Got bored, decided to expand on the Atlas trip. The Question is...will plot happen?!
The following morning, the teens aboard the SDC airship learned a very interesting fact about the Team Leader of TGSN. The ship sadly lacked a proper sleeping area, the two teams had slept in the comfortable adjustable seats. Most of the group were covered by heavy blankets to stave of the creeping cold as they got closer to Atlas. Yang and Svetlana seemed immune to the effects, the two sprawled over their respective seats in their sleep wear, while the rest were sleeping in a more calm manner. As the group began to stir from their slumber, a certain blonde brawler noticed that a large amount of the heavy blankets were piled in a chair , with snoring coming from the pile...
This is when the group learned that Tai was not a fan of the cold and they were headed for the coldest capital in the world.
Svetlana, spotting the pile, grinned widely as she stood from her chair, her bare feet paying no mind as she set into a dead sprint, most of the teens watching as she leaps through the air, her target the pile of snoring blankets.
"Body Slam!" The bear faunas cried out as she made contact with the seat, sending a shower of blankets and a panicking half faunas through the air, Svetlana some how sitting perfect in the chair the objects once occupied.
Tai hit the cold floor with a shut, rolling across with a look of pure terror on his face, as no non-morning person should ever be woken that way, but also he was touching something cold...very cold. It took a second before he was up in the air, trying to get away from the cold metal under him "Fucking Hell! He cried, diving at the heavy blankets that were strewn about and tried to gather them around him, shivering violently.
The girls laughed at the antics of the only male present, even Weiss, who was just wearing her night gown, seemed immune to the cold.
"I told you it could be cold, you should of brought warmer clothing to sleep in if you are so sensitive to this kind of weather." The heiress added, pulling her luggage out so she could change in one of the on board bathrooms.
A gloved hand shot out of the pile of blankets, holding a scroll with the current weather report for the area.
"These aren't 'cold' temperatures, these are arctic ones!" Tai moaned with displeasure, not wanting to leave his cocoon of warmth. "Why isn;t the ship heated?!"
"Because this is an Airship for transporting, not a Airyacht with all the bells and whistles" Weiss added as she headed to get dressed.
Tai grumbled inside his barrier of warmth, looking at the time to see they would be arriving in Atlas within the next 30 minutes.
"At least your prosthetic arm is treated to not such in the cold air." Ruby added, the girl going trough her things for warm clothing to wear, her blanket wrapped around her so she was down to searching with one hand. "Otherwise you would be at risk of getting frostbite around the connecting area." The girl knew enough about his arm, as she was one of the few people that had actually worked on it, mostly because there was no other people at the tournament that knew engineering like Ruby.
Tai shivered as the information did not make him any warmer, so he decided to use his position as team leader to his advantage.
"Svetlana, carry me to the bathroom, Please" he called out to the Bear Faunas that was not leaving the bathroom in her combat gear.
"Sure thing, Boss!" she chuckled, walking over and effortlessly hefted up both Tai and his bundle of blankets to the Bathroom, tossing him and the bundle in and promptly shut the door.
Yang blinked as she watched all of this and turned to the other girls "Well that was a thing..."
Guinevere shook her head "That is Svetlana for you." She sighed as she walked to another of the bathrooms, patting the short bear faunas on the head affectionately as she passed.
30 minutes after the Teams awoke...
With the landing of the Airship, the Team's departed to be welcomed by...no one? They were requested here by the SDC but no one was there to meet them. The entire group turned to the one person that could explain, the Schnee Heiress herself.
"What?" Weiss blinked, looking at the 7 sets of eyes on her.
"Didn't the SDC call us here? If so should they have not sent a person here to welcome us?" Guinevere asked, having put on a fur trimmed padding under her armor for warmth.
"I was not given any Information, Ruby was given the file" Weiss shot a look at the Team Leader that shrank away.
"It was a nearly blank piece of paper!" Ruby threw her hands up in defense "I have no idea why we are here."
"Well we better figure it out fast..." Blake added, being bundled up in a black coat, "I think if we wait any lover we will need to defrost Tai."
They all looked over to Tai who was hugging himself, shivering even with his long coat on and his hood pulled up. He eyed everyone looking at him and smiled sheepishly "you know...if we could have this talk somewhere warmer...that would be awesome"
"You are really not good with the cold huh?" Yang asked, only adding a long brown duster to her outfit.
"I spent most of my life in Mistral, where is a lot warmer then this...I thought Vale's winter was bad." He huffed.
"Maybe you should buy some new clothes while here?" Yang asked as she looked at the freezing leader of TGSN.
"Are the stores heated?" He looked at Weiss.
"Erm...yes?" Weiss looked at him strangely.
Tai blinked a few times and suddenly he was gone, sprinting down the Airdock towards the Town, it seemed he could move very quickly when he was cold and heat was promised.
"The Problem is they aren't open yet" Weiss added as she watched the boy speed off into town.
"Eh, he will find out sooner or later." Ruby stated. They all began to walk before suddenly Weiss's Scroll went off with a message...it Seems the SDC did prepare them Suites at a luxury hotel in the city...perks to having the SDC heiress it seemed.
Tai whined as he walked past store after store...why did every shop in town open at 9?! What was wrong with 8 AM? He sighed, hugging himself for warmth. He was trying to figure out a solution to his issue. Did his family have any friends in the area? The was Lune's weapon shop, but he doubted he could get any clothing there, but it was a long shot.
The black clad boy lowered his head against the cold morning air and began to walk, getting strange looks from people passing by, as he was wearing combat clothing for more...warmer climates.
Atlas was known for being the weapon powerhouse of the world, most weapon and munition companies were based in the capital, selling their wears to Hunters and the military forces of the four kingdoms, though most of their income came from the Kingdoms. Smaller, Ma and Pop shop type stores still existed though, but most of their business came from Hunters as the big companies never did custom orders. One of Said shops belonged to A certain woman Tai knew. Tai looked up at the sign that gave the shop's name, sadly Lune was never good at naming anything so the name "Lune's Fabulous Armory" stuck, the rumor is the name came from a night of heavy drinking after the shop was bought. The one great thing about the place was it was open 24/7 to Hunters.
Tai pushed open the door and looked around the entrance room, as many standard weapons were on display in re-enforced cases. Standard weapons for people that did not want a custom weapon, or needed a weapon to train with before getting a fancy transforming weapon. The room was dark, as the shop was technically closed to the common people, but from the noises in the back, he could tell Lune and her team were hard at work.
Tai walked towards the sound of hammering and power tools hard at work, happening to find a pair of pretty standard double doors you would find in a workshop. Pushing them open he was assaulted with the sounds of hammering, The working of something akin to a 3D printer, which was used to make the more delicate inner parts for weapons. One of the workers turned away from his work, his face hidden behind a welding mask. As his eyes landed on Tai, he moved back a bit in surprise, not really expecting the kid that sold them a huge shipment of weapons a few months back would show up.
"Yo, Blackthorne." he called out, his voice muffled behind his welding mask, "Didn't think you would ever show up in the flesh, what do you need?"
Tai turned to look at the man, trying to figure out, luckily he only knew one person that would wear a welding mask while running a polisher. "Hey, Sparks, was looking to get out of the damned cold outside, and looking for Lune too."
The man named 'Sparks' nodded "ah, shes back in the Hell Room, you will be nice and toasty back there" he chuckled as he looked Tai over "and you are kind of an idiot for wearing that stuff here, this ain't moderate temp Vale or Tropical Mistral, this is Ice Cube City" he chuckled, "You should talk to Lune about it, Old Man Blackthorne sent us something for the Seamstress a few weeks back."
Tai frowned "Grandpa sent you guys something?" Tai knew his Grandfather had ties to Atlas from his old Army days, but did not know what he would be sending here.
"Yeah, but only Lune saw it, started cackling like a witch when she saw what was inside." he jabbed his thumb at a pair of huge doors at the back of the room "Go ask the Boss lady, she can tell you more."
Tai nods, walking past the man to head to the large doors. The huge doors that lead to the "Hell" Room where no standard doors, the large doors were specially made blast doors that someone had painted with the words "Welcome to Hell" across them. The doors were so heavy that they were automated, at the press of a button the door swung open slowly to show the Hell room and all its fiery glory.
Inside was one of the largest forge rooms owned by an independent weapons maker. The rooms walls and floor were scorched, making it hard to tell what they were once made off, more then likely left from some of Lune's over zealous projects. Small forges were built into dome like structures, the top of the dome was cut open to let smoke and heat escape as needed. Four of such domes were placed in the rooms, near the corners, as the main source of heat was setting in the middle of the room. A large hole was cut into the floor of the room, a colossal fire belched out of this hole, generating heat that made the room swelter, but also generated the heat that was diverted to the smaller forges. The large fire was not for show, as it was actually the heat source for a huge blast furnace. The large monstrosity was dubbed "The Hell Furnace" as it reached incredible temperatures. Powered by blasting dust and raw flame, the furnace would metal down any ore put inside, if you needed a weapon made from a material with an incredibly high melting point, this baby could do it.
Standing in front of this pit was the Forge Master herself, seeming unaffected by the heat. Unknown to Tai, this was the furnaces "Sleep" state, the heat it was pumping out now was just its "Simmering" stage.
Lune turned around as the doors open, a large hammer perched on her shoulder as she noticed who was coming in "Hey Brat, what are you doing up here?" She laughed, walking towards him, someone with her build should not be able to carry a hammer that big. The Large hammer was bronze in color, with glowing veins of red running through it. The large hammer was very important to the Forge Master...after all she was literally married to the thing.
Tai chuckled as he shook his head, guessing that she was resting her Semblance, or the noises of the forge were getting to the Hammer in his human form. Tai smiled that Lune was coming to him, sure he had been freezing, but he was not in the mood to sweat either. The blue haired woman walked out, the large doors shutting behind her as she casually spun the hammer on her shoulder.
"So what do you need, you never come here to visit since you hate the cold." Lune teased, walking with the boy through her workshop "Don't tell me the old soldier boy sent you to get his package."
Tai frowned "Hey, I came here a few times and it was not this cold." Tai protested.
"Kid, that was the middle of our Summer, the snow never melts here." She snickered "So did the old man send you?"
"No, and what did he send here?" he noticed they were heading out of the workshop and into a newer part of the shop, Lune having taken an interest into getting into the dust infused clothing market, so she had hired on a dust seamstress to do armor and combat clothing orders.
"He didn't send you? The Old Geezer sent us his old Military uniform, seems the guy was smart and hard his uniform custom made with dust infusions to combat hot and cold weather. Seems fitting seeing he swapped over to the Mistral military after he married your Grandmother, how is the woman, still hunting?"
Tai nods "Yeah, I doubt she will stop anytime soon too."
Lune nods and turned to Tai "so are you sure he did not send you to pick this uniform up?"
"I'm sure, I am here on mission because the SDC wanted two teams from Beacon...why they did not ask the Atlas Academy I have no idea." Tai shrugged.
"Eh, Ironwood is not too Keen on sending his kiddies to do work like that, his school is to military based to do some missions other then scouting and search and destroy mission. And the Reason I keep asking is he sent your measurement for it to be re-sized to and a note that said 'Give them to the youngster if he ever shows up, if not, mail them to him.' So I guess your Grandpa is giving you his old Military pride." Lune walked over to a covered mannequin and pulled back the sheet to show the uniform.
The mannequin was dressed in the color of the Mistral military, but still maintained a Atlas look to it. The entire outfit was black, instead of the standard uniform top, it took on a Military long coat look. Instead of the symbol for either kingdoms Military, the armband held a white XIII for his Grandfather old title "The Unlucky 13". The Uniform also sported a dress cap worthy of a high ranking military officer, which made sense with his Grandfather reaching the rank of General during his career. He looked over the uniform, finding no sign of ranking. All in all, it fit the usual clothing Tai preferred, and it was being handed down to him.
"You know...if Ironwood saw you wearing this...he might blow a gasket." Lune added, causing a glint to appear in Tai's eyes, sealing the deal. "I knew that would sway you, and now you won't freeze to death." She chuckled, waving her hand as she left.
When she came back later, the Uniform and Tai were both gone.
Back at the Hotel, the Teams were all in one Room, as it seemed they had the entire Penthouse to themselves...it seemed having Weiss with them was a huge plus. Tai's Team had been kind enough to send their leader the details, and they were soon graced with his presence.
"Finally, where have you been, Bo-" Svetlana stopped Mid-sentence as she looked at what Tai was wearing. Tai was dressed in the black military uniform, the dress long coat fitting his form perfectly, the entire thing seemed to be made for him to wear. His hair hung down his back and around his shoulders so he could wear the matching cap that sat atop his head.
"Well well, someone looks good in a uniform" Yang teased.
"Huh, never took you for a organized type" Weiss added.
"Seems a bit dated, but the classics are good" Blake nods.
"Does it keep you warm here?" Guinevere asked.
"Looking badass, Boss!" Svetlana grinned.
Nirvana gave him two thumbs up.
Ruby then jumped up with a look of horror on her face "He was so cold he joined the army?!" She was not joking either, thinking that the poor boy was forced to join so he could have warm clothing...
So yeah...that was...um...a thing. I hope it was a good thing! So I got this idea a few weeks ago in a way to show why Ironwood and the Blackthorne Family do not get along..so think of it as a mini arc. As for the outfit, if you google image "Yamato Hotsuin" the uniform comes up. As for the hat, ust do the same but with "Military Officer Hat". Hopefully more of Tai's family history will surface too during the trip...but more importantly...WHY ARE THEY HERE?! Any guesses? Until next time...Arrix out