This is a work of fan fiction, created for entertainment purposes only and with no claim to the characters depicted. Ownership of RWBY characters and concepts belongs to Rooster Teeth. Dungeons and Dragons and the d20 System belong to Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast. The World of Ere setting belongs to Landon Porter and Paradox-Omni Entertainment.
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Chapter 13: Session 2 Wrap-up
Ruby was silent for a minute, peering over her GM' screen from Jaune to Ren and back, then let out a sigh. "Okay, so Jaune? You swear you're going to take Leadership next level?"
"Yep. That was the plan all along."
Another sigh, then she started flicking through her copy of the rulebook. After a few minutes, she got back to the group. "Okay. So Toaru agrees to your terms and orders the three surviving bandits to stand down. Jaune, if you want, you can swear them to your service."
"To the group's service." Pyrrha cut in. "We don't want them getting ideas if you die or something."
Jaune made a face. "Was that in character or out?"
"I really need to start doing a voice for her or something don't I? Oh, in character."
"In that case, I'm not a fan of you making plans involving my death, Seri."
Pyrrha smirked at him. "Sorry, force of habit: I've been through so many traveling companions in my time."
"Also not encouraging when you're caked in blood, only a tiny amount of which is your own." Jaune nodded to Ruby. "Okay, I have them swear fealty to me and loyalty to my friends. Then I ask Toaru what the main building was first of all."
"Good question. I hope it's a money bin." Nora chimed in. "We could go swimming in gold coins like ducks!"
Ruby flipped through her notes. "Toaru says 'Oh, that was going to be the headquarters for the Queens' First lieutenant, Burning Fist Rakshmi. She's the one leading the expedition tonight after a new airship to capture."
"Wait... this is just the first Lieutenant's place?" Ren asked, having caught that little tidbit. "Then where's the Queen's main base?"
"Toaru actually doesn't know. The bandits are all divided into commands under the five lieutenants: the air corps under Vanio, the home guard under Toaru, the raiders under Gouma the Shadow, the scouts under Yuki the Snow Angel, and the warriors under Burning Fist Rakshmi. Ren, you know the name Yuki because..."
Ren held up a hand, "Let me guess: she's one of Gao's sisters."
"Yep! Welcome to the magical land of plot relevance!"
Ren in turn looked to the rest of the group. "We should leave before the scouts come back at the very least."
"Why? We have so many shacks and stuff to loot." Nora gave him a sad-eyed stare.
"Because I know one of the lieutenants and it wouldn't be pretty if we met. Everyone take the most valuable things you can carry and then let's get back tot he ship."
Ruby grinned at the reaction. "Okay, well Jaune, all the newly captured bandits look to you for instructions."
The blond blinked. "Um... what he said? Go grab anything that might be useful or valuable: the best armor and weapons you can scavenge, all the coin and plunder you can carry. We're bugging out in fifteen minutes."
"They get moving. I'll give you the exact amount of and type of loot they bring back, but one of them comes back with a very interesting wineskin. Wanna give me a Lore role, Mr. Leader Man?"
"Happy to, Rubes." He threw his white die. "Twenty-six."
"This is a Burning Libation Bottle. It produces one cup of an incredibly potent liquor a day that, when drunk, allows the user to belch up a basic fireball as a mage of their level." Ruby didn't miss the look Ren was giving her. "Hey, I know it's super-convenient, but Jaune taking the minotaur lady as a cohort meant he also ganked the treasure meant for you."
The dark-haired boy raised an eyebrow. "I was meant to get a flaming ax?"
"Well you were supposed to use the transfer enchantment ritual to move the flaming property onto your falchion, but clearly that's not gonna happen now."
Ren responded with a small smile and a nod. "Thanks for looking out for me Ruby.
"Not a problem. And... congratulations, you guys have successfully taken the bandit camp and discovered the power structure they follow. You also defeated your third encounter of the campaign and thus you each gain an action point." Ruby held for just a second for effect before adding, "And for reaching this milestone in the campaign... well ahead of my schedule... you gain a level. Next week I want to see you all at level 6!"
"Woo!" Nora started jumping up and down. "Sixth level is like the best in this system. You get a normal feat and I get a rogue bonus feat, and a rogue tactic. Since I got my new longsword, I'm thinking I'll pick up a shield and take Sword and Board Style. I always wanted to see what was so cool about using a shield that you two kept doing it." she was, of course, talking to Jaune and Pyrrha.
"Glad everyone's happy." Ruby laughed at Nora's antics. "Now all we have to do is vote on MVP and best Actor and we're done. And remember, no one can win the same award twice in a row."
There wasn't much debate: Between his miraculous save of Pyrrha's character and then ending the camp combat by getting the survivors on their side, Jaune got MVP, while Ren got Best Actor because even if the dice disagreed, everyone felt his plan to set off a dust explosion earned some props.
Once that was done, the four non-residents set out.
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"Aw, come on Renny! Why won't you just let me drive you home? The bus can't be that interesting, right? Like, they haven't changed it since I got the Slothmobile, right? There's not a plasma TV on there showing cartoons or an on board juggler or something right?" She gasped, "Or women! There aren't pretty girls on there are there, Ren? Prettier than me?"
It wasn't so much that he wanted to shut her up so much as he couldn't let her go on like that, getting all worked up over nothing. "No Nora, it's just the regular old bus. Nothing special."
"Then why's it better than riding with me?" she whined.
Ren sighed lightly and reached out to ruffle her hair. He didn't know why, but she seemed to like it. "It's just that... I live way on the other side of town. And I know your Aunt doesn't give you gas money to waste on chauffeuring me around. I'm fine, really."
To his surprise, her expression was more one of confusion than anything. "Who said my Aunt paid for my gas?"
A number of possibilities hit him at once. He hated to admit it, but he could honestly see Nora stealing things to keep her new toy fueled up. Hell,h e could see her prowling the school parking lot with a length of hose, a bucket and a mint. There was really no limit to Nora except the ones her aunt or he himself imposed on her.
"I... uh..." Even more than thinking about it, he really didn't want to suggest it either. Because then she'd get ideas.
Nora batted his arm playfully. "Silly Ren. I have my own money, thank you very much."
His vaunted stoicism failed him for a crucial moment. "I... how?!"
She shrugged, prancing out ahead of him and doing a little spin with her arms held out. "Oh... eBay, Etsy, Craigslist... I've been trying to set up my own site with Gumroad, but I'm not very good..."
Even with years of experience, it was hard for him to follow her now. He had to slow down and work to parse through what all those things had in common. "You... sell things?"
Nora just laughed. "You don't think I just make all that stuff for fun do you? Well it is fun, but that just makes the money even better: I do something that's super-fun for a living. Yo know that tapestry thing I'm knitting? Someone's paying me four hundred dollars for it with their family crest or something on it. And Yang give me ten bucks a pop for pennants for stuff. Oh, and sometimes Coco hires me to do costume stuff for the drama department."
A thought crossed her mind and she gave him a curious look. "How did you not know that?"
Ren blinked. Had he really just accepted that Nora was able to produce things that cost quite a bit almost on command? Honestly, he hadn't even wondered where her minivan came from. It was Nora; things just happened around her. He felt pretty terrible for never asking.
"I guess it never came up," he said, defeated.
It didn't take long for Nora to launch into him with a hug bear hug. "No worries! Now you know, and knowing is half the battle!" Letting go of him, she skipped back a step, hands clasped behind her back, looking as sweet and demure as possible for a girl he knew had just spent the last three hours shouting about kill counts. "So... will you let me drive you home now?"
Ren considered this. He'd still technically be leeching off her for a ride. On the other hand, she was so damn earnest... "You know what? Sure. Thank you, Nora."
"Yay, I'm a sugar momma!"
"What?"
"Nothing. Come on!"
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"So..." the walk to his car had been far too quiet and Jaune's mouth just started running without any intervention from the brain in those situations. "...was that part of the idea from the start? You know, Darian and Seri?"
Pyrrha cringed, having honestly convinced herself things had blown over. "N-not really. I just thought that given who she is and what she does, it's very likely no one has ever done something like that for Seriphied before and what Darian did might have caused her to see him in a different light."
"Then you're serious about doing this? The whole romance plot thing?"
She directed her attention across the street rather than look at him. "If it makes you uncomfortable, I'd understand. I just thought it might be... fun."
Jaune Arc was what some would diplomatically call 'socially stupid', but even he didn't miss the tiny lilt of sadness in his best friend's voice. Damned if he understood what it was about, but he noticed it and knew that he'd do anything to make that stop being a thing.
"I didn't say I didn't want to do it—the plot, I mean. Play it out." He chuckled nervously and rubbed his head through his woolly hat. "The whole point of this campaign is to try new things, right? And I've definitely never had a girlfriend before. Uh... in character I mean." He slumped a bit. "Or out of character. Wow, that might have been the saddest thing I've ever said: my bug-man character has better luck with the ladies than I do."
Pyrrha bumped him with her shoulder, something she often did when to break him out of one of his moods. He glanced her way to catch and odd little smile on her face. "First of all: he's an arachnid. Second, he has a very high Charisma." She looked away again. "And... don't read too much into it. It was just a kiss on the cheek. It's not like I've never kissed you on the cheek before."
Well, Jaune thought, that was true. At first, she'd done it because there was no easier way to make five-year-old Jaune pitch a fit than to get 'girl-cooties' on him. They'd started out as 'friends' in the sense that they lived next to each other and a parent with kids the same age was as good as any other babysitter. Which is to say he hated her and she lived to torment him.
Things changed though and so did the kisses, which went from a means to mess with him to something she just kind of did when something good happened to one of them. There was a picture in the Arc sitting room of their sixth-grade graduation which Jaune's mother had lovingly captioned in Photoshop as 'The Smooch of Victory'. Because the Xiao Longs weren't the only ones who loved terrible puns.
But, he recalled, that had stopped around freshman year. Specifically when people started looking at a guy and a girl who spent so much time together in a different light and the rumors started flying that they were dating. He totally understood why she'd stop: being romantically linked to him was bad for both her dating prospects and her social status. Sometimes he marveled at the fact that she stayed friends with him at all.
"That's... true." he replied carefully.
"And if it doesn't turn out to be fun or interesting, we can just stop. After all it's just a game right?" Pyrrha glanced at him briefly and he had no idea what that expression was. What the hell was going on? It was rare to see Pyrrha not okay and seeing it now was really bothering him.
Not knowing anything else to say, he nodded. "Right." When the car came into view, he thanked every god he'd ever heard of. He decided now was also the time to change the subject. "By the way... your birthday's in a few weeks. Think you might take pity on me this year and actually tell me what you want?"
For just a second, she flashed him the most grateful look he'd ever seen anyone direct toward him. Then she schooled her expression and it quickly transformed into a mock-imperious mask. "Hmm... no, I think not. You haven't failed me in the birthday department yet, Jaune Arc; I do not expect you will this year either."
Jaune opened the passenger door for her and heaved a forlorn-but-not-really sigh. "I guess it's another year of panicking and begging everyone for advice again."
"I suppose it is." Pyrrha said, giving him a genuine smile as she closed the door behind her.
He took his time coming around to the other side of the car. What was bothering Pyrrha was really bothering him now. She seemed really invested in playing out a romance between Darian and Seri. Almost as invested as he was in playing the hero...
No.
Couldn't be.
He tried to dismiss the idea, but it made too much sense. Could Pyrrha really be trying to play out a romance because she didn't have any in real life? As her best friend, he was well acquainted with the fact that she wasn't seeing anyone. To his knowledge, she'd never really pursued anyone since they were little, and she hadn't accepted a date from a guy since... lat year? Right around the time he was going through what they referred to as the Weiss Saga.
As much as it hurt, he knew why too: Him. Even with the rumors of their... involvement... persisting, sweet, loyal Pyrrha still insisted as going to every dance with him as friends whenever he crashed and burned at his attempts to get an actual date. Which meant she never got to go with someone she might actually go with and fed the belief that she was taken.
It was his personal failings that had brought things to this, where she'd actually play out a fantasy romance with him of all people just to fulfill the emotions she craved.
He'd let her, of course. Whatever it took for his best friend.
But he knew that wasn't a real solution. No, the real solution lay in the coming month when Beacon High would be throwing its Winter Formal. He'd have to make absolutely sure Pyrrha got to go to that with a guy she actually liked liked instead of her loser best friend. Which meant, because her nature would never allow her to abandon him, that it was absolutely imperative this time that he find a date. Any date. Even if he had to cha-cha with Cardin-freaking-Winchester.
He finally got into the car, greeted by a tired, smile as Pyrrha made herself comfortable in the passenger seat. That was all it took to make adamant his resolve.
Yep, even that. Anything for her.
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AN: Oh Jaune, you sublime, complete idiot.
A word on Leadership: It is the best feat. Ever. Bar none. If you haven't heard of it, Leadership is a D&D 3e/Pathfinder feat that allows you to accrue NPC followers and a cohort who work for you as underlings. As I'm a Charisma-monkey player and Leadership increases with Charisma, I LOVE this feat, especially in the roleplaying opportunities it presents. I felt Jaune, who loves to play the hero, would want to take a crack at doing the King Arthur thing.
The crafty!Nora subplot continues. This was all unplanned from the start, it's just kept growing and growing and I love it, especially the idea that Nora has been sitting on her own small business and no one noticed. Eventually, we're going to meet her aunt too. In canon, they're both orphans, but in the AU, I found it a little hard to believe that both would have absolutely no family. So Nora has an aunt... who will be awesome, I promise.
The idea that Ren is fully aware of what Nora could do and is afraid to even tell her not to because it might give her the idea is sort of kind of inspired by Haruhi Suzamiya. It just amuses me, especially the idea that the whole gang is just kind of accepting of the idea that she might be magic.
And then there are our poor, poor dorks.
I purposefully skipped past the Weiss Saga in this fic so we could skip the part where Jaune is blithely missing Pyrrha's pain in pursuit of his own happiness so we could have something a bit more gentle. Here at least, he's trying to do right by her. He's... just a sublime, complete idiot. The Ur idiot if you will. If you cut him, all the village idiots in the world will flinch. ….I've been there. Sigh.
It was fun coming up with some more of the childhood friends backstory. Did you ever have one of those friends that was only your friend because you were the only kids the same age in the neighborhood? I think it's adorable to start them off that way, especially with Pyrrha picking on Jaune.
Can't take credit for Smooch of Victory though, that's a phrase from TvTropes.
Anyway, coming up next: Yang and Pyrrha engage in prank-to-prank combat and enlist Jaune and Ruby to assist whether they want to or not.
Next Chapter: Prank Wars I: The Pranking Menace