Jaune's cup of coffee was cold. Then again, no one appeared to be interested in their beverages. Jaune sat across from Blake and Sun in their hotel room, unsure of where to go from here. Now that Vanessa knew the circumstances regarding her birth, things weren't going to be quite the same. He was sure she'd be fine in time, but the underlying scar would be there. Replace one mark with another... Was this really for the best?
"Your parents," Jaune started. Blake's ears perked. "Again, I've never met them. I presume Sun has at least?"
"I have," he confirmed. Jaune wasn't expecting him to answer. Perhaps he wanted Blake to continue composing herself? "Her mother, Kali, seemed to like me. Ghira on the other hand..."
"He does care..." Blake interjected. "He just doesn't want to admit it." She adjusted her grip on Sun's hand. "If you and Vanessa are alright with it, I do believe they'd be overjoyed at the opportunity to meet their granddaughter. They'd be happy to know she exists, actually..."
She made an eerily sad chuckle. She stood up and and excused herself as she made her way outside, scroll in hand.
"You two have tried?" Jaune asked. Sun's eyebrow rose. "For a baby, I mean."
"Yeah... I think I could've pushed her to meet Vanessa about a decade ago had things gone better. We were on a mission in Mistral, investigating this known crime family. Turns out Mistral had quite the underbelly and all. We didn't know what we were getting ourselves into... Then things went horribly. Blake got injured and..." Sun averted his gaze. "That was the first. Pile on more stress from the ordeal and multiply it by the number of hordes of Grimm we've faced and... Well, she's worn down her body."
"I see..." Jaune thought about Reverie. He should probably message her about Vanessa, see if she's feeling any better. "I'd be devastated as well. I don't blame her for not being in the right state of mind. And the string only continued... How far along is she again right now?"
"About over a month. I wanted to stay in Vale until we found out about... whether or not we'd be getting either good news or bad news. Sort of hoping Blake would spend more, less awkward time with Vanessa. She was incredibly excited, you know. When she found out Vanessa wants to become a Huntress."
"Really?"
"She figured Yang, Pyrrha, or Nora, would be a better fit as a mentor. And yet, she wanted to try. She dedicated herself to her career, after all. Maybe she could've motivated Vanessa to do the same."
"Maybe. Yang would be her biggest obstacle in that case. Yang has been training Vanessa for quite a while apparently. Doesn't surprise me too much. Yang has been there for her nearly as much as Reverie."
"What is the relationship between you two? If you don't mind my asking. I've been piecing a few things together, but I didn't want to make any assumptions."
Jaune drew in a sharp breath. "Yang and I... I'm not quite sure what there is between us. She loves Vanessa like her own daughter, and I love her for that. However, our time together after I left Beacon was interesting to say the least. There'd be nights where she'd visit and not return to Beacon until the following morning."
"I meant Reverie, not Yang."
Jaune blanked. He stared at Sun's cheeky smile before coughing into his fist. "I-I see. Reverie and I are colleagues. Well, partners. We investigate cases together and she was a mentor of sort when I first started. As of now though... How do I put this? I'd never consider her a friend with benefits, but we are intimate. I've had ideas with where I'd like to go with her, but..."
He felt his scroll go off just as Blake came back in. Her scroll still had an outgoing call.
"Jaune? Would you like to say hello to my parents?"
He wasn't ready for this. "Sure, why not?" He already felt the need to run.
Blake handed him her scroll and he took it, maintaining a neutral gaze. He was met with the face of a large man with aging features, but regardless of whatever the distance was between them, he could tell the man could pummel him into the ground.
"This is a lot to take in," his gruff voice started. "So you're the young man that knocked up my baby girl."
Maybe he should've checked his own scroll first...
