Discriminating Purple

I, Emerald and Neopolitan, just finished covering my airship in an igloo to hide it for the time being. Emerald was panting from the exertion of making blocks of snow and ice, then stacking them. She then asked me.

" Silva, can we go to Atlas now? I could use a hot meal and a warm bed after being stuck out in this tundra for a few hours."

Neopolitan nodded in agreement with Emerald, and I replied.

" Let me find us a place to stay first, and for now, make yourselves comfortable in the airship until then."

Emerald and Neopolitan entered the igloo's entrance to the airship, and I opened a portal above Atlas. I went through it and fell from a great height. As I descended towards Mantle, I used Emission to slow down and find a place to land. After finding a nice alley to land in unnoticed, I examined the city of Mantle. It was every bit as dark and gritty as in the show. I started by looking around first and occasionally bumped into a few people on purpose to use Soul Archive to get the lay of the city from the local's memories.

I found out that Mantle's faunus discrimination is worse than I thought. Aside from the slums in the Mantle Crater and the area around it, most shops refuse to serve faunus as a rule. Unfortunately, that's on the other side of town; I better get walking. I could feel the stares of all the humans glaring at me for being in the wrong part of town, but I ignored them. So long as they don't get physical, they can glare at me and call me names all they want because it is as worthless as a fart. I really hope I won't have to stay here in Atlas long because it's just unpleasant being here.

I tilted my head to avoid a bottle being thrown at me as my training kicked in for being aware of my surroundings. As the bottle broke on the street, I turned to see a drunkard who started threatening me.

" Get out of here, you, you, parasite!"

I just stared at him feeling slightly annoyed as I debated whether I should just knock him unconscious or use Door to Darkness to drop his sorry hide in a dumpster. The drunkard clearly did not like my staring as he walked up, trying to punch me.

" What are you looking at?!"

I concentrated my Aura on my face, and as the drunken fool landed his blow, he got hurt instead as he cried out in pain, clutching his fist. Before he could do anything else, I grabbed him by the neck and lifted him off his feet. I warned him with venom filling my voice.

" You can either turn around and go back to whatever hole you crawled from, or I can break your bones, your choice."

As he tried to break free from my grip, I gave his neck a slight squeeze to make a point, and he panicked and started demanding me.

" Put me down! Put me down, you dang-!"

He didn't get to finish his sentence as I squeezed tighter making him unable to speak or breathe, and I then said.

" Broken bones it is then."

I opened a portal under him and dropped him. I moved him a couple of blocks away and just high enough that he would at least get a fracture depending on where he fell. The humans surrounding me now looked at me with fear and hate. I sighed and used Flash Step to move more quickly to the Crater to find a place to stay for the night. I'm already starting to dislike my stay here in the kingdom.

***

Meanwhile, up in Atlas.

Winter Schnee was busy studying her second year at Atlas Academy since she switched over to the Specialist program her first year. From Huntress-in-training to Specialist-in-training, the eldest ice queen's career path had been determined from the get-go as her classes now included officer training. She didn't regret her choice despite the fact it made her lose her position as the heiress to the Schnee dynasty, and her younger sister Weiss was given the position in turn.

Winter ultimately wanted to get away from her father to not only be free but also build her own power base to try and change the Schnee family from the outside. One thing she is grateful for is that her disinheritance from the Schnee family made all those who courted her for that exact reason backed off since it did not benefit them. As the eldest ice queen studies military tactics and strategies, she felt slightly isolated because she left the team she was assigned to behind as a huntress-in-training, especially since the Specialist Program is geared towards creating elites to tackle missions on their own or in small groups.

Winter shook her head to clear it and focused on trying to become at the top of her class to further her goals.

***

Weiss Schnee wasn't happy, not that is a strange occurrence in the Schnee household. She replaced her beloved sister as heiress, and Winter could not come into the mansion as she used to, with Jacques Schnee banning her presence as head of the household. Of course, this only applies when he is actually at home. None of the servants would stop Winter from seeing Weiss when Jacques is away, as he is not a pleasant employer to work with in any capacity.

Weiss was now attending Noblesse Academy, a finishing slash combat school in Atlas. Weiss has to juggle her classes on being a lady of high society and becoming a huntress. Weiss barely managed to convince her father to allow her to do both, and he will only allow it so long as she maintained high grades in both sets of classes. If she failed either of them, she would have to give up on her combat classes, and she did not want that at all. The youngest ice queen grew up hearing stories of her grandfather as a Huntsman and aspired to be like him.

Weiss wanted to be like her grandfather not only to honor her family name but to gain some small modicum of freedom. As the youngest ice queen underwent puberty, she noticed things that she didn't before—for instance, her father's true face. Underneath Jacques's politeness and false endearment, she saw a man willing to manipulate her like a puppet to do his bidding. Weiss felt both afraid and incensed at this discovery which brought the memory of her mother's confrontation with her father.

Her father, Jacques Schnee nee Gele, admitted that he only married Willow Schnee for her family name. With all this in mind, Weiss swore to herself that she would be the one to decide her fate and not her father.

***

It took me a while, but I finally found a nice little tavern near the slums. A faunus ran it with a pair of goat horns adorning his head and was friendly enough to give me a heads up on the dos and don't of Atlas and Mantle. Mainly keep near to the Crater for the most part and that the only faunus allowed up in Atlas are students of Atlas Academy. This complicates things, but I will manage somehow, as I always do one way or another. I went to the room I paid for and used Door to Darkness to bring the girls over.

Emerald and Neopolitan came through the portal, and the mint-haired girl asked not out of anger but concern.

" What took you so long, Silva?"

Neopolitan also looked curious at my answer, and I told before I explained.

"You're going to want to sit down for this."