Chapter 9

A few weeks had passed since Robin's talk with Rick. The life in the tribe went on as always, nothing bad and nothing good happening. Basically, total monotony, something that would have driven Robin up the walls or...sand dunes in his particular circumstances.

Thankfully he had Rick's and Petunia's lessons to keep him occupied. He ignored the fact that he felt like some kind of exotic animal. All the other kids his age played all day and had fun, while he studied like a man possessed.

Of course, only his mornings and evenings were occupied in this manner, leaving him with half a day free. Naturally, he abstained from messing with the weirdly aggressive desert creatures again and chose a more reliable target for his boredom.

"Robin, quick, the worms have conquered the desert! We have to act like one of them or they'll turn us into clouds!"

Vance threw himself on the sand and began wiggling around. He was kicking up quite a bit of dust in the air, most of it harmlessly passing by Robin.

The Faunus stared at the older child with a face between shock and amusement. Petunia warned them a few days ago about the dangers of "cactus juice", more specifically the water that gathered inside some regional cacti plants. Though it was alright to drink if you were in a pinch water-wise, too much of it could lead to strong hallucinatory effects.

Robin, the curious and bored man that he was, began experimenting with it. Apparently, he had to ingest at least one litre of cacti water for some really weak hallucinations to form. This quantity probably went up to two, two and a half litres to affect an adult.

In any case, while seeing a yellow sky and blue sand, Robin had the idea of boiling the substance. The result was a jam-like product that he was not stupid enough to bring his mouth anywhere near.

Still, he was curious about its effects. He secretly put the equivalent of two litres of juice in Vance's cup. The jam dissolved almost immediately and the boy was none the wiser. The results though?

"Oh no! The worms found out we have legs! I told you to wiggle Robin, this is all your fault!"

Yes, yes it was. Robin did feel a bit guilty about basically drugging Vance. Thankfully, the effect did not last long and its toxicity was negligible. Even the concentrated dose didn't last more than three minutes. The results showed Robin he wasn't going to become a drug dealer anytime soon, not that he would mind you, especially since the effect it had on adults would be even lesser.

Robin was brought out of his musings by the now recovered Vance. "Robin, you bastard, you gave me cactus juice!"

Robin was not really surprised Vance knew about it since Petunia made sure to talk in detail about it. The substance was pretty much common knowledge to the Yiaya and, Robin reasoned, to everyone else living in Vacuo's desert.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Robin had some difficulty in suppressing his giggles, but he managed to put on a shaky poker face eventually.

"Don't play dumb! You think nobody saw you boiling the stuff a few days ago!?"

"What? Then why didn't anyone say something?" Robin knew the Yiayas had the custom of learning by experience. Meaning that they let kids do stupid stuff as long as they weren't lethal. He also figured out that the cactus juice was actually less harmful than alcohol, but he was still surprised no one stopped him from making it.

"Everyone knows you're off in the head! What kind of an idiot would want to get involved with you?"

Robin raised an eyebrow. "You, apparently."

"It's not like I have a choice! You keep finding me even if I hide!" He said while exasperatedly hitting the ground with his fists.

Now, Robin was not actually harassing the kid. Alright, maybe a little, but in his defence, Vance was pretty much the only one in the tribe that Robin could freely interact with. The adults and teenagers were busy either working, teaching or learning.

Meanwhile, the other kids stood far away from Robin because of his adult mannerisms. Robin also had no more ideas of feigning, basically, retardation so he could enjoy the other children's games.

That left only Vance who, while still a kid, was fun enough to poke and prod at. His choleric personality and aggressive attitude meant that Robin was free to act like whatever he wanted around him without minding anything else. A wrong word could ruin a budding friendship, but Vance disliked him whatever he did.

It was pleasingly consistent. "Come here, I'll strangle you with your own tail!"

Already expecting the ensuing scuffle, Robin moved to the side, allowing Vance to fly past him in his lunge. The older boy clicked his tongue. The past few weeks he and Robin had begun a routine of sorts. Around midday, the Faunus would find him and, in some way or another, piss him off. Then they would duke it out, the winner always being Robin.

The most infuriating thing for Vance was that Robin never directly struck him. He kept dancing around him until Vance tired himself out.

This time it was no different. Even with the unfortunate experience, Vance has acquired from trying to pin down the slippery Robin, the ordeal finished with him on the sand and the Faunus squatting in front of him.

"You almost had me there Vance, but, alas, no dice."

The nonchalant way Robin spoke was another source of frustration for Vance. The other kids would be either scared or angry whenever Vance picked on them. Robin acted like the older boy was no threat at all. His tone was as if he was speaking about the weather.

Robin was looking down on him and that was pissing him off big time, almost as much as the fact that he gave him cactus juice.

Meanwhile, Robin was casually swinging his tail left and right, observing how Vance was getting more and more red in the face.

"Hey Vance, what do you want to be when you grow up?" Robin curiously asked, not wanting to see the older boy explode like a tomato in the microwave.

Vance was confused by the sudden question, but he was accustomed by now to Robin's forceful way of talking.

"Why do you care?" he responded through gritted teeth.

"I'm just curious. If I remember correctly you were telling Hilda you wanted to be strong or something. Do you want to be a hunter like your dad?"

Vance didn't seem to care that much about his future profession. "I don't care, I just want to beat your face into the sand!"

Robin gave out a sigh and a roll of his eyes. "Of course you do." Kids like Vance tended to change their minds at the drop of a dime. Robin asked him just to make conversation.

"Speaking of your father, he should be returning right about now. Let's go."

"Peh, I don't know how you can stand listening to the old man so much. Weirdo."

"Now, now, none of that or I'll throw sand in your eyes again."

Robin had to dodge Vance a few more times before they returned to Rick's tent.

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