Chapter 9 – Kamouflage


Author's Notes

A lot of people declared their support for Ruby's savage trash talk. To you all, I say this – be sure to start reading my other fic, The Empty Seat. When we get to the Vytal Tournament, you'll see the greatest roasting session of Team Funky that there ever was, delivered by our favorite silver-eyed warrior. Now, on with the fic:


"But daddy, I don't want to leave. I want to stay with you!"

"Princess, you'll love it there! Your mother and I saw photos of the school online, and it's better than anything we could get for you in Mantle. You're too special to be wasted doing something as common as mining Dust."

"I want to mine Dust! I want to be like you and mommy!"

"Ilia, there's nothing wrong with hard work, but what the SDC makes us do isn't anything that…look, the point is, you're a brilliant, brilliant girl. You can become something great up there. We need more Faunus in Atlas, showing the world that we're more than just slaves. That's the way we need to do it, not with fear tactics like those…those ruffians!"

Her father was, of course, referring to the White Fang. Ilia turned bright orange just thinking about them. Even at the young age of eight, she'd heard of the collective – not a Faunus in Mantle hadn't. The people on the TV were saying that Ghira Belladonna was now employing a more radical woman, Sandra Kawn or something, and her parents said she was bad news. The White Fang was still a peaceful organization, by and large, but more radical elements were emerging every day.

"So, do you think that you can do it? If not for yourself, for all the little Faunus girls that will one day look up to Ilia Manzat, the most important and amazing Faunus in the world, and think, wow, she was once just another Mantle munchkin just like me?"

Ilia hadn't been lying when she said she wanted to mine Dust. Her parents had once taken her to the worksite when school had been closed after another bombing, and she'd gotten to see the inside of a mine. The Dust mine was beautiful – it had reds and blues and yellows and even some glowing purple! And it seemed to go down forever and ever. Ilia had kicked a pebble before her parents could stop her, and she hadn't even heard it hit the bottom. So cool!

But she also wanted to become someone that others could look up to. Mommy and Daddy always said that there was no greater thing to do than put others needs before your own.

"Hmmmm…okay. I'll do it!"

"Atta girl! Now, Uncle Honey is going to be dropping you off and collecting you for holidays, so you'll have to pack a big enough bag of clothes to last–"

"Pick up? Pack? Why would I pack when I can just grab my clothes from my closet?"

"Ilia, princess, you…you're going to be staying at the school. It has dormitories for all the girls. This isn't easy for me to say, and it sure isn't right, but you'll only be able to go if you don't tell anyone you're a Faunus. You'll need to get your color changing under control, and you won't be able to tell anyone you're from Mantle. There will be other rules. We can talk more about them on the ride with Uncle Honey, but for now, the most important thing to remember is that you need to be Ilia Amitola, the human girl."

"Who? Daddy, I'm not Ilia Amitola! My name is Ilia Manzat!"

"I know, I know. But if there's even the remotest possibility of someone recognizing our last name–"

"But that's not fair!" Ilia placed her hands on her hips. "I'm proud to be a Faunus."

"Ilia…"

"And you can't take that away from me!"

"I'm not trying to. Change will come, princess, and one day there won't be a difference between human and Faunus. But until that day, your mother and I need to do our best to make sure you have the most opportunities for a better life."

It didn't make any sense. If she was trying to do this to inspire other Faunus, how would hiding her color changing help? It would make her a hippogriff! Ilia pointed an angry finger at her father and turned bright yellow. "I won't do it! I'm–"

The look on his face stopped her from continuing. He wasn't upset with her for talking back. He looked…scared.

"D-Daddy?"

"Ilia, your mother and I, we…we may not always be around to take care of you."

What? Why? Are they sick? Are they dying?!

As if he could read her mind, her father answered her questions. "There's nothing wrong with us, it's just…the shifts Thomson is making Faunus like us take…and we keep going deeper and deeper into the mine. Sooner or later, the planet is going be upset by how much we're taking, and it will decide to take something back. I just want to make sure you have an education worthy of someone with a brain like yours. That way, if something bad does happen, you'll be able to take care of yourself."

"I love you, daddy!" Ilia wrapped her arms around her father. "I'll go to the school, just don't get hurt! I'm sorry!"

"I wasn't trying…alright. I promise to never get hurt, as long as you promise to stay safe in Atlas."


𝕴𝖗𝖎𝖉𝖎𝖚𝖒 𝕻𝖗𝖊𝖕𝖆𝖗𝖆𝖙𝖔𝖗𝖞 𝕾𝖈𝖍𝖔𝖔𝖑 𝖋𝖔𝖗 𝖄𝖔𝖚𝖓𝖌 𝕲𝖎𝖗𝖑𝖘, the sign said.

Ilia held her bag with both hands in front of her as she looked around the courtyard. Human girls as far as the eye could see were all around her. Some were still attended to by their parents, but among those that weren't, clusters were forming. A bunch of girls with thick makeup and black clothing were bunched up together. They looked kind of gloomy, so Ilia decided to approach a more friendly looking group of girls dressed in brighter colors.

"Hi. I'm Ilia. Ilia Amitola."

The entire group stopped their conversation and stared at Ilia. It wasn't unusual or anything; humans tended to respond poorly to Faunus, and Ilia had just sort of butted in to their conversation. For all she knew, it could have been private.

A second passed, and Ilia turned away. "S-Sorry, I'll–"

"No, don't go!" One of the girls took Ilia's hand and held her back. "We just weren't expecting you. All of the other girls don't really hang out with us very much, so we're not used to making new friends, let alone them coming to us."

"It's okay. Other kids don't really hang out with me either."

"That sucks. Are you a transfer student, Ilia? I don't remember seeing you here the last term."

"Y-Yeah. I transferred. From…Green Prep School? It's in…Atlas. B-But across from here, on the other side – it's a ways away."

"Cool. I'm Bianca. This is Roane, Ivy, and Ruda. We're not original characters, we promise – we're from the tie-in videogame. The other kids don't like to talk to us because we're planning to be huntresses. They think we're barbarians. They say we belong in Mantle." Bianca stuck her tongue out.

They're also outcasts, just like me! And they're treating me nicely! Ilia had become all too accustomed to humans in Mantle turning her away immediately upon hearing her last name. Manzat was clearly Faunus heritage, and even the lowliest humans in Mantle wanted nothing to do with 'her kind.'

But they don't see me as Ilia Manzat.

To them, I'm Ilia Amitola.

I'm Ilia Amitola.

Ilia held back bubbly laugher that threatened to slip out.

I'm Ilia Amitola!


"Ugh, did you hear? Faunus rights protestors are holding up traffic in a bunch of streets in Mantle."

"Who cares, Ivy? For all I care, those animals can have whatever rights they want as long as they stay down there."

"Well, the news article says some came up to Atlas–"

"What? Please tell me they got rid of them! I don't want to catch something! They could have swine Faunus flu, or bird Faunus flu, or fleas! Ewww, gross gross gross!"

"Chill, Roane. The military arrested them."

Ruda looked up from polishing her drill gloves. "On what charges?"

"Disturbing the peace."

Ruda sighed heavily. Of the five of them, she was the most sympathetic to the Faunus' cause. Well, second after Ilia, but daddy had said Ilia wasn't supposed to out herself as a Faunus, so she couldn't openly support the Faunus. Besides, these human girls …they were so nice…they were so happy…

They were so…clean…

"You know that's a load," said Ruda. "They arrested them for speaking out. If I went into Atlas Square and started screaming into a bullhorn, I wouldn't be arrested for disturbing anyone's peace."

"You're right," said Bianca. Ilia couldn't help but perk up. Bia almost never shared her opinions on Faunus rights, so Ilia was quite curious where she stood.

"What do you mean? Which of us is right?" asked Ivy.

"It isn't fair. Those Faunus…they shouldn't have been arrested for what they did."

Ilia breathed a sigh of relief. Having Ruda on her side was nice and all, but Bianca was the undisputed leader of the quintet. When she said something, everyone around her believed her, and she wouldn't stop trying to convince them until they did. That was just the kind of person she was. It was why Ilia had said yes when Bia had asked her out four years after meeting her, and why they'd been dating ever since. Roane only cared when it affected her, and Ivy tended to be a bit of an airheaded gossip, but Bianca…if she cared about the Faunus, then Ilia knew for a fact that the Faunus were in good hands.

"How do you figure that?" asked Roane. "They broke the law."

"Yeah, but it's not their fault. The Faunus…how can you expect people like them to understand things like laws? We need to do our best to include everyone in society and give all people a chance, but Faunus tend to be closer to animals than people. They're predisposed to crime because they don't know any better."

"Animals don't commit crimes," added Ivy, eager to involve herself.

"A dog will bite someone when it gets angry," responded Bia. "It's not its fault – it doesn't know any better, just like Faunus. It's our job to train them as best we can so they can live good lives down there."

"Faunus aren't dogs," Ruda said angrily, setting down her weapons entirely to focus on the debate at hand. "They aren't animals, either."

"They're somewhere in between. It's inhumane to treat them like animals, but it's absurd to expect them to behave themselves as well as real people."

real people…

Does Bia think that I'm not a real person because I'm not a human?

Worry gripped her heart, but then a smile spread across her face when the realization hit her.

But I am a human.

"Ilia, please talk some sense into them," asked Ruda. "I can't be the only one on the team who's got an outdated mindset that belongs in the time period before the Faunus Rights Revolution."

"You mean the Faunus Wars," answered Ilia Amitola.

As the human girl shared her stance on the matter with her human friends, she drank up Bia's smile and felt giddy inside. She hadn't thought that coming to Iridium had been the right thing when she was younger, but daddy had been right. She belonged here.


No.

No no no.

Honey Ingramm.

Nutmeg Kyler.

Clay Lynderman.

Tiger Lzal.

No no no. Please no. Just skip M and go straight to N.

Ilia scrolled down to the next name on the list.

Metis Manzat.

Laure Manzat.

NO!

All she could do to prevent herself from falling to her knees was to grab hold of the wall.

Don't go blue. Don't go blue.

Suppressing her Faunus trait wouldn't be enough. Even a single tear might give her away. She wasn't supposed to get emotional when random Faunus she didn't know in Mantle died, and she didn't have any place to call home beyond Iridium anymore. The girls…they were all she had left. She couldn't risk–

"Hah!"

The laugh broke her out of her shock. Roane was counting the names in the list on her own scroll. It had been breaking news on the Mantle News Network, and all five girls were simultaneously reading the same article.

"They wanted integration? Well, that's forty dirty Faunus and eighty three scummy Mantle humans who get to share a grave. This is a great day for Faunus rights, ladies!"

'Change will come, princess, and one day there won't be a difference between human and Faunus.'

"Staaahahhap it, Roane. That's…mckkkk…that's not okay!" Ivy was completely failing in her token effort to hold in her laughter.

"…forty Faunus who won't be getting humans sick again," Roane muttered under her breath.

'I'm proud to be a Faunus. And you can't take that away from me!'

"Over a hundred dead, and the four of you think it's a joke?" asked Ruda.

Four? thought Ilia. But only three of them hate the Faunus!

Three horrible human supremacists. Bianca Prisma, Roane Ashwood, Ivy Thickety…

…and Ilia Amitola made four.

'…if not for yourself, for all the little Faunus girls that will one day look up to Ilia Manzat, the most important and amazing Faunus in the world, and think, wow, she was once just another Mantle munchkin just like me…'

But Bia wouldn't! She just wouldn't! Sure, she might be a bit backwards, but Ilia loved her. Their love was greater than species, it was greater than gender, it was love! She cared, truly. Bianca would never laugh like the others.

Ilia looked at her girlfriend.

She wasn't laughing.

Bianca swiped a red jelly bean, switching it with a green mint. The three mints in a row exploded into sparkles, and her score multiplier hit the eighth star.

"Ooh, I've never gotten to this level before."


"Ilia, what the f–"

It was cute, in a sad kind of way. Team BRIR had planned to become huntresses, and not one of them could stand up to her in her rage-fueled rampage.

Bianca…her Bianca…she went after first. Bia's betrayal hurt more than any of the others. Ilia's gloved hands wrapped around her girlfriend's throat in a vicegrip as she squeezed the living breath out of her. Ivy, despite her brainlessness, was probably the best fighter on the team, and she had the greatest reaction times, so she moved first. She didn't have her thorn whips, but her semblance let her reach through space and grab Ilia's hands. Her pathetic attempts to pull the wrathful blood-red-skinned girl off of their leader amounted to nothing.

Roane and Ruda, once they'd finally realized what was happening, jumped onto Ilia and pried her off Bianca. Unfortunately for them, Ilia hadn't forgotten how callous they had been either. Turning upon her former friends, Ilia unleashed the s̶e̶l̶f̶ hatred that was burning within her. They never stood a chance as she threw them both off of her and attacked with nothing but her two fists and her fury.

Ilia never learned if Roane could still see after the incident. But it was all in good fun, of course. Roane had been snickering before, so that meant that she found mutilation and dismemberment funny, right? This was all just a funny, funny joke to her.

Ruda, for all that she pretended to care, rushed in to rescue her beloved human friend from the evil, scary Faunus monster. She was the only one on Team BRIR who carried her weapons with her at all times, so she lasted twice as long as Roane.

Ilia let her off easy. After all, teeth grew back.

Someone wet trickled down Ilia's shoulder, and she saw that Ivy had stabbed her with a pen. Through her portal semblance, of course…Ivy was a coward and would never have the heart to fight Ilia up close, not without a team between them. The safety of the great distance between them wasn't enough to protect her, though. Ilia grabbed her hand and pulled it through the portal, then tore the pen out of her own arm and began to jab it into Ivy's aura, up and down, again and again, until it broke – the pen and the aura. The portal closed as Ivy's semblance failed, cracking around her arm and most of her upper shoulder that had been pulled through it. The portal closed as soon as she pulled the limb out, preventing it from being severed entirely but only just barely.

Ilia stood up and tried to brush all the blood off, but it just smeared it more on her face. Now what?

"I-Ilia?"

"Oh, Bianca. Thank you for reminding me you're still here. After all, I mustn't forget my dear girlfriend."

"You're skin…y-you're a Faunus?"

"You still want to kiss in our free period, even if it's with a filthy animal from Mantle? Still gonna cuddle with me late at night, or are you too worried about catching something?"

Bianca's eyes darted to the other girls and then back to Ilia with horror.

"Why? W-We're your friends…"

"You were Ilia Amitola's friends."

"I…but…what?"

She knew this was an overreaction. She knew that this would permanently tear her from her chance for a better life in Atlas. She didn't care. A cave in had just killed over a hundred innocent people, and Ilia knew that she would've joined in on the laughter if her own parents hadn't been among the fallen.

She knelt and calmly reached her now blue fingers around Bia's neck, interlocking them around the back. Bia, to her credit, didn't try to stop it; her flailing teammates had showed her why resisting a Faunus with nothing to lose was pointless.

Ilia wailed for everything today had taken as she squeezed. She would probably have choked the frail human girl beneath her to death if a nearby teacher hadn't smashed a metal chair over her head.


To this day, Ilia had no idea how exactly she'd avoided jail. It was possible she'd slipped away in the aftermath of her carnage, made her way to the memorial service, and just didn't remember it. Maybe they'd let her attend as a small mercy and she was supposed to go to jail after and everybody just forgot about her. Maybe they thought Mantle was as good as jail. Still, it didn't change the fact that she was currently sitting outside an empty church with nowhere to go.

Dad and Mom were gone, as were most of the miners she'd been good enough friends with to possibly ask for a place to stay. Iridium was gone, and her comfy, Fire Dust-warmed bed was probably being burned to purge the Faunus germs she'd put on it.

Where would she go?

Ilia sucked in a gulp of air and held her breath. It wasn't just a matter of her imminent homelessness. She needed a direction to head in. Not in a metaphorical sense, just literally – which way would she walk when she got up? She couldn't sit on a bench outside a church forever.

Mantle didn't have homeless shelters. It certainly had places for a young Faunus children to go and get raped, but those places weren't truly shelter in any sense. Maybe it really would be best to just turn herself in at Iridium and go to jail. At least jail had meals and a bed.

Except Iridium is in Atlas. Ilia's throat tightened, and she couldn't find it in herself to exhale. She had no way to get up there. Only Ilia Amitola was allowed onto the commuting airship. Even if she wanted to confess, there was no way. There was nothing for her.

She could go up to a policeman and say she attacked someone, but that would never work. Too many paupers and urchins confessed to false crimes in a desperate bid to get off the freezing streets and into a safe cell. It wasn't official policy to turn away those who admitted to made-up crimes, but in practice it was the only way to prevent the entire homeless population of Mantle from seeking out refuge in prison.

She had nowhere to go.

It was then that Ilia realized that she hadn't exhaled for over a minute.

Ok, that's new.

Ilia waited for the crushing desperation for air that usually seized her lungs, but it never came. She counted the seconds in her head in curiosity, wondering how long she could go without oxygen, but she gave up when she got to 10,000.

Bianca had unlocked her aura during one of their more heated make-out sessions. She'd said that she was opening her soul to Ilia and that they now shared a single heart, but the sappy words left a bitter taste on Ilia's tongue. Still…aura was supposed to give people powers. Was this–

"Damn it, Jacques! Can you please take this seriously for a single second?!"

"I am taking it seriously, James! While you focus on sentiment and sympathy, I am the only one of the two of us to apply logic to the situation."

Two adult men burst out of the church, both too distracted by one another to even see Ilia as they walked right past her.

One of the men was Jacques Schnee, and Ilia's heart was warmed a little by his grandfatherly presence. The kind words of support he'd offered at the service had touched her, as did his assurance, no, his promise that he would not rest until the miners under his employ were safe. That part especially had made her feel better. It may not bring the dead back, but Ilia would never wish the grim fate of being a lonely orphan on even her most hated enemy. Knowing that Jacques Schnee would be personally touring his facilities and ensuring that this was the last cave-in meant a lot to Ilia.

Holding her breath for a little longer to stay silent, Ilia decided to listen in.

"It's bad enough that you made it sound like your monthly rounds to oversee the worksites and confirm their efficiency is some noble deed, but this refusal to take culpability for your own negligence is outright criminal."

"Careful not to threaten me, general. I am an outstanding citizen of Atlas, and I refused to be cowed by some sheep in tyrant's clothing. Push me too far, and you might find the council insisting you 'voluntarily' elect to resign."

That's right! You tell him, Mister Schnee!

The other man, James, narrowed his eyes. "Do you not care for the dead? Have you no regard for anything but your own quarterly profits?"

Jacques Schnee pinched his nose and snarled. "Now you listen here. I need to mine and process Dust. You need me to mine and process Dust. Atlas, the council, these rats in Mantle – they all need my Dust. The more of it I produce, the more of it you can load into your rifles, the more of it can be used to keep Atlas afloat, and the more if it can be sent to this shitpile of a city to keep warm the mongrels who live here, if you can even call it living. I am the SDC, and I keep this kingdom, nay, this world running. Without me, those miners you care oh so much about would have become Faunus popsicles months ago when the last cold front hit. So yes, I have no regard for a few mere hundred when I can be the savior of millions!"

Ilia would have gasped if she had any air in her lungs.

"The law disagrees," said James. "And you are not above it."

Schnee drove a gloved finger into James' red tie and pushed the middle aged man back. "The law means nothing! Grow up, general. As long as you buy my Dust, I can do whatever I need to, and there's not a damn th–"

In a split second, Ilia wasn't the only one who wasn't breathing.

James' face strained with fury and he crushed Schnee's windpipe with a robotic hand. Schnee desperately slammed his puny fists into the much larger man's cybernetic arms. Ilia hadn't seen them before, but now that she looked, it was clear that the robotics ran up and down the man's entire body.

She had learned about him in school.

General James Ironwood.


"I'll have your head for this! You can't just assault me! You're a man of the law, and an officer no less!"

"The law means something now?"

Sadly, Ironwood didn't snap old man Schnee's neck like a wafer cookie. When he released the white-haired tycoon, there were a few seconds of gasping, followed by a failed attempt to bluster, then more gasping, and then the actual blustering.

"I – you – the council will dismiss you! Mark my words, I shall see your career in tatters before the end of the week!"

Ironwood inched dangerously close to Schnee until their faces were inches apart. For a second, Ilia wondered if they were going to kiss. Huh, then it would be just like me and Bianca.

Actually, now that Ilia though about it, Ironwood's situation was strikingly similar to Ilia's own. He thought he could trust a human, but then he got stabbed in the back. White-hot rage drove him in a quest for justice, and he'd lost all sense of himself in a desperate attempt at self-gratification through violence. Dust, he'd even gone straight to choking as the first way to try and kill someone.

And like Ilia, he was directionless. He had no way to go. Schnee was right. Stopping him would be impossible as long as he controlled the flow of Dust. It was basic economics – the rich can get away with anything. She learned that in her history classes.

"Careful not to threaten me, chairman. Push me too far, and you might find yourself 'voluntarily' electing to resign from life."

"All talk. All talk, I say, and no true threat."

Ironwood's gaze didn't falter.

Schnee straightened out his coat. "But…ahem, I suppose I shall forgive this lapse in your judgment. After all, there is no need to go to the council over a personal disagreement. Y-You are clearly emotionally distressed by the accident, and I shall be magnanimous not to hold it against you. Good day, sir."

"People are dead. Innocent men and women. Today is no good day."

Schnee had no retort, so he simply left. Ironwood watched him walk away, then sighed and closed his eyes.

Gently placing an arm on his sleeve, Ilia tugged to get his attention.

"I could kill him for you."

He started. "Brothers! Ah, dear me, you scared me, young lady. I didn't hear you approach."

"He wouldn't hear me approach either."

Ironwood's eyes widened, but then he looked behind them at the church he'd just come out of. "You're a child of one of the victims?"

"Two of the victims. Jacques Schnee killed my mom and dad. Let me kill him. You may not be allowed to, but I can if you arm me and tell me where to go."

The general shook his head. "I can't sanction the assassination of a citizen of Atlas, no matter how much I may wish it. Jacques was right; it was all talk. I don't have any real options of stopping him. Well, except for…" Ironwood's eyes widened a fraction, and he looked at Ilia once again. "Young lady, do you happen to be a Faunus?"

Ilia stepped back. "Why?"

"You are, then. Fear not; I mean nothing discourteous. It just…I actually may have a way for you to fight back against the SDC, and to take out other threats against Atlas and Mantle while you do it. And the best part is that it's all legitimate. Somewhat shady, but nothing explicitly illegal."

"I don't care for any of that. Promise me I can have Jacques Schnee pay for what he did and I'll do whatever you ask."

"If you agree to assist me in this endeavor, I can promise to bring anyone who had a hand in your parents' deaths to justice."


"Adam, Blake, meet the third member of K."

The bull Faunus was older than her by a few years, probably around sixteen or seventeen, but the cat girl was probably the same age as Ilia. The way her little ears wiggled when she looked around was kinda cute, too…and, best of all, she was a Faunus…

"In three days, you're going to be deployed undercover as recruits Blake picked up while scouting for talent in Mantle. In the meantime…Adam, please bring Ilia up to speed on your unit. I'll leave you three to get introduced."

The general left, and the two Faunus approached her warily.

"H-Hi. I'm Ilia." Ilia forced a smile, then frantically added, "I'm a Faunus. Not a human." She'd lied about that too much before. Ironwood said that these two were to be their most trusted allies in the fight against the SDC, so Ilia had promised herself that there would be no more secrets between them. "My trait is–"

The bull Faunus shook his head. "Don't care. If James gave you the all-clear, you could be a Grimm for all I care."

"What's your name and age, soldier?" asked the prettier one.

"Ilia–"

Ilia stopped.

"Ilia…?" asked the cat Faunus. "Ilia what?"

What was her name? At this point, Ilia herself wasn't sure who she was anymore. The little girl from the work encampment who dreamed of mining Dust was gone, as was the racist fake human persona who studied at Iridium.

Indeed, she hadn't actually given much thought to how she was supposed to introduce herself beyond clearly declaring her species. Ilia Manzat was her birth name, but calling herself that felt dirty. Now because it was a Faunus name, but because Ilia had disgraced her heritage far too much to ever claim the proud name her family had carried. Ilia Amitola had never been real, but apparently everyone on K was said to shroud themselves in fake identities and turn deception into their weapons.

In that moment, she decided; Ilia Manzat died with her family when they were crushed by rubble.

"Ilia Amitola. My name is Ilia Amitola."


Omake – Ironwood's Point of View

Ironwood: Damn that pasty white bastard. So many innocents killed…but what can I do to stop him? He's far too influential.

Random thirteen-year-old: *teleports next to him* Worry not, father figure. I shall do him a murder.

Ironwood: *thinking* Hmmm…I rather like the cut of her jib. Is there any way for me to conscript this child?

Narrator: And the rest was history.


Author's Notes

Team BRIR is a part of RWBY Arrowfell. Their weapons, names, semblances, and appearances should be consistent, and they are from Atlas, presumably. I tried to keep their personalities generally similar to what's canon (Ruda is the nice one, Ivy is the dick one, etc.).

This fic now updates Mondays and Fridays, because I'm upset with how long it's taking to post, and also because the view-count pretty much drops off the face of the earth after the weekend.

edit: typo corrected