Beacon-Vale Transit Airship
Ridian stared out the window of the airship, watching the Forever Fall roll by below.
"It's quite the sight, isn't it?" Blake said, standing next to him.
"Indeed. I have never seen so much life at peace before, it's quite inspiring," Ridian agreed with a small upward twitch of his lips. "What are our plans for the day?"
Blake gave a small smile, "We've got a few quick errands to run, then we each came up with an idea of what we think might be fun for you."
"May I know what you all had in mind?" Ridian asked.
"No can do, big guy," Yang answered, sauntering over with Ruby and Weiss in tow, "part of the fun is in the anticipation."
Ridian readied to object, before nodding, "Very well, I look forward to seeing what you have in store for me."
"That's the spirit!" Yang cheered, slugging him in the shoulder.
Ridian didn't budge, and Yang winced, shaking her hand, which felt like she'd punched an ursa without her aura, "Ow. What the heck?"
"Apologies," Ridian bowed his head, "it seems that my affliction has become more pronounced."
"Huh? What affliction?"
"Due to the unique nature and weakness of my soul, it appears to act not as a shield or healing factor, but rather as a limited null field to the aura of others," he explained. "I think the effective area may have grown past my body as a result of the treatment I received, or my attack would have done far more damage during our match, Yang."
Yang swallowed, "That's a scary thought."
"Quite," Ridian said, noting the large defensive wall separating the forest and the fortress city of Vale.
Vale - Commercial District
The first item on team RWBY's itinerary was a collection from Blackwell Smith's Arms 'n Ammo, a small, family run, specialty equipment store.
Ruby, of course, eagerly examined the latest stock while her custom shells were prepared.
The others milled about the store, casually browsing the wares while Ridian spoke with the young woman behind the counter about what was needed to produce one's own rounds.
'"Well, if you're going to be developing your own rounds," she said, pulling out a catalogue, "your best bet would be the Atlas-tec RLM-500," she flipped through the pages, finding the listing, "though it will set you back a few thousand lien. If you don't have that kinda money, there's always the Valeforce SP-150, it's a little outdated, but it's got most of the important stuff, and for only four hundred lien!"
Ridian tapped his chin in thought, "I see. If it's no trouble, I'll take the Atlas-tech," he decided pulling out a card with Beacon's logo on it.
With their business finished, the group made their way to their next stop, Tukson's Book Trade.
Blake made a beeline toward her preferred series, aiming to purchase the latest release, Ruby and Yang took to the comic books while Ridian picked through the science-fiction section.
Weiss followed Ridian, finding great entertainment questioning him about the validity of some of the concepts and ideas put forth by authors.
In the end Ridian decided on a large collection that was well regarded on Dust-net forums, while Weiss took the one that had the least inaccuracies to Ridian's knowledge.
The final stop was a specialist clothier, Whitney Smith's Apparel 'n Armor, owned by Blackwell's eldest daughter.
According to Ruby, the team needed a new set of combat gear for their next 'mission' against Torchwick and the White Fang.
Ridian agreed that less conspicuous attire would be a good idea.
He agreed less with their choices.
"I fail to understand how this," he gestured to the clothes, "would make it any more difficult to identify you."
"Well... Huntsman usually wear the same gear all the time," Ruby tried to defend, touching her fingers together, "so we figured different outfits would kinda make us... Not look the same?"
"On that we agree. What I question is why you've chosen something so similar to your typical attire?" Ridian questioned, "The purpose of a disguise is to be distinctly separate from your true identity. These undeniably fail in that regard."
Ruby looked at the arrayed outfits, and any arguments she had fled, her shoulders slumped, and she let out a quiet moan.
Yang frowned at Ridian, "Big talk for a literal death robot. I doubt you ever needed to hide in your life."
Ridian raised a brow, "I may not have needed to, but that doesn't mean I never did. An ambush is often more effective than a direct assault."
"He's got a point, Yang," Ruby chimed in.
Yang sighed, "Fine... You can pick our disguises, big guy."
"I would rather you understand the principles of subterfuge and use your own discretion," he looked at Blake, "you likely have some experience in this regard, so tell me, what is the most important thing to keep in mind when disguising yourself?"
Blake shot him a dirty look, "Don't stand out."
"Indeed," Ridian nodded, ignoring her glare. "As an exercise, each of you pick something that masks your partner's most notable feature."
Weiss folded her arms, "As an exercise? Do we look like children to you?"
"Yes, you do," Ridian responded.
Weiss sneered at him, "How do you plan to disguise yourself, then? You definitely stand out more than any of us."
"You will see, when the time comes," he answered vaguely.
"I think we'd all like to know now," Weiss insisted.
Ridian looked to the others, each voicing their own curiosity, "If you-"
He was cut off by the front door of the store slamming open, followed by gunfire.
"Everybody on the ground!" ordered one of the three masked gunmen.
Everyone except for Ridian complied.
"Hey freak!" one of the men approached him, "Are you deaf?! Get on the ground!" the gunman slammed the butt of his rifle into Ridian's gut.
Ridian didn't budge, staring at the man, "Are you... robbing me?"
The man put the muzzle of his gun to Ridian's chest, "That's right freak-show! Now lie the fuck down and I won't give you a new breathing hole!"
Three loud shots rang through the store, and the three would-be robbers fell to the floor.
Vale - V.P.D. Headquarters
"Do you have any idea what you've done!?" the detective shouted at Ridian, "You murdered three auraless civilians! Without even trying to de-escalate, no less!"
Ridian ignored her, staring blankly at a wall while she stalked around the room, raging at him.
Eventually she ran out of obscenities to hurl at Ridian and slammed her hands on the table next to him, "Are you even listening to me?!"
"No."
The detective grabbed his collar and attempted to haul him from his seat, "You think this is funny?! Those deaths are on your head!"
Ridian remained unphased, "They are not the first, and they won't be the last. If there's nothing else, Detective Ochre, I'll be on my way now," he stood, letting the aura-damping handcuffs fall onto the table while the detective stumbled back.
The digital lock clicked and the door to the interview room swung open, and Ridian walked out, ignoring the detective's shouting.
A/N:Sorry for the long wait everyone, I had a bad stint of writer's block, but hopefully that's over now.Anyway, I hope you're all still enjoying Ridian's story, I hope to have some more for you a bit quicker than this one.As always, if you have any questions or comments, leave me a review and let me know what I can do better.