Chapter 28: At the Dust shop!
Character Change: Kairi-Tsugumi Basil - Winter Schnee.
Location: Atlas Academy: Team VIEW Dorm: VW Suite
Saturday mornings in Atlas had a unique mix of dreariness and excitement. It probably had something to do with the fact that the sun was hidden behind a thin layer of clouds making the dull gray even more prominent. Winter sat in the common area having just finished getting ready for the day. Truth was she wasn't even awake for an hour and already was annoyed. First, it was because the water pressure in the shower didn't really work. Next, it was her meeting with Basil yesterday. For some reason it still weighed on her mind.
Truth was while she was respectful and proper like she was taught to… but Basil wasn't really helping her! Sure, she had come in not exactly knowing what her issues were but wasn't that the point of a student counselor? To help you actually figure out what your problems are! Then again, the reason why she was even going was as a punishment… this was the kind of thinking that was starting to annoy her… going endlessly in circles.
Shaking her head, she glances back down to her scroll and continues to mark what she could possibly need for this coming mission…
"Knowing what the mission is would help Immensely…" she sighs out.
"That's part of why we don't know." Viralious responds while stepping into the common area. "Being prepared for any situation is a major part of being a huntsman. By having us get everything before we pick a mission it means that we have to plan for most scenarios." his tone is scholarly but also tired.
Winter is caught slightly off guard by this but quickly recovers. Turning to her partner, she responds, "I understand that, but it would be nice to know if we have to get a tent or not."
"Yeah, I'm with you on that sleeping in a tent is not fun." Viralious responds.
Ifiral then walks into the common room with a tired yawn. He's in a simple red tank top and black athletic pants.
"Surprised you're up before Eckhart." Viralious says in a joking manner.
Just then, Eckhart pokes his head out of the doorway, "I'm awake but on a call." Eckhart says in an annoyed tone.
Winter raises an eyebrow, "Who could possibly call at this time?"
"His Mother." Ifiral deadpans.
"Oh." Winter responds.
After a few moments Eckhart hangs up and joins the rest of his team in the common area, "Looks like I won't be able to join you going to Mantle today." Eckhart says sighing.
"How come?" Viralious asks.
"My mother had the wonderful idea to have me, and my uncle join her for a nice day to reminisce and hear about my first mission… She didn't tell me about it until today when the Manta is supposed to arrive in..." Eckhart glances at the time on his scroll, "20 minutes." He responds a bit annoyed.
"You've got to be joking." Winter complains.
"Wish I was, but I did finish the list of equipment I needed. Mostly it's just small Dust refills to cap off and some camping supplies in case Viralious decides to pick one that leaves us camping in the middle of the wastes." Eckhart responds.
"Can't be helped, I guess. If possible, could you forward the list to me? I'll try and make a plan of where to buy everything without going back and forth twenty times." Viralious sighs.
"Here, I wrote it on paper." Eckhart says handing him a small list.
"Got it. Winter, are you done with your list?" Viralious responds, placing the piece of paper on the table.
"I already forwarded it to your scroll." Winter says with a small yawn.
"Got it." Viralious says pulling out his scroll. Scanning the two lists. "We're not going to go through the full stipend, it looks like." he says jokingly.
"What do you mean?" Ifiral asks.
"I mean looking at the itemized lists both Winter and Eckhart gave… even before we factor in both of our dust and equipment costs… it's only 12% of the stipend." Viralious responds.
Eckhart gives a small laugh, "Well, it's plenty for you to use to buy clothes then."
Viralious glares at him, "Eckhart I don't need to use the stipend to buy clothes for myself."
"Viralious, we understand that." Winter says, "It's just you have six pairs of clothes including your uniforms… doing laundry every other day is bound to be annoying especially with midterms coming up."
Viralious grumbles for a moment, "Look, I will agree. It's annoying, but the stipend is for TEAM use, not personal."
"I'd call not having one of our members doing laundry every other day a great team use." Ifiral jokes.
Winter walks over and looks Viralious in the eyes, "Viralious, we understand that you don't want to feel uncomfortable, but we're fine with you using the stipend after all you're our leader." she says in a caring tone.
Viralious just gives a small nod before saying, "Alright, but nothing too expensive."
Eckhart gives a small laugh, "Well then, guess it's up to Winter to dress Viralious to her standards. I wonder how much white there's going to be."
This comment gets an annoyed grumble from both Viralious and Winter, but Eckhart picks up on the two's faces getting slightly red and wide eyed. Winter and Viralious turn and look at each other for a moment before quickly looking away and trying to avoid eye contact.
Ifiral and Eckhart easily take note of this and roll their eyes. After a few beats of awkward silence Ifiral coughs, "Well clothes shopping aside there's really not a lot that we need so the two of you should easily be able to pick something up."
Viralious recenters himself before responding, "Hopefully the Dust store delivers to Atlas… Speaking of which, Ifiral you never gave me the list of what you needed."
Ifiral digs around in his pockets for a moment before producing a crumpled piece of paper and tosses it to Viralious. Catching it (after nearly fumbling it) Viralious opens it up and tries to decipher the creased writing within.
"Ifiral… this is just a sleeping bag and a shitload of fire dust." Viralious says confused.
"Damn right, it's all I'll need." Ifiral responds.
"Food and water." Viralious deadpans
"Shelter." Winter deadpans.
"First aid kit and burn medication." Eckhart deadpans.
"Other types of Dust." All three say in unison.
Ifiral waves them off, "Yeah yeah, I read you loud and clear. Honestly, pick up what you think I'll need. I trust you two enough." Ifiral says, rolling his eyes, "Now then if you need me since Basil has me stuck here, I'm going to go work out with Team RMJT. Johanna wanted to knock me down a peg, so she challenged me to a weightlifting competition." Ifiral finishes with a smile.
"Sounds like a great time." Viralious fakes a smile remembering the last 'contest' Johanna challenged Ifiral to… I mean honestly who thought catching things with their teeth was a great idea?
"Yeah, it's going to be interesting." Ifiral responds, sighing, "Well have fun in Mantle… If you see anyone from Meteion kick their teeth in for me."
"Ifiral, if we did that Basil would murder us." Winter responds.
"Murder us? No… expel us. Probably." Eckhart corrects.
"Oh, so even worse." Winter responds.
Viralious rolls his eyes, "Yeah… speaking of which don't we have to tell Basil why we're heading down there?"
"Right, I forgot all about that…" Eckhart responds before glancing at the time on his scroll, "I've got to get going tell her that I'm meeting with my mother and uncle when you see her." Eckhart says exiting the room.
"Well, have fun with Basil… It's time to lift." Ifiral says following behind but turning the opposite direction as Eckhart.
Viralious and Winter just stand there for a few moments before Winter sighs, "We should go and let Basil know before catching the next Bullhead down."
Viralious nods, "Lead the way."
Basil's office door somehow had even more comics placed onto it from last time… It was honestly impressive that she could find so many newspapers with mouse related comics… New ones included one where three blind mice in a caricature of the council were walking towards a cat labeled "SDC." That one made Winter a little uneasy. The next was a mouse nailing a cat's tail to the ground before walking in front of it… the last panel is what you would expect… Lastly was the only non-mouse related one… it was a Geist Grimm possessing a cake…
"Where does she find all these comics?" Viralious says, confused by the last one.
"I don't know, but it's honestly impressive." Winter shrugs before knocking on the door.
Inside they could hear Basil jump before the sound of books hitting the floor echoes… after a moment they hear a weak "c-come in."
Opening the door, Viralious and Winter enter the mouse professor's office and are instantly taken aback by the amount of books scattered around… there were books on everything from Grimm theory and historical tales to a simple storybook that Winter recognized as 'The Girl in the Tower.' A story that Weiss held a soft spot for.
"What's with all the reading, professor?" Viralious asks, glancing at the storybook and doing a double take to the normal Dust mechanics book next to it.
"L-looking f-for a re-reference…i-it's not i-important… what br-brings you here?" Basil asks, deflecting the question.
"Well, we're letting you know where and why Winter, Eckhart and I are going off campus." Viralious states.
"O-ok…" Basil responds.
Winter steps forward slightly, "Eckhart will be spending at least part of the day with his mother and uncle… He didn't hear about it until the Manta was about to arrive, hence why we are here in his stead."
"i-I see… what a-about Ifiral?" Basil side-eyes
"He's lifting with Johanna." Viralious deadpans.
Basil is slightly shocked by this, but shrugs, "Al-alright a-and why are y-you le-leaving cam-campus?"
"Viralious and I are going to finish getting our supplies for the mission… We will be going to Mantle to shop at a few Dust stores and pick up other equipment." Winter responds scholarly.
"Al-alright… S-sounds li-like a good pl-plan… Y-you have my p-permission." Basil says before reaching into her desk and breathing in deeply, "Viralious… Before you leave, I have a gift for you." Her tone is militaristic.
Winter and Viralious look at each other suspicious of their professor for a second before Viralious steps forward, "What do you mean?"
Basil pulls from the second drawer on her desk a simple half-mask gas mask. It's colored black and gray with four red cylinders easily labeling where one would replace the purification dust mesh filters. "I thought about ordering this after seeing your fight with Cinnamon and Makoto… After your little trounce in Mantle, I decided that I needed to do a rush order on it." she says placing the mask on the desk in front of Viralious.
Viralious looks down at the mask with a mix of confusion and curiosity after what felt like a minute, he grabs the mask and places it on his face. Turning back to Winter his emotion is unreadable, but he asks slightly muffled, "How do I look?"
Winter stares at her partner's face for a few moments, looking into his eyes before quickly darting her gaze to the mask… It hides his smile, but she can tell he's smiling… truth be told she doesn't know why but the mask to her feels like it fits… "It… looks natural on you…" She quickly speaks, unsure how to accurately say her thoughts…
Viralious gives a small, satisfied noise before reaching up and taking off the mask. Smiling slightly underneath, he looks back at Basil and says, "Thanks, I think this will be extremely useful in preventing me from accidentally paralyzing myself." He then takes a moment and clips it to his belt.
"Glad you like it… If you start using your poisons more, I'll order some for the rest of your team." Basil says with a smirk.
"How much do I owe you for it?" Viralious ask suspiciously.
"Nothing." Basil responds coyly "Just looking out for my students… especially one using poisons."
Viralious glances at Winter before nodding, "Alright, well thank you if you excuse us we should get going before things get crowded." He says waving goodbye to Basil.
"Have fun… and remember don't do anything stupid." She says with a slight edge to her voice.
Winter and Viralious leave the office but as they do Winter swears, she could hear Basil say something she couldn't fully hear… only the words, "Salem… what are you?"
After they stopped by the locker room for Viralious to drop off his new gas mask the two make their way towards Bullhead docks. After waiting for about ten minutes the two board the Bullhead and wait for it to take them to the City of Mantle.
"So, why are we shopping for Dust in Mantle instead of Atlas?" Winter asks as they make their way through the dark gray streets of Mantle. Looking at it in the light is a completely different story than the last time that they were here… Instead of it looking hostile and depressing now, it only looks depressing.
Viralious shrugs before responding, "Well according to Basil there is a store here that sells decent quality Dust for a good price. When having a limited stipend like us, getting the most for the cheapest is a great idea."
Winter raises an eyebrow, "Wouldn't buying higher quality Dust be more beneficial in the long run? Yes, it costs more, but even with Ifiral and my high usage of dust it will be worth it."
Viralious ponders for a moment before responding, "We will be buying high quality dust… but only for you."
This catches Winter off guard for a minute and gets a little red in the neck… Viralious meanwhile became a stuttering mess before he quickly sputters out, "I mean, your weapon and semblance are the only things that higher quality Dust is going to make a huge difference on, the rest of us just use it for bullets or basic elemental properties."
Winter side eyes Viralious at this comment thinking about the holes in the statement such as he's able to copy her semblance so why not get some for him and his poison mixes will benefit from higher quality Dust… before she questions if poison would even work on a Grimm.
During this point the two arrived outside of the desired dust shop. The Jazz Wringer… It was more of a mom-and-pop dust shop compared to the large chain SDC stores that also littered the area. Viralious entered the more rustic store while Winter took a seat on a nearby bench… This was decided on the bullhead ride over to Mantle as having the heiress of the largest Dust company on Remnant entering a third-party Dust shop not affiliated with them could cause issues for her father or the owner of the Dust shop…. Safe to say it was decided that it would just be easier and less of a headache in the long run if she just stayed outside.
Glancing through the large window for the dust shop looking at Viralious chatting with the shopkeeper, he seems like a happy fellow and from the looks of it is a big fan of jazz music considering there are posters of musicians hanging on the walls. Glancing down she fidgets with the hem of her outfit slightly. Instead of wearing her normal attire, Winter took a risk and is wearing a somewhat fancier white and black hemmed short dress with a pair of icy stockings. Her normal white thigh high boots are replaced with a monochrome pair. Overall, her outfit was the perfect mix between form, fashion, and pure unadulterated boredom.
Sighing, Winter shifts in her seat thinking to herself,
Could it kill them to make these benches any more comfortable? Seriously, it's like sitting on a block of ice.
Once again shifting to try and find a comfortable sitting position… and failing, Winter once again gets lost in thought… this time to her conversation with Delphi and Celcia yesterday.
Winter knocked on Team CARD's door hoping that Delphi and Ariel would be able to help her. Basil unfortunately was unable to help her figure out what this odd feeling in her chest was but maybe Ariel and Delphi could help…
Suddenly the door opened revealing Celica… the foxy faunus was wearing what looked like a long tee shirt and nothing else… getting slightly red in the face Winter thought out loud, "I hope she's wearing pants underneath."
"Do you want to find out?" Celica responds with a mischievous grin.
"NO!" Winter says as fast as humanly possible.
"Shame. So Winter, what brings you here?" Celica responds with a shrug.
Shaking her head, Winter recenters herself, "I was hoping to ask Delphi and Ariel a question…"
"Well Ariel's going to be out for a bit, Delphi is in our room though if you want to come in." Celica responds, stepping aside to let her in.
Winter nods entering the messy room… walking into Celica and Delphi's Suite she instantly notices how much cleaner it looks compared to the common area. The second thing she notices is the small Delphi sitting on her bed currently fighting with a fitted sheet.
"WHY DO THEY MAKE THESE THINGS SO SMALL?!" the normally timid Delphi says before looking back and getting wide eyed seeing Winter enter, "Winter! …. What…. Brings you here.
"I had a quick question…" Winter responds.
"Well, let's hear it." Celica says, jumping onto Delphi's bed.
Winter gives a deep sigh before speaking, "Well lately, I've had this odd feeling whenever I look or think about this person." she says, making sure to do everything in her power to not say who it is.
Celica gives a knowing smirk before asking, "Does it make your heart flutter, butterflies in your stomach? Do you blush when thinking of them?"
"Celica… don't tease her." Delphi says lightly pawing at her.
Winter stumbles for a minute before answering, "What? I don't know… maybe."
Celica laughs before getting up and wrapping an arm around Winter, "Well I'm going to be honest, Winter… Sounds like you're in LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE"
"Celica get off of me! I'm not in love!" Winter says trying and failing to unlatch the fox faunus from herself.
"I don't know, Winter… Celica… might be right." Delphi squeaks out.
Winter shakes her head trying to shake the mental picture from her head.
Me in love? Preposterous! I mean me being in love is as likely as my father calling me right now!
Suddenly she feels a buzzing from her pocket, grabbing her scroll from her pocket, she reads the caller ID and frowns…
I guess the Brothers do just want to play tricks on me today.
Sighing, she answers the call, "Hello?"
"Winter I'm going to cut to the chase, no time for pleasantries. Tuesday there is an important banquet with the Council, and I want you there."
Winter is about to say that's fine before she remembers the reason, she's in Mantle in the first place. "I'm sorry Father, but that will not be possible."
"Winter, I don't care for the reasoning, you're going to this banquet." Her father says, getting short.
"Father, on Monday all the first years are leaving on their first mission, all first years must attend if they wish to continue on with the year." Winter states matter of factly.
"Winter, you are the heiress to the Schnee dust Company first and foremost! This huntsmen nonsense is second to everything. You will be attending this banquet." Her father says on the cusp of yelling.
Winter breathes in slightly before speaking, "Father, I don't believe you are understanding the severity of me missing the mission. If I do not go with my team I will fail this year and either be removed from the school or forced to repeat the year."
"And this is a problem for me, how?" Her father asks coyly.
Winter smirks, "If I fail this first year then it will leave a black mark on the Schnee Dust Company. Considering that it's heiress flunked out due to her father prioritizing a simple banquet over training the next generation of huntsmen." Her tone is cold and honest.
Winter looks at her father's face through the scroll and can see the wheels turning… She can also see the deep scowl he is glaring at her. After what felt like forever, her father spoke, "We will have to discuss your tone later… But I can see what you're getting at. Fine, go on your mission. Weiss will have to take your place that night." Her father then hangs up, leaving only Winter's reflection on the soft blue glow of her scroll.
Winter breathes a sigh of relief she didn't know she was holding in before closing her scroll and putting it back in her pocket. After what feels like a few minutes, Viralious exits the Dust show holding a receipt and heads over to the bench Winter was sitting on.
"We're all set, he even offered to have it delivered tonight since it was such a large order of fire dust." Viralious says with a smirk.
"So, we have everything dust related we need?" Winter asks standing up.
"Unless Ifiral suddenly decides to use something other than fire Dust, yes." Viralious responds in a joking manner.
"Well then good! It's time to get you something nice to actually wear." Winter responds.
"What's wrong with this?" Viralious asks, pointing to his shirt.
"It has a picture of a sheep in wolf's hide on it." Winter deadpans.
"That's the point. It's a pun." Viralious shoots back.
"It's tacky."
Viralious thinks for a moment, "I can't disagree with that. Anyhow, where are we shopping at a thrift store or something?"
"No, I've got a place in mind." Winter says with a mischievous glint in her eyes.
Viralious followed behind, but silently said a prayer for his wallet and his team's stipend.
A/N
This was a bit more of a natural chapter to write, it's simply setting things up and moving forward with them. Not really a lot to talk about so I'll keep this note brief as well.
First of all the whole point of the interactions in the common area is just to build that they are a team and are becoming good friends. The thing with Eckhart leaving is so I could write Viralious and Winter alone just to make some wonderful jokes out of it. Some of you may have picked this up from the last chapter but yes this story is being written with Viralious and Winter starting to date in mind. Now granted it's not a major part of the story and was mostly born out of one of my friends betting me $50 that I wouldn't. The two of them being a couple isn't going to take away from the tragedy that this story is.
I will say that I am not the best when writing romance and shit so this is going to be a bit of r/menwritingwomen at times. (The story was drafted with this in mind so it didn't change a lot.)
Now then the scene in Basil's office really is only to give Viralious his gas mask, in Chapter 0 it was mentioned that he had one clipped to his belt, his design was also meant to have it native. So giving the person who uses poisons is probably a good idea to have him not continuously spasm or get paralyzed whenever he seems to use them.
The shopping scene or AKA Winter sitting on a bench is just to set things up and show a little insight into the minds of the characters.
Overall, this was a nice and good transition chapter. The next one will be doing one of my least favorite things, shopping for clothes.
This is where I would like to thank my editor AmoebaHewdraw who I think I will finally drive to drink with this most recent arc.
AmoebaHewdraw's Note: We've gone twenty-eight chapters and Viralious still doesn't have his hat. Where's the goddamn hat?
Patience. He's also missing that piece of blue fabric.
AmoebaHewdraw's Note 2: Chapeau Boogaloo: I'm more invested in the hat.
Until Next Time Xcom Out.
