Campfire Dinner and Talk of Everyone's Life
Ever since Sun gained the Golden Sight ability, as he likes to call it, things have gotten a little smoother for the group to make their journey through the Atlantis path and Sun is making use good of it helping the others lead the way.
Until they came to a complete stop at a giant stone wall with some details on it.
"And you're both sure that forward is the only way for us?" Sienna asked as Oscar looked through the journal and Sun with his Golden Sight.
"Sorry, but we're gonna have to go through this wall somehow." Sun answered.
"He's right." Oscar nodded closing the book.
"Xiao Long, think you can blow this away?" Sienna asked the exploding specialist.
"Oh, that's a tough one. I think it'll take about 200 or 2000 to blow this away which could result this entire carven to collapse on top of us, which maybe a good thing since I only have twenty of left along with several of my own. Some cherry bombs, and two road flares." Yang answered and showing her exploding stuff.
"Hmm, then this calls for our dirty driller." Jafar gestured to Mole and his giant drill car.
"Yes, yes, yes, yes!" Mole excited.
"Okay Mole, you wanted to do some digging the here you go!" Sun said with a thumb up.
"It would be my pleasure." Mole smiled.
Mole got to work on drilling through the as he can hear the tip is piercing through the stone structure that has been in here for who knows how long, but suddenly something went wrong as the drill only made a small scratch and the control panel explode onto Mole's face with the drill stopping.
"Mole, is everything alright up there?" Vine called out.
Mole only responded with some angry grunting as he tries to get the drill working again and then pounding his head on the horn.
"Come on, come on!" Ruby dashed to the back of the drill with Neon as they open it.
"Ruby, didn't you tune this drill this morning?" Neon asked recalling the morning.
"Of course, I did, and I double checked! It should still be working fine." Ruby answered as she checks the parts closely.
"I'm not expert on machines, but I think something inside got shot off or something." Jasmine guessed.
"And you're guess is right, the rotor is no good. I'm gonna have to pull a spare from one of the trucks." Ruby said as she is about to walk to one of the trucks to bring a spare one.
"Wait, let me try something." Oscar said.
He started turning some little wheel-like switches and then whack a pipe with a wrench, next thing everyone knows is the drill is working again.
"She lives!" Mole cheered.
Oscar closes the back of the drill and turn around seeing everyone shock, mostly Ruby with her eyes widen.
"How did you do that?" Ruby asked.
"Oh, I used to help some employees at the museum boiler at the basement that my grandpa owns. The heating cores on the whole Humac line keeps getting temperamental with the heating systems, so I learned a to how get this baby working again with having to replace some parts and gave it a little persuasion if you know what I mean." Oscar explained with a proud smile.
"I LOVE YOU EVEN MORE!" Ruby jumped onto Oscar pushing him down and kissing on his face.
"Hey, leave some love for me!" Neon jumped in leaving Jasmine to giggle.
After getting Ruby and Neon off, the team got moving again through the stone wall traveling some more until they came at a stop to a bridge with a green glowing stone nightlight on the ceiling of the carven.
"Okay, this is definitely that green light." Oscar declared.
"Alright, we'll make camp here and continue on in the morning." Jafar ordered.
"Why is it glowing like that?" Neon wondered.
"Pah! It is a natural phosphorescence." Mole stated.
"I don't know, I'm getting a creepy feeling about that light." Aladdin said.
Later, everyone has started having dinner from the old man Dusty, the head chief of the crew though all couldn't stand his weird and gross cooking as it looks like a stinky, sloppy joe mix in with some food that should not be mix in. All except for Mole who is the only one who enjoys this kind of food, and the others don't hesitate to give him their share.
"Here you go, Oscar. Got to put some meat into your bones." Dusty poured the food on Oscar's tray.
"Oh, th-thank you, Dusty. It looks… greasier than usual." Oscar gulped.
"Thank you, better have some more." Dusty walked away.
"How and why did your grandpa hired this guy as the chief?" Yang grossed out of the food.
"Believe me, I've been wondering about that since got into that carven." Oscar sighed as he sat down between Ruby and Neon and sat on the whoopy cushion set by Mole. Causing the farting noise and him laughing.
"Mole!" The group yelled except for Maria who just rolled her eyes.
"Ah, forgive me. I could not resist." Mole laughed.
"Hey Oscar, I think you should put the book down before you get grease stain on it." Sun advised.
"Sorry, it just something strange the pages I'm reading right now." Oscar said.
"It is a riddle? I hate riddles, they give me headaches." Elm said.
"No, it's not that. It says that the Shepherd wrote something called the Heart of Atlantis which I believe might be the power source of what they had, and the legends spoke of, but when I flip a page, it just cut off like there's a missing page." Oscar explained.
"It's best not to overthink this, we don't time paid for overthinking." Maria pointed out.
"Well, I say this is going to be the greatest adventure in our life!" Sun excited.
"Unless you're only in it for the money." An old looking walked up to them.
"Hi, Uncle Qrow!" Ruby greeted.
Qrow is a man with graying black, spiky hair, faded red eyes, and slight stubble along his jawline. He wears a red, tattered cloak on his back and a black wristband. His clothing is a dark gray collar shirt with a black vest that has cross-shaped buttons, and a white v-neck shirt underneath, dark gray dress pants and black dress shoes. His old rings are replaced with black ones worn in the same place as his previous rings were.
"Oh, so this cutie teddy bear my little rose wouldn't stop talking about." Qrow leaned closer to Oscar making him nervous.
"Just so you know, if you do anything to hurt her then you're death." Qrow threatened with a scary look in his eyes causing Oscar to scream in his head.
Then Qrow just suddenly laughs and patted Oscar's shoulders.
"I'm kidding, you seem like an okay kid. But seriously don't hurt her heart." Qrow warned and turns to Sun.
"That goes for you too if you hurt Yang." Qrow said.
"Will you stop that, Uncle Qrow. We're not little kids anymore." Yang exclaimed.
"Just making sure, after all. Mostly everyone on this exploration is only in this for the money." Qrow stated which some of claimed that Qrow is right.
"Yeah, kinda figure that out." Oscar said rubbing his neck.
"Oh, you hurt your neck, kid?" Sweet asked.
"I think so, it's been bothering me for…" Then Sweet twisted Oscar's neck left and right.
"Better?" Sweet asked.
"Wow, that was great! Where'd you learn to do that?" Oscar asked.
"An Arapaho medicine man." Sweet answered.
"That sounds cool." Sun commented.
"Thanks, born and raised with them. My father was an army medic, he settled down in Kansas Territory after he met my mother." Sweet showed them a picture of his parents.
"Must have been a good life there." Neon said.
"Oh, it sure is for him. I was born there too, we were childhood friends until my family had to move away because of a job transfer, but we still kept in touch." Elm revealed.
"Yep, I got a sheepskin from Howard U, and a bearskin from old Iron Cloud." Sweet showed his ancient ways necklace.
"Halfway through medical school, I was drafted. One day I'm studying gross anatomy in the classroom, the next I'm sewing up Rough Riders San Juan Hill." Sweet explained.
"It's very nice that you became a medic, helping a lot of people with your skills." Jasmine complimented.
"Thank you, just doing my job." Sweet smiled.
"Hey Elm, I've been wondering how did you got yourself into this exploration team? I don't see you as a history woman." Sun asked.
"I used to be part of a military, found myself enjoying the thrills of battle and had a partner too, he was young and a hotshot. But a brave one in the end…" Elm stared at the flame.
"He gave his life to help end a civil war and he was remembered as a hero, I decided to step out of the army to help use my skills to help people better up close, that's when Ozpin came up to me and offered a bodyguard to you two believing I could find something great down here." Elm explained and mentioned about Ozpin.
"So, how are you enjoying this so far?" Sun asked.
"Cool, first time to have ever survived a giant monster and going through some crazy things and getting to you all feels enjoyable too." Elm answered smirking at Sun.
"More of the main course?" Dusty asked, but everyone refuses making up lies about being full.
"I believe Mole would like more of your… unique cooking." Jasmine pointed at Mole who nods excitingly.
"Then here you go!" Dusty poured the rest of the food onto Mole's tray before leaving.
"So glad my taste died in this old age." Maria said as the other pour their food onto the fire.
Everyone got to work on setting up their tents though Oscar was having trouble with his until Sun offered a helping hand.
"Man, I haven't felt exciting for camping in a long time since my grandpa and I used to go together." Sun chuckled.
"Some of us never got to meet your grandpa, what was he like?" Yang asked.
"Well, he was a great man who always believed in every legendary story that comes into his ears and made it his mission to prove they were real, but some called him a crazy man believing in something like Atlantis. His only regret was not finding the city and prove those fuckers right." Sun explained feeling sad as Jasmine and Rajah comforts him.
"Must be hard for you when people make fun of your family." Vine said.
"Yeah, it was." Sun nodded.
"So, any of you guys want to share whey you're on this exploration mission?" Sun asked and Vine decided to talk first.
"I was raised by monks and taught in the ancient ways, always respecting history that can bring value and the stories they share as my best subject is history, after all." Vine talked about his past.
"Wait, monks actually go to school?" Neon asked shock.
"Only a few who are allowed to go outside, and Ozpin approached me, telling me about finding the truth of Atlantis's existence as I became intrigued believing that meeting was destiny that could help the monks as well." Vine smiled.
"I wasn't much of a history guy, myself. I used to live in a farm with my parents and aunt, living a happy life until my grandpa invited us to an exploring vacation in Africa which was fun…" Oscar paused feeling hurt of the memory.
"You don't have to tell us if you don't want to." Jasmine said.
"It's fine, talking about it helps. We were attacked by a stampede of wildebeests and my parents were caught in when only me and my grandpa managed to get out." Oscar revealed with a single tear coming down.
Everyone gave him a moment to calm himself as Ruby the tear away making him smile.
"My grandpa blamed himself for what happened, and I became a shut-in for a while until we both managed to move on for the better, I even got into studies of ancient history which got me to Atlantis then he showed me this book and here I am." Oscar explained.
"Wow, it's also like we were meant to find each other." Sun chuckled.
"Crazy if you asked me." Oscar commented.
"Are you going to sleep in your clothes, Miss Maria?" Jasmine asked the old woman who walked past them.
"I sleep better in the nude." Maria mentioned shocking the young teens.
"You kids are gonna need those, she sleepwalks." Qrow warned as he passes from sleeping mask to them.
"I believe it's my turn to tell the tale." Yang smiled.
"Back home, me and Ruby used to live with our dad and mom. Just to let you know, me and Ruby have different moms." Yang mentioned.
"I kinda already figured that much." Jasmine said.
"My mom has always been away but does come home for a few months or so while Ruby's mom and our dad take care of us the best they can. Uncle Qrow visit us from time to time too." Yang looked at his uncle.
"You two have always drive me crazy whenever Tai and Summer forced me to babysit." Qrow chuckled.
"It was a good life, that is until dad got run over by a drunk truck driver while trying to help some kids off the street. The bastard was sued and thrown in jail, and we done our best to live the best life we could do which along the way got me to find my special talent in bombs." Yang said.
"By blowing up a Chinese laundry place?" Ruby asked.
"Hey, it was my first bomb, I could have known it would be that power!" Yang defended herself.
"Right, and as for me, I got into machinery with my mom making all kinds of cool gadgets and stuff." Ruby mentioned.
"How did you guys become part of this team?" Oscar asked.
"Turns out, Ozpin and Uncle Qrow are old friends when they would see each other from time to time. Ozpin was impressed with our skills and wanted to hire us though Qrow was against it." Ruby answered.
"I would let them go IF I came along to keep an eye on them, Summer and Raven agreed, but I wasn't expecting to part of this history searching team this crazy." Qrow stated as he can remember the Leviathan attack and the encounter with the giant bug.
"We wanted to save to open a mechanic shop and a dojo for Yang since she is also a fighter." Ruby said.
"I came along because I'm always looking for the biggest adventure, I can find in the world along with helping some people, I'm good with music like jazz and on roller skates. I've always dreamed of opening my own club for everyone to be happy with music." Neon explained about herself.
"Wow, sounds like you guys had a great life… Better than mine." Aladdin said.
"Yeah, I can see in your eyes that it's not all sunshine and rainbows." Qrow proclaimed.
"I grew up on the street all alone, I don't know who my father is, and my mother died when I was a little kid. The only thing I could do was steal food in order to survive." Aladdin sighed.
"That's when you started developing your stealth skills." Jasmine guessed.
"Yeah, becoming sneaker the more I got into it though I ended up in the wrong crowd, but it didn't last long when we got caught by the police and I would have been spending a decade or two in prison if Ozpin hadn't gotten me out and you all know the rest." Aladdin said smiling a little.
"Wow, it feels like you guys have gotten great stories both the good and the bad as my grandpa Milo would always that both those kinds of memories, we accept help us grow." Sun mentioned the words his grandpa told him.
"Aw, that's the sweetest thing I ever heard." Mole complimented.
"I have to say, I didn't expect to meet a rich girl to be tagging along as the ones I heard are the spoiled ones." Yang said to Jasmine.
"Well, unlike them, I wouldn't mind getting my hands a little dirty to lend a helping hand." Jasmine grabbed and picked up some dirt.
Then they heard some digging sounds looking to see Mole digging himself down where he intends to sleep as he laughs.
"So, what's the backstory on that guy." Oscar asked curious and nervous at the same time.
"Trust me on this one. You don't want to know." Sweet said and looking to Aladdin.
"Aladdin, don't you tell them. You shouldn't have told me, but you did. And now I'm telling you, you don't want to know." Sweet said before blowing up the fire in a lamp.
"Good to know." Sun said.
KO a new chapter is done and hope you all enjoy it!
Everyone has sat down telling some stories about each other around a campfire and having some gross food from Dusty, hope you like how I made some of their background like with Elm and Aladdin though their night camping won't last long by a little light.
KO comment, favorite, and follow through of how this story will go!