Title: Urchin: Fall Flowers

Notes: OMG, It's here! Season four is here! And... Blake has parents?! BLAKE HAS PARENTS! OMG, well this just got a whole bunch o' jossed. Hah, well. I can probably slip them in somehow... maybe. Who knows.

Well, as soon as I properly catch up with it all... I need to prepare myself.

Time passes and each day I'm worked into the ground under the careful watch of Ruben. Worked hard and pushed to the limits until every muscle is screaming. Drilled on safety and metals and, taught what he knows. He's certainly not sparing with his training. He's serious and I can appreciate it.

Spring fades into Summer, and then it's finally Fall. Or as I still refer to it as almost automatically Autumn.

It's March.

My birthday is still in May, on the seventh. And I'm sort of weirded out by the way things are because seasons and dates, and I don't know if it's adapted to match my concept of the way the seasons work or what. But either way, it's March, and the start of Autumn/Fall.

It's amazing.

Trees changing colour, and the flowers of autumn that begin to blossom and bloom. That begin to show themselves, in their own various colours. It's beautiful. I've always found the fall flowers the fanciest. I've always been the fondest of the flowers that sprout during my season.

Just personal taste really, same with enjoying the way that the leaves flash with different colours before eventually falling down to the ground. Eventually people will move to rake them, but for the moment they're just slowly falling and there aren't quite enough on the ground.

Oh there are enough to run through, and scatter, but honestly that's not enough to rake quite yet. Not that some of the other children aren't already taking advantage of the fallen leaves to rake some small piles to jump and play in. It's Autumn. Which means harvest season as well, pumpkins and bake sales.

It's amazing and my tail happily swishes behind me as I race around making deliveries to various locations in Edegreen. Whether for defence near the very edges of the town or for more decorative purposes in some faunus' homes. It's something that I can do, more training really because carting around the weapons the way I do walking a cart around takes effort.

Checker helps.

His own lemur tail swishing behind him as he watches over me. Making sure that I don't hurt myself, or strain anything. It's nice really. I grin at him and he huffs rolling his eyes before motioning for me to continue.

Really this is the last delivery of various weapons for the week. End of the week delivery. Last delivery before closing up the shop for the weekend. And that's when we'll actually get to some fun. Back and forth. I grin just at the knowledge of what I'm going to be looking forwards to on the weekend. Because I've improved. Incredibly.

My speed, my strength, stamina, the way I'm able to use my aura and call it up. Everything is just improving as I go along. And I can do more now. Maybe not enough, but more. I can't do everything yet but this weekend.

I look forwards to it. But something is different today. And as we walk Checker suddenly stiffens, his tail twitching. I stop blinking before looking up at him surprised. There's a snarl on his face, and one of his hands is curled into a fist. It's so odd that I tilt my head questioning.

"Checker?"

"What's she doing here..." he snarls and I jolt back just a bit before following his gaze and... Something in me twists and burns and it's irrational. Because, that's... that's...

"Amber..." it's more like a breath passing from my lips. A whisper on the wind. A silent plea not quite passing into the open. It's Amber, the current Fall Maiden. At least, she is if my mental representation of the timeline is correct. But then I don't know... and also.

Again, there's that irrational twist. That burn, the flare of anger and rage, and a bolt of something so much darker than anything else I've ever felt. It steals my breath and clenches in my chest, enough to make me actually choke. Anger is not something I'm used to. It is hard for me to normally feel negative emotions. But here...

Here something about this place. Abut this world just bubbles them up. Boils them until they erupt t the surface. Hissing and spitting clawing away at my senses and wanting to burst free taking over. It honestly scares me. Especially here, in this context. Because that's Amber the Fall Maiden and she's going to die in the next ten years. DIE, and Cinder Fall is going to inherit the power of the maiden... and yet...

I feel the burning in my bones that comes with an unquenchable rage. A fury that rises up and consumes everything in its path.

Irrational emotions that I can't help.

I can't let it control me. So I stop. I close my eyes and take a deep breath. Feeling my chest expand as the cooling air rushes into my nose. Bringing with it the scent of pollen, small hints of smoke and wood, sweat, dust and dewy wet grass. I hold it, and breath out. Feeling the rush over my tongue and the slow death of the emotions. Again, focus on the expand and hold before blowing it all out.

In, out.

I cannot give in to negative emotions here. Not in this place not in this world. Especially when they're irrational against someone who has done nothing. Nothing to harm us. I will not allow my knee-jerk apparently instinctive reaction to cloud my judgement.

I take one last breath before opening my eyes back up.

It's just a matter of continuing ahead. Continuing with my rounds. Amber's presence here means nothing. And I guide as past easily, wearing a grin on my face. Eager to just get done with the delivery. And I studiously ignore Checker's glare at Amber, I ignore the rising tension in the village almost palpable...

It's only because she's a human.

We're faunus. We're used to most humans assuming things, being rude and mean and... Racist. It's just because Amber is a human that we're reacting like this... I keep telling myself that because the other option is... Well we could instinctively be reacting to the power that's kept just beneath the surface... possibly.

But I don't want to think about that.

Somehow... the flowers blooming around me don't seem nearly as beautiful as they did mere moments before.

"She's still here Ruben..." I hum swinging my legs where I rest sitting on one of the desktops in his workshop. "I don't get it... it's been nearly a month..." It's nearly my birthday, and Amber is still here. And everyone is still walking around as if on eggshells. It's... hard. Especially because as it wears on...

Something has been shifting.

Something has been stirring.

And I keep feeling a desperate need. Something I can't explain. But in the meantime. Ruben doesn't answer me so I roll my eyes and instead pull out the handgun instead. Repaired and reformatted, along with my other weapons, including the goggles I wear up in my hair. A surprise if anyone is ever stupid enough to seriously try anything in regards to stealing them.

"Be careful with that Kitsuko!" I huff rolling my eyes. I'm not an idiot. I've learnt how to use these now. Ruben hasn't slacked in the least with my training, and I'm not one to let useful skills slip away and slide to the wayside. And safety is one of those lessons that I am not about to forget anytime soon. It's more important compared to anything else that I've learnt thus far. Gun safety, scythe safety, laser safety, how to fall. Yet more fire safety, emotional safety and hell, s much more in regards to safety because seriously. It's one of the biggest things.

Safety, safety, safety.

So I'm not going to just forget it because I'm bored and cleaning out the handgun. Not at all. And yet, I am somewhat distracted, listening to Ruben absently talk as he forges another decorative weapon for someone else who lives in the village. AAs he hammers away at the metal and bends it beneath his hands. And... I know Amber is still here. I can sense her, feel her presence and finally.

It breaks.

Something had to break at some point. But it's just I need to know something. So I slip off the desktop, swiping my pack as I go, give one last glance back before shaking my head. I need to know. So I creep off. It's so easy to slip away. Even now, because I'm small, unobtrusive and just used to being part of the background. Because I don't expect to be noticed, and don't make a big deal about things it's as simple as letting people's minds do the work for me. Writing me out as part of the scenery. It's odd, but it's a simple fact of life. Something I've used to my advantage for so long that I don't really think about it as an issue anymore. It might worry others considering they're trying so hard to keep me safe but right now... There is a burning need a heat in my very bones that's not rage.

Curiosity is just as dangerous.

It drives me forwards as I creep around until I find Amber and then I just stop and stare at her. Breathe in, breathe out, and step forwards. One, two, three, four. Until I stop, still a fair distance from her, but even here I can feel it and it's just. How? How can I feel the power that she has, the power of the maiden and... is this why everyone is on eggshells? Is this feeling why they all avoid her? Because it's a buzz and a rush and I can feel the hair on my body standing on end, but also.

I want to reach forwards and grab onto it. To hold onto that power and wrap it around myself as a security blanket.

It reminds me of home...