Bad Dream

I'm still working on this, I swear.

***

After arriving back at the castle (it was still so small to her to call it a castle... And to be made of wood, too), Yang found herself not really sure what to do with her time. Blake looked at her. "Need some help figuring out what to do?" Yang sighed. "I'm just not sure what to do with myself while I'm here. I just...really don't know what to do. I'm so used to having my hours filled with meeting friends or being in acolyte training." She rubbed the back of her neck. She hated all of this. The three months on the ship had been absolute torture due to basically being on room arrest. She was glad to not be stuck in that cabin any longer, but this didn't feel too much different. Blake had introduced her to the Valian enclave, but she could still feel the hatred there. Until she got that tiara, she really wasn't safe to travel on her own. "Well... I could start teaching you some things like Chilese dancing if you'd like." Yang blinked at that. She was a pretty active person. "You're going to need to learn how to dance in order to be good during big social functions. So, if you'd like..." Blake extended a hand to her. Yang smiled a bit. "Sure, that sounds fine. I have learned a couple of Valian styles, so dance is nothing new to me." She placed her hand in Blake's. She swore she could feel her muscles having atrophied from being stuck in that cabin for so damn long. She could still walk fine, but having been stuck in such a tiny space had been so hard. She hadn't really had any light either.. She got an oil lamp refilled a few times a day and that was it. She had no real way to tell the passage of time on the ship. She was glad to have gotten back to normal daylight hours. They headed to what seemed to be a somewhat obscure wing of the castle. The boards didn't look anywhere as near trodden as the ones in the main hallways they had walked down. "This is the education wing for the royal children. It's not used as much as it probably should be. The past few generations of Belladonnas have been small. Usually there are like, eight to twelve children. But for the past four, five generations, families have been small, no more than five children. Why, I'm not entirely sure, but that's just how it's been." Blake shrugged and Yang nodded. "I don't think I want to have a large family either." She'd just leave it there. She had already said she didn't want to have kids yet, though they would need to have that discussion eventually. But they had several years until they needed to start worrying about it. For which she was infinitely glad. She was only seventeen. She was not ready to start popping kids out. Though it would be on Blake to have them for a few reasons... One, she was the one of royal blood, not Yang. Two, with mixed-race kids, they tended to favor the person that carried them. So Faunus traits would be far less likely to pass through if Yang was the one carrying them. Blake nodded a bit and opened a door to a room. It was wide and relatively empty aside from a bar running across a mirrored wall. "This is one of the dance studios here. I don't usually take my dance classes in this room, but another similar one." Blake dropped Yang's hand and walked into the room a bit more, then adjusted Yang's posturing to what was appropriate for the dancing. Yang did feel awkward having someone do that, but she didn't object. She knew that it was necessary since she didn't know the first thing about Chilese dance. With that done, Blake started to walk Yang through some basic steps. Thankfully, Yang was good when it came to learning things like this. She didn't really enjoy dancing too much, but it was a physical activity she could pick up on relatively quickly. Blake smiled as they started to move. "You're good at this." "I'm just a quick learner when it comes to kinesthetic stuff. I don't particularly enjoy dancing, but it's fine." Part of it was probably because she associated dances with people trying to get into her pants. Boys would puff themselves up and make themselves look all pretty and approachable. They would pretend to be nice and amicable, only to drop it on her that they only wanted her for her looks. She'd had women do that too. It was frustrating that nobody really wanted her for her personality. But she was a liability, something only to be played with then tossed aside. Thankfully, she had long grown used to figuring out how to see through people, so she could almost instantly pin down when somebody wanted her for her looks and nothing else. Blake's ears twitched slightly but she nodded. Aura reading. So obnoxious. She wished she could hide these things from Blake, but there was no real stopping it... It was one thing when it was once in a while with Raven, but having it done constantly day in and day out was already starting to get on her nerves. "Well, you won't have to worry about any of that here... You're married, so people won't be trying to get you into bed with them." She could feel the unspoken part about her being a human too. Faunus really didn't want humans. It was so frustrating to go from a fairly okay life, if a little bit on the outside, to completely being on the outside despite being royalty. "Yeah." Yang sighed. What could she do to stop any of this? Until she got the tiara, nothing could really be done. She had the signet ring so that would help stop a lot of people, but even so... It was limited in what it could do. She hated this. She hated all of this. She was trapped. She wasn't in Vale anymore which was so utterly frustrating. She wanted to go back home and not have to deal with any of this, but she couldn't do that. King Ivan would find out and she would be sent straight back to Chiole. He just wanted to get rid of her for no really good reason... "What other things do you enjoy?" Blake's question took her aback a little bit, but she was grateful for the attempt to distract her. "Well, I mostly like being physically active. Horseback riding, bike riding, soccer, and a lot of other sports... I really enjoy those. I'm not sure if you have any such sports here in Chole though." She doubted it. They didn't have the same level of industrialisation in vale, so they didn't have the same sort of materials to work with to produce things like baseballs and soccer balls unless they were done by hand. Plus, they didn't have as much space as even somewhere like Mantle to spread out to have fields and such. What sort of sports would they have in response to their environment? Blake's ears twitched a bit at that. "We have our own sports here, though a lot of them are actually aquatic. I believe one of them translates to Aqua War and another translates to Star Slam." Huh, interesting names. "We could probably go check them out. Usually someone's playing on one of the beaches." "Might be fun." Though she already knew to expect the eternal ire of literally everybody that was there. She was trying to learn. She really was. But people weren't giving her the chance at all. How could she possibly learn if she wasn't given a chance? Though she did flush a bit as she thought about how little clothing the Chilese people wore in comparison to Valian people. "Uh... What exactly do you wear down at the beach?" She had some swimsuits, but they were pretty modest compared to what the Chilese people wore even in regards to their normal clothing. "Usually not a lot... Just enough to cover our privates then that's it. I'm sensing that's not how it is in Vale..." Yang shook her head, unable to hide her deepening blush. "We...wear pretty modest swimsuits. But if it's how you guys roll here in Chiole, I'll try to adapt." She was not particularly looking forward to this, but if it was what they did, she would try her absolute hardest to adhere. She just...couldn't get past the eating with her hands thing quiet yet. She knew she'd have to adapt in due time. But she hadn't been here very long. She really just needed a bit of time there. But to go from more or less full-body covering clothing to wearing nothing and letting her breasts hang out... Well. That was a big step. But she would try. "You can wear one of your swimsuits, Yang... I'm not going to force you into anything you're uncomfortable with." "I'll look like a prude." She really would if she wore one. It still had a skirt and decently long sleeves and went to the knees. She would look like an absolute prude if she wore that on the Chilese beaches. She really was trying to not come across too poorly. Everything she did was a reflection on the royal family. She was now a part of said family through marriage. There was no getting around it. It was one thing when they were eating in private. It was another thing when they were publicly going down to the beach. Yang had never really let her bust just hang out like that before. But she really did want to try to adapt as much as possible. "Well, if you're sure..." Blake's ears twitched again and Yang could sense she could tell she was uncomfortable. Then again, it was written all over her soul. She wasn't entirely comfortable with this especially considering her giant bust. It would attract so much unwanted attention. She was really trying, but yeah, she was gonna feel uncomfortable no matter what... Yang nodded and that seemed to be the end of the discussion. They continued dancing for a little while until Blake told her that was probably good for the day. "I'll go grab some sunblock. You're not used to the Chilese sun, so having something to help keep it off you will be important. Meet me down in the carriage garage after you feel you've gotten things together." With that, they parted ways and Yang went to her room. She sighed when she saw the dresser drawer with her swimsuits, but she didn't grab one. She just grabbed an extra pair of underwear and left it at that. She did take off her signet ring and left it behind, not wanting to have it get lost or stolen at the beach. She met Blake down in the carriages and climbed in. "So what are the rules for the sports?" She had never really played aquatic sports before. She had played with beach balls with her friends before, but those weren't really formalised games of any sort. They just stood in the water and tossed balls back and forth with each other. There might be some tackling but it was all in good fun. Blake explained the rules to her which were simple in principle, but she said they were more complex when put into play. "The beach is separated into different areas, so we should be able to find some people to let us play with them." That was a big if in Yang's mind. She was human and everyone here seemed to hate humans. She was trying her best; she really was. But it was hard when nobody was giving her any sort of attempt to prove herself. She just wanted to be a good leader to the people if at all possible... "All right." Yang fell silent at that, watching out the windows of the carriage as they went through the city. Eventually, they arrived at the beach and Blake led her to some cordoned-off areas behind thin screens. They were obviously changing rooms with how people were getting dressed and such. Yang did feel her cheeks heat up as the women around her were walking around in very little, basically nothing. But she took in a breath and changed out of her clothes into what everyone else was wearing. She felt absolutely indecent. Vale did have nude beaches, but they were private and not really visible to the public. But this was a public beach which meant everyone could see her. She couldn't get over the awkward embarrassment. But The other women around her seemed to have no problems with any of this. They were walking and talking to each other as they either got changed into their minimal beach clothes or back into their clothes for leaving. Blake came up to Yang a bit later and smiled at her. "Ready?" "Uh, about as ready as I can be." She wasn't looking down on anybody for this. She was just used to far, far more modest clothes. Valians tended to cover up even in the warmer summer months. Their bathing suits were incredibly modest. This was just so far outside of what she knew and was comfortable with. But she was trying. She was trying her absolute best. Thye headed out onto the beach with their towels and Blake led her to a portion of the beach which had a sign designating it was for members of the Valian enclave. She supposed it made sense to some degree to separate the beach out. If everyone spoke different languages together, it'd be hard to communicate. "There's also nothing stopping anybody from going to other parts; it's just a courtesy," Blake explained, no doubt reading her aura. Still frustrating beyond words. "Most people do speak Chilese but there are plenty that only speak their enclave's language. You can spend your entire life in an enclave and never leave." "Makes sense." Yang nodded. It did. If you grew up speaking only one language, then yeah, you could spend your entire life in a small area due to the language barrier. But it did make sense to pick up Chilese for those that were born here... It seemed like most people preferred if one spoke it to some degree. Yang didn't have the luxury. She needed to learn the language in due time. Blake fell quiet and put her hand over her eyes, obviously scanning the water. "There!" She pointed to a group of people that were a bit deeper in the water. "They're playing Aqua War. Let's go talk to them." Blake smiled at her and Yang nodded a bit. Blake took her hand and they headed into the water toward the group. Blake did leave Yang a little distance off, talking to the group for a few minutes. Even though Yang couldn't read aura, she could tell they were more than a little off put. They all had visible Faunus features which, again, made perfect sense. Eventually, though, Blake did come back and smiled. "They said we can join them." "Probably because you're their princess..." Yang sighed. Who in their right mind would say no to their leader? She really had no idea. Most people seemed to recognise Blake on sight despite her not having a tiara or anything. She was obviously pretty popular. Blake shrugged. "Even if that is the case, it's better than them saying no. Now let's play!" There were six people, though two had moved out to the side. They all introduced themselves. Yang could feel the tension caused by her mere presence but it seemed like they were relenting despite not wanting Yang there. Blake explained the rules again and Yang nodded, trying to keep them in her mind. She would probably forget. She was trying her absolute best to not screw anything up, but she probably would. Yang offered a polite bow, her gaze averted. "Please forgive me if I mess up. I only arrived in Chiole a few days ago. I'm trying my best." She wasn't trying to upset anybody or be rude. She really just wanted to have fun here while at the beach. She wanted everybody to have a good time. She didn't want to screw this up for anybody. One of the girls waved her hand. "We don't tend to play with newbies, but we'll make an exception for you." Yeah, she definitely wasn't welcome here. Hopefully they would see her attempts and welcome her, but if not...she had no idea what she'd do. With that, they kicked off the game. Yang wasn't used to playing games in the water, so the waist-deep water definitely made movement a lot harder. Still, she did her best and concentrated, moving along and playing with her makeshift teammates as best she could. Compared to them, though, she was incredibly sluggish and unresponsive. She wasn't used to being in the water like this. Swimming, sure, but walking and jumping around in it like this? She was at a massive disadvantage. The others were obviously incredibly used to it with their fluidity of movement and how well they played. However, she slowly started to adapt and her plays became more fluid and direct. She smiled a bit as she adapted, the thoughts of having her body exposed to others forgotten for the time being. At first, her teammates weren't too keen to pass her the ball, but in due time, they started to really pass it to her. They hooped and hollered as she scored them points even though she unintentionally scored the other team a few points. Whoops. but she was trying. After a few rounds, Yang wiped her brow. "I'm running out of breath." Moving in the water was a lot of work. She was trying her best to keep up. She was in relatively good shape, but the movement was so hard with the water slowing her down. "It's probably time for a break anyway," Anaya, one of the girls, said. "Want to join?" Yang blinked, surprised by the offer, but she nodded. Blake told her she'd grab the towels then meet up with them at the group's spot. So Yang followed them to their spot and settled down on the sand with them. Even though it was uncomfortable to have the sand clinging to her skin... Blake would at least be back with the towels soon. "So how long were you guys planning on staying out here?" Jerome, one of the guys, asked. "I'm not really sure. We came down to see if anybody was playing water sports and games." Yang felt really awkward without Blake there, though she could see her coming back. They at least weren't being aggressive or terrible to Yang. It seemed like her perseverance and hard work at playing the games well had won them over to at least some degree. "Why do you ask?" That was a surprise... She wasn't sure what they were getting at. "Well, we were planning on having a bonfire tonight after the sun sets here on the beach. Wanna join us?" Simon asked. "We don't really play with novices or strangers too much, but you proved yourself. It was surprising how well you adapted." "I still need to practice my movement in the water; that's pretty obvious. But I was pretty active in Vale. I played baseball, basketball, and other sports. I'm able to hold my own in fights, but I mostly use combat classes as a way to maintain strength and shape." She would probably be able to do some nasty damage if she ever got into an actual brawl, but she had no intention of ever doing so. She just wasn't a fighter by nature. She preferred to help people and support them. That was more her nature. "We have some fields in the Valian enclave and we're pretty connected to the sports scenes. If you want to join us at any point for low-stakes games, you can," Anaya offered. She smiled, her tail wagging. Once again, Yang blinked. They were open to her joining them? But what about their teams? "I don't know if I'll be welcomed by others though..." She sighed, rubbing the back of her neck. Considering the treatment she got the other day, it really didn't seem like it. These people were probably still racist toward humans but were impressed with what she could do. From her understanding, people could make weird exceptions in their mental rules. The gymnastics that took had to be immense, but it was simply what happened sometimes. "It can just be us. We just shoot hoops for basketball and we rarely ever play on full teams for baseball. Our group is usually eight, but Kamil and Elry couldn't join us today. They had to work. We'll introduce you at some point, though." Simon smiled at her brightly. They seemed like perfectly nice people. Still, she wouldn't say no if something could get her out and being active. She hated being cooped up in the castle 24/7 more or less. She still felt bad she was going to have to swing around her position as princess-consort, but Blake and Kali were backing it up. Could she really argue if they were the ones saying it was okay? "All right, that sounds like it could be fun." Yang offered a hesitant smile. They were being nice to her and it wasn't because Blake was around. It was right then that she arrived with their towels and handed one to Yang. "By the way, don't forget to top up your sunscreen again." Blake handed her the bottle and Yang replaced the stuff on her skin so she wouldn't get burned. The sun was definitely a lot hotter than even the worst Valian August sun. She really, really didn't want to get burned if at all possible. She'd gotten bad sunburn a few times in her life before and it had left her bedridden for a few days due to the pain and misery. The aloe burned terribly but it did help soothe the upset skin. "So what would you think about sticking around for a bonfire tonight?" Yang looked at Blake. "That would be fun. Oh. But we don't have any food with us..." Blake frowned at that. "Our friends own a little food bungalow about a quarter mile down the beach. Little bit of a walk, but not too bad." Simon smiled at them. Yang looked at Blake who nodded. Okay, well that took care of that. Breakfast hadn't been that long ago, so it would still be a little while until they needed to eat. "All right then," Blake said. From there, things turned into casual smalltalk about what Yang enjoyed and didn't enjoy. It wasn't super deep conversation but...it was nice to not be treated like a villain or like the spawn of some evil force. She hadn't done anything to these people, yet they treated her like the spawn of evil. It was tiring after even just a few days. How did Faunus deal with it their entire lives in places like Mantle and Mistral? What she got was nothing in comparison. But it was still wearying and she was glad that they weren't treating her terribly. The rest of the day passed relatively quickly and quietly with them alternating between sports and just sitting on the beach. They eventually stayed until nightfall where they started moving branches into a giant pile. Yang did have to put her clothes back on so she wouldn't get scratched up and, eventually, the fire started to build up. She did sit back away from it quite a ways, not wanting to get any hotter than she already was. At least the ocean was cool and felt good in comparison. Blake walked away for a little bit, then came back with a glass for Yang. She blinked. "You drink at all?" Blake asked. "It's a little cocktail." Yang nodded. "Yeah, here and there. I don't mind a cocktail here and there." She smiled and took it. It was a bit soothing after the long day. She settled on her towel and Blake settled near her, then offered her free hand to Yang. Yang blinked but took it with a smile. This...was pretty nice. She had never really expected to have a beach bonfire with her wife but this wasn't terrible. "Today's been nice. Has it been so for you? I don't get to come down to the beach much since I'm usually in my lessons all day." Yang nodded. "Yeah. It was nice to not be treated like the spawn of evil. I really seemed to impress them." She was still surprised by that. But she wasn't going to complain. She probably came across as 'good for a human' to them, but she'd take whatever breaks she could get at this point. She wasn't looking forward to lording over the Faunus here once she got her tiara, but it was the only way to prevent her from being treated so horribly. Blake squeezed her hand. "Yeah... The Faunus here do treat humans pretty badly, but there's not a lot I can do about it. We could prosecute it, but then most of our population would be behind bars or on house arrest or something. It's too baked into the culture to really do anything with. And, well, with Faunus being slaves in Mantle and Mistral..." She could hear the frown in Blake's voice. Yang sighed. "I get it; I really do; it doesn't mean it's easy though. I just hope I can win them over one day." She wanted to be able to get along with the people of Chiole. She really did. She believed that all people deserved respect and kindness simply through sheer virtue of existing. But it was hard to show that kindness when people treated her like the scum of the earth. She had done nothing wrong to them at any point. Her Mistral manor had owned slaves, but she had been a literal child; she couldn't help but be complicit since she didn't understand what slavery really meant. Blake nodded and squeezed her hand again. "I get it; I really do. I want to show people that same respect and kindness, but it's hard when they're showing you nothing but harshness and bigotry. Mistrali and Mantaline people still deserve respect, but I find it so very difficult to show it to them when they think I, a princess, should be serving them personally." Blake sighed and Yang shook her head. Disgusting really. Blake was a princess so she shouldn't be serving them personally. Those people thought that all Faunus belonged well beneath them. But she didn't. They were people all the same. She really did hope that the Faunus would see her as their equal one day in due time. She saw them as her equal. She didn't want to become soured on that point due to their treatment of her. "Thankfully, I didn't absorb that mindset from Mistral." She was glad she hadn't. She really was. She couldn't imagine how she'd be as a person if she had spent her entire life in Mistral. She probably would've ended up just as racist as her father. She had seen him interact with Faunus and it wasn't pretty. He treated the Faunus servants in their house as if they were slaves. He couldn't really hide that. He treated the human servants far better than the Faunus ones. It was so messed up to see him dismiss a Faunus servant when they had the same issue as a human servant. It was just so damn messed up. "I'm glad you didn't. Though, if you were still in Mistral, we probably wouldn't have met." "True." She also wouldn't have her little sister which...was sad to think about. She loved Ruby immensely despite their age gap. There was something a little bit off about her, but she was still a good kid. It was sad that Yang had no claim to the Rose family's titles like Ruby did. She would be forever titleless. Well. She was a princess-consort now, she supposed... It still didn't feel real that she was married. They fell silent for a while after that, then eventually took their leave. They said good night to each other in the garage and Yang headed to her room. Raven was there, already changed into her pajamas. "Ready for bed, kid?" Yang nodded. They then curled up on the mattress and fell asleep together, Yang feelling relatively at ease.