- Crimson and Golden -
Chapter Two:
Jaune could sense that his response had bothered the crimsonette, but there really was a method to his madness though it mightn't have been obvious at first glance. He didn't know when the weapon would return to his possession and this gave him a bit of an advantage. Whilst using a weapon not his own would ultimately serve to slow him down in the short-term there was the matter of him revealing his true weapon at a later juncture. His attention was pulled from his thoughts as he turned to look toward the path the other students were taking and he nodded once before turning back to Ruby.
"We'd better go this way if we're going to end up where we need to be."
"Good call," Ruby agreed.
The duo slowly changed their direction to match that of the other students and followed their trail through the Academy. Their chosen path would eventually lead them to the main Auditorium, to which several students were already piling into. Jaune followed suit and entered the Auditorium in the queue.
"Hey, sis, I saved you a seat!"
"I'd better go and get a seat myself," Jaune said, as a way of an attempt to let Ruby rejoin the Brawler, but the crimsonette was having none of it. She reached out her hand and clasped it around Jaune's wrist, a firm, "Nope," leaving her lips, "C'mon I'll introduce you to my sister!"
'Somehow I don't think that's a good idea...That girl looks like she could take my head off...then again Ruby probably could too with that Garden Scythe of hers...I think dad had a very good point. Girls are terrifying.'
Jaune was left with no choice but to accept his fate however, deciding it was for the best. He allowed for himself to be dragged along by Ruby toward the spot where Yang was waiting for her sister and waited awkwardly once he'd been shoved into the spot beside the diminutive girl.
"Looks like you got here okay."
"Yeah," Ruby fired back, "After you ditched me, luckily I found Jaune to help me instead."
"Jaune?"
"Jaune Arc," he cut in before Ruby could answer, "Short, sweet, rolls off the tongue-"
"You made a friend?" Yang asked her sister, clearly bewildered by this fact and Jaune wondered if it was a general difficulty with people that Ruby had and not just one like what he'd witnessed in the moments leading up to the two of them meeting each other.
"I did!" she nodded confidently, though Jaune didn't feel inclined to believe that Ruby felt as confident as she was putting across. As someone who often did the same thing, he could just tell with these things. Weapons and fighting were so much easier to understand than what people were but perhaps that was merely the side-effect of having a strategic brain. He wasn't awkward with people, nope, not at all. He's not lying, you are!
"Oooh, that's sooo cuuute!" Yang exclaimed, darting forward and hugging her sister as tightly as possible, only to be met with the flailing arms of one Ruby Rose who was desperately trying to escape from her sister's grasp. Jaune, on the other hand, naturally retreated a step, feeling somewhat intimidated by the two already. Mostly Yang, but he thought that she seemed like a person who would take advantage of knowledge like that, so he kept his mouth shut instead. He hoped this whole initiation mess would be over soon so that he could go back to his notes, he absolutely had to make sure that he was prepared for whatever came tomorrow at any cost.
"I'll keep this brief-"
Jaune's thoughts were interrupted by a man approaching the microphone sitting at the center of the stage, and in one hand he gripped a mug that had steam pouring off the top of it. The man pushed his sunglasses up the bridge of his nose, then continued to speak, "You have traveled here today in search of knowledge, to hone your craft and acquire new skills and when you have finished you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you and all I see is wasted energy, a need of purpose, direction. You assume knowledge will free you of this but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step."
"He...seemed really out there," Yang muttered.
"It's almost like he wasn't there at all," Jaune agreed quietly.
His gaze was still following Ozpin as he left the stage, Jaune was so focused on the man departing that he'd not heard the second part of the speech given by Goodwitch and he only knew it was time to move when Ruby began dragging him from the hall, "C'mon let's go and have a bit of a look around before we've got to meet in the ball room!"
"Augh! Ruby! Slow!"
It seemed that Jaune's protests fell on deaf ears, though, for Ruby kept tugging him from the ballroom, excitement written all over her face. Yang looked over at the two of them and shook her head amusedly then she shrugged her shoulders and followed on after them. Finally, once they'd fully made their exit Jaune was released from Ruby's grip and as if realizing immediately what she'd done, the crimsonette leaped back from him as though he were made of flame.
"S-sorry, Jaune, k-kinda got carried away there."
"Don't worry about it."
"Slow down you two!"
Jaune eased on his pace, his hands moving automatically to the back of his head, a soft tune rolling off his lips as he turned hs head back to observe the one who'd called out to him and Ruby. He nodded once to Yang in indication that he'd heard her. Ruby would also fall back slightly and the three of them would then fall into step beside one another to keep walking down through Beacon's Grounds in search of something to do.
"Should we go and have a look where the dorms are?" Yang suggested.
"I mean would be allowed to since we're all going to sleep in the hall tonight?" Jaune countered, a pointed look on his face as he said this.
"Okay, you've got a point."
The afternoon was relatively quiet, all things considered. Jaune had been pleasantly surprised that he hadn't been forced to endure this on his own though, he'd been worried that would be the case but it seemed that, at least for the time being he'd not be ridiculed for being the loner amongst the first years. Ultimately, Jaune, Ruby and Yang ended up spending their time looking around what they could of Campus.
Jaune knew that the best part of their first couple of days at Beacon would come tomorrow when he could finally let his skills do the talking though. Hopefully, he wouldn't end up on an Airship back home before he even got the chance to become a fully-fledged student. Only time would tell the outcome of this however and Jaune wasn't in a position to be putting those thoughts into his brain before he'd even had the chance to suit up and take the initiation for himself.
"You alright there, vomit boy?"
Jaune tilted his head in Yang's direction, a sigh emanating from his lips.
On second thought, maybe the journey back home wasn't such a negative idea.
End Chapter
Sorry this is so short, I've been struggling with this chapter I need to just post it up and hopefully doing a better one next round. See you next time.
