Just a quick survey question for anyone who feels like answering:

Am I releasing chapters too quickly?

I have this feeling that 2 per week may be a bit excessive, and might make it difficult for some to keep caught up. Should I bring it down to 1 per week, or is the current release pace okay? Thank you to anyone who may answer.

Now enjoy this newest chapter!

Putting the finishing touches on the dinner table, Ren heard the sound of Mercury hitting on the Malachite twins as they entered the dining room. The cook took one last look over the platter of food he had prepared, complete with a flower centerpiece Velvet had assisted with creating, and adjusted his tie as he pulled out the chairs for everyone to sit. For the chef to also play the role of chauffeur was a bit degrading, and while it felt wrong to help Adam in any way after how he shamed the Lieutenant so heartlessly, the payment Black promised him in compensation for the extra service was just enough to make Ren bite the hook.

"Welcome," Ren greeted the twins, "My name is Lie Ren, and I will be-

"Yeah, that's good pal," Merc interrupted, waving him off, "Your jobs done for now, Come back when I need a refill or something."

"…Very well," Ren sighed, tugging at his bowtie as he trudged back to the kitchen. Miltia and Melanie were already starting to form a less than tasteful opinion of Adam's wingman, though the former was trying her best to get Adam to speak to her.

"So, like, why do all live in this penthouse?" Miltia asked Adam, "Is this, like, a gameshow or something?"

"I would compare it to Hell, but yes that is about right."

"Oh..."

Melanie noticed her sister struggling to continue the conversation, so she decided to take the reins and steer it elsewhere. "My sister said you had an interesting career choice, right? Like, what do you do exactly?"

"I like to consider myself an International Man of Mystery, babe," Merc boasted, only for Melanie to glare at him.

"Not you, you idiot. Him. Mr. Red, Black and Silent over here."

Adam looked up from picking at his food, the question taking a bit to reach his brain. She just asked him what his job was, right? Dammit! What was it Mercury told him to say? He looked at his coach for guidance, who mouthed him the answer. But should he really say that out loud?

"Um…" Adam stalled, taking a drink of water, "I'm a… a full-on rapist."

Miltia choked on her food as her sister's fork slid right out of her frozen-in-shock hand. Mercury lowered his head and pinched his brow in disappointment at his student's incompetency.

"….Did you just say you're a full-on rapist?" Melanie asked, wide eyed.

"I-Is that what you meant by a shadow of the night?" Miltia followed.

"What?" Adam looked at them, confused, "No, that is something different. This is my side job. I… help people. With their problems."

"Are you trying to say philanthropist?"Miltia said, Adam nodding at her in clarification.

"Yes, that's it. Mercury taught me how to say it wrong."

"So you're not actually a philanthropist?"

"Well yes, but other people might call it racial terrorism. Those people are stupid."

Sensing the downward spiral occurring, Mercury stood to his feet and grabbed Adam by the shoulder. It was time for a last minute lesson. "Hey Adam, I think I hear your dog calling from your room. Must've shit on your bed or something."

"Zwei defecated on my sheets? Guess the time to slay him has come."

"Ha-ha! Man, aren't you a comedian!" Mercury laughed, doing his best to cover Adam's violent disposition from the twins, "We'll be right back ladies! Don't stop being sexy, you hear?"

Ren walked back to the table as Black dragged Adam upstairs. The Malachite sisters stopped whispering to each other when he displayed to them a bottle of blueish-green liquid. "Care for some Minty Sunrise? Brewed and bottled straight from Torchwick's own room."

"I'll take six," a new yet familiar voice replied.

"Mr. Branwen?" Ren said in surprise as Qrow wandered into the room, "What are you doing here?"

"Whaddya think I'm here for?" Qrow snatched the bottle from Ren, popping the cork and chugging straight from it. He eyed up the Malachite twins once he felt his buzz returning. "So, which one of ya's was crazy enough to date that Taurus punk?"

Miltia anxiously raised her hand to the stranger.

"Ah, you're the one. Have you ever skydived without a parachute before?"

"Excuse me?"

"I'd recommend it. Much higher chances of survival than with what you're tryin' to do here."

"What the hell was that?!" Mercury paced back and forth before Adam in their room, fuming over what he had just witnessed. Not only was Adam making himself look like a total fool, but he was also hurting his own chances of bringing Melanie (and probably Miltia too) up to his room. "A full-on rapist! Really! Really?! Who the hell would even say that to anyone?!"

"You pronounced that word strange!" Adam snapped back, "I said it the same way you did!"

"I did not say it like that! And then you tried to defend yourself by calling yourself a terrorist? Stupid, just stupid!"

"Can we forget about that and get to the actual problem?"

"Which one?" Merc groaned, "There are so many goddamn things going wrong right now!"

"Spit on my shirt."

"…Why the fuck would I do that, Adam?"

"It's uncomfortable," Taurus tugged at his collar to emphasize his point, "I need a reason to change it."

"Then just change it! You don't need me to spit on it to do that!"

"But I need to give Miltia an explanation as to why-

"Just lie to her, you idiot!" Merc was just a bit too late to say that, as Adam cocked his head down and spit right on the front of his shirt, "Oh, come on! That's disgusting!"

"But now I have a reason to change, don't I?"

That was the limit. Mercury could only go so far to teach an ungifted man. Clearly, his methods weren't going to stick with Adam. But he wasn't going to tell him that outright. The best thing to do now was keep him preoccupied while he went back downstairs and bagged those beautiful twins for himself.

"Yeah, I guess you do Adam. Why don't you take your time to change into something comfortable, then come back down in a bit? I'll warm that girl up for ya, then you can swoop in for the kill. Sound good?"

"You want me to kill her now?"

"I'll take that as a yes," Merc groaned, walking out of the room, "Just remember: Take as long as you want to change while I get these girls excited."

"If you insist."

Closing the door to change in private, Adam couldn't get himself out of that infuriatingly uncomfortable button up fast enough. Digging his heel into it for good measure, he kicked it under Jaune's bed before opening up his clothes drawer in search of his usual attire. Black and red shirt in hand, Adam lifted it over his head and saw a small folded up piece of paper fall out of it.

"What's this?" He picked it up, looking at both sides of it before unfolding it. It was a letter of some sorts, words filling up the entire page from top to bottom. There was a line written in red at the top. "To The One Who Helped Me Live Again…"

There was only one person Adam knew would write such a ridiculous line. Just as he was about to rip the page in two, he stopped. There was something holding his anger back, telling him that it may be in his best interests to at least read what his subordinate had left for him to find.

Even after stripping him of his rank, that bumbling oaf still knew how to get under his skin.

Adam sat down on his bed and read it over, quickly at first but soon slowed his pace as he recalled the events written in the second half of the letter. That day was so long ago, but Adam still remembered the first time he met the big guy and saved him from those miners. He remembered why he had saved him, too.

It was because of the mission.

The White Fang had once stood for the rights of Faunus, for equality. The turn to violence was not one Adam had ever wished to make, but felt it was the only one that would work.

But he had been wrong.

Only now did he realize that his subordinate had demonstrated just how to break down the barriers between not just Faunus and man, but enemies as well. Adam had been blinded by the code to actually witness it in action before his very eyes.

And it was because of him.

"Damn it all," Adam murmured, gripping the note in his fist as the mistake he had made yesterday made itself known to him. He had turned away the only person in this house who had shown him kindness, and why?

Because he couldn't step out from behind his own ego to call him a friend.

Tucking the note into his pocket, Adam noticed that he had been reading for much longer than he had realized. Figuring ten minutes would have been enough time for Mercury to finish warming Miltia up, Adam made his way to the dining room with a heavy conscious and knowing that he would be going back on the orders he made last night:

Because the best Lieutenant he could ever had didn't deserve to be stripped of his rank.

The last thing Adam expected to see was two empty chairs at the table. Looking around the dining room, he saw no sight of the twins. However, he did see a drunken Branwen with an empty bottle leaning against the wall and Mercury sprawled out on the floor.

"What happened here?" Adam asked, rolling Mercury onto his back. The bruised 5-Star Man coughed, rubbing his aching head.

"Apparently Melanie doesn't appreciate me trying to touch her sister," Merc answered, "Kicks almost as hard as I do. She's got a nice set of legs though. Saw her panties at least."

"Why is he here?!" Adam pointed at Branwen, who was back to his feet and stumbling as he made his departure.

"Got his booze, said some shit about you. Disgusted the girls enough to make 'em leave. Ren took the food to Nora too, since we barely got to eat any. Selfish bastard."

"What? How long have they been gone?"

"Only a few minutes. Probably out the door by now. Why?"

"…I have to make things right."

"Wow. That's a first- OOF!"

Dropping Black to the floor, Adam ran out of the dining room, shoving Qrow into a wall for good measure as he went to stop Miltia from leaving. He nearly fell all the way down the steps when he saw the twins step out the front door. "Wait! Miltia! Do not leave!"

Miltia looked behind her in surprise, but narrowed her eyes at the sight of Adam. "Sorry, but this date is, like, over."

"You're all freakin' crazy here," Melanie added, "Come on Miltia. Junior's waiting for us."

"At least hear me out, Miltia," Adam skipped steps to reach the twins faster, "Whatever those two up there said about me… It is probably true. Except the rape part. I am not a rapist."

"You're a lot of other things, apparently," Miltia said, "None of them being things I thought were, like, interesting about you that made me want to see you… You seemed like a good guy. But I didn't expect this."

"I understand that. But I… I fear that I was not read for this date yet. There… There was someone I was very attached to that I recently let go, you see. I was infatuated with her for the longest time, yet she did not care about me anymore because of what I had become. I am doing the best I can now to become the man I was before, but it is not an easy process. The man up there I went to for advice was the wrong choice… There was another I should have turned to. And I… I am sorry you had to experience this."

Miltia looked to her feet, rubbing her arm. "If you weren't ready, then you should have just said so. Like, I have a tendency to leap into things like this too quickly. Chatting online for only a few hours is, like, probably too little a time to get to know you before making a date."

"True that," Melanie said from aside.

"Then would you perhaps like to try this again?" Adam suggested, "I leave this house in ten days. Would that be enough time for us to talk online and become more familiar with each other?"

Miltia looked to her sister, who shrugged saying it was her decision. After a brief moment, Miltia smiled and nodded at Adam. "Totally. I'd like that, Adam."

For the first time in a long while, Adam felt his lips curl up into what could be considered a smile.

"Very well. I will speak with you tomorrow, then?"

"Definitely."

Giving Miltia a small wave as she and her sister got into Junior's car, Adam closed the door and let out a big breath of relief. There was only one thing left to do now.

The Lieutenant sat alone in his room again, having just said goodbye to Penny a short while ago. Being able to talk to someone as attentive as her about his feelings was a godsend; the quirky girl was enthusiastic about every little thing, and he felt no shame in going into excruciating detail about his story. He'd definitely have to have a chat with her again-

"Hello, Lieutenant."

Eyes springing wide from behind his mask, the big guy nearly fell from his chair as he spun around to see Adam standing in his room. The sudden excitement was soon overcome by grief, knowing that things between them would never be how he wanted. "Hey, Adam… How was the date?"

"Horrible. Mercury did what he usually does and messed it up."

"Oh. So are you not going to see her again?"

"Not exactly. Miltia and I are going to talk more and make amends for tonight."

"That's good, I guess," the big guy said, trying his best to feel optimistic, "Did she seem nice?"

"From what little I was with her, yes. There was some communication trouble because of Mercury's advice, and I didn't exactly talk with her very well. Which is why you're going to help me."

"…What?" the Lieutenant wasn't sure if he had just heard that, "You want me to help? But you told me-

"The past is the past, Lieutenant. Anything I may have said is dead and gone now. The time has come to make amends."

"So… you mean-

"I expect only the finest of advice from you, Lieutenant. After reading how much you care for me on that letter, I want you to help me gain that same kind of compassion for someone of my own choosing."

"You read the letter, huh?" the big guy shuffled nervously in his seat, "I guess that someone of your choosing would never be me, would it?"

This was the part Adam wasn't looking forward to. Sighing, he sat down on one of the beds and looked the big guy in the eyes. "No. No, it is not you. But that doesn't mean I despise you. And if you really care about me, then you will understand that I do not desire a physical relationship with you."

"I know, Adam. I've come to terms with that, but it's still hard, you know? When you're in love with someone for so long and they don't return the favor. It hurts…"

Adam smirked. He and this guy really were more similar than he had thought.

"I know that pain too. Believe me. So, why don't we, as two lonely dark souls, try to find someone we can have for ourselves? Aside from each other. I must stress that point."

Chuckling, the Lieutenant held out his hand to Adam. "You really do have a way with words, sir."

"Sir? Weren't you calling me Adam just a moment ago?"

"Didn't feel right. Something about being outranked by you just makes me all tingly down below."

Some thing would never change, apparently. Shaking hands, the animosity between the two drifted out the window as Adam stood to his feet. "So. That was that."

"You know sir, I'm honestly surprised with you lately," the big guy said, "First letting Blake go, then being so forgiving, and now you want to date a human! You've changed more in two days than others would change over two years!"

"…Human? What are you talking about?"

"Uh, Miltia. She's human."

"No. She's a wolverine Faunus. She had the claws and everything. Why would you think she's human?"

"I looked up her profile, sir. Those were weapons. She's 100% flesh and blood human."

"…This whole turning over a new leaf thing is going to be much more difficult than I imagined."