….
…
There was a voice, female, singing in the forest.
Bah Bah Dah Bah Ruh Bah Duh Bah
(Someone was adding extra loud accents in whistling to the belting.)
PHU PHWA FUUU PHWA
Ruh Bah Duh Bah
RAH BAH DAH RAAH BAAH DAAH RUMM BUMM DAHHH BUMMMM!
The voice cried out as the wind whistled through the trees.
"This! Is! BEAUTIFUL!"
The flowers were out! The trees were… tree scents!
The sky wasn't overcast! Or covered by curtains!
Grass could be run along!
Hills could be climbed!
A small stream could be forded!
A figure gallivanting through the forest, singing and laughing in joy, paused for a moment to verbalize the ever present feelings.
"I AM ALIVE!"
Can you… slow down? You might hurt yourself.x
A low "thump" echoed as the figure stilled, leaves flowing past their wake.
The figure sat down by a tree, the joy… not lost, just… lessened. "Why did you tag around, Sis?" they grumbled.
Someone needs to connect you back to Patience. Otherwise, we can't come help you easily, can we? What if you die?
"I come back again, obviously!"
With who helping to prevent you from moving on before then?
… "Pai-
…
…
Oh."
It'll be nice. I won't be a problem. I'm just… the helpful mail delivery person between Montague and C-
"The one that didn't do the job right and everything went horrible because of it?"
N-N….
…Yes.
Blair thought back on her previous life for a moment. "Hey! I managed to get the idea right in a conversation the very first time! That's pretty cool, isn't it?"
Yes. It is.
Blair stood up again, unfurled her arms, and smiled. Powered by the warm and rambunctious joy inside her, she ran along to her new destination.
The white glimmering beckoned her onwards, and she obliged it.
…
…
Until she inevitably made a mistake, and bashed her head onto the ground after a wild black dog came out of nowhere.
…
Can you use the Aura to heal yourself?
Blair contemplated it.
…
…
"Can I get some help here?"
Angeline stilled, and tried to think of a better idea.
You should heal passively, unless something went wrong. How about try a protection to allow the healing to take effect?
Blair stiffened and shook her head around. "I can do that! I know exactly who to be!"
…Why in the world are you taking me liter-
A bright light illuminated the trees as the figure flowed into a stylish pose, face shifting into a slitted helm, and her body shimmering with a metallic rippling sheen as a light moved over their form.
A growling came from behind her. "Oh no. I frightened the dog. I should try to calm it down!"
K-kkkkkhak.
Blair… did your brain go mad?
"What do you mean? It's a do-"
Blair turned to face the black do….. and she charged the poor animal in a furious run.
The Beowolf was barrelled into with a ludicrous attempt at an attack that would have been labelled as a body slam. The only way this level of attack would ever happen would be if the attacker was either possessing an invulnerable body…
-Or they were absolutely insane.
"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
The armoured white figure circled back again after the first impact and grasped the Beowolf in a vice grip. It clenched the neck of the creature, locking it to the floor, before pulling back the other fist and repeatedly punched it in the face.
It didn't last long, and the assailant to the Grimm was knocked away with a countering kick. Thrown like they were a doll, the figure stared at the Grimm before they deemed it wise to retreat, clutching at their chest.
It fled into the forest as the white being turned back to watch.
The Grimm, unbeknownst to them, slunk around in an orbit of the area, returning to creel after its now injured assailant.
….
Blair questioned herself in nervous eddies of doubt.
Should I do it? Is it right to do it?
Blair. Just put the dog down already. I don't care about anything. Those bad emotions you share… as long as you're going to live if you do it? Go wild.
Blair took a breath, or tried to. Being inhuman made her forget to breathe, so it was just a calming mechanism for her now. "I just want it to go away, though. We're not imagining it. This is not a little mindscape. It's always easier to just do it when I'm not actually going to be hurt and I can just think it to death."
Blair gets 1 point to being a foolish donkey.
You punched it, right?
Blair had, multiple times. She could feel it lurking after her as she ran through the forest. Blair did not want it to catch her.
Have a heart to heart. Share the time I tore off your legs.
"I'm freaking out and I have no idea why you want me to talk to this horrible thing in person!"
…
…
…
…
WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS WOMAN?!
SEMBLANCE. SEM-BLAN-CE. Heart to heart! Don't speak! Think!
Blair remembered.
She turned around, and looked at the Beowolf. The creature's fur was glittering with a rim of white, and she looked back on her life up to this point.
"You, Mr Grimm, are going to lose your legs."
The Beowolf fell to the ground as the young figure's face flickered to a black hole, marred with warped white gashes replacing the eyes.
It slowly clawed towards her, and she leaned down to look it in the empty face. A finger pressed against the forehead.
"Now, you stubborn little puppy, listen: Two shots to the legs."
The Grimm stilled as the white glowing faded. A short moment later, it looked down at the fully collapsed legs that were lying beneath it.
A small smile came from the inhuman face, creeping in from the framed void.
She imagined the armor re-appearing on her legs, and kicked the dead dog.
It faded away like smoke in the wind, never to be met again.
That's ignoring if there's others, though. Isn't it, Blair?
She straightened herself, and spun around to find her next destination.
"Is there anywhere with books nearby?"
…
No white. Shame.
…
I saw a bookshop in the city we were walking approximately towards around a few minutes ago. I can bring you there.
Blair was running off towards the city as soon as Angeline had visualised the direction. Her rapid egress from the forest was interrupted as her feet quit at a small river. She heard a quiet discordance in the water, and leaned forward to listen closer.
"Is there a split in the river? Or a waterfall? Or… is this just a normal river sound?"
Angeline didn't reply. She also didn't know.
The girl followed the riverbed, singing a little tune to the beat of her walking.
"Walk on, walk on, mer-rilly in tune. Sing a song-a wan-der-ing with stor-ies to travel to!"
"Go on, ford on, past beast and brook and bruise, and walk-a-walk-a won-der-ous in gay and joy-ous mood!"
Wander west-o wilfully-a, wander wide and well-o! To live a life from patient mind to earth and sky and sea-o!"
Blair's belting voice quickly stopped after she encountered a bridge crossing the river. Looking one way showed the bridge, and the opposite direction showed a packed road leading off to some far away place.
It wasn't because of the bridge that she chose to stop singing. Seeing the old wooden bridge was just that. Old wooden bridge seen! Hurrah!
It was because she saw a person call out to her that was moving across the bridge.
Blair stopped walking and looked towards the voice. She saw a large mass of grey spotted with purple on the lower edge.
The thing shimmered to a stop, and the quiet sounds like glass cups ringing faded away.
"Girl! Are you all right?"
She looked around for the voice, staring wide eyed as a human-thing emerged from the grey device. It looked right back at her with an unblinking curved "Y" replacing their eyes.
"Do you mind explaining why you're out here so early in the morning?"
…
…
"Hello, robot sir. I'm trying to find a bookshop."
…
The slits shone white from a reflected light for a moment as the head tilted. "You… what?" it questioned.
"Robot sir, I'm trying to find a bookshop."
…
…
….
Robot? I'm n-
"Ahh." they spoke absentmindedly. "My helmet. I'm… can't believe I'm saying this… I'm not a robot. I just wear this helmet for safety." The being removed the metallic layer and revealed a human face. "Do you want a ride into town?"
…
…
…
…
She stood there, quietly looking at him.
…
….
Angeline was suspicious, but Blair was just interested to meet someone new.
Why? Ask him about it, Blair. It seems questionable that he'd just decide to head back the way he was leaving from for a random person they just met.
..
….
Hari, for that was his name, looked at the young woman as she thought about his offer.
Is she sick or something? Her face seems off.
"Why would you do that? You aren't heading in that direction, and I am somebody you just met." she questioned him.
Her eyes flickered at him in a suspicious furrow. Now, when he says flicker, he means that he saw her irises shift from grey to full white as she squinted.
The… what?
"I nearly ran you over a minute ago. It's the least I can do to drop you into town. I'm pretty sure I even know the place you're looking for."
Hari spun around his hovercraft and waved his to-be passenger on.
As was his habit, he started the vehicle in unison with a kick off the ground, raising it an inch or so off the ground before it settled with the usual noise of active Dust.
He glanced back and spoke to the girl, before looking ahead to find any oncoming vehicles traveling early.
"You have a helmet? If not, you can take mi-"
Hari was, upon a second glance, face to face with a white masked young woman sitting rigidly in her seat. Her new helmet made him briefly wonder if he had absentmindedly handed her his helmet already… until he tapped his ear and felt the metal.
"You're a huntress?"
"No?"
…
"Did you come from Beacon Academy?"
…
...
...
...
"Are you a student at Beacon?"
"No. I'm not a student. I did come from there until I was thrown out if it into the forest, if that counts?"
Hari stared for a moment, then turned back towards the path. These people are getting weirder every single week.
"I'll drop you off at the place to make up for nearly running you over. Then, I'm going to get you back to your school before you charge after a criminal or fight an equal rights movement or blow up a building."
…
"Why would I want to do that?, Robot sir?"
They rode along the dimly lit path, heading past houses and farmland in small grids, eventually reaching the change to cobblestones that signaled the arrival into the more robust sections of Vale.
Hari started to slow his pace to avoid any other pedestrian accidents, and started weaving through the city streets, a purple trail flickering underneath them if Blair blinked too fast.
The duo fully stopped outside a black wood sign that Blair couldn't see well. Her self assigned driver slid off the vehicle and leaned against it; he calmly gestured at the storefront.
"This is it. The best bookstore that ever existed in this cit-"
He heard a faint quivering scream coming from the huntress. Hari rotated his head to look at her excited face, noted her cartoonish look of joy, then looked back at the store.
…
Hari slowly turned his head back to watch the girl's face.
"You have stars in your eyes." he noted.
The girl flinched, and jumped off the bike to look at her reflection in the mirror.
"Huh. You meant that literally."
A tapping finger touched a few of the shimmering stars in her eyes, before she shook her head and her whites reverted from a twilight sky to a regular white.
The girl turned back towards him, and he flinched as he saw his blue eyes copied onto her face. "Is this better?"
… "Can you… deactivate your ability? Please?"
"Okay."
He faced away from the girl with the changing face, then subtly watched her out of the corner of his eyes.
… Her face is empty.
Hari took a deep breath. "The Faunus's name is Tus-"
Her hand grabbed his and he nearly broke it in surprise. "Faunus."
"You have problems with Faunus?"
… "No! Of course not! I love them! Faunus are the greatest thing to ever exist in the entire world!"
Redact my earlier statement. This girl may win the crazy hunter grand prize of absolute ludicrousness.
"Don't cause any problems for him, okay? He's a friend of mine, and I don't think a human huntress messing things up for him would be well appreciated."
… "I'm not a human huntress, though."
Oh. Wait. She didn't get in.
"Fine. Former wannabe huntress."
"I'm not a human huntress."
Hari looked away idly. It was a disguise to mask his growing sense of worry. Ah. She's some kind of Faunus. Now she's probably going to throw my bike a mile or some shit.
He did not have to worry that much about his vehicle being launched miles away by a furious hunter, because she was distracted by gazing wide eyed at the store's owner tiredly opening the door to look at the couple.
"Atlas? It's not even been a day. What in the world are you doing here at…"
The man furrowed his brows and glanced into his store at a faint blue light illuminating the side of his head.
"-5:21 in the morning?"
…
What was the reason he was here? "Oh, I nearly ran over a girl in the forest and helped her get here to get some books. Way more important than using my old contacts to hire protection and prevent you being killed.
Hari smiled a very anxious smile.
….
...
Blair was incredibly excited right now.
QUEST! QUEST! QUEST! QUEST!
Blair, this man is a bookstore owner. He's not going to give us anything.
Despite this, she still saw the light white outline around the man. This is a person to save! I'm going to do it!
Tus, the man, turned towards her. "What did he bring you here for, Miss?"
The very helpful driver side-eyed her.
"I'm here to help save you!"
A low coughing came from the very helpful driver.
….
If Tuskon hadn't just discussed this two days ago, he wouldn't have believed this.
"Hari. Did you just grab a random girl off the street?"
Hari looked offended at that, but his face then turned to a guilty look.
"You seriously just-"
"No! I wouldn't do that, Tuskon! I… nearly ran over her when I was leaving town. I found her in the forest."
Tuskon looked at him blankly.
"Hari. Did you just try to get me to hire a random huntress?"
Hari blinked twice, and turned to face their third person. "I… yes, I did? She's not really a huntress, though, something about being thrown out of it into the forest.
Wait. How did you recognise she was a hunt-?"
He sighed. "They threw the applicants into the forest during the entrance test. Nobody else is that assured in themselves that they would wear a wooden full body suit in a Grimm infested forest."
…
…
…"Did I just kidnap an actual Beacon student?"
"I'm not a Beacon student. I never tried to become a student; either. I just lived on site for a few weeks."
Tuskon looked back at the woman and spoke to her. He gestured at the store, and then set his hand to rest at his side. "You're not a kidnapped student?"
"Nope. I'd like to stay around here, please."
"You know exactly what the job is? Hari told you everything?"
"What? I just need to save you."
… Hari. Did you explain nothing to her?
Two eyes appeared in the black mask's front and slid to the side to look at Hari. She pointed a covered hand at his face. "…Ah. To clarify… this man here is Hari? We didn't talk too much, but I'm here to help save you now."
She looked at him like that explained everything.
…
It did not.
..
…
…
Tuskon waved the young woman into the building.
"I… expected a more… normal application to get a more long term contract. Not really planning for you getting dragged here at 5:00 in the morning. But, do you… really want to do this?"
Her eyes tilted towards his.
"Even if you told me to not work under you, I would still stay around here to protect you. I won't be gotten rid of that easily! You need help, and I'll stay around until you're saved."
There it is again. Saving me. Is she just trying to avoid saying White Fang?
"Are you at least aware of why I was hiring someone?"
"No. If you're hiring for book things, I could apply! You won't need to pay me, just let me read some books."
… Tuskon watched her mouth appear and murmur as she looked around slowly at his premises from her position in his shop. "You… what? Why would I not pay you for working? Are you expecting to not be paid?"
"Yes, I don't expect payment for good deeds. That's a basic rule! But, please note my honesty and let me know if that helps me stay around to help save you?"
… "Yes, actually? I'm still going to pay you if you're working under me, despite the other job requirement…
To… quickly summarise why Hari brought you here…"
"He nearly ran me over. I wanted to read books, and he drove me here. I saw you had to be saved, so now I'm here to help you. Now you're hiring me, and it appears to be that you know how you need to be saved already."
I meant what I needed someone trained in fighting for…
"I'm hiring you to prevent me from getting killed."
…
…
…
Silence fell in the room. Hari excused himself with a hand and left to his hover vehicle. Tuskon had a suspicion that he'd find the man in his home or somewhere in the city again a few days, since he no longer needed Hari to get him an impromptu bodyguard.
Tuskon turned back to look at the woman.
"Anything to say about that?"
"That's dramatic?" the girl said.
She shrugged her hands after a few moments.
…
His scroll rang. He looked up at the device from where it was sitting and saw a call from Hari.
What? You just were here.
A quick walk over to the counter allowed him to grab his scroll and listen to the call.
"I can do that! Who do I need to stop?"
… "I don't actually know precisely who just yet. Besides this, I can hire you as a member of staff if you want. Do you agree to this arrangement?"
"Sure!"
…
Ahem…
"Hari?"
{Hey, Tuskon. I'm remembered something that you'll probably have to do. I said I'd try to get them back to the school today before the girl caused… normal huntress bullshit. Since it turns out they're not a Beacon… do you want me to help finding them a place to stay?}
Tuskon looked at his new employee/bodyguard.
"Do you have a place to stay?"
"No. Can I sit in the corner?"
… Why?
"I… am going to go back to bed for a few hours. Can I get you to go to wherever you're currently staying and we can meet again at… 9:00?" Tuskon suggested.
"Okay, Tuskon, sir!"
"Just call me Tuskon. I'll see you later today."
….
….