Another cold, cold, cold, sucky, cooooooold sucky day in Atlas...oh, and it was cold...damned ice palace...the city was floating in the sky! Wasn't cold air supposed to sink or something? Team PANE never should have taken that exchange program...sure, Mistral could be cold, but it wasn't a literal frozen wasteland! Why couldn't they have gone to Vale or Vacuo? Sure, Beacon was undergoing renovations...but surely Shade would've been a good choice! All the cool...all the hot and awesome people went to Vacuo! Why did they get shafted and sent to Atlas of all places?! So what if Percy apparently spent time in Mantle as a kid or something? And so what if Eon used ice dust in her weapons? Anti and Nyx were bats! They didn't belong in the tundra! The cold sucked! It made them weak and sluggish...Anti always looked like she was going to slip into a food coma every time she ate, but she could at least offset it by drinking caffeinated fruity sodas and energy drinks…But Nyx? What was she supposed to do?! She was a vampire bat! You can't caffeinate blood! Was caffeinate a word? Or was she thinking of carbonating? Trying to carbonate blood? WHATEVER! She tried using a soda maker on her blood bottles but her stupid teammates had stopped her and banned her from ever trying again...some crap about it being unhygenic….pansies...blood was awesome…and she was cold...and tired...and cold…

"I hate this place…" The little bat faunus grumbled, chin resting on the edge of the Atlas cafeteria table she and her team had claimed. A thin plastic tube poked into the side of her mouth as she worked on draining what seemed to be a standard medical blood bag.

"It's really not THAT bad Nyx…" Eon, sweet sweet Eon Mentha...the cute coyote girl who knew how to make a bloody mary with actual blood! Sure there wasn't any alcohol in them...but still! Blood! In a drink! Oh how she loved Eon...but even someone as nice and awesome as her could be wrong...and this was definitely one such time.

"Eon. Babe. You are my best, non family friend, who is not my team leader." Taking a moment, the vampire bat sat up slightly before leveling an annoyed look at the cheery canine. "So believe me when I say that I love you girl...but you are dead fucking wrong. This place sucks...it's cold...and bland...and cold...and dumb…...and cold...Why couldn't we go to Vacuo?! That would've been awesome!"

"And there were a LOT of people who wanted to go there...we never would have been chosen with the waiting list..." Percy, Team PANE's levelheaded leader muttered as she tapped away at her scroll. "So, our options were staying at Haven and doing nothing...or coming here to get some actual course credit."

"Yeah...well...Just because you're right doesn't mean you're right…"

"Pretty sure that's not how the saying goes Nyx."

"Shut up cuz...I'm trying to make a point here…" Groaning in annoyance and ignoring her cousin's words, the little vampire bat plopped her head back down on the table. "I'm so bored...and cold...I feel like I'm about to die of boredom…"

"We just got back from a mission Nyx."

"And it was stupid! And cold! Just like this entire stupid kingdom!" The little bat practically screamed, earning heated looks from several students and staff members. Whatever, it was true...Atlas sucked...They didn't even do anything cool! No! No puns! No cold puns! Especially after working that dumb mission. They didn't do anything fun! They were glorified delivery girls! Sure, the world needed couriers, but come on! Surely they could've done something more interesting than package delivery! But nooooooo...just...running deliveries with stupid dogs and deer, and bunnies, and...penguins? Were there bird faunus? Or were those chicks just stupid into snowbirds? Nyx didn't really know, and she didn't really care...all she knew was that it had been stupid...stupid job, stupid cold, stupid stupid stupid!

"Hey hey hey! How's it going ladies? And bitch formerly known as Percy. Great day isn't it?" And speaking of stupid...Looking up from their various breakfasts, the ladies of Team PANE found themselves staring up at a familiar smug puma faunus, Felinus of Team RFGH….who seemed surprisingly smug and chipper.

Exchanging looks between themselves...or at least between three of them, their leader Percy seemed more disinterested than usual, making a point of fully ignoring the cat rather than gracing him with her usual looks of disdain and witty words in favor of her scroll, something that had her three teammates cocking their eyebrows as they looked back to their fellow student.

"Morning Feli. Something up?" Eon asked, her usual polite chipperness shining through as always.

"You look more…" Anti seemed to struggle for an appropriate word.

"Your smug shiteating grin looks even more smug and shiteaty today." Nyx chimed in for her cousin, the taller bat faunus blinking and seeming to consider her cousin's crude casual words, only to end up shrugging and nodding along.

"Damn straight I am! My three favorite gals not named Ginger just got back from their mission! Congrats by the way, bet it was a blast." Ignoring the annoyed groan from the vampire faunus, the puma grabbed a seat across from the squad of four wearing a wide grin that had the ladies of PANE exchanging looks again, seemingly caught off guard by his affectionate words. "Anyways, you ladies were gone for a few days...can't believe you missed all the fun…"

"Fun?" Nyx perked up immediately, her eyes narrowing at the cat. "What fun?"

"Don't play dumb munchkin, you were only gone a few days."

"Call me that again cat and I'll tear your throat out."

"Kinky. But I'm not into shorties."

"Oh that's rich coming from you."

"I've been told I'm quite hilarious."

"Hate to break it to you Feli, but your reflection isn't its own person…"

"No!"

"Sad but true...figured I'd let you know before you try taking a mirror out on a date."

"Cute." Ignoring the snickers from the squad of four, the puma sat up, leveling another smirk on his fellow faunus brethren...sistren? "But to answer your question...what holiday did you gals miss out on during your trip?"

"Uh…" Fishing out her scroll, Eon cocked an eyebrow. "Holiday?" Glancing over her calendar, she looked back up to overexcited feline. "What holiday?"

"What holiday?! Are you crazy?!"

"I...no…?" Shrinking back from the stern look in the puma's eyes, the coyote turned her scroll back to the boy. "There's nothing listed on the calendar...is...did we miss some Atlesian or Mantle holiday or something?"

"No! And screw the mainstream calendars!" Groaning in disgust, Felinus swiped and placed the scroll down in front of the girls before pointing to a specific day...the first day of the month.

"April first?" The unamused vamp grumbled while cocking an eyebrow.

"And the little bloodsucker gets it right. Congrats. Yes, you missed April 1st, which is….?"

"April fool's day?" Anti offered, popping an orange slice into her mouth.

"And what else?" The cat grinned, eyeing the trio again as he rolled his hand. "C'mon? Guess!" Receiving nothing but silence, the cat started to frown, only to smirk as his least favorite member of the team sighed in disgust.

"April 1st is Felinus' birthday."

"Bingo." The cat beamed, smiling smugly as the three other members of Team PANE eyed him in confusion. "Best day of the year! Presents and pranks!"

"Really? Huh...well...happy belated birthday Feli." Eon offered sweetly, smiling to the cat as her fellow teammates nodded along, Anti smiling just as sweetly as she sipped her fruit juice while Nyx simply gave him a half hearted thumb up as she finished off her blood bag.

"Thanks minty. Nice to know my boy's OTL can be so sweet." Winking to the canine, the cat took a sip of his milk while he eyed the group of four. "Soooooo….?"

"So...what?" Nyx asked as she spat the straw out of her shriveled baggie of blood, a soft belch escaping from her lips as she wiped her mouth.

"What'd you girls get me?" Felinus smirked as he leaned forward, giving the group a wide toothy grin, not even flinching as the trio seemed to recoil in shock. "After all you ladies missed my big day, I'd say you owe me some good gifts."

"Hade's present covers me." The lone human at the table grumbled as she took a sip of her orange juice.

"The hell it does."

"Not that it matters." Percy continued, ignoring the cat's heated glare. "Even if I had gotten you a gift you'd label it as lame and seek to punish me."

"Meh…" Shrugging, the faunus sipped his milk for a moment before taking a bite of bacon. "I'd have gone easier on you...maybe...probably...I'd have thought about it…"

"Wait, I'm sorry, what's this about punishment exactly?"

"April Fools' baby!" The cat laughed as he wiggled a piece of bacon towards the fruitbat faunus, ignoring the way that she instinctively recoiled. "I'm a simple guy, I love pranks, and it's my birthright to prank the everloving hell out of everyone on my birthday!"

"But...it's not your birthday anymore…"

"Semantics! You ladies cruelly skipped out on my birthday and the pranks I dished out that day."

"We were out on a mission...and didn't know it was your birthday..."

"Excuses, blame your lousy leader. Anyways, you ladies skipped out. Ergo I owe you a comeuppance. But I'm not unreasonable, so if you get me a good gift, I go easy on you with the pranks...you get me a bad gift, or skip out...and I show you why I'm the king of pranks."

"Oooooo...the King of Pranks…" Nyx laughed as she eyed the feline faunus. "Real intimidating…what're you gonna do?"

"Depends, you got me a gift lil vamp?"

Flicking the shriveled up blood bag onto the puma's tray, the bat smirked. "That cover it?"

"Is that your final gift then squirt?"

"Mmmmmm….yeah." Shrugging as she stretched a bit, the bat nodded her head. "It's too cold to go out shopping, and I'm not chicken. So, do your worst kit cat."

"Worst huh? Alright." Pulling out his scroll, the cat started tapping away before leveling his gaze on the remaining two at the table. "Anti, Eon, you got something?"

"Um…"

"Sorry Feli."

"It's cool. I'm a reasonable guy." Pocketing his scroll, the faunus shot the two taller girls a smile. "I'll give you til...let's say...eight tonight...you get me a good gift by then, we'll call it even...otherwise I'll have to flex my pranking prowess on you ladies…sound fair?"

Exchanging looks, the coyote and flying fox looked back towards the belated birthday prankster, Eon cocking an eyebrow as she looked around the academy cafeteria before looking back towards their tablemate. "Yeah...sure...Hey Feli, where's everyone else?"

"Mmmm?" Swallowing his bit of bacon, the cat laughed. "Ah, they're on their way...probably…"

"Did you glue Hade to his desk again Felinus?"

"Now Percy why would-"

"Felinus."

"Bah…" Rolling his eyes, the cat gave the woman a nod. "Fine. Yes, Hade's back in the room." After a brief pause and deep breath, the Haven huntress in training simply rose from her seat, grabbing her tray before leaving the table, much to the puma's clear amusement.

"So wait...you glued Hade to a desk? Is this still about April fools' day? How long has he been stuck there?!" The growing worry and panic from the coyote faunus earned a laugh from both vampire bat and the puma.

"C'mon Eon, I'm not that much of a dick...even if I was, Ginger would've gotten him free by now...and if she didn't I would've brought him food and left him a bucket. I'm not an animal." Ignoring the grimace and shudder from the three faunus women, the cat shrugged his shoulders again. "And before you ask, Ginger's off doing laundry."

"What about Rolland?" The flying fox asked with a raised eyebrow, sparing a glance towards her team leader as she left the cafeteria, no doubt intending to go check on her missing boyfriend.

"Don't worry about him. He made his decision."

"Well that doesn't sound ominous in the slightest." Nyx laughed before grinning towards the cat. "So big ol Rolly Polly fell prey to kitty's pranks? Now I definitely can't back down."

"Hey, your funeral lil vamp." Standing again, the cat motioned towards the two remaining members of PANE. "Don't forget ladies. One present each. And they'd best be good! Adios!" Winking, the cat grabbed his tray before wandering off, a clear bounce in his step.

"Do you think we should be concerned?" Anti asked as she eyed her remaining teammates.

"About what? Some measly pranks? What, he gonna hit us with a joybuzzer? Put a whoopie cushion down on our seats? They're just pranks cuz!"

"Well...by the sounds of things, Hade got him a present and ended up glued to a table...And those two are basically brothers." Eon muttered while stroking her chin.

"Bah, Feli's a dick, he probably does crap like that all the time..."

"And then there's that whole thing with Ginger and Rolland…"

"Please! Gingy's a total neat freak, she might just be doing laundry for the sake of doing it...And as for ol Rolly Polly…" Nyx seemed to struggle for a response before shrugging. "The big guy might've just fucked off to Mantle for a bit...doesn't he have a little brother and a girlfriend down there or something…? And even if he didn't, Feli and him hardly get along, not like any of us are on his shit list...well, Percy probably is, but the three of us? We're pretty solid I'd say."

"Fair point…" Sighing, Eon slid out of her seat. "I think I might still get him a present...just to be nice for the belated birthday boy."

"Do we even know if he's serious? Hell, he says his birthday is on April Fools' Day, whole thing could be a giant prank for that smug shit..."

"Percy seemed convinced it was true."

"Bah...Percy doesn't give a shit about Feli."

"We could try asking Hade or Ginger…or Rolland if he shows up." Anti suggested, finishing off the last of her fruit and juice before rising to join her canine companion.

"Lame...but whatevs…" Grabbing her discarded blood bag, Nyx stood as well, sighing dramatically. "What an ungrateful late maybe birthday boy...leaving his gift behind...after I put so much thought and time into getting it for him…" Chuckling to herself, the little bat followed along behind her two taller teammates. "So...what's on the docket? You two going to dump me and go shopping?"

"You're welcome to join us Nyx."

"Not on your life cuz, you wanna burn money on that cat then be my guest."

"We should probably find Percy and see if she wants us to do any training or studying before we leave for Mantle…" Eon muttered, tapping her chin in thought. "And it wouldn't hurt to try asking Hade or Ginger for present ideas either…"

"Oh please, you just wanna flirt with the boss' boyfriend."

"I...I never flirt with Hade!"

"Hey, just cause the guy's too dumb to recognize it doesn't mean you're not doing it."

"I...I….s-shut up Nyx!"

Laughing at her teammate's flustered response, the bat smirked as she hooked her thumb towards her side. "Hey I'll catch up in a sec, I'm gonna hit the can real quick." Turning and pulling open the door to her side, the little vampire made her way inside, ignoring the calls of her cousin and teammate, if they had something important to say they could say it when she...was…..done...This...was not the ladies room...unless the Atlas staff suddenly had the marvelous idea to swap out several stalls in favor of urinals….Say what you would about the stuffy ice palace, but they tended not to be idiots...but...she...she knew the sign said women's room...she was tired, not blind! Not stupid! Not…a boy...

Not at all like the familiar boy who exited one of the room's many stalls...that same ol smug shit of a cat that claimed to have been born on April Fool's day...Felinus...buttoning his pants as he made his way out of the stall and towards the sink, whistling some stupid offkey tune as he went to work washing his hands...soaping up, lathering, rinsing, repeating...only to finally turn and face the stunned, red faced transfer student. Giving her a brief once over before snorting in amusement. "Man Nyx, I knew you were a thirsty little squirt, but seriously? Sneaking into the Men's room?"

"I...wh...b…"

"First you don't buy me a birthday present, now you follow me into the bathroom? Or is this your idea of a suitable gift? I'm flattered Nyx, truly, but like I said, I'm just not into shorties." Sighing dramatically, the puma made his way over before placing his hands on the shorter girl's shoulders. "You'll find a nice guy someday squirt. Just keep your chin up...and save the bathroom rendezvous for after you find the right guy...kay?" Ignoring the bat faunus' nonsensical sputtering and her glowing red face, Felinus spun her around before personally walking her back out of the bathroom and back into the waiting arms of her cousin and teammate. "I believe THIS belongs to you girls?"

Finding herself passed off to Eon and Anti, the little bat took a moment to stare back at the sign, the sign she KNEW identified it as a Women's restroom...only to find it very clearly distinguishing the room as a MEN's room. She...she didn't...she wasn't… "I...I…I..."

"She's sorry Felinus…" Anti chimed in, giving the puma boy a soft apologetic smile. "She's tired, she wasn't paying attention...can you forgive her?"

"Meh, she didn't see anything."

The chance for an easy ribbing seemed to break the little bat out of her stunned state, flashing a smug look up to the taller feline. "Wow Feli, self deprecating much?"

Unfortunately, her witty comment did not seem to go over well with the crowd, a light but disapproving tap on the back of her head from her taller cousin working to silence her while the male faunus simply snorted and rolled his eyes. "Whatevs...we've already established you're not my type, so I'll refrain from offering to prove you wrong." That certainly worked to shut the little bat up, the puma smirking as he nodded his head back to the bathroom again. "Just keep out of the boy's room. Ya don't wanna walk in on a teech and get detention or suspension or something now do ya?" Not bothering to wait for a response, Felinus quickly flicked Nyx's forehead, laughing at her pained screech before walking off again with a wave of his hand.

"Well...that could've gone...better…"

"Or worse...you're lucky it was Felinus that found you there Nyx...I don't think the faculty would take kindly to an exchange student poking around in the wrong bathroom.

"I didn't do it on purpose!" Nyx growled, rubbing the welt that was starting to form on her forehead. "I'm telling you! The sign said it was the girls' room!"

"It said Men's room when I looked at it, cousin..."

"Same...you sure you weren't just...zoned out Nyx? You were just going on and on about how tired you were back in the cafeteria..."

"I AM tired! But I'm not stupid or blind!"

"Alright, alright! Relax Nyx, jeez…" Holding up her hands in surrender, Eon sighed as she looked down to her red eyed teammate. "Look...nothing happened...so why don't we just forget about it? Didn't you need to go to the bathroom?"

Curse Eon and her ability to rationalize...and curse her own body's need for natural bowel movements. Leveling a fierce glare towards the too tall canine, Nyx stormed over to the women's bathroom, stared at the sign...touched the sign...the words..the braille beneath the words...not that it did any good since she never bothered to learn how to read what the bumps said...she poked her head into the bathroom. Nothing but stalls and sinks...good sign...but still….She looked out, checked the sign, looked in, out, in, out, in, out again and again until finally the frigid fisher had enough and forcibly shoved the bloodsucker inside. One call of nature later, a far calmer but still pissed and paranoid vampire bat emerged, leveling a halfhearted glare at her treacherous teammates and the damned bathroom plaque before nodding her head. "Alright…"

"Done?" Eon asked softly, smiling to her tiny teammate before motioning for them to continue on their way towards their dorm room.

And just like that, the two taller huntresses started leading the way with their damned longer legs...stupid vampire shortness trait...Nyx loved drinking blood, she loved her fangs...but why the hell did she have to be so short?! It wasn't fair! Oh sure, people said that faunus traits didn't affect things like height, but those people could take a long walk off one of Atlas' short landing platforms! Anti was a fricking megabat and she was so tall and lanky! Hade was just as tall as Anti and had added muscle mass. Eon and that prick Felinus were pretty much the same height...Rolland...was Rolland a faunus? Felinus called him a dumb hairless ape that one time...it'd explain why he was so big and ripped...then there was that weird bobcat faunus they saw Felinus with that one time...and that dude was DEFINITELY short...coincidence? Nyx thought not! So, in conclusion, Faunus were awesome, Nyx was awesome, blood was awesome, fangs were awesome, but stunting her growth was beyond crap...screw you biology...

Nyx's internal monologue came to a sudden stop however when she found herself walking into the back of her unfairly taller cousin, jumping back in surprise to see the pair staring into a dorm room that was definitely not theirs...and a brief glance at the room number didn't do much for her...though the sight of the cracked and damaged open door more or less answered it. Team RFGH's dorm room...normally something so...battered...wouldn't be acceptable in a school let alone Atlas Academy, but apparently Felinus would work his semblance to make the thing look more...acceptable when they were out. That or maybe the staff just got tired of replacing the team's door every day and just decided to let them keep their current door until the thing was rendered unusable or went to pieces...Didn't matter really, the door was shit, the team was a mess, the room had some sort of controlled chaos shtick...broken shit, cluttered comics, plans for schemes, perfectly clean organized and labeled items...and...and…...and….there was a...blonde haired….wet...out of the shower wet...nude woman standing in front of one overly friendly, naive, and sweet coywolf faunus...huh...so that's what everyone was staring at...A blonde bombshell flashing her goods to a too good for this world dog boy…not something you see every day...

"Uh...hey...Hade…?" That caught the boy's attention, head whipping to the side while a bright smile formed on the hybrid's face, not even a hint of a blush or shame present on his face...though there was a fairly large first aid patch on his cheek.

"Oh! Hey guys! What's up?"

What's up? The guy was sitting there with some hot blondie, fresh out of the shower, naked as the day she was born! Just casually standing there while running a towel over her head and seemingly trying to dry her hair. What did he think was up?! Percy would flip if she saw this! Probably not on Hade, but she'd likely want to introduce this blonde hussy to her torch...the hell was this girl anyways? She wasn't Ginger obviously…hair didn't match...and that girl had some weird hat fetish or something...wouldn't surprise her if she wore a shower cap whenever she washed off… "Uh...who is…"

"It's ME." An all to familiar voice came from said topless blonde hussy, lowering the towel from her head and instead placing it on her shoulders, cold blue eyes turning to the trio of voyeurs at the door...the three looking at the one, the one looking at the three...the dumb dog boy sitting there wagging his tail with that dumb lovesick smile he always wore around…

And then it clicked, Eon squeaking as she recoiled back. "P….P...Percy?"

"Oh my…"

"The FUCK happened to you?!" Nyx couldn't help the snort of laughter as she eyed her new blonde haired leader.

"Felinus happened." The young huntress spoke softly, voice practically dripping with venom as she motioned to a bucket sitting by the door, and the splashes of yellow coloring staining the dorm room floor. Her heated glare leveling on the gut busting vampire bat...though she failed to silence the girl's laughter. "It won't come out no matter how hard I try...I am going to murder that mangy cat…"

"Well...on the plus side...it's a...it's...not a bad look Percy…" Eon offered sweetly, giving her angered leader a soft smile.

"Yeah Percy! You look great no matter what!" And oh boy did that smile die quickly, the coyote eared cutie wilting slightly as she watched her coywolf crush spring up and embrace his underdressed girlfriend from behind, tail a blur behind his back. "You look just like you did all those years ago!"

"Thank you for the reminder Hade..."

"It's like looking in a mirror! A...mirror to the past...thingy...you look good! You always look good! You're so amazing Percy!"

"Yes yes Hade, I get it...now can you please let me go…?" Peeling her boyfriend's arms off of her, the young huntress grumbled as she made her way back towards RFGH's bathroom. "I'm going to try washing this stupid hair dye out again…"

"Okay Percy! Call if you need anything!" Waving his hand as his girl disappeared from sight, the smiling sweetie immediately turned his attention towards her trio of teammates in his doorway. "She'll probably be a bit. Welcome back by the way! Mission go well? Wanna talk about it? You ladies want anything while you wait?"

"Er…

"No thank you Hade."

"Spare some blood for a thirsty vamp?" When her teammates glared down at her, Nyx simply shrugged. "What? Laughing's thirsty work...and he's offering!"

"And you're overestimating his...H-Hade put your shirt back on!" Eon squeaked, covering her eyes while a blush started forming on her face, Anti similarly averting her eyes as their friend started undressing, only to pause, face obscured by the fabric.

"Huh? But Nyx said she was thirsty…"

"She doesn't need it! She just had breakfast!"

"Oh...so...you don't want my blood Nyx?"

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Oh come on! He's literally offering it up!"

"No! Bad Nyx! Hade! Shirt on!" Much to Nyx's disappointment, the coywolf followed his fellow canine's orders, tugging his armored hoodie back on and covering up those lovely blood filled veins of his...killjoy coyote...not like she didn't want to ogle Hade with his shirt off herself...when the shuffling of fabric stopped, Eon finally hazarded a look, sighing in relief...or was that disappointment? Relieved disappointment? Was that a thing? Either way, she cleared her throat and gave her crush a nod. "Thanks for the offer, but we're gonna go...can you let Percy know we're going out gift shopping for Feli?"

"Ohhhhh...gotcha gotcha, gotta get him a present…Feli hates it when people forget...I'm surprised he didn't get expelled the other day..." The boy mumbled while nodding sagely, only to give the trio an apologetic smile. "Sorry, I should've offered to get presents for you all like I did for Percy."

"Probably for the best given what happened to our new blonde boss…" Nyx muttered to herself with a chuckle, only to yelp in pain as a certain coyote kicked her in the shin.

"It's fine Hade, Feli said we have til tonight. So we better get going."

Okey-dokey ladies! Have fun!" Waving his hand overhead, the boy flashed a blinding smile as the trio wandered off, Eon dragging Nyx's squirming short self while Anti kindly closed the door to the Atlesian team's room.

"Well...that was...unexpected…" Anti muttered as she followed her teammate and cousin.

"Which part? Percy being blonde? Walking in on her flashing the goods for Hade? Hade flashing his goods for us? Or Eon being a wet blanket and stopping the free show?"

"Well excuse me for stopping you from exploiting Hade...and I am not a wet blanket!"

"No but I bet your panties are totally soaked, aren't they? Bet seeing Hade peeling his shirt off got you all gooey down there."

"NYX!" The coyote whined, trying to sound angry, though the blush and lowered shameful ears didn't help. The little bat did use the momentarily distraction to get free though. "He wasn't...I…"

"Don't lie girl! You should know us batty babes have some seriously awesome noses...specially Anti here, right cuz?" Embracing her megabat cousin, Nyx could only grin as Anti looked away bashfully, which in turn caused Eon to squeak in mortification.

"But enough about that! You gonna keep playing dumb about Hade? Say you don't wanna rub your hands over his nonexistent washboard abs? Motorboat him? Oil him up a-"

"Er...Nyx…?"

"Hold that thought cuz I'm on a roll here. Now where was I? Oh yeah, fresh out of a shower, rocking some skinny jeans? Slowly peeling them-"

"Nyx."

"Oh! Better, swimsuit! NO! Even better! Boss' boy rocking a banana hammock! Like that one song-"

"Nyx!"

"What?" Turning her attention away from the red faced and nearly catatonic coyote faunus and back up towards her taller cousin, Nyx followed Anti's extended arm and finger...and found herself staring right at the third member of Team RFGH...the beanie clad brainiac, Ginger Hind, a basket of fresh and folded laundry in her arms and a look of utter discomfort painted across her face.

After a moment of silence, Ginger took a deep breath and sighed. "Well...those are...several unpleasant mental images about Hade that are forever burned into my psyche…So thank you Nyx…" Sighing as she sat down her basket, the young huntress took a moment to massage her temples. "And I'm suddenly remembering the boys in those damned napkin speedos…"

"Wait what?"

"Don't...please…"

"Nah nah nah nah nah NAH! You don't get to drop that then brush it off! Spill the beans girl! Hade and Feli in speedos?"

"I really don't-"

"What about Rolland?"

"Nyx p-"

"Who had the biggest package?!"

"Ny-"

"Any of them flash the goods?! Bust out of the thing?! Oh I bet it w-"

"ALL OF THEM!" The fiery blonde huntress' sudden outburst finally silenced the little loudmouth, Ginger's eyes wide as she covered her mouth with both hands, a bright blush working across her face...standing in silence before jumping as Eon suddenly collapsed to the floor. "Oh my! Eon!"

Before the human could move to help the fainted female, Nyx had cut her off, the shortstack bat grinning from ear to ear as she looked up at the taller young woman. "She'll be fine...now...I think you owe us some positively DELICIOUS details Gingy~"

"N..Nyx this is serious! Eon just fainted!"

"Hey, I'm the team's medic, and I say she's fine. Now spill! When was this?" Noting her friend's conflicted look, the little bat waved a hand behind her. "Cuz, give her a once over for me, now give me deets girl!" As Ginger continued to stay silent, the little bad frowned, only to disappear in a puff of smoke, the blonde huntress blinking before cocking an eyebrow as she saw Nyx lifting her laundry basket. "Talk! Or the laundry gets it!"

"Wh…? Nyx that's not-" She flinched as the bat shifted the basket in her tiny arms, moving as if she was ready to spill all her fresh cleaned and folded clothes onto the...well...not filthy per say...but she was still going to dump the clothes onto the floor! A clean freak like Ginger would never stand for such a thing...she'd likely wash everything again, and it showed in her terrified face. "N-Now Nyx let's not do anything d-"

"Talk!"

"Okay! Just, please, put...the laundry...down…" The bat's eyes narrowed as the human's foot shifted, though another slight tip of the basket had her recoiling again with her hands up. "Okay! Okay! I'll talk!" With a gulp and a bright red face, Ginger cleared her throat. "It was a LONG time ago...I...uh...w...we were…"

"So, you and Feli do it after?"

"Wh- NO! Of course not!"

"Huh...Well you wouldn't put out for just Hade...Did you guys have a threesome?!"

"No!"

"Foursome?! Huh, wow, I thought Feli hated Rolland, but guess even he'd put that aside f-"

"We were just kids! Not even teens!"

Nyx simply cocked an eyebrow as the blondie squirmed in clear discomfort and embarrassment, thinking for a moment on how to respond. "Huh...I…" Groaning in disappointed disgust, she shoved the laundry basket into Ginger's flustered hands, the bat leveling an annoyed pout towards the human huntress. "Great, now I don't know what to say...I don't wanna think about…" Closing her eyes and momentarily shuddering in disgust, the bat poked at her taller friend's ribs. "So thanks for that."

"Well...you were the one who made ME think about it first…" Ginger groused in light annoyance before nodding to Anti and Eon, the latter finally climbing back to her feet after her brief...episode. "Are you alright Eon?"

"I'm good...just…" Shaking her head, the recovering fem offered a soft smile. "Just...had a moment there...bit overstimulated…" Ignoring the amused snort from Nyx, she gave Ginger a nod. "Thank you for asking Ginger…"

"Of course! I'm sorry for contributing to...well...all of the...unpleasantness…"

"Oh don't worry Gingy, she didn't think any of that was...unpleasant...if anything, you gave her a nice little fantasy to imagine…" Snorting at her teammate's blush, Nyx rolled her eyes. "And on the plus side, she didn't have to hear the real unpleasant part...at least I hope she'd think it unpleasant…"

Laughing nervously, the coyote smiled as she stepped forward. "Ignore her...so...laundry day?"

"Yeah...living with the boys...things get messy real quick."

Ginger simply rolled her eyes, smiling as Nyx leveled an accusatory glare up towards her confused teammate. "So...what are you girls up to? You just got back from your mission right?"

"Yep back from our lame mission in Mantle, no offense, but that place SUCKS."

"Um...none taken?"

"And now your dumb boyfriend is trying to milk gifts out of these two suckers!" Hooking her thumbs back towards her taller teammates, Nyx huffed as she placed her hands on her hips. "It's all a bunch of shit isn't it?"

"I...wh…" After a moment of confusion, something seemed to click as Ginger shifted the basket of clothes in her arms. "Oh, Feli's birthday I take it? He wants belated presents?"

"Yup." Popping the P at the end of the word, Nyx shrugged her shoulders. "It's just a bunch of crap ain't it? A big joke? Stupid prank? There's no way that dick was actually born on April Fools' Day right?"

"Well...honestly…"

"Oh c'mon! There's no way!"

"I mean, I really don't know…"

"What?" Laughing, in disbelief, Nyx waved a hand towards the taller girl. "You're friends! You're basically the dude's girlfriend! How can you not know? Aren't you like childhood sweethearts or something?"

"Wh-NO! And it's not like that Nyx."

"Then...what-"

"I don't even know MY birthday Nyx!" Flinching at her own outburst, the huntress eyed the bewildered trio before sighing as her eyes trailed down to those of the wide eyed vamp. "I don't know mine, I don't know Felinus' or Hade's, or Rolland's…and why would I…? We're orphans Nyx...just a couple of street rats from Mantle…" Adjusting the basket in her arms, she closed her eyes and shrugged. "The only person who might know Feli's birthday would be his fabled older brother…And in all the years we've known Feli, we never had the chance to meet him…" Opening her eyes again and looking over the uncomfortable trio, Ginger forced a soft smile onto her face. "Maybe it is his birthday...maybe it's not...I honestly don't know...But Feli chooses to celebrate his birthday on April 1st, so we indulge him. He's our friend...He, Hade...Rolland too...Team RFGH is the closest thing I have to a family...or...well...it's the closest thing to what I assume a family would be like..."

The trio stayed silent as the girl's words sunk in...they all had their families, Nyx and Cimmer had each other, and they had family back home in Menagerie. Eon had her aunt, uncle, and cousin back in Mistral. But Ginger...Hade...Rolland...Felinus...they had no one. Sure, Rolland and Felinus had siblings, but Rolland was the elder and provider, while Felinus' brother had apparently disappeared off the face of the Remnant...for all intents and purposes, they were all alone with no one but each other. If worst came to worst, if they were sick or injured, if they failed or were expelled where would they go? If their team was lost, would anyone even care? Would anyone miss them? Eventually it was Eon who spoke up. "Gingy...I...we…"

"It's…" Opening her mouth, Ginger paused as a soft musical chime sounded from her pocket, the girl fishing out her scroll before sighing. "I'm sorry girls, it looks like I need to take care of something back in our room...it was...I...I'll talk to you all later..." Shifting the basket, the beanie clad blondie gave the trio a curt nod before quickly moving past them, back down the hall and towards her team's dorm room.

The trio watched her go, standing in silence until Nyx shattered it with a long drawn out groan of self loathing as she gripped her head and ruffled her hair. "Well don't I feel like an utter piece of shit now? FUCK!"

"It's not your fault Nyx."

"The hell it's not! I just asked an orphan why she didn't know her orphan boyfriend's birthday! Fuck...That…I'm..." It was supposed to be all in good fun! Gingy spilled some seriously tasty info unintentionally, she'd milk it, hold it over the boys' heads, maybe see if she couldn't get some photo evidence...Simple, fair, easy. But NO! The girl had to go and spew all that tragic sentimental crap...why?! They weren't even that good of friends! And she just spilled her heart out! Now her and Hade...Rolland...even that stupid smug shithead Felinus seemed...pittiable…who wouldn't be pissy if their supposed friends forgot their birthday? Brushed it off as a joke? Gave them trash as a present...Dammit all...now she was the bad one...fuck…

"I mean...It's not like they ever really bring up their past…" Anti muttered softly, her bat ears twitching slightly atop her head.

"Why would they?!" Sure, orphans and tragic backstories in Remnant weren't exactly novel, hell they were basically a dime a dozen! Grimm, bandits, natural disasters, random accidents, runaways, abandonment...Just about everyone and their mother had some emotional baggage they were dragging around. The world was cruel and unfair at the best of times. But still...it wasn't exactly something you liked to think about, least of all talk about. 'Specially not with the threat of Grimm following the negativity...Just ignore the pain, ignore the troubles, the sadness, fear, hunger, loneliness...ignore it all, put on a brave face, smile and laugh...act like everything was okay when that was the furthest from the truth. "It's not fair…"

Part of her wanted to hunt down that stupid smug cat and beat his ass...shithead should've told them about his birthday sooner...about...other stuff...then she wouldn't feel like utter crap...though that feeling started to fade, replaced by a familiar warmth as a soft hand came to rest on her shoulder. "C'mon." Glancing to the hand, and then following it up to Eon's smiling face, the assassin medic eyeing the spear fisher as she motioned with her head in the direction of their dorm room. "We got work to do."

And against better judgement, the little bat heaved a great sigh before nodding her head. "Yeah…let's go..."