"Y'know, it's good to know the Afterlife decided to have us be around the same area..." Hassan spoke as he and the boys marched forward. Beside him, Jim examined the architectural beauty of Vale as a whole, not to mention the various people walking around, ranging from the average Civilian to the Huntsmen and Huntresses around. To note, the man was containing the excitement he had at the sight of demi-humans like the Faunus.

"It was an honest-to-god surprise to see both of you fellas here," Victor shot back, smiling faintly. The two boys gave nods of approval and bumped fists with both the Romanian and the Hungarian as they strolled forward. Victor's mind was at ease now that he knew his friends were appearing all over the place. The chances of Vesna showing up, maybe, were growing every single time one of his pals from KFOR showed up. And while that made him feel uneasy, it made him feel good, too.

Was he still worthy of seeing her? Considering he failed to get to her and her team in time? He sighed softly, then felt a bunch of hands on his shoudler. Looking back, he saw the fellas comforting him. All three of the lads nodded knowingly. It was clear that Paul had told the fellas the truth while Vic was having his little moment of self-deprecating concern about Vesna's return.

"Sorry, guys," He sighed.

"It's alright," Jim nodded.

"Yeah, man. It's fine," Hassan replied, "We ain't judging."

Vic nodded, "Thanks..." as he looked at all three of them, then sighed and led them forward. They kept walking for some time, all while Vic casually listened to their Footsteps marching in-step. it almost sounded like there was an extra member among them, but that really couldn't be the case, considering it was only the lads for now. Sure, maybe some kid was walking beside them, at the same time, but...

He paused as he heard someone start humming Ievan Polkka. All four men quickly turned around, to the sight of a Finnish woman with short red hair, some of it covering her right eye. She had blue eyes, was a cutie and wore the standard-issue Finnish military BDU. She also carried a massive mess kit on her back, in her backpack, as well as a SAKO-VALMET RK-65 Assault Rifle with a Vortex holosight, a foregrip and a PEQ-15.

Upon realizing she's been made, she beamed at them and raised a hand in greeting. All four men looked to one-another, then yelled out, "SAILA?!" which caused the girl to wince. Still, even with that, she gave a thumbs up. All four men stood there, dumbfound, as the girl opened her arms and wrapped them all into a tight, but neat bear hug, giggling happily.

Once she took a step back and let them go, Victor asked, "How... How long have you been there!?'

Saila hummed, then looked to Paul and tugged at his arm. Paul blinked and said, "You're shitting me...?" and she shook her head. Paul looked to Vic and the others and said, "She says she's been around since about five minutes prior to us finding you two," pointing to Hassan and Jim with disbelief. Vic looked to her, stunned, before looking to Paul. The Hungarian said, "And we've been walking for about thirty minutes."

"... You've been behind us for THIRTY MINUTES. And you decide to announce your presence now. BY HUMMING." Vic asked, dumbfound. Saila smiled and nodded. He was about to reply, but sighed and smiled disbelievingly, planting a palm on his face. He then stated with some degree of disbelief, "Well, fair... That's our Saila, I guess... Welcome to the clusterfuck, Corporal Leppäniemi... We can talk about how each of us went and died when we get back home."

Saila nodded, smiling, then showed Vic to lead the way. As the man did, he thought to himself that, if he recalled correctly, Saila could communicate only by touch exactly what she wanted. The girl could talk, but she either found it very difficult, or just didn't want to, due to either prevalent shyness, or whatever fuckery was going on in a Finnish redhead's brain. He dreaded what constant dreams of sustained cruelty toward the Moskals she had in there... Mixed with whatever the fuck missus Leppäniemi thought about on a daily basis.

Saila, meanwhile, was really just 'Brain empty, gib sauna'. To put it bluntly, anyway. The girl did have a thought process only she knew about to some degree, but her ability to communicate through simple motions had been developed over a period of around twenty-one years of life in Finland's secluding Northern Areas, the Lappland. Miss Leppäniemi was a whole other breed of Finn, too. In tune with her hunter-gatherer past and with nature, she could whip up a meal from any game she could hunt.

And she hunted. A lot.

That was why she had the massive-ass backpack with a mess kit in it. She'd whip up a whole meal on the spot, using only the ingredients in her seemingly bottomless pack full of foodstuffs. Hell, one could probably find a freezer in there for any uneaten game meat if they looked thoroughly enough. Of course, she'd been taught by another of her Finnish comrades about the more modern parts of the art of hunting and preparing game, not to mention another friend from the Misfits/KFOR.

Jim chuckled, then said, "Guess most of us never really did change..."

"Sure as hell seems like it," Hassan murmured, grinning as they walked with Saila between them. It was odd for the two boys. Most of the KFOR unit that had become the Misfits had gotten as close as a tight-knit family. Yet, even today, there was shit they were finding out about their own teammates, such as Saila being a proficient stealth operator. Though one would guess that came with the territory of being a Hunter.

"How's that Junttila chick you told us about a while back, by the way?" Jim asked.

Saila made a 'so-so' gesture. Right, the Finns had gone in real hard on Karelia, so...

"Wait, I know we said we'd talk about how all of us died, but how'd you even get here?" Paul inquired before Jim could go on and ask anything else. The girl shrugged, then tugged at Paul's shirt three times, then three times more after a 2 second pause. Paul blinked, "Oh. Neo-Soviets actually became an issue, huh?" to which the Finn replied with a nod. Vic seemed the most confused of the lot, to which Paul explained, "I told you about the 'Black League' in Omsk, right? Well, whaddaya know, Neo-Soviets also happened to be around in Siberia, so..."

"Well, fuck," Vic sighed deeply, "Least Russia's in a probable civil war now."

"Yeah. A three-way between the Soviets, Leaguers and the Republic," Replied Hassan, "Which, hey, all the better for us. Long as they nuke each-other, they won't hit the US Mainland with a Satan-II." And that got a few laughs out of the crew. Vic shook his head, chuckling as they walked. Hassan hummed, then said, "Anyway, Jim, you were asking about Junttila."

"Oh, right, yeah, the Forest Gal. How's she?" Jim raised a brow.

Saila chuckled and shook her head, before Paul commented, "Lita ain't gonna be happy to hear you asking about other women, dumbass..."

"Wah-" Jim stopped

"God dammit, is everyone in this squad dense...?" Murmured Paul. Awkward chuckles filled the silence for a moment as the group continued to walk toward the evacuation area. Victor lead the group to buy the items they still needed off the list from teams RWBY and JNPR, which were:A whole-ass rotisserie chicken, the liquefied Fire Dust Yang needed, plus a few other knick-knacks here and there, like a pack of cookies for Ruby and some coffee for Pyrrha.

The group now walked toward the landing area where the Bullhead would come to pick them up. A child ran past them, waving to Saila and saying, "Hello, missus redhead! Thanks for everything!" which seemed to confuse the Hunter-Cook of the team. She blinked, while the others looked to her, a little confused, too. She shrugged as they kept on walking.

Another couple kids waved at Saila as they ran past, while their parents smiled at the woman and nodded. The redhead paused, blinked and watched them pass, confused as hell. She turned to Victor and the others, with Paul noting, "Something weird's going on. How many people know ya 'round here, Saila?" to which she simply shrugged. The group hummed and continued walking.

Unnerving, how many people seemed to just casually know their regular ol' Fingol. Or, well, one of them... The other...

With the girls

Vesna and Lita had gone out to shop for stuff as well, while Ayesha and Vera remained at home, napping the hours away between contracts or just trying to relax. The girls had taken a couple days off from just throwing hands with the various White Fang and Mafia members to relax and just overall enjoy some of the money they'd been earning. Of course, Ves was not particularly able to enjoy the cash.

Lita, meanwhile, had noticed her dear friend/commander's behavior and wondered just how long it was gonna take Victor's sorry ass to drop in as well, considering the fact the good man had died well before her and Ayesha. The green-haired girl was gonna thoroughly kick his ass for being late on several matters pertaining her dear-old friend. Then again, she was also dealing with her own issues, pertaining to Jim.

They'd solve these issues as they came, however. Currently, the most pressing issue was buying what they needed to buy. Lita led the way, of course, carrying with her a Scroll with the list of foodstuffs they needed to buy. She hummed, looked to Vesna and asked, "You sure five tubs of ice cream are necessary...? There's only four of us..." to which the blonde nodded. Lita hummed, "Alright, I guess..."

The trip went on with an awkward silence between the two as they passed by some local Dust stores, one of which had its window boarded up after it was smashed. Vesna, however, broke said silence by murmuring, "Sorry I'm not so talkative right now, Li... I'm just..." and tugging at her collar. Hidden underneath her uniform, the scar of the 14,7mm round that had struck and killed her could be seen. Whatever creature had revived them here had left the poor girl with the scar to remind her of how she passed.

Lita sighed, "It's okay, Vesna. I get it..."

"Thanks..." The Russian gal hummed as they continued their trek. Entering the various stores to buy the various supplies, the girls would be met by various people, some nicer, some not so nice. It was, however, unsurprising that several of the locals already knew them. They'd been frequenting these stores for the past month or so since their arrival. So, the folks knew exactly what the girls needed. The process moved more quickly and easily that way.

The two girls walked back now, with all the stuff they needed in their backpacks or plastic bags. Yet again, it was quiet between the two of them, to neither's surprise. The two youngsters weren't much for talking even back at home, but each was dealing with their own issues now, stemming from both the downfall of their homelands, of KFOR and-why was there a fairly familiar Finnish redhead walking out of the hospital and waving at the staff?

"... No fucking way..." Lita murmured, watching the Finn step out, arranging the medic patch on her left sleeve and stopping as she noticed the two of them. Vesna herself had stopped, dead, upon seeing their famed and favorite Finnish medic. The redhead hummed, grinned and ran to them, wrapping her arms around both Vesna and Lita. She laughed heartily, before taking a step back and looking at the two of'em.

"Anja..." Vesna whispered, then smiled.

"Hey there, Ves, Lita..." Anja Korhonen, Alikersantti of the Finnish Armed Forces, greeted them with her own voice for the first time in forever. She was, much like the other weird look-alike Finnish girl, not that much of a talker. Though, unlike Saila, Anja just didn't wanna waste time or energy with speaking when her actions always spoke louder than words.

So, to hear her speaking meant a lot to the girls. She had definitely missed the living hell out of them and wasn't afraid to show it. Vesna's smile grew as she said, "It's good to see you."

"Likewise..." She nodded, then looked to Lita.

The green-haired Ruski smiled too, bumping a fist into the girl's shoulder and stating, "We thought we'd seen the last of you in KFOR... Didn't know you were working in a hospital nowadays, though..." before tilting her head toward Anja's supposedly-temporary workplace. The girl nodded, before humming. Lita said, "Let's go. Gotta get Anja home quick, else the frozen stuff we have in our bags will warm."

"Right," Vesna nodded, "Follow us."

Anja gave a quirky salute, before pulling out a can of White Monster from her backpack and popping it open. It let out a short hiss as the girls started walking. From the moment Anja took her first sip to the moment they reached the place, the can was already empty. The group entered the building, with Anja a bit stunned to see such an opulent place being the Russian girls' home. Once they reached the apartment, Vera greeted them from the couch, "Welcome back, Ves, Li."

"Hey, Vera," Vesna smiled, "We found another friend."

The woman turned from her gaming session to see the new girl. She hummed and said, "She must be one of the two Finns you kept talking about in your letters, then, eh, Ves?" before standing up and walking to her. She extended her hand toward the girl and spoke, "Nice to finally meet you... Saila...?" and she got a shake of the head. With a nod, she corrected herself, "Anja."

Anja nodded, before humming and looking around. A figure opened the door and stumbled out of the bedroom with bedhead syndrome(AKA, messy hair from sleeping), in nothing but her tank top and panties. She yawned, stretched and said, "'Ello..." then paused and hummed, "Oh, hey, Anja..." while going to grab the coffee mug. Anja chuckled, which got Ayesha's attention and her sleepiness soon faded. She jumped, looked to Anja and yelled, "ANJA!?"

The redhead Finn waved and smiled, to which the Chechen smirked and said, "Well, that's another one for the books! At least we know it's likely more people are gonna drop now, eh?" before stepping up to and hugging Anja while casting a glance toward a half-smiling Vesna. The Finn hugged her back, still smiling brightly, before both separated and Vesna showed her where to drop her kit. Leaving her guns and armor off to the side, next to the girls' own, she was then sat down by Vesna to explain to her the situation.

Mercenary duty was odd to the Finn. Then again, she had been used to working as a soldier and had only stuck around the Finnish military because Saila was there and she needed to find out certain matters pertaining to her strange twin from another mother, which may not even have been the case, honestly. Eitherway, she listened intently to Vesna's explanations regarding their arrival here, the fact they'd all agreed to work as bounty hunters of sorts and that they were dealing with a terror organization representing a separate species/race of humans with animal traits.

What stunned the four-girl team was how well Anja took it. She was literally just listening to them talk about this being an alien world like it was nothing. And, for a mo', they didn't register why. Vesna, however, soon did. She stopped, staring at the girl, then asked, "How long have you been here, Anja?" to which the girl raised two fingers and mouthed the word 'weeks' at her. Vesna hummed, then replied, "That'd explain how calmly you're taking all this..."

Anja simply nodded to her teammate. Ayesha chuckled as she was straightening out her own hair, then quipped, "That's our Anja. Always full of surprises..."

The others nodded in agreement, all while Anja seemed to have gone on to browse things on her Scroll. She looked up and shrugged, as if asking something. All four women raised their brows at her and she asked vocally, "My room...?" only to have the same room Ayesha had walked out of be pointed out to her. She and Ayesha were probably gonna be sharing.

"I'm sleeping on the couch," Quipped Vera, "Much more comfortable... Plus, someone has to watch the door." and she patted the Saiga-12 beside the couch, which was currently on safe. Anja chuckled, nodded and stood up. Vera pointed to the left, down the hall, and said, "One of the bathrooms is over there, next to Vesna and Lita's room if you need it.

With another nod of thanks, Anja departed. Vesna murmured, "Wonder where she's been staying all this time...?" as she set the stuff they bought onto the counter in front of the kitchen. A decent question to ask an old friend, Vesna thought among other things. One of the most important things on her mind right now was the fact that they'd found her outside this little circle of friends that dropped in together.

There was still some hope...

Vic...