Friends and Family [Open/Vale]

Warren sighed as he walked down familiar streets and past familiar stores as he shrugged his jacket on just a little bit tighter to fight off the biting cold of winter. He'd come home to visit the family over the break, but honestly... There was only so much of them he could take after a while. He loved them all to death, but... He couldn't help but feel as if he dissapointed people. It's why he had to make himself better. Become the best.

He shook the feelings of inadequacy from his mind though, allowing himself to fall into silent nostalgia. Old streets brought back old memories, and for a while he couldn't help but realize that he was sort of on his own. It'd been rather abrupt going from child to adult, and he wasn't sure if he really felt all that grown up yet.

He stopped at a nearby park. He remembered coming here when he was young to play, and as a place to train when he'd truly gotten it in himself to become a Hunter. After his Aura had been unlocked. He moved to take a seat at a bench that was close, settling in to wrap himself up a little more into his clothes as he watched himself breath little puffs of smoke into the air. How time flew by...

From time-to-time, even Willow found that there were moments that she simply didn't need to say anything. As she walked the familiar streets with her brother, she found that if there ever were those times, this was one. Perhaps it was because the tomboy had more or less elected to come with him without really asking for permission and she knew that there wasn't really a reason for her to be there. Or maybe it was that Warren had that face on that revealed that he was deep in thought about something. Whatever it is that older brothers think about when they take walks in the frigid cold. Tugging on her sweater's sleeves, she slipped her hands into them to better protect them from the wind that was proving to be quite annoying.

But this walk gave her time to think about what she had done in the relatively short time that she was at Syne when compared to her brother. Meeting some wonderful people, having more fun than she could have imagined, and especially towards a certain fauna that brought a wide smile to her face, they were experiences that she wouldn't have been able to go through otherwise. She was proud of her accomplishments up to this point, even getting into Syne in the first place. But the brunette knew that she had a long way to go before she was going to be content with her position - both in life and as a huntress.

Willow blinked curiously as her brother sat down on a nearby bench, giving a quiet chuckle under her breath as she paused for just a moment. Not feeling like sitting down on the snowy bench just yet, she instead decided to move over and lean on the back of said bench, facing opposite Warren for the time being. She was far too energetic to take a moment to rest, but she didn't want to leave her brother out here. Or perhaps the case was more she didn't want to continue walking alone? Whatever the case may be, she simply allowed the two siblings to enjoy the snowy day as much as they could.

Willow thought it was going to be rather peaceful until she saw something strange out of the corner of her eye. A girl, it seemed, and one that didn't look happy to see... one of them. Considering the tomboy had never seen the girl in her life, she make the safe assumption that she was referring to her brother. As she watched her form and toss the snowball, her eyes followed the projectile, "Uh... Warren? There a reason that girl thinks you're stalking her..?" She blinked, "Wait... are you actually stalking her? Is that why you came out here..?"

Warren was shaken from his nostalgiac thoughts as a shock of cold impacted the back of his head, sending bits of frozen snow and ice across his head and down the back of his clothes. He leapt up with a yelp, wiping at his head and shaking out his clothes as he tried to get the ice out, whirling around towards a familiar voice. "Liona!?" Warren called out. "What the hell are you doing here?!" He groaned as the girl accused him of his usual 'stalking'. "Holy hell, I'm here visiting my family! As if I'd want to spend a week away from school hunting you down. You give me enough grief as is." Warren glared at the Faunus girl before he whirled onto his sister.

"Wait what!? You think I'm a stalker too? You're my sister! You're supposed to be taking my side!"

Willow let out a slight snicker, watching her brother with an amused smirk. It wasn't that she really thought Warren was the type to stalk a girl - or anyone for that matter - but it was more that she enjoyed teasing him. With a shrug, "Hey, sister or not, I've no idea what you do in your freetime. For all I know, there's a shrine or something in your closet." With that said, the tomboy gave one final chuckle before more or less phasing out of the conversation. It was obvious that this fauna knew her brother in one way or another. Perhaps they weren't that close with how they talked to one another. However, the way that Liona glared at the younger Novack certainly make her curious.

Meeting said glare with simply a quirked brow, Willow crossed her arms under her chest before allowing her attention to wander around elsewhere. This wasn't her conversation, and she'd much prefer to allow the two to talk and catch up or whatever they were planning on doing. Not that she wasn't interested, she had always wondered who her brother spent time with at Syne other than her. But she was hardly someone that enjoyed being rude and eavesdropping on people talking. Worst case scenario, she might wander off for a while if she got too bored. Probably head to the cafe she used to go to. Which she just so happened to be getting a craving for due to the cold.

Warren gives Willow a glare as he scoffs at her. "You are the worst sister ever, I swear..." The boy rolls his eyes at her and gives her a light shove as he turns back towards Liona.

"If that was you joking, then you really need to work on your punchlines, you know that?" Warren sighed and crossed his arms. "Your mom?" He asked as he tilted his head in thought. There were a few questions he wanted to ask about that but that didn't seem like the best idea at the moment, seeing as how their last little talk went down, so for the moment he simply let the topic die in his head. Instead he simply sighed and let his arms fall back to his side. "I don't think you ever mentioned that you lived in Vale to me before..." He gives a snort. "I suppose I should be glad I didn't meet you before Syne then, huh?"

Willow let out a soft chuckle as her brother gave a light shove to her arm. That was one thing that she could always count on to improve her day; teasing Warren was always just so delightful. And the way he reacted to it always just made it that much better. But that was all of her contribution to the conversation for the time being. Instead, she just idly listened to the two as she leaned on the bench still, relaxing and letting the two friends catch-up. Or were they friends? They seemed a bit awkward, even if that was her brother's natural state most of the time. But it was always a comforting type of awkward that was rather nostalgic. Something that reminded her of her earlier years when she would look up to the boy - and maybe still kind've did.

"I suppose I should be glad I didn't meet you before Syne then, huh?"

Willow blinked, "What?" She almost couldn't believe that her brother said something like that, causing her to turn her head to face the young man as she furrowed her brow. Giving Warren an incredulous look, she opened her mouth to say something, but before she could get it out the fauna that was just there was already storming off. Glancing between the two, the tomboy sighed as she shook her head slowly, "Not gonna lie... that was a really dumb thing to say to anyone, much less a girl." With that said, she pushed herself from the bench and began to take a few steps towards the direction that Liona went, calling out, "Hey! Hold up a moment!"

Warren blinked in surprise at Liona's violent reaction, and then at his sister telling him off. "How the hell is this my fault?!" The boy cried out, asking no one in particular as Willow rushed off after Liona. Warren honestly didn't know what he had apparently done wrong. As far as he saw it, they were trading insults like always. Sure her reaction was a little more of an outburst than usual... actually, he wasn't sure if he could say that... looking back, they had pretty much always met, or had their conversations evolve, into situations jut short of violent. Sure, this outburst was a little more out of place, but... hadn't it always been like this? They had their moments, but Liona had made perfectly clear she hated him. Why did she suddenly seem to care about what he said about her?

The boy threw his hands up into the air. "Goddammit!" He cursed as he followed after his sister. There was no way he was going to leave his sister running after the self described 'human hater' on her own, and he really wanted to know what that was all about too.