Pyrrha coughed and sputtered, wincing as the hot brew nearly went down the wrong path, "W-what? You think, I -Jaune? We aren't - not like that - which isn't - What?!"
That made no sense.
'Fantastic.' Pyrrha groaned in her head.
Juniper waited for Pyrrha to organize her thought process patiently.
"I-I'm not - We aren't..." Pyrrha gestured frantically before finally settling for, "We're just teammates."
She couldn't help the tiniest bit of a dissatisfied lilt to that statement.
"Pyrrha." She said calmly, "Do you honestly think I can't tell?"
Pyrrha shifted in her seat in what she hoped wasn't an uneasy manner. For all of her joviality, Juniper didn't seem to be joking. But if this was a joke, things would become very awkward and that's the last thing Pyrrha wanted or needed.
"Um..." Pyrrha floundered, wishing she had some Grimm to kill, much easier than whatever was going on right now.
Juniper rolled her eyes and leaned back in her seat, "If you think I am joking, I actually am serious, I can see it in your eyes. You look at him the same way I look at my husband. So do you have feelings for him? Because if you don't I could drop it right now."
Pyrrha sighed slightly, "I guess I might...be interested in Jaune as more than a friend..."
Juniper nodded, a gleam entered her eyes, "Okay, that's fine. Jaune is a fine young man and you seem like respectful girl. So, while the men are outside sparring or whatever they do to prove their masculinity, why don't we talk?"
Pyrrha winced as she realized Juniper was going mother tiger on her or give her tips.
She wasn't sure which she preferred.
Jaune walked to the backyard following his father.
"So Jaune, you really did well against Elaine... and seeing that makes me curious just how far you have gotten. So why don't you show your old man just how strong you are?" John said, lowering his double-headed lance to his side. He picked up an old set of armor that was polished and cleaned regularly before strapping it on in a few deft movements.
He clenched his hand and and pulse of sky-blue aura made the lance shift into a sharp double-bladed sword.
Jaune raised an eyebrow, smirking, "Oh I hope you got can keep up old man. Don't think you can just knock me out."
Jaune drew his blade and shield, letting out a pulse of aura that shifted his shield into his ivory gauntlet. His father eyes widened Jaune enjoyed the astonishment on his father face.
"My apologies Jaune. I guess I should be a bit more serious about that." John chuckled.
Blue aura swirled around John until aura composed entirely of ethereal blue light glowed gently around him and pulsed steadily. Jaune took a deep breath and began to walk forward before breaking into a run. He leapt into the air and brought his sword down on his father's head. John blocked the blow and flicked his wrist to the side while pivoting in the opposite direction, letting Jaune pass by him. Jaune rolled back to his feet on his landing and lunged at his father. They began to dance as the blades collided and their aura pushed against each other.
John pushed their blades up and lashed out with a kick; Jaune let go of Crocea Mor's blade and threw a left into John's gut. John pushed his weapon down and stabbed the top of the gauntlet away and leapt as Jaune right hand glowed and the blade swirled back into existence in his hand. Jaune smirked as he began to slowly circle around his father, pointing his blade at him.
"Don't strain yourself Dad, you might pull something." Jaune said lightly.
"Brat, you got a sharper tongue." John replied, eye crinkling as he smiled in mirthful amusement.
Thy crashed against each other and Jaune caught his father's weapon in his hand and pulled himself in to aim a stab at John's chest. His father ducked and twisted his weapon, a small click resounded in the air and Jaune let go and flipped away before his father's blade let out a pulse of aura in the form of sharp spikes that carve gouges out the dirt. Jaune twisted in midair, dismissing his gauntlet into it's normal sheath and sliding his sword in it. He landed in a back-roll and unsheathed his rifle, he began firing at his dad who didn't even slow as he strode forward. He swiped at the air and flicked his wrist as he deflected and sliced the bullets bearing down on him. Before he could get within 5 feet, Jaune leapt at a tree and scrambled up the trunk and pushed off it like a springboard before landing in a crouch on a low-hanging branch.
Jaune straightened and his father and smirked, "Gonna stay up there? Hardly fair."
"You can't climb a tree? Seriously dad? Okay, get that back checked, preferably soo-." Jaune quipped before he noticed his father's hand glow blue.
John sighed and waved his hand.
Jaune immediately jerked back, flipping into the air once again as a wave of aura lances pierced the branch he was standing on. Jaune twisted in the air and drew his sword, leaping from branch to branch, twisting and corkscrewing to be able to move those precious inches to catch one small branch or spring off another thin tree trunk. His father gave chase forming lance after lance of aura and throwing them with deadly precision, eyes narrowed. Jaune leapt into the air and channeled his blade with his semblance. He twisted and slashed at aura lance, knocking himself perfectly out of the way of two more lances and sending the lance he deflected harmlessly shooting into a tree-trunk. Jaune tumbled through the air and rolled before jumping back into the trees. He quickly melted into the shadows of the foliage with his second semblance.
His father stepped forward cautiously surveying his surroundings. The only sounds were that of a forest that was completely unchanged.
John smiled, he was so proud of how far Jaune had come.
He took another step when the ground suddenly became loose dust under his foot and he stumbled. The hard-packed dirt suddenly lost its density and shifted into a loose sand-like state, all of it slouching down and loosening. Jaune immediately dropped from the trees and dashed forward, slashing with his blade and gouging a line in John's armor before his father could reorient himself. As his blade began slicing into the armor, Jaune allowed the edge of his hand to trace the gash he was making. Jaune didn't linger to gloat and immediately scampered up another tree back into the foliage. John gingerly touched the line in his armor and smirked as it cracks spiderwebbed out from where he pressed it.
John laughed, "Color me surprised son! I had no idea you could score a hit on me! Very clever use of your semblance."
Jaune didn't respond.
"Your semblance is some form of manipulation and is rather useful isn't it?" John continued, "Your hand brushed against my chest-plate and now..."
He tapped the gash again and the breastplate began to crumble apart like a hail falling until just a few straps that had once held it together fluttered to the ground.
Jaune sighed inaudibly.
Density Manipulation.
Of course his dad would figure it out after one use. That was thing most people seemed to forget about aura, it was and could be anything. At first, Jaune had only used his manipulation to shield himself and block blows, but he experimented and learned all the limitations that he could do with it.
Which had NOTHING to do wikipedia page and looking it up on the superheroes wiki on a scroll for ideas.
He didn't, ALL self tested.
ALL OF IT.
Don't question it.
He couldn't phase through objects, with his massive amount of aura he just wasn't able to have the finesse to minutely tweak and lower the density of his own body structure without it exploding in a shower of thick blood and gooey flesh (he wouldn't forget the horrified shrieks of his friends when he tried to shift his side through one of Pyrrha's stabs for the rest of his lives). But he had the ability to harden his muscles and skin, even his own bone structure, or drastically reduce the density of whatever he was touching. All throughout his time at Beacon he had been cycling the his aura through his body, increasing the density of his muscles, skin, hair, organs,and bones. Basically anything and everything he could think of he strengthened. He could tank the strongest blows and to others it was like attacking tempered steel or diamond.
However his aura wasn't all powerful despite being defensive in nature, he could be damaged if he was hit with elements and he didn't used his aura constructs to shield himself, and had trained extensively with Weiss to bolster his pain tolerance until Weiss had been the one refusing to hurt him anymore (mostly because his body looked like a charbroiled lump of flesh that had been doused in water and shocked for good measure). Having a aura with a defensive nature helped his body heal immensely as he recovered from those sessions. Also his shadow form was ore or less corporeal for all that it was well... a shadow, he could contort the shape of his body into almost anything and could even draw upon the shadows to replenish his strength and aura (though how much and how fast varied on how large the and how many shadows he was using were).
To be honest though, most of the reasons he was so strong was because he was damn lucky to have survived things that would have driven most normal people insane or made them kill themselves.
Jaune slithered through the trees as a shadow and materialized above his father. He held his blade in a icepick grip and dropped.
John rolled forwards as Jaune landed right where he stood, sending dust into the air.
"Well son? Are you ready to fight your old man a bit more directly?" John said, "I won't let you get such an easy hit on me like that again."
Jaune dispersed the dust floating in the air before he straightened up and looked at his father, "Alright."
Jaune closed his eyes and burst forward his hand already being covered in the metal plates of his gauntlet. He sliced down with his left hand and his father sliced up with his double-ended blade. Jaune jumped forward, using his left hand as a pivot over his father's head as his father summoned a lance of aura in his left hand and spun. Jaune twisted as he landed, slashing at the lance and forcing the lance into the dirt. Jaune spun with his attack and tried to backfist his father, who rolled away from the attack and spun his weapon in his hand. Jaune sighed, his gauntlet wasn't good for fighting his dad like this reducing the size would help, but Jaune felt like it had been a long time.
He gauntlet glowed and began to mechashift into a single-edged mechanized sword that had runic carvings decorating the blade and the hilt had white tassels handing from the end. Jaune set in his stance, "To be honest," Jaune said, "I had to practice a hell of a lot to get used to fighting with two swords, but I think I got the hang of it a while back. As for the sword I like to call it the Guardian's Katana. Plain and simple, but whatever."
Jaune crossed the blades in front of him in an X and slowly began to walk forward.
"Why don't I show you?"
"If my intuition is right, Jaune probably isn't exactly aware that you like him." Juniper said casually.
Pyrrha sighed in a defeated fashion, "You could say that."
Juniper laughed, "His father was the same way, for all of his... skill and power, he was completely idiotic when it came to the fairer sex."
Pyrrha blinked, "Really?"
Juniper grimaced, "It was hard enough to get him to realize I MIGHT be interested, let alone letting him know how interested I was."
Pyrrha struggled not to laugh at Juniper's expression.
"Not to mention anyone else who was interested in him at the time, it was... unpleasant." Juniper said, waving her hand in a dismissive gesture.
Pyrrha fiddled with the teacup when she heard this, "Ah..."
Juniper took one look at her, "Let me guess, you are in the same situation."
Pyrrha nodded, "I think so..."
Juniper huffed a small laugh, "I didn't know Jaune had it in him to be honest, he was always seemed like it would take a miracle for girls to like him. He was going to take his father's advice and be confident, which he would have been... more enthusiastic than necessary. But to be clear, what exactly about Jaune appealed to you?"
"...He didn't care." Pyrrha murmured.
"What?"
Before Pyrrha could really stop it, the words came tumbling out of her mouth, "He didn't care that I was a champion, that I had won the championship tournament multiple times. I never saw hero-worship or anything even close to it except when I saw him grin when we would spar! He treated me just like a normal friend and didn't want to 'hold me back' by associating himself with me! I don't have to be the champion or the invincible girl! I don't have to act like I have to... I can just..." Her voice seemed to quiet as she struggled to finish.
"You can be you." Juniper finished gently patting her on her shoulder.
Pyrrha nodded slightly, "I can be Pyrrha Nikos..."
Juniper smiled wryly, "Well good to know it isn't his looks."
Pyrrha backpedaled, "That's not what I meant! I mean he quite handsome!"
Juniper laughed and Pyrrha sighed.
Like mother like son.
Jaune held his father blade in a lock, sparks shining briefly as the metal clashed and aura pulsed. Jaune huffed slightly as one of the cuts in his side - when his managed to graze him with a aura lance - pulled slightly. Blood dripped from another cut on his arm when the sleeve on his coat was ripped off. He had ducked and rolled to avoid being pinned to the ground and letting his Dad stab the ground he had been lying on a moment earlier. His coat hadn't been so lucky and was shredded under the unforgiving bite of his dad's sword. Frankly, Jaune was glad he had increased the density of his very skin, otherwise he would been bruised all over and suffered much more damage.
His father had a bruise blooming on his cheek and his blood dripping from his mouth when Jaune managed to blast him across the face with a prana-enhanced Hanpatsu-Ha. His armor was pretty much leather strips lying around the forest floor and His arms were bruised form having to block Jaune's kicks and elbows he managed to slide into the slashes and thrusts. Jaune's muscles were also enhanced and he could put a lot more power behind his attacks due to his muscles being able to bar that much more strain.
They leapt apart with the squeal of grinding metal before landing apart. The clashed and rebounded off against each other as they ground and trees tore beneath the power of each clash. Jaune pushed his father blade down and used the tip of Crocea Mors as a pole vault and used all of that momentum to smash a knee across his Dad's face. His father whirled as a new splatter of blood painted the floor, spitting a curse and using the momentum to backhand Jaune into a tree in retaliation. Jaune let out a annoyed grunt as he tumbled after landing and threw himself aside as the trunk nearly flattened him.
He spun and his blades blocked another stab from John, who was now wielding what seemed to be a cross between a Lance and a quarterstaff.
"Well Jaune, I have to say I haven't had this much fun in a long time!" John laughed in the lock.
"I could say the same." Jaune growled happily and he pushed his father blade to the side and lanced forward with a thrust.
Fighting huntress/hunters-in-training just wasn't the same as fighting against a seasoned hunter (especially someone like his dad) that could curb-stomp them with barely a sweat. Granted, Jaune was technically a hunter-in-training, but he was much stronger since he had been a hunter(or would be?). His father spun his weapon as it shifted into a double-ended sword in one hand and rushed forward. Jaune danced back as he twisted and evaded the strikes. He leapt back and dropped under a cut like a puppet with his strings cut before rolling away and deciding that though this was fun, he should probably stop.
He made himself pant as he ended his roll and lay on his back, looking like he was completely exhausted, "Don't think... I can do... anymore though... I'm beat."
Jaune wished he could go all out,he was really enjoying himself, but alas all good things must come to an end. He 'forced himself to lean back on his haunches as his father rolled his shoulders and wiped at the blood drying on his chin.
"You're a fine hunter Jaune. You've still got a few more years before you can even be allowed to dream of beating me son." John teased.
"Tch," Jaune grumbled as he got to his feet, "One of these days - and very soon by that - I'll beat you and then we'll see just how long that is."
John laughed and patted his son on the back as the two enjoyed a comfortable silence as they began to trek back to the house.
"Soooo..." Jaune began, "We gonna tell mom that we cleared out swaths of forest and exactly how we did that"
"No, son, we are not."