The evening of that day, Shine and Wally were tired of all the negativity.
"I know we have to deal with Vara and the Salem thing," Wally said, "but I think we could really just relax for one day."
"Well, our date was fun last night," Shine said.
"That was 24 hours ago," Wally said. "And I thought maybe with the team, you know... I mean, I love hanging out with you, but I don't think we've even done anything fun with some of them, except for that one movie."
"Fair enough," Shine said. "I'm bushed, though. Not sure I want to go out...but maybe I'll get the girls and see if they want to do anything quiet."
"I bet there's an arcade here somewhere..." Wally said.
Well...to say that Qrow and Tai were exactly down for that idea would be overly ambitious...but Qrow agreed to it if they didn't mind that he'd win.
And only because Wally said he needed help chaperoning the kids so they wouldn't wander off.
Ren declined to go, but Sun, Neptune, part of team CFVY, and Oscar all agreed to the idea. Sun also wanted to get noodles.
Whitley was invited--and accepted out of curiosity, though he said it was beneath him.
Hazel declined. He didn't do "fun".
Mercury went because he had nothing better to do and needed to blend in. But he wished Emerald would have gone so he could have avoided interacting with anyone new.
[Introverts, am I right?]
That taken care of, Shine and the girls were all left at Shade.
Theo was sulking in his office, or else he must have been outside the school--and honestly they were sick of him. Maybe he was looking for Vara.
Pyrrha seemed like she was in a really good mood, to Emerald and Yang's slight annoyance. Certainly too-happy people weirded Emerald out--and Yang was still mad about being kidnapped.
She told them yet again more of what Victoria had said and done.
Winter returned from checking in with the Ace Ops--again, to find them not doing much productive.
"Weiss, have you trained or studied at all?" she asked.
"Studied?" Weiss said.
"Just because you're not currently enrolled is no excuse not to study," Winter said.
"Oh...well..." Weiss said.
"Enough of this." Shine came in carrying some bags. "The guys are all gone, except for Hazel, and we should be doing something fun too."
"Like what?" Blake was trying to read for once in ages.
"I don't know, what do you do here for fun?" Shine asked. "Where I live, we have things called sleepovers, pajama parties, girls' nights. Practices vary, but a lot of people do make overs, karaoke, games, and things that you definitely shouldn't do."
"You know how to make something sound lame," Yang said. "And is this really the time for something stupid like this?"
"I'm disappointed to hear you say that," Shine said, "because the whole party was going to be in your honor."
Yang frowned.
"To celebrate your return and your mother's--but she won't come out of her room." Shine rolled her eyes. "Raven acts just like some goth teenager."
"Miss Likstar, is this really a good idea?" Winter said. "We have things we need to discuss. I have some questions for you--"
"And that's a perfect idea, Winter," Shine said. "We all hardly know each other, some of us. Questions would be a great game to play. You should join us."
"I am not going to do that," Winter said.
"What, you have so many other things to do?" Shine said dryly. "I thought making friends and building team work skills was important."
"You can't really think these frivolous activities are going to do that," Winter said.
"I'll make a bet with you that they will," Shine said, undaunted. "And if we see an improvement in the next few days, you owe me coffee."
Winter frowned at her.
"It doesn't sound so bad," Weiss said cautiously. "I mean, doing things a little different."
"The makeover idea sounds kind of fun," Pyrrha said, cheerfully. "I mean, trying something new... It's just for an evening anyway. I can't remember the last time Nora and I did anything fun anyway."
"True," Nora said. "But Ren isn't here to make pancakes."
"I know how to make pancakes," Shine said.
"They won't be as good as Ren's," Nora said.
"That is rude, Miss Valkerie," Winter said severely. "Miss Likstar offered to make you food. You should thank her."
Shine smiled. "I'll make Nora pancakes if she does the makeover idea. I love doing makeup."
"But we don't even have any makeup," Blake said.
Shine pulled enough makeup out of one of the bags to supply a theater cast's worth of people.
"Why on Remnant would you own this much makeup?" Emerald asked.
"Oh, look, mascara." Weiss looked in one.
"Feel free to experiment," Shine said. "I'll go start cooking. Someone put on music."
"Winter, won't you join us?" Weiss begged. "I mean...we haven't spent time together since Atlas, I think."
Winter could never resist Weiss's puppy eyes--at least not when she felt guilty about not spending time with her.
"I suppose I could supervise..." she yielded.
"Yay! Party!" Ruby said.
"If it's in Yang's honor," Blake said, "should we do something special for her?"
"Hey, who said I wanted this?" Yang said. "And it's weird. Likstar can't stand me--she's got something up her sleeve."
"Or she's just less petty than you are." Emerald crossed her arms. "I mean, do you even appreciate how hard she worked to rescue you? She interrogated Watts twice. Do you know how infuriating he is? I would have killed him if he talked to me like I heard on the recording."
"You listened to that?" Winter said.
"It was classic," Emerald said. "I bet he almost wet his pants."
"That was what Mr. West said," Weiss said. "Which is disgusting."
"Oh, grow up, Princess," Emerald said.
"I'm not a princess!" Weiss said.
"Weiss, do you want to try makeup?" Pyrrha distracted her hastily.
"Winter says makeup is vulgar," Weiss said.
"But Winter wears eyebrow pencil..." Blake said.
[I have to thank either my sister or another fan for pointing out that Winter does, in fact, color her eyebrows.]
Winter had hoped no one would notice that... It was actually one of her only vanities other than her ship decorations and side bangs...and she had always suspected that some of the other women in the Ops judged her for that. But a Schnee really couldn't afford to look common either.
"It's just for fun," Ruby said. "What is this?" She pulled something out of the bag.
"I think that's concealer," Blake said. "Gosh, my mom is the only one I know who has this much. Shine carries this much?"
"I wouldn't have thought she was so given to vanity," Winter said.
"Oh, this is so pretty." Pyrrha held up some metallic glitter eye shadow. "I've never seen this before."
"I can't believe people spend money just to put this stuff on their face." Emerald picked up some blush.
"That's not the right shade for you," Blake said.
Emerald frowned at her.
"You should go a bit more rosy..." Blake explained. "I mean, I think you're a spring...maybe a summer... What do you think?" She looked at her friends.
"I have no idea when her birthday day is." Ruby was confused
"No, no, Ruby, it's what color shades look good on you," Blake said.
"What color would a season be?" Ruby snorted.
"It's...the tones..." Pyrrha said. "I'm an Autumn...but I don't really do more than eye shadow myself. But look at all these greens..."
The girls were having fun experimenting for a while.
Shine finally came back with pancakes.
Nora pronounced them edible--and ate most of them herself, so they must have been good.
[One Girl Revolution--Superchick]
Shine got into the makeup and hair thing right off.
She then begged Winter to let her try a new style.
Winter declined at first, saying it was silliness and she didn't need it.
Apparently Shine wasn't the only one who wanted to see this through because Nora started calling Winter a poor sport--which wasn't the wisest idea.
Pyrrha said they shouldn't make her do something she didn't want to do, and Ruby said that wasn't the point.
"But you have such pretty hair." Shine was trying the more diplomatic approach. "Come on, please."
"I know, since Weiss did a bun, Winter should try a braid now," Ruby suggested.
[Weiss would look adorable with a bun, just saying.]
Winter finally gave into it to get them to leave her alone--everyone said the results were very becoming.
After this the girls got tired of dress up and wanted to play a game instead.
Shine suggested a question game--so she'd been serious about that.
"We can ask any appropriate question and get an answer," she said. "We'll take turns. It's just a fun way to learn more about your teammates."
"Sounds boring," Emerald said.
"I mean, if you got creative..." Pyrrha said.
"Hey, I'll go first," Nora said. "Ask me anything crazy."
"I have one," Ruby said. "When you got your Semblance, you got struck by lightning🌩, right? How?"
"What?" Weiss said.
Nora snorted. "It was a crazy Thursday... Oh geez, what was it I did?... Ren and I were walking to some town, I think. I mean, this was way before Beacon, so...a storm blew up, and I was chasing this Grimm up this hill, right? Ren was all like, 'Nora, be careful,' and I was all like, 'Die!' Right? Well, I had my metal hammer, and I was right at the top of the hill, and the Grimm turned. And then lightning just blasted out of the sky and hit me. And Ren was all worried, and the Grimm was like 'sucker!' But then I felt super strong, and I hit it really hard instead. No more Grimm...and that's how I unlocked my Semblance."
This got a laugh from some of the group.
"That sounds very unsafe," Winter said.
"Hey, sometimes you don't have time for safe," Nora said.
"That story was very you," Shine said.
"Maybe this isn't such a bad idea," Weiss mused. "Who should go next?... I mean, I'm sure there's all kinds of strange things we don't know about."
"I think Blake should answer something. She hardly tells us anything," Ruby said.
"Uh...like what?" Blake asked.
"Favorite book?" Ruby said.
"Favorite color?" Weiss said.
"How did you get into the White Fang?" Emerald said.
They all looked at her.
"What? It's kind of weird that none of you really talk about it," Emerald said.
"Don't you know my favorite color already?" Blake glanced at Weiss. "Black?"
"I thought maybe that wasn't it," Weiss said.
"I mean, I don't know if I have a favorite book." Blake put one ear to the side awkwardly. "But...I like The Man With Two Souls... Now that I know it's kind of true, it's a little weird, though. And uh...I got into the White Fang because my parents were the leaders of it."
"Not what I expected," Emerald said.
"Only one of those was interesting," Nora complained. "Okay, Ruby, what's the worst thing you've ever done?"
"Worst thing?" Ruby said.
"Isn't that a little too far?" Pyrrha asked.
"That might be outside the rules," Shine said. "Unless Ruby is okay with it."
"I can't think of anything," Ruby said.
"Hmph, that's kind of stuck up." Emerald frowned.
"Ruby doesn't do bad things," Yang said.
"I mean, I did lie to Ironwood. I guess that was pretty bad," Ruby said.
"It's not the same thing--we were being cautious," Weiss said.
"I don't know," Ruby said.
"Let her count it if she wants," Shine said. "But let's not ask questions like that."
"Hey, this could be a chance to finally find out some stuff about you," Blake realized. "You have to answer, because it's your game."
"Oh yeah, that's a good point," Ruby said.
"I believe that is abusing the power of a game," Winter said.
"It's not like I have to answer if it's too far," Shine shrugged.
"I want to know how you and Mr. West met," Pyrrha said. "If that's not too personal."
"Oh, that's a good one," Nora agreed.
"Oh..." Shine said. "Well...um..." She looked at the ceiling. "It's kind of a weird story... He appeared in my world--well, got snatched into it, more like, by a...it was like a dark version of a portal. I had this thing after me, sort of like the Grimm, I guess, but not material like that. A bunch of my friends were dropped into my world, and then we were pinballed around other worlds, while I was trying not to lose my connection to them all. Wally was a big help. After the whole fiasco was over, I went to his world for a while, and we got closer. If that is sufficient..."
"That was not what I was expecting," Weiss said.
"Somehow, it's not that surprising," Blake said. "What about them is normal?"
Shine seemed a bit put out by that comment.
"It's sweet," Pyrrha said. "I mean, you go on adventures together, right? So it makes sense."
"I wanted to ask, when did you find out you were a...World Walker thing?" Nora asked
"I was 14," Shine recalled, "sitting in my room, and a doorway opened. I kind of just knew what I was supposed to do. Hard to explain it. I'm not sure our minds really process how it works. Sometimes you just know."
"Also not what I thought," Weiss said. "You didn't train for this?"
"You learn on the job," Shine said. "The most training you get is through stories and your own life experiences. If you have a mind to use them. One thing DJs tend to have in common, from what I've heard, is an attentiveness to things in life that we could learn from. You have to learn constantly if you want to keep up with the job. Often we're studious types, but there's a lot of people like Wally who just tend to learn from the situation at hand. You have to be quick though."
"Literally?" Nora said.
Shine shrugged, then chuckled.
"How many worlds have you been to?" Emerald found the concept so weird.
"Hmm..counting this one...and not counting my own..." Shine had to think about it. "5."
"5?!!" they all squealed.
[As of the later stories to this one, that number would be 8].
"That's not that many," Shine said.
"It's not?" Pyrrha said.
"I mean, there's hundreds of them," Shine said. "More, even."
They stared at her.
"How do you know which one to go to then?" Emerald asked.
"I'm told," Shine said mysteriously. "We have a 6th sense about it sometimes. Other times it's just an opening, and we go."
"But you get time to get ready, right?" Weiss was not liking how haphazard this sounded.
"Not always," Shine said.
"How can you possibly stay sane doing that?" Yang finally had a question.
"It's a gift," Shine sad. "And it's difficult, at times...but honestly it's been easier this time. Having a partner has made a huge difference. I used to do this alone."
"I see. You were training your partner," Winter reflected.
"Does that make you feel weird at all?" Yang asked. "Having someone who's a newb along? He'd slow you down."
"He's fast enough to make up for it," Shine joked--a joke that Wally would have found hilarious, no doubt. "Besides...there are things you can learn from a novice. My experience can make me cocky at times. I can miss things. I'm used to doing it my way. As you all have noticed, I'm sure."
"And you just get sent to fix things?" Yang didn't like it. "Isn't that presumptuous? Thinking you can fix a whole world?"
"Truthfully, Yang, you still don't really understand what we do," Shine said. "And I'll reiterate to you what I said before. If you tell me how you know the right thing to do, I will explain how we know."
Yang frowned at her and stopped asking about it.
"What kind of people did you meet?" Ruby asked. "Did you meet talking animals?"
"Once or twice," Shine said.
Little, who was there, nodded appreciatively.
"Did you meet anyone like the Maidens?" Blake asked.
Pyrrha looked a little uncomfortable.
"Yes and no," Shine said slowly. "Magic is common to most worlds, but the bearers of it vary a lot in how they use it. Even within one world, they can be very different. Many have what we call Dark Magic. The corrupting kind. Most magic is really corrupting in a way, but Dark Magic is more obviously so. The very rare worlds that have what I call Harmless Magic, have a kind of a magic that works sort of like your Semblances--it's just a natural part of them. Perhaps a real sorcerer would not even call it magic, just laws of nature. But laws of nature are not the same everywhere."
"Such as?" Weiss said.
Shine picked up a cup. "For example...you all know that I could never throw this teacup into the air and it would hang there, right? I couldn't cut it in half and not have all the tea spill out. I couldn't pull a whole table out of a hat and eat off of it, could I?"
"It would be...very unlikely," Blake said cautiously.
"There are worlds where all of that is possible." Shine put the cup back down. "There are worlds where you can change forms as easily as people change clothes. Where toys can come to life. Where animals talk like humans, and humans don't even exist exactly. Not that I've ever been to one, but I've heard of it. And where I did, it was natural. It didn't feel odd at all. As long as I didn't think too hard and try to make it like the laws of my own world. Then my mind would feel like it was going to explode...but if you can accept it as internal logic, it wouldn't bother you."
She tilted her head. "That's also why not everyone can be a DJ... You have to be able to ground yourselves in what is truly real. It tends to give us a flippant air in the minds of most people, because we just can't be bothered to take everything as serious as them...and yet we'll take things seriously that people write off as minor, because in the grand scheme of things, they may be the most serious. The duality of how we think has to be one of the biggest things I've fought over in every mission I've been on..."
That would explain a lot...
"Or you could just be wrong," Emerald suggested, not meanly. "Or weird."
"Yeah." Shine didn't get offended. "Could be that too. It's so hard to tell."
She said that last part so seriously that the girls had to laugh at it.
"I think it's okay to be different though," Pyrrha said.
Shine seemed to go a bit quiet after that though.
"Is something wrong?" Ruby asked.
"No," Shine said. "Just that, all anyone asks about is the job. There is more to me--us--than a job."
Winter felt that on a spiritual level, even if she wasn't sure why.
"Oh..." Ruby said.
"We didn't mean to imply that," Pyrrha said.
"Perhaps not," Shine said. "But we are, in many ways, just normal people."
"I don't know about that," Blake said. "Even if you had a normal life...how many people can just leave the world?"
"Hmm, literally all 4 of you did." Shine gestured at team RWBY. "Do you feel different?"
"A little," Ruby said. "But not that much."
Little looked up attentively.
"It's amazing how little it matters in the long run," Shine said. "To us, anyway. The inside is larger than the outside with World Walking. The little slice of time in our own world that we use holds so much in another one, but in our lives, it changes hardly more than a second or a day's worth. Rarely ever anything I'd miss. I don't feel any different. But some of you know that feeling, that being selected for something unusual doesn't really change how you see yourself, but it does change how other people see you. We're so eager to hold something up as an example, good or bad, that we shouldn't. It's not realistic..."
"I think you two are human," Weiss said. "If that helps. Weird, perhaps, but human."
Shine smiled but she looked almost--sad?
What had gotten into her?
Then she said she was going to check on some of the others real quick and excused herself from the game.
Which kind of took a lot of the vitality out of it, as it turned out. Shine tended to bring energy to a room that other people didn't.
"Did she seem...off to you?" Weiss said.
"I thought she almost looked sad," Pyrrha said. "Something must be bothering her."
"But what could bother her?" Blake wondered. "I mean, that wouldn't be bothering us."
Winter wondered this also... She didn't like it. Shine was always so calm.
Of course, on reflection, Winter realized that that was probably not true. Probably she acted calmer than she was. Probably, in fact, the difficulties of the war they were in bothered her also, just in different ways.
One could well imagine what an entire world with such problems would be like for someone, no matter how lightly they took it. To have Grimm trying to kill you, to have Salem there...and last of all, Kanap, they weren't exactly easy challenges to start off with.
In fact, the people who'd chosen to stay in Underland might well have represented how most of Remnant would feel like they had a choice about it... Who would want this ruined world, if they could avoid it?
Thinking this, Winter began to feel more down herself than she expected. Perhaps it was also wearing on her more and more how little choice she herself had in this matter.
Strange...she didn't used to care. What had happened in the last month to make it suddenly seem heavier?
Was it learning about Vara? About all of it?
Or could it be the change of scenery and teammates had itself began to get her thinking about the things they did? It was more important to the teens to have freedom and some say in their fates than it had been to her while in Atlas.
But...hadn't she realized already that things had already been changed for her childhood wishes? In Atlas she'd almost become a different person, literally, than she had been.
But outside of it, what was she doing now?
Winter was not so naive she had not thought of what Ozpin and Qrow had just been talking about earlier. She knew she couldn't possibly keep doing both things and hope to avoid confrontations with Salem's hunters.
Leaving the room, she followed Shine's own path.
Shine had gone upstairs to see if Raven was still up and, finding her asleep, had come back out.
Neo and Torchwick, who were around but hadn't been interested in "team building", nodded at her from one room but didn't bother to stop what it was they were doing. It looked like a card game.
"Oh, hello." Shine saw Winter. "Did you get tired already?"
"They seem to be having enough fun without any supervisors," Winter said slowly.
"Is something wrong?" Shine noted her tone.
"I should ask you that." Winter didn't usually ask people that, in fact, but it was kind of plain to see. "You left abruptly, considering it was your idea."
Shine looked somber. "I have a difficult decision coming up," she said. "I'm afraid I'm not as into having fun as usual. I thought I could put it aside for a bit, but all this talking about serious subjects makes it impossible. I didn't mean to ruin the mood."
"Never mind the mood, what decision?" Winter began to fear for a moment that they might be leaving after all the trouble the team had given them.
"You don't need to worry about it," Shine said. "Tomorrow will worry about itself, as the Lord said."
"What would it affect?" Winter said. "If it's that you are no longer certain of your welcome here--"
Shine gave her a surprised look. "Did you just guess that?"
"Was it correct?" Winter said.
"I--" Shine paused. "Well, not in the way you're thinking of it, no doubt, but it was certainly a good guess, considering."
"Not such a guess. You've mentioned having to go before," Winter reminded her.
"I forgot about that," Shine said.
"But I don't understand. We were successful in retrieving Miss Xiao Long and Raven," Winter said. "Are you not satisfied with our performance?"
Shine tilted her head. "Winter, follow me," she said.
Winter was puzzled, but she did so.
Shine led her up to the top of the school where you could stand on the parapets and overlook Vacuo.
The air was cool now. It was well into the night.
"Do you think of home when you see this?" Shine asked Winter, standing close to the edge--but not too close. Her fear of heights kicked in.
"No," Winter said. "Home was Atlas for me...and it's gone now. This is...just a place."
"But even your home was not home, was it?" Shine asked. "Because it was so cold...arid. Without love, what is a house, really? Just a building. And a kingdom, which you have no affection for, is just a place. You're right about that."
"And you have no connection to our world?" Winter guessed.
"I have the same connection here that you do," Shine said. "In that...it takes a personal connection for us to feel like we belong somewhere. And perhaps, it feels as different to us to be here as it does to you to go from icy Atlas, to dry Vacuo. But also we have no family here, no history, and if not for all of you, we might as well not exist here. There are times when it is very lonely."
"I suppose I could understand that," Winter said cautiously. "But why is it a problem now and not before?"
"Because you all have your blinders on." Shine stared down at Vacuo. "You think that there's differences in the way things work, over all times and places--but the truth is all things work about the same way, but it plays itself out differently. The trouble is, humanity gets hung up on those superficial differences. And in the end, it destroys us."
She glanced back at Winter. "Your lore says that the world divided itself, but our Bible says that God divided it, in order to keep mankind from being too powerful. I've been thinking about that. Ozpin's goal is to unite the world, but our own faith has a very strict warning about that. Mankind, united, is no good, unless mankind was always good. If anything is possible, it means that anything is permissible. Take Victoria, for example--she's clearly pushed the limits of what should be done, because she can. All mad scientists are like that. This is not new. It's in my world to...and our presence here is on the premise that we know this well enough to help you. But, help is not always what you think it is."
"I'm afraid I still don't quite understand," Winter said. "Have we not listened to you?"
"You listen with your head," Shine said. "As cheesy as it sounds, I need you to listen with your heart. One thing our Lord always was after when He walked the world was 'eyes to see, ears to hear, and a heart to understand.' That's very difficult. If, all this time, you have only heard us with your mind, then you have not heard us at all."
"You're so sure we've completely misunderstood?" Winter didn't know why this was making her feel ashamed of herself, but it was--and she had no idea why Shine was saying it.
"If I asked you right now, why you think we are here, what would you say?" Shine said.
Winter thought for a long moment.
She would have said, "To help us defeat Salem and save the world."
But it occurred to her that she'd never once heard Shine say that...nor did she seem to care all that much about Salem.
Perhaps it was not the answer Shine was after.
"I think to repair something," she said finally. "Something that has been broken in our world, perhaps..."
She looked up at the shattered moon. "Perhaps because of the gods--or Salem."
Shine seemed mildly impressed.
"Well, that was a much better answer than I was expecting to hear."
Winter tried not to be insulted by that.
"I suppose it's not wrong," Shine allowed. "But what do you think needs to be repaired?"
A pause.
"I don't know," Winter said, honestly. "I know that you do not agree with Ozpin's take on the history of the world. But I do not know what you think would be wiser. I'm not sure you've ever told us outright."
"There are ways to tell things without words," Shine said soberly. "But again...only to people who really know how to hear it. Words are good, but they are limited, you know. I can't tell you exactly--and you all think that it's because we don't trust you--but it's really because in telling you, we'd only make it harder, not easier, to understand. Words only work, honestly, when something has already started to sink in, and then they can deepen it. But I can give you one hint, one that our master gave a long time ago:
"'The Thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy. I came that they might have life, and have it more abundantly.' That is what He said. Took me a long time to realize what He meant."
"What does it mean?" Winter said. "That life should be rich?"
"I guess you could take it that way--would you say yours is rich?" Shine asked her.
Winter looked at her blankly.
"At least you're not a liar," Shine said wryly. "I can see that you have no idea, but some people would try to come up with something rather than look ignorant. But it's better to be ignorant than to be a liar."
"Miss Likstar, whatever you are scared of, does it have something to do with your time here?" Winter asked.
That Shine didn't say no right away was not comforting. She just glanced upward.
"I want you all to be happy," Shine mused. "But true happiness isn't just the lack of anything to cause trouble. It's deeper than that. That's the problem... No one understands that. Winter, I should go now."
"But...you haven't really answered..." Winter said.
"I'll explain more tomorrow," Shine said. "Just...try to keep in mind what I said, all right?"
She went inside.
Winter leaned on the wall and watched Vacuo, not able to so easily forget that conversation.