Lotus sat in the small diner at the edge of Vale known as the Maiden's Rest, sipping on the coffee she had ordered while she waited for the huntsman to arrive. The delightful, soothing warmth of the liquid running down her throat was helping to distract her from the pit that had formed in her stomach. 'I really don't know how all my previous targets are going to compare…' Just as a matter of pride in her own abilities, Lotus was certain she could take on an 'A' ranked hunter if Mercury had pulled off the feat. An 'S', though? That was uncharted territory.

Cinder had been light on the details, only able to tell her that the huntsman would be there, and nothing about what he would look like. 'I'll know when he's here. Only one person in here has their aura unlocked so far, and if he's strong, then he'll have to have a strong aura, right?' Still, Lotus couldn't help but keep her eyes on every person that stepped through the door, accompanied by the light jingle of the bell.

It was still early in the morning, and as such, the booths and tables were relatively empty. A fact that Lotus thanked Oum for many times, and prayed that it would stay that way. Trying to keep witnesses to a minimum could be… messy at best, and nigh impossible at worst.

Lotus's leg shook as she polished off her fourth cup, waving the aura unlocked waitress over for another refill. The caffeine was starting to hit her system, mixing with the adrenaline slowly pumping through her veins. The young rabbit faunus noticed her immediately with so few customers in the room, her ears flopped from side to side as she walked around the various tables and booths to get to Lotus's corner.

"Would you like to order any breakfast?" the older girl asked with a thick Vacuo accent, tipping the coffee pot she held as she poured it into Lotus's cup.

Lotus gave her a tentative smile, 'It would be a shame to have to kill you…' The girl had her aura unlocked, though. It wasn't as strong as her own, but it was far beyond anything she would call 'fodder' level. It was starting to make her worry. If a fight broke out, would the girl join in to protect the huntsman? Would she be too uncertain to pick a side? Surely she would once Lotus killed the man. What then?

Lotus realized she'd been sitting there staring at the rabbit faunus for the last ten seconds instead of answering her question and coughed, "No, that's alright, thank you. I'm just waiting for someone."

"Well, don't hesitate to flag me down if you change your mind," the girl flashed her a kind smile. Lotus took a moment to read her name tag, 'Velvet, huh?'

"I'll be sure to do that, Velvet," Lotus returned the smile, then went back to keeping her eyes locked on the front door as the rabbit faunus scampered away to another table.

Another ten minutes passed without anyone else entering the little diner. Lotus finished off her cup again, but decided against waving over the waitress for another refill. Her nerves and the caffeine were really starting to get to her. Lotus's foot drummed incessantly against the floor, creating fine cracks against the linoleum tiles. Her semblance had been encasing her limbs since the moment she reached the city.

Lotus stopped her drumming feet, feeling the approach of not one, but three large auras outside of the diner. She quickly averted her gaze. That many eyes could spot someone looking too closely if you weren't careful.

The first to enter was an... imposing youth, to say the least. 'That face does not belong on someone seven fucking feet tall!' He was clean shaven, with low cut black hair and wore a mixture of browns and greens in a Vacuo style. He stepped inside and held the door open, speaking with a deep voice, "After you."

A girl appeared, wearing what Lotus would only assume was this fashion season's best designer outfit. Her back was turned from the door, and she was helping someone else get inside, "No, watch it Fox! There's stairs there!"

The third to appear was the so called, 'Fox', although Lotus didn't sense him having any faunus heritage. He was entirely orange of skin, with red hair set over the top of blank white eyes. 'Ah, he's blind.' After the three got past the door frame and were inside, the fashionable girl stopped assisting him, though. Fox regained his composure, and stepped past both tables and chairs alike to make his way towards the front counter.

Velvet seemed to have noticed the commotion, even from back in the kitchen, and came rushing out, "You guys made it!"

The fashionable girl tipped her sunglasses down as she gave Velvet a smirk, "Of course, Vel. How's the part timer life treatin' ya?"

Velvet held her hands together in excitement, "Everyone has been so nice on the morning shift so far! My boss says it's usually pretty quiet like this, and that I can keep this shift as long as I want!"

"I hope he's been treating you fairly. You can always call us if things get out of hand," the large youth replied, placing an encouraging hand on Velvet's shoulder.

Velvet beamed, "Thanks Yatsuhashi!"

The group turned as one to look at Fox, something unspoken passing between all of them. Velvet's cheeks colored, Yatsuhashi withdrew his hand, and the fashionable girl slapped Fox on the ass while she laughed loudly, "Team Coffee always sticks together!"

Lotus shrunk down at the name drop. She didn't recognize their specific team, but that final sentence had confirmed to her that they were a team. The taller boy was throwing her off a bit, but Lotus figured this must be the spring break before their second year.

'Beacon students…' Lotus did not like where this was going. An 'S' rated huntsman had sounded bad enough, but a pro, and a second year team!? 'Please leave before he gets here…' Lotus could only hope.

Unfortunately, they didn't appear to have any plans to. The group sat down at the bar, close enough to the kitchens that they could continue talking with Velvet and ordered breakfast. Apparently, the rabbit faunus's lunch break coincided with the group's arrival, as she left with their orders and returned without her apron, sitting with them now. Lotus kept an ear out, waiting for any sign that they might be leaving, but heard none.

During the next twenty or so minutes, she did at least learn a few things. The fashionable girl's name was 'Coco', they were indeed second year students returning over Spring break, and if their kiss was anything to go by, then Coco and Velvet were dating. It seemed recent, considering how much Velvet blushed afterwards. Coco just looked smug about it, her eyes darting around at the other patrons, challenging anyone to meet her gaze.

'While I'm not a fan of her fashion sense, I can appreciate her… other tastes.'

It was during this quick glance around the room that Coco caught Lotus watching them. Her eyes darted back down to her empty mug a moment too late. There was a scrape of a bar stool as Coco pushed back from the counter, spinning on top of her seat to plant her feet in Lotus's direction.

As she started to stand, Velvet's hand grabbed her by the shoulder, delicate fingers pushing her back down into her seat, "No disturbing the customers," Velvet chastised, glancing over at Lotus with a smile, "She's been really nice to me."

Coco relaxed, eyes still on Lotus. They dropped to her waist, causing Lotus to frown for a second before she realized her weapon was showing. It was still sheathed, but exposed enough to have caught Coco's attention on closer inspection.

"Might as well talk to her, eh?" Coco smirked, not letting Velvet's hand keep her from standing any more. She strutted over and the rabbit faunus sighed, following along, determined to be the voice of reason if anything got out of hand.

"Saw you checking us out, kid. See something you like?" Coco lowered her sunglasses as she said it, giving Lotus a once over with her eyes, "Or maybe... someone?"

'Okay Lotus, think. This girl is obviously narcissistic, so…'

Lotus let her cheeks redden a little, acting nervous as she looked to the side and down towards the older girl's feet, "I was just uh… appreciating your outfit. It looks really good on you," Lotus could already sense Coco's lips widening into a smile, but decided to go for gold and lifted her own arms up to show off her hoodie, "I'm not as good at the whole fashion thing like you are." 'Ugh, kill me now.'

"Hey, that's okay, kid! Everyone starts somewhere!" Coco brought a hand up to her chin, looking thoughtful, "Step one, lose the hoodie. Even Fox would be able to tell you've got a nice body hiding under there, and he's blind."

"Hey!"

"It looks like you've already got the idea to match your hair color by wearing black, but you should mix in some magenta, maybe some whites along the edges. It should really help accentuate your eyes. Make 'em pop! And white just looks cool, especially when it's combined with black!"

Coco whipped out her phone and opened up an image gallery, scrolling down until she found some examples to show Lotus. Her eyes bulged at the image count. 'Why would anyone need thousands of pictures of outfits!?' Lotus had to admit, though… Coco was right. The examples she gave looked nice. She could see herself fitting into some of those, adding in that splash of magenta Coco had recommended...

Coco hardly seemed to notice when Velvet laced one of her hands through the other girl's, smiling warmly at her partner while she went off on one of her frequent fashion tirades. Velvet spared Lotus an amused glance now and then, seeing how she was taking it.

Lotus's mind was spinning in circles, aided in its assault by all of the various names for coats and pants and shoes and… 'What the hell is a 'capelet' coat? How is it different from a 'duffle?' Lotus couldn't make heads or tails of any of it. Coco seemed to realize the effect she was having on the young girl and slowed down, setting a hand across her arm.

Lotus flinched, but resisted the impulse to rip her arm away entirely. One wrong move and the girl could expose that she was a faunus. Except… 'Her partner is a faunus. So maybe that would be okay? I need to get used to Vale…'

Despite her best attempts at hiding it, Lotus's gut reaction was born from years of hiding her heritage, and with only that brief movement to go off of, Coco seemed to get the hint.

"Hey, sorry about that," she immediately withdrew her hand and brought it to the back of her head as if she was giving Lotus as much distance as she could from the offending limb, "If you want, I could help you pick out some outfits! We'll be seeing each other a lot at Beacon, right? You look like you're going to be trying to get in as a first year. I'm sure we can pick out plenty of nice tops with long sleeves…"

Lotus gave her a timid smile, "That… doesn't sound so bad. Should I give you my scroll number, or…?"

Coco relaxed a little, letting her hand drop back down to her scroll, "Tell you what, I'll give you mine. I, uh… wouldn't want you to feel pressured into anything. Just keep in mind, we've got almost a full month, so there's no need to rush yourself if you aren't comfortable..."

Lotus copied down the number Coco gave her into her contacts then paused on the name, realizing she maybe shouldn't know what Coco's name was, or else she'd look like a stalker. Lotus raised it up, then froze, an entirely new issue coming to mind. 'What name am I going to give them!? Am I going to keep going by Lotus when I start Beacon, or will I go back to Olivia?'

Coco smiled, taking the scroll from Lotus's hand without touching her and typed 'Coco Adel' into the bar before handing it gently back to Lotus. Coco turned her body halfway back towards the rest of their team, "It was nice meeting you! I hope to hear from you…?" She paused, expecting a name.

Lotus decided in the moment, raising a hand to offer up a handshake, "My name is… Olivia. It was nice to meet you too, Coco."

Coco gladly accepted the handshake, gave her one last wink over the top of her lowered sunglasses, then pushed them back up as the pair headed over to the rest of their team. Yatsuhashi had long since finished his, while Fox was absentmindedly pushing around the last few pieces of scrambled eggs on his own plate.

Coco and Velvet went back to their own meals. Lotus sat back against the leather cushions of the booth she was in and closed her eyes, trying to will her heart to slow down.

It was not meant to be, as only a few minutes later, one of the largest auras Lotus had ever felt made its way through the jingling door. 'This has to be him!' Lotus relied on her sixth sense first, keeping track of where the huntsman went. He sat down at the bar, the furthest spot from Lotus that he could have possibly been. Once she sensed him picking up a menu to look down at the items on it, Lotus chanced a glance.

He was approaching middle age, perhaps his early forties. His black hair had light streaks of grey through it, along with a small amount of black stubble Lotus could see across the bottom of his chin. His long sleeve shirt was made up of two shades of grey, with black standing out on his collar and at the ends of his sleeves, all hanging loosely over the top of his black pants.

The massive hunk of steel on his back was the second thing Lotus noticed, poking out from behind his red cape. It looked more advanced than her own weapon. The intricate design and gears revealing to anyone with a brain that it could likely transform in various ways. By the initial shape it was in, Lotus guessed it would extend out into a greatsword.

'Seriously, the only other aura I've felt close to his was Tyrian's… How the hell do they do it?' Granted, it had been a couple years, and she didn't have the scorpion faunus there for a side by side comparison... Just working off memory, though, the two seemed equal.

Lotus's mind was wrenched out of her thoughts when she noticed the huntsman checking his scroll and frowning, his eyes once again scanning the room. 'Shit! What do I do? I told Cinder I'd help them with this, but the entire point was so that I could get out of Mistral and join Beacon! Even if team Coffee doesn't have their weapons, they have to be formidable enough without them. I can't just kill them all now that they're here.'

Lotus let out a very quiet, very uncharacteristic, unintended whine from somewhere deep in her throat. 'This is hopeless… I'll just have to distract him instead. If I give Cinder long enough to finish off their target then that should be good enough, right?' Lotus hoped it would be.

The young spider faunus decided to wait it out, and then make her move when the huntsman was about to leave. 'I'll ask him for tips or something since I'm trying to get into Beacon anyway. As long as I can delay him without it being obvious that's what I'm doing, I should be fine.'

Velvet redonned her apron and served the huntsman some coffee, choosing to chat him up a bit while her teammates still talked amongst themselves. Apparently, even though they had finished their food, the team still wanted to meet Velvet's boss to make sure everything was 'copacetic'. 'Please leave. My chances are bad enough without you lot hanging around!'

Lotus sent Velvet a silent thank you, though. The rabbit faunus was unintentionally distracting the huntsman for the moment, 'That settles it, I'm giving you the biggest tip of your life.' She managed to keep his attention for several minutes, until finally he looked down at his scroll again. Lotus could see his brow crease, unease settling across his face.

The spider faunus quickly stood, and began making her way over to him, steeling herself with the words she had prepared, "Oh my gosh! Are you a pro huntsman!?" The man's red eyes whipped her way at the sudden noise, his hand dropping a hair closer to his weapon before he realized she wasn't threatening him, just obnoxiously loud.

"Hey, hey kid. Not so loud. Some of us are nursing hangovers here," he grumbled. There was a light raspiness to his voice, one that added a certain amount of weight to it. Like he had just been through a fight and come out on top.

Lotus lowered her voice, giving him a nervous smile, "Sorry!" she gestured over to her weapon to draw his attention to it, "I'm joining Beacon this year, and was wondering if you had any tips I could use? I want to get an edge over the competition!"

The older huntsman chuckled dryly, "Not much training you can do in less than a month, kid. I hope you're good with that thing."

"I manage," she replied shyly, firming back up as she continued to press him for information. 'Anything to keep his mind off the time…'

"Did you go to Beacon? If you don't mind me saying it, you look really strong!"

The man grinned, "I did, and I am. Best team to ever come out of that place. You'll find some of our trophies in the cases lining the hallways. Team Stark is the name you'll be looking for on all the trophies."

"You guys must have been popular! Is that your weapon? Do you mind showing it off? All I have is this old thing," at that, Lotus unsheathed her sword. She had absolutely no intention of using it, though. Not with team Coffee directly behind her.

The man bent forward with a discerning gaze and ran his finger along the sword's edge, "It's well maintained at least, I'll give you that. Nothing will ever compare to Harbinger, though." With that, he pulled the collapsed greatsword off his back and extended it out. From where she was now, Lotus could see the firing mechanism near the bottom. It looked like some sort of shotgun? She wasn't sure.

One word did especially catch her attention, though, "Harbinger? Did you name your weapon?"

He chuckled, "What, you haven't? Must not have studied at any of the schools, then." His eyes roamed over her, taking in the simple hoodie and black jeans that she wore, "Where'd you grow up?"

"Eh, just uh, in Mistral," Lotus suddenly found herself struggling to remember any of the towns near Vale, and was also worried that if she named one, he might be from there and know she was lying.

The man's eyes narrowed a little, "As in the city, or the kingdom?"

"Umm, the kingdom? I moved around a lot."

The huntsman was starting to get defensive, and now eyed her warily, "Tell me kid, I remind you of anybody?"

'What is this all about?'

Lotus decided to just go with the truth on this one, giving him a frown of her own, "No, you really don't. I don't remember any black haired, red eyed-" Lotus froze, sudden recognition dawning on her. A long forgotten figure resurfacing through the depths of her mind. It had been so long ago.

She choked on the words she was about to say, "Eh- O-okay, um. Yeah, maybe?"

The man seemed utterly confused with the complete one eighty the young girl in front of him had done, "Yeah, maybe? What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, I mean… she had black hair, too. And now that I look at you, the black and red theme you've got going on sort of reminds me of her… But she wore this Grimm mask most of the time, so I mostly remember that instead of her face…"

The huntsman was becoming more and more confused by the second, "Okay, stop. Do you know who that person was, or not?"

"I found her name out later, yeah…" Lotus paused in thought, it had been a long time ago, "... Raven… something?" She shrugged in defeat, "Best I've got."

"And how do you know Raven?"

"Umm, it's kind of... personal?" Lotus glanced behind herself to see that at least the closest two members of team Coffee were paying attention to their conversation. Yatsuhashi was trying to be nonchalant about it, just covering one ear to block out what Coco was saying as if he just happened to be leaning on it that way. Fox was outright staring, if you could call it that when it was a blind man doing it.

'On second thought, maybe he's just turning himself away from Coco's conversation too.'

"I need an answer, kid," the huntsman's voice dropped low, a hint of a warning, even a threat to it.

Lotus tensed, 'Should I refuse and let him start a fight? That would give me the perfect cover. Then again, I still wouldn't be able to kill him with the Beacon students here. I might as well try to keep things peaceful.'

She made up her mind, but stepped in a little closer, still not wanting to let other people hear what she was about to say, "Raven and her bandits… they killed my parents and my brother. I unlocked my semblance, and got revenge on the two bandits that were still alive after they fought my family. That woman tried to get me to go with her and gave me some spiel about strength… I refused, and she left me there."

The huntsman gave her an apologetic smile, she let his hand fall on her shoulder, "Sorry, kid. I had to make sure you weren't working for her. You made the right choice, telling her no."

"Is she your… sister?" Lotus guessed. The woman had seemed younger than the huntsman in front of her, but that had been six years ago.

"My twin, yeah."

Lotus gave him a doubtful look, "You're a lot older than she was, even considering how long it's been since I saw her."

"Ouch," the huntsman drew back as if Lotus had wounded his pride, "Nobody wants to hear that they're the less good looking twin."

"I mean…" Lotus trailed a finger across the front of his shirt, "Give me some more tips for getting into Beacon and I'll be sure to shower you with compliments?"

He laughed, "Alright, I'll bite, kid. Use the next month to practice a landing strategy."

"What's a landing strategy?"

"Figure out how you're going to land if you fall from really high up," he smirked, "It's part of the initiation each year. Oz is going to launch you all off the cliff into the Emerald Forest."

Lotus paled slightly, "How high? I've jumped off buildings before. That's easy enough. Are we talking like, five stories? Maybe six?"

A deep laugh emanated from the man, his eyes filled with mirth, "More like ten. Like I said, practice it so you don't fall behind. There's only so many spots available each year, so be quick."

"Wow, that's more than I was expecting. Thanks, Mr…?"

"Qrow. Qrow Branwen. Just use my first name, though. I'm not a fan of my… family ties."

"Well, Qrow. My name is Olivia, nice to meet you. Are you in Vale often?"

Qrow shook his head, "No, not usually. I'm just here to-" He froze, then darted his hand into his pocket to whip out his scroll. His eyes widened as he noticed the time, "Sorry kid, I've gotta go!"

Lotus wasn't able to get another word in as the huntsman blurred from his seat, brushing past her as he sprinted out the door, on his way out of town.

'I hope that was enough time…'

Olivia pulled out her own scroll and sent Cinder a message.

'Huntsman is on his way. Will explain later.'

A few minutes went by, in which Lotus became more and more of a nervous wreck, until her scroll finally buzzed as she received a message in return.

'Mission was a success. Return to the ship.'

Lotus felt her entire body finally relax. She left a ridiculous amount of lien on the table for Velvet to show her appreciation even if the faunus would never know why, and left.

'I'm turning this whole new life around already. One life spared.'

Lotus didn't think she was going to make that two.

Qrow could only curse his bad luck once again. Amber was dead, and her assailants had vanished before he even arrived. With shaking hands, he pulled his scroll back out of his pocket, and dialed the first contact.

"Qrow? What is it? Do you have Amber with you?"

"She's dead, Oz."

"That is rather unfortunate. I'll send someone to pick you both up. Do you know who did it?"

"Nothing specific. They were gone before I got here. I'd say there were three that attacked her, though."

"I see. Figure out whatever you can from the scene. We'll need all the information we can get."

"Of course, Oz. I'm sorry. My bad luck acted up without me even realizing it."

"What happened?"

"Eh, some kid wanted to talk to me about getting into Beacon. Turned out she knew Raven… It kept me distracted too long."

"Hmmm…"

"Oz?"

"It's nothing. I'll need to hang up to call you that shuttle. Hang tight, Qrow."

Ozpin hung up on the weary huntsman and quickly called a shuttle, directing them to the coordinates given by the tracker that Qrow had on his scroll. A thought tickled the back of his mind the entire time, long after he had hung up again.

'Most teams consist of four, do they not?'