Whimsical Green

I, Silva Branwen, am now back on my ship with Raven and the Lamp in tow, joining for my journey across Remnant before trying to reason with Salem. After all, I could wind up dead regardless of my precautions, and I want as few regrets as possible. Raven looked at the living space on the airship and commented.

" A bit small but cozy."

" You can have the bed while I sleep in the pilot's chair."

It's been a long day since using the Lamp to find out how to deal with Salem, and I need sleep. I went to the front of the ship and adjusted the pilot's seat for me to sleep in tonight. As I got just got comfortable from tossing and turning in the seat, I heard Raven call out.

" Silva, mind coming here for a moment?"

I sighed but got up as I wanted to see what Raven wanted. I found Raven with her tea set; isn't that back at the Branwen Encampment? Raven, of course, was brewing herself some tea, and I asked her curiously.

" What's up?"

" Sleep escapes me as my mind is... preoccupied with everything I learned from the Lamp. So I swung by the camp to grab my things and leave for good."

I looked at her in mild surprise in deciding to kick the tribe to the curve so soon; I honestly thought she would alternate between traveling with me and managing the tribe before choosing to put the life of banditry behind her as I planned on convincing her that the tribe wasn't worth the effort. I asked her to make sure.

" Are you sure?"

Raven scoffed, then retorted self-deprecatingly.

" Despite the tribe's professing their loyalty to me, I know that the moment I can't keep up anymore, I will be left behind. Just like you said, Silva, I traded people that actually gave a damn about me for a bunch of lowlifes."

" I will keep you company tonight, Raven."

Raven showed a bitter but surprisingly fragile smile. I took a seat at the table and told her as I better not leave her alone with her thoughts tonight. She is known to make hasty decisions at times. Raven brewed her tea and took out a bottle of alcohol which made me ask.

" What's with the alcohol, Raven?"

" I usually keep a stash to bribe Qrow with to get some information out of him, but tonight, I need to take the edge off. Good thing I pick something that goes with my tea."

Raven poured me then herself some tea and added a few drops of the liquor to her tea. We drank our tea in silence, and minutes went by until Raven asked me.

" What do you plan to do, Silva?"

" In general or Salem?"

" Both."

I took a sip of my tea and told her what I planned to do with Salem first.

" I want to try and reason with Salem first with a peace offering."

I dangled the Relic in front of Raven as she furrowed her brow in slight disapproval at my plan. Not surprising, but I assured her.

" Whether I succeed or not doesn't matter because even if I fail, I need to be near her regardless to use plan B through Z, like sending her to the moon with the Staff of Creation."

" Hmm, true, but I vote for sending her to the sun instead."

I shrugged at Raven's opinion as I get that she may be holding a small grudge against Salem for, well, everything. I then told her what I planned to do next.

" Aside from participating in the Mistral Regional Cup to see how I stack against "formally" trained combat school students, I need to swing by Vale to help out some old friends with a few things. After that, I plan to head to Atlas."

" To grab the Staff?"

I smiled at Raven as I replied.

" Among other things."

" I see. With the tournament, you will pretty much dominate it aside from maybe a few challenges as those so-called Huntsmen/Huntresses-in-training have no actual combat experience like you do, Silva."

Raven then started to open up with as she told me some stories from her time at Beacon and with team STRQ. I also learned that Raven has an extensive amount of blackmail material against Qrow and Taiyang that she shared with Summer before she left Taiyang. As she told me her stories, I noticed she mainly talked about Summer and Qrow, with Taiyang being more of an afterthought. This tells me a lot about her current feelings for her ex-husband. Raven also mentions a few stories about Yang that she has from her "visits."

Hours went by as the night grew long, and sleep finally took me.

***

I wake up feeling something familiar. I rubbed my eyes and found Raven, of all people cuddling against me in the bed on the airship. We were still fully clothed since we didn't do the deed, at least not yet anyway. I yawned and stretched as I got up, then shook Raven awake.

" Raven, it's morning; wake up."

After some more shaking, Raven finally got up with a groan, clutching her head.

" Silva, be quiet! My head is killing me!"

I let her lay in bed as I got started on breakfast; I went with a breakfast burrito with bacon, eggs, and cheese. After a quick breakfast, I then made plans to see the Malachite twins and finally meet Neopolitan in person. I then considered Raven and invited her along.

" I plan on heading to Vale to see those friends I told you about; interested?"

" No, I think I will stay here and consider what I should do next."

" Okay then, watch the airship for me, would you?"

Raven waved me off as I got ready to see the twins.

" Sure."

" I will see you later."

I opened a portal to the twins and went through it. I found myself in a dark hotel room and saw three heads staring at a screen, watching a movie. I mischievously smiled as I couldn't resist such a golden opportunity. I crept to the three and heard the movie playing.

" Janice, I love you with all my heart."

" And I you, Lance."

I heard some snivels at the scene from the three, and I grinned as I spoke with a deep rasping menacing voice to them as loudly as I could.

" Give me your souls~!"

I heard a collect shriek which made me laugh. As I cackled, the lights came on, and the twins berated me.

" SILVA?! DON'T SCARE US LIKE THAT!"

I apologized half-heartedly.

" Sorry, I couldn't resist. But it's good to see both of you."

Melanie was wearing a white tank top with cyan booty shorts, and Miltia was wearing the same but red and black instead, respectively. The twins glared at me for a few minutes as I tried to get my laughter under control. After I got my laughs out of my system, I took a seat on one of the beds and told them in a serious tone.

" Let's talk, shall we?"

The twins looked at one another, and I realized as I looked around and asked.

" Where's the friend you mentioned?"

I felt a tap on my shoulder, and I turned to see a Beowolf. I promptly responded by using my claws to tear it to pieces, but when I made contact with it, it shattered like glass. I then found a girl on the bed I was sitting on, half brown, half pink hair with white highlights and brown and pink irises. She wore a white shirt with pink polka dots and brown shorts. She was at most five feet tall but had perfect portions of a sexy woman that matched her size. Neopolitan was far cuter in person than I thought, and I stated.

" Miltia, Melanie, you didn't mention that your friend was extremely easy on the eyes."

Melanie huffed at my compliments toward Neopolitan, and Miltia replied.

" It didn't come up. Putting that aside, you have grown, Silva."

They looked upon me as I towered over them. Well, let's see how things play out with them. The girls sat across from me on the other bed, and I bluntly asked them.

" So, what do you want to do now?"

They looked amongst themselves, and Miltia responded.

" We honestly don't know. Melanie and I have no legal way of making money here in Vale for several reasons. Still, the biggest is the fact we have relations with Lady Browning's after it was exposed, and Neopolitan has nowhere else to go."

Neopolitan nodded in agreement with them, and Melanie briefly explained.

" Yeah, Neo's parents were every bit as bad as our mom, and they got blew up because of some Dust her father hid. Plus, Mom never really had us learn anything aside from basic stuff and how to fight."

I then offered my suggestion.

" What about becoming Huntresses?"

Neopolitan made a gagging gesture, and the twins frowned at my idea. I then pointed out why I suggested this.

" Look, being a Huntsman/Huntress mainly involves doing a heightened form of extermination for Grimm and Criminals, overall, so ignore the idealistic propaganda and think about it."

As the three of them contemplated my idea, Miltia said to me, looking concerned.

" Silva, about the money, we will return it as soon as we are able to, but it might take a while."

I smiled at her statement and told her it was okay.

" No rush there; I am loaded right now, so pay me back on your own time."

Melanie then asked me incredulously while Neopolitan looked smug as if to say she knew it.

"You're rich?! How?!"

" Well, I am the author of two best-selling novels."

Miltia looked at me curiously and asked in mild disbelief.

" You write books?"

Melanie then commented.

" Yeah, you don't look the type, Silva."

The tri-colored girl nodded in agreement with the more brash twin. I shrugged, not minding their thoughts, and Melanie then asked me, looking a bit sheepish.

" If you're rich, can we? I don't know, mooch off you for a while?"

" Melanie!"

Miltia chides her sister's shameless request, and I retorted.

" Sure! If you want me to be your sugar daddy instead."

To my surprise, Melanie looked like she was seriously considering it. Miltia argued against her sister's thoughts.

" Melanie, don't consider it, please. Silva has already done a lot for us, and taking advantage of his goodwill where we have no friends or organization backing us up here in Vale is an ungrateful attitude."

" I know, Miltia, I wasn't being serious, but what are we supposed to do here? Even if we follow through on Silva's suggestion of becoming Huntresses, we're too young to take the Huntsman exam and too old to attend Beacon right now unless you want to spend four years with people younger than us."

Seeing how this was going nowhere, I made an offer to them.

" How about this? I plan on setting up a residence here in Vale, and I need someone to manage it for me as I don't plan on living there just yet."

Miltia responded positively to my suggestion.

" That would work."

" Fine..."

Melanie was okay with it, and Neopolitan nodded in agreement. Well, that's taken care of, but now I need somewhere to set everything up. Well, whatever one step at a time.