"I have an idea for one last team building exercise that we can all do together tonight!" Eliana exclaimed as she scrambled to the room's closet and clambered about, things crashed and rattled around as she searched furiously for something and they all peaked in at her from the room. Titus laid back on his bed and stretched, yawning and grumbling contently. He sighed and looked up at them, wondering if what she had planned required for him to get back up before sitting up in discontent.
"Do we have to?" Titus asked looking at Neela. "What is she doing in there anyways?" Neela wasn't sure and looked at him for a moment blankly before entering after Eliana and placing a hand on her back. Eliana's face was ear-deep in a pile of clothes.
"Elli, what are you doing?" Neela asked. "You kind of left us hanging." Eliana popped back out and stumbled back into Neela who more or less caught her, an explosion of debris and dust bunnies chasing after the girl and covering them both as Eliana held the game board above her head.
"I found it!" Eliana yelled. Neela looked it over and laughed.
"I can't believe that you brought that," Neela said as she looked at. "Remnant: Conquest. We played this game so much when we were little with my moms."
"I know! They finally just gave it to me because I was always asking to play it," Eliana informed her as she pulled it out and set it down on the floor. "Look!" Ilia looked it over and glanced at Titus who was still sitting on his bed across from them.
"It's a board game," Ilia said.
"This is team building?" Titus asked. "I'm going to bed…"
"It's a game that lets us play as any of the kingdoms and try and conquer the rest of Remnant," Eliana explained to them. "If anybody was going to be really good at this, I thought for sure that it would be Titus."
"Fine, I'll play a game or two, but then it's lights out for me," Titus explained as he stood up. "But do we really have to sit on the floor, that seems like it's going to be really hard on the legs."
"Team CBLT has a table that we can borrow I think," Neela said. Ilia moved to the door.
"I'll go get it and see if they have chairs as well," she said. "Do we want to do any snacks?"
"I'll make popcorn," Titus said leaving with Ilia and closing the door behind him.
"What made you think of the game?" Neela asked.
"I just got to thinking about how much your moms said that they used to play it and thought that it would be a fun thing for the whole team to do," Eliana explained as she opened the box and checked the contents over to make sure that everything was still present. Everything looked to be there and she laughed looking at Neela. "Did you see the look on Titus' face when he decided that he was going to play with us after all? He looked pretty determined but I think he's going to have another thing coming! Nobody has beaten me at this game! I'm not about to begin losing tonight just because some Atlas hotshot will be bringing his tactics to the table!"
"What about Ilia?" Neela asked. "Something tells me that she'll be just as much of a force to be reckoned with."
"Please," Eliana said with an eye roll.
"Did someone say game night?" Cobalt asked standing in the doorway.
"I think this is for Team NITE only," Neela told him. "Maybe you can join us some other time?"
"Nonsense!" Cobalt said as he came into the room and sat on one of the beds. "I'm always up for games and the more people the more fun, right?"
"In theory," Eliana muttered.
"Trust me," he said. "So what are we playing? Truth or dare? Spin the bottle? 7 minutes in the afterlife? Strip poker?" Eliana pointed.
"Get out," she told him.
"It doesn't have to be strip poker… or are you just afraid that I would win?" He asked as Neela grabbed him and pulled him to his feet by his arm. "What happens in this room can stay in this room!"
"You can go play dirty games with your own roommates," Eliana said.
"Dirty games?!" He protested as Neela dragged him out. "What's more team building than seeing each other naked?"
"It's perverted!" Eliana called after him.
"You and Neela see each other naked all the time, right? I wanna see one person naked and I'm the perverted one!" He argued.
"I'll send Titus right over," Neela told him. She tossed him out into the hall, closing the door on him. Cobalt knocked to no avail and stepped away.
"You haven't seen the last of me tonight!" Cobalt yelled. Tawney stopped as she was passing by in the hall.
"What's going on?" She asked him.
"They're playing strip poker and they didn't invite me," he told her. "I'm kind of a professional strip poker player." She shoved him down the hall.
"Don't be a pervert!" She yelled at him. He walked away dejected and she waited until he was no longer in her eyesight before knocking on Team NITE's door. Neela threw it open.
"Hey Tawney, what's going on?" Neela asked her. Tawney stuck her head in, looking around the room before taking a step in.
"Cobalt told me you guys were playing strip poker," she said. "I was wondering if I could get in on that…" Neela and Eliana looked at each other.
"Get in on what?" Neela asked. "We're not even playing strip poker."
"You believed Cobalt?" Eliana asked. Tawney waved her off in dismissal.
"My team is a bunch of prudes and Cobalt's a freak," Tawney told them. "I just thought that maybe you guys were that tight. I mean, it's more of a shaming thing right? None of you are into each other that way." She glanced at Neela who looked away and blushed. "I think it's a sensible idea, what else are you going to do to poke fun at each other?"
"I can think of a few things," Neela said.
"You know what," Eliana said. Neela looked back at her and Eliana gave her a smirk. "She caught us." Eliana looked back at Tawney who appeared confused. "We are playing strip poker."
"Wait, really?" Tawney asked. She looked at Neela who looked at her and then back at Eliana.
"Yeah… I guess so," Neela said with a sense of hesitation. "We told Cobalt we weren't because… I mean… It is Cobalt, but we didn't think you'd actually want to play strip poker." Tawney blushed.
"Heh. I mean. If I'm gonna be better than you, I've got to kick your ass at everything," Tawney said. "Plus Ilia will be here, right?"
"She will," Eliana told her. She reached down and started pulling off her shirt. "You're new here so I think it's only fair that we start off with a handicap." Eliana flashed Tawney whose nose exploded in a stream of blood that threw her out into the hall. Neela slammed the door shut, not checking on her as she lay crumpled against the wall in a heap. Neela looked back at Eliana.
"We could have just thrown her out," Neela said. Eliana shrugged as she pulled her shirt back down.
"You guys always act like seeing each other's breasts is a big deal," Eliana laughed. "Plus I'm wearing a bra, it's not like she saw a whole lot." Ilia and Lykos came upon Tawney out in the hall, looking hard at her on the floor.
"What happened to you?" Ilia said with the table and a chair under her arm, Lykos behind her with the other two chairs.
"I think I just won strip poker," she said in a daze. They both looked at her with a shrug before entering the room.
"What happened to Tawney?" Ilia asked as she set down the table and began locking the legs into place. Neela looked at Eliana.
"Tawney was out there?" Eliana asked.
"I didn't know that either," Neela replied to them. "Thanks for the help Lykos."
"Not a problem, though I should point out that we have no clue where the last chair went to," Lykos noted. "One of you will have to sit on a bed."
"Not a problem," Ilia replied. "It beats the floor so again, thanks!" He nodded and moved to Tawney, picking her up and slinging her over his shoulder, preparing to carry her back to the room. Her head lulled and she chuckled.
"They were amazing Lykos!" Tawney said. "Just fantastic!"
"I'm sure they were," Lykos said shaking his head and opening the door.
"I know that face!" Came a shout from inside the room.
"There's a lot of noise going on over there," Titus said as he threw the popcorn bag at Ilia who dropped it onto the floor. They all looked at it and then back up at Titus. "What?"
"That was hot!" She shouted. He shook his head as he walked over the bed to reach his seat.
"It wasn't that hot," he said. Eliana bent down, tossing the bag behind Neela on the bed and dealing the cards out to them. "What am I doing?"
"There are several ways to win, but the most common is to hold control over the majority of the map," Eliana explained. "There are a lot of action cards and they'll tell you when and how they can be played."
"Alright," Ilia said with a smirk. "Is it safe to assume that we'll all just play from our own kingdom?" They all nodded with the exception of Titus who had a look of concern as he digested all of the information. "Titus?"
"Yeah. Sure. Fine." He replied still distracted.
"Cool," Ilia said. "So, starting from Vacuo gives me the advantage of taking the first move, so I plan on attacking Vale and I'm going to use this!" She showed the card to Neela whose eyes grew wide and Eliana chuckled. "This card halts your advantage of extra resource imports by giving them to me for the first three turns!"
"She's a pro already!" Eliana exclaimed happily. "Finally someone who might match my ability! Titus, you're to the left of Ilia, you go next."
"So my advantage is three extra units because I'm Atlas, right?" Titus asked. Eliana nodded.
"Right," Eliana said. Neela looked at Eliana who wore a large grin on her face. She knew why Eliana wanted them to do this. This wasn't the overly obvious team building they were accustomed to, this was the kind of activity that would strengthen their togetherness and bring them closer as a whole. Neela smirked.
"What do you mean I can't do that?" Titus asked.
"Read that again, it doesn't say that you can trade in your troops for a general yet," Eliana explained.
"That's not how an army works," Titus mumbled.
"This is a game, it doesn't have to work the right way," Ilia said. "At least not to real life. As long as it's consistent with its own rules, what's it matter?"
"I'll overlook it for now," he mumbled. Neela looked at Eliana who beamed.
"Good, now make a move!" Eliana demanded.
This team would've fallen apart without you Elli. Thank you.
A Number of Years Ago
The salt of the ocean air wafted in through Ozpin's open window and he smiled thoughtfully as he stared out at the clouds and let the gentle rocking of the ship ease his mind. He dipped his quill into the ink once more and added a few more lines to the letter he was writing before folding it and gently tilting the candle on his desk, spilling a touch of the wax onto the envelope so that he could stamp it shut. He glanced at his staff and the mirror that hung above it. That's right, his hair was black again, he had only been in this body for a few years now. A hearty laugh came from just outside his quarter's doors, a bigger man that had wolf ears.
"I just find all of the outlandish claims that the Atlas Kingdom have been making a little hard to believe. Ships that are going to run on Dust instead of wind? That's just crazy!" He exclaimed to a man that Ozpin could hardly see from where he sat.
"Is it?" asked a shorter man with a snake's tongue. He wore a typical sailor's outfit and hissed as he laughed. "Have you seen the factories in Atlas?" Ozpin reserved his laughter over their disbelief. Such things were hardly the craziest he'd ever come in contact with. "The Schnee Family and their industries are going to revolutionize the world soon!"
"But ships that run on Dust?!" The bigger man stated again in disbelief. "Those factories are huge, how big would a ship that runs on Dust have to be? How would they make it float with all of that heavy machinery they'd need to burn the Dust?" Ozpin chuckled and decided to join in on the conversation.
"Perhaps they'll make flying machines next?" Ozpin offered. They both looked at him with a frown and the lizard walked away, looking for something to do so that he could appear busy. "Are all Faunus so cold?" The man took two quick steps and lifted Ozpin by the neck.
"We were told that we won the war for our freedom, but despite that, they asked us all to leave the mainland and live free on this island," the man said. He threw Ozpin to the floor. "We're not animals, and even though I'm not the brightest, I know what exile looks like." Ozpin brushed himself off as he stood.
"You're right," Ozpin said in agreement. "They downplay the achievements of your people by calling it a civil rights movement as opposed to a war, but I was there, I was in Vale and the surrounding countryside, and I saw the bloodshed. The death." Ozpin stared off into the distance. "The last time that I witnessed this much death was in the great war." The brute cleared his throat and laughed sarcastically.
"You're not old enough to have been around for the great war kid," he said. "I'm at least twenty years older than you and I wasn't even around for it." Ozpin laughed.
"Of course," Ozpin replied. "I can get ahead of myself sometimes. I was not there to witness the war, but I read the reports of scholars and soldiers that were there. Stories of the warrior king who slaughtered hundreds to put an end to the war." Ozpin glanced at his staff and frowned thoughtfully for a moment. "The accounts are so vivid that I almost feel like I had been there." The Faunus shook his head.
"My old man's old man says that the final battle only ended the way it did because Mantle's army suffered dehydration and heat exhaustion in their heavy armor," the wolf replied.
"Where is your grandfather from?" Ozpin asked.
"Mistral, and he served in the war!" The man asserted. Ozpin rolled his eyes. Of course. The big man stared at him for a long moment. "What brings you to Menagerie anyway? We were given this island a few months ago and you're the only human stupid enough so far to insist on visiting."
"The king of Vale, Doré Arc has sent me here in the hopes of maintaining peace and to ensure that your people continue to think highly of us," Ozpin explained sitting in his chair once more. "We want to see you flourish and trade between the island and Vale will only help both parties." The man laughed and Oz gave him a smile.
"What a cruel king to send you on such a suicidal mission! The monarchs will soon hold no more power than either of us!" The wolf laughed until he was red in the face. "The people have spoken! The headmasters will teach the people how to protect themselves, and so, they will become the leaders of the four kingdoms!"
"You are well-informed sir," Ozpin replied. "However, it would seem that you are at this point unaware as to who will be ruling Vale as headmaster of Beacon." Oz's deadpan face forced the man to stop laughing and his face twisted into aggression.
"You're not suggesting it's you, are you?" The man scoffed. Ozpin shook his head.
"Of course not," he answered. "I'm telling you that it is me."
"They'd allow a man so young and so inexperienced at life to have a position like that?" The brute asked. He shook his head. "Maybe they'll make me the chief of Menagerie." He left for the deck as Ozpin stood and picked up his cane.
"If only he knew," Ozpin said as if he were speaking to his staff. He made his way topside and moved to the bow, watching as Menagerie grew on the horizon. It was never his intention for things to get so far out of hand. He had always imagined that the Faunus race was slightly superior to humans, but man had reduced them to nothing more than slaves just because they had different ears, eyes, horns and any number of different features. He had picked the Arc's to carry on his legacy after he gave up being king, but now the people questioned every decision the man made. Ozpin and Doré meant for Menagerie to be a safe haven for the Faunus, not a passive-aggressive form of banishment.
If only he had killed the Brothers instead of storing away their powers. But the story was filled with endless what if's, and all that he could do now was plan for the next choice and hope that he made the right decision. He hoped and prayed that the current peace would last long enough for him to plan for any further attacks and restore the kingdoms' safety. He couldn't call on the maidens for everything anymore, and he hoped that the huntresses and huntsmen would fill in the gaps.
"Land," a woman approaching him on the right said plainly. "I've never been so happy to see land before." He glanced at her, she was wearing a simple sundress that fit just right, she wore no shoes and a large straw hat that was appropriate, but was almost cartoonishly too large. "You don't look like a Faunus." Ozpin smiled.
"You don't either," he told her. She pointed to her eyes.
"The cat eyes aren't a dead giveaway?" She asked a bit surprised.
"I assure you, madam, I see people for who they are, not a feature that others might use to define a person as Faunus," Ozpin told her. "There is very little difference between you and my…" Ozpin thought his words over carefully. "Friend back home."
"She must be a lucky woman," the cat told him. He chuckled and shook his head.
"I think it's more that I'm lucky to have her," he told her. "But where are my manners? I'm Professor Ozpin, Oz for short."
"Misty," she replied. They exchanged an awkward handshake and stood in silence as the island slowly inched closer.
"Perhaps I'll see you again on the island before I leave," he told her. She laughed and blushed, walking away.
"Won't your 'friend' get jealous?" She asked with a wink. He stammered.
"That's not…" She disappeared below deck. "What I meant." Ozpin glanced up at the sun to gauge the time and stared hard at the island once more. With any luck, this will be a short trip and I'll be able to arrive back at Beacon before the new students arrive. The lizard from before popped onto the deck for just a second before spotting Ozpin and leaving again. Oz shook his head. Menagerie awaited him as they threw out the walk off-ramp and he took the initiative to embark before the rest that simply watched him. It was tropical and seemed like a good place for the Faunus to call home, they would be safe here.
Ozpin slowly made his way through the marketplace, smiling at everyone that he greeted, and doing his best to be personable. He meant these people no harm, and he hoped that they would come to accept that fact, but it wasn't cut and dry. They were bitter, forced out of the world and left to their own devices on an island. Ozpin understood their anger, but he never meant for this to be a prison. He wanted this to be a paradise. He began walking into the dense jungle landscape, deeper and deeper until he reached the end border and looked out at the desert.
Kimi was further than he would ever be able to walk, but it was the place he needed to reach and he contemplated teleporting there before a large hulking man placed a hand on his shoulder from behind. Ozpin looked back to see a man who wore a ceremonial robe of sorts, black hair covering his hair and body and he smiled as he let out a rolling laugh and picked Ozpin up, squeezing him hard.
"Oz! I haven't seen you since we defeated the general back at Fort Castle!" The man roared with pleasure before setting Ozpin back down. "How have you been?"
"How have you been Onca?" Ozpin asked. He chuckled and smiled as he looked back at the village.
"Don't let everyone's sour mood get you down, some of us enjoy it here!" Onca declared. He leaned in as if someone might hear them despite their being alone. "My son Ghira has met a girl." Ozpin raised an eyebrow and smirked.
"Has he?" Ozpin asked. The man laughed hard again.
"She will make a fine bride!" Onca declared.
"Isn't your boy only about eighteen or nineteen?" Ozpin asked. Onca laughed harder as he led Ozpin back towards the village so that they could commandeer a horse.
"You're one to talk," Onca said. "Teaching those children at those schools to be fighters at seventeen."
"They're quite capable for their age," Ozpin said with laughter in his own voice. Onca nodded.
"Of course," he agreed. "I can't wait to show you the new village, Adar and I have been waiting for you to arrive for some time now, we wanted to talk to you about something and we hope that you could help." Ozpin kept to himself as he mounted one of Onca's horses and following him out through the desert for almost a day, as the night set they reached a small village that was cozied down in the middle of an oasis. Ozpin was impressed and their progress seemed incredible. How was it possible that they had built so much in so little time.
"Ozpin!" Adar called out, the well-dressed redhead ran to them and grabbed him by the shoulders, looking him over. "It's been so long!" The man kissed him on the cheek and released him, waving for him to follow.
"Taurus… what you've done here is amazing," Ozpin said in disbelief. "How did you do it?"
"With my help…" Came a voice from behind him. It was Misty, but now her skin was pale, white in fact, with red veins. Ozpin gripped his cane tight and took up a defensive stance.
"Stay back!" Ozpin told Belladonna and Taurus. Adar reached around and lowered his cane.
"What's the problem, Misty has helped us. She brought us machines that have helped us shape and cultivate the land," Adar told him. Salem gave him an evil smirk and he gritted his teeth.
"I've been helping these people Oz," Salem told him. "Is that so wrong?"
"Using your power no doubt," Oz replied.
"Yes. Though it would seem that you have that silly little death stone on you," she replied. Both Onca and Adar gave him a look.
"What does she mean by death stone?" Adar asked. Ozpin looked back at them.
"I brought it here for you to hide from her," Ozpin explained. Salem took a step closer.
"He omitted the part where it could kill all of you," Salem told them with a grin.
"Oz," Onca said questioning the man.
"I always knew he was dangerous," Adar said. Salem stepped past Oz and put her hand on his shoulder.
"He and the king suggest that you all be put on this island, just so he could use that artifact he has on him to kill all of the Faunus at once. Once you start an experiment and it goes wrong, why not just get rid of the problem altogether?" She asked. Ozpin threw her back and Adar drew his blade as Onca stepped in between them.
"We've known Oz for too long, he fought by our side during the war," Onca reminded Adar.
"Just so he could finish us off here!" Taurus yelled. Onca turned back to Oz for a moment.
"Go!" Onca yelled at him. Ozpin nodded in understanding as he stared Salem down for a long moment before walking away. He looked his staff over in his hand before closing his eyes, taking a deep breath.
"I promised not to use it anymore, but if I have any hope of beating her, I have to do it," Ozpin said. He drew from the energy of the death stone, using his staff to stop time as he walked past the men at a frozen Salem who looked pleased with herself. He once again opened the interdimensional portal and sealed her away, taking several steps into the center of the village and blasting the death stone deep into the earth. He walked away before unfreezing them and rode off for the port.
It turns out that Oz hid the Death Stone on Menagerie, and Team NITE had themsleves a bit of a Game NITE... Eh? Guys? Next week, Chapter 58 - Bonding!
A big thank you to Carlomontie, Nliast, Y8ay8a, Sa-Dui, Diyaru4500, Demize00Zero, TheCipherNine, SketchHungry, Ookaminoki, Lightning-in-my-Hand, and Dishwasher1910. All of their artwork can be found at Deviantart, you can search Silent-Celica and under my favorites tab, I have a collection for NITE.
Until next week, stay classy!