A/N: Chapters in consecutive weeks, look at that! I feel like one of them consistent writers! A lot of the next few chapters are drawn from my own experience with a crowded family; 20 people in a house for 5 during holidays was a regular feature of my life, and all of us are loud. I feel for the dates/spouses dragged to our get-togethers, it must be so overwhelming. Welp, let's get on with this, please enjoy chapter six!

Aside from Jaune's near constant running to the bathroom, and the persistent hint of vomit in the air, the flight to Bar was fairly uneventful. Pyrrha and her team spent most of it sleeping, it being a late-night flight. In the pre-dawn hours, Nora dragged Pyrrha out of her uncomfortable sleep, JNPR grabbed their few things, and stepped off the ship and into Bar.

Jaune had always described his childhood home as a fairly quiet town, an unassuming place that mostly existed as a hub for flights around northern Sanus. She had mostly been thinking about the "quiet town" part of his description when she pictured Bar, largely ignoring the "vital air depot" portion. The mass of people milling around as they deboarded shattered the quaint imagery. Jaune hurried the three of them off the landing pad, and a stream of men and women in various military uniforms began to pour onto their ship. Jaune was scanning the crowd, eventually shooting his hands up and waving.

A young woman eventually broke from the mass, striding up to them. It didn't take a genius to realize this was Jaune's sister, Blanche. She was tall, nearly Pyrrha's height, and kept her blonde hair shorter than Jaune's; she looked eerie copy of her partner, given a few more years and obvious changes. She planted her duffel on the ground, crossed her arms, and just glared at Jaune.

Jaune scratched the back of his head, staring at his sister's boots: "Hey, Blanche, how ya doing?" Blanche glared harder, and Jaune eventually slumped a little. "I'm sorry, okay? I knew you and the girls would try and stop me, and I didn't want a giant fight before I left home."

"And?"

"And I shouldn't have blocked all of your numbers. I kinda forgot I did that, actually."

Pyrrha sighed a little at that last comment, as did Blanche. This of course put her under examination, she was sure. The woman glanced at her, but returned to her wayward brother quickly enough.

"It was stupid, and dangerous, but I forgive you Jaune. Our other sisters may not be as magnanimous as me, though. The proof is in the pudding, and your still with us, so I can't stay mad for long. Now, mind introducing me?" The way she seemed to grind the words out indicated they weren't entirely truthful.

Jaune looked a tad unnerved at her response, but coughed into his hand and gestured towards the team. "Guys, this is my eldest sister: Lt. Blanche Arc. Blanche, these are my teammates Nora Valkyrie, Lie Ren, and Pyrrha Nikos." They each took Blanche's hand and put on a smile, but the woman clearly took issue with them.

"I'm assuming you all dragged my little brother into all kinds of messes? Well, he's come out fine so far. See that it stays that way, or we will have very unpleasant words." Pyrrha felt unnerved, but neither Nora nor Ren showed signs of being cowed. Jaune, however, didn't seem pleased.

"Blanche, don't threaten my team, or we'll have words." His sister looked back to him, equal parts anger and surprise. A few long heartbeats passed. "They're my team, Blanche. I look out for them, they look out for me."

The moment passed when Jaune's sister gave a hesitant nod. "Fair enough. Jaune, I want to stay and talk, but my captain's gonna have my ass if I miss this flight, not to mention Dad." She wrapped Jaune in a hug, which he returned. Blanche then tugged Jaune down and tried to slip him into a lock, no doubt to give him a noogie or some such sibling torture. Her partner slipped the lock, however, and hopped back, preening at his dodge. Pyrrha felt a little smug at her bit of training.

"Well, you learned something at least. Be safe, Jaune."

"You too, Blanche." She scooped up her duffel, and turned for the ship. Jaune watched her go until she had piled into the now packed carrier, then pointed out their exit.

It took them several minutes, but the team eventually broke free of the airfield and began to make their way to Bar proper. Jaune had been giving them a rundown of the town's layout, to ensure they didn't get lost, but Nora interrupted.

"Forget that, Jaune, we need to know about your sisters! You told us plenty about your parents, but spill the beans on the rest of 'em!" Nora had skipped ahead of them, walking backwards while staring Jaune down. He had discussed family with Pyr on a few occasions, mostly worries about how his family would react to Beacon, but they rarely talked about it with Ren and Nora.

JNPR was close, but they understood certain topics shouldn't be brought up: Pyrrha's career, Jaune's transcripts, and family.

Now that they were about to be subsumed by the Arcs, he supposed now would be the time to get it all out. Jaune took a deep breath, and began.

"I've got seven sisters, in order from oldest: Blanche, Noire, Violette, Rouge, Marron, Verte, and Rose. Yes, having a little sister named Rose made meeting Ruby a little weird. Blanche and Noire are 26 and twins, Violette is 25, Rogue is 16, Marron is 15, Verte and Rose are twins too and are 12.

"You saw Blanche is in the army, Noire and Violette are teachers. Rouge, Marron, Verte, and Rose are all still in school. We're all blonds, surprise, though most of them take after my mother, and all seven of my sisters hated the idea of me becoming a huntsman." Ren and Nora frowned at that, while Pyrrha gave him an encouraging look.

"My parents didn't like it either, but let me go when I had an acceptance letter. My sisters? Mom had them running in circles the day I left; I'd probably been hogtied and shoved in a closet if they knew I was going. I haven't talked to any of them since I left."

"Jaune…" Ren's voice was quiet, but they all heard the rebuke.

"I know, Ren, it was a mean thing to do. I should have called them sooner. I probably should have gone home over semester break instead of going to Mistral with you guys. But I didn't want to go home until I could… until I was ready, ya know? Show I could do it.

"I'd been expected to get shredded by my parents, but that didn't happen. I've got no clue what to expect from the girls, though. I also have no idea how they'll react to you guys, but my mother will obsess over being sure everything is fine. There ya go, can I stop expositing now?"

"Expositing? Feelin' fancy, fearless leader?"

"Well, you never know when Violette is going to show up." Jaune eyed the streets, scanning the alleys just in case his sisters were lying in wait; they were close enough to home for ambushes.

When they reached the drive that would take JNPR from the streets of Bar to his almost secluded childhood home, Jaune felt himself slow.

"Can I really do this? Can I face down the whole family? Dad said he was proud of me, but the girls are still pissed. And do I want to bring JNPR into this, right after we got away from Beacon?"

He felt Ren step up next to him, then Pyrrha on the other side, and he knew that backing down from something as small as mad family wasn't something he could do. With a short, but heavy, step, Jaune began to bring his team home.

A minute later, Jaune realized: "I'm being way too philosophic over a driveway."

Finally reaching their destination, Jaune proudly waved his hands in display of the far set house. "The Arc residence, home to anywhere between 10 and 5! Don't bother kicking off your shoes, mud'll get in anyway." He took a few more steps forward, positioning himself between the door and his friends. "Just stay behind me, and don't make any sudden movements." He began a brisk walk towards the door. Behind him, he heard Nora snort.

"Jaune, you make your family sound like some kind of pack or som-" the front door burst open, and a sea of blonde rolled out towards him just as he reached to stoop.

"JAUNE!" the combined cries of his remaining relations washed over Jaune, one-part joy and one-part fear. His mother dragged him into a hug, and he soon felt a few more arms around him as his little sisters crowded in regardless. They let him go and he went through the arduous and delightful task of greeting his family.

Pyrrha smiled at Jaune being welcomed home: it was a heartwarming sight. So often her own homecomings were swallowed up by her career, familial moments like this had been rare. Jaune had been worried about his reception, she knew, but she had always told him it would be fine. He spoke so happily of his sisters, she doubted they would open on the offensive. Jaune was bending over, hugging a young girl with long and straight hair, but Pyrrha felt eyes on her. To the side, a woman who could only be Claire Arc was watching her.

She was older, late forties likely, but she was still quite beautiful. She looked as Pyrrha imagined Yang would look in a few decades, really. Pale hair pulled back, the woman's face was mildly creased as she eyed Pyrrha and her other two friends. She was not angry, Pyrrha thought, merely intense. An intensity that reminded Pyrrha very much of her husband. She smiled at the woman, and then tried to return to watching Jaune for her signal, but she kept feeling the eyes on her.

Pyrrha looked back again, but this time noticed two others. Tall, just shorter than herself, both with hair almost as uncontrollable as Jaune's, though one wore it short and the other nearly to her waist. Like their mother, they had impressive figures, but had angular faces more alike to Jaune. "Noire and Violette, though I do not know which". While their mother had watched _NPR with unnerving curiosity, these watched her with distrust, with distaste. Part of her mind felt Jaune's warning about sudden movements was good advice.

"Okay, Okay, it's great to see you guys too! But I've got guests that you need to meet!" Jaune extricated himself from among the smaller girls, as well as a young woman who could have just been Jaune in a skirt.

"Alright, let's do this! Team, this is my mom Claire Arc," Mrs. Arc nodded cheerily and gestured for Jaune to keep going with names, "my sisters Noire", the short-haired woman, "Violette", the long-haired woman boring holes into Pyrrha, "Rouge", Jaune's feminine clone, "Marron", a gangly girl with arrow-straight and well-ordered locks, "Verte and Rose", the shortest girls of the group, identical twins with glasses and pale hair like their mother, though Verte had a braid. Each girl offered the same wave and smile as their mother, though only Jaune's younger siblings seemed to have any real warmth in it.

"Family, this is Team JNPR! My teammates Lie Ren, call him Ren, and Nora Valkyrie," Ren offered a polite nod while Nora handled the exuberant wave, "and my partner, Pyrrha Nikos." She offered a completely not intimidated "Hello".

There was a short pause as everyone tried to decide who should go first and who to address. Naturally, Nora threw it all aside in her wonderful way.

Her redheaded teammate took a bounding step forward, dropped to one knee, and held out a hand to Verte. "Hiya, I'm Nora! I love your hair; do you braid it yourself?" Verte giggled slightly at that and took Nora's hand.

"Hi Nora, I'm Verte, nice to meet you. No, Rose does it for me." Her braidless sister jumped up and flung her arms around Verte.

"I'm Rose, nice to meet you, Nora! Have you been taking care of Jaune? He looks bigger!"

Nora's smile was practically manic. "Oh no, Jaune takes care of me! Ren and I always get into trouble when we're on our own, but Jaune makes sure that doesn't happen. And he has gotten bigger; when we first met, he was more like some big noodle!" Jaune squawked and indignant "Hey!" at the comparison, but the laughter from all four of his younger sisters broke the tension surrounding them.

Mrs. Arc stepped back from the mob, turning for the front door. "Well, come on in everyone. Violette, take your brother and Ren up to his room. Nora, Pyrrha, I'll take you to yours. You all can drop off your things, change if you'd like, and then we can have breakfast."

At the sound of "breakfast", Nora was Claire's shadow as they moved into the house. Pyrrha, however, made sure to properly introduce herself to the six girls swarming around Jaune. Her father, and years of PR, had drilled into her a level of propriety when it came to greetings. Eye contact, friendly tone, and a firm, but not hard, handshake. "No child of mine is going to offer some limp-wristed hand!" her father had been very outspoken on handshakes. Violette met her with a vice grip and dark promises in darker eyes, but Pyrrha wasn't going to be scared off, not after everything she'd been through.

The Arc home was large, as needs would demand, and most of the walls carried a picture of at least one member of the family. The home was pristine, but there scuffs on the floor here, a dent in the wall there, offering testament to the battle-hardened past of a home which carried many small children. The stairs creaked lightly as Mrs. Arc and Violette lead the group of four up, most of Jaune's sisters scattering to the four winds inside, no doubt preparing for a meal.

"Ren, Nora, Pyrrha: there's a bathroom here on the left, and another at the end of the hall on the right, this is Verte and Rose's room, this is Jaune's, across the hall is Blanche and Noire's, and that last one is Violette, Rouge, and Marron. I'm downstairs, but we'll cover that after breakfast." Violette went in with Ren and Jaune, while his mother went in with she and Nora.

Nora flung Magnhild and her bag on the bed, while Pyrrha softly laid them on the other. Pyrrha heard Nora tear out the door, shout "Ren, pancakes!", and then barrel towards the stairs. The sounds of her team's antics were muffled by her door closing.

"So," Mrs. Arc began calmly, "You and my son are 'partners', was it?" She did not miss the implication in her voice.

"Mrs. Arc, at Beacon each team consists of two pairs of combat partners: JNPR is myself and Jaune with Ren and Nora. Jaune and I aren't… that kind of partner."

"Hmm, so you just watch my son like a lost puppy for no reason?"

"This is it, this is how I die." She ran past that thought: "Ma'am, I-"

"I've raised three teenaged girls, am raising four more, and was one myself. Miss Nikos, don't lie to me." Pyrrha said nothing, and Claire waited.

"We… aren't a couple. I like your son, he is very precious to me. We are close, and I wish we were closer." Pyrrha couldn't stop blushing; she'd never really talked about it with someone. Her friends knew, some of them made implications or teased, but out and out discussion? She felt mortified.

"I'll not have any funny business under my roof," Pyrrha discovered to her amazement she could blush harder, "but you are important to my son." She felt like she'd been hit with a brick, but Jaune's mother smirked at her expression.

"I've spoken with Nicholas, Miss Nikos. You are a respectful young woman, you've saved my son's life at least once, and you are his friend. I just now have my son back, the last thing I want to do is put his back up by mistreating someone he cares about. You have my gratitude and my respect for what you've done for Jaune, Miss Nikos, and I hope I can get to know you while you're staying with us." When Pyrrha still said nothing, still recovering from her shock, she continued.

"Did you expect me to throw you out on your ear for liking my son? Miss Nikos, for future reference, saving the life of a mother's child is a sound strategy to get in her good books. I'm not some evil step-mother from a fairy tale. Now, let's head down, eat a proper meal with my family, and do some talking." Pyrrha eventually managed to recover from Claire's mention of fairy tales, and followed her to the door.

She began to step out, but the door to Jaune's room opened, her partner emerging. They looked at each other for a brief moment, but Jaune broke off and followed his mother. Him gone, Pyrrha was left facing Violette Arc, staring her down from inside the room.

"I suppose it can't always be easy."