"So that's when I told him, if you're not gonna pay up your protection money, then HE BETTER GET USED TO BEOWULVES IN HIS BACKYARD!"
"We merely received payment for services offered with no threats required."
Ren and Nora's double act was becoming a heartening part of Jaune's mornings. Everyone had a good laugh at Nora's ridiculous dreams and exaggerations, sounding more like they came from a mob movie than anything two Huntsmen-in-training would have been a part of. Yang asked a followup question for Nora, and everyone had a laugh as she described how to herd Beowulves. Just like they did every morning.
Eating breakfast, Jaune was shocked by how quickly he'd been able to make friends here at Beacon. Pyrrha, Nora, and Ren were eager to be on his team, almost to the point where Jaune was sure they were kidding him with the hyperbole until he reminded himself that they just wanted to start the school year with some positivity and hopefulness. Nothing weird there. Plus, Ruby had been super positive to him about being fellow team leaders, and Jaune was getting along great with her and Yang. Blake was… not really acknowledging him that much, though that seemed par for the course for the mysterious, aloof girl. Weiss…
Ugh, Jaune had it bad for Weiss. And she seemed... a little bewildered towards him. Jaune felt like it had to be that she had some insight into the fact that he didn't really belong here. But he couldn't keep his eyes from lingering on her. Not just that she was so beautiful and graceful, but the way she always seemed like she belonged at Beacon. She was someone who had worked her whole life to make it here, to go beyond her accomplishments, and Jaune couldn't help but admire that. According to Pyrrha, Weiss could have made an easy life as a corporate executive in her family's business, or enjoyed preferential treatment at Atlas. But instead, she came here, away from her family's influence.
For Jaune, family meant everything, but he couldn't help but marvel at Weiss's willingness to stand on her own. Especially when he knew that Aunt Salem had given him some kind of crazy Semblance that made everyone else around him so much stronger than they already were. It made Jaune wonder if he would be worthy of Beacon without his family connection, but Weiss… she worked to cast that legacy aside and be her own woman.
Oh, and she was starting to notice that he was staring. As Jaune saw the flash of sourness across her face, his eyes quickly darted back down to his breakfast.
"You gotta be careful what you eat, Rubes," Yang playfully chided her little sister, "Just look at Team CRDL, whole team wasn't watching what they were eating. Now they're spending a week in the infirmary from a bad bout of food poisoning."
"I'm not going to shed any tears for some anti-Faunus bigots," Blake sniffed, "Serves them right."
Weiss laughed nervously. "You don't think… surely you don't think it was on purpose, do you? I don't care at all for Team CRDL, but… I would hope that students here are safe from poisonings."
"They're lucky," and, for some reason, Nora punctuated this remark by looking straight at Pyrrha, "that they got food poisoning before I could break some legs for bullying Jaune-Jaune!"
Jaune chuckled, awkwardly, at Nora returning to this subject. "They weren't… they weren't bullying me, it was just… joshing around, a little. Like guys do."
"Sure seemed like bullying," Ruby said with narrowed eyes. Putting her hands on her hips, she proclaimed, "And I, for one, will not tolerate anyone bullying any of my friends, but especially not any of my besties!"
Yang gave her a sly look. "No bullying of besties, but people can say the most awful things about your dear sister, though..."
"You were hogging the shower!" Weiss hissed back at her.
But it was all in good fun. In no time, the eight of them were back to joking, Nora telling a quite ridiculously story about her and her Uncle Tyrian extorting passengers of a ferry by threatening to dump them all into the freezing waters of the Atlesian sea… she had quite a wild, and… slightly violent imagination.
As they finished their breakfast, plates were cleared as they idly headed off towards classes. Well, Yang realized she forgot something, so she raced off to the dorms, with Blake and Ruby tagging close behind. Jaune wasn't sure what they were after, because he saw what this really was.
An opportunity.
Jaune hastily raced after Weiss, trying to grab her attention. She turned, giving him the sort of critical look that always made Jaune flinch.
"Hey… Weiss," he started, nervously. He knew that girls liked confidence but, at the same time, Jaune was also thinking about Ms. Fall's very graphic threat of a rusty fork, which combined with Weiss's icy, penetrating stare to make Jaune wonder if he wasn't about to die. "I just… you know, with school starting, we've, uh, we've gotten a chance to kind of, uh, get to know each other better, and I-"
"Spit it out," she said, her eyes narrowed.
Jaune felt his breath catch in his throat, terror rising high. But… he was a Huntsman! Now or never!
"Would you, um, would you… like to go catch a movie? With me?"
Weiss looked at him with a mix of disbelief and confusion. "You… you're asking me out?"
Jaune furiously blushed. "I know I'm not..." dammit, Weiss always could see right through him!
"From the way Pyrrha's draping herself over you," she sniffed, "I didn't think you'd be so… unfaithful with your affections."
"What?" Jaune asked in surprise.
"I am not going to be your sidepiece, Mr. Arc, so move along!"
And with that, she stormed off, before Jaune could explain the misunderstanding.
If there was one thing Jaune knew, it was that Pyrrha and him were strictly friends. After all, if she had even the slightest hint of romantic interest in him, she would have informed him that they were dating now, just as she'd informed him of his new training and studying regime within their first week at Beacon. It was thorough, not just in learning swordplay from her (which Jaune thanked his lucky stars he was paired with Pyrrha, who immediately picked up he didn't know anything about swords and acted like it wasn't a big deal at all) or developing proper study habits, but also aura development and… social skills.
Jaune never thought he'd have to do this, but he'd had to explain to his teammate and partner that, no, he wouldn't need her help in securing a girlfriend. Even if they were offering. Jaune had grown up in rural Vale, and he'd heard… stereotypes about Mistral, but the level of forwardness Nora and especially Pyrrha expressed to him made him think they had to be messing with him. But if Pyrrha had any feelings outside the platonic, he sure would have heard it then.
Also, he'd have to have a pretty high opinion of himself to assume that the beautiful, world-renowned celebrity who was personally stepping in to save his bacon also had feelings for him. She was just a really... touchy feely kind of person, that was all. Really touchy. Very feely.
He was quite thankful for Ren in times like this. Ren was quiet, sensible, and, above all, not trying to help him get a girlfriend—or, as Nora had offered, multiple girlfriends. Jaune's father had had eight children with one woman, Jaune didn't want to imagine what it might be like with more than one. But Ren, Ren was cool. He'd simply heard out Jaune when he asked Ren if he was just being weird or if something was going on with the team, thought about it for a while, and gave him some sensible advice to not let it get to him that much. That Nora was hyperbolic and Pyrrha had spent her whole life as a solo act and just really wanted to be an asset to her team.
Unfortunately, Jaune lacked Ren's ability to just logically explain things, and his further attempts through the day to explain that there was nothing going on with himself and Pyrrha were merely rebuffed by Weiss. She... didn't even want to listen to his explanations. She turned and walked off, leaving Jaune wondering where he'd messed things up.
Thinking back to the advice Jaune had received, the one thing that clicked was that he'd lacked confidence, like mom said. Weiss thought that he was a player, and he hadn't been able to make it clear to her that she was the only one for him! Fortunately, Jaune saw that there was a straightforward way to achieve that.
He just had to try harder.
School was a fairly tedious life, especially compared to living in the wilds, or under Tyrian's guidance. Everything here was orderly, structured, rote, and straightforward. Wake up, breakfast, class, lunch, class, dinner, homework, sleep. Day in, day out. They wore uniforms and things were uniform.
In short, Ren loved Beacon.
Even better, Nora seemed to love it too. Oh, she didn't love the things Ren loved about it, but she loved the socialization, the opportunity to have her adventures with a whole new crew of friends, and the fact that the school allowed, even welcomed, the regular use of grenade launchers.
But Ren was in a paradise of regular, ordinary, structured time. Things were standardized, scheduled, and predictable, designed by professionals who knew what they were doing. Ren respected Tyrian as a father figure, and even as a teacher, but his pedagogy left… much to be desired. Even the more eccentric styles of teaching at Beacon weren't anything like his "I set the forest on fire, so learn how to survive that!" approach.
Plus, regular schedules made observing Sauvignon much easier.
What Ren personally thought about Sauvignon was irrelevant. His Goddess had given him the supreme honor of a personal mission to protect Her Chosen, and Ren took it with appropriate gravity. He'd learned firsthand that his leader had been touched by divinity, after all. But in private, Ren found that he rather liked the man. He wasn't Enlightened, and he, quite strangely, wasn't to be Enlightened, but for an outsider Ren had to maintain his fake persona around, Ren liked him quite a bit. Of course, he was careful to keep a dispassionate neutrality at all times. Passions changed; duty remained. A lesson he felt Victory could be careful to learn. At the same time, Ren's closeness to Nora meant that he couldn't judge someone who took a more… enthusiastic approach to her worship, and he honestly found Victory's crush on Sauvignon rather… cute. Though she could stand to be more subtle in her vigils, even if Sauvignon slept like a stone. Still, she understood what was important in their mission, and she would have no objection to Ren's plan here. She had signed off on it, after all.
It was interesting, watching Sauvignon flirt. Or, at least, attempt to flirt. For someone favored by the Goddess Herself, Sauvignon was… a bit dense. He was making a sincere gesture, but one doomed to swift, obvious failure. The guitar was, at least, a nice touch, but Weiss Schnee was clearly not a woman looking for showy, elaborate displays… or if she was, they'd have to be the sort of display that would stand out to one of the richest women alive.
Strictly speaking, their Goddess could surely provide Sauvignon with the materials for such a display, but… neither he nor Weiss seemed like they'd be… happy with what that would look like. Very little of the world was prepared for when Queen Salem would reveal herself in her glory. But it was coming, soon enough.
But Ren's job wasn't to wait for his Illustrious Goddess to solve his problems. He and Nora were tasked with ensuring the well-being of Queen Salem's personally chosen beneficiary. And in this matter specifically. A glance at Weiss's sour face reminded Ren of what their Goddess had made clear: she wanted Sauvignon to succeed.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk," Nora shook her head beside him, "It's always a shame when I gotta take out Magnhild and correct somebody's knee cap alignment, but… it's my job."
"I think we'll be taking a more peaceful route."
Nora whirled in a panic. "I mean, it's not that much of a shame!"
But Ren just shook his head. This demanded quieter action, much like the CRDL situation. Talking down Nora had been… difficult, but expected. Pyrrha was the unanticipated challenge, but Ren shouldn't have been that surprised. She was a believer as surely as they were, and that meant that her zeal for Sauvignon's protection sometimes… went past what was the best option.
Still, not everyone saw it that way. Pouting, Nora folded her arms across her chest. "You guys aren't letting me break anybody's legs! Come on, I'm supposed to be his enforcer, let me enforce something!"
"Hmmm," Ren stroked his chin, "I'll check with Victory, but… well, I don't think it'd be a problem to reach out and talk with Fall about opportunities for cooperation."
"Really?" Nora asked, her eyes sparkling with joy, "Ah, man, I love Fall! You're the best, Renny!"
And Ren had to smile at that. They'd seen a lot together, traveling through the wilderness, discovering the truth of the Grimm, and achieving Enlightenment, but through it all, Ren had always had Nora. She was his rock, his source of fortitude and sanity. But he knew he was also the same for her—they supported each other, and that was how they made it through the world. Together.
Ren idly wondered for a moment about the connection between himself and Nora and what he was seeking to do for Sauvignon. It was important to have other people in one's life, wasn't it? And he and Nora shared a bond that was more precious to Ren than gold, but perhaps… perhaps she might also be thinking of him the way he thought of her? Perhaps they could seek a new form of togetherness while on this mission?
In times like these, he usually prayed to Salem for guidance, seeking Her wisdom in the depths of his soul, but… this time, he had someone who was dear to Salem, a living Saint who Ren found quite agreeable to talk with.
He shook the thought aside. It would be unbecoming for a servitor like himself to bring his problems to Salem's chosen. Especially when he had a task ahead of him that should be demanding all of his attention.
Fortunately, he'd already been in contact with Fall to get the resources he required, and he knew exactly how he was going to play this operation. All it would take would be a little conversation, and then… well, then he could think some more about how he felt about his closest friend and companion.
Weiss did not know what to make of Jaune Arc but she was very strongly starting to decide that she did not like him. He was just… weird! So weird! From her first meeting with him, he looked like a fairly… ordinary sort, someone who wouldn't stand out much in a crowd but, surrounded by other, accomplished Huntsmen-in-training, he seemed to stand out for his underwhelming gangliness.
Him being friends with her dolt of a team leader and her brutish sister would be bad enough, but then he had to be Pyrrha Nikos's partner! Which was…
Okay, that part was just weird. Really, really, freaky weird. From their first meeting, where Pyrrha suddenly went from being professionally distant against Weiss's most self-confident and assertive introduction to suddenly being unable to get enough of this random dork, and the fact that she seemed to be quite familiar with Mr. Arc from the get-go, to their current relationship, where Pyrrha was practically his full-time tutor, even though she surely had better things to do with her time!
It was bewildering and weird and Weiss didn't like it! And that didn't even get to the fact that they'd barely even been at Beacon and he was already asking her out! Which was doubly weird because Pyrrha was practically throwing herself at him, and while that didn't make any sense and Weiss didn't want to think of herself as someone less desirable than Pyrrha, but… but it was weird!
No, Weiss did not like Mr. Jaune Arc and she was really starting to get annoyed even thinking about him. Ugh, and she'd just gotten over today's Ruby headache...
"Ms. Schnee?"
She looked up to see Lie Ren—surprising, she and Ren hadn't talked much before. He was someone who definitely blended into a crowd, even if the crowd was just him and his extremely excitable partner. But he had a quiet, diligent energy to him that reminded Weiss quite a bit of Klein, so she took to him easily. Even if she had a tendency not to notice him all the time.
"I… understand that my team leader has been asking you out on a date."
Weiss sighed. She appreciated the sympathy. "Trying to. But I'm hoping that he'll get the picture after I say no enough times."
"It might be worth your while to reconsider."
Weiss blinked in surprise at his response as he slid a dossier over to her. Confused, she opened it up, only to find… a whole bunch of papers. SDC papers. Photocopies of internal memos, transaction records, transcripts of recorded conversations… and her mouth went dry as she could tell that this was effective stuff. Individually, the company could handle this, but… they'd done their homework, and they were deep inside the SDC.
Looking up to Ren, though, his expression hadn't changed a bit.
"I just figured that…" he said, his voice weighty with implication, "if you were happening to be dating my team leader, something nice I could do for my leader's girlfriend was make sure this information… disappeared."
A smile crossed Weiss's face.
Now the weirdness gained some perspective, and this was something Weiss liked. She didn't know what Jaune's deal was, but she got blackmail. And blackmail meant he was clearly someone important, someone important enough that he had people with a lot of power looking out for him. And yes, it also meant they were blackmailing her, but Weiss respected power. Jaune awkwardly flirting with her was a nuisance, Jaune (or the organization supporting him) aggressively flexing his operational might, that was a move. Blackmail was just part of the game.
And the game meant that this was just another chance for Weiss to excel.
Plus, it made everything about Jaune a mystery, rather than a nuisance. One Weiss was interested in the possibility of cracking. Yes, she thought, flipping through the voluminous, damning information spread out before her, some of which even she hadn't known about, I think I could come to rather like Mr. Arc.
Nodding, she replied, "I appreciate the heads up, though… if it was possible that certain stories, perhaps this one…" she slid a paper back to Ren, documenting her father's mismanagement of a mining operation in Mistral, the kind of story that would put some pressure on dear old dad, setting her up to be in a better position when it came time to relieve him of his chairmanship, "If it reached the right ears, I would be… very appreciative."
Ren smirked. "I'm sure that could be arranged. I'm glad we had this talk, Ms. Schnee."
"Quite," she said, feeling a tingle of excitement building in her. "And please, tell Jaune that I'd be free after 6:00 on Friday—should I make the reservation, or…?"
"We can take care of that," he nodded.
"Well then," she smiled, "I'm looking forward to it."
And she couldn't lie.
She was.
Thanks to Renarde for feedback on this chapter!
Fortunately, Weiss is as ruthless and cutthroat as any of the cultists are, so there's no hard feelings about blackmailing her into dating Jaune. If anything, she might be yet another bad influence on our protagonist. But the bigger question, in my mind, is: will Nora get a chance to break some legs? Soon? Ever?
Next Up: More cultists?