SWTOR_Queen writes:

Ok, question. Will Velvet and Coco become a thing? Or could you at least address it again? There used to be this love triangle that was more than just, Velvet and Coco like Yatsu. The Crosshares element died a bit, so can you please bring it back within the next few chapters?

Bookah replies:

I'm so glad you asked! Believe me, that part of the story isn't over and done with by any means. In fact, (spoiler spoiler) you're only a chapter or two away from it definitely making a splash again. I look forward to seeing your reaction to how things play out!

GrimmKaiju writes:

Another good chapter and an interesting way to tie into the character short for Ruby. I don't really have anything else to add but to say I look forward to these every Monday and keep up the great work.

Bookah replies:

Thanks again! It's always great to hear that you appreciate what I'm doing. I enjoyed making that tie in. It made sense to me that, eventually, they have to stumble across Ruby's tracks somewhere. The short was the perfect spot for it.

Spring Hunt updates Mondays

Oak Harbor Highway

The trip to Oak Harbor from Ridgepeak would be a quick one. To the surprise of everyone on Team CFVY, the highway connecting the two towns was paved, evidence of the relative wealth of the two towns. After a little contemplation, Yatsuhashi had remembered that some of the coastal towns, protected from land based attack in some directions by the coastline, were well on their way to becoming full kingdoms of their own. Oak Harbor was probably one such of these, and thus had the funds to push a paved road out to neighboring towns.

"It makes trade between the towns, travel, and mutual support easier," he'd explained. "And that, in turn, makes both towns even safer and richer. In time they may even become well enough established to be able to rival places like Vale, or even Mistral."

They had traded out drivers around midday, letting Fox get a break as Velvet drove. The skyline ahead was growing ominous, full of dark clouds and flashes of lightning. Though they were all quite fit from their lives as Huntsmen and Huntresses, driving was still a different beast than walking, and Coco had decided to enter the storm with a fresh driver.

Released from driving, Fox had immediately crawled into the back, despite Coco and Yatsuhashi offering to let him enjoy a seat up front. He'd declined, preferring the chance to stretch out a bit in the more roomy bed of the truck, letting the couple share the cab with Velvet.

Only a half hour later, a rumble of thunder had roared, and a blast of wind had shaken the vehicle. Pushing aside the canvas flap at the back, he stuck his head out, contemplating the dark clouds that they were just crawling overhead. A few sniffs of the air, and he knew the thunder heralded rain as well.

He thought a moment, then nodded to himself. He fished out his scroll, punching in a message.

Less than a minute later, the flap pushed inward, and a pink, white, and brown themed woman slipped inside. Neo contemplated Fox a moment, then smiled her thanks.

"I figured you were up top." Fox gently patted the canvas top. "We haven't seen you this whole time, but you kept eating the food I left out."

In the now slightly cramped space, Neo gave a seated bow, a gesture Fox took to mean thank you a second time, and he shrugged. "You're welcome."

Neo settled back against a crate, rocking a bit as another blast of wind pushed the truck a bit. She watched Fox a moment, one eyebrow arched in a question.

"Well, we could talk for a bit."

Neo gave a small laugh, then pulled out her scroll. A few taps, and then Fox felt his own vibrate. He lifted it so he could read the screen.

I'm not much of a talker.

"No kidding," Fox drawled. "I would never have guessed."

Neo gave another little laugh.

"Alright, Neo. I have to ask. Why are you here?"

Neo continued to smirk a bit as she tapped away.

You invited me.

"Ha ha. Very funny. I meant in general, not inside the truck at this exact moment."

Neo gave another little smirk, but then her face turned serious as the sound of fat drops of rain began striking the overhead canvas.

Seriously. You invited me.

Neo locked eyes with Fox as he looked up from his scroll. One eye was brown, one pink, and both held something inside of them that left no question about whether or not she was joking.

"Okay, so I did. I would have thought you'd have continued to chase Ruby, though. You do know she went a different direction."

Neo nodded, then shrugged, glancing to the side as the truck gave another lurch as a gust crossed the road. She stared a moment, then began typing on her scroll, pausing, erasing, typing again, then stopping and looking a bit exasperated by something.

"What?"

Neo frowned, then gave an audible sigh. She typed again.

You have a different path, sure. But you still have the same goal. Mistral.

Fox contemplated Neo for a moment, then leaned back a bit, still watching her. "You could have gone straight for her. You might have caught up, and she'd have had no idea you were coming. But if you stick with us…"

It was Fox' turn to shrug. "We know you're around, and what your goal is. Believe me, Velvet would be glad to see you in a cell. Coco and Yatsu probably would too."

Neo flashed a smile that could only mean "good luck with that," but then began typing again.

I haven't given up on Ruby. She did nothing to save Roman when she saw the Nevermore. But I also know what you are doing. Cinder put us there, on that ship. It was her plan. And the White Fang weren't forced like we were. I want them to hurt.

Fox nodded slowly. "I could talk to Coco. Maybe she'd let…"

Neo cut him off with a sharp shake of her head and a hand slashing across her body. She began tapping furiously.

I'm not looking for redemption. Yes, we were scared for our lives, but we still did those things. We weren't the good guys even before Cinder hired us. And I won't stop being that person. Not in the eyes of your team, or the eyes of the kingdoms. Or my own. I'm not in this for forgiveness. I'm in it for revenge. Your team is right not to trust me.

You shouldn't trust me either.

Fox glanced back up at Neo, seeing how intent her eyes were as she watched him for a reaction. He sighed, and scratched his head. "I guess we'll just have to do our best despite that."

Neo stared at him a moment, then began laughing.

You're impossible.

He felt himself smile a bit. "I suppose I am."

A gust of wind blew the canvas back open, pushing a blast of cold air and rain in through the gap. Neo jumped, giving a small shriek of surprise at the sudden damp chill striking her neck and lept deeper into the truck, towards Fox. Instinctively he caught her, tucking her safely against himself.

The truck lurched, brakes squealing as it slid to a halt.

Neo gave Fox a quick, surprised look, then pushed away, out of his arms. The moment she was clear, she poofed out of view.

The flap was thrown open, and Yatsuhashi stuck his head inside, rain spattering off of his hair and the crates closest to the back. "You okay?"

Fox shook his head ruefully. "Fine. What's up?"

Yatsuhashi looked around, eyes a bit narrow. "We thought we heard something."

Fox laughed. "You did. Even Neo dislikes ice water down the back of the neck."

Eyes narrowed, Yatsuhashi started scanning the surroundings. "Still with us, huh?"

"Yeah," Fox nodded. "Don't bother searching for her. You won't find her." He jutted a chin towards the rain outside. "It's still spring and the rain is really cold. Get out of it and back in the cab. Snuggle with Coco and Velvet or something."

Yatsuhashi jerked his head back to Fox. "Velvet?"

"Yeah, yeah," Fox sighed. "I should be telling you to not encourage her because your with Coco now and she needs to just get over it and yada yada blah blah blah, right?" Fox gave Yatsuhashi a wry look. "But you still have feelings for her, right?"

"It doesn't…"

"Right?" Fox pressed.

Reluctantly, Yatsuhashi scratched the now soaking back of his neck, contemplating a crate. "Maybe."

"And Coco does too, right?"

Yatsuhashi jerked his eyes back to Fox. "No. What? I mean…" He sighed. "I haven't asked."

Fox rolled his eyes. "You three are still completely hopeless. Look, I'm not suggesting you climb up in the cab and stick your hands down Velvet's pants. But she's going through a hard time, and she feels safe around you. Put your arm around her shoulder, put a kiss on the crown of her head, and let her feel safe for a moment."

"Coco…"

"Needs to do the same damn thing. Maybe she could get away with the hands down the pants thing."

Yatsuhashi gaped at Fox, then shook his head. "Sometimes I just don't get you, Fox."

Fox sighed. "Jut get back in the truck. You're soaked."

Yatsuhashi eyed Fox a moment, then nodded his head, dropping the flap.

"Bloody martyrs…"

The flap opened once again, and just as the engine restarted, Neo slipped back inside. She turned and fastened the flap in place, clearly not wanting to risk being splashed again.

"A bit late for that," Fox pointed out. "You're soaked. I can almost see your corset through your shirt."

Neo shot Fox a dark look, then tapped at her phone.

It's called a bolero.

"Fine. I can almost see your bolero through your shirt."

Neo sighed and put her face in her palm, then pulled the hand away, glaring at the sopping wet glove. With a groan she sat down and began peeling the gloves off before shivering.

"You need to get out of those wet things. It's not exactly warm in here right now."

Neo shot Fox a dirty look.

"It's not like that," Fox objected. "I'm really not trying to get you naked or anything." He held his hands up in surrender. "But you're going to get sick if you don't dry out." He quirked a grin. "Besides, I'm not into little girls."

In a flash, Neo hit him. It wasn't a hard hit, and she'd aimed for his upper arm, not his face. Still he rubbed his arm, laughing as she jerked off her bolero and leaned towards him, a challenge in her eyes. He obliged her, glancing down briefly, then back up, still grinning. "Alright, not so little."

She nodded, emitting a surprising loud sniff of indignation, before sitting back and slipping off her boots and socks. She reached behind her, beginning to unlace the corset, then paused, looking intently at Fox.

Fox snorted. "Look, I admit, you're good looking, and definitely not a little girl. But you don't have to worry about me."

Neo pursed her lips and nodded.

"Oh, you knew that?"

Neo rolled her eyes, then brought her hand in front of her again. She pointed one at Fox and then at the cab, while making talking motions with the other.

It was Fox' turn to roll his eyes. "You sure eavesdrop a lot."

She produced her scroll again.

Bad guy, remember?

"Whatever Neo. I still don't get those urges.

Well, I do. And I am still a cold, wet girl in the presence of a weird, weird man.

Fox chuckled a bit. "Alright, Alright. Hold on." He turned and rummaged with his backpack, fishing out a blanket. "Here."

Neo took the blanket, wrapping it around herself. She turned her back to Fox, wiggling and shrugging, before popping first the corset and then her pants from inside the blanket. She tucked the blanket tight around herself, blushing a bit as she eyed Fox.

He made a show of looking up at the canvas top. "See? Not looking."

Her bare arm came out the top of the blanket and slapped his arm again. Chuckling, he lowered his eyes back to her face. "Oh, so now you actually do want me to look?"

Neo rolled her eyes, then twisted sideways before leaning against Fox' shoulder.

Fox snorted. "After all that about you being almost naked in front of me?"

His phone vibrated.

Bodyheat.

Fox chuckled, then, carefully, put his arm around Neo's blanketed shoulders. He felt her stiffen a moment, then soften as she clearly made a decision.

Don't get any ideas. My parasol is still in arm's reach.

"Not a chance of it. I'm allergic to being made into a pincushion."

Neo snorted, then lapsed into a silence beside him. Fox felt no need to break the quiet, but rested there, Neo at his side, as they listened to the rain on the canvas as the truck continued on.