Commission for elduderino966! They asked for team JNPR having fun together at the festival, playing different games and the like. I hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY.
Festival Of Fun
"Come on you lazy slow-pokes, let's goooo!"
"Nora, can't we just-"
"NOPE! No excuses! We're going out today and we're gonna have a grand old time! It'll be the Festival of Fun!"
"Ughhh..."
Despite her leader's complaints and the early hour on the lecture-less Saturday morning, Nora was already dressed and ready to tackle the day headfirst, as she always was.
She'd already quite literally dragged Ren out of bed and herded him to the student kitchen to begin making pancakes, and even Pyrrha was happily dressed and now sat on the edge of her bed, fastening the laces of her uniform's shoes.
"Nora's right!" she said pleasantly. "It's a lovely day today, Jaune. It'd be a waste to spend it inside, especially now that the festival's in full-swing! The fairgrounds have a plethora of events and activities for us to attend. We can't just sleep the day away!"
She finished tying her shoes and hopped off the bed, stretching her arms high above her head until her shoulders gave a few satisfying pops. Her crimson hair spilled all down her back from the base of her ponytail, its length besting that of her blazer and skirt.
Once she'd finished her stretches, she turned back to look at Jaune where he still lie disheveled in bed.
"Come on, sleepy-head," she chuckled. "You'd best get up now before-"
"Ren's finished making breakfast!" Nora declared. She'd just received his confirmation message on her scroll which she presently snapped shut. "Welp, I dunno about you guys, but I'm gonna go gorge myself so see ya!"
And with that, Nora burst out the door and tore off down the hallways.
Pyrrha cried out after her.
"Nora! Goodness, that girl is going to cause quite the uproar one of these days..."
"Doesn't she do that every day?" Jaune mumbled.
"Which is precisely why we should be on her tail to prevent any potential explosions. So come on now, get out of bed, Jaune. It'll be a fun day, I promise!"
As her leader groggily pushed himself up out of bed, Pyrrha sat on her own mattress and used her scroll to send a message to Ren:
Please save some for Jaune and I. We'll be there soon.
A moment later, the response came in:
I can try, but no promises.
Pyrrha smiled to herself as she imagined him trying to calm Nora down and stop her from trying to stuff ten pancakes into her mouth at once.
By the time Jaune had finally stumbled out of the bathroom dressed in his uniform, Pyrrha suspected there might've been two or three pancakes left for them. They headed down the hallway side by side, Jaune's pace sluggish and lethargic while Pyrrha stood tall and walked with a bit of a bound.
They arrived at the cafeteria, where Nora was already burping up a storm and sipping the leftover syrup off her plate.
Luckily for them, Ren had hidden away and saved a plate of pancakes, so Pyrrha and Jaune got to eat as well.
After their meal, Nora was the first one on her feet again.
"Come on, come on! You guys are waaay too slow. We're gonna miss all the cool stuff!"
"Cool stuff like what?" Jaune wondered, still slouching a bit. "There aren't any matches today, so what's the point of-"
"What's the point?!" Nora cried, clearly offended. "There are tons of points, okay! Like all the neat festival games you only get to play during... well, a festival! There's shooting games for your aim and there's games to test your strength and there are toooons of food stands. We've gotta try them all out!
"We'll get to experience the flavors of all the kingdoms! Some regions have better ways of preparing meat – Mistral is the best, in my opinion. Oh, but Atlas does a pretty good job with veggies, but then again, who cares about veggies right now? Festivals are times for sugar and junk food!"
As she rambled on and on about the various different things that could be done and the foods that could be eaten at a festival, Jaune realized what he'd gotten himself into by asking in the first place. He looked to Pyrrha and Ren for help, but the dark-haired boy merely shrugged mercilessly.
"I've gotta clean up," he said, picking up a few dirty plates. Which was his way of saying 'You're on your own, man.'
Pyrrha chuckled and picked up a few plates as well.
"I'll help you."
They gathered up the plates and left their leader to his fate for a moment.
Ren led the way to the kitchens where they deposited the plates into the sink. Pyrrha stacked hers neatly on top of his and turned on the faucet to rinse them a bit.
"So, are you excited about the festival, Ren?"
The boy gave a thoughtful smile.
"Maybe not as excited as Nora, but yes. We haven't been to one in a long time. This'll be our first in nearly ten years."
"That long?" Pyrrha was surprised, but she knew it wasn't her place to pry. "Well then, I'm glad you two can get to experience it again here at Beacon! I've been to plenty in my time, but never to the fairgrounds here. The way Nora talks about it, it sounds like it'll be a lot of fun!"
"With her here, even if it wasn't fun, she'd find a way to make it fun."
"You're absolutely right!"
They finished cleaning their dishes, and after a few minutes returned to their partners. Nora was still gabbing away without a care in the world, while Jaune was slumped over the table, lightly bashing his head against it. Pyrrha leaned over and put a hand on each of their shoulders.
"Alright, you two! Enough chit-chat! Let's go enjoy the festival!"
"About time!" Nora jumped up from her seat and headed straight for the exit doors. Ren followed more slowly, while Pyrrha and Jaune lagged behind.
But even the drowsy leader couldn't help but feel the sense of excitement as they stepped outside.
The morning air was warm and inviting, filled with the voices and chatter of the crowds already gathered on the fairgrounds.
There were people from all regions, human and Faunus alike, some dressed in student uniforms and some dressed casually.
Tents were set up all around, some for games and some for food. Picnic tables were dispersed throughout, and some stands had televisions or charging stations so people could watch the news.
But even more so than the sights and sounds, the air carried various scents of all kinds of food.
Nora was already walking around in circles, sniffing like a bloodhound as she distinguished what was what.
"Let's see, that's steak – probably from Mistral. Steamed pork? No wait, that's bacon. And oohhh the spices on that one are definitely Vale's specialty. And is that a whiff of Vacuo's famous bread I smell?"
Pyrrha giggled as she watched her teammate enjoying the many smells, though Ren had to stop her from wandering toward the food stands.
"Nora, we just ate," he reminded her. "Let's at least wait an hour before another meal, shall we?"
"Oh, alright. Until then we can play games! It looks like they're set up over there!" She pointed to a section of larger tents where there were colorful balloons floating in the breeze.
Pyrrha beamed a smile and swept her gaze around at them all.
"Well, you heard her! Let's go see what it's like!"
Nora marched at the head of the group, leading the way as though she'd done this a million times, despite it being her first time in years attending a festival. Ren followed behind, and Pyrrha didn't miss the smile on his lips. She knew he was happy to see Nora so excited.
Looking to her other side, she noticed that even Jaune had straightened himself up a bit and was now looking around with interest.
"Wow," he mumbled. "I've only really ever been to the food stands and the arena until now. Never knew there were games and stuff like that."
Pyrrha cast him a cheerful smile.
"There's a first time for everything. Let's enjoy ourselves!"
The first game they stopped at was a shooting kind. There was a level for younger children where little plastic guns needed to shoot water at a target. But there was also a more advanced level for teens and young adults, which used small bows and arrows and actual wooden targets.
Nora 'oohed' and 'aahed' at it for a moment before getting behind Pyrrha and nudging her forward.
"You should totally try it out, Pyrrha! It's basically got your name written on it!"
"Oh! I'm not sure..." Bashfully, she folded her hands in front of her midriff and kicked at the ground.
Jaune seemed uncertain about it, too.
"Yeah, uh... might be a little unfair if people were gonna compete against a world-renown champion, y'know?"
He must've hit the nail on the head, because Pyrrha seemed to shrink back.
Nora frowned. Her teammate was clearly interested in trying the game, but she didn't want to be judged because of her reputation. Surely, if she approached the stand, all of the other customers would leave and not want to risk playing against her.
Nora thought hard on how she could resolve the matter and get Pyrrha to play, tugging on her hand encouragingly.
"Aw, it's okaaay! Just try it once! You know you want to~"
"Nora, it's alright. I don't need to."
But before Pyrrha could become dejected enough to walk away, Ren stepped in and offered a solution.
"Then why don't we all play?"
The others perked up at the idea.
"Yeah," Jaune agreed. "That way, no one will feel intimidated by having to verse a champion."
"And~" Nora added. "You won't have to go easy on us! So whaddaya say, Pyrrha?" Her teal eyes looked up to meet emerald with a hopeful spark.
Pyrrha understood what they were trying to do for her. Her lip quivered a tiny bit before a smile formed once again. She lifted a hand to wipe the corner of her eye and nodded.
"Alright. If you all insist."
"We do!" Nora declared.
So they waited until the other customers had finished their round before stepping up. Jaune covered the fee for the team and all four of them got into position behind the wooden counter.
A stretch of several dozen yards stretched out across the grass in front of them, and at the ends were targets painted with the bullseye patterns. Once the owner gave the command to begin, they took aim and started firing their arrows. They'd have thirty seconds to score as many points as possible.
Nora whooped and shouted things like "Take that!" and "Victory shall be mine!" as she fired, though only a few of her arrows ever reached, mainly hitting above the bullseye.
Jaune was still struggling with his bow, trying to hold it upright. Once he finally got it positioned the way he wanted it, he put an arrow in place and pulled back, but it ended up wobbling and flopping to the ground only a foot or so in front of him.
Ren was landing more shots than Nora, but his arrows mainly struck the sides of the target.
Naturally, Pyrrha only scored the bullseye. She aimed and fired with flawless precision, striking the center of the bullseye so many times her arrows began to overlap themselves.
After thirty seconds, the owner blew a whistle and called for them to stop firing. He counted up the points.
Only one of Jaune's arrows had connected, and he was given 2 points for his efforts.
Nora was awarded 66 points while Ren was scored at 87.
As for Pyrrha, ten of her arrows were imbedded in the center of the bullseye, and there had been no room left in the spot for the other two she'd managed to fire, so she was awarded a total of 118 points and declared the undisputed victor.
She blushed as the man commended her for her expert skills. Nora praised Pyrrha in her own way, by throwing her arms around her in a tight hug.
"You did it, Pyrrha! You're so amazing!"
"I assure you, I only found it enjoyable because you were all there with me!" Pyrrha laughed contentedly and hugged her friend in return.
It was then the owner of the stand went over to Pyrrha and asked her which prize she would like.
"Prize?" She repeated, baffled. "Oh! It's alright! I don't need a-"
"Ooooh no you don't missy!" Nora chided. "You won fair and square and you're getting a prize!"
"But-"
"No buts!" Nora gave a push to her friend's back and guided her toward the prize selection behind the stand.
There were all kinds of large plush toys and banners or posters for the festival.
In the end, Pyrrha chose a poster since it could be hung in their dorm room for all of them to enjoy. The man handed it to her and she tucked it underneath her arm as they headed off.
After that, they all decided to play games together.
They played balloon darts where they were all given a different color they needed to aim at. The breeze always thwarted them and made the balloons move, but in the end, Ren was the victor.
He ended up getting a bushel of balloons for a prize. With a quiet smile he handed them all to Nora. She squealed and hugged him tightly before tying them all around her wrist.
Jaune's game of choice was a bean bag toss game, as he was determined to win at least one game today. Pyrrha decided to throw with her left hand, Nora aimed with her eyes closed, and Ren tossed the bags high and gave them each a spin.
Even so, Jaune couldn't win for the life of him, and he slumped over the counter whining in defeat. As it turns out, a little girl who had won the children's match tapped his arm and gave him a yellow balloon to make him feel better.
By noon, the team was walking around the fairgrounds with their prizes, which consisted of over ten balloons and Pyrrha's poster.
They stopped to have lunch – or at least tried to. Nora couldn't choose which stand she wanted to go to, so they visited several different ones and got bits of food from each.
They tried everything, ranging from kebobs and cotton candy to sandwiches and funnel cakes.
Nora ate to her heart's content, but her satiation didn't stop her from dragging them off to play one more game.
"I have to try it," she told them. "You guys understand, right?"
The others looked ahead to the stand she had set her sights on a bit nervously. Pyrrha bit her lip and nodded, Jaune gulped audibly, and Ren sighed. He put a hand on his partner's shoulder and spoke seriously.
"Just... try not to break anything. Or anyone."
"No promises. Hold my balloons!" Nora thrust the strings at him and let go of them right away, leaving Ren fumbling to grab them all before they could drift away.
Nora skipped over to the desired stand.
Of course, it was the Hammer Game, the one where lines of people were given chances to swing a large plastic hammer down onto a target to see how high they could send the weight.
Since this was a festival whose demographic was trained students and fighters, the weight was as heavy as a large boulder, and the structure stretched up to the sky as high as the tallest tent.
The levels of strength from lowest to highest were named after Grimm. Starting at the bottom, they read: Nevermore, Boarbatusk, King Taijitu, Beowolf, Ursa, Death Stalker, and at the very top was Goliath.
Nora dragged Jaune and Pyrrha onto line with her, trapping one of each of their arms beneath hers. Jaune groaned.
"Aw, come on! How come Ren doesn't have to do it?"
"Because, silly, I already know he'd make it up to King Tajitu. I wanna see what you guys would get!"
"Aw man..." Jaune sounded as though he was about to lose his lunch, but Pyrrha seemed rather eager to give this a try.
They moved up on line pace by pace as each person before them tried their hand.
The average for the hits was around the King Taijitu and Beowolf levels, though there was one girl who managed to get it up as far as Ursa.
When Jaune's turn finally came, the man in charge of the game handed him the hammer. Naturally, Jaune dropped it immediately, right onto his shoe. Squawking and howling and trying not to curse in front of the children nearby, Jaune composed himself as much as possible and straightened his back.
"You can do it!" Pyrrha cheered.
The leader mustered up his strength and did his best to lift the hammer. With a cracky shout, he brought it down. It barely grazed the side of the target, and the weight only gave a small bounce, not even reaching the Nevermore level.
The owner let him try again since he'd missed, and the second time, Jaune managed to hit the target in the center. The weight just barely rose up to the Nevermore level, but that was good enough for Jaune.
Triumphantly, he held out the hammer to hand over to Pyrrha, but Nora slammed a hand to his back and yelled "Good job!" and caused him to drop the hammer onto his other foot.
Pyrrha helped him hobble away before she returned to the hammer and lifted it easily. She brought it above her head and aimed it with care, then grunted and brought it down with force.
The weight shot up, easily passing the first three levels, then slowing down around the Beowolf area. It just managed to tap the bell on the Death Stalker level before sliding back down.
The crowd was in awe, as that was the highest they'd seen it go all day.
"Good job!" Jaune called to her.
"Thank you!" She blushed, then handed the hammer to Nora.
As soon as the crowd saw who was holding the hammer now, they gasped. Those who knew better stepped back several paces, and parents made sure to move their children out of the way.
Nora giggled innocently as she accepted the hammer and Pyrrha stepped away.
Unfortunately for Nora, this game didn't allow any running or jumping starts, so she just flung the weapon up above her head. Her eyes glinted, and her lips curled up into a smirk to reveal her teeth. She took in a deep breath before letting it out in a determined battle cry:
"QUEEN. OF. THE. CASTLE!"
And she slammed down the hammer, very nearly cracking the target as the ground beneath their feet shuddered.
Her powerful hit sent the weight soaring, high above the Ursa, past Pyrrha's score at the Death Stalker, climbing and climbing until it struck the highest bell.
The crowd erupted in cheers as the weight came back down, dropping into place and making the entire machine shake.
Nora swung the hammer around once before politely handing it back to the owner with a grin. She then turned to the crowds and bowed low.
"Thank you, thank you all! I'll be here all semester! But the stand will only be here till the end of the week!"
She ensured the stunned owner that she didn't need any prize "other than the sense of victory!" and then pranced off back to her waiting teammates.
Pyrrha praised her for the impressive display while Ren thanked her for not breaking any of the equipment.
Nora took possession of her balloons once more, and the team continued on.
They sauntered around the fairgrounds, playing a few more games here or there, and stopping to buy a few more snacks.
But by the evening, all of them were beginning to feel the effects of the long day. Jaune was dragging his feet, but trying not to rain on anyone's – particularly Nora's – parade by being the first one to request going back inside. Pyrrha took the liberty upon herself and gently tapped her friend's shoulder.
"Nora? What do you say to going back inside for supper soon?"
The ginger-haired girl spun enthusiastically on her heel.
"Oooh yeah! Great idea! I'll help Ren make us some supper this time!"
The boy nodded.
"Just don't confuse the salt with sugar again."
"Roger that!"
With a salute to them, Nora began leading the way back to the school. She had no use for her balloons inside the dorms, so she decided to hand one out to each child she passed by on the way back.
Pyrrha and the boys smiled as they watched her, handing out the colorful strings with a soft smile, so the people who didn't know her personally would never have guessed she was one of the most vicious freshmen on campus.
Once she'd given away the last balloon to a little boy, she clapped her hands and grinned.
"There! Sorry to give away the balloons you won for me, Ren."
"It's fine. Seems you enjoyed making those kids happy."
"Yeah! Well, that and I was getting kinda staticy. Y'know, electricity semblance 'n all."
As they neared the school again, Pyrrha stole a glance at her leader. He looked tired, but like he'd had a good time.
"Did you enjoy yourself today, Jaune? Was it worth getting out of bed for?"
He shrugged.
"Yeah, I guess... Naw, I was just trying to sound cool and aloof. I had a lotta fun. And I know it wouldn't have been this great without you guys. It was great."
"I'm glad!" Pyrrha beamed. "I had a grand time as well!"
"And now time for dinner!" Nora sang.
She slipped one arm around Ren's elbow, and the other around Pyrrha's and started skipping off with them. Pyrrha just barely managed to loop her arm around Jaune's and take him along for the merry skip to the doors.
It was a successful day overall.
A/N: I don't write JNPR very often, but I do enjoy them! It's fun to write them together, and this fic let me write them in different pairs together at times. And I wanted to try and hint a bit at Nora's and Ren's past. I hope I write them all okay!
If you like my work, you can support me on as Kiria Alice!
Please review!