The sound of a beeping scroll woke Jaune to the sight of an unfamiliar room. It wasn't the hotel he had been staying at in recent days. It most certainly was not the main hall of Beacon Academy. It wasn't much of anything, really.

Jaune recalled how Junior had explained that the building had once been an apartment complex before he had taken over. The amount of lien the man must have had was incredible to think about if he had been able to convert the first couple of floors into the nightclub that it was. With the third floor reserved for supplies and storage, Jaune had found himself a home in one of the old residential rooms on the fourth floor. Well, sort of a home at least.

The few items which were in the room had been covered in dust. Truth be told there was not a lot in there aside from the bed. It was an old and creaky mess, probably left there by whoever had previously lived in the place before Junior had become the owner. When Jaune had sat down upon it he felt himself sink into it almost immediately. However beggars could not be choosers, and without it Jaune would have been left to sleep on the hard and filthy wood floor. A fresh set of bed sheets had made it somewhat habitable for the night, but it would take a lot longer to make this place feel like a home.

It was still such a strange thought. This was his home now. At least temporarily. He wondered if this was what it would have been like to stay at Beacon. To truly stay at Beacon. In a dorm room and with a team. Something which he would never have now.

He pushed the thought from his mind. The last thing he needed was to think about all that he did not have. He had to focus on the future. For the moment his future was here at Junior's club. More specifically, in the kitchen.

After digging into his suitcase and finding suitable clothes to be seen in outside, Jaune exited his room and made his way down the hall to the staircase. It was still hard to believe the sheer size of this place. How had three people, four now including himself, lived in an entire apartment complex by themselves? It wasn't the biggest of buildings, sure, but it was still a place which could have normally housed dozens of families. Junior must have made good lien from his club to be able to afford the payments for a place this size.

That, or the man found other ways to obtain the necessary lien. He was a criminal after all.

Jaune didn't want to think about that at the moment, however. The kitchen. The kitchen was his goal. It was the reason he was up so early this morning. When Junior had spoken to him the previous night the man inquired about any skills besides combat that he might have. When Jaune had mentioned cooking it had appeared as if a decision had been made right then and there in the older man's mind. His task the following morning would be to prepare breakfast for the four of them. Junior had told him how he normally went out and purchased food for himself and the girls, but with lien being tight these days he would rather start using the large amount of food sitting unused in the club's kitchen.

Stepping into the back area of the club, it was a familiar sight. He had been there once before when meeting with Junior for the second time in order to discuss the details of his transcripts. Only this time it was empty. It was also large. Larger than any kitchen he had ever been in before in his life. Certainly larger than the one at home.

He ran a hand through his long blonde locks as he tried not to let himself be intimidated. "Okay, Jaune..." he said to himself. "No problem. You've done this before."

While Jaune was no gourmet chef he also was no stranger to a kitchen. His sister's had made sure of that. He could not recall the number of times where one of his older sisters had dragged him with in order to teach him something. Nor could he remember how many times one of his younger sisters had asked him for his help afterward. It was strange how he always seemed to be involved no matter who was the one cooking up some sort of experiment in the kitchen. Was he there to be a scapegoat in case something went wrong? Or was it merely some form of sisterly torture for the only brother that they had?

In any case he had been given a task. He would complete it. It was just a shame that absolutely no details had gone into how he was supposed to go about accomplishing it.

What did they eat? How much should he prepare? Did anyone have any allergies? What did they even have on hand?

His first stop was the huge walk-in refrigerator. On the shelves inside he saw that it must have been where they stored everything that was not meat. Everything from fresh fruit and vegetables to eggs to bread and so much more was sitting there waiting to be used.

"Well... this is a little bigger than the fridge at home."

He scooped up a few select items before leaving. Already a plan was formulating in his mind, and his next stop was the actual freezer. Smaller than the refrigerator, he opened up the doors to find a large selection of frozen meats to select from. He grabbed one package in particular before bringing everything to one of the large counters in the middle of the room and setting the items down.

After scrounging for a couple of pans he let himself go to work. Soon enough the sizzling sounds of the culinary arts began to fill his ears, the occasional pop of grease bursting and sending globs of liquefied fat flying through the air. His mouth watered at the scents filling the room, and his stomach craved to be filled with the source of them.

It took around twenty minutes of preparation and cooking, but that time was nearly at hand. After dropping several pieces of bread into multiple toasters, Jaune turned off the flames and gathered together a few plates. Dishing out portions onto each of the four plates, he tried to imagine how much everyone might eat based on his own experiences. Junior could probably handle about twice as much as he would. He was a big guy after all, having probably half a foot on Jaune himself. He made sure to fill Junior's plate to capacity.

For each of the twins however, his thoughts went once more to his sisters. If the girls were anything like his own siblings then they wouldn't want to stuff their faces in public. Or even in the company of people who they knew. For that reason he put the same amount on their plates as he did for his own, not expecting them to eat it all but at the same time not wanting to assume too much and give them too little. He had wound up making a lot of food, and there would be more waiting in the kitchen should they desire it.

With the hot and fresh toast placed on the plates last, Jaune decided to go and see if anyone else was even awake at the moment, and pushed through the double doors of the kitchen and back out into the club's main room. It was like a breath of fresh air hitting him, and he had not realized at the time just how hot it had gotten back in the kitchen.

There were a few people at the club working now, but only three of them mattered. The first he saw standing over by the bar, her hands pressed down atop the counter and head looking around the area closest to her. After a few seconds she turned, a dejected look on her face as she leaned back against the wood.

Jaune recognized the weariness she had in her eyes as he approached. Perhaps a nice warm meal would help to wake her up. "Hey, Miltia?"

She looked up at him, a nearly blank expression on her face. "Huh?"

He stopped short of informing her of the food, instead more concerned by her noticeable lack of energy. "Um, everything alright?"

A tiny, tired groan slipped through her lips in response.

Jaune frowned. "What's wrong?"

A breath shot through her nostrils as she shook her head softly. "No donuts. No coffee."

Well, at least he had the cure to her first issue. Sort of. It may not have been donuts, but it was food. Coffee on the other hand was something which he had not taken into consideration. He didn't drink coffee. He didn't even know how to make it. So unfortunately for her he would not be able to grant her a perfect morning meal.

Jaune shrugged lightly in response. "Well it may not be donuts, but I made breakfast this morning if you want some."

Almost immediately the girl perked up, her eyes rising to meet his own. Eyes full of hope. "You what?"

The sudden attention was unexpected, and his hand reached up to scratch the back of his head. "Yeah. It's not much, but Junior had me make breakfast this morning."

If Jaune had to guess however, it looked as if the girl opposite him disagreed with his opinion. The mere mention of food had seemingly woken her from her morning haze, and she focused on him rather than the bar or the floor around it.

"Yeah, I'll have some," she said, a hint of eagerness in her tone. "I'm gonna text Melanie and tell her to come down."

He smiled, nodding an affirmation. "Okay. Grab a seat and I'll bring it out to you. Be right back."

Returning to the kitchen Jaune was hit with a wave of hot, steamy and delicious smelling air once more. Being out of the kitchen and then going back into it only made the heat more apparent and unbearable to be in. After scooping up a pair of plates and silverware he once more pushed through the doors and began looking around for the girl in red.

The blood-red dress stood out like a gemstone in the black and white room, and Jaune made his way over to her as quickly as he could without risking dropping the plates. He was no waiter and he was certainly no cook, but he was doing the best he could. It was certainly better than being the place's new janitor as Melanie had suggested the previous day.

It was a short ascent up a small black staircase to reach the second level of the club's massive central room. Miltia sat at one of the tables there waiting for him to arrive with her and Melanie's meals. He hoped that they would not be disappointed.

When he placed the plate down in front of Miltia he saw how her eyes widened a little at the sight of the food in front of her. Scrambled eggs took up about half of the room on the plate, while a few strips of bacon and a piece of toast took up the remaining space.

The girl picked up her fork and poked at the eggs. "You made this?"

He shrugged again, not quite knowing what to make about the girl's disbelief about the fact that he had cooked this morning. "Yup."

After a few more prods she gathered up a clump of yellow eggs onto her fork and slid them into her mouth. She made no sound, but if her expressive eyebrows were anything to go by he would assume that she was impressed. Or at the very least surprised at not being disappointed by what she tasted.

She swallowed before she spoke. "It's actually pretty good," she said. To Jaune her choice of words all but admitted she had been expecting it to be terrible. "Why do you know how to cook anyway?"

"Well it's not like eggs and bacon are even hard to do," he admitted. "But it was my sisters. For some reason a few of them were really into the idea of me cooking. I guess I learned because they forced me, and so they'd leave me alone."

Miltia hummed a response. She took another bite, her fork filled to the brim this time. "So is going to be like, a normal thing?"

"Don't know. I guess if Junior wants it to be. He said I have to earn my keep so I guess this is one way of doing it. And that it'd be a good way to start saving lien."

If it was to become a regular thing then Jaune would be happy to do it. At least it was something he knew how to do reasonably well.

Whether it was officially on the books or not, Jaune had been taken on as muscle for the older man. What exactly that entailed he did not know. He assumed he would most likely protecting the club from rowdy drunks and ensuring that the events of a week ago did not happen again. All in all being a bouncer wouldn't be that bad of a job. He had Aura, size and basic fighting skills. The average guy off the streets would probably be lacking most if not all of those qualities.

If he could put on a little more muscle then his already impressive height would be made all the more effective. While he wasn't exactly scrawny, he was a little lanky for someone with his six foot one inch frame.

Jaune was shaken from his thoughts when Miltia spoke again. "Can you make a pumpkin spice?"

His mind worked to figure out what exactly she meant by that, but he came up empty. "Is that some kind of pie flavor?"

The dejected sigh which slipped through her lips told him that his guess was wrong. "Never mind."

Silence settled over the pair as Miltia continued to eat. It was a slow and delicate process, not unlike what he would have seen from one of his sisters. For a moment Jaune wondered if he should leave her alone while she waited for her sister to arrive, but a thought from the previous day entered his mind.

He turned his attention back to the girl sitting in front of him. "Hey, can I ask you a question?"

Miltia looked up, swallowed and nodded. "Sure."

"Yesterday when you said I didn't have to take the job, when you said not everyone could do it. What did you mean by that?"

The girl didn't answer immediately. She looked off to the side for a few moments before her focus returned to him. After a few seconds she seemed ready to give her explanation. She set the fork down on her plate. "You seem like a good person," she said with a frown. It struck Jaune as strange that such an expression would accompany a compliment.

A confused frown of his own formed on his face in response. "Uh, thanks?"

Miltia shook her head. "That's not a good thing. I don't know you that well, but you seem too nice to do the kind of stuff you'll need to."

Since when was being too nice a bad thing? Of course Jaune was not the sort to be walked all over and taken advantage of due to his kindness. However he did try to be nice to everyone he met, whether they were friends or strangers. After all, strangers were just friends you hadn't met yet. She and Melanie had been strangers the night he found the two sisters injured.

However he was more than curious about the last part of her statement. "What kind of stuff am I going to be doing?"

"The night you found Melanie and me... most people we do business with wouldn't have helped us out like that." The fork was in her hand once more, and she had once again started to pick and prod at the food on her plate. "It's not... best for business, you could say."

Jaune did not know what that meant or how it connected to what he would be expected to do. What he did know however was that a tiny ember of anger flared up inside of him at the thought of someone not helping out people who had just been assaulted in their own workplace. Aspiring huntsman or not, it was just the decent thing to do.

Still, he wanted clarification if he was to do his new job well. "I did the right thing, didn't I?"

"Yeah," she said. Her eyes dropped down to the hand which held her fork. "That's the problem."

If he did the right thing then why was he too nice to do the kind of stuff he would need to? He never got a chance to voice his question, however.

"Miltia, if this is some stupid drunk text of yours I'm gonna be pissed," a second female voice said from behind him.

Jaune turned to see the longer-haired twin approaching, wearing the stylish white and teal dress he had seen her in the first night they had met. It, like the red dress which Miltia wore, was clean and mended of any holes and tears. Along with the boa around her neck it made her look like some sort of glamorous movie star. Perhaps that was the point.

"Sorry, not all of us get drunk at nine in the morning, Melanie," the other twin shot back at the approaching girl.

Melanie stopped before the table, her hands placed on her hips as she looked down at the plates atop it. "Huh. He actually did cook," she said as her gaze turned up to look at Jaune. "Did you get my pumpkin spice?"

"There's no pumpkin spice," Miltia said glumly.

An annoyed breath shot from Melanie's mouth as she sat down in front of the plate he had brought for her. "Whatever. I guess I was expecting too much from him."

"Yeah, but check it out, the food's actually pretty good," her sister said in his defense. "Try it."

It was almost strange how the girls had cut him out of the conversation entirely. Almost, because he had experienced it plenty of times before. They were speaking about him right in front of him seemingly without a care about what he had to say. He was once more reminded of his own sisters and how they would sometimes have entire conversations about him and speak on his behalf. Even when he was standing right there in front of them.

That changed when it was Melanie who scooped up a fork full of food and placed it in her mouth. A reaction not unlike Miltia's formed on her face, and soon she too looked up at him. "You made this?"

Was it truly so hard to believe that he could put together a basic breakfast? He wasn't useless after all. His family had made sure of that. Being one of eight children meant more than just picking up a few skills which his sisters wanted to teach him. Helping to look after his siblings and do things around the house in order to aid his parents came with the territory. Especially when one of them was a huntsman who could be away from home for potentially weeks at a time. As a result Jaune as well as his siblings had become adept at all kinds of housework to assist their mother.

"Yeah," he confirmed once more.

"Hmm," the girl hummed thoughtfully. "I'm sure you'll make a great wife one day."

The soft giggle from Miltia forced a small frown onto his face. He looked over to her to see that she had brought a hand up over her mouth, her eyes locking onto his for a brief moment before she looked back down at her food. Men could cook too! Plenty of great and famous chefs were men!

Melanie clearly saw the lack of amusement on his features and reached up to poke his arm with a finger. "Calm down, little huntsman," she cooed. "I'm just kidding."

Her words did anything but calm him, however. "About that name. I really wish you'd stop calling me that."

He wasn't a huntsman. And now that he had lost his chance to attend Beacon he never would be.

The girl's lips slowly curled up into a predatory grin, her eyes locked onto his. Before Jaune could comment, however, he heard a sigh from the other side of the table.

"You really shouldn't have said that," Miltia said with an almost tired expression.

Jaune's tone turned cautious in reply. "Why?"

The girl in red just shook her head softly. "As if she needed anything else to use against you."

"Oh come on, Miltia," Melanie said innocently. "I'm not that bad." She pushed one of the empty seats out from under the table with a leg before her hand drifted up once more to place itself upon Jaune's arm. "You don't have to just stand there, you know. Come here and sit down. Talk with us."

The feeling of Melanie's fingertips brushing against the skin on his arm sent chills running through his body. Had he been any other red-blooded male, the idea of dining with the two beauties would have been a dream come true. However memories of the last time he sat down to spend time with the girls was still fresh in his mind. It was not something he intended to repeat anytime soon.

The look on the girl's face was hungry, and Jaune could tell that it was not for the food he had prepared for her. Melanie's invitation was anything but innocent. He was very easily able to put the pieces of this puzzle together, however he could not think of any excuse to not sit down right now that wouldn't offend the girl. The last thing he wanted was to be on the receiving end of any real wrath from the girl. He was saved, however, from an unlikely source.

"H- Junior's down here now," she said as she pointed over to the man who stood at the bar. "You should probably bring him his food."

Melanie gasped dramatically. "Wow, cook and waiter? Someone's really moving up in the world."

Jaune ignored the intended insult and merely nodded to Miltia. "Yeah. I should get on that. Thanks."

He received no answer from the red-dressed girl, while the annoyed harrumph of Melanie told him that she was unhappy that he would not be around for her to have fun with.

A soft sigh slipped through his lips as he made his way back to the kitchen. He had spent seventeen years growing up in a household full of women. It should have prepared him for this. Somehow it had not. He could only imagine what would lay in store for him in the coming months.

Miltia watched as Jaune descended the stairs, his pace perhaps a little quicker than she would have expected. Perhaps he was in a hurry to deliver food to his new boss. Or perhaps he was simply eager to get away from her overbearing sister. Whatever the case, he quickly found himself behind the bar and through the doors which led back to the club's kitchen.

She absentmindedly brought her fork back up to her lips, enjoying the taste of what he had called a simple meal. Simple to him, perhaps, but Miltia had never tried cooking before. She had never had the opportunity to learn. She had never wanted to. Life since Junior had entered the picture had been primarily about one thing. Survival.

Cooking may have been a useful skill, but fighting was better. You could cook a meal if you had the lien for food and the equipment to make the meal. However it was so much easier to knock a man on his ass and rob him in order to buy pre-made food. In that way she would always be able to fend for herself. She would never again be at the mercy of others.

Until that one night...

"Miltia?"

She was broken from her thoughts at the mention of her name. She looked back over to see her sister staring at her with a curious look on her face.

"Huh?"

"I said, I didn't interrupt anything, did I?" Melanie's expression changed with the question, a knowing smirk curling on her lips with the question.

"What are you talking about?"

Melanie scoffed, a small shake of her head showing her displeasure. "You're no fun today."

It took a moment, but Miltia caught on to what her sister had been implying. As well as what she had been attempting. "Oh my gods," she sighed. "Can you seriously not be annoying for like, one meal?"

"Wow. Seriously. Totally bitchy lately."

"I have not been bitchy lately," Miltia countered. "But if I have been it's only because you've been so annoying with your stupid jokes."

"No no, I get it," her older sister said. "You're going through latte withdrawal. I totally understand."

While the lack of her usual pumpkin spice latte in the morning was an annoying inconvenience, it was nothing compared to the sister who for the past two mornings had been making all sorts of jokes concerning her and Jaune.

"I've got it," Melanie said with a snap of her fingers. Her eyes were bright with inspiration as she gazed into her twin's own green orbs. "We train him to get our lattes."

"Train him?"

"Yeah. Like, we can reward him if he gets them before we wake up. Something like that. I don't know."

Miltia wanted to tell her sister how stupid both she and her idea was. Before she could, however, her eyes once more dropped down to the plate in front of her. She remembered what Jaune had told her. It was there for a reason.

"Melanie," she said carefully. "I don't think there's gonna be a lot of pumpkin spices anymore."

Her sister looked as though she had just been betrayed. Green eyes widened at the words, her fork placed down on the table. Miltia imagined that it was so the girl would not drop it in shock.

"What do you mean?"

"Jaune told me that Junior had him cook to save lien," she explained. "That's why there were no donuts this morning. And no lattes."

Any traces of playfulness or amusement had been wiped off of Melanie's face at the words. Miltia heard her take a deep breath before exhaling softly. "Fuck," she breathed out.

"Yeah," Miltia agreed. "Fucking blonde bitch."

"Fucking bitch," Melanie echoed.

Silence overtook the table, the only noise coming from the forks scraping the plates as both girls stabbed at the remaining food on their plates.

Looking back over the railing and down below Miltia saw that Jaune had returned to the bar, sitting down at it across from where Junior stood. Both men had plates in front of them. Apparently the blonde had chosen to spend his time with Junior rather than the two of them. She couldn't exactly blame him for that. Melanie made it a rather uncomfortable work environment. Around her sexual harassment was something to be expected.

She stared down at them, head propped up on the table with her right arm. She wondered what their next move would be. What would Junior have Jaune do for them? What would Junior himself do? What would she and Melanie do?

"Miltia."

For a second time she was stirred from her thoughts by her sister. Miltia brought her attention on her once more. "Hmm?"

"I'm bored," Melanie said, her voice not at all matching the feeling she was claiming to have.

Miltia's eyes narrowed as they focused on the girl opposite her. Her head tilted slightly in curiosity. "What did you have in mind?"

"We should go out again sometime since lien's getting a little tight."

To most people it would have been a contradiction. People didn't go out when they were low on money. However Miltia understood the meaning of her sister's words. Their last night on the town was still fresh in her mind.

"Sure," she agreed. "I'm sure Hei could use the extra lien."

"Probably," Melanie waved dismissively. "So could our little fund."

Eyes narrowed once again, this time in confusion. "Our fund?"

"The latte fund, duh," the older girl said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Pumpkin spice lattes are like, a basic human need or whatever."

Miltia laughed softly. She couldn't exactly bring herself to disagree with the statement. Instead she just did the next best thing. "I should probably thank you for getting Jaune to stay. Now I have someone other than Hei to talk to who's at least kinda smart."

"Good idea," Melanie smiled, ignoring the intended insult. "We'll bring him along too."

The smile dropped from her face. "What?"

"He's our new muscle, right?"

He was. Junior had said as much.

"Yeah?"

"So we should totally see what he can do," Melanie said excitedly. "Let's see him in action. He has a sword right? I know you'd love to get a glimpse of it."

Miltia couldn't even bring herself to get upset over another of her sister's jokes. The idea of Jaune going out there and getting himself into fights with criminals did not sit well with her. She had meant what she had said earlier. He was a good person. Good people did not go around picking fights with others. She doubted that he had it in him to swing his sword in anger at another person.

If he didn't then he'd wind up dead.

She couldn't refuse her sister's idea. Jaune was his own man after all. If he got word of her not wanting him to come along then he'd probably just insist on doing so. She remembered his words from both last night and this morning.

Instead Miltia decided to go a different route. "Let's ask Hei what he thinks."

He was technically their boss too, even if he didn't act like one. Going to him for advice on what to do with Jaune was the best idea. She was certain that the man had enough sense not to send Jaune with them on a dangerous trip like that.

"Whatever," the other girl said. It seemed like Melanie realized this as well if her response was anything to go by.

Miltia looked back down to where the two men sat. She could hear indistinct talking coming from the area. Junior was normally not the most sociable of people. She wondered what the two of them were discussing.

"Huh. It's actually not bad."

Why was that everyone's reaction? Seriously. Like it was difficult to screw up bacon and eggs.

"I don't hear the girls complaining either," Junior continued. "So they must not think it's bad either."

Jaune briefly considered calling home in order to get some tips and advice on how to cook a much better and more complex meal. Food and cooking was an art itself, was it not? Surely it wouldn't be that hard to convince his sisters that his art school offered culinary courses. They would in fact probably jump at the chance to help him thrive in his classes.

In the end he wound up shrugging at what he would decide to take as a compliment. "Thanks."

Junior grunted an acknowledgement. Most might have thought it was because his mouth was full at the time. However Jaune had noticed over the course of a few discussions with the man that he simply did not make small talk. It was especially apparent when the pair of Malachite sisters were in the vicinity.

Jaune fought an urge to look up to where the two of them were currently sitting. He didn't want to draw any more of Melanie's attention to himself than he already had today. Her believing him to be looking up at her would likely cause her to continue where she had left off. Then again it wasn't like she even needed a prompt or a reason to come and bother him some more. This was her home after all. He was a guest there only because Junior had allowed it.

He wondered what he would be doing for the rest of the day. With the club still days, perhaps even weeks from being reopened it wasn't like he could act as the muscle that he was hired for. Perhaps he would begin to get his new room in order. He wondered if there was a duster anywhere in the building. Was there some sort of utility closet? Was there even a cleaning staff of any kind at all? Melanie had joked about him becoming the janitor last night. Did that mean they had one to replace, or simply didn't have one period?

"What are your plans for the day?"

The question caused Jaune to look up and see that Junior was looking down at him from where he stood. It was odd. Even when the man ate he was standing behind the bar. The only time he could remember him not standing was the day where the two had discussed his transcripts.

"I don't know," he answered honestly. "What is there for me to do?"

Junior hummed. "Not much, admittedly," he said. "Which is why I asked if you planned on doing anything."

Jaune looked away for a few seconds as he thought about it. "I guess I was going to try and clean up that room you gave me last night. Got any better beds around here than that one?"

"No. You're out of luck there, kid."

He certainly didn't feel like it. Jaune could only imagine the number of people out there who would be thankful to have a proper bed to sleep on. To have a safe place to sleep at night.

His mind once again drifted to the twins. How safe was it, really?

Jaune shrugged. "Was worth a shot. Thanks anyway."

Junior grunted again. "You get your situation sorted out then. Clean it. Decorate it. I don't really care what you do with the place as long as it doesn't cost me any lien. Sound good?"

It was a fair offer. More than fair, and more than he had been expecting when he was given the room. "Yeah. Very good."

The man nodded. "Good. Now then, the reason I asked is because one of these days I'm going to need to know what you're capable of."

Capable of? As in more cooking? Was he to be the fulltime chef here? While it was certainly an honor to be offered such a position, Jaune knew for a fact that he was not qualified for the job. His simple breakfast may have impressed him too much.

A hint of uncertainty crept into Jaune's voice. "I appreciate it, but do you really think I'm ready for something like that?"

Junior gave him a puzzled look in return. "That's the whole reason I brought you on in the first place. I'm undermanned and I need some muscle. I thought you understood that."

Reality hit Jaune harder than the hangover from a couple nights ago had. Of course Junior had meant muscle. Jaune felt a touch of embarrassment in his cheeks, and hoped the other man would not realize there had been a misunderstanding.

"Right," Jaune agreed. "So what do you want me to do?"

Jaune saw Junior look up and behind him. He could only assume it was up at the girls. "You have Aura and some training. That already puts you above all my boys as far as I'm concerned. You wouldn't prove too much by going up against them."

Well, that was up for debate. It was true that Jaune had gone up against a couple of them on the night he and Ruby had foiled that dust shop robbery. However only one of them had actually engaged Jaune head-on. Truthfully Jaune didn't know just how capable he was compared to them. However he was not about to tell Junior that he already had experience against them.

"Okay," he said simply.

"So once you get settled in I'm going to need you to take on one of the girls," Junior explained. "How well you fair against them will tell me what you're capable of and where I can use you."

The thought of fighting against Melanie or Miltia, even if it was only a spar, did not sit well with Jaune. These were the same girls which Junior had once implied could have killed him. He didn't know if the man had been serious at the time, however he was not too eager to find out.

With that idea in mind Jaune spoke again. "Are you sure? I could always go up against one of your other guys."

Junior dismissed the idea with a wave. "They're shit," he said plainly. "You have huntsman training. Unless that was a lie too just like the rest of your transcripts."

Jaune frowned at those words. Yes, some of his transcripts had been a lie. His training was not. While he may not have been the most skilled fighter out there, he had taken every one of his father's lessons to heart. If only he had been better. Then his father would have continued training him. He could have gone to Signal Academy. He could have gone to Beacon. He could have been with Ruby and Yang.

A small, competitive fire was lit in his belly with all of the thoughts in his head. "No, that part was true," he argued.

Junior shrugged. "Fair enough. All the more reason for you to fight one of the girls."

He didn't want to. He could still recall the long, savage looking claws that Miltia had worn on her wrists the night they had met for the first time. Being on the receiving end of those was an experience which he could only imagine would be unpleasant. He couldn't recall what weapons Melanie had been armed with that night, but he expected that they would be just as dangerous to deal with as her sister's.

However if it had to be done then it had to be done. He had agreed to take this job after all. Getting kicked out onto the street for being of no use to Junior would only result in him having to go home.

He took a deep breath and nodded in agreement. "Alright. Sure."

The man opposite him leaned in a little, lowering his voice as he spoke. "If I were you I'd try to get Miltia to be the one to spar," he said.

Even with his limited time spent with the twins, Jaune understood why Junior had made the suggestion. "Yeah," he whispered, a hint of fear in his voice. "Thanks."

Junior moved back and nodded. "Good. Now that that's settled I want you to take the rest of the day to get your room in order. Real work is coming soon. Enjoy the rest while you can."

Jaune nodded. Real work. Bouncer work, perhaps. Or maybe more cooking. Whatever the case was he would be ready.

This wasn't how it was supposed to be.

"How am I supposed to sleep with that hanging over my head?"

Things had started out so well.

"I'll be lucky if it even lasts one night before it crashes down on me. Where did you even find that rope?"

It had taken only a few days for it to all fall apart.

Ruby sat in her dorm atop one of the bottom beds of her team's crudely designed bunk beds. A few feet away her partner, Weiss Schnee, paced back and forth giving her a lecture on safety and proper sleeping conditions. She wished that it had been the first lecture she had received from the white-haired girl. Sadly it was not.

Things had indeed started out well enough. After a chance encounter in the Emerald Forest, Ruby had found herself unexpectedly partnered with the girl who she would later find out was the heiress to the Schnee Dust Company. That was so cool! It was almost like being partnered with a celebrity. Weiss herself had been skeptical of being partnered with someone two years younger than her, and had wondered how she had gotten into Beacon Academy in the first place. In the end the older girl had convinced herself that Ruby must be some sort of prodigy and would give things a chance.

That lasted all of two days before the girl changed her tune completely.

So what if Ruby enjoyed making the occasional doodle in class? Yang found them hilarious. And it wasn't as if Professor Port actually had stink lines emanating from his body. That was just part of her artistic interpretation. However Weiss had not appreciated it. Not one bit. After class Ruby had received a stern talking to about respecting one's superiors and paying attention in class. Weiss had told her how she refused to have her partner lowering her own standing in Beacon by having bad grades and being labeled as some sort of class clown.

It hadn't ended there. From her artistic expression, to her eating habits, to the design of their dorm room, Weiss loved to criticize. She loved to talk down to the girl who was her partner and leader. Weiss certainly did not treat her like a leader. If anything the heiress acted like she was the leader of Team RWBY. There were times where Ruby wished that she was.

Being named the leader of the team had been an amazing and most unexpected experience. Now, however, after having dealt with the pressures and expectations which came with it she was beginning to doubt herself. It was more than just Weiss, however. There was also the issue of Blake distancing herself from both Yang and the team as a whole. How were they supposed to operate as a team when half of the members were either missing in action or were bossy enough to make people mistake her as the leader?

Ruby sighed and brought a hand up to her head. She wished Jaune was here right now. He wouldn't have lectured her like this. He wouldn't have abandoned his team on a daily basis at the first opportunity.

The movement seemingly garnered the other girl's attention, as Weiss put her lecture on hold and spun to look at Ruby. "Have you begun your assignment for Dr. Oobleck's class yet?"

The one which had just been assigned today? The one that she had the entire weekend to work on? "No, not yet," Ruby admitted. She didn't believe it would be a problem. It wasn't due until Monday.

"I'd like you to start on that tonight," Weiss all but ordered. "With the entire weekend to work on it there's absolutely no reason it should not be perfect and ready to hand in on Monday morning."

Since when was Weiss her mother? Ruby frowned, her knees squirming a little bit as they pressed together while she sat. She wanted to say something, but that would likely only make things worse. It would probably be best to just stay quiet and ride out the storm. The last thing she needed was another lecture from Weiss on how she needed to take her assignments seriously.

Her mind wandered off as Weiss picked up where she had left off in her bunk bed rant. As the girl began to once more talk about the need for a good night's sleep in order to keep their bodies and minds in peak condition, Ruby wondered what things would have been like had she found a different partner. What if it had been Yang like she had initially planned? Sure, Yang was still on her team right now, but they weren't partners. Had Yang been her partner then she was certain that the wrath of the Schnee girl would have been focused more on Blake than herself. Perhaps Weiss would have been able to get the dark-haired girl to actually spend time in their dorm and act like a real teammate.

That, or the two girls would tear each other apart.

Then there was Jaune. She wished there hadn't been a problem with his transcripts. What if he had been on their team instead of either Weiss or Blake? It would be an improvement in either case to have a friend with her instead of a stranger. She wondered what he was doing right now. It had only been around a day since she had last spoken to him. Had he gone home by now? Was he going to forget all about her? The thought of that made her feel worse than she already did right now.

"I'm going to go and wash my hair now," Weiss said, her rant seemingly over. "I'd like to look over your progress on the homework when I get out. Okay?"

Yep. Weiss was definitely acting like a mother. At least she assumed that's how it was. Ruby's mother had passed away when she was young, too young to have homework of any sort to worry about. However if her experiences with her father were anything to go by, she was certain that Summer would have been just as insistent to look over her homework before she handed it in the next day.

"Yeah, sure," Ruby agreed. She just didn't want to start another argument.

Weiss nodded, her expression neutral. "Good. I won't be long. A half hour, perhaps."

Thirty minutes to wash her hair? A hand drifted up to touch her own red locks. Her hair was short, sure, but even if it had been as long as Weiss' it surely wouldn't take that long to wash it. Right? Or did the heiress know some sort of super secret technique to make it look as good as it did? Honestly she was surprised that Weiss and Yang hadn't bonded yet over their mutual love and care for their hair.

As Weiss closed the washroom door Ruby fell backwards onto the mattress. She didn't know what to do. Yeah, she could stand up for herself, but she didn't want to expand the already existing rifts in the team. Maybe if she could just impress Weiss enough then she would accept her as the leader of the team. Maybe Weiss would begin to trust her. Respect her.

One thing that Ruby did know was that she couldn't turn to Yang for help. Yang was thankfully not in the room at the moment. It wasn't that her sister wouldn't help. The problem was that she would help. In all the wrong ways. She would become extremely defensive and protective of her baby sister, always siding with her on everything and finding no fault in her actions. That was as much of a problem as Weiss finding faults in everything she did. Yang could not be unbiased. Yang would likely only make things worse in spite of her best intentions.

Her eyes drifted over to her scroll. She didn't want to talk to her father about it either. He would likely have a similar reaction as Yang. That, and he was just so old! He didn't understand the problems that a teenager like her went through.

She couldn't talk to any of her friends from Signal either. They wouldn't understand. In fact they might even get jealous. She was already two years ahead of them on their career paths. The idea of them believing that she was in over her head and couldn't handle the pressure didn't sit well with Ruby.

Picking the device up she began to look through her list of contacts hoping that a name would pop out at her. One in fact did. It had been the very first name on the alphabetically sorted list. Arc.

Could she ask him for advice? Did she dare talk to him about her issues at Beacon when he had been forced to leave before he even began? Would that be too cruel? But they were friends. Surely he would understand, right?

Ruby sat there with the scroll in her hand, uncertain of what she should do. However the sound of running water coming from the other room made her decision for her. She could make her decision later. Right now it would probably be best if she started her assignment so that she would have something to show Weiss.

Author's Note: As always, thank you to everyone for your continued interest in the story. Your kind words mean so much and I really appreciate them.

So Ruby and Weiss actually met for the first time during initiation. I know I didn't show their interactions, but I really do hate retelling canon events and avoid it when I can. The difference is a result of Ruby not bumping into Weiss on the first day, since she already had Jaune as a friend after Yang abandoned her. As a result there was no late night argument before initiation, and no existing bad blood between the girls once they were partnered up. Weiss is becoming annoyed with Ruby's bad habits, but since there was no pre-existing hatred she feels she has to guide and fix Ruby rather than wish she wasn't in Beacon in the first place.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. It's really more focused on setting up future events, but hopefully it was a good read nonetheless.

Questions comments or concerns? Let me know. As always I'll answer questions if I'm able to.