Ch 8. A day in Vale

Jaune looked at his reflection in the mirror, some time had passed since he had visited Salem's castle. Three months to be exact, looking at himself it was very obvious his body had matured a lot. Now 4 months old, he wasn't the small bumbling puppy, now he was a bit taller, broader, and well larger in general. He also noticed how his bone plaiting had changed, now it was sturdier, there were deeper marks and he looked a lot cooler if he did say so himself.

"Hey dork, stop admiring yourself. Not everyone looks as dumb as you"

Jaune grumbled to himself, turning his head he saw another golden retriever. Unlike him she didn't have any grimm attributes, her coat of fur was a lot dirtier than his. Her platinum eyes glazed over him as she layed on her back.

"You're just jealous I get the cool grimm stuff"

"As if, you look like a dork in boney armor"

"Shouldn't it be a knight in shining armor?"

"Bwahahaha, that's a good joke Jaune"

"Shut it Vernal"

His roommate was also a reincarnate like him, her name was Vernal but she didn't provide any last name so he called her Vernal Ash. Well Ash was her 'name' since that's what Cinder decided to name her that. At first Vernal was very aggressive towards Jaune, she still is just not as much. But after a lot of begging, pestering, and favors he was able to realize why she acted that way. Turns out dying because you got squished by a dead nevermore is not the best way to go.

"Your thinking about how I died again" Vernal said dangerously

"N-no I'm not"

"Yes you are, you have that same dumb smile on your face from when I first told you"

Before the two could start arguing a more mature voice silenced them

"Children. May I ask why you are bickering?"

The two pups sat ramrod and looked at the older dog, or is it grimm? Mavros in a way has changed compared to when he first met her. For starters she somehow has magic that allows her to disguise herself as an elder Golden Retriever, some bullshit that was, she gets the magic powers while Jaune got the itchy collar. Other than that however she was still grimm, so not much really has changed.

"No reason"

She raised a brow and looked at Jaune

"No reason at all"

"I see...anyways, Cinder has planned to take you both to the park. I will not be able to join you"

"Ok" They both said in unison

"Do behave yourselves, I don't want a repeat of last time"

Jaune shivered at the thought of that, after that whole fiasco the two pups had to sit out in the rain for a good 3 hours. It was Mavros idea and when they both went back inside Cinder showered them with love and affection.

"Now do enjoy yourselves"

"Yes Ma'am"

"Yes mom"

The door to the room opened and the trio saw Cinder enter, she had more casual clothing on and two leashes.

"Ember, Ash, let's go"

The two pups walked towards her but Jaune tried to slip past Cinder, to no success as she scooped him up in a tight embrace.

"Now Ember, what have I told you about your collar?"

'I don't wanna, it's itchy and uncomfortable'

Cinder clipped the collar on him and soon enough instead of a grimm Ember, there was a simple puppy Ember. Jaune grumbled to himself and he pawed at the collar, looking at Vernal he saw her snickering to herself. Jaune simply swatted her with his paw.

"Watch it bone brain"

"Whatever bird brain"

"I will kill you" She said dangerously, Jaune simply stuck his tongue out at her.

"Come along now you two"

The two pups walked behind Cinder, but every now and then one would try to trip the other.

Jaune walked up to a group of dogs huddled around a tree, all of them staring at a crow perched up on it. Looking around Jaune found a familiar head of grey, walking over he heard two familiar voices.

"That crow has been visiting more frequently" a soft but masculine voice said

"You're right about that ole chap. Think it has a reason as to why it visits?" a deeper huskier voice responded

"No not really" The miniature schnauzer paused, smelled the air and turned around "Ember, nice to see you again"

"Nice to see you too Ludwig"

"I thought I recognised that smell of dread and despair from somewhere. How've ya been Ember?"

"I've been better Coral"

"Oh? Some'ing come up?"

"No, it's Ash"

The two dogs nodded at that "let me guess, she's being a total cu-"

"Bitch, is what Coral means to say"

Jaune chuckled at that "I mean, that is what is"

The larger dog bellowed out laughing, Ludwig simply hung his head low "I walked into that one, didn't I"

"Sure did mate" a fourth voice rang out, the trio turned to face the australian shepard "Ember, good to see you again"

"Luca, same here"

"Is that damn bird back?" The fourth member asked

"Afraid so, some of the others have been trying to catch its attention; so far we haven't succeeded"

Jaune looked at the crow, he knew the crow was familiar. In fact, it was the same one he 'killed' two and a half months ago. Jaune narrowed his eyes at the bird, an idea came to mind. He felt a single quill emerge from his back, turning his head he estimated where a good ricochet point was. Finding one he fired the quill, it bounced off a tree and then…

"...Can't we do something to get rid of the bird?" Ludwig asked

"I don't think we ca-" Jaune turned his head to face the crow. The quill he shot hit it dead center, and since it went by so fast the bird lost some feathers. They drifted to where it once stood. All of the dogs just sat there.

"Um...what just happened?" Luca asked

"Bloody hell, I think a falcon grabbed the bird" Coral responded

"Well, that was a bit unfortunate" Jaune said

"I'll say...anyways see you guys later" Ludwig called out

"Same here. Bye guys" Jaune walked away from the dispersing group of dogs. Jaune walked towards the bench Vernal was resting at but when he arrived she wasn't anywhere to be found.

'Huh, I thought-'

Jaune wasn't ready when the girl jumped him from the back and attacked him.

"Ah-ha!"

"Ah! Vernal, what the hell"

"I heard what you called me"

Jaune began to sweat bullets "I-i don't know what your talking about"

"You called me a bitch"

"...I mean...that is what you are"

Vernal clamped her maw around Jaune's neck, which in turn caused the boy to struggle under her. Jaune felt her clamp her maw a bit tighter.

"V-vernal, l-let go"

"No!"

"What in the world is going on here!?"

The two pups froze and looked up, there they saw Cinder. Jaune expected to see rage or shock, instead he saw...embarrassment?

"If I knew you two where going to do that I wouldn't have brought you here" She placed her hands over her face.

Jaune of course was confused, however Vernal seemed to understand.

"W-wait, I don't like him like that!" She began to bark at Cinder. Said woman looked at her and she simply shook her head from side to side.

Jaune still confused sat back up 'maybe I should apologize'. The boy scooted closer to the shorter dog and nuzzled his snout to her. She seemed to freeze.

"What?" he asked

Vernal growled and barked at him, Jaune flinched and hid his head into his chest.

"Oh, oh...you two aren't romantically attracted to each other?" Cinder asked

Jaune paled at the thought of...wait, that's what she thought they were doing. Jaune felt sick, walking towards a bush, he regurgitated his breakfast. The poor bush wasn't ready for grimm barf that it wilted and died almost instantly.

"You ass! I'm not that bad of a person!"

"Well...you see...bye" Jaune broke out into a sprint

"Hey, come back here" Vernal followed him

Cinder noticed how both of them still had their leashes attached, grabbing them she expected to stop both of them. Instead she herself was dragged across the park by the two superpowered pups.

At a distant cafe Mavros laid near the foot of a table, her leash sitting next to her. In all honesty the older dog lied about going to park with Ember and Ash because she needed some alone time. Of course when she heard Adam was going to a small cafe she couldn't help but not accompany him.

Looking up she saw Adam, poorly disguised by the way, chatting with another faunus. Throughout the conversation she was able to identify her as Juliah. She also noticed she was a canine faunus, as to what kind Mavros was debating between a wolf or husky.

During their time at the cafe the two had spent what she considered to be a joyful date. That's what humans called it, correct. She heard Ember talk about wanting to date someone, when she suggested Ash the boy looked visibly sick.

A small laughter between the two told her something humorous was said. As she looked at the distant park she could see a small dust cloud stirring up. Lifting her head a bit she put some thought into it but decided it was unimportant.

Resting her head she decided to sleep for a while, Adam and Juliah had only just ordered their coffee so it would be a while before they were leaving. She felt a small hand pet her fur and Mavros simply smiled, this was definitely better than being cooped up at her Queen's castle.

Vernal glared at Jaune, currently the two were chained to a fence post. After arriving from the park Cinder was absolutely livid with the two of them, hence why they were chained to poles in the middle of the base.

"This is all your fault" she said bitterly to Jaune

"My fault? You pounced on me"

"With good reason"

Jaune growled at her, she couldn't say much in retaliation. So what if she was the one that started it, during her time in the branwen tribe she learned to fend for herself. It was one of many lessons she learned from Raven.

A pair of white fang soldiers passed by them, each petting both her and Jaune as they continued walking. Ok, so maybe being a dog softened her up a bit. But who could blame her, she received both attention and affection. That's a double A sentence most people couldn't say they got.

"You know, this could have all been avoided if you didn't jump on me"

Vernal 'hmphed' at that, like hell she was going to let him call her a bitch.

"Whatever"

"Unless you had other intentions?" Jaune said slyly

"Don't push your luck Arc"

As night was getting closer Vernal felt sleep overpower her and soon enough she laid down. However she didn't remember the floor being so soft and warm.

Cinder sighed to herself, she didn't want to punish both Ember and Ash but she had to. If she didn't then the two would continue pulling these stunts. Feeling a tinge of guilt in her stomach she decided to check up on the two. Walking out she turned the corner and could only coo at what she saw.

Pulling out her scroll she snapped a quick picture and returned to her room. Opening up the picture she sent the image to salem. Said image was Ember laying on the ground asleep, on top of him was Ash resting her head on the larger pup.

Looking at Mavros she showed her the image, the grimm looked at it and simply nodded. Closing her scroll she turned off the lights and went to sleep.

That's a wrap for this chapter, I do hope you enjoyed it. Also I apologize for such a late update, things came up and I had to put this story on the backburner for a bit, but now I'm back and hope to continue this story.

Anyways if you have any questions don't feel scared to leave a review or write a PM. Until next time

Glynda goodwitch rubbed her eyes, the flashlight of her scroll was turned on as she wandered around the closed park. After having to prepare the dorms for the transfers she was exhausted but receiving that message was the last thing she needed.

"Of all the idiotic things he could do…."

Glynda paused when she came face to face with one Qrow Branwen. His arms were crossed as he hung from a tree, his cape caught by something pinning it to the trunk.

"Do I have to know?"

"I...Hate...Dogs"

"Noted"

Poor Qrow