Menagerie's Falling Star

Part Three: 'Business'

   Frost woke up from his slumber, brown eyes immediately scanning the surroundings of the room around him. To his misfortune, what he believed was just some crazy dream is actually the new reality he's in. He is still in his sleeping bag on the ground, in Sienna's room. Immediately looking at Sienna's bed, he can see that Sienna is still asleep. Her ears just stick out, as her body rises and falls with every breath she takes in her peaceful slumber. Meanwhile, Frost's armor is lying in a neat as possible pile in a nearby corner as he wears plain clothes.

   Frost silently stared at Sienna for another second before looking away, his eyes again following on the picture of the Tigress and the cat Faunus couple. He knows the couple seems important, but he finds himself in knowing who they are for some reason. Sure, the male Faunus in the photo seems like he can end a life with one punch but there's something about him, Sienna, and possibly the man's wife that caught Frost's attention.

   On the trio's clothes, they each wore a symbol. The symbol is the head of an animal with a circle around it. The moment he laid his eyes on it, Frost thought to himself.

'Is this some military organization Sienna's involved with? I guess that'll explain the guards wearing the masks outside.'

   Frost was in his thoughts, for a while, when Sienna's voice snapped him out of it. "You know, it's better to ask someone about their life instead of looking at pictures of themselves like a creep."

   The Helljumper turns his attention to the now awake Sienna, who is scanning him from her bed. Scratching the back of his head, giving a nervous smile, Frost commented. "I'm sorry, I'm just interested in this one picture."

   "That is?" Sienna stretched.

   "Who are the people in that picture with you?" Frost asked, pointing at the picture he was staring at earlier.

   Looking at the picture, Sienna sighed. "That is me, standing next to the man who used to be in charge before I came along, Ghira Belladonna, and his wife, Kali."

   "Are they good people, and what do you mean by 'in charge'?" Frost questioned.

   "Of course, they are good people." Sienna said, in a defensive tone. "By 'in charge', I meant the business I'm now leading."

   "What kind of business are you running then, Tigress?" Frost asked, as he reached forward and grabbed his M6C lying nearby. The magnum had been damaged from the crash. Luckily for Frost, it's somehow manageable to repair and that the repair kit managed to remain intact.

   "It's an... equal rights business led by us Faunus." Sienna said with a fake smile that definitely seems real to Frost from a mile away.

   "What are we humans doing wrong, then?" Frost asked, as he rose up from the sleeping bag.

   "Well..." Sienna spoke. "Long ago, us Faunus won a conflict against the Humans which granted us the promise of being seen as equals... A promise that the Humans quickly reneged on and threw us to the dirt..."

   "My God..." Frost said. "And it gets worse from there?"

   "You have no idea." Sienna said. "The Schnee Dust Company came about. At first, it was a just company until Nicholas Schnee stepped down and placed the bastard known as Jacques Schnee in charge. The man did away with Nicholas' policies and exploited enslaving Faunus into working in hazardous conditions in the SDC Dust mines."

   "Someone's gotta stop them." Frost demanded. "That's not right on what they're doing."

   Sienna sat up. "We first created
the White Fang, with Ghira in charge. We staged peaceful protests and demonstrations, and they still proved to be ineffective. Eventually, Ghira stepped down and I took over. Ghira's daughter, Blake, joined us but she fled months ago."

   "Do you know why?" Frost asked.

   "I do not." Sienna replied. "My apprentice, Adam, reported that Blake ran away like a coward."

   'That doesn't sit right with me.' Frost thought. 'Why would you run away from a problem that needs to be solved? She truly is a coward. However, something's up here and Sienna's not helping it.'

"Can you tell me about your weapons?" Sienna asked.

Frost looked at Sienna, and sighed. 'It doesn't hurt to tell, right?'

Lifting the M6C up, Frost replied, "This is called the M6C magnum. However, I'm holding the silenced variant, or the 'M6S' or the 'M6C/SOCOM'. It's the standard sidearm for the Orbital Drop Shock Troopers of the Human military force known as the 'United Nations Space Command' or the 'UNSC'. It has a twelve round mag and it shoots 12.7x40mm caliber bullets at a rate of 360 rounds per minute."

(Author's Note: That shoots somewhere around the same caliber as .50 Action Express or more; basically it's a Deagle or better.)

"What about your other weapon?" Sienna pointed to the M7S resting against a drawer. The submachine gun is perfectly fine, to Frost's relief and as a testimony to the weapons compartment that many Helljumpers revere. So, that's one less thing Frost gotta worry about.

"That is the M7S, or the silenced M7, submachine gun." Frost said. "It's the standard personal self defense weapon issued to UNSC special forces. Shooting 5x23 millimeter caseless Full Metal Jacket, or FMJ, rounds, this little fellow is highly revered by all users for its close quarters capability and its high fire rate of 900 rounds per minute."

(Author's Note: This shoots about half the caliber of a MP5.)

"Interesting..." Sienna commented. Just then, a knock is heard on the door. On instinct, Frost grabbed the M7S and got in position next to the bed. Sticking an arm out to the Helljumper, Sienna calmly said, "Don't worry, it'll be fine. Trust me."

Walking up to the door and opening it, Sienna was greeted by the visitor on the other side in a language that Frost does not understand. Sienna smiled and replied back in the same language as the visitor. The whole time, as the Faunus talk, Frost can only make out the words 'mornalius' and 'sureta'. Assuming that it's the native language around here, Frost listened with more interest despite the language barrier. He thought, 'This is an interesting language. Maybe I should learn it.'

When the conversation finished, and the visitor walked away, Sienna closed the door as Frost asked, "What language is that? It sounds cool to listen to."

Blushing a bit, Sienna replied. "We call it Fauo'shye. It's a language we Faunus only know, since the language you humans speak dominantes all the other now extinct languages."

"Which just so happens to be English, the language we're speaking right now?"

"I guess you could say that." Sienna said, as she walked into the bathroom.

"Can you teach me Fauo'shye?" Frost asked, causing Sienna to stop.

"Why?" Sienna questioned.

"Because I want to know the language of your people and it's very interesting." Frost remarked.

"Maybe later." Sienna spoke. "Right now, I gotta get ready for work for the day."

"Alright." Frost relaxed. "I'll fix my weapons and gear in the meantime."

(Author's Note: Thanks Bravo-Niner  for creating the Fauo'shye language, as I read one of your stories. Also, thank you for allowing me to use it in this story. I really like the language, since it gives the Faunus some sense of culture. Once again, thank you!)