Small Issues

AN: Happy Holidays everyone! Got a new chapter for you all to enjoy and the last one for the year. Just a few more chapters left and I WILL be focusing on finishing this part of the series before getting back to Larger Issues. And I do have some fun and big plans for when I get back to it.

Strays

Things were tense in the dorms of RWBY and JNPR, if to put it mildly. Most of them had spent the next two hours searching the campus, to no avail.

Back at the room, Weiss sat on her bed silently as Ren waited in a chair by the door… equally silent.

Yet his mere presence made Weiss feel like she was being judged without words. And the fact that he was by the door but not in front of it… it came off as a tease, a trick that her father would use. Dangling an opportunity of something that someone would want right in front of his target but with something in waiting to blindside said target.

But sitting there, all but alone, she was left to her thoughts, recalling how she acted and what Blake had said.

What the girl said was not confirmation that she was a Faunus herself, though while there was sympathy for them there was disapproval of the actions taken.

Actions taken on both sides.

And Weiss knew which side had the resources to settle things peacefully.

—

Despite the lack of sleep, Team JNPR still spent their time going to the theater with the hopes of spotting Blake either there or along their path. Their first movie started later in the morning so they used the time to search the area for their wayward friend.

"What if we don't find her?" Nora was not quiet about her worries for Blake as they walked through Vale.

"She's proven herself capable before coming to Beacon." Ren replied vaguely.

"But Ren! She's our friend, aren't you worried about her?!"

"I'm confident that she can take care of herself." He maintained his neutrality. "The real concern should be what happens when they meet again."

He had watched over the heiress for a good portion of the night and saw that she wasn't proud of herself. She wasn't one to wear her emotions on her sleeve but he had a good idea of what was going on with her. Weiss was still worried for her teammate, and was deep in thought about what they had said to each other along with why they had been arguing in the first place. The girl was a storm of feelings that she needed to process and sort through before she could come to a decision.

If he were a betting man, he'd wager on Blake going through the same thing once she found a secure place to relax enough to think and reflect.

Jaune and Pyrrha listened to the pair of close friends while keeping their eyes searching. Maybe they could get lucky and find the girl in the theater. It was certainly a place to get away from most things and few would try looking in a dark place meant for people to escape from reality for a short time.

At least a large black bow on a girl's head was distinctive… so long as that wasn't changed.

—-

As for Blake… she woke up on a bed that wasn't the most comfortable she'd felt but she had been on worse before. The room was unfamiliar, but had all of the hallmarks of a hotel, a cheap one but it had what was needed.

After finding the monkey boy from the docks wandering around the grounds of Beacon, he invited her to the room he had rented. Unfortunately, she didn't have anything but the clothes she was wearing and Gambol Shroud on her back when they arrived, yet she was able to freshen up somewhat with his supplies of soap. Then she was given the bed while he slept on the floor across the room under a blanket.

"Hey, you're awake." She turned to find the young man eating some fruit at the small table. "Plenty here for you too." He offered the small pile freely.

She wasn't sure what made her trust him so much, especially given how they met, but so far he had been genuinely good to her and allowed her some space. Granted, it was only a single night but she was grateful. There was the thought of going back to Basil's but that would lead to a lot of prying questions and the possibility of him contacting Beacon or worse.

Then again, she was only trusting him this much for the place to crash. She wouldn't hesitate to act if something untoward was done to her by him- she still had her weapon.

"It's a nice day outside… want some fresh air?" The blonde asks as he tosses an apple core into the trash can behind him. Without looking.

"Okay."

With that permission, he opened the sliding door to the tiny deck that the third floor room has. Immediately, a breeze blew in carrying the scents of the city with a hint of the nature around it.

Sitting back down, there was an easy silence between them as she ate her breakfast and he fiddled with something on his scroll.

"So… umm, Blake?"

"What, Sun?" At least they knew each other's names from last night.

"I'm kinda guessing that this…" Sun gestured around the room before stopping at her. "Is because you were arguing with that girl?"

She narrowed her eyes at him. "What do you know of it?"

"Not too much. After I lost those cops I doubled back and heard you two arguing."

"You should know that you were the reason that we were arguing in the first place."

"I was?

"Weren't you listening to us?"

"Only a little. Honest, when I saw you two going at it and the others worried, I kinda figured that it would be a bad time to drop in."

"So you followed me to Beacon?"

"Nope!" He gave her a wide grin but her deadpan stare made him drop it. "Okay, I could guess that you were all Huntresses, I mean, you were all armed." He points to Gambol Shroud leaning against the bed within arms reach of her to make his point.

"What were you doing there at night then?"

"Just checking the place out. I- uhh… kinda jumped the gun a bit." He looked away embarrassed.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Hehehe…. I misread the departure date and rushed to the boat. I thought my team had pranked me at first but by the time I noticed that I had screwed up, the boat was leaving Mistral."

Blake let her head drop into her hands for a facepalm. "How?"

"The boat leaving? I barely got there before it was leaving. The guy taking tickets didn't notice anything was wrong either… at first. By then, it was too late for both of us."

"And the reason you were being chased at the docks?" She just kept her face in her hands.

"I… didn't want to waste the cops time over something so small."

Her ears twitched as she could hear him being honest and embarrassed, though the last part was said rather casually… as if it wasn't something new. But that twitching also meant that she could feel that she wasn't wearing her bow.

Her bow! Her hands darted up to her head to confirm that her bow wasn't there.

"What's wrong?"

"I need my bow!"

Sun raised an eyebrow at her panic as he pointed to the bedside table where the black ribbon was wrapped around her scroll.

Blake felt a flash of embarrassment as now she remembered that she had done that to her scroll so it would stop flashing at every call and text that came in… and they were frequent last night.

Reaching for the wrapped device, she felt Sun watching her. "What is it?"

"Don't you like your ears? Why hide them?"

She looked away, unsure how to answer that. But that just meant that she saw the dozens of alerts on her scroll notifying her of the missed calls and unanswered texts. In a way, it was touching that there was so much concern for her.

"I… I just wanted people to see me for who I am rather than what I am."

"Do your friends know?"

"I never let them know I wasn't human."

"Huh." He shrugged, garnering her attention with the odd response. "That would be like me trying to pass my tail as a belt." For emphasis, he stood up and wrapped his tail around his waist like it was a furry belt that matched his hair.

The girl gave a nervous laugh as how pitiful of a disguise she was using was pointed out. At the same time, Sun looked rather funny with his tail that way.

"Hey, you smiled!" He unwound his tail and used that to point at her.

"So what?"

"'So what?' Little miss doom and gloom found something amusing. That's what!"

She couldn't help but to roll her eyes and shake her head at that, no matter how true it was.

"Anyway… I'm gonna run out to a burger place down the street for lunch. Ya want anything?" Sun gestured at the door.

Blake glanced at the scroll in her hand and saw that it was nearly noon, realizing that she must've slept in a few hours later than normal and the fruit they ate was little more than a snack.

"Fish, if they have it."

"Alright, I'll grab some if they got it. Feel free to watch tv or do what you need until I get back."

With Sun gone, Blake realized that he had been an excellent distraction from her problems… yet somehow helped her work through at least one of them. Or at least got her thinking about it harder.

Then there was the silence left in the room aside from her scroll giving her another alert from Ruby. Deciding to fill the silence by finding something on television, eventually settling on a cartoon that she remembered enjoying from her childhood. During the commercials she went through the messages on her scroll.

Many of the texts were largely the same, asking if she was alright, where she was at, what made her run away, and if she'd prefer to meet somewhere.

No surprise that Ruby sent more than anyone but Yang wasn't much lower. But even Jaune, Nora, Pyrrha, and Ren had a few texts each, showing that they were looking for her too and showing their worry.

Notably absent was Weiss, but that was expected. But as she watched, she could have sworn that the dots indicating that she was typing had popped up, but she blinked and it was gone.

—-

Ruby leapt from rooftop to rooftop, searching for her teammate. But Vale was a big place and had many, many, many places a person could hide. Even five of them searching the grounds of Beacon last night turned up nothing.

Honestly, the fruitlessness of their search last night and so far today has been making her question if she should report Blake's absence to Ozpin and Goodwitch.

The students had agreed to keep the search to themselves for now but they knew that there would be questions asked if she didn't show up by Monday, leaving them with just a day and a half.

"Oh come on Blake, where are you?" She stopped on a corner and used her perch to scan the sidewalks below.

Her scroll began ringing, prompting the high strung girl to nearly panic and drop the device off the building as she withdrew it from her pocket. But the identification picture and name showed that it was her sister.

"Did you find her?"

"Not yet. We've asked around from Alastor Street to Mammon Boulevard. Not sure why we bothered with the last one since it's all big business and stock market stuff."

"I guess it was worth a shot."

"We'll try Cherri to Angel Avenue then."

"Good luck, I haven't seen her yet either."

"Kinda figured since you weren't celebrating. Still, I hope you have better luck than we have."

"Thanks. We're gonna need all we can get. See you later."

"Later sis."

The cloaked girl returned her scroll to her pocket as she gave the streets below one last look over for a certain black bow wearing girl. Finding nobody who fit the description, she moved onto another side of the building of this more residential area.

Halfway across the city, Yang turned onto a shopping strip, glad to be away from the pretentious big wig businessmen who cared more about lining their own pockets than anything else.

But walking with her is Weiss.

Not only did the sisters agree that it would be a bad idea to leave Weiss back at the room in case Blake returned and they'd go back to arguing. As a bonus, Yang believed that she could talk to the girl to get her to rethink her actions that led to Blake running away.

Granted, she hadn't made much time to talk to her yet but the girl in question was apparently deep in thought and quiet.

"Yang?" Weiss had waited until they were alone on the street and had yet another negative result from a shoe store.

"Hmm?"

"Do… Do you think she was in the White Fang?" She was unusually subdued compared to normal.

The blonde had her own thoughts on the matter but figured that she should stay as neutral as possible until they had all of the facts. "Maybe she was, maybe she wasn't. We won't know until we find her."

"If we find her."

"Don't you want to find her? Aren't you worried?"

"Of course I'm worried about her!" Weiss fired back with her usual tone before getting quiet again. "I'm just more worried about what she'll say once we do."

Yang gave the girl a second glance, taking her words as a step in the right direction. She was concerned for the girl she knew, the teammate she had worked and lived with for months now. But she was beginning to reserve judgment for once she learned more about her past.

"But if it was true that she was one of them, it would explain the weird feelings I'd get at night."

"Wait, what?"

"You didn't feel like someone was staring at you with intent to harm in some way?"

Yang scratched the back of her head. "Eh… can't say that I know that too well. At least not outside of a fight I'm already in."

"Then consider yourself lucky that you've never attended a party in Atlas."

"That is… disturbing." Yang really didn't want to think of the implications but she had heard rumors about the 'elite' of Atlas having arranged marriages to seal business deals and consolidate wealth and power, much like the history of the old kingdoms when there were far more rulers who would feud amongst themselves for land and resources. There were quite a few political marriages back then to keep the peace.

The blonde shook her head to clear it, tossing her golden mane around in the process. "Come on, we better keep looking. Might check if anyone saw her on Asmodeus Lane if we have time."

Weiss had heard a few rumors from Vale students and locals, as well as her insistence on learning the city that would be her home for her final four years of education as a Huntress. That street was not known as a place to bring children and not particularly well thought of in 'polite society', though there were quite a few laws that governed the business it catered to. And those businesses made sure that they had their own security to enforce the laws and establishment rules, being known to prosecute violators to the fullest extent.

"Why would she be there?"

"Haven't you seen her type of books?" Yang let the question hang in the air. "Plus it covers our bases to search everywhere on this side of the city."

—

"Gotta admit that those were some pretty cool looking fight scenes in that first movie." Jaune told Pyrrha on their way out of the theater.

"That is true." She had to admit. It also helped that many of those scenes were slowed down for the audience to have more attention to the details and thanks to her trained eyes, much of what she saw seemed to have come straight from the combat manuals she had studied from and drilled in since she began fighting.

And to be quite honest, with that army fighting against overwhelming odds with little more than use of terrain and their teamwork to even the odds, all to buy time for those they were protecting… It was a bit of a reminder of what a Huntsman and Huntress is all about.

Then there was the other show… that was certainly something. Plenty of jokes about real world problems and songs about them. The blending of using normal actors and puppets was as interesting as the other film and the topics were very thought provoking, with music that stayed in one's head.

The one about 'happiness at the misfortune of others' came off as relatable to most and as much as Pyrrha wanted to insist that she didn't have those feelings, her honesty reminded her that she has laughed at certain events if only because of how it played out- like Jaune slipping on a wet floor and adding to the mess as his own cup spilled… after landing on his head and staying there like a hat.

"The internet is for porn

The internet is for porn

All the guys unzip their flies

For porn, porn, porn!"

"Nora! Could you at least not sing that in public!" Jaune insisted as they walked down the sidewalk, beet red in the face as the short girl embarrassed them all.

"But the song is so catchy!" She countered.

"Then sing it in your head, if you have to." Ren told her. "Or no pancakes tomorrow."

"Eep! You wouldn't dare hold pancakes hostage!"

"I will."

"Noooo!"

Of course, there were songs like that which pressed some limits, even if it was funny. At the same time, there was a song about racism which was rather thought provoking. The recognition that even mild examples pervade society as humor yet has the recommendation to not take them as personal attacks as everyone can make such jokes about anyone else. While briefly mentioned, it condemns hate crimes and advocates for everyone to work together.

And it was oddly fitting that it came around now as their friend may have been a Faunus trying to escape the hate.

Upon their return to Beacon, after spending the next three hours searching the city for Blake, dinner was a quiet affair as their group didn't have too much to say besides some recounts of the movies they saw… without Nora singing so the whole cafeteria could hear her.

It didn't go unnoticed that Weiss was as quiet as Ren, speaking only when addressed, but still she was occupied by her thoughts.

—-

Blake sat on the bed reading a book. It wasn't anything particularly interesting to her but it was more of an escape from her troubles. She had spent the day on the couch watching television and eating whatever snacks Sun happened to obtain while he was out.

But her mind always drifted back to her team and friends at Beacon. Sometimes she felt that she was stupid for thinking that a simple bow would be a good enough disguise for four years while surrounded by people. Other times kicking herself for running away… again. The pride that she once felt that helped her defend others now seemed to be a distant memory, with her having been reduced to hiding with help from a stranger.

Granted, Sun came off as genuine, someone who just wanted to help others. And the questions from this morning were all that he asked into her personally. Anything else had been small talk, partly to help fill the silence/white noise the television had become.

It was an odd combination of giving her space while being close enough to help… and she found that oddly comforting. It wasn't something she remembered getting from her time with Adam, who in retrospect had been almost clingy. Her family, she found that she regretted how much they respected her space and decisions… as well as what she did the last time she saw them.

The meals that Sun gave her were alright, not the best food she had gotten from a fast food place but definitely not the worst.

"Hey." The monkey boy cut into her thoughts as they lay in their respective beds for the night.

"What is it?" It may have been dark but there was still more than enough light provided by the backlit clock on the bedside table for both of them to see clearly, helped immensely by their natural night vision.

"If you want to get out of the room, I saw a little cafe with a rooftop seating area not too far from here."

That made her ears perk up. She was starting to feel a bit constrained by her self imposed isolation but the idea of getting outside while still having some privacy was certainly appealing. "Sure."

"Alright, glad to see some positivity from ya!" He chuckled a little, having spotted the small smile on her face. "Goodnight."

He rolled over to face away from her with little more than a pillow and thin blanket, leaving the girl a little stunned that there was nothing more than a slight teasing, very light-hearted at that, from him. To be fair, she had been rather dour and quiet since they met last night.

Still, she reached over and patted Gambol Shroud under the blanket next to her… her caution still high for anything that may arise.

—-

In the morning, Teams JNPR and RWY were once again in Vale wandering the streets looking for their wayward friend.

"Okay, we'll take these blocks and check if she's been around." Jaune says as he points to Levi Street.

"And we'll take this one." Ruby confirmed, jabbing her thumb at Lucifer Lane.

"Let us know if the movies are good!" Yang reminds them as they walk away."

Nora spun to walk backwards. "You got it!" And promptly tripped over a crack in the sidewalk to land on her back. "Oof!"

"Nothing to worry about." Weiss shook her head before following after the sisters.

After a while with no luck and the other search party taking a break for their next movie, which is apparently a documentary, the three girls were getting close to taking a break of their own.

"Look Weiss, I'm just saying that it would be for the best if we heard her side of the story." Yang sounded tired, not so much from the search… too much, but from having to talk to Weiss.

"And if I was right?" More than a bit of her normally haughty self had come back, making the blonde wish that she had continued the quiet contemplation from yesterday.

"We'll see how much you were right first."

"Wow, your hair does shine like fresh snow." The sudden, if somewhat familiar, voice made the three girls stop suddenly.

Ruby was the one who vocalized their surprise. "Ah! Penny, where did you come from?!"

The girl in question snapped her arm up and gave a short wave with her hand and a smile. "Hi guys! What are you up to?"

"Ummm…"

Yang glanced over her shoulder to find Ruby poking her fingers together as she tried to find words. So she went with being blunt. "We're looking for our friend, Blake."

"Ooohhh…" Penny did not seem too surprised, given that Blake wasn't with them like when they had met. "You mean the Faunus girl."

The team was shocked by how casually the odd girl was saying that. "H-how did you know about that?" Ruby finally found some sensible words.

Penny pointed to the top of her head. "Umm… the cat ears?"

"What cat ears?" Yang was quick to counter. "She wears a…. bow…"

It dawned on the trio how blind they seemed to have NOT noticed, especially when none of them were strangers to seeing Faunus with ears in that location on their heads- Velvet being a prime example, though that called into question how comfortable it was to hide such a trait. Not to mention that he would always have her bow on right after a shower and while sleeping. Even Ruby wasn't quite as attached to her cloak and she wore it as often as possible.

"She really does love her fish." Ruby mutters, recalling what was said during lunch on Friday.

"So where is she?" The redheads' question brought the attention back to her.

The cloaked girl shrugged. "We don't know, she's been missing since Friday."

"Oh, that is terrible!" Penny was suddenly uncomfortably close to Ruby. "I will help you find your teammate, Ruby my friend!"

"Ehehe… that's really nice of you, Penny." She was clearly nervous. "But we're fine now, right sis?"

Yang took a few steps away from the pair, Weiss mimicking the taller blonde. "A-actually… this works out. Now we both have a partner to help look for Blake!"

"What? When did we decide to split up?"

"About ten seconds ago! Call us if you have any luck!"

Once around the nearest corner, Weiss turned to Yang. "Did you really just abandon your sister?"

"Nope, I made a tactical retreat while trusting that she can handle herself."

"That's your excuse?"

"Is it yours?" Yang raised an eyebrow as they kept walking down the street.

Weiss blushed as she looked away. "Shut up and let's get back to finding Blake."

Back with Ruby, she was walking down the road with Penny, trying to explain why they were searching for Blake in the first place. "-they shouted a bit more and then she ran away."

"Hmmm… do you not like Blake?"

"What? She's my friend… or at least I hope she is."

"Is Weiss a friend of Blake's?"

The odd phrasing made the cloaked girl pause her other thoughts for a moment. "That…. That is pretty much up in the air right now."

"Does your team not like Faunus?"

"Huh? Me and Yang have no problems with them. Weiss… it seems pretty complicated." That was putting it mildly after how much the girl had argued against the species and what the more extreme ones have done to her family. But she also had a hard time trying to see both sides, mostly because she had never experienced either side until now. What scared her was that she was sure that this was barely a fraction of the real conflict, given how both girls reacted.

"May I offer my opinion on something?"

"Hmm? Uh, sure."

"I would not like to keep secrets from my friends. Nor would I enjoy secrets being kept from me by my friends." Penny did not look at Ruby as she spoke, yet neither stopped walking. "I understand that sometimes keeping secrets is needed for a variety of reasons but I still do not like that it would be required."

Ruby blinked in surprise, she did not expect that to be said. Yet upon thinking about it, she could see Penny's point.

But they had a task to be done before dark. "Come on, let's try to find Blake."

—

Coincidentally up on the nearest roof, the girl being sought after was sipping tea with her companion, freshly emptied plates of their meals between them.

"You want to know more about my past?" Blake set her teacup down but never let go of it. She'd be lying if she wasn't enjoying the warm, last spring sun and light breeze.

"Well… it does help to know that when helping someone." Sun shrugs, smirking at the eye roll he got for saying that. "All weekend so far has been small talk and weird looks." The slightly annoyed glare he got for that was exactly what he expected. "Yeah, like that."

The cat girl shook her head as she recognized how easily she was played by someone so well meaning. But two can play that game.

"What do you know about the White Fang?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Stupid, holier-than-thou creeps who use force to get what they want… outside of Vacuo, at least."

She waited as he took a sip of tea- using his tail to hold the cup, proving how dexterous it is for him- before speaking. "I… was once a member of the White Fang."

His reaction didn't fail to disappoint her as he choked on some of the liquid and coughed. "W-what?"

"I was a member for most of my life… could almost say that I was born into it." She recalled how prominent her family was in the organization and how high she had been in the ranks.

"The White Fang was originally created to consolidate the various groups fighting for Faunus to have equal rights as humans. And for a while, we had been making progress by picketing, protests, speeches, and boycotting businesses who denied Faunus as customers and employees or would have discriminatory practices.

Then five years ago, nearly six, the old leader stepped down and allowed a new one to take his place. For her, the peaceful motions that we were doing and succeeding at changes for the better, were going too slow.

She began the cycle of violence from the White Fang, though she kept it limited. Some broken windows at places that refused Faunus customers, minor thefts, graffiti… that is until the ranks began demanding more, larger acts of retaliation and retribution against humans.

And the worst part was that it was working… but the newfound rights weren't coming from respect and compassion as they had before, but from fear.

I… was complicit with much of the violence for so long but once my, umm, partner began pushing for direct attacks on the humans, even the ones who just happened to be there at the time… I-I couldn't stay and lend my skills to them anymore.

So I left them and began to dedicate my life and abilities to becoming a Huntress. I'll help show the world the value of Faunus in my own way… even as a criminal seeking redemption hiding in plain sight." Her ears wiggled under her bow as she smiled at her little joke.

Sun stared at her with an unreadable expression, slightly surprised that she spoke so much, along with the confessions. But he didn't miss that there was a great deal of details left out, yet knew not to pry right now or risk driving her into silence again. At least for now. But he did have a few words to say. "Do your friends know any of this?"

The silence that followed was all of the answer that he needed.

"But you don't think that the White Fang is behind these Dust thefts, do you?"

Her eyes widened at his question. "N-no. They've never needed that much Dust before and this is way beyond their normal operations. I looked up all of the Dust shops that were robbed in Vale and only one of them had any records in the past year of Faunus discrimination."

"Hmmm… so maybe the best way to prove that they didn't do the crime… would be to go to where they would do the crime… and NOT find them doing the crime, right?" While he spoke, his index fingers traced circles in the air before pointing both at her at the end.

Blake's eyes widened as the logic hit home. That would be the best way, especially if there was bait that they couldn't resist. "But where would we go to catch them? There are dozens of Dust shops in Vale."

"Ah, but here's something better." Sun gave her a grin as he raised a finger. "Where do they get their Dust to sell?"

Golden eyes widened again as she had missed the obvious. "But how would we know when they are getting supplied?"

"Well… while I was on the boat, I overheard the crew talking about a load coming in, today. A huge Schnee Company freighter. I wouldn't be surprised if it's been unloaded by now."

"Then we better get there."

—-

Footage of different environments edited with energetic music played as a narration happened.

"Sprawling lands, uncharted territory colonized by neither Human nor Faunus alike but done so by the wild creatures ruling it!" Animals were shown in their wide variety as they ran, swam, flew, or burrowed in the different areas shown displaying their understanding of the areas.

One showed emu running as they traveled across a wide plain with mountains in the background. This was followed by a variety of birds flying, hunting by diving in water or snatching things on the ground or getting in a fight midair leading to a dive towards the ground to see which let go first. Next were crocodiles on a sandbed as they soaked in the sun's rays or in the water nearby to get their prey. Kangaroos were next seen having kicking battles. And finally a giant crab the size of a tree was shuffling by quickly before something from the wet ground shot out, having put the whole thing in its stony looking mouth with a couple of the crab's legs poking out some.

This look like a giant snake before looking for a second at its head showed this was the snapping turtle variation of its relatives the forty foot Vacuoan Terragigante Tortoise known as…. The Dreadnoughtus Deathtrap Turtle.

The terrifying creature's shell was covered in so much dirt and stone with mud that was both dried and wet had it camouflaged to simply look like a piece of the land as the jagged rocks were. Its neck receded back to its body as it enjoyed its catch. The beast was almost twice as big as its relative but for that reason they were very stationary and stayed in the wet area mostly submerged. If you or an animal ever need a safe spot just stay on top of its shell as hardly many would go near unless desperate, just make sure you don't wind up running in the area close to its head.

The opening ending on this behemoth as it faded to a more dry area with a man walking to stand in front of the camera as he looked excited at the surrounding nature. Finally he looked at the camera, or more accurately the person holding the camera.

"Are we rolling yet, Tyme darling?"

"Yeah Stephanos we're rolling, and I got Dundee prepped for any danger." The sound of something solid with metal being casually patted was heard.

"Noice, Ok then. Ahem, welcome to Exploring Remnant, I'm Stephanos Darwin and I'm here with my lovely wife Tyme who's managing the camera. Say hi honey."

A fingerless gloved hand gave a small wave in front of the lens as a simple "Hello" is said as a small text block with her full name of Tyme Darwin appearing below. With that the hand quickly went back to behind the recording device to steady it.

"Feeling a bit more enthusiastic today than usual eh hon," Stephanos said goodheartedly. "And here with me on this is my well renowned father-in-law Niall Berrytorn."

The camera moves to the side to see an older man in the same khaki colored outdoor wilderness shirt and green shorts as Stephanos. He had plenty of white in his red hair both on his head and in the thick bushy moustache underneath his large nose. He was currently inspecting a large boulder as he was almost crawling around it.

"Your on camera dad," Tyme said, getting her father's attention.

Hearing his daughter he turned head to look at the camera giving a jolly wave, "Hello there! I apologize as I was distracted by this large stone as it piqued my curiosity."

"It's a big rock dad, why would it have you curious." Tyme asked as her voice told that this was a common occurrence.

"I believe this rock moved my darling daughterdile! Oh I wonder what it could possibly be!" the older man climbed on top of said rock which was quite sizable.

Tyme moves the camera back to her husband as it showed he took was getting curious as if it was getting his attention too till she coughed startling him, "Oh sorry Hun, but hey last time he got distracted by something he found like this he found an insect him that produced a substance great for natural hair care."

"Yeah then he spent five hours on a video call with Port who went on how great it would bring new volume to his mustache followed by two hours of a story on how first developed his own facial hair routine. You better still have the razors I got you."

"Don't worry Dear, I'll keep this face clean for you. I don't plan on having anything that'll stab those pretty lips of yours when you give me a peck on the cheek." Stephanos tapped his jaw with a wink.

"Shut up and continue with the intro," despite the words and tone one could tell her lips were in a smile when she said it.

"Alrighty then, in this special documentary today we'll- Wooooooooooooo!" Stephanos was interrupted by the sudden appearance of a figure running past between him and the camera.

The frame moved to see Niall riding on a boulder which turned out to be the home of a giant hermit crab that had hollowed it out. It was shuffling around back and forth, having been disturbed from its sleep. The camera looked at Niall before going to Stephanos then back to the former then repeated a couple more times till an exasperated sigh came from Tyme behind the lens.

"Don't worry, I'm sure it'll calm down in a bit." Stephanos took a few steps ahead then cupped his hands around his mouth as he shouted at the giant scuttling hermit crab, "Hey there not so little fella! We're sorry for disturbing your sleep! Could you calm down a bit? We don't have any reason to ya!" Stephanos's well-known Semblance have him the ability to communicate with animals. It helped him greatly with this profession.

The crab stopped probably in shock at hearing Stephanos speak and seemed it would follow his request.

Till it ran away in the other direction.

Giving his own sigh but more of disappointment he shook his head then looked back at the camera, "Nature is something you should always expect to not go the way you wish even if you mean well."

"Well it's more on my dad if anything and he's always meaning well."

"True."

"Wait, where's my dad?"

"Hm?" The two looked around to see if he had gotten off the crab before Tyme used the zoom function to see him still on top of the hollowed stone mobile home. Then she noticed another thing.

"Uh…. Isn't that heading towards the wet area?" she asked, aiming the camera back at her husband.

"Yeah Hun I think it is." he said looking back.

About two seconds later the camera was suddenly shaking but showed both were dashing towards a jeep which Stephanos jumped in the driver's seat where he floored it. Tyme jumped in the back as she attached the camera to a special attachment on the vehicle for it to be moved to the passenger seat standing up as she was finally in full view along with the before mentioned Dundee on her waist.

What happened next for the next couple hours was both exciting and educational… even if it was obviously edited to be cut down just to fit in the span of the three hour documentary.

"You know." Nora spoke as they exited the theatre for another round of searching for Blake. "When we went in for that show, I was ready for a snooze fest. Boy was I wrong, those guys are hilarious, crazy, and cool!"

"And we all learned about animals and plants that can harm us if we ever go to that region of Anima." Ren added.

Jaune turned to him. "If we ever run into one of those turtles, 'harm' is hardly the word I would use considering what it did to that giant crab."

"That is true." Pyrrha readily agreed as she was thinking along the same lines. "The crab wouldn't be much of a threat in comparison but it could be nearly as bad as that Death Stalker from initiation."

"Anyway…" Nora cut them off. "We have a friend to find in the…" She paused to check her scroll for the time. "Three hours we have until the next movie starts."

With that said, the four of them split into pairs and took off down the streets of Vale in hopes of finding Blake.

—

It didn't take the pair of Faunus long to reach the docks and find where the ship they were looking for was still being unloaded. Locating a great place for them to settle in for a stakeout, they sat down to watch as containers were taken off by cranes and dropped in a staging area. What they did notice was that there were a few armed guards patrolling the area along with the standard inspectors and crew boss.

"This feels weird."

Sun looked at his companion when she spoke. But he recognized the expression from his years in Vacuo. "You used to do this to scope things out if it was worth the risk?"

She didn't speak but hanging her head for a few moments said everything that was needed.

"Ya know, growing up in Vacuo… the White Fang is still peaceful." That got an amber eye to look his way. "Maybe it's because there is little room for big grudges and hate, you can't be choosy about who might help you when it's needed… Heh, back home needing help happens a lot more often than anywhere else I've seen or heard of.

As far as I know, Vacuo has always been a place where if someone can live there, they are welcome… at least when left to our own devices."

"Sounds nice."

"Does it surprise you that the laws are a bit looser there? The laws are more like… like guidelines."

"Is that why you had no problem running from the cops?" She smirked.

"Eh, they weren't very good at their jobs anyway. I barely even tried to get away when I lost them." He couldn't help but to brag a little, prompting a small laugh from her in the process.

But as the sun sank lower in the sky, they made themselves comfortable for a long night.

AN: So... how many can guess the movies that JNPR watched? The song that Nora was singing is 'The Internet is for Porn' from Avenue Q. I highly recommend at least giving the playlist of that Broadway musical a shot, very entertaining.

But Weiss has been processing a lot since Blake ran away, Ruby and Yang are leading the search for their teammate, JNPR are lending a hand to the search, as is Penny now that she found her friend again. And Sun has been helping Blake by giving her a place to crash while she sorts things out for herself... before her self-imposed mission involving the White Fang.

And big thanks to my friend who wrote the vast majority of the documentary scene, chocked full of references for my readers to guess at.

See you next year!