Weiss was watching a plant grow.
It was all she was doing. Just watching the damn thing grow at a rate of one inch per five minutes or so. The plant dust accelerated the growth hundreds of times, but it still meant that the thing wouldn't be fully developed until the end of the lesson, if even that. Weiss wasn't even sure what species the plant was - as much as she usually paid attention to what the teachers were saying, she just couldn't bring herself to care about a subject as useless as Plant Science.
Seriously, Plant Science? At Beacon Academy? What moron decided that this was one of the things aspiring huntsmen had to know before graduating? It was as though the person who made the curriculum didn't really care about anything... which would actually be consistent with what Weiss had seen of Beacon thus far.
The class was ran by Professor Peach, a woman in a colorful dress and with a cheery demeanor that befitted more a caretaker in a kindergarten than someone whose job it was to train huntsmen. She was currently focused on helping some student who somehow managed to screw up watching over a plan, which meant Weiss didn't have to even pretend to be interested by the subject.
"Weiss, you should try harder." Ruby said from the seat next to Weiss. "Pyrrha might overtake you in a minute."
"It's not a competition, Ruby." Weiss sighed. "And if it was, I would refuse to participate. This is just silly."
"You seem moody today." Ruby pointed out. "More than usually, I mean. Is everything fine?"
"Don't worry about me." Weiss sighed. "It must be the weather playing tricks on me."
"Nothing to do with that hair color of yours?" Nora asked.
Weiss nearly jumped out of her seat in shock. Ruby actually did jump out of her seat, squeaking in fear while doing so and landed right on Weiss' lap, as though instinctively seeking protection from her teammate.
"Nora!" Weiss hissed. She didn't feel like shouting in the classroom, though there was a serious urge to. "Can you please stop doing that?"
"Asking questions?" Nora asked. "Oh sorry, I did that again. My bad."
"I meant appearing without any warning, or explanation for that matter." Weiss explained. "I find it somewhat unsettling."
"Yeah, it's scary." Ruby agreed. "How do you keep doing that? I thought I was the one with speed as my semblance."
"I'm not doing anything." Nora countered, casually taking a seat next to Weiss. "You are the ones who don't pay attention to your surroundings."
"Yes, I'm sorry for not having eyes in the back of my head so I can keep track of you." Weiss retorted.
"You're forgiven. Now can you tell me what's bothering you? I mean, it's pretty obvious, but I figured sharing your frustration will help you cope with them or something."
"I don't think I need that sort of help." Weiss replied. "Although your concern is appreciated."
"I didn't come here to give you concern." Nora shook her head. "I want to help. If you know a way how, you better tell me."
"Nora, leave me alone please." Weiss sighed. "It's nice that you decided to check on me and all, but unless you want to help me get back at your leader, I don't think you can do much."
"Getting back at Jaune? Sure, count me in."
Weiss blinked. "Why? Did he do something to you as well?"
"Hey, I'm a simple woman. I see potential for fun, I ask to join." Nora shrugged. "And playing a prank on my team leader sure sounds fun."
"No, I was hoping to get back at him." Weiss objected. "Not to play some childish prank."
Nora blinked. "Um, what exactly do you mean by that?"
"If I knew, I would be on it already. All I know is that I have to damage him somehow, as a retribution for damaging my reputation and sabotaging my appearance." Weiss explained. "It will only be proper this way."
"Aren't you being a little too... serious about that whole thing?" Nora looked awkward, almost nervous. "I mean, it's just a prank. Wouldn't it make sense for you to respond with another prank?"
"And what exactly would that achieve?" Weiss asked, not too keen on the suggestion.
"Well..." Nora took a moment's pause, presumably to think of good arguments. "It would show that you will not tolerate such behavior, but that you are being petty about it. If you get back at Jaune with more force, you risk that he will get back at you with even more force. And if you get back with even more force, he might get back with even more force, which at that point would be lots of force."
"...so you suggest I avoid escalating the conflict?" Weiss attempted to translate Noraspeak into something more brief.
"Yeah, exactly. I think." Nora shrugged. "Look, I just want to pull off another prank. If you are on board with that, then we can work together and everyone will be happy."
"I suppose that is..." Weiss paused. "Wait, what do you mean another prank? You did any as of recent?"
"Ah yes. I pranked Ren by doing that thing he asked me not to talk about." Nora replied. "Look, do you want my help or not? I have to water my plant in a minute."
"I suppose you have more experience in the area than me." Weiss conceded. "We may plan something together."
"Just don't leave me out of this." Ruby requested. "I'd like to do something fun for a change, not just listen to all those boring lectures."
"Awesome." Nora grinned. "I'll make sure both of you have some role. Just let me figure something out."
"Splendid." Weiss was gradually warming up to the idea. It seemed like it would go hand in hand with her secondary goal of bonding with Ruby. Though that reminded her... "Ruby?"
"Hm?" Ruby looked at Weiss expectantly.
"Can you please get off my lap already?"
"Right. Sorry."
Jaune wasn't sure what to do.
It wasn't a new situation per se. He wasn't some sort of a genius who never hesitated and always knew what the best choice would be. He was allowed to hesitate, to think before doing something and to doubt his choice if he deemed it suboptimal later on. He very rarely, however, found himself in a situation where there were seemingly no good options.
His current situation was, therefore, kind of hard to deal with.
He knew there was a chance he would end up on one team with a faunus and it wasn't a problem in of itself. He figured he would just act casually around them and they would get along somehow or maybe they would have a talk in which Jaune explained how progressive and tolerant he was, dispelling all the potential malice between them. Blake, however, was far more problematic than that. For one she wanted to keep her identity as a faunus secret and could get upset at having that discovered, but more importantly, she hated Jaune's guts.
Probably. Maybe. Even though Blake was right there with him, just a desk away, he didn't dare to ask knowing it pointless. He wasn't sure how personal Blake's disdain was or how deep it went and would not find it out just by asking. In any case, it seemed as though Blake held as strong grudge against his family. Personal history or just the effects of SDC's bad reputation, it didn't truly matter. Jaune would not change her mind and could not simply not associate with her. His only option was just keep going and hope things would get better with time.
Gods damn it. Why couldn't Blake be more like the faunus servants he had interacted with? Or like Velvet, for that matter? Getting upset all the time was not a trait all faunus had, nor was it the requirement for being a huntress.
Jaune was broke out of his musings as he heard a sound of door opening. He was currently sitting in a classroom, all his teammates present nearby, and so he could conclude that the teacher was about to enter. And sure enough, a class was then greeted by a sight of a tall man in a suit entering the room.
Harold Mulberry, as Jaune could recall having read the list of subjects and their respective professors, was responsible for teaching students "Weapon Crafting and Upkeep" - a subject Jaune had little interest in due to the simplicity of his only weapon, but he would still try to excel in as to not embarrass himself with bad grades. As for the teacher himself, he could be describes as normal by the standards of this school, at least in terms of appearance. A rather short man in his forties, wering no weapons but walking with confidence that implied he was a huntsmen just like the rest of the staff. His suit was in an unusual shade of red that matched his ginger hair, but if he was high on coffee like Doctor Oobleck or had a dominance fetish like Miss Goodwitch, it wasn't apparent.
"Welcome, my students." The man said as he took his place before the blackboard. "I shall emit the useless lecture about what great responsibility lies upon your shoulders and how the subject you are about to learn will be crucial to your survival, et cetera. You all know the importance of huntsmen and you all place trust in your weapons. And I'm not so insecure as to try and prove that my chosen subject is more important than any other."
"He's an improvement from Port." Yang said, just quietly enough not to be heard by everyone in the class. Nora smiled, either in agreement or because she remembered something funny – equally probable scenarios, really - and Blake did not react in the slightest. Maybe she was too focused on what the teacher was saying or maybe she didn't care about anything that was being said, it was hard to tell.
"During your course we will go through various aspects of weaponcrafting, and the mechanics of different weapons in general. I do not doubt you know your weapons inside out, so I won't dare lecture you about these, not that I have the time to attend to everyone personally like that. It is, however, important that you know all kinds of weaponry, so that you may better coordinate your efforts with your allies... and to make short work of your enemies."
'Enemies'. Jaune did not remember any teacher say the word before, or even imply that they would have to fight actual people outside of a combat ring. Even Miss Goodwitch did not mention it explicitly, and teaching them to fight against aura-capable opponents was her job. Jaune wondered if it was some sort of guideline not to breach such topics too early, as to not discourage the more sensitive of students from pursuing the career path until they were invested and perhaps less naïve due to age.
Whatever. It's not like he would get to fight anyone for real until after he and his team graduated.
"But there is something that we need to get out of the way first." Professor Mulberry continued. "There is a method of giving weapons additional capabilities, one that is commonly mistaken for a boost one can apply with no negative consequences. Dust. Almost every ranged weapon can utilize it as ammunition and quite a few of them are designed with other possibilities in mind. Blades that catch fire when Fire Dust is inserted. Prods fueled by Lightning Dust, able to topple even the most hardened opponents on contact. There are numerous uses for this substance and not all of them have anything to do with weapons themselves, as it can be used to amplify semblances or even to strengthen the user by being injected into the body directly, a technique I do not recommend."
Jaune noted that injecting dust into his body would be probably the only way he could utilize it with his current weaponry. He then realized how painful it would be and had to concede with the warning. If he wanted to use dust in a fight, he had to purchase grenades, though he couldn't see how they would help him in the arena bouts. Maybe later.
"I cannot possibly cover even a singular aspect of dust science during this relatively short course, especially with all the other pending material. But I won't you to know the basics and, most importantly, I want you to know the dangers associated with using dust in combat. Now, to check if anyone has even a vague knowledge of Dust Theory, what are the seven basic forms of dust?"
Jaune looked around a classroom to see that no hand was raised and no one was eager to give an answer. In all probability many students did know the answer, but none was brave enough to risk being proven wrong. Jaune was somewhat surprised Weiss wasn't offering to answer, but maybe she was saving her knowledge for some more difficult question - she was so handy with Dust that the subject would prove a cakewalk to her.
When it became clear the silence was about to drag on indefinitely, Jaune raised his hand up. There was no pompousness in offering to answer when no one else was willing to, or so he would think.
"Yes, Mister Schnee?" The teacher acknowledged the submission.
"Water, Rock, Burn, Frost, Air, Energy and Gravity." Jaune recited without stuttering in the slightest. "All other forms are either a combination of these or some other derivative."
"And the Time Dust?" The teacher asked.
"It is essentially a condensed form of Gravity Dust." Jaune replied. "According to Dreistein's theory of general relativity, gravity itself is merely a distortion..."
"I wasn't asking you to explain the physics involved." Professor Mulberry cut off and, for a moment, Jaune wondered if he had overdone it. "Thank you nonetheless, Mister Schnee."
Jaune nodded, deciding not to make himself heard for the rest of the class. It seemed like here, in what was basically a public school, the standards for a comprehensive answer were quite low. Unsurprising.
"These seven elemental types of Dust are the only ones safe enough for practice at your current level." The teacher announced, addressing the entire class once more. "I shall now allow you to experiment with those basic forms, and by experiment I mean do exactly what I tell you to do and make predictions about what will happen, not mess around pointlessly."
The teacher then pointed towards a stack of boxes in the corner. "Let each pair take one. You may sort yourself by partnership, if that makes things easiest. As I don't have a convenient telekinetic semblance, I shall not distribute the kits myself."
The students then began picking up boxes, each of them turned out to be filled with several vials of Dust. Jaune was the first to get his hands on one because of how quick Nora was, while Blake and Yang waited to pick up theirs until after the initial crowd was gone. He considered walking up to them and offering to help them in the exercise - it would be a nice way to reinforce the bonds within the team - but decided against it. If Yang really had good grades she would surely know a thing or two about Dust, and Blake would probably be offended by the offer regardless of whether she knew what to do or not.
"Your task will be simple." Professor Mulberry announced. "Mix a vial of water dust with half a vial of energy dust by putting them in one container and heating them up. Keep your aura active throughout the entire process, for safety reasons. Once it's over, note the results."
It would produce Lightning Dust. Not of a very high quality, but it was how you made the stuff if you only had mundane equipment to utilize. It was an easy exercise, or at least it would be for Jaune. But there was a problem...
"So, Nora." Jaune addressed his partner, mentally searching for the best words available. "I think before we start we should divide the roles between the two of us. So that everything goes smoothly and without incidents." Incidents such as Nora blowing something up, of course. Jaune didn't know how good she was with the substance, but considering how reckless and enthusiastic she was, he didn't feel comfortable letting her experiment with Dust. There would be an argument, but...
"Sure." Nora replied. "How about you do the mixing and heating and I just pass you what you need?"
Jaune blinked. "That sounds fairly good, yes."
"Did I say something wrong?" Nora cocked an eyebrow. "You seem surprised."
"No, it's just..." Jaune couldn't figure out how to voice his thoughts politely, so he decided not to voice them at all. "Never mind. Pass me a vial of Water Dust, I think it would be better to start with that."
"I've got you." Nora reached for the kit and, correctly recognizing which vial contained Water Dust, picked that one up and passed it to Jaune.
"Thank you." Jaune poured the content of the vial into the small, glass bowel provided by the kit. He did it carefully, not because this type of Dust was particularly dangerous, but because that was the default approach when working with dust. You were careful.
Once the cyan substance was inside the container, Jaune placed said container onto the heater, preparing to begin the process right after the mixture was created. He wanted to ask Nora for a vial of Lightning Dust, but his partner was quicker than that – she was pressing the vial into Jaune's hand the moment he turned around.
"Here you go." Nora said with a smile on her face.
"Thank you again." Jaune accepted the Dust. "Just maybe be a little more careful with the stuff. It's quite volatile."
"Right, sorry." Nora nodded. "I'll just let you do your thing."
"That might be for the best." Jaune agreed and took to the next task. He tilted the flask as to slowly pour the energy dust into the container. The reaction wouldn't start immediately, not with portions of dust diluted to this extent, and he would have to heat the ingredients before any kind of…
The boiling water exploded out of the container, in quantities far larger than the little thing would normally be able to contain. Water Dust must have been unleashed somehow, releasing the potential bound within
Then again, Jaune wasn't exactly focused on contemplating the mechanics involved in the event. He was busied shielding his face with his hand, while his aura had been activated in an even more instinctual reaction. It was the latter that protected him from any real harm, preventing the heat from doing any damage… but there was something about being splashed by water you felt to be boiling hot that made Jaune yelp uncontrollably.
"Jaune!" That voice belonged to Yang, the huntress running up to Jaune with more worry she usually exhibited. "You alright?"
She wasn't the only one who took notice. Nora looked at her partner with a strange expression, the closest thing to fear Jaune ever saw on her face. Blake looked unsettled as well, which spoke volumes of how bad it must have looked like. Other students looked mildly bothered for the most part, though Ruby's gasp of horror could be heard even from across the room.
"I'm fine!" Jaune exclaimed once he was sure of the fact, not wanting to cause panic or evoke too much pity.
"Are you sure of that, Mister Schnee?" The teacher approached Jaune, looking over his student cautiously. "Dust accidents can be dangerous in various ways. How did this one come to pass, I wonder?"
"I don't know." Jaune replied honestly, looking over the now wet equipment. "All I did was add some energy dust to the…"
The reason Jaune paused was the content of the bottle he used. The dust inside was dark red, far cry from the vibrant green of the Energy Dust and quite similar to the usual color of Burn Dust.
"I see applying the wrong type of dust was part of the problem." Professor Mulberry stated. "It doesn't explain why the reaction was so sudden and powerful, but perhaps you simply added too much too quickly."
"I made sure to do that carefully!" Jaune protested. Too late did he realize how unconvincing and downright pathetic it sounded. A student trying to deny his error.
"I don't doubt you were being careful, but it seems as though your standards for being careful are not appropriate." The teacher's voice was soft, but stern in a way that did not encourage further discussion. "For the rest of the class, please leave the technicalities to your partner. I do not wish to see more such incidents."
Jaune bit down the urge to argue some more and simply nodded. Even though he heard no laughs or snide comments, he knew exactly what people were thinking. A local know-it-all fails horribly at the simplest of tasks. Money can't buy everything. Something something.
"Sorry about that." Nora said once the teacher departed. "I must have gotten the vials confused."
"No, that doesn't explain it all." Jaune shook his head. "Diluted forms of Dust aren't that reactive, and I only added a speck of it. Even if you screwed up, it shouldn't have resulted in something this spectacular."
"Hey, accidents happen." Yang interjected. "There's no need to search for some hidden meaning in everything. Better to just move on."
Don't feel too bad about screwing up. Jaune could the hidden meaning in that message, but he could also see how arguing wouldn't take him anywhere.
"Alright Nora, you handle the Dust from now on." Jaune directed. He then sat back, droplets of water still dripping from his uniform, and allowed his partner to take over the desk.
The remainder of the lesson went by without further incidents. Nora, while obviously an amateur, was more than able to carry out the other tasks the professor presented them with. After a while Jaune stopped paying attention to what she was doing and began pondering about possible explanations of the anomaly he had just witnessed.
By the time the lesson ended, he had no solid idea of what happened, but knew exactly who to ask.
He requested his team to go on without him, leaving the three girls behind. Instead he located and followed Team RRWP, all of them leaving the classroom in one formation. Said formation broke once Ruby noticed Jaune approaching and ran up to meet him.
"Are you alright?" The girl asked. "I didn't want to ask you during the class cause I was worried you wouldn't like it, but now we can talk as much as we want, so…"
"It's nothing, Ruby." Jaune cut in. "Your concern flatters me, but I'm alright."
"You sure?" Ruby kept asking. It was somewhat weird – wasn't that the same girl who told Ren to jump into Nevermore's beak? – but charming in its own way. It was also not the reason Jaune came over.
"Yes, I'm sure. Can I talk to Weiss for a second?" Jaune turned to face his sister, who was currently wearing a blank expression. Her teammates weren't quite as serene, all of them flinching as though they expected a firefight to break out.
"It's alright." Weiss told them. "Give the two of us some space, please."
"Alright, I guess." Ruby said, not convinced but not about to argue from the looks of it. "Team RRWP, you may scatter."
Pyrrha and Ren did as ordered, each walking off in their own direction. Ruby walked away as well, roughly in the direction of her dorm, but not before throwing Jaune and Weiss one last, nervous glance.
Jaune found himself impressed at how well his sister interacted with her teammates. They seemed concerned for her well-being, not that annoyed with her and she even figured out how to get them to do something without having to bark orders. In some other situations, perhaps Jaune would congratulate her. But now there was something else on his mind.
"So, brother." Weiss was the first one to break the silence. "What is it that you wished to talk about?"
"Weiss, please don't play dumb here." Jaune requested. "You know exactly what it's about."
"Jaune, please don't play the 'don't play dumb' card against me." Weiss replied. "It's not going to magically make me throw away all plausible deniability and just tell you what you want to know."
"Worth a shot." Jaune shrugged. "So, what can I give you to tell me how you pulled that off?"
"You care about it that much?" Weiss raised an eyebrow, before adding. "Not that I had anything to do with your little accident, of course."
"Just curious." Jaune replied, trying not to show how worried he really was. If Weiss possessed some capabilities to which he was ignorant, it was quite important to find out what these qualities were. "Have you meddled with toolkits before the classes? Have you bribed the teacher? Maybe you had someone with a mind-altering semblance confuse all of us?"
Weiss didn't react to any of the questions, except by smiling with what seemed like genuine amusement. "Really? These are your best guesses? Nothing simpler comes to mind?"
"What do you mean?" Jaune blinked. "Was there really a simpler way to pull off that prank?"
"Well now I'm certainly not telling you." The pink-haired girl smiled even broader. "It will be hilarious once you figure that out, assuming you ever will."
"Fine." Jaune sighed. "But I'm not content with calling that even. Your little prank carried a risk of killing me right there."
"We did more dangerous things as training." Weiss shot back. "Or perhaps you are just upset you came out looking like a fool?"
"Either way, I reserve the right to retaliate." Jaune replied, stone-faced.
"I will be waiting." Weiss replied, thereon turned around and marched away, soon disappearing behind a corner.
Jaune felt like cursing loudly. He didn't, just in case there was someone who could hear him and correct his manners, but by Gods did he feel like it. He wasn't sure what he was expecting – obviously Weiss would not betray her advantage this easily – but he was hoping for something that would make him less confused.
He decided to leave that issue be for the time being. If you didn't know how to properly explain something, it was important that you did not attempt to create an explanation for the sake of it, since that was how delusions formed.
Instead, he tried to focus his thoughts on something more productive. Wisely or not, he had promised Weiss his retribution and he would come off as weak if he failed to deliver. Then again, he couldn't retaliate with too much force
He had to ask Nora about that. What pranks to use, that is. He doubted she understood concepts such as escalation of conflict. Still, she was definitely creative and he couldn't see any harm in asking her for help. He had to get around to conversing with her soon.
Even sooner though, he kind of needed dry clothes.
Ren didn't mind Beacon.
If he were to share this opinion with his newfound friends, they probably wouldn't be surprised. Ren gave off an impression of someone without strong feelings on anything and was fully aware of that. He even found it somewhat useful, as it made people less likely to ask for his opinion or advice, request that he would not normally refuse, but that he preferred would not be made. He didn't like talking very much.
All of that said, Ren did have strong preferences about a lot of things. He much preferred silence to noise, vanilla to chocolate, puppies to Grimm and so on. Beacon Academy simply didn't meet or violate any of those preferences any more than his life thus far had.
There was some learning. That was normal. There was some fighting, which was also normal. There were ready meals at the cafeteria, which did feel somewhat unusual, but he had enough free time to engage in cooking, so it was no big change for him. And of course, while there were new people around, there was also the one person that had been a constant in Ren's life for about as long as he could remember.
Ren observed the three young women of team JNBY, Nora among them, chat with one another, perhaps about the events that had transpired in the classroom. Well, only one of them really chatted – Yang was the only one who was constantly talking, Blake only giving replies or short remarks. Nora, interestingly enough, also appeared to be staying out of the conversation. Ren tuned out the content of the exchange, so that it didn't qualify as eavesdropping, but if it was about what he thought it was about… it led him to a certain unpleasant conclusion.
The conversation ended with Yang dragging Blake somewhere by the elbow and Nora excusing herself. The redhead then, driven by what had to be instinct at this point, approached Ren at a pace only a bit slower than running.
"How was the lesson, Renny?" Nora asked, as Ren knew she would. But there was something unnatural about it, a question subtly different from the kind of Nora would usually ask. More importantly, it was only one question, not a barrage Ren would normally expect.
"Quite well, in fact." Ren said as he began walking down the hallway. Nora followed, signifying that she wasn't troubled quite enough to turn down his company. "Nothing blew up in my face, at least."
"Yeah. I guess that's lucky…" Nora averted her gaze.
"You know, I really do wonder what happened with your partner there." Ren decided to be a little more direct. "I wouldn't expect Jaune, of all people, to mess up this badly."
"Everyone makes mistakes." Nora retorted. "Don't be so harsh on Jaune here."
"I was just running through possible explanations, and thought that maybe someone sabotaged him on accident." Ren kept his gaze centered on Nora, who in turn kept her gaze at a nearby wall. "But that would be ridiculous. It would take some insanely clever planning to carry out such a plan unnoticed."
It was bait. Nora knew it was bait, she wasn't stupid. But if there were two things she couldn't resist, they were pancakes and praise. She kept walking in silence for approximately seventeen seconds, looked around as to check whether there was anyone else listening, before finally bursting out.
"I know, right? Even I wasn't sure if we would pull that one off!" If Nora made any attempt to turn down the pride in her voice, it didn't show. "We had to ask around about how perceptive the prof was, and then we found out that he always started out with teaching Dust Use, so Weiss gave me this bottle of dust and Ruby had that Coco girl use her semblance to amplify it and even then I didn't know if I would get an opportunity or if it would work as expected…" Nora finally ran out of breath. "Anyways, it worked out just fine."
"I certainly did." Ren nodded. "Now, care to tell me why have you decided to go through with that?"
"Is that really so weird?" Nora got unusually defensive at the accusation. "I am no stranger to playing pranks."
"It's not the prank that's weird." Ren replied. "It's the fact that you were so sneaky about it, but you still decided to bring Weiss into it. Especially after you pranked Weiss yesterday."
"How did you… ugh, I forgot you're not as oblivious as the others." Nora groaned.
"I just know you really well." Ren smiled, before turning his expression serious once more. "Now will you tell me why you did that, or do we have to go through our usual routine again?"
Nora pouted. By now she was familiar with the process of getting interrogated, refusing to break under the pressure, then telling Ren everything anyway because keeping secrets for too long felt bad. It looked like she was willing to skip it for once.
"Well, you see how these two behave towards one another." The ginger finally replied. "Weiss and Jaune, I mean. They are constantly looking for ways to outdo the other one, maybe even hurt each other. I did not enjoy that, so I took the steps to improve the arrangement."
"By giving them more reasons to hate one another?" Ren cocked an eyebrow.
"By making their little rivalry less fierce." Nora corrected. "If my calculations are correct, they will now be so focused on creating interesting pranks, that they won't bother with anything serious. No libel, no murder attempts, just making the other person look funny for a moment or two. And we might have some harmless fun getting on it too."
"You poured boiling water on Jaune." Ren deadpanned. "I wouldn't call that harmless."
"As harmless as it can be." Nora amended. "He had aura active, so it's not that dangerous. Though I guess I can make the future pranks more harmless, now that the gloves have been thrown."
"Safety concerns aside, don't you think you are going about it the wrong way?" Ren asked. "I don't relish seeing their conflict unfold either way, but doesn't this solution strike you as… manipulative?"
"Don't start with that." Nora sighed. "I thought about it as well, but then I remembered what happened during the initiation. These two are manipulative as hell and they would continue to be manipulative if I haven't given them something else to do. By convincing them to resort to pranks, I lower the overall level of manipulativeness around here. I'm, like, reverse-manipulative."
"Even aside of the faulty grammar, I'm not sure if I like this idea."
"Well you don't have to contribute. Just don't tell anyone and things will unfold on their own. I'll just spice things up a little when needed."
"Nora…"
"Look." Nora's expression took a serious, somewhat tired hue. "I get what you're saying. I don't enjoy doing all that stuff either. Alright, maybe a little, but I still wouldn't do that if I didn't think I had to."
"Do you have to this?" Ren expressed his doubt. "I know it sounds bad, but shouldn't you just let them play the games they want, at their own risks?"
"They don't know the risks!" To Ren's surprise, Nora raised her voice quite a bit. "Jaune doesn't, at least. He thinks about what happens if he loses, but not about how much time he has to spend thinking about how to win, or just how damn unhealthy it is. He doesn't know what his game really means, and neither do you."
"Me?" Ren asked, taken aback by that last part. "What do I not understand?"
"That we might end up pulled into this as well." Nora replied grimly. "Not in an obvious way, maybe, but there is no way we will remain untouched if that thing drags out for too long. We might end up as casualties, or worse, drafted and put into different trenches. Made to deliver info on the other team, made to spread rumors about the other guys or made to help Jaune or Weiss in some way I can't think of right now. Don't you see how this might become a problem?"
Ren considered that chain of logic. To his horror, it seemed fairly solid – he already knew that Jaune was willing to work with Nora in order to spite his sister, and vice versa. Neither of them was above asking others for help in their conflict, and Ren got the feeling they would do more than just ask if they really needed help. He wouldn't do anything to harm Nora, of course, but if he somehow got persuaded into making life harder for her team leader and it affected Nora indirectly, wouldn't that be just as bad? Pranks, even as extreme as Nora's, had limited effects. Maybe it really was for the best of everyone involved.
"I don't like this." He sighed. "I don't think I agree with this. But I accept it. I won't interfere in whatever you're doing with this matter."
"Great!" Nora exclaimed so cheerfully, Ren found himself doubting if all her earlier distress had been genuine. "I will take care of everything. Just don't go snitching on me or anything and don't help Weiss figure out what's happening. Don't give her any tips on how to wash her hair too, she's just too funny like this."
"I suppose I can work with that." Ren sighed. He had to consciously remind himself that with how stubborn Nora could be, that was probably the best arrangement there was to be reached.
"Though if you have some mayonnaise at disposal, I'll take it. You know, so that I can make the next prank something totally harmless."
Ren felt like he had to reconsider his feelings on Beacon.
It feels sort of weird to be writing 'mentioned once in a novel' characters like Peach or Mulberry. They are not technically OCs, but they have to be written like OCs in basically every respect, and therefore I automatically turn extra careful as to avoid bad OC tropes. Annoying.
Also, I've taken some liberties explaining Dust, because the show never gave us a solid idea of how the stuff works. I might have contradicted something the creators said, but if so I consider that a necessary evil. Gotta make it clear what toys the main characters have at their disposal.