#i consider this the beging of this arc/verse

[teamvnla]

Cutscene : The Lavender Gala

The twins travel back to the base was quiet, Lye seemed lost meaning Van had to lead her the majority of the way. The moment they stepped through the threshold of the loft, she kicked off her shoes and made her way to the bed not so much as greeting Kash or Russ. She threw herself onto the bed, grabbing one of the pillows she held it close to her body curling up around it.

"I take that it didn't go as planned?" Kash stated the obvious, he sat at the counter next to Russ who was going over some information on his scroll.

"Nope, I'll explain more later but how fast do you think we could get me a suit?" Van folded his arms thinking, his left leg began to bounce slowly.

Kash and Russ looked to each other before leaning in closer to Van, they recognized that he was coming up with a plan for something. The afternoon continued with the boys speaking in hushed voices in the kitchen as Lye remained up in the bedroom.

------

Nava grew up with events like these being prominent in her life, she grew used to the rooms full of people paired with the empty formalities. This was one of the more open ones, the focus being the latest Spring collection meaning they were playing to potential buyers as well as entertaining loyal investors. There was a dinner with music and dancing before the main event, no expense was sparred.

She managed to slip away excusing herself to the bathroom, the meeting with the twins had been weighing on her mind the entirety of the evening. She didn't care too much for these events, but her guilty consious wasn't helping her in the slightest to get through the evening. Her heels clicked against the marbled floors as she walked through the empty hall, she paused her stride glancing around make sure no one else was in the hallway before moving aside the curtains and slipping out onto the balcony. She closed the ornate glass door behind her quietly, the balcony looked over the main courtyard in the garden. She stepped out to the end, closing her eyes and basking in the chilly evening breeze.

The special thing about this particular balcony was that it was one of the few places on the estate that was considered a blindspot. It gave her the chance to breathe freely. Since her return many have practically pounced at the chance to use her to build a relationship to her parents. The majority of her social interaction felt hollow and rehearsed. Outside of Cinnamon and Slate those she considered friends were sparse.

"Y'know your securities pretty shit. They let me through no problem, I dunno if they just assumed I was part of the staff cause of my ears or if they were just so distracted dashing good looks and charm. Either way I expected more of a challenge."

Nava flinched at the voice, she hadn't heard him approach. She didn't even sense his aura, her lack of training was showing clear as day. She was getting rusty.

"Still so full of yourself I see." She looked him over, his hair was swept back out of his face, the suit he wore was one assigned to their staff for this particular event. If anything figured he ditched whatever tray he was suppose to have some vicarious way. Had she not known him she would have assumed he was just another staff member.

Van gave a grin, he leaned back against a wall bring a black wrapped cigarette to his lips. A orange glow illuminated his face as he lit the cigarette, the light caught his ruby red eyes making it look as though they were glowing.

Since leaving their meeting something didn't sit right with him, he considered himself good at reading people. So had he missed or overlooked something that would explain Nava's attitude, there was no way he had gone soft. He wasnt just being hopeful...was he? Optimism was never a good look on him, he knew that and still.

"What's your deal?" He asked her straight out, he tilted his head.

"Deal? I just came to my senses, is that so hard to believe." She rolled her eyes. "Why am I even humoring you, I should just call security."

"It is hard to believe." He stated ignoring her other statement, he took a drag from the cigarette. "Can ya guess why? Because the girl who's spouting off about how its nonsense for someone of her status to considering being a Hunteress is also the same girl who was seething when she saw people boarding air ships instead of staying behind to help. The same girl who told me it's our job to help people. Something that makes you home hmm isnt it?" He let out a puff of smoke, using the cigarette to point at her.

"Weren't you always one for theatrics? It useful to know what one favors when you have to play to them, ah but you know that quite well don't you. With your previous line of work." She knew he was sensitive about his time in the White Fang so she decided to prod at the topic.

"That's true, I think I'm pretty good at it. I'm pretty good at telling it apart too, only took me a day or two to pick apart the perfect little heiress act." It didn't seem to work, she had to press harder.

"Yet you couldn't pick apart the one that followed. The naive wide-eyed worked far better than I ever expected, even on a stone-cold killer like yourself."

"...." She watched as his gaze sharpened, he didn't respond.

"I already had to lower myself to point of sharing a room with not one, but two Faunus and one was also a killer. Can you imagine my shock, ugh it still makes me shiver how easy the other two accepted you. I bet they were just scared what you could possibly do to them while they slept, after hearing what you had done how could they not. It was like a monster in the closet except the monster was in the bed across the room."

Even with the lack of light she could the sharp snap of the cigarette as his jaw clenched, his hand moved for a brief moment she had thought he was going for a weapon instead he scratched at his forearm. It was a habit she noticed from as far back as when they were assigned on the team together, she had never pointed it out assuming she would have time another time to do so. Clearly she wouldnt, she was practically holding a torch to the bridge before her.

"Now why don't hop along little bunny, I already have one scurrying rodent serving me I dont need another at the moment." She felt guilty for how she was refering to him and Cinnamon, she knew neither of twins looked being referred to as bunny in such a way but she had to end this. "You should be grateful generosity, why is such a trait so hard to find in your kind."

"Tch." He tossed his cigarette off to the side stomping on it, he stepped forward not to Nava but passed her. Hopping up onto the railing, he spared a glancing at her before hopping off disappearing into the darkness and foliage.

She wait a few beats before she dropped to her knees, there weren't any cameras here she knew that and yet she still didn't try to apologize or inform of her current situation. Was she a bad person? She could have told him, knowing Van he could have helped her. Why didn't she just speak truthfully with him?

She brought her hands to her face and sighed heavily, she decided she would have a few drinks tonight. She stood up fixing her appearance before went to open the door and reenter the event. She felt thick cord like ropes wrap around her, in an instant her mouth was covered and limbs restricted. She tried to the activate her Semblance, her eyes went wide with fear as she couldn't even force open her palms. The cord wound tightly around her hands balling them into fist, who ever was behind this either knew her Semblance and did this intentionally or she just had really bad luck.

"That was far too easy." She heard an unfamiliar voice speak and a pair of footsteps land on the balcony.

"Wasn't she suppose to be one of the harder ones to snag?" The other figure commented as they approached Nava's tangled body, she could see any identifying features. Both figures wore heavy cloaks and peculiar owl mask. She could feel her heartbeat pounding in her ears.

Hearing a loud shattering of glass and the sounds of screams, she thrashed around in a panic.

"Stop that! Don't be troublesome." The figure that the aura rope seemed to be coming from spoke with an annoyed groan, she felt it tighten around her body. A strangled gasp slipped from her lips as it tightened around her neck as well.

"Hey! The doctor's going to get upset if she comes back too beat up." The first figure spoke again hitting the other in the shoulder.

Feeling the rope loose and a figure behind her she leaned forward before reeling back smashing her head into the face of one of her captors. The returned force of the mask hurt the crown of her head, but that hurt far less than the impact with the wall as she was slammed against it.

Her vision spotted before going black completely, the last she heard was alarms and shouting.

------

Van let out a frustrated groan, in a swift movement he raised his leg and turned. Venting some of his frustration by kick the streetlamp, the metal creaked as it bent forward. He hadn't intended to hit it so hard, he was just upset okay?

He gritted his teeth, the dress shows he was wearing weren't as protective as the metal toe boots he typically wore. He continued his walk home despite the stinging in his toes.

'I missed something I had to have missed something, I've been out of the game too long dealing with people is harder than Grimm. People can be unpredictable.....but they use to be so easy to read..'

'You've gone soft. You like her too much to believe she was playing you.' The voice in the back of his head countered. 'You should know better, Amorette was just the same.'

He scratched at his forearm, he needed to stop slacking. Lye, Russ, and Kash expected him to be their cool unfazed leader, he had to uphold their expectations.

It was far into the evening when he got home, he opened the door sliping the dress shoes off in the entrance. As the door shut blocking out the street light from outside his eyes sharpened and adjusted to the sudden darkness.

His gaze met another two other pair as Kash and Russ had stirred from their slumber, it was a habit that came with their line of work.

When both saw that it him they both returned to their previous position, Van grabbed a pair of pajama pants and headed to the restroom. The loft apartment didn't have a shower so he had to settle with washing the product out of his hair by shoving it in the sink.

He hung up the suit before joining to other two in his usual position it the middle, doubts and scenarios plagued his mind resulting in little sleep.

------

Jae awoke to sound of the TV from the main room, he didn't pay too much attention. He considered pulling the cover over his head and sleeping until late, but he knew that would only result in a scolding from Opal. With a groan he threw off the covers and got out of bed, make his way to the bathroom he shared with Leo. After washing his face and brushing his teeth he made his way to the main room of the suite, it was quite nice comfortable housing Jae and the three adults. The places they had stayed were all provided through the company Tarragon and Opal were under.

He passed Opal who was sitting on the couch watching some daytime news show, entering the kitchen he opened a cabinet and gathered what he needed for cereal. He sat at the counter lazily eating going over notes he had from his last session with Leo.

"...attack at the Lavender gala last night has resulted in 3 dead, 4 injured, and 9 missing. " One of the hosts from the talk show brought up, hearing the name caught Jae's attention. Since they arrived in Mistril he became more aware of how prominent the Lavender name was, it was somewhat jarring to see the face of the same girl who nearly burnt down the Beacon dorm's kitchen atleast once a week on the front page of multiple magazines.

It took a him a second to process what he heard, the conversation the host were having moved forward. He abandoned his cereal bowl to stand behind the couch, he stated at the tv his brows furrowing as more information was given.

"I thought you didn't like this show." Opal commented glancing at him over her shoulder.

"I don't, but I know her." Jae muttered a response, gaze focused on the screen as a slideshow of pictures of those missing were shown with their names listed.

"Who?" She ask, he pointed to the screen as another image of Nava popped up. "Nava Lavender? How? Wait, we've been in Mistril for how many weeks and you're just now mention you know the Lavenders?"

"I know one Lave-" He cut himself off as screenshots of security footage were shown, in most situation he would have written the situation off as the Lavenders needing to heavily update their security but the brief figures he saw at the edge of the screens told him this was more than that.

There barely entering the side of the screen were figures wearing ornate owl mask, she slideshow stopped with a mention of there having been a cut in the footage that they managed to get their hands on.

"Did you see that?" Opal gave a confused look before Jae took the note backing up into the program and pausing on the last screenshot.

"Call Cherry." She commanded standing up and rushing to the room she shared with Cherry to retrieve her laptop.

------

That morning the group had been out, Russ though taking Lye would help her get over the disappointment of the day before's meeting. They had seen her spiral before, so he didn't want to leave her alone in that state. He decided to take her to get groceries for dinner, maybe window shop some while they were out.

Van and Kashmere had head to a nearby guild for mission postings, taking lower rank ones helped with laying low and the people requesting tended to overlook their lack of official liscense. The only down side was the lower pay, the higher paying ones that would let them work were trickier to sniff out through just the description list"Wheres the next exam being held? If you and Lye go take it and get your official licenses you could sign as teachers for me and Russ." Kash suggested as he scrolled through the screen of missions, he was starting to grow bored with simple Grimm bounties.

"We could, but we dont have anyone to sign off for us. Our dad can't remember?" Van pointed out.

"Remind me why that is?" Kash knew that it had been mentioned to him before but he couldnt quite recall.

"The kingdoms dont recognize tribesmen as the same level as Hunters, theres a different category or something for them." Van explained in simple terms, his father had the skills of a Huntsman even more really and he had trained all of the Marigold children to the extent of unlocking their aura at the bare minimum. It ticked it off a bit to see someone so close to him skills go unacknowledged, but he knew that if the laws were to change suddenly many Hunters would be upset. In his opinion if the person had the right set of skills what did it matter if they went through the academies.

"That's kinda bullshit." Kashmere commented tone deadpan which earned a chuckle from Van, the rabbit's ears shifted picking up on a conversation nearby.

"They're seriously sending these out to posting all over Mistril?" A tall man stated with a surprised tone to his short companion.

"Crazy right? But if my daughter was missing I'd doing anything to get her back." The androgynous short figure next to the man responded.

"That's true, the Lavender girl was probably the perfect target for those creeps. She so sweet and docile, almost like a doll." The pair continued their conversation about taking the job or not.

She had made him so angry the night before, but hearing that she was missing made his stomach drop. Even if what she had told him was said with the intent to hurt, she had still been his friend. She was still the girl who cried during romcoms, the same girl who had her ears pierced in their cramped first year dorm room. He ran a hand through his hair growing frustrated with his own conflicted feelings.

"Let's head back, Lye and Russ are probably already back at the house." He gestured for Kash to follow him out of the building and start heading back to the apartment.

--

Russ held the paper bag filled with the ingredients they needed for dinner tonight, the pair took their time to look into the window displays of shops as they passed by. Lye's stride slowed as they passed a bakery, a few pastries would be nice to have to tomorrow morning.

"Let's grab a few." She nodded towards the door, she held it open letting him in first. Russ looked curiously over the sweet smelling confections that currently sat in the display. The bakery had a small coffee bar where a few people sat, their attention was directed at the small tv stationed on the wall, the women behind the counter watched as well.

Curiously Lye approached, on the screen was the tearful face of Koa Lavender. Her hands gripped the sides of the podium she stood at as she spoke her voice wavering every so often. The mother begged and pleaded calling on local Hunters to take up the mission the family was offering for Nava's return, struggling to get through her words she turned burying her face into her husband's chest who took over the conversation. Maru Lavender gave the numbers of where to find the information required to take up the mission, before giving a final plead as well as the conference finally ended.

"Poor girl, she must be worried sick." One of the patrons muttered, bringing her coffee cup to her lips.

"What happened?" Lye spoke up softly, her stomach was twisting in discomfort.

"Apparently there was an attack at the Lavender event last night, Maru and Koa's daughter was one of the people taken. They're offering a pretty hefty reward for her return." Another patron explained, expression compassionate as they looked at the screen.

Russ brought a few pastries before they left, Lye carried the box. She had gone quiet on their way back to the apartment.

"Are you worried about her?"

"Of course. Even if our meeting didn't go how we wanted it I never wished for her to get hurt."

"Well her parents seemed pretty adamant about doing everythin' in their power to find her so I'm sure it'll turn out alright." Russ tried to reassure Lye, her ears had folded against her head a clear sign of her shift in mood. 

"Oh?" He rose a brow noticing the figure standing in front of their apartment door, he moved to stand in front of Lye contious not able to see the strangers face yet.

"Cinnamon?" Lye muttered recognize the mouse Faunus from behind, hearing the name clicked instantly in Russ's head.

"What're you doing here?" Van voice surprised both Lye and Cinnamon as he and Kashmere approached from the other side.

----

"Please! I know how harshly Nava was in your last meeting, but you have to understand the position she in." Cinnamon looked at the group with wide pleading eyes, they had brought her in. Van suspension on why the Lavender servant had shown up at their door step.

"Why us?"

"I saw your fights from the festival and read your mission reviews, you two are skilled and I assume those who you travel with are as well, and someone under the radar such as yourselves would have an advantage in your search." She glanced to Kash and Russ briefly.

"We not official hunters, they wont offer us the job."

"I-I can get you the information. Just come with em to the estate and I can transfer everything to your scrolls."

"We can atleast see the information and see if it's in our range of abilities." Lye spoke up glancing to the others.

"That's not your desicion."

"But you gotta admit the rewards pretty appealing, would be useful." Russ placed a hand on Van's shoulder, he had a soft spot for Lye.

"That's only if we succeed with the mission..." Van paused looking between Kashmere, Russ, and Lye they were a team he reminded himself. "Do you all want to do this?"

"At least taking a look at the info doesn't sound too bad." Kash gave a small nod.

Seeing that the group appeared to accept her offer Cinnamon sat up hopefully. "Then let's make haste to the estate." She stood, the group needed a moment to gather their things and proceed to follow the mouse Faunus to the car she had taken their apartment.

------

"Showing up personally allows us not only a look at the incident area, but can give us a personal edge on the job." Opal explained as they approached the gate to the estate, she was quick in the preparations for this meeting. They likely wouldn't be permitted to see the heads of the house yet, but they'd be the first team to observe the area. As dire as the situation may be the family didn't intend to handle the information so sloppily.

"Cherry Tarragon, Opal Amas, Jae Aryl, Leo Cornel." Slate took note of the IDs on his scroll as the group was led to meet him at the front of the main building, the name Aryl caught his attention. What was it with Nava's old teammate showing up out of the blue.

"Follow me please." He began to lead them to a meeting room to give out the information they had currently and discuss any question they may have.

At the same time Cinnamon was leading her group through the back entrance through the servant quarters and through winding hallways. She would have to take them to a room out of the way to avoid crossing with any visiting Hunters.

All was going as planned until Lye came to a sudden halt at one of the gaps in the hallway that led down to the one over.

"Jae?"

"Lye?"