As far as apartments went, Blake couldn't exactly complain about hers. The two bedroom, one bathroom apartment was located directly above their cat rescue, which her father constantly reminded her was not a shop, despite the ease in calling the physical space that. The living room was connected to the kitchenette by an open archway, giving the space a feeling of more room than it actually had. All the same, it had been home for Blake since birth. The apartment was not only convenient, but it was also home to the four "foster fails" that the Belladonnas had acquired over the years.
First, there was Gambol and Shroud, two sister black cats that Blake had fallen in love with when they were kittens. As far as anyone was concerned, including Gambol and Shroud, they were Blake's cats, and Blake was their person. Not a moment went by in the apartment in which there wasn't one of the duo following at Blake's feet, riding on her shoulder, or sprawled out in her lap.
The third cat that inhabited the Belladonnas' apartment belonged to Kali. Sienna, a gorgeous bengal cat, acted like the queen of the house. She took no nonsense from Gambol nor Shroud, who despite being three years old each, still acted like they were kittens.
The final cat was Ghira's, a giant Maine Coon named Chief. Chief was larger than the other three cats combined, and acted tough around pretty much any cat he'd ever met. He had a habit of fighting other male cats, but they'd successfully kept him around only female cats for years. Chief also did not put up with the childish gimmicks of Gambol and Shroud, but would do anything for Sienna, who the Belladonnas jokingly called his queen.
Blake always found the comparison between the cats of the family and her actual family amusing. It was a common saying that cats mimicked their people, and people mimicked their cats, but the parallels between Sienna, Chief, Kali, and Ghira, was simply too much.
It had often crossed Blake's mind that perhaps they all mimicked each other so much because they were all cat Faunus. It was never a question she would ask out loud, knowing all too well what the implications of that question were, but she would be lying if the thought did not have at least a bit of weight in her mind. There was absolutely nothing better than to pet both of her kitties at the same time, while they lay on her, kneading her chest, and the three of them, including Blake, purred together.
"Blake!" Kali called from the front door, pulling Blake out of her thoughts. "We're home."
Blake nodded towards the door as her parents entered, Gambol curled up on her lap, purring away as Blake scratched behind her ears. "Hey," she replied. "How did the rescue go?"
"Two new cats," Ghira said with a sigh, hanging up his coat near the door. "One more than expected. They look identical, so we think they're sisters. They're spending the night overnight at the vet for their spaying before we bring them downstairs tomorrow." He knelt down, as Chief had approached him to welcome him home.
"Twenty-two cats then?" Blake asked.
Kali nodded. "For now. We still have room for three more, but I'd rather not push it for the time being."
"We had a prospective adoptee today," Blake told her, pointing at a packet sitting on the kitchen table with her free hand, her right arm still occupied by a purring Gambol.
"Oh?" Ghira stood back up, much to the annoyance of Chief, who was enjoying his head scritches. He walked over to the table, and picked up the packet. "Yang Xiao Long," he read out loud. "Online, or in person?"
"In person," Blake replied.
"Did you do her interview?" Kali asked.
Blake nodded. "She seems pretty good. She's looking to get a cat for her younger sister as a surprise birthday present, but her younger sister has been talking about and planning for a cat for at least two years."
"How old is the sister?" Ghira flipped to the next page of the packet.
"She turns 20 at the end of the month."
Kali took a seat at the kitchen table, holding out her hand for the packet. Ghira, despite not being done, handed it off immediately to her.
"Beacon Drive," she read from the first page. "That's in the University District, yeah?"
Blake nodded. "Ruby, her sister, is a student, but Yang works."
"Full time?" Ghira asked.
"I didn't ask," Blake replied, frowning at the ground. "I forgot about that one."
"You forgot?" Kali raised an eyebrow at her daughter.
"I was a little frazzled," she explained, reaching up to rub the top of her head again. "I found cat puke behind the counter when I came down to open up this morning, and I was finishing up cleaning it when Yang got to the shop. The bell scared me, and I hit my head on the underside of the counter."
Kali jumped up from her seat, immediately darting over to her daughter, leaving the packet behind on the table. "Oh, Blakey, are you okay?" She began to fuss at once, checking her ears and the top of her head for bumps or cuts.
"Mom, I'm fine," Blake insisted. Gambol leapt out of her lap, alarmed by Kali's sudden movements. "You scared off Gambol," she huffed.
"Oh, like her and Shroud won't be wrapped around your feet in five minutes anyways." Kali took a few more moments to continue inspecting Blake's head, before she considered it free of any marks of harm.
Blake stood up, crossing her arms with a huff. Kali smirked at her daughter, some of her habits never dying, despite now being a full adult of 22 years old.
"Hmm," Ghira audibly hummed, flicking through the packet more. "I don't know, Blake. I'm not sure if this will end up with a return or not. We generally don't do surprise gifts."
"Did she say what stopped them from getting a cat for two years?" Kali asked.
"She didn't exactly specify, but…" Blake shifted her weight uncomfortably, looking down at her feet. "Her right arm was made of metal. I think she was in some sort of accident. She was rubbing it a lot when she was talking about two years ago."
"Made of metal?" Ghira looked up at his daughter, eyes wide. "Do you mean?"
"A robot prosthetic."
"An Atlas robot prosthetic?"
"I don't know," Blake shrugged. "I didn't ask. I was trying not to be rude and stare or ask irrelevant questions."
"Blake," Ghira said softly, placing the packet down. "Was she human?"
Blake furrowed her brow. "Yes, why?"
"If it was a prosthetic from Atlas…"
Blake shook her head. "I don't think she would have come all the way out to the Faunus District if she's from Atlas. There's other shelters in Vale, in the Downtown District. Not as close as we are to her address, but if she was really a racist, she would have made the extra trek the moment she saw Menagerie Avenue."
Ghira's face was grim, not seeming to be convinced by his daughter's reasoning.
"Ghir," Kali sighed, placing her hands on her husband's arm, "let's not jump to conclusions. Blake has a point."
Blake looked up at her parents, who were sharing a moment of locked eye contact. Silent conversation, an argument illustrated through their eyes and eyebrows. These exchanges usually happened after Kali used her pet name for her husband, which only came after a romantic exchange (to Blake's embarrassment) or a disagreement that had not quite escalated to an argument. Finally, after Kali's eyes narrowed into a glare, Ghira let out a long sigh.
"Alright, alright, I'll give the application a thorough and unbiased look."
"Thank you," Blake said with a small smile and a nod.
"I'll go through it too," Kali nodded, picking the packet up off the table. "Do you already have a vote?" she asked, turning to face her daughter.
"I'd vote yes. She seemed like a good, responsible person."
Kali took a seat down at the table, only to be greeted by Sienna finally making her grand appearance, leaping onto the table and sashaying her way towards Kali. "Oh, hello there, my little queen," Kali chirped, offering out a hand and a warm smile.
Siena made a quiet mrrp sound as she pressed her forehead into Kali's outstretched hand, demanding to be pet.
Ghira took his spot across the table from Kali. Chief circled at his feet twice before leaping onto the table himself. He trotted towards Sienna, who gave him a single look of narrowed eyes before he leapt back into Ghira's lap at once. Sienna returned her attention to Kali, who was reading the application as she scratched Sienna's chin.
Blake shook her head and chuckled lightly at the sight of her parents and their cats. They were just too much alike.
Yang shoved the keys into the lock and turned. She pushed the front door of the apartment open with her shoulder, letting out a long sigh as she entered the room.
"Hey Yang," Ruby called from the living room, curled up on the couch under a big red blanket. "How was work?"
"Same old. Decent rush. Made decent tips," Yang said as she hung up her helmet and her coat.
"That's good."
Yang looked over at her sister, who was staring down at the floor, ignoring the TV that hummed quietly with whatever program was on. "Everything okay?"
"You saw the mail, right?"
Yang dropped her backpack on the floor and came and sat next to her sister on the couch. She knew exactly where this conversation was going, and had been dreading it since she'd seen Qrow's birthday card. "Yeah, I did."
"He still doesn't know. That's still a pre-written card," Ruby said softly, still not looking up from the ground.
"I know," Yang said with a sigh, wrapping her arm around Ruby, who leaned into the hug.
"It's been two years and he still doesn't know," Ruby repeated, her voice shaking slightly.
"Hey, hey," Yang said gently, pushing up her sister's chin with her hand. "His contract is for a maximum of three years. He'll be home again by your next birthday."
"But home isn't the same anymore," Ruby whispered, avoiding eye contact.
Yang noticed the glistening tears in Ruby's eyes. She pulled her sister closer, wrapping her in a tight hug. "I know. But we'll make do. He'll make do. You and I both know he's adapted before, and he'll do it again."
"When it was Mom, he had Dad. Now he doesn't…" Ruby's voice cracked as words turned into sobs, leaving Yang to fill in the blanks.
"He has us now, Rubes. We were little then. He needed to be there for us. This time we're adults. Now we get to be here for him. We got through it together, and we can help him through it too." Yang rubbed her sister's back, gently, and in large circles. She began to sing, very quietly, a song that their mother used to sing to them when they were both little.
Once Yang finished the song, Ruby wiped her eyes and sat back up. She smiled softly at her older sister. "Thank you."
"Of course, Rubes. That's what big sisters are for." Yang returned the soft smile.
"You should go to bed," Ruby said, glancing down at her watch. "It's almost quarter of."
"You sure you're okay?"
Ruby nodded. "I'm better now. I'll head off to bed soon too."
Yang gave her sister another hug before standing up, grabbing her bag from near the door, and walking off into her bedroom. The moment she crawled into bed and her head hit the pillow, she was out like a light.
Blake shut her book, having just finished it. It was always bittersweet to her, whenever a good story came to a close. It was the last in a trilogy she had really come to like, and she was sad to see it go, but glad with how the story had ended.
"Blake," Ghira called from the kitchen table. "We've finished the application."
Blake leapt up from her seat, stretching out her back by pushing her hands above her head and giving out a long yawn. She'd known this conversation was coming for a while. She hadn't had to block out the hushed whispering conversation for the last chapter of the book, telling her their debate had wrapped up not too long ago. "Coming!" she called back, in a half yawn.
"Someone sounds tired," Kali teased as Blake crossed the archway between the kitchenette and the living room.
"Long day, and another long day tomorrow," Blake replied, sitting down in her chair at the table. "So, what's the verdict?"
"We already know your vote, which is a yes to pass her through to the in-home visit," Kali began. "After reviewing her application, I voted the same way."
"I'm still a bit hesitant," Ghira admitted. Blake opened her mouth to speak, but her father held up his hand. "Let me finish. I'm hesitant, but only because we're missing information we would have gotten in the verbal interview, had you not hit your head. I'm not hesitant because of the origins of her arm."
"Possible origins of her arm," Kali corrected.
"Kali, come on. I mean, how many robotic prosthetics do you see outside of Atlas?" Ghira asked.
Blake smirked. "Well, I saw one earlier today, right here in Vale."
Ghira sighed, shaking his head, smiling slightly at his daughter's clever response. She was his daughter, after all. "We've got to go back to the vet tomorrow to handle the new rescues. I know you've got class in the morning, but could you give Yang a ring sometime, and ask her the rest of these questions?" He slid his daughter a piece of paper that had been ripped out of a notebook, with a handful of questions scribbled on it in her father's familiar handwriting.
She picked up the paper, and scanned the questions quickly. "Yeah, I can do that. I'll head in a little early and go get some coffee and make the call from the coffee shop."
"Excellent," Ghira replied, clapping his hands together. "Take notes, and we'll review them as a family tomorrow evening, and make the final choice then."
Blake nodded, folding up the piece of paper and sliding it into the back of her phone case. "If that's all, I'm going to head off to bed."
There was a collective exchange of "good night"s, before Blake departed down the hall to her little bedroom. She found both Gambol and Shroud already curled up near her pillows, already fast asleep.
Shroud woke up the moment Blake touched the blankets. With a soft "Meow!", she woke up Gambol too.
Blake climbed into bed, her cats adjusting and curling up so that Shroud was asleep next to her head, and Gambol curled up on top of her stomach. She became quickly surrounded by purrs, sweet blissful purrs that eventually turned into her own as the trio drifted off to sleep.