Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Blake looked up when the bell of her cafe clanged. It was an unusual time for somebody to come in. It was midday, 3PM. Most people were still at work and most kids maybe just getting off of school. It'd only been about three weeks since the Sugar Flower Cafe had opened its door. She sat in a quiet, sleepy neighborhood not far from Tukson's bookshop. The locals were a bit wary of a new shop opening up, but Tukson had helped her make some connections in the local Faunus community in order to start getting people in her doors. She'd saved up all her money for the past several years, working freelance translation jobs which paid pretty handsomely since she had such a wide range of languages she knew. She was only eighteen, but she had managed to save up and research for all the permits following her time with the Fang.

The woman that had stepped in was a redhead with a ponytail and crimson eyes matching her hair. Wiat... Blake thought she'd run into her before. How had she found the cafe?

The woman came up to the counter and smiled at her. "Hello, Blake~ How's business?" She grinned, eyes gleaming merrily. Yes, this definitely was…

"Anna. What can I get for you?" She was the only person in the shop since it wasn't like she had any employees. She hadn't hired anybody, not wanting to get into that sorta conflict with other people. Plus, it didn't help she had her advanced aura... She could read other people's souls very easily. Now that she'd had some time to calm down and regain her bearings, she had full access to her advanced aura. It wasn't like she could predict people's orders, though... But everything they thought and felt... It was an open book to her.

Well. Anna was a mystery to her. She had high defenses, possibly higher than her own mother which was saying something. She couldn't tell what the woman was thinking at all.

"A double shot espresso will do." She continued to grin, her eyes twinkling merrily. The woman never gave up anything. She was as mysterious as they came.

Blake nodded and got the order for her, then handed her the tiny little cup. "Here you go. Though... If I know you, you want something from me and it's related to business." The woman was all about business. She knew that much. She was struggling to make ends meet right now which was incredibly difficult. She only had a few regulars that had become incredibly predictable. Same order, same time. No deviation. She had plenty of books to read too; Tukson gave her books that people could read. Books that hadn't been touched in his shop in a long time and were taking up shelf space. People could buy them and he let her keep the meager profits from the sales. Most were about four lien, ten at worst. Tukson didn't mind the tiny loss over books he was selling for, like, 50% off if not more.

Anna's eyes continued to gleam and she nodded affirmatively. "I have an interesting business proposition for you, Blake. You're in a unique position. You're an advanced aura user and, with all the studying you've put into psychology--" Her ears flattened. This woman always knew too much. "--you might be able to help kids around your age with various problems. However, these kids...wouldn't be from around here."

Blake raised an eyebrow, her ears twitching a bit. "What exactly do you mean?" She wasn't going to move her cafe. She might have more success in southern Mistral where coffee culture was far more prevalent than Vale, but she was less likely to be found in Vale and the government wouldn't care as much about her history with the White Fang if they found out. She had the least record in Vale... Atlas was the worst. She'd face the death penalty if ever extradited there. She knew it.

"You're more aware of the world than most people, and you're aware of how most people think far better than most. I'm offering you a business partnership. You could help kids from across the multiverse if you wanted. The cultures will often be similar to what you're familiar with like the Nippo region of central Mistral, the Fancios region in southern Mistral, and so on. You'll know most of the languages already."

"Do you know how ridiculous you sound right now? Helping other people from across the multiverse? I don't doubt it exists, but it can't be that easy to access..." Right? Then again, Anna always seemed to show up whenever someone needed something. "What would the cost be?" The woman was profit driven; she knew that. Anna would only do something if it benefited her in some way. She knew better than to believe in Anna's altruism... There was no way she could easily do something without want of profit.

"I'll become your supplier for everything. I can do coffee, tea, spices, syrups, and everything else. At about 80% of the rate you pay for everything." Blake raised her eyebrow. She was going to give her a lower price than what she already got? There had to be a catch of some sort. Anna raised her arms. "I'll be your sole supplier. That's the catch. I can even help give you access to Menagerine ingredients if you want them."

Blake blinked, her ears twitching slightly again. "You can what? But how?" She had found some half-decent dupes for Menagerine spices and such, so she could offer Menagerine-style sweets and teas, but it wasn't the same without the native ingredients.

Anna's eyes remained bright. "I have my ways. That rose tea you love so much? I can get the spices for it and you can make the simple syrups for it." That would be a dream come true. She missed that tea with all she was. It had been her favorite treat when going out to the market with her mother when she'd been a child. She missed having it so much. The specific species of rose didn't grow outside of Menagerie and neither did the exact spices she needed for it. "So deal?"

"Give me a contract and we can negotiate." Anna produced a piece of paper which already had everything outlined on it. She couldn't see anything that would negatively impact her and her business on it. For the next several hours, they talked intensely. Blake drove a hard bargain but so did Anna. Eventually, they came up with a revised contract. Anna would get her a revised one and they would sign tomorrow.

Which is exactly what happened. Afterward, Anna smiled. "I'll put a few spells on your place and be on my way then~ Happy business~~" With that, the woman slipped out of the cafe and Blake shook her head. This was definitely on the strange side. She probably shouldn't believe in the multiverse and Anna's nonsense so easily, but the woman seemed to always know where people were and exactly what they needed at any given time. At least the reduced price on goods would help her with her profit margins. Without her selling a lot of stuff, she was really tight right now. She'd let her current stocks run out, then move on to Anna as her supplier. She'd already talked to all of her suppliers so they knew... They'd incurred a cancellation fee but she hoped this would help boost her business. It just seemed as if nobody in Vale was keen on yet another cafe opening up.

However, her ears twitched a bit when the bell clanged a short while later. A blonde girl dressed in a blue dress with a dog on a leash looked around a bit. The dog wore a service dog vest and Blake smiled, welcoming her in. She wasn't exactly sure about the language... She'd just have to wait. "Um hello." Ah, Francois. "Did this place recently open up? I've never heard of it before." Well at least she spoke the local language.

Blake swapped over and nodded with a smile. "Yes, I only opened a few weeks ago. Can I take your order?" The girl looked younger than her, maybe around fourteen or sixteen. So not too much younger, but curious she would be on her own. The service dog was a smaller thing, maybe 35 or so pounds. He didn't look like any distinctive breed, clearly a mutt of some sort. Rare. Most people picked specific breeds for service dogs. Labs and shepherds and such were common, at least from what she'd seen in Vale. Aura breeds were most popular, though. Their intelligence was unrivaled and they made for superb companions. Blake just...wasn't a fan, but it was a service dog. She couldn't deny entry unless she had good reason to.

"Just a hot chocolate will be fine." The girl offered a hesitant, anxious smile. Likely a psychiatric service dog then. The anxiety rolled off the girl in waves. Oddly, she couldn't sense any aura from her, not even unlocked. Well, apparently Anna had been telling the truth about the multiverse. She'd never ever met anybody without some sort of aura. The girl and dog obviously had a soul and, since her business had been built on Remnant, latent aura lay in everything.

"Coming right up." She smiled at the girl and filled the order quickly, bringing it over to her. She looked out the windows of her cafe and blinked. Yeah, that wasn't the Valian skyline anymore. In the distance, she could see some sort of tall, spindly tower coming to a very fine tip. Where was she...? There was Beacon Tower which was similar to that, but that was not Beacon Tower.

What caught her attention most, though, was the girl having some sort of map in front of her. Entrances and exits were clearly marked and she had some sort of route marked through it. She blinked as she recognised what this was. The girl was a thief of some sort? She recognised stuff like this from the Fang. It was clearly an escape plan of some sort. She was going to steal something from somewhere. Should she say anything? She didn't even know her name and she didn't want to freak her out and lose her business.

"So what's your name? I'm Blake Belladonna. And who's your little friend?" She offered the best smile she could in the presence of a dog. After having military and police dogs turned on her in Atlas while being a peacefully protesting child, she couldn't help but worry. Even small dogs could do a fair amount of damage. Thankfully, though, this one was acting as a service dog should. He was quiet and tucked underneath the table, out of the way. But if this girl became a regular here, it was best to know her name and become familiar with her dog.

"I'm Marie Healani and this is my service dog, Fondue." Marie's smile was tense and Blake could sense she was much too close, so she stepped back to the counter. It was only them in the cafe, so she leaned against it. "It's nice to meet you, Miss Blake. This cafe seems...quiet."

She nodded. "It is. I've only gotten a couple of regulars so far. Most people already have cafes they like to go to that already know their orders. If you come back, will your hot chocolate be the norm? Or do you like coffee?" Might as well just keep things light and simple for now. Her ears twitched a little but Marie didn't seem to take any notice of them. Maybe in the spells Anna used...?

"I'm not one much for coffee, no. It's too bitter for me personally."

"Have you tried ever not taking it black? Black has its place, but for new drinkers, it's often too strong. Often a one-to-one ratio with a milk of some sort can help dampen the bitterness down. A lot of people like simple syrups in theirs like chocolate, orange, lavender, and such." She smiled at Marie. "I like mine about a two-to-one ratio with coffee and milk. But when I first started drinking it, I needed a one-to-one ratio. Maybe next time you come I could help you figure out a good combination for you." She wasn't going to push it, but once she got those Menagerine spices.... Oh boy, would that really open up her world. She could offer exotic drinks nobody on Remnant had heard of. She loved so many of the native spices in Menagerie, but it was a pain to get her hands on them…

"I'm not one with much of a sweet tooth, so that seems like an awful lot of sugar... I know the hot chocolate will have some sugar, but just plain syrups in coffee seems like an awful lot of sugar." Marie frowned.

"That's entirely fair. If you don't want to, you don't have to. Hot chocolate or different types of tea are fine." She smiled at Marie. "I love different types of tea myself; you should see the amount of canisters and tins I have in my apartment upstairs." She chuckled. Yeah, she had an inordinate amount of teas upstairs in her personal apartment. She owned the apartments above the shop which was definitely nice because it was easy to come to work. All she had to do was wake up, get ready, and come downstairs. It was so nice... And a lot nicer than working from home for her. She'd put so much away in order to buy a building though she had help from Sienna and Tukson.

"I don't particularly want to."

Blake smiled and nodded. "That's completely fine. Whatever you want, you want. Your body, your rules." Constantly something she heard around Vale which was definitely better than Atlas... Women were basically the property of whatever male figure was in their life: first fathers, then husbands, then sons. They rarely ever got to be independent from a man... She never wanted to go back to Atlas if she could help it. And, well, she'd get to see a lot more of the multiverse now. Though the fact she could and did recognise languages... Maybe the cultures of areas with similar languages would be somewhat familiar if she ventured out at all. She doubted she would, but maybe. Time not spent in the cafe was time not earning money. "So what are you working on?" She had seen the blueprint. It was a floorplan for a place and she was clearly planning on stealing something…

"Oh, I'm just planning a visit to some of the art museums here in Paris." Marie smiled a bit anxiously and she felt the lie roll off Marie in waves. But Blake smiled and nodded, not letting her know that she was onto her. They had only just met; it wouldn't be wise to call her out like that. Bide her time and get to know her. Blake wasn't a thief, but she'd snuck into places more than enough times to understand how to maneuver. What would such a bright, young girl be stealing...? The plan had looked pretty decently laid out. And having a dog... Yeah, that would help a lot too. But Paris... So that's where they were.

"Maybe you could offer me some tips on where to go at some point. I've missed a lot of big landmarks." Maybe one day she'd go out and explore this Paris city. She was curious about the big spindly tower she could see in the distance.

It was about then that more people started filing in and Blake's attention was drawn away from Marie. She had to slip behind the counter again and start filling orders. Whatever this city was, it was populous, that was no doubt. People here seemed to love their coffee if this sudden surge was anything to go by. It was definitely a bit exhausting having to fill so many orders by herself, but she welcomed the sudden influx of people. It meant more money for her. Anna had promised to deal with the conversion rates between dimensions for her instead of expecting Blake to try to handle it herself. Which...was definitely good. She'd provided Blake with several boxes of different currency that could be swapped out in the cash register with a press of a button. The spells were definitely very, very strange.

By time most of the people had filed out, Marie was gone which was definitely sad. She was definitely anxious and could use someone to keep her company. She could sense the sheer amount of loneliness rolling off the girl. She wouldn't be surprised if that dog was the only friend that Marie had. It was sad when people were so isolated but... She didn't really have any room to speak. She knew it. She didn't at all. She had next to no friends unless one counted Tukson and Sienna, but they were more guardians and mentors to her than friends. Sienna was family, but even so... She was glad the woman had pitched in and helped her buy the cafe and renovate it.

As it hit 5pm, she saw the city skyline change back to Vale. Things would likely be pretty quiet now... Evenings were never loud but still… At least it was a time to clean up and get ready for the next day. Though, the bell clanged and—

Chapter Text

Blake blinked, a woman in a ratty dress that barely covered anything looking around wildly. She was thin, incredibly slow, her hair incredibly dirty as well. Pure fear and anxiety rolled off her, her thin body shaking. She looked so much like a Schnee. Her face was practically identical to that of the younger Schnee sister who was currently attending Beacon Academy. "Can...I help you?" The fear and anxiety were raw and Blake couldn't ignore it. She was so absolutely thin. She has clearly been starved for quite a while.

"I... Can you tell me where I am? I don't know where I am." Her blue eyes were wide, body still trembling. Blake wished she could comment on how the woman didn't know where she was, but she had no idea where her cafe was going in general. So she could understand that feeling of confusion about not knowing where she was.

"You're in Vale in my cafe, the Sugar Flower Cafe." She had a feeling she was going to need to close, but, uh, this was fine. "I'm Blake Belladonna."

"So I'm not on Selia anymore...?"

"You're on Remnant." Apparently she was going to be a hotspot for weird multiversal stuff now. Best to just keep calm and not freak this woman out. She clearly had had it rough... The scarring... She could see so much scarring on this woman's body. That grey, ratty dress barely covered a thing. It was like a clubbing minidress.

"So not on Selia..." She slid down the door and crumbled into a little ball. "W-Weiss Schnee." A Schnee from a different world. Well this was going to be interesting to deal with. But she clearly needed help. She reminded Blake all too much of herself when she'd escaped Adam…

"Can I come over and flip the sign to closed?" She did have one usual that came around this time, but this was clearly a much more dire circumstance than having her one usual. She'd gotten a fair amount of money while in Paris, so she could afford to deal with closing early.

Weiss looked up and gave a weak nod before dropping her head back onto her knees. Blake came over, flipped the sign to closed, and drew the blinds over the cafe's large windows. "Come on; let's get you upstairs." She frowned. "Do you think you can climb some stairs?" Weiss seriously looked about ready to keel over. She couldn't weigh more than eighty pounds, but she was probably closer to sixty.

"I...I can try." She hobbled to her feet, body still shaking severely. Blake offered her shoulder and Weiss' eyes flashed, worry rolling off her in tsunamis. But she leaned against Blake after a few moments. Blake could tell she was incredibly weak. What had happened to her? She had no idea…

They made their way up the stairs to the lower-level apartment (which was Blake's own) and Weiss settled on the couch, rubbing the fabric as if she hadn't touched anything like it in ages. "How about I get some dinner going and you can tell me your story--well, as far as you're willing to tell me." It wasn't like she was fairly open about her White Fang history or any of that with people.

"I...I don't want to talk about it too much. I was in a war and then I was captured and tortured. But I probably shouldn't try to eat too much... I'm not a physiomancer in any shape, way, or form, but I've heard if someone's been starved, they need to be careful to not take in too much or else their body will go into shock."

Blake nodded. "That's right; it's called refeeding syndrome. I'll make some soup and tea to be light on your stomach. I don't think a small bowl of chicken noodle soup will hurt." It'd take an hour or so to get there and make it all, but that was fine. She'd already taken chicken out at least... She got the stock pot on the stove and filled it with water. It was a small stock pot and would give her leftovers for a week. Weiss probably wouldn't and couldn't eat much. But seriously, what could a Schnee have gotten into that would leave her like this? She was aware of the abuse Weiss and Winter had gone through due to the leaks of the videos a few years beforehand. Winter was doing her best to erase the family's history of abusing the Faunus by making reparations with the SDC but still... It would take more than that to build new bridges where old ones had burned. "Until then, there's a bookshelf if you want it." Well, several but.

"Wait, you have physical books?" Blake looked over and saw Weiss' eyes wide. Blake raised an eyebrow.

"Yes?" She didn't understand.

"Wow so many... Are you richer than even my family?" She stood up, body still trembling. Blake was honestly worried she was going to fall. She was clearly incredibly weak. She'd mentioned torture... Seriously, who would torture a Schnee like that...? Then again, she already knew the answer.

Jacques Gele.

"No. They're just discount books from my previous guardian's used bookstore. He let me have them for half price while I Lived there." She had lived above Tukson's shop for quite some time. She felt bad because it meant he couldn't take in other people like her, but she had her heart dead set on a cafe... She wanted it so badly. It wouldn't atone for her past crimes, but she could at least give back to the community somehow. Once started making a good profit, she could donate to charities. She was considering giving the space after hours to the small Menagerine enclave (about two blocks by two blocks) so people could connect with their native language and everything…

"Wait, you have bookstores here? And, wait, why do you have cat ears?" Blake glanced up at her ears, tensing, ready for the racism. "I've never met anybody like that before. Can you hear with them?"

Blake blinked, not having expected that but nodded. She twitched and moved them. "They're absolutely real. I use ultrasonic ringtones for the people I contact constantly. Humans can't hear them. I'm what's called a Faunus."

Weiss blinked a few times and nodded. "Okay. That's...interesting. Selia doesn't have anybody like that on it. We have several different races, but cities are generally human-only. The others prefer nature."

"Human and Faunus live together...for better and worse. There's a lot of racism unfortunately." She sighed. She really didn't feel like going into it. It was stupid. Yes, Faunus had a few physical points above humans, but they weren't that different in the end... She didn't understand how and why people saw things so badly. It was obnoxious...but it was why she stayed in Vale.

"I see..." Weiss sat at the bookshelf and picked up a few books. "Do you have any reference material? Though..." She frowned which Blake could sense. "...are you going to throw me out? I'm..going to need a lot of help."

Blake shook her head. "I'm not gonna toss you out on the streets. I'm probably better equipped to help you more than most people. I'm no doctor, but I know a few things about psychology and physiology." She would definitely need to consult with somebody that had medical knowledge but... How would she do that? Who would see a Schnee? Well, question was how to get her so her account wouldn't overlap with the actual Weiss' Schnee's... She could easily hack a history in for this Weiss, but she had no idea how to handle it.

But she would definitely need help of some sort... She frowned and looked at her scroll. She dialed the number Anna had given her. "Hello, Blake~ What can I do for you?" As usual, she was incredibly  chipper and forward.

Blake tucked her scroll between her shoulder and cheek, cooking as best she could while starting the electric kettle for some tea. "Uh, hi... I had to close early today because of a...situation. An alternate Weiss Schnee somehow showed up in my shop. I'm going to need some help. She has nothing and I can't get her into a doctor... Is there anything you can do to help?" Considering Anna had the ability to break the multiverse like she had, it only made sense in Blake's mind to call her.

"Do you know where she's from?"

"She said she's from Selia."

"I know exactly who that is. Give me about twenty minutes." WIth that, the call clicked off, leaving Blake completely alone to cook. She put her scroll back in her pocket and saw Weiss staring at her.  

Blake shifted a bit uncomfortable.

"S-Sorry... It's just been...a long time since I've been so close to electronics..." She stared at the scroll in Blake's hand.

"Do...you want it?"

Weiss flinched away. "I...can't touch another's personal device. It'd be a massive violation of my ethics. I'd download all your personal data into my mind. I...could be stripped if I did that." Blake frowned. What was she even talking about? Ethics? Stripped? Well, that was definitely talk from another world. Not that she doubted it... Well. The Fang often tortured people, but it wasn't usually prolonged like this. Maybe a couple of days and that'd be it. They didn't want culpabilities. Weiss had obviously been starved over a very prolonged period of time.

"Okay." She felt it best to not press Weiss too much. So she fell silent while Weiss flipped through her books. "I don't have a lot of reference material here but I can pick up some books from Tukson's tonight probably. He normally closes at five but." He wouldn't mind Blake picking up some stuff after hours. He had cared for her for years after all... They were pretty close at this point.

  After that, the apartment fell silent until a buzz came on the intercom. Blake walked over and flicked the camera on. It was Anna. She hit the buzzer and opened the door. "Come on in."

Thankfully, it didn't take too long for the woman to come up and knock on the door. She felt Weiss shudder massively but Blake walked over and opened it. Anna had a messenger bag slung over her shoulder. Blake invited her in and Anna handed Weiss the bag. "Here are all the essentials you'll need from Selia and some clothes until you can get over to my shop and pick some stuff up. You should really pick your own clothes but..." She looked at Blake and held up a bag that was clearly from a pharmacy. "I also brought some medications for her that should work. Normally I'd like to talk to people first but..." She shook her head. "Not a lot of time right now. Nightmare blockers, sedatives, and help for calming panic attacks along with some vitamins and such to help rebuild ones. I also have a diet on a piece of paper in there for you to follow too. You can bring her over to my shop tomorrow after you close, be it early or later. I'll be a few shops down."

Blake raised an eyebrow. "And how much is this going to cost?"

Anna's eyes gleamed. "Let's just say I'm taking it out of Mister Gele's account. Anything you need for her will be on the house as long as you come to me. Also... She'll need a shower so I brought you a new bottle of shampoo." She sat it on the counter. "Until tomorrow." She waved and left.

Blake shook her head. "Well, that was easier than I thought it'd be." She looked back over to the kettle which had been on 'warm' and got in her tea cabinet, pulling down some lavender, chamomile, and lemongrass. "Want some tea?"

"Um. Can I have a shower first...? It's been...I'm not sure how long since I last was truly clean." She looked at Weiss who had a frown etched on her face.

"Sure, Go ahead. Dinner will be done in about 45 minutes. If you want to go back in after that, feel free." She knew what it was like to not be truly clean. She felt bad for the poor woman. A schnee's hair should be pure white, not the dusty, dingy grey tone that Weiss' was.

Weiss headed into the bathroom, grabbing the bottle of shampoo, taking the bag in with her. She emerged about 45 minutes later in pajamas with long, conservative sleeves and pants with a housecoat thrown over her. It was only the beginning of January, so it made sense that she'd be in something warm. Without any body fat, she had to be starving. "Um. That bottle of shampoo was definitely needed. I used about half a bottle to get my hair clean..." She rubbed the back of her neck. Blake could see a faint sheen of blue around her hands that looked like fingerless gloves, but it was hard to tell.

"That's perfectly all right, Weiss. We can always get more. No need to be so bashful about it. Though we should probably find something more specific for you." She knew how important apperance was to people like Weiss and how sensitive skin could be... She still personally needed to be careful with her cleaning and personal hygiene products. She was used to all-natural products due to having grown up in Menagerie.

Weiss nodded a bit and sat at the table. Blake put a little bit of soup into a bowl for her along with half a glass of water. "Go slow. Take your time. Your body isn't used to drinking or eating consistently anymore." Weiss nodded and drank some water, obviously wanting to guzzle it down right then, but she took small sips between bites of food. "So you said you're from Selia. What exactly was your life like before it went to hell?" Hopefully that wouldn't be too triggering to talk about.

"I was--am--a technomancer, specifically a datomancer and a hajomancer." Blake raised an eyebrow. What did that even mean? "Basically I can manipulate physical bytes on a drive and absorb, download, and analyse data. I'm glad Anna came because I really needed my inhibitor gloves.. She didn't give me an ethis, though. It has the same functions as an ethis but it's a different form." She pulled out a scroll. "It looks like what you were talking on earlier..."

"We call it a scroll. What's an ethis?"

"From what I've gathered, it does a lot of the same things as as an ethis: allows for calls, texting, access to the web, and a bunch of other things. Though, for 'mancers, the main thing is keeping track of our ethics."

"That's the second time you've mentioned ethics... What exactly do you mean by that?" It would make some sort of sense for them to follow an ethical code of conduct, but she had a feeling it was deeper than that. The word resonated through Weiss' entire being whenever she said it. It was very strange. Ethics could be important to people, sure, but she'd never sensed it go as deep as it did with Weiss.

"We have deep ethical codes we need to follow. The ethis monitors our ethics and infractions of our codes." Blake's blood ran cold at that description. A device that literally monitored her morality? That...was beyond disturbing. How could anybody live like that? And Weiss didn't make a big deal of it. She acted as if it was the weather. Her soul said that she was completely at ease with it and it was just a normal, everyday part of life. She... She couldn't understand how somebody could be okay with their morality being monitored. Thankfully, it did seem to be helping Weiss relax.

"So what exactly was your job on Selia?" She wanted to get away from the talks of ethics and ethis violations... That was too disturbing to dwell on. She just... How could somebody be so at ease? And what happened if someone violated that ethics code? She shuddered to think about the potential consequences of a surveillance system that ran that deep into society to the point nobody really seemed to question it.

"I was a data encryption specialist." Weiss frowned. "Well... That was at least before I got conscripted into the war." She looked down and her soul fell silent. Frigid cold rolled off Weiss. She definitely wouldn't push too much into that. Weiss didn't seem to be willing to talk about it. Not that Blake blamed her... She'd been a child soldier, though Weiss seemed a bit older... Maybe early to mid twenties? A bit older than Blake for certain. But her sunken eyes and hollow cheeks made her look so much older than she likely was. And that haunted look in her eye... Blake knew it all too well from her own flight from Adam.

"I know a thing or two about computers. Though speaking of that... I'll probably need to hack an ID in for you in the Valian government archives." Yeah, Weiss wouldn't be able to function in Vale without a valid government ID. Blake actually had two separate ID accounts... She had her one in Mistral which was her official one under Blake Belladonna. She went by Blake Fabri in Vale so people wouldn't connect her with the White Fang. For off worlders though? The name wouldn't mean anything, nor could they connect it back to the White Fang. They probably wouldn't even know the Fang existed.

Weiss nodded a bit. "I mean I could probably do it in about ten minutes flat... The encryption on this scroll thing is well below anything on Selia. There's no magic encryption like I'm used to. It's all just coding. Just coding will be open to me."

"I know how to get in and out of the government systems without any trace. I don't doubt you're incredible at what you do, but considering I know the systems at this point..." Yeah. Weiss nodded a bit, drinking some of the broth from the soup. She really wasn't trying to demean Weiss or anything. The woman yawned, not even having finished the little bit of soup Blake had given her. Yeah, she was really gonna have to work to expand her stomach again. "I know it's early in the evening, but how about you get some rest?" It was closing in on 830, but with the medicines Anna had given them, Weiss would probably be out like a light. Sedatives and nightmare blockers were a powerful combination. She no longer needed sedatives to sleep but yeah, she still needed nightmare blockers.

The color drained from Weiss' face. "I..."

"Are you worried about nightmares?"

Weiss nodded, squeezing her hands together.

Blake smiled at her gently. "IT's okay. Anna gave you some nightmare blockers. Nothing will bother you unless it's not the right type. But considering Anna's thoroughness, she probably chose the right type." She picked Weiss' glass up and put some more water in it, then sat it in front of her. She offered her the small cocktail of pills. She could still sense the anxiety rolling off Weiss but she reluctantly took them. "Come on. Let's get you to bed." She helped Weiss up and to the guest bedroom in her personal apartment. There was another one up above her own, but Weiss likely wouldn't have the strength to get up there on her own.

Weiss laid down and curled up, pulling the covers over her. Blake turned off the light then closed the door behind her. Unfortunately, it only took a few minutes for her to hear Weiss' breathing come rapidly even in the living room. She turned the light on and looked at Weiss. "What's wrong?"

Weiss looked at her with wide eyes, though they were a little glassy from the sedatives starting to kick up. "T-Too dark..." Her words were a little slurred and she was obviously fighting sleep off at this point. "Too quiet."

"Okay, relax." She turned the bedside lamp on. "Unlock your scroll for me." Weiss' hands shook and swayed a little but she managed to do it, then handed it to Blake. Blake opened to a noise generator site and selected a soft piano generator. "We can figure out settings tomorrow. For tonight, just stick with this." She put the scroll on the charger on the nightstand and Weiss nodded, closing her eyes again. Blake left the room again. She hoped that would be enough for Weiss to be able to sleep peacefully. She took care of the leftovers then took her own meds and curled up for the night. Tomorrow would definitely be an interesting day...

Chapter Text

Blake's alarm went off at 430, a soft sound that was more than enough to wake her up. She yawned, ears flicking back for a second before she slipped out of bed. She gathered her clothes and went into the bathroom, quickly showering and running through some other parts of her morning routine.

She stopped by Weiss' room and tilted one ear toward the door, resting a hand on it. She heard haggard breathing and hesitated before knocking. The lamp rotated a bit on the table and she could no longer make out the noise generator she'd put on Weiss' scroll the previous night. After that, though, the door cracked and Weiss looked at her, blue eyes wide and she clearly shook. "I'm sorry; I didn't mean to startle you," Blake apologised.

"I-It's fine... I just..." Weiss shuddered visibly and opened the door. The clothes hung off her thin frame in a way that made Blake frown. She had seen just how thin Weiss was yesterday, but this was still sad to see. She had to be careful with how she fed Weiss, though... She didn't want to send her through refeeding syndrome which would require medical assistance. Currently, Weiss had no government identification but... She would deal with that soon. Hacking the Valian government's systems wouldn't be too terribly hard.

"Come on. YOu're awake. I was getting ready for the day anyway but...I might have to stay closed today to help get you on your feet." Weiss looked down at that. Blake held her hand up to Weiss then rested it on her shoulder, Weiss tensing noticeably. She winced. She knew what that felt like all too much. She still wasn't great at accepting touch after what Adam had done to her. "It's fine."

"If you're sure..."

"I am. Come on; how about I get us some breakfast?" Weiss nodded a little though her gaze remained cast down to the floor. Blake took her hand back and headed into the kitchen. She cooked up some of what Anna had said was okay for Weiss, just sticking to it for herself. Not her personal choice, but it was easier to just cook multiple servings of one meal than try to make two different ones. She was all about efficiency in the kitchen at this point. Sometimes she would make elaborate Menagerine meals for herself, but at this point, simple, hearty meals were usually what she preferred. She was always exhausted after a long day. She had nobody to help out with cleaning and such, so she needed to do it all herself. It was fine. She'd get some help once she was making more money. But for now, it was all on her.

Weiss picked at her food. Blake could feel the literal starvation in her body, but her aura was almost entirely shut down from how triggered she was. Whatever had happened had severely made her not want to do anything. "Weiss... I can sense I did something wrong. Can you please tell me so I don't repeat my mistakes?" She kept her tone soft and gentle, not wanting to upset Weiss any further, but she couldn't make amends for what she didn't know what was wrong. All she could sense was that she'd triggered her badly and stressed her out.

Weiss frowned. "...You knocked on the door." Blake blinked. That was a trigger? She knew triggers could be highly specific and individual and even downright strange. Something so common though... THat was definitely odd. "I can see your disbelief..." Weiss looked down at the table. "That was always the first thing they'd do right before a torture session." That would definitely do it then…

"I won't do it again then. Will talking through the door be okay if I want to check on you? Like just saying your name. And I heard I startled you when I knocked... You hit the lamp, didn't you?" She'd heard the circle around a couple times as if she hit the lampshade.

Weiss blinked. "You heard that?"

Blake twitched her cat ears. "They're real and just as sensitive as an actual cat's ears. I can hear ultrasonic frequencies without any problem. My hearing ranges high above a normal human's." She couldn't really blame Weiss for not thinking things through all the way... It definitely wasn't the primary thing at the forefront of Weiss' mind right now. She'd told her about the Faunus but just being out of torture like that... Yeah. It wasn't going to be high on her priority list.

Weiss frowned. "Oh... But yeah... YOu startled me and I hit the lampshade... It rotated a few times but didn't fall over."

"It's fine. Don't worry too much. I didn't mean to startle you. I just heard your breathing being hard and wanted to check on you." She couldn't help it. And it wasn't like she wanted to just open the door and barge in either. Privacy was incredibly important to her. "Do you think you know why you were breathing so hard...?" If she could do anything to help Weiss' stress lower, she would. She was really trying but it was hard when she didn't have the appropriate training. She had her own experiences to go off, but everyone experienced PTSD differently. Weiss was less than 24 hours out from torture but...she clearly had it from how hypervigilant she was being. It would probably only get worse as Weiss settled in and reality hit her.

"It's just...too quiet. They used soundproofing magic to make my cell completely soundproof. The only sound that came through was someone knocking on the door." Weiss' frown remained etched on her face. Blake winced a little. No wonder she'd started so badly and been so triggered by the knock on the door... She'd try to not do that anymore. She was trying, but it'd take time to figure out all of Weiss' triggers and how to avoid them.

"We'll definitely look into a white noise machine for you or something... I'm guessing the noise from your scroll still wasn't loud enough?" She'd tried. She really had. But she'd needed to think quickly to try to make sure Weiss didn't fall asleep... "Or maybe a wireless speaker at least."

"That would probably be a good idea... The little speaker in the scroll wasn't loud enough on its own for me."

It was about then that a message came from Anna. Hey, Blake. If you want, I can drop off your usual baked goodies for no extra cost, then you can swing by my shop. How's that sound? Blake blinked a bit. She made a fair few little pastries to be sold alongside her coffee and other drinks which was why she woke up so early. But if she could cut that out for at least today... That'd be useful.

All right.

I also got Weiss all set up with the government. Well, that also saved her time. She could probably open on time today. Of course, she knew that meant hacking, but she wouldn't complain. She could open on time. Though that did leave one question…

"Weiss... I'll need to leave you alone unless you feel like you can work... But it's all on your feet." She felt like leaving Weiss alone was the last thing she should do, considering how isolated she'd been for Holy Mother knew how long. She couldn't not just open. She could've stuck with translation work, but a cafe was more her speed with how much she adored food and tea and such.

Weiss frowned again. "I mean I could easily run the register if you'd be willing to give me a chair or stool or something. There's no way I'd be able to be on my feet all day like that though. My body's way too ravaged from the lack of good food and nutrition..."

"I can do that. Most cashiers in Vale are allowed stools. I can be barista and you handle the register. For now, how about we consider me covering your room and board as your pay?" Weiss wouldn't be able to do much on her own or go very far yet. It wasn't like she'd be able to go out into the city for hours and ride public transit yet. She wasn't trying to hold anything above Weiss' head. It just...made sense to do that until Weiss was able to handle more on her own.

She nodded. "Okay." She paused. "You won't...turn me out on the street if I don't feel like I can work, will you?"

Blake shook her head. "Absolutely not. I know you can't handle doing much right now. It'd be cruel to do so." She knew what it was like, to be at rock bottom and having escaped a horrible situation with nowhere else to run or go. Even now, her life was under threat if Adam ever found her. She knew that staying in one place wasn't good for her, but she had become comfortable in Vale and could only hope Adam wouldn't find her... It'd been a few years so she could only pray and hope…

"Thank you..."

Blake smiled. "IT's no problem." They finished up with breakfast and she heard the buzzer for someone requesting access to the house. She got up and flicked on the little screen, seeing Anna. She waved then motioned off screen into the alley and left. Blake tilted her head. "Would you be okay to walk with me out to Anna's shop?" She thought that was what Anna was asking about.

"It's hard for me to get up and down the stairs..."

"I'll help you; don't worry." Weiss' body was incredibly fragile right now, so she knew one bad tumble would probably cause severe damage. Her body was so weakened that her bones would probably break and take a long time to heal with how bad it was. With that done, though, they headed down the stairs, Weiss leaning against Blake.

In the alley, a small tent had been erected. It was relatively nondescript and Blake helped lead Weiss into it. Inside was a full-blown shop with everything one could need: clothes, TVs, and so on. Anna stood behind the counter and waved, grinning. "Feel free to pick whatever you want, Weiss. It's all coming out of Mister Gele's pocket." The name made Weiss tense and Blake's ears twitched a little. Jacques Gele was head of the SDC, at least in this world. What had he done to Weiss in her world...?

Weiss nodded a bit and started walking around, but then she looked at Anna. "I can't really carry much... Even clothes feel heavy right now." Blake winced a little.

"It's unusual, but just drop non-fragile things like clothes on the ground. If you want bigger items or anything, here." Anna tossed Weiss a pad of sticky notes. They landed with a soft thump on the ground and Weiss picked them up.

Blake leaned against the counter and watched her shop around. It was strange to see someone just dropping clothes on the ground after examining them, but if it worked, it worked. Anna went around and started picking them up and putting them into a basket. Anna was really accommodating... She seemed to be motivated by profit almost exclusively, but she wasn't a heartless monster. If she was, she'd be demanding profits from Blake for this additional stuff. But no, she was allowing Weiss to take her time and shop in a way that was good for her and not forcing her to carry heavy objects.

Weiss eventually came to the TV section and looked at Blake. "Can I get one?"

Blake smiled at her. "Your room, get whatever you want." Weiss nodded a bit and started looking through them, obviously comparing specs and such. Blake looked at her scroll and her eyebrows went up. Time hadn't passed at all despite how long it felt like it had been. She looked at Anna, an eyebrow raised. The merchant did nothing except grin at her. Well, at least she wasn't going to be late opening unless she wanted to bed. Apparently timespace was a mere suggestion to Anna... This woman was crazy.

Eventually, Weiss picked out a TV of a moderate size and tagged it with a sticky note along with a bracket. Anna picked those up and brought them behind the counter. Weiss also stopped to look at laptops and took quite a while with those which Blake could understand. She wanted good specs for her own devices and, being a technomancer, she could only imagine how much good specs would mean to someone like Weiss. And she eventually picked up a box and brought it to the front counter. "There... I think I have everything I want." She looked at Blake, eyebrows creased inward.

"Weiss, it's fine. I said you can do whatever you want to with your room. We can probably go furniture shopping sometime soon..."

"I can drop by tomorrow with furniture and other knick knacks for decoration." Anna grinned. "If you give me a key, I can get the TV and everything set up." She looked at Blake. "By the way, I set up a rotating cash drawer on your register before I left last night. I also set up a rotational control that'll let you control where your cafe is, as well as show you where you are right now.”

Blake blinked and nodded. "All right then." So she'd essentially broken into the cafe. Then again, knowing Anna, she could probably get into anywhere. She hadn't given her a key but yeah... That was important. Knowing where she was and being able to change to where she wanted to be would be a good idea. She would just let things fall where they may, at least, but there might be times she was needed or just wanted to be somewhere else. Well, that was fine and dandy with her. Being in control over something like that would be good.

She got in her pocket and pulled out a spare key then handed it to Anna. "I'll drop it back off once I'm done getting everything set up. I'll have one of my sisters drop off your baked goods for today." She smiled.

"All right then." She wasn't really sure what that meant, but it was best to not question Anna.

Weiss had picked up a massive stock of books in the meanwhile, though. Blake shook her head a little,but she could and did understand the appeal of books. Then again, she'd probably want explanations if she was on a new world entirely. Weiss really did have a lot to learn. She really wouldn't hold it against her if she couldn't work much, though... Being through that couldn't be easy. It'd taken her a long time personally to settle down from being released from Adam's hold. She still held some level of anxiety over him finding her, but she hoped it would never happen. She was only eighteen, though... That left a lot of decades for him to find her especially if her cafe grew in renown in Vale... That was a threat in and of itself. Everything was a threat as far as Adam was concerned…

Anna threw the books into a messenger bag and smiled. "I"ll bring it all up. I promise~ Just feel free to get ready for the day and such~" Blake nodded and helped Weiss back up the stairs.

"If you want to shower or take a bath or something, feel free. I don't open until 7 and it's only 515 right now." She smiled at Weiss. "Just text me when you want to come down. I can't have you breaking a bone and needing to be taken to the hospital."

Weiss nodded meekly. "All right." Weiss went back into her room and gathered some clothes up, then Blake saw her head into the bathroom. Blake headed back down to the cafe and started opening up everything. Normally she'd be baking right now, but she saw Anna come in with boxes of goodies. Blake opened up the display cabinet and let her start filling the plates with all sorts of pastries and baked goods. She would definitely miss the scent of baking brownies and such that morning, but if she could get a bit of time off this morning... Well, she was glad she'd be able to open on time.

Anna left eventually...then came back in with a key and put it on the counter. "Everything's all set up in Weiss' room. She has the TV and everything... I'll be back and you can go furniture shopping tomorrow morning~ I'll have my sister bring more goodies~"

"Okay, thank you." She smiled at Anna a bit and the merchant slipped out the door.

Eventually, she got a text from Weiss and headed upstairs. Weiss sat on the couch, her body shaking slightly and her hair dripping wet. She was struggling with the cord for the hair drier that Blake had on the rare occasion a guest stayed. "...How about I do something better?" Weiss blinked and looked at her. Blake sat behind her and started running her back-length hair through her hands. She applied some aura and it dried. She had it done within five minutes. "There."

Weiss ran a hand over her head. "How did you do that?"

"Advanced aura. In this world, people have the manifestation of the soul to help protect them. We each have a unique ability that usually corresponds with our personality called a Semblance that can evolve. To put advanced aura simply, it's the esoteric side of aura. I call it esoteric nonsense because it's hard to learn to do and is an entire lifestyle and mindset, not just a set of techniques." That was the best way to put aura in its simplest terms without getting into the nitty gritty of it.

"Interesting... So you don't have magic?"

"Not...as a staple, no. There is magic in the world but few people know about it. I've seen places where it exists. Places caught in time, thousands of years old built in stone and such, with food still fresh that you could eat off the plates. Castles caught in time with fresh wine. Ruins where there should be no people inhabiting it before. My home, Meangerie, has ruins even though it wasn't colonised and inhabited until about 80 years ago in lieu of an attempted genocide." Her ears flatted. She'd grown up on stories of the Pogrom from her great-grandparents. Though rare, people were still alive that remembered the Great War and the era of slavery. She wished she could've done something to record those stories but she just didn't have the ability. Not with who she was.

Weiss' eyes widened. "A genocide? And Faunus...in a place called Menagerie? That's...twisted." She smiled sheepishly. "I mean... Assuming they're Faunus."

Blake nodded. "Mostly, yes. A couple humans are there, but they're people that have fallen in love with Faunus and moved there. So you're right; it's absolutely twisted." She hated it. It was the name the Mistrali and Mantaline had given to the place. "It was a penal colony until the Faunus Rights Revolution some sixty years ago. The Mantle and Mistral governments literally wanted their slaves to die and sent them there to do so." Her anger bubbled up. Even though she was no longer radical, she still felt righteous fury when thinking of the history of her people in this era... She hated thinking of the people. In a sense, slavery had never ended in Atlas... At least the SDC was now in Winter and Weiss' hands and they were doing what they could to reverse the course that Gele had put the company on some decades ago. "Anyway, let's head down to the cafe."

"One second." Weiss got up on shaking legs and went into her room, then came out with the messenger bag Anna had given them. "We still have some time until it opens, right? Maybe I could read? Though...what will you do if I need to rest?" Weiss frowned.

"I've been manning the register myself. If you need a break, just let me know. Right now, we're considering your room and board your payment. If I were paying hourly, then...honestly, I'd still pay you." It was her cafe and she could do whatever she wanted. Weiss had literally been tortured and starved. She wasn't going to punish someone for lacking mental and physical capabilities right now.

"You're...really kind, Blake." Weiss offered a small, fragile smile. Blake patted her head and she tensed a bit. "Most people would just dock my pay..."

"I mean I'm not really paying you yet but once I start, it'll be full service. I don't care if you're working the whole time or not. You have severe limitations which have disabled you. I was where you are once. I was tortured in my own way, and I had somebody kind take care of me. I know he'd want me to return the kindness. He let me stay free of charge." She smiled at Weiss. She felt Weiss' soul drop and her head went down into her hands. It was the truth. Tukson had taken care of her after she'd been free of Adam, near death's door. If it weren't for his kindness, she would be dead or worse. Adam would've found her again and completely broken her for her transgression. Weiss was really no different than her for a long time following... Just...well more put together. She was shocked how coherent Weiss was, because it had taken her weeks to fully come down.

Blake rubbed her arm which resulted in tensing. Yeah, she didn't blame Weiss... She was still not great with touch... She was pretty sure she'd be set off if anyone had touched her ears. "Let's go." Weiss' voice was weak but she motioned. Blake nodded and helped her down the stairs. She set up a chair behind the register where Weiss dug through the bag and took out a book. A reference collection offered at Beacon on Vale for Atlassian students... She'd seen the set in Tukson's shop before, but older editions.

"I'll warn you now that, if you're from an egalitarian society, those books are gonna be disturbing for you. Atlas is...a dystopian hellhole where women are property and Faunus are still slaves in all but name."

Weiss looked at her with worry written all over her soul and face. "Places like that still exist?"

"Unfortunately." She wasn't going to mention her radical past to Weiss until they felt more comfortable with each other. She wouldn't even know who to report Blake to and she doubted she would if given the chance but still. It was best to let Weiss get to know her for herself before telling her that she was a radical terrorist that had killed people just for being associated with a bad corporation they were being menaced by.

Weiss frowned but nodded and went back to her book. Well, Blake had warned her. But it was still the most comprehensive way to learn about Vale. Blake just took the time to get everything ready and made herself some tea, offering Weiss a mug. "Here."

"Oh... Thank you. Isn't that eating into your profit though?"

"It's one mug. It'll be fine." She smiled at Weiss who nodded. It was just some water and some tea. She upcharged a lot for it, but she was fine with it. She enjoyed these quiet mornings...

Chapter Text

Blake looked up when the bell clanged and she raised an eyebrow. A woman in what looked like a medieval dress walked in. It was a soft pink color with golden highlights and she had wings on her back. However, something about the way she carried herself did not imply she was a Faunus. Her soul had walls a mile high and there would be absolutely no penetrating them as far as Blake was concerned. She could absolutely tell.

"Well this is mysterious... I've never seen this place before but you..." She raised an eyebrow. "There aren't any native cat people that live on Filgaia... MOst migrants from other worlds live on Malduke, not the planet proper. Where did you get the paperwork to move to Filgaia, let alone open a cafe?"

Blake's ears flattened. She thought Anna's spells would make people not question it. Marie and none of the people there had questioned her. What was going on? "Um."

"Am I going to have to report you to the proper authorities? If you can't produce paperwork, then--"

"I'm not from Filgaia. Anna made my cafe able to hop to other worlds." She knew she probably sounded absolutely insane, but she didn't want to be reported to any sort of authorities. Even if it was another planet, she didn't want to deal with that. She technically didn't have a permit to operate anywhere but Vale, but most people weren't going to question it. She could tell that much when dealing with hMarie. Weiss had questioned it as was this woman. What was going on?

The woman sighed. "I suppose that explains a good deal. The magic in here does reek of that woman." Blake blinked. It was really that simple? Well... She certainly wouldn't complain. But she hoped she wouldn't be reported to authorities... Her ears remained flat against her head. The winged woman waved her hand. "If Anna set you up, then nothing's going to happen. Do you know your schedule?"

Blake looked down at the little control panel by her cash register. "Um. Not really. Anna just installed a little control panel that will let me choose where I go, but I assume I'm on some sort of rotating schedule." She could see the skyline change which was...odd. This world looked incredibly built up and very, very busy. In Vale, her area had somewhat low traffic, but it was within her budget range, so she'd gone for it. Somewhere like the middle of downtown would just be way too expensive for her and the money she'd saved up.

"I see. Well, I'm Raftina Caiyo, Guardian of Love. Who are you?"

"Blake Belladonna. I'm from a planet called Remnant. I live in Vale which is where the cafe is from." She was from Menagerie, not Vale. Menagerie would always be her home regardless of how its people acted. She would likely never go back, but it was where her heart lay and she loved its people regardless of anything... She could truly understand how and why the people acted the way they did... There was so much generational trauma from how the are had been founded in the wake of a genocide and her people being in the bondage of slavery.

"Well, that doesn't sound ominous. Who names a planet Remnant?"

"Would you have an order? We can talk while you drink and eat." She wasn't against talking to people, but yeah, she would rather they be paying customers if at all possible. She wasn't quite sure what a 'Guardian' was but this woman exuded power, confidence, and intimidation. She also bore a sword at her hip which left Blake on edge a little bit. She could withstand a sword attack with her aura, but she wasn't sure about Weiss... But she hoped it wouldn't come to any sort of attack.

Raftina nodded and put in her order. Blake set about preparing it, then slid it across the counter to her. "Blake, the register won't open for some reason..." Weiss pointed out. Raftina had used a card, but Weiss was still trying to pop the register tray open. If they had any physical currency customers, then yes, that would be important.

"Oh, that's because we don't use any sort of physical currency anymore."

Weiss blinked. "So you're like Selia then. At least in that regard."

"You're not from Remnant?"

Weiss shook her head. "I'd...rather not talk about it, but short story is no. I'm from a planet called Selia. Blake is helping me get back on my feet." Yeah, Blake couldn't blame Weiss for not wanting to talk about it... Torture wasn't something that was easy to cope with. She was still surprised just how well spoken and put-together Weiss was considering what she'd been through. At least literal torture, perhaps more. Her soul was deeply scarred by what had happened to her. Not that Blake could blame her... Blake doubted that she herself would ever fully recover from what Adam had done to her.

"That's entirely fair. We're strangers." Raftina smiled and pulled a chair up to the counter. "So about Remnant..."

Blake nodded and started talking about the planet, human and Faunus relations, the Grimm, and so on. Raftina kept her expression fairly neutral, but Blake could sense that she wasn't really happy about any of it. THere were only four kingdoms which didn't have a lot of people. There were multiple large cities in every kingdom that wasn't Menagerie, but even so... There just weren't a lot of people on Remnant for the amount of space and arable land that existed on the planet. They were all squished in pretty far due to the Grimm.

The bell clanged again, Blake jumping a bit since she'd been so engrossed in the conversation with Raftina. A shorter woman with blue hair, tied back in a severe bun and in a female business suit with a pencil skirt walked in, flanked by a darker-skinned woman that also bore a sword but her clothes were far more casual. "Is this where you've been, Raftina? Honestly, we couldn't even find-- Uh. Who the fuck is this?" the blue-haired woman asked. Blake's ears flattened.

"Equites, Luceid, you don't need to babysit me. If I want to take a coffee break, I should be allowed to take a coffee break. I mean honestly. I'm a grown woman!" Raftina rolled her bright, emerald-green eyes.

"Well, you're also a grown woman with priorities. The delegates from Serkenia are waiting."

"That shouldn't be for another several hours. Did they get here early?" Raftina frowned. "Also, if you see this cafe, it's Anna's doing. Don't think about it too hard."

Luceid sighed. "Because of course Anna would do something so ridiculous... But yes, they got here early. They're waiting for you."

Raftina looked at Blake and smiled. "Well, I suppose I'll see at a later date. Some business came up." Raftina bowed then left, still holding onto her cup of coffee.

"Would you like anything?" Blake asked the other two. "I have pastries, tea, and coffee."

"Sure, I don't see why not." The darker-skinned woman came in and looked at the menu and the pastry display. "What's a macaron? I've never had one of those before."

"Oh they're delightful little pastries." She smiled and explained what one was, taking out a couple and putting them into a paper bag for the woman. The woman also made a request for lavender Earl grey which Blake happily obliged, then slid it across the counter. "What's your name, by the way?"

"Equites, Guardian of the Sword."

"If you don't mind my asking, what's a Guardian?" Obviously they were some sort of powerful entity endemic to Filgaia, but she wasn't exactly sure what it meant. Guardian could mean so many different things. In some respects, Blake was a guardian to the lore and songs of Menagerie... It was an oblique, generic term, one that she really wasn't sure what it meant based on this context.

"I'll have some basic pourover if you won't mind," Luceid interjected.

"I can do that." Blake smiled and started on the order. "Cream, sugar, simple syrups?"

"Nah, I'll just have it black."

"Black as your soul," Equites obviously joked. She grinned broadly and Luceid rolled her eyes. "But yeah, a Guardian is better known as a god or deity on any other planet. Lady Endolia just chose the term Guardian in place of goddess, deity, or some other term. She prefers to see us as the stewards of the planet and its people instead of as something that's far apart from the inhabitants."

"Who's Lady Endolia?" There was a lot she would need to learn about these other worlds she visited. For the most part, it wouldn't be a big deal since people wouldn't be questioning if she asked questions. It just seemed like people past a certain threshold of magic weren't affected by Anna's spells. For most people, though, even a low-grade spell would probably be more than enough to make them not really question what was going on around them... Especially if magic wasn't a thing on their world.

"Ah, the creator of Filgaia and Rafti's mother." Blake raised an eyebrow. Rafti? As if sensing her thoughts, Equites chuckled. "Yes, Rafti. I've known her since she was a little girl. She's really come into her own as the Guardian of Love and as one of the four Guardian Lords, but in some respects, she'll always be that little girl to me."

She nodded. "I know I'll always be my parents' little girl..." She hadn't seen them in years, nor had she contacted them. But, if she knew them half as well as she thought she did, then they probably just wanted her to be safe. She felt terrible about it. They had raised her with so much love, care, kindness, and respect, then she'd tossed it in their faces. 'Cowards' was the kindest thing she'd said when she'd parted ways from them to follow Adam. She wasn't sure how to get in contact with them... She had their numbers but the signal to Menagerie was just so inconsistent.

Equites nodded. "When you see someone grow up like that, you just kinda never forget. They're always that little squirt that ran around. Granted, Raftina was a quiet kid that never got into much trouble... Well, not until she was an adult and fell in love with a woman. I know that probably sounds bad, but keep in mind this was early in Filgaia's history, first six hundred or so years. There were people like that around, but they weren't public about it. Raftina was the first one to go public with her relationship and started a revolution to bring rights to people like herself."

Luceid nodded. "It was quite something to see. Raftina was a complete pacifist in every sense of the word. Pacifist healer. But when it came to Elaeah, her love... Well. She would do anything to protect her. So Justine, Equites, and I all started to train her in the art of the sword. Now she's one of the most fearsome fighters on the planet."

"Not much can get past Raftina. I mean I'm still better since the sword is my domain. It takes a lot to be better than I am. But she's more than adequate at what she does. She's a strategist almost second to none." Equites perched her cheek on her hand. "The look in your eyes--well, both of you--tells me you've both known pretty difficult hardships."

Blake nodded and tensed a bit while Weiss looked down. "We'd...both rather not talk about what we've been through," Blake said. She didn't want to talk about her radical past or anything like that. No. she wasn't sure what Weiss would think of her fighting alongside a genocidal maniac and sharing in those genocidal beliefs. She no longer did, but she couldn't imagine that a human would take well to her once believing that all humans should die. Equites and Luceid...were not human. They had souls, certainly, but...it was strange. She couldn't quite put it into words. Their souls weren't really connected to their physical frames. It was almost like a tent strung up with someone inside.

"Yeah, I can understand that. A lot of fighters don't like talking about their pasts. Nothing unique there. Combat can be very traumatising, and it seems like you two are no exception. Though Blake...you're young, aren't you? I won't push too much but..." She could read the question written all over Equites' face. 'You were a child soldier, weren't you?' She was. A teenager, sure, but still a child. She was an adult of almost two years now, but still. She'd be turning 19 sometime in July. She rarely ever kept track of her own birthdays... It just wasn't worth it after a certain point.

"Anyway, yeah, hope you two recover from your personal ordeals. Combat in the sense of war can often affect you for the rest of your life. I've seen far too many veterans with PTSD come back and struggle to re-adapt to civilian life. But you seem to be doing well for yourself, Blake. You have a cafe and you're pretty damn good at what you do. Good tea, even if the caffeine does nothing for me."

"Thank you." She rubbed the back of her neck, flushing a little. She had really practiced her pour over technique for a long time and developed her coffee palate. It'd taken her time, but she could do cuppings now and figure out what coffees she wanted for her shop. She preferred lighter roasts with fruity tastes but she did carry a few dark roasts for people that wanted that instead of a fruity light roast. It had taken her so much time to develop her flavor palate for coffee. It had tasted bitter and acrid to her for so long, but she got to the point she could often tell a mixed roast from a single-origin roast. Plus, she could tell that dark roasts were not her preferred…

"If you're ever around again, I'll have to try out some teas. Maybe we could do a tea tasting or a coffee cupping at some point. This tastes so different from the stuff we get here on Filgaia and from other planets. Always interesting to taste something from elsewhere." Equites grinned.

"We could definitely do that... I have a stock of teas that I don't sell and that are for my personal collection upstairs. Maybe we could find a time to run through some of those sometime." Blake smiled. She was always more than willing to talk tea or coffee to somebody that really enjoyed them as well. She was still more of a tea person than a coffee person, but considering the popularity of coffee in Vale, she had little choice but to offer it on her menu for the people that would prefer it over the vast quantity of teas she had. She offered twelve types of coffee and twenty different types of tea.

"That sounds like it'd be great. Rafti could really use a break every now and again. Woman doesn't know the definition of 'slow down' and hasn't ever since Elaeah died." Equites shook her head and sighed. There was some sort of wound there, but it wouldn't be Blake's place to press on it when she saw Raftina again. They were strangers and what was Blake compared to a literal goddess? She hadn't met any of the gods on Remnant, but she knew at least Melanthios existed; the ghosts she'd talked to had mentioned him multiple times. She wasn't sure if he was the only god remaining or what. Did he have anything to do with magic? She wasn't sure, but considering he was the force of death, she couldn't speak with him directly.

"I'm a little bit of a tea nerd," she said, rubbing the back of her neck.

"So how does your rotating schedule work?" Luceid asked.

"Uh." Blake looked around the register and found a small schedule taped to the register. "It looks like I'll be here Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays 7 to 9 AM...if your calendar works like that." Considering the different worlds, it wouldn't make sense for the calendar to be the same, but...who knew. She was dealing with the multiverse now. Things probably wouldn't make any sense anymore. She had no idea. It was better not to worry about the logistics behind things unless she wanted to run herself up a wall. Though the currency conversions with her taxes and such were going to be a headache.

"Yeah, that's fine. How long are you open in general?" Equites popped her chin up on her hand

"Twelve hours, six days a week. I run everything." It definitely wasn't easy. She only got one day a week off. She needed a day to just chill out and unwind from the busy week she'd have. Things were going to get a lot more intense now that she was dealing with the multiverse. People at least seemed to like her pastries and other offerings... It was just a headache to have to have things pre-made and placed in the little display cabinet on the counter. She started working long before the cafe actually opened.

The two goddesses winced. "Yeesh, that's gonna be a recipe for burnout eventually. You need to get some more staff in here," Equites said.

Blake sighed. "I know I need some help but who in the world is going to accept the insanity of working in the multiverse when they don't already have copious amounts of experience with weirdness?" She wasn't sure if she could hire anybody from Vale for that reason. She'd at least wanted to get used to the rhythm of the cafe before hiring anybody. She was hiring Weiss at least, but that was just for register. Weiss couldn't do much else right now, not with the state she was in.

"I'd offer some Filgaians since we deal with some pretty weird stuff, but Elw aren't gonna wanna be separated from the planet and tenno won't want to be stuck on the ground twelve hours a day, six hours a week. Most humans won't wanna work those kinda hours either," Equites said.

Blake shrugged. "It's fine. I really doubt I could find people from Vale that would be willing to work and I wouldn't want to keep people away from their native homes either..." She was used to it at this point. She had gotten into the rhythm and understood how things functioned. She would expand her services if she could have someone in the back making sandwiches, paninis, and other things in the back but that just wasn't on the table right now... She wanted help, but it'd be a hard sell for most people to be away from home (when dealing with her other worlds) or for the general weirdness that came with the multiverse. And she doubted Weiss would know anybody, considering the shape it sounded like her world was in…

"Them Time Witch may know somebody," Weiss put in quietly. "Lots of people pass through her domain, looking for new worlds. Maybe somebody that has cafe experience will pass through."

"Time Witch, huh? We don't know of anybody like that," Equites said. "But if you can figure out how to contact her from Remnant, then she'd know somebody." She shrugged. Blake nodded a bit. Honestly, maybe not a bad idea. But she wouldn't know how to get in contact with this 'Time Witch' figure…

Yes she did.

Anna.

From the look in Equites' eyes, it seemed like she had the same thought. "Yeah, Anna would know how to contact this 'Time Witch' figure even if we don't know how to."

"Agreed," Blake said. She wouldn't be against having help if at all possible... She would love to have someone whose job was to strictly cook and make the bake goods prior to the cafe opening. She hated being awake so many hours a day…

Blake frowned a bit. "Would you guys mind leaving? I think I want to deal with this right away..." The sooner she could have staff, the better. Equites and Luceid nodded before exiting the cafe. About an hour had passed, so she had an hour... Not being open for that hour would mean losing money but…

She locked the door and flipped the sign to closed before calling Anna. "HEllo, Blake~~ What can I do for you~?" came the flirty, light tone from the other end of the scroll.

"Would you know how to get in touch with the Time Witch?"

"Oh ho, yes, yes I do. Give me five minutes and I'll be over there." The call clicked off and Blake looked at Weiss. Well, this certainly would be interesting...

Chapter Text

"Weiss, will you be okay here by yourself for a bit?" She wasn't sure what all was going to go through Weiss' mind if she were left alone. She could barely make it up and down the steps, but there was a computer that controlled the music in the cafe. Most of it was soft, atmospheric music called lo-fi that she'd discovered online. It worked perfectly for having a low-stress environment but...it might not be enough for Weiss. "Feel free to change the music or make playlists or whatever. Though first..." She ducked behind the counter and put the password in. "There. Just pull up the browser and arrange songs as you see fit. We won't probably use your playlists during opening hours, but you have full control right now, okay?" She didn't want her triggered by the quiet.

"Okay. Thank you. The music you have is a bit too...quiet for me right now, but since I'm with other people, it's less pressing." Her heart absolutely broke for the poor young woman. She had been through her own special brand of torture so she understood all too well what it was like to be triggered easily... She still felt uneasy if it was just her and a man in the same room. She hadn't been able to have a male counselor due to it simply being so triggering for her. Females only. Adam was still out there, though... She shuddered to think what would happen if he found her.

It was about then that Anna arrived. Blake bid Weiss a farewell and smiled at her before going out to meet Anna. They were in a completely different location than Filgaia. She'd ask what or how, but this was Anna. It was best to just not ask questions. She knew that by now. The city was beautiful and futuristic with towers made of what looked like pure crystals. Cars flew around and the air was so clean despite the obvious industrialisation. "Wow..." she breathed.

"Come on, come on, the Time Witch is a busy woman," Anna said. Normally the woman wasn't too hurried, but Blake nodded and hustled along after her. The walk was silent and took about ten minutes. They arrived at a castle which was clearly the epicenter of the city. It was massive, bigger than even Beacon campus it seemed. The entire castle complex had spires of crystal that rose to the heavens, making Blake feel a little dizzy. She'd never seen anything like this before…

The guards all bowed to Anna and Blake and one of them ushered the pair into a beautiful study with tons of books, bookshelves lining the easily fifteen-foot high wall. Each was packed with books of all different shapes and sizes, not one space vacant. But at the desk sat a woman with soft blonde hair in a surprisingly simple white and purple dress. She smiled at them. "Well hello, Anna dear. What brings you to my humble abode today? Who is your friend?"

"I'm Blake Belladonna, ma'am." Blake bowed to the woman.

"Ah, another version of you... I sent one version of you off to the Pokemon Ranger world to help her recover. But what brings you here today? Are you escaping your world or--"

"Looking to house some expats," Anna answered. "Blake has a cafe that she could use some help running. Mainly kitchen work since she has the tea and coffee covered. Technomancer Weiss Schnee is with her currently running the register."

"Interesting. So I see. Well, I do have some expats that would probably work well with you." She leaned over to an intercom and said something in a different language that Blake couldn't recognise. And she knew around a dozen languages... It didn't sound similar to any language she knew. Not even Meangerine. Then again, Menagerine was...unique for how it was formed and how it sounded. Creoles on creoles on creoles.

A few minutes later, the doors to the study opened. A young man with pitch-black hair and narrow amber eyes and a young woman with lengthy, soft brown hair and purple eyes entered. The man carried bags for both of them and Blake blinked. Two people? She hadn't expected help from two people... But she would certainly welcome it. The young man's eyes fell on her and she shifted a bit uncomfortably. Suspicion and distrust rolled off of him in waves and she shivered. There was definite bloodlust behind those eyes. He would not hesitate to kill her if she did something wrong. That much was clear and apparent.

"Hubert, relax. This is Blake Belladonna and Anna. You and your mistress have been with me for some weeks now and I think I found a place for you to go if you don't mind working a bit." The Time Witch smiled at him pleasantly, her voice soft, airy, and light. "Would you mind working in a cafe? Blake here owns one and could use some help in the kitchen. I know it's unorthodox for someone of your standing to work in such a humble establishment, but your mistress seeks peace, yes?"

"Lady Salem, do you truly think this is a good arrangement? Yes, Lady Edelgard does seek peace and quiet but will she truly find it with this... What even is she? I've never seen anybody with animal ears before." Blake's ears flattened. It wasn't exactly racism, but it was pretty damn close.

"I'm not familiar with her world, but what would you say of it, Blake?"

"Remnant isn't admittedly the most peaceful of planets. The remains of humans and Faunus live pushed to the edges with only four kingdoms. But we have Hunters to protect us from the Grimm, malevolent creatures which seek to destroy humans and Faunus alike. There can be a lot of racism and sexism depending on the kingdom, but Vale--where I live--is pretty egalitarian. As long as you stay within the city's borders, you won't have much issue with Grimm. And as long as you don't go to Atlas, there won't be sexism either." Vale was far from perfect, but as far as Remnant went, it was probably the best kingdom to live in. Atlas was a dystopian hellhole and central Mistral wasn't much better. Not to mention both were incredibly insular and didn't welcome outsiders readily and valued conformity above individualism. Atlas still didn't like the arts too much even with the echoes of the Great War.

"What about the neighborhood your cafe resides in?" Yeesh, this guy was grilling her.

"As to answer your earlier question, I'm a Faunus--one of two races on remnant. There are humans and Faunus. Faunus have one animal trait along with night vision and some other standard traits. What the animal trait is can vary--for example, I'm a cat Faunus. My ears are very real and I can very much hear as a cat would." She twitched her ears just to prove the point. He'd seen them go down, but she wanted to show him it was on command as well. He seemed very, very rude which wouldn't be good for customer service. Then again, as long as things went the way she wanted, they'd be in the back. Though the much tinier girl behind him... HEr soul had been ripped asunder and she had been through hell in some capacity. She wasn't sure what all it was since she didn't know their story yet.

"As for the neighborhood my cafe is in, quiet and a decent part of town. But keep in mind my cafe doesn't spend all its time in Vale. Anna set it up to the multiverse, so I go to multiple different worlds through the course of the day and week. But I would assume she wouldn't put me in bad parts of the cities we're in." She was assuming a lot, but Anna had little to gain if money got stolen because Blake wouldn't be able to pay her back without cash flow. She was giving Anna the benefit of the doubt here.

"How can you assure the safety of Lady Edelgard then?"

Blake's ears went back. "To put it bluntly, I was a child soldier. I was groomed and manipulated into joining a radical faction of so-called 'activists' that were, instead, terrorists. I know how to fight. Plus, even though Weiss is very weak, she says she's an accomplished mage. She has capabilities relating to technology, but she also said she had magic beyond that."

Edelgard and Hubert looked at each other. "Wait, is she from Selia?" Edelgard asked.

Blake blinked and nodded. "She is. She was caught up in a war caused by a coup or something... She didn't want to go into the details because it'd trigger her." She had to respect Weiss' boundaries. She'd been literally tortured. Trying to force somebody who had been through so much to talk would only be detrimental. She wasn't about to do that. She knew what PTSD was like.. It wasn't fun. She had to live with it herself and likely would for the rest of her life.

"Hubert, I think it'll be fine. If there's another person from Selia there..." Edelgard tugged at Hubert's sleeve. The man sighed, obviously wanted to grill Blake more, but that was the look of a loyal vassal that wasn't going to question his lady too much. She hadn't seen it too much but...he had that look.

"Very well, Lady Edelgard. Though... Where will we live?" Hubert frowned.

"I have an empty apartment above mine. Weiss is staying with me. It's not furnished though..." She looked at Anna whose eyes gleamed as if answering an unspoken question.

"Well since I'm letting Blake have anything related to Weiss on Mister Gele's card, I suppose I can do the same for you guys~" Anna grinned.

"Well, Weiss wanted to get some furniture anyway... I guess we can have you set up shop in Vale and then we can get Weiss over there too." Blake shrugged. She would be closed for the next hour or so anyway, so might as well. No, she wasn't getting money by being closed, but whatever. She had her employees to take care of. It was weird to have interdimensional help. "Though, what type of 'mancers are you if you're from Selia? Weiss is a technomancer."

"I'm a psychomancer. I can literally break psyches open," Hubert said.

"Siromancer... I can affect people's emotions and entrap and ensnare them or calm things down..." Edelgard frowned. "Are you going to use our magic for your cafe?"

Blake shook her head. "I was really just curious about what magic you guys had. I'm assuming you have magic beyond your 'mancy powers too?" The pair nodded. "Well, we should head back to the cafe. It'll give Anna a bit of time to get set up while we discuss what your schedules will be. The main thing will be that it'll be long hours, depending on how you guys decide to break it up..." But they could get into the nitty gritty of it later. She was willing to pay them a fair wage, about 17 or 18 lien per hour which was pretty good for Vale. Minimum wage was 15 per hour so she'd start them off a little higher. Though that would definitely hurt her budget... But she needed to pay them fairly. She and Weiss had already discussed it... Until she could start standing up and doing more, room and board would be her payment.

They all bade farewell to the Time Witch with a bow and headed back to the cafe. When they entered, heavier music was playing on the speakers and much louder than normal. Granted, 'heavy' was relative compared to the lo-fi that she normally had playing. It really wasn't that aggressive; there was just a more pronounced beat and such that could be heard more clearly. Thankfully, Weiss seemed to be doing okay.

However, when they entered, Blake felt Hubert and Edelgard's souls jump in surprise. "Wait you're-- I thought you'd been captured!" Edelgard said.

Weiss frowned. "I beg your pardon?"

"We're from Selia too, though a different part of the Empire. You're Weiss Schnee, one of the most accomplished mages on the face of the planet! It was major news when you were captured!"

Weiss' frown grew. "Wait... Do you have news of the coup and how things are? How long has it been since you received that news?"

"I was discharged about six months ago and it was four months before that... So you were in captivity eight months." Blake couldn't help but wince a bit... How had Weiss managed to survive like that for eight months? That was incredible. And she was still incredibly well put together in terms of being coherent and such... It truly spoke to how resilient she was. "Things had started turning about three months ago, but..." Edelgard frowned. "I needed to escape, so I left about six weeks ago to come to the Time Witch's in hopes of finding somewhere more peaceful. I was deemed a liability because of the severe PTSD I developed from fighting."

"Well... Knowing things were starting to go better is a relief... I escaped through an unregistered time portal and ended up here." Weiss looked at Blake. "She's helping me while I recover."

"I know I'll have to go back eventually but...working somewhere peaceful sounded a lot better than staying in the Empire. I know Acaniel is the main battleground but..." Edelgard sighed. Blake hadn't expected this sudden conversation, but in hindsight, she should've. Of course Weiss would want information since she had been held in captivity for so long. At least she would finally get it. Though, from the sound of it, Weiss would've been deemed a liability and not been allowed to fight anymore had she stayed on Selia. then again, if she could barely stand and walk up a flight of stairs, she wouldn't have been able to fight anyway…

"Anyway, what about our employment?" Hubert asked. "What of rent, board, and so on?" Blake nodded and they sat down at one of the tables, starting to hash things out. She didn't want to overwork them by any means. They were healthier than Weiss by far, but the days were still long and they'd mostly be on their feet. They'd have to wake early and stay all day. Eventually, they settled on splitting things three days a week: Edelgard would work Monday through Wednesday and Hubert would work Thursday through Saturday. The days would definitely be long, but she was glad for their help. She would take their board and utilities straight out of their paychecks instead of going through the annoyance of having her give them money, then they pay her back. It just didn't make much sense to do it otherwise.

After that, Anna came into the cafe, waving at them. "Come on everyone; we have some furniture to deal with!" She was chipper. Blake smiled and helped Weiss up, walking the short distance to Anna's shop which was just a tent in an alley. But it was much bigger inside than it seemed outside...as it always was.

It was an entire furniture store including mattresses and everything. Blake looked at Weiss. "Are you fine with the mattress you have or do you want a new one?" Since this wasn't coming out of her pocket, she felt fine asking if Weiss wanted a change.

She shrugged. "I'm just glad to have one after sleeping on the cold, hard ground for eight months..." That was entirely fair. Maybe they could revisit it at some point when Weiss was more settled and was feeling up to making her own amenities.

However, there was an instrument section which Weiss waved toward frantically. Blake blinked but led her over. "It's a theremin!" Weiss pointed at a strange thing that didn't even resemble an instrument of any sort. Blake looked at her, trying to convey her confusion. "Um. Basically it's an electrical instrument. And this one looks adjustable so the user can sit down or stand up..." That would definitely be good for Weiss who couldn't stay standing on her own for too long. She was so incredibly weak that Blake's heart broke for her. Nobody should've had to go through what Weiss had been forced to endure…

"Would you prefer it to be upstairs or in the main cafe?" Blake smiled at Weiss who brightened immensely. The woman had been through far too much and needed something to brighten her day. This was the most alive Blake had seen her in the short time they'd known each other. Well it was understandable that Weiss would be incredibly subdued and forlorn... War and then torture... Blake couldn't imagine the sort of havoc that would wreak on somebody's psyche. She'd been through her own sort of torture but it was nothing compared to what Weiss had been through.

"You'll let me get it?"

Blake nodded. "I don't see why not. Are there any other instruments you want? Though we can also look at decorations too..."

"An upright piano... Oh, I haven't played either instrument since before the war." The excitement rolled off Weiss in waves and Blake smiled a bit. Anything that would help Weiss settle and feel better would definitely be welcome. She wasn't going to say no to her as long as it wasn't over the top.

"The piano will probably have to stay in the cafe." That was just the logistics of the matter. She wasn't sure how to get an upright piano up stairs. If Weiss wanted to stay downstairs while she cleaned up for the day, that would be fine. Plus, things were relatively quiet and live music might help people relax a bit. It'd mean she'd have to run the register if Weiss was playing and it was busy, but sheidn'td. It was what it was. She had to be flexible with how much Weiss was able to do. She didn't mind letting her rest or anything like that since she was so weak from the torture.

Weiss nodded. "That's fine. Will...you let me play during the day?" Blake nodded and Weiss let out a tiny noise of excitement. It was nice to see her so perked up. She really didn't mind. She wasn't sure what the theremin sounded like, being an electrical instrument and all. But as long as it didn't sound like it'd disrupt customers, she didn't mind letting Weiss play either during the day.

She let Weiss sit down on a piano bench and she walked around a bit. She blinked when she saw a guitar though. It...was really nice. Obviously handmade due to the imperfections in the woodworking and such... It had steel strings, though, not the more traditional animal-gut strings she was used to it. She picked it up and strummed it. The tone was incredibly warm and soothing to her and brought up memories of being in Menagerie and singing her heart out to traditional songs by the fire. She had never learned formally, but she could play a lot of things by ear.

Anna slipped over. "You know, if you want it, you can have it... I'll just put it on Gele's bill~" She winked and smiled. "I even have a beginner's kit that Weiss can probably help you with. She's pretty good with music even if she's a little rusty."

"I...would like it. But this is handmade. I shudder to think of how expensive it is." Anna's grin basically just confirmed that it was, in fact, very expensive and she had made a very nice sale. Well... If they were draining a foreign Gele's wallet, she couldn't argue too much. The Gele of their world had been rotting behind bars for a few years now with Winter running the SDC. The operations had been completely moved to Vale by now, leaving Atlas destitute in some capacity since they no longer held the monopoly on dust. She could only imagine what the Weiss and Winter of this world thought of things... Running the SDC couldn't be easy, not with those vipers that might still be on the board.

Anna slipped away and came back a few minutes later with a case and some books. "You'll have downtime even with the multiverse transitions so Weiss can help you. You might want to set up a cot or something in your private tea room, though. Weiss is probably going to need to sleep during the day sometimes. I can give you a high-grade cot for that. I doubt you'll want to explain to guests why a mattress is in the room."

"Yeah... Yeah." That was going to be awkward if it happened. They could stash the cot behind the counter until Weiss needed it. So far, nobody had asked for their private tea room to hold a private celebration, so it would be fine if she slept there. It'd be easier than having her walk up and down the steps each and every time that Weiss needed to sleep. She was pretty sure it was going to exhaust Weiss if they went up and down the stairs too much. "It's not ideal but it's better than the ground." From what little Weiss had explained, she doubted sleeping on the cold, hard tile would do Weiss any good. It would probably trigger her if anything else.

"If you did want the piano upstairs, I have my methods. It's not like you have a lot of personal amenities in the living room." That...was true. But she also wanted it to be able to be played in the cafe.

"Maybe one upstairs and downstairs?" Anna grinned like a cat with a mouse caught in the corner. It was literally of no cost to Blake, so she didn't see why not. Weiss might want to unwind with playing music after a long day. No, being on register wasn't taxing work, but for the severely weakened technomancer, it probably was. Even sitting probably took a lot of effort for her since she could barely stand on her own.

"All right, all right~ I can do that~ Mhm~!" Though she did look at Blake a moment later. "I'll need keys to Hubert and Edelgard's apartment though. I'll need to bring everything upstairs and help them put it together." Right... She got in her pocket and dug out one of the copies of the second apartment. She went to open her mouth, but Anna practically read her thought. "They're over in the mattress section." Blake nodded and trotted over there.

They were obviously arguing quietly over what mattress to get from what Blake caught of the conversation, but they quieted once she approached. "What can we do for you?" Hubert asked. His visible yellow eye narrowed and distrust rolled off him in waves. She wasn't sure if she'd ever gain his trust or not... She hoped she would. He just seemed like the type not to really trust anybody at all. He was obviously dedicated to his lady wholly which was nice but...it would make life for her a lot harder.

“Do you guys want to help build your furniture or do you want Anna to take care of it?” Blake asked. “I gave her a key to your guys’ apartment temporarily. I know she’ll give it back, so don’t worry about it too much.” She hoped they wouldn’t worry too much. Anna was definitely a stubborn, weird woman, but she wasn’t a bad person by any means. She really did just want to make sales, but she could be really kind and understanding. The fact all of this wasn’t coming out of Blake’s pocket was nice. Otherwise she would’ve had to put a lot of Edelgard and Hubert’s pay on hold for a payment plan for the furniture.

“We can help with that,” Hubert said. “But you really gave her access to our quarters?”

“I’ll get the key back. I know she’s not gonna run away with it.” Blake shrugged. 

“Oh, Hubert, stop.” Edelgard looked up at him. He sighed.

“Yes, my lady.” He clearly didn’t want to give Anna the benefit of the doubt, but there wasn’t a whole lot he could do about it. He didn’t seem to like to argue with Edelgard too much. A noble and her vassal… Strange to think that such relationships could still exist. Yes, Vacuo still had a king, but it was an elected position and merely ceremonial at this point. They were a constitutional monarchy. The king had lost power after the Great War, but as a sign of friendship between the Faunus and human tribes, the king remained. Although it could also be a woman, trans, or nonbinary person. 

Vacuo was weird.

She put the thoughts to the side and looked at the pair. “I’ll head back to the café and you guys can finish up here. You won’t start until tomorrow anyway.” She just didn’t want to leave Weiss alone for too long. The poor woman clearly needed all the support she could get and Blake wasn’t about to leave her alone for too long. She was in the store with them, but even so… 

She found Weiss who sat at a piano bench, leaning against the piano with her eyes shut. “Hey, Weiss.” She spoke softly, trying not to startle Weiss, but she clearly did anyway. Weiss practically jumped out of her skin and looked around wildly, blue eyes bright and wide. She could feel the chaos in Weiss’ soul and how much it had set her off. Weiss was pretty clearly exhausted and should probably sleep… 

Thankfully, Weiss calmed down a moment later. “Oh, Blake… Sorry. You startled me.”

Blake shook her head. “No, it’s all right. I tried not to startle you, but I guess I failed. Do you…want to sleep?” Anna was going to give them a high-grade cot so Weiss could do just that.

Weiss frowned. “But don’t you need someone to man the register?”

“I can handle it by myself. I just don’t want to see you suffer because you’re pushing yourself too hard. Even this short trip was obviously taxing for you.” They’d barely walked half a block to an alleyway between two buildings, but it was clear that short walk had absolutely exhausted Weiss. “I may not look it, but I’m pretty strong. My aura gives me a lot more strength than the average person. I can carry you back to the café and let you rest.” Weiss frowned and clearly wanted to protest, but thought better of it. She moved to the edge of the piano bench. Blake picked her up in a bridal carry and walked back to the café and the side room meant for private events. Already Anna had placed a tablet and wireless speaker in the room. “Feel free to use these however you want. But just give me a minute.” She sat Weiss down in one of the chairs and logged into her music streaming app of choice. “There. Now you can access the playlists you made.”

“Thank you…” 

“No problem.” Blake opened the cot and helped Weiss lay down on it, putting the tablet in her lap so she could mess around with it. 

With that done, Blake closed the door and went back behind the counter. She could hear movement off to the side of the building which was almost no doubt Anna, Hubert, and Edelgard bringing up the furniture and other various affects up to the second apartment. She was glad Anna was there for her though… Otherwise Blake would have to find super cheap furniture and mattresses and such through local online marketplaces… Here, they got the furniture they wanted at literally no cost. She was glad that they could be comfortable and have whatever furniture they wanted… And they wouldn’t have to settle for a second-hand mattress. There was always risk of bed bugs or something else if they got a mattress second hand.

Or worse.

Sleeping on the floor.

She had long gotten used to the hard ground in the White Fang, but she wasn’t sure about Edelgard and Hubert. They had obviously fought in the war, but she wasn’t sure what all their service had been like. She wasn’t super keen to ask them either, not with them having just met, after all. Plus, she was pretty sure Hubert would bite her head off if she attempted to get any information about their service out of them so soon. He was not the most pleasant of individuals, but he would be in the back and not working with the public… She was glad he wasn’t her roommate. He would be unpleasant enough to deal with on the day-to-day, let alone if they lived together. She would let Edelgard deal with him since they were obviously used to each other. He seemed to not really like anybody that wasn’t Edelgard… 

Maybe she should’ve opted for different help.

Well, she wasn’t about to kick them out either and they wanted peace. Or, well, Edelgard at least did. And she’d apparently been removed as a ‘liability’ from the war… How bad was her PTSD if they discharged her from the military…? Weiss was technically a prisoner of war and probably still enrolled on the military’s docket, but it wasn’t like they’d know she was in another world now… Plus, she could only imagine what they’d go through in order to get Weiss back on the side of her torturers… 

She was stuck in the middle of a mess and there wasn’t much she could do about it.

But they weren’t on Selia and hopefully never would be, so she hoped that things would remain as peaceful as they’d ever been…

Chapter Text

Blake stood behind the counter, watching as the scenery in the window changed from Vale to some unknown city in another universe. It was a quaint little town that seemed lively. However, she could see strange creatures bounding around with people. The people seemed to pay them no mind, even enjoying their presence. Huh, how odd. All she could do was hope that nobody came in with one of those creatures… It went against health and safety to have any sort of non-service animal in the café. She would definitely have to tell somebody to keep their animal away if that was the case. She didn’t want to be rude, but she had to uphold health and safety or else she could get fined and shut down.

Eventually, three young women approached the door, each having a small animal with them. One looked like a squirrel, one sort of like a lion, the others… She didn’t know. She shook her head. “I’m sorry; if you want to have your animals, you’ll have to take your stuff outside. It’s against health and safety to have non-service animals in the building where food prep is happening,” she explained.

The younger-looking brown haired girl tilted her head. “I’ve never run into a café in Alma that doesn’t allow Pokémon in. Pichu and Luno are always welcome.”

“We have different standards here.”

“What’s up with the ears? Is this a cosplay café or something?” Apparently someone else that could see through the spells. Blake twitched and swiveled her ears. “Woah. Nuts. They’re real?”

Blake nodded. “Quite. Now if you want anything, please remove your companions and have them wait outside.” She wasn’t being aggressive or anything; she was just asking them to adhere to the standards and safety practices of Vale. Even if she was in a new world, she’d rather uphold the standards she’d agreed to in Vale… Hell would have no fury like a safety inspector that found unknown animal fur in the café. 

The three young women looked at their companions then had them go outside. “It’s really weird you won’t let us have them in. Pretty much every café around the world lets Pokémon be in them,” the younger-looking brown-haired one said again. There was something odd about her soul. Blake could feel some sort of reaching out. It wasn’t quite advanced aura, but it was something in the same vein. She threw her walls up immediately, making the young woman look startled. “Woah! You sensed my empath abilities?”

Blake nodded. “Not hard when you’re as sensitive to energies as I am.” Her ears went back a bit. It didn’t seem malicious or anything. She just didn’t want anybody else reading her emotions. It was probably hypocritical when she read basically everyone else’s souls, but she didn’t want anybody else figuring out her White Fang heritage. Then again, on other worlds, they probably wouldn’t even have a notion of the White Fang… Considering this girl’s responses, they likely didn’t even have Faunus either. She wondered how she could see through the spells. It made no real sense to her… Aside from her empathy abilities, it didn’t seem like she was odd otherwise. 

“Now can I get you anything? And just be advised—my café is about experiences, not being fast paced like other big chains. If you want your order in a cup to go, tell me. Otherwise, I’ll make it in a mug and you can sit here and drink.” Blake was big on having people experience something, not just consume mindlessly. She knew most other cafes were all about getting customers in and out the door as quickly as possible, but with how Menagerine café culture was… It was about the experience, not just consuming. She knew it conflicted with most other kingdoms’ café cultures, but she hoped she could gain some regulars that were more about the experience than just wanting a quick caffeine hit.

“It’s our day off, so we’ll take it here.” The same brown-haired girl spoke with a smile. “Do you do anything for Pokémon?”

“I…don’t even know what one is. Are those the strange animals I asked you to put outside?”

“You don’t even know what a Pokémon is?” The brown-haired one with pigtails gasped a bit. “This café isn’t normal…”

Blake shook her head. “No, it’s not. It’s an offworld café if you can believe that.”

“I mean considering the ears…” The original brown-haired one spoke this time. “Anyway, Pokémon are the other dominant form of life on our planet. We make bonds with them, work with them, sleep with them, and so much more. They’re integral to life here. We’re Pokémon Rangers and it's our job to balance the needs of Pokémon and humans.”

“I get that they’re some sort of animal but…Why did I sense so much intelligence from them?” In the short time they’d been in the café, she’d definitely sensed an odd amount of intelligence from them. Their souls were as active as an aura breed’s, human’s, or Faunus’. The creatures had obviously been confused when she’d told them they would have to wait outside. The lion-like thing had even looked a bit put out. But it wasn’t like she could just allow some random creature to come in her café. She had allowed Marie’s dog because it had a service vest and was clearly a service animal. These… Well, they had no such markings and she couldn’t just allow random animals in her café. Again, health and safety standards she’d agreed to. She’d rather not get shut down just a few weeks after opening.

The young women all looked at each other quizzically. “Because most of them are just as intelligent as we are. That’s all there is to it.” Blake couldn’t help but blink at that. She knew aura breeds and how intelligent they could be because she’d worked with the White Fang’s aura corvids which were for intel. She’d gone to the point of teaching them to read maps. The birds were beyond intelligent.

“Is it just them or is it normal for all individuals?” Aura breeds were the result of selective breeding for aura and it resulted in increased intelligence for the animals. If that sort of intelligence were natural across almost all species… She could barely wrap her mind around it.

“Pretty much normal for all individuals.” The youngest brown-haired one looked at her. “How about this: we make an order then we can answer all the questions about Pokémon you want. Do you do anything safe for Pokémon? A lot of them have the typical no caffeine, no chocolate sorta thing…” 

“I have some herbal teas that are basically just fruit pieces and the teas are cold-brew. I could probably offer them some of that.” She wouldn’t normally allow people to give her orders to animals, but in this case…if the animals could outright understand what she was doing, then it made sense. She wasn’t going to turn down business. But if they got anything for the lion thing, that would be a big batch of cold-brew… She would charge them exactly what volume they ordered. “But I will charge based on volume like I would for any other order.”

“That’s fine.” The three placed their orders and Blake whipped up some tea for all three of them, then got out some cold-brew for the animals. The young women wanted warm tea which made sense. Normally she probably shouldn’t offer cold-brew in winter, but that was some people’s preference. They wanted iced coffee or cold-brew so she kept some on hand just in case those weirdos that liked cold drinks during cold seasons wanted any. She hated the cold but she couldn’t exactly avoid it in Vale…

They all went outside, Blake shivering. The cold was dreadful. She never liked it. But there wasn’t much she could do about it. She really did need to keep a coat behind the counter or something. Thankfully, it was pretty mild here, all things considered. But, for her, anything below about fifty was cold. She’d grown up in tropical Menagerie during her formative years where the temperature rarely dipped below seventy and the humidity was at least 70% so it always felt hotter than it actually was. She hadn’t even known snow existed until she experienced her first real winter.

They sat outside at one of the tables that sat outside the café. The girls passed out the cold-brew to the weird creatures and the youngest-looking one put the bowl down in front of the lion thing. She was willing to give water to service animals if needed, so she did keep a couple bowls behind the counter. This wasn’t expected in the slightest, so it was definitely a strange use of the bowl. They were stainless steel, of course, because that was hygienic and easy to clean.

“So what all are your names?” Blake asked. She hadn’t gotten their names yet. With only three people in the café, she hadn’t had to ask for the individual names for orders.

“I’m Kate Neely.”

“Summer Young.”

“Solana Ambrose.” Well, that was quite the austentatious name if she’d ever heard one. Abrose was definitely a bit of a high-brow name if her own experience was anything to go off of. It sounded very much like something she’d hear in the Valian upper-class. She hadn’t spent any time around the Valian upper-class but she’d spent time around the Atlassian upper-class during her White Fang days… Nasty people, the majority of them. 

“Blake Belladonna.” Her ears twitched. “It’s nice to meet you. So what are all your companions?”

“This is Pachi, my Pachirisu!” Kate smiled as she motioned to the little squirrel-like rodent. 

“Mimi, my Plusle.”

“I didn’t name Pichu; I just call him Yuke because he has a ukulele. But the terrifying one there is Luno the Luxray.” The lion-like creature raised its head and gave a polite nod before going back to the bowl with cold-brew in it. Bizarre to see it from an animal that wasn’t an aura breed. This was going to take some getting used to. She really had no idea how to handle any of these creatures. They were absolutely bizarre. But there was definitely intelligence there. She could feel it in their souls. The Luxray was definitely taking everything in from how its ears twitched and it occasionally lifted its head to look around. 

“So what exactly are these creatures?” Blake was trying to understand, but she couldn’t get past it. They were all obviously incredibly intelligent and this was apparently very standard for most of not all species… How odd. She could hardly believe it. Inhabiting a world with such intelligent creatures… She honestly wished she could get more information on them.

“Well, Pokémon are the other dominant life forms on the planet aside from humans,” Summer explained. “They come in all sorts of different types.” She went on to explain about the different Pokémon types as well as something called ‘type match-ups.’ Blake didn’t entirely wrap her mind around it, but it seemed like elemental rock-paper-scissors to her. One type was weak to another, but things got more complicated when they were dual-typed. But there were plenty of single-typed Pokémon that would be straight-forward with them.

When they got to Psychic-type Pokémon, Blake frowned a little and her ears stood up straight. Creatures that could read someone’s mind and heart… She wondered if something like that would be good for Weiss. That girl, Marie, had had a psychiatric service dog. It could take years and tens of thousands of dollars to get a service animal in Vale. They could also be owner trained as there was no formal licensing service in Vale like there was in Atlas, but she wondered if there would be a Pokémon good for helping Weiss… Weiss had been through absolute hell and letting her have a service animal with intelligence rivaling a human’s would be a godsend. “Are there any Pokémon that can work for psychiatric service animals? One of my employees, Weiss, has been through…a lot and can be triggered quite easily. I don’t want to betray her trust with what she’s told me, but she recently got away from a war on her planet.” It really wasn’t her place to tell Weiss’ story. But if she could talk with these young women…maybe they would have an idea.

“Psychiatric service animals, huh? I’ve definitely seen them around.” Summer leaned back in her chair a little bit. “For someone with a lot of emotional disturbance, a Psychic type would definitely work well. One of the most sensitive evolution lines for that is the Ralts line. A Sylveon or Espeon may not be a bad option either. However, I’m not exactly sure how psychiatric service Pokémon work on paper. I’m not sure if there’s some sort of overarching licensing board across all regions like there are for Gym Leaders and Leagues, or if it’s something that varies region to region. I’d need to look into it before I could give you any solid answers. How often will you be around here?” 

“Uhh once a week, I think. But…Weiss really needs something pretty much immediately. She’s really not in a good state.” She frowned. “I do have a control panel that can let me choose where I go. Otherwise I’ll go to where it’s pre-programmed to go. I’m here for about two hours.”

Summer took out a scroll and obviously texted somebody. “My best friend is retired from being a Ranger and he’s pretty good with the research. As long as Hastings doesn’t have him busy, we can probably have some good info in two hours’ time. I’m just not sure what to expect from Pokémon. Something from a breeder would probably be best as they were raised around humans, but breeders have waitlists and they can cost a lot of money depending on multiple factors. Is there any way I could meet her?”

“Weiss is resting right now. I’m honestly kind of doing this behind her back, but I can see she desperately needs someone or something that can easily read her moods and respond to her needs in an instant.” It was just one of those cases where Blake could see what was best for someone. Normally she wouldn’t go behind somebody’s back but…Weiss clearly needed help. The fact that she freaked out from silence alone spoke volumes to how her mind had been warped from the torture she’d undergone. “I don’t want to wake her, but it might not be a bad idea to do so to see if this is something she’d want…”

Summer nodded. “Will you wake her up?”

“You’ll have to come back into the café with me. I don’t want her outside in the cold, no matter how temperate.” A light dusting of snow covered the ground and Blake already felt like that was too cold. But with Weiss’ lack of body fat, she’d probably get cold entirely too easily. Blake kept the heat in the café a little on the lower side, but that was because heating was expensive and she needed to balance that with her own comfort. She would blast it at 80 degrees if she could get away with it, but she couldn’t. She kept it around 72 which was way too cold for inside for her liking, but she still wasn’t sure how much her heating bill would be. Not to mention she needed to pay utilities for her own apartment… She had an electric blanket for her apartment. She may need to get one for Weiss, depending on how cold she got…

She got up and the three followed her inside, but she motioned for them to sit down. She went to the room and let out a breath. No knocking. That triggered Weiss. But she wasn’t sure about just opening the door either. “Weiss?” She raised her voice hopefully loud enough to be heard. She winced a little, ears going down, when she heard a bump on the wall. She’d startled Weiss despite her best attempts. “It’s just me, Blake. Can I come in?”

It took a few minutes for any sort of response to come, but the door opened. Weiss looked around warily, eyes darting around until she looked up at Blake. “I thought you were going to let me sleep. I’m still tired.”

“I was but then we came to a world where I think there are some things you might be interested to learn about… Want to come out and talk to our guests?” She couldn’t help but feel guilty over startling Weiss like that and cutting her nap short. But it’d be another week until she saw these people which, in some regards, would be good. It would give them the ability to research and check into things rather than just the couple hours they had right now. But getting Weiss’ feelings was important too…

“I guess…” Weiss opened the door fully and came out. Once again, Blake was struck by just how gaunt her face was. Her clothes covered her body wrist to ankle, but her face still made it apparent just how little weight she had on her bones. It reminded Blake of the tales the elders of Menagerie would tell when they were released from the Mantaline extermination camps. They were basically just skin and bones and could barely support themselves. They had little to no food and were left to just starve to death. Weiss had obviously barely been allowed any food while she’d been tortured… She wished she could ask how people could be so cruel, but she knew better. She knew how cruel people could be, considering what Adam had done to her.

They came out to one of the tables and Weiss sat down, looking around a bit. She sat down and leaned against the table a little bit, that short walk obviously having exhausted her. Blake wanted to comfort her, but there wasn’t much she could do right now. They were still essentially strangers and Blake didn’t want to potentially trigger her. She went behind the counter and turned on one of Weiss’ playlists, also making the music a little louder just for Weiss’ sake. It might be too quiet for her… Blake could understand how triggering silence could be, but she’d managed to mostly get over it at this point. 

“So what is this about?” Weiss asked, looking at Blake then the three young women.

“I didn’t tell them anything, but with your mental state and physical state, the animals on their world struck me as something that might be able to help you as service animals,” Blake explained. “What would you think of having a companion or two that could help with mood affect and physical tasks?” 

Weiss frowned and sighed. “I don’t want to admit it, but I’m not great at doing a lot right now.” She shook her head. “But what’s so special about the animals on this world?”

“Would you mind explaining about Psychic types again, Summer?” Blake asked. Summer nodded and gave a bit of an overview of Psychic types while also explaining about Pokémon intelligence and some other things.

Weiss frowned and Blake could feel the wheels in her head turning. “That…might very well be helpful. But I would want to know about the regulations and such surrounding it. And what do you mean wild versus domestic?” Summer explained about how there were wild Pokémon that, in other regions, could and would often be taken from their homes in battles. Weiss looked at Blake and they were on the same wavelength this time. That sounded barbaric. Things like dog fighting and cock fighting were extremely brutal and it sounded like battles were little better than that. 

Summer shook her head. “I can sense your unease and, well, most Rangers are pretty ill at ease with the idea of Trainers as well. But it’s nothing brutal like I can sense from you, Weiss.” She looked at Blake, obviously a little miffed from being blocked from reading her. “It’s sport fighting. Pokémon do get hurt, yeah, but there are regulations to how much they can get hurt. Plus, it actually helps them. They need battle experience to evolve. If Luno hadn’t gone out into the wild and fought other Pokémon, he’d still be a Shinx.”

“Evolution?” Blake glanced at Weiss, not sure what this was about.

“But evolution only occurs slowly over time,” Weiss said. “You’re making it sound like it happens instantaneously.”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying.” Summer opened a screen on her round, wrist-mounted device and tapped around a bit before pulling up what was clearly related line of Pokémon. She explained how evolution worked. For Blake, it didn’t make any sense how evolution could happen so quickly. She really had no idea how to handle that information. The Pokémon were clearly related but they could quickly and instantaneously turn from one to another. How bizarre. But it sounded like a completely normal process for this world… 

“Weird,” Weiss said.

“Agreed,” Blake concurred. “But what do you think about the general idea of having something to help you? I know there are program dogs and even cats in Vale due to aura breeds, but even allowing for an owner-raised animal… Well. Aura breeds cost ten times what a normal animal does. If a purebred goes for around two to three hundred, then a purebred aura breed will go for two to three thousand. I’m sure you can use normal animals, but aura breeds are by far the best. And waitlists are no doubt long for breeders and such. It’d take time to get one if we were to rely on Vale.”

Weiss frowned. “It really depends on what all training Pokémon need to go through… If they have the intelligence of a human or surpass it most of the time, it’d probably be quick to train. But again, I’m worried if there are certifications or anything needed. Plus, what about health and safety for the café?” She looked at Blake.

“I had finished up in a place called France shortly before you came into the café. A young customer had what was clearly a service dog with her. Behaved like one should: quiet and stayed out of the way. Legally, I have to allow service animals into the café. I can’t say I know much about Pokémon, but the ones that you three brought all have fur and might have allergens on them. I can’t allow them in because of the health and safety standards of the world my café belongs in,” Blake explained, looking at Kate, Summer, and Solana. It was one thing if there were outside tables which she did have. That was where they’d sat earlier. 

“Fur will depend on the species you get. Something like an Espeon or Sylveon like we discussed? Definitely fur. Something like the Ralts line? Ralts have skin only, though Kirlia and Gardevoir have hair like we do.” Summer patted her hair. “Same with Gallade.” Blake and Weiss looked at each other and Summer explained about the Ralts line, pulling up pictures of them on her device. “These Pokémon are incredibly sensitive to emotions and with their hands and psychic abilities would be good for somebody with emotional disturbance. Sylveon would be good because it’s a loving Pokémon that naturally calms others down. Espeon as a species can often be quite aloof but they warm up to their companion in due time. That’s assuming you start from wild. But if you start from an Eevee, then they warm up a lot more easily since Eevee is generally a sweet, gentle Pokémon.” Summer showed them images of the Eevee line, leaving both Blake and Weiss perplexed. How could something evolve so much…? That was crazy. “But if you have mobility issues, something like Growlithe or Arcanine would be good since they can brace against you. Sylveon could also help with mobility issues since it’s a decent size. Espeon, though, they’re Psychic types which are spindly and not very good for that.”

“There are a lot of options…” Weiss said. Blake could feel how overwhelmed she was; it rolled off her in waves. 

“Those are only a handful of Pokémon. There are over a thousand discovered species,” Summer said. “I think maybe a Gardevoir might be best for you, but again—” Something chimed and Summer pulled her scroll out. “Ah, here we go. If you wanna read, here.” She quickly unlocked it then handed it to Weiss and Blake. They started reading the basic overview of the rights and regulations that governed service Pokémon. It looked like a lot of larger regions didn’t have super tight regulations similar to Vale, but she saw some of the smaller regions had  tighter regulations on taking Pokémon from the wild. It was a brief overview of the various regions and nothing super in-depth. 

The next link talked about Almia in specific. Blake looked up. “Are we in Almia?”

Summer nodded. “Yup. I’m technically a registered Trainer and so is Solana since she was born in Sinnoh. What to the regs say?” 

“Give us a bit to read,” Blake said. Summer nodded and they scrolled through the overview link as quickly as they could. “It looks like wild-taken Pokémon require some sort of pre-arrangement with the Ranger Union.” Whatever that was. “It would also need a psychiatrist note.”

Weiss frowned. “But I haven’t seen a psychiatrist and I doubt I could get one in this world when I don’t even exist in it.”

“Honestly, I think we could probably work something out with Erma.” Summer looked at Kate who gave a resolute nod. “We’ve dealt with a lot of weird stuff and I’m pretty sure Erma would let us skirt by the normal regulations that are set up. Do you think you guys could come back here this evening?”

Blake sighed. “That’d be after 7pm since I would rather stick to the schedule that Anna set up for me.” She really didn’t want to keep the café open too late, but in this case, it would be worth it. If they could get something to help Weiss, she was willing to do it. She’d just have a very, very late dinner unless she decided to close a couple of hours early for dinner. Or maybe she could convince Hubert and Edelgard to cook dinner for them then bring them down a plate. Granted, they wouldn’t know how much Blake needed… Oh wait, they didn’t even have groceries in their apartment. She would need to be the one to feed them until they got paid for the first time. She’d need to go out grocery shopping this Sunday… Weiss couldn’t eat too much because of the issue of refeeding syndrome, but she still needed additional food for Hubert and Edelgard. 

Maybe she could just ask Anna to ring her up some extra groceries since she did not have time to go out and shop until Sunday. The café was open twelve hours a day, six days a week, so yeah…

“So 7pm it is.” Summer nodded. “Sounds good. We should probably go now so we can start making those arrangements. Thanks for the tea.” She smiled pleasantly and the three got up, then left. Solana came back in and returned the bowl and the glasses the Pokémon had used and then left again. 

Blake started cleaning up but looked at Weiss. “If you want to go back to sleep, you can. I won’t hold it against you. I feel bad for waking you up.” Her ears went down a little bit. She felt terrible for waking Weiss up when she was so clearly sensitive to environmental cues. Going to sleep in general couldn’t be easy. She was pretty sure there were nightmare blockers in Weiss’ medication that Anna had given her… She really hated that she’d woken her up, but it was for a very good reason.

Weiss sighed. “Can I just retire for the day? I know it’s still early but…” 

Blake nodded. “Let me close up for a minute, then I can take you back upstairs.” She took Weiss outside and sat her down at one of the tables, locking the door. She couldn’t help but notice the fact Weiss had her arms wrapped around herself. She helped Weiss up the stairs to the apartment and let her in. “If you need anything, feel free to text me. I’ll be up if I’m not busy. Sound good?” She smiled at Weiss. The woman gave a small nod. Blake handed her the remote for the TV so it wouldn’t be silent for her. “If you need anything in the kitchen, you’re welcome to it. Just be careful you don’t eat too much at once.” They didn’t need Weiss having a medical crisis on another world and having uncomfortable questions asked. She wasn’t sure if the spells Anna used would carry over if they left the café premises. People would definitely ask questions about her ears if they were away.

“Okay. Thank you.” Weiss didn’t smile or anything and turned the TV on, settling against the headboard of her bed. Blake felt guilty leaving her alone like that. But she had asked to come up here. She just… There was no easy way to deal with any of this. She hoped that she could be a comfort to Weiss one day. For now, all she could do was listen and respond to Weiss as best she could. She was Weiss’ only real support right now while Hubert and Edelgard worked on their rooms…

Chapter Text

The rest of the time in the Pokémon world was quiet with a couple people coming in for drinks and snacks, but she didn’t get as much business as she’d been hoping. Thankfully, nobody else came in with Pokémon and left them outside upon seeing the sign. She felt bad for asking people to leave their beloved companions outside in the cold but she couldn’t have them in because of health and safety concerns. It would be one thing to have a service animal in because she was legally obligated to but if they were just pets… She couldn’t allow that unless they were outside. She had no idea what the couple of other Pokémon she saw were, but some were definitely cute. 

Eventually, though, the scenery shifted and Blake had to stick her head out to look around. This place looked…literally medieval. The air smelt a lot fresher, much more like Menagerine than Vale or Atlas. It made her realise just how utterly polluted the two environments were due to cars. She saw horses and she squinted when she saw a shadow fly overhead. What was that? She had no real idea. It was probably just another oddity of being a multiversal café. She really had no idea what to make of it… She really hadn’t expected to come to worlds that were literally medieval. Hopefully the spells would hold here and people wouldn’t question too much.

She went back inside the café, shivering from the cold. She had spent her youngest years in Menagerie which was tropical rainforest on the coast that was inhabited, so the cold seeped into her bones pretty easily. She really hated the cold, but she didn’t want to go home… Her parents would hate her. The kindest thing she’d called them before leaving was cowards. She could never let go of the guilt she felt for that… She should probably try to make up with them but…she just… She couldn’t bring herself to call her mother or father’s number and try. Plus, signal to Menagerie was spotty at the absolute best of times anyway, especially being so far away.

She stood behind the counter and started taking care of some menial little tasks while she waited for the bell to clang. She had a feeling things would be pretty slow here too. It looked like she’d landed in a somewhat quieter place. However, she looked up when she heard the bell tinkle slightly and smiled. She put on her best customer service voice. “Hello and welcome to the Sugar Flower Café. How can I help you? We sell all sorts of specialty coffees and teas here. If you would like a cup to go, let me know; I pride myself on offering a tranquil experience where people can relax and enjoy their drink.” She was still working on her introduction. This felt wordy but people seemed to want her to have coffee immediately and weren’t interested in an experience. She understood the nature of consumptive societies like Vale’s but even so… She hated it.

She continued fiddling with what needed to be done until she heard the bell clang. She looked up and saw a young blonde woman with a brown-haired woman and a redheaded woman. The blonde woman had darker skin and brilliant, emerald-green eyes that caught Blake’s attention. They were tired but full of kindness and warmth. She could feel anxiety rolling off the brown-haired woman in waves while the redhead felt almost dead inside. She wore a placid smile but it didn’t reach her eyes, let alone her soul.

They all approached the counter and Blake smiled at them. “Welcome to the Sugar Flower Café where we specialise in experience over convenience. If you want a to-go cup, you’ll have to tell me specifically.” She smiled at the women who looked over the menu curiously.

“My, I don’t even know what half of these options are,” the redhead said. “I’ve never heard of ess-pre-sso.”

Blake smiled. “If you’re unfamiliar with out options and blends, I can help you with that.” Apparently espresso machines didn’t exist here or something like that… A bit surprising but considering the multiple worlds thing and the fact it seemed like this world was medieval, maybe it shouldn’t have surprised her so much…

“We’d appreciate that.” The blonde smiled and Blake started running them through the various options. Despite the blonde’s calm face, her mind whipped at a pace that almost left Blake breathless. She was running on completely different hardware than most people were. She didn’t look much older than twenty along with her two companions. This woman was definitely something else though. Blake could also catch her looking at her ears, but it was so quick she almost gaslit herself into believing she hadn’t seen it. But she could feel the curiosity on the woman’s soul about her ears… So she could see through the basic spells Anna had put up, huh? She was starting to get used to it. Well, they were just there for the average person, not people that went well above and beyond what as normal.

The three placed their orders and Blake learned their names: Robin, Cordelia, and Sumia. She started on the orders, though she did warn about caffeine. “Caff-ene?” Robin asked.

“You know how coffee and some forms of tea give you a boost that lasts a couple of hours…though it can sometimes give you the shakes?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s caffeine. It’s a compound in that occurs naturally in the plants that gets extracted when you brew coffee and some forms of tea.” Herbal teas did not have caffeine because, by definition, they technically were not teas. They didn’t have leaves from the tea plant, so they weren’t technically tea. Same with rooibos tea. Not from the tea plant. But they were called tea in Valian because they were all similar enough.

“You sound like you’d make good friends with Miriel. She’d love to hear about compounds and stuff,” Robin said, though it was obviously a joke. Cordelia shook her head.

“Don’t subject anybody to Miriel without prior notification, Robin. That wouldn’t be very kind,” Cordelia said.

“No, it wouldn’t. But Miriel would be infinitely interested in what this ‘caffeine’ stuff is. You sound like you have a lot of knowledge on this stuff,” Robin said.

“Not really. It’s pretty common knowledge where I’m from.” She saw Robin’s eyebrow quirk but the woman didn’t say anything. Yeah, Robin was definitely onto her. She had no way of avoiding the fact that Robin was seeing past the spells Anna had set. It made sense that literal gods would see past basic spells, but an average person…? Well. Robin clearly wasn’t average. If she could see through things so effectively, then no, she wasn’t average by any stretch of the imagination. 

“What’re those?” Robin walked over to the little musical corner that had the theremin, piano, and guitar. 

“Oh, they’re instruments. A piano, a guitar, and a theremin.”

“I’ve never seen anything like them before. How do you play them?”

“I’m not sure about the theremin—my roommate wanted it. She was incredibly excited about it. As for the piano, open the cover on the keys, then you can play.” Robin did just that and sat down on the bench, starting to plunk out the keys. Thankfully, it was in tune, and didn’t cause Blake’s spine to tingle. However, Robin hit a few chords that clashed terribly, and Blake’s ears went down. She was no musician, but it wasn’t hard to tell when notes clashed. It was very easy to hear. 

“Huh. Very strange for an instrument. Lucina would probably love it.” Robin smiled and looked at her companions.

“Yes, Princess Lucina would very likely love that,” Cordelia said. Princess…? So they still had kingdoms here? Well, Remnant did, but that was a, well, remnant of the pre-Great War era. They were nations and democracies now… Aside from Vacuo which was a constitutional monarchy. They retained a king though it was an elected position and always had been. Vacuo was weird and always had been. Blake might’ve fared better there rather than Vale since it was usually a lot warmer, but it was a dry heat, not the wet heat she was used to in Menagerie… 

But wait, if Robin’s daughter was a princess then that meant…

“You’re a queen?” Blake asked. Her ears stood up at attention. 

Robin nodded. “Yep, sure am.” She stretched, obviously nonplussed by the revelation. For a queen, Robin was astoundingly relaxed and informal. As far as Blake was aware, even Vacuo retained formality with its king to some degree. Who was this woman? Her clothes also did look quite different from her companions’. She wore a large coat with various designs on it and it practically swallowed Robin whole. It was strange to look at and seemed very foreign. She could also hear an accent in Robin’s voice that neither Sumia or Cordelia had. They had their own accents, of course, but Robin’s was markedly different. She wanted to understand Robin’s story… How did a woman become queen when she wasn’t native to this land?

“Interesting.” It was odd to be in a place that had legitimate royalty. Again, there was Vacuo, but Vacuo was strange. It had always been the black sheep of the kingdoms as far as how they treated outsiders went. Vale was pretty accepting, Atlas hated strangers, and it really depended on where one was in Mistral. Northern was more accepting, southern too, though central could be quite xenophobic.  “Are these two your guards?”

“Nah, they’re just friends from the Shepherds. I guess you could call them guards, but they’re really not.” Robin smiled. “I don’t really have to worry in Ylisse about where I go. Pretty much everyone loves me… Well. If you’re not an advisor.” She chuckled and even Cordelia smiled a bit and it was genuine. Clearly there was some sort of inside joke that Blake was missing here, but she shrugged it off. If she saw Robin and them enough, she might learn it. It wasn’t her place to poke into people’s business yet… Just learning about people was going to take time and she knew relationships required quite a bit of it…

“Shepherds?” Why was a queen a shepherd…? She didn’t really understand.

Blake felt a flash of observation go through Robin but not the other two. “Yeah, Ylisse’s military force, the Shepherds. We keep the people safe as the shepherd tends and keeps their own flock safe.” Well, that definitely made sense now. It was kind of a cute name for a military force and it did convey a certain message. The people could definitely rely on the Shepherds if they had a name like that… Or she at least hoped they could. She didn’t know anything about Ylisse, so all she could do was hope and pray that the queen and king of this land were altruistic and kind. It did seem like it, though… If Robin was able to just walk around without any form of protection, well, it did speak to the fact that she was a well-loved ruler and people in general didn’t hate her.

“I see. That’s definitely a nice name. It gives off a certain image.”

“After Chrom’s father dismantled the military, former Exalt Emmeryn felt the need to raise a force again because of the Plegians. They were becoming more and more aggressive until things hit a fever pitch a few years ago and we went to war.” Robin frowned as did Cordelia, Sumia’s gaze dropping. Well, that was definitely something Blake couldn’t push her nose into anytime soon. If she could spend time out in Ylisse, she could probably piece things together, but if she left her café, people would probably ask questions about her ears and, well, she didn’t want that to happen.

“I see.” Well, she didn’t, but she couldn’t exactly admit to that. She didn’t want to raise any suspicions from Cordelia and Sumia. Robin was definitely the most outspoken one of the group, though. Very forward and friendly, but somehow still mild mannered and relaxed. But there was still an obvious intelligence behind her eyes and observations. This woman had a very odd personality. She wanted to get to know her more.

She finished up with the orders, then handed them all their mugs. “Here you go.” Blake smiled at them. 

“T-Thank you…” Sumia mumbled and sat down in a corner.

“I’m still curious about those instruments,” Cordelia said.

“Same. My daughter would love them,” Robin said.

“The only one I know how to play is the guitar,” Blake said. “I understand the theory behind piano, but I don’t think I’m good enough for it. I can’t even sight read music.” She got out from behind the counter and sat at the piano and lifted the key cover. She plinked a few notes but didn’t attempt to play anything. “Basically you have both hands playing at the same time across different octaves, then you hit the pedals with your feet…for some reason.” She had never been formally trained in music. She got the most rudimentary idea behind the piano, but she didn’t really understand any of the hows or whys.

“I see. What about the other two?” Robin asked.

“Like I said, I don’t understand the theremin at all; you’d have to ask my roommate. But she’s currently resting.” She didn’t want to disturb Weiss again. She had clearly hit her limit for what she could handle right now, so she didn’t want to bother her again until dinner. It felt bad to disturb somebody that had been through as much as Weiss had. But in the case of the service Pokémon…it felt like it would only make sense for her to have one. 

“The guitar on the other hand…” Blake went over and picked it up, then sat back on the piano bench. She started strumming freehand. “I was never formally trained in music but I picked up things from it by ear. Most of the songs are in my native language, though. I’m not really used to these types of strings, though.” The steel strings felt strange beneath her fingers. She was used to traditional strings which were made of literal animal intestines. To her, they produced a much more pleasant tone, but she knew steel strings were the standard outside of Menagerie.

“Could you play for us?” Cordelia asked.

Blake nodded. “I can definitely do that. But it’ll be in my native language because translating is difficult with how it’s constructed.” She strummed a little bit idly, then settled on the song Wanderer’s Lullaby. She could hear the translation in her head so clearly. Wandering child of the earth, do you know just how much you’re worth? You’ve walked this path since your birth; you were destined for more… It was both a beautiful song but a somber one. It was about the fragility of life and the way people often felt lost even when they were on the right path for them. She loved this lullaby and her mother had sang it to her so many times in her childhood. It was an older form of the language, less evolved than the current form of Menagerine that she had grown up speaking. But she still knew the translation.

She played a couple more songs and Robin clapped her hands. “Those were beautiful! My daughter would probably love to learn the first song if you could translate it for us. It’s a gorgeous melody.”

Blake nodded. “It was one of my favorites growing up. It’s a lullaby.” It was sung in an earlier form of Menagerine and was no doubt more related to Atlassian than current-day Menagerine. That one came from the post-Great War era while others, like You’ll Be in My Heart, were from the post-Revolution era. They were meant for the refugee children that had come from the kingdoms that didn’t know how to handle being in Menagerie. So many children had been adopted into different families because the Revolution had torn apart so many families… She wished she could’ve learned more stories about the Revolution and collected them…but her heart lay with opening this café. Maybe, just maybe she could atone for her crimes in the White Fang by bringing joy to people through drinks and dainties.

“Do you think you could get a translation?”

“It’d take me a little while because the café’s open six days a week, twelve hours a day. I don’t have a lot of extra time on my hands. And I’d want to stay as true to the melody as possible. I don’t want to betray the song my ancestors made.” Granted, Menagerie was only around eighty years old… The oldest generations were dying off day by day…but there were still those that remembered one war if not both. As far as she was aware, her great-grandparents were still alive and remembered the days of slavery. Eighty years was not a long time… And many Faunus continued to be treated as slaves. The institution was basically still alive and well in Atlas. Not so much Mistral, but Faunus still weren’t treated very well there. They mostly lived in historical slums and weren’t really allowed much social mobility unless they were were in the northern part of Mistral… It irked her so much. There was a reason why she’d become radicalised… The reasons were legitimate, but the way they were handled were not.

“That’s perfectly fine. No need to rush things.” Robin smiled. “Lucina would love to have more music in her repertoire. Hey, do you think I could send her here sometime and you could teach her about the instruments? We have violins, but nothing like the guitar, theremin, or piano.”

“I could only teach guitar. Like I said, I don’t understand the theremin or piano. I can’t even read music.”

“Lucina could probably teach you. Music was her first love in life. I won’t suggest any sort of exchange because I know you need to make money. Or maybe music for music. You translate music you know, then she teaches you how to read. Or something along those lines.” Robin frowned. “You wouldn’t be able to transcribe anything though… It’d just be lyrics, right?”

Blake nodded. “Never learned to read music and I haven’t had any time. I know I’m young, but I’m still busy.” She owned her own café and worked way too many hours a week. But it wasn’t like she had a ton of choice. Hiring people had been low on her priority list because she wanted to make sure she could run things smoothly at first, then she could hire people on. Right now, Weiss couldn’t work too much and Hubert and Edelgard were literally just for the back to make food. She still had to run the front of the house by herself. Hubert and Edelgard had already worked out their hours. And it wasn’t like she had any further room in order to take in another random multiversal person… She had a three-bedroom apartment, so she technically still had one more room, but… Training someone for front-of-house service would take time with how she was when it came to brewing coffee and tea. Maybe she could talk to Anna again… But still. It was a lot to take in and deal with. 

“She could probably come here and, as long as you aren’t super busy, she could transcribe the notation part of your songs. Then you could work on the translations as long as you have your roommate to help you figuring out how to apply the lyrics to the notation.”

Blake nodded a bit. “Some times are busier than others.” She had a feeling this time slot would be very slow with only a few people straggling in. Marie’s world had been incredibly busy but it felt like this medieval slot would be very slow. Maybe this Ylisse place just didn’t have a big coffee and tea culture… She didn’t know. She didn’t know anything about any of the places she was being ported around to.

“Well, if you aren’t busy at some point, maybe Lucina could visit then?” Blake pursed her lips. She didn’t want to tell Robin about the nature of her café, let alone Sumia and Cordelia. Those two hadn’t seemed to notice something was up with it. But Robin… Robin definitely noticed something was up with it. There was an intelligence well beyond what was normal in those eyes and her soul constantly churned about, no doubt mirroring her incredibly active mind. She wasn’t supposed to really tell people, but it was also up to her… It was just weird to explain the café to anybody without sounding like a complete mad woman.

“Well, we should probably get back to patrolling,” Cordelia said. Blake’s ears twitched a bit. “At least Sumia and I should.”

“All right then; I’ll see you two later,” Robin said. The brunette and redhead exited the café and Robin turned to face Blake. Her soul suddenly steeled and Blake’s ears went down a bit. “So what is going on here? I’ve never noticed this café here before and you… Are you a Taguel or something?”

“A what now?”

Robin pointed, no doubt at her ears. “Normal people don’t have animal ears. They’re clearly real with how they move and react to what I’m assuming are your thoughts or mood.”

Blake sighed. “It’s probably going to sound insane, but this café is from a completely different dimension entirely. I’m not a Taguel or whatever it is you called me; I’m a Faunus. Faunus have exactly one animal trait though it’s not always readily apparent. Some of us have wings, ears, or tails, while some have spinnerets for shooting webs like spiders or even retractable claws.”

“Huh. Well, that does explain the strange equipment and instruments. I’ve never seen anything like a piano or theremin before. How…is this even an instrument?” Robin walked over to it.

Blake shrugged. “Let me pull something up…” She slipped behind the counter and loaded up a video. Despite not being in Vale, she still had CCTS access, no doubt thanks to Anna. She waved Robin over and showed her a couple videos of the theremin being played. Robin looked on in awe and wonder, her soul churning an intense amount.

“How…How did you capture that? And view it? What is this thing?” She looked at the computer.

“Something well beyond your comprehension. I don’t think you’re stupid; I promise. Your technology level is just obviously much, much lower than where I come from. Or, at least, the biggest cities. I’m guessing you still use horses and candles?”

Robin nodded. “Yeah. Candles are our main source of light at night especially on moonless or cloud-covered nights. What…exactly is powering all of this?”

“Again, stuff beyond your comprehension. But…if you want an explanation, I guess picture us as being able to harness the power of lightning to power our towns and cities. This place doesn’t look too bad, but our cities can have millions of people packed into them.”

“Woah. I can’t imagine that. Between everyone on the Ylissean continent, I can’t imagine how many cities that’d make up for you. How many people in one city?”

“Sometimes between thirty and forty million.” Robin looked ready to pass out from the sheer astronomical number. She leaned against the wall and shook her head.

“Insanity. But…the weird power and things here prove your story true, at least in my eyes. The light in here feels really harsh compared to outside.”

“And I really only have the lights on low as well… Like most cafés, I have mostly natural light coming in.”

Robin walked over to the windows and knocked on them. “How much for this amount of glass? These are some crazy panes. I’ve never seen anything like it before.”

Blake shrugged. “I didn’t need to take the wall down when I bought this place, so I’m not sure. Glass still isn’t exactly cheap by any means, but with the industrial processes we have in Vale and other kingdoms, it’s not as expensive as it would be here.”

“Industrial?”

“Basically, we can automate a lot of jobs and have minimal human or Faunus impact on them. There are still artisanal crafts like glass blowing, but those are usually hobbies for people or maybe a steady job if they’re really lucky. But it’s not stuff we need a lot of human or Faunus touch on. They oversee the processes, but it’s largely all automated or mostly automated.”

“That’s…intense to think about.” Robin shook her head. “I know you said you don’t have much knowledge on the piano, but can you at least let me hear it?”

“It’d be better for me to pull up a video.” Blake searched up people playing piano and let Robin watch a couple of them. She didn’t want to plunk on the piano because she would not do the beautiful instrument justice. Even an amateur would be way better than her. She had never received any formal music training in her life. All she could really do was play guitar pieces by ear. Weiss was resting, so it wasn’t like she could ask Weiss to sit and play there either. She wasn’t going to really force Weiss to sit behind the counter or anything like that… The poor technomancer would definitely need rest… 

A video of a beautiful piano piece played and Robin watched, her eyebrows arched. “Okay, what in the world is this? I’ve never seen anything like it before… But I get what it sounds like now at least.”

Blake let the video finish up. “It’s called a video. You know how paintings and sketches are supposed to capture a moment in time?” Robin nodded. “Well, we can basically make instant paintings.” She snapped a picture of Robin, who started when she heard the shutter sound. She flipped her scroll around to show Robin the photo. “This is called a photo. It captures a singular moment in real time. Videos are basically many photos stitched together to recreate entire lengths of time in perfect detail. Though you can edit them.”

“Why would you want to edit a moment?”

“Well, a lot of people don’t, but there are types of entertainment called movies and shows where you can cast the illusion of another reality that doesn’t actually exist. I don’t watch much of that stuff, though; I didn’t grow up on it, so it’s not a part of my culture.” She shrugged. Yeah, she really didn’t feel the need for movies or TV shows. She knew there were entire video sites for people to find alternative entertainment made by smaller content creators, but she didn’t really get into that either. She was simple and just preferred books. 

“That’s…absolutely insane to think about. I can barely wrap my mind around it.” Robin shook her head. “But getting back to the main point, do you think I could bring my daughter here? We don’t have guitars or pianos.”

“The piano will depend wholly on Weiss. She’s very, very weak all around. She’s technically my employee but she’s more of a roommate. I’m giving her room and board for the time being until she’s strong enough to be able to take herself out. But she can’t even handle the stairs going up to our apartments on her own yet.” Once Weiss started being able to hold herself up and walk longer distances, she’d start paying her. But for right now, yeah, room and board would be more than enough for Weiss. She just needed somewhere she could feel safe and recover. Though if Weiss needed something, she could always ask Blake…

Robin nodded. “All right then. Well, it’s still amazing to see such a crazy instrument and learn about such a crazy Outrealm existing in such a way…”

“Outrealm?” It was Blake’s turn to ask questions. She’d never heard that term before.

“Ah, it’s how we refer to outside worlds. There’s the Dragon’s Gate which leads to all sorts of worlds outside our own. All I know about Anna is that she hails from the Outrealms… After I came back, she let me, Chrom, and the kids go to the Hotrealm for a time so I could destress from everything.”

“Hotrealm?”

“Basically it’s a beach resort in a tropical setting. Way warmer than I’m used to. I wasn’t really the biggest fan of it, but it was nice to get away from the stresses of ruling for a while. Best part was that no time passed. I can’t imagine the shape Ylisse would be in if we were away for too long… It’s not like we have Emmeryn to rely on.” Robin sighed and her soul dropped. Whatever had happened to this Emmeryn person, it clearly wasn’t good. But it wasn’t really Blake’s place to ask right now. She had only just met Robin, but she clearly held a lot of pain inside of her. It had to be tough.

“What I wouldn’t give to move back to a tropical area… I grew up in a tropical rainforest where the humidity is a minimum of 80% and the minimum temperature is 80 degrees. It was only the first seven or so years of my life, but I cannot stand the cold.” She shivered. “I don’t like how cold it is right now.”

Robin shook her head. “See, I’m the opposite. I’m from the northern country called Regna Ferox. I grew up on the border with Ylisse, but I’m still used to it being colder than warmer most of the year. I don’t like the heat… And after the Plegia campaign…” She shook her head. “I never handled heat well in the first place, but Plegia is a hot desert. I really don’t do well with heat now. Thankfully the Hotrealm wasn’t too hot. Pus our cabin had something called ‘air conditioning.’”

“Oh, I don’t like A/C, as it’s called for short. It makes the area too dry and too cold for my liking. Though depending on Weiss in the summer, if she’s still with me then, I might have to invest in a window unit for her.” With the lack of body fat, Weiss wouldn’t be able to thermoregulate very easily. The cold would probably be a lot tougher than heat, but heat still wouldn’t be great. Blake couldn’t crank the heat up in the café as much as she wished she could. She would need to check in with Weiss to see if she needed it warmer… Or maybe she could get her a housecoat or heated blanket or something. She didn’t want Weiss to freeze while manning the counter.

“What is humidity, by the way?”

“It’s a measure of how much water is in the air. A/C drops the temperature, but it also dehumidifies. So it also makes the air drier. In the summer, drier air can be nice, but when you’re used to wet heat like I am, anything below like 60% humidity feels really dry.” She shook her head. Yeah, she really didn’t like how dry it got in the winters like now. She would unfortunately have to put the A/C on in the café once summer rolled around, though. People wouldn’t want to come into a café that was excessively hot, especially because the ovens and stoves would be running… The concessions she’d have to make for customers to be comfortable was a little frustrating.

“I see. By the way, do you know what time it is?”

Blake looked at the clock and her ears flicked back. “Ah, it’s getting close to three… If you want to stick around you can, but I’ll be hopping to another world soon.” She found the program that controlled where her café went on the computer. 

“Eh, I should probably get back anyway. I have a meeting at four. Well, nice to meet you. When will you be here?”

Blake looked at the program Anna had set up. “Every third day from 1pm to 3pm. So not tomorrow or the next day, but the day after that. Make sense?”

Robin nodded. “Yep. Well, I’ll let you head on out and I’ll head back to the castle.” She headed out the door and the scenery changed outside. Well, time to gear up for new customers…

Chapter Text

The scenery outside changed to what looked like a quaint little village in the mountains. Well, she probably wouldn’t get much business here, but Anna had said that part of this was helping people around her age. Maybe there was someone here that needed her help. 

She slipped out from behind the counter and looked around outside. It was definitely a cozy little town that didn’t look to be more than maybe a thousand people or so. She really probably couldn’t expect too much business here. Anna would be helping her save money by being her only supplier so she hoped the operating costs of running here would help balance things out. She just really wanted to be able to keep her café open as long as possible. She’d been saving up since she’d left the White Fang… She really just wanted to be able to share her love of tea and other drinks with people.

She went back inside and set about cleaning up as best she could. Things were quiet for a bit until she heard the bell ding. She turned around and saw a young man dressed in raggedy clothing that was much, much too small. Her ears went back a little bit. She didn’t want to be alone in the café with a man, but it wasn’t like she was going to turn away anybody that came in especially if they were customers. She smiled at him despite her anxiety.

“Um. I don’t have much money to spend extra…but could I spend some time here…? Could I also have some water…?” His voice was soft, extremely quiet, and the only reason she caught what he said from across the café was her Faunus hearing. No normal human would’ve been able to catch what he said. She could feel his soul was in tatters and not very active compared to someone like Robin or the rest of the people she’d met so far… It seemed like he’d been through absolute hell. 

Her heart went out to him. If it hadn’t been for Tukson’s kindness, then she wouldn’t have been able to open the Sugar Flower Café.

She nodded and beckoned him over. “Come on in. You’re free to spend as long as you want here, or at least until I close in about four hours.” Well, she’d be running over tonight because she needed to talk to Summer to see if she could bend the laws for Weiss to get an assistance Pokémon. Something large enough to brace against her would be so helpful. She didn’t know how Summer would bend laws like that, but she hoped that she’d be able to… Weiss needed way more help than Blake herself could provide. “Would you prefer a cup or a mug for the water? I don’t carry bottled water.”

He hesitantly came in. Blake’s heart dropped as she saw how skinny he actually was. She really shouldn’t just give out food but…he clearly needed it. “Actually, would you like some tea instead?” she asked. “I have all sorts of different brews… It’s afternoon now, so I wouldn’t recommend caffeine unless you’re planning on staying up late. How about a fruity blend?”

“But…I don’t have money to pay you.” 

“This one’ll be on the house.” Tea really was pretty cheap. She set about fixing him a mug of hot tea which she hoped would bring him some warmth. He had a winter coat on but it was ratty and too small. His mop of messy black hair and thick-rimmed glasses did give him a distinctive look. He was clearly really poor… She wished Hubert and Edelgard were down here to man the kitchens, but they were dealing with their apartment’s wares and putting together everything. This was so hard to do on her own now. She could deal with a large influx of customers, but attempting to do everything on her own… Yeah, she was a bleeding heart.

“Are…you sure?”

She nodded. “Positive.” She fell silent and let the tea brew, then pulled the infuser out and slid the mug across the counter. “If you’ll give me a little bit, I can get you something to eat. Something warm.” Thankfully, she knew how to cook and bake and had been in the kitchen pretty much as long as she could remember. Cooking and baking were truly her passions, but she did enjoy tea and sharing drinks with other people. Anything that could bring people happiness… She was more than happy to do it.

“T-Thank you…”

“What’s your name? I’m Blake.”

“K-Kurusu Akira. Hi, Blake-san.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Kurusu-san.” Thankfully she knew about honorifics, at least on a basic level. She could reciprocate his desire to use honorifics. She wasn’t from his culture, so she felt fine giving out her first name and allowing him to call her by it. Some places in Menagerie were more like central Mistral where given names were said second and people referred to each other by family names until they were close. But Kuo Kuana wasn’t like that. It was more like northern Mistral and Vale in that regard.

She slipped back into the kitchen and found the supplies Anna had left for her. She looked around and put some recipes together, then started cooking. It was a quick but hearty meal, one that would hopefully warm Akira and help him feel fuller. She wished she could help him with clothes. Those rags he wore weren’t anywhere near warm enough for winter. It was January and it had felt cold even for winter when she’d gone outside. Of course, she didn’t have her winter coat on when she’d gone outside, so maybe that was it. All he had was a ratty coat and some too-small clothes that didn’t cover him enough. Maybe she could take him to a thrift store in Vale or surprise him or something… Granted, clothes weren’t exactly her strong suit.

She came out a little while later with the meal and sat it in front of him. He’d finished his tea and she took his mug, then put it in the sanitiser. She brewed him a fresh cup and sat it in front of him. “This is eating into your profits, isn’t it…?” he asked, looking down.

Blake nodded. “Technically, yes, but you clearly need to eat. It’s okay. I won’t go under by giving one person a couple mugs of tea and a meal once in a while.” She really didn’t have the heart to charge him for anything. He clearly needed help. She really ought to have charged him especially since there were no other customers in the café right now, but she just legitimately did not have it in her to treat him poorly. He looked like… Well, it reminded her of herself after she’d gotten out of the initial panic of running from Adam. She just couldn’t treat someone that had clearly been abused, neglected, or both badly. He clearly had a hard life and she couldn’t help but have her heart bleed as she looked at him.

“Where are you from, Blake-san? You have an odd accent…” he asked.

Blake’s ears twitched. “Abroad.” She didn’t know anything about the world she was on currently, so she couldn’t lie and pin down an exact place. She wasn’t sure if he would catch her in a lie or not. He hadn’t seemed to catch her ears or anything like Robin or others had caught. She was still mortified that so many people had caught onto her so quickly. But the spells Anna had used were apparently low grade and would account for most people. The way Robin’s mind had run and the fact that the women she’d met on Filgaia were literal goddesses meant that she really couldn’ avoid them detecting her. 

Akira frowned but nodded. Blake slipped behind the computer and started accessing different pages. She could thankfully read a fair few languages and it seemed like there was enough mutual intelligibility between the languages she knew and these worlds that she could read fairly easily. She typed in Valian and got a large amount of search results. Apparently the language was called ‘English’ on this world… There were native speakers of it the world ‘round and it was one of the most widely spoken languages. Apparently the UK and ‘the United States of America’ were two of the larger population centers. “I’m from the US,” she told him. Nothing could’ve been further from the truth, but she needed to come up with some sort of backstory that would fit her…

Akira nodded a bit. “What made you move to Japan and open a café out here in this little town…?” Yeesh, he was really pushing but, at the same time… It seemed like he just wanted someone to talk to.

“My parents were actually world travelers; I was born and raised in the US the first couple years of my life until we started nation hopping. I’ve learned a bunch of languages. I just really liked Japan and thought a small town suited me better than a big city.” She was currently using the ‘Google’ search engine to look things up. Apparently Japan was an island nation that was very mountainous and had numerous very large cities with millions of people. In that respect, it wasn’t that much different from Remnant. There were numerous large cities in each kingdom, but even so… Most people didn’t live outside of the established cities. There were still millions who lived in small villages and towns outside of the big cities, but in the end, most of the population was concentrated in large cities that were easier to protect than the outskirts.

“Wow… That sounds like a fun life.”

“It…had its perks but also its dangers.” She rubbed the back of her neck, her ears going down. She learned a lot of languages and didn’t have much in the way of formal education, but it had been fraught with danger. Traveling over land meant risking Grimm attacks on the White Fang. This world apparently had far, far less wilderness than Remnant did. There were so many corners of the world that lay untouched by human or Faunus hands, let alone seen by their eyes. People like the Branwen tribe and other tribes in central Mistral were some of the few that could survive so far out… She had no idea how people did survive that far out. It was crazy to think about, but they managed somehow.

“Dangers?”

“I’d rather not talk about it.” She really would rather not think about the people that had lost their lives to illnesses like malaria or such. They did what they could to avoid sickness, but being that far out and going from city to city… They didn’t have the resources to hire escorts or have everyone go on airships unless they were going to another kingdom. It just wasn’t cost effective to use the funds of the Fang to make sure everyone was safe unfortunately… Her parents often paid out of pocket for those sorts of expenses and they just did not have that kind of money. She had grown up poor and knew it, but she had never wanted to for love and warmth…

Unless she was in Atlas.

Fuck Atlas.

“I did get to meet a lot of neat people over the years, though. I saw a lot of things most people would never see. And I got to experience a lot of different cultures and learn a lot of other languages that I never would’ve learned otherwise.” She smiled. Despite those times being fraught with difficulty and danger, she did miss those years… She wished she hadn’t met Adam. She would likely have gone back to Menagerie with her parents, or at least done something better with her life than become a radical terrorist for several years. She was trying to atone in her own way, but she knew she could never get back those lives that she had ended. Man, woman, child… It hadn’t mattered to Adam. If he deemed them enemies, then they needed to get gone. And she had killed so many people…

She shook herself mentally and released the thoughts. Those wouldn’t get her anywhere, not anymore.

“So what do you do? I take it you’re a student?” she asked him.

He nodded a bit, looking down at the meal in front of him. She frowned. “Did I upset you?”

“School’s…just really hard is all.” His voice was quiet. She could feel his soul dropping in activity, not that it was very high in activity in the first place. He had clearly been through absolute hell. He honestly seemed about as dangerous as a half-drowned puppy. She still wasn’t comfortable being alone with a male like this, but he really didn’t seem like the type that would lash out, not without some serious provocation. Everyone had their limits, of course, but it really seemed like he’d be the type that would only lash out if it was life or death.

“I’ve actually never been to a school before. My parents educated me themselves. I know I’m missing a lot due to it, but I’m intelligent enough. I know plenty about a lot of things; it’s just like history and such that I’m missing big gaps.” She knew people, culture, and language above all else. “What’s it like?” He had said it was hard but…even still. She was curious.

“Rigorous. Intense. People are mean.” He sighed. She could feel something weighing on him. Something was clearly not quite normal about him, but she couldn’t put her finger on it. His aura spark didn’t give much up… His heart was heavily guarded against other people. The scarring around his heart was incredibly deep and thick. She could still sense his spark, but it was difficult even for her with as good as her aura-sensing abilities were. There was no aura on this planet in particular, but people still had souls. His soul was deeply scarred and not very active due to the way he’d been repressed during his life.

How he’d been repressed, though, she didn’t know. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it. Even his main aura flows were guarded and it made him difficult to read. He was so guarded she really didn’t know how to read him entirely…

“Teenagers are awful.”

“I’ve…honestly never really been around teenagers in an environment like that, so I wouldn’t really know.” It was hard to relate to someone when she’d been a world hopper for a good chunk of her life without a shred of any sort of formal education. She knew how to read and write in numerous different languages, but history and such? She really didn’t know the most about it… At least outside of Menagerie’s history. That she knew plenty about.

“They can be so mean and awful… They’re snide and turn away from people that don’t conform.”

“The nail that sticks up will get hammered down, huh?” She cast him a sympathetic glance. She wasn’t the biggest fan of collectivistic cultures. They had their upsides, of course, but they also had their downsides… People weren’t allowed to be themselves truly and were just pushed down and forced to conform. That was why she liked Vale… It was the most individualistic society on Remnant even though that also came with its difficulties. But it was better than somewhere like central Mistral or Atlas where conformity was absolutely expected.

Akira nodded, and she could feel the misery roll off of him in waves. She got out from behind the counter and sat across from him. “Again, you’re welcome to stay here as long as you want to, or at least until I close which will be a few more hours.” Though she would have to explain about the change and why he wasn’t home… She had lied to him about where she was from, but her backstory wasn’t a lie. Her parents had been world travelers and she’d gone with them in their time around. She just… She was really stuck between a rock and a hard place. 

“Thank you… I don’t want to go home.” He sighed.

“I wish I could let you stay with me, but I don’t want to get the authorities riled up.” She shook her head. Granted, they wouldn’t even be able to find her, considering the café didn’t stay in one spot all the time. She still didn’t want to invite potential issues with local authorities. It was just best to let him stay put then allow him to come as he pleased. She still wasn’t thrilled about being alone with a man like this, but…he seemed about as gentle as her father. His soul wasn’t one of violence and harm… He just wanted to be accepted for something she couldn’t quite pin down. He was obviously doing something that made him stick out like a sore thumb. For some reason, though, she just could not pin down what was going on with him.

Akira sighed and nodded. “Adults are terrible…”

Blake’s ears twitched a little bit. “I mean…not all of them are. My parents are incredibly good people, my caretaker for the past few years was kind and selfless, and my mentor is one of the most intensely selfless people I’ve ever met. I won’t say that your experience hasn’t been awful, but not every adult is a terrible person. A lot can be, though.” Her ears went down. “There was a man that groomed me and treated me awfully when I was a lot younger.” She didn’t want to say much more beyond that. Talking about Adam was hard with anybody. She still wasn’t the fondest of being alone in the café with Akira, but he really seemed relatively harmless. His soul felt like it’d been through a woodchipper due to whatever neglect he’d been through.

“How old are you?”

“Eighteen.”

“And you’ve opened a café…? How?”

“Lots of saving and support from my caretaker.” She shrugged. For her, with a small support system, it wasn’t hard to do what she wanted to. Of course, applying for loans and such was difficult and not something she understood inside and out. Tukson had helped her since he was a fair bit older than her and had had to go through the process in order to open up his bookstore. He managed to stay afloat, but after running her own business for a while, she could definitely see it wasn’t going to be easy to stay open long term. Anna being her supplier would help, but if she only got one customer per block of time, it was really going to run her harshly. Especially now that she suddenly had three employees to pay. Well, she’d pay Weiss when she could get her strength back, but still, her other bills aside from food would bump… She was definitely walking a thin line.

“I see…” He sighed. “I really just wish that I could work here or move out or something…but Japan’s laws are really strict on youth…”

Blake leaned across the table and squeezed his shoulder. “I’m so sorry.” Her heart really did go out to the poor boy. She didn’t know what to say to him. He didn’t seem that much younger than herself and he’d had a hard life… Not that her own hadn’t been hard, but everyone had their burdens to bear. He’d clearly been neglected by his parents in some shape, way, and form, considering the state of his clothes. “Actually, I might close early today when we get done here.” She just… She would need to meet with Summer, of course, but she really couldn’t help but think about the state Akira was in. He clearly needed new clothes, but if he couldn’t afford something as simple as a mug of tea or coffee from a café… Yeah, she hoped she could find a thrift shop in Vale and get back by time she needed to meet with Summer.

He looked down. “Okay.”

“I’ll have a surprise for you next time you come; I promise.” She smiled at him and he looked up at her, his eyes full of emotion. She could feel his soul churning in his body, not really sure what to make of what she was saying. She wouldn’t be able to get him a whole wardrobe by any means, but for now… She could get him a new winter coat and some less patchy, raggedy clothes. She just couldn’t leave him to suffer. 

“I’m done, so I guess I’ll leave…” he said. He slid the mug and plate across to her then picked up his bag. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome here anytime you see this place, Kurusu-san.” She smiled at him and he left.

She went back behind the counter and adjusted the control mechanism, landing them squarely back in Vale. She locked up everything tight and went up to the apartment above her own. She knocked on the door and Edelgard peeked her head out. “What’s up, Blake?”

“I need to run some errands. Do you think you could take care of dinner for Weiss for me? She really won’t—and can’t—eat too much. Something like soup would be fine. Though…do you guys have groceries?”

Edelgard nodded. “Yeah. Anna brought us some that’ll last until the end of the week. So I guess I’ll see you later?”

Blake nodded. “Yeah. Thanks for taking care of Weiss. Just remember she won’t be able to make it up the stairs very easily without support.”

“Right. Well, get going.”

Blake nodded and hustled down the stairs to the garage in the back alley. She put in ‘thrift shop’ into the GPS then got over as quickly as possible. It really wasn’t that far of a drive, but it was rush hour traffic in Vale, so it took a good twenty-five minutes just to get out there. She went to the men’s section and started looking at clothes. She found some clothes she thought would be a good match for Akira’s size, though his lanky proportions was definitely a challenge. He was very lean and lanky. 

The biggest disappointment was the general lack of winter coats. She supposed it only made sense that they would be low in the middle of winter because everyone wanted something. All she could find were women’s puffer jackets which was unfortunate…but one did seem like it’d fit Akira. Plus, it was long and would go a decent way down his leg. His current winter coat was thin and falling apart like his pants clearly had been. It sucked she had to give him a women’s winter coat, but she really didn’t have the time to run to somewhere like Layered Luxe and pick something up. She was already losing out on money by closing the café early… She hoped he wouldn’t be too mad at her for giving him a women’s coat. Everything else had come from the men’s section and would (hopefully) fit him.

She checked out and went back out to the car, going back to the café which took another 25 or so minutes. She grabbed the bags and went up to her apartment which was dark and quiet. She flicked on the lights and went over to the washer and dryer, dumping the clothes in. Better to get them washed before giving them to him… She didn’t want to give him dirty, second-hand clothes. She was exceedingly hungry by now since she hadn’t eaten since early that morning. The clothes would take time to wash, so she started on some hamburgers for herself. Edelgard and Hubert were taking care of Weiss for dinner, so she didn’t really feel the need to worry about that. She still did need to meet up with Summer for Weiss’ service Pokémon, but for now…she focused on cooking dinner and eating. She would’ve preferred the burgers be on a grill than in a skillet, but there wasn’t a lot she could do about it… 

After finishing cooking, she sat down with the burgers and ate gratefully. Honestly, she might be able to get lunch now… She would have to train Edelgard and Hubert in how to make drinks to her standards, though… That would take some time unfortunately. Maybe she could run somewhere and get something to eat if nothing else. She just really hated going so long between meals, but closing the café during the lunch rush was a bad idea. Then again, now she was going to be in different worlds, so there may not even be a lunch rush anymore. 

However, she noticed time started ticking closer and closer to seven, so she scarfed down her dinner and then headed back downstairs. This was going be an interesting meeting…

Chapter Text

Blake turned the lights in the café back on and picked one of the books from the bookcase that she provided for patrons. It wasn’t quite seven yet but it was close enough. She did set the café to ‘Almia’ before settling down, and started flipping through the book. She wasn’t quite certain what to expect from all of this, but she hoped that Weiss would be taken care of. She knew about service dogs and such in Vale, but it wasn’t an area of expertise for her. Weiss unfortunately needed much more care than a dog could provide, and she knew waiting lists could get quite long for service dogs. Weiss needed help now and couldn’t wait to get a service dog. Maybe, one day, she could live independently, but for now, she was going to have to depend on Blake, Hubert, and Edelgard.

She heard the door open and looked up, a little surprised to see Edelgard and Weiss standing there. Blake’s ears twitched. “What—”

“These Pokémon are going to be for me, right…? I should probably be down here to meet them.” Weiss’ voice was quiet.

Blake nodded. “That is entirely fair. Summer should be here pretty soon. She said seven, so I expect she should be here soon.” She patted the spot next to her. “C’mon and sit down.” Edelgard helped Weiss over and then Edelgard waved, leaving them behind. Blake’s ears did lower a bit. “Sorry I didn’t think about having you down here. I really should’ve. Did you eat dinner all right? Would you like something to drink?”

Weiss frowned. “Wouldn’t it eat into your profits?”

“I mean, long term, sure. But one cup of tea here or there isn’t going to bankrupt me. I have a lovely citrus-based fruit tea that’s perfect for nighttime when you don’t want any caffeine.” She smiled at Weiss who still looked uncertain. “Really, Weiss, it’s no big deal. I’m not going to go bankrupt from giving out a few mugs of tea here and there. Plus, with your lack of body fat…you’ve got to be cold.”

Weiss nodded and looked down. “I am… You’re keeping it really cool in here.”

“I would keep it warmer, but heating costs money. Plus, it’s technically after hours and I have the programming set to about 65. Definitely cold to me.” She shivered. “I’m from a tropical nation called Menagerie where the weather was usually 70s at minimum and 90s at the top. Not to mention humidity sat between 80 and 100%. Menagerie is incredibly hot and I hate the cold.” She shivered. 

Weiss nodded. “That does make sense. But…” She frowned. “I can’t believe how racist Menagerie is to that, still…”

“Oh, it is.” Blake shook her head. “Incredibly racist. But it’s what it was named by the people who forced the Faunus there. It’s…a nasty tale that I don’t feel like going into right now. And if you want to drive the point home, Kuo Kuana, the capital city, literally means trash. The people who forced the Faunus there were incredibly racist.” 

“It seems like bigotry is alive and well here…” Weiss sighed.

“Are you saying it isn’t on your world?”

“It’s technically illegal, but it still exists. You just have to be careful about it… For the most part, gender equality has been achieved, but indigenous cultures continue to be treated horribly and those people often languish in relative poverty, depending on where they are… A lot of places have universal basic income so there isn’t a lot of homelessness in most nations, but plenty haven’t implemented it either… There’s still homophobia and transphobia… Are those alive and well? Do you understand those terms?”

“Perfectly. Atlas…is basically built on ‘isms and ‘phobias. If you can name it, it’s there. Women are second-class citizens. Faunus are below even women. There’s an entire ethnic group called the Euskera who live there but aren’t citizens and have no access to education, or at least it’s minimal. Atlas is really stringent when it comes to trans people. You have to have therapist-diagnosed gender dysphoria to even qualify for medical transition and that’s incredibly hard to obtain due to there being such a stigma around mental health…” She shook her head. “It’s a dystopia, all right. Then there’s the entire issue with the version of yourself native to this world.”

Weiss frowned. “That…doesn’t sound ominous.”

“To put it shortly… Her father, Jacques, was an abusive monster and only educated Winter to try to create the ‘perfect’ woman and beat her and Weiss like dogs. There are gigabytes worth of videos floating around the CCTS of the abuse…from multiple angles. Winter’s given public statements on all of it multiple times. It…paints a nasty picture. I don’t know how much detail you want me to go into.” She was trying her best to not trigger Weiss. Of course, it was far, far worse than what she was describing right now, but she just wasn’t sure how much Weiss could handle. They were still essentially strangers, so it was hard to know how much she could and should say.

Weiss’ frown deepened. “Jacques… As in Jacques Gelé?” Her voice was quiet and shook. Blake could feel her soul churning and it wasn’t hard to guess this was most likely a trigger. But Weiss had asked a legitimate question that Blake felt needed an answer.

She nodded. “Yes.” She swallowed, hoping that it wouldn’t trigger Weiss too badly. It was just a simple ‘yes.’ “He’s rotting away in a jail cell for the rest of his life. He won’t hurt anybody again.” Whatever Gelé had done to this Weiss, it was bad. Weiss’ soul was going haywire right now and she was pretty sure just the idea of Jacques existing in this world was triggering to her. “He’s in a maximum-security prison. He won’t ever be able to get out. I promise.” 

Weiss covered her face and slumped in her chair. “T-That’s good…” Her voice was incredibly tiny and she visibly shook. 

“Weiss…can I have one of your hands?” Blake asked quietly and gently. She laid her hand on the table, an open invitation, but not one she had to take. Weiss peered between her fingers, then looked up at Blake, her entire body still shaking. “I won’t hurt you. I just have something that may help you calm down a bit. I know we’re still strangers, but would you be willing to trust me with this?” She could feel Weiss’ soul quivering and restricting. She was extremely anxious about it. But, despite everything, Weiss tentatively put her hand in Blake’s. Blake smiled and let her aura reach out. It covered Weiss gently like a warm blanket.

Weiss inhaled sharply. “W-What is this? I’ve never felt anything like it before… It’s not affecting me…but it’s so warm and gentle…”

“It’s my aura, my soul itself. I’m what’s called an advanced aura user… I can do a lot of things with my soul most people can’t. This is one of those things. I can’t change your mood, but I can offer you calm.” She smiled at Weiss warmly. Yeah, she hoped this would help Weiss calm down. “Also, do you think you can sync your breathing with mine? Just follow my count. One. Two. Three. Four.” She counted slowly, gently, and easily, trying to get Weiss to focus on her breathing. Weiss’ soul was still going haywire, but she could tell Weiss was doing her best to focus and follow her breaths. Weiss’ breaths were shallow, as if she wasn’t used to actually breathing anymore… It hurt to see, but there wasn’t much she could do about it. And she didn’t want to trigger Weiss worse by bringing her attention to it. For now, she’d take what she could get. 

This went on until Blake’s ears twitched and she turned her head toward the door. She could hear very heavy pawsteps padding up. In the dim light of the city, she could see a teenage girl with a massive doglike figure and another, shorter, figure with a bulbous head. The window prevented her from being able to sense aura sparks, but as the figures passed into the light from the overhead lights on the café, she could see Summer. “Oh, they’re here. Will you be okay for a moment, Weiss?”

Weiss nodded. “I will.”

Blake squeezed Weiss’ hand and got up, opening the door and beckoning Summer in. “Come on in, Summer.”

The girl nodded and came inside with her two companions. Now that Blake could get a better look in the light, the large, doglike creature had fiery red fur, black stripes like a tiger, and a cream mane and tail. The other figure was humanlike, but very spindly and thin limbs, the arms being green along with what looked like hair, though it looked like it wore a white coat. The creature placed its hands over its chest, looking very alarmed at Summer. “I thought I wasn’t wrong; I was right that Blake had been through a lot too, huh?” Silence. “Well, you’re not here for her; you’re here for the white-haired one.” Silence. “I’ll be all right.”

“Erm, pardon, but are you all right, Summer? You’re talking to yourself,” Blake pointed out. What was going on? Summer was talking to herself. But it seemed like she was having an intelligent conversation with…something. The white-and-green figure looked at Blake and tilted its head to the side.

Oh, forgive me… I forgot to let you in. A soft, light, feminine voice sounded in Blake’s head and Weiss fell out of her chair quite literally.

“What…? Telepathy?” Blake asked.

Summer nodded. “This is Althea, the Gardevoir, and Inferro, the Arcanine.” The dog-like creature put one foot forward and bowed its head. Blake blinked. She knew aura breeds were capable of such things; she had taught crows and ravens in the White Fang to read maps for intelligence purposes. But to see such intelligence from another world’s creatures was definitely a bit on the shocking side. She wasn’t prepared for it.

She went over to Weiss, the shocked technomancer obviously a little bit dazed from her fall. “C’mon Weiss, let’s get you sitting again.” She helped Weiss back into her chair and used her aura to snap Weiss’ attention back into place.

Weiss looked at her, startled. “What was that?”

“I…can manipulate other people’s souls minorly. I wasn’t trained in it deeply before I split with my parents, but I learned that much at least. For now, though…” She motioned to the two Pokémon. “Did you hear their names?”

“I heard them but I didn’t retain it.”

“Althea the Gardevoir and Inferro the Arcanine.” Blake motioned to each in turn.

“So what do they do…?” Weiss asked.

“Want some herbal tea?” Blake asked. “We might be here a little while.”

“Probably not a bad idea,” Summer said. “I’ll leave it up to you.”

Blake nodded and picked up Weiss’ now-empty mug and put it on the tray to be sanitised. She’d have to do it tomorrow, though, as she’d already run the sanitiser for the day. She whipped up four mugs of a lovely hibiscus-based tea and headed back to the table. Althea looked around, anxiety running through her soul. “It’s all right, Althea; I’m not going to hurt you. Yes, we’re from a different world entirely, but it doesn’t mean we’re violent.” 

Althea sat down and took one of the mugs, looking down at it in her hands. Your minds say otherwise. I sense deep violence in both of your pasts.

Blake sighed heavily. “You’re right about that, but the key word in that sentence is ‘past.’ I’m not a violent person anymore. I wanted to get away from the violence because I didn’t agree with it anymore.” She wrapped her hands around her mug and sighed. “To put my story simply… I was a radical terrorist, but do I seem that old to you?”

Althea shook her head. No… You don’t seem much older than Summer.

“I’m only eighteen. Can you see where this is heading?”

You were a child.

Blake nodded. “Bingo. I was groomed and manipulated by a man eight years my senior. There’s more to my story…but I don’t like talking about it openly.” She glanced at Weiss, worried about how the traumatised technomancer would take the fact she was being housed by a former radical terrorist. Her soul was extremely quiet and contemplative. She didn’t look up whatsoever. She was just taking the conversation in. “I met him at ten. I was thirteen when I left my parents.”

Althea frowned. I see… That…does put it into perspective.

“I won’t lie and say I’m blameless. I’m not. I still killed innocent people: men, women, children… It didn’t matter. As long as he deemed them an enemy, I was to kill them. There was a lot more I did, but yeah… I’m not blameless by any means, but with that context…do my actions make more sense?” She was speaking to both Althea and Weiss at this point. She wasn’t paying much attention to Summer as the Ranger’s opinion didn’t matter to her much right now. Althea would be staying with them and Weiss was living with her and employed by her. She was far more concerned about her current roommate's opinion and the potential service Pokémon they would be taking on.

Althea nodded, though Blake still sensed uneasiness in her soul. What exactly are you doing with my soul right now too? It goes deeper than the mind.

Blake winced a little. “Ah, you can sense that?”

“Just like I can,” Summer piped up.

Blake sighed. “Right… You’re an empath. What about Althea?”

“Well, I told you earlier that Gardevoir are incredibly sensitive to emotions which is one reason they make good psychiatric service Pokémon. If you remember what I told you about Psychic types…”

Blake nodded. “Yeah. It’s just…different seeing it in person, rather than hearing about it.

“Entirely fair. But yeah, Gardevoir are very sensitive to people’s moods and thoughts. It’s why I chose her.”

Althea’s gaze remained on her mug, her grip tight. That doesn’t explain her violence. She looked at Weiss.

Weiss sighed heavily. “I was in a war. I was conscripted. I didn’t have a choice if I wanted to participate or not. So yes, I’ve killed people and I’ve been literally tortured. I escaped not that long ago.” Her voice was quiet and shook a bit, her body trembling as well. Blake reached over and offered her hand to Weiss, not touching her, but offering support in whatever way she could. She didn’t just want to leave Weiss alone like this… They were in this together now and she wasn’t about to just let Weiss suffer.

Weiss placed her hand in Blake’s and she could feel the tremor going through her body.

Althea shook her head. I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to trigger you… It’s just hard when you sense such deep violence in a person’s mind. 

“For context, there’s nobody in living memory that’s been through any sort of formal war,” Summer explained. “There’s Orre which is more or less a constant warzone, but that’s different from two regions going to war, or a civil war. There have been some really nasty evil teams attempting to harm regions in various ways, but it’s not a war. There are criminals and everything, but still…”

Weiss nodded. “That’s…understandable then. You just want to be certain you aren’t aiding and abetting somebody with awful motivations, right?”

Althea looked up and nodded a bit. Yes. That’s it exactly. She frowned. You’ve been through torture but you can still exercise kindness?

Weiss nodded, though she continued to shake faintly. Blake squeezed her hand. “Not everyone is a torturer… It’s Gelé’s men that did this to me, not most other humans. The ‘mancers that were conscripted were generally very reluctant to do anything.”

‘Mancers?

“ ‘mancy is what we call magic on Selia, my world. There are a lot of difference branches, but…we have strict ethics systems that we learn to adhere to from our youngest years. Times of war calls for abandoning certain portions of our ethics systems which…for us, is deeply traumatic… We have these ethics systems deeply ingrained into us from our youngest years. So to abandon them… Add that, on top of the war and torture…” Weiss looked down, her shaking growing more pronounced.

You don’t have to speak more. I understand now. 

Blake looked over at Inferro. “So what about…Inferro? What task training does it have?”

“Oh, he’s a male. He’s for mobility assistance. They can help someone walk long distances by riding them, brace work, and other things,” Summer explained.

“I looked into a service dog at one point, but it said brace work was unethical for service dogs because it puts too much pressure on their joints…” Blake said. She had been in such a bad place when she’d gotten out of the Fang. She was terrified of dogs, but she thought about it. It had been several years since then, though, and through talking with Tukson and Sienna, she’d gotten into a much better place. Adam was still out there, laying in wait to find her, but for now… 

“How big are we talking?” Blake made a motion for what a medium-sized breed like a lab would be. “Uh, did you notice how big Inferro is? Arcanine have historically been used by messengers to cross vast distances in the regions they’re a part of. They can very easily carry a person.”

“…Entirely fair. I guess trying to put one world’s morals and ethics on another world’s isn’t really proper. I was just worried that it might hurt him.”

Summer shook her head. “Not at all. Growlithe are used only to help guide people and help with momentum, but Arcanine can easily carry a person as well as several hundred pounds of supplies. They aren’t really used for long-distance travel anymore because mass transit and cars have replaced using Pokémon for such tasks. But they can definitely comfortably carry a person. From what I learned, some service Growlithe are allowed to grow fully from pups before being evolved for such mobility assistance.”

“Speaking of…how did you get these two? The Almia laws looked pretty stringent.”

Summer shrugged. “Erma pulled out her influence and talked to a service Pokémon agency. I’m known around the region for my weird shit. She had me explain the situation. Of course, the people were beyond perplexed by me talking about an off-worlder like this, but they relented and bypassed normal regulations. Plus…it helps that I’m an empath and can feel emotions.” She glanced at Weiss. “I could tell you were in a really bad way mentally and emotionally. And physically… You’re mostly covered up, but your clothes look too big and your face is really gaunt.”

Weiss looked down. “They barely gave me anything to eat.”

Summer nodded. “I can tell. These two were waiting for placement. Pokémon live a really long time, some a hundred years or more. Inferro is still young for an Arcanine, about twenty years, and Althea is only about fifteen. They still have plenty of life in them to give. Althea’s former placement no longer needed her services, and Inferro’s handler died a few months ago.”

Blake frowned. “So an agency can just own creatures that are as smart as if not smarter than people? If they’re with people for a decade or more, don’t they bond with the person and the family? What are the ethics of all of this?” She couldn’t help but question all of the logistics a little bit. It felt like it was cruel to just shuffle such intelligent creatures around. Althea clearly had her reservations and was a little anxious. Inferro was just keeping an eye on things for right now. She could sense he had a calm demeanor despite apparently having lost his handler only a few months ago.

“I’m not getting into the law around Pokémon and all that. But the thing is, this is ethical. Yes, Pokémon absolutely do bond with their people. Hell, I’m not sure what I’d do without Luno. But the thing with service Pokémon is that they can choose to wash if their handler no longer needs their assistance or they die. Some literally cannot continue on with working after being separated from their handler, so they stay within the family as a companion. But Althea and Inferro chose to go back to the agency and to go back to work. Inferro, you’ve had time to mourn, right?” The Arcanine lifted his head off his paws and nodded. “Althea, you can speak for yourself.”

The Gardevoir shifted a bit. I was a service Pokémon for a Ranger that stopped work about thirteen years ago. I was born as a Ralts to a Gardevoir and Gallade and trained for the first two years of my life to be a service Pokémon. The Ranger had a lot of trauma, but the main service I provide is nightmare assistance and emotional regulation. After so many years of therapy, the former Ranger’s nightmares stopped and he managed to regulate his emotions fairly well. His PTSD isn’t ‘cured’ but he felt like he didn’t need my assistance anymore. I had the choice to go back to work or stay with him. I honestly wouldn’t feel fulfilled without my work. Yes, leaving the person I’ve served for over a decade hurt, but he’s living his best life now. I have desires and wishes just like all of you do. One of my main wishes is to help people to the best of my ability. And I can’t offer service if I stay with somebody that no longer needs my help…

Blake nodded. “I see… Though, how do you manage nightmares?” How could a creature like this manage something that was mental and emotional? There was so much she didn’t understand about Pokémon.

There are two attacks I can learn called Hypnosis and Dream Eater. Hypnosis puts the target to sleep and Dream Eater is what it sounds like: it allows me to take away dreams that a target is having. Though, I will admit, nightmares aren’t pleasant to take away. Althea made a face. But it’s the main service I offer. But because I have to offer my services during the night, I sleep during the day. Will that cause you any issues?

Blake looked at Weiss. “What do you think?”

Weiss shook her head. “It shouldn’t. Not unless I take a nap… Which is very possible with how easily tired I can get.”

If that happens, you can always wake me up. My former handler would take naps so I’m used to it. It’s no trouble at all.

Weiss frowned. “Are you certain? I hate when people wake me up when I take naps, and interrupt the sleep I’m catching up on…”

Althea managed a thin smile. I’m used to it. The tasks I learned to deal with mostly are what I outlined. I’m used to my sleep being interrupted. Plus, it’s not like it’ll happen everyday, right?

Weiss looked down. “There’s no promise. I’m supposed to be taking orders and working the register.” She glanced at the register. 

Althea glanced at Blake and her ears went down. “I don’t even need my advanced aura to guess what you’re thinking. I’m not forcing Weiss to work. She agreed to it. I manned the café pretty much by myself today after she needed rest. She told me she needed to rest, so I let her. Isn’t that right, Weiss?”

Weiss nodded. “She isn’t forcing me; I promise. You can see the honesty of our thoughts, right?” She glanced at Summer. “What about our emotions?”

Summer looked at Althea and nodded as well. “They’re being honest, Althea. There’s no deception here. Plus, Weiss was resting when Kate, Sol, and I came in. There’s nothing being forced here. Blake was even reluctant to wake Weiss up. It was when I got on the topic of Psychic types that Blake woke Weiss up to ask about the idea of having service Pokémon.”

My apologies for assuming, then… I just can’t help but worry.

Blake’s ears remained down. “I would never force people to do something they don’t want to… Am I paying Weiss right now? No. But that’s what she agreed to. I have two others helping me out with the café in the back in the kitchen. Weiss can’t really get out and do any shopping right now. I’m helping her recover right now. But the other two, I’m paying them. When Weiss gets to the point she can go out on her own, then I will pay her. But, right now, I’m covering her food and housing costs.” She was reminded far too much of what Adam had forced her to do. She had essentially been his sex slave. She’d been forced to do awful things that she really didn’t want to talk about.

She felt her body tensing and her hands clamped around her mug along with her ears against her head. “Woah, woah, calm down, Blake… It’s all right; nobody’s gonna hurt you here,” Summer said. “Can you try to follow my breathing? One, two, three, four.” Blake forced herself into Summer’s rhythm, willing her mind and body to relax as best as she could. She managed to calm down after a while and shook her head.

“Yeah, forcing people to do something isn’t in my vocabulary anymore,” Blake said, though her voice was quiet and shook. She’d been forced into silence far, far too much by Adam and that conditioning could still kick in if she got triggered enough.

I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to trigger you. Will you be able to sleep tonight?

“Remnant has nightmare-blocking medication that I take. I’ve been on it for a few years. I’ll be fine.”

Althea nodded a little bit, though her gaze remained on her empty mug. All right.

“I have been using that sort of medication, but I was only given a little bit… I’m not sure if Anna was relying on this or not,” Weiss said. 

Althea looked up. Well, after the medication runs out, I can help you since that is my main task. 

Weiss nodded. “All right.” 

“Is everything worked out then?” Summer asked. 

I think so.

“Actually, what about food?” Blake asked, her ears twitching. “I need to be able to feed them.”

Summer blinked, obviously not having thought about that. “Well, Althea’s pretty accustomed to human food and eating meals with her people. Inferro, what’s your story?” The Arcanine made a myriad of noises that were obviously just parts of its name, but there was still intelligence behind it. Blake stared quizzically. Summer…could understand that? Summer looked at Blake. “He’s used to off-the-shelf Pokémon diet, so it’s nothing crazy. Though…I didn’t bring any food with me.”

Blake sighed. “And I don’t want to use the money Anna supplied for me to go get stuff… That, and I have a feeling these would cause some uproar.” She looked up at her ears which she twitched.

“Well, for tonight, I can go grab some for you, if you’re willing to let me have Inferro for a bit. It’s only a bit until eight and most grocery stores close at ten. Other than that, you’ll probably need to have Althea go get it for you,” Summer said. “It’s not unusual to see certain Pokémon going shopping for their people. Though, to not attract attention, you should probably have her pick some other things up.”

“Oh, wait… Anna.” Blake facepalmed. She could probably rely on Anna to get her Pokémon food without any fuss. She had gotten so transfixed on the idea of having to get food from the world where the Pokémon came from. She hoped a lot of other people would make the same mistake. She wasn’t used to this world hopping things yet. She was used to having solutions based in the world of origin.

“…Yeah, that would do it, then. But I’ll still go get some stuff for you tonight if you want. Sorry I didn’t think to bring anything. That was my bad.” Summer shook her head. “C’mon then, Inferro.” The Arcanine nodded and stood up, heading out the door with Summer. Summer mounted, then the Arcanine seemed to practically disappear from view.

Weiss let out a heavy sigh. “This was exhausting.”

“Do you want to go back upstairs?” Blake asked. 

Weiss nodded. “I would, yes…” She looked at Althea. “How long do you think we have?”

Maybe 15-20 minutes? 

“That’ll be more than enough time to help you get upstairs,” Blake said.

I…can offer mobility assistance in an unorthodox way, though I’m not really trained for the task. I can probably do it, though. Both Weiss and Blake blinked, then looked at each other. I’m a Psychic type, so I can lift things off the ground.

Weiss frowned. “I’m not sure how well I’d take having my feet off the ground…”

That…is fair. Well, it was an offer. 

Weiss nodded. “I appreciate it, but I’d rather stay grounded.” Althea nodded and Blake rounded up the now-empty mugs, putting them where they’d need to go into the sanitiser tomorrow. She’d need to wake up early to put everything away as usual, so she’d have to put the mugs in after she put the currently used ones in the sanitiser tomorrow. She just did not want to deal with it tonight. She had already cut into her normal relaxation time pretty severely. She went to bed between nine and ten to be up bright and early at 430 in the morning to take care of everything. She just… Ugh. All of this was nasty.

“C’mon, Weiss.” She walked over to Weiss and helped her upstairs to her room. She’d already had all the lights turned on, so she didn’t have to worry about Weiss freaking out about the dark. Althea followed, though from how Blake’s ears caught things, she more floated than walked. It was very strange, but Pokémon were something she wasn’t very familiar with.

She headed back downstairs after helping Weiss up, definitely getting her steps in for the day this time. But with Inferro to help, she wouldn’t need to do that much longer. Of course, she was more than willing to help Weiss whenever she needed it, but it was still a lot of effort.

She took care of some menial tasks until she saw Inferro and Summer return. The Ranger walked in with a big bag of food as well as a paper bag that was full of…something. She put the two on counter. “Don’t worry too much about paying me back. I don’t mind helping out tonight because I was the one that suggested all of this.”

Blake nodded. “Well, thank you anyway. What’s in the paper bag?” She peered over the top of it. “Fruit?”

“Berries. There are a lot of different types in our world. They’re a good treat for the Pokémon. Though be careful, some are really spicy and it’s not always highly apparent which one. I’d suggest asking Althea for help with identification.”

Blake nodded. “All right then. Are they people grade? Can I eat them too? They look rather large.”

Summer nodded. “Yup. I persisted off ‘em while I lived in the forest for six months. …Long story I’d rather not get into.”

“Fair. Well, thanks again.” 

“No problem. See ya again some time.” Summer waved and left the café, leaving Blake alone with Inferro. The Arcanine stood outside the doorway awkwardly. She picked up the paper bag and big bag of what looked like kibble, then offered him the bag of kibble. “Do you think you can hold this while I lock up?” He nodded and took the bag in his mouth gently. Blake locked up and started up the stairs. “C’mon.” He padded up behind her but he was able to get through the doorway easily. Six feet was the median height for men on Remnant at this point, so doorways and ceilings had steadily grown taller over time. He was definitely a very tall boy. 

She had him place the bag in the kitchen and she placed the bag of berries on the counter above it. She could see Althea sitting on the couch, looking a bit bored. “Hey, Althea, if you want something to occupy you at night… Do you know how to read?” The Gardevoir looked over and nodded. Blake went over to what looked like a large, closed cabinet, but it was filled with books. “These are all books from Remnant. They’ll probably help you understand the cultures of the kingdoms more. We won’t be spending a ton of time on Remnant, but still… I figured you’d like to have something to keep you busy. And if you finish all of these, I have more in my room. My caretaker, Tukson, also owns a secondhand bookstore where I can easily get more.”

Althea blinked. Well… Thank you. Though I don’t see a TV anywhere around here… I’m pretty used to watching that.

“I don’t watch TV. I didn’t grow up with and don’t see much reason to get one. But Weiss has one in her room since that’s where you’ll be staying after her nightmare blockers run out.”

All right then. Thank you. Though…won’t it bother Weiss to have a TV on? It’s a lot of noise and light.

Blake sighed, her ears drooping a bit. “Honestly, pure blackness and silence bother her. I wouldn’t be surprised if she got her TV for the light and noise.” At this point, she wasn’t disclosing Weiss’ symptoms and triggers to a stranger; Althea was there to help Weiss, so she saw no reason not to disclose.

I see. But until those nightmare blockers run out, I won’t be of much use…

“Weiss doesn’t like to be alone either. So you can stay with her in her room if you’d like to. You can take as many books as you want, assuming you can ignore the noise from the TV. I mean I’m not 100% sure that’s why she got it, but that’s my guess.”

I’ll see what you have. 

“All right.” Blake went to Weiss’ room, the sound of the TV getting louder as she approached. “Weiss, it’s me, Blake. Can you open the door?” She wasn’t about to forget the fact that Weiss was triggered by knocking. 

The door opened and Weiss peered out through a crack. “What is it?”

“Are you planning on sleeping with the TV on?”

Weiss nodded. “It’s the easiest way to get consistent noise and not have to keep the overhead light on.”

“Is this about as loud as you’re planning on keeping it? I’m just asking because, if it’s too loud, I won’t be able to sleep.” She kept her tone soft and gentle, not wanting to upset Weiss or make her feel like she was being accused of anything. It was just a fact that the noise would keep Blake up if it was too loud.

“Oh, um… I didn’t think about that. I’m sorry. Do I need to turn it off?”

Blake shook her head. “No. You can probably turn it up a little bit more before I won’t be able to sleep. If this is the level you want it at, this feels like a good balance. I also told Althea about the darkness and silence triggers… Hopefully you don’t mind.”

Weiss sighed. “I get it…Could you go tell her about the knocking trigger?”

“Yeah, sure.” Blake went to the living room again where Althea had several books floating around her and was obviously deciding on what to read. “Althea, there is one more thing… Don’t knock on Weiss’ door.”

The Gardevoir tilted her head. Why? It’s the polite way of approaching a closed door.

“It triggers her. She can explain why. She just told me to tell you. I know you can use telepathy but can you speak at all?” She wasn’t entirely clear on if the Gardevoir could speak at all or not. In some regards, it would make sense evolutionarily if Psychic types didn’t need to make noise. Telepathy would allow them to keep silent and not be tracked down by predators. Granted, she wasn’t certain about the food chain in the Pokémon… Was there a food chain? Honestly, she might have to ask Summer for some books to read on Pokémon. She just had zero idea how the world worked.

“Garde.” Well that answered that question.

“You can speak up to Weiss, then. I wouldn’t suggest using telepathy because it might cause her to take a tumble. I had that happen not that long ago.”

Althea nodded. All right then. I’ll go to her room once I’ve picked my books.

“Don’t be afraid to rummage through the kitchen if you get hungry as well. Summer bought some berries as well. Feel free to take anything you want, all right?”

Thank you. 

“Just try to not be too loud because these things will pick up on any noise you make.” She looked up at her ears which twitched. “They’re just as sensitive as you’d think. I’ve learned to deal with a lot of sound, but banging and clanging will definitely keep me up.”

I’ll keep it in mind. Althea smiled.

The conversation seemed to be winding down, so Blake left Althea to her own devices and headed to her room. Thankfully, she didn’t share a wall with Weiss, so she didn’t have to worry about the TV being right next to her. She could still hear it faintly, but it sounded more like nature documentaries than anything else. The narrator’s voice was soft and soothing, definitely what someone would need to fall asleep. She changed into her pajamas, took her medication, then turned off the light and curled up in bed. What a weird day…