"International politics is never about democracy and human rights. It's about the interests of states. No matter how we are told otherwise in the history lessons."

- Egon Bahr

"Percy," Ozpin's warm smile didn't betray what thoughts Percy assumed to be swimming around in his mind, "I'm glad you could drop by. Please, take a seat. I'll be with you in a moment."

Percy did so, placing himself in a chair in front of Ozpin's desk as Ozpin and his assistant, Goodwitch, conversed quietly. Not too quietly, Percy could still make out what they were talking about if he tried. But considering it was something about detentions and disciplinary protocol, he couldn't find it in himself to care all that much.

"Sorry about that," Ozpin excused a few moments later as Goodwitch walked past Percy and out of the room with nary a glance towards him. "I do have a school to run on top of everything. Now, what can I help you with?"

Percy shook his head, "I'm not here to ask for a favor. More to make sure there isn't a complete breakdown of relations."

Ozpin's smile faded. "If I didn't know better, I'd think you're moving against the interests of Vale."

"It's a good thing you know better, then. That's exactly what I want to reassure you isn't happening. I'm not acting against you or Vale, but recently your ability to help with the council is… less than ideal. No, strike that, less than I need. I've stayed away from Vale's politics out of respect for you and as a thanks for your help, but you must understand that I've been left with no other options."

Ozpin frowned distastefully, "There are always other options. More than you realize. Think carefully before continuing down this path."

Percy scowled. "I'm facing sanctions from more than a few directions, which would kill millions of my people if I'm not careful."

"Your people?" Ozpin caught, raising an eyebrow. "I didn't know you'd taken such ownership over the people of Mistral."

"I'm not in the mood for games, Ozpin." Percy deflected. "If I can't convince Vale not to go with Atlas…" Not only years of progress set back, but also decades of potential progress removed. It'd take his rapidly thriving nation on the brink of rivaling Atlas and Vale, and turn it into a slowly developing backwater. It'd stop him from doing nearly as much with Menagerie, limit his ability to support the Asturias' coup, and make him a whole lot less valuable to the White Fang. It wouldn't end his chances of safeguarding the relics himself, but it'd damn well get close. "The result is unacceptable."

"I've helped you whenever you've asked." Ozpin said solemnly. "I'd hoped you would, with time, be fit to join my inner circle. To learn… nevermind. That's behind us, now. Now, all I have to give to you is a warning. I will tolerate much, but when you tread in Vale… tread carefully."

Taking the dismissal for what it was, Percy stood from the chair. "I just want you to know, Ozpin, that this isn't war. I'll be stopping the sanctions. That's all."

"And the next time you find something Vale might be doing inconvenient, what then?"

"This is far beyond inconvenient, Ozpin! This is everything. If I don't use what I have now, I may as well have never tried in the first place. I'm doing this, Ozpin. I'm sorry, but this has to be done." Percy returned to the elevator, pressing the button to take him to the first floor.

Percy's last sight of Ozpin's office was the man himself sitting calmly in his chair, confidently staring Percy down. Not like he was a man confident in his victory against another foe, but like Percy was a child that needed to be put in timeout.

"You'll find that the council is not as easy to cow as you might suspect, Perseus."

And then, the doors slid shut.

Percy sat in his apartment that night on a scroll call with Shiro, talking through the day's events.

"So you think they won't budge, despite everything?"

Percy shrugged. "Some of them will, probably. The younger ones, fresher faced. They looked eager. Tempted. But the more experienced ones? Maybe one or two are in Ozpin's pocket, but the rest? For them it's just not worth the risk. They have their power bases, they don't need another backer."

Shiro raised an inquisitive eyebrow "So, what, just let them go?"

Percy rolled his eyes. "No I'm not going to just let them go, but I'm at a loss for many other options at the moment. The only thing I can think of is to try and throw the kitchen sink at them. I have a lot of means, I just… can't think of a way to apply it to this. Beyond money, what could I really offer them?"

Shiro shrugged. "Better trade deals with Mistral for their companies, maybe? Access to Menagerie? More access to the Mistrali market? You've opened Mistral to outside investors, but the list of them is still pretty small. They'll be doing it through you anyway, you can pull the plug at any time you want. Why not let more invest? That'll put more pressure on them to keep relations with Mistral good."

Percy frowned. "I've already threatened their voterbase. Most didn't seem so concerned. The unions are powerful, but I think they're confident that they can win without them. What I really need is the Chairman and his supporters. The vote will be narrow enough that he'll be the one deciding. I'm not sure how, but he's not worried about me at all. Financial backer, family ties, something. There's no boon to give him he'd be interested in, and no threat that seems to shake him. He's too secure in his position."

Shiro shook his head exasperatedly. "You're still thinking of it like a carrot and stick. Hang a reward in front of them for saying yes, and threaten them with consequences for saying no."

Percy shrugged. "It's how I do this. It's how I've gotten what I have today."

"Not all of it." Shiro corrected. "Is that how you put the great families of Mistral in check? Remember, Percy, you had the same issue with them. Too rich to bribe, too secure to threaten. They were sitting on a pile of carrots. What did you do?"

"Took the carrots." Percy muttered.

"So the only thing you need to find out is why this chairman isn't worried about you, and why he's so set against the vote. Who backs chairman Wolke?"

Percy cursed to himself, "I didn't realize the chairman was Wolke. I know why he's so confident, at least. Jacques mentioned him a couple of years ago, before he was chairman. He has the backing of the SDC. I didn't know Jacques was planning on using him to get sanctions imposed on Mistral, but it makes sense. I just wasn't paying enough attention. He'll never oppose the sanctions so long as he's in Jacques' pocket."

"Well, now you know how to get to him at least."

"And how am I supposed to do that?" Percy snorted. "Declare open war on the SDC? I'm doing this as Percy, anything I do gets back to Jacques."

Shiro shook his head, "You're not Percy. Percy tried, and failed, to represent the business interests of Vale. Perseus will represent the interests of Mistral in Vale."

"You have to admit that's not exactly above suspicion." Percy deadpanned.

"You knew from the beginning the other shoe had to drop eventually. You'll be against the SDC in the open at some point. While we want to keep that as far in the future as possible… it might be necessary that Jacques starts getting a bit suspicious."

Percy groaned. "So, find a way to make me appear more influential in Vale than Jacques. Forget that, find a way to make it look like Jacques can't do anything for Wolke at all. How do I manage that, exactly?"

"Well, the MTC's production is at an all-time high, and we have an enormous amount of dust in reserve. I can have our stockpile on a ship to Vale by tomorrow night. Either way, let me know what you're gonna do."

Percy shook his head in exasperation. "I'll figure it out. Thanks, Shiro."

Shiro nodded, and Percy sat his scroll down, staring out into the lights of the great city of Vale. It wouldn't be easy — like it had been no easy task with Mistral — but in theory…

He had a lot of tools at his disposal. More than anyone else on Remnant, maybe. He could find a way.

"Is this all of them?" Percy asked, not quite the image of plastic pleasantry he'd been at their meeting just a couple days before.

"Yes, Mr. Jackson. But this should be enough, no? Between all of us we make up a third of the council, we'll be able to convince the others during the council proceedings, I'm sure-"

"No." Percy cut Alfred off, looking over the other men in the room with them. Three of them, all the younger councilmen that Percy had figured would be more open to his persuasion.

"Well then, perhaps I can speak with the chairman about another offer. One of his brother's businesses, perhaps-"

"No." Percy cut him off once again. Distractedly, he shook his head. "Five isn't a majority, and rest assured the opposition will have the rest of the votes. It's fine. I'll take care of it."

"Are you sure, Mr. Jackson? I'm sure we'd all be willing to offer the extent of our expertise-"

Percy just shot him a look instead of cutting him off verbally, shaking his head once. "I'll take care of it. Just be ready to cast your votes. I'll let you know if I need anything from any of you." he let his gaze fall on each one of the three who sat by the fire individually. They didn't speak, just sat there and nervously met his gaze.

Percy nodded his goodbye and turned from the room.

"Oh, I almost forgot" he stopped at the door frame, turning his head back to glance at them,

"If any of you are invested in the SDC, I'd recommend you trade in your shares."

A couple days later and Roman, for his part, looked like a kid in a candy store.

"You're serious? We're actually doing this? This isn't a joke, right?"

Neo rolled her eyes, flicking Roman in the temple.

He flinched away from her, raising his arms to defend his head. "Look, I just want to be sure, okay? This is a bit sudden."

"You've asked four times." Percy deadpanned. Neo crossed her arms and nodded in satisfaction, presumably glad that someone was agreeing with her.

"My guys can get the dust pretty easily, but storing it will be another problem." Junior spoke up, interrupting their antics. He leaned over the map dominating the center of the room, eyes darting from marked target to marked target. "The crates that Roman's stolen before haven't been a problem. One, two, or even ten I could make fit with a bit of leg room and barely an eyebrow raised. But all of these?" Junior gestured at the map.

Sure enough, about a dozen positions were marked around the map. Two places at the docks, several train stations, a harbor on the river, two warehouses in the industrial district, even the bullhead docks had a tiny red X. And each of them, on average, would have about a dozen of their own crates. Within the time constraints he had trying to get this done before Atlas officially passed sanctions, he'd unfortunately not been able to pick an ideal day. Something like half the trains would be empty, but the rest were packed.

"If we can't store the things, dump em'." Percy said grimly. "All that lost dust is a shame, but the primary goal is to destroy the dust, not resell it."

"That wasn't exactly part of the agreement." Cinder interrupted, two of her own cronies having come along this time. A green haired girl standing dutifully behind her, and a silver-haired boy leaning against the wall. He hoped that wasn't all she had at her disposal, or he might have to reconsider that same agreement.

"The agreement is that I collect the dust I get from this operation for the use of our mutual friends." Percy refuted. "I won't be getting the dust we have to destroy here. Unless you have a way to store a few dozen tons of dust while the rest of our people are busy doing the same, then we're destroying it."

"You could store it in the wilderness. Set up stashes to collect later," she countered.

Percy shook his head, "The cops will be all over this as soon as it happens. Junior's men need to be gone."

Cinder narrowed her eyes and stayed silent, which Percy took as assent.

"Mutual friends?" Roman frowned, backtracking. "Please tell me it's not those freaks."

"That's not our place to ask, Roman." Junior chided. "If it is them, then whatever they're doing is happening half a world away. It's not our problem."

"Actually." Percy said, "It might be. We'll talk about it later. But yes, Roman, I am talking about them."

Roman just sighed exasperatedly. "Alright. Fine. We'll get to that when we get to it. But what about the rest of the job? You told us that the dust robberies were only half of it?"

"No," Percy corrected, "I said stealing from the SDC was only half of it. That'll be the bulk of what we get dust-wise. But we'll also be cleaning out dust shops around the city, or taking them under Junior's control. The idea is that nobody in the city will be buying from the SDC. We hit their supply lines, and either force every shop in the city to refill on dust while they're out, or we take the place and make sure they only refill with MTC from then on."

Junior whistled. "Kicking the SDC out of an entire kingdom. I don't mean to question you or anything, but are you sure it'll work? Nobody's been… ambitious enough to try something like this before."

Percy shot the man a grin. "If you two don't fuck anything up, then yeah, it'll work. This is just one part of a puzzle. After the big night either Vale is freed from the influence of the SDC and we're in a much better position, or we're screwed."

"That's reassuring." Cinder said dryly, "but how exactly are you planning on stealing from every dust store in the city? Vale must have thousands of the things."

Percy jerked his head towards Junior, "Vale is a large city, which means it has a lot of dust stores, but it also means that it has a lot of manpower. Junior's men number large enough to take from the dust shops, and take cargo from the SDC's imports."

Junior nodded. "I'll be using most of my manpower for this, though, so try not to start anything else in the meantime."

"What else is there to start?" Roman joked, "Every cop in the city will be after us. I suppose we should start watching out for the huntsmen soon?"

Neo jabbed him in the side with her elbow, and the two devolved into bickering.

"This should avoid attention as much as possible." Percy assured Junior in the meantime. "It'll certainly be loud, but taking out most of the trains and ships as they're coming into Vale should be enough to keep your guys mostly out of harm's way, and the public ignorant to what's actually happened. Just make sure your guys are gone before the cops get there, along with the dust."

"My men are hardly pirates." Junior warned. "We can try to board their cargo ships before they reach the docks, but I can't guarantee they'll be effective. We don't have experience with that sort of thing."

Percy shot him a knowing smile. "Then let me lend a hand."

Several days later, with the crack of dawn peaking over the horizon — the very day before Atlas was planning to reveal their sanction plan — Percy willed the water to push the last boat to shore.

Junior's men began unloading the dust onto the sandy beach. It was a slow job.

The individual crates inside of the large storage containers had to be lifted and moved off the ship. They couldn't be moved in larger quantities because there was no crane to do so, and they couldn't simply toss the stuff overboard because one particularly rough jostle and all of them were dead. Luckily, keeping the cargo ship at sea for hours had been an option. Remnant wasn't huge on naval combat — probably because the one power which had built up a military was also not located on the coast — but that meant that one cargo ship failing to arrive at port had no chance of being found, if it was moved just a few miles off of its route and closer to shore.

So it had been a slow but steady process that had taken all night of taking the crates of dust and moving them to shore with dozens of smaller boats. Then, storing them a few hundred feet off the beach in some woods so that they wouldn't be easily spotted. They could come back to get the dust itself later, what really mattered right now was making sure it couldn't be sold in Vale.

While the others leapt off the small boat and began offloading the dust onto the sand, Percy stayed on the boat. The last crate was moved off of it, and the last of Junior's men off the craft gave him the all clear. Nodding back, Percy willed the tide to take him back out to shore and to the right down the coast, slowly but surely beginning to jet along the coastline at speeds impossible by modern propellers.

Everyone else just had to store the dust in the forest and then screw off back to Vale when they could, hoping that the edge of a grimm migration wouldn't catch them by surprise.

Percy, meanwhile, had a meeting to catch.

"Perseus." Wolke greeted neutrally.

"Chairman." Percy greeted back, holding his scroll to his ear. "I think we both know why I've called."

"Well, assuming last nights events are your doing then I know why you've called, but I don't really understand what you hoped to accomplish."

Percy blinked, shaking his head back and forth to get some blood flowing. It was past noon now, more than a full day since he'd slept, and Percy wasn't the most cognitively able he'd ever been but he figured it should've been pretty obvious.

Percy raised an eyebrow. "I thought it'd be obvious. You're backed by the SDC. The SDC has been pretty much removed from Vale. You don't have many more options for support."

Wolke chuckled. "No, seriously. What did you hope to accomplish?"

Percy's eyes narrowed suspiciously. For someone who'd had his one major backer taken out from under his feet, he seemed suspiciously lax. There had to be something he was missing.

"Am I missing something?" Percy vocalized, his confusion seeping into his voice.

"Are you serious?" Wolke laughed at that. Not a loud, boisterous laugh, but a laugh all the same. A few seconds of uninterrupted amusement. "I'd heard stories of how cunning you could be, of how your uninterrupted rise to power within Mistral had been the result of competence. I'm afraid I'd overestimated you, Lord Perseus. Vale is not Mistral. You can't expect to show up, wave your gun around, and get your way. The SDC selling in Vale affects me in no way. As such, their lack of sales affects me in no way. Mr. Schnee doesn't need a cargo ship to arrive in order to route my foundation his donation for this month, just a checkbook. I'm afraid your lack of understanding Vale has not yielded the greatest results."

Percy recoiled from his scroll. Him not understand Vale? He understood it better than he did Mistral. He'd grown up in New York City, he was basically a local!

But in all his years in New York, he'd never run for office. He'd never staged a coup or a train robbery or tried to play at international politics. He was a kid, and worrying about things far more important than New York's elections.

"This won't help your chances at election." Percy pivoted, "The SDC has lost their supply of dust, and the MTC is arriving to supply the city. Mistral will rescue Vale from Atlesian incompetence, and Mistrali dust will be the only thing between Vale and freezing to death. See what the polls say about tightening relations with Mistral after that."

"Lord Perseus, you don't often read the news, do you?"

Not… not really, he had to admit. He was usually making the news far more often than observing it.

"Valeans aren't the simple creatures the faunus are, my Lord. We're capable of higher thought than that. We didn't assume that the dust was simply lost due to incompetence." Percy didn't think they would, just that nobody was able to be fully blamed, but that was probably a moot point. "When Atlas is on the verge of taking action against the Kingdom of Mistral and all of a sudden dozens of SDC shipments are intercepted, many will jump to conclusions. And it would seem, judging by this call, that those were the right conclusions. Mistral and the White Fang struck at the SDC in Vale, and coincidentally the Mistral Trade Company arrives in port that same day with inordinate amounts of dust. Enough to tide the city over for weeks. It was a concentrated effort to take advantage of the Valean people. Before, Lord Perseus, your avoiding Vale had been a great boon to your popularity here. But now… I advise you check the news. Have a pleasant evening, Lord Perseus."

Percy just stared at his scroll as it hung up, trying to decide if he was bluffing or not. He sounded confident, but Percy knew firsthand that could be faked.

Absent-mindedly, Percy navigated to the news on his scroll, and watched as the list of events popped up. The headlines just confirmed his fears.

Schnee Dust Corporation Victim of White Fang Attack Last Night: Dust Prices Soar

MTC Suspended From Selling Dust in Vale

Mistral Soldiers on Valean Soil?

The Vale Council Meets to Uniformly Condemn the White Fang as a Terrorist Organization

1.8 Billion Lien in Dust Seized From the MTC in Investigation

Percy closed his eyes, and took several deep breaths. He wasn't an anger prone person. He could control himself.

But… where had it gone wrong?

The beginning, he supposed. The plan had been flawed. It had a lack of understanding of where Wolke's backing came from, and what enabled him. That was nobody's fault but his own. He hadn't thought it through, he'd screwed up, and because of it he was paying dearly.

But he didn't have time to reminisce on the consequences of his actions — he would reflect on his mistakes later — but right now, he had to find a way to fix this.

And of all the people willing to talk to him right now, he only knew one person who might know how to get him out of this situation.

It was time to talk to Jacques.

Percy adjusted his clothes as he waited for Jacques in his sitting room. Percy had to admit, he was a bit nervous about this. He'd never been this bold before, this close to being discovered. But Foley was dead, and this wasn't his kind of game anyway. It was too brash — in the open. Ozpin was for all intents and purposes stonewalling him, at least until this situation was resolved, and while Percy knew he was capable, this kind of thing was also not really his forte. Plus, Ozpin wouldn't have voluntarily helped him with this either way.

So that left one last mentor figure for this game he'd found himself in, one option remaining. It just so happened that last man was who Percy was scheming against.

"Apologies for the wait, this whole mess in Vale has left me with much to do this morning." Jacques greeted Percy, walking into the sitting room and around the chair, plopping himself down on one.

He looked about as exhausted as Percy felt. Bloodshot, baggy eyes, slouched shoulders, he'd even fallen into his chair with a lack of grace which Percy couldn't have easily imagined the older man wielding before today.

He supposed there was an irony to it. Both of them exhausted for the same reason, on opposite sides of the conflict. And yet, as friendly as can be.

"Please, don't worry about it. I'm sure you've guessed, but it's why I'm here. I was initially against the sanctions against Mistral, but after last night I want to offer you my support in Vale. Whatever you need, it's yours."

Jacques sipped a steaming tea which he'd grabbed off of a tray a nearby servant brought for them. A human, Percy noticed. Since the war with the White Fang had begun to ramp up, Percy had noticed fewer and fewer faunus staff in the Schnee manor. He wasn't sure that was a good thing.

Percy grabbed the one offered to him, savoring the warmth of the beverage if not the taste.

Jacques scoffed. "Come now, what did I tell you about favors? It's been some time, I thought I'd nailed that lesson into you. You ask for favors, you don't hand them out." he chastised lightheartedly.

Percy chuckled, "Well, maybe it's not the most efficient use of resources but I consider helping a close ally in a time like this a necessary expense. Call me sentimental, but you've done right by me. I owe you this." The words tasted bitter in his mouth, because he knew he meant them. Jacques did deserve nothing less than his support. But instead, Percy could only do him the courtesy of concealing his dagger behind his back.

He'd considered just being honest with Jacques more than once. Trying to work with him, get his support, and his help with the maidens. But no, Percy couldn't tell anyone about the magical side of Remnant. It wasn't an option, and without that context nothing he could ever say to Jacques would convince him to make it his priority. And to make an ally of Jacques, he'd have to stab the White Fang in the back and utterly eradicate them, as well as give up his influence over the Faunus. Whichever choice he made, he'd be betraying someone. This was something Percy had to do the hard way if he wanted it done right.

"Sentimental indeed." Jacques scoffed again, into his cup. "I suppose I have no room to critique. I'm soft-hearted enough as it is in my old age, helping you as I have. But you're young. I expect better from you."

Percy let himself laugh lightly. "I've missed that dark pragmatism of yours. As depressing as ever. But, I suppose if you'd like me to ask you a favor, I have something on my mind. Nothing material, just some advice. But we'll call it a favor."

Jacques didn't seem annoyed by the change in subject, or by him asking for a favor. The fact that it wasn't a handout and was instead a chance to share his own utilitarian doctrine probably helped. "Please, go on." he prompted, finishing his tea.

Percy finished his own, before deciding how to phrase his conundrum.

"I recently… made a negotiating error, I guess. As you do in a negotiation, I targeted what they actually wanted rather than what they were asking for. But, well… I was wrong. Very wrong. And the deal didn't work out. I need to salvage this deal, and now I know I can't get them to agree so easily, but actually getting them to agree just seems so… out of reach."

Jacques raised a perturbed eyebrow. "You act as though this is your first time misunderstanding what your negotiating partner is after."

Percy thought for a moment. "I think… I think technically, it is. Any other time, I've managed to adjust before fully committing. But this time… I dived in head first."

Jacques laughed. Percy could see his age in the way he lightly shook, and the coughs muffled into a handkerchief afterwards. Percy guessed he had more than a few years in him, but he was far from youthful.

"Percy, it's a mistake all too common. A misjudgement like that is a normal part of development as a successful businessman, and not something you'll ever move past. Do you remember when we first met? When I attempted to purchase J&W, and offered you a check for several times its market value? You declined rather harshly, because I misjudged what you wanted, what you were after. Clinging to the old deal would have been a fool's errand. I knew that buying the company wasn't possible, and pursuing other options wasn't viable. Instead, I did it your way. And now here we are, in this room, and JW is worth a hundred times what it was just four years ago. It's normal to miss the target. Don't keep striving for the old deal, find a better one."

Percy frowned, imagining taking a nicer approach to dealing with Wolke. He wasn't convinced it would work.

"Is there any other way, than just cooperating with them? It was possible with me, but what if… what if they can't be dealt with nicely anymore? That opportunity is gone."

Jacques smiled slightly. "I did say find a better deal, not a more cooperative one. If you have to compromise, so be it. If you have to wipe all the pieces off the table and start again, so be it. Find someone else. If there is no-one else, make someone else."

Percy nodded slowly, only the faint beginnings of a plan beginning to form at the edges of his mind. But he didn't only have to secure the chairman. Chairman or not, council or not, he had earned the ire of Vale. That wouldn't just go away.

"There's one more thing. The initial offer I made, it kind of… caused a mess. Reputation damage. I just can't think of a way to solve it. I tried solving it before, finding a way around the deal, and it backfired. Anything I could do to make my initial problem go away will only cause worse damage, while repairing my reputation would require giving up my objective, which is… not in the cards."

Jacques remained silent for a long moment, staring just slightly to Percy's left. He got the impression Jacques was reliving a rather distinct memory. Finally, Jacques let out a long sigh, his posture resigned.

"I'd hoped you wouldn't have to deal with such an issue so early. That you wouldn't be forced to make the sacrifices necessary for the worst parts of this business. But, there comes a time for everyone in this line of work when you have a problem you can't deal with conventionally, that only gets worse when you try to deal with it. A fire you can't put out by normal means. I'd always compared it to an oil fire. What do you do when attempting to put out the fire only feeds it?" He paused.

"You want to snuff out an oil fire, Percy? You set off a bigger explosion right next to it. Suck away the oxygen. Snuff the flame."

Percy knew, as soon as he'd said it, that Jacques would regret giving him that piece of advice.

Heyo, hope ya'll enjoyed. Appreciate the support ya'll have been givin me recently, really helps with motivation n' everything. Special shoutout to some of the homies on discord leavin nice stuff in my channel, been takin the good with the bad in life recently and the occasional nice message reminds me why I do this stuff. Which reminds me, huge thanks to persephone on discord for continuing to maintain my account on AO3. Both the discord link and pat-reon are on my profile, but discord's completely free :)

Speaking of pat-reon, I quietly opened up a third $20 patron spot a month or two ago, and my man sage went for it. So, starting next month I'll be doing 3 chapters a month. One on the first, one on the 10th, and one on the 20th. I upped the limit because I feel like my schedule is now at the point where I could be writing more, so I'll be forcing myself to write more frequently this way.

On another note minor 'spoiler' warning for those of you that are as picky about being spoiled as I am, but I thought it's not a bad idea to let you guys know that the length from the start of RWBY canon to the end of the story will not be nearly as long as from the start of the story to the start of RWBY. This story mostly is and always has been about how Percy affects the pieces laid out before they're really in play, and what that changes. Don't get me wrong we're not ending at the start of canon, not by some margin, but also don't expect the story post RWBY V1 to be nearly as long as the story pre-RWBY

that's enough rambling for today, hope you all have a good one.

Next Chapter June 1