Three days. She had been at that inn for three days and she was to wait just as much before she could get on board of the next ship for Mistral; granted, there wasn't anything else she could do, especially if she was to bring along her trusty motor bike, but that didn't mean she was pleased with the whole situation. In short, Yang Xiao Long was unhappy with her predicament.
Despite her father worries, she felt pretty confident she could take on whatever challenge she would come across this journey, she did trained with her old man for the last three weeks after all and more importantly she was no longer short of a limb. She flexed once again the fingers of her prosthetic, still surprise by how natural it felt despite being a piece of metal, no matter the amount of circuitry and pneumatic muscle they could have filled it, it didn't change the fact that it was something stranger to her body. And yet after the first days of awkwardness, she could use it as if it had always been part of her, a far cry from the clunky movement she had expected. Overall things were looking good for the near future, surely she was bound to find some kind of trouble in the long run, there was no doubt about that especially with what she was planning, but there was no reason to worry for what she couldn't see yet. Now if only that ship could arrive earlier...
She sighed and started looking around herself, the rest of tables were almost all empty, those who were dining or drinking there already went to their rooms and she was one of the few still lingering around, not that she expected otherwise, if the clock hanged behind the counter was to be trusted it was a few minutes past midnight and she doubted many others would have spent most of their evening on a trip down memory lane. So as she prepared herself to join many of the other customers upstairs she gave one last look to those brave enough to face the night sitting at their tables: two grizzled mid-aged men ahead of her, talking about everything from politics to grilled steaks, obviously drunk; an elderly lady, next to a window on her left, looking outside as if waiting for someone; a passed out police officer, who didn't seemed too much concerned with his supposed prohibition to drink on duty, in the process of being carried out by the innkeeper.
A shuffling from behind reminded her of one last customer, one that despite her unfamiliarity with said person, she couldn't help but find obvious he would have been there all this time, since it was him. He had arrived two days before without anything clamorous to announce his presence, his own aspect however was more than enough to gain attention: he was a couple of inches higher than her and a few years older at most, a slim build yet he obviously trained enough to gain the physique of a swimmer; his skin was pale as if he didn't get outdoor in a long time, despite his clothes telling another story; his hairs were a light brown, like bronze, cut short and messy, as if he just got out of the bed. Even more peculiar was his attire especially since he was wearing aviator sunglasses inside a building; he wore a midnight blue shirt and a pair of grey cargo pants, tucked inside a pair of black leather boots; covering most of those clothes there was a black leather trench coat completely unbuttoned that reached down to his knees; the final touch a pair of black leather gloves and a cyan silk scarf, meticulously wrapped around his neck so that while a length of it went down from his left shoulder to his chest, the rest was loosely covering the lower half of his face along with the neck.
All considered he looked like he just raided a clothing shop and wore the first things he got from the shelves, there was however one last detail that told otherwise: underneath his trench coat one could see a massive gun on his left hip, linked trough a thin chain to a barely visible blade on the right one; coupled with his peculiar fashion choices this highly suggested that this stranger was a trained fighter, maybe even a newly graduated Hunter. To prove this further, a few hours later he managed to get himself in the middle of a trouble in the making; a drunk customer decided it was a fun idea to harass one of the two waitresses, a petite wolf faunus, and got into a growing heated argument with the innkeeper. She had been keeping an eye on the situation, readying herself for when it would get worse, until he stepped in and try to defuse the ticking bomb that the drunkard proved to be. An effort that was clearly in vain since said drunkard began to threaten the three of them along with their families up to their grandparents and was obviously getting ready for a brawl. The stranger tried once more for a peaceful resolution, before repaying him in kind and saying something about how the man got an ugly wristwatch and how, if was to try anything violent, he would end up with a even uglier face; in Yang's book this supposed Hunter had already earned a cool point for the speech, only to earn two more when he proved to be more than talk, evading a drunken blow from the customer and hitting him in return with one hell of a right hook.
Nuisance dealt with and brought out of the inn, he proceeded to apologies to the owner for the inconvenience and head upstairs; only to lose all the cool points earned when he turned toward Yang, made a two fingers mock salute and clicked his tongue. At least he proved to be able to take a hint, since he seemed to understand she wasn't amused by his poor flirt attempt and decide to keep going up the stairs as if nothing happened. Since then he proved to be at least interesting, in the same way one would find a particular complex puzzle interesting: he spent most of the day doing maintenance on his gun or sharpening his blade with a whetstone, or jury-rigging a pair of older scrolls in something she couldn't make head or tail of; his first evening he tried to order a drink she never heard of, only to find out they had no idea what it was and neither had the ingredients to make it, so he settled for a beer. He seemed to fancy the waitress she helped when he arrived, if the fact he tried as much as possible to spend time with her without slowing her work; judging from the snippets of conversation between the two that she overheard, he seemed like a nice guy, trying to make her feel comfortable and genuinely interest in learning more about her, something that the girl seemed to appreciate; what Yang wasn't sure she would appreciate was how the moment she left his table he turned to look at her walking away, staring lower than what most people would find appropriate.
Overall she didn't know what to think of him, but in those two day she managed to catch a lot of details she had missed on his first impression: his trench coat had only four button, each almost two inches wide, finely chiseled with a design she couldn't make out from the distance and, if the way they shined was anything to go by, probably made out of silver and polished like a mirror; polished to the same degree and under the same suspicion when it came to the material, were two thin plates on both of the sleeves of the coat, no bigger than a hand and with a different symbol on each one, which she vaguely remembered to be some sort of old mistralian language; his weapon was another interesting novelty to her, the bulky gun looked more like a rifle that had been ridiculously shortened to allow wielding it in one hand and was painted electric blue with silver accents, while the blade was shaped like a semi-circle and mounted over something similar to a pair of knuckles, both linked through a length of chain no thicker than her pinky; finally she managed just the day before to catch him without his sunglasses and took notice of his turquoise green eyes.
If this was one of those detective drama series on the TV, then this would have been the moment where the cynical private detective with an hidden heart of gold would reveal what those evidences told him: he was a trained fighter, either a recently graduated Hunter or an academy drop out who still managed to get a work in the same field; he preferred speed over strength and relied upon a weapon that while relatively simple one could suppose to be effective; he either had a moderate amount of wealth or wanted to give that idea, judging by the choice of material for part of his attire; without doubt his favourites colours were blue and silver, probably also some of the darker shades if his amount of black was anything to go by, and had a preferences for small details; finally, he seemed to have a knack for technology, to be a morally upstanding individual and to act like a stereotypical gentleman more often than not, although he probably hid a perverted streak under all those layer of good manners. But she was no detective and honestly speaking, unless he started trouble she didn't particularly care about what he was up to; that evening however something caught her attention, since the usually solitary man, barred his conversation with his favourite waitress, had company.
On the other side of his table was seated a girl that couldn't be older than him and Yang briefly wondered how she didn't noticed her getting there, since she was sure that up to a few minutes ago he was still all by himself; doing so she ended up giving her a better look only to realize she was a good competitor to the stranger weirdness. She was shorter than him, probably an inch shorter than Yang herself, with a sleek build and despite her physique being "thinner" than most girl, she still manage to look fit enough to make obvious that she also wasn't a stranger to combat, much like her companion. She got long brown hairs reaching a few inches past her shoulder, with a side pony-tail on her left kept in place by an air accessory shaped like a pair of leaves, and bright green eyes; her outfit included a black shirt and a pair of black shorts, while at her feet she wore knee-high black boots, however most of her attire was covered by a blue trench coat with black details, its sleeves so long her hand couldn't be seen.
She surely was a strange sight, but apart from her sudden appearance, Yang wasn't particularly concerned, so she began to get ready to leave for her room when she saw the faunus waitress briskly walking toward her direction while carrying two tall glasses with her; once she went past her she realized it must have been an order from the unusual couple behind her and found herself once again speechless, since she couldn't recall none of the two talking with any of the two waitresses or even the innkeeper for that matter. Once the girl reached the table, she put the glasses in front of her customers and then turned to the one she was more familiar with: "There you go! Your usual blonde beer and a Dust Cola for your friend. Is there anything else you need?"
"Oh no, we're alright" replied said customer before grabbing his beer "Thank you again Meri, as always you're a dear."
"I'm just doing my work here Farraige" Yang heard her saying, still surprised by how the two were on a first name base already. She barely notice the retreating form of the waitress, hoped to herself she was just imagining the blushing and almost got out of her chair before catching some words from the newly arrived girl behind her: "Farraige? Really?"
"Yes, you can't just ask people name before giving yours first, but trust me she's worth it, she really is something else. Did you know Meri's grandpa was from Atlas? That's how she got her name, it comes from an ancient dialect from the north of Mantle, it means sea..." Yang heard her companion reply, but it was the next piece of conversation, almost whispered to the point of being unintelligible, that caught her attention: "Couldn't you choose a better one?"
Choose a better one.
As if he picked up his own name.
As if it wasn't his real name.
Careful to not make any sudden movement, Yang used the reflection on a nearby window to steal another glance at those two; he had pulled his scarf down to drink from his glass, while she managed to notice a few details of the other girl she had missed before, a small black collar on her neck on the huge buttons on her trench coat. She idly wondered if the two of them went shopping in the same clothes store before she heard his answer: "You're one to talk, Iridia !"
"At least i have the excuse of not spending too much time with people, what's yours, running out of ideas already?"
"As if that could happen!"
"Right, i forgot your self-confidence is triumphed only by your womanizing tendencies."
"Hey! I am no womanizer! Can you fault me for being so successful to socialize with woman?"
"Yes when all of them are young "peculiar" beauty."
He huffed before saying tiredly: "I thought the lot of you were done with this. Could we try not to inquire into my private life for more than a few minutes?"
"Fine, fine" she said bringing up her arms "Pleasant talks aside, i suppose you finally made it? It took you longer than expected."
"You try doing it with scraps from two ten years old broken scrolls, see if it's still longer than expected!"
"But since you called me here it means that you did it right?"
"Well, sure, if you want to ignore all of my efforts you can put it like that!"
"Don't sass me, i bet you got it done in less than a week."
"Three days to be exact."
"Remind me again why we work together?"
"Because of my incredible charm?"
"Or.." he continued after noticing the killing glare she was giving him "Because despite my technological brilliance you're still leagues ahead when it comes to intelligence work?"
"And don't you forget it! At least it means we can move on now once we got those two... Well, i could already ride away with my own two wheels, but since i'm a nice girl i decided to spend some quality time with you."
"You're oh so merciful your highness!"
"Will you ever let go of your sarcasm?"
"Only when you'll let go of those phones of yours."
Yang had no idea what he was talking about, but judging by the tense expression that came upon the girl face it was something important, at least to her. "Don't joke about that!" she all but shouted, while looking at him like he just asked her to cut of a limb "You know what they're to me, you shouldn't even be making that kind of joke."
"I just find strange how you're all so eager to point out my interaction with other people, but when it comes to you nobody seems to care. I mean, sure everybody talk about Violet, but she's... you know, Violet! I would be weird if people weren't talking about her, you on the other hand..."
"Alright, one, i already explained myself, so i feel no need to tell you once again the reason why i act like i do, and two... you should know better that to talk about her like that!"
"Come on, as if she could do something about it, she's under the same rule as us, no way she can't act out any kind of petty revenge."
"Weren't you the one that once told me that one can't be punished if they don't catch him breaking the rules? And we both know that she know how to cheat and get away with it."
"Fine, i'll be more careful in the future."
"Good! Now if that's all..." she said while getting up from the chair, until she caught his face and stop half-way trough.
"What is it now?"
"Oh? Oh, nothing!"
"That's not nothing. Why are you sulking like that?"
"I'm not sulking, it's just..."
"You want to tell me how you made the transmitter, don't you?"
"Well, when you put it like that..."
"You know right that i don't get any of your geek talk."
"Why you must be so rude! And here i was trying to deepen our bounds by telling you of how trough sweat and tears i managed to find a way for us to be no longer lonesome stranger in a stranger world..."
"Cut the drama out, i'll listen!" she said slumping on the table.
"Really, well we better start then!" he replied while giggling like a child, a sight that Yang never thought could be that unnerving "See, at first i thought relaying the circuits could be used to create a stable communication matrix..." he then launch himself in a mess of techno-babble that made Ruby's explanation of her latest upgrades of Crescent Rose seems a bed-time story by comparison.
Seeing no other use in staying around she finally went to her room, although her mind was boiling with all the pieces of conversation she overheard; while it was true that she probably did wrong by getting in a person privacy like that, she couldn't deny that what she heard was far more concerning.
Granted she had no contest in which to frame that talk and she didn't understood most of it anyway, but no one could deny that the whole affair sounded like something straight out of a spy-novel: code names, cover identities, mysterious mission going on undercover and even secret agents who supposedly were to rendez-vous with the mysterious man who took residence in her same inn. Now all she had to do was...
What was she going to do? She wasn't there for fun, she had to get to Mistral, not waste time in what could turn out to be a ghost hunt! This wasn't like back at Beacon, she wasn't trying to find out the ulterior motive of a mysterious villain, this time she knew exactly who were the villains and the stranger down stairs, no matter how weird or suspicious he might have been, wasn't one of them. She was probably better off trying to forget all of that and hope that the next day he wouldn't get doubts about what she could have heard from him; with this thoughts in mind she finally decided to let sleep take over her and drift off in her dreams.
The next day there wasn't any trace of the girl, but there where tracks outside the inn that hinted how she left; despite her worries she wasn't approached by him and he didn't regarded her any different than the previous days, if anything he seemed more relaxed and upbeat and was even more talkative than before with the waitress, Meri if she recalled correctly. A couple of times Yang found herself briefly remembering the previous night talk about two more people and wondered if she would meet them before her ship would arrived, but she quickly dismissed those thoughts telling herself that they were none of her business anyway; for that reason she decided to get to sleep right after dinner, to avoid any other run-ins with whatever visitor the now more mysterious than ever guest down-stairs might get. Despite her best effort however, she woke up just a few hours later and no matter how hard she tried she could get back to sleep; with nothing better to do she quickly changed herself and left her room to go on walk, hoping that it would help her to sleep later.
From the railing on the second floor she could see all of the inn dining room below her and she noticed that this time around no one, not even her supposed secret agent or whatever he was, was to be found; as she made her way down the stairs she got a look on the clock behind the counter which told her it was a quarter past midnight, meaning that if the staff wasn't already in their own rooms, they'll probably be there shortly after. She kept on walking until she reached the front door, finding that it was still open and so she went outside only to stop herself when she took notice of an eerie sight in the courtyard; leaning on tree right next to the road there was a coffin.
At first Yang thought she must have been mistaken, but once she got closer to get a better look she realized that there was indeed a black coffin resting against the bark of the skeletal tree in the courtyard; it wasn't anything too fancy, just a simple wooden coffin lacquered in black, although well polished, with a silver cross on the lid, which was closed. As she was just a couple of feet away from it she noticed that it had sunk about an inch in the soft soil, meaning that there was something inside and whatever it was must have been quite heavy. For a moment she wondered how well that situation would have sold as ghost story, before she steadied herself and extended gingerly an arm toward the lid, her curiosity getting the better of her common sense.
"I wouldn't do that if i were you."
Only to froze in shock once she heard a voice from behind her; twisting she turned around as she began to get into a combat stance, ready to face any hostile newcomers, but she found herself to be once again surprised. Now standing in front of her was a girl not more older than her that by a couple of years, about her same height and with about her same "abundance", while looking less muscular but still fit; she also got blonde hair, although of a paler shade and cut shorter than her shoulder, while her eyes where covered by a pair of red tinted shades. Most of her was covered by a black rain coat that reached below her knees, leaving to the sight a pair of dark red combat boots and the red leather gloves she wore on her hand; without even the need to ask, Yang was almost sure by the choice of attire and the uncanny air she gave off, that she must have been one of the two people the mysterious guest was talking about.
"As i was saying, i wouldn't touch that coffin" the girl continued "It's not a good idea to poke your nose in what belongs to other people and i know for sure that this coffin is someone private property."
Yang straightened herself up and tried to muster the most unperturbed look she could manage, however she found herself having difficulties doing so, since there was something in this newcomer that was giving her the creeps despite her not looking particularly threatening or frightening.
"Oh really?" she finally managed to say "And how would you know that?"
"Because it's mine."
If at first she had goose bumps, now Yang had to force herself to suppress a shiver from showing up; she had to have heard it wrong, there was no way that girl could have just said a line more fit to one of those old horror movie she used to see when she was still up late at night.
"Wha- What do you mean it's yours?"
"Let's say that with the life i got it's pretty handy to have a coffin ready for you."
Trying to ignore the quite dark statement Yang pressed on: "Then why does it looks like it's already occupied?"
"Just because i don't need it now doesn't mean i can't find another use in the meantime, as of right now it works as a personal storage of sort."
"And you don't find weird using a coffin as if it was a locker?"
"No. Why, is something wrong?"
"No, no, if it's fine by you..."
Yang found herself with nothing else to say and soon she began to feel awkward by standing there in complete silence with a stranger; just as she was thinking of going back at the inn, the girl interrupted her by speaking again: "Nice moon tonight, don't you think?"
Finding herself at a loss, Yang looked up at the moon and notice that it was indeed a nice night; the moon was almost full and the clear sky let her saw all of the stars of the night. For a moment she was actually entranced by the clearness with which the moon was shining, then she remembered who was with her, but once she looked back at her she found her still looking at the moon with what she thought was a nostalgic look, although masked by her shades.
"It' s almost full, it should take until tomorrow at most. No wonder he chose now of all time, he had always been that peculiar, although you should have notice by now, haven't you?"
"Sorry, who you're talking about?"
"Don't act dumb, if he spent his time here you know who i'm talking about. It's impossible to not notice him, not with all the effort he does to stand out."
"A friend of yours i take?"
"More like an uncomfortably close acquaintance."
"How can an acquaintance be uncomfortable?"
"I'm sure he already gave enough proof to figure it out yourself. Did he already ordered something that clearly can't be found in a place like this? Maybe he bragged about something exceptional in which only him seems to exceed at? Or perhaps he already made a fool of himself with the wolf?"
Although Yang caught the definitively not nice term she used to refer to the faunus waitress, it didn't seemed like she meant it with any particular malice; if anything, judging from her tone, she sounded more tired than anything else.
"You sure seem to know a lot about him for being just an acquaintance."
"After working with someone for three years you kind of have to know them better. And you didn't answer the question, it's the waitress, isn't it?"
Yang kept to herself the question of what kind of work she was talking about, since the girl looked young enough to have been still in school three years before, and reluctantly answered: "Yes, it's her."
"I kind of expected it, the girl is his type after all."
"And you got that in just an evening?"
"How do you know i haven't been here longer?"
There was something in the way she said that, some sort of implication left hanging, an almost imperceptible smirk on her face, that put Yang on edge once more; whoever the girl was, she knew how to be scary, that much she could give. Said girl smiled almost immediately and forced down a giggle, which in any other situation would have sounded cute, before saying: "I'm kidding, you're right i came here just an hour ago, but i know him enough to feel safe to say this sort of things. Besides, apart for them to be nice people, his requirements, if you can call them that, for girls to be his type aren't that metaphysical, just "peculiar" if anything else."
"You're the second person to say that with that tone."
"Oh, am i now?" she asked with a smirk which Yang was sure would have made her look smug if it wasn't for those shades of her.
"But yes, he likes things out of the ordinary, so to speak" she continued " It less of things they must have and more of nice bonus of them to have, but once he find one who got them, you can rest assure that he will go head over his heels for her."
"And why are these bonus so peculiar?"
"Well, for one he likes when the hairs don't match the eyes..."
"Match?"
"Yes, like when the hairs are very dark but the eyes are very light, also the opposite, although he does think red hairs should fit only with green eyes..."
"Well, that's oddly specific, but I don't think..."
"One also shouldn't be higher than him, probably it's just about an inferiority complex... Oh, and freckles, he thinks girls with freckles are adorable!"
"I still not see what so strange about..."
"And glasses, he loves girls with glasses, there's also that thing he has with heterochromia..."
"Hetero what now?"
"When the eyes colours are mismatched."
"Right, that could be weird to be something you look for."
Now that she thought about it, that waitress just happened to be fairly short, spotting freckles and being dark haired while having green eyes; she definitely could see how she fitted with that guy tastes.
"Oh yes, there's also the whole thing about the ears."
"Like what, do her ears look cute or something?"
"No, it's not a matter of what they look it's a matter of what they are."
"Big and furry?"
"You almost got it."
Yang was confused about what she meant, until she got the idea and asked: "Would it have to be related to her being a faunus?"
"Not just a faunus, a wolf faunus."
"Does it means he likes wolf faunus?"
"It means he goes crazy for every faunus as long as they have fluffy ears" the other girl replied smirking "And don't get me started on when on top of that they have any other of his standards, there's was this girl, a cat or something like that, who got a blue eye and a yellow one, i thought he was going to ask her out on the spot."
"So you're saying that he's thinking..."
"To do something utterly idiotic for that girl? I hope not, he got better since i first met him! But does that means he will also refrain to act like a fool around her? Not likely, if you noticed him someone else has to have noticed too. Which bring another question."
Yang was taken aback as the girl turn to face her, all mirth gone and replaced by a dead serious expression, and wondered if she managed once again to get in trouble.
"How much have been keeping an eye on him, and why? Probably enough to see who he met yesterday, you did mention that i was the second person to talk about his habits after all."
So that's what it was all about, she probably thought she was a spy or an undercover agent or a hitman or whatever those guys were afraid of.
"Look, i didn't mean to get in to whatever private conversation he was having, but he was right behind me and he wasn't that easy too ignore either."
"That does sounds like him. But still, you must have some sort of interest for him, otherwise i doubt we would be talking here and somehow i don't think it's something as simple as a teenage crush."
"Why would you even think something like that?"
"Case on point."
Yang had to think over the situation, she didn't thought the girl was dangerous per se, but given that they were outside, alone and in the middle of the night, there was no telling what she would do if she thought of her as a danger; Yang still had Ember Celica with her, so at least she wasn't unarmed, but she didn't know anything of what the girl was capable of besides, if she just got off a talk with her friend, and Yang was pretty sure that was the case, he could be near enough to lend her a hand and things could have got quite messy. So she tried instead to give her most earnest answer and hope she would believe her: "Alright, i was a bit curious, that much i can give, but there was something about him that just seemed out of place, i know i shouldn't be worrying over this, but if he turned out to have some ill will and something bad happened because i didn't see it coming, i couldn't live with myself afterward."
For a moment that seemed to last forever the girl in front of her stared at Yang as if she was trying to read her soul, then cast down her eyes and smiled, this time as if she was resigned to something.
"Go figures we would run into one of those kind..." Yang heard her mutter barely above a whisper "Alright, i'll give up the benefit of doubt and say i believe you!" she said this time almost shouting cheerfully "Just don't think too much of him, he may be a little weird but deep down he got all the right cards to be a wonderful person. Now if you excuse me i should leave, spent too much time in idle chat here!"
Yang saw her going toward the coffin and before she could even ask what she was doing, the girl grabbed the bottom corner and thrown the whole thing on her shoulder in one fluid motion, as if it was a laundry bag and not a wooden coffin as big as her and full of whatever made the heavy metallic clattering sound she just heard; at this point she didn't even know if she should be more surprised by the obvious feat of strength by the apparently inconspicuous girl or by the sudden change in her mood or if she should even be surprised in the first place.
"Right, almost forgot..." she said once again dead serious "You shouldn't take any offer he may make you until you're done."
"Excuse me?"
"I can see it, you need to get something done, i went through something similar myself so i recognize who's doing the same." Then she moved her head toward her left arm and even behind those shades Yang could feel she was staring at the prosthetic limb.
"He doesn't mean harm, but when he think to have found someone with potential then he ask them to help him out and join his same duty. If he didn't find you interesting before, he may do in the near future, so i'm asking you to decline his offer. I know it may look like i'm forcing choices on you, but i speak from experience when i say right now you need closure, not embarking on a new journey. So if you truly want to get done whatever you got here for just say no to him, better yet ignore him until you leave or he does."
She then began to walk away still under the gaze of Yang, who was still too confused to say anything, until she lifted an arm and began waving it while still giving her the back.
"Until next time, hope our next talk won't be so ominous!"
Those were the last words Yang heard from the girl, until she disappeared behind a corner.
That was her last night there, the next day she would finally board the ship that would bring her to Mistral and leave that inn behind her; despite this Yang spent her whole day thinking about that stranger, Farraige, which name she was now sure was fabricated, the two girl who had come to visit him and the unknown mission which he apparently was working on that very own moment. The blonde girl from the last night might have been right and maybe she would be better off acting as if nothing ever happened, but she had a compulsion, maybe earned trough her time at Beacon or maybe coming off her own sense of duty, that didn't let her forget about it, a constant reminder that that guy was part of some scheme she should have uncovered already, if anything else just to be sure there was no ill intent.
Knowing that he would make her some kind of offer that she was better off refusing didn't help either, but then again Yang had to wonder why would anyone try to drag some complete stranger into their own quest for adventure or whatever he was looking for; that girl said he could find her interesting, that to his eyes she could have some sort of potential, but she had no idea for what, just what kind of potential he could see in a girl he barely exchanged glances with?
These and many other thoughts were on her head as she was laying on her bed, unable to sleep despite being the middle of the night and she didn't dare to go down-stairs as long as she knew he could still be there; the first girl, Iridia if that was even her true name which she doubted, had mentioned two other people to come and Yang already run up into one of them, so she was confident that the last one was probably talking with the stranger. She didn't even know how long it would take before they parted way, the blonde spent no more than a hour according to her words before going outside the inn, while the other girl most likely spent much more time listening to his techno-babble, so there was no telling when the ground floor would be clear of them.
Despite all of those worries she must have managed to fall asleep at some point, because all of a sudden she found herself waking up at the sound of knuckles rapping on her door; she noticed that it was still dark outside and when she looked at her scroll the inner clock read almost half past two, so it was still night out there. Despite the knocking everything else seemed pretty peaceful so they weren't waking her up because the inn was on fire or any other kind of emergencies, so Yang was even more confused as to why someone would look for her at that hour of the night; seeing no other solution, she made herself presentable and went to open the door.
She immediately regret her decision and wished she could go back to sleep once she saw who was on the other side.
That guy.
That guy, the stranger, the newcomer, Farraige or whatever else he got himself to be called was in the hallway looking at her through his sunglasses despite being pitch black outside the few pools of light the lanterns hung at the wall created.
Yang first thought was to slam the door close, possibly after throwing him a punch, but once she calmed down she notice something unusual; each time she saw him he acted confident, polite, maybe theatrical and energetic, but never once he seemed troubled by anything. The person in from of her however, despite all the piece of clothing covering his face, was acting as if something was worrying him, constantly fidgeting and moving his head around, most likely looking around to distract himself; if she didn't know better she would have thought he was embarrassed of whatever he was there for.
Just as Yang began to question if she should be the first to break the ice he opened his mouth: "There is a person down-stairs who would like to meet you, could you follow me?"
Once again the way he said that, almost apologetic and tired, wasn't unlike anything she had come to expect from him in those day, making her truly wonder what was going on. She thought about refusing, then she asked herself if him or whoever could make him act like that would take a no as an answer; beside, despite the whole weirdness of the situation she still got a feeling, most likely fruit of half curiosity and half worry, that this might have been what the girl from the day before was talking about and despite her warning she still wanted to see what could come out of the inevitable upcoming conversation.
And so without a word she followed him through the hallway and down the ramp of stairs, before stepping in the main room of the inn, now silent and empty except for a chair at a table right in the middle of it, where someone was sitting. It was then that Yang noticed the first things that seemed amiss. She was a woman who looked older than twenty but younger than thirty, still older than the other two girls that visited the guy now at her side, with blonde hair that reached down to half of her back; another difference was that while the other three had quite the fancy attire, she was wearing a simple purple sundress and white shoes like the one she could find in a very expensive boutique. All in all she looked far more normal than any other acquaintance of Farraige or the man himself and yet the way he suddenly stiffened once they got closer told her this woman was more than met the eye; she couldn't tell more about her since she was turned with her back to her, but a movement of her head told her she noticed her presence, so Yang was sure she would show her face soon enough.
She immediately regretted to have ever wished so.
The moment the woman turned to face her, Yang felt her mind going blank and found herself unable to understand what she was looking at; she knew that it was supposed to be a face, but she couldn't focus on the details since she had been assaulted by a surge of emotions the moment the woman eyes looked at her. It was as if all of her instincts were telling her to run away, to cower and to fight back all at the same time and yet she didn't understand why she should do any of those things, she simply felt as if it was better for her to do so.
Being in that state of mind Yang couldn't mutter a single word, so it was no wonder that it was the woman who spoke first : "You must be the girl our common friend here was talking about, it's a pleasure to meet you and i must say i agree with his interest."
Yang barely noticed the slight accent and was instead more absorbed by feeling the tone of those words, that despite being polite and friendly, let out an hint of mischievousness that was enough to put her even more on edge; she had no clue what about the woman made her so panicked, but whatever it was it had scared far beyond what she thought possible and Yang didn't like it one bit.
"Violet please, stop bullying the poor girl and tease me at the same time."
"Come on, you can deny she's an improvement from what used to pick your interest, you almost had me thinking you'd never look at something that wasn't the girl equivalent of a plushy and here we are!"
"You know well that's not why she's here and that this isn't the place for talking about it!"
In the middle of the storm that was passing trough her head Yang managed to notice that he sounded embarrassed.
"Well, if she is to join us, then she need to know who she's working with, don't you agree dear?"
The question posed to her along with the mention of joining them was enough for Yang to finally get back on track and remember what was going on.
"Hold on lady, nobody here said anything about joining anything, what's going on?"
If he looked embarrassed before, now he seemed to be worried instead, while the woman simply ignored her question: "Did he told you about his previous "adventures"? No, how could he, the only way he would give you that kind of attention would be if you suddenly sprouted a pair of furred appendices."
"Violet please."
And now he was back to embarrassed.
"First there was that wolf, then a fox..."
"There's a time and place for everything and now isn't one of them."
"...a cat, a tiger, another cat, the snow leopard, we can't forget about her..."
"I doubt she interested in my past love live, just stop already."
"... a serval, yet another cat, he sure love those, the rabbit! That was something I wasn't expecting!"
"We already talked about her, pleas Violet, just cut it out!"
"And now there's another wolf, so now he made full circle!"
Yang was utterly confused, she couldn't make head or tail of what just happened except that she had been ignored completely, which in any other situation would have irked her, but now she was just at loss.
"Excuse me, i thought i asked you something!"
"Oh right, sorry for keep you waiting, but it's been so long since we met each other, you sure know what is like between old friend."
"Now we are friend?"
"Right, just ignore him. So, i kind of got that there are some things you would like to ask, have a seat so we can begin."
"I'm not joining whatever you're planning."
"Why don't you listen what we want from you first, i promise we won't force you to do anything. You can trust us Yang Xiao Long."
"You just said my name even though we never met before, how is that supposed to make me feel any better?"
"Come on, do we look that dangerous?"
"He seems trained and you have something that freak me out, so yes you do."
The woman was briefly surprised, then she smirked and turned toward the only man in the room, still standing at Yang side.
"You were right, she is interesting."
She turned once again at Yang and said: "You seem to be clever enough, so let's be honest, if we know this much already about you, why shouldn't we know more? And in that case, if we have any ill intention, why didn't we take any action before? Just as I said, sit down, relax and hear us out, if something feels wrong at any point you can leave with no consequence. So, what do you say?"
Yang thought about it, sure, it was obvious that there was something big behind all this, but it didn't mean she had to take part of it; they simply wanted to talk to her and it they were so interested in her and had some sort of hidden agenda, it was probably better to humor them as long as she still was in a relatively controlled environment than piss them off only to be approached again in a dark alley.
Even as she took a sit at the table Yang couldn't help but notice once again the purple eyes of the woman and how they seemed to gleam unnaturally and overtake any other detail of her face.
Whatever was going to happen next, it was going to be a long night.
A.N. Since you read the story you tell me, is this a crossover? I think the character i used except maybe one were too shady for this to be a proper crossover, but what do i know. Once again writing this piece taught me something: i suck at one-shot. While i write i got far too many idea for something that's going to be no more than a chapter, so my next project is a proper story, this time a crossover and not RWBY related. As always, please leave constructive criticism, i'm still learning the job so that could help. Hope to see you next time, now if you excuse me, it's half past midnight and i have to get up at seven in the morning, bye!