Max: Okay, to get confusion the FUCK out of the way now, we will be using a semester school system for this story. We'll also be using a 365-day year and 24 hours in a day, because quite frankly, we haven't got enough info without doing some really stupidly complex calculations and estimating.
Atin: And I'm shit at math, so that isn't gonna happen
"Hey, Slate, thanks for fixing up our bedroom doors," Max said, standing in the common room with Atin and a man in Maintenance coveralls.
The man in question, Slate, simply smiled, waving his hand. "Nah, don't mention it. More than happy to bump you boys closer to the top of the list. Hell, I wanna shake your hands," the older man said, his laughter booming.
"Shake our hands? Why? And I'm not complaining, because I have a door I can close, but why bump us to the top?" Atin's voice came from inside the freezer, putting away some the groceries they had gone out for while Slate was working.
"Well, it's just heartwarming to see when faculty actually give two shits about their students. Why, when ol' Oz told me you boys were adopting an open door policy, I had one of our other maintenance folks start digging around for a bead curtain to put in place of your front door!"
A series of alarmingly loud thumps began to echo from the freezer punctuated with various insults.
"Is he uhhhh… Is he gonna be okay?" Slate stared at the freezer, concerned that yet another teaching assistant had lost their mind.
"He's fine. Just working something out. Anyways, thanks again for fixing our doors, hope you have a wonderful day, Slate." Max walked Slate to the open door frame, shaking the maintenance man's hand once he was in the hall.
"Just give us a call whenever you need somethin' fixed up, a'ight? And we'll have that bead curtain soon as possible." With that, Slate walked away, off to fix something else in the academy.
Max stepped back into the room, staring at Atin."Do I even need to say it, Atin?"
"Fuck off, I'm trying to concuss myself over here. Let me do my penance in peace. Also, the chicken was already bloody before I started doing this. Just so you know." His explanation finished, Atin resumed trying to add a new access point between the fridge and freezer.
Atin heard the clatter of beads, and stifled a groan, keeping it strictly internal. He didn't want to deal with another student's problems. Why did I ever open my mouth about an open door policy? I know it get's me into trouble, and I still just keep letting it go. I wonder what it is this time? I swear, if it's one more person who can't understand Oobleck, I'm jumping out the window. Atin got out his chair, reluctantly turning to see who had availed themselves of the "Open Door" policy.
"Excuse me, Mr. Atin? I was wondering if you had a moment to talk about something…delicate?" Ren's voice trailed off, looking slightly nervous.
Ren? What the hell could Ren possibly want? I don't think he had any problems, so what could this be about? Atin thought quickly, trying to remember everything about the old seasons.
"Of course I have time for you, we pride ourselves on always having time for our students. What can I do for you? If you need a summary of Oobleck's last lecture, I have the transcript up outside the door." I only did that so they would leave me alone, and half the time they don't even see it. I even bought one of those stupid plastic document holders! Atin waited patiently, hoping that it wouldn't take long.
"Uhhh do you have somewhere more private we could talk sir? I would rather no one overhear this particular issue." Ren looked pointedly at the open doorframe.
"Uhhhhh, we can use my room I guess." I wonder if this is about how he feels about Nora. Boy I hope so, cause I can handle that easy, just give him the whole follow your heart crap. Atin opened the door to his room, waiting for Ren to go in before following him in and leaving the door slightly ajar, so anyone looking could see there were people there.
"Well sir, I wanted to talk to you about our team leader. Jaune. He seems to be getting bullied quite a bit by Cardin Winchester and his team. I think it's starting to have an effect on his schoolwork as well." Ren looked nervous as he spoke, as if he didn't want to be there.
Oh goddamnit, why couldn't Max be the one to deal with this. How am I gonna handle this? I can't just spit out a platitude and call it a day. I can't even be sure any of this advice will make it back to Jaune. "Well, that's a very serious accusation, Ren. Do you have proof of this? I really can't do much on my own, I am just an assistant teacher after all." Perfect, that will kick the problem up to teachers, if he even has any proof to begin with. Crisis averted by making sure someone more qualified deals with it! Atin tried to contain a satisfied grin, pleased to have solved the problem and have avoided any work.
"Well no, I don't have any proof, per se. Just a feeling mostly. I see Cardin talking to Jaune after class, with his whole team there, ringing him in. Or small things, like Jaune always seems to trip near Cardin, or drop his books. That kind of thing." Ren grew more confident as he listed off the things Cardin had done.
"I admit, that is troubling, and I have been concerned about Jaune in class. He does seem quite stressed lately. But sadly, I can't really do much about that. My hands are tied without something more firm. But what I can suggest to you is this. Just like you have no proof Jaune is being bullied, were the same things to happen to someone else, they too would be similar situation. No school sanctioned action could be taken without something more solid in the way of evidence." Atin looked down at Ren, hoping the young man understood.
"Sir…are you suggesting I bully Cardin?" Ren looked shocked that a teacher, even an assistant one, could advocate such a thing.
Atin affected a hurt look, and straightened up, exclaiming "Of course not! I would never dream of suggesting one student harass another. Such a thing would violate the school's code of ethics and academic standards. I'm merely suggesting that a lack of solid evidence would make any kind of official action impossible. It would be unfortunate if Mr. Cardin also begin experiencing sudden vertigo spells, the kind that are plaguing Mr. Arc. There is of course one option to you as well. You could talk to Cardin, and ask him to stop. And of course, the combat arena is always open, provided you have a teacher to supervise the match." Atin sat down on his bed hoping that he had solved the problem without making himself look too bad, and knowing in his heart that he had failed miserably on that front.
"I…suppose I could try talking to Cardin. I don't how well that will work though. Bullies don't tend to be very reasonable after all, and Cardin never seems like a reasonable person at the best of time, and even less so when goes on one of his...unpleasant Faunus rants. Can you do anything about those at least, Sir?" Ren seemed to add the last part almost as an afterthought.
"Yes, try talking to him. That is the most mature way to resolve this after all. As for Cardin's… unpleasant rants, I can't stop him from thinking it of course, but I can make sure he stops doing it in public forum. Such a thing counts as harassment, and with an official complaint lodged I can bring it up to him. Thanks for giving me the excuse for that." Atin stood up, heading towards door. "Is there anything else I can help you with today, Ren?"
"No Sir, that's all I wanted to talk about" Ren headed towards the common room, pausing at the sound of Atin's voice.
"I am sorry I couldn't be of more help with the problem Ren, but as I said. Without some more solid proof, my hands are tied, just like they would be for anyone else." Atin closed his room door behind him, waiting for Ren to leave before he got back to a treasured pastime, nothing.
But fate had decreed it not to be, as the clatter of beads heralded the arrival of Max. "Yo...Ren, what are you doing here?" he asked, looking between his roommate and student.
"I was just getting some help on a personal matter from Mr. Atin. He had some…interesting advice." Ren stated somewhat apprehensively.
"Okay, that's it. This sounds so dumb. My last name is not Atin, it's Winchester. I can't stand another however many months I'm here of 'Mr. Atin'. So my last name is Winchester, got it? It's either Mr. WInchester or Atin." Atin breathed a sigh of relief at never having to hear something as stupid as 'Mr. Atin' again.
"Waaait a minute, is this why you won't take any action against Cardin? Are you two related in some way?" Ren asked, a look of puzzlement on his face.
Max snorted at Ren's reaction, clearly amused. "They aren't related in the slightest, Ren. God help Cardin if they actually were," Max answered, shaking his head at the image.
"Oh god I wish I was related to that little shit. Then I might be able to make him do something different, or threaten to tell his parents or something. Doubt they would care, but at least I could try." Atin slumped into his chair, a sad look written on his face. "Oh and Ren, you did not hear me call another student a little shit. Got it?"
Ren appeared to be in state of shock in the middle of the room, unable to grasp that Beacons teaching assistants, or at least one of them, were anything less that proffesional at all times.
"Don't misunderstand, Ren, Cardin has some potential as a Huntsman in training," Max said, moving to lean on the partition between kitchen and common room. "But the kid's a bit of a cunt sometimes."
"Sometimes? There's that trademark optimism of yours Max, always looking for the best in people." Atin snarked from his chair.
Ren, still dumbfounded, walked slowly from the room, still not quite sure of how to deal with his problem, but certain that he wouldn't be going to Mr. Winchester anytime soon again. "Ren, in all seriousness, maybe a second opinion would be of use here. Would you be willing to explain the problem to me now?" Max asked, stopping the student just at the threshold.
"I suppose that a second opinion would be useful. But it's a personal matter, so I would prefer not to discuss it out in the open. Could we go somewhere more private for this talk?" Ren seemed relieved at the thought he might get actual advice on how to deal with his situation.
Max looked behind him at the bead curtain, nodding. "Yeah, fair point. Maybe we should see about getting a sliding door, at the very least," he replied, standing back up to walk towards his own room. "Step into my office, then." Once in Max's bedroom, the door left with a slight crack, Max took a seat on his bed. "Hope you don't mind. Was getting in some exercise with a walk around the grounds. So, this problem?"
From outside the door came Atin's voice "Remember to leave room for Jesus, Max!"
"Ya know, I think I might take up knife throwing again. Got the perfect dummy for target practice, too," Max said, facepalming. "Ignoring Atin, do go on, Ren."
"Leave room for… Jesus? Who is Jesus? Do you guys have a friend dropping by?" Ren asked, looking a bit confused.
Max sighed. "As I said, ignore him. It's just...a reference from back home."
"Okayyyy then. Anyway, the problem is that I'm certain Cardin is bullying Jaune, and it's starting to become a problem. His grades weren't the best to begin with, and I'm worried about him failing if they get lower. Mr. Winchester said he can't do anything without some kind of proof. He also suggested I try talking to Cardin. Also he seemed to be suggesting I bully Cardin in return. Or fight him in the practice room." Ren looked relieved to be talking to someone else.
Max looked to the door, then back at Ren. "Okay. Valid points, in his defense. But, let's go ahead and start ticking down why you're disappointed in this advice, shall we?"
Atin's voice came floating in through the half closed door "I'm blind, not deaf ya know Max! And only partially blind at that!"
Ignoring Atin, Max held up a hand, ticking down with his fingers. "Talking to Cardin just isn't going to do much to actually improve the situation. It could make it worse. The kid's too hard headed and stubborn to talk sense into when it comes to stuff like this." Ren nodded, Max continuing on. "Doing to Cardin what he's doing to Jaune could also make things worse. More than likely, he'll just up this little campaign of his that you believe he's waging on Jaune. It would also bring you down to his level, so you'd immediately lose whatever moral ground you currently stand on. And then, there's the fight bit. I'm sure one of the teachers would be more than happy to oversee a match, but let's be honest here. You fighting him in Jaune's place is just too embarrassing for Jaune himself. It's not going to prove a thing. And, well...nothing against Jaune, but he hasn't got a great track record in the combat course right now." Max dropped his hand, looking back up at Ren. "That about sum it up?"
"More or less, yes. I just need to know what I'm supposed to do. I just want to help my team, and I'm not sure how to do it in this situation. And somehow, I doubt that talking to Cardin is going to do anything productive." Ren appeared hopeful that Max would be able to offer an actual solution to his problem.
"Well, putting aside Atin's solutions, which, by the way, should be kept under consideration, let's check a couple others. The first and most obvious one. Have you, your team, or any of Jaune's other friends actually confronted the alleged victim in question about this?"
"Ummm, well no, I haven't actually talked to Jaune. I don't know if Pyrrha or Nora has noticed yet, and like you already said, I have no desire to embarrass Jaune, which is why I came to you. I'm pretty sure that if Nora or Pyrrha noticed, I think he would never speak to the team again." Ren began to look nervous as his hopes for a solution continued to dwindle.
"Well, bringing it up in a private setting is certain to be less embarrassing. You could also bring him here to talk with Atin or myself about it." Max crossed his arms, thinking. "Mmm...perhaps a subtle nudge towards training would help as well. Bring up the idea of team sparring outside of combat courses. Maybe even some one on one training. Pyrrha could probably help him learn some basics with sword and shield."
"If nothing else, he'll thank you for giving an excuse to spend time with Pyrrha!" Atin chimed in.
"Odds are, Ren, he doesn't want to admit it because he doesn't want to be seen as weak. He's a team leader, but, well, it's no secret he's the weakest of this year's entrants to Beacon. His self-esteem is probably in the shitter right around now. There may not be a good solution to this, just one that isn't as crappy as the others."
"Have him come talk to us! It can't make anything worse, can it?" Atin popped his head in the door, having grown tired of shouting.
Max's gaze landed on a whiteboard in the common room, a small marker crow in one corner, a number of marks on the board. "In fact, Ren, we'll come to your room. I think we can dig up an extra credit project for Jaune. We'll kill two birds with one stone," Max said, now grinning. "Have Jaune dressed for combat class by around...Atin, was our training at 10:00 or 9:00 tonight, it being a Saturday?"
"10:00, cause we don't have to be in class, or be useful in any way, so he works us half to death. Because he hates our guts, and us. Also possibly people in general, but that might have nothing to do with us." Atin slumped a little, sore just from the thought of what Qrow would to do them.
"Are you sure that's the best way to help Jaune? This person sounds…extreme." Ren appeared apprehensive at signing his teammate for something without talking to them first.
"I mean come on, it got my ass in shape. I can actually run a 7 minute mile now. It doesn't help me get away that often, but I'm in way better shape than before. If nothing, it will guarantee Jaune can outlast his opponents, which might be all the edge he needs." Atin headed back out into the common room, not bothering to close the door behind him.
"Besides, he won't be going through the hell that we normally go through. 10:00 o'clock training days are pretty light. He mostly just has us stretch and tries to teach us basic hand to hand combat. I can almost throw a proper punch now!" Max explained. "Anyways, I'll clear this with Professor Goodwitch. I'm hoping it won't take too much persuasion to get this cleared with her."
"It's Goodwitch. The idea of actively seeking extra credit help will sell her on this by themselves. We won't have to do any convincing, Max," Atin chimed in from the kitchenette where he was busy getting dinner ready.