Chapter 33: Daring truths

Currently, the combined teams VIEW and CARD were sitting in Team VIEW's common area and were engaged in the most important battle of their lives…

"Suck my dick, Viralious!" Celica yells as Viralious collects her poker chips…

"Hey, don't hate me for you going all in with a shit hand." Viralious shoots back.

"It wasn't a bad hand you bastard, how was I supposed to know you had 4 tens?" Celica huffs.

Ifiral laughs while dealing the next hands for everyone… no one had caught on to him cheating and dealing purposely bad hands to Celica.

Delphi placed her hand down, "Why don't we play another game? I think if we go much longer Celica might have to start stripping." she says looking at the rapidly decreasing pile of chips Celica held on to.

"Hey, you say that like I'm ashamed of my body. I'm sexy as hell and I bet Winter would love it if I did." said fox faunus responds sending a seductive glance toward Delphi.

"Ahem, new rule everyone must keep their clothes on for the duration of this game." Winter coughs out.

"Aw, spoilsport." Celica jokes back, "But yeah I agree, why don't we swap games?"

"What do you all have in mind then?" Eckhart asks.

"How about truth or dare?" Ariel suggests.

"If everyone promises to keep it PG-13 sure, why not." Viralious says.

"Aw come on that means things will be boring. Can we push the envelope a bit more on that?" Celica shoots back.

"Only if people get a veto if things are TOO Sexual." Eckhart shoots back.

"Sure." Celica accepts.

"Who wants to go first?" Ariel asks.

"I will." Russet says, "Eckhart, truth or dare?"

"Truth."

"Is it true the general trained you?"

"Yes, he's my uncle after all." Eckhart deadpans before turning to Celica, "Celica truth or dare?"

"Dare."

" I dare you beat the shit out of Kris next time he's being racist."

"Pfft that's a freebie." Celica shoots back before turning to Viralious, "truth or dare?"

"Eh truth, not feeling too adventurous yet… especially from a you dare." he shoots back.

"Ugh you're no fun. Who do you think's the best fighter in Team CARD?" Celica asks.

"Probably Russet, that axe is killer." Viralious answers.

"I told you it was great." Russet boasts before getting a shove by Ariel.

Viralious turns to Ifiral, "So Ifiral, truth or dare?"

"Dare."

"Dare you to drink the bottle of protein mix Johanna gave yo-"

"Toss it over." Ifiral deadpans.

Winter opens the minifridge she's standing by and pulls out the bottle… It had been sitting there for a good few days. She then tosses it to Ifiral who catches it with one hand.

Ifiral looked at the bottle before shrugging and downing it in one go. "That was rancid…" He says after a few moments. He then turns to Russet. "Truth or dare."

"Dare." Russet answers.

"Arm wrestling contest. Now." Ifiral says clearing off the coffee table.

"This is going to be good." Celica jokes

"Whose fragile ego is getting damaged?" Ariel ponders out loud.

"Russet's." Viralious, Winter, Delphi and Ifiral all deadpan at the same time.

"Damn, tough crowd, time to prove them wrong." Russet winces before placing his hand on the table. Ifiral ends up doing the same. After a short confirmation the two start.

It seemed close at first before Ifiral quickly took the lead and basically slammed Russet into the table.

"Fuck, damn you've got a vice grip there." Russet says, rubbing his hand.

"Yeah, I've heard that before. Mom always said have a firm handshake… I took it a little too far." Ifiral jokes back.

Russet smiles before turning to Winter, "Truth or dare?"

"Truth."

"Chicks or dicks?" Russet smiles, not realizing he's the only one in the room to not know.

"Both." Winter deadpans before turning to Celica, "Truth or dare Celica?"

"Eh, I'm wondering what a dare from you would be like, so dare."

Winter pauses, obviously expecting truth… After a few moments she speaks up, "I dare you to go a full round without any crude comments."

Celica visibly deflates… "Ugh fine… I'll be silent…" She turns to Delphi, "Truth or dare?"

"Dare, I guess?" Delphi answers.

"I dare you to kiss me between my ears." Celica smiles.

"What… C- Celica?" Delphi stammers obviously taken aback… "Is… isn't a… a little crude?" she asks Winter.

Winter ponders for a moment and looks at the fox faunus… she picks up on the 'please' in her eyes and shakes her head, "Sorry, Delphi, but I think that because it's on the head it's fine."

Delphi sighs before standing and walking over to the fox faunus. Celica bows her head slightly giving Delphi a bit of an easier time. Breathing in Delphi leans down and presses a kiss to her head.

What one would have expected to be a chaste and quick kiss went on for longer than they would have expected, but Delphi eventually pulled away slightly blushing. The look on Celica's face was one of a mix of pure content and dumbstruck love.

Well, found who Celica's crushing for… and HARD if you ask me. Viralious ponders.

Delphi looks Celica in the eyes, "Celica, truth or dare?"

"Dare." Celica answers dumbstruck and a smile appears on her face.

"I dare you to cuddle on the love seat with me." Delphi smiles back.

Celica's smile grows even greater, she basically threw herself to the love seat while Delphi moved back slowly. Eventually the Deer faunus ended up sitting in front of the fox faunus while Celica wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her close.

Celica eventually managed to pull herself from the excitement and turned to Eckhart "Since a 'round' has gone through I get to be as crude as I want. So Eckhart, truth or dare?"

"Truth, I don't trust you're dares?" Eckhart smartly replies.

"Alright, who are you most likely to play 7 minutes in heaven with out of everyone in this room?"

Everyone goes silent and looks at Eckhart… he's currently looking like the vein in the top of his head is about to burst. That is until an impish grin appears "Delphi."

Celica's smirk falls hard and turns to a snarl in his direction earning a small laugh from Eckhart in the process who turns to Viralious. "Truth or dare?"

"Dare." Viralious responds.

"Use my semblance to appear in Celica's room and grab the most embarrassing thing you can see within the next minute." Eckhart gives elegantly.

"This is going to be good." Ifiral jokes.

"I'm going to veto that one actually… don't want to invade her and Delphi's personal privacy… how would you feel if they asked the same of your room?" Viralious firmly states.

Eckhart rolls his eyes, "Fine I dare you to text your sister a picture of this gathering with the caption, 'Celica's getting some tonight'."

"Still crude, but fine." Viralious shoots back.

"Hey, you never know… after all we've still got a while left in this game." Celica shoots back brushing Delphi's hair, the deer faunus in question was looking very content and had closed her eyes while Celica's nimble hands went through.

Viralious took the picture and did exactly as Eckhart had instructed after hitting send he showed Winter to act as proof. Afterwards he turned to Winter "Winter, Truth or Dare?"

"Truth."

"Alright, which professor do you like the least?" Viralious asks, giving her a soft ball question.

"Lute, a bit too blunt and embarrassing… though Murt can be hard to follow at times." Winter answered truthfully.

She turns to the bundle of faunus on the loveseat and smiles slightly… It is a really cute sight and she's hoping that Celica has finally found someone else to tease.

"Delphi, truth or dare?"

"Oh… truth." Delphi responds having not been paying attention and focusing on Celica's fingers in her hair.

"Is there anything going on between you and Celica?" Winter asks smiling.

Celica's happy smile stops dead in their tracks and a look of panic and worry sets in as everyone looks to the deer faunus with anticipation.

"We're just… great friends." Delphi answers without seeing the look of hurt flash across Celica's face, "I just asked her to cuddle to try and distract her." This time Winter flinches with pain realizing that her question might have hurt her friend Celica's feelings. "I wouldn't be against things though…" Delphi continues getting a flash of hope to cross Celica's face, "But she's interested in someone else."

Celica's face falls flat and she buries herself in Delphi's hair… at least Viralious and Winter knew the truth here…

Okay, so new plan: do everything I can to help Celica out with the rest of the game. Viralious thought giving the fox faunus a look of pity. Winter looks down at her scroll and reads something off of it.

Delphi turned to Ariel, "Ariel… Truth or dare?"

"Truth." the blonde shoots back.

"Do you feel like we've been leaving you out?" Delphi asks apologetically.

"Nah, I've been enjoying the show." Ariel answers with a smile.

The blonde girl then turns to Winter, "So, truth or dare?"

"Dare."

"I dare you to spend the next 5 minutes in your suite with Delphi alone." Ariel spoke… Everyone went quiet.

Winter sighed before looking at Viralious, "For the sake of fairness I guess I'll ask you truth or dare now."

"Dare… you're actually going through with this." Viralious asked, concerned.

"Yes, I dare you to do the same with Celica."

"Fine. Ariel, truth or dare?" Viralious asks, looking at Celica who's looking longingly at Delphi as she walks toward Winter and his suite.

"Truth."

"Why did you dare that?" he asks earnestly.

"I'm an agent of chaos." she says before pressing something on her scroll.

Viralious feels his scroll vibrate and he quickly checks it.

Zeliska: Damn, keep in mind she likes to moan a lot… buy earplugs.

Ariel Arc: I want Winter to help Delphi figure shit out… I texted Winter to do the same thing with you and Celica!

Viralious frowned before texting back 'you little minx' and walking out the door into Team CARD's dorm, eventually he entered the messy room of Celica and Delphi.

With a sigh Viralious turns to Celica who's not looking like the confident faunus she normally is. Instead, she's a little down but still chipper.

"You want to date Delphi, don't you?" Viralious asks bluntly.

"Yes… Is it that obvious?" Celica shoots back, hanging her head in shame.

"Not until tonight… I kind of figured you had a thing for Winter." Viralious shrugs.

"HA! Yeah, maybe at one point but… Well I just kinda want to bundle up with Delphi, roll around in the sheets and have great post sex cuddles… is that too much to ask for?" Celica says.

"Didn't need you to be that blunt… What's next you're going to start describing the different positions you want to try?" Viralious jokes

"Well, I was think we could try -" Celica jokingly start

"NO! I'm NOT letting you list them!" Viralious interrupts

"Spoilsport." Celica snorts.

Viralious rubs the bridge of his nose "Celica, what's your plan?"

"I was kinda winging it… I was almost hoping to ask tonight but she thinks I'm into Winter…" Celica replies.

"Wow… have you told her you're not?" Viralious sighs.

"Yes, she thinks I'm giving up and not picking up on the hints I've been leaving her… seriously I'm leaving pick up lines and plans to ask her out on the bathroom mirror!" Celica bitches.

"I see… have you just come clean and told her?" Viralious asks.

"Oh, like you have with Winter?" Celica shoots back.

Viralious raises an eyebrow, "What the hell are you talking about?"

"OH, jeez you're telling me to take the risk and you're not even accepting your own fucking feelings." Celica argues.

"CELICA, CHILL THE FUCK OUT!" Viralious argues back.

Celica jumps back for a minute then scowls, "Viralious don't tell me to get my shit together when you don't have yours."

"Ugh, Celica, how about we just table this until after our missions we've got too much shit to deal with." Viralious responds just not wanting to deal with this anymore.

"Right… Viralious, please don't tell Delphi about this." Celica responds looking down.

"Only if you agree to not say anything to Winter." Viralious nods.

"Deal."

"Well, I think our five minutes is up… what do you think Winter and Delphi are up to?" Viralious questions.

"Hopefully not making out." Celica jokes.


Character Change: Viralious -Winter Schnee.

Location: Atlas Academy: Team VIEW Dorm: VW Suite


Winter followed Delphi into her, and Viralious' suite then closed the door behind her. She knew that once they stepped out again there would be a few crude jokes made at her and the poor deer faunus' expense. Sighing, she turns to Delphi and is instantly taken aback.

"Celica… She wants to ask you out…" Delphi stammers out.

Winter stands there blinking dumbfounded, "Delphi… I think you've gotten things confused I think-"

"No, you don't… don't get it… she's been leaving notes on the mirror… they have different ways to ask you out." Delpi interrupts.

"Delphi-"

"I know you… probably think she's a pest… she is but she's been leaving them for a while…" Delphi interrupts again.

"Delphi, I think-"

"I know… I know this complicates things because you like Viralious…" Delphi says sorrowfully.

Winter's stare drops to a glare, "Excuse me?"

"It's pretty obvious… Winter, I know-" Delphi starts before it's Winter's turn to interrupt.

"Delphi… I don't… I mean… I-" Winter stammers.

"Winter… it's okay to admit you like him… I won't tell him." Delphi says with a comforting tone.

"I… I don't know what it's like to date someone… I don't want to ruin things with my team… I'm afraid he won't like me back." Winter spirals.

"All valid concerns but you should just ask him… Look you can sit here and second guess yourself this whole time, but you really should just ask him." Delphi smiles.

"Delphi… maybe after the mission." Winter sighs.

"Sure, a lot's on your plate." Delphi nods.

Winter takes a deep breath; I don't think that's a great idea but I'll humor her for now.

"Delphi back to the topic of Celica." Winter starts…

"I'll try and let her off easy for you… that way you don't hurt… hurt her feelings." Delphi looks down.

"Delphi, I'm sure she'll be fine. But I'm pretty sure the one she likes is you." Winter deadpans.

"Nice joke Winter…" Delphi says looking down, "As if someone as great as Celica would… would ever… ever notice someone as much of a mess as me." Delphi responds with a depressing sigh.

"Delphi…" Winter says in a comforting tone. "you should just ask her… I'm sure she'll say yes."

"No, she won't… she sees me as a sister…she would never see me as anything else." Delphi sighs.

"How about we reexamine this after the first mission…" Winter stammers out.

"Agreed…" Delphi nods.

Shortly later there's a knock on the door, "Your five minutes is up… you done making out? Do you have pants on or should we not open the door?" Ifiral's joking voice carries through the door.

"We're decent, thank you very much." Delphi and Winter respond. Winter walks over to the door and rips it open sending Ifiral a death glare as she walks back to her seat.


Character Change: Winter Schnee- Viralious.

Location: Atlas Academy: Team VIEW Dorm: Common Area


Viralious and Celica enter the room and the first thing that they pick up on is the death glare that Winter is sending Ifiral. Shaking his head, Viralious makes his way back to his seat. Celica, however, gives Delphi a look.

Delphi nods and Celica walks over with a smile. She sits down on the love seat then Delphi sits in her lap… after a few moments Celica is running her hands through Delphi's hair.

"So, whose turn, is it?" Viralious asks inquisitively.

"Celica, truth or dare?" Ariel says, turning to the fox faunus.

"Truth."

"How was he?" Ariel asks getting Viralious to give her a dirty look.

"Eh we didn't do anything… We just talked. Though I think he'd be decent, he's fairly flexible." Celica responds in a teasing tone.

Viralious shakes his head and starts plotting his revenge.

Celica turns to Delphi and smiles "Delphi, truth or dare?"

"Hmm… Dare."

"Dare you punch Kris next time he's picking on you… or at least come and get me." Celica says frowning as she's rubbing Delphi's wrist.

Delphi's smile drops… before sighing, "Okay." She responds, defeated.

"Russet truth or dare?"

"Dare" Russet responds lackadaisically.

Delphi thinks for a moment then gets a shit eating grin, "I dare you to ask Ariel out on a date."

Ariel doesn't look as repulsed by this as Viralious would have thought but hey she could still say no.

"Alright… Hey Ariel, do you wanna go on a date? We could get dinner after the mission in Mantle if you want." Russet asks enthusiastically.

Ariel puts her fingers to her chin like she's lost in thought… "Only if we go to a movie as well. If so, then I'd love to." She says smiling.

"Alright, I'll make a reservation on the way back from the mission." Russet responds.

What? How? Why? I have so many questions! is all that goes through Viralious' mind.

Russet turns to Celica, "Celica, truth or dare?"

"Dare."

"I dare you to dance on the coffee table." Russet responds. smirking.

"I'm vetoing on the coffee table part; damn thing would probably break." Celica says tapping Delphi signaling for her to get up. After Delphi gets off her lap Celica moves the coffee table to give herself a bit more space. She picks a song off of her phone that's a simple beat before closing her eyes and tapping her foot to the music.

After a few beats she opens them and begins, her movements are fluid and move with the beat, she's doing what seems to be a mix between a ritual dance and a celebration of the gods.

"O twin gods bless this land, to us treasure bestow. City of desert sands, water and gold below" Her movements go with a flourish, and she spins on her left foot before going into a tapping of her boots on the ground.

"Lifeblood and rubies red, precious coins cast aglow! Four hands our fortunes mend, that want we may not know." as singing she spins her arms in a flourish before lifting her left leg into a kick before quickly jumping swapping the leg on the ground and in the air.

"And when we reach our ends, to scales we gladly go. Our fates are yours to bend, to hells and heavens flow" Placing her foot down she twists her body to the left kicking with a slight jump before landing on a half knee, her arms are held at her sides as if to mimic a scale.

"Under arid sky, with silk veils we weave a rainbow. Voices lifted high, dreams upon our backs we carry" Spinning from her current kneeling position Celica keeps her body balanced as if it's a scale shifting upwards before taking her right leg and lifting it to be held as high as possible, nearly making a straight line with her other leg on the ground.

"When day beckons night, As does restless time we never slow. Trusting hand in hand, life death will follow." She slowly lowers herself into a split position before baring her head down.

"Stoke now nascent flame, brighter burn, dance with souls afire.

May ember catch and red-gold spark rise to new heights

May we want for naught coin can buy.

Never see wealth's river run dry.

May we find fortune after life.

For this we pray, we pray, we pray, we pray twinfold"

She sings and repeats her initial motions and flourishes, however the motions were balanced as if she was two different sides of a scale keeping in the middle.

Breathing in slowly Celica looks to Delphi before smiling, she repeats her leg motions first creating a perpendicular axis with her legs before kicking off into a spin.

"Stoke now kindled flame, hotter burn, sing till breath expires.

May those who wander paths in the dark find firelight

May we all as true equals die

Never fear unjust favor's bite"

Celica places both of her feet on the ground and arches backwards before lifting off into a backflip before finishing with one final flourish.

"May we be judged by what is right.

For this we pray, we pray, we pray, we pray twinfold"

Everyone claps as Celica takes a bow, "That was amazing Celica." Delphi says smiling.

"Thanks cutie, I've been practicing that one since I joined the tribe. It's a dance Almigo taught me to honor the twin gods and give good fortune."

"Not bad, not bad, thanks for sharing it." Eckhart nodded with approval.

"Yeah, it's a good thing you didn't use the coffee table you would have easily broken it." Viralious says clapping.

"That was amazing, Celica, truly you could rival some of the performers I've seen on the stage." Winter enthusiastically congratulates her.

"Thanks guys…" Celica says blushing sitting back down, her smile only widens when Delphi sits back down on her lap.

She then turns to Winter, "Winter, truth or dare?"

"Truth."

"Marry, Fuck, Kill: Me, Delphi and Viralious?" Celica asks mischievously.

"You do know that asking someone 'fuck, marry, kill' and including yourself is just asking for you to be under 'kill,' right?" said Ifiral, as if he had experience.

"I know. but everyone wants to know the answer. Besides, like she could kill a hot bod like this without hitting once? I don't think so." Celica teases before getting a slight slap to the head from Delphi as if saying 'bad Celica'.

Winter stares at the group gathered and starts stuttering almost unable to speak. Viralious stares in annoyance and is about to step in when suddenly a loud and official knock emanates from the door.

Viralious raises an eyebrow before getting up and opening the door… out of everyone he was expecting General Ironwood was not one of them.

"Evening, General, how can I help you?" Viralious responds confused after staring for an uncouth amount of time.

"This concerns your mission tomorrow. A large amount of Grimm have been detected making their way towards Ansel." Ironwood continues with harsh decorum.

"WHAT!?" Ariel says flying towards the door.

"I see Team CARD has joined you for the evening." Ironwood sighs, "Don't worry Miss. Arc, a detachment of troops will be going to assist in the defense of Ansel. The reason why I'm here is to inform them that Professor Murt will be coming along with Team VIEW to assist you with a modified objective."

"What's the modified objective?" Viralious asks.

"While finding the missing cargo and helping defend the town, you are going to investigate a possible cause for this large mass of Grimm to move towards Ansel." Ironwood states, "This also means your deployment time has been moved to 8 AM, I recommend getting some sleep." He then turns and walks away leaving Viralious standing there in the doorway.

"What the fuck?" Ifiral says facepalming.

"Everyone heard the news?" Viralious asks looking back "We should probably call it here for tonight given we have to report a good two hours earlier then we were originally expecting."

"Probably… for the best…" Delphi sighs out.

"The General comes in for the save." Russet jokes standing up.

"Yeah, yeah good night, everyone." Celica says before turning to Winter, "You can send me your answer later." She finishes with a wink before getting quickly pushed out the door by Delphi who gives a curt good night.

"Night all." Russet says following his partner out.

Ariel smiles before waving goodbye and exiting.

Ifiral sighs, "Well I'm going to take a shower tonight as I doubt, I'm going to be awake enough to do that in the morning." before getting up and walking towards the door. "Night all."

"Ifiral, I swear to God if you use all the hot water again I'm going to shoot you." Eckhart says, following behind. He sticks his head out a moment later, "Night guys."

Viralious laughs at his teammates' short fight over the shower before turning to Winter "Go ahead and grab the first shower for tonight. Hopefully we can get some sleep."

Winter nods, "Thanks, Viralious, and have a good night." She then walks into their shared dorm room and a few moments later the bathroom door shuts and locks.

Viralious sits back on the couch before sighing.

Early morning… just fucking great… Am I a bad person for wondering what Winter's answer was going to be?

A/N

There isn't a lot to talk about with this chapter as it's really just a lot of set up for the next few chapters, but a bit does boil over. We learn a good bit about Celica and Delphi and their dysfunction. Though before I get much further here.

The song in this chapter is 'In the Balance' by Masayoshi Soken. Please support the official release and artist.

Celica is extremely bad at getting her feelings out there and will take any opportunity to push Winter out of her shell, that's at least how I've been trying to write her. Though I had a lot of fun with the banter in this chapter.

The development between Winter and Viralious is happening in the background as everyone pretty much figured out that it's going to happen at some point. For now we're going into the first mission for Team VIEW and I can say that there will be some mature themes moving forward here. Please pay attention to the content warnings at the start of the chapters. I should probably just give that warning for the rest of the story now as We're approaching the reason why this was rated M with Mature themes in the first place.

So here is where I would like to thank my editor, AmoebaHewdraw, no jokes this time.

AmoebaHewdraw's Note: I wrote Ifiral's line about FMK. You're welcome. I'm surprised it got in, tbh.

Until Next time Xcom Out.