Star Light, Star Flight

Yang rolled over and her hand fell on something that was somehow soft but tough as well. She opened her eyes and saw Trinity laying there, practically tucked under the bed. Yang sat up and Trinity raised her head. "Hey girl," Yang said. Trinity whined and got up. She winced and looked at Yang. "I can only imagine how badly those mats hurt. "she couldn't imagine the amount of pain the poor pup had to be in. Yang wished she could take all the pain away from Trinity, but the breeder would probably want her back. It sacked. but the family that had bought her signed a legally binding contract. Yang wasn't part of that contract, so she couldn't claim Trinity. Not unless the breeder decided to just hand Trinity over which" wasn't likely. She went through her normal morning routine and went downstairs. She could already smell Taiyang cooking breakfast and sat at the table. Zwei waddled over and laid at her feet. She smiled and petted his head." Hey, Dad, did you call anybody about Trinity yet?" She knew she shouldn't have named Trinity, but not referring to an aura breed without a name just felt wrong. Shew as a fully sapient being, not just a dog. Granted, no dog deserved to be dumped on the streets like that byanymeans, but an aura breed especially? Who would get an expensive animal, sign a contract, only to dump said animal on the streets? "Not yet. I figured I'd call animal control after breakfast. It's early on a Sunday so I figured it'd be good to wait a bit. We can go to the emergency vet, see if we can find a chip, then see if we can find the breeder's contact info. After we do that, animal control should be open and then we can talk to them. Sound good, kid, Trinity?" Yang nodded but Trinity cowered. "I wish I could understand what you need, girl. I know you don't want your old family finding you, but do you not want to talk to you breeder either?" Trinity shook her head. She'd said the same thing last night and wondered why. "You said your breeder was good, right? " She nodded. "No keeping you in a cage, no weaning early, no taking away from your litter mates early?" She shook her head. Yang could only wonder why she wouldn't want to go back to the breeder. Taiyang put a plate down in front of Yang then sat down. "There's no telling without being able to understand her unfortunately. Even Zwei can't help until he knows her better.” Yang nodded and sighed. "Yeah." Aura breeds all had their own way of speaking' for lack of a better term. Animals raised together all understood each other, but animals raised separately essentially spoke two different languages for all intents and purposes. Zwei and Trinity couldn't understand each other due to being from different breeders. It'd take a few months for the two dogs and Yang to understand each other…assuming the breeder didn't force Trinity to come back. Yang hoped that wouldn't be the cases but she had no idea if the breeder would do that or not. Aura breeds were expensive and the breeder would be able to get a fair chunk of change for Trinity unless the breeder didn't want her back for some reason. Probably not as much as a puppy. but enough. They fell silent and finished eating breakfast, then got into the car. Yang tried to get into the passenger seat, but Trinity whined. She got into the backseat with the poor dog and she calmed down a fair bit. Granted, she shook a bit, but Yang petted her head and spoke softly to try to help as well. Despite Yang's best efforts, Trinity continued to shake a little bit and pressed into Yang. She really could only imagine what was going through her head. She wished she could do more, but there was only so much one person could do for a deeply traumatised dog. They arrived at the vet's office a little while later. Trinity looked around, whale eying. Yang's heart really went out to the poor dog. She'd clearly been through far too much. Yang hoped the breeder would let her stay with them, but she wasn't sure if she would or not. Yang was pretty Sarthe breeder would want her back, though. The family that had bought her had broken their contract and the breeder would probably want testimony from Trinity about what had happened to her. They went into the office and sat in the waiting room until they were called back. Trinity remained pressed into Yang, shaking slightly. A tech of some sort tried to call her over, but she refused to move. Yang gave the man a sympathetic look. "From what little I was able to get out of her, it sounds like she went through hell. For some reason, she's really attached to me." She bent down. "Trinity, we need to scan your chip. It won't hurt; they just need to put this over where your chip is." She motioned to the detector. Trinity licked her lips. still whale eying, but nodded. Yang petted her head until they got the chip info and handed it over to Yang. It had the breeder's info as well as the family's. Pieces of shit... It took every bit of self-control she had to not swearing up a storm. Those pieces of sh it didn't deserve Trinity. Despite everything they'd put her through. she still trusted humans and wanted to be around them. She was wary, but she still trusted. "Thanks," Yang told the tech. They headed back out to the car where they all sat in the back seat, Taiyang included. "Do you want to call the breeder or should I?" he asked. "I'm the one that brought her here. so I probably should." Yang hated calls unless it was with her friends, but this really was her responsibility. She wasn't an adult yet, but she was close. She needed to take responsibility for her actions. Taiyang would cover for her quite a bit, but this really washerissuetosortoat. She probably could've brought Trinity herself as she did have a license. And thankfully, they hadn't charged anything for reading the chip… Yang took her scroll out and dialed then umber. It took two rings for somebody topick up. "Hello? Who is this? Why are you calling on a Sunday morning?' 'A feminine voice, mostly confused. "Um, hi. My name is Yang Xiao Loncsandtfoand one of your dogs abandoned at a park last night. We just brought her to the vet and had her chip scanned to get your contact info. I don't know her name, but I do have the name of the family registered on the chip." She was trying, but it was really hard. She wanted to throttle whoever had abandoned this poor dog. She was an aura breed, so not cheap by any means. She didn't understand how someone could simply dump an expensive dog on the streets. It was really hard to remain calm, but the breeder hadn't done anything wrong. “What family? And could I speak to her?" "Yeah." Yang gave the breeder the family's info and then put the scroll on speaker. For the next little while, Trinity and the breeder spoke. Trinity shook intensely which broke Yang's heart. but she couldn't understand what was being said. Eventually, the conversation ended. "Yang?" "Yeah?" "How old are you?" "Sixteen." "Oh, you're awfully young. Vinyet said she would rather stay with you and, well, it would be a financial burden for me to put her through therapy... Most people don't want to take in an adult dog that's been thoroughly traumatised like Vinyet has. Aura breeds are lovely creatures but far more sensitive than normal animals. It would be a hard sell for most people to take on an aura breed with PTSD. It's going to be a long road to recovery for her. but you understand despite everything, right?" Yang nodded. "Yeah. I absolutely understand. She's been through absolute hell which is putting it lightly. I don't know what all she said to you, but I know it wasn't good. I have another dog, Zwei, that I got as a puppy at the beginning of the summer. He's a corgi aura breed." She paused. "Would you charge us anything?" "No, I wouldn't. Normally I would charge for something like this, but the circumstances are very extenuating, I'd just like your guardian to sign my standard breeder contract. If you have the chip info, my house is listed on there as well. I'd just want you to return her should you not be able to keep her any longer. If you could come over as soon as possible, I'll get the contract drawn up. And I'll have the chip into transferred over to you." "You…can do that?" "I can. I don't want you contacting that family because of what Uinyet said. There could be retaliation on their part or something worse. They're quite well off; I breed Bluefell setters and they aren't the cheapest cannot as an aura breed. They cost a minimum of 3500 lien and that's for non-champion lines. But the more prestigious the line, the more expensive. And my dogs are from champion lines. I sold Vinyet for 75,000 lien." The woman sighed. "I know why they dumped her; they didn't want me to call the cops on them for abuse. Well joke's on them; I'm going to sue them for breech of the breeder contract. "The woman laughed. "Although, what do you plan on feeding her?" "Oh, we home cook of all of Zwei’s meals and we plan on doing the same for her." So her name was Vinyet, huh? Yang would have to ask the dog if she wanted to keep Vin yet or move to Trinity. Either way, she would respect whatever the dog wanted for her name. "Okay, good. Anyway, why don't you swing by and sign that contract?" "Alright. Let's go, Dad." She smiled. "See you in a bit." The call clicked off and she looked at Taiyang. “I can't believe she's just giving as such an expensive dog," he said. Yang nodded. "Me either, but she needs a good home. But it's not like it's for altruistic reasons; the woman herself said it was because the therapy would be a financial burden for her and nobody wants an emotionally damaged aura breed if they're paying 75,000 lien." She sighed. She was glad to keep the dog, but it felt so wrong to her to just have the dog dumped on them. Although… Girl, do you want your original name?" A vehement head shake was the answer. "Trinity it is." Yang got into the back seat with Trinity and they started over to the breeder's house. "You know how big a responsibility two dogs is, right, Yang?" Taiyang asked seriously . “I do, Dad. And I know dealing with a traumatised, a based dog is an even bigger ask. But I'm willing to do it." She petted Trinity's head. She whined a bit. "I'm not going to give up on you, girl; I promise. I'm taking full responsibility for you. You can be my new friend and Zwei will help you too." Sshe shook her head then tugged at her fur with her mouth. "Oh, you do need a groom,.." “We'll take her to FableFur for a groom afterward. I know it's not our usual groomer, but they're closed on Sundays and you need an appointment. FableFur does walk ins." Yang nodded. "We'll ask the breeder what she needs." She didn't know anything about Bluefell setters; she'd never even heard of the breed before. She knew corgis were double-coated dogs and shouldn't be shared except for medically necessary reasons. She wasn't sure if that was the case for Blue fell setters or not. Trinity's coat was extremely matted and likely couldn't be saved. She felt so bad for the poor girl. She didn't deserve the treatment she'd gotten from her previous owners… "Okay, Dad." Yang fell silent and pet Trinity's head while they followed the directions on the GPS. The arrived in an upscale part of town and tangle to at a low whistle. These houses were huge with a ton of land. This would be a doggie paradise. She really could see why somebody would come live here. She could only imagine how many millions of lien these houses had to be on their own, not to mention the land that they sat on. Most of the houses had large privacy fences, so she couldn't see how their yards looked beyond the beautiful, manicured lawns. Thankfully, she could see that alot of the flowers were native flowers for native pollinators. Vale had a program to teach young people about the importance of such things and Yang had learned a lot about gardening from such programs.They really needed every pollinator they could get in the city. The pulled up to one of the smaller houses...relative to the rest of them. She wouldn't be surprised if it still had over ten bedrooms. This place was massive. And it had a gate. All of the houses here had gates. Taiyang pulled up and spoke to someone on the intercom and they were allowed in. Yang was pretty sure their little old car stood out here.. It was no luxury car; it was purely utilitarian and meant from getting from place to place.It didn't look fancy and she knew that she wasn't this breeder's usual clientele. They pulled up the driveway, then got out. Trinity's body language perked up a bit. "So this was your home, huh, girl?" Yang asked. Trinity nodded. A middle aged woman came out of the garage and stopped dead in her tracks, eyes focused on Trinity. She then rushed over and bent down to Trinity's level. "Oh my poor dear! I believed every word that you said, but to see you like this... My poor Vinyet!"Sshe held her arms out and Trinity ran over to her, then essentially hugged the woman. The woman looked up at Yang and Tai yang. "Let pay for her groom, no matter the cost. Bluefell setters are a double-coated breed, so they shouldn't be shared under normal circumstances, but these aren't normal circumstances. She needs to be shaved, unfortunately. This is neglect, pure and simple." Yang blinked and nodded, then looked at Taiyang. "You don't have to pay for the groom, ma'am," he said. "Nonsense; I insist. It's my responsibility for this much at least. And I know a top-notch groomer that will do it regardless of day. I don't want my precious Vinyet to get shaven at a place that might harm her coat irreparably. Let me give you her into, then you can go over right away." The woman took out her scroll and tapped something in. A notification came from Taiyang's scroll, but kept tapping away for several more minutes. "Okay, she'll take you as soon as you get there. Now about the contract—" The woman continued to hold on to Trinity as they went over the terms. She had Taiyang sign the paper and that was that. "Please take care of her this time." "We will; I promise." Yang smiled. With that done, they bade the woman farewell, though Trinity was clearly reluctant to leave. Still. they left and headed to the groomer. The woman was shocked at Trinity's condition and said it would take a few hours totally share her down. Yang patted Trinity's head and they left, though the poor pup clearly wasn't comfortable with being alone with the woman. But there wasn't a lot they could do in a grooming office. They would need to do something to kill time. "Might as well go get some lunch and pick some supplies up for her," Taiyang said. "Yeah, might as well." Yang agreed. They piled back in the car and she got in the passenger seat this time. "What sounds good to you, kid?" "How about some udon?" Honestly, that sounded fantastic. Sure, the temperatures hadn't started dropping significantly yet, but some Udon sounded absolutely fantastic. She was a big fan of Nippoi food in general, so she was always down for it. She really wanted something warm right now… "All right, then." He had her find a nearby restaurant and fire up the GPS. They arrived about 20 minutes later and were seated. Yang stretched. "I still can't belie all of this happened….” She shook her head. She knew Taiyang hadn't planned on a second dog, but they were unusual circumstances. They had gotten extremely expensive aura breed for literally nothing. A 75,000 lien dog for free... The breeder had clearly cared about Trinity, considering how she acted. But there was still selfishness there. The woman hadn't wanted to try to help Trinity at all; she just foisted a horribly traumatised dog on a teenager that couldn't spend every waking moment with her. And a single-income household, though signal did pay pretty well. "Yeah, me either. I know we have an uphill battle with her, though." He leaned his head back and looked at the ceiling. "She's incredibly skittish and and willing to trust. or so it seemed. I'm not looking forward to our monthly dog food budget doubling, but it is what it is, I guess. Dropping a traumatised aura breed off at a rescue just doesn't feel right to me." The waiter brought some water over and Yang nodded. "I know what you mean." She stirred the water with her straw, the ice clinking in the glass. Then she took a drink. "If you need me to get a job to help with Trinity's expenses, I can drop my extracurriculars." She knew the martial arts didn't come cheap either. She would turn seventeen soon which meant she could drop out if she wanted. Working somewhere honestly sounded a lot better than sticking around school. Sure, stems a queen bee, but education wasn't really her thing at all. She was plenty smart, but she wasn't brainy like Ruby was. She had no aspirations of college, let alone a Master's degree like her sister. Taiyang shook his head. "You're not getting a job, Yang; it'd take away from your future prospects if you dropped what you do. You've only got two years left, hang with it, then you can do what you want. You've talked about dropping out before, so you're probably thinking about that again aren't you?" Yang sighed, then took a drink of water. "Caught me red handed. I have no goal of college, Dad; I'm not Ruby. Book smarts aren't my thing." She really just didn't want to go to college; she had no idea what she'd even do there. She struggled to picture herself anywhere. She was good with people and was a coach at one other dojos. But she was only a green belt there, nowhere near what she needed to look good on resumes. Most people would want her to be a black belt before she listed it on applications. "Yang, I don't make you do much, but please, don't completely give upon your education. It'sfineif you don't want to go to college. But stopping high school would be a mistake. Even most entry-level jobs like retail require a high school diploma. A GED will often get you passed over despite it being an equivalent. You're a smart girl, Yang, and you know it. No, you're not a genius-level intellect like Ruby but she inherited Summer's mind. You're smart enough, so I don't want you to destroy your future by dropping out. And over adogat that." She sighed. "Maybe I should never have turned my back on being a Huntress." Summer's death had sobered both her and Ruby up to the dangers of being a Hunter. Even seemingly invincible Summer had died. rnow was somehow still alive despite his semblance and all the alcohol. At least she would've had a purpose had she not turned her back on that dream… "I mean you have a solid education in martial arts. If you focused for a few years and worked with me, I could bring you up to snuff to enter Beacon." The waiter came back and they gave their orders. "If you truly do want to be a Huntress, I'd support you." He really was a good dad. He didn't pressure her into anything and tried to support her in whatever way he could. The only thing he really did was ask her about things unless she wentwaytoo far. She had been grounded in the past for going too far out of line, but that was rare. The punishment always suited the crime, even in her eyes. "I really don't know." She sighed. She'd always just drifted along without much regard to the future. She just had no idea what she wanted to do with her life. Ruby had always loved music. So she knew what she wanted to do with her life. Yang had never found the same passion in anything. She enjoyed kinesthetic activities, but doing something like going pro in soccer or cross country wasn't really feasible. The amount of people that actually got to the pro circuit were few and far between. It had been her dream as a kid, but now she knew it was unreasonable. Skiast had no idea what to do with herself. "You're good with your hands, Yang. You could always go into a trade of some sort. You know all about cars and motorcycles. You could become a mechanic or maybe be an electrician or plumber. White-collar work doesn't really seem to suit your personality anyway." "That's probably where I'm leaning if I'm honest. "she took another drink of water. She had built Bumblebee from scratch. From frame to finish, she had done it all by herself. She had been studying mechanics since she was young just because it was fun. She found cars and bikes so much fun to work on. She had been taking odd jobs around the neighborhood for years as well as working for mechanics under the table during the summer. Except this past Summer because she had Zwei to look after and take care of. A puppy had been a big responsibility, but she enjoyed working with his developing mind. "Not everyone needs to be a CEO or brain surgeon. We need blue-collar workers too, Yang. There's nothing wrong with working with your hands. Not everyone needs a Master's degree or PhD. You need to do something that feels right to you and only you can decide what that is, honey." A pot of tea and some small caps arrived. He poured each of them a cap and handed one over to her. "If you were a fast food or retail worker or even a waiter, I'd still be just as proud of you as I am your sister. She's an intellect that can't easily be matched. Whatever path in life you choose is yours alone." Yang nodded and swirled the tea around in her cup. "Thanks Dad." She didn't verhalise it, but she did have some insecurity over not being as smart as Ruby was. She knew everyone had their own strengths and weaknesses, but it was hard to not compare herself. Ruby was only fourteen, soon fifteen, and in a Master's program. Yang was still in high school. It was just so hard to see how fast Ruby had progressed while she was lagging behind. She knew Ruby was the abnormal one, mother, but it was still hand. "Really, all I want is to see you finish high school. You don't need to go to college if you don't want to. I know I can't stop you from dropping out once you hit seventeen in a few months. But please consider the rest of your future and what impact cutting your education would have for the rest of your life." there was no guilt there, just legitimate concern. No, he couldn't stop her, but she would disappoint him should she not graduate. She knew it. And she didn't want to disappoint him. She sipped her tea. "And if you do want to be a Huntress, tell me and I'll work with you. But I remember how badly Summer's death traumatised you." He shook his head. "Either way, it's up to you what you want to do with your life. You're still young yet and have time." Yang nodded and sipped her tea again. "I know, and I'm glad you're not pushing me to do what wouldn't suit me. A lot of parents wouldn't be so farsighted." She knew plenty of kids her age that had their life paths decided for them by their parents. They weren't necessarily abusive, but definitely overbearing and controlling. Some were incredibly rebellious and unwilling to listen while others had simply learned to accept their parents being overzealous. She was glad Tai yang wasn't like that. He was gentle, compassionate, and levelheaded, but firm and unmoving about a Iot of limits. He was such a good father. Sure. he had his flaws, but what parent didn't? He could definitely misstep and mistake, but he tried his best. "I don't want to repeat history." He sipped his tea and Yang's eyebrows rose. It wasn't often he talked about himself like that. But she knew better than to press on the topic. They had never known their grandparents on either side of the family. Yang had seen the videos on Summer's scroll other admitting to being abandoned by her parents. She wasn't sure about Tai Yang's parents because he simply refused to talk about them. Apparently, things had been awful for him growing up. Of course, there was also Raven's side, but she had never met Raven. All the better in her book. So she just nodded and sipped her tea. Their orders came and they ate in silence. Taiyang paid the bill and they headed out to a specialty store for aura breeds. Yang picked out a collar and leash for Trinity as well as got a tag made for her in the shape of a heart. At checkout, the guy looked at their purchases. "That all? People usually need more for aura breeds than that?" Yang nodded. "I already have a boy at home and I found an abased, abandoned girl last night. The breeder gave her to us. They really didn't need much more than the collar, leash, and tag. We already have most of what we need at home." The guy frowned. "That's sad. What breed?" "A Bluefell Setter, the breeder said." He let out a low whistle. "That's not a cheap dog. Most aura breeds aren't cheap, but some are attainable to a normal person. What breed is your boy?" "A corgi." He nodded. "On the sliding scale of aura breeds, corgis are pretty attainable. But a Bluefell setter? And you found her breeder?" Yang nodded. "Told as she sold her for way more than I'd likely ever see in my lifetime. She's being shaved right now because of how matted she was. The breeder told us she was doable coated, and I know better than to share a double-coated dog under normal circumstances." This guy seemed to know a thing or two and she wanted to proves he wasn't completely ignorant. She hadn't had any time to research the breed because she didn't know what it was, but she was going to research more to make sure she was doing the best she could by Trinity. Thankfully, she already knew about double-coated dogs and their care. He nodded grimly. “I can’t believe someone would pay for a Bluefell setter, only to abandon it. Well, enjoy your dog and have fun. You’ll have to bring her by sometime so we can meet her.” Yang nodded and smiled. “All right.” With that done, they left and she looked at Taiyang. “Now what?” They had some time to kill, so she wasn’t sure what to do next. He was the one driving so… “How about we go get more food?” Yang nodded and they headed off to the car.