Don't ask me how, but I managed to write like two long oneshots last week. I must be insane. Check them out and tell me what you think! One's a Cardin/Neo story guest-starring Roman Torchwick set in V1-V2 territory, and the other is a fic where Nora temporarily takes leadership of WBY and is technically set in Arc 3 of this fic (but no major spoilers for what happens here). I'll be doing more side-stories like this in the future that don't fit the group chat format!
The Achieve-Men thing is an excuse to talk about a recent superhero film, don't think too hard about it.
Anyway, let's go!
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Volume 2.25 (Wednesday): this is why you'll always be :dog:
Welcome to The Achieve-Men Cinematic Universe!
Sunspot: ok so hear me out
Sunspot: so the movie's kind of a mess, but now that it's under SDC management they'll at least have a tighter editor, way better budget, and more leeway to add the cooler characters from the comics
Cannonball: yang thats super optimistic of you
Magik: I agree with Ruby. While Weiss is our friend, even she would agree that SDC Studios would focus more on maximizing profit with inter-movie crossovers and a uniform aesthetic over all the upcoming films as opposed to each film having its own unique vision and appeal.
Cannonball: yeah and im sure the cgi will be neat but i don't wanna see a repeat of x-ray and vav: endgame you know?
Dani Moonstar: whats wrong w x&v: endgame? i loved that one!
Magik: Jaune, you must admit that the movie relied more on fanservice and over twenty movies' worth of build-up to eliciting anything emotional from its audience. As a standalone movie it is not very rewarding to watch.
Dani Moonstar: who goes into a movie explicitly billed as the finale to over ten years of movie set-up and decides "yes, this will be my first X-Ray and Vav movie"?
Sunspot: VB didnt you try to ask Weiss out once to watch an X-Ray and Vav movie?
Cannonball: oh yeah, the one with spruce willis! that was a fun watch at least
Dani Moonstar: at least you enjoyed it, ruby. plus you were the one who told me to ask her out, yang!
Sunspot: ok my bad, so weiss wasn't interested in a movie date. you still asked her to watch a superhero flick over, iunno, Parasite Grimm or sth! that won a lot of awards! maybe weiss-cream would have jumped at the chance to watch something w rave reviews and critics gushing over it!
Dani Moonstar: oh no i learned my lesson. not going after weiss anymore. nope!
Dani Moonstar: also parasite grimm is a south mistralian film, those come with subtitles and theyre not for everyone
Magik: "Once you overcome the 1-inch-tall barrier of subtitles, you will be introduced to so many more amazing films."
Sunspot: ooh cool quote ren, where'd you get that
Magik: …take a wild guess, Yang.
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Yang was not fond of guessing games. More specifically, she was not fond of unanswered questions, of asking 'why' and not getting a response from the adults around her, forcing her to fill in the blanks. Yang never understood why she was obsessed with why until the day she hitched a sleeping Ruby on the back of a wagon and dragged it behind her for a few hours, enduring cuts and bruises from the perilous journey towards a clue that may or may not have answered her questions. It was at that point, when she stared Grimm in the eye and her only regret was that she involved her sister in this mad chase for knowledge, that she did not fear her own death but rather feared that her questions would remain unanswered, that Yang understood such a fundamental part of herself. If their uncle hadn't intervened – what would she have done?
Yang did not want to guess – she wanted to know. To make sense of things.
Why did Yang's birth mother leave their family? Why did Summer Rose disappear? Why was Yang left alone to pick up the falling pieces of her family, her father who had shut down from losing all the people he had ever loved and her sister who barely understood the concept of loss? Why did bad things happen to good people?
They were questions that had nagged Yang at the back of her mind ever since she could ask why. And so, once she was old enough for her own motorcycle and explore the world, she did – seeking out any sliver of information on her birth mother, any crumb of knowledge, regardless of where she ended up finding herself. Sure, the seedy bars and clubs weren't exactly her thing, even if she did her best to fit in and wrangle as much information as she could, but she pressed onward, even if the information was too hot or too cold for her liking. Unfortunately, she never found the information she needed to be just right.
She supposed that a major part of her hair-trigger temper could be attributed to this impatience with a lack of information. (Or, at least, anger that was not caused by anyone damaging her precious locks.) Despite searching for information for nearly two years, she had not found anything concrete about her birth mother, and she had all but resigned herself to never finding out the truth, keenly aware that if she pushed herself too much that she risked letting Ruby lose someone again. And as much as Yang wanted to pursue her own life, Ruby's needs came first – so she ignored her dissatisfaction over her lack of knowledge and focused on raising her baby sister as best she could. Perhaps that was why her semblance allowed her to bottle up all her pain and return it twofold. Truly, a metaphor for her personality. Blake would have been so proud at Yang's self-introspection.
Speaking of self-introspection, Yang wasn't sure if this was a good time to be navel-gazing. She was currently alone in the RWBY dorms, having nothing to do ever since they were gently "encouraged" by Ozpin to take a week off from missions and classes since the events of the Breach. Truthfully, most of the classes were put on hold anyway, as a good third of the students had already left for their missions and the rest were either helping the teachers clean up the mess in the city or clearing out Grimm still lingering in the underground tunnels underneath the city. There were outliers, of course (Professor Port insisted that students could not afford to miss out on Grimm Studies, for one, much to the consternation of the students who were left on campus) but for the most part, Beacon was a quieter, calmer place, and everyone else from their teams was either exploring the campus, looking for something to do (Nora and Jaune), dog-walking Zwei, as per the RWBY/JNPR accords detailing Zwei custody (Weiss and Ren), or doing weapon maintenance (Ruby, Pyrrha and Blake).
(Incidentally, the Zwei Accords, as they came to be known, was an official agreement that turned over one Blake Belladonna's responsibility for caring for Zwei, as well as Official Zwei Petting Privileges, to team JNPR, in exchange for Blake rendering her services as a writer to one Pyrrha Nikos and an occasional combat practice partner for one Jaune Arc. Not that it stopped Blake from secretly petting Zwei when she thought nobody was looking! It was all carefully organized in a legally binding document that Jaune wrote and Weiss had notarized, with Oobleck as a signatory, since he had vouched for the dog to stay at Beacon in the first place. A story for another time, unfortunately.)
The absence of students didn't help Yang's mood much, since at least if there were crowd noise and people then Yang would have been able to ignore the little nagging annoyances in her head. Yang understood that she had been especially moody ever since the events of the Breach, and it took Ruby calling the emergency meeting/sleepover yesterday to put things in perspective. She had been so wrapped up with herself, thinking about her loss to the ice-cream looking shorty with the umbrella and the mystery woman who saved her, that she didn't realize how badly hers and Weiss' moods were bringing down team morale between the two teams.
It was oddly cathartic, Yang could admit, telling the two teams what it was that was bothering her ever since the Breach. The two teams had gathered together in RWBY's dorm and occupied their usual positions: Ren and Nora placed themselves by the bookshelves and the window facing outside the dorms; Yang had taken a position on Blake's bed next to Ren; Blake was sitting next to the stack of books that held up Yang's bed, and by her foot Pyrrha had placed herself; Jaune and Weiss were laid out on the floor between the two bunk beds; and Ruby sitting on Weiss' bed. Yang could only chuckle at the memory: she had expected Weiss and Jaune to be awkward, considering just how badly things seemed to go during the dance, but the two were squabbling over chips, again, and Pyrrha was doing her best to maintain the peace. Blake's mood had improved considerably, most likely after their role at stopping the White Fang's plans settled in, and Yang had heard that she and Pyrrha had managed to finish something particularly pressing that was causing tension between the two of them. (Much, much later, when Yang finally managed to read the fruits of Blake and Pyrrha's efforts, she could only laugh. This was making Pyrrha cranky all day?!) Nora was as chipper as always, and while Yang was worried that Ren would bemore glum, considering Ren was apparently looking forward to their little sheriff mission until Jaune changed it to help RWBY, the taciturn boy betrayed no apparent annoyance at the girls. Instead, he was chuckling at the argument between Weiss and Jaune, which had devolved into name-calling and teasing (Yang had never heard Weiss repeat the word dunce so much in one minute.)
Yang recalled the sleepover with a clarity that she wished she had when she was fighting the ice-cream shorty on the train: how Ruby apologized for all her mistakes in the past month, how Blake talked a little about her… mentor (Blake was, as usual, evasive on the subject, and nobody wanted to probe further) and her past and why she had felt so compelled to stop the White Fang, how Weiss felt guilty for being, well, so much more Weiss than normal… and in return, when JNPR explained that Jaune was awkward around everyone because, well, he was still terrified of offending Weiss, and Pyrrha was cranky because she was behind her self-imposed deadline for a fanfic update, not because of some perceived slight, Ruby's face was priceless. It was as if there was so much tension in the air because people made silly assumptions about what the others were thinking, instead of talking things out!
When it was finally Yang's turn to talk, she could admit that it was a load off her chest. Frankly, Yang was beaten down like a chump during the train fight. The little shorty had toyed with her, and Yang was unable to land even one single hit on the little girl, who ducked and weaved and dodged each of Yang's crushing blows and used that umbrella to, Yang suspected, annoy her more than deal actual damage. Even when she had activated her semblance, it did little to help when none of her punches landed on the little ice-cream girl. Frankly, the fact that she wasn't dead was more a testament to the girl's cruelty (Neo, Yang had to correct herself, her name was Neo) and her tendency to play with her food, so to speak.
A hush fell over everyone in the room when Yang began to talk about the mysterious woman in the red-and-black Mistralian garb and the dust-blade ōdachi. Yang knew that look of fear on everyone's face – Yang could have died – but frankly, to Yang, what gnawed at her was that she had no idea who the person was or why they would save her. If Yang was to die, she wanted to at least know why.
(She could not admit to everyone that, sometimes, she would dream of conversing with the mysterious black-haired woman, and whenever they did, the woman would reveal a face that resembled Yang's so much.)
After everything was over, and the two teams had had the chance to just vent, Yang genuinely felt like they had made steps into fixing whatever bonds were frayed by the events of the Breach. For Yang, she supposed that it was because they weren't guessing at each other's intentions anymore, and that the new information they each brought to the table made everyone feel more secure. While the Breach had left a lot of unanswered questions, it at least felt like the end of things. The White Fang were presumably gone from Vale, Roman Torchwick was behind bars, and there no looming threats over Vale. While Monday was a relatively somber affair for everyone, Yang felt that things could only get better from there… at least, until they moved to the next agenda on the sleepover: the JNPR dance video...
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Welcome to Team RRAYNNBW!
Cereal Girl: As I said, I'm still not sure I'm ready to launch my channel.
Cereal Girl: My video editing skills… are still not up to par.
Big Kitty Goth GF: maybe to you, but the rest of us aren't as much of a perfectionist pyr
Big Kitty Goth GF: except for maybe weiss
Big Kitty Goth GF: no offense weiss
Snow Angel: None… taken? I think?
RedLikeStrawberries: aw but you'd be a hit in no time
Cereal Girl: I don't plan on revealing my identity to the viewers, Ruby! I want to gain views and subscribers the honest way!
Big Kitty Goth GF: "the honest way", she says, as if she didn't earn her fame by defeating all that stood in her way…
Cereal Girl: This and that are different, Blake!
Cereal Girl: Besides, Nora said she wanted to help me launch the channel, so we're still trying to figure out what our content would be in the first place.
Queen of the Castle: I say daily ten-minute videos on different workout forms, and a weekly vlog from me and you!
Snow Angel: "You and I."
SunnyLittleDragon: you need medicine for that cold, weissy?
SunnyLittleDragon: ill go get the whole milk
Snow Angel: you know exactly what I meant yang
Cereal Girl: Well, I think that uploading videos daily will compromise the quality of our uploads. We should be focusing on high-quality content, not… clout-chasing.
Queen of the Castle: Pyrrha, we can do that once we build up our subscriber base! The DusTube algorithm is unforgiving, you know!
Cereal Girl: …and this is part of why we still can't launch the channel.
SunnyLittleDragon: big oof
Big Kitty Goth GF: :crying_cat_face:
RedLikeStrawberries: :weaponizedpouting:
Vomit Boy: anw, how abt the others? didnt you all have plans to upload at least a few videos or something too?
Big Kitty Goth GF: re doing the beauty n health vlog
Cereal Girl: I thought you didn't want to do it, Blake? Something about being annoyed at your supposed cameraman.
Big Kitty Goth GF: …once sun gets an idea into his head, it's very hard to convince him to stop. he usually means well, but…
RedLikeStrawberries: aw, ill give him a talking to if he starts being too pushy. besides, ren's with you!
Ren-sensei: I will make sure to reign him in, yes. Jaune will help, too.
Vomit Boy: we hang out with and neptune sometimes, maybe he'll listen to us more
Big Kitty Goth GF: …thanks, guys.
Ren-sensei: No problem.
Ren-sensei: Personally, I am just looking forward to sharing the joy of my health drinks with people all over Remnant. :slight_smile:
RedLikeStrawberries: lets hope so, since the goal is to distract people from the dance video. pyrrha, how's your publicist?
Cereal Girl: Still dealing with all the new offers for promotions, sadly. Apparently, I'm being scouted for this new ad with some very distasteful dancing involved… and they're being very pushy.
Queen of the Castle: Wait, Ren, what kind of health drinks are we talking about? You mean the ones that look like slime that came out of a lakebed?
Ren-sensei: Algae contains numerous spectacular properties…
Big Kitty Goth GF: so yeah. ren's handling the health and skincare side, ill be doing the make-up and clothes reviews
Snow Angel: Blake, not to rain on your parade, but I thought you didn't want to do the videos in the first place because you wanted to keep your identity private.
Big Kitty Goth GF: I thought about it and figured, hey, there's no harm
Big Kitty Goth GF: My being a student in Beacon is already a matter of public record, but I doubt anyone in the Vale chapter recognizes me.
Big Kitty Goth GF: besides, the nature of the Fang means people dont exactly have time watching DusTube videos. Sienna Khan even decreed that it was a detriment to the Cause
Vomit Boy: sienna khan?
Big Kitty Goth GF: oh for
Big Kitty Goth GF: jaune i told you and pyr all about this already
Cereal Girl: Jaune, Sienna Khan is the current High Leader of the White Fang.
Ren-sensei: She has been on the news lately as well, Jaune.
Vomit Boy: wait, that's her?! i thought she was like, a big deal political DusTuber from back in the day
Vomit Boy: up until like, that last ban she got on her channel for all the hate speech.
Big Kitty Goth GF: well, at least you know something about her
Big Kitty Goth GF: this is why you'll always be :dog:
RedLikeStrawberries: hey! no bullying my BF blake
RedLikeStrawberries: only im allowed to do that
Vomit Boy: hey!
Ren-sensei: Ruby, I did warn you to be more mindful of your acronyms, lest people misunderstand what you mean
RedLikeStrawberries: you got it, GF!
RedLikeStrawberries: anyway, me and Yang agreed to set up that dance channel since I already have a head start with the onesie video
RedLikeStraberries: thx for the help on that btw, ren
Ren-sensei: It is no problem, Ruby.
RedLikeStrawberries: well, watch out, cuz i'm not losing our bet jaune!
Vomit Boy: thats cool and all, ruby, but unfortunately ive got an ace up my sleeve
Big Kitty Goth GF: doesn't surprise me you can hide all sorts of crap in the sleeves of that baggy hoodie for yours
Vomit Boy: …anyway, im proud to formally state that
Vomit Boy: as of today, Arc-en-Ciel is announcing the addition of a new member to the ASMR family:
Vomit Boy: white_angel_of_snow! :partying_face:
Snow Angel: Ahem.
Snow Angel: I hope you mean you are ready to announce the formation of White Knight Productions, with its two star recruits white_angel_of_snow and Arc-en-Ciel
Vomit Boy: ofc, how can i forget that
Snow Angel: Also, you should be thankful I am willing to lend you my considerable wealth and talents to your… admittedly impressive efforts.
Snow Angel: Even if you are an indie project with very little polish.
Vomit Boy: i thought you liked my videos!
Snow Angel: Yes, but that doesn't mean they can't be improved!
Snow Angel: A better mic and video quality, for starters! And maybe a better wardrobe! For your viewers, obviously!
Vomit Boy: coco from cfvy says my clothes look comfy!
RedLikeStrawberries: jaune she also wants to buy all your hoodies so she can burn like your entire wardrobe and force you to buy better clothes
Snow Angel: Besides, not to toot my own horn, but I already have a following as an Atlesian pop star and cultural icon.
Snow Angel: Our little partnership is sure to distract the public from your team's little viral video!
Big Kitty Goth GF: weiss when did you find out jaune was running the channel?
Cereal Girl: I'm just glad we don't have to hide it anymore. Right, Blake?
Queen of the Castle: We were supposed to be hiding it? I thought Weissy was just oblivious.
Snow Angel: All of you are just wonderful friends, I would like to say. :pout:
SunnyLittleDragon: wait
SunnyLittleDragon: WAIT
SunnyLittleDragon: since when are you two buddy-buddy?
Snow Angel: Well,
Snow Angel: Wouldn't you like to know, Yang?
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Yang wanted to know a lot of things, of course. So much of her life was centered around either seeking freedom, adventure, knowledge, or all three. But Yang could admit, sometimes, that it felt like obtaining knowledge was more difficult than it was finding the freedom and adventure she craved out of life. Once she was old enough, she could go out with her beloved Bumblebee and explore the little world of Patch, even Vale if she were feeling confident enough. She was free to do as she wished as long as she proved that she was strong enough to defend herself, once her father had recovered from his malaise and Ruby had grown older. Being a Huntress lined up with both goals, and the skills she developed to achieve said goals, so it made sense for her to want to be one.
But it often seemed like being a Huntress didn't satisfy her need for knowledge, simply because she didn't know if she was happy with all the knowledge she gained. If anything, the questions that were aimed at her and the answers she found by asking often felt like answers she didn't want to hear or admit. When Oobleck interrogated them about their reasons for being a Huntress, back at Mountain Glenn, Yang was able to admit to Blake and Weiss that she didn't really have a goal besides the vague notion of 'adventure'. Yang could even admit to herself that she envied the rest of her team, because they all had goals and beliefs they had in mind, even if they weren't sure how to go about it. Ruby wanted to be a hero and protect people. Weiss wanted to take back her family name from the mud that her father had dragged it into. Blake wanted justice and equality for the Faunus, even if she felt she was inadequate to the task and had no concrete steps in mind to do so. But Yang? Yang had nothing, and it was difficult to even admit that. After all, she merely went with the flow.
Yang was staring at the ceiling, listening to the hands of the clock in their dorm room tick away, filling the silence of the room with something resembling movement, another thing Yang envied at the moment. She knew that it was rare for her to be so inactive, to not be moving or doing something, but Oobleck's interrogation must have caused something in her mind to click, because instead of just ignoring the ennui that had crept up on her like it was some Grimm with the ability to manipulate emotions, Yang began to ask a question instead. Why? Why was she so listless? Why was she so troubled when, just yesterday, it felt like she had a purpose, a goal, and everything seemed so right?
The answer she arrived at, like the answer she found when Oobleck was interrogating her, didn't give her any comfort. Well, isn't it obvious? Because there's nobody around for you to focus on. Like Ruby, or Blake, or any of your friends, like Jaune, or Nora, or Pyrrha… because everyone has a dream they're chasing, and all you want to do is have fun. Weiss said that they chose this life, as Huntresses, and that whatever they wanted came in second to their actual job, which was to protect people. She understood it, on an intellectual level, but that didn't answer the actual question, didn't it? Why? She didn't want to think about the answers she would find, because it felt like the answer to that was something other people forced onher, not something she wanted for herself. And she was worried that, like almost everything in her life, she was going to prioritize other people's needs over hers.
But that wasn't necessarily true, wasn't it? She still had one thing she did for her own benefit: her search for knowledge. And even that was making her feel increasingly ill at ease, as if she didn't want to think about what she would find at the end of that journey. What if the answer to that left her unsatisfied too? What if the solution to the puzzle only showed that she was as aimless and purposeless as she feared she was, compared to her friends? Or worse?
That last part shook Yang out of her introspection. Didn't she warn Blake exactly about this kind of overthinking?
I need to stop overthinking things. She blamed the mystery woman and the dreams that she had been having, and the uncomfortable suggestion that whoever it was under that mask had her face. They were causing her to ask questions, and Yang realized that sometimes, questions were better left unanswered, simply because nobody had access to that information at the moment. Otherwise, one descended to obsession, and Yang refused to allow her need for knowledge to overwhelm her.
So Yang did what she did best and compartmentalize everything away, taking out a scroll and sending a message to someone who she had been meaning to talk to for a while now…
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Welcome to Sunflower!
Yang: ren my good buddy my pal my brother from another mother
Yang: we need to talk
Yin: Yang, I honestly doubt we'll ever fully resolve the King Taijitu argument unless we find King Taijitu we can fight in the wild, and unfortunately Nora took care of the ones that attacked during the Breach
Yang: UGHHH don't remind me i rly wanted another go at those things and show you up but nooo nora got to all of em first
Yang: but no this isn't about the grimm hunting bet we have going
Yang: …im still in the lead btw
Yin: I still maintain that the Mountain Glenn mission is cheating, purely because Professor Ozpin was showing clear favoritism in allowing you to go on that Search and Destroy mission. I have half a mind to consult Professor Goodwitch on this matter, honestly.
Yang: oh, sure, when it's ozpin playing favorites, you gripe and moan, but when glynda's being nice to JNPR it's fair
Yin: One is the headmaster of our academy, while the other is at the mercy of his whims and must handle all his paperwork. The comparison is slightly unfair.
Yang: …im worried your team has been spending too much time with glynda lately. blink once if shes forcing you do her paperwork ren!
Yin: Don't be ridiculous, Yang.
Yin: Professor Goodwitch does not have a habit of forcing unnecessary burdens on her students. One can only hope that Professor Ozpin is the same.
Yang: yeah i don't see good ol oz doin that
Yang: anyway!
Yang: i need a favor
Yin: …I feel as if you and your sister have very similar strategies to… extracting favors out of someone, Yang.
Yang: o wat
Yang: what did ruby do this time?
Yin: …nothing. What do you need?
Yin: Is this about the dance choreography?
Yin: Because I already agreed to help Ruby, so I am willing to teach you as well.
Yang: wait, really?
Yang: i mean i can already feel my muscles aching but
Yang: once i got used to the pain i started enjoying it more yknow
Yang: so im not totally opposed to it now
Yin: Yang, you do realize how that sounds, right?
Yang: get your mind out of the gutter ren!
Yang: but yeah i think i can live with your instruction now
Yin: I understand completely. When Jaune first suggested this exercise, I despised it with every fiber of my being.
Yang: no way
Yin: Indeed. I felt that my body was simply not cut out for the more…freeform nature of some dances.
Yin: I will admit, I can still be a bit stiff at times, compared to Jaune, but after a while I began to enjoy the act of dancing, as well as choreographing steps.
Yang: im surprised ruby was fine with all this
Yin: Oh, she was very much like you at the start. Nothing but complaints and bellyaching. You two are very much alike.
Yang: we are sisters, you know
Yin: Yes, you two also similar in that you are both extremely stubborn once you put your mind to something.
Yin: It does not surprise me that Jaune and Ruby get along so well, or that Ruby is drawn to Weiss and is determined to be her friend.
Yin: Call it a similarity in their fundamental nature, despite the drastically different domains they inhabit.
Yang: whats with the alliteration
Yin: Nora says I should make more jokes, and I find the art of alliteration amusing.
Yang: …
Yang: look where are you rn
Yin: I am walking back to the dorms. Zwei is tuckered out now and will possibly be docile enough that even Blake may tolerate his presence in your room.
Yang: weiss-cream not with you?
Yin: No, she said she wanted to get some combat practice in.
Yang: okay
Yang: so, here's what I wanna ask…
-0-
Spars weren't uncommon between the two sister teams of RWBY and JNPR. Besides the two teams enjoying their friendly competitions, as evidenced by the Fifth Great Beacon Cafeteria War, their lessons also mandated a willingness to collaborate with people outside of the team structure. Glynda always emphasized to the students the importance of flexibility, of being aware of a wide range of combat tactics and scenarios, and Ruby and Jaune had taken this to heart, trying to devise combat scenarios and spars where members of the two teams would be mixed up, or for one reason or another, have to confront each other on the battlefield.
(Yang wasn't sure Jaune's idea of "mind controlling semblance" was sound, considering them nothing more than far-fetched coming book nonsense. Besides, those kinds of semblances would have been abused by unscrupulous powers long before the user even developed their powers enough to be a threat, unless there were secret underground groups in, say, Vacuo, that housed such a powerful Semblance user. But what were the odds? Still, she wasn't the experienced comic book fan that Jaune was, despite being into superhero flicks, so she couldn't completely dismiss the idea. At least that was something she shared with Ren, being relatively new to the hobby compared to her sister and her dork best friend. It wasn't her fault that superhero films were so overwhelmingly positive, despite how the setting could be dark at times!)
It wasn't a surprise, for example, to find Ruby and Nora sparring, especially after Ruby had just finished tampering with Magnhild, or Blake and Pyrrha exchanging blows in an acrobatic dance of dodge, feint, and strike, although Yang suspected that much of it was actually storyboarding for their… other hobby. It didn't help that they would sometimes repeat the same sequence of moves with slight variations, as if trying to determine what would look good on paper as opposed to what made sense in a fight. It also didn't help that they would break out into laughter every few minutes as if they weren't simulating a fight to the death!
None of those sparring sessions, however, shocked Yang as much as today, when she walked into the training grounds and witnessed Weiss pelting Jaune with icicles from her glyphs, screaming something about mobility practice. And here Yang thought those two would be at odds for longer! Will wonders ever cease?
Yang had to admit that it was nice watching Weiss practice with someone else for once, since the heiress had a bad case of… finding herself poor matchups. Within team RWBY, Weiss generally trailed behind her teammates in one-on-one combat, thanks to some poor combat compatibility: spars with Ruby, at least, generally ended in a draw, since Ruby's speed far outpaced Weiss, even when using her glyphs, and Weiss' mastery over her glyphs was insufficient in trapping the red reaper, but by the same token, Ruby had a hard time breaking through the deluge of glyphs Weiss would summon to keep Ruby away from getting into close or medium range. Weiss was more unlucky with her other teammates: Blake's Shadow allowed her multiple points of entry for attacks that Weiss simply could not keep up with, and even if she tried to use her glyphs to give her a boost of speed, Blake could just tie her up with her bow or trip up her movement, and Yang… well, Yang just punched her way through most of Weiss' glyphs.
She didn't fare much better with JNPR either: Pyrrha was, well, Pyrrha, you really didn't stand a chance against her, but Nora was much like Yang, a human bulldozer who Weiss could only defeat if she expended all her dust in an attempt to prevent Nora from ever getting close to her… if Nora simply didn't decide to pelt her with her dust grenades, instead. So it was more of a toss-up, and you expended far too many resources to secure a win, something that none of them wanted to use up on a spar.
Which was why it was nice to see Weiss sparring with Jaune, simply because for once, Weiss was in a dominant spot, and considering the huge loss she suffered the other day, it was a good morale boost for the heiress. Plus, Jaune always benefited from having multiple combat partners, considering his lack of experience. A real win-win situation, at least in Yang's mind!
Still, Yang had left someone out of this little evaluation for a reason, and as Ren walked up to her, StormFlower in hand and wearing his combat clothes as opposed to the school uniform, Yang could only grin at her luck. Because Lie Ren was, among their friend group, notoriously reticent to engaging in spars.
-0-
Welcome to Sunflower!
Yang: I know you aren't fond of the whole sparring thing, weiss told me you keep turning down her requests and nora tells us you'd rather meditate or practice on your own
Yang: so, here's my favor: let's spar!
Yin: Is there any specific reason for this?
Yang: a lady has to keep a few secrets to herself, right? :smirk:
Yang: besides, I know you're chomping at the bits to get back at me.
Yang: don't think i didn't notice the little barbs you've been throwing at me the past few weeks!
Yin: I will admit, I am still a little sore that I lost to you twice
Yin: Even if the engagements weren't exactly serious.
Yang: oh ho, there's that competitive streak you keep trying to hide
Yin: I suppose you have seen through me – I am interested in a rematch. But to make this more interesting, why not add a wager?
Yang: hm?
Yin: Just as you have observed that I have a slight… competitive streak I prefer to keep hidden, I too have noticed a certain habit of yours. An inclination towards satisfying one's curiosity, shall we say.
Yin: I propose a trade of information. A favor for another a favor.
Yin: Whoever wins our little sparring session is allowed to ask the other a question that they must answer to the best of their ability.
Yang: oh, ren, if you just wanted to ask about my three sizes–
Yin: I am not uncouth enough to ask that of a friend, Yang.
Yang: geez that was a joke
Yin: Besides, if I asked, I'm sure Nora would give me the details.
Yang: wait was that another joke?!
Yin: Who knows?
Yang: …
Yin: In any case, I propose this because of a little Mistralian fairy tale that was taught to us as children.
Yin: In the fairy tale, there is a being of great knowledge who holds knowledge of everything in the world. However, she safeguards this knowledge, and only allows those who pass her trials the privilege of knowing.
Yin: "For knowledge must not be given freely. It is only through trials and tribulations that one proves worthy."
Yin: It is a story about the dangers and responsibilities of obtaining knowledge without being prepared to receive it. "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing," after all.
Yang: Wow, Ren, you sure are dropping a lot of koans today.
Yin: They are not koans, Yang. Try not to fall into the trap that those dust-damned meebs fall into and assume all profound quotes are koans.
Yin: I feel that this is a good object lesson for both of us, and it would be remiss to not help a friend learn more about herself.
Yang: I don't get the mumbo jumbo, but yknow what
Yang: you're on, ren!
-0-
Yang could feel the eyes of Weiss and Jaune, who had concluded their own training session to watch Ren agree to a spar outside of combat class. Weiss, unsurprisingly, didn't have a single scratch on her, no visible damage to her aura, although there were beads of sweat running down her face that she was wiping off with her towel and she was panting in exertion, purely because of how much she had to just use her glyphs to damage Jaune over and over again. One quick glance at the dust vials in Myrtenaster's revolver chamber revealed that they were half empty, which to Weiss must have been mortifying. She used that much dust to make Jaune stay down for good?!
Jaune, meanwhile, was sitting on the floor next to Weiss, cross-legged, heaving in exertion as his aura slowly recharged. While by no means an expert in combat at this point, Jaune at least had his aura going for him, and while he never landed a hit on Weiss, instead spending the majority of the spar either dodging, ducking, or weaving through a hail of ice or fire, or blocking stray hits with his shield. In a tournament setting, one could say he had a viable, if boring strategy of forcing draws or victories through aura depletion.
He was exchanging a few words with Weiss, even as they observed Yang and Ren face off in the middle of the combat arena, most likely because Jaune asking Weiss for pointers. Jaune always insisted on his sparring partners tell him what he did wrong, because, as Pyrrha once pointed out to Yang, Jaune was the type of person who did better once he understood the logic and the theory behind combat maneuvers. Unlike fighters like Yang and Pyrrha, who followed the instincts of their body, someone like Jaune excelled when he could plan and think ahead on the field, instead of relying on combat instincts that he never got the chance to develop.
(Come to think of it, Yang realized, much, much later, Weiss was very much the same. She excelled in fights where she could plan and arrange the battlefield to her liking and did horribly if she was forced to react defensively.)
But she needed to focus on the opponent in front of her. Yang turned to face Ren, who merely nodded at her, signaling that he was ready when she was.
Contrary to what people asserted, Yang wasn't a raging bull in combat, content to just charge in at the slightest provocation. She had the tendency to, sure, especially when a fight dragged on, but she was still an experienced fighter who understood both the strength and limits of her body and semblance, as well as the pros and cons of wielding a weapon like Ember Celica in combat. Against Grimm, Yang could afford to play around more – Grimm weren't the types of opponents who would dodge a fully charged Burn-enhanced punch from Yang, unless Yang really telegraphed her attack. But against humans, who had the advantage of analyzing her movement, Yang had to be smarter, to fight more tactically, a lesson that Taiyang Xiao Long did his best to teach to his sunny little dragon.
Yang was, however, not the best of students.
One shot to where Ren is standing, another to the right, because Ren favors his right side…
Yang cocked her gauntlets and let loose, shooting one of her explosive rounds with her left arm, aiming towards Ren. She immediately drew back her left arm, reloading that gauntlet, and punched again with her right, the second dust round aimed at where she predicted the silent member of JNPR would dodge to. Her body, reacting to the instinctual, and almost habitual action, then began to move by itself, her legs propelling her towards where Ren was initially standing, boosted by an explosion that emanated from her left arm.
It was standard Yang tactics, locking the opponent in a pincer and limiting their options. The first shot was always a feint, meant to gauge the opponent's dodging habits, and the second explosive dust hit was meant to either catch the opponent or herd them into a position that was optimal for Yang to land a finishing blow with. Either they were stunned by the second shot, or, like Yang predicted would happen here, force their bodies to stop mid-momentum, trapping them in place as Yang leaped into the air, bringing her rear leg forward to feign a kick, before snapping her leg back and throwing a right cross instead, using the momentum of the leap into the air to add more power to her punch.
Got him…!
Yang only noticed, a second too late, her miscalculation, as Ren cartwheeled backwards instead of dodging to the right, landing on his knees and aiming StormFlower's guns at Yang's leaping, defenseless forming, unleashing a hail of dust bullets at the brawler. Yang immediately covered her front with her arms, absorbing the hail of bullets and allowing her Aura to flare up, reducing the pain from excruciating to manageable. As the bullets glanced against the shield of her soul, she could feel her semblance burning away at her body, increasing in warmth and power, and Yang felt the tips of her hair heat up in response to the rain of bullets.
Do a forward roll as I land, boost myself with my gaunlets as I get up, get Ren in a grapple hold…
As Yang landed on the floor, dislodging a bit of the stone of the combat arena with how hard she crushed them with her feet, she lurched forward, rolling herself into a ball and using the momentum to close the gap between her and her opponent. Ren's dust bullets finally ran out, Yang noticed from the corner of her eye, and he unloaded his ammo and moved to reload. This is my opportunity! Yang almost screamed in her head.
Her lilac eyes flared red.
As she emerged from her roll, she extended her arms behind her, and with a slight push and a scream, ejected her dust shells, using the explosive force to propel herself forward, aiming to collide against Ren's body and force him on the ground. Yang was planning on mounting Ren and just unleashing a rain of punches on Ren, since the boy had some of the worst stamina in their teams and was rather vulnerable to punches to the face. A common weakness, granted, but Ren was especially vulnerable to it. Heck, Yang had beaten him twice thanks to it!
Instead of Ren's body, however, Yang collided with Ren's knee. Ren raised his right knee forward, blocking Yang's body and hurting her with the force of her own momentum. Yang felt her body lurch, pausing in mid-air for a second before Ren brought his left elbow down on Yang's back and slammed her down on the floor with a thud. As she crumpled on the floor, struggling to get to a stable base again, Ren leapt into the air and rotated, aiming to land his leg on Yang's prone form.
Her accumulated power faded, and Yang's eyes turned lilac again, her mind free of the haze of power that overwhelmed her, and with the instinct of someone who had been in many fights, faced the incoming leg drop and blocked it with her arms. Ren let out a yelp and leapt away as Yang did a kip up to get back on her feet.
Force a reset, figure out a new attack pattern…
Yang raised her arms again, adopting a common boxer's stance, and gauged Ren's own stance. She could feel the sweat pouring down her body, the accumulation of heat from her semblance and her adrenaline pumping freely throughout her body, and she looked inside her to gauge her aura. Ren, while obviously exhausted as well, did not suffer as badly on the Aura front, while she had lost a lot of Aura absorbing StormFlower's bullets and attempting to use her semblance, only for her the power accumulated from her semblance to go to waste. Ren had managed to land a couple of solid hits on her as well, which didn't bode well for her. If this were a combat spar, then maybe Glynda would have stepped in already…
…which was why when Ren gave her a rare smirk, as if to imply that he knew that he was winning, Yang threw all caution to the wind.
Oh, screw it, let's just go…!
-0-
Welcome to Team RRAYNNBW!
Vomit Boy uploaded a video to the chat!
Vomit Boy: EXTRA EXTRA
Vomit Boy: READ ALL ABOUT IT
Vomit Boy: RESIDENT SUNDRAGON OF BEACON YANG XIAO LONG LOSES TO UNASSUMING MYSTERY CHALLENGER
SunnyLittleDragon: dsafdfadsfadsgasfgasffads
SunnyLittleDragon: jaune delete that video or else
Ren-sensei: Jaune, try not to antagonize Yang too much.
Ren-sensei: I reserve the rights to antognize her myself. :smirk:
Queen of the Castle: Oooh, I love it when Ren gets sassy!
Snow Angel: You must admit, it is funny watching Ren run circles around Yang for once.
Snow Angel: Plus, watching Yang lose it while Ren just kept plinking away at her Aura with a barrage of kicks and blows from StormFlower made my day.
Ren-sensei: I did notice that Yang tended to do poorly versus kick-based fighters.
Snow Angel: I'll be sure to save this video for a rainy-day yang
SunnyLittleDragon: fdasfdfadsfasfdasfa
Someone is typing…
Big Kitty Goth GF: …you know, we could maybe do something with this video.
Queen of the Castle: Oooh, yeah, I think we can do a test run of our uploads with this!
SunnyLittleDragon: what are you gonna do with it? show off my incompetence for the whole world to see?
Queen of the Castle: No, silly! I was thinking we could show off the spar and throw in fight analysis.
Big Kitty Goth GF: yeah, itll be like pyrrha's favorite mistralian cartoons, the ones where people on the side commentate on the big fight
Ren-sensei: Dust-damned meebs…
Cereal Girl: I do have experience in such things. I've been asked to guest commentate in tournament matches before…
RedLikeStrawberries: that's a great idea, you guys! itll make for a great first upload for the RWBY channel!
Vomit Boy: shouldn't it be on the JNPR channel, since ren won?
Vomit Boy: btw, ren, great job, you kicked yang's ass!
Ren-sensei nods at Vomit Boy!
Ren-sensei: Why, thank you, Jaune. Your compliments are very nice to hear.
SunnyLittleDragon: VB IM GONNA KICK YOUR ASS IF YOU DON'T STFU
-0-
(To Yang's horror, the video immediately grew viral within days of release, thanks to the combat commentary provided by a "mysterious" red-haired huntress in a Grimm mask who called herself the Red Huntress, as well as a secretive yet alluring woman with black hair, with a domino mask covering her eyes and a set of cat ears to complete the look, who was calling herself the Midnight Shade. Commentators were eager to point out how mysterious the two were and how difficult it was to guess at their identities.)
-0-
Welcome to Sunflower!
Yin: Good spar, Yang. I hope you're feeling better now?
Yang: i will be. p sure my pride's the one hurt the most
Yin: If it is any consolation, I needed to rile you up a lot to even secure a win in the first place. If you had landed one blow on me, I'm sure I would have been knocked out instantly.
Yang: is that why you were going out of your way to piss me off lately?
Yin: …a gentleman must have secrets of his own.
Yang: pffft
Yang: still, seriously, that was a good fight. really knocked some sense into me.
Yin: I hope I was helpful in clearing your head of the troubles you have mired yourself in, lately.
Yang: what
Yang: howd you figure somethings been bothering me
Yin: Call it a wild guess, Yang.
Yin: You do not live with Nora for many years and learn how to read the moods of… excitable people.
Yang: was I that obvious?
Yin: Not particularly, no. I was merely more observant of you the past few days.
Yang: oh ren, im flattered, but im nowhere near ready for a relationship just now
Yin: Yes, well, I am afraid I do not have cat ears, so unfortunately, I am not your type.
Yin: Recent data also suggests you may be open to both redheads and oblivious types as well.
Yang: …anything you're hinting at here, renny boy
Yin: …I will stop there. I suspect I have said something wrong.
Someone is typing…
Yang: So… before you ask me your question, I have one thing to say.
Yin: Oh, our wager? Honestly, I didn't really have any big question in mind.
Yin: That was merely a strategy to keep you off-balance.
Yin: I suspect that it will not work another time, so I hope you forgive me if I refuse to spar with you again.
Yang: what
Yin: I simply observed, based on both your reporting and my own notes on your combat ability, that you tend to lose fights when you become narrow-minded and obsessed with achieving a specific goal. In combat, this translates to hyper fixating on achieving on a specific sub-goal as opposed to the overall scope of a fight.
Yin: For example, when sufficiently enraged, you default to using your semblance and, well, punching someone in the face.
Yin: Your tactics are very limited when in this state because you otherwise excel at making split-second cost-effective tactical decisions in combat.
Yang: sure are a lot of fancy words to say I tend to be one-dimensional in combat
Yin: Oh, no, I don't mean to imply that. If you aren't allowing your semblance to consume you, your combat tactics are terrifying.
Yin: It is just that, well…
Yin: "When all you have are your fists, every problem starts to look like a face."
Yang: is that another one of your mistralian koans?
Yin: No. I learned it from you.
Yang: lmao
Yang: man, dad keeps telling me the same thing
Yang: am I that obvious?
Yin: Not really. It took a lot of preparation on my end to throw you off your game. I also took advantage of your… interest in knowledge. That was why I proposed the wager in the first place
Yin: It is not as noticeable, but you are always the one most interested in learning more about all of us and asking questions. You also do not take kindly to people refusing you information.
Yin: you can be… bullheaded. thankfully, it does not happen much besides this specific scenario.
Yang: huh. never thought about it that way.
Yang: ill try to work on that. i can admit, that's a weakness of mine, but im not really sure how to address it
Yang: but that's a question for another time. So, what's your question?
Yin: I'll try to think of something to ask.
Someone is typing…
Yang: Ren?
Yin: Yes, Yang.
Yang: ive been thinking…
Yin: A very daring move from you but go ahead.
Yang: oh, ha ha!
Yang: look, ive beaten you twice, right? and you've beaten me once.
Yin: Yes?
Yang: so, wouldn't you say its fair that you owe me two questions, while I owe you one?
Yang: look, i promise it aint anything super personal
Yang: there's just some nagging questions at the back of my head
Yin: …sure, why not? You did undergo a difficult trial, after all.
Yin: Go ahead and ask your questions while I think of mine.
Yang: alright!
Someone is typing…
Yang: So, first question: what's your haircare routine?
Yin: Um.
Yin: Are you sure you wish to waste your first question on this, Yang?
Yang: dude look i gotta know
Yang: you have like, the nicest hair out of everyone here after Blake
Yin: Thank you…?
Yang: it's a compliment, ren! honestly! what is it with you and jaune and being bad at getting compliments?
Yang: look i just gotta know, ok? the past few days have been brutal, and my poor hair deserves the best treatment possible
Yang: you have no idea how much work i put into my baby, ok?
Yin: I can only imagine.
Yang: but blake's so unfair! she keeps telling me her hair is all natural and she just uses a normal brand of shampoo and conditioner!
Yang: i bet its like a faunus thing too! wait, is that racist? uh, speciest?
Yin: You'll have to ask Blake for that, Yang.
Yin: But sure. I can give you my haircare routine. Please keep in mind that a lot of these are recommendations from Nora…
Yin uploaded a file to the chat!
-0-
As Yang and Ren continued to chat, late in the afternoon, Yang found herself sprawled out on her bed, nursing her aching muscles and bruised ego from her defeat to Ren, while Weiss was on her bed, filing her nails and listening to another one of Jaune's ASMR videos (Yang could admit that they were relaxing, but it was incredibly weird to chill out to Vomit Boy's voice, of all people. Not that there was anything wrong with Vomit Boy!) The trio of Ruby, Pyrrha, and Nora were nowhere to be found, still, and Yang was beginning to wonder if they had gotten into some other dumb shenanigans, but decided it was best not to think about it. If there was something going on, they'd be updated via the group chat anyway.
Even if Weiss was absorbed with her own things, Yang was thankful for her company – it was much better than stewing in her own thoughts, obsessing over things she had no control over. She still wasn't sure how to feel about herself, about the mystery woman who had rescued her, the nagging questions that remained unanswered at the back of her head, and Yang was beginning to wonder if she was ever going to find answers that would satisfy her – her life lately, it seemed, was a series of frustrations. No wonder that ice cream chick annoyed her so much, since all she did was run away and not fight her seriously, and each confrontation ended anticlimactically! It was like she existed purely to frustrate Yang's desire for a clean, orderly resolution to this whole mess, leaving only loose ends and lingering questions.
Still, Yang felt, it was easier to deal with the nagging questions when there were people around her that she could focus on, instead. She had to admit that a part of her was worried because she used to dedicate all her energy on Ruby, leaving her no energy to worry over her frustrations, and now that Ruby was maturing faster and faster that Yang felt Ruby was headed far, far away from her and her guidance, but that didn't matter, because Ruby wasn't there yet. And now she had a whole mess of friends that she trusted, not the fair-weather kind she had made back in Signal.
So instead of worrying about the mysterious woman causing her all sorts of anxiety and leaving her with questions, Yang decided to focus on what was in front of her. For now, that was enough. It may have been incredibly optimistic of her, but hey, that was why she liked superhero movies.
-0-
Welcome to Sunflower!
Yin: You go first, Yang.
Yang: alright
Yang: i know you train just as hard as any of us. your driven to improve and be stronger, our spar today shows that. you spend a lot of time trying to move past your limits. thats what the meditation and stuff is for, right?
Yin: Yes.
Yin: The offer still stands, by the way. You're welcome to join my team in learning meditation and relaxation techniques. Blake participates as well.
Yin: I have a few health drink recipes I'd like to offer to you. Very good for the skin and the hair.
Yang: sure, maybe in the future
Yang: anw, here's my question: how come avoid sparring with the rest, and yet you decided to humor me today?
Yin: Technically, those are two questions, but I applaud you for managing to sneak two questions in one.
Yin: But, to answer your question, perhaps I'll respond with my own question as well.
Yang: whaaat
Yang: that's cheating
Yin: Perhaps. Or perhaps I'm offering you knowledge, just in a different form.
Yin: Yang, why are you so eager for knowledge, and yet so afraid of the answers you may find?
Yin: You could have asked your second question immediately, but you chose to waste one question on my hair products.
Someone is typing…
Yang: …because I'm worried that the answers I find at the end won't be satisfying. That I'm not strong enough to confront the knowledge I've been looking for all my life, or that my search will overwhelm me and cause me to do something I'll regret eventually.
Yin: Well, there you have it then. That should answer your question.
Yang: …that doesn't answer anything, Ren!
Yin: Apologies, Yang. "For knowledge must not be given freely."
Yang: oh, screw you, Ren!
Yin: If you want to get more answers out of me, you'll have to beat me in a spar.
Yin: Unfortunately, my pride and curiosity is sated, and I don't plan. I know I have a fighting chance of defeating you as you are right now.
Yang: wait! what the heck does that mean, as i am now?
-0-
After all, bit by bit, Yang was improving. There was no need to rush things. Today was just one of those days.
-0-
Welcome to Solarflare!
Sun Wukong: Yang! My buddy! My pal! I need a really, really big favor from ya!
Sun Wukong: Oh yeah, I also heard from Ruby about you losing to someone in a spar! Sorry to hear about that!
Yang Xiao Long: …yes, sun, what is it
Sun Wukong: So you know how Blake's been busy ever since the dance, right?
Yang Xiao Long: yeah?
Sun Wukong: she wont even hang out w me! ive been texting her nonstop ever since the Breach! im worried for her!
Yang Xiao Long: i mean, first things first, im p sure shes annoyed you keep texting her
Sun Wukong: Duly noted!
Yang Xiao Long: second of all, are you sure you should be asking me for help on how to, ahem, court blake?
Sun Wukong: Aw man, you know it isn't like that! I'm, like, not trying to sweet-talk her or anything!
Yang Xiao Long: sun, do you or do you not want to get to know blake better
Sun Wukong: …well, yes, but it's more than that! She's all so… gloomy and introverted and sad and stuff and that's not cool! She needs a friend, you know?
Yang Xiao Long: …what, and you're gonna swoop in and rescue her from her loneliness or sth?
Sun Wukong: I mean if you put it like that I sound like a prick.
Sun Wukong: It's just… I try to hang out with her, but she keeps telling me she's gonna finish her book or meet Pyrrha freakin' Nikos instead! She's like, a celebrity! A major celebrity! That's a lot of pressure to put on me, man! How do I compare with Miss Invincible Girl, 4-time Mistral Regional champion? Besides, what if Pyrrha doesn't like Faunus?
Yang Xiao Long: …
Sun Wukong: Okay, now that I see what I just typed, it sounds freakin' stupid. But still!
Sun Wukong: Look, Yang, ya gotta help me. She's your partner, you should know her best.
Yang Xiao Long: bold assumption you're making there
Sun Wukong: I just wanna get to know her better, you know? I wanna figure out like… why she acts the way she does. I'm worried for her! And I figure you're the best person to ask.
Yang Xiao Long: …
Someone is typing…
Yang Xiao Long: yknow what, sun? you're right. you need help.
Sun Wukong: So you're gonna help me?!
Yang Xiao Long: well, not me, specifically.
Yang Xiao Long: the thing about seeking knowledge is, you gotta know the right people.
Yang Xiao Long: so im bringing in some experts.
Sun Wukong: That's awesome! You're the best, Yang!
Someone is typing…
Yang Xiao Long added Jaune Arc to the chat!
Jaune Arc: wut
Sun Wukong: Oh, hey, dude! Wait, why'd add Yang add you?
Jaune Arc: oh sup sun
Jaune Arc: not sure, yang just dm'd me out of nowhere and said she was calling in a favor.
Jaune Arc: something about blake, i think? i'm not sure why i'm here though…
Sun Wukong: Wait, I didn't know you and Blake were friends.
Sun Wukong: I should have known, though, since she just kept making jokes about you at the dance for that whole flash mob thing.
Jaune Arc: dude pls don't ever say that again
Jaune Arc: i can feel blake just giving me that judgmental stare of hers again… it was bad enough at the dance!
Jaune Arc: she wont stop making fun of me for the weiss thing so please don't give her any more ammunition to tease me
Sun Wukong: Hey dude, if it's any consolation, our team's making fun of Neptune too for being dumped immediately after the dance, so you two can bond over your bad luck with girls.
Jaune Arc: that doesn't make me feel any better!
Yang Xiao Long added Pyrrha Nikos to the chat!
Sun Wukong: YANG WHAT THE F-
Jaune Arc: pyr! what are you doin here
Pyrrha Nikos: I'm not sure, honestly… Yang said something about helping Blake out…
Sun Wukong: oh man it's the real pyrrha nikos dasfdasgfadsgadsgfad
Sun Wukong: im like a huge fan! Ahhhhhhhhh
Pyrrha Nikos: …thank you?
Sun Wukong: Does this mean we're friends now? Oh, man, I can't wait to tell Neptune!
Jaune Arc: well, you're a friend of blake's too, so im sure you and pyr will get along well
Pyrrha Nikos: …yes… I can certainly see us… interacting…
Someone is typing…
Yang Xiao Long changed Sun Wukong's nickname to Great Simp Equaling Heaven!
Great Simp Equaling Heaven: Hey! How am I a simp?
Jaune Arc: you kind of are, dude
Great Simp Equaling Heaven: This coming from you?!
Jaune Arc: HEY ive moved on ok! i promise!
Yang Xiao Long changed Jaune Arc's nickname to token dog friend!
token dog friend: oh come on not you too!
Yang Xiao Long changed Pyrrha's nickname to real best friend!
real best friend: I wouldn't say that… we just happen to share similar interests and hobbies. I wouldn't want to impinge on your position, Yang.
Yang Xiao long: shush you, p-money
Yang Xiao Long changed her own nickname to jock friend!
Great Simp Equaling Heaven: wait, so why'd you add em?
jock friend: well, my monkey friend, you are looking at two of blake's best friends and writing partners! they can tell you all you need to know about blake, and who knows? if you play your cards right, maybe they'll put a good word in for you!
token dog friend: i mean, i get pyr being here, but i don't think im that close to blake…
jock friend: you've exchanged at least a hundred words with her, and she willingly talks to you. that elevates you to good friend status
real best friend: Yang, I'm not sure about the wisdom of setting up a group chat with the explicit purpose of hooking up one of our friends with… someone else.
Great Simp Equaling Heaven: Um, why am I getting bad vibes from you, Pyr? Can I call you that?
real best friend: Please don't.
real best friend: But seriously, Yang? What exactly are we supposed to do here?
jock friend: ohohohoho. you see, p-money, monkey boy here wanted knowledge. and knowledge must not be given freely. you gotta go through trials and tribulations to prove you are worthy!
jock friend: also, you're wrong on one thing, p-money. we aren't here to set up blake with sun.
jock friend: for you see, sun, this is no longer a chat where you ask me for advice on how to woo blake…
jock friend changed the group chat's name to Blake's Harem!
jock friend: this is a chat to exchange notes
real best friend: YANG
real best friend: you're incorrigible!
-0-
Yes, Blake's Harem is basically an otome game-styled group chat, and everyone occupies a specific otome game character archetype. Yes, I am deliberately not detailing how the Jaune and Weiss reconciliation happened yet. That's why Weiss chapters exist 😊 Also, bonus points to anyone who notices who else is currently having Yang's character arc in this fic, albeit from a different angle. That might explain why I chose the character dynamics in this chapter that I did.
Right, so next up on the docket is a oneshot featuring everyone's favorite teacher, Professor Peach Glynda Goodwitch. It's titled Her Favorite Students and it's about, you guessed it, her favorite students. It's technically "foreshadowed" in Team NWBY! Check it out when it comes out! Tell me if you have any requests for other such oneshots in the future! Leave a review, drop a fave or a kudos, just give me feedback! I crave such things!
For this fic, though? Next up is a Thursday, and I hope y'all know what Thursday chapters mean…