Standing in front of a mirror with glimmering bright green eyes, Kris was glaring back at herself with slightly narrowed eyes. In her left hand was a red fedora, her right holding a green one. "Hmmm..." The small red head gently placed the green one on her head before swiping it out for the red one. "Hmmm..." She let out a sigh, putting the other back on. "Green... red... green... red... green... red... green? Red? Green? Red? Green? Red?" She switched the fedoras out faster and faster eith each passing second. "Green, red, green, red, green, red, green, red? Greeeeeeeeeen? Reeeeed?"
Eventual, she sighed, letting her arms fall down at her sides. "I don't even knooooow!" She groaned louder, shoulders dropping down. "Guys!" She shouted, turning around slowly, making sure not to reopen the wound in her torso. "Do I look better in green or red?!"
Kris's voice echoed through out a clothing shop, one that wasn't destroyed my the attack on Vale and Beacon. It wasn't that large of a clothing shop, more of a thrift store if anything at all. Rows of clothing racks were filled with shirts of all sorts and pants of all lengths, there was even what felt like miles of miscellaneous clothes.
Popping her head up from behind a row of old Vale military clothing, Elise flashed a wicked smiling, shouting back to her teammate. "I vote for green! Green is really cool! It's one of my favorite colors!"
"I agree." Kagami pushed her head up from a row of t-shirts. "Green is pretty cool."
Cheyenne rolled her eyes, her hands picking through lines of old style vest. "Don't listen to them, Christmas! Red is totally your thing!"
"Kay!" The small girl called back, tossing the green fedora to the side as she put on the red one, pressing it down a bit to make sure it fit tight.
"Hey! Guys!" Elise chuckled, peaking out around from the clothes with a camouflage bikini. "Can you believe they put this in with the military stuff?" She held it up to her body, grinning as she looked around. "I think I would look good in this." She wiggled her eyebrows.
The brunet gave a soft grunt, a balled up white shirt colliding with her face. With an arm outstretched, Kagami sighed and shook her head at her reammate. "You know, we are sorta kinda in public. Can't you act normal?"
"Hey!" The young farm girl scrambled around, letting the shirt fall from her face. "I am acting normal! And it's not like he cares!" She pointed at the old shop keeper who simply gave a shrug followed by a faint grunt.
"Oh boy..." Cheyenne reached up, sighing as she shook her head. She then reached over, smiling faintly at the sight of a wool collar. "You're pretty though..." She mumbled, running a finger across it before pulling out a light brown and leather sleeveless trench coat with wool filling the collar. She held it up to herself, the length going down to her thighs.
"Finally found something you like, Chey?" Elise called back, checking the size of several camouflage pants.
"I guess you could say that." The Faunus grave a small shrug.
"You know," Kagami started to talk. "If I have learned only one thing from all of this, it's that shorts are AWFUL in a fight. When I hit that water, it felt like a million needles shot through my shins and red hot."
"That's why you gotta have pants!" Elise chuckled, stepping out as she slapped her thighs which could be seen under her brown pants which had tears and holes on it. "You wants something really tough, you should get some tactical pants. Some are tough as nails."
The jade haired girl gave a slow nod, pulling out a shirt in her size. There was a diagonal line from her right shoulder to her lower left hip. The line separated two colors, the bottom part black and the upper part green. She gave a faint smile before flinching as a red blur jumped down and landed next to her.
"Guys!" Kris winced slightly, hunching over a bit before shaking her head and standing up straight. Around her small body was a large red trench coat with golden button which went down below her knees. She reached up, pulling the red fedora over her eyes as her messy red hair wrapped around her face. "I'm a spy!"
"I..." Kagami blinked, trailing off. She lowered her head, smilimg with a shrug. "Alright, alright. I can't question anything anymore." She then looked back at Elise. "Can I have my hoodie back though? My arms feel naked without it."
"Nope." The brunet shook her head, finding a pair of military pants that would require her to wear a belt so they wouldn't fall down. "I call dibs on this thing. It's great. It's warm and cool and awesome and..." She gave a shrug. "It's also magical, that's cool too."
"Even though we've just been through hell," Kris sighed and shook her head. "The one thing I still can't get over is the fact magic us real and you can use it. I will never get over that."
"Guys." Cheyenne shot her head up, pulling up a shirt with red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, and indigo on it. There was a female girl in each color and the words Rainbow Time Dancers printed in bold letters above. "I thought there was only six of them... who is this indigo color?"
"SPOILERS!" Both Kris and Elise shouted, tackling the Faunus to the ground.
Watching the two tackle Cheyenne down, Kagami blinked rapidly. She then gave a sigh, watching the red head and brunet began to fight over said shirt. "Oh for the love of Oum..." She sighed, shaking her head. She tossed the green and black shirt over her shoulder before stepping towards the side. There, she found a belt, nearly the same green as her shirt. She snatched it up, checking to make sure it would fit her.
"Okay..." Cheyenne gave a slow nod, scooting away from the fighting girls in front of her. She stood, grunting as she hit her head on the pole above her head. She groaned, rubbing where she had hit. She turned around, blinking a few times at a button up white polo shirt. "Oh, you're pretty too." She mumbled, checking the size and then smiling.
"This shirt is... MINE!" Elise snapped, jerking back on the shirt that she gripped with both hands while sitting on the floor.
"You... mean MINE!" Kris jerked back, her fingers digging in to the fabric.
"Mine!" The brunet snapped.
Grunting, the red head shut her eyes. "Mine!"
"It's mine!"
"No! It's mine!"
"Mine!"
"Mine!"
As the two bickered back and forth, Kagami walked up to the front desk with a pair of black tactical pants and way more pockets than they needed. "Excuse me, do you have something like these but with metal padding underneath them?"
The shop keeper narrowed his brows before flashing a smile followed by a nod with a grunt. He snatched the pair of pants from her, ducking down underneath the counter. Metal clanking filled the room as well as the sounds of tools.
Kagami blinked, leaning over the counter. She then grunted, being pushed back by the old man's hand.
After a minute, the shop keeper shot back up, lay the pants out across the counter. He reached out, knocking on the knees, shins, and thighs, the sound of metal being heard as he did so. He then reached into one of the pant legs, pulling it inside out, showing the inside where the metal was. Behind it, on the inside, the was a thick layer of fabric padding to help for comfort when wearing.
Kagami smiled some, giving a nod as she reached out and grabbed the pants. "And thank you." She smiled a little more.
The old man simply gave a nod with a grunt before his brows raised. He pointed behind the young girl and back at the two behind her.
With a sigh, Kagami looked back at the still fighting teammates of her's who seemed to be about to rip each other's heads off. "Oh Oum..." She shook her head.
Finally, after several long hours of searching for just the right sized clothes and endless arguing over who would get the Rainbow Time Dancers shirt, the cash register dinged. The old shop keeper gave off a noise, waving the four girls off as they left his store. He glanced over, his head lowering with a sigh at the unorganized mess of his clothes now.
He walked over towards the shops door, turning an open sign around to say closed. He then calmly shut off the lights, stepping out of the shop and locking it up. He didn't feel like dealing with that mess at the moment. It could be dealt with later.
As he walked down the streets of the lonely city, he couldn't help but smile at the four girls. He had seen them a few times buying things from the multiple places he owned, but even with those few instances, he could tell there was a bond between them that no one could ever break.
That bond may waver definitely from time to time, but nothing could truly ever sever it. Not even golden shears could do so. Those four were a rare occasion, that rare moment in time where one finds the group they belong with. For most, it takes years, maybe even half a life, some it takes only a few months. There is no absolute on how or when one would ever find their place, but the old man knew one thing for sure.
Those four girls were where they belonged. Right besides each other, side by side and fighting battles only the brave would dare to do in order to protect the innocent.
The shop keeper smiled, glancing up at the sky before looking forward. Seeing two women walking towards him. He stepped to the side, letting them pass by.
"And thank you, mister." Aero smiled, saluting in his direction before turning around to look at her old blonde teacher from years ago. "What did you say?"
Giving a sigh, Glynda crossed her arms and shook her head. "Miss Pastell..." She sighed once more, pinching the bridge of her nose before looking up at her. "We were talking about the Fall of Beacon."
"Right... right!" The blue haired woman perked up a bit. "I'm still very confused with whoever did this and their goals for it."
Questioning what she was about to do, the blonde hesitated as she looked forward. "Since you've been around Remnant more than anyone I've known..." She slowly looked back at Aero. With Ozpin missing, Qrow most likely to run off again, and James back in Atlas, she needed someone else she could trust. And though she would never admit it to anyone else, Aero was the best choice she had. "What was your favorite fairytale as a child?"
"Uh..." Aero blinked slowly. A puzzled look quickly coming across her face. "Huh...?"
Giving a sigh, Glynda reached up and pinched the bridge of her nose. Once again, she questioned what she was doing. "Miss Pastell... what is your favorite fairytale?"
"Weeell..." Aero raised a hand, suddenly counting off. "There is the Legend Of The Green Lantern, Twitches, Old Saint Nicolas and His Wife, The Bear and The Bow, The Three Pigs and The Wolf, The Sister Of The Good Witch, The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde, The God of Grape Harvest, The Goddess of Strife, The Little Sister and Little Brother, Captain Julius, Robin Hood, Hawkeye, Green Arrow, Legolas and The One Ring, The Mermaid Who Wished for Legs, The Glorious Tomoe Gozen, The Never Ending Legend of Robert Norman Ross... um..." She blinked a few times, looking up at the sky. "There is also Beowulf and East of The Sun and West of The Moon were pretty good too-"
She was cut off, Glynda's finger pressing up against her lips. "Aero..." She took a deep breath, sighing softly as she looked over. "You know magic is real from your leader's heritage, don't you?"
The blue haired woman gave a nod. "Yeah."
"Do... you remember the story of The Four Seasons?" She was almost reluctant to ask.
"Of course!" The childish woman smiled. "Why do you ask?"
Giving a very faint sigh, Glynda looked forward as the two walked off into the slowly setting sun. "It is a long story."
As the sun set on parts of Vale, a very annoyed, beaten, bruised, and rather pissed off Eri made her way trough the shadows. With Dion in jail and the Twins and Valentine gone, she needed somewhere else to go. So after a few drinks and some listening in and some play time, she earned the whereabouts of a darker and far worse criminal than Dion could ever be.
She WAS a bloody crime lord.
Coming up to a club with music and lights flashing, Eri stepped up, her eyes locked on the brute of a man standing at the door.
With extremely dark and tanned skin and a body harned with muscles and a height of at least six feet, this man had long black spiky hair that trailed down his back. He wasn't wearing any sort of normal clothes, only a pair of lion paws were drabbed around his neck over he chest as the lion's mane wrapped around his waist. His feet were bare and calloused and hardened like stone. On every part of his body, there was also strange tattoos in writing that looked as cool as anything in the world. There was one on each of his toes, his feet, ankles, shins, knees, thighs, stomach, sides, chest, shoulder, triceps, elbows, forearms, wrist, hands, each of his fingers, thumbs, lower back, upper back, neck, forehead, nose, both ears, and his chin. In all fairness, they looked terrifying to anyone who looked at them. Well, as long as they were unable to read what they actually met.
"Name." He demanded, glaring down at the blonde girl before him.
Eri snarled slightly, standing up on her tiptoes. "Doesn't matter. Let me in."
Bending over, the man flashed a fangy grin. "Name."
Taking a deep breath, the short blonde growled. "Eri Sin."
"Sorry," The man stood back up. "Name's not on the madame's list tonight."
Snarling a little, Eri scratched at the metal on her gauntlets. "Let me in now."
"Or else what, shortie?" The man leaned back down with a look that dared her to try him.
On the inside of the club, a few minutes later, a, bartender scrambled into a well furnished room. The room was lit up with golden lights, tapestry of all colors hanging down from all edged of the room. On one end there was a large wooden dresser with a closet next to it. On the other end was a large bed fit for a king. This bed was covered in silk like pink blankets that were so soft that you could see it.
On the bed, sitting with her legs crossed, a small blonde girl with wavey hair and brown streaks glanced up to look at the bartender. Her dark red eyes blinking slowly.
"How many times have I told you to knock?" Behind the girl, a much older woman sat with a brush in her hand and some of the small girl's hair in the other. The woman had nearly the same hair color, but straight and down to her lower back. Her red eyes were much brighter though.
"F-Forgive me, Katie and Mrs. Sanguine!" The man panted, hands on his knees as he looked up. "But Master Tenebris is at it again! Some girl wanted in and he wouldn't let her and now they are fighting and she's giving him a run for his lien!"
"Really?" The woman known as Mrs. Sanguine looked amused yet thrilled and annoyed at the same time. "Toho never has any trouble keeping pest out."
"Maybe... this girl is just as bad as Tohopka...?" The young girl known as Katie looked up, slowly turning around to look back. "Maybe this girl is one of those super criminals that people keep saying escaped during the attack."
"Hmmm..." Mrs. Sanguine slowly rose to her feet as she stepped towards the door. "Well, I wish that was how it was, but sadly most of the criminals running around here are nothing but squabble." She sighed, looking back at Katie. "Dear daughter, finish combing your hair. Your mother has to deal with someone."
Giving a slow nod, Katie picked up the brush. "I'll sick Coco on Tohopka if he doesn't listen."
Mrs. Sanguine chuckled, stepping out. "Toho is the strongest muscle head in the world, yet he's afraid of some dog."
"To be fair, mom, Coco is crazy!" She called back.
"Oh, I know he is! We raised him, sweetie!" Mrs. Sanguine smiled, shutting the door.