Music Choices: This Year by The Mountain Goats
Eclipse
Chapter 49
The White Rook
Part I
ARSN was still pissed off at them. Or well, Sigyn, and to a surprising degree Reinhardt, were still pissed off at them. Needless to say, their friends hadn't exactly handled the news that Grimm were secretly the corrupted spirits of the dearly departed well; or well, any of the information that followed that. To be fair, it was a lot of stuff, and it's not like it hadn't shaken STRQ to the core when they had learned about these things themselves; and ARSN was having it dumped on them all at once.
Still. They HAD asked for the truth. And their reactions to their existential crisis's - or how they were incidentally blaming STRQ for said crisis's - were really, really starting to wear on her nerves.
Argent at least was already over it, or he seemed to be putting on a show of having gotten over it for the sake of the others. That came with the mantle of team leader, perhaps. That and his position as the leader of ARSN had exposed him to one chaotic scenario after the other, until he had reached a point where nothing but the most serious transgression could truly earn his genuine ire and keep him to maintain a grudge.
Then there was Natalia. Natalia, Raven was sure, had never been pissed at them to begin with. She'd handled the information Summer had delivered to them on that rooftop far better than any of her teammates, and not just because of her typical stoicism or her ability to read the genuine emotions of those around her. She also hadn't blamed them for keeping said information to themselves, and had in Raven's opinion, been largely in their corner.
However, Sigyn and Reinhardt were the emotional core of team ARSN. So if they were pissed off at them or struggling to process this new shift of reality? Then it was going to be awkward no matter what. As well as irritating, considering the idiots had been the ones to demand the truth in the first place.
To Raven, this all just confirmed that Qrow had ultimately been in the right this time around, and that Summer had unfortunately misjudged ARSN's - and especially her sister's - reaction. Summer had been thinking about ARSN's safety overall, and had apparently not accounted for the emotional meltdown that would ensue upon realizing that most of what they'd believed about the state of the world was a cultivated lie.
It seemed that ARSN had been thinking they'd been off on some oh so magical adventure or what the fuck ever, and then realized that shit was extremely, horribly real and that they could no longer go back to how they'd viewed the world before. Their innocence was now gone, just like STRQ's; which was highly ironic in the grand scheme of things. ARSN had always thought they'd been the worldly ones, after all.
Regardless, entire fiasco was deeply upsetting Summer, who already had too much on her plate as it was; but despite all this, was handling ARSN's meltdown with a level of grace that exceeded her years. She didn't engage with her sister's cattiness or respond to her attempts to start an argument at all in the classroom or the gym. She only engaged when Sigyn was at least minimally polite to her or the rest of STRQ; and honestly that seemed to be what was upsetting Sigyn the most - the idea that Summer wasn't affected by her hurt feelings or whatever.
Which, if she stopped being a gods damn brat for five entire seconds, she would realize that simply wasn't true. If Raven could see that, then fucking surely she could, right?
Apparently not.
Reinhardt, meanwhile, was just giving them the old silent treatment, which was a genuine feat considering how talkative he typically was. It was almost a little eerie, actually, but at least the silent treatment could be met in kind. Still, Raven thought that his reaction was likely due to a combination of factors. Perhaps he was in shock over the existence of magic, or that Grimm were actually vengeful spirits of the departed and this was how he was processing it.
Overall, the situation was bothering her more than she thought it would or even should. She really didn't have the time to worry about ARSN having an existential crisis or bratting out about being left in the dark; her schedule was completely full until the end of the semester. She had two potential assassinations to plot, on top of nonstop training, homework and extracurriculars. She didn't understand how ARSN had the time to dedicate to being pissed off right now, on top of everything, other than the fact that they all seemed to rarely sleep. Maybe if they did, they wouldn't be having a meltdown for several weeks straight.
To her, the scope just didn't justify this type of reaction and she was having a hard time not telling Sigyn to shove her head up an Ursa's ass every time she sent Summer angry little baby glares in the cafeteria when she thought she wasn't looking.
Oh no! Summer kept a secret from you?! Waaa! Summer's been trying to not fucking DIE for the past five months, literally get the fuck over yourself you cotton candy piss baby.
Is what she would say , if she did not love her girlfriend very much; and if she also wanted to start yet another STRQ fight in the middle of the cafeteria.
Perhaps it was all simply a cultural rift, but that didn't' seem quite right. Sigyn was typically such a….well, she certainly wasn't naïve. Raven couldn't label the renegade as being of the same fabric as Kingdom folk, because she just wasn't .
The Rindvallis were a different breed altogether separate from Kingdom and Settlers. Now, Sigyn had always had her extremes, either due to her Semblance or other issues. Yet she had always seemed to have a better handle on it than what she was displaying now; and Raven wasn't close enough to her to understand why.
As for Reinhardt, she didn't know enough about the technopath to classify him as Kingdom or not; and perhaps she shouldn't be trying to put people, especially people like ARSN, into such restrictive categories that were largely made up. She honestly knew very little about this group of people she considered her friends; at least their histories, or where they were from. Sigyn was easy, obviously, but the others she knew next to nothing about outside of the context of the school; and these were people she knew that, despite their current issues, she would genuinely risk her life for, and gladly.
Still, it took her several days of chewing on the problem, before she realized why it was bothering her so much. It wasn't just that ARSN were her friends and that she owed them for trying to look out for her in their own way - they were and she did - but it was that ARSN were STRQ's 'tribal' allies in her mind; and from a tribe perspective, a falling out with one's allies could ultimately be life threatening. Because without allies, a tribe was doomed to go the way of the Crom Cruach: extinct.
And she wasn't about to have that happen to the people she loved.
So it was that Raven, despite having no free time save during when she should be sleeping, sought out team ARSN, in an attempt to make peace for her team.
Knocking
Natalia sighed through her nose softly. If it was Rihanna standing outside that door, she was going to kick her between the legs and shut it. She was tired of that fucking freshman pestering her, asking for when would be a good time for her to talk to Summer, considering Summer was caught in the midst of schoolwork, leadership detail, and fighting with her sister.
Natalia didn't fucking know when a good time would be. Natalia was exhausted, and it's not like Summer told her what was going on in personal life. Ask her whenever, or don't, she didn't care.
Well. Not exactly true. She liked Summer. And not just because she was Sigyn's sister or whatnot.
Knocking
The gunwoman grit her teeth silently and slid out of bed. It was still early by ARSN's standards, but Nat was running on empty and had laid down at a reasonable hour compared to rest of her team; her team who had all passed out by the tv, game controllers in hand, having spent half the night playing video games. None of them budged as Natalia hopped down and stalked towards the door, her eyes promising murder.
She opened the door coldly, trying to look as scary as she physically could, to hopefully drive away any nosy freshmen or other solicitors that were not worth her time.
A pair of familiar crimson eyes met her own, shifting liquidly from coolly detached to appraising and calculative, like shadows chasing sunlight in an orchard. Natalia glared at Raven for a beat, considering shutting the door in her face to spare herself the trouble; but she also knew that said trouble was not going away anytime soon, and it was time to deal with it and get it over with.
Nat sighed loudly through her nose.
"Nnn. Fuck you," she opened the door further, and waved the swordwoman inside. "I just wanted sleep, you know?"
Raven stepped through the doorway silently, studying the scene before her.
"Yea, I know the feeling. Um. You could always take a nap in our room?" she offered as she stared at the chaotic pile on the floor. "If things are too loud here?"
Natalia huffed and waved a hand.
The noise would ultimately follow her. There was no escape.
"It is kind of you to offer," she acknowledged dryly, staring at her dysfunctional teammates. "Shall we talk in kitchen then?"
"I was hoping to speak with all of you tonight, actually," Raven admitted, watching in disturbed fascination as Sigyn's leg twitched like grasshopper's. "I assumed you would all be awake still, but - I can come back-"
"No, nonono," Natalia interrupted, moving over towards her drooling teammates. "I know why you're here, and I'm sick of them acting like toddlers lost at supermarket - HEY!"
Natalia nudged her partner and Reinhardt in the skull. Her teammates groaned theatrically, half asleep.
"Wake the hell up? It's not even two o'clock, why are you sleeping like little babies?"
The little babies groaned and sprawled further on the floor. She felt no pity.
"NNNh, Natttttty? Why?"
"Gimme the pumpkin spice. The spice must flow. The pumpkin - NO, the pumpkin SPICE-"
Natalia took a sprayer full of water, one labeled 'in case of Sigyn' and spritzed her partner's hair several times. Sigyn shot up like a cat dunked in a bath, yowling, slapping at her hair.
"FFFF - NATTY! Gods, why?!" Sigyn squealed, glaring up at her. Her eyes were amber, as they had been for the past several weeks. Then her partner spotted Raven, and a sour look settled across her face as she folded her arms.
Nat could feel the wave of irritation rolling towards her before she threw her own barriers up to spare herself. She was tired of channeling the emotions of others; she needed vacation.
"Why are you here?" Sigyn groused, glaring at the swordswoman. Argent and Reinhardt exchanged sleepy, yet interested, glances.
Raven glanced at her fingernails casually - she was always posturing body language and expressions that didn't match the emotions broiling off of her aura like steam off a red lake - before meeting Sigyn's gaze coolly.
"I wanted to hang out," Raven shrugged after a minute. "I thought you guys would still be up."
Sigyn's eyes narrowed suspiciously. Natalia sighed and moved into the kitchen, hunting coffee and vodka. Maybe she and Qrow would get a room this weekend in Vale, schedules be damned, and burn off some stress.
She knew he was feeling it too. Finding her stash, Natalia poured a liberal amount of coffee flavoring into her vodka and stalked quietly back out into the room again.
"Bullshit. You don't just 'hang out', Rae Rae ," Sigyn snorted. "This chicken is up to sumfin - We're not dumb you know?"
"Never said you were," Raven shrugged, unfazed. Sigyn glared, looking particularly feral, until she met Natalia's own blase stare and huffed, putting the claws away for now.
"Well, maybe she should start hanging out?" Argent suggested, trying to play mediator again. "You play video games, Raven?"
"Not really. But I do want to learn so I can beat Tai at Ninjafest 10 or whatever."
There was a tense pause, as the rest of ARSN glanced expectantly towards Reinhardt. The technopath had refused to converse around team STRQ for several weeks straight, and at times even around them; largely because he was processing the fact that everything he had known up until this moment had, essentially, been a colorful fairy tail.
Grimm weren't just monsters. They were the corrupted spirits of the dead. They could be your dead grandmother, or parents, or child. And they could kill and eat you, whether they wanted to or not.
Magic was real, and at times very dangerous. Summer was apparently some kind of magical; and so, too, were Raven and Qrow. Who could turn into fucking birds. And there was a worldwide conspiracy to conceal the existence of magic from the common person, and their teachers were somehow involved in it.
And then there were forces at work in Remnant that wanted to destroy them all - some forces that were supposed to be on their side, and who were actively working to bring them down. Such as the King's Service.
Not as surprising, as say, bird people, considering what they'd already seen. More surprising that, they too, could be birds. Or other animals. And were kidnapping other magic users into a secret slave army that their friends and teacher had helped free when a band of magical tribes-people that Qrow and Raven and were a part of.
Natalia had seen enough weirdness in her life before Beacon that much of this she'd been able to accept, if not immediately understand. She'd known that, in some manner or another, that magic was real. She'd grown up in Mantle, raised by a band of anarchist techno-punks who had their own connections with the free peoples of the world; and she'd seen and learned enough from said free peoples that much of what Summer had told them? Made perfect sense to her.
Reinhardt, however? Reinhardt hadn't known how to react to all this intel at once. It had totally shattered his worldview and he still needed time to recover. However, he did know how to react to the audacity of someone as unskilled in video games as Raven seeking to dethrone Taiyang from the seat of master of Ninjafest 10.
"You? You cannot beat Taiyang at Ninjafest 10," Reinhardt started incredulously, staring at Raven as if she'd grown second head. " I cannot beat Taiyang at Ninjafest 10, unless I use my Semblance, and even then it's - you can't. Physically impossible. You can't even play Dig-guild, girl, like that shit is SO BASIC!"
Raven smirked a little as Reinhardt spoke, before shrugging a little irreverently.
"Hm. I think you're scared I'll beat him," Raven drawled laconically, eying Reinhardt mischievously. "Because if someone that's so basic beats Taiyang at Ninjafest? Then what does that say about you?"
"OH! OH OK-" Reinhardt tossed his hands up, eyes expressive.
"Uh oh," Argent kneaded his brow, preparing for the tirade. Natalia eyed Raven dryly, but behind her own mask, she was genuinely surprised.
Raven was breaking Reinhardt out of his silent treatment sulk intentionally; to be fair, it was something anyone who knew Reinhardt well could have done, as long as they had the more advanced emotional intelligence to do it.
But Raven ? No offence to other girl, but she didn't have much emotional intelligence, or at least she didn't seem to practice compassion frequently enough to develop it. Not that Nat practiced it much herself, or wanted to; she just had a Semblance that made everyone else's feelings her problem half the time.
I guess she's been practicing, apparently...
Natalia sipped again as Reinhardt rattled away about Taiyang's technical prowess as a gamer, fanboying a little even, while Sigyn glared at Raven like a disgruntled housecat and Argent pulled up Ninjafest 10 on their console.
"YOU COME INTO MY HOUSE AT THE WITCHING HOUR?! AND YOU CHALLENGE ME TO MY FAVORITE VIDEO GAME? YOU? WITH YOUR LITTLE VIRGIN FINGIES?"
"Who are you calling virgin fingers, virgin dick ?" Raven snorted, picking up the game controller.
"My dick is not a virgin!" Reinhardt play-scoffed. "I'll have you know, he makes love to my hand all the time!"
"Ew," Natalia droned habitually, while Sigyn made lewd gestures just as habitually.
"Cool. My fingers make love to your mom," Raven hummed, flicking through the screen as she selected her character.
Argent cackled immediately, while Sigyn snorted; Reinhardt let out a flabbergasted noise like outraged donkey, trying to come up with a good retort as he picked his fighter.
"Well, your mom is gonna choke down these nuts when she sees what I can do with my boy, Akira!" Reinhardt pulled up his fighter.
"Oh yea? Which mom?" Raven smirked.
"UhHHH - both? All? The legislative body that is your mom? Is going to guzzle my fat fucking nutsack?"
"Pfft yea," Raven snickered. "That's what they'll do to your nutsack, Rein."
Reinhardt pulled up the arena they would play in and the console let out a familiar, annoying chorus as the game was about to begin.
Thus began the weirdest gaming session that Natalia had ever born witness too in their room. Raven played terribly, but she seemed like she was fast learner; so, while Reinhardt was busy trash talking her, she was apparently busy studying what he was doing. Because after several, brutal ninja ass kickings, she started to actually deal damage.
A suspicious amount of damage, actually.
Reinhardt began to sweat as Raven started to really push back, and he had to up his game.
Argent and Sigyn meanwhile would chime in from the sidelines, with Sigyn demanding she get to play - likely because she wanted to beat Raven's ass as well. Unaware that, apparently this was all part of Raven's plan.
Because Raven already knew how to play Ninjafest 10, if Natalia's insights weren't off base. She was just letting Reinhardt get his licks in and show off, to put him in a better mood. Likely so he would be more open to whatever conversation was coming.
Nat sipped her vodka-coffee, meeting Argent's knowing glance; her team leader had picked it up too. They mutually, wordlessly, decided to say nothing about it.
Eventually, Sigyn commandeered Rein's controller, grinning like a pink fox as she selected her favorite character; Raven changed her's as well, looking nonplussed as she went through the character sheet and listened to Reinhardt's suggestions. Nat didn't buy the act for a minute.
Sigyn didn't hold back like Reinhardt had, going in for the kill repeatedly; and Raven put on a good show of struggling to keep up. Sigyn meanwhile was being, well, less than sugary sweet about her victories. She was trying to piss the other girl off, but it wasn't working - and that was Sigyn's greatest weakness when she was trapped in this mindset. If she couldn't bring the other person down to where she was emotionally, she'd get more, and more, fragile and mean about it; and then she would start to make mistakes.
Like right now.
"Sonofafreakin CALZONI!" Sigyn slapped the floor as Raven's character brought her health bar down significantly. "Get your little goth butt over here !"
Raven shook her head, smirking.
"Mmm. No. I think I'll just keep spamming this ranged attack from right here, thanks."
Sigyn growled as her character got zinged again, falling over with a shout before rolling back out of range.
"Spamming is for little cheating babies! Stop - fucking gods damnit!"
"I'm sorry, what? I'm just smashing buttons, Sigyn, maybe you should try it."
Sigyn was baring her teeth like an enraged mongoose, her fingers a blur as she tried to get close in for a combo attack again.
"Gonna smash your buttons, ya cheatin poop-lord," Sigyn groused.
"Sorry, that's your si - that's your mom's job," Raven tilted the controller, hiding an evil little grin.
Sigyn looked nearly ready to throw the controller at her, before Nat's partner took a breath, counted to ten in her head, and exhaled as she bull-rushed Raven's character. Argent's body language notably relaxed as he watched his teammate practice self restraint; from the emotions bubbling off his aura, it was apparent that he was waiting for a confrontation that could escalate to actual violence.
Nat didn't think that was exactly fair, considering Sigyn was no Becca; even at her worst - like right now - Sigyn did not physically lash out at others. Unless it was during an appropriate combat lesson, on the field, or sparring, she didn't try to hurt others.
Even her clones, when they were totally out of control, didn't take a swing at other people unless provoked first, or if they were in a combat or training environment. Because Sigyn was very, very conscious that she made other people uncomfortable, whether with her Semblance or with how she responded emotionally to it; and typically, she had as good a rein on her emotions and Semblance as she possibly could.
However, despite his skill as their leader, Argent did not have her insight into Sigyn's mind and emotions; and neither did Raven.
He thinks Raven might push her too far….
"Oo0h get er! Get er! GETER - Aww, c'mon, Sy! I've taught you better than this, dude!" Reinhardt bemoaned, opening a fresh bag of cheesy chips.
Natalia hated the smell of cheesy chips, and briefly considered hiding away in the kitchen, but sucked it up and stayed. She wanted to see how this played out.
"Shut the titty-fuck UP, Rein, I swear- you bitch ! You're doing this shit on purpose!" Sigyn exclaimed, growing visibly angry.
Raven merely quirked an eyebrow, continuing to spam ranged attacks and stay away from Sigyn's character.
"I thought that was the point of the game? To kill your opponent? Is that not the point of the game?"
"YES, but - there are rules of engagement! Sacred rules! And you are just pissing all over them - OHMYGOD!"
" VICTORY !TO NATSUKI ASOSHINA!"
"Don't be ashamed. You're defeat was too mediocre for anyone else to remember-"
Sigyn slapped her controller down, her body language taut and her face promising murder. Raven side-eyed the other girl, looking unconcerned. However, from the bursts of emotional static Nat was catching off of her, she was concerned; though, not about a possible confrontation.
"You're intentionally trying to piss me off," Sigyn insisted, holding Raven's gaze. "You think I can't tell? But I flippin can! You wanna take this shit outside, bird girl? I will fucking dog walk you!"
Argent stood up, moving to intervene instinctively while Reinhardt munched cheesy chips loudly. Natalia studied the current of emotions bubbling off both girls, and decided not to intervene herself.
She trusted Raven's intentions. She'd see how this played out.
She wants to fix things? Let us see if she can.
"Hey, woah, no," Argent started, moving as if he would physically push his large form between the girls. "Sy, it's just a game -"
"I KNOW IT'S JUST A GAME, ARGENT!" Sigyn snapped. "It's not about that! She is intentionally trying to instigate some bullshit - why else would she fucking be here in the middle of the night?!"
Raven glanced at her fingernails briefly again, before sighing and meeting Sigyn's burning amber gaze.
"Ok. Let's take this outside - or rather, let's take this to the gym," Raven suggested coolly, watching Sigyn and no one else. "We can use the sparring rooms."
A dangerous pause.
"...You think I won't?" Sigyn asked darkly, eyes narrowed violently.
"No. I think you will. But I do have one condition," Raven held her index finger up. "That we do this tribe style."
"What the fuck does that even mean, bird nerd?"
"It means that all this fucking drama and bad feelings and bullshit angst? Gets left on the floor with the spit and the blood. No matter who wins. But then afterwards? We talk shit out. Like adults. Because we are adults, Sigyn. In case you forgot?"
Despite Raven's parting barb, Sigyn paused, while the rest of her teammates exchanged various looks. Natalia nodded after a brief pause, finally chiming in.
"That sounds reasonable," Natalia droned, meeting her partner's wild yellow. Sigyn was clearly worried that Nat was also tired of her and that she was causing her distress; Natalia made a slight face, trying to reassure her. "A quick spar, hash shit out. No more drama. It's good idea, yes?"
Sigyn studied her expression attentively, and Natalia had to keep herself from fracturing. She didn't know how else to fix things, and this seemed as good an idea as she could think of.
After a moment, Sigyn nodded, still looking at Nat.
"Ok. But I have some conditions myself."
Raven tipped her head, inviting Sigyn to continue. Sigyn turned to study the other girl intently, as if she'd never really seen her before.
"If I win? You transfer out of Beacon."
"Woah, um," Reinhardt started. "Sy? That's a little way too fucking harsh my dude-"
"No, it isn't," Sigyn glared, while Raven studied her, her own expression unwavering. "Half of this bologna that Summer is caught up in now? Is your fucking fault. You and Qrow both-"
"Sigyn," Natalia protested, staring down at her partner. Something painful pulled in her chest.
This is wrong. It wasn't their faults.
"-Have dragged both Summer and Taiyang into some unforgivably messed up donkey dong, and it isn't fair!"
"You're the one who isn't being fair!" Natalia snapped suddenly.
The room went silent.
Sigyn's eyes were huge as she met Natalia's glare. Raven meanwhile did not seem shocked by Sigyn's demand that she leave, and instead was watching the pair of them silently. Argent and Reinhardt were also having their own silent, partner conversation around them.
"...Seriously?" Sigyn started, her voice cracking as it went up in pitch.
"Very. You are emotionally compromised and you know it. Your judgement right now is not fair. And you know that too!"
"It is their fault, Natty," Sigyn insisted, her voice dropping dangerously.
"It is not their faults that Summer didn't tell you everything sooner!" Natalia glowered. Her partner flinched as if she'd slapped her. "Summer made that choice herself! As a grown woman who can make her own choices! You want to be mad? Be mad at Summer! Oh wait!? You already actually fucking are ! You're just redirecting that anger at others - again!"
"Shit, you wanna have it out too, Natty?!" Sigyn popped up, looking ready to get her face. "You don't know everything just because of your stupid flipping Semblance!"
"You want to test that?" Natalia asked, her voice dropping dangerously.
Sigyn sneered, pulling up like a viper ready to lash out and sink her fangs in. Natalia didn't even blink. Argent and Reinhardt, however, were hovering desperately around them, seemingly trying to figure out how to prevent an actual fight.
They'd both always been so clueless when it came to managing the pair of them. Even though they'd gotten better overall, Nat knew that she and Sigyn still terrified them when they had any kind of actual confrontation - either with one another, or with other people.
Which was frustrating for many - many - reasons. But mostly because it was a double standard that they just couldn't see. It wasn't fair that she, or Sigyn, couldn't express fury or anger or outrage without having to be aware of the sensitivities of the other people, or rather the men, around them.
That was something she'd always appreciated about Qrow. He didn't pull back from her when she expressed genuine anger about the things that upset her. He wasn't afraid or uncomfortable around feminine anger; it didn't threaten him like it did most Kingdom men.
"I accept your terms."
Sigyn's eyes flickered, running the gamut of colors as she glanced down towards Raven. The other girl was watching the pair of them, calculating as ever.
"If you win our sparring match, I will transfer out of Beacon," Raven reaffirmed, resting her palms on her knees.
Natalia glanced at the rest of her team. It was apparent that none of them had expected Raven to agree to this.
"Wait," Sigyn's eyes narrowed. "And what's the deal if you win?"
Raven leaned back on her palms, studying her.
"I just want us to reach a general...understanding. And for you to stop acting like a little pissbaby and upsetting Summer."
"Pissbaby?!"
"You said it."
Sigyn looked on the verge of unhinging her jaw and trying to devour the other girl like an angry Taijitsu; but after a brief pause, she stuck her hand out for Raven to shake.
"Fine. Deal."
Raven stuck a pale hand up to grasp Sigyn's own.
"So it is."
And so it was.