That night, Mayumi had a dream full of boarbatusks and Pixie, with Pixie standing on their backs and whipping them with her Urumi like slaves. From their backs a crimson river flowed, pooling in the rivets of mud made by their sharp hooves. Pixie's harsh laughter filled the air, her sweet scent mingling with the blood of the pigs. Their tusks brandished the air as they squealed with fright, and the sound of a frightened Grimm was terrifying in its own right.

She awakes with a start, though the dream breaks apart like clouds after a storm and she can't hold onto the fragments. Instead, her mind is filled with Pixie's pink hair and blue eyes as her shrill voice rises to pierce the air like a broken note.

"Are you ready!" she cries, pulling Mayumi up and out of bed, twirling her through the room. Scarcely having time to blink before the barrage, she's taken aback as Pixie dips her, their faces nearly touching. Pixie's breath is warm, her lips fluttering with her breath. Being this close is cause for Mayumi's cheeks to flush with a deep rose.

"U-uh I'm not even out of my pajamas yet," Mayumi stutters, still getting her bearings. Pixie releases her with a flourish, adjusting the hem of her dress that wrapped around her cleavage, positioning the small blue button of her jacket ever so perfectly on her neck. She was perfectly happy to be out of her uniform, Mayumi could see, and donned in the flashy pink dress and black jacket. Her boots, which she was especially proud of, clung to her long, curved legs wrapping all the way up to her knees as she stomped around the room with them. They had been in their uniform since arriving, with the exception of the day teams had been formed. Even their escapades into the forests surrounding the school had required school uniforms rather than casual clothes or, in the very least, combat gear. If Mayumi was honest with herself, she was quite glad to see Pixie in her combat gear as well.

"Well, hun, then get on with it and get changed! I'm going to wake the others up...oh they'll be so excited!" she squeals, clasping her hands together with a crisp snap. Mayumi makes her way to the drawer and retrieves her own combat uniform, staring down at the soft gold and brown fabric. She hugs it close and ducks out of the dorm to head to the nearest bathroom.

The morning flew by in a rush, with both Mayumi and her teammates becoming swept up in Pixie's extravagance. She double checked their bags, personally making sure they all were aptly prepared, checked their weapons, and adjusted everyone's clothing, much to the boy's dismay. A pinch or pulling at a collar here, a tug at a sleeve there, insisting that her team must be the sharpest looking team to step foot in Nyma. All this she did between squeals and exclamations of excitement and the swinging of her arms through the air. Only after Pixie had come to the conclusion that they were ready, and only then, did she allow the group of them to fall in line behind her to march to the airships. With a confident stride, Pixie led the group through the school and out into the courtyard.

It's a chilly morning, now that the summer was breathing her last breaths into Remnant. The breeze blows across Mayumi's midriff, sending chills over her abdomen and up through her ribs, though the cold across her stomach had stopped bothering her long ago. In fact, she quite liked the midriff now, though that might have something to do with how much Pixie fawned over her whenever she wore it. Always prodding at the collar, or the leather belt that wrapped its way around her waist. Or, at least she used to. Now Pixie's rather concerned with the other two teammates. While Mayumi feels a sharp pang that she refuses to admit is jealousy whenever Pixie divided her attention, she supposed that if Pixie was happy with their situation, she would just have to be too.

When they reach the airship, the first few twinges of excitement run up and down Mayumi's arms and legs, dancing on the tips of her fingers. Through her travels, Mayumi had fought plenty of Grimm but it was never focused on helping people like this one was! No, normally it was based out of survival, or Ivan was worried about some Grimm coming too close to home, though with the way Ivan had the place built she didn't think that a Grimm would be able to get inside. Nonetheless, this wasn't about to be a mission about protecting Ivan and his base, this was about keeping someone safe and that pulled at the strings of Mayumi's heart like a skilled violin player practicing their craft.

"Oi! I see you rascals made it, hurry up on the airship now, busy day! Busy day!" Dimitri calls, one hand firmly grasping the wall of the airship's yawning mouth, the other urging them inside. Pixie hurries forward, darting like a weasel, or a coyote, to Dimtiri's side. Mayumi rushes to keep up, her teammates close behind.

~Scene Break~

This airship was much smaller than what had brought them into Beacon, but with a more homey, comfortable feel. Well-padded chairs are nailed to the floor around equally grounded tables, and a screen flashes with images of a young woman reciting the news. The smell of leather and lemon air freshener hits Mayumi's nose strongly, a bit too strongly, and she wrinkles up her nose.

"Hey, Mayumi, you all right? You look like you just took a bite out of a bad apple," Randy says, falling in line next to her. Mayumi points to her nose, the lines of her mouth creasing with a frown.

"It smells terrible in here," she mutters with a heavy sigh, already feeling queasy.

"What do you mean? It's just lemon and new car, it smells kinda nice," Randy queries.

"Well, maybe for you, but it's very strong for me, you know…" she twitches the long, dark brown tail and curls it over her leg, casting a bashful glance at it. Randy's eyes flicker with understanding and he slowly nods.

"Oh...faunus...wait do you all have strong smells? I mean, no, not strong smells, like, you know what I mean," he quickly recovers. Amusement flashes in Mayumi's gaze and she nods, giggling softly. She speaks in a bubbly way, her words floating and bouncing in the air with lovely sweetness.

"No, no. Not all of us, like, a bird faunus probably would have the same exact kind of smell as you, some worse if they had a beak, wouldn't that be silly?" Mayumi says with a giggle.

"How would you even eat? I'd feel so bad for a beaked faunus," he says with a hearty chuckle.

"I don't know! You'd probably need special food that you don't have to chew-"

"Mayumi!" Pixie interjects with a sharp yelp. She's already sprawled out on one of the chairs, her head dangling off the front and her feet rising up to strike the air off of the top of the chair's back. "Get over here and sit down, we'll be lifting off soon and I don't want you walking around!"

"Oh...of course!" Mayumi says quickly, spurred into action she dashes over and quickly finds a seat, a bit too quickly. Her tail pinches behind her sending sharp pain up her spine. With a soft yelp, she adjusts. Pixie snickers.

"You'd think having that tail for your whole damn life you'd know how to sit by now," Pixie quips, her laughter sharp and quick.

"I...I was in a rush!" Mayumi counters with a pout and readjusts, her tail curling up and over her lap. Her stomach twists as the airship lurches off of the ground and the smell of lemon and leather becomes even more overpowering, if such a thing were possible.

The airship ride went by much too fast, but yet much too slowly. They played cards, which Mayumi found to be quite delightful even if she kept losing, and watched the television. First, it was the news, but when that turned to the faunus Pixie deliberately and aggravatedly changed the channel, snapping that the dumb reporter didn't know what she was talking about and they all best not listen to bullshit like that. However, the comedy that played after was just as delightful as the card games and that put everyone's mind at ease. By the time they landed, they hardly realized that several hours had passed, and none of them minded that they had lost track of time.

Pixie's the first to step out of the airship, Mayumi following close behind, grasping her hand to ensure she was the closest one to her. The sun beats down onto the shell of the airship, seeping into the long grass that tickled at the sides of their shoes all the way up to their ankles.

"It smells like cow shit," Pixie says, a wide grin peeling across her face. "Don't that just remind you of our travels? Eh, Mayumi?" she says quietly, dipping low to whisper the last of her words into Mayumi's ear. Mayumi's spine locks, suddenly feeling as if the ligaments and tendons in her back had turned as hard as her bones, rendering her immobile. With a sharp slap, Pixie laughs boisterously, cackling like a drunken dog.

"O-oh yeah, reminds me quite a bit of our travels, another small town, very similar," Mayumi starts, stumbling over her words. Flashes of light and blood swims in her eyes and her muscles lock, her heart beating wildly in her chest as the feeling of panic that came with that inability to act. "Just like another small town," she says softly, brushing the palm of her hand against the corner of her eyes.

"Hey! You two, hurry up, you're standing in the way," Dimitri calls from the mouth of the airship, motioning for them to get a move on. Pixie grabs hold of Mayumi's arm and yanks, pulling her right up and out of the trance she had stumbled into.

"Of course Professor! Sorry sir!" she wails like a fawn, pleading for its mother's attention. Her twittering laughter fills the air as the group begins to move along, taking in the sights of the town.

Pixie was right, it sure did smell like cow manure. Sprawling houses with walls built sturdily from logs and roofs of faded shingling lined a dirt path, which was marred by both animal tracks and the imprints of car wheels. People milled around with baskets full of eggs, vegetables, and other produce clutched in their grasps, bodies wrapped in tunics and faded fabric. The bleating of animals rises and falls in low uluations from distant fields, and Mayumi feels as though she can smell each and every one. In the distance, encircling the village and its farmland, tall walls built from cement with wooden watch towers stood.

The group ambles though, quietly chatting as they weave past the homes and into the business district where inns and storefronts line the path. Gabriel is buzzing. Though he usually tends to avoid Pixie, now he was washing her with a bombardment of questions about the small town. Were all towns like this? Why weren't there very many cars? Did people have scrolls here? What was that? Or this? Why did it smell so bad? Pixie laughs softly, an arm draped over his shoulder so that she could answer in hushed tones. Mayumi strained to hear as she explained that yes, most towns were underdeveloped the further from Vale's capital they were. No, there weren't many cars. Yes, they had scrolls. This is a well to get water from, and that is where they keep the dust, because unlike Atlas, they didn't have big storage units.

When the group arrives at the inn, Pixie leads them to the counter and initiates conversation with the innkeeper. He was a wiry old man with large, round cheeks that were flushed with his own hoarse breath. Mostly bald, grey hairs stuck up all around the crown of his speckled head. When he grins, his face lights up with a pale pink blush and his small, white teeth flash. Sausage-like fingers extend themselves to Pixie for a handshake, and she takes them firmly to reciprocate.

"Oh! You must be the team Pomegranate, P...M...G...ah, and R," he says as his eyes flash over the group. "You're here to take care of our Grimm problem, I hear! Those pesky boarbatusks, they root around and sure do cause a big bit of fright. I'm 'fraid all the ruckus they've caused has been attracting all sorts of bigger Grimm, people can't leave the village much anymore. We lost a hunter just 'bout a week ago...he went to get himself some venison...never came back. Wasn't a huntsmen, the poor bloke, no, just wanted some game. It's been safe to go into the woods for so long, people ain't used to having Grimm so close," he says. The group falls into a hush and silence spreads, cracking like static between everyone but Pixie. She simply leans over the counter and flashes her scroll, showing her proof of payment. He nods, gesturing for her to put it away.

"Well of course, people get worked up, and Grimm'll show up, sure as hell. Well, huntsmen'll take care of it," Pixie says, collapsing her scroll and sticking it into the front of her shirt.

"Yes, but we're all worried, that's a kicker, we're all worried 'cause we've got people disappearing and no huntsmen have come to take care of it," he pleads. His eyes are large, like wet moons. He pats their corners with a kerchief from his breast pocket. "We don't have any native huntsmen or anyone around here, I'm 'fraid by the time we get anyone out here, well, all that negativity swimmin' around will bring even nastier Grimm," he says, tucking his kerchief away with a quivering hand.

"Awww, well, we came didn't we?" Pixie chuckles, and the innkeeper's eyes brighten. "I'm sure someone else will come to take care of the other Grimm, we can't though, we got orders," she says with a thin smile, patting the man's round, soft shoulder. His expression falls and Mayumi watches him struggle to hide his disappointment. "Key?" Pixie asks, extending a pale hand, which is settled at the end of an elegant wrist, curved in all of the perfect places a wrist could curve.

The innkeeper places the keys in her hands and no sooner than he does, she snatches it and turns, walking away without a second glance back at the innkeepers forlorn look.

The group wanders through the winding halls of the inn, leaving Dimitri behind to take care of his own room key. They hurry up stairs and around corners until they come to the room matching the number on their key.

"Here we are!" she trills, and with a flick of her wrist she unlocks the door and whisks it open, twirling in through the doorway and flopping onto one of the two beds.

Mayumi follows and the last person to filter in is Gabriel, who quietly takes the key out of the door and shuts it, setting the key on a nightstand by the bed Pixie had claimed. Pixie rolls onto her side and sits up, throwing her arms into the air with a fresh gasp.

"Ah! The smell of freshly cleaned inn beds, just think of how many lonely travelers have had sex or worse on these beds!" she sighs, giggling.

"Pixie!" Mayumi squeals, embarrassment washing over her and she flushes pink. "That's foul!"

"Or worse?" asks Randy while Gabriel goes silent, his own face a deeper shade of red than Mayumi's.

"I thought inns were for sleeping at...n-not...oh boy," Gabriel says swallowing heavily, regarding the beds with new caution.

A barkish laugh peels through the air and Pixie leaps up from the bed, wrapping her arms around Gabriel's neck. He's immediately smothered by her and the two fall over, Gabriel squealing like a frightened pup.

"Pixie!" he yelps, squirming out from beneath her. "I told you I don't like being tackled!" he snaps, trying to push her off.

"Awww, come on, it's funny, plus you're just so darn cute with all of your...naivety," she says with a bubbling giggle.

"You're ridiculous," he mutters, brushing off the front of his jacket and adjusting his collar in an attempt to retain the last few shreds of his dignity. Pixie, who had forsaken hers long ago, lays sprawled on the floor.

"You know what would be fun?" she says after a short pause. Her eyes narrow with mischievous intent and her tone drops in a way that was familiar to Mayumi, yet it's familiarity didn't stop her from being just as drawn in as the two boys.

"What?" Randy asks in awe.

"You know that Grimm the innkeeper was going on about? Well, tomorrow night after we finish off the boarbatusks, I think that we should take our chances and go on after it, eh? I mean, come on, we've been doing such a good job in Forever Fall, Mayumi n' I know how to take care of a Grimm, we've gotten rid of a few monstrosities ourselves…" Her tone is slow and methodical, one that trails off the edges of its vowels and dips into a low hush, so low that you have to bring your ears closer to the speaker's lips to hear. So low, that the three of them were sitting with their legs crossed around Pixie's head as she ushers them to her level. Whispering into their ears, she fabricates her plan, a grand plan, the kind of plan that should only ever be hatched in the quiet, buzzing darkness of an innhouse.

~Scene Break~

The ground is soft beneath Mayumi's feet as they trek quietly through the hushed forest as if they were frightened to disturb it's tranquility. Mayumi understood, though, that her teammates were not afraid, or at least if they were they weren't thinking about their fear. They were stalking the forest for Grimm, attempting to sneak around the backside of the farmer's plot to ambush the boarbatusks rooting around within the fields. It was impossible to sneak up on a Grimm if you were afraid, and that was something she knew and understood well before ever enrolling in Beacon.

Mayumi weaves through the shadows, playing a game to find shapes in the criss-crossing patterns of light and dark made by the thin sun fighting its way through the thick branches above. A snake, or a rabbit, or even a usra, quiver against the leaf litter. The cute shapes were her favorite, like the rabbit. She could just imagine its little nose and tail twitching as it tips its little head back to say hello.

Why hello there, little bunny! Mayumi would call back if the bunny was real. Maybe then it would be her friend, she would quite like to have a bunny friend.

An elbow juts into her ribs and she quickly turns to see Pixie flashing hand signals. She was telling Gabriel to hang back, and Randy to move ahead. They were going to do a pretty simple flanking maneuver, as she had explained to them that morning, where Randy and Gabriel take the sides and Mayumi and Pixie would cut through the center of the field and loop around. As they came in against Mayumi and Pixie, Randy and Gabriel would come in from the edges of the field. They had gone over this plan several times, explained it to the Professor, who approved it, and now it was time to put it into action.

Pixie and Mayumi wait until Randy's head disappears into the thick greenery ahead and then some before they start moving again. He had to reach his spot just about the same time that they reached theirs. This really wasn't a mission on a time crunch, but Pixie wanted it to be good and over with so that they could have plenty of time to spend in town before tonight, when the real mission would begin.

"Come on, he should be far enough ahead," Pixie whispers so quietly Mayumi has to strain to hear it, even with Pixie's lips just about brushing against her ear. They move on, their steps slow and methodical as they weave through the brush. Mayumi dances around the vines trying to tangle around her ankles, moving with graceful swiftness.

They push forward until, apparently on a whim, Pixie stops and holds her arm out to signal that Mayumi do the same. It's no whim, however. Pixie tips her head back and inhales sharply and Mayumi knows that she's pulling in the scents of the forest and the crop field, listening to the whistling of the wind and how it changes as it breaches the tree line and flows over the more barren field. From this, she knew what Mayumi was just now deducing. They were right between the two edges of the farmers corn field, now the only thing they needed was the message from Randy. Mayumi pulls out her scroll, watching it with childish anticipation. The scroll vibrates.

Ready!

Within seconds, the two girls were off. Streamers through the trees, birds diving after prey, wolves snapping at the heels of an elk. Predators. Wind streams through the sensitive hairs of Mayumi's tail and Pixie gnashes her teeth, a low growl in her throat as the break the treeline, bursting into the cornfield. Stalks quiver, tall and gold above the girl's heads, closing up over them. Pixie lets out a howl and from all around the squeals of blood thirsty pigs rise into the air in a chorus, a deafeningly beautiful chorus crashing against the stillness of the night. A stillness shattered as tusks fall upon them, crashing past the towering plants.

Mayumi's swords slash up through the chest cavity of one of the creatures. She rips the sword out, casting the Grimm's body aside. The ground around them was suddenly alive, swarming with the stomping hooves and the muscular, dark backs of boarbatusks. Mayumi leaps up, smashing down on the spine of one and slashing her sword through another's jaw as it leaps at her. There's a crack and spurt of red and then she's off like a bullet, small and brown and flashing as she weaves through the stalks.

From the side, a flash of blue lights up the shadows and Gabriel shouts, sending a strong, glowing, fist through the ribs of a Grimm. It flies away from Mayumi, falling into a crumpled pile showered with pieces of corn. It kicks a leg, then falls still. A light beams through the stalks from Randy's palm, mistakenly shooting clean through it before blasting the haunches of a Grimm. Steam rises and the air thickens with it.

Mayumi doesn't waste a moment watching the fell Grimm. Leaping back into the fray, she ducks and twirls, spins and twists, her body flowing like water as she weaves among sharp tusks and dances atop the rising voices of the Grimm. Somersaulting, she drives a sword through one's throat with lethal accuracy. She moves with the deadly grace of water, powered by a force just as strong, yet just as nimble. Twist, flick, a splatter, and after enough of this she and her team realize the silence of the clearing. The steam rises from the bones like a quiet mist falling over a swamp tickling Mayumi's skin. Her breath comes heavily, softening only once the fact that it was no longer dangerous settles within her mind. Pixie's laugh breaks the silence.

"Aw, now wasn't that an old fashioned work out! Come on, let's comb through for stragglers and get back to Dimitri, I wanna go see what this little village has to offer," she says. Her hips sway to and fro as she walks, as if there is a private melody that moved her to do so. Mayumi hurries after her, clutching her hand that was still warm from the fight.