After the ten minute trip across the icy waters had come to its end, Lotus was more than ready to welcome her feet back on to dry land. She collapsed to her knees on the wooden deck, its supports thankfully connected to the bedrock below, as she retched for what felt like the thousandth time.
'I'm never stepping on a boat again…'
The rolling waves had been a nightmare on her sixth sense, and had immediately turned her into a vomiting mess. Everything beneath her had just moved so much. The rocking of the ship had sought to empty her stomach, and had more than achieved that goal.
"You alright now, kid?" Qrow laughed good naturedly, patting Lotus on the back.
"Ugh…" Lotus spit on to the deck, trying to remove the sickening taste of bile from her mouth, "I'm just glad I didn't eat much today."
Qrow put a hand under the young faunus's arm and helped her unsteadily back to her feet, "Come on. The sooner we get to my place, the sooner you can rinse your mouth out."
They made for a peculiar pair, the much taller huntsman having to stoop to help the wobbly legged girl off the docks. Lotus finally found her footing again once they were back on dry land.
'I don't suppose we can take a bullhead back?" Lotus groaned out, pausing to let herself recover now that the ground didn't feel like it was about to roll out from beneath her. She didn't even want to look back at the hellish contraption that had tormented her for so long.
Qrow grinned and gave her a quick nod, "There's a bullhead during the day. Costs a bit to hire, but I doubt that will change your mind."
Lotus detached herself from the huntsman's grasp and straightened, smoothing out her clothes and checking for any residue. She breathed out a sigh of relief when she found none, "Spider faunus aren't built for the ocean. Bullheads are fine."
The pair continued on, following a winding path up through the trees that eventually opened out into a rather large clearing. The town sat nestled inside of it, large enough to warrant a school of its own. There was a single mainstreet, crossed at its midpoint by the other largest road the town had to offer. Lotus frowned at the lack of walls to defend its borders, her earlier question boiling back to the forefront.
"Can Grimm swim?"
Qrow shook his head, "They aren't buoyant enough."
"Then... is Patch entirely free of Grimm? You don't have any walls, sooo..."
The older huntsman pointed off towards a corner of the town, at a tall spire that loomed over top of the surrounding buildings. There was a light near its peak, one that Lotus could see movement around when she focused on it. 'A watchtower?'
"Grimm don't come out here very often. They can't swim, but they can still travel across smaller bodies of water if they're persistent enough. Grimm don't need to breath, so they can't drown. They walk along the seafloor."
Lotus paled, imagining relaxing at the beach, an iced tea in one hand, her scroll in the other. Then looking out into the waves to see beowolves rising up out of the tide, dripping wet from the leagues worth of ocean they travelled across to get to you, "That's… actually pretty terrifying."
"Lifeguards become a bit more literal once beach season rolls around," Qrow laughed, "They're entirely comprised of huntsman and huntresses. You can make a few extra lien over spring break if you land one of those jobs." Qrow gave her a wink, as if this was some fantastic tip he was sharing.
"I think I'm good. Grimm I can fight… but if someone's drowning they're shit out of luck if I'm on duty," Lotus winced just thinking about it. Being on the boat had been bad enough, but being in the water? Her stomach grumbled loudly in protest.
They made their way through the quiet town and out past it, along one of the many roads that snaked into the surrounding woods. The road was roughly paved, more just cleared of rocks than with actual concrete. Every now and then the road would branch off, leading down a smaller trail towards lights barely visible in the distance.
A thought came to mind, a question driven by the fight against the deathstalker in the forest, "Did you teach Ruby to use that ridiculous scythe?"
Qrow smiled proudly, "Sure did. She went to Signal of course, which just meant I had twice as many opportunities to train her almost everything I know," he smirked, "I'm still holding out on a few tricks. I can't let the runt outclass me yet. My pride couldn't take it."
"She seemed…" Lotus searched for the word. 'Naive? Innocent?' Better to not say something that Qrow might take as an insult, "Nice… She seemed nice."
"Yeah, she's an excitable kid. You might want to leave your weapon in the guest room in the morning. Unless you want Ruby to talk your ear off about it," Qrow spotted the look on Lotus's face, "I am not kidding. Kid loves to talk shop."
They finally turned down one of the side roads, heading a short way through the trees. A large wood cabin appeared, set in a clearing on top of a low rise with a few other smaller buildings around it. The trail was much nicer than the one they had been on, apparently at least one inhabitant cared about the place looking nice. The grass was green and cut short, and placed outside the front of the house were several wooden troughs, filled with a variety of plants and flowers that looked well kept.
The huntsman swept his arm wide as he opened the door for Lotus, gesturing for her to enter while adding a thick tone of false bravado to his voice, "Welcome, to Casa de Qrow."
Lotus stepped past into the dimly lit interior. The door opened up into a living room, two couches sat around the edges of a large coffee table. There was a sizable holographic screen against the wall opposite the couches, raised from the floor by a few feet to allow the densely packed shelves to fit beneath it. Lotus spotted a console on top, askew with a few games left open nearby.
To her right, Lotus could see into the kitchen through an open door, along with a large dining table. Directly ahead of her, a hallway that branched off into a few other rooms, along with a staircase that ascended up to the second story of the house.
Focusing on her sixth sense, Lotus could feel the occupants. On the ground floor there was a man in one of the rooms, lying in bed. Asleep, from the lack of movement. Up the stairs, there were two girls. Lotus recognized them from her sense, the blond and the child. Each had their own separate room.
As Qrow stepped into the house and shut the door behind himself, Lotus tensed, feeling something small rapidly darting its way across the interior in their direction. Her semblance activated, poised to strike at whatever this threat was currently barreling down on them.
The skittering of small claws announced the presence of the creature. A black and white corgi came into view, eyes alight with excitement and tongue lolling out to the side as it charged the pair of them in a flash of fur.
"No, Zwei!" Qrow whispered quickly, a moment too late as the small furry torpedo launched itself up into Lotus's chest and knocked her back into the huntsman.
The young spider faunus was defenseless against the dog's sudden assault. It sniffed wildly, struggling in her grasp to get itself close enough to waylay her with tongue administered affection.
Qrow fled, leaving her to deal with the adorable monstrosity on her own as he entered the kitchen in search of a treat to appease the beast. He returned moments later with a bone in his hand, and gave a gentle whistle for the dog's ears alone.
Zwei's head whipped in his direction from his place in Lotus's hands, his nose now pinpointed at the source of this new smell. He struggled in the faunus's grasp, and she set him down, giving a quiet laugh as his attention was wholeheartedly subverted to the treat.
Now free of the little terror, Lotus followed Qrow back into the kitchen. He grabbed her a glass and filled it with water, letting her rinse her mouth out finally.
"Ah, that is so much better," Lotus whispered, taking one more swig to thoroughly gargle and spit out any residue into the sink. Her mouth now felt blessedly clean by comparison.
"I'll show you to your room," Qrow waved her to follow. The pair quietly made their way up the stairs, to a room on the left of the hall. Qrow opened it slowly, wincing as the unoiled hinges creaked loudly. They both paused, waiting to see if anyone had woken from the noise.
Lotus gave him a thumbs up, her sense didn't detect anyone stirring in the nearby rooms. She stepped past and gave Qrow a thankful nod before he closed the door behind her. It was a nice little room, fitted with the necessary furniture. Lotus opened a drawer and set her weapon inside, taking Qrow at his word about Ruby's potential antics.
With a heavy sigh, Lotus felt the weight of the day come crashing down, no longer pent up as it had been before. Now alone with renewed privacy, a few tears returned to her eyes unbidden. She changed into her tank top and climbed into the bed, thankful for the thick warm blankets that hugged her against the mattress beneath. Lotus curled in on herself as she lied down.
It was several hours before sleep finally claimed her.
Qrow walked into the kitchen, blinking at the harsh light filtering through the windows from the morning sun and gave a tired wave to Tai before slumping down at the table, his head finding its way into the hand he propped against the wooden surface.
"Long night?" Tai asked, pouring coffee into a mug and handing it over to Qrow. He had grown used to drinking it black. You couldn't always have cream and sugar on the road.
"You could say that. We've got a guest in the upstairs bedroom," Qrow replied, taking a steady sip from the mug after he finished speaking.
Tai gave him a raised eyebrow, looking up through the walls and ceiling as if he could see into the room from there and smirked, "Not another one of your lady friends, I hope."
"Ha, Ha, Ha," Qrow sarcastically replied. They both knew Qrow had never had any luck with the ladies. He sighed and raised his eyes up to meet Tai's, "Everyone in the house has met her except you, actually. Although I wouldn't say your kids are on the best terms with her."
"Who is she?" Tai asked, sitting down across from Qrow with his own cup held in his hands.
"A Mistralian kid that came to Vale to attend Beacon," Qrow answered, taking a moment to arch his back before continuing, "Oz has some interest in her."
"If you bring home every kid that catches Ozpin's eye we're going to end up running a nursing home, Qrow."
Qrow idly swirled the coffee in his mug, refusing to meet Tai's gaze as he replied, "It would be more of an orphanage in this case… The Branwen tribe killed her family." At the sound of Tai's lightly exhaled breath, the huntsman finally raised his eyes, "I'm just trying to make things right. As much as I can, Tai."
The blond man nodded, "That's… alright with me, Qrow. You do what you have to. Is Oz right to have his eye on her?"
Qrow gave a light laugh, "She bested Yang in a brawl, then dodged a full speed attack from Ruby without even looking at her."
Tai whistled appreciatively, "So she's another hand to hand fighter then?"
Qrow smirked, "Nope. Saw her before with a sword. She didn't have it on her when she fought Yang."
Tai sat and stared at Qrow in silence for a minute, waiting for him to announce that he'd been joking. When no admission came, he was forced to accept his words, "I've gotta see that for myself."
Qrow held his hand up in a warning, "She's a little high strung right now. I want her to feel comfortable, so no asking for a spar, Tai."
"Who's high strung?" Ruby asked innocently as she stepped into the room, giving a suspicious eye to her father and uncle as they sat at the table, conspiring about something.
"How long were you listening in, Ruby?" Qrow's eyes narrowed, causing the young girl to turn red and kick absentmindedly at the ground.
"Uhh, long enough to figure out you're talking about the girl that beat up Yang?" When the pair of adults continued silently eyeing her, she continued in a rush, "But I didn't hear anything before that!" She held her hands up defensively to stave off their current inquisition.
Tai sighed and patted her on the head affectionately, "That's fine, kiddo. Go ahead and get changed out of your pajamas, breakfast will be ready in a few minutes." The thick smell of whatever was baking in the oven had already begun to waft its way throughout the house. The small girl's stomach rumbled and she glanced at the pair in embarrassment, cheeks reddening.
In a blur, Ruby disappeared back up the stairs.
"Ruby Rose! What did I tell you about running up the stairs like that!?" Tai shouted after her then turned away, shaking his head, "I swear if I have to replace another step because she trips again… Do you know how much damage an aura enhanced knee can do at Mach one? It took me weeks to fix!"
Qrow laughed loudly, "Count yourself lucky you weren't the one that trained her. It took her awhile to get trajectories down. I have a permanent dent in my chest from the amount of times her head slammed into it on accident."
The pair sat in silence for a few minutes, reminiscing of a time long past, when the adorable little girl hadn't been capable of putting every track record on the planet to shame.
A swish of long blond hair appeared around the corner as Yang stepped into the room, fully dressed in one of her more casual outfits. She froze as her eyes caught on to Qrow's presence, shifting slightly over to her father. Yang spun on the spot and began to tiptoe out, as if the two adults weren't staring directly at her.
"Hey, firecracker~" Qrow called out, stopping the blonde in her tracks.
Yang turned back around partially, enough to face Qrow, "Yeah?..."
"Where were you the night before last? Were you out having fun?" Qrow gave her a knowing grin.
"How did you…!?" Yang coughed, realizing finally that he hadn't told Tai yet, otherwise her father would be the one that brought it up, instead of just sitting at the kitchen table in confusion. Qrow was giving her a chance to come clean on her own terms.
Yang took one look at her father, and panicked, "Nope! Don't know what you're talking about!" She started to turn back towards the stairs but stopped as her father's voice barked out behind her.
"Yang Xiao Long, you tell me what you did right this instant. I already know you were in a fight. How did that happen?"
Yang cursed under her breath, not for the first time wishing she had Ruby's speed to get herself out of a tough situation. The stairs still beckoned to her, but she knew that they might as well not exist as far as she was concerned. Her father would never let her hear the end of it.
The blond adopted a fake grin as she turned back around, "What can I say? I really know how to cut up a dance floor."
"Yang…" Tai gave her a disapproving frown.
Yang sighed and held her hands up, "Okay, okay. I got in a fight at a club in downtown Vale. I'm fine though, see?" Yang gave the two adults a little spin to show off that she was indeed just fine.
"Can't say the same for the club…" Qrow muttered, getting up to go refill his mug. There was still half a pot left, much to his satisfaction.
Tai arched an eyebrow at his daughter, "Should I be expecting a bill in the mail for any property damage?"
Yang waved away their concerns, "Nah, Junior isn't exactly the type to go-"
Ruby's scream from upstairs cut off what she was about to say, as three sets of eyes widened in alarm. Yang was the first to rush up the steps.
Lotus whimpered beneath the blanket that she had twisted around her body in her sleep, her form half covered and half not. Her mind repeated the same scenario, time after time.
'She was lying in bed in her apartment, with only the dull red glow from an alarm clock to light the room. Everything unlit was bleached grey, her night vision allowing her to see, if not in color. She shivered in place, drawing her knees up, reaching out with her sixth sense to feel for Widow, the cause of her fear. A scratch at the door, her ears catching the small sounds that reached her. Lotus tensed, allowing her semblance to rise above her, ready to strike Widow when she entered. The scratching continued for a while, and with a final click, the door opened.'
Lotus's eyes fluttered open as her sixth sense warned her that she was not alone. DEATH had returned for her, and with her appendages already poised to strike from above her now conscious form, she did just that.
The figure that had begun to open the door screamed as a hole was ripped through the wood in front of her, brought short only by the distance between the bed and the hallway. Chunks of white painted wood sprayed outward from the strike, scattering across the hallway.
Lotus's vision cleared as a familiar corgi sprinted into the room past the now open door and barked repeatedly. Her mind slowly came back into focus, 'I'm not in my apartment… Where am I? I'm on... Patch, at Qrow's house… and that girl was…'
The young faunus untangled herself from her blanket and jumped up from bed, running to the door, frantic to check and make sure that the young girl was okay. She was met by another familiar sight, the blond from the bar. Yang took one look at her panicked sister, the hole ripped through the door, and the girl she hadn't expected to be there, before launching into a series of strikes.
"No, wait!" Lotus yelled, throwing her own hands up to defend herself. The first few blows knocked her back, her arms unshrouded and her appendages slack behind her back. The blond wasn't listening, her eyes had turned scarlet and her hair was ablaze. Lotus could feel the heat rolling off of her with each punch.
A man's hand gripped down on Yang's shoulder from behind and pulled her away. Lotus had backed all the way up to the bed in the barrage, and slumped to sit down on it, breathing heavily from the exertion immediately after waking up.
"What are you doing, Qrow!?" Yang shouted, struggling to break free. The older huntsman kept a tight hold on her, then passed her off to another man behind her.
"Calm down, Yang," the huntsman demanded, blocking her off as he stepped fully into the door frame. The girl's struggles started to die down as she heard the sniffles of her younger sister. Yang spared Lotus one last glare before turning to Ruby. Lotus could hear her trying to console the smaller girl.
Qrow nodded and closed the door behind himself before crossing the intervening space to look down on Lotus. He stopped a few feet away, arms crossed, "What happened?"
Lotus put her head in her hands and rubbed them across her face roughly, trying to dispel the last vestiges of sleep from her mind. "She just surprised me is all. Is she okay?"
Qrow quirked an eyebrow, "Just surprised you?"
Lotus pondered how best to explain it, and figured a demonstration would be the best way to start, "Keep a hand behind your back and I'll guess how many fingers you're holding up."
The older huntsman frowned, but did as she suggested. Lotus felt outwards with her sixth sense as Qrow started changing the number of fingers he was holding up, announcing them as he did so, "Three… Two… Five… Zero."
The man's eyes went wide as she got each answer correct. It was a simple enough trick for the young faunus, but not one that many could understand without a little test to see it for themselves.
"Spider faunus have an extra sense to detect movement. I was having a nightmare and felt someone approaching my door. After our… interaction a couple days ago, she was still in my head as a threat. When she opened the door and woke me up… I attacked on instinct."
Lotus tried to peer past Qrow through the hole into the hallway. She could still feel the three occupants standing on the other side of the door. The young faunus had the presence of mind to not fight against the embarrassment she was feeling at the moment. It would go a long way in keeping her on Qrow's good side if she was apologetic.
When the huntsman just continued standing there, Lotus shifted nervously on the bed, giving him an uncertain glance, "I'll pay for the door…"
Qrow sighed and shook his head, "That's fine. Just go tell Ruby you're sorry."
Lotus nodded and stood up, brushing past Qrow to walk to the door and pull it open. Instead of the tear streaked face she had been expecting though, a very wide eyed Ruby stared at her and put both her own hands behind her back, "How many fingers am I holding up!?"
Lotus was taken aback at the swift one eighty, but managed to recover quickly and play along, "Seven… Two… Five…"
Ruby threw her hands up, "That is so cool~!"
Yang shooed Zwei away from Lotus's leg and gave her a critical eye. Lotus coughed into her hand, looking back to Ruby, "Sorry about that. You uh, caught me off guard."
Ruby shook her head, "I'm fine," she bent down and picked up the corgi to hug him to her chest, "Zwei wouldn't leave the door alone so I decided to investigate."
Lotus shrunk under the eyes of the older blond huntsman, and tentatively held out a hand, "Hi. Sorry about that. I uh… wasn't kidding, I'll pay for the door." Her eyes caught on to the wooden shards lying across the floor, "Do you have a broom?"
Tai uncrossed his arms and accepted the girl's handshake, gripping it firmly but not unkindly, "Are you going to be fine living in a dorm with three other people? That seems like a rather destructive response to someone opening a door."
Lotus held her hands up and shook her head profusely, "I'm not usually like that! I just… had a lot on my mind."
Tai opened his mouth to reply when there was a high pitched 'beep!' from the first floor. His eyes went wide, "My casserole!" and launched himself down the stairs three steps at a time to run into the kitchen.
The silence left in his wake was interrupted by the young blond next to them, "Guess he needed to... break fast?"
Three sets of eyes swivelled to look at the blond that grinned smugly, waiting for praise. Ruby placed her head in her hand with a muffled sigh, "No, Yang. Just no."
"You guys are no fun," Yang replied with a huff.
"Saved it~!" Tai's voice called back up to them from the kitchen, followed by the sound of the oven banging back shut and the clatter of the dish getting roughly set on to the counter.
"Come on," Qrow waved for them to follow as he walked downstairs, calling back up over his shoulder, "You can sweep up the mess later. Let's eat first."
Lotus followed Ruby down the steps, as it seemed Yang at least was intent on keeping an eye on her. The young faunus sighed, 'Great start, really. First I beat her up, then I attack her sister. We'll be besties in no time.' Lotus could only shake her head and hope they wouldn't end up on the same team. 'That spot is reserved for Ren and Nora… if they'll hear me out.' The faunus supposed she wouldn't mind so much if Yang was the fourth. They would have quite a few years to work out their issues.
Tai was busy blowing on his reddened fingers as they all entered and sat at the table. His aura was slowly repairing the damage done to his skin. He hadn't taken the time to grab the proper protection before pulling out the porcelain dish.
The blond huntsman pulled a few plates out of the cabinet and started divvying out large portions of the fluffy looking breakfast casserole. He passed out the plates to each of them, along with some silverware before serving himself and joining them at the table.
Lotus focused on the food instead of the others in the room as she started eating. It was a delightful mixture of eggs, bacon, cheese, and ham. The outside layer had hardened slightly, but Lotus didn't mind. If anything it just added to the texture. The others followed suit, quietly enjoying the blond man's breakfast confection.
Tai turned on the smaller projector in the room to drown out the silence, switching the channel from the cartoons it had been left on to the news.
"-nk you for tuning into to the Vale News Network. I'm Lisa Lavender, here with your morning announcement!"
"What have you got for us this morning, Lisa?"
"Tom, I'm sorry to report that the bodies of two unidentified males were found on the top floor of an abandoned shop this morning. Vale Police have confirmed that they were given an anonymous tip to investigate the building."
Lotus's fork clattered to her plate as she stared at the news report, her mind blanking out the rest of the room around her. 'Widow must have gone back for them… Damn it, Widow! I wanted to leave them alive!' Another feeling gripped Lotus's heart, and it took her a moment to recognize what it was… relief. 'That's terrible! How can I feel happy about this!?'
The young faunus knew why, though. With both of the Arcs out of the way, her path to Beacon had been cleared. She no longer needed to worry about being accused by the two humans.
'Is that why Widow did it? She did tell me to go to Beacon… Did she do what I couldn't bring myself to? Covered my tracks by silencing the witnesses?'
Lotus's conflicting emotions battled each other out while Qrow and Tai spoke. They wondered aloud who could have done it and why. The news report continued to point out the fact that the murders had taken place in a location that was previously hit by the White Fang, and the gruesome manner in which they had died.
'I know who did it…' Lotus could hardly tell them that, though. Sharing that information would be the start to a slow unravelling of her identity, and she was not about to waste another chance. Lotus realized as well that even after everything had been revealed, the thought of giving up Widow like that would be a betrayal that the faunus just couldn't go through with.
'She got everyone killed!' her own mind warred against herself.
It didn't matter, though. Her heart would not be swayed. Widow was still her mother, in some convoluted mess of emotions that would take months to unpack in front of any qualified counselor. Lotus couldn't easily forget the years they had spent together and chalk it all up as lies. 'Widow does care about me…' The woman was just... unhinged.
'Can you blame her?'
Lotus couldn't, but that didn't mean she was going to sacrifice the life she wanted for herself in favor of appeasing the woman. 'I'll take any good luck I can get at this point.' The young faunus returned to her food, a light smile playing at her lips despite the battle that continued to rage on her in mind.
The pair of huntsmans' conversation died out, before Qrow peeked outside. The sun had already started to climb above the treetops, rays pouring in through the open windows to light the room. His eyes turned to Lotus, "Let me know when you're ready to head out. I'll take you back into town and show you to the bullhead."
Lotus nodded, not wanting to seem rude by speaking with food in her mouth and held up a finger. She was interrupted by Yang.
"You can't leave yet. I want a rematch," the blond glowered at Lotus, eyes narrowed to stare her down intently over the top of the kitchen table.
The spider faunus snorted, nearly choking on her food in doing so, but managed to recover after beating her chest. She gasped a few more times to clear her airways and recovered her composure before replying, "I was planning on using a broom to sweep, but I guess I could mop the floor with you again instead." Yang's eyes flared red.
Qrow sighed, "Children, children. Nobody is fighting anybody. You'll have enough time to spar at Beacon. That's the entire point of combat classes."
Ruby looked nervously between the three and put a hand on Yang's forearm, right below her clenched fist, "Yang, it's fine! She didn't hurt me or anything, and she apologized already."
Yang took a moment to look at Ruby, her eyes flickering back to lilac. She sighed and gave her sister a sheepish smile, "Alright, Rubes."
"Where's a broom?" Lotus turned away to ask Qrow, but it was Ruby that replied in an excited rush.
"I'll get it!" the little bundle of excitement turned into a blur of red and black, zipping across the room to a back closet and pulling out a broom and dust pan. Lotus stood and accepted them from her when she returned, then headed back up the stairs.
Ruby followed, only a step behind as Lotus made her way back to the second floor, "So! Nice to meet you! My name's Ruby. I didn't catch your name…?"
"Olivia," Lotus replied, setting aside the dust pan for the moment to begin sweeping up the wooden debris that littered the floor.
"You're going to Beacon with my sister, right?" Ruby asked, shuffling out of the way as Lotus swept up a few stray chunks that had been knocked closer to the stairs.
"That's the idea," Lotus answered, then turned an eye to Ruby, "How long until you get in? Guessing from your weapon, it's pretty obvious you want to be a huntress too, right?"
Ruby rocked back and forth on her heels, "I have two more years at Signal!"
'Only fifteen and she already managed to craft that monstrosity?'
Lotus laughed, "I can see why Qrow told me not to show you my weapon. One look at yours would clue anyone in to you being a weapon nerd."
Just at the mention of Lotus's weapon, Ruby's eyes lit up, "I didn't even think you used one! All you had was your fists when you fought Yang!"
Lotus shrugged, "I'm used to not having a weapon with me. You can't depend on it to win every fight for you."
Ruby stopped what she was about to say, then glanced away, "I meaaannn, you don't really need to learn how to fight without your weapon, right?"
Lotus paused, then set the broom down against the wall, turning back to Ruby, "If I attacked you right now, what would you do?"
"Uhh, use my speed to try and run to get my weapon?"
Sixth sense fully active, Lotus could feel the mass of steel in its collapsed state in the room behind her, "I'm in the way. How are you going to get past me to get to it?"
"Push you out of the way…?" Ruby was starting to doubt her own plan of action, eyes drifting past Lotus to her bedroom door as realization dawned on her face.
Lotus laughed, "Do you want to try that?" The faunus flexed her semblance on to her limbs just incase the girl was silly enough to take her up on the offer.
Ruby thought it over for a moment then shook her head, dejected, "No… You're bigger than me and you were able to beat up Ya-" The girl's eyes flickered up towards her bedroom door, betraying her intentions. In a sudden burst of speed, Ruby tried to blur past Lotus, using the conversation as an attempt to distract her.
"Erk!"
Ruby was yanked to a halt by Lotus's hand on her clothes a moment later, Ruby's feet flying out from under her as she fell down next to the pile of freshly swept wooden chunks. The girl swivelled her head back around to look at Lotus and crossed her arms, pouting.
"That's not fair!"
The faunus grinned, "Your fault for wearing a cape, kid. Always consider your enemy's weak points before you go in for the… uh, attack." 'Woops. Probably best to not instruct the kid on the best ways to kill people. Qrow would not appreciate that.'
Ruby huffed, "What's your weakness, then?"
Lotus stared at her incredulously, "Why in the world would I tell you that? Never give away vital information if you don't have to!"
'Seriously? This kid wouldn't make it a day in the slums!' Lotus hoisted Ruby up to her feet and pushed her off to the side. She swept the small pile she had created into the dust pan, shaking her head in disbelief all the while. 'I might have told Cinder I like innocent girls, but this is borderline child endangerment. How could two huntsmen not manage to teach them such simple concepts?'
Lotus was still shaking her head as she returned back to the kitchen. She stepped on the little foot lever to prop the trash can open and emptied the dust pan into it, then returned the items to their rightful place.
Her eyes settled on Qrow, standing and looking out the kitchen window, "Hey old man, I'm ready to get out of here when you are. Sooner I get that entrance exam done, the better, right?"
Qrow gave her a small glare, "I'm not old… but yeah, the bullhead will start accepting passengers soon so we might as well head out."
Lotus nodded and jaunted back up stairs to grab her things. She opted for a dark grey sweater overtop a sport's bra this time. The sweater was tight fitting but stretchy enough to give her a full range of movement. 'A good idea since I'll have to fight those droids.' Lotus doubted they would be tough regardless, but she wasn't about to start rolling any dice on her chances to get into Beacon. Last but not least, she strapped her sword to her hip, tightly clasping it in place so that it wouldn't bounce around.
The older huntsman met her at the front of the house, picking up his weapon from where it had been propped nearby and pulling the door open for them.
Lotus turned back to look over her shoulder as Ruby yelled goodbye, and answered in kind, "It was nice meeting you, Ruby. You too, Tai!"
Yang turned around and eyed her, gaze focusing on Lotus's weapon for a moment before the blond nodded, "See you at Beacon."
Lotus smiled, "Yeah, see you there. I promise I'll give you that rematch you're hoping for."
With their parting words out of the way, Qrow and Lotus set off back to town. After awhile, the man gave her a glance, "I didn't want to ask where they could hear you, but did you want to talk about what had you so riled up in the first place this morning?"
"It was a nightmare, like I said," Lotus replied simply, more than ready to avoid talking about it, "You should give me your address by the way so I can send lien to pay for the door. I wasn't kidding about that."
Qrow shook his head with a smirk, "You don't need to pay for the door, kid. Me and Tai can handle that no problem."
Lotus shrugged, "At least, I offered," then gave him a sideways glance, "You just taking me as far as the bullhead?"
"Nah, I need to go into Vale anyway to meet Oz. I'll show you where the school is on the way so you can take your exam."
The pair arrived back in town, and Qrow showed her to the bullhead. It was settled down into a small airfield, hidden back behind Signal. Qrow waved her away when Lotus reached for her lien, and just paid the pilot himself, "You can get the return trip if you ever want to stay the night again."
The bullhead lifted off, engines roaring to life and blowing away the dust beneath them as it raised into the air. The trip was much shorter than the ride on the ferry had been, and lacked ties to her one weakness, the one thing that she would never admit to, not even to sweet little Ruby.
'Water…'