Chapter 23
Settling In
Pale blue eyes reflected a screen display, thumbnails of various video files laid out in perfectly aligned rows until one was selected, the player window showing Pyrrha Nikos' first singles round fight from the previous year's Vytal Festival Tournament. Kuro Takashima, on paper, should have been a pushover for Pyrrha, but in reality, the fight had been far more even than even seasoned analysts had predicted. And so she watched, looking for any hint as to how to crack the Invincible Girl's defenses.
"Weeeiiiiiisss, come on!" Ruby whined over her shoulder.
"No. I'm not going to participate in some silly video game tournament when I have legitimate concerns about my personal ranking as well as that of our team. Team RWBY is one and two, and I'm not about to let us slip below five hundred." Blake had barely managed to eke out a win over a very much improved Cardin Winchester by utilizing her speed and agility to avoid going toe to toe with the Executioner, a matchup she would surely have lost had Cardin landed another punishing hit.
"You don't even know that you're facing Pyrrha," Ruby whispered, cognizant of the fact that the girl in question was sitting next to her sister and Blake on the couch across the room, the entirety of the two teams present in various sleep and casual wear.
"There are only eight of us left for inventory matches, and I'm not worried about any potential matchups except for Pyrrha and maybe if the professor pairs me with an upperclassman."
"But we can't have a full bracket unless there's eight of us!"
"The answer is still no. Besides, it's not like those two are going to stop...studying...long enough to participate," Weiss grumbled, a nod of the head in Ren and Nora's direction in case Ruby didn't get the hint.
Ren was reclined on the aptly-named loveseat, reading a digital textbook on a Scroll tablet, with Nora's perfectly plump thighs as his pillow. Nora's hands did double duty, her right holding a similar tablet, her left lazily combing through her boyfriend's silky hair, the both of them wearing soft smiles.
"Don't be jealous, Weiss," Ruby chided her, happy as any of their friends that the pair had finally admitted their feelings for each other. "If you want, you can use me as a pillow too! Your hair's gotta be nice and soft and smooth. Your shampoo is really nice like that."
"No, that won't be necessary, I...wait, how do you know about my shampoo?" she asked, pausing her video to regard her very guilty-looking partner.
"I...may have tried it once?" Ruby admitted with a blush, steepling her index fingertips as her silver eyes found the floor infinitely fascinating.
"Without asking," Weiss stated flatly.
"I was bored, okay?" Ruby replied in exasperation.
Weiss' breath sucked in and then paused as she came to the realization that at least Ruby hadn't decided to explore...other...options for relieving her boredom in their shared shower. No matter how many times Winter had assured her that such urges, and actions, were completely natural, it still did her little good when it came to thinking of other people doing...that.
"Just...leave me be, Ruby," she settled on, her tone far gentler than last year's shrill register.
"Well, when I said I wanted us to have a study session, I kinda didn't mean it," she pouted.
"And when I agreed to it, I did," Weiss replied tersely.
"Party pooper," Ruby muttered as she stalked off and flopped onto one side of a mountainous beanbag chair, the other side anchored by Jaune's bulk, his eyes eagerly scanning through one of a pile of comic books on the floor.
"Hey, Ruby? What happened to issues 136 to 139 of Teen Huntress Squad? They're not in the pile you gave me."
"Never happened," Ruby replied flatly.
"Umm, pretty sure they did. I've got 140 and 141 right here."
"Never. Happened."
"That's...weird."
"Well, that's life," Ruby grumbled, clearly unhappy about the subject.
Jaune decided to not push her on it, and went to pick up the issues of X-Ray and Vav he'd been saving til last.
"I swear, Red, if you don't stop staring at Vomit Boy like that, you're going to ruin your Scroll tablet," Yang quietly chided Pyrrha. "Pretty sure drool damage voids the warranty." The three of them were on the large, surprisingly comfortable couch, with Yang sandwiched between Pyrrha and Blake, who was reading an actual book. Yang herself was half-heartedly flipping through her Scroll feed and watching the room. "I mean look at those two," she added, looking toward Ren and Nora, who was using her nose to boop her boyfriend's. "For as long as they danced around the obvious last year, they finally found the courage to actually admit what we all knew. So why can't you just tell him how you feel? You don't have to wait for a guy to ask you out, you know. It's 87 AV, for crying out loud!" Yang gently punched her in the shoulder for good measure. The bright, encouraging smile she had on was just icing on the cake.
"You say that like I haven't," Pyrrha replied with a cryptic smile and a sad chuckle in her voice.
"What?" Yang demanded, her eyes wide and sparkling at the news. "Details, girlfriend!" she demanded, Blake's cat ears perking to discredit her air of perfect nonchalance.
"Details?" Pyrrha asked in puzzlement.
"Are you two just keeping it on the down low? Friends with benefits?" she asked with a saucy tone. "There's no way he rejected you, right?!"
"It's...complicated," Pyrrha admitted sheepishly.
"No it isn't," Yang dismissed with a wave of her hand. "You Pyrrha, him lucky," she grunted with a wink.
"No, it's just that Jaune doesn't want to try dating until he knows he's got a handle on his schooling."
"That sounds like a copout, if you ask me," Yang countered. "I mean, if I had a hot goddess like you telling me she wanted me? And I'm me!" she added, not bothering to elaborate who she was contrasting herself with. "You don't think he's gay, do you?" she asked suddenly, the next obvious explanation to her mind.
"I'm pretty sure he doesn't like boys like that. He did court Weiss, after all," Pyrrha said with only the barest hint of irritation, far less than she'd held during the weeks heading into the Vytal Ball last year.
"You're not exactly disproving my point, Pyr," Yang joked easily.
"You're awful," Pyrrha retorted, in spite of her blushing smile.
"Back to the point though, are you happy with that?" Yang asked.
"I won't say I'm thrilled, no. But I do respect his wishes. Jaune is too stubborn to be dissuaded of anything he's set his mind to. I almost pushed him away last year, and I'm not about to do it again."
"What if you didn't have to?" Yang asked with a mischievous twinkle in her eye.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, instead of trying to push him into a relationship, you make yourself so appealing he's begging you for a date!"
"I'm not sure…" she trailed off, even though Yang could see that twinkle of new hope in Pyrrha's eyes.
"Trust me, I'm an expert in being irresistible," Yang said, shifting to pose provocatively in her always-tight t-shirt.
"I don't think you understand, Yang," Pyrrha said, her expression darkening just a bit.
"You've got the goods, Red, you just have to not be afraid of flaunting them. Hell, you're at the top of my list I'd give up men entirely for."
"No, it's...really?" Pyrrha asked, doing a double take.
"You're almost as hot as me!"
"Stop being so humble, Yang," Blake chided her gently, her eyes not leaving her precious book. "It's making us self-conscious."
"I'll try, kitty cat," she replied with a smile and sidelong glance for her partner before refocusing on a furiously blushing Pyrrha. "But seriously, you just have to wear something a little more flattering," she began, lifting the cuff of Pyrrha's brown silk pajama top as an example, "lower the neckline some, and you'll be drowning in Jaune-love in no time!"
"I really don't think that will work, Yang."
"Of course it will! You just have to be more confident! Trust me, you've got plenty to be confident about," she reassured Pyrrha.
"No, it's...I already tried that," she added in a low whisper.
"Oh, really?" Yang replied with a salacious grin.
"Tight jeans for our weekends in Vale, wearing my workout clothes around the dorm room all the time, accidentally spilling my water bottle on my t-shirt...Nora even convinced me to wear a babydoll to bed for a few nights. Nothing." Pyrrha sighed in exasperation.
"Are you sure he's not gay?" Yang asked again, getting a flat stare in reply. "Just checking. Okay, he doesn't sneak a peek, no matter how much you want him to," she began, thinking aloud. "And when I do my thing, he gets all flustered, or he used to at least," she added, still a little miffed about that development. "Maybe it's the sister thing?"
"Sister thing?" Pyrrha echoed
"You saw his family, right? Maybe he's actually been raised to be too much of a gentleman. He doesn't look because it'd get his ass kicked at home," Yang posited.
"That does make sense, even if it doesn't help me much."
"Or maybe he really is one of those 'beauty is really on the inside' kind of guys. Though to be fair, you've got that in spades, too. Maybe if you had more interests in common? I mean, look at those two," she remarked, nodding towards Jaune and Ruby, who were having a rather heated discussion over the comic book she'd handed him. "They'll spend hours just chattering away about the smallest little things about those comic books. I mean, I know they're stupid, you know they're stupid, but to those two?" she asked, leaving the implication clear.
"That seems a little disingenuous," Pyrrha said with a raised eyebrow.
"Not really, when you think about it. You like spending time with him, right?" she asked rhetorically. "I just gave you a reason to spend more time with him. Hell, maybe you'll even start to like comics. I promise I won't make fun of you for being a closet nerd. Too much," Yang clarified with a wry smirk.
Swallowing a doubtlessly polite comeback, Pyrrha gave a soft sigh as she watched how animated her partner was in his discourse with Ruby, a gentle smile on her face. "Wish me luck," she said simply, tucking her tablet under her arm and walking over to them.
Yang watched her go with a cocky grin, her mission accomplished. Before she could return to her Scroll feed, however, another voice brought her up short.
"You know, you're much more intelligent than you let people think you are," Blake said, actually meeting Yang's gaze when she turned to look at her.
"I, umm, thank you?" Yang replied, unsure whether to feel insulted or not.
"You put up a facade that you don't care much, about anything, and almost everyone we know takes it at face value. I don't know why you feel the need to do it, honestly. You're a good friend, you know," she added, adjusting her yukata a bit as she leaned back and stretched.
"Yeah, well, opinions vary," she said with her eyes firmly on one of the trio seated on the beanbag Ruby had insisted they get at a garage sale in Vale on Sunday.
Blake followed her gaze, thinking a moment before scooting a bit closer to her partner and placing a hand atop hers. "You look out for everyone in this room. That much is obvious to anyone paying attention."
"Even Weiss?" she asked suspiciously.
"Especially Weiss," Blake shot back with a smirk that mirrored her partner, getting a chuckle out of Yang.
"Well, somebody had to get that stick out of her ass. For her and everyone else's good."
"Will you two keep it down?!" Weiss barked harshly at the increasingly vocal Jaune and Ruby.
"It's a work in progress," Yang conceded, their mutual smirks blooming into warm smiles.
After a comfortable pause, Blake spoke again. "So... If you're so attracted to Pyrrha, why haven't you done anything about it?"
"Honestly? Even if it weren't for her and Jaune, she's too sweet and perfect for me. Not for the kind of relationships I've had, anyway. She's gonna be a wonderful wife for someone, someday. Just not me," Yang said with a hint of regret.
"Can't be any worse than my history," Blake replied with an eyeroll.
"What about Sun? You two were so cute together!"
"We're just friends, Yang. He's not in a place where he's right for me. Not yet, anyway."
"Aw, come on! Those abs looked pretty nice, from how many times I caught you eyeballing them," she clarified, getting a soft blush from Blake.
"They were, but the rest of him was just... " she trailed off. "He's earnest, and he means well, he just doesn't think things through. He'll screw up something, and just take it for granted that you're going to forgive him because he's such a nice guy."
"And hot," Yang added.
"And hot, yes," she conceded. "He's usually right, that you'll forgive him, it's just…"
"Inconsiderate?" Yang interjected.
"Exactly! And it stinks, because you know he'll be there in a heartbeat if his friends need help. Maybe he just needs to grow up a little," Blake added. "Maybe I do, too."
"Just so long as I don't end up a crazy cat lady, I'll be happy. Just find someone to share my life with who can handle my…" Yang trailed off, searching for the word.
"Quirks?" Blake suggested.
"That works, I guess. Better than saying boobs, anyway. Not that I don't like them handled, you just have to know what you're doing. Not too gentle, not too hard..." she continued, hefting her cleavage and squeezing gently in demonstration. "Jusssst right."
"And there's the facade again," Blake said, shaking her head in spite of her abnormally warm tone.
"You know you love me," Yang scoffed.
"Against my better judgement," Blake allowed her, the both of them smiling even more now.
"I...I can't even…" Jaune said in disbelief, Teen Huntress Squad issue 138 open in his lap.
"I tried to warn you," Ruby reminded him. "You brought this upon yourself."
"It's just...why?!"
"What's wrong?" Pyrrha asked.
"I mean, the new artist has gotten really, really good, but the writing is just... godawful!"
"It can't be that bad, can it?" she asked, getting a flat gaze from both Ruby and Jaune. "All right, on a scale of The Man With Two Souls to Ninjas of Love, how bad is it?"
"This is more season eight Clash of Crowns bad, Pyr," Jaune said with a disgusted grimace, Pyrrha flinching away from the offending material.
"You mean…"
"Changed so many characters and motivations that it makes no sense. It's like they tried to subvert expectations so much that they turned everything upside down."
"That's not good," Pyrrha replied, not having a clue of the particulars.
"That's like saying Nora slightly enjoys pancakes," Ruby clarified for her. "In three issues, Monty turned into a total jerk for no reason, Miles had a hundred thirty-five issues of growth wiped out so he could be the joke character again, they rushed through some half-baked political plot way too fast, Lindsay became a total hypocrite about keeping secrets, despite being the idealist...I could go on, but I don't want to spoil anything for you."
"I don't know if I want to pick the series up, if it's really this bad," Pyrrha said diplomatically. "Why do you still read it?"
"Because it's awesome! It's got such fun characters, and all the moments they've had together, it's just…" Ruby began.
"It's like watching your sister make worse and worse decisions with her life. You love her, but you're…" Jaune trailed off.
"Disappointed," Pyrrha finished for him.
"Exactly! I can hope they get better, and just find the little things in there that make it worthwhile."
"I have to admit, it sounds a bit daunting. But if you think it's worth a read…"
Jaune had to blink twice before Pyrrha's words sank in, but his eyes lit up like it was his fifth birthday, her heart soaring in response.
"Okay, I would have to get my mom to send my collection to Beacon, and even then, I don't have anything before the Mandroid Massacre crossover event," he babbled excitedly, a pensive scowl taking over his face. "And anything older than that is pretty expensive these days."
"They've got the first fifty issues on digital now, Jaune," Ruby volunteered. "The Comixx app went live while you were away. They haven't gotten to the current issues yet because they're still under contract with their printer."
"That's great news! You're going to love the tournament arc! Some of the characters are forgettable, but the action's insane!" Jaune said, his smile returning in full force.
"That sounds like a lot to keep track of," Pyrrha said nervously.
"I'll help you keep things straight. I mean, if you don't mind someone looking over your shoulder and explaining things," Jaune added.
"That would be helpful, I suppose," Pyrrha said, trying to keep her smile under control.
"And Ruby can help, too! If I'm busy, that is."
"You bet I can!" she affirmed.
Pyrrha's lips quivered slightly, not just for what this meant for her and Jaune, but also the simple enthusiasm of Ruby Rose. She couldn't imagine a better pair of friends, and was reminded again exactly why she'd chosen Beacon Academy.
"That sounds lovely," she said at last.
Flynt Coal was in trouble.
He shouldn't have been, fighting a student a year his junior, but there it was.
Dropping into a baseball slide, Flynt ducked under yet another barrage of ice shards, coming to a stop in cover behind a large chunk of stone that hadn't been there thirty seconds ago. If Weiss Schnee insisted on radically altering the combat environment, he was damn well going to use said environment to his advantage. He managed to get two breaths and a quick check of his hat in before a jet of flame proceeded to melt the stone making up the half he thankfully wasn't hiding behind.
Flynt rolled away from the rock, his lungs going to work once more as the twists and turns inside Clarion, aided with most of the Dust he had left in the weapon, turned a simple trumpet blast into so much more. The sonic assault pulverized the loosely composed stone, crushing it to powder in a heartbeat. The dust swirled and billowed outwards, reminiscent of the haboobs of the Vacuan desert and obscuring the entirety of the combat arena.
Not content, and certainly not stupid enough, to stand in place, Flynt's feet carried him swiftly to his flank, even as a Dust-generated bolt of lightning sailed through his former position. Not the most versatile Huntsman on a good day, he was quickly running out of options for dealing with Weiss. To make things worse, he'd never hear the end of it if he actually lost a spar against a second year, especially from his own merciless partner.
Thinking briefly on Neon, Flynt had an epiphany.
He couldn't outfight her with Dust, certainly, but it didn't mean he was unfamiliar with its use either. He'd grown up in the Dust business, after all. Aura running low, but bereft of options as the dust settled and visibility returned, he raised Clarion once again, activating a valve and forcing fire Dust into the equation. The cone of flame was massive and showy, but not particularly hot, certainly not enough to do anything more than melt the ice Dust barrier Weiss erected in defense.
But that hadn't been the point, really.
The steam cleared some and Weiss could see she was in trouble, the multicolored clones of Killer Quartet surrounding her on all sides. The four Flynts breathed deep before unleashing a sound that many would later describe as the most unsettling thing they'd ever heard, and they had the benefit of the hardlight Dust safety barrier to insulate them from it. The wind force was enough to pin Weiss in place, but the sound, amplified and focused onto her position by the four points of generation, was what really did the damage. She buckled, clutching her abdomen as the sonic assault did horrible, unspeakable things to her insides, barely keeping a hold of Myrtenaster through it all. Several long seconds later, Flynt was out of breath, his Aura nearly spent as his Semblance powered down, Weiss straightening somewhat until her eyes went wide, her cheek twitching in horror as she felt it.
Something hot and chunky, not unlike very loose oatmeal, was slowly trickling down the back of her left leg.
Thankfully for her nearly fractured mind, the smell didn't really register for her, though the memory it had triggered was even worse. Suddenly, she was five again, having held off bothering her busy father for a trip to the ladies' room during a mine tour she'd pestered him to take her on, and all the horrific consequences that decision had held. That he had punished her severely afterwards did not help matters, and Weiss was nearly in tears, hoping against hope that this situation didn't get any worse.
It was then that she was reminded exactly where she was, and that things can always get worse.
"Daaaaamn, Schnee, you look like shit," Flynt called from a short distance away, a cocky smirk on his face.
He'd decided, in his seeming good fortune, to take another page from Neon Katt's book in dealing with his opponent. As Weiss' face slowly turned towards him, lips curling back into a grimace of rage and fury, Flynt realized that he'd made a terrible mistake. His jaw went slack as he saw the massive glyph forming behind her, his shock leaving him vulnerable as an ethereally glowing sword the size of a large truck batted him away like a pesky horsefly, shattering his Aura and catapulting him into the safety barrier, his hat flopping to the ground where he'd been standing.
The finish klaxon wasn't heard by either combatant; Flynt because he'd been pummeled into unconsciousness, and Weiss…
Weiss stared straight ahead for several long moments, unbelieving of what had just happened. Slowly, she turned her head, finally taking in the presence of the massive glyph hovering above and behind her. From this extended a disembodied arm, clad in glowing white plate armor, holding a massive claymore poised even now to defend her from all comers.
"I did it," she half-whispered, the barest hint of a smile ticking at the corners of her mouth. Her breathing was ragged, both from exertion and the emotional release her success had triggered. Had anyone else heard, let alone understood her, she might have been getting congratulations, but even as the safety barrier flickered out, the crowd was mostly silent, save for Neon, loudly voicing her concern for her longtime partner and Jaune, who called for people to get out of his way before he vaulted over the railing to attend to the fallen Flynt.
"I did it," Weiss repeated, her smile growing wider now as her shock subsided. This lasted a second before the realization, not to mention the stench, of everything else that had happened hit her. Her mood immediately soured, her summoned guardian flaking out of existence, not unlike the Grimm it had been in a previous life, as she finally noticed Professor Shaw levelling a flat gaze in her direction.
"While we're young, Miss Schnee," he remarked dryly, his expression bordering on actual warmth.
Weiss ambled over to the lectern, her gait stiff as she tried to minimize further leakage. She took a shuddering breath to tamp down her rage and steady her nerves, facing Shaw with a calm, collected air about her. Even someone who'd just entered the classroom could tell how things had gone, Weiss steady and poised in spite of everything that had happened, and her hapless opponent, stumbling over with Jaune's assistance, looking like he'd been dumped into the middle of a troop of Beringel. Flynt inspected the burnt end of his tie, grunting in annoyance before looking up and coming to as much of a position of attention as he could manage.
"Miss Schnee, I must say, that was quite impressive. Am I to assume from your flabbergasted look that was your first successful summon?"
"I...yes, sir," she got out, confused as to how he'd known.
"Your sister had the same look," he added for explanation. "Ninety-two," he pronounced, Weiss beaming at matching the grade Pyrrha had obtained for frankly demolishing Coco Adel. "The one critique I have for you is this: In any scenario where your opponent has removed visibility from the battlefield, the first thing you need to do is change your position. A quick-acting opponent can take advantage of your disorientation and land a strike that is nearly impossible to defend against, especially since they know the obfuscation is coming."
"Yes, sir."
"And you, Mister Coal. Care to explain what that whole episode was about?" Shaw asked with an edge in his voice.
"Well, Schnee here was straight up kickin' my ass, so I figured I needed to put her off her game. I remembered that the infrasonic disruption system Atlesian riot control squads use wasn't allowed closer than thirty meters between emitters, and I had a pretty good idea why."
"Well, mission accomplished, and then completely negated when you decided to trash talk your opponent rather than press the advantage, compounded by the fact that you froze when confronted with an unexpected outcome. Seventy," he pronounced with clear distaste, Flynt grimacing hard. "Showers, both of you," Shaw ordered, not offering comment on how one of them desperately needed one. "Next match. Mister Ren, Mister Lark, starting positions."
Weiss paid the next combatants little heed, her self-control now strained to the point of breaking as her adrenaline wore off. It was all she could do to accept the towel that Jaune had wordlessly offered without breaking down herself. She made it to the hallway to the locker room, shadowed silently by her defeated opponent. Her heels clicked slowly on the tile floor, her gait shuffling as she tried to keep from making any more of a mess of herself than she already had, and cleaning up what she could. She had managed to avoid even acknowledging Flynt for nearly her entire trek to the showers before he had the unmitigated gall to speak up when they reached the T intersection where the doors to the two separate dressing rooms were.
"Hey, Schnee, no hard feelings, right? All's fair in love and war, after all." His words, and nervous smile, died in a heartbeat when she wheeled on him, brow furrowed in her fury. Weiss straightened herself back to her typically perfect posture before taking the few steps needed to close on him.
"I only have two words for you," she said imperiously, the point of Myrtenaster whipping up three inches beneath his nose.
"Shutting up?" Flynt half-asked nervously, his hands raised and clearly not wanting another fight.
"Thank you," she said through clenched teeth.
"For?" he replied, more confused than scared now.
"For reminding me exactly who I am," she clarified.
"Which is?" he asked, pressing his luck and immediately dreading the answer.
"I am the granddaughter of Nicholas Schnee, Heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, award-winning recording artist, and one of the best Huntresses in Beacon Academy. I have a spine of Atlesian steel, and the fury of a Mistrali typhoon. I will not be bent, I will not be broken. I am Weiss. Fucking. Schnee. And don't you forget it," she concluded in a hissing whisper.
"Wouldn't dream of it," Flynt replied, a soft smile spreading across his lips.
Weiss replaced her rapier on her belt, pivoting on her four inch heels and taking five steps away from Flynt before giving him a sidelong glance over her shoulder. "Oh, and Flynt?" she asked with a coquettish lilt in her voice.
"Yeah?"
"No one will ever believe you," she said matter-of-factly before walking into the ladies' locker room.
It took him a moment to realize what she'd meant, and he had a soft chuckle at his own expense when he did. "No, they won't," he admitted freely before heading to his own locker room.
Jaune looked at the front door to Shaw's office, now properly labeled in gilded block letters on the frosted glass panel. This rattled slightly in the frame when he accidentally clipped his foot stepping through the doorway, scuffing the polish he'd diligently put on his oxfords that morning. Grumbling wordlessly, he straightened his school uniform, double checking the hair tie keeping his hair under control for the moment. The tie and the subtle trim to his bangs were both courtesy of Yang, helping out a fellow blonde being her excuse. The other option had been allowing Nora to follow through on her eager offer of a haircut, and that had been a frankly terrifying proposition. Without a mirror, Jaune couldn't be entirely confident, but he knew he'd done what he could to put his best foot forward for his first day on the job, even arriving a few minutes early.
The desk adjacent to the inner door looked smaller than before, though of the same type as he remembered from his first visit this week. Four chairs had been installed in the corner opposite, backs against the wall for whoever might have business with the Professor. It left a decent amount of open space, which yielded an imbalance to the room that Ren would probably point out, but he gave Shaw the benefit of the doubt.
"Get in here, Jaune," Shaw called unseen from his office, his entrance apparently loud enough to draw the man's attention.
"Yes, sir," he replied, stepping forward with alacrity and finding himself in front of Shaw's desk, at what passed for the position of attention for a civilian. Aside from the computer display, the only thing on the desk was a disassembled weapon of some sort, a sturdy cage mounting a massive gravity Dust crystal the size of a small coffee can attached to a sturdy steel haft around two feet long. Several plates of scratched and dented steel with attachment bolts were in a neat pile next to it, a well-used weapon to be sure. "Wow," he said simply, immediately regretting his idiotic word choice.
"Indeed. You could probably put a decent down payment on a house with what that crystal's worth. Redd was old Atlesian money, after all." Shaw seemed a little warmer than Jaune had grown accustomed to.
"Redd?"
"Reddick Donovan. My academy partner. And my brother-in-law," Shaw added with a soft, sad smile. "Maybe one day I'll tell you a story or two," he added before the smile faded and Shaw's face returned to business. "Your job is going to be all over the place, so don't bother worrying about a set routine. You'll be grading homework, doing arena maintenance as needed, running errands, the list goes on so I won't bother you needlessly with it. I expect you to be available during my normal business hours, outside of your own classes and meals, of course. Ideally, you'll be in the classroom for my other combat classes, but I know that won't always be possible. You'll have deadlines requiring extra hours from time to time, but I don't think my demands are unreasonable, as you'll not be the only one working in this office. If you find yourself slipping in your studies, let me know before it becomes a problem, and we'll work something out. Deal?"
"Yes, sir. Thanks for taking me on."
"Don't make me regret it," Shaw replied, standing and offering a hand. Jaune took it, immediately flaring his Aura as the professor's gloved hand threatened to crush his own. "Hop on the terminal out there and find out what accesses you already have in BEST, so I can get you what you need for the job."
"Yes, sir," Jaune replied. "Anything else? Coffee preferences?" he asked, inwardly cringing at how cliche the question was.
"Haven't had coffee in years. System can't handle it anymore," he added nonchalantly, clearly having come to peace with that spot of bad news.
"Yes, sir. I'll just...get going," he said, Jaune's awkward conversational tics manifesting once again.
A solemn grunt from Shaw was his only reply as the professor got back to his weapon maintenance.
The desk chair wasn't particularly cushy, but it was at least comfortable, a few quick adjustments getting it more or less where he wanted before he swiped over the virtual keyboard projected on the desktop. The gesture dismissed the minimal screensaver and fired up a standard Beacon network login screen. Jaune passed his scroll across the desk surface adjacent to the pale blue keyboard field to enter his credentials, a simple six digit PIN tapped in to complete the process. The set of desktop icons was smaller than on his personal terminal back in the dorms, the installed games and video client missing here, but his personal shortcuts to various sites and systems popped up after a moment, thankfully saved to the network. Tapping the BEST icon started the app, and he leaned back in his chair, waiting for the login to complete.
"Hey...Jaune," he heard from the front door, his name spoken hesitantly.
The noise made him nearly fall out of his chair, Jaune managing to get a hand clamped firmly on the edge of the desk to steady himself as he fought the chair back into position.
"Oh, hey, Velvet!" he answered with a bit of a smile, the adrenaline pumping through his system doing strange things to his mental state. After a split second, he realized he probably had his first customer, for lack of a better term, and changed course. "Can I help you with something?" he asked, wondering what was in the cardboard box she was carrying.
Velvet cocked her head slightly, her rabbit ears drooping a bit as she leveled a flat stare at him. "Well, for starters, you can get out of my chair," she said, clearly not amused.
"Wait a minute, your chair? I'm professor Shaw's TA," Jaune replied, not backing down from a challenge of any kind. Sensei would likely find a way to smack him one all the way from Anima if they found out he'd backed down from something like this.
"No, I got the job, Jaune," she answered, taking the few steps necessary to place her box on the corner of the desk, crossing her arms in consternation, her uniform blazer wrinkling under them. Jaune looked at her for a moment, his stubborn streak prompting a staredown with a girl who clearly wasn't backing down either. Both blinked once before turning towards the other open door in the office.
"Professor?" Jaune called.
"Colonel?" Velvet said, the two overlapping each other.
After a moment, Shaw thudded into view, his sizable frame filling the doorway as he looked at Jaune and then Velvet. "You both got the job, congratulations," he said flatly, reading the pair in an instant. "I told you you weren't going to be the only one working, didn't I?"
"I..uh, yes, sir."
"And get me that list I asked for."
"Logging in now, sir." Jaune resumed his delve into BEST, while Velvet looked around the reception area again.
"Colonel?" she asked tentatively.
"New desk should be here on Monday," Shaw replied quickly. "For now, make do."
"Yes, sir," Velvet replied.
Shaw, deeming the matter resolved, returned to his office.
"So. We share until Monday then?" Velvet asked.
"Yeah, I guess. We'll have to check schedules and see whether we'll even need to. I might have different times I'm going to be in here than you."
"I guess. I'll have to carry this lot back to my dorm then," she said, taking a seat on the corner of the desk next to her box.
"I think there might be room in the...nope," Jaune replied, checking the one drawer large enough to hold the box in its entirety. "I mean, if you want, you can set up on this desk and I can just wait til mine comes in. Save you the trip?" he asked hopefully.
"All right."
"Also, Shaw needs to have a list of all the accesses you have in BEST." Jaune snapped a quick photo of the screen with his scroll before signing out of the terminal. "Be right back." Jaune rose from the chair to walk into Shaw's office.
Velvet settled herself down, slender fingers pecking away at the virtual keyboard as Jaune and Shaw spoke. As the system completed the login procedure, she reached over and slid the cardboard box towards her. Retrieving a framed picture, Velvet sighed as eyes the color of melted chocolate threatened to tear up a little. The frame itself was rather careworn, dings and scuffs to the pewter evidence of its age. The picture had a slight grain to it, an enlargement from a Scroll picture taken on much older hardware based on the slightly skewed aspect ratio.
A massive, bare-chested mountain of a man stood center frame, his hirsute frame broad with powerful muscles evident beneath well-tanned skin marred by several scars, flanked by arms the size of small Taijitu. In these rested a smaller Faunus woman in a sensibly styled bikini, rabbit ears betraying her heritage poking from a nest of curly brown hair, cut in the manner of most busy mothers; short and manageable. She was grinning happily at her man's show of strength, a smile almost as bright as that of the young Faunus girl perched on his left shoulder. Brunette and rabbit-eared like her mother, the girl couldn't have been more than seven years old, her left hand waving to the camera, her father wearing a cocky grin at his casual display of effortless strength. The bright blue sky and outfits obviously made this a beach day photo, and a candid one at that.
"That your family?" Jaune asked from behind her, leaning in to take a closer look even as Velvet was shaken from her daydream of better days with a start.
"Yeah, Mum and Dad. It's the last picture I have of him," she said softly.
"Oh. Sorry." Jaune flicked his gaze over to the computer display, looking through her list and comparing it to what Shaw had told him he was getting. "Looks like you have everything already."
"Huh? Oh, yeah. I got a lot of access to the camera systems when we were setting up for initiation."
"So, your dad was a Huntsman?"
"Why do you say that?" Velvet asked, more curious than offended.
"The scars," he replied, getting a knowing nod from Velvet. "Dad's got a couple pretty nasty ones," he added, flicking through something on his Scroll.
"Your dad's a Huntsman, too?" she asked, flinching back slightly in disbelief.
"What, you couldn't tell from how well trained I am?" Jaune retorted with the slightest hint of sarcasm, getting a soft smile from his newly-minted coworker.
"Let's just call it a subtle influence and leave it at that," she offered, Jaune's performances last year being almost legendarily bad.
"Fair enough, I guess. That's honestly the reason I wanted this job, you know? Any chance to get better."
"Yeah, the Colonel can definitely help there."
"Are you originally from Atlas?" Jaune asked, taking a seat on the desk as Velvet started transferring the rest of her box into and onto it.
"No, I've just always known him as Colonel Shaw. He was a big help with building Anesidora."
"Geshundheit."
"My weapon, you mong," she poked him in the ribs, fixing him with a frown that evaporated the second she saw his goofy grin.
"Ah, there it is," Jaune said suddenly, having found what he was looking for. A quick full-hand flick and the picture popped up on the terminal screen. It was perhaps four years old, one of the last pictures the Arc family had been wrangled together for before the eldest daughters had begun to leave home. The ten of them were in their best clothes, with Renard in his full Huntsman regalia; durable yet stylish, and fully in line with what a Huntsman should look like to inspire and bring hope to the weary.
"Oh my gosh, I know him! He was a guest speaker a couple times when I was in combat school."
"Yeah, he didn't like teaching very much, but he did what he could in between long patrol assignments."
"Small world, I suppose. Wait," she said, leaning in to take a closer look. "You're telling me your mum is Doctor Vampire?!"
Jaune cracked a smile at the nickname, answering her with a soft chuckle. "Yeah, that's Mom alright."
"She did our yearly physicals! This is bringing back so many memories." Velvet's eyes misted over again, a soft smile curling her lips as she absently looked at the Arc parents. "First day of combat school, first time I met Coco, my first crush," she added absently before a blush bloomed to life on her face, her fingers trying to seal her lips and somehow unsay the words.
"Aww, c'mon, you can't just tease me like that,"
"I don't want to tell you. Besides, since when do boys gossip about that stuff?"
"Ehh, kind of comes with the territory," he said, nodding in the direction of the display.
"I was an only kid, and my half-sister, well...we didn't really get on," she remarked sadly. "No cousins either, ya lucky bloke."
"Umm, those are my sisters."
"What, all of 'em? You guys have another mum hidden in there?"
"Heh, nope," Jaune replied with a warm smile, memories of the utter chaos of that household less bitter and more sweet now that he'd reconciled with his parents. "Same parents, all eight of us."
"Crikey," Velvet half-whispered.
"Well, she is half rabbit Faunus," he joked offhandedly, his smile dying a swift death when Velvet bolted upright, her ears flicking forward aggressively as she glared at him.
"Of all the idiotic, uninformed, and...racist!...things to say! I'm not one to go flying off the handle over words, but do you have any idea what we have to deal with? What I've had to deal with?! How many times growing up did you get called a breeder, or a cute little fuckbunny!?" she demanded angrily, nearly nose to nose with him now.
"Whoa, easy, easy," he answered, hands held up in supplication as he backed up slightly. "Please don't kill me?" he added, Velvet's face holding a scowl to match her eyes, his own teeth bared in a nervous grimace. "In my defense, one, that was always her mother's line," Jaune began, a subtle flick of the head back to the picture. Velvet clearly wasn't buying it, even as old as his grandmother had to be.
"And two?" she demanded, Jaune already flicking through his photo gallery again.
"And two...it's accurate," he said, flicking a new picture onto the screen.
A Faunus family stood, taking a portrait much like that of the Arcs, though not dressed nearly as well. Clothes were clearly worn, but well-cared for, a working class family on display. The patriarch of the family was a large, broad shouldered wolf-eared Faunus with golden eyes and black hair, wearing a well-kept beard. A starched white apron covered a striped blue shirt, sleeves rolled up, showing he was ready for work. The mother was a good head shorter than her husband, lop rabbit ears almost covering her other ears, straw blonde hair done up into a bun to go with the apron she also wore over her flower patterned blouse. Kind eyes as blue as the ocean went with a warm, motherly smile. The four children standing in front of them all matched, save the eldest. A blonde girl of ten, her Faunus trait unseen, was flanked by two younger boys who clearly took after their father, raven-haired and wolf eared. The entire family wore a smile but for the youngest, an infant in pink swaddling held in her sister's arms, with adorable triangular ears and fine black hair on her head, golden eyes inquisitive and alert.
"That's…" Jaune began, cut off by Velvet's confused reaction.
"What the hell does Schwartzkopf's have to do with you being a racist jerk?" she demanded, a little less anger in her voice now.
"You know the place?" Jaune asked, now equally confused.
"Know it? I practically lived there my first two years at Pharos. That picture stood next to the cash register, with a small vase that always had a fresh cut rose in it. Miss Eloise would always let me study at the table in the corner. She'd let me have a couple of whatever cookies weren't selling that day," Velvet confessed. "I mentioned missing my mum's baking once and that was all it took. I'm pretty sure she even gave me some of the fresh ones every now and then," she added with a soft chuckle at the memory, one which Jaune smiled along with. "It was my home away from home away from home. At least...till the old gaffer passed away," she said, the smile that had blossomed on her face fading quickly. "Miss Eloise tried to keep it going, but her heart wasn't in it, I don't think. I heard she died less than a year after he did."
Jaune's eyes found the floor for a moment. "Yeah. She did," he said softly, lost in thought for a moment before he looked up at her, blue eyes searching her own for answers. "Wait… How did we never meet before Beacon?"
"How the hell should I know?" she fired back in a contentious tone, still not mollified.
"Velvet... Eloise Schwartzkopf was my grandmother," he said softly, a breathless moment shared as the confession hung in the air.
"What?" she asked, eyes wide in shock. "There's no way! You'd have to have a fox's luck for your mum to have eight human kids!"
"Not if she's human herself. Opa Carl wasn't her biological father, but he loved her just like one of his own. Grammy Eloise, well, she fled Mistral just before the Revolution, when things were getting really bad for Faunus there. She never really talked about it, but there weren't exactly a lot of job openings for teenaged Faunus orphans in Orleans, if you catch my meaning," Jaune stated flatly, giving Velvet a moment to put two and two together.
"She was taken in by Opa's parents, I never got to meet them, given a place to stay and a job. Even when she found out she was pregnant, they took care of her. Wasn't long after that that her and Carl were married and started having kids of their own. That's my mom, Rose, her brothers Conrad and Corbin, and her little sister Callista. Opa's one eccentricity," Jaune added. "He wanted to keep it up with my sisters and me, but Dad put his foot down, thank God." The name he'd always heard floated for him was 'Coriander', which was just bizarre.
"I always thought she had a tail or something that didn't show up in the picture."
"A lot of people do. Especially Faunus, but still."
"Not like you can blame them," Velvet remarked.
Jaune simply shrugged, seeing no need to argue the point further.
"That still doesn't excuse...Oh God, that is something she'd say, isn't it?" Velvet asked, facepalming as she remembered just how bawdy Miss Eloise could be.
"As often as she could manage, and in the most awkward situations possible," Jaune declared flatly.
Velvet finally let go of her anger, finding a soft chuckle in her heart for Jaune's clear suffering.
"You know, I never did see any of her kids at the bakery."
"Mom was pushed hard, being the oldest. Grammy Eloise wasn't ashamed of her past, but she'd be damned if she was going to let her little girl fall into the same trap she had. Mom ended up graduating high school a year early, got into med school two years younger than any of her classmates, and still graduated top of her class before she did her residency across campus in the infirmary. That's where she met my dad, who brought them both back home to Orleans. Uncle Conrad, he's still doing merchant marine work for Vale, I think. He was always the quiet one, Mom said. We get word from time to time, but nothing regular. Uncle Corbin, he took a job in Atlas. He was doing fine until the SDC drove his employer out of business. Couldn't afford to leave, and ended up dying in a mining accident. Callista ran away when she was sixteen; I never got a good story out of anyone on that. Something to do with Faunus mistreatment, I think. Orleans is better than most, but there are still racist assholes in the city."
"I know. Better than Vale at least," she added. "Umm, do you mind if I ask you a question?"
"Didn't you just?" Jaune snarked, getting a flat stare from Velvet in return. "Okay, shoot."
"Well, that is, do you have access to…" she began hesitantly before Jaune cut her off.
"My grandfather's carrot cake recipe?"
"What, because I'm a rabbit?" she fired back defensively.
"No, because that's the one recipe everyone asks about."
"Oh."
"That's what you wanted, isn't it?"
"Not necessarily," she replied, looking away.
"Oh, so I won't have my mom send me some then?"
"I didn't say that."
"I'll see what I can do," Jaune replied, cracking a smile.
"Really?" Velvet asked, her eager voice betraying her.
"I just have to make sure Nora doesn't get any. Pretty sure she'd demolish the whole thing once she got a taste."
"Yeah. I'd have to have words with her for that," Velvet declared with an arched eyebrow.
"Please don't kill my friend."
"No promises."
Mercury Black's eyes narrowed as he warily regarded his opponent. This was a cagey one, to be sure, and his next move would be crucial to victory, requiring all of his instinct and quick thinking.
"Do you have any sevens?" he asked.
Across the table, Neo's eyes went wide with a silent gasp, delicate fingers reaching for her cards before her right hand twisted with a flourish, giving Mercury the middle finger to go with her mocking smirk.
Merc could only return it with a cocky look of his own. "You're a horrible flirt, you know," he said after a moment, running a hand through his criminally short, bleached blond hair. Neo's expression soured instantly, her flat gaze and slight frown voicing her displeasure louder than words ever could as she set her hand down on the table.
To make it even clearer, she pointed to him, then herself before forming a circle with her left thumb and index finger. Sliding her other index finger in and out of this for a moment, she then took her right thumb and drew it across her throat, the soft tinkling of glass shards heard as her facial appearance changed to the shockingly realistic visage of a three-week-old corpse.
"Heh, good one," Mercury said, unfazed as he drew a card. He looked up again, finding his opponent regarding him warily from across the table. "Em was always better at that kind of thing. The 'I'm gonna make you relive your worst nightmare if you even think about trying to see me in my underwear' bullshit," he clarified. "Ehh, she had a nice body, I'll grant you, but she was never my type. Too wrapped up in being a simpering puppy for Cinder."
At the woman's name, Neo's frown grew, hardly one to enjoy being on a leash, least of all to someone like Cinder Fall, no matter how much it allowed her to indulge her more violent proclivities.
"Yeah, I wasn't that much of a fan either, but that's work for you." He shrugged. "Now you, on the other hand," he began, Neo putting on her best innocent face, complete with a self finger point. "You're just the most adorable widdle murder pixie I've ever met," he said with a growing, mischievous smile. Neo bolted to her full, petite height, glowering at him as he matched her posture, hands on the edge of the table as he leaned in slightly. "Yeah, I said it. Adorable," he reinforced, hearing a mechanical click as Hush's blade nearly bridged the gap between them, its point hovering inches away from his heart.
"Neo," Roman Torchwick said in a low, warning voice, much like one would an attack dog. "Don't play with your food." She rolled her eyes at that, but at least her blade returned to hiding, her brow furrowed at Mercury.
"Yeah, yeah, this isn't over, blah blah." Mercury chuckled softly at the battle of wits to come before he sat down in his chair again, only for it to shatter like spun glass and dump him onto the floor.
Roman did an admirable job of keeping his reaction limited to a snicker as he watched the whole scenario play out, even as Arthur Watts sighed in exasperation next to him at the adjacent table.
"Focus, Roman," Watts said wearily.
"Okay, so let me get this straight. You have a vault you need something out of, in one of the most secure locations in Remnant, but you don't know exactly where it is, how tough it is to crack, and only one person on Remnant can open it, and she's not available or willing to help you?" Roman listed, ticking off each individual point on a rapidly dwindling number of available fingers.
"And here I thought you liked a challenge," Watts said, taking a sip of coffee. "If I just wanted into, say, the vault of the Bank of Vale, I've got the names and addresses of half a dozen people who could do the job, and the backing to pull it off. Something like this? Only the very best will do," Watts concluded, taking another sip.
Roman looked across the table for a long moment, his eyes narrowed as he did his best to avoid letting Watts' smooth words get him into trouble he was ill-equipped to handle yet again. The fact that he was dealing yet again with the upper management of an as-yet unnamed player was unnerving in the extreme, though tempered by the knowledge that Watts wasn't threatening to burn him to a crisp.
"And if you truly want to leave a mark on Vale? The greatest thief the world has ever known does have a nice ring to it, I'll admit. If you want to leave a calling card to advertise your greatness, I won't stop you. But," Watts began, "not until we have our prize," he added, an edge to his voice now.
Roman leveled a long stare across the table, taking the measure of Watts, trying to discern a weakness in his argument, or his mettle. He was still bleeding off his Aura suppressants, and he wasn't certain enough of Neo's ability to take Mercury down to take a chance with someone whose very presence oozed confidence. Watts could be putting up a front, but damn if it wasn't a good one.
And so, Roman Torchwick decided to exercise patience.
His gaze drifted down, looking at the maps already laid out, with new construction drawn meticulously in red marker. His fingertips traced over a few of them, sliding the smaller, pamphlet style diagrams aside, ones handed out during the last Vytal Festival, to the side.
"I don't think they're stupid enough to put something like this where it's easily accessible, but still good to check just in case. You know how stupid Huntsmen can be."
"Indeed."
"I'll need the whole campus cased, and that's not going to be easy. Stupid, but observant. And that place is full of kids with a knack for finding trouble," he added bitterly, voice barely above a growl.
"I have a solution for that. I just need it delivered," Watts replied, lifting a rigid equipment case onto the table. Roman's eyebrow raised in curiosity, then even further when he heard what had to be the chirp of a cricket from within the box.
"Neo? Looks like you're going to Beacon," Roman called over his shoulder.
Her eyes opened wider, a pleasant surprise to be sure. With a mischievous grin, her eyes shifted from pink and brown to matching silver, a red cloak unfurling down her back as her hair shrank and darkened, leaving only red at the tips against midnight black.
"Now we're talking," Roman said with a smile of his own.
He had scores to settle.