A/N The Docks, The Boats, and The Drama
Alt title: It's always something
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FinalKingdomHearts: Took a while, but here's the next one!
GideonBlackthorn: The tornado was fine, I live in Tornado Valley in the midwest, so I deal with one or two tornados a year. It just happens.
eman3232: Would you be surprised to learn that there are people who say my bonuses make the fic worse? There are! So thank you!
InclementWeather: Yes they are.
Emp781: I'm fine. Just took a break.
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-Date, Time-
'Thoughts'
"Speech"
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-Vale City, Port District, 11/25, 11:30am-
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Cyril Leon POV
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"Because if they sold stuffs whenever, then the council would have no choice but to fix it." Ruby says as we walk across dock number… I don't actually know. There's several docks, it's a dockyard. "That's why it's once a year."
"That's stupid." Weiss huffs and crosses her arms.
"It's a tradition!" Ruby defends.
"It's delicious!" Blake moans as she bites into her seared tuna as I notice something, or rather someones.
"It's Team Prussian." I call out as I point to our fellow team across the dock on a bench next to a green trash can.
"It's a complete turnover of stable economic practice." Weiss continues. "I fail to see how such a disregard for law can be considered tradition."
"Well I don't know the history behind it, but it's better than celebrating the day being long." Ruby counters as she crosses her arms. "At least people here are happy."
"I wonder if they have shrimp." Blake says to herself.
Realizing that I'm being ignored. I shrug and walk a little in front of the bickering couple, and Blake. Heading for Team Prussian.
Pyrrha is working a civilian disguise. Wearing a ball cap and wide rim glasses, as well as having her hair tied up under the cap. A black tee shirt and blue jeans with yellow sneakers. Jaune is similarly dressed, with a black tee and baggy jeans with black shoes and his hair slicked back. Ren is in a green hoodie and jeans.
I honestly only recognized the group because of their loudest member. Who is currently doing a headstand on the bench they're sitting on. Wearing pink shorts and a basic white tee she has tucked in.
A quick look behind me shows my team is following me even as they're lost in their own world. Blake in the world of fish, Ruby in the interest of defending tradition, and Weiss… just being Weiss.
'All IQ and no EQ.' I think to myself as I roll my eyes and sigh.
"Yo!" I give a wave as Jaune looks up and notices me approaching. "What's up, uhh." I give a long look at Pyrrha, and just shrug at the group.
"You can call me Jaune." He says and nods to Pyrrha next to him. "And you can call her Red. She's a friend of mine."
"Got it." I nod and look over to Red. "Red? Parents couldn't come up with something, unique?" I smirk.
"I believe they chose a modest and unassuming name for sincerity's sake." She smiles back at me. Taking the jab in good faith.
It's now that someone bumps into me from behind.
"Oof!" Weiss squeaks and I look back. "Cyril! Watch where you're going!"
Rolling my eyes, I turn back to Team Prussian.
"Oh, hi Pyrrha!" Ruby says from behind me as she walks up. Causing Jaune to facepalm at the other redhead's obliviousness.
"I'm sorry!" Pyrrha speaks up, causing Blake to snap out of her fish fueled daze. "But you must have me mistaken. My name is Red. Pleasure to meet you." She stands up holding a hand out, and I see her at her full height without heels. And one, rather glaring thought comes to mind.
'What is it with heels in this world!?' I think as I don't have to look up at Pyrrha.
With heels, she stands at about six foot. An inch shorter than Jaune. But with them off? She's the same height as me at about five foot eight, maybe half an inch taller. Meaning she wears at least three inch heels.
'No wait, two inch.' I mentally correct myself. 'What? No. A foot is twelve inches. Three is right.'
"Oh, oh!" Ruby seems to get the memo as she jolts in realization. "Oh um, hi Red! Nice to see you again, for the first time I mean." She extends an awkward handshake. "Because, this is the first time! And not, that I met you before? I mean, you just look like uh… nobody that I know!"
I drop a hand on Ruby's head as she rambles off. Stopping her from further making a fool of herself as she stutters out incoherently.
"That'll do." I rub her head through the red beret she's wearing.
"I'll stop now." She says while staring at the dock beneath our feet.
"Anyhow." I raise my voice a bit as Weiss moves to stand beside Blake. "What brings you guys here?"
"I got an email notifying me of the occasion." Jaune holds up his scroll in reference.
"There's an app for this kind of thing?" I ask.
"Eh." He gives a so-so motion before putting his scroll away. "More of an online newsletter for various Holidays and such. I signed up a few days ago after missing a few. Lets me know about the event and what it's about."
'That sounds wildly useful.' My eyes widen in surprise. Wondering how and why the fucking hell I haven't discovered this miracle of avoiding culture clash.
Assuming it's reliable of course.
"Damn, is it free?" I ask.
"I'll send you a link later." He nods. "Also." He looks to Weiss. "Today's the Sun's Rise Celebration. I assume that's why you guys were out of Beacon so early?"
"I thought it was Sun's Rise Soiree?" I turn to the white fox.
"No, the actual holiday as you call it is the celebration." She explains while closing her eyes, as though she's mentally reading a script. "The soiree is just one of the events held to commemorate it. And the soiree only goes back a hundred and twenty years. While the celebration goes back more than five hundred." She says the last bit with audible pride in her voice.
"It's one of the oldest celebrations on record." Pyrrha says. "Or at least, oldest on record that is still in widespread practice."
Given how tumultuous and hectic life is on Remnant, that does mean something. Seeing as most celebrations don't have any recorded date, or are younger than some grandparents.
"You know of it?" Weiss asks curiously.
"My, job, saw me travel quite a bit." She nods emphatically. "And being aware of various cultural happenings was a must. Lest I offend someone by accident."
"Hmm, I failed to take that into consideration." Weiss hums.
"You fail to take a lot of things in." Blake mutters as she finishes her fish.
"Excuse me?" Weiss looks aghast to her partner.
"Literally look at this morning." Blake points out as she tosses her plate twenty feet away into a trashcan.
'That's bullshit.' I think as I watch the paper plate, with leftovers on it, flawlessly sail into the trashcan.
"I, that's one time." Weiss says. "I fail to see how that's indicative enough of a pattern to warrant it a notable characteristic of my person."
Something I've noticed is that Weiss gets wordy when she deflects. It's honestly kind of cute.
"Wut?" Ruby looks to me.
"She messed up once, doesn't mean she does it a lot." I translate.
"Oh." Ruby looks back to Team Prussian as Blake and Weiss argue back and forth. "What's Nora doing?"
We, Blake and Weiss included, all look to the other other redhead doing a headstand on the bench.
"I… am practicing calm." The girl says while maintaining a headstand.
I look to Ren for an explanation.
"She thinks this is how you learn to be calm." He says.
…
Honestly, that tracks.
"This… is what Lie Ren does." Nora says slowly. "Why, should it not work for me?"
"How does standing on your-" I start to ask.
"I've already tried to explain meditation to her." Ren cuts me off. "She's stuck on the idea of levels of meditation."
"If I practice and struggle the higher levels first… I shall pass the lower levels in record time." She says.
"I'm timing how long it takes before she passes out." Jaune says. Earning an unimpressed look from Pyrrha. "So far we're at about seven minutes."
"It is the longest she's sat still without being forced to." Ren adds with an impressed nod.
"But she's not sitting." Ruby points out.
Ren looks away from Ruby to Nora, then back to Ruby and shrugs. Showing he cares about as much about the technicality as anyone else who knows Nora does.
"Anyway, what brought you here?" I ask again.
"Mostly sight seeing." Jaune answers. "I've only been in Vale proper, two or three times before. So when I heard about the free market, I wanted to check it out." He crosses his arms and leans back.
"Team Cardinal is here as well as a few teams from the other schools." Pyrrha speaks up.
"Really?" Weiss questions with a tilt of her head. "I understand Team Cardinal, Cardin is a native of Vale proper. But what of the other teams? Did you tell them?" She looks to Jaune.
"Coco." Ren says, earning various sounds of understanding from us.
"So they're here as well?" Ruby asks.
"Velvet, Coco and Fox are." Pyrrha says with a smile and slight blush as she holds her cheek. "Velvet and Fox are treating it as a date."
I keep forgetting that Velvet has a legitimate harem of people willing to share her. Though having spent time with Velvet, I can see why.
"Huh." Weiss hums, crossing her arms as she holds her chin in thought. "You'd think this would be more of a Coco and Velvet event."
She's not wrong. I really fail to see how a market would be a Velvet and Fox thing. But who knows, it's not like I know Fox all too well. I only know Velvet and Coco. And I only know Coco because she gave me the shovel talk, and an apology.
Long story.
"You'd have to ask them." Jaune shrugs. And Nora falls over. Causing everyone but Ruby and Ren to flinch as she faceplants on the ground.
"… Ow."
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-20 minutes later-
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"Get your authentic Tarakian glassware, over here!" A crier announces.
"We should check that out." Blake says as she points to a ship. A carrack flying the Vale flag, that same green flag with the blue bird on it, and a black flag with a white crosshairs on it. "I'm curious to see what Tarakian wares he has."
'Tarakian is the desert dwelling tribe of faunus.' I recall. 'Sun and Dorian are Tarakian if I'm not mistaken.'
"You grew up on Menagerie, so I imagine you're familiar enough." Weiss tells her partner.
"Not with Vacuoan Tarakian goods." Blake replies as we make way up the gangplank.
"What's the difference?" Ruby asks. "They're both Tarakian."
"True, but the tribes in Menagerie and Vacuo have disowned each other some time after the Second War of Freedom. About… I want to say seventy years ago." Blake says. "I'm pretty sure I've mentioned this before."
"Sounds familiar." I admit to the sense of déjà vu.
"You have. Back during that exercise Mr. Xiao-Long held." Weiss nods as we get onto the ship and step into a veritable market on the deck of the ship.
"I don't remember that." Ruby says as I take in the sight.
"You were there." I say softly as I scan the boat, an odd mix of modern technology with medieval design. The masts of the ship being mechanical and having control boxes at the base. While the main deck and hull is wooden.
Seven wooden booths lined on the starboard side, all with a striped red and white cloth over the booth to keep the vendors out of the sun. Each of the booths having a score of merchandise stacked on crates behind them, displaying examples of what the vendor is selling. Each booth has a fish net strung up between themselves and the booth next to it, cutting off anyone from going behind them. A small haggle of people all crowding around the deck as they move from stand to stand.
"Tarakian glass over here!" One man yells as he holds up a swirled purple and orange decanter.
"I got Dalton peppers and ground wave spice!" Another shouts. "Preserved to be as fresh as you can get!"
The others are busy with people at their stalls selling various things.
Following Blake to the wooden stall with the glassware. I take in the sculptures and various designs. Glass all stained in mostly blues, purples and greens. Vases, lockboxes, small sculptures and the like.
"That's neat." I say as I lean forward and spy an hourglass. A normal hourglass, but the top and bottom comprise of red and blue dragons each greedily guarding their egg shaped glass from the other.
"Got yer eye on that'un?" The burly dockworker says as he folds his arms and looks to it. "Got about six I can spare ya, twenty lien."
"Nah." I refuse the offer. "I don't have a use for it, and I'd just break it eventually."
"Suit yourself." He nods his head to the side with a shrug.
"Excuse me sir." Weiss steps up. "You don't mind if I inquire about your wares, do you."
Ruby slumps behind her with an exasperated look as soon as Weiss finishes that sentence.
"Sure, I gotta bit of time to lend." He shrugs. "I'll answer what I can."
Weiss turns to Ruby with a smug look and turns back to the vendor. Opening her mouth just as another woman cuts in front of her.
"I'd like to buy that lockbox, the green one." She says eagerly.
"Hey!" Weiss calls out.
"Sure thing, thirteen lien." The vendor says.
"Hey!" Weiss grows more offended.
"Deal!" The woman pulls out a few cards and exchanges it with the vendor. Taking the emerald looking lockbox with a smile and walking away.
"That was incredibly rude!" Weiss says to the vendor, looking between him and the woman as she leaves.
"She's a paying customer, you're not." He shrugs.
"I tried to warn her." Ruby tiredly sighs as she steps away and stands beside me.
"That you did." I nod sagely and pat her head.
"Well what if I'm a paying customer?" Weiss asks while crossing her arms.
"What can I help you with miss?" He smiles.
"I was just wondering how you obtained these goods when the Tarakian Warband is hostile towards foreigners." Weiss asks.
"Not everyone in the tribe agrees with how Dez is running the place." He shrugs.
"Dez?" I ask, looking over to Blake for- "Where'd Blake go?"
She was right here. Hell I was following her.
"She's over there buying a bunch of spices." Ruby points her out a few booths down where Blake has a sack slung over her shoulder as she smiles at the boar faunus. Or, I think it's a boar faunus judging by the tusks.
Blake looks over to us with an eager smile and eyes that nearly shine. Making me do a double take as she never smiles.
"I'd like to look at that frame holder." A cat faunus cuts in front of Weiss.
"Hey!" Weiss huffs.
"Sure thing!" The vendor says as he grabs it and holds it out for the man to look at.
"Do you have any in yellow?" He asks.
"Sorry lad, just green and purple." He shakes his head.
"Damn." He clicks his tongue and hands it back before walking off.
"Excuse me!" Weiss steps right up to the booth. Nearly leaning over it.
"Alright lass, back it up." The vendor stops smiling as he holds a hand out and shoos Weiss back. "You're driving away customers."
"I'm a customer." Weiss says.
"Not until ya buy something yer not." He leans forward and shakes his head.
"Weiss still on this?" Blake asks as she regroups with us.
"Yep." I say with stretched lips.
"We're wasting so much time." Ruby groans into her hands. "So much to explore, and here we are."
"How many ships are here?" I ask Ruby.
"Depends." She shrugs. "Except for a few whose schedule lines up perfectly with the season. Each year rarely has the same crews docking. So anywhere between twenty and a hundred."
"Zenithar's grace." I feel my eyes go wide.
"Which one's that?" Blake asks.
"Work, commerce and trade." I answer quickly.
"Yeah, Mekon tries to time the event as best he can to get as many boats in the dock on as good a day as possible." Ruby explains. "But it doesn't always work out."
"That's the harbormaster, right?" I ask, remembering the persian pirate merchant looking guy.
"And the Merchant Guildmaster." Ruby says. "In the past, the two would work together to set all this up. But since he's both."
"Sounds like a conflict of interest." I comment as Weiss gets cut off a third time. Prompting me to get involved before it escalates. "This is getting ridiculous."
"How do you expect to keep a steady-" Weiss is going off on the man as I walk up.
"And that's enough out of you." I say as I put my hands on her shoulders and turn her around, much to her chagrin. "Sorry about that." I nod to the sailor.
"Eh, there's always a few." He shrugs as I guide the Atlesian away.
"Cyril! Get your hands off of me!" Weiss pushes off and steps away. Turning around to land an angry glare my way. Before stomping her foot and turning on her heel, stomping away as she leaves the merchant carrack.
"I think she's mad at you." Ruby leans on tiptoes and whispers to me.
"What was your first clue?" Blake asks sarcastically.
"The yelling." Ruby says seriously, before adding. "Then again, Weiss is always yelling."
"In one way or another." I add under my breath.
"I heard that!" Weiss shouts from the dock as she turns to glare at all of us.
Booom!
"Ah!" Ruby squeaks and jumps.
"What the fuck!?" Blake turns on her heels.
We all flinch as a loud boom shocks us. Looking behind me to the other docks in the dockyard. It takes a mere moment for me to spot the source as a plume of grey smoke erupts.
"Stay calm everyone!" One of the sailor/vendors shouts as people start to raise their voices in a panic. "Chiara!" He turns to a thin deckhand. "Get Master Mekon, find out what the fuck is happening!"
"On it!" She salutes and bolts off, literally running over the port side of the boat and jumping off onto the dock and out of site.
"What happened?" Weiss asks as she runs up the gangplank.
"There's a fire." Ruby points over the starboard side.
"A what!?" Weiss screeches and looks up past us. "Come on!" She turns on her heels and runs back down the gangplank, quickly followed by Ruby.
"What are we supposed to do?" Blake asks.
"Fuck if I know." I sigh as I run after them.
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Having followed the two's tail, or one tail and a skirt. I make it the third dock, pushing through the crowd of gathered onlookers to meet up with Ruby and Weiss. Coming to a stop behind them as they remain at the front of the crowd.
"What'd I miss?" I ask as I settle in behind them.
"It's that Nyx girl." Weiss answers plainly as I take in the sight. "And the boy Blake slept with."
I spot three people in the thick of it. The pale skinned, light blue haired, blue crop top and dark blue jacket wearing girl from Menagerie. A tall, muscular guy in a yellow shirt and black jeans with short, curly brown hair and tanned skin. And Neptune of all people.
"Which one?" I ask.
"Not funny." Blake lightly kicks my shin from beside me.
"Fucking hell!" I flinch, looking to the black haired faunus that snuck up on me. "You're like a damned ninja."
"I was right behind you the whole time." She mutters incredulously as we turn to the scene.
The Nyx girl is currently being lifted off the ground as the large, curly brown haired man in a yellow shirt is shaking the small girl. On second glance I think that's her teammate, Bruder.
"What is wrong with you!?" He shouts as I look down and spot Neptune on the edge of the dock, wielding his trident to, move the fucking water over the blackened ground and back into the sea.
"The hell?" I ask.
"It sounds like Nyx pulled a Nora." Ruby says.
"Explain?" Blake asks for me.
"Large amounts of property damage, no consideration for consequence." Weiss sighs.
I go to ask for clarification, having nothing else to go on. But I'm cut off as I'm shoved aside.
"Move!" I look up to see the purple robed back of the merchant's guildmaster, Mekon. And I realize that we had no reason to show up. "Alright! You three! Spill it!" He pulls his halberd out and slams the pommel on the ground. Making nearly everyone in attendance flinch as a dull tang rings out.
Even I feel uneasy as I watch Neptune, Nyx and Bruder lock up.
"If I don't get answers then I'm taking you all with me!" Mekon says.
"She did it!" Neptune points to Nyx.
"Rat bastard!" Nyx shouts and wiggles out of Bruder's grip.
"Nyx!" He shouts as she runs for the water's edge.
"You'll never catch me!" She goes to dive.
Only for the blade of Mekon's halberd to extend out like a whip-blade as he casts it like a fishing pole. Snagging Nyx's ankle and pulling as she's mid arc. Making me wince as she smacks her face on the side of the concrete dock with a wet crack.
"Ooh!" Ruby winces as her and Weiss's ears fold back.
Mekon yanks the bladed fishing pole, yoinking Nyx into the air as the whip blade detaches from her ankle and collapses back into a halberd. Nyx falls to the ground and groans as Mekon goes over and grabs her by the collar of her dark blue jacket.
"Hey, I'm sure we can-" Bruder steps in front of Mekon.
"How do you know her?" Mekon lifts the girl up with one hand.
"She's my partner-" He says.
"Good!" He puts his other hand on the larger man's shoulder and turns him to face our direction. "You're coming with me."
"What, hey, hang on just let me explain!" He says as he's pushed past us.
"You can explain once we're off the docks." Mekon says as the crowd parts for him.
Watching the spectacle resolve itself. I turn back to Weiss and Ruby.
"So we were completely unneeded, right?"
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-20 minutes ago, 12:20pm-
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Sun Wukong POV
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"You know, I'm surprised they let you near the docks." Neptune says as we walk down the gangplank of a Menagerian trade ship. Sage coming out with a new long coat, Scarlet with new boots, and Neptune with a pair of goggles… that look the exact same as his current pair. "Let alone shop here."
"Well, they never caught me." I shrug as I walk backwards. "So I guess it's a no conviction no crime sort of deal."
"That makes, no sense." Scarlet says as he shifts his shoe box to his other arm.
"It's because you weren't trespassed." Sage says, wearing his long coat over his shirt.
"Oh that's right." Neptune snaps his fingers. "In Vale, if you're not trespassed from a property then you can return later. Rather different from back home."
In Mistral it'd depend on what I did, when I did it, and the family I pissed off. In Vacuo?
Don't get caught.
"Dude, be cool." I tell my partner.
"Hey, knowledge is cool." He says like a true nerd. "And Sage read up on the laws, what about him?"
"Well Sage is cool." I hold a fist out for a bump from the big guy.
"What's he got that I don't?" Neptune crosses his arms grumpily.
"Don't start this." Scarlet puts a hand on Neptune's shoulder. Giving him an empathetic look. "Seriously, we like you too much to hurt you like that."
Ouch.
"You guys suck." Neptune rolls his eyes.
"That's just Scarlet." Sage says. Earning a snort from me, and a glare from Scarlet.
"Well, while you guys figure out how to cheer Neptune up. I'mma grab us something to eat." I turn around.
"No you don't." Sage grabs the back of my shirt collar and nearly makes me fall on my tail.
"Dude!" I scramble to catch my balance.
"Last time we lost track of you, you wound up skipping the continent." He says with a stern look.
"Are you guys still upset over that." I scoff as I fix my collar.
"Yes!" Neptune raises his voice. "Dude you literally ditched us with Professor Green."
"We had to explain to Lionheart that we all knew what you were doing." Scarlet adds. "When we didn't."
"You almost got us disqualified from the tournament." Sage continues as he glares at me.
"I get it, I fucked up!" I throw my hands up. "But it's in the past! Nothing we can do now."
"An apology would be nice." Scarlet says quietly.
"I'm sorry I took off ahead of you guys and almost got us disqualified." I say. "That good?"
"No, because that's not the crux of the issue." Neptune says, as we're still in the middle of the dock.
"Look, I promise not to take off." I roll my eyes. "Happy?" I smile.
"We'll… do this another time." Sage pinches the bridge of his nose and sighs.
"Why don't we just go with him?" Scarlet asks.
"Because I refuse to go on a boat smaller than a commercial bullhead." Neptune crosses his arms.
"I want to see what that boat over there is selling." Sage points.
"Ship." Neptune corrects. "And I kinda want to just sit down somewhere."
"Still doesn't, fine." Scarlet sighs, looking to me. "Lead the way, Sun."
"Music to my ears!" I say as I pivot on my heels and head for one of the fishing boats. Finding one with a decent line.
Cutting around the crowd, through and towards the line. I can't help but to bounce impatiently on my heels as I smell the grilled fish.
"You hear about what happened with Ciel?" Scarlet asks as we settle into the line of people walking up the plank.
"You mean about how she got caught in a supply closet with Bruder, the big guy from Menagerie?" I chuckle. "Maybe, why?"
"Turns out Bruder was unconscious." Scarlet says.
"Wait, really?" I cross my arms and look to the redhead. "Then what were they doing?"
"Dunno." He shrugs. "Was hoping you heard more."
Ciel, the uptight and downright robotic girl from Atlas, was caught by Goodwitch in a supply closet with Bruder Rake, the large faunus with bee wings from Menagerie. I thought they just felt like having a private… cultural exchange. You know what they say about Atlesians after all.
But if he was unconscious, then why?
"Huh, weird." Is I can think to say before looking back to Scarlet. "You think she was trying to rob him?"
He just gives a low hum and shrugs.
Damn, now I'm curious.
"Hey cousin!" I suddenly feel a weight on my shoulders as someone throws their arms around me.
"What the?" I look over and see the taller, purple snake eyed man with white cornrows from Menagerie. "Oh, uh, hey Dorian! What's up cousin?"
'Well shit.' I curse myself as I hide my nervousness.
"What are, oh that's right." Scarlet hums. "You Tarakian all see each other as family. Oh, no offense."
"None/Some taken." He and I say respectively, and I add. "But it's good!"
"Yeah, as my cousin knows. We're well aware that not everyone shares our sensibilities on familial bonds and all that." He says, and his grip on my shoulder tightens. "That right cuz?"
"Yeah, um, anyhow." I say as I reach and grab Dorians hand to move him off my shoulders. "What uh, what brings you here, man?"
"Come now." He gives a sickly sweet smile and clasps a hand back on my shoulder. "You know as well as I, about how important it is to keep in touch. I was just hoping we could have a chat."
"If this is something private…" Scarlet says awkwardly.
"Sorry." Dorian says before I can speak up. "Family business." He says and pulls me into a noogy. Grinding his fist into the top of my head as he gets me into a side long head lock. "I'm sure you understand!"
I try to signal Scarlet with my eyes that I am not safe here.
"Sure thing." He gives a thumbs up.
You bitch!
"Right, I'll make sure to return him." Dorian says as he drags me away.
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"Ah!" I gasp as I'm slammed against a wall by the collar of my shirt. "Dude!"
"Listen here you little yellow tailed shit." He spits at me through gritted teeth. "I know you're not Tarakian. I know my family, and none of them have ever even heard of you."
This is what I feared.
"I'm, long lost-" I start to say, before a knee to the gut cuts me off. "Oooooh why?"
"Don't give me that shit you poser." He sneers. "I already know you're with the warband. What I want to know is why a warmongering twit from the wastes is parading around the Mistral academy. Hoping to drum up support for your genocides?"
'If that was the goal, they sure as hell chose the worst guy to do it.' I nearly scoff despite my situation.
I know when to be serious… sometimes.
"Hey!" I shove him off me, it not taking much, the light weight that he is. "I can get you not liking where I come from, but it's your home too."
"Our home is where we travel." He glowers down at me. "It's always been that way. Yet for some reason, your family is out there ruining our good name!"
"I left, okay." I put a hand to my chest. "I have nothing to do with my family in the west."
"And I don't believe you." He spits out.
"Look dude, I've got nothing to do with you." I say honestly. "So piss off and leave me be!"
"I'll leave you be when you denounce-"
"Dez is a shithead." I roll my eyes, already knowing what he's about to say. I hold my arms out for emphasis. "There, happy?"
"That… I." He takes a breath. "Why haven't you reached out to Menagerie?"
"To avoid this." I point between me and him. "Look, I'm just living my life, man."
"R-right." He says with a confused face. "I just, I couldn't find any aunts or uncles who knew you. And you're not from Vacuoooo!" He wheezes as I lay a fist into his gut.
This is the problem with Menagerie. They're all so sheltered from the rest of the world.
"That makes us even." I say as he doubles over.
"Y-yeah." He wheezes. "That's fair."
"Good." I say and squat down. "Now, I got a few questions for you."
"Ugh, what do you want?" He groans.
I stare him deep in his violet serpentine eyes. And ask the most pressing question on my mind.
"The heck happened with Bruder and Ciel?"
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-1pm-
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Cyril Leon POV
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I need a nap. I've been up since nearly, fuck I don't even remember.
"I'm not carrying your stuff." I say tiredly.
"Oh come on." Blake huffs as she sets down the literal sack of stuff she's bought. "You can bench Ruby. This is nothing for you!"
"Hmm?" Ruby perks up, looking over from the stand she's at.
"You say that like she weighs a lot." I roll my eyes. "And that's besides the point. I'm not your caddie."
"Excuse me?" Her eyes narrow.
"Oh my- Caddie, not Catty." I correct the racist.
Yes I still say she's racist. Because of every vendor she's visited. She's actively avoided the human ones.
"I'm not hearing a difference." She says before sighing. "Look, I'll owe you one okay?"
"You still owe me sushi!" I call back to the beginning of the school year.
"That was made under duress." She says with thinned lips. "Look, I doubt it's even heavy for you."
She picks the sack up with both hands and holds it out for me. Only for her arms to start shaking as I cross mine over my chest and refuse to take it off her hands.
"Ugh!" She huffs as she lowers it back down to the deck of the current ship we're on. "Weiss! Help me!"
"What do you want me to do?" She looks up from filing her nails with a new nail care filer Ruby got her.
It's silver and from Mistral.
"Get Cyril to help me!" Blake says.
"I'm… literally right in front of you." I say, unimpressed by the attempt to get Weiss to make me help her.
"Cyril, why won't you help Blake?" Weiss sighs as she goes back to her nails.
"Don't wanna." I shrug. "And she should've thought of this before she bought more than a hundred lien in spices and knives."
"You'll be glad I bought these come next wilderness assignment." Blake defends.
"Not if you can't carry them." I say with a shake of my head.
"Guys look what I got!" Ruby runs over and holds up a small leather pouch.
Me and Blake pause our current spat to see what has Ruby's excitement as Weiss looks up with a raised brow.
"I assume it's in the pouch?" I say.
"Well duh." Ruby scoffs and carefully pulls out, a series of small glass discs. "Aren't they just beautiful?" She gushes softly. "I got the last set."
"Since none of us are willing, I'll step forward." Weiss sighs. "Ruby, what are they?"
"High fluorite, fog resistant crystal lenses." Ruby answers as she puts them back, like that means anything to us.
"… What is that?" I ask.
"It's-" Ruby starts to answer before an orange blur and a gust of wind sweeps through.
"What the fuck?" I blink, noticing Ruby is missing.
"Aaaagh!" I snap my head towards the dock, spotting my girlfriend slung over the brown leather jacket of some orange haired greaser.
"Ruby!" I shout, reaching out and tapping Weiss's shoulder behind me as I run.
"What the, Hey! Kidnapper!" Weiss follows after me.
"Guys wait up!" Blake shouts as she hefts her bag of shit.
"Leave the sack!" I yell back to her.
"What if someone steals it!?" She shouts as I jump over the ledge of the boat, skipping the gangplank as I sail into the crowd.
"Move!" I yell at the people as I take my sunglasses off.
A black, snowflake emblemed glyph appears, spinning on the dock beneath me. Pushing people away and leaving a clean space beneath me as I land, use my semblance to slow time and orient myself, and take off running as soon as my feet hit the ground.
"Someone is stealing Ruby!" I shout back to Blake as I run. Giving chase to my girlfriend's kidnapper
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Bonus
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-Vale's Free Sail Merchant Fleet-
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"So this is the boat market?" the tall, thin snake eyed Dorian asks as he looks out at the dockyard bustling with people. "Reminds me of the Vetan Market back home."
"Just more stone." The large, curly brown haired man with insectoid wings remarks. Bruder.
"And more humans." The blonde girl with a rabbit tail mutters. Alice.
"S'long as they got good eats, they can be talking flowers for all I care!" The short, blue haired girl with fins on her forearms. Nyx.
"Just don't set this dock on fire." Dorian rolls his eyes.
"Come on, that was one time!" Nyx holds a finger up angrily. "Let it go already."
"I'll let it go when we're allowed to go back to the market." Dorian crosses his arms with a frown.
"Honestly, if she managed to set a stone dock on fire." Bruder mutters.
"Huh, sounds like right good challenge." Nyx smiles.
"No!" Alice shouts. "Stop it! Don't even think about it. I'll not be banned from two markets in less than a year. My parents would kill me!"
"Yeah, I'd bet they'd even make you break up with your boyfriend!" Dorian brings up, chuckling at Alice's expense.
"Why would they do that?" The suddenly cagey girl asks. "It's not like he has anything to do with this."
"Yeah, because he doesn't exist." Nyx rolls her green eyes.
"He does too!" Alice yells.
"Chill." Bruder says as he steps between the two with his hands up to separate them. "Easy, we're here to enjoy a Valean event. I say we just relax and enjoy the day." He turns to the darker skinned, self proclaimed leader of their team. "Dorian, how about we-"
"Hold that thought, Bruder." Dorian raise a finger as he uncrosses his arms and walks off. "I'll be right back!"
"Alright, sure, wasn't expecting-" Bruder mutters to himself as he turns to his teammates, only to find them missing. "-yep. That about uh, that makes sense."
He sighs and shakes his head. Lamenting his team's dynamic.
"Go to Shelter, Bruder." He starts mockingly repeating his father's words. "Get a team, they'll be your family. Get your Hunter's license. Travel the world, come back a man you can be proud of."
Booom
"Fire!"
"On the docks!"
"How!?" Bruder suddenly starts running towards the docks were a small fire started near one of the fishing boats. "Nyx! It wasn't a challenge!"
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Bonus 2
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Heroes of Remnant: Alexander Arc Pt. 1
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The hero, the myth, the legend. Many things can be said of the man who would take on the Mistralian government, free countless slaves, wage a war on Mantle and Mistral, defend Mistral's people, aid refugees, found the Huntsman Academies, train an entire generation, and die with the longest service record of any Hunter, a record of 66 years.
Alexander did much in his long life. And as such has been immortalized in the hearts of Remnant's people. Not all are good however. After all one man's hero, is another man's villain. Atlas teaches Alexander as one of many rebellious elements from Mistral. Praising his tactical acumen, while downplaying his overall relevance as a major historical figure. Mistral's official stance paints Alexander as a rebellious element, a man who sought to undermine the government's authority. But also teaches in schools that he was a man of honor and great merit, emphasizing that as misguided as he was, he is still a respectable figure. Vale holds Alexander in high regard, due in large part to Vale's larger faunus population. Most of which can trace their lineage back to slaves from the First War of Freedom. Menagerie borderline idolizes Alexander as the prime example of harmony among races. Vacuo treats Alexander as a respectable figure, but does not delve into any detail seeing as he had little impact on the kingdom's history.
Much of Alexander's life is actually hard to pin down. He didn't start writing of his own experiences until much later in life because, he was illiterate. Alexander didn't learn how to read and write until his late thirties, and by that time the First War of Freedom was coming to a close, Seclus was in the height of the Great Vacuum, and King Alamet had yet to cut trade with Mistral.
But, what we do know is that Alexander was born the sixth surviving child of his parents, Hellia and Philos. Alexander was raised on a farm with his siblings, tending fields for their village somewhere in central Anima.
Alexander knew that when it came to inheritance, as the sixth child he was entitled to almost nothing. So he set out doing odd jobs around the village to earn money, and on his sixteenth birthday his uncle, the local blacksmith, melted down a handful of broken tools to gift Alexander his own sword. Delighted, Alexander would use the money he saved to by a simple buckler and hitch a ride with a traveling merchant. Setting out to make his own way in the way.
When they passed the next village, Alexander would see a slave auction for the first time. Where he saw a faunus woman from the Franz tribe on display. Where Alexander would later write that she was stripped naked and had her proportions flaunted for the crowd of buyers. Enraged but fearful, Alexander would write that he felt great shame over his inaction that day. And he just moved on to the next village. But got lost on the roads and eventually found himself amongst a fleeing Sausaxe party as they were evading Galiochi (A Mistralian family) slavers.
Alexander offered his help, but they attacked him in fear of him being a slaver. The scuffle attracted Grimm. Alexander would see his first battle where he lost an eye, and unlock his aura. Through the battle, Alexander would end up saving the chief of the wandering party and his daughter.
Alexander traveled with the party as they told him of their plight. How in decades past, they had lived peacefully with the Mistralian Kingdom and its people. But are now being driven from their lands as their people are targeted for slavery.
Several weeks would pass, and Alexander eventually bid the party farewell as he continued traveling. Eventually he stumbled on a vineyard and spotted the slaves tending the fields. That night he would sneak past the guards and free the slaves. However, the slaves rioted and burned the vineyard down before fleeing. Killing the owner and his family.
Alexander tried to save the family, but failed. Only managing to bring out the scorched body of a little girl. Before he fell to the ground and cried. He shamed the former slaves he freed, and told them that they were little better than what the Mistralians claimed they were.
Animals.
Alexander refused to assist the group any further, and moved on. Alexander wandered, until at the age of seventeen, he came across a village under siege by Grimm. He would jump in to save the people, faunus and human alike. And would then defend the faunus a second time when several of the humans demanded they be returned to servitude. One of Alexander's most famous rallies, originates here.
"These men and woman bled against our one true enemy as much, if not more than you! Yet you'd see them as lesser? By what measure of merit? For merit is the only thing that matters. If it is by their nature of being different in form, then why not every man here with blue eyes enslave those with brown? I am insulted, that you share a race with me. If this is how you expect me to act."
Much of Alexander's earlier career was such. Traveling from town to town, rarely keeping the same company as he wandered. If this were it, he may have gone down in history as a folk hero. Until, at the age of twenty, he had a fateful encounter with the future Kahn tribe leader, Lily Apri, The Bangled Chief.
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A/N
To be clear, Sun has just as much bias against the Menagerian Tarakians, as they do against the Vacuoan Tarakians.
The Vacuoan's believe the deserts of Sanus to be their home by every right. And feel they've been disrespected and robbed of their rights time and time again. So they claim the desert as their own, and hold it viscously. While denouncing the Menagerians as cowards who abandoned their homelands.
The Menagerians hold to the traditional value of migration and making home where the heart is. They've accepted the Menagerian desert as their new home and disparage the Vacuoans for inciting unnecessary violence over what they consider just another patch of sand.
It's a very political issue.
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So here's the team dynamic and skills
Weiss:
Alias: Ice Queen (as chosen by peers), Snow Fox (as chosen by team), Pet Schnee (as chosen by detractors), Good girl (as used by Cyril in private), Best Girl (as used in the mirror)
Speed: Above average
Strength: Average
Flexibility: Far above average
Skill: Above average
Intelligence: Exceptional
Aura Capacity: Below average
Aura Regen: Far above average
Aura control: Exceptional
Skills: Versatility in combat, networking, critical thinking, high logical intelligence, snowmobile license, skiing, snowboarding, singing, ice skating, survival skills (snowy climate), fencing, ballet.
Overview: She's the main support and strategist, her semblance and analytical mind lend itself to a fighter who struggles on the front line, but once given a moment to think can make opponents regret giving her that moment.
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Cyril
Alias: The Cheating Bastard (as chosen by peers), Silver Eyed Orphan (as chosen by detractors), Little Boy Blue (as referred to by Roman Torchwick)
Speed: Average
Strength: Far above average
Flexibility: Average
Skill: Average
Intelligence: Above average
Aura capacity: Exceptional
Aura regen: Average
Aura control: Dismal
Skills: Extreme versatility in combat, fishing, survival skills (temperate forest/mountain), near perfect memory, various miscellaneous skills. Knows how to drive a car.
Overview: On paper, weakest of the team. In practice, Cyril is the powerhouse. While his combat ability against Grimm is comparable to using a hammer to swat a fly, his true prowess shines when put against human and faunus combatants. Lacking any formal training and relying on intuition, instinct, and his own wit, Cyril has no issue fighting dirty and using every underhanded method in the book, and even making new ones. A tactic that has bested opponents with several times his own skill in combat. He doesn't fight to win, he fights to make his opponent lose.
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Blake: The Distant Beauty (as chosen by peers), Racist (as chosen by peers),
Speed: Above average
Strength: Average
Flexibility: Above average
Skill: Above average
Intelligence: Average
Aura capacity: Average
Aura Regen: Above average
Aura Control: Above Average
Skills: Stealth, art, cooking, survival skills (tropical), fishing, boating license, trapping, archery, combat versatility.
Overview: She's the wildcard of the group because her skillset is all over the place and hard to categorize.
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Ruby
Alias: The Reaper (as chosen by peers), The cute one (as chosen by peers), The Living Blender (as chosen by peers), Puppers (as chosen by family)
Speed: Exceptional
Strength: Below average
Flexibility: Above average
Intelligence: Above average
Skill: Exceptional
Aura capacity: Above average
Aura regen: Above Average
Aura control: Far above average
Skills: Mechanics, engineering, weaponsmithing, electronic engineering, marksmanship, observational skills, survival skills (All temperate climates), baking, horseback riding, can play the drums.
Overview: A true prodigy in every sense of the word, what Ruby lacks in experience and maturity, she more than makes up for in emotional intelligence and sheer talent. Ruby is the heart of Team Silver as well as its glass cannon, being nearly untouchable so long as she has access to her weapon. Her only weakness is her naivety and hand to hand combat.
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More comments! I want them all! Every one of them! Especially speculation, I love speculative comments.
Fuel me my NOOBIANS!
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Find me in my channel, newb's-grotto, on the discord.
Link to the discord: discord .gg/DarkWolfShiro