Not for the FYNT of Heart
Chapter 1 – Begin the Blaze
Located west of the much safer kingdom of Vale, the continent of Sanus holds a second kingdom, a place of dangers and adventure, truly here in Vacuo the only law is that of survival of the fittest. Whether you be man or woman, elder or child, human, faunus, if you can live no one will fault your heritage, it's actions that make the man not your bloodline. To the other kingdoms this may seem odd, Atlas especially have little reputation of being kind to its faunus and it's no wonder some of Vacuo's inhabitants came to be, having run from its cold reach to live in the light.
The deserts can be unforgiving to those unprepared, sure you can find smaller settlements outside of Shade but if you're going to Vacuo looking for protection even the kindest settler may turn you away if you can hold a sword properly. Rubrum, one of the kinder camps, home to the Whitewing family, banished from their homeland, headed by quiet and gentle parents, they protect their livlihood by hunting small grimm and wild animals but it is their eldest son who truelly protects their way of life. Falu Whitewing.
A lean and fairly attractive young man, if the neighbours were to be believed. He had darkned skin with burnt red hair that was naturally quite messy, he spent a good amount of time braiding it, often using his own red feathers to complete the wild look, his eyes were piercing, a pale green and all of these features combined with growing hints of a stubble and little jagged lip scar made his age ambigious. The young man in question was leaned over a red piece of cloth, needle in hand he made precise stiches of fire dust in the material giving it a warm feel, he was just about done when a small child ran into the room pushing back the also embroided curtain.
"Falu! Ma's back and she brought chicken from the market!" She giggled immediantly turning back to run into the ajoined room, Falu rose and scooped up the child who protested despite her laughs as he tied his completed bandana around her neck, the material was several times too big for her neck looking more stupid then anything.
"Dumby Falu! It's way too warm for this, ya know if you used ice dust it'd work waaay better, this is for Atlas idiots!" She scolded him taking the bandana shoving it in his face.
"Mordri Whitewing I'm offended. Do you really want me to try and use ice dust? What hurtful words."
"Yeah yeah dumdum, put me down already! Gareth's setting the table! Pa brought back some veggies, he and ma want all three of us. Dunno why." Falu sighed setting the little girl down, he ruffled her raven coloured hair.
"Not this again... go on then." With a giggle she took off through her and Gareth's room down the stairs to the family room, Falu followed at a slower pace taking in the sight of his family home, warm and loving despite its cramped living space, sure both his parents worked hard but without Falu as the backbone could that really last?
"Falu, dear take a seat." An awkward greeting from his mother, first sign of something coming, his father walked around the table placing plates of meat and vegetables for the family of five as Falu and Orca Whitewing shared an awkward silence. This continued on for a good ten minutes with Falu picking at his food as his younger siblings devoured everything on their plates.
"So, there I was facing down the white end of the King Tajititu Cobra when it's second head tried to take a bite of me, luckily for me I've had my fair share of encounter with snakelife and long story short, we've got enough lien from the villagers of Cae to last us two whole months!" Their mother was finishing another story of her exploits, their father carried on by explaining how he'd taken down a small group of bandits.
Gareth and Mordri were of course awestruck, the fact that their parents were exagerrating their adventures never occurring to them but Falu saw no need to change this, he was just waiting, waiting for his parents to turn on him.
"If a Tajititu has two heads does that mean it has two brains?" Gareth asked.
"Dumdum, grimm don't even have brains right ma?" Mordri hissed back with a mouth full of food.
"It's souls they don't have mushbrain!"
"Alright that's enough." Loth Whitewing interrupted with a chuckle. A few moments of silence between the parents and their eldest passed, once the two children finished bickering their father spoke up again.
"So Falu, you know what's coming up soon." Falu sighed.
"Yes father."
"Look son, the Shade Initiation is a wonderful opportunity for you, you do still want to become a huntsman, right?"
"I don't care too much; besides I'm needed here. I didn't take the test last year and I'm sure not taking it this year either." He answered, both siblings fell quiet under their brother's words
"We only want what's best for you Falu, your father and I can handle the house ourselves, you'd be better off training in Shade, you're more than qualified so I'm sure Professor Vanir will look past your age-"
"Forget it." Falu rose and locked eyes with his father. "Thanks for the meal." He muttered before returning to his room, his curtain began to glow with heat as the dust embedded in the cloth gave off a dangerous heat. Do not enter. The message was clear. As the night started and he laid upon his bed there was a whisper from the adjoining room.
"B-bro, I think mum and dad are right." Gareth's nervous voice started.
"We wanna go to Shade one day too so y'know, you should too!" Mordri backed him up, Falu blocked out their voices and rolled onto his side.
"Go to sleep."
Not that it was easy, deep down he did want to be huntsman, his dreams and ideals were clashing like fire and ice, which one would win? He couldn't say for sure. His parents had made up their minds and already called for assistance from a professional huntsman, one Xanthia Vanir.