They all arrived at the Dance as a unit. The boys donned Beacon's rentable tuxedos while the ladies bought their own dresses on another trip to Vale just a few days prior. They all looked fantastic and they knew it. Any awkwardness or team strife was left by the wayside as they rolled up to the Dance Hall in style. Oddly enough, now- more than ever- Team PBNYJWLR felt like a real thing. Not the previous times they'd come together to fight the White Fang, but here, where their only goal was to have fun as friends.
"Wow. Looking good there guys." Coco complimented the group as they walked up to her. She was tasked with manning the door to make sure no riffraff tried to get inside. The older hunter was seated at a table for two, draped with a long, decorative, table cloth.
"Thanks, Coco." Jaune greeted his acquaintance. "Sucks that you can't enjoy the party with Velvet."
"Oh, you know," The brown haired stylist shrugged, cool as could be. "I can manage. We had fun last year, and it was cool to actually be in charge of the decorations this time."
"Speaking of Velvet, where is she?" Blake inquired about her fellow faunus. "Shouldn't she be out here with you?"
"Well she-"
"Hi, Blake! Hi Jaune!" Velvet's voice was heard muffled under the table before Coco could come up with an excuse. Finally, the second year huntress lost her cool and blushed red like Ruby's dress.
"Hi Velvet." Blake responded dryly.
"Like I said…" Coco tried to regain herself. "I'll manage." Team PBNYJWLR looked at each other, then shrugged.
"Glad to see you having fun. Have a nice night." Jaune spoke for the rest of the group as they walked inside. Gamer's Mind didn't even need to activate because, hey, this situation wasn't new to him.
+2 Bond with:
Coco Adel
Bond LV: 4/200
[OK]
Good start to a good night.
The first thing Jaune did at the Dance was grab some refreshments before someone decided to spike the punch. Any worry he might've had about the dancing itself vanished, however, as the instant he stepped across the dance floor, he was greeted with a skill.
Dancing LV: MAX
He supposed having a bunch of sisters in need of dance partners really paid off in the end, huh? Jaune poured himself a glass of punch and smiled, taking a deep sip. He was about to dance the night away, and to do that, he'd have to stay hydrated. Now-
"Are you staying here the whole time?!" A voice demanded into his ear, making him jump. Jaune turned to see a dark skinned woman with mint green hair, angrily awaiting his response.
"Uhh…"
"What my partner means to say," A silver haired man walked up next to the woman and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Is if you know of any after parties that will be going on tonight. The Dance is fun and all, but the adult supervision certainly puts a drag on things."
"I was planning on being here all night, sorry." Jaune apologized. "I'm Jaune Arc."
"Mercury," The well spoken man introduced himself. "This rude woman here is Emerald."
"I can introduce myself." Emerald complained, though she didn't attempt to escape his grasp. Maybe they were dating.
"Nice to meet you… Wait. Have we met before?" There was a distinct familiarity to them that Jaune couldn't quite place.
"We transferred from Haven for the Vital Festival at the start of the Second Semester. You may have seen us around. We certainly saw you." Mercury assuaged his concerns.
"Right. Well, I'm gonna go dance now. I'll see you around." He finally bid them farewell.
"We'll be here." Emerald promised.
Now, it was time to dance!
"I can't believe I let you get away without dancing with me at Junior's Bar! Whoo!" Yang yelled as they grooved to the pop music.
"What can I say? I was waiting for the perfect moment." Jaune shot right back.
"I would not have pinned you for a dancer." Blake commented as Jaune dipped her in accordance with the Salsa Beat. In a single fluid motion, he brought her back up and twirled her outwards.
"Same here." He shot right back.
"You know tap dancing?" Ruby questioned as they danced in a row. Her semblance allowed her to add much more flair to the feet movements than he could, but he put up a valiant effort.
"Better question." Jaune insisted. "Why are they playing tap music at a dance?" Ruby laughed at this, and his question went as unanswered as hers.
"Not many people outside of Mistral are aware of this dance." Pyrrha noted as he took the lead in the dance-ritual. It involved the leader circling around and performing actions to the music, then letting their partner respond. Very niche.
"I aim to please." Jaune offered. He was fairly sure that his sisters never practiced the Mistrilian Tribal Ritual with him, but he supposed that's where the Max skill level kicked in.
"Jaune." Ren said, their faces closer than ever due to the ballroom music currently playing. Jaune had a hand around his partner's hip, assuming the dominant role in the dance.
"Ren." The team leader replied just as stoically as his partner. Neither of them really wanted to do this, but Nora pushed Ren into it, so the ninja refused to take no for an answer.
Mercifully, Nora stepped in to take Ren's place before too long. The ballroom music was still playing and would probably continue for the rest of the night. It was getting late, and the manic energy from earlier had finally died down, leaving only peaceful couples on the dancefloor.
"Hey, Jaune?"
"Yes, Nora?" He wondered what she would want to talk about.
"Can you get my shoes from the dorm? These heels are killing me." The orange haired huntress complained.
"Wait, really?" Jaune did a double take.
"Pleeeease?" She whined. "I promised Ren that I'd be here all night with him."
"Well, I can't get into your dorm, so-" Before he could suggest she ask someone else, the huntress cut him off.
"I put them in your dorm before we headed out. I had a feeling this would happen. Not really a heel kinda girl, you know?" Nora explained.
"If you thought you would switch your shoes, why didn't you just bring them along?" The energetic girl just giggled and shrugged, making him sigh. "Fine, fine. After I dance with Weiss, I'll-"
"No, come on! Just get them now! Weiss will be here when you get back!" Nora was being way more annoying than usual, and it really made him not want to help her. Besides, Jaune had danced with everyone besides Weiss. After all the time they spent together, it was only fair that they shared a dance like he did with everyone else. His conscience told him the truth: it wouldn't be right to leave without dancing with Weiss, even if he'd come right back to do so.
And yet… There was something else within him- Something faint, like a memory- that told him to listen to Nora and ignore what was 'right.' The feeling was so foreign yet familiar that Jaune barely heard himself say, "Alright. I'll get you your shoes."
"Thanks, Jaune." Nora separated from him and pushed him towards the exit. "You won't regret it."
Silently, the leader of Team JWLR walked outside before anyone could stop him. Coco and Velvet had already left, really showing just how late it was. Still, he had to hurry and get those shoes before-
-1 Bond with:
Weiss Schnee
Bond LV: 15/200
[OK]
And that broke his heart. Jaune immediately wanted to turn right around and apologize to Weiss and beg her to dance with him, but his thoughts were cut off when he spotted a shadow hopping from the top of building to building towards the CCT.
Quest Available:
An Intruder in the Night
Objective One: Find out who is sneaking around this late at night
Objective Two: [?]
Reward: [?]
Failure: Death/Something Very Bad Probably Happening
Failure to accept Quest: Something Very Bad Definitely Happening
[Accept Quest]
[Decline Quest]
"Sorry, Weiss. I'll make it up to you someday."
He hit accept.
Poor Weiss, she didn't get a dance.
A few people have commented on the ineffectiveness of a revolver in real combat. To that, I have two responses, the real response and the actual response. The real response is that Jaune is still a melee fighter, he's just using the revolver as a sort of ranged support, so he doesn't need a super good gun. The actual response is that revolvers are cool, so I wanted him to have one, and also it doesn't really change the story in any way. (You're all totally right about the lack of combat reliability, by the way. I'm not negating that.)
You can choose which response works for you.
Until next time,
-RMV