With a spin, Cinder's dark blades cleaved through the pair of beowolves that pounced at her. Emerald, her revolvers' blades extended, provided support, relying on those rather than firing shots. If there was going to be any benefit to being constantly out and about it was the endless exposure to Grimm. It wasn't truly a problem, but the more adjusted Emerald became to them, the better.
I watched them handled things from a distance, Glynda's semblance used to maintain a constant read of our surroundings.
Distant wandering Grimm, the countless trees that lined both sides of the path they were traveling, and smaller animals. Nothing out of the ordinary out here, but I maintained a constant watch, the entire battle left to them.
As soon as the battle was over, Cinder lowered her blades and looked around, Emerald doing the same. The former waved her hand forward.
The trio of wagons we were escorting moved, the boxes of the ones I sat crossed legged on filled with the clattering of loose metal. The wagon ahead set the pace while the one just behind brought up the rare, all filled with similar boxes of cargo and each one being driven by a pair with a handful of people walking alongside them.
"Why aren't you wearing the tailcoat?" Emerald asked as the two of them fell back, slowing to walk alongside the middle wagon I rode on.
"It got in the way." Cinder said, ignoring Emerald's disappointment. She'd only fought a few battles with it before yanking it off and stuffing it in one of the newer and sturdy dark pouches at her waist, the thing likely to never see the light a day again. Buying it aside, it was still function over form for her.
It didn't take long for Emerald to run out of things to try and start longer conversations with Cinder as the wagons rolled along. We were headed to a settlement just to north of Mistral, apparently nestled somewhere in the mountain range around them and the homes of these traders.
Of course, she didn't let the silence between them last long. "Hey, Talon, if that Qrow guy is supposed to be traveling with us, why isn't he sticking around?" Emerald asked after jumping up, grabbing the side of the wagon to talk with me.
"Leave him alone." Cinder ordered.
Unless necessary, we'd agreed for the two of them to handle all the fighting, both making a concentrated effort to conserve aura, while I continued to keep a thorough watch on everything around us, from the people we were escorting to any mundane parts of the environment.
Cinder took the whole thing as seriously as expected, hyper vigilant about those around us.
"It's fine." I said, giving Cinder a nod. Without my Sharingan, talking while trying to maintain such an accurate awareness of everything my telekinesis brushed against would've dampened both my aura efficiency and range, but it wasn't a problem for me right now.
"He does his best work alone." I said. Semblance aside, Qrow was probably up above living up to his namesake and maintaining a bird's eye view of our surroundings. "Just know he's keeping an eye out."
Emerald hummed before fully pulling herself up, sitting across from me in the same cross-legged position on the crates. "So, what does it feel like to, well, feel stuff using your mind?"
"Trying to figure out if you can use your semblance to mess with it?" I asked, lowering my voice to match hers.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Right." I said. "I'm pretty sure it'd be like trying to explain any color to a blind person." It was one of the main problems of her semblance. It's why our illusions on Grimm would probably never be perfect. How exactly did the creatures experience the negativity of others? How much feeling did they have in the parts of them that were hard bones compared to flesh? Its not like we could get answers to all that from them.
Better to try and overwhelm the senses we did understand or avoid relying on any illusions that'd require messing with those senses.
"Knowing wouldn't help you get a look at my eyes anyways."
"We'll see about that." Emerald said, still deciding to probe me about what my telekinesis felt like. At least the ride to this settlement wouldn't be completely boring.
XOXO
Unhooking its latch, I pushed open the window of my small room, each of us having paid for one for the night with the group fund once we reached the small settlement our clients were from.
Diving, a crow swooped right in.
By the time I finished relatching the windows and turned around, curtains pulled back in front of them, Qrow was crouched at the center of the room, rolling his neck as he rose to his full height, wood creaking beneath his feet.
"Nothing?"
"No one stands out to me." Qrow said. He moved across the small room, dropping into one of the two seats at the small table near its corner. "You sure sticking around in Mistral is even worth the risk?" He asked, voice kept low. The walls here weren't exactly thick, Cinder and Emerald in the adjacent ones. "With Malachite and her people busy with their little take over she won't be providing much information."
If that were the only thing I was concerned about, leaving the city for awhile definitely would've been the way to go.
"This guy, the assassin-" I said, joining him at the table, the old chair just as creaky as the room. "-he probably has some kind of semblance that lets him nullify the abilities of others."
Qrow nodded. "That's just a theory though. He didn't exactly leave any of the huntsmen he's taken down around to interview. Even if it turns out to be true, you telling me you want to risk yours finding out?"
"Not really." I admitted. The more thinking I did the less worth it the whole idea of going out of my way to get a semblance like that felt, especially when its user might be targeting me. But there was one aspect I couldn't ignore. "This is more about nipping a problem in the bud. Someone like him will eventually catch the eye of dangerous people."
Cinder, at some point, had initially tried to recruit him after all, only ending up with Mercury because he killed his father by the time she showed up. Overall, Mercury had been a good fighter but that's all he'd been. If Salem and her people actually recruited someone that could go around messing up people's ability to use their semblances?
"That's a dangerous way of thinking." Qrow warned. I'd agree with him but-
"We're talking about a hired killer not somebody just going about their life." I reminded him. He'd said that like I was talking about random civilians or some huntsman who happened to have a strong semblance.
Qrow held the pointed look he was giving me and I shrugged.
Knocks came from the door.
"Its just Cinder." I said as he stood up, hand dropped towards his waist. Slipping the hand into his pocket instead, he headed to the door, opening it up. Giving me a nod, he stepped past Cinder.
Hopefully he got himself some sleep.
Plain black shirt and sweatpants. If it weren't for the swords held in her left hand Cinder actually would've looked the part of anyone from the city on their way to bed, her dark hair falling just past her shoulders with bangs blocking parts of her eyes now that it wasn't tied up.
I nudged my head and she silently stepped in, door closed and locked behind her. Weapons placed on the table, she took the seat Qrow had been in, her arms crossed. "That thing you do. Do you think I could do it with my semblance?"
"You want to use it to feel out your surroundings?" She nodded.
She still wasn't able to do much else other than send things she heated up accelerating forward nor fully control how she did that heating. Even if it were possible I doubted she had the control for something like that.
"I think you should focus of bettering what you can already do. When you focus on too many different things at once, you make no progress with any of them." That said I still wasn't sure whether or not it was possible. With Glynda's semblance it was a built in consequence of the way reaching out with telekinesis worked. Heating the things I touched and controlling those heated objects. So far, in my own testing, that was all I could manage with Cinder's semblance.
But Cinder had done plenty more in the show. There was still no way to tell how much of it had to do with possessing the power of a maiden but there was no point in assuming it was impossible.
"But have you tried heating up an object without touching it?" I asked, that seeming as good a place as any to start. I might not be able to do that with hers but over the years none of the semblances I've copied have ever evolved into more than what they were, be it during battle or practice. If her semblance was capable of such a thing it would be her who found out, not me.
She freed one of her swords from their sheath and placed it back on the table in front of her staring down at it.
I guess she was trying it out here and now.
I watched for a few minutes, her fiery aura expanding but no part of it reaching out beyond her body. Unlike her ability to manipulate things that she heated, if it was possible, it wasn't just some dormant aspect of her semblance that she already had but didn't realize.
"You going to go back to your room?" I questioned.
She looked up from the blade. "Are you going to sleep?"
"Not planning on it."
Without another word, she looked back down at the table, refocusing on her sword.
I couldn't help but chuckle. To think the same person once so paranoid about doing anything around me could be so bold. I leaned back in my chair, letting her be as I focused on keeping watch. There was far less people in an isolated settlement like this so any approaching us suspiciously would still stand out.
Naturally, as Emerald stepped out from her room and to my door, I used telekinesis to unlock and open it.
"That's definitely not creepy." Emerald said as she stepped past the creaky door. "Oh, cool, you're both here. I don't know about you two, but I don't think I'm getting any sleep, so, want to play something?" She asked, a pack of newly bought cards held up.
"Bring a chair." I said
That was just going to end up being one of the many ways we'd have to fill out time depending on how long this carried on.
XOXO
Powerstone Goal: 700
(A/N: Huh, how rare. I've got nothing to say.
Actually I did have something to say and am putting this here through the power of editing. Most people probably pin the most flattering and/or informative reviews they get to the front of their story and never touch them again. I'll be doing the same but swapping them out every week so plenty of people's reviews get a chance to shine since you all put work into that stuff. Our current three front liners are Capivara_Brasil, maxtrioxor, and and our dude Anis_Le_king. Thanks for your reviews, they mean a lot to me and helps with motivation when discipline is failing me.
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I hope everyone is staying safe. The world is feeling more and more dangerous every day. I'm not going to talk politics but if I don't update anywhere or show up in the comments just assume your dear author is dead or fighting for his life somewhere out in the world.)