"Last night there was an incident at Vale's Ancient Civilization Museum. Two suspects, wearing trash bags, broke into the museum and stole a seemingly random artifact and injured a guard. Investigators have told us that the robbery is likely unrelated to Roman Torchwick's latest crime spree but will still consider the possibility. The two thieves were apparently able to get in undetected, but video footage shows them walking right through a guard station. The guard stationed at the time refused to comment on how this happened. The suspects hardly left any evidence, and the only thing police can confirm at this time is that the group consisted of one male and one female. They are asking anyone with any information to please call.

"But while something was stolen another was returned. A playground that mysteriously vanished from Ravensstone Middle School, believed to have been taken by scrappers, suddenly reappeared last night in perfect condition. School and staff are not sure what to make of this, but they are glad to have their equipment back, regardless. This has been Lisa Lavender, signing out"

Emerald circled her finger on the bar counter, barley paying attention to the TV behind it. She was bored out of her mind. Who knew you got some much free time when you didn't have to deal with the dangers of the street every day. Emerald couldn't even remember the last she did something that didn't pertain to her immediate survival.

It was that uncertainly of what to do with her time that had led her to following

Jaune to work. Imagine her surprise when it turned out he worked for one of the biggest mob bosses in the city. The burly man behind the bar was barely tolerating her presence, especially after Jaune had told him of their agreement. Emerald doubted that the infamous Junior knew about her directly, but he had been in the game long enough to see that she was an orphaned thief. He probably suspected her of stealing something from him in the past or planning to steal something now. She had seen what happened to people who got on the mob's bad side, though, and had never been willing to take the risk. Junior had threated to cut Jaune's pay for every meal he served her, and even floated the idea of firing him permanently for bringing street trash into his club, but the only other females in the club had talked him down.

Speaking of the girls, they were currently sat on either side of her drinking beverages that were excluded from the deal she made with Jaune. "Melanie, who's the new girl?"

"I don't know, Miltia, but mister cook brought her here."

"Oh no, do you think he's gotten bored of us? Maybe he and Junior are conspiring to hire this one."

"And shake my ass for money? Sorry ladies but I haven't sunk that low," Emerald replied, enjoying the way their faces fell at the same time, like they were reflections of each other.

"Really because with your outfit I couldn't tell," the white one sneered. "It doesn't leave much to the imagination. Is this how you attract your customer while you work the street corner?"

Emerald went for her weapons, the twins mirroring her a second later. It was about a second away from turning into a brawl, but a deliberate cough from the bartender made them freeze. His glare was leveled at all three, but Emerald was the one directly in the line of sight. "We are having our grand reopening in a few hours. I would appreciate it if we didn't have a repeat incident."

The twins stiffened and retracted their weapons while Emerald released her grip on hers. A fight here would be the end of any deal she and Jaune had made along with just causing pointless trouble.

"Maybe the outfit is to impressive someone special," Melanie said willing to skip the physical battle in favor of continuing the mental one.

"She did come here with Jaune," Miltia added. "She might have fallen for our dear cook."

"I thought you two were the ones into him," Emerald countered. "You did just come to his recuse when your boss threated to cut his pay, and doubt you did that for me or out of the goodness of your heart."

"Are you one of those people that thinks someone has a romantic interest just because they're nice to you?" Miltia said. "We were simply helping our co-worker. We don't want him to become homeless, right Melanie?"

"Of course, Miltia. There's nothing worse than being homeless and having to beg people to feed you."

Emerald growled. She came close to reaching for her weapons again, but luckily, before any of the girls could forget themselves, Jaune came out with three plates of steaming hot food. "I see you're getting along just about as well as I expected," he said, setting a plate in front of all of them.

"We were just bounding." Melanie said. "Isn't that right, Em?"

"Don't call me that."

"See. I already know how to make her mad."

"You don't seem to have to get to know anyone to figure out what makes them mad," Jaune replied. "It's probably just your semblance." Militia nearly spit out her drink when she heard that.

"That would make a lot of sense," she laughed. "Maybe being an annoyance it just part of her soul."

"How dare you talk about your sister like that, and you," Melanie said pointing towards Jaune, "do you think Junior will stand for you insulting his best employee."

"I'll let this one slide," Junior said from not too far away. He said it so seriously despite it obviously being a joke that the whole group couldn't help but laugh, except Melanie of course. She looked about ready to explode. Even Emerald was finding some humor in it.

Melanie, not likening this type of focus on her, quickly found a way to shift it somewhere else. "So, mister cook I've notice you have aura now. There's this new presence around you, impossible to miss. I'm just wondering who did it for you." Melanie's eyes moved to Emerald with a knowing smirk. "Whoever it was must be someone really close to you. You mentioned you family didn't live in Vale when you applied her, so that only leaves a lover. What I don't understand is why your aura needed to be unlocked. You're not doing anything dangerous, only cooking. Did you girlfriend what to increase your endurance, perhaps? Maybe thought you'd last longer."

Jaune faced blushed red, and another round of laughter shook the bar. This time Emerald did not find any humor and looked absolutely murderous. Oddly enough that intent was mainly directed at Jaune and not Melanie.

The club was in full swing now and Jaune was exhausted, not because he had to make and excessive amount of food but because he got so little sleep last night. As he had thought, his new roommate was an absolute nightmare. One of the first things she had done after she had taken her shower was lay claim to his bed. When he had confronted her about it, she told him to sleep on the couch. Jaune didn't bother pointing out that his apartment didn't have a couch. He slept on the floor that night, getting a whiff of all the delightful scents that had probably been building up for the past couple of years. He had thought about kicking Emerald off his bed, it was his apartment after all, but since she slept with her weapons like they were stuffed animals, he scratched that idea.

He would need to figure out a way to fix that, but so far, the only think he could think of was admit defeat and buy an air-mattress. It had only been one day and he already felt like, he was the one crashing at her place. She was actually there right now, having left when the customers started pouring in, despite not having a key to get in. She had assured him that she didn't need one which Jaune accepted at face value knowing that she could easily pick the lock, and even more sure that no one would try to stop her.

This had all been within expectations, however. He knew what he had gotten into when he accepted the thief's deal, and honestly, while annoying, it was nothing worse than what his sisters put him through. What was really souring his mood was an unrealized causality of the blonde's rampage. One of the things she had destroyed was the lights above the dancefloor, which of course had to be replaced, just not in the exact same way. Long story short, Jaune no longer had a magical grill, and while nobody had noticed the increase in his output speed, they sure noticed when it slowed down. He had received more complaints in the last few hours than he had gotten from every other day on the job combined. If it was about the quality of the food he might be able to understand, but every single one of them was because it was taking a little longer than they were used to.

It was putting him a little on edge since at any moment Junior could walk in and yell at if for being too slow despite it literally not be possible for him to go any faster. It was probably that building tension that caused him to jump nearly a foot in the air when someone tapped him on the side.

"I wasn't planning to spit in the food!" Jaune yelled, putting his hands in front of his face as if he was going to get hit, but as he looked through the spaces between his figures, he didn't see the hulking tower that was Junior. In fact, he didn't see anyone at all.

Had he just imagined it?

Another tap on his side caused him to look down and see a brightly colored girl, who he had to remind himself wasn't a kid. "Neo?" Jaune asked.

She nodded, happily.

Jaune relaxed happy to see the one girl he had meet in this city that was generally nice to him, even if that one girl worked as an enforcer for the most prolific thieves in vale. Jaune really needed to make non-criminal connections. It wasn't good for his personality. "You know, you and Roman can knock instead of scaring me to death."

Neo shrugged as if that was just the way things had to be.

"I guess I should have expected that," Jaune said checking the grill to see how much time he had to chat. "What do you need from me."

Neo smiled and held up her scroll pressing a play button. Roman's voice came played through in a low tired drone that lacked some his usual enthusiasm. "Hey kid, congratulations on completing your first real job. Truthfully, I had my doubts. Stealing form a museum without any prior experience is difficult if not impossible, but I guess, the Beacon forger doesn't follow convention. Anyways, enough with the praise. You're probably wondering why I'm having Neo play you a prerecorded message, and didn't just call you or meet with you myself. The answer to that is sort of complicated. Turns out, the business agreement I've become a part of is a little more demanding and nonnegotiable than I first thought. Nothing you should be worried about, of course, but I just want to let you know that you're officially on your own. I'll still answer two more phone calls, but I don't think we'll be seeing each other anytime soon, so no more of these little check-ins. I'm rooting for you kid. I hope you ready. P.S. about half of caretakers die by this point in their career, and objectively speaking you're at a disadvantage compared to your predecessors, so don't be ashamed if you fail. I won't think anything less of you."

The recording cut off and all Jaune could do was stare wide-eyed at an unconcerned Neo. "He was joking about that last part, right?" Neo shook her head in a definite no. "Just for clarification, I am the only person Roman has apprenticed? I'm not just another sap in line for the meat grinder, right?"

Neo latched her hands behind her back and leaned forward with the most joyous smile Jaune had ever seen. "So, should I just leave the book with you, or will you be a be to find it alongside my bloodied corpse."

Neo giggled in way that might have tricked him into believe she cared if it wasn't the fact she clearly didn't expect him to make it through to next week. Jaune took it all back about this girl being the nicest. She was a monster.

At that very moment, the twins walked in. "Jauneee~" Melanie called. "We're wondering what's the hold up with the food we order—oh!" Melanie's eye switched between Jaune and Neo. "Wow, I didn't know you were such a lady killer. You just brought a girl here this morning, and yet you're already going behind her back with short and curvy."

Neo seemed to be enjoying this as she quickly slid her arm through his and pressed herself up against him to the point where her very generous chest was getting squished. "It's not what it looks like."

"Just make sure that when you have your fun to do it on your own time and far away from any of the food," Militia added.

"I'm telling you it's not like that!"

Jaune returned to his apartment after a grueling day of work and teasing to find his room unlocked and his new roommate sprawled out on his bed with her head hanging over the side and her legs kicking in the air. "Have you heard of knocking? What if you had walked in on me naked?"

"Don't you start, too. I just escaped the twins." Jaune hobbled in. "Also, this is my apartment."

"Our apartment."

"It's not ours until you pay for the rent." Jaune correct. "I was honestly hoping that you would've just stolen all my stuff and left."

"You can't get rid of me that easily. We're in this together."

"In what together?"

"You know going around fixing magical problems and saving the world."

"Forgive me for judging you," Jaune said not the least concerned with Emerald's feelings," but you don't seem like the type of person who would ever go out of their way to help someone. I thought you were just going it sit around her and mooch food off me like a house cat."

"That was basically my plan, but it's only been a day and I'm already so bored. I can't just still here and do nothing. Normal just doesn't cut it for me."

"You could get a job and become a productive member of society," Jaune suggested.

"I need some excitement in my life."

"Didn't the twins offer you one? I'm sure working for the mob is more than enough to fill that need," he said growing increasingly nervous. This couldn't be going where he thought it was.

"Then I remember I know a certain magic man," Emerald continued either not hearing him or not caring about the distressed look he was giving her, "who's has knowledge of a whole world of unusual and exciting things. If I tag along with him, I'm sure I'll never get bored,"

"Alright, stop right there! There will be no tagging along and no using me to amuse yourself. That was not part of the deal. You get food and shelter and that's it."

"And, why can't I?" Emerald said getting off the bed. "You can't just go out on your little adventures and leave me behind. I can help, or have you already forgotten about my assistance in the museum."

"I haven't and I'm thankful for it, but that was a one-time thing. You were the best person to help break into a museum, but I'm not making thievery a habit. The only thing you'll help do is drive me into an early grave."

"It's funny that you think I'm the one who will be unable to handle it. You should be thanking me for offering my help, or better yet, begging me to because in case you've forgotten we had a little scuffle when we met, and it didn't exactly go well for you."

"I'm not that bad. I've fought monsters before." Jaune said referring to the single misfit he had defeated. "Plus, I have aura now. I'm sure I'll be fine."

"Aura that I unlocked for you," Emerald stated. "You don't even know how to properly us it yet." Emerald proved it by delivery a quick punch to his shoulder which Jaune's aura failed to defend. "I can teach you and help you get stronger, but I'm not going to do it unless I come along."

"Why do you even want to?" Jaune asked rubbing his shoulder. "Didn't you want to leave the danger of your old life behind. Why are you so eager to jump right back in?"

"Like I said, I'm bored. I thought I wanted a safe and easy life, but I realize now that I'm never going to be happy like this. I've been through too much already."

"It's only been a day. You just need some time to adjust."

"Is this what this is about? You're not dumb enough to not realize the advantages of having a partner, one so much more skilled that you, but you're insisting you do this alone. Are you worried about me, or is it your pride? Can't stand having a girl show you up?"

"It's not that," Jaune said deciding to just tell the truth. "You're right, I need someone to look out for me, and on the surface, it seems like you fit all the criteria. You're strong, survived on your own for a long time and know what we're getting into."

"So, what's the problem?"

Jaune looked into her eyes making it very clear that this wasn't something in thought up in the moment. "I don't trust you."

Emerald had to take a step back. "Trust me? You didn't seem to have a problem when we robbed the museum."

"Once again that was a one-time thing," Jaune said. "I didn't have a choice. It was either do it with you or not do it at all, but this time I do have a choice. You know as well as I do that we don't get along. The only reason we know each other at all is because you stole from me. We might be roommates but calling us friends is pushing it."

"You're talking like we're mortal enemies," Emerald joked.

"We're not, but this isn't a game. What we're—what I'm—doing could get me killed. Let me put it this way, if something goes wrong and my life's in danger can I really count on you to not run away to save yourself? Can you count on me not to do the same thing?"

The room fell into silence as Emerald gave it some thought and came to the conclusion Jaune had been leading her to. "You've thought about this a lot."

"Pretty much the entire time I was at work."

"So, that means you were considering it."

"Huh."

"You were thinking about asking a young, beautiful girl to help you out on your heroic quest."

"I definitely wouldn't phrase it like that, but I guess you're right. That doesn't change—"

"So, it's not that you don't trust me, we just haven't gotten to know each other yet. We only just met, after all."

"I think I know enough about you through your actions to make a sound judgment."

"But, all that stealing and extortion was just business me. You can't really hold it against me. I was just doing what I needed to do to survive."

"I feel like I can."

"Don't be like that. You know, I hear Beacon has their students partner with the first person they see, they're expected to risk their lives for each other from then on out."

"Beacon is also a school where they get to interact with each other for months before doing anything dangerous along with having a full-staff that I'm sure can mediate if there's any problems."

"We don't need any of that. We just need to spend the day together. Once you get to know the real me, you'll change your mind."

"I don't like were this is going."

"I think it's time for the two of us to go on a date," Emerald laughed.

"I think the opposite."

"Don't be such a pessimist," Emerald said grabbing his arm and walking him to the door. "You should be thrilled. Don't act like you weren't thinking about me last night."

"Oh, I definitely had some thoughts on what I should do with you."

"See, I can already feel us growing closer."

Surprisingly, the place Emerald took them was somewhere Jaune was very familiar with. He had never been to any in Vale, but he had spent many hours in his hometown's arcade. This one was a lot bigger and lights were flashing everywhere. Against his will, Jaune was getting a little excited. Emerald wasn't any better as she wandered around with a sparkle in her eyes. She moved around the arcade cabinets like a girl possessed. "I didn't know you were into this stuff," Jaune said as they stopped in front of a claw-machine.

"Aren't I just full of surprise. I've always loved arcades. Stealing tickets from kids is easy, and the prizes are great. The huge stuffed animals are always the best."

"That's actually pretty cute. My sisters always wanted the big animals to."

"Yeah, you can tear them up and use their stuffing for warmth and their skin for a blanket."

"And suddenly everything makes senses. Have you actually played any of the games?"

"Why would I, everyone knows that you can't actually make a profit from them, and besides taking those tokens are a lot harder than the tickets. Cutting out the middle man saves time." Emerald seemed to honestly think that there was nothing wrong with what she just said.

"It's not about making a profit. It's about having fun." Emerald looked at him like that word was a foreign concept. Jaune couldn't believe this girl. "Here, let me show you what normal people do at an arcade." Jaune walked up to the coin machine and deposited some of the little money he had left to get a few tokens. "Which game do you want to play?"

They started with a typically cabinet shooter where they blasted through hordes of grimm. Emerald was way too good at it, and quickly racked up a score that was drawing people's attention. Even when Jaune character bite the dust, she continued to rampage through the level only getting hit in the sections the creator had made purposely unfair to force players to buy another life.

It wasn't long before Emerald destroyed the final boss and took the second highest score, first place was taken by some crazy person, nicknamed RED, who looked to have gotten a perfect score. "So, how was it?" Jaune ask as Emerald put the toy gun back, letting a kid take it to try and hopelessly emulate her performance.

"It wasn't the heart pounding action they advertised, but it was okay." The nearly ear to ear smile she wore seemed to suggest it had been a lot more than okay.

"I doubt anything here can raise your adrenaline past what you've already had to go through. In fact, we might as well just leave. All this fake tension and violence is probably boring you," Jaune teased.

"That would just be a waste of money," Emerald said, hiding her desire to keep play rather well.

"If you insist." They went around playing a few more games. Jaune crushed Emerald in a racing game, but got demolished in skee-ball and air hockey. Emerald also played a few other shooters to rack up some tickets, but even with all of Emerald's high scores Jaune simply hadn't brought enough tokens for them to earn that many tickets. When they got to the reward counter, the best they could do was some of the mid-tier prizes. Emerald had won most of the tickets, thankfully not stealing any from the other guests, so she got the select the prize. She made the odd selection of a small lava lamp.

With her gift in hand, Emerald took them to their next location which ended up being the mall a couple streets down. More specifically the clothing stores inside. Emerald was insistent on going to every single one where Jaune was subjected to the dreaded task of watching her try on different outfits. In each store, he got the pleasure of sitting next to a bunch of other guys, all with the same dead look on their faces, as they waited for their girlfriends to reveal their next outfit. Emerald, however, didn't bother asking for his opinion. She only came out to flaunt herself and giggle at the other boy's reactions before heading back in and starting the whole thing over. At the high-end boutiques, most of the outfits she chose were unbelievably extravagate. The staff were always pissed when Emerald asked for what amounted to an entire wardrobe to try on, only to walk out without buying a thing. It wasn't until they worked their way down to the common peasant stores did Emerald start to pick out clothes that Jaune could actually see her wearing. At the end of the three-hour long shopping spree, Emerald walked out with two new outfits, purchased with Jaune's money.

After all that was over, Jaune was finally allowed to choose a destination and took them to a park, buying ice cream for them to eat as they sat on a bench. Emerald happily munched on her frozen treat while savored the cool sensation that came with every bite. "This was fun," Emerald chirp. "Everything was so nice and relaxing, and I got to experience it with my new best friend." Emerald playfully slugged him in the shoulder.

Jaune sighed. "You can drop the act now."

"What are you talking about?"

"The Emerald I know isn't this friendly or cheerful. You've been off ever since we left my apartment. Don't act like this is something it's not. This whole date was just a ploy to get me to spend money on you."

"How do you figure that? This entire time I haven't asked you to buy me anything."

"Not directly but you weren't as subtle as you thought. You didn't take me to the arcade to rob a bunch of kids of their tickets. You brought me there because you genuinely wanted to play the games. You just didn't want to admit it and put on your naïve act to trick me into thinking is was my idea. Then you pushed it to see if you could convince me to buy some clothes for you. This "date" was just to get free stuff from me."

Emerald mouth turned from a bright smile that any guy would love to her more neutral expression. "You're smarter than you let on, but if you knew, why did you go along with it?"

"Because you're right, we do need to get to know each other better, and this was a good opportunity. I wanted to see the real you, the Emerald who doesn't have to scavenge the streets for survival, but turns out, the real you is nearly identical to the business you." Jaune leaned back on the bench watching a flock of birds cross the sky and squirrel run up a tree. "You know this is the same pack where I sulked for hours after getting rejected from Beacon."

"Then why did you want to come back her? Sounds like it's only reminding you of what you lost."

"It does but it's also the place where my new life began. If I hadn't sat here forever, I would never have run into Neo and never have had the chance to become a caretaker."

"Seems more like coincidence than anything that has to do with this park. You didn't even meet her here, right? You could have been at a dozen of other places and still run into her on your way back."

"True but I wasn't anywhere else. I was here, and it was here where I stood back up."

"You're too commemorative. Do you think I reminisce in front of the store where I made my first score?"

"Ignoring the fact that would probably get you arrested, I doubt it, but what can I say, I'm just that kind of person." They just sat there for a little longer, enjoying their ice cream until Jaune asked a question? "Did you really want to help me, or was that just another trick to get money off of me?"

"Does it matter. You said it yourself, you can't trust me, and I don't think this outing has done much to change your mind. I'm the same back-stabbing thief you peg me for the moment you realized I took your journal."

"You're right about that," Jaune laughed. "I wouldn't trust you to answer the phone, afraid you might try to scam the caller, but trust can only be built by working together. No matter how much we're together, we're never going to get to the level needed to put out lives on the line without actually doing it."

"So, what was all that talk back at the apartment? If trust wasn't the issues, what was actually stopping you from accepting my help?"

"Your probably not going to believe me if I told you."

"You've proven to me that magic is real. I'll willing to accept anything."

"I wasn't technically lying when I said it was about trust. It's just a little more specific. It's because I didn't know if it's what you really wanted."

"You're going to have to explain."

"I'm doing this because I want to be a hero. It's why I wanted to be a huntsman. I'm willing to put my life on the line to make that dream come true, but what about you? Do you just want to do it because you're bored? A way to kill time. Will you just quit when it gets too difficult or you just get tired of it? I'll be the first to admit that I don't know what's going to happen, but I'm going to see it through. If you're not willing to do the same than no matter how skilled you are or how much you could help me, I just wouldn't be able to work with you."

"So, what you're saying is you don't think the two of use share the same intentions."

"Pretty much."

Emerald lean forward and pulled the lava lamp she had won out of a plain plastic bag. "This right here will be the first luxury item I've ever owned. The first thing I can leave behind and be certain that it will still be there when I come back."

"You're putting a lot of faith in my apartment complex."

"Okay, maybe not one-hundred percent certain, but it's much better odds than out on the street. It's strange to think that it was only yesterday that I would have believe owning something like this to be impossible. Spending a whole day doing nothing else but having fun would have been unimaginable. I like it, but I also not completely happy with it. You dream is to become a hero. My dream, ever since I can remember, is to be somebody. Getting off the streets wasn't enough, I have to prove to everyone that even a lonely street rat can change this world. At first, I always thought that the only way to do that was to become the villain and force people to take notice of me. Rise up the ranks and become a crime lord or even a deadly assassin. It wouldn't be good but I would be someone, but one day I was finally offered that chance. There was this woman who promised me power and everything I'd ever wanted, but I turned her down, not because of morals or a change of heart. It was her eyes. They burned with a fury for this world that I didn't want to be a part of. If I had joined her, my only purposes would be to help reduce the world to cinder. That's not what I want, a world of nothing. When my dream comes true, I want people to see it and be amazed at what I did, and furious that they hadn't done it themselves, so yes, we don't have the same intentions, but that doesn't mean we can't take the same path. What better way to become someone than to explore a world most people can only dream of."

Jaune chuckled. "You know being a caretaker is kind of a secretive thing. I don't think you'll be getting a lot of recognition."

"Maybe not by name, but unnatural feats have a tendency to spawn legends. I wonder how many caretakers are known worldwide through fables and fairy tales?"

"So, you actually serious about this?" Jaune asked.

"I am."

"We're probably going to die doing this."

"I've come close to death more time than you can count."

"It's going to be a lot of work."

"Sign me up."

"You're going to have to work with me not against me."

"Pinkie promise."

"Well, if you're sure. We might not exactly be friends, and I'm still pissed that you stole my bed and robbed me of my sleep, but maybe a work partnership between us can work out." Jaune held out his hand in a fist.

"You bet it will. Just don't get mad when I'm better at this than you," Emerald said, bumbling her first with his. "So, what's are next adventure going to be?"

"Hold up there, I don't have jobs just lined up. It takes time to find something. It's not like a mysterious event is going to drop into our laps."

At that moment, a particularly strong breeze came through carrying the front page of a newspaper. That page came at the perfect angle to gently flutter onto Jaune's pants. Emerald leaned over to read the bold headline.

"Third huntsman goes missing while investigating unresponsive frontier settlement!"

"You were saying."

Excerpt from the book

I write this as a warning to those who dream of reaching summits higher than they can climb. As of this writing, I've have been a caretaker for over fifty years with my beautiful wife always by my side. She is dead now, killed by my unfiltered confidence. Over my time, I've fixed problems of the cosmos and fought the stuff of nightmares. It was why I thought we could do it, but taking on a named beast is no easy task even for a veteran. Those detestable things that rot this world.

To be brief, named beast are creatures that are either entirely unique in their existence or an anomaly of their caste. In the same way, human and faunus names become known through great deeds, creatures get their names when they commit disastrous accomplishments. The Mad Hatter, Seption, and Misery the Misfit just to mention a few. These terrors are unlike their kin. They don't follow the rules and you'll find this book full only of speculations and guesses about them, as I have now learned. I know it's a caretaker's job to deal with these abominations, but I can't help but feel that when a monster reaches a level and survived long enough that future generations can recognize it by name, it may be better to leave them well enough alone.

I should also mention that creatures aren't the only things that can be given a name outside of their general noun. Legendary items and tools appear from time to time completely changing the course of certain fields of research and exposing new powers previously undiscovered. Some of them are created by caretakers or named creatures themselves, but there are also those that are simply slumbering in the forgotten parts of the world waiting to be discovered, the Tear Shard from that accursed city Cryphilictal comes to mind. They come and go just as named creature arise and are killed by caretakers better than me, but a suggestion to any novice caretaker. Stick to the reliable, the things this book can describing in great detail and creatures that follow consistent patterns. Don't go for the abnormities in search of glory or the prizes defeating one often gives. Their blood is not worth your life.

An: This was a hard chapter to write. Jaune and Emerald's current relationship needed to be set without going too slowly or too fast and keeping them both in character. I took queues from Emerald and Mercury's dynamic, but with a little more compassion and understanding. I hope it turned out okay.

This is far from the end of their development together, however. As of right now they've upgraded to a working relationship but they still aren't quite friends. Again, in the same way Emerald and Mercury interacted with each other. Next chapter will hopefully give them more time to grow as Emerald takes her first real plunge into the unknown world.