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~Angel and Hel

Chapter Ten: Celebrations

-.-.-

A banquet hall. A rather… novel use of a mess hall, but Winter supposed that was more due to the food on offer than anything else about the room. The instant the smell had hit her was the moment she realised how utterly famished she was.

No matter what previous disagreements everyone had, the idea of a warm meal put any thoughts of conflict to rest.

Helia, in stark contrast, had whimpered and nearly doubled over, prompting Winter to carry her again. Neither of them seemed to mind. But Winter was - well, Helia's reaction was worrying. Both for what it said about her, and because given the noises her stomach was making, a pack of Gryphons were about to burst out and attack the assembled applicants. Hunters, now, she supposed.

"Man, that smells like heaven." Maverick commented, actually getting a murmur of agreement for once. The group found an empty table that was absolutely loaded with delicacies and mouthwatering platters of food, doing their best to just sit down and wait before digging in.

Vivian happily dragged over a chair of her own when she saw there weren't any spots left, the screeching noise audible over the murmur of students.

"Attention please, everyone," an unfamiliar voice announced. A stern, blonde woman stood at the podium overlooking the mess hall, wearing a cape and holding a… riding crop?

"Oooh, looks like Ironshaft's found himself a fancy~" Vivian whispered conspiratorially.

"Thank you," she said as the murmur fell into silence and the occasional cough. "As you all know, not all of those who applied made it through the Trials. Now I want each and every one of you to remember those who have fallen, and to never think of yourselves as above them. Don't ever get cocky. You have the lives of four Kingdoms and everyone between them resting on your shoulders. Make sure you are worthy of upholding that burden."

And with that, she left.

Ironwood stood where she had. "Now. With that having been said, celebrations are in order. You've passed." He smiled. "Congratulations on joining Atlas Academy."

A giant cheer rose up through the crowd and caused Winter to wince at the sheer intensity of it. She brought her hands up to cover Helia's ears- "Hey, put that back!" she hissed, catching the darling little hellion with half a roast baby potato in her mouth.

"Mmuhhh…" Helia whined, giving her puppydog eyes. Winter's heart nearly melted before she steeled her resolve and slipped Helia's blindfold down again.

"Fine, but stop and wait for everyone else, okay?"

"Mokay…" she grumbled, chewing slowly.

The cheers had died away, and Ironwood was continuing. "Some of you may be wondering about team assignments or class schedules. Be assured that they will be arranged - tomorrow. Tonight is a chance to recover, and enjoy yourselves. You've earned it, all of you." There were more cheers, followed by an awkward silence. Ironwood chuckled. "You don't have to wait for my permission. Please, enjoy!"

A much louder cheer came up this time, much to the amusement of the staff and the clear chagrin of the General.

"Fee, fofally okay!" Helia exclaimed with her mouth full of bread. She'd already filled her plate with enough food to feed Yolona and was digging in with vigor. Winter more cautiously reached for what looked like a few light cuts of lamb and some smooth mashed potatoes.

Which, when she smelled them, turned out to be spiced. Mistralian, maybe? She took a bite and pondered the flavour, before deciding it was rustic, in an interesting way. And she'd thought the military only served those hard-baked square things. MRFs? What did that even stand for?

The general murmur rose once again as the new horde of students began to eat and converse with one another.

"Whoa, slow down," Maverick chuckled, pointing at Helia with the hot greasy leg of some beast. "You'll choke."

The poor thing had what looked to be half a loaf of bread stuck in her mouth - Winter resisted the urge to criticise her table manners and ask if she was raised in a barn because she might have been - and was half mouthing at it, hands flailing excitedly. Winter carefully cut a small square of her meat and ate it, noting that it was, in her opinion, a little overdone, then carefully reached over to rest a hand on Helia's back as she began making uncomfortable noises.

She was hopping up and down in her seat, craning her head forward and grabbing at her neck. Her wings were fluffed up and twitching as her chest started heaving weakly.

She couldn't breathe - Winter lifted her hand and struck, two hard pats on her back to try and dislodge any remnants of food.

There was a fizzle and a flicker of white around Helia as half the chunk of bread landed back on her plate.

"Glurk!" Helia coughed several times, finally clearing her airways - and several of the others paused to stare. Her Aura had just… "Oh my god this stuff is so good it's like - like-" she shook on the spot for a moment, a dazed look on her face as she tried to come up with words, "really good!" she exclaimed, grabbing a non-choked-on chunk and trying to stuff it in her mouth.

Winter grabbed it from her, tearing it into more sensible chunks. "Smaller pieces!" Then, after a moment's thought - "And put some butter on it to help your aura."

"I would say told you so, but are we just going to ignore the fact her aura broke with a pat on the back?" Maverick asked, frowning heavily as he tore another chunk of meat with his teeth, like a barbarian. A quick glance at Yolona confirmed that yes, it was just like a barbarian.

"Of course not! It's why I told her to have butter. Some of us actually studied aura before coming here. And… she was probably tired out after the Trials. My aura's pretty low too, I'm sure." Though not that low. How - did she not have it fully unlocked? She'd read a story about that once, but she'd thought it was a story.

Or maybe her reserves are low because she's an animal.

Winter hissed to herself. Faunus might be criminals or lazy, but despite their characteristics, to describe them as nothing more than animals was nothing short of anatomically incorrect. And Helia did not seem to be criminal, or lazy. Odd, certainly, but not those.

And she wasn't eating. She cut herself a few more slices of meat, enjoying the marbling and the texture.

"You need more meat. Otherwise you're just skin and bones." Yolona rumbled, chuckling heartily before taking a deep swig from a canteen she must have hidden under her chainmail.

Slade took a long drink from his mug of - urgh, was that ale? "The meat's not too bad actually. Boar, I think. Got the right flavour to it."

"Here you go, love," Vivian smiled, standing up and swapping plates with Helia, who whined a bit before seeing what was on it. It was still so odd that despite her blindfold she could still tell what was in front of her. Resting on the plate was a decently balanced meal of meat, bread, and vegetables, every piece chopped into bite-sized chunks.

Winter glared at her. She could have done that. If she'd thought of it. Stupid red-haired woman. Helia'd better not smile gratefully at her -

The ecstatic angel squealed happily and jumped in her seat before twisting around and giving Vivian a hug. A hug.

Ok, that was worse. Winter seethed.

Vivian stuck her tongue out at her playfully.

Now it was war. "Helia, I see you don't have any sausage on your plate. It's very good, you have to try it." She carved one up, pretending it was Viv's stupid face.

Aphoth giggled. "It's funny cause you said sausage and Helia's - " She collapsed in giggles again. "She also hurt my snake. That'd be a euphemism if I was a guy. Don't cripple Maverick's snake, angelfluffy, he needs it."

The table fell silent.

"Aphy what the fuck." Ash turned and gave her friend a horrified look before her shoulders started shaking and she devolved into a giggling pile of black leaning on her just-as-if-not-more drunk buddy.

"The dead ain't the only thing you'll be rising if you keep this up," Maverick winked. "My 'snake' also happens to be quite interested."

"Ok, I think we've heard quite enough about people's snakes!" Winter hastily pushed the chunks of sausage - damnit, now she couldn't even think that word - onto Helia's plate. "Isn't this meal nice?" God, she was talking way too loudly - but it was an inappropriate dinner topic -

"Aww, but I have a great snake~" Vivian purred, leaning in between her and Helia and getting uncomfortably close and oh god was that what it felt like to have a lover breathing down your neck why is it so hot -

"Hey, mine!" Helia mumbled, ineffectually pushing at Vivian.

"This is ludicrous." Titian ripped another leg from the carcass of what seemed to have once been some sort of large animal. A pig? "But highly amusing. Please, do continue to lie about your sexual prowess."

Vivian stood up and sashayed back to her stolen seat, pressing a hand to her chest as she gasped in mock-horror. "Lie? About sexual prowess? Whoever would do such a thing?!"

"You, clearly."

"About my snake?" Vivian smirked, giving the psychotic faunus-fanatic a wink.

Titian nodded. "In part. Though I was also speaking to the boy. His snake is not rising anywhere. I could smell it if it were."

Maverick choked on his food for a moment. "YOU CAN SMELL BONERS?!" he exclaimed in shock, far too loudly.

"Yes. Bloodflow is bloodflow, no matter where it is. The witch, however, is quite - "

"Hungry!" Aphoth said loudly. "I'm very hungry! I'm going to eat some more bread rolls. That's what I'm going to do. And drink more bubbly."

"Noooo, you're hungry for-" Ash started, before devolving into more giggles and nearly falling off her seat.

"Just a sec, love," Vivian wore a look of concentration as she started reaching for below her belt.

Winter stood, hand on her sabre. "One more word of this conversation and I explode the table like I did that wall."

"Bewm~" Ash quipped, keeping a straight face for the whole of two seconds before bursting into laughter and leaning on Maverick, who carefully nudged her in the other direction.

How… chivalrous. She sat down slowly, and continued eating. "So, Helia. I passed out, so I didn't hear how you passed the last stage of the Trials."

"Ver whz ha-"

"Finish chewing, swallow the food, then talk."

Helia didn't grumble this time, doing as she was told. "There was a-"

"Found it!" Vivian cheered, holding something up in the air and Winter struggled to avoid looking. "I have no idea what he is but I found 'im!"

Aphoth perked up, sloshing her drink over herself. "Look it's a baby snake! Who's a scaled cutie!"

A sleepy hiss perked up from under Aphoth's collar. That thing that had attacked her poked it's head out for a moment before ducking back into her dress.

"I think he eats little pests. Flies and such." Vivian mused, holding up a sliver of meat in front of the bright red and orange reptile. It coiled its tail around her wrist and rose up, holding it's head in the air for a moment.

Helia giggled.

It struck forward, lashing out at the meat and missing completely, before pulling back, lashing out in another direction, and continuing to look like it was having a seizure for several moments before giving up and slamming its head into her hand repeatedly.

"Bloody muppet." Vivian giggled, grabbing it by the neck and guiding its head towards the food. "Eat, Merlin!"

"That's a new take on trouser-snake." Maverick muttered between chuckles. "You had me worried you were going to pull a-"

Winter glared and drew her sabre slightly. "What did I say."

Maverick tried to look innocent. He failed spectacularly. And his whistling skills were dreadful.

Winter brushed her hair aside and scooped up another forkful of potato. "So, Helia. You were going to say, before we were interrupted."

"Oh, there was a door behind that guy and it wasn't closed so I took a look." Helia shrugged. "There were like… three hallways? The only one that was open led to the end of the trapped corridor."

Slade nodded. "Ironwood said that the corridor was pretty much impossible to get through without injury, and that the correct solution was to find a way around. Hence why Helia's the only one who 'really' succeeded. But we all did well enough, I guess." He frowned. "Wait, didn't you leave before the traps started going off?"

Winter frowned too. The second time the faunus had pulled information from thin air without prior knowledge. Maybe - no, that was silly.

"Kinda suspicious, isn't it, Mary?"

"Oh shut up."

"'Cause, I really gotta say, on that list of names, a Winter showed up, but no Mary." Maverick said almost offhandedly as he refilled his plate. "So, I have to ask, do you at least have a good reason?"

"None that should concern you."

Titian chuckled. "She's a Schnee. That's reason enough. They have plenty of enemies, and I doubt her father was pleased with her career choice."

"I want to hear it from her, not her hate-club's president." Maverick leant back in his seat, locking eyes with Winter and refusing to back down. "So let's hear it, Ice Queen. Why lie to the people you're going to spend the next four years training, living, and eating with?"

Silence around the table as everyone looked to Winter or quietened down to hear her answer over Ash and Aphoth's drunken giggling.

Winter sighed, swallowed. She couldn't talk about her father, she couldn't talk about her... distrust that they weren't his spies. "I felt it prudent to hide my identity to avoid preferential treatment."

The tension in the air became almost palpable. It felt like every set of eyes darting between her and that idiot loudmouth was driving another dagger into her back. Almost like everyone expected a fight to break out between the two at any moment.

Helia hiccuped.

Maverick finally smiled. "Good enough. I'm honestly surprised you're aiming for a 'fair' fight," he mentioned, before everyone seemed to relax. "Needs work though. Helia's blind and even she saw right through it."

Ash perked up a little. "She's blink?" she asked, blinking in surprise repeatedly. "Blind? Blink? Blink-blind?"

"Maybe? She can grab stuff though. Uh, smell, like our tall friend? Other faunus senses? I'm sorry if I'm being offensive." Slade shrugged.

"Uhhh…" Helia paused for a moment. It was pretty obvious that she was thinking up an excuse. "Uhhmm… I… don't know?"

Vivian opened her mouth to say something before Helia grabbed a stray mug with both hands and started guzzling the contents. It spilled out and down her front almost immediately.

Wait, if that was ale - "Helia! Put down the alcohol!"

Helia's reply came in the form of bubbles and more choking.

-.-.-

An hour or so later, after everyone had eaten their fill and had been given a chance to let their dinner settle, Ironwood brought their attention to the podium again.

"Apologies, everyone, but the quake did more damage to our facilities than we previously realized. The quarters - the dorms - for each Stream's living complex have been structurally compromised. Thankfully we do have alternative options. TSOs have set up a number of camp beds at the other end of this hall, and, for the time being, you will sleep here, as will a number of the teachers. Please, do try to bear our snoring."

A murmur of laughter from the crowd.

Winter frowned. Maybe the alcohol was playing on her senses. Maybe he actually had said that and was as much the incompetent, bumbling, not-leader she thought he was. Making jokes out of extreme structural damage while living under a mountain? That was - maybe it was a trick to improve morale. That would make sense. Commanders joked with the men, didn't they? But still, inappropriate joking subject.

She made a noise that was definitely not a hiccup.

Helia did hiccup though, and was leaning against her side looking like she was trying not to hurl.

Ash and Aphoth were drunkenly smooshed - smoosh was a fun word, Winter should use it more often - up against each other. Maverick's previous comments on their smooshing had rendered him a lot more quiety and far more tolerable.

Vivian was still far too chatty for her liking. And her pet… pet thing, that Helia had fawned over. Snakes. Fucking snakes.

Slade was just… wavering in his seat and smiling at nothing. Titian was sitting bolt upright in her chair - but was also snoring softly, though that noise was somewhat drowned out by Yolona's own impressive snores.

It was almost as though someone had replaced her with a Cruiser engine. No, those were quiet… Maybe a…. Vibrating gong? Vibrating gong. Winter giggled. That was a funny image. It also sounded rude. Vibrating gong...

"Hey. Hey cutie." Vivian was suddenly there next to them and trying to pull Helia away from her, cooing with meaningless nice wordies and -

"Mrrghh…" Helia sounded queasy. Like she'd eaten too much rich food too fast.

Winter pulled her tighter to her and gave what she hoped was a warning glance at Vivian. Helia needed rest not - lewd shenanigans, or whatever Vivian had planned. Besides, Vivian smelled like alcohol. Or possibly Helia did.

"Come on, loves, it's time to get to bed." Vivian smiled warmly, reaching up to ruffle Winter's hair.

"Ind - hic - eed but we can make our own way there." Indhiceed. What did that word mean again? "Also love's a - non plurality noun. Also we aren't love." Winter poked herself to check. "Still a person. Yup - yes. Affirmative."

"You obviously haven't tried polyamory~" Vivian purred, right in her ear. "We should try it sometime, yeah?" Though Winter wasn't sure why the girl was so excited about plastic - that was what polyamory was, right? The purring was interesting though, tingly and warm. Winter wondered what it'd be like if Helia did it.

Maverick looked intensely interested in this turn of events. He probably would have made some funny, witty remark if he had more than three brain cells. Or had spent less time in prison cells. Or… if he didn't smell.

A discarded black dress flew across the table and caught in Helia's face, causing the adorable little ball of fuzzy feathered cutes to make an annoyed whining sound. Wait, where had that come from? Winter looked round and oh dear god she didn't want to see that. That being a half-naked Aphoth grinding against Ash. Her skin was very pale though, almost luminous and the little noises and Winter was definitely going to stop looking now. Any second now.

Helia's confused flailingly certainly didn't distract her. Nope. She was paying rapt attention to wait she was meant to be looking away -

A polite cough from behind them. Ironwood, glancing into the middle distance, looked down cautiously at Helia. "Ms Helia. I was hoping we could have a moment to talk? Rest assured you're not in any trouble." He ducked another black lace garment and swiftly looked up at the ceiling.

Winter could confirm that Ash wore very nice underclothings.

"Mrff!" Helia's reply was muffled by the dress she'd yet to untangle herself from. Aww, she'd managed to wear it. She looked so adorable and cuddleable and her head was stuck in an arm hole. Silly Birdie.

Ironwood sighed, still looking at the ceiling. "Ms Helia?"

"Mrfnmiggle!"

"Stop talking gibberish, poppet." Vivian giggled, pulling Helia's head out and helping her put it on properly.

"Fine. I want Winter though." Helia grumpled, before reaching for more ale. Nooo, bad Helia! No more ale!

"I'm afraid I need to talk to you alone. I can understand wanting to bring a teammate, but - this conversation will have to be private. I give you my word as a General, no harm will befall either of you while you're talking to me. Is that acceptable?"

Winter dragged her eyes away from the pasty-white pair to look at Helia. The much smaller girl seemed to glare up at the… embarrassed General? What could have gotten him that healthy flush on his cheeks.

"Fine…" Helia grumpled, sagging.

"Hello, General Ironshaft! Taking the little one out for some, ahem, private tutoring, are we?" Vivian smiled slyly as she clasped her hands behind her back and started wiggling innocently. She wasn't innocent. She was trying to kidnap fuzzy! Helia! Not fuzzy. Though Helia was fuzzy. Did she need to brush her wings every morning to keep them from floofing?

Winter imagined Helia with floofy wings and giggled.

Ironwood was glaring a little at Viv, and thus couldn't dodge another set of smaller clothings. He sighed, removing something skimpy from his face. "Please, could you two restrain yourselves, just for the mome -"

His voice cut off, but his lips kept moving. There was a small thump and an "Eep!" as the pair rolled onto the floor and out of view. As Winter strained her neck to peek, Helia clambered out of her grip and stood in front of the General with a sigh, her new dress dragging along the ground.

"Ah, stand still," Viv crouched down and rolled up the front of the dress before pinning it in place, leaving the rest of it dragging behind her but letting her walk. "There we go!"

Winter could have thought of that. And applied it. She just hadn't. Because she was full of food.

Helia shuffled over and reached up to grab Ironwood's hand, letting him lead the way. Vivian sat down in the vacated spot and leant on Winter, sniffling melodramatically. "They grow up so fast, don't they?"

Winter tried to lean away but she was yawning, or her mouth was opening or something. Her head was resting on the table. She was so tired, even if Viv was leaning on her and putting hands in odd places.

The last thing she saw before sleep claimed her entirely was Helia looking back to wave.