A/N- BAM! New chapter! Record time! Are you ready for our main characters to finally interact for more than a few seconds? Me too!
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Carmella's morning had gotten off to a bit of a later start, even for the habitually slow riser. The Battle for Haven had left the poor girl exhausted, and then there was after the fight, when the Mistral Police Department had to take statements from every person present for the attack. For some reason, the stories Carm had heard about thrilling battles of good versus evil seemed to have skipped the part about all the boring paperwork that came after. The rabbit girls head didn't hit the pillow of her hotel room's bed until around 3am, and once it did, you can bet she was out like a light instantly.
It wasn't until around noon when the heavy lidded faunus was able to literally drag herself out from under the warmth of the sheets and into a cold, bracing shower. The only thing that kept Carmella from spending the remainder of her time in Mistral in the comfort of her bed was the thrill and excitement of being in a new kingdom, a chance she didn't want to let slip by. Her skin was still tingling from the icy water as the long eared girl got dressed. Then, she set out into the world, with a tired, but ready smile on her face, and also probably only about a 47 percent awake brain, but that was enough to get her out of her hotel room.
The caramel colored hair girl did her best to put on an optimistic smile as she walked down the halls of the hotel, but honestly the battle the previous night had exhausted her mentally as well as physically and she was still feeling both this morning. All those years, sitting bored at her families vegetable stand in the markets of Menagerie, Carmella had fantasized about a life she'd never thought she could have. Traveling the world, fighting against evil, saving lives, that was all she ever wanted to do. Now, she'd actually done it! Fought in a battle that would effect the future of humans and faunus all over the kingdom of Mistral. Granted, said battle had only lasted an hour or so, the White Fang having been almost hilariously outnumbered by the Menagerie militia, but they'd won! And it had still counted! In Carm's eyes at least. So why did she still feel so... 'bleh?'
She knew why; because it turned out fighting in an actual battle was friggin' terrifying.
Carmella had romanticized the idea so much in her mind, but it had just been... chaos. People shouting, shooting at each other, and trying to blow everyone the hell up! It had all been too much for the young rabbit faunus. She'd trained with her brother for years, then again with the rest of the militia, thinking she could make a difference when opportunity came knocking, but then, when the reality of the situation reared it's head, when she'd had a gun pointed in her face, Carmella had froze.
The bunny girl shuddered. The image was all she saw when she closed her eyes, the barrel of that White Fang members weapon staring her down. Being that close to death had been eye opening, and it had forced upon Carmella a grim fact; She wasn't ready. Her dad, her mom, even her brother Phyll... they'd all warned her about what she was getting herself into joining up with the militia, that it wasn't something to be taken lightly, and they'd been right. She thought she was a fighter, ready for anything, but she was just a day dreaming farm girl with no aura and even less of an idea what she was doing. She could have been killed, all because of her eagerness to prove herself. The whole night had been a massive failure from Carm's point of view.
Well... maybe that wasn't completely true. She didn't, you know, actually die or anything like that, mainly because of a certain pony-tailed faunus saving her life. Also maybe said spot covered girl had been on her mind ever since their brief interaction the night before... and also a little bit during her dreams too, but no one needed to know about that part. Carmella really hoped she'd get the chance to see Ilia again before she had to go home, though she honestly had no idea where to even start looking for her. The two of them hadn't exactly exchanged scroll numbers or anything. Still though, running into the mysterious faunus had definitely been a highlight of what had otherwise been a pretty discouraging night.
Don't get her wrong, Carmella wasn't about to give up on her dreams or anything, Haven had just been an awakening experience for the young faunus. She'd stumbled, sure, but the rabbit girl wasn't about to let that stop her. She needed more training, more than just her older brother play fighting with her anyway. Carm loved Phyll, but it had never been more apparent to the younger faunus that her elder sibling had never taken their little 'training sessions' seriously. If she was ever going to become a huntress -or at least, be like one- then Carmella needed to start taking her aspirations more sincerely, that way next time, no matter how scared she might be, she wouldn't freeze.
However, that could wait till later, right now Carmella had a bit of an unenviable job to do, and it required her to put on a strong face. After all, she wasn't the only one that had a rough time during the Battle for Haven. She might not have been able to be much help to the militia last night, but she could at least be there for the people that needed her today.
The long eared girl stopped in front of another hotel room just down the hall from her own. She took a deep breath, and put on a convincing smile, before gently knocking on the door. "Mata?" Carm said quietly, but received no response. "It's Carmella," the rabbit girl pressed one of her long ears against the wooden door, wondering if maybe her friend had already left before she'd woken up, but then she heard the creaking of springs from the mattress inside the room, followed by heavy, lumbering footsteps approaching. A second later, the door opened revealing a familiar ram faunus, his bloodshot eyes telling Carm that her friend probably hadn't gotten much sleep last night, and she was pretty sure she knew why.
Less than twelve hours ago, Mata had to watch as his own brother got carted off into a MPD airship with the rest of the White Fang members being arrested for attacking Haven. Carmella had been there with him, stuck behind a hastily set up police barricade, as Mata shouted out to Arbol, but his brother hadn't even acknowledged him. They'd only been a few yards away from each other, so both Carm and Mata knew the older ram faunus had to have heard them, but he'd just marched forward onto the ship with his head down alongside his incarcerated brethren.
Mata wasn't like Carmella, in a lot of ways probably, but mainly in that he hadn't come all the way to Mistral because he'd wanted to fight for a cause. No, family meant everything to Mata, and he only had a little bit of one left. That's what had brought him to this kingdom, he was here to try and reconnect with his long lost brother, to keep him from making what Mata thought was a terrible mistake. Now it seemed like his worst fears had been realized, his brother might be too far gone to reach.
Mata looked at Carmella, rubbing his eyes in an attempt to focus his clearly tired mind. "Mornin'," the tall ram faunus half mumbled.
"More or less," Carm replied with a hopeful smile, trying to coax one out of her larger friend.
The shaggy headed boy gave the rabbit girl a strange look at her comment, before fishing his scroll out of his pocket and seeing what time it actually was. "Oh... wow, that late, huh? So this is what it's like being you?"
"Hey..." Carm said with a playful pout at the slanderous -but not untrue- statement. That did manage to get a smile out of Mata, which was a step in the right direction. "So, how are you holding up?" the rabbit faunus asked with concern.
Mata sighed, leaning against the door frame and crossing his arms, a solemn expression on his face. "Better, I guess," he said. "I was up all night calling the MPD." Carmella's ears perked up at that. "I kept asking when I could see Arbol. They must have transferred my call at least about twenty times. Pretty sure they were trying to get me to give up and hang up."
"What'd they end up saying?"
The horned faunus' frown deepened, making Carm's heart sink. "They said... I could see him at around three today." The rabbit girl cocked her head to the side. That... sounded like great news!... Right? Then why did Mata still look so sad? "... But... I don't know if I'm gonna go..."
Carmella's eyes went wide, she was sure she'd just misheard her friend. "What!? Why?" the rabbit faunus asked incredulously.
Mata rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably. "I got to thinking about it last night, after I finally got off the phone with the police, and... what if he doesn't want to see me? You saw how he ignored us last night, Carm."
"So?" the rabbit faunus said in disbelief. "Mata, he'd just been arrested. That's not exactly the best time to catch up with your little brother. You can't just not see him."
The giant of a faunus looked off to the side sadly. "It's been seven years since I last saw Arbol in person, Carm. What if he's a different person now? I mean, what would we even talk about if I did go see him?"
"Well, like you said, it's been seven years," Carmella reasoned, "sounds like you've got plenty to catch each other up on." Mata still didn't look confident. "Plus... he's your family, Mata. I know what that means to you, and I'd be willing to bet that it still means something to Arbol too, seeing as how you both grew up in the same household." That seemed to get the ram boys attention. "And I may not know him as well as you do, but right now Arbol is sitting in a Mistralian jail cell probably scared out of his mind. I bet he could use a friendly face."
Mata gave a sad, lopsided smirk. "... I don't know... maybe..." he said quietly.
"I'm not going to force you to do anything your uncomfortable with, Mata. I know you head is probably all over the place right now," Carmella said, leaning against the wall next to her taller friend. "You've still got a few hours to decide anyway. Just know, whatever you end up doing, I'll support you." That managed to get a genuine smile out of Mata, which brought one to Carm's face as well. "For now though," she went on with mischievous look in her golden colored eyes, "We're in a kingdom neither of us have been to before, I say we go out and see what kind of trouble we can get into."
Before Mata could even reply, the short haired rabbit girl grabbed his forearm and started dragging him out of his room and down the hall. The ram faunus chuckled at his friends attempts, they both knew there was no way Carm could physically drag him anywhere, but he also knew he could use the distraction right now, and Mistral had plenty to offer in that department, so he decided to play along.
When the two faunus got to the stairwell, Carmella finally let go of Mata, convinced she'd successfully managed to put enough distance between themselves and their boring hotel rooms. Her ram faunus friend was still quiet, but at least he seemed to be in better spirits now. This was what the two of them needed, to just be tourists for a little while and forget about what had gone down last night.
The two of them left the hotel and made the short walk to a nearby marketplace in a matter of minutes. Carm didn't even know where to start, all the new sights and sounds, it was like complete sensory overload, for both faunus. Their were clothing stalls with styles completely unlike anything Carmella had ever seen on Menagerie, jewelers selling their bright and shiny hand made wares, and the food, oh Brothers, the food! Mata and herself weren't even there for a half an hour before the rabbit girls stomach started growling.
After a quick lunch break, Mata and Carmella kept exploring, finding something new and exciting around every corner. There were a few stalls selling weapons, Carm really wanted to check them too, but also wanted to avoid stressing Mata out right now. This little excursion was supposed to keep his mind off things like fighting and the events of the night prior. Plus it wasn't like she could afford any of them anyway. In fact, everything here seemed expensive, the rabbit girl had a hard time deciding what to spend the small amount of lien she'd brought with her on. Luckily, window shopping was always free, even if it didn't exactly make the two faunus very popular with the vendors.
Hours passed by, eventually the two faunus found themselves at a stand selling hand sewn woolen hats. Mata went to try one on, not realizing the design of the hat didn't exactly account for his ram horns. The sight of the confused faunus awkwardly trying to fit the snug cap over the curled horns on each side of his head was too much for Carmella and she burst out laughing. The older sheep faunus working the stall gave the teens an unimpressed look, which was all the signal the two of them needed to know it was time to move on.
However, as Carm went to go to the next attraction, Mata reached out and stopped her. "Hey, Carm?" the rabbit girl turned back to him and saw the larger faunus shuffling in place. "Um... do you think... I mean, would you... come with me when I see Arbol?"
Carmella smiled brightly. "Of course I will," she said, happy her friend had decided to see his brother after all. It might end up being a little awkward for them, but the rabbit girl really did believe it was worth a shot at least.
Mata let out a deep breath in relief. "Thank you. I should probably go get ready to see him then, there's only an hour left till my visit."
"Alright, I'm gonna hang out here a little while longer," Carm replied, "just shoot me a message when you're ready to go, okay?"
The ram boy nodded before rushing off back towards the hotel, leaving Carmella alone to browse the market alone. She walked aimlessly for a while, nothing really catching her eye, or rather, she was suddenly finding it hard to focus on shopping. For some reason, the rabbit girl found herself constantly looking over her shoulder. It was so weird, but she swore it felt like she was being watched. At one point, she was almost positive she saw someone -or something- dart back into an alleyway as she turned her head in that direction. It was unsettling to say the least.
Regardless, Carmella did her best to enjoy her time in the marketplace. She caught sight of a jewelers stall in the corner, with lots of adorable necklaces and charms on display, that grabbed her attention. She leisurely took in the spectacle of the expertly cut stones, wrapped in gold and silver. Carmella wasn't really the type of girl who was into wearing jewelry, but even she had to admit to having a weakness to shiny, pretty things. Then the rabbit faunus saw the prices and her jaw dropped.
Well... maybe if I start saving now I could afford one of these... in a lifetime or two.
After gawking a little longer at things she could never afford even if she lived to be a thousand, Carmella took out her scroll. It turned out she'd actually lost track of time, Mata would probably be getting in touch with her any minute now. She might as well head back.
Carmella pocketed her scroll and quickly spun around, just barely hearing the voice of the person behind her before she collided with them.
Both girls staggered back from their impact with each other. Ilia felt her entire body flare up pink in embarrassment. She opened her mouth to speak, but it was like she'd forgotten every word she'd ever learned. It was at that moment the chameleon girl realized that in her hurry to take a bold first step in changing her attitude towards others, Ilia had neglected to consider what she would actually say to this girl whom she'd just so boldly approached.
The rabbit faunus seemed a bit more disoriented from the collision as she shook her head to regain focus, the long ears poking out of her caramel colored hair swaying with her. Then the rabbit girl's honey colored eyes locked onto Ilia's -which were now pink as well, matching the rest of her skin- and the flustered faunus felt her heart stop.
Those pools of gold seemed to light up suddenly as recognition flashed across the short haired girls face and she smiled excitedly. "Oh my god! It's you!" she exclaimed before closing the remaining distance between the two, getting right up into Ilia's face.
The lizard faunus' mind was firing on all cylinders trying to recover her senses, but the rabbit girls proximity seemed to short circuit Ilia's brain. She was so near that the smell of the brunettes shampoo managed to sneak it's way into the chameleon girls nose. It smelt... good... tropical, like a mix of berries and coconut. Needless to say, none of this helped to cure Ilia of her sudden onslaught of muteness. Thankfully, the rabbit girl seemed to notice just how close she was standing and she took a big step back out of the chameleon girls personal space.
The long eared faunus cleared her throat nervously, her own cheeks tinted pink now. "I mean (ahem) hello... You uh... probably don't remember me," the girl said, now playing with a strand of her short hair in front of her ear. "I was at the whole... 'Battle for Haven' last night. You... kinda saved my life... once or twice. I mean, I guess you saved a lot of people with the bomb defusal thing, not just me, but I appreciate it." Ilia gave the rambling girl an odd look, "Oh! Well, not that I don't appreciate you saving everyone else to, it's just... you know... personally... I... oh gods..."
Seeing the rabbit faunus was about as bad as Ilia was at this kind of thing did help the chameleon girl to relax a little. At the very least it let her reign herself in enough for her skin return to it's normal color scheme. Eventually she even managed to remember how to speak again. "I remember," Ilia managed to croak out. "You were the... 'even stevens' girl, right?" she said, testing the waters with a small, experimental smile.
The rabbit girl gave a mortified expression before slumping forward, her longer set of ears flopping in front of her face. "Ugh... of course that'd be the one thing you'd remember," she said in disdain, facing the ground. "But I guess it's not like I did much during the fight to remember anyway..."
"N-no! It's not that," Ilia quickly rebutted. She hadn't meant to make this girl feel bad, that -honestly pretty dorky- line was just the first thing that'd come to mind. "I mean, I also remember you getting me out of a tough spot with that guy with the knife."
The rabbit faunus' posture returned to normal, her ears perking up a little as well. "Yeah... I guess I was in the right place at the right time," she said with a shy smile, "but compared to you, that's nothing." The excitement returned to the long eared girls face as she went on, "All that swinging around, whipping bad guys left and right, and not to mention that sick arm-bar you had that one grunt in," each action the rabbit faunus described was accompanied by an over the top pose or attack to try and demonstrate all of Ilia's 'moves' she'd seen last night.
The chameleon girl couldn't help but laugh a little at her antics. This girl clearly had an energy about her. Energy like a... well, like a rabbit, Ilia supposed.
"Compared to that, all I did was electrocute some dude out of dumb luck," the long eared faunus went on, a hint of depression in her voice. "I... really wish I could do the kind of things you can..."
"It really wasn't that big of a deal," Ilia replied, rubbing her hands together in front of her. She really wasn't used to being praised so brazenly.
"But it was though!" the caramel haired girl suddenly said loudly, making the lizard faunus recoil slightly in surprise, "You were so cool!" The rabbit girl crossed her arms and huffed to herself. "Gods, I wish I didn't live on a stupid island with no stupid combat schools on it..." she said gloomily.
Ilia frowned at the long eared faunus' scrunched up face. It appeared she may have inadvertently touched on a sore subject. "You know... I never went to an actual combat school either," Ilia said, trying to brighten her companies mood.
"Really!?" the rabbit girl said in shock. "But, but, the swinging, and the whipping, and the arm-bar... ing…"
The brown haired faunus' big, golden eyes had Ilia fighting back the pink from rising to the spots on her cheeks. "Well... that's really just stuff I've picked up over the years," the chameleon girl explained while trying to avoid eye contact, those honey colored pools threatening to swallow her whole.
"... Huh... okay..." the rabbit faunus said, taking a moment to consider Ilia's words as the gears turned in her head. "In that case..." she started, fidgeting a bit before continuing, "M-maybe you could show me a thing or two sometime...?"
Ilia's eyes went wide. Was this girl asking her to... train her? That was... ridiculous, she wasn't even remotely qualified to do something like that. Then again, Ilia had spent the last two weeks training a bunch of barely competent faunus to fight, so she could see how one might think she was capable of something like that. That had been a fluke though, she'd only done it as a favor for Blake, it didn't mean Ilia had any idea what she'd been doing, or that she had any intention of doing it again.
Although... it wasn't like Ilia had hated the job she'd been assigned, and certainly nobody had forced her to do it. If the chameleon girl was honest, she'd actually kind of... enjoyed her brief role as a teacher and found it oddly fulfilling. She might even go so far as to say she'd felt a little proud seeing the faunus she'd worked so hard to train holding their own against a more experienced White Fang. All that being said, was Ilia really willing to take on another 'student' so soon?
"It's okay if you don't want to," the chameleon girl had been so wrapped up in her thoughts, the rabbit faunus had apparently taken her silence as a refusal. "I don't want to take up your time or anything, I know you're probably super busy and stuff," the long eared girl began rambling yet again, beginning to speak faster and faster, "I'm pretty busy with things too. I have to... do a lot of... important things, like all of the time, so it's probably for the best if you can't actually. I don't know what I was even thinking asking you something like that. Why don't we just pretend I never said anything? Yeah, that's a good idea. Anyway I should probably get going. Sorry to bother you."
Having essentially just rejected herself, the rabbit girl went to turn away. Ilia's mind was still trying to catch up with the burst of words that'd just been thrown at her, but as the long eared girl in front of her went to leave, her instincts took over.
Without thinking, Ilia's hand shot out, grabbing the rabbit faunus' wrist as she turned, halting her retreat. "W-wait!" the lizard girl exclaimed mid lunge, her fingers clasped onto the bare skin just above the glove on the long eared girls left hand.
The two teens seemed to freeze up in that moment of skin on skin contact. Then a jolt of electricity shot through Ilia's mind as it seemed to finally catch up with her actions and the pink returned to her spots, as well as covering her hand all the way up to her shoulder. She quickly released her grip on the girl, tucking the now brightly colored appendage behind her back before clearing her throat into her other hand before speaking,
"That... sounds great actually."
The rabbit faunus didn't seem to hear Ilia at first, instead staring at the spot the chameleon faunus had been holding onto her, but when the words finally got through, her long ears shot up straight. "Wait, really!?" she said happily.
Wait, really!? Ilia thought to herself, caught just as off guard by her own words at the rabbit girl had been.
Then she started to think about the idea and came to the conclusion; Why not? Did she have anything better to do with her time in Mistral now that Haven was safe? What was she worried about? That something like this would cut into her hourly moping on rooftops? Besides, she'd be training on her own anyway, and having someone else to do it with, or even spar alongside, would only help her. Not to mention, all of this would go a long way in helping Ilia learn to socialize again. She needed this, a focus point. A project of sorts to keep her on the straight and narrow. Who knows, it might even be fun.
Her internal debate finally over, Ilia nodded to the rabbit girl. "Yeah, sure, why not?" she said, a slight tingle of excitement growing inside her now. "I mean, I won't go easy on you or anything, but if you think you're up for it... then yeah, let's do it." The rabbit faunus nodded eagerly, practically bouncing in place now. "Alright then, in that case, why don't we start tomorrow morning. Let's say... around six?"
The long eared girl's smile faltered ever so slightly. "Six... in the morning?" she said weakly.
Ilia gave the other faunus a strange look. "Um... yes? Is that a problem?"
"Oh! No no no, it's fine! I'm a total morning person, I love mornings and waking up for them," the rabbit girl said in a less than convincing tone.
Ilia eyed the other faunus warily, but shrugged it off. "Okay, great, why don't we just meet up here in the marketplace then. We'll see if we can find a quiet spot to get started on your training from there."
"Alright!" the rabbit faunus said, a bit of the chipperness returning to her voice.
Just then, an upbeat pop song Ilia had never heard before started emanating from the the brown haired faunus' pocket. The girl pulled out her scroll and read the message she'd just received. There was a flicker of disappointment in her eyes, or maybe the chameleon girl had just imagined it.
"That's my friend," the long eared faunus said as she put the device back into her shorts pocket. "I gotta go meet up with him."
Him...
It was then that Ilia remembered the ram faunus she'd seen this girl with earlier, they'd looked... close. The lizard girls mind couldn't help but wander on the subject. She called him a 'friend', a friend who was a boy... Just a friend... or maybe-
"I'll see you tomorrow then!" the girl said, ending the chameleon faunus' train of thought. She gave Ilia another dazzling smile that sent the reptilian girls heart into overdrive, before the bunny faunus hurried off, disappearing into the crowd and out of sight.
Huh... was it just Ilia's imagination, or had that gone... not completely terrible? Awkward? Maybe a little, but it definitely hadn't been the insurmountable task she'd set it up as. Granted, the lizard faunus' emotions were still kind of a mess right now, but she'd taken the plunge, overcome her own anxieties about the issue, and somehow came out the other side of this situation feeling downright okay about how it went.
A quiet laugh escaped Ilia's lips as she brought a hand to her chest. Her heart was still beating like crazy. Had she really been that nervous? Honestly once she'd gotten started talking to that girl Ilia had barely even noticed. She'd just kind of gone with the flow, and all the words started to come naturally after a bit.
Wow, is this how socially well adjusted people feel?
Ilia smiled as she continued to stare off in the direction the rabbit faunus had gone. The lizard girl was so fixated, she didn't even notice Blake approach until she was standing right next to her. Ilia looked over to see her friend giving her a knowing smirk. In response, the chameleon girl rolled her eyes before looking away. "What are you so happy about?" Ilia asked the cat girl.
"No reason," Blake replied, "just proud of you, that's all."
"... Shut up..." Ilia said with a smile, playfully shoving her friend in the shoulder.
"I mean it though," Blake said as the two faunus began to leave the marketplace, walking side by side. "I knew you could do it. Although, I have to admit, I never expected you to do something as bold as to ask that girl out on a date on your first try."
Blake kept walking for a few more steps before she realized Ilia was no longer walking alongside her. She looked back over her shoulder to see her pony-tailed friend frozen mid-step, all the color having drained out of her skin, hair, and even her eyes, leaving her entire body stark white.
"I... I did WHAT!?"
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A/N- Sorry for the shorter chapter. This part and the last one were originally a 17,000 word monster that no one would want, so I decided to break it up, but fidning an organic stopping point in the story was hard.
Anyway, bad news? I'm probably gonna work on my other fic for a bit now (The OC one, which you should check out, because it's got plenty of confusing romance in it as well). That stories end is in sight though, so I'll probably just resolve the terrible cliff hanger I left it on then come back to this.
Good news? Now that these crazy kids have finally gotten the ball rolling on their relationship, I'm SO excited for whats next.
Anyway, before either of those things, I'm gonna draw a little I think. I've had another Hop on Spots comic in progress forever. I have so many cute ideas of things to draw for that ship, but I don't want to spoil anything. :
Lastly. Review. Do it. It makes my brain soak up the happy juices.
Later!