Chapter 10

Yang continued looking out the window as the airship steadily approached the center of Vale. Her eyes shifted from each tall building and busy street that she passed, remembering the different crazy events that happened through the past few months she had been there. The few places that didn't trigger some memory of hers caused her to think of all the possibilities that each little square foot of city held and all the adventures that waited around each corner.

Her imagination continued to soar through her possible futures as the ship descended onto the heated asphalt surface of the airship docks. A flock of birds scattered as the ship jolted upon impact with the ground. A slight tug on Yang's sleeve brought her back to reality. Her gaze shifted downward to meet a brilliant green pair looking up at her with a sly smile appearing below them.

"I think I lost you there again," Mint said, giving Yang a slight shove with her shoulder. A small pit of guilt formed in the blonde's stomach as she sheepishly smiled down at the girl she was supposed to be playing host to on this little trip.

"Yeah… Sorry 'bout that. Guess I keep getting lost in my thoughts," Yang chuckled giving a shrug and looking over Mint at the students slowly pouring out of the ship.

"It's no big deal," Mint said, shrugging off the apology, "You look like a girl with a lot on her mind and I'm not one to get in the way of a person and their inner monologue."

"Still no excuse for abandoning my tour guide duties," Yang said, redonning her professional tone and grabbing Mint by the shoulder, "I mean if I keep going out of commission then you would be left alone in this dark dangerous city." Yang pulled Mint in close to her as the blonde gave her pitying eyes that were somewhat lessened by the cheap smile that she couldn't keep off her face.

"Oh no! Whatever will I do?" Mint responded in mock fear, rolling her eyes as her face flushed with the proximity to the blonde. Mint felt cozy with the unnatural heat wafting off Yang as she felt herself settle more snugly into the blonde's side. It was all Yang could do not to burst out laughing at the smaller girl, raising an eyebrow at the odd behavior in her friend.

"I have no idea," Yang said as she slowly started to walk towards the exit of the ship with Mint still at her side, "Now I believe I still owe you a date so let's see what's still open for food."

At the word date Mint's eyes flew open as she realized what she had been doing. Almost like a rocket, she shot away from Yang's side with her face growing a brilliant shade of red causing Yang's last reserves of control to leave her as she burst out laughing. Mint just looked at her feet as she followed Yang out of the door, maintaining a five-foot distance from the girl now clutching her sides.

The dock workers looked perplexed as they watched the blonde and raven-haired duo walk away from the ship, one laughing as the other just walked in her stead, looking anywhere but at the taller girl. The two continued to walk as they passed shops and different land marks in the city of Vale, each with their own little story in Yang's eye that she recounted to Mint with eager gusto. Mint for her part continued to take photos with her imaginary camera and listened to the overactive imagination of the blonde. She marveled at the amount of detail Yang poured into each and every story and wondered to herself just how long Yang had held these tales.

As the girls passed by different restaurants, Yang would just proclaim that they weren't good enough for a "first time in Vale" meal. They walked by steakhouses, seafood shacks, and even a snuffy looking French restaurant that had steaming bread bowls at each table being served. Each one came with its own alluring smell wafting out of the open doors, beckoning Mint to walk in and sample a little bit of everything on the menu. Every time the smaller girl would pass by the different eateries she would stop to look at the outdoor menus for all of two seconds before Yang would grab her by the arm and drag the starving girl along the street, deeper into the downtown of Vale.

After what felt like ages of teasing and a bit of odd turns down different roads that Mint would never have seen if Yang wasn't leading her the two finally stopped in front of a set of mangy buildings on a near abandoned street. Mint waited for Yang to start up one of her stories but when she turned expectedly towards the blonde, she was only met with a pair of delighted lilac eyes staring at her with arms open in what could only be described as a "Ta Da!" motion.

A very perplexed Mint turned to examine the particular building that Yang was drawing her attention to. The walls were covered in a mishmash of corrugated metal that looked aged to the point that the reddish brown rust colored through the white paint covering the place. Water stains ran down under the bolts that held the metal to the wall and someone had tagged the metal with black graffiti simply spelling out the word "Burgers". Two metal tables decorated the outside with potted plants surrounding the area giving a touch of color to the otherwise bleak exterior. A black painted awning hung above a pair of open wooden doors with bright red neon shining the words "Good Eats".

"So?" Yang said in barely contained excitement as she waited for any sign of reaction from her smaller friend.

"It's… ummm…," Mint hesitated, trying to find the right word for whatever she was looking at, "Rustic."

"Rustic huh," Yang smirked, looking at the confused expression on Mint's face and thinking to herself, "Yeah I guess that's somewhat accurate. This my foreign friend is the Good Eats burger shack, home of the best burgers in all of Vale!"

"DAMN STRAIGHT!" came a booming voice from inside the open double doors.

"And that!" Yang shouted, wrapping an arm around Mint and ushering her through the doors, "is the best god damn cook in the world… don't tell my dad."

Mint quickly moved her feet to avoid falling over in Yang's excitement. The two girls walked into the open shack and were met with a small room that looked like it could barely hold five people on a good day. The walls were covered with well varnished wood and the opposite wall from where the two girls walked in was dominated by a large opening with metal outlining all four sides and a long and narrow metal counter on the bottom covered in different dispensers and baskets.

Leaning on the counter was a portly man with dark skin and disheveled black hair. His mouth split open into a wicked grin showing a brilliant white smile and his chocolate brown eyes gleamed with a boisterous joy that infected Mint with a need to smile back at the man, albeit a little awkwardly. The man's chin was covered in black stubble and a grease stained apron hung from his neck with the simple phrase "Yes Ladies, I Can Cook Too".

"Yang Xiao Long!" The man slammed his hand down onto the counter and somehow managed to grow his smile even larger as he welcomed the two girls into the small room. "How is my second favorite huntress?"

"Doing better now that I've moved up to second favorite," Yang called back, her smile matching the cook's, "What happened to Jade?"

"Weapon misfired and took out one of my tables," the odd man recalled, his voice losing a bit of its mirth, "haven't been able to replace it yet and I haven't seen her since."

"Oh damn, I was wondering why it seemed emptier out there. I can go have a chat with her if you want."

"Oh don't bother, she'll turn up again. I trust her… sort of," the cook responded, waving away Yang's offer and turning his eyes over to Mint who was standing slightly behind Yang now that the blonde's attention was elsewhere, "And who is this fine beauty?"

"Crap, I'm forgetting my manners today," Yang said, turning hastily to grab Mint and bringing her back in front of her, "Mint I would like to introduce you to the man who redefined what it means to put a patty on a piece of bread. The cook who knows how to spice up anything he touches. The one. The only. Buurrrrrrrrger Master Gilmour." Yang finished her introduction with a brief drum roll as Gilmour burst out from behind the counter and struck what he probably thought was a rather impressive pose.

Mint could barely contain her laughter. The shear sight of these two made her think that they were about to start up a two-person circus act and fortunately or unfortunately (she had yet to decide) Mint was here to bear witness to their master performance.

"Thank you! Thank you! You're all too kind. Please hold your applause." Gilmour waved and bowed to an imaginary audience as Yang clapped her heart out for the man. "So," he boomed after he was done acknowledging his supposed fans, "Who do I owe the pleasure of performing for today?" Mint opened and closed her mouth, trying to find the right words to introduce herself to the rather eccentric man.

"This is my new friend Mint," Yang finally cut in when it was very apparent that Mint was well and truly at a loss for words.

"Well Mint, how can I help you on this fine evening?" Gilmour strode back behind the counter with a bounce in his step as he continued to look back at Mint.

"I-I… I ummm…" she stuttered. Mint looked from Gilmour to Yang, still completely flabbergasted at the flash of events happening in front of her.

"Mint here is new in town and is looking for the best Vale has to offer," Yang chuckled, looking bemusingly at Mint as the smaller girl flushed with a bit of embarrassment at being caught off guard.

"And so naturally you brought her to my little corner of the universe." Gilmour and Yang shared a rather odd look that told Mint that this wasn't the first time that the pair had been through this little song and dance. The two smiled at each other before Yang jumped forward and grabbed Mint's hand, dragging her closer to the front counter and directing her attention to the menu.

After Mint scanned through the list of items for a solid two minutes without actually absorbing any of the information she looked down and met the expecting eyes of Gilmour staring at her, leaning slightly over with one elbow propped on the counter. He looked at Yang again who was almost watching and they both burst into laughter causing Mint to look alarmingly between the two of them trying to figure out what joke she just missed.

After another minute of laughter Gilmour just turned back to the smaller girl with a glamourous smile. "My lord, we've really stumped her, huh Yang?"

"Yeah, even Pyrrha wasn't quite this bad."

"She was the long-haired, redheaded girl, right?" Yang nodded in confirmation and Gilmour simply chuckled as he gave Mint a long pitying look. Mint shot a glare back at Yang as she started understanding the little charade going on. The blonde just wiggled her eyebrows and gave her biggest grin as the smaller girl turned back to Gilmour as heat filled her face.

"Tell you what, if this really is your first time in Vale then I would recommend the 'Vale Special'." Mint gave a long drawn out sigh as Gilmour said this, giving the man a shrug as she admitted her defeat in this little game. "And the usual for you Yang with extra mushrooms and barbeque sauce, right?"

"You know me so well Gilmour," Yang responded as she grabbed her fuming friend and dragged her out to one of the outdoor tables. Gilmour chuckled again as he walked back to his grills, grabbing various ingredients and beginning his little symphony.

As the two girls took their seats, Mint sat back in her chair with a frown and glared at Yang with her arms crossed. Yang just sat back in her own chair relaxed as she met Mint's glare. After a few seconds of silence Yang finally broke into a smile as she sat forward, resting her arms onto the table and giving Mint her best puppy dog eyes. The smaller girl looked away, trying not to smile and give Yang yet another victory. She looked over to where Gilmour was flipping burgers on the grill, lost in his own little process and humming a little tune to himself.

Mint felt something kick her shin under the table and she snapped her attention forward to be met with Yang pretty much leaning fully on the table giving her a set of puppy eyes that would melt gold with a matching whimpering pout. Mint relented, rolling her eyes and attempting to kick Yang back but instead finding that the blonde had predicted that response and moved her chair slightly back so Mint's shorter legs couldn't reach. Instead Mint found her knee connecting with the bottom of the table, causing her to start cursing profusely as she reached down to grab her injured knee. Yang burst out in laughter as curses continued to flow from the smaller girl's mouth that even caused Gilmour to break his concentration to look over at the pair.

"You know," Mint said through gritted teeth as she rubbed her leg, "I will get you back for all of this."

"Oh, I expect nothing less," Yang responded as she leaned back into her chair, relaxing one arm behind the metal seat and leaving her other on the table between them. The two girls stared at each other with Mint's icy glare and Yang cool and calm smile. Gilmour continued to watch the odd little interaction as his hands deftly moved different ingredients around almost with a mind of their own. After three more seconds of what Gilmour saw as tension he could cut and serve back to his customers, the two girls suddenly bursted out in laughter. Gilmour felt himself ease as the air lightened, going back to assembling the odd couple's food.

"Sooooo," Mint finally drawled after she was able to catch her breath. She looked at Yang trying to gauge where to take this conversation. She was never really decent at small talk and now that they were in a secluded spot with only the birds and a rather extravagant cook to share the moment, she had no idea what she should be discussing.

"So?" Yang responded slightly deeper voiced while she drummed her fingers on the table. Both girls just looked at each other for a second before realizing they were staring and simultaneously looking everywhere but at their companion. Mint heard a small chuckle from the kitchen, causing her head to snap in that location only to see that Gilmour was shaking his head and smiling.

Mint took a deep breath and looked back at Yang who was still paying very close attention to a scavenging bird a few feet away from the table. Taking a deep breath, Mint steadied herself, wondering why a simple meal with a friend was causing her to feel so flustered. Her training had taught her how to smooth talk her way around every type of situation with all sorts of people but nothing could ever prepare her for something so… normal.

"What's wrong?" Yang asked drawing Mint out of her mind and causing her focus back onto her friend. Concern was written all over the blonde's face from the slight frown to the furrowed brow.

"Um… I-It's nothing," Mint responded, straightening her facial features out and assuming a casual posture.

"Girl, I've had enough conversations with people going through all sorts of problems to know that 'It's nothing' really means 'Oh god help me Master Yang for I am lost'. So, I'll ask again. What's wrong Mint?"

Mint chuckled under her breath. Even through the joking tone, she could hear sincerity in Yang's voice. She wanted to tell the blonde everything but her purpose reminded her of the situation and she decided on just a partial truth.

"I guess I just don't do this kind of stuff all that often," Mint said with a sigh, her fingers drumming a rhythm on her knee.

"This kind of stuff?"

"You know, meals with friends, small talk, and all this weird normal stuff that everyone seems to do. I just don't exactly have much experience with it."

"Haven't you ever just hung out with your team before," Yang asked, puzzled at this new revelation.

"We aren't exactly that close," Mint explained. Yang sat back and fixed a quizzical look onto Mint. Not speaking, just thinking everything through. "We focus on what has to be done. So, there's not a lot of time for team bonding and my work hasn't really allowed me a chance to make too many friends."

"Huh," Yang sighed, still keeping her eyes on Mint. She made no sound or movement that would indicated an incoming response. Mint just sat upright in her chair, wondering if she had said too much. The silence between the two weighed on her shoulders and every little noise around her seemed amplified to the point that she could hear every note in the song Gilmour was humming and feel the vibrations in her tapping foot that she immediately stopped, crossing one leg over the other in a vain attempt to settle her nerves. Her fingers gripped onto her chair as she continued to meet Yang's eye contact.

"Well then," Mint jumped as Yang spoke. She quickly started trying to find any hint at where Yang was taking this, "I guess I have a lot of work ahead of me."

"Ummm…" Mint's brow scrunched in confusion as Yang gave her an easy smile.

"I am going to show you the ways of the social butterfly," Yang announced as Mint relaxed slightly at the intriguing proposal, "With my help, you'll be chatting up complete strangers in no time. I can teach you all the secrets you will ever need for any social gathering."

"If you say so," Mint said back with a mix of apprehension and slight amusement at Yang's sales pitch.

"Hey if I can deal with the massive introvert that is my sister, I think I can handle you." Mint raised an eyebrow at this statement with Yang responding by wiggling her own brow causing both girls to burst out into laughter.

"Well, I see you two are having a glorious time out here!" Gilmour strode up to the two girls carrying a couple of red baskets filled with food. Yang and Mint looked over at him with tears in their eyes as they eased there breathing and moved closer to the table. Gilmour placed each meal in front of their respective owners and flourished backwards as if he had just revealed his magnum opus to the world.

Mint looked down at her food and took in the pile of something that Gilmour had just presented to her. The burger was a stack of different ingredients that looked like they had been thrown together with whatever extra stuff Gilmour had lying around his kitchen. It had a solid meat patty laying on top of a slice of lettuce with an amalgamation of green peppers, fried onions, bacon, swiss cheese, mushrooms, and coated with barbeque sauce. This was all placed inside of a pretzel bun and surrounded by a layer of seasoned fries. Her heart shuddered as she imagined all the ways this wasn't going to be good for her.

"Well?" Mint gazed up at Gilmour who was smiling down at her with one eyebrow raised as he waited for her to take a bite. He gestured back down at the burger and Mint switched her gaze over to Yang who was completely ignoring her own meal, instead choosing to lean forward, resting her chin in her hands with her elbow propped up on the table.

Mint sighed and looked back down at the burger. Delicately picking it up, she once again looked at Gilmour and Yang who were both nodding their heads and waiting with baited breath for Mint to take her first bite. Shrugging her shoulders, Mint opened her mouth and took her first bite. She slowly chewed and let all the little flavors sink in.

"Oh," Mint hummed in content as the juiciness of the patty melded with the different savory and salty tastes she was experiencing. She finished chewing and swallowed, giving a smile and nodding up at Gilmour who clapped his hands together in celebration. Mint looked over to Yang who was giving her a smug smile as she picked up an onion ring from her basket and started chewing on it.

"I think you got yourself another satisfied customer Gilmour," Yang concluded with a mouthful of onion ring. Mint rolled her eyes and reached over to flick Yang in the forehead before stealing one of her onion rings and plopping it in her mouth to join the smaller second bite of burger she had already taken. Gilmour laughed at the little interaction as Yang protested the theft of her food and Mint just smiled and continued enjoying her meal.

Gilmour walked back to his kitchen to clean up as Mint and Yang ate their food in a pleasant silence, only speaking to ask the other if they wanted to try a bite of their burger or complain when one of their sides was stolen. Gilmour only came back out when the two girls were finished to collect the empty baskets and bid them farewell. The two girls said their goodbyes to the extravagant man and promised to visit during the festival and bring all their hungry friends along with them.

Yang and Mint steadily walked back along the side streets of Vale until they found themselves wandering into the main shopping district. They never walked into any of the various stores scattered around the area, content to just window shop and let their slightly filled stomachs settle from their dinner. After about an hour of perusing, the two stopped to check the time and confirm when the last airship was leaving.

"Looks like we have about an hour, got any ideas?" Yang asked as she put away her scroll and looked at her smaller friend. Mint thought for a second before quickly looked around the area and with a shout of excitement, she grabbed onto Yang's sleeve and started pulling her along. Yang just shrugged and went along with her eager companion as they walked towards a colorful shop with a giant neon ice cream cone hanging next to the door.

They walked into the little ice cream parlour and stopped just inside the entrance, breathing in deeply as their sense of smell was overloaded with sugary delight. Walking up to the counter they both looked inside the glass display at the different barrels of ice cream. The shop had the usual chocolate and strawberry but also had a selection of oddly named flavors such as "A Grimm Surprise" and "Team SNDA". Yang even saw one flavor simply named "The Ruby Special" and instantly warned Mint to stay clear of it unless she wanted one hell of a sugar rush. The smaller girl eagerly asked the young woman behind the counter if she could try just about every one of the unusual flavors, giving Yang a thumbs up or thumbs down after each sample.

After they purchased their respective decisions, the two girls walked out with Yang holding onto a scoop of strawberry ice cream and Mint carrying a double scoop of something called "Baked Alaska" based off some region in a fiction book the owner loved. Yang led Mint along the road until they finally reached a small park where the blonde found her favorite bench that provided a perfect view of the sun as it descended behind the Vale skyline.

Sitting down, the two enjoyed their treats in blissful silence as they watched the sun disappear. Mint looked side-long at Yang who once again had her thousand-yard stare signifying she was back in her wondrous fantasy. Smiling, Mint decided to let her friend have a few more minutes in her world before scooting right up next to her and giving the blonde a bump with her shoulder.

"Hmm- What?" Yang said, startled back to reality and gazing down into the startling green eyes looking at her with bemused enjoyment.

"Your ice cream is melting all over your hand." Yang quickly looked down to her cone and realized that the strawberry ice cream had indeed started to melt and cover her fingerless gloves. Quickly she wiped her hand off on one of the napkins that they brought with them and hastily wolfed down the rest of her ice cream, instantly regretting her decision as she clutched her head and groaned in mild agony. Mint giggled at the reaction as she rubbed Yang's back in an attempt at giving some sort of comfort. After the headache passed, Yang gave Mint a smile in thanks that looked more like a grimace.

"And what have we learned?" Mint chided as Yang took a deep breath and discarded the napkins in a nearby garbage bin. Yang rolled her eyes and ignored the remark, "If it makes you feel any better, this has been quite the remarkable day. You really outdid yourself."
"I'm glad you enjoyed it," Yang responded, leaning back and resting one of her arms across the back of the bench, "Surprised you and your team haven't already done anything like this yet."

"Like I said before, we don't exactly do personal things together. Everything's always business first."

"Really," Yang said in mild surprise, "I never would have taken Em for a stick in the mud."

"Eh, she's not really all that bad," Mint relented as she thought back to the little conversation she had in their room what felt like years ago, "She's nice and will give me advice when I need it but when all is said and done, the mission comes first." Mint let out a deep breath as she felt the pressure that always seemed to linger around her grow heavier.

"Well then you just need to get out and meet people outside your team then," Yang suggested instantly, looking around at the different groups of people wandering around the small park.

"Easier said than done," Mint quipped, letting her head fall back as she looked up at the sky.

"Why?"

Mint tilted her head sideways as she looked at the puzzled expression on Yang's face. "I don't know, I just find it hard to get to know new people," She took in a deep breath, looking back up at the passing clouds, "Every time I try, I just never feel like I can't trust them."

"Huh," Yang remarked, marveling at the confusing way her introverted friend's brain worked. She never found it hard to trust new people unless they gave her a reason not to. Yang had to constantly remind herself that some people, like her sister, didn't exactly enjoy meeting new people like she did. Yang felt her brain go into overdrive as she tried to understand this new frame of mind. If she understood it, she could better help Mint out, but it was hard for the extroverted blonde.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Mint asked, noticing the lack of witty responses from her friend after a few minutes of silence.

"I'm just curious why you find it hard to trust people?" Yang asked, still pondering the concept. Mint breathed in slowly as she gathered her thoughts. Her mind went back to the circumstances leading up to the encounter in that alleyway all those years ago when she had been Neopolitan. A scared little girl who didn't know who to turn to. She remembered the faces of all the people who sold her out, all the people except for one.

"I just didn't exactly have an ideal childhood. I only made it out of my situation thanks to my last partner. He always told me to take everything people say and do with a grain of salt and it helped me weed out those who only wanted to hurt me," Mint explained, looking up at one of the Atlas warships currently flying over the park, "I guess I just took his words to heart. He was the only other person I ever really trusted."

"What happened to him?" Yang asked, noticing the past tense in Mint's words.

"He's kinda in jail right now," Mint said rather matter of factly.

"Oh…," Yang stuttered, absorbing this new bit of information, "Um… that sucks."

"A little…" A silence settled atop the girls, Mint maintaining her gaze on the slowly darkening sky. Yang just stared at her friend as she tried to think of something to say.

"I'm sorry," Yang said, inwardly berating herself for not thinking of anything less generic.

Mint finally let her eyes fall from the sky, noticing the concern in Yang's face and quickly fixing the glum expression that her own features had settled into. "It's fine, I swear!" she hurried out, trying to get past the current mood threatening the evening, "It's all just part of a bigger plan. Everything will work out in the end…" Mint gave Yang a shaky smile, one that the blonde matched with great relief.

"If you say so," Yang said in her usual cheery voice. Mint nodded at her words as the dreary weight on Mint's chest slowly dissipated. "When he does get out though I need to have a word with him."

"Oh, and why is that?" Mint responded, lifting one eyebrow.

"'Cause you can't just go around expecting people to always lie to you. You have to be able to trust someone in your life." Mint absorbed the tidbit of advice, letting it flow through her mind and mix with all the lessons that Roman had taught her.

"I don't know if I can do that." Mint looked back out towards the sunset trying to enjoy the spread of colors filling the sky.

"So, why me then?" Yang asked the girl, cocking her head to the side. Mint hastily looked back to see Yang's face, not for the first time this evening, filled with concern.

"I… I don't entirely know." Yang just smiled and shook her head at these words and Mint tried in vain to find a better reason.

"I'm just some random girl who literally bumped into you not once but twice. This same random girl who then invited you to come into a foreign city and down some side alleys to a shady hole in the wall burger shack. There's got to be a reason why."

"Well when you put it that way," Mint said, rolling her eyes and looking back at Yang who was still staring at Mint expectedly, waiting for a better answer to her earlier question. "I don't know, ok. You just caught me off guard and I just decided to wing it."

"So you trust me, right?"

"Yeah," Mint sighed, the answer coming with surprising ease, "I guess I do."

"Well, what makes me special over everyone else… besides the obvious reasons," Yang retorted, giving Mint a cheeky smile as the smaller girl chuckled at the attempt to lighten the conversation.

"I don't know, you just seem so… simple." Yang shot the smaller girl a quick glare as Mint realized the possible insult in her answer, "No, no I mean- you just… I... Aaargh." Mint groaned as Yang let out a small laugh, enjoying seeing her friends attempts at mending the situation.

"Careful there, last person who called me simple wasn't exactly conscience to hear my witty replies to his observation." Mint took a deep breath and gathered her thoughts before walking headlong into the minefield this conversation was turning into.

"Simple is a good thing in this case," she sighed, watching the lilac eyes for any change in emotion. "You just seem to take everything at face value and I think… I think that's just what I need right now… I need a little simple in my life."

"Well in that case, I'll happily be your daily dose of simple." Yang gave the small girl a genuine smile with none of the usual joking sarcasm that typically came packaged with it. It was just filled with warmth and Mint instantly felt herself believing the blonde's words with none of the usual doubts that came when others would give her these kinds of promises.

"Thank you," Mint replied. Yang nodded and they both turned back to look at the sunset, Mint sliding closer to Yang and resting her head on her taller companion's shoulder with no words of protest from the blonde. Both girls eased into silence, enjoying the moment and staring out at the changing skyline of the city of Vale.

A/N: Alright so the writing every day idea doesn't really work when you're experiencing blocks at every turn. As a guy with average appearance and a slightly small social group, I don't exactly go on too many dates so I didn't have a lot of reference material to work with when it came to this chapter. A lot of rewrites went into this chapter and I hope you all enjoy my take on Yang and Neo/Mint's little adventure in Vale. I focused a lot on just the interactions with some minor fleshing out of the characters and I hope I was able to convey the inner thoughts of our two main characters well enough. I have some ideas written down (covering my monitor with post-it notes) for the next chapter so hopefully I will get it written a little quicker than these past few chapters. Regardless, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and as always leave a review if you have any comments or questions about the chapter.

Guest: Yeah, motivation problems are a pain but something Burnie Burns said in one of his vods a while back (I swear I'm not obsessed) really stuck with me these past couple weeks. It's not about collecting enough motivation to finally do the task when you have enough, it's cultivating enough discipline to work on the task even when you don't want to which is just a lot more reliable in the long run. I've been trying to implement these past few days which has lead to me being a lot more productive recently.

Aqua X: I hope you know that I'm putting that "best at writing Yang" comment straight on the top of my resume (hello bloated ego). Hopefully this chapter reaches you're inbox otherwise I'll see you next chapter. In response to your reviews, I'm glad you enjoyed all the little things I was throwing into chapter 8 and are able to understand how I'm trying to explain the motives behind everyone. Really glad that I'm making someone feel with my writing and I hope I was able to follow up well enough even though this was more of a fluff chapter. And don't worry about not leaving a review right away for chapter 8, it's not like I check every five minutes or anything. That would be crazy... Thank you for the continued reviews.

-Thank you kindly