Guess who spent the entire day listening to the Vol. 7 OST instead of finishing this chapter ASAP? (This should have been up way earlier.) Hero is now my new favorite villain song in all of RWBY 😊 What's your favorite track from the OST?
Let's end the first arc with a, well, I can't say Yang because it's a Pyrrha chapter we're ending on, sadly. But, well, have a Pyrrha chapter to round us off! Both to get all seven colors of the rainbow in, and so we can write the last day of the week in. Seven colors, seven days, seven viewpoints. Honestly, would it surprise anyone if I mention I hope to write seven arcs in total, even if it means taking a long hiatus from this fic while waiting for new volumes to come out? It's like poetry.
(What's that, we have eight main characters? Why doesn't someone get his own chapter? Well…)
-0-
Volume 1.5 (Sunday): second rule! no more pda, esp after last night!
Welcome to juniper berries!
Rich Neighbor Weiss: ow my head
Rich Neighbor Weiss: ow my sore throat
Rich Neighbor Weiss: gods
Rich Neighbor Weiss: who brought in the alcohol last night?!
Cat Lady Neighbor Blake: who else
Cat Lady Neighbor Blake: im surprised yang had the lien to afford the stuff honestly
Cat Lady Neighbor Blake uploaded a photo!
Cat Lady Neighbor Blake: also, ruby's curled up in a corner and yang's snoring away, but where's the rest of you
Son: I'm at the common room kitchen.
Son: Pyrrha and Jaune returned to our dorms, and Jaune is teaching Pyrrha, ah…
Cat Lady Neighbor Blake: Vomit etiquette?
Son: Vomit etiquette.
Son: Some of you are not taking to last night's activities well, so I figured I'd prepared some things to help with everyone's hangovers.
Son: I'll be finished in a bit.
Rich Neighbor Weiss: i cannot believe that my years-long streak of abstaining from alcohol was broken last night
Daughter: I didn't know you were into the straight-edge lifestyle, Weiss!
Rich Neighbor Weiss: i try to avoid consuming alcohol besides social events
Rich Neighbor Weiss: besides, not having a hangover right now is infinitely preferable to alcoholism!
Rich Neighbor Weiss: and how are you so chipper, Nora? where are you even?
Daughter: I'm with Ren, duh.
Rich Neighbor Weiss: cant even type right in my scroll and apparently here you are being, well, you, despite the alcohol intake
Daughter: Pssh, it's more like you're all lightweights, honestly.
Daughter: Ren and I are used to drinking way stronger stuff.
Cat Lady Neighbor Blake: don't you complain that ren overspends on alcohol if you dont keep an eye on him
Daughter: Yes, but even I have to admit Ren has fantastic taste. It's just a shame the good stuff is expensive.
Rich Neighbor Weiss: and what about Jaune? How come he isn't vomiting all over yang's shoes by now? [edited]
Cat Lady Neighbor Blake: nice edit weiss
Son: Jaune was about to do that early this morning, but he's developed a habit of spending early Sunday mornings doing a few laps around the school, and he wasn't about to miss it now, even if he was looking slightly green when we left the music room.
Son: I hope, for all our sakes, that none of you must pass by any of Jaune's usual jogging routes today.
Dad uploaded a photo!
Dad uploaded a photo!
Dad played a video!
Dad: oh crap
Dad: sorry you all had to see pyr like that
Dad: she was insistent on holding onto her scroll the entire time before i took it away
Rich Neighbor Weiss: you better not be doing anything improper to pyrrha there, jaune! [edited]
Cat Lady Neighbor Blake: weiss does 'jaune' really autocorrect to dunce on your scroll?
Rich Neighbor Weiss: oh, shush, you! i can see you smirking from underneath all those blankets you're hiding under!
Daughter: Don't worry, this isn't their first rodeo!
Daughter: Besides, Yang and Pyrrha were way more improper last night, and I have the video to prove it! Three-drink Yang strikes again!
Rich Neighbor Weiss: gods, what did they even do
Daughter: Well, Yang tried to do someone–
Son: Something.
Daughter: –something, and Pyrrha was almost game to go along with it until Jaune came back
Rich Neighbor Weiss: you know what, forget i asked
Daughter: Yeah, you probably want to forget a lot of stuff that went down last night.
Daughter: Like after you and our Fearless Leader had your little chat you thought nobody noticed and you started hogging Ren and Jaune to yourself and making them pour you drinks and pretend they were your butlers and your next order was they had to serve their master in every way imaginable
Rich Neighbor Weiss: i did what
Dad: guys please dont remind pyrrha of what she did last night shes dying of embarrassment here
-0-
Pyrrha Nikos was a liar.
There were the terrible lies, of course, the damaging lies that destroy trust, the lies that people keep from each other to avoid hurting the other party, and there are the lies meant to protect, knowing full well that the truth was something not everyone was emotionally prepared to handle at that moment. And then there were the little white lies, the lies that Pyrrha felt were harmless and didn't need stating, because they were private and putting it out in the open contributed nothing to the current situation. Pyrrha never felt the need to expose those lies. They were theirs and theirs alone, and Pyrrha felt they had a right to their secrets.
(White lies included telling Jaune she was fine, she merely wanted to go back to their dorms, and while she, like Yang, had a tendency to vomit when drunk, it wasn't as bad as Jaune was making it out, even if she did like the way Jaune's hands caressed her back as she leaned on the sink to get it all out, rubbing against her back muscles as he soothed her with that tone of voice Pyrrha knew Jaune reserved for his loved ones. Other lies included convincing Jaune she was embarrassed, that she needed more help now, that he could attend to the others later, knowing full well that her partner most likely dealt with his own hangover earlier in the morning with nobody around to support him. Well, she was his partner, and she was not letting him leave right now when he needed a little break before running off to attend to everyone else.)
Lying was part and parcel of the fame that had accompanied her ever since her first victory at the Mistralian Regional Tournaments. As a celebrity, you had to be mindful of almost everything, from the way you dressed to the food you ate to the tone you adopted when answering questions, and when you were fresh off a hard-fought victory and wanted nothing more than to just return to your lockers and soothe your aching muscles, the last thing you wanted to do was answer useless questions from nosy interviewers.
The questions were fairly rote and predictable, especially for the diehard fans of the tournaments, and most were softballs that interviewers threw out to overwhelm celebrities, but Pyrrha had to answer some of them (it would be incredibly impolite if she didn't answer any!) so she responded to the easy question of what are your plans for future tournaments?
Well, she stated, with that neutral smile she had yet to perfect, her voice quivering with uncertainty (she suspected that she could only squeak out a reply thanks to the adrenaline in her veins after a hard-fought match), I'm not quite sure. I was planning on letting the chips fall where they may.
Pyrrha, having grown up on the northern part of the continent of Anima, was well-versed in multiple languages and dialects, with her hometown's old language (developed long, long before the Kingdom of Mistral ratified the 'official' Mistralian language, to the dismay of almost twenty other representatives, each with their own language and cultures to represent) and the Valean common tongue being her preferred languages. The interviewer had asked a question in Valean, and she responded in kind.
The problem was one of translation: in the Valean tongue, the words 'fate' and 'destiny' carried similar meanings and connotations, but in the old Mistralian tongue, the two words had subtle nuances that differentiated the two concepts. When she chose the Valean turn of phrase, her intention was to show her belief that regardless of what happens in the future, she was going to pursue her goals, but the nuances were lost to most of the people in the crowd, as well as the people reporting on her win. Comparisons were immediately made to a famous Mistralian legend from centuries past, an invincible warrior who was part of a decade-long siege against an enemy city-state. She was comparing herself to an invincible warrior fated to victory, destined for greatness. Pyrrha Nikos, despite her best efforts, had proclaimed that she was the second coming of such a legend, that she was allowing fate to take control of her life, that she was going to live up to some heroic destiny.
In some of the classic plays and tragedies preserved in her hometown, the focus was always on heroes who were ordained by Fate to play crucial roles in the history of mankind. But fate was not destiny, because while fate was something assigned to you by the gods, it was your responsibly to shape your destiny. Destiny, Pyrrha learned, was something that heroes pursued relentlessly, not something handed to them on a silver platter. The turning point for most heroes in the old stories was their determination to achieve what they saw as their destiny, to rush headlong into their end out of their own choice. And choice was an important nuance in the old Mistralian tongue that divided the idea of fate and destiny. In the Valean tongue, fate and destiny were synonymous – one achieved a destiny that was laid out for them by the gods, not one they had decided was their end goal in life.
By the time she won her third tournament, people had begun calling her the 'Invincible Girl', a moniker not dissimilar to the invincible warrior of the legends. And people began to believe that she was destined for great things. She did, too. She just spoke old Mistralian, and most of her fans read the quote in Valean.
Pyrrha was perhaps too young to realize the implications of her words, but as the years passed and her fame grew, she began to realize, in horror, that her words unintentionally made her out to be a liar, at least in the Valean tongue. Because she wasn't going to let the chips fall where they may – it just so happened that she could control the way the chips fell. Her semblance, the ability to control most objects with metal in it, represented her more than she cared to admit, because while to the rest of the word Pyrrha Nikos was a brilliant genius (a word her trainer scoffed at) who was fated to achieve great things, she was determined to take control of destiny her own way, even if she had to be silent about her abilities and give off little white lies about what she could or could not do.
That interview was the first time Pyrrha Nikos discovered the virtues of lying.-0-
Welcome to juniper berries!
Cat Lady Neighbor Blake: i have to say, pyr being vomit girl for once is hilarious
Cat Lady Neighbor Blake: its like the title to one of those superhero comics jaune likes so much
Cat Lady Neighbor Blake: the adventures of vomit boy and vomit girl
Cat Lady Neighbor Blake: short, sweet, rolls of the tongue. i bet the ladies love it. right, Mom?
Mom: oh ha ha very funny
Mom: im sure ms. Tiger & Dragon hasn't written anything as cringy
Cat Lady Neighbor Blake: !
Cat Lady Neighbor Blake: how do you know that jaune
Mom: not telling
Mom: but should you really be messaging pyr for fanfic ideas this early in the morning
Mom: esp when shes vomiting n someone else is holding onto her scroll
Cat Lady Neighbor Blake: jaune arc you are a dead man
Mom: you n your partner wish!
Mom: i know your too hungover to get to the kitchen before i hide myself so there
Mom: i quite like my limbs and my spine thank you very much
Someone is typing…
Daughter: NOOOOOOOOO
Daughter booped Dad!
Daughter booped Aunt Yang!
Daughter: Pyrrha can't be vomit girl! That's two-drink Yang's title!
Rich Neighbor Weiss: Nora, please, some of us are trying to sleep! Don't ping or make sudden noises in the chat now, my headache is killing me!
Rich Neighbor Weiss: Think about poor Pyrrha, she must be suffering right now.
Dad: I'm fine, I promise. I have our dorm all to myself, after all.
Dad: Ren brought me some water and fruit to munch on. He and Jaune are making breakfast right now. You should probably get up already as well.
Dad: Also, you should probably wake up Ruby and Yang.
Cat Lady Neighbor Blake: i refuse
Rich Neighbor Weiss: I refuse
-0-
Pyrrha's decision to move to Beacon was, in part, a chance for her to shed the image of the 'Invincible Girl', as futile as it sounded. But the primary motivation, for Pyrrha, was that she could perhaps shed that part of her that lied constantly to everyone around her.
She understood that she was on a pedestal, that people looked up to her as a role model. She didn't resent that of people – she understood how important it was for people to be comforted, to believe in people powerful enough to protect them. All her life she had wanted to be a Huntress and protect people – she believed it was her destiny – and the tournaments were simply a way to sharpen her skill, and perhaps provide for her family as well. They were never the most well-off, before the tournament success, but they had always supported her desire to better herself, to become powerful and achieve that goal.
What she resented, however, was how her image was built up largely beyond her control, how people saw her as a fighting genius destined to save the world. How the role she had unintentionally put on herself forced her to lie, forced her into being the 'Invincible Girl', forced her to wear the kind of armor that she wore, more for appearance than practicality, forced her to do sponsorships for companies that 'fit' her image, forced her to claim Pumpkin Pete's was a good cereal (it certainly was… tasty… but she always felt like she needed to burn a lot of calories after a bowl), forced her to always be polite and cheerful even if a fan was a bit too grabby for her liking or if scandalous rumors spread about her simply because she was talking to that friendly fan who just wanted to talk to her. (Pyrrha had lost count of how many times tabloids would run headlines of her interacting with some guy who ran into her during a morning jog, or girls at the gym who would walk up to her in the middle of a particularly grueling set to ask for autographs.)
Moving to Beacon meant, hopefully, that she would do less of that. She knew that her fame would follow her, but the Kingdom of Vale was not the Kingdom of Mistral, it was in fact a continent away, and she hoped to lie less, at least to other people.
Unfortunately, during the day of Initiation, Pyrrha had to lie again.
She didn't have anything against Weiss, not really, even if Weiss was a bit pushy at first. Pyrrha was no expert at social interaction, having distanced herself from most relationships once she realized her fame was a double-edged sword, but even she knew that Weiss meant well, even if it was blatant that she was suffering from a really bad case of hero-worship (Pyrrha worried if Weiss was like many of her younger, female fans, many of whom claimed to be totally in love with her through correspondences and… unsavory scroll messages… but it was too early to judge, Pyrrha admonished herself) and seemed the type to not take no for an example.
Which was why Pyrrha found it amusing when Jaune joined their conversation, doing the same thing to Weiss that Weiss was doing to Pyrrha.
Pyrrha wasn't a vindictive person, no, but she wasn't exactly pleased that she had to pull out the let the chips fall where they may line for Weiss, mostly because she didn't want to explain the intricacies of fate and destiny in the Valean tongue to someone she had just met that day, even if she was aware of the Schnee name. It was just easier that way.
Part of her was glad that Jaune seemed to distract the heiress from bugging her even further, even if it was clear a part of him was really invested in getting her to pay attention to him instead. Pyrrha had long accepted that people were complex, that they could choose to do things for two completely different reasons, even if sometimes these reasons were at odds with one another. Which was why she didn't mind that Jaune was a little cringy in his attempts to woo the heiress – they were hormonal, dumb teenagers, she felt, they deserved to be somewhat cringy, even if Pyrrha herself never had the chance to work out her own hormones – and only put up a token effort to get Jaune to stop hitting on Weiss. She also didn't mind that Jaune had no idea who she was, at times bordering on ignorance, because it just made the moment he extended the offer to her to be part of 'Team Jaune' all the better. For all that the blonde dork was enamored with Weiss, he was still mindful of her presence and extended the invitation. She was just a stranger to him, and yet Jaune had made the offer for them to be friends.
(Nowadays, Pyrra felt, things were better now between her and the heiress, but she couldn't deny that there were some lingering resentment. But Pyrrha didn't hate her, and it certainly wasn't Weiss' fault Pyrrha was uneasy with her…)
It was a petty thing, she knew, because Weiss had made the same offer and she had dismissed it because she didn't want to be partnered with someone who saw her as the 'Invincible Girl', but it felt as if meeting Jaune was the first step for Pyrrha to grow out of the lies she had crafted for herself. Pyrrha prided herself on how, contrary to the image Valean newspapers crafed, most of her life was defined by her choices. It was her choice to be a huntress, her choice to present herself a certain way to live up to everyone's expectations, her choice to go to Beacon instead of Haven. As if in defiance of this misunderstanding the world seemed to have about her, Pyrrha had insisted on asserting her agency. Pyrrha Nikos was destined to be a Huntress, and she was going to achieve it, one way or another.
Meeting Jaune, however, was Fate. Because she never had a choice in the matter. He was never a part of her plans, had no room in her destiny. He was not the best fighter, nor did he have any heroic lineage to him that would assist her in saving the world. He was something that Fate dropped in her life, almost as an obstacle.
Well, Pyrrha decided, I would not be much of an 'Invincible Girl' if I didn't try to fight my Fate. So she decided, then and there, that Jaune's presence was going to be part of her destiny.
So she lied again. Actually, Jaune, I think you'd be a great leader.
-0-
Welcome to juniper berries!
Rich Neighbor Weiss: Wait, he didn't make you drink that weird sludge he practically forced down my throat?!
Cat Lady Neighbor Blake: phrasing, weiss
Dad: …no? Ren gave me some water and fruit and left.
Dad: How are you feeling now, by the way?
Cat Lady Neighbor Blake: better after washing up, but ren's weird health drink is going to give me nightmares
Rich Neighbor Weiss: I'm feeling better now. Although I do feel rather peckish. Are Ren and Jaune finished cooking? [edited]
Son: Almost.
Rich Neighbor Weiss: Thank you for all the help, Ren. I was worried that today would start off on the wrong foot, but your assistance was invaluable.
Son: You should also thank Jaune, since he was the one who forced me to wake up early to do morning stretches and decided we prepare all this.
Rich Neighbor Weiss: …I suppose.
Rich Neighbor Weiss: Considering everything, yesterday turned out well, even if my new favorite ASMR channel failed to update last night.
Dad: I'm sure he was busy with other commitments, Weiss.
Someone is typing…
Adopted Sister Ruby: why do people like drinking? my head hurts!
Dad: Good morning, Ruby. Feeling better?
Adopted Sister Ruby: no
Adopted Sister Ruby: also, why are we chatting in team jnpr's chat?
Daughter: Everyone went wild last night and you got mad everyone else was in the JNPR chat and you weren't.
Daughter: You got really weepy. Like Yang after three drinks level of weepy.
Adopted Sister Ruby: right, ok so
Adopted Sister Ruby: official team ruling: no alcohol allowed. Ever
Adopted Sister Ruby: that goes for team jnpr too. as your official second-in-command i call the shots
Daughter: Yeah? Well, I only listen to my Fearless Leader!
Daughter: No offense, Ruby.
Adopted Sister Ruby: none taken!
Adopted Sister Ruby: besides, jaune and I already have plans in mind in case you ever, yknow, get uppity
Adopted Sister Ruby: lets just say jaune's left explicit recorded commands in case of an untimely demise
Dad: Not that I wish to interrupt your conversation about our team's chain of command, but I heard Yang swearing up a storm in the hallways. Should we be worried?
Cat Lady Neighbor Blake: no, she says she wants to sweat the hangover out
Cat Lady Neighbor Blake: i know, it sounds stupid, but you don't want to tell a grumpy hungover yang what to do
Mom: guys
Mom: food's ready
Mom: come and get it
Mom uploaded a photo!
Rich Grandma Weiss: Do we have any coffee?
Son: Yes, Weiss. We also prepared coffee. The kind you like.
Cat Lady Neighbor Blake: jaune is that salmon? for breakfast?
Mom: yeah? yang n i bought some for you the other day when we did our food run
Mom: we also got eggs n bacon n slightly burnt toast
Mom: we got some fruit too since apparently you need tons of protein and water when you're hungover
Mom: at least thats what saph says
Cat Lady Neighbor Blake: i could hug you right now jaune
Rich Grandma Weiss: Brunch first!
Adopted Sister Ruby: second rule! no more pda, esp after last night!
-0-
The thing about Jaune was that he had a way of making the people around him better, even if he didn't realize it. (That was how Jaune got Pyrrha and Blake to be friends, after all.)
Looking back on that first day, Pyrrha could admit that she was simply comforting the knight, who looked hurt (in a way that distressed Pyrrha; it looked like the pain of someone who was used to hearing others put him down) at Weiss' dismissal of him. It didn't help that Jaune's eyes lit up at the compliment, like a puppy starved for affection, and Pyrrha's heart ached when all the confidence her compliment gave him deflated once more once Weiss got fed up with him. It was narcissistic, she felt, but she could relate to it – she had once been like that, too.
Not many people knew this, but Pyrrha as a child was complete garbage at all the combat skills required of being a huntress – she had no sense of coordination, her stamina was poor, she was sickly, and she didn't have the heart to try and hurt anyone. Sure, it was easier when you fought Grimm, but Huntresses were expected to keep the peace, which mean they would also come into conflict with fellow humans sooner or later.
That all changed when she met her old trainer. The story was well-known in circles around Mistral, how Pyrrha was picked out by a famous Huntress who was getting on in age, who chose to take her on as an apprentice. What they didn't know was the nearly ten week-long campaign Pyrrha undertook, begging at the door of the retired Huntress to let her in to no avail. The walls of the Huntress' home was simply unassailable through conventional means, and it was only through the crafty advice of a friend that Pyrrha was able to sneak into the Huntress' sanctum (it involved a wooden horse; don't ask) and gain an audience with the amused fighter.
Years later, her trainer would tell her that she agreed to train her not because she had any hidden talent, or genius, or some secret lineage that meant she needed to be trained. It ain't potential you got, kiddo, her trainer started to say, because everyone has potential. Don't believe the fools who just rely on talent.
Talent was real, her trainer told her, but all the talent meant nothing if the person in question wasn't interested in cultivating it. To put it in terms that Pyrrha understood, some people were fated to be good warriors, but it wasn't necessarily their destiny. Destiny, after all, was something you pursued.
And when Pyrrha never gave up, proved herself determined to reach her dream of being a Huntress, everything be damned, her trainer acquiesced and unlocked her aura.
Pyrrha considered herself lucky that she had met someone who was willing to believe in her, and as a result, she found her talents and opportunities to take advantage of that talent, and she felt the same was true for Jaune. All he needed was a push – that stray compliment about him being a good leader may not have necessarily been true, but that had pushed the blonde knight into taking on the leadership role during Initiation. The two teams had only known each other for a short while and barely had the time to explain their combat skills, but Jaune immediately understood the balance of the teams and had made the call to leave the giant Nevermore to the future Team RWBY while he moved to help out the future JNPR in whatever way he could. Pyrrha wasn't about to lie and say that Jaune was a natural at the leadership role, but when it became clear that nobody else in their impromptu team was willing to step up to the role, Jaune forced himself to grow into the role they all needed him to take on.
It was then that Pyrrha realized that this wasn't how things were supposed to happen. She only chose to go with Jaune because she didn't feel there were any better options, and Jaune seemed harmless, but everything else, from Jaune's almost suicidal ignorance of Aura to his overwhelming lack of combat ability, was beyond her calculations. His idiocy forced Pyrrha to unlock his aura despite how difficult (and intimate, Pyrrha reminded herself) the act was, and by that point, the destiny of the two were irrevocably linked. She had sworn her soul to his, to protect him from harm, and she was fully prepared to go through with that oath. She was even prepared to lie about Jaune's Aura capabilities, if only to make him feel confident enough to not curl up and die at the first sight of a Grimm, but at least Jaune had that going for him. One less lie for Pyrrha to make.
The thing was, Jaune tended to turn Pyrrha's lies into truths. Instead of letting the chips fall where they may, she actively sought out Jaune as her partner. From her simple lie, Jaune showed enough skill (or guts) to convince Ozpin to elect him team leader, and despite some growing pains, Jaune strove to grow into the role, even if he felt himself unworthy of it. Nowadays, Pyrrha could confidently state that Jaune was a good leader, even if his combat skills lagged behind that of all of his friends. Once Jaune realized that he was trying to live up to an ideal that he himself didn't believe in, he found himself thriving by focusing on the skills he was most inclined to – support, backup, strategy. Pyrrha hit her stride the same way, when her trainer understood her instincts and how she preferred to use her semblance, and trained her how to use her semblance subtly, not as a battering ram used to brute-force her way through fights.
Jaune found a way to make her other lies into truths as well. She certainly was frosty towards Weiss early in the semester due to how the heiress treated her partner, but Jaune's rather cute crush on her forced Pyrrha to be polite to Weiss at the very least, and once she got to know the heiress, she began to understand that Weiss was simply bad at expressing herself, and generally meant well. Early on in the semester, Jaune had made a stray observation about Blake (Blake sure likes reading erotic literature) and Pyrrha, more out of politeness than anything, opted to reply (please don't tell anyone else this, but I've… ah… read some of those novels before.) just to keep the conversation going. It wasn't a complete lie – she was a growing teenage girl, after all, with needs and interests of her own. It wasn't her fault her mother left those novels lying around! But she wasn't the kind of dedicated fan who read all the Ninjas of Love series in public, even if Blake hid the cover with the dust jackets of more reputable books. It was just a minor detail she threw out: being partners with Jaune made Pyrrha realize that Jaune was the type of person who hated when someone felt left out of a conversation, and there wasn't any harm admitting this to her closest friend in Beacon. This wasn't Argus, after all, where her tastes and interests were under constant scrutiny.
Even at the height of her disagreements with Jaune and the fracture that caused the team, Pyrrha realized that Jaune still had the team's best interests in mind, which was why he had let it slip to Blake that Pyrrha was 'avid reader' of her beloved series and had done the same to Pyrrha to distract her. Jaune certainly was crafty, even if he wasn't subtle, but…
So her friendship with Blake started with a little white lie. She wasn't as passionate a fan as Blake, but she suspected Blake knew that too. If Blake was going to pretend that she wasn't watching over Jaune and his bullying problem (out of some powerful sense of justice and desire to protect the weak rather than any interest in the person himself, Pyrrha hoped/suspected) then Pyrrha could pretend she was a bigger fan of the series than she actually was. Besides, she always wanted a female friend that shared interests with her.
That little lie slowly became the truth, however, as Blake and Jaune both helped her through the series, even with how slow she was as a reader. It helped that some of the other books Blake liked received adaptations in the forms of Mistralian cartoons, and that Pyrrha genuinely loved, and soon the two became more obsessed with Mistralian cartoons in general. Soon their friendship had blossomed into a comfortable partnership writing fanfiction of their own and discussing novels or cartoons in the library in between classes or sparring sessions. Sometimes they would work on their fanfiction. Sometimes Blake would hang out at the rooftop Pyrrha and Jaune practiced on (purely for book-reading reasons, Blake claimed) and sure, maybe sometimes Jaune would feel bad at how Blake seemed to want to initiate conversations with Yang but her own insecurities and trust issues held her back (Blake never talked about what held her back, but Pyrrha always felt that they were deep-seated and she was not equipped to handle them, so she and Jaune silently agreed to just be there for the cat faunus) so he would invite Blake and Yang to hang out with him and Pyrrha. That always seemed to be Team JNPR's modus operandi: distract 'em until the opportunity presented itself to strike. And sure enough, Blake had become more comfortable around the two of them that she could make these little jokes and insinuations towards her, and at some point the playful side of Blake's personality began to emerge when she started teasing Jaune and his various idiosyncrasies (a fact that Yang and Blake bonded over, the basis of her friendship with Jaune being that as well), and Pyrrha could trust Blake enough that she couldn't get mad at her because it was mostly Blake just messing with them.
All this from a lie, Pyrrha mused. Thankfully, a certain someone managed to turn her lies into truths, even if it wasn't supposed to be this way.
-0-
Welcome to Team RRAYNNBW!
Big Kitty Goth GF: i cant believe they kicked us out of the team jnpr chat
SunnyLittleDragon: whats wrong with our chat?
Big Kitty Goth GF: nothing!
Big Kitty Goth GF: its just nice to be part of a chat that isn't filled 24/7 with dog photos
Big Kitty Goth GF: ruby
Ren-sensei: I'm not sure you'd say that if you catch us on a day Nora and Jaune decide to shitpost.
Ren-sensei: The other day Nora flooded our chat with videos of, uh.
Ren-sensei: "pancake ASMR"
Cereal Girl: It was mostly gifs and short videos of people pouring syrup on pancakes
Ren-sensei: or that time Jaune was annoyed that none of us were reading the team documents so he posted it in the chat
Ren-sensei: Line by line
Ren-sensei: That was why we had to call in Ruby to the chat the first time, to get him to stop.
Snow Angel: Wouldn't it be nice to have someone reign in our leader when she goes too far with her own messages?
Big Kitty Goth GF: you know I can't control ruby, and yang is more of an enabler type of person
SunnyLittleDragon: hey you're the second in command not me
Big Kitty Goth GF: not by choice! im p sure i don't have what it takes to lead anything!
Cereal Girl: I don't know, I think you would make a great leader, Blake.
Big Kitty Goth GF: pyr i know you're just saying that to be nice
Big Kitty Goth GF: not that i dont appreciate the vote of confidence 😉
SunnyLittleDragon: blakey while i love this whole hitting on half of team jnpr thing you have going on right now you may want to keep things to your private chat
Big Kitty Goth GF: whats the problem, jealous?
SunnyLittleDragon: hell no
Vomit Boy: yes you are and i have proof
SunnyLittleDragon: you got a death wish VB
Vomit Boy: no i just want you not to use your semblance in the kitchen again
Vomit Boy: and if getting beat up means getting you to stop then I don't mind
Vomit Boy: i mean, the toast was fine! slightly burnt, but fine!
SunnyLittleDragon: you've been getting cheeky lately VB i dont like it
Ren-sensei: As loath as I am to fight you on this, Yang, Jaune has a point.
Ren-sensei: We're still cleaning up your mess after all.
SunnyLittleDragon: i said i was sorry!
SunnyLittleDragon: besides i know you wanna fight me again i bet your salty i handed you your ass last week
Ren-sensei: …maybe.
Ren-sensei: Not today, however.
Someone is typing…
Queen of the Castle: What's with the hold-up, people?!
Queen of the Castle: I can't test the new and upgraded Magnhild without test dummies!
SunnyLittleDragon: omw nora, chill
SunnyLittleDragon: yo pyr you still down for a spar after this?
Cereal Girl: Of course, Yang.
RedLikeStrawberries uploaded a photo!
RedLikeStrawberries: oh im so excited to see the new grenade launcher upgrade in action
Vomit Boy: wait you went through with the grenade launcher modification?
RedLikeStrawberries: yeah, yesterday when i was with nora and pyrrha
Vomit Boy: oh no
Vomit Boy: i havent filed the weapon modification form yet! glynda's gonna kill me!
Snow Angel: Ruby, what did you do to Nora's weapon? Also, where are you?
RedLikeStrawberries: on the cliffs overseeing emerald forest
Big Kitty Goth GF: why there?
RedLikeStrawberries: lots of empty space, grimm are regularly cleaned out, it's a safe spot for what we wanna do
RedLikeStrawberries: also weiss i upgraded Nora's grenade launcher for more explosive power
RedLikeStrawberries: most of the mechanics in the workshop refused to try my design so i had to do it myself
Queen of the Castle: Yeah! My grenades are gonna fly in this cool heart shape too!
Snow Angel: That sounds like a terrible idea, Ruby! Why can't you take it to the training room?!
Queen of the Castle: What, and blow up the training room with everyone in it? Don't be silly, Weiss!
Snow Angel: This is beyond silly, Nora! That sounds dangerous! Ruby, don't encourage her!
Snow Angel: Also, what even are you going to do there, Yang?!
SunnyLittleDragon: nora needs to test the new mode versus human opponents too, and im the most suited for it here with my semblance
Big Kitty Goth GF: yang, are you seriously going to let nora lob grenades at you
SunnyLittleDragon: eh why not, i need practice with my semblance anyway
Vomit Boy: nora i just filed our ammunition requisition forms please don't use up your grenade supply in one go
Queen of the Castle: Oh, it'll be fine! We don't have anything major coming up in the next two weeks besides the end of semester exams anyway!
Vomit Boy: what about the combat exam?
Queen of the Castle: That's exactly why we need to test the new upgrade!
Ren-sensei: Jaune, I don't want to admit it, but Nora has a point.
Vomit Boy: dude im like cleaning up in the kitchen we can just talk in person
Ren-sensei: My apologies.
Snow Angel: Wait.
Snow Angel: Wait wait wait wait wait.
Snow Angel: Exams are in two weeks?
Vomit Boy: yeah?
Queen of the Castle: Yeah?
Snow Angel: How could I forget about the exams? I've barely begun to prepare!
Big Kitty Goth GF: …maybe you had your calendar in your binder?
Snow Angel: I have a separate binder for academic concerns!
Ren-sensei: We have been busy the past week with detention to worry about the upcoming exams.
Cereal Girl: I'm not sure why you're so worried, Weiss. Surely you'll ace all our exams.
Snow Angel: Pyrrha, thank you for the compliment, that's very sweet of you, but we still need to prepare for them.
Snow Angel: I barely did any studying this week!
Ren-sensei: It's not like we have any big events to worry about in the next few weeks. You can start reviewing now, Weiss.
Snow Angel: Good idea. I should prepare a schedule for reviewing.
Cereal Girl: Good luck with that, Weiss.
Snow Angel: Wait. Wait wait wait. I have an idea.
Snow Angel: Pyrrha, what say you and I team up and review for the exams together? Surely the two smartest girls among the first years can pass the tests easily.
Snow Angel: We can prepare with Nora and Ren too! I'm sure they haven't reviewed either.
Cereal Girl: I'm flattered, but I already have a study group with Blake and Jaune, and we have our own… rhythm to things.
Ren-sensei: Nora's already prepared for the end of term exams – she did all her studying at the beginning of the semester.
Ren-sensei: She's also tutoring me, and before you ask, no, you do not want to be tutored by her unless you either have a lot of aura or a semblance that lets you suppress emotions.
Big Kitty Goth GF: so that's why nora has so much free time
Cereal Girl: There is a reason Nora's grades are perpetually hovering in the top percentage even with all the demerits she gets from Professor Goodwitch.
Snow Angel: This is the first I'm hearing of this!
Vomit Boy: were you not paying attention to nora's stories? half of them are like about her preparing in advance for exams
Snow Angel: I can't be expected to listen to all of Nora's stories!
Snow Angel: No offense, Nora.
Queen of the Castle: None taken!
Snow Angel: Also, why are you tutoring Blake as well, Pyrrha? I would have thought Blake's already caught up with all our studies, considering how much time she spends reading.
Cereal Girl: I mean, you say that, but…
Vomit Boy: she reads mostly, uh
Big Kitty Goth GF: go ahead and finish that sentence jaune
Big Kitty Goth GF: i hear you want to learn more about gambol shroud
Vomit Boy: …specialized literature
Big Kitty Goth GF: nice save
Cereal Girl: Besides, it isn't like Blake has a lot of formal education, considering her… background. I think her only good subject is History.
Snow Angel: Oh.
Snow Angel: That's true.
Snow Angel: I apologize, Blake. I forgot about that.
Big Kitty Goth GF: nah we're cool. besides, nora and ren didn't go to a combat school either and they seem ok
Ren-sensei: I will admit, I still struggle with the curriculum sometimes, but Nora's helped me through a lot of it.
Ren-sensei: She decided to blitz through all the material in the first week, after all.
Cereal Girl: I'd suggest you join us, Weiss, but we already have our schedule mapped out and you may be dissatisfied with our pace.
Snow Angel: No, no, it's fine. I suppose I'll study on my own.
Vomit Boy: …i mean, ruby's still struggling with grimm studies and you know she skipped two years so she doesn't know a lot of this stuff
Cereal Girl: She did mention yesterday that she was still shaky with some of the other subjects you share with her
Big Kitty Goth GF: also, i know yang's not done any serious studying
Snow Angel: …right. All valid points.
Snow Angel: I'll take those two into consideration. I suppose it wouldn't hurt to help them out, and it should help me focus my own studying.
Cereal Girl: We could always cram together the night before exams as well. I've never gotten to do that back in Sanctum.
Snow Angel: That sounds highly irresponsible. I, for one, have never crammed for an exam in my life.
Vomit Boy: aw, come on weiss, cramming is fun if you're with friends
Snow Angel: Maybe for you, Jaune! [edited]
Queen of the Castle: We could always turn the cramming session into another sleepover!
Queen of the Castle: Ren and I always wanted to have one of those!
Ren-sensei: We've never really gone to a formal school before, so this should be a novel experience.
Cereal Girl: That sounds wonderful, you two! I'm looking forward to it!
Big Kitty Goth GF: i wouldn't mind, it sounds fun
Vomit Boy: wait, so none of you ever got to try that out before?
Snow Angel: …I suppose it couldn't hurt to try.
RedLikeStrawberries uploaded a streaming video!
RedLikeStrawberries played a video over the chat!
RedLikeStrawberries: guys!
RedLikeStrawberries: we're gonna start the first round of testing!
RedLikeStrawberries: check it out!
-0-
Pyrrha could have sworn that she felt the dust-fueled explosion, followed by the outburst of flame and aura-enhanced shockwaves, in her bones, and that was no lie or exaggeration. At the very least, both Nora and Yang forced Pyrrha to be honest. There was no denying the raw power, the sheer straightforwardness and directness those two possessed. In the face of their overwhelming approaches to life, how could Pyrrha do anything more than be swept away in their antics?
-0-
Welcome to Milk and Cereal!
Ruby Rose: hey pyrrha
Pyrrha Nikos: Ruby!
Pyrrha Nikos: Oh, I do hope you three are alright.
Pyrrha Nikos: I was worried when you levelled all those trees and almost started a forest fire.
Ruby Rose: yeah, miss goodwitch wasnt happy abt that
Ruby Rose: im just glad jaune somehow got all the forms approved in time
Ruby Rose: not sure how since miss goodwitch signs most of the forms…
Pyrrha Nikos: well, where are you three now
Ruby Rose: we just got out of a scolding from her office
Ruby Rose: we almost got detention for the entire thing but professor ozpin convinced professor goodwitch that it was a perfectly legitimate training exercise
Pyrrha Nikos: I suppose this means Yang is free to spar with me later still, then.
Ruby Rose: oh yeah yang got off easy all things considered, although her aura got pretty low near the end
Ruby Rose: i still need to work on Magnhild though, there were some flaws in the release mechanism and i think nora's usual grenades dont have the impact we had in mind
Ruby Rose: id have to look up the schematics again so we can maybe switch to a different manufacturer or look into alternatives for nora's proposed upgrade
Ruby Rose: plus nora pointed out that considering her semblance the current Magnhild model might accidentally suffer a few grenade discharges if nora absorbs lightning, so i gotta keep that in mind for future modifications
Ruby Rose: weiss' magazine gave me loads of ideas on how to fix it though, maybe once the parts are on the market we can order em
Ruby Rose: man jaune is gonna be so mad at me when he fills out next month's budget requests
Ruby Rose: um…
Ruby Rose: im not boring you with all the weapon talk, right, pyrrha?
Pyrrha Nikos: oh, no, no, I find it all fascinating. I'm mostly unresponsive because I'm preparing to spar with Yang in a half-hour or so. I'm looking over my gear right now and I'll be doing some light stretching later.
Pyrrha Nikos: Back to what you were saying, however. Honestly, I find your passion for weapons design very inspiring, Ruby.
Ruby Rose: really?
Ruby Rose: most people just get bored when i ramble on n on about weapons. im glad nora gets all of my weapon nonsense, but other people?
Ruby Rose: i mean jaune's always fine listening to me talk about it but i know most of it flies over his head even he tries so hard to pretend he gets it
Ruby Rose: not that i wanna say hes dumb or anything but weapon stuff isn't his strong suit!
Ruby Rose: yang's the same she does her best but shes more of a punch first, ask questions later person, ren chose a simple weapon to use so he doesn't really look into the intricacies of weapon design, and weiss is more into dust and myrtenaster's more of a dust dispenser than a weapon
Ruby Rose: blake's actually pretty good with weapon stuff and i talk to her abt it every now and then, but, well, it's blake… i still have a hard time reading her, honestly
Ruby Rose: and im rambling again, sorry
Pyrrha Nikos: Oh, don't worry too much about it, Ruby.
Pyrrha Nikos: Also, I wouldn't worry too much about Blake. She's taking her time, but she's becoming more and more comfortable with all of you.
Pyrrha Nikos: Don't hesitate to be a little more forward with her now. She trusts all of you enough to talk, even if she's very…Blake.
Ruby Rose: Yeah… yeah, you're right. we're a team! we can talk abt this stuff!
Someone is typing…
Ruby Rose: um also
Ruby Rose: i know i didn't get to say it yesterday thanks to the party and all but uh
Ruby Rose: thanks for cheering me up when i was feeling down
Ruby Rose: you and nora being there for me the entire afternoon must have been boring since you prolly had other plans
Pyrrha Nikos: Oh, don't worry about it too much, Ruby. Nora and I are just happy to spend time with our friends, you know?
Ruby Rose: well, thanks, anyway. you humored all my weapon stuff and didn't even complain when nora and i spent a lot of time in the workshop to work on Magnhild
Ruby Rose: um
Ruby Rose: if you want, next time we hang out
Ruby Rose: i could maybe…
Ruby Rose: …work on Miló and Akoúo̱?
Pyrrha Nikos: Of course, Ruby. I'd love to.
-0-
Pyrrha Nikos honestly had a hard time at first making sense of Ruby and Nora. Ruby was more of Jaune's friend at the beginning, and Pyrrha was content to allow the younger girl to talk and ramble on because the weapons prodigy was a tiny ball of social anxiety, struggling to conduct normal conversations with people. Pyrrha at least had the advantage of age and experience, and she had dealt with many an awkward conversation with fans who were either too awestruck to see a celebrity or just ill-equipped with social etiquette. Her usual strategy was to just keep smiling and nodding, throwing out a few words every now and then to show that she was paying attention to the conversation, and allow the other person to get tired.
Nora was the same – her hyperactive, manic energy didn't mesh well with Pyrrha's reserved nature, and Pyrrha felt the best course of action was to keep her distance until either Ren arrived or Nora got bored and wandered off. A part of her felt bad about that – Nora was her teammate, for gods' sake – but Pyrrha didn't know how else to communicate with her.
So she told them little white lies to humor them. No harm, no foul. She liked them well enough, but she just didn't feel equipped to deal with them and was content to just let the chips fall where they may when interacting with the two. Better to let Jaune deal with them, since Ruby and Jaune got along so well it was like they were childhood friends, and Nora looked up to Jaune like the big brother she never had.
Of course, Jaune always had a way of forcing her lies away and making her honest, because Jaune's friendship with Ruby meant the two teams were always interacting on a regular basis, and Ruby and Nora found themselves fast friends thanks to their mutual hyperactive energy and love for weapon design. Ruby was the expert, clearly, but Nora could keep up with Ruby's hyperfocus on weapons and could contribute her own (dangerous) ideas to the mix. Pyrrha, at first, found solace in the fact that she didn't have to deal with the two and their hyperactive energy anymore, but at that point the two had gotten it in their head that Pyrrha was at least interested enough in their weapons insanity to include her in their conversations. Things spiraled from there.
Nowadays Pyrrha had picked up enough weapon information that she could follow (and sometimes contribute, of her own volition) a casual conversation between the two short stacks, mostly through osmosis. But Pyrrha didn't hate it, because that had allowed her to get Ruby and Nora better, and the talks had been useful in letting her figure out how to modify her own weapons without relying on her personal blacksmith. Soon her conversations with the two expanded from just weapons to whatever else they felt like talking about. Ruby, once she got past her anxiety and became comfortable with you, was a surprisingly insightful and thoughtful person who was always optimistic but never outright naïve, and Nora, underneath all the energy and insanity, was sensitive and empathetic to everyone else's emotional states. She had never figured that she would be friends with them, choosing to initiate conversation with them, not with her destiny in mind, but she was glad she met them. It wasn't supposed to be this way, meeting them, but life was better with a few distractions along the way.
-0-
Welcome to Team RRAYNNBW!
Vomit Boy uploaded a video!
SunnyLittleDragon: thanks for recording my spar with pyrrha, VB
SunnyLittleDragon: how are you doin
Vomit Boy: my body's aching in places i didn't know could ache
Vomit Boy: if its alright with everyone im gonna lie down and try not to think of the pain
Vomit Boy: somebody pls wake me up before dinner
RedLikeStrawberries: good thing we woke up late and got brunch huh
SunnyLittleDragon: probably should have gone easy on you lmao
Big Kitty Goth GF: to be fair, he got sassy on you at the start
Big Kitty Goth GF: he probably forgot we werent chatting and let his ah
Big Kitty Goth GF: true feelings
Big Kitty Goth GF: slip
SunnyLittleDragon: yeah hes been giving me lip all week long over chat
SunnyLittleDragon: who knew all VB needed to be snarky was long-distance communication
Cereal Girl: Either way, it was very nice of you to offer to spar with Jaune as well.
SunnyLittleDragon: i mean we kind of had an agreement to do that already
RedLikeStrawberries: no, what you had was you deciding you wanted to beat up jaune and jaune refusing
SunnyLittleDragon: you mean we had a disagreement and settled it like adults
Big Kitty Goth GF: yeah, jaune's face definitely disagreed with yang's fist connecting
SunnyLittleDragon: he'll be fine, he has loads of aura anw. p sure i saw him healing already while i was whaling away on his shield
SunnyLittleDragon: what do you feed him to get his white stuff all thick and strong pyrrha?
Cereal Girl: Yang!
Snow Angel: For gods' sake, Yang, that's disgusting!
SunnyLittleDragon: i meant his aura you perverts!
Ren-sensei: Well, I watched your sparring video, you two.
Ren-sensei: I have to say, it's hard to believe but your form and movements have gotten even better compared to the last spar. I'd say this is an even more dominant performance than with Weiss.
Ren-sensei: No offense, Weiss.
Snow Angel: None taken. Pyrrha did give me a very severe beating. It was a very humbling experience.
Cereal Girl: It was a well-fought match, Weiss. Please don't demean your own abilities.
Snow Angel: I'm merely stating objective fact.
Snow Angel: Still, watching the video now… Yang, aren't you supposed to be second best in combat for our year?
Big Kitty Goth GF: ngl yang pyr kinda clowned on you
SunnyLittleDragon: it's not fair! i wasted too much aura fighting jaune!
SunnyLittleDragon: you know how much of a cockroach he is in spars!
Big Kitty Goth GF: well yeah but at least your semblance should have been ready to go to fight pyr
Big Kitty Goth GF: did you even get a single hit in?
SunnyLittleDragon: no, but I got really close!
Cereal Girl: I was lucky, I feel. I barely dodged some of Yang's blows. And if she got a solid hit on me, even once, the match would have been over.
Cereal Girl: I wouldn't mind doing it again in a more equal environment.
SunnyLittleDragon: you hear that! i bet im p-money's favorite sparring partner now!
Cereal Girl: You're up there, certainly.
-0-
Pyrra could never admit it out loud, but Yang, at the start of the school year, was her least favorite kind of opponent to spar with, mostly because Yang tended to be one-dimensional with her attacks. Out of Team RWBY, Yang was the easiest to deal with: Ruby had her speed and the unpredictability of Crescent Rose, Weiss (when she wasn't being bullheaded with her semblance) had so much versatility and attack opportunities at her disposal, and Blake's shadow clones, agility, and equipment let her incredible mobility and a variety of ways to break through her defenses.
Yang, though? She was strong, sure, and skilled, and understood her body and its limitations well, but she was like a bull in a china shop in combat: all power, no refinement. It was a mental problem as well: she was perfectly capable of fighting smart, of being tactical with her semblance and not just relying on brute forcing everything, but Yang had a tendency to let her emotions run wild, causing her to leap into fights without considering the consequences. In terms of coming up with a strategy to fight Yang, Pyrrha didn't really have to think hard about it – most spars with Yang ended the same way, with Pyrrha executing the same basic strategy to take her down every single time. At least the others forced her to think fast on her feet!
If she was being honest, she'd much rather keep on sparring with Jaune, because at least Jaune was a puzzle – once Jaune found his stride, and began fighting more defensively, fighting with Jaune was a careful balancing act of managing her aura resources while breaking through Jaune's shield and depleting his. In a tournament style setting, there was a legitimate argument to be made that Jaune could eke out a few wins through aura depletion, relying on his own massive aura pool and his defensiveness. Yang was a very high-risk, high reward opponent: if she got you into her range, she would most likely win, but if you fought smart, she had a lot of exploitable weaknesses. And Pyrrha was the kind of fighter who took advantage of such weaknesses.
So she currently wasn't Pyrrha's favorite sparring partner. But Pyrrha felt that Yang was changing too, unconsciously proving her wrong, because while it wasn't noticeable at first, she observed that Yang was changing things up, little by little. It only became apparent to Pyrrha when Yang first sparred with Jaune and saw the way Yang changed up her approach when she realized Jaune wasn't going to let her just punch her way through his shield. The changes were rudimentary, and Jaune simply wasn't skilled enough to keep up with Yang's new approach, but that had shown to Pyrrha that Yang was capable of fighting smart.
She had never pegged Yang to be an analytical fighter, but Yang proved her wrong, figuring out a lot about Jaune's fighting style and giving him good tips to improve his defense, as well as practical combat tips like adjusting his stance to lessen gaps in his defenses, taking advantage of his longer range and large shield to force enemies into more agreeable positions for him to try and land hits with. Pyrrha's trainer would have approved of Yang, who clearly had the skill and talent for combat but had honed it through what was undoubtedly years of constant training and self-improvement. Now if only she could rein in those impulsive tendencies, she would be a much more dangerous fighter.
So Yang wasn't Pyrrha's favorite sparring partner now, but she felt that would change in the future. It seemed like all the people in her life nowadays were intent on just proving her wrong, wasn't she? Maybe, just maybe, in the future, if things continued like, Pyrrha wouldn't have to be a liar anymore.
And to think, Pyrrha smiled, it all started when she met someone that had nothing to do with her destiny.
-0-
The rest of day felt like it passed by in an instant. After their spar, Pyrrha had retired to the dorms while Yang opted to relax for a bit elsewhere. On her way back to the dorms, Pyrrha found Weiss and Ren making their way to the common room, and she only picked up a few scraps of their conversation, something about trying out some new tea leaves. Ruby and Nora sent a message in their chat, reporting some new adjustments they planned on making to Magnhild, and Yang had replied with a gentle, if somewhat facetious, message about not repeating the mistakes of that morning.
When Pyrrha entered their dorm rooms, she found her partner snoring away on his bed. Scattered on the floor were parts of his armor, and Pyrrha sighed at the carelessness of her leader. Using her semblance, she lifted all the various protective parts her partner wore and rearranged them, depositing them at the right side of Jaune's bed.
She gingerly sat at Jaune's bed, watching over his sleeping face, and gently stroked his face. If Jaune was awake, he was doing a good job of hiding it, as he had no outward reaction to her caressing his face and gently running her fingers through his messy hair. Pyrrha gazed at his peaceful face, simply enjoying the peace and quiet, thanking the Brothers above for this unexpected boon she had received.
Jaune wasn't there yet. He still wasn't a really good leader, not yet, but he was getting there, and he wasn't the most competent fighter, and far away from achieving his goal, and he had a tendency to lie and cheat and bullshit his way through things at times instead of acting like the hero he wanted to be, but he was getting there. That was what Pyrrha had admired about him the most, that despite how terrible he was at the start of the year, both as a fighter and a person, he was determined to better himself. She didn't prompt him to, not overtly, but Jaune quickly straightened himself out and stopped acting so macho, and once he got out of his own head, he had shown how driven he was to improve. In a way, he reminded Pyrrha of when she was young, when her trainer agreed to train her even if she wasn't very good or skilled or talented, because she had the drive to achieve what she believed was her destiny.
Pyrrha wanted to do the same for Jaune.
She didn't know what his fate was, or what destiny Jaune wanted to achieve, but all he needed was a little push, and Pyrrha was determined to be the one pushing him onward. It was her way of repaying him for everything he had done for her, after all.
Bit by bit, day by day, he was getting better. She was, too. The lies were slowly drifting away in the wind, like leaves in autumn.
Pyrrha was awoken from her reverie by a gentle knock. After making sure that Jaune wasn't roused from his sleep by the knocking, Pyrrha left his side and made her way to the door. She opened the door, gingerly, peering out to check who was knocking, only to find Blake, looking at her sheepishly.
"Hey, Pyrrha," Blake began, her face somewhat bashful, "we should probably finish our fanfic today. Especially since exams are coming up."
Well, Pyrrha supposed, she had probably rambled long enough about serious topics. Time to have a little fun. She sighed a little, smiling at Blake, and replied:
"I'd love to."
-0-
Welcome to pussy magnet!
Achilles x Jeanne: I'm still not sure the chat name is appropriate, Blake.
Tiger & Dragon: meh its funny at least
Achilles x Jeanne: Well, I'm glad Yang's sense of humor is rubbing off on you. And that you're talking with her again.
Tiger & Dragon: gonna be honest it felt like most of this week was just me having awkward personal talks with my team
Tiger & Dragon: kind of glad we're done with it all honestly
Achilles x Jeanne: That is true. At least all's well that ends well, hm?
Tiger & Dragon: yeah. now im just looking forward to going to Tukson's and just getting new books before exam panic hits.
Tiger & Dragon: anw with this last chapter we should be done w the first volume of the story
Tiger & Dragon: gotta say, didn't think we'd get this far when we started this dumb project
Tiger & Dragon: it was just something to pass the time, and now we've got eight main characters to juggle, a large supporting cast, a world map inspired by stains on a napkin, a lot of background lore and worldbuilding…
Tiger & Dragon: not sure how we can introduce all of that in the later volumes when this all started out with us just wanting to write some fight scenes and have some light shipping elements honestly
Achilles x Jeanne: I'm sure it'll be fine. Admittedly, the first volume can be a bit rough, but I believe we'll improve over time.
Achilles x Jeanne: I'll confess it was hard to write the background characters and set dressing at times, and looking back, I fear some of the background characters feel more like… faceless shadow people.
Achilles x Jeanne: Still, I'm happy with what we've produced.
Tiger & Dragon: you sure you wanna upload this now? i bet we'd get lots of criticism from people. personally im worried people might think the bullying arc went too long
Tiger & Dragon: even if i think it had some of our best character writing
Achilles x Jeanne: it's either that or they complain about how we didn't write much of a story for the sister character since we're saving her backstory for later.
Achilles x Jeanne: or how the climax of the volume involves two new characters we just recently introduced, instead of our main cast.
Tiger & Dragon: oh man now im getting cold feet i don't want to upload this its gonna suck so bad and people are gonna flame us so hard why did we think we were good enough to do this
Achilles x Jeanne: It'll be fine Blake. We'll grow into it.
Achilles x Jeanne: We have the time to improve things. Together. We're writing partners, after all.
Tiger & Dragon: Yeah… yeah, you're right.
Achilles x Jeanne: And as partners, I'd like to suggest we add a mascot character. A dog, for example.
Tiger & Dragon: no. no dogs.
Achilles x Jeanne: Spoilsport.
Tiger & Dragon: well… are you ready?
Achilles x Jeanne: Ready when you are.
Tiger & Dragon: let's go
-0-
Legends. Stories scattered through time. Mankind has grown quite fond of recounting the exploits of heroes and villains, forgetting so easily that we are remnants, byproducts, of a forgotten past…
-0-
Right, so this is the end of the first arc. I'll start the second arc after maybe an Interlude chapter or two, and the second arc will be set immediately post-Breach. The third arc will be set probably around the times Grimm Eclipse happens, and is mostly just me dragging out events before, well, Volume 3 happens. As for the rest, well…
For those who stuck around even after this story turned out to not just be pure crack shitposting, thanks for giving this fic a shot. I'm glad some people took the time out of their schedule to read my story even if, admittedly, I'm not writing anything the fandom seems to be clamoring for. (No outright romantic shipping? Just friendship and expanding on character development? Exploring rare character interactions? Adhering to canon?)
Finally, I hope that reading this fic helps remind you, the readers, what makes RWBY fun for us all. As an extremely new fan to this franchise, I came into the show just about loving everything, even as a jaded literature major trained to nitpick everything, and it's disheartening looking into the fandom and seeing just how much fandom divide exists, overshadowing the fun we've hopefully had with the show. It's like we didn't listen to Salem's big plan to ensure she wins!