[Sinopia DeStellanova]

It had been long enough that she was getting used to life in Vacuo and all that entailed. Life was very different from what it was on Menagerie, but not that different from how she lived prior to that. Coming here was supposed to be a new start and a way to make a difference in the world, and so far, that's what it felt like despite the hazards that came with it. Hazards that not only threatened her life, but made it potentially dangerous to anyone connected to her. Dangerous to use her actual name. She used a few different names at the beginning, but eventually settled on Dawn as a more permanent alias. It was a common name and its meaning appealed to some of her more romantic sensibilities.

The past few days had gone well. Her partner (and friend) Knight and her were able to carry out their plan with the last mission without a hitch, collected the money in some backwater town with no problems, and were getting ready to head back to the capital to shower and rest before picking up a new job. It should have been an easy enough drive. Put on cruise control, listen to a book on tape or whatever Knight wanted to talk about, kick back, and make sure that the ground wasn't opening up beneath them or they didn't run into those giant worm Grimm or something. Easy enough as far as travel in Vacuo went. As far as she was concerned, Knight could take a nap if she wanted.

Should have been easy anyway. Tired from their last mission, Dawn made the critical mistake of not checking over the car and the engine before driving off. It was perfectly fine for quite some time. The desert in this area was flat for now. It wasn't until ran over a big rock and shook the car a bit that the problem showed itself. Apparently a scorpion had decided to make a nest in the engine and one of its babies got caught in it when the car jostled too much. This was not only bad for the engine, but resulted in a very angry scorpion stinging her when she opened the hood and stuck her hand in the engine to check what was wrong. The scorpions couldn't put up much of a fight given how much smaller they were than Dawn, but they did some lasting damage to the engine that she needed to repair, and worse, shattered her aura when the sun was at its highest during a Vacuoan summer. Worse yet, while she was able to get the engine repaired, the buggers managed to break the air conditioning, and she didn't keep spare parts around for that. It wasn't vital to keeping the car moving, and for the most part, they could use aura to stave off the worst of the heat.

Unfortunately, Dawn couldn't do that without aura. Worse yet, her skin was very fair and did not tan and she couldn't work in the car without her sleeves pulled up unless she wanted them to get caught in something. Without her aura to protect her, it didn't take long for her exposed skin to turn bright red from sunburns. As though her aura was ever any good for protecting her. Could barely handle a fucking scorpion. She continued grumbling under her breath while she worked. By the time she was done, the skin on her nose and arms was peeling and it took all her self control to not guzzle down the rest of their water supplies. It wouldn't help much anyway. By this point it was all hot as tea and would be useless for cooling her down.

After letting a long breath out of her nose and explaining to Knight what happened, she pulled out a map and tried locating the nearest town. She wasn't about to take the several day drive to Vacuo without air conditioning in the middle of the summer. Especially when Knight could smugly sit there and be perfectly fine in the heat where her own aura would break in a matter of hours if she tried the same thing. Fortunately, there was...probably a small village about a day away from where they were. They had gotten some information on towns awhile back from a weird old guy, so it was a little dubious, but his description sounded pretty convincing. Apparently this one was built on the weathered remains of an inactive volcano. The mountain wasn't any bigger than anything found in Vale after being beaten down by the sand and weather, but it still had a pretty big caldera that collected any rain the area got pretty well. And even being on a small mountain like that meant it was a lot more stable than most places found in the desert. So it seemed legit. Mostly legit. It was worth a shot.

That was about a day ago, and they were due to arrive as the sun and the summer heat were reaching its peak.

"I fucking hate scorpions," Dawn glowered over the steering wheel. "We should be getting there soon. I think. I hope. Do you need anything in town?"

---

873/873

[Alina Rybalka]

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[attr="class","nikki101"]WE CAN ALL AGREE THAT VIOLENCE BREEDS VIOLENCE

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[attr="class","nikki102"]BUT IN THE END, IT HAS TO BE THIS WAY

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[attr="class","nikki109"]One thing that Knight could never quite get used to was just how… empty the entire landscape always was. Menagerie was supposed to be a barren wasteland, the scraps of Remnant, but in reality, it seemed like Vacuo fit the description of ‘barren wasteland’ far more. Encountering other people was such a rare event in the wilderness that most people had a specific strategy for doing it, and unlike in other places of the world it was a coin flip whether it’d be someone harmless or hostile. [break][break]

It was a fitting environment for an exile, all things considered. The absolutely sweltering heat and sun beating down on them constantly did wonders to both passively make her better and better at keeping her aura up even if it did suck beyond all belief to even exist when your aura was down and skin was all but melting in the midday sun. Red was the unlucky one today, and unfortunately neither of them really had much of a skill set or supplies to do much to help the other when shit like that happened. [break][break]

Making fire was basically the opposite of what was useful almost all of the time in Vacuo, and they only carried around what they could haul in that old rust bucket of a vehicle. A rust bucket of a vehicle that carried enough cash for bribes and anything they needed along with enough weapons to take over a small village, which limited their options for other things. Stuff like sleeping materials like blankets or thicker sleeping bags took up space, and so did pillows. Pillows were actually hell to try and fit in there alongside clothes, basic necessities like toothbrushes and food and especially water, water took up a ton of space as well and was boiling hot most of the time with few ways to cool it effectively during the day. [break][break]

Just because you had aura to burn didn’t mean you really wanted to, so thin layers covering her body and a windbreaker besides for the nights was standard attire. A wide brimmed hat was also nice, alongside the omnipresent sunglasses for the ability to see at all most days. Today wasn’t a particularly good day, with the air conditioner broken and the insides of the car smelling like sweat and misery by the end of it, and the metal on the seat belts reaching nearly melting level on the sides of the chairs. If it wasn’t for the gloves, she’d have a lot less aura now, frankly. [break][break]

”I dunno, depends on the type of town.” she’d reply to Dawn’s question, shrugging. ”For all we know it could be another mud hut with twenty midgets banging drums inside calling themselves a village again.” [break][break]

Okay, that was an exaggeration. It was like a dozen, max, and they had two mud huts and named themselves after some weird plant that isn’t even around Vacuo… probably. That was a weird day, because there was apparently a town that used to be in that place but there wasn’t anymore and the squatters in their huts were the only ones left. The desert was rough like that, with most villages either being swallowed whole at some point or forced to move either from the Grimm, the earth shifting, or the ground just opening up one day and fucking everyone over. [break][break]

Nothing was permanent in this godforsaken place, and it was weird to both experience and see people be completely fine with. It was impossible to build anything that lasted unless it was in the capital, which was a shit show and a half due to the huge cluster of people and complete lack of law and order. The rest of the country was barren as hell with the occasional wandering tribe, clan, gang, or whatever the fuck the locals decided to call themselves. It fucking sucked was the bottom line, with all the conveniences of modern life stripped away your shadow was as omnipresent as your inability to do laundry and the rancid smell of body odor left out for too long mixed with sweat and misery. [break][break]

”Laundry would be nice, even if I had to hand wash it. Never can carry enough water for that in the car.”

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[attr="class","nikki103"]710 words

[attr="class","nikki103"]ASCHE SYNDICATE

[attr="class","nikki103"]710 TOTAL WORDS

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NOTES

B Semblance, D Weapons, B Dust Enhancement, C Durability, C Agility, C Martial Arts, D Stamina, D Exhaustion

PHARAOH LEAP CREATES

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[Sinopia DeStellanova]

Dawn laughed dryly, though there was still only amusement in the laugh. Laundry went without saying, as did hopefully finding something to clean themselves off with. Given her occupation and the amount of time she spent outside of any kind of town, she didn't exactly smell great even on a good day. Today she was drenched in sweat, and was yesterday as well, because her aura couldn't keep up with the heat. Worse, she still smelled like grease and oil because of her work yesterday on top of that. All of those smells were going to seep into the car itself too, along with the stuff they carried. There was still a pretty bad stench from when some meat went bad sooner than she thought it would that she was never quite able to get out. Everything was scattered everywhere, as tended to happen after awhile. It was due for another cleaning. While she planned to do that once they reached Vacuo, she didn't need much and could probably do it at this town too. If it existed.

There were a few things that could be found in just about any town. Laundry was one of those things, along with at least some food and water. Sometimes they couldn't spare the food and water, so they couldn't do laundry either, but that was less common than the villagers being unfriendly. They had to live in this village after all, so they tended to have the supplies to see to their own needs. She had yet to see a nudist colony here, and while she supposed that didn't mean they didn't exist, it seemed unlikely. Exposed skin would do poorly in the sun for one, but even though it was hot during the day, it was absolutely freezing at night. With the low humidity and lack of surfaces that could absorb heat well, the temperature changed drastically at night. She couldn't imagine people going without clothes in those conditions.

Unfortunately, car parts were not one of those things that could be reliably found. Not surprising. Cars were nice, but the sand and frequent sand storms made vehicles hard to maintain. That was all the more true in mountainous areas like this, where it was more likely to be windy. Animals were more common this far out, and there were some really small ones that didn't have anything at all because they didn't travel much. Animals required the same kinds of supplies that people did rather than oil, so they didn't need to worry about another resource either. Dawn wasn't counting on finding anything to fix the air conditioning. What she was counting on, was that this area was still unbearably hot, so the people living here must have had some way to stay cool. As long as she could find something she could probably manage until they were back in Vacuo where she could find what she needed. She hoped.

"The guy that told me about this place said it was pretty big and had been around for a few decades. 'Course that was six months ago, and he also said that his daughter was the mayor of the town he was living in when the mayor was male and had no relation to him, so who knows?"

The town likely existed. What he said matched what she was seeing here. Lots of mountains and she was pretty sure she saw some greenery in the distance, assuming the heat wasn't making her mind play tricks on her. It lined up with what other people had told her about the area too. Enough so that she thought it was worth the detour given they weren't that far away, relatively speaking.

"I can at least look around. Let me know if you think of anything."

She yawned, only making the tiredness in her voice more apparent. She hadn't slept well last night, not that she tended to sleep well ever because she was a very light sleeper with sensitive hearing and had difficulty ignoring the sounds around her. The air conditioning not working made it worse. It meant her clothes were damp and sweaty, which made them uncomfortable to lay down in, and absolutely freezing in the cold temperatures of the desert at night. It's not like she could just leave the heat on either. They were already taking a detour before heading to Vacuo and there was no way to know if she'd be able to refuel there. She couldn't risk leaving the car on over night just so she could sleep.

A while later she saw the town come into view. It was an interesting one, quite literally built into the side of the mountain as though the city itself was a carving. There weren't many buildings that weren't carved out of the mountain. Dawn could see a few on top and several wooden structures connecting certain areas and acting as ramps, but that was it. The place was huge too and decorated with colorful pigments and brightly colored cloth or plant husks of some kind -- she wasn't sure which. The top did have numerous large trees that she could see, and there were probably more smaller plants deeper in the caldera that weren't visible from the outside. It seemed like a decent enough place for a settlement. She wasn't surprised that it managed to last so far.

Dawn parked at the base, close enough that people could see them, but far enough away that people would have to go out of their way to get to the car. After grabbing some money and goods just in case they weren't interested in Lien, she turned to Knight and nodded.

"I'm heading in. Can you watch the car? If I'm not back in an hour come looking for me."

A standard precaution. While Dawn's skill set made her very good for scouting because she was fast and difficult to catch, it was better to be safe than sorry. She yawned again and stretched trying to shake off some of the sleepiness. She really had to ignore it. There was too much she needed to get done today to let that bother her.

---

1030/1903

[Alina Rybalka]

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[attr="class","nikki101"]WE CAN ALL AGREE THAT VIOLENCE BREEDS VIOLENCE

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[attr="class","nikki102"]BUT IN THE END, IT HAS TO BE THIS WAY

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[attr="class","nikki109"]Huh. [break][break]

This was a surprise, given that the city seemed to be a much more permanent type of structure than what she was used to seeing. She supposed that because the capital was in a place that never seemed to get swallowed by the desert, there were other areas that were lucky enough to be away from the natural disasters as well. A piece of land that valuable would have been the subject of many armed conflicts, though, which meant it was more of a conquest than an inheritance of land most likely. [break][break]

”Yeah, that’s fine. Be careful, though, that’s really good land and could have been raided and occupied since the last time bumblefuck went there.” she’d respond to the question as to whether or not she was fine watching the car… which really meant taking a nap because standing there doing nothing except staring at the sand in intense heat was absolute hell basically. Without access to some lightning dust she couldn’t even recharge her scroll to play some games she had cached on it, but that had gone dead a long time ago. [break][break]

She kicked open the passenger side door to create some more space, the damp and sweat soaked pants clinging to her legs as she leaned the sand-soaked mechanism on the chair to allow her to lean back about an inch further before colliding with the truly absurd amount of shit in the back of the car. There was a sigh as gray eyes looked across the landscape – which around the immediate area was pretty flat before the mountain itself. That was good, at least insofar as anyone moving to the vehicle would be sighted before they were in range to do much. [break][break]

It wasn’t comfortable, but it was the best she had at the moment. With how volatile the situation in Vacuo often was, it was smart to leave one person behind in case the one going to town was met with a less than ideal welcome party upon entering the city. It wouldn’t be the first time they accidentally walked into a wandering bandit encampment, and it wouldn’t be the last time either. Movements of people and places were just so unpredictable that a safe place one month could be a wasteland or a trap the next month without anyone batting an eyelash. [break][break]

”Just a little bit longer…” she’d mutter to no one in particular. Red was long gone by now, and it was only thoughts of the future that allowed her to keep her sanity in boring and awful stretches like this. The sun was beating down on her, and even with the door kicked open the heat and sunlight were overwhelming. With nothing to entertain her and the sunlight being too oppressive to sleep as planned without literally covering her eyes – she had nothing to do but to retreat inward and think happy thoughts. [break][break]

Like what it will be like to finally get back home after all of this. Back to actual winters and a climate where her semblance was actually useful rather than a hindrance to even activate. Where she could shower as much as she wanted, and do laundry every week. Where she could actually smell something other than sweat and body odor overload… yeah, that’s the ticket. On a nice mountaintop drinking a morning coffee looking at the rising sun below. One day, she’ll be there instead of here. She just needed to survive in this exile just a bit longer, is all.

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[attr="class","nikki103"]587 words

[attr="class","nikki103"]ASCHE SYNDICATE

[attr="class","nikki103"]1297 TOTAL WORDS

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NOTES

B Semblance, D Weapons, B Dust Enhancement, C Durability, C Agility, C Martial Arts, D Stamina, D Exhaustion

PHARAOH LEAP CREATES

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[Sinopia DeStellanova]

Dawn nodded at her friend's warning. It went without saying, but it was still good to keep in mind. In her opinion, anyone that wanted to live outside the capitals in this monster infested world had to be at least a little bit crazy. Anyone that wanted to live in this death trap of a region had to be even worse. What exactly crazy meant was completely unpredictable though. The word implied hostility, but she had seen some people that were so over the top friendly that they could only be called crazy. It reminded her to never take food offerings again, at least not small snacks that they carry on their person. Those types tended to get weird when she did.

The worst part about trying to travel in the desert was that her feet sank in the sand with every step. It took far more effort just to walk here than it did just about anywhere else. Unfortunately, she couldn't park too close to the village because it was possible that they were hostile with strong defenses that could quickly blow the car away if they were spotted. It was harder to do that with a lone person walking, and it was easier for her to move in places where such defenses would be difficult to hit her with. Keeping her best way of escaping safe was important in these kinds of situations.

To make matters worse, the mountains were on the wrong side of the sun to provide any shade while she made her way to the village. The sun continued to beat down on her during her entire trek, so by the time she reached the village she was reaching the limits of her superhuman stamina. Her legs were getting tired, she was panting, and in some desperate need of water. She really hoped they were friendly.

Getting into the village was surprisingly easy. There was no guard posted or anything, which was surprising. All she could think was that she hoped that some disaster hadn't come upon this place and everyone was dead, but there were too many things in good repair for something like that to have happened. Even if it happened recently, she would have expected their wooden structures to have broken from it and the cloth/plant husks to be torn apart or something. Unless it was a plague or something. While there were no guards at the entrance, she did spot some pretty big defensive cannons. Several of them. Some looked like they were meant to fire more traditional artillery shells while others looked like they would create a hail of super-heated shrapnel of some kind. That was more what she was expecting, but she couldn't tell if any of them were manned from this angle.

It didn't take too long for her to run into people, and they seemed as surprised to see her as she was to see them. While she was glad that there wasn't some kind of tragic accident that killed everyone, she was horrified at how they were acting. Violent villages she was used to. She knew how to deal with those. The moment someone raised a weapon at her, she could just turn and run. But this? The moment that first old man saw her, he called for others and suddenly there was a swarm of very excited people surrounding her asking her all sorts of questions. Like where she was from, why she had ears like that (they were all humans, so it was possible they had never even seen a faunus before), what she was carrying, why she was here, what she wanted to do, why her face was so speckly, and so much more that she couldn't even keep up with it all. She wished her first instinct was to run when she got overwhelmed like this, but it was to freeze in place. By the time she could move again she had drawn such a crowd that she was worried about hurting them if she tried to bolt, and they did need supplies. At least they were friendly.

She was glad she had Knight as an excuse to get out of there. They seemed to understand that she shouldn't worry her friend and stopped dragging her around the city, pulling on her tail, or trying to do whatever else. Once she returned to the car, she was wearing a considerably more colorful wide-brimmed hat than the one she went into the village with, and had a bunch of make up running down her face from how much she was sweating on the way back. Exasperated, she shook her head and climbed into the driver's seat, not entirely sure where to even start.

"Well, they're friendly. Way too friendly. And they think we should meet some of the young men in the village," she said flatly rubbing the back of her head while she waited for the car to start. "About half of the population is over the age of 50. They don't see many people from outside the village. Apparently it's far enough east that no traders come through here and there aren't very many villages around, so they don't get a lot of bandits out here. Or even travelers since it's easier to to Vale by sea. They were way too excited to see some new faces.

"They should have what I need to fix the air conditioning and to stock up on vehicle repair supplies though. They have a small scale mining operation going on in the mountains, so they have actual machinery. I think we should leave after I stock up though. They're being way too nice. Like, it's one thing to offer a traveler a nice meal and a place to spend the night, but it's another thing to ask if you want to marry their son when you smell like sweat, blood, and oil you know?"

Dawn had no idea what they were after, but she didn't want to find out. She could believe there were some genuinely friendly people out there. In fact, she didn't act nearly as suspicious about the weird mud hut village Knight mentioned before. They were like a dozen people and were all family regardless of blood relations. But here? There had to be well over 1000 people here, and that kind of friendliness never happened in villages that big. Not unless they had an ulterior motive anyway. Even if they weren't actively malicious, she could believe they stumbled upon something illegal. This looked like one of the few places in all of Vacuo that could grow something like poppies, and that a place like this went completely uncontested for so long seemed unrealistic.

"They did say we could stay as long as we like though, and they have some extra rooms and a nice outdoor bath we can use. I'll leave it up to you. If it turns out bad, I think I can get us out. It's really vertical, but it's all made out of stone."

---

1176/3079

[Alina Rybalka]

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[attr="class","nikki101"]WE CAN ALL AGREE THAT VIOLENCE BREEDS VIOLENCE

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[attr="class","nikki102"]BUT IN THE END, IT HAS TO BE THIS WAY

[break]

[attr="class","nikki109"]For how hyped the danger of Vacuo was before going, the truth was that like a solid ninety to ninety-five percent of the time was spent in the most boring of situations. Hours and hours of absolutely nothing interspersed with brief moments of panic or adrenaline. In order to fill that dead time, Knight had a lot of time to think. Most of the time, she tried to use that time productively to go over previous missions in her head – both successes and failures for points to improve on. [break][break]

Ideally, she’d have a room where she could lay out maps and plans… but that obviously wasn’t possible in their current situation. Even notebooks were a waste of space for the most part, and those that they did have had limited space for things so she couldn’t waste it. That meant that she had to get very good at memorizing things said verbally and very good at recalling information on the fly. It had gotten to the point to where she could almost replay old missions or conversations in her head. [break][break]

They had gotten past the easier starter missions and were starting to climb the ranks into more dangerous missions, ones where she couldn’t fuck around nearly as much. Tactics used were starting to be more dangerous, like the last one where she got tricked by a bunch of dust hidden under the sand and Dawn had to bail her out before her aura got shot to shit. Confidence was great, but overconfidence was quickly becoming a detriment that she’d have to work on at some point soon. [break][break]

Replaying the approach over and over in her head, along with the blow by blow of the fight afterwards occupied her well enough until she could see Dawn walking back with a new and more colorful hat than before. She looked like an absolute mess due to the sweat and sand, but that was fine because Knight herself probably smelled like deep fried body odor at this point. She’d remain silent, gray eyes focused outwards both to not stare at Dawn’s makeup running and because she really didn’t like surprise visitors. [break][break]

Once the explanation was finished, she shrugged her shoulders. ”The way I see it, we have very little to lose. They obvious have a heavy hitter or two in reserve, but worst case scenario I burn ‘em and we get out.” [break][break]

”If you’re sketch about the baths or anything, I have no problem going first. I have aura still and it gives you a bit to recover yours if nothing else. We need the parts anyway, and once I’m out I have no problem keeping the locals entertained while you get shit done to keep ‘em off your back.” [break][break]

It wasn’t exactly a secret that Knight wasn’t a stranger to being the center of attention, and even though she played it off like she didn’t most of the time it was pretty obvious she missed the social interaction that Menagerie provided more than she let on. She wasn’t miserable with the almost total lack of social contact, but her preference was clearly for interaction and when she was able to work that into the schedule, she often took advantage of it. Knight never had a problem playing storyteller in order to either distract or have something to do and didn’t exactly mind getting all the praise and attention that came with doing it well either. [break][break]

”We’ll go up, take a bath, get our shit repaired, and see how annoying or dangerous it is after that. While they definitely have some sort of defense, I also think it’s possible that they’re just an isolated tribe. If they get really pushy we’ll just leave early, but if their first thought is marrying us off to their dumbass kids then I don’t think they consider us a threat at all… which has its uses if you were right to be sketched out.” [break][break]

Backwards communities with clearly defined gender roles didn’t tend to put much stock into seeing women as capable of doing much, which was great in situations where that community might be a threat. Knight had no problem being polite and giving social concessions like bowing and scraping every so often if it benefitted her, and certainly had no problem doing so to give additional safety when assessing a situation. Worst case scenario she makes an idiot of herself to a bunch of people she’d never seen before and would never see again, and best case scenario it makes an actual positive difference [break][break].

”While we’re at it, we might even be able to get laundry done.”

[break]

[attr="class","nikki103"]776 words

[attr="class","nikki103"]ASCHE SYNDICATE

[attr="class","nikki103"]2073 TOTAL WORDS

[break]

NOTES

B Semblance, D Weapons, B Dust Enhancement, C Durability, C Agility, C Martial Arts, D Stamina, D Exhaustion

PHARAOH LEAP CREATES

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[Sinopia DeStellanova]

Dawn had to wipe some of the bright blue make up they forcefully put around her eyes. What was it called? Eye shadow? Eye liner? She had no idea. It's not like she typically wore the stuff. It made her feel more like a raccoon with how they did it, though the right eye only had the upper part finished and it had been running down her face because of all the sweat, making her face look like she was sweating blueberries or something. It meant that she got the stuff all over one of her gloves, but it was better than it getting in her eyes.

"Look, I'm just saying that I've seen tactics like that before. You know, people acting friendly and like they have no concept of personal space, and then striking when the person let's their guard down." She took a moment to rub more blue stuff out of her eyes. "This stuff smells awful. Mosquito repellent they said. But I don't know how-- Never mind," she shook her head. "I doubt they'd put anything too weird in a public bath like that, but I don't think we should leave any of our stuff unattended.

With her eyes sufficiently clear, she started driving towards the town, the smell of the supposed mosquito repellent still bothering her a bit. Faunus senses tended to be better than human's, and hers were stronger than the average faunus. She wouldn't be surprised if humans couldn't smell it at all. Hell, she wouldn't be surprised if Knight couldn't smell it right now given the myriad of other terrible smells on her right now, and it wasn't that strong to begin with. Just enough to be annoying. Fortunately, driving across flat desert in front of weathered mountains wasn't exactly difficult, so being a little distracted wasn't the end of the world.

It was no wonder they picked artillery for their main defenses. Even this low, the area was flat empty enough to see for miles. This area didn't seem to get that much more rain than the rest of Vacuo, they just had an easier time collecting it. Besides the caldera, they had other smaller, man made basins for it, but those were the only things she could see anywhere outside the city. They were probably seen while she approached and just not deemed a threat because they weren't Grimm-shaped.

She took Knight across a particular path to get into the city. One that was more shaded. The stone that was exposed to the sunlight was hot enough to fry an egg right now, and they had to do a bit of climbing. She wasn't sure if the thin gloves Knight wore would be enough to protect her hands from that, aura aside. It was clearly a common problem that they were used to dealing with though because there were numerous set paths constructed with wood, stained glass, and dyed cloth. If she wasn't so on edge, she might have found it pretty. The geometric patterns had a certain mathematical precision to them that even she could appreciate and everything was just so bright compared to everything else in the desert.

Once she got back to where the villagers were, she did her best to smile and not look as tired and exasperated as she was feeling. She didn't even get a chance to introduce Knight before there was a group of people swarming them and asking more questions than they could possibly answer. Even if Knight was missing the social interaction, Dawn couldn't help but feel she might get more than she bargained for here.

"Oh you do have ears too! Do you like having them scratched?" the villager reached up to do try to do so without waiting for a response.

"Where are you from? Not from Vacuo right?"

"What's your favorite color?"

"Your hair is so fluffy, but so boring! You should come with me so we can put some color in it!"

"Where did you come from? We never see anyone here."

"What brings you all the way out here?"

"Have you eaten lunch?"

"Why do you take such bad care of your clothing?"

And they just kept going. There were easily five dozen villagers around them now, all clamoring for attention, and there were several more looking out of windows or over walls to get a look at the commotion. Dawn just rubbed the back of her neck and looked at Knight to try to gauge her reaction.

"Can someone take me to the mechanic?"

She got several nods and volunteers to do so. If Knight seemed content to entertain these people she wouldn't force her to come along, but still motioned for her just in case she needed an out. There were a lot of people after all, and none of them seemed to have any value for personal space.

---

814/3893

[Alina Rybalka]

[nospaces]

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[break]

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[attr="class","nikki100"]

[attr="class","nikki101"]WE CAN ALL AGREE THAT VIOLENCE BREEDS VIOLENCE

[break]

[attr="class","nikki102"]BUT IN THE END, IT HAS TO BE THIS WAY

[break]

[attr="class","nikki109"]”They’re certainly welcome to try something, I’d almost prefer that over staring at sand for the next six hours.” was the response that came out with the shrug that accompanied it. For better or for worse, she had a habit of never considering the mundane dangers of life things that could ever happen to her. [break][break]

The fact that this arrogance had been reinforced so many times in the past few years due to the fact that her baseless assumptions that she was the one with the actual power in situations had only made things worse. The probability of someone having a semblance counter to hers was probably higher than the chances of someone having a straight up stronger semblance, and that had been true for a while. The only ones who came close were the huntsmen, and even then, she seemed to almost go out of her way to be aggressive to even them sometimes. [break][break]

”There’s very little that we have that’s even worth stealing at this point, but yeah. Point taken, someone should be in range to at least listen in if someone’s trying to smash their way in the vehicle.” Mentioning possessions was honestly the right move to get her to care even the slightest, because even if their gear was worth nothing to most people they’d still be in a really bad situation without it. [break][break]

Once they were out of the vehicle and into the swarm of people outside of it, Knight knew the drill. The happy idiot act wasn’t one that she was a stranger to, after all. [break][break]

”Never thought about scratching, to be honest!” [break][break]

”Mistral, originally! Way colder over there!” [break][break]

”Gray or white are my favorites!” [break][break]

”No thanks! Can’t do much with it right now!” [break][break]

”I came from the car! The one over there!” [break][break]

”Work, actually! Takes me all over the place!” [break][break]

Once Dawn was out of sight and couldn’t see what was happening, the white-haired faunus used an old trick she used to get space in a grabby crowd when normal measures wouldn’t work. She moved her left hand behind her back for a moment and snapped her middle finger and thumb so that a spark of very weak but still very noticeably hot fire spread across her body for a fraction of a second. Her own manufactured surprise went alongside the very real surprise of bystanders who had a sensation much like sticking their hand in a hot pan. [break][break]

”Oh, sorry about that! My semblance sometimes just kind of sparks like that, be careful getting too close!” [break][break]

She let loose a chuckle after that, left hand rubbing the back of her head like it was a minor but completely normal annoyance. The fire was just hot enough to hurt, but was only active long enough to deliver that instantaneous pain and not to actually sear through any flesh. It was extremely dangerous for nearly anyone to do, because if she made the slightest mistake in activating her semblance like that the fire would run either too hot or too long and had the potential to cause serious injury or even death… which wasn’t a concern that Knight had in the slightest because her confidence in her ability to perfectly control her semblance was absolute. [break][break]

Danger or not, though, it seemed like the sensation of pain and the now verbalized risk of it happening again made the locals back off a few steps and give her some space to breathe. She didn’t exactly mind crowds, but an entire town swarming on her like zombies got pretty oppressive, pretty quickly. The rapid fire questions didn't stop, but that was fine.

[break]

[attr="class","nikki103"]610 words

[attr="class","nikki103"]ASCHE SYNDICATE

[attr="class","nikki103"]2683 TOTAL WORDS

[break]

NOTES

B Semblance, D Weapons, B Dust Enhancement, C Durability, C Agility, C Martial Arts, D Stamina, D Exhaustion

PHARAOH LEAP CREATES

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[Sinopia DeStellanova]

Dawn gave Knight a small nod and a wave once she realized she wasn't going to follow her. That was fine, it was easy enough to meet up later. It wouldn't even be hard to find each other given how they seemed to be attracting a horde of people wherever they went. Even being escorted to someone she could buy the supplies she needed from was garnering a lot of attention, and she was just walking. Walking and trying to be as unnoticeable as possible because she really didn't want more people harassing her. A completely futile effort, but she still tried. She had a harder time shaking them off than Knight did, mostly due to not wanting to upset anyone or hurt their feelings, but at least the escort was willing to help her a little. It thinned the crowd, but didn't eliminate the ones that were perfectly content to just follow her to the mechanic.

With how vertical this city was, as long as one of them was outside they'd be able to see the car. She parked it far enough away from the city to ensure that, even if it meant a little bit of extra walking. Even if Knight wasn't able to maneuver as well as she was, she was pretty sure it'd take a thief at least a few minutes to break into the car because of all the extra security she put on it. Even if she was doing it with perfect knowledge of how it worked, it'd take her a few minutes if she didn't have the keys. As long as neither of them got too complacent they should be fine, though there was always a worry in the back of her mind about Knight's arrogance. But she wasn't too worried about the car. What she was worried about was people getting into their clothes while they bathed or something. Even if they didn't have anything valuable on them (and she wouldn't because she would absolutely put the money back in the car before doing something like that), it would be absolute hell to walk out of here barefoot and naked if they tried something. She wasn't sure what they'd try, but there was potential danger there. Her mind was always aware of potential danger. Often to the point where she was imagining it.

Getting the supplies was surprisingly easy. They did take Lien, but she didn't even have to pay that much. They were interested in the hard leather sack she was carrying. There wasn't anything special about it. If one squinted enough some of the stains and dents on it might look interesting, if their sense of aesthetics was as poor as hers, but it was just a bag. Apparently they didn't have leather here. Not very many animals either, just lots of different kinds of birds. It was weird to think about because most places out here at least had goats or something, but apparently they didn't have anything like that here. Everything they used was from trees, the earth itself, the birds in the area, and the myriad of other plants that grew in the caldera. That was nice because it meant their trip would be cheap while still buying fuel, replacement parts for emergencies, and she was even able to splurge to get some water dust, which was far easier to carry than the big tanks of water she normally picked up. It'd be colder once they used it too. That was enough to put her in a good enough mood that she didn't even care that she was being followed and interrogated.

A few people followed her down to the car when she went to fix it, but not very many. A group this size was much more manageable for her, and it was easy to just answer their questions and stop them from touching the car. Vehicles were less mysterious to them because of their mining operation, so they were more surprised by how old and terrible it looked. Answering questions about how it was still running was far easier for her than answering questions about her freckles or her hometown, so she was content to indulge them and keep them on that subject. There wasn't anything complicated about this fix, so she could do both at once. It did slow her down a bit though, so it'd still take a good hour to get everything in the right place and make sure it worked. Knight was free to do what she wanted in the mean time, with the villagers much more willing to respect her personal space than they were Dawn thanks to her semblance trick.

If Knight didn't find her by the time she was done, she'd go find Knight. The mechanic she talked to was very curious about how you could fit an entire meal inside of a can, and thus had invited them to dinner so they could trade local specialties. Dawn almost didn't accept because it felt like she was scamming them. Their shitty canned rations couldn't possibly compare to any home cooked meal, even if it involved bird gizzards and algae. However, she came around to the idea with a little persuading and realizing that if they were unhappy, she could just pay them. Hell, they might even feel alright about being paid with stories. She hoped Knight had some good ones.

That said, they should probably take that offered bath first.

---

912/4805

[Alina Rybalka]

[nospaces]

[attr="class","nikki98"]

[attr="class","nikki99"]

[break]

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[attr="class","nikki100"]

[attr="class","nikki101"]WE CAN ALL AGREE THAT VIOLENCE BREEDS VIOLENCE

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[attr="class","nikki102"]BUT IN THE END, IT HAS TO BE THIS WAY

[break]

[attr="class","nikki109"]One thing had led to another, and the crowd settled for some reason on something Knight hadn’t really anticipated once she said she was in Mistral – and she didn’t even know what to call it. They wanted to swap songs and stories, but those about their ‘homeland’. She didn’t quite understand what the fuck they wanted from her until the guy, who seemed to be their village’s equivalent to a kobzar, pulled out a drum and started singing a song about some great hero or other. [break][break]

The subject they chose to sing about was weird, not the least because it wasn’t anyone from this village at all. She got the gist of it as the dude banged his drum and sung about this dude, and the entire time it honestly just kind of confused the faunus. Jabari Clover, desert shield, strong as an ox and fast like a leopard. Part of Team COAL, which was surprisingly hard to rhyme with and made the flow kind of jank to be honest. The entire song seemed to be recalling the time a bunch of foreigners came in and saved the helpless city from a Grimm attack and glorifying that action, and honestly the fact that this was the thing that they defaulted to was kind of sad. [break][break]

It was sad that the thing they defaulted to being most proud of was a song of their failure being bailed out by a Huntsman. It was a celebration of their own weakness, and it was honestly kind of pathetic. She had no problem with celebrating heroes, especially local ones, but glorifying an all but foreign savior was the same as admitting that nobody here thought they could reach that level themselves. If the Clover guy hadn’t shown up, they would have been annihilated, and if he or someone like him didn’t show up the next time they would still be annihilated. [break][break]

On a different day, when her turn was up, she might have responded with a cadence call or a battle song from the war… but that was not today. A smarter person may have gone with something safe, especially because everyone listening was expecting to hear the story of some great hero of Mistral now that one from Vacuo and his great deeds had been laid out. The white-haired faunus held up her left hand with her index finger extended to signal she needed a minute to figure out which specific story she wanted. The Rambler? No, that was too long, and she wasn’t sure she could remember every verse. Oh, wait. No, she had it. This was the one. The perfect follow up to action star Jabari Clover, who could apparently blow down trees with a buff of breath and lift up mountains with his massive muscles. Gray eyes stared down the man who had just been singing as Knight started with perhaps too much projected confidence and comfort with the material. She had it memorized well enough to sing it on command, after all. [break][break]

”Out in the field she labored, reaping [break]
The master’s wheat; then, wearied, went [break]
To where she’d left her baby sleeping [break]
Beside a stack. O’er him she bent [break]
And cradled in her arms the crying [break]
And whimpering bundle. Lovingly [break]
She changed and fed him, pacifying [break]
Her son with lullaby. When he [break]
Slept, on her knee untroubled lying,” [break][break]

”She dozed, and in her dream she saw [break]
Volkov, her son, a babe no longer, [break]
But fully grown. Tall, handsome, strong he [break]
And rich appeared, a man; what’s more, [break]
A free man, not a serf, and wedded [break]
To one free like himself. Attended [break]
By wife and children, in the field, [break]
His own, he toiled. She saw him wield [break]
A scythe and smiled.... All of a sudden [break]
There was she wide awake and under [break]
A haystack sitting.... Heavens!... Tightly [break]
Her child she swaddled, and in haste [break]
Went off to reap - the steward, might he [break]
Not come upon her, angry-faced!...” [break][break]

The looks of confusion gave her life. Whether this pissed them off or not enough to kick them out, she wasn’t going to stop at this point. Fuck their hero. Fuck Jabari Clover. Nobody got to the place where they were in life through their own will and merit alone, others reached out their hands and paved the way for them. Generations of ordinary people living through the oft horrific hardships of the time was the only reason why any of them existed, and this generation doing their part and surviving would be the only reason that the community would live on. The people here seemed enamored with such a narrow view of strength that it honestly pissed her off, despite the fact that she embodied that narrow definition of strength much better than most. [break][break]

In reality, people like her were often the ones who contributed the least to their communities and in communities they passed through. She and people like her contributed next to nothing for the area in which they visited except a brief reprieve from the consequences of systematic failures of the local government to take adequate steps to defend their own people. She wasn’t a great singer, but it wasn’t like she had any stage fright and the faunus gave it a decent effort. The locals didn’t know how to react to that, truly, so the entire area for the first time fell into an awkward silence that Knight had no problem letting extend as her steely gaze never wavered from the kobzar of the village to see what would happen next. [break][break]

She just wasn’t one to miss an opportunity to piss people off making a point that nobody else gave a damn about no matter how potentially self-destructive making that point was.

[break]

[attr="class","nikki103"]800 words

[attr="class","nikki103"]ASCHE SYNDICATE

[attr="class","nikki103"]3483 TOTAL WORDS

[break]

NOTES

B Semblance, D Weapons, B Dust Enhancement, C Durability, C Agility, C Martial Arts, D Stamina, D Exhaustion

PHARAOH LEAP CREATES

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[Sinopia DeStellanova]

This entire place was creepy for reasons she couldn't quite put her finger on. With as grabby as the people were before, they didn't actually make a single attempt to touch her car. They were curious about it and how it ran, but they were considerably more interested in her clothes, her ears, and all these other strange things that barely did anything at all, much like how that one guy was willing to trade so much for a beat up leather sack because it was something he hadn't seen before. It was surreal how much they seemed to care about her specifically and everything else they had never seen before and not the one thing she had that could actually run on the parts they made here. Not caring about the thing that was carrying all their stuff didn't quite mesh with the townspeople wanting to rob them. Were they about to be sacrificed to some weirdass volcano god for the harvest or something? Because even if they weren't thieves, these people were still weird.

Once the work was done, her entourage followed her back towards the courtyard she left Knight in. It wasn't too hard to guess that's where she was because she could hear the song the guy with the drum was singing from the lower levels. It was too quiet to make out the words until she got closer, but the beat of the drum was pretty hard to miss once she away from the car and back into the city proper.

She missed a fair amount of it, and what she heard didn't make all that much sense to her because of how flowery the language was. Something about a guy that saved the city and could blow over trees or something. Reasonable enough thing to have a song about, so she didn't think too hard about it. Knight started singing just as she was starting to go up the last fight of stairs and the meaning of that song went right over her head. She didn't hear the conversation before, so she figured it'd make sense in context. The silence that passed over the courtyard sounded just as confused as she was, making all eyes come on her when she was the only sound in the area. She stiffened up a little as she looked around, trying to figure out what the hell just happened.

Most people were just confused, likely expecting something grander from Knight. Some were starting to murmur among themselves, and others were waving at Dawn with her arrival, as though they had completely lost interest in what just happened. Others seemed to understand the meaning behind the story Knight picked and were scowling. The drum player however, stared for a moment then looked down and put a hand on his chin lost in thought, appearing to actually be thinking about Knight's message. Dawn tried to ignore all the eyes on her and made her way to Knight. She could figure out what was going on later.

"I fixed the car. And they invited us to dinner because they wanted to try some of our food," the 'for some reason' went unsaid. Talking about the invitation got a few displeased glances from the people that weren't very happy with Knight's story, but most people looked very interested. "I said I'd go help them with some mechanical problems they've been having with their machines lately. I'm not sure what I'll be able to do, but they were pretty excited about it and I guess having an extra set of eyes can't hurt. I should be done in time for dinner. That should give you enough time to take a bath and..." she looked between the townspeople and thought about that awkward silence. "Make friends."

Dawn shifted again, unable to completely hide just how uncomfortable this place was making her. She wasn't a pushover by any means, but she did find it difficult to turn down people in need of help. That the needed help with something she had some genuine knowledge about and might be able to do something about made it all the more difficult. She just seriously hoped that they weren't some weird cult or something.

---

706/5511

[Alina Rybalka]

[nospaces]

[attr="class","nikki98"]

[attr="class","nikki99"]

[break]

[break]

[attr="class","nikki100"]

[attr="class","nikki101"]WE CAN ALL AGREE THAT VIOLENCE BREEDS VIOLENCE

[break]

[attr="class","nikki102"]BUT IN THE END, IT HAS TO BE THIS WAY

[break]

[attr="class","nikki109"]Another person might have been flustered by the silence and the range of emotions flitting across the faces of the crowd around her. Another person might have tried to fill that silence with something, or try to stifle the anger before it came. Tried to explain themselves to smooth things over… but Knight wasn’t that kind of person. She was the type of person to walk into a town that she needed much more than they needed her as a guest and openly compare their greatest hero to a serf and declare them equal. [break][break]

The fact that she wasn’t immediately kicked out was a good sign. It’d be really hard to explain to her partner why the fuck she got them both kicked out of the village immediately, so that was good that she maybe wouldn’t need to. The drummer seemed to actually be considering the message and was rubbing his chin, which was more than she expected. It was kind of funny, because if there was a giant monster outside the village right then they’d be singing songs of her instead of Jabari Clover after today which would have been just as stupid. [break][break]

Dawn came back to save them all from that awkward silence and assorted muttering, which was probably good for everyone involved. There was a genuine flash of confusion that ran across Knight’s face when Dawn said the locals wanted to try their food. That was a rip off and a half, but they had some time to figure out what the hell they were going to do about that one. The white-haired faunus flashed a smile to her friend and told her to not worry about it, and that the bath would be ready for her and warm when she got finished. It was the same as saying she’d be done pretty quickly, because she would know better than most that Knight had a preference for boiling hot baths that were really easy to make with her semblance due to liking the sensation of steam and not liking a lot of people around her when she bathed. She put a hand on Dawn’s shoulder for a moment and assured her things would be fine, mostly because she really doubted at this point the village was really malicious… just weird. [break][break]

Right as she turned to meander around to that bath, however, the drummer asked to go one more round. Gray eyes turned back first, then the faunus shrugged and assented. The drummer then went on a powerful and triumphant song about Vacuo, and upbeat sort of deal where he exalted the freedom and resiliency of its people. It was a direct response to her last outburst, and a smile crept up on Knight’s lips as she listened. It was a strong about the strength of Vacuo, and the harsh sun creating a hardy and proud people. The crowd cheered and danced at the song, reveling in the exultation of their kingdom and the boasting of its people. When it was her turn to sing about Mistral, she again took a drastically different tone than the one before. Unlike last time, she knew exactly which verse she was going with – Roads leading to that country.[break][break]

”Roads leading to that country [break]
Are overgrown with thorns, [break]
Perhaps I’ve left it, [break]
Left it evermore. [break]
Am I perhaps not ever destined [break]
To go home again? [break]
Am I perhaps to read [break]
These verses by myself? [break]
My dear gods! [break]
It’s so hard for me to live! [break]
I have a heart that’s big – [break]
But no one I can share it with! [break]
You’ve not granted me kind fate, [break]
A youthful destiny! [break]
Not ever have you granted it, [break]
Never! Never! [break]
Nor did you grant my youthful heart [break]
Any union with another! [break]
My youthful days, my youthful nights [break]
Slipped away devoid of joy!” [break][break]


”They simply passed in foreign lands. [break]
Not a soul was found [break]
With whom to share the heart. [break]
And now I haven’t anyone [break]
With whom to even talk! [break]
It’s hard, dear Gods, [break]
To bear these verses all alone. [break]
And not to share [break]
With anyone, not to say a sacred word, [break]
Not to cheer a needy soul, [break]
And not to chide an evil man. [break]
And to die! Oh Gods! [break]
Let me see at least that broken people, [break]
Let me see Mistral!” [break][break]

Unlike the last time where it was perceived a flippant response, it was clear from the raw tone of her voice that the intense longing of her homeland was something that she strongly felt. She teared up in the end unexpectedly, saying the words aloud for the first time in a long while even though she had been thinking them for such a long time. She found herself getting hugged by one person out of her field of vision, which was kind of weird given her earlier trick but that one person turned into two which turned into ten which turned into twenty or thirty people swarming towards her and making it much harder to breathe. [break][break]

”Alright, alright. I’m good. You can let me go now. You can let me go. Really, you can let me go. I’m good, I’m good.” she’d wheeze out, before eventually being let out and getting a guide to the bath now that she was seen much less as a flippant troublemaker and instead a deeply homesick teenager. Both were true, of course, but this was an unplanned development and would lead to some awkwardness later on she had no doubt. [break][break]

That was a problem for future Knight, however, because current Knight would enjoy a nice boiling hot bath and bask in the steam rising up from the floor to the ceiling of the stone bathhouse for as long as she dared before venturing back outside and picking up the much more colorful clothes laid out for her to put on without a second thought. Her old clothes were stinky and smelly at this point, and getting in fresh clothes even not exactly her style was much better than slipping back into the sweat soaked and disgusting clothes she was wearing before.

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[attr="class","nikki103"]835 words

[attr="class","nikki103"]ASCHE SYNDICATE

[attr="class","nikki103"]4318 TOTAL WORDS

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NOTES

B Semblance, D Weapons, B Dust Enhancement, C Durability, C Agility, C Martial Arts, D Stamina, D Exhaustion

PHARAOH LEAP CREATES

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[Sinopia DeStellanova]

She nodded. Her more rational side agreed that the townspeople were probably not malicious, but she couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. No one was ever this nice. No one ever cared about all the stupid crap she was doing, or did, or who she was, or whatever else. Never. It was normal for her to be suspicious of peoples' motives, and for her to be much more aware of what people were doing than most people seemed to be, but the alarms bells were ringing so loudly in her head that she was finding it difficult to do something as simple as maintain eye contact rather than having her eyes dart around to see whatever noise she was hearing. People getting upset with Knight for whatever shenanigans she was getting into was almost relieving because it was a normal response rather than all the wide smiles and starry eyes she'd been getting up until now.

With a wave, she set off to the back side of the mountain where they kept most of their mining equipment. By the time she could hear the drumming echoing through the stone walls of the city once more, she was already out of sight. It was a nice song, in contrast to Knight's whose made her look down and frown. She didn't have the same attachment to her homeland. She could walk through Vale today and feel nothing about it. She could never walk through Vale again and still feel nothing about it. Dawn wasn't sure what was stopping them from going to Mistral right now. They had money and she had seen enough of Anima during the war to know that there would be plenty for them to do if they went right now unless the place had drastically improved in four years. There had to be something else. Something that she just didn't understand as someone that didn't care about not having roots and felt nothing for the place she was born. She filed it into the back of her mind. The people were distracting enough that she didn't have the time to brood on it anyway.

Their machines ended up being fascinating. They used some methods that she had never seen, or even heard of, and weren't using some ideas that she considered pretty basic. They weren't missing anything fundamental, but she was surprised to see how well everything was working without some of those things. As uneasy as she was still feeling, this was the first time she was actually curious and a bit excited. She was able to learn a lot, and she was able to explain some of what she knew to help deal with some of the issues they were having. Unlike the dinner that was coming up, this felt fair.

The sun started going down by the time she got to the bath and city went from too hot to too cold in the span of about 30 minutes. The stone, which was hot enough to fry an egg on earlier, was now cold enough to be painful to the touch. Once the sun went down, torches in the paths in the city erupted with fire dust, keeping the area both lit and warm. There were stained glass filters surrounding the torches, making the lights as colorful as the rest of the city.

She took the clothes laid out for her, only because getting back into her old clothes would defeat the purpose of taking a bath. They were so colorful that she felt like a clown, but she wasn't about to complain about free stuff. The people here were far too nice. It still felt unnatural. Once she was clean, she went to go find Knight again and went to the place she was told to meet for dinner.

When the villager told her that he wanted the two of them to have dinner with his family, she figured there'd be maybe half a dozen people at most. Enough for a couple of grandparents, a spouse, and some children. She was not expecting to have dinner with around 30 people. His parents, and his spouse's parents, all lived with him, as did his seven siblings, their spouses, several of their spouses siblings, and all of their children. Dawn never had much of an extended family. She only had her uncle, whom she had seen once before moving to Menagerie, and his family who she never met before moving to Menagerie. Her father only had one brother, and his parents died in the Great War. Her mother was not on speaking terms with her family for reasons she was never told. Seeing this many people in one room that considered themselves family was almost surreal. She could only stand there stunned for a moment, realizing that she was going to have to grab more food.

They barely had enough. Strictly speaking, they didn't have enough, but several of the children were small enough to share, and some of them didn't want to eat it at all (not that she could blame them, they were pretty awful). She gave them the best food they had and that was some canned mystery meat and hardtack. That being the best thing they had right now was a bit sad, but it really was the best she could find. It was awkward watching them poke at it curiously while she and Knight had a nice stew with large chunks of bird meat and several colorful vegetables, with a side of some kind of bread. This wasn't fair at all.

Yet, the adults were very interested in the stuff. They asked what kind of animal this was, but she had no idea. It was probably meat from several different ones, the worst cuts that couldn't sell otherwise. Another remarked on how they must have been very wealthy because the food was so salty. The idea of salt being rare to her was strange, but when she thought about it, it's not like she knew where salt came from. She guessed wherever it came from, they didn't have any of that here? There was a small bag of it out in the car, and being able to give them that made her feel a little better about this trade. At the very least, the strange food was a good conversation starter, not that Dawn was able to talk much. She was stiff as a board and had a bland polite smile plastered on her face. This city was so overwhelming.

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[Alina Rybalka]

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[attr="class","nikki101"]WE CAN ALL AGREE THAT VIOLENCE BREEDS VIOLENCE

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[attr="class","nikki102"]BUT IN THE END, IT HAS TO BE THIS WAY

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[attr="class","nikki109"]Just because Knight wasn’t the type of person to follow societal norms all the time and had an unfortunate habit of public not doing so didn’t mean that she was completely incapable of pretending. For whatever reason that night, her motivation was high enough to play along and she was more than happy to soak the majority of the attention and play entertainer for the night. She realized early on exactly what Red did, that there wasn’t enough food, and only ate when she was actively forced to do so by many people staring at her. [break][break]

She wasn’t the best at social situations, but she was good enough to entertain people with stories that weren’t close to her and usually featured some unnamed and sometimes completely made up person’s fuckups and awkward moments from her own life embellished for the audience. She was also good enough to get someone else to take the stage by goading them on, and then using the dead time to check on Dawn or make sure the smaller kids actually ate. This went on for quite some time, but thankfully the kiddos got tired first and that was the signal that the adults needed to start wrapping things up. [break][break]

Things went on for a bit afterwards with a smaller group, and some absolutely shit alcohol was brought out that Knight pretended to drink more than actually drank due to the strength of it and the fact that it was straight. Made from cactus, they said. Very good and time honored tradition, they said. Nobody in the right mind made alcohol from a fucking cactus, and she regretted not making up that she couldn’t drink for some reason not long after she drank the first sip. Things dragged on a bit, at least for her, after that… but the alcohol made people get tired quickly and before long everyone was saying their goodbyes and turning in for the night. [break][break]

”Alright, not doing that again.” were the first words out of her mouth when she was absolutely, one hundred percent sure nobody else was in earshot but Dawn as they were walking back. ”The elders got a common area sleeping spot for us, but I checked it out earlier and it’s all hard floor. I think the car’s the better option personally. Clothes and stuff aren’t washed yet, so it’s gonna be another day or so if we want to wait for that. I personally do, but don’t mind just driving off into the night if the car’s ready or can be.” [break][break]

Knight hadn’t made any real connections to land outside of Mistral and was more or less comfortable staying in a village for a day and getting the fuck out in the night. In her mind she didn’t owe them anything more than the entertainment she already supplied, and felt no guilt or hesitation whatsoever with suggesting they might want to leave except for the thought of having unwashed clothes. There were colleagues, sure, and nice people and other acquaintances that they met along the way in Vacuo but there wasn’t really anyone or anywhere in the kingdom that she’d hesitate walking away from as soon as it became convenient. That may have sounded callous to her back in Menagerie, but it was just the way of life in Vacuo and not forming strong attachments to people outside of your tribe was one of the ways people stayed sane out here. It was extremely likely, much more than any other kingdom, that anyone you met once you would never see again because most landmarks would change over time and you’d rarely come back to the same place except by accident. [break][break]

It was just the way it was here.

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[attr="class","nikki103"]624 words

[attr="class","nikki103"]ASCHE SYNDICATE

[attr="class","nikki103"]4942 TOTAL WORDS

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NOTES

B Semblance, D Weapons, B Dust Enhancement, C Durability, C Agility, C Martial Arts, D Stamina, D Exhaustion

PHARAOH LEAP CREATES

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[Sinopia DeStellanova]

What had she done? What had she agreed to? Why could she never turn down free food? She even made a mental note not to take free food from weird people again! Yet here she was!

Dawn sat stiffly in her chair while all eyes were on her once again. Well, her and Knight, and Knight was able to take a lot of the pressure off of her. Awkward questions could be deflected and no one seemed really intent on asking her specifically anything. All of the questions were directed towards both of them. All she had to deal with were the small children pulling on her tail or trying to climb onto her to poke at her ears. Still between that, feeling overwhelmed and on edge from the rest of the day, and the sheer amount of noise a rowdy group of 30 people could produce made her feel terrible. She was dizzy, her throat was dry, her heart beating fast, and she had this smile on her face like it was stuck like that.

Proving that she could never turn down free food and would eat anything, she accepted the weird cactus drink. She drank slowly because her movements were so stiff it took her longer than usual to do anything, so she didn't end up having that much more than Knight. It only made her headache worse and made her wonder why she continued to accept things like this. She thought it was she finished the only glass of the stuff she took, and could only stare at the empty glass once she set it down. She would have sighed if she had any air left in her lungs.

She still had that small boringly pleasant smile plastered on her face once no one was in earshot. It looked like her face might crack if she moved it at all with stiff and wide-eyed she was. Her body looked like she was moving through slush and it was hard to bend her joints. With every breath she took, she held it in longer than intended and they were shallow. She really hated large groups of people.

"Oh yeah. I agree. Car much more comfy." She had seen to that every time she upgraded the thing. "It's fine. We can stay. Clean laundry's good."

If it was just her, she would have taken off already. Wearing sweaty clothing like this didn't bother her, perhaps because she rarely had clean clothing growing up. The people were far more difficult for her to deal with than being dirty. But Knight was different. Knight wanted to live a better life and she wanted to be clean. She could wait for that.

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