I don't know which is more shocking - that we passed 75 chapters or that I didn't even comment on it last week.
Not gonna belabor it here, though. On to the chapter!
Adam had expected someone to be waiting outside the Belladonna mansion after breakfast. A grunt or two sent to lead him to wherever the White Fang on Menagerie met. He wasn't even sure how he'd recognize them except that there wasn't much foot traffic this far up and he trusted they'd be watching for him.
What he hadn't expected was for Corsac and Fennec to both be standing just outside the front doors.
"Greetings, Master Taurus," Corsac said with a bow that his brother matched perfectly.
"P-please, call me Adam," Adam sputtered, unused to being addressed with such a title.
"Adam, then," Corsac corrected with an apologetic smile. "Our apologies."
Adam didn't know why they bothered apologizing. He just felt a little weird being addressed that way, especially when they were the more established ones. He was just some stranger from nowhere. "So…should we get going?"
"Right this way."
They walked in silence with Adam unsure what to say and his hosts content to simply have him tag along. Armed with nothing but Ghira's warnings of what the White Fang was becoming - partially due to the two men in front of him - Adam tried to figure out a game plan.
Obviously, just up and telling them to abandon their violent ways wouldn't work. Why would they listen to him? He needed to worm his way in until they trusted him - find some way to prove he was worth listening to. Which meant he needed to be important to them. Valuable. They clearly wanted him to join, so he already had a leg up, but he doubted that would be enough. The workers of Orostachys only followed him when he'd shown he was worth their trust. He had a feeling he couldn't just stop an execution again.
Then again, if they were as violent as Ghira claimed, maybe they'd love to hear how he'd killed not one, but two human guards and basically led an uprising to overthrow the camp. They already knew an inflated version of the ending, but they couldn't be dumb enough to believe Jakob's tall tales, could they?
Corsac and Fennec came to a sudden stop. "What's wrong?" Adam asked, looking around to see if they'd somehow reached their destination. Aside from the fact they'd barely left the house, there wasn't anything even remotely resembling a base around. In fact, there was nothing but some trees swaying gently in the breeze.
"We are waiting for our other guest," Corsac assured him.
"They should be along shortly," Fennec echoed.
Adam looked around, half-expecting Jakob to come running to meet them or even Bane trying to sneak along despite Adam telling him not to come. Instead, he instinctively looked up as the tree closest to them rustled and a dark shape dropped down.
"Ah, Sister Blake. We're pleased you could join us."
Blake. The other part of his promise to Ghira. She looked a little different to the first time they met. Her loose shirt and shorts combo had been replaced by a black vest over a sleeveless, white shirt. Her legs were snugly fit with a pair of black leggings. It was a much tighter - if monochromatic - outfit than he'd expected of what was essentially an island princess.
"What's he doing here?" she all but spat as she eyed Adam. Her hand hovered over a black hilt poking out from the small of her back. Her stance was all wrong, though. The way she slid her foot back, all of her weight already settling on the retreating foot, made it obvious she would cut and run rather than actually engage in combat.
Before she could do anything foolish, Fennec stepped between them, keeping his back to Adam. "Adam is a guest of ours and of the White Fang." Fennec's words felt a little pointed, but Blake kept glaring past to their so-called guest. "We have invited him to tour our facilities with the hope he may join our cause."
"He would be a valuable ally in these…trying times," Corsac added.
Blake's ears somehow flattened even further, all but disappearing against her dark hair. "But I told you about his meeting-"
"We are aware he spoke with Leader Ghira," Corsac interrupted, though he hardly sounded upset at the information. So Blake had been spying on them. Which meant they knew Ghira had asked him to join them. They could probably guess why, too. "Just as he is now speaking with us."
"But dad wants-"
"What we all want," Corsac promised.
"We both seek the betterment of faunus everywhere," Fennec agreed, though Adam had a feeling their methods differed. "Fighting amongst ourselves will hardly help those in need."
Blake grumbled something under her breath but chose to drop the matter. These two would've made good politicians. They certainly knew how to dance between issues well enough. Adam would have to keep an eye on them. Words could be just as deadly as a sword if wielded properly. Corsac and Fennec calmly walked past Blake, leaving her to follow alongside Adam for now. The silence continued to drag on, giving Adam time to get lost in his own thoughts.
The smart move would've been to focus on how he was going to win the trust of the Albain brothers and whoever followed their dangerous lead. Instead, Adam found himself curious about his new companion, reluctant as she might have been. Ghira wanted him to keep her safe. She looked like she wanted to claw his eyes out, starting with the good one.
Was white and black some sort of White Fang dress code? He felt a little out of place in the baggy red shirt and jeans Ghira had lent him, not to mention how small it made him feel. Adam wasn't short by any means, but compared to Ghira, even Bane looked small. Okay, Bane looked normal next to the other behemoth. Either way, the borrowed clothes weren't exactly made for someone Adam's size.
Blake let out a frustrated growl as her head snapped in Adam's direction. "What do you want?"
Oops. She'd caught him staring. To be fair, there wasn't exactly anything else to look at. He doubted Blake would let it go so easily. She clearly had it out for him already. Her smug grin when his eyes darted was kinda childish. And a challenge.
And Adam didn't back down from challenges.
"That's an interesting weapon you've got there," Adam tried, going for an easy distraction. "Some kind of sword?"
The way Blake's eyes lit up told him he was on the right track. "It's also a gun," she announced, pulling out her weapon to show him. Sure enough, Adam could see a trigger near the top of the grip. The hilt was far larger than necessary for such a light sword - a necessity to house the inner workings of a gun. "And a kusarigama."
"A kusa-what now?"
"Kusarigama," Blake repeated, as if that explained everything. It really didn't. When Adam made it clear he still didn't understand, Blake let out an exasperated sigh and pressed something on her weapon. The blade shifted backwards and collapsed on itself, turning into an oversized dagger running along the top of a pistol but sticking out beyond it quite a ways. "A hook."
"Oh." Why didn't she just say that, then? "Probably easier to aim like that, I bet."
"A lot easier," Blake agreed, though she ducked her head a little in embarrassment. "I'm still working on that, though. And my throws."
"Wouldn't you need something to retrieve your weapon with? Like a chain, or a-"
Blake twirled the gun upside down in a clearly practiced move, showing off the bottom of her weapon. "Ribbon."
Ribbon? "Isn't that kind of risky? What if it breaks?" Trusting your life to a fashion accessory had to be the dumbest idea Adam had ever heard, and he'd listened to Jakob's plans to start a shipping company on the way to Menagerie. The guy barely knew anything about boats!
Blake stretched the ribbon tight, then rubbed it against the blade of her weapon. Miraculously, it didn't do anything more than fray a tiny bit on the edge. "It's reinforced with kevlar thread," she explained, though Adam couldn't see any special weaving or anything. "Mom made it for me. Functional and fashionable. At least, that's what she says."
Adam tested the ribbon himself when Blake held it out to him, pulling it harder than any normal ribbon had any right surviving. The fabric held firm, proving Blake's words. "That's a pretty complicated weapon."
"I'm a pretty complicated girl," Blake said with a sly grin. It didn't quite fit on someone so young. "Dad helped me make it."
"I thought he didn't want you fighting." Yet again, Ghira Belladonna seemed to be a hypocrite when it came to his daughter.
Blake nodded. "He doesn't, but he doesn't want me getting hurt, either." That sounded a lot like what Ghira had told him earlier. "He said if I'm going to go running off into danger, I might as well be able to protect myself. Better to have it and not need it-"
"-than need it and not have it." Adam finished for her. "Makes sense. So, you any good with that thing?"
Blake snorted in quiet amusement. "I guess you'll just have to find out." Before Adam could say anything else, she nodded ahead. "We're here."
Here turned out to be a large, rectangular building near the edge of town that hardly looked like the secret headquarters of a violent terrorist regime. "This is it?"
"Did you expect something more?" Fennec asked with a bit of self-satisfaction. "Perhaps a castle with thunderclouds? Or a moat filled with alligator faunus?"
Corsac looked less than amused with his brother's antics. "What my brother means to say is that we are a legitimate group like any other. We have no need to hide, especially among our own kind. Anyone is welcome to come and go as they please." Corsac pointed to the main entrance, where a few people milled about. He even spotted a family with three young children going in. "We also host lessons for the faunus of Menagerie in history, politics, art-"
"Combat?" Adam asked, hearing the distinct sound of gunfire somewhere beyond the building. It was slow. Repetitive. Practiced.
Corsac didn't even bother to deny it. "Indeed, though mostly for target practice. There are only so many in our group who are willing and able to teach anything more."
"Speaking of which…" Blake tucked her weapon behind her once more. "I'd better get going." She hesitated for a moment, debating whether to say anything more before scurrying into the building and disappearing.
"Forgive Sister Blake," Corsac said, stepping beside Adam and gesturing to the building. The three of them began walking again with Adam in the middle. "She is young and eager to prove herself. It must be difficult being the daughter of our leaders."
"She wishes to be more than that, though," Fennec joined in. "The desire to be known for her own deeds rather than those who came before her. Ever have the young sought to surpass the old."
Adam nodded along, barely even listening as he studied the lobby of the White Fang headquarters. Whatever he'd imagined, it wasn't this. It looked more like a museum than some secret lair. Displays of armor and weaponry from the Faunus Revolution. Maps of Remnant from pre-Vytal times. Photographs of important moments in faunus history. A group of children were over against one wall with their teacher as someone talked about theories of faunus origins.
If this was what Ghira called violent, he had to wonder what peaceful looked like.
"I thought this was the White Fang base," Adam wondered aloud. He did see a few people in similar black and white outfits, but some of them were busy cleaning, giving tours, or even working the information desk near the entrance.
Corsac chuckled as he surveyed the area. "You'll find we are more than what some make us out to be."
Adam turned to Fennec, fully expecting him to add to his brother's words. "Menagerie may have been born before the White Fang arrived, but it thrives thanks to our continued support."
"Perhaps you would like to take a look around?"
"Where should I start?" Adam asked, a little overwhelmed by everything in front of him.
"Wherever you like," Corsac said before pointing him toward a waiting faunus in the telltale black and white waiting near the information desk. "There's a tour about to begin. Before we speak of our future, perhaps it would be good to remember our past."
Corsac was no Soji, but his honeyed words still worked their magic and had Adam moving before he even considered the thought. "You sure we have time?"
Corsac's smile only grew. "We have all the time in the world."
/- - - - - - - - - -/
Three days. Adam had been visiting the White Fang for three days, and he honestly wasn't sure what to think. Nothing they showed him screamed homicidal mass murdering psychopaths. Instead, Corsac and Fennec had taken their time showing him every corner of their headquarters. He even got to visit Ghira's office - a large room that Corsac said was more ceremonial now since Ghira tended to handle his duties from his home for the most part.
Ghira may not have liked them, but they didn't seem to hold any ill will toward their leader. Sure, they would admit to wishing the White Fang could be more assertive in their efforts, but at the end of the day, they always referred to him as Leader Ghira with a sort of reverence. A large portrait of Ghira and Kali hung in the lobby alongside various newspaper clippings and photos of their work over the years.
Protests. Aid missions. Search and rescue. Public debates. Ghira had traveled the world doing everything he could to bring attention to their cause. He'd met with Leonardo Lionheart the same day he took over leadership of Haven, getting his picture taken with the Headmasters of Beacon and Shade as well.
Atlas had unsurprisingly declined the photo op, or so the placard said.
Every evening, after dinner, Adam would fill Ghira in on what he saw, only to be shocked again and again as Ghira confirmed the stories and shared more that weren't mentioned. How could one man accomplish so much in a single lifetime?
More than that, how could he have done so much and still not be done? Adam didn't miss the unsubtle hints Corsac and Fennec dropped along the way. After everything they'd done, faunus weren't much closer to true equality outside Menagerie. Menagerie itself served as a prime example of the humans' backhanded compromises. The faunus had proven themselves in the Great War, earning their place in the world and provisions in the Vytal Treaty enshrining equal protections into law. A whole continent had been set aside for the refugees and survivors of the war to live in peace, if they felt they could no longer live within the Kingdoms they'd fought against.
But what should've been a safe haven turned into a prison. Menagerie was a gods-forsaken island covered mostly by desert and infested with Grimm. The warriors of the Faunus Revolution were sent to an island of perpetual conflict and left there with practically nothing. They fought tooth and nail, carving out a small settlement that grew into Kuo Kuana, only to see Mistral harass their every move. Eventually, old wounds were reopened and the world once again learned the resiliency of the faunus as they pushed back their newest aggressors and forced new rules into place to protect the faunus beyond the shores of Menagerie.
Adam had heard it all before, but seeing it from Kuo Kuana drove the point home further. More than that, he'd lived through Remnant's so-called equality and seen firsthand just how little had changed. Faunus had shed their chains of slavery, only for the world to drive them into the new chains of the SDC. Employers couldn't discriminate against faunus legally, but they weren't exactly eager to hire them either. They found little loopholes to keep them down, then pointed to the laws whenever a faunus complained about inequality. It let the average person sleep easy at night, content that they were doing the right thing, all while the average faunus worked and died in the SDC mines.
No matter what Ghira did, it was never enough. So maybe someone needed to do more.
Corsac and Fennec would poke and prod like that, highlighting what they saw as the only real changes in history. War. The Great War won them their freedom. The Faunus Revolution won them better protections. Unsaid was what the next war might bring them.
Not that they were brazen enough to suggest it. They'd push right to the edge, then dial it back and say they hoped never to see that kind of bloodshed again. Still, it planted the nagging thought in Adam's mind - one he had a feeling plenty of others were grappling with. The way Ghira made it sound, that seed of violence had already begun to take root.
With all the hints and nods to violence, Adam had half-expected to find a mini war camp behind the building where Blake and others often trained in combat and marksmanship. Guerilla fighters preparing for a war they intended to start.
Instead, he'd found a handful of people sparring, mostly with basic training swords like he'd started on so long ago. The range was usually busy, though not with ghillie-suited snipers aiming at cutouts of Atlas soldiers. Kuo Kuana, as it turned out, had its own gun club completely separate from the White Fang, though they used the large range in the back almost daily. They even held tournaments from time to time. Off to the side, a handful of adults and even children practiced with bows, aiming for fake deer, boars, and other animals as they taught the next generation to hunt. They even had an area for training with slings for some reason, though that catered mostly toward smaller children.
Between the range and the main building sat a large expanse dotted with a few combat circles and training equipment. It was here he found Blake each day. With nothing better to do, he'd made it a habit of dropping by to see her practice alongside several others.
"You're too predictable," Adam laughed as Blake hit the dirt yet again. Her glare didn't work as intended, making Adam laugh even harder. It was hard to be intimidated by a preteen sprawled out in the dirt. Plus, her ears had flattened as they often did when he appeared, embodying the preteen angst that Blake practically oozed.
"Shut up," she spat, wiping her face. "Like you know anything."
"More than you, it seems."
Blake stood and rolled her shoulder. "Oh yeah? Prove it."
Every day, Adam would try and correct her. Every day, she'd fight back and hurl insults. And every day, he provided whatever help he could, even as she bickered and argued with him. It would've annoyed him if he didn't see the subtle changes she would make, trying to adopt his lessons into her style little by little.
"Was I ever that bad?" Adam whispered a silent apology to Jean, just to be safe, before hopping into the ring. Her teacher - an older man with a brilliant set of scales down both arms that shimmered a mixture of blues in the sun - stood by patiently, letting Adam do some of his work for him. "You never press the attack. Every time he pushes, you fall back. Every time you attack, you're already looking to dodge away."
"So? I'm small and quick. Hit and run is my strength."
"It's your crutch. Go ahead. Attack me."
Blake never hesitated. Even on the first day, she hadn't stopped to question that command. Adam had a feeling she'd been waiting for it. Not that he cared. He had aura to spare and she never went for killing blows.
Not that he'd ever let her hit him.
Blake probably thought her attack would catch him off guard, but like Adam said, she was predictable. He didn't even bother waiting for her weapon to switch forms, instead charging directly into her assault before she could react. She eeped and tried to dodge away, but Adam caught her wrist before she could. He turned, dragging her through the dirt before hurling her out of the ring.
"N-no fair!"
"No such thing as a fair fight," Adam recited, knowing Jean would love to see this. "Besides, you attacked me. How is that my fault?"
Blake didn't seem to appreciate the extra lesson. "Cheater," she grumbled as she walked back into the ring. Adam kept a close eye on here, just in case she tried again.
"Like I said, you're too predictable," Adam lectured, pointing to her weapon. "You've got all these options, but you keep doing the same thing over and over. Fake charge with a sword, dodge away with a few shots, then hurl your sickle hook thing."
"Kusarigama," Blake pointedly corrected.
Adam didn't really care. "Whatever you call it. The point is, you rely on the exact same trick every time and have no answer for anyone who sees through it. It's a decent move, but it can't be your only one."
"He's right, you know," Kaito, her teacher, said as he finally decided to step in. "You cannot expect every opponent to stand still and wait for your attack, nor will they fall for the same trick twice. Especially one who's watched you train so much." Adam smiled guiltily. She'd been doing the same things over and over in her spars. Was it his fault he'd noticed? "A single move does not a warrior make."
"Then why'd you let me keep trying it?" Blake demanded, somehow blaming her teacher for being outwitted.
"In the hopes you'd learn this lesson yourself. Failure is often the best teacher," Kaito answered with a grin. "Tell me, child, how did our new friend defeat you so easily?"
"He cheated," Blake said, staring daggers at Adam.
Kaito shook his head in amusement. "You cannot cheat in a game without rules. How did he, an unarmed opponent, beat you?"
Blake didn't seem to be enjoying the lesson as much as her teachers today. "He countered my attack with his own, then grabbed me when I panicked."
"Because you charged in against an unarmed opponent with no plan to attack," Kaito explained, pointing out a rather obvious flaw. "There were only three good options for you. What were they?"
Blake thought for a moment. "I could've shot at him. He didn't have any way to defend."
"Use range to your advantage. Very good." Kaito turned to Adam with an expectant look. "And what would you have done in response?"
So the old man wanted Adam to help him teach, did he? Fine. Unlike Blake, Adam had an answer ready. "I would've charged at her and let my aura protect me until I could get close."
"She gets the advantage of early damage while you seek to close the distance. Very good. What else, Blake?"
Blake shrugged. "Attack him with my sword?"
"Press the attack with superior weaponry? Perhaps."
Adam didn't bother waiting for his invitation to counter. "I'd either take the hit against aura and try to disarm her or see if I can get inside her swing."
Kaito looked suitably impressed. "Well said. A fight is often determined by who can capitalize on their own advantages and remove their opponent's. Skill alone is never enough."
Adam couldn't say he fully agreed on that one. If the skill disparity was high enough, no amount of clever thinking would be enough. There was no way he could've beaten Jean in his first fight. The man didn't just have the advantage. He had all the advantages. Jean could've blindfolded himself and tied both arms behind his back, and Adam still would've lost. Nothing he could've done would've been enough to overcome Jean's experience and training.
"What about the third option?" Adam asked.
"Hm?"
"You said she had three options," Adam said, holding up three fingers for emphasis. "Ranged and melee I get, but what else could she do?"
Kaito looked far too pleased with the question. Blake wasn't the only one he planned to teach today. Rather than answer, Kaito asked, "Do you believe there is anything she could've done to beat you?"
"No." Adam hated how much that sounded like bragging, but they all knew he was right. Adam hadn't even been armed and he'd beaten her in a single move. Adam was faster. Stronger. Smarter. More experienced. At best, she could delay him or hurt him a little, but no matter what she tried, he knew he'd win in the end.
"And do you think you could've beaten him?"
Blake's eyes widened at being called out suddenly. Her mind kicked into high gear, trying to imagine a scenario that ended with her victorious. Her shoulders sagged as she admitted the obvious. "No. I couldn't."
"Then why attack?" Kaito held his hands out. "Your third option was not to fight at all."
"But he told me to!" Yet again, Blake found a way to blame Adam, but Kaito was having none of it.
"And you listened," he pointed out. "You willingly started a fight knowing you couldn't win. That was your biggest mistake."
Neither of his students seemed to agree. Adam managed to voice his complaint first. "You can't run from every fight. Sometimes you don't have a choice."
Like in Orostachys. Not fighting meant leaving Axol to die. Not fighting would've abandoned Maurice to a horrendous beating for no good reason. The workers not fighting in the end would've been the easier option, but at the cost of their freedom and Adam's life.
Adam had many regrets in life. Choosing to stand up for himself wasn't one of them.
Kaito didn't look upset at being contradicted. "True. Sometimes we must fight for what we believe in, even if we know we cannot win." Kaito eyed Adam for a moment, spotting something that brought a frown to his face. "You've faced such fights before, haven't you?"
"More than you know." Alyssa telling him to fetch Nila. An Ursa preparing to kill Jesse. Geryon aiming at Axol. Gideon beating Maurice. He'd weighed the risk and found it too high.
"And have you ever chosen not to fight?"
A horrible memory reared its ugly head. He'd stood up to Alyssa in the end, but he hadn't fought back soon enough. His selfish desire for safety had been more important than Nila's innocence. She'd suffered all because he was too afraid to protect her.
"I was a coward," Adam said, condemning himself for the thousandth time.
Whether Kaito sensed the surety of his words or simply refused to dig into Adam's past, he didn't waste time disagreeing. "And would Blake have been a coward for choosing not to fight here?"
When there wasn't any real risk? Adam wouldn't push it far enough to even break her aura, let alone kill her. The worst she'd suffer would be a few bumps and bruises. And humiliation. He'd handed her plenty of that.
This time, it was Blake who dared challenge Kaito's lesson. "But isn't it brave to fight, even when you might not win?"
Kaito had gone into full lecture mode, meaning no one would be getting short answers. In fact, it seemed he preferred answering with questions of his own. "Tell me, Blake, who do you consider brave?"
Blake didn't take long to think up an example. "The faunus of Moraceae."
"Who?"
"Moraceae," Kaito repeated. "Or, at least, that's what we think it was called. No one really knows for certain."
"It was a small village on Sanus back before the Great War, back when faunus were still treated like slaves," Blake explained, sounding like she was reciting a textbook somewhere. "When the Grimm attacked, the faunus took up arms to defend it alongside the humans. They worked together and fought back the Grimm, showing the world that we could live together as equals."
"And you consider them brave for fighting, do you?"
Blake nodded. "Despite not having any training and facing impossible odds, they conquered their fear and saved their homes from being destroyed."
"No man can conquer fear," Kaito said, raising his hand to cut off whatever complaint Blake tried to muster. "Bravery is merely another type of fear - fear of the consequences of not acting. They were afraid of losing their friends and family, so they chose to risk their lives instead."
Just like Adam had been afraid of what not fighting would mean when lives were on the line. "Are you saying those faunus were cowards?"
"A coward is someone who fears their own loss more than the loss of others," Kaito clarified. "A brave man fights despite his fear. A fool fights when there is nothing to fear. So tell me, Blake, was fighting Adam brave, or were you just afraid to admit defeat?" Blake refused to answer. "That's what I thought. Maybe next time you will think twice before challenging someone you cannot hope to defeat."
"Then does that make our visitor a fool for fighting her?"
All three of them turned at the new voice dripping with sarcastic amusement. Corsac and Fennec walked behind the new arrival, bowing slightly as they approached. Even if their newest arrival spoke to Kaito, her amber eyes were focused solely on Adam.
"Ah, Sienna. How good of you to join us."
Kaito's greeting set Adam on edge. Sienna? So this was the faunus Ghira had warned him about. Kali practically snarled at any mention of her name. According to them, Sienna led the more violent faction of the White Fang and had been poisoning its members against them, including their own daughter. She was the source of the cancer Ghira seemed determined to remove.
She certainly had the confidence for it. Much like the others, her outfit was made up of mostly black and white, with snugly fit pants and a sleeveless top that probably inspired some of Blake's look, though Sienna's sported thin, red highlights along the edges that made her stand out from her fellow members. She wore it well, unashamed of how it accentuated her fit form even with the large, diamond cutout on her back, which Adam only spotted when she turned to look at Blake. It matched the smaller cutout over her chest, showing just enough temptation to have Adam's eyes lingering longer than they needed. "There is no shame in defeat, Blake, only in not learning from it."
"I'll get better," Blake promised.
"I'm sure you will." Blake seemed to perk up a little at the encouragement before turning back to Adam. His eyes shot up to her face, but not fast enough judging by the sly grin she gave him. It didn't help that she was a lot closer to his age and clearly didn't mind showing off a little. "So, this is the hero of Orostachys I've heard so much about."
'A-Adam." He nearly choked on his own name. "Adam Taurus. And I'd hardly call myself a hero."
"Power and humility. Maybe you are the real deal." She glanced quickly over her shoulder, causing her short, wild hair to wave in the air. "Have you secured him a weapon?"
Fennec looked annoyed at the question. "We had intended to present it to him this evening."
Adam tore his eyes away from Sienna to look at the brothers, spotting a thin sword in Corsac's hands. Corsac held it out ceremoniously - they did everything ceremoniously, it seemed - and let Adam take it. He slowly unsheathed the thin blade, testing it with a few practice swings. It felt amazingly familiar, as if they'd resurrected Thorn itself. The blade was a little longer, but seeing as he'd only given them a brief description a couple days ago, it was remarkable how similar it felt.
"Consider this a gift," Corsac said as he stepped back. "I hope it's to your liking."
"It's perfect," Adam replied, eyes still locked on the blade before him. He didn't realize just how much he'd missed the feel of a sword in his hand until he held one once more. "Thank you."
"Sienna insisted we make it as close to your description as possible," Fennec informed him, bowing his head yet again. The two often reminded him of bobbleheads with how much they did that around him.
Adam didn't miss the obvious hint there. "Then thank you, Sienna."
"Don't thank me yet," Sienna said, her bright smile standing out against her dark skin. Her orange tiger ears twitched atop her head as she reached down and unclasped a long chain wound against her side. Adam's eyes traced down her striped arms - wait, didn't faunus only have a single animal trait? Adam shook the thought away as he studied the weapon she held.
And it was clearly a weapon. It ended in a handle that she clutched with practiced ease, twirling it around a padded sleeve that ran from her wrist to near her elbow. The loose end dangled down, ending in a trio of diamond-shaped blades, each dotted with a bright color in the middle. Dust. He couldn't be certain, but the differing colors made him suspicious.
Adam didn't have to wait long for the other shoe to drop as Sienna loudly announced, "I've heard a lot about your skill in combat. Perhaps it's time we see how much of that is true."
"Wait, what?" Most of those nearby stopped what they were doing, eager to see what would happen.
"Show me the strength that freed Orostachys from the humans," Sienna continued, as much for their growing audience as for Adam. "Fight me, Adam Taurus, and prove yourself worthy of the White Fang."
Sienna turns her back. Adam skewers her immediately. "Guess that means I win."
Seriously, that had to be one of the most underwhelming parts of the show. We met Sienna for what felt like two seconds before Adam made her a kebab. Figured it'd be fun to have them fight at some point during the story and figured there's no time like the present! And yes, I know her stripes aren't natural, thus abiding by the one-trait rule, but Adam doesn't know that.
Actually having a lot of fun doing back-and-forths with Corsac and Fennec. Hadn't really planned much for them, but they're clearly well-established members of the White Fang, so it would only make sense for them to be involved heavily here. Meanwhile, everyone's got their own little things going on. The brothers want to recruit Adam. Sienna wants to prove him. Blake somewhat hates him as a spy for now. Ghira wants him to be that spy. And Adam is stuck in the middle of a power struggle with both sides vying for his loyalty.
Of course, with some new names being thrown around, it's time to explain the random thought process again. Kaito is a Japanese name referring to the ocean (hence the fish faunus idea). Needed an older trainer for the White Fang and originally thought of basing him off Shang from Mulan, but I've pulled from Disney films a lot lately and the name didn't work that well. As for the village of Moraceae, the World of Remnant videos mention a village like that and I went with a name referring to the family of plants including ficus, which represents unity.
Next chapter: Adam vs. Sienna.