AN: Profuse apologies for this taking so long. Life's been...life. Hope you and yours are well.
Chapter 24
Comfort Zone
For the second time in as many weeks, Jaune Arc had an unfortunate sense of deja vu.
"Let's hope you're more challenging this year, eh, Jauney-boy?" Cardin Winchester snarked from his starting position, hefting The Executioner with an ease borne of his considerable physical strength.
"Couldn't be any worse," he fired back, putting up a resigned front and hopefully giving an already over-inflated ego a few extra puffs of hot air.
The truth was, if Jaune was being honest with himself, that Cardin deserved a lot more of his swagger this year. He'd watched the footage of Cardin's match with Blake dozens of times, having graded the class homework assignment for that day, and she had quite frankly gotten away with one. While his movement had gotten much more fluid and tactical, the true danger lay in Cardin's choice to upgrade an already brutal mace into something that looked positively evil. Gone were the array of smooth, curved flanges surrounding the massive fire Dust crystal in the head; replaced with six thicker, spiked flanges, the spikes closest to the haft angled enough to act as hooks for weapons, clothes, or in his case, shields.
Cardin had nearly pulled off a bigger upset than his own victory over Ruby Rose earlier in the same class by managing to bind the slim blade of Gambol Shroud with his own weapon and using his strength to lever it out of her grasp. Only Blake's backup blade/scabbard and her agility had allowed her to prevail, earning the both of them identical, above average marks for their performances.
Beacon Academy was quickly learning that 'above average' was high praise indeed from Obsidian Shaw.
"Fighters ready?" Shaw's distorted voice boomed across the arena.
"Aww, yeah," Cardin said through a grin, giving their professor a solid nod of the head in case he hadn't been heard.
Jaune elected to respond non-verbally, drawing Crocea Corax from its scabbard, lifting the crossguard to his chin in a fencer's salute before dropping the point low and attaching the expanded heater shield to the coupler on his left forearm. Time dilated as adrenaline began to filter into his bloodstream, the singular thrill of facing off against his erstwhile nemesis sharpening his perception to almost painful levels.
Once again, his mind focused on anticipating his opponent in the milliseconds before the match began, Cardin's brute power a direct contrast to his match from three days prior. Jaune knew what Cardin was capable of last year, having faced him more often than not thanks to Professor Goodwitch's poor opinion of his own skills, and hoped that he could count on Cardin's confidence to give him the edge. The most likely approach would have been to close to melee range either through a powerful bullrush or careful circling, both of which he could deal with on his own terms easily enough.
To say that Jaune was surprised by what happened was an understatement.
The arena claxon sounded, Jaune's braced stance rooting him in place as Cardin took a two handed grip on his mace, unleashing a powerful, looping underhanded swing. As the head of Cardin's mace came back into view, a few arcs of electricity licked into the floor before the accumulated charge fired, a discharge of ball lightning two feet wide launched in Jaune's direction. The impact generated a flash of light that momentarily disabled the cameras, most of the class silent at the unexpected pyrotechnics.
Cardin's satisfied grin dropped in an instant, finding Jaune still standing, Crocea Corax extended into its greatsword form, stuck vertically into the arena floor. The smell of ozone was redolent in Jaune's nostrils, overriding the faint wisps of smoke trailing from the scorched point where the reforged blade had harmlessly grounded the attack.
"You switched it up. And people say you don't have any imagination," Jaune quipped, flexing the tingles out of his sword hand before yanking his blade free and collapsing it for one-handed use.
"You'll find I'm full of surprises," Cardin replied, beginning a slow jog to build momentum and close the distance. His first strike deflected off of Jaune's now-deployed shield, careful angling minimizing the brutal impact rather than trying to stop it outright like he might have done the year prior. While his maneuvers made counterattacking more difficult, the survivability he gained was well worth it. Additionally, it wasn't like Cardin was a particularly difficult target to hit, though actually managing to damage him through both Aura and armor was proving a far more daunting task.
The two traded blows and counterstrikes for several long seconds, Jaune's defense beginning to unravel under the onslaught, even though he was slowly whittling down his opponent. Both fighters saw the need to change the terms of the engagement, Cardin doubling down on a line of attack that was beginning to show promise while Jaune weighed his options with increasing desperation.
A moment's indecision cost him, telegraphing a strike early enough that Cardin was able to intercept it entirely, catching Jaune's blade in his prosthetic left hand. The impact forced his arm back, but he still maintained his grip, beginning to twist and pull it wide, away from Jaune's shield. The reduced mobility lined him up perfectly for a punishing strike from The Executioner, Jaune's shield having to block and absorb the full weight of the impact. A second strike, then a third followed, Jaune's knees buckling before he found a solution.
Deeming turnabout fair play, he channeled a surge of Aura into his sword blade, preparing it to interact with a puff of lightning Dust from the triple reservoir in the hilt of Crocea Corax. Sparks flew as pale blue arced into Cardin's forearm for a moment before he was finally forced to relinquish his grip. Now able to maneuver, Jaune switched to gravity Dust, placing the flat of his blade against the front of his shield and unleashing a heavy pulse of purple-black energy that slid him backwards a few feet and sent Cardin tumbling away.
Jaune's nemesis quickly regained his feet, his left hand seeming to adjust the head of the mace held in his right for a moment before he charged again. Cardin's pace and power was more furious now, as if his previous attacks had merely been a probe to test Jaune's defenses. Jaune's footwork became more fluid still to counter this, drills with Sensei having nearly the same frenetic pace towards the end of summer.
On the one hand, at least he was allowed to use his Aura this time.
On the other hand, Cardin's weapon wasn't a bamboo cane. Those still stung like hell, but regardless, he was well-motivated to not take another hit.
Bobbing and weaving through the melee, Jaune and Cardin traded near blows, neither man gaining a clear advantage over the other, even if Jaune could see his opponent starting to sweat from the exertion. Gone was Cardin's cocky smile, a grimace filled with seething anger and more than a little respect in its place, a small victory in Jaune's mind.
What troubled him, however, was the orange glow beginning to suffuse the head of Cardin's mace, building fire Dust energy for a pivotal strike. Jaune took a half step back, angling his shield to deflect the worst of it and hopefully allow a rapid counterattack when the smoke cleared. Focusing his Semblance into the Aura projected into his shield, Jaune hoped it would hold, having seen last year just how much damage that mace could do when fully charged.
For the second time in the match, Cardin managed to surprise him.
Expecting and braced for the blow to fall on his shield, he had just enough time for his eyes to go wide as the head of The Executioner, now attached to three feet of braided steel cable previously concealed in the weapon's hilt, swung around the side of his shield and impacted on its back side. The explosion launched Jaune backwards, his shield sailing away in the opposite direction as the rest of the class bolted to their feet in surprise.
As far as classroom entertainment went, Winchester/Arc had never been this exciting.
Jaune blinked twice, trying to regain his bearing and banish the ringing in his ears, only to register Cardin rapidly closing on his position, already winding up for a finishing blow. He regained his senses in time to roll out of the way, the mace head crashing into the floor where his face had been a moment earlier. His prone counterattack smacked weakly against Cardin's greave, but the lightning Dust charge he added to the strike was the true purpose behind it, spasming the leg muscles enough to buy him a moment he desperately needed.
Taking a very quick look around the arena to see where he was, Jaune trickled a bit of Aura into the actuator in his left vambrace, a dark purple glow suffusing it for a moment. Before Cardin could complete another strike, Jaune's shield, drawn by gravity Dust, slammed into the back of Cardin's other kneecap, buckling the leg entirely and dropping him to a knee. Taking advantage of the opening, Jaune windmilled his legs enough to get the momentum needed to bring him quickly to his feet, another aspect of his summer training paying dividends.
With a wordless shout, Jaune pressed the attack, Cardin's off-balance stance not letting him mount a proper counterstrike before Jaune's speed advantage negated it. The paradigm shift in the combat drew many wide eyes from the other students, several cheers from the rest of Team CRDL as well as Neon, trying to will him back into the fight. Not to be outdone, Jaune had his own group of supporters in JNPR and RWBY, even as an errant strike allowed Cardin to grab Jaune's sword arm, leveraging it into a shoulder drag throw that Jaune nearly countered, dragging them both to the ground.
Cardin knew he had the strength advantage here, and Jaune did also, both men trying their best to keep the fight in their favor. Jaune collapsed his shield, allowing it to drop from his arm to at least have one hand free to grapple even as Cardin managed to get into the mount. Adrenaline fueled Jaune's reaction, hooking Cardin's leg with his own and vaulting him up and over, rolling on top of him and into his guard. Cardin's left hand shoved up under his chin even as he managed to get the point of Crocea Corax under Cardin's.
"Yield," he growled.
Cardin's look of surprise struck Jaune as decidedly odd, but the arena claxon broke in and they both relaxed, taking a breath before they disentangled themselves, Jaune picking up his shield and slotting it back onto the attachment point on his baldric. Slamming his sword home in its scabbard, Jaune turned and offered a hand to a still-seated Cardin, who crooked an eyebrow in suspicion before accepting it and coming to his feet as the safety barrier dropped.
"Any day, gentlemen," Shaw groused lightly. The two fighters ambled over to what the class had already termed 'the hot seat', in spite of the lack of actual chairs. A glance at the scoreboard showed they were both well in the yellow, nearing but not over the cutoff for the automatic systems. "All right then, since this is a first for the year," Shaw began.
"Ain't that the truth," Cardin muttered beside him before being silenced by a glare from Shaw.
"As I was saying, I ended that match. So, Mister Arc, why do you think you won the match?"
"What?!" Cardin blurted, his face that of anger and surprise.
"I was in a position of advantage where he couldn't use his weapon effectively," Jaune easily replied, already well aware of Shaw's preferred terminology.
"Clear and concise. Also wrong," Shaw added, cutting his gaze over to Cardin. "Mister Winchester, your counterargument?"
"I would've taken his head off," he answered brusquely, raising his left arm and flipping the prosthetic hand back at an angle that would have been nausea-inducing but for its artificial nature, revealing the massive bores of a pair of gun barrels at the heel of the palm. Jaune's face blanched at the realization of his brush with death, his happy feeling disappearing in an instant.
"Correct. And then you would have bled out and died. The match is officially a draw, gentlemen. Excellent form and adaptation, both of you. Unexpected tricks aren't just the purview of Huntsmen, class. Grimm continue to evolve and grow both over their own lifetime and also as a species." Shaw's jaw shifted in contemplation for a moment before he spoke again. "Eighty. Both of you. Hit the showers," he ordered tersely. "Miss Adel, Miss Valkyrie, to the floor."
Jaune returned his teammate's offered high five without a word as they passed each other, already replaying the match in his head and trying to pick apart the flaws in his own swordplay as they walked to the locker room.
"You actually managed to surprise me for once, yak boy."
Jaune shook his head lightly, grunting softly at the memory that had bubbled to the surface.
"I said, that was a surprise, Jauney-boy," Cardin reiterated, mostly hiding his irritation at being ignored.
"Yeah. You and me both," Jaune grumbled, debating hitting the water fountain just outside the locker room and deciding to forgo it for the moment.
"Hey now, you did teach me one thing on Tuesday."
"Oh?"
"Yeah, never fight with an unloaded gun," Cardin answered with a smirk.
"Heh. What the hell do you have in that thing, anyway? Looked like damn howitzer," Jaune added.
"This old thing?" he asked, standing his weapon on the floor before grabbing his left wrist with his right hand and snapping his prosthetic forearm down, breaking open the breech in the process. "One of Granddad's old four bore stopping pistols. He was a big game hunter before he founded the company. This baby was your last chance to not end up as tiger shit," he added, plucking one of the cartridges from the breech and handing it to Jaune, whose eyes went wide at the sheer size of the damn thing. A full inch wide, the bullet itself was a fat chunk of copper-jacketed lead that capped a straight-walled brass case four inches long.
Passing it back, Jaune tried to suppress a shudder at the thought of trying to tank a round like that at point blank range. "Company?" he asked.
"Seriously?" Cardin retorted, before remembering how clueless Jaune had always seemed. "You've never heard of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company?"
"Never been into guns," Jaune replied with a shrug.
"The fact that you managed to make it through your first year is a damn miracle."
"Tell me about it," he replied, handing the cartridge back to Cardin who plucked the second from the action before snapping it closed, dropping both rounds into a small belt pouch.
"But yeah, when he was forced to relocate after the Revolution, Grandad took all his experience as a hunter and went into weapon design. We still make a lot of rifles for private security firms and such."
"So then what's your excuse?" Jaune asked pointedly.
"Eyesight. Contacts and glasses are a no go as a Huntsman." Cardin shrugged at a truth he'd long since accepted.
"And something like that is just point and shoot," Jaune added, finishing the thought.
"Pretty much. I still had you," Cardin replied.
"Opinions vary."
Cardin snorted derisively before pausing for a moment. "You really have changed."
"Everyone changes," Jaune replied. "No matter how much you don't want them to." The bitterness in his voice was a seething undercurrent that even Cardin knew to leave alone.
"Well, don't expect me to take it easy on you next time," Cardin said after a moment.
Jaune gave Cardin a flat stare for a moment before his lips curled into a smirk. "Sensei always talked like that. Good night, boy. Good work. Sleep well. I shall most likely kill you in the morning."
"And we used to say Goodwitch was terrifying," Cardin grumbled, opening his locker and depositing his weapon and belt within.
Jaune arched his eyebrows, tilting his head slightly in agreement. "Point," he replied, securing Crocea Corax and tugging off his gauntlets one finger at a time. The both of them went about their business without a word, the only sound the various buckles and latches undone to remove the rest of their armor. "Okay. Am I the only one who thinks this is weird?"
Cardin paused for a moment, fingers in the process of removing his left greave. "We're attending a school to learn how to fight monsters made of hate, bone and ash, where the headmaster's idea of an entrance exam was chucking us all off a cliff. Weird is part of the curriculum."
"No, like...this. You and me, conversation, normal conversation," he hurriedly amended.
"I am doing more charity work these days."
"Well, thank you, kind sir," Jaune shot back, rolling his eyes and suppressing a laugh.
"Dead serious. I've dedicated my benefit work for the year to the Valerian Center for the Testosterone-deficient," he added with a smug grin.
"Careful, Cardin," Jaune warned him gravely, giving the larger boy pause. "People might start to think you've got a sense of humor."
"I am actually pretending to take you seriously, so…"
"You're actually still an asshole," Jaune corrected.
"Maybe." Cardin shrugged. "Still had you beat."
"Keeeeep telling yourself that," Jaune replied nonchalantly, shucking his cuirass and securing it in his locker.
Jaune groaned softly, rubbing at his eyes to stave off the eyestrain he was already starting to feel from looking at the display of his work terminal for the last hour. When Shaw had said he'd be working and not just goofing off, he'd damn well meant it. The fact that his own homework assignments were largely curtailed for combat class was little solace when it turned out that he was doing more than he would have had on his plate otherwise.
"You too?" Velvet asked from across their desks, her hands cradling her chin and her ears drooping.
"Yeah," he replied with a sigh, opening his Scroll after hearing a notification tone.
"You doing anything this weekend?" she asked, voice still weary but brighter, as if the prospect of conversation, however brief, had given her a glimmer of hope.
"Not that I'm aware of. Us and RWBY are having a get together at six thirty, apparently," he added, sliding his Scroll closed and back into the breast pocket of his uniform vest, the matching blazer hanging from the coatrack just inside the office door. "You?" he asked, more for courtesy than actual interest.
"Coco wants to drag me into Vale for the evening," she said with a hint of annoyance.
"Date night?" Jaune asked in puzzlement, the implication not matching her tone.
"Oh, no, no. She just doesn't like leaving me alone. Flynt's in Vale helping his parents finish moving into the new house, and Neon's already said she's got company."
"Cardin isn't still…" Jaune began before she cut him off.
"Oh, no! He's still kind of a wanker, but no. More that those two get...loud," she said diplomatically.
"What do...oh," he said softly as the realization sunk in. "I still don't know what she sees in him," Jaune muttered.
"Nobody does, but she's clearly crazy for him," Velvet said with a shrug.
"To be honest, she's crazy about everything," Jaune countered.
"Fair point," Velvet replied with a smile, reaching down a bit and loosening her bowtie, feeling more casual already.
"So then why doesn't Coco want to leave you by yourself?" Jaune asked, getting back to the point at hand.
"Ehh, she's always been overprotective. Ever since our second year at Pharos. Kind of rubbed off on the rest of our team our first two years at Beacon," she continued, a weary tone creeping into her voice.
"You're joking."
"What?"
"I've seen you fight, Velv. You've got more talent than almost everyone in Beacon, and that's before you start beating them to death with their own weapons."
"Well, I'm not that bad, I suppose," she conceded.
"Not that bad? I've seen you kick Ursas to death. I don't even want to think about having to fight you in class. How the hell does Coco think you need protection?"
"Well, I wasn't always like this. I used to be quieter."
"That's possible?" Jaune asked, a smirk on his face showing how absurd he thought the notion.
"Yeah. Our second year at Pharos, Marrow and Fiona had graduated and were off to Atlas and I was the only Faunus left in the student body. Went about as well as you'd imagine."
"Oof."
"Yeah. I didn't want to start fights, but that didn't stop Harry Palmer and his friends."
"Sorry," Jaune replied, at a loss for anything meaningful to add to the conversation.
"Don't be. Coco nipped it in the bud without throwing a single blow."
"Oh? How'd she manage that?" he asked, experienced with dealing with bullies from Joey Brandywine's antics.
"You ever see her crack walnuts with her bare hands?" Velvet asked, leaving the implication hanging in the air.
"Yikes," Jaune replied with a grimace.
"Exactly."
"But why keep that up?"
"I guess I was always going to be the cute little bunny to her. Always needing someone to protect her." Velvet sighed, a bittersweet memory bubbling to the surface.
"I can't even imagine…"
"Yatsu and Fox picked up on it pretty quickly after initiation."
"That's not good."
"Yeah. I mean...I know it was out of love, but still…"
"You wanted to stand on your own. I know the feeling."
She chuckled softly, a melancholic smile flitting across her face. "You know I was terrified when I first met him? Looked like a big Mistrali bear, lumbering outta the forest. Didn't even occur to me what a gentle soul he was." Her smile faded as she broke eye contact, her ears drooping further. "I wish I'd been half the big sister to Roy that he was to me," she added. "Things might've turned out different."
"You can only do your best and learn from your mistakes, Velv. I'm not a perfect brother either, but I still make do," he reassured her with a gentle smile that vanished immediately upon her reaction.
"God, I miss him so much," Velvet replied, her voice a cracked, hoarse whisper as chocolate brown eyes welled with tears.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…"
"No, no." She sniffled a bit, gamely trying to smile through the tears. "Not your fault. I've...I've gone over that day in my head hundreds of times. Even if you and Cardin hadn't been there, I still couldn't have done anything more than get to Yatsu in time to die with him. Probably would have found him on top of me trying to shield me from the debris. Sometimes I wish I'd done it anyway," she admitted in a soft voice.
"Velvet…" Jaune interjected with as much warmth as he could muster, rising from his chair and placing his hand over hers.
"I know, I know. Yatsu would have wanted me to live. Coco's been drilling that into my head all summer."
"Dad talked to me about it. Survivor's guilt."
"Knowing what it is doesn't make it any easier."
"I know. Do you know what my Semblance does?"
"Some kind of healing, right?"
"Yeah. Aura amplification. I didn't even know what it was until that day. I unlocked my Semblance because of Ruby. My best friend," he said, his eyes downcast. "I wish I'd been a better friend to Fox and Yatsuhashi," he whispered quietly.
Velvet looked up at him at that, blinking once before the implication hit her. Velvet's other hand covered his, a game attempt at a brave smile on her lips as she patted his hand once.
"Would you have made a difference in the locker room?"
"Maybe. I don't know," he admitted. "But not knowing isn't a good place to be."
"Would staying in the locker room trying to help have made a difference anywhere else?" she asked, stifling her own tears. "What would you have given up by taking a chance at helping?"
"Ruby," he whispered.
"Don't beat yourself up, Jaune. Please?" she asked, looking up into his eyes hopefully.
Jaune sighed, giving Velvet a wan smile. "Only if you promise to do the same."
"Deal," she replied, matching his smile at last.
He paused, rubbing at his own watering eyes for a moment.
"You wanna just come back to this tomorrow? If you're busy, I can try and handle it by myself."
"Nah, I'm not doin' anything. 'Sides, you don't get to protect me from work either, ya mong."
Jaune chuckled a bit, content that their mutual ill humor had been lifted so easily. "Fair enough. Meet up here after breakfast?"
"Sure," she said, rising from her chair as Jaune plucked his uniform blazer from the coat rack, throwing it over his shoulder as he exited the office.
Velvet's smile faded again, and she looked back to her desk, a framed copy of Team CFVY's Vytal Festival publicity photo standing next to the picture of her family. "Love you guys," she whispered, two quick flicks of the hand logging off and shutting down her work terminal and Jaune's as well. "We'll be in tomorrow morning, Colonel!" she called as she left, getting a gruff grunt of acknowledgement from Professor Shaw on her way out the door.
"Jaune?" Ruby asked, her voice low as she leaned in close.
"Yeah, Ruby?" he answered, a little surprised by her proximity.
"I can't do this anymore," she whispered anxiously.
"Do what?"
"We can't keep the truth from Pyrrha, Jaune. When she finds out what we've been hiding from her, it'll break her heart," she added, her voice strained as she shot a furtive glance at Jaune's partner seated on the loveseat across the JNPR common room. Pyrrha was engrossed with her tablet, eyes darting quickly as she read at a frantic pace, a swipe every few seconds advancing her reading material one page at a time.
"No, Ruby. We can't do that." Jaune took a deep breath, letting it out in a heavy sigh. "Every Squadmate has to live through issue 55, no matter how much it hurts. Besides, she asked me not to spoil anything for her."
"But we can at least warn her!" Ruby hissed, Pyrrha ignorant of their conversation for the moment, Ren and Nora likewise involved with each other to the point that they paid no heed to Jaune and Ruby.
"No, we can't, all we can do…" he began, before they both heard it.
Pyrrha gasped in shock, her eyes going wide as Jaune's closed, a moment of reflection and sadness washing over his face. His own memory of Teen Huntress Squad, Issue 55, page 27 flashed briefly in his mind, Ruby's own face reflecting an identically somber mood.
"No," she whimpered pleadingly. The barest creak of a spring could be heard as Jaune settled in next to her, his hand sliding easily over her silk pajamas as he grasped her far shoulder and pulled his partner close. "Jaune?" she asked, voice trembling slightly, unable to tear her gaze away from the demise of Jennifer Brownlee. "I...I can't…"
"I know, Pyrrha," he said softly, knowing full well her emotional state.
"She… she was the best of them," she whispered.
"Yes, she was."
Pyrrha's mouth was moving, trying to find words and failing miserably.
"She was my favorite, too," Ruby chimed in softly, taking a seat on the arm of the loveseat opposite Jaune. "Jen reminds me a lot of you, Pyrrha. Sweet and caring." Ruby's hand fell onto Pyrrha's shoulder, gently squeezing her trapezius. The contact drew her gaze, her emerald eyes misted over as she looked up into Ruby's, who gave her a soft, sympathetic smile that Pyrrha mostly mirrored.
"She was a lot of people's favorite," Jaune added. "Top three for just about everyone, really."
"Except for those insensitive jerks that keep making ash jokes," Ruby grumbled.
"I can't believe they just...killed her," she replied, trying to keep her voice even.
"Yeah, that really shook up the Squadron. A lot of us were suffering from whiplash when they shifted tone like that," Jaune commiserated.
Pyrrha turned to him, her smile growing a bit when she saw his kind face. "You knew," she stated more than accused.
"Yeah," he answered simply, a soft sigh given before he continued. "You said no spoilers," he reminded Pyrrha, giving her shoulder another gentle squeeze. Her smile fell at that reminder, and Jaune's own mood dropped with it.
"I did." Pyrrha sighed. "I know I did. But...it's called comic book dead for a reason, right?" she asked hopefully.
"Not this time, Pyrrha," he replied softly, drawing a pained grimace from her lips.
"Even if they brought her back now, it'd just feel...cheap," Ruby added, her voice soft and sad.
"But then what was the point?" Pyrrha asked, her voice strained.
"Treasure the time that you have," Jaune replied easily, "The people who love you, the moments you share. Keep moving forward."
"But don't forget the past," Ruby added, echoing Lindsay's monologue from the end of the issue.
Pyrrha nodded again, fighting back tears as she set her tablet down in her lap. Ruby froze in place when she felt an arm snake around the small of her back, pulling her into a hug. Pyrrha had done the same to Jaune, pulling both of her friends in tight. A shuddering breath escaped her lungs as she let herself relax, Ruby squeaking in surprise before leaning and returning the hug. Jaune's own embrace tightened, the weight difference between him and Pyrrha tugging her to him, dragging the already unbalanced Ruby with her. She tumbled forward, caught by Jaune's free arm before she could fall to the floor completely.
Silver eyes looked up into blue, blinking twice before her blush started, complete with a nervous smile as she laid on her back across both their laps. "Hi," she half-whispered.
"Hey, Pyrrha?" Jaune asked, the beginnings of a mischievous smile forming.
"Yes, Jaune?"
"Wanna know a secret?" He looked back down at Ruby, whose eyes went wide in uncertainty.
"What's that?"
Without warning, Jaune's hand clamped down on Ruby's ribcage, eliciting a shriek of laughter from her and prompting a quick-thinking Pyrrha to action as well. The trio tumbled to the floor in a tangled knot of squirming limbs, Ruby's attempts at escape thwarted by her pair of so-called friends.
"Well now, if you wanted to have that kind of party, I'd have worn something nicer," Yang's voice chimed in from the now-open doorway. "Well, not for long, anyway."
The three of them froze, their collective gaze darting to the newcomer, finding her with a saucy grin in her typical shorts and halter top, a full ice chest slung low in her hands. Blake was at her side, a barely raised single eyebrow visible over her book at the three of them, the second flicking up as she took in the scene before them.
Jaune was flat on his back, his hands holding the sides of a panting, scarlet-faced Ruby between the waistband of her pajama pants and the bottom of her tank top. She sat straddling his abdomen with Pyrrha behind her, her legs sandwiching Jaune's thighs and her arms wrapped around Ruby's shoulders and throat, the back of the smaller girl's head smashed into her bosom.
"This isn't what it looks like!" Jaune and Ruby shouted in unison before Ruby managed to squirm out of Pyrrha's grasp and bolt across the room to the couch.
"That was your fault!" Ruby added indignantly, shooting an angry glare at her sister.
"How?!"
"You told him," she whisper-hissed.
"Told him what, Yang?" Weiss asked as she rounded the door jamb and closed it behind her. The pillow tucked under her arm was a perfect match to her flowing blue nightgown, her opinion of the standard issue Beacon bed linens still low, apparently.
"I showed him where Ruby was ticklish," Yang replied with a shrug of her bare shoulders, setting the cooler down on the table.
"Traitor," Ruby muttered.
"Where's that?" Nora asked with a feral grin.
"Right under..." Yang began.
"Don't you dare!" Ruby shrieked as she tackled her sister, the pair tumbling to the floor. A brief wrestling match ensued, Yang quickly managing to get Ruby into a headlock and aggressively mussing her hair. She squawked in protest before Yang released her with a hearty laugh, Ruby scurrying back to the couch again, her face red from exertion and embarrassment.
"Meanie," Ruby grumbled, clutching her knees to her chest, her lips set in a sullen pout.
"This was supposed to be a quiet evening together, Yang," Weiss added, giving her a peeved look.
"Yeah, yeah. Who wants a drink? We've got People Like Grapes, Doctor Piper, Brawndo, iced tea, and water."
"Brawndo!" Nora enthusiastically replied. "It's got…"
"Too much caffeine to be healthy, Nora," Ren interjected.
"But, Rennn," she whined.
"You don't want to crash before bedtime. Besides, I've told you; electrolytes don't actually interact with your Semblance."
"Well... they should," Nora huffed, getting a few chuckles and several smiles from the two teams.
Pyrrha stood, offering Jaune a hand up as well, which he took. "Pizza's already ordered; nice to have the kitchen open later this year," he said, still worrying that he'd somehow upset someone with the choice of toppings.
"Ain't that the truth," Nora replied, grateful for the newfound ability to have her post-dinner pancake cravings sated regularly. A knock at the door sounded, everyone in the room diverting their attention to the unexpected noise. "You said they don't deliver, Ren!" Nora groused.
"They…" he replied.
"...don't," Jaune completed the thought for him.
He stepped to the door and opened it, finding Velvet standing there in jeans and a Beacon t shirt, a backpack slung over her shoulder.
"Velvet!" he blurted in surprise, pausing for a moment. "Umm, hi," he added, still unsure of the situation.
"I'm not too early, am I? You said six thirty."
"What? I...oh. Right," he began, Velvet's ears beginning to droop slightly as Jaune's face started to look incredibly guilty. "I...wasn't exactly expecting you, Velv."
"Oh," she replied quietly, her posture slackening even more.
"No, no! I didn't mean it like that!" Jaune hurriedly corrected himself. "I mean, I didn't think you'd actually be interested. The more the merrier, I guess."
"Good, because I am not hauling this back upstairs," Coco Adel grumbled from behind Velvet, a large, wheeled cooler rolling behind her, the sound of tinkling glass bottles inside faint but distinct. The biggest surprise for Jaune upon spotting her partner was not the casually fashionable goldenrod satin tracksuit she was wearing, minus the beret, but rather that she'd switched her typically black sunglasses for lenses of pale amber, a shade lighter than her actual eye color.
Overprotective? Jaune mouthed silently for Velvet's benefit alone, getting an eyeroll from her in spite of the smirk she wore. "Well, come on in, then," he added vocally, stepping aside to let both new arrivals through the door.
"Honey bun, I thought you said this was a party," Coco pronounced disdainfully on seeing the general level of dress in the room.
"Just us hanging out, Coco. Hi, Velvet!" Ruby added with a smile.
"Hello, everyone," she said with a return smile and handwave.
"You invite any hot guys, or are you the only one getting more eye candy?" Yang asked, her grin belying her irritated tone.
"I am most certainly not eye candy, Blondie," Coco protested, a slight hit of tension settling into the room before she spoke again. "I'm optical confectionery, and don't you forget it," she added, giving Yang a wink over her glasses before dropping the end of her cooler onto the floor, its contents tinkling at the impact.
"Are we gonna have enough pizza for everyone?" Nora asked, Jaune's heart dropping at the planning misstep before he grabbed his Scroll off an end table to fire off a message to the kitchen to amend their order.
"Either of you two have food allergies or anything like that?" he asked, getting shaken heads from both of the newcomers. "Okay, I'll tack on another couple pies and hopefully it'll all be done by the time I get over there."
"You need help getting everything back?" Ruby asked, perking up at a chance to avoid the crowd.
"I mean, yeah, sure. Might wanna put something else on, though," he added, his own sweatpants and t-shirt being at least passable attire for being seen outside for more than the six feet needed to cross the hallway between their dorm rooms.
"Oh, yeah. Be right back," she said cheerily before darting off through the door.
Jaune ducked into his own bedroom to throw on his running shoes for the brief jaunt across campus, ending up in the hallway just as Ruby shut her own door behind her. A loose t-shirt had replaced, or at least covered, her otherwise revealing top and she now wore her own running shoes for the trip.
"I'll race ya!" she said with a bright smile as she skipped ahead a few steps.
"No point," Jaune answered with a smile of his own, beginning to walk after her.
"You know it!" she gloated.
"Pizza's not ready for another ten minutes," he added, holding up his Scroll.
"Well...poop," Ruby replied with a pout.
"Yeah, yeah, 'big things are coming'. Blow it out your ass, Jason."
Charlie Pinewood dumped a foot long combination wrench into the toolbox drawer along with its mates, the chrome-finished steel clanging loudly to emphasize his point. The stout boar Faunus ran a greasy hand across his coveralls, his square jaw shifting slightly to poke his lone remaining tusk into the small callus on his cheek.
"You've been a member of the White Fang longer than some of the newer brothers and sisters have been alive, Charlie. They look up to you for that fact alone. Your presence at meetings gives them hope." Jason Moss implored, his delivery service uniform giving him cover to move at will and unexposed, unless he spoke long enough for his trait to become visible.
"And your presence here is giving me a fucking migraine. Just because you're sergeant-at-arms doesn't mean dick in this garage. I kitted out the getaway vehicle for the bank job, just like you wanted. I pay my dues, even if the Fang hasn't done shit for me in years. Not like I can hang the colors and get more customers, especially now. What the fuck were they thinking?!" Charlie ranted.
"They were thinking that drastic measures were necessary to force those who keep their boot on our necks to take notice," Jason replied smoothly, almost like he'd answered the question on multiple occasions. "And they did."
"Being noticed isn't always a good thing, Jace."
The lithe snake Faunus didn't immediately answer, taking a breath before speaking again. "You want to be at the meeting tomorrow night, Charlie," he said. "Trust me."
"Is that a threat?" Charlie growled, a meaty hand resting on the large torque wrench sitting on top of the tool box.
"No. Teresa's making posole," Jason countered, getting the barest hint of a smile from the mechanic.
"Still haven't figured out what she sees in your worthless ass," Charlie grumbled.
"Geneticsss," was the reply, the flick of a forked tongue in mid-air providing the real answer. "See you tomorrow night, Charlie," he added, turning and walking out the garage door back to his company truck.
The surly boar Faunus watched him leave with a narrowed gaze, wiping his hands on a shop towel before retrieving his Scroll and opening the messaging app.
"And that's why everyone thinks you're a fuddy duddy stick in the mud!" Nora shouted in exasperation, her hands a pair of frustrated claws spread wide before her demeanor flipped in an instant as the door opened. "Pizza's here!" she announced gleefully, dashing over and nearly unbalancing Ruby by trying to relieve her of her cargo.
"What's the matter, Nora?" Jaune asked, having heard the raised voices halfway down the hall.
"Weiss is being...Weiss," Blake quietly answered, leaning against the wall next to him, turning the page of her book.
"Just because I don't want to engage in your...debauchery!" she protested, clearly threatened by being in the minority.
"Oh, please," Yang interjected, "You haven't even begun to see me debauch myself. Besides, it's not like Coco brought a beer bong or anything. Though if you tried really hard, I bet you could use Dust to make a kickass ice luge!" she added after a moment's thought, getting an approving nod from Coco while she continued to unpack an extensive selection of bottled spirits from her cooler.
"I. Don't. Drink," Weiss countered through gritted teeth.
"What do you mean, Weiss? Wasn't that your bottle I found in the closet?" Ruby asked.
Weiss' face went slack for a moment, what little color she possessed draining from it. "I...I don't know what you're talking about," she stammered nervously.
"Sure ya do!" Ruby replied innocently, vanishing in a shower of rose petals before reappearing a moment later, cradling a large, sloshing bottle of vodka as the door to the dorm finally closed behind her.
"Schweinhardt, nice!" Coco said approvingly, plucking the half-empty bottle from Ruby's grasp and setting it with the rest of the impromptu bar she had set up on the coffee table.
"I. Don't. Drink," Yang whinged in falsetto, gloating over taking the Ice Queen down a peg for once.
"It's not mine," Weiss said, her voice barely above a whisper. "It's my mother's. Was my mother's," she added, sniffing a bit as her gaze found the floor.
"Oh, this just gets better and better! Next thing, you'll be telling us about knocking over a liquor store over your summer break!"
"I didn't steal it, you barbarian, I took it away from her!" Weiss shouted, her voice cracking as she became incapable of hiding her pain.
Yang's smile immediately fell, standing from the couch to walk over to her teammate and friend, hugging her simply because she could tell Weiss needed it. Ruby quickly joined her, tossing her six boxes of pizza on top of Jaune's, who narrowly avoided dropping their dinner, setting it on one of the study desks in the JNPR common room.
"I'm sorry, Weiss," Ruby said softly, squeezing her partner inadvertently further into Yang's cleavage. "I didn't mean to…"
"No," Weiss said firmly, reining her emotions in as best she could, even as she squirmed between the two sisters. "It's not your fault."
"It's okay," said Coco, laying a hand on Weiss' shoulder and giving her a gentle smile. She broke her gaze after a moment, returning the quizzical looks of everyone else in the room. "I've heard rumors," she added with a shrug.
"Not like it isn't an open secret," Weiss grumbled.
"I didn't know, Weiss," Yang added, rubbing the smaller girl's shoulder and giving her an apologetic smile. "I know it's hard to deal with sometimes."
"Wait, your father isn't…"
"Our Uncle Qrow," Ruby preemptively corrected her.
"He doesn't seem that bad," Blake spoke up.
"You haven't seen him in the middle of a full-on bender," Yang said with a groan in her voice, releasing Weiss, only to have Ruby tighten the grip on her partner.
"People with substance abuse issues often have deeply seated personal issues that they're trying to avoid," Ren contributed, stepping closer but still maintaining a polite personal distance from Weiss.
She sighed, shoulders slumping a bit. "He's not wrong."
"You wanna talk about it? We're all friends here, right?" Ruby chimed in, deploying her boundless optimism against Weiss' cold facade, getting several murmurs and nods of confirmation from everyone present.
"We're here for you," Pyrrha said, all traces of her former, well-hidden enmity towards Weiss completely gone.
"Yeah," Nora echoed, "and don't you forget it!"
"This'll help, I think," Jaune added, handing her a slice of pizza on a paper plate. "Mom always said food helps bad news lose its sting."
Weiss looked at the greasy slice for a moment before her gaze slowly lifted, finding nothing untoward in his or anyone else's expression, the barest hint of a smile tickling at the corner of her mouth. "My mother always said that a good girl never reveals her secrets. Not that she's ever been a particularly good role model," she admitted ruefully.
"Can't be any worse than mine," Nora remarked darkly as she rummaged through the pizza boxes to find her preferred pepperoni and sausage.
"Did she drop out of your life when you were a baby, never to return?" Yang retorted, crossing her arms defensively.
"Abandoned me to the Grimm when I was five," Nora fired back easily, setting even Yang back on her heels and getting looks of abject horror from the rest of her team as well as their guests.
"Ouch, you win," Yang conceded.
"At least they did what they did and left you alone afterwards," Weiss remarked darkly, shaking Ruby's limpet-like embrace to sit down on the loveseat, her partner taking up station beside her, patting her arm in reassurance. Looking even more fragile than usual, Weiss took a deep breath and let out a sigh as she put her food on the arm of the loveseat, gathering her wits before she spoke.
"When I was younger, my tenth birthday, actually," she began. "It was just my parents, my brother and I. Winter was finishing up her first year at Atlas, out on a training mission at the time," she added, setting the scene. "The cake butler had really outdone himself, I still remember how perfect Pumpkin Pete looked in fondant."
"Cake butler…" Ruby whispered in awe.
"My mother gave me my first training sword as a present. She wasn't the warmest person, but she'd always been supportive of Winter and I pursuing our calling," she recalled with a wan smile. "Father lost it, saying that he wasn't going to lose another heir to such a foolish pursuit; that my intelligence was better served running the SDC. The fight quickly became ugly, and my father finally admitted that he had never loved my mother, and that he'd only married her for the name and the company."
"Oh, no," Pyrrha whispered.
"I think I'd always suspected, really. Father, well, he didn't change after that. He'd always been cold, pushing his children hard. Mother…" Weiss trailed off, blinking away tears. "My mother dove headfirst into the bottle, and I haven't seen her since. I asked my sister once, which one of her husbands was worse. She didn't know," she whispered. Weiss regarded her hands, folded in her lap.
"I'd say that explains a lot, but I can't find it funny, either," Yang said sadly, kneeling on the floor in front of Weiss and taking her hands into her own. "We'll always be here for you, Weiss. Especially me. Whether you like it or not," she added with humor and a small smile. "You're like the little sister I never wanted," she added, getting a shudder of suppressed mirth from Weiss.
"Was that a short joke?" she asked, doing her best to keep from vocalizing her laughter.
Yang gigglesnorted at the missed opportunity, her smile growing. "It is now," she said warmly, earning a playful shove from Weiss.
Her good mood lasted for several seconds, only broken when her pale blue eyes fell on the object of the conversation. "She came into my bedroom when I was packing. Seeing me off, she said. She was almost lucid." Weiss paused, sighing softly. "I hid her bottle into my luggage when her back was turned. I could tell she noticed, but couldn't say what was wrong. Her language got more and more unfocused, until she made some excuse and wandered off, probably to find a replacement."
"So that's why you didn't want to play a drinking game?" Velvet asked softly.
"I don't want to become...her," Weiss managed to croak out, on the verge of another breakdown.
"You're not, and you never will be, Weiss," Nora of all people reassured her. "No more than I'm my mother, or Yang is hers. You're too much of a stubborn pain."
"That's my line," Yang interjected with a playful glare.
"We're the sum total of our experiences, influences and our capability to adapt to them. We can choose to learn from mistakes, our own and those of others, and move forward as best we can. You are the sole determinant of who you are, Weiss," Ren finished up, his hand on Nora's shoulder as he gave Weiss his trademark barely-there smile.
"Have I told you how sexy you are when you're being all philosophical and crap?" Nora asked from the side of her mouth.
"Several times, yes," Ren replied, the barest hint of a blush coloring his cheeks.
"Yeah, Weiss, me and Ruby have plenty of experience smacking our uncle around when he's being stupid about his drinking. You're not turning into a lush on our watch," Yang chimed in.
"Yeah!" Ruby affirmed. "And if you turn into an alcoholic, you don't get to pet Zwei."
"I…" Weiss began, trying to wrap her brain around several conflicting emotions at once, before settling on a shake of the head while rolling her eyes. "Dolt," she pronounced simply. "And what about Ruby's age, Yang?" she asked, remembering her other objection to the serving of alcohol.
"Second year students are allowed drinking privileges on campus," Coco interjected. "In moderation, of course."
"Seriously, Weiss, you don't have to if you don't want to," Yang added. "If it's too much to handle…" Yang pulled up short on her statement as Weiss' cold glare fell upon her.
"And suffer your boorish attempts at humor for my supposed shortcomings?" she huffed.
"Aww, I wouldn't make fun of you, Weiss," Yang replied with a much brighter demeanor, earning her a skeptically raised eyebrow and matching scowl. "Much," Yang hastily corrected.
"I don't overserve, Schnee," Coco chipped in. "Nobody getting stupid on my watch, I promise. Something fruity, I assume?"
"I...suppose."
"Fuzzy navel it is then." Coco set about pouring into red plastic cups, taking orders from the rest of the group as Jaune and Nora served up slices of pizza on paper plates, the affair blurring the line between informal and outright cheap. Weiss sniffed at her drink before taking an experimental sip, her eyebrows shooting up at the pleasant combination of orange juice and peach schnapps. "See, told you you'd like it. Here's your kamikaze, Yang," she added, the blond taking a healthy swig and whistling in appreciation at the strength and simplicity of the concoction.
The conversation murmured along for a good fifteen minutes as people ate, Velvet and Ruby especially melting into the ebb and flow of the small crowd better than they usually did. Nora had plowed full steam through a whole pizza already, the rest of the assembled teams not far behind as the empty boxes started to pile up next to the trash can thanks to Huntsman appetites and metabolisms.
"So what are we playing?" Jaune asked of Yang and Coco, in his mind the likely candidates to have made the suggestion in the first place.
"Whaddya think, Coco? Flip cup? Quarters?" Yang suggested.
"No."
"Why?"
"I've seen your videos on FriendLink; we'd all be shitfaced in ten minutes," Coco retorted, seeing through Yang's gambit easily.
"Well what's your idea then?" the two-time Patch Harvest Festival Quarters champion grumbled.
"Well, since we've got me and Velv here with you guys, I'm thinking 'Never Have I Ever'," she replied. "Perfect for people to get to know each other better."
"Or embarrass them!" Yang said gleefully, getting a disgusted sigh from Weiss. "Oh, relax, Ice Queen. You'll be fine." Weiss replied with a flat-eyed gaze. "It's simple, too. You go around the table, and each person says 'never have I ever' and you tack on something you've legit never done before. Everyone else who has done that thing, takes a drink."
"When you play in a bar, whoever finishes their drink first buys the next round," Velvet clarified.
"But we're just playing for fun," Coco added, "so remember the first rule of the game: be honest. Anyone who gets caught lying chugs," she concluded with an almost predatory grin.
"Yeah, Weiss, you're going to be fine! Not like you've ever done anything risque or naughty, right?" Yang said eagerly, giving her friend a saucy wink.
"You make that sound like a bad thing," she replied, handing her empty plate to Ren, who was collecting from the group as they settled in.
They arranged themselves around the coffee table in the center of the room, the lucky ones getting spots on the sofa and loveseat, or the desk chairs, with Jaune, Nora and Ren relegated to the floor.
"Anyone need me to top them off?" Coco asked, getting a pair of red plastic cups handed to her.
"So who's first?" Nora asked, her overactive imagination already working on her own entry.
"Me!" Ruby chirped excitedly.
"This oughta be good," Coco remarked with an amused smirk.
"Never have I ever," she began, her gaze pivoting to Yang, who simply rolled her eyes before raising her cup to her lips, "destroyed a bar."
"One time," Yang muttered before taking her prescribed penalty, barely noticed by the rest of the group as Coco simply shrugged and tossed back what remained of her cosmopolitan, Velvet joining her a moment later.
"Seriously?" Weiss asked of the upperclassmen.
"Couple idiots grabbed Velvet's ass while we were on winter break in Orleans," Coco said with a shrug.
"I remember hearing about that," Jaune said. "Something about starting a riot?"
"It wasn't that bad," Velvet demurred, her face downcast with a blush blooming to life upon it.
"You from there or something?"
"Born and raised," he said proudly.
"You remember Miss Eloise, right?" Velvet asked her partner.
"Oh yeah, her granddaughter was just…nnf. Girl just did something when she looked at me. Sabine, Sapphire...?" Coco trailed off, trying to recall the name.
"Saphron," Jaune helpfully clarified.
"That's the one!" Coco said excitedly with a snap of her fingers. "Total hottie," she added, her self-confidence back in an instant.
"I'm sure my sister-in-law agrees with you," Jaune replied with a knowing smile.
"What does that have to do…" Coco trailed off again, her gaze darting back and forth between a smug Jaune Arc and her own partner, whose gentle rebuke took the form of a raised eyebrow and a slightly tilted head. "Oh," she said, visibly deflated. "Sorry."
"I've heard far worse from the guys who were trying to play big brother just to get with one of my sisters, don't sweat it."
"It's my turn then?" Weiss asked, seated to Ruby's left.
"Clockwise is fine I suppose," Coco replied, settling into her role as emcee on top of being the bartender for the evening.
"Very well, then. Never have I ever cheated in school." Weiss smirked as over half the room had to drink, the exceptions being Pyrrha, Ren and Nora, of all people.
"Seriously?" Jaune demanded of her, flabbergasted.
"Have you actually seen my grades?" she retorted, Jaune's expression relaxing in an instant.
"Point," he conceded.
"Wait a minute," Ruby interjected, "You've never been to school except Beacon, you told me so!"
"It's still true," Weiss replied, pridefully turning her nose up.
"Whatever," Ruby grumbled.
"Okay, soooo, Pyrrha?" Coco prompted.
"I'm thinking. There's quite a lot, actually," she said sheepishly. "Never have I ever eaten cotton candy."
The rest of the group was stuck drinking, staring agape or expressing disbelief in the word of their choice.
"Pyrrha, as your team leader, we are rectifying that at the first opportunity."
"You really don't have to," she tried to deflect.
"All in favor of force feeding Pyrrha cotton candy the next chance we get?" Ruby announced imperiously, getting a unanimous chorus of 'ayes' and a pair of bitten lips as Pyrrha fought her smile and blinked away the tears that threatened to form.
"The ayes have it!" Nora pronounced gleefully, eager to get her own fill of the stuff.
"Well, I suppose a little sugar can't hurt," Pyrrha finally conceded.
"More like all the sugar, girlfriend," Nora countered.
"An occasional treat won't destroy your diet," Weiss added helpfully.
"Jaune?" Coco prodded gently.
"Hmm, never have I ever visited another Kingdom," he said, "Seems like a safe question," he added with a shrug as Weiss, Pyrrha, Coco, Ren, and Nora all drank.
"Screw safe questions!" Nora said as she set her cup down, looking into Ren's eyes with mischievous intent. "Never have I ever...had sex with a woman," she concluded with an evil grin that didn't fade as he rolled his eyes and took a healthy swig of his Mantle Mule, the ginger and lime reminding him of his mother's cooking for a brief moment.
"You know you don't have to get me drunk for that," he said quietly for her benefit alone.
"Yeah, but I wanna try out this whiskey dick thing I keep hearing about," she purred, grabbing him by the collar of his pajamas and pulling him close.
Her kiss never landed, however, her senses aware of the awkward silence that had fallen over the group. She quickly took inventory, finding Coco and Velvet drinking nonchalantly, Yang with her cup halfway to her lips, but her eyes wide open in shock, mirroring those of Ruby and Pyrrha. Following her lilac gaze, Nora's own eyes flicked a bit wider at the sight of Jaune polishing off what was left of his rum and cola. Her own Fearless Leader had scored?
Nice.
"How?" Yang spluttered.
"Well, Yang, when a boy and a girl really, really love each other," Nora sarcastically explained.
"No! I mean… who?!" she demanded incredibly.
"Who what?" Jaune asked.
"Who let you sleep with them?"
"Who let me?" he asked, an edge in his voice. "I'll have you know, it was her idea. And no, it wasn't Ruby."
"But seriously, who?" Yang continued to push.
"I'm not going to tell you."
"Why not?" she asked, her voice now carrying hints of suspicion.
"Because that's not the kind of guy I am. I don't go around bragging about who I got into bed."
"Yeah, I'ma call bullshit on that," Yang countered.
"Yang," Ruby immediately growled, her frown fierce at her sister once again going too far.
"If he doesn't want to tell you, then he doesn't have to," Pyrrha added, laying a hand on his shoulder.
"Guys!" Jaune hurriedly interrupted. "I've got this." Yang raised an eyebrow at Jaune's calm tone, even as Velvet on the opposite end of the couch narrowed her eyes at the dynamic she was recognizing far too easily.
"You really want to know?"
"Shyeah! I swear, I'm not gonna tell anyone outside this room," she added, trying to soften her tone. "Not that anyone'd believe me," she muttered quietly enough that only the two Faunus in the room heard it.
"I would have thought the answer was obvious," he said nonchalantly.
"Oh?" Yang said in surprise, her mind already trying to go over the obvious suspects again, distracted just enough for Jaune to spring the trap.
"Your mom."
Yang bolted upright, eyes crimson and licks of flame trailing through her hair. "You son of a bitch!" she screamed, her fists clenched and ready to dispense a beatdown until she felt a tug on her left arm. Looking down, her scowl of rage softened a bit when she saw Blake's hand hooked into the crook of her elbow.
"Yang," she said gently, like one would soothe an angry beast.
"What?" she replied, voice seething.
Before she could reply, everyone heard Coco lose it, a mirthful snort setting off the rest of the group into a fit of laughter that broke Yang's mind, leaving her stunned in place.
"Oh, Gods, you walked right into that one, Blondie," Coco was finally able to get out through her laughter.
Yang's eyes blinked twice, a third finally shifting her back to lilac as her mind couldn't stay coherent enough to be Yangry any more.
"Ya kinda did, Yang," Nora added, trying to soothe her ego.
Yang's mouth tried to form words, only to move, stop, and then repeat the cycle several times before she gave up. Looking around the room, most everyone was laughing or at least trying to cover it up like Weiss and Ruby were with hands over their mouths. "Damn it," she finally conceded. "You motherfucker," she muttered, shaking her head as her defeat sunk in fully.
"Literally," Jaune immediately fired back, causing her to pause again.
Yang erupted with snorts of suppressed laughter, shaking her head as she did her damnedest not to openly laugh at the doubling down on the joke. "Damn it," she said with a chuckle in her voice.
"Come sit down," Blake said with a soft smile, glad to have the friendly atmosphere back.
Yang did as she was asked, even graciously taking a penalty drink for her outburst as prescribed by Coco with a flick of the hand.
"You're up, Ren," Coco prompted, taking Yang's cup to mix a much weaker cocktail, lest she become hammered, quite possibly literally should she clash with Nora.
"Hmmm. Never have I ever ridden a horse," he said evenly.
"But what about…?" Nora asked.
"That was a Grimm, not a horse," he quickly reminded her.
"True, but still awesome!" Nora beamed.
"Okay, there's a story there," Velvet said with genuine curiosity.
"Well, you see, just outside Mistral, there was this pretty little village called Kuroyuri, that's where Rennie's from…" Nora began breathlessly, beginning the chronicle of her beautiful, manly man and his heroic defeat of the dastardly Nuckelavee.
Oh, her and Pyrrha helped, of course! And SSSN was there, too, she reckoned...
With a clatter and the crash of metal on concrete, Charlie Pinewood reached for the padlock he'd set atop the bollard next to the back door of the garage bay where he scraped out his meager living. Slipping it through the latch in the roll-up door that led from the alleyway into the one pass-through bay he had, Charlie secured the lock, spinning the dial to scramble the combination. He sighed, knees with far too much wear on them for his age creaking as he stood up straight.
Suspicious brown eyes cut right then left, checking the alley for the potential pitfalls of living and working on the rougher side of Vale, a lone streetlight fighting fitfully against the darkness within. The trash cans behind his shop served as a perch for a grey tabby cat, its pupils wide in the darkness.
"Got nothin' for ya, mangy furball,'' Charlie grumbled, getting a gaze of unblinking judgement in return for a moment before the alley cat jumped to the ground, padding over the short distance to rub against his trouser leg. Before the Faunus could resolve his inner debate over whether to risk throwing his back out by reaching down to pet the critter, the cat froze, its head whipping to the side and staring intently into the shadows at some unseen stimulus.
Charlie's hackles stood up as well, having dealt with muggers before, a grease-blackened hand darting into a pocket, retrieving and opening a long switchblade with the press of a button. His eyes checking every shadow and blind corner he could see, the barest hint of panic rising in his chest banished in the millisecond he felt the impact between his shoulder blades. This was instantly forgotten as the shock dust discharged, viciously contorting his frame as his muscles spasmed and dropped him to the ground. He gasped for breath when he managed to get control of his diaphragm back, groaning softly before a kick to the back of his head silenced him entirely.
"Fuck, Wil, we're here to collect him, not kill him." Goldhamer's companion said as he emerged from the shadows, racking an empty hull out of the chamber of a pump shotgun held at port arms.
"Does it matter in the end?" he growled back, both men's faces obscured by the identical navy blue hoodies they wore.
"Doc said he wants them unspoiled. For now, anyway. If this is what I think it is, you're gonna want to keep your temper in check. I'll go get the van, we've got another one assigned to us and I don't wanna be late for our window. Hopefully everyone else bags their animals as easily as this one." the man said before handing the shotgun to Wilson Goldhamer. "I'll be right back. Don't take any more liberties, hear me? We don't let new recruits in on the wetwork until they've got five years in at least. Doc did you a favor letting you tag along, rookie; don't abuse that trust."
"Yeah, yeah," Wil grumbled, racking the action back just enough to check what was loaded, finding the red and yellow stripes of an incendiary buckshot shell in the action and smiling in sadistic glee. "He acts up, I ain't making any promises," he said to the retreating form of his partner for the evening.
Wil crouched, laying the longarm across his knees and plucking the old-fashioned knife from the ground where it had fallen. "Nice pigsticker...pig," he mumbled, chuckling softly. He blew the dirt from it before testing the action, pressing the blade closed and activating the release a couple times, finding the weapon to be impeccably maintained in spite of its rough, worn appearance. "Not like you're gonna be needing it after tonight anyway, right, mongrel?" he asked the still unresponsive Faunus, smacking him lightly in the head before folding it again and slipping it into his pocket.
"Wager you'll be wishing I'd just slit your throat by the time we get done with you," he growled in quiet menace, a broad grin growing on his face.