"…where do I even begin?" Sun began.

Countless options drifted through the young male's thoughts as the two set out onto the dirt paths of Kuo Kuana at a leisurely pace. Would it have been best to start with himself, or Blake? Team RWBY, or how he and Blake had met? All possibilities seemed equally valid to Sun, but he had a strange feeling that Kali wanted to know more about him. And so, he started with Blake to quell the growing worry that the elder faunus might have intentions that Sun wasn't willing to entertain.

"Well, Blake's become an incredible fighter, and grown a lot on the battlefield even since we met, which wasn't too long ago. A couple of months. We've fought together quite a bit, and she usually takes the lead when it's just us," Sun admitted with a sheepish grin. The fact had never occurred to him until that moment, and yet, it made perfect sense with his attitude of letting her set their pace.

"I'm glad to hear it. It's a skill she's going to need, I'm afraid. She was always talented, even as a young girl, but she had some trouble mastering her semblance. Mostly because she thought it was… 'lame', in her words," Kali emphasized the word with a devilish smirk, and shot Sun a sideways glance as they entered the market.

"Lame? Well, she definitely doesn't think that now," he replied. "I've actually started to take some inspiration from how she uses her doubles with my own. Our semblances are similar, in some ways- I can project multiple copies of myself, but I can't move while doing it. That part kinda sucks, sometimes."

Kali made a contemplative noise as she focused her attention upon the open-air marketplace, and Sun took the momentary pause as an opportunity to take it all in.

Wooden stalls, each manned by a vendor, stretched as far as he could see on the road ahead, placed on either side of the dirt path. Each had its own sign and canvas roof, and most of the material was elaborately decorated. Sun supposed that the owners of the small stands were likely competing with each other to have the flashiest, most eye-catching roof in order to draw more customers, given some of the patterns and logos he saw. Even as he and his companion were still a good distance from the closest stall, multiple salespeople were waving enthusiastically in their direction and beckoning them to come and survey the goods.

"…do you think a semblance can tell you something about its owner, Sun?"

"Wha-… huh?" he replied with great eloquence. Sun had been too distracted by a goat-horned faunus dressed in a giant foam papaya costume and shilling fresh fruit at the top of their lungs to pay the conversation any mind. "I'm sorry, what was the question?"

Kali cast her eyes to the desperate, dancing man before locking them back on Sun with a smile. "You'll get used to it. Vendors here tend to pull out all the stops to attract customers… or, somewhat often, their children, in hopes that the screaming little vermin will tug their parents along to whatever stand needs business most. Kuo Kuana isn't exactly a rich settlement, so spectacle is important for competition."

Sun merely nodded and made an effort to peel his eyes from the distracting fruit. "Right. I really didn't mean to ignore you, though."

Kali waved a hand dismissively as she led him toward the very fruit stand and picked out a few choice oranges. She scrutinized each one carefully before adding them to her basket and handing over a few lien to the grateful vendor.

"Your semblance. What do you think it says about you? I believe that a semblance is tied to the user on a level more than just what they're good at, or how they fight. That may seem obvious when you think about some people… but not necessarily with others. Have you given it any thought?" she asked, with a tilt of her head.

Sun tilted his own in response- he really hadn't. In his mind, the ability to project glittering, bright clones of himself was just 'what he did' rather than a statement about himself as a person.

"Not… really, no. I unlocked it when I was pretty young, and I've been doing it ever since. It started as a cool trick to show friends on the playground, and I just started adding more clones to my repertoire over time."

"None of that surprises me, at all. I think it says a lot about you," Kali began as she set out once again onto the dirt, seemingly with a destination in mind. "You know, Blake and I talked quite a bit about you over breakfast. She said you got sick last night, and chalked it up to nerves. Is that true?"

Again, Kali looked over her shoulder and into Sun's eyes, and the boy found himself both intimidated and comforted by her gaze. To Sun, Kali radiated a motherly aura both protective and fierce, not just of her daughter- but strangely enough, of him. Something about her eyes made him feel like he could tell her anything.

"Yes… Kali, that is true. It was a combination of a lot of things, but… yeah. Nerves."

"Well, I hope my husband isn't giving you any trouble, or making it worse."

Sun felt his insides slip down and hit the dirt in a wet, cold mass, and thanked his lucky stars as Kali turned her head to focus once again on the path ahead. Perhaps he couldn't tell her everything.

"No! No, not at all. He seems really nice… and protective of Blake, but I get it. It's no big deal." Sun managed to talk around the issue with a bit of effort, and allowed himself to lag behind his escort in hopes that she wouldn't look at him. Fortunately, Kali busied herself with inspecting the goods offered at another stand rather than his facial expressions.

"Good. Ghira and I are very much in love, but that also means that I know his faults all too well. If he does bother you, or makes you feel uncomfortable, I'd like you to tell me. I'll put him in his place for you." Kali bent to retrieve something from a basket upon the counter of the stand, and Sun's eyes widened as he processed her words. As she turned to face him, holding her prize of a roll of toilet paper, Sun was afraid that he might need to use it then and there as he forced a wide smile.

"Oh! That won't be necessary, really!"

"I hope that it doesn't become necessary, either," Kali added as she placed the goods into her basket. She turned to face him fully, and folded her arms beneath her chest as her tone shifted from one of ice to something warmer. Something befitting her motherly 'aura'.

"I think your semblance suits you, Sun. You literally throw yourself out there to help others in need, and meanwhile, you leave yourself vulnerable. You'll invest all of your energy to help a friend regardless of what danger it puts you in, physically or emotionally, and you probably expect to take a hit or two for their sake. Given what I've seen of you thus far, I'd wager that you've thrown it out several times without thinking, and ended up seriously hurt because of it? All that mattered in that desperate moment was another's well-being, and anything you may do to put those you care about in jeopardy is a mortal sin, in your mind. The kind that might drive you to vomit, even if it's over something so simple as embarrassing them. Does that sound about right?" Kali finished by lifting her right hand and opening her palm upward, her fingers splayed to point sideways in an inquisitive gesture.

Sun was getting quite tired of feeling as though he was under a microscope at that point, but found that he could do little more than nod. "Yeah. That's… yeah." He let out a heavy sigh, crossing his own arms in response. "And I'm sure you know that all of that goes double, for Blake."

"I do," Kali offered in a sympathetic tone. She closed the distance between them with a single step, and raised her right hand to his left shoulder. Unlike Blake, her touch was incredibly warm, but still nearly as soothing. "I want you to relax, Sun. Enjoy your time here, with us. If I'm reading you correctly, then being around Ghira and I has your asshole tighter than your abs." Kali gave Sun yet another knowing, dirty smirk. Sun almost choked in return, but raised a hand to his mouth and took a moment to compose himself.

"…you could say that, yeah."

"Well, there's no reason for it. Even if Ghira doesn't see the good in you yet, he will eventually, and I do right now. If you truly care about our daughter, whether in a friendly or romantic sense, then you have nothing at all to fear from us. Breathe a little more. Smile a little more. That worried and hesitant expression doesn't look nearly as attractive, and you're out to impress, aren't you?"

Sun heaved another great sigh and dropped his arms awkwardly to his sides. He had to admit that Kali had a point, and though it wouldn't be easy, he resolved to take her words to heart.

"…thanks, Kali. I just need a little time to adjust."

"Maybe you and Blake should go out on the town, tonight or tomorrow. After all, she may have run to us… but she clings to you, now. Why don't you go and hunt down some toiletries, while I deal with the rest of the food? We can meet up back where we started," Kali said with a roll of her neck as she dropped the arm from Sun's shoulder.

"Yeah, sure. That sounds good. All of that sounds good," he nodded. For the first time, Sun gave her a genuine smile, and Kali returned the gesture in kind, followed by a wink before she sauntered her way toward another stand. Sun stood and watched her begin to haggle for a moment before deciding that he definitely did not envy the vendor.

With renewed resolve and a lighter step, Sun began his own private journey among the stalls. He edged and slipped his way through the crowd of faunus as he began his search, rubbing shoulders and sliding between them as he went. Several were members of hybrid species he had never seen before, and for the first time since their arrival in Kuo Kuana, he found himself in his element once again. How easy it would have been to lift a wallet, or swipe an apple from a basket or countertop…

Sun shook his head to banish the tempting thoughts from his mind as he came to a realization; none of the stalls seemed to be in any sort of order. A vendor hawking magazines was adjacent to another trying to sell watermelons, while the third in line sold house plants before the final in that row was filled completely with stacks of wheat. Sun reached into his pocket and took out his scroll to take a few pictures of the individual stands and capture a panorama of the massive market. Despite, or perhaps, because of the chaos, it was a memory that he wanted to keep even after he and Blake left Kuo Kuana. In contrast to the horrors of Beacon that he and Team RWBY had endured not so long ago, Kuo Kuana felt alive.

As he put his scroll back, the realization that he was getting nowhere hit Sun like a truck, and so, he decided to ask a random passerby for help. It took him all of a second to decide on a likely candidate, and he settled upon a bulky looking woman with dark skin and odd orange and white spines on her upper arms, who was carrying a basket full of small fish.

"Hey, 'scuse me! I'm kinda new in town. Any idea where I could find shampoo, toothbrushes… that kind of thing?" Sun offered his best smile, and the woman quirked a brow as she hiked a thumb out and to the right. Sun followed the gesture to a stand a good fifty feet away, and found the helpful woman gone by the time he looked back. "Oh. Well… thanks," he said to no one in particular as the crowd filled the gap where she had once stood.

Sun walked for the stand with purpose, and kept his eyes locked on the goal as he again worked his way through the crowd. As he neared the stall, he turned sideways to slide past a woman carrying a basket on her head only to feel a heavy impact directly into his chest as he emerged past the obstruction. Sun stumbled and rapidly took a few steps back to keep his balance, while the one who had run into him fell backward into the dirt with an annoyed, high-pitched whine.

"Hey! Watch yourself!"

Sun immediately looked down to see who had run into him, and found a young-looking girl clad in what seemed to be a black one piece outfit with golden buckles sitting in the dirt with her hands behind herself. She had piercing blue eyes, and her rich brown hair was tied back in a long ponytail that ended in a curl. Her skin was pocked with scales on her face, arms, and legs, with a few cut off as they disappeared up and into her outfit. She glowered up at him as her cheeks began to turn a violent shade of red… and then, so did the rest of her face, neck, and all of her exposed skin.

"Whoa, I'm sorry. That was probably my fault," Sun stated with a cringe. He offered his hand, and the girl took it and tugged hard to pull herself up from the ground. "I was in a hurry, and didn't see you coming."

"Whatever. It's fine, I guess. Just pay more attention," she shot back, annoyed. The girl began to dust off her outfit with her hands as her skin returned to its normal shade.

"Will do. Can I make it up to you? What are you here for?" Sun started, trying his best to sound non-threatening. The shorter girl was having none of it, and her expression kept its venom.

"Probably not, and why do you care?"

"Because I inconvenienced you." Sun looked over his shoulder at the stand behind himself, and hiked a thumb backward. "Are you here for bathroom supplies, too?"

The girl huffed and rolled her eyes as she stepped forward to the counter. "Yes." Sun turned to follow her path and watched as she grew increasingly annoyed. The vendor was dealing with several other customers and paying her no mind as she tapped her foot into the dirt, waiting. The girl stood on her tiptoes and tried to wave to get his attention, with no success. After nearly a minute, she looked up at Sun and let out a noise of disgust.

"Alright, fine. That pink bottle with the gold cap, on the top shelf? I can't reach, and he's busy dealing with other people. Can you just… grab it for me?" The girl pointed to her quarry; a bottle labeled 'for sensitive hair' with the brand name Passione emblazoned across the front.

"Sure thing." Sun reached up and grabbed the bottle with ease, before taking down two other bottles, a pouf, a toothbrush, toothpaste, and a can of spray-on deodorant from adjacent shelves.

The girl stared at him angrily as she watched, before holding out her hand expectantly. "And give it to me. Are you just trying to be difficult, or are you that stupid?"

Sun looked over, feeling almost sorry for her as he kept the bottle on the counter along with his purchases. "Nah. I'm paying for it, and then you can have it. It's the least I can do for bowling you over."

At that, the girl's eyes widened, and her expression softened a bit. "…oh. Uh… thanks, then." She had the grace to blush once again, though this time, the color didn't spread.

Sun set the rest of his items on the countertop as they waited and offered her his hand. "Sun Wukong. I'm new in town."

The girl hesitated, but accepted the hand with a grip strong enough to catch Sun off guard. "Ilia. I'm not."

"That's cool," Sun replied. "It seems like a nice place, with nice people." As the vendor turned, Sun offered his card. The vendor swiped it through the register, and began to bag the goods.

"That depends entirely on who you meet. You might want to be careful at night. You never know who's watching." Ilia's expression turned into a smirk as Sun had his back turned, dealing with the transaction. By the time he turned back to her and had the bag in his hands, her mouth had returned to neutral. He reached into the bag and offered her the bottle of shampoo with a confused tilt of the head.

"What do you mean by that?"

Ilia rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on. You know how cities are, at night. Don't be stupid. Thanks," she added as she gripped the bottle. "Maybe you'll see me around. Maybe you won't." Ilia offered nothing more as she turned and walked back out into the crowds. Sun tried to follow her path with his eyes, but found that she more or less disappeared into thin air as the shifting faunus walking about blocked his view of her.

"…huh," Sun said to himself as he rerolled the top of the paper bag and turned to begin walking again. As he began to make his way back to the meeting point with Kali, a familiar smell wafted into his nostrils, and he turned to his left to try to locate the source.

Fish.

A nearby stand had a multitude of fish on display, hanging from hooks and piled in baskets. A large cat faunus stood behind the counter, arms crossed and waiting as Sun jogged up to the front and scanned for tuna. The search didn't take long, and the transaction was just as quick as Sun offered his card to purchase the largest tuna that the vendor had available. As the fish was laid out on the counter, Sun allowed himself a triumphant smile as he reached into his back pocket to take a picture to send to Blake… but his expression quickly shifted to one of panic as his hand found nothing but a denim-clad butt cheek.

His scroll was gone.

Author's Note:

Denim.

Clad.

Butt cheek.

-RD