GRYD - Chapter 8 - Building Up
Afternoon at Beacon, students roam the halls as they either go to class, or start doing the homework they've been given, or just hanging out with their friends to kill time.
In one such hallway was Leilani, who had her head buried in a drawing she was doing in her notebook. She was doing a very detailed drawing of her team, and was working on the face and hair details. With no wasted motion she would switch art tools and continue with her picture.
As she reached a crossroads of sorts within the hallway, she didn't notice a group of girls heading into her path, and as such collided with them, causing her and two of the girls to fall to the floor.
"Sorry, sorry!" said Leilani picking up her things, "I forget to look up when I'm drawing!"
"Learn to start!" shouted back one
"I said I was..."
Leilani looked up and saw that she had collided with the members of Team PRME, three of which were glaring at her with extreme venom. None moreso than Primrose.
"Well?" she said still glaring at Leilani
"Well what?"
"Say you're sorry!"
"I...I already said that."
"She wants you to mean it this time." noted Rita with an evil smirk
"I meant it the first time."
"Oh really?" Primrose said in mocking tone, "Then I guess I should mean I'm sorry when I rip up...this."
She held up Leilani's picture of her team and flaunted it in front of her. Leilani reacted instantly, "Give that back!"
Leilani sprang forward to grab it, but Rita stepped in front and shoved her back to the ground. This made Primrose laugh gleefully, "Thank you Rita."
"My pleasure." she said with a curtsy
"Now where was I? Oh yes. Say you're sorry...or I'm going to be sorry."
Leilani just sat there, staring longingly at the picture. With no response, Primrose shrugged, "Ok. In that case."
She began to lower her second hand to start ripping up the picture. Just as she did though, someone grabbed it.
They all turned, and saw Glyph. Leilani smiled in relief and joy, while Primrose regained her venomous glare, "You!?"
"Give it back." he demanded
"Or what?" said Rita
She closed the distance on Glyph, when a hand on her shoulder stopped her cold, she turned to see Macro smiling at her, "Well, to quote Primrose, if you don't back off...I'm going to be sorry. For what I'll let him do to you that is."
"Give. It. Back." Glyph demanded again
Primrose continued to fire venomous looks at Glyph, but he was unfazed. Knowing she was beaten, she held out her arm with the picture towards Leilani, "Here."
"Say. You're. Sorry."
"I'm sorry."
"Mean it." added Macro, now angry
With all the sincerity she could muster, Primrose turned to Leilani and said, "I'm sorry."
Leilani stood up and took the picture, and gave a nod of appreciation of Primrose. Content, both Glyph and Macro released the PRME members, then motioned for them to leave. Once clear from sight, they turned their attention to Leilani.
"You ok?" asked Macro checking on her
"Yeah," she answered sadly, playing with her rabbit ears, "just embarrassed."
Glyph looked at her with honest eyes, "Don't be. You did nothing wrong."
"Maybe, but I should've been ok on my own. You shouldn't have had to interfere on my behalf."
"Maybe," mirrored Macro in a mock voice, causing Leilani to laugh, "but friends protect each other. Besides, we know all about Primrose and her goons. If they had done that to you? They wouldn't have stopped torturing you as time went on."
"Now they'll think twice." added Glyph
Leilani smiled appreciatively to both of them, as she did, Glyph caught a glimpse of the picture, "You do that?"
"What? Oh yes, it was what I was working on before I literally ran into them."
"It's lovely."
She blushed, and reacted quickly to hide it from him, "Thank...thank you."
"Maybe you can do one of my team."
She turned to him in surprise, "I'd...love to."
"Great. Macro."
"See you later." Macro responded with a wave
With a nod to them both, Glyph left. Both Macro and Leilani watched as he went down the hall and out of sight, but for completely different reasons.
Leilani sighed sadly once he was fully gone, "He must think I'm a weak idiot."
"What?" said Macro incredulously, not understanding why she said that, "Where'd that come from?"
"It's nothing..."
She tried to leave, but Macro got in front of her and made Leilani look at him, "Come on..."
"It's just. I can't be comfortable around him."
Macro snickered, "Gee, I wonder why..."
Leilani shot upright and immediately blushed, "What do you mean?"
"Oh come on Leilani, don't play dumb."
She became even more flustered at this, "Does everyone close to me know?"
"Probably."
"Does...does Glyph know?"
Macro looked around uncomfortably before focusing back on her, "Do you the want the truth, or the answer that'll make you feel better?
Leilani groaned in frustration and proceeded down a hallway. Macro sighed and followed her, "Out with it, why are you so down on yourself?"
"I just, I'm just not good around people."
"Like human people? Or people in general?"
"People in general."
"That's bull, you're great around us! MEAL I mean."
"Oh really? Tell me, who do I talk with when I'm alone?"
"Me."
Leilani stopped and looked at him with a blank face, "How many times?"
Macro opened his mouth to speak, but then a surprised look on his face, he went into deep thought before replying, "Three."
"And how many times did I start those conversations?"
"...none."
"Exactly."
She tried to leave, but he cut her off again, "Ok, but Erin! Female Erin I mean. You talk with her all the time!"
Leilani gave him a sad smile, "Less than you think, but I acknowledge she's the only one I'm good with on our team when I'm by myself. I don't talk to male Aaron at all unless we're all together."
"I never noticed, I know you talk to us though."
"Yeah...but who am I with when that happens?"
Macro again went into thought, then sighed in realization, "Yasmine."
"Yeah..."
Leilani turned and again went back down the hall, her expression filled with sadness. Macro continued to follow her.
"When we were kids, all me and Yasmine had were each other."
"Because of Faunus hatred?"
"Yeah. My parents made the best of it, and so did we. We bonded together like few families ever get to do. But it came at a cost. Yasmine's very closed off, not wanting to interact with those who don't understand her, or don't "measure up". Me? I'm just naturally shy and withdrawn. I have trouble talking with those I'm not close with, like Yasmine."
"You're talking fine with me."
Leilani smiled kindly to him, "I trust you, and this doesn't make me nervous or stressed. We talk about something else? More personal? Not so much."
"So talking about you asking out Glyph won't work then?"
As if on cue, Leilani froze in place, face stricken with fear. Macro reared around quickly and waved off the notion.
"That was a joke! Seriously."
She laughed nervously and unfroze, "Right..."
"So uh...what did you and Yasmine do together when you were young?"
Leilani loosened up and smiled as she recalled her memories, "Often we spent all day at our parents shop. Yasmine would work hard to come up with plans to help make the place a success, I would help by fulfilling her plans."
"Meaning?"
"Uh...she thought it up, I made it work. It's actually part of how I became a good artist. I would draw, craft, build, whatever the store needed to make it shine."
"You're good with your hands, good to know."
"Unfortunately, once we got to school, I only had my drawings to do. I clung to Yasmine like nothing else. She didn't mind, we wanted to be together. But now...?"
"Different teams, different circles. You have to stand on your own."
"And I suck at that."
The two looked at each other and laughed. Leilani went to a nearby window and looked out it, "I'm ok in battle, but when it comes to just talking to people? I'm 50-50 at best."
"You just got to put yourself out there, like you did with Erin."
"Maybe, but as you saw with Glyph, that's not always so easy. Thanks for talking with me Macro. I'm...I'm going to see what Yasmine is doing."
"Ok."
Leilani smiled to him before leaving, he watched as she went, sad and frustrated as he didn't know what to do with her.
A little while later, they went to culture class. Professor Vixi Tod watched over them during the entire lesson. As time wound down, she got up from her desk and addressed them all.
"Class, based on your performance in the recent mission, Headmaster Night has greenlit me to give you another one."
"Nice!" said Reyson loudly, "Time for some more action!"
Vixi laughed knowingly, "Not quite Mr. Heron. As you know, not all missions are offensive, or even defensive. Some are just support. This one is just that, support."
She calmly walked to the blackboard and pointed at the map of Remnant, "Though our world has several key populated places, there are several villages, towns, and oasis of sorts scattered between the major cities."
"Isn't that dangerous?" asked one student
"Very. Between bandits and Grimm, it's not an easy living. But, if you're careful, plan ahead, and have a bit of luck, you can last a very long time. There are some villages still around from when I was in your seats. No jokes about my age please."
The class snickered at her own jest. Vixi smiled and again walked towards them, "That being said, even the most prepared village needs some help. So, we're going to offer it. Each team will be given a town that needs aid in some measure. This will be a dual test if you will. First, your leaders will have to determine what task you can handle, then of course, you'll have to complete the mission. Any questions?"
She looked around, and saw Yasmine had her hand raised, "Yes, Ms. Kaleido?"
"Though you said these were strictly support mission, there is still risk involved. Will we be by ourselves like we were in the Emerald Forest mission?"
"Ah! Thank you for reminding me, the answer is no. We were watching you in the forest to ensure nothing serious happened, but we can't do that in the larger world. So, you'll each have a chaperone via a teacher here. And yes, that includes me."
Macro raised his hand, and Vixi nodded to him, "How long can we expect the mission to be ma'am?"
"Another good question. Two to three days. Some of these villages do need a lot of help, and though we've given them warning that we're coming, so that they can have all the materials and items that we may need ready, it's still going to take some time. So be prepared for a few nights out there. Oh, and you'll have tomorrow to prepare for everything, you leave the morning after. Anything else?"
She looked around, and saw no one else had any questions, "Good. Then all of you, save for your leaders, are dismissed. Leaders, come down here and read the mission briefings for each village. You'll need to pick a task before you leave, first come first serve. Class dismissed."
The class rose to leave, only the leaders of the various teams stayed. Glyph and Macro waited for the rush to the missions to happen before walking down.
"I got a question for you." said Macro to Glyph
"Ok."
"I need your advice."
Glyph held out an arm in front of him, which made Macro stop, "You? Need advice from me?"
"Yeah, I need advice about how to handle one of my teammates."
"From ME?"
"It's...about Leilani..."
This made Glyph curious, and he heard out Macro.
The next day passed in a whirl of classes and preparation for the mission that was to come. As the day after dawned, each team was given an attendant that would guide them to their chaperone and their ride to their village.
As Team Meal reached the outskirts of Beacon, an airship greeted them from above. The wind created from the craft pushed them back a bit, but they held their ground. Once it landed, the door to it opened, and inside was none other than Professor Tod. Who smiled at them as they reacted to seeing her.
"Sorry," Vixi said with a playful shrug, "I don't get to be "cool" that much, so I wanted to arrive in style."
"A more majestic entrance you could not ask for professor." said Aaron with pride
"Well thank you Aaron. Now, come on in! We got an hour ride to our destination, I want to give you a full rundown of what's coming for us."
She motioned them aboard, and with Macro's approval, they all headed onto the ship. Once seated and secured, Vixi gave the pilot permission to take off. The airship slowly rose into the air and headed off into the blue sky.
After a few moments, Vixi turned to Team MEAL, "How much did Macro tell you about the mission?"
"Not much," Erin said with a look to Macro, who smiled in return, "all he told us was, "prepare to get your hands dirty."
Vixi laughed at this, "Well, he was honest. To be truthful, he picked one of the least likely spots to get blindsided by Grimm or bandits, I was a little surprised."
"Even a soldier knows when his team needs to do something other than fighting." said Macro wisely
"Very true."
"So what's wrong with this village we're going to?" asked Leilani
"Well Leilani, the village is called Chechon. And though it was a very protected place, it got hit by bandits last week. There was a big fight, and a lot of houses got destroyed."
"Hold on now," interjected Aaron, "didn't you just say that this was a very unlikely place to be attacked? Even if the attack was last week, the Grimm are no doubt on their way via the negative emotions that the fight generated."
"Usually, that would be true, but one of the reasons Chechon has lasted is because of its distance away from major Grimm clusters. The closest one at last survey was over 20 miles away, even hate doesn't go that far."
"Oh, so the bandits attacked it without fear because they knew the Grimm wouldn't follow." noted Erin figuring out what happened
Vixi nodded, "Exactly. However, they didn't account for the townsfolk being very competent fighters. The bandits were beaten off eventually, but the damage was done. They sent out a request for aid, and Night was more than happy to respond. He sent early help to ensure the resources for the rebuild could be found and secured, and then set up this lovely little field trip to get it done."
"So what is our role in this exactly?" queried Aaron, "Are we building? Supporting? Supervising?"
"Nice try with that last one. No, you'll be coordinating the build and helping restore what was broken. As well as helping out with the little ones should they become a problem."
"What about their parents?" asked Erin
"Everyone that's not a child is rebuilding. They honestly lost a lot of homes. They spent the last few days huddled together in crammed houses or makeshift shacks. Even with no Grimm around, it was hard to build that village. Rebuilding it is no easy task."
"We'll get it done professor." said Macro confidently
"Glad to hear it. If we're lucky we'll only be here two days. There's a lot of people who are helping, they just need a little reassurance. You'll all do fine."
With a smile to comfort them, she went silent and looked out the airship window. The others soon followed suit, and waited for their ride to end so their work could begin.
Soon, the airship descended on a small clearing, but it didn't land, merely hovered off the ground a bit so that they could jump out. Once all out, Vixi gave them a motion that they could leave. They watched the airship leave. Then Vixi turned and pointed in the opposite direction, "It's that way."
They walked for about a minute, then noises began to fill their ears. They grew louder the further they went, until the sight of people cleared up any confusion of what was making it. As the group took their first look at the village, they could tell that the briefing was accurate. Many homes were destroyed, and there was a frantic feel in the way the villagers looked and talked with one another.
One of the elder villagers noticed their group and proceeded towards them, he looked to Professor Tod first, "Are you the ones they sent to help?"
"Yes," she replied with a bow, "I'm Professor Vixi Tod, and this is Team MEAL. We're here to rebuild your village, no matter how long it takes."
The elder looked at MEAL with some skepticism, but when they each gave him a confident nod to show their support, he relaxed and smiled, "Good, we need it. As it so happens, the final materials we needed to rebuild came in early this morning. I can show them to you if you want."
"By all means."
With a wave of his hand he got them to follow him as he walked through the village. The villagers all looked upon them with curiosity. Some were clearly unsure of how these five would help, while others looked relieved at the assistance. Though Vixi and most of MEAL were unfazed by their gazes, Leilani got more and more uncomfortable with each look she saw.
After a minute walk, the elder took them to another opening, this one though had piles of lumber and metal stacked up in rows and columns.
"We believe this will help build everything we need to survive. When would you like to get started?"
Macro stepped forward and went over the materials in his mind, then turned to the elder, "If you have a blueprint of how the city was before the attack, I can get us started in 15 minutes."
The elder was taken aback by this, "I'll...I'll go get you one."
"Thank you, also, let me know who's able to help, and what buildings only need to be repaired, not rebuilt."
"Ok."
The elder left to get what he requested. Macro turned to see his team looking at him with surprise, "What?"
"I know you're our leader, but that was some take charge attitude!" boasted Aaron
"I picked this mission for three reasons, one was because of likelihood of attack. The other was because I helped on reconstruction missions with my dad."
"What's the third?" asked Erin
"That's a secret."
Before they could try and get the information out of him, the elder returned with the blueprint. After examining it, Macro asked numerous questions of the elder. Then together they planned out what they wanted to do. After a while, a plan was in place. The elder went to the villagers to explain it, while Macro addressed his team.
"Ok, plan is set. Lovers? You'll be helping get materials to wherever it needs to go."
"On it." they said in unison
"Professor, would you mind helping Leilani in doing some repair work?"
"It would be my pleasure." said Vixi with an approving nod
"You ok with repair work Leilani?"
"Yeah, I did a lot of it at my parents shop."
"There you go. It all works out."
"What about you Macro?" wondered Vixi
"I'm going to be helping with the bigger projects, my E-Tool is good for precise cuts. I'll also be coordinating so that this gets done in a fast and efficient manner. These people need to sleep in their own homes. If we're lucky? Over half will be done by tonight. That sound good?"
They all nodded in agreement, which made Macro smile, "Then let's go to work!"
With that, they all went to the center of the village, where the elder was finishing up telling the people what was going to happen. Passing the torch to Macro, he laid down the plan as simply as he could, then immediately got everyone to work.
Macro led the charge, answering all questions he could, all the while building houses and preparing supplies to be used. When he didn't have the answers, he went to the village elder for guidance, who happily helped fill in the blanks in his knowledge.
The Lovers acted as the gophers, getting all the materials to wherever they needed to go, or getting someone something when they needed it. They often did it together, but occasionally they would separate the numerous tasks were done quickly.
Vixi and Leilani worked with others to help repair the houses that weren't fully destroyed. Though few compared to the destroyed houses, the damage was still significant, and thus needed to be done. Leilani let Vixi do the talking when it came to working with the villagers who were assigned to them. Often not even making eye contact with them, but rather focusing on the work.
At one point, a child came up to Leilani and tapped her on the shoulder while she was doing some work. She nearly jumped at the shock of the child doing it, but was able to stop herself, and turned to face them, "Yes?"
The boy looked at her with curiosity, "Are you a Faunus?"
Leilani became nervous at the question, "...yes, yes I am."
"Wow, we don't see Faunus down here."
"I'm...I'm sorry."
"Do you think I can show you to my friends? They'd totally want to see you!"
Leilani got more flustered, even beginning to twitch in place, "I...um...maybe...maybe later. We...we have work to do. We need...we need to fix your homes, right?"
The boy thought about it, then shrugged, "Right, ok."
Slightly dejected, he walked away from the two. Leilani sighed in relief at his departure, even taking several deep breaths to calm herself. A little bit away, Vixi saw this, and frowned.
After several hours of construction, and with darkness setting in, the village stopped working for the day. To their delight, as Macro had intended, a vast majority of the work had been finished. Including an inn where much of the village could stay until the final houses were repaired or rebuilt.
To show appreciation for the hard work, the elder ordered a feast to be made at the inn, and for everyone to partake. This included Vixi and Team MEAL, who were given a special dedication before the meal.
"To Professor Tod and Team MEAL, we thank you for your help in fixing our home." said the elder
The rest of the village cheered for them, then proceeded to get their food. When Leilani got her food, she chose to sit at a table far away from everyone else. While the villagers, and her team, talked amongst one another, she just wanted to be alone.
She poked and prodded her food for some time, until the sound of someone sitting across from her got her attention. To her surprise, it was Vixi who was sitting next to her.
"It's hard, isn't it? Mingling with people you don't know, or don't feel comfortable being around fully?"
Leilani sputtered her words at the preciseness of Vixi's query, "I...yeah, yeah."
"Breathe, Leilani, breathe. It's ok."
Leilani did so, and looked back at her teacher with sadness and confusion, "I don't want to be this way, but after everything me and Yasmine have been through? Just the thought of someone other than her talking to me can cause me to freeze up. Especially humans."
"Ah, that I get. I had problem myself."
"You did?"
Vixi nodded with a knowing smile, "Yeah, but for a reason different than you. Though, it was just as hateful."
"How so?"
"My mother is a fox Faunus like me. My father? He's human."
This really took Leilani aback, "Really?"
"Yeah, it's not too common, because of the hatred, but my father is anything but common. He loves my mother with all he has, and he doesn't care about the hate that's thrown at him. Even his parents hated the idea of him being with her, and so they disowned him, didn't want their family name "stained" by Faunus blood."
"That's horrible!" cried out Leilani
"Yeah, it was. And when I grew old enough to go into the world, a lot of hate was thrown on me because of my mixed heritage as much as my Faunus looks. I clung to my parents for a long time. Until my dad sat me down and told me something I'll never forget."
"What was that?"
Vixi smiled and looked out in a daydream like state, "He said, I didn't fall in love with your mother because she was a Faunus, or was strong, or smart, or anything as base as that. I fell for your mother, because to me, she had the beautiful soul I had ever seen. I looked beyond who she was, and looked at what she was, and that made me love her so much."
Both Leilani and Vixi teared up a bit at the beauty of the remark. Vixi was the first to recover, "My dad had a way with words."
"I'll say." agreed Leilani, drying off the tears
"The point is Leilani, that sometimes, you need to go beyond what you see, or even what you fear, in order to live. You fear persecution, you fear people judging you because you're a Faunus, and that's fair given your life. But I've read you papers Leilani, I can tell who you are by what you wrote. You are a smart, kind, creative, beautiful soul. Let people see that, and they'll befriend you, no doubt. Some won't, I won't lie, but that'll because they refuse to see YOU, not because YOU were afraid to show them who you were. Understand?"
Leilani paused to think about her teachers words, and after a while she nodded, "I think so."
"Good girl. Now let's eat, lot of work still to do tomorrow."
With that, Vixi began wolfing down her food, Leilani couldn't help but laugh at this, then joined her in eating.
The next day, after a small breakfast to get them energized, the people of the village, along with Vixi and Team MEAL, began anew on the reconstruction. With much of the work done the previous night, the groups were more focused than ever on their tasks so that they could get done that day.
While some things didn't change from the previous day, Leilani seemed to have a bigger pep in her step. At times bouncing from project to project in order to get it done quickly, or to do something that simply needed to be done. Unlike the previous day, she talking more with the villagers as they came to her or Vixi with questions or advice.
Soon, the boy from the day before returned, this time with some friends. They watched from afar as Leilani fixed a house, and at times used her Semblance to jump high into the air to do some repairs, or jump down to grab an item. The children gaped in amazement at Leilani as she did this.
Eventually, the house she was working on was done, and the children couldn't help but come to her. A girl grabbed her by the hand to get her attention, "Ms. Bunny? Would you play with us? Your hopping is so cool!"
Leilani was taken aback by this, and at first, she was overwhelmed by the requests of children, but after a deep breath she calmed herself down, "I think I can, just let me check with my-"
"Go ahead Leilani!" called out Vixi a few feet away, who was smiling brightly at the situation she was seeing, "We're basically done with the repair work anyway, go ahead and have some fun!"
"Oh...ok. Uh, lead the way!"
To the kids delight, they began to run around the village and play. Sometimes they played tag, or at times hide-and-seek. The only rule being to not interfere with the adults. Though still withdrawn to an extent, the more she played with the kids, the more Leilani relaxed, and got to have fun.
After a while, the kids took her to a sandy area not too far away where they could relax. Leilani couldn't help but smile and laugh at the fun she was having, "This is great you guys, I'm glad you invited me along."
"Yeah, you're great Ms. Leilani!" said a boy, "I wish we could've shown you our clubhouse."
"Clubhouse?"
A girl next to the boy nodded, "Yeah, it was our little home away from home, just for us kids. But it was broken in the attack. There wasn't even any wood left to try and fix it."
The kids became sad at this, and Leilani frowned too as she saw their disheartened faces. Then, her face became a light as she thought of an idea, "Oh! That might work. Give me a sec."
She got to her feet, then sprung high into the air. Then landed with some effort next to Macro, who was still guiding the construction effort.
After a moment, he noticed her and smiled, "Hey Leilani, the kids alright?"
"Yeah, um, do we have any spare wood I could use? The kids apparently had a clubhouse before the attack, and I'd like to rebuild it if I can."
"Hmm...let me see..."
Macro turned away from her, and had to hold back a smile and a laugh, after a moment though he pulled it together and turned back to her.
"Yeah, we have some spare wood. That pile over there? You can use that, oh, and anything from the scrap pile over there. Cool?"
"Cool, thanks Macro!"
With glee, she sprang away again, making Macro again smile and laugh at the success he was having.
Once back with the kids, she talked with them about remaking the clubhouse. They all agreed to help, and work began immediately. With an hour, it was made, but as the kids looked at it, they didn't smile.
"Something's...wrong..." noted one
"Yeah, it feels hollow..." remarked another
"Didn't it have color before?" asked one
"Color?" said Leilani with a smile, "I can fix that."
Grin even wider, she whipped off her sash filled with markers and sharpies and began to work on the clubhouse. Through some special attachments, she made the work go even faster. Until the whole thing was filled with a variety of colors. The colors were awestruck at what they saw, and immediately hugged Leilani and thanked her for her work.
From afar, Macro watched with pride as she began to play with the children again. Vixi came up behind him and watched her as well, "Nice secret, Mr. Camof."
He turned and smiled, "What do you mean?"
"Your third reason for picking this reason, you wanted to help Leliani with her fear of people, didn't you?"
"I wanted to try at least. This..." he said with a motion to the children, "is more than I could've hoped for."
"Think she'll be more open after this?"
"That's up to her. I can only encourage growth, it's up to her to make it happen."
"You're a good leader, Macro."
"Thank you ma'am. But it's only because I have a team of great people."
They continued to watch as Leilani laughed and smiled as she played with the children.
*credits*
