Let's do some experimentation, people!
Someone told me to this in my inbox so I'm gonna be doing it from now on.
(Disclamer: RWBY belongs to Rooster Teeth, not me. This is just a fanfic.)
Also:
"Let the grammatically refined writing commence"
(proceeds to use "sealing" instead of "ceiling") -SylverIron,
Fuck...
The Afternoon Sun filled the dorm with warmth and light. The window hung open, allowing the calm breeze to welcome itself inside. The wind carried with it the scent of minty pine and damp wood, enriching the cosy space with their presence. The cherry curtains flowed along, ruffling above the polished wooden bookshelf. Along with everything else was the lingering trace of the now empty plate of croissants surrounding a pair of students.
Jaune and Pyrrha were happily chatting. Words and laughter rebounded back and forth between them as Pyrrha finished the last of her mini croissant. She felt at ease. Calm and joyful as she was brought out of the clutches of exhaustion by Jaune's company and baking. Her luminescent crimson hair flowed freely, the waterfall of fire diverged at her shoulders and covered the comfortable strawberry-red tank top that had replaced her chest piece.
The armour that adorned her form no longer clung on her body. The brilliant bronze pieces were now haphazardly placed on the soft berry carpet to let Pyrrha breath in her tank top and black poofy sweat pants. Unbound by metal, the girl lazily rested on the bed beside the blonde boy going on a tirade about his day. One of his complaints was about his spar with Weiss and his lack of memory of it then waking up in the infirmary feeling as if he had snorted dust up his nose. Such a display of exaggerated absurdity brought laughter to her lips but not without worry.
"So are you alright now?" The read head queried. "Oh! Is there still any irritation in you sinus? I might have something for that." Her offer was not without appreciation though Jaune was curious to why she had medication for dust inhalation.
"Wait really?" Jaune asked an honest sceptical smile met her eyes. "You've got stuff that helps you out if you've somehow got dust up your nose?" His question was honest, he didn't understand why Pyrrha would have that considering that she's practically untouchable.
"Jaune..." Her playful tone kept him calm despite his ignorance. "Dust inhalation is a common factor in most matches with and against other huntsmen,-" The girl continued, illuminating Jaune's ignorance with her knowledge. "-especially around dust dependant huntress like Weiss."
Pyrrha spoke from experience. During her time, fighting in the Mistralian Tournaments, she had come across a wide variety of opponents. Weapons and gadgets that she could have had never imagined before, used against her in the ring, which she would soon learn to counter. Pyrrha knew the effect of dust and what it can do to the human body. You don't become the Mistrlian Champion by being inept with tools and equipment. Dust is one such tool in which an aspiring huntsman should have in-depth knowledge of if they wish to succeed and by succeed, stay alive.
"Ok I get it but why would you need it?" He was still sceptical with why Pyrrha would have such a thing considering how he's seen her fight. "People can't get even close to you. You can even catch a dust round with just your fingers for crying out loud!" Jaune stood up from his seated posture, his boots thudding onto the floor as stretched his back before sitting back down. "*Poof*... You're the best fighter on the team." His explanation made Pyrrha blush slightly.
Usually, Pyrrha would internally react to praise with apathy or exhaustion. Mostly because it would be from screeching fans and sleazy corporate suits looking for a way to cram in their sponsors. Though, from someone like Jaune, Pyrrha couldn't handle it so well. Praise coming from someone who truly knew her outside of her family was very personal to Pyrrha. Jaune, just like her family, knew her for everything she was, which was different to the countless nameless faces that attended her matches screaming like maniacs while shouting her name out as if she was a divine being, brought down by the Brother Gods themselves.
"I-I know about my...performance, but-" She shook her head to clear out her embarrassment, Pyrrha closed her eyes and chanted something that she had repeated many times. "-but I have to stay diligent and prepared. I cannot allow myself to become conceited by my achievements for that will lead to nothing but failure."
She began repeating those words over and over again, much to Jaune's confusion. Her words devolved into whispers as she continued to chant that single sentence as if it was a religious mantra. Jaune leaned back in surprise as whispers hissed from Pyrrha's mouth. *Uhhh... Pyrrha?" Pyrrha stopped immediately at that. The girl whipped her head to face Jaune, whom of which decided to ask another question. "Uh...are-...are you alright?"
Snapping back to reality, the girl's eyes shot in surprise and incredible embarrassment. "Oh! I'm so sorry!" She picked herself up from the fabric of her bed. The frantic ruffles of her sheets signalled her distress as she sat on her bed with her hands displayed in front her, palms flat-open, tears beginning to glisten in her eyes. "I'm sorry! I hope it wasn't weird or anything It's just that it-" She was cut off by the welcoming embrace of Jaune's arms as he leaned in to comfort her.
"Hey-hey-hey...It's alright. It's alright." Jaune's gently stroke her back, brushing her hair down in hopes to soothe her distress. "It's alright, it wasn't weird...well it was a little weird-" Pyrrha tensed at those words before Jaune rushed to fix his poor choice of words. "But-but not the- uh- bad kind of weird, like a- um- fun kind of weird." Pyrrha's head tilted slightly enough for Jaune to notice her confusion. "Wait, no. That just sounded stupid. Uh...Uh...-"
"Hahaha!" Jaune's blundering attempts to cheer his friend's mood was met with success but not in the way he wanted. "A fun -Haha- kind of- *giggles*- kind of weird?" The laughter between the read head's words told Jaune that she was indeed laughing at him. Jaune simply deadpanned as he embraced her with a look that could only be described as 'Goddamnit'.
"Hahahahah! Hahaha! Hah...hah...Oh... I'm sorry it's just- It's just... Whew! That was so corny." Jaune continued to deadpan at the result of his stupidity, but at least it made her feel better. The gentle hug was rewarded by Pyrrha's arms wrapping around him as well. "Thank you." The softness in Pyrrha's words tickled his ear as she hugged him back. Their body heat and the combined drumming of their heartbeats, resonated between the two of them. The shared warmth set them both in a calmed state. Their heads rested against each other, Pyrrha's shining crimson hair wrapping around Jaune as well.
Silence rested between them until... "So, you wanna talk about it?" Jaune's sudden bluntness was enough to make her giggle...again.
Pyrrha separated herself from the boy with a rejuvenated smile. The creaking of the mattress made itself known as she and Jaune shifted their weight. She held his shoulders with both hands, facing him to allow their eyes to meet. "No..." Her eyes turned away briefly before traversing back to the boy before her. "It's a long story." Her frown made her feelings on the matter apparent.
Jaune noticed the somberness the bled from her tone and took her calloused experienced hands off his shoulders with his soft untested, albeit larger, ones. He gazed into her emerald green eyes with his cobalt blue, radiating with understanding and empathy. "It's alright. I understand." His reply made Pyrrha sigh in relief, thankful that she did not have to explain something so complicated and emotionally taxing.
The two separated from each other as Pyrrha plopped her back against the soft, springy mattress of her bed. The girl allowed her legs to hang off the edge of her by her knees. Jaune, on the other hand, still sat up. His eyes planted on the great sword that smugly leaned on the wall. He knew that Squire was watching them somehow. If he knew one thing about the eccentric God, is that he's going to pop up whenever things aren't going 'interesting' enough.
The tick and tock of the clock marched on. The sun still basked the room with its warmth as everything adopted a golden orange hue. The breeze from the window tickled his skin and caressed his hair as it did Pyrrha's, her crimson red veil flowing the same way as the curtains that hung above the bookshelf. She was asleep again. The clock above the door to the hall ticked on, creating a consistent yet peaceful tempo as they rested. Well, Pyrrha rested. Jaune was still staring at Squire's so-called physical form.
It continued to go this way. Jaune looked up to the time. He hadn't checked the time since this morning. Craning his neck up to see the numbers on the contraption, Jaune's eyes studied how the arms were position and found his answer.
'2:15...'
The day has barely passed despite all the insanity. Jaune didn't know whether to be amazed or horrified at that though. If Squire's words were true and that he was to grab 'The Viewer's' attention somehow, the boy knew that peace was going to be a rare luxury and there were more things to come. Jaune moved his neck again, this time allowing his eyes to settle on the rusty form of Squire. Jaune waited. He waited for Squire to jump out and make some snarky remark or make him think of something incredibly disturbing. Jaune shuddered from the memory of when Squire told him that snakes have two penises. He did not want to imagine what that looked like.
Five more minutes passed, Jaune was beginning to become impatient. His thoughts churned with anticipation and anxiety. 'Are you gonna do anything?'
Jaune's cobalt blue eyes were dead-set on the rust ridden great sword before promptly relaxing. It was quite apparent the Squire was not going to do anything soon. Carefully standing up from the bed frame so that Pyrrha's rest wouldn't be disturbed, the boy slowly tiptoed his across the space between his bed and the door. The boy slowly crept the distance until his pale hands rested on the doorknob and twisted it open before looking back to Pyrrha.
Quietly opening the bleach white wooden door, Jaine circled the tall piece of wood before slowly pushing it back close. Jaune grasped the doorknob on the other side as the furniture softly groaned as it closed shut, leaving Pyrrha inside with a note that stated that he just went out for a walk. The boy's eyes found themselves glaring the door to Team RWBY's dorm.
Jaune audibly sighed, his breath hissed out of his mouth. To think that this was where it all started. Where he woke up utterly hungover and almost threw up again and Ruby giving him her terrifying uncle's pick-me-up. Then the spar with Weiss, which he still didn't remember at all. Meeting Squire and being tasked to save the literal world by doing whatever the viewers want to see. It's been quite a day.
As he began to pass Team RWBY's dorm to head Vale for some groceries, the door swung open, revealing a very moody Weiss. She was dishevelled beyond belief. She looked as if someone had torn out her soul and used it as a stress ball before throwing it back in. Her hair was untied and all over the place. Her jacket was just gone, and the lingering smell of overpriced ice cream seemed to whirl around her in an invisible smog as colourful stains covered the upper portion of her dress.
It did not take long for the two to take notice of each other's presence. For Jaune, it was the stench of overly expensive Ice cream. For Weiss, it was something more personal. They both found themselves staring eye to eye, nothing but the silence of the hall surrounded them. Cobalt met Arctic Blue. Weiss' sour expression gradually morphed into that of uncontrollable rage.
"Arc..." Weiss' growl sounded like that of a Beowolf and felt like shattered glass.
"Uh-oh." Jaune grimaced as Weiss began to fume with anger. He knew what was about to happen.
In a panic, Jaune lifted the still fuming petite girl by her armpits like a cat. A very angry cat that's probably going to give him minor hypothermia. He darted inside and quickly placed her in the middle of the room before dashing back to close the door to save everyone from the verbal massacre that was about to occur. As the click of the door sounded his fate, Jaune slowly turned around to face horrifying sight. The angriest Weiss he had ever seen.
She quaked in place. Her pearly white teeth, grinding together in a feral snarl, threatening to shatter. Her beautiful frosty eyes now riddled with bloodshot veins from pressure and rage. Her hands tensed in a way that implied imminent and violent strangulation or perhaps animalistic clawing. Her eye scarred eye twitched erratically, where if you look carefully, you can translate the twitches with morse code.
Weiss' scarred eye says: "I'm going to you turn you into a fucking human ice statue."
Jaune slowly backed away and brought his back to the door, preparing to run in what little space the dorm had to provide to survive the day without waking up in the infirmary again. Weiss growled in place as the room slowly frosted over, and jagged icy mist emanating from her feet as she gave him a glare that would send a Deathstalker running in fear.
Her quaking intensified as her a veil of shadow hid her eyes, her hand dangerously close to Myrtenaster. Though, before Jaune make a break for it, a void-black Glyph materialized beneath him. "Whoa-OW!" Before he knew it, his legs, torso and head sharply banged on the oak-wood floor. His body completely immobilised, Jaune struggled as his cheek flattened across the floor.
"Hey! Hey!" His shouts of desperation translated into spit-shooting muffles. "Can't we talk about this!?" His plead was then answered by the gleaming tip of Myrtenaster, ready to puncture his eye. "WAIT! WAIT! WAIT!"
"You!...YOU!..." Slashing through the air, Myrtanaster sang its song. The Glyph that held Jaune against his will briefly shimmered, sending the poor boy to crash against the ceiling before unceremoniously coming back down with a *Thud*. The blonde attempted to support himself with his knees but could not for a well-kept hand clutched his chest piece, rashly pulling him back on his feet.
Weiss snarling and almost manic face scared the living aura out of Jaune. The unfortunate team leader, stuck in a dorm that didn't even belong to his own team, winced in terror from the icy gremlin that stood before him. Weiss presented the tip of her sword, again, directly to Jaune's face, his eyes crossed to meet the weapon in silent terror. As far as Jaune knew, Weiss was leagues better at him when it came to combat. It didn't help that she was one of the best first-year students in Beacon as well, winning against someone like her as someone like him was just plain impossible.
"I DEMAND A REMATCH!"...What? Jaune flinched from Weiss screechy voice. The sounds from her mouth came out similar to a cat loudly scratching a blackboard. Weiss was undoubtedly furious, her hands tightly clenched together. Her left hand squeezed the hilt of Myrtenaster with unnecessary pressure while her other hand trembled closed. "I DEMAND A REMATCH RIGHT NOW!"
"Hey! hey!" Jaune presented his hands and gestured a lowering motion. "Keep it down!" He hissed with worry and uncertainty. Weiss was about to shout even louder until Jaune continued to explain his desire for her to lower her voice. "Pyrrha's sleeping in the dorm, she's had a rough day."
Jaune's words did nothing to quell the flash freezing rage that took place on Weiss' face. The girl shut her eyes briefly, controlled her breath and slowly allowed her sword to hang at her side before going on to speak. "Jaune Arc, I demand a rematch!"
Jaune tilted his head, looking quite puzzled. "A rematch?" He brought his right hand to scruffle his hair in confusion, ignoring Weiss' souring glare. "Why would you want a rematch?" He removed his palm from his head, presenting it to the icy yet fiery heiress. "Didn't you win?" His casual tone and ignorant words caused Weiss to open her mouth in utter despair as her scarred eye twitched several times more.
"Why, you..." Her teeth clacked against each other, accompanying the snarl that had appeared once again. Her head tilted for her eyes to fall to the floor. "You..." A quiet second passed before Weiss whipped her head up to face Jaune to yell out her explosive frustration. "You idiot! YOU DON'T REMEMBER!?" Weiss' furious yell echoed throughout the room as she stomped her heeled foot onto the floor with such force that the wooden planks beneath threatened to snap.
Jaune, not surprised by the outburst, flinched anyway. "I-I-I don't remember at all!' Weiss shadow loomed over Jaune, cowering away from the girl in a cold sweat. The air around him chilled considerably, as he noticed a large Glyph humming from the ceiling, laced with iced dust. The glowing symbol of the Schnee bloodline sang above them. It's icy-blue glow intensified under Weiss' growing wrath. "Didn't wipe the floor with me? I remember waking up in the infirmary!"
Jaune's argument brought up an uncomfortable memory for Weiss. A memory that she wished she could purge from her mind for it blurred her views between reality and insanity. The chaotic sound of snorting gravity dust shall haunt her for the rest of her days. "NO!" Weiss's frustration bubbled into her actions. The poor girl attempted to swallow her pride, it felt like it was covered in barbed wires and mini lancers.
"No." Her head tilted down again. Weiss body relaxed to allow herself to say such impossible words, shaking her head in futile denial. "No...I- I didn't-..." The muscles on her face stressed as her frown and brow dipped lower. A single tear of shame crawled down from her right eye. "...I didn't win..." Her words barely came out a whisper. The harsh heat of anger and the lethargic cold of sadness did not quell the crushing weight of disappointment, nor did it loosen her shackles of shame that clanked within her mind.
"I didn't win..." She stood there, a shadow cast over her face, arctic blue eyes overlooking the wine-red carpet that her once pristine frost-blue heels balanced on. Her asymmetric snow-white hair fluttered under the chilly breeze provided by the Ice glyph that loomed directly above her. The intricate symbols and patterns adorned it, making it seem like an ethereal disk of art that bared the appearance of a snowflake.
'Did she step on ice-cream or something?' Jaune's thoughts evolved into curiosity due to the unignorable stench of frozen treats. His desire for answers led his eyes to wander all over his surroundings to take notice of the gloomy mess that was Team RWBY's Dorm and onto Weiss. The room that he occupied was in the midst of a gentle blizzard. Frost festered on each corner of the space, steadily growing in like fungus. There were no other light sources but the chilling light of the Ice glyph above and the illuminating screen of the desk scroll below the shut window covered by frostbitten curtains. The dim light sources barely expelling the darkness that occupied the room. 'Is...is that?... Was she watching a drama series?'
She was. Weiss was watching 'Whispers of The Frozen Moon Lake'. An Atlassian romance drama. Specifically episode 6 of season 3: Erdbeere's Return. And surrounding the desk scroll were several empty tubs of ice cream with enough variety that would make Neo shiver in extreme envy. The beds were glazed by nets of ice that crawled across them like spider webs. The floor itself was moist with melted mounds of snow that floated down from the Ice glyph. The cold wind circled down directly onto the carpet and around the petite girl whose head still hung low.
'Jeeze...this place is a mess, and I've never seen Weiss so...uh...messy.' Jaune could see tears freely sliding down from Weiss right eye though non fell from her left. How curious. 'Oh, boy. This place looks like the aftermath of a really bad breakup... Not even Gialla's room was this bad.' Jaune thought back on his third eldest sister, Gialla Arc. She had a boyfriend who was cheating on her for two years. Everyone in the family, including Jaune despite lacking aura, hunted him down all the way to Vacuo. Verde never financially recovered from his medical bills.
Jaune, feeling great pity and most of all, confusion, stared down the silent crying Weiss. "Um-Uh...I-I don't know- uh- how to- how to say this but..." Weiss pulled her head back and furiously glared Jaune. Her eyes held a less than patient glint, observing him, judging him on what he was going to say next. "Um..." Jaune clasped his hand flat against each other over his lips before pointing all ten digits directly towards Weiss. "How?"
Outrage rapidly consumed Weiss' features. The idiot in front of her didn't even remember the shit he pulled during the match that they had roughly four hours ago. "WHAT!? WHAT DO YOU MEAN - HOW!?" Jaune recoiled from the explosive outburst, the Atlassian Gremlin of Team RWBY marched her way to the significantly taller boy and grabbed him by the chest plate to pull him down to her level. In response, Jaune presented his palms in a futile attempt to defend himself from the superior student.
"I-I-I- I don't remember the fight! I swear!" His honest pleads fell on deaf ears as Weiss' temper began to rival that of Yang's during a hair cut.
"YOU DON'T!?" Jaune tried to cower further away from Weiss' hissed shout. "I-YOU-!" She was about to explode, but before she could, she found her bearings and released the blonde fool from her iron clutches. "Of course, you don't." She rested her elbow on her right hand and gently placed her left on her forehead, closing her eyes. Jaune staggered back a bumped his back to the bleach white door. "Considering that you inhaled an Entire Vial worth of gravity dust, I should have expected some form of temporary minor brain damage!"
Weiss' harsh words did not offend Jaune in any way. He was currently to busy to not get frozen solid like what happened six days ago. His thirty-eighth attempt of asking Weiss out while she already in a really bad mood, resulted in him getting minor hypothermia and a quick trip to the nurse the second time that day. He learned his lesson, and since then, Jaune has been avoiding Weiss like the plague.
Jaune clung to the door for dear life, his fingers hooked around the doorframe and his face covered in a cold sweat, while Weiss stood just a foot away from the edges of the carpet. Her closed eyes gave away the impression of being deep in thought, which she was...Until Jaune fearfully spoke up.
"Uh-... Wait. What was that part about the gravity dust?" Jaune's meek question came out as a squeak. Weiss repositioned her thumb and index finger on either side of the bridge of her nose, irritation and resignation both apparent when she released a defeated sigh.
"You know what?" She held her palm to face Jaune "Forget about it." An ironic wobbly smirk tainted her face, laughter flew out her mouth but sounded more like tearless sobs. "Forget about it. I'd rather not have you remember what happened." She opened her eyes, blood-red vessels cracked across her sclera. "If anything, you mustn't ever know what you did. I- I don't want to have any instances like it ever again."
Jaune didn't understand. He had no memory of the outrageous and outright impossible stunts that he pulled in front of Weiss' very eyes. The poor girl looked like she had watched the execution of a group of innocent orphans. What Jaune didn't know was that she was the one who executed and he was the executioner. A crackling feeling developed in his gut, his mind kicking into gear to find the answer to his problem. Realization enveloped Jaune's being and his eyes popped in recognition. There could only be one person or God that he knew that could have possibly been involved. His mouth opened to shout the name. "Squire!"
Weiss exhaustedly turned towards Jaune, addressing her annoyance and confusion. "What?" The quick nasally said question pulled Jaune from his thoughts and sent his attention back to Weiss.
"Uhm-I...need to go!" And just like that Jaune yanked the door behind him, giving way for his escape. Weiss, on the other hand, was still pissed and protested to the boy's leaving form.
"Where are you going!?" Her shrill voice pierced through the air and gritted against Jaune's ears. The boy was already halfway through the door frame. "We haven't discussed the regardings of the rematch!"
Her argument was acknowledged, but still, Jaune needed to go and find the one who was, undoubtedly, responsible for every crazy thing that's been going on since this morning. Jaune faced Weiss one more time. "I need to go see someone! Ah- We'll talk about the rematch later, I promise."
The girl was about to protest further, but could not find it within herself to stoke the fires of her anger. She was just too exhausted and full of ice cream. "Fine." She humphed, crossing her arms together before with Myrtenaster still hanging from her left hand, pointing to her right side. She gave Jaune a final glare before he could completely leave the room before leaving him with a threat if he didn't stand by his word. "But if you do not articulate of it with me any time soon, then I will drag you back to Ms Goodwitch's class myself."
Jaune, in hopes to get his point across with the stubborn girl to avoid wasting any more time, replied. "Yeah! Yeah. I'll - I'll -uh- articulate with you about it later." Closing the door to the room, Jaune was granted relief by the warmth of the hall. Jaune felt his hands go numb in RWBY's room and taking the time to bring them back to a more comfortable temperature, he rubbed them together and cupped a few long breaths. "Her and big words. What does articulate even mean?"
As Jaune shivered in the halls for a few minutes, a tired transparent figure sailed over to him. Unaware of the drooping and dull form of Squire. Jaune continued to fend off the cold that followed him from Weiss' room. ("Hey, Jaune...")
"AH!" The sudden greeting from the eccentric god made Jaune jump in surprise. The boy turned around only to be met by an unusually dim and slightly glitching Squire. "Squire, Wha- Wait. Why do you like that?" He pointed out Squire's less than stellar state. The god's appearance warped downwards like a limp burrito and glitched like a video game character under bad CCT connection. The golden feather that sat at the brim of his steel cap looked like it was harassed by a super soaker.
("I was experimenting on something...") His words were lethargic. ("I tried mixing up my writing and it turned out to have been more trouble than I thought...") It was true, Squire had been changing the way he wrote, but in doing so, had left his comfort zone for the sake of entertaining the viewers. (I feel like I just got wrung by a bunch of black holes and yeeted into a star path full of cosmic urchins...)
Jaune didn't know what any of those things were, but Jaune didn't know a lot of things in the first place.
"Wait! I just remembered something! What did you do during the fight with Wiess?" Jaune's desperate question gained Squire's attention. The writer fatigued in place but still indulged Jaune in his desire to find out what happened.
("I made you snort an entire vial of gravity dust from one of Weiss Glyphs and smack the absolute shite out of her. You won but then you kinda passed out, lad") Squire's casual statement on Jaune winning a fight, actually winning one, against one of the best students in the entire Academy, made Jaune perform his best impression of a beached fish.
("I mean, I was the who technically won the fight but I was using your body to do it. Now that I mention it, you need to work out more, man. Your training with Pyrrha is pretty good but you need some serious physical conditioning.") He went on. ("Look I'm gonna go and take a nap. I'm gonna be gone for a bit so you just do whatever you want. There's already enough stuff going into motion to entertain the viewers. See ya in like a few hours.")
With that, Squire poofed from existence to 'rest', leaving Jaune to contemplate his situation. He had just won his first match in beacon. Although it was unofficial and someone else was 'piloting' him in Squire's words, it still did not erase the fact that he had won his first fight since he got to Beacon. And the price, Weiss' grudge and the promise of a rematch. The weight of his predicament came crashing down on him. Jaune could not break his promise, the honour of his family name depended on it. So Jaune made the obvious even more obvious and spoke.
"I'm so screwed."
My man's going through an oof mega right now. F to him.