even if I'm not as into it as he is.

The next day is thankfully free of any consequences from Nora's prank war, though not for a lack of trying on her part. She tries to swipe the pens in my bookbag and swap them with crayons during lunch. I'm not sure how she was planning on pulling that off since she doesn't exactly scream stealthy on a normal day and is much more obvious when she's stalking through the cafeteria on her tippy toes. Plus her leader doesn't help out any by sitting away from my team.

Obviously Jaune is still not over what I told him, but at least he's no longer running away from me as soon as he can. That and Pyrrha has stopped giving me death stares. Small improvements, but improvements nonetheless. Not that Ruby is too happy with the state of affairs; I think this might be the first time people in her friend group aren't getting along and she doesn't know how to approach what's going on.

Eh, I'm certain she'll work it out or accept the new status quo on her own, I have my own things to take care of. Like Nora trying to rifle through my bag a second time. I have to remind her that lunch is only so long so if she wants to eat she better grab her food now. Fortunately the threat of missing a meal is enough to dissuade the orange-haired hellion from messing with me further. Plus Ren shoots me a thankful look that I got Nora to take care of herself. Of course that all reminds me of how I ended up having to deal with her in the first place, so while Nora's getting her food I motion for Ren and I to have a word together.

"Thank you for dealing with Nora. I know she can be a handful, but I assure you that the both of us appreciate it," Ren says with a placid expression. Acting like he's completely uninvolved in the situation. It's frustrating enough that I almost lose my composure and given that I spot a small twitch of his lips Ren can tell.

"You're really going to act like you had nothing to do with this." With Ren already catching my frustration I can't keep the emotion out of my tone.

"No, I bear some responsibility. But I'm not going to apologize, it was your idea after all." Only the hint of a smile lets me know that he didn't just say that with a straight face and no remorse. "If it makes you feel any better Nora will offer a truce soon enough. As long as you admit defeat that is."

"You owe me after all this," I state bluntly. Ren makes a questioning noise and I continue, "Do you know how much it cost to get all of that glitter cleaned up?" My question startles him just the littlest bit, so I'm guessing he either wasn't aware of Nora's plan or didn't think about the cost associated with it. Not that I'm going to inform him of the exact bill, the vagueness gives more seriousness to my grievance.

"Apologies, I'll make sure that Nora knows it's off limits for the future. I'll make it up to you, just don't let Nora know about it." He doesn't give me a reason as to why I shouldn't let Nora know, but if I had to assume I would guess that it would ruin the magic for her if she knew the consequences of her actions.

Travels: I know that he and Nora have had some journeys through Mistral and Vale. Maybe a less charged topic would do the both of us good. (2)

Responsibility: Why exactly is he so willing to pick up the tab after Nora? Sure it might just be because they're good friends but that's not exactly normal behavior. (1)

Nora: Is this kind of behavior normal for her? I can't imagine that the two of them had many friends for a while from what I know about their past. (0)

I merely nod at Ren's request, it gets the point across and allows me to save my words to follow a curiosity of mine. "You two are from Mistral originally right?" He affirms my question with a small tilt of his head. "So why come to Beacon? Tickets aren't exactly cheap and travel from Mistral to Vale isn't easy even in the best of times."

Ren brings his hand up to his chin adopting a thoughtful expression. "Well, after weighing our options up I concluded that it would be the best option for the two of us." I mentally take note that Ren said it was his decision, not their decision, to come to Beacon. From what I know about him I suspect it's from a feeling of responsibility over the decision rather than Nora not having any input on it.

"And what was the main factor for that, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Financial reasons mostly."

I suspect that his statement is a deflection from his real reasons so I press him, "Don't most Kingdoms have some sort of assistance if you're planning on becoming a Huntsman?"

With the exception of Vacuo; Mistral is the least accommodating in this aspect, but still provides a stipend that someone could live off of, if barely. Ostensibly this is to encourage students to supplement what little stipend they receive by participating in arena fights. Of course those that are unlucky or unable to succeed in the arena may find themselves approached by some shady individuals who want to help them out in exchange for a few favors down the line.

"There may have been some personal considerations as well," Ren concedes. "We were too young and our stay in Mistral was untenable given the circumstances." he says the last part with some hesitation despite his placid face. "The wilderness was less of a danger to us than if we were to stay."

"The grimm were less of a danger than dealing with some criminals," I ask, more than a little incredulous.

"They aren't so difficult when you know how to work around them," he says with only the hint of a smile showing he's not giving me the full picture. I could ask him what he's not telling me, but I'm not about to give him the satisfaction. That and I doubt he'd tell me to begin with. It likely has something to do with his semblance since I don't think he has an unnatural insight into the activities and predilection of grimm.

"So the two of you have been roughing it in the wilderness longer than I have. Can't say I know what it's like to live completely off the land like the two of you did. My time in the Fang had us resupply ourselves somewhat regularly."

If my comment about the White Fang is in any way surprising to Ren he doesn't show it. "I'd say our two experiences may not have been so different. At first we were young enough that most villages would house us from time to time, especially during winter, and as we grew older our ability to help deal with grimm was enough to earn our stay."

I give Ren a noncommittal hum, I'm certain he's downplaying their time spent out in the wilderness. "So, how'd you end up in Vale? I can't imagine the two of you built up much Lien only occasionally hanging out in villages and last I checked crossing an ocean is a bit more difficult than trudging through the wilderness, even if you can deal with the grimm."

Ren shrugs a little, his smile tightening. "We had to spend a year in Asylum, a combat school in western Anima. It was a cove surrounded by mountains, but small and tight on space. The only interesting thing about the place was the ships that would come by from time to time and the airships that showed up before the big tournaments started. I had to stop Nora from going to any of those, it wasn't worth it even if she won.

Instead, while everyone else spent their time trying their luck in the arena, Nora and I would do odd jobs around town or in the neighboring villages. By the time the year was done we'd saved enough to buy a ticket to take us across the ocean where we traveled during the Summer months until we reached Lodestar, north of Vale. I think you can piece the rest from there."

"Well I'm glad that it all worked out for you. Does seem a bit anticlimactic though, don't you think?"

"I'm sorry if my caution was less exciting than your own adventures." I'm about to wave off his apology when I notice the mirth in his eyes. "After all, we had enough excitement just getting to Asylum in the first place." Before I can ask about that Ren prompts me with a question of his own, "Why'd you choose Beacon."

"Huh," not expecting the interruption, I make a noise of confusion.

His amusement is only increased by my lack of a coherent response. "Beacon, why'd you come here? You just asked me about my own reasons after all."

"Well," I say, taking a moment to recover. "Mainly for a lack of other options. Atlas is a no-go for some obvious reasons, the same with Mistral." I don't bother elaborating for Atlas, but do for Mistral at Ren's tilt of his head. "The headquarters for the White Fang are in Mistral and I'd rather not deal with that. As for Vacuo; I think I'd die from the heat if I had to spend the next four years of my life there."

Ren nods his head at my reasoning as if he wasn't expecting much different. I haven't kept my hatred of Atlas or the dislike of the Vacuan heat particularly subtle so those don't come as a surprise to him. While my reasoning for not choosing Mistral may be different from his own I don't suspect that he thought I'd consider Haven anyways.

It leaves me puzzled as to why exactly he asked his question, but I receive the answer soon enough when he quickly checks his scroll and I'm reminded of the time. "Well lunch is over, we should head off to class before we're late." Ren and I make our way back to class while I replay the conversation in my head.

In hindsight it's obvious that he's not too comfortable talking about the past since his answers were light on details. I get the feeling if I press him on it in the future he'll do the same about my own past, and given that he was able to tell that it'd be bad for him and Nora to stay in Mistral at a young age I expect he'd glean more than just what I tell him.

I push such thoughts out of my head for now. Instead once class finishes for the day I hook up the hard drive from the terminal in Juniors club to my spare scroll and start looking through his files. Unfortunately most of them aren't helpfully labeled and I have to divine what system he used to organize his thoughts.

Tech Check: Rank 2 vs 1/2/3

Final DC: 25/50/75

Dice: 1d100

72 = 72

I'm able to get through most files after downloading the right software to open and view them, but a select few are password protected. I can't just guess the password endlessly as failing to do so a certain number of times leads to one of the files deleting itself. I'm certain there's a way around this issue, but it escapes me for the moment. If need be I can get some assistance with recovering the data, though that will have to wait for another time and likely isn't worth it since Junior isn't working with Torchwick anymore.

With as much data accessed as I'm going to get I start piecing together what it tells me. From the multitude of reports on profits and expenses I'm able to pinpoint what businesses are Junior's which isn't too helpful unless I want to threaten him with further retribution or convince someone to act on the information. Detective Flint may find this information interesting, but without concrete proof of any wrongdoing or the will of the greater VPD to investigate I don't think he'd be able to do much with it.

Fortunately, that along with some notes I found helps eliminate the vast majority of locations I was looking into to find Torchwick's cache of Dust in Vale. After another CCT search and a quick trip in Vale I'm certain I've knocked it down to one location. Turns out it is an abandoned factory, and if I'm lucky it might even be his base of operations. I don't stick around to confirm that fact, if I'm going to do anything about it I'd rather that I have some backup first.

The last thing that I find are some personal notes, which don't tell me much more than what I got from the hidden compartment in his desk to begin with. The only difference is that there is a list of shops that, after checking with the CCT, Torchwick ended up robbing after Yang and I's assault. It's a shame that I couldn't get it before then, but I'm not too upset. It's not like I would have been able to do much with this information at the time anyways and I've made good progress without it.

I add what information I've gathered to my boards and make a separate file with all of the relevant files in case I need to look over them again. I've decided that since Marina isn't using much of our side of the room to hang the robbery board up so I can work through it in my spare time and keep my team up to date on my progress. They don't ask me any questions like Blake did, so I assume that my system is readable enough for everyone that I don't have to explain anything further. I'm lost in my own thoughts to such a degree that it takes Marina physically poking me in order for her to get my attention. "I'm going to the library," she says, staring at me with big teal eyes once I turn to her.

"That's fine," I reply on reflex. She used to explicitly ask 'is that all right,' for a week after our last big talk. Fortunately it only took a small bit of effort to get her to stop that, but she still looks to me for permission even if she's ostensibly telling me what she's going to do. Since I just finished up with my own work I give her more of my focus. "Still working on your grades?" She gives me a firm nod as if she's pleased with herself or my response.

"Do you want me to help you out," I float her the question as neutrally as I can. I might have just finished with my task, but it's more helpful for her if she is the one to decide she'd like my help. Hopefully it'll progress to her asking for help without any prompting.

"Yes, I would like that." Her statement may be simple, but it's more direct than she usually is. What's more surprising is when she grabs my hand and starts walking off to the library.

"Marina," I prod her, pulling my hand back a little but following along regardless. Her grip is firm enough that I can't break out of it easily, especially since I don't want to potentially upset her. "Is there a reason you're holding my hand?"

She stops in the middle of the hallway and turns to me confused. "Is this not normal? I've seen plenty of people lead each other by the hand around here."

I know from experience that she gets some odd ideas when it comes to people. I don't want to outright correct her, however, as that might cause some backsliding. "And how do those people usually feel, the ones leading and the ones being led?"

Confusion doesn't leave her features as she answers, "A lot of things. Some are angry, embarrassed, nervous, confused like you were, happy or any number of things. I can't tell what's in common with all of them." I groan internally as it doesn't seem like she'll be able to figure it out on her own.

"Well, typically holding hands like this is a thing that only couples do. Some people might drag people by the arm, but holding someone's hand like this is considered intimate."

She pauses, looking at our hands, but not loosening her grip. "Are we a couple?"

"I don't believe so," I say carefully while keeping careful watch of her.

"Oh," she says, letting go and showing no sign of being upset, angry, or embarrassed. Rather she just accepted what I said and updated her behavior accordingly.

"I'm guessing you didn't get much socialization as a kid?" She tilts her head at me not understanding what I'm getting at. "I mean, I'm assuming that you didn't grow up with very many friends."

Marina firmly shakes her head, "No I had everyone on the crew to hang out with and talk to."

"Were any of them your age," I question and receive another shake of the head. "Did you not even pick up any passengers that were your age?" Marina hesitates slightly but still shakes her head in the negative.

That brings up a question of what exactly the ship was doing. Even dedicated cargo ships would pick up passengers from time to time, there wasn't much reason not to as long as they were paying. Of course it might be that she has a past she's not proud of like my own and I don't necessarily have to push her on that subject.

Socialization: She's spent some time with people outside of the team. That's progress of a sort, I can ask her what she thinks and feels about them. Plus she'll have her own insights even if I have to decipher them. (4)

Beacon: Unlike everyone else Marina just sort of ended up here. I could ask her about her perspective on the place. (2)

Semblance: I'm still curious as to how exactly her semblance works. I could ask about it and see if there's any hidden nuance I can discover. (1)

Ship life: I'm beginning to suspect that Marina's nautical life wasn't a typical one. I could ask her what exactly they did. (1)

I'm not going to touch that topic at this point in time so I pivot to a different one. "You know I think you're the only person in our year that didn't choose to go to Beacon. What do you think of the place?"

"It's big and full of people," she says without inflection. It's not a deadpan remark or dry wit; rather her honest thoughts on the matter.

"True," I concede, "but not what I was going for. How do you feel about being here?"

A look of contentment spreads across Marina's face, "I think I like it. It's nice being told what to do and how to do it again. It's a bit frustrating that I don't have it down yet, but that was how it was when I first started helping out around the ship so I'll get it in time." She looks at me for reassurance as she makes her statement.

I set her at ease with a nod and she continues, "Then there are all of the people. So bright it hurts to look at them sometimes," she says, scrunching up her nose. "Way more happy and excited than I'm used to and there are so many of them. Vale is supposed to have more of them. I have trouble imagining so many people in one place, much less remembering all of them."

"I don't think anyone knows everyone in the city, most people just remain strangers forever." That affects Marina more than I thought it would as her eyebrows knit together as if trying to puzzle through a solution.

"That's not right," she says without elaboration.

I shrug off her issue, it's not like explaining how it's not feasible to know everyone would address her issues on the matter. "Maybe, but it's just something you have to deal with."

I can tell she isn't happy with my answer, "Everyone on the ship knew each other. We had to, we trusted each other with our lives," her voice cracks a little at the last part, but she recovers after a moment. "How could anyone rely on someone they don't know to keep them safe?"

It's more pushback than I'm used to, but I take that as a good sign. Unfortunately I can tell there won't be much reasoning with her on the matter. "I'm sure they have their reasons," I offer as a platitude and continue on before she can argue against that. "Anyway, enough talking about strangers. What do you think about the people here? We can start with the rest of the team."

Marina nods at the change in topic and starts speaking readily "Autumn and Kelly are nice, their lights aren't as bright or loud as the others and they aren't as complicated as some people can get. Most of the time whenever they're feeling something there's one light that's bigger than the rest, it makes it easier to deal with them."

I file away that bit about lights for later, probably her terminology for emotions, but it wasn't what I was looking for. "Okay, but how do you feel about them? Do you like being on the team with them or are there any issues you want to address?"

She shakes her head resolutely, "No issues. It's good to have a crew again and they look out for us like we look out for them."

It's a bit disappointing that her reply is so simple. I can't tell if that's just her honest feelings or if she can't express how she really feels. "What about the others? I know you hung out with Ren and Nora that one day, what do you think about them?"

"They weren't into that game we played. When I brought it up Nora said it was a good idea, but ran away to stare at us from behind a corner. Ren never took a turn and kept passing it back to me, he wouldn't tell me why and I couldn't read him like I can others. There's something there, but I can't tell what it is exactly."

"Good to know, but do you like hanging out with them or do you have any problems with them?"

"I would prefer not to have to deal with them," she says slowly, but when I don't rebuke her or comment on the matter she returns to her normal pace. "Nora is too much and Ren is too confusing."

I don't prompt her for who to talk about next, but do motion for her to continue. "Ruby tried talking with me a few days ago. She kept asking me about you and Jaune, something about how the two of you were fighting. I told her that was silly, if you and Jaune were fighting you'd have won in less than a minute. Her lights kept changing constantly, but I'm not sure why." Fortunately I don't have to prompt her on any further thoughts as after a moment she appends her statement. "I don't dislike her. She tries to be nice without bothering me and she normally isn't that confusing."

By this point we're almost at the library so I stop her before we head in. "Alright, last one. Choose someone interesting."

"Blake," she says with no hesitation. "She has a storm of darkness roiling within her. I'm not sure why she has it, but it's fascinating. I've been trying to come up with some story, like you taught me, to explain her behavior. All she does is go to class and read all day so I can't come up with anything."

While I could spoil it for Marina and give her the answer I feel that it'll do her more good if she were able to figure something out on her own. I might need to check in with Blake to ensure she isn't too upset by my partner snooping into her personal life, but that's for future me to worry about. Right now Marina and I head into the library so that I can help her study like she requested.

It's Friday, the last day before the safe-days of the weekend in the prank war with Nora. By this point in the week I've taken to using my semblance to spot her traps ahead of time and avoid them if need be. Not all of them are as sophisticated as the rest, but it has prevented me from suffering another embarrassment like what happened at Coral's or my outfit.

Class has ended for the day and my team and I went our separate ways. Autumn went to hang out with some of his friends from Pharos that made it into Beacon and Kelly accompanied Marina to the library to help her out. I make my way to our dorm and find Nora standing outside of it, likely her offering a truce to end this nonsense.

Once she spots me she steps out into the middle of the hallway and sets her legs into a wide stance, one hand on her hip and the other outstretched and pointing at me. "You! Ochre the Spotted King! Do you admit defeat to me, the Lightning Queen in our battle of wits," she exclaims, earning some looks from people just trying to get to their dorm rooms, especially team CRDL behind me. She's blocking not only the entrance to my dorm, but theirs as well.

I find it funny to effectively hold CRDL's quarters hostage so I make a big show of thinking over her offer. When one of them, Sky I think, tries to sneak past both Nora and I glare at him and he falls back behind me. Everyone else disperses at my lack of response as well as team CRDL who is likely going to try to re-enter their dorm through their windows for the time being.

It takes a few minutes before Nora says anything, her imperious smile never dimming throughout the time. "I don't have all day. If you don't answer me I'll bring retribution and humiliation to you for another fortnight."

"Sorry, I was pranking Cardin. The opportunity was too good to pass up," I admit easily and get a satisfied nod from Nora, like what I did was the most natural response in the world. She's still expecting an answer though so I add the most casual 'sure' I can muster.

She pumps her fist in response. "Another victory for the indefeatable Lightning Queen. You will rue the day you failed to match wits with the great illustrious Lightning Queen forevermore," Nora says bombastically before laughing dramatically like a villain. This continues on for a few minutes until she abruptly stops. "Anyways, you should join in next time instead of surprising me with one really big prank at the beginning. That's way more fun than just you avoiding everything don't you think?"

I shrug my shoulders in lieu of a response, Nora reads something from that and drops the matter. Fortunately all it cost to end this was a bit of pride on my part as I was not looking forward to using my semblance to avoid any more of Nora's shenanigans. Nevertheless, Nora is still standing outside my door and I haven't really talked to her since initiation; I might as well catch up with her while I can.

Pranks: So why did she get all worked up about this like she did. It sounds like she's been through this before. (4)

Names: What's the deal with the Spotted King and the Lightning Queen. Does she have names for everyone she meets? (4)

Weapon: Nora wields a mechashift hammer/grenade launcher. That's not what I'd expect from someone who spent most of their formative years out in the wilderness. I could ask her about it. (0)

Academies: Ren mentioned Asylum and Lodestar academy and their rough locations. I could ask what those were like and how they compare to Beacon. (0)

Wilderness tales: Ren purposefully avoided talking about any adventures the two of them went on. Nora is certain to be more open about it than he was. (0)

"So what's the deal with that Spotted King bit? I know you don't mean anything by it, but I'm curious." I also pull down at the ends of my sleeves, just to make sure. I don't think I've shown that much skin off at Beacon. That and how her eyes shift to my ears for a second makes me think she came up with it because of what animal my features are from.

"Oh that, I do that all the time. Like Renny is the Lord of Silence and Jaune is the Knight of Raining Blows." Nora deepens her voice and speaks louder when announcing the titles of her teammates. "Pyrrha of course is the Invincible Girl, but like I didn't give her that title and mine are way better, right?"

Naturally I agree with her and nod. Invincible Girl is an uninspired name even if it's accurate. Then again Spotted King isn't that inspired either, but at least it isn't as bland. "So what would you have titled her?"

Nora's already present smile only grows wider at my inquiry. "If it was up to me, she'd be Pyrrha Nikos the Flame of Victory."

"I get the victory part, but why Flame?"

"Her hair, duh," Nora says, rolling her eyes like it's obvious. "Her hair's a fiery red, it just makes sense."

"Yeah, but nothing else about it makes any sense. Like you could just as well say she's the Sword or Shield of Victory because she has a sword and a shield," I argue back.

"But what if she changes her weapons," Nora whinges. "Her hair will always be the same so that's a safer bet."

I know better at this point than to continue arguing with Nora after she's made a decision. "Alright what about RWBY, the team I mean?"

"Ruby is the Rose Petal Witch, Yang is the Dragon of a Thousand Punches, Blake is the Surveyor of Tomes, and Weiss is the Runic Swordswoman."

I nod along, the names making sense to me. "So why exactly did you start giving everyone names like that?"

"Well I don't give just anyone a title, they have to earn it first. Like can you imagine if I gave Cardin a title that'd be ridiculous." Just as she says that I hear a crashing in team CRDL's dorm, looks like they finally found a way in. "As for why I do it…" she trails off motioning for me to come closer as if she's sharing some sort of secret. "Just for fun. But don't tell Renny, I told him that I could see the secret truths of the universe and everyone's true name."

"Don't you think he's figured it out by now? I mean you said your semblance helped you with lifting weights back before initiation so he can't believe that you have this ability on top of that right?"

Nora breaks away from me as the gears turn in her head mulling over my question. She furrows her brow and emits a low humming noise as she processes what I said for a few seconds before suddenly stopping. "Nope, don't be ridiculous Ochre. There's no way that Ren of all people would just go along with everything I said if he believed it was utter nonsense," she says, her voice increasingly fast and frantic.

"I mean have you seen Ren? He's so calm and collected and wouldn't have any problem with pointing stuff like that out if he didn't believe it. I should know we've been together for so long. Eh, I mean not together-together, but you know we've known each other for such a long time that if anyone were to know what he thinks about something it'd be me. And don't think of bringing up the silent language. I'm on the cusp of figuring it out on my own. And hey you know-"

I cut her off by clapping my hands together directly in front of her face which gets her to pause long enough for me to get a word in edgewise. "So, about that prank war. Sure was fun, right," I say blatantly changing the subject so she won't spiral off again.

"Oh, yeah. Super fun Ochre. We should do it again sometime," Nora says back to her usual self in an instant.

I grimace, "I think I'll pass. Regardless based on what you said, that wasn't the first time you were in a prank war. How many have you been in?"

"Oh this was my third. So far no one has been able to match me when I get serious."

"So what was the first one? Was it with Ren?"

"Psssht no. Ren would never prank me," Nora says with unfounded confidence.

"Nora, this whole prank war started because Ren and I pranked you two weeks ago. Don't you remember."

Nora cracks her knuckles at my pertinent observation, "That's pretty close to slander there Ochre, I'd suggest not repeating it."

"But it's true!"

"No, you pranked me with Ren's assistance. That's way different from what you're saying."

"How would you even know that," I continue arguing.

"Isn't it obvious? That expression Ren had the two of you do told me everything. Like I said I might not know everything about the silent language, but I know enough to decipher that." I don't know why I was expecting a coherent answer and I also don't like how much sense the answer she gave me makes.

"We're getting off-topic. Prank war history, go."

At my command Nora shifts from the argumentative posture she was regarding me with back to her happy-go-lucky self. "Alright, well first we have to go to the beginning, back to the first prank."

I stare at her unamused, "I meant your prank war history, Nora. What was the first one, why did it happen, all that jazz."

"Fine," she spits out, pouting." That one started when we were in Asylum academy. Did you know we went to Asylum?" I nod instinctively, which is the wrong move to make considering Nora. "What? How!? I never told you. Are you secretly psychic? Are you in my mind right now? Can you tell what I'm thinking," at her last question Nora puts both her hands on her temple and thinks(?) very hard at me.

"No, I'm not a psychic. Ren told me when I talked to him during lunch."

"That's exactly what a hidden psychic would say. Besides I know you and Ren didn't talk during lunch. I was busy pranking you after all so I should know." It's a herculean effort not to palm my face in frustration, but I succeed knowing that it would only add further fuel to the reactor known as Nora. "Back to the story at hand before you rudely interrupted me.

It all started in Asylum Academy when a group of the students decided they'd prank me and Ren. Now I can take a good prank as you know, but to involve Renny is a step too far. So I marshaled all of my prank energy and went to war. There wasn't a day that went by that they didn't find their supplies misplaced or replaced. Not a day that went by without some sort of sticky implement stuck on their bodies like glue in the hair or a 'kick me' sign on the back. Not a night that went by without my adversaries sleeping with one eye open, wondering in fear about what horrors I'd subjugate them to next.

It was pure unrestricted prank war that went on until the will of my enemies was ground into dust. It lasted a bit over a month before they begged for mercy, they put up a good fight for the first two weeks, but sort of lost will after that. Ren of course officiated the truce between our two parties and that was that," Nora finishes her story with a wide grin, like she didn't just happily proclaim that she forced her enemies to submit under constant harassment.

I'm almost afraid to ask, but my curiosity gets the better of me. "And what about the second one?"

"Oh that one," Nora says cheerfully, folding her arms behind her head. "That one happened after we left Asylum and got to Lodestar, which is apparently common enough that everyone said that Ren and I had escaped the Asylum. Anyway, that's not important.

That prank war was with a girl named Yuma. That one lasted for most of the time we were at Lodestar and thankfully Ren had made a list of prank war rules so it wouldn't go as far as it did last time. Speaking of which, I haven't talked to Yuma for like three months so I'm gonna go do that now if you don't mind." Nora doesn't bother waiting for my reply, instead dashing off into her dorm room while pulling out her scroll.

I don't bother holding back a sigh of relief at the energetic girl's disappearance. There is only so much of her that I can put up with and the rest of this week has tried my patience well enough. At least it was a decent enough workout for my semblance after a while. That thought gets stuck in my mind for a few moments. I really have been underutilizing it haven't I?

I used it for some training on the trip to Vale but haven't touched it since. Part of that was getting used to Beacon and feeling the need to keep up a constant aura for class and my excursions into Vale. However, outside of the occasional fight I really haven't encountered many issues. Even then I can account for those rather easily; I guess I could start using it more. It's not like I have to worry about a sudden grimm attack here of all places.

Combat Raised from (60/625) to (75/625) Source: Class & training

Dust raised from (19/50) to (25/50) Source: Class

Grimm raised from (28/150) to (34/150) Source: Class

History raised from (29/300) to (38/300) Source: Class

Investigation raised from (50/300) to (53/300) Source: Class

Mobility raised from (58/300) to (64/300) Source: Class

Survival raised from (19/150) to (25/150) Source: Class

Tech raised from (0/150) to (4/150) Source: Challenge

Team Fighting style raised from (28/75) to (38/75) Source: Training

LloydAbsolon · Feb 16, 2024

Robberies: Dust Tracking: Thanks to the information I've gathered I know where the Dust is going and with the help of my police contact I can pinpoint where exactly the Dust is leaving Vale. (Investigation check ) [Small circumstance modifier to the investigation check] (4)

White Fang: Meeting at a warehouse pt 3: I've infiltrated one meeting, but if I want to try for a larger prize I can (Possible Social, possible stealth, investigation, performance and combat checks) (4)

Ruby (QM)

Weiss: She's not exactly what I was expecting from a Schnee and if she was willing to forgive my past with the White Fang maybe there's something to build off of there (3)

Blake: Blake has settled into a rhythm of hanging out on her own as much as she can. Might do her some good to get her out of her shell. (3)

Kelly: She helped me out with the White Fang meeting. I could show her my appreciation even if she doesn't have any taste in clothing. (2)

Velvet: I've given her some time to calm down, maybe now is the time to talk with her again. (2)

Team fighting combat style: Gain double the combat modifier from working with a team (38/75) (3)

Combat (2)

Investigation (2)

QM Note: With the introduction of Semblance actions I decided that this tie could be resolved by splitting progress down the middle for combat and investigation.

With Ochre using his semblance regularly starting from this week onwards there are some benefits. The first is that there is some automatic progress towards Aura(Practical) granted each week. Second is that there are essentially another three actions that can be applied strictly to training, although these were applied on the backend for the most part. At any point chat could have voted to spend them explicitly, but this is how the system was run for the most part. Naturally, for some things like team training, semblance actions cannot be applied as Ochre can only draw one person into his mirror world at a time. With that being said I'm sure there's no possible way this decision could bite me later own through entirely foreseeable but unpredicted circumstances /s

After a month at Beacon everyone I know falls into patterns of behavior, myself included. Autumn and Kelly spend their time at the dorm with their respective hobbies or out training whenever they're not hanging out with friends. More and more of their time spent hanging out goes to our team and teams RWBY and JNPR rather than their friends from Pharos. It doesn't seem to be a conscious decision on their part, rather they've just grown closer to the people they hang out with in class and lunch.

Amazingly despite having the Schnee heiress and a world famous tournament fighter in our group not many people decide to bother us. Nora and Ruby are excitable enough that most people don't want to sit next to us in fear of attracting their attention, effectively creating a bubble around our friend group. Not that I see anyone complaining about this isolation; Blake prefers to be alone even within the group, Weiss is happy not having to deal with sycophants and suck-ups, and Pyrrha is oddly shy when anyone who isn't a part of the group approaches her. Ruby is happy to have some new friends even if not all of them get along and Yang likes that her sister is settling into life at Beacon.

I do catch Yang staring off at some other groups from time to time. I'm not sure if they were her friends from Signal or if she longs for a more party-like atmosphere when she's with friends; having Blake and Weiss on the same team is sure to put a damper on whatever tomfoolery she got up to beforehand.

Nora is usually off in her own little world too much to bother with people outside of the group. She can laser-focus on one person in particular from time to time, but Ren keeps her grounded enough that she doesn't take things too far. Speaking of Ren, on the outside he appears to keep to himself, but I catch him more than a few times subtly signaling or making a small noise to direct someone's attention from time to time. He never directs it to himself and it's not always to Nora either. It's like he's manipulating the group so that everyone is participating or recognized every once in a while and I don't think anyone else realizes that he's doing it either.

Then there's Jaune, he still isn't talking with me and I'm returning the favor; I doubt either of us will get past this without an apology or some outside help. Recently Cardin has been bullying him more often, probably because of said falling out between us. Everybody, aside from myself and Marina, have pointed out said bullying and offered their help, something that he appears to have considered given I've seen him talking with Pyrrha on their own on more than one occasion.

Slightly related, my relationship with Velvet is recovering. She's more open about asking me questions and pressing for more help, it's really starting to eat into my free time until I supplement my studies with my semblance. To get to this point I took responsibility for my teammates' previous inaction in Pharos, although I don't think they could have reasonably helped out any more than they did. Regardless, putting myself into her debt has her no longer walking on eggshells around me and based on how she was taken advantage of in the past there's no way she'd abuse that 'debt.'

Lastly there is Marina, who hasn't really settled into any one routine. I chalk that up to how I've been pushing her to develop outside of her initial behaviors. She still looks for validation when she tells me what she's going to do, but I catch her doing more things on her own without prompting. Unfortunately they aren't new things, rather activities that Kelly or I have told her are good things to do repeatedly, like studying or people-watching. For the past few days she's been focusing her attention on team CRDL for whatever reason, I'm not sure I care, really. It's something she's doing on her own and if it becomes a problem in the future I can deal with it then.

One night there comes a knocking at our dorm room door. Marina is at the library again, Kelly is whittling away at a wood block, and Autumn is taking a shower. I stare at Kelly, as I'm in my sleepwear ready to go to bed already. She returns my gaze while she continues running her whittling knife against the wood away from herself and towards me. Another knock interrupts our staring contest and as team leader I graciously take on the responsibility of finding out who it is. Kelly erroneously takes this as her victory as she gives me a small smile when I make my way to the door.

Opening it I find Ruby in her school uniform, which is unusual at this time of night. Usually she's in her dorm room at this time and the few times I've caught her outside of it she's in her pajamas. Whatever she's here for is serious enough for her to have planned this out, but awkward or daunting enough to prevent her from bringing it up beforehand. Considering how she acted the last time she brought something to my attention I'm not sure if I should be concerned or not.

"Hey Ochre, do you think that maybe we could talk a little?" Ruby looks past me and after spotting Kelly appends, "In private I mean." I nod, step outside, close the door behind me, and wait for Ruby to lead us away. Evidently that's enough for her as she doesn't go anywhere. I wouldn't consider the middle of the dorm hallway private, but I'm not too concerned since I'm fairly certain I know what she's going to bring up.

"Sooooo…" she trails off, nervously playing with her hands. "You and Jaune. What's going on there?"

I give her a theatrical sigh, "Ruby, there isn't anything going on between us. Didn't you learn your lesson after accusing me last time?"

Ruby's head snaps towards me with a faint blush across her cheeks. "What, what, what? No, that's not what I was implying at all! It's just that the two of you haven't been talking and you're both my friends and…" Ruby is about to keep going when she spots my grin then suddenly pouts, "jerk."

"Sorry, I couldn't help myself." I ruffle Ruby's hair causing her to glare at me. Normally I wouldn't do this, but it's one of the surefire ways to reset Ruby and I don't particularly want to put off heading to bed for too long. Another way would be to bring up her age or her height, but that just leads to her complaining that she's plenty grown up or how she drinks a lot of milk and would just waste more time.

"Be serious," she says, still pouting and glaring at me; a combination of features that don't help at all convey how seriously she wants this matter to be taken. "The two of you haven't been talking to each other and don't brush it off like it's nothing. I'm not stupid; I can tell that something's going on."

I sigh involuntarily, this is something I'm more than happy to leave alone but Ruby has other plans. "All I did was tell him some things that he didn't want to hear. I wouldn't have had to have been as harsh with him as I was if he just took the advice in the first place. He took my advice as an insult or he had a problem with my delivery, either way I'm not apologizing. I meant what I said and I firmly believe that it was the only way to get him to listen to it."

I lay out my reasoning much like I did with Pyrrha, careful to avoid any details but making it clear what the issue is. Consternation passes across Ruby's face, I'm guessing she thought that the issue between us would be something simpler or less substantial. It only solidifies in my mind that she hasn't had to deal with her friends having a fundamental disagreement.

"Well," she draws out the word searching for what to say next. "Can't the two of you make up anyways? I mean wouldn't it be better if everyone got along, even if you two argued you can still be friends, right?"

"I mean, sure we could try that, but it'd be disingenuous and neither of us would like it," Ruby shrinks in on herself and I continue, "I'm sorry if that's not what you were hoping to hear, but it's the truth. The only way things are going to improve between the two of us is if one of us apologizes to the other."

I immediately regret saying that as hope blossoms within Ruby and she stares at me with her big silver eyes. "That's it then!"

"No, Ruby! Ruby, stop," I try to interrupt her train of thought to no avail.

"I'm not saying you guys have to be best friends immediately, but don't you think that this has gone on long enough. I mean, it's just one apology. Can't you do that," she sees my hesitation and fixes me with the biggest puppy eyes she can. "Please, for me?"

Stand firm: No, I meant what I said and I'm not going to take it back. I weathered a beating from Pyrrha and kept my conviction I can weather this as well. (5)

Middle ground: I'm not going to apologize, but I can at least make the effort to talk with Jaune. I doubt either of us would be really comfortable with this. (1)

Reconciliation: I'll only apologize if she gets Jaune to as well. I don't think he'd know what he has to apologize for at this point, but that's the minimum my pride will allow. (0)

"No," I say firmly and Ruby reacts as if struck physically by my words, cringing away from me and covering her midsection with her arms. "It's not as simple as us just making up Ruby. The things I talked about with Jaune were serious, like getting people hurt if he doesn't address them kind of serious. I'm certain that you or your sister had to deal with something like that growing up."

Something about my explanation strikes a chord with her, particularly the last part, but whatever it is she doesn't say. "Has he been addressing them," she asks, her voice smaller than I've ever heard from her.

"Mostly, I think." My statement has her relaxing as I continue on. "It's a bit hard to tell on my end."

"Well, what happens when he addresses the rest?"

"I'd be willing to apologize for my tone with him," I concede. "But I reckon that if he addresses everything he would apologize to me first. Just seems like the kind of guy he is."

My light praise is enough to shock her, "Huh? I wasn't expecting you to say something like that, you guys barely talked before whatever happened between the two of you."

"I guess it's just a guy thing," Ruby only seems more confused by my words so I elaborate. "Jaune and I have that kind of pride in common, I just have a better handle on mine than he does. Now I could be mistaken, but if he finds out or decides that he's in the wrong, that same pride will force him to make amends."

"That's the first time I've heard pride causing someone to do something good."

"Really? You lived with Yang for how many years," I question with a teasing lilt.

"You haven't had to deal with her whenever somebody messes with her hair," Ruby fires back, some remnant confusion informing me that she doesn't quite understand. Unfortunately for her I'm not going to get into the complexities of self-image and cognitive dissonance. Though, considering how Yang reacted to our talk on the White Fang she may be more fortunate than I think. Instead I respond with a shrug and let her retake the momentum in the conversation. "So what concerns did you talk with him about and what does he have left to address?"

A hopeful expression returns to her face and I have to quash it once again. "Ruby, I know you want to help, but this is something that he has to do on his own, it defeats the purpose if he doesn't make the decision. I've already had to give Pyrrha more to work with than I'd like and she's his partner."

I know I've said something wrong when her expression doesn't dim entirely and instead comes back in full force. "So you're saying that Pyrrha's already helping Jaune?" Of course that's what she latches on to.

"Sort of…" I trail off, hoping she'll let the issue lie instead of getting involved.

"That's great! I just have to talk with Pyrrha and see how I can help out then everything will be fixed and we can all be friends again!" Before I can talk her out of that course of action Marina makes her presence known to the both of us with a polite, 'ahem.'

Naturally we both move out of the way so she can enter the dorm and I check the time on my scroll since Marina stays at the library until it closes most days. This causes Ruby to check the time as well and sheepishly scratch the back of her head. "Sorry this really is later than I expected. It was a good talk, Ochre, but I should really head to bed." WIth that Ruby splits off to her own dorm room and do the same myself. At this point as far as I'm concerned if she gets involved that's Pyrrha and Jaune's problem not mine.

My next big project has me looking into how Torchwick is smuggling his Dust out of Vale. While he could be using illegitimate means, as criminals and the White Fang are loath to use proper channels even in the best of times; the sheer amount of Dust he's moving is simply too much to ignore using them entirely. The amount of scrutiny that such activity would receive would render it impossible to avoid police detection, and unless the VPD is firmly on Torchwick's side they'd have taken some sort of action by this point.

To get the information I need I ring up Detective Flint again and after a bit of negotiation I convince him to pass along reports from the gate guards and the dockmaster's registry. Unfortunately those people are bribable so in addition to that I get a copy of past complaints from the residents in the industrial district and those by the gates. With all this information I should be able to find the hint of something going on even if I have to throw out most of it as useless. All that's left is for me to start piecing together what has value and what does not.

Investigation Check: Rank 3.18 +.5 (circumstance)= 3.68 vs Challenge 3

Final Modifier: +17

Dice: 1d100+17

58 + 17 = 75

I pull out a map of Vale to help organize my thoughts and put places to reports and complaints. If I didn't know roughly where the Dust needs to end up this would be a fruitless endeavor, but since I do I can make some assumptions. Almost immediately I strike out most of the northern gates. All of them lead into the Forever Fall Forest and unless they're taking boats, which has similar problems with departing from Vale with few of the upsides and more dangers, would require them to pass by Beacon in order to make it Southeast of Vale. I can't imagine even the boldest or stupidest of White Fang grunts making such a trek on their own much less that this would be the plan of Roman Torchwick.

With the North struck out I turn my investigation eastwards. Unfortunately since this leads to the main residential district in Vale the complaints I requested are almost entirely useless. There could be something in them that has value, but it's more than I'm going to bother looking through.

Fortunately the reports from the guards are much more informative. There are three main eastward facing gates with one of them discounted as it is a part of the commercial district and lets out North of Beacon. The other two are a part of the residential area and let out into the East of Vale, which is largely wilderness and mountains. The terrain is too rough to make it economical to expand, though that doesn't stop some people from setting up their homestead there. This leads to light traffic and, consequently, more in-depth reports.

Thankfully with multiple months of visitor reports I can piece together that there is a noticeable increase in foot traffic in and out of this gate. However, the amount isn't enough to explain all of the Dust that's being trafficked. Given the in-depth reports I have to assume it'd be harder to smuggle Dust through this area if they had to, which means this isn't what I'm looking for either. My guess is that these gates are being used as a backup in case too much heat is drawn on the others. That doesn't mean no Dust is going through, just not enough to make it worth my time to investigate, if I happen to take action to shut things down I'll let Flint know to keep an eye on this area or do something myself.

That leads me to the second to last and worst to track area. The south of Vale is dubbed the agricultural district, specifically the farms and farmsteads within the secondary wall of Vale. The main wall to the north separates the agricultural district from the rest of the city. Technically there are gates here, but the sheer amount of foot traffic and light manning of the inner wall renders any reports suspect even before bribery comes into play.

That leaves me with the seven gates on the secondary wall that also fall under similar problems. There are still farms to the South of Vale until you reach a river further down, and while those aren't under the protection of Vale they still act as a sufficient early warning system in case of grimm attacks so more guards can be assigned to the other walls.

I can't even rely on complaints to point me in the right direction as most rural folk tend to take care of their own problems before involving the VPD in their business. I have to throw out that as an entire avenue of investigation. I let Flint know that it's an area of interest if he can get some people looking into the matter, but that's the best I can do unless I round up my own helpers.

With an internal sigh I start going through the most likely to be helpful area, the industrial district. Given that I know where Torchwick's hideout is allows me a great deal of latitude when paging through the reports. I have a good amount of complaints of 'shifty' figures heading to the waterfront or to the agricultural district; the choice of employing the White Fang may have influenced the number of complaints that I'm looking through, but I'm not going to whine about potential racism in this instance.

One thing that the reports make clear is that there's a dichotomy of routes between day and night. During the day there's an uptick of complaints about individuals heading towards the agricultural district and at night a similar trend in individuals heading towards the docks. Knowing that the agricultural district is an effective dead end I follow the other group and start flipping through the dockmaster's reports.

There are a lot of personal ships on the registry that leave daily, but most of them either aren't out for long enough to make any meaningful deliveries or are out at the wrong time to match. I do find a trio of fishing vessels that leave for days at a time, supposedly going to open waters, and all of them leave at night or just before dawn. Torchwick must be pulling double duty, both acquiring the Dust and distracting the VPD from the docks so that the Fang can load up the ships without scrutiny.

I'm certain there's more I'm missing, but I can't find what I don't have records on nor can I compel the police to find the information for me. Still the information is worthwhile, especially if I need to sabotage these delivery routes. I could also wait on the information for a few weeks until I'm certain that Heather and her group have set up the new basecamp for the White Fang. All it would take is a well placed tracker or even a scroll in the crates they use to move Dust. Even if the signal cuts out halfway to the destination I would still have a good idea where they are.

Velvet has gotten more assertive ever since I took on Autumn and Kelly's 'debt' to her, not that I'm complaining; the girl could do with standing up for herself some more. Case in point, as soon as history let out for the day she demands that I help her study in the library. Fortunately I'm able to avoid adding to my reputation as a rake when Marina decides to join us. On second thought that may make things worse, but I can't tell her not to study now can I?

We all hit the books for an hour or so with my attention split between the two of them. While Marina doesn't seem to mind, or notice for that matter, the same can't be said about Velvet. It's nothing major, she just gets insistent on requesting my help whenever Marina does so, but I can't tell if she's reacting like that because I 'owe' her my attention or for some other reason. To prevent anything from escalating I suggest that Marina catch up with Autumn or Kelly while I call for a break for Velvet and I. "Not to be insensitive or anything, but why exactly are you repeating first year history?"

My comment doesn't help the severe expression she gives me, but she answers regardless. "Things weren't so great on team CFVY for our first year. Not to say Coco was a bad leader or anything, but well it was one thing after another and I could never find the time to study up. By the time everyone realized that it was a problem it was too late to get everything back on track. Fortunately Dr. Oobleck understood the situation and with the help of Fox and Coco I was able to score high enough to pass the second semester, but I have to repeat the first one."

"So you'll be through with everything by Winter break." I don't make the distinction that she has to pass because with my help there's no way she isn't passing.

She picks up on my implicit faith in her and more softly affirms my deduction. "Right, then I'll be able to start doing missions with my team. I'll likely be gone a lot at that point to make up for lost time."

I hum in agreement, I'd probably do the same in her shoes. "So did you start drawing after our last talk? I'd be interested to see what you've come up with." Velvet looks hesitant, but I see her hand dart towards a notebook for a fraction of a second. "C'mon I'll owe you one."

Apparently my promise of more metaphorical 'debt points' is enough to convince Velvet to grab her sketchbook and hand it to me. I flip through the pages and find mostly landscapes and buildings, most of them half-finished and abandoned. There are a few of the cliffside, the CCT tower, and the skyline of Vale. They aren't bad, but my interest only picks up as I continue along and discover portraits and pictures of people.

There's a big one with her whole team in it that it looks like she's still working on. The amount of erased and redrawn material in different poses indicates to me that it's a composite sketch and not based on any picture she may have taken. There are also incomplete portraits of the rest of my team and some of team RWBY and JNPR and some other people I don't recognize, but notably I can't find one of myself. I'm not too upset by it, we didn't exactly part on the best of terms a week or so ago, I'm sure that given some time she'll draw me out of boredom if nothing else.

Unfortunately Velvet doesn't want to provide any commentary while I looked through her sketchbook leaving us in silence again. I could just go back to tutoring her, but I'd prefer a bit more time before getting back into the nitty gritty of academia.

Heritage: Both of our dads are human, that's a connection. I could ask about him and find out what he does and what she thinks about him. (3)

Weapon: I've never seen or heard about her weapon, it's gotten me curious about why that's the case. (2)

Team: Her comment has me interested in what exactly went down with her team in the first year. Maybe I could find out by asking what her team was like at the time. (1)

Missions: What missions has she gone on. I know there are at least a few that take place at the end of the first year, so I could ask her about those. (0)

White Fang: Based on what she told me before she doesn't have the best experiences with the Fang. It might be worthwhile getting another perspective. (0)

I figure I might as well be blunt, it's worked out well so far. "You mentioned your dad before, what does he do?"

"He's a weapon designer, it's actually one of the few things we have in common."

"Oh, what has he worked on? Is it anything I'd know," I ask more for the sake of asking than expecting an answer I'd understand.

"Eh, probably not. He's pretty secretive about his work." I narrow my eyes at her evasive answer, but don't press her on the subject.

"Is your mom still around?"

"Yeah, I actually live with her out in Vale when I'm not in Beacon. She's an office worker, so not much to say there." I make an affirming noise more to acknowledge what she said than agreeing with her. "What about your parents?"

"They both moved to Menagerie before I was born, but my mom's no longer in the picture. My dad does some odd jobs and training to get by, but there isn't much work to do in Menagerie."

Velvet chews on my words for a few seconds before coming back with a question of her own. "If that's the case then why is he still there?"

"Is there any reason why he shouldn't be?"

My response causes her to wave her arms in front of herself as if to dispel any notions she didn't mean to imply. "No, no, no. It's nothing like that. It's just, it has to be hard being there considering everything." I can't say that she's wrong, but it's also that kind of thinking that caused problems for the both of us in the past. Mentally I chalk it up to unfortunate circumstances and continue on with my life, bemoaning my fate only serves to stop me from changing it.

"It's home, at least that's the way it is for me. I think the place has grown on him as well, less chance of someone coming by to collect on his debts. Only real downside is I can only talk with him through letters and that's spotty even at the best of times. I did see him before making my way to Beacon though, so I can't complain too much."

"I guess," Velvet accepts the answer although I still spot some hesitation in her features. "That is similar to how it is with me and my dad, but we can at least talk and exchange messages over the CCT. I couldn't spend last summer with him due to my grades, but the summer before that I spent at his house."

"Oh how was the weather there," my question is a bit off topic, but it should help me pinpoint where her dad lives since she isn't forthcoming with that information.

"Colder than I'd like," Velvet responds with an affectatious shiver. That narrows it down to either Atlas or Mistral in my mind with Atlas being more likely. I'm not too surprised since that's where most tech and design jobs are located, but I still have to bite my tongue to avoid making any crass remarks.

"Do the two of you get along well?"

She makes a half-and-half gesture with her hand. "Sort of, he works a lot and with long hours so most of the time he's too tired to do much more than talk. Honestly I think the reason why we could design things together is that he filed that under working. It's the only time we spent together where he wasn't exhausted or distracted by something else, but well-" Velvet trails off with a shrug.

I don't really get how he can act like that considering how my own dad acts. I nod along in commiseration regardless. "While we're on the topic of weapons-"

"You want to know what mine is."

I glare at her for interrupting me, but the lack of outrage is apparent as she grins at me instead. I shake my head, she can't find the spine to stand up for herself normally but playing into her debt mindset shows her true colors. "Yes, you could say that."

Velvet takes a moment to rummage through her bag and grabs out a different notebook than the one she showed me before. This time she doesn't hand it to me, instead she flips to a specific page and opens it up between the two of us. All I can tell is that it's a weapon of some sort and it's box-shaped. If I were someone like Ruby I'm sure there'd be a lot of intricate details I could gush over, but since I'm not I merely pretend to know what I'm looking at and make noises of appreciation.

"My first weapon, Pandora, was a multishift weapon. Multishift, not mechashift though it was that as well. I could configure it into fifteen different weapon modes."

"That's certainly ambitious," I know enough about weapons that that's impressive in its own right. I don't bother asking how she can be proficient with so many weapons, it's either a secret or insulting to imply she wouldn't know how to use her weapon.

"Yeah, the only problem was that it took a lot of maintenance and the parts were expensive. Coco and I ran the numbers and even if I used it sparingly it would cost me more to maintain it than I could make from missions. If there's one good thing about being held back it's that I can spend the time here at Beacon designing and ordering parts to make a new one that doesn't have the same problems."

I have no meaningful insight I could provide considering I can't make heads nor tails of what she put in front of me to begin with. There's a reason why my armaments are comparatively simple. "Well it looks good. I'm sure you'll make it work." I keep my response vague to mask my ignorance, but evidently it isn't vague enough. Velvet doesn't say anything, but the light in her eye and growing grin tell me enough; her smug aura mocks me. I'm not about to admit defeat, however, so I bring her attention back to the books. If I can't win in that battlefield I'll take her to one she doesn't stand a chance in.

There's another meeting coming up soon for the White Fang. From some messages I've exchanged on my spare scroll I know Heather and her group won't be there which gives me a great opportunity to shake the place down for information. However, that's not what I'm doing today. Instead it reminds me of a certain someone here at Beacon. I doubt that there's anything Blake didn't tell me about the Vale branch the last time I asked, but maybe she'd appreciate an update. Granted I don't have to talk to her about that, it is a bit passé to bring up that subject to a White Fang runaway.

Regardless I haven't talked with her since the first week of Beacon and given her own reclusive nature that very well might have been the last real bit of socialization she had. Today I find her not in the library, but rather she's sitting up against a tree in one of the outer areas of the Beacon grounds. I don't blame her, the library gets a lot more traffic than I was expecting this early in the year. At the very least I'm glad she's on the ground and not playing into any stereotypes by hiding out in the branches.

My approach isn't stealthy enough not to attract her attention and she looks over the top of her book to acknowledge my presence. Just as I'm about to say something I catch the title and cover of her book, not all of it due to her hands being in the way. However, it's enough and I can't hide my reaction enough for her not to catch it. This causes her eyes to widen and her cheeks to turn scarlet at having been caught with her smut.

So we stand in silence for a moment. I know that she knows that I know what she was reading, however she seems to be under the impression that as long as neither of us acknowledge it that it never happened. "Ochre," Blake says slowly, putting her book out of view of the two of us. "What can I help you with?"

Update: I can give her an update on my progress. It might reassure her that someone is taking care of the White Fang issue and I can sound her out if she wants to assist. (3)

Literature: She may be fine pretending the past five minutes didn't happen, but that doesn't mean I can let her off so easily. (3)

Team: It's weird enough attending the same school as a Schnee much less being on the same team as one. I could see how she's fitting in with everyone. (2)

Disguise: It's still wild to me that no one has made the connection to her parents or even looked past her bow. She can't keep it on all the time can she? (2)

Menagerie: I know she has a vastly different view of things from her villa and barely spent much time there, but it might be nice to reminisce. (0)

I make a show of thinking over her question, but I've already decided my course of action. "There's not anything I can think of, though I might be able to help you." I refuse to elaborate and she falls for my ploy like the fool she is.

"Oh and how would you do that?"

"Well I happen to know of a certain store in Vale that might interest you."

"I'm sorry, but the only thing I'd be interested in…is…books," Blake comes to the realization and I give her the best grin I can.

"Yeah that's exactly what they sell. I even went there with Autumn and he came out absolutely stacked with comics. Heck the rows of books go deep into the shop and some of the books are thick. Like thicker than my arm thick. I'm sure that the selection is enough to satisfy a bibliophile such as yourself." I lay enough emphasis on certain words that Yang would appreciate the effort, even if it makes me want to take a shower myself.

Blake for her part turns quickly from embarrassed to actively spiteful as I make a mockery of her and language itself. As if I'd be daunted by such a weak glare from someone who doesn't have a leg to stand on. "Oh and they have every genre you can think of: adventure, thriller, horror, and they even have more naughty-I mean romance novels just for you."

"Are you just here to make fun of me," Blake asks, her voice filled with resignation.

"Well no, but it is an added bonus," I glib before turning serious. "More importantly I decided I should fill you in on my progress investigating some mutual friends."

Fortunately I don't have to spell it out for her, "Why didn't you just start with that?"

"And miss that wonderful byplay, I think not. Besides, things aren't dire enough that I can't have fun every now and then."

"Fine, What are they up to this time?"

"Well if you follow me back to my dorm I can show you the board that explains everything."

"No," she says quickly, too quickly. I focus on her with narrowed eyes and she coughs into her hand before continuing. "I mean, it's fine. I'm sure you can explain it all here without any assistance. Wouldn't want anyone to listen in right?"

Her tone is insincere, but her logic is sound, I'll let it slide this time. "Well first off they're working with Torchwick as we discussed before and stealing a whole bunch of Dust. Explosive Dust."

"I'm sure there's a perfectly good reason for it," she defends lamely.

"Blake, any other time and I'd maybe put up with this apologist drivel, but we both know that Adam isn't the type of guy to do this for a good reason." Suitably chastised Blake remains silent as I detail my investigation. Unfortunately she doesn't know of anything that's in the Southeast of Vale that Adam or the rest of the Fang would be interested in.

Doubly unfortunate is that my progress report isn't met with jubilation of how much I've found in a bit over a month of being in Vale. Rather Blake grows more and more concerned as I continue to lay out the, admittedly bleak, evidence. "What are you doing? We have to stop them."

"I'm sorry, we? I didn't know that you felt that way about me."

Apparently Blake doesn't appreciate my joke as she walks into my space pointing her finger at my face. "This isn't the time for jokes, Ochre, people could get seriously hurt. How can you be so calm in the face of all that?"

"Years of practice, probably."

My reply, while honest, only causes Blake to growl, "Fine! if you won't help me I'll do it myself."

Blake tries to pass me but I step aside and grab her arm. "No you won't," my tone is harsh, but now is not the time to play around. Especially not when she's acting like a spoiled brat. "This is my investigation and I'm not about to let you mess it up."

"I won't mess it up."

"Oh really, tell me then what was your plan then? Were you just going to walk off and beat up Torchwick? Face it you don't have a plan and I bet you don't even know where he's hiding out."

"Oh and you do," she raises her voice, struggling to break out of my grip and I decide to let her go. Fortunately her anger prevents her from finding out that I do, in fact, know where Torchwick's hideout is.

"Calm down princess, I was already planning on dealing you in." Blake makes an affronted noise at my nickname for her, but I ignore it. "If I do so we're doing this at my speed not yours. You got that?"

"We don't have the luxury of taking this nice and slow. Every minute we waste is a minute we'll never get back."

I can tell that she won't listen to a reasonable argument so I'll have to cut this at the root. "Blake, can I ask you how many contacts you have in the VPD?" That brings her to a stop so I continue on. "How about how many contacts you've curated in the Fang. Or how many warehouses you've staked out? Or how many meetings you've listened in on? Would you have any idea of any of this going on if I didn't tell you?"

"Maybe not," she grinds out curling her hands into fists. "But I know about it now, so I have to do something now."

"And I'll give you the chance to, just like I'm giving the rest of my team an opportunity to help out. All I'm asking is that you trust me a little bit. It only took me a month to collect all that and more, but if you start snooping around it could throw off all the data and tip off Torchwick and his goons. If you do that then there's no telling how hard that will make stopping them."

"I won't get caught."

I sigh at her petulance, but continue on. "That may be true, but I'd rather not take the risk if we don't have to. Now, if you're not going to run off I could use your help."

"You have a funny way of asking for it."

She's not happy, but I don't need her happy, I just need her cooperation. Thankfully it seems like I won't have to pull out the big guns. "There's going to be a meeting tomorrow night and I want you to come with."

"Really all that and we're just going to a meeting? Don't you have anything more substantial to go off on?"

"Do you," I counter and earn a silent glare from my feline companion. "Besides these meetings can be a wealth of information if you know how to work the system."

"Fine, but if things don't pan out I'm taking matters into my own hands."

"Oh, ye of little faith. I've managed this much on my own, just think of what we can accomplish working together."

Blake is still tense and unhappy with the arrangement we've come to, but she's no longer as wound up and worried as she was. "Let me know when we're ready to go. I'll keep an eye out for anything of interest." I take the dismissal for what it is and leave. It's not like I can make any more progress with her and she's willing to follow my lead for now which has to be good enough.

My talk with Blake, as exhausting as it was, does put in perspective that I need a plan for the meeting. I've already infiltrated on the ground floor once, but with Heather and her crew leaving and my new threads I'm certain that no one will notice that it's not my first time there and that gives me some options. They're the same options that I had last time, but now I have Blake who can infiltrate along with me. Presumably this would allow us to get twice as much done, but depending on the angle we take there might be no real benefit to splitting up.

If we decide to show up and just attend the meeting again we can split off to meet different groups or she can hide out in the shadows and see what she can find. Combining our efforts to sneak into the meeting brings a higher risk of one of us getting caught, but we can also cover twice the ground until the meeting is over or someone wises up on our presence. And simple naked force will benefit from having extra help, but will certainly tip off Torchwick and the Fang that someone's on their tail. It would, however, mollify Blake. She seems to want a big flashy spectacle rather than slowly working towards a goal. I'm not sure why I expected anything else from someone from Adam's branch.

Then there's taking over the meeting like I theorized before. Having Blake as backup will provide some credence to my words, even more so if I can convince her to reveal who she is. Having the former vice leader of the Vale branch and daughter of the former High Leader makes taking over laughably easy. Unfortunately there would be no way it wouldn't draw attention. Lastly, with my familiarity of the location and what they're doing, I can join with the leadership and hope that my acting skills can carry me enough that my presence isn't too suspicious.

Stealth: More Blake's specialty than mine, but our combined efforts can let us cover more ground. (3)

Hostile Takeover: I can just muscle my way into taking over the meeting. This will allow me access to most of their information and I can potentially turn the cell against Adam. (1)

High Infiltration: I could pose as a part of the leadership. As long as they're as easily fooled as the rest of Adam's branch this should be doable and give me access to what they know. (1)

Attendance only: Second verse is the same as the first. Take things nice and slow and ingratiate myself with a different group (0)

Force: With all my forces together I'd have a team and a half. More than enough to deal with one meeting. (0)

Nuclear Option: Much like taking over the meeting, but revealing who Blake is. It's all but certain to succeed, but there's no putting the genie back in the bottle. (0)

It doesn't take too long to workshop a plan with Blake and the rest of my team. Just like the last time they'll be hanging out in the area to bail us out in case the worst happens. Even if it did I'm certain Blake and I can grab some materials before making an escape without too much trouble. After all, it's not in the best interests of the Fang to chase us throughout the streets of Vale.

That's a concern for if we are caught and I don't plan on getting caught. I've already prepared the location as much as I can before we arrive. Since I already knew when and where the meeting will be held, as well as the fact that it's untenable for the White Fang to maintain constant surveillance, I was able to unlock several windows large enough for us to sneak through.

The two of us decide to start on the roof since we could infiltrate through the skylights and it keeps us out of sight of any grunts while we finalize our course of action. "So what are we looking for," Blake whispers right next to me.

I have to think her question over, considering my own personal investigations it's unlikely that there is much more I can squeeze from a small time meeting like this. Most of the groups that formed last time I was here are either missing or redundant; it's not like the dumb muscle could lead me to their operations any more than I've already found out on my own. There are two remaining groups that I think could have something of value and coincidentally enough two of us are infiltrating.

Those two groups are the leadership and those in charge of logistics. Technically the latter is the one person managing said logistics, but a single target makes this easier for us. The informants aren't an option as their manager has likely taken steps to prevent easy access to all their information and it's unlikely that they'll have anything of interest that the leadership wouldn't also have access to.

I look over Blake, who's tense and coiled low to the roof, and I'm reminded that the completion of our objectives isn't the only thing I have to keep in mind. It is annoying that I have to weigh Blake's concerns as a tangible part of my plan, but I doubt that she'd be thrilled with pilfering financial records or delivery schedules no matter how valuable the information would be. "You'll be checking out what the leadership brought with them to discuss in person. Maybe even check out the more out of the way areas if we have the time."

She nods and my words elicit a pleased smile. "Great, give me a moment and I can find them."

Before she can creep up on the skylight I stop Blake. There's no reason to take that risk, as minimal as it is, when I have an alternative. "Don't worry I can point you in the right direction." At her raised eyebrow I elaborate, "Semblance stuff; just trust me." Plus seemingly pulling information out of the ether might engender a certain respect in her so I won't have to worry about her running off on her own.

A quick trip into my mirror world provides the information I'm looking for easily enough. "They got a table off to the side of the room," I say pointing in the right direction from our perspective on the roof. "As long as people keep their eyes on the stage it shouldn't be too problematic to reach."

"Just have to make it there with an entire room of people who could spot me. Should be a piece of cake." Blake's tone shows she isn't convinced, but I know things aren't as bleak as they seem.

"Once the meeting starts, almost everyone will be paying attention to that. Even if they've heard all of this before a lot of this is performative; it's an opportunity to show how devoted they are to the cause. The ones that aren't like that are either running the meeting, watching the crowd, or trying to keep their heads down until they leave. If you're still concerned, a little misdirection goes a long way."

I hand her one of the grimm masks I got at the last meeting and affix my own. She stares at it like the thing will bite her, but eventually relents and puts it on as well. I'm glad I don't have to convince her of the merits of that small amount of obfuscation as it's almost showtime. The telltale quieting of background chatter indicates that the meeting is about to start and a few minutes later we're ready to go in.

I allow Blake to make her move first, partially to avoid any blame in case something goes wrong and partially because her objective is arguably the more important one. The fact that it gives me some time to scan the crowd for my target and prevents Blake from catching on to my semblance's limitations is just icing on the cake. I spot my target standing off to the side of the makeshift stage looking through his scroll, obviously he has more important things than listening in on the same type of speech for the umpteenth time.

He's only interrupted from his work by one of the enforcers elbowing and glaring at him. This causes him to set his scroll in his back pocket and pretend to pay attention, though it's obvious to me that his mind is elsewhere. I'm not going to complain as it'll make my part in this the slightest bit easier.

Stealth Check: Rank 3.01 +.5(circumstance)=3.51 vs Challenge 2

Final Modifier: +37

Dice: 1d100+37

76 + 37 = 113

I swing from the overhang of the skylight and land on one of the beams that stretches across the width of the warehouse above the few guards situated on the elevated walkways. Most of the guards are posted to keep an eye on the outside or on the crowd, so as long as I don't make too much noise I'm secure in my position. I'm not here to just listen in this time, so I'll have to make my way to ground level. Thankfully the Fang has set out a large banner with our symbol as the backdrop of the stage.

I cross over to above the backstage area and observe three guards that have a good chance of spotting me on my descent. All of them are on walkways near exterior windows and it's obvious to me that there isn't any real coordination going on as none of the guards are talking or acting like they're listening in on something. It's only a matter of time until they are suitably distracted enough by their duties that I'm able to drop to the floor.

I land in a crouch and quickly stand back up, my disguise should be enough to prevent much scrutiny from the guards. It isn't as good as an actual uniform, I don't think I could get away with that in my dorm room considering my ties with the Menagerie branch and I never had one in the new colors to begin with. Instead I'm dressed in the same black and white schema that the Fang is known for and I threw on a big white overcoat to obscure the lack of a symbol on my back. Since I'm backstage most will assume that I'm part of the leadership so the personal affectation won't draw too much scrutiny.

With that part over I just have to make my way to my target. I spare a glance to see how Blake is doing. The table that the leadership were at was already off to the side, tucked between two shipping containers to discourage anyone that shouldn't be there from approaching it. Only by straining my ears past the speaker and the occasional cheers of the crowd do I hear the sound of ruffling papers that tell me she was successful in her infiltration as well. The hard part will be getting out of there, but I can't help with that. I just have to have faith that she knows what she's doing.

I step past the curtain for the stage and into view of the crowd and sidle up to my target. No one is calling me out for being here so I proceed with the next part of the plan. I'm a bit rusty at pickpocketing, but between my experience and my opponent's distracted state I'm able to relieve him of his scroll with him none the wiser. Of course simply taking his scroll may be suspicious, but that's the price I'll have to pay to get this information. That doesn't preclude me from covering my tracks, however.

I pull out a scroll that I bought the night prior and set it on the ground. With any luck he'll take it as a case of swapped scrolls and won't think anything more about it. Even if he's paranoid enough to think this was deliberate sabotage the prospect of it being internal is much greater than anything else. After all, who would be crazy enough to break into a White Fang meeting just for his scroll?

I turn his scroll off in case someone calls or messages him and make my way to the exit behind the stage. While I could theoretically blend in with the crowd, my positioning and attire makes that not the most inviting of prospects. More viable is simply making my exit as soon as I can. Because of the curtain I'm cut off from the sightlines of most people if I use the back exit and the three guards that could catch me are more focused on the crowd or the outside than paying attention to the backstage.

I don't run into any trouble on my exfiltration, but it does prevent me from seeing how Blake gets out of her situation. The Fang doesn't want to attract too much attention to these meetings so after they start there aren't any guards on the outside which means I just have to stick close to the building and avoid the windows as I make my way back up. Once I make it back to the roof I settle in and after a few minutes Blake climbs out of the skylight. We both nod when we see each other indicating that our respective missions went off without much issue. All we have to do then is leave the meeting area via some rooftops and meet up with the team to go over our findings.

I rent out another couple hotel rooms for the night and if it weren't for my discretionary budget I would have to cut back on this sort of activity. As funny as it is that I can only focus so much on investigating the White Fang due to the backing of the White Fang that isn't my primary concern here. I unlock the scroll of the logistics manager after a few minutes of guessing common passwords and I have to withhold my disappointment that that was all it took.

I can't be too upset, it's better than the alternative. I quickly transfer the files and contacts to my spare scroll and toss the stolen one onto a random street turned off. I doubt that there were any tracking devices or the like on it, but I'm not about to take that chance.

After dealing with that I return to the hotel rooms to find Blake badgering my team to help her decipher the information she gathered. Normally I'd approve of this behavior, but it comes with the small issue that they don't know how to interpret what they're looking at. Even Blake is having trouble piecing together what the White Fang is planning and the fact they're all crowded around her scroll likely isn't helping. If I had my board with me I could start fitting in and explaining what each piece of evidence means, but as it is I have to settle in for a long night.

"Just pass me the files, I'll take a look through it all and give you a summary in the morning." My arrival went unnoticed so my comment causes the four of them to fall over one another with Blake clawing her way to the top of the pile.

"No, it's better if we work this out together. There's no telling how time sensitive this information is." It's cute that she thinks the mere act of throwing herself against a wall of documents would amount to anything. At least it would be if she wasn't trying to drag my team into it as well.

"I'm going to save you some time. There isn't any document in there that will spell out the Fang's plans. At best there might be the rough idea of one, but there aren't any mission dossiers like there are in Atlas."

"I know that," she scoffs and it looks like she wants to add on more before realizing the rest of my team is in the room.

I decide to take a lighter hand, I've been pressing my luck with her the past few days enough as is. "I'm sure you do. Just let me take a look at things and piece them together with what I know, if you aren't happy with my explanation you can always look into it on your own." She isn't happy with the outcome, but the late night does wonders in pushing her towards my preferred action. She sends the pictures she took my way and everyone breaks off to get ready for the night.

I settle in and start parsing through what we took. A good portion of it merely confirms what I already found out on my own, like Torchwick's base of operations and how they're smuggling Dust out of Vale. There is something of interest in the financial spreadsheets. Following the data I find a flow of Lien going to some farmsteads South of Vale, likely to keep their new base of operations fed. There's only so much we can forage out in the wilderness especially with the winter coming up. It's not much, but it is another avenue I can take to find out where the Fang is holding up.

In addition to that there are a multitude of contacts both from logistical documentation and what Blake got from the leadership. There are no shortage of potential targets that I could interview or check out as well as a fairly comprehensive list of White Fang aligned business owners. While useful I think I'm beyond the point where ground level members can provide much insight. It could be useful if I need to burn this branch down to the roots or as a way of rooting out Adam's ground level support, but those are options I'm not considering without knowing what his plan is.

Lastly is some information that I believe is related to setting up the new base of operations. A lot of orders for equipment such as lights, generators, support beams, and anything else to assist with a subterranean base. It's not too odd considering the countless number of caves in the area they're scouting out, but then there are the odd mentions of industrial equipment and some building materials. It isn't in a large enough quantity to be setting up a settlement whole cloth, but it does point to them refurbishing a previous settlement.

History Check: Rank 3.13+1(clues)=4.13 vs Challenge 4

Final Modifier: +3

Dice: 1d100+3

64 + 3 = 67

It's confusing to me until I start running through a list of previous settlements from the CCT. While there are numerous caves in the area, something that caused no shortage of bandits in past years, the open plains and lack of natural defenses prevent many colonists from putting down roots in the area. People still try, of course, but the settlements have a critical lack of defendability that make them objectively worse for the Fang over a random cave.

I skip over Mountain Glenn at first, but come back to it with the knowledge of what materials they're shipping over there. I quickly double check the CCTS and find an old article of the underground survivors of Mountain Glenn. They were able to live in the caverns underneath the city for years, relying on supplies from the railway system connected to Vale. This lasted until they breached another cavern in an attempt to expand which led a host of subterranean grimm into the living area effectively finishing off the colony.

With decades having passed and the materials and equipment it's possible that the White Fang could seal up the hole and resume operations in the area. It's a stroke of genius on the Vale branches part and I'm half convinced that the whole operation is more Torchwick's idea rather than Adam's given the subtlety. It's unlikely to last in the long term considering the amount of resources required and the attention that will ultimately bring, but until then I don't think anyone would even think of looking for the White Fang there.

This does mean that whatever is going on requires a level of secrecy that Adam previously has shown no interest in. It's possible that this is more Torchwick's project than Adam's, and I even consider that likely, but that would imply that Torchwick has significant sway in the Vale branch which doesn't line up with anything I know about either party. It seems even when I find some definitive answers I'm left with more questions than I started with.

I sigh to myself, at this point everyone is already asleep so I'm forced to work through these new questions on my own. I can at least take solace that I have answered one of the big five questions and have a Where to look into. I've also made good progress into the How of what's going on but the other three I'm not confident enough in to consider resolved.

The What and the Why I'll be looking into; I don't have enough information to speculate on what they could be. Who is simpler, but with this new information I'm convinced that there is a third party connecting things together. Unfortunately I'm left without a whole lot of information to go on and there are only a few groups that I can even consider involved with this matter and none of them would be good news.

The easiest to deal with is a crime family from Mistral, they might have enough sway to browbeat Adam into working with Torchwick and as long as they used faunus intermediaries he might even go along with it. It would also explain the presence of the mystery woman prior to the train heist. Then there's the possibility that Sienna is involved, and I hope not, she is ostensibly the only person who could order Adam to go along with this. I don't have to explain how Sienna being involved would massively complicate things, but this seems too bold for something she'd endorse.

That leaves the possibility of a third unknown party, but that's almost worse than any other possibility. It suggests that there exists someone who can bring Adam to heel and is subtle enough for me to not know anything about them. A gnawing sense in my gut has me leaning towards the last option, but I can't discount the other two as possibilities right now.

Autumn stirs in the room which brings my thoughts to how I'm going to explain all of this. I quickly decide that no one needs to know about my suspicions. I'll lay out the facts for them and point Blake into the direction of Mountain Glenn, maybe the distance will convince her that we need to take things slowly. By the time everyone is roused from slumber I've mentally compiled what I'm going to tell them.

Early morning grogginess and the revelation that the Fang is setting up in Mountain Glenn is enough to satisfy Blake's curiosity and she visibly brightens despite the burdens of the long night on her. She asks me how I can be sure and I try walking her through the spreadsheets and the notes I've made throughout the night, but it becomes apparent soon enough that she isn't understanding the leap in logic I made.

Maybe my own tiredness is preventing me from explaining this correctly and I offer to show her my board after class so I can explain things thoroughly. She hurriedly tells me that it's alright and that she believes me which I don't question. After tonight I prefer to take a load off and relax back at my dorm than explaining the finer points of my investigation to her.

We're all tired by the time class is over for the day, though this time I am able to stay awake throughout Oobleck's class. I wave off the concerns Ruby, Velvet, and oddly Weiss bring up; I can tell it'll catch up with me sooner or later and I'm firmly setting that to be a problem for later. It is refreshing to have one of my issues be friends caring too much about my well-being, it's a nice change of pace from my usual time in the Fang.

Speaking of which, depending on how things go I might need to distance myself from them. My team knows that I'm still connected with them, but my investigation will grant me a lot of leeway with them and anyone else that finds out about that little bit of duplicity. So I'm fine regardless of where I decide to plant my flag. It would be a shame to lose the connection and resources of the Fang but I'm certain I can manage without them if need be. I'll have to weigh up the options and see which is better for myself and Menagerie as a whole when the time comes. Those are far off concerns for now, maybe I'll consolidate a list of options over Winter break and figure out how to proceed from there.

Once I break out of my thoughts I find myself face down in my bed with my clothes still on. It takes me a moment to realize I've gone to our dorms entirely on autopilot and I might have fallen asleep for a little bit. I check my scroll for the time and see it's not too late before sitting up and taking a look around the room. Marina and Autumn aren't here which is a good sign for Marina as I don't remember okaying whatever it is she wanted to do; either that or I was more out of it than I realize. That leaves me in the room with Kelly who's busy painting one of her wood carvings. It's shaped like a person and she's painting it in the colors of Marina's outfit so it doesn't take me long to put the pieces together.

I take a look at the rest of her carvings while she's still focused on her task at hand. It's the first time I've really bothered with looking at her personal effects and I find that Marina isn't the first person she's made a figure of. There's a little figure next to a bigger one both in Valean fatigues, though the paint is chipped and more sloppy than what she's working on right now, likely her and her grandpa. Aside from that there are plenty of unpainted woodworks in the shapes of horses, cattle, and whatnot, but the only other painted ones are military memorabilia like an Atlesian spider droid. I do spot one other person-like figure that's painted in Autumn's colors, but that is sitting on his side of their belongings.

Evidently I've spent enough time staring at Kelly and her works for her to finish up whatever she was working on and pack away her small amount of painting supplies. She turns to me, her brown hair shuffling out of the way of her eyes with the twirl of her head. "So fearless leader, not that I'm one to complain, but are all nights going to be as interesting as the last two we went on?"

Her smile twigs me on to the fact that this isn't a legitimate complaint so I play along. "I don't know, the only thing I can compare it to was when I went out with Yang and that was pretty boring."

"Oh, so you took some girl you just met out before the rest of your team. Am I hearing that right?"

"Yeah, yeah," I take the comment on the chin, "it was the first week of school and a good opportunity popped up. Plus she had a bike for us to high-tail it out of there before the cops showed up." I can tell she wants to poke at me about the matter more, but lets it lie with a shake of her head.

Toy soldiers: She whittles in her spare time, maybe it's something she's picked up from her grandfather. Still her choice of what to paint is interesting. (2)

Military: Not many people outside of Atlas are outspokenly militaristic. I can ask her about what brings her interest in those matters. (1)

Future: Autumn and her are in this Huntsmen business to make some money, but I can ask if they have any plans beyond that (0)

"So what's that all about," I say, gesturing to her figures. No reason not to be blunt about my interest.

"That, well…I picked it up from my grandpa and he picked it up during the war. It was only a childish hobby at first until Autumn and I broke one of his carvings from the war while we were playing. He yelled at the both of us until he was red in the face and eventually I said I'd make him a new one. That got him to stop and for the next few weeks he taught me how to whittle properly and eventually how to paint it. It wasn't pretty, but then again neither was the original; the war didn't allow many opportunities for arts and crafts among the soldiers."

"Well I'm glad that you enjoy it at least. Did you ever think that your grandfather reacted too strongly?"

Kelly fixes me with a look before casting her eyes down to the ground. "At first maybe, but then he explained something to me. You see that figure that we broke was actually supposed to be Uncle Cyprus, it looked nothing like him to us but that's how it was. Now that might be bad enough on its own, but it's a whole 'nother thing considering grandpa fought in the war."

The war is long enough ago that most people wouldn't understand what she's getting at, but she's seen how I am in History class so the subtext isn't lost on me. During the war a superstition arose among the Valean troops about how those without an image of themselves with loved ones were more likely to die in battle. The exact reason why would differ from person to person with some believing the love from their families would empower their aura and keep the grimm away to others believing that any injury done to them would reflect on their image.

Most likely this belief arose from how the officers and remaining nobility, who already had paintings and images of themselves back home with their families, had a lower casualty rate than the rank and file. I'd attribute that more to them having aura for longer than any mystical portrait shenanigans. After all, the longer someone has an aura the more likely they are to have a larger one and understand their limits more.

"That explains it," I offer neutrally. She lets out a sigh as if she was worried I would judge her harshly on the matter. I find that to be an overreaction, even if I believed in that nonsense I can tell she's admonished herself over what happened more than I would. I refrain from commenting any further, though; it's her life and her beliefs.

"Well…while we're on the topic and before I forget." Kelly ruffles through her belongings and pulls out a figure that's a familiar deep orange. "I was going to wait until a birthday or the solstice or whatever, but I can't find a better time for it than now."

She hands it to me and I examine it. The broad strokes are accurate like the color of my outfit and hair, but some of the details are off, like how my rapier is very blocky. I can tell she tried though and the quality isn't bad, just not something professionally made. She even made the model with small nubs on the head which I think are supposed to be my ears. I don't return my thanks immediately.

Instead I set the figure with my belongings and go through them for a specific item. I'm not going to find a better excuse than this and I hope she'll appreciate it even if it's not her style. "If you're going to give me a gift it'd be unkind if I didn't give you one of my own." Kelly starts to mutter some refusal, but I cut her off by placing my gift in her hands like she did for me. My own gift is a brown scarf of a lighter shade than her own hair. Naturally this causes her to look at me in confusion so I have to explain. "By my estimation it should be light enough to go with your outfit and highlight your hair without being loud enough to draw any attention."

Kelly keeps her expression as still as she can, but the relaxing of her features is enough to tell me she can appreciate the gift in the spirit it was given. "You know it's a bit cheap that I pour my sweat, blood, and tears into that gift for you and all you can give me in return is something you bought at a store."

I take her playful attitude in stride, "True, but we all can't be artists. Besides I wasn't expecting any gift before now. Take that as a token of my appreciation. I know it's not fun waiting out in the middle of the night on the off chance I need the help, but I appreciate it regardless."

"Awww, you don't want us thinking you're taking advantage of us." I grimace at her remark. I did consider how it might make them feel if our relationship was all take, take, take on my part and looked for ways I could remedy that. I didn't think that she'd pick up on it that fast nor that she would say it out loud. Obviously it's the tiredness that allows Kelly to so easily read me as she continues on. "I'm not upset. It just proves that you care about us in your own way if our opinion of you matters so much."

Somehow her words only make the situation worse and I have to quickly change the subject. "So what about the rest of your figures? I don't think you care about the well-being of an Atlas spider droid."

"Ah that," she lets me go easily, but the light in her eye promises that this won't be the last I hear of the matter. "Well I just like how they look. That and some of my friends in Pharos got into wargaming. It was always too expensive for me to buy in, but they allowed me to play with them as long as I made the pieces myself. Though their armies were a bit more fantastical than my own." She pulls out a drawer and invites me to look in; and that's a lot of AK-130s.

"Is there any reason why they're all…" I trail off, the both of us have made our distaste in Atlas known to each other so I'm admittedly curious.

"Ah that," Kelly scratches at her cheek, "I may have had to obfuscate why exactly I was so focused on painting my minis. Pretending to be interested in military hardware was a good enough excuse at the time."

"Well your secret is safe with me." I crack a smile, glad to have something over her in case she decides to try embarrassing me.

"I somehow doubt that," she says with a big exhalation while standing up. "Now I'm gonna look for Marina and make sure she hasn't gotten into too much trouble. You take a nap, Ochre, you need the sleep considering you didn't get any last night." I want to protest her order on the sheer principle that I'm the leader of the team, but any complaints are muffled when she manhandles me to my bed. I'll pay her back for that later, but right now my sheets are too comfortable to ignore the lure of slumber.

Once the weekend arrives I'm back to my normal well-rested self. It did require that I sleep in more than I like to today. Normally there's too much to deal with to afford wasting time in bed, but I make an exception after dealing with exhausting missions and I think these late night ventures can fall into that category. I had to deal with some worrywarts before I got everything back under control, but it wasn't anything that I couldn't handle, or so I thought. Once I leave my room I immediately catch Weiss standing next to my dorm room door.

Evidently my entrance into the hallway startles her as she straightens up and brushes aside an errant strand of hair before addressing me. "Ah, Ochre, you're looking good," Weiss catches what exactly she said and quickly appends, "I mean you're looking better. You had us worried about you."

"My apologies then," I give her a mock bow, "the rumors of my demise were greatly exaggerated."

"Don't joke about that," she complains with a high pitched whine. Unfortunately I can't help a smile that forms from her breaking her composure which earns me a glare in kind. "Fine, see if I care. I don't even know why I bothered to be concerned."

I might not know the Schnee heiress all that well, but the transition in moods is obvious enough that even Jaune could see it. "Sorry. I'm just not used to people worrying about me like this. It's all a new experience and I'd prefer not to deal with it in all honesty."

Instead of a look of pity like I'd expect from someone like Ruby or Yang, Weiss sports a look of commiseration. "I had similar experiences; I'm sure you'll get used to them like I did."

I let my curiosity get the better of me, "What kind of experiences?"

That appears to be something she was wanting as a smile ghosts her lips and she relaxes against the wall. "I took it the wrong way at first, but my sister Winter would fret over me all the time. I thought it was a criticism or that she thought I couldn't take care of myself, but she was just worried. Once you get used to it it's uplifting to know that there are people genuinely concerned over your wellbeing."

That's an interesting tidbit and when combined with how she specified her sister and not her mother or father I can assume there's a deeper issue there even if I don't want to press it right now. Weiss takes my moment of reflection as an invitation to continue. "Enough about myself, though. What have you been up to? It seems like every week you're coming back late at night or early in the morning."

Normally I'd just dismiss that line of inquiry and pursue one of my own volition, however, her tone isn't inquisitive. Rather it's like she genuinely wants to know what's going on out of concern and that gives me some pause.

Regardless, I can deflect from the issue easily enough for now and pursue a different topic. It likely won't even be that long until the issue comes up naturally. Considering the personalities involved It's only a matter of days before my group of friends gather the courage to sit down and ask what I'm up to and I can explain things then. Of course given the sensitive nature of the topic it may be wise to let her know ahead of time anyways.

Dust Robberies: Weiss is asking about it directly and half the people I know are already informed about my activities. It wouldn't hurt to let her know before this comes to a head. (3)

Winter: She mentioned her sister and was excited enough to talk about her without prompting. Asking about her should be a sufficient distraction. (1)

Heiress: It's a personal curiosity, but how exactly is she planning on taking control of the SDC if she's here at Beacon. It's not like there are many transferable skills between the two careers. (1)

It takes a while to fight down my immediate instinct, but I do so all the same. If my momentary pause was in any way noteworthy to her she doesn't show it, only softly smiling at me while I collect myself. "I've been investigating the Dust robberies in Vale in my free time." Weiss blinks owlishly at my comment, but it's only a momentary setback.

"If that's the case then why don't you just leave it to the police? It's their job to look into matters like this," she enunciates slowly as if she wants to disregard what I just said while remaining polite.

"Normally I'd agree, unfortunately the White Fang are involved. That and the police lean towards some Mistrali tendencies rather than Atlesian ones." It pains me to admit that last part.

However, even though it is a big reason why I had to conduct this investigation on my lonesome, Weiss appears to ignore that latter remark. Instead her eyes and tone soften, "Ochre, you left the White Fang; let the authorities handle it. You don't have to hold yourself responsible just because some people you used to know are up to no good."

It's not like I can tell her that I'm still technically a part of the Fang, luckily I have a good enough excuse for my continued involvement. "It's not so simple, the authorities are lacking context in why exactly what's going on is so concerning." I pause for a bit to make it seem like my next words are the real reason why I'm doing this. "That and there are some people who could get hurt if I don't handle this carefully." That last part isn't a lie, technically. The Clovers and Tukson could be in danger, but they would most likely avoid any scrutiny unless I directly point them out.

This, however, does not deter Weiss who imperiously states, "Good. They deserve everything that's coming to them if they're willing to go along with this." I should've expected that she'd still have strong opinions on the Fang even after her forgiveness of me, but letting her keep those opinions unchallenged isn't really an option.

"You know up until six months or so ago I could have been one of those unlucky people caught up in everything, right?"

My question causes her to take a step back and hurriedly defend, "That's not the same. You realized you were wrong and got out as soon as you could."

I hum noncommittally, despite her words I know that I've given her something to think about. My mind drifts back to my earlier thoughts about the Clovers. They would make a great example to Weiss as to why I'm invested in the issue in as sympathetic of a light as possible. Unfortunately given their history I'm unsure how Coral would react to the SDC heiress suddenly showing up at her home; something to think about later.

Weiss sighs at my nonresponse, "At least tell me that you aren't doing something so reckless on your own."

"Of course not. I told my team about things the first week of school and I've always had backup on any of my riskier endeavors."

Rather than being pleased with this information, Weiss looks the slightest bit upset before stiffly responding, "R-right. Regardless, if you need my assistance on the matter just let me know. I'd be more than happy to help out."

"That's rather generous of you," I ask, my voice full of skepticism, trying to find out what her angle is.

Weiss doesn't address my skepticism, rather cooly replying, "Think nothing of it. It would be improper of me not to pay you back after the trust you've extended me. That and you deserve some compensation from stopping your fellows from crashing one of my concerts." I suppose that makes enough sense, but I can't get rid of the feeling that there's something more than what she's telling me. The fact she's using that as her excuse implies those events were rather important to her or that it is, in fact, just an excuse. Maybe she wants to strike back at the Fang now that an opportunity has presented itself?

Regardless of her offer of support I'm not going to take advantage of it right away. My efforts have proved fruitful enough and it would be a bit uncouth to press her for immediate help after her show of concern for me.That doesn't mean I can't get her to start thinking of how she can help ahead of time. In order to do that though she'll need more information than what she has right now.

"Well I feel better having the illustrious Weiss Schnee on my side." She is inordinately pleased at my compliment, but I don't let that distract me. "How would you like it if I filled you in on what all I've learned?" I turn away to open my dorm room door, as a not so subtle invitation.

"Yes," Weiss answers quickly and I catch some sort of movement from the corner of my eye. When I turn back around I find Weiss no longer leaning against the wall and nothing else out of the ordinary. Shrugging off that bit of weirdness I lead Weiss into my dorm room and pull the board off the wall to start going over everything.

Weiss for her part is looking around the dorm trying to absorb every little detail, which I guess is fair enough; I'd likely be doing something similar. I haven't been inside anyone else's dorm room, but I have caught a glimpse inside team RWBY's one time. The bunk beds alone are interesting enough and I'm surprised someone like Weiss would go for that idea, especially with how unsafe they looked.

After a few moments her eyes refocus on me and the board I'm holding. "That's a-, what exactly am I looking at Ochre?"

"Isn't it obvious," I ask, my confusion mirroring her own. "This is the sum total of everything I've dug up on Torchwick and the Dust Robberies of Vale."

"I see," she says slowly, belying that she does, in fact, not see. "That's a lot of string, and everything is so stacked on top of each other that I can barely tell where one thing starts and another ends."I frown at her comment, it's accurate to a degree but the board is still perfectly legible in my opinion. I shrug in a 'what can you do manner,' sit down on my bed with my board in my lap and start my lesson.

Weiss, as it turns out, is a much better student than Blake was. It takes a while to explain how it's organized to her, but after that she follows along with my explanation. She even asks some follow up questions or requests that I tell her how I got certain information or came to certain conclusions. I have to keep said explanations brief as there is a lot to go over and I don't want to get too bogged down in the minutia.

Throughout my explanation Weiss creeps closer and closer to the board trying to read it and piece together things on her own during my explanations. By the end of my impromptu lecture we're both sitting on my bed with the board spread between our laps. I let the silence sit between the two of us as Weiss digests the information I've given her and after a minute or so she turns to me to say something, but is interrupted by a noise coming from her scroll. I'm not sure what exactly it is because after an angry look at the offending device she turns off the interruption and sees the time.

"I-, It couldn't have been that long, surely." The confusion in her voice is a familiar pain for me. I remember spending far too much time working on my own personal theories during my first forays into the CCT network before I learned how to manage my time better. I give her a consolatory pat on the shoulder which shocks her back to reality and causes her to stand up.

"Ah, I'm sorry, but I have to attend to other matters. Still this was…enjoyable," Weiss says the last word haltingly as if testing to see if it's appropriate for the situation. "I wouldn't mind doing something similar with you in the future." I flash her a smile and she gives me a small one in return then I let her depart without further issue. I set the board back up and take a few minutes to make sure everything is still in place before heading out to get some training in.

With my investigation wrapping up on one end I'm faced with a dilemma of sorts. While I could bring all this information to the authorities I could have also done so as soon as I learned where, vaguely, Dust was leaving Vale. The issue of the VPD being corrupt can be bypassed by getting the council involved and I, luckily enough, attend school under someone who can easily get the council's ear. At worst they'll send someone to investigate and at best they'll assign some high level huntsmen to dismantle the whole operation.

Rather my issue is a willingness to take this course of action. Adam and his branch are surely up to something stupid and destructive, but that alone isn't enough to take him down. At least not for the rest of the Fang, especially if the Vale branch is collateral damage in the crossfire.

That and it doesn't exactly sit right with me to bring the hammer down on the few good members of the Vale branch. I'll still do it if I have no other option, but I haven't even been here for two months and have discovered this much. I'm sure given some more time I can find out more and give myself more options than do nothing and total annihilation.

Then there's the possible fallout of the events. Losing an entire branch is going to cripple the Fang which, while not my main concern, will make future operations like the one I pulled on Atlas much harder. Additionally, depending on how public the takedown is there might even be blowback on faunus as a whole and subsequently Menagerie.

On the other hand; if I'm able to get the situation under control with only my own resources, that will grant me a lot of prestige in the Fang. As a nominal stealth operative/troubleshooter that is something that I'm sorely lacking. While a lot of the leadership knows about me and my skills that's different from having a pull in the faction outside of what I can accomplish personally. If I pull this off my word will have a lot of weight among the rank and file and I could even leverage that into leading my own part of the Fang and there is a lot that I could do with some competent help.

I have time to think about what I should do. Nothing I've uncovered has suggested that I'm under a specific time crunch and the fact that the Vale branch hasn't even set up their new base of operations yet tells me that I have over a month before I can even begin to worry about what they're up to. For now I'll stick to my slow and steady approach and make a decision once I have more information.

Aura(Practical) raised from (25/625) to (35/625) Source: Semblance usage

Combat Raised from (75/625) to (96/625) Source: Class & Training+Semblance

Dust raised from (25/50) to (31/50) Source: Class

Grimm raised from (34/150) to (40/150) Source: Class

History raised from (38/300) to (49/300) Source: Class & Challenge

Investigation raised from (53/300) to (74/300) Source: Class & Training+Semblance

Mobility raised from (64/300) to (70/300) Source: Class

Survival raised from (25/150) to (31/150) Source: Class

Stealth raised from (3/300) to (5/300) Source: Challenge

Team Fighting style raised from (38/75) to (47/75) Source: Training

Discretionary budget reduced to (4400/5000L) Source: Hotel costs.

LloydAbsolon · Feb 17, 2024

White Fang: Mystery Woman: Blake mentioned a mystery woman talking to Adam before the train heist. She's my most likely candidate, but I don't have a lot to go off of. (Hard investigation check) (4)

Robberies: Dust Bust: I've tracked down where Torchwick has been keeping his Dust in Vale. With luck he might be there as well. All I have to do is scout the place out and decide what to do. (Investigation check. Possible Social, possible stealth, combat, and performance checks.) (3)

Pyrrha (QM)

The Clovers: Living on their own in Vale is a tough life considering all the obligations Coral has. I could lend a hand and help them out. (4)

Weiss: She seemed genuinely interested in learning what I was doing. Maybe I could check with her and return that interest. (4)

Autumn: He's a good friend with a slightly odd hobby. Spending time with him isn't the worst thing I could do. (2)

Marina: She's starting to make some good progress talking with others and making her own decisions. I could make some time to help her along or just talk. (2)

Team fighting combat style: Gain double the combat modifier from working with a team (47/75) (3)

Investigation (2)

After class ends I'm accosted by an energetic Nora who demands that I follow her. I look back at the rest of my team to hopefully supply some sort of excuse to the bubbly girl, but witness them running off with the rest of JNPR and RWBY. I think I know where this is all going so I surrender myself into Nora's custody. She leads the two of us around the perimeter of Beacon evidently taking an extremely scenic route to our destination.

Once we're halfway through a lap I decide to speak, "So where exactly are we going Nora."

The girl glares at me as if I've committed some sort of great sin, "I can't tell you that, it's a secret! Well not a secret to me, but y'know a secret to you."

"Yes I got that when you showed up to drag me away while everyone unstealthily went off in the same direction."

"You say that, but I bet you didn't see Ren."

"I don't need to see Ren when a crowd of people all run off together and I'm singled out. I know something's going on." Even without confirmation that I didn't see Ren, Nora takes it like her words were some sort of insightful commentary as she sports a smug grin. Then she abruptly stops and starts heading towards the training rooms. Once we get there we find everyone sitting in a circle of chairs with two empty seats.

At least I can take solace that I'm not being ambushed in the cafeteria or the middle of a hallway again. I can even respect this locale of choice as it's easily accessible to all of us, is reasonably private, and most importantly has enough space so that we're not all squished together. Nora runs off to take her place sandwiched between Ren and Jaune. I'm slightly surprised to see him here so I give him a wave, which he returns weakly. I'm guessing that he's only here so he doesn't miss out on what all the fuss is about.

My seat is between two white-haired girls, Marina and Weiss. Both seem happy to see me, Marina in her own subdued way and Weiss with a warm smile that's still odd for me to associate with a Schnee. I take my seat and survey the room; given that over half the people present know about my late night activities I don't think the content of this meeting will be difficult to get through or even require that I obfuscate the truth.

Ruby rises from her seat as soon as I sit down, obviously eager to understand what's going on. I find it surprising, but heartening, that none of her teammates spilled the beans. Yang gives a thumbs up to me from behind her sister's back and Weiss gives me a nod before turning her attention to Ruby. Blake meanwhile is keeping utterly stoic, understandable since she's still keeping her faunus heritage a secret and the only reason she knows about my investigation is because of her ties with the White Fang.

"Ochre," Ruby starts, her tone softer than the usual energetic giddiness I've come to expect from her. "I want to start this off by saying that this is all your personal life and we understand if you want to keep some parts of it secret. I just want you to understand that we're all concerned about your wellbeing. Now, we know you've been visiting Vale nearly every week and staying out sometimes the whole night…" she trails off, inviting me to speak for myself.

If I was trying to hide anything then the Clovers would be my go to excuse. Since I'm not, I have no reason not to be honest. "I guess I should start this off with some important context. I used to be a part of the White Fang." This admission isn't surprising to my audience, even for the ones I haven't explicitly told I've left more than a few hints throughout my time at Beacon, especially during History.

"Wait you were," the shocked exclamation from Jaune is the sole exception. There isn't any outrage or anger in his tone, but his outburst does draw attention to him which causes him to wither under the attention.

Pyrrha offers him a consolatory pat on the arm while Nora loudly exclaims, "Of course he is. I mean, after he said he could speak from a position of knowledge about the White Fang in Oobleck's, how could you not put the pieces together?"

"I thought that was just because he's a faunus." Upon seeing no support to his statement he lamely appends, "You know like the girl that sits with him, the one with the rabbit ears." I can tell he doesn't mean anything by it, but the crowd still reacts negatively. It doesn't help that he says this while searching the crowd for support and doesn't find much beyond Pyrrha, who's telling him something I can't hear from where I am. Weiss turns her head and coughs to avoid his gaze and others follow suit, either keeping their eyes to the ground or not trying to draw attention to themselves.

After he slumps into his chair Ruby breaks the ice, "It was kind of obvious Jaune. But! That doesn't matter now. Ochre is no longer a part of those meanies so we shouldn't treat him any differently." That pushes the conversation back on track and allows me to pick up where I left off.

"As I was saying, I used to be a part of the White Fang, so I have some knowledge about how they operate. That being said, when I found out that the Fang were stealing Dust right here in Vale I knew instantly that something was up. Naturally I couldn't just call up someone and expect them to tell me what they're doing so I started my own investigation in the matter."

"So, all this time you've been heading out into Vale to…catch some criminals," Ruby's confusion is to be expected given her optimistic nature and the fact that she doesn't know the cops are crooked. I'm about to explain further when I'm interrupted by Weiss.

"Indeed he is, I asked him about it a few days ago and he showed me everything he's learned so far," Weiss announces with a hint of pride in her voice. "His display of information is…impressive."

Blake meanwhile groans at the mere reference of the board. However, she's drowned out by Autumn with his booming voice as both he and his sister look askance at me, "Why haven't you shared any of that with us?"

"I literally have the whole investigation on the wall in our dorm," I explain utterly flabbergasted.

"Oh is that's what that is," the twins have a sudden epiphany as if something that was previously a mystery was just solved in front of them. Unfortunately that left me unable to form a response as to why I wasn't involving the police and I have to gear myself up from another lecture. This time from Ruby, who is visibly shaking.

"That's…so cool!" Or I could be off the mark entirely. "You're going out there beating up evildoers, going all wham ka-pow and I've been missing out the whole time?"

"Actually there was only one time that I beat anyone up," I explain. I don't want the group to get the wrong impression of what I'm doing, or even worse decide to involve themselves in the matter without my oversight.

My comment drops Ruby's mood slightly until Yang unhelpfully adds, "That's right, but it was awesome."

"Yang! You knew this whole time and didn't tell me!?" It's a small mercy that the tiny terror focuses her ire on her sister rather than me. Yang for her part laughs off the glare that is actually a pout aimed her way.

"Yeah, c'mon you can't leave us out of the action when we have arms to twist and legs to break." Joy of joys, Nora's getting involved as well.

"Hey guys, maybe we shouldn't get involved in all of this. I mean this is clearly something we should leave to the professionals." Jaune is the only voice of reason to cut through the crowd. Apparently the faux pas he made isn't enough to keep his spirits down.

Of course that comes crashing down as soon as Nora opens her mouth again. "And what, let Oaky boy hog all the fun, no way!" She turns to face me with a megawatt smile as if I'd support her, "Just say the word and I'll be right there. Oh! We should have some sort of secret code word so we know when everything is going down. How about 'pancake?' What do you think, Ren?"

I have to get a handle on this before they convince themselves that I need their help. "Guys, I appreciate the support, but I've been able to handle things with only the occasional help. If I need anything more than that I'll let you know."

That seems to please everyone except Nora, but before she can vocalize her protest she's interrupted by her leader. "Nora, stop. If he says that he'll let us know if he needs our help I believe him." I'm pleasantly surprised when Jaune's soft-spoken words prove enough for Nora to drop the matter entirely and start humming to herself. His willingness to save me from Nora's tender mercy earning the barest amount of respect in my books.

"So uhhh, we still have like an hour of time reserved. I honestly thought this would take longer than it did," Ruby states before nervously laughing. "I guess I made a bigger deal about this than I should have."

"At least this is better than doing it out in the cafeteria." That gets a laugh out of Yang, but causes her sister to turn beet red.

"That was one time!"

"Correction, that was the first time." Yang continues to needle her sister while Jaune hesitantly looks around the room.

"So, is that everything? We have that project from Port and it's going to be painful enough dealing with it as is." I nod at Jaune's words, giving him implicit permission to leave. His team follows him, although Nora is reluctant to go. RWBY on the other hand makes no effort to leave me alone. Instead Ruby tries to goad me into telling her stories about my exploits in Vale with Yang egging the both of us on. Blake is trying to appear disinterested but won't leave in case I do say something and Weiss is happy enough to crowd in with everyone else as well.

Naturally I refuse to break, but there's one fatal weakness in my plan and his name is Autumn. Since he's been with me on most of my more public excursions he has enough details to spin a yarn about what I've been up to. He even includes my infiltration of the meetings and where he runs out of facts he more than makes up in embellishments.

I wouldn't be so upset about it if he made mention of my actual biggest contributions. That being the hours of investigation I put into piecing everything together. Nope, none of that. Instead if you believe him I walked into a generic White Fang meeting and walked out with all of their nefarious plans that were conveniently lying around. Fortunately he doesn't mention Blake, otherwise this whole meeting would be way more awkward than I'm ready for.

Yang, Weiss, and Blake all know that isn't how I operate, but Ruby is eating it up without any issue. She practically has stars in her eyes when she dubs me a 'secret agent super spy' and no amount of trying to correct the issue on my part is getting through to her. It's a welcome reprieve when an alarm sounds notifying us that our time is up and we're forced to make our exit. Ruby asks Autumn to keep telling her about my adventures and he accepts doing so back at their dorm room. That's its own problem that I can't stop, but at least I can rest in relative peace in my room.

The next day things progress without issue, though I spot Autumn writing out and passing notes with Ruby. Apparently the girl hasn't had enough of his tall tales and keeps pressing him for stories or now that he's found an appreciative outlet is letting it all out on one unfortunate victim. I can at least say that it's better than paying attention in Port's class, but that's a low bar to clear.

I decide that I've had enough of that for one week and once lunch starts I take a seat away from the rest of my team which leads me to sitting with team JNPR for once. Well in this case just Pyrrha, Jaune is in line for the two of them and Nora bugged Ren enough for him to make pancakes for her again. I'm not sure if they'll have enough time to actually cook and enjoy that meal, but they're both adults and can figure that out themselves. I'm comfortable with sitting in silence while I wait for the next class to start, but Pyrrha is not.

"Thank you," she says out of the blue, a questioning look from me prompts her to continue. "Jaune and I had a talk and he opened up to me about what went on between the two of you." I notice that she said 'thank you' and not 'I'm sorry,' but I brought some of that down on myself with how I acted so I don't snipe back at her.

"You're welcome," I offer neutrally and a silence descends between the two of us.

"Aren't you going to ask what we talked about or how things are going?"

"Pyrrha I think you vastly overestimate how much I'm invested with what's going on with Jaune. I don't care if he gets his shit together, but if he does I'm perfectly willing to let things go. As far as I'm concerned that either happens or it doesn't." She frowns unhappy at my statement, but unwilling to challenge it. "Fine, I can tell he's doing better at the leader part at least. I never imagined bringing Nora to heel like that with just a few words, much less doing so for my sake."

"It's not that surprising," she brushes off, "though I think he did it more so Nora wouldn't do something than on your behalf." I grunt in agreement, I suspected that was the case, but getting confirmation doesn't hurt. It's not as if I'd take back any respect at the accomplishment because of why he did it.

"So is that enough asking about Jaune or is there some sort of quota that I have to meet before we can talk about something else?"

She balks at my question like I said something offensive or discovered something she'd rather keep hidden. "N-no we can talk about something else if you'd like. I never meant to imply anything otherwise." I eye her suspiciously at her tone. It doesn't quite match what she's saying, but I don't know why my words would make her nervous about the subject. Maybe she thought she could steer the conversation from herself. After all, she doesn't like it when people talk to her about her past or her time in the arena.

Argus: I could ask her about her home and avoid the parts of the past she tends to shy away from. (3)

Vytal: Pyrrha and I will likely face off in the final of the Vytal tournament. Maybe I could start needling her about it now and strike up a friendly rivalry and convince her to train more. It'd be a shame if my victory came at the excuse that she doesn't practice enough. (3)

Fame: So why exactly is she so skittish about her time in the arena and around most people. (0)

QM Note: Argus won the coinflip.

I let a smile spread across my lips, "Good. Because what I really wanted to talk about was you." I let her absorb that and sit on it for a little while as she starts nervously shifting in her seat. Honestly I'm doing her a favor, if she acts like this every time someone presses her about her fame or her past she'll end up a nervous wreck who can't interact with anyone.

"Ah, o-of course. Sorry, I mean what did you want to talk about specifically?"

"What else, but what everyone wants to know about," I play it up as I watch Pyrrha brace herself. "About your time in Sanctum of course." Her expression smooths out into a polite mask and I let her sweat under the pressure for a bit. "I hear Argus is a beautiful city and would love to hear about it from a resident." The moment her expression crumbles from her mask to genuine confusion is one I savor, it's unlikely that the same trick will work twice.

She takes it in good spirit as once she finally processes my statement her expression shifts to one of relief. "It's…busy I suppose. Though it's different from how Vale is busy, at least from what I've seen. It's more that there's so much traffic coming to and from the sea as well as through the city to Mistral itself that there's always something or someone moving. That combined with the military just over the bridge means that there are a lot more foreigners within its walls than you might expect."

"Mhm, about what I was expecting, I could never check the place out given the military presence. They're a lot more of a stickler for people coming in and out than they are at mainland Atlas, guess it comes from the smaller area they have to keep track of."

"I can see how you would have had problems there."

"Tell me about it. The whole place became an information black hole after someone stole a shipment from the place. I can't tell you how many hours I've spent chasing leads that end up dead in the water when Argus comes up. Can't even go there personally to check their records for fear of being rounded up by the military."

"I didn't realize my home caused you so many issues. I apologize on behalf of all of Argus," her mirth informs me that her apology is anything but sincere. I take it in stride this is just some banter after all.

"So, did you live in the area or only move in once you started attending Sanctum?"

"I lived in the city with my mom; it wasn't always easy. Until I made it into Sanctum we spent most of our time working out of the various inns and hotels. They'd give us room and board during the slow times of the year, but when things picked up, well, we made do." Pyrrha finishes with a shrug as if a child working for a living is something normal and she just had to put up with it.

Avoiding that bundle of issues I press on, "So how did you go from that to Sanctum? You have to admit it's not exactly an easy jump to make."

She steels her expression, a sudden intensity entering her green eyes. "From a young age I always believed that I was destined to something more than scraping by on the streets. During my first spar in Sanctum everything just clicked and I knew that I had found my purpose in life and, not to brag or anything, I think everyone else took note of it as well."

I don't buy into that destiny mindset, but I can tell she does. In addition while she's shy about her time in the arena she isn't shy or ashamed of her skills. I'd go as far as saying that she has pride in them at this point. Of course I don't bring that up, instead I question, "Do you ever miss it?"

That takes some of the wind out of her sails, her determination giving way to her normal demeanor for a moment before rebounding. "Sometimes. But I wouldn't trade anything in the world for what I have here." Before I can question her on what she means by that we're interrupted by a third party.

"Not to sound upset or anything, but what are you doing here," Jaune asks, his voice lacking any heat to it.

"Ah nothing much, just asking about Pyrrha's home. It's one of the few places I haven't visited." He snorts at my words and Pyrrha gives me an apologetic shrug. "Don't worry I'll get out of your hair, I need to grab something to eat myself." Jaune gives me a bit of a cold shoulder, although that seems to be because he doesn't know how to act around me rather than any latent hostility.

My next course of action is to look into who exactly Adam was talking to the night before the train heist. She's most likely my missing link between Torchwick and Adam. However, investigating her connection with Adam runs the opposite direction of my previous attempt of looking into how the two were connected so I don't have much to go off on. I only have Blake's bare recollection of the tail end of events. I go over the facts that I have on the matter: one, it was a black haired human woman who met with Adam and two, that there were two other people with her at the time. That isn't a lot to go off of, but I can make some assumptions.

The most important of which is that they must have spent some time trying to track the White Fang camp. Even Adam's branch knew the importance of not having their camps out in the open, so it had to have taken a little bit of effort to find. With this assumption I can also assume that they had to get their information from somewhere and then it's just a matter of backtracking who had that information and matching it with any questionable circumstances.

This would be much easier to do if I had any meaningful contacts within the Vale branch. As is I have to make do with the information I've taken from the meeting and hope that there's a lead in there. Otherwise I'm stuck having to narrow it down by using the CCT and the list of potential contacts I've been gathering.

Rank 3.25 +.25(intel)=3.5 vs Challenge 5

Final Modifier: -38

Dice: 1d100-38

67 - 38 = 29

Of course I'm not lucky enough for the answer to just fall into my lap. I go over the information I have a second time, but I only ensure that there's nothing in there relating to my current search. As unfortunate as that is, there's nothing left to do but soldier on. I set up a separate list of all the potential contacts I've gathered and start eliminating them for one reason or another.

Certain ones are eliminated due to their social media and pictures pegging them elsewhere during the timeframe I'm looking for. Others are knocked off due to perishing far before or after said event. If these people were willing to tie up loose ends they wouldn't wait until months after getting the information they want to do so. I make steady progress through the list, but there are a lot of holes from my lack of knowledge of who definitively knew what, and where some of them were during my timeframe.

By the time that I give up on the matter I've gone through half of my list, but that's not entirely accurate. There are people that I can't completely rule out because it's entirely possible that they willingly helped out my mystery woman. I keep that as a negligible possibility knowing Adam's temperament and Blake's description of events, but I have to keep it as a possibility nonetheless.

I drop a message with Heather asking about a woman that's been muscling in on the faunus with the mystery woman's description, but I don't hear anything back. She's likely outside of CCT range given that she's scouting in the wilderness and I can only hope that she has some insight for me when she gets back into range. Of course on the off chance that that kind of question would raise some red flags I sandwich said message between a progress report from me and a few other questions.

Stuck in a dead end for now I focus my energies on something more productive which brings my attention to a message from Coral. Jasmine could use some help with a school project of some sort and there are a few matters to attend at the apartment as well. I clear out my schedule so I can help them out and let my team know, but I have to take care of some last minute business here at Beacon before I can head out.

That brings me to the library to return a book, for whatever reason I can't leave it with my teammates to turn in because a scan of my student id is required for the book to be returned properly. I don't know what issue that is supposed to solve, nor am I going to waste the time figuring it out right now. As I'm about to leave I run into Weiss on her way in. She's carrying a stack of books, presumably ones for the project Port gave us based on the titles. I help her get settled at one of the tables and decide to hang out for a bit; I would have to wait for the next airship out anyways.

Once she gets settled in we exchange some small talk until she turns the conversation into an odd direction, "Theoretically if you were in charge of the SDC how would you change it?" Oh boy, I've thought about this question more than once during a late night.

"Well I'd start off with ordering a forensic audit over the whole company, there's no way someone isn't embezzling or hiding some dirt. I'd keep it all hush hush though so I could oust or blackmail people as need be and once I've secured my power structure then I can start instituting changes."

Evidently Weiss wasn't expecting that response as she blinks slowly and takes a while to find her words. "That is…insightful. I should've worded my question better; I was more wondering what those changes would be rather than how you would get to the point of changing them."

"Oh that's a much harder question to answer than you might think. I could give you the same platitude of how I'd end the exploitation of faunus workers and improve working conditions across the board, but nothing is that easy." Weiss doesn't say anything in response, but her expression is questioning on the matter so I continue, "First of all there's the historical reason. While Nicholas Schnee was a wonderful innovator and explorer he wasn't much of a businessman." My words seem to physically strike Weiss as she seethes at my dry commentary. "He had a lot of these policies in place before your father took over and the company struggled to make a profit even with a much bigger deficit in the Dust market."

"Fine," she bites out, clearly unhappy that I'm not taking the popular stance that Nicholas Schnee could do no wrong and his only mistake was letting Jacques take the reins. "You said first off, so what's the second reason?"

It's my turn to be dumbfounded as I can't believe that she'd still be heiress if she didn't have any knowledge of how her company functioned and its duty to the Atlesian state. "Well the second reason is political. Atlas has benefited greatly from the SDC's preferential Dust prices for the Atlesian military. Now I'm not going into the leviathan that is the relationship between the military and the SDC, but it's no secret that Jacques and Ironwood can and will meet to discuss matters between one another. That indicates a relationship of give and take and if my mark is right then Atlas would have a lot to say if Dust prices were suddenly to increase and they might make a few pointed remarks if that increase is due to internal policy changes."

My words do nothing to buoy her mood and with a tired sigh Weiss eventually grinds out, "That's not what I was expecting."

"Yeah there's rarely an easy solution. If it were as simple as a single order or action then we wouldn't be dealing with these issues." She's about to say something else when a noise from her scroll interrupts us; she gets the same angry expression as last time and shuts off whatever notification was making the noise. After that there's a bit of dead air between us as Weiss visibly collects herself.

Press on: This is really something I'd expect her to know already. Press her for how exactly she was planning on taking control of the SDC. (4)

Winter: Change the subject to her sister, wasn't she the heiress before she joined the military? (3)

Investigation: Change the subject to what's going on with my investigation and how she can help. (2)

Clovers: I'm going to meet with the Clover's and introducing Weiss to them will provide a sympathetic face for the White Fang. I'm sure I can deal with any fallout. (1)

Scroll: That's the second time that's happened. Maybe I can ask her what that's about. (0)

"So what exactly was your plan to take control of the SDC before this conversation," I interject before Weiss can make a comment herself.

"My father has to retire at some point and when he does, the position of CEO of the Schnee Dust Company will fall to me," Weiss states like it's the most obvious thing in the world.

"Okay, ignoring that you could be waiting upwards of forty years to even get a chance to run things, what makes you think that you would get the position in the first place?"

Weiss is outraged and I get to hear her shrill angry voice for the first time, "I'm his daughter, who else would he let run the company after him?" I mull over what would be the best response before deciding on one in particular.

"I'm sorry if I gave you the wrong impression, but I don't have a very high opinion of Jacques. For all I know he'd run the company for as long as he could before liquidating all of his shares and retiring to a private island."

"He couldn't do that, could he?"

"Who's stopping him?" My simple response brings her to a full stop. At least she's not discarding my words out of hand and appears to be thinking it over. "Besides, didn't he already pull this song and dance with your sister?"

"He did that so there wouldn't be a conflict of interest with the military and the SDC," she says, but I can tell she doesn't believe the words either. Rather it's like she's repeating something she's been told time and time again and desperately hoping that it's true.

"Can you look me in the eye and tell me that Jacques gives a single damn about a conflict of interest." We both know the answer to that, but making her confront it can only be good for her. Weiss casts her eyes downwards and makes me feel bad enough that I offer her some hope. "If I was in your position I'd start shoring up my position so he can't do the same with you without some backlash."

"How would I do that," she responds immediately. Good, there's no hesitation there; this kind of action can't accept anything less than full determination.

"Make friends with high level management if you can get them on your side enough they'll fight for you to remain heiress regardless of what Jacques wants. You can also go to the other shareholders directly, sure Jacques has a controlling amount of share but with enough collective bargaining he'll have to at least listen to their concerns."

"Those both rely on me relying on the goodwill of others. That leaves me with the same problem I have right now."

I understand her frustration, but it's not a helpful attitude to have. "There is no easy solution, remember. Besides, every bit helps. Though if you're looking for a more direct method you could start investing in the business yourself and maybe even ask your father to let you manage your own portion of the business remotely." That comment in particular causes a massive wave of disgust to pass over her. "Aside from that you can harken back to the good old days and play the part of Nicholas. Go out into the wilderness and find new Dust deposits for the SDC to exploit, just make sure that you get some proper paperwork and don't just hand over the things."

This set of recommendations meet far more approval though Weiss is still tense from the discussion. She realizes how bleak the situation is for her to accomplish this all on her own without her father's help or permission. "I don't suppose that you conveniently know of any such deposits?"

Almost immediately I'm about to reply in the negative before I realize that I do have a lead on some. Unfortunately for Weiss I'm not about to sell out Menagerie without some more assurances that they won't be exploited. "Not at this time, no." If she notices my pause she doesn't get the chance to voice such as I quickly change the subject, "Speaking of your sister, what is she like?"

A moment of confusion at the abrupt change passes over her face before smoothing out into a light smile. "She's great, I look up to her so much. In fact if it wasn't for her example I might not have become a Huntress."

"Sounds like a great person," the platitude comes to me naturally and further ingratiates me to her. "What caused you to look up to her in the first place? I'm sorry if that's an odd question, but I don't have any siblings myself and find it interesting."

She takes the excuse for my fishing attempt with pity behind her eyes like I'm missing out on some big piece of life. "I don't think it's any secret that my father wasn't the best when it came to raising children, but my mom wasn't much better. The only person to really care about us was Klein, a servant of ours, but he had his own duties to attend to and after Whitely was born didn't have much time for me or Winter.

She had to deal with my dad grooming her to take his spot at the SDC and all the yelling he'd do if she didn't measure up or whenever something went wrong at the company. Regardless of how hard it was for her she made time to make sure I was doing alright. At first I thought she was criticizing me like my father was doing with her, but I figured out that was just how she expressed her concern for me. How could I not look up to her? When the whole world was pressing down on her she still made time for me."

That part about her sister criticizing her doesn't sit right with me, but I can tell Weiss idolizes her sister. I mentally register that as the past being the past and resolve not to touch it right now. "And then she joined the military."

"And then she joined the military," Weiss repeats, looking suddenly down before perking back up. "But she's done really well for herself. In fact she's so successful that she works at the side of General Ironwood himself." I don't know if she's trying to convince herself that she's happy with her sister's decision, but the pride in her voice is unmistakable.

This time it's my turn to break off our little engagement as the next airship is due to leave soon. I make my excuse and stand to leave, but Weiss has one last thing to say before we exchange our goodbyes. "Hey," Weiss starts with a somber tone, "if I lose my position in the SDC nothing will change between us right? You'll still be there for me."

I see no reason not to give her reassurance, "Of course. It would be improper for a gentleman such as myself to do anything else." That sets her at ease and I even coax out a giggle from the girl. After that we say our goodbyes and I make my trek to the Clover residence.

When I arrive everything is a disaster. The sink is clogged up, there's smoke coming out of the oven, and arts and crafts supplies are everywhere with some dripping onto the floor. Jasmine has her project, some sort of poster, splayed out over the table and Coral is too busy putting out the fire to pay much attention to the mess her daughter is making. I throw off my coat and roll up my sleeves and start helping set everything back into order.

It takes some time, but eventually the chaos is brought under control. We have to order in for the night as dinner is completely ruined and I put in work order requests through the apartment's site to take care of the problems I haven't been able to work on. Apparently Coral didn't even know that was an option and had been trying to deal with all the issues until they became too much to handle. I can't bring up the energy to admonish her for it, but I do make sure to walk her through the process so that she can take care of it herself in the future.

After dinner everything has settled down aside from Jasmine, who's bugging me asking where Miss Bell is. I tell her she's at Beacon with the rest of her team and the little gremlin has the audacity to gasp in shock and then immediately declare that she'll be a huntress like Miss Bell. Apparently my admission into Beacon wasn't met with the same amount of enthusiasm and I can only shake my head in response.

Once her project is taken care of, with some help from Coral and I, Jasmine has to head for bed while her mother and I stay up a bit later to finally have a chat. "Thank you so much for helping out. I can't even think of how we'd have managed without you."

"I'm sure you would have figured something out," I modestly reply.

"Oh, shush you and just take the compliment." I make a noncommittal hum which causes her face to twitch.

"So aside from this disaster has anyone been giving you trouble?"

"Thankfully no, it seems like the person who accosted me was 'overly enthusiastic' as it was explained to me." Neither of us believe that the person was acting without orders, but it indicates that it'll be some time before Coral has to deal with another push to contribute more. With the starker bits out of the way I consider it worthwhile to change the topic to something lighter.

Friends: I could unload about my friends, something tells me that she'd enjoy hearing about them and I could get an outside perspective on them. (4)

Half-breeds: Velvet's story is sticking with me for one reason or another. I have my own experiences, but I never really explored how it's commonly viewed in the Kingdoms (2)

Project: So what exactly was Jasmine working on. It seems to be a poster referencing some holiday, but it's not one I recognize; must be Valean then. (1)

School: We could swap stories about how each of our education is going. Who knows I might learn something from her. (1)

"That's good. I've been dealing with enough of my own problems as is." I might as well use this quiet moment to take a mental load off and destress. Especially since the heart of my troubles lies with my friends at Beacon and I can't exactly go complaining to them now can I?

"Oh, that's concerning. I hope you haven't been getting yourself into any trouble." The subtext behind her words is clear to me. She's subtly asking if I've been involving myself with the Fang in one way or another. Honestly it's not a bad assumption given that I've asked her about Tukson and we've talked about how the Fang has been harassing her, and it doesn't hurt that she's accurate in said assumption. Of course I've already resolved not to involve her in that business and I have a feeling that she won't make a fuss about it as long as I maintain the polite fiction that I'm not involved.

"Nah, nothing like that. It's just that my time in Beacon has led to some interesting experiences and people I've met."

"Mhm, you told me about them before, but you were awfully reluctant to part with any details," Coral reminds me of our talk at Cecil's. For whatever reason I feel the need to cough and avoid meeting her eyes, but this is my time to unload all the stress that's been heaped on me and I'm going to take it.

"I guess I should start with my partner Marina. If it wasn't my responsibility to care about her problems she would be the least troublesome. As it is, it's like she doesn't know why people act the way that they do. Sometimes she'll mimic behaviors she's seen or words she's heard; I can't tell if that's to figure it out for herself or if she's just trying to fit in."

"She might be one of those people that need things explained to them explicitly, or maybe she just needs some time to adjust. I don't know about her past, but it's possible that she simply isn't experienced with interacting with others." I could fill Coral in on Marina's backstory and ask for help, but I'm here to offload my stress, not to seek actual advice. "You said she would have been the least troublesome if you weren't responsible for her. Dare I ask who takes that spot now?"

"Right now it's a tie between Yang and Weiss." I still haven't forgiven Autumn for the stories he made up about me. I mean seriously, he doesn't give credit to my skills that actually made progress in the investigation and then he convinces Ruby of his false narrative. Now she's going to expect anything that I might bring her on is going to be some bombastic affair and the last thing I need is for her to get twitchy and excited if all I'm doing is some undercover work and just need the backup in case things go wrong.

Still my statement is a minor shock to both of us when a Schnee of all people is the least source of my concerns. Regardless Coral brings herself under control in good time and adopts a sly smile that I really don't like the look of. "Isn't Yang that girl that you mentioned taking out into Vale before bringing Blake to meet with me?" The question is rhetorical and she takes her time watching me squirm before teasing me some more. "Ochre, is there something about your intentions that you aren't telling me?"

I glare at her for her insinuation, that line of inquiry is running close to one I've already shut down before. I get the impression she's just trying to get a rise out of me and I'm not going to give her the satisfaction of a response. However, a pleased hum escapes from her lips and I realize my break in composure is more of a response than any number of sputtered denials.

Capitalizing on my continued silence Coral continues, "You can't blame me for worrying can you? After all, I mostly hear you talk about women and now you're complaining about how you have problems involving them. It makes one wonder."

"It's not all girls. Ren set me up to take a fall for his actions and Jaune-" I stop myself before continuing. "Let's just say that I have my reasons to dislike him and leave it at that." Coral makes a noncommittal noise that I know means she wants to know more anyways, but is content to let me avoid the subject for now.

All of this talk about my friend group does remind me of one other person and her story. Truthfully I don't have any issues with Velvet at this point, we get along fine and I'm sure I'm one of the few people she'd be open with at this point. What she went through is sticking with me though and I can only chalk that up to a certain similarity between us.

"So, uh, there is one thing I want to ask, " I start, my mouth drier than normal. "Someone at Beacon mentioned their half-faunus heritage and I'm wondering what that's like in the Kingdoms." I know immediately that this isn't the kind of light topic that I was trying to keep myself to, however I can't help but ask anyway.

Coral's face deepens into a small frown and her eyes are devoid of their previous mirth, "That's a difficult question. I suppose it depends on which Kingdom you're referring to. I can only tell you about my time in Mistral and even that would vary from place to place, but I don't think that's what you're really asking. For the most part they'll keep their heritage to themselves, but whenever they reveal it or it comes out it seems like a betrayal. We don't have much that binds us together, but the harshness we've faced from humans is one of those things. For someone to not have to deal with that, even potentially, seems like a betrayal of that shared experience."

I'm not sure how to process what Coral has told me, but I thankfully don't have to deal with that and any further questions on her part. Instead she gives me a hug and goes to bed herself and I can't tell if she thought I needed the comfort or if she was just comfortable enough with my presence to want to do so on her own. I come to the realization that my personal crusade may have blinded me to this aspect of the world.

I always thought that this issue was a holdover of the past and something that would fade in time. All I had to do was get Menagerie to its rightful place among the other Kingdoms and everything would sort itself out. Sure I had my experiences on Menagerie which gave me an inkling of the idea, but I was able to easily justify that as fallout from my dad being one of the few humans in Kuo Kuana in the first place.

Here it's not so simple; I could understand the radicals on the human and faunus side having an issue with it. But the way Coral informed me makes it seem like it's a dirty secret that everyone knows about but is painful to explain to a child or the uninformed. It also makes me realize that she was treating me like a child in that instance and I'm not sure if I should be outraged at that or not.

At least I have the solace that this information wouldn't make my friends think any differently of me. Velvet and Yang already know about it and the rest of my friends don't have any problem with me being a faunus so I doubt that learning I'm only half-faunus would change anything. The only exception to that might be Blake, but I don't think she'd have a problem with it. Then again I didn't think that this would be the case with Coral and I'm questioning that based on what she said so I can't know for certain.

Throughout the next day I'm able to shake off these intrusive thoughts. I've done missions with more weighing on my mind before and now would be no different. Either things will work out in my favor regarding this or I'll have to tackle it as its own issue. It's no different than every other problem I've faced, I can convince myself that much.

I briefly consider focusing on my upcoming action against Torchwick's hideout, but push those thoughts to the weekend. If I need help with the matter it's best to ensure that everyone's schedule can accommodate my last minute request. For now I focus my attention back to my team to ensure they're ready for the operation. If I happen to draw some comfort from their presence, well that's to be expected among friends. It's easy enough to get Autumn to agree to go along for a walk with me, it helps clear my head and I'm not in the mood for spilling secrets so privacy shouldn't be an issue for either of us.

However, as soon as we get onto a path that circles around the outside of Beacon, Autumn breaks the small-talk that we had going between the two of us, "So what's got you acting in a tizzy all day? This is different from your usual nights out."

I grumble to myself as either I've gotten too comfortable at my time in Beacon or he has gotten used to my behavior enough that he can tell something is up. "It's nothing you need to worry about, just some personal issues."

"A burden shared is a burden lessened."

"It's something that I need to deal with on my own." Despite sharing the proverb I know Autumn well enough by now that if I firmly close off this avenue of thought he'll leave it alone. "Besides we have more important things to worry about like what we're doing this weekend."

"I wouldn't worry about that, you'll lead us through just like the other times," he brushes off my perfectly valid concern like I made a mild complaint. While I appreciate the confidence I can't help but find it annoying that he didn't take the change in subject I presented. Now I have to come up with a different change in topic or suffer the rest of this walk in an awkward silence.

Helpfulness: I wouldn't bring this up normally, but why exactly is he so willing to follow my lead into danger like this. Does he have some sort of stake in this? (6)

Torchwick: What's his take on all of this business with the White Fang and Torchwick working together. He doesn't have as much information as I do, but surely he has some insight. (3)

Divulgence: I could hint at my troubled thoughts. I'm not going to say anything outright, but it might assuage any of his worries. (3)

Confidence: Why is he so confident in me to the point he isn't even worrying about our upcoming actions against Torchwick. (3)

QM Note: Divulgence won the toss-up.

There's no reason not to be blunt with him. "So why exactly are you so keen on helping me out? I know you haven't been getting much out of what we've been doing and you can't claim that you're just doing it for some fun." Especially since all that he's been able to do to help is sit out on the action and wait for a call for help that never came.

"Why would I need more of a reason than you need my help?"

"Because everyone has to have a reason for doing something. Especially since this isn't some small favor that I'm asking of you. You could get hurt or die considering the people we're going after and you're not even being compensated for that." I know that he and Kelly are only in this Huntsmen business for the Lien from missions starting in our second year. With my tight budget last month I didn't want to bring the matter up, but that's no longer an issue. However, neither of the twins brought up any desire to press me for Lien after all this time.

"Is that what's got you in a tizzy? I know you got Kelly that scarf 'cause you thought you were taking advantage of us, but you don't gotta worry about that. We'll let you know if we have a problem with you, that's for sure."

"No it's not that, I've just been dealing with a revelation of sorts," the words leave my lips before I can fully comprehend that I'm saying them. "It's nothing major, just something that I never really thought about before."

"Nothing major," Autumn scoffs, "yet it's been bothering you all day. That doesn't seem minor to me."

"It has to do with the White Fang and the faunus." I can see that he wants to say something, but I cut him off. "I appreciate the care, but this is something I need to work out on my own you know." I'd prefer if he didn't know about it at all, but what's done is done. Right now I'd prefer to collect my thoughts rather than add more confusion to the mix with another person's perspective. I might use him as a sounding board once I get my thoughts in order.

"Fine, fine," he says placatingly, holding his hands up to show he won't push the issue. "If anyone asks I'll let them know that you've talked to me about it and have got it handled. I don't fight the smile that overcomes my features, despite making me want to pull my hair out sometimes I know I can rely on him when I need it.

"Thanks. I appreciate it, but you still haven't answered my question."

"Didn't I?" There's the Autumn I know; he's giving me the cheekiest grin that he can and I can tell he's enjoying his non-answer far more than he should. Normally I'm game to play along or pull this sort of stunt myself, but I'm in no mood for it today.

"Could you be serious about this?"

"Ah, just can't help myself I suppose. In all seriousness I don't see what the big fuss is about, you're our leader and you need our help. I can tell you're one of the kind to do this with or without our help and I'd rather you have it than not. If I need a selfish reason then that Torchwick fella is planning on something big for Vale. Now I don't know if you know this, but I like Vale; all my stuff is there. Oh and my family is too, I suppose."

His tone is light and joking and his grin never faded so I know he didn't take the question as seriously as I was intending. I don't feel like there was any attempt to deceive me which just leaves me baffled. "And that's enough for you?" Evidently there is something egregious with my question as it brings Autumn to a stand still. He turns to me with pity in his brown eyes, that combined with his height makes me feel smaller than I actually am despite the fact that I could take him in combat any time of the day. Maybe it's the lack of hostility I'm getting from him that's causing this.

"I think it says more about you than it does about me that you're asking about that in the first place." I try to say something, but a meaty hand on my shoulder prevents me from forming the proper words. "I know things are probably different from what you're used to, but we can't be second guessing ourselves if we want to be a functioning team. Now I'm not offended or nothing; you're not a bad guy and don't mean anything by it, but I have to ask that you extend us the same trust we're extending you."

I nod along, I don't think I went too far in my questions, but saying that wouldn't make the situation any better. "Can't say I was expecting to be lectured today," I joke instead.

Suddenly Autumn's intensity dissipates and he's back to his normal self. "Pretty odd expectation considering we were in class a few hours ago." I let him get away with the comment and continue on our walk. I think over his earlier words for the rest of the outing, but don't let them get to me. My perspective may come from my time in the Fang and my investigations, but I trust hard facts and motivations over anything else.

Still he does have a point, if he didn't trust me then we wouldn't be in the situation we're in. Since he does I should extend that same trust back to him. I didn't think pressing him on that would be a sore point for him, but that's more information for the future. Regardless, I resolve to hand off any extra Lien I think I can get away with from my discretionary account for my team's help. Even if it isn't necessary for their loyalty it'll still help them out and they can stock up on new equipment and Dust as needed. Plus, it's not like I'm losing out on Lien by doing so, it's not my money I'm spending.

I make it through the next day of classes much more at ease with my mind focused on how I'm going to deal with Torchwick. It is funny to me that I'm more at ease planning to combat a criminal than I am dealing with some cognitive dissonance. Fortunately I don't have anyone else ask or even look worried about my state the day prior. I give a silent thanks to Autumn and head back to the dorms with the rest of my team.

Once there the twins busy themselves with some weapon maintenance, it very well might be needed depending on what we decide to do. They are the only ones that know about the scope of what I'm planning though. As sad as it is to admit, I can't trust the other teams not to jump the gun on this issue, considering the personalities of Blake and Nora. With some luck I might not need them anyways and right now my attention is drawn to my partner.

Marina isn't working on her weapon like the other two, instead she is pecking away at her scroll. It's a school issued one and given her past it might be the first scroll that she's actually used. This is the first time that I've seen her using one outside of combat class, and it's going as well as can be expected. I'm about to let her puzzle through how it works and how to access the CCTS on her own, but then I remember all of the conspiracy sites and the misinformation on the CCT and decide to help her out. I don't want her under the impression that everything on the CCTS is true and considering Marina that is a valid concern to have.

One impromptu lesson on the do and don'ts of the web later and I have Marina to a position where I'm no longer concerned about her immediate wellbeing. "So why did you decide to learn how to work your scroll," I ask, trying to keep my voice level, but some of the satisfaction of her choosing that entirely of her own volition seeps in.

"It seemed useful to know how to do," her reply is as direct and bland as I've come to expect from her. At least it is until she continues on nervously, "That and plenty of people talk about something they've seen on the CCT; I didn't want to be left out." That slots right into my mental model of Marina.

I don't comment on if her decision was a good one or not, but internally I'm pleased regardless. More so because she admitted her reason why she was doing so than because she wanted to learn about it in the first place. Now that she's connected to the CCTS I let her browse with only minimal supervision and clarifications when I catch her looking at something suspect.

Coral's comment on the matter rings in my head, but I refuse to take a firmer hand in things. I've already given her some guidelines to follow and I'm reluctant to do much more than that. Besides, Marina seems to be doing fine figuring things out on her own and I don't want to be responsible for any regression in her behaviors. She's already come so far from where she was previously that I have faith she can make the rest of the way on her own given a stable enough environment.

Semblance: What's it like seeing people's emotions? From what I've gathered it isn't something she can turn off, but she can control it to an extent. (5)

Past: I know that there's something fishy with Marina's life on a boat. I could press her for an exact answer. (3)

Curiosity: She's always checking out other people and trying to figure out how they act. I could let her ask me some personal questions to help her figure some things out on her own. (2)

Independence: She's been doing things on her own and that's great. Still it might be prudent of me to check in with what she's been doing just in case. (0)

I catch Marina looking up a video on how to read body language and her just staring in utter confusion at the people on screen. I'm reasonably certain that I know what the issue is, but it can't hurt to ask. "Semblance not working through the screen?"

She nods her head, "It's really annoying. Is this what you have to deal with all the time?"

"Yeah, but I'm used to it. It's worse for you since you're missing out on information you were used to." She nods at my words before returning her attention to her scroll. After a few minutes she gets fed up with what she's watching and turns it off. Taking that as my cue I continue, "So what's it like? Your semblance I mean. How would you describe it to someone who has no idea about it?"

Marina takes a moment to mull over my words. After a few stops and starts she's able to find the words she's looking for, "It's like everyone is a big bundle of lights and the lights are always changing. Some are brighter or darker than others and if I focus on them I can tell what they're feeling, but it's different than that. I know how they feel, but I don't feel how they feel if that makes sense. Sometimes it's hard to parse what exactly someone is feeling when they have a bunch of lights bubbling in them or if their lights are rapidly changing. I can try, but it's very disorienting."

I don't say anything letting her continue on if she hasn't finished. That seems to be the right call as after a moment she picks back up, "I don't get to see the darker lights very often. It's like everyone is scared of having any." Marina sounds genuinely disappointed at this fact.

"That's probably because of the grimm." I'm not sure if dark and bright map to negative and positive one to one, but it's the best guess I have with what she's told me so far.

"I know," she says with a far away look. "I just want to know more about them." That's an interesting tidbit that I'm not going to touch on. Far too close to the behaviors of grimm and I don't think that's a parallel that I like being drawn about my partner.

"How old were you when you unlocked your semblance?"

"Five, I think? It's hard to remember and I don't know when I was born." That last part is a bit sad, but the rest helps explain why she behaves like she does. My guess is that her semblance broke up an important part of development with reading social cues. That combined with her unusual lifestyle just assured that she'd be a bit odd when she made it to Beacon. I don't say any of that though, there's no need to broadcast that information and make her feel self-conscious. Maybe if she has doubts about her progress I can whip it out, but she's been making steady progress and hasn't given any indication that she's unhappy with her lot in life.

Unfortunately my next choice of topic isn't a light one. "So, your time on the boat," I lead in cautiously. "I'm starting to pick up the pieces that it wasn't the most normal of circumstances. Is there anything you'd like to tell us?" I open the floor to the rest of the team. I'm unsure if their support will help or hinder in this situation, but it's not like I can kick them out just to have this discussion. Plus it would be unfair if Marina opened up to me without realizing that the twins were listening in.

She looks at everyone trying to read the room before settling on my face, boring a hole in it like that would tell her whether to do so or not. I keep myself stone faced, and try to tamper down on my emotions. The rest of the team waits in silence, I know they'll accept her decision if she decides to keep things to herself, but we're all curious.

"We weren't the best people," she starts off slowly, testing the waters and taking another look at everyone around her. "We weren't good people either," she stops to look around again. "We may have hurt a lot of people that didn't deserve it."

I'm not too upset about her news, it's something that was on the list of possibilities for me. I keep an eye out on my other two teammates to see how they react. Kelly gives her a look of concern while Autumn's is uncharacteristically suspicious. Seems a bit hypocritical given our earlier conversation, but it isn't an outrageous reaction.

"Do you regret it," Kelly is the one to break the momentary silence.

"I don't know," Marina responds, pulling her knees up to her chest, closing herself off from the rest of us. Kelly isn't about to let that go without a response. She practically tackles the girl and pulls her into a hug. This isn't what Marina was expecting and she flounders around instead of leaning into the contact which causes Autumn to break his composure and let out a bark of laughter.

I can tell Kelly is whispering something to Marina, but I can't tell what it is from the distance involved and I don't particularly want to subject myself to a hug trap. Autumn seems to be of a similar mind as we wait for the two girls to have their own hushed conversation. Though Marina doesn't seem to be doing much talking, only nodding and saying the occasional word.

Once they're done with that the two of them separate with Marina's posture much more open to the rest of us. "You don't have to tell us any more if you don't want to." I decide to let her have some leniency since I've already discovered enough to sate my curiosity.

I'm pleasantly surprised when she shakes her head and doesn't take my invitation. "No, you deserve to know that I helped them. We would raid ships and the occasional coastal village." Her response is short and clipped, which is usual for her, but I can't help but shake that it's intentional on her part this time.

"Did you ever kill anyone?"

There's a moment of hesitation before she answers, "Not directly."

I can tell she's deliberately mirroring my answer to the same question she had for me weeks ago. There's something more that she's not saying, but I let it lie for now. If she doesn't want to talk about it now it's best not to stir up the pot before a big operation. "I can't judge you too harshly, I've done things with the Fang that went on the darker side from time to time."

My acceptance brings her great relief and soon after Kelly gives her own reassurance that nothing changes between them. It takes him a while, but I guess Autumn's a man of his principles because he tells her she's still a part of the team without complaint or any nudging on my side. She doesn't say a thing to broadcast her changing state of mind, but the broad smile tells us enough about how she's feeling.

We give her some space to get it out of her system, but she just falls back into her bed and lies there for a few minutes before I decide to just leave her to it. The rest of my team follow suit and put up their weapons, the strange atmosphere and my request for their help ensures that there is no further conversation for the night.

Now that the weekend is upon me it's finally time to determine what to do about Torckwick's base. The police don't seem to be anywhere close to catching wind of it. I could tip them off about it, but that would be a waste even if I discounted the probability that Torchwick has a mole on the inside. Before I go about deciding what to do I make one last check of the building, going through reports and whatever schematics I can get my hands on.

It takes some time trawling through the CCT, but I'm able to find out the general layout of the building and a few interesting factoids. The first of which is that the roof has a retractable section that's large enough to fit a bullhead through. I remember Ruby mentioned that a bullhead helped bail Torchwick out when Miss Goodwitch showed up to apprehend him so that's something to keep in mind.

The second comes from some complaints that sprung up around that area about a crew of workers clogging up the streets. I cross-reference that with the city's municipal records and find no work orders to be done in that area during the time of the complaints. I can't prove that they had anything to do with Torchwick, but if I was in his shoes I wouldn't trust just one avenue for escape. My money is on him connecting to the basement of another building, likely nearby, which is something to keep in mind if I want to catch the man himself.

That doesn't have to be my goal, however, I've gotten this far maintaining my anonymity and it would be a shame to give it up. Though the potential prize is awfully tempting, which brings up the most relevant question for me. What do I want to get out of this? It's nigh guaranteed with how he's heading the whole operation that Torchwick has information that I want to know and I'll try to get it, but the target lends itself to other opportunities as well.

First is focusing on the man himself. If I'm lucky I can catch him while he's at the hideout and corner the criminal so I can pump him for information. Unfortunately this is likely going to be the most difficult as I'm fighting him on his own turf and I'm sure he has more than one plan for if the place is being raided. It is also the most limiting of options; I can't chase after Torchwick half-heartedly. Either I give it my all in trying to catch him or not at all.

This also comes with the obvious downside that I can't hide this action and unless I want to involve headmaster Ozpin I don't trust the authorities ability to hold him. Still, there isn't a better source of information that I could find, though I have the feeling getting any information out of him will be harder than it was with Junior. Of course if I decide to not do this there's nothing to stop me from hitting the place when he's not around which should be safer overall no matter what I choose to do.

Second, I can focus on gathering information. I'm going to try this regardless, but if I'm too distracted with other goals it might fall to the wayside. Depending on my approach this will mean different things. If I want to go in loud it's as simple as going to whatever looks important and detaining as many White Fang grunts as I can to question. On the other hand, If I want to continue my subtle streak I will lean on my ability to blend in with the crowd and use my semblance to find the information I'm looking for.

Blake could potentially help with this, but I don't have to involve her and it's a lot more subtle if only one person who isn't supposed to be there is present. Based on my previous findings there's a constant amount of traffic in and out of the area so I don't have to worry about waiting for the right time to insert. The only downside is that a criminal like Torchwick likely doesn't keep all his information out in the open, especially considering how many White Fang grunts enter and leave the area.

The next one is related to the second, but works on securing a longer term source of information. I can get my hands on some bugs or, failing that, hide some scrolls to transmit audio from the warehouse. I can even drop off a tracker in one of the crates while I'm at it. Naturally I'll have to successfully avoid notice if I want any hope for it to succeed. Additionally since I can't lean on my semblance to place these bugs it will be a bit harder to pull off than just grabbing some information. That and I'll also have to find some way to monitor the bugs once they're in place.

Fourthly I can focus on crippling the operation itself. The easiest way to do this is to ruin the Dust shipments and get all the White Fang grunts rounded up by the police. Even if they're working for Torchwick I don't think he can spring out all of them without drawing serious scrutiny. Unfortunately that would only delay things for a few weeks, a month at most, and also gives away that someone is interfering with his plans.

I suppose if I'm subtle enough I can pin the blame on Torchwick which could sour relations between him and the Fang, but that's a longshot even if I could guarantee that I could pull it off. Of course the subtle approach would make this difficult as well, but I'm sure that I can rig up some sort of time-delayed detonation if need be. With any luck that would be blamed on poor handling of the Dust than anything else. Plus I can snag some high quality Dust for myself.

A different possibility is if I infiltrate among the rest of the Fang I can sow dissent among the ranks. It can't be too hard to convince the grunts on the ground that Torchwick doesn't have the best interest of the Fang at heart. Then I can aim them towards dragging their heels and subtly sabotaging his efforts in Vale. I don't expect that to last too long, but I doubt it would draw any scrutiny from the Fang or Torchwick himself. Plus the chaos that would go a long way in covering my tracks if things go less according to plan than I hope.

Long-term: While this is already a potential trove of information I can always milk more out of it. Some well placed surveillance devices can continue giving me information. Though this runs the risk of discovery as well as requiring myself or someone else to keep up with the information. (Necessitates a stealth approach) (4)

Cover: Creating some unrest would go a long way to muddy the waters about an outside actor poking their head in Torchwick's business. This might even be expected from both himself and the Fang. (Necessitates a stealth approach) (3)

Information: This is ostensibly what I'm here for. I can focus on gathering the information and ensuring that nothing happens that can ruin it. (2)

Capture: The boldest play available. If I can capture Torchwick I can potentially get all the answers I'm looking for. That is assuming I can get him to talk before I'm forced to give him up. (Requires both priorities, this isn't something that I can half-ass) (0)

Sabotage: Not necessarily my highest priority, but any action that I can take to ruin Adam's day can only benefit me. (0)

When I tell my team about my plan of action Marina is the only one who looks even slightly upset. She quickly gets over it, evidently still riding the high from the previous night. I elect not to bring in anyone else onto this outing as it is unlikely that I'll need them and it isn't exciting enough for them. It's a bit harder for me to justify excluding Blake as well, but I might not find anything as actionable as last time and two people infiltrating will be more suspicious than if I did it on my own.

I have to make a stop in Vale to pick up the devices I need and acquaint myself with them before I pull off this operation. I spend some time fruitlessly searching through some tech shops, they have items that I can make work, but nothing that I'm looking for exactly. With that as a bust I have to look to less than legal means of acquiring what I need, which brings me to the Heaven's Delight teahouse.

Mantis sent me a message a few weeks ago telling me that the three lanterns out front marks it as neutral ground and a possible gray market. Once there it's a quick chat with the proprietor and a customary drink to our future endeavors together before I walk out of there with the equipment I need. I had to pay a bit of a premium considering the source, but that's the price that I have to pay for not having my own connections with the underworld.

As I arrive at Tochwick's hideout I check over and review what I know about the building. It's large and rectangular with a semicircle like roof with a large number of big windows all over. An odd choice considering this is the heart of his operations, but it does blend in with the surrounding buildings. Aside from that there are two side entrances on each of the sides for foot traffic and one large dock door in the front which is currently wide open. There is also a likely underground exit for if the place is raided, but I'll only be able to check that with my semblance considering the situation.

I wait in the nearby alleyways and watch as faunus head towards the hideout. They aren't moving in groups, nor do they have any sort of identifying marker on them aside from the few that walk the streets in their White Fang uniform. This indicates that this isn't very well organized at least from the White Fang's part. I don't know if this is because of their new recruitment drive, a lack of willingness to address these issues, or sheer ignorance that this could cause any problems.

This is further reinforced when I move into the hideout after receiving a signal from Detective Flint that Torchwick hit another Dust store. There are two guards on either side of the dock door and even though I can only spare them a glance while maintaining my cover I can tell they aren't nearly as attentive as the ones at the meeting were. Unlike the latter group these ones don't seem to be expecting any issues whatsoever. I can only chalk such complacency up to the hidden nature of this location and the probability that Torchwick takes the more competent members with him out to rob Dust.

Well their loss is my gain and should help cover any deficiencies in my act. While I have experience with the White Fang that doesn't exactly translate to acting as dumb muscle. Still, it isn't exactly difficult to act like dumb muscle and the inattentive guards only makes it easier.

Performance (Acting) check: Rank 2.05 +.5 (familiarity)=2.55 vs Challenge 1

Final Modifier: +38

Dice: 1d100+38
21 + 38 = 59

Stealth check: Rank 3.02 + 1 (Successful performance)=4.02 vs Challenge 3

Final Modifier: +25

Dice: 1d100+25

44 + 25 = 69

There seems to be a plethora of new recruits that look just as lost as I do. However, unlike them, it only takes me a moment of working with my semblance and I can at least fake that I know what I'm doing. Thankfully the Fang isn't incompetent enough not to realize that this might be an issue and there's a supervisor who's directing people to work in one area or another. On second thought that actually isn't good for me and I'm torn as I both hope that the Vale branch has some competency in its ranks after working under Adam for so long and that they're incompetent enough that I can sneak by without any issue.

I avoid the manager for now, I'll come back to him after I've finished up a few things first. Instead I follow in the wake of two other members who are moving a set of crates on a cart. They head into a surprisingly well organized set of shelves. Either that manager is more on the ball than I was expecting or Torchwick is very particular about where he wants his Dust. I take the opportunity to break away from them and crack open one of the boxes on the shelf.

Unsurprisingly it's full of Dust, looks like some wind Dust of middling grade. Checking the Dust leaves me in enough cover and conveniently braced that I feel confident activating my semblance. Now that I don't have to worry about looking suspicious I take a stroll through the hideout to see what I can find.

First thing that I notice is that the hideout has an upper level that's accessible from a cargo lift and some stairs. There's an office up there, but when I check it there's nothing of value, just a bare empty desk and a chair. With the upstairs a bust I spot a small work area on the other side from where everyone is working. It has some papers strewn about and what looks like the map of Vale on a big board against a wall. I could risk checking on it right now, but I make due with just using my semblance to scout the area out.

A few repeated uses of my semblance presents a clearer picture, but not a more informative one. The map is bare bones, only detailing the districts of Vale and certain police presences. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that Torchwick is robbing stores in the area labeled 'dumb cops' but that's information I already have from my previous investigations. I check over the papers hoping they'd be more useful but only find printouts of store inventory, one of which is the store he just hit. Maybe I could memorize these details and provide some heads up for Detective Flint, but that might just bring Torchwick here sooner and that's the last thing I want.

There's also a small area behind Torchwick's workstation, though it's pretty bare bones. The only thing there is a cot, a table, and a couple of chairs. There is a file of some sort there, but I can't make out what it says. Even with multiple attempts it's simply too distorted by my semblance to piece together anything without getting closer or spending more aura than I'm comfortable with. I'm not even sure I want to bother either; Torchwick hasn't left anything actionable in his work area so I doubt that this would be anything different.

Other than that there's a bullhead off to the side, likely the same one that Ruby said bailed him out when he almost got caught by her and Goodwitch. Given its location it currently isn't being loaded up, but I can't imagine that he or the Fang would let such an asset lie unused once they're set up in Mountain Glenn. One bullhead leaving the industrial district isn't going to catch much attention and it's simply too useful for transporting people and high quality Dust to not be used.

Lastly I check the various Dust stored to see if I can work out what Tochwick's organization system is. It's easy to figure out which is unsurprising considering that it has to be simple enough for the grunts to get it. The shelves are divided into types of Dust and generally the deeper you go in the worse the quality gets. If I had to guess it's to cut down on the time required to ship out the Dust as there's a constant supply coming in and out. There's also a lack of the more explosive varieties of Dust which is just more confirmation of what I already knew.

Stepping out of my mirror world I get to work doing what I'm actually here for. With a knowledge of the layout and the disorganized nature of the operation it's easy enough to avoid attention and pretend to be working while I set up some bugs. Torchwick's area is a different matter though, it's separated from the shelving and sorting areas by a good amount of distance. The only places that would be harder to approach is either the small back room I spotted earlier or the upper levels where no one currently is. Fortunately I have a plan.

I simply walk up there and make a show of looking at the very much unhelpful series of notes and paperwork. I knock some of the papers to the ground for an excuse to lean down and place my bug. Of course this draws attention, but I'm certain I can play it off as just some idle curiosity and given the undisciplined nature of things the manager has to expect something like this. It does mean I have to give up on bugging the back room or the bullhead for now, but those are sacrifices I have to make.

"Hey, you! What do you think you're doing," as if on cue the supervisor himself calls out to me. He's a horse-eared faunus with stern features and a booming voice it turns out. This draws the attention of the other workers who stop what they're doing to see what all the fuss is about.

"Ah, sorry," I yell back, setting the papers I knocked over back in their rightful place; my previous usage of my semblance allows me to set them right back where I found them. Before I leave I make sure to activate my semblance, but I don't find out anything more than I already had before. The papers Torchwick has strewn out simply aren't useful and if I want to find out what's in that folder in the back room I'm going to have to take a risk and go there myself. With that taken care of, I rush up to where the supervisor is ready for a bit of a talking to. The rest of the workers are starting to crowd around to listen to what's up and I figure that, while not optimal, this might be the best time to move on to the other part of my plan.

"I'll repeat. What were you doing there? All the Dust is on this side of the warehouse." From up close it looks like he wants to tear me a new one, but doesn't otherwise seem suspicious. Dealing with all of these newbies must be tough on him and he's looking for someone to take that out on. Fortunately this means that my cover has been working and I just have to lean into that while I try to turn this to my advantage.

Performance check: Rank 2.05+.5(familiarity)+ 1(previous success) =3.55 vs Challenge 3

Final modifier: +13

Dice: 1d100+13

79 + 13 = 92

"Ah, I was just trying to figure out why we were taking orders from a human sir," my voice is the perfect mixture of innocence and deference. I can't spare too much attention while looking apologetic, but I see more than a few shocked expressions and it comes to my attention that that tidbit might not be as well spread out among the Fang as I had expected. There is a notable lack of outrage, I guess these guys don't have as much of a bias as Adam himself does which is slightly frustrating.

The crowd's reaction, however, is not the same as the supervisor's. Instead of a small amount of shock and confusion the man himself is more irrationally angry and frustrated. That anger seems to be directed at the situation and not me in particular. Either he's upset that I've spilled the secret. How would he even keep this a secret in the first place? Or, more likely, that I've touched on a sore point for the man. I have to question the wisdom in having a human-hater in charge of working with a human, but it's entirely possible that the man is one of the more moderate people that Adam could trust with the job.

"That's none of your business. Just get back to work; higher ups have a plan," he grinds out. He wanted to say Adam instead of the vague 'higher ups' but caught himself at the last second. Regardless, not many of the crowd accept the answer to just follow orders. They haven't been a part of the Fang long enough for blind obedience and they don't know Adam well enough to not question him.

I scoff overdramatically, deciding to change gears a little now that I have a small measure of the man I'm up against. "Please, how can we trust a human to have our best interests at heart. I bet if we turn our backs for one moment he'll sell us out to save his own hide and make a quick buck." My words don't have to be true or even that convincing. I just have to confirm the suspicion that the supervisor himself has. With any luck I'll avoid suspicion entirely by convincing him this is all his idea and he can take over this job for me. A real win-win situation if I say so myself.

The man doesn't bother to rebuke my point. so I press my advantage. "Ghira wanted us to be passive little pets for the human only offering meek complaints. He was wrong then just like how they're wrong now. It's easy for those so far removed to make demands of us, but we know what's best for the White Fang don't we!?" My inflammatory dialogue catches with the crowd but doesn't really spark anything. They've just joined up with the Fang and haven't had enough time to grow disillusioned or radicalized by it. It's just as well that I don't have to rely on them for this.

"What would you have me do," he barks out at me directly, not even paying attention to the crowd of eyes on us. "We can't go against him!" I know the 'him' he's referring to is Adam, not Torchwick, but the crowd doesn't and it's as good as confirmation to them that my words have some weight to them.

"That's only if he knows we're going against him," I play into the misconception and the supervisor doesn't make note of it nor do I let the topic linger any longer. "You're in charge here," I say, building him up a little, "I'm sure you can think of something that will cause a headache for that pesky human without him being any wiser."

I could detail some hints about how he could pull this off, but I have to have some faith in the man's ability. Plus if it seems like it's all his idea then that means less attention on me. Even if the others squeal, the only thing they can tell them is that a man with leopard ears talked with their supervisor until he decided to betray Torchwick.

The man battles with himself for a few moments, but his frustration and anger eventually win out and he starts barking out orders to everyone. I take my own order in stride and complete it as quickly as I can. The manager himself has even started getting involved personally with how he's changing things and that chaos grants me the opportunity to sneak over to the bullhead.

Fortunately the thing isn't locked and I make my way inside. I can't start up the thing, but I don't need to for what I want to do. I set up a tracker and a bug underneath the console and hook my scroll into the interface. With some button presses I'm able to access where the bullhead has been and am pleasantly surprised with what I find.

Apparently it made a few stops outside of Vale a few months ago, two stops in the Forever Fall Forest and one stop in the middle of nowhere from what I can tell. Now I could write those off as operations that the Fang has made, but I remind myself that Torchwick being bailed out by, most likely, this bullhead happened before his partnership with the Fang. So either it's his and he took a trip out into the wilderness for some reason or this bullhead actually belongs to the person connecting him and the Fang.

I take a quick picture of any identifying marking and serial numbers I can find in the bullhead, with any luck they'll lead me to who bought it. Checking my scroll, I have to make a decision on whether I'm going to stick around for one more objective or if it's time to bug out. Torchwick has just finished robbing his second store and he could come back at any moment.

Go: I've already pressed my luck plenty enough. Now's the time to leave and wait for the results of actions. (4)

+Information: With Torchwick's desk being a bust as far as information goes I have to rely on what I can find in that back room. (4)

Stay: I've been doing well so far and I don't plan on coming back here anytime soon. I should take the risk now while I have the chance. (+ for action taken, will require a stealth check) (2)

+Sabotage: With all this chaos going around it'd be easy to follow along with the orders and add my own brand of mischief. Might even snag some Dust for myself. (0)

There's no need to risk anything more than I already have, especially since it might endanger the gains I've already made. With any luck I'll learn of Torchwick's plans from the man himself. I wait until I spot someone else leaving and follow along behind them. It isn't as stealthy as I'd prefer, but the side exits are blocked off and I don't want to take my chances heading towards the roof or the windows.

Once I meet back up with my team I double check that I'm receiving a signal from the bugs I've planted and get the all clear. I doubt the signal quality will be too great all the way at Beacon so I find a safety deposit box in a bank close by that won't interrupt the signal and leave it there for now. I'll have to check on it later or find someone else to do it for me. Right now I focus my attention on my more immediate clue, that of the bullhead.

After some searching on the CCTS I'm able to determine that the bullhead is reported as stolen from a manufacturer's dealership here in Vale. Bullhead's aren't restricted vehicles and are available on the civilian market for anyone who can afford one, but it is required to register who purchases and operates one. Of course in the case of theft it's not always possible to report who stole it.

Now, it could be as simple as it appears to be and the vehicle was actually stolen, but the fact that it happened in Vale and not, let's say Mistral points towards a party not from that area. This happens to knock out the two biggest contenders for who could be the connection between Torchwick and Adam. An even bigger tip off is that this 'robbery' has none of the hallmarks of a normal robbery. Nothing was out of place and nothing was broken, just one day the bullhead was a part of their inventory and the next it was 'stolen.'

It's possible that this was the work of a master thief who somehow has enough pull to bring Adam to heel, but I find the possibility that the dealership was simply paid off to hide their identity far more likely. Regardless of the truth of the matter, it leaves me with a lead I could follow that's more likely to have information about my unknown actor than what I've been looking through.

Aura(Practical) raised from (35/625) to (45/625) Source: Semblance usage

Combat Raised from (96/625) to (104/625) Source: Class & Training

Dust raised from (31/50) to (37/50) Source: Class

Grimm raised from (40/150) to (46/150) Source: Class

History raised from (49/300) to (58/300) Source: Class & Challenge

Investigation raised from (74/300) to (102/300) Source: Class, Training+Semblance, & Challenge

Mobility raised from (70/300) to (76/300) Source: Class

Performance(Acting) raised from(8/150) to (12/150) Source: Challenge

Stealth raised from (5/300) to (7/300) Source: Challenge

Survival raised from (31/150) to (37/150) Source: Class

Team Fighting style raised from (47/75) to (54/75) Source: Training

Discretionary budget reduced to (3800/5000L) Source: bugs and hotel costs.

LloydAbsolon · Feb 18, 2024

There was actually a tie with 4 votes each to do 1 or 2 Investigation actions. This was due to one particular option that was highly requested and I decided to offer it as a free action as I thought it through and it shouldn't have required the full time a weekly action usually denotes.

Robberies: Unknown Actor: With the discovery of that bullhead I finally have a definitive lead to follow to find out my mystery actor's identity. (Investigation check and Social) [moderate circumstance modifier to the investigation check] (8)

Robberies: Bug Watcher: I can't possibly keep up with the amount of information I'm getting from the bugs I've planted without eating into too much of my time. I should find someone I can trust to help me out with this. (Social, unlocks organization actions) (Free, see QM Note)

Jaune (QM)

Ruby: She's a bundle of optimism even if that causes her to single me out from time to time. It might be enjoyable to be the one to bother her for once. (6)

Weiss: I've seen her head to the CCT tower a few times after class ever since I gave her some advice. I could check in with her and see what she's doing. (5)

semblance (knowledge) x2 (6)

Team fighting x2 (5)

The week starts with the whole class being crammed into bullheads, two teams to a bullhead, and sent off to Forever Falls Forest. It's bad enough being packed like sardines, and it's even worse when my team and I are stuck with CRDL. Though, they are oddly well behaved the whole ride over, possibly due to Marina's uncharacteristically happy and enthusiastic mood, so small mercies. By time we land I don't bother hiding my desire to be free of that flying metal tin can and out on solid ground. Naturally, my desire to be on solid ground away from CRDL isn't the only reason why I'm so eager to be on my way.

I have a few locations to check out in the forest. The last one will be the White Fang campsite. I've already gotten everything I'm likely to get out of the Fang and checking a campsite over two months old isn't likely to provide me with any fresh information. Instead I head off to one of the two clearings that I know the stolen bullhead went to. The second one is off in the middle of nowhere, but I don't have enough time to reach it and get back on time even if I thought I'd get anything out of it. I did my due diligence and found that it was close to a pretty secluded portion of road to Vale from a village nearby, but that was the only thing of note around that location. If I ever get an inclination that something actually important was there I can review my assumption and maybe even talk with some of the villagers.

Accompanying me on my journey is Marina and the whole situation makes me glad I told my team everything to begin with. I can't even imagine how I'd keep this hidden from them especially since I have to foist off our schoolwork on Kelly and Autumn. We have to collect some red sap from the trees in the forest, a task that the two of them have some experience with during the later months of the year. Marina and I are able to escape the gaze of Goodwitch by the sheer fact that she dumped a bunch of teenagers in a forest and has her hands full enough as it is. We encounter the occasional grimm as we travel but they aren't even a challenge. Unlike with initiation, Vale has no reason not to periodically cull these grimm to keep them away from the walls.

Once we arrive at the clearing it's easy to tell that it's been months since the bullhead touched down here. Time and the elements have washed away any identifying marks from the area. There's maybe a few disturbed blades of grass and some litter that one of my mysterious trio might have dropped here. It's just an empty pack of gum so I'm not holding out too much hope on the matter. The clearing is, however, only a few minutes of walking away from the White Fang camp. It takes Marina and I barely a minute of hauling ass to reach our destination and it's not what I'm expecting.

There are a lot of scorch marks and evidently the entire camp wasn't packed away, not that I blame them now that I'm looking around. The parts that they left behind are burnt tents that they half-buried like they didn't have the manpower at the time they decided to leave. This does prove to me that Adam was coerced or threatened into this scheme, and isn't that a scary thought all on its own. I even spot a makeshift gravestone, so whoever did this wasn't the gentlest of souls. With Blake's story and knowing when the bullhead touched down in the area I can conclude this all occurred after she left the Fang and that this lines up remarkably well with the start of Torchwick's Dust robbing spree.

Marina and I spend a few minutes sifting through the wreckage for some sort of lucky find, but have to call our investigation to a close when an alarm on my scroll sounds off. I could stay out here and go over the place with a fine toothed comb, but it's unlikely I'll find anything that's worthwhile so I leave it alone. It's a shame that I couldn't turn up anything substantial, aside from that concerning detail that Adam may not be doing this willingly, but there isn't anything I can do about it now.

Once I regroup with Autumn and Kelly we show Miss Goodwitch our collected jars and she notes that we completed the assignment. Then it's only a matter of waiting a few minutes for the other teams to make their way back and board the bullheads. Then it's another trip with team CRDL who somehow didn't complete their assignment, though I don't care enough about them to ask how they managed that.

Later that night that there's a knock on our dorm room door. Having accepted at this point that the rest of my team won't answer the door unless they're expecting someone or I order them to, I make my way to see who it is this time. I'm somewhat surprised to discover that it's Jaune of all people and, judging by how he's in his combat outfit, he either hasn't changed since we got back or this is supposed to be a serious conversation. I don't start our conversation and instead wait for him to tell me why he's here in the first place. Apparently he didn't consider I'd take this course of action as over the course of multiple seconds I watch as his puffed out chest slowly deflates until he reaches his breaking point.

"Look I just wanted to say that you had a point. With what you said to me, I mean." He pulls his sword halfway out of the sheath as if to show that he took my advice and had it sized properly. I already knew, because I saw him run away that one day to get it done and also because I'm not blind and can see that it substantially improved his time during sparring. Now he's no longer at the absolute bottom, still close though, but he's better than a few people. I'm not sure if I should be impressed with his progress or ashamed that there are people Jaune can beat attending Beacon.

Deciding not to think on that matter anymore I instead reply, "And what about the rest of the points I made?" Jaune winces and my tone may have been harsher than necessary, but he's the one who decided to butt into my free time so I'm not feeling too charitable right now.

"Ah, that. You see what that is-'' I mentally prepare myself for more of his excuses when he suddenly stops himself; I didn't think I was being that obvious in my irreverence. "Actually no, enough excuses. The truth is that I don't have the money to upgrade it and my family isn't being the most supportive about the matter."

"They'd rather you die, then shell out some Lien to keep you safe?" I don't necessarily doubt him, I know of some real scumbag parents from overhearing about them during my time in the Fang. Jaune, however, takes my words as an inquisition that he has to answer.

"Well you see, I may have ran away from home…without permission," he elaborates like his previous words don't make that obvious enough.

"Mhm, and what about Pyrrha? She's a tournament winner and she accepted sponsorships. I bet she has a few hundred Lien she could lend you."

"Ah that," he says, rubbing the back of his head nervously. "She's already helping me out so much and I don't want to seem like I'm taking advantage of her." I don't even have to say anything, instead fixing the blonde boy with a look that causes him to gulp. "Though, now that I think about it. Yeah, you're right, the worst thing she can do is tell me no, right?"

I almost want to keep glaring at him just to see what nonsense he starts spouting, but then I'm reminded of the beating Pyrrha gave me and decide to go easy on him. "Yeah it's a start, and don't worry we'll be taking missions next year so you'll be able to pay her back before you know it." That comment causes him to sigh in relief and I have to question what exactly he's doing in Beacon if he doesn't know about that.

"Thanks man, and um I'm sorry. Pyrrha was mad at you when she should have been mad at me, so I'm sorry."

"Ah, she told you about that, huh?" It's a shame, I don't really want anyone to know about how I did against Pyrrha, but if anyone would know it'd be her partner. The whole class is hyped about me and her finally fighting in the ring, but Goodwitch has been deliberately keeping us apart after our duel so I haven't gotten my rematch yet.

"What are you talking about," Jaune asks, genuinely confused.

"Ah, nothing. Forget about it." I can tell he still wants to ask so I have to quickly change the subject.

Investigation: Out of everyone in the know Jaune seems to be the least supportive in stopping Torchwick. I could talk with him and see what his reservations are. (7)

Family: So his family isn't on board with the whole being a Huntsman thing. I could ask him if there's a reason for that. (4)

Huntsman: His family doesn't want him to be here and he doesn't have the skills either. Why exactly does he want to be a Huntsman in the first place? (0)

"So I noticed you weren't as…excited as everyone else was at the meeting Ruby dragged us all into."

"Yeah, you could say that," Jaune responds slowly, obviously not getting my point. It requires a polite cough to prompt him to expand on his statement. "I just think this is something that the police should handle, you know. N-not saying that you shouldn't look into it considering that it involves the-"Jaune stops himself abruptly as if he realized he was about to let loose some big secret.

"I'm not keeping my past a secret, Jaune. I'm just not spreading it around, if you've heard about it assume that it's free game for the rest of the school as well." He takes my words with a heart-filled expression on his face, like my words were some sort of expression of trust and not the dismissal of the issue that it is.

"Ah, thanks. Well you have a bigger stake in things than I do and I'd rather spend my time catching up in school than hanging around in Vale. That and I have an obligation to keep my team safe." His words are true, if a bit hypocritical considering that last statement and his previous unwillingness to update his armaments. However, there's a nervousness in his tone that betrays that he's hiding something deeper.

"Okay, and what's the other reason," I ask, my own tone brooking no nonsense.

"Well, I may have had a deal with people that he might know and I'd rather not deal with that possibility. Especially if you don't really need my help in the first place, though if you need my help just say the word."

Jaune finishes that sentence quickly and weakly, so I press on a different issue to see how he'd react, "And what if you found out that he was going to hurt people?"

"I'd stop him," is Jaune's immediate reply. At least I can mark him going to Beacon as an idealist and not for the glamor and respect that the profession offers. That gives me a lever that I can pull if I ever need to convince Jaune to help me out with something, as unlikely as that case may be. Who knows, he might surprise me with his progress over the next few years. Of course if Jaune is hesitant to go after Torchwick because of something hanging over his head it's prudent of me to find out what exactly that is.

"You know, not everyone in the underworld is connected to each other. Just because they're all criminals doesn't mean that they get along with each other particularly well." He nods at my words, but it's clear he doesn't know where I'm going with this. "What did the people you made a deal with look like?"

"You don't want to know what the deal I had with them was, do you," he asks, looking at me skeptically. I shake my head in negation, truthfully I am curious, but it's hardly at the top of my list of priorities at the moment.

Unfortunately he is still reluctant to let loose with the details so I take a shot in the dark, "Let me guess; suits, red ties, and red sunglasses?"

"Yeah, how'd you know?" I could tell him the truth, that apparently the Xiong family has, or I guess considering recent events had, a dominating position in Vale. That, however, is more likely to make him worry more than less. Thankfully I don't have to actually explain myself.

"You don't have to worry about those guys working with Roman. Apparently he got a bunch of their guys hurt during his Dust runs and Junior didn't take too kindly to his boys being roughed up." Jaune opens his mouth, likely to ask how I'm so certain about that, before closing it right back up and shooting me a thankful look. Good, he isn't thick enough not to think through such an obvious conclusion. "I'd advise avoiding the clubs in Vale and to expect a call in four years about how you owe a certain someone a favor, but other than that I don't think you'll have any problems."

He nods at that, but still looks on guard as if I'm going to admonish him or press him for further details. When it becomes clear that I won't exasperation fills his voice, "You really aren't going to ask me, aren't you?" I'm not sure why he's so worried that I'd stick my nose in his business; he must really think whatever secret he's keeping is a big deal when it probably is not.

Still, I play along, "Ask about what?" If he wants to take that as an invitation to spill the beans, I'm all ears. He takes it in the spirit I meant and laughs it off with one last thanks before he heads off to his dorm; he really should take his equipment back to his locker, but that's a problem he'll have to deal with in the morning.

The day after I only have one real obligation that will take me outside of the walls of Beacon and I waste no time getting it out of the way as soon as I can. My first step is to dig into what I can find about my mystery woman, while the knowledge about the 'stolen' bullhead offers me a new avenue of exploration there is no reason not to bolster my case with whatever knowledge I can get my hands on beforehand. Plus every little bit will help me convince Flint, or whoever else I need to hand over the information I'm looking for.

Investigation check: rank: 3.34 +.75(circumstance)=4.09 vs Challenge 4

Final modifier: +2

Dice: 1d100+2

21 + 2 = 23

I go over what I know and start piecing together a timeline. It all starts with the 'robbery' of the bullhead, followed by my mystery woman seeking out Adam at his camp then going to a seemingly unrelated location before returning and threatening him. That's all well and good, but it leaves a lot of unknowns for me. There is the space of a few days between when the bullhead was 'stolen' and her showing up to talk with Adam, but that doesn't tell me much. Either she found where Adam was in that time in between in which case my search area for that would be based on Vale, or she already knew where he was and was just waiting for the heat to die down which leaves me exactly where I am.

There are too many unknowns to deal with there; instead I focus my attention on how her and her posse ended up in Vale. This is made slightly easier by having a definitive time that she had to be in city, but I still run into a wall of sorts. While I have access to customs and gate reports, courtesy of Detective Flint, they are only helpful in eliminating an avenue of investigation. Now I'm certain that my mystery woman didn't arrive by sea, and have reasonably eliminated a large portion of airships that service Vale.

There are a few private airships, like the SDC's fleet, that have lobbied successfully to keep their deliveries, passengers, and arrivals as private as possible. Of course they're still recorded in an office somewhere, but that office doesn't have to hand over their reports to the police without due cause. Just one more avenue to look into at another time. It's also possible that they were dropped off outside of Vale and made their way into the city by foot, but there's not much I can do about that if that's the case.

With another few hours sunk into this productivity pit I let out a sigh. I at least have one last lead to follow up on before I call this a day. I make my way to the dealership from which the 'bullhead' was stolen. Of course they won't keep any records if the deal is what I think it was, but that doesn't mean that no one remembers it. Unfortunately I don't have enough evidence to lean on Detective Flint to help force compliance, but I'm sure I can manage.

Once at the dealership I ask around and mention that I have a friend who was very pleased with her purchase and wants to thank the person who helped her with it. When given her description I get some knowing nods and am pointed in the direction of the head of sales. Apparently my target marched right up there with a friend of hers to have a chat with the man himself.

Now I could follow in her footsteps, that runs the risk that he could inform her that someone's on her trail. This relies on their relationship being something other than transactional, which I have no details on one way or the other.

If that's too risky then I could keep myself to a more passive role and get a clearer picture about who I'm dealing with. Blake's description has been helpful, but having multiple sources so I can be certain about the details can only help, and they likely have more information about the friend she brought with her than the light amount of details Blake provided.

Lastly, I could threaten the man. I know that something is up with this transaction and a little blackmail could go a long way. He doesn't need to know that I have no ability to actually enforce my threat, but the name of a Detective in good standing might be enough to lend my words some weight. Of course, Flint may not like that I'm using his name in such a manner and might be more reluctant to share information in the future.

Passive: I'll keep my reconnaissance light this week. I've gotten some confirmation that my target was here and that her description matches the one Blake gave. There's no reason to push for much more than that. (2)

Pointed: I just need to have a chat with the man. I'll do my best not to arouse any suspicion, but there are only so many ways I can ask about a woman I don't know. (1)

Aggressive: With some well utilized threats, coercion, and a little bit of blackmail I'm sure that I can get some of the details I'm looking for (0)

I'm already pushing it by just asking questions around here, but I don't want to leave empty handed either. I decide on a more moderate approach, I won't approach the head of sales directly; too much of a chance that he might tip off my target. Instead I keep my presence light, only pushing for the barest of details from the people I've already talked to.

They don't provide any more insight into who my target is or what she looks like, though I do find out more about the friend that accompanied her. The details are a bit hazy given the time that has passed and the fact that people weren't paying much attention to the group, but I'm able to piece together the commonalities.

My target's partner is a girl with dark or heavily tanned skin and mint green hair. I can't push for more detail than that without drawing scrutiny and I'm further discouraged by the quality of information I've received so far. At least I can say that my adventure wasn't a total bust, I confirmed that my target was here and even got a little bit of knowledge about the person she was with. I have to remind myself that these kinds of investigations are more akin to marathons than to sprints, especially since I want to keep a low profile. If I were more willing to make some noise, like I did with Junior, I'm sure I'd get more info, but the costs outweigh the benefits for me right now.

Thoughts on my investigation draw me back to Ruby. She had a run in with Torchwick and, now that I think about it, my mystery woman as well. She didn't mention anything specific about the woman helping out Torchwick, but the details about her summoning fire cinches it for me. Maybe if I prod her memory on the matter she might be able to give me some more details to go off of?

It takes some asking around, but I'm eventually pointed in her direction and find the young girl in the workshop. She has on some earmuffs and protective goggles as she's humming to herself while working one of the metalworking machines. I'm not sure what exactly she's doing as I've only picked up enough about how weapons work to maintain my equipment and replace the odd part that breaks.

I wait for a few minutes for Ruby to finish up and as I do so she starts shuffling her feet and swaying her hips in time to the song that she's humming to herself. I can't tell what it is with all the noise in the room drowning her out, but she's really getting into her work. It's a similar sort of groove that I get into when I get really deep into an investigation so I know if I don't interrupt her soon I either won't be able to or I'll have to deal with a really grumpy Ruby.

I step into her field of view and give her a little wave as she puts away the part she was working on. This causes her to look at me with a big smile and she returns my wave enthusiastically. She is obviously torn from working on her project some more or talking with me but fortunately conversation wins out on her list of priorities and we take a step outside. I try to make some small talk with her on our way out, however, I only notice that she still has her earmuffs on when we make it outside and turn around to talk to her directly.

"So what did you want to talk about," she asks a bit too loudly for my tastes. I make a motion for her to take off her hearing protection and she does so with a shy giggle. "Heh, sorry about that. Sometimes I forget that I even put these things on in the first place."

I make a mental note that she must use them often enough to be comfortable with wearing them or something like them for an extended period of time. "Yeah, it looked like you were really into whatever it was that you were doing."

My throwaway comment is immediately jumped on by Ruby. "Yeah, I was making something for my sweet Crescent Rose! I had all these plans on how to upgrade her during my final years at Signal, but being moved ahead and having to catch up on schoolwork has been eating all of my time until now." I try to interrupt her at this point, but Ruby starts talking over me to explain how exactly she's planning to upgrade her weapon including a fully automatic fire mode, which given the recoil I've seen from that thing doesn't seem like the greatest of ideas.

"Ruby, stop. I have no clue about half the things that you're talking about," I cut in as an act of desperation. I'm finally able to get through to her by admitting my ignorance on the matter.

"Huh? But your weapons aren't that much less sophisticated than mine."

"I didn't make them, I only learned enough to keep them in shape. Never really had the time or inclination to learn more, much less to make them myself." Ruby looks at me like the possibility that I didn't want to make my own weapons is an impossibility to her. She's about to say something, but I cut her off. I'm not willing to get into that particular tangent right now. "What caused you to be moved up into Beacon in the first place?"

I already know the answer from hanging out with her and Yang, but my comment serves its purpose admirably. "After Torchwick got away Miss Goodwitch took me somewhere to give my statement and Ozpin was the one to meet with me at the time. I must have made an impression because he offered me a spot at Beacon." She averts her eyes from me in embarrassment for some reason, but I can hear the pride in her voice regardless.

"And you skipped a year of Signal in the process."

"Two years actually." She tries to downplay it, but my deliberate mistaking of her age has a satisfied grin forming on her face. With her buttered up it's time to move on to actually discussing things with her.

With her buttered up it's time to move on to what I actually sought her out for. "While we're on the topic, I was wondering if there was anything you could tell me about your run in with Torchwick."

"Didn't we already talk about this?"

I fight back a grimace from remembering the details, or lack thereof, from Ruby's story on the matter. "Yes, but it doesn't hurt to go over the details again. I could jog your memory or there might be something you thought was small, but in retrospect could point to something bigger."

Ruby doesn't look convinced, but she plays along regardless. She theatrically coughs and starts setting the stage to tell her story once more. "So there I was, late in the evening minding my own business-"

"Ah, could we skip ahead to the part on the rooftop with the bullhead? I have a lead on that and any details you can provide would be crucial." My interruption catches Ruby flat and takes the winds out of her sails.

"I, uh, uhm. The rooftop, of course. Well, um, after I followed him up there a bullhead pulled up from behind the building. He tried to get away, but Miss Goodwitch came in to stop him, she almost had him until someone from inside summoned a bunch of fire and burnt away all the debris Goodwitch was using and then they got away," Ruby retells this part in a drier manner than her previous bombastic recount. Which, aside from her slight disappointment, is exactly what I'm looking for.

"And were you able to get a look at this mystery person? What did she look like?" I already have some idea of what she looks like, but getting a secondary confirmation is nice. Plus now that I'm thinking about it, I might have some options available to me with an official witness to the crime.

I pull out my scroll and message Detective Flint as I listen to Ruby's description. "Well I couldn't get a real good look at her because of the darkness, but she was wearing a red dress, had black hair, and her eyes were all fiery and glowing."

I'm only half paying attention at this point as I get confirmation for a certain idea I'm having, but the comment about glowing fiery eyes catches my attention. Must be something semblance related I guess. Yang's eye-color changes when she uses her semblance, so it's likely as simple as that. Whatever it is it's not like Ruby would have the answer.

"Thank you, and if I could trouble you for one more thing? I think it would really help me out."

"Sure, what is it," Ruby chirps immediately.

"Oh, just going to meet with someone in Vale. They should be able to provide some assistance." She nods along with me and grabs her stuff. I spend an airship ride listening to Ruby talk about weapons and her plans to upgrade Crescent Rose before we make our way to the VPD station Flint directed me to.

Once we get there Ruby abruptly stops her babbling and gives me the stink eye. "Ugh, what are we doing here!?"

"Like I said, getting some help."

"Yeah, right," she snorts. "Last time I was here they didn't even bother asking any questions; just told me they had everything handled. The only people who cared even the littlest bit were Goodwitch and Ozpin. It's just like Uncle Qrow says, 'when seconds count, the police take minutes,'" Ruby finishes with more disdain than I'd associate with the normally sweet girl.

She's not wrong though; before I came to Vale I expected that their police would be better than Mistral's and they managed to limbo under that expectation. I guess I can take some small pride that Menagerie has the second best police force in all of Remnant.

Not wanting to touch that at the moment I make a non-committal hum. "Well, they do have their uses. Just give it an hour or two and I won't make you do this again." I can tell that hasn't convinced her fully so I move on to bribery, "I'll make sure that they have some cookies and milk for you."

I deliberately move on so I don't have to witness Ruby pumping her fist in victory over such a small matter. I meet with Flint waiting for me in the lobby and he takes the two of us into one of the interrogation rooms. Inside is a sketch artist waiting for us and I'm able to convince Flint to make good on my bribe while Ruby gets started detailing what she knows about the mystery woman.

The sketch artist is a man in his late twenties who looks like he wants to be doing anything other than listen to an excitable fifteen year-old give a vague description and pressing her for clarification. He does straighten up when Flint comes back into the room; the two of them look each other in the eye and after a silent conversation the sketch artist returns to his work with renewed vigor. I'm not sure what exactly Flint told him to get him to agree to this, but I have the feeling Flint is sticking his neck out for me more than an introduction from Coco would prompt him to.

At some point I step in to make sure Ruby is providing accurate details and supplement them from time to time. I always phrase it as something she told me about during her story or a detail she let slip at some time or another. She doesn't question it, but the frown on the sketch artist's face lets me know what he thinks about me 'leading the witness' as it were. Still, all it takes is a look from Detective Flint and he doesn't voice his complaints.

By the time we're done we have a sketch of our suspect handed over to me and Ruby. Flint explains that since they don't have any evidence connecting her to a crime they can't post the sketch themselves, but he makes sure to take a picture for his own personal investigations. It's just as well, because I wouldn't trust the rest of the police department not to squeal if they did recognize the person in question. I briefly quibble about whether to tell them about the mystery woman's friend, but I don't have nearly enough details for a half-way decent sketch so I pass on it for now.

The sketch itself is light on the details, especially around the mouth and ears. The hair is a bit more indistinct, but it looks recognizable enough from a glance. I just have to hope she wears the same hairstyle all the time and not just when she's in a bullhead. The eyes and nose are a bit more fleshed out, though I have no idea as to how accurate they are. According to Ruby the glowing eyes made these features stand out some more and she's certain about the shape of the eyes if nothing else. However, it's just as likely that the brightness and time have added their own changes to the profile that I'll have to keep in mind.

Regardless, once we leave I'm left with a pouting Ruby and, considering that the start of the next month is just around the corner, I have no qualms with buying forgiveness from her in the form of ice cream. Her appetite for sweets satisfied, I find myself back in Ruby's good graces and with some time to kill before heading back to Beacon.

Weapons: Why is she so excited about weapons to begin with? I could ask her and provide my own perspective on the matter, maybe even toss around ideas for improvements. (4)

Qrow: Her Uncle's a Huntsman but he has some rather strong opinions on the police. I could ask what exactly it is that he does. (2)

Police: She doesn't seem to have a high opinion on the police. Maybe I could fill her in on their likely criminal connection and talk about how it is for the rest of the Kingdoms. (0)

If I'm already settling into getting back into Ruby's good graces I might as well go all the way. "So about Crescent Rose," Ruby's ears pick up right as I say the name of her weapon. "What improvements were you looking into anyways? You mentioned something about a full-auto mode, but wouldn't that be problematic considering," I end my question by gesturing towards her small frame.

Just from observing some spars I know that her Sniper-Scythe's recoil is enough to send her flying and she's taken no steps to counteract that. In fact she's added the recoil to her combat style and I shudder to think about how uncontrollable that'd be in full-auto.

"Yeah, I might have to use smaller caliber rounds until I get used to it. I plan to only use that mode when I'm set up and need to provide a lot of fire, but if I can work it into the rest of my repertoire I'd be all zoom across the battlefield."

"You mean more than you already are," I respond with a bit of an edge in my voice. The question is in good humor, but I don't want to think about Ruby being any faster. She already gets a speed boost from her semblance and how she uses her weapon. I can take some solace that I have an easy way of counteracting her mobility if need be, but those are thoughts for the end of the year.

Instead of taking any offense to my words Ruby rubs the back of her head, apparently feeling called out by what I said. Since that appears to be the sum total of her response I change gears, "So what made you so interested in weapons to begin with? I'm assuming Signal and its requirement to build your own?"

Her silver eyes light up and she practically jumps at the conversation like she's had something to say about the matter and has been waiting to unleash it for weeks. "Weapons are an extension of ourselves! It's like how some people show off their inner selves with their clothing or their hair. But unlike all of that anyone who bothers with a custom weapon has to be proficient with it and actually want to use it; you can always count on their weapon to tell you about them. They're practically screaming to the world who they are and what they're like.

Plus I mean, they're so cool. Like Weiss' dustcaster is specifically built to provide the exact amount of Dust she needs for her glyphs. Or Blake's weapon has been balanced so she can throw it and guide its trajectory by firing off Dust." Ruby at this point has a manic gleam in her eye and is practically vibrating. It seems like she's completely forgotten about her ice cream, but it isn't an issue if I need to buy her another one.

"Marina can do the same thing with her anchor." My comment draws a squee from the young girl and I press on before we can get too bogged down in the details. "So are you a big proponent of weapon symbolism theory then?"

"Huh, what's that," she asks, still full of energy that's now fueling curiosity.

"It's something like you described, that weapons show something about their wielder though I think it approaches things from the opposite direction. Instead of showing someone's 'inner self' it's a statement from the person to the world about their intentions and desires, sometimes not even consciously."

My statement fills Ruby with some confusion as to where I'm going, but she's still full of excitement, her eyes practically begging for me to continue. "For example I wield a rapier, under this theory that would be because I don't view the grimm as my real enemy, but rather other people. Not necessarily untrue in my case, even if the grimm is the real enemy of us all they weren't the ones I was fighting at the time. Or in your case, with a scythe you're declaring to the world that you'll be one of the best, a grimm reaper if you will."

Ruby's face morphs from excitement to slight concern to pride until finally ending in embarrassment after she finishes processing my statement. "I-uh, I wouldn't go that far."

I make a non-committal noise which causes her to flush further. I decide to give the poor girl an escape route, "I wouldn't worry about it too much. It's only a theory after all and was considered outdated by the conclusion of the Great War. Mass-produced arms put a bit of a damper on the whole theory because who wants to proclaim to the world that they're just like everybody else."

She takes the lifeline and gives a light laugh. "Yeah, plus it's going about it all the wrong way. People choose a weapon that fits them, not to make a statement or anything."

"Mhm, and considering we're on the topic. You discussed a lot about upgrades for Crescent Rose, but do you have anything for my Wit's End?"

Ruby turns serious and thinks over my genuine request. I might not want to implement anything that she gives me, but it's good to get some options on the table. "Well, maybe not your Wit's End specifically. I mean he could use some stronger barrels and a better loading mechanism to handle higher grade Dust, but he's perfectly serviceable for now," she offers cautiously.

"I take it you have something else in mind?"

"Well your gauntlet-buckler could use some love. Maybe add in an extendable blade and you can block an attack and go all schwing on an enemy when they least expect it. You could even give him a name then." I bite back any comment at how my shield doesn't need a name; if I interrupt her just as she starts going I won't be able to hear her suggestions and if I do upgrade it I might consider naming it.

"Or if you don't like that you could load in an impact plate so when it's activated and someone hits your shield the Dust inside goes off. Combine that with some light Dust and you could blind someone when they least expect it. Maybe even rig it so that you can trigger it manually. Or you could work some magnetic Dust into the assembly on your arm and throw the shield part then activate the Dust to call it back to you. Or you could load up a cannon assembly as part of the gauntlet or under the shield so all you have to do is fold your wrist out of the way like this one comic I was reading, oh it would be so cool! They'd be all, 'hah, nothing you have can even scratch me' and you'd be all, 'oh yeah, watch this. Ka-pow!'"

I can tell I've lost Ruby into the realm of fantasy at this point as she starts to list off more and more impractical ideas. They could possibly be refined into something workable, but the costs to develop or even use some of the things that she's coming up with are causing me to wince. Especially the one about integrating gravity Dust so I can enhance my gauntlet with one hell of a hammer blow. She also starts gesticulating wildly as she gets deeper into her explanations until she's finally knocked out of this state by knocking her ice cream on the floor. I of course buy her another one so I don't have to deal with her being upset the whole ride back to Beacon, but this time I'm more than happy to leave the conversation alone.

When we get back to Beacon it's late enough that I can make my excuse to head back to my dorms while Ruby lightly complains that the workshop is closed by this time of day. She thanks me for the ice cream and tells me we should do it again sometime before we part ways and I hope that no one gets the wrong idea this time.

Ever since our last chat Weiss has been visiting the CCT tower after class. Now, I admit that my curiosity gets the better of me, but I am able to rein in my worst impulses and I choose to simply ask her rather than snoop around for the answer. To do so I wait in the lobby of the tower for Weiss to be done with her business. Thankfully the wait is a short one and Weiss comes down in the elevator with her attention entirely focused on the scroll in her hand.

She's so focused that she almost walks past me, but a polite cough on my part catches her attention. "Oh, sorry I was just," Weiss starts until she sees that it's me and puts her scroll away. "Ah, sorry about that. How can I help you, Ochre? I heard from Ruby that the two of you went into Vale together." Her tone is a bit frosty and her posture guarded, I guess it was too much to expect Ruby to explain things.

"Yes, the two of us went to get a sketch of Torchwick's accomplice. Ruby got a look at them when he and her tussled on the roof of a Dust shop."

Instantly she relaxes, "Oh, that's good may I-" Before she can even complete the sentence I've already pulled up the picture on my scroll. The sketch itself has been added to my board, but I made sure that everyone on my team has a copy. Weiss for her part stares at the picture like she's burning in every detail she can. I pull my scroll away from her and send her the picture, if she's that invested there's no harm in giving her the tools to help out.

"Enough about that, though. I'm interested in what you've been doing in the tower the past few days."

"Ah that," she responds slowly, worrying at her bottom lip. She quickly gets over whatever it is that's causing her to hesitate and continues, "After our discussion last week I decided to take your advice." She starts pulling out her scroll and I wait for her to continue. "It isn't much, but I convinced the accountants at the SDC to provide me with the financial details of the Vale branch."

"Could you not get them to do it for you, or did you decide to do it yourself," I probe, depending on the answer that'll tell me how much of my advice she took to heart.

"To do it myself of course," her tone is haughty, although if she is offended by my question she doesn't show it.

I smile, "Didn't want to run the risk that they'd claim credit if they found something."

"That may have been one of my reasons, yes." With that I feel confident enough that I don't have to watch her expression and focus on what Weiss put in front of me. It's a spreadsheet full of numbers, but without the context of what they're in relation to I can't grasp what it says in the few seconds I look over it.

Seemingly pleased by my interest Weiss has a small smile on her face as she pulls back her scroll, but that expression turns bashful as she voices her next statement. "I was planning on asking if you could help me work through this data. It may not be as exciting as what you're doing, but I would appreciate the help, and I can assure you that you will be well compensated."

I actually have to think that offer over. On the one hand it would be beneficial to my investigation. If Weiss has access to this kind of information she can pull up the records and plans of the SDC in relation to Vale. On the other hand I would be helping the SDC, however tangentially. Although I could consider this more helping Weiss than the SDC though there are still some hang ups involved.

Assistance: I can spare some time to help her. It would be nice to work on an unrelated investigation and I can secure some immediately useful information. (6)

Menagerie: I know of some Dust deposits that would help secure her position as the Schnee heiress, but first I need to know what her plans are, if any, for Menagerie. (3)

Father: From her previous comments I know that she doesn't exactly get along with her dad. Is it as simple as just not liking him or is there a deeper reason for that? (1)

Atlas: I must admit to a lack of care about an Atlesian's perspective on Atlas, but considering that it's Weiss I could probe her about what she thinks about the Kingdom. (0)

After a moment of thinking it over I reply, "Sure, do you have some time to go over things now?" Weiss is a bit dumbfounded but nods with a silly looking smile on her face. I mean it's good fortune that I have the time free to help her out now, but that's a bit of an overreaction to me. "Shall we take this to the library then?" I hold my arm out in a gentlemanly manner and am slightly surprised when Weiss plays along, hooking her arm in mine.

We set up in the library with Weiss putting her scroll between the two of us. I look at her oddly and she gets the idea soon enough as she taps a few buttons on her scroll and sends me the documents. The two of us then work side by side in relative silence, we occasionally swap notes with each other when we come across some interesting data point. I have to ask for some clarification from time to time as some of the terminology is unfamiliar to me.

Evidently Weiss does have some business training. Either that or she picks things up remarkably fast, seeing as she's able to keep a decent pace parsing through this information. Since it's a lot of dry numbers and graphs the real devil is in the details and trends. I'm able to help her out by pointing this fact out. She was looking to see more where the numbers didn't add up than what they were telling her. Not that her way of doing things wouldn't produce results eventually, but if I'm going to help her with this I'm going to make sure we do things properly. Of course there's only so much of the dry reports that we can go through before we have to take a break.

"I can't thank you enough for helping me out with this. It would've taken me weeks to get to this point without you." Weiss' tone is sweeter than it normally is so I know she's just playing to my ego. That isn't to say that it isn't working though.

"Don't worry about it. You said you were planning on asking me anyways, I only sped the process up a few days. Though I do remember you saying something about compensation," I trail off. Maybe she'll save me the trouble of asking and offer some help for my investigation on her own.

"I have something in mind for that. Though I would not mind if you had your own suggestion." I look over to Weiss, but after her comment she puts her nose back to the grindstone and is staring intently at the datasheets we've been going over.

I am curious as to what she had in mind, but I already knew what I wanted to get out of this arrangement. "Well I've hit a bit of a snag in my own investigation so if you could provide some intel from the SDC that would speed things along. I'll send you a list of what I'm looking for."

"Of course," she bites out, sounding a little put out. I guess I could have at least heard out what she had to offer, but if she's tackling the leviathan that is SDC finances I'm sure I'll have the chance to help her out again and find out what she had in mind. "I should have expected nothing less from someone as dedicated as you."

"Hey, don't say it like this is entirely transactional, I actually like hanging out with you, thank you very much." She brightens at my comment. I'm sure that we could return to hitting the books after our short rest, but since I'm already helping out the Schnee heiress there's something I have to get to the bottom of before I can really throw my lot in with her. "Sorry about the abrupt change in subject, but do you have any plans for Menagerie?"

She gives me a searching look, but I know she won't find anything. I am genuinely curious about the question and that's more than enough to cover any minor misgivings I might be having at the moment. "Honestly, I think that everyone should just get over it and declare that place a Kingdom already. So what if it isn't as storied as the other Kingdoms? Eighty years is plenty of time being locked out of global politics and that's not even considering the Rights Revolution."

I have the slightest feeling that she's playing up her response a little because it's me that she's dealing with, but not in the dishonest way. More that she's overcompensating a little. "Yeah, that's a nice dream. I wish for that as well but-"

"Let me guess, politics makes that far from simple."

"You got that right. Atlas and Mistral are the worst about it since they'd be expected to provide aid to get Menagerie on its feet. At least that was the go to excuse five years ago, now it's that the White Fang are a bunch of rabid dogs and until Menagerie brings them into line there's no need to bring them up as the fifth Kingdom."

Her face furrows at my dry response and a frown sets in on her features. "But there were many years before that where we could have reached out and helped. Maybe if we did then this whole nasty business wouldn't have happened." She looks at me like I have something to say on the matter, but I just shrug my shoulders. She sighs, "At least some good came of this whole mess." She nods towards me and then looks back at her scroll in front of her. Yeah without that whole White Fang business I might have never left Menagerie, then I wouldn't be helping her take over the SDC, funny chain of events that is.

"That doesn't answer my question though. I know you had some plans about how to change the SDC, but what's your plan to deal with Menagerie?"

"Up until this conversation I never really had one. The place isn't exactly receptive to an SDC presence in the first place, or really any outside influence. For a Kingdom that fought for the right not to be contained to their borders an awful lot of them don't see the need to integrate with the other Kingdoms."

"Trust me I know, there are like-minded people in Kuo Kuana, but, well, I think you can guess where most of them end up," I finish apologetically.

"Of course that's what happens," she grouses, pinching her nose. "Just more reasons that these problems should have been addressed sooner."

Weiss reaches for her scroll and I have to pull her back into the conversation as I still haven't found what I'm looking for. "Let's say that you did have access to Menagerie, how would you handle dealing with any Dust deposits."

I can tell that I'm testing her patience with my repeated questions, but she answers nonetheless, "Well if I had to do something. I would lease them the equipment and tools necessary to mine the deposits themselves. The last thing that the SDC would need is the bad publicity associated with 'taking over' Menagerie. If I could swing it I'd ask for a percentage cut of all Dust mined or market equivalent in Lien in order to use the equipment, but the success of the venture would be entirely reliant on how much work Menagerie puts into it. After the initial collaboration is over then we can reassess our relationship with one another."

Depending on the exact percentage, those terms are surprisingly fair for an underdeveloped area like Menagerie. Part of me is sure that she's just playing up her contribution for my sake while another part is telling me that she simply hasn't considered the logistics involved in getting equipment to Menagerie. I doubt she has much experience with on the ground operations, but some of that equipment is pretty bulky and will have difficulty crossing some of Menagerie's terrain.

I figure that's enough poking the prickly ice flower for the moment and return to work. After another hour or so we have to call it quits and we compare our notes. Thanks to the figures provided and Weiss for making sure that they were accurate we're able to deduce that one of the pet projects for the regional director isn't spending Lien on the things that it's supposed to. Supposedly it's a charity for community outreach and to better the image of the SDC with outlying villages. In reality Lien goes in, pays out into a payroll and supposedly buys supplies with little to none of that actually reaching the settlements it's supposed to.

Now there could be a legitimate reason why thousands upon thousands of Lien are disappearing into a hole with no reasonable return, bandits perhaps. But the sheer consistency and volume of Lien being lost points to some funny business. I'm certain that if this were Mistral all of that money would go to buying off the crime families so they'd avoid damaging any of the SDC's facilities in the area, but this is Vale. The only crime family that I know of is Junior's and his is kind of a joke if they can't deal with two teenagers.

Weiss, however, is eminently pleased with our findings. I caution her that there could be a legitimate, or at least legitimate sounding, excuse for these matters and to not get her hopes up but she ignores me. She hasn't faced the same crushing feeling I have from following a lead to a dead end. "What are you going to do with that information anyways? Expose him to the rest of the company," I ask instead, figuring that's something she'll have to learn on her own.

"Of course not. I said I was taking your advice and I meant it. He's far more valuable if he's left on the board under me and when I finally take over the SDC I can remind him to curb his excesses, whatever they are."

"That's a bit more ruthless than I was expecting," I admit honestly.

"I have to get ahead of my father before he even thinks about disowning me. I can't take any half-measures at this point. I'll leverage my, heh, leverage over this oaf into managing some of our smaller operations. I'm sure he'll be happy having the guiding hand of Weiss Schnee helping him out, happy enough that he won't report to my father immediately at any rate."

"And what if your little operation doesn't work out?"

"Then my dear friend will just have to suffer a black mark on his record. After all there's no way that I would've been involved. I'm much too busy with my schooling to pay such petty affairs any of my mind."

"And if it is successful you have your evidence to keep him from taking the credit." Weiss nods with a slight smile on her face. "Still, starting so small doesn't seem like it'll provide much of a benefit for you."

"Every little bit helps," Weiss parrots back to me, waving her finger in front of my face. "I have to start off small before I'm ready to take over the company and I need a proven track record if I want to count on the support of people I'm not blackmailing. It's easier for me to build up from something small than stake everything on something big and hope it doesn't fall around me."

Satisfied at her answer I nod as the two of us pack up to head back to our respective rooms. Weiss sports a grin the whole way back and I even catch her humming a tune to herself from time to time. Her demeanor tells me that she's off in her own little world either planning for her future actions or, uncharacteristically for Weiss, simply daydreaming. I have my own endeavors to worry about so I don't press her on what she's thinking, but I do remind her when we say our goodbyes to get me that information I'm looking for.

It takes a few days, but Weiss delivers on her promise and I'm now the proud holder of some Schnee Dust Company secrets. Top of my list was a date and manifest for any shipments coming into Vale. Apparently there are a few smaller vessels supplying Dust while the situation is still spiraling out of control, but they aren't enough to stem the bleeding entirely. Instead the SDC has pinned all of its hopes onto one massive freighter, which to be fair is more economical when you consider the grimm and bandits that would make the venture a more harrowing one for any smaller vessels.

This freighter is due to arrive during or just after the last week of school. Of course this is only an estimate and I won't have an exact date until a week or so before it arrives, but I'll have plenty of time to prepare and knowing how Torchwick operates the thing would be attacked at night so I don't have to worry about class getting in the way. If for some reason Torchwick doesn't attack the big metal ship with more Dust than you can shake a stick at then that Dust will be used to restock stores with the remainder being held in SDC warehouses all over the city. Technically, thanks to Weiss, I have the location of the warehouses the Dust would be sent to so I'm not sure if they'd be any more secure from Torchwick, but at the very least they won't be as juicy of a target for the thief.

Other than that I also got the passenger manifests from any SDC airships that made their way into Vale. I can't find anything about my mystery woman, but that was a longshot anyways. At least I don't find anything directly about her. I do find a few manifests that are a bit suspicious, either being too light or too heavy on the details of their passengers. Either could be excused as under- or overenthusiasm, but to me they point to someone trying to cover their tracks. Unfortunately this is the SDC we're talking about so it's equally likely that some of the people involved were looking to make a quick buck rather than this being something more nefarious.

The helpfulness of my information aside, I have to come to a decision about how I'm handling the bugs I placed in Torchwick's hideout. Tukson happens to be at the top of my list, but that's more due to a lack of options than anything else. I guess if I was really desperate I could rope Blake into doing it, but something tells me she'd only be frustrated with the job. Plus it would require that she make regular trips into Vale, which I might not be able to sell her on. I could also find someone amenable to my goals from the long list of White Fang contacts I've acquired from multiple sources. I discard that as I already have a perfectly good candidate lined up.

Deciding that I've spent enough time putting off the matter I ring Tukson up on my scroll. It takes some convincing, but the promise of some extra Lien every month in exchange for simply reporting the information I'm already recording is enough to convince the man to help me out. I may have also implied that if the White Fang were unhappy with him that he could get a heads up from said information and I'd even help him out if it came down to it. I don't expect the White Fang, much less Adam of all people, to entrust handling one of its truant members to Torchwick, but I didn't technically lie.

After that I direct Tukson to the safety deposit box to pick up the master terminal and spend some time instructing him on how to use it. It's difficult to do over a scroll call, but I'm too lazy to leave Beacon after doing so on the regular for weeks. Then it's only a matter of waiting for the information to roll in.

At the end of the week I have some Lien left in my discretionary account and I decide to make the most of it. I withdraw some Lien cards in three equal amounts and head off to the dorms. Luckily enough the rest of my team are still inside enjoying a rare lazy day. I do feel a bit bad for having them help me out as much as I do, but my next actions help soothe that particular worry.

Without saying a word I make my way inside and suddenly throw the Lien cards to the three of them. Autumn is too busy reading one of his comics to react so the Lien card hits him directly in the forehead, but he just laughs off the tiny annoyance. Marina swipes hers out of the air and throws me a look before returning her attention to the projectile that earned her wrath. Meanwhile, Kelly's Lien card is a bit off target, hitting the side of her bed and falling to the ground instead of its intended target.

"Hah," Kelly barks out, "What a weak throw. You think you can catch us by surprise by simply tossing… Lien cards?"

Autumn meanwhile finally registers what hit him and inspects it. "Pardner I don't know how much is on these cards, but-"

"A bit over two-hundred Lien, it's all that I could comfortably spare without drawing too much scrutiny." I take a look at Marina who's testing the Lien card by biting it. Is that a pirate thing? Is it odd that I think that it might just be a pirate thing? Whatever, it's not important. I'll explain to her what exactly these are on the off chance that she somehow never dealt with one before, but I'm going to put that off until later.

"Ochre, we can't accept this," Kelly says reluctantly. I can tell the twins are torn on accepting the money and not prevailing themselves upon my generosity.

"Think of it as a team fund. You guys can afford some better equipment and that means you can keep me safe more effectively. Really I'm the one who benefits from this arrangement." They still seem reluctant, but my point is enough to get them to accept it regardless.

"How'd you even get your hands on this much Lien in the first place," Autumn asks. "I can't imagine that doing odd jobs would leave you flush with cash."

I nod towards him, if I hadn't come clean to my team on the first week of school this would be difficult to explain. "It's courtesy of my friends in the Fang. I'm still technically a part of it and still receive my discretionary budget to do with as I see fit."

"Still you didn't have to give it all to us. You need that money yourself don't you?"

"Please," I say, waving off his concern. "I didn't give you all of it, I gave you what I had left over for the month." That causes Autumn and Kelly to look at me in shock. In the grand scheme of things around a thousand Lien is barely a drop in the bucket, but for teenagers that's more than they can reasonably get. I have to wave off more thanks from Autumn and Kelly but they soon devolve into their own discussions of how they're going to spend their money and Marina is content stashing away her Lien card for later.

Aura(Practical) raised from (45/625) to (55/625) Source: Semblance usage

Combat Raised from (104/625) to (115/625) Source: Class & Training

Dust raised from (37/50) to (43/50) Source: Class

Grimm raised from (46/150) to (52/150) Source: Class

History raised from (58/300) to (67/300) Source: Class

Investigation raised from (102/300) to (110/300) Source: Class & Challenge

Mobility raised from (76/300) to (82/300) Source: Class

Semblance(Knowledge) raised from (0/50) to (34/50) Source: Training+Semblance

Survival raised from (37/150) to (43/150) Source: Class

Team Fighting style raised from (54/75) to (70/75) Source: Training

Discretionary budget raised to (4800/5000L) Source:Monthly Refill & Tukson's salary

LloydAbsolon · Feb 19, 2024

So, with the hiring of Tukson we unlocked Organization actions. We receive a certain number of free ones dependent on the size and members of the organization. Additional ones can be picked as per the normal weekly action spending with 1 weekly action correlating to 1 organization action. This is to represent Ochre taking a more active hand in the organization whilst otherwise giving broad orders and overlooking reports.

Robberies: Unknown Actor: I have a sketch of my suspect face and I've narrowed down a lot of her possible entry points. I'm certain with just a little more effort I'll have her trail. (Investigation check)[Large circumstance modifier to the investigation check] (4)

Delegate: Tukson can manage things fine on his own. I just need to give him the go ahead and some Lien and I'm sure he'll manage to do something. Plus there'd be an additional degree of separation from me and anything he does. (5)

Yang (QM)

Weiss: She's in the middle of taking over some low-level SDC assets, maybe I could lend her my assistance. Having the Schnee heiress indebted to me is certain to help my future endeavors. (5)

Ren: I still hold a bit of a grudge for getting me into a prank war with Nora, but now that it's over and he's offered some restitution things can go back to normal (4)

Marina: She's gotten more proactive since I and the rest of the team accepted her despite her past actions. I can continue on that train of positive emotions and talk with her some more. (2)/(QM)

Kelly: She's been a bit quiet since I gave out Lien to the team. I could have a talk with her and make sure there aren't any hangups there. (1)/(QM)

I somehow read the poll wrong due to site issues on my end I think. Either way I promised that Marina and Kelly would be included in this week as well because of a delay in posting that had come up. As per my words from that time: "I'm not sure what poll I was looking at when I made this determination, but I honestly thought Marina and Kelly had tied for 2nd place. I'm a man of my word so they've been added to the list, but I wanted to state this in case there was any confusion as to why they were chosen."

Team fighting combat style: Gain double the combat modifier from working with a team (70/75) (5)

Semblance(Knowledge) x3 (5)

It's another day in Goodwitch's class and this time we're lined up to run an obstacle course. This isn't the first course we've run in her class. Despite my experience with my own courses I'm not at the top of the class due to a mix of semblances and experience. Though I'm confident my relative performance will improve in the future since next time we're supposed to carry something to simulate the weight and bulk of an injured teammate or civilian. It won't eliminate all of the advantages for those that rely on their semblance, but it will make things more difficult for them. Of course this also means that today we're running a 'normal' course and that it will be the last one for a while.

Since this may be the last time for people to show off their full mobility there is an air of excitement amongst the other teams. My own team is much less excited, I have plenty of experience doing this on my own time, with more complicated courses to boot, that it's hard to work up any energy for the matter and my teammates have reasons of their own. Autumn and Kelly's size makes running the course a pain for them to begin with and that's not counting that they aren't the most mobile of people to begin with. Marina is much better in comparison, but she doesn't have any passion for these exercises. It's like running the course is a chore for her, just something that she has to do and get done. Plus we don't get the opportunity to build up our excitement while everyone else runs the course because we're the first to go when class starts.

For these individual exercises Goodwitch goes in team order and since my team was the first to collect their relics we're up first with myself always being the first to go. I haven't talked with any upperclassman about if this is normal or if she is just looking for some sort of excuse to make things more difficult for me. I hope it's the former, but the latter has been a concern in the back of my mind. With her being the deputy headmistress I wouldn't be surprised if she was in the know about my past with the White Fang and formed her own opinion on the matter before I arrived.

Still it's fun enough to watch the others enjoy themselves even if I tune out everyone but RWBY and JNPR. Speaking of which, Ruby is next to run the course with the girl in question bracing against the ground and chambering a round in Crescent Rose. Weapons and recoil maneuvers are allowed on these courses, though we ran a few scenarios where they were either lost or without Dust. Additionally we aren't allowed to destroy any part of the course; nominally so that we're aware of our environment and to avoid collateral damage, but I suspect it's because Goodwitch doesn't want to have to repair the course every time someone has a go at it.

Ruby runs the course with an almost excessive amount of both semblance usage and recoil maneuvers, both of which are things that are far more commonly displayed here than during my time in the Fang. The recoil maneuvers I can understand given that we're supplied with some low-grade Dust by Beacon, but the casual usage of semblances still throws me for a loop especially since it's a Vytal year. I would expect that everyone would scrimp for any advantage that they can, but so far that hasn't been the case.

The only people in my year who's semblance I'm unsure of and could possibly pose a threat to me are Pyrrha and Ren. Although unless Ren's semblance is something amazing I doubt he'd be much of a challenge. Maybe I'm just too used to how things were in the Fang and this competition at the end of the year isn't that big of a deal to the people involved. That doesn't seem right, so it might just be that everyone is encouraged to show off their semblances so much that most of them don't consider the benefit of keeping that ace in the hole hidden.

I'm too caught up in my thoughts to notice the latter half of Ruby's run, only catching when she completes the course and a small amount of clapping and cheering erupts. I, of course, join in partly to cover my previous inattention and partly because the girl probably deserves some accolades for her performance. Evidently there's something further going on because when Weiss notices the attention Ruby is receiving, her face turns serious, and she ups the preparations she is making. I'm not sure what exactly she did since I don't understand Schnee glyph magic or whatever nonsense they want to call their familial Semblance.

However, Ruby's gasp and vibrating in place is enough to tell me that Weiss doesn't normally go all out like this. Nora's gasp is less informative and I think she only did it because of Ruby. This causes Blake to roll her eyes at the girl's antics. Regardless of any interpersonal drama going on Weiss rockets off at Goodwitch's signal, practically summoning and shooting off of her glyphs as fast as she can form them. Ruby and Nora cheer on the Schnee heiress in her pinball impression and Yang joins in on the action when it becomes clear that Weiss isn't slowing down. Even Blake has a smile on her face at her teammates' performance.

I'm not sure if Blake has revealed herself to her team like I have mine, it's not really something I can ask the rest of her teammates and I don't hang out with the girl herself too much to keep up to date. I suppose I can ask her the next time we talk, but regardless of if she has or not it's still heartening to see that she has a positive impression of her team. That thought throws me for a loop for a moment, I don't know why I'd care how their relationships are working out beyond the utility that information would bring me.

After shaking my head to disperse those thoughts I catch Weiss finishing the course. Most of the class erupts in cheers and congratulations for the Schnee heiress with Ruby tackle hugging her and blubbering about how proud she is for her teammate. Despite this praise Weiss doesn't look content until my team joins in on the celebration, with me prompting Marina and the twins following my lead. After which Weiss separates from Ruby and brushes off her shoulder like she didn't just sink a ludicrous amount of her aura into her semblance purely for bragging rights.

Blake is more subdued in her completion, but a smug smile betrays how proud she is of her performance. Then it's Yang's turn and she follows after Weiss' example both pushing herself and exaggeratingly seeking praise after completing the course. This causes Weiss' face to flush in embarrassment, apparently she wasn't aware what her behavior looked like from an outside perspective.

Team JNPR is less impressive in comparison with Jaune not starting off the strongest and none of them having a Semblance that helps them particularly well in their mobility. That doesn't stop Nora from cheering loudly while her teammates are on the course or touting her achievements after her own run. Pyrrha's performance is the best of the unaugmented class, but even her performance isn't enough to close the gap brought about by the usage of Semblances. Fortunately my social obligation is done for the day so I can go back to tuning everything out and soon enough the class is over.

After class is over I go out for a walk to clear my head and think over my investigation. I haven't had much luck narrowing in on the identity of my suspect and I've been tumbling the ideas in my head for how it would be best to proceed. I don't make much progress, there is only so much I can do with the lack of information available to me and the sheer scale of the records I have to look through.

I sigh and am stuck in my own head enough that I don't notice Yang until she's right next to me, "Aw man. What's got you feeling down? Worried about midterms coming up?"

Right, that is this week, it'll be a new experience for me though if it's anything like class normally is, I don't have many concerns. "Nah, it's not that. Just thinking about…well you know." I make a vague gesture, but she's clued in enough to know what I'm referring to.

"Ah, the White Fang. Is everything going well with that? Do you need any help?"

I shake my head, "No, it's just that some of my leads have been played out and I've been tackling a more complicated one while I wait for some information to roll in." Yang looks at me curiously and I don't want to explain what exactly I mean by what I just said. "Regardless, I don't think you came to talk to me about what I'm up to so what gives?"

"What? Can't I be concerned about the well-being of my friends," she asks in mock outrage. I just stare at her, not playing along with her for the moment. "Alright, fine, but it's nothing special like you're thinking about. We just haven't hung out in a while and figured we might as well do something fun together. No offense to the rest of my team, but I need to get away from them before they drag me into another study session."

I grumble a bit internally, it's not like Yang has to have an ulterior motive for seeking me out but I'm still unused to the situation. "Guess I can be an excuse for you to have some fun. What did you have in mind?"

"Oh you'll love it, come on we're wasting time here." Yang marches off to collect her bike and we make our way to the airship afterwards. Once we touch down in Vale she drives us to a tiny shopping center and practically drags me into an arcade, cramped and full of games and cabinets. A lot of them are single player from what I can tell, but Yang isn't interested in them, instead she beelines to one of the racing games with a motorcycle as the controller and taunts me into playing with her.

From her enthusiasm I can tell she has more than a little experience with these kinds of games if not this one in particular. That combined with my time in the Fang not allowing me to indulge in these kinds of hobbies leads to Yang's inevitable and entirely expected victory. "You know I thought you'd be better at this kind of thing since you said you rode a bike before." There's a bit of a lilt to her voice like she's both pressing me for an answer and giving me an out to come clean about my previous lie.

Naturally I'm not going to fall for such a simple ploy and double down on my previous statement. "It was only a few times, not exactly something I could do very often considering my profession at the time." She's still giving me a searching look so I continue, "Besides it's not like these games are that accurate to real life."

She maintains her look for a few moments longer before relenting. "Fine, I hope you're better at something here or else this trip will get real boring real fast." I'm not sure what to say given that she didn't even bother to check if I had any experience with this before dragging me off here so I simply nod. The next game she brings me to is a fighting game of some sort and I don't fare much better with her obvious familiarity of the game and my button mashing.

I can tell she's getting frustrated, but she's the one who chose this venue in the first place. I keep my own frustration at the situation contained until we settle on some cooperative light gun games. My familiarity with firearms is enough that I don't lag too far behind the blonde haired girl, but these games don't appeal to her competitive spirit overly much. Once we've settled into a sort of rhythm I speak up, "So did you bring me out here just to beat me like a drum or was there something else to this whole ordeal?"

"Just this, but I honestly thought that you'd be the best person to bring along. Ruby would be into this kind of thing, but she's all uptight about doing well in Beacon and Weiss is only encouraging her." Frustration leaks into her voice and I can understand where she's coming from.

"Was Blake not a good pick?"

She waves her hand in a so-and-so gesture, "Ehh, I don't think she'd be a bad one, but she's so cagey and catty that it's hard to take her out places. And she prefers her books to these games anyway."

I nod along with her explanation and don't bring up the members of team JNPR. I don't know if they'd be into this kind of thing and I don't know if she gets along particularly well with any of them to begin with. "Maybe you could bring Autumn along for something like this. He has some, let's say eclectic hobbies. It wouldn't surprise me if he's dabbled in this kind of thing before."

"Maybe I will," Yang passes on my suggestion politely. Our little arcade venture is starting to wind down, but we have the trip back to Beacon to talk and I might as well fill that silence with something.

Raven: Yang is looking for her mom and I might not be able to help that much, but maybe she would appreciate having a friendly ear. (5)

Party Girl: Given the occasional longing looks I've seen her give groups at Beacon I can assume that she's normally very extroverted. I could ask about why she hasn't been pursuing that part of her life in Beacon. (4)

Hobbies: Gaming, Motorcycle riding, Clubbing, and beating up goons at a club is a pretty eclectic mix of hobbies. How did she end up interested in all of those? (2)

Story: I did promise Yang a cool story the last time we talked. She hasn't brought it up, but it might be good to get ahead of that. (2)

"About your mom, Raven I mean, what can you tell me about her?"

"Wow that came out of left field," she snorts as she puts away the plastic gun and we make our way outside. "Why do you want to know?"

"I'm curious," I blithely admit, "Plus I might be able to help you out a bit. I'm pretty handy when it comes to finding information you know."

Her previously wary attitude melts into one of gratitude. "You don't have to do that. You have your thing you're working on and I can do this on my own."

"Yet I'm still asking so cough up the details," I demand playfully.

She chuffs at my tone and plays along adding a hint of warning to her voice. "I didn't realize you could demand anything of me. Aren't you in my debt in the first place? I seem to recall you promising to tell me about your bad boy days."

"Maybe I would have if you didn't just subject me to that miserable experience."

"I thought you would enjoy it you ass," she squawks, some genuine outrage leaking into her tone.

"You could have asked me if I was interested instead of just dragging me here to begin with. What would you have done if I didn't even know how to play any of these games?"

She winces at that statement but presses on despite the admonishment, "You've traveled all over Remnant! I thought you'd have ended up in an arcade by complete accident at some point."

"Most of that time was spent out in the wilderness or undercover. Doesn't leave much room for leisure activities that I can't do on my scroll." She doesn't have a comeback for that one and after a few seconds she lets her outraged front drop in favor of a slight grin. "Now are we going to keep arguing or are you going to cough up the details."

"So demanding," she mutters under her breath loud enough for me to hear. Once she spots my narrowed eyes she gives me a big grin. "So what did you want to know?"

"Whatever you want to tell me." My statement causes her to eye me warily, which is fair. I'm not exactly being subtle in how I'm approaching this. If I were treating it as an investigation instead of lending a friendly ear I'd have something more direct lined up, but I doubt I'll be able to find a lead with whatever information she gives me.

Despite her catching on to my intentions Yang does eventually speak up, "I know what kind of weapon she used, some sort of Mistrali sword enhanced with Dust. And she liked to wear her hair long like me, but well my dad's genes were stronger than hers so mine is blonde instead of her black." I don't bring up that I knew about both of these facts due to the picture she showed me on the first week of school. She seems to be having a hard enough time bringing all this up in the first place.

"Anything else? Know anything about her family or her past?"

Yang shakes her head and speaks, her tone more melancholy than frustrated. "If I knew any of that I wouldn't be so desperate for any details I could find. Aside from Uncle Qrow and my dad I don't know of anyone that she's connected to."

This isn't working so I press on from a different angle, "And I can guess that Qrow doesn't like to talk about his past much either." A rueful chuckle is the only response I receive. "Well I can't say this with much authority, but it's possible that the whole being from 'outside the Kingdoms' bit was a euphemism for a shady past on their part."

Yang snorts at my statement like I'm talking complete nonsense. "Yeah, I'm sure that's what happened. Beacon and headmaster Ozpin let in two criminals into his school without taking any precautions." Oh, if only she knew. I have to strangle a laugh before it can escape; with the inclusion of myself, Marina, Blake, and possibly Jaune our year alone has three to four 'criminals.'

"He let me in, I'm sure he's done similar things in the past," I offer instead.

She mulls over what I said, but I can tell she isn't happy with what she's considering. "Yeah, I guess. Still doesn't get me any closer to finding her though." That's a bit defeatist in my mind, because if she hadn't considered that line of thinking beforehand then it opens up a whole other layer of possibilities to look into.

Still this conversation has drifted from its original purpose, so I set it back on track. "Why are you looking for her in the first place?"

Yang swivels her head and locks onto me with an exasperated look on her face. "Why wouldn't I? My mom abandons me when I'm a baby for whatever reason and nobody will tell me anything about her or why she did it!? I didn't even know she was my mom until after Summer died and everyone just acts like she was never there to begin with." Yang grips her arms tightly, her nails digging into her flesh and her voice turning strained and quiet. "They all just want to forget her and never mention her again even though she was such a big part of their life and I…and I-. I just want to know about my mom, is that so much to ask for?"

The girl with me is far from her normal self, slouching over and her posture curling in on herself. I have the feeling that there are some deeper issues in play, but now isn't the time to press on them. "Feel better letting that all out," I ask while shooting her a shit-eating grin. Better to have her angry at me for a little while than fussing over letting loose of her emotions.

She shoots me a betrayed look and slugs me in the arm harder than strictly necessary, "You ass."

"Oh please, you know you love how I act." This draws an amused huff out of her, "I mean why else would you invite me out instead of any of your other friends, if that wasn't the case?"

She fidgets under my gaze, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Let's not do any lying, Yang. A girl like you isn't the sort to not make friends wherever you go and you don't have Ruby's excuse of leaving all your friends behind."

"A girl like me," she challenges, a teasing smirk on her face.

"You know what I mean, and stop being evasive."

"I don't know what you want me to say," she says, still trying to avoid the subject.

I narrow my eyes at her, "Don't think I haven't noticed you forlornly staring at people at Beacon. You don't have to answer if you don't want to, but I'm curious about why you've been sticking so close to your team instead of mingling with the people you knew before coming to Beacon."

She hesitates to speak, but eventually does so, "You're not going to drop this are you." I'm about to complain that I, in fact, just said I would, but she cuts me off. "I guess I wasn't as much of their friend as I thought I was," she ends her statement with a faraway look. Wonderful, I chose two charged topics to make conversation about.

Regardless, I've opened this can of worms so it's up to me to get through them. "I'd say that makes them less of your friend than the other way around and they're missing out." A slight smile lets me know that my words are appreciated, but I know I'm not really getting through to her. "What do you think brought this all on in the first place?"

"Ruby," she says, keeping her tone carefully neutral.

"I think you're going to have to spell that one out for me."

"Don't get me wrong I'm not blaming her or anything," Yang quickly backpedals. "It's just that taking care of her tied up a bunch of my time and well… Well, Ruby wasn't always as restrained as she is now. She would talk for hours about weapons or being a Huntress or asking people for stories. Let's just say that she made a big impression that meant not a lot of my friends ever wanted to come over. Which, fair, I didn't want to hang out with my baby sister hanging off my shoulder at the time either." She says the last part like it physically pains her to admit.

"Okay," I drawl out slowly, "that still doesn't explain what's going on now."

"I wised up and realized what I was doing to Ruby was too similar to what my mom did to me. So I made it a requirement that she had to join us if we were to go out in Vale one of these days. They said it would take some time to make sure our schedules aligned and they kept coming up with one excuse after another and-"

"Let me guess you heard them talking about how they hit up an arcade over the weekend." Her guilty look is enough confirmation that I'm on the mark. Now I'm not too keen on how to solve this whole situation for her, I'm not even sure I or her would want me to to begin with so I offer an alternative. "You know I wouldn't mind if Ruby tagged along. You could have just told me up front and I'm sure I could have talked Weiss into letting Ruby off the hook for a bit."

"Yeah I bet you could," Yang says, her voice laced with humor, but I don't know what she finds so funny about what I said.

I fix her with a demanding look, my curiosity overcoming any sense of tact. "What do you mean by that?"

She searches my face for something before suddenly exclaiming, "Oh, gods you don't know!"

"Don't know what?"

"Uh-uh I'm not telling. It's a, uh, team secret. Yeah, team secret. Can't tell you."

"You're a poor liar, Yang."

"Pssh," she dismisses my accurate assessment. "If you wanted to know you'd be better off asking with 'please' and 'thank you.'" I'm not about to debase myself, especially after a taunt like that. I'm sure I'll figure it out on my own anyways. After a few moments of silence Yang speaks up again, "Still thank you. I know she can be a lot sometimes, but she's my sister you know."

I let the other matter drop for now, "So, what? Are we bringing her along the next time you decide to drag me out on the town?"

A pleased smile finds its way on her face, "Maybe, maybe not. It's far more important that you're willing to hang out with her in the first place than actually doing so. You know." I'm not sure I do actually know; all I've said is words, they're meaningless without the action to back them up. I don't voice this, but I'm not sure I'd be so trusting if our positions were reversed.

We pass the airship ride back to Beacon in relative silence. I keep my eye on her to make sure Yang has actually moved on from her sour mood and don't find anything to cause alarm in her expressions. She does occasionally look at me or her scroll and start chuckling to herself, but her knowing smirk is enough to make me not want to give her the satisfaction of asking any questions.

With midterms coming up it's understandable that almost everyone is buckling down and studying to ensure they get good grades. Jaune even managed to not fall asleep in History, although I don't think his rapid notetaking will help him on the test at this point. Thankfully I'm relatively free from my obligations with Kelly assisting with Marina's tutoring and Coco taking over Velvet's. I think Coco doesn't quite trust the tutoring I've given and is double checking it herself, but I'm not going to look too deeply into that good fortune.

The atmosphere around campus, however, has me stressed out enough as it is. Now I'm used to dealing with high stress situations from my time in the Fang. But those usually didn't stretch on for months at a time. Well with the exception of my last operation with them and my ensuing trip to Menagerie. That's not the point though, the point being that I need to resolve this tension somehow.

While I could sit back, kick back, and open up some new conspiracy that I could dig into, I'm looking for something a bit more immediate and less time consuming. Fortunately I have the perfect target in mind, Lie Ren. I doubt this is what he had in mind when he said he would make it up to me for involving me in a prank war with Nora, but he has no room to complain regardless.

The midterm for combat class is a set of battles with opponents around your skill level and as luck would have it a certain boy with a streak of pink hair is up to battle next. It took some doing, but I am able to sneak down to the locker rooms before class starts without raising any suspicion and with the help of my semblance work out what his locker code is. Then I replace his combat uniform with something a little bit more provocative. I'm able to make it back to the rest of my team with my target none the wiser. I didn't even have to do anything to distract him; Nora took care of that all on her own. Plus it might help that I don't think the man is even expecting that I have anything planned for him.

Once he's called down it takes him slightly longer than usual to make his entrance on the arena dressed in a black and white maid outfit. Definitely not the best work I could've done, but it's a nice reflection of the prank that Nora pulled on me. There are more than a few chuckles around the crowd, but I think they've grown inured to the antics that me and my friends get up to and aren't outright ridiculing the boy. Nora, however, seems to be enjoying the show a bit too much, loudly wolf-whistling at Ren and shooting me a thumbs up. Goodwitch of course isn't too pleased with this development and is shouting at the class to calm down then shooting me a death glare while mumbling something under her breath.

The man himself is simply staring at me with a tilted head as if to say 'really?' I shrug in response, I don't mean much by this prank and unless I want to involve myself in another war it's unlikely this will be enough to earn his ire. Though with that thought it would be nice to serve him some more comeuppance and it's unlikely that he'll take things as seriously as Nora so I wouldn't have to watch my back and my stuff as constantly as I had to do with her.

Despite the change in wardrobe Ren actually does slightly better than he normally does. Though I think that comes from some of his opponents being stupefied or averting their eyes whenever he pulls off some of his more acrobatic tricks. I didn't bother springing for a less revealing or capable combat skirt, there is a limit to how much effort I'm willing to put into a prank. After his exam is over he returns to his seat still dressed in the maid outfit even though I didn't take his clothes from his locker. Either he assumed I did or he didn't bother for some reason. There's also the disturbingly real possibility that Nora stole his clothes, but I think she was too preoccupied to have done so.

Whatever the reason is, when class gets out he gives me a nod and I understand that he wants to talk. I follow him off to the side of one of the hallways and he says, "This isn't what I had in mind when I said I'd make things up to you." His voice is level, but weeks of time spent in his presence allows me to detect a hint of amusement.

"Yeah, well neither did I. This came as a pretty spur of the moment decision." Given his flat expression I can tell he doesn't believe me, but it's the truth. I've only had this plan in the works for the past two to three days tops. Regardless, Ren is looking at me, practically challenging me to move this conversation along.

Prank war: With his reaction I think Ren might be more into this whole prank thing than he lets on. Plus we can add our own rules so there isn't as much chaos. (6)

Manipulation: I've noticed that he steers conversations to involve everyone at least a little bit whenever he can. I could ask him why he does this or even if he's aware that he does so. (4)

Emotions: Marina has mentioned that it's hard for her to read Ren with her semblance. I could poke at that subject a little and maybe I'll find out what's up with that. (2)

Outfit: Why exactly did he continue to wear the outfit after class? I understand he didn't have the choice to have his combat uniform, but I wasn't expecting this. (1)

"You know," I start with a sly grin, "I think you're enjoying this more than you're letting on." Normally someone would pass off his reaction as a non-reaction, but I detect the slightest stiffening of his shoulders. He wasn't expecting that topic or for me to approach it so directly and is trying to mask his emotions. Now I'm no Marina, but…well actually on second thought that might make me better at deciphering what he's thinking and feeling than what she normally comes up with. Regardless I think I've got a reasonable measure of the man by this point.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"You say that, but the signs are so clear in retrospect. How quick you were to set up a prank on Nora and your quiet enthusiasm in starting the prank war between the two of us. Even now you took that prank like a champ and don't think I didn't catch the amusement you felt about the situation." Ren adopts a constipated look but doesn't produce a rebuttal, so I move on to my finishing blow. "You've been living your prank fantasies vicariously through Nora."

Something goes on through his mind and he lets out a deep sigh and turns his expression into a slight frown. "Hypothetically if that was the case, what's your plan now?"

"Well, why wait on the sidelines when there's a perfectly good opportunity for you to join in on one right now?"

"I'm sorry, but I don't think that's something I'd like to do," Ren protests. I fix him with a look, but he remains undeterred.

"Okay, but what if I just kept on pranking you, what are you going to do about that?"

"You wouldn't."

"Who's going to stop me? Nora will stay out of it and as long as they're harmless pranks the rest of our teams won't get involved. Plus can you honestly tell me that you aren't excited at the prospect of a little payback."

He adopts a thinking posture with a hand on his chin, but it's all for show. "I'll think about it."

I stop myself from reacting to his non-answer and instead move on to a subject that I'm curious about. "Okay, you don't have to answer now. However, while I have you I'd like to talk about your behavior in group conversations." He stands up straighter and stiffer upon hearing my comment which is enough confirmation to know that he's been doing so consciously. Still his reaction is more than I've come to expect from Ren which only makes me more curious.

"What do you mean," he asks, trying to remain nonchalant, but his previous reaction has already told me more than enough.

"Just that you have a way of directing group conversations to involve as many people as you can." He hisses in annoyance, which considering this is Ren is also more of a reaction than what I was expecting. "I'm not judging you or even think it's a bad thing," I clarify. "I'm just curious as to why you do it in the first place."

He looks at me and takes a deep breath before slowly saying, as if repeating from memory, "Sometimes the worst action to take, is taking no action at all."

"Sounds like there's a story there," I press. His pithy saying might make perfect sense to him, but tells me next to nothing about the actual situation.

"Yes there is. Maybe I'll tell it to you one day." Ren's slight smirk is enough for me to take the dismissal for what it is and let the matter lie. "Have you told anyone about what you noticed?"

"No, you weren't hurting anyone, and I…understand that somewhat underhanded means can be used for good."

He gives me a curt nod and relaxes, "Good. Not everyone is so accepting." Once again I can tell there is something deeper behind his words, but Ren is always cagey about his past so I don't press him on it. I'm not exactly sure why though, it's not like his past can be worse than Marina's.

"You're really not going to give me anything more to go off with are you?"

"I don't know what you mean," a light in his eyes betrays the amusement he's taking from the situation. "From my perspective you have more than you could possibly need."

I can't help but express my annoyance at his non-answers, "Has anyone ever told you that you're a terrible conversationalist?"

"Once or twice." My lips thin as I grumble internally knowing that I'm not going to make any progress by continuing to poke at Ren. I start to make my exit so we can head to our next class and not be late, but Ren has one last thing to say. "I've thought over your previous offer and I'll accept it. After this week is over of course."

"I'm not blackmailing you if that's the impression you got." It's a slim chance, but he clearly wants to keep his social manipulation a secret for whatever reason and I did bring it up right after he refused my request.

He shakes his head, "That isn't impacting my decision. You may have had a point when you said that I was enjoying things. Now I have the chance to experience what it's like for myself." Something about his tone sends a shiver down my spine and I have to reassure myself that he can't be as bad as Nora.

While almost everyone is studying or practicing for the midterms there is one notable exception among my friend group, that being Weiss Schnee. She hasn't let up in her near daily visits to the CCT tower and furiously pecking away at her scroll all throughout the school day. I guess she chose a really poor time to get interested in her family's business, but is sticking through it regardless.

One day after class I follow her into the CCT tower, but she's so focused on her scroll that she doesn't notice when I stalk up behind her. I can't resist an opening like this, so I change the pitch of my voice and say, "Sorry ma'am, but shouldn't you be studying?

"Why don't you mind your own business," she snaps, not looking up from her scroll. "I'm plenty ahead in my studies, thank you very much!" I chortle at her immediate and predictable reply. "What's so funny that yo-" Weiss starts before looking up from her screen to find that it's me. She opens her mouth to say something, but quickly closes it into a pout and shifts her gaze to the floor. "Seriously, why do I even-" she mutters under her breath, trailing off inaudibly.

I decide to let her off easy since she's pushing herself plenty enough already. "More seriously, what are you up to? Can't say I was expecting that you'd be keeping yourself busy in the middle of midterms like this."

"Like you're one to talk," she huffs. "That and in my excitement for everything it sort of just snuck up on me."

I understand where she's coming from, it happened to me as well. Still that's no reason not to tease her about it. "Oh so the illustrious Weiss Schnee isn't so perfect and punctual after all. Do you need someone to help maintain your schedule, a manservant perhaps," I ask with a lilt and the biggest grin on my face.

"Sh-shut up," is Weiss' weak response, her cheeks running red hot.

"Fine, fine. How can I help out this time?"

She shoots me a thankful look, is about to say something, stops herself, and instead says, "I suppose that depends on what you want from me this time."

I give her an appreciative whistle, "I appreciate the business acumen, but we're friends here." I catch her mouthing something along the lines of 'yeah friends,' but put that out of my mind for now. "I don't need to be paid off to help you out, though if you're offering I am interested in whatever you had in mind last time."

Instantly her face lights up and a bubbling sense of nervousness pervades her body. "Well, I don't know how much you like my music…" she trails off playing with her hands in front of herself.

"Never had the chance to listen to it. It's, uh, not exactly popular where I was from and you already know about the whole concert thing."

She nods along with my words, but isn't happy with them. She continues on keeping her voice remarkably level, "Well in that case I wouldn't mind putting on a private performance for you sometime. For your help I mean."

That throws me for a loop, there's no way I can miss the subtext of a private performance even if I'm certain she means exactly that instead of anything else. That brings me back to what Yang said earlier in the week and all of my previous interactions with Weiss. I feel a little dumb for not noticing until now, but in my defense I was rather busy and why would I expect this from Weiss Schnee of all people. I notice Weiss looking at me in trepidation and I put that out of my mind for now. I'm great at compartmentalization. I'm sure I can get through this without any trouble.

"Wouldn't be my first pick, but sounds like a good time." Now that I know what I'm looking for I can tell Weiss is a bit disappointed with my response, but otherwise accepts it with a firm nod. "Now, what's the problem and how can I help?"

"Here," she says seriously while pulling up a map of the greater Vale region. "I was able to negotiate the handling of SDC properties to the North and East of Vale."

"That's a bit bigger than starting with a small venture like we talked about last time," I question lightly. It's not a bad chunk of properties to manage, but is definitely bigger than what Weiss implied that she'd be starting with.

"About that," Weiss grimaces, "The regional director practically tossed these assets at me when I asked for something small to work on and I was too caught up in the moment and didn't realize he was handing off dead weight."

"Mhm, and that's why you were more cautious earlier." She flushes at my comment and I move along before we can linger on that any longer. "Seems like he's hoping you'll inject some funds yourself to bring the area back up to snuff, but what's the problem to begin with?"

"The problem is that the White Fang," Weiss spits out with some vitriol, "robbed the train responsible for gathering and delivering Dust from those operations and now they're too scared of lost profits to send the rest on the road or by ship while we re-secure the rail line. They're sitting on hundreds of thousands of Lien worth of Dust and could be helping stop this Dust shortage if they'd be a little more willing to take a risk."

"Well, you're in luck. From my research the White Fang aren't operating out of the Forever Fall forest anymore."

She rolls her eyes, "Yes, I know that. You walked me through your board remember?"

"Right, I kind of forgot about that. Still if you know that, what's stopping you from convincing the managers to ship their Dust?"

"Weirdly enough most people don't believe me when I say I know the White Fang are no longer operating in the area. Especially when I don't disclose my sources."

"I appreciate it, though I don't think they'd look too kindly on the information even if they did know. Still if it's a question of security why don't you provide your own?"

She shakes her head again, a frustrated whine escaping her lips. "Can't do that either. Hiring Huntsmen would dent the profits too much to be viable and our contract with Atlas only extends to the rail line. Apparently they have to pay a fee for a breach in the security of the rail line, but nothing obligates them to assist with the groundside operations."

"Have you thought about bringing this up to your sister?"

"I can't go running to her to solve my problems whenever something pops up," Weiss replies defensively. "Besides, what kind of message would I be sending if my first real success came off the back of my sister's efforts?"

"Okay, that's on me I should have explained my plan more. Do you know about the replacement for the AK-130?"

"Vaguely," she says cautiously, not getting where I'm going with this. "But that isn't supposed to debut until the Vytal festival, so I don't see how that can help me out."

"Eh, not quite. I'm a bit familiar with how the Atlas military runs things or at least how Ironwood runs things. He wouldn't make an announcement for one of his toy soldiers if he wasn't absolutely sure that it performed up to par and that a logistical backbone was already in place. So this upgraded model is already making rounds in Atlas facilities and knowing Ironwood he plans to replace all of the old models and decommission them. But what if there was another solution that would make everyone happy?"

"Ochre, I can't just buy an army. One, it's likely illegal and two, can you imagine the headlines, 'SDC to deploy killer robot army.'"

"It's not an army, it's a security force bought for and donated by the SDC for use in developing communities. That's what that old geezer's pet project was supposed to be for right? Just appropriate some funds and ring up your sister and I'm sure you'd get their permission to release a few AK-130's for such a noble cause. And if it happens that some of those bots find their way onto a transport or caravan to deliver Dust from those communities to Vale, well that's just the program working as intended now isn't it?"

Weiss looks torn at the mention of ringing up her sister so I give her one final push to seal the deal, "Next time that you talk with your sister just mention the reasons why you're doing this. If she has a similar opinion of your dad that you do I'm sure she'd be happy to help out." A small nod is the only response that I get from her. Even if she doesn't take my suggestion I'm sure that I've given her some ideas and she has enough information to come up with a solution of some sort. Whatever her plan is the topic is as good as done for now and we have the time to discuss other things at the moment.

Klein: Of all the people in her family I've only heard Weiss say good things about Winter and their servant Klein. Maybe I can ask her about the man. (5)

Music: I know she had a short career in Atlas before she made her plans to become a Huntress. Is it something that she misses or wants to get back to at some point? (4)

Feelings: I think I could push this off until next time we meet up, but I could go ahead and take care of it now. At least talk about what's going on and some options even if we don't decide anything yet. (2)

Future: She must have some sort of plan beyond solving regional problems. I could ask her what's her next step after she's dealt with this. (1)

Semblance: I've been doing my own research into semblances and the Schnee family semblance is definitely an interesting case. I could ask her about it and see how it fits into what I know. (1)

"It's your decision in the end, I'm sure you'll figure it out one way or another." My reassurance elicits a pleased hum from the heiress and a tension that had been filling her throughout our debate seeps away.

"Thank you, it means a lot to me to hear you say that." With my knowledge of her intentions it's easy for me to read into the subtext of that statement and similarly hard to stop myself from acting on that information.

"Oh, and has what I said been enough for me to earn my reward," I tease, staring directly in her eyes.

"Y-yes," Weiss answers quickly before ducking her head and appending, "Not now though. I need some time to make sure that everything is ready." I feel like I could keep pressing her if I really wanted to see her sputter, but I'm not involving myself in that tangle of emotions. It's going to be difficult enough to wade through it and weigh the benefits of any course of action as is.

Instead I make a noncommittal noise and change the subject, "Speaking of which. Whatever happened to your music career? You had one last concert before leaving for Beacon and no one's heard anything about your plans for the future."

She looks like she wants to question me about my statement further, but after a moment of reconsideration stops herself. "I may have significantly overestimated how busy I would be at Beacon." I don't bother to say anything, just letting the silence fall over our conversation to prompt her to continue. "Back in Atlas my studies would extend from sun-up to sun-down every day six days a week with any interruption, like one of my concerts requiring weeks to months of notice in advance."

"And you thought that Beacon would keep to that insane schedule?"

She acts affronted crossing her arms in front of her chest, "It felt normal at the time. How was I supposed to know that the premier Huntsman Academy had such low standards." I bite back a sarcastic reply that she could have just researched it a little.

"Tell me about it. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but if it wasn't for Pyrrha I'd have thought that-"

"You overtrained," Weiss supplies, mirroring my own sentiment.

"Yeah, it's a bit weird how stacked our teams are in comparison to the average. If it wasn't for Jaune I'd think that the distribution was somehow entirely intentional despite how initiation went."

Her nose scrunches up at the mention of Jaune and she bites out, "That cretin. I swear I have no idea how he made his way into Beacon." I haven't been paying it too much mind since beforehand it was really none of my business, but the leader of JNPR has been flirting with and asking Weiss out every week since school started despite being mercilessly shot down each and every time.

A part of me starts to wonder if the way she's acting towards me was spurred on by Jaune's constant advances. Weiss seems a bit too proud to let such a silly thing impact her decision making, but I'm not sure what caused all of this to begin with. This isn't the time to pile on Jaune, however. "Do you miss it?"

The abrupt re-centering of the conversation pulls her into a pause for a second until she catches on. "Sometimes. It was one of the few things that I genuinely loved to do as a kid; I saw it as a way to get out of some of my lessons and I grew to appreciate the act itself over time. Then there was all the chaos of scheduling the concert, the hours of practicing, and the expectation that I wouldn't tarnish the Schnee name from my father. But all of that became meaningless whenever I'd start singing on stage. It was the only time that I could show what I really felt."

Weiss' reverential tone turns sour, "Of course then I'd have to deal with the parties either before, after, or during the concert. All of them filled with the social elite of Atlas complimenting the songs I sang without understanding a single thing about them. No real appreciation of the art, just the appearance of such and honeyed words to ingratiate themselves with my father."

"Hmm, well I can't promise that I'll understand your music much better than those elites, but I can certainly appreciate it more than them." She blushes at the reminder and I press on, "Have you given any thought to going back to it?"

Her eyes dart from me to the elevator and finally land on her scroll when she sighs, "I would like to. But a part of growing up is having to discard some things that I like to do in order to achieve my goals."

Despite our differences we're both on the same wavelength regarding that. I've had to sacrifice much to give Menagerie the opportunity to reach the world stage and I don't think the demands are going to stop anytime soon. I give her a nod of solidarity and enough passes through my expression to render any words of acknowledgement unnecessary. Weiss is content to bask in the silence that falls between us, a weight around her eyes lifting at our mutual understanding. However, considering that I've been getting more and more involved with the girl, it's too prudent for me to learn more about her than bathe in the atmosphere.

"You mentioned Klein one of the times we talked, what can you tell me about him?"

A broad smile worms its way on her face, she really likes to talk about the family that she actually likes. Then her face freezes and her eyes gain a suspicious tint. "You know, this isn't the first time you've asked about my family and yet you've told me nothing about yours."

"I've always been up for answering some questions Weiss, but you have to ask them first."

The slight rebuke does nothing to deter her, "Very well then, tell me about your family."

Part of me wants to be pedantic and point out that that was a demand not a question. "My parents left Vale to go to Menagerie. My mom was a faunus and my dad a human."

"Sorry, but your dad was allowed to reside in Menagerie," Weiss interrupts curiously.

"Yeah, there aren't actually any laws against it, it's just that there's not usually much reason for a human to settle down there. Some people have a problem with it, but the Chief has been able to prevent much violence from erupting. Also helps that my dad is a former Huntsman and assists with the defenses from time to time."

"Former, so what does he do now?"

"Fishing, odd jobs, and the last time I was there he started training some people. Honestly, there isn't much to do in Menagerie. We aren't as materialistic as the other Kingdoms and a lack of access to the CCTS makes Lien almost worthless. You only have to work to get enough to eat and barter for whatever amenities you want."

"That's-"

"Yeah, almost the direct opposite of what you're used to. I don't really like it myself. I like to keep busy and, well if they keep that kind of attitude I expect that it's only a matter of time until what happened to Vacuo happens to Menagerie." Vacuo had the most resources of any of the four Kingdoms, but wasn't utilizing them to their fullest extent. Some might defend this attitude as necessary conservation for future generations, but Atlas has put lie to that myth. It doesn't matter that Atlas is an endless resource pit if it has the ability to expand its influence to gather those resources to begin with.

Fortunately Weiss doesn't press for more information. Her curiosity satisfied with the bare amount of information I provided. "I suppose I should make good on your question. Klein has been a part of the family for as long as I remember. Now that I think about it, I've never actually asked him how long he's been serving my family. While we have more servants than just him, he always prefers to handle any tasks himself. He cooks, cleans, manages our schedules, acts as a secretary, and he's even a trained doctor. I have no idea how my family secured his employment, but if there's one thing that I'm grateful of my father for, it's hiring Klein."

"Okay, but what is he like?" My question causes Weiss to shift around nervously. Likely realizing that she was more interested in the things that my father does than my relationship with him. I suspect that her relationship with her own father colored her judgment on the matter, but it's too late for her to backtrack now and ask me about it.

"He is very kind and patient. No matter how much or what type of work he had to do he never let the frustration out for anyone to see. He would spend his time taking care of all of us when we were kids, but his duties did mean that he wasn't always around. When he was though, he was nothing like my father. He would pay attention to me and let me vent my frustrations at him with a smile before making some sweet or a silly joke to cheer me up."

Her words confirm my suspicions about her family dynamics, so there's no need to press on that or point it out. She's enjoying the opportunity to reminisce over fond memories and I'm loath to break the atmosphere for a second time when I've already gotten the answer that I was looking for. Her moment of reveling in the past stretches on for a few seconds before she returns to reality, "How about your father? I bet he is nothing like mine."

"Heh, yeah your dad has more Lien than he knows what to do with while mine ran off to Menagerie partly to avoid his gambling debts." I can tell that Weiss doesn't appreciate my little joke despite its truthfulness. "Best way that I can describe him is as supportive. He doesn't care that I joined the Fang, only ever worried about my safety. When it became clear that I wasn't going to give up on it he did everything that he could to help me. He's a bit of a goofball at times, but I love him and we try to keep in contact as much as we can."

"That sounds nice," Weiss is unable to keep her enviousness out of her tone.

"I suspect that you have someone who's just as supportive on your side."

A flash of understanding passes over her and she nods her head slightly. "It's been wonderful chatting with you, but this week is busy enough as it is. I have to get back to my studies and business, and- well I'm sure you have your own things to get back to." I nod back in agreement and Weiss fidgets for a bit before continuing, "As for what we discussed earlier, let me know when is a good time for you and I'll take care of the rest."

After my talk with Weiss I find the time to delve back into the information that I have about my mystery woman. The lead about the stolen bullhead, while useful, wasn't enough to provide a clear identity. Though with the addition of Ruby's description and access to the SDC's records I have a little bit more to work with now. I've eliminated the majority of entrances into the city, but even if I fail to find how exactly she and her group made it into Vale, I've been gathering enough information to at least try tracking her activities leading up to her meeting with Adam.

Still there's nothing to it, but to actually put the work in, so I settle in at my dorm while everyone else is quiet studying. I'll have to check in with at least Marina to make sure she isn't too nervous about the upcoming tests, but I'm putting that off for now.

Investigation Check: 3.37+1.5(circumstance)= 4.87vs Challenge 4

Final Modifier: +21

Dice: 1d100+21

42 + 21 = 63

I'll have to thank Weiss at some point, because it's due to her access to the Schnee Dust Company's records that finally points me in the right direction. While my target wasn't on an SDC airship herself, that doesn't mean that the SDC doesn't have a vested interest in monitoring the coming and goings of their competitors. Nestled away in one of these competitor investigation reports is a sighting of three individuals departing at the airship dock with two of them matching the descriptions I've received. The third one is described as a pale skinned male with gray hair and a gray outfit. Unfortunately there aren't any pictures provided of the trio and their description isn't enough to go to Flint's sketch artist about.

Still, I send off a request to Flint to get me the records from the company owning the transport. I didn't really expect him to be able to deliver, but he does somehow. The passenger manifest for the ship reports that my three passengers were Atlesian businessmen and the airship came from Mistral. On top of that two of them are listed as male and the names they provided are likely fake as well. Unsurprising since they were willing to bribe the bullhead dealership in order to keep their names off the record. Despite that, now that I have an exact date and time for their arrival I can dig into this issue some more.

Like finding out where they laid their heads when they first arrived in Vale. There's a lead up of a few days before the bullhead was 'stolen' plus the week of time afterwards where they needed a place to stay. Due to the flight data I recovered I know they didn't head out of Vale before that time and since I've never heard of any group that these people could be connected to I can rule out them having any supporters within the city to help them out. That doesn't mean that they didn't have any personal connections that they could crash with like I did with the Clovers, but I wouldn't be able to find anything about that anyways.

So I start my next search into the hotels of the city. With the Vytal festival coming up, there are a lot more that are starting to reopen their doors or expand their services after a dormancy period, but I can eliminate some of those due to the time frame involved. I do question where this group is pulling their resources from since they have a lot of resources to throw around on bribes and possibly an extended stay in a hotel, but that's something I'll have to look into another time.

It takes some trawling through hotels and their available listings, but eventually I stumble across a hotel that has had its penthouse suite under renovations for almost three months at this point. I give a silent prayer to everyone concerned enough about preservation of information on the CCTS because without their repository of previous CCT pages I'd have no way of knowing that the penthouse has been out of commission for so long. Now it could be entirely above board, it is reasonable with the Vytal festival coming up that the hotel would plan for renovations and they could be taking overly long to complete. However, considering my target's past behavior fits this kind of activity to a T I'm willing to bet on my conclusion.

Honestly I'm a little surprised that with the amount of subterfuge this group has shown that they haven't been bouncing around between hotels. I mean it's still a possibility that they have, but I'd rate it pretty low on the list right now. This does mean that I have enough information to go after them myself, but not necessarily to get the authorities involved. All I have is that they likely entered under false pretenses, have been throwing around money around Vale, and contacted the White Fang. It's enough to bring them under suspicion, but it wouldn't help me find out what's going on and might just spook them into hiding.

Regardless, I have their location and it'll be child's play to monitor the area and ensure that they're actually there. Or at least it would be if I wasn't too busy at Beacon to schedule enough time to tackle this myself. Maybe Tukson could help with that? Hopefully whatever he's working on can help free him up or provide some manpower for reconnaissance. Whatever, that's a pain to deal with later. Plus, knowing about their activities won't tell me what their plan is.

Unfortunately there might not be a good way to get that information. I could try to do to them what I did with Junior and beat the information out of them, but that comes with its own risks. And unlike with Torchwick's hideout I won't have a convenient excuse to set up some long-term surveillance, on top of there's no guarantee that they'll discuss their plans to begin with.

If I do go after them I might have to prepare myself for a more final solution if I don't find what I want. I can't risk people with these kinds of resources and power to go free and without some airtight evidence I doubt I could let the law handle them. That does limit who I'd be willing to bring if I need some backup as Ruby wouldn't stomach some cold-blooded killing. Though if I'm willing to live with the consequences regardless that won't matter too much.

Something to think about for later, I have enough information that I can easily shut this all down if I want to but that might not be the most beneficial course of action. Right now I can take my time investigating and setting things up for a more preferential outcome.

Unfortunately due to my other activities I haven't been able to put as much time into my studies as I probably should. I mean, I could just use my semblance to cheat. It'd be trivial to do so, but that kind of defeats the point of attending Beacon in the first place. Plus with my partner's own academic standing it behooves me to make some effort. That leads me to studying with Marina, well I'm not really doing much studying myself.

Kelly decided to take a break from her tutoring Marina and Autumn took the chance to spend some sibling time with her. Normally we'd be in the library where we could find reference material, but with how crowded it is because of midterms the both of us are in our dorm room. The girl herself has been doing better since sharing her situation with the rest of the team, she even went to get her hair cut without telling anyone. Now it's no longer uneven and growing out all the more, but is a short yet absolutely messy mop of white hair that I think was originally supposed to be a bob cut.

Her lack of care for her hair aside, she's been knuckling down at the insistence of everyone, including the professors, even forgoing her usual people watching to cram in more studying. I kind of want to tell her to cut it out, but her grades really have been troublesome and she's on the edge of academic probation as it is. Not that I particularly care about that tidbit, but it would cause problems with Autumn and Kelly if team CFVY's mission restriction is anything to go by.

We can't spend all of our time studying, however, or at least I won't allow us to. When we get to a good stopping point I decide to strike up a conversation. "Just want to let you know that I appreciate you telling the team about your past."

"Thanks cap'n," Marina chirps back with some obvious pride.

I can't help a slight frown that forms, "Are you sure you want to be referring to me like that? You know, considering…"

She gives me an exaggerated thinking expression with her head tilted to the side and a finger on her temple. I wonder who she copied that from; maybe that's a bit harsh, she has been doing some things on her own. "Nah, I miss that kind of thing. It's normal, and I like it."

I'll just have to accept that I guess, it's really not worth making a fuss over. "Well at least you're doing better."

"Mhm, just a bit more and I won't be weighing the crew down." I wasn't referring to her academic performance, but she's so genuinely happy with her improvement that I don't have the heart to correct her.

Pirate life: She still seems to have fond memories of her previous crew despite what they did. She might appreciate the offer to talk about her life. (6)

Investigation: Marina attached herself to me early on so I didn't need to question why she was so willing to help me out, but now that she's had an independent streak I can pick her brain about how things have been going. (5)

Statement: last time that we talked she mentioned that she never directly killed anyone. Unlike my own answer that mirrored that she didn't go into detail about what she meant by that. I could ask about it. (0)

"Tell me about your old crew," I state simply. There's no point in beating around the bush or trying to be subtle with Marina; she's more likely to misconstrue my words than realize what I'm really saying.

Her stern and serious mien crumbles immediately at my statement and is replaced by a giddiness and happiness that's rare for her to express. "Well you know about Captain Smoke, there was also Rob and Lily. They used to call me their lil sis, but everyone else kept saying I was more of a daughter and they'd get so angry every time. Kept saying how they were too young to have a kid like me."

I guess revealing her past has made her more open to talking about it considering how much she would skirt around the topic beforehand. "Oh, and what did they do on the ship?"

"They were a part of the boarding party," she replies with a wide grin. "I would always try to chase after them, but wasn't allowed to do so until I passed my training under the captain."

Her cheerful reply throws me for a loop and I have to remember to smother my emotions to not tip off Marina. "And you didn't have a problem with any of that?"

"Why would I," her reply is startlingly nonchalant, and there is some hesitation before she continues. "It was my crew against theirs, as simple as that." Based on her hesitation to admit to her lifestyle beforehand it's like she intellectually knows that what she did is bad, or not accepted by her peers, but doesn't actually feel that way herself. I'm not sure if it's some sort of coping mechanism or just how she normally is. Her far from normal childhood makes it difficult to pin down which it is and I don't want to antagonize her with an interrogation on the matter.

"Okay," I say slowly, pocketing my observations for later. "So, what did you enjoy most about your time on the seas?"

She turns her head downwards in thought, which seems more genuine to me than the exaggerated thinking pose she showed off earlier. "I'd say it was the sights, we traveled all over the southwestern coast of Anima, though we would go all the way to the western side of Saunus, near Vacuo sometimes. There are more coves and lagoons over there than I could count."

It makes sense, that sort of territory keeps them well away from Atlas and its normal routes to the Kingdoms. I can't help the pit that forms in my stomach upon hearing the information though, it's dangerously close to the waters around Menagerie. "I suppose the pickings were pretty light in that area," I try to joke in an attempt to keep the mood light.

"It depends on the spot. At some of them we'd have lots of tiny ships pass by for a few days before they realized we were there and others we'd wait out at for up to a month or two for a really big tanker to show up. Sometimes we had to let them go, but we got more ships than we let slip away."

All throughout her explanation she makes no attempt to soften her words or couch them in a better light. It's as if she honestly doesn't consider that I might have a problem hearing about how she raided the waters around my home. I have to remember that she was too young to have affected things while I was there, but it's a struggle not to let anything slip. On cue she notices that I'm not enjoying what she has to say and starts to look panicked. I can't bring myself to say anything at the moment and she starts to shift around looking for something to say.

It takes a few moments but I'm able to get myself back under control and Marina, while still worried, relaxes as well. "Sorry, just, uh, I don't think I want to hear about that kind of thing. Hits close to home for me." I can tell she doesn't understand, but she accepts my answer anyway.

"My bad cap'n," she says genuinely remorseful, but I know that's more because of my reaction than her actions that caused it to begin with.

"You really don't regret it do you," my question is more of a realization. She looks at me confused for a moment, but doesn't respond when I refuse to elaborate. At the very least it's like she said when she revealed her past to the team, that she doesn't know if she regrets her past. I have the feeling that it was more of a platitude on her part and that she doesn't know why she should regret it in the first place.

It's a complicated pit of emotions that I have to deal with, but I've worked with worse people for worse reasons before. I have no concern that I'll be able to continue our relationship without any drama, but this revelation does give me something else to consider when dealing with her. I'll unpack that at a later time, for now I'm not much in the mood for further conversation and I go back to the lesson plan I had for her.

It takes a day for my mind to settle after that metaphorical bombshell. It's easy to convince myself to go back to normal since it's highly unlikely that Marina's actions affected my life at all and even if they did the pirates that she was with all died to grimm. There's a silver lining that I won't have to worry about the morality of my actions when it concerns Marina any time soon. Although I don't think I'd be able to take advantage of that considering the attitudes of the rest of my friends.

On that topic I decide to seek Autumn out for the moment. I doubt he has something in store for me like Marina did and the shot of normalcy would do me some good. Plus he knows how to keep his mouth shut and when to respect my privacy. I might have to deal with some teasing, but I won't have to deal with him acting all concerned about me like I would with any of the girls. Unfortunately despite my searching around campus I can't find him anywhere and he's not answering his scroll. I was a bit out of it for the day, so I don't remember if he told me where he was going or not.

To that end I seek out Kelly to see if she can point me in the right direction. I find her walking out of the library with a book tucked under her arm. The other teams must be studying in there and she took the opportunity to join them while she had some time away from Marina. "Hey sorry to bother you, but do you know where Autumn is? I wanted to talk to him about something."

"Ah, he's in Vale visiting the folks. You don't have to worry too much though, he'll be back before nightfall." Not exactly what I was hoping to hear, I could move my schedule around some to accommodate his late return but it's not like this is a pressing matter so I let it slide. "Aren't you supposed to be helping Marina anyway?"

I don't wince, but I'm still subjected to Kelly's judgemental gaze as I come up with an excuse. "Ah, I figured she'd do well with some self-study while I sorted some things out on my own." It wasn't my intent to leave her to fend for herself, but I also wasn't planning on leaving her unattended for long.

Kelly's eyes shift from judgemental to understanding yet still firm. "I know you have a lot of irons in the fire right now, but you have a duty as leader of this team. I can help out every now and then, but you might need to set aside your projects to help out the team." I glare at her in return, I'm perfectly capable of managing my schedule, but she remains unfazed. "Though if something's bothering you I can lend an ear real quick."

That's kind of the opposite of what I want right now. I'm sure that I can handle this issue on my own. I only wanted to vent about the subject anyways in the most oblique of terms, but I don't think Kelly is one to let things lie like her brother is. Then again she is more invested in Marina than Autumn though I doubt she'd appreciate me telling her any of this to get out of talking about it.

Open up: I'm not going to betray the trust that's been extended to me even if I didn't like what I heard, but I can offer up the barest details to satisfy her curiosity. (3)

Military: I know part of her appreciation on the matter comes from her grandfather, but it's still an uncommon viewpoint among many Valean citizens. (1)

Beliefs: Based on our last conversation Kelly seems to buy into the more spiritual side of the world. Maybe I could ask her why that is and what she believes in. (0)

Once again if you prefer not to know exactly how I run things don't open up the spoiler box below.

So this upcoming section didn't go as I originally planned and ended up, in my mind, being too close to a 'trap' option for my liking. This is mainly because of the description I used of the option, but as recompense I offered 1 free social and training option for next week. If you're interested in my exact thoughts and words at the time here they are: "That didn't go quite the way I was envisioning to begin with and skirts a bit too close to a 'trap option' for my liking. That's a personal failing though, nothing on the players. I do stand by what I wrote though. However, as recompense I'll offer +1 social and training actions for the next vote and try to do better in the future. To clarify it wasn't my intention to make it one, but the end result is too close for the standards I've set myself."

It goes against all of my natural instincts, but maybe, just maybe, in this circumstance it's better to let this matter out instead of trying to manage it all by myself. "Fine," I let out, sounding more defeated than I really feel. "It's about Marina to begin with. She said something that hit close to home and it's been a bit to process it." I let Kelly know as much as I'm comfortable with, while this was told to me in confidence I have just as much of a stake in the matter that Marina does so it's fair game in my mind.

Thankfully my tone and body language is enough for Kelly to pick up on what I'm saying without the need for me to spell it out for her. She clicks her tongue, "Damn, sorry about judging ya for that. That's all in the past though and she's working to undo the damage she's done."

She doesn't know what I know, but I have to restrain myself nonetheless. It wouldn't do me any good to snap at her. Instead I take a deep breath, which draws a look from her, but I'd rather deal with that than the alternative. "You're right. I'll be fine, I was just kind of looking to vent about the issue."

"And yet, you're not going to tell me as much as you would my brother," she challenges.

I grumble a bit internally since that was my plan in the first place and I'm a bit more pointed than I need to be with my response. "Can you blame me? I like the guy and he knows when to stop questioning things."

"But you're not going to tell me to stop," she answers back with a grin that infuriates me. "Let's be honest Ochre, if you really didn't want to talk about this you wouldn't have brought it up in the first place and you're man enough to tell me to stop whenever you want."

"Isn't it considered insubordination to talk back to a superior officer," I grouse back at her, poking at her militaristic sensibilities.

"It is, but our team isn't the army and you never gave me an order that I've refused to carry out." I really want to keep arguing with her, but I break myself out of that unproductive spiral.

"I don't suppose that I could just order you to let this matter drop," I joke.

"You could, but you won't," she chirps back, and I'm awfully tempted to prove her wrong. "Now spill." I don't respond to her immediately and let the moment drag on until she adds on, "If you don't tell me I'll drag it out of Marina and then I'll be twice as mad." I almost want to laugh in the face of her threat and then I remember that it really wouldn't be that difficult for her to get that information out of Marina. Well if that's the case then it would be better to hear about this from me than the girl herself, even if it makes me feel scummy to do so. I do have some responsibility for preserving team harmony and I don't see another way to ensure that in the situation I find myself in.

"Fine, I wasn't lying when I said something she told me hit close to home. I found out that her and her crew operated around the waters of Menagerie." I'm careful with my words so as to not let anything slip in public. Kelly catches on, but I can tell she doesn't realize what the issue is. Likely believing it's a retread of what we've already talked about. I don't let that misconception fester, "Maybe I could stomach it if she was more tactful about it, but I don't think she regrets any of it at all."

She appears to struggle with that tidbit of information; her wanting to think the best of her teammate and my confident statement at odds with one another. "But she's here to become a Huntress. That has to offset some of what she did."

"Maybe it does," I offer neutrally, "It's not that big of a deal to me anyways." I can tell that she doesn't believe that kernel of truth, but I continue on. "Trust me I'll be fine, she isn't nearly as bad as some of the people in the Fang."

Kelly nods like she agrees with me even though the reality is the opposite of her reaction. "Well thank you for telling me. If it's still raw, I could take over her tutoring for a bit." First she wants to judge me for not doing it and now she's offering to take over the duty. I get where she's coming from, but I can't help but feel insulted.

I don't succumb to an emotional outburst, but I do let my pride speak up for me, "No, I can do it. After all, I'm the leader of this team, so I have a responsibility to her." She looks like she wants to argue with me some more and I'm likely going to regret having this conversation in the first place. Neither of us act on our feelings in the moment, though we do share a look. It's enough to convince her to let the matter drop and I have the feeling that she won't ask about it again, so I can take some solace that I've blunted any outrage she might feel towards Marina. Though, I consider that a hollow victory right now.

Before the week ends I make sure to check in with Tukson. I left him to his own devices and offered him some support if he could think of anything that would assist us in our goal to stop Adam. Thankfully he said that he had something in mind already and didn't need anything from me. I could stop by his shop and receive his report in person, but I've been keeping to a hands off approach so far and don't want to provide any leads to any hostile agents. However unlikely that possibility is currently.

Instead I have him send a report to my spare scroll and I'll be sure to delete it afterwards for maximum security. He starts off the report with some complaining about how I'm forcing him to do this and that he hates paperwork, which while unprofessional I can't fault him too much for. As far as he is aware this is an informal system we have between us and not the potential for a new organization. Maybe I'll have a talk with him if we grow our ranks enough, but that's a matter for another time.

I hastily scan over what he's reported about the bugs planted in Torchwick's warehouse. There is quite a bit of information gained about what stores he's been hitting and how the Dust leaves Vale, but based on what I'm reading it doesn't appear that Torchwick knows where the Dust is going beyond to the White Fang and outside of Vale. At least it's good to know any plan to extort the information out of the thief wouldn't have borne fruit and I'm glad that I didn't go with it.

Aside from that there isn't much useful information available right now, but I wasn't expecting their master plan to unfurl itself right in front of me just after I placed those bugs. I'll have Tukson keep an eye on them for the foreseeable future and hope for some actionable intel soon. Nonetheless, I have the second part of his report to deal with.

Apparently he thought it would be a good idea to recruit some people. Likely so I'm not tempted to have him conduct a risky operation himself when I'm otherwise indisposed. He did have the common sense not to tell them about me or recruit them without my say so, so I have to give him some credit. From what I can find on their CCT presence they are a trio of people that have what would be considered pro-human sympathies by the standards of the Fang. As far as I can tell, which is corroborated by what Tukson is telling me, these three have been on the outs with the Fang for a while and share similar concerns that I confided with Tukson. Before that they had a long membership with the Fang and survived its transitional period over the past five years like him as well.

It is also convenient that when I come across the potential need for people for a stake out that they happen to fall into my lap. I squash that bit of paranoia though, no one should be able to know what I've found out and I haven't even told anyone for them to leak it. Regardless, it could set a bad precedent to allow Tukson to recruit like this, though I doubt the man would take advantage of that.

Accept: I did give him permission to work independently and I don't have much to complain about his choice of recruits. Plus the manpower has come at an awfully convenient time. (4)

Refuse: It would send the wrong message for him to recruit people on my behalf. Additionally I might not want to expand our little group or want a personal involvement in the process. I'll refuse him and inform him not to do so in the future. (0)

Using my semblance on the grimm early into the semester sparked an interest in researching semblances in case I can find anything that would assist with the usage of my own. Unfortunately mine isn't as straightforward as most as I can't really train it on my own, at least in no way that I've discovered thus far. It's possible that I'm missing something, or some sort of trigger that I can work on, but not all semblances are equal and my circumstances aren't unheard of.

Unsurprisingly my research doesn't turn up any recorded semblances that bear a striking resemblance to mine. It was a long shot anyway since proper documentation of semblances and research on the matter only started slightly before the Great War in Atlas. It only spread from there with the establishment of the Huntsmen Academies. There are, however, semblances that share aspects with mine. In particular ones that affect one's perception or even the localized passage of time.

Wild stuff, I know, but the most pertinent to me is that these altered time frames have an interesting relationship with one's aura. This was demonstrated with a now retired Huntsman's semblance that allowed his personal flow of time to run slower compared to everyone else. Not really helpful in any scenario other than if he was wounded, in which case I don't think he'd have access to his semblance anyways, but not everyone can be gifted with a useful semblance. Thankfully he underwent a study to research this relationship between altered time and aura and the results found that while under the effects of his semblance that his aura recovered at a slower rate than normal even when accounting for the aura usage of his semblance.

This throws me for a loop for a bit, because typically aura doesn't regenerate while it's in use. Something that I am intimately familiar with. I do some more digging and find that there is a way for aura to regenerate even while under strain. Apparently it is a nomadic tradition from Vacuo under the assumption that every little bit of aura helps one to survive out in the deserts. I'm unsure how helpful it would be considering how slow aura regenerates normally, but their traditions may help me out now.

I'm able to find a set of instructions for how to begin practicing this technique, though they are filled with more filler and mysticism than I think is strictly necessary. Unfortunately I don't know enough about aura to know which steps are necessary and which aren't so I have to do them all. Or at least most of them, one of the steps states that I have to have a cohort of my peers pelt me with small stones for hours at a time. I think I'll just operate under the assumption that my aura must be under constant strain and my semblance can handle that part well enough.

Once my preparations are complete I activate my semblance for a test run. It's difficult to start up the technique and even more difficult to have it running for more than a few seconds at a time. Plus there's the fact that I use my semblance to supplement my training which doesn't help my concentration either. Still, I'm loath to give up my extra training hours and the amount of extra progress I'd make with the technique is minimal. I feel like I will make good progress through simple use of my semblance now that I know what to do, and it shouldn't take me longer than a month to figure it out well enough for daily usage.

Aura(Practical) raised from (55/625) to (65/625) Source: Semblance usage

Combat Raised from (115/625) to (125/625) Source: Class & Training

Dust raised from (43/50) to (49/50) Source: Class

Grimm raised from (52/150) to (58/150) Source: Class

History raised from (67/300) to (76/300) Source: Class & Challenge

Investigation raised from (110/300) to (118/300) Source: Class & Challenge

Mobility raised from (82/300) to (88/300) Source: Class

Semblance(Knowledge) raised from Rank 1: (34/50) to Rank 2: (27/150) Source: Training

Survival raised from (43/150) to (49/150) Source: Class

Team Fighting style completed.

LloydAbsolon · Feb 20, 2024

In case you missed it in the update for last week there is an additional +1 training and social action for this schedule. If you are interested in the circumstances why it's a part of the spoiler box for Kelly's social and that's all I'll say on the matter here.

White Fang: Mystery Woman: I've found one end of my mystery woman's trail, but if I want to prove that she's been dealing with the Fang I will need a little bit more evidence. (investigation check) [Large circumstance modifier to the investigation check] (5)

Assistance: My organization has expanded beyond Tukson, though they aren't that familiar with investigating. Regardless I could delegate some of the more mind numbing tasks I find myself saddled with and sift through the actually useful information. (5)

Stake out: I have a lead on where my primary suspect is hiding out. I could have some of the people working for me stake the place out and find out what she's doing in Vale. At the very least maybe they can get me a picture of my suspects. (3)

Ren (QM)

Blake: I haven't talked with her in a while and as far as I'm aware she hasn't been poking her nose in my investigation. Maybe I could set aside some time and reach out to her. (5)

Nora: Things have cooled off between the two of us, but Nora is as excited and energetic as ever if I want to deal with her. (4)

Jaune: He's manned up and admitted his mistakes, there's no reason to keep ignoring him. (4)

Weiss: She has let me know that she will line everything up for whatever she has planned and I just have to let her know when I have a hole in my schedule. (3)

Marina: After our last conversation I understand her a bit more even if that came at a cost. Still she's my partner and I'll be stuck with her as long as I'm at Beacon. (2)

Semblance(Knowledge) (6)

Combat x2 (4)

The next week starts with our midterm results being delivered to us. Their fast grading is a requirement due to how academic probation works for the more senior students. I'm not going to complain about the expediency of the process since otherwise I'd have to deal with the anxiety from Velvet and Kelly. Oddly enough despite spending more time studying than anyone else, Marina isn't too concerned when waiting for her results. According to her she either did well enough to pass or she didn't and no amount of cajoling from the others can make her amend that statement.

I do take the time to see everyone's reactions to their grades, though I don't have the time to interrogate each and every one of them as to how they did. JNPR has Ren and Pyrrha only showing slight smiles while Nora is buzzing in joy for her teammates or staring angrily at her papers. Their leader, Jaune, seems unhappy with his performance in every class, but has a hopeful look when seeing his performance in combat class. RWBY is less interesting by comparison, with Yang giving a brief glance towards her grades before shrugging her shoulders and Blake only furrowing her brow. Weiss, however, is supremely pleased with her chest held out high, but not crowing her superiority over the masses. Ruby is the only one who seems to have struggled within that group, sporting a small frown while her sister and partner console her.

Of course, being team leader, I have to keep up to date on my team's performance. Though, with who's involved I doubt I could have gone the whole day without hearing the results even if I tried. Kelly and Autumn did well enough in class, not great but not poorly either. The exception to this being their scores in Peach's Survival class and Autumn's score in Grimm Studies with Port. The latter of which got Autumn some personal praise from the man, the rotund professor calling my teammate down for a chat shortly after dismissing the rest of class.

Marina, however, didn't fare as well as them. Her scores are all hovering around the border of barely passing and failing. Normally she'd be under probation for these scores, but some mitigating factors are her previous lack of schooling and the amount of time that she's spent studying. Without both of those factors she would have to face some sort of disciplinary action.

As for my scores the only area where I'm lacking is Dust Studies, though not enough to fail and my performance in my other classes more than make up for it. Where I really stand out is Combat class and my classes with Dr. Oobleck, History and Archeology. There I aced the test and probably did better than anyone else if how the man himself calls me down to talk to me after class is any indication.

I wave off my friends so they don't wait for me, I'll fill them in later. However, I don't miss how Autumn's big grin that he'd been sporting since Port's class shrinks slightly. Once I approach Oobleck's desk, which is a mess of scattered papers, open books, and maps, the man himself speaks up to me in his normal fast and clipped manner, "I'm sure you're wondering why it is that I've called you Mr. Rovere."

"The thought did cross my mind, yes," I respond, my light tone not eliciting a positive or negative reaction that I can see.

"Indeed. Now, not many of the students at this fine institution are as… passionate about historical matters as they should be. May I ask if you've given any thought into furthering your studies after this school year?" I haven't had an in-depth conversation with Oobleck before, but I can tell that he's searching for a particular answer from me. If I didn't have to deal with him on a regular basis I'd be tempted to just feed him what he wants to hear, but my time at Beacon has shown me that honesty is just as effective a tool.

"I can't say that I have. While I enjoy it and want to learn from the mistakes of the past I can't say that it will be my passion in life considering the goals I have." Normally I would expect someone to ask about my goals and try to work their way to connecting how my goals can be served by following their course of action. Oobleck, however, doesn't do that.

Instead he takes a drink from his thermos, "A shame. Still, I would be remiss as an educator if I did not attempt to rectify such an error." I'm not sure where exactly he's going with this and since I don't want to offend the man I keep quiet until he speaks up again. "I'm not going to bore you with any platitudes about History, we both know them to be true. However, I'm not one to let such a promising student waste their potential. To that end I have an offer for you; you will accompany me on some of the digs I have lined up over Winter break and in return I will offer you my personal instruction when I am free."

I stand up straight at his words. What he's offering me isn't insubstantial, though it would weigh in on my time. Regardless, it may be worth it, though I have some questions, "What would this personal instruction entail?"

My question seems to be the right one as I catch a small smile on the bespectacled professor's face. "On top of continuing where my class leaves off, we'd go into the finer points of ancient cultures and how to investigate them. Plus I will hone your ability to combat the creatures of grimm. These dig-sites aren't in civilized regions for obvious reasons."

"Wouldn't that be unfair, considering the upcoming Vytal festival," I ask haltingly, trying to not seem too eager or disinterested in his offer.

"This world is far from fair and Huntsmen have historically had access to privileges unavailable to others," he says, stressing the word 'privileges.' I'm able to pick up on the subtext, much like how Huntsmen are granted freedom from the army draft - not that that's been a big concern since the Great War - they are also overlooked in most minor forms of corruption such as this case of favoritism. I don't have to say anything because my slight nod back to the man is enough for him to be satisfied with my conclusion. "Besides, who is going to complain that Beacon teaches their students too well?"

I share a sly grin with Dr. Oobleck. I don't know if he's considered that him training me will come out at some point and consequently get more people involved in his class to seek out the same benefit, but it wouldn't surprise me if he has. If I didn't have any other obligations I'd jump on this in a heartbeat, but I do have to consider factors other than my own personal betterment.

The first of which is that this training will take time out of my week, there is no other way about it. Though, I'm sure I could occasionally make the excuse that I'm too busy or have other projects to get out of it from time to time. I also won't be able to dictate what we learn and not all of it might be useful to me. Then there's the Winter break, while it isn't long enough for me to visit home I could spend that time furthering my investigations or to pay a trip to the main branch of the Fang to gather support to stop Adam.

This will lock in one (1) training action per week as well as an unknown number of actions during Winter break to accompany Oobleck on an archeological dig. The benefits of this arrangement are +10 Combat, +10 History, +5 Investigation, +5 Mobility, and +5 Culture progress per week If no training actions are available then there will be no benefit. Accepting will provide the benefit for this turn without cost.]

Accept: There aren't many downsides besides the loss of time on my part. Not to mention the benefit of cultivating a relationship with a professional Huntsman. (7)

Decline: Having one of the staff with a vested interest in what I'm doing might draw some scrutiny that I'd rather avoid. Plus the greater freedom from declining could serve my purposes more than this additional training. (0)

I don't have to respond with words, only putting forward my hand to shake on the agreement. "Fantastic," Oobleck says while grasping my hand, "I believe my friend has made a similar arrangement with your teammate. It will be a treat to see how the two of you develop." I get the distinct impression that I've signed up to act as a proxy for the two professors' rivalry. I'm not going to complain, I benefit from the arrangement and I know that between the two of us that I'm the one more likely to come out on top.

Unfortunately we can't start our training right then and there, but Oobleck does provide me with a tentative schedule that I have to shift some things around to accommodate. I can only hope that he's as punctual for after school training as he is in class, otherwise I'll have to deal with that headache every week. Regardless, I take my leave of his class and head back to my dorm. There I find Autumn sitting sullenly on his bed. Kelly is giving him a cautious look, but otherwise not reaching out to him and Marina is busy going over her test results to bother paying too much attention to him. I guess that he was excited about his partnership with Port and hearing that I got my own took a bit out of him.

Not wanting to touch on that right now, I gather up some of the books that I used to help tutor Marina to take them back to the library. I'm not too concerned about Autumn, if he remains in that funk I'll talk with him, but I know he's strong enough to bounce back on his own.

Once I reach the library it's a ghost town. Evidently everyone has had enough of the place after cramming for a straight week. The only person that I spot is Blake off in her own section of the library on the off-chance that someone did bother to come back so soon. I take care of my business there and, likely to Blake's dismay, decide to bother her. It's been a while since we last talked and though I'm still a bit wary about involving her in the investigation it's still better that I sound her out so she doesn't do anything stupid.

Unlike the other times where I'm able to sneak up on someone while they're distracted, Blake is able to catch me right away. Sneaking a glance over her book, which is not smut this time, she calls out to me, "Ochre, is there something you wanted to say to me?" I'm not sure what I was expecting; maybe a more pointed question about how the investigation is going or an attempt to get me to leave her alone? Maybe she's still drained from the midterms last week, but that doesn't feel right either.

Whatever, I have to deal with the situation as it is. "Nothing in particular, just thought that it'd be nice to have a chat."

She doesn't believe me and her flat look tells me as much. "Then what did you want to 'chat' about?" I am thoroughly unimpressed by her attempt to turn the conversation back to square one especially when she had the audacity to use air quotes around my statement.

Well if she wants to be that way I can just press her on a topic I know she doesn't want to talk about. I bore into her with my eyes so she can tell how unimpressed with her I am and to know this was brought about entirely by her actions. "Well it's hard being at Beacon with so few faunus friends. Velvet and I have our working relationship, but I'd hesitate to call that friendship. So I thought that I-"

Before I can continue, Blake jumps up from her perch and shushes me with her book in hand. "Don't go saying stuff like that," she hisses in a whisper-yell. She looks around the library and upon finding no one else sags in relief. "What would happen if someone was around to listen in on that?"

"Please," I say, shrugging off her concern. "I'm not so careless as to let something like that slip, although…" I trail off and can't help the smirk that forms from the slight panic entering Blake's features. I shouldn't torment the girl too much, she has the ability to make my life a lot harder if given reason to do so. With a reluctant sigh I shut up about the matter and let her know that it's dropped with a placating gesture.

Blake doesn't say anything, just giving a nod of thanks. I let the silence hang between us for a few more seconds. I half-expect for her to inquire about my investigation, but she seems perfectly content to let the matter lie. I should be pleased at this development, but with how she acted last time all I'm left with is a headache. I was ready to deal with her troublesome personality, but obviously there's some deeper seated issue here that's preventing her from acting consistently.

Home: Alright, I might be a bit homesick. A letter from my dad should be coming soon enough, but I could still talk with her about this. Maybe even find out if she's reached out to her family at all. (5)

Inconsistency: I can poke at her to find out what her issue is exactly. Likely related to Adam or her time in the Fang given her past reaction, but there's something more here. (5)

Secret: At this point I don't think I care too much about her keeping her secret, but I could find out why she's so adamant about keeping it. (3)

QM Note: Synthesized the options

Hmmm, something I'll prod her about in a bit. For now I have another topic I'd prefer to touch on. "Do you ever miss it? Home I mean?" Confusion blossoms on her features and I can't help but feel a bit sad that she doesn't immediately pick up on what I'm asking.

She does eventually work through my logic with a questioning tone, "Menagerie?" I don't have to say anything further as I know she gets it, even as she curls in on herself, likely berating herself internally. "I don't know if after all I've done I can call that place home anymore," she spits out, but her tone betrays the longing she feels.

I could just rip off that band aid and interrogate her directly, but this was more for me than her to begin with. Plus if she finds some solace in my reminiscing, well that's just a side benefit. "The last time that I was there was a few months ago. I wish I could say it was a personal trip, but it was only to take care of some business before I had to leave the morning after." Blake's eyes are unfocused and I can tell she's in her own little world. Still, I admonish myself for my slip of the tongue, it was minor but I shouldn't let any hints like that out unless I deliberately want to.

"I was so relieved to see that it hadn't changed at all since I left," I continue. "The docks and the marketplace were still as crowded as ever, people running back and forth and kids playing on rooftops or chasing each other throughout the street. Heck I even saw some aquatic faunus setting up their wares on the water itself. Only tied to land by some rope, I can't imagine how they kept anything in working condition like that, but you know…" I trail off vaguely, filling the silence with words and sentiment.

"That sounds nice. I'm glad that you got to go back," she lets out haltingly. Her words imply that she won't have the same opportunity, and I suppose I'd have to be a really shitty person not to disabuse her of that notion. After all, if her parents weren't willing to welcome her back I doubt that the Albain brothers would be able to leverage information about her so much with her parents.

Though that brings up the question of what they've been telling Mr. and Mrs. Belladonna since I've been here. Blake hasn't been a part of the Vale branch and Adam never struck me as the type to keep in contact with the Menagerie branch anyways. There had to be some subordinate of Adam's that passed along that information and maybe even still works for him. Though he might not know what happened with Blake either or got some sort of distorted account from Adam. Or, maybe the brothers were just lying this whole time, honestly that isn't that unexpected coming from them.

Of course I'm not going to bring any of this up directly, at least not yet. Blake seems awfully torn up about this matter and such a direct approach is likely just to set her off. "I was able to meet up with my dad before I left. Hopefully I'll be getting a letter from him soon. Enough time has passed that it should just be right around the corner." A choking sound and a forlorn look is plenty for me to pivot my point. "Ghira is still Chieftain, you know."

What sounds like a non-sequitur to anyone else is me telling her that her dad is still alive. I don't know how much she knows about current Menagerie, but her responses so far haven't painted the brightest of pictures. "I doubt he'd want anything to do with me. I betrayed everything that he stood for."

"I thought the same thing with my dad. It took some time, but we made things work between us."

"I'm glad that it worked out for you, but our situations aren't the same," she responds hollowly, trying to turn herself away from me, almost like she wants to wallow in her own self-pity.

"My dad is human Blake." My statement is blunt, and perhaps a bit louder than necessary.

However, instead of engendering some amount of hope like I was wanting it causes Blake to turn through a series of emotions before finally landing on anger. "What!? Why would someone like you join the White Fang in the first place?" I have a hundred different answers I could give her and a couple that are even true. While it would be satisfying to say any one of them I've already committed too much into this venture to turn back now.

I clamp down on my own resurgent anger and push on, "That's not important. I'm just saying that you shouldn't give up so easily." I can tell I'm not getting through to her despite my intentions. "They scrimp and claw for any information about you," I finish bluntly.

The time for subtlety and leading statements is over. Blake looks torn between wanting to accept my answer and trying to find any way out of the room that she can, but due to our relative positions there is no way out without going through me. I would think that she'd have learned since last time, but she obviously values her solace and comfort more than having an escape plan in mind. It takes a few moments longer for the cat-like girl to calm down, but when she does she doesn't press me for how I know that. I've tried to keep my involvement with the Fang as nondescript as possible, but if she thought about it hard enough I'm sure she could come to the conclusion that I'm not as low-level of a member that I present myself as.

"What the hell has you so skittish anyways," I ask as more of a distraction than anything else. Though if a hint of my frustration leaks into my voice, well it's better if she knows how much of a pain she's been.

There's a moment where she wants to protest, but it quickly dissolves away in the aftermath of our previous topic. Now she definitely appears to be drained, the rapid switching between high-strung emotions while trying to keep herself in check has definitely had a toll on her and I have the feeling that I could press her for any details I want right about now.

"It's, I-" Blake starts, "You're right. The only thing that I'm good at is running away."

Okay, that's a statement to unpack and I'm not entirely sure it's been brought about by my questioning. Likely this is something that she's been thinking on for a while now, and if I had to guess, ever since I brought her into my investigation of the White Fang. At least that's what I choose to believe, it could be entirely unrelated, but inadvertently helping her with her issues sounds a lot better than tripping over a trauma landmine.

"I don't think that's the case," I pause for a second to let my statement sink in. "But I can tell that you do. Why is that?"

"Adam," Blake spits out his name with overwhelming vitriol, though I think it's mainly aimed at herself. "I could have done something, anything, to stop him, but I didn't. Instead I sat around and watched as bit by bit he descended into madness." It's her turn to pause and she looks me directly in the eyes as if to impart the gravity of her next statement. "And the worst part is that I was agreeing with him. I thought he had a point, or I could excuse it as him being too hurt to know better, or that it would only be the one time. But it was never the one time and it kept piling and piling until it crossed a line and only then did I decide to do anything."

That anything is running away of course and I can tell she wants me to finish that sentiment so she can continue with her self-condemnation. Of course I don't play along. "But you did do something," she wants to argue with my words but I don't let her. "Running from that isn't easy," I leave what 'that' is deliberately vague, whether it's her relationship with Adam, her past, or the Fang itself doesn't matter and it's more beneficial if she fills in the blanks herself anyways. "Making that decision isn't much easier either, and out of all the places you could have gone you chose Beacon for a reason. I don't care what your reason is, but you could have just as easily ran away to home, you'd have less scrutiny and better protection if you did, but you didn't."

I don't think I'm much for pep talks and I doubt my platitudes will hold up much longer so I switch tracks. "You say you never did anything, but would he have let you do something in the first place?" I'm not too well informed on their relationship, whatever it may be, but the information I got from Blake during the first week of school painted a pretty bleak picture. My guess turns out to be accurate enough as I get a muted nod from Blake. "From what I can tell he never let you do much on your own. The only time that wasn't the case was when you had to do something that he thought was insignificant or wasn't worth his time. Like the drop off with the Clovers"

That's my only real example and I hope I'm on the mark because I don't have another lined up. Fortunately she doesn't call my inadvertent bluff or seem further put down by me pointing out her previous powerlessness. That doesn't mean that she's happy with my words, but I can deal with a glaring and unhappy Blake better than I can one that's barely keeping herself together.

I sigh with an ache in my body that goes beyond my flesh and blood. This was just supposed to be a simple conversation reminiscing about our shared homeland and I just couldn't resist that one spiteful comment. Blake seems just as spent as I do and whatever anger she felt quickly peters it out without any fuel to sustain it. I never thought I'd have to try so hard to convince someone that they aren't so bad, but Blake is trying my patience on the matter.

Regardless, neither of us are up for much conversation and we let silence descend between the two of us. Blake is still conflicted about her own beliefs and what I said. I didn't think I said anything particularly inspiring, but maybe she just needed an outside perspective so she could evaluate her beliefs herself. All I can say about that is that I'm glad I'm not Ruby, I would hate to have to stumble on this powder keg if I had no idea it was there in the first place.

I'm prepared to leave the conversation there and go back to my dorm; let things cool for a few days before talking to her again, but Blake throws that plan aside by speaking up. "That thing you said about my parents, was it true?"

"Yes," is my instant reply, the lighter topic injecting some much needed energy in my voice. I deliberate a little bit, but decide a little extra bit of hope would do her some good. "Plus you didn't hear this from me, but Menagerie might find itself on the CCT network given some time. I'm gonna send a scroll to my dad…would you like it if I sent an extra one, just in case?" My offer allows her to avoid making the decision in the meantime while also making it an easier one to pursue in the future. After this conversation I have the feeling that if I want to encourage Blake to do something I have to pitch my plans in a similar manner.

The offer hangs in the air for a few seconds while she fights herself internally. Eventually she finds herself victorious in one way or another. "Yes…though if you could have him hold onto it until I'm ready…" she doesn't complete her sentence, but I understand her sentiment well enough. I could press her again about any number of things, but I would prefer to leave this conversation on a somewhat pleasant note.

I say goodbye to her and leave her unceremoniously standing up on her lonesome. It might not be the best decision to leave her in that state so I send a quick message to Ruby, not really explaining anything but telling her that Blake is in the library. I'll have to keep my eye out for any fallout from this event, though that takes the back-burner between my ongoing projects for now.

The next day is my first training session with Oobleck, scheduled for a few hours after class. Before that happens, however, I spot Nora and Ren talking with one another in hushed whispers while Pyrrha makes her way back to the dorms and Jaune pretends not to be listening in on them. Or at least he tries, but based on the indulgent smile on Ren's face I don't think Jaune is fooling anyone. After this hushed conversation Nora rushes after me like a missile and with the specter of prank war I make a break for it.

I dodge and dip in-between people through the hallways and escape into the outside world all-the-while trying to put as much between myself and Nora as I can. Unfortunately I'm reminded that Nora thinks working out is fun and despite my greater ability to move around obstacles and get away in general I am slowly ground down in a match of sheer endurance. I can't lose her in the wide fields of Beacon and trying to lose her between the classrooms is sure to cause enough commotion to get the both of us in trouble. I also can't just hop onto an airship and leave since I have to meet Oobleck in a few hours.

I have to admit defeat after minutes of all out sprinting on my part, stopping abruptly with my hands on my knees and greedily gulping down air. Nora runs up next to me and has the audacity to continue hiking her legs up and down in a light jog. "That was great Ochre, we should totally go running again sometime. Or maybe you could join me in the gym. I offered Pyrrha and Jaune to join me in my routine, but Pyrrha declined and Jaune stopped after a single day. Oh maybe I could ask Yang, I bet she'd be a real gym rat."

Nora continues rambling on about who would be the best gym partner. A part of me wants to be offended that she went with Yang first instead of the absolute unit that is Autumn, but I'm more upset with how energetic she is. I don't know how she can be this chipper while in the school uniform I'm practically melting in mine. I'm also waiting for the other shoe to drop and for the prank to be revealed, but she just keeps going on and on about one thing or another.

Eventually I get my breathing back under control and interrupt her, "Nora, was there a reason why you decided to chase me all over Beacon?"

"Oh that," she says with a sudden realization, like she honestly forgot why she was chasing me in the first place. "You started a prank war with Renny!" I keep waiting for the follow up, but Nora just continues flashing me a blinding smile until I squeak out an 'yes, and?' She nods seriously at my affirmation and crosses her arms over her chest. "That's great, I mean you didn't last that long in our prank war, but it was still lots of fun and I'm sure you and Renny would have just as much fun if not more. And then whoever's the winner could face me in the ultimate grand prank war showdown rematch the second. Oh, I can't help it, I'm so excited!"

As Nora continues talking it begins to dawn on me. Nora has no clue she was just used as a weapon in our prank war. Ren and I exchanged schedules with each other so there wouldn't be any ill-timed pranks between us and he used that information ruthlessly. The prank wasn't anything that Nora could have done to me, but rather the mere possibility that she could do something. He knew I couldn't escape even if I tried and I fell for it completely. The only winning move was not to play his game, but I didn't know this was the game he was playing to begin with.

I mentally mark this as his win leaving us all tied up. Even if my point came in before he was aware or even agreed to the prank war, I'm still counting it. Still that leaves me with a hyperactive Nora and a few hours to kill before my obligation with Oobleck.

Ren: What exactly is their relationship? I don't expect to get much detail out of her with the tangents that she spins out on, but it might deflate her more hyperactive nature for a bit. (8)

Trojan horse: Well if Ren is fine with using Nora as a vector of pranks maybe I could return the favor. I'll have to see how amenable she is to the idea. (6)

Hyperactivity: How does she have so much energy? Is it a side effect of her semblance or is she always like this? (3)

Past: Ren is always so cagey about anything regarding his past including some innocuous details. After my conversation with Blake I'll be sure to avoid any traumatic issues, but I'm still curious. (2)

I want to be frustrated with the hyperactive ginger in front of me, but I reserve my indignation for the wielder not the weapon. Ren will get his due soon enough. As amusing as it would be to muse on the nature of the cycle of violence and its relation to our prank war I have more important matters to attend to. Like getting Nora to calm down for a bit. "So, how long have you and Ren been together?" Well 'calm down' is a bit of a misnomer, more like a controlled detonation of all that energy.

"Oh we've been pals for years and years, ever since we were kids. Oh that reminds me-" Nora starts before my actual wording catches up with her. "That is, I mean we aren't together-together we've just been friends for such a long time. And I mean friends is putting it lightly, more like we're best friends-no! Super best friends! I can't imagine what it'd be like to be without him. Though when I put it that way it sounds like I think we're soulmates, and I'm not saying that. Though that isn't to say that I'm not not saying that, it's just that you know that's such a big thing to say."

I'm not sure who she's trying to fool by saying her and Ren aren't together, but I don't bother to stop her. One, it prevents her from saying something asinine that I have to address and two, it is rather funny to see the extent to which she'll go in her denials and her subsequent denials of those denials. I'm sure she'll run out of steam eventually. With Nora in her own little world I pull out my scroll and browse on it for a few minutes. Every now and then I keep an ear out for where she is on her current spiral but otherwise tune her out.

I find that Tukson has disseminated the data I gave him to our three subordinates and they should be getting back to me soon with whatever usable information they find. Also the stake-out is set to occur over the weekend so I have a rough time frame of when to expect results. With that taken care of I put away my scroll and find Nora muttering and looking distantly at the ground at her feet like it's really hundreds of miles away and not right where she's standing.

Okay that's enough of that, I bring my hands in front of her face and snap my fingers. This interrupts her murmur spiral and brings her back to reality. "Eheh, sorry about that. Did that answer your question," Nora asks with a tenor of hope in her voice.

"Not at all," I say, ruthlessly destroying that notion. "Though if you've calmed down, maybe you could answer some other questions."

"Okay!" Her too cheerful reply is only ruined by a dusting of red on her cheeks. I don't know if she's embarrassed about how she acted or my hypothetical next few questions. Knowing Nora it's instead some mysterious third thing that has nothing at all to do with what we're talking about.

My curiosity wants me to ask how they met each other in the first place, but my prudence reminds me that they're both orphans and the answer is likely to be related to whatever event orphaned them in the first place. "The two of you seem closer than actual siblings," I drawl, my deliberate choice of words draws a wince from Nora. "Closer than I've seen Yang and Ruby and even closer than Autumn and Kelly." I let the apprehension fester for a bit longer, "Have you given any thought about what you'd do if you had to go your separate ways?"

I have the distinct feeling that this is a bit cruel of me, but in my defense I was just chased by an unrelenting Nora until I had to stop out of exhaustion. Regardless, despite my words upon the conclusion of my question Nora is as chipper as ever. "Psssh, naw. I'll be with Renny for as long as he'll have me." I already suspected as much, but it's interesting to me how she phrased it. Like the decision is entirely in Ren's hands and not hers. I didn't take Nora to be the passive type, but I guess everyone has their weaknesses.

My current oblique approach seems sufficient enough to gain some information while not sending Nora off into one of her moods. "It is an interesting dichotomy between the two of you. The strong silent type and the typical bubbly girl." Nora nods along with me before looking at me weirdly at the end of my sentence. I don't say anything, merely looming over her as if to ask her to challenge me.

I don't expect her to snort and break into laughter for a second before collecting herself and subsequently losing her composure once again. "Oh, that's just because you don't really know Renny," she lets out between the last fit of giggles. "You should have seen him when we were really young, he was quite the chatterbox." I fail to conjure up a mental image of Ren ever talking as much as Nora, but I still file away that piece of information for later use.

"Sounds like there's a story there."

"Yeah, but you should ask Ren about it, he's way better at telling it than I am." I have to fight off a frown from my face. If it was so simple to get out of him I would do it, but Nora seems completely oblivious to how closed off he is to everyone else. Whatever, it's not like I was expecting much usable information out of her anyways.

Still, I am loath to let this conversation pass us by without securing some sort of benefit for myself. "Hey, Nora. How would you feel about helping me pull a prank on Ren?"

"You mean like the one you played on me," she questions with an inquisitive look on her face. I resist the urge to correct her, already knowing where that path ultimately led.

"Yes," I grind out, hoping my reluctance to answer doesn't put her off too much. Of course I'm worrying about nothing, because as soon as I answer Nora pumps her fist and starts running off. I catch the bare mention about how she'll show him, but the bubbly girl is quickly out of my hearing range. I wonder how long it will take her to catch that I didn't tell her my plan on how to prank Ren or if she'll just prank him saying that it was me. Either way I'll benefit from this, so I'm not too put out by her behavior. I do make a mental reminder not to trust her with anything too delicate, but I already have something in mind for her later.

Late at night I receive a message from Tukson, apparently our agents rushed through the information and got it done ahead of schedule. Normally I'd caution them against rushing so much since it leads to sloppy work, especially for an investigation. What's done is done though and I waffle a bit on whether I should dig into the information now or after school tomorrow. My curiosity wins out and I'm soon picking apart reports and putting them in their proper place on my board, to the groaning of my teammates. I'll apologize to them later, right now I'm too in the groove to give up now. Fortunately none of them bother me and I'm free to pursue my work in peace.

I might not have much information to go off of right now, but my prior investigations have narrowed down the time frame that she had to be operating in and I passed along the list of potential targets for my assistants to parse through. I doubt it was a complete one, but if there are any missing holes it'd be easy for them to use their own contacts to fill the blanks so I'm not too concerned there. Regardless, I have to make my own way through this wealth of knowledge since I don't trust them to put the final pieces together themselves nor do I want to tip them off as to what exactly I'm investigating in the first place.

Investigation check: Rank 3.39 +1.5(Circumstance) +.5(Assistance+WF familiarity)= 5.39 vs Challenge 4

Final Modifier: +34

BO2; Source: Assistance

Dice: 2d100+34

Options: Individual.

35,75 + 34 = 69,109

I'm prepared for a long slog through a mess of paperwork like what I had to go through to narrow down when and how my target entered Vale. So it comes as a pleasant surprise when the information that I receive is neat and ordered in a way that actually makes sense. I'll have to send my thanks to Tukson, because this goes well beyond what I expected. Each report is about an individual member of the White Fang contact list I've been collecting during my time in Vale. It includes details like approximately how long they've been in the Fang, where they live, what they're doing, and if they're still active or not. The active ones all go to the bottom of the pile for now, while interesting they aren't what I'm looking for.

Instead I start searching for those that died or disappeared in the interim between my suspect arriving in Vale and her visit to the Vale branch. I could be completely off the mark, but I'm certain that they would have warned Adam ahead of time if they lived and I don't see how Blake wouldn't know about that if that was the case. I make a mental note to review the information a second time in case I'm incorrect, but I'm willing to go with my gut for now.

Fortunately what would be an absolute pain to go through on my own has been simplified for my use and it's a breeze to find a listing of five individuals who tragically perished in Vale while my target was around. The first of which has to be written off as further investigation shows that they were a minor member and furthermore were offed by Junior's men for an outstanding debt. That could still be related given Torchwick's and Junior's early partnership, but the timeline heavily discourages such speculation.

The next two aren't much better, they're listed as likely to have left on their own by my agents who knew of them tangentially. Thankfully they also took a step further on this action and actually interviewed some of their neighbors and confirmed that they were last seen packing up their belongings. I don't know why my agents felt the need to go so above and beyond, maybe they thought I - or in this case Tukson - was searching for traitors to weed out. Whatever it is it makes my life easier and I've narrowed it down to the final two members.

Both are listed as missing rather than killed, but just because a body was never found doesn't mean a corpse wasn't produced. My agents had the same due diligence with these two as the previous ones and no one mentioned anything about them moving, just that they were here one day and gone the next. I'm about to search into the matter some more when I notice another attachment sent to me by Tukson, apparently it is security cam footage from a store across from where one of the victims lived and the store itself has some White Fang sympathies.

At first I'm not sure why it was included, until about a quarter of the way through I notice a particular trio walk into the building and a few minutes later walk out. One of them, the dark skinned girl, is playing around with a grimm mask as they leave. She quickly puts it away when their leader, the black-haired woman in a red dress, says something to her. Whatever was said is enough to cause the gray-haired boy to tilt his head back and laugh before catching sight of the store and walking towards it.

The two girls don't seem too happy with his behavior but follow after him anyways. I have to wonder about the dynamics of the group, because it seems like the leader has no issue admonishing the dark skinned girl, but didn't even make the attempt to stop the boy. All the better for me in this case, because without them coming closer I wouldn't get such a good look at their faces. I make sure to take a screenshot of each of them multiple times, they're close enough to the description and particularly the sketch that Ruby's description provided that I'm sure I've found the right group.

I have enough to bring in the authorities for this group in particular while also claiming innocence for the rest of the Fang and Torchwick's activities. The only way my case against them could be stronger right now is if I catch them in the act of collaborating with Torchwick or the Fang. Regardless, I'll be receiving confirmation that they are actually staying in the hotel I think they are rather than relying on my conjecture so I hold off for now. There's no real harm in waiting for a few days or maybe even weeks; it would allow me to continue my investigation in peace. Still, I can hold off on making the final decision for now.

The following day I don't even bother to hide the smile from what I've found, though I think everyone else has misconstrued the source of my happiness. Weiss matches my smile when she first sees me with one of her own and everyone else adopts knowing looks afterwards like they've gotten some sort of confirmation. After having to shift my schedule around due to my new obligations with Oobleck I had to reschedule things with Weiss for a bit later in the week and only got her those details last night. I could try clearing up the misunderstanding, but it's minor enough that I don't particularly care. Plus there's no way I'm going to risk accidentally insulting the Schnee heiress after the rapport I've built with her.

However, there is one person who takes my good mood worse than the rest. That being Jaune, he keeps looking between myself and Ren, who I also notice has an uncharacteristically large grin on his face. He's been like that since the start of the week and our prank war, I can't even blame him in this case. He knows he got me yesterday and nothing that I could do now would dissuade him from that notion.

I try to put Jaune's uneasiness out of my mind for the rest of the day, but as we're going to lunch I hear a girlish scream before getting knocked to the ground by a lump of stringy muscle and blonde hair. Taking stock of the situation I see Ruby and Pyrrha staring at us from around the corner and Nora holding a big thumbs up while everyone steers clear of her. I don't know what they planned to achieve by setting the two of us on a crash course.

"Hey, sorry about that," Jaune is the first to speak, and is just as unhelpful as everyone else with resolving the situation. Instead of telling him to and then relying on him to get off of me I make the executive decision to push him off myself. He lets out a quiet 'ow' upon landing on the ground again, but I know he's overreacting. His aura will take care of that minor bump in no time.

I'm prepared to get back on with my life when I hear him scramble behind me and yell at me to wait up. I could just ignore him, but I get the feeling that Ruby won't be happy unless we have some sort of talk despite the two of us already resolving the issue between us. "Yes Jaune, what is it," I snap at him. I was having such a good time and even though I know it's not his fault I also don't particularly want to deal with him right now.

"Just saying that I'm sorry, and well uh, do you know why Ren is smiling so much? I'm gonna be honest, it's kind of creeping me out?"

"Have you tried asking him," I grouse, definitely not pleased with being hounded over such a trivial matter.

"Well that's just the thing I did and he told me to ask you. It just took me a little while since, you know, it doesn't seem to be that big of a deal." I pinch the bridge of my nose and start looking around for the source of my headache and not finding the man anywhere in sight. Of course he'd get out of dodge as fast as he could, surely he fears my righteous indignation. Either that or he's really trying to get me to hang out with people I don't normally. At what point does his behavior turn to social manipulation or prank I don't know. I'll consider this a case of both for right now.

I turn back to Jaune who's looking at me expectantly and I realize I haven't answered his question. "Just ask Nora she'll fill you in, but I think Ren is enjoying this prank war a bit too much."

He looks at me like I said the most ridiculous thing ever. "Ren, like the Ren on my team. Are you sure we're talking about the same guy here?" Oh you sweet summer child, Jaune. Give him some time and he'll suck you into this mess as well.

Progress: He's changed his weapon and somehow didn't fail midterms. I could talk with him about these achievements and congratulate him if nothing else. (6)

Small talk: I could cut the guy some slack and just discuss some meaningless between the two of us. Maybe find out what he does aside from training and other small details about him. (5)

Family: He mentioned his family and their lack of support the last time we talked. I could still dig into that. (3)

Weiss: Considering what I know now he really should give up on chasing her. Maybe I could break it to him gently. (0)

I could warn him about Ren's inevitable and horrible plans for him, but it's better for him to experience things first hand. Suffering builds character, or so I'm told. That reminds me that I may have been overly harsh with Jaune for the past two months. Not that he didn't deserve it, but I really haven't made much of an effort to connect with him or give him the benefit of the doubt. "I noticed that your sword got a new upgrade." Jaune's immediate groan clues me in that my innocuous comment probably wasn't the best way to make amends. Given how much flak I gave him last time about not going all the way he might think I'm searching for a flaw to point out.

"Yeah I did," he admits reluctantly, hoping that I'll let the matter lie there. This would be a really stilted conversation if I had to pull every answer out of him like teeth so I just give him a look and he wises up. "I got these Dust vents along the side," he reaches to his side for a moment before remembering that his sword isn't on him. "I'll show you some other time, but if I swing it just right the Dust sort of shoots out in a sword slash."

A pretty simple upgrade, not like I was expecting him to completely redesign his weapon. Even if I convinced him of the practicality of such he still clearly holds it in very high sentiment. I also note that he didn't mention anything about his shield and as far as I can tell it hasn't been touched at all. I guess there's a limit to how much he'll lean on Pyrrha's generosity. I don't pay it too much mind, he's shown a willingness to improve his arsenal and that's enough for me.

Still, Jaune braces himself for my inevitable criticism and I can't help but mess with him by keeping up my glare for a few seconds without saying anything. Just as he's about to speak up again I interrupt him, "That's great. I'm glad that you finally made the upgrade, plus you've been doing better in combat class. Take some solace that you're improving and with that addition of Dust in your combat style I'm sure you'll jump up in the rankings."

My compliments cause Jaune to look at me like I've grown another set of ears. Hey, I take offense to that sentiment, I can be nice if I want to! Ignorant of my thoughts on the matter he coughs into his hand and looks around waiting for the other shoe to drop. When it becomes clear to him that there's nothing further to that statement he says, "Thanks. Well, um, it was good talking with you, but I should really get to lunch."

He has a point and I could just let him walk away at this moment, but that feels like admitting defeat to Ren at the moment so obviously I can't do that. "Walk with me Jaune," I say, draping my arm around his shoulder and practically dragging him along to the cafeteria. Normally I'd prefer some level of privacy, but since I'm only going for some meaningless chatter I think I can make an exception this time. "It's come to my attention that I don't know much about you. Let's start from the beginning. Who are you?"

"The name's Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, rolls of the tongue, ladies love it," he responds immediately with the ease of hours of practice. I don't comment on that particular line, but despite my lack of speech Jaune's shoulders still slouch a moment afterwards. "Yeah, you don't have to say anything. It doesn't really work." I hope this isn't the start of another Blake moment, one person with crippling self-esteem issues is enough for me.

Regardless of if that's the start of a self-depreciating spiral or not I decide to move the conversation along, "Yes. But who is Jaune Arc?" Immediately I can tell that he's not going to answer how I want him to. Likely going to talk about his family or something along those lines. "I mean, like what do you do when you're not training. What you like or dislike, that kind of thing. Don't take everything I say so literally." A bit of an odd sentiment from me since I normally have to be overly blunt or direct to get the answers I want.

He looks at me oddly for a few moments as we join the line waiting for food. "What's your angle here? Are you going to ferret out my secrets like you've done to everyone else?"

I blink slowly, slightly stupefied that he'd even ask that kind of question in the first place. "It's just a simple question."

"Uh-huh, and yet every time you talk with someone it seems like you're digging into how they tick." Is that how I come across? I thought that was relatively normal. Who wouldn't want to know more about the people they surround themselves with? To do otherwise is just asking for some sort of surprise to shatter whatever relationship has been built up to that point.

As I stare at him in a stunned silence Jaune's confident demeanor slowly chips away until he blurts out, "I, uh, play the guitar sometimes and training has kind of grown on me, but don't tell Nora that." He pauses for a long while as if searching for anything to share about himself that isn't too embarrassing. "Oh and I like to read…comics." The last part is almost a whisper, like he's ashamed to admit it. I doubt that Jaune would enjoy what Autumn likes to read, but I could mention it to the two of them at some point.

"There. Was that so hard," I ask while patting him on the head. He tries to avoid it, but I'm much more dexterous than he is and he is trying not to make a scene while we wait.

Eventually he resigns himself to his fate and bites out, "More than you know." I magnanimously ignore his comment and he regains the confidence to return to the conversation soon enough. "How about you? I mean what do you like to do?" Honestly I'm kind of proud that he had the courage to continue engaging with me despite his clear reservations. Or at least amused enough that I don't feel the need to needle him anymore than I already have.

"Believe it or not, investigating things. Whether it be outlandish conspiracies or theorycrafting over fictional creatures and events." I sweep my voice into a low hush as if I'm confiding a secret with him, "Don't tell anyone, but my whole business with Torchwick started off as an extension of that hobby." Disbelief is clear on his face, but I continue on in a normal voice regardless, "Fashion too I guess. But that's more something I appreciate rather than actively engage in.

"Yeah, that's, uh, cool I guess." I know he doesn't really get what I find interesting about the subject and he knows that I know, but neither of us comment on it. Our little talk dies off there, we don't have much in common to connect over and it's clear to me that Jaune isn't too enthusiastic about talking with me in the first place. I can't say that I blame him, but I'm making an honest attempt here. Whatever, I'm sure he'll warm up to me in time.

LloydAbsolon · Feb 21, 2024

The time comes for me to get ready for my outing with Weiss. I throw on a set of casual clothes and hope that she has some reasonable expectations and isn't dragging me somewhere too upscale. I didn't bother to spring for some high class clothes because I didn't think I'd need them until the dance next semester. Hopefully she isn't offended by my lack of preparedness, but there's nothing that I can do to resolve the issue now.

Once I'm all dressed up I pat myself down as a final readiness check and discover something in my pocket. I narrow my eyes slightly, remembering when Nora thought it'd be a great idea to sneak something in my bookbag. I decide to check on the matter now instead of having it blow up in my face later and discover a note that simply reads, "good luck." I'm not sure whether I should appreciate the sentiment or be upset that Ren somehow did that in the first place.

I'm not able to give much thought to the matter as I'm interrupted by a knock at the door. Autumn and Kelly both shoot me some sly grins, like they know exactly what I'm going to be getting up to and are going to tease me relentlessly about it when I come back. I want to discourage them, but I know that they'll fixate on their version of reality no matter what I say; I ignore them, put on a hat, and open the door.

Weiss stands in her heels and a faintly blue and white dress that's reminiscent of her combat uniform though today she's forgone wearing the bolero that normally covers her arms. I've seen her in her combat uniform enough that I'm not entirely sure if this is her attempt at dressing up or down, but I'm more than ready to play this evening by ear to begin with. Her radiant smile turns into an intense frown as she stares at the hat covering my leopard-like ears. I have a decent idea of what she's thinking, but I'm too into the habit of covering up to give it up now and she doesn't make an issue of it.

Whatever conversation she was going to strike up on our way to the airship is strangled in the crib by this minor issue, but as we approach Vale she gives up on her silent treatment to regale me with what she has planned for the evening. She even hands me a printed out itinerary and I struggle to not make a comment about it one way or the other. She's so excited about the upcoming events that I decide to let the matter go and allow her to have her fun.

Apparently our first stop will be at a restaurant of some sort, followed by a walk around a park, and ending in a nearby karaoke bar with private rooms. Fortunately the last establishment isn't the same one that's occasionally used as a White Fang hideout, but I'm not sure I want to know how Weiss convinced the proprietor of the establishment to rent out a room to two teenagers.

I've already resolved that I'll have to have a discussion of sorts with Weiss at some point during this little outing. I don't have much experience with long-term relations given my experience with the Fang, but that's no excuse to keep stringing her along.

The restaurant is a slightly upscale establishment, but not high class enough that my choice of attire draws anything more than the occasional glance. Not that I'm the one people are looking at. Fortunately Weiss reserved a private area so that we only have to deal with the staff for the most part. Even that is too much for either of us to want to engage in anything more meaningful than small talk.

This outing abruptly reminds me that Weiss is a celebrity of sorts. It's fine if I'm just hanging out with her as a friend, but if things continue like this I have to be prepared for when my name and face inevitably get out there and the consequences involved with that. For instance, it would hurt my credibility with parts of the Fang while making me a target of sorts. I don't think anyone I personally know would judge me for it, but things aren't as simple as whether the two of us want something between us.

Between the unwanted attention and my own efforts to get things over and done with, our time in the restaurant comes to a close sooner than scheduled. Something that I can tell upsets Weiss a little bit; things not going according to plan souring everything more than the actual experience. Once we're outside I don't have a good excuse not to broach the elephant in the room. "I appreciate this, Weiss, but it's not really necessary to thank me like this."

Walking close to me, almost brushing up against me, she tuts at me. "Please, this is the least I could do and I'm enjoying getting away from Beacon, so don't think this is an imposition on my part."

"Fine, it's just for the longest time I never thought about doing this kind of stuff. I was always busy and moving around too much." I hope that I don't have to spell things out for her, but Weiss has been better at picking up my subtext than the others.

A frown and a bit of hurt in her eyes tells me that she got my message even if I don't like seeing the results of it. "I suppose it was a little childish to just expect things to work out."

"I wouldn't say that…" I trail off trying to salvage the situation, but not finding the right words at the moment.

"Well what is it then," Weiss yells, rounding on me. I wish there was an easy answer that I could give her here, but this is the kind of moment where I have to make a decision. Between my affiliation with the Fang, the resources that Weiss can bring to the table, and my own feelings on the matter I'm torn in a series of directions. I can't help but be reminded of her own words that 'a part of growing up is having to discard some things that I like to do in order to achieve my goals.'

What am I willing to give up and what are my goals? I want what's best for Menagerie and myself, but what does that really look like? Everything is so much simpler when I only have to account for myself and adding another person would only complicate things, but is that what I actually want? Plus there's the fact that being with Weiss would make it harder for me to use the White Fang for my own purposes. A part of me was hoping that I could just ride the line where I didn't have to decide on things, but letting things fester would only ruin the relationship between Weiss and I.

+ spend the crit (6)

White Fang: I'll tentatively accept, but my relationship with the Fang might be a deal breaker. She might react poorly, but she deserves to know. (6)

Delay: She won't be happy with it, but I need more time to decide what I want to do. (1)

Accept: I won't tell her anything about my current relationship with the Fang. I'll need the time to figure out a way to break it to her gently. (0)

Refuse: It's unfortunate, but I don't want to pursue that kind of relationship with her. It might damage things at first, but I'm sure we could continue our professional relationship given time. (0)

So, this is the first time that a crit gets used in the quest and that means a few things. First, that it's not just an 'I win' button. Rather, as described in the mechanics section, it goes about achieving an objective with the most optimal path; if such a path is impossible this will not make it just happen. In this case Ochre getting out of the way of himself and being more honest than he otherwise would, as well as a couple of other caveats. If you're looking to take notes for an eventual use in the future I would suggest less focus on the steps to get somewhere and more to describe what you want the end result to be as that's much more helpful on my end.

Now, the more eagle eyed/long-memoried readers may notice that no such crits have been rolled thus far throughout the quest. To that I'll have to remind people that each training action gets its own set of rolls which, considering the format of the other site, I decided to handle through a third party roller. You're just going to have to trust that I've been honest in handling and reporting such rolls.

Accept and tell Weiss about the White Fang connection without upsetting her. Discuss how the relationship will go (i.e. speed and boundaries and such) (5)

Something else? (Write In) (0)

"It's just, it's all so complicated," I start, losing my usual eloquence. I know that Weiss won't accept such a vague statement nor the sentiment behind it so I collect my thoughts and power through. "I may have not been entirely honest during our first week of school." Normally I'd try to dance around this kind of topic, but something is telling me that full frontal honesty is the best policy here. Weiss stares at me with narrowed eyes and barely restrained fury, but I'm too quick for her to interrupt.

"No, I'm not with you because of any business with the Fang. I was sent to keep an eye on the Vale branch and well, you know what I'm doing about that." She relaxes slightly, but I can sill see the tenseness in her frame. "And I'm not exactly with the Fang, I was able to acquire a leave of absence for a few years due to a favor I did right before I left."

"And what was this 'favor' you did for them exactly?"

I want to keep everything under wraps. While Atlas may not have gone after Menagerie for whatever reason, they could just be waiting for credible information that Menagerie did steal the CCT relay plans. Telling Weiss anything could lead to her telling her sister and then everything comes crashing down. But, I've already decided what I'm willing to give up and come what may I'll do my best.

"I stole something to help Menagerie. I want to tell you more I really do," I interrupt her question as to what exactly I took, both as a defense of my home and since I don't think she'd appreciate my theft of state secrets. "Things are very perilous right now, any mistake on my part and all of that could be lost. I promise that I'll tell you before the Vytal Festival is over, but please just let it go for now."

More emotion than I thought must have bled into my voice because Weiss looks at me with eyes full of understanding and doesn't press the issue. "Fine, but couldn't you just leave them at this point? You know what they're responsible for."

"I could," I let out slowly, testing to see her reaction. She brightens up, but is obviously holding herself back a little. I guess she doesn't want to be let down a second time tonight. I bite my lip and pause for a bit, I haven't told anyone my intentions with the Fang. Partly due to not yet deciding how I want to handle them and partly because the company I keep I either couldn't tell or didn't care.

Still, blunt honesty has worked well so far with Weiss and I'm willing to bet on it again. "The truth is, that I'm using them. I really don't give a damn about the Fang, but they're useful and right now they're spiraling out of control. I don't know how it looks from the outside, but things like whatever the Vale branch is up to is not normal. If nothing changes it's only a matter of time until more groups split off to do their own thing. I can stop that and turn their efforts into something actually productive."

Weiss lowers her head and leans in towards me shaking all the while. A mix of anger and melancholy wafting off her as she says in a quiet voice, "It doesn't have to be you."

"I could say the same thing about you and the SDC, but here we are." I catch a tiny glare from the petite girl before she looks away in a pout. Against anyone else I don't think that kind of argument would hold up, but Weiss and I share an understanding of the kind of pride that we're dealing with.

"Don't think this means I'm not mad at you."

I can tell there is far more relief than anger in her voice, but I decide to humor her anyway. "Well, how can I make it up to you then?"

"Whatever it is you're doing with them, keep me informed. I don't care how minor you think it is, I want to know. If you decide to do anything stupid or risky I want to know. And no running off to solve problems on your own because you think you're the only one who can." I nod easily enough to each of her demands, while they limit me slightly it's a small price to pay. "And no more secrets."

That brings me up short. I don't think I have anymore that I haven't already warded her away from, but I am keeping other people's secrets. "None of my own, but I'm not going to betray the trust others have extended to me." She glares at me since arguably I betrayed the trust between the two of us and everyone else at school, but oddly enough I think she's satisfied that I'm holding to that particular principle.

"I guess that's the best I'm going to get out of you," Weiss responds with a haughty sniff. She must be feeling better if she's willing to play into her upper class persona. However, there's one thing that I think she's forgetting about amidst all this drama.

"I think it's prudent to discuss how we're dealing with all this going forward."

At first she looks lost, but that quickly morphs into elation when she processes the subtext of my statement. She tries to taper down on it, but even the revelation of my current ties to the White Fang isn't enough to quash the excitement. "YES, I mean yes. But, uh, what is there to discuss?"

I thought she would have given as much thought towards this as I have, but she must have her own blind spots about the matter. Either that or I analyze things too deeply and my worry over my connection to the Fang caused those thoughts to be more prominent. Either way it's best to get this stuff out of the way. "Well first off, I don't think there's any way that we could hide this and I'm certain to gain my own set of detractors both in and out of the Fang."

"Is that going to be a problem," she challenges pointedly.

I make a placating gesture, "No, at least nothing big enough for this. I just think you should be aware that you're likely to receive the same treatment, even from other humans." She doesn't seem to care about the racial politics of our match, but it's better to inform her anyway. "Aside from that I think we should take things slow. I may have some experience with romantic matters but nothing like this."

She scoffs like it was a completely unnecessary thing for me to say. "Are you trying to imply that I'd act like some kind of floozy? I have standards you know," she teases with a smile, which is enough for me to know that I don't have to worry about anything on that front. "Honestly you worry too much. Now is there anything else we have to talk about before going back to Beacon."

"Well…" I trail off with a big grin as I notice Weiss both roll her eyes and prepare herself for whatever I have to say next. "I do believe you still owe me a song or two." Her eyes light up instantly, then she checks her scroll and notices the time. Pulling me by the arm she drags the two of us to our private room and I'm sure the clerk at the desk had a nice chuckle over a girl who's more than a head shorter than I am dragging me around like I'm a petulant child.

Once there Weiss thumbs through their tracks for a bit, unable to find what she's looking for until she gives up and plays something from her scroll. Her singing starts off high and slightly hollow with an almost ringing quality to her notes. As she progresses into her song her voice turns sharper and more harsh, still in that high register but notably deeper. There's an undercurrent of resolve and hope with her lyrics and how she sings them, but I'm no expert with music so I'm certain there's more that I'm missing.

Regardless, once the song is over I congratulate her and she tries to make me take the stage. I glare at her for a while, but ultimately comply with the two of us trading off songs for the next hour. When we have to return to Beacon she leans on my arm the whole ride there and I explain to her my current predicament with the Fang.

Once we arrive outside our dorms she reluctantly bids me good night with a small squeeze of the hand. Of course that atmosphere has to be ruined when I enter my room and find Autumn and Kelly with shit-eating grins on their faces. I don't even have the excuse that they could be wrong to hide behind anymore, so I resolve to ignore them as best as I can. They'll have to get tired of this eventually, right?

Congratulations every other (in this case even numbered) week we will have one free Weiss action.

The next day Weiss unceremoniously claims Ruby's usual seat in class, which happens to be the closest to mine, disrupting their usual seating order. I already resigned any attempts at anonymity to an ignoble death, but I did have a small hope that she would keep things somewhat subtle. I also have to deal with Kelly pointedly asking why I have a smile while taking glee in her continued hounding of me. Autumn at least has the decency to keep his smugness contained to his expressions. Marina stares oddly at Weiss and I before shrugging her shoulders and ignoring whatever it is she sees.

Not everyone is as observant of the new status quo as my team is. Strangely enough that includes Ruby, who complains to Weiss about her seat in between each class and even beating Weiss to her seat in all the classes after lunch. Weiss doesn't want to bother explaining things to Ruby, but a thumbs up from Yang is enough to tell me that this will be handled somewhat responsibly.

Jaune is also slow on the uptake, because as soon as class ends he asks Weiss out again. Instead of shooting him down like she normally does she instead starts choking on laughter. Letting out a full belly laugh for long enough that Ruby has to help her calm down and drag her out of the area. That probably did more of a number on the poor boy than any amount of reprimands from me could ever do. I leave him alone though, not only would it be bad for me to get involved he already has the rest of his team swooping in to set him back on his feet.

Speaking of which, I should probably hang out with my team. One look at Kelly and Autumn is enough to convince me that I've dealt with them enough for probably the next month or two. Instead, I prefer to hangout with my morally bankrupt partner. Okay, that's a little too harsh. She might not realize why something is wrong, but she's more than capable of following my example.

Regardless she's the best option out of the bunch and with Ren distracted with his leader I can easily escape from the current prank war going on. I've been a bit busy to really give it my full attention, but I have set things in motion that will hopefully pay off soon. The two of us take our leave and make our way to the library. I can use the excuse of helping her study to stay away from the twins so it's a win for both of us.

As soon as we set up on the table she turns towards me and bows her head mechanically, "I'm sorry. Something I said upset you and I apologize for whatever it was." I know she doesn't actually understand that she did anything wrong in the first place, but a sigh escapes me regardless. She turns her head to the side like she doesn't know why her apology didn't have the effect that she wanted and I don't have the heart to explain it to her either.

"I accept your apology," I reply just as mechanically, not really feeling it. That is enough for her to nod in satisfaction and continue setting up her study materials. At least she recognized that I was upset, or maybe Kelly explained it to her. Really the difference is immaterial to me. Still, I set aside this time to hang out with her and I might as well make the most of it, though I am going to avoid the heavier topics for now.

Nuance: She's done her best to try to figure people out, but she still struggles from time to time. It might behoove me to actually explain some things in greater detail for her. (7)

Future: I know that she hasn't given it much thought before, but with her new independent streak it might be best to start encouraging her to start. (5)

Morality: Marina can probably follow along with what we do and don't want her to do with her emotion sense, but it wouldn't hurt to lay out some ground rules to follow. (1)

Worldview: As far as I can tell her view is her crew and everybody else. I could poke and see how far that extends and maybe help break her out of it. (0)

"Have you given any thought about what you'll do after Beacon," I ask out of the blue. I already suspect her answer, but it's a way to get her started on the topic.

"I'll tag along wherever you go cap'n," is the immediate reply. Nodding along, I'm about to start leading her down a series of questions when she speaks up again. "You, me, Autumn, Kelly, and Weiss traveling the world. It'll be fun having a proper crew again." I note a bit of hesitance with her admitting Weiss into the group. I also want to protest her inclusion, but I don't want to confuse Marina with conflicting signals. That and my protests would sound weak even to me.

"Okay," I start slowly, unsure how exactly to respond for a moment. "Is that really what you want to do?"

"Why would I want to do anything else?" Marina looks at me with big teal eyes. There's a certain innocence with that look and her immediate question that is both entirely characteristic of her and slightly unnerving.

I'm not going to get through to her like this so I switch tracks. "Okay, but what would you like to do while we're traveling the world?"

She tilts her head to the side and a few moments later swings it to the other side of her neck like she just needs to shake the answer out of her head. My question apparently stumps her as it takes her over a minute to begin to respond. "I guess we could explore. I always wanted to see what the dark continent was like." She's talking about the largely unexplored dragon shaped continent to the Northwest of Vale. It's certainly a bold choice, that is if this is anything more than a flight of fancy for her.

"And what if we're too busy to explore with you?" Marina frowns heavily and furrows her brow in concentration. I'm not surprised that she hasn't given any thought to this matter before, but she does seem genuinely interested in exploration considering that she hasn't given it up in favor of being with the group. Even after giving her some time to think it over she still doesn't come up with an answer which is an answer all of its own to me. "You don't have to answer now, you'll have four years to think it over after all."

She nods to show that she heard me, but continues to linger on the matter regardless. Figuring that I need to offer her something else to latch on to I speak up again. "So, how have things been with you? Having any trouble with people?"

My comment is enough to draw her away from her thoughts, but I have the feeling it's something she'll keep coming back to in the future. "You and Weiss are all weird. Way brighter than usual."

"Ask about anything aside from that!"

She blinks slowly at my outburst and obeys, "You've been frustrated with Autumn and Kelly, but happy at the same time. Why is that?"

I'm tempted to tell her off again, but I'd feel bad if I kept blowing off her honest questions just so I can avoid some embarrassment. "Like many things with people it's complicated. They annoy me to no end, but I enjoy their company. Like moss on a tree they've grown on me, even when I wish they'd just drop dead. Uh, that last part isn't serious, it's just an expression," I hastily add the last part, just in case her obliviousness is worse than I think.

A resolute nod from Marina gives me the feeling that she took something deeper from my words and I'm not sure what. Whatever it is couldn't be too bad given what I said, but it's something I'll keep an eye out for in the future. "Do you not want me to ask about personal things like that," she blurts out in an odd moment of insight.

She is learning, however slowly. I can take small solace in that fact. "Yes, you're not doing anything wrong per se, but most people don't like you butting into their personal business without asking."

"Why do you do it then?" Hey, who is putting these slanderous ideas in my partner's head? I swear I'm going to have to hunt down the rumor mill one of these days.

"That's different," the excuse sounds hollow even to me and I have to rush to correct myself so Marina doesn't get the wrong idea. "I do it to get a better read on people and learn more about them, okay."

"So, that makes it alright?"

"No," I draw out slowly. It's a sad day when Marina of all people is beating me in a battle of wits, but I'm not willing to completely surrender just yet. "Like I said, it's complicated. Some people appreciate someone showing concern for them and others need the help to stop them from spiraling into a worse place than where they are."

Marina is obviously left more confused than was when I started my explanation. I groan internally as I resolve myself to put away any studying for a few hours so I can explain things in more detail. By the end of it I feel like she's a little better, but between her prodding me about my own actions and having to defend them while also explaining that they aren't the 'right' thing to do in every circumstance leaves me more tired than after a normal study session with the girl

I'm able to avoid any more of Ren's pranks while setting up one of my own for him at the near end of the week. By my count I'm down by one, he may have gotten me with Nora and Jaune, but I'm not counting the note in my pockets since I discovered it before it could have done anything and it wasn't intended as a prank to begin with. Ren may have started the trend of using proxies in our little prank war, but I'll show him why doing so was a poor idea.

I set everything up just outside of the building to the kitchens, thanks to Nora I both know that he's cooking for his team tonight and the route he normally takes. Along with Nora I have recruited some additional help and with Autumn by my side there's not really a way to hide our presence. It doesn't matter either way, because Ren running away from his duties to his team over this is just as much an admission of defeat in both our eyes even if it's not technically in the rules.

At the right time I spot him making his way over from the dorm building and my eyes focus on him so he doesn't give me the slip. The exact area I need to coral him to is slightly flexible, but I can't do that if I lose sight of him. Of course the problem with relying on Nora for help with planning my pranks is that she inevitably let something slip to her partner.

I hear the telltale signs of someone walking up behind me, but I nudge Autumn to take care of it. Withdrawing a jar of itching powder my teammate has a cruel smile on his face and a high-pitched shriek tells me that it was Jaune who tried to help his teammate out. I let out a rueful chuckle at his misfortune, he didn't believe me and now he's paying the price for it.

With his plan foiled, Ren approaches me resigned, but still smiling. "I should have expected that you'd catch on at some point."

He's trying to rile me up, but I don't take the bait. I wait a few more seconds for him to get in position before I reply, "Yeah, still you were doing quite wel- Nora now!" On cue Nora pops out of the bushes throwing around flour in every direction like a demented spinning top. I'm not even sure where she got all of that, and I didn't even tell her to do anything to begin with. She was just supposed to be a distraction while my real plan went off so this is a complete surprise to me.

And if it's a surprise to me it has to be a surprise for Ren as well. He stands there as the two of us get covered in flour and before either of us could react Marina comes sailing down from the rooftop dunking a whole bucket of water right on top of his head. I wince slightly, knowing that it's going to be a pain to get all of that out of his uniform. At least it happened to his school uniform and not his combat one. If he's particularly bothered by the mess that was made on him he doesn't show it. While the smile on his face is gone, a light in his eyes remains.

That, however, soon turns to wariness as Nora excitedly rushes up to the two of us. "We got him! Oh boy, oh boy. Which of you two won? I'm raring to unleash my powers and really go all out next week."

Ren and I share a look between the two of us and he starts us off, "Actually I believe we're tied."

"He's right, we'll need another week to sort this out, probably."

"Either that or neither of us won and if that's the case then it wouldn't be right for us to challenge the champion."

"After all, we need to have some respect for the Lightning Queen of pranks." Nora stares at the two of us and her expression falls as we continue our bit. It's only for a moment, though, as quickly as her mood starts to worsen it changes back to her usual manic self.

"You're telling me that the two of you are going to have another week of pranks! Great, what all are you planning, oh can I join in? I know all of his secrets," she says to me while pointing at Ren before rushing off to him. "And I can chase him anywhere on Beacon. You need someone to lead him into a trap, I'm your girl."

Fortunately I'm with an expert Nora-wrangler and Ren defuses the situation, "If we have any plans you'll be the first to know. Now I need to get to cooking, I'll see you back at the dorm." I'm about to follow along with that dismissal as well until he calls out to me, "Ochre, why don't you help me out this time."

I stop in my tracks. I could just ignore him, but I did just mess up his uniform albeit unintentionally. It wouldn't look good if I'd brush off the same thing that got me mad at him to begin with. With some reluctance I follow along with him; I suppose I can at least use this opportunity to learn something. He pulls up the recipe on his scroll and it looks like it'll take a little while to make so I have some time to fill while we wait for everything to be done.

Teammates: He seemed to have no issue with getting his teammates involved in this prank war. Was it just convenience or is there a deeper reason for it? (4)

Story: Nora mentioned that he used to be a lot more talkative and there was a story behind that. Maybe now he'll open up about that at least. (2)

Leader: From what I've seen Ren is far more leader material than Jaune is. I could ask him if he ever thinks about that. (0)

Ren sets preparing the recipe, assigning me to put together a white sauce of some description while he works on the pasta and meat to go with it. In order to do so I have to roll up my sleeves, and wash my hands of course. Something I do with a little trepidation, this will be the first time I think anyone here in Vale will get a look at my spots. However, like my ears he doesn't comment on them and all I have to do is follow the recipe and soon the two of us settle in to wait while things cook.
"How much of that was planned," Ren asks as he stirs his pot.

"About two thirds I'd say give or take a little. Nora definitely threw a wrench in my plan and Autumn was really only there as backup that I didn't think I'd actually need. By the way should I be worried about Jaune? I don't think Autumn is going to take it easy on him and I don't even know what he was trying to do."

"He should be fine. I explained the risks and he accepted them. You don't have to do that." Ren points towards my hands that are instinctively covering my arms.

I ignore his comment, "Why'd you involve him anyways, or Nora for that matter?"

A wry smile plies his lips, "I thought it would do him some good to take a shot at you. There's a lot of unresolved tension on his end and it's going to get a bit worse considering…" Ren trails off with a shrug. I got enough that he doesn't need to finish that sentence. "As for Nora, I don't think I could have gotten away with not involving her."

"She didn't even know she was a part of the prank when she chased me down," skepticism colors my voice.

"Would you have preferred it if I told her and she decided to do something herself?" I don't have an argument against that so I let him have the point.

"Okay, but why involve the two of them twice," Ren looks confused so I elaborate, "right before lunch Nora threw Jaune into me. Did you really have nothing to do with that?"

"Ah, so that's what happened," he says to himself while nodding sagely. "I had nothing to do with that; I could ask Nora about it, but I suspect Pyrrha or Ruby to be behind that."

I grumble internally, but accept the answer. He doesn't seem to be lying to me at any rate. "Speaking of Pyrrha, why didn't you try to get her involved in this?"

"I did, actually, but she refused. A shame, she could use some loosening up."

"Like you're one to talk," I snark back.

"I did agree to this in the end, didn't I?"

I grunt in agreement and silence stretches on between us for a few moments before I break it. "Who else did you try to get involved?"

"Pretty much everyone; Blake told me no immediately, Ruby thought it was too mean, and Yang wanted to, but was too busy this week."

"I take it you weren't too successful with my team either?"

"As if I could get them to turn on you," he remarks with a grin. "I did try, though; give me a few weeks and one of them will agree." I don't have to think too hard as to who that could be, but each of the twins are just as likely as the other.

Regardless, that's not the question I want to ask right now. "Why?"

Ren turns self-satisfied as if he expected me to ask that question. "I figured I'd give them all the chance to participate like you did for me. Who knows, maybe they'd find a passion for it. It's been so long since I've had a chance to really relax and I have no way of knowing if anyone else is in the same situation I was."

"You're really going to claim that it was altruism?"

I don't know why, but my words cause Ren to stop for a moment. "No, I also had something lined up that they could help me with." There's something more behind that statement, but Ren is a brick wall at the best of times, much more so when he's actually keeping his expression still.

Whatever it is, I do believe what he said about his motivation. Or at least I believe that he believes it. I'm not here to debate his good-nature though so I let the matter slide and he doesn't bring it up either. Before too long everything is ready to be mixed together and the final product plated and served.

Ren is nice enough to fix up a plate for me as well even though I didn't help out too much and insisted that it wasn't necessary. That caused another odd look to flash across his face which I ignored for now. We bid each other goodbye and I retreat back into my dorm. I don't have too much more lined up this weekend. Just some training and waiting to hear the report from my agents, so I kick back and take a moment to relax for a bit.

It's only the matter of waiting a few more days for my agents to complete their surveillance of the hotel and consequently my target within. Tukson has nothing to report right now as far as the bugs go, just reporting more of the same. I get the feeling that that will change sometime soon, especially if I decide to kick off this powder keg. Still, no news is good news for me; it means that they don't know about me and they haven't discovered the bugs.

I do have to pass along some Lien to our agents, both for their help with my investigation and so they can set themselves up in the area. It's a small price to pay, but I'll have to keep an eye on it to make sure I don't become too spendthrift. Fortunately it's money well spent as they're able to confirm that my trio of suspects are staying at the hotel. Included in their report is a candid photo of the three of them leaving the hotel lobby late at night and headshots of the three of them individually. They're a perfect match for the security cam footage sent to me earlier this week.

I don't think that they visited Torchwick since the bugs didn't catch anything and there was no mention of any humans visiting the warehouse. Maybe they were lying in wait? Torchwick did hit a few more stores over the weekend than he normally does. Or it could be something as simple as them attending to their own business. I have a rough heading of their direction in Vale, but that doesn't tell me much and my agents were specifically instructed not to follow after them. I was already taking enough of a risk having them observe the group in the first place.

Regardless, I have their photos and enough to connect them to the disappearance of someone, not to mention the sheer amount of circumstantial evidence connecting them to the White Fang and Torchwick. I'm still loath to trust the VPD despite Detective Flint being on the force, but that same distrust doesn't extend to Ozpin. While he has a record of being somewhat light on his students he does have a similar record of expediently addressing problems or those same problems disappearing while seemingly doing nothing.

That isn't to say that I have to bring this up to him, though. It would, undoubtedly, tip off the White Fang and Torchwick and I don't know if they'll continue this plan in her absence. Especially since I don't know where these resources she's bringing in are coming from or who she's connected with. There is definitely some amount of risk with bringing the hammer down now, but removing the kingpin of the operation has its merits.

Hold: I don't think their plan is mature enough to warrant any undue alarm, plus I can come forward with this information whenever I want. It might serve my interests better to keep all my cards close to the vest. (4)

Bust: I can point the authorities in her direction while keeping the Fang out of the crosshairs, relatively at least. It might be easier to put things back in order without a puppet-master pulling everyone's strings. (1)

It's an easy enough decision to put off telling anyone for now. As long as I monitor the situation it shouldn't devolve any further and I get the feeling I'll be able to arrange things to my benefit with a little bit more effort. Instead I double check the reports for anything I miss and then head off to take care of some daily activities like checking the mail.

Normally I leave this to Autumn or Kelly, but for the past week or so I've been anticipating a letter from home. More than enough time has passed that dad should have received one of my letters and sent his reply. There is still the ever present possibility that my letters never made it home or the response was simply lost in transit. Neither of those are the case as I spot a letter with a familiar wax seal of an oak tree. I deliver the rest of the mail to the dorm before tearing into and reading my letter:

Ochre,

I hope this letter finds you well and more successfully than your first letter sent to me. I regret to inform you that I never received it, but such is life. I am responding to your letter marked as '2,' but let us not dwell on the time that has been lost. What is more important is how you are doing. Some recent events have me thinking of your safety more than usual. Nothing that you need to worry about, I am not leaving this world until I witness what you are going to achieve.

Things have gotten a little busier since you left. Those two fox-like fellows have been strutting up and down all over town barking out orders left, right, and center. You would think it was them running the place and the Chief has been letting them, although reluctantly from what I have heard. I even got a visit from his missus when they found out you were the one responsible for all this; I did not tell her anything, but I do admit it was nice getting a social call after so long.

Alas you are not reading this for me to wax poetic about my younger days and there is not much else I can tell you with how disconnected I am from the workings of the town. My collaboration with Sycamore and the guards has gone as well as I could expect. They do not take the training anywhere seriously enough, but they follow along when I am there to whip them into shape. I hope you are nowhere as lax as they are and have been following those exercises I showed you every day.

Enough about me, you told me that they made you of all people the leader of your team. I am sure you thought they must have really been scraping the bottom of the barrel to make that kind of decision. In all seriousness, I am proud of you and know you will show that their faith in you is well placed. I wish that you did not have your other obligations preventing you from enjoying a normal life at Beacon, but I know better than to try to dissuade you. Just let me know if there is ever anything I can do to help.

Also pass along my thanks to that kind woman that housed you when you arrived in Vale. Though, it is curious that you never mentioned her before now. Have you been keeping secrets from me? I can only hope you are more forthright about the friends you have made at Beacon. I do not need these kinds of surprises sprung on me this late in my life. Still, you will do as you have always done and I am sure that your career as a Huntsman will be more successful than my own.

Your Father,

Onyx Rovere.

P.S. Good job and keep up the good work.

I scan over the whole thing one more time just to make sure I'm not missing anything. This is rather typical of our initial letter exchanges, neither of us want to write pages of material when the other might never receive it. Though since I'll be staying in a more permanent location for a few years I expect that our letters will become more verbose.

I also read between the lines and know that something happened to one of the guards that my dad was training. Sure he worries, but to include it in the letter, even as obliquely as he did, implies that something shook him up and that's the only thing that makes sense. Hopefully, they just did something stupid and got hurt rather than dead; there are few enough people willing to defend Menagerie as it is.

The post script is also expected, the Albain brothers need some way to keep in contact. Disguising that as part of my dad's letter is easy enough and he's willing to do so. Sometimes they would tell me something useful, but with how freeform my mission here is all I expect out of them is vague assurances to keep working.

At least until the CCT relay is built, then their more controlling side might come out in the open, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. Maybe I'll even have this whole thing wrapped up before they can even contact me. Not that I expect any trouble from them, I have a good reason to pursue things now and regardless of what I do, success needs no explanation.

Aura(Practical) raised from (65/625) to (75/625) Source: Semblance usage

Combat Raised from (125/625) to (175/625) Source: Class, Training, & Oobleck

Culture raised from (2/150) to (7/150) Source: Oobleck

Dust raised from Rank 1 (49/50) to Rank 2 (5/150) Source: Class

Grimm raised from (58/150) to (64/150) Source: Class

History raised from (76/300) to (95/300) Source: Class & Oobleck

Investigation raised from (118/300) to (128/300) Source: Class, Challenge, & Oobleck

Mobility raised from (88/300) to (99/300) Source: Class & Oobleck

Semblance(Knowledge) raised from (27/150) to (41/150) Source: Training

Survival raised from (49/150) to (55/150) Source: Class

Constant regeneration raised from (0/50) to (12/50) Source: Training

Discretionary budget reduced to (4200/5000L) Source: Agent payments.

LloydAbsolon · Feb 22, 2024

White Fang: Contacts:I have a list of contacts neatly organized for my perusal. Maybe I should reach out to some of them and see if I can find out what's going on from the inside. (Investigation check and social). (5)

Robberies: Associates: My leads on this matter are running a little dry. Maybe I can look into Torchwick's past and current associates to shed some light on his motivations. (investigation Check) (3)

Recruit:I could recruit just some grunts, but my operation has no need for them right now. Instead I'll recruit someone with a more specialized skill set.(Unlocks more actions)3/4

Velvet(QM)

Weiss(Free)

Oobleck: I'm spending quite a bit of time with the man now that he's my mentor. I might as well talk with him and pick his brain on some subjects. (7)

The Clovers: Things are still quiet in Vale, but that can change depending on a lot of variables right now. I might as well spend some time with them while I can (5)

Combatx2 (3)

Semblance(Knowledge) (3)

I'm a bit delayed from heading out for lunch because Goodwitch holds me back after class. Ostensibly she wants to talk about my progress and what I've been doing outside of school to achieve such progress. While it could be true she's just concerned with making sure I'm not overworking myself, the fact that Dr. Oobleck is overseeing some of my training should defuse her worries. Instead I find her tone more telling, it's still firm, but less strict than what I usually hear from her. Maybe that's confirmation that she did have something out for me before, but it wasn't too troublesome then and if it's stopping now I don't see a reason to make it a big deal.

That's not what catches my attention when I enter the cafeteria, though. Crowded together at the same table are our three teams all seemingly looking over Autumn and Kelly's shoulders for one reason or another. The only ones not joining in are Marina, who is as unfazed as ever, and Weiss who is sitting ramrod straight. I let out a groan knowing that my teammates are making my life more inconvenient like normal. Hopefully whatever has their attention is something minor so I can wrangle things back into a more subdued state.

I swing by to check on what they're showing off. As I approach Ren looks up for a moment, nods, and then goes back to listening to the crowd. This catches Nora's attention and when she sees me she waggles her eyebrows in a suggestive manner. The two of them dutifully make room for me to join in on the action and I wish that I hadn't.

Open on Autumn's scroll is a CCT page titled in big bold letters, "Weiss Schnee's Boyfriend???" It includes a picture of me and her sitting at a table, taken while we were at the restaurant last week. There's also a red arrow pointing towards me, a red circle around my head, and three question marks right next to that whole set-up. I think any one of those three would be excessive and yet I have all of them right before me. I don't know what gossip rag is responsible for this, but I'm sure I can find some dirt on them in-between my investigations. Collected for wholly practical reasons, of course.

Thanks to my constant vigilance I don't have to worry about any backlash for Weiss on account of my parentage. She may have disliked the hat and the long sleeves, but I'm proven right yet again. Regardless, there are only so many people with my particular color scheme and choice of clothing. Even if I don't wear my casual clothes that often at Beacon I imagine it's only a matter of time until someone puts two and two together and the information leaks for one reason or another. Oh well, the two of us knew what we were getting into, though I doubt either of us thought it would happen so soon.

Most everyone I care about already knew or suspected things with Weiss and I, but there is one person I have concerns about. Jaune is actually taking things better than I expected, just chatting about something with Pyrrha. After what happened last week I can't be too surprised that he soured on things or moved past them. I don't shoot him an apologetic look or anything; I don't regret my decision and he isn't the type to appreciate the pity. I have the feeling he wants to talk to me about something, but with how crowded and energetic things are right now it's just not the right time to bring it up.

I end up sitting between Weiss and Marina and earn a flash of a smile from each of the lithe white haired girls . I have an intrusive thought that I might be displaying to people that I have a type, but quickly dismiss it. Things aren't like that between Marina and I and no one who matters would get that kind of idea in their head anyways.

Of course with my presence more or less announced I have to deal with the knowing smirks from Autumn and Kelly. Not to mention the curious questions from Ruby and similar ones from Yang, who senses weakness and is pressing her advantage for all it's worth. Blake is quiet, but in an odd way that is different from her usual countenance. Like she's thinking very deeply on a topic and internally arguing with herself. I can guess as to what she's thinking about and I'm tempted to weigh in on her thoughts myself, but like with Jaune the situation isn't really conducive to do so now.

I'm able to get through the rest of the day avoiding whatever questions and comments I can while enduring those I can't. I'm then dragged off to another study session with Velvet and she is much less demanding of me after passing the midterm for History. If she keeps on track she'll be back with her team by the semester's end. As we're packing up for the day I spot Coco standing in the doorway of the library; she doesn't come over to talk or anything, but her presence is enough for Velvet to lock up and turn towards me.

"I'm sorry to spring this on you, but Coco and the others are throwing another celebration for me tonight. Don't feel like you need to come or anything." Seeing as how it took Coco showing up for her to bring this up I can either conclude that she didn't want to invite more or she thought I wouldn't want to come in the first place. With her personality I'm leaning towards the latter and it is clear that she doesn't want to go either.

Still this would be a good chance to rub shoulders with the upper years and maybe scope out the potential competition for the Vytal festival so I mentally reshuffle some things around and agree to come. Velvet frowns and walks off with her leader who shoots me a thumbs up. I briefly struggle with asking Weiss to come with me for much the same reason as why I'm going, plus the pleasant company. Bringing a Schnee uninvited to a faunus' party is certainly a faux pas to many. Not that I think Coco or Velvet would really care, but others might, plus the extra attention isn't something I want to deal with.

I decide to be dutiful, however, and message Coco to get the go ahead. She seems confused as to why I would want to bring Weiss in the first place but agrees easily enough. I guess I can't expect her to be up to date about the love life of a couple of first years, no matter how famous, and isn't a fan of gossip sites. Regardless, I don't explain my motivations; she'll find out on her own easily enough.

The two of us arrive together at a small building off to the side of the campus. It's not technically a part of Beacon and is leased out as private property, but due to the location mainly serves as a common house and party place for smaller arrangements. Not everyone wants to wait hours on an airship just to have a place to celebrate or hangout.

Once we make our way inside Weiss and I go our separate ways with her going after a group of upperclassmen and myself walking towards Velvet. Weiss isn't anywhere as close with Velvet as I am and her competitive streak flared up at the mere mention of scouting out the competition. So, while I have to greet the nominal star of the party she is under no similar obligation, besides politeness. It's not a big issue; she'll get around to it after she's done some carousing of her own and I'll have something to tease her about for a few weeks.

As for Velvet, she's hiding away in the corner of the room. Technically free and available to talk to, but making it as clear as she can that she doesn't want to be here. I'm not sure why Coco feels the need to make a big deal about Velvet's success when the girl herself doesn't want it, but the fashionista flitting to and fro between different groups tells me that her primary concern lies elsewhere. I have the feeling it was also an attempt to get Velvet to branch out a bit more, but that attempt has obviously fallen flat.

"Hey," my greeting to Velvet is deliberately clipped so I can get this social obligation over and done with. The bunny girl, however, has other plans in mind.

"Thank goodness you're here. Coco took my scroll and I don't want to deal with anyone right now." As she says this she sticks her hands out and makes a 'give me' motion. Now it would be rude to ignore her, but I also don't want to hand over my scroll to her; while it doesn't have anything directly incriminating on it it does have some of my notes about my investigations and I don't want to deal with her asking about that. Sure, I've let my friends in on that secret, but I really don't know CFVY all that well and I don't know what Velvet would tell them.

Therefore I settle on a middle ground of sorts, "Let's hope my company is a good enough substitute."

She frowns at me for not complying with her demands and I can tell she's making a mental tally of this moment. After a moment of silence she says, "Coco was really upset that you went shopping without her."

"I'm sorry," I question more than saying, "she didn't exactly make herself available and I wasn't going to hold off for her sake."

"She knows, but now she wants to thank you for my grades and not just tutoring in general." Knowing Vel's mindset I'm cautious rather than jumping on the potential favor immediately. My silence eventually draws her to expand on her statement. "Please, she won't stop talking about it. You'd be doing me a favor by accepting." She grimaces but that is more towards her words than anything I've done. The offer does bring to mind some ideas that have been bouncing in my head, but I don't have to be so eager as to bring them up right now.

Upgrade: I was actually looking into upgrading my weapons at some point and a convenient favor is a nice enough springboard into the topic. (3)

Next Year: While she's not the best person to answer this question she does still have insight about how my future semesters and years at Beacon will be run. I could ask her about that and see how they fit in my plans. (3)

Party: So why did Coco throw this whole thing if Vel obviously doesn't like it. I have my suspicions but I could get some confirmation. (2)

Mistral: I can understand where her animosity towards this particular Kingdom comes from, but it may be cathartic for her to open up about her issues around it. (0)

"Well, if you insist I may have something in mind. It's been a few years since I've done much work on my weapons." Or at all for that matter; I didn't make them, but I get the feeling she would be less than impressed if I mentioned that. She keeps a disaffected and bored stare until the word 'weapons' rolls off my tongue then her ears twitch and she narrows in on me.

"What did you have in mind? Some upgrades, a minor tune up, or a complete redesign?" She tries to keep her tone level, but an undercurrent of excitement pervades her every word.

Truthfully while I have some ideas in my head I know that they're nothing compared to what she can come up with. "I figured that I'd leave that in the hands of the expert." Even though I'm taller than her, the way Vel stares at me gives me the distinct impression that she's looking down on me.

"Do you know how distinctly unhelpful that is? Details, I need details. I can take your measurements some other time, but what's your fighting style? Do you use your semblance to supplement it? What is your semblance? Do you have any preference for Dust? Have you thought about this any more deeply than an upgrade would be 'cool?'"

From her outburst I take it that Vel has had to deal with more than one person bothering her with their weapon ideas. Still, I weather the storm all the same, "Keep it as a rapier and make sure that it has accurate ranged capabilities at short and medium range. I'm not telling you my semblance and I have no particular preference for Dust, though I'd like to keep the exotics to a minimum. I'm not made of Lien, you know." I tack on that last part due to Ruby's suggestions.

"That's still really vague," she replies, frowning and her brows furrowed.

"I'm gonna level with you Vel. I don't know much about weapons. I only picked up enough to keep my stuff in working order and haven't felt the need to do much else than that. If you're looking for someone with suggestions and who could talk shop, that'd be Ruby." Vel nods at that, though I don't know if she'll actually take that suggestion. I guess I could nudge Ruby in History to start talking about weapons and see if that catches her interest. I'm not going to put too much effort in putting the two together though, she is doing me a favor after all.

"Are we doing anything about that shield of yours?"

Why does everyone bring that up? Sure it could be some extra utility, but it's just a holdout so I can defend myself while keeping a low profile. The second I start strapping Dust rockets or whatever it loses that harmlessness that lets me take it with me wherever I go. Then again, being a Huntsman means that I can legally carry my weapons wherever I go so maybe it's not as bad of an idea that I've been imagining it as.

"If you can do something about it, great. I'd appreciate it, but what I have works well enough as is."

Vel is silent for a few moments, clearly thinking over some ideas in her head. "I can see what I can do. However, I'm in the middle of building my own weapon so I can't give you an exact timeline of when yours would be finished, but it'll be a few months at least. I'm going to go ahead and make it entirely from scratch, but you're going to have to brush up on your skills before I even think of handing it over."

I agree and nod my head easily enough. I was going to address my maintenance skills regardless of her stipulation. I'm already riding the edge of what I can comfortably maintain on my own and asking for a better or more complicated weapon would necessitate that I know more if I want to handle it myself. "So it might not even be ready until next year? Speaking of which, how does Beacon handle juggling missions and class?" It's a pretty pertinent question seeing as my time is squeezed enough as it is and adding missions to that mix is going to make that press ever more evident.

She deflates a little at my question, the reminder of her current predicament evident even if that wasn't the thrust of what I asked. "Expected mission intake is once every two weeks, although tougher or longer missions can count as multiple. There are less classes to compensate, five to the first year's seven, and they are more free-form. As long as you have an assignment done within the time frame the teachers don't really care if you show up to class or not, most of them anyway.

Two of those classes are considered electives and you can choose what to learn there. Plus I've heard that if your mission record is good enough then even Combat class becomes an elective for you. Apparently the whole thing is a mess for team schedules, but there are counselors to help everyone come to a decision that the whole team can agree to."

Naturally there is more to it than just that short explanation, but I can easily translate and extrapolate on how that would realistically affect me. If I decide to stay for a second year and beyond I'll have a little bit more freedom in choosing my classes and some additional time to pursue any other activities. That time would be eaten up by missions when I need to take them so I expect I'll be breaking even on time if not losing some. The more pressing concern is how it affects my education. Less classes and less time here means that I'm not going to be learning as much and while experience from the real world would help supplement that I'm unsure how effective that would be.

It comes to mind that if Beacon has such a squeeze on classes and needs to ensure their Huntsman have a minimum standard as warriors that necessarily there will be less time to pursue other career paths leaving prospective Huntsman with only violence as a means of providing for themselves. I wonder how much of that is deliberate or even noticed by the people in charge. I can easily imagine that the council has no issue with it, but many if not all of the professors are Huntsman and I can't imagine all of them would be fine with the state of affairs. Then again the threat of grimm has always had a way of subverting people's better natures, what few there are.

Before I can dig too deeply into the rabbit hole of deliberately crippling young adults' career possibilities to throw them into the meatgrinder I'm drawn back to reality. My girlfriend, and isn't that a thought, walks up to the two of us and I notice for the first time that everyone has been avoiding this corner of the room. I'm going to charitably assume that's because of Vel's clear wish to be left alone and not anything more sinister.

Weiss grins at me, but her words are addressed to my conversation partner, "I'm so sorry for not stopping by when I came in. Velvet, right? Ochre has good things to say about you." I'm not sure what she's talking about. I mentioned Velvet briefly to her from time to time and on our way to the party, but I don't think I said anything besides that she's studious and a little too hard on herself. Still, I smile and nod, knowing better than to bring that up.

Vel is just as surprised as I am, though she does a poorer job covering it up. Maybe I haven't been effusive enough with my praise? Whatever, she'll pass just fine and that's all that I need to worry about. "Thank you. I just hope I'll pass this semester."

"Of course you will," Weiss scoffs. "If he's confident in your chances then it's a sure thing." There's more pride in that voice than I think is becoming of her, but I can't bring myself to care at the moment. "Ochre," she says, turning towards me, "why don't you take some time and enjoy yourself. I can keep her company in the meanwhile." Since Vel has already answered my questions and this is why I came here to begin with I take my leave and start chatting with the various party-goers.

I don't think I'm as successful as Weiss would be. It certainly seems to many that 'Velvet's tutor' is a downgrade to talking with Weiss Schnee, but I persevere. By the end of the evening I have more than a few contacts added to my scroll; potentially useful if I keep in contact with them or have work that they'd appreciate but nothing too outstanding. It was only one evening after all and my name doesn't carry the same weight.

Still, it's a step and who knows; in five or ten years they might be clamoring for a job that isn't being a Huntsman and I might have everything set up for an Academy to be founded for Menagerie. I can hope at least, otherwise I'd have to settle for the meager gains of a new weapon and Weiss' appreciation. Or maybe those were the real benefits of tonight.

With that distraction over and done with I can focus my attention on an oft ignored potential tool for my arsenal. That being the White Fang itself, or at least certain members within the Vale Branch. Without the information that I have collected and my agents help sorting it this would be a more difficult endeavor. While it's easy to find members that are dissatisfied with the way the Fang is handling things it's another to find worthwhile help that is both discrete and ideologically aligned with myself.

Before this I expect that I would have had to make some compromises for my choices, but now I have a plethora to choose from. The real question is how many I want to subvert and how high up on the chain I want to aim for. I'll answer those in a little bit, first is reviewing the information a second time to see if anything was passed over or is of particular interest to me.

Investigation Check: Rank: 3.43 + 1 (circumstance)=4.43 Vs. Challenge 2/4
Final DC: Autopass/40

Dice: 1d100

36 = 36

Going over things there is a hint that something is brewing within Adam's upper ranks. It's easy enough to tell that the man in charge of logistics under a press for more and more resources is upset with Adam. Anyone would be in his situation, but his online presence helps confirm this. Obviously Adam's current course is draining the Fang of resources and support rapidly. Perhaps not rapidly enough to effect his plans, but rapidly enough that certain people are looking for other options.

What it doesn't confirm is how much of this is driven by ideological reasons or financial ones. Plus I can't be certain that the man doesn't fear Adam more than he does his loss of wealth. It's a similar problem with other members of the upper ranks; there are hints of dissent, but how much of them are genuine and how much is just minor grumbling I can't discern. Something to keep in mind and entirely unhelpful right now.

A disappointment to be sure, but one that I can work around. While it would be nice to subvert the whole organization right under his nose I never considered that a practical course of action. It would have been easier with this information, but I still have plenty of other members that would be sympathetic to my cause. Their access may be lesser, but they more than make up for it in numbers and positions.

I curse out the lack of any consistent organizational structure in the Fang. It's a source of many headaches and without my agents compiling this information I'm sure I'd get things mixed up to a certain degree. Now it just makes it difficult as to how I should categorize my potential recruits.

I decide on calling them managers and directors. Managers are those still close to the ground with a few subordinates of their own, but not much aside from that. Enough for them to have a stake in the Fang and want it to improve, and with the information I have I'll only go after those I can reasonably expect would be sympathetic to the cause. Directors are a step above that, people in charge of those managers and ensuring that everything is going according to some grander vision even if they aren't the ones making that vision in the first place

I don't need any of the members on the ground, however, I currently have no need of thugs and they're the exact type that would have poor enough security that I'd be concerned about being found out. I briefly consider going for some of Adam's upper ranks anyways, but decide against it. Maybe if I hadn't gone through such pains to conceal my presence I'd be willing to consider it more deeply, but I'm not going to throw that away on the chance of them being sympathetic to my cause.

Instead I need to decide how large of a net I should cast. Naturally the more people I recruit the bigger the footprint my organization will have. While I'm more concerned with them working as moles on the inside of the Fang and possibly providing some passive resistance it's still possible for them to be traced back to me even with Tukson as a go-between. Still the more people I recruit the more information I'll have access to and the less resources Adam will have. Plus it will help set the groundwork for the aftermath and if I'm careful with how I leverage that I might find more options available to me.

Either way I'll set up their recruitment through Tukson. I've already gone with a hands-off kind of approach with my organization and I see no reason to break that now. I also set aside some potential recruits that I'll be looking into later for their skill sets. Regardless of what I choose, I'll still have my agents talk with those who won't raise any suspicion and get as much information out of my targets as I can.

Small: A nice middle-ground option of around 15 people. I'll have to make some sacrifices, but I can be reasonably certain that I'll remain under the radar. Much more than this and I'll have to consider the possibility of something slipping. (9)

Tiny: I'll focus my attention on a handful of people, five or so at most. I'll make sure that they have a range of positions between them, but I'll have to sacrifice some coverage for secrecy. (2)

None: I'll focus my attention on having my agents or Tukson ferret what information they can out of them. It won't continuously provide information or more manpower down the line, but it is subtle. (0)

Moderate: As much as I'm willing to go at this time between 30 and fifty people. This should ensure a decent amount of coverage while still keeping some secrecy. (0)

I end up going with an even handed approach and subvert an even mix of seven directors and eight managers. The directors are more valuable to me, but I have to make some concessions to ensure that I will receive information flowing from the Fang outside of Vale and not many directors leave the city for business, much less to oversee operations out there. Still, it's a nice complement to the information I'm being fed about Torchwick's operations.

That only leaves the lady in red and her friends that I'm lacking a drip of information for. Not that I'd expect to be able to pull that off anytime soon. While small close-knit operations have difficulty with the scope of projects they can pull off they are more than capable of retaining operational security and flying under the radar. The benefits and drawbacks are intimately familiar to me, but I have enough time that I can grow things at my own place while choosing what to save and what to discard.

It's unfortunate, but it looks like Vale will be the first city to need a full-scale reshuffling of the White Fang if the movement as a whole wants to survive. Then again there is a natural process with the more militant members of the Atlas branch finding themselves shot or in jail with a similar thing happening with the Mistral branch but with rival gangs. Vacuo, of course, doesn't have much of a presence. It might just be that this situation is arising because there's a lack of a natural force weeding out the more extreme elements.

Maybe I'll have to institute something similar like an internal task force to keep the Fang on the right path. The brothers have attempted to do something similar, but Menagerie prevents them from projecting much influence and their agents have to have enough independence to accomplish their goals making a rigid adherence to a set of standards a pipe dream. Though, that may be too Atlesian and easily abusable to boot for my tastes.

I don't have to worry about that for a while yet, even with the numbers I've added it's still enough for me to keep track of personally if I need to. I don't, that seems more like a job to leave for Tucson. Although, his complaints are starting to grow under the workload. I'll have to find someone trustworthy for the job at some point, but my stopgap method is working for right now.

It does bring up the funny mental image of asking Weiss to help out. It's unfortunate that she's too busy with the SDC and school to divert her attention to a third distraction. Maybe I could convince Blake? It might be poking at something raw, but she certainly has experience with the matter and maybe the sight of a more moderate Fang would help her out.

Regardless, all that is distracting me from the information my moles have provided me. A lot of it is just confirmation of what I already know, always helpful but also unnecessary. I do get a few details of what exactly Adam is planning though. Apparently he needs a couple hundred grunts hanging around the outside of Vale with most of them certainly heading for Mountain Glenn. That might not seem like a lot, but supplying any large group without drawing attention is a foolhardy effort not to mention the grimm such a group would attract.

Additionally he has some of his men scouting for positions along the Eastern outskirts of Vale between the wall and the mountains. They're supposed to be marking locations for future bases with good coverage from the sky, but with access to it. It's the latter requirement that causes me to stumble for a bit, it doesn't make too much sense as it would hinder their concealability a fair bit. The only thing that makes sense is that he's planning to have bullheads pick members up from there or to stash them away at those locations.

Both options are a huge waste of resources when those vehicles could be put to better ends, but if the lady in red is fronting the bill I can reluctantly see why he would accept her help. I guess I'll keep an eye out for any bullhead's going 'missing' as that'll be a good indicator that their plan is in motion. Not that I'm too concerned about being left out of the loop now. If Adam needs that many people there is no way that he can keep his plan hidden from the larger Vale branch. Heck I'd give it a few months for word to leak all the way back to Menagerie, but that still might be enough time for him to pull off this plan.

One thing that I'm starting to notice is the drain on funds all of these hands are pulling in. While my three agents and presumably whatever specialists I plan to recruit are fine being paid by the job the same can't be said about Tukson and my new moles. They may have their reasons for favoring me over Adam and are still being paid by the Vale branch as a whole, but a little bit of danger pay ensures the information flows and that they feel appreciated. With Tukson's salary included it's eating nearly a fifth of my monthly budget. I can hold off on paying them until the start of next month, but I can't imagine they'd be fine with risking their lives for no payout in sight. I could go groveling to home office for some funds, it is arguably necessary, but that would entail them getting involved in this business and tipping Adam off that someone is subverting his branch.

As long as I remain frugal and don't expand too much I should be able to manage this much, but any plans for future expansion will have to be heavily weighed against my financial situation. Which brings me to my next step, expanding the skill set my agents have access to. Right now I have a trio of what could be called infiltration specialists, people focused on stealth and blending in. Useful for keeping watch of buildings and people of interest or even infiltrating locations, but not the most helpful bunch I could have. While there are a number of areas that me or my team are deficient in or just need more hands to handle since I can't rely on myself or my team to always be available I've reduced things to a short list.

The first of which is covering a weakness that I don't have an answer for, being the more tech-heavy side of things. A digital investigator of sorts, admittedly that latter part is more so I have someone to help compare notes with from time to time, but the specialization in scrolls and computers is something that can open a whole series of possibilities for me. Like maybe I could have him hack into the hotel's finances and track the Lien until I find where the payments the lady in red must be making are coming from.

The second would be on the shadier side of things, a criminal liaison. I have thoroughly burnt any bridge between myself and Junior so having someone connected with the pettier crime may be helpful. Making nice with the criminal underbelly is an essential part of the Fang otherwise we would quickly be ratted out to the authorities, but it is of dubious help when I'm ostensibly on the same side as the authorities for the moment. Honestly more of a long term prospect, but probably not immediately helpful.

Next would definitely be a luxury but would allow me to operate outside of the city's limits. I'd aim for someone that has their pilot's license to future proof things, but anyone with a car and a flexible schedule would work. Technically I could lean on my other subordinates or Yang, but they have their own things to do and might not always be available. I would have to find a bullhead or other airship for them to pilot for maximum effectiveness, but recruitment of such a person is a tertiary concern.

Lastly would be something for future subordinates. I don't see the need right now, but having someone to handle forging and equipping my men could lead to some savings in the future; weapons can be expensive after all. Of course this would be under the assumption that I'll need weapons in the future which I could be entirely off-base about. Definitely a long-term plan, but I'd also look for someone with insights on Dust. Maybe they would be able to find something that I've missed in what's being transported out of Vale.

Digital Investigator (Tech/Investigation) (7)

Craftsman (Craft(weapons)/Dust) (3)

Criminal Liaison (Criminology/Culture/Law) (2)

Pilot (Drive(Aircraft)/Drive(Groundcraft)) (0)

The next day brings me to another one of my sessions with Dr. Oobleck. We meet up in one of the faculty buildings that has its own private training rooms. Evidently the teachers at Beacon don't want to have to compete for time slots with students and their training rooms are more advanced to boot. They have multiple moving targets and even some AK-130's to spar against. Although with the average combat performance of those bots and the fact that if we break it we buy it I don't see those getting much use. A shame really as thrashing those bots would be awfully therapeutic right now.

What normally happens during these training sessions is that Oobleck will have me under some sort of restriction or hindrance so he doesn't have to expend too much effort fighting me. Usually this would be something like answering whatever trivia about history he asks me or fighting without the use of one of my hands. Whenever he feels like I've had enough we take a break where he pops open a presentation from his scroll about whatever topic he has in mind.

For today that's the Para River Valley Civilization. A civilization settled to the Southeast of Vale a couple hundred miles past Mountain Glenn. A positively ancient civilization since no records of their past, writing, or people have been found or recorded even from the time of oral traditions in Vale. We only know about them thanks to archeological efforts and I think Oobleck is trying to have some sort of point with bringing this group in particular up, but I'm too exhausted and focused on retaining the details to care about that bit of subtext.

Whether he planned to beforehand or because of my state Oobleck shuts off his presentation barely half-way through. I'm kind of disappointed that he shut it off just before we got to the interesting bits, but a spark of amusement from behind his bespectacled eyes tells me that was deliberate. "I think that is enough of lessons today for the both of us Mr. Rovere. We'll meet up here at the same time tomorrow to continue where we left off."

I could follow his instructions, but something has been gnawing at me ever since I accepted his offer. "Dr. Oobleck, I don't mean to sound ungrateful but why did you want to train me in the first place? I can't imagine that you're getting much out of it."

"And here I was thinking that you were paying attention. Maybe I need to recalibrate my training regimen for you. What are you doing outside of class? Don't answer that; I don't want to know." My green haired mentor pauses, a tell-tale sign that I'm supposed to respond to whatever he asks next. "Tell me, what do you think was the point of today's lesson?"

Oobleck standing up straighter is enough to inform me that regardless of what I answer he already has something prepared to speak at length about. "Is it about the fragility of man that even a whole civilization could be wiped out with no one knowing or caring about that." Predictably my comment doesn't stop Oobleck from lecturing me, but he does nod in acknowledgement of my words.

"What I take away from that is the importance of legacy. It is all too easy for someone or even a whole civilization to die and be forgotten. I have done my best to ensure my body of work stands the test of time and succeeds me far after I have left this mortal coil. That, however, is much too impersonal for my liking. Call me sentimental or what have you but I believe that the most quintessential part of the human experience is stories. They are what we tell to entertain ourselves and convey the deeper truths of our world in a way even children can understand.

History is no different, his story; the story of man in all its unvarnished glory. Too many are hasty in dismissing the finer points that it can teach, but in you I found a kindred soul. I would describe our partnership as a matter of persuasion. I'm trying to turn you over to my way of thinking with some well-placed bribes to ensure your compliance. Regardless of if I'm successful or not I'm sure that you will carry my memory on with you and some of my lessons will invariably stick and color your own thoughts. Then you'll pass along lessons of your own and in that way I have achieved immortality of a sort."

"Thanks doc, but I could've done without the lecture." My comment draws out a smirk from my mentor as he takes a drink out of his weapon now back in thermos mode. I don't think I could ever be daring enough to drink out of my weapon no matter how many safeties were installed in that thing.

"Apologies, I do let my mannerisms get away from me from time to time. Still I think it's only fair that I turn that question back on you young man. Why would you accept my offer, obviously it's because your plans can benefit from my support either personally or professionally. I like to ask this question later in the year, but why did you decide to become a Huntsman?"

It's a fair question to ask, I would do the same if I were in his position. Maybe not the whole offering mentorship thing, but if I did I would want to know more about my pupil. Not seeing anything wrong with that I decide to feed him one of my more palatable truths. "I come from Menagerie sir. Things there aren't very good and I figured I could do more to help them as a Huntsman than anything else. Maybe even gather enough support to open an Academy there. we certainly have the population for it."

Despite every word of mine being true I can tell that Oobleck doesn't buy my explanation. He might have too much experience for me to fool or maybe he was just looking for a different answer. He lets out a hum as he takes another draw from his thermos, but I don't elaborate any further.

"An admirable goal, but not one that you would have to be a Huntsman for is it? You could have chosen any number of paths to achieve it; perhaps this was just the easiest for you, but if you thought that were the case you would have mentioned it."

"It's not just about one goal," I protest. "Being a Huntsman opens far too many doors for me to ignore."

"So you have more than one goal in mind, ambitious. Nonetheless you are young and still learning your place in the world. Let us hope that your ambitions don't lead you too far astray. From your goals or your methods." Considering my past I can only think of one thing that he could be alluding to.

"How long did you know about that," I question curiously. When Oobleck doesn't answer I realize that he's wanting me to ask it explicitly. "How long did you know I was a part of the White Fang?"

"It took a few weeks of class, but you weren't being subtle about it. More than one argument about the aftermath of the Faunus Rights Revolution and how 'we did our best to make nice with the humans' was telling enough."

"I included that in my application to Beacon, I was certain that everyone on the staff knew. Especially with how cold Goodwitch was acting." That causes my mentor's eyebrows to rise and for him to lower his thermos.

"Ozpin," he says the name slowly as if suddenly unsure, "has a curious way of running his school, but there is no man I would trust more with my life. As for Glynda, she has always been a closer confidant of Oz than myself. A necessary part of her job or so I'm told. Still I commend you for your honesty, not many would have the strength of character to admit their misdeeds."

I choke back a cough not wanting to tip off the observant doctor that a certain someone is still keeping secrets. I gain a critical eye and after a few moments he lets the matter drop. By this point he has everything packed up and is ready to leave but is waiting if I have anything else to contribute to the conversation.

Raven: I don't know why neither of us considered it before, but it's possible that Oobleck knew about Yang's mom personally. I could ask him about it. (8)

Teachers: He's personal friends with Port and Goodwitch it would be interesting to learn about how that came to be. (3)

Ozpin: What is the man like, aside from a few speeches he spends most of his time up in his tower which is an interesting choice if nothing else. (2)

"You wouldn't happen to know anything about a Raven Branwen would you?"

"I may, but I'm more interested in how you came across that name." Oobleck's frame coils tightly and I think it's the first time that I've seen the man ready for a fight, or in this case an unpleasant topic.

"I heard it from Yang, sir." My answer causes some of that tension to release, but it's obvious that the man wants nothing to do with the conversation.

"That doesn't explain your interest in the matter. Forgive me, but I don't keep up with current events all that much." I know that's a bald-faced lie and he knows that I know. Besides, what would current events have to do with anything? I checked and Raven isn't some sort of public figure.

Pressing him on it, however, won't lead me anywhere and it's not like I have a vested interest in the matter myself. All I have to do is use the truth and point him in the right direction. "I'm not interested in Raven for my sake, but Yang doesn't know much about her mom. All she has is a few details and a picture of a picture on her scroll."

"I'm sorry, could you run that by me again?" With how fast Oobleck normally talks I know he heard me so whatever I said has to be something so outlandish that he's doing a double take at the information.

"The only picture of her mom, which she uses to ask people if they know about her by the way," I start laying on the guilt pretty thick. By the paling of his features I think I'm on the mark, but that could just be the light. You'd think an archeologist would develop a tan at some point. "Is obviously a picture of the rest of team STRQ just with the rest of the team cropped out. So believe me when I say that she knows next to nothing about her mom." He still isn't totally convinced, but I know he's torn on what to do. All he needs is just one more little push. "And I know that she's gone to some less than savory sources of information if you know what I mean."

I would have preferred not to call attention to Yang's and subsequently my own more illicit activities, but my words have the exact effect I'm looking for. He wrestles with the information for a few moments, but eventually he finds his resolve "I- thank you. I have a friend to call first, but I'll take care of things. I can assure you that.

"Not going to let me in on the action," I tease out which he takes in good spirit. It, however, does nothing to shake the rocky mien that overtakes his features in preparation for some sort of action that he finds unpleasant. It's not something that I thought I'd ever see on the man. As manic and pedantic as he can be, he's always laid-back in his demeanor, well laid-back in the relative sense. I've never seen him get frustrated or impatient with a student even if he's stern or reprimanding at times. So the sight of him preparing himself to confront someone he calls a friend is surprising.

"I appreciate you bringing this to my attention. This is something that should stay family business. If Miss Xiao Long wishes to share it with you, that will be her decision." I can't say I'm not disappointed with not hearing whatever the hubbub is all about, but I've achieved my objective and anything else would be a bonus. I depart and leave Oobleck to take care of the unpleasant details. I doubt he'd be much of a conversationalist right now and I'll have other opportunities to pick his brain.

I'll have to check with Yang, or maybe she'll even seek me out herself, to make sure Oobleck is keeping his word. That shouldn't be a concern since he's been straight with me for as long as I've known him, but it's better to verify this kind of thing than assume that it's been taken care of. Maybe that's how this whole mess started off, it wouldn't be the first time that neglect and miscommunication led to something awful. Hopefully everything will resolve itself and I won't have to get myself further involved with these matters.

Unsurprisingly Oobleck is too busy to attend our next training session. He apologizes to me about it, but I can tell the man is drained from whatever ordeal he put himself through. Judging by how Yang isn't in one of her more contemplative moods or excessively happy I figure he hasn't told her yet. I'm keeping my eye on the situation if only to ensure I don't make a headache for my future self.

A part of me hopes that whoever Oobleck's friend is, probably Qrow or Taiyang if I had to guess, doesn't take things too harshly. Mainly because I don't want to miss out on any further training sessions; I've been making stellar progress ever since gaining his tutelage and I can't help but link the two events together. Maybe he has a 'good luck' semblance or something, it wouldn't be the most outlandish thing I've ever heard.

Still, this presents an opening in my schedule and I'm not moving around my time with Weiss. She may have been fine dropping things to attend that party with me, but I doubt she'd appreciate it if I kept filling her in the empty holes of my schedule. Instead I send a message to Coral to move things up with her. This way I can make it to Vale and back and maybe sneak some extra training in. I get the okay to meet with them and find out that they're heading towards a local pool.

That almost makes me back out immediately, I have to buy a swimsuit. Which isn't that expensive, but wearing something like that is a whole other question. I don't like the fact that my uniform doesn't cover my ears and asking me to expose myself even more doesn't feel right. Still I suck it up and resolve myself to meet up with them.

After touching down in Vale I buy the closest swimsuit that's in my size. Fortunately there are changing rooms and lockers at the location so I don't have to deal with any stares the whole way there. Once changed I go out and find Jasmine swimming around with some children around her age. I don't know if they're friends, but it really doesn't matter in this context. Her mother I find lying on one of the reclining beds strewn about the area.

"Ochre, splendid. You can jump right in. I'm sure Jasmine would adore having someone she knows swim with her." I cast my gaze to the child in question. Jasmine is trying to climb straight up the back of some teenager who's trying to remain entirely motionless while grubby little fingers paw at their face and neck. Misconstruing my lack of an answer as hesitation Coral continues, "I know you have some cat in you, but that's no reason to stay out of the water."

I could turn the comment around and ask why she's just lounging around, though that'd be slightly insensitive. Her feet simply aren't built for swimming, though she can pull off one hell of a doggy paddle. If there's a life after this one I'm not going to a good one. Eh, I'll settle that as both of us poking at each other's faunus features and leave it at that.

"I think I'd prefer to talk if that's alright with you."

She looks at me judgmentally and how I'm covering myself with my arms. If she has a comment about that particular habit she doesn't voice it. Instead she tuts, "Talk, talk, talk. There is more to life than just talking. Do you not know how to swim, is that the issue?" I shake my head. I've traveled on too many boats to not learn how to swim. Even if it would be a hopeless endeavor in certain parts of the sea having the possibility of survival is an essential comfort on those long voyages. Coral looks like she wants to argue some more, but gives up. "Fine, we can talk. But you're ending in that pool even if I have to throw you in." We'll see about that now won't we? Maybe if I distract her enough she'll forget about the whole thing.

Weiss: Considering her past and the topic our last conversation touched on she might have some issues with my choice of girlfriend. I doubt I could keep it from her forever so breaking the news gently might be in order. (9)

Normalcy: Between dealing with Huntsmen and my time in the Fang I can't say I've lived a normal life in the city. Maybe I could ask about that and find a layman's view of the world. (7)

Aversion: If there's anyone I could talk to about this it's her. Though it's not really a problem it's just a habit. (3)

Organization: I won't say anything explicitly, but knowing that there are some people she could run to if she's ever in trouble might set her mind at ease with the turbulence the Vale branch is going through. (2)

Vale: Why did she make the choice to move to Vale instead of Menagerie? I assume it has something to do with Jasmine, but I never got the details. (0)

"So how is Vale?" I have something else that I want to ask her, but considering how volatile that topic can be I decide to start with this instead.

"You're going to have to be a little more specific than that, honey."

The affectionate name and what minor reaction I had to it is enough to draw a giggle from one of the people nearby, reminding me that I'll have to keep things subtle with whatever I ask. "Well it's nothing like Menagerie and I doubt that it's anything like Beacon. I'm just curious about what it's like to live a normal life I guess."

Coral's features turn thoughtful, like she has to think about an unpleasant subject that's grown dull over time. "It's different from what I'm used to; the work camps never had the strongest walls and we were too far away to count on any help if grimm were to suddenly attack. Here it's the opposite. No matter where you go you can be certain that grimm won't be around the corner"

It's a subtle thing but I notice some of the people around us react to the mere mention of grimm. They're varied, either rolling their eyes or shifting themselves away from the conversation. While I was in the Fang the mere mention of grimm wouldn't be enough to draw anything more than tired acknowledgement. During my time at Beacon I've grown used to resolved expressions or outbursts about killing grimm whenever they're brought up, but even that came with the undercurrent of respect for the danger they posed if nothing else. Some of the people around us are the complete opposite, like the thought that the grimm could pose a threat is a distant concern that'll never reach them.

Unaware of my observation Coral continues her explanation without missing a beat. "That doesn't mean Vale is entirely safe though. There are some places I don't want to be caught in at night, or the day for that matter. But it's…predictable is the best way I can describe it. I know exactly what I'm getting into each day and as long as I do things correctly everything works out. For the most part anyway."

"It can't be that simple can it," I shift my head leadingly towards some of the people around us hoping that will be enough for her to pick up on my conclusion. Not that I think she can do anything about it, but the thought of some people just not acknowledging the grimm is baffling to me.

Unfortunately I can't convey such a complicated concept with just wordless gestures and Coral takes my question to mean something else. "Oh, and here I thought that you were going to be some big hero. Don't tell me you're thinking of settling down already." The mirth behind her eyes is enough for me to give up on my inquiry. I might have to do some research on my own about how the common man views the grimm threat. It'd be a nice distraction if nothing else.

"No, I don't think the 'normal' life would ever be something for me. Then again I thought that way about something else and well…" I trail off, begging the question. Then again if things work out between Weiss and I, I know my life would be considered anything but 'normal.'

Coral eyes me suspiciously and then looks towards the pool. Eventually her curiosity wins out over her annoyance. "You can't just dangle that in front of me and not elaborate on it."

I'm tempted to do just that, but after a second of silence Coral shoots me a look and I reconsider my stance. "You know how I said I wasn't giving a thought towards romance," I let the question hang in the air.

Coral, of course, picks up on what's left unsaid, sits up full of energy, and covers her chuckling with a hand in front of her face. "I told you that it sneaks up on you. Who was it? Was it that partner of yours you told me about? Marina, right? I know men have a thing for wounded birds."

I try not to make a face with her pairing Marina and I together. I also have to keep subtle as I really don't want to announce that I'm dating Weiss with my current state as it is right now. "Ah, no actually. Though the girl I'm with has the same colored hair." Please don't say anything about that detail in particular, I get enough flak from Autumn and Kelly that I don't need to add a third source.

My words do nothing to diminish her smile as she screws her face up in concentration. Thinking back to everyone I've told her about and trying to match a name to that barest detail. I can even tell when she thinks it might be Weiss, but dismisses the possibility before racking her brain looking for someone she missed. Eventually understanding dawns on her and she doesn't take it as badly as I thought she could. That isn't to say she's taking the news well, but she isn't angry or anything, rather I get the sense she's feeling directionless right now. Like things aren't working how they should be and she's struggling to put the pieces back together. I don't blame her, hearing your savior say that he's dating what is essentially the devil's daughter would set most people off balance.

She's still dumbfounded when the word, "Why," falls from her lips and I take that as my cue to try to get things back on track.

"Aside from my plans to have her take over her dad's company," I joke without really joking. Still my comment produces a twitch of Coral's lips so I know she's not too far gone. "She really isn't as bad as I thought she would be. Plus it was getting a little hard to ignore her advances." I add the last part as some self-deprecating humor. I know that Coral could pick up on it if she wasn't distracted and it'd give her something else to focus on than the bombshell I just dropped.

"Wait. She went after you?" Of course that would be what she focuses on, nonetheless I nod my head. "I'm not sure what I was expecting, but that certainly fits. I'm guessing that you needed someone to point it out to you before you even realized it?" I hate that I can't say that she's wrong and that my silence is taken as confirmation. This time she doesn't even try to hide her laughter.

I'm sure I would have caught on to things before Yang told me; Weiss was in the process of throwing away even the pretext of subtlety and I had been picking up some of her weirdness at the time. I can't go ahead and explain that, though. Not only would it take too much time to set up everything properly I also get the feeling that said explanation wouldn't do much to improve my situation.

After a few moments her laughter dies down and some uneasiness takes its place. She tries to put up a strong front for my behalf, but there is a hollowness to her words that I can't ignore. "I'm happy for you, really. I hope this isn't something you'll regret." I get the feeling that's as close to approval as I'm going to get for now.

Old wounds don't always heal, sometimes they scar and the SDC has left a lot of scars on Coral. I'm sure that if Weiss and her were to meet she would warm up to the heiress. Things haven't worked out for that to be the case so far and drawing attention to her apartment by dragging a Schnee over there probably isn't the best of ideas. Though, now that I think about it there's nothing stopping them from meeting at Beacon, aside from Coral's schedule of course.

While the two of us process the moment we just had together Jasmine takes the opportunity to run up to the two of us asking to leave. It takes a few seconds but we find out that she just wants to follow some of the other kids to a nearby arcade. I can tell that Coral is thinking about it, but I also remember her insistence that I enjoy myself here. I take a look at Coral then to the pool and back at Coral and let out a sigh. The things I do for some people. I sweep Jasmine up in a carry and jump into the deep end of the pool. Upon resurfacing the sounds of childish giggling and Coral's faint smile informs me that I did something right.

Torchwick has to have some sort of stake in working for the woman in red and helping the White Fang. I previously dismissed a financial motivation, but with the resources that it's implied she has access to I have to reconsider that a little. Of course it could be a similar situation as Adam's and Torchwick is simply being threatened into compliance. I'm a bit iffy on that one, because why wouldn't he just run away if that were the case? Mistral and Vacuo are easy places to disappear to and if he was getting a raw deal I don't see Torchwick as the kind of man to just grin and bear it.

Whatever it may be I have the feeling I'll find some of the answers I'm looking for in his past. While I'm at it I might as well look into anyone he's been working with recently and see if they could be influencing his decisions on the matter or provide that crucial link to who's really behind all of this. The deeper I look into things the more I suspect that some of those outlandish conspiracy theories might hold more water than I gave them credit for. Regardless, I'll have to actually put the work in and start digging if I want to find anything.

Investigation Check: Rank 3.43 Vs Challenge 3

Final Modifier: +10

Dice: 1d100+10

10 + 10 = 20

Finding out more about Torchwick is easy enough. It's just a matter of looking into crime boards and speculation sites. Say what I will about the civilians of Remnant, but there is a significant number of them with nothing better to do than obsessively pick apart hours of footage and thousands of pictures for the tiniest details. Or maybe it's just a hobby for them, I can certainly see the appeal. Nonetheless, their tireless work has given me something to go off of.

Up until these Dust robberies Torchwick has kept a relatively low profile, only occasionally gathering a crew to help him with larger jobs, but always keeping the scores low-profile enough to not draw too much heat. He was even cautious enough not to work with the same crew for too long, only one or two jobs at most. Though, there is one person that shows up more than a few times. A pale diminutive pink and brown haired girl.

She only shows up whenever Torchwick finds himself in a sticky situation to bail him out, but she's done so consistently enough that there must be some connection. Either that or it's a massive coincidence that she shows up when she does. However, when combined with her not being connected with very many crimes of her own, aside from vandalism, destruction of property, and assault, I have the feeling she's rather attached to the thief.

That doesn't explain why she didn't help Torchwick when Ruby and Goodwitch confronted him. Sure he had some backup, and things worked out in the end, but I would have expected that she'd be in the area just in case. Plus I'm sure that Goodwitch would have been on the lookout for any suspicious individuals just hanging around. Maybe Torchwick's hanger on has some sort of stealth semblance? Something to keep in mind for the future.

That's the easy part of my investigation, the harder part is his past. Now, there are a few clues. Like how Torchwick immigrated to Vale, completely legally somehow, from Mistral. I can't find much information on his time in that crime-ridden Kingdom, but I doubt it was too much different from what he's gotten up to in Vale. That is further confirmed by a picture of his wrist during one of his heists where his glove was torn off. On his wrist is a tattoo of a stylized pumpkin, his emblem I'm guessing.

While it's not uncommon for people, especially Huntsmen, to have their emblems tattooed or otherwise displayed on their person I also know that the crime families of Mistral have a cultural practice of tattooing their members. Both as a reminder of the group they belong too and a way of limiting their member's future prospects. I could be off the mark, but I'd bet good Lien that I'm onto something here. If he bothered to get that redone I can assume that he left the organization. It's even possible that he did it entirely amicably, they can't waste their resources after every runaway or traitor, but it's more likely that they're just waiting for the right moment to get even with him.

It would neatly explain why he hasn't packed his bags and ran. If he's in trouble with one of the crime families from Mistral he can't stay there or join up with another one for fear of being offed. Atlas is out of the question as well since their military would crack down on him, especially after he's gained this level of notoriety. And if he's ambitious then Vacuo is obviously not the best of prospects for him. Unfortunately I'm lacking in details of his previous employer. It would be nice to have some heads up about a powerful crime family looking to muscle in on Vale, but that's not the world I live in.

Seeing as I'm in the weeds of an investigation already I send a message to Tukson to forward me whatever he's compiled from the bugs. I get confirmation that Torchwick is talking to someone, but either there's something faulty with the bug or they're not talking back, verbally at least. He does call them Neo, a nickname, and the only color related names that come to mind are Neon and Neopolitan. Considering the two-toned hair, I'm going to go ahead and assume it's the latter.

Aside from that I learn that Torchwick has found out about the Dust Tanker the SDC is sending to Vale. Like myself he doesn't have an exact date, but he's making plans for that time-frame already. It does bring up the question of how he found out, but there are a multitude of options ranging from a mole in the SDC to just bribing some dockworkers that I don't think it's worth looking into.

With all that taken care of I think I've tapped out as much as I can about the Dust Robberies of Vale. I know what Torchwick is doing and have a steady stream of information from his hideout. The only things I have left are some leftover leads that are out of date by now or this potential prospect of a group from Mistral showing up at some point in the future. Honestly it wouldn't surprise me with Junior's hold of Vale falling that certain groups would look to expand in the vacuum, but that's a later concern at best.

After the attention we got during lunch at the start of the week Weiss and I agree to a more subtle meetup. We eventually settle on just staying in the dorms and the topic of watching something comes up. While we could do that on our scrolls, that didn't seem too appealing and my dorm doesn't have a t.v. Autumn and Kelly keep themselves busy with their own hobbies and didn't see the point in buying one while Marina has gone her whole life without one, not to mention her lack of funds. That leads to us commandeering team RWBY's room.

Of course things can't be that simple as Ruby and Yang demanded that someone had to stay and watch over us. I don't make a big deal about it, but I am insulted that they think we need a chaperone. I ask if Ruby was fine with staying. She stammers and spits out that she didn't want to be in the same room as us when we're 'being gross.' Despite her attempts at maturity I'm reminded that Ruby is oddly childish in some ways.

She tries to push the responsibility off on Blake, but the cat faunus made her escape while everyone was distracted. Upon noticing this Ruby rushes out of the room to track down her errant teammate leaving Yang to take up the mantle as the responsible one since Weiss can't be trusted to retain that when I'm involved. Yang for her part just shrugs her shoulders and grins before popping on her headphones and flopping on her bed.

Speaking of which, due to a lack of room - I didn't realize team RWBY packed their whole life with them but no furniture - our choices for seating are either Weiss' bed or the floor with some pillows as cushioning. Ruby's bed is hanging precariously from the ceiling at a slight tilt and Yang's bed is atop Blake's only supported by stacks of books on the four posts.

Sure, with aura I would be fine if one of the beds fell on me, but it would be a deeply unpleasant experience. I'm not sure how Weiss can be alright with this sleeping arrangement and I'm beginning to question my choices up to now. Still it makes the choice rather easy and I'm shooed off to get popcorn while Weiss decides on what movie she wants to watch. When I return Yang demands her share before I'm reunited with my girlfriend who's chosen a period drama of all things.

Regardless I roll with it and the two of us get settled on the floor leaning against each other at the foot of her bed. I, however, get a rude reminder that I probably shouldn't watch this kind of movie anymore. Before my lessons with Oobleck I could ignore most of the historical inaccuracies, but now with so much trivia bouncing around my head I can't help but notice all of the small details and how wrong they are. Considering the movie a bust I focus my attention on Weiss and the demon's she's wrestling with.

Every few minutes her scroll buzzes and she types out a quick reply. I don't say anything because if it's important enough to interrupt our time together it's probably something she should address. However, that doesn't stop Weiss when she notices my attention on her. I don't know if she reads into my attention, but she looks between me and her scroll and does so again until she powers off her device and tosses it to the side. Afterwards she snuggles into my side, trying to pay attention to the movie, but it's clear that both of our minds are occupied by something else.

It's not necessary for either of us to say anything; the physical contact and mutual setting aside of our responsibilities says more than enough. Weiss still feels the need to address things though. "Sorry about that. Someone messed up the scheduling of a shipment, now everything's been thrown out of whack and I shouldn't have been dealing with that when you're here."

"Do you need me to help out with anything?"

"Maybe later. I just- you know I thought things would work out differently. Like things would just work themselves out. I didn't think that, well this would come cropping up at the worst time." She exaggeratedly flails her arm towards her discarded scroll.

"The important part is that you realized it. That's enough for me," I offer. I'm no stranger to how busy things can get. Despite my words that Weiss is still upset with herself. Likely related to her father and that whole situation with her family. Acting like that is probably too close to how Jacques treated her and her mom for her liking. Still it's up to me to cheer her up.

Leisure: Talking about our hobbies and seeing where they overlap would be an easy way to get her mind off the moment and provide ideas for future dates. (5)

Work: We've spent some time together taking a crack at piles of work and that was enjoyable enough. I could tell her I'm fine with it and maybe we could work on something together. (4)

Childhood: I'm not going to touch where her issues lie, but maybe she has some stories of playing with Klein or her sister she'd reminisce about and I can share my own past. (1)

"So is this the kind of movie that you like?" The question comes easily and if it serves as a welcome distraction, well I'm just doing my job aren't I?

"Ah, I don't know. When I was a kid we would go to the theater and watch plays. Apparently it would be too low-brow for the Schnees to patronize a cinema or even have one at our home." I feel more than see Weiss squirm as she works out her next statement. "I just picked something out that I thought you'd enjoy."

"Weiss, and I mean this with all the care in the world, never make me watch something like this ever again." Apparently that's enough to shock my girlfriend and I have to send her a reassuring smile to ensure she doesn't take things the wrong way. She relaxes a bit, but doesn't question my preference.

"So what movies do you like? Do you even like them?"

"Mystery," my tone is flat enough that it draws a laugh out of the girl at my side.

"That- oh why did I think it would be anything else." A smirk prepares me for the playful comment she's about to unleash. "You really have a one-track mind for that kind of thing."

"It has to be a good one," I say, feeling the need to elaborate. "A proper reveal is so satisfying and If all the details don't line up it's just a poor twist and not a proper reveal."

"You really are focused on the details." I get the feeling that she's having some fun at my expense and I play along.

"Hey I like noticing the little things, it makes me feel smart."

That draws a distinctly unladylike snort from her, which she quickly tries to cover up with a rebuttal. "Oh, what have you noticed so far?" I know she's talking about the movie and while I could start breaking down where the inaccuracies start and tear into some of the plot I have something far better in mind.

"I noticed that some orange in your outfit would really make it pop. You know provide that shock of contrast." My bold flirting delivers a lovely shade of red on her face, but some shuffling from the other side of the room reminds me that Yang is still here. Hopefully she didn't hear that or else I'm never going to live it down. Still that's enough teasing the little ice flower, I wouldn't want her to wilt in embarrassment.

If she had something she wanted to fire back at me it dies in her throat as she settles on pouting at me like I'd feel guilty over my comment. Too bad for her that I don't regret a thing. With her mind taken off of her earlier blunder I could consider my mission a success, but since we're already on the subject there's no harm in pressing a little further. Honestly, though, I just don't want to pay any more attention to the movie.

"So, aside from singing, what does my Weiss like doing?"

Okay, maybe I lied about not teasing her anymore, but her taken aback expression is more than worth it. "I- Well, that is," she stammers and my wolfish grin certainly isn't helping her regain her composure. Eventually she harrumphs and I get the distinct impression that I don't want to push her on this matter anymore. Just as I think she's ignoring the question because of my pithy comment she leans away from me clearly giving it some thought.

"I don't know. So much of my time was dictated for me that I never had much for myself. Except for my singing career." She pauses for a bit and I wait not wanting to rush her. "I did enjoy some of the stories I had to read as a child, but being forced to read them always left a sour taste in my mouth. I guess I enjoy hanging with our friends, it's…something I don't have much experience with."

"That makes two of us," Weiss tilts her head like she can't believe what I'm saying and I elaborate for her sake. "My position in the Fang never let me set down roots and after a while I got the reputation as the kind of guy that would come in to solve a problem and then leave so most people stopped bothering. Plus some parts of the Fang are more…cutthroat than others so I wasn't always a welcomed sight."

"It sounds like you were lonely." Her statement is simple, but she says it with a weight behind it that implies the revelation is much more personal for her. I merely nod my head, words not necessary to convey that much and we remain silent for a moment. "What did you do for the White Fang?"

With the trust I've already extended to her it's not difficult for me to convince myself to let her know about that. "As I said, I was a problem solver of sorts. A troubleshooter called in to solve any and all problems. Though, mostly I got tapped for scouting and mapping out dangerous paths or security installations; my semblance is useful for that. Of course I'd supplement that with searching things on the CCT and I won't lie there was some leg-breaking involved on more than one occasion."

I'm slightly worried that she might fixate on the bad deeds I've done in the past, but arguably she focuses on something worse for me. "Your semblance? What is it?" Despite our closeness I've been keeping that card particularly close to my chest. I haven't brought any of my team into my semblance, but some part of me wants to confide in someone. "Come on," Weiss whines in my ear, "You already know mine, it's only fair."

I want to fire back that it's not my fault her semblance is so well known, but I bite down on that particular comment. "Can you promise me that you won't tell anyone?"

Sobering up at how serious I am, she gives me a somber nod. "Of, course. You have my word as a Schnee that I won't tell a soul." I want to press her further and get her agreement that she won't use this information during the Vytal festival, but I have the feeling that we'll have a discussion about that closer to the actual event.

Mindful of Yang in the room I don't spill the details out loud. Instead I lay my hand on Weiss' own and watch her face morph into confusion as I drag her into my mirror world. The slight sound of birdsong and people milling about in the dorms cuts out immediately; only the t.v. with the movie still on making an appreciable amount of noise. "This is my semblance." I let her observe things for a few moments before deactivating my semblance and bringing the both of us back to reality.

It takes a second to re-orient ourselves, but once we do Weiss breaks the silence. "Is it always so…" she trails off struggling to find the right word.

"Yeah, pretty much." I'm not sure what she was going for either, but it doesn't particularly matter.

Still an insightful gleam enters her blue eyes and in a voice full of assurance announces, "Some say that a person's semblance is a reflection of their personality. With my semblance I never bought into it. But, in this case, I hope it's true."

I don't get the opportunity to ask her what she means by that as Yang swings her head out to check on whatever commotion we were in the middle of. I didn't think that we were in any kind of compromising position, but the mere threat is enough to get the two of us to straighten ourselves out. The topic there got away from the two of us, though I can't say that I'm too unhappy with the results.

My talk with Coral left me unsatisfied with the answers that I received, or more accurately the ones that I did not. So I resolve myself to do some research on the matter. While an anecdotal perspective from a layman is valuable to a certain degree it hardly tells the truth of the matter. For that I turn to surveys and statistics, primarily focusing on what people think of the grimm and since it's related to the subject how many and what type of people have their aura unlocked. Honestly I don't see very many people being interested in this and would advise them to skip it, but a certain aspect of exploring this trivia appeals to me.

Nonetheless, I dig into the meat of the issue, poring over a multitude of surveys and distilling them into their basest parts. What I find is more shocking than I'd expect; a full 43% of the people surveyed within the city of Vale view the grimm as little or no threat to their well-being. Now that doesn't mean that they consider the grimm no threat at all, just not to them personally or their livelihood. Additionally the trend is more prevalent in those under their forties and particularly those under twenty. Or in other words those that haven't had to deal with wartime strife.

When I expand my search to include the outlying settlements of Vale, like Patch and other villages, the trend concerning age is still there but vastly reduced in scale. Nearly all of them consider the grimm to be a threat to some degree or another with a minority of less than 9% not doing so. That viewpoint is primarily represented by teenagers and I don't have access to data for those younger than that, I guess it would be a pain to get concrete data out of children. Oh, and I guess there might be some concerns about scaring them by bringing up the grimm in the first place.

Unfortunately none of the studies have any concrete data on why these people have the views that they do aside from the blindingly obvious. There is some conjecture and speculation, but nothing that I would consider hard data. Still, that's enough to satisfy my curiosity so I move onto looking into aura. More specifically its distribution and who has it.

If I were to go by official reports then the majority of aura active people are concentrated in Vale and in the VPD in particular. Of course, this isn't entirely accurate and there's a massive overrepresentation of public servants due to Vale requiring its officials to disclose if they have aura or not. Plus firefighters and police officers get their aura unlocked and are expected to keep an active lifestyle to maintain it. The same can't be said about civilians who it seems have a much lower incidence of active aura. While an active lifestyle is only important when aura is first activated, even that is too big of an obstacle for some. Unsurprising when combined with their view of the grimm threat and the erroneous belief that having an active aura will attract grimm

Surveys can't do much to ameliorate this inaccuracy as they are purely opt-in. This combined with how anyone with some training can unlock someone's aura, a core part of the Huntsman curriculum, and it becomes near impossible to actually track who has their unlocked and who doesn't. That doesn't mean that we don't have a good guess, estimates state that around a third of the population is suspected of having an active aura. Lower than what I think it should be, but that is partly explained by the bias towards the city population who, as stated before, aren't as concerned about the grimm.

Unfortunately I can't find out about the strength of people's auras and how that's distributed. It really hasn't been an area of scientific study until recent years. There is a study from Atlas about that very subject, but that is gated behind a paywall or military credentials. I'm not forking over either so I just have to let the matter lie no matter how dissatisfied I am at this conclusion.

Aura(Practical) raised from (75/625) to (85/625) Source: Semblance usage

Combat Raised from (175/625) to (224/625) Source: Class & Training

Culture raised form (7/150) to (12/150) Source: Oobleck

Dust raised from (5/150) to (11/150) Source: Class

Grimm raised from (64/150) to (70/150) Source: Class

History raised from (95/300) to (114/300) Source: Class & Oobleck

Investigation raised from (128/300) to (139/300) Source: Class & Challenge & Oobleck

Mobility raised from (99/300) to (110/300) Source: Class & Oobleck

Semblance(Knowledge) raised from (41/150) to (71/150) Source: Training

Survival raised from (55/150) to (61/150) Source: Class

Constant regeneration raised from (12/50) to (24/50) Source: Training

LloydAbsolon · Feb 23, 2024

Yes (+ for which) (4)

+Practical (2)

No (1)

+Social (1)

For those of you who have not read the mechanics section, cracking a crit grants +4 training actions for the weekly plan it's cracked in.

White Fang: Hideout: Tukson gave me the address of a White Fang hideout that the leadership in the area occasionally meets up at. I could check it out and see what I find. (Possible Social, possible investigation, stealth, and performance checks) (6)

New Management: Things are getting a little big for just Tukson to handle, but he's managing. I can get ahead of the curve and recruit someone to help handle the load. (+1 free organization action per turn). (5)

Backtrace: I can instruct our new digital investigators to look into the hotel the lady in red is at and see if they can track down where the Lien is coming from. (2)

Blake(QM)

Yang: She's been in a contemplative mood ever since the weekend passed. I guess she didn't like all of the answers she received. (7)

Oobleck: Our training sessions are back to normal after that little hiccup last week and there is still much about the man that I don't know. (5)

Autumn: I've resolved myself to having to deal with his and his sister's antics. Despite that I do enjoy hanging out with him. (4)

Marina: Things are looking up for the two of us and she's growing, ever so slowly, but she is. I could help her along with that or just hang out. (4)

Investigation (5)

Combat x2 (5)

Mobility (4)

Semblance (knowledge) (4)

After class Oobleck instructs me to go to a different room than usual for our training session. Before I can ask him about the sudden change of plans the man dashes out of the class completely ignoring two students that still had questions for him. They both look at me, but I shrug just as confused as they are. Hopefully they aren't aware of the whole Oobleck training me thing or else I'd expect some backlash. Not that I'm trying to hide it or anything, I'm just not crowing about it to the heavens.

That reminds me, I make a mental note to tell Weiss about it at some point. I don't think she'd hold it against me if I forgot to tell her, but it's better to be cautious about this kind of thing. Of course my team already knows since it really isn't something I can keep hidden from them. With that resolved I make my way to where Oobleck told me to go.

Opening the door I find a broad shouldered man with short blonde hair. He has a pauldron on his right shoulder and a red armband tied around his left arm in addition to his otherwise rustic clothes. The only possibility that comes to mind is that this is the friend that Oobleck had to call which must mean that this is Ruby and Yang's dad. At least the red armband somewhat corroborates that it is the type of color someone named Rose would wear. He must have incorporated Ruby's mom's colors, or I suppose Raven's. I suppose it's more charitable to assume the armband relates to both women instead of him pining after a woman that left him after his second wife died.

At first I try to close the door silently so I don't have to deal with whatever this is, but the man beckons me inside. I'll be sure to give my mentor a talking to for springing this on me. For now I accept my fate and walk in with a joke to defuse the situation, "I don't suppose that you're here to train me on Oobleck's behalf?"

He smirks in a way that makes me just want to hit him and lets out a puff of air. Not enough to be a full laugh, but enough to display that he finds the situation humorous. "I may be a teacher, but I'm not here to take you to school today. Bart told me that you were looking into things-"

I want to let him finish, I really do, but something that he said grinds my mind to a complete halt. "Bart," the name tumbles from my mouth in utter confusion. I knew that Oobleck had to have a first name, but for whatever reason Bart was not what I was expecting.

My unexpected comment takes the wind out of the sails of the man in front of me before he could really get in the swing of things. "Yes, Bartholomew Oobleck. You are Ochre Rovere right? Don't tell me I just went through all this work to scare the wrong kid." I should just play along and avoid this whole fiasco, but I'm still shook up about the revelation of my mentor's name that I absent-mindedly nod along when my name is mentioned.

"Great, now where was I? You were looking into things," the man starts up dramatically once again before abruptly stopping. "Nah, the moment's gone. The name's Taiyang Xiao Long and I'm just wondering what has you so interested in my daughter's life." Somehow the casual statement punctuated with the man holding out his hand is more intimidating than anything else he's done.

Still, I've dealt with worse, so with a steady hand I shake his and answer him. "I'm a friend of Yang's and when she asked for help I did what I thought I was right."

Unfortunately my bland statement only makes Tai more suspicious, "Uh-huh and as just a friend you went out of your way to guilt trip my friend into calling me. Now I'm not going to be mad, but I want you to be honest with me. What are your intentions with my daughter?"

Well this is familiar, I can at least be sure that he is really Ruby's dad at this point. That doesn't help me out right now and I don't think he's going to buy into the whole just friends thing no matter how true it is. What if Ruby told him about her suspicions with me and Yang? I mean from an outside perspective without all the details it certainly could look like we were dating. And, while I don't see what the big deal is about Yang's mom there is obviously something deeper there. Plus I can't even rely on Weiss to bail me out, I mean it sounds like an obvious lie that a faunus of all people would get along with a Schnee much less for that affection to be returned.

Fortunately I'm saved from the catch-twenty-two that I find myself in by a shrill 'onwards' in Ruby's high pitched voice. That catches Tai's attention as well and his guarded posture melts away, obviously not expecting this interruption. Suddenly the door is thrown open by Ruby in her school uniform that has grass stains all over it and following right after her is a small black and white dog tracking mud into the room and yipping all the while.

"Ruby," Tai says, suddenly exuberant as if a switch has been flipped. "How're you doing ladybug?"

"Daaaad," she whines back before realizing why she burst into the room to begin with. "Don't leave Zwei unattended. I had to chase him all over campus and now he's all dirty." Only then does she notice my presence in the room and blinks slowly. "Oh, hey Ochre. What are you doing here?"

"Oobleck sold me out so I could get the shovel talk from him." I jab my thumb in the direction of her dad who is completely unrepentant.

"Dad! Don't threaten my friend!" I never expected to see a grown man cower under Ruby's voice but here I am. "Besides I think you're supposed to leave that kind of thing up to Weiss' dad."

"But in one of your previous message-" he tries to argue, but Ruby cuts him off.

"That was months ago, it was all a big misunderstanding and I don't want to talk about it." The two continue to argue and I take the chance to make my escape. The last thing that I hear is Ruby shouting, "Get him Zwei." I am not dealing with that now; maybe I'll interrogate Oobleck or Yang about what just happened, but I don't think I want to be dealing with Tai until he calms down.

Apparently Tai took the week off of work and is spending that time getting back in touch with his daughters and his friends at Beacon. I know that I'm responsible for that, but it also has the unfortunate side effect of Oobleck clearing his schedule in order to be with his friend. Not a big deal since all of our lessons are being moved to the weekend where we'll have plenty of time together, but it does mean that I can't vent my frustrations on my mentor just yet.

That does leave me with a nervous energy that I have to work out on my own. While I have some projects on the back-burner none of those appeal to me right now or require that I wait for results before I can dig into them. So, I'm left with doing some training of my own. I don't even bother looking for a slot with the training rooms, they're all booked by now due to the sudden change of plans. Instead I'm in one of the fields surrounding Beacon dodging and weaving around invisible enemies.

About halfway through I feel someone's eyes on me. Normally I'd be more paranoid that someone is scouting me out ahead of the Vytal festival, but the exercises I'm going through aren't showing off anything more than what I already do in Combat class. I make a game out of trying to spot my unseen observer and eventually spot them in a tree. Of course, it turns out to be Blake and I'm awfully tempted to make a joke about the situation.

I'm also tempted to just go back to training, but I've done enough to get the energy out of my system even if I'm not completely out of gas. I might as well take a short break and see what she wants; I can always go back to this after I'm done with her. Still, a light rebuke for invading my privacy is in order.

Shifting my Wit's End into rifle mode I take a shot at the base of the tree. Not high enough that I risk hitting her, though that's a minimal concern with aura involved, but close enough that she definitely gets the message. All I see is a slight blur from the tree before my cat-like friend slithers down the branches of one of the neighboring trees. Either my smug grin or my taking a shot at her has her upset as she storms right up to me, a frown dominating her features.

"Was that really necessary?"

"No, but it was funny." Evidently she doesn't share the humor I have for the situation. Eh, can't win them all, the only thing left to do is push forward. "So what did you want to talk about? Or did you just want to spy on me for fun?"

"Why can't you take things seriously," she snaps at me.

"Blake, I don't know if you know this but I have a lot of things on my plate. Managing my team, looking into Torchwick and the Fang, tutoring both Velvet and Marina, training, dating Weiss, and making time for my friends all on top of that. I take things just as seriously as I need to, I just know that I need to blow off steam every once in a while or I'll go insane and I suggest you learn how to lighten up as well. Now are we going to keep arguing or are you going to tell me what's up?"

I'm not sure where all that came from, maybe I've been under more stress than I thought. Whatever, I meant every word of it and it had its intended effect if how sheepish Blake looks is any indication. She is still hesitant to bring up whatever it is and I want to groan. I only hold myself back because Blake is on the edge of whether she wants to talk or not. Eventually the awkwardness of the situation wins out and she finally spills what's on her mind.

"I've been thinking…about things." I know what things she's been thinking about, but I narrow my eyes at her due to how evasive she's being about the subject. "I need some advice," she admits, like the words physically hurt her.

"Is this about your team?" A moment of hesitation and then a nod. "Thinking about telling them you're a faunus?" Another nod. "So tell them, I don't know what advice you're wanting from me."

That is not the right thing to say apparently. Blake's eyes widen and her voice becomes shaky. "I know I should, and after everything with you I don't have an excuse anymore. Every time that I start to do it I just lock up and the words won't come out. Please just tell me how you did it with your team."

I take a deep breath and count to five. I appreciate the faith in me Blake, but there's no magical, one-size fits all, solution to this issue. Plus I have to consider what would work best for her and what would work best on her. She's trying to shove this issue off on me to some degree and, while it's a good sign that she sought me out in the first place, I can't help but feel this is something she should resolve on her own.

School of hard knocks: The simplest solution is just to take her bow and force a confrontation. Something she has been trying to avoid, but the adversity might be good for her. (3)

Blunt: Really the only advice that I can give her is that she needs to just lay everything out with her team, but that's not what she wants to hear. I'll have to work my way up to convincing her. (3)

+Recruit: I need someone to help manage my organization and she's right here and has a vested interest in taking Adam down. I'll have to break the news to her later, but there's no harm in making the decision right now. (3)

Delegation: I found she's more accepting of things when an easy path is there for her or things are already in progress. I could offer to break the news for her team or one of them at any rate. (0)

Ignorance: I'll give her some advice, but this really shouldn't be my problem and I'll tell her as much. I get the sense she'll keep flip-flopping about the issue but I won't have to deal with it myself. (0)

+Don't: I don't want to deal with Blake and I'm sure I can find someone else for the job I have in mind. (0)

QM Note: Blunt won the tie.

I let out a sigh, if I'm going to do this I should clear up her misconceptions first. "What exactly do you think I did with my team?"

"I don't know, that's why I'm asking. Just tell me whatever you did to make them okay with your past."

"I didn't do anything special. I just told them about my past on the first day of school. I laid all of my cards on the table." She's starting to look a bit despondent, but I need to get this through her head. "Autumn and Kelly didn't have much exposure to the White Fang and Marina is…well Marina." I almost let slip something about Marina's past, but hopefully my correction is accepted well enough.

"What do I do then," she asks, her eyes entirely focused on me, as if I'm her best hope of resolving the situation. At least she's actively looking for a solution, that's better than the alternative. I don't think that I could help the frustration that would build in me if that were the case.

"I'd suggest just doing the same thing that I did. Come on think about it, do you really think anyone on your team would reject you? Ruby, that excitable cinnamon bun of a girl. Or your partner Yang, who despite not knowing me for a week was perfectly fine raiding a criminals hideout with me. Or Weiss who's fine with me and in all fairness, I've probably done worse things than you."

I don't know that for certain and it reveals more of my past than I'm necessarily comfortable with. It is, however, the best way to reach her. Unfortunately my logic isn't getting through to her. This isn't a reasoned debate where I just have to say the right thing; her issue is rooted in logic and without being able to attack the crux of the issue there isn't much I can do to reach her.

"It's not that easy," she croaks out, "I've been keeping this a secret for months now… I'm not the person that they think I am."

I'm able to bite down on a flash of irritation, but it's a close thing. "I think that the person they care about is Blake Belladonna, regardless of whatever baggage you have or have not bandied around them." I can tell she's still reluctant about the matter, but I don't have much else to offer her. "Hey, you're the one who asked me for advice and I'm giving it. Just be glad that I'm not taking matters into my own hands. Else I'd rip that bow and frog march you to your team right now."

"You wouldn't," Blake reaches up to cover her bow and scowls at me. Well now I won't, she's far too on guard. Oh well, at least she took it as a joke, or at least I think she did. If she thought I was serious I figure she'd run for the hills rather than remain within grabbing distance.

Regardless of that, we are at an impasse. She doesn't want to take my advice and I don't have any other advice to give. Add on that I'm not going to force the issue and there isn't much progress that can be made on either side. You'd think if she is this desperate to tell her team that she'd work things out on her own, but I feel like there's a deeper issue here. Maybe it's that she'd be showing a vulnerable side of herself to her team and she doesn't want to do that for whatever reason.

"Why don't you try writing down your confession?" My sudden question surprises the both of us, I might have been too inside my own head to realize such an obvious alternative. Personally, I blame Blake for asking about and trying to translate my experience in a one to one manner.

The simple truth is that we're not the same person and what works for me isn't what's going to work for her. She says her issue is getting the words out and not the desire to do so. It might not amount to anything, but a different medium might help her express her thoughts better. Plus with what I know about Blake having this partially resolved will make it easier for her to take that final step.

"Yes, because not even having the courage to tell them in person would be such a great idea," Blake bites out acridly.

"We'll call that plan C for now," I state with deliberate calmness. She could do me the courtesy of pretending to listen to my ideas when she's asking for advice. "I'm just saying it could help you get the words out. You could read off of it, refine it, just hand it to them, whatever. At least give it a try, you don't have to show it to them if you don't want to," I plead with her.

That's as far as I'm going to get involved in this. While it's annoying to deal with this secret hanging over everyone's head there is only so much I'm willing to tolerate about the matter before I wash my hands of it completely.

Fortunately her focus turns inward, focused yet obviously unhappy with my suggestions thus far. She can read the mood, however, and doesn't press me for some imaginary alternative that would magically fix her issues. I leave her to her thoughts, not trusting that my frustrations won't boil to the surface and soured on the idea of training outside for the day.

Yang, I've noticed, likes to put up a strong front whenever she's feeling down and has more than a little experience with burying her more somber emotions. She smiles, laughs, and makes jokes, but it's more stilted than normal. Like she has to give herself a moment to think about how she would normally act. I also notice that she drops it whenever she thinks no one is looking, often gazing at the nearest window or door. I'm not sure who all notices aside from myself, but it's likely her team suspects something.

Unfortunately the members of RWBY are rather busy at the moment. Weiss is managing her section of the SDC, Blake is wrestling with her identity issue, and Ruby has to deal with her dad being here this week as well as keeping an eye out for the other two members of her team. Maybe Ren notices something, but he's the type to take a softer approach and won't touch on this issue if he thinks Yang has it handled.

I decide to take matters into my own hands as a way to pay her back for her help during the first week of school. The information we got out of Junior was supremely helpful in jump-starting my investigation. I find the blonde brawler in the Beacon garages with her hair tied up in a long ponytail so it doesn't get in her way as she's working over her bike. I'm not sure how effective it is considering how much hair she has, not to mention her obvious attempts at keeping it from getting damaged or dirty.

I don't approach Yang right away, rather I stay at a respectful distance so she can continue working on her ride. I get the impression that she's trying her best not to pay too much attention to me and I'm in the unfavorable position where I have to put up with it. I don't know what she learned about her mom, but considering how Oobleck reacted and her dad's arrival I can assume it's something serious. Plus it would be rather insensitive to jump straight to that and I haven't decided if that's even what I want to do. If this information is tearing her up so much I give it even odds that she'll either appreciate the chance to vent or hate someone poking at it so soon.

Eventually my presence becomes too much to ignore and she puts away her tools. I don't know enough to tell if she finished whatever she was trying to do or if she's too distracted to finish. The few grease and oil stains on her white tank top aren't enough to clue me in one direction or the other. She also reaches up to undo her ponytail before stopping suddenly, likely realizing that she'll mess up her hair. I'm going to take that as a sign she's more distracted than she normally is, because I can't imagine she'd even risk messing up her hair under normal circumstances.

"Heya Ochre," she greets with a smile that's brittle under my careful eye, "Sorry I didn't notice you earlier." Neither of us believe that in the slightest, but I allow her this polite fiction. "Did you need something from me?"

"No, I just thought I'd check up on you." It isn't a lie and my statement is neutral enough that Yang can engage or shy away from the topic as much as she wants. There is a brief delay where she wants to reflexively say something, but my words aren't provocative enough to draw it out.

Instead, she forces herself to snicker as if the otherwise normal mannerism would convince the both of us that everything is alright. "Heh, I figure I should be the one to check on you. I heard my dad cornered you and, uh, sorry about that. He's pretty protective of Ruby and I after, well, you know." She winces more genuinely, either at genuine remorse over the action or the bad memories she inadvertently brought up.

It, however, is not the kind of response that I was expecting from her. From what I know of her she should either be more thankful or apologetic knowing that my actions have caused this. Even anger would fall in my expected matrix of possibilities, not this polite front. Though, not all of it is a front; she is sincere about apologizing on her dad's behalf, but that is more of a rote action than a heartfelt apology. Does she not know that I'm responsible or does she just not want to know? I didn't exactly warn her of this, but it has to be sudden enough that she'd look for an explanation of some sort.

I shake off that particular bit of pedantry. It doesn't matter which it is and I have to admit that with the degrees of separation involved I haven't done much to make myself the prime suspect here. Still that gives me some more options. Not having to defend myself or my actions is a nice change of pace and allows me to set the tone and pace of this conversation. Though keeping my involvement is something that I decide is a non-possibility here, there's no reason to hide that from her and could only serve to make her upset.

Story: I did promise her one a few months ago, maybe it's time to deliver. Plus I'm sure it would help take her mind off of everything. (6)

Assurances: Even if I don't ask about it I can offer her my assistance with resolving whatever's eating at her. I know she would love knowing that someone has her back in these turbulent times. (4)

Bumblebee: It's clear that she cares about her bike and there's probably a story of some sort behind it. Plus it would be a more neutral topic steering clear of any potential landmines. (2)

Raven: This woman has dominated our conversations so far, but maybe it will do Yang some good to let loose on this information and I can't say that I'm not curious myself. (1)

Taiyang: We're already on the subject and after whatever conversation the two had I'm sure Yang has some complicated feelings about her dad. (0)

I shrug exaggeratedly, both to respond to her apology after so much silence and to dismiss it as a concern. I appreciate that she's willing to make the effort on my behalf, but I'd prefer that kind of apology from the person in question. Until then all I consider it as is an excuse, one that I understand but an excuse nonetheless. "Don't worry about that. Besides I think I've been holding out on a story that I owe you."

It isn't much, but Yang relaxes. Not enough to be back to normal, I think that will take some time yet, but enough that she isn't on edge for any poking. Luckily for her this isn't me drawing her into a sense of security to get her to open up. If she wants to tell me about her mom it'll be on her own terms. The thing that Yang needs the most right now is some stability. To know that despite whatever changes she's caught up in that they won't affect some aspect of her life. I get the feeling that her dad has already taken this into mind and is just giving her some space for now, but I know there's a difference between having a family member care for you and having a friend do so.

"I hope you know that I'll be telling Ruby all about this," Yang says warmly, drawing out the word 'all' as if to warn me of her intentions. "So don't blame me if she bothers you again." I'm glad that she's at least warning me even if I feel like she's taking too much glee in my potential suffering. I also can't shake the feeling that she's trying to give me an out, though I don't know if that's for my sake or because she wants to be left alone right now.

"I got called in to Atlas to handle the infiltration of one of their facilities on the West coast," I start quickly to both hook her and prevent myself from backing out. I don't want to incriminate myself, but there are only so many stories that I have about myself that don't touch on an unsavory action. Well stories that I think would catch Yang's attention right now.

"Wait, you got 'called in?' Is that normal for the White Fang?" I curse mentally. In my rush I forgot to word things vaguely enough to not be called out for anything in particular. Oh, well, Weiss and my team already know far more than just that so I can expand on that choice of words without feeling too bad.

"You know how your sister called me a super spy?"

"I believe 'secret agent super spy' is how she put it," Yang plays up her quote in a high pitched voice akin to Ruby's. I'm glad that she's enjoying herself, but I'd rather if it wasn't at my expense. It's not even the name itself that gets to me, rather the reminder of Autumn spinning a yarn that wasn't accurate in the slightest.

"Yes," I let out slowly, regaining my composure. "Well there is a bit more truth to that than she knew. I have more than a little experience skulking around places where I wasn't supposed to."

"I didn't know you were such a bad boy," she says, affecting a shocked expression. Going as far as holding her hand in front of her face and faking a gasp. "What will Weiss think when she finds out?"

"Oh please," I match her bluster, "As if you didn't already know that since we went to beat up Junior." I know she's trying to poke fun at my secretive nature and not threatening anything more sinister. Even if she was going to tell Weiss, that's not really something I have to worry about anymore. "Can I tell the story now, or do you have some more colorful commentary to throw into the mix?" Yang makes a zipping motion across her lips and I take that as my cue to continue.

"So I got called in to handle things. The Fang had been surveilling the place for a few weeks by the time that I made my way there, but none of them had a specialist on tap with my particular set of skills. I don't know if you know much about Atlesian facilities," Yang shakes her head and I get on with my explanation. "Typically they keep the number of human personnel low so as to not attract the grimm. So the small installation that I was infiltrating was only manned by a tight-knit team of five or so people. They were complemented by a number of automated defenses and robots, but those aren't too hard to deal with considering my semblance."

"Oh come on! That's not an explanation," Yang interrupts.

"My semblance allowed me to know where the robots were and predict the automated defenses." Yang isn't happy with my non-explanation, but my tone makes it clear that I'm not going to humor the matter any further. "So all I had to deal with was the team. They had to ensure that someone was operational at all times in case of a grimm attack so there were still two of them awake when I entered the facility at night.

Both of them happened to be in the control room when I was skulking by and since they were already there they didn't feel the need to have any robots guarding the area. I think they were more concerned about the grimm than someone sneaking up on them." To be fair, without my semblance's help in avoiding the robots and cameras I don't think I would have been nearly as successful as I was.

"So I waited for a while until one of them had to go to the bathroom. Then I took out one of the interior cameras and luckily that was enough to catch the attention of the remaining guard inside. Once the room was vacated I snuck inside and got to work on the terminal."

"Uh-huh, what was so important about this place anyway. No, let me guess first." She adopts a thinking posture and I know instantly that whatever's next is coming at my expense. "Knowing you it was information of some sort, that's kind of your pride and joy." I narrow my eyes at her, knowing that that word choice was intentional despite how it doesn't suit me at all. Whatever at least she's feeling good enough to make puns, bad ones but puns nonetheless. It's even worse when I can't say that she's wrong and she takes my silence as the affirmation that it is. Pumping her arm in victory she continues, "So what was it? Dust shipments? Guard Patrols? Secret Weapons?"

Among other things, a syllabus on the courses of repairing and maintaining a CCT relay and enough supplemental information to determine the school's location. Apparently one of the team members was a flunky technician who brought his thumb drive with him. Not that I'm going to tell her that. "We didn't know what we were looking for, just whatever we thought could be useful. I did find a prisoner transfer schedule that was used to spring some of our members that got pinched by the authorities, but I wasn't involved in that one." It was a bit too high profile for my liking.

With Yang's curiosity addressed I get back to the story, "Getting inside was the easy part, but getting out was going to be difficult. I wasn't exactly discrete with messing with the camera and finding out what the issue was wouldn't take long. Long enough for me to quickly download the most important looking files, but not long enough that I felt comfortable making a run for it. So I took the remaining time to cram myself into a vent near the top of the ceiling. It was a tight fit, but the vent had to be big enough for the command console to not be at any risk of overheating no matter what."

"How did you know where the vent was?" I mouth the word 'semblance' at her which makes her fume. "Fine," she bites out clearly unhappy but definitely engaging with the story more than her previous moodiness would allow. "I guess you just crawled your way out of the facility using the vents then?"

"No actually, I didn't know if they could track movement within the vents but they got too small the further away from the control room I got so I had to wait until they finished a sweep of the area and for one of the awake guards to go away again before I felt comfortable enough to make my way out. Unfortunately I ran into the guy who just left the room outside of it. I had to take him down quickly, but the scuffle made enough noise that everyone else was alerted. I took a few shots to the back on my way out, but I had barely enough aura to cover everything."

Yang waits for a moment clearly waiting for me to carry on, but it soon becomes clear that that is the conclusion of my tale. "Huh, you know I thought there would be more excitement to this kind of story, but that was just a lot of waiting around."

"What did you think I did?"

"I don't know, but when you mention being a part of the White Fang, excuse a girl for thinking that it's something a bit more exciting." Poor girl, most of the time the Fang is just waiting around. It's not everyday that we go on some bombastic adventure to change things. That's a good way to end up caught or dead; it's the little actions and the quiet waiting that deliver the greatest results.

I know that isn't something she wants to hear, so I use the momentum to instead jump off to a more touchy subject. "Hey I know you and your dad talked about something, and I have a pretty good idea as to what that is." She braces herself for whatever picking and prodding she thinks I'm about to subject her to. "Just figured you'd like to know that's my bad, kind of."

That is obviously not what she was expecting to hear so, "Huh," is her intelligible and elegant reply.

"I talked with Oobleck," I clarify, which only confuses her further. "Look I thought he might know something about your mom, maybe he taught her or something. I wasn't expecting him to be friends with your dad."

"Professor Oobleck is friends with my dad?" I want to reflexively correct her that it's Doctor Oobleck, but I'm confused by how she didn't know that they were friends. I guess she didn't pry too much in her dad's personal life after being shot down on her questions so often; that does explain why she didn't ask Oobleck before me.

"Honestly that isn't even the biggest revelation about Oobleck I've heard." I hope she doesn't press me on that statement as I really don't want to explain my thought process on that one. Fortunately she's dealing with her own confusion so my response passes by without comment. "Look, that's not the important part. I just wanted to let you know that I was responsible and that, well whatever you're gonna do about what you learned I'm here if you need help with it."

She gives me a searching look as if waiting for the other shoe to drop. I remain calm and after a few moments she lets out with a quiet voice, "You aren't going to ask?"

I've already prepared for this kind of question so my response comes easily. "I'm curious, but Oobleck and your dad impressed on me that this is a big issue. If you ever want to talk about it I'm here, but you're strong enough to make that decision yourself." I'm fluffing her up a little here, but she's receptive to it; a small smile forming on her face even as the silence stretches between us.

She wipes at her eyes and I pointedly look away, offering her that much respect. My action causes her to laugh for whatever reason, a low rumbling chuckle that goes on for far longer than I think it should. "Thanks Ochre, you're a good friend." I'm not sure what to say in response to that so I just remain silent. Evidently I react in some way because Yang rolls her eyes at me, "Just take the compliment you big baby, it's not going to kill you."

That only makes me more confused, but I'm not sure how I'd challenge her on any of her statements and let the matter slide with a grunt. Neither of us say anything for a moment and Yang takes the opportunity to stretch out her joints before saying, "Well it was good talking with you, but I think I'll meet up with Rubes and dad. Hopefully they haven't gone off to Vale while I was here." She slugs me lightly in the right shoulder, almost affectionate in its tenderness before departing fully.

After my talk with Yang I decide to tackle one of the leads that has been on my plate for a little while now. The karaoke bar nestled on the border of the residential district. A lot of White Fang culture has clear Mistrali influences over the past five years. Unsurprising with the necessary restructuring and our headquarters being located in Mistral.

A lot of the old guard vacated their positions when Sienna took over as high leader and she replaced them with men loyal to her, most of which were from or kept in contact with Mistral. These new executives took their preferences with them when they went to meet with other branches and over time this led to others among the Fang adopting these mannerisms and preferences to curry favor or display their own high status. I expect this to change as the White Fang fractures, but it is the reality I have to deal with for now.

Fortunately my recent recruitment of moles works out in my favor as they're able to tell me about this meetup location and I suspect they could even get me inside without raising suspicion. That is if I'm willing to reveal myself to them; I could disguise myself as one of my own specialists, but it would raise my profile in a way that I've been avoiding thus far.

Of course I don't need their help in the first place, I could attempt to blend in on my own and wing it with the information I have on hand. Or I could skip out on doing so entirely and just infiltrate the location when no one is around and place some bugs. I'd have to skip out on any interrogating that I could do, but it'd be trivially easy to accomplish.

Then there is also the universal language of violence to consider, but that has some additional considerations to keep in mind. In addition to the normal breaking of secrecy I will also have to deal with my organization keeping a lookout for the mysterious figure(s) who brazenly attacked a White Fang hideout or come up with an explanation as to why it was necessary in the first place. While they are okay with going after Adam and the more extreme members of the Fang that doesn't necessarily mean that they are against the Fang as a whole. I know that I have my own concerns with taking on the Vale branch and I can't imagine the people working under me would be any better.

Infiltrate: I'll head into the place after they've closed up to see what I can find and place bugs in some choice locations. I won't be able to control what I hear, but it's another source of information. (5)

Blend in: I'll join in at one of the meetings and see if I can strike up a conversation with any of the higher ups there. Of course I will also bug the place when I can. (+ for support or not) (2)

+Support: I might as well leverage the resources that I have. The risk is minimal and the rewards are tangible. (2)

+Alone: There's no reason not to mess with something that's worked so far. I can handle this well enough on my own. (0)

Brute Force: Not my first choice, but it would allow me to interrogate any members I catch much more effectively. If one of them has knowledge of the greater plan this can be a great breakthrough. (0)

Breaking into the place isn't any great task, especially with the information my moles provide me about the location. One of them is even close enough to the owner to have the alarm access codes which makes neutralizing them a breeze. I had them provide whatever information they could that would help us infiltrate White Fang hideouts on our quest to stop Adam. A much smaller ask than asking them to fight their former friends in the Vale branch.

The establishment is split off into two separate, yet similar sections. The bottom and top floors are both karaoke bars, but the upstairs section has greater soundproofing and is considered a VIP area where the White Fang members go to discuss business. The top is fancier, has the manager's office instead of a broom closet, and its tables are more closed off than the ones downstairs and complete with a privacy curtain.

I still leave some bugs on the ground floor in case that changes, but placing the listening devices is over in the span of a few minutes. I don't envy the amount of time that Tukson will have to spend sorting through all this. Especially with the backdrop of people singing drowning out some of the details. After this is over I'll have one of my moles try to strike up a conversation with one of the higher ups. Just the one time so as not to attract too much attention, but maybe that little push will be enough to get me some actionable intelligence.

The rest of my time is spent pacing around the space and activating my semblance to see if I can find any information and then seeing how to get a copy of that information without leaving any traces.

Investigation Check: Rank: 3.46 + .5 (Circumstance)=3.96 vs Challenge 2/4/5

Final DC: 1/51/76

Dice: 1d100

65 = 65

A table in one of the corners has its privacy curtain closed and is also slightly raised from the ground compared to the rest. I guess this is where the higher ups hold their court whenever they stop by. I use my semblance to tear the place apart in the vainest hope of some sort of useful intel. I'm pleasantly surprised when peeling apart the seating with my semblance some paper spills out. I repeat the performance a second time just to make sure it isn't some astronomical fluke. When the results are repeated a second time I begin a more careful search and find the source.

Hidden amongst the seams of the seat there is a console that pulls down and presumably has the paper within. Fortunately the security is based in obscurity and not some sort of lock so it pops open right away. I make sure to take pictures of each individual document and return them just as I found them or close enough that I don't think anyone will notice. A lot of them are dossiers of, presumably, White Fang members. I even recognize two of the names as managers under my employ. I'll keep a closer eye on them, but I think this is more of a boon to me than a bust.

Also in this file of papers is a map of Vale with various circles and letters next to them. Most of those are in the commercial or high class districts, but there are also a large number next to the Eastern wall of Vale. I can guess that it's a plan of some sort, and knowing Adam it's for the case of an attack but is the White Fang really planning on doing something like this or is it somehow related to something else? I don't want to believe that Adam would be crazy enough to assault a bastion of civilization and these plans aren't enough to make that a reasonable claim, but I can't help a pit from forming in my stomach.

I redouble my efforts to find anything in the area and eventually find myself in the manager's office. It's barely any bigger than the broom closet downstairs, only containing a computer terminal and a safe sitting on the floor. Using my semblance to check the contents of the safe I find mostly Lien cards, but also a scroll. It has a sticky note with what I think is someone's name. I send a message to my tech guys using my spare scroll to see if either of them could help me get crack this thing open and pull the data. I'll have to make another trip to return the scroll to not arouse suspicion, but that may be worth what's on it.

Unfortunately my semblance won't be helpful in opening the safe, but I pull up the information my moles forwarded me about this place and its owner. At first I try the founding date then the owner's birthday before finally succeeding when I enter his daughter's birthday. I let out a dark chuckle at people's lack of security, like dates aren't the first thing a prospective thief might try. Oh well, their loss is my gain.

I open up their terminal to see if there is a similar lack of security there. They're logged out and none of the username and password combinations that I try are successful. Shame, but I can't win them all. I pick over the place one more time just in case, but I don't find anything further.

Thankfully one of my tech people responded that they were awake and I make my way over there. I drop the scroll off at his doorstep and tell him to leave it out there after an hour with any data on it copied to an external drive. I technically have more time available than that, but I don't want to risk leaving things out of place for too long. Plus I still have school to worry about and want to get to sleep at a reasonable time. After thirty minutes he messages back that the package is ready for pickup. There aren't as many degrees of separation that I'd like, but I keep my face covered during this whole exchange and after dropping everything off and booking a hotel room for the night can finally dig into the data.

Some of it is just the same as the piles of papers that I took pictures of which leaves me a little disgruntled, but then there's another map along with the annotated one. Neither come with a key or guide to what the various letters correspond to. The second map is one of the Valean underground, most of which is abandoned after the fall of Mountain Glenn. There just isn't a need for it after that, though I hear some groups use it to evade the police or to get around in general.

The map of the underground overlays nicely with their map of Vale and some of the circles I've noticed are around underground stations. Street access isn't annotated on either map, but I have to assume there exists some. Maybe I'll have to get in contact with the seedier elements to find where they could be or pore over some old records. At the very worst I could front some money to Heaven's Delight and at worst I expect they can get me in touch with someone who could help me out.

More concerning is a big red circle that overlays directly with the Eastern wall on the above-ground map. Now I might not be a genius, but there are only so many things that I can think about when given a big red circle on a wall and all the explosive Dust that's been leaving Vale. It's even more damning when I check and find out that is where the line from Mountain Glenn meets the city. It slams directly into the residential district, however it's surprisingly close to Beacon.

I can't imagine that it would take too terribly long for Huntsmen to respond which makes me think that it's merely a distraction. Then again with all the other red circles it could just be the beginning of a larger scale operation; drawing away experienced fighters so that other objectives could be completed more easily. There are too many unknowns to determine which is which, but this is disastrous for the White Fang as a whole. The only saving grace is that there is a complaint that not enough Dust has been stockpiled and that they're at less than half of what they need.

I can think of one tanker shaped solution to this problem, so I'll have to act to prevent that. I suspect that RWBY would do something if only to protect Weiss' assets and I'll probably get dragged into that as well or have to find a good excuse as to why I can't. It's not the worst of things, but I can't help but feel even with all this preparation that the White Fang are hopelessly outgunned.

There is a reason why we've relied on guerilla tactics thus far and I don't see anything among all this that would change that. I can only hope that they aren't planning anything too desperate to even the odds, but I have the feeling this is a bit of a sunk cost operation for Adam. Even if he wanted to break away from the woman in red he's put so many resources behind this that I half-expect him to carry it out just to maintain his authority over the Vale branch.

I can already feel a headache forming about how I'll explain this to everyone as well as convince them not to take action just yet. If I didn't have the assurance that their plan isn't ready to execute there would be no hesitation on my part, but that faint hope that I can defuse this situation before it gets too big is too much a lure to ignore. After the tanker comes I'll have to make a decision on how to handle all this and that date is approaching far more rapidly than I'd like.

LloydAbsolon · Feb 24, 2024

The debrief with my team the day after goes well enough I suppose. Autumn and Kelly sport severe expressions afterwards and I can't blame them. Knowing that there's a plan in the works that will put their parents' lives in jeopardy makes them understandably upset. I'd be in a similar boat if Coral and Jasmine didn't live as far away from the walls as they do. Still, I'll give them a heads-up in case I don't defuse this situation before then. Marina is the only one of us that's unaffected and possibly even excited at the prospect of violence. Hopefully that's directed at the violence we'd inflict to stop this event and not the event itself, though I can't think of a way to ask that would be tactful.

After the debrief is over the twins take their leave to clear their heads. I'll have to go through this same song and dance with Weiss and potentially everyone else, so I don't give myself the same luxury. That does leave me alone in our room with Marina who has her weapons sprawled out on her bed as she kneels over it from the side opposite of my bed. It seems she's just doing some routine maintenance, but she's belting out a sea shanty all the while. I decide to see if I can find what she's singing and after finding a video on the CCT start it up. She stops for a moment once the words start, but follows along soon after in a quieter voice.

Once the song is done she doesn't move onto another song, instead she looks up at me with a grin full of teeth. "Thanks Cap'n. It's been a while since I could sing along with a crew. You should join in too next time."

"I think I'll pass; I've done more than enough singing for one year when Weiss dragged me out a few weeks ago." She just nods, but does so in a way that expresses more that she'll ask Weiss instead of that she'll let the matter drop. I don't think Weiss will enjoy the imposition of singing those bawdier and 'lower-class' songs especially if there's swearing involved. I have even started to watch my mouth more with Ruby around and I can only assume that it's worse for her partner.

In the next few minutes I just enjoy the atmosphere with my partner as she methodically cleans and puts back together her weapon. Once done she stands up and starts to heft the thing like she's going to take a swing with it before thinking better of that option. With that done she sets it next to the door for later and sits cross-legged on the bed staring directly at me. "Is there something that you wanted to talk about," I ask, not really expecting this, but not finding it too surprising from her either.

She nods seriously but when combined with her posture and big staring eyes comes off as cute to me instead. "Talking about these White Fang guys made Autumn and Kel all upset, right?" She doesn't elaborate, but I can tell there's more to this question than just that and motion for her to continue. "I can hurt them, right? It wouldn't be wrong to?" The way she says wrong is distinctly different from the rest of her speech, like it's a technical term to be studied and not a part of her normal vernacular.

It's a bit more direct than what I was hoping for. "Kind of," I wiggle my hand in an attempt to dumb down this complicated topic. "If it comes down to it we will stop them, but there are other options to exhaust before things come to that. With any luck we won't have to do anything." She deflates at the prospect of a non-violent outcome in a way that reminds me of Nora, then a stray thought enters her head and she perks right back up.

"But they were or are your crew, right?"

Okay this is a much more complicated topic, especially to explain to someone like Marina. "Not really, it's more like there are multiple crews that all fly the White Fang banner and we're supposed to help each other." She nods accepting that answer into her world view. Maybe she's relating it too much to the pirate lifestyle, but I can't say that's terribly inaccurate either. It might even be scarily accurate with how the White Fang is set to fracture sometime soon.

Still, I might not want to dwell on that kind of topic while pushing off telling Weiss about my recent adventure and findings. Around this time and day she's busy dealing with the minutiae of running her section of the SDC so I have some time to kill before I talk to her anyway. I do have to find something to fill the dead air though.

Exploration: I'm going to be in some ruins over the winter break. I could see if exploring dead civilizations is close enough to exploring for her tastes. (4)

White Fang: I could make the attempt to explain the complicated structure of the Fang to her. I'm sure I'll fail at some part, but getting it all out might be helpful too. (3)

Nonchalance: I'm not so sure I'd be so calm in her position. Her team is potentially under threat as well if the White Fang pull off their plan. Maybe she hasn't thought about that or there's something deeper here. (2)

Violence: I wouldn't describe her as bloodthirsty before, but she didn't shy away from it either. I could ask if this is a new change or if it's something that she's just kept hidden. (0)

I sigh, realizing that I'll have to be a lot more specific about this matter, especially since I'm recruiting people that would be considered a part of the White Fang. Since that is the more pertinent part I start there. "Are you familiar with the concept of a mutiny?" Surprisingly she shakes her head no at this and I get the feeling I'm describing a dangerous topic to her. "Well what would you do if you were stuck with a bad captain?"

"You aren't bad and neither was Captain Smoke," she replies instantly, completely missing the point.

"I get that, I do, but what if you were stuck with someone liiike, Cardin?" I hate saying his name, but he's probably the best example I have.

"He would never be my captain." Her statement is spoken so definitively like it's just another law of the universe to her. An utter impossibility to challenge.

"Okay, but there are people who have to follow him right? What do you think they should do?" She screws her face up in concentration but even a minute of thinking has her aimless to what the answer could be. I decide to help her out, "Would it be possible for them to rebel against Cardin and replace him with a better leader?" She looks like she wants to say yes, but doing so would be going against a fundamental fact of her life. "Okay, maybe you wouldn't but others could right?" That finally gets a nod out of her.

"Is that what you're doing," a slight tremble in her voice makes me reconsider how I want to explain this to her.

"Not exactly, you see the leader of the Fang is Sienna Khan. Her and the Albain brothers," I add the second part hastily, wanting to prevent future confusion in favor of dealing with more in the present. "They're like co-captains." I can tell the concept is confusing but approachable for her. Something that she can wrap her head around even if she doesn't totally get it.

"Is it like an armada then? I've only heard about those in stories."

"Sort of, it's like a crew of crews." I'm not sure what those stories say about armadas so I don't confirm her words directly. Still she seems to be following along so I don't make any corrections thus far. "And one of these crews, the Vale one, is rebelling against the high crew. Does that make sense?"

"Not really," she lets out slowly. I'm glad that she got over her dependent phase as just having her blindly accept my answer would be the opposite of helpful right now.

"Adam is going against Sienna and the brothers and I'm trying to stop him from ruining everything for the rest of us."

"So he's mutinying and you're mutinying the mutiny which means we aren't really, but just doing it so he can't." It takes me a second to follow the trail of logic, but I nod soon after. She returns my nod and I can assume she got that particular lesson, time to move onto step two.

"That's not the full story however, because above Sienna and the brothers is the goal of the White Fang. Did you have anything like that as a crew?" I can hazard a guess as to her answer, but the shake of a head is still frustrating.

"No, we just had to follow the Captain and the Captain had to keep us whole and hearty." Marina does give me something to latch on to, however.

"Okay, but he has to uphold his end of the deal, right? Like if he doesn't he has failed the crew in a way?" My simple logic brings the girl up short as she flops backwards on her bed. The relatively simple idea of a social contract blowing her mind right now. "Sienna and the brothers have to work towards attaining equal rights for the faunus. But what if I had a better way to achieve that goal?" That's as far as I'm going to push for now; I have the feeling she'd fall to my side of the issue even without this conversation, but planting the seed now will help ameliorate any dissonance later.

I can tell that she's giving it some thought as she hasn't bounced back to look at me, just remaining in her bed absently kicking her feet towards the sky. "What if Adam has the right idea?" The consideration of someone's methods that not even two minutes ago she would have had no problem wiping from the face of Remnant is both heartening and concerning.

"His plan directly hinders my own." I don't see her face, but her legs abruptly stop.

After a moment Marina rocks back up to a sitting position and looks at me with an intensity behind her teal eyes. "We'll stop him Cap'n." Apparently that's all it takes to instantly turn her against that very concept. I can count on Marina's personal loyalty trumping any ideological concern, for now at least.

I resolve to explain the intricacies of the other branches to her at some point, but I think I've made a good enough groundwork to build off of in the future. "That we will. Now you know what I'll be working on in the future. Are you still wanting to explore the world at some point?"

Marina nods excitedly, like she was hoping I'd bring up the topic. "Yes, and I think I have a way you guys can achieve your goals with me." She pulls out her scroll, opens a drawing app of some sort, and reveals a sketch of the dragon-shaped continent. There are 'x's dotting the coast, something that looks like mountain ranges inland that all surround the words 'long-last cat-people.' None of it is drawn well and I'm not sure if I should take offense that she thinks that's my goal or not.

"It's certainly ambitious," I say cautiously, hoping against hope that she lets the matter lie and I can take control of the conversation again. Evidently I'm not enthusiastic enough for her plan as she looks at me in confusion, then to her sketch, then to my board hanging against the wall, and finally finishes with a resolved nod. If I had to guess, she thinks that I just don't understand her logic and I brace myself for her explanation.

"This," she says, pointing at one of the 'x's, her tone slow and collected like she's explaining something to a child. "Is treasure. As we all know pirates bury their treasure," she moves her fingers towards the mountains. "This is rocks and we all know that you dig up rocks to find Dust. And this-"

"I can read," I interrupt her. She nods in satisfaction and moves on to her conclusion.

"Dust for Weiss, treasure for Autumn and Kel, and cat-people for you Cap'n. Everyone wins." The sheer innocence that she can say that with a straight face is almost enough to deter me from bursting her bubble. I resolve to hold off for now, I can't imagine she'll be able to go through all the years of Beacon without wising up, but I'll have to make sure that she does. She's still my responsibility after all.

Having soundly defeated me in a battle of wits Marina nods self-assuredly to herself. A soft smile the real hint to the satisfaction she drew from our conversation. That gives me an opportunity to get a word in edgewise. "Well I'm going with Oobleck this Winter to check out some ruins that no one has been to in decades. Is that something that interests you?" She looks at me quizzically like she doesn't see how what I said relates at all with what she just explained.

After a second or two of thought she tilts her head and answers, "I guess."

"Ah, and here I thought you'd be more interested in exploring with me than that." I lay it on a bit thick, but the word 'exploring' still catches her interest.

She looks at me side-eyed not quite believing that that word is connected with the concept of going to ruins. "Is there going to be treasure," she asks slowly.

"Potentially." I can't rule out the possibility as unlikely as it would be. "We might even explore somewhere untouched and unexplored for hundreds of years." My answers are enough to cause her to rock back and forth on her bed suddenly much more interested in the topic. She doesn't ask a follow up question, but I can tell that there's something going on in her head that's probably as far from the reality of the situation as it could be.

Oh well I've done as much as I can to catch her interest, I'll have to rely on the experience and Oobleck to sell her on it the rest of the way. Maybe if I bring it up to him he'll jump on the opportunity to mold an impressionable youth on the wonders of archeology. Either way I've spent enough time with Marina that I have to return to my other business as much as I would prefer not to.

My talk with Weiss goes better than my debrief with my team. She doesn't have as much to lose as Autumn and Kelly do and while she doesn't like it she trusts me enough to keep her informed and handle the issue on my own. It probably helps that her own hands are full at the moment, but that is neither here nor there. A last second talk about how I'm going to recruit some managerial help causes a thoughtful frown to form. I guess I'm not the only one running into a management crunch.

After that I decide to handle my organization's growing pains. Realistically this means addressing the workload I've been piling on Tukson over the past few weeks. I can tell he doesn't enjoy this work but finds it necessary to deal with Adam and for his own protection. I'll have to prepare a contingency for after I deal with Adam if for no other reason than to prevent someone just as extreme from taking advantage of the power vacuum. Who knows, maybe I'll want to take up the reins myself when that happens, but it would be better if I had some other plan in place just in case.

I've already decided that I'll rope Blake into this whole mess, at the very least her name alone will command some respect and I'm sure Tukson or I could show her the ropes on whatever Adam didn't teach her. Which could be a lot now that I think about it. Hopefully that isn't too much of an issue and she can make up for any shortfalls with motivation and effort. As I understand it she has a vested interest in this matter and would keep a close eye on her people.

Maybe taking an active part in 'correcting' the movement will provide some solace and empowerment to the girl. Heavens above, I know she needs it, or at least some confidence to face her issues. I shouldn't be too harsh on her, I know it was a big step for her to seek advice, but it is frustrating that I haven't seen anything materialize from that yet. Of course now I have a vested interest beyond my girlfriend's well-being to take care of that issue, but I have to focus on recruiting the girl first and allowing her the chance to settle accounts on her own before I get involved.

There are some downsides with recruiting her aside from that. The foremost being that her identity might leak and attract some unwanted attention and that she has some preconceived notions about how this kind of organization should be run. Thankfully the newness of the group and my stringent recruiting standards mean both of these are rather small issues, but ones I have to keep in mind nonetheless.

I send Blake a message on her scroll to meet me at one of the training rooms I've booked to ensure our privacy. I might have given her the impression that this is a more serious matter than it would be to her, but I can't risk anyone overhearing what we're talking about and getting the wrong idea. We both arrive on time, myself bringing my weapon to train with afterwards and Blake not bothering to change out of her school uniform. I make a show of setting aside my Wit's End, there's no reason to accidentally intimidate the girl, though she didn't seem too shaken up by my display of arms.

While I do that Blake remains at the door, standing just far enough from the doorway that it can close behind her. She doesn't speak up, clearly waiting for me to begin this conversation. Fair enough, I was pretty vague on what this would be about aside from saying it was important and urgent. Seeing no reason not to, and knowing that it could only help my case, I go over the broad strokes of what I think is Adam's plan, but downplay things so she isn't so eager to run off. If she ever finds out I hope she can forgive me for this minor obfuscation, but I wouldn't be too torn up if she didn't. By the end the look of horror on her face tells me I am not as successful as I hoped I would be.

"But that's not why I asked you here." That simple statement throws her off completely. Yeah, that's fair, I did just outline something bleak and essentially say that wasn't the issue. If I were in her shoes I'd be expecting something even worse so I clarify. "Well not exactly; I need your help combating Adam."

"What do you need me to do?" Her voice is firm, but a full-body shake betrays the apprehension she feels. Good thing I'm not asking her to fight with me against him directly. I pull out my scroll and she crowds next to me instantly, but her face morphs into confusion when all she sees is some names on a schedule. "What am I looking at here?"

I give her a slight smile, just glad that she isn't pretending to understand what I'm trying to show her. "This is the scheduled meetup or drop off times for the growing list of informants I've been collecting. So far the guy handling all this has done a good job, but he's starting to crack under the strain."

"And you want me to do what exactly?" I sigh internally, hoping that she would be quicker on the uptake than this. Did Adam only have her personally assist on missions and did she not have the slightest inclination on helping run things? Oh well, a blank slate is better than one with bad habits built in.

"I want you to keep in contact with them and filter the information that they're providing. Not all of it is useful. Every week you and I can go over it and pick out what's really important." I make that concession for her in particular. I doubt she'd be happy being what is essentially a pencil pusher; the flow and explanation may be enough to sate her. Plus it has the side benefit of making her better at her job.

She reads over the names and some of the dossiers. "You're recruiting from the White Fang?" The disbelief is clear in her voice, but I don't know if that's towards my decision to do so or her never considering that an option.

"Yeah? I mean who else is going to give me information about Adam's operation? They do good work by the way," I reply defensively. I expected her to take issue with some part of my operation, but not the recruitment itself.

She nods solemnly, receiving some sort of message that I didn't mean to send. "I understand, they're just misguided and we have to show them a better way." Ehhh, I've seen the rap sheets on some of these guys and I wouldn't call them misguided myself. I make a mental note to forward the more palatable members to her care for the time being. I don't know what will set her off, but I can't be too picky on where my info is coming from. "Thank you," she says quietly after a moment.

This is the second time this week where I don't understand where this is coming from. I mean I guess she's happy that I trust her with the responsibility, but I can't shake the feeling that it goes a little deeper than that. I'm not going to break my image of magnanimity by asking her despite my curiosity. Blake doesn't expand on her statement so I have to cough out an awkward, "You're welcome," which is enough to cause the girl to smile.

I spend the next few minutes forwarding her contacts and showing her the ropes of the situation. She'll have to make a weekly trip into Vale to check some of the dead drops and exchange information with Tukson, but aside from that the rest she can do in her free time at Beacon. It does remind me that I'll have to introduce the two and that will be a conversation all on its own.

Tukson probably won't be too happy that he has to remain the figurehead of our operation given the attention it would bring Blake and my desire to stay out of the light. Honestly this operation is a lot more rag-tag than I was expecting my time in Vale would be. Seeing the smile that Blake shoots at me might make some consider it worth it just for that alone, but it's really the offloading of work and the information piling up that sells it to me.

After resolving that issue I move to the next fire that's popped into my life. I certainly would have preferred to just hang out with Autumn and relax, but with how he and his sister reacted I find it prudent to make sure they're both alright. Maybe I can kill two birds with one stone here? Unfortunately my plans to involve Kelly fall through at the last second. A crass comment at the end of History earning her an assignment from Oobleck despite my pleading look sent to the man. Curiously that only seemed to firm his resolve; I guess despite the blatant favoritism inherent with mentoring me he's trying to remain impartial and might be over correcting a bit.

Regardless, Autumn and I make our departure to Vale and make our way to do something that I'm sure he'll enjoy. Beating me up, virtually of course. We arrive at the arcade Yang dragged me off to and I prepare myself for another evening of being beaten up on. This would have been more effective with Kelly with us as she'd make sure I heard all about their little victories, but I'm sure it'll take Autumn's mind off of things if not lift his spirits.

Unlike with Yang he at least does me the courtesy of not challenging me to any directly competitive games, instead we take turns on the single player cabinets. Though he doesn't hesitate to point out whenever I do anything wrong and I can see the smug smirk on his face whenever my score comes out under his. By the time we're done I think we've played each cabinet at least twice with myself only beating Autumn a handful of times. Still my plan serves its purpose and I walk out with the big man who has a broad smile on his face. Or that could be because of one of the girls that tried flirting with him; I could tell that he picked up on it immediately, but had too much fun playing dense until the very end.

Once we're back on the sidewalk he abruptly says, "You didn't have to do this ya know?"

"We'll just have to agree to disagree on that. I can't have my team too distracted to help me out when I need it."

"Is it always an issue for you?" He ends his question frustratingly vaguely, making me pull the answer out of him.

"Is what an issue?"

"Admitting that you can be nice. First it was the stuff with thanking Kelly and I properly, then the surprise with the Lien, and now this. I'm detecting a pattern here even if you're playing it off as no big deal."

"I don't want to take credit for the wrong reasons," I reply morosely. That gets an odd look from Autumn and I don't feel like explaining myself further. It's not my fault that everyone is misinterpreting my actions; I'm just trying to do what's best for myself, Menagerie, and my dad…and Weiss I guess. If other people happen to benefit then that'll just ingratiate them to me further. I don't have to admit that ugly truth to my partner, though I can tell he still has the wrong idea.

"Well either way I appreciate it Ochre, and I know Kelly would have had a hoot today as well. Why don't we do this again next week, make it a team outing?" I grunt noncommittally at his suggestion not really feeling it myself. This causes him to laugh uproariously and I honestly can't tell if that was his real intention or not. Knowing Autumn he was aiming for both and I hate that I'm giving honest consideration to the idea he proposed.

Mentorship: I know that Port has taken Autumn under his wing, but neither of us has really gone into this topic. We could share our experiences and make sure there isn't any animosity building between us. (6)

Pointed issue: It's not that I'm nice, I'm just pragmatic. I really should clear this up with him before he takes the wrong idea to heart. (4)

Family: I haven't heard too much about his folks. Plenty about his grandpa and his Uncle. I could ask about them and find out if there's a reason for that. (0)

Sounding board: I did have that issue on half-breeds after one of my visits with Coral. I've gotten my thoughts in order and I could use him to bounce those ideas off of. (0)

Autumn and I continue our walk towards his parent's place; Kelly and him will be spending the night there. The two of them decided that they'd like to spend some more time with their parents after the news I broke to them. That was the plan at any rate, Kelly still has that assignment from Oobleck to complete. Though if I had to hazard a guess that Kelly would rather finish her assignment or spend some time with her folks I'm betting on the latter.

Oh well, there's not much I can do about that, either she shows up or she doesn't. Our trip to their parents' place at least gives me plenty of time to recover and strike up a conversation. "So how's your time with Port? I imagine it has to be better than Oobleck calling down one of his friends on me out of the blue."

Autumn laughs genially; I kept light on the details out of Yang's sake, but the story of Ruby and Yang's dad showing up to give me a talk has made the rounds at Beacon. Fortunately Ruby was on the ball to make sure that everyone knew it was just a misunderstanding. She was more embarrassed about what happened than I am, but it works out in my favor so I'm not going to think too hard as to why that is. Knowing Ruby it probably is just as simple as thinking her dad was making her look 'uncool' to her friends.

"Yeah I think my training with Peter has gone a mite better than that. Did you know that he goes out on the weekend to wrestle grimm into cages? Apparently some Atlas eggheads run a battery of tests on the grimm trying to find new weaknesses. Seems like a bit of a waste to me, but they pay well and Peter said he'll show me the ropes once I reach his standards."

"Hmm," I hum along in acknowledgement. "Already on a first name basis with Port? Can't say it's the same thing with me and Oobleck, he's taking the formality of the situation very seriously."

"Yeah, he tried to keep that up at first, but kept slipping up and calling me my boy or young lad instead of Mr. Russet. Kinda got fed up with it after a while and just asked him to drop the formalities. What does Oobleck have you doing? All I know is that he and Peter had a disagreement on the best way to raise a pupil and they're using the two of us to prove the other wrong."

"That tracks with what I understand of the situation. For the most part we train one on one and he lectures or bombards me with trivia questions all the while. He pushes me to ride that line between utterly spent and barely standing pretty closely, but I can't say that it isn't having results. What's the training with Port like?"

Autumn snorts as if I made some sort of joke. "Well, it's mighty different from how he is in class. He believes that experience is the best teacher so we often go in the forest or take a bullhead and complete some minor missions." He clicks his tongue, remembering a distasteful fact, "I don't see a Lien from those though. Apparently it's against the law to take unregistered Huntsmen on official missions and he doesn't want any trace of that in the system. Maybe that'll change after this year is done with."

I give him a consolatory pat on the back, his financial woes a familiar topic to the team. I guess I'll be getting a first-hand view of that soon enough. "At least you're getting some practical experience. Everything with Oobleck and I has been in class or a training room. I will admit I was expecting Port to focus more on his monologues and stories and I don't think I'd have the fortitude to withstand that if it were the case."

Autumn smirks, "And I can't imagine having to listen to Oobleck for any longer than I have to. I haven't the faintest idea how you keep up with the man and even less when you say he's doing all that while training ya. But nah, Peter ain't so bad once you get him in the field. He actually firms up and takes everything very seriously, always checking around for any grimm sneaking around while I handle the ones in front of us. Though," he grumbles, "he gets so focused on that he completely forgets to give me instructions sometimes and I have to quiz him about what I could do differently after we clear a wave."

Despite the grousing I can tell that he enjoys his time with Port. Then again just having the support of a senior Huntsman would be a huge boost to his career, much less the personal attention and training he's received thus far. Still, there is something I want to address about the situation. "You looked pretty excited to tell us about it before Oobleck called me up. There aren't any hard feelings about that?"

Autumn's easy-going grin shrinks into a frown. "I ain't gonna lie I was upset at the moment, but it would be pretty unkind of me to hold that against you. I just thought that I finally had the opportunity to catch up with ya…" he trails off, but he doesn't need to continue. He knows me well enough by now that he figures I can easily pick up on what he means which I do.

I'm a bit touched that he considers me the competition that he has to measure up to, but on the other hand the only other person I could think to fill that spot would be Pyrrha and for most her position is unattainable. Not that I'm going to stop trying or make this any easier for Autumn. I plan to beat both of them, if for nothing else than my own pride.

The two of us walk in silence for a moment. The topic is already resolved for both of us, but the additional distance is reassurance that it won't be prodded at by either party. Only after that do I start up again, "Well don't take it too hard when I beat you next time."

A smug grin and a teasing lilt in my voice is enough to communicate that it's just some playful banter and Autumn joins in. "Well I think you're in for a mighty big surprise then. You may be better than me now, but that just means it's easier for me to improve. If ya don't watch yourself I'll take ya down."

"Oh please," I reply with partly faux dismissiveness. "You haven't even faced me with my semblance active and you don't even have yours unlocked. If we look at this logically I have all the advantages here." When he doesn't join in immediately and instead sports a cryptic smile I know he's hiding something. "Oh don't tell me you and Port figured out what your semblance was." His grin growing in size is my answer. "I don't suppose you'd be willing to tell me what it is?"

"Are you willing to show me yours?" Well that's my answer then. "And don't think about asking my sister. I told her I discovered my semblance, but not what it is."

"Do you really think that I'd stoop so low," I ask, affecting some hurt in my voice and face.

"Yes." His reply is so flat that it makes me stumble a little. I can't say the thought didn't cross my mind, but I'd appreciate a bit more faith in my sportsmanship than that. It's not a big deal so I don't make an issue of it and besides, we're coming up on where his parents are staying.

It's a cramped apartment complex sidled up against the Eastern wall of Vale with barely enough room between the two for myself to squeeze through sideways. I would almost consider it a security concern if not for the tightness involved, only kids or rather petite individuals would have the room to use the two surfaces to climb. Once inside we go up to the second floor from the top and enter one of the apartments. Already it's more cramped than the Clovers' residence and with less rooms to boot.

The main area is a small living space and kitchenette with barely any space and only a small table to eat at and what looks like a fold out couch for furniture. I know that they didn't lose their furniture in the grimm attack so I'm guessing it either got sold or moved into storage when it became clear that they didn't have the space to store it. Aside from that there are only two doors that break away from the main area which I assume are to the bathroom and the bedroom respectively. I wouldn't blame either of the twins for going to Beacon just for the room and board at this rate. A part of me just hopes this is what his parents were reduced to when they had to move to Vale and are planning to upgrade and not all that they can afford.

Then I introduce myself to his parents Moss and Myrtle Russet. His dad, Moss, has thinning dark green hair and is actually smaller than Autumn is, but not by much. His wife, Myrtle, stands at the same size as him and has dark brown hair that's full of grays. Both are well past middle-aged, I guess that they had Kelly and Autumn pretty late into their lives. They greet Autumn with a hug from each of them and shake my hand firmly. The two of them have a relaxed gait from their time outside of Vale, but heavy sighs and bags under the eyes tell me that their time here has been more than a little stressful.

At this point Kelly messages us to let us know she is on her way. She makes it just in time for dinner to be served, but fitting five people at their tiny table is an exercise in and of itself. The twins' parents are obviously happy to see them, but their tiredness prevents them from striking up or fully engaging with any conversation. Kelly shoots me an apologetic wince and Autumn has a frown that comes off as distinctly sad and unfitting for him.

With the heavy atmosphere I take the first chance that I can get to clear out of there, maybe without having to worry about any company they will all relax a little. I don't hold out much hope for that, but it is there. A part of me wants to assist in some way, but there really isn't much that I can do in the position that I'm in. The only thing that I can realistically do is help the twins on some missions, but we're locked out of that for most of the year so all I can do is twiddle my thumbs and hope for the best. Well that and make sure to stop Adam, the Russets live distressingly close to the wall and while where the rail-line meets the wall is a fair distance away I can easily understand the concerns that the twins have.

When the weekend finally rolls around and Taiyang makes his departure back to Patch my mentor runs out of excuses to delay our meeting. To be fair I am sure that he and his friend did enjoy some time together, but with how much time that man spent with his daughter's I am sure that Oobleck had a hole in his schedule he could have fit me in earlier. Not that I mind too much, the free time given to me allowed me to follow up on some of the methods and details that had fallen to the wayside during our instruction together.

We meet back up at our usual training room, evidently it's not hard for him to have a semi permanent reservation. That either points to not many teachers using it because it's insufficient for their means or because they're letting their training go lax. Or he might've traded favors to ensure its availability. Either way the familiarity of the location eases the both of us back into our usual exercises. The only difference is that today he runs me completely ragged to make up for lost time, our session stretching hours longer than it usually does.

Unfortunately for my mentor that isn't enough to dissuade my righteous indignation towards him. As we wind down I bring up the subject with labored breaths. "Is what happened this week your idea of 'taking care of things,' Bart?" I spit out his name, but combined with my breathing and how unfamiliar the name is to my tongue - seriously 'Bart' does not suit that man at all - it comes off harsher than I was intending.

I know that he knows what I'm talking about, even the teachers aren't immune to the rumor mill up here in Beacon. With how isolated we are there really isn't that much else to talk about unless someone is really into trawling the CCTS. Still he scratches the back of his head sheepishly as if hoping he could have avoided this conversation altogether. "Ah, I apologize. In my defense, Tai only told me that he wanted to talk with you. I didn't realize that he had a certain impression on the matter."

"And what was up with abandoning our training for the week?"

"I admit, I was unfamiliar with this situation and didn't handle it as well as I could. I'm sorry for that and hope we can move on from this matter" The maturity of his response is a breath of fresh air. It's nice not having to deal with anyone being defensive or evasive for once.

"Fine, apology accepted." A flash of relief passes over him and when he recaptures his composure he's notably more relaxed. I guess he's long since used to the moodiness of teenagers and was actually worried about me for a moment there. "Though I might lean on you for a minor favor, maybe I don't know. I'll have to check with my partner closer to the break and see what she wants to do."

"What is this about," he asks curiously. He's interested in the matter, but it's clear that I'm not making much sense at the moment.

"Marina, my partner, I thought we might be able to take her on the dig. I've been trying to get her to think about her future more." I don't elaborate any further, allowing Oobleck to put the pieces together himself. I know he'll get the subtext, but not pressing the issue now will give him the opportunity to convince himself of the benefits, or so I hope.

"Adding another member is no trouble. I can spend some of our security budget on more supplies this way." I try to choke back a laugh but fail, it seems we think on similar lines. It looks like he wants to make a comment or a clarifying statement, but holding up my finger dissuades him. I don't think I could properly explain my thought process there and I understand what he meant so there's no need to dwell on the subject.

Current events: I know he doesn't like to talk about this kind of stuff in class, but he does keep up with it. I could pick his brain and maybe see if he has any inclination about the Fang's activities in Vale among other things. (5)

Teachers:He's personal friends with Port and Goodwitch it would be interesting to learn about how that came to be. (3)

Ozpin: Oobleck holds the headmaster in high esteem, but he doesn't interact much with the students. I could ask about the man and why Oobleck respects him so much. (3)

Qrow: I haven't heard much about Ruby and Yang's uncle Qrow, but asking about the man may shed some light on that as well as Raven since that avenue is closed off to me for now. (1)

Competition: I know he and Port are using Autumn and I to compete, but what is the heart of their disagreement here. (0)

QM Note: Ozpin won the roll off.

Before he can change the topic or say his goodbyes I make my own comment. "Sorry about that, though if you wouldn't mind I'd like to pick your brain about a few things sir."

"Of course Mr. Rovere I always have time to address my pupil's questions." I notably don't point out how that hasn't been the case for the week.

"I'm just wondering what your opinion is about what's going on." Oobleck wouldn't dream of touching this kind of topic in class, too afraid of potentially poisoning his student's viewpoint with his own. However, our relationship is fundamentally one where he is trying to get me to come around to his line of thinking so it shouldn't be too hard to get the man talking.

"I'm afraid you're going to have to be more specific. There is an awful lot going on in the world at any given time. Why, just the other day I was reading about how a nomad tribe in Vacuo was finally convinced to do business with the city again after nearly eighty years of non-contact. Just the development of their culture during their time in relative isolation would be enough to fill several conversations, not to mention the economic impact it might have for the desert Kingdom."

"I was actually hoping to touch on matters a bit closer to home," I say rubbing the back of my neck and affecting a nervousness that I don't feel

Oobleck takes a moment to sip at his thermos and rack his brain for something interesting to say. "There are reports of increased traffic towards Menagerie, an unprecedented amount actually. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that would you?" I shake my head perhaps too quickly, but it seems like Oobleck wasn't expecting me to know anything as he quickly adds, "A shame, but not unexpected. Though there is also the CCTS overhaul that Atlas is rolling out, perhaps that is a sign that things are changing for your homeland."

The last part is wishful thinking on his part and I get the feeling he only threw it in for my benefit. It isn't what I'm looking for, however, so I try steering the conversation back to more fruitful ventures. "By closer to home I meant more in the Vale area."

Instead of answering my request like I want him to, Oobleck looks at me with critical eyes peering over his spectacles. ""Tell me do you consider Menagerie to be your homeland?"

"Of course I do," I respond defensively, insulted that he would even imply otherwise.

"And yet you're referring to Vale as your 'home' in this instance. Curious isn't it? Are you perhaps adjusting your vernacular for me? Are you even aware that you were doing it? Don't answer that, it's the kind of question that I want you to think on. Anything that you would say right now would be forced at best and disingenuous at worst."

I bite back a snide remark, the last thing I want to do is give him a reason to be upset with me. Besides I don't need any of this introspection, I've been handling myself just fine and I don't appreciate his nosiness. Perhaps some would find that ironic coming from me, but I can't bring myself to care at the moment.

Oobleck picks up on my souring mood, only giving me a slight nod to acknowledge he notices it before moving on. "Very well, there is a debate among the council about what to do with the funds brought in by the Vytal festival. The popular decision appears to be expanding the walls, though if crime continues how it has I expect some if not all of that will be appropriated for law enforcement and shoring up the city's Dust reserves. Even if it passes I imagine the price of Dust alone would set progress back a few years."

Bingo, I've found my opening. "Speaking of crime, I'm curious that Torchwick hasn't been brought down yet." There, my response is vague enough not to implicate myself, while leaving the floor open for him to reassure me if he or anyone he knows is taking action on the matter.

However, he reads something deeper into my interest as his eyes flash with concern. "I know it must be distressing knowing the culprits involved. It may be hypocritical coming from me, but you should worry about the present and focus on your studies. We will have this matter in hand and resolved in due time."

Of course that isn't a satisfying answer to me and I think he thinks that I'm only invested in this because the Fang is involved. Still, he has some preconception about my motivation so I play into that. "I just don't understand why Huntsmen haven't swarmed into Vale and apprehended that man already." I add more petulance to my tone, sounding more like a spoilt brat than I like.

It looks like Oobleck wants to explain the logical shortcomings of that plan, but my response convinces him to tackle it as an emotional issue instead. He places a hand on my shoulder, an uncharacteristic showing of compassion from the man. "I'm sure that Oz is already looking into the matter; he had a shift in seriousness around the time that these robberies started."

That's an interesting fact, but doesn't tell me much. Plus depending on when you count the robberies starting that's a difference of a week. Perhaps insignificant in Oobleck's eyes, but every little detail adds up. It's clear that Oobleck doesn't want to talk about this subject any more, but I just need to press a little further. "And you don't find it odd that the Fang is working with a human?"

That shocks my mentor, a slight stutter in his step and him looking over his glasses as if he couldn't believe my question. "Of course not, the White Fang has a history of working with human collaborators." His expression makes it clear that he expected me to already know that, but fortunately he doesn't press me on my seeming ignorance.

I nod in acceptance of his answers and he lets out a breath of relief. I can assume that I know more about the business with Torchwick and the Fang than Beacon does. I can't imagine that knowing their plan or even having an inkling of it that the staff wouldn't be on alert and the answers Oobleck gave me betray a calmness that I wouldn't associate with that state of affairs.

Now all I have to do is throw my mentor off my trail and a change in topic will serve that purpose nicely. "You mentioned Headmaster Ozpin there…" I trail off and he fixes me with a look that begs me to get on with it. I guess he's feeling more than a bit irritated with my behavior here. "What is he like?"

That brings him up short, clearly not expecting that kind of question. "What brought this on," he asks. It's clear to me that his response is more to buy time for himself than honest curiosity on his part.

"I've only seen Ozpin during his speech at initiation and sometimes standing around with Professor Goodwitch. I sort of expected that he'd be more involved than that. Plus I'm a bit curious as to why you said you'd trust him with your life."

Oobleck sighs as if not expecting that answer. "I'm sorry, Oz can be a…complicated man to put it lightly. I'd like to say that he means well, but you've proven to me that even the closest of colleagues can have their blind spots. He used to have open office hours where students could just drop in and talk with him. I think he still does, but his office is a lot more foreboding to students than it once was."

He doesn't address why he trusts Ozpin so much and I get the feeling that it's a personal matter that he isn't going to tell me about. Well not right now in any case. Still that isn't quite what I'm looking to learn about the man. "I guess," I say hesitantly, "but that doesn't explain why he's so distant."

My simple response forces a sad smile on Oobleck. "I assure you he has nothing but the best intentions at heart. It's easy to think of him as distant and aloof when you haven't seen the care he pours into his students. He's always taken immense satisfaction in the journeys of his pupils, but that same interest has led to much sorrow on his part."

I don't speak up, waiting to see where he is taking this. "I have him to thank for convincing me to pursue my doctorate and he even personally funded my first expedition on top of offering me a position here after I returned. Peter was his TA and might know more about the man himself, but he taught all of us; Glynda included.

Oobleck ends his description with a long draw from his thermos, clearly reminiscing about times long past. I take something more from his words than he probably intended. From how Oobleck describes it Ozpin likes to staff positions with people he knows, an otherwise mundane act of cronyism. I can't shake the feeling that it's intentional on Ozpin's part and that it runs deeper than just personal preference. Especially when paired with him bankrolling Oobleck's first expedition. I'm not sure how much that would cost, but nothing about the statement implies that it wasn't at least somewhat expensive. How much of that was honest interest and how much was to secure the man's loyalty?

Whatever the reason, I got some useful insight about the headmaster and I can at least return the favor to my mentor by drawing him back to reality. "Fine, you've convinced me of his good intentions, but what is he like? Personally I mean."

"I would suggest talking with him yourself, he is a hard man to quantify. Wiser than anyone I know and with a resolve unmatched by anyone I've seen before or since. He carries on like the world could come crashing down on him and he would keep calm and carry on. And I've never had a more delightful conversation partner on the finer points of history. Why, the man could have taught the subject if he were so inclined, despite his lack of credentials."

While I may have liked to continue that discussion, our talk together slides into tangent after tangent of historical trivia that starts, but quickly diverts from the personal anecdotes of Oobleck's time with Ozpin. I could have fought against that harder, but I forget all about it when I get dragged into a mini-debate about how the logistical strain of the Vacuan desert influenced the Great War that somehow loops into the establishment of a centralized currency. By the end of it I can't tell if the slight smile my mentor is sporting is because this was his intent or just because he found someone willing to engage him on these topics.

After my session with Oobleck I go over the intelligence reports I receive from Tukson with Blake. I try to walk her through the logic of everything and show her what the finished product should look like. I get the feeling that she'll need some help with the raw inputs, but that's a problem to deal with later. She has an odd combination of concern and satisfaction written over her face as she reviews the logs from the bugs and some of our moles, but it's nothing that I didn't explain to her when I recruited her. Perhaps the more personal nature of it all is making it hit closer to home.

I put that out of my mind, looking into more important matters for now. She's confused why I'm looking into the financial records of a hotel, but simply showing her the picture of the woman in red is enough to get her up to speed on that matter. Though I think she's still confused on how the hotel's finances feed into that. I'll have to explain that to her some other time, she's already struggling to keep up with the flow of information as is.

Thankfully my agents knew when and where to look for the information I wanted and had the skills to track it down themselves. It starts the same day that the trio arrived in Vale and has been a steady source of income for the hotel every week that they've been there. My agents are then able to trace that back to an account in Atlas that upon further inspection is managed by a trust, a charitable trust at that. Ostensibly they provide tech related scholarships.

Checking into their requirements I find that their standards are quite high, not impossible to achieve, but from what one of my tech guys tells me anyone with that level of talent/experience could easily find a well paying job. Furthermore, under Atlesian law, the trust doesn't have to disclose its donors or operational expenses. Checking into that I have the Schnees, in particular Jacques, to thank for lobbying for that particular law. Of course the military can request and seize the records although with the lack of activity over the years it likely isn't going to raise suspicion any time soon.

Try as they might, my agents can't break into that account to find where its money is coming from, but they are able to get me some details about it. Apparently it was set up from the inheritance of a scientist, Arthur Watts, after his untimely death during a research accident in Atlas and things are sounding a lot more familiar to me. 'The Paladin Incident' is a favorite on the conspiracy boards so I'm familiar with a multitude of the crazier theories from how it was inter-Kingdom sabotage to it being an elaborate plot on Ironwood's part to assassinate one man.

Unfortunately much of the materials on the accident are classified, despite a request for transparency, so I don't have any conclusive evidence. I'm reminded that Weiss' sister is pretty high up in the Atlesian military, but it might take some convincing to have her hand over military records. Still I do some due diligence and look into the dead man.

Arthur Watts, a veritable polymath with more degrees in engineering than I think is strictly necessary and was responsible for designing the security systems of Mantle and much of Atlas. As far as I can tell he has no surviving family and his colleagues didn't describe anyone as having a close relationship with him. There is a piece about the stringent requirements of his 'charity' and his colleagues said that the high standards were typical of the man, who never abided failure.

I'm not sure how he fits into all of this and it's entirely possible that someone handling the trust is involved instead of this being some five dimensional play from beyond the grave. Still the situation doesn't sit right with me and the fact that it coincides with a well-known conspiracy tickles the back of my brain telling me that something is up. Whatever the case may be, my techies inform me that it's technically possible to track the influence of this 'charity.'

As it is explained to me, Lien is a currency intrinsically tied to the CCTS, especially after the move from paper notes to Lien cards. That being the case that means that any transaction has to be logged on the CCTS. Normally this means nothing as you need access to a CCT tower to even review these records and with Atlas' reluctance to let others look at their toys means this method is used sparingly. Plus most criminals use Lien cards for their transactions which have their own methods of spoofing the system. Not that this is a concern for me in this case as the trust pays out it's Lien digitally.

Then I can combine this with the fact that every Lien note has its own unique identification serial and it becomes possible to track down where it goes as long as I have access to a CCT tower. As luck would have it the towers were built right next to the Huntsmen Academies for defensive purposes. In addition to this the system is designed so everything is connected. So it doesn't matter if the Lien is sent off to Mistral or Vacuo the four towers are designed to sync up their records and simply not work if they are unable to do so.

A glaring design flaw in my mind, but it's the way Atlas designed them. Maybe they thought it would be reassuring if they had a vested interest in defending the other Kingdoms? I don't have a doubt that they have their own alternative network ready to go in case this one goes down.

Unfortunately this isn't as easy as I'm making it out to be; this isn't something that my techies could do remotely and just asking for the CCTS records is a no go. I'd have to sneak them on campus and past the tower's security while searching for the data we're looking for. It's a technical possibility, but the realities of the situation make it cripplingly hard to utilize leaving me with a dead end. I suppose I could look into the 'charity' itself and see if I can track anything that way. Someone has to be approving these transactions, but it's a difficult prospect to track that down if they were here in Vale, much less Atlas.

After our short training session, I take Blake with me to introduce her to Tukson. There is no reason not to have the two at least acquainted with one another. That way they can coordinate without all their communications having to go through me. Sure it means relinquishing some of my influence, but I have no desire to micromanage those under me when I have much better things to do with my time.

Unlike the past two times I've been here, Tukson is actually manning his desk, though he is busy reading when Blake and I walk in. Unsurprising since I let him know that we were on our way and a stray thought worms its way into my thoughts. Is this the norm for him or is he usually in the back or upstairs for most of the day. Does he ever have an issue with some books disappearing from the front of the store while he's away from his counter? Whatever, how he runs his store really isn't any of my business.

Tukson looks up briefly from his book when we enter before finishing the passage that he was on. Then he looks at the two of us again and a spark of recognition enters his eyes. Knowing Blake's reputation and previous place in the Vale branch I am prepared to assuage any of his worries. However, I'm not expecting the surprise and warmth that floods his voice. "Blake? Blake Belladonna is that you?"

Blake looks ready to run despite all the progress and preparations that she's made. Perhaps my presence is enough to convince her otherwise, but she pulls herself together and remains. "Yes, that's me." He continues looking expectantly at her and she feels compelled to respond further, "Do I know you?"

Tukson sighs, a little disappointed, but likely expecting the lack of recognition. "I used to protest alongside your parents when they came to Vale and it's pretty hard to forget their cute kid who'd rush to the front of the line shouting slogans and waving her little sign around. She stiffens with a blush and I can tell that she's fighting back her response to hide her face away. "Just a reminder of the old times," Tukson continues, taking the focus off of Blake and turning towards me. "Why didn't you tell me that you were working with her?"

Well, the main reasons are that I had to make sure she wouldn't mess anything up and I wanted to ensure he knew that I was in charge. I choose to supply a more palatable answer instead, "Up until recently I was trying to handle things on my own. I realized having some friends to share the load with would open a lot more options to handle things." Tukson nods at that and I notice a twitch from Blake at my usage of the word 'friends.'

"Alright then, I'm assuming she's the one you wanted me to meet?" I nod. "The names Tukson Burgundy, a pleasure to make your re-acquaintance Miss Belladonna. He reaches his hand out over the counter waiting for Blake to shake it while I grumble a bit internally. He never showed me this kind of respect. Then again I went out of my way to downplay any importance I might have and he surely has a good impression of her and her parents from the 'good old days.'

Blake walks up hesitantly and takes his hand, "Just Blake please, we'll be working together." A big grin splits Tukson's face, but I notice how Blake is shying away from her family name there. She probably still has a bit of a complex around how she's treated her parents and is distancing herself from that name. Not something I can address now, though I'll keep it in mind for later.

I cough politely to draw their attention back to me. As much as it looks like Tukson wants to regale Blake with tales about her parents there is still business for us to do. Plus I don't think she'd be particularly receptive to that kind of attention right now. At least she'll be in regular contact with someone who knows her parents and maybe she will make some progress on her estrangement all on her own.

Tukson picks up on the subtle reminder and actually looks sheepish as he looks to me before turning his eyes towards his counter. "Right, gotta take care of business first. Though there shouldn't be too much to go over since you were running things before helping us." He directs that last part towards Blake, who doesn't take it well. She shrinks on herself guiltily, likely imagining how things would be different if she took a more active interest in the affairs of the Vale branch.

Tukson, of course, is lacking the necessary context to understand her reaction and I decide to skip to the heart of the matter. "Just how disconnected from the running of the Fang were you?" I was content to let the matter lie before now, but now I need to know the extent of what we need to teach her.

She flounders for a bit with half-started sentences before finding her resolve. Apprehensively stating, "I left most of that to Adam. Most of what I did was running a few messages for him and joining him in the field

"Was there a reason for that," Tukson asks, pitching his voice to be softer and more comforting.

"I don't know. I just felt that after all the years of nothing working that I had to do something meaningful. That direct action was the best way to change things; not all this, stuff." She waves her hand in the empty air, a lack of materials to refer to not stopping her from the motion. I don't bother saying anything, our work will disabuse her of that notion soon enough.

Tukson, too, is silent for a moment before haltingly saying, "Well a blank slate isn't the worst thing to work with. Come on, we'll set up in the back of the shop and have you running things in no time." He finishes with a big reassuring grin, motioning Blake to follow him behind the counter. She shoots him a grateful look and I have to suppress a wave of indignation. I know it's not a competition, but after having to deal with her moodiness and clawing for any progress with her for Tukson to build a rapport with her so easily stings a little. The two of them head to the back and I follow along shortly after. I have my own insights to provide to Blake and spending some time with my sub-leaders will help ingratiate them to me. If I'm particularly genial with the two of them during this time that's my own business and neither of them see the need to point it out.

Aura(Practical) raised from (85/625) to (95/625) Source: Semblance usage

Combat Raised from (224/625) to (263/625) Source: Class, Training, & Oobleck

Culture raised form (12/150) to (17/150) Source: Oobleck

Dust raised from (11/150) to (17/150) Source: Class

Grimm raised from (70/150) to (76/150) Source: Class

History raised from (114/300) to (133/300) Source: Class & Oobleck

Investigation raised from (139/300) to (180/300) Source: Class, Challenge, Oobleck, & Training

Mobility raised from (110/300) to (132/300) Source: Class, Oobleck, & Training

Semblance(Knowledge) raised from (71/150) to (81/150) Source: Training

Survival raised from (61/150) to (67/150) Source: Class

Constant regeneration raised from (24/50) to (42/50) Source: Training

Discretionary budget raised and reduced to (4050/5000L) Source: Month end, Tukson, & Mole Salaries.

LloydAbsolon · Feb 25, 2024

Robberies: Burnt list: I can sort through the list I got from Junior and look up who is who on it. This is unlikely to be directly useful to my investigation, but maybe I can find something Flint can use.(Investigation check) (5)

Digital stalking: It might not help much, but building a profile early on all of the employees and contacts of my woman in red's charity could prove helpful in the future. (4)

Valean Underground: some of my moles are already on the shortlist for scouting out/manning these places. I could have them display some interest in the assignment and see what the plan is here. (3)

Jaune (QM)

Kelly: She was shaken up after our debrief last week. I could check in with her and make sure she's fine. (6)

Velvet: She's working on a new weapon for me. It might be prudent to hang out with her and keep myself in her good graces. (6)

Semblance (knowledge) x3 (6)

There are certain obligations that Beacon has with the Vytal festival to be hosted in Vale as well as the incoming wave of students from the other Kingdoms so they can spend a semester at Beacon. This leads to Goodwitch subjecting us to a lecture about the conduct expected of us. Typically I think this would be Ozpin's job, but I guess he's busy doing whatever it is he does in that tower of his. She goes over all the general niceties like be respectful and don't start any fights. Most of the class isn't paying much attention until she mentions that disciplinary action on our records is enough to disqualify us from the Vytal tournament. With the crowd sufficiently cowed she continues explaining how this will all work.

Each Kingdom is given their own dorm and this is the first time that I find out that Beacon has seven dorms. One for each year and an additional three to house out of Kingdom students. Unfortunately Beacon doesn't see the need to hire staff to take care of this and is perfectly fine with saddling us with the task of making sure the dorms are up to snuff. All this entails is some dusting and vacuuming and itemizing any damage that happens to be in the dorms for maintenance to clear up before hosting foreigners.

Even worse for us is that the first years have to clean up a dorm all on our own while the three upper years split the other two. To be fair, this is because many of them are out on missions every other week and have less time to devote to this task as well as lower numbers from certain teammates or teams flunking out.

Of course, we don't get to just rush off to the dorms as we have some sort of supervision, that being team CFVY who Glynda hands the responsibility of organizing us firsties off to. Coco gives us all a schedule of two weeks to fill in and Ruby convinces our three teams to get everything done right now. She also tries to push for our three teams to work together under the dubious notion that it would make things go faster, but thankfully Coco has the good sense to separate us.

That doesn't stop Weiss and I from swapping between working with my team and hers. We are assigned two dorms each so it is a simple affair of finishing one with my team and helping hers finish their room and the next one. I do the math in my head and can't help but feel that we did more work for her team than we did for my own. I can't tell if that was intentional on her part or just lucky happenstance and it's not a big enough deal to make an issue out of.

After we are all done, Ruby browbeats us to join her team in celebration in Vale. Fortunately I'm not dragged off again to the arcade and we settle on an ice cream parlor with Weiss paying for all of us. Of course she wants to sit next to me, but I'm saved from any unfortunate connotations with all of us cramming into a long table. My team is on one side of RWBY and JNPR on the other.

Of course things are never that simple with my friends with Nora and Ren sharing a sundae between them, but acting like it's nothing significant. Even though I catch Nora shooting more than one glance towards Weiss and I. I think I also catch Ren tilting his head away from us as if caught in the act, but that could just be paranoia on my part. Then there's Pyrrha stabbing at her frozen treat with a spoon and Jaune with a complicated expression on his face.

I'm just glad that there's some distance between that powder keg and myself even if I have to deal with the teasing stares of the twins and Yang. Blake even joins in on the fun 'accidentally' bumping Weiss and I closer together. She thinks that she can fool me, but I see through her mischievous smile. The only ones who seem like they're enjoying their treat innocently are Ruby and Marina, the two girls sitting next to each other and across from me.

"Oh I can't wait for the tournament to start there will be so many great fighters and weapons and they'll go all whirr-boom and Ka-clang," Ruby starts excitedly in between chomping at her ice cream.

"Mhm," Marina chirps happily next to her, a shark-like grin splitting her face. "It's been so long since I've been able to fight someone seriously. I'm excited to go all out!"

"Oh tell me about it I'll go all woosh-"

"-and I'd hit them with my anchor."

"Then I'd go wha-cha-pow-"

"-lift them up and slam them to the ground."

"And I'd pat Crescent Rose feeding her a round, lining up my shot then-"

"-impale them with my harpoon."

The two girls continue feeding on each other's manic energy, but completely missing the tone of the other. This is the first time that everyone has seen the more bloodthirsty side of Marina, but with some of the comments that Nora makes they shrug it off easily enough. Probably thinking that she's just excited and doesn't know how to express herself, which isn't technically wrong. I make a mental note not to let Marina and Ruby hang out too often, I give it a matter of time before Marina makes a comment that Ruby can't ignore and I get the feeling Ruby wouldn't be able to handle her…eccentricities as well as my team has.

Once we're done with our mutual outing our three teams board the airship back to Beacon with Weiss holding my hand the whole way there. Fortunately it's just our teams on the ship so I don't have to worry about that particular issue, but it does draw some attention. Particularly from Jaune and I prepare myself for whatever he has to say on the matter.

Fortunately he holds his tongue until we dock and I gently encourage my girlfriend to depart with her team. I give a nod to Kelly and she grabs my two teammates. Jaune's team starts to hang back to see what all the fuss is about, but Ren physically drags Nora away while Pyrrha looks between the two of us before nodding sadly. I think I might know what's going on there, but in my defense I've been more focused on the affairs of my own team and Ruby's. Still is this what it was like to see Weiss and I from the outside?

Whatever I can deal with that later…or not at all now that I think about it. I'm not responsible for anyone else's love life. At least the two of us are alone, relatively speaking; It wouldn't surprise me if someone decides to hang back and spy on our conversation. "So what's this all about Jaune," I ask pointedly. To be fair to him I'm the one who makes this a confrontation, but I'm not going to withstand his glances and stares for another week.

He swivels his head looking around and past me, making sure that our friends have actually left. Then he steps closer to me and lowers his voice in a whisper that barely reaches my ears. "It's just that I uh, I've been wondering. How did you get Weiss to like you? I tried everything and she just brushed me off. Then you come wandering in and hang with her a few times and she can't get enough of you."

Heavens above, of course it's about something like this. What am I supposed to say? That I didn't even know she was into me until she made it blindingly obvious, heck I'm sure Yang was half a step away from pointing it out for me that one time. I don't even think he'd believe me if I said that. Though, now that I look at the scenario there is a disturbing amount of overlap. "I just acted like myself, you know, without all that bluster. I think she appreciated just being treated like a person," I stall with the platitude.

Jaune groans, not wanting to hear what I just said. "But I already tried that. What am I supposed to do if the guy that I am isn't the guy that girls want?"

"Aren't you already fixing that," I ask in confusion.

"Excuse me," is his instant reply and I know I have to elaborate on that.

"Well you've been training very hard since you got here and studying your ass off. That kind of dedication breeds habits and building up good habits is the easiest way to change yourself."

"Yeah," he starts not really getting the point, "but that's just what I do you know, not who I am." he pauses for a moment getting a suspicious look. "Are you just saying all of this to make me feel better?"

"Jaune do you really think I'm the kind of person to do that," I baldly lie. However, our antagonistic relationship does the heavy lifting of convincing him that I'm sincere. "You are the sum of your actions and oftentimes it's more important what you do than what you feel." A tiny part of my brain says that's ironic coming from me, but I shut it up with a mental slap.

"Uh, thanks I guess. But I came here for advice, not a pep talk." Geeze Jaune, did you grow a spine to talk back to me while I wasn't looking?

"Look, I'm not sure what you want me to tell you. I didn't do anything special, there was no secret or trick. I just spent time with her as a friend and she ended up liking me as simple as that. I'm sure you could find something like that if you looked hard enough." It's more of a push than I'd normally do, but if it helps me out of this situation I'm willing to go for it.

Unfortunately Jaune doesn't realize what I'm referring to and gets angry instead. "If I was in that kind of situation I wouldn't be seeking you out in the first place!" I can only sigh and fight back the headache that's forming. At least he isn't mad about the situation with Weiss, but I need to de-escalate this situation, maybe a change in topic would help.

Pyrrha: No really Jaune, there's a girl into you. Heck I think we can still see her if we poke our heads off to the side. (3)

Self-esteem: Maybe it's because he's so hard on himself that he's not seeing the obvious here. I could tell him to work on that and surely that's close enough to advice to satisfy him. (3)

Ancestry: His immediate family is a bit of a sore point, but he did mention something about a line of Arcs and their heroics. Maybe I could ask about that and talk him up a little. (2)

Vytal: Maybe I could talk to him about his plans for the Vytal festival. Like if he plans to win or if he knows about the dance at Beacon. (0)

Despite my desire to tone things down, the predicament and my solution to it causes me to sigh. Before Jaune can take that the wrong way as well I interrupt him with the first thing that comes to mind. "I just want you to know that I hate you with every fiber of my being for what you're making me do."

"Huh," is his eloquent rebuttal.

"You see, I found myself in a similar position as you not too long ago in fact. I was nestled away minding my own business and working on my tasks at a good pace. Then someone, a girl, notices, voices their concerns, and offers to help. Now I, not being an idiot, accept her help and find myself spending quite a bit of time with her. Does any of this sound familiar yet?"

There is a limit to his denseness as understanding fills him and dispels his belligerent behavior. Good, because if I had revealed that without getting some kind of reaction then I would never let myself live it down. "Huh, you mean? But- that's, it's just different you know. You're you and I'm me. There's no way that's what's going on." He, predictably, refuses to acknowledge reality.

"Was there any part of what I said that's wrong," I challenge combatively. Unlike with some of the other more evasive people I know, he tends to respond when put on the spot and not just look for the nearest exit to the conversation. Not that he always chooses to respond how I'd like him to.

He opens his mouth to respond, but he can't find the words to prove that I'm wrong. The vagueness of my allusion means there isn't much substance he can attack as most of it is based on him filling the blanks with his experience with Pyrrha. Plus this being an emotional issue he hasn't thought about where my argument could logically fall apart. Seeing as he's too busy failing to find fault with my words I press on.

"I could be totally wrong," I concede facetiously. "But you have to admit there are a lot of signs pointing in that direction right? Besides, she can do a lot worse than you." I might be damning him with some faint praise here, but it serves me well in refocusing the issue on himself. I've brought the matter to his attention and I'm probably better served attacking the issues that prevent him from recognizing it on his own.

Though now that I think about it Juane is a bit of a conundrum. A clear lack of self-esteem and confidence in matters at Beacon yet unfailingly confident when it comes to flirting with the object of his affections. With how he honed in on Weiss of all people he's either he's desperate and shooting for the stars despite that or shining through all of his insecurities is a certain kind of pride. Considering the spine he's shown and how he was able to move past his issues to address the deficiency in his weapons I'm betting on the latter; all I have to do is draw it out now.

Jaune lets out a rueful chuckle, likely thinking something self-deprecating and not believing a word that I've said. "I appreciate the attempt Ochre, but you could have just told me that there wasn't anything you could tell me." I mean I kind of did and look where that got me. "Why would Pyrrha like a guy like me anyway?" Huh, he didn't deny that there's the possibility that she likes him. I guess he's putting some stock in my words or he isn't totally oblivious despite his best efforts.

"I mean you could just ask her," I blithely state instead of answering. His face scrunches up in clear reluctance to even consider that course of action which distracts him from the fact I don't have an answer for him. Sure I could puff him up some more, but he reacted poorly to that before and I have to move onto lines of reasoning that are more fruitful. Affecting a front of outrage at his lack of response I press into his personal face and pitch my voice lower with an almost threatening quality to it. "What? You think you're good enough to ask Weiss out all the time, but the mere prospect of asking your partner a simple question is enough to trip you up?"

Jaune takes a reflexive step back and raises his hands defensively. "Huh? No, it's not that. It's just-"

"Just what Jaune?" By cutting him off I force him to confront to resolve the seeming paradox. Either he is inadequate and chasing after Weiss was all bluster or he does value himself, however little that may be, and he'd be hard pressed to argue that someone good enough for Weiss Schnee wouldn't be good enough for Pyrrha Nikos. Granted there is the third option where he grows despondent and feels like flirting with Weiss was a mistake, but I'm banking on his strange pride overruling that outcome.

He spends a few moments attempting to vocalize his arguments, nothing coming out of his lips as he opens and closes his mouth. Then he squares up towards me with a curt nod, whatever conclusion he's come to staying inside his own head. "You know you're a real jerk sometimes." Fair, I can't say I've been the gentlest in my handling of Jaune and today is just another mark in that track record. His choice of words and tone tells me that he picked up on what I was doing, otherwise I'd expect him to make more excuses as to why I have to be wrong.

"Yeah, but I'm the jerk that helps you face what you don't want to. Can you honestly tell me that you regret doing any of the things I've prompted you to do?"

A chagrin expression falls over him, "No, I can't say that I do. I guess you're 'prompting' me to make a move on Pyrrha."

"Oh heavens no, I'm not telling you to do anything about that one way or another." Confusion dominates him and I move on to clarify, "You came to me for advice and I just thought that you might be missing something right under your nose." My attempt of absolving myself of any consequences in case things go horribly wrong obviously doesn't land. Oh well it was a long-shot anyways and I'll be sure to take credit if things go well regardless.

A moment of silence passes and Jaune starts suddenly, "Why are you helping me anyway?"

"Why did you come to me for advice?"

"Well my options were either Ren, which yeah… Or Autumn, but he's kind of…intimidating you know?" I do, but knowing that the big guy is a real softy on the inside has done much to inure me to the intimidation his size and bulk brings him.

"Ouch, can't say that I appreciate being the option of last resort." My light tone causes Jaune to snort before he shakes his head, likely remembering that he was asking about something.

"Right, but I don't mean just with this. You tried to help me that night you found me and every conversation we've had you've done something to help or try to convince me about something. I guess I'm just wondering where that's coming from."

"You know there's an expression about looking a gift horse in the mouth," I joke, trying to sway him from his course of action, but his posture remains firm and unmoved. I sigh, not really having an easy way to answer his question. "At first I was concerned about Ren and Nora, I didn't want them hurt because of your inadequacies." He shrinks away at that remark, but bounces back surprisingly quickly, his eyes focused and urging me to continue.

I don't think he'd appreciate me telling him it's all to ingratiate him to me so he'd be willing to help me out in the future, so I decide on a more palatable and arguably equally true answer. "If there's an easy solution to a problem it offends me if no one takes it. There are plenty of problems that require actual effort and commitment to tackle that I can't abide someone letting their issues pile up when they have the capability to resolve it."

That, evidently, is not what he was expecting to hear as he responds slowly as if stunned. "You decided to help me because you'd be annoyed if you didn't?"

"Eh, that's close enough to what I said," I respond dismissively, not really wanting to stick on this topic for any longer than I have to. Jaune looks at me skeptically, not believing what I said. I glare at him, inviting him to voice whatever issue he has with what I said. He doesn't bring it up, but doesn't shrink away from me either, like he thinks that my annoyance at him is just an act or something.

It looks like he wants to say something, but thinks better of it and shakes his head to dismiss the thought. "This isn't how I was expecting this to go, but you gave me something to think about. Thanks." I don't respond, still annoyed at his unvoiced challenge and a silence stretches for a few awkward seconds before he lamely appends, "Well I'm going to go and do just that. Uh, some thinking I mean, not you- ah, just forget it." He backs away slowly for a few steps before turning around and breaking into a half-jog towards the dorms. I exhale heavily and follow suit, putting this conversation out of my mind.

The day after my talk with Jaune a rather insistent Weiss drags me off after History. She gives a little wave to Velvet while she does so, utterly uncaring of the scowl on the rabbit-girl's face. That scowl turns to a sly grin as Weiss turns away, but I keep my eyes focused on the rabbit faunus who pulls out her scroll and takes a picture. I become distinctly aware that she has some blackmail on me. Not that I'd find it too effective; it's only a matter of time before the story breaks about our relationship and it would take more than a slightly embarrassing picture to encourage me to do anything.

That little inconvenience does nothing for the buoying mood the two of us find ourselves in as we head to the CCT tower. Weiss has some business that she wants to take care of and I offered to be a sounding board of some of her ideas. After that we plan to spend some time walking around the campus, or at least that's what Weiss decided we're doing. Despite our intentions to keep things quiet for a while I get the feeling that she wants to show off our relationship a little.

We take a ride up the elevator and she plugs her scroll into one of the many terminals starting up a video call to one of the SDC offices. I'm in the background so I can listen in and offer any advice, but I take care to stand at just the right height so that the ears on the top of my head aren't in frame. A small woman with orange hair and a pink hairpin answers the call, her name plate titling her as 'Lily.'

Weiss with a knowing smirk introduces me, "Lily, this is Ochre, my other assistant. Treat anything that he tells you as if it were coming from me." That is quite the extension of trust, which makes it a shame that I don't think I could do the same for her.

"Of course, Ms. Schnee. Are you ready to receive the documents I prepared?" She takes the order in stride, remaining professional, but I can't tell her genuine feelings on the matter. Not like I expect to interact with her all that much, at least not any time soon. Weiss nods her head and the files are transmitted before the video call is ended. Honestly there probably wasn't any reason to come all the way here to do this aside from some flair for the dramatics on Weiss' part. I guess the download is faster and more secure in the tower, but that is hardly reason enough to have gone here in the first place.

Still we have a new round of documents to go over, though it's more Weiss explaining her plans to me and asking for advice. Her current issue is a stubborn middle manager that has been blocking her every order and re-routing all of her requests to the regional director, who does approve them, but the loss of time and efficiency is grating and slows down her operations enough for it to cause problems in other areas. I get the feeling that the man is trying to gain the favor of Jacques Schnee by not allowing his daughter to run rampant with his company, but he's much too low on the totem pole to attract that kind of attention.

Unfortunately our default option of finding leverage and forcing compliance isn't available as the man has kept himself clean or discrete enough for no dirt to surface from a cursory examination. Throwing around the Schnee name hasn't done anything nor has a talking to from his superior. Additionally with how irregular Weiss' control is the man hasn't technically broken any code of conduct. Even if he had it would require that HR back in Atlas agree to fire the man.

That leaves us with Weiss explaining her plan to slowly diminish the man's influence and fill out positions around him so that he can't interfere with her operations any more. That, however, will still leave him as a drain on her resources in addition to the people she'd have to pay to circumvent him and is unsatisfying to boot. Of course, I, as the dutiful boyfriend, offer my own, less savory, advice as well.

"We don't need to find anything incriminating. Just the implication of some impropriety is probably enough to get him in line." My reasoning does rely on him actually wanting to suck up to Jacques and not just hating Weiss in particular for whatever reason.

"Yes, but we've both checked and can't find anything," Weiss whispers in my ear, the two of us crowding over her scroll still at the terminal and not wanting anyone to overhear us. I could spend the effort to investigate the man further or even get some of my men to do it, but I doubt I'd find anything.

"Yes, but that doesn't mean anything. Not everything we find has to be true. It just has to pass inspection and have some rather unflattering implications. Give me the location of his office and I can make something work."

Fortunately she both understands the implication and doesn't have an objection to my little bit of moral dubiousness. In fact she looks touched that I'd offer to do so in the first place. "I couldn't ask that of you," she demures in a quiet voice.

"It's a good thing that I'm offering it freely then isn't it?" I flash her a smile with a bit of teeth and she gives me a small one in return.

"I'll think about it." I nod in acceptance of that, having come to find that she's rather resistant to my suggestions if I grow too insistent about them. It's like she has to convince herself of the merits of my plans and trying to do so for her only makes her more resistant to them. It's only because of her ability to reason through things that that stubbornness hasn't been an issue between us and since finding out about it I've taken great care not to come off as too strong with her.

Regardless, our plans don't have us sitting in the tower pouring over reports all day. As fun as that would be, Weiss is adamant about us spending 'quality' time together and not being joined at the hip doing work right next to each other. We make our way to the ground floor and start walking around campus with our hands joined together.

Occasionally we stop for a moment and she'll lean her head against my shoulder. I also catch her with a smug grin more than once when she catches people staring at us. Of course, as nice as it is, we don't walk in complete silence. We make some small talk and observational remarks, but there is a large amount of long silences between us as we get lost in our own thoughts. It's clear that she wants to delineate our work time and free time together, but I can tell that it is still eating away at her.

+use social crit (5)

Play along: Not everything has to have some sort of end-goal in mind. I could just spend some time with my girlfriend and make small-talk, maybe figure out why she's so touchy with me. (4)

Loneliness: With how she talked about it last time this sounds like an important topic for her. Understandable with how she was raised, but I can offer her a place to talk about that. (2)

Dig Deeper: There are more issues than just that one man, I can offer my help and advice in dealing with these matters. (2)

Winter: I recently came into a mystery that Weiss' sister is well-placed to help me unravel. I could steer the conversation towards her and ask to be introduced. (1)

Assistance: She extended some trust to me and I could do the same. I could offer the usage of my agents for some more unsavory tasks though the orders would still go through me. (0)

Lily: I can assume that's Weiss assistant that she roped into helping her manage things. I could ask about her and see what her deal is. (0)

QM Note: Look I'm gonna be real here, I have no clue what decision I made to resolve this as this isn't really a proper way of spending a social crit. Pretty sure I went with refunding it due to misconceptions at the time and doing a write-up with the top three options instead of top 2.

First things first I have to address whatever is on my girlfriend's mind before it spirals into something bigger. That and I can tell she's beating herself up a bit over it and that just won't do. "You know I don't mind talking about work with you right?" She jerks away slightly, but her tight grip on my hand prevents her from getting too far. I keep up my pace which brings her back to my side soon enough. I smirk at how she finds it more important to keep hold of me than display her displeasure at that statement.

"It wouldn't be right," she says in a huff after quickly matching my stride.

There are a number of ways I can take this, but I decide to reassure her before anything. "You're making the attempt, which I appreciate, but I can tell that there's something on your mind. I want to take care of that before it eats into any more of our time together. She looks particularly guilty at that comment so I continue, "I like helping you with things, it's a nice change of pace to the work I do."

It helps ameliorate her concern, but it's easy to tell that she isn't entirely convinced. Once again I'm reminded that she's trying to distance herself from her father and being too obsessed with work is definitely a concern of hers. "I have to be better than him, I just didn't think it would be so hard to…" she trails off looking to the side. I give her hand a reassuring squeeze and she instantly lights up and returns her attention to me, but her moodiness soon returns and she's back to staring at the dirt as we pass by.

"Like I said, I don't mind and you are making time for us. So what's eating at you? You can tell me just this once right," I implore her. I know with how she is that after this there won't be just the one time. Giving in like this would be bad for her nascent habit, though I don't think it's a habit I particularly want her to keep up. I'll have to deal with her issues about it later, but every little bit of interaction with her like this should do well in convincing her that it's normal and not something she should be concerned about.

"Everything I guess. The sheer enormity of the task before me. Back when I wasn't thinking about it, it was just an inevitability, something that I'd have to take care of later and would be prepared for then. Now that I'm tackling it myself it's all so massive and I'm only dealing with part of one branch."

I could just explain to her that she'd have help managing everything, but I know she already knows that. "My advice, celebrate all of your victories, especially the small ones. Motivation for this kind of thing king, as soon as you lose that you lose a lot of the drive that makes you successful."

"Speaking from experience there," her teasing tone and a shy smile tells me that she's taken my words in the spirit they were given. Only time will tell if what I said is helpful or not.

I could affirm her words with my own task of modernizing Menagerie, but I want to keep this matter about her. "So nothing more concrete for me to dig into." She sends me a look and I continue on in spite of it. "C'mon I'm chomping at the bit here to flex my mental muscles." I play into the matter by flexing my other arm, drawing a giggle from my girlfriend before she strangles it into silence.

Her lips thin, still not comfortable delving into the topic during our personal time together. "Some of our employees have been taking a cut of the Dust they're supposed to handle and reselling it on the second-hand market. The margins have grown big enough that they're making more like this than actually working for us, but not enough that installing enough security is profitable in the short term."

I make a show of thinking over the matter. Truthfully there is no way to stop corruption and theft entirely, the incentives are just too great most of the time. That doesn't mean that there's nothing that she can do to ameliorate her situation though. "I'd suggest meeting with some of the employees here in Vale in person. Try talking with them and connect with them personally. Plus you can see if there are any problems you can address and while it won't stop everything it might make a few of them stop or second guess themselves."

"That's not much of a solution."

I shrug, not really disagreeing with her assessment, "Sometimes there isn't one, just less bad options." That and I know she will feel better doing something about this rather than having an unsolvable problem on her hands.

The mood takes a downturn for a few moments and I decide to do something that might cheer her up. I shake my hand out of hers, catch a flash of disappointment and her opening mouth, and I cut off any complaints she could have by pulling her into a hug. She freezes up for a moment before letting herself go, the stress of the day leaving her frame as she relaxes. She looks up to me and we look each other in the eye. The both of us are aware that we have some onlookers, but she's fine with that and I have to make some sacrifices if I want this to work out.

After a few seconds like that I have to force the issue and start dragging the heiress like an undignified limpet. Even then she keeps an arm around me traveling up and down my back. Eventually she grows bold enough to tickle at the back of my neck and then asks a question I've been quietly dreading for weeks now. "Can I touch your ears?"

I bite back a retort of 'how would you like it if I pulled on your ears?' It's the most undignified thing that I can think of and I hate that I'm seriously considering it. "Fine," I grind out against my better judgment and lower my head so she has better access. I wish I had brought my Wit's End with me so I could scare off any onlookers. Though with this being a Huntsmen Academy that might not do much and only encourage them. Given permission both verbally and not, my girlfriend reaches up and gingerly grasps one of my ears between her thumb and fore-finger, lightly rolling it around the two digits.

Fortunately my faunus ears are merely sensitive and not ticklish or lewd like some would believe. Plus I don't have to deal with something incredibly demeaning like her trying to scratch at them, she has that much propriety or respect for me at least. Although I must admit that the reverent expression on her face is not what I was expecting. It's as if this is some big show of trust to her and not the demeaning action I view it as.

Then again with her upbringing this is probably a huge show of trust to her. It's one thing to be in a relationship with a faunus and another to directly touch their faunus features, especially for a Schnee. Plus with how she's been so clingy and in my personal space much of the time I get the feeling that she was touch-starved for the longest time and associated it with intimacy. I've just been on the receiving end of years of desires, though I'm not really complaining about that.

It takes a few moments for her to grow bored with playing with my ears and they are slightly tender afterwards. I don't say anything to her about that as she has the dopiest of grins on her face and aside from the location I don't have any complaints of her handling of them. "Thank you. I know that I was asking for a lot there. I'm just glad that you understand me."

I get the impression that there's something more there and having had enough of playing the part of a pet I jump on the change in topic. "You say that like I'm the only one who does." I don't mind the implication, but surely her team or even her sister are in a similar boat.

She shakes her head sadly, as if acknowledging a depressing fact of the world. "I know what you're thinking and it's not like that. With everyone I have to have some sort of face, play up to some sort of expectation, always think about how my actions could be interpreted and look like from the outside. I'll admit that sometimes I fail at that, but with you it's like my heart and my head are operating at the same speed; that I don't have to worry about what you will think of me and I can finally live in the moment."

Yeah I certainly see that in our previous interaction. Never before would I have imagined Weiss Schnee doing anything like that in public, but I guess that when combined with the rush of good emotions that her thinking has been more than a little compromised by me. Of course that fact alone gives me a heady feeling that I can cause such a reaction in the first place and is only diminished by a twinge in my ears.

"A pleasure to be of service," I say in an overly dignified voice while sweeping low. Weiss snorts in a distinctly un-ladylike fashion, before covering her mouth, looking around, and dropping the hand to giggle openly, her light blue eyes focusing entirely on my display. Even then I feel that she's still trying to impress on me how important all of that is to her with her body-language alone, but that hardly answers my question. "So, why would you say that is?"

Instantly I can tell she's torn between indulging herself in the good feelings she's been reveling in and thinking about the circumstances that led her to this conclusion. With a shaky breath she steps into my space, more for comfort than an attempt at privacy. "You know what it's like. Maybe not the same as myself, but that need to play a part and not having someone to confide in, that we share."

I can see where she extrapolated that latter part from my talks about my time in the Fang, but the former is confusing to me. There are a few potential sources, but I don't know where she's drawing that from exactly. Nor do I think it's entirely accurate, at least not in the same way hers is, but maybe it's close enough that she doesn't feel the need to point that out.

Whatever the case is she doesn't feel the need to elaborate and I don't see the point in poking at it right now. Everything is holding on a positive note and I'd hate to sour that after the progress I've made with her. Plus if I want to enjoy my time with the little ice flower, that's my business and no one else's.

The two of us return to our walk, though our strides are a bit closer and 'accidental' contact like the brushing of shoulders or her bumping her head against my shoulder increases. Our time together comes to an end when Yang finds the two of us and practically drags the white-haired girl off to a team meeting.

Riding the positive feelings from my time with Weiss I decide to tackle a long overdue subject. Well, that's a bit of a misnomer, it's been on the back-burner for a while now for a reason. I don't expect to get much out of it personally, but I figure I'll do a favor for my favorite VPD detective and knock this out for him. Even if I can't use any of the information on it, nor can it be used in court given how I obtained it, hopefully it can point his own investigations in the right direction.

So, I start going over the list I stole from Junior. It's structured into a table with four categories as far as I can tell. A name, an address, a CCTS contact number, and one to five letters that are probably indicative of some sort of code. I'll have to put in the work looking into people's backgrounds and connections to reverse engineer what this could be referring to. Of course this is further hampered by the damage that the list took during my acquisition of it.

The damage is a bit sporadic on where it's located with some parts being untouched and random tables in the middle being burnt beyond recognition. Like the thug I took it from was dragging his lighter all over it and only certain spots catching light. Still I think I have enough to work with here and someone's information being on this list is enough to warrant some attention.

Investigation Check: Rank 3.6 vs Challenge: 2/4

Final DC: 10/60

Dice: 1d100

68 = 68

It takes some doing, but I'm able to reconstruct the list to the best of my ability, leaving the original as intact as I can. I have a few different versions depending on various spellings or numbers; worse comes to worst I can verify which it is as I go through my findings. Speaking of which, the code in the final column gives me some difficulty as none of the letters correspond to anything in particular. Like I was expecting something like a 'b' for we bribed this person or even a 't' for they're on the take. But no, what I encounter is a 'y' that I believe refers to a person being placated with material goods for the services they offer or to look the other way.

This causes a fair amount of issues for me as it throws an unintuitive obstacle in my path and when combined with the missing information I nearly don't put all of the pieces together. Fortunately it's nothing that some buckling down and study won't fix, especially when I message Detective Flint and he forwards some restricted files my way. Since this will be going to him right after this anyway I don't feel too bad to lean on him some more. In the end the letters are just a short-hand to explain away information and since this was accessible enough that a random grunt knew where to reach it, it has to be simple enough for them to understand.

In total there are eight letters, though the most I see on anyone's sheet is five. Understandable since some of them are mutually exclusive. Like how there's one to indicate someone is a cop and another to indicate they're a criminal working for Junior. I even find Detective Flint's name on there, with two letters. One for a cop, and another that I work out as being to avoid dealing with him. His contact information isn't on the sheet, understandable since you wouldn't want someone ringing him up accidentally and confessing to a crime.

Going over my findings I discover that an appreciable amount of the city is under Junior's ostensible sway. The contact list doesn't tell me how willing these people are to accommodate his demands. Thankfully that isn't the purpose of my investigation and I can leave that type of question up to Detective Flint. It does, however, inform me that Junior has, or had, a lot of sway over the city. Just by some of the names I'm sure he could get the council's attention on something and perhaps sway them with enough voices. That would require pulling on a lot of contacts and would be noticeable, but it is impressive that he has the capability at all.

Another thing that I notice is that a lot of these contacts are old, like years to decades old and that the list of newer ones is much lesser; mainly consisting of new members to his gang and the odd shop owner. Like all of this work was handed to him and he has been unable or unwilling to further it on his own. I'll admit I haven't looked much into Junior and his organization, but I can tell that it's not long for this world. It's only a matter of time before someone in the underworld notices this stagnation and starts poking for weaknesses.

The only thing I personally draw from this is who to avoid dealing with for the time being, or at least who I can look into for blackmail material. Unfortunately I don't think they'll be too useful for my investigation, but I am thankful to Coco for introducing Detective Flint and I. Nearly half of the VPD is on Junior's contact list with some sort of bribe of blackmail on them, which is concerning in its own right, but also lets me know which cops are on the up and up. I feel this alone would make Detective Flint's day, but when combined with everything else I uncovered I'm sure he'll have a field day. Though I think it will take years for any of this to materialize in actual change with how entrenched everyone is.

My evidence gathered and as certified as I can make it I decide something with this gravitas deserves to be handed in person, so I ring up Detective Flint and arrange a meeting with the man. We meet in his office at one of the stations, the gray haired man sitting at his desk with a lit pipe standing in a holder next to his computer. Files are piled up on the other side of his desk and the only other piece of personalization that I see is a framed photo of him, a woman around the same age as him and a twenty-something year old girl. Presumably his wife and daughter.

I hand him a thick stack of papers. The requisite searching to prove my findings was exhaustive, but necessary and only required if he wants to double check my work. Everything else that I found only accounts for a quarter of that. It doesn't take long to explain the code system to him and a helpful key I provide makes sure that he won't get anything mixed up.

He takes over half-an hour to look over everything, his expression darkening further and further the more he reads. By time he is done his pipe has gone out, something that he doesn't even notice as he tries to take a drag out of it only to cough and stick his tongue out in distaste. Only then does he deign to address me. "This is good work son, damn shame that you're wasted as a Huntsman, but I'll take what I can get."

"Just paying you back for all of the help you've given me."

The man roughly barks out a laugh, a coarseness to his tone. "Hah, you don't have to pay me back for anything. I helped you out because I saw that you were doing something. I'm not sure what, but Coco vouched for you and I'm extending you that trust. Even then you provided some useful intel, it was a pain to convince the brass to step up patrols in the agricultural district, but the busts we've made on runners in the area provided enough Dust for the department to get a bonus."

I'm not really sure why he feels the need to tell me all this, but I have another question on my mind. "About that, you've been strangely helpful. More helpful than an off-handed introduction warrants in my opinion."

"Geeze, are you always so paranoid," he says with a shake of his head. A smile on his lips tells me that he's pleased with my reaction despite his seeming disapproval of it. "Like I said you're doing something about this. Maybe you're just curious, but the amount of info you've requested points me to you working hard on this matter. Too many of your kind are willing to just let us handle things when even a little bit of their assistance can go a long way. Just don't forget who helped you along the way." I understand by 'your kind' he means Huntsmen, but the crass choice of words tells me that he's not too hung up about the racial undertones at play.

"Well," I say slowly, not wanting to get dragged into this matter. "I'll keep that in mind, but I really should get going."

Just as I stand up Flint raises his hand, "Wait." I stop mid-rise, "I still need to thank you for all this." He waves the stack of papers in front of my face like I didn't already know what he was referring to.

"I don't suppose you could get me access to the CCTS records," I joke, hoping that will be enough for me to avoid any effusive praise.

Instead my joke causes the man to turn thoughtful. "That's a big thing to ask. I assume you have a good reason?" That shocks me, but not enough to stop me from nodding. Flint picks up his pipe and makes a show of dumping it out and putting in a new set of leaves before leaving it back on its stand, obviously taking the time to formulate a response. "I'll start setting things up. If everything goes according to plan we can use those records to make our case airtight. I can bring you in on that, but I'm going to need your assistance."

"I'm not even sure I'll need the records," I add hastily, not wanting to tie myself down to any commitment right now.

"Then you won't have to help me out; those records are useful enough that I'll make the attempt on my own, especially after what you just showed me." He can see the hesitation still on my face. "Take the time to think about it and contact me if you change your mind."

With that he shoos me out of his office and I suddenly realize that I didn't get to hear what he needed my help with. Though I get the feeling he's playing his cards close to the vest and would only tell me if I decided to help him out. I shake my head as I make my way back to Beacon, while getting access to the CCTS would help further my investigation into Watts' 'charity,' its reach, and its connection to the Woman in red, I don't necessarily need it.

What was supposed to be a nice thank you to the man that's helped my investigation the most has spiraled into another opportunity for me, but I put that out of my mind for now. I have some weeks before his request would be approved and I have a more important issue at hand. While it was easy enough to take Autumn's mind off of his parents' being in peril, Kelly was not able to join us for that. Plus I don't think she'd appreciate the time at the arcade as much as Autumn did. After seeing the state of their parent's apartment I feel going anywhere we could spend money would be in bad taste.

So I resolve to indulge her in one of her hobbies here at Beacon. Since leaving her friend group at Pharos she hasn't had the same opportunity to wargame as she used to and while I'd prefer to start off with a more easily digestible game such as a board game I'm willing to suffer through this for the sake of my teammate. Fortunately she is excited about the prospect and already prepared a few quick-start guides for me to review. Naturally they are utterly inadequate at preparing me for the onslaught I face.

It seems like every other move that I make is either a blunder or runs afoul of some rule that didn't make its way into the quick-start guides she provided me. Given that I think she wrote them herself I assume she just thought some of the rules were so obvious that they didn't need explaining. They are consistent, so I'm able to learn over time, but that does nothing to replace the forces I lose up to this point. Little by little I watch as miniature tanks and AK-130's are removed from my side of the board while extracting a pittance of pieces from my opponent. By the end of it my entire force is crushed and I've barely scratched a third of her forces.

While the loss stings, my lack of understanding the rules does dampen the impact a little. Plus, while I didn't think my showing would garner any enthusiasm, I spot Kelly with a satisfied grin humming to herself as she picks up the pieces and puts them back in their proper places. Surprisingly she's done in a matter of minutes and even though we only got through one of our planned two or three matches she doesn't seem too upset. I have to wonder if she just hasn't had the time to do this before now or if she's fully drifted away from her Pharos friends and only took this opportunity because I offered it.

"Thank you," is all that Kelly says when she's done putting away everything. Not that it's hard to understand what she's thanking me for. I wasn't subtle with her brother and I'm not subtle here.

"How're you holding up?"

"Honestly, I could be better. I almost want to tell my ma and pa about all this, but I don't want to worry them. That and we'll be taking care of this 'fore it gets too far along right?" Despite being slightly taller than me, at this moment it's like she's looking up to me. Which, honestly, is probably a first for our time together as a team. Normally she's fine with following my orders and doing her own thing, but she always makes sure to let me know not only if she has a plan of her own, but what that plan is. Not that we really came to any disagreements about what I did, but seeing her this vulnerable is a new side of her to me.

Still that's no reason not to reassure her, "As long as I have something to say about it. Worse comes to worst I'll rope the headmaster into cleaning up this mess." While she would probably prefer that I hand everything over right now, she at least trusts me enough to do so before it's too late if not fully trusting that I can manage the situation on my own.

Trust: Her earlier display there reminds me that she's extended a lot of trust to me especially considering my past. (6)

Faith: She seems to buy into the more spiritual side of the world. Maybe I could ask her why that is and what she believes in. (4)

Friends: It's been a while since she's talked with her friends from Pharos. I could check in and see why that is and how she's settling in with our new friend group. (3)

Altruism: From what I learned, she tried to extend a hand to Velvet during their time in Pharos and jumped on the opportunity when we got to Beacon. I have the feeling she's doing the same with Marina. I could see if this is just her nature or there's something deeper at play here. (0)

QM Note: I decided to go with the top 3 options as I had been struggling with properly explaining Kelly's character thus far in the story (from my perspective) and wanted the extra topics to hopefully flesh her out properly.

It's a rare moment of weakness where Kelly isn't confident and self-assured. I could take advantage of her state to satisfy a particular curiosity of mine, but decide against it. There's no reason to antagonize my teammate and she'll be just as able to answer my inquiries after she's a bit more put together. Speaking of which, there is no reason why I can't help with that matter. It'll help put my teammate at ease as well as expedite the process of me getting my answers a real win for everyone around.

"Well I'm glad that you enjoyed yourself. I'm guessing that you haven't had the time to play this with your friends?"

My question causes her face to sour like she bit into a lemon. "It's not quite like that. A few of my friends made it into Beacon, but the only one who was into the wargaming like I was only really did it to hang out with his friends in the group. Now that he has a new team and well we sort of drifted apart."

I blink slowly at that. I wasn't even aware it was possible to fail initiation. I mean Jaune of all people made it in that I assumed the standards were rock bottom. Then again, maybe Ozpin knew what he was doing there with how hard Jaune has pushed himself to improve.

"That sucks," I offer lamely. "It's hard to imagine that most of the people you knew wouldn't be cut for the Huntsman life considering some of the people that have made it into the school."

"Now I never said that. Some of them gave up sure, but you don't spend years going to combat school just to give up at the first hurdle. I know most of them went to Vacuo or Mistral to join up with the Academies there and some took a competency test to start working some low-rank missions. I try to keep in contact with them, it's just the distance involved that sort of makes it impossible to do anything like this." She waves a hand to the now empty table.

That could potentially be useful for later, but I can tell it's not the sort of subject I want to poke at right now. "Well I hope our group of friends hasn't been too much of a shock even if they aren't into the same things your old friends were."

"Please I've had to deal with some of Autumn's friends and they could be a lot less respectful and friendly than the group we've got now. Especially since some of them took issue with me."

"Oh," I question, prompting her to continue.

She shuffles in her seat uncomfortably, like she didn't quite mean to bring this topic up. "It's just that I believe in some things that caused issues between us and I used to be a lot more vocal about it." Well if her issue was a rejection or a refutation of her beliefs then the opposite experience should help.

"You can't just drop that on me and not elaborate," I egg her on and even plaster a pleading look on my face.

She's still reluctant, but I'm guessing some part of her wants to confide with someone that isn't family. "Well the big one is that I think the grimm were sent as a test by some higher power. As you can imagine with some people having a bad experience with grimm that didn't go so well."

That's a pretty common belief among a variety of religions, trying to explain away the bad as all a part of their god's plan. It really doesn't matter to me what she believes in, but I'm not buying it myself. It's all too convenient for my liking. However, I'm not here to interject my opinions onto her. "By the grimm being a test, do you mean that on a personal or societal level?"

Kelly relaxes a little at me showing interest instead of scorn. "A bit of both I think. Like it's a way to make humanity work together as well as a push to certain individuals to rise above their station you know." That part about rising above their station has some interesting implications, I'll have to question her on that later.

For now I'll keep on this line of inquiry. This is perhaps the first time that she's really started opening up to me. Sure we've been on the same team for a few months now and I know generally what makes her tick, but unlike with Autumn or Marina she has been more guarded during our talks. Something that I attribute to her more stoic nature.

"So how do the faunus fit into this?" I throw her a bit of a softball here since I doubt she holds any hardline opinions.

"I'm not sure," she admits hesitantly, "but I don't see the need to treat any of ya any differently. We're all in the same boat as far as the grimm goes." Perhaps she just isn't versed enough in the theology to have an explanation, but it feels like this could be a point for a crisis of faith later down the line. Not for her specifically, but for anyone with similar beliefs; speaking of which.

"So is this something that just you believe in or is it more structured than that?" I have the feeling she gets it from her grandpa and thus there's more to it than mere personal beliefs.

She adopts a sheepish expression like this is a point that she's not as sure on. "Sort of. Gramps and his folks believed in the Brother Gods, but I… well I have my disagreements on some things said about them. Not like you with your facts and all that, but an intense feeling of sorts. For example I don't think the whole thing about them becoming the land we walk on doesn't make much sense. Plus I'm not sure if gods can really be knowable. I mean they must be as different from us as we are from ants."

"And yet you believe in them," I question, unable to keep the skepticism out of my voice.

"Well not them specifically," Kelly responds defensively. "But the idea that there's some sort of higher power out there, well call me sappy, but it's comforting in a way." I'm not sure I entirely understand where she's coming from which seems to be a consistent trend between the two of us. However, I can be sure that she isn't going to start proselytizing to anyone. It took weeks for her to even hint at believing in some sort of mysticism and she hasn't brought this up before, so I'm fine with leaving it as a personal issue for her to work through.

She remains on guard for a few moments until it becomes clear that I'm not going to pick apart her beliefs. With her more reassured I move on to what I wanted to talk about to begin with. "I don't suppose your faith is responsible for how willing you've been to throw your lot in me has it?" She looks at me quizzically and is about to respond when I elaborate, "You're trusting me with your parents' lives and before that followed my orders despite knowing my connection to the Fang."

"Well you were made the leader of the team." Her explanation feels especially weak to me and I think she knows it as well.

"I think we've gone well beyond the courtesy you'd extend to me for being team leader."

She chews that over for a few seconds, bouncing the thought around while tapping her nails against the table. "You've been good to us so far and haven't given us much reason to distrust you. Maybe if you kept your relationship with the White Fang a secret this would be a different matter, but you've been nothing but honest with us."

Her words make sense, but I can't shake the feeling that there's something deeper at play here. "That doesn't explain why you all were so willing to go along with things at the start."

Her nervous tapping stops immediately. "A good soldier follows orders," she says distantly as if quoting someone. "My gramps made sure to impress on me that arguing about orders can be one of the worst things you can do in the field. A decent plan executed immediately is often better than a good plan executed too late."

I don't agree with that sentiment given how much of my work relies on careful planning and preparation and I have just the way to convey my disagreement. "That sounds pretty Atlesian to me," I say with an aura of smug superiority.

Her mood instantly swings over to righteous indignation with her slamming her palms down on the table and standing up. "You of all people should know the insult you're levying with that comparison." Despite her consternation with me I smile. It's nice having someone else who understands my gripes with Atlas even if she comes at it from a different angle.

"So are you denying that if you had a problem with me you wouldn't have done anything?"

That brings her up short as she wants to be angry with me, but she can't refute what I'm saying. "NO! I mean, I'm sure I could have managed. It's just, I mean it's worked out well so far." That sounds like a post-hoc justification to me. I let her have this one since there's no reason to cause her any more distress on the matter than I've already done.

"Does this not extend to other authorities," I question thoughtfully. "I mean if you were only following my orders because I was the leader then wouldn't it follow that you'd trust the people who put me in that position more than myself." Kelly doesn't strike me as the type to care about what some bureaucrat or even Headmaster Ozpin would think. However, her way of thinking implies that she respects the concept of authority a lot.

"That's different," she responds with uncharacteristic petulance. She soon notices her error if the heat running to her tanned cheeks and a quick whip of her head away from me is any indication. "I mean, they don't have the same information that you do and well you're actually doing something about it. If we can take care of it on our own there isn't a need to bring this to them is there?" I get the impression that there's more to her reluctance here than what she's saying.

My mind is drawn back to her comment about how fighting the grimm is a way to rise above one's station. Perhaps she views this like another trial and if we perform well enough we would be rewarded for our hard work. Not entirely wrong since this chaos has allowed me the opportunity to build a power bloc in the Vale branch and potentially increase my influence. Plus depending on how many people learn about what we've done it could unlock a great many opportunities for all of us in the future. Or maybe I'm off-base and she just wants the glory and satisfaction of having taken care of the issue without needing outside help.

Whatever the case may be it will have to wait for a later time. I've learned enough about the matter that I think I have a decent idea what her motivations are here. At first she was following me because I was the leader and open and honest with the team. As things progressed she started to see the opportunity that solving this problem as first years could potentially bring and while that may have been shaken slightly by learning her parents are in danger it is still there. Which leads us to now, where I guess I've handled things well enough to her liking that when combined with that ambition of hers she's decided to trust that I can handle things.

I smile as my thoughts come together; it's so much easier to trust someone when I know what their angle is. With how Marina is following along because she attached herself to me and her own views on authority the only one I'm in the dark about is Autumn, who was upset I would question his good nature. Maybe that's all there is to it, but it's not like I could ask his sister about that either. It will just have to remain a mystery for a little longer. With our conversation concluded, I help Kelly carry the minis back to our dorm and send out a message to the rest of our team that we're ready for our next activity together.

With my team informed, the four of us head out to one of the training fields in our combat uniforms with our weapons. There we meet Velvet who has her sketchbook set on the ground as she stalks around the field framing different spots with her fingers, trying to find just the right spot. After a few minutes she finds one and calls us over, at first we line up in team order, but she soon gets fussy saying that the 'framing' just doesn't work. Instead she lines us up, left to right, in the order of Marina, myself, Kelly, and Autumn. Only then does Velvet take out her scroll to take some reference pictures.

Marina is leaning against her anchor, though she either doesn't get the idea of a team photo or she doesn't care as instead of looking at Velvet she's focused on the rest of us; wide-eyed and a soft smile on her face. I'm holding out my Wit's End angled to the side of the camera to show off the weapon in full and display my fencing cape with my gauntlet on my hand. Kelly has her weapon stuck in the ground and with a flex of her semblance has the ground sticking up as if it were rumbling towards Vel. Finally Autumn has both of his arms behind his head, his oversized knife poking out from behind his head. Curiously enough he also tries changing his pose between shots, I think bouncing between wanting to look carefree and cool. Something that I can tell is bothering our photographer.

With her reference photos taken the rabbit faunus circles around us with her sketchbook making a quick reference for how our bodies are positioned. Fortunately the reference pictures are so she can add the details later so we aren't staying outside for hours on end or have to make time in all of our schedules to meet up like this. I'm not sure why she is doing this exactly, but if I had to guess it's practice for something she wants to do for her team. We're just the test batch, though we're getting a nice sketch of our team and a picture out of it so I know better than to complain.

I'm fine with leaving things there, but Kelly decides to question the girl as she circles around us for the fourth time. "So, not that I'm complaining, but why did you offer to do this for us?" Vel glares at me and I glare back. This is entirely on Kelly, not everything that my team does is my fault. By the narrowing of her eyes I don't think Velvet believes that and I know trying to convince her otherwise would be a futile effort.

With more hesitance than she has with me she starts, "Well, Coco sort of insisted that I should maybe do something to pay you all back. Uh, for looking out for me in Oobleck's class. Apparently the work I'm already doing doesn't count because 'that's her favor.'" She bites out the last bit like she's upset with her team leader, but I know that it's just a minor annoyance on her part. Also going from what I know of the girl I'm pretty sure that her leader only brought to her attention that my team has been looking out for her and her mindset did the rest of the heavy lifting.

Kelly looks like she wants to ask about what Vel is already working on, but a tilt of my head lets her know that I'll inform her later. I don't think I could swing Vel working on all of our weapons, but I can think of how I'll make it up to the team later. That is if they even have a problem with my decision; I'm the one who tutors her after all. We have to stand like that for over thirty minutes before Velvet is satisfied that she has enough material to work with and my team departs to the dorm while I wait behind to talk with her. She has already pulled up her scroll and taken a seat on the grass to start working on her sketch.

"Thanks for doing this, we appreciate it," I say without mentioning Coco's role in all this. That earns me a grunt from the girl as she screws her face in concentration, flipping the pencil in her hand to quickly erase something.

Vel remains taciturn as she continues working on her sketch and not responding to any of my prompts any further than the occasional noise. When it becomes clear that that isn't enough to deter me she sets aside her sketchbook and turns towards me, before going back to the sketchbook and closing it so I can't see the progress she's made. The attempt at privacy is clear, but if I really wanted to know I'd just use my semblance.

Unfortunately I can't help myself as I press on her earlier shy behavior. "How come you're not like that with me anymore? You have a charm about you when you stutter and meander when you talk."

"Maybe that's because that's not what I'm really like. Did you think about that?" I grin at drawing a response from Vel and she frowns at my celebration. It's interesting that she doesn't view her shyness as a part of her, even if that is more than a bit of coping on her part. Then again it might just be a different viewpoint on the matter.

She obviously has confidence and pride in her skills, so I don't see why she'd be reluctant when interacting with others. Her time in Pharos probably did a number on her social skills, but that doesn't explain why she hasn't recovered thus far. Maybe it's something I can poke at. My opener, while drawing her wrath, still puts my foot in the door to have a dialogue with her.

Weapons: It hasn't been too long since I talked with her about it, but I could check in and maybe find out what she has in mind for me. Also go over what she expects out of me before she'll hand them over. (5)

Sketch: I remember having to prod her to take up a hobby and to see it come full circle is encouraging. I could talk with her about it and see if she's actually enjoying herself. (3)

White Fang: I'm sure she has her own opinion about the organization given her unique experiences. It might be useful knowing about considering some of my plans for the Fang. (2)

Father: She didn't say it directly, but her dad is some sort of designer in Atlas. Learning more about him could be useful. It's a long-shot, but I could also angle for an introduction. (1)

Shyness: She's perfectly fine being clipped and crass with me, but not others. Not necessarily my problem, but I could talk with her about this. (1)

"Geeze," I say, shaking my head dramatically. "I help a girl find a hobby and this is the kind of treatment I get?"

I can practically see the moment that my words impact her as she goes over them and mentally re-evaluates whatever metric she uses to determine our relationship. Then with a bit of heat taken out of her voice she responds, "Sorry. It has been helpful in getting my mind off of things." Like a switch is flipped she turns back to grumpy, "Happy now?

"I'm just happy that you've found something you enjoy." She is about to say something to jump away from this topic, but I cut her off. "I know, I know, but there's no need to thank me." I acknowledge and dismiss the evident debt, Something that relieves and agitates her in equal measure.

I press on her even further by slowly reaching towards her sketchbook, causing the girl to quickly snatch it away and hold it protectively against her chest. Maybe it's because of her attitude, or because she really isn't my responsibility, that I'm able to mess with her so freely. It's a change of pace of dealing with my responsibility as team leader and juggling the various relationships that I'm entangled with.

I don't particularly care for the reason as I wag my finger in front of her face as a minor admonishment. I am, however, unprepared for when she chomps at my finger like some sort of rabid animal. It takes me a moment to process that, though I do reflexively retreat my hand. Vel has a smug grin like she just won some sort of argument between us which I guess she did in a way. Still I can't let her win that easily.

"I didn't think we were close enough for you to be so bold. I feel the need to remind you that I do have a girlfriend, Miss Scarlatina." Her face turns to match her namesake.

"I- you know that's not what that means." My shit-eating grin does nothing to diminish the outrage she feels towards me. No longer feeling the desire to keep standing I lay my back against the grass next to where Vel is sitting. She is a bit confused as to why I do so, but holds tightly onto her sketchbook regardless though she has forgotten to guard one item from my grasp.

I snatch her scroll from next to her feet and cheekily hold it out for her to grab. She snatches it out of my hand with a harumph, but I get the feeling she's enjoying this byplay more than she lets on. She could tell me to stop at any time and I know she's short enough with me to let me know if I do something that upsets her. Not always with words, but I can read her well enough after all the time we've spent together.

We wait there in silence for a few moments, nothing has to be said and I'm taking the opportunity to just relax. I'll have to deal with the grass stains on my outfit later, but it's a small price to pay as Velvet allows herself to loosen up. I don't even have to say anything for her to open up her sketchbook to a random page. It appears to be a landscape of a forest taken from about fifteen or so feet above the ground depicting the first few rows of trees in detail before being overtaken by a sea of leaves and branches.

"Interesting. Is that the forest over there." I lazily wave my hand towards the cliffside where initiation took place.

"Forever Fall actually," she responds and thinks over her next words for a second. "I've found that most people stop bothering me if I'm in the middle of drawing something. Doesn't matter if I'm actually working on it as long as I pretend that I am."

"And I'm sure that's the only reason you appreciate picking up the hobby." I flash her a grin and she grumbles next to me. If all she wanted was privacy there are better ways of going about it, but I don't think I'll be getting her to admit anything outright without far more effort than I'm willing to give. Of course since I've gotten my shot in, however minor that it was, Vel feels the need to respond in kind. She flips her sketchbook to a different page that's filled with diagrams and numbers that I'm not sure how to parse. I know I'm going to regret it, but I can't help asking, "What am I looking at?"

"Your new weapons," she answers in a sing-song voice, taking obvious pleasure in befuddling me with diagrams that I don't understand. I can see the general shape of my rapier and my gauntlet, but then there are the expanded portions where all of the internals are painstakingly mapped out and drawn. Needless to say I'm lost when looking over those parts. I don't want to admit defeat, however, my desire to learn what she has in store for me wins out. I exhale heavily and with the politest voice I can manage in these circumstances beg, "I don't know what I'm looking at. Could you grace me with your wisdom?" Vel preens with obvious satisfaction that I folded, but does hold up her end of our unofficial bargain.

The first change is that she's modifying my gauntlet-buckler to include some offensive options. Not exactly what I had in mind when I asked her to work on my weapons. I don't say anything since she's the one doing me a favor here and worst comes to worst I can just keep using my old equipment. She does, however, want me to start wearing another gauntlet to get used to it, though she isn't loading that second one up with all of these upgrades. Either she has some plans in mind for future upgrades or the lack of symmetry in my loadout has offended her.

Vel goes on to describe the Dust work she's done, which alone is enough for them to qualify as sidearms to my sensibilities. She's put in channels in the fingers for Dust to be packed in. By holding out my hand like a finger gun and pressing on my palm I can activate a short ranged 'shot' of sorts. She recommends lightning Dust as it would have the least issues, but admits that other types could be used as well. Theoretically I think I could swap in some Gravity or magnetic Dust to help me tag someone with my semblance. Vel doesn't need to know about that, however, so I don't tell her.

Unfortunately the sleek design of my gauntlet doesn't make it out unscathed as she adds in some extra bits for a deployable bladed mode. Sure I make the occasional shield bash with my gauntlet, but that's more to unsettle my opponent than an attempt to damage them. Then again just having the threat available would be enough to herd opponents into positions that I want them in. Plus she added a mechanism to the buckler so I could throw and retrieve it in case I need another ranged option.

I don't know if she got that idea from Ruby since it's so similar to what the young girl proposed the last time I talked to her. I didn't like it then because of the costs involved, but Vel assures me that she has plans to minimize the amount of Dust used especially with my level of experience with the substance. I get the distinct feeling that she finds my level of knowledge inadequate, but is enjoying the prospect of designing something for a layman.

Curiously my rapier is more or less unchanged except for higher quality Dust channels and an additional one at the tip. She recommends that I put in Gravity Dust there for some extra oomph towards my attacks as well as providing a burst of momentum that might catch opponents off-guard. I could also use some other Dust for their basic effects when striking someone, so at least it isn't confined to the more exotic stuff.

After going over my upgrades that she has in mind for right now she flips to a completely different section in her sketchbook. I still don't understand what she's getting at with all of her designs and notations, but she helpfully explains that she's been working with hard-light Dust and wants to try integrating that with my equipment later. I get the feeling that her interest extends beyond just wanting to make the best weapons she can for me. She did mention that she had to make her own weapon before she could finish up mine, so it may be as simple as her looking into hard-light Dust for her own uses and that spilling over here. Well if it benefits me I'm certainly not going to make any fuss about it.

As soon as the explanation ends her expression turns hard with a touch of disappointment. "You need to brush up on your weaponsmithing. Take the elective next semester or study in your own time, but I'm not handing this over until I'm confident you can maintain it on your own." She doesn't mince words, though she has told me about it before. I'm not entirely sure what her standards here are, but if she thinks that it can be fixed by taking one elective it can't be too stringent.

As if to encourage me on this matter she sends me a copy of the schematics and mock-ups that she's done so far with a challenging smirk. I know trying to beat her at her own game is a fool's errand, but she does well enough in making me want to try anyway. Fortunately the better part of my brain kicks in as I notice the sun is setting. I make my excuse to leave and Vel gathers up her belongings no longer able to work in the night. Well that might not be true, we're both faunus and I can still make out things just fine in the dark. Although being caught out in the middle of the night probably isn't the best look for either of us so we make our way back to our respective dorms.

My agents continue to make progress establishing a profile on Watts' charity and the people it employs. It isn't anything too impressive, but considering the distances and obscurity involved I'm satisfied with their progress. Every little bit will help in the future even if the task seems daunting right now. My moles have also been busy at work with a few of them accepting a placement to stash and take care of some of the underground waystations that Adam is setting up in Vale.

From one of them I receive a report where they mention overhearing one of the higher ups say something about cages. I don't know what purpose the White Fang could find for such a thing and I don't receive anything more descriptive than that. It could have just been an off-hand remark or a crude joke from one of the higher ups. Either way I don't have the best feeling about this. I put away that feeling of ill-omen as I decide to trust my agents. If there's anything deeper to this they will be one of the first to know and can pass me that information regardless.

I am able to map out White Fang positions based on what my moles have been told about their operations in the underground. They roughly correlate to the areas on that map I found and I'm provided with a list of where the White Fang has access to the underground. Most of these turn out to be the basements of old buildings.

After the founding of Mountain Glenn Vale outlawed any further development below ground in an attempt to reserve the space for infrastructure. They largely abandoned those plans after the collapse of Mountain Glenn which has led to the underground existing in the state that it does. It's still illegal for new buildings to extend too far down out of fear that not all of the tunnels are as well sealed up as Vale would like them. Or it could just be that it's more effort to repeal the law when there isn't a need to and the political will just isn't there.

Either way there's a trend in the newer more refurbished buildings trending towards human inhabitants and the older more run down ones trending towards faunus. Nothing that I can tell is due to the city favoring one or the other, but a simple prospect of faunus on average being less prosperous than their human counterparts.

Not that I'm here to discuss this particular inequality, just note that it has provided the White Fang easy access to buildings that are sometimes a few feet away from breaching into the Valean underground. If it were more mapped out, not to mention maintained, this could be a huge boon for the Fang. As it is, the underground can be used for discrete traversal some of the time, but an easier use of it is to hide items away from the authorities' prying eyes.

Over the weekend an article pops up in my feed based on a keyword that I set up beforehand. That keyword being my name. I had set this up during my time in Atlas to possibly give me a heads-up in case the authorities ever caught on to who I was. Perhaps a bit arrogant at the time that Atlas would single me out by name, but that was my thought process at the time. Now it serves a much more sinister and embarrassing purpose.

Pulling up the article I discover a picture taken from the side of when I let Weiss touch my ears in public. I knew it was a bad idea at the time, but I couldn't say no. Now I'll have to deal with a big hit to my credibility with the White Fang and the eternal embarrassment of being caught out like that. Not that I didn't expect any of this when I entered into a relationship with Weiss, but I'm still allowed to be upset about it.

What surprises me is that the article is a part of a business journal and not a gossip rag like I was expecting. Reading through it gives me a probable answer as to why that is the case as I find out the article includes an interview with Jacques Schnee about this as well as his company's policies. If I were a betting man I'd say Jacques reached out to his contacts in the media to sweep up whatever picture came out of Weiss and I so he could control the narrative. I shudder to think at the cost of such a venture, but I can conclude that the Schnee patriarch cares about his reputation a great deal.

There is a part in the article about how our relationship relates to the SDC's policies concerning its faunus workforce. The wording of it is a bit soft, and from the rest of the questions I'm sure this is a puff piece paid for by Jacques, but I have to admire the sheer audacity of the man to say all of this with a straight face. A choice quote is as follows:

"My daughter's behavior exemplifies the ideals that the SDC stands for and puts lie to the so-called claims of bias in our hiring and treatment of certain parts of our workforce. I'm happy to state that there is no such thing and all mentions of such are due to unfortunate conditions that the SDC strives to address every day. Not the machinations of a heartless company as some declare us to be."

He continues on about how the SDC is responsible for ensuring the quality and price of Dust remains the greatest it has ever been and even makes mention of the land-grabs that have been made possible by his supply of cheap Dust.

Fortunately I'm safe from most of the blowback due to my insulated position with how I'm handling my splinter group in Vale. It may prove a hindrance in the future with how I want to run things with the Fang, but would also provide a strong example if I were to push for a more moderate faction. However, I'm not the one that this affects the most.

A few hours after the article goes public Weiss gets a call on her scroll that she reluctantly answers. I can assume who is on the other line by the sheer distaste on her face and the terseness of her replies. I think she only did so to keep him from looking into her affairs in Vale too closely. By the end of it she nearly throws her scroll aside in frustration as she deals with whatever emotions the man stirred up in her. Fortunately I'm nearby to help her calm down, but that isn't the end of things.

The following day there is less Dust reported as missing from the distribution centers she has had problems with. It's only one day and not exemplary of a greater trend, but even that little leaves Weiss in an odd state. Happy that a problem is solved, but upset on how that came to be as well as viewing her efforts to address it as a moot point.

Aura(Practical) raised from (95/625) to (123/625) Source: Semblance usage & Constant Regeneration completion

Combat Raised from (263/625) to (279/625) Source: Class & Oobleck

Culture raised form (17/150) to (22/150) Source: Oobleck

Dust raised from (17/150) to (23/150) Source: Class

Grimm raised from (76/150) to (82/150) Source: Class

History raised from (133/300) to (152/300) Source: Class & Oobleck

Investigation raised from (180/300) to (189/300) Source: Class, Challenge, Oobleck

Mobility raised from (132/300) to (143/300) Source: Class & Oobleck

Semblance(Knowledge) raised from (81/150) to (148/150) Source: Training

Survival raised from (67/150) to (73/150) Source: Class

Constant regeneration Completed

With constant regeneration completed it adds an effective +1 to the number of semblance actions.

Discretionary budget reduced to (3850/5000L) Source: Agent Payments

LloydAbsolon · Feb 26, 2024

+Practical (6)

Yes (+ for which) (4)

+Social (0)

No (0)

Woman in Red: Flint's Gambit: Flint can potentially get me access to the CCT records, but he's asking for some assistance in return. I'm sure he'll keep me from anything too shady and the more work I put in the more he'll stick his neck out on my behalf. (Variable Investigation Check) (7)

White Fang: Outskirt bolt holes: I have some men on the inside who can get me the location of some of these areas, but not all of them. Plus if I examine the area in person I might be able to piece together something that they miss. (investigation check) (3)

Recruit: I might need some more specialist help or just to gather up some more grunts depending on what might plans are (unlocks more actions) (6)

Exploit: There are a number of White Fang friendly shops that are supplying the Vale branch, though they must be chafing under the stringent demands. I could offer them an alternative in exchange for some monetary support. (5)

Digital stalking: It might not help much, but building a profile early on all of the employees and contacts of my woman in red's charity could prove helpful in the future. (4)

Weiss: She's a bit shaken up after her conversation with her dad. I could spend some time with her and make sure she's alright. (8)

Marina: She's a mix of innocent and utterly vicious, but I've been making good progress with her. I could continue on with that trend.(5)

Nora: Nora is as excitable as ever, but she's rather easy to talk to. Or at least get her to start talking. (5)

AN: I did not have a social pick for this week so turned my slot over for chat to vote on.

Semblance(Knowledge) (7)

Mobilityx4 (6)

Out of all the things I was expecting to follow up the reveal of Weiss and I's relationship, by Jacques Schnee of all people, I was not expecting to see Blake sitting in class without her bow. Completely nonchalant like it's just another day for her and not a sudden reveal for most of the people involved. Then again given the reactions of her teammates, maybe not such a reveal for all of them.

Ruby doesn't seem to change much, but I catch her glancing at her teammate constantly throughout class. Yang tries not to let anything change, but she both hovers protectively around her partner and remains at a distance from her. Like she's closer physically to Blake, but emotionally distant. I notice that she often avoids looking at her partner. I guess it's a bit of a sore point for her that Blake kept things a secret for so long, but is trying to be supportive. Weiss has the biggest change, but I honestly can't say that it doesn't fit her.

Instead of passively protecting Blake and shielding her from the glares of everyone else or offering quiet support my girlfriend death stares at anyone who so much as looks in Blake's direction for the duration of class. It must be tiring to do that for the entire day especially after the emotional turmoil she just went through, but she doesn't let any of that show. She even tries glaring in my direction, but a disarming smile combined with a pervasive tiredness melts her frosty exterior before she gets back to her self-appointed duty.

Thanks to my upper ears I overhear some other students saying derisive things, though I focus in on those aimed at Weiss. 'Faunus lover' seems to be the popular moniker for her with her actions and the article that was published. Judging by the scowl on her face Blake hears them as well. Wait, did wearing that bow all the time block out some of her hearing? Man, I need to come up with something like that. There are times where I'd much rather not be hearing anything at all and not many companies make earplugs or headphones for my upper ears.

Where was I? Right, adding people to my shit list for talking bad about my girlfriend. I won't do anything to them directly, but that doesn't mean that I can't be incredibly petty and make my displeasure known. Or maybe I could leave Blake to do that? Maybe she'd appreciate the opportunity to stand up for her team.

Students aside, most of the teachers take the reveal in stride with only Goodwitch having something to say about the matter. That being to go see Ozpin after class. Given that she returns for afternoon classes I'm going to hazard a guess that she wasn't punished too harshly. Or maybe at all, Ozpin does have a reputation of being startlingly lenient with his students.

Of course not everyone has the tact to remain silent about the matter as evidenced by Jaune speaking up at the end of History. "Are we really not going to talk about the elephant in the room?"

"I'm pretty sure she's a cat, vomit boy." That's a bit harsh coming from Yang, but I guess she's taking anything potentially negative about Blake as an attack right now. Vel takes this opportunity to run away, likely not wanting to involve herself in any first year drama.

"What's the big deal," Marina asks suddenly, confused by the mess of emotions that everyone has been dealing with all day. "Ochre is a faunus and you don't have a problem with him." Her innocent remark forms the perfect shield to deflect any criticism from Blake. Though it's not entirely accurate in Jaune's case, I'm pretty sure he has a few issues with me.

"But why did she hide it all this time," he responds with the only reasonable statement left to him. Marina's face screws up in concentration. I believe she's relating to how Blake hid her status to how she did so with her past. She looks at me and Kelly for guidance as to if that's actually something bad and the two of us assure her by shaking our heads. It's more complicated than that, but it gets the point across for now.

While we were busy with that Nora jumps in to help her leader, "Yeah that is a bit odd, but the important thing is that she trusts us enough now to let us know. Eh, right Renny." Ren is about to speak up but gets cut off by Pyrrha.

"I don't see a reason to make a big deal about all of this, but I would like an explanation as well."

"Hey you don't get to demand anything!"

"That is completely unnecessary!"

Yang and Weiss yell out at the same time. Yang keeps her focus on the invincible girl while Weiss looks to me for assistance. Before I can provide it, however, Blake jumps in to defend herself. "I'm sorry for keeping this all from you. I promise that I'll explain everything soon enough, but it was hard enough to get this far. All I ask is for a week or two to get used to all of this and then you'll have your answers." As she says this she gives me a shallow nod, letting me know I could tell my team if I wanted to.

Nora catches onto this and with narrowed eyes does an I'm watching you gesture to the both of us. This draws odd looks from everyone, but being long-used to Nora's weirdness they all shrug and let the matter lie there. When it becomes clear that no one wants to continue this particular conversation JNPR departs and Blake sags in relief.

Yang wraps Blake's arm around her neck while propping the cat faunus up with her arm as if to support Blake on their way back to their dorms. I find it completely unnecessary as I'm sure Blake just needed a moment to collect herself, but whatever makes them feel better I guess. Naturally the rest of RWBY follows suit and leaves me and my team to go about our business. With how our friends abandoned us and the twins needing to take care of their own affairs that leaves me with a stupefied Marina who's trying to process everything she just witnessed.

Tilting her head to the side and with wide eyes she asks, "What just happened?"

"Just some friends having an argument," I supply in the simplest terms possible

"Why didn't you stop them?"

"I-uh," I stumble over my words not having expected that. "That's not something I can just do."

"Why not? It's what Captain Smoke used to do and you're the strongest so they have to listen to you." Her innocence would be endearing if it didn't involve the threat of force being used on friends. Then again that wouldn't be much different from my time in the Fang so it wouldn't be that unfamiliar to me.

"I've tried that before and it doesn't really work out," I supply instead. Plus Marina is overestimating me here. I'd be hard pressed to eke out a win with Pyrrha much less fighting any of these groups two on one.

"Maybe you haven't tried hard enough." Okay I should move this along before I get too bogged down debating the wall that is her sensibilities.

"What about that was confusing to you?"

"Everything," she states like it should be obvious. I fix her with a look and it takes her several seconds to get that I want her to expand on that. "Everyone was a big ball of light and dark feeding on each other and I just don't understand why that is. Why does Blake having cat ears have to be such a big deal?" Okay no take me back to the brick wall this is infinitely worse.

I'm stunned silent for a few moments, my brain rebelling against the reality that I face until I have to come to terms that yes this is happening and yes I apparently have to deal with it. The sheer absurdity of the matter is enough for me to want to try my luck at one of the bars in Vale. I think better of it as I'd never hear the end of it from Weiss; she doesn't talk about her mom much but I picked up on the fact that she has an unfavorable relationship with alcohol.

"I, uh, I don't suppose that there is anything else that you have questions about?" My question only causes more confusion as Marina racks her brain trying to find some way to reword her inquiries in a way that I'll actually answer. To be fair to her, if they were any less of a charged subject I'd be more than happy to give her a cursory explanation, but as it stands all I want to do is avoid the subjects altogether. Maybe I could try explaining why it's better to leave some subjects alone, but whatever I do there's going to be some amount of agony on my end.

Secrets: Out of everyone I am the absolute worst pick for who to explain this to her, but it's a pretty pertinent subject. (5)

Faunus: Okay this is definitely a doozy, but if there's anyone that can condense the tense race relations of the past forty or so years it's me. (3)

Distraction: Actually no, I'm not dealing with any of this right now. I'm going to drag my partner into Vale into some sort of carnival or something to hopefully distract her from all of this. At the very least I'm sure it would be a new experience for her. (1)

Sensitivity: Okay there are just some subjects that she shouldn't touch on and I could get into why that's the case. (0)

Heavens above I can't believe that I'm actually going to do this. I hope you'll grow to appreciate all of the sacrifices I've made for you Marina, because at this rate my sanity will be the least of them. "You know how you kept your past a secret from us for the first month or so of school?" She breaks out of her thoughts to nod with a slight smile forming, happy that I'm engaging with her and that she doesn't have to think about the matter any more. "Well Blake did the same thing and even though it's not a big deal it implies that she didn't trust any of them enough to tell them about this beforehand."

"But we knew about Blake being a faunus before any of this. Remember how she helped us-" I shush her before she can reveal anything too damning. We are still in a public area and I'm staunchly reminded of the irony of my actions.

"Yes we know, but not her team or JNPR, which honestly if they were to find that out would probably just make things worse."

"Are we telling them about that," she asks with genuine curiosity.

"I- ye-no, definitely no." I really shouldn't be the one who has to explain this to her. I'm practically made of secrets with how many I keep at any given time. Heck I've been keeping my entire investigation as secretive as I can so explaining how people can be upset by keeping secrets while adamantly stating that we have to keep secrets is going to send off all kinds of mixed signals to the girl. I sigh, I've gone too far now to back out so the only way out is through.

She doesn't get why I'm so incensed about not telling them, but she nods in acceptance of my decision. Then she thinks it over for a few seconds, "Won't they be mad that you kept that from them then?"

"Probably," I draw out slowly as if admitting a painful truth. "I'll have to cross that bridge if we ever get to it." That only confuses her some more so I press on. "Everyone keeps some secrets, it's a matter of balancing which ones are too big or harmful to keep and which ones are just personal. Like uh, Jaune doesn't want people to know that he likes comic books." It takes me a second to realize what example I jumped to immediately. "Forget I said that, but that's a more personal secret that doesn't really hurt anyone if he keeps it right?"

Between my command to forget she heard what I just said and using it as the crux of a lesson that I want her to take to heart it's understandable that she sort of freezes up. I rub at my temples in the interim. I knew this was going to cause me a headache, but I held a hope beyond possibility that things would just work out.

Apparently during my silence something clicks for my partner as she slowly asks, "Should I tell them?" I'm about to ask her to clarify when she does so herself. "About my past."

I want to say no reflexively, but decide to leave it in her hands. I can't coddle her forever nor would I want to and the consequences from this kind of decision should be hers to bear. Not that I and the rest of the team won't have her back throughout all this. "That's a decision for you to make. You trusted us with it, but not everyone will be as understanding."

She nods seriously at that heavily considering the matter. I take the opportunity to hammer some more nuance into the matter. "It's not just that people are hurt if you keep a secret from them, sometimes they'll be hurt if you reveal a secret, not that I'm saying that's the case here. But, it's like if I revealed your secret to everyone else and they have a negative reaction, you probably wouldn't like that would you?" She quickly shakes her head exaggeratedly like a cartoon character and I internally groan at what she's picked up from the CCT.

Putting that out of my mind, I know she'd be more concerned with the negative reaction and wouldn't care if no one else did or it had a positive outcome, but it's a useful tool in letting her understand the potential consequences of her actions. "You see, that's an example of a secret that wasn't mine to share, which honestly might be most of the ones I keep."

"So it's good to keep other people's secrets?"

"Sort of," I reply hesitantly, understanding how woefully under equipped I am to have this conversation. "It's complicated," I grind out having completely given up on having any sort of clear direction with where this is going. "It is a good general rule of thumb not to spread other's secrets. However, sometimes it's a good thing, like if their secrets are self-destructive or might hurt others you care about."

"And that's what you do," she says, suddenly perking up like a puzzle suddenly solved itself inside her head.

"What absolutely not! I do no such thing," I bark out in a rush to clear up the misunderstanding. "Sure I might drop some hints here and there or offered a piece of advice, but I have been very careful not to reveal anyone's secrets."

"I understand completely captain," she announces with a wink and tapping the side of her nose. I-uh, I honestly don't know if she understands what those gestures mean and the uncertainty is more terrifying than the alternative.

"Marina, no! Stop! Whatever you're thinking about don't do it," my pleas fall on deaf ears as my partner makes her way out of the room to carry out whatever mission has possessed her.

"Is this a common occurrence Mr. Rovere," I hear from behind me and I'm intimately reminded that we just had this entire discussion in the middle of Oobleck's classroom.

"More than I'd like," I let out with a weight of years behind my voice. Honestly if I get any gray hairs like my dad I know who to blame.

"You have my condolences then," Oobleck consoles, placing a hand on my shoulder. "If you ever need any advice or assistance my door is always open for you." Sensing that I don't want to linger on this matter any more, the man returns to his desk, collects his materials, and departs the room. I don't ponder over what marina plans on doing, I'm sure I'll find out soon enough and have to deal with it then.

The next day I plan to head out to the VPD to help Detective Flint. He suggested that I inform the faculty as he is treating my help as a very flexible and non-standard internship. It'll help explain my presence at the CCT tower when the time comes and as a side benefit might incline the other staff to look favorably on me. Plus, while Beacon's free-form stance means that they won't officially question me about my trips into Vale, this and my relationship with the Clovers will provide more than enough obfuscation to my real intentions for any cursory investigation.

I bring up my 'internship' with Oobleck and he nods sharply at my interest in the law. By the way his eyes shift, I think he's reading more into it and I suspect I'll have to deal with him trying harder to sway me over to his point of view. I should probably feel bad about having no intent on following in his footsteps and taking advantage of his training regardless. Then again it's not like he's not aware of that and is doing this anyway. I'm not sure he'll be able to convince me towards his point of view, but I'm not going to turn down the benefits in the meantime. Regardless, I head into Vale to hold up my end of the deal.

When I arrive at the VPD station, Flint gives me a quick tour and at the end of it hands me a junior detective badge with the twin axes of Vale proudly displayed in the middle. I get the feeling that there's some kind of joke going on here at my expense since I wasn't expecting anything more than maybe a temporary i.d. My suspicions are confirmed as I catch a few people fighting back snickers or sneers. I want to just hide away the badge so I don't have to deal with any of this, but this is probably a hazing ritual or something.

I sigh and proudly display the badge while I'm at the station. My demeanor and expression lets the officers know that I'm in on the joke and suffering through it regardless. That gets the occasional nod of respect, but that's far from the normal reaction. Most of the time it's a slight smile or a chuckle which isn't helped by the tasks that Flint laid out for me on my first day. I was expecting to be put to work immediately helping him solve cases by doing things that he can't or won't do.

Instead he has me take a few of his files and has me work from my own end to see if there is anything I can find that he missed. This doesn't stop people from prevailing on me to get them coffee or deliver messages for them that I'm sure they could just send from their scroll instead. I put up with all of that and have to use my semblance to assist with my investigations, which I also use to look over whatever files the other officers have open when I'm making my way through the station on their behalf.

As the evening drags on people bother me less and less, my rapid shuffling through papers in-between their inane tasks serves well in showing my focus and dedication to what I'm doing. It's probably a strange sight to have a Huntsman, even one in training, putting in so much effort towards their work. If it leaves them with a positive impression of me I'm not going to complain and it's not like I have the time to anyways with the amount of cases that I want to work through.

Investigation check: Rank: 3.63 vs Challenge: 1/2/3/4/5

DC: Autopass/10/35/60/85

Dice: 1d100

33 = 33

I'm not assigned to any major case or have to make a breakthrough on any cold-cases. No, I'm assigned rather menial and disparate cases, likely the more minor crimes that have fallen to the wayside while the cops focus on the bigger stuff. I'm a little insulted since I've seen the progress the VPD has made with catching Torchwick and think their efforts would be better spent elsewhere while I handle that. On the other hand I recognize that they can't just not investigate the thief with the amount of notoriety he's managed to accrue. That combined with the upcoming Vytal festival has created the perfect environment for minor criminals to thrive in. Still, it feels like a waste of my skills even if I'm willing to go through with it for now.

Most of what I deal with are minor robberies and break-ins. I can only follow what the police have and what's publicly available on the CCT since I don't want to leave the station to investigate any of these and I'm pretty sure I don't have the authority to do so in the first place. However, having more time to look over everything as well as the illicit access from my semblance allows me to complete quite a few cases. For over half of them I can't find a definitive suspect, though most of the time I do find a lead to be looked into at a later date.

In places where I don't have enough information to find even the hint of a lead I finagle the facts and my presentation of them to highlight one of the people from Junior's contact list. Unethical yes, but perhaps some good will come from cleaning this place up a little. My impression is that despite my help most of these will be left alone due to a simple lack of manpower. Too much will get lost in the rush of trying to find Torchwick and the influx of new people and crimes over the coming months, but I don't need to solve these cases. I just need to help Flint out and show that I'm willing to put the work in for him if he's willing to stick his neck out for me.

At the end of the shift I hand off my findings to Flint and engage in a minor debrief with him. He gets a chuckle out of my overly verbose reports, but in my defense I didn't know the proper procedure and decided that laying out my exact thought processes and track of my investigation would serve as a suitable substitute. Honestly it isn't that different from working on my board, but having to put everything into words instead of having a physical representation for my thought process and the relationship between topics results in reports that are a couple hundred words longer than is strictly necessary.

"This is some good work that you did. Sorry about the trouble, but you know how these things are," Flint finishes with a shrug. I'm not sure if he's referring to our arrangement or the hazing I had to endure for my first day at the job. I don't blame him either way, I would want to get something out of someone that I was helping and the hazing isn't too onerous. Hopefully by going through that I've upgraded my status from outsider to newbie with the majority of the officers here. Not much of a jump, but resolving any potential sticking points is sure to work out in the long run.

Taking my silence as confirmation to continue he sets aside my paperwork, pulls out a drawer from his desk, and rummages through it producing a badge similar to my Junior Detective one. It has the same 'City of Vale' text at the top and the twin axes of Vale in the middle. The difference being that instead of saying 'Junior Detective' at the bottom it has an identification number. Flint motions towards me and we exchange badges and he also passes me a pin with my name on it and the letters 'V.P.D' printed underneath.

He doesn't have a uniform on hand for me, but those two items are all I need to represent my new position. I don't know if this is an extension of trust on his part or just further selling our ruse for the future. Regardless there isn't any need for words on either of our parts; I've upheld my end of the bargain and this is as good as any promise that he'll bring me along when the time comes.

With our business concluded I head back to Beacon. I could help out more at the station in the future and it might help convince Flint to buy some more time for me at the tower, but unless I desperately need the information I can get from there it might not be the best use of my time. On the other hand it is good practical experience for my investigative skills and helps ingratiate me with the police in the area. While I dislike the Mistrali relationship between the law and criminals I can't help but admit that such a relationship could serve my interests in the future.

With my affairs put in order there is something that I can't put off for any longer. Weiss had a talk with her father. While she's been able to hold herself together and I was there for her in the immediate fallout I can tell it's still something that's left her in a sour mood. Not the same kind of moodiness that Blake or Yang tend to fall into, but she is definitely sharper with her tongue and quicker to use it to showcase her displeasure. The only reason why it isn't a bigger problem is that Weiss catches herself when she gets too worked up and she can't seem to keep up the vitriol when I'm paying attention to her. Granted it's clear that she wants to talk with me about something, but doesn't want to bring it up in public.

With my schedule clear I lead her away with my hand pushing against the small of her back. The bit of personal contact encourages her to take her mind off of her issues for a moment as she swings her arm around my side to give a small side-hug while we walk. I catch Ruby who looks like she wants to say something before thinking better of it. I assume they had some sort of team activity scheduled, but she either recognizes what I'm doing or doesn't want to get between us at the moment.

I bring the two of us to a bench among the greenery surrounding the CCT tower. Not a very private place and by her squirming against my side I know she doesn't want to be here, but I have a plan. Silencing any protestations with a finger against her lips I activate my semblance bringing the two of us into a world of silence. I may have shown her my semblance before, but the gesture, combined with the fact that I'm bringing her in for a private conversation, gives everything an undertone of intimacy.

At the cutting out of noise and the absence of everyone Weiss takes the opportunity to let propriety fade away. She clutches at my chest and shudders against me for a moment before recollecting herself. I don't think that was enough to get out whatever emotions her talk with her father left her with, but I guess she's attempting to keep some boundaries between us.

"I'm sorry," Weiss says softly, wiping her hand at her eyes to fight back any tears. "You would not believe the drivel that man had to say."

"Maybe not," I offer neutrally then I wave to our quiet surroundings. "I did go through all this trouble to ensure our privacy. So, if you're willing to talk about this I'm willing to listen." She whips her head back and forth to ensure that there isn't anyone left in the area. I try to not let that offend me as I'd do the same in her position and it's not like I've actually explained what my semblance is and how it works. I guess I'm somewhat reluctant to let that secret slip even with someone I should be trusting.

She stops after a few moments and I can tell that she's working on how to put everything into words. Just before she opens her mouth to say that, however, something else overtakes her thought processes. "Wait, you could have done this at any time before?"

Not knowing where she could be going with this, I cautiously offer, "I thought it would be best to give you some time on your own before talking about this."

"No, not that," she says, laying her hand on top of mine. "This! We could have had our privacy at any point and you didn't think about doing it until now?"

"I'm sorry," is all I can get out in my confusion. It's not like I haven't made time to spend with her and have tried to match her shows of affection. Apparently that hasn't been enough for her and a predatory grin overtaking her face informs me that I'll be setting aside some of my semblance time to sate my girlfriend's desire for affection. I can only hope it doesn't draw too much attention.

Fortunately Weiss doesn't linger on that for any longer though her grin rapidly vanishes as she gets back to the matter at hand. "My talk with my father went better than I thought it would. He only called you an animal once throughout all of it," she says in a low voice as if sharing a secret despite our guarantee of privacy, though the derision in her voice is clear throughout. "Honestly it seemed like he was more upset that I did this without telling him. That, and apparently he considers you too 'low-class.' She lets out a huff, "Honestly if he met even half of the people here at Beacon he'd know that you're a cut above the rest."

I appreciate the compliment, but I don't let myself dwell on it. "So I have to work on my etiquette if I want to get his approval then?" A wide grin is the only thing that betrays the joking nature to my inquiry and it only takes my girlfriend a moment to join in.

"Please, you don't have to worry about his permission. If he has a problem with us I'm sure we could show him our displeasure one way or another."

"Ah so I just have to worry about Winter and Klein." Her face heats up, but notably she doesn't deny my assessment.

With a slight cough she leans her head against my chest, speaking while looking out over the empty halls of Beacon. "He said that he was supportive of my efforts here in Vale." That's concerning, we were both hoping that we could make some more progress without the looming threat of Jacques in the background. I guess it was too much to hope that he'd remain unaware when Weiss has essentially stolen the show here.

She tries to say something, but cuts herself off and my pleading look for her to continue only meets the top of her head. I get the feeling that there's something else that she picked up on her conversation with Jacques but I don't know what. Maybe she doesn't know herself, but has a bad feeling about it all and can't vocalize as to why.

Unfortunately I'm stuck with the cliff-notes from Weiss and she doesn't have a perfect recollection nor is she entirely unbiased. I'm sure there are parts that I could dig into if I had the full conversation or at least Jacques' side. Not that I'd want to emphasize with his side of things too much. If I had to guess, this is a matter of presentation and pride for him.

Weiss has done enough that he can't just get rid of her, but obviously he's unhappy that she isn't doing all of this on his behalf. That's nothing new and about what I expected out of him, but it's his next move that I'm unsure of. He has any number of options available to try bringing Weiss to heel and I don't know if our relationship sped that up or not.

Either way I expect his retribution will come as either private attempts, to undermine her or convince her to give up, or a public challenge of sorts where he expects her to fail and give him the justification of stripping her heirship. The latter I don't think he could justify before or during the Vytal festival and there isn't much we can do about the former but be vigilant and deal with it as best we can. Whatever the case may be I don't think it would do Weiss much good to remain on this topic.

Work: I know she still has a few issues with some of the people under her and possibly some competitors. It could be reassuring if I offer to take care of those issues for her. (4)

Semblance: I know she'd appreciate the show of trust if I explain my semblance to her and she'd likely do the same. Maybe my studying up on semblances will give me some insight for her. (4)

Privacy: While we're like this I could indulge her in some physical intimacy and let her vent about things that she otherwise wouldn't (4)

Menagerie: It's a bit sooner than I'd like, but it may be prudent to tell Weiss about Menagerie's Dust deposits. It would be a nice feather in her cap for her efforts with the SDC. (1)

Whitley: She hasn't told me much about her brother, but I get the feeling that he might be involved with things to come. (0)

QM Note: Semblance and Privacy are a part of this write-up. Work got slotted in at a later segment.

Deciding to be a bit bold I pick Weiss up and set her in my lap before draping my arms around her and resting my chin atop her head. Her reaction to this is to squirm and try to get comfortable while also pressing against my arms. Not with enough force to push them apart, but more so in an attempt that I think is to get me to hold her tighter which I oblige. She lets out a sigh of contentment as she relaxes and enjoys the physical contact, her previous worries dying out before they can be spoken.

The position is slightly uncomfortable so I use my semblance to smooth things out as best as I can. It would be so much easier if I could change the material of the bench, but that's something beyond my ability. Holding Weiss so close and using my semblance makes me want to take the plunge, but I decide to spoil my girlfriend a little bit beforehand. I take one of my arms away from her and she wiggles in disappointment until I start massaging her scalp. Either she likes the attention I'm giving her or she's willing to put up with it after her stunt with my ears. I'll have to ask her about it later, but the way she lets out a low hum and turns her head slightly so I hit a different area is a good indicator that she's enjoying things.

Despite the lack of action on her part I'm fine enough enjoying the reactions I can draw out of the petite Schnee and even start brushing the fingers attached to my other hand against her side causing her to shy away from them slightly with a forced laugh. She apparently takes offense to her own reaction as she tries leaning into my hand while holding back her reactions as best she can, but failing often in the process. Not that her squirming is all that helpful and feeling that things are getting a bit too heated I start winding down my attention.

To distract her from the upcoming disappointment I strike up another conversation, "Feeling better now?"

"Um," she hums out distractedly before considering my question. Then she writhes in my grip as if she were suddenly aware of the semi-public nature of what we were doing. It takes her a moment to calm down and I get the distinct impression that she's pouting at being unable to break my grip, but I know if she really wanted to escape she could have done so easily. "Oh dear, please tell me that your semblance means that nobody saw that."

"Don't worry. To everyone else we're just leaning up against each other on a bench. Besides, by the time we get back out only a few seconds would have passed."

"Ah- that's a relief," she allows herself to relax back into my grip but her tone is full of questions. She doesn't bring any of them up, probably not wanting to ruin the moment after already disrupting it, but it serves my purposes well enough so I oblige her on this matter.

It takes some time to explain things and put it all into words but I go over the general capabilities of my semblance. She does ask some pertinent questions that I didn't think about or were obvious to me like what kind of matter I can manipulate and how fast as well as if I could bring items from my mirror world back with me. I almost hesitate on telling her about the time dilation aspect since I know that will cause her to eat up more of my time. In the end I let her know as I've already let something slip about it and I don't want to try keeping that aspect a secret from her. She's far too likely to figure it out on her own at any rate so it's not like I'm losing out on much.

She decides to return the favor by going over her own semblance. It really is quite versatile; she can produce platforms and shields, launch projectiles, and she tells me that she's working on being able to enhance her allies. Theoretically she could do the opposite to her enemies, but that is harder to do in practice so she's been trying to get the basics down before moving onto that. Unfortunately for her I've been doing some research into semblances and her family's semblance is one of the more well-known and documented ones so I know she's holding back her ability to summon copies of grimm from me. I wait for a few moments to see if she'll open up to me about that while I think a few things over.

I'm not sure if I buy that hereditary semblances are a thing, then again that may be the more mystical remnants of aura and semblances coloring my view of things. On the other hand four users is hardly a pattern; Weiss, Winter, her mother Willow, and Nicholas Schnee. Not much is known about the family definitively before that. Records about them not surviving until now and the Schnee family records are somewhat suspect to begin with. After all, if all members had this semblance, why was Nicholas Schnee's father a humble Dust miner instead of a soldier sending off disposable summons to hold off the grimm? It's not like Atlas, then Mantle, weren't drafting soldiers for the Great War at the time.

I will admit that Weiss has swayed me to her side of things. She is able to use Winter's notes to improve her own semblance and that is a level of similarity that I find harder to believe. There would be further proof if she could do the same with notes from her mother or grandfather. However, I know better than to press her on either of those subjects.

I'm drawn back to reality when the girl in my arm shudders and I quickly check to make sure that she's alright. Hopefully she didn't take my silence as ignoring her. "I haven't been able to summon anything," she chokes out like it's hard for her to admit. It's possible that her semblance is just incredibly similar and not the same. I don't say that, however, with how much pride Weiss puts into being a Schnee saying that would destroy her. Instead I start racking my brain for anything I could say to help put her mind at ease. I could tell her that most semblances require that you just keep using them to get stronger with them. Not the same in my case and I'm sure that she already knows that; I want to give her some concrete advice not just a platitude that she's already heard and then it comes to me.

"How large are your reserves?" Before she can question me as to why I'm asking that I move on, "It's just that I've been reading how some semblances require a minimum of aura to activate or how drawing too much at one time can cause strain that makes it hard to keep semblances up." The latter can be resolved by just training more and the former probably isn't her problem here, but giving her something to work for might reignite her desire to make her summoning work.

"They're not the greatest," she admits stiffly. She knows that she's lacking in that area, but hasn't or wasn't able to address it before now. Plus since it is probably the only area where Jaune is beating her that makes this even more of a sore point for her. As far as I'm aware there are only two ways of increasing your aura and I'm not about to tell my girlfriend she should let someone or the grimm beat her up a little.

"You could exhaust your aura with your semblance. It'll pull double duty of improving your skill and increasing your reserves." Supposedly there are exercises one can do to stress their aura, but I've never so much as looked into that and haven't needed to.

"I already do that. Besides, do you know how many glyphs I'd have to summon to exhaust my aura? It would take me hours to accomplish and I'm busy enough managing everything and my other training." Huh, I guess my semblance is more useful than I thought it was. Regardless, I now have an avenue that, while it might not help her with this issue directly, can provide her some assistance.

"Yeah, if only you knew of someone who could give you more time in the day," I reply with a bit of cheek and a gentle squeeze. My girlfriend practically vibrates in place and tries to turn around to hug me, when it becomes clear that she can't she settles on wrapping her arms around the one holding her. I can't help the sense of dread that my alone time is going to be liberally imposed upon, but I'll set up some boundaries with her if she ever takes things too far.

We remain like this for a few minutes and I can tell she wants to go on for longer, but my insistence and somewhat open offer to spend time with her like this more often is enough to convince her to depart. Before we do that, I also offer to help her out with some of the people that have been giving her issues and she adopts a thoughtful posture. "Give me a few days to get you a list and don't think about doing this on your own. If I'm going to be responsible for making you do this kind of thing I want to be there to make sure everything goes well."

I'm not expecting that, but nod easily enough and step out of my mirror world. Fortunately not too much time has passed and I set things up well enough that we're merely leaning up against each other instead of a more compromising position. We make some small talk before I send her off to go do whatever Ruby had planned with her team. It might be a shock to the other team lead that I took care of things so quickly, but hopefully that fact doesn't draw too much attention.

The time has come where my organization has grown to the point where I'm struggling to keep it funded. This is with my bottom barrel 'salaries' provided to my moles and Tukson. They all receive a stipend from the greater Fang and have their own reason to oppose Adam so I've been able to skirt around paying them what they're actually worth. That will have to change at some point, because while ideology is all well and good for motivating people it doesn't put food on their table and if I fail to do that then I can assume my support would quickly vanish.

That leads me to my current proposition, finding what I can squeeze out of the various businesses around Vale. Ideally I could just walk in and swap their payments from the White Fang to my organization and that would be that. Realistically I'm going to have to make a compromise. Specifically over how much I value my secrecy over cold hard lien.

As far as I am aware I have three broad options: Convince shops to give me a little extra off the top, swap wholesale over to me, or split the difference as best as they can. The first would ensure the greatest amount of secrecy, but also provide the least amount of lien. Swapping wholesale would be more palatable to the business owners as well as liening, heh, my pockets further. The third option is definitely a compromise option as it concedes ground to both of these issues, but that might be what I have to settle for.

Unfortunately the relationship between business and the White Fang isn't as altruistic as it used to be five years ago. There is a certain expectation of actual protection ever since the Fang turned to more violent methods. Not that I disagree with the assessment, but the more shops I take on the more places I'll have to defend.

Any option where they are still paying the Fang may allow me to skimp on recruiting manpower, but even then I'll need a few men of my own to count on to resolve issues that the Fang either ignores or doesn't notice. I can use some of the men I've recruited already to make up for this shortfall, but now might be the time to really expand and start putting pressure on the Vale branch of the Fang. Plus the prospect of more funds is certainly appealing all on its own.

That leads me to how much I should expand and the two options sort of go hand in hand. I don't want to recruit too much since I'm still ostensibly trying to keep a low-profile so I'll keep the numbers just to what I need with a little bit extra to cover any shortages. The protection that the Fang offers is more like retribution on the perpetrators than actual guards. It's not like the law would appreciate armed White Fang guards standing in the street at any rate.

Since not all of the business would have issues so I can afford to spread my forces a bit thinner than I otherwise would. I predict that one squad of grunts numbering five people in all would be enough to cover two to three shops each week and I can double this estimate if the Fang are still involved.

I could stick as small as I can and recruit as many shops as my current forces could handle and I'd spend the rest of my effort looking for specialists rather than expanding my forces on the ground. Every other option would be adding roughly the same amount of shops each time and I'd of course have to spend some effort making sure everything goes swimmingly.

Size: Moderate: Start putting a dent into the number of businesses the White Fang has in the city. (38/75 businesses, gross profit per month of 11,400L/7,500/3,750L) (8)

Approach: Replace: Offer to replace the Fang wholesale for businesses. This would leave me with the most profit, but I'd have to expand my forces more. (300L per business per month) (6)

Size: Small: Go a little bit further and essentially double the size of my operations. (25/50 businesses, gross profit per month of 7,500L/5,000L/2,500L) (1)

Approach: Split: Convince various businesses to split their payments to both the Fang and my organization. (100L per business per month), will split the vote (1)

Size: Large: Make a big push into converting the businesses of the White Fang over to my side, try to get as many as I can. (50/100 businesses, gross profit per month of 15,000L/10,000L/5,000L) (1)

Approach: Add: Convince some business to front some cash my way. The safest option, but limits how much they can provide. (50L per business per month) (0)

Size: Minimal: Recruit enough business that the men I currently have can cover it and go no further. (13/25 businesses, gross profit per month of 3,900L/2,500L/1,250L) (0)

QM Note: A bit of a spoiler for the future, but don't pay too much attention to these numbers. They are only included here for the complete context of the decisions at the time; the organization stuff had to be reworked after it served its initial purpose.

I send out the orders and keep an eye out for any issues. I resolve them as they come up but it's largely me and Tukson in charge of this mammoth task. Well mainly Tukson since I'm still keeping my profile as low as I can manage, but I do pick up the slack for the administrative side of things. Background checks, working out an initial schedule, and investigating which businesses would be most amenable to our offer.

Tukson as a store owner himself helps with the negotiations, but he has a large workload on his plate and I can only offer apologies. Blake isn't a good choice with how recognizable she is and since she's still picking up the ropes for our operations. At least I'll make sure he's the first to receive proper compensation when the Lien rolls in. If I play my cards right I can play everything off as a bonus for everyone's hard work and not me cheaping out on them because I couldn't pay them.

Either way I put this out of my mind until it needs my attention. Instead I focus my efforts towards figuring out what my partner has been doing. So far I've kept my observations at a distance, not wanting to give her any ideas and partly because I am morbidly curious as to what she has in mind. As it turns out she's taken my words along with the invasion of privacy that is her semblance to do things such as pushing people together, putting one person's hand into the palm of another, or miming a punch between two people having a conversation and running away afterwards without answering any questions.

Honestly it mostly leaves people confused instead of whatever she's aiming for and it takes me a while to put together what I could have said that would explain this situation. The only thing that I can think of is that Marina views people's unexpressed emotions as self-destructive and took my words to mean that it would be a good thing if she hinted about them to others. Granted her idea of a hint and mine are as far apart as they could possibly be. However, given my previous failure at explaining the concept to her I decide to tag someone else in. I quickly explain the situation to Kelly and send her off to deal with my partner.

With that potential bomb defused before it could go off in the romantic powder keg that is team JNPR I find it prudent to check up on them. I strike Pyrrha and Jaune off my list easily enough as it's possible they'll figure things out on their own. Then I strike Ren off the list because he's far too observant which leaves me with Nora. My target decided, I snake my way through the school until I find the ginger girl running on a treadmill in the school gym.I can't remember if this is supposed to be the start of her workout or the end of it, but it's not like I can't talk while walking next to her and who knows, maybe the exercise will keep her motormouth to a minimum.

Unfortunately there is one thing that I didn't take into account and that is the sheer enthusiasm that would overtake the bubbly girl at someone 'joining in' on her workout. "Oh hey Ochre. OH HEY! Did you want to join me on my super-grimm-busting regimen? Well you wouldn't start at that, we'd start you with something a little more normal. Maybe work on the bench to see if you can do four hundred and work our way up from there."

"No it's fine I just wanted to talk for a bit." It's impressive that she could say all that while keeping a moderate run on the treadmill and not even seem out of breath. Well maybe not impressive, perhaps she has a lot of practice doing this and is partly the reason that she's so much of a motormouth.

"Uh-uh, I ain't stopping. You either join in on gym time or you gotta wait until I'm all done. And then I'd be tired and want to get pancakes so you'd have to wait until after that. Honestly, if you aren't gonna pump some iron with me you'd be better off just trying tomorrow or something."

I rub at my temples, of course she wouldn't let this be an easy conversation and hop onto the treadmill next to her for a slightly faster than normal walk. This, however, isn't enough for Nora who reaches over my controls and bumps up the speed to a brisk run. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, but I'm still in my stuffy school uniform and start overheating a little. Nora meanwhile prances around in her pink shorts and the white and pink shirt that has her emblem of a heart with a lightning bolt in the middle.

By the time our run is over I have a new intense hatred for the girl next to me and no longer feel bad about considering messing with her love-life. It may not have been a serious consideration before, but I'm particularly petty and even if things go wrong I might be able to play it off as an attempted prank on Ren. Fortunately Nora doesn't push me towards the weights just yet, my performance earning me some time to talk. Or at least it would if Nora didn't take the initiative.

"So what did you want to talk about? Oh don't tell me." She stares at me for a few seconds observing my every little reaction as I try to keep stone-faced and give her nothing to go off of. "Huh, weird even Ren usually cracks and gives me something. Whatever, you win this time Ochre, but mark my words I'll figure out your secrets soon enough." Only then does she give me enough time to collect myself and respond to her.

Advice: Her and Marina share some tendencies towards violence. Maybe she'd have some sort of insight that could help me with my partner. (5)

Matchmaker: I don't think I've done that bad of a job with Jaune and this might help me get ahead of Marina. Plus if anything goes wrong I could play this off as a poorly executed prank. (5)

Dust: Observing some of her fights I've noticed that she has a tendency to throw around grenades like they're candy. I would have thought someone with her background would be more frugal. (2)

Peppiness: I've spent enough time with the girl to notice that while this is her default energy level I can't help but shake that there's something deeper to it. (1)

It takes me a few seconds to get my breathing under control and wipe the sweat from my brow. "You know you could give me a second to catch my breath first. It's hard enough doing all this in my uniform."

"Psshaw, and who's fault is that," Nora responds flippantly and I stare her down. "I mean coming to the gym like that, what were you expecting?"

"I wasn't expecting you to force me to workout with you nor for you to jack up my speed without any warning."

"You choose to workout with me and if you're not pushing yourself then why workout at all?" As much as my indignation wants me to continue arguing with the ginger girl I know that I'm not winning this one. I could lay out all the reasons and logic in the world, but Nora just doesn't care about that so she'll drag me down to her level and beat me with experience.

"Whatever, that's not important. I wanted to talk about a few things with you." I pause trying to determine how I want to word this. Knowing Nora one of these topics might cause her to shut down; which could be useful as an escape, but isn't what I want right now. Before I can continue on, however, the energetic girl interjects.

"Oooh! Oooh! Is it about your super top secret nobody else must know investigation," she belts out loudly either not noticing or, more likely, not caring that there are other people in the gym with us. "Because if so I have sooooo many ideas, like we just have to find a few of the guys running the show and break their legs. Then they'd have to give us whatever answers we want or else we'd break them again!"

"No," I draw out slowly. The only saving grace is that most people will think that she's spouting nonsense like she usually does. "But you did touch close to the topic I want to bring up. You see my partner and yourself share some violent tendencies."

"Please! I'm not violent, I'm aggressively energetic!" I resist the urge to make a remark or pull at my face. Then as if to pile on more frustration with what I'm dealing with she suddenly stiffens up like she had an epiphany. "Wait are you saying that Weiss," Nora drops her voice low, some sense of tact entering into her brain even if she has the completely wrong idea. "I never really thought that she'd be like that even if she's a Schnee. I mean that's just a name right? It doesn't mean-"

"No, I'm not talking about her. I'm talking about Marina, my partner" I announce loudly enough for any onlookers to hear. The absolute last thing Weiss needs is this kind of rumor floating around

"Ah, I see it's just that Ren is my partner and- well I mean it's not like that, but he's my partner and we've just been together so long that- I mean not together-together-" Recognizing a familiar spiral I grab Nora at the shoulders and physically shake her out of it. "What were we talking about again?" She has a stupid smile on her face like the past few minutes just didn't happen and I can't fight back the groan that escapes me.

"We were talking about your, uh, 'aggressively energetic' tendencies." Before she can get lost on another tangent I elaborate. "Marina has been showing the same kind of behavior and I was wondering if you had any advice on how to handle it."

My simple request has the bubbly girl standing absolutely still. After a few moments I start growing concerned and then she starts vibrating in place and that concern only grows. "This is AMAZING! No one has ever asked for my advice before. I mean outside of pranks, but like I'm the Lightning Queen of Pranks so that's to be expected. But an actual honest to goodness request for advice. Oh- what if I mess it up or give you the wrong advice or can't word it properly? Then no one would ever go to me for advice ever again and I'd be known as that girl that gives bad advice then my friends would never ask me for any-"

I bonk her on the head with a chop of my hand. Honestly dealing with her feels like I'm giving percussive maintenance to a particularly ornery machine to make it work how I want. Thankfully I applied just the right amount of force to set her back on track without resetting her completely. Maybe I should tell Ren about this? It's awfully helpful in dealing with her more…eccentric tendencies. No, that has some connotations I'd rather avoid.

"Ah, well what I mean to say is that I'm honored you'd seek me out for this Ochre." I can't muster up the motivation to say anything so I fix her with a look and make a 'get on with it' gesture. "Right! Well, the most important thing is to make sure that I'm targeting the right people. I mean, how embarrassing would it be if I broke the wrong guy's legs. Like I can't unbreak someone's legs. CAN I?!" I numbly shake my head in the negative and Nora has the audacity to look disappointed.

"I was more thinking about how you keep it in check and uh, not let it out if at all possible."

"Oh that," she says, perking right back up from the dip in her mood. "That's way easier. I just focus on things other than those thoughts like Ren, pancakes, my team, Ren, that annoying project from Port, Pranks, Ren, working out, smashing grimm with Magnhild, and Ren." I don't know which is worse, that violence, however justifiable, entered into that list or that she mentioned Ren four times. I'm also not sure how useful this advice would be for me, honestly I probably should have talked with Ren about this subject since his advice would be more applicable.

"That's great," I offer weakly, though if Nora notices my lack of enthusiasm it does nothing to lower her mood. "Could you explain that to Marina?" At the rapid nod of her head I have to add in a stipulation. "With another one of my teammates there to, uh, take notes?"

She nods again, but more slowly and with critical eyes focused on me. I've been passing a lot of Marina duty off to Kelly since she's better at it, but I'm sure Autumn would be a suitable replacement in this case. I don't know how useful this advice would be for Marina, but there isn't much of a downside and Autumn can make sure that Nora doesn't lead my partner too far astray.

Now all I'm left with is to tackle the elephant in the room. I don't know who she's fooling with downplaying her affections for Ren as anyone who can get her talking for any amount of time is sure to find out. Even in this conversation she laser-focused on him twice despite me not even bringing him up.

"So I couldn't help, but notice that you mentioned Ren four times there."

"Pssh, no I didn't. I might have mentioned him twice because I forgot if I did so before, but I certainly didn't do it that much. I mean I'd have to be some kind of obsessed to do that and not notice. And if I was obsessed then I'd be focusing on him all the time and then he'd find that weird and never want anything to do with me ever again so I'm definitely not doing that. And if Ren of all people can't stand me then who cou-"

I decide to cut her off this time with a hug. I immediately regret it as both of us have worked up a light sweat and it feels kind of grimy, but it felt like the right decision at the time. Between her and Blake I've dealt with enough self-esteem issues and I'm glad that I'm dating someone with confidence in herself.

"I'm all for hugging," Nora announces while prying herself out of my grip. "But what brought this on?"

Instead of answering that question I decide to hit the heart of the matter. "Your friends aren't going to abandon you for being yourself." I've had enough of this while dealing with Blake that I'm hopeful my blunt approach is enough to build the normally bubbly girl back up.

"Yeah, duh. I know that," she responds in a tone that makes me want to throttle her. Like the fact is so obvious that it doesn't need to be acknowledged despite her panicking at just such a prospect mere moments ago.

As good of a moment as that is it doesn't help me achieve my secondary objective here so I swap tracks. I shift my posture to be slightly dismissive as if I'm about to tell her to do something that I don't think she'd be willing to do. Which is actually the truth in this case, but hopefully her competitive nature makes her take the bait. "I dare you to ask Ren out."

Normally I wouldn't be so bold, but my semi-open prank war with Ren gives me greater latitude to work with and if anything goes wrong I can shift the blame towards that. I'd only be concerned about Ren seeing through my act, but hopefully he would see that my intentions were pure-ish. I'm tempted to play up my mischievousness right now, but I don't want to give away the game too early. Well, not that I think Nora would catch on to that particular bit of duplicitousness, it is more for my own standards.

"What," she squawks. "I can't do that! I-" Before she can get lost in another spiral I cut her off.

"Why not, Weiss did it to me." It's a bit of creative interpretation on my part, but isn't exactly wrong either. It also neatly sidesteps the issue that I think she has with the plan, which is that she's afraid of the potential outcome and not the act of doing it in the first place. I can tell that she's still hesitant, but unable to formulate a proper retort and I unleash a sly smile. Just wide enough to draw attention, but held back enough to make it seem accidental on my part.

Of course Nora, someone who's around a man who communicates primarily through small expressions and gestures, picks up on it immediately and her whole demeanor shifts. Instead of the trepidation and nervousness that flooded her frame before she's now bouncing in excitement. "Ooooh. I got you, oh this is going to be so much fun. Just imagine the look on his face."

Normally I don't think she'd be this excited, but there are a combination of factors at play here. The first is that she probably wants to do this but is too scared to have done so before now. The second is that this is a prank and therefore less serious in Nora's mind than doing so 'for real.' The third is that, just like how Ren didn't prank her it was me apparently, this isn't her pranking Ren, this is me pranking Ren so any blowback from this ends up on me instead. I'm prepared to sell her on the idea some more, but the bubbly girl practically rushes out of the gym in excitement. Compared to some other conversational minefields I've had to navigate, this was refreshingly simple.

It takes some time for Weiss to produce a short list of people she needs my help gathering or planting dirt on and it takes until the start of the weekend for her to work a hole in her schedule to accompany me. I could do this all on my own, but either she feels responsible for putting me on this path or just wants to spend time with me. It's probably a mixture of the two and I don't complain.

While it does limit some of the things that I'd be willing to do Weiss has shown an amount of moral flexibility that would be concerning if she wasn't on my side. Maybe I should be concerned about that, but we have each other to prevent ourselves from going too far and whatever her moral limit is, is surely higher than Jacques. Regardless, the two of us still have our work to do on our trip to Vale. Weiss is continuing to manage her SDC assets while I'm looking over a report from my digital investigators.

As it turns out they were able to track down some of the assets of Watts' charity into the other three Kingdoms. Atlas remains a void of information, their laws obfuscating what my agents can find on the CCTS. Supposedly all of these assets are supposed to be branch offices in the other Kingdoms, but given that there are multiple of them for each Kingdom and how few scholarships are given out I suspect that there is something further going on here. Checking the building schematics from Kingdom records it appears that most of them are warehouses or small housing units. Most are situated in the capitals or other cities, though a few stretch out into the outskirts.

Now a charitable trust doesn't need warehouses to fulfill their mission if all they are doing is handing out scholarships. So, with the number and motives involved these assets are reading more like safehouses to me than anything else. Although, with the woman in red's activities in Vale it is possible that these facilities are serving a more sinister purpose now. Fortunately I now have the location of a few of these units, though I'll have to schedule checking them out later as my time is already spoken for.

Shutting off my scroll Weiss and I make our way to our first target, one of the SDC distribution centers in Vale. Ostensibly I'm playing the part of arm candy while she talks with the workers to get their opinions on things. Though with my semblance it's child's play to step into my mirror world, break into the overseer's office, and find some substances that if I were to use my VPD privileges to bag and tag could leave him in a bad position.

Once we finish our tour of the facilities and leave I inform Weiss who shakes her head slowly. "I'm glad that you're willing to lean on your contacts, but I don't want to bring anyone else into this mess."

"Ah, no," I start to explain, pulling out my badge. I've started keeping it on my person wherever I go. Never know when it could help me with a sticky situation. "I'm actually the newest member of the Vale Police force."

This causes my girlfriend to freeze up, halting the both of us in our tracks as she doesn't let go of my arm. "Since when did you join the VPD?"

"A few days ago," I answer truthfully. This turns out to be a bad idea as she tightens her grip on my arm and spins herself in front of me with a thunderous look on her face.

"So let me get this straight; you lead your team, tutor Velvet, are managing your…organization, investigating the happenings in Vale, keeping up with classes, practicing further on your own, and you decided to join up with the VPD in your free-time?

"Hey, I've been managing my schedule fine enough up to now," I respond defensively. The look on my girlfriend's face tells me that she disagrees with me. She was already going to impugn on my semblance time, but now I feel like she's even more motivated to do so. I'm not sure how I'm supposed to respond to aggressive cuddling. I guess I'll be finding out in the near future despite my wishes to the contrary.

She doesn't say anything to rebut my position, though she does hang onto me tighter as if I'd float away if she didn't while we make our way down her list. Most of them are more SDC locations and the two of us repeat our song and dance in various fashions until we reach the final target. It appears to be a small shop on the outskirts of the commercial district and Weiss explains why it's on the list.

The company that owns this shop is mainly located on the outskirts of Vale so their facilities haven't been hit as hard by Torchwick's serial robberies as everyone else. What used to be a weakness for them has been turned into a strength allowing them to slightly undercut the SDC aligned stores as well as putting a black mark on the SDC's reputation. If a small one Kingdom company can keep their Dust safe from criminals then what's the SDC's excuse? Or so the thinking goes, naturally most people ignore the actual details and hone in on the flashy headline.

"So how do you want to take care of this? The usual or do you want me to work this on my own?" Maybe I could even walk in with my badge out and browbeat the employees into showing me wherever the dirt is buried. I quickly discard that plan as impractical, but do find the power fantasy amusing.

Weiss remains silent for a few moments and I turn to her. She is deep in thought and worrying away at her bottom lip. I don't say anything, not wanting to break her concentration or sway her one way or another. It takes a few more seconds until she abruptly turns around dragging me with her. "Actually there's no need to deal with them. As soon as this situation is over the status quo will resume and they'll be irrelevant." I know that she doesn't actually think that, but I guess sabotaging a company for no other reason than being a competitor is taking things too far for her liking. Maybe that would change if I find anything on them, but there's no reason to make it an issue with her right here right now.

Outwardly I nod and follow lock-step with her as she drags me along to a cafe, wanting to make the most of our evening together. Inwardly I make a mental note to see if I can find anything that would point Flint or the VPD in their direction. Just because Weiss doesn't want me to take direct action against them doesn't mean that I'm going to take no action at all. I have all of these resources at my disposal and it would be a shame to not use them.

After my outing with Weiss I have Tukson send over the weekly reports so I can go over them with Blake. With our recent expansion there is no way that he can keep up with the number of people and I have to start splitting off the responsibilities. Ultimately I leave him in charge of managing the grunts defending the stores as well as the collection duties associated with it. He might take advantage of his position to grant himself a few privileges like more protection or not paying as much in as everyone else, but that's an acceptable level of corruption to me. I'll check to see if he does so or not, but it's really not my concern.

The rest goes to Blake by default which means that she'll be in charge of handling and filtering the reports we get from our moles and other agents. The flow of information should help satisfy the girl or tire her out enough not to go gallivanting on her own, though she still needs more experience until she's ready to handle everything on her own. It's nothing that I can't handle, just a few long nights and maybe a nap or two inside my semblance to deal with the mental fatigue but I have to make sure Weiss hears nothing about this. I'm used to high-stress situations and I don't foresee this one lasting longer than a month. Besides I'll be on my trip with Oobleck by then and that is close enough to count as a vacation, right?

Relationship troubles aside, I dig into the reports. Torchwick has continued his crime spree and while I have some details about what stores he's going after there isn't much I can do about that without tipping my targets off. He does, however, make a call to someone and though I can't hear the other end I'm pretty sure it's the woman in red or one of her subordinates. He's updating her on his progress as well as his plan to tackle the tanker coming to Vale while passive-aggressively needling her for information about whatever plan is going on. Going by how he gets more frustrated and clipped as the conversation goes on I suspect that she's stonewalling him.

Unhelpful, but it is as good as proof to me that Torchwick is being coerced into this, at least partially. He didn't bring up any complaints about money, but rather wanted information. If I were a man in his position I'd be after the same thing to see if it's possible I could slip the reins of my handlers. Plus if I'm right about his previous connection with a Mistrali crime family it may even be something that he's done before.

Setting that aside for now I move on to what my agents are reporting. Most of them have nothing new to say, though I do get confirmation from one of them that the White Fang has set up operations in Mountain Glenn. Well not in those words exactly, but I'm able to show Blake how all the pieces fit together to make that conclusion. It's stuff that I already suspected, but confirmation is always good as is the proof if I need to show it off to the authorities. The real gem of this week comes from the White Fang hideout.

I had one of my managers secure an invite there to talk with some of the higher ups and try to steer the conversation towards fruitful ends. The higher up kept giving evasive answers; to such a degree that I suspect that even he is unaware of what the exact plan is aside from the broad strokes. He does mention something about 'grimm tidings' when pressed about the cages in particular which is concerning. Unfortunately my agent can only push things so far before seeming suspicious or impertinent and they need to keep up their cover. Perhaps I could have done better on my own, but it's a moot point now.

As a conclusion to my investigative efforts for the week I go to check out the bolt-holes the White Fang are setting up in the Eastern outskirts of Vale. I suspect they're preparation areas for bullheads to land at and load up during whatever chaos Adam is planning. Though why exactly they need to set up boltholes outside of Vale when they are already setting up stashes within the walls of the city I don't know. However, I intend to find out, so with Autumn in tow the two of us head towards the Eastern exits of the city.

We receive some odd looks from the gate guards as not many people make use of the Eastern exits, but telling them we're Huntsmen in training and showing off our student ids is enough to assuage any concerns. After that I let Autumn take the lead as his woodsmanship outstrips my own. Especially with his familiarity with the Valean wilderness. Not that I'd consider this much of a wilderness. There is the odd patch of greenery and trees abound, but most of our path is rocky and jagged with not much more than moss growing on the mountain side.

Seeing it in person makes it abundantly clear why Vale hasn't pushed their wall eastward to the Mountains' edges. The uneven terrain would make it a nightmare to build anything and it's far more valuable to secure the farmland to Vale's south than the marginal increase in living space out here. Plus, after the events of Mountain Glenn the council might be a little shy of pressing their borders against the caves and underground networks that dot the area.

Thanks to my previous efforts and my moles in the White Fang I already have the locations and know roughly when they're checked up on by the Fang. So it's no issue finding them and I don't have to worry about any unwelcome guests as I survey the area. The first location is between a set of three trees the White Fang have hung up a green canopy between. Probably to hide anything that they'd store underneath it, though there's nothing there right now. There is, however, a cave nearby so Autumn and I check it out.

Inside is a crate of rations, weaponry, and Dust. Probably enough to arm fifteen or so people and keep them fed for a few days. I don't know if that detail is just a precaution, if the plan has a flexible deadline, or if this place just isn't fully stocked yet. Given that the White Fang aren't really in charge of this operation I'm betting that they have to wait for some sort of signal from the woman in red. If everything goes according to plan then that'll never happen. It would be annoying though if the Fang decided to take things into their own hands afterwards, so I mark it in case I need to deal with or hand off responsibility for this later.

The next few places are more of the same, some with more supplies, some with less. One isn't even constructed yet. They may have just chosen a new location to set up since there isn't much sky coverage in the area. The last area that I check out, however, has something the others didn't. Half-buried in the ground and covered with a green tarp is what looks like a grimm cage to me. Admittedly the only time I saw one was in Ports class when Weiss fought that boarbatusk.

It's large enough to fit a small pack of beowulfs or an ursa if you could squeeze them in there, which knowing grimm is near impossible. I'm halfway tempted to just have Autumn and I heft it out of the hole and hand it over to Port. He'd at least find a use for it and it's far better than the Fang messing around with Grimm.

I can only imagine that it'll be used as a terror weapon or to sow chaos while this group moves on. Hopefully it's just this group and no one else as I haven't found anything like this at the other locations. There is a niggling at the back of my brain that the 'grimm tidings' that higher up mentioned was referring to this and if that's the case I expect that there will be far more than just the one cage. I shake my head dispelling that train of thought. I take plenty of pictures for evidence; at the very worst it will help convince the more hardline members that the Vale branch had to be stopped if I take any extreme action. Admittedly it would be better if the cage was full of grimm, but honestly I'm fine if this entire part of their plan just never comes to fruition.

My research into semblances takes me down another rabbit hole of sorts. Instead of looking into time dilation I research the observational capacities of semblances. In particular 'clairvoyant' semblances where the user learns of information that they should have no way of knowing, which my semblance definitely falls into. For most it's like a dial where they tune up or tune down their results with enough focus. This makes me wonder if Marina's semblance would fall into this category or if it's more like a form of super-intuition. The latter wouldn't suit the girl, but semblances don't have to fit their user.

At first I thought that my semblance worked like this and tried focusing on a particular area to try and get clearer details, but I could never figure it out on my own. No matter what I did nothing became any clearer or fuzzier and when combined with my other experiments I've long since given up on trying to improve my semblance directly. However, as my research has shown, I can still find novel interactions and abilities that I didn't know about. Which is what brings me to the smaller fraction of clairvoyant semblances.

For them it's more like a switch than a dial. There is no or very little range between their upper and lower band of their semblance. Typically this is found as an auxiliary ability for semblances though I don't know if that's a trend or just a bias. It also makes me wonder how many semblances or aspects of them go undiscovered purely because no one finds out about their activation condition. Take Nora for example, how do you discover that electricity supercharges your muscles even on accident much less on purpose? I never asked her about that, but I'm sure there's a story there although I get the feeling it will be underwhelming for some reason.

Some say there is an intuitive part of semblances that makes them want to be used which I understand to a degree. It's not like stepping into my mirror world was the most unintuitive thing when I first started using it. But, I don't feel like that explains enough as otherwise there wouldn't be very many locked semblances among people. Maybe it's something I should look into at some point, but for right now it's a distraction.

It's a long shot, but I take a stab in the dark. I write a short sentence and put it underneath my bed and run a battery of tests. At first I focus on the sentence in full and nothing changes, but I continue narrowing it down until I focus purely on the first word at the top of the page. When I step into my mirror world that time everything is distorted like all the paints on a canvas ran together.

I'm able to dig out the paper and find the word much clearer than everything else around me. After some further tests I find that it's still subject to my semblance's normal distortion, though to a lesser degree. It does put an upper limit on how far away I can be from something, but it's already a huge increase in my abilities. Unfortunately like the rest of my semblance this doesn't seem to be something that I can train up, I can either use it or not.

After some more tests I find out that it's not focusing on the word that is responsible for the increase in detail, but rather the area that I focus on adding another hurdle to using this in the wild as I have to be pretty specific in where I'm targeting for it to work effectively. At most I can get a few words so it will also eat into a lot of my time if I ever have to read a document using this method, but it is another tool in my belt for the future.

Aura(Practical) raised from (123/625) to (138/625) Source: Semblance usage

Combat Raised from (279/625) to (295/625) Source: Class & Oobleck

Culture raised form (22/150) to (27/150) Source: Oobleck

Dust raised from (23/150) to (29/150) Source: Class

Grimm raised from (82/150) to (88/150) Source: Class

History raised from (152/300) to (171/300) Source: Class & Oobleck

Investigation raised from (189/300) to (202/300) Source: Class, Challenge, & Oobleck

Mobility raised from (143/300) to (203/300) Source: Class & Oobleck

Semblance(Knowledge) raised from Rank 2 (148/150) to Rank 3 (6/300) Source: Training

Survival raised from (73/150) to (79/150) Source: Class

Discretionary budget reduced to (3850/5000L) Source: Agent Payments

LloydAbsolon · Feb 27, 2024

Winter Schnee

My scroll dings with a message and I check to see if it is anything important. It turns out to be a message from Weiss written in her usual letter format; something that I taught her how to do to make responding to her easier. Plus there is a certain personal nature to drafting letters to each other that simple messages can not convey. I set my scroll back down and return to work.

Unfortunately, I can not give her the attention that she deserves as I am neck deep in paperwork at the moment. General Ironwood is preparing the fleet for the trip to Vale and there are a number of operations and checks that have to be gone through before everything is cleared to go. I have my own, minor, part in ensuring the fleet is ready, but my bigger obligation is temporarily taking over some of the operations the General is in charge of here in Atlas.

It takes an hour, but I am able to work until I find a good stopping point before I indulge myself in whatever my sister has sent me. It can not be any worse than her last surprise, though the look on father's face when I could smugly tell him that, yes that man is dating Weiss and that man is indeed a faunus was something that I will never forget. His release of that article, however, was much more tasteless. Turning my sister's moment of happiness into some stunt to repair the damage to the Schnee name that he caused. If he could forget about protecting the family name then maybe he would have some family left that still gives a damn about him.

I take a breath to find my center, I am not about to let him win even in my own mind, and find a pleasant distraction in Weiss' letter. Among the usual pleasantries and how do you do's she includes her plans for her break from Beacon. Surprisingly she has chosen to return home to meet with Father. Presumably Mother and Whitley as well, but her primary reason is Father.

She details her reasoning and it sounds distinctly un-Weiss-like to me. Sure she has had a fascination with the SDC and turning it around since she became heiress, but never before would she have lowered herself so low as to beg him for help. I will have to make my displeasure known to the person responsible for filling her head with these ideas

I may have accepted her reasoning for taking a more active hand in the SDC. Our father is petty enough to strip her of her heirship as well. I, however, draw the line at allowing her to torture herself. Restoring our family's good name is not worth it if she is going to subject herself to this and honestly I would prefer if she would stop altogether.

It has done me more good than I could describe casting off his influence and relying on my own merits. In the army no one cares that I am Winter Schnee, only that I am Specialist Schnee and that I can do my job as well if not better than anyone else. It is a shame that Weiss has not learned the same lesson yet, but with time I may be able to impress it upon her.

Still, my sister is visiting and I can not wait to meet her. That is until I check the date she is arriving. Regrettably, she will not be here early enough for me to have any time for her. With a heavy heart I have to decline; I can not abandon my post for my sister as much as I wish I could. With the responsibilities entrusted to me I have to be reachable at all hours of the day.

It is with no pleasure that I send my response back to her. I feel like it has been so long since we have actually spoken to one another and letters can only do so much to counteract that. Especially since she has gotten more secretive as of late; ever since she got in a relationship with that boy in fact. Whereas beforehand she would be forthright and willing to answer whatever questions I proposed, as few as they were, now she is reluctant to answer the most basic of inquiries about him. Behavior that I find most suspicious; suspicious enough that I looked into the boy myself.

Ochre Rovere, a faunus born in Menagerie. That is if I am willing to believe what Weiss first told me about him. He, unfortunately, does not have a record among any of the four Kingdoms so that story is as likely as any other. It is curious then how he was able and willing to go to Beacon of all places. While I would not want to discount the unofficial fifth Kingdom, they and their inhabitants are not known for being the most willing to join with the wider world or the most advanced. Maybe I am worrying about nothing, but his effect on Weiss' behavior is undeniable and his lack of a record is almost too convenient.

I take another calming breath, I am going to get no further with it now than I have before. Moving on to more productive measures I return to the dwindling paperwork I have to work through. The next document that I find is another request from the council to reopen a particular investigation. This should be on the General's desk and not mine, it must have gotten mixed up in the shuffle that is going on. Or it could be purposeful on his part. Either way I will bring it to his attention, but maybe a peak would not hurt to make sure it is a serious enough matter to demand his attention.

The investigation in question turns out to be about a break-in that occurred at one of our facilities. The facility had technical specs on the CCT Relays and potential deeper insights into the network itself which, understandably, caught the council's attention. The prime suspect remains unidentified as he wore a balaclava to cover his face. This provided further use than just hiding his identity.

Foregoing the usual grimm mask prevented an early link to him and the local cell of the White Fang from being formed, buying the man enough time to make his escape. While the cell was rounded up without too much issue the last lead we have is that he was on a boat heading towards Mistral. However, before any assets could be assigned to investigate this further the General shut down the investigation and reassigned all operatives to other matters.

It is not my place to question General Ironwood's judgment, but this seems particularly egregious. Even more so when he has thus far refused to provide his reasoning to the council, at least that is why I assume this inquiry is being made in the first place. Whatever the case may be this document has to reach him for his decision on the matter. Seeing as he has two of the five seats on the council there is no way that he is not aware of their inquiries on the matter, but protocol must be followed.

As I approach his office I find the door slightly ajar. I do not hear anything from the other side other than the occasional noise and knock on the wood. I hear the clearing of a throat and General Ironwood calls out, "Enter."

I salute, hand over the document and stand at attention with my hands behind my back. "I believe this document requires your attention, sir," I say professionally before falling silent. While I would like to satisfy my curiosity, it is up to the General whether he believes that is a necessary action.

"At ease," he says almost automatically and I relax. He reads the first page of the document before shaking his head and setting it aside. "Ah, that again. There is no reason for you to worry about this any further. I'll make sure that the council is aware that this matter is already handled." That confirms to me that he must know something, otherwise he would not be as confident as he is. He must pick up on my conclusion as he looks me dead in the eye and asks, "Is there something you'd like to say, Schnee?"

"If I may be so bold sir," I receive a nod for my permission, "I do not understand why we have not followed up on this matter."

"You think I'm hiding something," he states with absolute certainty.

"The thought may have crossed my mind," I say, careful not to accuse him of anything.

He gives me a hard stare and I weather it with my usual discipline. After a moment he exhales and speaks up, "In this case you would be correct." He raises a hand to cut off any objections I might raise on the matter. "Trust me when I say that I'm not withholding this information because I don't trust the council, or you. I'm withholding it because it is that serious and warrants the highest level of security. In due time you will know everything that I'm talking about and I ask for you to be patient until then."

"Understood sir," I respond with a snappy salute before turning to leave for the day. I am not sure what could be serious enough to hide from the council and the promise that I will find out at some indeterminable point in the future only makes things more murky. There is not much that I believe could fall into both categories, but I have to trust that the General knows what he is doing.

"Winter," he calls out and I stop immediately and then turn around on my heel to regard him properly. "Once the Vytal Festival is over you'll know everything that you need to. Now you are dismissed."

"Thank you, sir," I reply back much more enthusiastically before departing. I do not know what could be so dire that it has to be kept from the council, but I am honored that the General would see fit to extend me that kind of trust.

A Fang Reformed (RWBY SlightAU)

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Recent threadmarks

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A Fang Reformed (RWBY SlightAU)

Albain Brothers

Conspiracy

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Dust Robberies of Vale:

The Apprehension of Adam Taurus:

The Cabal of Cinder Fall

Merlot Machinations

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