It took all of Blake's willpower not to draw Gambol Shroud as she descended the basement stairs. She knew it was a silly notion that anything dangerous might be down there, and she was capable of seeing in the dark… but basements unsettled her all the same. The staircase was carpeted and the walls alongside it lined with photos, suggested that the space was built out and finished… but the sights did little to ease her imagination. A sudden shuffling noise from somewhere below caused Blake to hesitate on one of the steps, her feline ears pointing straight up as she listened for anything else. After a few moments of silence, she let out a weary sigh and continued her descent. A door awaited her at the bottom of the staircase, looking rather heavy and potentially reinforced. With a deep breath, the faunus twisted the knob and pushed, finding it mercifully unlocked.
The area just beyond was fully furnished and dimly lit, giving the entire room a rather cozy vibe. A billiard table was set up in the dead center of the space, and a fully stocked bar was on the wall opposite the staircase. A large television was mounted to the wall far to Blake's left, and to the right of the bar was a small hallway suggesting that the basement stretched on for the entire length of the house… or perhaps even beyond it. There were no signs of life anywhere in the area, and Blake mustered up the courage to call out.
"Harriet? Neo?" she asked, walking slowly next to the bar. Blake noticed a fine coating of dust atop the surface as she passed it, suggesting that the space hadn't been used for quite some time. "You guys still down here?"
"We're in the unfinished part!" came Harriet's voice from somewhere up ahead. "Going through boxes for anything useful!"
Blake continued on through the basement, walking into the tiny hall. As the space got tighter and more enclosed, she began to realize something. The polished wooden planks that lined each and every wall gave off a familiar scent- one that reminded her of home. She took a moment at the end of the small hallway to close her eyes and simply breathe it in. It would have been easy to get caught up in memories and linger, but she had important news to deliver. Blake decided that when everything had been taken care of and they had some downtime, she would call her mother just to check in.
Upon reaching the far side of the basement, Blake decided that 'unfinished' was indeed the word for it. All semblance of tasteful décor was missing, as were the wooden boards she had come to appreciate. Instead, the space was nothing but concrete walls, hanging overhead lights, stacks of boxes, and two women sorting through them. At least, one of the women was sorting through them, while the other was perched atop a tower of boxes with her legs crossed and a pile of clothing next to herself.
"What's up?" Harriet asked without bothering to turn around. "The call with Ironwood go well?"
"Well enough," Blake let on as she moved to crouch next to Harriet and look over the boxes. Some were half-empty, the rest of their contents clothes that had been rifled through. Others were full of books, and Blake made a mental note to come down to the basement later and look through them on her own time. "He actually called us back just now and said he's working on getting Yang a new arm. We're supposed to stay here another two days to wait out the process, and then he's going to find a way to fly it out here for us."
"That sounds… dangerous…" Harriet said, scrunching up her face as she gave Blake a look. "Both the waiting part, and the flying. Salem's undoubtedly still watching the skies…"
The sudden sound of two claps caused both of them to jump and whip their heads in Neopolitan's direction. With a soft thump, the diminutive girl landed before her stack of boxes and gave them both an incredulous look.
"…what?" Harriet asked. "Don't look at me like that. Flying through the siege wasn't my idea."
Neopolitan shook her head emphatically and took out her scroll, tapping away at the screen rapidly before thrusting it outward for Harriet and Blake to see.
Are you people stupid? Can't her mother just make a portal to us and drop it off?
Blake could only stare at the screen, absolutely dumbfounded. The thought had never even occurred to her, and seeing it written out so plainly made her feel very stupid indeed.
"…oh," was all she could say at first, her ears flattening against her head as all wind left her sails. "Right, Raven can… shit. And this is exactly the kind of situation we left Taiyang in Atlas for… how did none of us catch that…?"
"Because we're all under a ton of stress," Harriet grumbled, pinching the bridge of her nose. "I've been thinking about that since Sun nearly collapsed last night, and… yeah. Get word to Ironwood that Raven should just drop off the arm, but we should stay here until it's ready even if she could handle warping to us in transit. None of us are in fighting shape, we're exhausted, and it's only going to lead to more and more mistakes like this if we keep pushing. I'm not exactly feeling great, either."
"Right," Blake replied as she watched Neopolitan walk past her and back toward the other room. "Still, that's… we almost made a big mistake that could've cost us lives, if we just went with Ironwood's plan…"
"Sounds familiar, doesn't it?" Harriet spat, turning back to the box of clothing and pulling out a long scarf patterned in white and black horizontal bars. "Shit like this is exactly why it's a good idea to work with a diverse group. Neo saw the problem immediately, and I can tell you right now I wouldn't have caught it that fast… if at all. Too many new people, too much crazy shit going on… it's just important that we watch out for each other and stay on our toes. Hopefully we've got enough people that someone notices the slack before the whole rope gets yanked out of our hands."
"Yeah. Hopefully…" Blake agreed as she watched Harriet pull a large black jacket from the box. "Well that's… fancy…"
Harriet held up the article of clothing in front of herself and gave it a good shake to unfold it. The garment was a black leather jacket with a deep blue crushed velvet lining on the inside and armor plates upon its shoulders. A myriad of zippers was all around the front, as well as stretchy loops meant for holding dust grenades or perhaps even raw crystals. A pair of matching leather gloves was stuffed into the waist pockets on either side, their knuckles lined with metallic studs. The material moved unnaturally as Harriet shook it out once again, as though there was something firm stitched inside of the leather.
"Fancy, and mine now," Harriet declared as she unzipped the jacket. "I'm sure Qrow won't mind if I borrow this until we meet up after the war. There's a good chance we're all getting killed anyway…"
"You're planning to wear a leather jacket into the desert?" Blake asked, choosing to ignore the other part of Harriet's comment.
"Like I said… I'm…" Harriet started, pulling the garment on and looking over her shoulder before thinking better of continuing. "Forget it."
"…you don't trust her, do you?" Blake asked in a near whisper.
"Not with anything personal, no. Do you?" Harriet returned.
"I've got every reason in the world not to, but…" Blake considered before letting out a long sigh. "…she did just save our asses with the callout. If she was here to cause chaos, she could've just let it slide and had Ironwood send an airship out. We're going to need to get really familiar with each other really quickly if we want any chance at getting through this intact and sane."
"Yeah," Harriet agreed as she zipped up the jacket and let out a sigh. The fit was nearly perfect, though the sleeves were ever so slightly too long for her. "Yeah, that is true… and I didn't trust your boyfriend and his squad when they first rolled up. Fine. I'll let my guard down until it inevitably bites me in the ass, I guess. I'm… cold."
"You're… cold?" Blake asked with a tilt of her head.
"I'm fucking freezing," Harriet said with much more conviction as she pulled on the gloves. "It's the Maiden thing. One minute I'm burning up, the next minute my skin is like ice… but I think I'm starting to level out and my default temperature is… let's just say low. I mean, it makes sense, being the Winter Maiden and all. I'm just thinking I'm gonna need layers even out in the desert."
"Oh," was all Blake could come up with. "Are there any upsides? Like, side effect upsides, I mean. The magic part is obvious…"
"I heal fast," Harriet answered. "Really fast. Cinder put me through a fucking building down in Mantle. I probably shouldn't be able to walk right now, but I feel… a little sore, and not much else. I'd probably be dead or crippled without the Maiden… factor? Let's call it a Maiden factor."
"I don't know if there is a real term for it," Blake mused. "I'd assume it's tied to aura, somehow."
"Somehow," Harriet agreed as Neopolitan reentered the room. "Well, well. I think I'm starting to like you, after all…"
Blake followed Harriet's line of sight to see Neopolitan approaching with an assortment of items from the bar. In her left hand was a triplet of fancy wine glasses with rose patterns etched into the sides, while she carried an expensive looking bottle of wine in her right. Neopolitan tilted her head in a questioning gesture, and she seemed to be in a much better mood than her companions.
"…none for me, thanks," Blake said flatly. "I don't really feel… comfortable drinking in a situation like this, and I'm not really a fan anyway. Besides- I helped Qrow quit back in Kuo Kuana, and I feel like I should stick it out in solidarity."
"Give me some of that shit," Harriet said without hesitation as she nodded toward one of the bottles. "Anything to feel warm, even if it's really just an illusion."
Blake let out a disappointed sigh as she watched Neopolitan approach and hand Harriet a glass. The two sat atop a pair of boxes and began to uncork one of the bottles. It wasn't long before the sound of flowing wine echoed in the enclosed space, and Blake busied herself with pulling an unopened box out. It was surprisingly heavy, as though full of bricks.
"So, did you two actually find anything useful down here yet?" the faunus asked. "Other than the swanky jacket, of course."
"Hard to tell," Harriet answered as she swirled her wine glass. "There's some dust that we'll probably take along in a few pouches, just for backup. A few trinkets here and there, some photos… nothing else noteworthy yet. We don't really have time to dig through all of those books, as much as it would probably be interesting. Qrow was on a legendary team, after all, and some are combat manuals."
"He was…" Blake said as she pulled back the cardboard flaps atop the box. Inside was a stack of books unlike the others. Each was meticulously swaddled in bubble wrap and stacked neatly atop the next, occupying the entire inside of the box. "Might've found something. These look important."
Blake tensed as Neopolitan's head appeared over her shoulder. The two peered into the box together as the faunus unwrapped the first of the tomes to find a leather-bound journal. It was thicker than she would've guessed, and on the front were the initials S.R. embossed in gold. Blake's stomach dropped as she realized what she was probably looking at, and her suspicions were confirmed as she pulled back the cover with a shaky hand. There on the first page was confirmation of what she expected… though Blake couldn't tell if she was excited, filled with dread, or both.
Summer Rose, Year One at Beacon.
September 12th,
The school is so much bigger than I imagined…
Author's Note:
Summer's journals won't become an entire B-Plot with chapters dedicated to them, but there will be snippets here and there. They'll be important to events in the future…
-RD