The Six Nights of Dustmas and the Lonely Cat [Non-Canon][Open]

"You want the nutshell version of the story?" Hunter tested the heat of the Bev; it was a bit warm for his taste.

"Sure, maybe I can ask Chiu later on the entire details, but for now the nutshell will work." Ron said. He started to sip at his Bev, liking the taste of it.

"Alrighty then." Hunter adjusted his seat again. "So, three or four days before school started, I'm sitting on the night train through the Forever Fall to Vale, watching videos when a girl runs by, followed by a guard. My head suddenly comes up with the thought that she's trying to bust into the cargo hold and steal my motorcycle--" Hunter jerked a thumb at the Ronin outside "--so I got up and followed. Guard and I stop her when she gets stuck trying to force open the door, and we learn that she's trying to get her weapons, since we weren't allowed to carry weapons as passengers. Why? Because she saw two guys jump onto the train and wanted to protect her stuff. I wanted to do that too, but guard didn't let, and he went solo while I was left standing there in front of the locked door. An awkward silence filled the air, then I realized that the girl right next to me was dressed just like me!" Hunter laughed a bit. "I have blue eyes, black hair, wear a blue shirt, black combat cargo pants, and black combat boots. She also had blue eyes, black hair, and was also wearing a blue shirt, black shorts, and black combat boots."

He took a drink of Bev and shook his head. "Of all the possibilities, and she wears the same things I am?"

Must be Chiu. I guess they do kind of look alike. Ron nods his head before taking another sip of his Bev. He moves his hand in a gesture to show that Hunter can continue.

Q took another sip of his scotch. "Kid what's your name?" He said to the Faunus boy.

"Cheshire," he grumbles before sipping more catnip tequila. He still remains to have a rather sour look on his face.

"Well Cheshire, take some advise."  Q said taking a sip of his drink. "Lighten up and enjoy the time you have. You never know when the unthinkable will happen."

Matt looks over at Fei, a look of incredulence on his face. That is a lot of food for one person. He takes another sip of his drink as he turns back to Cheshire and Q. Yeah Cheshire. Listen to him. You might not have a girl to call your own. But you do have friends. Hell, right now you have the four of us sitting here. Four is greater than one. So we must be greater than a girlfriend, right?" Matt smiles and takes a drink, happy with his attempt to cheer Cheshire up.

Zwei wore a wide smile under his mask as he looked further down the bar only to see a depressing cat faunus (Well more depressing than usual anyway). Wait...he reconized that depressing cat faunus! "Excuse me a.moment" he spoke to Matt before springing from his seat and making his way over to Cheshire. He stopped behind the boy before butting in between the other he was apparently talking to. He took a swig if one of his own drinks before leaning against the counter next to Cheshire "Well someones depressed" he spoke as he looked at all the empty glasses his friend had left.

Cheshire barely sighs in response to the other two who tried to give him advice. He seemed to have been stuck in his depressed stupor when Zwei seemed to have appeared from nowhere and started.... being himself.

"You're giving me a headache," Cheshire grumbles. "You wouldn't understand what it's like to watch all of these people be happy and in love while you yourself are...."

Cheshire's ears droop lifelessly. Though his expression remains still as stone in a poker face, one can always trust Cheshire's ears to show his emotions inside. Cheshire's face literally slams into the counter. You can hear the moans of a ghost you'd find in a haunted dungeon coming from the depressing faunas boy.

"I am forever alone..."

Cheshire turns his head without removing his cranium from the counter, looking at the girl with a blank stare. His eyes seemed tired and he showed no sign of life or emotion. Breathing out in a tired sigh, Cheshire finally breaks the silence and speaks to answer the girl's question as to exactly why he is alone forevermore.

"Because I am me..."

Cheshire turns his head back, his forehead planted on the counter, his eyes casting downward.

"In a world... where the eye can only view that which it can see... someone like me who can only be seen as a monster... an animal... even among my own.... I am nothing but a sore to the eyes. When others see me.... they see an overgrown twit. All they see is this minority who is different from them. When women look at me... they see nothing. I am not attractive or endearing. I am not even remotely good looking. I am weak and pathetic. I am unfit to protect those I hold dear or to support the one who I desire to remain at my side....

"I am just a pathetic loner whose only real skill is drawing... Drawing... Drawing... Drawing.... And yet I am no good. My work, my art... it's as pathetic as me. No matter how hard I try, I can never reach the level of professionals. Despite all the work I put into myself, I always make pathetic mistakes. I am unfit to be a man... I am unfit to even live. And yet here I am... living on when the one girl in this world that accepted me for who I am... is dead. And though I wish to be by her side again... it would be far too easy to take my own life. Sometimes it's hard.... not picking up my gun and pointing it to my head... but that's just how it is....

"I work hard.... I do what I must.... But I don't care about grades or riches.... I don't care about pride or humility.... I don't care about life or death.... All I care about.... All I desire.... All I want.... is the one who I can love with everything I have for everything they are.... who can hold me dear the same.... despite everything I am...."

Cheshire's lifts his head up finally and takes another sip of his drink.

"All I desire.... is that...."

"Buddy there's your first problem." Q said. "If you see yourself as a monster, others will to. Besides, I see real monsters day in and day out, and its my job to make sure the don't hurt anyone." His scotch was low. He shock his glass and waited for a refill.

Cheshire could only stare blankly for some time. Fei's question merely lingered in the air for some time before Cheshire managed his answer.

"I don't know."

Cheshire stared off into space even longer, remaining deathly silent .

"I don't know why I want someone like that.... I guess it may be to fill this emptiness I always feel.... Or because...."

Cheshire buries his face in his arms, lying down on the counter, half a glass of catnip tequila still in front of him.

"I guess... I just want to feel.... warm again...."

Q just chuckled while the barkeep filled his scotch.

Zwei chuckled with a wide smile on his face after taking a drink. "Here you are being so depressed when your friend.is right here" he grabbed a stool from across the bar and sat be side Cheshsire. "After all Dustmas is all about being with friends...just look around and you will find you arent as alone as you think."

Cheshire could only grumble in response, his eyes reverting to the side avoiding everyone else's. "Idiot... who are you calling a friend huh...."

His faced was slightly red but that could be dismissed by the large quantity of alcohol which he doesn't normally drink in general right in front of him.

"Stupid....."

Cheshire looks to the side with a rather sour look on his face. It looked like he wanted to say something else but he remained silent.

Hunter was about to continue his recap of what happened on the Night Express, but couldn't. The weeping from the other side of the tavern kept going on like canonfire, and he wanted to go somewhere else where he wouldn't hear any of that mopey stuff; he already had enough of that in one lifetime.

Downing the Bev in one go, he asks Ron, "Yeah, uh, sorry, but I can't keep focused on telling what happened while those guys are all weeping. Care to take this conversation elsewhere? Team leaders need to meet more often, anyways."

Matt joins those surrounding Cheshire, trying to cheer him up. "C'mon man. You might not think you have friends, but you have a bunch of people here saying they're yours. You can't be so focused on a girlfriend that you don't notice everyone else." He notices how red Cheshire's face is and the large amount of alcohol he consumed. He takes the remaining tequila and moves it away from Cheshire. "I think you've had enough of this."

"And I havent had enough" Zwei said as he tipped the bottle toward his mouth and drank more liquid. He knew that this was surely going to be a long night if Cheshire didn’t change his mood. Zwei sat on the counter of the bar and laughed a little "HAH! who needs a girlfriend anyway!" he looked to Cheshire "Look I aint had a Girl my entire life and Im perfectly fine". Zwei was obviously slightly tipsy now.

"What is your definition of fine?" Q said taking a drink of scotch.

"Hmph, you're such a bother," Cheshire grumbles. He remains deep in silence for a while. He slowly reaches into his coat and pulls out a rectangular package wrapped in violet wrapping paper with a yellow ribbon. He places it on the counter and slides it in front of Zwei.

"Don't get the wrong idea," Cheshire mumbles, his eyes downcast and looking to the side. "It's not like I got it just for YOU or anything.... I just felt like wasting some money that's all...."

In the present:

Zwei smiled as the box was placed on the counter and slid toward him. He spoke before opening the gift "I didnt know I would run into you so...sadly I dont have anything so I owe you one." he held his smile as he unwrapped the box. When the box was opened he held the mask in front of him as his smile grew much much larger. "He right back" he spoke as he dashed off to a less busy corner of the restaurant and  soon returned with the gift on his face and his usual mask hanging around his belt loop secured by a small strand of leather tied in a knot.