Hello, everyone! This is Umbra the Hedgehog signing back in! Okay, we're back in business now, and it didn't take nearly as long as it's done for some time. Production on the next chapter is actually ongoing even as I upload this to the site. Anyway, before I start rambling like a crazy person (well, more than usual, anyway…), here goes something! Hope you'll enjoy it!
NOTE:
-This is a collaborative effort between me, Noctis Gaelum and Alastar the hawk. We claim ownership over nothing except our own original characters.
SMWK
"Alright, show's over! You're busted!"
Having made his way to one of the dorm rooms with Yang Xiao Long in tow, Set Prowl wasted no time and, in a typically flashy move, kicked the door open before making his way in. While the way he had done it didn't give it away, he was hoping it'd impress her.
"Uhh… dude?" He was already taken aback by her confused tone, but it only got worse when she said the next thing that was on her mind. "There's no one here."
And indeed, once he actually had a good look at the place, he realized that he had basically wasted his entrance on an empty room.
"Oh, for the love of…" He immediately facepalmed at this before turning his attention to the corner to the right of the room's window. "I'm gonna go fetch something. Better get comfy, Dynamite."
Yang shrugged at this. "Alright, you got it."
With that, she looked all around the room, and while she mostly did that to find a comfortable place to sit down as he made his way over to that corner, she was also interested in the way the room was organized.
Her attention was first drawn to the corner on her left, which also happened to be left from the door. All in all, it was surprisingly minimalistic; outside of a bed, a table and a couple of wall-mounted shelves, all of which were things that she and her teammates had in their room too, the only other things she could see were a few books organized neatly on the shelves, what she could only assume was a toolbox sitting on the table, and most interesting of all, a white flower vase located at the corner of the table. Sitting inside the vase, she saw a pair of flowers that looked to be in good health; while she wouldn't call herself a flower expert or anything like that, she recognized them as red spider lilies.
That's probably Wyatt's corner. After eyeing it for a moment, she came to a decision. I'm going to pass on it. He'd probably notice I was there.
Her eyes were drawn to the other left corner, which seemed to be decorated and set up with much more of an exuberant style. The very first thing that caught her notice was that the bed was a little messy compared to the last one, but not to the point of being unsightly, and there was a stuffed animal doll sitting atop the pillow, which looked to be a dolphin. The table next to it had a few books atop it, along with a couple sheets of paper that had drawings on them and what looked like a pocket mirror and a comb. The biggest draw, however, was the poster that had been put up on one of the adjacent walls.
"Hey, check it out!" As she commented on it, she began to head for that corner. "I didn't know you guys were Achieve Men fans."
Despite not even turning around, Set replied to her comment. "Yeah, me and Kale, we've dabbled occasionally, but it's mostly Happy-Skippy who's a huge fan." She could hear him scoffing lightly. "You should hear her humming their tunes when she's reading up on class stuff."
"So this is Maza's corner, huh?" Yang smirked at this. "I knew she had good taste. I could tell just from looking at her." She brought a hand up to her hip. "Full Play? Let's Roll? Rage Quit?"
Once again, his answer came quickly. "All that and Nice Dynamite."
"Oh yeah, she's a girl after my own heart."
With that out of the way, Yang had more of a closer look at the Faunus girl's belongings.
The drawings on her table seemed to differ greatly from one another. Some of them were simple, cute, well-made images that she could only presume held meaning to her for one reason or another, like a sunset over an ocean, and even some of those were merely printed drawings that she had colored in, but others looked more serious, like a sketch of what appeared to be ideas on how best to use her weapon and new moves to try in battle, complete with meticulous calculations revolving around how to move, position herself and use different kinds of Dust for maximum effect.
The bookshelf sitting below their window had quite a few books in it; most of them were merely class material and coloring books, but others she recognized as stuff that Blake also happened to own.
'The Man with Two Souls', 'The Undead', 'The Vampire Count', 'The Corpse Doctor'… sounds like someone's a fan of horror stories. Man, Blake's gonna love this!
The moment she turned away, she also noticed something interesting about Maza's bed that she hadn't picked up on at first glance.
"Hey, how come this bed's got two mattresses?"
On impulse, Yang looked in Set's direction as she asked that, and she was surprised to find him holding a big, black folder that looked like it had been stuffed to full capacity with several mismatched sheets of paper.
"The other one's mine." His tone was completely casual as he suddenly dropped it on the table to his right. "Not really using it, so she asked for it and I was cool with that."
This made her raise an eyebrow. "Wait, what do you mean, you're not using it?"
All he did in response was step aside and gesture to his corner with his head, which allowed her a good look at the way it was set up.
Much like Maza's corner, this one definitely had a very personal touch to it, but the first thing that caught her notice is how… disorganized everything seemed to be. His side of the bookshelf also had some books on it, but on top of them only really being class material, they didn't seem to really be laid out in any specific pattern and looked more like they had just been left there in a way that fit. The same could be said for the stuff laid out on the table; while there was a small space left open for work, which was currently being occupied by the folder he had found, the rest of it was just covered by more books and some other items, including some action figures modeled after both the creatures of Grimm and a few well-known Huntsmen and Huntresses, various keychains of different shapes and sizes, and a number of Dust cartridges that, much like his books, didn't appear to be arranged in any particular pattern.
As if that wasn't striking enough, her eye was then drawn to his bed… or rather, the complete lack of one. Clearly, he wasn't joking about not using his mattress; while that part had already been accounted for, his bed frame had been completely replaced by a knitted hammock hanging from what looked like a steel stand made specifically for it. Because of the way it was set up, it also allowed him plenty of room on the floor for the rest of his belongings, which… if there was some kind of logic to the way they were set up and organized, she couldn't figure out what it was supposed to be, although she could see where he had been keeping the folder before digging it out from among the rest of his things and leaving it at the table.
"Don't even say it. I know what you're thinking." Set's voice quickly grabbed her attention again, and the expression on his face was surprisingly neutral. "How can I find anything in the middle of this mess?"
Yang's eyes widened for a second, but she quickly composed herself. "Well, don't take it the wrong way, but I really don't think I could."
"Yeah, well, that's my secret, Pyrepunch." He suddenly shot a grin at her. "This ain't a mess; I prefer looking at it as organized chaos. Doesn't make sense to others, yeah, but it's my thing and it works for me, so I'm owning it."
The way he said that made her grin in turn.
"Not afraid to just do you, huh? That's pretty cool." Her attention was then grabbed by one last detail. "And you've got good taste in games, too."
The Faunus boy quickly turned to the same direction she was facing. "Figures you'd notice 'em. They're hard to miss."
Indeed, the corner walls had a few posters up on them, all of them visually striking and featuring characters that Yang recognized from some of the games that she had played on her Scroll at one point or another.
"Way of the Huntsman, Tales of the Soldier: Remastered Edition, Zombie City 4…" She pointed at a particular one, which had the image of a man with a blindfold striking a fighting pose. "And yeah, there's the Death Battle one. Tamashii the Blind Warrior, huh?"
Set nodded. "Favorite character. You got one, powerhouse?"
"Heh, nice one." Yang crossed her arms. "Yeah, mine's gotta be Ken Kage. You really have to respect a guy who faces off against stuff right out of a horror movie and jokes all the way through it. Plus, sunglasses are cool."
This got an amused scoff out of him. "Got me there." He then turned his attention over to the folder once again. "Well, found it. Gotta go through it again now."
"What is that, anyway?" Yang raised an eyebrow after doing the same, before a brief chuckle escaped from her mouth. "Light reading?"
Set rolled his eyes at her, which went nicely with his returning grin. "Maybe for the Ice Queen." After grabbing his chair and turning it around, he sat down, his arms resting atop the back of the chair. "Nah, this is just the schedule that Humongoid tried to kill me with, and I don't just mean because it reads like something out of the Wastelands over at Vacuo. Plus, there's a whole bunch of other stuff, but right now, I just wanna find the schedule."
Right away, he could see it in her face that she understood what he meant.
"Oh… so you can figure out where he's supposed to be, right?"
He nodded before turning to look at the folder. "Yeah, and then we can figure out what the deal is." With a loud sigh, he opened it and began to look through it. "This thing's about as thick as a Boarbatusk's ugly hide. Better take a seat, because this is gonna take a while."
Without an answer, she turned to the last remaining corner, and much like she did with the others, she found herself taking in all the details.
Compared to the other corners, Kale's overall setup had more in common with Maza's than any of the others; it wasn't as simplistic as Wyatt's, but it was also nowhere near as striking as Set's. As she approached it, she noticed the state that his bed was left in; it looked like it had been mostly straightened out, but his sheets were a little crinkled as opposed to being perfectly neat. His walls also had shelves mounted on them, and besides the class-related books that his teammates also had, Yang spotted a number of different comic books organized neatly right next to them, as well as a few issues of Atlas Mechanics. While she had never read that magazine herself, she remembered it being brought up a few times by Weiss, who had described it as a great source of information related to science and technology. Thinking back to how Kale and Ruby seemed to have something of a similar mindset regarding their weapons, she could only presume that he had an affinity for machinery as a whole.
Yeah, this looks good. She turned around and sat down on the bed. He probably won't mind if I use this one. He seems easygoing enough not to care about his sheets being a little less creased.
As she made herself comfortable, she also caught sight of the table that had been set up next to his bed. The first thing that grabbed her attention was a pair of action figures set up on one of the upper corners; one of them was some kind of soldier clad in gray-and-yellow armor and holding a rifle, while the other looked like a spacesuit with an arm cannon on it, almost like something from a sci-fi movie. On the other corner, she noticed a framed picture of a girl who had Kale in a headlock, both of them apparently having a laugh over it. While he looked like he usually did, minus his jacket, the girl was clad in a hoodie and seemed to have part of her face obscured by a beanie hat.
Right at the center of the table, however, she saw something that immediately took up all of her attention.
"Is that a copy of The Thief and the Butcher?" So much so, in fact, that she spoke up again.
Once again, Set answered her without turning away from his work. "Sure is. My bro's favorite book." He had himself a little chuckle. "Knows it like the back of his weapons. Ask him to read you any part of it, and he'll even give you a comparison with the movie. Won't even stutter or mumble like he often does; that's how much he loves it."
"Cool." Yang had a smile on her face, still not looking away from the book. "I'm starting to see how he and Ruby connected so easily."
The Faunus boy kept flipping through the pages on his folder, seemingly uninterested in the actual content up until a certain point.
"There you are, you stinkin' pile of Blind Worm spit. Let's see now…"
Yang, meanwhile, simply decided to lie back on the bed and wait for him to fill her in on his findings. After bringing out the letter, which they had brought along with them, she stared at it thoughtfully.
We're going to figure out what you're about. Just you wait.
"…and you can't forget about the toppings either!"
Once again, Wyatt Whirlwind had found himself making his way through the city of Vale… but this time, he had company, and she had practically deafened him with all her talk about pancakes.
As they kept walking through the city streets, Maza had spent basically all their time together trying to "educate" him on the wonders of breakfast foods and the apparently endless list of things one could do with them. For his part, Wyatt mostly remained quiet, but he kept his focus on her, occasionally asking one or two questions… if only to appease her.
"There's chocolate chips, whipped cream, fruits, syrup, melted chocolate, caramel, strawberry…" Unlike him, her investment in the subject was visible to anyone who suddenly heard their conversation. "Sometimes, you can just put those inside the pancakes instead of atop them! You know, like Kale did with ours? It's really neat because then you can have that and your favorite topping! I swear, I was on cloud nine when I got chocolate chip pancakes with strawberry syrup."
Wyatt found himself utterly perplexed at that last part. "I still don't get why anyone would want to add so much to such a simple dish. They are good and tasty on their own. Why would you pile on that many flavors?"
"To enhance the experience, silly! Think of them like you do with your weapons. Sure, you could've stopped with just the gauntlets, but did you?" She quickly shook her head. "Nope, you didn't, and you know why? Because it's all about experimenting and letting your imagination run free! It's basically the same thing!"
For a moment, his mouth hung open, much to her amusement. It was almost as if he had forgotten what he was going to say.
"I… I never thought about it like that." Eventually, he managed to reassemble his thoughts. "That is actually a solid argument."
"I guess having a teammate like me wasn't so bad after all, eh?" Maza suddenly asked him.
For whatever reason, she noticed that her comment seemed to have confused Wyatt. The overall look on his face was completely neutral, as per usual, but she could tell that he was conflicted about something, and it wasn't long before he sighed in what almost came across as… defeat?
"Maza… what are you doing?"
Now she was the one who was confused. "What do you mean?"
"I have treated you terribly since day one, but you've kept on smiling regardless." If his face hadn't given away how he felt, then his tone of voice certainly did. "During the initiation, I did everything in my power to get away from you. When Professor Ozpin said we would be teammates, I tried to give you away to whoever would take you, as if you were nothing more than a Dust crystal, and the only reason I relented is because the alternative would've been far worse." He paused for a moment to catch his breath, having somehow said all of that in just one go. "…I have given you more reasons to hate me than I can count, and yet you do not. Why do you insist on being nice to me when I clearly do not deserve any of that? I've been trying to understand, but no matter what, it makes no sense."
She blinked a few times, still as lost as before. "…What doesn't make sense about it?"
"It just isn't right! You can't keep being so nice to me when I've done nothing but treat you like dirt!" He stopped himself there before taking a much deeper breath than before. "Why do you do it? Why are you like this?"
Her response was… not what he expected to hear.
"Because I'm already used to being treated like dirt."
For a moment, he struggled to come up with a response, but eventually, he simply defaulted to the first thing that came to mind. "…What?"
"I know you probably don't care, but just in case you forgot, I am a Faunus." For once, her tone was blunt and serious, devoid of its usual exuberance. "It's no secret to anyone under the sun that we're not the most popular bunch in Remnant, especially where I come from."
Wyatt raised an eyebrow at this. "…Where you come from?"
"Wait… didn't I tell you guys about where I come from?" Maza asked, looking even more confused than she was before.
He wasted no time with his response. "Actually, you did. I distinctly remember you making it a point to mention your home is somewhere around here in Vale."
"Oh… right. Silly me." She playfully hit her own head while sticking her tongue out. "I guess I'm just too used to it."
As she began laughing at herself, Wyatt could only stare at her. This was not helping his confusion. "What are you saying? Did you lie when you told us where you came from?"
The Faunus girl shook her head at him.
"No… no, I live here now, but it's not where I was born and raised. That'd be Mantle."
That name actually made Wyatt flinch as soon as he heard it.
"I don't know if you've ever been to the continent of Solitas, but if you have, then you probably already know how most people at Atlas like to look down on the people who they think are beneath them. Not just Faunus, but the people of Mantle, too."
Without even realizing it, Wyatt clenched his fists so hard, they were shaking. "I am… familiar with that, yes." As soon as he noticed it, he quickly relaxed his hold.
"Well, it's even worse for those of us lucky enough to be both. Not even the humans in Mantle care much for us; we're just animals to most of them." Maza just kept on going, having seemingly missed his reaction. "That's why my parents decided to leave. It wasn't easy, but Huntsman jobs put food on the table, so they helped pay for a way out too." Suddenly, she stopped walking and had a good look at her surroundings for a bit. "They were really hoping things would be better here."
He stopped right next to her. "Are they… not?"
"A little, but… well, you know how it is with the White Fang."
The mention of that name made him groan in annoyance. "Yes… I am all too familiar with the White Fang."
"Then you probably already know how hard it is to be a Faunus when there's a violent terrorist group making us all look bad. Even here in Vale, a lot of people think of us as just a bunch of stupid animals, and those who don't get a kick out of insulting us are probably just afraid that we'll blow up a building if they do. Anyone who's lucky enough to hide their traits probably will, but those of us who can't simply have to live with them." She reached out behind herself and grabbed her own tail, bringing it into view. "Not that I'd ever want to hide mine, mind you. I really love this thing, even if other people hate me just for having it." Having hugged it during that declaration, she then released it, letting it fall back behind her. "But… sometimes, it really feels like the only places where we'd get to live in peace are Vacuo and Menagerie. Any other place would run us all out if they could."
It took him a moment to find the words he wanted to say. "Then… why? How?"
"I'm not an idiot, Wyatt." Her response came quickly, almost like she knew he would say that. "I know that's how you see me. I'm fully aware that's how most people see me, but I'm not. Just because I smile most of the time and I love pancakes and sweets and cute things and I find joy in most everything I do doesn't make me dumb."
Her choice of words made him flinch once more, much to his own surprise… and disappointment.
"Here's the thing, though… I don't care anymore. I'm already far past worrying about what anyone thinks. I've got nothing to hide. I'm going to keep doing things my way even if people look down on me, and you know why?"
His complete lack of a reaction told her everything she needed.
"Humans hate and fear what they don't understand. The average Faunus hates or fears humans because they're considered less than them. The White Fang hates humans for the way they mistreat the Faunus, the humans hate them just as much for their violent actions, and no one bats an eye at it anymore because it hasn't changed anything for us or them. They've been at it for years, and nothing has improved." Maza stopped for a moment, taking a deep breath before speaking again. "I refuse to give into that hate. Because really, why should I waste my time hating those who already hate me? What's that going to do other than give them more of a reason to hate me? It's just going to suck for everyone and nothing is going to change. Anyone can do that, and that's pretty much what most of them are doing… but I just think it's a lot easier to spread kindness around instead."
He raised an eyebrow at her. "…That's why you want to be a Huntress?"
"Who else gets to meet all sorts of new and different people just as part of the job description?" She nodded her head very enthusiastically. "I mean, everyone's always looking forward to the fighting, and I'm not going to pretend I'm not excited about it too, but it's not just about slaying the Grimm. It's about the people you're doing it for!" She then shrugged before putting her hands behind her back. "True, it won't change the whole world, but it'll change the lives of those who don't have their noses against the grindstone… unless they have snouts, but you get what I mean."
She could see that he was about to argue, but he suddenly decided against it.
"Sure, a lot of people are awful like that, but not all of them are, and those are the ones who deserve to have their convictions proven right. Yeah, all the other people are free to say whatever they want about it, but I'm just as free to ignore them. I don't have to care about what they think of me; all I care about is what my friends and family think of me. Everything else is just background noise."
Unsatisfied with her answer, Wyatt questioned her further. "Then why aren't you ignoring me?"
"Because you don't care either." Once again, her answer was quick and easy. "You weren't there with me and the guys when we were talking about our Semblances, so you wouldn't know it, but mine is… uhh…"
Wyatt crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow once more. "Yes?"
"Actually, to be honest, it's kinda hard to describe, but they think it might be low-level psychometry, and I think they might be right. Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that when I talk to people, I can sort of hear their emotions. I can tell whenever they hate me just for having a fox tail."
This made his eyes widen.
"…I don't get that feeling from you." Maza, meanwhile, continued with her explanation. "I can tell you don't like me or the guys very much, but it's because you don't get what makes me happy to live the life I do, or why Set keeps doing the exact opposite of what you want him to as the team leader, or how Kale is a year older than us and yet he acts like he's two or three years younger."
Once again, the way she phrased that made him feel worse than he had in a long time, and he turned away from her with a frown. "You… detected all of that?"
"Yep, and that's why I can tell it's because of who we are, not what we are." Like before, she completely missed his reaction as she kept on going. "You don't care what anyone is. You don't look at others as humans and Faunus; you just see people as a whole. In fact, I'm pretty sure I picked up on some pretty strong anger back when I was talking about it a moment ago, and I mean the kind that sets wood on fire with just a glare!"
He sighed before finally looking at her again. "No one should be treated like an animal. That is something my teacher made sure to teach me. Human or Faunus, if someone starts spouting nonsense about being superior to others just because of where they pop up at birth, they deserve to be knocked down a peg or two."
That got a big smile out of Maza, which caught him off-guard once more.
"Your teacher sounds like a really cool person." She sighed in what seemed like contentment. "See, that's what I mean. It's people like that, like her and you and Set and Kale and Ruby and Professor Ozpin… those are the people that really make me feel like I'm not crazy or stupid for looking at the world like I do." She then placed her hands behind her head, not even slowing down as she did. "If I could reach out to people like that every day, maybe that'd inspire them to do the same for their peers, and then those people would do the same for others, and so on and so on. Maybe it's just a crazy pipe dream, but it's my crazy pipe dream and I'm going to own it!"
Wyatt turned away from her, shaking his head with a small chuckle.
"…You kind of sound like her."
Maza's curiosity was roused by this. "Hmm?"
"Nothing. I'm just thinking out loud." However, all he did was shrug it off before speaking directly to her again. "I… did not think you felt that way. I never even considered how much you must have suffered."
Once again, she merely shrugged. "Yeah, I know, but what can you do? That's just the way it is."
"For what it's worth… I do not think your dream is crazy."
This time, it was Maza who looked at Wyatt in confusion and surprise.
"…You were right. I did think of you in that way… and I was wrong." He kept on going, completely missing her reaction. "Eccentric? Definitely. Confusing? Most certainly. But you truly have a good heart, and your resolve is admirable. I severely misjudged you, Maza. If I were to be confronted by everything you've described to me, I'm not sure I could put on a brave face and power on ahead like you have."
She didn't even need to use her Semblance to know he was being completely serious.
"Especially with your Semblance making you fully aware of how much others fear or hate you all the time. It's not easy to endure a passive Semblance at times, but the fact that you don't let it faze you in the slightest and… and the way you have treated me when I have done nothing but push you away…" He let his head hang down in shame. "You are far from being an idiot. You deserve much more respect than what I have shown you, and for that… I am sorry."
Much to his confusion, when he finally brought it back up to look at her, she flashed him the same goofy smile that she often had on her face.
"You could always make it up to me by buying me some cookie dough ice cream."
The sudden request made him raise an eyebrow. "…Excuse me?"
Maza giggled at his reaction. "Nah, I'm kidding! I can buy one for myself!" She laughed for a bit before looking at him again. "I can treat you to a grilled cheese sandwich, though. Because hey, who doesn't love those?"
Wyatt could only blink a few times before shaking his head.
"If we are going to be teammates for the next four years, perhaps you should ease up on the jokes a little. Could you at least do that for me?"
She tilted her head to the side. "Who said I was joking? I know a great place that does grilled cheese!"
"No, but you were joking when…" With a mighty sigh, he looked down to the floor in defeat. "Fine, whatever. Let's go get something to eat. Fortunately for you… I could never refuse a cheese sandwich." He took a deep breath before turning his attention to her once more. "Just don't misunderstand any of this. I give you my word that I will respect you as a Huntress-in-training and as a teammate from now on, but our relationship will remain strictly professional. We're just two people working towards a common goal, and nothing more. Understood?"
By the time he was done talking, a smile had already made its way back to Maza's face.
"That's fine with me. I just want us to get along as a team, you know? It is not like I'm expecting you to hug me or anything like that. I want us to get to know each other's strengths and weaknesses so we can protect each other and the guys. That way, we can work together, get to the top, and be awesome!" As she cleared the air with him, she topped it off a thumbs-up. "That's all I'm asking for."
Waiting for a response, she noticed that Wyatt seemed to be inspecting her face.
His teammates all confused him to varying degrees, but the Faunus girl in particular was harder for him to figure out than most people, which he had an equally hard time accepting. Despite initially being unconvinced, he ultimately nodded his head when he found nothing in her expression or her tone of voice that would indicate she was being dishonest in any way.
"Fair enough. As long as we are clear on that, I won't object." He then tried to check on the sun's current position. "How far away is this place you mentioned before, anyway?"
Once again, she placed her hands behind her head before walking ahead of him. "It's pretty close. Just follow my lead. Trust me, you're going to love it!"
He just did as she asked without another word.
One step at a time. We'll be a real team soon enough. Maza kept the rest of her thoughts all to herself. …And I will get that hug someday. Just not today… or tomorrow, probably. She then had herself a little chuckle. I wonder how the others are doing…
Back at Beacon Academy, Yang was sitting on one of the benches at the courtyard, leaning back against it and with her head tilted backwards.
"Man, what a busy day." She spoke to no one in particular before closing her eyes and relaxing.
Despite all the effort that she and her companion had put into finding what they wanted, their search had ultimately ended in failure. They had checked every single place that had been outlined on the schedule he had found, but each of them was just as much a dead end as the last one. By this point, the two had decided to take a break, and the only thing that she was looking forward to…
"You can say that again, Brawler."
…was exactly what she saw when she opened her eyes.
Set was standing right behind the bench, holding a can in each hand.
"Sunflower Pop?"
He shot a grin at her. "You know it."
Yang responded with a grin of her own, and right as he made his way over to the other side of the bench, he tossed one of the cans at her, scoffing in amusement as she caught it without missing a beat.
"Aren't you a sight for sore eyes…" She straightened herself up, ready to open her can.
Set took a seat right next to her. "Yeah, I know. I get that all the time."
"Oh, do you now?" She raised an eyebrow at him, not even trying to hide her own amusement.
He just rolled his eyes before shaking his head. "Nah, I'm just messin' with ya. I know you meant the drink." Then he gestured at her hand with his head. "I mean, look at that can. That is one hot hunk o' junk, huh?"
That got a laugh out of her, which was enough for him to lean back against the bench like she was doing, satisfied that he had managed to do what he wanted.
"So, just to recap…" Yang took a sip of her drink. "He wasn't at the gym."
Right away, Set sighed loudly before tilting his head backwards like she had been doing before. "Wasn't at some random park, either."
She nodded. "The library was a bust."
"So was the Emerald Forest." He rolled his eyes once more, not that Yang could see it. "Good thing, because I ain't draggin' his corpse out of that place."
She then stuck her index finger out on her free hand, waving it around as if pointing to the entire place. "And we haven't seen him running around the academy. Any idea where else he could be?"
"Beats me." Set shrugged. "If Mr. Big isn't even following the schedule he was trying to force on us, then who even knows what he's thinking?" He followed this up with a scoff. "Guy really fades away without a trace. At this point, I'm convinced he's got black jammies and a headband hidden in his closet somewhere."
Once again, his comments got a laugh out of Yang. "Nice one, hotshot."
As the girl took another sip from her can, the Faunus boy gave her a look.
"Hey, why do you keep calling me that?"
This actually caught her off-guard, as she turned to look back at him in what seemed like confusion. "What, don't you like it?"
"That's not what I meant. As long as it ain't 'stupid mutt' or whatever, I'm cool with anything you come up with for me." Without even realizing it, he brought his free hand up to his cheek as he turned up to look at the sky above them. "But you've only been calling me that since the night we met, and heck if I know why that is."
Just from the way he was talking, Yang could tell he was honestly confused. As she noticed what he was unknowingly doing, she could feel a half-grin making its way to her face; whether he knew he did or not, he had just given her just what she needed to answer him.
"Remember what happened that night?"
Set quickly turned his attention back to her. "Yeah, you and Captain Grumpy rubbled the whole gym, and then Professor G un-rubbled it. You guys went to talk to Ozpin, and you made it outta there alive somehow."
Between the nonchalant tone he had and his overly simplistic recap, the blonde really had no choice but to laugh once more. "You're funny. Anyone ever tell you that?"
"Not to my face, they haven't."
Yang chuckled briefly before lightly punching him in the shoulder. "More people should, but hey, that means I get dibs on being the first." She took a bigger swig of Sunflower Pop before speaking again. "And I also get to remind you that you were pretty cool that night, too."
"Yeah, trying to stop that guy and getting shoved out of the way like nothing." Much to her surprise, he dismissively rolled his eyes at her comment. "Real cool."
She was quick to counter his claims. "Hey, he was listening to you before I flew in, remember? I was the one who messed it up there." And then, much like he had done, she turned her sights up to the sky. "If Smiley and I hadn't been so caught up in our brawl, I'm sure he would've quit right there. Honestly, he didn't even want to fight at first; I just convinced him eventually."
Set's eyes widened at this. "…No kidding?"
"Yeah… I guess I was a little too high on adrenaline and excitement after the entrance exam." She took another swig before continuing. "I wasn't really acting like myself, and I just kept it up at Ozpin's office because I figured it'd get him off the hook. Turns out I didn't even need to, but I guess I was stuck like that until I got to talk to you."
He immediately scoffed at that. "Not the best way to make a first impression on a guy, don't you think, Sunburst?"
"Yeah, well, that was my own fault." She wasn't even fazed by his answer. "I wasn't kidding, though. Sure, you said your teammates would've jumped in if they thought of it, but at the end of the day, you're the one who stepped up to the plate and made a decision. Pretty sure you had things under control until I blew it, too." Finally, she looked at him once again. "You're real leader material."
Set couldn't even try to hide the surprised expression on his face, merely turning his head away after words failed him a few too many times for his liking.
"…I didn't want to be the leader." Eventually, he was able to come up with what he wanted to say. "I didn't even ask for it. Ozpin just stuck me with the job."
Yang gave him a friendly nudge in response. "Sure, but Ruby was like that too, and so far, you guys are taking to it like a fish to water. I don't know about you, but that tells me that both you and my sister were born for it."
He didn't give any kind of visible reaction to this, so she just kept on going.
"Just like Ruby, there's a reason Ozpin put you in charge and not one of the others, and I'm pretty sure it's not because he was bored." She finished off her Sunflower Pop before continuing. "You're good at what you do. You've got just as much skill and talent as anyone else here, and I can tell by looking at you that you're looking forward to being even better. You're not there yet, but just from seeing you in action that night, I know you're going to get there one day." Without even paying attention to it, she crushed her now-empty can with just her bare hands. "You're going to live up to that title, and that's why I keep using it. You better get used to it, too, because I'm already getting used to you coming up with a new nickname every five minutes."
She finished that up with a chuckle, and just as she hoped, it wasn't long before Set finally turned his attention over to her again.
"…Serious?"
Much like he had done before, Yang shot him a cheeky grin. "Tell you what—if I don't make this shot, you can forget I said anything."
At first, he wasn't sure what she meant, but then he noticed that her focus had switched over to a trash can sitting at the other side of the pathway. Right as she stood up from her seat, he also spotted the crushed soda can she was holding, and that's where he realized what she was going for. Before he could even agree or object to her conditions, she quickly tossed the can all the way over to the other side, and he could only watch as it flew right into its intended destination, not even touching the sides as it went in.
"Nailed it." She briefly celebrated with a fist pump before her attention was drawn back to her companion. "Well, there you go."
This time, it was the Faunus boy who laughed out loud.
"And now I made you laugh! That's two for me." She sat back down on the bench with a smile on her face. "Everything's coming up Yang."
It wasn't until he finally stopped laughing that she noticed something else.
"Hey, you haven't opened your can." She pointed at it, which brought his attention over to it. "You better get to it before it heats up."
He just stared at it for a moment, without any real specific expression on his face. "Never really been into soda myself. I'm more of a tea kinda guy." Then he finally reached his hand out and opened it. "But hey, it's your treat. Ain't about to start looking a gift horse in the mouth." Before bringing it over to his lips, he made one last comment. "Well, bottoms up."
Yang then watched as he proceeded to down the entire thing in one go, both surprised and impressed that he could manage that without breaking for air. For not being a fan of soda, he could certainly drink it up without too much trouble.
"So, how was it?"
After putting the can back down, he shrugged with a half-grin, almost exactly like he had done during breakfast. "It was good. Tea's still better, but I might end up sneaking a few cans over to my room sometime. Who knows?"
Somehow, just from looking at him, she could tell he appreciated it far more than his nonchalant response would indicate. While she had no idea why he acted like he didn't care, she was certain he cared enough not to dodge the subject, and she found his overall response amusing enough that she was willing to play along.
"Hey, hand me that can."
Set raised an eyebrow at the sudden request, but he did as she asked, and she crushed the can just as easily as she had done with the last one before handing it back to him.
"Think you can make the shot like I did?" Yang asked before flexing her eyebrows at him.
With a smirk on his face, he took the can in his hand and turned to the trash can on the other side. After standing up from his seat like she had done before, he got into position, prepared himself, and then took the shot like she did…
…and missed his intended target by just the slightest bit.
Disappointed, he hung his head down with a sigh. "…Woof."
"Hey, come on, it's not that bad." He could feel her punching him in the shoulder like she had done before. "It's like I was saying. Give it some time and practice, and it'll be second nature to you soon enough. Then you and your team are going to be awesome." She paused for a moment. "Not as much as Team RWBY, obviously, but still pretty awesome."
When he turned to her, his head still down, she had that same look on her face. The one she had been sporting consistently since he saw her in the kitchen. Her relaxed grin, and especially the look in her eyes, said to him that she was mostly serious in her assertion, even without her saying a word about it. That last bit was probably more of a joke than anything else, though. He was pretty sure.
"…You're the coolest. Anyone ever tell you that?" He hoped that she could tell he was being just as serious for once, because it wasn't something he did too often.
In response, she leaned forward so they could see eye-to-eye once more. "Not to my face, they haven't."
His eyes widened when he realized what she had just done. "Hey, that's my line!"
"Yeah, well, it was too good."
Twice. She had done it twice now. And she was fully aware of it, too. In fact, she was relishing it.
Set had no choice but to laugh again, which actually made Yang chuckle a little herself.
…I really like this girl.
Here we go. Nothing quite like working on character development, let me tell you. This is one that's been worked on pretty much every single day after the last one was posted. Not the whole day, of course, but long enough that progress was fairly steady, and I can't tell you how nice it is that we were able to pull this off in just a couple months.
Now that we've gotten that out of the way, I plan to return to my individual projects for the time being. Me and the guys still plan on working on the next chapter whenever possible, but I'm mainly going to be focusing on my other stuff, because I have a lot of updates that I've been hoping to make for a while now, and I'm going to take advantage of everything that has come to mind recently.
Just like before, no names to exposit on this time; probably won't have any until we have new characters outside of a videogame. One more part to go before we wrap up this whole sequence of events, but that'll have to wait until the next chapter. For the moment, from all three of us…
This is Umbra the Hedgehog signing off.