Timber trailed behind Alex as they entered the meeting room, avoiding looking at Winter as he took a seat.
"Well, now that everyone is here we can start off with any questions you two might have for me or Alex or just in general about the program."
"What am I doing and how long will I be doing it?" Augustus asked, rapping his finger upon the table.
"What you're doing is subjective and will vary week to week. You'll essentially do what I say and go where I say to go." Pausing Winter turned her attention to Timber. "Is this acceptable?"
"It's better than hopping from tavern to tavern every night, scraping by on whatever Lien the bounty offered." Augustus shrugged. "Yeah, I can live with that."
"Good that will make this easier, Timber is this fine?" Winter asked him again.
Timber simply gave a thumbs up without looking.
Sighing Winter returned her attention back to all of them. "Well I guess we should move onto the rules you will follow during your stay here."
"Don't worry she's not very good at enforcing them, and I sure as hell won't unless it's something bad." Alex said, giving a thumbs up herself.
"I highly doubt that." Augustus retorted. "I don't think someone of her stature would let a group of nameless nobodies run around without some enforcement."
"She let a team of students walk into a death trap because she didn't enforce her own rules." Timber said, finally speaking.
Sitting up a little straighter in her chair Winter cleared her throat and turned her attention to Timber. "You want to do this now I suppose?"
"Not really, but you weren't going to admit that on your own." Timber responded, still refusing to look at her.
"I was, I was simply waiting for the correct time and I didn't feel this was it."
"And I guess any day in the last what, six years wasn't the right time either?"
"No, considering no one needed to know at that time, now that you're here and you have teammates again they have the right to know. Now would you like to tell them or should I?"
"Blueberry over there doesn't need to be here for this." Timber said tilting his head towards Augustus.
"I got pulled into this too scraggly, you can suck it up." Augustus says, glaring at Timber.
"And you can bite me." Timber spat back.
"Thanks, but I'd prefer to not contract any diseases." Augustus retorts with a cheeky grin.
Timber sighed, reaching into his hoodie before side arming a canister under the table into Augustus' gut. "Next one I throw, you'll hate your life for the next ten minutes."
"I've had worse days. Try me." Augustus' grin faded as he glanced down as the canister.
"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Winter yelled standing up rapidly and knocking her chair over. "You don't have to tell them now if you don't want to but I expect you to at some point, they will be your team for the next year. No fighting."
Composing herself Winter grabbed her chair off the floor and sat back down in her original spot. "Now would you like to wait or speak now?"
"If I say no, are we done here? 'Cause there's no reason to go over rules if you have no plan to enforce them."
"I was totally kidding about that, does she look like she'd let you break the rules without consequences?!" Alex said dramatically while nodding her head in Winter's direction.
"In my experience the consequences come when you actually listen to her." Timber mutters.
"You made your choice that day, you were told it was very dangerous and so was your team and they too made their choice. I can live with my mistakes and choices but can you?"
"Now the rules I expect you to follow are only a few and not that hard." Winter stated not giving Timber a chance to reply.
"I know all of them by heart!" Alex remarked proudly.
"Yes you do sweetie, we're all proud of you." Winter replied tiredly.
"Rule one; You may not discharge any kind of weapon outside the training room unless this house is being attacked. Rule two; You have curfews, break the curfew and you'll be sleeping outside for the night. Rule three; You will not take any missions without my permission, you will go where I say to go and nowhere else. Rule four; At some point there will be other Huntsmen in this house I expect you to treat them with respect. Rule five; On mission unless your life is directly threatened you will not under any other circumstance kill anyone."
"Now do you have any questions?"
"If that one gets annoying am I allowed to drink?" Augustus says, jutting his thumb at Timber.
"Drinking is permitted but please don't overdo it, I will not tolerate drunks in my house."
"I just need enough to get a buzz. I'll sleep it off." Augustus shrugs.
"That's fine, like I said don't overdo it." Looking at Timber Winter gave him an expectant look. "Do you have any questions?"
"Are we done here?" Timber asked bluntly.
Sighing Winter stood up. "I suppose we are, you three are free to leave the room." Looking at Alex she nodded at her. "I have some work to do, come to bed whenever I don't know how late I'll be up and I know how late you like to stay up."
"Yes ma'am!" Alex replied with a salute, which was quickly lowered due to the glare she received from Winter. "I mean yes dear?"
The three of them stood up as Winter left the room, looking over at the other two she clapped her hands together. "So does anyone want to watch a movie?"
"I suppose so. Been a while since I've been able to sit down and enjoy something." Augustus says, pushing himself away from the table.
"And what about you? Or would you rather go back to bed like we agreed, it's your choice." She said looking over at Timber.
Timber simply walked out of the room without a word.
"Welp that's a no, oh well we can watch a movie I'll even let you pick!" Alex said, popping the p on welp.
"I don't believe I have that right yet, I'm basically a guest in your home." Augustus responds, attempting to hide the slight grin on his face.
"Well you see the issue with me picking is that it will be very bad, Winter doesn't let me pick movies for that reason." Alex said rubbing the back of her head sheepishly.
"Like...bad bad or like cult classic bad?" Augustus asked, a bit concerned about how she'd answer.
"Like completely terrible, pretty much cringe worthy bad."
"Prove it then." Augustus says, accepting the challenge.
Sighing heavily, Winter continued staring at the holo-screen in front of her. She was honestly tired of the endless emails she was reading but her job was extremely demanding. Being the headmaster of Atlas academy and being the General of the Atlesian military certainly doesn't allow for a lot of free time.
Reading the same line for the fourth time of the current email she decided she needed a break. Standing up from her seat she made her way over to her nightstand and grabbed her personal scroll.
Flopping down onto her bed she opened her scroll and went through her contacts and clicked on her sister. Putting the scroll up to her ear she waited as the ringing tone played.
'Winter? I thought you said you were busy?' Weiss' voice rang from the device, expressing concern as Winter never put anything ahead of her work.
'I was busy but I decided a break was necessary considering the mountain of work I brought home with me.' Winter replied tiredly.
'But you usually have it all under control. What could've you possibly taken up this time.' Weiss replied, unable to think of a reason her sister could be overwhelmed.
'I know I'm the poster child of control.' She replied with sarcasm. 'You remember that program we did a few years ago with Alex?'
'Yeah, the Reformation Act right?' Weiss replied. 'Why? What's going on?'
'Well we found two new candidates and they are currently here, and I'm currently dealing with their paperwork and looking at potential missions for them on top of stuff with the school and the military so I'm a little stretched at the moment.' She said sitting up.
'Well that's nothing new for you. Surely they can't be that difficult to deal with.' Weiss says, dismissing any worries she had for Winter.
Standing up Winter made her way out of her room and into the hallway. 'I can handle them, that's not what I'm worried about, it's just one of them I have history with and I'm worried that'll cause some issues with his teammates."
'Not everyone gets along with their team at first...remember how I used to be?' Weiss said, trying to bring a little optimism into the conversation.
'I understand that but his attitude so far is way worse than yours was.'
'I'm sure he's not that ba...hold on Ruby's yelling at me. Sorry Winter; we'll try to visit soon.' Weiss said, abruptly ending the call.
Pulling the scroll away from her ear she stared at it while the dial tone played. "Did she really hang up on me?"
Filing away the information that she would need to have a chat with her sister for that she pocketed her scroll and made her way towards the kitchen.
Hearing laughter as she came upon the living room she stopped in and crossed her arms. "What may I ask is so funny that you have to be this loud?"
"Alex has broken me...I had underestimated how awful those movies were." Augustus said staring at the floor on his hands and knees.
Turning her attention towards her wife Winter gave her a cold glare. "I thought you got rid of those awful excuses for film?"
Rubbing the back of her head Alex paused the current movie and refused to make eye contact with Winter. "I may have exaggerated throwing them out."
"Do you ever listen to me?" Winter asked rhetorically, walking away towards the kitchen.
"Uh, yes!" Alex shouted back as she stared in the direction she went. "I'm pretty sure that was the correct answer, but if I'm wrong I'll find out later unfortunately."
"She got something against bad movies?" Augustus said, picking himself off the floor.
"She has a more refined taste in movies, which clearly I do not share and she has tried on multiple occasions to convert me." Alex said playing the movie once again.
"Good, never change." Augustus says, nudging her arm with a smirk.
Sitting back down on the couch she smirked back. "Oh I don't ever plan on it."
'No no no, stay with me. Come on, not you too!' The words repeated over and over, before looking up as a blur of black swung at him.
Timber shot up from the bed, breathing rapidly as his hands instinctively reached for his chest and left side. After a few moments of patting himself down, he looked around the room, before remembering where he was. Standing up and walking to the bathroom, stopping in front of the sink, turning it on and splashing water on his face to try snap himself awake.
Straightening himself out and looking at the mismatched brown and white that were his eyes in the mirror. The reality of the situation he had willingly walked into hitting him at once. "GOD DAMNIT!" He yelled, not even thinking as he balled a fist and punched the glass, causing it to crack.
Holding his fist against the broken glass for a few seconds before seeing blood start to trickle down. Pulling his hand away, while hearing glass clink into the sink, noticing that he had sliced a knuckle open. Looking at the mess, he grabbed a hand towel, wrapping it around his hand, and walking out to the door to his room, planning to grab the trash can from the kitchen.
As he neared the door to his room, he grabbed his hoodie and threw the hood over his head, not bothering to put his arms in the sleeves. Hearing someone walking on the other side of the door, he took a deep breath hoping it was just one of the mansion's workers as he opened the door.
"Fuckin' course it's not." He said under his breath as he saw Winter.
Closing the fridge Winter turned around, spotting Timber she gave a nod and reached for a cup from the cabinet above the sink. "How did you sleep?" She said without looking in his direction.
"It happened." He replied, moving his wrapped hand inside his hoodie.
"I'll take that as good, I hope the room is okay, it is rather old." She said filling up the cup from the sink.
"It's better than a tent in the tundra." He says, inching towards the trash can.
Taking a drink of her water she chuckled at his response, setting the cup down and she made note of his tiny movements. "Anything is better than both of those, especially combined."
Reaching for the can, and picking it up with one hand. "Uh-huh." He mumbles as he starts backing up towards his room.
"Make sure you put that back where you found it." Winter said, giving him a serious look.
"I thought you had people for that."
"I do, but you're the one cleaning up whatever mess you made, so it makes sense for you to put it back now doesn't it?" She said, taking another sip of her water.
"I mean… with that logic why do you have them here at all since you can just clean your own mess up?"
"My mother insisted, I try my best to do my own chores when I'm here but like I said she insisted we have them, so not my call unfortunately."
"God forbid you say no to mom and dad."
Slamming the cup on the counter Winter gave him a cold glare. "I tell Jacques no, my mother on the other hand she's far sweeter and more deserving of my respect."
"And yet you couldn't say no to a group of kids..." Timber glared back.
Sighing she put the cup in the sink and rinsed it without saying a word. "I have paid for that mistake as have you, I suggest you drop it."
Without saying a word, Timber let go of the trash can and unballed his hand, letting the now stained towel fall to the floor. "Happy?"
Eye twitching she made to say something but she ended up opening and closing her mouth a few times before rushing out of the kitchen.
"Fuckin' upjumped barracks bunny." He muttered, bending down to pick back up what he had just dropped, before going back into his room.
Laughing obnoxiously loud at the movie she was watching with Augustus Alex failed to notice Winter stomping past them in the living room.
Sitting up on the edge of the couch Augustus noticed simply because he was closest to the exit that led to the stairs and the front door.
"Hey I think something's wrong with Winter." Augustus says, giving a quick glance towards Alex.
"What do you mean? She's in the kitchen,can you see through walls?" She said catching her breath.
"I mean...wait what? No, she just came through just now. I swear I could hear the stomping." Augustus said, slowly standing up.
Pausing the movie Alex sat up and looked towards the kitchen then back at the stairs. "Well unless we're out of something she wanted my guess is she had a run in with Timber and it probably didn't go well."
"Perhaps we should do something about that before we end up suffering during our tasks?" Augustus asked, staring intently at the stairwell.
"I agree, we should go talk to Timber and see what happened, I know Winter, she definitely antagonized him a bit. If we talk to him first he'll be more honest." Alex replied motioning for Augustus to follow her as she made her way towards the kitchen.
"Digging through the garbage?" Augustus asked; looking at Timber with a raised brow as he poked his head through the cracked door. "In all seriousness why is the boss pissed?"
"Well it was either the garbage or your stuff, but even I'm not desperate enough to dig through that shit." Timber says, walking into the bathroom. "And if you want an actual answer, you can go back outside and learn to knock jackass."
"Very funny, if you were as observant as you claim to be you would know I don't exactly have 'things'. Seriously how'd you piss off the General?" Augustus asked once more; ignoring Timber's demands.
"Pretty easily actually." He called out.
"How did you manage that exactly?" Alex asked, crossing her arms.
"Uh... existing?" He replied, before faint yelp came from the bathroom. "Fucking bullshit, piece of shit!"
"I doubt that's the reason, are you good?" She asked with concern in her voice.
"Yeah, doing gre- hrrrmmm fucking great!" He called out, shaking his hand after cutting it on a piece of glass he picked up.
"Yeah I think he's good." Augustus replied, glancing at Alex. "He's probably too busy to answer. Not like he'd be honest about it if he could."
"You don't sound fucking great to me, what's wrong?" She asked knowing he could hear her.
"In general or right now?"
"How about both?"
"Well the mirror is in pieces for starters."
"Timber?" Augustus started. "Why is the mirror in pieces?"
"In my defense, I found it this way… after I broke it." Timber says offhandedly.
Facepalming Alex sighed, talking to Augustus she continued with her face hidden. "Can you make sure he's okay?"
"Depends if he wants anyone to help him. He doesn't seem to be the 'I take help when I need it' kind of guy." Augustus said, cracking Timber's door open. "Fine, I'll go see how chucklenuts is doing."
Walking away from the doorway Alex went to go fetch some towels and the medical kit.
"Get the fuck out Blueberry!" Timber yelled.
"I need to see how bad you fucked yourself...by the Gods!" Augustus exclaimed looking at the mess of glass and blood.
"Don't give me that shit, you know this is not the worst thing you could have walked in on just barging into a bathroom." Timber said, glaring up at him. "Now again, you can get out or you can help me pick these shards up with your teeth."
"Alright see ya." Augustus says, leaving Timber to his mess. "Alex, he's and you're gone."
"Maybe you should follow her lead."
"Maybe you should stick that glass up your...oh hey Alex." Augustus started before noticing Alex with a basic first aid kit.
"I kinda want you to finish that sentence." Alex said stepping past him and into the bathroom with Timber. "Do you want some semi-professional help or would you rather do this yourself?" She asked him, dangling the medical kit in front of his face.
Timber looked up at, raising an eyebrow at her. "Nah it's fine." He says, pulling the towel off his hand, and holding it up to her. "See, you can barely see any bone."
"You fucking what?" Augustus asked, poking his head through the door. "Huh, neat."
"It still needs cleaned up and stitched dummy, just let me do it, I promise I'll be careful." She said to him reassuringly.
Timber fumbled around trying to grab something out of his hoodie, eventually pulling out one of his daggers, holding it up. "This and the stove top can clean and close it at the same time."
"I have some spare fire Dust in my coat." Augustus offered.
"First of all no, Winter will kill me if we use her oven for that, second of all no that's how you get scars and if that's how you've been dealing with wounds you don't need anymore scars." She said bewildered at his choice of medical care.
Opening the kit she pulled out a few items. "Let me do this for you, you kinda don't have a choice in the matter."
"Alright, alright you do you." Augustus said, putting his hands in his pockets. "I would've offered ice Dust, but fire seemed more fun."
"I beg your pardon?" Timber shakes his head at Alex. "Yeah no, I'll handle it myself."
"Alright either you let me clean it or I will squeeze it until you cooperate, your choice."
Timber side eyed her, gritting his teeth as he bent his fingers on his injured hand until he was flipping her off.
Staring at him in disbelief she shrugged. "Since you want to be stubborn." She reached forward and wrapped her hand around his injured hand and held it there for a second. "Last chance you stubborn fool."
"Fucking bite me, you cu-" He started, before pain shot through his hand cutting him off mid insult.
"I didn't even squeeze that hard, see how bad it is?" She said, showing him his hand between hers.
Looking down he grimaced at the sight but did notice the lack of pressure she was exerting. "Did you really think I would dig my fingers into an open wound?" She asked him gently.
Looking down as he tries to pull his hand away, speaking quietly. "I can handle it myself."
"But you don't have to, I can understand that you've done that up to this point but i'm trying to make you understand that you don't need to anymore." She said softly, keeping a gentle grip on his hand.
Looking over at Augustus she nodded towards the stack of towels on the bed. "Can you hand me one of those?"
Limply tossing one of the towels at Alex, causing her vision to be obstructed. "Wouldn't it be easier if he channeled his Aura?"
Pausing in her movements she turned her covered head to Timber. "He's right, why not use your Aura?"
"Old habit." Timber replies. "I don't waste Aura on something I can fix myself."
"You're also in a safe environment." Augustus pointed out, removing the towel from Alex's head. "Sorry about that."
"No it's okay, I understand I have a few old habits myself. I'll stitch this up and you don't have to use your Aura but you can use it here it's a house and it's pretty safe." She said looking at him.
"I'm telling you I can handle it myself if you just give me two minutes."
"And I'm telling you in my good conscience I cannot let you fix a wound that way, don't make me squeeze again." She said threateningly, spooking him a bit considering he's never seen any other emotion besides happy on her face.
"If I say I won't use the stove, will you let me deal with it myself?"
"Hmmm nope I'm pretty adamant about this sorry."
"More like fucking stubborn." He mumbled.
"Well that too." She chuckled. "Now can you handle stitches or are you gonna be a baby?"
"Just fuckin do it, before I slap blueberry."
"Slap me and I'll rip out the stitches she's about to put in." Augustus said, jutting his thumb towards Alex.
Taking his hand she placed it on the towel on her lap, grabbing the stitching kit from the open tin she prepared everything she needed. "Augustus go in the kitchen and grab me some booze."
"...what kind?" Augustus asked. "I feel like this could be fun given the alcohol percentage."
"Uh, it's in a clear jar." She said slowly.
"Why do you have...wait why don't you use the antibiotics in the medical kit?!" Augustus said, exasperated.
"Because it will be more entertaining this way and yayy drinks!" She said with a shrug to which Timber winced, eyes widening as he heard her reasoning. "Can I please just burn my hand shut?"
"Knock yourself out." Augustus said, reaching into his coat and grabbing a small piece of fire Dust.
"Relax, I'm not going to drink any until after I have finished, but be prepared these antibiotics will sting like a bitch." She said turning back towards Augustus. "Get the jar please, and put that back in your pocket."
"Fine." Augustus slowly returned the pebble sized stone to his coat and left the room to fetch what he assumed was moonshine.
Timber took a deep breath, clearly annoyed at the situation. "Just do it already."
"Now brace yourself this is going to sting pretty bad." She said grabbing the antibiotics.
Pouring some of the liquid on his hand he took a deep breath and kept a neutral expression, his hand briefly twitching.
Taking one of the towels she gently dabbed at the wound drying it and being careful not to cause him any discomfort. "Now are you ready for the fun part?"
"If you jab bone even once with the needle, I'm hitting you."
Smiling she started slowly weaving the suture into his skin and slowly closing the wound up while he sat impatiently waiting. "You haven't done this in a while, have you?"
"No I haven't, I was much faster at it but with living in this house the medical care is pretty great. I figured you'd try and do something like cauterization and handle it yourself so consider this a compromise."
"I could tell." He mumbled, rolling his eyes. "It'd also be closed already if I cauterized it."
"It would be but you see I'm already halfway done." She motioned with her head down towards his hand. "I could try going faster if you want but uh I'd rath-"
"I really hope this is just some Vacuovian brand vodka and not moonshine." Augustus said reentering the room without knocking again.
"Uh if you don't ask about it I don't have to tell you and then I don't have to kill you."She said happily working on Timbers' hand.
"Be a waste of everyone's time if you killed me. You did have to track me down after all." Augustus replied back with a smirk.
"It was a waste of time tracking you down, that would just be the actual payoff." Timber muttered.
Laughing while she kept stitching his hand up they both looked at her strangely. "Sorry, pffft huehuehue. Timber you can cut the Tsundere act and confess your love for him already." Leaning her head over she whispered in his ear. "Just pretend I'm not even here."
"Sorry, not interested. Try again…" Augustus said, placing his hand on his chin. "In like three...NO! Four months!"
"Act like you aren't here... Okay." Timber says, spinning the dagger in his hand so he was holding the blade. Reeling his arm back and throwing it into the wall, the blade flat against the side of Augustus' neck.
"If you were ballsy enough you'd actually hit me." Augustus' smirk faded.
Timber reached into his hoodie without a word, pulling out his second dagger.
"NO!" Alex yelled. "Can we fucking not do this?" She asked.
"As long as he doesn't flinch, I think I can put this right under his ear." Timber said, seemingly ignoring her.
Removing the blade from the wall, Augustus stared Timber down. "Does this count as 'discharging a weapon in the house?'"
Finishing up the stitching she bandaged his hand and released it. "No it counts as you antagonizing him, it's also his bathroom so."
Standing up Alex grabbed the jar from Augustus and exited the room. "Be careful and don't use that hand yadda yadda and such." She said taking a sip of the clear liquid inside.
"Well since you seem to be fine. I'll be on my way." Augustus said, beginning to exit the room.
"When you leave please make sure the door slams into you on the way out." Timber calls out, flexing his hand to check his range of motion before turning back to finish cleaning up what was left of the mirror.
"Ah fuck off you miserable mutt." Augustus said before reentering the kitchen.
Timber was on his feet and out of the bathroom in an instant, twirling his dagger before throwing it into the doorframe next to Augustus. As Augustus started to turn around he never made it all the way around before getting sucker punched out of the doorway, retrieving his blade from the wall as he bolted by. Not giving him a moment to recover Timber grabbed his shirt and slammed him into the table, rearing back to hit him again.
"Really now? Are we doing this?" Augustus asked, looking around trying to read Timber's next action.
Timber opened his mouth, saying nothing but instead spitting in his face before bringing his fist down aimed at his throat.
Blinded in one eye and struggling to breathe, Augustus spun the knife Timber threw at him earlier and attempted to push him off by jabbing at his shoulder only to be met with a light brown Aura. "Get off of me! I just called you a mutt; I can call you worse if you'd like."
Timber winced briefly at the blow, grabbing Augustus' wrist with his good hand while pulling out the second dagger with his bad hand and attempting to stab his shoulder.
"I think Alex told you to not use that hand." Augustus said, quickly landing a punch to his jaw to knock him away. "Consider that a favor."
"ARE YOU SERIOUS?!" They heard a voice yell interrupting their fight, Timber stopped mid punch side eyeing her. Glancing at Augustus he returned her glare with a look of shame.
"What are you doing?"
"Defending myself, what are you doing?" Augustus asked, dusting himself off with a huff.
"Testing the durability of the kitchen table." Timber responds, still glaring at Augustus.
"Okay smartass, why were you fighting?" I left you alone for what five minutes?" Alex asked exasperated.
Timber straightened out his hoodie, fixing the hood so it didn't fall off. "No reason."
"Clearly you two are not explaining everything or just not telling the truth." She said looking at Timber. "You do realize you have to get along right? I understand the different backgrounds but Gods you're both working towards the same thing here. So either get along or you're out."
With finality she turned around and left them alone, walking into the living room she plopped back onto the couch and continued watching her movie all while sipping her moonshine. "I swear she's gonna kill them." She muttered to herself.