pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq
I tapped the ash of my pipe in an alley. The glass made a soft tong sound as I tapped it against the brick. Then I stepped out with a boot and quashed the still-burning greens.
I already felt like a pro with it.
My head clear of distractions like bugs or the sound of Mother's voice I could finally get to work. The slight spinning the greens caused was not unlike alcohol but it was minor. I felt like I could focus through it. I even felt like I could drive, or ride as the case may be.
Gods it was good to be off that stuffy train. There were 'no smoking' signs everywhere and fire alarms in every bathroom. I'd maybe checked a couple.
"Well Neo, let's buy some horses."
She held up one finger.
"One? One horse? For the both of us?"
She nodded.
"So what? You'll just ride bitch on mine?"
She frowned at my phrasing but still nodded again.
"Huh. And feminism marches on."
She kicked me in the shin. I deserved it too so I managed a muted, "ow. Alright. Alright. Fair cop."
I rubbed at one of my piercings, fondling the earlobe around the metallic diamond stud.
"You know I could probably teach you how to ride. It's easy enough for someone like me to figure out so you could probably do it."
She shook her head. Probably thinking something like 'why would I do that when I have you to ride me around?' To which I'd say, 'yeah, fair enough.'
I found a merchant and paid him. It came out to a few thousand Lien but it was no skin off my back. Just one aura-driven horse and we were good to go.
I saddled up. Putting my bag of loose possessions over the horse's back (spare clothes, toiletries, the bare necessities) along with Neo's own duffle. Then I mounted it. The horse grunted slightly under the suddenly added weight of all my weapons and armor and me. I was something like two-hundred and thirty pounds by myself. Probably a little more.
I reached down to Neo. She looked away as I easily swung her onto the horse's back. The horse hardly stirred under the addition, she was smaller than Ruby or Weiss. Neo popped her pink parasol to shield us both from the Anima sun.
She rode side-saddle. And managed to look ever so lady-like on the horse's back but I knew the truth. I turned my head back to face forward. This thing was no lady. She was as much a beast as the horse we rode on.
Like that we were off, hooves beating a steady rhythmic clip-clop down a beaten trail. It had the marks of being a real road for cars with four wheels.
"You don't do tactile stuff do you? Just auditory and visual illusions right?"
I felt her nod her head against my back.
"And you haven't been hazing me, have you?" It would be convenient if all my hallucinations were caused by Neo messing with me. Convenient. Not likely or comforting or anything like that.
She shook her head.
"Then I think I'm a little fucked up."
She snorted a little, still managing to be lady-like still. It reminded me a little of Weiss.
"I didn't used to be like this. Mother got to me. Salem, that is. She haunts me like an evil specter from the end of time. I'm not sure if you believe me about her but she's bad news. Has all kinds of magic besides being old as hell and probably basically unkillable."
She snorted again. I felt her wipe her pink and brown hair back. It brushed against my sleeveless arm. It tingled against my free skin there.
"That's what I'm saying. She's fucking bullshit. I didn't really believe it myself until I ran into her, or her shadow at least. It was almost enough to unmake me, that alone. She made me kill two of my friends. Made me. Like I was a puppet."
She just listened at that time. She put an arm around me to hold on as we rode out of Shumi and on to Wutai. It was the first real touch another person had given me since everything went down.
Since I'd killed Ren and Nora.
Since I'd tried to kill myself.
It was oddly reassuring even if it was light and meaningless. Gentle against my arm. Just enough to hold on from where she sat in our double saddle.
I was choking something back as she did and got settled in a little more. I could feel her aura. The cruel cold was a mellow comfort to my own heat. Like I was burning up and hadn't noticed it. Like I had a fever and didn't know.
"That's why I have to go and find Merlot. Salem could make me kill you too, I'm not sure what will make me snap next. That would be bad, for both of us."
She tensed up a little at that. I wasn't sure she took it as a threat but it kinda was. Salem's reach was long and I wasn't sure what we'd find at the laboratory.
"Not right now. Captain of my own ship at the moment. Just… be careful around me. Be ready once we get to the lab. The report was all about modified Grimm. Not like me, maybe, depending on what the fuck I am. Salem mentioned that I do indeed have sisters. How could I forget that? Oh my gods she has my fucking sisters."
I stewed in that. Listening to the rhythmic beat of the horse.
"Depending on how false my memories are. Most of them are fake. Inconsistent when I really look at them. I have to save them, though. And myself of course. I won't get anywhere as her puppet. All the more reason to get to the lab and find Merlot."
pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq
I set up the tent and tied the horse to a tree. Setting out the horse the graze. That was what was great about horses. It was a grass fed engine. They could go anywhere there was grass with excellent mobility. That was why they were a staple of mankind.
I didn't ask Neo for anything as I set up the camp. Which was fine. She sat on a fence looking at the road forlornly. Like she'd made a deal she wished she could go back on.
My legs were cramped from riding and I was sure hers were stiff, too.
"Let's fight." I said, standing up straight from the tent. I took a hit off my pipe at the same time and exhaled.
She gave me an odd look.
"What? Cinder is stronger than both of us. You think you'll reach her level by not sparring? By not practicing?"
She hopped off the fence and stalked towards me. She rubbed her chest as she looked at me.
"I'll take it easier on you than before but we really can't afford to get out of practice. We'll be out here for a week or so. That's two, back and forth to really get to know each other. Plus if we'll be working together it will help if we know the others' style."
She pulled her dolon on me and pranced closer with that otherworldly grace people who'd had their aura unlocked for a long time possessed.
"What's your weapon's name, by the way?"
She made a shushing gesture, a finger to her pink lips. A confident grin on her face.
"Uh, okay then."
She shook her head and pointed at her weapon.
"Oh the weapon's name is Shush."
She shook her head.
"Quiet? Silence?"
She pulled out her scroll and typed like she did when I was having trouble guessing. She didn't seem to use any real sign language and sometimes it was nearly impossible to determine what she meant. It was 'Hush' typed on the screen on a note word processor.
"So close! Well then it certainly suits you, Hush."
She rolled her eyes, exasperated that she'd had to pull her scroll.
I tapped out the ash from my pipe on a tree and squashed it. I put the pipe away in a pouch on my belt beside the relic. I wasn't sure how the damn thing worked and I hadn't really messed with it. I was willing to bet if I took the top off the lamp it would do something but I wasn't sure what it would do or even what for.
Sure something related to knowledge but that wasn't exactly a narrow topic. All of knowledge that is.
I still felt like my head was clear enough to fight despite the greens. I drew the longsword from my back. I held it with both hands on the long handle.
I rested my left beneath the right and breathed in. I activated my semblance with a little sigh. I felt good. I felt right.
Neo approached me and poked at the rising wisps of light.
"My semblance? It's called Limit Breaker. It makes me stronger and faster and there's a charge I can spend on an attack or movement."
She counted down with her fingers at a steady pace.
"How long does it last?"
Neo nodded.
"I'm not really sure. It used to only be fifteen seconds or so. Fifteen seconds to spend it or use the mobility and strength buffs. Now I can hold onto the charge for longer. Minutes, maybe." Fifteen seconds was short as fuck but minutes were long as Hell in a real fight.
It used to be a lot of pressure but now I had time to think and to trap my opponents with the superior speed and resilience.
"You ready?" I asked.
She shook her head, hiding a smile and I realized she was waiting for my semblance to evaporate away.
"Hey," I protested. "If you wanted to go without it you could have just said something."
She frowned at me. I threw the Limit away in the form of a blade-beam against a tree. It blended away against the bark, throwing out chips of wood and with a groan the tree fell.
"Fine. Alright? You ready?"
She grinned and vanished.
I stood still and listened. I watched carefully but couldn't see any indication of her movement. She reappeared on top of me. Bringing the sword-stick down on me, trying to breach my collar bone in what I was figuring was a favorite move of hers.
I had to raise Crocea Mors upwards to deflect the blow to the side. I tried to riposte but by the time I brought the weapon around and down in a counter attack she disappeared.
She reappeared behind me and kicked my right leg in the back of the knee. Now I don't care how strong you are and firm your balance is. You get kicked like that, you're dropping to at least one knee.
I did. I swept the sword around my body to ward her off and get back to my feet. As I tried to rise she came at me from the left and I struggled to bring the blade around in time to block the smaller, more lithe cane sword. I leaned on my blade like a knight as I rose to my feet.
I swiped at her and nicked her and sent her tumbling. She growled at me. She cartwheeled back to her feet and vanished.
She stabbed me in the chest, tearing out chunks of my aura as she did. I reached out with my left hand and grabbed her. Her eyes widened in surprise before I bounced her off the ground and tried to reach her by dancing my blade down in a large forward swipe.
I caught her and comboed her forward in four more strikes.
Once she was out of tumble she vanished and kicked me in the chest with both heels. I reeled backwards. She stabbed me from the right. Then reappeared on the left, further away from my sword.
I was sort of intentionally handicapping myself without the shield. I traded mobility for defense and I stepped back with her and tried to block, both hands on my long red hilt.
I caught her across the stomach with a touche and pushed her back with a tiny grimace from her. It activated my charge and I flew towards her. I jumped and brought the sword vertically around my body to deliver a punishing falling upwards swinging aerial that launched her up in the air at a perfect middle height.
She broke the combo by teleporting in front of me. She jabbed at me with the umbrella and expanded it right in my face, pushing my sword to the side as a matter of course. She then flickered towards my throat with the thin blade. It caught me and I tried to grab her but my grab was slow and she twisted back away with a side flip.
I flew at her, holding my semblance, still. She dodged in place, leaning to the side. She jabbed at my face with her blade and it caught my aura and left a shallow cut on my cheek.
I grunted and in a flash spent my semblance I climbed her up in a massive upwards swing. The Limit Break attack made her aura flash and flicker in a tide of bright pink.
She rolled away from me. She slammed one arm in the dirt and vanished again. She reappeared with her legs around my head and used the momentum to try and slam me into a tree.
I jumped then backflipped off the tree instead of being rammed into it.
She still managed to bring me to the ground and tried to put me in an arm bar at the same time she stabbed down with her cane-sword. I dropped my blade and with pure main strength peeled her off of my arm and tossed her.
She landed neatly on her feet. Her eyes switched colors as she blinked at me.
She reappeared before me and stomped on my foot. I leaned forward unconsciously and she hooked me with her umbrella and used my momentum to throw me to the ground. I frontflipped in place to counter and whipped my sword around and knocked her off her feet.
She attacked me with an illusion. Making me see a flash of white before she went low and stabbed at me. I blindly swung downwards and she slid on her knees beneath the cut and stabbed up at my thigh. She pierced my aura and when I swung at her she vanished and shattered like a glass pane.
Our weapons clashed as I chased after her and she backed up. Three times they met with solid clanging noises as we did. Her blade was fast and it whipped through the air as I chased her.
I kicked out and our legs met. She rolled over it and kneed me in the face. I tried to grab her but she vanished.
I took a guess at where she would reappear and Cross-Slashed her. It was less serious without the broadsword. Even still, I tried to be light about it but she bounced off the ground and lay still.
"How you holding up?"
She frowned and tried to vanish but collapsed.
"Don't push yourself too hard, now. It's just training. To get better."
She glowered at me.
"Why don't we call it there. No reason to over extend until one of us is without aura. How does dinner sound, besides?"
My heart was racing and I could feel the high from my greens up top, really in my head.
She gave me a suspicious look.
"Don't worry. I'll cook."
She giggled a little. I walked over and pulled her to her feet. I rested my sword against my shoulder before I sheathed it.
"Hey, I can cook."
She snorted as though to say 'sure you can.'
"I can. You just watch. I'll whip something up. I mean it won't be five stars but it'll be edible." Eggs and rice? Eggs and rice.
I pulled out my pipe. "You want some?"
She sat and shook her head. She was giving me a hard to read, soft smile.
"Suit yourself. I'll get us a fire going and everything will be fine. It'll even be delicious, you'll see."
I wasn't Ren but I could put something together. Ren… nope bad thought. Didn't like that. I wasn't sure I'd ever be able to eat a breakfast burrito ever again.
He'd forgive you, Jaune. He would.
I reminded myself.
It was Salem. It was all her.
In the end, we sat back and ate in companionable silence.
pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq
-WG