Rose?

She didn't have an excuse... Well, she did have an excuse, it was just a horrible one.

"Overslept... I can't believe I overslept..." She had spent all the previous night working, right up until she passed out from lack of sleep. Over the years, she had worked out the rhythm that the Dragon Grimm were sent in, it was a rather consistent pattern. This morning, there was one sent this morning. Which meant that Rose had missed it while she slept. Currently, there was one of them somewhere in Vale. "When's the last time I let one through...?" It had been years at least, there was no doubt of that.

Speeding across the Vale sky like a shooting star, the cloud of rose petals moved too fast to be seen from the ground. She zipped all over the kingdom, going everywhere except the capital; she refused to cross the boundary of mountain Glenn, always remaining on the other side of it to the city. Even if one of them got close to the city, it was completely safe from any Grimm, no matter how strong.

The result was inevitable, eventually the prey of her hunt came into view. It was flying towards a farm, a small one; so small that Rose wouldn't have seen it from the sky if not for her telescopic vision. Immediately, her path changed and she closed in on the Grimm. She was over its back before it even reached the edge of the field, but its speed left an issue for her to handle. While, yes, Crescent Rose would have killed it in one shot, splitting it in half over a field of crops wasn't exactly a good idea. Worst case scenario, if this were one of the stronger types, its skeleton would crush a lot of the growth below it.

"Ah well... Guess you gotta sit this one out." Crescent Rose would get its fill next time.

Gathering like a hurricane, the rose petals coalesced into one solid body. Spreading her wings, vines made of red scales surged from her sides and front, all of them spreading out too fast for the Grimm to escape before they tightened and constricted its body midair. Hovering with her wings, Rose kept the Grimm tied up in the air beneath her; all of its limbs completely pinned to its body, its jaw locked shut.

Silver slitted eyes scanned the field below, and she spotted a young boy watching from the field. He had been running, his chest still heaved with the heavy breath only adrenaline could produce. "A human?" She guessed upon realising she felt no Mana coming from him. "I suppose he's never seen a Grimm like this one up close..." After a moment's hesitation, she decided to prove to him that there was nothing to fear. All the vines holding the Grimm tightened so quickly that the Dragon let out a shriek of pain, before that was silenced by its life ending.

The vines had tightened so much that they were now securing its bones, everything else of the Grimm's body turned to a dark smoke before completely disappearing. "I was right... It was one of the greater ones..." Now knowing that, she casually flicked the skeleton aside with her vines and sent it over the edge of the farm, letting it land with a loud crash outside the field.

It was only morning, and Rose felt a little guilty for letting the Grimm even get this close to people anyway; especially humans. While a few years ago she would have used this chance to secure a free meal, this time it seemed right to move on- "Ah... Wait a minute." Eyes looking further down, she spotted something odd... A gun. Not only a gun, but an incredibly large one, bigger even than Crescent Rose. It sat mounted on a podium, and judging from its design, it could move and turn.

"Ooh... Does it aim itself?" Curiosity getting the better of her, she let her wings go limp, pointed straight up. Dropping rapidly, she gave one gentle flap just before hitting the ground and casually landed on the podium next to the gun. Getting a better look now as she returned to her base form, Rose brushed a hand over the gun with a curious gaze. "The work of a Silver Wizard... I can see some of my own designs in this... Argus." Without a doubt, it was of his making. Or, at least the original had been, the rest - including the one in front of her - was probably mass-produced. "I wonder how it-"

"Um, excuse me!" Turning when she heard the boy yell out to her, Rose tilted her head curiously. The boy was no doubt frightened, but there was a hint of hope in his eyes too as he looked up at her. "Do you know Healing Magic?"

"This is gonna be a long day... Isn't it...?"

"So why does this connect to-... Oh... I mean, kinda lazy, Argus." While he had used some of her designs that she left in her workshop, he had clearly misunderstood some things in certain places. Rose could spot a few times in which he had used a more complicated method than was needed in order to achieve a rather simple result. Still staring at the mechanics of the turret, she casually took a bite out of a sandwich.

Turns out she did end up taking that free meal. Personally, she thought she had earned it. First, she had saved the farm from a Dragon Grimm; maybe her fault in the first place. Then she had saved the kid's uncle, his leg had been incredibly infected, almost more disease than actual flesh. While a bit brutal, it had been simpler to just cut off his leg and completely regrow it with Healing Magic. In her defence, he had barely felt a thing with all that numbing Magic she used. And thirdly, she was fixing one of their turrets that wasn't working.

Maybe upgrading it a bit too... When was the last time she got to work on something that wasn't her own? Now that she thought about it, when was the last time she had worked on anything of her own, either? "Would have been when I made the Mind Wraith..." And that had been quite a long time ago.

"Ah, Ms Rose?" Glancing down off the edge of the platform, the kid, Oscar, was bringing up a plate and a drink using a ladder. "My aunt wanted to know if you had any preference for dinner?" His eyes gleamed as he looked at her, honestly it made her a little uncomfortable.

"Oh... Um, I wasn't planning on staying-" She was cut off by that hopeful look in his eyes... And crumbled under it. "As long as it's hot, I don't have a preference." Rose had been eating fruit for the last six months straight. Which was why she was greedily stuffing down these sandwiches. The drink wasn't bad either, just some juice that she couldn't name.

Giving a big thumbs up, he happily went back down the ladder and ran off, having delivered her snack. "Strange kid..." Though to be fair, she had saved his life... Maybe it was best she refrained from mentioning that it was her fault the Grimm had even been here. "Eh, nobody got hurt." Pretty much the opposite if you included Oscar's uncle. Armed with a fresh sandwich and some juice, Rose turned back to the turret and began to tinker some more.

"It runs off Fire Dust... Pretty inefficient, actually. This could be reformatted to run off of pure Mana; which would make all Dust types work. Argus can make Ice the fastest, so that would make it way more efficient." She felt so smart, even smiling to herself as she got to work. "Oh, the hose was clogged." Casually fixing that by worming a vine through it momentarily, Rose began to adjust the Enchantments and Ritual inside the turret.

"That clogging issue... It probably applies to all of them." Even if they hadn't all gotten fully clogged yet. She was just creating more work for herself, but it was good to let her brain refresh every now and again. She couldn't remember the last time she had done something other than kill Grimm and work with the Mind Wraith. It was beginning to carve away at her; just today, at least today, she would do something else. That would no doubt make her work faster in other areas anyway.

Finishing her sandwich and juice, Rose sped her way through the upgrades before darting over to the next turret as a cloud of rose petals. Applying the same fixes and cleaning out the hose, she repeated the process for all eight turrets before arriving back at the initial one. "Ok, job done." Blinking for a moment, she realised that all of her work was already done.

"Ok, fine." Grabbing a bit of metal off of her belt that looked like a squished sphere, she sat on the platform with crossed legs as she opened the Mind Wraith. A blue field of light was projected into the air just in front of her, it was no bigger than a foot in diameter, and she carefully looked over it for a while. It was a collection of seemingly infinite glowing blue lights that made up the shape of a brain. When she saw nothing but the blue, she pinched one of her fingers over it and opened them to make the hologram zoom in.

Stopping her zooming when she could make out the individual lights, she began to wave her hands to make the hologram change its viewing point. She searched for who knows how long before she finally found what she was looking for. Reaching in, she pressed her finger against the orange light in the field of blue, snuffing it out and changing it to the same surrounding blue. "Another down... Who knows how many more left to go."

One was all she had time for. Looking through the hologram, she saw Oscar running over from the distance. Closing the Mind Wraith and putting it back on her belt, Rose jumped off the platform and began to walk over to him as he ran to approach. The boy was puffing and panting by the time he reached her, and Rose casually tapped his head with a glowing Green Light to quell his exhausted body. "You live on a farm, I thought you'd be more fit than that."

"I've been running around all day..." He groaned. Hearing that, Rose glanced around and realised that it was, in fact, already sun set.

"Ah." Who knows what he had been doing while she was at the turret.

Turning, Oscar began to walk to the house. "Dinner is ready, I was coming to get you." They walked together; Rose glanced at him numerous times with a small smirk. He was so short compared to her; it was rather entertaining.

"Short." She teased aloud.

Stammering he turned to her. "H-Hey...! I'm average height!" No he wasn't. "Besides, I'm still a kid!" That was true, however-

"Short." She reaffirmed.

Facing forward again, Oscar grumbled, "You're just tall..."

"Thanks."

"A lady is supposed to want to be short!" He practically whined.

Tilting her head, Rose asked, "Where'd you get that idea?"

Crossing his arms with a confident smile, Oscar answered simply, "My aunt."

"She's just short too." Rose shrugged. Letting out a loud groan, Oscar surrendered by not responding, much to Rose's enjoyment. However, one thing he said stuck out to her. "What makes you think I'm a lady?"

Her confusion seemed to confuse him. "You're a woman. Aren't all women ladies?"

"Oh, he doesn't mean the noble 'lady'." Shaking her head, she began to explain to him the different tiles one would be given depending on noble stature, however his eyes started glazing the minute she got to the difference between the owner of an estate and a lord. "-See usually a lord is the owner of an estate, but just because you own an estate doesn't make you a lord-"

"Please stop..." He practically begged her.

Deciding to spare him from any further torment, Rose glanced back at the turret and asked, "How did you get guns?" Perhaps they had become common... She had been avoiding towns the last few years; taking so many free meals had made her feel guilty.

"Oh, they're everywhere nowadays." Oscar shrugged as he explained. "A couple years ago, the queen had turrets like that set up in every town and village; the farms too, as I'm sure you figured."

"The queen, huh?" Rose took a moment to think about that. "What's the point though? Weiss knows I'm keeping the Dragon Grimm out... Ok, I let one slip through, but still." It didn't make any sense, why waste the effort and resources? "It's not like I'm going anywhere."

Nodding Oscar excitedly continued. "Apparently there are even bigger ones in the capital. Turrets that can blow a proper Dragon out of the sky." Those were meant for Serena, Whitley, and their kids, most likely. Rose didn't know much about the Atlas royalty; it was a bit difficult to find information on it when you lived in the woods. From what she did know, they had three kids. The eldest was their daughter, Whitley's heir. Her younger brothers weren't twins, but they were incredibly close in age. "I want to go there someday."

"Atlas?" Rose had gotten lost in her thoughts.

"What-? No- Vale. The capital." Watching his confusion was entertaining. "I want to study there; I want to find something to do with my life. Now that I have that choice... It's like the whole of Remnant opened up to me." Nodding along, Rose couldn't help but smile. It was nice, hearing the words of someone so bright and full of hope for the future. She herself had never been like that.

"So," She smirked at him, "What's your plan? What does the future have in store for Oscar Pine?"

Dreaming it and actually saying it were two different things, so she was patient when he struggled to come up with an answer for a moment. "I think... I want to make The World a better place, regardless of how." A lofty goal, if a bit vague. Most people wanted that, or, at least wanted to make their own part of The World better. If Oscar really did mean the whole World, then he was certainly a good person. Naive too, of course.

"What does the ideal version of The World look like to you?" She asked because she couldn't picture her own version of it. Well, there was one image that came to mind... But it was a distant dream, no use in dwelling on it.

Stumped once again on an even harder question, the young boy took a couple minutes to think up an answer. In the meantime, Rose was being reminded of how slow walking truly was. If she had flown, this distance wouldn't have even taken a second; far less time than even that if she had moved with Rose Burst. This was how most people experienced Remnant, it was slow and vast, not something to be taken so lightly. Meanwhile, Rose and a handful of others could traverse its entirety in less than a day. Power took more forms than simple destructive force; Rose had to wonder if this was yet another way in which she was the strongest.

Finally ready with an answer - an apprehensive one at that - Oscar spoke carefully. "One where there aren't any wars, no people fighting one another, no inequality... All of us, all of us live as the same species, fighting a common enemy."

It was a curious answer, one she immediately pointed the flaw of. "Your ideal World still has an enemy to fight?"

"Grimm." He said decidedly. "I don't think people can live without conflict of some kind... If it has to be a threat that unites us, let it be a monster. One without Souls, without the ability to learn or think." It was as if his voice had taken on a stronger tone, he was oddly confident about this.

She couldn't help but agree. "You have a surprisingly well thought out reasoning." Pausing, she eventually added, "But it's still flawed. We're too strong, all of us. Even humans when armed with weapons like guns. Grimm aren't a threat; they can't unite us."

Of course, following that same logic, Oscar pointed out, "Then Magic is the problem."

Life without Magic? A strange thought, especially for her. Rose wouldn't exist if not for Magic. "Not all Magic. It's too strong, maybe. But... I would still keep some of it." That sounded better. "Dust. Enchantments, rituals..." Maybe she was biased, after all, that was her area of expertise. "Magic that can be shared." A better way of putting it rather than admitting her selfish viewpoint.

Oscar seemed to agree, nodding along as they walked. The sun had nearly fully set now, the field was all but shrouded in darkness behind them. Rose could still see plenty fine, but no doubt Oscar was only managing to walk straight thanks to the lights on at the house. "Like that." Pointing straight ahead, Rose's eyes followed and looked at the house. Just the house? She wasn't sure what he was pointing at specifically... Not until it clicked. The lights themselves, the very thing he was using to find his way back.

"Pretty much just technology at that point." It was a nice thought, but it was the same level of naive that the rest of Oscar's opinions seemed to show. Rose wouldn't be satisfied in a world with Magic that scarce. Neither would most people. Life wasn't meant to be so boring, that was her opinion. Glancing back, she set her eyes on the turret once more. "Though... That's pretty much just technology too." So, what was the ideal stopping point? If they were just technology, what limit would she set on Magic?

Her thoughts moved to Crescent Rose; the scythe folded on her lower back. But that was too far. "An ideal world wouldn't need something like Crescent Rose. It's a weapon made specifically to face no equal." No doubt, Rose herself would find no place in a world like that. So... What else did she have?

Stopping in her tracks, Rose held her hands up in front of her, as if cupping water. A small Rose made out of red scales sprouted from one of her palms, the flower gently swayed with the wind at her command. From it, she felt a warm heat. Like the comforting glow of a fireplace. Rose didn't know if this was right... She didn't know if this is what the ideal kind of Magic was. But was there really a need to put so much thought into a hypothetical?

Oscar too had stopped, turning and looking at Rose curiously. They were close enough now to the house that he could see her thanks to the lights. Moving her hands closer to him, she let him feel the warmth the rose exuded. "Its... Warm." Simple words, but no more than that really needed to be said.

In her mind, Rose pictured a strange setting... A cottage, one she shared with her family. Her family? "Yeah... My family..." She saw a woman with white hair sitting next to her on the floor, they were lounging on the carpet of the rustic home. That woman, she didn't have a face, not one that Rose could make out. Weiss... Eirwen... Did it really matter? It didn't, not till she saw the picture in her mind change. Two children, both of them sitting beside her; both with heads of white hair. "Argus... Summer..." Their identities didn't need to be questioned.

Eyes looking forward, she saw that they were all sitting in front of a fireplace... Only, instead of wood, ash, or flame... There was a small garden bed, with a small bush of those same roses growing.

It was a nice fantasy, a small joy for her to share with no one but herself.

Rose would have enjoyed talking to Rory about it... That red spectre, he had disappeared years ago; grown too weak to maintain his presence on the forefront of her mind. Once again, he was banished to her subconscious, made to rest till she visited him again purposefully. Perhaps she would tonight... He didn't dream in that place; he wasn't even really asleep... It was more like a haze; that's how he described it.

Dropping her hands and letting the rose retract into her body once more, Rose began to walk towards the house with Oscar again. "Maybe you just need more experience. Maybe when you're as old as me you'll know the answer." It was an evasion, a way to avoid speaking the answer aloud she had arrived to on her own with that fantasy.

Annoyed, and slightly apprehensive, he turned to her and asked, "How old are you anyway?"

"It's rude to ask a lady her age." Rose deadpanned.

Smirking, he responded, "I thought you said you weren't a lady?"

To be fair, she had never actually said that. "Either way, it's still rude."

"You must be really old." He was teasing her now. "I bet you could have had heaps of kids and grandkids by now."

Slightly hurt, Rose denied that. "I'm not that old." For a Dragon. "And I only have two kids."

Having found a loophole, Oscar pounced on the opportunity. "Well, how old are they?"

Stopping in her walk again, Rose frowned gently. It wasn't an expression of anger... Instead, she felt sombre. "My son... Argus... He's eight years older than his sister." Oscar actually reminded her a little of Argus... If a bit older and dumber than her son the last time she had seen him. It was why she talked so comfortably with him.

Nodding along, Oscar waited patiently for her to keep going. Sighing gently, Rose said, "Summer... My daughter... She... She turned fifty a few months ago..."