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[Yang's serious face flashes onto the screen, her arms loosely folded over her chest. One hand comes up to gesture as she begins.]

So I'm just going to get straight to the point for this: I need some sparring partners. And I don't just mean people who are good at punching and kicking, I mean someone who can test me and push my limits.

[She shakes her head with a small frown.]

I just... I need to be better. More controlled, more thoughtful. So whatever you're good at, weaponry, magic, super powers -- I'm interested. Maybe I'll give you a run for your money too.

...And if you're any good at dealing with enchanters or illusionists, send me a private line. There's a bounty that's giving me more trouble than he's worth, and I could use some tips, or back-up.

[Not something she likes admitting, especially for a one-star bounty, but that's how things stand.]

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Whaaaaaaat? I'd never do something so illegal, I'm dating a cop!

But who knows, maybe I'll punch him so hard he'll drop something interesting.

[Fayren justice is more based on how much the king doesn't like you than evidence anyway, right? It's probably fine.]

I'm kinda surprised, though. Everyone seemed like they were super interested in 'preserving the culture' of the other cities and stuff. I mean, you're probably moving technology from Nova, and not those weird little wrapped cream-filled sponge cake things in Attleton, I'm guessing.

You know I have to tell him you said that and it's going to break him a little bit.

[ Calling Mercury a cop.. you're breaking their hearts. ]

Sometimes. A lot of times, it's restaurants. Fayren has better fish than anywhere else because the waters are clean. Grell's lingerie store likes to ship to anywhere. Most of Nova's tech needs a power source they haven't developed in Fayren, so most of the high tech stuff is pretty useless there, but advanced medicine is a lot more functional and can save people's lives a lot better than leeches and magic. No offense to magic, but I still haven't seen it cure the cold, and in Fayren especially there's that Chimera Infection that caused a panic since it's basically a cold that affects mages and makes their powers go haywire. Attleton's got a great farmer's market, so again with the restaurants...

[ There's a brief pause. ] Everglade's got stuff for dealing with the spirits that break through too, so those are hot items.

Pfft! If he can handle the roomie nicknaming him Robocop, he'll heal in time.

[She listens with more interest than she expected, though. Maybe she's been dealing with Remnant stuff for too long, what with chasing after her absentee mother through all the shady clubs, then Torchwick and the White Fang, because she didn't even consider the fact that things could really be so normal. It also serves to remind her just how much she's missed during her own absence, and how much she doesn't know.]

Huh. Never considered that kinda stuff. ...The spirits breaking in, is that frequent?

Yeah, and with the WaysPoints it makes travel not as bad so I don't have to charge that much unless it's something hard to get or they don't want me asking questions. But no one else was doing it, so I figured it was something I could handle, and I've only had to kill people once over it. [ She quickly adds, before Yang goes jumping to conclusions: ] In self-defense, and I called the Guardian over it right away and he cleared me. Attleton's mafia had dissent issues a while back and I got caught in the middle of it. On the bright side, the Don really likes me now.

[ It's one of the reasons that she thought she could handle Attleton when she thought Cassian wasn't going to run for a minute. She backed down from that when he did, but it was something she could've definitely worked with- a good relationship with local organized crime would've been great for that, if in less conventional ways most people look for. ]

It's happened at least three times. Normal weapons won't keep them down permanently, just make them disappear for a while then they reform. I had one that I think was stalking me during one of the breaches, I saw his stupid face at least four times and he kept coming back for more. Anyway, Everglade has a lot of seals and wards that seem to affect them, and other spiritual magic supplies. The Rabbit's Foot can stay in business for the rest of that old man's life just because of those breaches.

[Yang shrugs a little to show she's not worried. She's not exactly the law-abiding teammate to begin with. Besides, she'd be a hypocrite since she and Mercury had to kill the first bounty she took on. As long as Emerald isn't going around murdering people for giggles, and she also doubts she ever went as dark as Mercury did. Tolerated it, maybe.]faces? Creepy.

[She looks to the side, thoughtful for a moment. Looks like she'd better pay a visit to Everglade.]

Wouldn't want to get caught unprepared, so I guess I'll add to his retirement fund before I head to the Docks. Might as well pick up something for Mikaela and Gwen too.

[ There's a lot of stuff she's done and maybe she doesn't revel in the killing as much as Mercury might, but she certainly doesn't shy away from it- nor being cruel while doing it. You learn to behave like those around you to fit in, after all, even if she couldn't stomach the fall of Beacon as well as the other members of her team could. ]

Wait until you see one, creepy doesn't cover the half of it.

[ Though it's nice exercise- Em doesn't really do anything useful during the breaches like be helpful, but she does take as many out as she can. It's rare to get to really have a massive fight like that anymore unless she goes looking for it. ]

Talk to Haller and Schnee, they took the rocket lockers out of Beacon before she shut that subarchway and use them to rapid-distribute weapons that can kill them instead of just seal them. There's a lot of drawbacks to using those, but you know. Options are nice.

Can't wait...

[She says it with a mumbled drawl, but she's also making plans to go to the holodecks and run some simulations so she knows what she'll be up against. So she might actually kinda sorta mean it.]

Why seal them if given the option? They're just like Grimm, right?

[Yay, go Weiss! And this is why she and Ruby usually handle the tactical side of fights while Yang handles the punching and being punched.]

Do they always come out of the same place, or does it vary each time?

Because those weapons drain you to use them, it's just not as bad as if you actually touch them so it never really causes long-term damage. From what I heard, Haller had a bunch of mages bind actual captured spirits to the weapons with strong magics of different kinds. I usually just skip them and let other people handle that.

[ In case she's wondering why Emerald fought the same one four times. She ain't messing around with that crap. ]

It varies. I don't know about the first time, but the second there was a crack in the barrier, the third the barrier flat-out went down in some areas, but the skies were so overwhelmingly full of them it was impossible to get out anyway.

Holy crap.

[Yang looks down at her hands; first the left, then the right. The latter works in and out of a fist a few times.]

I'm kinda starting to appreciate the robo-arm more and more. Otherwise I might be next to useless in a fight where you aren't supposed to touch your opponents.

[And they drain people, too.]

...Did they drain you? How does that even work, is it like...an aura draining, or your life force, or...I mean, you probably know how my semblance works already, so I'm not sure if that'll be a factor in my favor or not.

Your emotions, supposedly. I think you'd be in more trouble than most with your semblance. Though it might save you from doing something you regret after you lose them. Some people have said after they got drained they just kept trying to do things to make themselves feel again without thinking about it, like trying to hurt their loved ones because they know that should make them feel something, and just escalating from there. Then there are modified ones that really screw you up, too. One of those got me once, those ones aren't as dangerous but it's kind of like feeling like a moody psycho since anytime you touch someone you feel everything they do.

[ Which for Emerald was probably the most awful experience to date. ]

[Yang frowns down at her hands now. Her emotions have always been her greatest weakness. She should be glad to have them siphoned off, at least a little, if that means she'll have better concentration and control.]

[But she's so damn sick of hurting people she cares about. She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath.]

If that happens and I start going after the people I care about, you've got full permission to take me out. Or get the mob to do it, whatever. I'd rather die and reset myself than carry around the blood of my friends on my conscience.

[She doesn't have the heart to get fired up and pack her words full of conviction, it's still too soon after that whole stupid butterfly mask thing.]

How long did that last?

It's not a timed thing, you have to fix it or it stays that way. Taking you out will do the trick, but you can also just drag someone to the Bay and share. [ She pauses, then almost begrudgingly: ] There's a third way, but it's really vague and a pain and I don't want to risk him being stupid enough it doesn't work so I'll drag you to the Bay if you get caught. Just text me if there's an emergency or you don't think you'll make it out.

Wait wait...share what? You mean drain someone else's emotions and split the difference?

[She turns her head to look at the screen askance.]

...And what's the third way?

Basically. That one does work, that's how I fixed mine.

[ She didn't.. tell Jaune that's what she was doing, but she did it. ]

Gushy emotional power of love crap that I wouldn't be able to begin to tell you how to make work because it sounds fake.

[ She's pretty sure there's no way it's a real method. She'd rather rely on the first two. ]

[Oh. Oh hoho! Yang's perplexed expression slowly eases into one of glittering-eyed fascination.]

Oh no, I have to hear this!

[She was standing before, but now she's sitting with the communicator resting on the headboard, cupping her chin in her hands as she grins in eager anticipation. She's dying to know how someone who barely tolerates her thinks she can step in for Mercury if it's going to involve the power of love.]

This is all hypothetical, anyway. Go on!

That is literally the most detail I can go into because I tuned out the second someone went on about it since it was completely irrelevant to me beyond "power of love crap." It involves something like someone you love deeply has to be able to reach you emotionally and that can reignite it or.. something.

[ Emerald sounds like she legitimately doesn't really get it. ]

Merc's awful with his emotions though, so you'd probably just kill each other while he tried.

...And you're saying you love me deeply, or that you're actually okay with me sucking up some of your emotions?

[She is enjoying this way too much. She won't argue that Mercury isn't great with emotions, because he ain't. Emerald isn't really much better, though, as far as Yang knows.]

Won't that key me in on your real feelings about stuff?

What? No. The split thing has nothing to do with the love thing. Supposedly there's no split or drain during that, so it's the fastest recovery option but it's the riskiest.

What's the worst you'd find? That I'm really angry at everything or that I think Merc is important? I'm literally offering to split my emotions with you because I don't want to risk him getting punched to death by his psycho emotionally-drained bimbo, it isn't like there's much to hide.

[ Maybe the self-loathing and ] I mean, you might get a strong sense of loyalty and a little gratitude toward Cinder on you.

That's the only risk? Mercury's still better than me in a fight, I don't think you'd have to worry. Besides, that's a risk you'd be taking yourself. I don't think he'd be thrilled if I hurt you either, and I can't say I'd feel great about it.

[She doesn't like keeping any secrets from Mercury, whether it's for his own good or not.]

Maybe the next time all three of us are together, we can talk about emergency plans, just in case something like that happens to one of us.

[Yang's a little surprised that Emerald mentioned Cinder. She knows next to nothing about her past or how she got involved. She's only heard Mercury's story so far (and an incomplete version at that).]

How did you get involved with someone like her? What did she offer you?

I can handle myself around you and I don't mind hurting you- he'd beat himself up about it. [ She doesn't mind him being mad at her for a while. They've been mad at each other plenty of times. ]

I just gave you an emergency plan.

[ It takes her a moment to answer that. She isn't exactly wanting to open up to Yang- the person she had opened up to about what she agreed to seemed appalled by it. Desperation that deep to agree to the promise of not going hungry again? That's something you don't share with the world. But she's not going to deny that she owes everything to her. ]

Everything I have in my life I have because of Cinder. Including Mercury.

Uh...you sure about that? I mean, we spar all the time, he knows I can take a lot of punishment.

[There's the Attleton incident, but that had way more factors involved, like beating up Emerald too, and basically swimming in his father's twisted mind the whole time.]

I just want to make sure he's okay with it. If you're both on board, then I'm fine with whatever needs to happen.

[To be honest, she didn't think she'd get an answer. But she also knows she wouldn't get one if she just waited around for Emerald to bring up her past, so she just went for it and asked. She doesn't seem mad. Thoughtful, maybe, and quiet as she mulls it over. Everything.]

So...I guess...you didn't have much to begin with before you met, huh. Your family...?

[It's a conclusion she makes soberly, dropping her hands from her chin to rest on her crossed ankles.]

I mean like, really hurt you. Not just rough you up.

[ She rolls her eyes. ]

Fine.

[ How much should she tell her? She settles on not a lot. The idea that Emerald had family was almost laughable to her at this point. ]

I had me. If you're looking for some supervillain backstory that's going to make you feel like you kind of understand why I might kill someone, you're not going to find it. All Cinder promised me was that I wouldn't go hungry again.

[Maybe Yang would be mad about that if it was all she had to go on. But she's heard Mercury's side of the story too. Cinder likely didn't walk up to Emerald and offer her free sandwiches in exchange for mass murder. It was likely a much slower process than that, especially since it had taken time for Cinder's plans to be laid out. Plans that probably started out small, and mostly harmless, that gradually got worse and worse. Mercury had said he hadn't known just how far it would go until he was neck-deep in plots, and by that point he was in too deep for second thoughts. So if she had to guess, Emerald went through the same process.]

You're not a supervillain, Emerald. It just sounds like she was the first person to care about you. She took away your loneliness, and that kind of thing... I'm not gonna say I went through a similar situation, because it wasn't even close. But I know it hurts, and I know it sucks. So I kinda understand a little better now.

[She'll have to think about how that might wind up affecting someone. Plus there's the whole aftermath thing too. Did Cinder really care? Or was she just using them? If it was the latter, Yang would probably be pissed off too if she were in that situation. Then there's probably the distrust of other people who might do the same...]

[Yeah, she's finally starting to get why Emerald was so obnoxiously mean for so long.]

Don't try to pretend you understand just because you feel bad, Yang. The worst kind of person is the one who confuses sympathy for empathy.

[ Emerald didn't sign up not knowing what she was getting into. She said thank you, and Cinder told her what the stakes were- she explained everything to her, about Salem and magic, the whole shebang. It had sounded impossible, like a tale of lunacy, but she stuck around. She could've bailed the second Cinder said they were going to go pick up Marcus Black if she'd really wanted to. It wouldn't have been hard, it was long before she'd even gotten half of the Fall Maiden's powers and Emerald could disappear if she concentrated. She chose to be there, and she chose to stay. She doesn't need Yang feeling like she understands why she might go on a murder spree because she knows she was a street rat. ]

Really. The very worst, huh? I'm a monster.

[She rolls her eyes and props her cheek up on her metal hand.]

Look, I'm not gonna say I get all of it. I'm only going to understand about as much as you're willing to tell me, so that part's up to you. But I've got issues with loneliness too, and if I grew up in your position? ...I'd probably turn out the same, if not worse.

[She doesn't look happy to be admitting that, and it shows in the furrow of her brow and the heaviness of her frown as she turns her gaze to one of Mikaela's car posters.]

The point is, I don't think you're as bad as you think you are. You and Mercury were put in the worst kind of situation, but you pushed through it. Survived. Even managed to come out of it as a pretty decent person. We might not like each other much, but. I can respect what you're doing, and working to be.

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