When yourself, Sarah, Nora and Okita appear with a quiet pop, you are, for once, not inside a metal coffin masquerading as proper medical equipment (which is what you'll define cryopods as for now), nor confronted with someone begging you to save their race/the kingdom/the world at large.

Instead, the four of you are simply standing inside a dark room full of pipes running along the walls; most likely a basement of some kind.

"Huh. No truck this time?" Sarah asks, taking in her surroundings.

"Truck?" Okita asks, trying to take in her surroundings but failing on account of lacking darkvision.

"It was a thing that happened when we came to Thule, or Gaia if you remember it under that name. A truck came from out of nowhere during the transition and basically punted is into a specific direction," you explain.

"Truck. I remember seeing it, too."

"Huh. Does everyone that gets to Thule get there through the truck?" You wonder.

"Truck-kun is a busy worker."

"Anyways, should we find some way to get dressed?" Nora interjects. "Figure most civilized folk would object to seeing all of us run around naked."

"Ah, don't worry, I actually came prepared this time," you say, reaching down into your shadow (or how much of one you have in this dark, anyways). "Packing clothes for everyone was one of the first things I did when I realized I could smuggle things along inside my shadow."

With everyone dressed more or less appropriately (Okita really likes that red hoody you got her), you make your way up out of the basement you found yourself in, reviewing what knowledge about this new dimension you have been imbued with and passing it along to the others via telepathy.

For one, the place you have ended up in is called 'Remnant', a world broadly divided into the four kingdoms of Vale, Atlas, Mistral and Mantle, with an added location called 'Menagerie' seperate from them housing the Faunus, completely normal people with added animal features that are discriminated against for some reason.

There was actually a war some years back, something about self-expression and stuff, but that's not important.

More relevant, however, are the Grimm; malevolent creatures seeking to violently destroy all civilized life, apparently, only held in check through Huntsmen and Huntresses, superhuman warriors educated in centralized academies that seem to be all most kingdoms have in terms of a military, with the notable exception of Atlas, which also has a decent R division for robotics, if what your information says is correct.

Also, technology generally seems to work mostly though Dust, some kind of magical metamaterial with interesting properties. Something to keep an eye out for, especially as low-grade dust seems readily available on the civilian market.

All of this massive exposition squeezed into your brain aside, the building you appeared within seems to be a hotel of some kind, with thankfully many entrances that are readily accessible and lead out onto the streets. You'd be worried about fitting in, but most of the people you glimpse outside are wearing wildly divergent clothing, so... you guess it should be alright?

Well, nothing in for it. Guiding your party out of the basement, the four of you soon arrive in the lobby, having avoided the more obvious security cams around.

Approaching the counter harboring a bored-looking concierge that perks up and puts on a customer service smile as soon as you approach, a quick telepathic talk has Sarah step forwards to talk to him instead of yourself.

"Hello there! We're new in town and will need a room for at least the next week or two. Would you happen to have any free?"

"One moment, please," the guy says, turning on what looks suspiciously like some kind of holographic display. "You're in luck, we have two rooms without reservations. Things get a little hectic around here every year when Beacon starts its year, so we are usually inundated with reservations weeks in advance."

"Very good, very good. We'll just need the one, of course, and remember we have already paid."

The concierge gets a glazed-out, vacant look in his eyes for a second before smiling again as he types something out on his holo-screen. "Of course, if you would please follow my colleague, he will lead you to your room."

One of the things he did earlier must've been a call for someone, as the door behind the counter opens to admit another guy in the same uniform into the carpeted lobby, giving your group a bow before gesturing for what looks like an elevator of some kind.

"Any luggage, madams, sir?"

"None to speak of, I'm afraid. An issue with transportation, though we were traveling lightly anyways," you explain.

Two minutes tops later, you have four keycards for your decently luxurious room, assembling inside the 'living room' of what really amounts to a small apartment, Okita fiddling around in the bathroom as soon as you come inside.

Sarah, of course, takes all of two seconds to take a seat at the desk next to the windows, rapidly touching a small contraption to make another holoscreen appear in front of her.

"Hey look, the rooms even come with free holonet access. Bet I can look up anything we need to know from here," she says as she gets used to the local language's alphabet, thankfully shared between pretty much everyone on Remnant.

"They have bubble bath stuff prepared," Okita reports from the bathroom, sounding satisfied.

"And the bed is really nice, too," Nora throws in, having taken it upon herself to look around the bedroom. "Just meant for two, but I'm sure we can manage."

"And there's even room service on this thing," Sarah adds. "Seriously, why don't we freeload in hotels more often?"

"Because it would probably arouse suspicion and we can usually just buy or make literally whatever the hell we want," you say. "Anyways, let's all have a talk about what we're going to do in this dimension."

"Well," you mutter after a bit of having Sarah tell you everything she can get your implanted knowledge doesn't cover, "it's safe to say that humanity is pretty fucked in this dimension, but hey, they've been scraping by so far, so... leave them to it, I suppose? We can always step in if and when something big happens and the status quo changes."

"What else do we want in the meantime?" Nora asks. "I'm guessing this 'aura' thing can be taught or learned somehow, so that'd probably be our first priority."

"Yeah, to get aura, you need to either 'unlock it' yourself, somehow, which is described as 'hard as balls', or have an experienced and trained huntsman unlock it for you," Sarah says, swishing through several open chatroom pages with a hand. "Best bet for us would be the latter."

"So we'll need someone with aura that knows how to do this, noted. What else?"

"Identification papers, probably," Sarah continues. "along with as many lien as we can get. You know, money. I don't like the feeling of not being richer than god in this dimension. Incidentally, we could probably establish contact with some criminals easily enough, they aren't hiding that well. I've picked up a handful of trails just browsing randomly a bit."

"Money and IDs, onto the list they go. Anything else?"

Nobody speaks up, so you shrug. "In that case, I would like to analyze as much local technology as I can, see if there's anything I can integrate into the rest of our techbase. We may actually want to look into establishing a hidden robot factory or something, once we have enough cash and influence to just do that."

"Oh yeah, how hard would it be to set up a resource production facility?" Sarah inquires. "With what you can do, I figure we could basically build up our own shadow empire with impunity."

"Would need a whole bunch of corpses of some kind first, and I'm pretty sure Grimm don't leave any, but theoretically? If we had the space, I don't see why not. We wouldn't even need material samples, I could just use my summoning to call up non-real metals and use them as samples. May take a while to get any appreciable amount, though."

"An idea for later, then," your sister nods. "Then there's also what we'll do in a more immediate sense. We could just do the usual, talk to a few people, beat them within an inch of their lives until they swear to do what we say and take over the criminal side of Vale to get at that money and influence we'll need. Or, alternatively, we could, say, infiltrate Beacon, with the right papers, get ourself aura and whatever military training is common in this world."

You make a face. "Eh, going to school is a big time commitment, even when you don't really need to pay attention for anything you do. It would also physically tie us to being in class regularly, if I understand this right, and that means we're less busy taking everything not nailed down we can put our hands on, not to mention none of us really need instruction on how to do what we do as is."

"Yes, but we would have access to trained huntsmen, instruction in several fields of interest we may not have any ideas about yet and access to a bunch of impressionable young women to keep you busy with," Sarah argues.

"Admit it, you just want that last one." At her shrug, you turn towards the others. "Any thoughts on this?"

"I feel like I'm a bit too old to go to college again, but I think I could stomach it," Nora jokes.

"Don't care, just wanna fight," a slumped-over Okita adds.

"What else could we go for in terms of keeping busy?" You ask.

"Well, there's always hiding out as completely normal people," Sarah shrugs. "You could totally make it as an artist, these people are really into the whole self-expression shtick and would line up around the block for anything you made. Or maybe open a cafe or something? I'm sure we could rake in some decent cash with you as eyecandy and a few 'new' and interesting drinks this world hasn't seen yet."

"You know what, I think I'd like to go with being an artist. Maybe branch out later on, but that's what I could see myself doing. 'Cept that leaves the three of you with nothing to do... How about building up a company of some kind, selling some of our technology? Figure people would like some laser weaponry for use against the Grimm, and not needing dust for literally everything has to be an open niche on the market," you reason.

"I mean... it could work? Maye we could rent out use of robots, too, go for becoming a security firm, there's no real stigma against massive amounts of robots the way it exists on Bet. We could basically take over military duties by culling Grimm near threatened villages and farms and stuff."

"Is that a thing that happens often?" You ask, trusting Sarah to have an idea about this stuff, moreso than yourself.

"Pretty often, yeah. The big cities are well-fortified and secure, so the Grimm seem to be concentrating on the smaller places. You know, newly-founded towns, farming villages, that kinda stuff."

Hm...

"You figure out how to afford the startup costs, though. Pulling a company out your ass is neither cheap nor easy."

"Alright, first order of business, I play the artist while schmoozing with whatever well-connected criminals we can get our hands on. That and seducing myself a sugar mama or two should take care of everything we need to get the company idea on the road. How do we start on that?"

"Well, funny you should ask that," Sarah smiles, "because there's a somewhat well-known mob boss called Junior here in Vale... and he owns a nightclub literally called 'Junior's Club'."

"I would ask if you're shitting me, but I have the feeling only the truth could be this ridiculous. Okay, so I guess I should go pay the place a visit?"

"Yup, here's a picture of the man," Sarah says as she gets a good shot of a bearded, large fellow pointing at something as several identically dressed mooks carry a bunch of crates.

"... How."

"This is nothing, I literally found this floating around on the holonet."

Fighting the urge to facepalm, you think about whether or not to actually run around unmasked while committing crimes if that's so common in this dimension. "Alright, so I'm going out to organize a few things, anyone want to come along or do you guys just want to relax in here for a bit?"

The way to Junior's Club does take a bit to walk, your initial location upon dropping into Remnant in the better parts of town in contrast to the place you are now going, but you take it as an opportunity instead of an annoyance, using the hand Okita isn't clinging to to quietly and swiftly pick the pockets of anyone you come across.

it is... almost disappointingly easy. Many of your marks don't even store their cash anywhere hard to access, you can literally lift the bills right out of their pockets, even!

The two of you walk about an hour, never slowing down, and though you can't get as much of what you suspect is lien around the nightclub, you still do manage a nice payout, to the point you suspect you actually could make a living from this, even if, as Sarah tells you as you keep idly chatting with everyone, most people usually move money electronically these days. Which explains why so many of your victims weren't carrying any physical money on them that you could find.

20000 lien is still respectable, far as you're concerned, purchasing power amounting to about 1500-2000 dollars according to Sarah, comparing prices and coming up with a rough metric.

It is thus that you come before the club, Okita in one hand, pockets full of cash. Two bouncers stand in front of it, identical black-haired twins wearing red and white, respectively, with big collars and short dresses leaving some thigh visible above their thigh-high boots.

"Haven't seen you before," the red twin murmurs as she opens the door for you.

"New in town," you reply. "Just checking out the usual spots."

And with your street cred immediately shooting up a little, you and Okita enter Junior's Club.

Inside, of course, Okita immediately gives you a look you reply to with a nod, the girl darting off to stare at the strippers dancing on poles in the middle of the club.

Leaving her be for the moment, you approach the bar instead, taking a seat and raising a hand for the barkeep while the other one slams half your money on the counter. "Give me the very worst kind of alcohol you have, the kind that has grown men weeping."

The well-dressed guy gives you a once-over. "I'll give you what you asked for, but I won't take your money. Not for something that'll have you keel over in one glass," the barkeeper explains as he juggles two bottles.

"Mistralian Terror Tequila, consistently in the top five worst drinks in the world. Kicks you when it's going down and kicks you when it comes up again, I've heard it described. You keep it down, your drinks are on the house tonight."

Snorting, you watch as he pours both bottles into a shot glass, shoving it over to you. Unceremoniously, you take it, throwing it down your mouth and straight to the gut.

It's honestly... Okay, it tastes awful, leaving a cloying, alcoholic scent blocking up your nose as the sudden urge to scrub your tongue clean with some iron wool or something overcomes you, but with your physiology?

Though you immediately regret your decision, you don't throw up.

"What did they do, just take some the cheapest ale they could get and add alcohol until nobody could stomach this shit?" You humph.

"Hahah! You got spunk, stranger. As I said, keep your money. Anything else I can get you?"

"Oh, something to wash away the taste would be lovely." And as you say that, you turn to the side, a man you're fairly sure is none other than Junior having taken a seat in the meanwhile.

"Nice showing," he grumbles, giving a look over towards Okita who is currently spinning on nothing but her head, the hoodie at least keeping her hair from spilling everywhere. "So, what brings someone new in town like you to my humble club?"

"Well, you said it yourself," you reply, casually waving the glass of whiskey the barkeep just slid over towards you, "I'm new in town, so I'm looking to hit up the big names around, introduce myself and such. Incidentally, you wouldn't be able to help a guy out with some new IDs and such, would you?"

Junior takes a drink himself, some horrid alcoholic mixture colored a bright orange-purple, before replying. "Well, I wouldn't be opposed to helping a fellow out. Might even have work if you need the cash to afford it, too."

His eyes, though, are briefly drawn towards the club's entrance as he sits facing you, a teenage girl you can only describe as 'aggressively blond' strolling inside like she owns the place.

Overlaying Reed as you rapidly think about how to get into Blondie's pants, you apologetically raise your palms. "Oh no, I'm actually somewhat of an artist nowadays. May or may not have to do with the new identification. Certainly would appreciate if you could put me in touch with the kinds of people that are in the market, though."

"Mhm, sure, free of charge. Think of it as your welcome present to Vale," Junior shrugs, not put off by your refusal that you can see. "If you would excuse me, though, something I should probably deal with before I have someone get you a list of contacts..."

With that, Junior waltzes off towards where Blondie just took a seat at the bar, not two barstools away from your own conversation.

"Aren't you a little young to be in this club, Goldie?" Junior asks once she's given out her order, you didn't really pay attention.

"Aren't you a little old to be called Junior?" She replies with a quirked brow.

Junior leans back against the counter. "So you know who i am. You got a name, sweetheart?"

You would normally be annoyed at Junior for calling your mark that, but it's pretty clear he's just humoring her.

"Yes, Junior, I've got several," Blondie smiles and trailing a finger down his arm, "but instead of Sweetheart, you could just call me sir!" With that, a hand punches right into Junior's groin, keeping a hold on his crotch with a vaguely sickening sound, his face very clearly showing the uncomfortable pain he seems to be in.

So, uh, that just happened. You don't think Junior would be pissed or anything if you kept out of this, but even you can't help but feel a tinge of pity for his predicament.

Sighing, you get up. Looks like you get to help Junior out, after all.

"Now, now, now," you drawl as you come over, calmingly raising your hands, "no need to get violent, eh? How about you tell us what the issue is first, sir?"

As you talk, you position yourself to block the crowd's view of what's going on a little, even as a bunch of mooks dressed in the identical uniforms you saw on that holonet pic gather around, a dozen men in red and black armed with fireaxes of all things exchanging glances as you try to de-escalate. "Because I never thought I'd be the one saying this, but if you don't stop, why, someone may just call the cops."

"Bold of you to assume they'd actually come into this part of town," she challenges your statement.

Okita also seems to have seen the commotion, so now she's strolling over, walking on her hands as she was rotating on them only moments prior.

The situation is only escalating from here, shit.

"What would your parents say of they saw you like this?" You try, to her momentary paling. "No, seriously, what are you even trying to achieve here?"

Gritting her teeth, Blondie pulls out what you vaguely recognize as a scroll, one of those smartphone equivalents using holographic technology, showing the picture of a dark-haired woman. "They say you know everything, so tell me where she is!"

"Got no idea!" Junior's currently high-pitched voice says.

"Oh, really?" His torturer doesn't seem particularly happy with the answer...

Resisting the urge to facepalm with all your strength, you take a deep breath. "Okay, stop, wait."

Flaring your aura and directing it at the girl, you give her a deadpan stare. "Let me get this straight, you came for an information broker's services and your first move was to punch him in the dick? Without even knowing whether the broad you were looking for was even in Vale in the first place?"

Because you're fairly sure if Junior knew anything, he'd have spilled by now. "Do you really not see the issue of the logic behind attacking your source of information with nothing stopping him from sending you into an ambush and blacklisting you for all his direct and indirect services in Vale?"

You move closer towards them now, everyone in listening range keeping a close eye on you. "Because this had to be the single most moronic attempt at information gathering I have ever seen and that bar was really. Fucking. Low." With every word, you step closer, until you're right in Blondie's face and she has to either let go and back away or physically move you away.

Staring her down, you aren't particularly surprised when Blondie backs off, letting go of Junior's dick (much to his relieved surprise as he takes a step back) to bring her arms up in a tightly guarded stance. "Oh, and who're you, pretty boy?"

Preening at her words a little, you give her a sardonic smirk. "Why, I am but a humble artist unknown around these parts, but for you? Name's Gabriel," you say with a flourishing bow, never taking your eyes off her.

"Pfyeah, and I'm the queen of Vale."

"It's true, though," you pout at her.

"Yeah, well I'm about to give you a dose of truth!" Cocking her arm back, your interlocutor does something that has her yellow gauntlets shift around, what you're remarkably certain on closer inspection is a bunch of firing chambers rotating and locking into the sides of her arms!

Funnily enough, though, before Blondie can actually get to punching you in the face, several things happen.

One, Junior's thugs decide that the boss is safe and they can move in to chop this girl up now.

Two, Junior backs up, only to reach around the counter to pull something out from behind it.

Three, Okita swings herself onto her feet from where she was standing on her hands and grabs a bar stool.

Four, you give off a smug smile.

Fife, Blondie's eyes narrow as she sees number four, but widen again when the barstool, swung like an unwieldy greatsword, impacts her stomach, a yellow light flaring up for a moment only to instantly fade out again as the target of the swing flies through the air, bouncing off the wall behind the bar and coming right back around, only to be smacked again by Okita as she moves in a circle, the girl punted off over the dance floor and smaching home above the entrance.

The automatic doors leading outside open, but, uh, she doesn't exactly look to be in any condition to move, both arms and at least one leg broken in several places and what you're pretty sure a few broken ribs causing her every breath to eb short and ragged.

It's honestly impressive she's even still conscious, from the looks of it.

"Did I do good?" Okita asks, looking up at you with earnest eyes.

"You did very good, Okita," you reply, moving to pat her head.

"Yay."

Everyone else just stands there, staring at the two of you completely stunned.

Sighing, you give the top of your little murderblender's head a kiss, Okita more than happy to move with you when you turn around to face Junior, you give the man awkwardly putting away what looks like some kind of bat a shrug.

"Suppose I should probably go and take care of that. Say, could you do me a favour and get that list of people to talk to ready for tomorrow night, plus someone to awaken a handful auras if you can swing it?" You ask apologetically.

"Oh sure, just take it as my thanks for saving my balls," Junior grumbles, forcefully lowering his voice as though to compensate for the heights it reached earlier. "Just figures there's another talkative guy running around with a fucking monster on hand," is all you can hear him whisper to himself as you and Okita make your way through the crowd (that easily parts before you) to arrive at the thoroughly disabled Blondie.

"Good work on not killing her, by the way," you tell Okita, continuing to pat her head as you walk.

"Mhm."

She's happy, you can tell.

It doesn't take you long to get there, and a quick twist of your hand as you kneel at Blondie's side scoops a stimpack out of your shadow, seeing you jab the needle in under her collarbone and watch as her breathing eases up in short order, the broken ribs realigning and even her broken limbs getting a bit better.

(Yang has recovered 10 HP, leaving her at 12/20 HP)

"What..." Blondie brings out, her confused, slow and painful flailing leaving up for a moment.

"You shaddup for now," is all you say as you heft her up, slinging her over your shoulder like a sack of potatoes and ignoring her protestations.

Hey Sarah, so a teenage girl picked a fight with a criminal in my presence and is now struggling as I carry her off before she can hurt herself any more, any suggestions?

Gabe, what. Just, what. We haven't been in this dimension for a day yet, how?!

I don't know, it just happened!

Leaving the club to be greeted by the cool night air outside, you're greeted by a younger teenager in red clothes and with red and black hair, staring at you as soon as she sees you.

"Yang? Is that you? Why are you carrying off my sister?!"

"Ruby... Run..."

Well, doesn't that just figure.

"Oh, you know this criminal scum?" You ask, slapping the ass poking over your shoulder.

Said ass' owner seems stunned into silence.

"That's my sister, Yang! What is she being accused of?"

"Well, Ruby, was it? Your sister here did something very, very bad to the man that owns the bar inside, the kind of bad that has people locked away for a very long time," you explain, checking to make sure Yang, as you now know she's called, doesn't wiggle away.

"What kind of thing? You haven't answered the question!" Ruby exclaims, crossing her arms as she stands in your way wide-legged.

"Simply put, she walked up to the guy and shoved her hand into his crotch, hard, and then refused to let go until someone confronted her. Honestly, it's a miracle he could even stand afterwards."

Ruby swallows. "That can't be. Yang, is the man carrying you saying the truth?"

"No..."

"Yang! Yang, you know I know when you're lying! Oh my god, you really did it! Dad is going to be disappointed in you! I am so disappointed in you! How could you do that?"

"I didn'... wasn' like that..."

"If you two are done now," you say, interrupting what looks like a scolding in the making, "I still need to take her away."

"No! Please don't!" Ruby begs, looking at you with the biggest silver puppydog eyes you have ever seen. "Is there anything I can do to make you reconsider?"

... It can't be this easy, can it?

So, uh, Sarah? I just bumped into the girl's sister and she offered to do anything I want if it means her sister doesn't have to go to jail.

... What.

I know, right? Like, I am seriously doubting myself here. It cannot possibly be this easy! Just in case, though, could you, say, go out and buy some cookies?"

Ugh. You're seriously going to try and lure her with cookies?

Hey, if it works for creepy bald men with white vans, I don't see why it wouldn't work for me.

Okay, now you've got me morbidly curious about this. Give me a bit to figure out where to steal the best cookies I can get from, time to see if my supervillainy has gone rusty by now.

Leaving Sarah to her mission of procuring high-quality cookies, you turn your attention back towards the situation at hand.

"Well, I suppose we could work something out," you say with an encouraging smile, the tears in Ruby's eyes growing as she looks at you. "How about this, we bring her back to the place I'm renting and give her a thorough scolding, make her work it off with a spot of community service and we'll let both of you go tomorrow morning? If you join in on the work, I'll even make sure you're paid in cookies!"

"Cookies?! I mean, thank you thank you thank you! Uh, we should probably take Bumblebee along, too, though. Yang would kill me if it was stolen, no matter how much she's earned this."

"Bumblebee... ride away..."

"None of that, Yang!" Ruby scolds. "You can't drive in your condition! You still don't even have your aura up!"

So it really is this easy...

Carrying the motorcycle that 'Bumblebee' turned out to be (color-coded to also be yellow, of course, as you are starting to see a theme here) isn't all that hard, Okita taking over that particular duty (and causing Ruby to fangirl over how strong she is as well as her red hoodie) on the way back to the hotel.

Still, despite Yang's occasionally returning protestations, it doesn't take all that long to return, avoiding the gazes of any passerby you can and making sure the cookies have been seized (they have).

Once you arrive (and handwave any questions as to the concussed young woman on your shoulder through mentioning she has aura), you soon arrive back at your room's door, a swipe of a card opening it in short order.

"So then," you say, gesturing around, "make yourself at home, Ruby. We've just arrived in Vale, but feel free to avail yourself to the hotel's hospitality, it's what they're paid for."

"Hoooh," Ruby makes, curiously taking a look around before she remembers why she's here. "So, uhm, about Yang..."

"Cookies are over in the kitchen," Sarah says, just poking her head into the living room you're currently depositing Yang inside, leaving the blonde slumped over inside a comfortable armchair.

"Cookies! Uhm, who are you?" Ruby asks before racing off towards the object of her desire.

"My name's Sarah, I'm Gabriel's sister," she responds. At Ruby's confused look, she sighs, defeated, her smile only keeping on by the barest of margins. "The guy that brought you here?"

"Ah, Mister Policeman!"

"You know what, I won't even ask. Come get your cookies."

"So, about that 'community service..." Your words have an immediate effect, Ruby stowing the cookies away in their box and hiding it behind her back as she snaps to attention.

"Yes sir! I mean, uhm, what do I have to do?" She asks, as though remembering she isn't in the military.

"Relax, relax, it isn't anything difficult." Funnily enough, in the time it took her to gobble up half a dozen cookies (seriously, this girl can eat), you had the perfect opportunity to lift a block of soft wood out of your shadow, thanking your foresight in packing any art supplies you thought to take into your shadow.

Sure, it isn't exactly life-sized, but still, it shall work perfectly fine for your purposes, especially as you have your claws to fall back on in times like these.

"Simply put, all I am going to need you to do is pose for me while I carve a statuette of you, in whatever pose you can keep comfortably. Do you think you can do that for me?"

"Oh! Sure, that's no problem. Uh, can I keep eating the cookies while I do that? They're really good," Ruby inquires.

"Oh, definitely feel free to, so long as you can go back to how you want our little piece of art to look. Though I am doubtful it can match the original," you tease Ruby.

Sarah, on the other hand, having stayed inside the living room, just shrugs. "I'll go get more cookies, then. We'll... probably need them."

"Wh' chu meag?" Ruby asks, her mouth full of baked goodies.

"Nothing, nothing. You two have fun."

And fun you have indeed, Ruby ravenously feeding upon the supplies you brought for her as you slowly but surely puncture and cut away, removing surface area after surface area with your claws to faithfully replicate a happily smiling Ruby sitting with her knees drawn towards herself, her hands supporting her face.

And, of course, fend off her numerous questions, confirming that your 'claws' are indeed your weapons, categorically denying that they can transform beyond being very easy to put on and off, the like. Honestly, the hardest part of all of this is painting your little Ruby, though you would like to think you did a good job.

Ruby herself, too, does seem to be fascinated with what you did.

"Wooow, she looks so good! And so real!"

"Way to call yourself good-looking," you smirk, keeping in a chuckle at her blush.

"N-no, that's not how I meant i-"

"I know, I know. Still, this wasn't bad at all, right?"

"Nnnope! Look, Yang, isn't she cute?" Holding your artwork in front of Yang's face, Ruby smiles at her sister (who has been slowly recovering over the past hour or so), the newly fully conscious huntress-in-training grimacing.

"Yes, Rubes, it's very pretty." Yang, unsurprisingly enough, doesn't seem to have taken the (technical) kidnapping of herself and her sister well, mostly just pouting where you left her earlier, but unwilling to do anything with Okita nearby, your personal murderblender happily reading random sites on the holonet access point.

"Yay! Can we do another one, Mister Gabriel? Please?"

"Well," you ponder, "we should have enough time for at least one more bit of artwork, I suppose. Would you like another statuette, or maybe a painting, a portrait or something in that direction?"

"Oooh! A painting would be so nice!" Ruby practically vibrates with excitement. At a guess, she hasn't really been paid attention to for her appearance before, and is both flattered and happy about it now.

Good enough for you, at any rate. "Alright, let me go get my colors from the bedroom. Are you guys good to stay as you are for a moment?"

"Sure!" "Fine..." "Mm." Ruby, Yang and Okita all say, prompting you to go ahead and move over through the doorway.

You were planning to see how Yang would behave with you out of the room, but Sarah chooses that moment to return, causing Ruby to jump around as she flings the cookies she brought into the room one at a time. It doesn't take you long, at any rate, to grab your art supplies, though you do make a note to get some more when you get the opportunity- you're going through what you brought along a little fast as is.

Coming back to the living room with a picture stand under one arm and a bunch of colors and brushes in the other, you begin organizing yourself, plopping the latter down on the same desk that Yang is too afraid to leave. "Here we are, now how shall we do this, Ruby?"

"Mogmuhun- how do you mean?" She asks, chewing down the latest cookie she got into her mouth.

"Well, how do you want me to draw you? From which direction, what pose, that kind of thing. If you would like to dress down or change your clothes for this, too, now's the time."

"You-" Yang starts, almost pushing herself up off her seat, only for Ruby to shoot her a glare. "Yaaang, it's your fault we are here in the first place. You just stay where you are and let me deal with this, okay?"

Her sister suitably cowed, even as she grinds her teeth against each other, Ruby gives you a nod. "Can I take a moment to change? I have some other clothes along I'd like to wear for this."

"Sure, sure, take your time," you smile at her, amused you don't even have to talk at Yang. "I'll just eat a few cookies in the meantime."

Ruby is literally moving faster than you can easily see as she darts off to the bathroom, leaving you chuckling as you catch a single cookie from Sarah out of the air. Yang, on the other hand...

"I will literally kill you if you hurt her," the busty blonde says, her hands balled into fists, "and I don't care if I die while doing it, either."

"Relax, relax," you drawl, throwing her a smirk. "I won't do anything to her she doesn't want me to."

"That's what I'm afraid of," Yang mutters under her breath, though you can't tease her about it as Ruby comes back inside from the bathroom, wearing only a chest-height jacket that doesn't cover her midriff and a thong.

Yang stares, wide-eyed. You, on the other hand, smile gently. "Are you sure you want me to draw you like this?"

"M-hm. It's a little bit embarrassing," Ruby blushes, "but I thought you would like it. And, uhm... pleaseforgiveYanginexchangeforthis?"

You just give her an easy laugh. "You didn't have to go this far for that, Ruby, though I will gratefully draw you, if you want me to. "

"Absolutely not!" Yang borderline screams. "Go get dressed right now, Rubes, or so help me-"

"You're just jealous, Yang," Ruby huffs, completely blanking her sister's face out as she stares at the little redhead uncomprehendingly. "But, uh... could you do it from behind? This is really, really embarrassing."

"Of course, Ruby. If you would turn around-" you instruct, only now seeing she actually adjusted what little underwear you can see so her pussy is visible from behind as she stands like this, though you don't stare gaping like a fish at the sight like a certain blonde, "and turn your head to the side a little, yes, just like that, now... one hand up to your hair, the other stretched outwards? Perfect, perfect. Just hold this pose for as long as you can comfortably, you can hide your face with your arm if you want... Wonderful, Ruby, this will be gorgeous."

Gabe, just... how do you even do this kind of thing? You hardly even asked her to strip! Sarah asks, moving over to feed Ruby cookies by hand.

No, but I did imply I would appreciate her being in less clothes. She did all the rest by herself.

Actually drawing Ruby while Yang keeps on getting redder and redder (the exact cause of which remains unknown, likely even to herself) takes a little longer, but it certainly is worth it, the lewd picture of Ruby posing for you kept for posterity before long.

"There we are," you say, putting on a few last finishing touches on Ruby's hair, "what do you think?"

Carefully turning the stand around, you smile at Ruby's blush, as well as the way Yang averts her eyes. "Yeah, that's what you thought," you grin.

Yang, for her part, finally seems to have found her opportunity, finally getting up and edging away from where Okita is sitting. "Oh, look, Rubes, it's really really late and dad's gonna kill us if we don't catch the bullhead back to Patch!"

"Oh," a suddenly crestfallen Ruby makes, "guess you're right."

"Don't worry," you console her (and Yang, jokingly) with a smile, "you can come back anytime, and feel free to drag your sister along, too, just so she doesn't go crazy with worry. And can get her own versions of these," you smirk as you stroke the side of your painting.

Yang just blushes nuclearly. "IN YOUR DREA-"

"Come on, Yang, we have to get moving!" Having dressed in a literal flash that somehow scattered rose petals around, Ruby proceeds to grab onto Yang, only for you to stop her.

"Wait, wait, I haven't given you your souvenirs yet." Signing the picture in black with a flourish, you take the canvas off the stand and hand it to the little cookie monster, together with the little statuette. "Take these, and be sure to call if you want to come again... and don't think I didn't see you grab the cookies, by the way," you smirk at Ruby, causing her to blush again. "Don't forget, I can keep paying you with more~, so don't forget to give me your number!"

Your teasing does seem to have an effect. "Thankyoubeback, here'smynumberbye!"

With that the sisters are out the door, Ruby dragging Yang away to make sure she doesn't speak.

"So," you say, Sarah gving you an entirely exasperated look even as Okita still isn't paying any attention to what's going on, "that went well, I suppose."

Ruby sat down on the bullhead's bench, taking a look around. The flying machine was almost empty, with just her and Yang on the way between Vale and Patch this late.

Her picture was propped under her arms, the statue held in one hand dangling over its edge, making sure that anyone that were to come by would only be able to see the back of the canvas rather than its scandalous front... depicting her backside in turn.

And no, Ruby was totally okay with admitting she was blushing when she thought about it.

"... This was not okay, Ruby," Yang said from where she was sitting next to her, looking away. "We got mixed up with some bad people."

"Oh pooh, don't be so melodramatic. Gabriel was nice."

"He isn't 'nice', Rubes!" Yang said, louder, nearly getting up. "He was talking to a known cirminal and that bodyguard of his is some seriously bad news, okay? I don't want you coming anywhere near that creep."

Okay, now she was just asking for it. "Was that before or after you sexually assaulted that criminal, Miss Creeptastic McCreeper? Should I stay away from you, too?"

Yang winced, turning her head away from Ruby again. "That was different."

"Different how?" Ruby asked. "Because it doesn't sound like anything Gabriel did tonight, Yang. Face it, he was a perfect gentleman."

"Rubes!" The call was heartbreaking in its pleading, but Ruby had to remain strong."Please, I'm begging you, whatever else you might think. Let's just move away from this and never see this guy again, okay? We'll avoid Vale for a while, wait until he's moved away or something and-"

"No can do, sis. I promised him I'd come back. Plus, you haven't atoned for what you did yet."

Yang gaped at her. "You can't be serious, Rubes. I won't strip for him like some-"

"Like some what, Yang?" Ruby asked, now almost dangerously quiet. "Like some little sister holding out her ass for her big sister's mistakes?"

That shut her up good. "You didn't have to do that, sis. Not for me and not for any other reason."

"But I wanted to." Yang was looking at her now, uncomprehendingly, as they flew through the air. "I I had to make sure and I didn't mind showing off for him a little-"

"A little? You were flashing him your n-n-naked..."

"Yes, I was, and I'd do it all again if that's what it took to get you out of trouble, Yang," Ruby spelled it out for her thickheaded big sister. "And have you seen what he's doing? He's a really great artist, the kind that could be reknown all over the world, and he even let me keep what he did!"

"I wouldn't know what I'd do if those were somewhere in Vale... Do you have any idea how scared I was this whole time? You should've ran when I told you to after the club, gotten dad or uncle Qrow to help."

"I wouldn't ever abandon you like that, Yang. You should know better than that. And hey, it all worked out in the end!" Ruby exclaimed. "I seduced him with my womanly charms and-"

"Do you really think that's what happened?" Yang interrupted, deadpan.

"Of course it was. Why else do you think you'll have to come back to model for a painting yourself, sis? You didn't get it done this time."

"Ruuubes, no! There's no way we can come back to the criminal!"

"But I gave him my scroll number, and I want more of his cookies. Do you really want me to come all the way to Vale and visit him by myself?" Ruby asked, feeling her eyes growing big even as her lips moved forwards, puting at Yang.

"Grrraaarhhh... Okay, but I won't strip for him, and that's final! He better be thankful he's getting to leer at my glorious self as is!"

"Thank you! Best sis ever!" Ruby said, moving to give her sister a hug, only to meet an unassailable wall in the form of a palm keeping hold of her cheek.

"I haven't forgotten you took the side of a stranger you only met today over me," Yang said. "Don't think I'll forgive you anytime soon, Pubes."

Ruby blushed. They'd agreed to forget that incident as soon as it happened! "You went up to a known criminal and assaulted him, in your own words! He was actually in the right to punish you, Yang, and just imagine what might've happened if he didn't take you away from there." Ruby didn't have all the details, but she had enough to get an idea, and that... didn't speak well of her sister.

Who shuddered to herself a little, still holding onto Ruby's face. "Yeah... I was doing pretty damn bad there for a while, wasn't I? He actually did something to heal me, I'll have to ask what that was at some point." Shifting back to Ruby, Yang tilted her nose upwards. "Still no cookies for you for a week, Ruby, or is that tai long?"

Ruby groaned. If her sister could get back to making stupid puns, she was doing well enough. "Fine with me, I'll just have to come visit Vale for more, then."

Talking and bickering, the two of them soon arrived back home. And if Ruby couldn't resist the siren call of the cookie jar an hour later and it turned out Yang had actually emptied it ahead of time, well, that was an entirely different story.

Remnant as a dimension, a planet filled with life, is... honestly not that civilized, all in all. Mostly on account of the whole Grimm thing keeping humanity from just spreading itself everywhere, with new settlements failing moe often than not.

That means that there's a giant lot of untamed nature beyond city walls, pictures of which you have access to via the holonet, as well as some of the cities and towns around themselves, though you doubt you're getting the full picture in their regards, seeing as how any of those are limited to depicting squeaky clean streets and buildings.

Still, you have all you need. Beginning to set up your thing and thanking Sarah again for going out to get you a bunch of canvas with the money you stole out of people's pockets, you begin painting.

At first, you just replicate what you see, giving it your own bend in small ways here and there, but before long, you begin setting up your own narratives as you draw.

All of a sudden, the ancient forest has a pristine sword stuck inside an old and withered stone, giving off a sharp glow as it waits to be drawn. The deep lake surrounded by greenery contains an immaterial figure, peering up from where it can be seen under the water surface, standing upside down as though the surface were the ground.

A deep, dark cave, the stone formations within suddenly shaped strangely curvy and inviting in a series of pictures and, of course, the sky, with special mentions of a fairy tale Okita found while randomly browsing; the maidens of spring, summer, autumn and winter all formed out of the clouds.

Entirely naked, of course, how are clouds going to wear clothes, after all? That would just be entirely unrealistic, after all.

'Ninjas of Love' is a title you are rapidly becoming familiar with, much to your dismay. Because it wasn't enough that the world named Remnant (and isn't that something to name the planet you're on) is beset by a shattered moon of some kind, some weird metamaterial that rules pretty much all of its technology and endless hordes of slavering monstrosities, no, it is also infested by weird smut that doesn't even manage to be sexy, instead simply spreading cringe and embarrassment at how badly written it is.

Ninjas of Love may be a bestseller, somehow, but you simply cannot fathom why it would be. It is, somehow, a mixture of romanticization of far-eastern martial tradition (or, in this case, Mistralian, though neither version of ninjas actually has anything to do with what's described in this filth), uncomfortable descriptions of an older guy stalking a younger woman and borderline unrealistic martial feats that somehow avoid mention of aura entirely.

When a young woman abandons the comforts [...] where she was bound to have an easy life but [...] and self-absorbed to see past her petty [...] realize how lucky she was, she runs away to [...] where she becomes ninja.

Little does she know that over the years she has been watched from the shadows by a ninja master, a lone enigma that haunts the darkness of the night itself. What will happen when our young woman is consumed by the heat of this shadowy man...?

Seriously, who reads this tripe? People on Remnant, apparently, seeing how it's a bestseller that's been steering writing trends for months now. You could write better by just describing what you remember of your early childhood!

At least Sarah and Nora seem to be having a good time watching you sperg out about what you're reading, the former having managed to get a hacked version of what amounts to the e-book for your reading 'pleasure'.

Cue yourself spending a solid two hours just tearing it down for bad writing, lacking prose, unrealistic and repetitive sex scenes and, of course, the way every woman seems to be completely unresisting to sex the moment a dick is whipped out.

When Sarah, holding a hand in front of her face to hide her laughter, questions the way your life is essentially all of that, you shut that right down; women totally resist when you get your dick in front of them, you just tend to leave them unresisting by the time you're done.

Vale, as a city as opposed to a kingdom, doesn't really have slums as such, a stark change compared to what you're used to. What it does have, though, are several districts that aren't actually particularly patrolled, nor under surveillance like the busier streets around town.

That is easy enough to find out through chucking Sarah at the holonet again, your sister giggling at your description of her as a universal internet adapter, but for more information, you do go out of your way to actually visit those places in person, flying over the city in bird form.

The less-well-off parts of town (that are still actually getting electricity and regular cleaning, somehow) that also happen to contain Junior's Club are still frequented by passerby, but not actually as busy as the rest of the city. By no means do the more simply dressed people you see making their ways from place to place look like your preferred kind of easy prey, but you do have high hopes this will change by the time the sun goes down, based on your experiences with the city streets last night.

Speaking of which...

Junior, it would seem, was already expecting you, the twin bouncers waving you inside with nary an issue.

"Junior's waiting at the bar," the red one says as you come in, the girls having actually come with and following you, seeing as they wanted to come along and take a look at the club you picked up Ruby and Yang in.

Or in front of, as the case of the former may be.

Once you're through the sliding doors, you and your coterie make your way around the dance floor, arriving at the bar in short order. Junior, as you've just been told, is already waiting for you, nursing a drink as he sits and chats with the bartender.

"There you are," the mob boss greets you with a nod. "Got everything you wanted. Here's a little list of people that you'll want to talk to for... art, and the finer things in life. New papers and identifications are in the system, all you need to do is take a few pictures and add them to these scrolls and you're all set."

Sliding a small container over the bar towards where you've already taken a seat, Junior watches as you open it for a moment, seeing the row of little devices lining up.

Exactly four of them. Chances are he actually had someone look into you or something after yesterday night.

"On those scrolls you'll also find the address of a warehouse you'll want to visit tonight, not too far from here, actually. Inside you'll find the man that'll help you with your last request, reliable contact that's worked with us in the past. That all good with you?"

"Almost suspiciously so," you answer, passing the container inlaid with dark fabric off towards the girls after taking your own device, "you've been quite helpful in this, Junior."

"Just doing smart business," the mob boss explains, "wouldn't want to get on the bad side of someone with your capabilities. One hand washing the other, right? And you certainly washed mine yesterday. Would've been quite an embarrassment if people saw a girl manhandling me like that or worse, people just see what they can see and don't take aura into account as often as they should."

Ah, a matter of reputation, then. No wonder, people like Junior live and die by theirs. "In that case, I will thankfully take what you have given us and look forwards to future... cooperation, should either of us be in need." No reason not to be polite about this, after all, and Junior might come in handy down the line.

"Likewise. Now then, unless you happen to feel like staying a while?"

"Oh, don't worry, we're getting out of your hair. Pleasure doing business."

The place these 'scrolls' direct you towards is just another nondescript warehouse, the door unlocked for your perusal. You and the girls filter inside, the darkness of the empty place not particularly inconveniencing anyone except Okita, whom just lights the way with her scroll's newly discovered flashlight mode.

"There y'are, was wondering when you'd show up," a voice calls from inside, soon revealing itself to be that of a veiled huntsman, if you're anyone to judge, sitting on a single chair standing in the middle of the empty main floor.

"We came as soon as we knew where to go, jackass, go complain to Junior if you have an issue. So, you're here to unlock auras?" You ask.

"Dang right I am. So, who's gettin' some sweet, sweet juice?"

"All of us, of course," Sarah shrugs, exchanging a look with you. You're going first just in case, of course. "Why else would we have bothered coming?"

"Hah. None a' you got it already? Sure would have Junior drinkin' if he knew and you're tellin' the truth. So who wants ta go first?"

"Ladies first, of course," you say and immediately step forwards, "so that's me. How're we doing this?"

The carefully concealed huntsman gets up, waving you closer. "You just com'n over here and stand before me, I'll be takin' care of the rest and raking in some sweet cash for my time in no business."

Doing as instructed, you watch as the huntsman stretches out a hand, a dark blue glow emanating from him and gathering at your chest where it lies.

"For it is in life that we achieve strength. Through this, we become a paragon of bravery to rise above all. Infinite in potential and unbound by limits, I release your soul, and by my shoulder, guide thee."

Once he's done with his little chant, you can feel something isnide you... moving. Taking a quick look, it seems as though your inner world is moving, strangely enough, everything from the sky to the ground to the palace walls squirming in place for just a moment.

It's all over before you know it, but as you take in your metaphysical insides once the ripple is over and done with, you soon notice the biggest difference to be seen; flags and banners are hanging all over your inner palace, kept in dark blue on tombstone gray and depicting notable feats and moments throughout your life.

Back in reality, a similarly-colored sheen spreads over your body for a moment before fading out, but you can feel it still there, a part of yourself that feels so natural it is weird to think of it not having been there mere moments ago.

You definitely get why people call it the power of one's soul.

"Huh, looks like yer godda big un'," the huntsman that awakened your aura drawls. "Good on ya'."

Moving on, all of your current group get their aura awakened one after another, Sarah glowing purple for a moment, Nora a deep green and Okita getting a light black in terms of aura colors.

"Well, tha's all outta me. See ya never an' have a good life." With that, the guy leaves, leaving the four of you in the warehouse.

"Sooo..." Sarah trails off, clenching her hands as she looks down at them, "that happened. Guess it's a thing now."

"'Course it is, Sarah," you reply, patting her head curiously, but neither of you are impeded by your aura as she eagerly receives her pats.

Finding a mostly abandoned storage site doesn't take long with the amount of recon you've already done, and so before long the four of you are darting around the place, testing out how far this new boost to your physical capabilities goes.

You have to keep an eye on Okita, in fact, when she starts sizing up the nearest walls, the insufferably adorable girl already thinking about how to test out the strength difference. Instead, you settle things through a spot of impromptu wrestling instead, discovering aura actually also protects your clothing, interestingly enough.

Another point of interest is how you all seem to realize people are coming at the same time, pointing towards other ways aura might be enhancing you. Some kind of intuition upgrade? Subconsciously picking up on signs ahead of time, that kind of thing?

Either way, it would seem you should look into food next; especially for Nora, given she has the fewest powers and such right now. In the meantime you'll go ahead and look up more about those 'semblances' on your scroll.

Because while you aren't one to be envious, Sarah is entirely too smug at you over the way she can literally slide through solid objects now.

Luckily enough, your old tricks still work just fine, the people of Vale no more capable of resisting ambush by a bunch of superhuman killers than any other random civilians back home.

You do make sure you keep away from any of the actually fairly well-distributed surveillance throughout the city, of course, and so it doesn't take long for you to gather a fairly decent amount of bodies considering how careful you have to be, feeding all lone targets you can swing to Nora so she can come closer towards gaining more powers, the metric by which your vampirism thing works familiar enough at this point.

Of course, that does mean you end up with nine dead bodies to use, certainly not about to just let them lie around. Question is, as you look over the roof you have been carrying them off towards, what shall you make out of them?

Finding an unused warehouse isn't that hard; all you need to do is to keep an eye out for undisturbed dust and cobwebs and go from there to get a place that is unlikely to be used for anything by anyone else in the immediate future.

Moving the corpses inside while unseen is a bit more complicated, but with Nora and Okita helping you out (Sarah went and busied herself with arranging meetings for you tomorrow already) you can manage just fine.

Of course you soon lose them, too, to the temptation of the holonet, not even Okita particularly interested in your creation of the blood producer you're turning all the bodies you have access to into, having seen the process once already and having decided it isn't cute enough to be worth attention.

Still, it doesn't take you all that long, thanks to how fairly basic the whole construction is, and so it comes that you recycle the corpses into a mostly featureless sack of meat, endlessly producing blood and depositing it inside secondary sacks of flesh for storage, allowing you to ration the yuckblood easily enough.

The rest of your night is spent on filling up a few empty bottles you organized just for this. Next up, shadow stepping back to the hotel room to share the good news with everyone!

Training your aura is, as the big academies don't exactly publish their training routines, a measure of guesswork and experimentation, luckily involving several test subjects as you aren't alone in this, at the very least.

So, as far as you can discern, the best way to actually improve how much aura you can have at any given time, having actually linked your scrolls up to yourselves to give you a decent way to measure them, is to simply deplete the stuff before concentrating on getting it all back, taking a moment to meditate on it and such in your case, though Okita seems to be faring better by simply continuing to fight for her part.

In either case, both her and Sarah get it into their heads you should totally take off your shirt and, seeing no real reason to deny them, you go ahead and comply with their demands.

Though you don't really quite get why Sarah seems to recharge faster by groping your abs.

Still, you've made some good incremental progress by the time you decide to return to the hotel from where you were using the warehouse to work undisturbed, whereupon you are quickly assailed by Nora being all sweet and wifely.

"Do you want... dinner? Or maybe... a bath? Or would you like... me?" Being greeted like that by a shapely woman dressed in nothing but an apron, you quickly choke down your giggling as you embrace her.

"Not like I'd really need either of the first two, so doesn't that just leave one option?" Nuzzling the side of her neck, you flirt with Nora a little, the happy 'housewife' all too glad to play along.

Until the doorbell rings, yourself already out of the jacket you threw on on the way back 'home'.

Anyone lose their keycard and can't get in? You ask telepathically, opening communications with everyone in this dimension you can do so with.

Nope, I'm in the bathroom.

Mhm, am here.

You're literally making out with me, Gabriel.

You just sigh. Looks like I've gotta go answer the door, then. Can't even just eat whoever it is for interrupting us, there's cameras out in the hallway.

Reluctantly letting go of Nora, you take a moment to appreciate the understanding look she's giving you before turning around.

Punctually reaching the door on the second ring of the doorbell (which is only lightly annoying, so better than most examples of its kind, you suppose), you unlatch the magnetic lock and open the damn thing, only to be greeted with the sight of a short, white haired girl, a distinct scar marking her left eye without detracting from her obvious beauty.

"Excuse me," she starts off aggressively, only to trail off as she actually takes your topless appearance in, "but this is supposed... to be my... room?"

Hmm... Interesting. Also, you fucking knew that overdressed bellboy was good-for-nothing, after all.

"Well then," you begin, putting on your charming smile as you subtly lean against the sliding door's frame, putting your frame on display for her, "looks like we've been double booked. If I may ask your name?"

Keeping your tone apologetic, you can see the impact you're having on the poor thing, the girl's cheeks gaining a healthy red glow as she resolutely stares up at your face, her eye level being just under your pecs. "My name is Weiss, Weiss Schnee. If I may inquire as to your name?"

"Gabriel Livsey, a pleasure to make your acquaintance," you say with a light bow, smiling at her all the way through. "We will need to have the hotel figure this situation out, of course, but would you like to come inside first? You seem a little stressed; have you just arrived in Vale?"

Miss Schnee, for her part, seems to struggle with herself for a moment, but ultimately sighs, giving you a nod. "Yes, you're... quite right, the flight was rather exhausting. You have my thanks for the hospitality." Returning your bow, it doesn't take long for what you get the feeling of a stereotypical rich girl to find herself in your living room, blushing at the glance of Nora putting her clothes back on in the kitchen.

"I am sorry if I may have... distrubed you while you were... busy," she ends up asking more than stating, sitting down at the living room desk opposite from you.

"Oh, don't mind that, you couldn't have known," you say, completely misstating the truth. She really could've gone bother the hotel's personnel instead of you. Then again, now you get to play with her, so...

"In that case, please don't mind me," she says, motioning towards the canvas stand you left right where you put it, "but could it be you or your wife happen to be artists?"

Oh how cute, she thinks Nora's your wife. Well, when in Rome... "Oh yes, that's my hobby. We only recently arrived in Vale ourselves, you see, so I just went ahead and got to work as is. Why, would you happen to have any interest in the field yourself?"

"No, sadly, I have been focused on the activity of singing, so far," she explains. "Though I would love to chat about the arts, aren't you, uhm, cold, Mister Livsey?"

You smile at her, careful not to veer into smirking territory. "Don't worry, it doesn't bother me at all, you can feel free to watch all you want." At her embarrassed blush and side glance, you lean forwards a bit. "In fact, would you like me to draw a portrait of you?"

"Oh no, I couldn't possibly impose," she frantically waves her arms.

"Nonsense, it wouldn't be any trouble whatsoever. I actually have some time to waste before meeting a few prospective clients later today, so you would be doing me a favor."

"Oh, very well," she eventually says after thinking it through, getting up to start working her way through a few poses. Girl obviously has experience with how this is usually supposed to work. "You mentioned clients? Would you be in Vale for work-related reasons, then, or...?"

"Clients in terms of possible buyers for the odd piece of art, actually. We've had to relocate to Vale for... unrelated reasons, so we're just making the best of it, really," you 'explain', dangling an obvious 'mystery' in front of her to keep her from digging into anything else.

"I see," she mutters, only for you to talk over her in short order.

"Now then, would you mind taking hold of your hair, bring your braid to your front?" Using your still half-naked condition to your advantage, you make a show of picking up your brushes and colors, showing off for her just as much as she is showing off for you.

"L-like this, Mister Livsey?"

"Please, feel free to call me Gabriel. Anyone posing themselves for me may as well be on a first name basis far as I'm concerned."

"Then please, call me Weiss as well," she insists, doing exactly as you'd foreseen.

"Gladly, Weiss." For some reason, she seems to be blushing again at the way you're saying her name while looking at her with obvious focus.

The next hour or so passes with you keeping Weiss distracted with small talk as you work, drawing out a portrait of her listlessly looking down as she strokes her braid. It actually turns out rather well, considering how much time you can take for this.

"This looks extremely good," is Weiss' reaction when you show her what you've done, having figured you don't have all that much time left if you want to be in time for the meetings Sarah organized for you.

"I'm glad to hear you approve," you smile at her, the way her eyes emote everything she's feeling pretty adorable, actually.

"Oh, yes, I really should get going, actually, I'm afraid I have to attend to meetings with prospective buyers and all the miscellaneous work that an artist must do in a new city, please do let me know what your final arrangements end up being," you mention as though the thought just came to you. Judging by the momentary panic in her eyes, it looks like Weiss completely forgot about her conundrum with the hotel, too.

All according to plan.

"Tell you what though, you can stay in our room for the time being if you want, at least until the hotel situation has been worked out. Here," you say as you take the still slightly wet canvas off the stand, carefully handing it to a nonplussed Weiss, "keep this one for yourself, would you?"

Finishing off your signature with a flourish, you nod, satisfied with your work. "And if you're up for it, I would certainly be up for drawing more of you... however intimately you would be fine with," you whisper at Weiss, her shellshocked expression being completed with the explosive blush spreading over it as she attempts to find words at your forwardness.

(Latewave uses a crit to insert a 69! It is very effective!)

Chuckling, you retreat, leaving her holding the picture. Time to actually go wear clothes, no matter how much you dislike the prospect... Stupid decency and people's ideas of it...

As it turns out, you haven't lost your touch when it comes to manipulating people into doing what you want, as the wealthy woman's lips around your cock make more than clear, the charming brunette having gone ahead and begged off from the small group of other socialites to 'show you around the house'.

Cue her beelining right to the nearest toilet with you in tow once you went up a floor, eagerly getting you naked as soon as she could.

Gabe, Gabe, Gabe... it's really not your fault, is it? They're literally knocking on your door, just waiting to be seduced.

What do you mean, Sarah? Are you referring to Weiss or... whoever I'm working on right now? You honestly can't pretend to give enough of a fuck to remember right now.

The former, Sarah drily states, but feel free to keep on going with what you're doing as we talk.

Looking over the busty woman's back as you rail her, bent over the toilet as she is, you can't help but smile. Doubt she would accept me stopping at this point.

Oh, I get it. Anyways, she's a lonely teenager looking for direction, emotionally neglected for a long time, reasonably powerful from what my power's giving me, actually connected to a rich family to foster all of this and already crushing on you. You're really hitting her type, Gabe.

Mhm, good to know. I was just taking the opportunity to play with her, but I guess I should put at least some effort into it?

Enjoying the babbled half-screams about never having been touched back there, you fill up your current target's cunt, leaving her breathing heavily as she winds in orgasm, her legs more jelly than muscle from the looks of it.

No shit, I think you could genuinely manipulate her into loving you pretty easily. Also, her situation kind of reminds me of ourselves, way back when, so... I'm feeling a little pity for her, not going to lie.

"Ah, and here's the man of the hour! We have been just looking over what you brought with you, Gabriel, my lad, but I am sure you could tell us far more than what a mere amateur like myself could," the guy whose wife you've just been fucking annouces you. "How is Jessica doing, did she need to take a break?"

"Don't worry, Mister Blues," you act out the most genuine young man you can, "your wife just needed a bit, you know how women can be."

Alright, guess Weiss is up for the full seduction deluxe package, then. She didn't seem that opposed when I flirted with her, anyways.

Having harvested your polite laughs and the natural opinions of a bunch of rich old men, you continue right on, gesturing for one of the pieces you slapped together en-masse yesterday. "This picture was actually inspired by real-life footage taken from a forest not far from Vale itself, though sadly not the Emerald Forest itself- you know how cagey Beacon can be about it."

They don't, but they'll feel obligated to pretend they do to keep face, which is all you really need.

Well shit. Gabe, Weiss just got to talking with Okita. She thought she was your daughter at first, but she told her she's boning you.

"The exact reason for the sword in the stone is lost to the ages, of course," you say aloud, "going from a magical weapon awaiting its rightful wielder to a cursed one, sealed away to never awaken again..."

You are, of course, deliberately making the morons surrounding you come up with ideas themselves, mainly to buy a little time. Keep me updated on what happens and no matter what, don't let Okita try her aura-enhancements out.

"Oh, or it could have been a Geist! Perfidious kind of Grimm, I've heard, that can possess objects. They're supposed to be more common up in Atlas, but what if an ancient hero once fought one here in Vale, and left their sword in the creature's core?" Well, would you look at that, not entirely useless, the lot.

Don't worry, I think Okita is... convincing her?

"And here," you continue your presentation, "we have a furtive depiction of the Spring Maiden, taking a bath in the result of her mantle. Just a fairy tale, of course, but one I have taken a lot inspiration from... as well as a few less furtive pictures, if any of you fine gentlemen are interested."

Really, it's almost idiotically easy to get these perverts going by the slightest implication of naked tits, but hey, it's easy money for you.

Alright, just observe them for now, in that case.

And so it goes, with you blabbering a bit to increase the value of your artwork in the eyes of the small party of wealthy individuals you happened upon unpreparedly, the fucker whose house all of this is happening in not actually mentioning the occasion to you at any point beforehand, until you're waved over by one of the maids manning the mansion.

Holding up before going into depth about the fiery female silhouette that had all of the men around drooling for the last twenty minutes (ever since you got your naked maiden pictures out), you excuse yourself and leave them to it by themselves again, soon being sent further with the maid accompanying you.

I... I think they might be getting along? Somehow. Okita is telling a few stories about giant monsters she's killed and Weiss is humoring her, anyways.

Throwing your escort a raised eyebrow as she presses a button inside the elevator she led you to, you're happily surprised when you get out on what looks like a private floor, actually inhabited by someone and not usually open to strangers.

Case in point, the woman of the house and her teenaged daughter, standing there in nothing but an apron and literally stripping down, with an expectant and bratty look on their faces, respectively.

"Oh my, would you look at that," Jessica Blues says, twirling a strand of hair around a finger, "here we are, with entirely undecorated walls... If only an artist were nearby, with strong arms to help us redecorate..."

Looking around, you can literally see where she probably had the servants take the pictures off the walls.

"Mom, who do you think you're fooling?" The daughter asks, obviously already fed up in that way teenagers so often are. "We all know what this is."

"You don't have to be here if you don't want to, Marine," her mother chastises her.

"I'm just here to see if he's really as great a lay as you claim," the girl mutters under her breath.

"Well, luckily for you two ladies, I am both an artist and a good lay, so I may just be able to help both of you out," you say, putting on your best smile as you approach them.

I may be busy here a bit longer than expected, Sarah.

"YES! YES! PAINT ALL MY WALLS! INSIDE AND OOOUT!"

"See, I told you he was good."

And hey, if Marine over here ends up with her bedroom filled with new pictures all bearing the same signature, that's just a bonus, right?

Weiss was conflicted.

Now, to be clear, this wasn't a character flaw of hers, some of which she had and clearly acknowledged the existence of. No, Weiss Schnee, heir to the Schnee Dust Corporation and the Schnee name, was conflicted because for all that she was weighing her options, she couldn't think of whether to march out of this hotel room and whip a hotel boy into fixing the situation that led to her being inside it in the first place or just... lean back and relax.

The Livseys had been nothing but courteous and hospitable to her, even as her curiousity over their exact family dynamics burned in the back of her mind. Gabriel and his wife, Nora, looked like completely normal Valisians, even as his obvious Vacuoan heritage showed. But one of the daughters, Sarah, from what she'd overheard, looked to be more Atlesian in her ancestry, whereas Okita was obviously Mistralian, both in complexion and naming sense, and for some reason, they all seemed to have come to Vale from another kingdom.

But she couldn't just up and ask, which would be far too rude, and even subtle questions were hard, given they all seemed fairly busy- Nora was in the kitchen, preparing lunch for everyone despite how they could have just called room service, and Sarah was concentratedly looking at the CCT access point and Okita... Okita was sitting in one of the armchairs, reading something.

Good enough, or at least Weiss wouldn't come across as a bore.

"Excuse me, what might you be reading?" Weiss asked once she'd approached and cleared her throat for a moment.

"Ninjas of Love," came the nigh emotionless answer. "It's trash, but it's amusing trash."

"How so?" Weiss wondered aloud. "I'd heard it was a popular piece of literature here in Vale."

"It's bad smut," Okita clarified, Weiss reeling in shock at the blunt answer, "but Gabriel hates it for how bad it is, and that makes it funny."

"O-oh," she said. "I see. Is annoying your father the only reason you...?"

'Are reading porn right in the open', went unsaid.

Okita, on the other hand, just tilted her head at Weiss. "My father isn't around anymore," she said, immediately throwing the other girl into confusion.

"Th-then who is Gabriel to you?" She asked, scrambling to try and recover from the faux-pas and get this situation straight.

Visibly thinking about it, Okita just kept staring in Weiss' direction before just shrugging. "Dunno. He gives me headpats, sweets and cuties. And sex."

If Weiss had been drinking something at this moment, she would have been spraying it out of her nose like a swine. As it was, though, she was simply choking on nothing for a moment before recovering, the statement hitting her right as she was breathing in. "Excuse me?"

"Mhm. Gabe is very sexy. And fun. You should try it sometime." With that, Okita was looking back at her book, but there was no way Weiss could just leave that be.

Okita looked as young as herself! And she was sure Nora was his wife when she w-was... getting dressed after she interrupted her and Gabriel. "W-what about Nora then? I thought she was his wife!"

"Mhm." Thinking again just like before, Okita gave off another shrug after a few moments. "She might be. They're often very touchy-feely and want to have kids together."

"A-and what does that make you? Does she know about you and h-him?" Weiss could feel the heat spreading on her cheeks, but she needed to get to the bottom of this.

Okita looked confused. "I'm me. Who else would I be? And of course Nora knows, everyone does."

"Th-then who is Sarah to Gabriel?" Weiss was getting an inkling of how to talk to Okita, all she needed to do was formulate her questions correctly so she would realize what she meant.

"She's his sister. She also has sex with him." From the corner of her eyes, Weiss could see the girl give off a soundless sigh before continuing to type away.

S-such... such degeneracy! Absolute depravity!

"Nothing strange about that," Okita's voice brought Weiss out of her funk, "Gabriel has sex with a lot of people. He's very good at it. Also at making cuties."

"What are... cuties?" She asked, feeling like the question was warranted at this point, given the obvious term had been brought up more than once.

"They're cute things he makes that move around," Okita answered without giving her the answer. The dark-haired girl obviously thought it was obvious.

Maybe Gabriel had a semblance that let him create cute things? "Do any of you have aura?"

"Everyone here," Okita nodded.

Weiss' thoughts were running in circles, trying to understand the exact implications of everything Okita had told her, but the Mistralian girl's news were far from running out.

"He also had two sisters over a few days ago, and one of them posed for him. She showed him everything down there, too." Unbelievable. Was he planning to do that to Weiss, too?

More, was Weiss seriously considering this?

On the one hand, this was obviously a den of perverts and deviants, Gabriel a disgusting womanizer using his admittedly impressive charms (she still remembered the expanse of well-featured muscles she'd been confronted by when he'd opened the door) to sleep with every woman that crossed his path, and Weiss had crossed his path.

On the other hand, her father would be apoplectic if he ever found out. And the thought of having to hide her affair long enough to ensure she would inherit the family company had certain parts of her anatomy dampen...

"Here, want to read?" Okita interrupted her train of thought, pushing a copy of the book she had been reading into Weiss' hands. "You didn't have anything else to do, and reading is fun," she explained at Weiss confused look.

Well. She wasn't wrong.

As you return to the hotel, one pocket full with fairly used panties and the other with pieces of paper with hastily scribbled scroll numbers on them, marked with lipstick marks and oftentimes a little crumbled up and slash or somewhat dirtied with unidentifiable liquids, you nod to yourself.

A good catch, all in all. Oh, and of course a bunch of business cards in your chest pockets, with invitations for various social events along for the ride.

You aren't really sure how many of those you will attend, if any, but it's nice to have the option, anyways. And so you come 'home', only to be beset by an indulgently 'angry' Sarah.

"Gabe! I let you out of the house for a few minutes and you literally make ten million lien with what amounts to a few hours' work! What do you have to say for yourself?!"

"It looked like a good idea at the time?" Is your first reaction, laughingly receiving her playful punches to your stomach as she launches herself at you.

Looking beyond her, you take in the sight of Weiss sitting sideways in one of the armchairs, this time in casual clothing, looking up from where she was reading a book and blushing at the sight of you.

"... Hello Gabriel," she greets you. "Welcome home,"

"Ah, I'm back, I'm back. Anything new happen while I was gone?" You know she talked with Okita, of course, but no actual details.

"Yes, Ninjas of Love is complete trash," Weiss informs you with a small frown. You, of course, immediately have to repress the urge to give her a hug for having good taste. "The writing is not bad as such, but rather dry overall, with an overreliance on narrative over character-centric storytelling. It doesn't show, it tells. Also, the... smut scenes," she gets a little red in the face as she says this, but soldiers on, "are repetitive and formulaic in parts. Dressed up differently, but the variety is only that, dress-up. At least half of those scenes could have all character names exchanged without any noticeable difference."

"Aww, she's just like you, Gabe," Sarah says, grinning at Weiss. "The exact same problems with the stupid book, too."

"As I told you, it isn't that the writing itself is offensive, it is the fact that enough people actually seem to like it that it became a bestseller in Vale," you repeat one of your earlier points.

"Exactly! These... phillistines wouldn't recognize good writing if it punched them in the face!"

You can't hold it anymore at this point. Hurrying over to her side, you take Weiss' hands in yours, using the resulting free hand to keep her book open where she had it, much to her yelping confusion. "Alright, that makes it official, I'm keeping you."

Blinking, Weiss snorts. "What, planning to put me in your basement dungeon already?"

"I don't know, would you like me to?" You are interrupted from your moment-having with Weiss, however, when Okita approaches you from the side, stretching out her head for her daily dose of headpats.

Giving Weiss a thumbs up, too, for some reason, causing the short girl to take a deep breath before opening eyes she kept closed for a moment. "Gabriel. Is that offer for another picture still open?"

"Of course, just let me get my supplies."

"Take your time. I will need to change first."

Huh. So that was what Sarah meant earlier...

Well then, Weiss is changing, which means she will most likely be stripping down, rather than up, considering the look on her face, to let you draw her. And honestly?

That's pretty cute. Cute enough for you to pull out all the stops... literally.

So when you take a step back to let Weiss get up, something happens. A part, a chunk of your aura, as you have come to associate with this feeling, comes off as you can feel yourself pulling, drawing out a part of the expression of your soul and kneading it, forming it.

You're confused for a split second, but, noticing that you have to act fast, begin to work. What do you need, what are you making?

Something to assist Weiss in undressing, something to assist you in drawing her... A maid, you decide, with a flexible, specialized body and enough limbs to be a noted improvement over skilled human maids, and a small, but dextruous form, with fitting abilities...

Before you know it, a figure dressed in an approximation of a maid uniform has come to stand next to you, bowing before Weiss as its entire body twitches in different directions.

"Come, Mistress, this lowly maid has been tasked with assisting you," the slimy maid announces in a deeply feminine voice, bowing at the waist in an almost perturbing manner, that is to say, without giving a fuck about how an actualy human body would move, simply squishing her middle part to slowly flop over forwards.

Meaning, Weiss is looking just a tad queasy right now.

"Oh pooh, you aren't supposed to come on so strong! You aren't as cute as me!" This voice, on the other hand, is high and squeaky, the little creature flitting about behind the maid almost immediately picking up one of your brushes that soon starts almost dripping color the same shade as her pink hair, the fairy the size of your hand looking upbeat and almost aggressively happy.

"Ara ara, younger sisters shouldn't seek to undermine their elders," the maid says, nudging Weiss forwards with a handful of tentacles protruding from under what you're pretty sure isn't actually a dress.

"I was created first, I'm the elder sister here!"

"We were created at the same time and my purpose was to be fulfilled first, making me the elder sister."

"Nuooh! I am smaller, so I finished forming a macrosecond before you! I'm older!"

"Ignore them," you throw in, pretending this is all completely normal. "If someone doesn't nudge them on, they'll keep on going like this forever. Go on, change into whatever you're comfortable with."

The next moment, of course, you have to telepathically explain to Sarah exactly how you just pulled two monstrous girls out your ass.

Once you've appeased Sarah a bit (that is to say, she isn't intent on finding God just so he can punch him in the face for what he did to you, whatever that means) and talked to your fairy a little, you feel ready to once again face Weiss.

Which, as it happens, is a good thing, given the state of dress she chose to come back into the living room in.

Or state of undress, rather, wearing only a pair of comfortable shoes, one pair of red ruby earrings, a black choker and equally black jacket.

And nothing else.

"So, uhm... here I am," is what she says, Sarah just rubbing her brow even as Okita nods approvingly before sidling up to the slime maid you produced earlier, the aura-creation having followed Weiss back.

Poking the clothing and receiving a satisfying amount of give before her finger pushes right through them and into her body, she gives off a satisfied nod this time. "Squishy. And cute."

"Thank you, Mistress," the slimy maid says, her tentacles beginning to adjust Okita's clothing and, you're fairly sure, absorbing any dirt and dust they can find.

Instinctual awareness of your creation's capabilities? Subconscious realization of what exactly it was you did? Doesn't matter.

"Okita said the last girl you had around showed you everything, so... here I am," is all Weiss says by way of explanation as she turns a but, letting you admire her nearly naked body from different angles. "What do you think?"

"I think you're looking lovely, almost too good not to ravish on the spot," you smirk at her. "Too bad my heart is set on drawing you instead."

Weiss just takes the statement as it is, her blush only lasting for a moment. "So... these two are your semblance?"

"Indeed they are. I can use aura to create all kinds of minions, though they degrade when not supplied with more aura regularly, else I'd just have a dozen of them out all the time," you say almost shyly, as though embarrassed about your semblance's failings.

"This is still highly impressive. My own semblance should be able to do something similar, though I cannot use it in that manner yet," Weiss primly informs you.

"Oh, right, the infamous Schnee semblance, isn't it?" At her look, you give her a chuckle while repositioning behind your stand. "Don't be too surprised, you did introduce yourself with your full name, after all. I didn't know your semblance could actually summon minions, too, though; with just how many things it can do, it's quite overpowered, isn't it?"

"Not at all," Weiss disagrees. "Though the Schnee family semblance is capable of a wide range of feats, it also requires great discipline and effort to master any of them."

"Fair enough, if it was easy to master a semblance, people wouldn't struggle with it in general, after all," you agree while widening the statement without making her sound arrogant. Or rather, pointing out the way she just sounded. "Alright then, if my lovely little assistant would please begin..."

"Sir, yes, sir!" The paint fairy salutes you before flying over to bring you a paintbrush already wet with the color you wanted. She really is quite convenient.

What follows is a stretch of time you concentrate on simply recreating Weiss' current appearance on canvas, not even particularly adding anything to spice it up. As you freely tell her, she is plentifully aesthetically pleasing as is.

Her blush at the compliment is more than enough reason to actually go through the effort of telling her, of course.

You briefly play with the thought of asking her to pose a little, figuring you could use a little more 'inspiration' in terms of having her play with her breasts or something, but decide otherwise in the end. While plaiyng with Weiss like that would be fun for all involved, you want to see how long she can comfortably pose as is, even if you don't actually need her to, having the whole perfect recollection thing going on.

Actually telling her about it will be hilarious down the line.

The girls actually do chat as you work, of course, Okita saying a handful of full sentences, which is unusual for her, and Sarah actually making an effort to be nice to her, plus Nora actually cooking and all, leading to a short break when you indicate you can live with one, having completed the 'rough outlines' already.

The meal consisting of the local equivalent of potatoes with vegetables and meat is actually pretty good, Nora showing off her skills as a bona-fide housewife and everyone having their fill together, even if exactly two out of five people involved actually need to eat people food instead of people.

Once you're all done (and Weiss seems to be developing a complex about your little 'family'), you get right back to it, finally signing the finished piece with your by now usual signature before turning it around for her to see, Weiss only now realizing just how naked she was this entire time.

"Like what you see? Because I do." You can never help yourself; she's just being too cute about this! Really, you absolutely have to keep her at this point, even if Sarah hadn't told you to.

"Only question," you say as Weiss is shyly resisting the urge to cover herself with her hands, "is what to do with this now."

Gently stroking a pair of fingers along the painting, you anticipate Weiss' reaction. "W-wait! What do you plan to do with this?!"

"Well, there's a few things I could think of," you ponder. "For one, I could keep it, make sure you can always pay me company that way... Or I could gift it to someone, I'm sure many people would love to have an image of you like this close at hand."

With Wiess blushing up a storm, you go in for the kill. "Ooor... I could give it to you, as a memento of how eagerly you showed off to get it made, so you can always remember how you're feeling right now every time you look at it, if you want."

Looking deep in her eyes, you smile. "It's alright. I'll still love you even if you're such a dirty girl."

It takes a lot of protestations, blushing, wildly waving arms and Okita patting her back, but eventually, Weiss ends up taking possession of the picture of herself posing almost naked with her arms up in the air.

As it turns out, having connections really does pay off, as is the case in your current situation; not only has the bunch of rich people whose wives and daughters you've spent half the day screwing paid you humongous amounts of money for the artwork you've thrown together in literally a long afternoon, they also seem to have accepted you as one of their own, as the message displayed on your scroll proves.

"So, it looks like there's a mansion for sale near the center of town," you announce to everyone, Weiss having put on actual clothes again by now, much to your immeasurable disappointment. "One of the people I talked to earlier while selling off art notified me because he remembered me mentioning we were moving to Vale and staying here for the moment, so he got to talking with the realtors and got them to push the price to about half the asking amount, just 2 million and a few lien. You guys think we should take it?"

Sarah gapes at you. "How? You only met all of them today! How did something like this happen this quickly?"

"I dunno, the Greens were pretty nice? All I remember is that the guy has two daughters."

"Never mind, forget I asked," Sarah mumbles as she facepalms as though in slow motion. "Should've just become a professional artist from the start."

"Having our own home would be nice," Nora shrugs. "I am not about to pretend we absolutely need to, but I see no reason not to agree to the offer, especially with the money you made."

Okita doesn't care about the conversation. She is busy staring at the slice of cake you got her.

"One moment, please," Weiss primly asks. "How much do Gabriel's pieces usually sell for?"

You take a moment to think. "Well, when only considering what I sold in Vale... And I suppose the ones with vaguely feminine influences selling higher on average... If you talked to the right people or got a proper auction going, you could probably get a couple million lien from the naked picture of yourself by now, once my signature has made the rounds. Rough guesstimate."

Weiss freezes for a second, then deflates. "You're probably right, that is about the usual price for the pieces we have back home. Hard to believe that kind of picture of myself is in that range, though..."

"Oh, don't sweat it. Now let's look up this mansion together for a bit, see if it's what we want."

The mansion itself, once you enter it in person, is about what you expected from the pictures you could view via scroll, a well-kept front 'garden' and obviously properly maintained building from the outside.

The color actually vaguely reminds you of the Lord Street Crypts' gang colors, which does immediately increase the likelihood of you taking it.

The insides are, as you'd expect, a bit dusty here and there, but nothing particularly big as far as that goes; a quickly-summoned pair of slime maids promised they would take care of that in short order, saluting so hard their hands splash through their heads.

Because suffice to say, you are totally taking it. The 'backyard' alone is big enough to house a small public park, for fuck's sake.

Sarah, for her part, is at least appreciative of living like a rich person. Weiss, who also came along, insisted you personally inspect all the important rooms while waiting for your luggage, mentioning something about making sure the realtors have to pay for any unexpected repairs that need to be done around the house.

Apparently, she has opinions about people dealing in real estate. Not that you're giving her time to really get into a frenzy about it, though, or do you mention you don't actually have luggage.

"While we're at it, we may as well pick out rooms. Dibs on the master bedroom, by the way," you say as you lead the explorative party of yourself, Weiss and Okita forwards, Sarah having stayed behind to get her 'CCT Access Terminal' working, the technology nearly omnipresent in the better parts of town, while Nora immediately launched into making sure to order enough food to feed everyone for weeks, keeping the two of them occupied.

"Mhm." Okita, as always, has no particular opinions on boring matters.

"Oh, I wouldn't want to impose," Weiss begins, only to be confronted by a smiling Gabriel to the face, yourself turning around to properly look in her eyes.

"Oh, did you expect getting away from me would be this easy? Because I'm sorry to disappoint, but you're getting a room in our mansion, and you will stay in it until Beacon begins and you have to live in their dorms instead," you state, having actually researched more about the local academy by now. "And I expect you to regularly come visit and spend the weekends even then, are we clear?"

"Y, yes," Weiss says, fidgeting a little. You're not sure why exactly, but she's just extremely cute like that.

"Now let's keep exploring. Oh, and do keep in mind I'll probably take at least part of the basement up for a bunch of chemicals needed for my art, so it'll probably be off limits in a while. Now's the best chance to take a look around."

It is as you're getting settled into the mansion, organizing a list of things you'll need to buy as opposed to things you could just as well create yourself with a few delivered raw materials thanks to the ability to just summon up a manufactory... though you'll have to look into manufactoring a real one itself at some point, just so you don't have to do so every time someone needs something made from scratch.

Unfortunately, being a slightly eccentric artist can only excuse so many conspicuous purchases, so you won't be able to do it in an afternoon or so. Though on the bright side, at least you can disguise the purchase of half a ton of steel as something an artist would do, somehow.

You just aren't going to question it.

However, just as you're taking up your scroll to see about browsing for various rare earths and how to get a decent amount of glassware, you receive a telepathic message from Sarah.

Uhm, Gabe? There's a bunch of people entering the premises right now, so unless you ordered something...?

You, of course, immediately cast out your senses, not taking long to find the blood signatures moving around in your figurative park of a backyard, on course for the mansion itself.

Nope, if it was delivery, it wouldn't come from that direction. One moment.

Twenty of them, trying to be sneaky about approaching. Guess we can stop drinking yuckblood after all, you send towards Sarah. Would you mind looking after Weiss while me and Okita go round up some food for Nora?

Can do, can do. You make sure not to underestimate them, they might have aura.

I'm ready to bet they do, just because. We didn't get this far by having good luck like these morons coming underprepared like that.

And with that, you're off, already calling on Okita and planning out how you want this confrontation to go. Actually, while you're at it, may as well come up with a minion to make capturing them easier- keeping them alive as you work is always such a bother...

It is with Okita and two scantily-clad summoned minions that come with some chains already summoned in tow that you emerge from the mansion's backside, ready to go and see what this is about, by which you mean, in all likelihood, beat up a bunch of bitches so you can feed them to Nora.

"You can stop hiding," you exclaim, unimpressed with the way these home invader wannabes immediately froze when they saw you come out. "We know you're here."

"Oh, but master," one of your summoned minions says sultrily, leaning onto your shoulder, "perhaps they are waiting for us to come make them... come out..." This bondage demon idea was obviously a good one, after all.

A few movements in the dark of the evening, the shrubbery nearby being traversed, and before you know it, a group of these idiots you had your eyes on this whole time emerges, actually wearing identical, white uniforms, with masks covering their faces except for their mouths and chins, with half of them having their arms uncovered.

"Where's the Schnee girl? You tell us and fuck off, you don't need to taste bullets," one of them says, pointing a rifle of some sort at you.

"Yeah, nah, better idea. You throw down your weapons and I'll let you keep all your limbs when I throw you into my dungeon." And that's no simple joke, parts of the basement obviously used to be an actual dungeon at some point; you don't think Weiss noticed what the metallics stubs in the ground and ceiling were, but you obviously have an easier time picking such things up.

"Well, fuck you too, asshole," your interlocutor says. "Eyes up, motherfucker!"

On the one hand, you want to immediately call his bluff. on the other hand, you can actually see blood signatures up there...

Trusting Okita to murder anyone trying to get past you, you take a quick look upwards, seeing, well... enemy reinforcements. In a flying machine of some sort, probably powered by dust.

The fuckers jump down without a second thought, the one guy dressed entirely in black approaching closer. "Wouldn't you know it, guess we get to kill a bunch of humans today, after all."

Next thing you know, the fight has started.

The masked guys begin to scatter, moving around in all directions. Bullets fly, but predominantl at you, which means you can ignore them easily enough for the time being.

The twin Chain Demons you summoned before the fight began swing the chains you summoned them with, creating more length for the same as they meet this activity with a nearly solid mass of metal, both starting outwards and letting their segmented 'weapons' move inwards towards the group of hostiles, leaving most of them entirely incapable of moving as their limbs are tied to their bodies, only held in place by the momentum of the chains winding around them like snakes as more of them are created.

Two of them, even, manage to reach out for their comrades, managing to pull them to the ground with them as they attempt to jump clear of this wide-ranging attack, soon to be buried under links of iron as well.

Only three of these guys are luckily or skilled enough to steer clear of your alpha strike, the better dressed one among them. That said, Okita seems to have her own thoughts, gesturing towards one of the white ones you'll go ahead and just consider mooks at this point, using her telekinesis to pull him towards herself, only to let go of the flailing body and catch it by a leg with her actual hands when it arrives near herself, immediately swinging it around to hit the other still standing mook with a satisfying crunch.

Redhead guy, on the other hand, seems less pleased by these developments than yourself. "Tch." Getting into a stance, you have mere moments to decide on a course of action as he begins to draw his sword, its path set to go right through you!

Leaving him to do what he wants for a moment, you just point at his sword, perfectly happy to take a hit to take it from him.

"Freeze!" As you cast, feeling your spell take effect on his sword, it just barely clears the scabbard, hacking into your side, only to be repelled as though by a forcefield of some ki-

Ah, right. Aura. You actually expected to need to heal there for a moment.

Still, Reddie drop his sword with a hissed curse, his scabbard following suit shortly thereafter as the intense cold of your spell spreads through it, making it a bad idea to hold onto it.

He takes a moment to take in the situation... before turning around. "You will pay for this!" Is all he says as he starts running, obviously having trained the use of his aura as the lightning-quick traversal of the forest-like undergrowth shows.

Okita has finished with the other two by this point, both still just barely alive, while your Chain Demons don't look like they can do anything else before popping- just one of those feelings, likely part of your semblance. If you want to catch him, now's your only chance!

Unfortunately for the obvious criminal, you do have a few tricks up your sleeve, such as, for example, superspeed.

Admittedly limited, yes, but it's more than enough to traverse the undergrowth in the blink of an eye and catch up to this motherfucker in a flash of teeth and sparking claws.

"Oh? You think you can run?"

Unfortunately, the former are met with your target's aura, the feeling of being repelled as though by a red-ish forcefield weird as your unhinged jaw clamps around his shoulder, but the latter, at least, can score some powerful rends on his back that, while not debilitating due to his protection, should at least have done some very serious damage, having torn out a good bit of it.

It's just hard to judge, really.

Grunting, your opponent attempts to pull his shoulder out of your maw, but can't quite manage to- it isn't an exaggeration to say that, with your inherent vampiric strength combined with the tonics you're using and the enhancements your aura is endowing you with, you are pretty fucking damn strong.

You never actually tested it, but you're fairly sure you could throw cars around as throwing weapons at this point. At least smaller ones.

"Fucking monster, let go!" Unfortunately, your foe isn't content to sit back and be eaten, instead pulling out a small device of some kind and pressing a button of some kind, simultaneously rearing the hand he is doing so with back.

While that is going on, the helicopter analogue comes circling back around, presumably moving into position to open fire in your direction somehow, even as Okita approaches, having broken a branch off of a nearby tree using telekinesis, likely to use as a replacement for a proper sword.

Well, it's pretty obvious what this guy is trying to do, but unfortunately, while you don't want to be hit by whatever explosive he's trying to push between the two of you, you also don't want to let go of him.

So you need another plan. While you're fairly sure you could weather whatever it is, being insanely hard to kill in general by this point, there's no reason you can't sidestep the issue entirely, such as by, say, timing a telekinetic grab for the exact moment your opponent tries to jam his grenade under your shirt, letting you slip it right out of his hand and floating it to your side for a long moment, the beeping little apparatus held in the air only by your outstretched hand.

If you could, you would be giving this guy the smuggest, most insufferable smile you can as you aim the following push, but as it is, you can still the way he's biting his teeth as the thing blows up, hitting right through the opened doors of the flying machine and forcing the one single blood signature you can see up there to get out before it blows up.

Wait a second... you didn't generate those clouds blocking the sun right now, and on a closer look, those don't exactly look like actual clouds, they're moving a little weird, with the wrong tone of black...

The helicopter knockoff doesn't quite explode into pieces, but the sheer amount of fire spewing out of its sides does convince you it was a good idea to avoid getting blown up the way you did. That said, you still have to deal with the guy who you've been wrangling with all this time, who is glancing over his other shoulder at where Okita is currently approaching.

"Tch."

He draws what looks a lot like some kind of holdout knife from under his coat, though it's more a short sword than anything else, and for a moment you give him a mocking look. Is he seriously going to try to actually fight back now?

But no, it turns out he can actually deactivate his aura for parts of his body, as evidenced ny him ramming his secondary weapon into his own shoulder just a bit above where you're still trying to get at him, simultaneously wrenching the rest of his body away from it and actually tearing it off.

The fucker doesn't so much as utter a single peep while doing that, which is... impressive?

For a mortal, at least.

As your jaws finally close around the arm now securely held in your mouth, a good chunk of flesh simply shorn through as you hit bone in short order, the dude is already running, minimizing his blood loss somehow (probably aura bullshit). Less amusingly, however, is teh fact that what you can now clearly recognize as a huge cloud of ash all over your mansion and its surroundings starting to lower.

You have no idea whether it is meant to do that or not, but unless you act fast, the mansion is going to be absolutely fucking covered, if not worse.

Alright, time to do this. Concentrating for a moment, you pull on the blood still slowly seeping from your fleeing opponent's stump, turning it into spikes that painfully dig right into the flesh surrounding it.

Simultaneously, you summon three souls to deal with this situation as you begin running after your meal-on-legs, giving out orders to everyone invloved at the speed of thought.

Stormtiger and Yoshi are to move the ash away from your mansion as much as they can and use any suitable materials to create covers for the mansion, even as Jay is already summoning a pillar made of spectral fire, a pair of chains emerging from it to wrap around the fucker's arms.

Okita, on the other hand, is to teleport after whoever it was that fell out of the sky, and brutally murder them if possible. Meanwhile, Sarah and Nora you task with looking after Weiss while they make sure the mansion doesn't burn down or anything.

You aren't about to let your prey escape, however.

He keeps running for as long as he can, but in the end, he can't quite escape the painfire, his legs betraying him as he topples over mid-run. He attempts to keep on crawling, but he isn't using his aura-enhanced speeds anymore, letting you catch up easily and even send some weak winds over in the direction your other minions are working on that whole ash cloud thing.

Arriving near the masked criminal, you look down on him for a moment, taking in his crumpled form and almost pitiful appearance... except you don't really do pity anymore, these days, what with your whole vampiric sociopathy shtick.

So instead you position yourself and kick him in the head from above, trampling his face into the ground. "You-" thud "-little-" thud "-shit-" thud "-maggots! I just fucking got this mansion, and you decide to create a giant cloud of dust over it? Just for that I'm going to make fucking sure all your maskturbation buddies are getting eaten, too."

Not really getting anywhere through the aura, you pull the unresisting asshole in black up, looking him in the face as you begin bashing your free claws into him.

"It doesn't... burn... that bad!" He chokes out, a crooked smirk on his face as his mask starts sliding down his face, his entirely body rattled with spasms at the contact with painfire.

"It's doing the job, asshat!" You counter.

"No, no!" He says, now full-on grinning. "It burnt worse when they branded my face! You're nothing compared to what I went through! Nothing!"

"Glad to hear that, buddy," you mumble, finally ripping through his aura. "Any last words before you go down the hatch?"

It's fairly obvious at this point this is just some deranged guy with aura, though you should've expected that when his first reaction to not getting away was trying to blow everything up.

And as you open your maw wide, your teeth numerous and pointy, he just keeps on chuckling despite the pain. "I'm going to kick you on the way down and hope you choke on it."

"Eh, many, many have tried. Still, you're welcome to try."And with that, you latch onto his neck, taking a deep bite and drinking down whom you soon discover to be Adam Taurus.

Adam Taurus was, once upon a time, a simple worker of the Schnee Dust Company, one of many faunus 'employed' by the multi-kingdom corporation, but was branded on his face with the company's logo when he protested its cruel treatment of faunus, beginning his long decline into a spiteful crusade for vengeance against humanity.

Initially finding a home in the White Fang, Adam did not immediately launch into murdering humans, who he all painted with the same brush, but having to kill the first of them to protect a certain Ghira, he did not take long to become extremely callous about humanity, only caring whether his fellow faunus would be affected by his actions.

Feeling completely justified in his approach to human lives, Adam lead the White Fang, who soon imitated his act of wearing masks (though his served to hide the burn marks on his face) in Vale, steadily becoming more and more ruthless and sadistic. He was embittered by the fact his long-time student and girlfriend, Blake Belladonna, left him over what he saw as completely acceptable treatment of human lives, that of killing people as a pleasant side effect of their actions, eventually coming to resent her over this.

When Cinder Fall approached him with an offer to cooperate, he initially refused, stating that his people wouldn't die for a human cause, but on their second meeting, the offer being adjusted by dust, lien and a death threat by a suddenly much more powerful Cinder, Adam hesitantly agreed... but only after haggling a little.

Weiss Schnee had been sighted in Vale, according to some rumours, so the deal was thus; Cinder would aid the White Fang in first finding her if she was indeed in Vale, then in abducting or killing the heiress of the Schnee Dust Company, and in exchange the local White Fang would follow her orders.

Joke was on them, though. Poking the sleeping Grimm and all that.

Unfortunately, despite having just finally eaten a local whose memories you could thumb through so as to really get a feel for places other than Vale, as well as a more comprehensive overview of cultural and social norms beyond the obvious to exploit, you do, of course, end up being even busier than ever before in this dimension.

What with the fiery explosion in the sky, the sounds of fighting that may or may not have been heard from afar and, of course, the huge load of what you now know for sure to be some kind of intercontinental terrorists still writhing in the dirt, wrapped in chains as they are.

And, of course, the enormous cloud of dust towering in the sky, slowly drifting away from your mansion. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem as though your efforts to move it so far have been entirely fruitful; while a significant amount of it has been blown off your property, a still not insignificant amount is also slowly starting to settle on your mansion and the surrounding area. The rooftop swimming pool has to be an absolute disaster right now

Still, while you would like to see about figuring out a way to fix this, you have to prioritize other parts of the after-battle cleanup, such as having the Chain Demons drag the pile of incapacitated members of an international terrorist organization- yes, you have been interrogating Adam a little while you were busy- inside the mansion, to be divided between the ones you're feeding to Nora and the ones you'll be keeping inside the basement (Nolac is rubbing their hands when you summon them, not needing to keep Jay out by this point).

You're mostly keeping the chicks, of course, but that's more a question of aesthetics than anything else.

Beyond that, you have to keep an eye on the crashed ruins of the bullhead, as you now know they're called, so it doesn't spontaneously start a fire in your backyard, and, of course, go have a talk with the authorities.

Which, in this case, is a blonde chick with glasses and wearing some kind of (likely fetish) uniform, giving off secretery or librarian vibes.

"Hello, I am Glynda Goodwitch. I am here to respond to reports about fighting going on in your... backyard," her lips twitch just the slightest amount, nigh invisible without your enhance senses, "but as there did not seem to be any activity by this point, I decided to just ring the bell instead. May you inform me of what happened for the official records?"

"Of course, of course, who would ever deny a woman such as yourself?" You allow, putting on your best 'charming artist' smile.

This woman, as you find out with a quick check-in with Adam, who you're currently forcing to sit inside one of the library's side rooms as you keep contacting him for information, can be confirmed through the monitor nearby him to be one Glynda Goodwitch, retired huntress and vice-headmistress of Beacon itself.

She, along with most of the other teachers, apparently respond to emergencies and crimes within Vale itself as circumstances allow, making keeping track of them important for, y'know, terrorists and robbers, both descriptions that fittingly describe Adam's crowd.

"If you insist, but flattery will get you nowhere," the middle-aged woman responds, her eyes taking on an approving shimmer.

"If not flattery, what will it take?" You wonder aloud. "But you aren't here to listen to me prattle, yes? Please, come inside, we can get to the backyard the easiest through here."

Leading Miss Goodwitch through the mansion, you keep on talking, of course. "You just wouldn't believe my luck. I just got this brand new mansion and on the same day, as I plan to just relax and enjoy having done so, home invaders show up and vandalize it. You may have seen," you gesture upwards, "but they even left that enormous cloud of ash behind when I chased them off, and now it's completely covering everything I didn't get covered in time. It's a travesty, I tell you, normally I would invite you to stay up on the roof a while, have some fun in the pool, but as it is, we can't very well do so," you half-joke, half-suggest.

"A shame, indeed," Glynda agrees. "Perhaps I will have to come back another time, then. Still, could you tell me more about these 'home invaders'?"

"Oh, those were the White Fang," you shrug, opening the door to show her the 'garden' behind the mansion, as well as the bodies with the giant bite marks Nora left... as well as yourself, Adam's body dragged towards the rest that you had the Chain Demons drag out again once Nora was done with them. "Don't mind the bites, by the way, they're like this due to my semblance."

Hey, you're totally telling the truth, here. She shouldn't mind it and they're arranged as they are because of your semblance dragging them around.

"I see," Glynda says. "Would that one happen to be Adam Taurus?"

Pointing at the corpse you propped up on his friends, the mask having dropped down to his chin as you carried him back towards the mansion and showing off the unprofessional brand decorating it, she has you nod. "He might be, we didn't exactly stop to exchange names. In order, several of them approached the mansion, only to be confronted by me and a... bodyguard of mine, shall we say, demanding to know where Weiss Schnee is. I objected, of course, and a bullhead flew by overhead, dropping their reinforcements including this gentleman."

"So you fought them," Glynda concludes with a nod.

"Oh, I wouldn't exactly call it a fight," you clarify. "I used my semblance to take most of them out first things first, only presumable Adam here and two of his 'friends' managed to evade it. My assistant took care of both of them while I pursued Adam, the two of us fought a bit further into the woods before I managed to defeat him. His weapon is over there,"you point out, "and the bulkhead got destroyed when he tried to throw explosives at me, but I caught them and threw them right at it."

"What might your semblance be, if I may ask, Mister Livsey? No offense, but it does seem unusual for any single person to be able to defeat so many armed fighters in addition to such a dangerous individual as Adam Taurus," Glynda asks.

"Not at all, I don't mind. Simply put, my semblance allows me to create minions out of aura that have any forms and abilities I care to imagine them with. Rather fitting for an artist, if nothing else," you quietly chuckle. "Unfortunately, it does consume a lot of aura, and I haven't exactly recovered from the fight yet, else I would offer to demonstrate."

"Another time then, maybe at that pool you mentioned," Glynda jokes a little, her mouth doing that very small quirk again. "You said the White Fang were looking for Weiss Schnee? Why would they come here about that?"

"Oh, most likely because she's in the mansion," you explain, Glynda's eyebrows rising a little. "We met her at the hotel we stayed in when we first came to Vale, you see, and just had to take her along. Nice girl, a bit rough around the edges, and entirely too lonely for her own good. You didn't get this from me," you whisper, "but she really needed a friendly environment; I get the feeling she is far from used to being surrounded by anyone that wants her best. Genuinely, anyways."

"I... see. Given the young lady in question will be attending Beacon in the coming weeks, I will certainly ensure she will be nurtured appropriately. What about this 'assistant' of yours, could I speak to them, too?"

"Oh, she is quite busy chasing after the one White Fang member that escaped from the bullhead when I blew it up. She will likely just patrol the area a few times to make sure before returning, though I don't have particularly high hopes they stuck around any longer than necessary."

Speaking of which... You really should check up on Okita.

Cinder held her breath, keeping her back to the tree she was hiding behind. The monster following her might have lost her, but it'd proven to be distressingly hard to shake.

Breathing in, she ducked, the tree behind her exploding around the height of her chest. This wasn't the first time this happened, but she desperately wished it would stop happening.

When she'd first crashed, Cinder had been furious; unleashing her rightful power on the fools standing in her way towards suborning the White Fangs for the sake of her plans in Vale, only to be hit in the head by a rapidly beeping bomb Adam just had to go and lose had been humiliating, especially as she had to jump into the small garden behind the mansion she was about to burn to the ground to avoid the explosion.

Despite her semblance conveying her a measure of resistance to heat and flames, being inside a crashing bullhead would have almost assuredly broken her aura on impact. As it was, she had been deliberating between going to save Adam and see if the fool would be grateful enough to keep his side of the deal or simply evacuating and waiting for news as she cowed the rest of his men into obedience when it came.

Appearing without a sound, Cinder had initially assumed the Mistralian girl to be a teleporter of some kind, preparing for a tricky fight as she waited for her to run out of aura, only to just barely avoid a tree branch of all things swung towards her with enough force to shatter it along with the nearby tree it hit instead, the horrid creature simply gesturing for a nearby young tree, tearing it out of the ground with invisible hands as it took a stance.

Cinder tried heating up the ground around herself, turning it into molten glass in an effort to keep it at bay, only for the teleportation trick to be repeated, the tree smashing her aside and completely depleting her aura in one hit.

Being thrown into the unkept gardens, Cinder ran as soon as she found herself on her feet again. Her Magic would take time to use as she had been interrupted while taking it for herself, and that thing was simply too strong and too fast with its teleportation.

Unfortunately, it didn't let her.

"There you are." Every time it spoke, it was completely without emotion, as though it were an Atlesian robot rather than the person it was imitating. Rolling out of the way with what little aura Cinder had been able to regain after that first hit, she kept on moving through the garden, putting as many obstacles as she could between the thing chasing her and herself as she could.

Breathing heavily, she tried to find her orientation again. Time after time, the creature teleported to catch up with her, swinging the improvised 'weapon' around in wild abandon. It was only thanks to her speed and strength that she'd been able to avoid-

"ARRRGH!" Jumping away too late at the latest surprise attack, Cinder's aura broke again, a quick follow-up teleport she couldn't react to in time leading to a second smash that broke her arm as it crushed all the fingers in her left hand, rough wood crunching soft flesh.

Worse, she could feel that strange feeling again, as though her blood was- her blood actually was moving strangely, places where bones penetrated skin surrounded by small spirals of red that immediately started cutting back into her, even as her left eye started twitching.

The last thing it saw was the blank face of the creature before it exploded.

Biting down on her scream, Cinder disappeared behind the next tree's trunk again, breaking sight lines. The spreading itch stopped, her heart beating widly. What the hell was that thing?

Swallowing heavily, she realized she had the tangy taste of iron on her tongue. Glancing down, she realized she had to have broken a rib, the sharp bone lightly piercing something important.

As soon as she was out of this place, she would slowly cook the imbeciles that gave out information on the Schnee's location after she had Mercury rough them up.

Speaking of which, Cinder used her uninjured arm to pull out her scroll, glancing at the newest messages as she determinedly stumbled through unkempt pathways, cutting into undergrowth again. How much longer did she-

"Stop running," was all the warning she got as the young tree whistled through the air again, drops of blood and splintered bark flying through the air.

Throwing herself into the nearest cluster of bushes, Cinder kept retreating on her hand and knees, breathing out hard instead of screaming as her wounds were dragged through thorny filth.

The White Fang was going to pay for this, and if it was the last thing she did. Adam and his moronic crusade...

A few more close brushes with death that anyone but Cinder would surely have died to later, she finally glimpsed her salvation.

"There you are. This is boring." With reverberating crunching sounds, her torturer began hacking into all nearby trees, fibers of wood spraying out in all directions as Cinder almost dispassionately fell into Emerald's arms.

"Cinder! Cinder, are you alright? I came as soon as you sent the message, me need to-"

"Run," Cinder interrupted her subordinate with a thin stream of blood running out of the corner of her mouth, "need to... run... need help..."

She hated how she couldn't properly speak anymore at this point, but every breath sent a sharp spike of pain through her chest, and talking only made it worse.

"Are you sure? I have her under my semblance, we could-"

"No." They had to get away from the monster. "Run. Not worth it." She was finally getting away from this place, and going to heal, and she would never have to see woodlands ever again if she could help it.

"Weird," it said, mostly likely catching on to what was happening.

"Go. NOW."

"Okay, Cinder, let's get going. It's taking a lot of aura to keep her hallucinating..."

Gogogogogogogoggo!

"Anyways, unless you have any other questions, I should really get back to panicking over the enormous cloud of ash that just has to be someone's semblance. Most likely deployed out of spite at this point," you grumble to yourself.

"Oh yes," Glynda says, looking up, "that is an issue. One moment." Gesturing with her riding crop of all things, she does something, presumably using her own semblance, to have the swirling mass of black move.

Within moments, all of the ash that used to occupy the sky is gone, safely divinded into four pillars of freshly pressed, almost solid matter.

"Cleaning up the ash that has already fallen would take me quite a while, but I can do this, at least. Just dispose of the rest at your leisure, if you would, just as soon as we have verified whether this particular ash is dangerous in some way."

You quirk an eyebrow. "Does that happen often?"

"One can never be too prepared when handling unknown semblances. Believe me, Mister Livsey, I know. On another matter, I will also be taking the bodies, the bounty for Adam Taurus' death or capture should be paid out to you in full within the following days. If that would be all?"

"Of course, my lady," you jokingly say, giving her a bow and everything. "If I may have the honour of learning your scroll number, so I may contact you again about that visit to the rooftop pool you may have just saved?"

A breath through her nose tells you that you actually just made her laugh a little as Glynda answers. "This has to be the single most unique way a man has asked for my number yet," she admits.

"Sacrilege. This should be the minimum for asking such a beautiful woman out," you say, still slightly bowed. "Hearing about this dire mistreatment of your valued personage, I insist, no, I demand to be allowed to draw a portrait of you, for free, of course, to showcase for all to see how foolish they must have been to ignore your shining radiance!"

"Enough, enough, you got me," she actually chuckles this time. "I'll give you my number, I can visit again if you insist, whenever my numerous duties leave me with some free time. What makes you think I would want to have my portrait drawn by you, though, hmm? For all I know, you might be a terribly unexceptional artist."

Now you're talking the same language. "Dunno, ask the at least two council members that have my pieces hanging in their homes that I know about by this point," you shrug.

"Fair enough," Glynda smiles back at you. "I'll be expecting the very best, then."

Holding out a hand, the two of you seem to have had the same thought, as you respond by bowing impeccably as you kiss its back. Glynda, ultimately, leaves levitating the majority of the ashes, the crashed bullhead and the bodies you let her see, embarking on another bullhead towards the rest of the city.

Now to talk to Weiss, whom Sarah has been keeping occupied until now... Honestly, being you isn't easy. You just have to keep talking to beautiful girls and women all over the place, the horror.