So, I must apologize for the late chapter. I have no excuse other than "Life is a bitch" along with "I'm kinda lazy". Not a great combo for a writer. But anyway, I hope you enjoy!

Chapter 13: Painting the Town

"Tatiana Epona," the guy said, disregarding Auriel in favor of her partner before repeating, "I have to say, I didn't expect to see you here."

"W-Well, u-um..." the timid girl replied, more nervous than usual, "I, uh, had t-to for prot-protection... Hello, Nathan..."

"That makes sense, I guess," Nathan Bourbon responded, "I don't think the White Fang are nearly brave enough to attack a Hunter Academy just for the sake of you."

"Uh, does someone want to inform me on what's going on?" Auriel butted in, annoyed at being ignored.

"T-This is Nathan Bourbon," Tatiana introduced, "He's from Mantle... like me. We... We've run into each other occasionally back then..."

"Her family is one of the overseers of the SDC's Dust mines," Nathan continued, "Her parents must of sent her here for protection from the White Fang, since she's so easy of a target without proper training."

"Well, I guess that explains how you have so many reserves of lien," Uriel realized, "If the SDC is your employer, your family must be rolling it it."

"Yeah, why do you think I always mooch off of her for some extra cash?" Auriel explained, "She rarely uses it, so someone has to. Never knew where she got it from though."

"Getting back on track," Nathan said, "I'm surprised they didn't send you to Atlas Academy. Surely that place has better protection than Beacon, especially with... well, him in charge."

"W-Well, while that's true," Tatiana explained, "Mom and Dad didn't think I was c-cut out for it. They h-had to get a personal vow from P-Professor Ozpin to maintain my safety."

The Bourbon heir nodded in understanding, "That's fair enough, I suppose. Though I don't doubt your skill, I don't see someone like Ironwood accepting you due to your... personality."

Tatiana flinched at that, though she did somewhat agree, while Auriel continued to glare at Nathan and asked, "And what's that supposed to mean?"

"Don't get offended, I'm only looking at it objectively. I'm not slighting her as a person, I'm merely saying that a Hunter Academy that behaves more as a military boot camp might not be the right place for her."

Meta nodded to the side, "Like it or not, he has a point."

Auriel pouted and grumbled to herself as she slumped in her chair, Uriel then asking, "And I suppose you are here for the same reason as the foreign teams?"

"Correct," Nathan said, "Though my team is... unofficial, so to speak, we have quite the sponsor. General Ironwood really didn't have a choice but to let us in. More glory for Atlas and all that."

Uriel couldn't help but notice the look in Nathan's eyes when that last part was said. It wasn't exactly anger, but rather something akin to spite. Though that did make a bit of sense. Though only one kingdom existed on paper, Atlas always seemed more like two kingdoms begrudgingly living in the same territory. Atlas' rise left the former kingdom of Mantle in the dust, leaving the nobility there with very little actual power, and that's not even mentioning the lower-class of Mantle.

And if this Nathan person was from Mantle, then the disdain towards Atlas made a bit of sense, even more so since he personally knew Tatiana, a Mantle noble, more than likely making him nobility as well. But before Uriel could ponder further, Nathan spoke up again.

"Well, I believe that's enough for today," the leader of Team EBNE said, "I look forward to seeing you at the tournament. And if we meet... my team won't be easy on you."

Tatiana gulped, but Auriel simply smirked cockily and rose to the challenge, "Bring it on, ya big shot! We're winning this whole thing!"

Nathan raised an eyebrow and smirked back, "Well, this has certainly been... interesting. I'll see you around."

And with that, he walked off, the sunset about to switch to nighttime. Team ATUM then noticed that the next airship to the academy was approaching, so they got up to leave as well.

"M-Maybe it's not for the best to provoke him," Tatiana told her leader and partner, "He's very powerful..."

Auriel waved her off, "Eh, we'll be fine. He can't be that tough if he's not even from an academy."

"I-If you say so..."

"You gave that victory declaration very assuredly," Meta put in, "I didn't expect that kind of passion towards this tournament out of you. Why is that?"

The airship landed as Auriel turned to look at her team with a cheeky grin, "Prize money."

You could practically hear Uriel's facepalm all that way to Vacuo. But just as they were all about to board the airship, they heard some loud screaming and caught a glimpse of a giant mech that resembled one of Atlas' recently designed Paladin prototypes that was giving chase to a few vaguely familiar individuals, followed closely behind by a yellow motorcycle.

"So... we're just gonna ignore that, right?" Uriel asked.

"Oh, most definitely," Auriel replied.

Walker stepped through the doors of the library of Beacon, a bit miffed. While the upcoming school dance wasn't exactly something he was looking forward to, he had expected to just simply go and have a decent time with his friends. It was this indifference to the dance that had him miffed, as his team had been roped into helping prepare for it. Preparing for the event was never anyone's favorite part of said event.

His team, Team RWBY, and Team JNPR had been chosen specifically because Team CFVY, a team one year their senior, had been chosen to go on a special mission further out in the continent. They were leaving today, giving the three newbie teams a grand total of four days to set up the gym for the dance. And that's not even mentioning the fact that classes were still going on!

So, as said before, you can understand why Walker was a little miffed.

As he walked past the tabled area, he spotted a certain Schnee heiress sitting there, reading what looked to be a... store magazine? Walker walked over with a raised eyebrow. Sure, he knew Team RWBY was helping decorate the gym, but why was Weiss looking at such a magazine with such an intense look on her face?

Weiss noticed him approaching and said, "Ah! Perfect timing!"

She then held up the pages to him and pointed to the two colors displayed on them, "Which color do you feel is more appropriate?"

Walker blinked before responding, "Uh... Look, Weiss, I may not be the upfront expert on color contrasting or what color looks good with what, but I am fairly certain those are both the same shade of red."

Weiss gasped indignantly, "Well, I never! And here I thought I could trust you!"

"Why me?"

"Well, Hazel's my rival, Dante popularized that slander-"

"Nickname."

"Not the point. And Skyler is potentially biased because his crush is on my team-"

"Oh, you noticed that too."

"So he could just try to get on my good side to help look better for her!"

"And Team ATUM?"

Weiss gave him a pointed look at that before Walker conceded, "Fair enough."

"And so," the heiress concluded, "That leaves you as the best candidate for giving a fair assessment."

Walker just stared at her before shrugging, "Well, it appears your instincts were wrong."

"I know!"

"That wasn't necessarily a compliment."

"I mean, come on, did anyone in your family teach you basic color comparison?"

He involuntarily flinched at that, but answered, "Even if regular families taught something like that, my family definitely wouldn't have done so for me."

Weiss gave him a strange look, "May I ask why?"

"That's... a bit too much of a personal question. You're not winning any favors here."

"Come on, if anyone knows anything about family problems, it's me. Won't tell a soul."

Walker was surprised at how serious the conversation had turned. That look in Weiss' eyes was one of understanding, much to the SHDW member's shock. As if she had found a kindred spirit. But in the end, he turned away awkwardly.

"Sorry. I can tell you're sincere, but... not now."

Weiss shrugged, "Understandable. Now..."

She held up the pages again, "Which color?"

"Just because we had a moment does not translate to my opinion on the colors changing."

"Oh, come on!"

"Goodbye, Weiss."

Again, sorry for the late chapter, as well as the shorter than usual chapter. I meant for it to be longer, but I ran out of ideas, since I'm not covering what the canon episodes did. Next time will definitely cover some of it, but I can't promise a longer chapter. I was lucky to finish this one.

But anyway, I hope you enjoyed! I forgot how fun it is to write this stuff sometimes, and I definitely had a lot of fun with this one. Setting up some world-building for our version of Mantle, and a taste of how the "kingdom's" relationship is like with Atlas. That'll be very important later.

But again, hope you enjoyed! Till next time guys!