[X] Forget it, Qrow wants his secrets, fine. Yang doesn't even bother seeing Qrow, instead sneaking out to go see the town.
Walking down the stairs and into the entrance hall, Yang took a moment to try and keep her head clear.
Qrow was here, now. He'd texted ahead to let everyone know he was in Atlas and would be dropping by soon. And right now, Yang didn't really feel in the mood to talk to him.
It wasn't that she was in a bad mood. It was just that, after his display yesterday, Yang really didn't want to talk to him. She wanted to know one thing and Qrow decided to play the cryptic asshole about it.
Well, screw him. Screw everyone involved in keeping that secret, too. Roman had the right idea, maybe. Be subtle about it. She hadn't gotten time to try anything, but the whole subtlety thing might work out. She just wanted to ignore the problem for a little bit, so she wasn't so annoyed when she started looking into it again.
But for now, she had no interest in seeing Qrow. So she was getting out of the mansion for a bit. A normal day out should be fun as far as anyone could concern, and as long as Yang told people where she was if they contacted her Scroll to ask, there shouldn't be any problems with her going out for a bit. And if there was, well, who cares.
Getting down to the bottom of the stairs, Yang double-checked to confirm that she had her scroll on her, then turned towards the front door and moved to leave.
"Yang Xiao Long." Came a voice to the side, and Yang looked over to notice the tall woman in a butler outfit which Yang had seen yesterday, near One. "Are you leaving?"
Was she not supposed to?
...Nah, she'd probably have been told if she wasn't supposed to leave the building, and she was supposed to be enjoying Atlas, not just the Schnee manor.
"Was just gonna look around Atlas for a bit." Yang replied. "Enjoy the sights."
"Then take this." The tall woman said, pulling out a card and holding it towards her. "It would be a poor show of hospitality to allow you to use your own funds to enjoy this trip."
Yang blinked, as she took the credit card offered, and she took a moment to look at the design.
"Cool." She thanked. "So, how far do I have to walk to get into town, anyway?"
"Walking will not be necessary." The woman replied. "There are cars out the front with drivers waiting within, who will take you to where you wish to go. If you wish to explore while in the city, they will leave the car where you tell them to park and wait for you to return. Or you may request to have the number of the scroll attached to the vehicle so that you can contact them when you want to be picked up."
"Thanks." Yang nodded.
Man, this was convenient. Having absurd amount of money all the time must be amazing.
"Well, I'll be going now." Yang decided.
"Do not be out too long." The tall woman advised. "The chefs have been working on the preparations to cook a variety of meals for tonight, and supper is scheduled for seven tonight. Food can be prepared afterwards, but you will need to take the initiative in preparing anything else."
"I'll keep that in mind." Yang nodded, turning away and heading for the door. "Bye."
The city of Atlas was an odd place.
It was a rather organised place, really. All the streets were organised straight lines into a square grids, the buildings were mostly the same shape and the different sizes of the buildings were uniform in the alterations, ending up in some sort of symmetrical city design. Maybe the less rich parts of Atlas were different, but from what Yang could see, Atlas was the kind of place that was designed by someone who really liked consistency.
It was kinda weird, to be honest. Sure, there were some places of the city which were far fancier, with some monuments and statues, but still, it was weird. Not really what Yang was used to.
Still, the people were a lot different, from what she could see. All the people walking around were wearing all sorts of different fashions, even if they seemed to prefer a rather tame style. Some people looked like obvious tourists wearing jackets straight from a gift shop, with a snowflake symbol positioned to cover their heart, as well as some white caps with a slightly different symbol on it, still a snowflake for the Schnee but with a different design.
But then there was the people who were wearing similar jackets except pink, except purple, all sorts of different colours. People wearing extravagant gowns and fancy hats, standing out without being an eyesore. There was only a few outfits that Yang would say were stuff she'd see often in Vale, but it was hardly uniform down to the people.
But then, that was understandable. As much as the Kingdom was fond of designing itself like a machine, every part designed to work well with every other part, the people weren't part of that. Some of them might have just been another brick in the wall that was the Kingdom, but they were still allowed to paint their brick however they wanted, so to speak.
The monuments were rather nice too, being the thing that stood out in the otherwise uniform city, even if the design, colouring and placement was consistent. There was a ton of different designs, of a ton of different people who were notable for one reason or another, or representing notable events in the history of Atlas. For instance, there was at least one street corner which included a monument to the Faunus Rights Revolution, with a wall decorated with a memorial showing the moment of peace, behind a statue of General Kipling, the man who had ended the war and began the negotiations for a peace treaty.
There was a lot of stuff in Atlas, too. Yang did avoid the residential area, but there were all sorts of things to do and sights to see. There was like five different museums, each far enough a way and a few at least specialised in specific points in time. There was the museum for the foundation of the Kingdoms, for instance, as well as a modern history building which seemed more like a record of a bunch of different noteworthy Hunters in recent history.
The shops were kind of overpriced, though. Sure, Yang did have access to a Schnee credit card right now, but it didn't feel like it'd be the right thing to do, to just use someones money on some new clothes and a bouncing ball.
Food was acceptable, though. Yang made sure to get some lunch, while she was dropping by a park in the middle of the city. Even the plants were uniform in their design, Yang realised. Carefully guided and grown for a perfect demonstration of what plants could look like under Atlas' control.
It was nice that not everything in Atlas was all serious and uniform, at least. Burgers weren't exactly associated with the rather proper image that Atlas displayed at times, and Yang appreciated how the old man running the burger shop sold them anyway. Not even a small one, either, not something you'd get from a fast food place with pocket change.
Sitting on a park bench while enjoying her meal, Yang decided that Atlas was pretty cool.
The city, not the Kingdom or Academy. Though the Kingdom was also pretty cool, and as far as the Academy went, Beacon was to Vale what Atlas was to Atlas-
Ugh, that was confusing.
"Hey." A voice called in front of Yang, and she looked up to see a girl with short green hair walking over. "I don't suppose you'd mind if I asked for directions?"
Yang swallowed her mouthful, then wrapped the burger up again and put it in her lap.
"I'm new to Atlas myself." Yang admitted. "But hold on, I should be able to look up a map on my Scroll real quick. Are you looking for anywhere in particular?"
"Nicholas Street." The girl requested. "There's a friend of mine who wanted to meet me there, but he didn't give directions and my Scroll's dead."
Yang pulled her scroll out of her pocket, quickly turned on the display, and paused for a moment to try and remember how to get into the application that did the maps. As she searched, she decided to make some small talk. Pass the time a bit.
"So you're a tourist too?" Yang asked. "What do you think of Atlas?"
"It's alright." The girl replied. "The people are a bit snobby for my taste, but it's a nice place. What brings you to Atlas? Just a holiday?"
"Had a friend up here." Yang replied, as she found what she was looking for and started loading up a map. "They decided I should see what it's like and offered to cover the costs. How about you?"
"My caretaker's here on business." The girl replied. "Wanted me on hand in case she wanted me to run any errands. Friend of mine came here as well for similar reasons."
Yang's scroll finally loaded up a map, and it only took her a second to start typing in a search for Nicholas Street.
"Hey." The girl asked. "Where'd you get that burger? Looks good."
Yang looked up. "There's a place nearby for it. I forget the name. If you just exit the park through the main entrance, it'll be right around there, with the old man at the counter."
Yang paused for a moment. "...Come to think of it, I'm pretty sure I've seen that old guy before..."
The scroll beeped, and Yang checked the route.
"Find your street." Yang confirmed. "If you pass the burger place and turn left, and then head forward until you find the statue of the horse without a rider. It's just around the block from there, if you turn right then take the first left."
"Thanks." The girl nodded. "I owe you one..."
She trailed off, realising that no names had been exchanged.
"Yang." The blond girl provided.
"Thanks, Yang." The green haired girl replied. "Just call me Em. See you around."
Em waved, as she turned and walked to the exit. Yang waved back, and then got back to eating her burger.
This was nice, Yang decided. Just some time out by herself, looking at things, trying out some food, relaxing. She'd almost forgotten what it was like to just relax and have fun.
After everything that had happened...
Yang closed her eyes and sighed, as her thoughts inevitably drifted to where they always drift. Back to her failures. All those times she nearly died.
But no, that wasn't the time to think about those. She needed to relax more, and her losing her cool and trying to get answers out of Five was just proof that Yang needed to take breaks. People were just ignoring anything she might have felt or thought to keep secrets which she deserved to know, and Yang couldn't do anything about it, but that was no reason to just go in and try and punch Five and hope that she'd somehow cave and give an answer.
That left Roman's suggestion, then.
...She wasn't fond of the idea of just getting Qrow drunk and seeing if he caved. Even if he wasn't Yang's favourite person in the world right now, he did make an effort not to be as drunk around Ruby and Yang, and he'd probably feel terrible about it when he got sober. But his other idea, and Neo's suggestion, had some merit.
Neo's especially would be worth thinking about. Even if her thoughts wandered back to it eventually, Yang taking a break was probably good for her, and bringing Ruby in on her plan to investigate those silver eyes of hers would be an idea. She'd be able to slap some sense into Yang the next time she acted on an impulse like going to talk to Five.
...On the other hand, then Ruby would have some reason to worry about Yang. Which wasn't really what Yang wanted out of this.
But some sneaky stuff, going in and digging around One's belongings or contact history, might be able to help Yang figure out something. If only because it might point her towards something One has been looking into while investigating this silver eyes thing.
...Okay, Yang had finished her burger, back to having fun.
Throwing the wrapper in a bin as she passed it, Yang mused for a moment where she wanted to go next.
[X] Clothes store. See what Atlesian fashion is like, maybe get herself a nice jacket. Maybe get Miltia something ridiculous as a gift
[X] Target range. Apparently there was one nearby that had you shoot a robot that was shooting back? Sounded like fun.
[X] One of the museums. There was one nearby that was all about Grimm and what they were like, and that seemed informative.