Team CALM, it turned out, was not very calm.
Jeanne was a ball of energy that put Jaune's excitability to shame. Apparently it had something to do with her Faunus heritage, Vesta felt that checked out. She wondered what was going to change about her own behavior when she followed through with her part of the bet, once they made it back to Beacon.
Cobalt was a very chivalrous, boisterous, and kind man. He reminded Vesta so clearly of the knights of eld. From his armor, to his weapon, to his manners, he was a true knight. The main thing that separated him from the old knights was that he still very much talked 'normally', unlike Vesta, but that was expected.
Jaune was jealous of him, but he would never admit that himself. Nora had joked about it, 'You're gonna get replaced, Jaune-Jaune!' she had said, and while Jaune knew in his heart that that was just a joke he couldn't help but feel inadequate. Cobalt cut such a strong and heroic figure that it reminded Jaune of his nickname 'Noodle Boy'. He couldn't blame the man, of course, he was a cool guy, which just made it kind of worse, actually.
Lunus was the most 'normal' out of his whole team. He was an amicable and fairly relaxed guy, Jaune could see why Ruby held him in such high regard. He had clearly been something of a grounding element for her, like Ren was for Nora. Considering that Lunus and Ruby had agreed to just be good friends and he was dating the last member of his team, Jaune wasn't sure if that was a good sign for Nora's chances at winning Ren over.
Vesta couldn't quite get past the fact that they looked so incredibly similar, and even in some ways behaved similarly, but she knew for certain that she had no brothers. So, even if it stayed in the back of her mind, she wrote it off as a coincidence. Maybe he was a descendent of one of her father's later incarnations? She wasn't sure exactly how that would have worked, but she ultimately decided it was best to not look too deeply into it.
The last member of the team, Violet, was apparently the exact thing that Yang and the others thought that Vesta was, a 'chuuni' as she had learned. Violet embraced the title and often broke into bombastic speeches for the most mundane of things in a manner that didn't fit how average things really were. Jaune thought she was cute, he wasn't going to lie to himself and say he hadn't noticed that she had a large chest, but he still did his best to ignore it. After all, she was taken, and Jaune's type was more on the 'platinum blonde hair, brown eyes, and regal sensibilities' side of things. Even if he still fully believed he just wasn't worth her time.
Vesta certainly hadn't noticed, she was too busy helping the relief effort. Her kindness, fantastical power, and sheer air of regality had made her something of a local legend. She knew, at least, that she could continue to count on the people of Domremy, should she need their help in the future.
Eventually, almost all of the news reporters went home, save for some smaller ones that wanted to provide updates on the repairs. The repairs themselves proceeded at full force, with the main thing that needed to be repaired were the doors, but the walls had taken some damage. Luckily, the city of Vale's assistance provided much needed resources and manual laborers to get the job done expediently.
A week passed before the repairs were totally complete, and after that planning for the 'Festival of Golden Light' commenced. Jaune asked about the name, and apparently it was named after the radiant golden light that had summoned the warriors that helped save the city. Just another way the city was commemorating what happened that day.
In that week, Sarcelle finished working on the upgrades that she had prepared for everyone.
Jaune's shield gained a gravity dust element so he could repulse people with it, or use it to break a fall. Sarcy mentioned wanting to add a hard-light element to it to extend its reach but said that hard-light was the one type of dust that the city didn't have on hand. Not that Jaune minded, he knew how rare hard-light dust was, at least outside of Atlas. She also altered the weapon so that he could turn it into a greatsword for instances where offense was more important than defense.
Nora's hammer was given the ability to be charged with electricity, that could then be stored for offensive use or used on Nora herself for her semblance. Sarcelle wanted to make her able to ride it around like a witch broom, but she didn't have the resources for that. Nora didn't mind, more upgrades could come later!
Ren's weapons were upgraded so that the blades could be used as grappling hooks. It was a simple upgrade, but more than enough for Ren's sensibilities. It also augmented his already very mobile style of fighting.
Vesta… Well, Vesta didn't request any upgrades. Partly because she didn't know what she would want, and partly because she had only just gotten used to using her Partisan blade a few months ago. Adding a new element to it could wait, especially when what she was silently wanting was to push past only having five spells a day.
It's not like she couldn't do amazing things with five spells, but what she was planning was going to take basically all of them at once to pull off.
Namely, the night before the festival was to start, she made her way to Sarcy's room and knocked on the door. She was dressed in her usual outfit, and when she heard Sarcelle say 'Come in!' she opened the door and found the girl sitting in her computer chair. She turned around to face Vesta and smiled, "Hey."
Vesta smiled back, ever so slightly, "Good afternoon." She stepped inside and shut the door, "There is something I wished to discuss with you, Sarcelle."
Sarcelle hummed, "What's up? Did you finally come up with a-" Her words were broken by a cough, "-a weapon upgrade?"
Vesta shook her head, "No, rather… There is something that I wish to do for you, partially at Jaune's behest, yet more so because of my own desire to see it done." Sarcy raised an eyebrow and so she explained, "You are perhaps aware that my power is great, you know what I did that day…" Sarcy nodded and Vesta continued, "I believe that, should you wish for it, it is within my power to correct your immunodeficiency. I can right your bodily chemistry and allow you to live as if you never had the problem to begin with. If you don't wish it for it, I-"
Sarcy, moving the fastest Vesta had ever seen, bolted up and raced to her, wrapping Vesta into a hug, "Y-You can do that?! I-I don't know what to say… Y-You… You can really… You can fix that? I…" Her voice was breaking up, shaky, "...I never thought I'd be able to do anything with my life… Please, please… Help me." Vesta had never heard her sound so vulnerable before, even when she was bedridden and sickly she always had this air of quiet determination to her, that was gone now.
Vesta smiled softly, "I will. I can't promise it will be without side effects, but… It won't be anything that will do harm to you. Now stand back, I need a moment to prepare the spell." Sarcy did so, and so Vesta took her staff from its place clipped to her side and extended it out.
She held out the gem slightly and closed her eyes, after a few moments it began to glow. Vesta recited some words to help her with this impromptu spell, "Thou were dealt a grave injustice, you of a brilliant mind and stalwart heart… Let wrongs be righted and truth be writ, committed to history! Sarcelle Arc, one whose body is thine own enemy…"
"Know it now as an ally!" Vesta opened her eyes as the spell went off. Sarcelle was covered in blue smoke…
…When it cleared, Sarcelle was standing there, however, in the form of an orange tabby cat. Vesta blinked a few times as Sarcy regarded her with a confused expression, "Oh, that would be one side effect. Picture yourself as a human and you should transform back."
Sarcelle did so, and when she did, Vesta saw that the seemingly permanent bags under her eyes were gone, her skin looked a healthier shade of pink, and miraculously her clothes hadn't been lost in the transformation. Sarcy then proceeded to immediately jump on Vesta and hug her again, wrapping her arms around the other girl in a tight hug that Vesta reciprocated, even as it caused her to stumble back a couple feet, "I feel amazing! I… I never could have guessed… Is this what it feels like? To… to be free?"
The wave of exhaustion that hit Vesta was hard to ignore, but she pushed back on it for the sake of the other girl, "Yes… Indeed it is, I apologize for the cat thing… You should be able to turn into one at will now, should it be your wish. Just a side effect of casting a spell of that nature."
Sarcy smiled and shook her head, "I like cats, so… Being able to turn into one is cool. Maybe I'll eventually be able to put it to some use for something." Her eyes sparkled with a kind of exuberance for life that hadn't been there before, "The festival is tonight, right?" Vesta nodded and Sarcy's smile grew, "I think, for once… I will enjoy being outside. You know, Jaune is very lucky."
Vesta furrowed her brow, "How so? Because he's my partner?" She had her pride, sure, but she would never boast too much about herself, that would be unladylike. She had no clue what, exactly, made Jaune any luckier than she.
The formerly sickly girl giggled, "Some equations are best solved on your own." The cryptic response caused Vesta to just get more confused, yet Sarcy moved past the topic, "I suppose I had better actually look for something good to wear… I'm… not sure what people wear to things like this. Ah… I'll figure it out."
Vesta smiled tiredly, "You should show the others that you're better now, should you not?" She could only guess what kind of reaction the Arc family would have to this news, she didn't doubt it was going to make them elated, "I would come with you, but casting that spell took a great deal out of me. I will need to rest for a little while…"
Sarcy nodded and left, making her way downstairs. Vesta left the room as well, however instead of going downstairs she went to Jaune's room. She had expected to just fall into bed for a couple hours before the festival began. However, instead, Jaune was there. She hadn't expected him to be sitting in his room, considering that he wasn't in the house when she arrived, but she supposed it was his house, "Jaune."
He smiled at her, "Hey, Vesta. What's up?" He was sitting in his computer chair and looked to have been reading something on his scroll. He saw she looked tired, and she had her staff in her hand, so logically there were a few things she could have been doing. Training, checking her weapon, or…
His eyes widened and he stood up, "D-Did you do it? Did it work?" All Vesta needed to do was nod for his eyes to sparkle with brilliant joy. Without even really thinking, he hurried over to her and wrapped his team leader in a hug, "You did it! Oh Brothers, Vesta, this is huge! Y-You don't know how much this means to me, to Sarcy, to all of us!"
Vesta couldn't stop herself from tensing up at the hug and for the life of her she couldn't figure out why. She'd been hugged before by him, so it wasn't novel, what made this any different from the other times? She didn't know, and she didn't want to think about it, so instead she just returned the hug.
He explained, "She's… had a lot of trouble in her life." He may have been stating the obvious, but he felt he needed to voice it, "There were so many times when she thought she was going to die, or we thought she was going to die, or… she wanted to die." Hearing that was like having cold ice dumped down her shirt, it made her shudder at the idea, "Yet, for as rough as her life was… She persevered. She always bounced back from those dark moments, she always tried her best to keep smiling, even if it was difficult. She's part of the reason I wanted to become a huntsman, because if she could be so courageous… Why couldn't I?" He chuckled, "Now she'll be able to strike out and do what she wants with her life too, all because of you. I know I said this already, but… this means so much to me. Thank you, Vesta." He knew he was going to have to come up with some way to thank her, something big, it couldn't be some small gift, it was going to have to be a gift fit for, well… A princess!
They remained hugging for a while longer until eventually Jaune parted, wanting to go talk to Sarcelle himself. That left Vesta to finally get some sleep, after some difficulty she set the alarm on her scroll for two hours after and then went to sleep.
/-/
When she was dragged out of unconsciousness by the sound of her alarm, she found that the sun was starting to set outside. After turning off her alarm, donning her hat, and making sure her collapsed staff was secured firmly to her side, she headed downstairs to try and see if anyone was about.
She found Jaune sitting downstairs playing on his scroll, when he saw her his eyes lit up, "Vesta!" Then, he stood up and walked over to her, collapsing his scroll and putting it in his pocket, "You're just in time, the festival's getting started outside. Ren and Nora are already out there, I wanted to wait for you before joining in." He knew he didn't have to, but it didn't feel right to get started having fun without Vesta around. This was meant to be a team activity! He thought so, at least.
Vesta smiled softly, "Jaune, you didn't have to. However, I am grateful. A lady needs her escort." Mirth glimmered in her eyes as Jaune rubbed the back of his head nervously. Then, she gestured to the door, "After you, Squire."
Jaune rolled his eyes at the nickname and headed out the front door with Vesta close behind. He had to admit that some small part of him was hoping that this festival would provide an excuse for him to try and get closer to her. Another part of him wanted to say that he wasn't worth it, but…
Well, Sarcelle had given him a lot to think about by mentioning the whole hoodie thing, and then there was the confidence boost from his dad finally being willing to train him. Jaune wasn't feeling so down on himself anymore, no, for once he felt like he wasn't garbage. He felt like he was alright.
Vesta saw Jaune working through something in his head while they walked side by side, the streets were lined with booths that served food, others that had games, and more still that had souvenirs. The citizenry along with all of the visiting hunters and hunters-in-training were out and about, Domremy was alive with a certain unmistakable pulse of life. She couldn't help but be struck by it, the wonderful feeling she got from the city at that moment, and the festival hadn't even gone into full swing yet!
They stopped at one of the stalls, several bottles were stacked on top of each other, and several shelves filled with plushies promised great reward. Vesta wasn't going to admit that she wanted one, things like this didn't exist back in Everday, the most she had as a child were wooden toys. It might have been childish, but she couldn't help it.
Jaune had noticed too, normally she was hard to read, but seeing her look at those plushies for so long gave the game away. He saw a golden opportunity, "Hey, I'll have a go." He told the one manning the stall, a middle aged man with a smile on his face.
He nodded and set three baseballs on the table while Jaune paid with Lien. Vesta watched with some interest as to what he was aiming to get. She was kind of surprised to see Jaune was into those kinds of things, but perhaps it wasn't abnormal in the future.
Jaune began his attempts, but if he had expected to be able to get it in one go, making him look cool in front of the beautiful girl that was accompanying him, he would have been wrong. Instead, three tries came and went, then he laid down more Lien, three more tries…
On the ninth ball, he finally got it. At that point, Vesta was leaning on the stall with a smirk on her face while the man running the stall wore a small smile. She had a feeling he would have probably been annoyed were it not the two of them that were making the attempts, at least, she would have been. Yet, Jaune got it, and when he did he grinned, "Vesta, pick something out!" He wore that dorky smile so proudly, "All yours."
Vesta's cheeks felt hot as they dusted red, "W-Well, I am honored." She kept up her even and reserved facade as she looked through the options before finally pointing to one in particular, "The knight there. I will take him." The man gave her the plushie and then the two hunters-in-training left, back to walking.
Vesta looked at it, it was a cute little plushie. The knight was dressed in full armor, with the visor of his helmet pushed up, revealing dark blue eyes and fair skin. The smile he bore on his face was familiar to her, at first she wasn't sure why. Then, she looked over at Jaune and saw him wearing that same smile on his face.
Jaune, for his part, was slightly miffed at having spent that much money but that was snuffed out by just how happy he was to have actually done it in the first place. Although he had to admit, he had something he was curious about, "Vesta?" He asked, looking over at her, finding her looking at him inquisitively, "Uhm… Out of curiosity…" He suddenly felt strangely awkward about asking this question, "Why'd you get that one?"
Vesta hummed and held it close to her bosom, "It reminds me of gallant knights. It may be juvenile to say, but I always liked the visual of a knight in shining armor storming the tower where a beautiful princess has been held in order to set her free." It was a tale as old as time, older, if some were to be believed.
Now, Jaune wasn't exactly one to jump to conclusions with things, he was a very humble person, yet… Whenever she talked like that, looking away with a gaze that seemed somewhat dreamy, lost in the clouds, he wondered if maybe there was some sort of implication to it all. Was she trying to give him a hint? Was he just being a nutcase? Maybe the truth was somewhere in the middle. The thoughts were intrusive and he tried to banish them, yet he still couldn't stop the red from forming on his face, "Ah, I-I getcha. Yeah."
The sun was almost fully set, the town lit by orange street lights and red paper lanterns that added to the warm glow. It was old-school but apparently Violet had wanted them to be there, for some reason. Vesta wasn't thinking about that, though, instead she stopped walking and took a deep breath, she wasn't sure what she was doing but all the same she turned to look at him, "Are you having a laugh at my interests? Is it embarrassing? You're blushing."
Jaune was taken aback. What? That wasn't it at all! He would never deride someone for being interested in something, "N-No! No no! Not at all, I-I just, uhm… I was just not sure what to say."
Vesta watched him with her earthy-brown eyes, tilting her head slightly to the right as the flower on her hat glowed a warm orange, "Do you find those kinds of things to your fancy?" She watched as he looked at her in surprise. Undeterred, she stepped forward a single step, never breaking eye contact, "You have always sought to be a knight, have you not?" Jaune just nodded nervously and she hummed, "So… You have dreamed of rescuing a princess from a tower? Have you, perhaps… Dreamed of-"
Before she could finish her statement, Nora's voice called out, "Heyyy guys!" That prompted the two of them to look in the direction of their friends. They were both wearing their normal outfits, Ren was carrying a large teddy bear that concealed his face from view, yet he walked perfectly fine, "Renny got me a teddy bear!" She stopped and put her hands on her hips with a grin, "Now, how bout we all find something to do together?! This festival only lasts three days, I wanna make the most of it!"
They both nodded quickly and so the four headed off, with Vesta leading the way. She looked around for things the four of them could do while thinking to herself. What the hell was that? No, really, what was that? What came over her? She was normally not so teasing, not so willing to make… advances, and yet there she was… flirting? Flirting. Trying to. It didn't happen, and now she wasn't sure if she wanted it to or not, maybe she was just lost in the moment.
In spite of her thoughts, hearing the boisterous conversation of the crowds and music playing from a band further away set a serene scene, in her mind at least. It brought a smile to her face as they kept searching.
Strangely, it was at this point that she felt as if she was being watched. It was inexplicable, she knew there was no danger, and yet she felt it all the same. She couldn't tell where it was coming from, nor what the intent of the watcher was, and yet just as quickly as the feeling came, it left. She furrowed her brow, causing Jaune to ask, "Uhh… Vesta, are you alright?"
Vesta nodded, "Y-Yes, yes. I was just thinking. Now…" She looked around, "How about we find something to do?" Luckily, she didn't have to look much further. She found their first activity for the night, something that made Vesta both curious and terrified. Tiny metal vehicles moved around in some sort of arena, crashing into each other, seemingly for some sort of end goal. She blinked a few times, "What is that?"
Nora laughed, "You've never heard of Bumper Cars before?! It's amazing! We gotta play, whoever wins gets a free meal with a few friends over at this restaurant down the road. See?" She pointed at the sign, which said exactly that, "We gotta get this! Then we can eat something!" Nora always seemed to have her mind on food, not that Jaune was going to complain about getting free food.
Well free food, you were still paying for admission, but hey, a group of friends, say four or five of them, would get their money's worth out of such a reward.
That was when Sarcelle's voice joined, "Are you really going to play Bumper Cars in that, Vesta?" They all turned towards the source of the voice. Sarcelle was wearing a dark green fleece jacket, a pair of jeans, and black running shoes. Underneath the jacket seemed to be a gray T-shirt, slightly visible from the collar. She smiled up at everyone, at least until Jaune wrapped her in a crushing hug, "Jaune! Just because I'm cured doesn't mean I'm invincible!"
Jaune laughed, "You've got your aura though! You're fine!" He set her down and kept his grin, the girl stepping back and making a show of seeming more dazed from the hug than she actually was.
When she was over that, she went back to what she was saying by placing her hands on her hips and looking at Vesta, "Playing Bumper Cars means sitting in a small car, doing so in that dress would be really uncomfortable." She smiled, "Why don't you change into something else? Then we can all play!"
Vesta was hesitant to play, given that it was strange small mechanical horses riding into each other, not to mention how tight of a fit it looked. Yet, she supposed it was a festival, what kind of stick in the mud would she be if she just sat out and watched everyone else have fun, "Hmm…" She made a show of drawing out her response, rubbing her chin while everyone else leaned in slightly, "Very well."
Cheers abounded, Vesta felt they were all being a bit dramatic, but still, she couldn't help but smile, "I'll go and get changed in the hotel room, wait here." She turned on her heels and walked her way back towards the hotel.
She was greeted in passing by plenty of townsfolk, she even ran into some of Jaune's other sisters along the way, although they seemed busy with their own things so she didn't get sidetracked for too long. When she got back to the hotel room, she was left with the decision of what outfit to wear, placing her stuffed knight on the bed for the night.
If her Witch-In-Training attire was too much, then she knew she needed to dress simpler. She began forming an idea of what she wanted to wear in her head and got to work on changing. Off went her gear and on went an emerald green T-shirt, a knee-length deep blue skirt with a pair of black shorts underneath, black running shoes, and finally the Pumpkin Pete hoodie she'd won from Jaune. She actually hadn't had a chance to wear it up until that point, and she had to admit it felt incredibly warm and… welcoming.
It was much larger than her, so it ended up falling over her skirt somewhat. It was like being wrapped in a warm hug by the man who used to own the hoodie. It even smelled like him, and for some reason she found that one of the primary appeals. She buried her face in the warm fabric for a few moments, a dreamy smile on her face. Vesta would have died if someone had seen her with that look on her face, luckily she was alone.
Completely dressed, she looked at herself in the mirror. She wondered if perhaps she should put on some makeup, she didn't have time to manually apply it so she used one of her non-taxing spells, raising her hand and snapping her fingers.
She gained a small amount of blush on her cheeks, some lip gloss on her lips to make the color more vibrant, and… well that was it. She could have gone further, but she really didn't want to. One of the few things her mother had taught her that wasn't somehow tied to ruling was that just a touch of makeup could make already great features glow brighter, and she stuck to that.
One might say that she didn't need makeup for Bumper Cars, and she didn't, but she anticipated more hijinks to happen that night and she wanted to look good for it! Magical makeup would never get ruined, so she knew that no matter what the day brought her she would keep looking good.
She perhaps should have expected that people would be surprised by her more casual wardrobe. She hadn't worn anything other than her normal gear since she arrived in Domremy. Now, Vesta noticed that some people did double-takes, others muttered, "Is that the princess?" which she found curious, sure she had told people she was a princess, but she hadn't expected them to believe her, even if she was, in fact, telling the truth.
Vesta just smiled and greeted people as they looked at her, eventually she saw the Bumper Cars in the distance before she saw Jaune and the others talking. Jaune was facing away from her, while Sarcy, Nora, and Ren were all facing her in the circle they had formed while talking.
Jaune was talking in-depth about a movie that he wanted to see that was coming out in a month, "So yeah! It's an adaptation of Sarcy and I's favorite comic book series. I dunno if it's gonna be good but I'm still excited!" Sarcy was about to respond when suddenly Jaune saw her pause and tilted her head slightly, looking behind him.
Nora clapped her hands and grinned, "Yeah! Now we can party! Lookin' good, Vesta!" Her gigawatt smile was infectious, making Vesta herself smile softly back at her. Ren and Sarcelle both gave their own, more restrained, polite compliments.
Jaune whirled around and his heart could have stopped right there. His face flushed red as he was struck with a strange sense of déjà vu, in spite of having never seen her dressed like this before in the waking world. He swallowed a lump in his throat and rubbed the back of his neck, "A-Ah! Vesta! You look… nice?" She wore the hoodie far better than him…
Vesta tossed her hair back and smiled, "Thank you, all of you. If I wasn't going to be wearing my normal outfit tonight, then it wouldn't do to wear anything that isn't up to my standards."
Sarcelle rubbed her chin and squinted, "Makeup? Aren't you worried it will get smudged?" Then, she remembered something, "Wait, it's probably some sort of magical makeup isn't it?" Vesta nodded a few times, causing Sarcy to nod, "Understandable."
That was when the previous game of Bumper Cars ended and thus the ensemble were allowed to join in. Team CALM arrived and joined in as well, meaning that the match ended up being entirely populated with Hunters-In-Training. Vesta had no idea how to pilot her metal horse at first, yet she eventually began to get the hang of it.
Intentionally or not, the game turned into ORNJ vs CALM, a true battle to end all battles. It was, in Vesta's mind, amusing to see Ren playing the game, one might have thought that he would be against it, but now that he was playing he seemed incredibly into it! He was expertly dodging attempts from Jeanne to crash their vehicles together, piloting the machine like he was born to ride it.
Nora was cackling like a madwoman while driving after Cobalt, the two ended up going in circles all in the name of trying to get one over on each other. This was only broken up when Vesta drove into Cobalt's car and crashed into it, allowing Nora to join in, and in spite of being thoroughly trounced, he still laughed.
Jaune, meanwhile, was fleeing from the combined efforts of Lunus and Violet as they chased after him. He called out, "Guys! Guys, can I get some help? They're after me!" The two Haven students just laughed while they chased after the poor boy. Not that he wasn't having fun, because even while he pleaded for help he still wore a grin on his face. He was only relieved when Violet's bumper car mysteriously sputtered and struggled, not for very long, just long enough for Sarcelle to ride up and intervene.
Call them childish, Vesta knew they were, but it was fun! After fighting so hard and then spending so long helping the relief effort, she felt that her team had earned the right to have fun and relax. When the game ended and everyone piled out, Violet laughed, "That was amazing! Oh, Lunus! Come on, we gotta get some plushies for my collection!" Before the boy could even say anything she had grabbed his hand and dragged him off.
Vesta watched this happen and hummed. They were clearly courting each other, so was that how couples behaved? Did they just do everything together? She was going to have to do more research into that. Meanwhile, Cobalt grinned at them, "That was honestly great fun. I'm not even mad we lost." He shrugged, Jaune noted that now he was wearing a hoodie and jeans, albeit his hoodie had no logos on it. Why did this guy just wear everything he did better?! It wasn't fair! "You guys have fun with your dinner, Jeanne and I are going to go check out some of the other attractions. We'll meet up later."
Jeanne waved to them, "You behave, Jaune!" She smirked, "We don't want to end up with another shoelace incident!" The mere mention of that made Jaune sputter and caused Jeanne to giggle before she escaped deeper into the town.
Vesta raised an eyebrow, "Shoelace incident…?" She looked at Jaune, wondering if he would have an answer.
Oh he knew what it was, but he wasn't going to say it, "A-Ahaha, don't worry about that! Hey, let's all go get some grub! I'm starving!" This caused Nora to cheer before she grabbed Ren's wrist and started pulling him towards the restaurant they had earned their food from. Sarcelle followed behind them, leaving Jaune and Vesta looking at each other for a moment.
She wanted to ask him about the shoelace incident, but once again he proved evasive. So, instead, she threw him a bone by taking hold of his wrist and leading him by it, "Come along, Squire, let's get some food before we waste away into nothing."
Jaune blushed lightly at being dragged by the wrist, but he didn't mind it. He was used to being dragged places, part of him felt it was too impersonal though. It was an intrusive thought, the desire for her to have reached for his hand instead of his wrist, and it was so incredibly miniscule. Yet, he couldn't help but stare at her hand while they walked. He felt he should say something, but what?
He swallowed a lump in his throat, "V-Vesta." She glanced back at him and hummed, prompting him to speak, "Y-You uh…" He looked down for a moment, "You look really good, that hoodie fits you better than it fits me."
Vesta felt red dust up her cheeks as she spoke, "Oh? It's very casual, I wasn't sure if it would take away from my…" She thought of the right word to say, "Normal style." She was going to say 'appeal' but who was she caring about that for? Well, she had some ideas, but she wasn't going to say them.
Jaune was quick to deny her words, "No, no it doesn't take away from your style at all! I-If anything I think it's kinda… Nice to see you dressed like this." She glanced back at him again, this time with an inquisitive gaze, so he explained, "Well, the way you normally dress is great, don't get me wrong, but… seeing you dressed like this makes you feel more…" He tried to think of the right word, "Approachable? N-Not that you're not approachable! I-I just meant, I mean, uhh… I-I'll just stop talking."
Vesta couldn't help but giggle, covering her mouth with her free hand, "Jaune, it's okay. I understand what you mean." In a way, it made her feel good to hear that she was more approachable like this, "I'm actually rather glad to hear that. Although, that does beg the question… do you view me as unapproachable normally, Jaune?" She hoped not, that was the last thing she wanted her knight to feel.
Once again, Jaune had to scramble to try and defend himself, "H-Huh? No, no! You're not unapproachable! You're just…" There were words he was thinking but they weren't words he wanted to say. Out of his league? So far above him that she was in the clouds while he sat at the bottom of the ocean? Maybe that was a bit much, he had to remind himself that he was better than that. Sarcelle's words once again rang in his mind and he began stringing together something to recover, "Well, when you're dressed normally, you're pretty, but like this… you kinda look like someone I could have grown up living next to. If that makes sense?"
She could have focused on the fact that he called her pretty, but that would be unfair to him. She knew she was pretty, but hearing him say that felt… different. Her chest tightened and she swallowed a lump in her throat before pushing past it, "I see, I suppose that makes sense. People tend to drift towards those that appear familiar, even if they're not." Of course, it went unsaid that they were familiar to each other, but she still understood the idea.
After that, they finally reached the restaurant. Imagine Jaune's surprise when he saw that it was Roux's Roux, his sister's restaurant! Well, one of them, she had a small chain operation going, having one in Vale, one in Domremy, and apparently she was working on getting one in Atlas. The odds of her actually being there were small, so he wasn't nervous about that. Instead, the two of them went inside and looked around. It was a very country-style building, made out of wood, with several tables evenly spaced out, booths against the walls, soft music playing in the background, the works.
Nora, Ren, and Sarcelle had claimed one of the larger tables, fit for five. Nora waved them down as they headed over and sat down, Nora grinned at Jaune, "Hey, this is your sister's place isn't it? Are we gonna get to meet her?"
Jaune certainly hoped not, he shook his head, "Nah. She's probably in Vale, that's where her 'main' restaurant is. Maybe we'll see her there one of these days." Not that he wanted to be put through the embarrassment that was sure to come with that, but he did want to see her again.
Sarcy leaned forward slightly, she seemed uneasy, but Jaune knew that was just because she really didn't like crowds. Crowds, social interactions with people she didn't know, being overstimulated… There was a lot of stuff like that that she didn't like, but that was okay. She said, "She usually comes around Domremy once a year, although I wouldn't be surprised if she comes around earlier than that because of the festivities and all of that…"
Jaune's heart could have stopped right there, but it didn't.
Instead, it stopped when a woman with a slightly deeper voice called out from across the restaurant, "Is that my Jauney?!" Everyone except Jaune turned towards the source of the voice. A fair-skinned woman who looked to be in her late twenties or early thirties was approaching, she had short blonde hair that went down to neck and nape. She was wearing a red short-sleeve v-neck t-shirt, any cleavage was hidden under a white T-shirt that went on under the v-neck. She had a golden necklace with a pendant hanging from it on around her neck, a golden watch around her right wrist, a pair of jeans, and a pair of shoes.
She looked very comely, Vesta felt, like some of the village folk she knew back in Everday. The woman, who Vesta deduced was Roux, walked up behind Jaune and wrapped him in a tight hug, despite his protestations, and grinned while saying, "It's been forever, Jaune! One day you're sittin' here in Domremy the next I hear you've run off and become a huntsman!"
Jaune couldn't tell if she was upset or not, the jovial tone made it hard to tell, "U-Uhm… Hi Roux, I'm… I'm sorry?" He swallowed a lump in his throat as he tried to look up at his eldest sister.
Roux smiled down at him, "You'd better be! You didn't stop by my restaurant in Vale once the whole time you were there?! How could you do that to your big sis?" She huffed and gave him a squeeze that Jaune would have called bone-crushing had he not had aura to prevent it from being so. Then, she let him go, "Ya'll won that little Bumper Cars thing, huh?" Everyone nodded and she grinned, "Well that's wonderful. Sarcelle, you didn't use your semblance on em did you?" She placed her hands on her hips.
Sarcelle shook her head, "No! I- uhm, well…" She scratched her cheek, "No, not at all." It didn't take a genius to see that she was lying.
Thankfully, Roux didn't press her on it, instead she just grinned, "Alright alright." She spotted one of the waiters and called out, "Hey, Eugene! Get this group their menus." She then looked back at the group, "Well I'll get out of your hair, we can catch up later Jaune, Sarcy." She grinned and then, after everyone said their goodbyes, she walked off towards the back of the restaurant.
Jaune resisted the urge to sigh in relief. Roux was great, don't get him wrong, but she had a penchant for telling all kinds of embarrassing stories about every one of her siblings, given that she was old enough to remember each of them when they were kids. Some people thought she was their mother, in reality there was just a large gap of time between when Roux was born and when the second oldest, Saphron, was born.
Vesta found the whole thing amusing, but she didn't dwell on it too long. Clearly, Jaune didn't exactly want to be put through the ringer, and while she normally wouldn't mind teasing him about it, they were all celebrating together. In the spirit of the festival, she would withhold her teasing for a later date.
The waiter came around, gave them all of their menus, and took their orders for their drinks. Vesta got herself a Dr. Spicy, the drink she'd quickly found was her favorite in the modern day. Her favorite from the old days was probably wine, but that was somewhat of a special occasion drink. She heard that apparently civilians couldn't drink until they were around the age of twenty-one, while Hunters-In-Training could drink once they turned seventeen. Apparently the logic being that, given that Hunters-In-Training were risking their lives, why restrain what they can do with their free time?
The conversation shifted, with Sarcelle stating between sips of her own Dr. Spicy, "So… I got a message from the Atlesian Bureau of Defense." That caused Jaune to choke on his iced tea, Sarcy smirked deviously, "Relax, Jaune. I'm not in trouble. On the contrary…" She muttered, looking away, "They've heard of my work and my assistance in the defense of the city and want to help refine my talents. They want me to join the Atlesian Cyber-Security Bureau, but…" She sighed, "I want to help you guys, and I don't know if I can do that all the way in Atlas."
Jaune rubbed his chin and hummed while he wracked his brain and thought it over, "Well… You might not be able to physically intervene, but maybe you can do some… remote stuff? Like, give us information, watch through cameras or something, then help us that way!"
Sarcelle nodded in contemplation, "Hmm, kind of like that one comic book series we read when we were younger! That could work…" She started muttering to herself about it, trying to work things out in her own mind. Jaune knew that if she had the chance she would want to become a Huntress, but in the short term a chance like that may open the door for her to get into Atlas the next year, provided she did a lot of training.
Once again, the topic shifted, this time Nora spoke, "So what should we do after we eat? I think we've got enough time for one more thing today before we should call it a night! It's gotta be something fun, though, even if we've got two more nights we need to make sure they're all memorable!"
Everyone was in agreement with that, although nobody really knew exactly what to do at first. Well, that was until Sarcy pulled herself out of her thoughts and suggested, "What about karaoke? There's this karaoke place with soundproof rooms that lets you choose from a bunch of different songs, or your own song. I've always wanted to go, but I couldn't really before because of, well… You know."
Vesta tilted her head slightly, "Karaoke…? What's that?" She'd heard the term maybe once before, but she had no context for what it was supposed to be at all. Clearly it was some kind of group activity, but that was about all she knew.
Jaune grinned, "Oh, karaoke's great! Basically you go to this place and you sing a song with the lyrics on screen with your friends. It's great! Some places even have scores for how well you did to make more of a game out of it."
Huh, that did sound interesting. Vesta had learned a thing or two about singing back when she lived in Everday, partly because Salem insisted that singing was a very important skill for a princess to have and partly because she enjoyed it, "I see. I'm something of a singer myself, I think that karaoke is a good way to end the day."
Perhaps Jaune shouldn't have been surprised that Vesta could sing, but now more than anything he was excited to hear it. Of course, that had to wait. Eventually the waiter came back and asked them what they wanted to eat, took their orders, and left. The topic changed to Sarcelle asking what Beacon was like, she had asked that question before but the details had been sparse due to her having been fairly sick at the time. Now, though, there was time to give her all the details she wanted.
She mentioned having some ideas for what could be her own weapon, although she wasn't exactly sure what it would be yet. She knew she wanted it to be sufficiently advanced, up to her standards, it would be a bonus if she could get it to work well with her semblance and with Pod. Sarcelle was smart, Jaune knew she could figure it out, although he made a note to shoot Ruby a text later to ask for ideas, given that she was the resident weapons expert.
When the food arrived, everyone was immediately focused on it. Southern Valean style cooking was something Vesta had never had before, and so she was rather eager to try it. Specifically, she was trying 'gumbo', as it was called. Sausage, chicken, rice… All within something called a 'roux', which was apparently both the namesake of the restaurant and the namesake of the eldest Arc daughter.
To say that it tasted divine would be an understatement. Vesta could have easily eaten it every day of the week and never gotten tired of it, were she still in Everday she would no doubt have hired Roux as her personal chef. Maybe she still would, some day, should she be able to restore her lost kingdom. That was something she wasn't sure if she'd ever get to do though, she hoped so, but how would she even begin to do something like that?
Given her power, she knew if anyone could do it it would be her. It would also be seen as a direct challenge to Salem, no doubt, reviving the kingdom she herself destroyed. That wasn't even mentioning trying to deal with the other kingdoms, should she try to establish her kingdom in one of their preexisting lands she had no doubt that would be an issue…
While Vesta was lost in her thoughts of kingdom building, Jaune was focused on much simpler things. Like how delicious the shrimp fried rice he was eating was! He listened to Nora regaling Sarcelle with an obviously exaggerated story about her time wandering the wilds with Ren, who was on stand-by with corrections.
He also stole glances at Vesta, who seemed off in the clouds once again while eating her food. Jaune could only imagine what she was thinking of, the girl's status as a magical princess from five thousand years ago meant that her thoughts were even more alien to him than a regular girl's, yet that was part of what made her so fascinating to him. Granted, seeing her sitting there eating gumbo while wearing his hoodie was probably the most normal he had ever seen her. Usually when she went out she wore dresses, so seeing her this casual was a rare treat, something he definitely saw himself getting used to seeing. Should she decide to dress that way more often, at least.
When they were all finished eating they made their way out of the restaurant after promising Roux that they would come back the next day for another meal (on the house, courtesy of the owner, Jaune was grateful for that). They started towards the karaoke place, once again with Nora filling the dead air with her stories. Jaune was honestly grateful for that, there was never an awkward silence with Nora around, not that any silence they had that night would have been awkward unless someone made a serious blunder of some kind.
When they got there, they found the place wasn't that busy, even with the festival going on. That worked for them, as all they had to do was rent a room (the cost being split between the four Hunters-In-Training) and then they were given everything they needed and directed back to their room.
When they got there, it became a matter of choosing what songs to sing and who would go first, which was to say Nora went first. She chose a song called 'Spring Breeze', which was actually from a game that Jaune knew, and he wasn't at all surprised that A) Nora knew it and B) that it was available for people to sing at a karaoke place. Maybe it was some kind of brand deal?
Ren went next, and at Nora's request he chose another song from that same series, 'Baka Mitai'. He didn't seem too into it before the song started but the moment it did he was perhaps too into it. Jaune had never thought of Ren as someone who would chew the scenery, but man he seemed to love every second of it.
When it was Jaune's turn, he mulled over song choice for a little while before eventually choosing 'Shine', a song from his favorite singer Casey and one he absolutely didn't have the pipes for. Yet, he still tried, and even though he was absolutely awful he still had fun, and everyone else cheering him on certainly helped him have the confidence to sing it through to the end.
While he was wrapping up the song, Sarcelle and Vesta were looking at the same song selection menu, contemplating their choices together. Vesta was eyeing a few different songs, but Sarcelle seemed to have one in mind. The song wasn't in the playlist, but in a blink it was there, likely due to Sarcy using her semblance, if Vesta was to guess. Meanwhile, Vesta chose hers, 'I'm Still Here', apparently it was from some movie, although Vesta hadn't watched many movies at all so she wasn't exactly sure what the context of it was. The lyrics spoke to her, and so she stuck with it.
Now that it was her turn, Vesta grabbed her microphone and stood where the others had, under the screen that read out the lyrics for everyone. There was another screen that Vesta was facing to help her remember the lyrics. The song began with percussion and strings, "I am a question to the world. Not a question to be heard. Or a moment that's held in your arms."
She smiled as she kept going, "And what do you think you'd ever say? I won't listen anyway… You don't know me, and I'll never be what you want me to be!" She found herself imagining she was singing this to Salem and her father, defying what they wished for her, "And what do you think you'd understand? I'm a boy, no, I'm a man! You can't take me and throw~ me away!" Maybe she wasn't the right gender for the lyrics, but the message was there, "And how can you learn what's never shown? Yeah, you stand here on your own! They don't know me 'cause I'm. Not. Here."
The song picked up and she got to really flex her singing capabilities, "And I want a moment to be real! Wanna touch things I don't feel! Wanna hold on and feel~ I belong!" She thought about her father trying to make her act more 'normal', more modern, "And how can the world want me to change? They're the ones that stay the same! They don't know me, 'cause I'm. Not. Here."
She felt her smile growing as everyone paid complete attention, "And you see the things they never see! All you wanted, I could be!" She pointed to herself, "Now you know me, and I'm not afraid! And I wanna tell you who I am! Can you help me be a man? They can't break me! As long as I know who I am!"
Vesta stepped forward, panning her gaze across her assembled friends as she kept singing, "And I~ want a moment to be real! Wanna touch things I don't feel! Wanna hold on and feel~ I belong!"
Her gaze turned upward towards the sky before she placed a hand over her heart, "And how can the world want me to change? They're the ones that stay the same! They can't see me! But I'm still here!"
Salem could have been there right now and she would have kept singing with the same confidence, "They can't tell me who to be~ 'Cause I'm not what they see! Yeah, the world is still sleepin' while I keep on dreamin' for me! And their words are just whispers and lies that I'll never believe~"
She took a step back and grinned, "And I want a moment to be real! Wanna touch things I don't feel! Wanna hold on and feel~ I belong! And how can they say I never change? They're the ones that stay the same! I'm the one now! 'Cause I'm. Still. Here!"
She wrapped up the song with its final verse, "I'm the one, 'cause I'm still here! I'm still here! I'm still here! I'm. Still. Here~" When she was done, she gave a curtsy and smiled, "Thank you. I hope you enjoyed the song!"
Jaune wanted to speak up and say of course, of course they did! He settled for clapping with everyone else along with saying, "You did amazing, Vesta!" There was only one person left who hadn't sung, and thus all attention turned to Sarcy.
Now that it was her turn, she took up a mic and made her way to where Vesta had been standing as the upbeat and pop-like music of her chosen song, 'Hero Too' began to play. She smiled nervously at everyone before beginning to sing, "What am I to be? What is my calling? I gave up giving up, I'm ready to go!" Her voice was a little shaky at first, but as everyone began cheering her on she started to gain more confidence, "Put it on the line to follow my dream, yeah!"
She paced from her position near the screen, hanging up against the wall as she continued to sing, "Tried all my life! I've tried to find! Something that makes me hold on and never let go! Oooooohhh!" Her voice was now more powerful than Jaune had ever heard it before, "Hero too! I am a hero too! My heart is set and I won't back down! Hero too, strength doesn't make a hero! True heroes stand up for what they believe! So wait and see! So wait and see!"
Jaune felt himself starting to tear up in spite of the happy lyrics because of the sheer happiness in Sarcy's grin as she continued, "What do they think of me? What do they think I'll be?" She made a show of pondering this question before returning to her beaming smile, "I could not care less, I don't wanna know! Am I doing right? Am I satisfied? I wanna live my life like it's meant to be! Yeah!"
She placed a hand over her heart, the lyrics were clearly personal to her, "Tried all my life! I've tried to find! Something that makes me hold on and never let go! Ooooohhhh!" The music kicked up and she continued, "Hero too, I am a hero too! My heart is set and I won't back down! Hero too, strength doesn't make a hero! True herooeesss stand up for what they believe! So wait and see!"
The song only seemed to speak more to her as she continued, visibly getting emotional, her eyes glistening with tears, yet it was easy to see that they were happy, "People will judge for no reason at all! Yeah, they might try to say your dream's dumb, don't listen! They may look down on me and count me out, I'm going my own way! They may look down on me and count me out! I'm a hero, I've got MUSIC!"
The song kicked into the final chorus and momentarily became softer, "Hero too, I am a hero too… My heart is set, and I won't back down." Then, it picked back up and she swayed in place, "Hero too, strength doesn't make a hero! True heroes stand up for what they believe! Hero too, I am a hero too! My heart is set and I won't back down! Hero too, strength doesn't make a hero! True heroes stand up for what they believe! So wait and see!"
She stepped closer to everyone and gestured widely towards them, "I have met so many heroes in my life! Gave me the strength and courage to survive!" That was the final straw, Jaune's tears began to roll down his face, "Gave me the power to smile everyday! Now it's my turn to be the one to make you smile!" She grinned, "So wait and see! So wait and see!" She gave a bow as she finished.
Jaune stood up and took a couple strides over to Sarcy, wrapping her in yet another hug. She didn't complain this time as she shared it. Nora grinned and jumped up, dragging Ren and Vesta with her as it suddenly became a group hug. It was brief, given that they knew Sarcy probably still wasn't entirely up to the whole 'extended physical contact' thing, but the message was there.
With their songs sung and the night growing old, everyone agreed that it was time to wrap things up, there were still two days of the festival left, but overall Vesta felt that it was already a rousing success overall. The town was celebrating the gift of life, with some fireworks and a live performance planned for the last day, Vesta was looking forward to that.
Yet, the day wasn't completely over yet. Jaune and the others had gone to bed, but Sarcelle wanted to talk to Vesta. She said to meet her at the house's balcony, which had an admittedly beautiful view of the city, if Vesta was being honest with herself. She was there first and enjoyed the view, she only looked away when she heard the sliding door open.
Sarcelle stepped onto the balcony with a small smile on her face, "Hey…" She fiddled with her fingers, "I know I said this already but… I wanted to thank you." She closed the door behind her and walked over to the balcony railing, next to Vesta, and continued, "It's been mentioned before that I wanted, I want, to be a huntsman. A hero, like you guys." She looked at Vesta, "I'm… not exactly sure how I'll qualify to join an Academy by next year, but I have to try, right? 'Cause that's what Jaune did."
Vesta smiled back and looked out towards the city, "You do. Jaune's a big inspiration for you, isn't he?" She knew he was, but she still wanted to hear about it from the source. After all, it was clear the two of them were very important to each other.
Sarcy nodded, "Jaune might have told you about how rough things were for me back then, and maybe he mentioned how I kept going in spite of it all, but… I'll be honest, I don't think I could have made it without him." She giggled softly, "I'm… not sure where to go from here, honestly. Atlas offered me that Cyber-Security position, but… I wanna be a huntress too. It's kinda scary, y'know?" Her smile softened, "I've spent my whole life fighting off my immunodeficiency, and working on technology, and while I still wanna do that, I feel… like I'm at a crossroads."
Vesta hummed and turned to face her completely, "Well… I'm not sure entirely what you should do. There's a lot of things you could do, but that's up to you." She placed her hands on her hips and grinned, "I do declare that one way or the other, Sarcelle, you will be a great hero one day. No matter what kind, I know that you'll never settle for anything less than greatness, am I correct?"
Sarcelle turned towards her and wrapped the other girl in a hug, "Yeah, you're right." She smiled up at her, "I think this is… just the beginning. I'll become a huntsman, somehow, a real hero. Then I'll be able to live out my dream of being there to help Jaune and others against the Grimm. It might take awhile, but it will happen!"
She closed her eyes in a joyous grin as she declared…
"So wait and see!"