The remaining day for Markus passed irrevocably slow. After attending the remainder of his classes, he returned to his quarters and began to pick through his dressers, first opening his collection of dogi. This is a date, not a sparring match, he scolded himself. Shutting the drawer, he opened a nearby closet, quickly overwhelmed by his own selection. "Oh, Mother," he said aloud. In an uncharacteristic panic, he fumbled for his Scroll, trying to think who best could assist him.

Yang! She seems like the go-out person! Markus unfolded the device, snapping a picture of his closet, and sending it as an attachment with the message:

"Date tonight. Bad at clothes. Please help!"

Markus jumped at the immediate response:

"Awww! Where you at?"

"My room. Staff wing, room 47."

Markus knew that, at a moderate pace, it would take an average person ten minutes to trek from the student dorms, which is why he was surprised when a pounding came from his door five minutes later. He opened the door to reveal not only Yang, but the entirety of Team RWBY.

"How the heck did you get a room in the staff wing?" Yang loudly asked.

Markus grinned. "It's good to see you again, too," he said, "and that's a long story."

"What time is your date?"

"Six."

Yang spotted a nearby clock, it displaying "3:43." "We've got some time."

"If you insist on prying." He opened the door fully, gesturing inside. "Please, come in." The team flied in, one after another. "Weiss, Blake, Ruby, good to see you all again."

The girls entered a room painted an off-white, being immediately flanked by an oak desk and bookshelf to their left and right, respectively, and smelling faintly of orange blossoms. Perpendicular to the bookcase and along the wall sat a plush reading chair, complete with floor lamp and a two-tier coffee table. A small dividing wall separated carpeted and tiled floors, leading to a kitchenette with a moderately sized island, with cabinets facing the counter, and two barstools on the opposite side. A couch faced a wall-mounted projection TV, and to its left sat two more doors, one closed, the other leading to a bathroom.

"Wow," Weiss admired. "You seem to be living well."

"Don't let the appearance deceive you. It's a pretty rough neighborhood," Markus joked with a wink.

"It's very open," Yang observed as she walked to the bookcase. "Doesn't it get annoying to have an eastern facing window?"

"Not really," Markus said. "It gives me a chance to greet the day and the night."

"That would be the first thing I would put up," Weiss said, approaching a window. "Blackout curtains, on an automated retractor, so I'm not blinded by the Sun when I first wake up."

"You could just wake up before it rises," Markus suggested. Weiss flashed him an angry eye. "You're right," he said, assuming a defensive posture. "You don't seem to be a morning person."

Ruby sped next to Markus. "She's not," she whispered.

"Anyway," Weiss began to change the subject, "how did you acquire such spacious accommodations?"

Markus opened the closed door, leading into his bedroom. A made queen size bed adorned with light blue sheets and navy blue comforter took up a quarter of the space, while a dresser and walk-in wardrobe flanked a window. "When Amber and I first arrived, the semester was already in session. The dorms were all full, a hotel would have been too expensive, and there just happened to be a recent vacancy here."

"Who was the previous owner?" Yang asked.

"We never got his name. All Glynda told us was that his boyfriend had won some jackpot in the lottery, and they both left to go live in paradise."

"Oh, lucky him."

"Indeed, but to the matter at hand." Markus threw open his wardrobe. "I spend most of my time in my dogi, my school uniform, or sleepwear, so… I'm not the most fashion savvy person."

Weiss was the first to step up toward his clothing options. "Where will you be going?"

"A little café near the docks," Markus said.

"How would you describe the atmosphere?' Weiss asked, giving his hanging attire a hard look. "Formal, casual, hole-in-the-wall?"

"Casual," Markus confidently confirmed. "Definitely casual. It's a place you can go in, get a spot of tea, then go about your day."

Blake perked up at the mentioning of tea. "I'm always on the lookout for a nice tea place. Where is it?"

"Remind me later, and I'll get you the address," Markus said as he dodged a flying shirt. He pointed back out into the main room. "I do have some of their take-home teas, if you wanted to try it."

Blake was in the kitchenette in the flash, rummaging through cabinets. "Tea kettle?"

"In the island, down on the bottom shelf, middle cabinet," Markus told her with an amused smile. "The tea is in the the cabinet next to the hood."

Weiss, undistracted by the commotion, continued to probe at Markus with questions. "Who are you taking on this date?"

Markus stood taller before answering. "Velvet."

Yang threw her hand into the air. "Called it!" Markus gave her a sarcastic smile.

"Isn't that the Faunus girl from Professor Oobleck's class?" Weiss asked. "The one who sits in front of us?"

"The very same," Markus said.

"That surprises me," Weiss mentioned as she moved away from the walk-in.

"How so?"

Weiss laid out clothing options on his bed. "She's a Faunus, for starters."

Markus's face scowled. "I fail to see why that should surprise you."

"The White Fang… and the Faunus…"

"Oh," Markus said in revelation, before shaking his head. "No, I can make that disconnect. But I suppose I am at an advantage, being an outsider." He reviewed the clothing choices before him. "I had never seen a Faunus until a couple of years ago. To me, they were just people with extra physical features." The whistling of the tea kettle made Markus turn toward Blake, who was nose-deep in a book, walking to remove the kettle from the heat. "A few months later, I learned about the White Fang."

"A group of degenerate terrorists," Weiss hissed.

"Perhaps," Markus began, "But not all quadrilaterals are squares."

Weiss broke her attention away from the wardrobe and focused it to Markus. "What?"

"That was a favorite saying of one of my instructors in Camaden." Markus sat at the foot of his bed. "One is not always the other."

Weiss closed the distance between her and Markus, her rapid approach causing him to stand again. "You've never had to experience them like I have. You don't know their savagery, their ferocity."

Markus traced along his scar. "I do."

"Not like I do," Weiss said, shaking her head. "Not when you've spent a lifetime watching friends disappear."

He hummed. "You're right. I don't know what that's like, and I would be a fool to attempt to try." Markus was about to turn away before adding, "Oh, and I'm sorry if I sounded… condescending earlier."

Weiss gave a weak smile and nodded in acknowledgement. "I would go with this light green polo," she said, grabbing the garment, "with a white undershirt, these khaki shorts, and those blue canvas shoes." She held the shirt up to Markus. "It really brings out the unique color of your eyes." Both Yang and Ruby moved to admire the combination.

"'Stormy sea blue.' That's what Amber called them."

Ruby looked past Markus when a glimmer caught her eye from within the wardrobe. She moved to the reflection source and pulled on the gold trim attached to a white sleeve. The sleeve moved up to a soft shoulder pad that pointed outward, with more gold accents and a red underlay. "Hey Markus. What's this?"

Markus spun to see Ruby's discovery. "Ah, those are my Justicar robes."

"Justicar?" Yang asked.

"Yes, you've mentioned that before your duel with Cardin," Weiss remembered. "What exactly is it?"

"It's what I was originally training to do before coming to Beacon." Markus fully removed the outfit from the wardrobe. The robe itself was pure white, with various symmetrical gold accents throughout it. Markus opened the robe to reveal the red lining on the inside. "Camaden is so sparsely populated that there isn't a standing police force or centralized judiciary system. People tended to police themselves out of mutual respect. But, when things did go wrong, there were the Justicars."

"You were training to be a type of judge?" Weiss asked.

"A mobile one, yes. Justicars would go out from the capital city and spend six to eight months on the road, going from town to town, delivering judgements on disputes." He moved a hand over the fabric. "It was mainly contract work: Reviewing claims of breaches of contract, notarization of documents, execution of wills, those sorts of things."

"Sounds boring," Yang said.

"It was, for the most part, but I didn't have much of a choice." He put the robes away. "My parents were lost at sea on a fishing boat when I was only a toddler, and I was, for lack of better terminology, pawned off on the Justicars when they passed through my village. But then my Truthsense was discovered, and I fell in with them."

Ruby had moved to sitting on the floor, intensely listening. "How'd that happen?"

"How was my Truthsense discovered?" Ruby nodded. "I don't remember the exact details, but it involved one of the other Justicars tell a half-truth when I was four, and I called him out on it."

"Weird," Ruby said.

"Though, I've been thinking over the last few months, and I'm starting to side with Amber. I don't think it's a Semblance," Markus said, "at least not by itself. Amber had some practical understanding of Truthsense, though it was never as keen as my own. It gave her a feeling it could be a skill that could be taught."

"So what is your Semblance?" Weiss asked.

Markus simply shrugged. "I don't know. We could be wrong, and my ability to discern truth from fallacy could very well be it, but it seems like an awful waste, doesn't it?"

"Hey," Ruby said as an idea sprang into her mind. "Didn't Pyrrha do that Aura awakening thing on Jaune? What if she tried it on Markus here?"

"Is that the 'For it is in our passing that we achieve immortality' thing?" Markus asked.

"That's the one."

"Uhm… Amber already tried… and it almost killed her."

The girls' mouths dropped. "What!?"

"I seem to have missed something," Blake said, rejoining the group. "Almost killed who?"

"Amber," Markus said, hanging his chosen outfit on the wardrobe's handles, "when she attempted to use her Aura to unlock mine. It was going well for a second or two, then I felt this pressure on my heart," he placed a palm on his chest, "and, here's the craziest thing about it, I felt it reach out and hit Amber."

"So how did that 'almost kill her,' exactly?" Weiss asked.

"Okay, I may have exaggerated a bit, but it was still a frightening experience." He shivered from the memory. "After she came to, she told me I have an unprecedented amount of Aura, an amount never before seen, but from our brief encounter, she could tell that it was only partially unlocked."

"You do well with only a partial Aura," Yang commented.

"Thanks, but there's a problem: What would happen if my unknown Semblance were to manifest if my full Aura -" he snapped his fingers, "- suddenly unlocked?"

"You would be a danger to anyone around you," Blake said, with a hint of sadness, "and to yourself."

"Exactly," Markus said with a nod. "That's the other reason I was brought to Beacon: To bring my Aura and Semblance to fruition in a controlled, steady manner." He shut the wardrobe doors and sighed. "It's not everyday you get told you're a walking time bomb."

"'Time bomb?'" Yang worryingly asked.

"Who knows when it will manifest." Markus saw the team exchange uneasy looks. "Right now, it's just a waiting game."

"So what's that white glowing trail you leave behind yourself when you're fighting?"

"Amber and I couldn't figure that out, either." Markus began to move back into the main room. "It only happened a couple of times in training, and when I fought that pack of Beowolves in Camaden."

Blake reached for her Scroll. "Maybe it's part of your Semblance."

"It could be possible. But for now, I'll try not to let it… explosively awaken."

The group laughed. "Well," Ruby said as she started for the main door, "I hate to cut our visit short, but we're gonna head down to the docks ourselves! See all the people that are starting to arrive."

"Oh, it's quite alright" Markus said, opening the door for them. "I didn't mean to keep you for any longer than necessary." He felt his Scroll vibrate in his pocket, but ignored it.

"Bye, Markus!" Ruby said as she stepped out.

"I'm coming back for more tea sometime," Blake said, stopping just short of the threshold.

"Shoot!" Markus exclaimed. "That address!"

"Send it to me." She gave a small wave. "Bye."

Markus then felt a punch on his shoulder. "Better let me know how it goes, stud!" Yang said with a wink.

He could only smile. "I will."

Weiss followed Yang closely. "Bye, Markus."

"Bye, Weiss. And -" he held out a hand that made her stop, "- thank you."

She smiled warmly. "You're welcome."

When the door closed, Markus turned his attention to his Scroll, seeing a message from Blake:

"Light trail happened several times when you and I fought."

Markus closed his Scroll. "Huh."

"But then, out of the crowd, there came a man who was no older than… I want to say fifteen." Markus was regaling Velvet with one of his Justicar stories while they waited for their dessert. "He comes forward, just as confused as could be, looked down at my assaulter, looks back to me, looked back down, and said, 'Well, it looks like you -' he put on sunglasses '- just got served.'"

Velvet was holding a teacup, but had to quickly set it down on its saucer, putting a hand on her mouth and trying to suppress her laughter. It wasn't working, as she was nearly rolling out of her chair. "Oh, no!" she managed to get out between laughter fits. "No he did not!"

"Velvet, you and I both know that if I try to lie, I start stuttering uncontrollably," he said.

This caused another hysterical fit from Velvet. Eventually she managed to regain control. "Goodness! I haven't laughed like that since… since -"

"The spire?"

"Since after the spire," she corrected as she brought a napkin to an eye. "Oof! I think I just laughed off what I ate!"

Markus couldn't help but to laugh at her statement when he noticed a server nearing. "Don't say that just yet."

The server, with a small serving tray in hand, stopped at their stable. "One raspberry crème brûlée with two spoons?"

"Yes, right here," Markus said. The server placed the bowl in the center of their small table. "Thank you, greatly." The server smiled, and resumed her other duties.

"It's nice to see someone kind to the waitstaff," Velvet observed. "'Please,' 'thank you,' 'I don't request strange alterations to my order.'"

Markus picked up one of the spoons, offering it to Velvet. "Manners were… well-driven in by High Justice Ignar."

Velvet took the spoon, scooping out a bite. "That was your main instructor in Camaden, yeah?"

Markus followed after Velvet's spoon departed from the dessert. "Main instructor, and man in whose house I lived."

"Mmmm," Velvet hummed as she tasted the crème brûlée. She pointed at it with her spoon. "This is heavenly. So rich and creamy, and the raspberries have just the right amount of tart."

Markus savored the flavors of his own bite. "Yes, yes it is." He looked around at the open balcony on which they sat. "This was quite the find."

"Did you and Amber find it?" Velvet asked, taking another spoonful.

"Team TRNP and I found it," Markus said as he went in again. "When I was released from the medical wing, the Team insisted they take me somewhere. They wanted to repay me for getting them out of a complication that occurred during our mission together. We were walking along the boardwalk here when I pointed to this place. When they all said they hadn't been here, I said, 'Then that's where we're going to go.' And the rest is history."

Velvet dabbed at her lip with a napkin. "A fantastic find via non-association."

The two finished their dessert and departed, Markus picking up the bill. The Sun had not yet set, and Velvet suggested they take a walk around the city. Markus promptly agreed, offering an arm to her, when she gladly took. They walked for fifteen minutes, discussing various topics before resting on a bench that overlooked the bay.

They sat in relative silence when a lost thought returned to Velvet. "I meant to ask something earlier, when you were talking about your instructor."

"Mmhmm?" Markus hummed, urging her to continue.

"Do you ever think about going back to Camaden?"

Markus looked across the bay, in the general direction of his homeland. He dr4ew a breath through his nose, smelling the heavy, salty air. His mind flooded with the memories of the boat ride to Vale. "Occasionally," he said as he let the breath go. "Maybe for a visit when the year ends, just to let the people at the Hall of Vigil know I'm still alive." Markus leaned back putting an arm around Velvet. "I do miss the crisp, cool air on a Camaden Summer day… and High Justice Ignar." She felt him hug tighter. "He was the closest thing I had to a father."

Velvet leaned into him, taking his free hand in hers. "I could go with you, if you wanted," she softly said. "Finally see when land that made you."

He turned to her. "I would like nothing better," he said no louder than a whisper. Velvet could do nothing but smile. Markus leaned ever closer, hesitantly moving his lips toward hers before finally making contact just as the Sun set fully before the horizon. Her thin but soft lips still tasted faintly of raspberry. They parted, bringing their foreheads together, both with smiles that could light an entire world.

A vibration from Velvet's Scroll caused her to pull away. "Who's that? Markus asked.

"It's Coco," she answered, putting away her Scroll. "I did tell her I would be back by now."

Markus looked to the remaining light of the day. "It is getting late, I suppose."

Velvet yawned, causing Markus to yawn in return. "And it was an early morning," she said, "but it was a great day."

"The best day," he said, leaning for another kiss, which Velvet happily returned. "But we probably should be getting back."

"Most likely," Velvet agreed. The pair walked hand-in-hand in an uneventful trip back to the student dorms.

They stopped just outside Velvet's room. "Well, this is where we must part," she sadly said.

"For now."

"Any plans tomorrow?"

Markus, briefly forgetting what day it was, ran his schedule through his mind. "Not as of yet," he finally replied.

"Do you want to -"

"Yes," he answered, not needing her to finish her question. "I'll message you when I'm awake."

"Hopefully not that early," Velvet said with a huff of a laugh.

"I dunno," Markus said, playfully grinning. "I might sleep in. Might have too many good dreams tonight."

Velvet broke into a smile and gave him a shove. "Now you're just being cheesy." She closed the distance and put a hand behind his head. "I love it." They shared a prolonged kiss, Markus moving a hand to her soft cheek, before slowing parting. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight," Markus said as he watched her enter her room. When the door latched, he turned toward the elevator, a happy tune in his mind and warmth in his heart. Good dreams, indeed.

While in the elevator, an unexpected buzz came from his Scroll. Is she messaging me already? He opened the device. Nope.

"Ship has set sail. Will be here early Sunday afternoon. G.G."