"What the hell are you playing at, Junior!?"

"I didn't do jack, Blondie!"

"The evidence says otherwise! The fuck did you give my sister, you jackass!?"

"Exactly what she ordered! Now put your fucking weapons away!"

Jaune would normally be a bit more focused on trying to keep Yang from tearing the club owner and information broker to bloody shreds, but he was currently more focused on her sister, who was snuggling up to him drunkenly, alcohol very obviously on her breath.

"You… you know Vomit Boy… I was really sad when you were dead." The reaper slurred over the sound of the music in the club proper as she pressed herself against him. "But now you aren't dead anymore." Her brow furrowed and she began unsteadily poking him with a finger. "You aren't, right?"

Thanking whatever gods were watching that he'd had the presence of mind to only get buzzed instead of outright drunk he gently took hold of her poking finger. "I'm alive, Ruby. Uh, how many drinks have you had?"

Ruby looked confused for a moment before staring upwards in heavy thought. Finally she held up her hand, four fingers displayed. "This many… I think?"

As she looked at her fingers in confusion Jaune sighed. It looked like Ruby was one hell of a lightweight.

"Seriously, how did Ruby get alcohol?" Weiss said, much more composed than her friends even though she had drunk as much as the rest of them. "I've been keeping an eye on her, and I know Yang has too."

The only one to notice Nora trying to hide a guilty grin of amusement was Ren, and he kept his peace. He'd rather not give Yang a reason to start a fight with Nora that would likely bring the entire club down around their ears.

Jaune was distracted from Ruby experimentally wiggling her fingers in front of her face when he felt another, very soft, very pleasant, body press up against him. Pyrrha didn't say anything, simply nuzzling Jaune's neck with a bright, alcohol induced blush on face. "Pyrrha?" He asked with trepidation.

The crimson haired beauty blinked. "Oh, Jaune…" Her words were slurred almost as badly as Ruby's were. "You f-fought me so well yesterday…" Her blush seemed to intensify. "It was really... arousing…" She said with a drunken giggle.

Jaune's thought processes weren't the only ones to come to a screeching halt before exploding, the remains set on fire and then trampled by a horde of Grimm. "W-what!?" He squeaked, his face turning crimson and his eyes wide. He desperately glanced around at his friends, looking for some sign of what to do. He got no help, as even Ren's and Blake's jaws had dropped to the floor at what they'd heard.

The now obviously drunk off her ass redhead ran a hand along Jaune's chest, not seeming to realize they had an audience as she nuzzled him. "You've turned from a newbie that could… could barely swing a sword… to a warrior… that could hold me off… at close to my best..." Jaune jumped slightly when she nibbled on his neck and her hand traveled lower. "It made me all… tingly..." She said, giggling again.

Jaune was pretty sure that his brain had derailed so completely that it would take a few days to reboot. He'd never, ever thought Pyrrha would act like this. The thought was so alien it did not compute. A situation that wasn't helped by the way his body reacted to her attention.

"I guess Pyrrha's an amorous drunk?" Blake said slowly as she finally recovered a bit. She eyed her own partly finished drink before setting it aside, not wanting to make a fool of herself as well.

"P-Pyrrha!" Weiss gasped, Blake's words bringing her mind out of its incredulous feedback loop. "G-get a hold of yourself!"

Jaune was about to try to get the champion to pull away (much as a very vocal part of himself didn't want to) when things got worse for him.

Ruby, finally bored of her fingers, yawned and cuddled against Jaune more insistently. "My Jaune…" She slurred before closing her eyes and slumping down… her head landing in the blonde's lap. She snuggled unthinkingly against his crotch, causing Jaune to go stiff in more ways than one as her face rubbed against certain parts of him.

He began to sweat as he felt a wrathful malice bear down on him. He saw his friends move away with wide eyes, though Nora was recording everything on her scroll with a gleeful grin. He tried to keep from looking, but in the end the morbid need to see his own death approach was too great, and he turned his head.

Yep, there stood Yang, eyes crimson and hair on fire as she cracked her knuckles, a horrible parody of a smile on her nigh demonic visage. "Well, well, Vomit Boy, I never expected you to be so bold…" The way everybody but the two girls clinging to him scrambled away did not fill the young man with confidence.

"Please don't kill me…" He whimpered helplessly.

"No promises…" She growled.

Ruby moaned piteously the next morning, head in her arms as she tried to block out the light and noise of the cafeteria as she sat with her team, the smell of her oatmeal with sliced strawberries making her stomach roil unpleasantly.

"Alcohol sucks…" She whined. "I don't know how Uncle Qrow handles it."

"Baby's first hangover." Blake said, somewhat amused as she munched on some toast, a book naturally open in her hand.

"Baby's last hangover." Ruby growled, eyeing the teenage faunus ninja catgirl grumpily, eyes bloodshot. "I'm never drinking any booze again."

"Agreed." Pyrrha said as she shambled over to them, face pale and eyes just as red as Ruby's. She sat down next to the reaper and copied her pose, doing her best to block everything out. The rest of JNPR followed behind her, taking their seats.

Jaune flinched when he sat down, still in pain, then doing so again when Yang glanced at him from where she was shovelling some cereal into her mouth, making him glad he made sure to sit as far from her, Ruby and Pyrrha as possible.

"What happened, anyway?" The reaper groaned. "I don't remember much. I thought my drinks didn't have alcohol."

"I don't remember anything either." Pyrrha said, face pressed against the table. "Just that I was very comfortable and happy…"

"Nothing important." Weiss said as she glared at all the others over her bowl of fruit, granola and yogurt. "Right? Nothing happened." She restated firmly.

"Right!" Nora said brightly. "There's absolutely no video on my scroll!"

"Nora, I thought I told you to erase that." Ren said tiredly.

"There's nothing to erase!" The orangette insisted with a cheery smile, prompting a sigh from the boy.

Jaune shivered when Yang's eyes rested on him briefly, but he didn't say anything, focusing intently on his bacon and eggs. It didn't help that he began blushing whenever his eyes landed on Pyrrha or Ruby, remembering the very pleasant sensations that preceded Yang's… displeasure.

His attention was drawn to Professor Goodwitch when she approached their table. She frowned at Ruby and Pyrrha's condition, lips pursed, but didn't say anything, apparently deciding that their current suffering was enough for the moment. Instead she turned her attention to Jaune. "Mister Arc, we have been getting requests for an interview from VNN. Normally we would politely decline, but they said you'd promised them one yesterday. Is this true?"

"Yes Professor. I decided to take Weiss' advice and bite the bullet so I wouldn't have to deal with them continuing to hound me. It was kind of spur of the moment, but I think I'm committed now." He said honestly.

"Indeed." She agreed before bringing her scroll up, quickly and expertly tapping on it. "What time would be agreeable with you, Mister Arc?"

Jaune considered that. "I guess we might as well get it done as soon as possible. Maybe this afternoon?"

Goodwitch nodded. "I'll get in contact with VNN and arrange it. I'll let you know the exact time." She looked at him narrowly. "I do hope you have a proper outfit for the interview, Mister Arc."

"I made sure to acquire something suitable when we were out shopping yesterday once the interview had been agreed upon, Professor." Weiss said primly. "Trust me, I will not allow him to make a fool of himself."

Goodwitch nodded, satisfied, before leaving to arrange things. Jaune turned to the heiress with a smile. "Thanks Weiss. I'm sure I'm in good hands. You didn't have to pay for my interview outfit, though."

"Least I could do…" She said softly, eyes on her food, prompting him to frown.

Before he could say anything, however, Sun and Neptune walked over. "Hey guys!" The monkey faunus greeted loudly, prompting twin whimpers of suffering from Ruby and Pyrrha. He looked at them oddly. "What's with them?"

"They're enjoying the first hangovers of their life." Ren explained blandly, completely hiding whatever amusement he was experiencing..

"Aw, you went out partying without us?" Sun whined, disappointed.

"It wasn't actually planned, sorry." Blake said.

Neptune shrugged and patted his teammate on the back. "There's always next time, bud. Weren't you planning a big bash to celebrate the start of the tournament?"

Sun perked up. "Yeah. I was talking to Velvet, and apparently there's this place Coco drags CFVY over to often that sounds perfect." He said enthusiastically, prompting some more groans from the hung over girls. "Hey I know it seems bad." Sun said with an amused smile. "But it could have been worse. You could have woken up in one of your teachers' offices completely shaved of body hair and dressed in nothing but a tutu and nipple clamps without any clue how you got there."

At that even Ruby and Pyrrha turned to stare at him incredulously. They didn't even have to ask who he was referring to, seeing as Neptune was glaring at his friend murderously, face bright red. The bluette did his best to calm himself, far too late, sadly. "Right…" He said, still glaring at Sun. "Anyway, you guys got any plans today?"

"We've gotta get Vomit Boy ready for an interview with VNN later today." Yang finally spoke, no longer throwing Jaune looks that had him wanting to run.

Both boys blinked before Sun grinned. "Dude, you're going to be on TV? Nice!"

"Easy for you to say." Jaune said sardonically. "You're not the one doing it."

"What's the worst that could happen?" Neptune asked rhetorically.

"I make a fool of myself on television, bring shame to my family and team, become known as 'that guy', my reputation tanks, our team is laughed at, I drop out of Beacon and end up working odd jobs for petty cash before dying in a gutter." The blonde said blandly.

The other teens all stared at him before Nora smacked him upside the head. "No bad thoughts, Jaune-Jaune! Besides, Weiss won't let that happen." She grinned. "She'll murder you if you do badly before all of that."

When Weiss nodded firmly Jaune sighed. "Thanks, Nora."

The heiress wiped her mouth with a napkin once she was done eating. "If you're finished, we should go prepare for the interview. Normally I would ask for Pyrrha's assistance, since she's done this more often than I have, but…" She glanced over at the redhead, who was forcing down some black coffee Ren had set in front of her, still looking like hell.

"Right." Jaune choked down the last of his eggs before standing up. "Let's get this over with…"

"Maybe we could reschedule?" Jaune said plaintively in the green room of the VNN studios.

Both teams were with him to keep him company and offer their support, Ruby and Pyrrha now in much better shape, though in contrast Jaune looked like he was going to be sick.

"You're the one that arranged the time." Ren replied calmly as he sipped some of the tea they'd been served.

"You'll be fine, Jaune." Pyrrha assured him. "Yes, it can be nerve racking, but just answer simply and honestly and it'll go alright."

"Make sure to watch your language, don't give too many graphic details when it comes to combat or hunting, and don't let them twist your answers." Weiss added. "Though you likely won't have to worry about that last point. VNN has a good reputation they're unlikely to want to sully by doing so with you."

Jaune paced the room as his friends watched, mostly in amusement at his obvious nervousness. When he was passing by her Ruby reached up and grabbed him, pulling him down onto the couch beside her. "Jaune, calm down. You're starting to give me jitters, and I'm not even going to be interviewed."

"Take some deep breaths." Blake advised as she paged through one of the magazines that had been set out. "You're no good if you go out a nervous wreck."

"Yeah, Vomit Boy." Yang said as she relaxed in her plush seat, acting like she didn't notice him flinch when she looked at him. She admitted to herself that she might have gone slightly overboard the previous night. "It wouldn't be a good look if you puked all over yourself on camera."

Before he could respond a knock came at the door. "Mister Arc? We're ready for you."

Jaune let out a long, slow breath before standing up. "Alright, wish me luck…"

He opened the door among his friends' well wishes, finding a young PA standing on the other side, who nodded to him and motioned for him to follow. He gave his friends one last, frightened look before doing so.

Soon enough he'd reached a small studio obviously set up for interviews, a couple of comfortable seats with a nice background behind them. Taking the seat he was directed to he breathed out nervously, absently making sure the outfit Weiss had chosen for him wasn't wrinkled or stained, more to give himself something to focus on than anything else.

"Relax." A young woman with green hair said as she approached, a small case of makeup in hand. "You'll be fine." He froze as she began carefully applying it to his face.

"I'm not used to this sort of thing." He said nervously.

"Everybody that's sat in that chair was in your shoes before." The greenette said as she made sure the subtle application would do its job. "I guarantee nine tenths of them were sweating buckets during their first interview."

He let out another breath. "Thanks. I'm Jaune."

"Willow." The makeup artist said as she pulled back. "There, you should be all set. Just relax. All you're doing is answering some questions."

As she spoke another, older woman with hair an eye catching shade of purple approached. Jaune recognized her as Violet Fraga, the woman that covered most huntsman related matters for VNN. He stood up when she reached him and held out a hand. "Hello, Mister Arc. I'm Violet Fraga."

Jaune shook her hand, hoping his own wasn't too sweaty. "Call me Jaune, Miss Fraga." He said as he did his best to give her a good smile.

"Then I insist you call me Violet." She said with a smile of her own as she let his hand go and took her seat, Jaune following suit. "Now then, this is going to be simple. I'm just going to ask you some questions that should be of interest to our audience. We don't plan on being too invasive. The interview should last fifteen minutes, twenty on the outside. That sound alright?"

Jaune nodded, doing his best to relax further. "Yeah. I think I can do that…"

"Great." Violet said as she looked down at her notes. Glancing around she saw the producer indicate that they were good to go. "Now then, Jaune, you returned from the area known as the Deathlands only a few days ago. The first person known to have done so. What was it like?"

Jaune considered that. "...Daunting. And terrifying. Especially at first." He said. "When I first landed there I was sure I would be dead within the hour. Out of all my friends at Beacon, I've always been the weakest. So when I climbed a tree to sleep only for a huge Grimm Centipede as big as a few train cars to crawl by, I was sure I was screwed."

"Yet you made it out." Violet pointed out. "It took some time, but you obviously managed it. So the question is, how?"

"Luck." Jaune admitted, beginning to relax the longer he talked. "I mean, sure, I'll admit I couldn't have made it out if I hadn't improved my fighting skills really quickly, and some of the tricks Pyrrha taught me definitely came in handy. But it was mostly luck." He shifted in his seat. "I didn't have any supplies on me when I landed. My pack was still on the bullhead when I fell. All I had was what I had on and my family sword, Crocea Mors. I wouldn't have lasted long like that. But the day after I landed I came across the body of who I now know to be a Huntsman named Morado Malachite. He saved my life."

"I'm sorry, I'm afraid I don't follow." Violet said, confused.

"Morado's body still had supplies in good condition on it." He explained. "A pack with a lighter, canteen, and a few other things. A hunting knife, and a bow with a quiver full of arrows. I admit that it didn't feel right to just take his stuff, but I was desperate, and he wasn't exactly using it." He said apologetically. "I also found a scroll on him, but it was out of power, and I stupidly didn't take it with me at the time. Still, all of those things saved my life. Especially the weapons."

"Yes, the video we saw yesterday of your fight with Pyrrha Nikos showed that you had some proficiency with bows." Violet pointed out, partly to help move things along, partly for the viewers.

"Yeah. One of my sisters taught me how to use a bow a while ago. I was pretty decent at it, and using it recently helped make me better at it. It was very useful for hunting for food, and the occasional Grimm. The bow in the video isn't the one I got off Morado, though. That one broke when I fought a large Grimm. I gave the quiver to his surviving family though, along with the hunting knife. They deserved to have something of their family back. The new one I got somewhere else."

"Yes, that is one of the more unbelievable things about the story of your time in the Deathlands. We're told you came across an ancient, forgotten city full of Grimm and treasure. You'll forgive me for saying that sounds like something out of an old adventure movie."

"Oh, I agree with you." Jaune said, nodding. "When I found it I thought the same. But it's definitely there. I brought back proof."

"Right, I'm told that it was a substantial amount of ancient gold coins." Violet said, looking at her notes. "Enough to buy a decently sized house just when it comes to metal content. That's not even considering their value to museums and collectors."

"Yeah. My friend Weiss Schnee advised me not to just sell them for the gold. So I asked for Pro-Doctor Oobleck and Professor Ozpin for help. They're both reaching out to contacts to see about selling them."

"You're about to be a very wealthy young man, then. Hopefully that will be some consolation for what you went through."

"It'll definitely be helpful, at the least." Jaune agreed.

Violet glanced down at her notes. "According to our sources several prominent archeologists and historians are trying to organize an expedition to this hidden city. What do you have to say to that?"

Jaune quickly shook his head. "I don't recommend it. Not without the precise location so you can fly straight there and avoid most of the Grimm in the surroundings. And a large force of Huntsmen to deal with the Grimm inside the city itself. The chance of the council approving something is low. I think Doctor Oobleck has the best chance of organizing something thanks to the fact that he has the experience and knowledge to evaluate all the factors, especially now that he has Sophia Sand's journal."

"I'm sorry, Sophia Sand? I don't believe I know who that is." Violet asked, confused.

"Oh, right." Jaune said, abashed. "I wasn't the first person to find that city. I found the remains of an explorer called Sophia Sand that discovered it some years before the Great War. There was a well preserved journal of her finds and observations in a strongbox. I gave it to Doctor Oobleck when I got back."

"I see. I'm sure the academics in our audience will be interested in that information." She shifted tack. "Now, let's get back to your experiences in the Deathlands. Was there ever a point at which you wanted to give up?"

As the interview continued from there Jaune found himself forgetting about the cameras as he focused on Violet. Only later would he realize how well she'd done to help set him at ease.

"So, how did I do?" Jaune asked a while later, once he'd slumped into a seat in the green room, thirstily gulping down a bottle of water.

His friends, who had been watching on a TV in the room, all gave him approving nods or other indications.

"You were visibly nervous at first." Weiss critiqued. "But you did better the further the interview went on. We should have brought one of the coins so you could show it off. Might have gotten you more buyers or higher prices."

"You did fine, Jaune." Pyrrha said with a smile. "Definitely better than I ever do when I have to do an interview or commercial."

"Yeah, no offense, Pyr, but I heard that little voice clip in that arena game…" Nora said with a small wince.

Pyrrha flinched as if struck. "Yes… Not my best work…"

Jaune let out a long sigh of relief. "Well, at least that's the last time I'll need to talk in public like this…"

"Ah, Mister Arc, about your guest lecture in my Grimm Studies class…"

"...Son of a bitch."

Fun fact, in the RWBY: Amity Arena mobile game, Pyrrha has an 'advertisement' during the tutorial. It's as adorably awkward as you'd expect.

Hello all. Welcome back to Survival.

Not my favorite chapter, at all. Mainly because of the interview. It was going to go on longer, but once I realized that I was just recapping what we'd already seen I cut it off. I might go back to it later, possibly add some small stories of things that happened during the timeskip.

I'm hoping that the next chapter will be more amusing and interesting than this one is.

I found the idea of Pyrrha being an amorous drunk that was bolder than she'd usually be amusing. The initial draft of that section took it too far, though, making her full on slutty. I toned it down while still making it amusing. At least I hope so.

Not much else of interest to talk about. Next fic to be updated will be Finding Healing in a week.

As always, keep in mind that you can have a say in what I update if you donate to my Pat A Ron. You get one vote for each dollar you donate. That's at Pat A Ron dotcom /athanmortis.

Keep in mind please that whatever wins the January poll won't be updated till about the 25th, as I'm going on a family vacation for the first three weeks of the year. Just so you're aware.

Till next time, thanks for reading, and please review.