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Requested By : Polemoduke

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A moment of awkward, stunned silence stretched over the little room her parents had lead them to. It was nice enough, honestly, given the situation. It even had a low table and a Dust powered surface heater in the middle of it, where her mother was nervously fussing over a pot of tea that smelled nice. Cheap, but nice. She poured all four of them a fill of little red plastic cups and set some sugar, honey and cinnamon out before, as always, Nora decided to be the ice-breaker.

"Mister and Missus B!" Nora chuckled awkwardly, a nervous energy creeping into her words in a way that filled Blake with dread. "I-I know they say beauty runs in the family but, like, come on Missus B! Who said you had to treat it like a marathon?"

"Oh, you're sweet…"

"I think she's calling you old."

"N-No!" Nora waved her hands quickly, almost knocking over her cup before she scrambled to catch it and set it back up, rambling all the while, "I-I mean Blake is, like, seventeen. So, ya know, obviously you're…"

"Careful…"

"I am old, dear. Be nice to her." Her mother said, smiling toothily and shaking her head when her father just growled low in the back of his throat and crossed his arms. "She's at least a better match than… He was."

"H-He…?" Blake stammered, ears flattening against the sides of her head when her father scowled even more deeply and her mother pressed her hands together the way she always did when she was… Upset. "Oh…"

"At least she cares about you," her dad rumbled, "right?"

"Hey, I like Blake like she likes Fish-" Nora cut off with a grunt of realisation and let her head fall to thunk on the table. "And I just realized the innuendo, please don't kill me."

"You're not great on the spot, are you, dear?"

"Not really!" Nora threw her hands up without raising her head, sighing quietly and adding. "Had a nightmare like this once… Can't even do the old 'picture them naked to laugh' thing because you are built like a particularly buff brick shithouse, and you are just older Blake, so imagining you in undies is just weird and not at all helpful and-"

"N-Nora, please!" Blake cut her off, flushing bright scarlet and stealing a long, deep drink of tea.

"Sorry, Blakey…" She sighed, "Just nerves… Cats and rocking chairs- Oh my god, I am so sorry!"

"What?" Ghira rumbled while her mom hid her lips behind a hand so Nora wouldn't see the smile she was fighting back when she looked up at the two of them. "It's a turn of phrase. It's not racist."

"I'm sorry!" Nora muttered, "You're just a very large, scary looking cat man…"

"Okay, that?" Ghira raised both brows, "That was racist."

"Damn it!"

"Nora, it's fine, just stop rambling before my father's eyebrows vanish into his hairline." Her mother finally snorted at that, grabbing her tea to take a drink while Blake turned to glower at her and frowned. "And you, stop encouraging him."

"I haven't said anything!" She squawked, setting her cup aside.

"Exactly." Blake shook her head, turning to look out one of the tiny windows at the storm outside. Silence stretched between them again and, terrified of Nora trying to break it again, she grabbed her hand. The Mistralian just sat up, watching her and drinking with her free hand until, finally, Blake asked. "Why are you even here?"

"We can't come see our daughter?"

"You can," Blake nodded, "but why did you?"

"You guys aren't, you know, just closing up a lil mom and pop place for a few days." Nora added helpfully, "You… Run an island, don't you? You leaving is a bigger deal than most Councils because, like, you don't have a lot of people. And y'all handle stuff more directly, from what I get."

"You know what we do?" Ghira asked, sounding a bit surprised.

"I'm dating your daughter." Nora shrugged simply, as if that was something simple to say. "I've been reading."

"You're doing research…?" Blake raised an eyebrow.

"Babe, if you ain't worth me doing a bit of reading then I don't like you enough to try and get with you, nice legs or not." Nora smiled, flicking the older Faunus a look when Blake's ears flicked anxiously. She at least had the good sense to relax a bit and duck her head. "Uh, sorry? I'm, uh, I'm not great at 'filters', ya know?"

"Your parents didn't teach you better sense?"

"Dad!"

"I'm sure they tried." Nora shrugged unflinchingly, smile thinning just a bit. The way Blake knew told her she was hurting. She turned towards her, but Nora just squeezed her hand and explained. "My village got knocked out when I was, like, five or so. I was all that was left, so… Not a lot of parenting goin' on there, ya know?"

"...Well." Her father rumbled, grimacing, "Damn it, now I feel like the idiot with the foot in his mouth."

"Heeeeey." Nora smirked, firing off a finger gun at him. "Samesies, bestie~!"

"You are a very strange girl…" Nora just shrugged, chuckling off the awkwardness, and her father sighed wearily. Turning back to Blake, he said, "We saw you after you and your… Friend confronted Banesaw, Blake. Illia called us, she had a picture. You had to know we'd come to check on you when you're still involved in… All of this."

"My friends are back in Beacon, dad." She hissed, eyes narrowing and ears flicking angrily between Nora and her father. "Nora is my girlfriend."

"One that already has a boyfriend, from what I understand…"

"She-"

"Is Mistralian, dear, which we already knew." Her mom cut her off, laughing nervously and flicking Ghira a look. "You, behave. It's not up to us to tell our fully grown daughter who and how to date."

"I'm her father!"

"And she's an adult." Her mother pushed, "She's free to be who she is. We have to respect that."

"I know, but… I just… If she'd listened before," her dad rumbled, some kind of… anger, bleeding into his words, "he wouldn't have happened."

A heartbeat passed before Blake blinked, slowly, and leaned back. She heard her mom say something but, before she could even process it, she slammed her hand on the table and snarled, "Oh, right, if I listened more to you, right, dad? Because you're just the island's greatest listener!"

"I always-"

"No, you didn't!" She shouted, "You always talked over me and-"

"I did not-"

"You are literally doing it right now, dad!" She shouted, standing so abruptly that she knocked her chair over. It clattered on the floor and, watching her, Nora turned to set it back up for her. A second passed and she felt Nora urging her back into her seat and sighed, collapsing onto it and gritting her teeth. Her eyes burned, but she refused to cry. Finally, she said, "You never listen to me… Just forget it."

"Blake, sweetheart, I-"

"Let it go, Mister B." Nora cut him off, wrapping an arm around the small of her back and not quite holding her but letting the weight rest there. Reassuringly. Quietly, and just the tiniest bit nervously, she said, "Things are getting heavy, so let's put the weights down for a bit. Cool off."

Her father pointed a long finger at her and growled, low in his throat again, "You don't get to tell me-"

"Ghira, stop." Her mom cut in, eyes closed and face a mask of quiet calm. Opening her eyes, she gave Blake a look and smiled thinly, "We… Weren't the best listeners, I know. But we're here now. Listening, now. So please, Blake, talk to us."

"...it wasn't my fault."

"What?"

"Adam wasn't my fault! I-I didn't make him, I didn't want- I didn't want any of this!" She shouted, feeling the heat at the edges of her eyes break and crawl down her cheeks. She touched it, realized she was crying, and spun away from them all, wiping them away angrily. A few seconds passed and, quietly, she murmured, "What he did wasn't my fault… Don't… Don't say it was my fault…"

"You mean to the Fang…" Her mom asked quietly, "Or to you?"

"I… I don't know…" A shadow passed over her and she had a moment to blink before massive arms wrapped around her. Her father's breathing rumbled in his chest, so faintly even she almost couldn't hear it, echoing around her like when she'd been young. She froze for a second before she leaned into the hug and let him hold her. "I'm sorry… I'm so sorry, dad, I-I didn't- I never-"

"You were a child, you have nothing to apologize for." He rumbled, pressing a kiss to the crown of her head. "I failed you, and he betrayed you… I'm so sorry."

She didn't know what to say, but, after a second, Blake did what she hadn't let herself do for three years. She leaned in and cried, as hard as the rain outside.

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Nora left Blake to talk to her family alone for a bit, after that. She was glad to be there for support, she could do that if Blake needed it - and she could find that out from the warehouse floor, while the family had some privacy to talk for a bit. It sucked, because just trolling along the sandbag walls and looking at them was earning her looks and glares, but she could deal with it. It was hardly the worst thing she'd had to put up with.

Not by a long shot…

Heavy steps caught her attention and she turned, looking up into Banesaw's mask as he came over and offered her a bowl of something steamy. When her brows scrunched, he grunted, "Vegetable stew. Best we've got, here."

"Lack of funds?" She asked, taking the bowl. He rumbled a noise and she chuckled, "Just curious, big man."

"Lack of people willing to sell to us." He grunted in correction, "We make do."

"Fair enough." She nodded, taking a spoonful of the stew and humming. "Not bad, actually… Kinda spicy."

"Complaints-"

"I'm not some hoity toity twit, big man." She cut him off, plopping on one of the dryer sandbags and taking another bite. Shrugging, she said, "Making do is what I grew up on. And, honestly, this is better than just 'making do' anyways. Who made it?"

"...I did."

"You?" She blinked, cocking her head. "Huh. Cooking skills isn't what I expected from you, big man."

"I… Was a cook." He rumbled, "Before this."

"Yeah?" She hummed around another bite, smiling softly. She could see the stiffness in his shoulders, read what he was worried about, and offered quietly, "I won't ask."

"No?"

"We're all entitled to our own heartaches." She answered coolly, "And our secrets. I won't ask for yours. Kind of a dick move, what with the soup you brought me, isn't it?"

"I… Suppose." He hummed, looking up and past her before he dipped his head and rumbled, reverently, "Lady Belladonna."

She turned, hoping for Blake, but only found her mom waiting, hands folded coolly in front of her. Though, and Nora wasn't sure of it completely, her eyes looked a bit… Red, around the edges. She paid Nora a nod in hello, and then gave Banesaw one, too, and smiled, "We aren't in Menagerie, Sin- Banesaw, rather. I don't hold rank here, so you can call me Khali."

"I know," he nodded more deeply, "Lady."

"Oh, you're ridiculous sometimes…" She chuckled good-naturedly, rolling her eyes and sighing wearily. Waving at Nora she asked, "May we have a moment? I'd like to… Speak, with Miss Valkyrie."

He hesitated, flicked her a look, and said, "She's not the safest…"

"I'm not gonna beat up my gal's mom." Nora groaned, "Come on, big man."

"Fine." He grunted, turning and leaving without another word.

"Forgive him, he's always been…" Khali raised a hand, motioning with it like she was trying to conjure up the right word before she finally gave up and took her own seat on the sandbag wall and sighed. "He's always been a bit odd, ever since everything really kicked off, so to speak."

"People are odd." Nora shrugged, "S'normal. Especially if you've been through the chew, uh, if you know what I mean."

"I can guess, and… Well, I suppose you're right about that." She sighed, taking a bowl of stew when Banesaw came back with one and watching him leave just as quickly. She spent a few moments eating, buying time Nora guessed, to think of what to say. Nora let her, content to gnaw on a little stick of hard bread that had come in her stew. Finally, though, she asked, "You're quite serious about our daughter, aren't you?"

"Isn't that obvious?" She asked, gesturing at the literal terrorists - at least technically - working in one of the corners.

"I suppose…" She sighed, before she clapped her hand suddenly, smiled, and seemed to… Push on. "Regardless, I wanted to be certain, because if you insist on getting involved in… Well, everything, then I felt I should… Oh, what's the saying now? Come dump the tea?"

Nora choked on her broth and covered her mouth, turning to wipe the edges of her mouth dry before she coughed to clear her throat and turned back, shaking her head and chuckling, "It's 'spill the tea', Missus B."

"How is that different…?"

"I…" Nora blinked, "I don't actually know. Huh."

"So, dumping the tea." Khali smirked, shaking her head as the good humor… Sort of slid away. "I… felt that you needed to understand what happened."

"Up there…?"

"In part, but… Also what happened that brought us here." Khali explained, flicking Nora a questioning look. One that asked for permission by way of a raised eyebrow. Nora nodded, reclining against some uneven sandbags, and the woman explained. "When Sienna, who leads the Fang now, took control, my husband and I… Well, we elected to step aside. Run Menagerie, where we won election, rather than fight Sienna where we had lost."

"Makes sense…"

"To us, maybe, but… Blake was young, and hated it." Khali sighed, shaking her head, "We just let it go. She wasn't even ten, then, but already she was so driven."

"That tracks with the woman I know…"

"It does." Khali nodded, "We just… Dismissed her, back then, thinking she would settle in Menagerie. But that… Wasn't wise of us."

"She didn't change, as she grew up." The Faunus went on, sounding more exhausted than she had since Nora met her. Which, admittedly, wasn't too long ago, but she noticed it anyway. "She just got… Angrier. She stayed on her Scroll, reading about all the issues of the world. By the time she was ten, she and Ghira were fighting every day. Ghira would keep telling her 'trust us, we're working on it'. He'd suggest things she could do on Menagerie. But…"

"Blake doesn't like being told what to do?"

"That." Khali snorted, "She hated it. She was already helping where she could, but… Well, that never worked. Until she was eleven and, suddenly, she… Stopped."

"Stopped…?"

"No more arguments, no more yelling, she just… Was happy." Khali sighed, smiling wistfully, "We were overjoyed, of course. We thought she'd gotten through it, moved on. She was training with some of Sienna's people, like many young men and women back then. We thought she wanted to be a Huntress, to protect our home."

"But… She left."

"That's where she met Adam." Khali answered, nodding, "He… Got in her head. I should have known, all she'd talk about was him, Sienna, and their stories from the mainland. He convinced her to wait, to save up her allowance. To train. Then, one night just after she was twelve, she… Vanished. We only found out a month later she'd snuck onto a Fang ship in his cabin, and gone to Mistral. Sienna wouldn't help, she said… She said 'if her parents won't fight and she's willing to go that far, I won't betray her'. I think she just wanted her as a symbol…"

"Royalty, right?"

"In a sense." Khali chuckled, "Having our daughter turn against our beliefs? Our methods? It was a political win for Sienna. I still wonder if she put Adam up to it all…"

"Do you have proof either way?"

"No." She shook her head, "And I fear I never will, either. Honestly? It hardly matters now. To us, at least. What matters is that she's safe, now, and… And she seems happy. Driven, still, but in a better way. We're not particularly glad for the route it all took, but…"

"Better a road through hell," Nora suggested, "than one to hell?"

"More or less." Khali nodded, "Though… What she's doing with the Fang has us worried."

"Why?"

"Taurus, by all we know, won't put her leaving lightly. Or her turning this cell against his plans…" Khali frowned, "Even with our backing, she'll still be in danger. It's why we're staying, for now."

"So everyone knows you're on her side." Nora nodded understandingly, "Makes sense. Even if only some of 'em follow suit…"

"Some isn't none." Khali nodded, "Even so… I came to tell you all this for more than just the reason I told you. I-"

"Want me to protect her." Nora guessed, smirking when the older woman blinked and nodded curtly. Shrugging, Nora said, "I can promise to try, but… Blake's a big girl, and a good fighter. And I'm not really gonna undercut her by acting like I have to play parent for her."

"That wasn't what I-"

"I know." Nora cut her off, smiling, "What I mean is… I'll stick with her. But if a fight comes? No one's protecting Blake. We're partners. We stand together."

"That's…" Khali's smile softened, just a bit, and she hummed. "Ghira said that to me, once upon a time…"

"Yeah?" She raised an eyebrow, "And…?"

"And I think we could do with more soup. Please, get your rest while you can, I'll bring you some as well." She sighed, standing and waving Nora off as she headed for the little group of Faunus huddling around the stove in the corner.

Nora watched her go, lips pursed. She was missing something, here, but…

It could wait, she was sure.

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Malkor :

My favorite is actually the Weiss storyline because A, WhiteKnight and B, exploring someone escaping racism is fun for me for… Reasons.