Pearls on a String

Volume 1

Chapter 13: Relationships

Beacon Academy

Sunday Morning

Beryl slowly opened her eyes and took in her surroundings. She was facing the wall as was her usual, but there was no bunk bed above her. Right, back at Beacon.

And then she noticed the warm arm draped across her middle, and if the addition of the cat tail draped across her hips weren't a big enough clue as to who was sharing her bed this morning, then the unmistakable lavender scent of Evie's shampoo and conditioner would have been plenty.

Wow. That really, really happened last night. She said… She loves me. Wow.

A blissful smile spread across her face and she carefully snuggled back further into the embrace. The Cat Faunus didn't wake up, but she did tighten the grip of her arm. She didn't mind that one bit.

"Good morning, Beryl," a soft and lightly accented voice called out quietly.

Normally she'd crane her head backwards to view her partner, but there was a certain black mane of hair blocking the way. The bed jostled very slightly as Lustre settled onto the end of it to circumvent the problem, smiling widely at her.

"Hey, Lustre," the blue-haired girl murmured. "So, I'm not dreaming, right?"

"No, you are certainly not," Lustre laughed lightly. "I would wake her carefully, though, as I am not so sure she meant to fall asleep there. We were all quite exhausted."

"Yeah, I imagine so…" Beryl chewed on her bottom lip thoughtfully. Evie had spent most of the night roaming campus, as did Pip looking for her. Even though Lustre and herself hadn't left the room, they were still all up quite late.

"In any case, I do believe the two of you have much to converse over," the silver-haired girl commented as she rose. "I shall obtain breakfast and then spend some time in the library. Do message me if you would like me to return."

"Okay, thanks Lustre." Beryl smiled over at her softly. "You're the best, you know?"

Lustre sighed affectionately. "Yes, well… In case you did not hear me say it last night, I am incredibly happy for the both of you."

"Yeah?"

"Most definitely."

"Well, me too."

Lustre gave a little giggle at that and then, after scooping up an armful of books, quietly departed. Beryl noted the soft snores coming from the far side of the room and decided that there would be little short of a Grimm attack that would rouse their team leader anytime soon.

But her partner was right. She and Evie had a lot to discuss this morning.

She shifted slightly so that she was on her back, and the raven-haired girl curled up further onto her, draping both her arm and tail across her, followed by a knee over her shin. In fact…

Beryl grinned widely. "She's purring," she exclaimed to herself in quiet wonderment.

It seemed a shame to disturb such a sight, but they had an opportunity now to talk that really shouldn't be further squandered.

"Evie," she murmured, gently stroking the arm across her chest. "Hey, kitty cat, time to wake up…"

The Cat Faunus made an adorable little noise of discontent, scrunched her nose up, and proceeded to burrow her face into Beryl's neck.

If she wasn't already in love with the girl, her heart definitely would have melted on the spot.

"C'mon, kitty," she goaded, reaching up to scratch behind her Faunus ears. "Wakey wakey."

"Beryl?" a muffled voice asked sleepily.

"Mmhmm. Good morning."

Evie pushed herself up, dislodging Beryl's hand as she stared at her with wide sapphire blue eyes.

"I'm in bed with you," she stated calmly.

"You are," Beryl agreed. "We were pretty tired last night. I behaved, though."

Evie snorted a quiet laugh, which then dissolved into giggles. "Wow," she eventually breathed. "So…"

"Yeah, so. We should talk, huh?"

"We can… Is it okay, though, if we stay like this a little bit longer?"

Beryl smiled widely. "We can stay like this as long as you like, kitty."

"Oh, good." Evie laid her head down onto Beryl's shoulder and took a deep breath before letting it out. "I'm sorry again, by the way. For being such an idiot."

"Well, I think we both have been," Beryl sighed. "Maybe if I hadn't been so… afraid…"

"Then it might not have gone the way it did," Evie reminded her. She looked up at her with a soft smile. "And in case I didn't mention it, also… you are a seriously good kisser."

Beryl blushed brightly and looked over at the wall. "Um, yeah… you too, actually…"

Evie suddenly bolted upright, causing Beryl to jump slightly. "What…?"

"Oh. My. Oum." Evie stared down at her, one hand covering her mouth. She dropped it into her lap, still gazing at Beryl in wonder.

"Did I say something…?"

"You." Evie shook her head, a slow smile forming across her face. "All those times you blushed when we touched, or when I was being cuddly… that wasn't you just being shy around me, was it?"

"Well…" Beryl hemmed. "I mean, it was, in a way…"

"But it was because you liked me."

"Yeah."

"Oh, sweetie…"

"No, it's okay, really," Beryl hastened to reassure her. "I mean, yeah it was… painful at times, but there was no way I could stay away from you."

The raven-haired girl teared up slightly. "You are so sweet," she murmured.

Beryl cleared her throat gently. "Um, so you wanna come lie back down? My side's getting all cold now…"

Evie giggled and laid back down in her original position. "Well, we can't have that, now…"

"So are you okay with, um… having stayed the night with me? I mean, in bed?"

"I think so… yeah, I'm okay with it."

Beryl ran her hand along Evie's arm, while the one wrapped around her back played with her hair. "And… would you maybe wanna do it again?" she asked hesitantly.

The Cat Faunus peered up at her again. "Are we setting rules?"

"Well, I dunno about rules, or… Look, I've never had a girlfriend before, okay? So…" Beryl closed her eyes in exasperation. "I don't really know what to expect, except maybe from books, and they're not the most reliable."

"No, I would think not… Okay." Evie nodded, reaching up to cup Beryl's cheek. "Wanna know what I think?"

The blue-haired girl opened her eyes again to look down at the Faunus. "Please."

"I think… that I really like kissing you. So, I think that should definitely be a part of our… relationship."

"I'm more than good with that."

Evie snickered softly. "And I also really liked waking up in bed with you," she continued. "So… How about we give that a try, too, for now? Maybe see how it works on the school days?"

"I can work with that." Beryl chuckled. "Do you have a bed preference?"

"How about we rotate?"

"Sounds good. What about public stuff, like holding hands?"

"Hmm…" Evie mused, bringing her hand down do that she might entwine her fingers with Beryl's. She stared down at their interlocked hands and smiled softly. "Yeah, I'd like that. Maybe some kissing, too, but just… not like we did last night."

"No, of course not," Beryl assured her. "Like, just a goodbye or hello kiss, nice and brief."

"Yeah…" Evie gaze was drawn upwards and she licked her lips.

"And now you're thinking about kissing me."

"How'd you guess?"

"'Cause I'm thinking the same thing."

"Oh. Well, then, why aren't we kissing already?"

"You have to move up a little first."

"Right! Right, I knew that," Evie laughed lightly, moving up so that their heads were even. She lowered her lips slowly, crushing them against Beryl's in a soft press that steadily increased in pressure. Beryl moaned softly, eagerly opening her lips up so that she might accept more of her girlfriend into her. She caressed her tongue against Evie's, marveling at the velvety texture as well as the incredible feeling of being pinned to her bed under her girlfriend's feminine curves.

Eventually Evie pulled back with a gasp. They stared into each other's eyes, panting lightly as they tried to regain their breath.

"Yeah," Beryl finally grinned. "I can get used to doing that more often."

"Me, too," Evie grinned back. She leaned in for one more quick peck and a rub of her cheek against Beryl's before settling back down again. "Also this. I like this."

Beryl chuckled softly. "How can you even find my bony chest comfortable?"

"It just is."

"Oh, well, alright then. I wouldn't mind changing positions sometimes, though."

"I'll keep it in mind," Evie replied, not making any move in the slightest.

"I do have one very important thing to discuss, though," Beryl mentioned evenly.

"Oh?" Evie rolled her eyes upward to look at her. "And what would that be?"

"Since we're going to try and, um… share a bed..." She was fairly certain she was blushing lightly but it was confirmed by Evie's giggle. "Anyway, we need to decide on who gets to be the big spoon."

The Cat Faunus moved her neck so that she might face her fully. "...Pardon?"

"Big spoon. Like, when sleeping?"

"I know what it is, silly. Is that…" Evie gave an incredulous laugh. "Really, that's one of the important things in a relationship to you?"

"It's not the only thing," Beryl argued, her blush intensifying. "But, yeah, I've thought before of what it would be like to… sleep with you... well, okay, thought about it a lot, actually…"

Evie's grin was stretched across her face by this point, though she seemed unwilling to help her out any with the conversational direction.

Beryl cleared her throat. "So, yeah… I'd like to, maybe… rotate? You know, let me be the big spoon sometimes?"

The Cat Faunus sighed affectionately. "Just out of curiosity, why is it that important to you?"

"Well… I want to be behind you so that… I can… play with your ears."

Evie's face immediately changed into solemnity. "Really? Like… while we're going to sleep?"

Beryl nodded her head wordlessly.

"Well… okay, then." The raven-haired girl grinned again. "I'd like that."

Grinning widely in return, Beryl tightened her hug around her girlfriend. "Okay. So, do you have anything else?"

Evie's face fell once more, this time into something that looked a little more like she was dreading the next topic. "I do… We should also talk about… um… sex."

"Oh," Beryl blinked her eyes. "Okay…"

"I'm just…" Evie sighed, shifting once more so that she wasn't looking up into her eyes anymore. "I know you have already, but I haven't… Not with anyone, I meant what I said before, I really want to save myself… not that I'm not sure about you, but… Look, I've never had a girlfriend, either, I mean a couple boyfriends, yeah… But…"

"Evie…" the blue-haired girl interjected softly. "I don't have any expectations for that."

"You don't?"

"Nope." She reached down to tip Evie's chin up with her finger so that she might see the sincerity in her eyes. "I'm not going anywhere. I can be as patient as you need me to be, even if you want to wait till we graduate, or… Actually, do Faunus marry?"

"Of course we do, silly. But mating is something different."

"Right, yeah…" Beryl murmured. "You mentioned that before… I'm sorry that I don't know all that much about it, but… would you be willing to tell me?"

"No, I wouldn't mind at all, sweetie," Evie replied warmly. "Maybe later though, okay? Just… thank you. I mean, yeah I'd like to, you know… But not just yet."

"Told you, kitty cat, I'm not going anywhere."

Evie smiled widely. "I'm so very glad," she murmured. "'Cause I'm not going anywhere, either."

They stared at each other with goofy grins on their faces for a little while, until they were jarred from their reverie by the clearing of a throat.

"So, before the two of you get all hot and heavy," Pip snarked. "I want to show you something."

"Pip!" Beryl squeaked. "How much of that did you overhear?"

"Enough to know that you two are the most adorable couple ever. Now, hush." Pip walked over in her red nightshirt and handed her scroll to the two of them. Beryl took it and held it up so that they might both view it.

"Told you that you'd thank me someday," the blonde called out cheerfully over her shoulder as she walked into the bathroom to start her shower.

Evie and Beryl smiled softly at the picture of the two of them, curled up and facing each other on the bed. It was taken one morning several weeks ago, when Evie was in a kitty mood, and she was playfully kneading Beryl's side as the blue-haired girl scritched in between her Faunus ears. What was notable, however, was the look of pure bliss that was echoed on both of their faces.

"Huh," Beryl murmured. "How about that."

Evie nodded. "Seems I might've felt that way about you longer than I thought."

"Well… I'm glad you did figure it out, and that you told me."

"Me, too."

"Sooo…" Beryl drawled with another grin as she placed Pip's scroll to the side. "Pip's gonna be in the shower for awhile."

"True, very true," Evie grinned in return. "I can think of a way to occupy the time…"

Beacon Academy

Sunday Afternoon

The three of them met up with Lustre at lunch. Beryl felt like she was walking on air as she held hands with Evie on their trek towards the cafeteria, and couldn't help but glance down at their entwined fingers every minute or so.

"Gods, the two of you," Pip chuckled. "You're both grinning like a pair of loons, you know that?"

"Don't even try to tell me you're not happy for us," Evie snarked.

The blonde shook her head resolutely. "Nope, I am over the moon for you both. Dust, it was exhausting keeping up with the pair of you. I'm glad it worked out, really."

"Yeah," Beryl sighed happily. "Us, too."

They relinquished their hold in order to retrieve their lunch trays and meals, but once they arrived at their usual table Beryl sat in Pip's usual place at Evie's side and placed her hand on the table in between the two of them. She sent a furtive but inquisitive glance at her girlfriend, who quickly placed her hand on top of hers and gave it a squeeze.

Beryl clasped it back, linking her smaller fingers through the Faunus' again and marvelling at the feeling.

This is so amazing, and I keep feeling like I'm in a dream… If it is, though, I hope I never, ever wake up…

"There is the happy couple," Lustre smiled as she sat down with her own tray. "I take it the two of you had a productive morning?"

"Definitely," Evie blushed. Beryl couldn't help but do so as well, thinking back to the feel of the Faunus' lips against her own.

Lustre rolled her eyes humorously. "I meant conversationally."

"Oh! Yes!" Evie laughed lightly. "We did that too."

"But it was mostly locking lips," Pip snarked before taking a bite from her sandwich.

Beryl levelled her fork in the blonde's direction. "You are not going to be making fun of us," she declared.

"What? But…"

"No, Pip. Maybe after we're adjusted and all… But not right now," the blue-haired girl stated adamantly.

Pip sighed. "Well, Dust, now I have to find something else to amuse myself over…"

"Wait, what?" Evie squawked. "You're backing down, just like that?"

The blonde shrugged unconcernedly. "Well, yeah. Beryl asked me to."

The diminutive girl in question raised her fork again. "I promise to only use my powers for good," she stated solemnly.

Evie leaned over and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. "I love you," she murmured.

Blushing brightly, Beryl fumbled the fork from her hand but prevented it from falling onto the floor. "Um… yeah, I love you too, Evie," she mumbled.

"What, are you embarrassed?" Pip asked. She quickly raised her hands defensively. "Not teasing, just asking."

"No, not at all, it was just… unexpected."

"Well, then," Evie said quietly as she picked her fork up and cut into her tilapia fillet. "I'll just have to make sure I do that more often."

"Works for me," Beryl chuckled.

Lustre shook her head. "Adorable."

"Ain't they, though?" Pip chuckled. She gave a start as her scroll went off. "Oh, hey… Looks like Professor Lazuli wants to meet with us, if we don't mind… Um, in the training room, about a half hour from now?"

She was met by a chorus of positive responses, so she quickly tapped out a reply stating as such before returning to her own meal.

"Well, eat up, ladies," the blonde stated. "We don't want to keep the man waiting."

They arrived at the training room on time to see Lazuli standing in the middle and conversing with a Faunus male. His long golden tail swished lazily behind him, matching the spiky hair on his head though it had a few shots of silver running through it.

"Ah, girls, good of you to join us!" the professor exclaimed. "Come, come, I have an old associate who very much wants to meet you."

The Faunus turned and gave the four of them a wide smile. "Hey, name's Sun Wukong, hunter extraordinaire. Pleasure to meet you!" He stood confidently with his feet placed apart and arms crossed, though he certainly didn't dress like any hunter they'd come across so far. He had a white vest over his bare chest like many Vacuo natives they'd known, still rather muscular even though he was likely as old as Lazuli. Torn jeans and fingerless black gloves completed the outfit along with black and yellow faded sneakers.

"Um, hello Mr Wukong," Pip replied hesitantly. "I'm Pip Cerise, and this is my team, Evie Black, Beryl, and Lustre Bijou."

Wukong nodded to each of them amicably, but lingered on Lustre. "I was pretty damn impressed with your performance in the finals, kid," he stated. "That's one of the reasons I wanted to meet with you."

"Er, thank you, sir," Lustre replied politely. "If I may, what was the other reason?"

"Well, I wanted to wait for my partner before I got into that… but as usual, he's late…"

"Only fashionably so!" a cheerful voice called out. They turned to see another male walk through the doorway, bright blue hair spiked up on his head, though it was longer than Wukong's. He wore a white dress shirt and black tie under a red jacket with a wide, upturned, black collar and a pair of gray jeans. Black shoes fastened with straps matched the fingerless black gloves on his hands.

He paused as he reached the team of students and flashed them a dazzling smile. "Ladies," he said slickly. "The name's Neptune, Neptune Vasilias." He wagged his eyebrows at Beryl. "I like the hair, gorgeous.

"Um," the blue-haired girl replied. She scooted closer to Evie and clutched at her hand. Her girlfriend levelled a frown at the flamboyant man and tucked Beryl in behind her.

"Yeah…" Pip said, nonplussed. "Um, nice to meet you?"

"Neptune," Wukong admonished. "Stop hitting on the schoolgirls!"

"I'm just being friendly, that's all!" his partner retorted, giving the tall blonde a cheery wink. Pip rolled her coral eyes in response.

"And you're old enough to be their father, if not grandfather!"

"Look, monkey-boy, you dragged me along on this, the least I can do is-"

"Gentlemen," Lazuli interjected mildly. "Perhaps now you can proceed on to the main reason for your visit?"

"Yeah, thanks Atticus," Wukong replied with a friendly grin. He turned towards the girls again as Vasilias walked over to his side.

"So, getting right to the point," the Monkey Faunus began. "I was friends with both Ruby Rose and Blake Belladonna. Pretty close friends, I'd like to think. It wasn't enough to help Ruby after… Well, after we lost Blake. She kinda spiralled downward…" The blonde looked down at the floor, somewhat uncomfortably.

His partner gave him a bump with his shoulder. "C'mon, man, keep it together," he said softly but with a good deal of warmth.

Wukong shot him a brief smile before turning to the others again. "Anyway, I was talking to another old friend, Gwen Darcy, who mentioned she'd had the four of you in class at Shade and spoke with you. I just wanted… Well, how was she towards the end? Was she still, you know…?"

"Driven?" Pip interjected quietly. "Yeah, pretty much, but she opened up to us a little. Showed us the picture of her team and talked about Blake."

"She did?" Wukong asked in surprise. "Wow… guess you guys broke through that shell of hers, huh? Though I suppose I can't be all that surprised…" He eyed the Cat Faunus who was still holding hands with Beryl. "I take it you already know how closely you resemble Blake, right?"

"Yes, sir," Evie replied softly. "I've been told that, and Miss Rose commented on it as well."

The blonde Faunus nodded and looked down at the floor once more, clearing his throat. "Was she in pain?" he asked quietly.

The four girls shared a glance. "I don't think so, sir," Pip replied solemnly. "Perhaps a little bit, but she was mostly in shock, and…"

"She thought I was Blake," Evie whispered, a tear escaping down her cheek. "And I… Well, I tried to ease her some, you know?"

Wukong looked up at them with a grateful smile. "Good. That's good, thank you." He cleared his throat again and stood straighter. "So! On to the second reason for my appearance today at Beacon. I would very much like to spar with you, Miss Bijou."

"Me?" Lustre squeaked with uncharacteristic nervousness.

"Yep, you." The Monkey Faunus smirked. He reached behind him and withdrew a red rod with gold banding. With a flick of his wrist it expanded into a long staff. "I'd like to see what you got, kid."

Pip turned towards her teammate with a grin. "Go get 'im, babe," she murmured confidently.

"Very well," Lustre nodded, walking off towards the locker room. The other three girls, along with Lazuli and Vasilias, headed over to stand against the wall and out of the way.

"So, Miss Beryl and Miss Black," Lazuli murmured. "Do I correctly note that the relationship between the two of you has changed?"

"Um, yessir," Beryl replied with a hesitant smile and glancing down at their still-entwined fingers.

"Excellent," the professor replied with a smile before turning forward again. Evie let out a small giggle and gave Beryl a quick kiss on the cheek, which she quickly stood up on her tiptoes to reciprocate.

Lustre made her way back into the room, Winter Contus held behind her at the ready. "Any rules, sir?"

"Nope," the blonde hunter replied levelly. "Just show me what you can do."

The silver-haired girl nodded calmly, and without further ado shot forward and launched into an attack. The blonde hunter seemed surprised at her speed at first, but then his confident grin returned as he met her spins and whirls with those of his own. Beryl noted that while Lustre's movements were fluid, like a dance, Wukong was deliberate yet smooth in his own actions, attacking with force before effortlessly returning onto the defense once more.

They circled each other, Lustre's speed allowing her a slight edge, though the veteran hunter would also throw in an occasional kick or punch to keep her off-balance. After one such moment, where she had to leap back slightly to avoid his low spin-kick, his grin became feral as he twisted the staff in his hands.

Beryl's eyes widened as Wukong's staff separated into four parts, two sets of linked rods. As he spun onto the offense, the sounds of gunfire filled the chamber as each rod, in actuality shotgun nunchucks, was triggered in an unending salvo. Lustre spun her staff desperately but was only able to block half of them, and her aura quickly dipped into the red.

"Match!" Lazuli called out loudly. The combatants pulled apart, breathing heavily, and giving each other respectful nods.

"Not bad, kid," Wukong chuckled. "Not bad at all. I think there's some staffwork I can teach you still. No time today, but I'll be passing through in another month or so. You interested?"

"Yes, sir!" Lustre replied eagerly. "I would be honored!"

The blonde hunter nodded genially. "I think you got what it takes to go far, kid. Just keep learning and improving, alright?"

Lustre nodded back. "Keep moving forward," she stated softly.

Wukong had turned to head towards the exit, but he stopped, his head whipping back around. "What was that you said?" he whispered.

"Er… Keep moving forward. Miss Rose told us that, and we have, well… more or less adopted it as our team motto."

Wukong nodded once more with a thoughtful smile. "Always making an impact, no matter where you went, Ruby…" he murmured. "Thank you again, Miss Bijou." Turning to face the others as they walked down on the floor, he gave them an easy smile. "And the rest of you as well, it's been a pleasure. Atticus, I'll talk to you later, yeah?"

"Of course, Sun. You and Neptune take care of yourselves."

"Always do," the blue-haired hunter replied cheekily. "Gotta stay looking good for the ladies."

"Neptune…" Wukong sighed, grabbing him by the elbow. "Let's get you out of here before Oz comes down on our asses for harassment…"

Lazuli gave the four girls a nod and a brief word of thanks before he headed back towards his office situated at the far side of the training area.

"Well," Pip stated. "That was interesting."

"It certainly was at that," Lustre murmured. "I did appreciate the opportunity to spar with Mr Wukong, and even more so the opportunity to train with him."

"Yep, guess he really saw something special in you," the blonde replied. "'Course, we all do, but it's nice to see others doing the same."

"Flatterer," Lustre snorted softly. "So, what shall we do with the rest of the day?"

"Well," Beryl interjected, finally able to voice the idea that had been knocking around inside her head for awhile. "I don't know about the rest of you, but I'd like to take my girlfriend into town for dinner."

Evie turned to her with a pleased smile on her face. "Really? Like, a date?"

"Exactly like a date. If that's okay?"

The Cat Faunus nodded with a giggle. "Um, yeah, that'd be… Yeah, definitely. Um… I'm just gonna go run up to the room, okay? Get ready?"

Beryl stood up on her tiptoes to give her a brief but warm kiss. "I'll come pick you up in a little bit," she murmured eagerly.

"Okay," Evie giggled again, backing away and unable to keep the grin off of her face. "So, I'm just gonna go then…"

Lustre sighed in amusement and rolled her eyes. "I shall accompany you and make sure you do not get lost," she stated amicably, taking the giggling Faunus by the arm and leading her away.

Pip chuckled as she wrapped her arm around Beryl's shoulders. "Well, I was gonna take you aside at some point and ask if you wanted any dating tips, but seems like you're off to a good start."

"I hope so," Beryl replied. "Some of the things I read about aren't all that bad…"

"Oh, babe, are you seriously going off of what you've read in those trashy romance novels?"

"They're not all trashy…"

"No, definitely not, but I've seen some of the ones you try to hide from view."

"Really, Pip?"

The blonde sniffed regally as the pair of them walked down the corridor. "I only have the best interests of my team in mind."

"Right," Beryl snorted. "And that justifies your snooping."

"Nah, that's just a fringe benefit."

"Speaking of which, I tried looking for that picture of me and Sunny to delete off of your scroll and didn't see it."

"Yeah, figured you might. It's hidden."

"And again, really, Pip? Really?"

"Never know when it might come in handy, babe."

"I swear to Oum, if Evie ever sees it…"

Pip stopped and pulled her teammate around so that she might peer down at her, coral eyes intense. "Listen to me, Beryl. I swear to you by all that is good in this land, I will never, ever do anything to the detriment of your relationship with Evie, okay? I love you both far too much to ever see you unhappy."

"Okay, Pip," Beryl replied warmly. "Thanks."

They resumed their aimless and companionable down the Beacon hallways.

"So then, can I have that picture deleted?" Beryl finally asked.

"Nope. It makes me giggle."

"You are such a brat."

"No argument there, babe."

A/N: Hey, cute couple advancement. So this was sorta just a filler chapter to bring the whole relationship arc to a close. Next one will take place a bit later and we'll see what some of the other players have been up to.

EDIT: Many thanks to the excellent TacoKing23 who reminded me that Sun's weapons are shotgun nunchucks, not pistols, now fixed.

Warm hugs all around, especially after watching Season 3 Chapter 11. I swear, the number of times I shouted out "holy fuck" must have worried the neighbors somewhat. In any case, thanks for reading, as well as favoriting, following, and reviewing. For Commando2341 and Martin Hooper1, whose responses to the last chapter could be summed up as "finally!", it really does give me warm and fuzzies to think that I can write characters that can evoke such reactions. Thanks, really.

Stay shiny!