All credit to Respective Owners!
I decided to show some of Jaune's enthusiasm of what he does a bit in this chapter, hope it's not too OOC. It's a personal belief of mine that Jaune would gush about what he likes to do especially if he can show it off to people. Just my opinion, I hope you don't dislike this interpretation of how he is.
-Y.A.R.N.
Blake was idly flipping through a favorite book of hers as she was trying to find one of her favorite parts, it was pretty late and she figured that no one would be coming when the door jingled with the arrival of a customer. She straightened and plastered a polite smile she reserved for when she had to deal with customers. She blinked when she saw it was Jaune opening the door for a red-haired girl who was a complete and utter stranger inside. He smiled happily as he saw Blake manning the counter and strolled up to her with a grin. The red-haired girl moved to follow behind him and waited patiently for Jaune to introduce her.
"Hey Blake!" He greeted, "Meet Pyrrha, she was looking for a nice place where she could relax and I thought this would be perfect!"
The newly-identified Pyrrha stepped up with a warm smile, "Hello, I'm Pyrrha Nikos."
"Hi." Blake replied, a little bit thrown off but regaining her composure, "My name's Blake. Blake Belladonna. What can I do for you?"
Jaune snorted, "Blake, you don't have to be all formal, I just wanted to invited her to the cafe as it's a quiet and great place to hang out."
Blake sighed but couldn't help shaking her head in fond amusement, "You realize you are heavily biased as you do work here, right?"
Jaune scratched his cheek in slight embarrassment at being called out, "Well... I can't say your totally wrong there..."
Pyrrha looked between the two in interest, "He works here? He didn't mention that."
Jaune turned and nodded, motioning to Blake, "Yep. My boss is awesome plus my best friend works here when I don't. We serve some really good drinks and snacks and we do our best to make sure the customer is doing well. I was given a day off today but I enjoy helping people feel a little better about their day with service."
Pyrrha nodded, that seemed standard for any decent cafe, "That's a wonderful attitude to have. What sort of drinks do you serve?"
Jaune brightened and turned to Blake, "Mind if I borrow a menu?"
Blake smiled in amusement and shook her head, "Jaune, you work here. Do you really need to ask?"
Jaune laughed brightly and grabbed a menu from the counter, turned to open it Pyrrha, and began to explain the various drinks and snacks that were listed. Pyrrha scanned the menu as Jaune animatedly and happily pointed out his favorites and some first-time customer blends that were recommended. Jaune led Pyrrha to a table as he happily talked as he only did with Blake, Yang, or Ruby. The red-haired girl seemed more than amused at his honest enthusiasm and clear affection. Blake noticed the way Pyrrha's eyes occasionally flicked from the menu to trace Jaune's face, appraising his features as well as his happy dialogue of information.
Something in Blake's chest tightened at the sight — a sharp spike of unease running through her — but Blake furtively shook the feeling off.
There was no reason to feel uneasy about Jaune making friends with a gorgeous girl he just met.
After Pyrrha had ordered, she sat down and sipped at her beverage, eyes lighting up at the taste before she turned to Jaune, "This is really good!"
"I know right?" Jaune replied proudly and enthusiastically, settling down next to her with a cup of hot chocolate.
Blake walked over and pulled up a chair with a cup of tea, like Jaune when he was working, she normally wouldn't sit with customers, but it was Jaune and Pyrrha didn't seem to mind (it also was about thirty minutes before closing and the street was utterly empty), "I didn't realize Jaune had a new friend, do you mind telling me how that happened?"
Jaune turned to Blake, rubbing the back of his head as he recalled the encounter with an embarrassed flush tinting his face, "I actually ran into her today, literally. I was just taking a stroll to clear my head after everything that has been going on recently... and well... we stumbled into each other. We apologized and I asked what was she looking for and she replied that she wanted to find a place to relax and unwind and I thought of The Aura's Gift and offered to take her here."
Pyrrha nodded along, lips curving up into an amused smile, "That was about it. I just moved here recently so I was trying to get a lay of the land really. Bumping into Jaune was a happy accident."
Jaune chuckled a bit awkwardly — not used to praise in any way — before quietly murmuring, "Personally I think it's the other way around, you seem really kind and polite. I'm just glad you aren't mad at me for bumping into you."
Pyrrha laughed as she thanked him for the compliment, "I'm glad I wasn't mad too."
There was a bit of comfortable silence as Jaune, Blake, and Pyrrha all sipped at their cups.
"So what brought you to Empire City? It's not exactly a place most people move to out of nowhere?" Jaune queried innocently.
Pyrrha smiled dimmed and she looked down at her cup, not really wanting to bring up her past and issues with her home, "Oh... Well that...um..."
"If you don't want to say, that's fine." Blake interjected smoothly, "Jaune's just curious and it's your business after all."
Jaune immediately paled, "Sorry! I don't mean to pry."
Pyrrha shook her head, still looking glum but less so now that she wasn't dwelling over it, "It's a valid question... I'd just rather not talk about it."
Jaune didn't dither to give his opinion, "Then don't. Everybody has stuff they don't want to talk about. If you don't want to think about it or dwell on it don't. You don't owe us an explanation or something for asking. Blake's right, it's your business."
Jaune couldn't help seeing the parallels in his own life to Pyrrha, she seemed to be trying to leave something behind like he had. He knew what it was like to have to leave something that was familiar because of circumstance and had no desire to pry if they didn't want to talk about it. It was one of the reasons he loved that he had Blake's friendship, she knew when to push and when not to. Jaune wasn't ready to discuss his past and he was sure Pyrrha — who had only just arrived to Empire City — felt just as much the same.
For all he knew she could have the exact same issues he did.
Pyrrha smiled wanly at that, "Thank you."
The conversation stuttered a bit after that, but soon eased over and flowed smoothly until the cafe had to close. After exchanging info, they bade each other goodbye and Jaune offered to help Blake close up since he had been sent home early. Blake initially refused but after some time capitulated and accepted, she didn't mind getting help closing the shop. Counting the till and wiping down the tables wasn't exactly the most exciting thing he had to deal with. Jaune sighed and looked around, feeling relief that Cardin couldn't ruin this and he didn't have to worry about losing something he loved. He had been still for too long and jumped when Blake tapped his shoulder.
"You okay?" She asked quietly.
Jaune plastered on a smile, "I'm fine... just thinking."
"About...?" Blake prodded.
Jaune shook his head, exhaling a small huff of amusement through his nose, "Just glad over the little things I guess..."
Pyrrha closed the door to her apartment, a smile on her face that hadn't left since she said goodbye to Blake and Jaune. She held her phone to her face and smiled at the two contacts that were now in her phone beside her parents. Jaune was making a silly face for his image while Blake was looking exasperated but amused at her friend's antics. She honestly never thought she would meet people who were so kind and friendly right off the bat and could only feel happy. She couldn't remember the last time she had felt so comfortable in any one place. She quickly slipped out of her heavy clothing and proceeded to get ready to bed.
This city seemed a lot better than she could have hoped for.
Jacques Arc idly swirled the contents of his glass as he looked over the reports that Cardin had been sending him about the freak offspring.
He had not been happy with the younger's Winchester intel reports over the past few weeks.
How in the hell did that thing manage to accrue so much support in a city after being there for such a short time? A steady job? A potential girlfriend? A relatively calm if not peaceful life above all else?
Disgusting. Far too good for it.
He drained his glass and grumbled to himself at the defiance of his daughters to follow that freak over their parents. How could they see that thing as anything other than an aberration that needed to be contained? The thing was always too soft, too kind, never trying to be the man his father was. Maybe if it been able to cast aside its innate kindness and learn from Jacques' example, it would be worthy to stay in the family even as a freak. It could've been a useful asset to further the name of their family.
It could've been a somebody.
Instead the aberration got carted off to Curdun Cay.
Good riddance, or so Jacques thought.
Then that meddling Delsin Rowe came and ruined everything.
Jacques set down his cup, resisting the urge to break the glass in his hand by squeezing too hard.
Winchester's recent restrictions were problematic, the boy was perfect to use until his father pulled the very reason Cardin had been so invaluable. No longer immune to the law, Cardin's effectiveness was severely diminished, however he still had his uses. Jacques closed his eyes and steepled his fingers as he looked at the phone on his desk. The boy had come through so far until only this moment — which was something that neither of them could anticipate — which locked him under his father attention. Jacques sneered at how that thing seemed to always had the universe seemed to conspire to keep him relatively content, was it some freakish ability he had gained at Curdun Cay?
"Maybe I should invest a bit more effort into Cardin's predicament? My influence should be enough for one large act without reprisal." He murmured, reaching for a specialized phone he had made and dialing, "I'll have to make sure I give the proper funds wherever, but it should keep Winchester safe from backlash."
Weiss Schnee and Whitley navigated their way through the underground as they tried to find a suitable place to train their powers without being watched. Their father hadn't been kind enough to include a modest gym and getting a membership with a gym wasn't going to help in keeping their combat skills sharp. They weren't going to pick fights but were targets for vultures since their childhood and while their father may not care, Winter very much would. Whitley had been the one to point that playing around with their powers until they actually needed them was just asking to lose if something were to occur and they weren't trained. With that in mind, they used all the maps and resources they could find to map out the underground. As Empire City had a thriving population of conduits and the like, meeting powered individuals in the underground was actually common and never usually a cause for concern as they were friendly enough.
Having to literally traverse the sewers and underground was not exactly Weiss' favorite experience though, staying clean was something she prided herself on. Excluding working out to keep herself in shape, she took her personal hygiene seriously; crossing muddy and dust-filled tunnels and passages to get to where they practiced was incredibly disgusting and she made sure to clean herself thoroughly after. Whitley wasn't much different, but her brother was less worried about that aspect in favor of wondering how far he could push his powers and what he could do. Weiss would've have attributed this to her brother being a guy, but she knew that as a young boy he had admired his father heavily, to be cast out...
He was desperately trying to distract himself and Weiss couldn't blame her brother for doing that.
Yang Xaio Long huffed and puffed as fire erupted from her hand and swallowed the stack of crates and general debris she had dragged over to practice on. Her fire blast seared them into oblivion and soon nothing was left but ashes and charred splinters. She panted and flicked open a box of matches and walked over to a few planks of wood she created from leftover debris and set it ablaze, crouching down beside it before pulling the fire towards herself. The fire bent unnaturally before flowing towards the blonde like snakes of fire. She closed her eyes and sighed in pleasure as the fire reenergized her body and made her body and hair glow like molten gold. Her eyes flickered red before settling back into their usual lilac hue as she stopped channelling the last of the power.
Yang wasn't the one to get into fights or feel the need to practice with her powers in her free time, but as of late she wanted to get as strong as possible. She had people she wanted to protect and knew that something was brewing, she could feel it. She didn't know what it was, or what sort form the coming storm would take, but her instincts were screaming at her to brace herself. She sighed as she shouldered her bag she had brought down with her and pulled out a sports drink she had brought with her and made her way out of the atrium. Mulling over her thoughts she sighed and thought of her sweet little sister and best friend being in danger or getting hurt. A sudden burst of frenzied terror and desperate need to be near them swelled up within her at the image of them hurt.
That was something she could not let happen.
Cardin idly played angry birds on his phone while he lay on his bed, grumbling as one last piglet stared at him after his last shot before it grinned.
"Stupid pig." he grumbled.
Staying on the back foot while his father's temper cooled was quiet and Cardin was surprised that he had been sleeping more than he usually did. Apparently attacking Jaune and ruining his life had been way more taxing than he realized and he had been too determined to notice he needed rest. Part of him wondered if he had enough cash given to him to cut this deal off and stop harassing the blond, but a quick scan of his accounts had him twisting his lips in indecision. His finances were far from bad, his father had been very strict early on in his classes and for all that Cardin was a 'self-assured' person, he did pay attention. He was no novice in business and he was no fool when it came to investing and accruing wealth; his grades weren't as fantastic as before but definitely above what was expected of him (which he couldn't really decide whether that was an insult or fine). The only reason for the drop in his grades was the deal he had made which had forced him to cut back a bit on the studying to go after Arc. Adding the fact that the money he had been getting from the Arcs was nothing to sneeze at and his account had a very fat layer of cushioning before he had to even start to be concerned.
He was in very good health but still wanted more.
No amount of wealth was enough, things could change on a dime and being prepared for that was something he prided himself on. With that in mind, how should he proceed to keep his income flowing? It was well-known that he was a concrete conduit, and a unique 'king' at that. If he did something devastating that used his powers, it may have well as been putting a calling card on any attempt. So a direct confrontation with Jaune Arc was out of the question for now as he was still forced to bide his time.
What he needed was a patsy.
Someone to pin the blame on.
What could he use though?
He didn't know anyone who had his abilities, no one who was even close to his abilities that he could even try to pin any acts he did. Oh sure there were definitely conduits who lived in Empire City, but they were probably not going to help him. Even concrete conduits who were still around after Augustine's fall had either returned back to their homes and he was the one of the only ones who relocated to Empire City to be near his father. He sighed wordlessly and stared at the ceiling and tried to think his way around his predicament. Part of him was tired of bullying the meek blonde — it wasn't like the dude even posed any significant issue to anyone — but he still had a agreement in place with Arc senior and he didn't want to burn the bridge with that man.
Just then his phone rang.
He rolled over and picked up his phone as his eyes widened.
'Senior Arc' his screen read.