Chapter 8: Dif'rent Races
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"I don't know about you," Kyu said as she floated behind Jaune, the young Huntsman currently making his way back to the airships that traveled to Beacon, "but I definitely enjoyed myself!" At the moment the Love Fairy was snacking on an ice cream bar, the frozen treat having melted quite a bit as she slowly licked it up. "I should have told you to come here sooner!
Jaune was doing his best not to let his eyes wander over to his (sort of) invisible companion; for some reason she was letting the ice cream- vanilla flavored -drop onto her chest, which made him think of things he should probably hide under his mattress.
Considering this had pretty much been going on all day, you'd think he'd be used to it by now, wouldn't you?
"And you know, there's still a little bit of daylight left; maybe you can squeeze in one Hunie? Eh? Eh?" The fairy nudged him in the shoulder.
"Actually…." Jaune rubbed the back of his head, "I sort of wanted to just head back to my
Jaune considered this- it wasn't like he didn't enjoy spending time with a bunch of cute girls, who wouldn't? It was basically better than he couldn't have ever hoped for! -but ultimately, he decided against it; he'd barely had a moment to rest all day (his time in the closet didn't count) and he just wanted to settle down in his bed, maybe read some comics, and go to sleep. There was still school the next day, and he felt like he should put in a better effort so his little fiasco with Oobleck didn't happen again.
"I'd rather get back to Beacon," he informed his Fairy guide, "N-not that it hasn't been great hanging out with so many girls, it has! It's just, well, I've been doing this all day, and, well, you know…."
He mentally slapped himself for tripping over his words so much.
Fortunately, Kyu seemed to pick up on his meaning. "It's cool, Dude, if you wanna call it a night then we'll call it a night."
Jaune let out a mental sigh of relief that-
"It's OK that you can't keep your stamina up just yet, all newbies have this problem!"
...oh right, this was Kyu.
Now feeling more dejected than before he continued heading for the airship docks, only half listening as Kyu prattled on about corndogs or some such, when he happened to glance up as they reached the waiting pavilion; there was a Faunus girl surrounded by a group of guys who looked to be around her age (and his own age, for that matter) who appeared to to be mocking her, judging by how they were pretending to have rabbit ears and being very obnoxious about it. The girl appeared rather uncomfortable at this, naturally, and would occasionally try to extricate herself from the bullies only to be foiled each time.
What was worse was that he recognized said bullies; they were Team CRDL, another first year team like JNPR, lead by a piece of work who went by the name Cardin Winchester.
The very same Cardin who'd been giving him grief since he first arrived at Beacon Academy.
"Oh my gawd!" Kyu gasped, her frozen treat falling to the ground, "Dude, are you seeing this?"
"Yeah…," he softly agreed. "Isn't it sad that-"
"Bunnygirls exist!" she squealed, cutting the scraggly, young Huntsman off. He turned around to set the Love Fairy straight, only to find her wearing a look of utter joy with what appeared to ge sparkles literally dancing around her eyes.
She's that excited about a Faunus? he wondered, It's not like she hasn't seen them around before or anything…
"By my Boss's used feminine products, I always thought they were just a myth! This is...I never thought I'd actually see one with my own eyes!" She quickly pulled out her odd looking Scroll and began typing furiously. "Oh-ho-ho-ho, your ass in mine, Dingleberries!"
Jaune looked back and forth between Kyu and the harassment scene a few times in disbelief before trying to get the Fairy's attention. "Um, hey…."
Kyu briefly looked up. "Hmm? Oh, like, just go over and rescue her and rescue her or something; chicks dig the knight in shining armor routine. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to rub it in a coworker's ugly face that she owes me 20 bucks!" And with that she went back to typing.
At first Jaune was flabbergasted; there was a very public abuse going on in front of her, and she was more interested in the fact that the victim had rabbit ears? He knew Kyu was kind of self absorbed, but to ignore someone in need just so she could check something off her bucket list was a new low!
He stomped over to the scene, intent on putting a stop to it himself. He may not be the best fighter (not by a long shot) or even very brave (he imagine a corgi would be more butch than him without even trying), but it was better than just standing around and letting this…"Social injustice" was the only thing that came to mind at the moment- continue!
"Hey!" he called, causing Team CRDL to turn and stare at him quizzically, "Leave her alone already, will ya!?"
"Yeah, I don't think so, Jaunedice." Cardin folded his arms and gave a wry grin, the other CRDL members chuckling. "You see, Miss Scarlatina here was giving us her opinion on a skit we'll be performing for a some kids. We volunteered for that, you see."
"We're just charitable like that," the boy with a green Mohawk (Russel, if he remembered right) added.
Cardin continued, "So why don't you run along and mind your own business, or me and my team will have to deal with you for causing trouble. And honestly, you don't want to bother poor Velvet with that, do you?"
The other two boys, Dove Bronzewing and Sky Lark, both slid their thumbs across their throats, not even attempting to conceal the threat.
To say Jaune was apprehensive about pressing the issue at this point was a gross understatement.
"I-it's fine, really," Velvet said, her obvious nervousness not matching up at all with the given assurance. "You don't have to worry about me…."
But...he just couldn't let Team CRDL get away with their bullying, especially since no one else was doing do, or was even around for that matter; Team CRDL, himself, and Velvet were the only people in the entire pavilion, not counting one oblivious Love Fairy.
"No, I won't," he stated defiantly, his legs only knocking together slightly, "Look, I really don't care if you pick on me, but I'm not going to let you harass Velvet, or the other Faunus at Beacon!" He reached for his weapon, then, upon realizing he hadn't brought it with him to the Vytal Festival, put up his hands like he remembered seeing Yang do in Mrs. Goodwitch's class.
At least, he hoped he was doing it right.
Velvet's eyes went wide, as if to ask "What the hell are you doing!?"
Cardin sighed tiredly. "Alright Jauney-boy, I'm gonna let you in on a little secret, but I'm only gonna say it once so listen closely…."
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"Don't feel bad," Velvet comforted Jaune as she lead the boy through Beacon's courtyard, his arm propped over her shoulder, "It was sweet if you to stand up for me like you did."
"Yeah…," Jaune groaned as he hobbled beside the considerate Faunus. Cardin and his goons hadn't really done and serious damage, physically at least. Still, they had managed to work his pride over pretty good; he'd heard legends growing up of the "atomic wedgie", and now it turned out that the legends were true.
"It could have been worse," she continued, "at least the bruises aren't showing anymore."
Jaune nodded. "Apparently I'm a quick healer," he said, "something about me having a lot of Aura." It wasn't actually Cardin and Co. that gave him the limp; he'd somehow managed to trip on the remains of Kyu's ice cream bar once the bullies were done emasculating him, twisting his ankle in the process.
"That makes sense," Velvet nodded. Then she turned to him, "We're almost inside now, are you going to be OK?"
As had become disturbingly normal for him the responses that bombarded him were wildly inappropriate, such as masterpiece "Well, are you free right now? Cause I don't have any money.", or his personal favorite, the oh so classy "My crotch still feels weird, wanna check it out?".
He assumed it had something to do with Kyu being around him the entire day.
"Actually," he said, pointedly ignoring his rebellious inner thoughts, "do you mind if we sit down for a bit? I'm kinda tired from hopping all the way back here."
"Of course. Um…?" She looked around for a moment before nodding towards a bench under the Huntsman/Huntress statue in the middle of the courtyard. When they were both sitting down she asked "Any better?"
"Yeah, a little bit." Which was true, though it did feel a little slightly uncomfortable to sit after coming face to face with a legend. (He learned that day just how much like a girl's his screams sounded…) "How about you; how long was CRDL bothering you anyway?"
"Not very long," she admitted, "I only just ran into them a few minutes before you got there." She paused, her rabbit ears drooping slightly. "They would have gone away eventually…"
"Oh…." Jaune didn't really know what to say; it was an awkward subject, and unfortunately he hadn't thought passed shooing away CRDL and asking Velvet on a date. "...why don't you tell one of the teachers about this? Then you wouldn't have to worry about those jerks harassing you anymore!"
Velvet shook her head, "Then someone else would just do what they do, and there's no guarantee they won't be worse than CRDL." Now she was fidgeting uncomfortably. "Can we change the subject please? I don't really enjoying talking about that stuff."
"Oh, OK! Um…." Jaune tried to think of something to talk about that was related to the persecution of the Faunus. "Well...where do you usually like to hang out?"
Velvet didn't respond for a minute, and Jaune mentally kicked himself for sounding like a creeper.
"I think...I'd have to say the practice arena," she eventually said, "there's just something about watching so many different fighting styles being put on display, it helps me find myself again, especially if I've had a particularly stressful day." She sighed, and Jaune notices she looked a little more relaxed. "Sometimes I even take pictures."
That was...actually really cool, Jaune thought. Like Velvet said, there were a bunch of different fighting styles- not just at Beacon, but all over the world for that matter -so it made sense that someone would want to document them. He couldn't help but admire the brown haired Faunus for that.
Add to that the fact that she was also train is to be a Huntress on top of that and it became even more impressive.
"Can I see some of them? Your photos, I mean," he asked. "That is, if you don't mind showing them, of course."
Velvet looked unsure at his request, her previous nervousness coming back. "I don't know…," she drawled, "I haven't really shown them to anyone outside of my team...I don't even know if they're even any good…."
"Oh…," he said, somewhat disappointed. He'd hoped that talking about her hobby more would help her cheer up and forget about the incident with Cardin, but apparently it had the exact opposite effect (minus bringing up CRDL).
And truthfully, he sort of wanted to know if she's taken any pictures of him since he'd arrived here.
"...well, I guess I could show you one or two," she relented, "but not right now; give me some time to find some good pictures, OK?"
Jaune would have jumped for joy, but his leg chose that moment to twinge in pain, reminding him that jumping probably wasn't a good idea right now.
"Sure!" he said in lieu of jumping, "Yeah, just text me later when you do."
"OK!"
They exchanged contact info, and after assuring her that he could make it the rest of the way in his own, Velvet left to head back to her own room, waving goodbye as she did.
Jaune leaned back, going over everything that happened to him today: he met a fairy, talked with one of his teammates, sparred with the leader of his sister team (Team JNPR lives right across the hall from Team RWBY, oddly enough), hung out at the arcade with said leader's older sister, read comics with his other teammate, somehow got a free comic from a misunderstanding, was finally able to break the ice with Weiss Schnee, showed someone around the Vytal Festival, and helped out someone in need of assistance, though not quite in the way he initially intended. There were good points (meeting so many new people), and bad points (the near cartoonish level of bodily abuses he'd suffered), but at the end of it all...he was happy; he still one step closer to getting a girlfriend despite all the aforementioned abuse, and even if things didn't pan out for him he'd still have a bunch of new friends because if it. Hopefully….
"Not bad, Slick!" Kyu praise, suddenly appearing out of nowhere, "I told you girls go die the Hero types!" Jaune didn't think that was it at all, but he accepted the phrase nonetheless. She nudged him jovially, "Didn't I tell ya it was worth it to stick around little bit longer?"
Jaune reluctantly nodded; if wasn't like the provocative fairy was wrong! ...granted, he would have been less likely to stay had there been no one in trouble, but he supposed, in a roundabout way, Kyu's suggestion had paid off.
"Anyway, why don't we get you to bed now?" she said, "You did just spend the day entertaining 8 different Hunies, after all." She made an exaggerated show of yawning, which Jaune knew to be fake because he knew for a fact the so called "Love Fairy" had done nothing but float round him and play around on her weird looking Scroll all day. "And you're gonna have a big day tomorrow following up with all of them, let me tell you!"
Really, she could have done more than just lazily throw a sentence or two of advice at him before a "date", not to mention the whole closet fiasc-
Wait...what'd she just say?...
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To be continued….
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Kyu's Naughty Confessions blog })i({
THEY DO EXIST! (No innuendo this time.)
Hey out there in Internet land, you sexy people! It's me, Kyu})i({! Same deal as last time: I talk, and you guys listen. Unless you want to be a jerk and go to dine other website instead, but I know you're all too cool to do that to little old me!~
Anyway, things were going pretty well after the Playa's date with Penny, the slightly odd foreigner; he was headed back to his room for the night (against my better judgement, mind) and I was enjoying a nice, long, solid, dripping...bar of vanilla ice cream, when he stumbled on the most mind blowing thing since the invention of the mental BJ….
A REAL LIFE BUNNYGIRL! I mean, can you believe it? A girl with actual bunny ears! (Unfortunately, I have not yet confirmed if she also had a fuzzy cottontail. T~T) I always thought they were just a myth before, so this is, like, the fourth best thing that could have ever happened to me! So HAH, take that, Dingleberries!
Oh yeah, and she was kinda getting harassed by these jerks doing the worst bunny impressions I've seen in my life.
So anyway, after seeking the wise counsel of his faithful, stalwart Love Fairy, he decided to confront the dastardly fiends accosting the poor, innocent Bunnygirl (SQUEEEEEEEEE!), swooping in to rescue fair maiden in a gallant and heroic manner!...only to sorta get is ass kicked. Slightly. A little. ...OK, they gave him an atomic wedgie, which is a fate I wouldn't even wish on my worst enemy. (Not even you, Trixie. Count yourself lucky. ;-p ) But once the pain began to subside the two of them made their way back to School, stopping to sit on a bench to catch their breath or something.
While they sat, the Playa tried to strike up some small. It got off to a rocky start, but things managed to turn around when the subject of photography came up. Apparently, our little Bunnie is something of a shutterbug, taking pictures of the other students when they're not looking. (And no, none of them are candid. ...poopy.) She's apparently kinda shy about it, and she only agreed to let him see a couple of hand picked examples, but that still sounds like a win to me! (Velvet = hearts x2)
Now let's get on with those delicious, throbbing comments! \(^o^)/
Ooh, now this is interesting! ImAKitty! says "Nyaa~ This Penny lady is suuuper cute; I bet she gives the bestest scratches behind the ears! I feel kinda sad for Misses Blake, though. She wasn't smiling in her picture... Ooh, Jaune should go cheer her up! Whenever I'm feeling sad, I like having my tummy rubbed. Misses Fairy lady, can you tell Jaune to go rub her tummy? I bet that'll help a super duper bunch! Kisses~!" Kisses to you too, ImAKitty!, I'll definitely let the Playa know about your suggestion the next time he and Miss Femme Fatale hook up! Smooches~!
THEMistypeaks says "Ooh, I remember having so much fun going to the county fair when I was young! Good choice, young man, you should bring your next lady friend here as well!" OK, if you say so, Gurl. Personally, I prefer a venue with a bit more…'stimulation', if you know what I'm saying…!
Beli_Dancer says "I'm…not sure that's how aura is supposed to work. At least, that's not what I was taught." You're probably right about that, but it's a big universe; who's to say "aura" doesn't work differently for these guys than it does for you?
And remind me to mention you to my Boss's friend Shiva, you two would probably get along great!
Speaking of which, XBossLadyX says "My my, Mr. Arc seems to have a hidden potential in him. It would be in your best interests to help this one realize that potential, Kyu." You got it, Boss Lady! Your numbah one Love Fairy is on the case!
(not that)_blu_gurl says "And what's so wrong with having a girl be better than you at games; just because our reproductive organs are on the inside instead of the outside, that automatically means we're inferior? #gamergirlsrule" Whoa, trigger warning! Don't take it so personally, blu_gurl! In fact, I'ma let you in on a little secret: guys are actually really, really sensitive! Sometimes, it's good to let them think they're doing well. Makes 'em easier to manipulate. XD
An25 says "Hey Sugergirl, not bad work you are doing so far, but this one might need ya to go a bit beyond your normal duties cause your boy is training for a job as a pro monster killer, and having a client die under your watch may not be good on a performance review. Also, you might want to see if you can get a yandere detector on your hunnie tracker, cause some of these girls are very dangerous. One last thing though; are you going to work Jaune up to get some milf action or throw him in the deep end? Take care, girl." Thanks for the compliment, An25! Don't you worry, I've been in this business for *mumble mumble* years now, and I haven't had a client die on me yet! The Playa is in good hands, trust me!
As for your second question, this guy can barely handle Hunies his own age, much less older women, so I'ma hold off on dropping him into the "cougar pit" for now. But if he suddenly decides he wants someone with a few life stories (or single bills) under their belts, well….
HotBabyMama says "Boy, do you even work out? Trust me, every little bit counts, so get a few reps in each morning and in a week you won't even recognize yourself!" Ooh, good call there, sistah! Ain't nothing sexier than a dude dripping with sweat, all his muscles bulging as he prepares to pumps iron….
And I do mean all his muscles. |-) |-) |-) Giggity.
Whatshakinbacon20 says "Wait, they didn't go on any rides!? Aw, the rides are the best part! You get to snuggle up nice and close to your date on a Ferris wheel, or the teacup rise, the Tunnel of Love…~" Well, maybe next time. It's my understanding that this Vytal Festival is going on for a while yet, so there's still plenty of time for him to snuggle up with someone in the Tunnel of Love, if you catch my drift. (^w^)
BAB_Audrey420SWAG tactfully points out "Holy [censor], these people don't actually buy into all that New Age bull[censor], do they? You do know it's all a bunch of fake ass [censor] to get stupid [censor]ing hippies to waste their money, right? It's all a giant scam." Why hello Miss Skeptic, how are you today? Us Fairies over here in Sky Garden and the people of "Remnant" are doing fine, thank you very much.
And that's gonna do it for this chapter in the Life of Jaune; the Playa doesn't have a lot of stamina, you see, and he needs some time to recharge before he continues his conquest. See you sexy people later! })i({