Ruby was quite eager to begin her very first mission. So much, to the point that she's doing her best to gather all of the things she needs for the expedition. She's already gotten her trusty Crescent Rose ready, after taking care of a bit of maintenance to make sure it was good to go. She was also grabbing ammo for herself, and a bit for the others as they were briefly browsing within From Dust Till Dawn.
Such an eccentric name for a Dust store. She had to admit, she kind of liked it.
She went across picking up several Dust vials, including Gravity Dust bullets. Those were sure to come in handy giving Crescent Rose some shot momentum. She was also sure to pick up Fire Dust bullets, and Ice Dust bullets as well. Though at one point, she made sure to stop with what she had. She'd rather not use up all the money she currently had, which wasn't all too much.
Not like Weiss, at least.
"I'll be the one taking the lead." Weiss declared while pushing her hair away from her face. She had already bought all the Dust she believed she needed for herself. Didn't buy any for Ruby or Yang, they needed to get that themselves.
They expected as much.
"Don't even think about it, Ice Princess." Yang interrupted. "Don't forget that Velvet's the boss of this little expedition. She literally outranks us, remember? Intermediates kinda got the superiority thing down pat over Juniors. Especially when she's S-Rank. One step under Senior." Yang folded her arms with a huff. "Ya get it? Whether you like it or not, ya gotta listen to her."
"I, well..." Weiss looked around a little bit, before gruffly turning her head. "If that's the way it has to be, then fine. I suppose I really will have to accept this setup if we are to complete this mission of ours."
Yang raised an eyebrow. "Why do you seem so jumpy around Velvet, anyway? Something up with her or something? You have a problem with her?" Yang scoffed. "If I had to guess, it probably has something to do with you and your attitude, right? I mean, how else would it go down?"
Weiss shook her head and turned away from her entirely. "Enough of this. It isn't any of your business anyhow, so just drop it and don't bother me over it again."
"But what if I do?"
"Then I'll-"
"Cool it." Ruby dashed in-between them and pushed them away again with a sigh. "Sheesh, guys. This is going to be our first mission and you're arguing. I really don't think that's going to help our overall performance much, you know."
"Hey, you don't gotta worry about me, Ruby. I'm all rarin' and ready to go." Yang rolled her arm with a nod, before pointing a thumb to Weiss. "I dunno about her, though. Kinda feels like she's gonna insist on being a nag. And a wet blanket."
"I'm not-" Weiss stopped herself, taking a deep breath, then sighing with a smirk. "You know what, it doesn't matter. You can say whatever you like about me. It'll only make it all the better once you're finally put in your place."
"My place? That's all the way back in Patch. But then again, Beacon's kinda my new home now, so that's my new place too." Yang folded her arms with a knowing smile. "You're really confusing me here, Ice Princess."
"That's not what I-ugh!" Weiss threw her hands up, quickly realizing Yang was toying with her wording. "You are absolutely insufferable!"
"And you're not as coolheaded as I thought you'd be."
"Alright, break it up!" Velvet herself came over and helped Ruby separate the duo, sighing as her rabbit ears flicked slightly. "We have quite a mission ahead of us, yet you're not setting a good start by being at each other's throats. Give it a rest, please, so we can see to it that it's a success for us all."
"Yang, please. At the very least, tone this whole down so it doesn't mess with the mission. We can not afford to screw this up." Ruby requested of Yang, who seemed a bit remorseful.
This mission was indeed a very important one, when it comes to taking their actual first step as Huntresses, as it's their first true mission. And as many say, first impressions were important, so they needed to do as well as they possibly can to make a good one.
Is she really willing to screw that up just because she and Weiss were at odds, and the latter rubbed her the wrong way?
That wasn't going to fly when it comes to proving her strength and skill, and it especially wouldn't be fair to Ruby.
Yang sighed, scratching the back of her neck. "Right, sorry. Kinda went in too hard. I'll give it a little rest."
Weiss folded her arms. "Well, at the very least it does seem like you possess some medium of discipline."
"Don't think you're blameless in this, Weiss." Velvet turned towards her. "You share the blame in starting this by just proclaiming you're in charge without bothering getting to know them, just as much as Yang does literally firing back in defiance without letting up. I need both of you to cut this stuff out before it becomes a serious hindrance on the task ahead. Can you two do that? Please?"
Weiss looked away from Velvet's gaze, noticing the rabbit Faunus literally put her foot down and stomped a few times in annoyance. It was troublesome, but she was the designated supervisor. It wouldn't do well for Weiss to go against her.
"Understood." She muttered without meeting her eyes.
"Yeah." Yang echoed with a sigh, scratching the back of her head.
Velvet sighed, then nodded as she calmed herself. "Alright. Everyone's taken care of in terms of supplies? Food? Ammunition for your weapons? Maintenance taken care of?"
"Taken care of!" Ruby saluted.
"I'm all good." Yang nodded, flexing an arm.
"Preparations are complete." Weiss confirmed.
"Very good." Velvet took out her Scroll and pulled out a map. "Now, Aurora Town is off not too terribly far to the west. There's an Airship prepared for is, it'll take us four hours to get there, at best."
"Hehe. Rhyme." Ruby giggled to herself, in which Weiss rolled her eyes.
Velvet nodded, having everything she wished to bring packed. "Now then, if we're all prepared, let's get moving!"
"Right!" Ruby and Yang exclaimed, while Weiss simply sighed and nodded as they headed off towards the assigned Airship. Ruby kept her fists pumped as she stared on ahead.
"First Junior Mission, is a-go!"
"Ugh..."
Riding on the Airship was a bit of a mostly quiet experience, if only because Weiss prevented herself from really interacting with her two teammates, who were more than happy to converse with each other.
On the other hand, she was mostly occupied with her own thoughts, as well as thinking about this first mission of theirs. It was fairly soon to be going on one, if she was completely honest. Of course Grand Huntress Goodwitch knew this, which is why she sent Velvet along with them. A capable S-ranked Intermediate Huntress was going to be helping and supervising this mission with them. And Weiss knew Velvet was capable, very much so.
And yet she can't help but feel uneasy.
Obviously she can't disobey or strongly go against Velvet, for again, she is their supervisor who explicitly outranks all three of them.
She has no business mouthing off too many times, even if they were dedicated to attempts to bring Yang to heel. Though given how strongly and how persistently Yang pushed back against her so far, she was beginning to wonder if it was even worth the effort to do so. Ruby seemed slightly easier to deal with, but she too wasn't willing to just fall in line simply because Weiss tells her to.
It was a rather troublesome matter, if she was being completely honest. Which was why Weiss feels that this mission was important, in order to get them to see that she was indeed capable of leading the charge for them. She had all of the qualifications prepared. She was strong, she was skilled, she was smart, and she was steadfast whenever there was an objective to complete. By all means, she was the perfect leader for someone that appeared as aimless as Ruby and Yang. She was more than capable of leading all three of them on a path towards success.
So why do they push back against her so much? All she's doing is speaking facts, the truth of it all. There wasn't anything wrong with speaking the truth, and she truly believed in everything she's told them regarding this issue.
But despite that, they refused to just accept her way. Ruby had a better time connecting and listening to Pyrrha and Nora than she did herself. Yang as well. Both of them were able to interact with the duo without a single fuss to be had, aside from the brief spar Ruby had with the former. Of course, she didn't win. She was going up against a champion, victory was completely out of the question for Ruby.
Although, she looked like she had fun despite her loss. Especially since she got to see Pyrrha's weapon in action. And Pyrrha was more glad to make a new friend than actually winning. She simply looked happy sparring with Ruby in of itself.
And Nora got along rather quickly with Yang, what with them speaking about how functionally similar their Semblances are, and speaking of possible ways to test them.
Where did that leave Weiss?
Completely unable to positively add to the conversations they were having with one another in a manner they agree with, and accused of being a wet blanket. Which she wasn't! Not at all!
Yet not even Pyrrha came to her defense.
All of this being put together was beginning to slowly click with Weiss, yet she couldn't place exactly what it was. Despite her qualifications for leading them that she spelled out clearly to them, they rejected her. Despite the confidence in her abilities she displays that she's more than willing to back up, they were annoyed by it. Despite the huge implications and influence of her family name and what it means, they mostly didn't care. What was it about these two and why couldn't she just get them to listen?!
It was frustrating. She was honestly considering just forgetting about these two, writing them off as hopeless causes and finding a team that's better and wouldn't question her in any way. They would listen to her as they should, follow her orders like they should, and not talk back to her, exactly like they should.
Weiss blinked at the implications of these thoughts, and shook her head. No, going down that road would be akin to giving up, and Weiss would not give up simply because things become difficult. She can deal with this, she knows she can. Those thoughts were born from frustration at her lack of progress with this sisterly duo, not actual thinking.
She just needed to figure out how and in what way to progress. There has to be a way for them to voluntarily follow her lead without taking away their agency. She knows she can lead them to success, but that won't matter if they're not willing to listen to her. What is it that she's missing? How can she get them to listen to her? Why do they keep pushing back no matter what she says? If this keeps up, this whole thing wasn't going to work out, and they would be heading nowhere fast. Or worse, they would be the ones who would leave her behind. Either way, it would reflect terribly upon herself and her ability to interact with others.
She sighed to herself, lightly pinching the bridge of her nose.
What am I doing wrong?
"Um, Weiss?"
The silence was broken by Ruby, having heard her voice. Weiss raised her head to see the silver eyes girl looking at her a bit anxiously, wondering what exactly to do next now that she initiated the interaction. Weiss puts her thoughts to the side for a moment so she could address the girl clearly.
"What is it?"
"Uh, if you don't mind me asking. About your weapon?"
Weiss raised an eyebrow. Ah, right. Yang said Ruby gets quite excited about weapons. It appears she was trying to use this transition period to their destination to try and make conversation, with something she's comfortable with.
Weiss could use this.
"Very well." Weiss reached behind her, and Ruby could see that she was pulling out something that appeared to be a rapier. "Here we are. This is Myrtenaster."
"Ooooh." Ruby reached out for it, only for Weiss to quickly slap her hand away. "Ouch!"
"Don't. Touch." Weiss raised a stern finger with an even more stern glare. "You may look at it. Not touch it. Got it?"
"You didn't need to slap my hand to get that across..."
"Anyway." Weiss ignored her and proudly displays Myrtenaster for her to see a bit better. "Myrtenaster is a Multi-Action Dust Rapier. It also works similar to a revolver, if you will acknowledge it as such."
"It's a revolver and a rapier? Talk about R & R." Yang chuckled as she leaned back into her seat, with Weiss rolling her eyes.
"With it, I insert vials of powdered Dust into Myrtenaster's revolving chamber. With a pull of the trigger, I release Dust onto the blade. From there, I can utilize the Dust for a multitude of purposes."
"Well, that is kinda why it's called 'multi-action'." Yang snickered, once again earning Weiss's annoyance.
"In any rate, that does sound pretty cool, Weiss!" Ruby exclaimed, in which Weiss managed to smirk and huff.
"Of course it's cool. Someone like me is able to make great use of it rather easily, with the adequate about of training and talent."
"So you're really good with it, aren't you?"
"Tch, obviously." Weiss huffed while flicking her hair. "If you'd like, I'd be more than happy to show you both a demonstration of my abilities."
"Does that mean I get to see how your weapon works in action?"
"Correct."
"I'd most definitely like that!"
"Very well." Weiss then turned towards Yang. "In a simultaneous sense, it'll also give you a good clue of my skills. I'll show you that I'm most certainly not 'all bark and no bite'. I intend on backing up my words in that aspect, at the very least."
"Hmph. Alright then, Weiss Cream. I guess I can give that a chance. Once that chance comes, you can show us what you've got, fighting wise."
Excellent. Playing into Ruby's interest in weapons and proving her strength and skill to Yang is a good first couple of steps. It wasn't much, but the foundations have been set. She has something to work with, and that means she can start making progress.
"...Wait a minute. 'Weiss Cream'? What happened to Ice Princess?"
"Can't hurt to mix it up a little, can it?"
"So now I've gone from frozen royalty to a frozen dessert?"
"It's a promotion!"
Weiss's eye twitched.
"Just. Perfect. This is my promotion? Wow, how awe-inspiring! I'm so flattered that I might just try tears of ice! Why ice? Cause I'm just that cool!" Weiss deadpanned the entire time, though she was briefly surprised by how the duo would proceed to laugh for a moment from Weiss's non-serious rant. Yang slapped her knee.
"Hah! That's a pretty good one, Weiss! You've actually got a bit of a sense of humor!"
"I do?" Weiss blinked, then coughed and pushed her hair away from her face. "I mean, of course I do! I excel at all things, humor included!"
"Is that so?" Ruby hummed, lightly looking to the side, before meeting Weiss's eyes. "Weiss, do you have a Winter Maiden Festival? Back in Atlas?"
"Of course. Are you meaning do I celebrate it?" Weiss hummed as she rubbed her chin. "Well, it does offer quite a bit of levity throughout all of Atlas. Why? Are you wondering if it's similar to your Fall Maiden Festival?"
"A little bit."
"In that case, what are certain events and activities, or characteristics of the Fall Maiden Festival? They can't be all that different in spirit, aside from some tweaks here and there to reflect upon our respective Maidens, can they?"
"Well-"
"Alright, we're coming up on Aurora in a few minutes! Get ready everyone!" Velvet called out to the trio.
"Really? Wow, it really was quicker than expected." Yang stretched her arms out and yawned, sitting upwards and looking out the window. "Yep! Looks like it! Ready, Ruby?"
"Okay!" Ruby nodded as she sits up, making sure to grab her things. "Sorry Weiss, maybe we can keep talking about the Festivals later."
"Right. Casual talk is over, now it's mission priority time." Weiss nodded in agreement as the gang prepared to exit the aircraft.
Though she had to admit, the casual talk, without her trying to assert her authority over the two of them. It actually wasn't so bad, really. Something about it allowed her to be at ease, not trying to force herself as a dominant presence. It made it easier to speak with them.
Maybe she was going about this all wrong? Weiss hated being wrong, but ignoring the possibility of being in that position was just going to stunt her even worse.
She needed more opportunities to figure this out, so she'd know how to best proceed forward with them.
The quarter exited the aircraft, and it proceeded to fly away from the landing site. Velvet briefly checked her Scroll.
"Alright, the Airship will be back once we call in the completion of our mission. So, uh, don't worry about being forced to walk back or anything like that." Velvet smiled cheekily.
"I'd honestly hate that." Yang deadpanned. "Though I'd bet Weiss would hate it even more."
"I'm not that dainty, you brute."
"I wouldn't mind doing it!" Ruby beamed while briefly running in place.
"Of course you wouldn't mind, sis."
"I'm gonna go scout ahead!" Ruby declared before dashing away, rose petals trailing behind her.
"Wait a minute!" Weiss called out, but Ruby was already long gone. She pulled back with an annoyed with, pinching the bridge of her nose. "The nerve of this girl, running off like that without us."
"Guess she's just that excited." Yang rolled her arm, before casually following the rose trail, hands behind her neck.
"You're far too laid-back about this." Weiss grumbled, before she too began following the sisterly duo. Velvet came up from behind with a sigh of her own.
"This is definitely going to be an experience, if nothing else."
Up ahead, Ruby continued to dash forward, until she encountered a tree and dashed upwards alongside it. She ended up shooting herself upwards, before landing on a tree branch. She pressed her palm against the trunk and went to see the sights ahead of her.
Aurora Town was up ahead. From what she could observe, the town wasn't too big, but it wasn't incredibly small either. It was a comfortable enough size for a town such as it. Buildings didn't rise very high in the sky, but they were high enough to briefly surpass the height of several trees around. From what she could see in regards of the entrance, there seems to be a gate that was protected by several guards sitting in twin towers.
From a bit of a deeper look, the gate seems to extend around the entire town, and it seems to be where the self defense systems were in place. Given how some of them seemed to be tilted downwards, and people were currently seen around them attempting to fix them, it was safe to say they were in the right place.
"Okay, this is it! Better get down there and say hello!" With a nod, Ruby jumped down from the tree, petals slowing her fall, landing on her boots with a thud. She soon began to move again, only to be caught by the hood. "Eh?"
"Will you slow down already?!" Weiss scolded, releasing her hood and stepping back with her fists on her hips. "You can't go running ahead of the team like that! What if some sort of enemy attacked you while we were separated?"
"I'll have to concur. Ruby, I know you're eager to prove yourself, but please don't go running ahead in your own. We have no idea what could have happened." Velvet sighed while lightly pushing a hand through her hair. "We have to stick together until I say otherwise. Get it?"
"Got it..." Ruby nodded humbly, looking down at her boots.
"Don't sweat it, Rubes. Just gotta pace yourself a bit better." Yang comforted with a brief pat on the shoulder.
With that briefly out of the way, Velvet chose to lead the way towards Aurora's entrance, looking up to see the gates up ahead. She narrowed her eyes as she sees a brief glowing around them, as well as what she could perceive as turrets within towers, along with other long ranged, automated weapons.
"Wow, they've got turrets here? Aurora's packing heat!" Yang whistled in brief awe.
"I suppose they would need things of this nature to defend their town against Grimm, particularly against large groups. Though from what I observe, they seem to be either malfunctioning or simply in disrepair." Weiss lightly rubbed her chin. "It won't be easy or quick doing maintenance for these things. To make sure that they're fully functional, fixing them entirely could take some time. Which I guess is where we come in."
"So we're basically doing real life tower defense. Sounds simple enough. It can't get too bad, right?" Yang shrugged.
"I wouldn't jinx these things if I were you." Velvet asserted with a tired smile. "Trust me, I know what I'm talking about. Coco does this all the time, and it never fails. It's really silly because otherwise, things tend to go well for us."
"Is that so?" Weiss murmured, before she turned to the sisters. "Do you hear that, you two? Don't go jinxing us and making a huge dent in whatever progress we manage to make."
"Ye of little faith, Weiss Cream! You don't have to worry about a thing! We've got this covered! Right Ruby?" Yang patted Ruby on the back, who raised her hand with a cheer.
"We've got this!"
"Like the attitude. Let's try and apply that to the mission at hand, shall we?" Velvet smiled while briefly flicking her ears. "Now if I'm correct on this, we should be meeting the main representative of this town."
"Like a mayor?" Ruby raised her hand with the question.
"Something like that. Name's Melanthia, if I'm not mistaken from the mission descriptions."
"I do hope they come out to meet us, because there's no way I'm gonna be able to pick them out." Yang sighed as she lightly scratched the back of her head. Weiss sighed quietly while shaking her head.
"You cannot be serious."
"I can be when I actually try."
"Oh? Are the assigned Huntsmen here already? I would have thought they would be here a bit later."
They each reacted to the sound of the voice calling out for them. Velvet managed to spot someone, a middle-aged, statuesque woman wearing a black sundress that rested just above her knees. Her hair and eyes were just as black as said sundress.
"This is her? She sure doesn't dress like an official." Weiss huffed.
"Ah come on, Weiss Cream. Nothin' wrong with dressing causally, is there?" Yang lightly patted her back.
"I would expect officials to dress the part whenever they're conducting business. I have nothing against them dressing casually, but there's a time and a place for it, and this isn't one of those things."
"...Which isn't? Sorry, I kinda got lost there."
"Oh for the love of-"
"Yes, we are the assigned Huntresses for this mission." Velvet interjected for the group. "Hope it isn't too much trouble that we managed to get here earlier than expected. Though considering the circumstances, that feels a bit more preferable, doesn't it?"
"Not at all! Any offered support is bound to be welcome, especially in regards to something like this." Most of the gang looked up towards the towers ahead of them. "As you can see, the defense systems for the main gate are currently in need of repairs. You can imagine that Grimm will be taking this as a perfect opportunity to try and get inside in order to cause mayhem. It would be quite a crisis if they were to attack while we were in the middle of repairs."
"And that where we come in, right? To make sure that potential crisis doesn't happen. Sounds easy enough to understand!" Yang threw a thumbs up. "There's no need to worry, you can count on us!"
"I would hope so. I would rather not believe that our faith has been misplaced." She soon turned and left them at the scene. "I don't want to get in your way, so I'll leave you to it."
Weiss looked around for a few moments, and noticed how a few people were casting doubtful gazed towards the group. She could hear their whispers, she could. She didn't need to guess too hard.
They were too young. A bunch of brats were sent instead of someone capable? Where were the real Huntsmen? How come they were stuck with a bunch of kids? Is Beacon really that desperate these days?
Weiss scoffed at all the whispers. They could think what they wish. She would prove her capabilities with actions, once the time for it comes.
Though she did become briefly confused once she heard a few more whispers mentioning something about Velvet, which brought both of their attention.
That poor Faunus.
Velvet didn't know what this meant, but she could hear it quite clearly despite the attempts to hush the voice. It sounded almost like pity, almost as if it was commenting on someone being sent to their doom. Her eyes narrowed at this, as she quietly resolved to keep an eye out and pay attention to anything else suspicious.
"Alright! So, how are we gonna do this?" Yang stretched her arms as she stared idly at the towers. "We didn't see any signs of Grimm heading this way before we got here, so they definitely aren't that close in the vicinity. At the moment, the town seems to be safe. Though obviously we can't leave this place for too long, either. Don't wanna get blindsided by a horde of them comin' outta nowhere when we're not looking, right?"
"Well, waiting around for Grimm to try and attack these towers certainly doesn't sound productive. But as you said, being caught blindsided while our attention is elsewhere doesn't sound very good, either." Weiss rubbed her chin. "Alright, here's what we do-"
"Hey hey, slow your skates, Weiss Cream Princess!" Yang stopped her with a hand, in which Weiss's eyes twitched in aggravation.
"Now you're combining the nicknames?!"
"Would you prefer to switch it around and be known as Princess Weiss Cream?"
"Curse you!"
"Anyway, you gotta remember that Velvet is in charge of this, alright? She's the one calling the shots in this regard."
"Right! Right." Weiss sighed while palming her forehead.
Velvet rubbed her chin while briefly staring at the towers, lowering her head and closing her eyes. "Well, as you've both said, it's not ideal to leave the towers alone for too long, yet we won't get anything done by sitting around waiting for Grimm to attack them. Though going out to hunt for them has equal chances of leaving us blindsided if some get around us and attack the towers. It's going to take a bit of effort to come up with the best ways forward. But for now." She raised her head and opened her eyes, turning to Weiss. "Weiss, do you think you can use Ice Dust to conjure an ice wall large and sturdy enough to protect these towers for a while? How long can they last without being attacked?"
Weiss beamed, having found something for her to contribute to, pushing her hair to the side. "If I focus enough, I should be able to conjure strong and sturdy enough ice barriers that can last quite some time. I can come back and refine them if they start to weaken."
"That should be good enough. We can consider that a first line of defense for now until the outer defenses are fixed. We can work with the townsfolk to protect the town until then. If anything serious happens, we can make our way back to the towers as quickly as we can. At the very least, this is enough for a start. We can't exactly start off with nothing."
"Right. I think I get it." Ruby nodded as she listened attentively. "Weiss forms the ice walls to keep the towers protected as a first line of defense. And if anything happens to those ice walls, we hurry back to the towers as quickly as we can, working with the townsfolk the entire time."
"Alright, so we've got a game plan. Not guaranteed to be smooth sailing, but it beats doing absolutely nothing while waiting for them to come to us." Yang rolled her arm with a sigh. "In any case, you gonna provide that ice wall for us, Weiss?"
"I was just getting to that." Weiss huffed as she made her way out towards the towards. She checked Myrtenaster to make sure that an Ice Dust goal was inserted, as it was going to help her focus. With that having been checked, she closed her eyes and held the rapier before her, channeling her Aura through the blade and the Dust coating it.
Focus...Focus...!
Ruby and Yang stood by and watched, with a hand over their eyes, as Weiss slowly constructed an ice wall up and around the Towers like a solid and sturdy barrier. It gleamed brilliantly, the brief emergence of frosty air gently giving them a comfortable chill.
Once she was done, Yang whistled as she looked up high towards the ice barriers. "Wow, that's pretty impressive, Weiss Cream Princess. Guess you really can back up your words."
"Of course I can! I always back up my words!" Weiss scoff pushing her hair away from her face.
"In which case, we should take a look around the other parts of town, as well. We might be able to gather a bit more information as to what let to the outer defenses being damaged as they were, as well as a better idea as to how long they'll take to be fixed." Velvet suggested. "We have guesses at the very best, but it'd be nice to have something a bit more concrete so we'd know for sure how much time we have to work with."
"That seems about right." Ruby agreed, then shot her fist upwards. "In another word, this is gonna give us a great time for us to explore. If we have plenty of time, we can aside some to do this while doing everything else!"
"Honestly, is that the thing mostly on your mind? Exploring?" Weiss questioned.
"Oh come on, don't be like that." Ruby shook her head with a raised hand. "If the townsfolk get in trouble, I'll come around and help out as quickly as I can. I am super fast after all!" She did want to take the time to explore the area as she's rarely seen outside of her home island before. But she was very much serious about wanting this mission to be a success. She really didn't want to mess this up.
Velvet's ears flicked. "You know what, that's fair. If we need someone for a quick as possible response, we can entrust that to Ruby, and have her occupy the potential enemy until we catch up with her and support her."
Weiss folded her arms and huffed. "Be that is may, a little bit more seriousness in approaching this surely cannot hurt, can it?"
"Too serious and things will get too tense, thus unable to relax enough to ease our focus and have it be flexible. So maybe a bit of balance would be the most ideal thing, yeah?" Yang stretched her arms and clasped them behind her neck. "No need to be too overbearingly serious, just enough to get a pep in our step whenever duty calls. Chillax."
"Maybe I can 'chillax' when you-"
"Hey hey, both of you, please." Ruby broke them up by appearing in-between them, hands outstretched. "We gotta make sure the mission goes well, okay? Can we please make sure that it goes okay, it's our first one after all. We can't mess this up."
Weiss sighed to herself, while Yang again rubbed the back of her neck. "Right. Right. Sorry about that, sis. I swear I'll get my head in the game, for real."
"If only so we can all guarantee this mission is a success."
"Glad we're all agreed on that, at the very least." Velvet sighed tiredly. "Come on, now. Let's have a look around. If Weiss's ice barriers begin to fail, they'll let us know, and we can hurry back as quick as we possibly can."
"That's our summary. Now let's get to it, everyone!" Yang clapped before she headed deeper into town, with Ruby hurriedly following along. Weiss shook her head and followed suit. Velvet sighed with a tired smile before also following the gang.
Though she was still not oblivious to the looks of pity being focused on her. Again, as if she was being looked at as if she was walking to her death.
She'd definitely have to keep her guard up, and protect the Juniors under her care.
Ruby took a better look at the nice and peaceful town around her, seeing all it had to offer.
The first thing she managed to pass by was that the town had a decent sized shop that was also selling various types of Dust. Though for a majority of them, she guessed that they got them from outside their quiet little town. From what she could observe, as well as what she heard from the townsfolk, most of them weren't naturally generated around this area. That belonged mostly to Fire and Water Dust, which according to the locals, tend to combine into Steam Dust.
They tended to use all three in regards to the nearby springs Ruby could see just a bit away from the community, but still within the borders. Her eyes sparkled a bit at how beautiful it was, seeing how colorful and sparkling the rising of water was through the shimmering sunlight alongside the water itself being clean and clear. Nearby trees provided a bit of shade for a third portion of the springs, while the rest was exposed to the afternoon sunlight, causing a beautiful shimmer.
"They call this place 'Aurora Springs'. Wow, it looks so bright and sparkly!" Ruby smiled with awe in her eyes and within her step. "It's so beautiful!"
"It looks nice, clean, and fresh enough to bath in." Velvet noted with interest. Water generated by Dust tended to have much more of a cleaning property than regular water, which means dirt and grime that gets into it harmlessly dissipates when sitting in the water, keeping it clean. It definitely makes bathing a lot easier.
"Hmph. It isn't that impressive. But I suppose it is alright." Weiss huffed.
"I'm glad we were able to come out on this mission and see something like this." Ruby reflected while briefly gazing at the springs, then sighed and nodded. "It's exactly why we really can't let Grimm get into town and go hurting people, and wreck something like this. More people should be able to come and see something this amazing."
"You said it." Yang stretched her arms and clasped them behind her head. "If more people were aware of an amazing view like this, and many more views like em', I'd like to think they'd strive to take better care of them. But they can't do those things if the Grimm up and try to kill them every time they try to get close. That's why we Huntresses gotta step in and take em' down before they ever get the chance."
Weiss folded her arms and briefly looked at the springs for herself. And after taking yet another glance at it, she briefly reconsidered her thoughts while watching how the sparkled off of the light of the sun. "Well. I suppose if you do take pleasure in viewing something so simple, then I guess I can understand how you both can see this as beautiful."
"Sometimes it's the simple things that make it all worthwhile." Ruby smiled as she glanced at the springs once more, before reluctantly deciding to move on, following Velvet. "Velvet, do you often see sights like this with your team?"
"Sometimes. We visit certain places while hunting and the sights do tend to be something to behold, alright." Velvet sighed while lowering her head. "Though whatever chance she gets, Coco tends to look into the fashion of the current community we're looking through and tries to persuade me to put on whatever she finds to see how it looks on me."
"She likes dressing people up, huh?" Yang hummed while rolling her arm. "How far does she go?"
"We're still working on her self-restraint in this aspect. Other than that, she's a great comrade to have." Velvet briefly turned to Ruby. "I'd be careful if I were you. Chances are that you'll be her next project alongside me."
"What! Why me?!"
"She heard about you running into me and got curious. And once Coco get's curious, it's best to abandon any hope of avoiding her for the long-term."
"D'oh. I thought I was gonna be able to move past that. Guess not." Ruby sighed as she mentally prepared herself for that meeting, because she had a feeling that she wasn't going to have much control of in terms of conversation.
Her attention and focus returned to exploring, as well the mission at hand, regarding the town itself. She could also see the signs of a more regular market for normal groceries, and curiously a building meant mostly for storage of supplies for trading, such as new supplies of Dust that wasn't naturally generating around or within Aurora. Weiss herself had a brief look at them, and thought back to the gates, as well as the outer defenses.
"Hard-Light Dust was used to protect those towers, weren't they?" Weiss questioned, rubbing her chin. "When it comes to barriers and other defensives measures related to them, Hard-Light Dust is the most efficient Dust type. Aurora have exhausted their supply of it and are awaiting replenishment. I've heard it's quite a touch more difficult to acquire Hard-Light Dust outside of Atlas than within it. It and Ice Dust generates most strongly there than anywhere else on Remnant."
"That's most likely the case. Although given the fact that they don't have any right now, your ice barriers will have to do for now until further notice. Thanks again for that, by the way." Velvet voiced her gratitude, and Weiss quietly looked away with an acknowledging nod. "From what I've heard, the Hard-Light Dust failed at a crucial moment, and the towers were damaged by attacking Grimm. They managed to drive them off before things got too hectic, but Aurora is pretty vulnerable at the moment until they're fixed. At the absolute most, with their resources, it'll take two days."
"And knowing Grimm, all it takes is a Demon level threat to wipe out a town in a matter of hours, if not minutes." Yang noted solemnly. "They could last long enough to fix what they gotta fix without Huntsmen help, but they didn't want to chance that. Which is why we're here, to give em' a hand with that."
"Right!" Ruby saluted with a smile. Though as she followed closely to Velvet, she briefly lifted her head as some things managed to gain her notice. There were significantly more humans around this town than Faunus. And several of the citizens were gazing at Velvet as if something terrible was about to happen to her, yet weren't actually allowed or willing to outright say anything about it aloud.
'She's next.'
Okay, she definitely heard that whisper. And it was unmistakably referring to Velvet. She noticed it too, given how her rabbit ears flicked in the direction of the whisper.
"Velvet?"
"I know, Ruby." Velvet reassured her, as she kept walking forward leading the Juniors.
With every step, her eyes narrowed and her suspicions continued to rise. Something else was going on, and she had a feeling the townsfolk weren't going to be terribly forthcoming in talking about it. There seemed to be a factor she didn't know about regarding this town, and it was risky to not know what it is and how much it might affect their mission. As she gazed towards the skies, she could see the sun beginning to set, the evening setting in.
Once the opportunity appears, they needed to get to the bottom of it.
"Alright, everyone. It looks like things aren't going to be so straightforward as we initially thought. As an Intermediate Huntress, I'm used to situations like that by now, but this will be you and the others' first. Will you be able to continue on despite that?"
"Yeah." Yang nodded.
"Of course." Weiss agreed with conviction.
As Ruby was walking along listening to Velvet's instructions/warning, she caught sight of Melanthia again. She looked back towards them, smiled kindly, and waved.
Ruby idly waved back, but didn't return the smile.
"Yes, I can."
For some reason, it just never stays a 'simple' first mission. Something's always gotta complicate things, ya know? It's like a curse. Just watch out for that, kay?
Amber's warning was going to be more relevant than they initially thought, at this rate.
With that, another chapter is done.
Though it was a bit rough. Sorry, it might have been a bit of a bore. Hopefully I was able to convey what I wanted to convey.
They've reached Aurora Town, with the mission beginning already. Things are mostly quiet so far, which is good for the moment.
But both Velvet and Ruby have a feeling it's not going to last, both due to Velvet's instinct and Ruby recalling Amber's warning. Danger might already be near...