[Sinopia DeStellanova]

Being back in civilization felt weird. Everything was close together and she no longer had to worry about emptying her boots of sand every thirty minutes, but more than that she didn't have to fight the terrain anymore. The road wasn't going to open up into a sinkhole, buildings were probably not going to collapse on her, and she didn't have to prepare for several different extremes in temperature. The worst she had to deal with was a bit of altitude sickness, but her lungs would adjust to that in time. The people she had less confidence in and could never shake the feeling that most everyone would mug her given half the chance. Probably paranoia, but even knowing that didn't stop her from being very aware of where everyone was. After being in Vacuo for so long it almost felt unsettling how peaceful it was here.

Adjusting had been difficult, and she still wasn't entirely comfortable with being back in a city even without all the baggage that came with it, but she couldn't let herself sit idle. Physically couldn't. It was impossible. If she stayed alone with her thoughts too long, they went bad places. Unproductive places. She couldn't stand going too long without accomplishing something, and she was getting restless. Even though she wasn't sure how to feel about Mistral yet, she could try to look at it objectively. There were things she could do here that wouldn't be possible in Vacuo, so she focused on that.

The first that came to mind was cooking. She had a house with a fridge and a stove, among other things, so she didn't have to worry about what would keep or how it would be cooked. In the desert she was limited to what would fit in the trunk for the next month, and if she really needed to cook something, the best she could hope for was wiping off the hood of the car for the sun to fry it and hoping the meal didn't end up covered in sand. It was about what she could improvise rather than any actual cooking skill. Red was perfectly fine with that (and would be even if the food ended up covered in sand), but Knight liked the finer things in life. Now seemed like a good time to actually learn how to cook so they could stop ordering take out and pizza.

It was evening, just after dusk, when she decided to go out to get groceries. The streetlights were just coming on, and it was early enough that the houses lining the streets still had lights on and she could hear the sounds of people enjoying dinner. The roads were well-kept enough in this part of the Wind District that she decided to walk to the store instead of drive. As much as she liked driving, she was feeling restless and a walk sounded nice.

She decided to start conservative and bought a bunch of cheap meat and canned fruits and vegetables. Red fully expected to fuck up the first dozen tries or so, and didn't want to waste money on good food until she had a degree of expertise and comfort in a proper kitchen. To compensate for her current lack of confidence, she bought a lot of extra food. That way, if her attempts ended up completely inedible, she could throw it out and try again without worrying about running out of food. It meant she had about ten pounds of meat on her, as well as a few bags of cans and bread. She was starting to regret her decision to walk to the store instead of drive, but the mountain air did feel nice. It wasn't as cold as the desert at night and had a certain freshness to it that made her understand why they tended to use it for those shitty car air fresheners.

What really made her regret the decision was that she couldn't shake the feeling she was being followed. Her arms, tired from carrying so much food, tensed, but otherwise she tried to play it off like she hadn't noticed. The feeling only got stronger the more she walked. There was no way she could go home like this. If something happened because she ignored this feeling she would never forgive herself. Rather than stay on the main roads like she initially intended, she started walking down some of the side roads. They were darker, more beat up, and narrower. It'd be easier to lose someone here, and it'd be easier to find a wall to go through if she really needed it. Yet, the more she walked the worse the feeling got.

Eventually, her stalker revealed itself and she realized she was surrounded by more cats than she had ever seen in one place in her life. The smell of all the meat she was carrying must have attracted nearly every stray and outdoor cat in this corner of the Wind District, and she found herself with at least thirty pairs of eyes staring at her from all directions. Red had never found herself so intimidated by a seven pound animal as they closed in in her and started clawing at her legs. She was pretty sure she could just run through them (either literally or figuratively) and outrun them with no problem, but there was something so surreal about the scene that she just stood there dumbfounded for the moment.

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912/912

[Bianca Sabbato]

It had been, all in all. A pretty uneventful day. Classes had gone well enough, I had eaten good food and my uniform was way more comfortable now that I had cut off the sleeves and threw the shoes in a dark and solitary corner of my dresser never to see the light of day again... Also, a whole room for myself. Now THAT was a welcomed change even if sometimes it felt a little ominous having all that space and nothing to fill it with. But I reasoned that with time I would find out some cool stuff to put in there to give it more flavor.

Anyway, I still had my trusty spear and my trusty violin to spend time, and this last one was the reason of my most recent trip to the grand bazaar to buy some bow hair to replace the one I had been using until it was in real danger of snapping mid piece and probably fucking up a couple of strings on its way to hell.

I was just returning from my brief shopping trip when a most bizarre happening crossed the corner of my eye.

My attention was diverted to a nearby alleyway when I noticed a strange phenomenon all around me. Like a small army answering the summons of a higher power, there were lots and lots of cats hastily congregating into a single direction. “...Huhh... Maybe they found a corpse to eat up or something... I guess as a huntress in training I should investigate that stuff, give notice to the cops and the like” I thought to myself deciding to follow my instincts (and genuinely picked curiosity) to see what was all of that about.

-Is... Is that a semblance or something?- I muttered once my short-lived detective work rewarded me not with a cold and lonely corpse rooting sadly on a forgotten alley; but with the strange vision of a young girl, probably around my age, visibly uncomfortable while surrounded on all sides by a small gang of hungry cats.

Sooner rather than later, the reason for her predicament became clear to me as I saw some felines licking their lips at the sight of a good amount of meat and other foods being transported by the unfortunate girl. Chuckling warmly to myself, I decided that enough was enough and went to disperse this unruly band of fluffy marauders.

-Shoo! Shoo! Motherfuckers! Go back to some old lady's sewing room you dumb Garfield wannabees!- I said levitating small clusters of dirt and rock close to the ground and making them rattle against the floor or crash rashly between them, producing a continuous droning sound loud enough for the kitten to grow wary and leave the woman legs alone for a moment.

It may have looked like an exaggeration, but I opted to digress. After all, with such a high amount of cats... Well. It wasn’t gonna be dangerous in any way, really. But without aura those scratches would hurt like hell, and the risk of infection from cats that spent most of their time swimming in trash cans was a very real one. And I had live enough time on the streets to know that “Infection = Most likely death”.

-Tsk, poor things... Some people really have no heart at all... You are not hurt tough? Was passing by and it didn’t look like all of these fellas belonged to you, so I decided to intervene, sorry if I startled you-

I fixed a mean look to one of the retreating felines, who in turn leveled his own one eyed glare at my direction before hissing sharply and jumping to a nearby window still to watch us expectantly like the opportunistic predator it was. Couldn’t help it but to feel a little sorry for the little guys, it was not their fault some fuckwhits decided to buy a kitten for their flat blob of a children’s birthday and later abandoned it like a piece of literal thrash once it grew older. And it was not as if Mystral itself was doing anything about it either.

I didn’t knew if presenting myself as a huntress in training would have been wise or I would just come up as an entitled child. So I let my presence and body language do the talking. Not overly cocky, but more like a confident and secure figure to rely on... At least that was the theory, no way to know if I was actually pulling it off or making a fool of myself. Whatever happened, the uniform kind of give it away in the end.

Using my tail to keep the remaining cats at bay, I addressed the girl directly -You looked a little lost there if you pardon my intrusion, need a little hand getting out of here? City can be a fucking jigsaw to figure out sometimes, and if you walk around with a stash like that in some of these places, then some stray cats are gonna to be the least of your problems-

Because that much meat either meant that you were loaded, or than you were buying groceries for a gang or something along those lines... And some people here could have a problem with either of those.

Yeah, the wind district prided itself on a lot of things, but with all the good came the ravenous and the desperate, hungry to get a piece of the cake for themselves. And even if not so thoroughly advertised, the bad always tended to overshadow the good in the long run.

Either way, I entirely prepared for a negative or straight antagonistic reaction, lots of kids around here had a negative opinion about huntsmen or the police in general, and it was just as true that some of them had good reasons to. Still, I kept Nereida tightly strapped to my back and my body language betrayed that I had no intention of pulling her off her sheath, hopefully I wouldn’t need to.

Even so, a positive interaction once in a while didn’t hurt anybody. So I made my offer with a smile as friendly as I could muster, hoping it wouldn't come off as a psycho looking one.

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1039/1039 Words

[Sinopia DeStellanova]

The cats were closing in, and several were already starting to try to climb up her jeans or jump directly for the bags. It was easy enough to keep the bags above her head, but getting the cats off of her or getting them to clear a path, was proving to be far more difficult. Red didn't want to hurt them, just get around them. It was just really hard to move with this many cats around, and while several of them were on her legs.

Aside from some meowing, the alley was quiet, so it was easy to hear footsteps approaching. Red turned her head only to see someone in a Haven uniform approaching with a presence far more intimidating than the horde of cats. There was something ominous about a fully armed Huntress trainee walking right at her in a narrow alley, and that would be true even if she didn't work for an illegal syndicate. Did all of them walk around town like this? Weapons showing even when they were only around people trying to get some groceries? And people believed that these sociopaths weren't out to intimidate people?

Red wasn't quite sure what she expected, but it wasn't opening fire on the cats. Whether the trainee was intentionally missing or not was irrelevant. The cats were so tightly packed that, even if she wasn't trying to hurt them, this would be dangerous to do. She stood between the trainee and the cats, her arms stretched out as well as she could while she was holding several heavy bags of food.

"Wait, it's okay. They're just cats."

She wanted to say a lot more than that, but she also wasn't interested in starting a fight with a Huntress right now, even if this one was just a trainee. Watching her go from attacking weak animals to asking if Red was okay was almost surreal. Or it would have been if the trainee didn't end the offer with what sounded like a threat to Red. Let this trainee escort her home or else? Why? She had kept her faunus identity a secret so far, and was pretty sure she hadn't done anything illegal yet. All she had been doing the past couple of weeks was set up her house and move around some boxes. There was that one incident with the handgun, but that was Knight shooting herself in the face for one, and for two she was certain that couldn't be traced back to her given the generic nature of the weapon and the hoops she went through to make sure it had no connection to herself. Then again, this was Mistral, and she wouldn't put it past anyone in power to go after someone just because they didn't like their face. Or maybe she had a quota to meet or something?

Regardless, Red didn't like that her neighbors knew where she lived, let alone a Huntress trainee. After taking a moment to shake a cat off the bottom of her jacket, she raised her arms just enough to bring her hands together. For now, she was content with pretending like she hadn't noticed and nothing was wrong.

"Yeah, I'm alright. I was just surprised. I've never seen that many cats in one area before. So, don't worry, I can take it from here. I hope you have a nice evening."

She bowed her head slightly and turned to head home. Red was heading in the opposite direction of home, but that seemed like the safest way to go despite her arms' protests. She didn't want to give this trainee anything to go on.

---

607/1519

[Bianca Sabbato]

-Yeah, it was pretty freaky if you ask me. I only came to investigate because I suspected It could be some butcher dumping a lot of food onto the street like a fucking barbarian instead of getting rid of it the legal way- Yeah, that happened a lot more frequently than what it should have. Along with other, more disturbing things. -Well, that or a corpse, but I’m happy it was neither of those-

The girl seemed awfully normal to me, a little shaken by the sudden encounter but not worse for wear. Shrugging before her negative, I bid her farewell, turned around and prepared to go my merry way... At least, until something suspicious captured my attention.

Cheeky girl... Though I didn’t notice.

-Thing is...- I said long enough for the retreating girl to hear me. Turning around, I placed my hands on my pockets and discreetly opened the plastic bag stuffed on my skirt. The one containing the ol' reliable handful of dirt I always carried with me.

-You are going the wrong way... The crunched earth in the ground around you suggest you were walking towards... That direction- I said signaling lazily with my finger to the direction I had come from. -And now you are going the other way- Which meant, exactly from where she had come.

-Though to let you know, as you probably got confused when the cats surrounded you- As I said this, I walked towards one of the walls of the alley and promptly rested my back on it. Adopting a carefree attitude towards the girl and letting her have all the alley to pass me by without having to get close.

Sometimes, giving a little push was the best way to identify rival gangs or petty criminals. So I decided to put the girl to a little test at her expense. Basically now she had three possible options.

She could turn around and keep going into the right direction. That would mean she either is no criminal or not a dangerous one. That was the option the “stupid rich girl” archetype would pick too.

She could keep going the wrong way, admit she was a non dangerous criminal or that she seriously mistrusted me... Both of those options were alright in my books, some huntsman were assholes and even if she was doing something naughty I had more important things to care for than a petty criminal.

Last option tough, was panicking and truing to attack me. Which meant she was a criminal either powerful or stupid enough to fight a huntress in training... And those, were the really dangerous ones.

With the spark of curiosity reignited in my heart, I carefully watched for the woman to make her decision.

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459/1498  Words.

[Sinopia DeStellanova]

Why was the trainee telling her any of this? How was it even the slightest bit relevant? What made this trainee think that a random civilian wanted to hear something like that after being accosted by a horde of cats? Or any time for that matter? If Red weren't carrying several heavy bags right now, she would have rubbed the back of her head. Instead, she settled for shifting uncomfortably and adjusting the bags in her hands while she walked.

Walked until the trainee called out her choice in direction. Red raised an eyebrow. And she thought she was stupidly on edge and paranoid. Looking at the dirt on the ground, after it had been trampled by both her and cats? That was seriously reading too far into things. There had to be something else going on, but she seriously hadn't done anything in Mistral since arriving here and all she was doing tonight was buying some groceries. Did the trainee seriously just not like her face or something? Red's expression remained neutral, though she really wasn't liking all the eyes on her. It's not like all the cats were completely gone after all, just hiding.

"The main street's this way," she gestured with her hand. "I'd rather walk somewhere well-lit. ...If that's okay with you."

Red wasn't exactly an imposing figure. She was only about 5'4" and on the skinnier side. Her choice of clothing made her look smaller than that even, as her shirt and jacket were several sizes too big for her. The loose clothing and her narrow shoulders hid her muscles, and it's not like those were giant in the first place. It was only natural for someone like her to be at least a little concerned about walking alone in the dark. If she were dealing with someone reasonable, she figured that the person would understand especially given the trainee had just talked about how she might get mugged or something and dead bodies and all this other disturbing shit. However, this was a Haven student, so she knew better than to expect anything reasonable based on what she had heard about them.

If the trainee wanted to flex her authority, she would let her. She knew how Mistral was and hoped that being compliant would reduce the odds of getting randomly beat up, fined, or arrested. She wasn't here to make waves, not yet at least. All she wanted to do was get home and make some fucking meatloaf. She shifted the bags in her hands again. After moving all those crates her arms were killing her and having to keep standing around after being 'saved' by a Haven student was not something her muscles were appreciating.

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453/1972

[Bianca Sabbato]

I couldn’t help but smile when the redhead gave me her justification. Nicely put together, fast and logical. She would do fine in here.

-Sure thing girl. You can do whatever you want as long as you are willing to face the consequences... It’s not like you have to ask for permission or something- I laughed warmly as the woman made her way to the other side of the alley.

-Good call by the way. Going the other way. Keep those instincts sharp girl, they will become useful in this city, even with hunters you don’t know what to expect these days... See ya around!- I called animatedly before turning around and going my own way.

Before I was completely gone tough, I spared a last glance at the cats and ended up cursing myself when the kinder side of me finally took over. So instead of returning directly to Haven, I made a slight detour until I found myself on the front of a well respected establishment from where I acquired a healthy amount of the goods I would need for my next move.

Returning to the alley, I tossed the bag on the floor and proceeded to call all of the furry creatures around me –Alright motherfuckers. Haven is paying for this so dig in to your hearts content!...- I said as I unceremoniously slashed open the big bag of cat food I had bough moments before, emptying its contents in the floor and keeping a watchful eye, so they would not fight between them for the food.

Reaching out for my scroll, I connected to the city forum to pin a quick message on the front page of the main chatroom.

-And with that, my job here it’s done-

-Hey! I got like... 40 cats around me right now... Some of them look like strays. If someone wants to pick a little fella of the street, you can come to ###...-

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323/1821   Words

[Wolfe]

XP Distribution:

Bianca: 18

33 + 18 = 51

Red: 19

131 + 19 = 150