Old and new meetings [Private]

It has only been a week yet Springwood's Retreat had already seen a couple customers, people from the nearby two curious about the new structures that was practically built overnight and weary travellers visiting the area alike entered through the doors that lead to Yuki's little abode. Gladly she welcomed them and offered the few yet notable services she had with her current instalations. Reservations were also made by some who had to be elswhere at the time yet clearly wanted to stay for the night. It brought great joy to the faunus to see that she had so far a successful beginning, hoping things would only get better as time would go on.

While she was filling a reservation for the next weekend while standing behind the tall counter of the reception, the oak front doors opened widely to let in a short and very old man. He cackled as he removed his hat and looked up to the girl who was smiling from ear to ear at his presence. "Mr. Maxwell!" the fox squealed in excitement as she recognize the man nearing the centenial and nearly jumped over the counter to greet him with a hug which he happy returned. "Oh Yuki my dear, it's good to see you! It's been too long. Just look at you! Grown into a fine woman you sure did! How Lucile would be happy to see you now..." The two smiled to each other before the blonde grabbed the bag her honored guest was carrying before leading him to the main room. They both sat on one of the many couches before Maxwell grabbed Yuki's hands with his own, looking at her with pride. "I'm so glad I could see the day you would open your own inn! I remember when I was a little boy and saw the grand opening of your great-great-grand-father... he would have been as proud as I am right now for sure."

Jeremiah Maxwell was an old friend of the Yamashita family who had been present to every innoguration of the family's many proprieties that he was alive to see. Which meant that he knew Yuki when she was only a little girl and he would always tell her stories of his travels with his late wife Lucile. It's been year now from last time Maxwell visited the blonde girl, but of course Yuki was partly at fault here this time. "You know, I went to visit you and your parents last week, guess my face when I learned that someone had already left to follow her own dreams!" He cackled before reaching into his bag. "When your mom told me where you were, I made a stop before coming straight here. The road was long but it's absolutely worth it." The old man handed over a red bottle to Yuki, which was an expensive bottle of sake that the faunus loved. She hugged him tightly, tears rolling down her cheeks. "Thank you Maxwell, thank you so much!" "Now now girly! Don't you start crying! You have a job to do, customers to serve and they don't have to see you in that state! Talking of customers, I'd like a room please miss!" He cackled once more before Yuki lead him to his room, offering to have dinner together later. He was obviously going to nap the rest of the afternoon so he wouldn't be able to sleep early tonight. He waved a second bottle in front of her before she left him alone, telling her that they would share this one while they eat and that the second one was hers and hers alone. Leaving the man to rest she returned to the reception, wiping her tears before getting ready, she could see the silhouette of someone through the window as they made there way to the front door.

As part of her daily routine, Maestus made it a point to always know exactly where everything she considered "her territory" was.  She wouldn't know what to think of herself if she got lost in the town she called home, which is why she was almost furious with herself when a certain building next to a hill caught her eye.  What annoyed her the most was that, although she recognized the area around her quite well, there was an entire building that she didn't even know existed.  Her head twitch slightly to the right once, one of her tell tale signs of frustration, and she angrily made her way towards the building. "Seriously... I have to get it together."

As she made her way to the entrance, she was too preoccupied with being mad at herself to even take notice to the strange architecture of the building before she made it to the door.  Forgetting that she had a lot of mass behind her, being made of steel and all, and that her strength was off the charts compared to any other being, she practically threw the door open by accident.  She flinched, hoping that she didn't cause any damage to the thing like she usually did.  This quick sense of worry snapped her out of her anger, getting her to look around at the building she was in, immediately confusing her.  She had never seen a building like this in a long time.  Most of the places she's been have been made out of stone and maybe had carpet.  The only completely wooden place she's been in was her 'father's' home, since he lived way out in the middle of nowhere with no money.  Her only hope at getting some answers about where this place came from and what it was would be the person in front of her, who Maestus hoped wasn't freaked out by her aggressive appearance.  She hesitated at first, but she figured it would be best to give off a stronger and confident tone, just to show that she wasn't actually worried about her situation, even if she was.  "You. Do you own this place? I've never seen it before."  She hated having to act tough, especially in front of strangers, but she was too confused and frustrated to think clearly at the moment.

If there was anything that Yuki would have expected her newest customer to look like, it surely wouldn't have come close to what the individual was actually like. Tall, shiny with golden accents all over and an imposing presence. The fact that this strange figure nearly tore down the front door didn't help to not make them intimidating. But this wasn't going to be something that would scare Yuki, she had seen really scary people in the past and he may have not looked like it, but Maxwell could be a very dangerous old man. That is something she would never forget.

Looking at the individual standing in front of her, it wasn't hard to understand that they were one of those reknown androids that Bellmuse was known for. Atlas had made it commun to see robotic soldiers work as security or for military purposes, but after talking to some locals here in Springwood as well as with customers, Bellmuse had more than its share of sentient robotic being. Apparently there was at least one thing that Atlas wasn't number one in.

As the newly arrived individual first spoke, the faunus was slightly taken aback by how clear the voice was. No distortion or other electronic effect, it sounded like any other girl's voice which also gave Yuki an indication as to what to refer her new potential customer. The metalic woman asked if she was the owner of the place, to which the blonde answered with a nod before her eyes grew wide as a realization washed upon her: she had no service to provide for an android! They didn't need to drink nor eat and sleeping was probably a waste of time, plus her hotsprings were probably hazardous to them as well. How could she claim to be the best innkeeper if there was an entire group of people she couldn't serve? She had to find something... maybe it was it, this was fate that brough this android to her inn to make it better with opinions and ideas!

Coming back to reality from her thoughts of failures, Yuki smiled to her guest while gesturing around her, vines slowly moving according to the girl's own movement. "I arrived a couple days ago and built this place pretty quickly, although the term "grow" would probably be more appropriate." The entrepreneur's smile that she had some sadness to it, made more evident by the tone of her voice as she was about to explain the current situation. "If you are here for the services I offer, I'm afraid I have nothing that could satisfy someone of your... origin? Unless you're looking for a nice place to relax I don't have much else for androids. I would gladly hear any suggestion you may have to improve future visits ma'am!" Yuki stepped to the side of her counter to be fully visible before bowing as an apology.

Whatever confusion Maestus did have was only increased when the blonde faunus answered her questions.  How does one grow a building?  Another thing that confused her was how the only thing the owner of the building offered her was a place to relax because she was an android, but she didn't even know what her being an android had to do with the services here.  An awful thought started to make it's way into Maestus's head.  "Nothing for androids?  Are you trying to say what I think you are?"  She only met a small amount of people that were actually like this, but she was starting to get a bad feeling about this, thinking that this place might not be too friendly to her kind.  She clicked her claws against her sides once, stepping closer to the faunus.  Come to think of it, a faunus discriminating against somebody else would be a strange turn of events, if she was remembering how society worked correctly.

Now that she was closer, Maestus visibly sized up the girl, although she wasn't sure what knowledge she'd gain from it.  If this person was actually against androids, she'd have to have some sort of strength behind her to back it up, but as far as she could tell, she wasn't armed or armored in any way.  Maestus looked her dead in the face before saying, "Do your best."  She pulled out some cash she had saved up from a small compartment in her left arm, holding it out to the owner as payment.  Maestus figured it'd be a good chance to figure out what this place provides and if this person was offending her on purpose or not.

Apparently the way that Yuki expressed herself didn't appear to do any good to the situation. She wasn't too sure at first as to why, but the tone the android took made it clear that she wasn't happy with what she had just heard. Thinking back on her choice of words to understand, the faunus was pulled back from her train of thoughts when she was handed money from her guest. It seemed like she wasn't going to leave, which was good news as it would give the entrepreneur more time to find something to offer the woman while also figuring out what exactly was going on.

Then it struck her, Yuki finally understood what the android was meaning to say which made the faunus extremely embarrassed. She was in no way racist but could understand the confusion. Waving her hands in front of her she would explain herself. "No no no! You got it all wrong! I have no proper service to offer to your kind simply because I never thought about it!" The blonde took a deep breath to calm herself before going into the details of how she came to Bellmuse.

"See, I'm from Vale and there, the closest they have to your kind are remote-controled robots for security purposes. Some were militarized, but none are truly sentient. I came here to Bellmuse to open my inn because no one in my family ever did. We have about a dozen inns in each kingdom, but I'm the first that came to settle here. I only learned recently about the android population, so I couldn't prepare properly. When I finally arrived it unfortunately slipped my mind... but still today I don't know what I could do to make your experience memorable in my establishment. From what I was told, you don't need to drink, to eat or sleep which is at the core of my services. The other thing I have are hotsprings which unless you are safe when submerged, I don't see what I can do... Believe me, I'd love to serve you the same way I serve my human and faunus customers, but we have different needs and it's hard for me to know what you could want from a place like this, which is why I'm highly open to suggestions."

Yuki took another deep breath as she nearly didn't breath in this long explanation. She may have spoken a bit too fast as well, but she hoped the message was clear. She didn't want to be disrespectful to her guest and her kind, she just lacked the knowledge to properly serve them.

As the faunus girl frantically explained herself to Maestus, the android began to relax slightly.  At least this person had some reasoning as to why she might have seemed racist, being a foreigner herself, but she was still telling Maestus that there wasn't much that she could do for her here.  This however, did not deter her from seeing what this whole building was about.  So far, she didn't even know exactly what the services provided here were, just that they had to do with eating, drinking, and sleeping, all of which Maestus had no need to do.  "Listen... whatever your name is.  I don't know exactly what this building is..." she said, still holding her money out to the faunus, "But I have money. Money I am giving to you.  Money that you accept in exchange for your services."

Normally she'd be a bit more frugal with her money, and she wasn't even sure how much this place would take for their services, but she needed answers, no matter how useless they might be to her.  Most living people like money, right?  Maestus couldn't remember a single person that would say no to being offered any amount of money.  "I don't need to eat, but I can.  I don't need to drink, but I can... I haven't tried sleeping before."  Suddenly a thought popped into her head.  How does sleeping even work?  All she knew about it was that people would close their eyes for a painfully long time, but somehow they didn't find it boring or a chore, even if it was something that they had to do. "If you have a place that's just perfectly quiet or calm, that'd be enough for me to stay for days.  Having a place to be where I won't be bothered is all I need from you."

Maestus was tired of having to explain to this girl that all she wanted was to see what was up with this place, so she settled for making an excuse to stay.  She was already irritated, and this began to show as the gold on her body started to glow very faintly.  Whenever this happened, most people thought of it as a threat, but it was more of an involuntary reaction, a warning system that was built into her.  "Just show me around, alright? You're starting to stress me out."

While she had been in the business for years if she counted all those time helping around her parents' inn, it appeared that the faunus had forgot the one thing to always do first: introducing herself. Bowing her head slightly as an apology she proceeded to reveal her name and would continue by explaining what was this place to her guest. "Right... my name is Yuki and this is my inn, the Springwood's Retreat. I offer a place for people to have a meal, wether it be breakfast, lunch or dinner while also providing rooms for those who wish to stay the night. I also love making tea which is available all the time for those who want some. Lastly I have three hotsprings near the top of the hill behind the inn where people can relax in the warmth of the water. No television, no radio or video games, this place is somewhere to relax. Most of my customers are pretty old, others are here on vacation and stay the night while during the day they go fishing in the nearby lake. I have a writer that came here in the search of a muse, I think he found it as he still hasn't left his room."

Yuki hoped that she has explained what her inn offered to the android woman while being a little curious as to how she could both eat and drink without any visible mouth. Maybe she was wearing some sort of helmet or that at least the face opened to some extent to make way for the food. It was hard to think clearly while the money was being waved in front of her, so Yuki picked up the bills given to her before counting them. It was way too much! With that she could have stayed for weeks at the very least. There was no way Yuki could accept such an amount just like this, but she'd wait to see what the woman would do before handing it back, not wanting to be disrepectful and straight up giving it back and have this gesture be misunderstood as a refusal.

Deciding to give the android a tour, Yuki placed the money in a pocket on the inside of her yukata before stepping into the next room which was the dinning hall. Low table, inches from the ground with pillows all around them were filling the room with one of the wall made entirely of glass to present a great view of the lake. "This is where the customers eat and are served tea. If they wish they can have their meal in their room without problem, but most come here to chat with each others." The faunus then lead the way to the other big room which had comfortable sofas and chairs all around. "This is the living room, just a place to relax while freeing the tables of the dinning area. Upstairs are the rooms where people sleep in. They're pretty simple with a bed, a desk with a private bathroom. The last thing I could show you would be the hotsprings which are outside." Yuki hoped that she wasn't going too fast with her tour while also hoping she wasn't too much of a bother with how much she was talking. The girl always enjoyed having nice long chat with customers.

Maestus watched as Yuki put all of Maestus's cash into her pockets, not telling her how much it would cost to stay for any amount of time, just taking it all.  Before jumping to conclusions, she waited to see what she was going to do and if there was any sign of her giving back some money as change.  As Maestus watched her, Yuki showed no signs that she was going to give back any of the money she received, continuing to show Maestus around the inn and explaining each room.  The gold on her body began to glow a dark molten color, this time being clearly visible to anybody who glanced at her.  Maestus reached her hand out and grabbed Yuki by the shoulder.  Forgetting her own strength, she didn't even think about how she might be crushing the bones in her shoulder.

She held out her hands before uttering out, "I'm staying for one night.  If you're going to tell me that all the money I gave you is for one night, I might think you were trying to rob me."  Holding her other hand out for her whatever cash she needed back, she began to think about what she had just done.  After almost making her panic from a misunderstanding, Maestus had just threatened her, probably bruising her shoulder in the process as well.  Regretting her words near instantly, she let go of Yuki's shoulder, still holding her hand out for her money.  "I'm sorry, I've just been stressed out lately.  Alright, let's start again.  I'm Maestus, a student at the academy here."  The glow on her chassis began to calm down along with Maestus as she decided on what she was going to do at the inn.  "What's a hotspring? Are they relaxing?"

Yuki was taken by immediate surprise when her metalic guest grabbed her by the shoulder and stopped her in her track. The force by which she was held was intense and caused pain to the faunus, making her flinch in the process. Grabing her assaillant's wrist and trying to remove her hand from her -to no avail- the innkeeper tried her best to keep her voice down nonetheless wanting to avoid her other customers to be unnecessarely involved in the situation. '"Let me go already!" did the girl spoke before realizing the extent of the situation which seemed to be once again a misunderstanding.

Bringing her hand on her shoulder immediately as the android let go, Yuki couldn't help but glare at the woman. Stressed out or not, it wasn't a reaction to have upon a stranger, especially if she was a student at the academy for huntsmen that was on the island. The owner would answer Maestus' question, but first she figured that it would be best if both of them were on the same page. "Look, I was going to hand you your money back. I was waiting to know what service you would have made use of before giving back the rest. How could I possibly rob you when I got nowhere to go but here? Not worth losing everything I worked for anyway, and money ain't what I'm after in life either. I just though you could have felt insulted if I refused to pick the money..."

Letting out a sigh, the blonde girl massaged her shoulder for a second before getting the money out of her pocket and handed it back, minus the cost for a night. "There, your money back, I only kept the cost for one night, which isn't much really. As for your question, a hotspring is as the name suggest, a pool of water warmed to a comfortable temperature to relax your body, some say it relaxes their soul too. It's basically a glorified public warm bath. I got three springs, one reserved for my female clientele, one for men and the other is mix for the couples and those rare times when families show up. If you want I can show them to you and if you decide to use them... it'd be on the house. I think I'll have a dip myself." Yuki would wait to see what Maestus would do or say and simply stood there, her gaze still being half a glare. While it was usualy hard to make her mad, attacking her or her customers was one way. She understood that it was partly her fault, but still, words would have done the trick.

After being told to let go, Maestus felt a wave of guilt go over her as Yuki rubbed her shoulder in pain.  Although it may not seem this way, she wasn't trying to cause so much trouble for anybody, but it seemed that she kept misreading each situation, jumping to conclusions when there was nothing to worry about.  "Oh god, I'm sorry.  I'm really not making it easy for us to get along, am I?  I wasn't trying to hurt your shoulder or anything, it's just the way I'm built. . ."  After admitting her mistakes, Maestus would look to the floor out of embarrassment, holding her right arm with her left hand the way a guilty kid would.  It wasn't easy for her to apologize, seeing how she normally thought that she had enough reasoning behind each action to compensate for any error, but this time was different.  She was just flat out in the wrong here.  After a moment of silence, Maestus would let go of her arm and bring her head back up as an idea came to mind.

After listening to Yuki's description of a hot spring, she wondered what a relaxing version of water would feel like.  Maestus wasn't sure what other androids experienced when faced with any type of physical stimulus, but she liked to believe that she felt things in the same way that human beings did.  She doesn't remove her hand from a stove because a signal tells her that she should, she does it because it's startling and painful.  That being said, she wondered if she could experience a hot spring the same way a living person could. "How about this?  We can both go to the hot spring and we can start over from there.  I'm easier to get to know when I'm relaxed, so this might be a better option than standing around."  Content with this idea, Maestus continued to wonder what the water would feel like.  She never tried going too deep in any body of water before, on account of her sinking no matter how hard she tried to stay afloat.  Taking herself back from her thoughts, Maestus turned her head to Yuki and asked, "How about it?"