Visit to Garfront
The next morning, Pyra and Nia quickly got a large cloak to hide Otohime. After that, Rex cancelled their next night, which earned them half the money back.
They then all left for Garfront with their belongings which included Bumblebee. However, Yang couldn't ride it now for few reasons. One, the gas on it was now limited because of where they are. Two, she didn't know where Garfront was, so she wouldn't know where to drive. Three, Yang only had room for one passenger, aside from Dragunov, so that would mean leaving almost everyone behind. Something that none of the mortals or Blades were comfortable doing.
Which was why Yang was pushing her bike as they walked. Already having gone down a slope that led away from the city.
"Are those bunnies?!" Nora asked at the sight of what looked like bunnies not too far from the road.
"Bunnits," Yang corrected.
"I wanna hug one," Nora said as she already ran towards the fuzzy creatures.
"Hey you really shouldn't-" Zeke tried saying as Nora pounced on one bunnit that saw the hyper girl coming at it.
And then the weirdness happened, the bunnit's tail, which was hidden until now in bluish green grass, sprang out with the handlike tip with four digits clenched into a fist. Punching a surprised Nora in the face.
"Nora!" Ren and Electra called out in concern as the orangette was launched halfway back to them. All the while Otohime, who was still wearing the cloak, laughed in a way fitting for a noblewoman at Nora getting hit.
"Otohime." Jaune said in annoyance.
"It was her own foolishness that brought this on her," Otohime said, daring to look satisfied.
As this happened, Electra and Ren were helping Nora up. "They got hands?!" Nora exclaimed in slight shock.
"That's not all," Rex said in slight worry as he pointed to the bunnit and its friends. About twenty of them.
"They…probably thought, Miss Valkyrie was attacking," Dromarch said with a feeling of dread.
"They're just oversized rabbits," Qrow said with a frown, "How dangerous can they be?"
As if to respond, some of them raised their tails, and they had weapons. Crude ones, and most of them only had large tree branches, but still weapons.
"Uhh…don't those look like weapons that the Igna had?" Yang said nervously.
"Now that you mention it," Pandoria said, "Their weapons were missing when we walked back."
"Everyone just stay calm," Mòrag said in a pacifying tone, "If we move away slowly, they will not see us as a threat."
"Can't we just kill them?" Qrow asked, with a frown, "I mean we are all fighters here."
"I am not wasting my time on those things," Dragunov growled, "Let's just leave before something else happens."
"Nora Smash!" Nora cried out as she jumped right in the middle of the bunnit horde, before bringing down Electra's hammer.
"…Never mind," the draconic Blade grumbled.
"Pyra!" Rex shouted out as he drew out the Aegis Sword.
"I'm with you Rex," Pyra replied.
"Dromarch." Nia said as she drew out Twin Rings.
"At your side, my lady."
Mòrag let out a sigh before drawing Whipswords, "Let's finish this quickly."
"I Agree." Brighid said with an exasperated look.
With that, a chaotic battle between Drivers, and bunnits began.
"…I can't believe I was nearly beaten by a bunny," Jaune complained as he panted a little. He had an actual swordfight with a bunnit that was equipped with an Igna sword. The boy had to use Arclight to beat it.
"HIIIYAH!" Shouted Kasandra who smacked three bunnits away before retrieving the weapon they were using, "Here you go Qrow!" And then she threw it to her Driver.
Qrow accepted Harbinger back before opening fire with its shotgun at a group of Bunnits, despite knowing that new ammo doesn't exist. But the veteran huntsman was too blinded by a deep hate that was spawned by getting dogpiled and mugged by freaking bunnies. "Die. Die! DIE!" Qrow shouted in mad rage before turning Harbinger into its scythe form and rained death upon them.
Ruby was…out of commission. Despite seeing how dangerous these things are, despite how Nora was forced to hide behind the shield of Electra's hammer due to being nearly overrun, despite Ren and Nia unleashing Special Arts to thin the horde. The second youngest Remnan couldn't bring herself to attack the fuzzy creatures of death. Though that didn't mean Roze wasn't keeping them away from her and Oscar.
The youngest Remnan was advised to stay back by Ozpin when one of the bunnits tried to snatch the Relic of Knowledge dangling on the boy's side.
"Blazing Talon!" Dragunov roared as he punched a bunnit with a fiery explosion, which caught it and several of its comrades into it. Then he threw the talons back to Yang who continued where she left off.
It seemed like the bunnits decided to cut their losses and run away, some of them dragging their injured brethren away.
"Take that you meanies!" Nora shouted out as the bunnits ran. "Ow!" and then the orangette felt a smack at the back of her head. Turning to the culprit, Nora saw an angry looking Otohime.
"I swear, one of these days your recklessness will put us all in serious trouble," Otohime said lecturingly to Nora. Shaking her finger at the carrot top for good measure.
"Well we won, right?" Nora argued.
That answer did not satisfy the water Blade, "That is not the point! The point is that with the way you charged in without thinking put us all, Ren especially, in danger!"
And that made Nora's eyes widen at the realization. Which made the hammerer dash right in front of Ren. "Ren, I'm sorrry. I didn't-" "Nora it's fine," Ren interrupted while giving Otohime a pointed look. "Just…never do that again." the black-haired gunner did acknowledge Otohime's concerns though.
"Okay," Nora said in a subdued tone, earning a satisfied look from her boyfriend's Blade.
"I hope you learned your lesson," Yang said with a smirk and a nudge at Dragunov.
The fire Blade caught on with a grin, "Mess with a bunnit and you get the tail."
"Not what I would've gone with, but okay," Yang said and the two high-fived. All the while everyone else groaned.
"Really, Yang?" Blake asked with a mild glare.
As this happened, another conversation took place.
"Why didn't you guys help us?" Weiss all but demanded from Aizen and Dagas who stayed out of the fight.
"A king should not debase himself into fighting such opponents," Dagas said haughtily.
"Besides, someone had to watch our luggage," Aizen added in with a small smile. Indeed, the two Blades stayed with the luggage everyone abandoned when fighting the bunnits.
"…Fair enough," Weiss relented on Aizen while Nia rolled her eyes at Dagas.
With those words, everyone took up their luggage and moved on. All the while the rest of the Remnans who hadn't been outside Fonsa Myma yet were taking in the sights.
"What are those animals?" Jaune asked at the sight of a group of large yellowish-brown creatures that were eating grass some ways away from the road.
"Oh, those are Armus," Rex began explaining.
"Armus?" Oscar asked.
"Mostly docile creatures that live in packs," Azurda took over, "Although some humans have domesticated a few for their milk and meat."
"So, they're like cows," Oscar summarized
"…I don't know what those are," Rex commented, surprising the Remnans.
"Alrest doesn't have cows?" Ruby asked in slight surprise.
"Never heard of those," Nia replied.
"Neither have I. Have you Pandoria?" Zeke also added in.
"Nope."
"I suppose that's another difference between Alrest and Remnant," Brighid chose to summarize.
"…We should move now," Wulfric then said as he pointed towards the horde," The Ardun are looking at us."
When all eyes turned to where the beastly Blade was pointing, they saw larger brown creature similar to Armu, except with ridge on their heads and three large horns. They seemed to be eyeing the group.
The Remnans guessed that these were the Armu equivalent of bulls.
"Yeah, we should go," Weiss agreed, not wanting another unnecessary fight.
With that, the group backed away from the horde slowly. Only speeding up when the Ardun seemed to lose interest in them.
Blake was quietly taking in the sights, especially the ceiling. It was like an enormous cave ceiling, but there were several large points where Blake assumed the daylight was filtering in. Not to mention the trees that weren't glowing during the day but were still beautiful. Then there were the large pools of water below with multitudes of creatures moving in the shallow water.
"It's…beautiful," Blake couldn't help saying.
"Yes, it is," Dahlia agreed with a smile.
All Remnans were appreciating the new sights. Some more visibly than others. Especially Nora when she saw a local Urayan flower with a large glowing white orb and similarly glowing petals.
"Bioluminescence seems to be a common trait among Urayan plant-life," Penny commented as she also noted several stems with faintly glowing bulbs.
Before anyone could say anything else, they felt something wet dropping on them.
"Where did that come from?" Jaune was the first to ask.
"Don't tell me," Nia groaned as more droplets were falling on them.
"It's raining," Dragunov said in a panicky voice before running under a nearby cliff.
"How can it rain inside a titan?" Qrow complained, but not following the draconic Blade's example.
"This is more like a drizzle," Blake added in, not a fan of rain, but not very aversive.
"Should we find cover, my lady?" Nox showed on his scroll.
"I don't think we…," Blake trailed off as her feline ears caught a tinkling sound, "Guys, do you hear that?"
"Hear what," Weiss asked, before hearing it too, "You mean that tinkling sound?"
"Everyone, look," Dahlia said as she pointed around them.
It was hard to make out, but they saw some glowing particles falling to the ground along with the drizzle, making tinkling sound as they reached the ground.
"What's going on?" Ruby asked, turning to the Alrestians who looked like this wasn't anything out of the ordinary.
"Crystal Sleet, a weather condition unique to Uraya," Agate explained, "During the rain, particles that make a tinkling sound fall along with a light drizzle."
"This is the first time I have seen this," Mòrag admitted, with a small smile.
"Not for us," Zeke added in.
"Otohime, what are you doing?" Electra asked from the water Blade who spread her arms wide, face looking upwards with her eyes peacefully closed.
"I know this is my first time witnessing this, but it feels so…nostalgic," Otohime said, smiling as the small droplets fell upon her face and yet her hair seemed to not become wet.
"But I thought Blades don't remember anything from their past lives," Yang butted in.
"It's not uncommon for Blades to feel nostalgic about some places they visited in their previous lives," Nia explained before looking to Otohime, "Perhaps this weather meant something to her when she was still in Uraya."
"Like when we found the Fire Dragunite," Dragunov said from his shelter.
This earned a raised eyebrow from Brighid," You have the Fire Dragunite?"
"Oh yeah!" Yang exclaimed as she went to her bag that was slung over Bumblebee. After a moment of rummaging, she pulled out the familiar red gem.
"You had that the whole time?!" Ruby exclaimed.
"Yeah, Drag didn't want to leave it at home so we took it with us," Yang explained sheepishly.
Then Tora perked up at a slight realization, "Two Dragunites mean big money!"
"What?" Came out of everyone.
"One Dragunite was worth two million gold," Poppi also piped up, "Two Dragunites make four million gold."
"Logic dictates that we sell the two gems and-" "Never!" Dragunov roared startling everyone. "We are not selling those," Dragunov said with a glare, "If I can just figure out how to make better gems we could sell those instead."
"Are these gems really that important to you," Rex asked out of curiosity.
Dragunov stroked his jaw as he pondered the question. "…It's similar to how Ruby would feel if she lost Crescent Rose for years, only to get it back and then remember she forgot it even existed," the draconic Blade explained.
That comparison raised eyebrows from Alrestians. Which morphed to varying levels of concern when they saw the girl taking her scythe out in it's compact form and hugging it like it was a baby.
"…Is that normal?" Nia had to ask.
"Yes." Every other Remnantian, minus Oscar, said in unison.
"What made her like that?" Mòrag asked from Ruby's uncle.
"I'm pretty sure it's genetic," Qrow replied with a sigh.
"Genetic?" Zeke chimed in.
"Her mother was like that too," Qrow clarified, earning an "Oh" of realization from Zeke and Pandoria.
"Let's just move on," Yang then said as she put the Fire Dragunite back in the bag.
"I'm not moving," Dragunov said firmly.
"Drag, you can't stay here and wait out for the rain to stop," Yang said, already feeling this was gonna be a problem.
"Watch me."
That response earned a mixture of blanched and exasperated looks. This was gonna take a while.
It took some effort, but they did get Dragunov to move again. But they kept hearing him grumbling in annoyance. It wasn't like no one else liked getting wet, but the sooner they made it to Garfront, the sooner they would get indoors.
"You gotta be f****** kidding me," Dragunov groaned at the next obstacle. A group of ponds that flowed over each other in natural display of multiple fountains. And they needed to cross it in order to get ahead.
"Drag, seriously," Yang was just about done with her Blade's aversion of water, "There are large stones we can use to jump across!" Large meaning big enough for multiple people to stand on them comfortably without the risk of falling in.
"Tora go!" Tora volunteered as he bounced from stone to stone, until reaching the other side. Poppi following easily.
"See, it perfectly safe," Tora said with a wave of a wing.
"No." Dragunov growled, taking a step away
"Leave it behind," Dagas said as he also moved across the rocks with a grace fit for a king.
"If he chooses to be a worthless coward in the face of water, let him," Aizen added in as he too moved to the first stone before offering a hand, "Need assistance, Miss Schnee?"
"No thank you," Weiss said curtly as she moved across on her own.
"I'll show you a worthless coward," Dragunov growled before raising his palm to launch a fireball at Aizen. Except…nothing happened. "Grrr…Fine!" The draconic Blade shouted before dashing at Aizen who quickly used a different set of stones so as to not get Weiss caught up in this. Dragunov almost caught Aizen by a coat-tail before the two had reached the other side.
Everyone let out small snickers at what Aizen and Dagas accomplished together. Although, Nia was partly worried about Dagas' and Aizen's friendship…okay maybe "friendship" is a little too strong word, but still. The two seemed to get along.
It didn't take long until everyone got across and continued. Thankfully Wulfric was nice enough to carry Bumblebee across so they didn't have to leave that either.
Soon enough, the gang had reached a tunnel that according to Rex and the others led almost straight to Garfront Village.
However, Roze noticed something worrisome, "Dragunov, are you alright?"
The draconic Blade was panting heavily, "I…will be as soon as we get out of this rain." He was now wet, as was everyone else to varying degrees.
"Joana," Jaune called out.
The knightess deployed her helmet to scan the fire Blade. "His vitals and Ether levels are normal, and yet…He seems...exhausted," Joana said as she refolded her helmet.
"But we're still fine," Ruby said, feeling tired from the long trek, but still able to go.
"I fear it's because of the rain," Azurda piped up.
"What are you talking about?" Yang asked now wondering if they should have let Dragunov stay behind.
"Fire Blades normally don't do well with water. But none are as susceptible as Dragunov," Azurda explained, "Fire Blades simply lose their ability to use their element when soaked, but Dragunov also grows weak. It's not life threatening, but I wouldn't be surprised if he collapsed any second."
"Is there any way to help him?" Pyra asked in slight concern.
"If you guys could dry me for even an instant, I should be good enough to go the rest of the way," Dragunov said as he lumbered with tired footsteps into the tunnel. The gang followed into the tunnel where they were safe from the rain. And therefore, allowed a moment to dry.
"Excuse me," Dromarch said before moving some ways from the others before shaking his fur vigorously to get the water out.
"So how are we going to dry him?" Rex then asked, "Could we make a campfire?"
"Dragunov is in no shape to make flames, and neither am I," Brighid said. As a fire Blade, the drizzle made her unable to use her flames, but unlike Dragunov that's all it did to her.
"Allow me," Otohime said before moving in front of Dragunov and raising her palm in front of him. After a few seconds, they saw water moving off of Dragunov's body and gathering into Otohime's palm into a ball. The ball grew larger as more droplets flew out of cracks in Dragunov's stone body, from his reddish tan skin and even hair. Once no more droplets came, Otohime threw the ball outside, where it splashed into a small puddle. "How do you feel now?"
Dragunov rolled his shoulders for a couple rounds before answering, "Much better."
"I didn't know Otohime could do that," Jaune commented in surprise.
"Neither did I," Ren commented.
"I have mastery over water and even I can't do something that requires such fine control," Dromarch also said, his blue eyes wide at his fellow water Blade's elemental mastery.
"Why didn't you tell us you could do that?" Ren asked as he didn't know this either.
Ren's Blade smiled at him, "You never asked if I could."
"You should have told us something so significant," Joana said with a small glare.
"My control over water was not relevant until this moment," Otohime replied calmly.
"But-" "Joana," Jaune interrupted, "It doesn't matter, we never needed to control water until today, so Otohime had no need to tell us."
"As you say, milord," Joana relented with a bow.
Then Penny looked at Talos, "Aren't you afraid of rust?"
"What?" The metallic Blade asked in slight surprise.
"Your body," Penny clarified, "Does it not rust?"
"The alloy that makes up my body doesn't rust," Talos said simply, "What about you?"
"The artificial skin keeps my joints perfectly insulated," Penny said, "Besides, the metal used in me is also unrustable."
"Penny's creator must be smart," Poppi piped up.
"Yeah…father is smart," Penny said, looking a little down, before returning her attention to Poppi, "What about you? Do you rust?"
"The special alloy of Poppi's body does not rust," Poppi explained happily.
Penny smiled at the fellow android. "I guess our creators are both smart," Penny said with a small smile.
"Master's creator, designated as 'father', seems much smarter than most Atlesian higher ups," Kos-Mos added in her opinion.
This made Aizen hide his snicker behind his hand. It was true, from what he had seen.
"So, how long until we reach Garfront?" Ruby then asked Rex.
"Just beyond this tunnel," Rex said, "Hey, Dragunov, can you walk again?"
"Yeah, I think so," Dragunov said as he hopped in place before making a flame appear in his hand, "Yup, good to go."
"Alright," Rex said with a smile, "Once we get past this tunnel, we get to Garfront village."
With those words, everyone kept walking through the tunnel. To their surprise, the Crystal Sleen had stopped on the other side. Everyone just counted their blessings and started moving to a small entrance with a closed wooden gate.
"Odd? Why isn't the gate open?" Rex wondered aloud.
"Did something happen?" Pyra asked in mild concern, "Maybe…that's why Roc never came back."
With those thoughts, everyone jogged towards the closed gate.
"We should be prepared for a fight," Qrow said as he brought his hand to Harbinger.
The Remnans, along with Mòrag and Zeke seemed to follow that example as they drew their weapons.
Rex knocked on the gate, "Is anyone in there?"
At that moment, the gate was dragged open quickly.
"SURPRISE!" A chorus sounded out from inside as Rex saw everyone of Garfront being out and holding a banner that said, "Welcome Back Rex!"
"Whoa!" Rex along with everyone else jumped back in surprise.
"Told you he was coming," said Roc who came out of the crowd.
"And we didn't doubt you," said an Urayan wearing purple armor and glasses.
"Roc, Zuo?" Rex sounded out in confusion, "What's going on?"
"What does it look like, boss?" said a brown haired Ardainian, "This is a welcome back party."
"Yeah!" a group of children said as they surrounded Rex, "We heard you disappeared weeks ago and then you came back!"
"Come on, this was all planned last-minute, but we did manage to prepare a feast," Zuo then said as he started guiding Rex in alongside Pyra.
Then Yew turned his attention to the Remnans, "Are you guys friends of Rex?"
Before any of the Remnans could answer, Nia opened her mouth, "Yup. In fact, you could say that without these guys we would still be stuck on the other side of where those holes lead to."
This earned a surprised look from Yew, "Are you saying…?"
"These guys come from a world different from ours," Nia finished the sentence, earning a panicked look from Remnans, "I know, crazy right
That caused Yew to give the Remnans a scrutinizing look. One that lingered on Weiss longer than the white-haired girl was comfortable with. "I can see that," the Ardainian said before his gaze shifted to Mòrag, "Just know, Zuo and I have no problem with you, but I can't speak for everyone else here."
"…Am I right in assuming that many of the people here are victims of war?" Mòrag asked as she noted that many of the villagers are children or Drivers.
"War-orphans," Yew corrected.
"Yet they seem happy with their lives here," Mòrag added with a small smile.
A smile that was shared by Yew, "So the Special Inquisitor does have a heart. Well, come and join us, I'm sure the kids will love you guys." that last part was added to Remnans.
It was true, all of the Remnan Drivers had varying levels of excitement at seeing this place. The Remnan Blades were also excited about this, some more than others. Although Otohime decided to keep the cloak on in a way that concealed her features.
With that, Qrow was standing in a small outdoors restaurant that to his dismay didn't sell alcoholic drinks. But what the veteran didn't know was that Kasandra begged the workers to not serve Qrow anything alcoholic, by telling them that her Driver might accidentally kill himself.
Jaune…well he was reminded of when his sisters bullied him. Not all the time, only sometimes. Except the kids stopped when he told them sternly enough. Although with some of them, it took Joana's stern tone to get them to calm down.
For Nora and Ren, the two were having the time of their lives. Well Electra was playing with the children alongside her Driver. And somehow Electra hadn't zapped anyone. Ren was mostly keeping Nora in line. Otohime on the other hand was approached by few of the children who started asking innocent questions, which the water Blade answered to the best of her ability.
With Ruby, she was watching a blacksmith at work with keen interest. The smith, a gruff looking Urayan, told Ruby to get lost. But then the red reaper started commenting on the man's work with enough detail for the two to engage in a conversation about weapons. While Roze stood aside with a small frown, feeling a little left out.
With Weiss, she was overwhelmed to the point of wanting to hide behind Dahlia, for all the good it would do. Half the time the children kept asking if she was some kind of angel. Dahlia of course joked that Weiss was a snow angel. Much to the confusion of most of the children who asked what snow was. Which prompted Dahlia to demonstrate by blowing a kiss, which also sprayed snowflakes in the air. As for Aizen, he watched the whole thing from the distance in amusement while taking a sip of his cup of Black Roast Coffee he had procured.
With Blake, she had quickly moved out of the way of the rowdy children. Although she was marveling at all the different people in this village. Urayans, Gormotti, Ardainians and Nopon. This is the dream she envisioned of Alrest. It was a small thing, but it still gave her hope. If all these different people could come together and have friendly relations, then surely humans and Faunus in Remnant can do so too…In time hopefully. Nox felt content on staying by his Driver's side.
"That's an unusual hair color," someone said, startling Blake a little. Turning to the person, it was a young Gormotti man. "Sorry, sorry," The youth apologized, "Didn't mean to scare you."
"No, it's alright," Blake said reassuringly, "I just…didn't expect anyone to notice me."
"It's kinda hard with someone as pretty as you," the Gormotti youth said with a mildly embarrassed look.
"Thanks," Blake said, knowing that she was being hit on, "What did you say about my hair color?" Though she was curious about his opening line.
"Well, it's just. I haven't seen a Gormotti with a black hair," the young man said. Which made Blake thankful that she had moved her hair in front of her human ears. According to Nia, Gormotti only have feline ears, not human ones. Which was hard to tell with Nia due to the way she had her hair.
"Who are you to speak to my lady in such a manner?" Nox showed on his scroll with a cross glare.
"Nox!" Blake scolded her Blade, but the damage was done. The poor lad ran away in fear.
With Yang, she was having fun with children. It didn't take long until they started calling her "cool big sis". Something that made the blonde brawler's heart nearly burst with happiness. Dragunov was also having some fun with children trying to yank his tail, only to be lifted off the ground and then lightly shaken around. Screaming in delight as they had fun on their new swing.
As for Oscar, he was staying back both because people were asking about the relic, and because he didn't feel comfortable being the center of attention.
Talos was content staying at the restaurant watching Tora stuff his face with food, while Rex was telling a story about salvaging. Admittedly, the profession sounded far more dangerous than the metallic Flesh Eater initially thought, when Rex mentioned how he narrowly escaped a Serprond on one of his jobs. Though what Talos caught on was that Pyra looked just as interested as the children, if not more so. For an instant, the metallic Blade imagined Jaune and Pyrrha in Rex and Pyra's place, which made him chuckle a little.
Zeke was talking to a few of the Garfront Drivers about how things are run here. The prince of Tantal nodded in satisfaction as he heard that any of the kids that wanted were given a chance to become Drivers once they are old enough, while some might become tailors, bakers or other such things.
With Mòrag, she wasn't avoiding people, but she wasn't engaging in conversations either. She was aware of the horrors of war, and this many war orphans was one of them. Still, it gave her some comfort to see that these children have happy lives here at Garfront.
Soon, evening came in and Dragunov managed to get to a more secluded spot and sit down. He was wondering about how to make gems valuable enough to get them out of here. But he just…wasn't sure how to do that.
"Oh, there you are," said Agate who approached the draconic Blade with a small bag in hand, "I was looking for you."
"What is it?" Dragunov asked.
"Well during a job that Mòrag lended me to Garfront, we were supposed to gather rare minerals," Agate began explaining, "But I got a little carried away and got far more than needed, our client allowed us to keep some of the extra minerals. Here are some of them, if you are interested." At the latter part, Agate offered the bag.
Dragunov practically snatched the bag before going through the contents. The rocks here seemed to be of high quality, but nothing he hadn't seen yet in Uraya. Except there was one that caught his eye. "What's this one?" Dragunov asked as he picked up a particular stone.
"That's Dragon's Incense," Agate said, noticing how Dragunov was eyeing it, "Very rare mineral. Only appears in Dragon's Stomach, which is arguably the most dangerous place in all of Uraya. But I was able to take some before-" "Are there more?" Dragunov interrupted, sounding very eager.
"Well…yes as a matter of fact," Agate said, feeling a tad nervous about the shark-like grin on Dragunov's face.
"Show me. Now," Dragunov all but commanded. So, Agate led Dragunov to the rest of the stones that they were allowed to use for their pet project.
As the celebration died down, Yang began to wonder where Dragunov disappeared to. Weiss also hadn't seen Aizen for a while.
As the group was now gathering at the inn of Garfront, Dragunov finally showed.
"Where have you been?" Yang asked, then she noted that her Blade had a very satisfied look on his face, "What made you so happy?"
"Take a look," Dragunov said as he showed a set of gemstones in his hand, "What do you think?"
"Whoa." Nia said as she eyed a new set of gems Dragunov had made. It was the same set he had made last time. Except, the pink gem was now less smudgey and with several green stripes that altered in different shades gradiently.
Weiss was eyeing at a gem that was pale with a rainbow swirl inside of it. The colors kept shifting as the light was reflected off of it from different angles. "Now that is something I might want to wear," Weiss commented, sounding impressed at what Dragunov managed to make.
"My lady, forgive me for being so impudent, but I believe this would look good on you." Nox showed on his scroll while pointing at the dark purple crystal which now shined faintly in the light.
"It's... lovely," Blake admitted, picturing that one in a necklace around her neck.
"How did you make these," Dahlia asked.
Dragunov let out a grin at the question as he allowed everyone to take the gems for inspection, "You could say I found the missing ingredient. Speaking of which, if we have the time, can we gather more minerals as we go around Alrest. I want to see what I can create."
"If you can make something like this then heck yeah we're gonna get some more for you," Yang said, sounding a bit excited about this. The gems that they sold at Fonsa Myma fetched quite a price, but not enough for ship tickets. If these didn't fetch more than that, the blonde didn't know what did.
"…Do we have to sell this one?" Blake asked as she looked at the purple gem with a forlorn look.
"These are just samples I managed to make through experimenting," Dragunov said with a small smirk, "I can make more now that I have a formula to work out from."
"Thank you," Blake said, shaking with excitement. Now she could perhaps take this to a jeweler to fashion a necklace out of it or something.
"Did something good happen?" Asked Aizen who had just arrived.
"Aizen," Weiss said, almost forgetting her second Blade was gone until now, "Where have you been?"
"Doing a few personal errands," Aizen said simply before his eyes fell upon the gems the gang had, "I take it Dragunov managed to make something that will fund our trip."
"You would be right," Dahlia said with a small frown, she would be talking to Aizen about this later.
"Whelp," Dragunov said as he clapped his hands once, "I'll get to work on making the rest and then hit the sack." With those words, Dragunov left.
Yang shook her head as she glanced at the gems her Blade had made. Then she moved to follow him after making sure no one would notice her missing.
"Hey, Drag," Yang called out to her Blade as she walked next to him.
"What," Dragunov asked, "If you're planning to see how I make gems then beat it."
"No, you jackass," Yang shot back before taking a calming breath, "Okay, I'm curious, but there's something I've wondered a few times."
"What?" Now the draconic Blade was interested.
"On our first day together, you called me glass," Yang said as she frowned a little at the memory.
"What about it?"
"You also called my mother glass, what does that mean exactly," Yang then clarified.
"What does it matter?" Dragunov asked, not seeing why it mattered.
"Just curious," Yang shrugged, "And I can't really see how calling someone glass is an insult other than being fragile."
Dragunov chuckled, "You just answered your own question."
Yang chuckled at that, "I guess I did, but…if I'm not glass then what am I?"
Dragunov rolled his eyes in amusement, "Would you please stop being an insecure teenager."
That earned him a punch on the fleshy part of his arm, "Hey! I'm trying to be serious here."
"Okay, fine. Do you know how gems are made?" Dragunov then asked.
"Uhh…well," Yang sounded out unsurely, then she remembered, "Oh, right! Extreme heat!"
"And pressure." Dragunov added in, "As you might know, glass can be pretty to look at, but it's still glass. Fragile, worthless…weak. But gems, they are pretty, valuable…strong." Dragunov put emphasis on the last word, earning a nod from his Driver, "Women are the same, some are glass, others are gems. Then there are varying qualities of gems as you saw from my products, but that's a different topic."
"So…am I a gem then?" Yang asked finding amusement and no small amount of flattery at the thought.
"Given where you are now after the Battle for Beacon and facing your mother…what do you think?" Dragunov had a small smirk.
"Flatterer," Yang said as she slapped his arm playfully.
"I said nothing of the sort," Dragunov said with a grin just as they arrived at the large makeshift partitioner where he worked, "Now if you'll excuse me, I would like my privacy." With those words, Dragunov entered his work station.
"Okay, see ya later," Yang said as she moved to walk back. Only to stop after she heard Dragunov entering her workstation. She was curious about how Dragunov makes those gems so she tiptoed to the partitioner to hopefully sneak a peek. She placed her ear near the partitioner as she heard grinding sound from there. Then she slowly moved her head near the entrance to hopefully sneak a peek of what exactly he's doing there.
"YANG, I CAN SMELL YOU! GET LOST!" Was the roar that Yang swore came right next to her ear. This caused the blonde would be peeper to jump with a small cry at what she was pretty sure was her eardrum blowing.
"What the heck!"
"Who's attacking?!"
"To arms!"
These were various shouts of Garfront Drivers, which prompted Yang to run away from the crime scene to hide in the inn before anyone saw her embarrassing state.
AN: Yup. The gang has made it to Garfront. All of them having fun in varying ways, and Dragunov managed to make something that hopefully funds their trip. Now, all they have to do is get out of Uraya without anyone realizing they have Otohime.
