Between the rocking of the train and the continuous bickering between our companions I can't tell which is making my headache worse.

In the days following what I'm probably going to refer to as the Gunny incident I had plenty of time to myself. It was… boring, for lack of a better word. Though it did leave me with plenty of time to think about things.

I found that Dad was right. I was trying to be someone I could never, I was trying to be Mom. Whether that is because of the apple not falling far from the tree or if I was just trying to fill a void I'm still trying to decide.

My bedridden status had also left me feeling a bit upset whenever I found out Eton was moving around unscathed. I asked him about it one day when he came to give me food. He did the most Eton-y thing ever. He shrugged and stated, "I went in and pretty much five minutes later came back out."

Look, I'm happy my best friend came out of that unharmed and all. But, like, three months bedridden su-u-u-ucks. Is it a little malicious to wish he at least sprained an ankle? Maybe so.

Ok. Yea. It's a jerk move.

There were more things that I thought about of course, but none of it was very revolutionary. Well, there was one thing.

"What does that make you?"

Grimmy, along with the other shades, was made by the Miasma to help demoralize me until I could no longer fight. Or so Gramps had told me. He reiterated that the Miasma was an ancient Grimm and told me that it was theorized to be something of an ancestor to a species of Grimm called the Apathy. Both hunted their prey by weakening their resolve and will to fight, tiring them and draining them of the life force.

The biggest difference was that Gunny's draining of life force actually physically maimed the victim but only if the victim inhaled it's smog like body. From there the Miasma would attack the person's nervous system in a surprising show of intelligence, sending signals to the brain of intense fatigue. The victim then would go through sort if in between sleep and awake while Gunny would attack their body from the inside out.

So that kind of explains that entire hell show. Pretty frickin well.

"Verdun," Eton calls out to me, tearing my mind from these thoughts, "C'mon. We're here."

I try to stand and I am happy to report that my vision only distorts for about a minute. After that Eton and I file out of our booth behind the other departing passengers, "So did Dad tell you where we're going yet?"

Eton stops to let an elderly woman off first before answering me with a nod, "I do not know specifically but apparently he has planned a dinner to celebrate the birthdays he missed."

Hmm, that does sound like Dad, "But why is he taking us into the city to do that?" Eton just shrugs, leaving the question in the air.

We step off the train and find Dad at the reception terminal. He had been situated in a booth closer to the exit so he had gotten off faster. After that, we walk out of the subway and up into the bustling market district of Beacon. The first thing to hit me is the scents, as usual. The open-air market is typically closed at night but the scents of cooking meat, strange perfumes, and other odds and ends tend to linger long after.

Dad looks around for a bit before stopping a random passerby, "Excuse me ma'am, but-"

"Shove off gator face." the woman growls.

Now. there aren't really too many things capable of peeving me off. But that comment, though, I'll admit is doing a pretty good job.

I study the woman up and down for a moment before preparing my own insult, "Big talk coming from somebody with an eye so lazy I could confuse them for a sloth Faunus."

That caught her attention, "What was that mutt?"

"And your arms, they're so beefy I thought you were a pig Faunus at first."

"Verdun," Dad's head jerks as he stares at me with one eye. Geez, it almost reminds me of how Mom used to glare whenever she wanted me to shut up. He turns back to this right arse and bows, "I'm terribly sorry for my son ma'am, we shall be going."

Geez Dad, don't apologize to her. She was being a di…. Wait. "Dad watch out!"

The woman had pulled a knife. She didn't really get too far though. "You sure you wanna be doin this?" a very angry ram man growls lowly. Sometimes you just have to appreciate how stupidly timed the universe is. Mars looms over the now sweating woman with a scowl that can only be made after years of seeing some serious bull, "News flash buddy, ya don't."

"Ah, thank you Mars. But I had everything under control." Dad says while still bowing.

The woman looks between Dad and Mars and I can clearly see where she finally connects the dots. It's kind of funny.

Psychologists love to prattle on about how every creature is born with the innate instinct of "Fight or Flight." I'm happy to say that such a trend continues in the form of this frightened woman, as she smartly decides that flight is the better option.

Of course, Gramps took this as his cue to gloat, "Well, it seems I've helped things speed up at least." he scratches his chin and in one question confirms what we were doing in the city, "So, are we going to celebrate the whelps and their birthdays or not?"

Dad straightens his posture while letting out a chuckle, "Heh, heh. Of course, sir. As you saw we just got sidetracked was all."

Gramps initially stares at Dad but ends up just grunting before walking off. Dad immediately behind him, leaving Eton and I by ourselves. Or at least they would have had it not been obvious Mars knew where we were going. Knowing Eton he wasn't going to go anywhere unless I did, the weight of responsibility falls to me I guess. Maybe Mom was on to something when she said Eton only follows me…

After about an hour of walking, we finally make it out of the bazaar and into a less busy market district. Though, that's probably only due to how each of the restaurants seemed to be packed to the brim with customers. "Hmm, so where are we eating?" I ask in an attempt to stave off the begging of my tummy.

Mars says, "Somewhere with good food." Wow, thanks, I had no idea.

"And here I thought we were going to go someplace with good air," I say, letting a bit of the signature Verdun sass, patent pending, leak into my tone. Sadly I forgot to also watch where I was going in the midst of trying to perfect my eye rolls and ran smack into the of my grandfather, "Hey, what's the big-"

I take one look at Gramps and already I can feel big uh-oh signals riding up my spine. He turns to Dad, "So, how long are you going to keep up that disguise?"

"Uhm, Mr. Mars what do you mean? Mr. Yin isn't wearing a disguise." poor Eton, he's obviously out of the loop… then again so am I.

Gramps crosses his arms and gives that usual "cut the bull" head shake, "C'mon."

I'm about to put my two cents in but I kinda find it hard to when Dad starts to giggle in a womanly fashion. Now, that isn't to stereotype, I'm serious. Like my Dad's voice isn't super low, but I know for certain he doesn't sound like a Barista hellbent on getting free items… don't ask…

"Teeheehee, you're no fun Mars!" Dad… yeah, no, that isn't my dad. If the voice isn't enough then the fact his skin is flaking off and turning into playing cards has to be the nail in the coffin. That alone is, like, reeeeeally awesome and all.

But the real kicker is the fact the fact there was a woman hiding behind the cards. She appeared to be the same age as Dad and her Halloween colored outfit seemed vaguely familiar. I just can't quite place where I've seen her before.

Gramps, on the other hand, seemed quite familiar with her. He almost seemed wary of her, "I could not help it in my youth, and I cannot help it in my old age whelp." he sighed, "I'm assuming this is another one of your little pranks?"

She sighs, "Well this certainly is a blast to the past. You've always been a hard arse Mars."

Alright, alright I've heard enough, "Hold up."

The woman initially stares at me with an indifferent look for some reason her expression changes and she jumps at me and rambles out, "Oh-my-Great-one-it's-you!" I'm frozen in spot as I'm tackled to the ground by this strange woman. She picks me up and all but squeezes my soul out all the while saying, "Oh it's been ages since I've seen you!"

She finally releases me, oh how I was so foolish as to take air for granted before now.

I manage a question after I finally wrangle the stars from my vision, "But you've been here the entire time; ouch that's a rib, I think… and how do you know me exactly?"

She laughs like it should be obvious, granted she does seem a bit familiar. "Typical Yin. Of course he doesn't speak of me." she throws a glance at gramps, "Typical old fart as well."

Great, and I thought I was being original by calling Gramps that.

Speaking of, he surprises me by ignoring the insult. Gramps usually gives me a derisive snort whenever I call him something, "Can we just get to the restaurant Lynne?"

"Of course you royally red arse." she thrusts an arm to her left, "After you m'lord." Gramps continues surprising me by ignoring the comment.

As we're following him I try my best to interrogate this woman in order to find out who she is, "So how do you know Dad?"

She is thankfully more forthcoming than that old fart… yeah now I have to think of a different thing to call him when I'm upset, "Oh, well we used to be on the same team." wait, the same team? Wait, the picture dad showed me that day, it makes sense now!

"Oh? It seems Yin has shown you our team picture." Ok, seriously getting tired of this whole "everyone can read minds but you" thing going on. There's honestly no way it can only be my face, could it?

"Well, yes and no," I answer. I don't know if I can tell her how and why Dad showed me the picture. Does she even know about what happened to Mom?

We thankfully arrive to the restaurant, everyone filing inside. I chose very quickly to ignore the neon "Eat here" sign on the door.

We enter the joint and find Dad already seated with two girls who appeared around Eton and I's age. The first one who caught my attention seemed to have a similar shade of skin to Dad with golden blonde hair, she wore a frilly dress on her body and a very large smile on her face.

Like, this girl was ninety-five percent smile and five percent other facial features. That or the happiness she exudes makes it appear like that.

The other girl… uhm… what can I say? Alright look, I'm not some kind of playboy or anything. I've never really had reason to focus on a person's looks… but this girl. Wait… this sounds creepy. I'll just leave it at she looks cute.

Before I can embarrass myself any further let me explain what she looks like. She has pale skin, much like Lynne.

Her hair was straight, reached her shoulders, and appeared to be a deep shade of purple. While the hue was off, the style of the hair was also similar to Miss Lynne's.

On her face is a small neutral expression. That's it, no disdain, no happiness, only neutrality. I don't know why but it's kind of striking this chord in me.

"Over here." Dad waves us over with his one good arm, a grim reminder of what it cost him saving my life.

No Verdun, today is a day of celebration.

Mars and Miss Lynne seat themselves by Dad, Eton takes the seat by Goldy, my name for the smiling girl. Leaving the only seats on either side of the purple haired girl. Great.

Alright Verdun, it's simple. Just pull one of the chairs out and sit down. No need to make this overcomplicated, just pull out the chair. That's it, take a seat. Now all you need to do now is, y'know, not make a fool out of yourself by, I don't know, not missing the chair entirely.

Huh… I know I just told you, "Don't miss the chair entirely." So why on earth, me, did we just flop onto the ground like a fish?!

"Did you mean for that to happen?" I heard the girl ask from above. I would answer her but I'm still trying to figure out how I managed to turn sitting down in a chair into flopping onto the ground.

I can still pull this off though, and I luckily do. Sweet recovery Verdun, sweet recovery. You were trying to sit like a perfectly normal human being and somehow managed to make it into a hail mary plan.

Our waiter brings us our menus and I'm sad to say I immediately questioned the poor man about everything on it.

After I asked him for the fifth time whether or not the breadsticks were heated properly he rightfully got agitated, "Sir, I'm legally obligated to inform you I'm just a teenager working for a paycheck. That paycheck entails I must attend to all my duties as a waiter, and that duty includes serving all my tables. Sadly, you are not the only table I have."

I nod sheepishly and apologize, Dad and Miss Lynne laugh it off. Gramps shakes his head at me, "Well, I suppose the age old adage is true. The apple truly does not fall far from the tree."

"At least Yin never interrogated a man over breadsticks." Miss Lynne jokes.

Now that I embarrassed myself most would rightfully assume that I would have stopped doing anything else to prevent any more scenes. Firstly, to those people, I say bugger off. I do what I want. Secondly, I wish I would follow their example. As directly after all of that I still decide to make small talk with the purple haired girl, "So… what's your name?"

She shot me a glance out the corner of her eyes before returning her gaze back to whatever it was that was so fascinating about the plain wall at the end of the room, "Mauveis."

Well, it seems we have a strong, silent type here. Their AC must be broken, it's getting hotter in here… "Mauveis? Is it becau-"

"-se of my hair? Yes.." Ok, a little rude to cut me off. "It was not my intention to be rude, I apologize."

Ok that's the last straw, "How is everyone able to read my mind?!" This restaurant must have a cricket infestation because this silence is deafening. Everyone is giving me looks of confusion, irritation, and worry. That last one was Dad. Thanks Dad.

"Nobody is reading your mind," Mauveis is unfazed by my outburst, her stoic expression still fixated on the wall, "Your ears twitch when you feel crossed, they flatten when you're embarrassed, and I can presume whenever you feel sad they do the same."

"Wait… what?" my ears?

Dad sheepishly chuckled, "I guess the cat is out of the bag."

"Better he learn from a sharp tongue than a sharp blade I say," Gramps grumbled.

Miss Lynne is quiet, electing to throw a worried glance at Mauveis. Wait, is Miss Lynne, "My mother, yes, she is. And "Goldy" over there is my sister, Marie Omalii. Originally she was Marie Gaulde, but after being adopted she took my family's surname."

As I begin to speak I make an effort to not move my ears as I do, suddenly feeling self-conscious about them, "Ok, so where are you from?"

Her gaze flickers to me for a brief moment and lingers for a few more before locking back on to the wall. She's cracking. "Mantle."

"Mantle eh?" I cup my chin before continuing, "So what was your settlement's name?"

"Who said I lived in a settlement?" she asked so cooly that it made me question why I asked.

"Because, you didn't say Atlas. It would've made sense if I asked which kingdom you were from. But…" The waiter came back and I grab my plate of simple chicken.

Mauveis turns her full gaze to me before looking me up and down and returning back the the wall. "Hm, very astute."

It's at that moment I realize Eton and Goldy… er… Marie were flailing about like those bag things at car lots. "Uhm… are you two ok?" I ask.

Miss Lynne lets out a surprised gasp, "Yin you sly salamander, you never told me your kids knew ASL!"

Dad smiles confusedly before shrugging, "I had no idea to be quite frank Lynne. Eton who taught you that?"

Eton points to gramps, "Mr. Mons did."

Apparently ASL stands for "Atlessian Sign Language". As for why Marie was using it Miss Lynne explained it was for religious reasons. "She's a mute by choice, piety is her voice. Though, technically since hands don't have vocal chords she can speak through that."

The food finally arrives and I notice something strange, while everyone else has ordered standard food Mauveis is currently dining on a badly burned quiche. The normal part of me is intrigued by how she isn't gagging but the apprentice chef in me is outraged that she isn't gagging. This quiche looked like somebody threw the whole spice rack in the oven and skimped out on the eggs.

My hairs stand on end as Mauveis notices me staring at her quiche, but she surprises me by spearing a piece and holding up to my mouth, "You have been staring for a good bit, would you like a piece?"

In my surprise I ended up forgetting how horribly made this quiche was, stuttered out a meek "sure." and took her up on the offer. It took all of me not to fold into myself in an attempt at self preservation as this quiche, that tasted w-a-a-a-a-ay worse than it looked by the by, hit my tongue.

What is even more shocking is that immediately afterward she just went back to munching on the cardboard charcoal trying to pass itself off as a quiche! Not to mention the odd looks the entire table was giving us. The adults stared at us like they knew something we didn't while Marie looked at Mauveis with a smirk, and Eton was glowing while he dejectedly poked at his steak. He is obviously embarrassed by my display, understandably so.

All that, just because I ate a piece of something I'm not entirely against thinking is a burnt mummified rat. Even then it is all just for her to stare back at the wall. She took another bite before saying, "It tastes horrible. Doesn't it?"

I downed my glass of water already but that pickled fish taste is still there! "It tastes like decaying kelp wrapped in the ashes of a twelve month old roadkill." I answered angrily. "How are you just eating it like it's nothing?"

Marie started flailing about again, obviously trying to say something but since I read hands about as easily as a blind person reads lips I had to rely on someone to translate. Eton takes the role as translator surprisingly. I thought it would have been Miss Lynne or Mauveis but I guess Eton wants to show off. I'm so proud. "Mauveis has an iron stomach."

"Woah, rea-"

Mauveis raises a finger at me so she can finish swallowing her food, "No, not really. You tend to overthink a lot, don't you?"

I wish I could deny that, instead I take a bite of my food. Dad looks to Miss Lynne and waves a hand, "So Lynne, what brings you to Vale? Slate is quite a ways away from here."

Grandpa tries to speak up but Miss Lynne cuts him off. At this point I'm having a hard time thinking this isn't a dream, "He asked me ya red toot. Alright," she shakes her head and throws Dad a nervous smile, "Well I'm actually enrolling my girls in Beacon for the year."

Dad's jaw drops, "Bully."

"Nuh-uh, I've never lied to you Yinny." she retorts with arms crossed.

Grandpa clears his throat exasperatedly, "Lynne, he said that due to how both of his charges will be entering Beacon as well."

It is at that point all eyes shot towards Eton and I. I suddenly felt more conscious than ever about my ears, "What?"

The wall must have lost whatever made it interesting because Mauveis's eyes were dead set on me. "You plan to become a Huntsman?"

Well, I'm not one to typically get tongue tied but here I am. "Well, ehrm… I mean… I haven't really thought about it but I suppose it would be good for me."

Her attention turns back to the wall, "Good for you? I see."

Good job Verdun, you just blew whatever chance you had.

"Are you sure I'm not imposing?" Miss Lynne frantically asks Dad as Eton and I help carry packs of clothes into the mansion.

"Of course not Lynne, the girls need a place to stay while they wait for the next semester to begin." Apparently that super important thing Grandpa had to do a while back was scheduling a trip for the Omaliis to make it to Vale as well as scheduling an interview for entrance into Beacon. That kind of answered my question about whether or not Gramps really was a teacher at the school, at the very least he has to work as a recruiter if he went out of his way to do that.

Why the old fart couldn't just tell us that was the case I'll never know, I've given up on questioning it anymore too.

We get inside and climb the stairs, making our way to the guest bedroom. Finally inside I plop down the cases, "Geez, what's in these things?"

Eton, like the big boy he is, rests the cases down effortlessly, "It should just be their clothes, but they both seem like minimalistic types."

I shake my head, "Eton my man, smaller words."

"He means we look like we don't own much." both of us spin around to find Mauveis glaring at us from the doorway. The entire train ride here was completely quiet so I kind of forgot how she sounded. Her scowl would have been enough to root anybody in place if it wasn't for Marie behind her making faces at her sister.

It must be a normal occurrence because Mauveis unfurls one arm and locks her sister in it, using her other arm to give her sister a noogie, "Alright you little scamp what face was it this time?"

For the first time tonight Marie makes a sound, her laughter immediately makes the tension in the room go away as she frantically signs. "She's just saying Uncle over and over again…" Eton remarks.

Mauveis releases her sister and laughs, it was kind of cute, "You never learn sis."

"Man," I let out a small chuckle, "I really can't get a read on you."

The glare returns, "What's that supposed to mean?"

Really? Can I just not win today? "Er… uhh... " Come on man, what is wrong with you? Speak!

"Just get out if you can't even manage a response," she jabs a thumb at the door for emphasis. Eton helps me up and as we're leaving I can hear her give a final remark to Marie, "To think he's her son."