Author's Note: So new story time. This one is a little different than my normal style. It was originally thought up for the July Reddit Moncon. Then on Sunday, I got up ridiculously early, ran a half marathon, downed an energy drink and a coffee, and started to right this. It would have been out sooner, but my editor, Zelindsay, went wandering down the road trying to catch Pokemon.

This is set in an AU. Essentially everything takes place in Remnant, faunus exist, but there is no grimm, no aura, no fancy weapons. Its essentially the modern day world.

Enjoy!

"Agh!" The yell echoed through the apartment. "That rat bastard!"

The sole occupant stared at the note in her hand. She should have expected this. After all, she worked for that jerk's father. Well, it would be better to say that she used to work for that jerk's father. She should have figured something was up with Mercury as, when she was leaving her job from Black Aero Engineering, the secretary handed her paperwork notifying her that she was being fired from her job and she should expect her severance package forms and final paycheck in the mail in five to ten business days.

Now, without a job, she returned home to hopefully derive some comfort by spending time with her boyfriend only to find a note on the coffee table. Turns out that not only was her boyfriend of two years, the one she moved across Remnant with when he got his dream job, leaving her, but he was the reason she was fired too! Lovely.

Taking a deep breath, and taking stock of her situation, she walked to the fridge and opened it. Looking for something to drink she noticed that the deserter took all the good beer with him too. Groaning and silently cursing him under her breath, she settled for a low-quality light beer that they had always saved to serve to guests after they had a few too many drink in order to slow further intoxication; not that they would ever notice the switch by that point. If there was a silver lining to the situation it seemed that Mercury had up and left without taking any of their shared possessions with him. He only seemed to have walked off with his clothes, gaming console, and the decent booze.

The move from Vale to Vacuo had been an easy choice to make at the time. She had no attachments to her home. Her mom abandoned her when she was a newborn child, her step-mom died in a car crash many years ago, and her father was a worthless drunk. The only thing that had kept her in Vale was her baby sister. Baby sister was a relative term though. Ruby was only 6 years younger than her, but she had raised Ruby since their father was always absent. When she left for college, using money left in a savings account that only she could touch that was left by her step-mother, she had gotten an apartment and enrolled Ruby in a nearby school. That way she could take care of Ruby and attend college to obtain her degree in mechanical engineering.

After graduating, she got a job at the Black Aero Engineering in Vale and started saving money. This is when she first met and started dating Mercury. Unfortunately, when Ruby enrolled in college, they found that their father had found a way to pilfer money from Ruby's saving account. So, without hesitation, she took the burden upon herself to pay for her sister's schooling and Ruby had chosen to go to a university in Atlas. A year after she and Mercury had started dated, with Ruby staying at her school for her summer term, Mercury had announced that he was moving back to his home country of Vacuo and had got the company's branch to give her a better paying job. So she moved to Vacuo and into a shared apartment with Mercury.

"Great, Yang." She scolded herself as she slid into one of the chairs that sat around their kitchen table. "You have no job, no boyfriend, probably only a few months worth of rent, and Ruby's tuition will be due again soon."

Luckily, the last one could be solved more easily by taking out a loan. Not having a boyfriend sucked, but it wasn't the end of the world. Not having a job, and the ever impending threat of paying for rent, utilities, and food, was something to stress about. Deciding to deal with it in the morning, Yang left her half finished beer on the counter and flopped down on her bed without changing her clothes. Sleep didn't come quickly, but it eventually did take her away from her problems; if only for a few hours.

The morning light pulled Yang from her slumber, causing her to groan and burrow under her blankets. She had forgotten to close the blinds over her bedroom window. Being completely encased in blankets quickly made her too warm to fall back asleep and she kicked her blankets off with a frustrated sigh. Looking over to her nightstand she noticed that her clock read a few minutes past eleven am. It was a good thing that she forgot to set her alarm too. Waking up early for a job you don't have anymore would not make for a good morning. Grabbing her laptop from its place next to her bed, she shed her clothes from the previous night and threw a robe on, and headed to the kitchen. It was time to plan for the future and how to recover from yesterday's events.

Instead of turning the coffee pot on, as was her habit on work days, she instead reached inside her fridge to grab one of her remaining energy drinks. Choosing to savor the acidic drink, she took small sip rather than her normal procedure of chugging the first half of beverage. She was going to need to cut back on her expenditures, so energy drinks would probably be demoted from mainstay to luxury. Flipping her laptop open she set forth on her mission of financial planning and resume construction so she could know exactly how long she could enjoy her temporary unemployment.

"Agh!" The blonde yelled as she kicked an empty soda can that someone had carelessly discarded on the street. "This was supposed to be easy!"

While walking back to her apartment after her latest job interview she was in high spirits, until she received a call from the hiring manager from Sutrai Auto, where she had just interviewed. While her specialty was Aerospace, she was more than competent to work at an automobile factory too. The hiring manager simply told her that they were going with a different candidate and wished her luck. This would make the fifth firm that had turned her down in the last week.

Her frustration only lasted for a few moments before her scroll began to ring. Pulling it out she automatically answered it.

"Yang Xiao Long speaking."

"Pfft… Bahaha... You sound so silly, sis!" The voice on the other end responded.

"Oh, hey Rubes." Yang responded slightly despondently and walked off the sidewalk to sit on a bench in the park she was just passing.

"Don't you know that you are speaking to Miss Rose." Ruby tried to sound formal but by the end of the sentence the younger sister had broken down into laughter again.

"Yeah, yeah. What's up?"

"Well, I was going to tell you that I am going on a trip with a friend I just made this last term. But you sound kind of sad, so I might come visit you instead. Oh! You can show me around that fancy company you work at. I can say hi to Mercury again, it's been a while. I mean he's kind of a jerk, but seems to make you happy."

"Uh… nah, don't be a goof. Go on your trip. I'll still be here when you get back."

"Are you sure? We could drop by on our way."

"Positive!"

"Hmmm… ok…" The phone line was silent for a while and Yang knew that her sister could probably see through her false front. "Oh, there is a catch."

"What kind of catch? You aren't going someplace secluded and unattended with a boy are you?"

"Nah. Weiss is a girl."

"Ooh la la, a girl you say. I knew you had it in you."

"Hey, I just… uh… fine. I like her a little bit."

Yang didn't respond, instead she let the silence bear down on her sister's nerves.

"Fine!" Ruby exclaimed. "I like her alot, I just don't want you to mess anything up."

"I would never mess anything up for you! I am heartbroken you would even suggest I would."

"How about my freshman year of highschool, my boyfriend grabbed my butt and you punched him in the gut and kicked him out of the house? Or my senior year when you-"

"Ok, ok. I get it. But they all deserved it. So what's the catch?"

"Well, technically it's a 'study program' and Weiss managed to get us the two spots. We are going to Menagerie for 4 months. It's all paid for by the school so we won't have to worry about Fall school tuition. We will get to study the technology they are developing down there. The problem is…"

"The problem is that menagerie only allows governmental communications to go in and out. I applied for that same program when I was in school."

"I know, and I don't think I can go that long without talking to you! But I would get to meet faunus! I know there are some floating around the rest of Remnant, but they make up only like point one hundredth of a percent of the population. Menagerie is like ninety percent faunus!"

"Do it, Ruby. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity. But you have to find out one thing-"

"I am not asking them if they can turn into animals. That's rude! That would be like someone asking you if people from Patch can breath underwater!"

"I would totally tell them yes!"

"Not my point, Yang. Though I am worried about something else. I haven't known Weiss for long, how do I know that she isn't a serial killer or something?"

"What's her middle name?"

"I don't know, I never asked."

"Well, if she was a killer you'd know her middle name already." Yang chuckled.

"I thought you were going to give me good advice."

"I did!"

"So you say." Ruby's side of the line went quiet and Yang was able to hear a higher pitched voice trying to get her sister's attention.

"Is that Weiss?" Yang asked mischievously.

"Yes. And no, you don't get to talk to her. I have to go though, apparently we are having a meeting for this trip." Ruby's voice dropped down to a whisper "Weiss may be hot, but she is kind of an organization freak."

"Ok, sis. Talk to you later. Call me before you leave. And don't forget, I love you."

"I love you too."

Closing her scroll and shoving it into her pocket, Yang slumped back against the the bench. Searching for a job for the last three weeks without any luck was starting to wear on her. If she didn't have a sister to take care of then she would be taking this easier. But she did have a sister to take care of, and one she cared for deeply. Leaning forward, she buried her face in her hands and felt like screaming. She almost did too, until a small noise interrupted her thoughts of self-pity.

Looking up she tried to discern the source of the noise until she felt pressure against one of her legs. Shifting her gaze to the ground by her legs, she saw a sleek black cat rubbing up against her leg.

"Hi there." Yang said softly to the cat. "Enjoying yourself?"

The cat sat down and stared back at her, giving another soft meow.

"I will take that as a yes."

The cat didn't appear to be skittish, and the state of its fur would suggest that someone was taking care of it, but it wasn't wearing a collar. Moving slowly, Yang slipped her hands underneath the cat and picked it up so she could inspect it. The cat instantly nuzzled into her clothing and gave a soft purr. Sitting there petting the animal definitely made Yang feel better about herself. Maybe getting a pet would help her feel better and it would definitely help make her apartment feel more homey. After a few more minutes of holding the cat, she felt her stomach grumble.

Giving one last look at the cat laying in her lap she carefully picked it up and set it back down on the ground.

"Whelp, see you around." Yang wished the cat a farewell, feeling slightly silly as she did so.

Walking out of the park, she quickly made her way back to her apartment. With the thoughts of what she wanted to make for dinner filling her head, and the sound of her heels clicking off the sidewalk filling her ears, she managed to ignore the world around her. Well, she was almost successful with drowning the world out, but a small sound broke through.

Whirling around she spotted the cat again as it came trotting up to her, its amber eyes sustaining direct contact as it approached. Sighing, she turned back towards her original destination and continued to walk. Upon reaching the door to her apartment she hesitated in pulling her keys out of her pocket. It was silent around her which, while expected, was slightly disheartening. Looking back the way she came, Yang tried to locate the cat that she was sure was following her. Unable to locate the black furball, she returned her focus to unlocking her door. As she put her keys in the lock she felt something make contact with and grab her upper leg. Flashing her gaze downwards she managed to suppress the scream that was clawing its up her throat. The cat was stretching upwards and kneading the side of her leg with its paws.

"Keep the paws out of the skirt, bub." She commented dryly as she put her hand back on the key that was still in her door's lock.

With her actions the cat stopped its activity and moved to sit right in front of the door, staring directly into the edge that would open first.

"Fine." Yang uttered sarcastically as she rolled her eyes. "Why don't you join me for dinner."

With that she opened the door and the cat strolled in as though it owned the place.

Yang sat on her couch rewatching a season of one her favorite shows. It was based in an alternate version of Remnant and mostly took place in her home city of Vale and the surrounding area. It was a great show, but so far there were only three seasons of it out and the last season took a dark turn in the last half. She felt like some of the characters deaths existed merely to artificially hype up the new tone of the show and cheaply force character development on the lead character. Still, she couldn't complain as the show was still all around a great show but, in the season finale, the writers seemed to go out of their way to screw all the main characters over.

Reaching her hand over she started to pet the cat that currently resided in her lap. The cat turned its head to idly stare up at Yang with its amber eyes.

"You'd never leave me like that, would you, Shadow?" She casually asked the animal.

The cat merely laid its head back down and started purring softly. She shook her head, letting her hair whip around, and realized that she was already turning into a crazy old cat lady at the age of 25. In the last week she learned several things about her new feline friend. After a few days of running errands and job hunting the cat would either invariably find her somewhere in the city and follow her around, be waiting by her door when she got home, or paw at the door on some nights to be let in. A few days of that happening in a row led to Yang to putting up lost cat posters around the neighborhoods that she had ran into the cat. When she didn't receive a call from anyone claiming the animal, she did the only sensible thing she could think of; she installed a cat door in her apartment.

It was nice being able to come home to an apartment that wasn't always empty. She didn't have to spend much money on the furball either, as it rarely ate. Whether it was a proficient hunter, or it was stealing food from other cats, she didn't care. It would only eat on nights that Yang was making fish, then the animal would pester her nonstop.

Shifting the cat from her lap onto the section of the couch next to her, Yang got up and stretched. It has been almost six weeks now and she still hadn't landed a new job yet. She was starting to get desperate and was considering starting part time work somewhere to help her cover the bills. She ruminated over her problems with her newfound pet, who seemed to be a surprisingly good listener. If this trend of unemployment were to continue, she would have to get a roommate to help stretch her savings out until she could find a new job. Though, she did receive her severance package in the mail and, if she made some sacrifices, she would be able to make her money last until Ruby got back from her trip. If she did that maybe she could find a job in Atlas and then maybe Ruby and her could get an apartment together.

Desiring to clear her head, Yang threw on a jacket and pair of shoes, before grabbing her keys and heading out the door. She didn't know where she was headed. It was almost midnight, thus her options were going to be limited, but there was a bar a few blocks down from her apartment. Due to her state of mind, she wasn't paying attention to where she was walking, and when she looked up she noticed that she had taken a wrong turn somewhere. She was about to turn around to retrace her steps when she noticed a coffee shop across the road. Shivering slightly, she decided to drop into the coffee shop for something warm to drink and hope that the atmosphere was quiet enough to sort through her thoughts.

Luck seemed to be with her for the first time in weeks as there was only one other customer present and two baristas behind the counter, so it should be quiet enough. Ordering a mocha from and giving her name to the barista behind the cash register, she moved to an open table in the back of the coffee shop. Retreating into her own thoughts she passed the time until her coffee was prepared. Keeping her ears peeled for her name she was surprised when she heard footsteps approaching her table and looked up just in time to see a figure slide into the chair across from her and set two coffees down.

To her surprise, the person sitting across from her was the barista that was cleaning one of the machines when she walked into the coffee shop. As Yang took in her appearance, she took stock of the unusual hair coloration of the girl, it was somewhere between orange and pink with two blue highlights in the short bangs. The rest of the girl's hair was gathered into twin tails. Her teal eyes twinkled in the low lighting of the lamps above them.

"Hiya." The girl gave her a slightly lopsided smile. "My name's Neon!"

"Uh, hello." Yang replied in a somber fashion.

So this is gonna be a thing. Stay tuned and remember to fav, follow, and review. The cats love it.