KS: Alright, courses are done for the time being, so I can regain my focus on writing. Let's see what the crew is up to this time, shall we?
"Here we are, be it so humble."
Lilac unlocked the door to the apartment and allowed the others to walk inside. To say they were amazed would be nothing short of an understatement.
It was a large room with a stairway leading to the second floor and had a large sofa in the center of the room with a chandelier hanging from the ceiling.
"Oh… I think I have witnessed heaven," Nora swooned.
"This is just the main room," Lilac said as he walked in. "Wait until you see the kitchen. That bad boy has all the utensils to make a meal fit for a king… except I can't cook."
"What's the point of having a kitchen if you can't cook?" Ren asked.
Lilac chuckled nervously. "I… I have to impress the girls that come by here."
Everyone gave him a blank look.
"I don't think I've ever heard something this pitiful," Qrow deadpanned. "And I've been in every backwater pub this kingdom has to offer, hearing some sob story no one should have to give a one-tenth of a damn about."
Lilac let out a slight growl. "Yeah? Well, I don't see any dames falling into your lap. Although, it wouldn't be surprising, considering you reek of malt liquor."
"Shut up, I don't smell like that," Qrow snapped.
"Yeah, he's only like that on a bad day!" Ruby defended.
Hearing that made Qrow slump. "Way to stick up for me, kid."
Jaune walked around the main room, taking in the sights. "How did you pay for this? It doesn't look cheap."
"That's because it wasn't cheap," Lilac sighed. "One of the top dogs in the Ars Goetia put a ridiculous price for this room. It nearly took every single lien I shook out of people to pay for it."
"Wow, that guy must be a total greedmonger," Nora snarked.
"Oh, you have no idea," Lilac chuckled. "In fact, his whole business focuses on exploiting the greedy nature of most people. Did you know he runs an underground casino in Atlas?"
Qrow perked up at the reveal. "Shut up. I've never heard anything about a casino in Atlas."
Lilac scoffed as he placed his guns on a table. "Obviously not. It wouldn't be underground if the whole kingdom heard about it. And you can bet the army will come knocking down the doors and arresting anyone who so much as steps one foot in the joint when it happens."
Ruby walked over to the table and took a closer look at his guns. "These look amazing. From a distance, they look like ordinary pistols, but up close, there's something unique about them."
"Yeah, those bad boys are custom made," Lilac said as he took off his jacket and threw it on the sofa. "In fact, I made it myself."
Hearing that made Ruby's eyes sparkle. "You made these yourself? Oh my gosh, that is amazing! What kind of dust does it use for the ammo? How fast is the firing rate? How did you make that light appear from the ground?"
"Geez, you're full of questions, aren't you?" Lilac chuckled. "They're all good, but I'm kinda tired from walking for long distances and fighting a horde of Grimm on my lonesome."
The mention of the Grimm made Jaune and Ren flinch out of guilt, considering their argument was the reason for the large amount of Grimm showed up in the first place.
"In any case, I'll let you check out the place yourself." Lilac rose some the sofa and walked towards the stairs. "I'm gonna get some shut eye."
"You didn't look that tired," Nora said.
Lilac turned back to her. "I assure you that I am mentally and physically drained right now. And with that, I bid you all adieu."
He walked up the stairs while whistling a cheerful tune.
"That guy is weird," Jaune said to everyone in the room. "And I don't say that because he made his guns appear out of nowhere."
"Now that you mention it, it was weird kind of odd," Ruby said. "How was he able to that? Is that his Semblance?"
"If it is, Weiss won't be happy that someone is biting her style," Nora joked. "I saw those glyphs of his. The pattern may be different, but the similarity is there."
"A Semblance that summons weapons? Anyone who has that kind of power could be unstoppable," Ren mused. "Or at the very least, they have a big ego."
Qrow was silent during the banter, something Ruby was quick to notice.
"Uncle Qrow? What's wrong?"
He look up at her with a serious expression. "I don't think we should trust this guy."
The rest of RNJR looked at him curiously.
"What? Why not?" Nora asked.
"I'm you kids have heard the phrase 'with every light, there's a shadow'," he said. "Well, I can say with the utmost confidence that Mistral is the embodiment of that old saying. It's got some nice places and friendly people, but a lot of it is just a veil to hide it's… less than reputable spots and individuals. And this group that pretty boy is running with is no exception to that fact."
"You're saying we shouldn't trust Lilac because he's part of a crime syndicate," Ren said.
"I'm not saying we shouldn't trust him because he's part of a crime syndicate," Qrow responded, his expression growing more dire. "I'm saying we shouldn't trust him because he's part of the largest and most deadly crime syndicates in this kingdom, if not the whole world."
Ruby had a look of worry on her face, as did everyone else.
"This group he works for, is it that bad?" the redhead asked.
Qrow took out his flask and drank from it before speaking. "I'll admit, I've learned enough about the 72 Pillars through word of mouth, and it is far from pretty. Extortion, blackmail, the list goes on from that point onward."
The group of fledgling hunters were silent, letting his words sink in.
"Do you think the lady we met earlier was lying about the Spring Maiden?" Nora asked.
"I've thought of the possibility, but it's too early to say for certain," Qrow answered. "For all we know, she does have info about where she was last seen, but doesn't trust us enough to use that info without any ill intent."
"So this treasure hunt she sent us on is to test us on whether or not we're worthy of the information," Ren said. "I have to say, that's quite an ingenious way of doing it."
"Yeah, right," Nora scoffed. "Maybe she's just getting us to do the Pillars dirty work. Which reminds me, what does a crime group want with a ruin, anyway? Wouldn't be more suited towards treaure hunters or something?"
Sighing, Qrow sat down on an armchair. "Whatever that broad's reason is for delegating the task to us doesn't really matter. For now, we should be grateful she has info on the Spring Maiden."
"Assuming she's not lying about it," Jaune said.
"There's that," Qrow admitted. "But at this rate, she's all we have to go on."
Ruby rubbed the back of her head and sighed in frustration. "This is one of those 50/50 deals isn't it? We get the thing from the ruin and bring it to the lady, and she tells where the Spring Maiden is. That is, if she knew to begin with."
"Aghhh! This is making my head hurt!" Nora groaned. "I need to eat something good to take my mind off it this racket!"
"Maybe there's some food in the kitchen," Ren said. "I could make something for all of us."
"Good," Nora said, snapping her fingers. "Now get to it. Your queen demands sustenance."
Ren let out a slight chuckle and headed towards the kitchen. Ruby smiled at the interaction between the two, but it quickly faded when her gaze fell on Jaune, who looked out the window with a solemn look.
"It will work out," she said to herself. "I know it will."
Lilac laid in his bed, staring at the ceiling fan as it spun around at a moderate speed. He started to contemplate on his next move while watching the fan rotate.
"I've come this far," he said. "All I got to is take them to the ruin, and they'll help me find the artifact. Once that's over and done with, they can take it to Astaroth and get information on whoever they're looking for."
He sat up and reached for a tattered journal that laid on the nightstand. Flipping through the worn pages with haste, he stopped at a sketch of a sword with smaller lines sicking out from it, indicating that it was glowing.
"I don't know why they call me a knight," he chuckled dryly. "A knight is meant to chivalrous and daring. Am I any of that? No chance in hell."
He closed the journal and put it back on the nightstand. Laying back on the bed, he closed his eyes and quickly fell asleep, drifting into his dreams.
Or to be more accurate, his nightmares.
They're coming in from the right flank! Return fire!
Damn it, where the hell is that back up?
Medic! We need a medic!
Everyone, take cover! The cannons are charging again!
Lilac, we need your help!
Why won't you use your sword, you bastard?!
Lilac, you got us into this mess and you better make damn you get us out of it!
Lilac, NO!
Lilac woke up with a start, breathing heavily. He felt his heart beating in his chest at a rapid rate.
"I was sure I was over it," he muttered. "But they keep coming back, worse than before. Maybe I should see a shrink about it before they get unbearable."
As he calmed himself down, he heard his scroll buzz in his pocket. He took out and looked at the name of the caller. The screen read "Lil' Miss", much to his displeasure.
"What the hell does she want at this hour?" Lilac muttered. With great reluctance, he answered the call and put his scroll on speaker. "What do you want?"
"My word, is that how you speak to all of your employers?" a sultry voice on the other line said. "I can't imagine you getting any decent payment afterwards."
"Did you call me just to piss me off or do you have some information?" Lilac groaned. "Keep in mind that I can go to another info broker. Preferably one who looks like she can fit through a door."
The woman on the other line chuckled. "Oh, Lilac. This is what I love about you. You can make any unoriginal insult sound so endearing."
Lilac facepalmed. "Cut the sarcasm and tell me what I want to know."
"No dice, sugar. Clearly, you forget who you're talking to."
"At times like this, I wish I could forget," Lilac shot back. "Between your voice and appearance, I can't tell which part of you vexes me more."
"Trust me, sweetheart. The feeling's mutual. Ta-ta for now."
The woman hung up and Lilac pocketed his scroll.
"Well, I'm rested," he said as he got out of bed. "Time to see what the brats are up to."
Lilac decended down the stairs and immediately saw Team RNJR sitting in the living room, eating beef stir fry. The wonderous aroma of the food was enough to make his mouth water, but he restrained himself from doing so.
"I hope there's some left for me," he called out, getting everyone's attention.
"I left a plate on the stove in case you came down," Ren replied. "You'll have to re-heat it, though."
"No problem," Lilac said as he walked into the kitchen. "I'm used to re-heating stuff."
Nora let out a snort. "A badass kitchen and he couldn't cook to save his life. Makes you wonder what girls see in him."
"I heard that!" Lilac said from within the kitchen.
"Don't tease him, Nora," Ruby chided. "Maybe there's something about Lilac that makes him popular with the girls."
"Like what?" Nora scoffed. "The fact that he can fight off a horde of Grimm by himself? Anyone can do that if they put their mind to it."
"I'm pretty sure it takes more than mind to drive off a horde that big," Jaune said as he ate his food. "His skills were crazy. It was leagues ahead of what we learned in Beacon."
"Yeah, I wonder if he was in Haven for a while," Nora added. "But then again, it wouldn't look good for the academy one of their former students became a hardened criminal."
"He didn't seem that hard to me," Ruby said, causing everyone to look at her. "What?"
"Oh my," Nora joked with a wide grin. "It looks like our little Rose is into older men. I had no idea."
Upon hearing that, Ruby face became red as her cape as steam blew from her ears. "I-I-I didn't mean it like that! I just meant that he didn't seem hard as a criminal!"
"What?" Jaune said flatly.
Ruby let out a squeak of distress. "I mean, I know he's a criminal, but he didn't seem that hard- no! I mean he looks kind of soft from a closer look-"
"You're only digging yourself deeper," Ren said as he ate.
Blushing beyond normal capacity, Ruby grabbed a pillow and buried her face in it while groaning loudly.
"Hey, I'll have you know that I'm not a hardened criminal," Lilac said as he walked out of the kitchen. "The girls find me soft and tender."
"Is it you in general or just one part in particular?" Nora asked with a sly grin.
"Seriously, where do you get this stuff?" Jaune said in disbelief.
Nora turned to the blonde and winked. "It's a secret."
Qrow sat on the rooftop, looking down at the city as the moon shined down. He wouldn't admit it out loud, but it looked beautiful at night.
"Even in the dark, this place shines bright like a diamond," he mused. Taking out his flask, he prepared to drink, but stopped as he felt a familiar presence behind him. "You've got some nerve showing up around here."
Standing up, he turned around to see someone he didn't expect or wanted to see in a long time. A woman with black hair and red eyes smirked at him
"Come on, Qrow. Is that any way to greet your sister?"
"Given how you went off the radar long ago, you should be lucky I'm greeting you at all," he replied bitterly. "In fact, you're lucky I still consider you my sister."
Raven sighed. "Charming as always. But I didn't come here to catch up own old times."
"Why would you start now?" Qrow asked rhetorically. "Let me guess, you're looking for the Spring Maiden as well."
"I'm still looking for her," she replied. "My men combed the area for weeks and have found nothing so far."
"Oh, I wonder why they haven't found anything," Qrow said with contempt. "Maybe they found a defenseless village and got sidetracked."
Raven narrowed her eyes towards her brother. "I don't like what you're implying."
Qrow scoffed. "Just stating the facts. There's no chance of finding the maiden by burning every village in sight and leaving the Grimm to take the scraps."
"I doubt you have any right to lecture me on lack of progress," Raven shot back. "Are you so desperate to find her that you willingly ally with a criminal syndicate to give you info?"
"The Pillars have been running Mistral's underworld for decades," Qrow defended. "Their people always have their ears in the ground, so word about the maiden must of reached them one way or another."
"And how do you know it's not just a baseless rumor?" Raven questioned. "They could be luring you in with the information just to push their wetwork onto you."
"That may be the case, but we don't have any other options," Qrow admitted. "We're not going to find her stumbling around in the dark. If there was a time to take a leap of faith, now is that time."
"Whatever," Raven said, drawing her sword and swinging it downward, creating a portal. "Just make sure you hit water and not the ground after you leap."
"I'll keep that in mind," Qrow replied while waving his flask. Raven shook her head and walked through the portal, which closes after she did. Sighing, Qrow took a long drink from his flask.
"This had better be worth it."
KS: Well, Raven has reared her head and is on the hunt for the Spring Maiden as well. Let's hope our heroes and their rougish companion can get the info to find her before she does, 'cause we all know what happened. (sighs) Anyway, have a good one. I'm out. Peace.