Summary: The different teams of Beacon Academy introduce themselves to one another, plus Jaune makes his first (very short) appearance in this story, but he's not where you'd usually find him.
Notes: Brace yourself for a good degree of world building, a few new OC's and brief explorations into some characters' motivations.
Chapter rated for strong language and graphic violence.
"Heads up!"
Adam blocked the hit from his ginger head partner after her sudden warning.
"Good morning to you too," he said with a hint of sarcasm as he parried another strike. The pair was training together so as to get familiar with themselves as new partners.
"You're late... again."
"I know, I know," she acknowledged, waving the observation off as she spun her hammer once more, "Let's just get to it."
"Sure."
As he said so, his gaze moved discreetly and eyed his other teammate.
She was engaged with their team leader in a friendly hand-to hand brawl at the moment, maintaining a remarkable amount of focus.
With the brief look, he surmised that she managed to remain graceful despite being in the midst of a fight then gave an almost contemptuous look towards his own partner who looked like she had been pulled out of a dirty laundry pile.
Is it awkward for just me?
xXx
Pyrrha stole a glance at Adam as she exchanged blows with her partner and team leader, Ren.
He countered Nora's hit so coolly, he seems to have a lot of battle experience.
I wonder if it's awkward for him too.
Ever since the trial in the Emerald Forest, the two hadn't exchanged more than greetings between themselves.
She had felt it that day; there had been a sort of connection, a promise as their eyes met. The promise was something simple; she'd wait for him to come, and he'd get to her no matter what. It didn't go exactly as planned; he'd clashed with Nora accidentally and the pair were partners now instead.
Therefore, there was a measure of embarrassment present in their every meeting.
She felt that she had put some sort of pressure on him to 'save her' from the looks of the others, and was worried that he would feel that he'd... failed her in some way?
I'm probably just over thinking it, she decided finally, before stealing another glance at him.
This time however, their eyes met.
Despite being engrossed with their partners, their eyes met at that very moment, and both of them felt embarrassed because they could guess that they had both been stealing glances at each other while they trained.
Almost in sync, Nora and Ren tried to use the moment of the shock from the realisation to unbalance their opponent.
Bang.
That was embarrassing, both of them thought as they walked out of the training room, leaving Ren and Nora on the floor after their failed last attack.
xXx
"That was a nice session," Ren said, still aching after the training session, "Well, we will have the customary introduction of newly-formed teams, I'll go first."
"I'm Lie Ren, I hail from outside the Kingdoms, close the mountains of Anima. My weapon of choice is StormFlower and I like the colour green. My goal is to become a Hunstman because it's ironically a much more stable life than I'm used to."
"Hello," Pyrrha began nervously, "I'm Pyrrha Nikos, I hail from Mistral, Argus specifically, my weapons of choice are Akouo and Milo and my goal is to become a worthy Huntress."
"Hey there," Nora said, waving at all of them, "I'm Nora Valkyrie, I hail from the same place as Ren, my weapon of choice is my trusty warhammer Magnhild and pink is my favourite colour (coincidentally, that was the colour of Ren's Aura). And my goal is to... follow Ren I guess since we've always been together. Not 'together-together', not that he isn't handsome of course, he's very handsome, it's just that it'd be weird wouldn't it? Adam, you think it'd be weird don't you?"
Adam was caught off guard by the question, but simply coughed in an attempt to dispel the now awkward atmosphere.
"My name's Adam Vulpes, I similarly hail from outside the kingdoms, my weapon of choice is Wilt and Blush, and I like the colour... green."
He liked the colour green.
Adam's short hesitation was due to two things:
Firstly, it was because he had never before considered his favourite colour; despite the fact that the colour tradition was heavily emphasised in the Kingdoms, that wasn't the case for Menagerie and other places outside the Kingdoms because that element of their history (i.e. the Vytal Accords) was foreign to them as they didn't have as much skin in the game.
They were either hired by or allied to at least one Kingdom during The War, but they still felt separate from the culture that flowered in its aftermath. After all, many of the things that had been decided in the Vytal Accords weren't followed by the tribes outside the Kingdoms like the abolition of slavery (tribes outside the kingdoms still practiced slavery of both faunus and humans, especially rival tribes that had been crushed).
The second thing was that despite having never thought of it before, he knew for certain what his favourite colour was and that was because his favourite colour was the colour of her eyes.
"My goal's to fulfil my duty by protecting someone that means a lot to me."
But someone has put all that into disarray. It's decided, this girl is trouble, and even worse, I seem to like trouble.
xXx
"Well," Ruby began, standing before the rest of her teammates, "We're a newly formed team, so I think before anything else we should get to know each other."
"Great," Yang concurred as she encouraged her sister, seeing that she was nervous about what she was doing, "Wanna go first?"
"Okay then," she said with a small smile.
"I'm Ruby Rose (as you all know), I hail from Vale, specifically a small town named Patch and I trained at Signal Academy. My weapon of choice is a High-Calibre Sniper Scythe, Crescent Rose as you all are familiar with and... I love the colour red."
"Also," she added, as though she just remembered, "My goal is to become a great Huntress one day, can't forget about that."
"Okay," Yang chipped in, seeing that the rest weren't exactly keen on stepping up, "Name's Yang, also from Patch, weapon of choice is Ember Celica, my Dual Ranged Shot Gauntlets and I love the colour yellow. My goal is to... get a thrill I guess, the life of a Huntsman is as high-octane as it gets and I plan on helping as many people as I can along the way."
After Yang finished her introduction, she looked intensely at her partner, pressuring her to participate also.
"My name's Blake Dellarobia," Blake said, relenting to the insistent gaze of her partner, "I hail from outside the Kingdoms."
Her statement shocked everyone present. Despite Pyrrha's lack of reaction on learning that all three of her teammates hailed from outside the Kingdoms, (she was surprised, but thought it would be rude to appear that way or press them with questions) it was still fairly rare to see students from there attending the Huntsman Academies.
The Kingdoms were the safe haven for humanity from the Creatures of Grimm, they were everything the people needed to survive, their shelter in the storm.
But not everywhere enjoyed that sanctuary; there were many areas that due to either geographic or political reasons were independent from the Kingdoms.
Outside the kingdoms, the most popular political unit was the tribe. They had strange traditions and cultures that differed from that of the Kingdoms, and even worshipped different gods than the ones that were most popular in their kingdoms.
An example of such was the Branwen tribe, a tribe that adhered to the ancient Marauder culture which had originated in Solitas, but then migrated to Anima, where there were more settlements and resources. It was said that they worshipped the marauder god Malatroc who (unlike most other gods) was believed to have never abandoned them, but instead believed to have gone on a raid to another land and would return one day.
This belief is what they attributed their tenacious life force to along with other special gifts they possessed and why they refused to permanently ally with any one civilisation, as it contradicted the Doctrine of the Pillagers.
Hence, this tribe, as well as many others who believed in either that same god or variants of it, survived by doing very little farming (agricultural techniques were not part of their legacy since they had originated from the wilderness of Solitas) and instead got their sustenance from hunting and raiding other tribes and even settlements within the Kingdoms.
Is it possible she's from... there? Yang asked herself.
Although it was highly unlikely, she still felt that she had to find an opportunity to ask her partner at some point.
That's good, Blake thought to herself, They'll probably not ask me too much now.
Although technically true that she hailed from outside the Kingdoms, she didn't want anyone knowing that she came from Menagerie specifically and lying that she came from another Kingdom could prove to be troublesome in the future if they asked too many questions, so a vague telling would suit her goals best, she knew that Adam would do the same without the need for her instructions.
"My weapon of choice is a Variant Ballistic Chain Scythe, and as you can probably guess from my emo demeanour, my favourite colour is black. My goal is..."
Blake hesitated for a second; she had a generic, prepared answer that she had planned to give if ever asked, but something within her felt as though that wasn't enough. She felt that she had to say her goal out loud now, as though it would not be a dream she had committed to if she couldn't come out and say it.
"... Outside the kingdoms, I experienced bloodshed every day."
"And... somewhere, during all of that, I forgot who I was, I even doubt now that I ever knew. My one and only goal is to wash my hands and find myself again... that's it. I don't have a particular drive to become a Huntsman to be honest, but it feels like there's redemption in that so... I'm here."
The room became remarkably stifled after her speech.
None of the girls had any idea how to respond to what they'd just heard from their teammate.
In all honesty, they had all been somewhat flippant in their admissions, Yang for instance left out a huge part of her motivation to be a Huntress, and Ruby had almost forgotten that part. To have Blake bare herself so sincerely before all of them made them feel a degree of shame at this.
This might just be another thrill for me, but for some... it may be what's keeping them alive.
"Ahem."
The small cough from Weiss knocked everyone else out of their introspection and made them remember that there was one more member.
"If nobody minds, then I'll start my introduction now."
There was no response from any of them, but they all seemed to be in silent agreement, so the heiress didn't dillydally.
"My name is Weiss Schnee, I hail from Atlas and Myrtenaster, my Multi-Action Dust Rapier is my weapon of choice. I love the colour... white and my goal is to... win a bet."
"A bet?"
"My father, Jacques Schnee, doesn't believe that I have what it takes to live on my own, so we made a bet. If I win, I get the company."
"The Schnee Dust Company?!"
"It's nothing surprising," Weiss said, realising that she may have said too much in her excitement as she heard the shock in her teammates' voice, "I'm the heir anyway since my older sister abandoned the family and by the time I graduate, I'll be old enough to take it. Being able to make it will prove that I'm qualified, and that'll be it."
Assuming I graduate, she thought gloomily, looking at the child she had been paired up with and who was her leader.
But before that, I'll need to recruit powerful allies to achieve my other goal. Doing it while I'm the Chairman would be troublesome; I'd have more resources, but at the same time, I'd be under much stricter watch. Yes, the optimal time to do it would be here in Beacon.
Thrills, identity crises, successions? Am I the only one who's just here to be a Huntress? Isn't that a little bland? Does that mean I'll be sidelined because I'm less interesting?
"I'm glad that we've all said this," Ruby said with a smile, "I feel that we all know each other a little more because of it, and I hope I can assist you all in your goals."
"Of course."
"Same here."
"Whatever."
I may not have as much at stake, but the least I can do is be there for them... to help all of them achieve their goals.
xXx
Far away, in Vacuo's Shade Academy, four students faced each other in their dorm rooms.
"Somehow, we're all teammates," a tall young man with burnt orange hair and an annoyed expression said, "So let's do quick introductions and keep the chitchat to a minimum."
"I'm Cardin Winchester, I hail from Vale and I'm here to find a particular piece of scum and murder them."
"He's Sky Lark, he's also from Vale and he's here for... what are you here for again?"
The boy in question made a few signs at the apparent team leader in response to his question.
"Oh yeah, he's here because I'm an idiot," he said matter-of-factly, "Your turns."
"Well, my name is Shouter, actually, it's Cernu Russet, but everyone calls me Shouter," a brown-haired lad with dog ears said nervously, "I hail from Vacuo, and I'm here to..."
"To what?" Cardin asked impatiently as the last part of his sentence drifted into a whisper.
"I'm here to grow a backbone!" he shouted, psyching himself a little too much so that his voice would be heard.
"Well, my name's Jaune Arc," a tall blonde with messy hair and a sort of rabbit icon on his shirt, began, "I hail from Mistral, and I'm here to become a great warrior, like my father and his father before him and my great-grandfather... who admittedly wasn't that great, but who had this really cool sword."
As he spoke, he whipped out Crocea Mors and showed it off a bit.
First Gen huh? Cardin thought casually as he looked at the boy up and down.
Only the crazily skilled still used those. Is he something good despite looking like such a pussy?
"Now that we know each other, we're set for our first training session."
xXx
He had the nerve to say his great-grandfather wasn't 'that great' when he can barely swing a sword?
Cardin stood above the almost motionless body of his teammate who had fallen after a single blow to the stomach.
No wonder he uses First Gen, with his skill, a toaster is probably difficult to handle. How did I end up with someone like him?
xXx
Cardin stalked the streets of Vale with a mission, the moon casting fragmented light across and creating menacing shadows on the rough path he was on.
After a few inquiries, he had confirmed that there was White Fang hideout somewhere in this area, in a bar named conspicuously 'Whitey's'.
It had been a few months, but the Winchester Family heir's patience had finally paid off.
Ring.
The bell at the entrance of the bar rang as he walked in, taking a moment to scan the entirety of the establishment.
Four of them, he said to himself, noticing the kid attending to the bar and three others who seemed to work there cleaning up.
He had selected this exact time, because from his personal investigations, he knew that this was the time they closed, and since the four present were always there, he assumed they had information.
"We're just about closed," one of them, a girl with red hair and black eyes, said with a smile that was often used to trap customers, said, "But you can come ar-"
"I've come here for a whole week," he announced, "I've been watching all of you."
His abrupt statement caught the lot's attention, and they all stared at him tensely, wondering what he was here for.
He flexed his wrist slowly, bringing their attention for the first time to the suitcase in his hand.
"Inside this case is ten thousand Lien, that's a lot of money. I brought it here for you all because you're going to tell me all about the White Fang."
He threw the money onto a table, all the eyes in the room flashing a look at it before turning back to the newcomer.
"Are you crazy?"
The question came from the tallest person in the group, a devilishly handsome but also shaggily dressed horse faunus with a missing tail.
"What would we know about the White Fang? Get out of here."
Although Bay Kelp would usually take the opportunity to try and scam anyone he met, the amount of money and the demeanour of the person holding it gave him bad vibes.
He turned to the leader of their group, Lug Tawn, a dog faunus like the one tending the bar, but he showed no reaction besides alertness at the newcomer.
"Please don't misunderstand me friends" Cardin said with a small amicable laugh, contrasting the entire vibe he had given off since his entrance, "The question isn't whether or not you'll give me the information I'm asking for, it's whether or not you're going to get paid for it... because you're going to tell me what I want to know."
"You're outnumbered you know," the comment came from Bay's lips and drew glares from all others present.
"You know you're not supposed to say that," Lug chastised in an almost exasperated manner.
Suddenly, three other people appeared; they were Cardin's friends, Russell Thrush, Dove Bronzewing and Sky Lark.
"It doesn't seem that way to me, now are you going to tell me what I want to know?"
The first strike went to Brid, as she sent a stream of crimson flames at Cardin, while simultaneously charging at him.
Cardin blocked easily with Executioner, only to be met by the sudden view of her foot; she had used the flames as a screen in order to get directly in front of him. Before her hit landed though, she suddenly crashed to the ground, as though an invisible hand had grabbed her violently.
As she fell, her descent was arrested by a knee to her midsection, before the Winchester heir closed off with a headbutt, sending her flying back.
Immediately she started on her flight, Bay jumped before Cardin, abandoning his fight against Russell in anger.
He fired a few shots from his weapon before he engaged him with a flurry of blows each of which was more forceful than the last. Cardin barely avoided the rain of rounds the faunus sent at him from striking his face while he attacked, and they sent him back, depleteding his Aura.
He's fast.
Cardin thought to himself as he took a look at his opponent's weapon.
It was a pair horseshoe guns with the horseshoes sharp enough to attack with like he had been doing; using it with a fighting style akin to boxing and firing shots simultaneously.
Is that all it can do?
As if in response to his mental query, he joined the two guns together and pulled them apart. This time though, there was an almost transparent staff and the horseshoes were on either one of them, like a double-bladed staff.
Fuck.
Bay came at him again, using the length and hooking capacity of his weapon to unbalance his opponent. Suddenly, one end of his weapn became weightier, crashing through the floor of the bar just before it reached him. Cardin took this opportunity to make an upward cleave with Executioner, but just before he landed it, he was struck by an arrow.
The arrow had almost no effect though except it allowed his opponent to get away.
Crap, he swore internally, making a quick glance at the bartender who had shot the arrow before immediately focusing on his opponent again, He's probably figured it out a bit now.
A bright blue light suddenly came out of the horse faunus and a sort of reflective film appeared midair, it was like a mirror and stood at almost the height of a person.
Is that his Semblance? He asked himself as he stared cautiously at the strange construct.
Before he knew it, he fell down to one knee, grasping desperately for a support. He was dizzy, like someone had just put him through a washing machine cycle or three, dizzy.
This was Bay's Semblance, Phantasmirror. Using his Aura, he created a psychedelic image that evoked different reactions from the viewer. For example, he could make people feel dizzy or motion sick just by looking at the construct. It differed from other illusion-type Semblances in that he couldn't control the shape or form of the illusion, but could control the effect it had on the viewer.
Just as he was about to down the struggling Cardin, Russell intercepted his attack, throwing his daggers and disarming him before teleporting him away.
Almost immediately, he appeared in front of Cardin and helped pull him up.
"He won't be back for a while," he declared as he turned towards the bartender.
The redhead had disappeared with the other dog faunus, and seeing as he had teleported the other guy away, there was no one else to interrogate.
"Thanks a lot guys, the cops will probably show up soon, so make yourselves scarce. I'll take care of this lowlife quickly."
All three members exchanged looks and before heeding their friend's words, understanding what he meant. Instantly, all three of them were gone, leaving him alone with the barkeep.
Now that the others were gone, the barkeep looked terrified, snot falling down from his nose as he looked in horror at the mace-wielder.
"Tell me what I want to know."
"I don't k-"
Before he finished his answer, he was on the floor. Cardin leisurely picked up a single glass from the counter and held it above the terrified boy's throat.
"Let me tell you a little about my Semblance. It's called Magnum Onus, and it allows me to manipulate the gravity around objects, basically, I can make this little glass feel like a boulder. If you don't tell me what I want to know, you won't tell anyone anything ever again."
Cardin wasn't bluffing; nothing would make him happier than silencing this White Fang trash forever.
"I-I-I don't know anything, I-I swear. We're just Fang impostors from Vacuo, we use the name to frighten competition and sometimes pin our crimes on them (the Fang)."
"Please, please, you have to believe me."
Cardin looked at him intensely, trying to pressure him into speaking.
Suddenly, a foul odour swept past his nose; looking down, he saw that the boy had wet himself.
"I'm sor-"
Before his apology made it out of his lips fully, Cardin kicked his teeth in.
You fucking animal!
Then he did it again.
Then he did it again.
And again.
Every kick evoked an even more pathetic utterances from the faunus' mouth and that further enraged Cardin, causing him to land an even more vicious blow in response.
The sound of flesh meeting flesh echoed throughout the empty bar and unto the street, making anyone within earshot wince at the sound.
Suddenly, one of the benches twisted and turned like a rope and wrapped around the brunette's frame, keeping him bound before he was viciously bounced up and down and across the bar.
"Why do these things always happen on my day off?"
The exasperated sigh came from a tall blonde woman who adjusted her glasses as she spoke. She was Glynda Goodwitch, the Vice Principal of Beacon Academy.
xXx
Cardin woke up in a brightly lit room, looking up he saw a grey-haired man looking at him intensely, making the Winchester Family heir feel uncomfortable.
"No cookies and milk?" Cardin asked sarcastically, trying to show put forward a fearless facade even though he noticed that he was without his weapons or armour.
"You put that young man in the hospital," was the curt response, although he said it almost matter-of-factly, with barely a hint of judgement.
"Good."
Getting up from his seat gingerly, his eyes never once leaving the spectacled ones of his interrogator, he leaned forward.
"He was White Fang trash, and he got what he deserved. If I had my way, he'd drink through a straw for the rest of his life or not at all."
"Interesting," Ozpin, the man who was interrogating him said, "I'll let you know firstly that he wasn't a member of the White Fang. The boy you hospitalised is a student candidate at Beacon just like you were, his name is Cernu Russet, although from what I know, he's always referred to as Shouter Danky."
"He was roped into a small gang of conmen and thugs hailing from Vacuo who used the name of the organisation to intimidate opponents as well as cover their tracks. His presence there was merely bad luck though as he reportedly wasn't involved in anything illegal and apparently just took care of the bar."
"That," he continued with a small sigh, "Is the boy you've sent to the hospital because of your grudge. This is also not the first time that you're getting in a situation similar to this, I'm afraid that I can't have behaviour like this from any student of mine."
What? Is he...?
Perhaps due to his nerves, or the fact that he was still a bit groggy from being turned into a yo-yo by Glynda, he had failed to notice that the person in front of him was in fact the Principal of Beacon Academy, Ozpin.
"That means... my admission has been rescinded?"
He spoke calmly considering the news he had been given.
Perhaps 'calm' wasn't as accurate a description as robotic; he had just realised the consequences of what he had done. If he hadn't been stopped, killing that guy wasn't out of the question; that was all he had felt while he was with him, he knew certainly that nothing short of brute force would have stopped him. Admission was actually the least of his problems in all honesty.
"What about criminal charges?"
"Indeed, you're supposed to serve at least some time for the crimes you've committed as well as being rejected any admission from a Huntsman Academy. However, I have other plans."
Cardin looked up with his now glazed over eyes, showing a flash of hope.
"I would prefer to team you up with other... 'deplorables' in the hope of reformation."
"Your teammates would be the young faunus you injured; despite the fact that there's no evidence he took part in their illegal activities, he still had close affiliation with such criminals and that's ground enough for expulsion. The other member would be another student hailing from Mistral, Jaune Arc, he attempted forging transcripts to get in. Lastly, your friend Sky Lark who aided you in your criminal activity."
Fuck.
Cardin had hoped that by sending his friends away before law enforcement showed up, he would be able to avoid them getting them into trouble, but he had failed.
"You all will be attending Shade Academy, the tough Vacuan training methods would be best-fitted for your... discipline."
"What about the others?"
"Russell Thrush and Dove Bronzewing? Their admission into Beacon won't be affected, but naturally, I'll pair them up with their teammates rather than them going through the selection process they'd usually do as those things are ultimately down to my discretion."
"Good luck young man."
xXx
Oh yeah, that's how.
He sighed internally as his thoughts travelled to his friends back in Beacon, Weiss and lastly...
I won't forget, he said to himself, I promise.
xXx
Back in Beacon, another unlikely team was introducing themselves.
"I'm Dove Bronzewing, pleasure to meet you all," a serious looking teen with squinted eyes and a business-like smile began, "My weapon of choice is Halshott, and my goal is to be a bodyguard in the future and support the dream of a close friend. I'm also partial to the colour blue because it matches my eyes."
His attempt at humour was met with silence from his teammates.
"I'm Russell Thrush, my weapon of choice is a pair of Multi-Action Dust Daggers called Shortwings and I guess I have the same goal as my pal here. I like the colour yellow, no particular reason."
After the pair had introduced themselves, they stared at the remaining two, casting invisible pressure on them.
Do these bastards really not remember us? Brid asked herself as a bead of sweat streaked across her beautiful face, They're acting so natural.
Bay also felt similarly tense, but he opted to reciprocate their efforts.
"My name is Bay Kelp, I hail from Vacuo and my weapon of choice is Kismet, my favourite colour is red because it's the colour of Brid's hair."
"Don't say embarrassing things like that out of the blue," she complained, hitting him on his head as she did.
"Well, they were all pretty honest about their introductions, so I thought it would be best to do the same to show that we're as serious as they are."
Not really; Bay was a conman, although not a very good one, but his striking looks and easygoing nature made it easy to form connections with people, and that was his plan by being unabashedly honest.
"Up yours," Brid said with a rude gesture towards the pair, "I know you recognise us."
She stared at the two teens, showing them that she had caught on to them.
"Oh yeah," Dove said trying to control his annoyance, "You're those losers we beat up in that bar right? The ones that ran away like pussies right?"
Russell rolled his eyes at seeing his friend revert into old habits so easily.
"We tried keeping quiet about it because we were scared that you'd be embarrassed but it seems you're over that and don't mind being remembered as the dickless fuckwads you are right?"
"What?"
"Calm down," surprisingly enough, it was Brid that was saying this, trying to hold Bay at bay.
This was part of the reason he was such a bad conman; he had a bad temper and threw the ruse away quickly.
"Listen, I don't like this either, but we have to work together, otherwise you pair will end up in jail. Also, you should calm down Dove, stop doing your impression of Sai from Naruto."
Gulp.
He was right, assuming they failed in their "reformation" the pair would be imprisoned for their many, many, many crimes.
Damn you, Lug! Both of them said internally in fury.
xXx
A solitary dog faunus suddenly sneezed.
Is someone badmouthing me?
Notes: So yeah, the chapter went on a huge detour, but I feel it's best to focus on the other characters as much as possible.
A review I noticed from the first fic was that Jaune was overused in fanfiction and he has the portrayal of a perfect MC in a lot of them and that leads to diminishing of Pyrrha's character to his 1D waifu. While I tend to agree, Jaune is a character with potential and I hope that I'm good enough to show that well.
As for Pyrrha, I will try to do same. I personally don't fear such a development since she has her own stuff going on. For those who have read my other fic, the secrets of characters like Cardin, Sky, Weiss and Pyrrha won't be a real shock for you as I'm using them as a template (although differently) in this story.
Tell me what you think of the OC's so far. Following the rules, all four of them are named after characters or creatures featuring in Celtic mythology and each person's name is related to the colour brown.
Please do give me any opinions or ideas for arcs or plot points in this fic; I have a roughly plotted path, but I would really love to get more ideas. I'm not promising to use all of them (or any of them) but they'll all be read and considered and I'll give responses either in the comments or in the Notes of a future chapter.