As Memnol had walked away, he spotted what had to be a guard, just stepping into a position by the bottom of the chieftain's house front stairs, and Memnol had felt mildly amused, not because of any inexperience shown from the way this one held their spear, they seemed rather competent actually, nor their face appearing like they were thinking about something else, as they also appeared to be rather focused, no, both of those were actually somewhat above the average in a typical town guard so far as he saw it.

It was the fact that they must've been some kind of lizard or bird faunus, based on the thin and clear third eyelid flicking over their eye from time to time, making it so they didn't need to blink, that was the new part to him. Perhaps his future plans might not be too easy to follow through on. Solid chance not, but hey.

Memnol walked along, off to spend his time for a few hours, considering haggling up to having a souvenir for the young Mr. Schnee, might as well let it be a little semi-secret between him and the Schnees that he could be effectively anywhere he wanted.

Memnol thought, "Perhaps I can try to start with sand and end with jewels like that one story. Actually, that gives me a rather nice idea, maybe I can skip the haggling part with some R&D. Although I would eventually run out of sand I suppose, if only regular gems would grow back like Dust sometimes does."

An interesting property of some Dust deposits, according to "Dust to dust; A Comprehensive Guide, Volume 4, Third Edition Printing", also corroborated by "Everything Dust" and "The Great Book of Dust", was that some deposits of Dust slowly "grow" back to a certain size if they're mined past that point, so long as there's earth or stone mostly around and supporting or holding the deposit, and that the deposit hasn't been entirely removed, but even then there were and are some unexplained cases where it grew back anyway, meaning that these weren't entirely hard and fast rules. Though, based on Memnol's only Dust test he'd gotten to so far, either Dust didn't count as a gem to The Weave or a worryingly high number of small wild animals, 2 squirrels and 3 pigeons, were somehow able to all resist Trap the Soul with supposedly suitably cut pieces of black Gravity Dust.

"If I could get an easy supply of gems from it, I'd probably skin my own familiar, well once I could get a new one in 16 days from now- has it really already been nearly a year since Algehemneael tried to overthrow me? I wonder if his previous minions, or at least the ones that we missed, ever got around to removing his head from the bottom of the acid pit it was nailed to. Man, it really was quite convenient for variety in disciplining upstarts when they can constantly rege- That's it. All of those, together, at once. I see it now, and it's only two epic spells, a crossbreeding, and some slight dedication to natural study away from my grasp. All of the development would take a solid while, I'd have to put in a lot of 'crunch time' as they call it here- actually, up it to three epic spells and everything should work out grand, if it'll still take some decent amount more initial investment. It'd be hard to hide it however, unless, hmm. Up it to four and two actually, now that I think about that. Back to growth, if I want to make full use of everything possible, including my newfound Psionics, where would be the best place to start?..."

Memnol let his thoughts wander and ponder as he walked through the marketplace, fine with appearing slightly more like the rich tourist he effectively was for the moment, until he reached a suitable place where he would Shades up a Magnificent Mansion and duck away for a couple of hours.

It was the normal minimum after all to developing a new epic spell, those couple hours.

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"Well. I almost wish I was going in blind now. I don't know what I would've guessed last, that he wasn't always a Faunus, that he was still in school, this 'Art' stuff, or that he apparently breathes politics." Ghira said after his wife read out the letter.

Kali said, "Oh don't be like that, I'm sure you'll be fine. He sounds like he's just been involved in it from a bit too young, so just be direct," She slightly drew out the end as she leaned in towards Ghira.

Ghira said, as he was prompted, "Like I always am."

Kali smiled at him, "Like you always are, stick to business, and you'll be fine dealing with this big bad art student. Now you relax and get yourself ready, I'm going to start up the dinner prep."

Ghira looked confused, "It's barely an hour past noon, aren't I going to make chicken?"

Kali said, teasing, "Did you forget the rest of that? Our daughter's got a team that she trusts and has her back, after being accepted into Beacon, you also don't even need to quietly worry anymore about your little Blakey-Wakey eggs and bakey-"

Ghira lightly groaned as she said that with that tone and he lamented to himself, "I say it one time when she's five months old and I lose all respect in my own home."

Kali continued, "Our home dear, and you don't even have to worry about her sharing a room with any boys now, and she's actually getting along with that Schnee girl, so there's still a shot at a good future ahead for that family too."

Ghira said, "I doubt that they'll start shipping Dust directly to Menagerie in our lifetime."

Kali retorted, "But maybe in Blake's, and definitely in our grandkid's lifetime, and she remembered that I wanted that handiwork book." She waved the new book for a moment for emphasis.

Ghira said, "I'm amazed that cousin Tuk's running a bookshop of all things now, nice of him to give her a discount. Also, handiwork?"

Kali said, "We live on a mostly desert island dear, there's only so much to do that I can come up with on my own when the chatting groups aren't active or when I'm under the weather. Anyway, I think those are plenty of reasons to celebrate, so you're not cooking today."

A look of realization covered Ghira's face as he said, "Does that mean you're making-"

Kali finished his sentence, "Slow-cooked tuna casserole, and I'm going to see if there's a good watermelon or cantaloupe in the market to put in the fridge for dinner."

Ghira said, "I haven't told you 'I Love You' enough times yet."

Kali said, "Just leave plenty for Blake," Then gave Ghira a quick kiss and continued, "You can start by going to get yourself ready to pounce, big cat, and make sure to include him taking some of the casserole over to Blake and the letter I know you're about to start writing back, express, too."

Ghira returned the kiss in kind with a, "Alright dear," and soon went off to double-check some ledgers and other miscellaneous reports he'd periodically received from the other villages in Menagerie. They may still have some room left in Kuo Kuana, but one of the villages further out could really benefit from a hunter's presence, "Specially if he's as much a force as Blake says", so far as Ghira saw it.

"Well, long as they last long enough for him to get his license. Can't always be sure." Ghira thought. "Either way, He's still just a young man right now, even if he's already thinking about where to settle, it's probably circumstance too. If he insists on Kuo Kuana then I shouldn't push him on it, every little bit counts, wherever it is."

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At first, Roman didn't have a clue what Squidface had meant by 'The Feeling you're being watched'. Then when he thought about it out loud the next day, Neo let him know that only late last night, after a good while, did she stop feeling like she was being actively watched, since apparently she had felt that way even after he apparently walked into nowhere, and even then last night it had only lessened for a while, not gone away. She said that even then, she still felt like something, actually two somethings, two very dangerous somethings, were always nearby. It was at moments like that that Roman felt justified in not having his aura awoken yet, although he did admit the back of his neck was standing up way more than usual the past few days.

Then, barely a week later, at around seven thirty-ish, he heard a voice quite similar to Squidface's, if a bit higher and without any of the freaky-as-hell subtle reverb, directly behind his shoulder.

IA Blue said, "Find something to take notes with," IA Bronze from behind Neo said, "There's an amount for you both to do."

As Neo drew her umbrella and started looking around, and Roman barely held back the urge to do so himself since he was fairly certain he'd see absolutely nothing, Roman took out his scroll while saying, rather flippantly, "Yes, yes, Squidface. What is it?"

The IA's said, still taking turns just to mess with them, "To start, the both of you will be acquiring some objects of interest," "A bit of fur of any kind." "A piece of amber or glass, or a crystal rod." "At least thirty silver pins." "Five living snakes of any non-venomous variety."

Roman interrupted, and said, "Wait up, wait up! Let me get that clear, snakes?"

They said, "Correct." "Of any non-venomous variety." "Two living frogs or toads, of any non-poisonous variety." "Any number of re-sealable wooden barrels." "At least twenty to twenty-eight living trees between four and a half and seven and a half feet in size." "A small, straight, piece of iron." "An intact, functional printing press." "An intact, functional hardcover bookbinder." "In that order of importance." "You have two months." "Perform sufficiently," "And you will be rewarded sufficiently." "Perform exceedingly," "And you will be-"

Roman said, "Yes, I get it, Squiddy's having me go do his shopping. You're worse than Junior's girls."

The IA's mentally conversed briefly and Blue smacked him upside the head, which knocked his hat off, though Roman quickly caught it.

They then said, "We will also require a detailed map of all your known White Fang hideout locations." "At least one hideout immediately."

Roman asked, "How immediate are we talking?"

A thin, green beam shot out from empty space behind Neo, striking and disintegrating Roman's current evening cigar that he was enjoying.

Roman, to his credit, managed to keep his cool and simply wiped the dust off of his suit and lip, then said, "Right, the few I was involved with were-" As he said this he shifted over to the map app, "Here, here, here, these two by the docks, and if you take this manhole, go north, then three lefts and a right and you'll find it from what I hear. Go ahead and have fun helping those animals, rest of your kind."

The sound of disembodied laughter after a pause was not a comforting sound here, and neither was Memnol's sudden appearance, walking in from the nearby hallway twenty-four seconds into the laughter. While it always required a decent amount of mental calculation to account for the near-exact direction and distance from him any IA was, as long as he made it within a mile he could just utilize their inherent scry effect to more accurately teleport. From then it was a matter of teleporting in while invisible, finding a hallway to appear out of sight from, going visible again, and walking on over to seem suitably mysterious and omnipresent.

Memnol was feeling jubilant enough to visit because his latest epic spell, 'Crunch Zone' as he called it, had also been made quick to develop as it would've been before, and so with that new spell solving so many of his time issues to be ready by tomorrow, he was in the mood to speak directly to Roman.

Memnol said, "I assure you, I hold no kinship with that bothersome rabble, it is simply that some of them may have use, as may their old hideouts, or at least whatever they contain." "That sewer idea is rather clever in a manner, I think I'll steal that one, it seems far more immediately usable. A restructuring of my plans, but a necessary one in hindsight."

The moment Memnol had walked in, Neo immediately sped to behind Roman.

Roman said, more than a little irritated, "Well now that we're done here, I'd say you can see yourself out, since you saw yourself in already."

Memnol said, pulling out the Contract of Nepthas he had prepared earlier, "Now, now, you ought not be so hasty, I have a rather long term project that may be amenable to the both of us, although before I go further I am going to require the both of you to sign this, a simple NDA, I'm sure you understand."

He slid the parchment contract forwards towards Neo, also taking out a simple ballpoint pen from his haversack. He quite loved these contracts, immediately striking any deal breakers blind, deaf, and mute the moment they broke it, no attempt to resist possible, no matter the boundaries. Although, one of the soon to be signatories was one point five out of three already, exactly halfway there by chance. He also rather liked that the contracts now took just over half an hour to make, not counting writing the terms inside.

Still, he didn't consider it anything with much effort in it; it didn't even switch languages, and was only the front and back long, with barely any extra clauses and just closing up any loopholes they could use. He hadn't even chucked in the standard soul ownership clause, but that was partly because if he was going to include it anywhere it'd be for something more traditional or at least fitting than this. Not even close to what he considered truly proper, but he figured it'd do for now.

Soon enough, Neo signed it with shaking hands, and after that she simply knew, though she didn't know how she knew, that this contract itself would hold her to it, and that if she ever broke it, she'd lose most of the rest of her senses. Then a moment later as Neo was thinking through that, she saw Roman's moment of hesitation after signing it, and she knew that he knew the same thing she did, though he still hadn't cracked under pressure yet.

Memnol soon took the contract, rolled it up, and tucked it away into the haversack.

Memnol said, "Perfect. Now then, the project is this; I'm going to need you both to keep constant tabs on whatever company is providing the Schnee's security, if they use different companies for different securities then this applies to all, undermine them. Find them out, and undermine them wherever you can, just not quite directly on the Schnee's or their company or private property. I want nobody to trust them, then when they're near their lowest, on my signal alone, pull the most humiliating raid possible directly on Schnee property, but not a moment earlier. You are allowed to keep what you can take from them of course, though if you'd like to further hurry up getting her eye privileges back, then a spot of tribute here and there is... appreciated. That aside, I believe I have projects elsewhere to attend to soon enough, so I must be leaving."

Then Memnol walked back into the same hallway he appeared from, turned invisible out of sight, and teleported away.

It was a few moments after he was gone that Roman's face twisted, and he shouted in anger, "He barges into my bullhead, then my safehouse, and now he asks for tribute?!"

After a solid minute or two of raging, Roman asked, "Neo, you up to go break some stuff?"

The nod, growing smile, and "Sounds good" were all Roman needed to go and find his best pair of steel-toed boots and his favorite crowbar. Sure, a clean sweep was pretty satisfying, but sometimes he just needed the catharsis of a nice and raw break-and-enter. For all the grand and meticulous jewel robberies and caviar, there was also breaking the restaurant's register after emptying it and swinging past a drive-through. Not normally Roman's style, but it was, so to say, 'The criminals comfort food'.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

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Somewhere by the Vale docks, just outside of a supposed-to-be-abandoned warehouse, a lone White Fang member was standing on lookout. Then, a few moments later, they were knocked unconscious and paralyzed by the force of seven simultaneous sap strikes and paralyzing 'Death Attacks'. Just after that, an invisible Memnol dragged them off, then extracted and consumed their brain. For those outside our loop, this is indeed why Mind Flayers are called Mind Flayers. Namely because they're quite known for eating brains. Whole. Even in combat. Some would say particularly in combat. At least one per month in order to keep healthy, in fact. Memnol was already feeling much better after that, it actually was quite satisfying as his old acquaintances had said.

A quick looting and set of Disintegrates from Loom and all that was left to say that person had ever existed was some small piles of dust, some memories, Memnol's dissipated hunger, and the 50 Lien Memnol found himself richer by.

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For a quick peek at what's generally happening back at Beacon during all of this;

"Hey, Weiss?" Ruby said.

"Yes?" Weiss said.

Ruby shifted her homework around, "Do you remember the years Mantle was founded in?"

Weiss said, "Of course I should remember that."

After a solid moment of silence in the team, Yang said, "Do you?"

After another solid pause, Weiss said as she grabbed her history textbook, "I think it was around page one-hundred and thirty or so."

A little while later, Yang said, "Have you thought of what you want from him Ruby? You and Weiss are the only ones with favors left."

Ruby looked confused for a moment but then quickly put it together, and said somewhat sheepishly, "I, don't know. I just don't think that's the best way to be friends, you know? Through debts, I mean. That's not how friendship should be, I don't think it is."

Weiss said, agreeing internally and unsure of how she felt towards that, since she had already used it, "Ruby, I don't think he knows any other way."

Ruby thought about it for a few moments, before she said, "Well, it's just, hmm. A-Hah! I think I have an idea, thanks!"

Yang said, "You want to run it by us real quick?"

Ruby said, "Nah, it'll be fine. Besides, what's the most that could happen?"

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Memnol had soon enough found a manhole and, rather than disturb it and leave a sign someone was here, he just aimed a teleport some five feet below him while standing on it. He then, quite unceremoniously, fell a foot onto the ground, just by the access ladder a person probably would have normally used.

Looking around, Memnol figured that this was a decent enough spot, and so walked past just a couple of corners, before finding a nice part of the wall made solely of concrete, stone, and which shouldn't have any low-leveled piping in it for a stretch of about 90 feet. He stood five feet to the right of where he intended to start, and Limited Wished up a Passwall, which created a temporary 5 by 8 tunnel that was 25 feet deep, though he did need to duck slightly. It would only last 27 hours, or until he dismissed the effect, at which point it would disappear, leaving that part of the wall as though he'd never been there.

He then started clearing space with two Disintegrate rays at a time, clearing ten-foot cubes at a time, from Loom, and in just over two and a half minutes found himself with a nice 60x80x10 empty room, just waiting to be turned into a lair. He could already see it himself, some simple storage there, a good few magical laboratories for the Wrights, a corner for the guard golems, a couple of smithies, some Planar Ring Gates with some grating stuck to them to handle ventilation problems, everything seemed to almost be visible to him already. Even with the complete lack of light, due to there being no physical way in, got to love darkvision.

Soon enough however he remembered that by now, he'd only have two and a half hours or so before seven in Menagerie when he'd have to meet with the Chieftain. By his estimates, that should only be enough time to set up a single one of the needed laboratories, just one of the Dedicated Wrights, and maybe the storage area too. So of course, Memnol set himself to work, as well as a solid chunk of his current entourage to surreptitiously steal a good number of the supplies he'd need.

Around two-and-two-thirds hours later, and Memnol considered it a decent start. A small, stubby Dedicated Wright stood in one corner, where the very basic magical laboratory it was built in was, a decent ways away from the storage section on the same wall, which was just some metal shelves and old wooden crates looted from an actually abandoned warehouse not too far away and teleported in by the IA's with the Teleport Object each of them had prepared. Feeling alright with this so far, Memnol dropped back in on Kuo Kuana, taking the moment to include the main two of his entourage with him in the teleports this time, and freshened up again with another Prestidigitation as he walked up. Memnol was preparing himself for a drawn-out negotiation match, back and forth with offers and counter-offers flying forth with the rage of arrows, ready to-

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"That's just desert," Ghira said, deadpan and mildly bored, as Memnol squared off a small section of Menagerie's northern coastline on the map they were looking at, laid out over a table in Ghira and Kali's living room, where there were a couple of guards standing by as well.

Memnol said, "The coastline as well, I want that area explicitly as part of the deal."

Ghira looked at Memnol and said, "You know you can just go out and claim it, right?"

Memnol said, "I am not exactly aware of this. Despite whatever I read I couldn't find anything pertaining to unclaimed or 'wild' property law, nevermind Menagerie property law."

Ghira sighed and said, "Yeah, to cut the legalese, if you want to build out where the Grimm roam, then you can just go ahead and do it, nobody'll stop you. I just thought you wanted to buy a house or something in one of the villages this whole time."

Memnol said, "I see now. Would I be correct in assuming that this sort of, unregulation if you'll understand I mean no insult, applies to other matters out there as well?"

Ghira said, "Not as much as Vacuo, but pretty much."

Memnol said, more than slightly surprised, "So, to be clear, I do not require permission from the current ruler, in this case being you, to claim ownership of land?"

Ghira said, "I see what you're doing there, only land that's not claimed otherwise, and effectively only what you can actually manage. You can't just claim Kuo Kuana or a village, and you can't claim the rest of the continent."

Memnol said, in a joking way but not actually fully joking, "Well, unless I somehow back it up, yeah?"

Ghira said, laughing, "If you can do that, at your age, then I'd say you probably earned it! But that's enough joking around, yeah, you don't need my permission or someone else's."

Memnol said, "Hm. I suppose our business is concluded rather early then. Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Belladonna, for inviting me into your home for these discussions. I must be going soon then, a pleasant evening to you both."

As Memnol started getting up and made to walk off, Kali gently nudged Ghira, who said, "Excuse us, before you go, could you do us a favor?"

Memnol stopped and faced them, and said, "This would be?"

Kali walked off and soon reappeared with a sealed plastic container and an envelope. She said, "Could you take these over to Blake as soon as you can?"

Memnol thought for a moment and said, "If you can simply have it be official somewhere that I have the claim to that land, then that seems like a proper trade."

Memnol put his free hand towards Ghira, which he quickly shook and said, "A lot of land for one guy, but fair enough, it's all desert anyway."

Memnol took the deliveries and put them into his haversack, and said, "I believe Ms. Belladonna would rather not be woken at what is the current hour for her, so I shall get these to her tomorrow if possible. Again, pleasant evening to you both."

This time Memnol left unchallenged, though a guard accompanied him out, or rather, made sure he didn't just snoop around for a while. Memnol had no intention of doing that however, he'd be a terribly poor guest if he did, he felt.

He soon ducked away and teleported off once more, back to his sewer hideout, where he took an hour to set the Wright on making another one, before teleporting back to the Beacon library at around 12:45 midnight, and promptly slept for the next eight hours.

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Prompt enough at 8:50 he woke up, and for his epic spells prepped the well awaited 'Crunch Zone' 3 times, sent orders to all but IA White, who was still in orbit and reported no change in the scroll, used the lowest thought bottle in the order for safety, and teleported over to the hideout. With the aid of the 9 of them, 11 minutes later he had the first Crunch Zone set up, in it's four 10 ft. Cubes. Then, he took his scroll, started a stopwatch, and set it on the ground, before stepping into the Crunch Zone. And from Memnol's perspective, it took thirty seconds for the stopwatch to tick one second ahead.

He smiled greatly and stepped out to cast the other two Crunch Zones, now covering the storage space and two of the workshops continuously. He stepped back in, and channeled the soul-stuff and Gate spell into the first Wright to have it start on one pair of the Planar Ring Gates, then did the same with the second Wright. This took four minutes of real Material Plane time, though for Memnol the full hours of time had passed, and from where he stood the Wrights were barely starting. Seven minutes and some seconds later in real-time he had made these Crunch Zones Halls of Silence as well, automatically silencing any sounds made in them, though speech could be done with some effort, to make sure any stray sounds couldn't attract attention.

Memnol looked at the space with some pride, it wasn't much yet, but it would do pretty well for now, until he could get a proper palace in order. He made the last things he'd need in just over a dozen minutes real-time, one of which was assuming that Team CFVY were to serve as definitely-not-emergency-Ozpin-bait again, as well as a decent number of Spellglyphs for a number of spells he knew. Memnol quite liked that perk of being a Geometer, as writing out your own Spellglyphs saved so much space on bulky or awkward materials, as well as so much trying to harvest them, even if it did nothing to help with Foci.

He then ordered three of the IA's to stay back and see to properly furnishing the area once he'd left. For those who may rightly ask how any of the IA's saw in the previously mentioned darkness, well Assassins learn their own magic, including a rather useful spell called Ebon Eyes, letting them see just fine in normal and magical darkness, for about 4 and a half hours each cast for them, and given that Memnol could cast it when he first made them then they could too.

Memnol left it behind then, he had a deal to uphold his side of after all.

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Team RWBY had barely walked into the dining hall during lunch when Memnol had walked up to them.

Memnol said, taking the packages out from his haversack and handing them over to Blake before they could start saying hello, "Pleasant afternoon, I've been waiting for you, or rather, for Ms. Belladonna."

Blake took them and quietly said as she looked into the container, "Is this?- It is!"

Yang said, "No, it can't be! It'll destroy us all!"

Blake gave Yang a punch to the arm, after carefully freeing up a hand, and said, "It's my Mom's tuna casserole, she made it whenever we were celebrating something. And…"

Ruby said, "Aaand?"

Blake smiled and said, "There's enough for four people." She looked up and said, "Thanks, Memnol. Really."

Memnol said, "So long as you don't start thinking I'm some cheap errand boy, then this was amenable enough. Normally hiring a practitioner for anything is rather, expensive, and indeed best done in normal ways like favors and such. That said, if you, or probably Weiss in your place, can afford it, then I'll take cash, check, or I can write up a nice little note we can sign."

Then, what RBY didn't expect was for Weiss to start laughing slightly. She was definitely trying to stifle it, but she was laughing. To her, she couldn't help it, she noticed he had placed just a little emphasis on cheap, then when he said normal ways that just sealed it to her, and she thought she had an idea what his sense of humor was. What she herself didn't expect was that she'd actually find it funny too.

Memnol smiled very slightly and his tentacles moved in just that way he seemed to have when pleased, and he said, "Finally, someone here with the proper sense of humor, though I suppose you do have the most of those among your team, Weiss."

Weiss' laughter nearly broke out when she got that one, and she said, "Well when it's down to real, grounded comedy, I've got more purchase then you'd assume. Then again, it's not like I need that credit from anyone else."

Memnol's smile grew, and he said, "Well, I would say you've incurred my interest, but I can't, given that I'm no longer alone thanks to this account."

Weiss said, still holding it together enough, "Well, I think it'd be fine either way, and even if I'm a hair away from being sure, I'd say this was a rich exchange which certainly paid its dividends."

At this, Memnol started openly laughing at the same time Weiss broke out laughing. After a few moments Yang had a look of realization and said, "Was that a finance joke? You have to be Yang-ing my chain."

Memnol quickly brought himself back to deadpan, and Weiss soon recovered from laughing. Memnol looked at Weiss and said, "Are you buying that that's a joke?"

Weiss caught on and said, "It makes no real sense in this case."

From then, they were rapid-fire.

Memnol said, "From what I hear, she's tried to market herself as a comedian with that?"

Weiss said, "From the day's open to day's close."

Memnol said, "I just can't take any stock in that."

Weiss said, "It's actually paid off pretty well,"

Memnol said, "I can't do much more than bear it, myself."

Weiss said, "After a while it gets better, even though it's still a little bull-ish."

Memnol said, "Still, it's clear where the equity in your team can be found."

Weiss said, "Hey now, we all do our own shares."

Memnol then, after a pause, let himself laugh, which also caused Weiss' laughter to return, and he said, "Still, this conversation was worth investing my time into."

Weiss said, "I think I can afford to say I'm indebted for that one."

Memnol said, "Bah, consider it cleared."

Ruby said, "Oh, that reminded me, Memnol?"

Memnol let his laughter die down to just a lingering smile, and gestured for her to go on.

Ruby continued, smiling at the end, "For those favors, you can forget about them, you know? You don't need to worry about that with me, we're friends."

Memnol was quiet for a moment, before he said, his tone still lightly amused, "Ruby, I am aware that I could choose to not consider such things, just as I could choose to abandon The Art forever, or I could choose to turn my back on my core principles. I am, however, not the one to turn my back on a deal I chose to make, and that applies here as well by my measure, since I rather prefer to keep debts that involve me in proper order. As such, you have managed to stumble on one of the very few requests you can't make of me. It's actually impressive in its own right, I must admit."

Ruby puffed up, trying to seem taller, which she did but it didn't have much effect over a three-foot difference, and she said, "Then how about if you think of something I might be happy about, then go ahead and do it, and we'll call it even, if it really means that much to you."

Memnol pondered for a moment, then shrugged and put a hand forwards, "An open-ended deal, then. Acceptable."

Ruby said, "Alright!" and, to Memnol's surprise, gave him a side-five which he had ended up making a handshake motion on for a moment on reflex, leading to him just awkwardly grabbing Ruby's fingers for a moment. Though the rest of them missed it, Weiss picked up on the confusion, spotting the subtler body clues he left behind.

He soon retracted his hand and cleared his throat, "Well, for now our business is done then, Team RWBY, as I still have another matter to attend to today. Until another time, perhaps."

Memnol walked off, and directly over to Team CFVY he had spotted eating already. As he walked over, Coco said, "Before you start, we've decided we're in again."

Memnol said, "Grand, in this case, I shall stay with you and forward your payment," He took out from his haversack a patterned stone, which was one of a pair of identical Sending Stones that he had the other of. He tossed it over to Velvet, who managed to deflect it up with the force shield, then catch it as it fell.

Memnol said, "Careful now, it's decently durable but not invulnerable."

Coco said, "Yeah, it's a rock. Are you messing with us?"

Memnol said, "Once per day anyone who has it in their hand can send a mental message of up to twenty-five words to whoever is carrying it's matching twin. Which will be me. Even in the only situation where it may not work, it is only a five percent or so chance of failure, and in that case there is effectively no hope whatsoever of reaching me by scroll. Just like the ring, mentally activated, simply will for someone to hear you and think the message."

Velvet said, "Um, what if we lose it?"

Memnol thought, "I've already Arcane Marked both of them, and set an Instant Summons for each, though I'll likely let yours drift for a while." He said, "Then I suppose it is lost. Given that it's your own property now, you can also give it away with the instructions if you wish, I suppose. Or deliberately break it, for whatever reason you may have then."

Coco picked up the rock from Velvet and gave him a pointed look, and sent through the sending stone, "Oh really, if this rock works, and you're getting this message, then I'll eat my second favorite hat."

Memnol was silent for a moment, until he pointedly took out his own stone from his handy haversack, and replied, "If it's leather-based, I'd say let it dry to a jerky-like substance. Also, Mr. Alistair has been 'checking you out', so to say."

Coco startled more than slightly, not expecting it to work or get a return message directly to the mind, and said the first thing that came to mind, "Fox is checking me out?"

Fox wasn't sure exactly what happened but he knew a set-up when he heard one and said, "In my defense, you're the one sounding like that every day, cut me some slack."

At this, Team CFVY laughed, and Coco went along, "Alright then, just you wait to hear my dress for the dance," she looked to Memnol, "Right?"

Memnol said, "They are on their way."

Coco said, "Alright. Well, I'm up to see that place again pretty soon, you Vel?"

Velvet nodded and said, "Yeah. It was really nice."

Memnol said, "Perfect, we can begin the process once we're at location again."

With that there was agreement in the Team and they walked on off to CFVY's room, to do what they'd done just that Sunday again.

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Velvet at first was a little disappointed, as was Coco, that they wouldn't be leaving their maybe-room after the ten minutes, but Memnol instead just took out a small round brass box from his bag, which had a smaller brass sphere in it. Velvet instead now was worried because he had spent the last twelve or so minutes unfolding the sphere up to reveal a bunch of complicated lenses and knobs and such, fiddling and observing it, then closing it and repeating the exact same process. That was when he started taking out these strips of parchment with so many shapes on them that just sort of disappeared after a moment of hand waving.

Memnol checked a seventh time, and it was the same results from the Sextant of the Planes. He was again amazed by magic the first time he checked, since he had built this thing yet still had discovered something new about what it could do, but by now he was just confused.

"A plane with multiple near-contradictory traits? I've definitely been thrown out well farther than just a Crystal Sphere or two assuming this is right."

He then cast a Vision spell to try and clear it up, which it did not. The next Vision spells to try and clear each previous one up only left him thinking,

"Well, this cosmology is certainly, different. Still, of all the names this plane could've had, Rorrimt Somlæht?"