Dining Hall, Beacon Academy, The Week of The Dance
"Gotta say, Mercury is a bit of a wimp. Went into that fight seeming primed and ready to go and then he backed out as soon as Pyrrha started to show her stuff. Maybe figured he couldn't do nearly as well against Pyrrha as Josuke a bit too late, but still, what a pansy." Okuyasu commented dryly as he took a bite out of some of the dining hall food. "You know, now that we've had Tonio's, this food doesn't seem nearly as great."
"Sadly, I think Okuyasu's right… not on the Mercury part though. Tonio may have spoiled our palettes…" Weiss readily agreed as she took her own bite.
"Really? You don't think it was really friggin' cowardly of him to just drop out of a fight he challenged Pyrrha too?" The scarred teen asked as he leaned forward against the table. Weiss blinked a couple times before she looked off to the side.
"Well, now I didn't say that… but it's a rude thing to say out in the open Okuyasu." The Nijimura just cackled a bit as he shrugged his shoulders.
"Who the Hell cares if it's rude to say if it's true." The rest of the table had been with Weiss on uncomfortably looking from side to side; no one had really disagreed with Okuyasu's assessment, Mercury's behavior had been… oddly cowardly for such a seemingly confident guy. However, everyone had agreed with Weiss about it having been rude to say out loud..
The past couple weeks had been almost as peaceful as those that had come before them. Repeated trips to the City of Vale to hang out and shop or to eat at Tonio's had been indulged, this time involving the entire group, as the circle of friends just decided to use this down time to quietly rest and relax, especially with the big dance coming up. Team RWBY in particular had valued the downtime, as they had been the team selected, out of all the others, to help organize the dance. Weiss and Yang had been excited about it, though for completely different reasons, while Ruby herself had seemed a bit put off by the idea of organizing such a huge social event.
Blake… well, Blake stood out amongst Team RWBY, and not because her attitude had been so diametrically opposed to their aims or because she'd avoided the various relaxing activities the team took part in. For all intents and purposes, Blake had done her absolute best to be with her friends and Team, to be a part of their lives…
It had just become readily apparent to anyone paying even the most remote bit of attention that Blake was doing that on top of working around the clock, not just on schoolwork but also on researching things about Torchwick, the Stand Users and The White Fang. It was practically an around the clock affair for Blake. She'd wake up after what little bit of sleep she'd actually have managed to get, immediately set about researching on her Scroll while everyone else got ready, go to class, talk with everyone during meals, use the little break times in between spots to do more research, hang out with everyone and then spend most of the night that the others spent sleeping doing more of her research… no matter how many times Team RWBY had tried to get her to calm down and get some sleep.
It had become increasingly hard to deal with because, on the one hand, Blake was absolutely ruining her health; even repeated visits to Tonio had stopped having as much of an effect because she was just running her body ragged. It was clear that this was having an effect on her physically… but it was hard to bring up because, well…
"I dunno, maybe Okuyasu has a point. After all, Oku here's grown up under that philosophy and I'd say he's turned out pretty alright." Blake offered with a tired nod as she plopped a little bit of food into her mouth, the scarred teen grinning widely as he waved a hand towards Blake.
"There ya go, Blake agrees with me, and she's the smart one out of us… except maybe Josuke." Blake shook her head slightly as she cocked an eyebrow over Okuyasu's way.
"I take back all the nice things I just said Okuyasu." The scarred teen, and much of the rest of the table, couldn't help but grin, even as worried as many of them were. Blake hadn't merely hung out with them out of seeming obligation; she had kept up her sarcastic, dry humor and had been friendly the entire time. She, at least seemingly, enjoyed what time was spent with the rest of them and her team… but it was clear that it, and everything else she had done, had taken a toll.
It was hard to confront someone about a problem when they hadn't let it get in the way of your relationship with them.
"Hey there Blake." Sun Wukong walked up to Teams RWBY, JNPR and JOJO's usual table and slid in the seat next to Blake, the black haired faunus smiling distantly as she turned her exhausted gaze over to Sun.
"Hey there Sun… still got those hoops I see." A slight grin quirked on the edge of her lips as Sun just grinned.
"Yeah, gotta say, took me a little bit of time to get used to them but, you know, I really dig 'em." Sun flicked at the earrings he'd gotten just weeks before as Blake just tiredly nodded. "So… uh, anyway, Blake. I was thinkin'..." Sun coughed into his fist slightly, his body language suddenly tense as he tried his level best to appear casual… a moot point, as his own tail, practically stiff as a board as it curled up, betrayed his nerves. "I mean, I hear there's this dance this weekend… I know it sounds pretty lame but, well, you know, I was thinkin'... you and me, maybe not as lame?"
"Sure, sounds like fun."
"I mean, you know, the dance, this… wait, what?" Sun seemed surprised as Blake just shrugged her shoulders.
"It sounds like fun. I'll go with you." Before Sun could jump up in celebration, a loud yawn from Blake interrupted the scene as she shook her head slightly.
"... Blake, maybe you should go ahead and head back to the dorm, get some sleep." Yang advised, her lilac eyes narrowed slightly in concern as Blake nodded.
"It sounds like a nice idea… I'll see about it. Maybe five minutes here wouldn't be so bad." With that, Blake sat up from her seat and, though she stumbled slightly, wandered off. "I'll see you all later, Sun we can talk about the dance later."
"Yeah, okay, sounds good." Sun said, though his voice had been somewhat distant as he watched Blake wander off. Eventually, the blond haired faunus turned his attention to the rest of the table, a slight grimace on his face. "Think she's actually going to go and get some sleep?"
"She's probably going to try… but then she'll probably end up just popping open her Scroll and doing more research." Ruby slammed her head on the table slightly before she rubbed her forehead in. "I swear, this would be so much easier if she was actively fighting us on all of this…" Sun blinked a few times as he tilted his head to the side, where Weiss then stepped in to explain.
"So obviously, Blake's been wearing herself down doing a lot of this off-research on The White Fang and Torchwick. Near constant, hasn't been stopping… well, hasn't been stopping unless there's something going on involving us. Class, lunch, hanging out… but it's almost as if she's been trying to make up for lost time in those places by taking it out of her sleep. The end result is just that she's been running herself ragged.
"Thing is… she isn't fighting us on any of this. She isn't annoyed when we all hang out and she doesn't seem distracted by anything else than how tired she is… she really does throw herself into everything we're doing." Weiss said as she crossed her arms, at which point Yang just nodded.
"She hasn't even been biting back when we've asked her to get more sleep. She's… compliant, but she just doesn't follow through. It's… making this kind of hard to figure out." Yang sighed as she ran her fingers through her hair, while Josuke just blinked a couple times.
"Have you guys just tried hanging out around the dorms and doing team stuff there? See if you can't… I hesitate to use this word, but trick her into getting some rest?" Ruby nodded from her position against the table as she turned her head to face the pompadoured teen.
"Yeah; rather than go out and do stuff, we have tried just sitting around the dorm, doing some reading or studying together. Stuff that might help her relax. But… she just gets kinda fidgety. She doesn't slip off to sleep and by the time most of the rest of us do, we'll find out she spent the next several hours after just doing research before catching a little bit of sleep."
"That can't be good for her." Jaune threw in as the rest of Team RWBY nodded solemnly.
"She's been going to Tonio's so that's been a stopgap measure, but even he's saying that she's pushing herself way too hard. Even her Aura and his Pearl Jam will only be able to keep her up for so much longer if she keeps going at this pace."
"So she's not fighting you guys on your concerns, still trying to do school work and be part of the team but she's still working herself to the bone on everything else…" Koichi muttered slightly as he took a bite out of his food. "That does sound like it's hard to work around." Yang nodded as she ran a hand through her hair.
"There's something wrong, something eating her, and… I dunno, I think I might know what it is but… it doesn't line up. Nothing lines up with how she's acting. She's way too pleasant for her to be pushing up away and she's not… doing this for our approval, I don't think?" Yang growled in slight frustration as she banged her head on the table. "I swear, I thought arranging for the dance would be the most frustrating thing we'd have to deal with all week." Ruby and Yang, side by side on the table, just sighed as Nora blinked.
"Wait, you guys got dance duties? I thought Team CFVY were supposed to be on top of that." The bubbly bomber popped some food in her mouth as she tilted her head to the side as Weiss shook her head.
"Team CFVY's away mission's been unexpectedly delayed a few times now so they won't be able to make it back. Ozpin informed us just yesterday that we'd be the ones to help set up for the dance…" Pyrrha looked up a bit sadly as her green eyes locked with Weiss'.
"I'm guessing Blake hasn't turned down helping." The Schnee Heiress just shook her head.
"Nope, she's ready to… which stinks because that's just going to exhaust her more." The white haired huntress just sighed exasperatedly as she shook her head. "I swear, how could someone be so difficult by acting completely not difficult? That sentence doesn't even make any sense yet here we are!" Weiss slapped her forehead slightly as Ren just shrugged.
"You guys try asking her what's wrong? Or telling her that you're really worried about her? Rather than being indirect?" Weiss just sighed as she looked up and nodded at Okuyasu.
"Trust me, after last time that was one of the first things I did. I sat her down, talked to her… and she said that nothing is wrong in specific. There's no threat, there's no sign of Adam, there's not even anything directly pressing. She just… wants to do this. She says it's 'all her' and that's it… and she's not lying either, as far as I can tell." Weiss placed her head in her hand as she looked down to the side, Ruby having solemnly nodded in agreement.
"And when we try to tell her how worried we are… she doesn't bite back or tell us we're wrong to worry. She… she looks ashamed. Disappointed. Not even at us… it's like she's disappointed in herself. She promises to try better and…" The silver eyed huntress shakes her head as she pounds it back into the table.
"... And she really means it." Yang finished for her baby sister as she rubbed her temples. "I just… I just really don't get it. If I had any idea what was wrong I might be able to talk to her but as it stands, I'd be taking a shot in the dark. Blake knows she's not helping herself but… I dunno, it's like she can't help herself or something. I've asked Tonio if it's some kind of Stand but he's said he hasn't seen a sign of it in all his palm readings." At that, Ren just shrugged his shoulders.
"You never know what can guide people towards behaving certain ways." The calm advice from the magenta eyed young man was quickly followed up him taking a long sip of his cup of tea. "Sometimes… problems do just spring from ourselves. Problems that we or others might have a hard time understanding, especially if we don't share with one and other the experiences that have shaped us… the experiences that might compel us towards otherwise very foolish action." The advice sounded surprisingly sage and wise, even for Ren. A far off look had been in Ren's magenta eyes as he recalled the fatherly tone of Muhammad Avdol whom had spoken these very words to him following Polnareff's conflicts with the Stardust Crusaders… before they never saw Avdol again.
"Yeah. Blake's been through a lot… then again that's no surprise, that's pretty much true of everyone here." Nora snorted slightly as she raised a hand. "Honestly, the number of people between us that we could consider well-adjusted human beings and faunus could probably be counted on one hand." Nearly everyone at the table seemed to immediately nod in agreement with the bubbly bomber as Jaune, Ruby, Sun and Koichi frowned slightly.
"What are you guys talking about?" At that, Yang barked out a sharp laugh as she pointed around but, seemingly unnoticed by either herself, the rest of the table or her target, had included Pyrrha into the count despite the redhead having not spoken up..
"Well there we go, there's our five right there."
"Anyway… I guess we can look at the bright side." Sun said with a shrug as he stood up, a slight grin on his face. "Blake isn't pushing anyone away, so it's not like we're short on chances to try to help her out. Think I'll go ahead and head on off myself. My team pretty much egged me on to get off my tail and ask her out, gotta tell 'em that things have worked out. I'll talk to you all later."
"Later Sun." Everyone had nodded and waved the monkey faunus off as he departed.
"He isn't wrong, Blake is doing her best to stick with us all, so there's no reason to get completely down in the dumps." Ruby said as she lifted her head off the desk, a series of nods having spread across the table as everyone had agreed with her.
"Yeah, just gotta hope that we can get her to get some sleep before the dance. I'd hate for that big night to kind of slip right past her because she was too sleep deprived to enjoy it." Yang said with a small smile… though the reaction at the table was a little more mixed as this particular topic had been brought up. "Oh what, don't tell me that you all are gettin' antsy about the dance?"
"Oh yeah, big gathering with a bunch of people where I'll have to dress fancy and wear lady stilts. How am I not just bursting with excitement over this…" Ruby spoke disparagingly as she shook her head, as Weiss and Yang just laughed a bit.
"Trust us Ruby, it isn't that hard." Ruby turned to her sister, having outright ignored Weiss, as her silver eyes drilled into Yang's.
"I've never seen you wear heels before, you should be in my boat!" Yang just shrugged as the lilac eyed teen grinned at her baby sister.
"Just because you've never seen it doesn't mean I haven't had practice Rubes. Clearly something you should've kept in mind there little sis." Nora groaned slightly as she set her forehead on the table.
"Jeez, I'm gonna have to wear heels too… that's gonna suck so hard." Nora ineffectual kicked her legs underneath the table as if to emphasize that point, though most everyone ignored it.
"Geez, we're gonna have to wear suits aren't we? Gonna be weird hoppin' out of our uniforms for somethin' like that." Okuyasu groused slightly as Josuke nodded along with him, though Koichi had looked decidedly less put off by the idea of getting out of his uniform for an evening.
"Won't be allowed to wear our pins either I don't think." Josuke muttered idly as he fiddled with his peace sign pin, a slight chortle breaking out across the table as Yang leaned forward.
"I mean, it's not like suits are all that different from wearing your uniforms all the time. Kinda similar levels of formality if you ask me…" At that, a smile stretched across Yang's face as she pointed at the three. "Or, you could say… UNIFORMALITY!"
"Hahaha! I get it!" Okuyasu high-fived Yang quickly as everyone at this point just resorted to tuning the two out. Honestly, their efforts to try to stop this had failed and now they, and even Josuke and Koichi, had resorted to the tried and true tactic of just pretending that they hadn't heard the terrible pun in the first place.
"I'm more curious about whether or not you guys have any good dance moves to show off." Jaune mentioned slightly as he leaned against his arm. "My sisters helped me pick up a few here and there," Most had taken this as Jaune overstating it for the sake of showing off to Weiss, but no one had immediately challenged him, "-but the way you guys talk about Morioh it doesn't sound like you have much of an entertainment or night scene for that kind of stuff."
"I mean, just because we don't have clubs and stuff doesn't mean people don't dance. Pretty easy to just dance to have fun if you're really feeling like it." The pompadoured team leader spoke with a shrug as he looked across the table. "Me personally, I'm alright at dancing I guess. Not great but I've done a little…" Dancing was like posing while moving as far as Josuke had been concerned. However, while Josuke had spent many, many an hour in front of his mirror posing to see if he looked good with his hair, he hadn't exactly managed to translate a lot of that into learning how to dance. His mom had shown him some moves for if he'd ever ended up finding… well, 'true love' as he liked to put it, but he wasn't amazing.
"My mom and sisters helped teach me too, so I'm pretty alright." Koichi admitted with a smile, though one he quickly pulled back on as he laughed. "Though that probably doesn't lend itself to me looking 'cool' if that's what you mean." Everyone turned to Okuyasu expectantly as the scarred teen just glanced around.
"Yeah, less said about me and my skills the better." Everyone had chuckled slightly as they got exactly what Okuyasu meant. Really, everyone else besides Ruby herself seemed to have a pretty okay grasp on dancing and seemed otherwise confident in their abilities. That this seemed to be another thing that Team JOJO were going to experience for the first time had been yet another treat for the Four Kingdom Hunters.
"Man… to think, this is going to be your first big social dance party. That's gotta be a little exciting for you guys." Jaune said with some awkwardness himself as the three members of Team JOJO just looked at each other.
"... You know, I guess it is." Josuke said with a grin as he stretched back. "We've been getting to see a lot of the Four Kingdoms since we got here, but new stuff is still new." Okuyasu and Koichi nodded in agreement while the rest of the table just nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, you guys'll have a great time. There'll be punch and loud music and some good food… if we can arrange all of that." The members of Team RWBY all looked amongst themselves sheepishly after Yang had spoken up, before Yang just grinned mischievously. "And even if you guys can't dance too well, all you have to do to keep from gettin' too ribbed by anyone is to grab yourselves some dates."
"... Pardon?" Koichi and Josuke had asked, nearly simultaneously, as they stared wide-eyed at Yang. Ruby had elbowed her sister in the ribs, having heard the teasing tone… Okuyasu, on the other hand, had a far stronger reaction.
"BWAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" The scarred teen had just belted out a belly laugh as he wiped a tear from his eye, the rest of the table having gone a bit wide-eyed at him as he grinned at all of them. "Nah, don't count on it. We might look like a group of studs but trust me, Koichi, myself and baby face don't exactly got good odds with that kind of stuff." Okuyasu just shook his head as he pointed over at Jaune and Ren. "Those two have better odds at gettin' themselves some dates for the dance than the three of us." At that, Ren perked up an eyebrow as Okuyasu spoke and Jaune seemed completely and utterly chuffed at the praise.
"Wow Okuyasu, you really mean it?!" Jaune practically jumped onto the table at the vote of confidence from Okuyasu, the rest of the table having glanced curiously at Okuyasu. When the scarred teen's gaze shifted from Jaune and Ren in specific and looked between Pyrrha and Nora, the entire table besides Jaune had gone stock still in horror. Ren hadn't noticed the look Okuyasu had given Nora, too caught up in what seemed like Okuyasu's loud mouth about to expose Pyrrha's feelings for Jaune, though Nora seemed mortified nonetheless.
"Totally man, I mean, all you really got to do is-"
"JAUNE!" Ren called out, slamming his fists into the table to grab the blond knight's attention. Jaune and Okuyasu seemed rather stunned by this show while the rest of the table just furiously nodded at Ren whose mind whirred at a mile a minute as he tried to think of some avenue of escape from this situation. "I left my scroll in my dorm room. Could you come and help me look for it?" Ren, just as fast with his mind as he was on his feet, quickly secured a plausible excuse as Jaune just tilted his head to the side.
"Ren, why not ask Nora to help, I'm sure she'd know where you'd leave your Scroll even better than I would." Ren paused only for a moment to think before he leaned in close.
"I may have left it somewhere a little… touchy, if you get what I mean Jaune." The blond knight's brow furrowed for a moment, before his eyes went wide.
"Secret guy spot?"
"Yeah, sure, secret guy spot." Ren's cheeks flushed red for a moment as he shot a quick glance over to Pyrrha who could not have looked more thankful at that moment if she tried. Though she hadn't seemed entirely embarrassed either. Part of her look just seemed… distraught. Oddly so, even.
"Alright man, I gotcha." Jaune whispered conspiratorially as he gave Ren a pat on the back. "Alright then, we'll talk to you guys later, I'll go help Ren find his Scroll. We'll be back in time for classes." Jaune just gave Ren a bit of a wink as the magenta eyed young man groaned a bit and waved to the others as the two quickly departed. Once they were nice and far from the table, out of earshot and out of sight, everyone breathed a slight sigh of relief, though none looked quite so relieved as Pyrrha and Nora, as Okuyasu just groused a bit.
"Okuyasu, bro, you nearly let those lips of yours go way too loose man! Were you really about to tell Jaune and Ren about that stuff." Yang ran a hand through her blonde locks as she breathed a sigh of relief.
"Not that there's anything to tell Ren mind you, because we're just friends!" Nora quickly jumped in to interrupt Yang, who just paused for a moment before she half-heartedly nodded to Nora.
"Yeah, right, I guess Nora." Even Yang seemed to only have it in her to half-heartedly agree with the bubbly bomber as she looked back at Okuyasu. "Seriously man, you did promise you wouldn't let those, that-" Yang quickly corrected herself as Nora's eyes urged her to do so, "-secret loose. What's the deal man?"
"Look I promised to keep that secret over a month ago when I figured that maybe they'd get on with it and just tell them already. I mean, I thought we were only a week away from these two puttin' on their big kid pants and telling them… or that Jaune and Ren would figure it out already." Okuyasu crossed his arms as he stared the rest of the table down. "But it's been over a month! And from the way you guys tell it, this has been going on for a long-ass time before we showed up! I can't be the only one here who's getting a little annoyed with this!" Okuyasu looked around the table and Pyrrha and Nora looked to their friends for support…
Only to feel completely and totally betrayed as most of the rest of the table couldn't meet their gaze.
"Really?" Pyrrha asked, sounding somewhat surprised herself, as Ruby chuckled awkwardly.
"I-I have absolutely no idea what Okuyasu's talking about! I haven't noticed anything! It isn't obvious, whatever 'it' is, not that I'd notice 'it' even if I knew what 'it' was, but I don't because there isn't an 'it', which I don't know what it is in the first place soooo…" Ruby's face went red as she felt more and more awkward with Pyrrha and Nora's eyes locked on her. "... Oh hey, cookies!" WIth that, Ruby shoved a fistful of the baked goods into her mouth and just outright refused to meet Pyrrha or Nora's eyes as Okuyasu just nodded.
"You see, no one wants to say it cause they're all too damn polite, but seriously, this is starting to get a little old." Okuyasu leans forward on the table slightly as he points accusingly at the pair of them. "All either of you two would have to do is ask and I can guarantee you that Jaune and Ren would give you both a chance. Those two are total bros, no way they'd turn up their noses at you guys. Not the kinds of men those two are." Okuyasu said in a semi-sage tone, as Nora just shook her head.
"Oku, Ren's my best friend, I don't have those sorts of feelings for him." The red glint to her cheeks having spoken otherwise Okuyasu just barked out a laugh.
"Nora, even if you weren't full of shit, which you totally are-" Nora flinched back a bit as Okuyasu just looked right at her, "-it could just be fun! You have the opportunity to go to this dance with someone! Which is more than what most of this table could say!" Okuyasu heaved a weary sigh as he shook his head.
"It's true… though not for me. I just figure I'll be too busy runnin' the party to have a date." Yang had said rather dismissively and, for all intents and purposes, people bought it. Yang was the sort of person who, if she really wanted, could have a date to the dance by just snapping her fingers. No one had any reason to doubt what she said.
"And personally, I'm not much about the dating scene. Guys only ask me out because they figure that they'll get perks for my family's name… not to say I don't have a date in mind for the dance." Weiss said with a small bit of a grin, while Ruby's case seemed to obvious that it went largely ignored, especially when Pyrrha turned to look over at Weiss.
"Is that why you think that Jaune keeps asking you out Weiss?" The red haired warrior asked almost disbelievingly as Weiss shrugged.
"Well he wouldn't be the first guy to just pop out of the blue and try to win my attention because he was interested in the fact that I'm the Schnee Family Heiress. He doesn't actually know much of anything about me and while I'm definitely good looking, that's not exactly a rare trait at Beacon." Okuyasu nodded a bit.
"Seriously, like, almost every girl at this school is at least an 8 out of 10. It's kind of weird when you think about it." Weiss flushed slightly at Okuyasu's rather brazen statement, but just shook her head.
"Okuyasu, that's terribly crass… but proves my point." Weiss crossed her arms. "Jaune doesn't really know me and I'm not the only beautiful girl in this school, Pyrrha." The green eyed huntress flushed slightly as Weiss shook her head. "The only thing that would have immediately drawn attention to me is what it always is; my money."
"Kinda sad really." Josuke muttered to himself as Weiss just sighed and shook her head.
"It is what it is, you get used to it." Pyrrha just shook her head vehemently as she looked across the table.
"But Jaune isn't like that! Jaune… Jaune isn't the sort of person who'd just want to use someone for their status. He's gets along with people and gets to know them because he wants to be their friend or… I guess be in a relationship with them, in your case." Pyrrha noted awkwardly, as she shook her head. "I get where you're coming from Weiss, a lot of people are like that and trust me, I know that from personal experience… experience that runs a bit close to Beacon, actually." At that, Weiss had the decency to look somewhat shamed as she nodded at Pyrrha, yet for her words the red haired tournament fighter hadn't actually seemed that upset with Weiss, which had relieved the white haired heiress. "But Jaune isn't like those kinds of people. Jaune wouldn't do something like that. He's genuine and kind and wants to do the right thing… I don't see why you wouldn't give him a chance." At that, Weiss finally raised an irritated eyebrow as she glanced over at Pyrrha.
"You know Pyrrha, if you think all of that is true then I really do have to agree with Okuyasu; why haven't YOU given Jaune a chance then by asking him? It's way past clear how you feel about him and the only one who's in the dark is Jaune himself. If you'd just go ahead and ask I'm sure he'd be delighted." Pyrrha flinched and flinched hard as this sentiment had been thrown back in her face, the red haired young woman stunned into silence as she quietly opened and closed her mouth a few times. Eventually, much to the surprise of the rest of the table, a slightly dour look crossed Pyrrha's face as she slowly stood up and departed. Weiss, having realized she might've gone a step too far in that usual way of hers, moved to get up out of her seat.
"Pyrrha, wait, I didn't mean to sound so harsh, just-"
"Relax Weiss… it isn't you. Pyrrha's… been like this. Been getting worse even." Nora muttered from her spot at the table as they all watched Pyrrha depart. "Any time Ren and I try to psyche her up about Jaune she just dips into this mood… it's like what you saw when we went out for the first time a couple weeks ago but… I dunno, it's like it's getting worse. We keep trying to pep her up but it just seems like the conversations always end up like this."
"It doesn't even sound like she's upset with him. Heck, she had nothing but nice things to say about him… this is confusing." Koichi whined slightly as Okuyasu just pat him on the back.
"Glad I'm not the only one who's completely lost for once." Nora just nods in agreement.
"Yeah. Pyrrha isn't upset, she doesn't dislike him and she keeps trying to help him like this. She's been feeding him all sorts of advice… by the way Weiss, you might want to get ready, Jaune's been looking around for his guitar." At that Weiss' face went red as she placed her hands into her palms and groaned.
"Why is this my life?"
"But… whenever we try to help Pyrrha maybe get up and ask him herself she just… I dunno. Shuts down I guess is the best word?" Nora groaned lightly. "It's been making everything just the slightest bit awkward around the dorm room. Not even Ren's pancakes are helping."
"Jeez, relationships sound pretty complicated…" Ruby remarked as she plopped another cookie in her mouth as Yang just absent-mindedly nodded.
"Really shouldn't have to be. Those two are just making themselves miserable by running around all this crap and not just walking up and asking Jaune or Ren out. Seriously, they only have themselves to blame for being a couple a sadsacks." Okuyasu spoke firmly as he gave a curt nod, at which point Nora just blew a raspberry at him.
"First off, there still isn't anything Okuyasu, secondly, I am not a sadsack. I'll have you know that I'm quite happy with my current relationship with my best friend and that I wouldn't risk ruining it over ANYTHING!" Nora stated firmly, a slight twitch to her right eye before she quickly reeled herself in. "Not that there's anything that might potentially ruin it, mind." The scarred huntsman just rolled his eyes before Nora finally pointed right at him. "Besides, you're talkin' a big game there Oku, but I don't see you asking anyone out. You're talking about how the three of you don't have good odds and, you know, it sounds like you're just makin' excuses!" Nora laughed slightly as she figured she'd have finally gotten Okuyasu on the back foot and maybe would've gotten him to leave the totally non-romantic feelings she had for Ren be.
However, not one moment later she realized she'd made a huge mistake; not because Okuyasu had reacted in any significant way, oh no, Okuyasu just seemed to take a thoughtful posture as he tapped his chin. No, she knew she made a mistake when Josuke's face went as red as a cherry tomato.
"Okuyasu, don't listen, you don't have to prove anything! Nora just doesn't get it, you don't have to prove your" Josuke's attempts to keep Okuyasu in his seat ultimately failed as the scarred teen just shrugged his shoulders and slipped out of his seat, "-fucking Brothers, not this again." At that, Josuke immediately turned his face away from the ensuing scene as everyone, even Koichi, watched Okuyasu with some interest.
That interest turned to horror that matched Josuke's own as Okuyasu climbed up onto the top of the table and, facing the rest of the dining hall, took a deep breath.
"HEY!" With one shout, every single set of eyes were on the group's table, everyone furiously blushing under the sudden attention from the rest of Beacon Academy and all of its transfer students as Okuyasu shoved his hands into his pockets. "So! The dance is this weekend and I don't have a date yet! I was wondering if any huntresses would like to accompany me! It's an open invitation so just say so if you'd like to go out with me!"
The entire dining hall was completely and absolutely silent as everyone stared up at Okuyasu, eyes wide in disbelief as any number of teens just looked at the scarred huntsman. There were many different looks; absolute disbelief, mind-boggling embarrassment, confusion and uncertainty and, finally, some actual respect; quite a few young men in the crowd had actually been rather impressed with Okuyasu's chutzpah.
The female members of the crowd, on the other hand…
"... No thanks…" While not everyone had answered verbally, it had been clear enough that there weren't really anyone in the crowd that wanted to accept Okuyasu's offer. The scarred teen just shrugged his shoulders as he waved them all off.
"Okay, just thought I'd ask!" With that, Okuyasu quickly hopped down from the table and sat back down in his seat, a slight sigh escaped his lips as he shook his head. "Eh, figured that'd be the answer, but it never hurts to at least try." The young man grinned a bit as he took a bite out of his food, all the while the entire rest of the table just stared in disbelieving awe at him.
"... Yeah, Okuyasu Isn't some wallflower. He's forward and isn't exactly shy about it. Hell, the first time we ever met he told me he thought my mom was hot… and then proceeded to tell her that to her face." Josuke rubbed his face in his hands as he relayed this, as the rest of the table's blushes just went instantly deeper. Even Yang, who liked to put up the image as the ultimately confident, in control and cool as a cucumber social butterfly was blown away by Okuyasu's display and Josuke's story.
"I can't believe you actually did that." Ruby squeaked out soon after. "I mean, both things, they're equally unbelievable…" She just shook her head, her silver eyes wide as dinner plates as Weiss just slapped her forehead.
"I don't doubt it for a second… this is Okuyasu, after all. Not an ounce of guile or restraint in his entire body." At that, Okuyasu just snorted.
"Hey, I have guile and restraint. I have tons of secrets." At that, the table actually laughed slightly as Koichi just slapped his forehead.
"Okuyasu, you don't say you have secrets… you know I need to stop bothering and just roll with it." Despite his words, a soft smile pulled at the corners of Koichi's lips. Okuyasu had definitely been good about not mentioning either DIO or Josuke's parentage, so he wasn't wrong. When it was something important, Okuyasu could fight against his better urges and keep his mouth shut, especially if it was for his friend's benefit. But, as he showed with Pyrrha and Nora, and Weiss and Blake before them, if he thought his friends were being ridiculous, he was just as willing to speak up to try to fix it.
Didn't mean that he wasn't ridiculous sometimes, but having been friends with him for well over a year now, Koichi appreciated these things about Okuyasu. Which was more than could be said for when he first met one of the infamous Nijimura face to face. Speaking of-
"Anyway, point is, that's what I'm talking about. The three of us don't have as good a shot of getting dates as the rest of you, save for maybe Ruby, and that's for a lot of reasons." Okuyasu pointed to himself. "For me… I dunno, I'm not that much of a catch I think." Everyone nodded slightly, having come to understand Okuyasu's rather blunt form of honest self-evaluation after his story at Tonio's. "I mean, I look like a stud and I think these scars make me look cool… but I know I can seem pretty off-putting to folks when they first meet me and I look pretty scary. Heck, I think Rubes here is still getting used to me." Okuyasu grinned over at Ruby who just awkwardly laughed and scratched the back of her head.
"Come on Okuyasu, you weren't… okay yeah, I thought you were pretty scary and a bit too much at first." Ruby readily admitted as Okuyasu just grinned at her before he shrugged.
"Plus, people can tell that I'm really not all that smart at all. So between those two things, it just seems like girls aren't interested in either asking me out or being asked out by me. Which means, I stay single… which, trust me, makes hanging around with Josuke all the more painful." Okuyasu groused while his leader went a bit red in the face. Everyone else immediately understood though; being around Josuke, who seemed to always have a line of girls following after him of varying length depending on the time of day, would probably get frustrating after a while.
"Oh come on Oku, you aren't that bad. People just have to get to know you so they can realize what a big softy you are underneath the scary exterior." Nora laughed slightly as she poked Okuyasu's arm. A mischievous grin crossed Okuyasu's lips as he turned to face Nora.
"Oh-ho, is that right Nora? Well my invitation was open to everyone in the dining hall, so hey, if you really don't have any romantic feelings for Ren, then maybe you and I could go out to the dance?" At that, Nora's face went immediately red as she sputtered.
"O-O-Okuyasu, it isn't that I feel anything for Ren, or that I don't want to go with you, but, well, you know, it might, might compromise our friendship and besides I really want to go hang out with Ren at the dance, AS FRIENDS, and maybe we can have a good time…" As Okuyasu's grin grew more and more and took on a more shit-eating appearance, Nora had realized she'd been played and just huffed as she crossed her arms.
"Like I said Nora, full of shit." Okuyasu barked out a long, hearty laugh as he leaned back in his chair, Nora's face going ever more read as she tried to sink down into her chair and just disappear. She'd been so embarrassed that the bubbly bomber considered 'boop'ing Okuyasu for good measure and to get him to stop. The thought passed as she realized that having no physical Aura meant that Okuyasu wouldn't take the hit well, so Nora just waited for the scarred huntsman to stop laughing at her. After a few moments the laughter subsided and Okuyasu wiped away a small tear he had in his eye.
"Right, so that's me. Koichi here's pretty much just as unlucky, but that's mostly because the little guy's just so shy. Even if a girl did ask him out, he'd probably sputter and mutter about something or other until she walked off. The less said about him trying to ask out a girl the better." Koichi just frowned slightly as Okuyasu spoke. It wasn't that Koichi had thought that Okuyasu's assessment was wrong, Brothers knew that what Okuyasu had just said would have perfectly described Koichi even just a month ago. He was horrifically shy and he didn't have much interest, or ability, to ask out girls. If one did come up to him and say that they had been interested he'd be happy sure… but he'd probably sputter and freeze in place, just like Okuyasu had thought.
However, now? Now…
"Actually Okuyasu, I think… I think I might try to ask a girl out to the dance myself." Koichi muttered, incredibly embarrassed, as his face went a deep shade of red. "And… I think… maybe… she might say yes if I ask?" Despite the uncertainty in Koichi's tone, there had been a certain amount of hope there too as the blue eyed young man smiled ever so slightly. The note passing between himself and Neopolitan had continued unabated and, in fact, had even picked up ever so slightly. He still hadn't actually 'seen' her since Angelo, though he had spotted her with her team from time to time… and when he had, she'd smiled at him before she inevitably just kind of vanished into a crowd and started stalking him. But still, she smiled!
Koichi had still wanted to at least see her, to see if maybe he could sort out these weird feelings for his stalker. At this point, it was the only thing he was certain of; that after what she'd done for him and all their note passing, that he at least just wanted to talk to her face to face, to try and figure things out. The dance presented a good opportunity, he thought; maybe if he just asked her flat out, she'd come… but then again he'd been asking if he could actually see her at all and she'd avoided it. Koichi wasn't certain of any of this but still, with the new confidence he'd gained after the pair's fight against Angelo, he was certainly going to try.
As he spoke, Okuyasu's body language went stiff as a board, his face neutral and unemotive as he stared off into the distance. For a moment, the gang had gotten a bit concerned for the scarred teen as Josuke reached over and waved a hand in Okuyasu's face.
"... WHAT?!" Immediately, tears sprung forth from Okuyasu's eyes as he reached around and grabbed Koichi by the shoulders, shaking the young man slightly as Okuyasu's brown bore into Koichi's. "No way! Koichi, you've got yourself a date to the dance?! You can't do this to me little buddy! Josuke's going to have all those girl's chasin' after him like he's some kind of exotic animal, I was depending on you to just hang out with me and take the sting out of it! Who's the girl Koichi, who's stolen your heart and left me without a buddy to commiserate with!?"
The table couldn't help it, Okuyasu's overreaction to this had gotten most of them to bust a gut laughing, while Ruby just watched the scene in slightly stunned silence, having not expected that reaction at all. Okuyasu shook Koichi by the shoulders, the little guy's head whipped back and forth as he cried out. Unnoticed to the table, a pair of disguised green eyes watched very carefully, a mix of embarrassment and murderous intent aimed at the group, the former aimed at Koichi and the latter aimed at Okuyasu.
"It's Neopolitan, the girl on Cinder Fall's team with the black hair, now stop shaking me Okuyasu!" Koichi demanded, the rest of the table a bit surprised as even Okuyasu stopped shaking Koichi for a moment to blink at him.
"What? You mean the chick who dresses in that maid get-up and has the twintails?"
"Okuyasu, maids don't wear tops that expose their midriffs…" Weiss commented dryly as a slightly wry grin formed on Yang's lips.
"Not any maids you know probably, but I bet there are some who do." Yang barked out a slight laugh as everyone's face went a bit red at the table, though Koichi quickly shook it off.
"Yeah, that's her. I just thought I'd give it a shot you know… we've talked some and… well, it's not important." Koichi shook his head slightly; Neopolitan hadn't revealed herself to his friends after she had helped him out with Angelo, for whatever reason. She'd been gone, or at least out of sight, almost as soon as he had been out of danger. Maybe she was afraid that his friends wouldn't have reacted well to him having a stalker but… well, whatever the reason, he wouldn't spill the beans if she hadn't wanted them to know.
"Koichi, we haven't ever even see you talk to her." Nora commented curiously as Koichi just went a bit red.
"We've talked… mostly by passing notes, but we've talked!" At this, everyone's expression kind of drooped disbelievingly, even their silent audience member giggled silently at the sight. It was amusing to see Koichi twist and turn like this, even if it hadn't been her own doing. Amusing and… well, Neo hadn't said more as Okuyasu just barked out a laugh.
"Man, you spooked me there Koichi. Thought you really had left me in the dust to be all alone during the dance. Good one man, I didn't expect it." Koichi frowned slightly as Okuyasu let go of his shoulders, the grey haired young man just huffing as he slipped out of his seat.
"I'm not joking, I'm serious… yeah, yeah I'm serious!" With that and a determined look that had begun to crop up more and more often it seemed, Koichi had walked off to find Cinder Fall's Team. For a moment, the invisible stalker in their midst had hesitated for the briefest of moments before the invisible presence followed after the short young man.
"Jeez, wonder what crawled up his ass." Okuyasu remarked slightly as he took a drink, Josuke just shrugged slightly as he looked over.
"Who knows, maybe he's actually serious and he's going to ask her out. All the best to him if he is, though I don't know how someone will respond to just being asked out of the blue… still, it's another good sign that Koichi's gotten himself some confidence. Even if he is a little embarrassed about asking someone just randomly cause he likes the look of her." Josuke spoke with a slight grin as he took a bite out of some food. The rest of the table nodded and, for a moment, conversation died down as everyone just took a moment to eat a little bit more before their food got cold. Before long, however, a slight furrow of Yang's brows had made itself known.
"Okay so that covers why you think you and Koichi couldn't get a date for the dance… but, what about JoJo?" At that, everyone's curiosity had been peaked thanks to Yang's question as the remainder of the table turned to face the pompadoured teen. "I mean… seriously, it's JoJo, it should be a cinch for him to get a date to the dance."
"Yeah seriously, with all the attention he gets I'm pretty certain that he'd have at least five dates lined up for just about any occasion." Weiss spoke with a bit of a roll to her eyes, all the while Josuke himself just flushed red.
"Oh, well, you see, it's just I don't really feel like having a date to the dance, that's all. Right Okuyasu?" As Josuke turned to look at his scarred friend, he saw that Okuyasu's face had twisted into a shit-eating grin, which had immediately set of Josuke's warning lights. "Okuyasu, don't you dare, this isn't something that-"
"You'd think that, but get a load of this little tidbit. Baby face here has never had a girlfriend." Okuyasu blurted out, a cackle let loose as Josuke's face went pure red and he buried his face into his forearms.
"... Excuse me?" Even Ruby seemed to have a hard time believing that, all the while Yang just had a small smile cross her lips.
"You're telling me that Higashikata 'I have a line of girls a mile long waiting to jump my bones' JoJo has never had a girlfriend?" Various faces went beet red at the table from Yang's little wordplay, as Josuke just threw his head up and glared at her.
"Hey, I do not have a line of girls a-"
"JOSUKE!"
At that, Josuke flinched as he slowly turned his head and, lo and behold, a small group of girls had gathered just a little ways behind him, faces red from embarrassment as they all twiddled their thumbs or played with strands of their own hair.
"So, you know, Okuyasu got us thinking and… well, I was wondering if you'd like to go to the dance with me this weekend!" One girl clambered forward, which had caused Josuke to flinch back and away. He didn't need to have held that position long as one of the other girls immediately grabbed the other one by the shoulders and pulled her back.
"As if! I'm going to go out with Josuke, he helped fix my phone and that basically means we're dating, isn't that right Josuke?!"
"Err, hey, listen-"
"No way! That was just Josuke being nice! Josuke wouldn't be into some ugly little duckling with hair that looks like it could double as a floatation device!" The girl flinched back, a betrayed look on her face that quickly twisted into anger as she poked a finger into the other girl's chest.
"Well you know what, I'm sure Josuke would prefer a woman who actually looks like a woman and not a ten year old boy, you flat-chested bitch!" With that a minor fight broke out, not just between these two girls but several of the other girls that had come to surround the table. Josuke looked absolutely miserable, and his misery was much of the rest of the table's pleasure. Okuyasu barked out laughing; even if he was a little jealous of how easily Josuke could grab the attention of the ladies, times like these certainly took the sting out of that jealousy. Yang just couldn't help but hold back snorts of laughter, the sight of the pompadoured teen so thoroughly humiliated and frustrated just a treat for her as it ever was. Not that she'd ever inflict it herself, but it was just funny seeing the put-together and competent Higashikata Josuke act more like his age from time to time.
Weiss and Ruby did their best to turn away and not face Josuke as entertained grins crossed their face, while Nora was right there with Okuyasu as she blatantly laughed at the situation.
"GIRLS!" Everyone stopped fighting or laughing and turned to Josuke as the young man shouted out for their attention, a few deep breaths taken to help calm himself down as he looked at the group of girls that had gathered around. "Look, I'm not considering taking anyone out to the dance right now. I'm actually in the middle of talking with my friends. So please, just, just stop, alright?" At that, the girls that had surrounded the table immediately glared over at the various female occupants at the table…
Only to be quickly cowed when Ruby, Weiss, Yang and Nora quickly showed that they hadn't been about to back down.
"Okay… we'll talk about this later Josuke! Bye!" With that, the girls ran off, fighting amongst themselves as they did, while Josuke just palmed his face in his hands and shook his head mournfully.
"Great… just… just great…" The pompadoured team leader just shook his head as the rest of the table cooled off, now that the annoying distractions had wandered off.
"So the way Okuyasu tells it, this is pretty common in Morioh too, right?" Ruby asked as she tilted her head to the side, the fifteen year old still pretty mystified by all this stuff. Josuke paused for a moment, as had Okuyasu, before they both nodded. In truth, it might've been even worse here in the Four Kingdoms than back in Morioh. While Josuke was a more renowned and famous hunter in Morioh, that was a double-edged sword considering the status of his birth and how most of the city took his mother's… seduction, they'd call it. Being a bastard was a pretty difficult weight to lug around, even for someone who most would admit was bright, charismatic, kind and handsome.
Still, those very same traits meant that even with the weight of his birth around his shoulders, that he still got a lot of attention from girls his age. Which, yes, lead to situations like these more than one.
"Yeah, pretty much." Josuke skimped on some of his other thoughts as Okuyasu nodded to confirm Ruby's question.
"Then I really don't see how you haven't dated anyone yet. Seems like it'd be a cinch." Yang shrugged her shoulders as she leaned against the table, curious.
"Were you fat as a kid or something?" Nora asked, which had caused much of the rest of the table to sputter slightly.
"Nora, he's a huntsman! How would he even get fat with the physical demands of the job?!" Weiss asked as Nora just shrugged.
"I dunno, just figured I'd take a shot in the dark. After all, how does Port stay so fat when he's off every night wrestling all these different Grimm?" Nora asked as the rest of the table just kind of looked over at one and other, before glancing back to Nora. The turquoise eyed young woman just blinked a couple times before realization struck. "Oooooh! He's lying! It all makes sense now!" The rest of the table just sighed for a moment before Nora pointed over to Josuke. "Anyway, I have a few more ideas as to how, if Josuke really doesn't want to tell us. If it's not cause he was fat, then maybe-"
"Okay Nora, okay. No more shots in the dark please… and no, I wasn't fat as a kid." Josuke just shook his head as he raised his face from out of his hands, the young man furiously blushing as he looked about the rest of the table. "If any of you laugh… I'll have Crazy Diamond do terrible, unspecified things to you. I swear it!" Josuke pointed an accusatory finger, all of which earned him was a snort of derision from Yang and disbelieving looks from the rest of the table.
"Yeah, uh huh, sure you will. Just spill the beans JoJo, it can't be that embarrassing." At that, Josuke just groused for a moment as he crossed his arms, an embarrassed blush on his face as his blue eyes darted around for a moment. Finally, the young huntsman just sighed as he scratched at the back of his head.
"Look… hunting down girls with hot bodies or chasing skirts… that's really not my style. It's not something I find a lot of appeal in." Josuke turned his blue eyes to his friends as he took a steadying breath and tried to put on a smile. "I'm more the kind of guy who believes in True Love, you know what I mean?"
The table was absolutely silent as Josuke had said this. Okuyasu, having already heard this spiel again and again, just sat there with a grin on his face, waiting for the inevitable reactions. Josuke, in the meantime, seemed rather nervous as he looked around, waiting while the rest of his new friends absorbed this bit of information.
"Oh… my… Gods… THAT'S ADORABLE!" With that, Ruby Rose shot up out of her seat shook Josuke by his shoulders, the pompadoured teen utterly thrown off as Ruby's silver eyes twinkled. "Just when I thought you couldn't get anymore like the heroes from my stories, you go and say something like this! Josuke, you're going to be a great huntsmen and beat up all sorts of bad guys and then one day you're going to meet the love of your life and you two are going to love each other and have lots of kids and then you'll all live happily ever after! It's so cute!" Josuke blushed as he shook his head indignantly.
"Ruby, don't call it adorable, that's more embarrassing than just laughing it off!" Josuke's face had turned beet red as Okuyasu barked out several laughs, the gesture followed up by Nora while Yang just held back her giggles as best as she could. Weiss just seemed to be nonplussed and more than a little curious, but she sat back while Ruby continued to coo over how much like her stories this was.
"Man, that's so friggin' cheesey JoJo. I didn't think there was anyone who'd actually still believe in that kind of stuff at our age. No wonder you were so embarrassed." Yang chortled slightly as she wiped a tear from her eye, a wide grin plastered on her face as she watched the scene.
"I dunno, I think it's pretty neat." Nora had finally gotten past her laughs as she nodded along. "True Love, the idea you're meant for someone and you just gotta look for them… that's pretty nice." Nora smiled a bit warmly as she spoke, as Okuyasu just grinned over at her. "NO OKU, NOT REN, NOT LIKE THAT!" Okuyasu just barked out more hysterical laughter as Nora reacted before he could even tease her. Finally, Weiss just shook her head as she gathered her things up.
"You know, between hearing about Team JOJO's little antics and watching Pyrrha and Nora dance around it, I think I'm going to go ahead and take your advice Okuyasu. I'm going to go ahead and ask my date out to the dance and just do it. No worrying about it, no dancing around it. See you all later." Weiss beamed excitedly as she quickly ran off, Okuyasu just offering her a wave as he nodded.
"Well at least someone's taking my advice. Always a good sign." The scarred teen spoke mostly to himself as he turned back to his food, Josuke just having then gotten Ruby to calm down about how 'cute' and 'adorable' him believing in True Love was.
"It's just great. I know when I saw my mom and dad that I knew they loved each other and were meant to be together. True Love's totally a thing." Ruby said with a wide grin as Josuke just nodded slightly and readjusted his uniform, having been shaken up a bit in Ruby's excitement. "Was it the same for you Josuke?"
…
Dead silence. Josuke's face froze in a slight look of shock as Ruby uttered those last couple words and even Okuyasu paused in devouring his remaining food as he turned his brown eyes over to look at Josuke with some concern. Nora, Yang and Ruby just blanched, Ruby especially seeming quite upset as she realized that she had just inadvertently stepped on a landmine.
"O-Oh you know, nevermind, forget I said anything. I didn't say ask you anything about anything Josuke. I was just talking out loud without actually meaning any of the words I was saying, same as usual, I certainly didn't want to bring up anything uncomfortable if I did, not that I brought up anything and… hey wanna see how many cookies I can eat all at once?!"
"Ruby." The silver eyed girl stopped freaking out as soon as Josuke spoke up, a calm tone to his voice as he just shook his head and smiled softly at her. "It's fine. You didn't know anything and you really didn't insult me or anything. It's cool. We'll just drop it." Ruby let loose a sigh of relief as she nodded, though inwardly it still left her curious. Same for Nora and Yang, who had just witnessed the little scene go down. Still, the dour look that had been left on Josuke's face, despite his attempts at putting on a smile, and the slight concern on Okuyasu's had dissuaded them from prying then and there. Instead, the group just calmly, amicably talked amongst themselves, ready to move on from the slightly awkward hitch in their conversation…
Though, unbeknownst to most of the group, a series of interesting thoughts had begun to circulate in Yang's head as she lightly tapped her chin, lilac eyes dipping between Josuke and Ruby. For Yang, being the big sis and watching over Ruby had pretty much been her job for… jeez, for as long as she could really remember now. Ever since their family fell apart, it had kind of fallen on her to be more of an adult than she might've otherwise been expected to be. Even when dad recovered, a lot about making sure Ruby was okay had fallen on Yang's shoulders. It had been difficult at times but, well, she loved Ruby so that was okay.
Her mind now focused on one simple fact, one that had hovered around in the back ever since arriving at Beacon; Ruby was fifteen now. Despite how childish her little sis could act sometimes, Ruby was a teenager now and, well, it was starting to show. Her little sister had always been a little cutie, but now… well, boys were going to start to notice a few things. That… that had put Yang a little bit on edge. Ruby was socially awkward and out of her depth in even the most minor situations, though admittedly that had improved markedly over the years. However, Yang was still convinced that, when it would come to eventually dating, Ruby would just be completely out of it.
It was funny when Ruby said that the only love of her life she needed was Crescent Rose but… well, Ruby still obviously did dream of other things. She had basically just ooed and awed over them just now. It'd only be a matter of time and, well, Yang hadn't been looking forward to her little, baby sister's first boyfriend…
That was when Yang's lilac eyes drifted over to Josuke, and a small, mischievous grin formed on her lips.
Responsible, charming, would never lay a finger on his friends unless they insulted his hair, easy on the eyes, a complete and total dork who was almost as bad as her sister, a talented huntsman, closer to her sister's age than anyone else at this school, extremely loyal. All of these things characterized Josuke to a T and all of these things spelled out one little word to Yang.
Safe.
Josuke was such safe First Boyfriend material that she doubted her dad would be able to find fault in him. It'd be great; Ruby would get a little bit of experience to roll into a new relationship with around the time Josuke would leave back for Morioh and Josuke, well, he'd get some nice memories with her baby sister. He'd be thankful for that… better be thankful for that.
As that last thought crossed Yang's mind, she paused for a moment as she tapped her chin. Was it really right for her to interfere with Ruby's life like this? After all, she'd tried to do it before and…
… And it worked out perfectly. A bright smile lit up Yang's face as she nodded to herself. No, really; she lett Ruby alone on her first day and then bam, made friends with Jaune within the first ten minutes of being at Beacon and then when she pushed her to talk with Blake, the two hit it off well too!
Yang was great at interfering with Ruby's life!
The lilac eyed girl inwardly chuckled at the wording, but hey, it was true. So far she was two for two for helping Ruby experience life here at Beacon Academy. Might as well swing for the third while she was at it.
With a firm nod and watching as Josuke and Ruby settled down into easy conversation, Yang had her goal in mind; she was totally going to hook her sister up.
Ruby could thank her later.
-To Be Continued- Dance, Dance, Dance (Act 2)
A/N: So, seeing as how this is the Dance arc and it's fairly obvious shipping is going to play a bit of a role here, we'll start simple on my thoughts with romance in fiction and then branch out from there as we go in the actual arc.
First, foremost and most simple of all of my opinions; I fucking hate the gentle misunderstanding. There is nothing more irritating to me than when conflict in a plot feels like it's being shoehorned in because there's supposed to be conflict leading up to the Third Act rather than as being a natural result of characters, their personalities and their interactions with each other. The fact that so many romances now depend completely and totally on this plotline as their major source of conflict just irritates the everloving shit out of me and makes me never want to read Pride and Prejudice ever again.
Sensible character who usually thinks things through and doesn't act rashly? Doesn't matter if you introduce a gentle misunderstanding? Hotshot character who normally isn't shy and is willing to speak openly and plainly to people? Just introduce a little gentle misunderstanding and they'll be doing whatever they can to avoid their significant other because whatever lazyass excuse you wrote in for the sake of conflict. I don't really know my audience too well for this fic as it's hard to tell which of your hundreds of readers read what else in their spare time, but the best analogy I can think of outside of fanfiction would be comparing Great Expectations to Pride and Prejudice. Perhaps the important caveat to this is the fact that Great Expectations, while the romantic elements form a large part of Pip's motivation and desire, isn't the entire drive of the story, whereas Pride and Prejudice is entirely built on the romance and therefore conflict has to entirely derive from it. And making consistent, character-based conflicts is hard, apparently. But still, point remains; I'm a million times more invested in reading about Pip's story than anything going on in Pride and Prejudice because there's SOMETHING to Great Expectations, something that speaks to both characters, how they've been raised and taught and what THEY want and not what the PLOT needs.
If you've ever watched a rom-com and felt more frustrated about how illogically, stupidly and out-of-character two characters were acting rather than feeling invested in their plight and hoping they make it through, chances are the plot's relied in a gentle misunderstanding.
The most frustrating thing about Gentle Misunderstandings and why people hate them usually comes down to how they end though; completely predictably. There's no tension in the resolution of a gentle misunderstanding, it's going to get resolved and in a way that pretty much leaves no room for the characters to grow. Characters grow when put to the torch of actual conflict and drama, conflicts that actually have weight. The Gentle Misunderstanding has no weight by its very nature, it's a conflict with no stakes because it's a misheard word, a liar revealed or some out-of-character concern that's only brought up to prolong the story. No one really changes at the end of one of these, it's pretty much just 'Wow, I'm glad we worked this out', 'Me too', 'Give us a snog'.
Unfortunately, gentle misunderstandings are easy to write in fiction because most romances focus on the establishment of the relationship as the core 'goal', the point in which a story that either is a romance or features it ends. Character conflicts that might be more in-depth and invested usually don't occur at the beginning or before a relationship starts… you know, if all you're doing is just looking to churn some crap out.
The upcoming drama that involved Koichi and Neo isn't because their misunderstand is simple and easily resolved; they're on opposing sides of a conflict and yet dig each other, so there's a feeling, like there's an honest to goodness hurdle that won't be easy to overcome, if it is at all. Even if you might suspect that it's going to turn out fine because fiction, even the illusion of tension can be effective. Pyrrha in this universe has been given a bit more backstory and character and you can see how those aspects of her are affecting here, and that effect on her personality is showing and whose resolution will, hopefully, lead to a more rounded character. Blake's conflicts don't really lie in the start of a relationship, hers has always been more tuned towards the maintenance of them and not abandoning them when times get tough (though in this series even that's been tuned a little different, as evidenced by the past two chapters). Weiss has a distrust of people who come to her, even if she herself does desire to date and be in a relationship of some kind.
All of this is just barely scratching the surface and it's part of a design philosophy that I pretty much wrote into the story whenever I got around to considering and outlining the shipping;
Character-driven conflict that drives the character arcs, plots and relationships forward, rather than plots dictating the same.
See you all in five days and I hope you all have a wonderful week.