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The next few days were a flurry of activity, between medical check-ups to make sure everything was all right and signing the last bits of paperwork left for enrollment. And insurance to, of course. In Vale proper, everyone had basic medical and dental coverage, more or less, but 'basic' was rarely good enough for Hunters. So Beacon offered extra coverage, going so far as covering destroyed weapons and armor as part of the school package.
Which was… Neat, he supposed, at least for everyone else.
But losing his weapon would have a solid handful of problems that weren't exactly covered by Beacon's insurance package. And he was less than enthused about having spent an entire day on it, too. But even if he didn't have a lot of use for the equipment insurance, his team did, and one of them was ecstatic about a particular clause.
"So apparently, for explosives experts like moi, Beacon replaces Dust 'n shells 'n stuff!" Nora explained as the four of them walked the busy halls of the Academy. "Just gotta get certified for it s'all."
"And how do you go about getting that, Sister?" Pyrrha asked quietly, still seemingly anxious without her armor and weapons, but comfortable enough with the three of them surrounding her. "Because from what I have seen already, you are more than merely proficient with high explosives."
"Gee, thanks P-money." The stocky Mistralian laughed, throwing an arm around the other woman and very quickly flustering her as they walked. "Worked hard on making things go boom real nice. Glad to see someone appreciates it!"
"I appreciate your skills, Nora." Ren sighed, "Just not when they're applied to barns we are inside of."
"Oooooh, I sense a story…" Mort cackled some of the first words Jaune had heard all day, outside of the usual comments about how much they wanted to hug Ruby or something to that effect.
"Oh come on already, Renny!" Nora whined playfully, throwing her arms high and letting the more lithe, and more flushed, Mistralian go. Rounding on her partner and pointing a long, calloused finger in his face playfully, she bounced along, "First off, that barn was already coming down!"
"One of its beams was just a bit old."
"Second off, he said he wanted it gone!"
"He said it was an eyesore and joked about knocking it down…"
"And third, it was an accident!" She laughed, waving him off and strutting on, hands clasped behind her head, "I mean, come on. Who could have possibly known that lightin' Lightning Dust on fire would make that big of a boom?"
"I mean…" Pyrrha murmured absently, rubbing the back of her neck and smiling sheepishly, "I would have?"
"Whaaaa- Betrayal? From you p-Money?" Nora faux-gasped, clutching her cheeks in pretend shock and pain as she whined, "Oh, say it ain't so, P! And here I thought we had something special, too!"
"W-What?" Pyrrha blinked, unsure of what to do until Nora threw her muscle-bound arms around the woman in a bone crushing hug. "I-I'm sorry?!"
"But it's okay, though!" The Valkyrie cheered excitedly, staggering along with the gladiator in her arms, "Gals who kill big furry monsters together stick together! We'll get through this rough patch together, no worries! We just need a bonding exercise!"
"L-Like w-what?" The woman choked out, grunting as her self-proclaimed 'Sister' finally let her god. Coughing and pounding a fist into her ribs she suggested, quietly, "Um, I have a shoot in a few hours? You could… Come with?"
"And we could get inked!" Nora nodded brightly, throwing an arm around her and Ren's shoulders while Jaune smiled and trailed along behind them. Quietly, for Nora at least, she asked, "That, uh, was serious, out in Initiation, right? No suggestion' it if it ain't, just… tryin' to be open, ya know?"
"I was serious, yes." Pyrrha said, a bit of confidence seeming to come back to her as she talked about something more familiar. "You do not have to if you do not wish to, of course, but while I was at the shoot I was… Going to have an Inker stop by, make an event of it. I'm certain that the medias running the shoot would love to, as well."
"An Inker?" Jaune asked, "What's that? Like a tattooist?"
"More or less, yes, except tied into the Arena and the Mistralian faith that abounds around it." Pyrrha nodded, turning to pay him a smile and stepping to the side to let him step into rank with them, rather than trail along behind them. When he did, her smile widened just a hair and she went on, "They're anointed- Fighters from the Arena, I mean, champions and survivors that have… Well, fed the sand. The Gods of the Arena blessed them with victory and a skill at art, and so they are allowed to be Inkers."
"So it's a kind of a blood cult." Mort wondered quietly, humming a raspy tune, "Neat. She doesn't seem crazy though, so no worries."
"I've never gotten a tattoo. Or been in a photo shoot, either." Jaune shrugged, resting a hand on the pommel of his sword as they went. "I'm game if everyone else is, I suppose."
"I'm so in on this!" Nora laughed, bouncing excitedly in the way she liked to do and turning to her more restrained partner with a smile. "Renny, can we? Pleeeeease?"
"...I suppose that I do need to stock up on ingredients in any event." He sighed after a long moment, smiling when Nora wrapped him up in one of her big hugs. Eventually she let him go and he straightened his blazer, smiling still, "We probably need to get a message to Yang, though. She'll end us all if we do this without her."
"How can you be so sure?"
"Just a feeling." Ren smiled, patting him on the shoulder and shrugging, "I've learned to go with them."
With a little bit of discussion, it was quickly decided that Nora should call Yang, since they were more likely to get along. After even less discussion, Nora hung up and grinned, "She's in! Gonna drag her team out, too. Weiss-Cream wasn't as excited 'bout getting a tat or doin' pictures, but one lil' word 'bout P-Money being there and she melted."
"O-Oh…" Pyrrha smiled, "Well that's nice, I suppose."
"Whelp.'' Mort sighed, the sound rasping along Jaune's ears as always, "Looks like the explosives lover found the landmine. It'd be funny and ironic if I didn't feel so sad."
Jaune caught the very real lack of happiness about that tidbit from his partner even without Mort's words and shrugged, offering subtly, "Schnee like her? Probably grew up sheltered. I'll bet good Lien that in a couple weeks she'll cool off with the big doe eyes."
"Probs, yeah. Fan game'll wear off once she sees ya runnin' around for a lil' bit, P-Money." Nora smiled, waving it off with a lot less subtlety than Jaune had but earning a surprised snort from the gladiator where he'd only gotten a grimace. So… Well, that was that, he supposed. "Anywho, let's get goin'! Pizza 'n tats, here we cooome!"
All Jaune could do was laugh at his teammate's exuberance and keep a wary, worried eye on his partner as they made their way to the docks.
A few supply ships had come in through the night, bigger than Bullheads with large cargo containers all along a hollowed out stomach and massive engines on the front and back. A light ball turret jutted out from the top and back, between each set of engines and above the wide-windowed cockpit at the fore of the massive craft. Those were nestled closer to the front, marked in Atlesian colors - or, well, a lack there-of - and swarmed by the drones that the Kingdom liked to use for everything they could manage to.
And, further back with a single uniformed pilot waiting patiently, was a simple bullhead like the ones Beacon used. Albeit painted in Mistrali colors and with a pair of missile pods hugging the hull under each of the wings.
"You have a private Bullhead, P-Money?" Nora crowed excitedly as they meandered around the larger ships on the docks at Beacon's rear where, true to Nora's words, a large, chromed silver and red airship was waiting for them.
"W-Well, um, t-technically, it's owned by the Mistralian government. They own the- Uh, the Arena, which sponsored me coming here." Pyrrha stammered out quickly and quietly as they trotted across the mostly empty bay. "They own the airship, and my ticket to Beacon. A-And my, uh, pass to be in Vale, too."
"Wait just a sec- does Mistral own your papers?" Jaune asked, blinking owlishly when Pyrrha nodded, quiet and very obviously anxious, "So if they wanted to, they could just… Make you go back to Mistral?"
"They very easily could, yes." She nodded sheepishly, grabbing his arm and tugging them to a stop before they got closer to the Bullhead. "It is fine, Brother. I swear it. Please, leave it alone. I worked for years for this, and knew what I was getting into when I began. This is… just our way."
"Sounds like a pretty shitty way to me…"
"I won't cause you any problems, Pyr, don't stress." He promised easily, Mort humming his assent quietly. It was important the spirit agreed too, even if Pyrrha couldn't hear it, because nothing would stop them. "Neither will Ren or Nora. Right, guys?"
"Nah, won't do nothin'.'' Nora answered quietly, her eyes sharp and appraising even as she smiled. "Not unless I'm asked to, o'course. But hey, if Pyrrha asks me to, I'll start smashin', no problem."
"I appreciate that but for now…"
"We have your back." Ren offered gently, "And a shoot to get to, I believe."
"That we do." She sighed, turning and plastering a thin smile onto her face that Jaune could practically feel straining to stay. "That we do, and I believe we are spending our time idling when we could spend it in Vale. With good food and perhaps music."
"And tats! Can't forget 'em." Nora added excitedly, flicking her croll out when it chimed, "Ah, Yang 'n the others are already in Vale. Meet us at the shoot, just where it's at on her Scroll."
"The new mall out on the boulevard, near the docks." Pyrrha answered quietly as they closed on the Mistrali Bullhead and the crewman sauntered over to them. "I have to go through inspect now, make sure I look alright before we head out, and let them know others are coming with me. They will not mind over much, but it's procedure…"
'I'll call Yang, let her know where to head." Nora volunteered eagerly enough, shooting Jaune a look and then bobbing her head at Pyrrha's back as the woman was dragged off. Quietly, she mouthed, "Keep an eye on her."
"Well if the lady asks, then we will just have to deliver. Eh, Jaune?" Mort chuckled, as always seemingly incapable of taking anything too seriously unless someone was about to die. "Best keep an eye on the beautiful killer from another land. Woe is me!"
Oh, how Jaune wished that the two of them were alone so he could tell them off… but he supposed a flick to the gem would have to do.
"Gah, son of a- You know I could taze you, right?"
Jaune just smirked and snorted and, when Pyrrha waved for him to, came over to show his ID to the Bullhead pilot. Nora and Ren had to do the same and after a few moments, they were loaded up.
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The mall they were headed to was typical Vale and Atlas fare, several subterranean floors filled with stores, restaurants and everything else a mall needed to run. Above it was a huge open-air park that split four apartment complexes built above the mall, which he'd been told had elevators that could go from the apartment blocks right down to the mall itself. Or, if you wanted to, you could go to the corners and take one of the larger express elevators to the subway stops that the mall had been built around.
Right in the center of Vale's business district, too, which meant almost everyone that lived in the city would have stops at the mall. Along with the few thousand people in the apartments, it was a fairly secure income stream…
"And only at the cost of who knows how many taxpayer dollars, too." He murmured under his breath, leaning against the Bullhead's hull and peering out the side window.
On the outside, the Mistrali ship might have looked different, but the inside was the same as Beacon's. A few seats were tucked against the hull towards the front, near the cockpit, but the rest of the space was left bare. At least aside from a heavy machine gun on a spindling arm set into the ceiling that could be yanked down and turned to face out either door. Which would be convenient, if they had to defend themselves.
But made him wonder just why something so heavily armed was playing taxi for Pyrrha…
"Somethin' up, fearless Leader?" Nora asked, throwing an arm around his shoulders and laying against his back so she could peer out the window too. "Been starin' out the window like it stabbed your mom in the leg or stole your breakfast."
"I feel like those aren't the same kind of problem…?"
"Spoken like a man who's never had his breakfast stolen..." Mort chipped in quietly, sighing wistfully, like old men in Ansel had when they were remembering 'the good old days'. "I remember someone stole my breakfast once, back in the day, and I spent a week tracking her down to take my revenge."
Somehow, Jaune doubted that was a true story.
"Just thinking." He sighed, doing his very best to ignore the pretty girl laid against his back. Chivalrous it might not have been, but damn it he was seventeen… "This Bullhead is pretty heavily armed, for just being here in Vale. And the hull looks more armored, too."
"Mistral's government prefers to have their craft fitted for combat." Pyrrha offered quietly from her seat at the front of the shuttle, "I have personally never seen the weapons or armor needed, but I suppose it is better to be safe than to be eaten by Grimm."
"That's one way to phrase it, I suppose…" Ren murmured as Nora's Scroll chimed and she pushed off Jaune's back, flicking it open as the shuttle angled and turned, headed for a landing zone he couldn't see from his small window. "Message from RWBY?"
"Yup yup." Nora chirped, "Waitin' at the edge of the marked off area. P-Money, think you can get a message off so they're allowed in?"
"They already are. Or, well, should be at least." Pyrrha answered quickly as her leg started to bounce as the shuttle eased into its landing place. "They just have to find security, say who they are and why they are there, and present their ID cards."
"Got it, I'll tell 'em." Nora nodded as the shuttle's side doors slid open on either side and they dropped out.
Almost instantly, a swarm of uniformed workers swarmed them, and he felt hands on his shoulders, trying to pull him away. The panic that descended on him was sudden, his heart racing as an elbow snapped out and cracked someone on the head. His other grabbed his sheath while his hand sought out the pommel while he backpedaled, looking for room to draw.
Suddenly, he felt another hand on his shoulders and felt… Calm wash over him, as Ren explained, "They're just make-up and dressers. For a thing like this, they can be rather… Well, pushy, in a word."
"R-Right, yeah, that, uh, makes sense." He nodded, suddenly aware of the wide eyes he was getting from the workers and staffers, and the young woman that was cradling the side of her head. Coughing and relaxing, he raised a hand in a meek wave and said, "Sorry, I… Spent a lot of time out on the Frontier. Everyone surrounding me like that, I just panicked."
That seemed to mollify most of them and, a bit more gently this time, he felt someone take his arm to lead him off. Looking over a shoulder he could see the rest of his team suffering the same treatment while Pyrrha talked to an older woman in a fine, silk looking dress. Who that was, he had no idea. But Pyrrha looked nervous talking to the blue-haired woman so Jaune instantly didn't like her all that much.
What could he say, he was petty like that.
An area the size of a football field had been cordoned off by the medias running the photo shoot, tents and wires running all around its edge like a circus. He was herded into one and so was his team. Across the way he even spotted a mop of remarkable blonde that just had to belong to Yang, and he did not envy anyone that laid a finger on that mane.
Inside, the tent was mostly empty aside from a stool and a stand of make-up. He didn't know what it was, but the trio of people that came in with him obviously did. And they told him to sit down so they could 'work'.
So he did, as much as it felt like he was their doll while they manhandled him.
"I was in there for half an hour." He grouched when they finally pushed him out of the little tent and he paced away, "Feels like all they did was smack some kind of… Powder on me, though."
"That is all they did, Lord Arc." A quiet voice said as he paced away. He turned to sww Blake stepping out from some shade under a tree where he'd somehow not seen her a heartbeat before, a book tucked under her arm. She waved her free hand at her face and explained quietly, "The powder stops skin glare, which can cause issues with cameras. Especially in natural light like this."
"Ah." He shrugged, "Make-up's not my forte. My sisters taught me a bit back in Ansel when I was little, but, uh… Not for photography."
"Mhm." She hummed, and somehow even that simple sound came off strangely mysterious, calculating and analytical. Like Blake was appraising him. But she didn't pause to watch him, moving on without a second thought, "You're the last one, we've all already taken out pictures."
"Yeah?"
"Mhm." She nodded, "I imagine they were gentler with you. Slower. Given you concussed one of them."
"Ah…"
"Good job, Jauney my boy." Mort laughed, "This is all boring to me, I'm only paying attention for my favorite ladies. But you already concussed some innocent person? For shame, for shame!"
"Sorry." He shrugged, "You waited for me?"
"Something like that, yes.' She nodded, marching ahead in her Beacon uniform, her heels clicking quietly as she went. "Mostly, I just wanted some peace and quiet to read. The team is… Well, difficult."
"Schnee causing you problems?" He asked quietly, frowning deep and hard at the thought, "I wouldn't be surprised if she was."
"No, no, Weiss is actually… Well, a headache, were I honest." Blake sighed, waving him off when he paid her a look, one brow raised curiously. Sighing, Blake explained, "She is young, but her head is full of old ideas. Old beliefs. Weiss herself, though? She listens, as long as there's logic to hear. I argue a point, she screams and storms off. Next morning, she comes in with tea just how I like it."
"That's…" he grimaced, "Polite."
"Careful, Jaune." Mort snickered, "You might strain yourself."
"It is that, yes. I'll make a true revolutionary of her yet. Put at least some of the world's wrongs right. At least those in the Dust market..." Blake murmured, paying him a smile and raising a brow, "I suppose an Arc wouldn't mind that terribly, now would he?"
"No. No he would not." Jaune smiled, "i don't think it's possible, frankly, but… You are welcome to try and surprise me."
"Well, I'm not one to balk from a challenge. A revolutionary Schnee…" Blake chuckled under her breath as they made their way to a cluster of people. Sighing, she added, "But now's not the time for politics. No, now's the time for tattoos. Apparently."
"Hey, could've stayed home." He shrugged, "Could slip off now, too, if you don't want to do this. I won't say anything."
"No, Yang would just track me down." She sighed as they slipped into the crowd, "Better, easier, to just let it happen and move on. And hey, I've always wanted a tattoo…"
"Well, nothing to it but to do it, I guess. That's what my Father used to say, anyway." He spotted a few familiar mops of hair, blonde and white and vibrant red through the crowd and laid a hand on the pommel or Mort Noire comfortably. Nora was the first to spot them, though, bouncing up and down and waving happily. "Time for our chat's up anyway."
"It does look that way." She sighed, "Let's get this over with."
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Mostly a character chapter today, not a lot of major story. Just wanted to pas some in-universe time and get some needed characterization in before stuffs kicks off again. Have a good time everyone!
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None of It :
Thank you? lol.
Ravell Aqim :
Yeah. Jaune and Pyrrha are the ones to have faced the largest changes, but even they hold true to the core of their characters if you know where to look specifically. Jaune is still incredibly team oriented and caring, which we saw him grow into. Essentially, I just took V7 Jaune, tweaked him to the world's settings, then put him in V1. And Pyrrha is still honorable and dutiful, but with a different code to actually apply that nature to.
Frosty Chops :
Glad you enjoy the story, friend-o.