27A/N: Welcome back!
Summary so far: Oscar made it to Mistral, met up with Lumi, and discovered that despite being total strangers they have a friend in common.
Lumi exchanged the overripe fruit on the altar for a fresher selection and side-eyed the Luna statue with contempt. She wasn't exactly sold on the whole Maiden religion thing, or on religion in general, but a no-name farm boy showing up on her doorstep on the day of the Hearth Maiden festival, escorted by a priestess directly to her while looking for her friend reeked of the sort of divine intervention she'd only ever read about in myths.
Naturally, since their convenient meeting could only have been set up by meddling spirits, everything about Oscar targeted her weakest points without mercy. He was cute, shy, and polite; had big innocent eyes and a permanent flush to his round, freckled cheeks. Roughly the same age as her sister and with a few signs she knew she'd given off at his age, everything about him just – Lumi was so screwed. There'd been no way she could ever turn him away, even without taking into account the fact that he was so connected to her through a close mutual friend.
She shot the statue one last look then recited a short prayer and closed the glass cabinet that housed it all. Her weekly obligation fulfilled, she grabbed her lunch from the counter and dug in while her Semblance settled throughout the house.
There were empty, unmoving shadows upstairs, in the pantry, beneath the floorboards, and the barest slivers of dark behind paintings, all consistent with an empty house. She focused on the downstairs suite and sighed in relief at the lack of Oscar's presence- not that she hated or resented him or anything, but a thirty minute lunch break wasn't nearly enough time to explain four years' worth of history about her relationship with Branwen and the Headmaster and he really deserved an explanation after last night.
She finished up one last bite then cleaned up, half-hearted plans to talk to the boy in the back of her mind. Gods, what was she even going to say?
-[-]-
Oscar marveled over the beautiful waterfall and gorgeous landscape. A lush valley carved by the river led out of the city through stepped plains and on towards Lake Matsu, which could have been an ocean if he didn't know better. The air was cool and fresh this high up, even though it was getting to be the hottest part of the day and he felt his stress from the last few weeks dissolve away.
He wasn't crazy, because not only did Lumi know Ozpin, she also knew Qrow and that validated both men's existence. He wasn't worried about where he was going to sleep or when he was going to eat, again because of Lumi, and now he was perched at one of the highest points in the city, as normal as any tourist.
Well, mostly.
"It would be wise to head back," Ozpin murmured, equally soothed by the peaceful sights but a stickler for responsibility.
Sure, Oscar understood why the other man was so eager to get some answers out of Lumi, but she was at work and besides- they were in Mistral! The capital of one of the Four Kingdoms! One of the oldest cities in the world! He'd only ever read about the place before, hoping but never believing he'd ever make it here, and now he was here!
(There was something to be said about reincarnating into such a young host. Despite the benefits of no longer dreading storms and aching joints, the drawback was that Oscar didn't quite understand the severity of the situation due to his peaceful and [comparatively] sheltered life. While he didn't wish the boy to lose all innocence, he did wish he'd heed his advice a little more seriously.)
They toured the upper levels (except for Haven Academy, which was closed for some reason- maintenance?) then finally made their way back to the house around four. After a full day of exploring (and all those awful stairs) he was hungry and looking forward to a nice, hot shower. He quickly re-ordered his priorities to be a shower then a meal when a passing stranger sniffed at him and recoiled. (The joys of puberty.)
When he stepped out of the bathroom, a soft green towel around his shoulders (he didn't know that they made towels that fluffy!), the sounds of Lumi moving about upstairs were clear to the both of them. She must have just gotten home, and while he normally wouldn't bother someone who hadn't had the chance to unwind yet, Ozpin assured him that it would ensure her answers were more honest. (Why wouldn't she be honest to begin with? She didn't seem like a shady person.) He grabbed an apple on his way up to the kitchen.
"Hi Lumi," he sat at the island, careful not to lean onto the countertop or slouch. The slick, chrome finishes and marble counters looked straight out of a magazine, but she looked at ease surrounded by expensive- well, everything- in a way that he didn't.
"Hey Oscar," the violet-eyed woman looked up with a small smile. "Did you have a good day?" She was busy pulling things from the fridge and cabinets but made it obvious that she was focused on him too.
(Oscar liked the attention; it made him feel important. Ozpin batted that aside and began to skillfully direct his answers.)
"Yeah. I explored a little bit- I didn't know Mistral was so big! I think I only got to see this level and the one above it- it was hard to tell because there's no signs."
"I had trouble navigating when I first got here too," she reassured him. "If you stay in this slice of the city, then directly above us are some Council buildings and directly below us are stores. This level is mostly housing, but there's a hospital to the right and a park to the left so if you ever get lost, you can head to either and backtrack home."
"Really? That's so useful," he rolled the apple between his palms. "Say, what's at the top? I tried to go look but apparently it's closed off."
"Ah, that's Haven Academy. The school's headmaster shut it down for the summer so the teachers could relieve some of the Hunters at the borders. The campus is nice to visit, but I think everyone's happier to have the teachers out helping- well, everyone except the students anyways."
"Why wouldn't the students be happy?" he munched on his apple. "Are they that close to their professors?"
"Well, Academy students need Academy approval to go on missions over school breaks," she explained and transferred diced chicken to a metal bowl. "With everyone who could give that approval gone or temporarily barred from work, the only one left is Professor Lionheart and he's busy enough without adding that on top."
"Oh wow, how do you know all that-" he blocked out Ozpin's warnings. "-do you work at the school? Are you a secretary there?"
Lumi, with oil, raw chicken, and seasoning stuck to her hands, paused and looked at him with a confused frown. "… just how old do you think I am?"
He glanced at her nice work clothes (a short sleeved button down, uniform vest, and pencil skirt), matched it with Ozpin's mental concept of an office worker, and the sense of Grown-ness she carried that all adults seemed to have then said: "Twenty six?"
All of the energy went out of her frame and any emotion she might have had fled with it. The only thing expressive about her were her eyes, which were turned towards the ceiling as if looking for strength from the universe. "I turned twenty in the spring."
He winced and felt his shoulders rise to his ears while his other half shook his head. "Sorry."
She sighed heavily and continued stirring the mixture by hand. He fidgeted with his apple core and tried to think of a way to salvage the conversation but to no avail. Ozpin might have had some ideas, but clearly since Oscar knew what he was doing then the wizard need not get involved. (That would teach him.)
Lumi turned, washed her hands in the sink to the left of the stove, then began to rinse vegetables. He chewed the corner of his lip and refrained from bouncing his leg with willpower he didn't know he had.
"… So how was work?" he ventured.
"It was fine," she didn't look at him and didn't see the way his head jerked dangerously close to the counter in frustration.
"Uh, so… where do you work actually?" he shifted in place.
This time she did look at him, unamusement clear across her face. "Marron's Tailor Shop."
Her tone told him that she must have said so yesterday… when he wasn't listening. (Ozpin remembered. He pointedly raised a brow and turned away when Oscar began to quietly plead for help. Hindsight was twenty-twenty and all that…)
"Th-that's cool," his voice cracked and he wanted to throw himself down the stairs.
Her shoulders rose and fell in what might have been a sigh, might have been a laugh. "That's very kind of you to say, dear heart, but I somehow get the feeling that the questions you really want to ask are about your uncle, hm?"
His face felt like it was on fire. "Y-yeah."
She shook her head with a wry grin and dried her hands. "What do you want to know? I can't tell you as much as Branwen- Qrow could, but I know a little."
"What was he like?" he (finally) listened to Ozpin's advice. "I never really… met him."
"Well in terms of looks," she leaned against the counter. "He was quite tall, and pale, with feathery grey hair and these tiny, useless sunglasses." She motioned with her fingers and smiled back at him when he grinned. "He wore a lot of green three piece suits- Qrow told me he had at least eight variations of the same outfit."
(Ozpin was suspicious of the fact that she knew such small details about him but he couldn't remember anything about her. Her name seemed a little familiar, but he couldn't place it among his or Qrow's contacts.)
"Hm, what else… oh yes; he loved hot chocolate, like, really loved it. Almost as much as he loved pulling one over on everyone and letting the rumor that he drank as much coffee as Oobleck persist. I'm pretty sure one of the school nurses yelled at him for 'setting a bad example for the students' but since it wasn't really coffee and nothing could be done about it. He also had a weakness for milk-bread, but that wasn't nearly as bad as his cocoa-addiction."
"Wait, if you're so young, how do you know that?" He couldn't help but lean forward onto the counter. "Did Qrow tell you?"
"No, I was a student at Beacon for a while before I moved here," she stood and resumed cooking. "At one point I worked a summer as an intern; first for Doctor Oobleck then… well, I think technically it was still to Oobleck. Who knows though- things were pretty hectic at the time with Vytal Festival preparations."
Ozpin could attest to the chaos of that summer, though he hadn't unraveled all of his memories yet. Trying to recall specific moments from then was like flipping through an old photo album and trying to pinpoint a certain picture without looking at the page or checking the section of the album. However, her age and that line narrowed down what year or team she could have been on and went a ways to soothing his (paranoia) curiosity.
She shrugged. "I ended up being your uncle's secretary of sorts, but it worked out alright. He was very kind to me."
"Oh so you guys were friends?" he felt relief swoop through him.
"Uh," she tucked her bangs behind an ear and fidgeted with a knife, all previous nonchalance gone. "Not… exactly…"
"What do you mean?" Confusion took the place of his short-lived relief.
"I… respected him… mostly," she wouldn't turn around as she chopped vegetables. "And I'm sure he… well, that is… he was very kind, like I said… probably too kind? Er, that is… look," she sighed and glanced at him. "I was a spiteful, argumentative little brat and I'm surprised he didn't kick me out of school. Let's leave that alone until we find Qrow, and I'm sure he'll be happy to tell you all sorts of fun stories."
That… wasn't at all what he- or Ozpin- was expecting. To begin with, Lumi had been all smiles and helpful gestures, up to the point where he told her he was looking for Qrow. Even then, she hadn't seemed upset, just bewildered, and that didn't stop her from answering all of his questions despite him sticking his foot in his mouth about her job and age. Just what had happened between her and Ozpin that she respected and yet didn't get along with him? And why couldn't Ozpin remember who she was if they had that sort of friction in their relationship?
It felt like every time he turned around his life got more and more complicated.
While turned all of her focus onto cooking, he slunk downstairs to talk with Ozpin and hoped that this conversation, at least, wouldn't throw him any more curve-balls.
-[-]-
Dinner started off a little awkward, but eased when Oscar gathered the courage to ask Lumi about life as a Huntress (which she was sure he was dying to know about considering that he'd traveled all the way to Mistral for the chance at being trained). She had to carefully edit her story (child abuse wasn't exactly a fun topic and she figured he could relate based off how jumpy he was), but a few questions about him (why did he want to be a Huntsman anyways? Just because his uncle had been?) and they were off.
By the time she crawled into bed, she felt her earlier prediction ring true; she was completely screwed and never stood a chance against the adorable might of Oscar Pine. That was okay though, because the boy was so earnest and wore his every thought on his face that when things he didn't want to talk about popped up, it was easy to tell. Not that she would use that against him (because she wasn't a horrible person) but it'd make it simple to avoid difficult topics.
That in mind, she fell into a restful sleep and woke the next morning refreshed. After a languid stretch, she made some coffee and downed a shot of Rue's Anti-Plant antidote. It tasted like liquid earwax and drain cleaner mixed with burnt sugar which left her stomach in knots, but when she made her way to the greenhouse and didn't die upon entry she counted it as a win as she did every time she managed to survive.
It shouldn't have been something to celebrate, but Rue wasn't some fussy old woman who grew prized roses and entered her yard into home and garden contests. No, she grew medicinal plants and poisons in equal measure and it was only thanks to the Anti-Plant that Lumi could walk around to tend the horrid little things. (She called them horrid but some of them could be used to make a variety of useful teas and remedies, like the poppies to the right of the center table. Others, however, were accidental murder waiting to happen despite how pretty they looked.)
She made it upstairs and into the shower without spreading any poisonous plant oils thanks to her shadow-walking semblance, though when she walked downstairs and saw Oscar eating a bowl of cereal she had the irrational urge to wash her hands again just to make sure.
"Morning," she called.
He swallowed quickly. "Morning!"
"Any plans today, dear heart?" she washed her hands and set the day old rice in the cooker to reheat.
"Uh no, not really," he said, stirring his cereal. "What about you?"
"I'm tutoring at one, but I'll probably clean to pass the time." The floors needed to be swept desperately and she was running low on detergent, so all in all it looked to be a tame day.
"Tutoring?" he parroted.
"Yeah, a cousin of a friend wants to be a Healer," she explained and dumped up a container of leftover beef and broccoli into a pan. "They're paying and it's good practice for me too." She certainly wouldn't have memorized all 206 bones if she didn't have to quiz Chrom on it that was for sure.
He nibbled his lower lip in thought as she broke up the cold clumps of beef. "Say, Lumi, um…"
"Hm?" she inclined her head.
"Would it… would it be alright if I sat in?" he traced patterns in the marble with a finger. "I can't pay or anything but I could help you clean?" he chanced a glance at her, wide hazel eyes like an arrow straight through her heart.
"Uh sure, if you want," he did hear her say Healer and not Hunter right? "I don't know how much you'll get out of it though. Is your aura activated?"
"Yeah!" he perked up.
"Show me," she set aside the spatula and turned to him.
He did, though it took a solid minute and he had to close his eyes to concentrate. A dense, dark green shimmered over his form and brought out the amber in his irises when he stared at her expectantly. (The same amber as the Headmaster, she noted, an almost golden brown.)
"Good job," she smiled. That was fairly quick considering that most beginners took anywhere from a solid half hour to five minutes, and that was after intense meditation. To be able to do it on command (or what passed as on-command for someone as young as him) was impressive.
He beamed at her, then seemed to remember that they'd only known each other two and a half days and ducked his head.
"I think it'd be better for you to work on a few activation exercises since Chrom is a bit further along," she said and tucked a bang behind her ear. "But there's no reason you can't be in the yard with us."
"Okay," he looked ready to get started at that exact moment, breakfast be damned.
Unfortunately for him, all she had in her stomach was a cup of coffee and a shot of Anti-Plant, so it'd be a while until then. She seated herself at the island (he seemed to favor it over the table for some reason- maybe it made him feel tall?) and unfurled her Semblance throughout the house. Aside from the warm, flickering ember of Oscar's aura to her left, the shadows remained as empty and still as they always were.
If she focused, she could feel the curiosity radiating off him, but he didn't pester her with questions like last night and shortly after excused himself. For once they hadn't ended a conversation on an awkward, abrupt note. She let out a silent sigh of relief when she heard him clomp down the stairs (he'd need training on how to walk quietly- but that was Branwen's job) and fixed another cup of coffee to go with the rest of her breakfast.
Lumi hoped Branwen made it to Mistral soon, because otherwise she was going to adopt Oscar and convince him to take up healing instead of hunting. It probably wouldn't be that hard considering that he was already interested in joining her tutoring session with Chromatica… Well, except for the fact that her damn near omniscient Headmaster was likely still as all-knowing as a spirit and she definitely didn't need to be haunted for leading the man's nephew astray.
-[-]-
The early stages of Huntsman training and Healer training weren't all that different, Oscar was sad to say.
Ozpin had urged him not to practice activating his aura on his own because he might exhaust himself without knowing it, and Lumi had the same advice. Ozpin said that the earliest stages required a calm, steady mind to maximize focus, and Lumi said the same thing. Ozpin told him that he needed to work his body and strengthen it to help that focus, and whaddya know, Lumi agreed.
Which was why he was doing a set of thirty lunges in the garden with two five pound dumbbells in hand, then thirty push-ups, then thirty crunches, a few cool-down laps around the garden, then three minutes of meditation followed by two minutes of activating his aura as many times as he could- all of that was then repeated. Twice. At least.
I thought training would be cooler than this, he grumbled and felt his knee wobble as he forced out another lunge.
Hm, yes well, he could feel the wizard's amusement, the reality of training to be a Huntsman is less glamorous than it is often portrayed.
He wheezed and fell into push-up position, legs screaming. It wasn't that he was completely weak or out of shape (farm work was good for building up useful muscles) but it was getting to be the hottest part of the day and it was made hotter by the humidity of the grass and he'd never had such low reserves of aura before and-
"Oscar!" Lumi shouted from the shaded porch.
He tried to lift his head to look at her but he'd collapsed face-first onto the grass while doing a push-up and that just wasn't happening. A set of cool hands rolled him over and poured water over his hair, which felt great even as his body freaked out about the dramatic difference in temperature. Off went his gloves and his wrists got the same treatment of cool, cool water- then his whole body was dunked in ice and his back settled on the wood floor of the porch.
"-ke note of the tell-tale signs of aura shock," Lumi's voice came from above as she rattled off a list of symptoms that perfectly described what he felt. A warm hand, different from the way his blood burned, settled over his eyes and lightened the metal in his limbs. It was easier to breathe and after a moment of basking in the feeling, he felt like he could easily finish the work out and then some.
"-eeds to circulate for at least two minutes?" Chromatica asked.
"Correct," the hand moved from over his brows to his left temple and his eyes fluttered open. "Check to see how dilated his pupils are- and make sure they're equally wide or we'll need to take him into emergency care."
A head of fluffy yellow-white hair entered his field of vision, moved from one side to the other then back again. "Woah, you can barely see his eyes!" Her wings fluttered.
She hummed and he felt it in his teeth (?). "Are they even at least?"
"Yup," another check. "Completely even."
"Good," she sighed. "Go grab a Croq-Aid and a banana for me, please."
The slightly older girl scrambled to her feet. "You got it boss!"
He could feel (?!) her smile and Ozpin's worry like a physical thing- well, more physical than usual. When Chrom came back with the requested items, Lumi helped him sit up and that gentle warmth vanished, replaced only by the mild soreness in his muscles and the half-damp feeling of sweat drying in his borrowed clothes.
Gross.
Chrom, who looked way better than he felt at the moment despite doing double the work-out, was then allowed to go home with cheery praise from Lumi about how well she'd done and a reminder to work on "the dot exercise."
He, on the other hand, was made to sit through a lecture about how disappointed Lumi was in him and how he should have known better than to keep going when he was so tired. Hadn't his previous teacher (who didn't actually exist but that was what he called Ozpin to explain away his knowledge and get out of the very beginner stuff) ever taught him about proper pacing? She followed it up with complimenting the things he'd done well then wrangled a promise out of him that he'd take breaks when he needed it in the future- and if he didn't then she'd let him suffer the next bout of muscle cramping and aura shock.
Oscar felt like his ears were on fire but Ozpin was completely unbothered. Either through his yet-remembered acquaintance with her or by virtue of knowing people similar to her over many lifetimes, the fact that she took the care and safety of anyone younger than her this seriously was as unsurprising as the fact that the greenhouse was off-limits because it grew poisons. Besides, Oscar had been careless in pushing himself so hard and would find no sympathy from him.
-[-]-
Lumi changed her mind about helping out Oscar- instead, she was going to drown him in the closest body of water and claim oh, he didn't know how to swim, officer; and oh it was so tragic…
Granted, his blatant disregard for personal safety had happened yesterday but still- that was the sort of behavior that needed to be beaten out of students early on. Otherwise he'd end up like those idiots who practically lived in the school's infirmary because they kept depleting their aura and not resting when advised, Nitram, Rein and Maril.
She shook her head to clear it. Oscar wasn't nearly as bad as those three (and if she had her way, he was never going to be). For one, he was actually sorry and for two, she didn't catch him trying to mess around with his aura after she told him to rest up. Just from that small show of non-idiocy he was leagues better than three-fourths of team MRNN; which was just sad because a fourteen year old shouldn't be able to win a maturity contest against three adults.
Disparaging thoughts about the next graduating class of Hunters aside, she was at work and she needed to focus on not stitching her fingers to the hem of the bridal silk- again- or her boss was going to put her back on front-desk duty.
An hour later, Lumi stepped back to admire her handiwork and stretched out her cramping fingers. The stitching on the hem was practically invisible, which was the goal, and the only thing left to do would be to add the beadwork to the bodice. Marron would, of course, oversee that part because it was his specialty, so she patted herself on the back and trotted over to the break room for lunch. Aeron and Midori were already there when she walked in, and Aeron sighed at the sight of her.
"Guess my break's over," he said and offered up his seat (not that there were any other seats to take aside from the broken chair in the corner but he was a gentleman).
"Good luck," Midori smiled mischievously. "Mr. Salmone's coming in for a fitting in twenty."
Lumi popped her lunch in the microwave, the faintest stirrings of sympathy in her heart, then sat while Midori laughed at his long-face. No one like Mr. Salmone because he was demanding and nit-picky. Marron was the only one who could handle him but he was busy with beadwork for a completely different set of orders so Aeron sucked it up and marched to the gallows as brave as any Huntsman.
"How was the play?" she asked when the other woman had calmed. Midori had a lot to say, especially about the costume designs, and the rest of lunch was filled with informative but slightly useless chatter.
They parted ways, Midori and Aeron to do fittings and consultations while Lumi flitted between the front and dressing rooms to help out as needed, then she went home at four since she was only a part-timer, to her co-workers half-hearted complaints.
The mail came shortly afterwards, and with it a letter. Since, it read, "Sister Forhan" had already accepted and RSVP'ed to the Summer Solstice Banquet being held at the Moon Maiden Temple next Thursday, Rue had better be there or else Micah would personally sign her up for the Winter Solstice Retreat in Argus- which they would have to walk through the snow to reach in order to truly put into practice their Temple teachings. Tucked behind the letter was a stiff piece of heavy cardstock with the actual invitation/reminder, covered liberally in blood-red ink with repeats of threats from the letter.
… she was going to have a long conversation with Rue about this when the woman returned from her pilgrimage. A very long talk, possibly ending in her drowning in the same body of water she was going to throw Oscar into earlier.
A/N: Oho Lumi, what's up with you and Ozpin? ;) Anyways, hope you lovely readers enjoyed! Please review, it keeps me motivated :)
See you next week!