"I still can't believe that is the kitty you pawned from Cardin," Pyrrha whispered conspiratorially, interlocking arms with Weiss and pulling her to the side. "She's completely different."
Weiss cast a glance back at Blake. She wasn't particularly doing anything out of the ordinary. Blake was simply walking alongside Neptune. Weiss smirked at the sight of Neptune trying and failing to pull the stoic character into a conversation. As far as Weiss could tell, Blake only ever gave monosyllabic answers. Even back home, after Blake and Nora had been left alone for a short moment while Weiss and Pyrrha could talk business, Nora had complained that "kitty cat", as she put it, never spoke any words beyond "yes" or "no". Nora quickly forgot about her grievances once Neptune walked in with Ren, however, and swooshed him away with a casual "We're going on ahead!". Weiss was secretly pleased by this knowledge - Blake only revealed that part of herself to Weiss. Only Weiss would ever know how precious, how thoughtful and how surprisingly innocent Blake was. Weiss snuck another peek at Blake. Even as inexpressive as Blake was, Weiss could still tell Blake was excited by the way her gaze kept wandering around the sights and the way her ears twitched every so often.
The ear twitching was especially cute.
"If it weren't for the ears, I'd think she were a noble," Pyrrha continued. "She's so graceful."
"I know," was all Weiss responded. Then she dragged Pyrrha over to one of the booths on the side of the street. The booth held an assortment of silver trinkets and charms. Weiss reached out a hand to finger a simple silver chain with a flat diamond charm.
"Can this be engraved?"
"—but in the end, do you know how we convinced Ruby? You don't, do you?" Neptune asked Blake rhetorically. At this point, he would be lucky if he got words at all. So far, Blake had simply been nodding or humming her agreement. "Weiss just offered the girl a plate of cookies! Can you believe that? After all my begging, all my pleading and the huge sum of money I offered her, she made my trident for a plate of cookies."
Blake blinked at Neptune, then turned back to face her surroundings. This was a first for her — actually being able to absorb what she was seeing, to enjoy the atmosphere. The previous instances where she had been brought to the village she was too busy carrying the entirety of her master's purchases, or too busy running errands in an insufficient amount of time.
A niggling feeling throbbed at the back of Blake's mind, though she couldn't determine its source. It was as though something were out of place and yet, everything was running smoothly. The crowds were browsing the booths, the shopkeepers were trying to fan customers into their stores…
"Ah wait," Neptune tugged at Blake's arm for a brief moment when he abruptly stopped at a small store tucked away on the side of the block. "I need to grab some stuff here," he explained, pushing open the glass door, sounding the chime. Blake noted the overreaching sign that read Pharmalixirs. "You can wait here if you want," Neptune said, halfway through the door.
"Okay," Blake responded, stepping back out the door.
That was when she realized she couldn't locate Weiss.
After a few moments, Neptune stepped out of the store. "Got it," Neptune flashed a cheeky grin as he stuffed a bag of unknown contents into his bag. When Blake raised an eyebrow Neptune shrugged, "It's nothing important really, just something Weiss told me to get. Come on, Weiss and Pyrrha probably went straight to the weapons exhibition."
Neptune continued chatting to himself as the two of them made their way into the heart of the village — where the most popular attraction was. The more they approached the weapons exhibition, the more the atmosphere around them cooled. At first, it was a couple of suspicious glances here and there. Then, it was conspiratorial whispers and pointed fingers. When they entered the weapon's exhibition, the shopkeepers and patrons alike shot out full out glares.
All directed at Blake.
Blake cast a glance at Neptune to see if he could feel the change in atmosphere but Neptune was chatting away as though nothing had changed. That was when Blake realized what had been bugging her.
She hadn't seen any other Faunus around yet.
That wasn't right. If this were some sort of low-key shopping village, then Blake guessed it might have been rare to see Faunus about. But this was the Vale shopping village. This is where all the patrons rich enough to afford slaves go to shop. And if humans can afford slaves, then they are going to damn well put them to use.
So where were all the Faunus?
Blake and Neptune found Weiss and Pyrrha at a katana stand, fiddling with a chokuto-rifle, styled with a blood red blade.
Weiss swung it around a few times then tossed it over to Pyrrha who also twirled and swiped at an imaginary opponent. They then proceeded to debate the merits and disadvantages to the unique artefact.
"I guess it'd be good in some circumstances. But the rifle-functions are rather limited. You'd basically be using it straight-out as a katana." Weiss concluded.
"It's red though. I give it major style points for that."
Blake had just reached the heiress' side when she heard it. The unmistakable sound of a trigger being pulled.
Blake reacted without thinking. She grabbed a weapon off the display table. In one swift motion she unsheathed the blade and swung out.
Gunshot. Then the sound of metal ricocheting off metal.
"Weiss, are you okay?" Blake exclaimed, grabbing Weiss by both arms.
"What the hell are you doing, scum?" the gruff voice of the shopkeeping yelled, grabbing a weapon for himself. He proceeded to swing the sword at Blake's chest.
His attack was interrupted by the procession of several more gunshots. At that, the moment of quiet that had resulted from the shock and disbelief of the first gunshot erupted and transformed into a fury of mass panic. In Blake's peripheral vision, she saw Neptune unsheathing his trident and Pyrrha wielding her own sword and shield.
"Weiss?" Blake repeated, focusing on the only person that mattered. Weiss had yet to say anything. "We have to get out of here."
When Weiss did speak, her first words were not what Blake was expecting. "Did you know this was going to happen?" Weiss asked calmly, yet the underlying accusation cast a bitter aura into the question.
"What? No! Of course I didn't," Blake said as she heard rustling from both sides. "Can we talk about this later? We have to go."
"No, we don't have to do anything!" Weiss steeled her voice, thrashing out of Blake's hold. "How did you stop that bullet then? How did you know there was going to be a shooting?! How?!"
Out from back alleyways and down from rooftops came nimble figures dressed in skin-tight black suits. They wore masks — white with menacing red patterns… much like the Grimm. The rushed out of the darkness and into the exhibition. Many of them held weapons. And not just any old weapon either, but dust-fuelled weapons. And yet, even that wasn't the most panic-inspiring and mind-blowing observation.
All of them, in some way shape or form, had a Faunus trait.
Blake's stomach filled with a sense of dread. Her brothers and sisters were openly fighting, openly shooting at innocent people. She had to get Weiss out of here. Blake got the sense that Weiss was someone with a rather high social class. She would be prime target number one if this was a rebellion revenge thing.
She had to get Weiss out of here.