Horde

Back again, I thought as I donned my disguise. It was a simple matter now, both because I'd improved my disguise skill so much last time and because of the physical alterations of Heir of the White Tiger. I swept my finger across my status screen once we were somewhere appropriately out of the way and just like I began to change.

It was a bit odd to think about, but I hadn't really had many chances to take in the differences last time, having been busy and all—first with Penny, then with flying the White Whale, and then with the passengers on board. After that, I'd taken off the title and put it aside for two months, resuming my normal life. For all that I'd undergone something so major as to change my species, it hadn't been something I'd had many chances to take notice of.

Now, though…

Before I began applying my make up, I looked at myself, taking the alterations in. Without my mask to hide my face or my cloak shielding my body, I could see the differences clear as day as the change took hold. My hair whitened—which was useful, I supposed, since it meant I could skip the dyes—and it seemed to lengthen just a tad. Without my gauntlets in the way, I could see my claws growing in, almost delicate looking growths that belied their deadliness. My teeth shifted position in my mouth which was an unusual experience to say the least, and several grew further, sharper. The difference in my eyes wasn't as extreme as I might have expected, remaining blue though they lightened a fair number of shades and changed shape a bit.

And of course, there was the tail. A new appendage, a length of black and white just suddenly growing out of me, and it…

It looked kind of silly. Well, maybe I was a bit biased against it; it felt weird, having a fifth limb, especially one I could control so easily. It wasn't like the tail of a tiger should have been, meant to aid in balance and such more than anything else—I could move it, use it as dexterously as the prehensile tail of a monkey if not more so. It felt a lot like a third arm, just…growing out of my back. It was strange.

I wondered why I could use it that way so easily. Was it a Faunus thing? I'd never met a tailed Faunus before—I got the feeling such traits were pretty rare—but maybe it was normal for their tails to be prehensile. I mean, most animals couldn't use their tails that way, but most Faunus could see in the dark, regardless of the animal they appeared related to. Maybe this was something like that? Or maybe it was me, a result of my high Dexterity rating manifesting. Or maybe it was a status effect thing, a result of the White Tiger's Star that changed me into a Faunus and made my features more closely resemble those of Bai Hu; another form of natural weaponry like my claws and fangs. Who knows?

There were other changes, of course, minor shifts in my appearance that were more subtle—around the nose, the eyes, maybe even a bit around the jaw, the mouth. A small shift in tone, maybe a slightly different set of my shoulders…small things, really, but it was surprising how quickly they added up. Looking at myself in the mirror, I felt abruptly odd.

"I knew you had a tail last time," Adam said, standing behind me as I looked at myself. "Tiger, I guess? Did you…?"

I shrugged a shoulder, not looking away even as I wrapped the limb around my waist. Later, maybe I'd get used to it, but for now I felt more comfortable using it as a makeshift belt—I had to leave the ones I usually wore behind for this, after all. I withdrew several items from my Inventory, did some touching up and minor changes. I could leave out a few things, now that I could rely on being an actual Faunus to help my disguise go through, but I still put my hair in order, combing it into a different style before making some minor adjustments to other things.

"Title," I said at last, storing the items. My Disguise skill was high enough to reduce the time needed to a miniscule fraction of what it should have been. That done, I withdrew Dreary Midnight and Lenore, watching as the world came into even sharper focus with another pair of eyes. This, on top of my Clairvoyance, was…

"Ah," Adam said. "That's…three titles for the Bai Hu's stuff?"

"Four," I corrected as I shrugged into the cloak. "I got two in a row up in Atlas. I'll probably get at least one more when I master the thing."

"How far are you from that?"

"Six levels. I need to raise Wisdom, still, but everything else is ready," I said as I rose, fully Jian Bing once more. "Speaking of which…"

"Follow me," Adam said, turning to walk away. The moment he was sure I was following, he began to pick up speed and before long we were both running through the forests around Mistral. The darkness didn't bother either of us, nor did the terrain, and though I got the feeling that our destination was a ways out, this level of exertion wasn't enough to even make us breath heavily.

Even so, given my luck, I stayed on guard, many senses at the ready. With Lenore on, my sight was almost impossible sharp and I made sure I was ready to react the moment my senses detected danger or bloodlust. I couldn't say I minded having Adam at my back, either—I mean, if nothing else he was probably such a repressed ball of negativity that he'd draw Grimm for miles.

I felt my lips twitch upwards at the thought before Adam interrupted it.

"I saw your fight," Adam said after several minutes of running in silence.

"Against Pyrrha?" I asked, absently wondering information about what had happened in Atlas had spread. I hadn't seen any actual footage of the fight on the little TV I watched, but I kept myself busy. Well, obviously things were vague enough for people to try and impersonate the guy I was pretending to be. Given how much had been out of the way, how much had been seen at distance, and how much must have sounded plainly ludicrous, it probably wouldn't have been too hard—some planted speakers, a microphone, some smoke and mirrors…it really depended on who knew the specifics of what, but the general idea might have been easy to get across…

Adam grunted, which I took to be a yes as I refocused on him.

"What did you think?" I asked, smiling a little. "On a scale of one to ten?"

He raised one finger and I rolled my eyes without letting the smile fade.

"You've gotten stronger." He continued. "We didn't get a chance to catch up, but before the mission…well, I guess you must have gone through a lot."

"Getting whisked away on a magical Ziz ride will do that," I nearly shrugged before pausing, looking at my friend's back. After a moment, I nodded though I knew he couldn't see it. "A lot has changed. A lot had to change. Stuff happened and I had to face it alone. But I managed—I fought, I won, I came back. It's fine."

Adam hummed a noncommittal note. I thought that was the end of it when he didn't say anything. I hadn't really considered it until now, but I guess I still didn't know how much Blake and Adam knew—about Atlas, I mean. We'd gotten separated in pretty insane circumstances and when I returned we'd only got to chat for a little bit before separating again. I never did tell them what happened and I think they might have avoided the topic intentionally. He didn't know about what Ziz had done to the White Whale, how I'd gotten it up and running, probably not even about Penny. The only sources of information they'd have had would have been some White Fang members that would have had no idea what was going on, a few awed civilians that might have glimpsed the fight, and maybe a few stolen reports. All told, not a lot to go on.

And then I waltz back in and go crazy in an arena, fighting the regional champ to a standstill. Might have been enough to make someone wonder exactly what happened to me.

Or maybe this was something else. If the White Fang really was interested in Mistral and did have some relation to the families, then what did that display mean for them? Had my grandmother been showing me off as a warning? A reminder? An advertisement? Something else?

I knew as well as anyone the power of perception—had exploited it viciously whenever I could, letting people see me as dangerous, powerful, all-knowing, mysterious, and whatever else. Even so, I found myself abruptly wondering how I looked in the eyes of the people closest to me. What had Adam and Blake thought when a monster rose from a burning sphere to assault my enemies? What about my mother and grandmother? It was only a matter of time before my sister's saw, maybe even some of the folks back home who'd known me once, back when I was nothing. What would they think of me now?

Food for thought.

"Oh, are you done whining about it?" Adam said at last, breaking the growing silence with an evasion. "I was just saying you'd gotten stronger; I didn't expect you to get emotional about it. I guess not that much has changed."

I snorted but allowed it.

"Yeah, I'm stronger now," I said, going along with it with my own twist. "Everything from the mission and then two month's training with mom…I spent a lot of points and got a few skills. Not too bad, if I do say so myself. I mean, I don't like to brag or anything, but damn I'm awesome. Like, if you'd been there…man, it was amazing. And just think, a thousand years from now maybe they'll remember you as that one guy I knew from that thing."

I'm pretty sure Adam rolled his eyes at that and I took that as a victory.

"So," I continued after a pause. "Any idea what we're gonna do first?"

Adam was silent for a moment at that and then shook his head as he began laughing quietly under his breath.

"Should I take that as a yes?" I wondered, eying him as we suddenly came to a halt. He tilted his head back and took a deep breath before letting it out slowly.

"I was just thinking…" He mused, surprising me with an honest smile. "It's a little stupid, but since it's here anyway…want to try this again? For old times' sake?"

I looked past him and immediately saw what he was referring to. He'd stopped us quite a ways away, far enough off to avoid notice for now even if we hadn't been hidden by the trees. From here, it probably couldn't see us.

Too bad. I could see it even if it should have been little more than a speck in the distance.

I snorted once and then it turned into a chuckle of my own; I could still see the half-smile on Adam's face as well, looking a little worried and a lot excited.

"I didn't take you for the sentimental type," I mused, glancing at him with a raised eyebrow. "You sure?"

"I'm sure," He said. "If it's like this I can just imagine I'm stabbing you in the face."

"We did that before, as I recall." I noted.

"Yeah—but this might actually be fun."

"Fun," I said, nodding at the word. "Fun. Yeah…maybe just a bit."

"You come a long way, you said," He remained. "You up for this?"

"Oh," I smiled. "Absolutely."

In the distance, the Giant Nevermore soared high above the forest, black wings on dark air.

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