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Beta(s) :

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Requested By : Polemoduke

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"Hm?" Her crazy team leader hummed, sitting on the floor by her bed with a book titled 'Leadership for Academics' stood up in front of her and a platter of little pizza pockets beside her.

"I asked if you were ready to help me out with Bumblebee?" Yang asked, raising an eyebrow and crossing her arms as she flicked a look at the very obvious homework and asked, "Or are you still working on the extra credit Goodwitch dropped on you for messing up your patrol paperwork?"

"I didn't mess it up!" Nora argued petulantly, pouting and reaching for a comfort pizza pocket. "I just… Exaggerated, a bit."

"A bit?"

"She added a Goliath fight." Ren sighed from across the room, "To an official report. For a mission where all we did was walk around."

"Hey!" Nora argued, "We killed an Ursa!"

"Not a Goliath, though…"

"Yeah, well…" Nora shrugged, returning to her reading with a huff. "How was she supposed to know?"

"We had a teacher with us?!"

"Technicalities!" Nora sighed dramatically, turning and paying Yang a final, apologetic, look. "Sorry, I wanted to when we got back- Love motorcycles. But, uh, yeah. Goodwitch threw the book at me when I got into her office."

"Uh huh…" She turned, looking at the book and a very tiny indent she noticed in the outer edge of the book - where it opened - before she asked, quietly, "Figuratively, right?" Nora didn't answer, just pouting more, so Yang sighed. "Right. Not figuratively at all…"

Goodwitch was scary…

But, with Nora off the table - and Ruby spreading her wings on her own team - Yang turned to look for another option. The first she came to was, of course, her partner. The young woman was sitting on her bed, just about swaddled in her blanket with a pair of headphones on and a hard stare. That she kept locked on her Scroll and, from what Yang knew of her, probably another news report. She'd been hooked on them since they all got back a few days ago. So, finally, she turned to Ren.

It was unlikely, but she sighed and asked, "Hey, Ren, wanna-"

"I'd love to." The man grunted, hopping up from his spot and asking, "What kind of work are you looking at? Maintenance or an overhaul of some kind?"

"Uh…" She blinked, "Bit of A, bit of B. Gonna tune her, but I also got a new fuel feeder in."

"Oh?" He smiled, reaching up to scratch at his chin like he was thinking. "How new? Not the new Mark-24 out of Atlas, surely. Those things are quite expensive."

"N-No, I'm using an old Mark-Eleven and my dad got a Mark-Twenty off a, uh, friend of his in Atlas." Yang answered, cocking her head and adding, "I didn't take you for much of a gearhead, ya know, Ren."

"Yes, well…"

"Ren and I didn't attend an academy, Yang. 'Member, blondie brains?" Nora sighed, flicking her a look and a smile so Yang knew the joke for what it was. Which was appreciated, even if by now Yang had a pretty good idea when her leader was just screwing around. Turning back to her work, she said, "We… Took up work wherever we could."

"Yeah?" She cocked her head, curious now, "Like?"

"...Stuff." Nora shrugged after a moment, grimacing deeply. "Not a lot s'fun to talk about. But Renny took up with a mechanic for a couple months. Fell right in love."

"With the mechanic, or…?"

"I happen to enjoy life a bit much for that." Ren chuckled from where he stood, shaking his head and rolling his eyes ruefully. "I fell in love with mechanics. It's how I made my Stormflowers, and Nora's-"

"I helped." The berserker suddenly squawked, swatting the bed hard enough it rocked and pouting at them both when they just raised their eyebrows. "What? I did. Renny and I worked together to get the blueprints sketched out-"

"Nora said what she wanted," Ren filled in, "and drew it. I schematiched it."

"Is that a word…?"

"I used it." Ren shrugged, "So yes."

"Anyway…" Nora snorted, rolling her eyes, "I beat the metal out, he put it all together, and we pooled our Lien for what I couldn't make or he couldn't, uh… Also make. But, like, with welders and stuff instead of a hammer?"

"I get the idea." She nodded before a couple pieces sort of… Slid into place, in the back of her mind. "A hammer? Like, a smith's hammer?"

"Mhm." Nora nodded, frowning and adding, "Better than other work, at least." Before Yang could say anything, though, Nora turned and flexed her arms, showing off those powerful biceps she was so proud of and grinning toothily, "Helped me work up to these babies, too! Personally, that's the more important bit."

"Heh." Yang snorted, "If you say so."

"I do." She nodded, turning to her work, "And the queen's word is law after all~! Now shoo. Gotta get this crud done so I don't get detention."

"Yep yep, have fun." Yang waved, turning and bobbing her head towards the door when Ren met her gaze.

He nodded and she let him slide by, out the door, as her gaze rolled over Blake again. The woman looked up, finally, and met her gaze and Yang smiled, jerking a thumb at the door invitingly. Blake actually seemed to consider it, for a moment, her legs even uncurling a bit under her as she started to rise. But something popped up on her Scroll before she could and, as much as Yang prayed she wouldn't, Blake looked. And frowned. And settled back down with a tiny smile for Yang as thanks and a tiny little shake of her head.

"Okay…" She sighed, shrugging and following Ren out the door and down the hall, leading him along toward the Bullhead docks.

"We're heading into Vale?"

"Not much point to a motorbike here in Beacon, is there?" Yang snorted, as he followed her up the ramp at the tail end of the more civilian oriented Bullhead and they both fell into seats set along the sides, where seats had been installed. The other four seats were crammed, so she leaned over to talk almost into Ren's ears, "Where would I ride?"

"Fair." He nodded, quiet voice almost lost over the sounds of the pilot warning them about take-off and the other students chattering. Smiling, he said, "Honestly, I'm just enthused to get to work on something again."

"Yeah?"

"It has been some time." He chuckled, "I enjoy working with my hands more than fighting."

"Then why do it?"

"Nora wants to protect people." He shrugged simply as the airship turned, angling around and toward the city. It wouldn't be too long a trip, she knew, so long as nothing caused any air traffic problems. So she focused on him as he went on, "I am happy to do so, too, of course. Even if how I do it is less than fun to me, I'm… I won't leave her."

"You're loyal." She nodded, smiling as thoughts of Ruby and just how glad she'd been not to have to leave her swam through her mind. "I get that."

"Mhm." He nodded, pressing his fingers together in a little circle like he often did and closing his eyes. "Let me know when we get there?"

"Sure, boss." She shrugged, crossing her arms and turning to look across her, out the window over a cute redhead's, er, head. "Sure."

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'It's bad.' The message appeared in a little bubble, stretching out from the default icon on her Scroll's chat-system. The chime was quiet, echoing up from the headphones she was wearing to her more than sensitive enough ears quietly as another came. 'Really bad. If something doesn't change, I'm going to turn my resignation in to my boss.'

'Turn my resignation in' she knew meant 'leave my mask and go home'. It was old code, but one Atlas apparently had never cared enough to crack. It was possible He had changed it since she left, of course, but even if He had the man on the other end of the chat would probably have used it. If only so she could understand what he meant.

'He won't fine you for breaking contract?' By which she meant 'kill him' and for 'deserting'.

'I don't know.' He answered back, 'Big boss is away. Gonna try it with my manager.'

'Who?'

'Meat department.' That meant a lot of things for a lot of different sects but, for the Vale branch, it meant 'the butcher'. Which was a nickname for His old left hand, Banesaw. A man simultaneously more and less brutalistic and violent than his name might imply.

And one who preferred willing fighters to not.

'That should be okay then.'

'It would be better if you helped out with the shift.'

'I don't work there anymore. I'm sorry.' She scowled, flicking back over to the news report about all the Dust heists after a moment when he didn't respond. She felt guilty, of course - like always - but she pushed it down. Same as ever.

Finally, the messenger pinged again and she flipped over to it, 'You should come by the shop either way. I have that book you wanted in. Premium edition.'

That was more code, even older than the one that she'd been taught in the Fang under Sienna. This one was from the Revolution itself. Code for human passing Faunus to come to bases or safehouses for reports or whatever else. And 'premium edition' only meant one thing - it was a life or death thing that the man wanted to get to her. For who, she didn't know. And asking would break the security they'd been keeping up and take her chatting up an old friend on his new account from 'suspicious' to 'arrest her' inside four words.

Again, the chat pinged, but it was just a familiar alert. 'S-ID Deactivated'.

So she couldn't ask even if she wanted…

Finally, she sighed and threw her blankets off, standing and answering the raised eyebrows she got with a clipped, "Need a shower. Heading out tonight."

"Yeah?" Nora smirked toothily, "Want some company."

Blake paused with the door to the bathroom open, cocked her head, flushed and asked, "For the… Trip into town? Right?" Nora just smirked and Blake stammered, "R-Right?"

"Hey," she finally shrugged, winking, "dealer's choice, I say."

"I hate you so much sometimes…"

"Love you too~" She sing-songed jokingly, chuckling and waving her off, "Don't waste all the hot water. I got second shift."

"S-Sure." And damn Nora for making her stutter…

At least the shower was nice. Hot enough to open up her chest and with water pressure that pounded nicely against her back. But the shower was made for Humans. Human heads and Human ears. So she had to spend most of it sitting rather than standing, with her head bent over to protect her ears while she gently massaged the last of her nice, sensitive soap into the hair of her ears. Still, the shower was nice. Nicer than the ones the Fang had usually had, if nothing else.

When they had them at all…

Finally, she stepped out, towelled off as best she could and, tired from the long day and all the stress of the news and her new mission, ran a brush through her hair and let it hang free. She didn't have time for laundry before she had to go - it was already a touch late, and it'd be suspicious if her old friend let her in after closing - so she just pulled on an old pair of black denim pants and tugged on a just as old black jacket over a violet undershirt to go with it, just visible from a couple old tears at the jackets shoulders she had long since smoothed out into cutouts and where the jacket left her belly exposed. It wasn't really her style nowadays, she supposed…

But, well, that would work for her here.

Satisfied it all fit, she stepped out into the room, the cold air making her ears flick as she turned to look at Nora sitting by her bed with her headphones on and something loud playing in them. She only made it a step before she realised her mistake, what she'd felt, and darted back into the bathroom. Tugging her ribbon on she glared at herself in the mirror and sighed.

"Still not used to it…" She murmured, reaching up to brush a hand against the already mounting discomfort. "But I need to get used to it."

She didn't have much of a choice, really…

When she stepped back out she flicked Nora another, more nervous, look. But the Mistralian was just bobbing her head to whatever she was listening to while she worked. So, instead of calling attention to her little blunder, she simply called out, "See you later."

Nora just flashed her a thumbs up, smiling and blowing her a kiss that put Blake right back into retreat mode.

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Nora waited until the door shut to let her smile drop and her brows furrow. Quietly, she asked herself, "Why hide 'em? They're adorable…"

But she understood the urge to hide things, the need for secrets. And her ears had to tie into them somehow. Blake had always struck her as something of a mystery box. She even came with a bow tied on top! And now she had a clue as to some of it. But what secrets could her ears connect to? Or was she just scared of being hated? No, Blake didn't seem the type to shy away from taking on a bigot - and Nora knew she could lay one out as he deserved, too. Not to mention what Nora herself would do if someone bad mouthed her over something as silly as ears.

She couldn't be sure no matter what, but she was sure of one thing.

She'd known enough Faunus to know that her little ribbon could not be healthy for those ears. And did Beacon even have the right hair care for them? She knew they didn't have good showers. Years of training with her launcher had eyeballing trajectories burned into her DNA at this point.

So she flicked open her Scroll and typed in an old number, smiling when the man on the other side huffed, "Fuck you want in the middle of the night?"

"Tips." She smiled, "For Faunus shopping."

"That sounds way worse than you think it does…"

"Yeah, I heard it too." She sighed, shaking her head. She'd never been great at clever little one-liners like Ren was… Oh well! "I need schems on a showerhead good for a cat Faunus. And something comfy she can wear to hide her ears."

"Hide 'em?"

"Hey, not my boat, not my ocean."

"That's-"

"Racist?" She rolled her eyes, "Come on, Bruce."

"Fine." He sighed, "Let me get a tuna sam and I'll get right on it. Call back in fifteen."

"Yeppidy!" She smiled, flicking the Scroll closed and getting back to work for the time she had.

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Lea :

They are INNOCENT beans doing their BEST at all this 'being a person' and 'working it out' thing XD

Tenron Lightvoid :

Maybe, maybe not, undecided atm.

Geralt Rex :

Actually, funnier- Ruby is taking vitamins on the sly because she feels smoll compared to literally everyone around her. She's just a normal bean!

For Jaune's armor I'm torn between 'Fuck it, I really like the Rusted Knight' doing something of my own or, yeah, V4 or very similar.

Imperialsama :

Danke.