[X] Roman and Neo were there, discussing possible ways to not have to go to Atlas.
"Are you alright, Yang?" Ruby asked, as the older sister stopped at the door.
"I'm fine." Yang replied. "Why?"
"You've been walking kinda stiff." Ruby said, frowning. "Did you hurt your leg?"
Yang looked down, hiding her face from view so Ruby couldn't see her concerned expression.
...Her scarred leg had been hurting ever since the trip with Miltia. She thought she'd hid it better, but Ruby must have noticed something after all.
"I'm fine." Yang brushed off, smiling. "And look, I know you don't want any leg puns, you can't stand it-"
Ruby groaned.
"-But come on, you gotta hand it to me-"
Her father's voice suddenly shouted through the house. "Too fast a jump from leg to limbs in general. Find a smoother pace!"
"No wonder Uncle Qrow keeps disappearing." Ruby muttered under her breath. "Can we... It's my birthday in like a month, can we have a birthday month pun stoppage?"
"You realise that'll mean that dad and I both get a month where everyone has to talk in puns leading up to our birthdays, right?" Yang asked.
Ruby paled, then shook her head. "No, no, getting distracted. Yang, seriously, your leg-"
Damn it. She hadn't gotten distracted enough.
"I just sparred with Miltia earlier." Yang explained. "Strained my Aura a bit, hit my leg bad. Stings a bit, but its fine."
"Maybe you should stay the night." Ruby suggested. "I mean, if your Aura got lowered and your legs bad, then maybe you don't need to go-"
"It's just walk." Yang assured her. "I'll be back before you know it, don't worry. Just going for a walk up to the old water fall and back."
Ruby sighed, then nodded. "...Yeah, fine."
"Go work on your weapon a bit." Yang suggested. "I'm sure your darling is waiting for you."
Ruby froze. "You heard that..." She wheezed, panic in her eyes.
"I was going to tweak Ember Celica." Yang admitted. "You were audibly drooling over one of your idea."
"No I wasn't!" Ruby objected. "I haven't done that since-"
Her face went red, and she looked away.
"F-Forget I said that..." She whispered. "It's just a pretty design, nothing-"
Yang nodded. "Uh huh. Sure."
"But- You see- Shut up you're the worst…"
"Love you too, sis." Yang laughed. "You're gonna have to show me his weapon design of yours one day so I can see the appeal, though."
Ruby nodded, muttering something inaudible as she gave Yang a hug. The older girl winced as Ruby accidentally squeezed her stomach just wrong and put pressure on the stomach pain, but she managed to bite her tongue before she reacted out loud and calmed her face before Ruby could see it.
"I'll be back before long." Yang assured her. "Hey, did you ever get around to looking through those gauntlets I got on my trip?"
"The harpoon ones?" Ruby asked. "Yeah, those were interesting. It managed to compress down the..."
She trailed off.
"...You're going to make fun of me again if I use big words am I?"
"Oh, totally." Yang promised.
Ruby sighed again. "Not if I make fun of you first. Small gun bullet tunnel made small and work well before bullet big, change little and bullet shoot harder. Maybe slower, but harder."
"Well, you were thinking about a sniper, weren't you?" Yang asked. "Might not be too bad."
Ruby nodded. "I'm going to make the best weapon ever-"
"-And then probably marry it." Yang interrupted.
Ruby went red again. "I'm not talking to you anymore." She decided, disentangling from her hug to walk to the weapon room.
Yang waited until Ruby disappeared behind a door, and let out a breath. She clutched her stomach slightly and winced.
No, no, it was fine. She'll just go sit under the waterfall for a bit, be back before long, and it'd be fine.
She'd be fine.
It became a sort of pattern, as the weeks went on. Yang would go to school, train when she had more time, go under the waterfall. Occasionally tweak Ember Celica. There was a few new weapon part shipments, some minor upgrades she managed to made. A more reliable firing mechanism, more efficient shifting parts. Not too useful with Yang, since her weapons main transformation was from storage to usage mode, but it being slightly faster and able to work more often without wearing down the parts was good.
Ruby also spent time in the weapon room. A lot. Most of her time, really. She really wanted to work on her weapon, apparently. Qrow even dropped in from time to time with practice scythes for her to play with, test around to see what worked best for her.
Yang watched her for a moment, as Qrow showed her how to use a few different ones. There was a difference between one with a curved handle and one with a straight handle, as subtle as it was. Or maybe Yang just couldn't tell the difference.
"Try this one." Qrow advised, throwing her one with a smaller blade. "It's easier to manoeuvre. Blade's double-sided, meaning you can jab. Here, like this-"
Qrow twirled it around, sweeping it like a normal scythe, and then twirling it around and-
stabbed forward, breaking Yang's Aura and impaling her stomach. She doubled over in pain, as Dito-
"Yang?" Ruby asked, looking at her as she suddenly backed away. Qrow looked over as well, as Yang's breathing calmed.
"...On second thought, maybe not this one." Qrow decided, putting the scythe to the side. Ruby looked over at it, and seemed to come to the same realisation, judging by how her eyes widened.
"No, it's fine." Yang noted. "Just in a bad mood, I guess. I'm going to go for a walk, clear my head a bit."
"If you-"
"Don't worry about it, Ruby." Yang insisted. "Keep seeing what works and what doesn't. Have fun. I'll be back before long."
She walked off, ignoring the silence behind her, trying to convince herself that Ruby wouldn't worry about her.
Yang took a breath, and knocked on the door to the building Two was living in. There was movement inside, and then a whisper by the door.
"Open it." A voice whispered, low enough that Yang had to strain to hear it.
"You open it." Replied- Was that Roman?
"I keep breaking it." The voice whispered, confirming the speaker as Two. "You open it."
"Do I look like I'm in favour of free labour?" Roman asked.
"Fine." Two finally whispered.
Slowly, the door knob opened slowly, almost painfully slow. It slid open for a while, as Roman and Two came into view, with Two focusing intently on the door as she swung it open. Eventually, she had it open, the door at a ninety degree from where it would be closed, and she smiled.
"Victory!" She declared, throwing her hands above her head in celebration. The door groaned as the doorknob was ripped off, and a chunk of wood with it, and it took a moment for Two to realise why some falling wood chips were landing on her head.
"Congratulations." Roman noted. "Half a second. A new record."
Two looked up as the wood chips bounced off her Aura, shielding her eyes.
"...It cost so much to fix that last time..." She whimpered.
"Did you put the door repair man on speed dial?" Roman asked. "It's probably smart, at this point."
"Hey!" Called a voice from behind the two. Cent stepped into view a moment later.
"Stop making fun of Two." He demanded. "That's my job. It's, like, eighty seven percent of why she keeps me around."
"What's the other thirteen percent?" Yang asked.
"One percent for every inch of-"
Two dropped the doorknob and jumped at him, putting her hand over his mouth. "There are kids nearby!" She hissed.
Cent nodded, and Two didn't move.
"...Are you just going to stand here?" Roman asked. "Neo's already run ahead, so if you had any sweets, they're hers and mine now."
"Thief." Yang jabbed.
"Yes, that is my occupation." The orange haired man nodded. "...I mean, that was. Everything was reduced to a fine for helping with Five and I've been totally legit since then. You can trust me, I'm the most honest person on the planet."
"...You know, the old man at the cane shop did complain about some missing parts when I was there buying some for-"
Roman tapped his cane, which seemed to have a slightly more shiny handle. "No connection can be proven."
Two finally stepped away from Cent, moving her hand. "If- If you keep saying lewd things t-then... I'll move the couch outside and then make you sleep on it!"
"Stepping up the threats, I see." Cent chuckled. "Maybe one day you'll find something you can bring yourself to go through with that'll actually work."
"As much as I enjoy this drama." Roman said, tapping his cane. "I was kinda here on business, beyond getting Neo free ice cream. And I assume blondie wanted something too?"
"I just wanted to talk." Yang said.
"Noted. Now, can you save this little lovers... Flirt-spat? Is that what this is? Remind me never to fall in love if that's what it's like."
"Duly noted." Yang said. "I don't want to think about you having a lover either."
There was the sound of a fridge door creaking open in the distance.
"...Okay, I was joking, but Neo's actually gotten bored and is stealing your food now. I'd check that out." Roman advised. Two nodded, then rushed off. Cent followed, and Roman sighed as he did as well.
Approaching the kitchen, near the table, Yang looked over the shoulders of everyone else who was standing still, and saw a motionless Neo sitting at the table, with three different tubs of ice cream in front of her.
Everyone looked at Neo, and Neo looked back. Then she shattered, fragments of her disappearing as-
"Don't." Roman said, and the fragments came together again and confirmed that, yes, apparently that shattering can be the start of an illusion as well as the end of one.
Neo pouted, before standing up and putting the ice cream away.
"I'm so sorry about her." Roman apologised. "She's a bit of a wild child. Uncontrollable. I have no idea where I went wrong with her."
Neo was very loud when she slammed the fridge door, before pulling out a scroll and texted everyone.
Do not believe his lies hes a terrible influence.
"The first time we met was when you tried to rob me blind."
It wasn't like I was good at it then!
"The judge said that wasn't an excuse last time."
Cent offered Yang some popcorn, but she turned it down and she gave it to Two instead.
"Sorry about shorty." Roman continued. "She-"
Don't call me short. I'm efficient.
"Sorry, can't hear you from down there!"
Not my fault you're all wasting space you skyscrapers.
"I've tried." Roman said, mock-crying. "I read the first page of a book on raising children, but she keeps doing this. I'm at my wits end, I don't care enough to do anything and I'm out of ideas."
"You've had your fun." Yang said. "I wanna talk to Two, so get your thing out of the way already."
Roman sighed. "Women. So busy."
Neo hit him in the back of the head and texted again.
I'm so sorry about him. He's a bit of a wild man. Uncontrollable. I have no idea where I went wrong with him.
"Let's get to business, though." Roman agreed. "Two. I understand you were heading up to Atlas soon."
Two nodded. "One's already paid for most of the orphans to head up and see how much room they'll have, but within a few days now."
"And that brings me to why I'm here." Roman continued. "I'm... Not very popular, in Atlas. Don't like the place much. And with you leaving before they find a solution to the whole addictive song thing, I was wondering what our options were."
Two frowned. "...Sorry, but I don't know. One hasn't found anything, she said Three hadn't found anything in her research either. There was a guy here who had unlimited coffee in his cup who had a look with some of his students but we couldn't figure anything out either."
Roman winced. "Not exactly good news. See, Vale's surprisingly forgiving up here, if I wanted to find a job I could. Up in Atlas? The fact that I got charged with anything at any point is going to stay with me. People are gonna know, it'll be a pain finding somewhere to live and a job to pass the bills, I'm basically cutting my options short. I like options. Options are my favourite things."
Two sighed. "...I'm sorry, Roman. I can't stay in Vale, and I can't exactly afford to fly their and back every week or so. My sister needs me. You're going to have to make arrangements."
Torchwick sighed. "See, I was afraid of that. That sister of yours is all trouble, Two. Maybe I'll try going cold turkey for a while..."
Neo pulled out her scroll again.
You try that. I'm going with Two. Bye! : D
"The worst..." Roman sighed, as he stood up. "Well, have fun then."
And with that, he turned and left. Neo shattered a moment later, disappearing.
Two watched them for a moment, before turning to Yang.
"Hey!" She said. "Good to see you! Cent, go check on the kids, I'm going to get Yang some ice cream."
Two skipped to the freezer as Cent stepped out of the room, and she opened it.
"...Only two? Could've sworn we had a third..." Two muttered to herself. "Must've been sleep eating again."
She pulled out one of the tubs, then pulled out a packet full off ice cream cones from the cupboard.
"So." Two said, as she started scooping. "What did you want to talk about?"
[X] Two's sister Five, and a bit more about what happened a month or so back, at this point.
[X] Two's sister's in Atlas, and what she'll be up to when she gets up there.