Jaune Arc fidgeted with his scroll as he waited. The booth at Mudka's Protein Extravaganza was developing quite a history. At this booth, Pyrrha had defended his honor from Weiss. At this booth, Ruby had given him that pep talk that had changed his whole perspective about his changing status at Beacon. And now, for some reason, he was meeting Blake's boyfriend. He didn't know how he should feel.

Weiss and Ruby had both raved about the guy. They said he was smart, funny, friendly. A real nice guy. Then it turned out he wanted to meet Jaune one on one. To talk. About stuff. Like...Weiss and Pyrrha stuff. He almost called it off then and there, but Weiss had begged - literally on her knees, so it wasn't as if he could say no.

"Mr Arc?" a voice interrupted his thought. Jaune looked up and saw a short faunus with rounded ears and saddest green eyes he had ever seen. He stood with his hands behind his back.

"Uh...sorry," Jaune replied, "I'm meeting someone. But could I get another water?"

The faunus smiled, "I'm sure you can, although I presume you'll have to ask a waiter. My name is Basil Rathbone. May I join you?"

Jaune tripped over himself verbally for a second or two, "I..uh, ah, oh. Basil, hey! I um, you're….not what I expected."

Basil raised an eyebrow, "Not a hairless yellow-skinned troll with a bullwhip?" Basil smiled. Then his smile faded and he looked sad for a moment. Then he shook his head from side to side and sat down.

"Before we begin, " Basil began, "Allow me to set you at ease. My reason for asking you here is because I am concerned. On your behalf."

Jaune's forehead wrinkled, "You're...worried about me?" it wasn't that Jaune had never experienced that before. But since all this craziness had started with Weiss and Pyrrha, everyone just wanted to high-five, fist-bump, and take pictures with him.

"I...really? I mean, why?" Jaune replied.

Basil looked down at the table between them for a moment before looking back up at Jaune, "A...small number of minor details came up when Weiss was visiting with us. They led me to believe that Pyrrha...and to a lesser extent Weiss, have roped you into playing a role you might not wish to be playing."

Jaune swallowed. There weren't very many details about his sex life Jaune was comfortable with people knowing about. Actually he was even starting to be less comfortable with people knowing it existed than he'd ever thought he would be.

Jaune scratched the back of his neck, "He he...well, um...it's definitely been a crazy time. But I really like being with Weiss and Pyrrha. I never really imagined being with more than one girl at the same time. But it's...I don't know...a lot more normal than I ever would have thought."

Basil nodded, "Normal...perhaps. In that you're doing what's required of you and getting rewarded with sex and status. "

Jaune's eyes went wide, "Uh what? I don't...maybe Weiss didn't tell you…" he stopped. If Weiss didn't share that information, Jaune's sure as hell was not going to.

"They play the role of slaves groveling at your feet and you play the role of their master. Am I far off?" Basil asked.

Jaune hunched and blushed. His face screwed up into what might have been real pain, "No...not really."

"And you think that that means you are getting what you want?" Basil continued.

Jaune's confusion broke him out of his embarrassment, "Uh...run that by me again?"

Basil took a deep breath and sighed, "Oh Jaune. I'm really not sure where to begin except to say that Dominants and Tops are allowed to have Limits as well. Just because Weiss or Pyrrha want something doesn't mean you have to do it if it makes you uncomfortable. "

Something inside Jaune relaxed...a tension he hadn't known was there. It had been building since Pyrrha first pulled out her suitcase full of sex-toys she used to torture Weiss. It turned out Weiss really, legitimately enjoyed having someone hurt her until she cried, but...Jaune couldn't bring himself to think about sex with tears streaming down a girl's face. Pyrrha had seemed disappointed when he told her that. She had wanted Weiss to….perform while being tortured, but that had been way over the line for him.

It hadn't been easy for him to tell them no. Even when Pyrrha had said over and over that she wanted to do anything and everything he said, she'd still seemed disappointed when he hadn't wanted to do that. It hadn't been Weiss's fault. She clearly loved to be made to grovel and beg and get flogged and spit on, but Jaune hadn't felt the same pressure coming from her as he had from Pyrrha.

"From...what I understand," Basil continued gently, "Pyrrha loves you very much, and much of her enthusiasm is probably nothing more than the novelty of new love, but it is up to you to set and enforce your own boundaries. Even though it does seem like Pyrrha's desire for Total Power Exchange is a genuine one, her understanding of that lifestyle is limited. And she is making mistakes that could harm you all."

Jaune looked away from Basil at nothing in particular. Basil endured the silence with him. Pyrrha had been pushing him into things he wasn't comfortable with. It wasn't the kind of peer pressure he was used to. It wasn't a knowing smirk and jab with an elbow. She hadn't said, "Come on…" over and over with a playful voice. But as Jaune got to know this new side of her, he'd started to recognize the desperate need inside of her. After everything Pyrrha had done for him denying her even one thing felt like a crime.

But if she were going to hurt herself and maybe Weiss and him too...well he had to do something about that.

Jaune turned back to Basil, "What do I do?" he asked.

"I've...prepared some documents. Mostly a number of contracts and essays. They should give you a better framework for how to live this lifestyle safely than whatever patchwork of romance novels Pyrrha has been reading." Jaune's scroll beeped to acknowledge the receipt of the files. There were several dozen….

"I...I hope I can get Pyrrha to read these...she's so obsessed with doing whatever I tell her that she'll probably sign her name to anything without even reading it."

Basil rotated his head and regarded Jaune with his right eye more than than his left. His brow furrowed and he shrugged, "Have you...considered ordering her to read them?"

Jaune stared at Basil. The thought had not, in fact, occurred to him.

"If you believe it appropriate, " Basil continued, "You could tell her that after she's done there will be a test. And consequences for failure. Of the kind she won't enjoy."

It could work. Jaune looked up at Basil, "So like...for every question she gets wrong, I won't even look at her for a day?"

Basil smiled, "You know her better than I do, though whatever you choose you must be prepared to enforce."

Jaune thought about it. Being some selfish jerk that ordered girls around for fun was not what he'd wanted to be when he grew up. But this was something else entirely. Pyrrha had asked him to make decisions for her. Up until now he'd thought that was just about when, where, and how often to have sex. This was far more important. In fact, it was something he could actually feel entitled to be bossy about. Because he cared about her.

Jaune looked up, "Thank you, Basil"


Ruby walked into her dorm at Beacon academy. Weiss had gone off to talk to Jaune about something and Blake had been spending even more time with Basil lately, though not so much that didn't spend time with her teammates.

So Ruby had been alone when she opened up the door to her dorm room and saw Yang.

Naked.

Well, except for the ball gag in her mouth. And the ropes that tied her hands behind her back.

Coco was there to.

Naked.

Well except for her beret and sunglasses... and whatever was strapped to her pelvis. Ruby couldn't see what it was because Yang was bent over in front of her. There was moment of silence and finally Coco spoke.

"This is exactly what it looks like"


She's going to see you for what you are. She's going to take one look at you and see through every pretense of etiquette and your veneer of civilized, cultured sophistication and know you for the monster that you are.

Then she's going to show Blake the truth. You're going to look into the eyes of the woman you love and see the horror that should have been there from the beginning. If you're lucky they will kill you, but when have you ever been lucky?

No, they'll simply leave you behind. Alone. Forever parched in the dessert of your solitude. Forever yearning for the acceptance that you don't deserve. You will suffer without end.

And all will be right with the world.

"It's okay, you know." the Reaper interrupted his thoughts, "I don't think you're hurting Blake or anything. I mean, I can't say I get it completely but it's like I said. She's happy, and I know that's because of you."


"So how did you land this place?" the Reaper asked innocently.

Basil and the Death Goddess froze. That could be a complicated question to answer in present company. But then Basil noticed the Reaper's face fall into sadness and frustration. It wasn't fair. She was trying so hard to be a friend to him.

And perhaps it says something about you that people have to put so much work into tip-toeing around your landmines. Has it not occurred to you that they'd be better off if they didn't try? That you aren't worth the effort?

Basil put those thoughts away. He didn't have the time.

"No…" he begged her, "please, I...I'm sorry. It's not your fault at all. I…"

He turned his gaze towards the Lady, "I'd simply prefer to discuss that at another time."


The Death Goddess flinched at Basil's touch like it was a pile of radioactive waste, "I've never...wanted to hurt you."

Hahahahaha Ahahahahaha Hahahahahahahah

This is too rich. Even I could not have predicted this. Who would have guessed that you were too pitiful to even be worthy of slaughter? Obvious in retrospect of course. But even I could not have guessed the depths of your selfishness. Do you not see it now? The enormity of what you've stolen from her? It was one thing when you could lie to yourself with the thought that she enjoyed being with you on some base physical level. But no more. You cannot continue your life with her without finally admitting to yourself what you are. The Apex of Depravity. The Thief of Souls. You are the end of light and hope and joy for anyone you touch. Anathema.

"Goodbye you disgusting piece of garbage," the Reaper told the voice inside Basil head, "No one will miss you."

She blew his brains out.


The Boy tripped over his own words, "I..uh, ah, oh. Basil, hey! I um, you're….not what I expected."

Basil raised an eyebrow and smirked, "Not a hairless yellow-skinned troll with a bullwhip?"

Yes that would be an improvement, wouldn't it?

Basil shoved that thought to the corner of his mind. He imagined Ruby slicing the person who said it to pieces in a shower of gore. He didn't have time for self-recrimination.

The Boy needed his help, and he owed it to Ruby and Weiss to steer the triad away from self-destruction.

Perhaps in the end he could have value.