Sorry about the delay on chapters, my body told me to sleep all during my off day because I haven't had two in the same week for...I don't know, like a few months? Either way, I'm going to redouble my efforts yet again and stop making excuses for myself. I left a update in my Bio, but I'm not too terribly sure you all have seen it. Doesn't particularly matter, but I figured I'd at least mention it.

Chapter 45

Carol hauled himself up into the driver's seat, sitting down and regarding his new tagalongs with a bored glance. "Well, hop in. Don't just stand there gawpin'." Not that he particularly needed to rush, there was still plenty of time left in the day, but the quicker he returned to Beacon the quicker he could get into air-conditioned bliss. That, and acting irritable towards the other junior huntsmen could prove to drive them off. And yet, for some reason that got under his own skin. Vexing, he thought.

The 'Boar started up with a growl of satisfaction, Carol setting his scroll down in the center console as he did his normal pre-drive checklist. "When you get in, watch yourself around the hardcase though, I don't want any-" The sound of metal smacking metal rang out, and Carol sighed, turning his attentions away from the vehicle to glare at the offender.

"Sorry." The silver haired boy responded, appearing sheepish. But Carol knew better.

Some people said that you only truly knew someone when you battled them. The clash of steel on steel laying every intention bare as two warriors met as equals. They also said that eyes were the windows to the soul, and while Carol couldn't vouch for the first, he relied on the latter to read people. The boy matched all of the reactions of being embarrassed, flushed face, slightly ducked head, watery smile...but the eyes betrayed. Yet it wasn't vindiction Carol found, rather, it was a complete lack of a reaction, as if he were a doll with painted on features. It was...rather unnerving.

His teammate, or possible partner, wasn't much better. In place of dull boredom, he found the vindiction he expected in her eyes. Though, curiously, it wasn't specifically placed at him. Comparing her faux kind stare with Weiss's angry ones before...hers seemed placeless, as if he had simply meandered into the path of it. But neither of them were overtly antagonistic, so he let it slide. "Just make sure it doesn't happen again." Carol muttered to the other boy, turning to face the last member of the other team.

A slight smirk emerged on his face as he noticed that somehow, there was someone even shorter than Weiss, but it quickly disappeared as he realized that he'd have to help her up as her teammates had already boarded his truck. "Don't tell me, you're gonna need help getting up." A glint in her eyes matched the almost manic grin that erupted from her face as she lept up above his truck, performing a slight cartwheel and landing in the passenger seat. He raised an eyebrow. "Was that really necessary?" An enthusiastic nod was his answer, to which he responded with a sigh. Gods, it's like dealing with a less chatty Ruby. Still, he brought his truck into first and onto the street proper.

"Anyway," Carol started, "What's your names? I really don't wanna just refer to you as Mint, Silver, and-" he squinted into the rearview, "Emerald." 'Silver' just started chuckling.

"Well, you got two of them right." Carol raised a confused eyebrow.

"Two of what? I just called you all out by the colors that stood out most on you."

"Yeah." 'Emerald' started. "My name's Emerald, and hers is Mint."

"Huh." Honestly, he wasn't expecting that. "Well, in that case, what's yours, Silver?" Carol half joked, earning a snort of amusement.

"Oh, it's Mercury." Of course he was named after a metal that looked like liquid silver. Poisonous as well, but that was besides the point. Carol didn't have a good reason to be a dick to him other than the fact he was a huntsman in training. Even still, he was getting a bad feeling from these people.

"Eh, I was close enough." Carol said, merging into the left turn lane. "So, which school are you guys from?"

"We're from Haven." Emerald supplied. So they came from Mistral too, huh?

"You know Sun and his team, then?"

"No, we didn't really interact much. Though that was mostly Mercury's fault..." She said, sending a side-eye towards Mercury. He shrugged in response, completely nonplussed. And yet, Carol couldn't help but doubt whether or not they were telling the truth. Sure, they had no reason to lie, but...

Eh, he was probably being paranoid. Considering how anti-social he himself was, and how...interesting his current company was, it wasn't a stretch to say that they weren't similar to him. But even as bad as he was, surely he was less maladjusted than present company.

"Can I help you?" The two-toned tyke who took shotgun had been staring wordlessly at him for a good while. It was unnerving, to be sure. "Look, if you've got somethin' to say, just say it. Don't sit there expectin' me to be a mind reader." And yet she simply kept staring, though now with a slight smile that was just a touch vicious.

"Oh, sorry about her. She's mute." Emerald answered for the smaller girl.

"Oh. Well, shit. My bad." Carol said, slightly abashed. If she genuinely couldn't respond it was kind of a dick move to ask, but still he desired answers. The fact that Mint hadn't even flinched in her smile didn't help his nerves."In that case, what do you think's on her mind, then?"

Emerald shrugged. "Don't really know. If I had to guess, it would have to do something with the fight you got into."

Carol flinched. "I see you heard about it too."

"Hard not to. Apparently three people getting the shit beaten out of them by one guy in broad daylight doesn't happen all that often." A smile appeared on her face. "Though, might I say, you fight in an...interesting way."

"Yeah? Got a problem with how I fight?" Carol responded, frowning.

"No, just that it's rare you find someone that's more concerned with winning than playing by 'the rules'." Emerald said, forming finger quotes. "If anything, it was refreshing to see." Carol found himself slightly taken aback.

"Well thanks, I guess." The only other person to vaguely compliment his fighting style was Goodwitch, and even then it was more of a warning that other people might see it as scummy. Didn't change the fact that it was effective, though. "She right about that?" He asked Mint. Yet another nod was his answer, but he didn't feel like pressing for more information, partially because he wouldn't be able to receive it as well as being subjected to the same few gestures over and over again. "Anyway, as much as I like to have people tell me how cool I am, I'd rather not yap about myself. How are you lot finding Vale?"

"It's interesting." Mercury piped up. "Lot of people, lot of noise, lots of things to do." His response interested Carol. Was he from a settlement as well? "Especially with the Vytal tournament coming up. I don't think Cinder is gonna give us a break." He looked over to Emerald, who was shooting a deadly glare towards him. "What?"

"Nothing." It obviously wasn't nothing, but Carol didn't want to hear another team's argument. "So, we heard you're a Blacksmith as well. That true?"

"Yeah. Why?" So there was an underlying current to her intents.

"Well, I've always been interested in weapons and what makes them work." Admirable. "I try to find out as much as I can about other people's weapons, but it's kind of hard to find any information without looking it up on a database, but I can't access it because I'm not a Blacksmith." The girl smiled abashedly. "If it wasn't too much trouble, would you mind lending me your login so I can?"

Carol shook his head. "Okay, so first of all, super illegal. Second, I don't feel comfortable just giving it out to someone I just met." Even his team would be hard pressed to get it from him if they asked, and they were his closest friends. Besides that, he could imagine that she was trying to get a leg-up on the competition by trying to find out everything she could, even if it meant performing slight subtleties. Carol could empathize, he really could, but he was making up for inferior Aura with superior knowledge. Emerald would just have to deal with the hand she was given. "If you're really interested in it, I can give you some books to look for on weapons technology, but the best thing to do would be to just enroll in a technical college." There were no shortcuts for knowledge, after all, though it came as no relief to Emerald. "Sorry. My hands are tied."

"Figures. Well, no fault in trying." She sighed, leaning back onto the seat. "Well, if you ever change your mind..." The girl trailed off, casting a look that Carol felt through the back of his head, making his skin crawl. It wasn't a pleasant feeling by any stretch of imagination.

"I'm not really in the business of changing my mind, nor am I in losing my business. But hey, if you ever find yourself in the Blacksmithing field, maybe our paths will cross."

"Maybe." Perhaps she was put off by Carol ignoring her overtures, or perhaps it was something else, but there was a note of bitterness in her voice. Either way, it was of little consequence to Carol, and he whiled away the rest of the drive to Beacon talking with, or at in the case of Mint, the ragamuffins he had in tow.

Carol pulled the Boar into the parking garage once more, finally making it back to Beacon proper. "Right, I hope you all enjoyed your complimentary ride on the Magnusson express; Next time, make sure to have some pocket change ready." He parked and turned off his truck, engaging the parking brake and hopping out. As the rest of his group disembarked, he clambered on the side of his truck to fish out the hardcase, noticing a sizeable dent in the side and frowning at it. Regardless, he retrieved it from the bed and landed heavily on the ground, the sound echoing in the garage.

"We'll keep it in mind." Mercury responded, with that strange painted on smile that agitated him. Rolling his eyes, Carol began to walk out of the parking lot, momentarily retaining the company he'd been transporting for the last half hour or so.

"So, you guys mentioned a name called 'Cinder' before. That your leader?"

"Yeah. That fits her the best, I guess." Mercury's flippant response seemed to put Emerald off, but she didn't bring it up. "She keeps things interesting, at the least."

"No reason to just mill about then. If she's anything like my team leader she's falling apart at the seams wondering where you guys are." Carol joked, only to be ignored as the three students following him looked past him, though he noted Mint's was more of a suppressed glare of pure hatred. Following their gazes, he turned to see...

Whoa. 'Cinder' was a raven haired beauty wearing simple leathers, lips painted crimson as she confidently strode towards the small group. "I trust my team to not get into any trouble that they can't get themselves out of."

"Cinder!" Emerald practically gushed, rushing over to her team leader. "I managed to keep Mercury in line, just as you asked!"

"Well done, Emerald." Carol noticed the girl's face turn slightly red with the praise. "And may I ask who you are?" He couldn't tell if she already knew who he was. After all, her teammate already knew his name and what he'd done, twice damn the Beacon rumor mill. But that wasn't what was occupying his thoughts.

The look in her eyes was dangerous, almost like a raging inferno, and he was a pile of vulnerable kindling. He wanted to run, to get away from this beautiful woman, lest she consume him. He cleared his throat, forcing himself to talk. "Carol Magnusson, ma'am." Like clockwork, his free hand extended despite him wanting to get nowhere near her. The woman reached over and took his larger hand in her smaller and almost ivory colored one, the contact electric but wrong all the same.

"Pleased to meet you." She purred, daintily shaking his hand. It felt pleasantly warm, even in the heat of Vale, yet it felt searing at the same time.

"Likewise." He lied, retracting his hand. "Anyway, I need to go drop this off in the forge, so I think I'm gonna split. Nice to meet you, though."

"Indeed." With a final spared nod towards the rest of her team, Carol began to walk away from Cinder, forcing himself to walk away at a casual pace instead of the run he wanted to. He didn't know why he was scared of her, just that every instinct he had was telling him to get away. Looking back over his shoulder, Emerald was telling Cinder about something, while Mercury watched on with that disinterested look that Carol had seen on his face for most of the trip back to Beacon.

He felt like he should warn his team about them, but upon retrospect, he asked himself why. It wasn't like they were overly threatening, in fact, they were amiable enough when he was in their company. But yet, his gut told him to watch himself around them, and his gut was usually right. But right most of the time didn't mean right all of the time. It didn't help that Carol couldn't help but notice a few details that only fed his imagination, much to the chagrin of himself. Mainly the fact that Emerald had...well, he didn't want to call it flirting, but it was the only thing that fit. Regardless of whatever it was, she was clearly seeking recognition from her team leader in a way that was more than a professional manner, even to Carol's momentary glance. So why then, did she try to coerce him?

She wasn't alone in that, albeit not exactly in the way that she was being dishonest, as Mercury had dented the hardcase. It mainly had to deal with the fact that it made a metallic clang earlier. Did that mean he kept his combat shoes on, even outside of Beacon? Sure enough, he could get away with it because it appeared low profile, but it had to be uncomfortable. That being said, Carol had to look up their entire team's blueprints later. Something told him that it would behoove him to find out as much as he could about this new team, despite his own nature telling him to ignore it. What was the harm, after all?

Comments and criticisms are welcome as usual.