Remnant's Tactician

Chapter 68: The Beginning of a Storm

*No POV*

At the pier, Blake and Sun were recruiting the islanders of Menagerie to join in the aid of Mistral. Chiki happened to follow them and assisted as well. Many they've tried to recruit were hesitant on doing so, either from the lack of interest or perhaps the stunt Ilia had done during the conference earlier that day.

After multiple attempts, they've decided to take a break. They sat by a seaside bar with coconut drinks on the table, Sun and Blake converse on their current dilemma while Chiki stood on her seat, drinking while listening.

"I don't get it!" Sun questioned, hitting the table. "How can they just sit around and do nothing with the White Fang getting ready to attack?"

"Because not everyone is like you and me. The Faunus here in Menagerie, the ones that weren't born on the island, moved here because they were tired of fighting, of having to struggle constantly." Blake calmly stated. "Menagerie is filled with people that just want to be left alone. And here we are, asking them to put the rest of the world before themselves."

"I guess I never really thought about it like that."

"Chiki feels sad no one wants to help." Chiki pouted, drooping onto the table. "Blakey and Sunny are strong right? And we have the Shepherds. Do we need everyone to help?"

"You may have a point there. But Mistral doesn't have this information as far as we know, and even then it could be too late before the Shepherds could reach there in time." Blake pointed out. "The main problem is, whatever happens at Haven is going to affect the Faunus here whether they like it or not. If Adam gets his way and Haven falls, it's only going to make things worse for the Faunus. Everywhere."

"Adam..." Sun got out. "He's the guy you used to... work with?"

"...Yes." Blake sighed.

"Sorry, forget I brought it up."

"No, it's okay."

The two Faunus stayed quiet, Chiki looking back and forth between them. Eventually, Blake decided to break the silence.

"Have you ever met someone and thought to yourself, "They are the personification of this word."?" She questioned Sun.

"Uh..."

"Okay. Well, I remember getting to know Ruby and thinking, 'This girl is the embodiment of "purity".'.

After a while, I saw Weiss was 'defiance'. And Yang as to our first meeting, was 'strength'. Robin was difficult to pin a word specifically, but I eventually thought of her being 'nurturing'."

"What am I?" Sun asked, pointing to himself?

"Jury's still out on that one." Blake smiled. "But I'm leaning towards 'earnest'."

Upon hearing this, Sun wrapped his tail around his cup and took a sip before leaning on his hand. Blake giggles and smiles a bit. Chiki appeared a little bored and sat down on her seat, thinking of what to do while the two adult Faunus were talking. A sudden idea came to her as she peeked onto the table. A small light glowed near her cup as it caught both Blake and Sun's attention. The light dimmed, a small figure of a woman stood there as her eyes opened and looked around before to Chiki.

"Hm?" The figure hummed, tilting her head.

"Who is that Chiki?" Blake asked.

"This is Mini Mama Tiki!" Chiki replied in excitement. "Chiki made her when Chiki is bored. Because mama will always play with Chiki!"

"Oh, well that's neat." Sun got out. "Wait, hold on. When can Chiki do this?"

"I suppose it's her Semblance, Sun." Blake responded. "Chiki can make things, though I don't know to what extent."