"You guys do this every day?" Emerald asked between breaths, slumped against one of the training room's cold steel walls, fresh sweat still dripping down her face and the bottle of water beside her leg already drained.
"We're not done yet." Cinder said, slowly managing to bring her own breathing under control. This was just a little halfway break before they picked things back up, the stuff that would follow far worse than the basic exercises they started the morning with.
Emerald groaned. "I should've stayed in my apartment."
Cinder ignored her complaints, focusing on the fight before her.
Normally Talon would either be kicking back not far from her, no real need for rest on his part, or starting a light exercise of his own until the break he insisted on was over. In a way, the latter was still the case today, but just in a far different way than usual.
A loud smack filled the room, a high sharp kick from Talon slamming into Qrow's forearm. The latter dropped that arm forward, seizing Talon's leg either preparing to pull him in for an attack or to throw him. Neither came to pass, Talon, with his unnatural reflexes, the first to take advantage, jumping into a twisting kick that both freed him and forced Qrow back a step.
He was quick to close that distance, the two exchanging more punches and kicks.
The way Talon was fighting. It was far different than any of their matches which tended to boil down to her either pointless chasing after his dust or being loosely kept running on the defensive. His blows hurt and he always managed to strike a balance that kept her moving no matter how exhausted she was, but there was actual aggression in the exchanges before her, the sounds alone giving away the force behind their blows.
With that huntsman being his uncle, the natural assumption was that Qrow was the stronger one, but Cinder knew better than to let age cloud her judgement. She couldn't tell which of them, if either, had the edge in the hand to hand battle.
But she did know one thing. If Talon, if either of them, attacked her like that she wouldn't last long.
Beep! Beep! Beep!
As the fight came to an abrupt end, the two separating from each other at the sound of the timer from Talon's scroll, Cinder stood up while Emerald groaned.
She wouldn't let that continue to be the case.
XOXO
"Finally-" Emerald dropped herself to a sit before completely laying herself across the training room's floors. "-done." Drenched in sweat with a few bruises already formed, she couldn't even be bothered to head to the edge of the room or get something to drink, eyes closed as she took in desperate breaths. Cinder, in the middle of wiping away sweat from her forehead, hadn't been much different when we first started.
"Still planning on showing up?" I asked while kneeling down beside her.
"Y-Yeah." She forced out despite a bit of hesitation. Hopefully that motivation of hers lasted but it's not like she actually needed to train as often as Cinder and I did. A few times a week would be more than an enough if she just wanted to get a little stronger.
"Ready to head out?" This time Emerald only groaned in response, a chuckle slipping out from me. We had more than few sets of stairs between this place and our apartment building. "I can carry you if you want."
"Really?" Emerald asked, an eye cracked open and relief all throughout her voice. A moment later that relief was replaced by annoyance. "Why do you think anyone would want to be carried about like this?" She complained from under my arm, glaring up at me.
"Beggars can't be choosers." I said, snickering to myself. Despite that I did lower us again and this time allowed her to get onto my back. She was lucky I opted not to take my entire weapon with me today, the pair of twin short blades from it at my hips.
While her hands settled on my shoulders and I steadied her legs, I pulled over the few things we brought with us, following Cinder out of the training room.
Qrow had left ahead of us to take care of some business. So far, all signs pointed to his semblance being completely sealed, which, as far as he was concerned, was a good thing. No disruptions to any other uses of his aura, no obvious psychological changes, and no other visible side effects. Even after that torture, I didn't intend on fully trusting what someone like Marcus Black had to say but what I forced out of him about his semblance all appeared to be true.
Other than the initial aura cost, that seal of his stopped the use of a semblance and nothing else, without any real drawbacks. It was the perfect weapon against any semblance heavy fighters I came across.
The long metal hallway that ran between all the different rooms was actually a little busy, with people entering or leaving rooms while plenty were already locked and in use. The same was true of the main lobby and streets, the three of us barely avoiding being swept up by crowds as we stepped out.
Emerald lifted the head she'd placed on my shoulder, looking around. "I don't know if just because we haven't really been sticking around lately but does the city feel busier to either of you?"
"The Regional Tournament is in about a month." I said while we crossed a street, heading towards the sharp rocky incline where several sets of long stretching stairways and a few ledges were built.
"Right, I guess I forgot about that." Emerald said idly as we started our way up one of those stairways. "A lot of easy marks show up all around the city for that thing."
No surprise that it would be worth paying attention to even to those who didn't care about the event itself. People from all around and even beyond Mistral would be converging on the city for it. It was no Vytal Festival, but it was something plenty went out of their way to see according to Qrow.
If I wasn't busy with anything important and still in Mistral, popping in just to see more semblances made it worthwhile for me. It wouldn't be the worst thing for these two either.
"If Qrow's still around by then, it might be worth it to try and get signed up for it." I said. A vast majority of participants throughout the years were from local academies scattered across Mistral but a wandering huntsman could get those they personally trained but still weren't actual huntsmen themselves into the event.
"I'm not putting on a show for anyone." Cinder shot down the idea without a second of consideration.
"Good, it'll be even more of a challenge for you then. You could use it as a chance to see how far you can go against people with actual aura training without your semblance. Maybe test how good you are with just a bow while you're at it." I said, looking over at her. "Don't think it's worth the effort?"
Cinder shrugged this time but the fact that she didn't double down might as well mean a changed answer from her of all people. At the very least, that was enough to get her considering the idea.
Given the kinds of things we were involved in, it was smart not to want to broadcast what she was actually capable of to the entire world. If she wanted to, she could go as far as hiding her identity to avoid any kind of fame.
It might actually be worth it to participate myself and do the opposite. Fame and attention would only make it easier to draw the eyes I wanted on me.
One of Emerald's hands began to rise from my shoulders.
"This is long flight of stairs to fall down." I warned. Her reach for my glasses stopped.
"You wouldn't actually drop me, right?" She asked. I didn't answer. "Right?" She asked again but I just whistled, the possibility left to her to consider.
The tournament was a far off thing but worth keeping in mind and planning around. Either way, all those traveling people meant we'd have our pick of work whenever we wanted to head out.
XOXO
"You know that isn't going to work." Qrow said, scroll held up to his ear with one hand, while the other ran twisted and turned his flask, a thumb running over the old leather. "I don't know if he gets it from you or Raven but the kid's stubborn. A conversation isn't going to change his mind."
He tore his gaze from the flask, glancing around the dark alleyway he was in. No one at the entrance and-
A dark portal formed at the other end of the alleyway, blocking his view of the dark streets. Perfect timing. He doubted the kid would take the scroll but maybe, just maybe, hearing Tai's voice might beat the odds.
A bone white helmet with red markings. Long black hair as unruly as always. Katana at her waist.
"Sorry, I'll have to call you back." Qrow said, pushing off the wall he was leaning against, scroll pocketed and flask returned to its place at his waist. "What are you doing here?"
"You sound so disappointed." Raven said, voice unmuffled as she removed her helmet, holding it against her left side.
"Yeah, well, you don't exactly make for good company these days. Not that you ever have."
"Tsk, asshole."
Qrow crossed his arms, brow rising. "What do you want, Raven?"
"I can't check in on you?" Raven answered with a question of her own. He'd have brushed it off if it weren't for the narrowed eye seriousness that followed as she looked him over. "Something about you felt…off recently."
"Off?" Was she talking about the fact that his semblance might no longer be a problem? She'd have felt it long before now if that was the case. "And you're just now deciding to check in?"
She shrugged. "I said off, not wrong. Besides, you were with Talon." He guessed he couldn't completely argue with that logic of hers. If they were actually in a risky spot she'd have known or Talon would've brought her to them himself.
"So, what happened?"
"Kid got himself into enough trouble to get an assassin coming after him." Qrow explained. Not much point keeping her in the dark about something like this. "Not just any assassin though. Marcus Black. You remember the name?" She nodded. "Turns out what some people said about him was true. His semblance allowed him to seal the semblances of others."
Raven scoffed. "And I bet you just jumped at the chance to have it used on you."
"I got rid of some baggage and Talon got something useful out of it. I don't see the problem."
"Of course you don't." They'd always had a difference of opinion when it came to his semblance, but she didn't press that, only shaking her head. "How's Yang?"
"I don't know but I'm sure we can go find out right now if you're so concerned about her." He said snidely, earning a light glare from her. He half expected her to turn tail, leaving through one of her portals right then and there.
"You should talk to her about Talon."
"You can't be serious." Qrow said through a heavy exasperated sigh. "So, you want to actually be a mother when it comes to him but can't even be bothered to go see her yourself? Are you really going to stand there and act like you don't see the problem with that?"
Raven's glare grew stronger. "Whatever problems she has and will have with me should only have to do with me. They shouldn't be getting between the two of them. I'd expect you to understand that."
"Oh, I understand that and a lot more than you do apparently. All Yang knows is that she has a mother who doesn't bother to see her but is more than happy to run around with her brother. Real great way to foster a healthy relationship between your kids, sis. What could possibly go wrong with that?"
Raven's grip of her helmet grew stronger, her mouth twitching as she glared at him. He glared right back.
Distant beeps. The flickering of nearby lights. The occasional steps of the rare person passing by this late. The sounds of the city held the alleyway for long time. Right up until Raven's hold on her helmet eased up, her shoulders rising as she took in a deep breath.
"Are you going to talk to her?"
"Am I-" Qrow pulled his head back, looking up at the clear night sky as he took a deep breath himself, the beginnings of a headache beginning to form from this whole conversation. He should've known better than anyone else that trying to convince her of anything she'd already decided for herself was like talking to a brick wall.
"I already have but she's taken after you." Qrow said, looking back down. "She wants to see Talon herself. She's going to be doing everything she can to make that happen."
Raven dropped her glare, looking away. Then she turned around fully.
"What about Summer?"
"Better these days." Qrow said. "She can move around on her own now."
"That's…good." She muttered as she slipped on her helmet, beginning to draw her katana.
Neither Raven nor Talon had seen her for years, but she remained a sore spot for both. But it wasn't as bad for Raven. "She wants to see Talon. You're the only person that can make that happen, you know that, don't you?" Qrow asked, stepping after her. "If you want to help him with Yang, you should start there. Send him to her. If those two could just talk-"
"No." Raven said firmly.
With a swing of her katana, another portal formed and she stepped through it, his hand catching nothing but strands of her hair as he hurried after her.
Dammit. Qrow cursed.
One conversation. Maybe none of them could stop Talon from going after Salem and her people but he was sure that all it would take was a single conversation between him and Summer for him to start visiting again. Everyone would be better off then.
Raven could easily make that happen.
But why did she have to be so damn difficult?
XOXO
Powerstone Goal: 600
(A/N: And Raven shows her face again. Always nice when the messed up woman pops up. Naturally, good old Uncle Qrow calls her out on her BS. Will it change anything? Who knows.
But you know what never changes? War and the link for those who want to read ahead for anything I'm writing:
patreon .com/ thirdratewriter
I'll try and pop into the comments before the day is over but I want to get a lot of writing done ahead of time. I wouldn't call it a storm but we are getting a flash of heavy ass rain fall, wind, and even the sound of lightning where I'm at at the moment. I'd like to have everything ready to go just in case anything like a power outage happens. Preparing is something or whatever they say.
Hope you all enjoyed reading.