Romeo had always loved his honorary Uncle's club, even as a child when he was too young to wander the dance floor, making come hither eyes at the first cute little distraction he saw. It had become a sort of sanctuary for him, a home away from home. Now that he was a grown man, he could really appreciate it, from the intoxicating atmosphere that loosened him up before he'd even had a sip of alcohol, to the music that he could feel with his teeth as it blared from the speakers surrounding the dance floor. He took a deep breath, the smell of alcohol, sweat, and degeneracy flooding his senses as a grin spread across his lips.
It was home, more than the empty manor he grew up in or the dingy little apartment he slept at would ever be.
Making his way across the floor, he let his eyes glance at the various pieces of eye candy, and there was certainly a good selection tonight. There was an older woman with dog ears hanging off the neck of some boy young enough to be her son, clad in little more than a mesh shirt, and a tiny freckled redhead that looked to be on the younger side sandwiched in between a pair of similarly aged and far less focused boys, their bodies bumping and grinding together without much care for who or what they were feeling. Had he not been here on business, he'd gladly step into the crowd, maybe take one or two of the more fun looking girls to bed. But alas, he had a job to do and he ignored the crowd as he made his way to the bar, leaning against the counter as he waited for a certain someone to notice him. The bartender was massive, seven feet tall and built like an ox, his frame came from his old man, while his emerald green eyes and soft face came from his mother. Currently, the massive man was chatting up a girl with what looked to be whiskers, a cat or rabbit Faunus he assumed. The girl giggled at the large man, whether it was due to the fact that the bartender gave free drinks to girls he flirted with, or because she actually thought he was funny, Romeo couldn't tell. Either way, he let the pair have their fun, waiting until the girl stood up, writing a number down on a slip of paper before sliding it over with a wink. Romeo waited for the girl to get out of earshot before speaking to the man.
"Careful with those Faunus girls JJ, you know what they say about them having a wild side." The man smirked upon hearing the voice of his favorite regular, turning to the smaller man and without even asking, grabbed a bottle of Scotch and poured each of them each a shot.
"They also give warnings about being a manwhore, yet you don't seem to pay attention to those.", he said, jabbing back before raising his shot glass, Romeo doing the same as they both downed their drinks. He savored the familiar burning sensation in his throat, before handing the bartender his glass back.
"It's good to see you JJ, how's Mel?", Romeo asked. While he worked closely with the Malachite-Xiong crime family, his recent string of jobs and doing what was supposed to be his mother's job didn't exactly leave him with many opportunities to catch up with family and friends. He swallowed the bitter thought, along with a second shot that had JJ poured upon seeing the sour look on his friend's face, thankfully not mentioning it.
"Mom's good, she and Dad are in talks with some dust smugglers from Atlas right now." So business was good then, he was glad to hear it, not that he'd expected any less from Aunt Melanie. The woman had always had a knack for negotiations if what he'd been told was true, and she was someone who he'd want on his good side even if circumstances were different between them.
"Good, tell her I said hi, it's been ages." Romeo wanted to say more, to ask about his Uncle, Aunt Miltia, or her twins, but this was going to be a short visit, Verde was almost ready, all she needed was information on the targets. "So, do you have it?"
JJ nodded before glancing around, as if he actually thought someone could eavesdrop on two people who damn near had to shout to hear each other from two feet away.
"Not out here, that kind of info's too sensitive to have out in the open. Follow me." he said, gesturing at a door behind the bar. Romeo knew the way into the backrooms by heart, noting the familiar sensation of the music fading as they went further into the building, the facade of the club's interior gradually disappearing until there was little more on the walls aside from the stone foundation that held it together. Coming into one of the offices, JJ moved over to a specific box and despite the sound of heavy metal shifting within, he tilted it back with one arm as easily as lifting a feather, reaching under it to reveal that a set of files were taped to the underside.
"Are these what I think they are?" Romeo said, the eyebrow over his pink eye raising curiously. He'd asked for the files of four students, but what JJ had seemed to be a bit too thick for something like this. JJ didn't respond at first, just shooting his friend a smirk as he dropped two large packets right in front of the man. He took pride in what he saw, the eyes of Vale's very own prince of crime going as wide as dinner plates once he saw the labels.
"Copies of the official Beacon files, you'd be surprised what a janitor is willing to do when they're offered their year's salary for one teensy little printing job." As he picked up the packets, labeled "SJJL" and "BGEL" respectively, he found himself practically salivating, now having two full Huntsman teams worth of information at his fingertips to play with. He had to admit, he was impressed, now this was going above and beyond. "We got the ones belonging to the names you had marked, Taurus, Belladonna, Arc-Schnee, and Branwen, but I just had the guy make copies of both teams to be safe."
"JJ, I could kiss you." The man in question made an unamused face at Romeo's comment.
"Please don't."
Ignoring JJ for the moment, Romeo slid his finger into the manilla seam and cracked open the packet containing SJJL's files, pulling out one with the name "Scarlet" clearly labeled in black ink and opening it. It was disturbingly thorough, having the usual bits like height, weight, and age, all of which he skipped over completely, instead going down to the interesting bits like her Semblance, which was… Hemokinesis? Okay, that was just unsanitary. There was far more than just that though, her file even included a highly detailed recounting of her time as a student at Signal, such as an incident where her horn was cracked in a brawl with another student. Near the bottom, there was a note about how her Aura had been active since birth. Not unheard of, but it was certainly notable. He guessed when you were the child of two terrorists, you practically got your own novel written from birth. The man couldn't help but feel a twinge of jealousy at the comprehensiveness of the thing, even if you counted every last individual infraction against the law in his twenty-one years of life, his own file wouldn't be nearly this thick. Glancing at the rest of the files, he could tell that the rest wouldn't be nearly as detailed, but if they had even a fraction of the information that Scarlet's did, it would be more than enough. Laying the files out, he moved the folder labeled "Goose" over with the rest of SJJL before looking back to JJ. His smirk was completely gone, no need to pretend to be looking forward to the next part.
"These ones, I want eyes and ears on them if they come into the city. If they so much as spit on the sidewalk, I want to hear about it."
JJ nodded as he looked down at the files, knowing the significance of these names and what they meant to Romeo and his family. While his best friend was willing to go pretty far out of his comfort zone, they both knew that this could go very bad very easily, and he had no intentions of getting labeled a Huntsman killer.
"Level with me Rome, what're you planning?"
"Honestly? I'm not sure yet. I just need to draw her out. I have a few ideas on how to set that up, and if I can do this right, no one will ever know I was involved."
There was silence after that, which was never a promising sign, especially since Romeo was typically far more prepared than this. He was rushing, and again, JJ understood why, but he didn't like it.
"Does your mom know?"
"No, and it's going to stay that way." Romeo said, practically spitting the words out like they were poison. Neo was the last person he wanted to see right now, he felt angry just thinking about her. "She had her chance, and now I'm fixing her mistake. Just like usual."
A pair of silver eyes looked over the transfer request form. To say that it was rare to see this paper was an understatement, she could count on one hand the amount of times she'd seen the form in her seven years of teaching, and even less than that was the amount of times it had been approved, only once as a matter of fact. It was seen by all as the absolute last resort for teams that, even after years of working together and guidance by the staff, were simply better off not working together. It was a process that would need to be agreed upon by all parties, as well as a second team willing to undergo a massive change in their dynamic as well.
So, the fact that Lumi had gone and filled it out all by herself, just a day into the second month of her schooling at Beacon, was nothing short of ridiculous. Even with the circumstances being what they were, there was simply no way this would ever be considered. Looking back up to her niece, Ruby fought hard to keep her face professional and not go into "disappointed aunt mode" with the girl patiently waiting with her hands folded over her lap.
"Denied." One word, it had taken one word for Lumi's calm facade to break and a burst of outrage to take its place.
"What!?" The sudden shrill voice of her niece made her wince as the girl stood up and stomped her foot like an angry child, her anger and feelings of betrayal being targeted at the only person there to take the brunt end of it, a person she'd hope would see her reasoning and help her out of this mess.
"Lumi, Glynda is never going to approve this, in fact if she was here, she'd give you a lecture for even thinking of wasting your time with this." Ruby tried to gently explain that this was in no way happening, but the unmoved face of Lumi told her that the young woman had made up her mind long before actually coming into the office and filling out the form.
"Team transfers are meant as a last resort when irreconcilable differences stop a team from being able to perform at a bare minimum capacity. Something which describes my team perfectly!" Lumi insisted, trying to win the argument with logic, hoping that it would allow the woman who she knew was normally a perfectly reasonable person to see that this was the solution to her problem. The fact that her teammate was a barbarian who cut down those who argued with her clearly didn't seem to bother anyone, so maybe the team being an obvious failure from the jump could at least get her out of being shackled to the brute for the next four years.
"How would you know?" Ruby asked, her tone more than just accusatory. The woman knew her too well, she could probably convince most people that she was arguing from a point of logic, she'd probably convinced herself as well, but Ruby knew better. Just as she expected, Lumi's anger flared to a new height with her little comment. She had never felt so belittled, it was as if her pain meant nothing. She could handle such disrespect from the common riffraff, but from her aunt? It stung too much to simply let it go.
"Excuse you? Would you like to see the scar on my back? The sca-" Her righteous indignation was stopped by her aunt, suddenly slamming her hands on the desk and standing up from her seat. Lumi found herself taking a step back and falling back into form, standing straight and proper as she'd been taught along with all ten of her siblings. Ruby, having heard more than enough of Lumi's attitude, had decided to finally put an end to things. In hindsight, she should have corrected this back when it had first happened, but the guilt over her mistake of allowing Lumi and Scarlet's fight to go as far as it did in the first place kept her from putting a stop to this when she needed to.
"I saw everything Lumi, it was an accident. So, I'll ask again, how would you know? Have you even been to your dorm in the several weeks since then?" Lumi looked away for a brief moment, feeling naked under the redhead's knowing gaze.
"I… I don't know what you're talking about." She tried to deny it, still not meeting the disapproving stare of her Aunt.
"Jin is also my nephew, Lumi. He talks to me, and he tells me that you haven't made a single attempt to fix the damage you and Scarlet caused."
Jin? Had he turned on her as well? No, she had to have misunderstood, after everything they'd been through he'd have her back… but then again, he stayed in the dorm with their teammates… talked with them… and was now apparently talking with Ruby behind her back about the things she did. Was she truly alone on this? She knew she wasn't, logically speaking, Elizabeth had her back if nothing else, but now, standing before Ruby like this, she had never felt more alone. Ruby softened her glare, seeing Lumi's facade of confidence slowly melt away. Maybe now she'd be more reasonable, and would stop being so stubborn like her parents were at her age and listen, even if it was just for a moment.
"Did your mother ever tell you that she hated me when we first met?" Lumi's eyes widened, not only from the surprise at the sudden change in topic, but also from the utter ridiculousness of that statement, she couldn't fathom the idea of her Mother saying anything worse than a mere jest at Ruby's expense.
"That's impossible, she always says you're the little sister she never had!"
"It's true, ask your father about it. For the first few days she couldn't stand me, and to be honest, it wasn't all her fault." Ruby smirked at that, making a mental note to call Weiss her "big sis" the next time they met up, as well as reminiscing about those days, when everything was simpler. "Do you know how we moved past that?"
Lumi pondered the question, still stumped on the idea that Ruby and her mother had ever been at odds in the first place, what could Ruby possibly have done? Blown her mother up?
"I… you apologized?" Ruby shook her head, walking past the desk and placing a hand on little Lumi's shoulder, leading her out the door, hoping that maybe, just maybe, some wisdom from the past can apply to the present.
"She gave me a chance, she gave Team RWBY a chance. That's all I'm asking from you Lumi. You don't have to be Scarlet's best friend, you don't even have to like her, but you have to at least see if this really is unfixable before you give up on her and your team."
"But her Father-"
"He isn't here, and he isn't on your team either." Lumi bit her lip, unable to think of any rebuttal. "Now come on, I don't want to hear anything else about changing teams until you've given yours a chance, okay?"
As she opened the door to let Lumi out, who was thinking about what she'd been told, the pair were stopped by a small pink-haired dog Faunus who jumped away from the door in surprise. Lumi seemed to somewhat recall seeing her before, but she couldn't place her finger on where. Ruby however, had no such difficulty identifying the girl.
"Oh, Miss Morgan, did you need something?" The girl jumped once more at being spoken to, as if she wasn't expecting it, she ummed and aahed for a moment before blurting out.
"Oh, n-no, I'm okay, t-thank you Miss Rose!"
Before either could say another word, the girl speed walked away as fast as her small legs would carry her, leaving the two to wonder what that had been about.
Belka could feel her heart in her throat as she stumbled backwards from the impact of Alternative Deathstyle slamming into Morgan, this was a complete and total disaster!
When her team had been selected to spar against JWEL, Belka had formed a plan, and in her opinion, it was a good one, even if it was nothing complex or special. Juliet was the heavy hitter and biggest threat out of them, in one on one sparring sessions she'd manage to knock students with less impressive Aura reserves, ones similar to her own, out in one blow. Elizabeth was the most suited for direct combat, and thus she would play distraction and use that stupid family Semblance Lumi never shut up about in conjunction with her oversized revolver and whip-sword to keep Juliet busy and stop her from working her way through the weaker members of her team. She'd handle Luna herself, as from a technical standpoint, their weapons were relatively similar, but she had far more advantages in direct combat, superior Atlesian technology resulting in higher beam range and strength, a nearly unlimited budget allowing her to use all manners of powerful Dust, and most of all, melee functionality. While she was sure the dinky pistol Luna carried was more than adequate in its own right, it simply didn't hold a candle to Morgan, so if she could close the distance, she'd be able to bring her down easily. Elena was more complicated, being far more well rounded than the other two, not lacking in range or close quarters combat. She'd leave her to Goose, as while she could say plenty about the Branwen, she couldn't deny her skill with her blade, nor her aim with the cumbersome shotgun attached to it. Rosaria was the most complicated to deal with, as she hadn't seen the girl fight before, and she didn't know what to make of the strange weapon that rested on her shoulders and ran down her arms, so Lao was her best bet, adept at both mid-ranged and close quarters combat, which seemed to be Rosaria's effective range.
Thus, she would take out Luna, then help Goose finish Elena before the two of them would then join up with Lao to make quick work of Rosaria, finally allowing the team to bring a combined assault against the powerhouse that was Juliet. It was a simple divide and conquer strategy, not exactly the sort of daring stratagem that would blow the minds of Atlas's top generals, but if executed properly, it would work. The issue was that no one wanted to follow it! She'd barely gotten the words out of her mouth before Elizabeth shook her head and suggested a different plan.
"I'll target Luna, she's their weakest link after all. Once I'm done with her, I'll use my glyphs to support you three in taking the others down." she declared confidently, ignoring the confused look from Goose and the raised eyebrow from Lao.
"What? No, you need to keep Juliet busy, none of us are going to last more than a few seconds against her in a one on o-"
Elizabeth, however, didn't listen and made a dash towards Luna, looking to take out what she saw as the team's weakest link right off the bat. It wasn't a bad idea, Belka herself had briefly considered it, but with Elizabeth occupied with another target, it meant that the only person she trusted to handle the well built brute was Goose, and that was a gamble she didn't want to take, and neither did Juliet it seemed, because the woman immediately targeted her instead! The descent into chaos was swift after that, Goose tried to back her up in dealing with Juliet, but soon found herself tangled in Rosaria's wires as the stoic girl tried to pull her back, taking the both of them out of the fight for the moment, something she wasn't sure if she was allowed to be mad at Goose for, but considering she was still about to be walloped by Juliet, she leaned towards yes. Thankfully, Lao did the smart thing and tried to capitalize on Rosaria's weapon being indisposed, but Elena saw to it that he'd have to get past her first, starting to pelt him with arrows.
As expected, Belka didn't last long against Juliet, she'd done all that she could, Morgan's range was the one advantage she could use, trying in vain to keep Juliet back, but her opponent acted as though she was completely unconcerned with the hits she took, barreling through her offense and swinging her monstrous hammer with enough force to send her flying, even though she managed to block the strike with Morgan's length. Surprisingly, it wasn't the blow itself that took Belka below the threshold to continue fighting, but it was the impact with the hard light wall afterwards that did it, her Aura fizzling away to mere embers with the collision, landing against the surface hard enough to send brief cracks of light through the field. Now having a numbers advantage, JWEL made quick work of the remaining fighters in BGEL. Lao had the advantage on his opponent, using both modes of his weapon to keep her in the range where he'd have an advantage, but that strategy only worked on one opponent, so when Juliet moved in, there was really nothing he could do. Elizabeth actually did manage to defeat Luna, not that it could be considered a fair fight. What was a girl with little to no close quarters options really supposed to do when cornered? Belka knew it wasn't right to feel so satisfied to see the realization that she was fighting on her own making its way to her niece's face, but it was certainly there. She did well enough for her station, just barely able to keep Juliet at bay, but with Elena there, it was a slow but sure victory for the duo. Rosaria watched them for a moment, then looked down at the tangled and struggling Goose, then back to the fight, then back to Goose.
In all fairness, had Goose been thrown at her, Belka wouldn't have known how to react either, so she really couldn't fault her for freezing up when the girl was flung into her face with enough force to similarly bring her down past the acceptable threshold. Now leaving Goose as the last one standing… er, laying, there was a bit of confusion as the three members of JWEL looked down at Goose, hesitant to just start kicking the girl while she was down.
"Uh… I give up?'' With Goose's concession, the sparring match concluded, and Professor Castleton came down to congratulate JWEL and help Rosaria untangle Goose. Belka got to her feet, her arms trembling, the impact having sent tremors throughout her entire upper body. She was sore, similar to how her legs would feel after a run. Before she was able to fully stand up though, a tanned hand reached down as Juliet offered her help.
"Hey, good match! Sorry I sent you flying like that, guess I still don't know my own strength!"
She gritted her teeth, the reminder that she'd been taken out of the fight so easily caused her anger to flare up, they should have won! Maybe it wouldn't have been as easy as she thought, but if they'd just followed the plan, if Elizabeth wasn't so stubborn and just listened, they would have won! They must have seen them as weak because of such a poor performance, seen her as a weak leader and fighter. Well, she wasn't going to give such pity the time of day, as she dragged herself into a fully standing position.
"I appreciate the concern, but I can assure you I'm fine." she said curtly, leaving Juliet just standing there with her hand still extended, her grin faltering, going stiff and forced as she played off the encounter, wiping some non-existent sweat from her brow. It took the combined efforts of Rosaria, Luna, and the Professor to get Goose free, and once she was, each team stood, ready to be addressed by Professor Castleton. Belka didn't bother to pay attention as he no doubt would sing the praises of the opposing team for their victory. She'd never been more humiliated! She'd been utterly trounced, her entire team had been. What should have been at the very worst a close fight, was a one sided joke of a match that the whole class had gotten front row seats to. After what felt like an eternity, the Professor turned to them, a kind and understanding smile on his face. Oh perfect, he pitied her too.
"BGEL, while you managed to briefly hold your own, you suffered from a fatal flaw in this fight, can any of you identify it?" Yes she could, it was the four foot eight brat who thought she knew better than her team leader, however, she knew better than to say as much out loud. Instead, Lao answered in his usual deadpan tone.
"We didn't have an agreed plan of action, sir."
"Correct!" Professor Castleton said with praise, tossing the boy a piece of candy which he effortlessly caught. Belka cringed at the display, it was like they were children in the man's eyes, the way he rewarded them with sweets, though it seemed the others didn't share this complaint. "To say you were uncoordinated… well, it's understandable that some teams will take longer to fall into form than others, but you need to learn how to synergize, banding together has always been our greatest strength against the Grimm, use this as a learning experience."
With that, he concluded the class, dismissing the students. BGEL and JWEL lingered for just a tad longer, Goose congratulating the other team, who were quick to give what little compliments they could based on their, frankly, embarrassing display. Belka stood aways back from her partner, staring at her weapon still in its inactive state as her anger festered. Oh she'd be telling the girl off, of that she was certain.
"Hey, Belka, are you coming?" Looking up, she saw that Goose was staring at her, her head tilted as she was about to poke her partner to get her attention. Belka slapped the hand away and looked around the room, realizing she'd been lost in thought. It was just BGEL now, even JWEL had exited, leaving them alone… Now that they were alone, she decided that there was no reason to wait until they were back at their dorm to scold the pygmy girl.
"What the hell was that!?" Belka snapped, her voice suddenly booming to a high and echoing throughout the room. Goose jumped back, nearly falling over as she did so, genuinely startled by Belka's sudden outburst. Lao actually seemed startled for once too, and Elizabeth found herself glaring back.
"Excuse you?" Elizabeth shot back, similarly growing angered by her aunt's audacity. Who did she think she was, lashing out at them because she couldn't handle losing? She stomped forward until she was close enough to smell the taller girl's breath.
"Don't play dumb! Just by breaking off from the plan like that, you ruined everything!" Belka snapped, jabbing her finger into Elizabeth's chest. Oh, that got her mad, her teeth gritting as she prepared to snap back, only for Goose to push her way in between the two, prying them apart and keeping them at bay for the moment.
"Hey, guys come on, this isn't helping anyone, we all could have done better, I got all tangled right away, it's not like I helped out that much." Goose pointed out, trying to draw the ire of her niece and partner away from one another before things got out of hand, but unfortunately, that didn't work as Liz shook off Goose's arm moments later.
"You lost because your Semblance is a coin flip, it's not the same as simply performing pathetically. Maybe if our dear leader hadn't dropped the ball so hard and lasted more than twenty seconds, we could have taken her!"
Belka laughed at the ridiculousness of the statement. Either she was grasping at straws, or Elizabeth had far more faith in her than she thought, which, while a nice thought, was almost as absurd as her beating Juliet.
"Elizabeth Ironwood, do me a favor and think about what you just said, how are any of us supposed to handle a monster like her in a straight fight? I was counting on you!" The smaller girl softened her glare somewhat, the point her leader was making starting to sink in, but Belka couldn't leave it at that. "Unless your brain stopped developing around the same time as your height, I'm going to expect more from you in the future."
She… didn't know why she'd said that, she'd made her point, she could see that it was sinking in and that Liz didn't even give a half hearted rebuttal, yet she felt the need to make that personal dig for some reason that eluded her. Elizabeth reacted as expected, Lumi's sister Ingrid had let Belka know that the girl was known for being a bit sensitive about her height.
"You know what, screw you Gele!" Elizabeth shouted in newfound rage, stepping forward and pushing Belka back, thankfully not so hard she fell. For a moment, she was too stunned to react, had she really just tried to push her over that?
"That's enough." Lao interrupted, joining Goose who similarly got in-between them before either of them could escalate the situation any further. The girls glared past their teammates, both looking ready to burst at any second. Thankfully, Elizabeth either thought better of it or caved, and at this point Belka didn't particularly care which.
"Whatever, come on Goose." Elizabeth said, turning on her heels and storming away, only to stop when she realized she wasn't being followed. The salt and pepper haired girl stood there, shuffling her feet, looking back and forth between her niece and the team leader, unsure what to do.
"Well, are you coming or going?" Belka asked, crossing her arms and watching expectantly. While Goose didn't really want to pick a side, it seemed like they were expecting her to.
"I'm… going to… the showers. I uh… I stink!" The explanation certainly wasn't what either of them expected, both Elizabeth and Belka staring at her with varying levels of confusion and disbelief. Seeing that neither of them were buying it, and unable to read Lao's face as per usual, she lifted her arm up and sniffed her armpit. It didn't smell good, obviously, but it was nothing out of the ordinary after a full day. Still, they didn't need to know that, so she made a dramatically disgusted face and gagged. "Bleh! Yup, gotta wash all this sweat off before I smell like Jin after a workout!"
With her excuses made, Goose took off, speed walking out the door and left her team without picking a side. She felt bad, she wanted to support her niece, and her partner, but when they were at odds over something that really didn't matter, it was so messy that she just didn't know what to do. As she turned the corner, she bumped into someone, a girl, around Lumi's size, maybe a little smaller, in a long, tattered, purple coat with a hood and a simple set of black clothes underneath, who tried, and failed, to recover from the bump, immediately falling over from the accidental collision.
"Ow…" The girl groaned, her yellow eyes looking up at Goose. Something was weird about this girl, was having pupils that big normal? Oh what was she thinking, her stupid Semblance made her bump into someone again! She had to help, it was the least she could do.
"Oh, sorry about that, just my luck." Goose said apologetically, reaching down and offering her hand, which the girl stared at for a moment before accepting and letting Goose pull her up. "I'm Goose, sorry again, that happens way more than you'd think."
"Uh, Lavender, it's fine." the brunette, Lavender apparently, said, taking a step back and looking past her. Goose figured she must have felt awkward, okay, maybe she could change the subject, like to clothes!... Okay, actually her clothes were kinda unremarkable… The belt was cool though, it had a really cool texture, purplish-black and shiny, but not too shiny.
"Hey, I like your belt!" Lavender blinked back, not really knowing how to react to that, looking down at her waist before looking back at Goose.
"Thanks, I… grew it myself, uh I gotta go… get some food." Ah, that's why she was looking around. Well, it would be rude to keep her, so Goose just moved to the side and let the girl slink past her, the small woman pulling her hood up over her head as they parted.
"Cool, see you around Lavender!" Goose called out as she walked off. As she finally made her way to the showers, it occurred to her that she didn't recognise that girl at all, even though they had been on campus for just over a month now… Maybe Belka was right, she did need to pay attention more.
Jet sat on the bench, holding Hephestus' slide up into the light to better examine it, the stainless steel shining with not so much as a scratch on the metal. In fact, save for a few haphazard specks of dirt, the part was in perfect condition. Most would see the small imperfections as negligible and simply ignore them until they were more noticeable, but to his crimson eyes, it was an issue that required his immediate attention. If he allowed himself to get complacent now, then what was to stop him from ignoring it the next time, or the time after that? No, he'd do it properly and deal with it now. Grabbing one of the many specialized brushes he used to regularly clean his weapon, he gently scrubbed away at the part, falling back into the routine he'd gotten used to. He'd have to look at the whole weapon again, if he'd missed sections of the slide, then he could have missed more, and besides, it helped him to take his mind off of this whole mess with Scarlet and her Dad, something that became less doable when someone tried to get his attention from the side.
"Hey man, so is it true? About that redhead chick you're hanging out with. Is she really a terrorist?" the boy asked, leaning in and doing the most half hearted attempt at a whisper he'd ever seen. He pretended that he wasn't paying attention, yet deep down, the fact that the rumors had shifted from centering on Scarlet's parents to her irked him to no end.
"I heard she started something with another chick, did she hit you too man? Is that why you stick around her, scared she'll do worse if you don't?" he asked, clearly not getting the hint, and as thick skulled as he was, he probably didn't realize that he was getting under Jet's skin, even as his knuckles turned pale, gripping the slide tighter with every word the boy spoke.
"Frankly, I don't see how that's any of your business." Jet said, his tone shorter than he meant to lead on. Glancing over, Jet couldn't help but roll his eyes at the offended look now plastered onto the other boy's face.
"Not my business? Dude, it's all of our business now, what if she snaps again?" Jet started to drown the boy out, looking back down at the slide and running a microfiber cloth along the metal. The cloth picked up the loose dirt from the slide as it steadily traveled across the silver expanse, leaving the metal so clear that he could see his own reflection in it, as well as the reflection of the boy, still yapping his lips about things he knew nothing about.
"Hey Jet, what's up man?" If the cheery voice of his partner didn't tip him off, the sudden weight of Jin's heavy arm landing on his shoulder would have certainly done the trick. "Oh, what're you guys talking about?"
Jin flashed a wide toothy smile, seemingly ignorant to the fact that he'd just cut off the boy on the other side of Jet. Another wave of emotions flowed across his face at the sudden intrusion, seemingly considering telling the Monkey man off, but ultimately deciding against it after realizing that the newcomer was a head taller, built like a brick wall, and that Jet looked less than pleased at his lingering presence. Suddenly, his questions about their team leader didn't seem all that important.
"Oh uh, we- uh, we were just leaving! Good talk man!" He got his excuse out and stood up, immediately walking off as fast as his legs would carry him without another word. Jet just stared into the now empty space for a moment, confused but thankful.
"How did you…"
"You'd be surprised at how often people get intimidated just because I'm big." Honestly, Jet really wasn't surprised. Jin was a mountain of a man, he was a bit cautious himself before learning that the man was a big softie. If Jin felt a certain kind of way, he didn't show it, moving around the table and taking the now unoccupied seat with the same smile he had before. "So… what was that about?" Jin questioned.
"Take a wild guess." Jet said bitterly, going back to looking over the display of parts spread before them. Jin let him work for a minute, watching as he picked up one of the parts and looked it over, then, despite it looking no less than perfect to him, Jet continued to clean it, before moving on to the next part and repeating the process.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Jin asked gently, stopping Jet in his tracks. The meticulous boy was stumped at that. Did he want to vent? Absolutely. Did he want to retread the same tired old drama for the thousandth time this month with Jin? Not particularly. But in the end, the stress induced headache he'd been trying and failing to fight off didn't really leave much room for decision making, so he just decided to let it all out.
"Not really, what Terra- well I guess there's no point in pretending anymore, what Adam did… it's not on Scarlet. I mean hell, I could hardly see him doing those things, obviously she's not gonna know how to react, who would?" Jin nodded along, letting Jet get his small rant out of the way. None of what Jet was saying was anything he didn't already know, but it was clearly cathartic for his partner, since he was letting the situation build up inside him. But, there was a part of Jet's rant that stood out to Jin.
"Wait, pretending? So you did know." Jet's eyes widened as his mistake was pointed out to him, panic briefly setting in until he realized that Jin's reaction mostly amounted to… curiosity? Jet didn't get this guy. "How much did you know?"
Jet hesitated, he considered making something up on the spot, try to explain it as a slip of the tongue or something, but that instinct quickly faded, Jin's dopey smile quickly causing any caution he felt to fade away.
"My Mom and Dad… they're like hers. They made some- okay, a lot of mistakes. They never hid that, but they'd never go into specifics about what they did. So I did some digging…" The rest didn't really need to be said, the articles about Adam were bad enough, but the videos? Gods, the last thing he needed to see was the man who was almost like an uncle to him putting the innocent families of SDC executives to the sword. It made him feel sick, and truth be told, he still hadn't fully compartmentalized it. As for Ember… while he didn't have any actual proof of anything she may have done in the past, he knew her voice well, and it sounded a lot like the woman who made that obviously evil speech right before the Grimm invaded the city when Beacon fell all those years ago…
"Why didn't you tell her?" He paused at Jin's question. He didn't know exactly why, though the answer was obvious. He had no proof of any wrongdoing when it came to Ember, just a recording that was older than they were, and while Adam's past was stained with blood, it was just that, his past. There was no reason to cause needless drama in what was, honestly speaking, the family of his only real friend, especially when it seemed like they'd put it behind them. But that wasn't what came to mind. No, what came to mind was how it would break Scarlet's heart. So that's how he answered.
"I dunno, I didn't want to hurt her I guess." Jin tilted his head, watching Jet for a moment before it all clicked.
"Ohhh." Jin said, leaning back with a knowing look, confusing the smaller boy.
"What?" he asked in a genuinely confused manner, something that amused Jin to no end, as if Jet actually thought he'd buy that he was unaware of his own feelings.
"Nothin'..."
Now it was Jet's turn to stare, going over the conversation in his head to try and figure out what would cause a shift in tone from the seriousness of the past to something so teasing… Then his cheeks went red as he finally realized what the Faunus was implying.
"It's not like that!" he said quickly, a bit too quickly, making his partner smile wider.
"Never said it was~." Jin replied in a sing-song voice.
"Okay then, why aren't you all pissed… I mean… nevermi-" Jet said the last part quietly, in his haste to change the subject, he didn't think about how it might actually make the younger man feel.
"Because of what happened with my moms?" Jin asked matter of factly. That was one part Jet couldn't decide if he wanted to know the full story on, but Lumi had made it clear that there was bad blood between the families, the kind that could lead to further bloodshed if left alone to fester.
"Well, yeah, if Lumi's anything to go by, you should be throwing a fit that'd eclipse hers by miles." Jin merely shrugged at the notion, which surprised Jet. He'd assumed the gentle giant would have at least needed to think about how he answered such a delicate question, but at most his face went from smiling to pensive as he spoke.
"Mom always said that holding onto stuff like that just makes the pain last longer. If you can't let go of the past, how're you supposed to live for the future?"
"That's… pretty profound."
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure she just made it up on the spot, but still, it's a good point. If she can move on from something like that, then why should I go digging up old wounds?" Jin chuckled, his thoughtful face giving way to the big dumb smile that Jet had come to expect.
Yeah… he really didn't get this guy, but he was starting to think that he liked him.
The women's locker room was empty for the most part, and even if it hadn't been, Scarlet wouldn't have cared much. With the towel meant to cover her skin currently thrashing about in her hair, she began to exit the shower. She'd never been self conscious before, and it wasn't anything the other girls hadn't seen before. If they wanted to be weird and gawk just because her assets were on the larger side, that was on them. Strangely enough, this was the most… normal she'd felt in a while. Even if she was buck naked, it was much better to have only a handful of eyes on her rather than the entire school's. As she made her way to her locker, the young woman overheard a few familiar voices.
"I dunno, it's like they just wanna fight for whatever reason." That one was familiar, though less upbeat than she was used to hearing.
"Well you said there's family drama right? That stuff can divide people for years." That one was less recognizable.
"But that's dumb! None of us were even born back then…"
Curiosity got the better of Scarlet and she peered around the corner, finding the familiar faces of Luna, Elena, and Goose sitting and talking in the neighboring aisle. They were all in a similarly exposed state as herself, but were actually using their towels to cover up. Not much was notable at a glance, and it wasn't as if she wanted to stare… but damn, Goose's jeans hid more than she would've guessed. Elena was the first to notice the redhead, her eyes darting down to her chest, and then immediately back up in an instant as the sight registered, her face turning beet red and clearly making a concentrated effort to keep eye contact. Luna was next, nearly jumping out of her skin, though she seemed less bothered by Scarlet's nudity, her reaction coming off as if she was just genuinely frightened by her sudden appearance. She backed up and looked to her partner, seeming like she was considering hiding behind the short haired girl to her side. Meanwhile, turning her dual toned hair, Goose's face lit up at the sight of her friend.
"Scarlet!" Goose blurted out, and, ignoring any and all pretenses of decorum, immediately stood up and wrapped her arms around Scarlet, lifting the slightly shorter girl off of her feet in a bear hug. Scarlet, while briefly startled, quickly melted into the surprise show of affection, similarly hugging the girl now holding her up off the ground. Elena blushed once again and she immediately covered Luna's eyes with her hands. The smaller girl's expression suddenly shifted from fear to befuddlement, confused as to why her eyes were being covered. "It's good to see you! How've you been?" Goose asked, continuing to suspend Scarlet off the ground.
Terrible, thanks for asking. Scarlet had to bite her tongue to keep that in, no matter how badly she wanted to say it. She knew Goose of all people was just being polite, so she rethought her answer.
"About as well as I can be. Jet and Jin have been sticking with me, so it's not too bad." Scarlet said, trying to sound hopeful as she was gently placed back on the ground. She almost wanted to ask Goose to keep holding her. She didn't want to admit it, but after being so isolated for the last month, she had really needed that.
"Really? I'm surprised that Jin would risk being seen with you." Elena said, taking her hands off of Luna's eyes, the moth girl looking around confused as to what she wasn't meant to have seen.
"Meaning what exactly?" Scarlet asked, placing a hand on her hip and scowling at the possible implication that he shouldn't have stuck by her side. While Luna squeaked at the look not even directed at her, Elena just crossed her arms over her chest, which was neither a fully dismissive nor aggressive reaction as far as she could tell.
"Hey, I didn't mean anything by it, I'm just saying that he's being real nice considering who his mom is."
"His mom? Wait, which one?" Scarlet asked, she didn't know much about Jin's family other than a few basic things he had shared with her. She remembered he said something about two younger twin siblings, a younger brother who had to wear sunglasses 24/7 because of some eye condition, and a younger sister who was hard of hearing, but aside from him having two siblings and two moms, she couldn't recall anything notable about his family aside from his relation to Professor Rose.
"Blake Belladonna, Y'know, the chieftess of Menagerie? The one working with her sister on better relations with Atlas." Elena said, pointing to Goose as she spoke the word "her". "Just saying, he's taking a huge risk considering your dad helped set race relations back a decade."
Okay, that had to be an exaggeration. But either way, Scarlet really didn't want to talk about her old man, or, more accurately, she didn't want to break Elena's nose over him when he didn't deserve the courtesy.
"How do you know all this?" she asked, mostly to try and change the subject, but also hoping for an explanation on the stalker-ish level of knowledge this girl had on her friend's family.
"It's all public knowledge. You do watch the news, right?" Elena tilted her head, as if she was confused by Scarlet's question. Admittedly, her knowledge on international politics was shoddy at best, so she had to concede on that, but then again that wasn't her fault. She was a Patch girl, born and raised, why would she need to know about what was going on with Atlas and Menagerie?
"Okay, but why do you care?" It felt like a good way to continue the conversation without admitting that she was just unknowledgeable about politics. Elena just rolled her eyes and held up her hand in response. For a moment, Scarlet just looked confused, turning to Luna and Goose, neither of whom seemed to know what was going on either. However, they suddenly noticed that Elena now looked wet, there was now a thin layer of a clear liquid covering her body, seeming particularly thick around her hands.
"Did… you just sweat on command? Is that your Semblance?" Scarlet asked, making a face like she was grossed out. It certainly didn't smell like sweat, it was more… bitter? Her confused face at trying to discern the scent earned an eye roll from the Mistrali girl.
"Wha- No! I'm a poison dart frog Faunus, and this "sweat" is the neurotoxin I can produce on command, so yeah, I have a reason to care, thanks for asking." Oh… okay yeah, that actually was a good reason to care. Scarlet opened her mouth to give a retort on instinct, but nothing came out, realizing that she didn't really have a counter to Elena now.
"Well that was dumb, why didn't you just say that?" A sudden voice from across the room spoke casually. Turning their heads, they saw the heavily tanned Vera and the significantly less tanned Loyal, both getting ready to shower themselves. How Scarlet didn't notice the stench of chemicals that completely enveloped the artificially bronzed woman until that point, she didn't know, but it hit her nose like a freight train. "Like, you know you gotta shower again now, right?"
Elena looked down at her toxin-covered hands, and all the girls present could practically see the gears turning in her head as she realized that couldn't even bump into, let alone touch, anything without leaving behind a harmful toxic residue.
"Oh for fu-" Vera didn't wait for her to finish the thought before saying something again.
"Then again, considering how none of you seem to think past the short term ,I guess I shouldn't be surprised." Vera said bluntly. Unlike her leader, the perpetually bored looking girl didn't seem to be attempting any form of subtlety with her antagonism.
"Ironic, considering someone in their vulnerable birthday suit is trash talking a girl covered in toxins." Elena growled, by no means having forgotten the incident with their leader on day one. If these girls were fine working with a girl like that, they probably weren't much better. Glancing over, Vera just rolled her eyes before speaking again.
"Man, Alaska was right, all of you are dumb, even Loyal here wouldn't try to use an easily identifiable Faunus trait to try and hurt me." Elena gritted her teeth but managed to reign herself in, suddenly well aware that in the moment she couldn't do anything without also poisoning Vera, and giving away that she had done it.
"Yeah I wou- HEY!" Loyal pouted for a moment until Vera reached over and patted the girl's head gently, placating her offended teammate.
"Keep acting before you think like this, and your team's gonna need a replacement like Big Red's." Hearing the mind numbingly lazy nickname for her, Scarlet chimed in.
"I'm not going anywhere." she said defiantly. It was gonna take more than the crap they put her through to get her to give in, and she'd make sure they damn well knew it. Or at least, that was the plan before Vera corrected her.
"Not you, Little Miss Legacy is trying to get transferred to another team."
"Lumi wouldn't do that!" Goose spoke up, coming to her niece's defense, only to be countered by Loyal.
"Yuh-huh, I was there, I overheard her while I was waiting to talk with Miss Rose." The girl's innocent proclamation caused the lot to go silent.
"That's bullshit." Scarlet said, refusing to believe the words of a team of girls who'd done nothing but screw with her. She might not have had much faith in Lumi, but it wasn't like Scarlet had tried to… well… she knew she didn't try to hurt Lumi, but the girl obviously felt otherwise. As the realization set in that it was more of a real possibility than she wanted to admit, Vera stood up and turned to walk off.
"Fine, don't believe us, ask her yourself. Oh wait, you can't, she won't even look at you. C'mon Loyal, we tried." And with that, she left before another word could be said, but Loyal remained a moment longer.
"Uh… bye!" she said before waving energetically and taking off after her friend.
Scarlet stood, stunned as she went silent. She didn't want to admit it, but Vera had a point, Lumi hadn't just ignored her, but Jet as well. She couldn't exactly claim to be much better, but at least she wasn't outwardly cold to her partner. Hell, she never even had the chance, she figured Lumi would eventually give in and try to start over after a week or two, but now, she realized that she might've just given up entirely. It infuriated her to no end, yet she had no idea why.
"Scarlet?" Goose said softly, watching as Scarlet began to shake with anger.
"I'm fine." Turning on her heels, she made her way back towards her locker, she needed to get dressed and have a talk with her partner. She was gonna get to the bottom of this, even if she had to force it out of Lumi. She was NOT just going to take this sitting down.
Lumi stood outside a door, the one that was supposed to be hers. It felt so strange looking at it, now that she hadn't looked at it, or even gone near it, at any point in the past month. There was nothing different or special about it from the last time she was here, other than that the white wooden door was now adorned with a silver plaque, the letters SJJL engraved into it. She reminded herself of that, that the door wasn't special, there was no reason to be apprehensive, it was her dorm room after all, even if she hadn't acted like it, but she knew that she really didn't have any actual claim to it after the way she treated the individuals behind the door as though they were condemned. Should she knock? Would that be weird? Or would it be more weird to walk in like nothing happened? As she contemplated her options, the door suddenly opened.
"You know your feet block the light from th- Lumi?" Jet tilted his head at his teammate, surprised to see her there. It had been so long, he'd almost forgotten that he and the blonde were supposed to be roommates, and for that matter, teammates.
"Jet." Lumi nodded politely, trying to think of an explanation for standing there that sounded less pathetic than the truth: that she simply couldn't work up the nerve to walk into what was supposed to be her own room. "I was um… coming to see how Jin was doing."
"Oh, he's in the bathroom." Jet said matter of factly, his face doing a surprisingly accurate impression of Lao's signature stone cold expression. He couldn't quite control his eyes though, given how they darted around as if he was worried about something. Why was he acting all distant? Their interaction had been cordial- oh, right, she accused him of being a potential terrorist infiltrator like Scarlet… "Do you want me to let him know you're waiting?"
Lumi shook her head and wore a kind smile, one she'd hoped would help him feel more at ease and help him to look at her less like she was some kind of walking landmine, and more like a regular person.
"N-no, that's fine… may I come in?"
Jet wasn't sure what to make of the girl, at first she was openly hostile, then she ignored him along with Scarlet for about a month, and now she was being polite? He didn't really get it, but considering it was the most civil interaction they'd had since they first met, he'd take it.
"Uh, sure." moving aside, Jet more or less welcomed her into hi- their dorm. It was weird, he knew it was her room as much as his, yet the fact that she'd been gone so long created a sort of disconnect that made her feel more like a visitor rather than someone who was meant to be living there. Lumi clearly felt the same way, looking around the room as if it was unfamiliar. She moved over to her bed, the covers untouched since she left it neatly made the morning before her first day of class. Carefully sitting down, she'd hoped Jet would do the same, not wanting to make the boy feel uneasy, yet by the way he just stood awkwardly in the middle of the room, that seemed to be exactly what she was doing.
"Listen, Jet, I've been unfair to you, and to Scarlet too. I want to try and start over." She said, hoping that being direct would at least convince him to hear her out. Maybe she'd be able to explain herself, maybe he could see where she was coming from.
"Okay."
"And before you say anything just let me expl- wait, what?" Lumi's head, hung low in emotional vulnerability, suddenly darted upwards at Jet's response, staring at the boy with a shocked expression on her face. Had she heard him right? Okay, okay? Just like that?
"I said okay. I get it, you weren't thinking straight and you acted without thinking. Believe me, Scarlet does that all the time." Jet said in a worryingly casual manner. Lumi almost didn't believe him, but then again, that certainly sounded like Scarlet, and as far as she could tell, he didn't seem to be toying with her, in fact he looked to be a little less on edge now. This was real, he was genuinely giving her a chance. Oh, she could have hugged him for that. In fact, she stood up to do so when the door suddenly swung open.
"You." Scarlet said with an actual growl, the simple word utterly bathed in vitriol, setting the less than pleasant mood for this conversation. The universe had a funny sense of humor, either that or Goose had just walked by, because Jin chose this as the perfect moment to exit the bathroom. All eyes were on her now, an uncomfortable feeling to say the least, but she tried to ignore it and attempted to put her best foot forward.
"Scarlet, I-" Lumi was cut off when the irate woman in front of her slammed the door shut with enough force to crack the frame, a small web of brown cracks shooting through one edge of the white wood in an instant. She jumped back reflexively, raising her Aura as her partner snarled.
"Shut up, I don't want to fucking hear it!" Lumi could feel her blood start to boil, how dare this brute speak to her in such a way!? And after she came to apologize no less!
"Excuse you!?" Lumi shouted back. Seeing the situation start to escalate far faster than what was warranted, Jet moved in between the pair, facing Scarlet in hopes that he could calm his friend down enough so they could just talk this through, rather than scream it loud enough for the entire floor to hear.
"Woah, Scar, she wants to try and fi-"
"She tried to get transferred to a different team, Jet!" Scarlet shouted, almost sounding… hurt? No, she had to have misheard that, and more importantly, how did she know? Did Ruby say something? No, that didn't make any sense.
"How did you- wait, that dog Faunus girl…" She knew she was familiar for some reason, and now it was obvious, she was part of that team and had been listening in on them! Oh, when she got her hands on that little doe eyed saboteur! But that would come later, for now, she had to fix this.
"Lumi?" Jin looked lost, like he couldn't believe what he'd heard. It hurt her to see that, knowing it was not only because of her actions, but also because his confusion proved that he still didn't see things from her perspective. She'd hoped he'd have her back in this, but the fact that he looked just as blindsided as the rest of her team showed otherwise.
"Yeah, Lolly,Lana, or whatever the hell her stupid name is! It's nice to know the team that's going out of their way to screw with me is more honest with me than you!" Honest? If Scarlet really considered people that were obviously manipulating her into an emotional response as more trustworthy than herself, then she was stupider tha- no, she wouldn't allow herself to get worked up in such a way when she was trying to fix things and make up for her past transgressions.
"Listen, I'm sorry, but I was scared. In case you forgot, you cut me open and left a scar on my back." Lumi reminded them, trying to keep things balanced. Scarlet, however, was having none of it.
"Seriously? That's all you have to say for yourself? Do you have any idea what kind of bullshit I've had to put up with because of you over the last month?" Lumi scoffed at Scarlet's accusation, so this was all her fault now? Yes, she had played a role in this, but comparing it to Scarlet's, or better yet, the terrorist that burdened her with his name in the first place was laughable, so much so that she actually let out a dry and tired laugh.
"So this is all on me? You're just the blameless victim who did absolutely nothing wrong? Hey Jet, would you care to remind her who exactly instigated that fight?" That was the wrong thing to say, as Scarlet stomped closer, bending down to get to eye level with her, making Lumi feel that much smaller compared to her leader.
"You leave him the hell out of this!"
"Why not? You seem to be fine taking my friend!" The blonde snapped back, pointing out the blatant hypocrisy before her. This seemed to knock Jin out of the stunned stupor he'd been stuck in, suddenly turning to her.
"Lumi, stop! I'm not picking a side here."
"That is picking a side you dense buffoon!" Lumi shouted, turning on her heels and jabbing her finger into his chest. "Ruby told me how you went behind my back, making me out to be some unreasonable villain!"
"Because you are!" Jin roared, throwing his hands up into the air in frustration. The sudden outburst shocked the rest of his team, Scarlet and Jet particularly had never even seen him so much as scowl before, and while Lumi had seen the boy get mad once or twice in her seventeen years of knowing him, this was the first time that his rarely seen anger had been directed at anyone other than himself.
"Y-you, what're you talking about?" She asked, the defiant tone that she'd given Scarlet immediately evaporating in the face of her friend's anger, and the accusation levied against her that she was somehow entirely to blame for this.
"Lumi, I'm sorry, but this is ridiculous! I'm tired of walking on eggshells around you because of this! Scarlet and Jet aren't bad people, and they don't deserve to be treated like outcasts because their parents screwed up."
"No, I am not going to sit here and let you act like I'm the bad guy here for being worried about the safety of my cousin, my aunts, and most of all, my friends." Taking a step forward, she gently placed her hand on Jin's chest, hoping he'd see that she legitimately meant it.
"No one was in danger until you blew things up!" He wasn't buying it however, stepping away, now out of her reach.
"I wasn't going to say anything until she challenged me to a fight!" she said, trying to defend herself. She'd admit that maybe, just maybe, she had been mistaken in Scarlet's motivations, but she was never going to apologize for looking out for those she cared about.
"Then why did you accept? Aunty was right there, you could have said something!"
"That's… I…" But there was nothing to say, because he was completely right. She should have known better, her father wouldn't have let his pride get the better of him in such a situation, and her mother certainly wouldn't have accepted such a challenge. He was right, she should have been better, and known better too.
"You did this, not Scarlet, and not her dad either. You want to know who did this? Then go look in the mirror Lumi!"
She tried to keep her face still, to not let her shame and anger leak through, but soon she found herself trembling, and her breaths started to become uneven. Oh Gods, she was crying. She started to try and stop them, or at the very least wipe her tears away, but she couldn't with the sheer weight of what she'd done coming down along with the ire of her lifelong friend. Scarlet and Jet just looked confused, and as for Jin, the poor boy didn't know what to do, his anger subsiding as he saw his friend start to break down into tears. He went to reach out, to tell her he was sorry, that he had overreacted, but she turned before he could, running out of the room and leaving them to just watch.
"Well, that went well…" Jet grumbled, dropping down onto his bed as he watched Jin deflate like a leaky balloon, regret all over his face. It seemed like he wasn't used to blowing up at people, which honestly didn't surprise him in the slightest given his lack of social tact. Scarlet, on the other hand, looked down and glared at the floor as if she was going to burn a hole through it.
"Whatever, screw her." The bovine Faunus grumbled as she made her way to the beds.
"Scarlet, she meant it." Jet calmly told her as she passed, causing Scarlet to stop in her tracks.
"Huh?"
"She wanted to apologize to us, and more importantly, to you Scarlet, it's the whole reason she was here to begin with." That made the girl think for a moment, Lumi… wanted to apologize? That didn't sound like her... Whatever, even if it was true, she had given her a whole ass month to make up, why did she only want to now?
"So what? I don't have to forgive jack shit." Jet looked unamused at her words, like he was ready to scold her.
"No, but how can you come in all hopping mad because she supposedly wants to give up on the transfer and make up for her mistakes, and then you throw her attempt to genuinely fix things back in her face."
"I- That's different, she…" Scarlet paused, damn it, Jet was right. If Lumi was being honest, then she'd just let her anger get the better of her and make the situation worse… again.
"I ruined everything." The words didn't come out of Scarlet's own mouth, which the girl found a bit surprising. Instead, she looked over at Jin, who just floated in place, his massive form clenched up into the fetal position, completely and utterly defeated.
"No, we shouldn't have dragged you guys into this in the first place." the hot headed leader of SJJL groaned, making her way to the door.
"Where are you going?" Jet asked.
"To find her, I'll try to hear her out without jumping down her throat this time." It was the least she could do after this little fuckup, and if that didn't work, then maybe team SJJL really was just doomed at this point, but she wasn't going to just take it lying down. She and Lumi had made it work briefly during Initiation, maybe they could do it again if they worked things out.
"Try training field B, the one across from the huntsmen statues.. She and Liz usually use that as their spot." the floating ball that was Jin said, looking just a bit less down afterwards, his hovering form slightly more relaxed.
"I'll give it a shot, you coming?"
"I… don't think I should, I made things bad enough already." Geez, was this how she looked after she and Jet fought? Looking over to her oldest friend, they shared a glance at the boy before Jet nodded, wordlessly forming a plan. Jet would help Jin feel less like the bad guy, and she would go try to work things out with Lumi. Closing the door behind her, Scarlet stepped out and started walking, deciding to take the long way out and stop back at the locker rooms once more to grab Wilt and Bleed. Even if things didn't work out, she had a feeling she'd have a lot of emotions to work off. But first, she and Lumi needed to have an actual conversation instead of a screaming match at one another, and as low as those odds were, it was worth as much of a shot as anything else at this point.