Blaze1992: So what their are survivors of one of the advanced future earths?

NeoNazo356: Maybe. Maybe not. What the previous "World of Remnant" introduced was the possibility. Whether that possibility is any possibility at all or just another dead cat, has yet to be seen until the "box" is "opened".
For a long time, there was no definitive history of Remnant, so well before "The Lost Fable" I came up with the idea that, instead of a "Magical Hierarchy" kind of setting (like what became in the Canon), it was instead, originally, a super-futuristic setting that reached its apex and fell, with only ruins and "a lucky few" surviving into the then-modern day to repopulate; like Destiny whose story I enjoyed before the bubble burst.
Glad I didn't buy into Anthem or Fallout 76 as-easily as I had Destiny, because those games flopped, and they flopped hard!

TM11: Was it me or did the silver glow of Vincent's eyes seem like the glow of a Maiden's eyes? He was even controlling nature like a Maiden, so... Either someone found out a way to steal a Maiden's powers and somehow make it work for men, or he has something similar. Then again, you did mentioned "dimensions" when replying to my previous review so, possible dimensional jumper from a more advanced version of Remnant that has Maiden powers or something similar? Maybe his mother is a Maiden and he got similar powers but more limited.

NeoNazo356: Aesthetically the similarities were drawn and addressed in the prequel, and while he is wielding the Wind element like a Maiden can, the hints at his origin are being sprinkled around, and the "cipher" to decode it will probably come to be... next chapter.
Love that you're so-invested you're concocting theories, and I'm looking forward to more Reviews in the future.

*WINDOW DRESSING*

Morning light landing upon closed eyelids, Vincent rolled over tiredly in his sleep, back turned to the window. Scratching idly at his cheek, his eyes widened and he sat upright.

"Holy crap! My arm's back to normal!"

Yesterday's events had been such a blur he'd almost forgotten the metamorphosis the mysterious chromed limb grafted to his body had undergone. Turning it over, no evidence of its previous configuration remained, yet the very evidence of the hospital bed he now lay in was proof enough that the previous day's happenings were not in fact, any sort of dream.

This did of course, leave Vincent with a much greater concern.

"Oh crap! Glynda's going to kill me!" the odd-eyed teen cried as he beheld the ruined state of his shirt's right sleeve, a singed ring marring his vest as well. "Not good…" he shuddered, remembering Wok's lessons about never, ever, damaging clothes bought for him by a woman.

Especially by a woman.

"Oh, you're awake!" a new presence said, revealing itself; an orderly on the early-morning shift responding to the sudden outburst of noise. "Are you unwell? Do you hurt anywhere?"

"Ah… No… I'm fine…" Vincent replied, his stomach gurgling a moment later. "I do appear to be a bit hungry though," he hummed.

"I see. I will bring you some food right away," the orderly replied. "Wait here, please. I'll let Ms. Goodwitch know you're awake."

*WINDOW DRESSING*

"HOW COULD YOU DO SOMETHING SO FOOLHARDY!?" Glynda demanded angrily, Vincent cowed to his bed as the woman continued to berate him, his breakfast growing cold upon his tray as her narrowed eyes pinioned him in place. "NOT ONLY DID YOU DISOBEY MY DIRECT ORDER TO STAY PUT UNTIL I RETURNED, YOU PUT YOURSELF IN HARM'S WAY AS WELL!"

"I..." he spoke up.

"DO YOU KNOW WHAT COULD'VE HAPPENED TO YOU? YOU COULD'VE BEEN KILLED!"

"I know that, but-" he said only to be cut off.

"WELL?! WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY FOR YOURSELF!?"

"IF YOU IDIOTS COULD WORK A FUCKING LATCH, MAYBE I WOULDN'T HAVE HAD TO PUT MYSELF IN HARM'S WAY!" Vincent found himself shouting.

Suffice it to say, Glynda was not prepared for the well-behaved amnesiac to respond in such a way.

Nor did she expect the tears that stung at the corners of his eyes.

" . . . I see…" the woman admitted, her anger momentarily abated by the passionated point that had been made. "Admittedly, you are not solely at fault for yesterday's proceedings. Though let it be known that Port was substantially reprimanded for allowing you to become involved to that extreme a measure," she went on to say.

"That girl that I helped out… Is she okay?"

"Ms. Miyazaki…? Yes, as I recall, she was completely unharmed aside from a few scrapes and bruises from crawling about the ground like that," Glynda replied, recalling the accident report. "I should also let you know that you need not concern yourself with future Grimm outbreaks on school grounds. We are already investigating the root of yesterday's accident, so you need not concern yourself about it."

"Don't worry…" Vincent said turning to his possessions; in particular, the red-and-gold coin glinting in the morning light. "I believe I'm occupied-enough as it is."

"That is good to hear," Glynda replied. "For the time being, I'll arrange a tour of our faculty staff so you can network with your peers in the event you require assistance in your capacities as a Room Advisor. In the immediate future however…" she said turning her gaze toward the ruined clothes on the bedside.

*WINDOW DRESING*

"Back so soon?" Elisa asked cheekily from behind the counter.

"Unfortunately, yes," Glynda hummed tiredly. "As you can see…" she said bringing yesterday's outfit on a hanger into view with her Semblance, "Vincent managed to… damage his first outfit within a day of owning it."

"Well, if people took perfect care of their clothes all the time, us seamstresses would be out of a job," the woman chuckled, taking the outfit into her hand and noting the completely absent right sleeve, in addition to the circular char mark at the shoulder, a smaller amount of charring on the vest as well. "I have just the alternative," she said after a few moments. "Vincent, if you could step into the changing room and hand me your shirt and vest, I'll make the necessary alterations."

"Okey-dokie!" Vincent replied happily, stepping behind the curtain and holding his clothes out for the woman to take.

Elisa, stepping back into her studio, laid the articles of fresh clothing out on the table. Flexing her Aura, near-invisible threads from the tips of her fingers lanced into the clothing, her Aura spreading through the fabric as she took hold of every individual stitch and seam, the right sleeve coming free without any marring.

Nodding in satisfaction of her work, the woman reached into a climate-controlled drawer and drew out a spool of cyan-colored thread, glinting softly in the light. Aura funneling into it, the end of the thread came to life like a serpent, the woman letting out a contented sigh as she got to work on her true passion.

*WINDOW DRESSING*

A few minutes later, Elisa returned, two articles of clothing folded over her arms.

"I made some adjustments to today's outfit," the woman began, handing the folded shirt and vest through the curtain, Vincent stepping out a moment later. "As you can clearly see, instead of trying to conceal your Automail, I decided to emphasize it, adding a nice circuit-like pattern to the hem to tie it and your outfit together," she announced as Vincent's arm of ringed chrome gleamed completely uninhibited, a ring of chrome-colored circuit-like lines at the root of where his sleeve used to be standing out, ensuring that some attention was drawn away from the arm itself and back to the outfit. "The area around your shoulder has been similarly reinforced with Cyan Dust Thread so any overheating in the future won't cause damage to the pristine visage of your attire. All of this without sacrificing maneuverability or comfort."

"Cool," Vincent hummed as he rolled his shoulder. Before today, he always wanted to conceal his chromed arm because of the uncomfortable looks people gave him. However now, for some explicable reason, thanks to a few small alterations he was suddenly much more comfortable in his own skin.

Even if said skin gleamed like chrome.

"What's that?" Glynda asked, her attention turned to the black cloth draped over Elisa's other arm.

"I'm glad you asked," the woman replied, the glint in her eyes causing a shudder to go up Glynda's back as the swatch of cloth was suddenly unfurled to full size, draped upon Vincent's right shoulder and falling into place over his arm. "Ta-daaaah~"

"Oh god…" Glynda groaned as she saw just what had been draped over Vincent's chromed arm.

Now-draped over the teen's right shoulder was a mantle of black lined with royal purple, secured in such a way that it concealed his chromed arm from sight, yet arranged in such a way that he could shrug it away at a moment's notice. Embossed upon it was an emblem similar to Glynda's own, though in place of a golden tiara, it was instead a crown of gleaming silver with an exquisite sheen. In place of the diamond-shaped bronze beads of Glynda's own cloak were diamond-shaped beads of silver, the cut of the cape itself more "feathery" than "flames and arrows".

Suffice it to say, Glynda flushed red at the implications. Though the ornamentation was undeniably different, it was undeniably inspired by her attire, further linking the two's aesthetics.

"Oooooooh…" Vincent cooed in awe as he flapped his mantle about. "It's so light! And I love the cut!"

"Hmhmhm… Not only is it visually impressive, but functionally as well," Elisa chuckled. "Since it seems like your Automail gives off a lot of heat when it transforms, at least as I've heard, I added some Cyan Dust to the fabric to make it extra sturdy, and the Ethersilk I've added will strengthen it even further like armor when your Aura is channeled through it."

"That's great!" Vincent replied with a smile, momentarily forgetting he didn't have any Aura as he admired his mantle.

"Something like this… There's no way you just happened to have this lying around your studio…" Glynda muttered lowly as she contemplated the addition of Dust and Ethersilk in her mind. "You planned for this, didn't you?"

"Why, whatever do you mean, Glynda? I'm just really good at my job. That's all," the woman chuckled. "It's just a happy coincidence that the two of you match~" she cooed.

"Happy coincidence my as-"

"Language!" Vincent suddenly chided, causing the woman to flush. "This is so nice! Thank you! But… what's the cost?" he then asked worriedly.

"Don't worry about it. It's all going on Ozpin's tab."

'Well at least some good came out of the exchange,' Glynda sighed.

"Come back in a few days and I should have more mantles ready. One for every day of the week, just like Glynda~"

'I take it back. This is awful. This is all awful,' Glynda groaned as Vincent twirled innocently, his new mantle fluttering at his side like a bird's wing.

*WINDOW DRESSING*

Parting ways from Glynda, who in light of the recent incident still had plenty of work on her plate, Vincent made his way into the massive library on Beacon grounds, a hushed silence washing over him after the double doors closed at his back. So-focused was he on his own pending task, that he was even more oblivious to the glancings of the opposite sex than he was yesterday.

Making his way to the front desk, he saw a figure huddled behind a book, their face obscured from view as they took full advantage of the silence.

Stopping in front of the desk, Vincent waited patiently for them to reach a stopping point, not wishing to interrupt them.

Mind wandering, odd-colored eyes glanced up at the massive shelves soaring high above the ground on each visible floor, the open air and high ceiling making the building look impossibly large.

After an indeterminate amount of time had passed with the figure in front of him still glued to their book, a chromed hand idly went for the small bell off to the side, the small *ding* sounding much-louder within the quiet halls of the library.

The individual before him yelping in an undignified shriek, the book they held soared high into the air as they floundered, flailing legs and striped panties momentarily coming into view as the figure tumbled onto their back.

"S-S-Sorry! Sorry!" the figure apologized hastily from behind a curtain of hair as they righted their chair. "I didn't see you there and-V-V-Vincent!" a familiar girl suddenly yelped.

"SHHHH!" passerby hushed, the girl in question flushing red at the sudden attention directed her way before she peeked through her bangs up at her savior.

"Y-Y-You're awake? So soon?" Nodoka asked shyly, her knuckles turning bone-white behind the counter.

"Yeah. Just a little tired, was all," Vincent replied. "What about you? Are you okay?" he asked with a tilt of his head.

"H-Hai. I'm okay," Nodoka replied meekly, a warmth spreading across her chest. "I didn't get the chance to tell you in person, but thank you. For saving me."

"You're welcome," Vincent returned with a bright smile.

"So… um… Is there anything specific you're looking for?" Nodoka asked.

The only reason one would come to the library was to find a book. Obviously.

That or play board games.

"Do you think you could tell me what language this is in?" he asked fishing his red-and-gold coin from his shirt and turning it over in his hand, leaning forward to give the girl a closer look.

"Hmmm…" the bookworm hummed as she eyed the characters engraved in what was contextually the "tails" side of the coin. "It looks… Chinese. Early Chinese, bordering on ancient. Maybe fifteen-hundred years ago but I can't be too sure."

"I see. I see," Vincent hummed. Nodoka, looking up through her bangs, realized how close they'd gotten, reeling back and causing her chair to tip once again. "Ah! I've got you!" Vincent yelped, his hand of chrome flying out of his mantle and snagging the girl by the wrist before he could fall, her voyage halted before the point of no return.

Nodoka however, a fit of androphobia welling up within her, reeled away from him out of reflex, the combined leverage afforded to her by her chair allowing her to unconsciously pull Vincent over the counter.

"Nodoka. I'm back from break. It's your turn to-"

Yue's comment was cut short at the sight that greeted her; a swirly-eyed Nodoka laid out on her back with the object of her affection sprawled out atop her, his face planted firmly within her budding bosom, Nodoka's hands fisting his hair and the back of his vest between his shoulder blades.

" . . . I'll just come back later," Yue said calmly after a moment.

"W-Wait! This is all a misunderstanding!" Nodoka cried as her friend backed away.

"SHHHHHHHH!"

*WINDOW DRESSING*

'That was so embarrassing…' Nodoka whimpered to herself a minute later, her movements stiff and robotic as she led Vincent towards the part of the library dominated by Japanese/Chinese texts. 'I'm just glad no-one else was there to see that…'

"Thank you for leading the way," Vincent spoke up after a while. "With how big this library is, I'm afraid I might get terribly lost."

"I-It's o-okay, n-no need to thank m-m-me…" Nodoka croaked out, her face a furious shade of red behind her curtain of bangs. "So… You're looking for old Chinese books, then. Do you know what you're looking for?"

"Wellll…" Vincent hummed as he looked at the shelves filled with book spines marked with Chinese characters. "I guess I'll know when I find it," he admitted, drinking in the daunting task ahead of him. "I should be fine on my own. Thank you for all the help."

"Y-You're welcome," Nodoka replied as Vincent walked off toward the nearest book, and cracked it open.

*WINDOW DRESSING*

" . . . "

Head peeked around the shelf a distance away, Nodoka lost track of just how-long she'd been observing Vincent in his quest for knowledge.

It wasn't immediately evident if he could actually read the Chinese characters in those books, but as he leafed rapidly through the pages, his eyes darted frantically, hungrily drinking everything they could in. Once he reached the end of his chosen book, it was placed back in the shelf gingerly before he drew the neighboring book, and repeated the process.

At first, Nodoka was unsure just what Vincent was looking for, but the fact that he continued to skim through books, one after the other, was evidence enough that what he was looking for had yet to be found. That he skimmed literal shelves-worth of books indicated whatever he was looking for, at the least, was tremendously important to him.

After who knows how long, Vincent had leafed through dozens if not hundreds of books, his face scrunching up with each failure to find what he was seeking, yet even still he continued in his unknown endeavor.

"So, going into creepy stalker mode already, eh Nodo-chan? Didn't know you had it in ya."

"Y-Yang!?" Nodoka yelped as she whirled around. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, me and the gang decided to get some studying in," she said jerking a thumb over her shoulder, indicating towards Ruby and Weiss at one of the vacant tables.

"Why do we have to sit inside and study? It's such a beautiful day out!"

"I think you know precisely why, Ruby. It's because you're falling behind in class! It will affect the team as a whole if this continues."

"I skipped a whole year of classes, you know. I'm not stupid!"

"No one said you were. But you're not going anywhere until we're done."

"You are the devil, Weiss. The devil," Ruby moaned as her nose was forced into a textbook.

"What about you? What are you up to?" Yang asked.

"Me? Oh… Nothing," Nodoka deflected.

"Nothing, huh?" Yang hummed thoughtfully as she leaned forward. "Doesn't look like nothing," the blond purred as her eyes darted over Nodoka's shoulder to the object of her attention, still skimming the countless books.

"I-I can explain!"

"No need, no need. I'm just glad you aren't scared stiff of men anymore," Yang said with a smile.

"I-I'm still afraid of men," Nodoka countered as she nervously tapped her fingers together. "Just… not him as much as the others…" she trailed off she said glancing his way.

"Sooo… Just how long have you been stalking him?"

"I-I was not stalking him! I was just… making sure he was finding everything he was looking for."

"Uh huh…" Yang nodded, completely unconvinced. "So how-long exactly have you been 'making sure he was finding everything he was looking for'?" she reiterated making air-quotes.

Glancing down at her wrist, Nodoka's face erupted into a freshened crimson blush before she tore her eyes away.

If Yang knew just how long she'd been not-stalking him, she'd never live to hear the end of it.

She was still hearing about other stuff now.

"Man, Nodo-chan, you fell for this guy hard, didn't ya?" Yang asked amidst her thoughts. "I don't need to worry about you using your Semblance for anything… pervy, do I~?"

"N-N-N-N-No! Of course not!" Nodoka cried, frantically trying to hide the college rule notebook she had on her person.

Vincent's thoughts up to that point had been snippets like, "Nope", "Nuh-uh", "Not this one either", and so-on as he skimmed countless volumes of Chinese books, his mind's eye dominated by the likeness of the old coin dangling from his neck, while next to it was a caricature of him leaping a tremendous height, an arrow accentuating the crudely-drawn scene.

That his thoughts weren't wandering as he worked was pretty interesting, because on the few times she'd used her Semblance on passerby to figure out all the "rules" surrounding her Semblance, the minds she'd read always wandered, filled with a smattering of jibberish, lyrics, or musical scores.

It was like half the time his mind was a complete blank; totally zen.

"Hmmm…" Vincent hummed loudly as he skimmed yet another tome in a long line of many, many Chinese books. "Wait a minute." He stopped, flipping back a few pages. "Yes!" he whooped, pumping his fist with a grin visible on his side profile. "I found it! I finally found it!"

"SSHH!"

"Well, looks like he found what he was looking for," Yang hummed before a muted noise sounded from by the windows, Vincent's eyes turning up and down the aisle, narrowing.

The next moment his eyes went wide, the book he held falling from his hands as he sprinted down the aisle, shelves shuddering and books threatening to fall from their homes as silver spilled from his eyes.

The next moment there was a deafening *CRASH*, followed by the tinkling of breaking glass, a panic welling up in Nodoka causing her to run over to the far wall, one of the windows completely destroyed as though something had crashed through it.

Running up to the next-nearest window and opening it up with her key, the frantically-nervous girl peeked her head out into the open air and looked around, eyes darting before they landed upon a set of disturbed bushes at ground level.

Sprawled out across a bush that lay utterly destroyed beneath him was Vincent, eyes swirling though still-conscious despite the landing. Sprawled atop him was a second-year student, a Rabbit Faunus girl with deep brown hair and eyes, which were staring out widely with nary a scratch on her.

"V-Vincent!" Nodoka cried out. "Are you okay!"

"I can't feel my legs."

This elicited a gasp from those nearby.

"No wait. There they are," he amended. "Ahhhhhhh…" he moaned pitiably as his leg twitched.

"You… You saved me?" Velvet gaped as she looked up at him.

"Oww. I think there's glass in my hair."

At that, Velvet began fussing over him, carefully picking glass shards from his platinum lochs while up above, Nodoka let out a relieved sigh, falling to her knees.

*WINDOW DRESSING*

Terrence being the only one uninvolved with the quote/unquote "altercation" between Team DIRT and Velvet, was able to wash his hands of the whole affair as the bulk of his team got beat up by the second-year Team CFVY. Velvet herself, not really one for interpersonal violence, instead chose to tend to Vincent's wounds; mainly scrapes and bruising from the fall into the foliage at the base of the library wall.

Leaping through a window was one thing, through a pane of reinforced glass quite another. However, it was something else entirely when you jump out a window after someone, after they've already fallen through, and you're still able to catch up to them. Vincent cushioning Velvet's fall with his own body was simply the icing on the cake to the dumbfounded spectators.

And the rescued individual in question.

"I could've handled that myself you know…" Velvet murmured as she applied a bandage to the odd-eyed teen's cheek.

"Sorry. My body just moved on its own," Vincent replied in turn, picking leaves and twigs out of his clothes.

"Why go so far for me, anyway?" she asked.

"Do I need a reason to want to help people?" Vincent asked honestly, so-honestly in fact that Velvet couldn't help but blush.

" . . . Thank you," she eventually replied. "I'm Velvet."

"And I'm Vincent. A pleasure to meet you."

"Vincent? As in Vincent Valentine?"

"You know me?"

"I know of you," Velvet replied. "Is it true that Professor Goodwitch adopted you as her own?" she asked eyeing his attire, drawing immediate comparisons between the two.

"I don't know about all that," Vincent replied. "One time I called Glynda 'mom' instead of 'ma'am', and the headmaster seemed to think it was a good idea, so I just stick with 'mom'."

"Ah, I see," Velvet hummed. "Ms. Goodwitch does look a lot happier nowadays."

"You really think so?" Vincent asked with a tilt of his head. "I never noticed."

"I do. Plus, I think the two of you look cute together. Like you're really parent and child, dressed to match like that," Velvet chuckled.

"You know, everyone keeps saying that, but I still don't get it-ow!" he winced as he rubbed the back of his head, drawing his hand back to find a sliver of glass sticking out of his flesh-and-blood palm.

"You know…" Yang hummed from on high as she and Nodoka watched the proceedings below. "That should be you down there, tending his wounds like that. Getting close to him~"

"Why? So you can snap more blackmail of me?" Nodoka asked tiredly.

The day before she'd chased Yang across nearly half the Beacon grounds, and she had not been happy with being toyed with.

"No. Because the way things are going, 'Harem-kun' down there will have a bona-fide bunny girl gunning for him."

"Harem…kun…?" Nodoka asked confusedly, tasting the weird term in her mouth.

"Hey, it sounds better then 'Triangle-chan'," Yang chuckled, wondering what a love triangle between the enigmatic Vincent, the antisocial Blake, and the bookish Nodoka would look like. "By the way, didn't he drop something a minute ago?"

"O-Oh! Right!" Nodoka's eyes widened in realization, the girl scurrying to where he'd last stood, the tome he'd been reading on the ground where it'd fallen.

Brushing off a bit of dust with the back of her hand, the girl skimmed through the book revealing what appeared to be a book about Chinese legends chronicling the tales of a warrior monk fighting an evil witch; the stories dated fifteen-hundred years ago if she was reading the characters correctly.

"A Chinese storybook?" Yang asked looking over the bluenette's shoulder as she eyed the fantastical images within. "Why would he be interested in something like that?"

"I didn't think to ask him."

"Because you were too busy stalking him?"

"Yes. I mean no! I mean- Ugh…" the girl groaned, hoping the days of teasing would end soon.

Long story short; they would not.

Short story long; Yang would continue to rib and tease Nodoka relentlessly and unceasingly until the day the shy bookworm finally rallied every bold, courageous, and impulsive womanly instinct in her body together towards the goal of seducing Vincent and proceeding to ruin other women for him.

But that, was a story for another day.

*WINDOW DRESSING*

Once all the hubbub surrounding the altercation between Teams DIRT and CFVY had died down, all parties involved went their separate ways. Coco went off to once again drill into Velvet's head the necessity of standing up for herself, while Vincent returned to the library hoping to find the one book he'd been searching for.

Finding the space he recalled dropping the book unoccupied, he skimmed the nearby shelves for the now-familiar spine, hoping someone had put it back on the shelf after he'd leaft, only to not find it there.

A defeated sigh passing his lips, though not regretting his own course of action, he put his hand in his pocket, Automail arm dangling loosely within his new mantle, and made his way back to his room.

Unbeknownst to him, he had a pair of tails; Nodoka Miyazaki, and Yang Xiao Long. The two of them kept a respectable, discrete distance behind him, far-enough back that he wouldn't immediately recognize him if he turned around, but close-enough they could still bridge the gap if he rounded a corner.

"So… You going to give the book to him or not?" Yang asked glancing at the book clutched in the girl's arms.

"I-I'm just waiting for the right moment,' Nodoka replied meekly, tightening her hold on it as the two trailed after him, drawing weird looks from passerby.

"So… Hate to watch him leave, but love to watch him go, huh~?" Yang asked with a brow-waggle as Nodoka drank in the sight of Vincent's tight-cut pants from the rear.

"Yeah~" Nodoka sighed wistfully before realizing who was next to her. "No wait-"

"Hey!" Yang suddenly called out Vincent's way, lilting her voice into a softer tone more like Nodoka's own. "I like your butt! Whoa momma! Yowza! Hubba hubba! Rowrrrrr~!"

Yang diving into the bushes next to them a literal moment later and vanishing from sight, Nodoka's eyes, once following Yang, panned upward, now-meeting Vincent's own.

Their eyes locked, after a couple seconds a crimson blush the same color as his right eye began to spread across his face. His mouth opening, lips quivering, the moment his face had turned completely beet red, hands of flesh and chrome clamped atop his face, obscuring his features before he bolted and ran, an embarrassed wail leaving his lips.

"Wait! Come back! I can explain!" Nodoka cried into the trail of dust left in his wake.

"Well that was something," Yang hummed as she poked her head up into view once again. "What was with that reaction, though? He was acting like some kind of maiden," the blond noted absently as she picked leaves out of her hair.

"You… You…!" Nodoka muttered, her voice climbing in volume as the girl trembled, eyes downcast.

"Hm?" Yang hummed.

Looking up, she saw Nodoka's lavender-colored Aura flickering around her body, a single visible eye glowing brightly between her bangs as the bookworm drew her arm back.

"YOU JERK!"

Nodoka's hand coming down upon her cheek, a deafening *SLAP!* filling the air and causing passerby to painfully wince at the sound and birds to abandon their roosts, the surprising force behind the bookworm's blow caused the blond's head to snap to the side, her Semblance topping out causing the bush she was standing in to combust almost instantaneously. Face stinging from the force of the blow, by the time she turned her gaze back to Nodoka, the girl was already running away, tears leaping from her eyes and glinting in the afternoon light as they tumbled to the ground.

" . . . I may have gone too far," Yang said scratching her cheek, only to wince in pain.

*WINDOW DRESSING*

"What happened to you? It looks like you lost a fight with a toddler," Blake said as soon as Yang returned from her trip to the library, gesturing to the dainty hand print still pulsing on the blond's cheek.

" . . . Something like that," Yang hummed, cheek still stinging from where she'd been slapped.

"You did something stupid again, didn't you?" Weiss questioned.

"Wait, what do you mean 'again'?" Yang asked, insulted.

"Yeah… Yang isn't the brightest crayon in the box."

"This coming the girl who almost failed math and science," Yang huffed turning back to her sister. "Ooooor~ Was that all a ploy to get some alone time with your little snuggle-bunny~?" she purred with the knowledge that Ruby did reciprocate Arthur's feelings (at least subconsciously), causing Ruby's face to turn red.

"Well, I hope you had your fun, because that pile of homework you put off is still waiting for you," Weiss huffed, gesturing to the aforementioned homework resting on the blond's desk.

"Eh…" she hummed looking down at her Scroll. "I think I've caused enough damage. I'm sure Nodoka can smooth things over with Vincent on her own," she surrendered, getting back to her own work.

'Speaking of which, what is Vincent up to right now?' Blake wondered curiously, for curiosity's sake.

*WINDOW DRESSING*

"Why the heck did that girl say that thing about my butt?" Vincent asked confusedly as he stared into the full-body mirror in front of his closet. More-specifically, his butt. "And why won't my heart stop beating?" he asked himself, his heart pounding against his rib cage, face still flushed red. "I'm so confused!"

*WINDOW DRESSING*

Meanwhile, right outside the RA's door…

"What did you say to him?" Velvet asked of the girl standing across form her with a huff, her brow furrowed slightly.

Her big brown eyes and the rabbit ears atop her head took away some of the impact the look was meant to give.

"It wasn't me. It was my titty-monster of a friend," Nodoka said gruffly, still mortified about what she'd been framed for saying.

"Okay, but why is he reacting like this?"

"Apparently he's a little… brain damaged," Nodoka answered, trying to find the least-offensive way of saying that. "A nasty hit to the head made him forget… well… everything," she said recalling the rumors.

That just left the question, who was spreading these rumors and why? Vincent had only been at Beacon a few days so what was the point?

Meanwhile, up in his clock tower, a certain enigmatic man sneezed into his cup of hot chocolate, reeling in a rare moment of utter revulsion.

"So then… why did he help me?" Velvet wondered aloud.

"That's… just how he is," Nodoka answered, recalling her own rescue. "I haven't known him for that long, but he seems like a very altruistic person. Someone willing to put others before himself."

"I'll say…" Velvet hummed, still surprised that someone had jumped out a window to go after her. Sure, her Aura would've been more than up to the task of shielding her, but it wasn't like she didn't appreciate the gesture. "What do you have there?"

"A book he'd spent several hours looking for," Nodoka answered, hugging the Chinese tome to her chest. "He literally dropped everything he was doing to help you."

"Really?" Velvet asked with wide eyes. "I didn't know that…"

"My turn to ask you a question," Nodoka cut in. "What do you have there?" she asked pointing to the object in the Faunus girl's hands.

"Oh! Um… Just a little snack," Velvet answered holding up a small wicker basket containing a half-dozen immaculately-chosen carrots from the stock of an acquaintance in the agriculture course; each was fresh, ripe, and symmetrical in shape like a line of cigars. "They… help me when I'm feeling hurt," she said thinking to her own nervous habit.

"A good choice, actually. Carrots are good for the eyes," Nodoka nodded, thinking back to the times she had hurt her eyes from over-reading.

"Maybe, but stress eating is still stress eating," the brunette sighed.

Loads better than stuffing herself with cake though.

Last year, her cousin really had to draw the line on her stress-eating when she outright abused the Friends & Family Discount at Gelé Pâtissière.

"So… Do you think we should come back later?" Velvet asked, coming back to the present and away from the heavenly carrot cake her uncle-in-law made.

"Well… I can always wait until tomorrow, but will your morsels survive the wait?" Nodoka asked turning her attention to the basket. Cleaned and polished as they were, even raw, they did look tremendously appetizing.

"That… is a fair concern…" Velvet hummed. " . . . Here goes," she said raising her hand to the door and knocking, Nodoka's shoulders hitching as the knob began to turn.

"H-Hello…?" Vincent asked timidly as he peeked through the door. "Oh! It's you two. What are you doing here?" he asked, timidity vanishing.

"I-I…" Nodoka stuttered. "I wanted to apologize for what my friends said to you a while back, and also to give you this."

"My book!" he said, features brightening as it was held out to him.

"And I wanted to express my thanks for helping me," Velvet saw fit to add, holding up the wicker basket.

"Oh wow! This is so great!" Vincent cheered with a bright grin, hands clapped together. "Not only do I have that book I spent all day looking for, but a nutritious snack to boot! Thank you so much you two!"

"W-Well, I'm glad you were able to find what you were looking for," Nodoka replied, bowing slightly.

"We're sorry for disturbing you. We'll take our leave if that's alright with you," Velvet returned with a nod of her head.

"Hey, since you're here, would you like some tea? I was just about to put a pot on," he offered as he jerked a thumb into the room.

"I don't want to intrude," Velvet answered politely.

"Nonsense, nonsense," the odd-eyed teen waved off. "Airing my neighbors' concerns is part of my job now. If there's anything you want to bring up, I'm all ears."

Finding no real counter to that, the two stepped in, their eyes immediately drawn to the strange décor scattered across the room. While they took their seats on one of the couches, Vincent turned his attention back to an electric tea kettle set in a corner of the room. After he was sure everything had been set up and that one of the Dust Circuits were exposed, he took a seat across the two in turn, cracking open his book with one hand while taking hold of a carrot with another.

"So… What's up?" he asked, taking a bite straight out of it.

"You're eating them raw?" Nodoka asked with a raised brow behind her bangs.

Not that anyone could see that, though.

"Why not?" Vincent asked with a shrug. "If I steam them, they might turn all soggy, and then they wouldn't look this pretty anymore," he said grinding another bite down with his molars, a satisfying *crunch* sounding through the air.

"Thank you," Velvet sighed before realizing she'd said that out loud, getting a weird look from Nodoka. "What I mean to say is, no-one else understands the appeal of a raw carrot, so your words are very vindicating," she said with a small smile, quite proud of her produce-picking abilities.

It took a sharp eye to pick out such perfectly-symmetrical carrots at a mere glance, at the peak of freshness to boot.

How they could be grown to such appealing, symmetrical shape and size she'd never know.

"I have to ask, why the interest in that book?" Nodoka asked, seeing Vincent's eyes glued to the pages.

"Just… a hobby I guess…" he said trailing off, his eyes darting to the décor of his room before turning back to the page, the others looking around and wondering why his eyes had darted. "So… How are you doing? Are classes going well?"

"Oh, yes, very well," Velvet answered, Nodoka nodding shyly in turn.

"That's good," Vincent nodded.

After this followed an awkward silence, interspersed by the ruffling of book pages and the crunching of carrot chunks between molars. Eventually, the tea kettle began to squeal, Vincent setting what he was doing to the wayside as he stepped away to prepare the tea. After a few minutes he returned to the coffee table, a wooden saucer with glazed clay cups in hand, each filled with steaming green tea. Velvet's own enhanced senses took in the fragrant aroma, while for Nodoka, it was nostalgia that was stirred.

"Sorry it's only tea bags. I couldn't find any good leaves on campus," Vincent apologized with a bow.

"D-Don't worry, I'm sure it'll still be delicious," Nodoka assured, taking the cup with a grateful bow, blowing the steam away before gingerly bring it to her lips, she and Velvet letting out relieved sighs as they drank. "Ahhh… This is very soothing… Thank you."

"You're welcome," Vincent replied brightly. "Oh, and Velvet?"

"Yes?"

"If those hooligans give you any more trouble, by all means, let me know. I'll straighten them out," Vincent said amiably as the faintest traces of venom seeped their way into his tone, one of the carrots in his hand snapping in two. "Whoops!" he yelped innocently, venom leaving his tone. "Sorry!"

"N-No, there's nothing to apologize for," Velvet replied, unused to seeing a carrot snapped in one hand.

Then again, it was the chromed one, sooo…

No… wait… It wasn't his chromed hand!

"Of course, the offer applies to you too," he said turning his attention to Nodoka. "If anyone gives you any trouble, please, let me know. I'd be devastated if anything happened to you."

"I-I'll be sure to keep that in mind," Nodoka replied, a small blush blossoming across her face behind her bangs.

"Thank you. That puts my mind at ease," he sighed as he took a wistful sip of his tea, the three of them entering a relaxed silence interspersed by the smell of green tea.