Ch. 4 First Flight

The airship team [SMKE] and Nix were waiting for had finally arrived.

The design was similar to a cruise ship, the stairs near the four huge moving 'wings', which most likely cannot support aerodynamic lift by themselves, were situated near the stairs used for boarding, which lead up to the main part of the ship, and near the thrusters. Airships are also seen with three clusters of three glowing nozzles each at the back, with another two below. It was colored by various shades of grey, with a light grey making up the majority of the main body and darker grey being used for defensive platting and wings.

Although not the fastest ships, they were still one of the most popular means of transportation on Remnant. Especially with only so many types of Grimms being capable of flight or attacks capable of damaging the ship. In Mistral it's pretty much much Nevermores and Lancers, but the latter is mostly near lake Hatsu. There was a chance for some Manticores or Sphinxes to attack, but they were confined to the north near Argus, so not much of a regular threat for this particular Airship's route.

Reaching the interior, the team walked along the metallic corridors with slanted windows on one side and sliding doors on the other, in search of their booked room for the flight. They wanted to put down their luggage before doing anything and had to wait until take off to wander around anyway. Plus it's not the first time any of them, beside Nix, had travelled on an airship, so much of the novelty had waned.

Amongst the five only a few actually had plans to move about for their flight.

Jasmine being the first and foremost since she can't stand being stuck in a small room without being able to move around, leading to her most likely spending the flight walking around the ship to fight her boredom or finding someone to arm wrestle. She would prefer to workout or fight, but that's not exactly something the airship is equipped for.

Vanta had noticed the Nix looked around with excitement and curiosity as she held him, making her decision to show him around in that moment. She found the little cub's sparkling eyes adorable and thought it would be much better to walk around with him than be stuck in a small room with Liam.

'The boss I can tolerate since his headphones are perfectly soundproof and he likes to read on these types of trips. But Liam twitches and taps constantly, which makes it impossible for me or Jaz to not notice. It drives us insane.' She thought as she remembered every other time they were stuck with the doctor. 'He is a good guy, skilled and passionate, but he makes the worst travel companion for faunus with heightened senses.'

Meanwhile Nix found himself being very curious about this type of flying vessel, but knew better than to try and walk around without any sort of protection. Walking around with no guardian as a 3 year old was not the wisest decision one could make in a world such as this. Plus it wasn't exactly worth the risk when he's been in flying vehicles before, he was just curious about the entirely different mentality which created airships. So he left everything up to his new big sister to decide and behaved.

Luckily for him, she had decided to show him around after the group had finished putting away their luggage and the airship had taken off.

"Just don't go on the outer deck. We don't want the kid's hood to be blown off out there." Advised the boss before the feline duo left.

"Good call bossman~ I'll see you later." Vanta said in agreement as she merrily went out with the cub in her arms.

"And do try to make sure our hyperactive companion doesn't stir too much trouble. We wouldn't want to get banned from this service like that time near Argus." Liam added as the cat faunus closer the door.

"What happened before?" Nix asked the older girl out of curiosity.

"Well, let's just say your older sister Jasmine really doesn't like bullies. And during one trip we met a lot of bullies on a train." Vanta carefully answered with a bit of an awkward smile since she distinctively remembers taking part in that scuffle.

"I hate bullies too." Nix chimed in as he remembered all the bastards he had killed in his previous life.

"Then I'm sure big sis Jaz will be happy to hear that." Vanta replied as she booped the little Faunus' nose, which made him smile at her.

'So cute!' She thought as she then hugged him into her rapidly developing bosom.

'Anime girls really develop differently don't they?' Nix thought as he simply enjoyed the sensation.

He might have had to keep himself under strict control in his old life, but now he could enjoy things as he wished and what man wouldn't enjoy such treasures?

It was also a good thing that he could optimize his lungs efficiency and his body's ability to carry oxygen to his brain or else he might have had troubles breathing due to how long his new big sister held him. Nix might have thought she would send him back to see his new bosses earlier than planned otherwise. Fortunately he was freed from the heavenly hell bringers once her urges calmed down and they got on their way.

The trip was a very peaceful one.

There was no unexpected Grimm attacks and no troubles from those onboard.

Vanta took her time with Nix as she answered his questions regarding the airship, enjoying teaching the little cub how it flew and doing her best to fill his incredible curiosity when It came to the subject of dust. She couldn't help herself when she saw is eyes twinkle with excitement and curiosity. It also impressed her to see how intelligent the little cub was for his age.

She did have to handle a few assholes trying to flirt with her and a few more outspoken racists, but that was just an ordinary day for her if she was being honest. Of course she didn't like having to deal with it, but she had learnt long ago what beautiful women and Faunus had to live with in this world.

'At least I have a new cuddly little brother to calm me down from those jerks.' She thought as she vented her frustrations by squeezing the cub into her chest again.

"There there big sis. You don't have to care about the mean people." Nix said in a muffled voice as he looked up from the chocolate marshmallows.

"Oooh! You're just so cute!" She exclaimed in response as she felt her heart getting pierced by the cuteness. "You're right! Lets forget about those jerks and continue exploring."

The two later found where Jasmine had run off to.

She was in the observation deck, using one of the tables arranged for guests as a venue for an Arm Wrestling competition between her and all challengers. And it seemed to have drawn a decent crowd going by the excited noises. We even saw a sign for '50 lien per challenge, 500 per victory.'

"I swear that girl can't not fight or compete against anyone for more than a day before she does something like this." Grumbled Vanta as she brought Nix away from what she considered foolishness.

"Is big sis Jasmine going to be ok?" Nix asked out of curiosity.

He saw how Vanta showed no trace of worry whatsoever, meaning either Jasmine is physically stronger than she appears or she was just annoyed at having to clean up after her. He was curious as to which it was.

"She'll be fine. You should worry about those fools challenging her. Jasmine packs quite a a lot more in her body than people expect." She answered with a slightly mischievous smile.

As if on queue, the moment Vanta finished speaking a large man was sent tumbling out of the crowd. He looked muscular, dark skinned and bald. Also beaten up.

"That's whatcha get fer being a cheap bastard you prick!" Was the yell they heard as Jasmine stood in the opening the big man left in his wake with some anger.

*sigh* "Jasmine, as much as I dislike cheats as well, do try not to go overboard like that time. The boss and Liam will not let it go if you get us kicked out again. Plus little Nix has been very fond of the airship. You wouldn't want to take this away from him right?" Vanta smoothly asked as she made her companion's focus on the kid she new she liked.

Nix not missing a beat, widened his eyes and looked innocently at Jasmine, "Are we going to have to leave big sis Jaz?" He asked.

The perfect timing and performance completely threw the angry rabbit girl off as she looked at the little cub, making her feel bad if she actually did get them kicked off again.

"Fiiinnnne." The teenager reluctantly sighed as she acquiesced. "Challenge is over, go back to whatever."

There were a lot of murmurs from the crowd due to an entertainment source shutting down, but what could they do.

"I get to hold the kid for a while." Jasmine declared as put away her winnings and sign.

"Why should I let you do that?" Questioned Van as she tightened her grip on the cub so he wouldn't get stolen like during their bath.

"You've had him for a while and I'll promise to play nice when he's with me." The white rabbit answered as the two women entered a stare down.

Only after a few moments did Nix decide to input his own opinion, "It's ok big sis Van, I don't want big sis Jaz to be lonely."

"What crap are you saying! I won't be lonely!" Jasmine loudly replied as she tsundere'd.

"Then I guess you won't mind if I keep Nix." Vanta said smugly before looking at the cub, "let's go see another part of the ship, away from that mean big sister who yelled at you for being such a good boy."

"I guess big sis Jaz doesn't want to spend time with me." Nix said as he looked downwards. He was kinda looking forward to hearing a different version of things, more information is always useful after all.

"That's ok cause this big sis is more than happy to spend more time with you." Vanta said with a smile as she glanced at the Jasmine fighting herself over her true desires and embarrassment.

As the two began to leave in order to continue the ship tour, Jasmine snapped out of her Tsun-dilemma.

"H-hey! Come back and give me the kid!" She yelled at the duo as she ran to them.

"But you just said you wouldn't feel lonely, and this big sis would, so why should I let you have Nix~?" Vanta playfully asked as she instinctively began to mess with her short tempered and tsundere companion.

'It feels like big sis Van should have a fox tail instead of a cat one right now.' Nix thought to himself he missed the anime sweat mark on his head.

"Grrr! Who said that I didn't want to have some fun with him though?!" Jasmine aggressively asked as her irritation towards Vanta started to skyrocket.

Fortunately Nix knew better than to let the situation devolve, so he employed his current body's best weapons: cuteness and innocence.

With a gentle tug of Vanta's black locks to get her attention, Nix simply said "Big sis, it isn't nice to tease friends like that. I don't want the two nice big sisters to fight."

Realizing her actions had drawn a pout from the little cub, Vanta felt that picking a fight with Jasmine probably wasn't the best idea when Nix was around if he liked both herself and Jaz. Seeing them fight would just make him sad or angry at them.

Meanwhile, the wind in Jasmine's sails abruptly stopped when she heard the little guy, she secretly wanted to hug, liked her too, but didn't want to see her fight the taunting cat.

"Big sis, can you let me down?" Nix asked nicely, resulting in Vanta having a reluctant expression.

*sigh* "Alright. But you better bring Nix to get some food at 12." She said to Jasmine as she gently placed the cub down.

"Yeah yeah. I'll bring him back for some food. I get hungry too you know." The still slightly huffy rabbit teen replied as she looked at the little guy walking towards her.

"Let's go have some fun big sis Jaz." Nix said as he grabbed onto her pant leg and looked up.

Doing her best to hold her girly desires in, the ones she thought made her look weak and disliked about herself, she picked him up and propped him on her arm so he could wrap his little arms around her neck.

"I'll show you all the cool spots she wouldn't." Jaz declared as a grin appeared on her face from finally getting the cub.

"Oooh. Are we going to see the pilots?" Asked Nix since he was curious as to how the airship was piloted.

"I'll see what I can do." She answered with a bit of thought and started walking towards some spots she thought the kid might like.

"Make sure he keeps his hood on and don't go outside." Reminded Vanta as she watched the two youngest people in their group walk away, only to receive a lazy wave from Jaz to confirm that she was heard.

'Well, it's not like Jaz is anything close to defenseless. I just worry about our little cub.' The older teen thought with some worry before heading to a new destination in the hopes of finding a good spot to laze around in for a while.

In the meantime, Jasmine was bringing Nix to places few knew about beside the crew. Because of how she grew up, she had a habit of checking her environment for hidden dangers, which resulted in her going through the majority of the ship they were riding in. It also wasn't the first time she's been on this kind of airship, making her grasp of the layout even better. The result was Nix learning a lot more about the nuts and bolts of the airship and getting a much better understanding of this kind of vessel.

Out of his own habit, he figured out infiltration and escape points, fatal weaknesses, how to cripple the ship, how to board in flight, sneak into one and even hijack one after he Jasmine convinced some of the crew to let the cute 3 year old see the cockpit. He had learnt a lot, but this was the limit of what he could do without a full schematic and set of data on this model.

After a few hours Jasmine had brought Nix back to the cabin for lunch as promised. These kind of airships don't exactly provide much in the way of food, but they did offer some drink services since they were easier to keep. The lunch itself was some food the boss had asked their inn to prepare for them, which ended up being a nice little bento that they had reheated using a device which channeled some fire dust. Nix was strictly prohibited from playing/analyzing the device by the two girls, for some understandable reasons, but he did get Liam to explain it to him since the man wasn't very good at dumbing things down, making it an in-depth explanation Nix could actually learn from. Well, between the food offered to him by the doting elder sisters anyway.

The rest of the ride continued smoothly.

Nix actually took a nap since his body was that of a three year old who had a rather active morning and a meal, making his untrained body sleepy. He didn't mind and actually enjoyed being able to just have a nap in the middle of the day while getting a lap pillow from Vanta. Jasmine knew she was too fidgety to do it, leaving a victorious and smug looking cat girl to enjoy stroking the cub's hair in their cabin.

Only when they had reached the second to last stop on the ship's route did Vanta awaken Nix. It was the team's destination after all.

The infamous city of Kuchinashi.