Author's notes: God it feels so good to be back writing for shits and giggles. Hope you enjoy this chapter! After all, the reason I write is for people to enjoy my ideas. So uh... expect chapters in like rapid succession because I'm going to write as much as I can before my school year starts.

First Impressions

Cardin got back into the venue and saw that not much has changed. People were still talking with each other, drinking and dancing.

A girl around his age approached him, she wore a long red dress which was strapless and showed off her cleavage. It was pretty revealing for a party of fifteen to seventeen year olds.

'Alright, eloquent language and keep the eyes up there'

Cardin wasn't going to lie, he looked. Such is the pride of man, but like staring at the sun is a bad idea he only stole a glance.

"Mister Winchester right?" the girl asked

"Ah, no that's my dad. I'm just Cardin"

She covered her mouth to stifle a giggle, "My, how down to earth of you. I'm Lana Reed, my dad's the-"

Cardin blanked, he honestly couldn't care about where the girl came from. "That's wonderful" he replied

The girl was delighted, she beamed and continued whatever she was saying. "-so, would you want to try to go on a date with me next week?"

'I'm sorry lady, but I got better things to do' Cardin shook his head "No can do Miss Lana, I have other things to do"

The girl's face contorted in confusion "What? Sorry?" she chuckled "Did you just refuse me? Daughter of James Ree-"

"Yes, I did unfortunately. But-" Cardin was going to say if she was willing they could reschedule but the girl was furious.

"Am I not the most beautiful woman you've ever seen? Are you not captivated? Are you sure you should thro-"

"To answer, no, that would be my mother. Second I was kind of but now not really. I have to go to my family, sorry miss Reed bye" Years of homeschooling and abstaining from social activity and taking training over socializing had made Cardin a bit blunt but that didn't mean he was not awkward.

Another son of a famous company's owner came up to him and was a little over-familiar as he put his hand around Cardin's shoulder "Hey man, I saw you reject Miss Lana Reeds over there that was some stuff."

"I did, did you have any problems with that" Cardin asked nervously but it came off as stiff.

the boy laughed "Funnily enough no, names Jackson Howard. From what I could see you don't really care about what our parents did"

Cardin nodded 'finally some decent company' "Yes, I have a thought process which kinda goes into that. I believe that the achievements of the parents shouldn't be linked to their children"

Jackson removed his hand from his shoulder, Cardin thought he did something wrong because from his perspective the boy had stopped being friendly. 'Noooo my decent companion'

Jackson stretched his arm to Cardin expecting a handshake, "I know you don't care for this but nice to meet you. Jackson Howard from the Howard family business of Data Brokering and Technology. I have a feeling we'll be good friends"

Cardin takes his hand "Nice to meet you, Cardin Winchester. Yeah I think you'll be a great friend"

Jackson handed him a card containing his personal number "If you ever need anything about information you can ask me anytime. Plus we have a RD branch if you ever want a cool dust device"

Cardin nodded and left Jackson with a swift farewell.

A couple more people tried to get his attention, sons of wealthy politicians and daughters of famous actors. He honestly wasn't comfortable talking to these many people but he brushed them off as kindly as he thought and finally made it to his parents.

"Cardin, you're here! Did you not like the party with the teenagers?" Christine asked.

"I bet you thought they were boring and uncomfortable didn't you?" asked Dean and Cardin nodded.

"Read you like a book, trust me Cardin it doesn't get any better" Dean laughed

"Yep, your dad's right you know. But try to live it up a little, you remind me of myself when I was your age" another man's voice came

"Uncle Sam" Cardin acknowledged

Sam grabbed Cardin and rubbed his head "You don't have to be too formal, I'm your uncle for goodness sake"

"Sam, you're here. Glad to see you made it. I'm guessing the island hopping and research from the unknown continent went well"

Sam scratched the back of his head "Yeah, fighting Grimm and looking for ancient ruins is such a bitch I tell you that"

The lights came on and a white haired girl walked out into the spotlight. "Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Weiss Schnee"

Cardin listened as Weiss started singing Mirror Mirror (This Life is Mine). Cardin had heard this song before, he even had it on his phone back in his previous life. It was a beautiful song, he even sang it in the shower once in a while.

The soft melody and beautiful singing filled the hall as some wept and others applauded. The song was over and Weiss bowed. Cardin knew he wouldn't have the chance to speak to her but he clapped knowing she would also be training to get into Beacon.

The rest of the party was uneventful, the entire time he was there he spoke to other kids his age and spent the time looking for Nicholas and his family but to no avail.

After asking about it during training, Nicholas said the kids got tired and they had to go. Which made sense, discarding any unnecessary thoughts Cardin focused on his mace.

He already had his aura and his semblance was already manifesting though it wasn't stated or showed in the show Cardin was realizing that he could bestow dust like elements to things around him.

He tried using is as a weapon like imbuing his mace with fire while he also used electricity. There were varying degrees of success in that department but the best way he found out was to just imbue his body.

He could take Lightning element and put it onto his fist and stun opponents or earth to his body so that he would be more sturdy. To Cardin, it was a pretty neat ability and he was sure he would find more ways to use it the deeper his control got.

Taking his mace, he smashed Grimm after Grimm. His father procured hard-light dust training equipment straight from Atlas. He imbued combustion elements into his feet and hands as he kicked and punched giving it that extra oomph.

A hard-light beowulf charged from behind him and Cardin twisted his entire body driving the mace into the beowolf's skull sending it flying and crashing into pixels.

Cardin was done training for that day, Nicholas saw and he commended him "Good Job Cardin, nice work putting your entire body weight on every crucial swing. Next time though, try to put your pivot foot more outward. It would allow you to hit even harder."

Cardin nodded "Of course, note taken"

"Well, that's it for today you can go and have a day off" Nicholas said but Cardin had a question to ask.

"Instructor-" Cardin started but Nicholas stopped him "Just Nicholas Cardin"

"Nicholas, about your children-"

Nicholas' eyes darkened "Did you fall in love with Violet? Because if so-" he cracked his knuckles

Cardin waved his hands "No no, I mean about your son Jaune"

Nicholas looked at him quizzically "I... didn't know you swing that way but-"

"No! I mean I do want to meet him but like I want to be friends because he seems like a cool dude" Cardin stomped his feet.

Nicholas laughed "I understood, honestly I don't know if you and Jaune will fit well together but he said he was going to a comic con or something the like this week"

Cardin wasn't surprised, he was also going in secret. "If it's alright with you, is it okay if I go with your family?"

"It's just Jaune going, but if you want to get to know him then sure"

Cardin smiled, he was finally going to be able to speak with his past life self's favourite character.

Cardin already had a plan, he was going to offer to train Jaune to a certain degree. He would make Jaune train to become at least able to beat a few of the basic monsters and wouldn't get himself killed even though for certain he wouldn't.

There was a reasoning behind this, and its purely a romantic one. Not that Cardin didn't like Jaune but at some point he wanted to make Jaune train with a certain red haired spartan and develop chemistry with her.

Oh and you know, he wanted to let him learn on his own to get a grasp of his own style.

The day came, Cardin was wearing a grey hoodie with black jogger pants and his expensive shoes. He had a bag on his back that had his essentials and his wallet was in his left pocket.

Jaune came up, his bright blonde haire being noticeable from the seas of brown and black. Cardin approached him "Hey-"

Jaune looked petrified "No thanks, I don't do dru-"

Cardin chuckled "It's me man, I asked your dad if I could come with you"

"Oh so you're the guy my dad's been training. Nice to meet you, I'm Jaune"

With a smirk Cardin waved "I know who you are don't worry, wanna head straight to the X-ray and Vav booth?"

Jaune's eyes widened but he sighed "the lines are so long, I think we're better off going later"

Cardin grabbed Jaune's shoulder, "Not when you're with me"

Cardin brought out his phone and called his father. "Dad, can you do me a favor and ask if we could meet the creators of X-ray and Vav right now?"

"Alright, I'll give them a call" Dean answered turning the line off. Jaune asked "So... do we get a pass?"

"Let's see, I don't usually ask my father for favors" Cardin answered

Not even fifteen minutes later the phone rang "Yes dad?"

"Go to their booth and ask to talk to them. Show them your card and they'll let you in"

Cardin smiled "thanks dad, I owe you a lot"

Dean laughed "I'll do anything for my son, I wouldn't mind you asking for more"

The conversation ended and Cardin brought Jaune with him. "So did we?"

Cardin nodded "Yep, my dad is great"

They went to the back stage and talked to the guard. At first the guard didn't believe him but Cardin showed him the identification card he had and they were let in. Jaune was almost left outside but Cardin covered for him saying he was an important friend.

They spoke with the creators and Jaune was able to nerd out and discuss topics with the creators who enjoyed talking to an avid fan of their work.

"Here, since you guys are actually so rad I have this limited edition signed poster. There are only three of them and I want you guys to have one. They were drawn by our head artist and I think you would enjoy it" One of the writers said

Jaune was delighted "Heck yes!"

"You can take it Jaune, you love the comic after all" Cardin offered and Jaune took it "Thanks man, I owe you a ton"

They spent the entire day going from stall to stall and just enjoying the nerd stuff. Until they saw the sun setting.

"Thanks for the day man, it was fun. We should hang out more" Jaune said

Cardin agreed "Yeah but I have a proposition"

Jaune tilted his head "Which is?"

"Jaune do you want to be a huntsman?"

Jaune deflated sadly, "I..." he paused seeming like he was looking for his next words. His voice cracked but it was plain to see "Yes but my father would never allow it"

Cardin pat his back, "If you want we could train together for a year and if you make it we could get you into Beacon somehow"

"That... wouldn't that be like kind of illegal?"

Cardin waved his hands "Nope, we're getting you in through very legal means"

"Somehow I don't trust this"

"Don't worry Jaune, even though we aren't too good of friends I can tell you have the potential to be a huntsman" Cardin put his fist to Jaune's chest

A tear slid down Jaune's cheek "Wow... I" Jaune sniffled.

"Hey yo relax, by the way are you free next Saturday I want to introduce you to another friend of mine." Cardin asked "To be honest, depending on what happens he would be the crutch of this plan"

"Yeah I'm free. I'd love to meet your friend" Jaune nodded.

It was all coming together...

Notes: Short chapter but honestly not really much to go off on but Jaune and Cardin just hitting it off. More of an info dump than anything else.