Title: Urchin: Edegreen

Checker is... well I suppose he's like an older brother. An annoying presence who's always there to remind me what reality is. He's goofy and a dork but also, he's like Mint in the way that I can look up to him. Maybe he's not a Huntsmen of any kind, and he abhors violence, but he's still someone who can fill that gap.

Someone who I adore in my own weird way. Which is why I'm grinning at him, beaming with the pride of actually managing to do it. To unlock my aura. He blinks and an absolutely bewildered look crosses his face. Slowly my own smile drops and I short of poke my fingers together nervously.

"Checker..."

"You... you unlocked your what now?" I actually feel a bead of sweat slide down the back of my head and sigh.

"Don't know why I expected anything different..." I mutter before simply shaking my head and linking my arms behind my back. A small smile and closed eyes. "Nevermind Checker. It's nothing important." Not really, it's just something that I have pride in. Although really, I should know better by now. Most of the people here are merely civilians.

No Hunters in sight.

Speaking of which the terms are so confusing, since anyone could be a Hunter technically in my previous life. It was just a thing people done, the hunters are out searching for game. And I once had a teacher Mrs Hunter. Huntress is obviously feminine and Huntsmen seems masculine, but I've heard it walking around. A group of Huntsmen, and off hand it's confusing. Which leads to my stated goal of being a Huntress. I specifically use the feminine term, despite the fact that I'm Agender and would generally prefer neutral terms. Although I still do the whole lean more to who the hell cares it's just a word thing.

So Huntress.

Still, it's disappointing that my greatest achievement so far in this life is going to go mostly uncommented on. Unnoticed and unobserved. Oh well, it's simply what I get for being a faunus. What I get for being born into a place and world where I'm oppressed simply for what I am…

I open my eyes back up and smile up at Checker. Waving a hand, dismissing the point and instead continuing along. Further into the Village. Further into Edegreen, into my home I guess… Even though I usually sleep wherever I end up. It's the closest thing that I have to a home anyway, and it's nice.

But it's not where my heart is.

My heart is still in the place where my family died. Where I buried them with only the help of Adam and Blake. Back in that blood stained cottage in a glade before the forest. In a home where I was born and grew to be loved. Our family was small, but it was still good.

Mint, Mum, Dad…

And all those from my previous life. Those important in my memories.

Mom, Dad, Pop, Nana, Nonna, Beth, Cordell, Freedom, Bailey, Makeita, Jane, Codee, Matilda, Andrew, AJ, Taylah, Mitchel, Joshua, Joseph, Sarina, Jamie, Vera, Peter…

So many people who made home, home.

So here, Edegreen is just a place to rest my head. Although, it does give me a sense of longing for the small town I grew up in previously. For the streets where you knew everyone and their dog, where you could just walk a couple doors down and see a familiar face. Where there was a park a couple minutes walk in either direction. It's an ache that never really goes away when I'm here. Makes my interactions with people a bit weird.

Aside from Checker.

And that's because he's so annoyingly persistent. Sure that I need someone to look out for me… And maybe I do. But maybe I don't.

So for the most part I just allow him to deal with me as he will. I treat him as I do… and I guess he really is like an older brother. Annoying and I can't help but care. He's someone who one day I'll be able to protect. To fight for. You're always stronger when there's something to fight for. A reason to fight. Something, or someone to hold onto, to protect, to keep living for.

And currently, that's Checker's place in my life.

He's my doofy older brother figure, who has a dislike for Hunters, Huntsmen and Huntresses but still puts up with them, since they're supposed to be protectors. Heroes and Heroines…

I'm not so sure about that role myself honestly. I mean my goal is inherently selfish in that regard… I just want to be one for the power, for the ability to change things in some way. Whether that way will be positive or negative doesn't really matter, I just want to change things in some way. It's not like I've been reincarnated in Naruto where I could have a proper end goal, Hokage, ANBU Captain, Jonin Sensei, Head of the Hospital… It's not like that.

Here it's just kind of a thing.

Is there any kind of end goal?

Being respected? Having the power to control your own fate? Changing people's views?

What's the point?

I'm pretty sure that by the time things get moving I'm just going to nope out of everything. Since I just don't get it. Again, at least Naruto has a clear career goal even for the Shinobi side. It's not just fighting and taking missions… even if it is mostly that. There's that much more to it… for Hunters though… It's all there seems to be, unless I manage to finagle my way into a teaching role.

I don't know…

So I forget about it, and instead fiddle with the straps of my backpack as we walk. Looking anywhere but where we're heading. Anywhere but straight ahead. Instead I look around at the buildings. Still with as much wonder as all my previous visits.

It's just… It's what I'd imagine paradise to be. Growing homes, trees that grow and arch in that weird way that creates a natural tunnel, huge leaves the wave overhead casting long shadows, natural decorative fountains and plenty of fruit that just grows. Homes that go around and up the trees and people who just smile and happily greet us.

It's like paradise.

Peace, safety, and hidden from those who wouldn't care for it. From those who would cheerfully destroy it and leave us with nothing.

This is how the faunus live. Their havens kept secret, disguised with overgrowth and crumbling buildings. And worked around to be more than they ever appear.

It gives me a strange feeling really. Because I just know, if this place exists… then surely others must. In other hidden alcoves, in other protected alleys. Menageries a mess, and yet people still live there. People complain, and we still protest, the White Fang does it's thing. Because why must we hide? Why should we be forced to hide when humans get to walk free and do whatever they want? Why is it that when we carry around dust or weapons people don't think huntsmen or huntress but rather criminal… Why do such things persist.

Oppression attracts Grimm.

Negativity attracts Grimm.

Why does nobody notice this? Why do they allow us to be crushed beneath the weight of opposition. To hide and pretend that things are worse and then hate the paradise that we make because we can't walk freely without being mocked. They call us animals… how about the try looking in the mirror sometime.

I swipe a hand over my eyes and blink rapidly beginning to make myself upset. Edegreen is beautiful. But the beauty is marred by the fact that it's all an illusion. So much trouble. Homes sell cheap, yet still become expensive. Limited access to the rest of the town, to the things we need to live… to everything.

Other kids don't notice, the adults force smiles and in it all we make a world of beauty to try and distract from the problems. It's not like we have much of a choice of where else we could live. Which creates envy for the homes that others have. Apartments packed closely together, a small house with a small garden and stone path… Not homes that blend nature and technology.

It's the price of living.

Just because you're born as what you are the world hates you. They try to kill you just because of your parents, because of your skin and your features. My tail twitches and I grit my teeth together. Hands tightening on the straps of my pack and I know. That's one of the biggest things I hate about this life. That I want to change.

Give us equal footing. Equal rights. We're not animals even though we have our extras.

There's always some problem in the world.

Some inequality.

Whether it's the call for femnism, for gender equalism. Arguments about immigration and the matter of skin colour and heritage, or religion. There's always something.

Humanity is prone to judging. To lashing out at those who're different. No matter what the small difference is. Reminds me of Pokémon the Movie: Mewtwo Strikes Back actually… with all the cloned Pokémon, and Meowth's quote…

'We do have a lot in common. The same air, the same Earth, the same sky. Maybe if we started looking at what's the same instead of always looking at what's different, ...well, who knows?'

It's very apt at describing the problem with people… Always looking at the differences. Instead of what's the same. We all need to fight the Grimm after all, strike back against them and deal with them. We all look up at the same moon, the same sun shines on us, the same rain refreshes us… Why do we have to fight?

Why do we have to suffer…

Just because we have tails, claws and fangs, cat ears, dog ears, long rabbit ears, round mouse ears… paws instead of hands in some cases, gills, wings… scales that cover small parts of our bodies, horns and antlers… Why do we have to fight against people who see us as less. Why is justice and equality still forgotten.

Sure this world views queer people and relationships and regular, and girls have just as much power as boys but still…

Why do they still fail with this. Why is Edegreen an illusion of happiness and peace, why is it a pretty prison rather than a shared marvel? Why does this have to be our reality?

It's paradise sure… but it's also a prison, an illusion. Safety, and peace, forced because where else can we go. I don't know the conditions of Menagerie… I just know that one of the biggest problems with it is that there's too many people forced to live there. Rounded up and kept there… Overcrowding and all the issues with that. My hands tighten and I can feel the strap cut into my palms just that little bit.

I can feel the way my muscles pull together and the rush of heat that kind of gathers in my palm. I can feel it, and it makes me hate this world so much. There's no purpose to any of it. There's no reason. Hunters are supposed to be protectors, and yet they kick those who're down just as much as some of the police.

A new kind of police brutality.

I'll change it. My hands loosen and I feel myself baring my teeth. Smoke dances in the distance an I know where I'm going. Now...

Now I just need to slip away...