AN: I suck at consistent updates. Also I'm in college. Fight me.

"All I'm saying is that we should just tone down the shopping sprees, Coco. You go overboard every weekend! The rest of the team just can't keep up!"

Velvet Scarlatina chuckled warmly as she pressed her Scroll against her lower ears, walking down the aisle of a store. It was just a simple grocery errand for her in the middle of a Sunday afternoon.

Positioning her Scroll on top of her shoulder, she began going over her notepad to check what else she needed to buy.

"No offense, but I really don't care that the clothes I bought just a week ago were now considered outdated. Not all of us are made of money, you know." She rolled her eyes at Coco's response, before replying, "Look, if it means that much to you, I'll personally give you permission to buy my clothes from here on out, okay? Just... don't overdo it and buy something skimpy like you usually tell me to get."

The faunus looked around the store to find her giant teammate's favorite brand of cereal, dismissively scoffing at a flattering comment from her team leader, "It doesn't matter if I have the legs for it! Quit being creepy, Coco."

Checking the cereal box for the expiration date and deciding it was satisfactory, she added it to her basket and moved on to the checkout aisle.

Waiting in line behind an older woman, she continued the conversation with her partner, "Of the three years we've spent together with Yatsuhashi, have you ever actually seen him wear anything else other than that one set of robes? Besides the Beacon uniforms, I mean? I also doubt Fox will care too much either, you know, considering that he's blind. Hazarding a guess that fashion is not included in his list of priorities."

Velvet quirked an eyebrow after her partner gave a loud sigh over the call. Rolling her eyes once more, the rabbit girl playfully snarked back with, "Yes, I'm sure life would be so much easier for you if all of us were just tiny little fashion poodles that could fit inside of your purse."

"Hmhmhmhm."

Velvet blinked when she heard a chuckle from the man behind her. She glanced at him for a second out of curiosity, before turning around to face forward in line- only to double take at what she saw.

He was a rather interesting sight: there was nothing about him that really stood out, if you were to completely ignore the obviously home-made mask he was wearing. A plain white plastic mask with no eyeholes, and the only discernible feature being an oversized question mark cheaply taped on top of it for decoration.

Other than the mask though, everything else he was wearing was perfectly normal. A red leather hooded longcoat with matching pants and black gloves, presumably to keep him warm for the coming fall season. He didn't have anything else on him other than a jar of cookies under his arm. It was seriously just the mask that caught her attention.

Noticing that she was staring at him in confusion, he awkwardly waved at her, "Uh, sorry. Didn't mean to eavesdrop, I just thought what you said was kinda funny."

"R-right…" She politely nodded back.

Velvet faced forward, doing her best not to turn around and make eye contact with the strange man again.

Quietly, she whispered a passing question into her Scroll, hoping the man doesn't hear her. "Um… say, Coco? I'm no fashion expert- that's usually your field of expertise- but uh… Is it a trendy fashion statement these days to go around wearing a full-on face mask with a question mark symbol in public?" There was an awkward silence before she replied again. "No reason. Just kinda saw something weird today in a store."

Shaking her head, Velvet did her best to move on from the topic and tried to forget about the man in the mask behind her, figuring it was just the quirk of a foreigner or something.

Returning back to her original conversation, she sighed, "Look Coco, I know how cramped up you've been feeling ever since Beacon started becoming more strict with uniform code since the Atlas Annexation. Lots of people are having trouble adjusting, even after a year's passed. God knows it's been harder for me to even walk in a public area without being judged for having a pair of rabbit ears…" She shook her head and continued, "Point is, there's just nothing we can do about it. We just gotta get used to the changes, you know? That's life. We can try anything we can to get a grip of comfort, but fact of the matter is, Atlas is here to stay whether we like it or not."

After hearing her friend give a resigned sigh in agreement, Velvet then asked, "So will you go on less shopping sprees now?" she winced at the negative response she got and groaned playfully, "Should have figured."

With the end of that conversation, she said her farewells, "Alright, I'll see you back at the dorm. Ciao."

Velvet hung up her Scroll and walked to the checkout counter as the older woman in front of her finished up. Unloading the shopping cart, she waited patiently for the fox Faunus cashier to scan her items.

Her ears twitched when the masked man behind her began to speak. "I think that's kinda sad."

Velvet turned to face the man. She quirked a curious eyebrow, although she didn't reply to his comment.

"I meant that it's sad to hear you think there's nothing people can do against the Atlas government." The man further explained, "Seeing you just… sit back and accept what's happening, saying that it's nothing worth fussing over about… isn't that just giving up? You really don't think that someday, someone might be able to rise up somehow and fix everything that Atlas made wrong?"

"That's a nice thought, but it's mostly just wishful thinking." Velvet shrugged, "Don't get me wrong, sir. I'm not looking down on you for believing that something like that could happen. But realistically though, what are the odds of that even happening? Who would even be strong enough to go against a powerhouse like Atlas?"

The masked man casually shrugged, "Whoever wants to. Anyone could accomplish it if they set their fears aside and did what was right. Maybe it might be me who could stop Atlas." He pointed at himself, before pointing at her, "Maybe it might be you, if you ever changed your mind. Maybe it might even be the cashier."

At mention of her, the fox girl snorted, "Hah! You're a funny guy, Red. Like I could start a revolution with my minimum wage job of putting eggs and milk inside bags."

"I'm just saying. Anything is possible, even if the odds are against you. All it takes is one person to make a difference. That's what I believe, anyway."

Velvet couldn't help but give a small smile at the man's words. Rarely did you ever meet someone with such an idealistic perspective these days. It was sort of refreshing, actually. He reminded her of a friend she once knew from a while back.

She didn't really know how to respond to that, other than a half-hearted, "Well sir, if you ever manage to convince Atlas to give Vale back its independence, I'll be cheering for you by the sidelines. So good luck with that."

"If I could, I'd have you by my side." The masked man told her. "Despite how you act about it, I'd like to think you wouldn't stand idly by when the time comes to stop someone from getting hurt or abused. You're much too selfless for that."

Velvet raised an eyebrow at the comment, "Nice of you to say… but I'm pretty sure it's too soon for you to judge, considering we just met. Don't you think?"

"Okay, that'll be seventy-two Liens and fifty Fiats. Would you like to sign up for special deals and coupons, miss?" The cashier girl interrupted them.

Having nearly forgotten her items, she faced the cashier with a flustered, "Oh right, um, no thanks." She then handed over the required amount and grabbed her bags, before moving up to leave.

Before she left however, she looked back to the masked man as he placed his jar of cookies near the scanner, along with his lien. The cashier girl wordlessly swiped the item and passed it to him.

As the masked man came up to Velvet by the doors, she gave him a polite smile, "Well, I guess it was nice to meet you, Mr. Mysterious Masked Guy. Or Red- whatever your name is."

He nodded back and briskly exited the shop, "Stay safe, Velvet."

Her ears perked up in surprise, not expecting the man to have known her name.

"Wait, when did you-?" But before she could follow after him and ask how he knew, he suddenly vanished by the time she was on the other side of the door.

She blinked once, then twice, looking around to see any sign of the man. Then she shook her head and rubbed her eyes in confusion, "Well. That was… freaky."

It was definitely not an average day of grocery shopping, that was for sure.

Looking around once more, she tried her best to see where the man had disappeared to. He couldn't have ran off too far, could he? She followed after him right when he left the shop. Did he just POOF away like some hallucination?

Surely, she wasn't crazy enough to hallucinate all that. Right?

No, he was definitely real. She's not crazy yet.

Still no sign of the man, she mumbled to herself, "What was that all about?" Velvet sighed in fatigue, and then began recounting all the items in her shopping bag. "Carrots, cereal, Da-da-dah… everything's accounted for. Time to head back home."

And so the rabbit girl made her merry way back to her academy dorm, writing off her strange encounter with the mysterious masked red hooded man as a one-off event that will never repeat itself.

Still… she kept a watchful eye around her. Just in case he popped up again.

But probably not though.

Maybe.

*YAAAAAAWWWN*

Velvet stretched out her arms and gave a relieved moan as she felt the satisfying snap of her cramped bones.

Still waiting in the checkout line behind a teenager as he got his item scanned, she decided to pull out her Scroll and send a text message or two.

An entire week had passed by without much excitement going on. Nothing new or interesting happened so far, and her schoolwork had been as boring and repetitive as ever. Marching this, training that, studying here, mission assignments there- The usual works.

Besides that one encounter with the masked man from a week ago, everything was completely dull.

Remembering the man, Velvet curiously looked around, in the off-chance that he might show up again. She was in the same shop as the last time she met him, after all.

But no, it didn't look like he was here this time around.

Velvet frowned with disappointment, but she couldn't really place why she would feel disappointed in the first place. It wasn't like she was looking forward to seeing the mysterious masked guy again.

Maybe she just wanted to ask how he knew her name, when she clearly remembered having not introduced herself yet.

Maybe she was just bored and wanted to see him again because his mysterious nature piqued her interest.

Maybe she wanted to know what he meant when he said that a single person could fight back Atlas if they wanted to, and how they could possibly make a difference if they tried.

Okay, so maybe she was sort of hoping to see him again. It didn't seem to matter though, as it was obvious that the masked man wasn't even here.

She gave a resigned sigh, unsure on what to do.

"Excuse me, Miss? You can put your stuff on the counter now."

Snapped out of her thoughts, Velvet looked ahead to see the cashier girl from last week watching her with an expectant look.

"Oh! Sorry!" She fumbled forward, before straightening herself up and laying her items on the counter.

Velvet stood there and awkwardly waited as the fox Faunus scanned and bagged her stuff with a slightly amused expression.

"So, I noticed you seemed to be distracted." The cashier casually pointed out.

"Yeah, sorry. Got a lot on my mind today." Velvet chuckled, rubbing the back of her neck.

"Doesn't happen to be about Red, does it?"

Velvet furrowed her eyebrows and asked, "You mean the masked man? How did you know I was thinking about him?"

"Guessed." The cashier shrugged, bagging a carton of milk before continuing, "Also, you've been craning your head around like an owl ever since you came in. So that kinda tipped me off."

"Oh." Velvet blinked, before dragging a hand down her face. "Didn't realize I was being so obvious."

"Heh, no worries. I totally get it though." Swiping a carton of eggs, the cashier asked, "That was the first time you met Red, wasn't it? Yeah, he has a weird way of catching your attention with first impressions alone."

"Well, he does kinda stand out with the whole mask thing." Velvet hummed, "Is that his real name? Red?"

"As far as I can tell." The cashier shrugged, "That's what he prefers to call himself, so I wouldn't know. You sure you don't know him? He seems to know who you are."

"Yeah, that's something I've been trying to figure out. How often does he come by here?"

"I can tell you for sure that he's not a regular. He drops by every now and then. Mostly through a span of a few days to a few months" The cashier stroked her chin in thought, "Although he has started popping up more often lately."

Hearing that, Velvet leaned over the counter and got right up into the cashier's personal bubble, "Did he happen to come by since the last week we met?"

"Whoa, ease up girl." The cashier gently pushed Velvet away from her personal space, before resuming her job. "Sorry Miss, but he hasn't shown up since the last time you were here."

"Figures…" Velvet sighed with a bored expression.

"Geez, someone sure is interested despite only knowing each other for like, what, five minutes?" The cashier laughed, bagging the last item. "He leave that big of an impression on you?"

"I don't know." Velvet hummed as she grabbed her bags. "Maybe it's because I've been bored lately and just wanted to find an excuse to do something to distract myself. But it's like… There's something weird about him that pricks the back of my head, and I just can't stop thinking about him until I figure out what it is." She shook her head slightly and gave a sheepish smile. "Is that weird?"

"Nah, you're just the curious type."The cashier continued, "If I wasn't practically forced to take this dead end job, I'd probably go for it and try to follow the guy around just for funsies."

Velvet looked away in thought for a moment, before giving a considerate hum. "Maybe if I ever get the free time."

"Okay, that'll be eighty-five Liens and seventy-two Fiats. Would you like to sign up for special deals and coupons, miss?" The cashier asked.

Velvet raised an eyebrow at the question, but answered, "No, but thanks for reminding me about it. I guess."

As the rabbit Faunus carried her bags and walked out the store, the fox girl waved at her and shouted, "Hey, good luck on finding that guy! Hope you go on crazy adventures like they do in those action movies!"

Velvet wordlessly waved back, leaving the store and headed back to her dormitory room.

As she walked outside, she gave one more thorough peek around the vicinity, just in case you-know-who happened to pass by again,

So far, nothing.

With another sigh, she went on her merry way home from groceries to prepare for more menial tasks again, probably destined to repeat this vicious cycle for another couple years to come.

"Get back here, you filthy animal!"

The racoon-tailed boy breathed heavily as he tightened his clutch onto his stolen sandwich, desperate to get as far away as possible from his pursuer.

Hoping to distract the man chasing him, he quickly tipped a nearby trash-can behind him as he ran by.

To his dismay, the grown adult effortlessly kicked the obstacle out of the way and continued his chase.

"Stop! Thief!"

Despite the man's screams for him to stop, it had the opposite effect on the child however, as it was just more incentive to run even faster.

He couldn't give up now, after all. It had been weeks since he was able to eat such a delectable meal like the footlong sandwich in his arms. At this point, he'd rather die than to dig out from a garbage bin for expired leftovers and scraps again.

So he ran.

"Oh damn it! I forgot to get the coffee mix!" Velvet slapped her forehead in frustration, as she turned around to walk back to the shop.

With a huff, she began mumbling to herself, "I lose my thoughts and go off daydreaming for just five minutes! Five min- and I've already forgotten to get the one thing that's essential to my partner's obsession." Tugging one of her bunny ears and wrapping it in a circle around her head, she grumbled, "That Red guy is more trouble than he's worth… I swear, I can be such an idiot sometimes! I can already hear Coco chewing me out-"

With one arm holding her grocery bag, she sternly positioned the other arm on her hip, as she mimicked her teammate's voice and mannerisms, "Our team name is literally the word 'coffee' Velvet! How do you even forget to buy coffee when it's on top of the list of our essential survival?! Out of all the weeks to forget, you did it on the week when we're going to need it the most?!" Dropping her act, she scoffed, "It's the same every week."

As Velvet rounded a corner, she was interrupted from her thoughts when she felt something collide with her feet, knocking her off balance and causing her to drop her groceries.

"OOF!" Velvet groaned, rubbing a sore spot on her face where she landed. Trying to get back up, she grabbed something soft.

Looking down at her hand, she realized it was a sandwich that she had grabbed. She blinked for a moment, confusion settling in as she didn't remember ever buying a sandwich during her shopping session today. Now she could only wonder how she managed to get her hands on one in the first place.

"Uh…"

"Give that back!"

She was slightly startled when the sandwich was yanked out of her hand so suddenly by a small boy in ragged and dirty clothes.

He was young, looked about twelve years old. Maybe younger. He gave her a look of fear while holding on so dearly to the sandwich, like it was his only lifeline. Looking a bit closer at his face, she noticed the small raccoon ears protruding out of his head. A Faunus, like her.

Based on the bruise on his face, Velvet guessed she must have bumped into him while she wasn't paying attention. How clumsy can you get?

"Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to bump into you!" Velvet calmly and politely apologized to him, hoping that she wasn't scaring him.

Clearly, it didn't appear to work as the boy was slowly backing away from her. It was like he was expecting her to attack him for making any wrong sudden movements.

Surely, she wasn't that scary, was she? I mean, she might not be the prettiest girl she ever knew, but her looks weren't bad enough to even scare off a kid, right? I mean, Coco always told her that she was cute...

Ugh, getting too overly sensitive about that.

Getting back on track, Velvet gave a small nod to the boy and began to pick up her bags, which miraculously didn't manage to spill anything at all.

Standing up, she recounted her items and gave a quick sigh of relief. Then she faced the boy and said, "Well, gotta get going. Sorry again!"

With that, the boy took that as his cue to run away from her as quickly as his tiny feet could take him.

Velvet blinked at the scene, feeling a sense of disappointment and wondered if she could have handled the scenario better somehow.

Shrugging in defeat, she turned around to make her way back to the shop. Before she was able to take another step however, she was suddenly pushed aside to feel her face crash into the concrete sidewalk for the second time today.

"OW! Goddammit!" Rubbing her sore face again, she was dismayed to look up and see that the contents of her grocery bags had actually spilled all over the floor this time.

"Seriously? This is just not my day…" she sighed.

"THIEF! STOOOP!"

Velvet's ears perked up as she heard the shout from the man who rudely pushed her down. Looking over at the sprinting man, she realized that he was running in the exact same direction that the sandwich kid was going.

Putting two and two together, she mumbled to herself with annoyance, "Oh bloody hell."

Glancing back and forth between her groceries that were strewn across the ground and the screaming man chasing the sandwich kid, she rolled her eyes before standing up to give chase. Something told her that a mess was about to start, and she was going to find herself wrapped around it.

A rock.

That was all it took to stop the boy in his tracks and let the man catch up to him. A tiny insignificant rock that made him stump his pinky toe and cause him to trip over.

All that effort to stealing his sandwich, all that running and heart-pumping fear, it all ended up for nothing because of a rock that he didn't notice until it was too late.

What was the old saying? Karma is a cruel mistress? No, he was pretty sure he got that mixed with something else.

The boy felt the back of his ragged shirt being pulled, lifting him up to the air. The next thing he knew, he felt the entire back of his body being smashed against the brick wall before sliding to the ground.

"You disgusting little street rat!" The man screamed in his face, the boy's nostrils overwhelmed by the stench of alcohol.

He saw the man's grubby hands reach out to grab him again, so he instinctively curled into a ball and protectively wrapped himself around his scuffed up sandwich.

"I've worked every single day to earn an honest living! Pouring blood, sweat, tears, all to pay my taxes and to keep a roof over my head. Every single meal I've ever gotten, I earned with my own money! But you think that you can just take what you want and get away with it?!"

The man struggled to force the boy to unwrap himself, the little racoon Faunus holding on tightly as if it was his very life on the line.

Enraged, the man gave no mercy and decided to kick the boy over.

The boy did not falter, and kept hold of his grip even as he tumbled away and slammed against the wall again.

"All you Faunus are exactly alike! You leech from honest and hardworking people, taking their livelihood and resources because you can't be bothered to actually earn anything yourself! You're all just ANIMALS!"

Before he could unleash his rampage on the poor boy, the man found himself weightless as he felt his feet suddenly lifted from the ground.

"What?!"

He moved his legs and arms around, struggling to drop himself back on the ground. No matter how hard he tried, it seemed that whatever was holding him up was much stronger than him.

"Don't even think about it." A girl's voice told him from behind.

He turned his head around, eyes wide as he saw a girl with brown rabbit ears effortlessly holding him up by the back of his shirt.

She gave a stern glare at him, before roughly flinging the grown man behind her.

The man grunted as he landed away from the two Faunus. He groaned, rubbing his injured sides, before scuttling backwards out of fear from the newcomer.

The Faunus boy took a peek from his position, surprised to see the same rabbit Faunus that he bumped into earlier has shown up out of nowhere to save him.

The girl kept up her menacing glare as she calmly walked up to the man who was fearing for his life.

He reached out a hand, as if to keep her away. "W-wait! I-I didn't mean it! I w-wasn't gonna do anything serious to him, r-really!"

The girl stopped, giving the man a once over in thought. Then she rolled her eyes at the pathetic sight and took out her purse.

She fished out two plastic cards and threw them at the man's feet, much to his confusion.

"That's forty Lien. Enough to pay for the sandwich and for any trouble he caused, alright? So just take the money, leave the kid alone, and go back to your sandwich shop or wherever you work at."

Both the boy and the man looked at her with surprise, not expecting this turn of events.

The man stood up steadily enough, before cautiously inching forward to try and reach out for her money, clearly expecting a dirty underhanded trick from the Faunus.

When he saw that the girl wasn't about to try anything suspicious, in fact looking quite impatient at his meek manner, he decided to fuck it, scooping up the dough and running outta there like an alcoholic in a family home counseling session.

The young boy sat up from his fetal position, gently rubbing the sore parts of his sides before staring at stranger warily.

Taking a deep breath, the bunny girl let out a huge sigh before turning around and giving the young boy a comforting smile that she really hoped wouldn't scare him away like the last time.

Judging by his expression though, seems like she wasn't doing the job very well.

She walked over to the boy and lowered herself to her knees to reach his level. "Are you alright, kid? You injured or anything? Hurt anywhere at all?"

He pushed himself away from the girl, still holding on tightly to his sandwich.

The girl winced at his reaction, putting her hands up in a placating manner. "Hey, whoa, it's alright kid. I'm not gonna hurt you or take your sandwich or anything like that."

The raccoon Faunus kept his wary eyes on her, not sure what to do for his next move. Would she chase after him if he tried to run?

Setting her hands down, she smiled patiently. "Don't be scared. I won't do anything. The sandwich is all yours now, I promise."

Still keeping his eyes on her, he decided to give the girl the benefit of doubt and bring his sandwich in front of him. Not even letting her out of his sight once, he slowly took the first bite of his ill gotten goods.

The girl watched him carefully as he began eating, his pace gradually quickening from steady bites to almost inhaling the entire thing like a starved racoon. Which he technically probably was.

Man, it's like the poor kid hasn't eaten anything in forever. Velvet frowned at the pitiful sight.

With how fast the kid was eating, it took only a couple moments before he started coughing from a stray piece going down the wrong hole.

The rabbit Faunus raised her eyes in alarm, crouching near him to pat him on the back, "Easy now, slow down. At this rate, it's all going to get stuck in between your throat before it can-"

She barely even touched him before the kid looked up and scurried away out of fear, protectively holding his morsel behind him. Tears welling in his eyes as he tried his best to not cough, only to end up making his coughing fit even worse.

"Okay, okay!" Velvet backed away as she held her hands up again, "I'm not going to touch you! Calm down!"

The boy was able to calm his coughing fit to a reasonable state before going back to stuffing the rest of his sandwich into his face.

Velvet watched on timidly, her rabbit ears lowered to the back of her head. For the rest of the time, she stood still and silent, not wanting to scare the kid anymore than she already has. He's probably been through enough as it is.

Finally, the boy swallowed the last of his food, his breath heavy from eating so quickly. Then he looked back to the girl that saved him.

Her eyes glinted up and she tried to give a smile again, hoping that she might be able to talk to him. "Are you okay?"

Without responding, the kid stood up and ran away from her as fast as he could.

Velvet could only blink stupidly, being left behind in the middle of a random alley in the streets.

With a sigh, she stood up from her spot and rubbed her forehead in annoyance. After all that and not a word of thanks? Typical.

Although feeling slightly dejected, she calmed down quickly. She wouldn't take it personally. He was just a kid after all, a starving one that didn't know any better. Velvet couldn't blame him for acting the way he did, especially in such a harsh environment like Vale.

If only, maybe, things were back to the way they were used to. Back before the Atlas Annexation. Would that kid still be here on the streets, stealing food from shopkeepers in order to survive? Or was that just wishful thinking on her part?

God, she wished things would change back to the way it was before. But it seemed like such an impossible dream nowadays, didn't it?

She was reminded of the words of the red masked man from last week.

"Anything is possible, even if the odds are against you. All it takes is one person to make a difference. That's what I believe, anyway."

Would it really be that easy though?

…

Velvet shook her head, dismissing the thought before beginning to leave.

She took out her Scroll to check the time, wondering if she still had long enough to go back and get new groceries before she needed to get back to the dorm.

Hm, she might be able to make it if she ran.

Nodding to herself, she pocketed away the Scroll and exited the alleyway-

"Alert! Hands in the air!"

Velvet froze in place as a group of Atlas Military robots surrounded her. "W-What?"

Everywhere in front of her, dozens of military robots stood and aimed their assault rifles directly at her. In a cold robotic voice, one of them shouted, "Faunus, hands in the air now! If you do not comply, we will respond with force!"

Eyes widened in fear, Velvet had no choice but to follow the order. She slowly raised her hands up, hoping not to attract anymore ire.

Two of the robots walked up to her before roughly pushing her around and cuffing her hands behind her. With each of them grabbing one arm, one of them read her rights, "Do not cause trouble. Come with us peacefully."

"What's going on?! What am I under arrest for?!" Velvet asked in panic, as she was being lead by the two robots.

"The Vale Police Department has received report of a White Fang member matching your description, assaulting a shop vendor. You are under arrest for assault, and under suspicion of aligning with known terrorist group White Fang."

Assault? White Fang member?! "No wait, please! I'm a Huntress-in-training studying at Beacon Academy! My name is Velvet Scarlatina! Check my Scroll for my ID!"

As Velvet reached the back of a police van, the two robots roughly pushed her inside, causing her to grunt at the impact.

"Your innocence will be determined by investigators. Please comply with authorities until further notice."

Before she could even respond, the door of the van closed on her before the van drove away. She could only watch helplessly from inside as she was carried to the police station, unable to reach her Scroll to call or inform anyone about what happened.

No good deed goes unpunished, it seemed.