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Splish Splash a Snek

JUST UPDATED THE LIST, MESSAGE IF YOU ARE MEANT TO BE ON IT AND I MADE A DUMB

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"Lieutenant Black has offered you a special commendation, and a recommendation that your mission be moved post-listing to a class three mission due to circumstances encountered, and your exploits therein." The Headmistress said quickly, smiling as she walked between them in the Bullhead docks and handed each of them an envelope.

It was simple manilla, but on one side had been stamped with the silver seal of Beacon. Through the thin paper, he could feel several small squares in his, and assumed that the others held the same. Payment for their work, which was a touch on the rare side at Beacon, where most of their pay would be taken at the head of them getting it to pay tuition - so as to avoid debt ridden Hunters after graduation, he assumed - as well as restock on the basic supplies, like tents and basic ammunition, Beacon provided. For first years, that meant they got nothing or close enough to it, since their mission levels were locked.

Locked to class one, that was, and this was three times that.

"Inside your envelopes are official commendations and clearances for rest, signed by myself and the Headmaster, which dismiss you from classes for three days." She explained, standing before them with her hands clasped before her and a thin, but shockingly present, a smile on her face. "No homework, no detentions for skipping, and the like are all included as well as the right to medical aid if any of you wish for a checkup. I am required to add that if any of you need further rest, additional class waivers will be issued."

"We're all alright, Headmistress." He answered quietly, drumming the fingers of his off hand on his thigh and forcing a smile. "Some bruises, and Nora got shocked by a dr-" He caught himself and feigned looking to her to check that she was alright, "You are alright, right, Nora? That last robot shocked you pretty bad, and then you took a spill."

"Pfft, I'm fine, fearless leader! We already told you about how my Semblance works." To show it, she grinned and started flexing like a body builder. As though that was a good counter to his anxieties, somehow. Grinning, she straightened and dusted her hands off, spreading them after a second and saying, "See? Juuuuust fine."

"I'm afraid I don't follow…" The headmistress murmured, genuinely confused for the first time he could say for sure he'd seen her express it.

"Her Semblance allows her to take in electricity of any kind and use it as power, without hurting her at all." Ren explained for the Headmistress, offering a small smile of apology. "You'd have seen it in spars, if it weren't so difficult to electrocute her mid-fight."

"I can see how that could be an issue, outside the odd team on team match." The headmistress admitted freely, seemingly more relaxed and in a good mood. "And the difficulty of using it explains why I hadn't seen records on it, either. I doubt many enemies you'd fight in a spar would attempt electrocution, either."

"Do you not… Know the student's Semblances?" It was Pyrrha who asked that. And for obvious reasons, too, given her desired secrecy around her own and precisely how it functioned.

"Oh no, that would be quite impossible to maintain. Spotty and inefficient, based solely on self-reporting." The woman tutted, which was close enough to a laugh that he considered it a chuckle at least, and shook her head. "The process is rather dry, but simply put, we observe and compile the usages of Semblances we see on record. The main purpose is to guide our students, if we can, in developing their Semblances."

"That's…" Creepy, he wanted to say, and worrying for obvious personal reasons, if they decided to go digging in his made-up past. Instead, though, he finished with a weak, "Helpful."

"Well, this is an educational establishment." She smirked then - actually smirked, too, with her head cocked to the side and a hand resting on a cocked hip - and added, "What, did you think our teaching consisted of making you hit each other and just praying you learned to hit each other better?"

A successful mission outside of what they should have been ready for, at least on paper, and with no casualties was doing wonders for her mood, it seemed.

"Maybe we could try out a team match sometime, then?" He suggested, more than eager for some fools to take out his aggravation out on. A mild amount of aggravation, to be honest, for their failing to find any real power in a Revanite Temple. Smiling hopefully, for a mix of good and bad reasons alike, he suggested, "So we could improve, I mean. I have a few team ideas, if you wouldn't mind…"

"Only second-year teams are permitted to partake in team on team bouts during sparring lessons." The headmistress, for all her somewhat brighter mood, wouldn't budge on her rules. He knew that much well enough, as did literally everyone at Beacon. "Still, you all certainly proved yourselves out there. Enough so that the elusive Atlesian SRD's respect, and a note that they will want you for further work. Not necessarily protection, oddly enough. In fact, they have offered to hire Hunters to protect them and you."

"I can read Sith, an old language my teacher taught me in my lessons as I grew up." He explained, knowing she'd be able to find out by asking them regardless of his oh so tempting desire to try and obscure it. Shrugging, he did try to obscure a little bit elsewhere, though, adding, "I don't know why it's there, though. Just how to read it well enough. I can't speak it, though."

"A common enough thing with ancient languages, I believe Doctor Oobleck has told me. You shouldn't let it bother you, Mister Arc." She seemed to pay it no mind, though, instead moving on once she was sure he wasn't upset over the fact. Drawing another envelope from a folder held in her hand, she offered it to him and explained, "Contact information, should you wish to continue working with the ASRD more directly. Otherwise, they will contact you when they need you."

"Thank you." He'd need to think about that idea, he knew. And talk to Pyrrha. For now, though, he simply smiled and nodded, asking, "Will that be all, Ma'am? I think we'd all enjoy a good meal and a chance to really relax, if you don't mind."

"Of course." She nodded, stepping aside and waving a hand towards the door with a pleased and pleasant smile. "And have a good rest, as well."

He took three steps and paused, the Force echoing of something odd he couldn't place. Giving the headmistress a look, he could feel a sort of… Echo of something malignant, coming from her. Or off her, maybe. He couldn't tell, though, and didn't have the time to stay and focus, nor a way to do it without drawing undue attention onto himself.

Instead, when Pyrrha laid a hand on his shoulder, he smiled and said a simple, "Have a good day, Headmistress. I look forward to my next combat class."

She bowed her head with a bemused smile and he turned and left, without a backward look for her. He sensed her eyes on his back all the way, though, even though he didn't dare look. Something was odd, but he couldn't place it for now. And in truth, with Pyrrha's life still in danger and Jaune not knowing where to expect the shot from, he didn't have any desire to delve into whatever was going on with her.

And given Miss Goodwitch didn't use a bow, he saw no reason to pay whatever secrets she was holding any mind. If he'd even sensed secret-keeping and not simply misinterpreted something else entirely. Regardless, he put it out of mind and sighed as he stepped into the familiar halls of Beacon and turned to Nora.

"Since you solved the puzzle," he smiled, "I think a pancake dinner is in order."

"OH YES PLEASE!" The girl practically howled, grabbing the lot of her team up in her arms in a huge hug and carrying them off. Equally loudly, she howled, "Pancake Day, hoooo~! Oh! We should invite team RWBY over for it, too!

"Nora, calm down or no syrup."

"But Ren!" The excited girl countered, bouncing excitedly around them, "It's pancake day!"

She said the words like they explained everything about her excitement, and why they weren't allowed to care. And, with a loud chuckle, Jaune decided he agreed. Ren didn't, though, and continued chiding her while she bounced around as they went inside.

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"Back so soon, Miss Goodwitch?" The blonde woman sighed and rolled her eyes as she stepped out of the elevator and into the spacious office. The source of her eye roll and sigh chuckled at her for it, leaning back in his seat and reading a small paper held in his hands aloud, "He demonstrated a direct ability related to the myths surrounding the ancient temple and, as note, the 'Curator' referred to him as a Force user. While possible that his Semblance fooled the machine, it is still odd that a machine dedicated ostensibly to discerning that could be fooled like that."

"Black's report?" She asked, walking to a rolling cart beside the elevator and making herself a cup of warm hot chocolate, kept hot in the pot he'd used to make and mix it. Not the coffee she'd hoped for, to be sure, but it was warm and sweet. And a kind of comfort from the breeze she'd felt outside. "Getting ahold of that took no time at all, it would seem."

"Indeed." The man nodded, stirring a spoon idly through his own drink and pushing the report across the table for her to review. "It would seem that having friends in literally high places is a boon indeed."

"Brothers, don't you start on the puns too." The Grimm even knew how many she had to suffer through with Miss Xiao Long. Though she trusted his word implicitly, she took the report and started skimming through it. One thing swiftly popped up and caught her eye and, taking a sip, she parroted, "James added a note saying that he find it 'convenient how much of the situation simply fell together with a Semblance that matched perfectly and robots that seemed to see it and assume he was what they were made to work with'."

"Oh yes, I saw that." Ozpin nodded, "And I do find it rather interesting myself as well. Robots like those aren't like the Knights James is so fond of."

"You know of them?" He nodded as she expected, and she made a face caught between amusement and resignation. "Of course you do, as old as you are."

"I like to think I look rather well for, oh…" The old man sighed and took a breath, miming thinking while he looked out the window at passing Bullheads. And birds. There were lots of birds. For a moment, she wondered if he was looking for a specific bird, flying in weird and awkward patterns. Smiling, the ancient man joked before she could think any longer, "I'm sorry, I appear to have forgotten how old I look. What say we settle on a century and compliment how good I look?"

"You are far older than that, and you and I both know it." And fishing for compliments like a young tart would, too, but his smile told her he knew that too. "Regardless, what do you think of all of this?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean what I said, Ozpin. Don't be obtuse." And he understood perfectly well what she was getting at, she was sure. He smiled, though, and she sighed tiredly, already full up for the day on his games. "What does all of this tell you? The observations at the temple that team Juniper discovered, and the robot's words. Sir, if something strange is going on regarding Mister Arc, then maybe we shouldn't-"

"If his strangeness is a sign of anything, I know what it is. An old power, to be sure, and even in my time a mystery." She must have shown her typical displeasure at his equally typical 'veneer of mystique', as he liked to call it, because he smiled and chuckled. "Forgive me, Glynda. The power in question is old and I confess I have forgotten most of its implications and applications."

"So?" Her brow rose, "What do we do about this? With Amber in her state… A decision needs to be made. We need our protector, Ozpin."

"Well, I happen to believe that this only settles my decision. Or as close to settles as can be, of course, without talking to our potential young guardian." He smiled that insufferable smile, then, and took a long sip of his drink. Tapping the thin porcelain rim in thought, the man sighed, and made the decision that they had simultaneously needed to get done and been dreading. "Please send Miss Nikos a message tomorrow morning, Miss Goodwitch."

"I see." So he'd decided to go ahead with her, then. She'd have preferred an older student, really, but in the end, she trusted his judgment.

"Set the meeting up for after breakfast, though." The man instructed simply with a sigh, flicking open his scroll and murmuring a last order, "And send the message later tonight. If we're right, then I suspect young Mister Arc's reaction will be… Well, I would wager that we shall see soon enough."

"I understand, Headmaster." He was meaning to test the young man, somehow, then. She could tell from the way he sat, watching the sky and rocking his chair gently. "It will be done, Headmaster. Will that be all?"

"On this matter? Yes, most certainly." He sighed and took another drink, then and turned to meet her gaze again, seemingly glad to be able to move on. "Do we have any updates on our Schnee situation? Last I heard we were getting everything from threats of Dust sanction to demands of new team assignments for Miss Schnee."

"Well, his lawyers have contacted us." She nodded with a thin grimace, pulling her Scroll from her blouse and flicking it open. "First they are filing a team transfer request due to 'a terrorist threat'." She clicked her tongue and shook her head, "That'll be in regards to young Belladonna, I'm sure."

"Probably, yes." He laughed and shook his head, smiling all the while. "We have no teams with a vacancy, and unless someone offers and Miss Schnee asks, we won't be allowing a swap. Also," he added, giving her a knowing look, "inform his lawyers that if any teams are contacted by them or SDC representatives, we will be filing harassment injunctions."

"Understood." And she couldn't agree more, for that matter. Typing the response for their own lawyers to translate and process, she dismissed it and moved to the next note. With a chuckle, she read it out, "They are also filing negligence charges, for… Not having Miss Belladonna on record as a Faunus, and allowing the information to be made public."

"As though we should check our student's race as a priority of any consideration." The man chuckled, running his finger around the rim of his mug. "Tell them to take that argument to court. I look forward to them trying to argue student's records should be public access or that we should announce their races."

"Understood." And personally, she was looking forward to the attempt too. It would be hilarious to watch, truly, if they did. "The rest is petty and minute. Price negotiation requests among them, too, because… Because of course there is."

"Hm. Of course indeed." Another short, quiet laugh and the man waved her off. Or rather, waved the notion of raising how much they'd pay for Dust just because Jacques demanded so. "Well, I trust you know how to handle that specific rhyme of nonsense, Miss Goodwitch."

"I know very well, sir." She smiled and flicked her Scroll closed, knowing she wouldn't be able to do what she wanted until she had time in her office. "I will ask their representatives to a meeting and refuse their demands outright. And point out that the only sorts of meetings they would get on the matter would be the same waste of fuel as that meeting, unless they wanted us to sue them for blackmail."

"Very good, Miss Goodwitch." Ozpin nodded, "Very good."

"Will that be all then, sir?"

"Yes, yes it will. You're dismissed, and I hope you have a good day." He gave her a nod in farewell as she rose, and watched her leave.

Once the doors of the elevator closed, she sighed and rolled her eyes, the man already watching something on his Scroll with great interest. Which meant either a new report or the security feeds, monitoring their newly chosen Guardian and thinking as he often did. The thought only earned another sigh and tired but resigned roll of her eyes, knowing him well enough to predict his actions and knowing herself well enough to predict that she'd run along behind him cleaning up. As always. Still, though.

That man certainly had a way of digging up more work for her…

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"Nora, calm down." Ren sighed, smiling even as he chided her and she dragged him through the hall's at nearly breakneck speed, the other partner pair of their team trailing behind with thin smiles. "RWBY's dorm won't vanish if we get there at a normal speed, you know."

"We don't know that!" She argued excitedly, "A Grimm dragon could come and steal their room away!"

"That sounds kind of impossible…"

"Hey, dragons like princesses, and Weiss is basically a princess, right?" She didn't wait for an answer, not that Jaune and Pyrrha, so far behind the duo, could have answered at all. Shooting them a wide smile, she turned back to her oldest friend and added, "Dragons steal princesses, Ren! We have to save Weiss~!"

Whatever Ren wanted to counter with was lost as the girl took off, the young Mistralian half running and half being carried away by his excitable partner. The other two of their team swiftly gave up on trying to follow them completely. Or rather, on keeping up with them, since they both doubted very sincerely that a dragon had whisked Weiss away. Though the image of Ruby armed and chasing after it was an amusing one.

And probably something she'd be willing to do, knowing her.

"We'll have to find our own way, I suppose. I can't imagine we'll get lost, though." Pyrrha voiced the words as they slowed, looking around at the mostly empty hallway. Without all the people coming and going, the halls were quiet enough their voices echoed as they talked. "It's eerie, being so quiet like this."

"Yeah." He gestured at a painting of a young man in light plate holding a staff and beaming a smile out of a royal room, and shrugged. "Least we can see the artwork, though. Normally it's so loud and crowded, you can't really see it all that well."

"Indeed. Or the path ahead, for that matter. Normally, seeing the ground is like trying to see a sheep for the forest." She turned her head to hide her laugh, the way Mistralians often did, at a joke he didn't understand. When she turned back to him he made his confusion evident on his face and offered a shrug, and she smiled apologetically. "Oh, I'm sorry! I… It's a Mistralian joke. In ancient Mistral, we did a lot of herding. Goats, sheep, cattle, the like. And they often got lost in the hills and forests. Finding them was always hard, hence the-"

"Yeah, no, I got it." He smiled and she giggled again, turning aside to hide it. Before he could catch himself, he grunted, "You shouldn't do that."

"I shouldn't… Do what?" She gave him a look but he didn't answer, instead shrugging and gesturing at her with a hand, and then his own face. Awkward and anxious, caught off guard by himself as odd as it was, and she laughed again. This time, though, she didn't turn away, shaking her head after, "Gods, Jaune. You ought not tease me, it's quite unkind of you."

"Right." He nodded, glad for the out and more than eager to take it. Seeing the easy segue, he jumped on it, lowering his voice and stepping close enough to her that their arms hit each other's sides as they walked. "What should we do about the Sith archive, then?"

"I'm assuming you have ideas, as you are bringing it up?" She answered, one brow raised and a small smile still playing across her lips. At what, he wasn't sure, but he forced himself to pay it no mind.

"We gather up whatever books we can buy with this," he answered, raising up his envelope and gesturing to hers in her own hand, her armor lacking pockets for it, "and we reach out to Black again. Back to the temple, and we trade it for time."

"Research." She nodded, "To find ways to make us more powerful for whatever is coming."

"Yeah, that. Research for power. Power for survival." He nodded, rounding a corner and headed through the dorms towards their room. Or, well, towards RWBY's room, since that was where their wild Nora had gone off to. Idly, he mused, "Trading power for survival is the Sith way, you know."

"The way of warriors every where and every when, were I to pose my opinion on the matter." He didn't bother pointing out that she had, just then, already posed her opinion to the subject. Instead, he simply nodded, and she went on after a moment, "What sort of information do you think will be there, though? Or do you have a specific idea on what to look for at all? Or are we simply looking more for the generality of 'useful things'?"

"That's a lot of questions." He smiled, earning a small flush from her. They were good questions, though. "The last one, Pyr. I'm looking for whatever could be useful, I don't have any specifics in mind. Unless one of those has the information and codes for a star cruiser or something, I can't think of anything that would, by itself, be helpful."

"Star cruiser?"

"Think along the lines of an Atlesian battleship, except out in space." He answered, the concepts clearly obtuse enough she had trouble, but earning a more understanding nod. Those ships were, of course, bigger, but something like a Sith warship would do wonders for them… "More likely I'm hoping to find schematics for armor, maybe for droids even, or blaster technology and sources of ammunition. Force techniques would be useful, too. Or relics."

"Yeah, well, just kind of hoping for the best. You know?" He shrugged as they rounded a final corner and he spotted Nora and Ren in the hallway, Ruby in the girl's arms. A waft of negative emotions hit him and he grunted, eyes narrowing suspiciously. "Something's wrong… Something's happened, and something's wrong."

What it was, he was sure he'd find out soon enough. But for now? He was already angry, because when Nora turned to look at him, she wasn't even feigning excitement and joy to bring the mood up. Her eyes were reddening, her lip quivering, and in the quietest, most broken voice he'd heard in all his knowing her, she said a simple, "Jaune…"

Not 'fearless leader' or 'tall spooky boy' if she was in a teasing mood, he noted with a deep frown and closing fists. Jaune.

And that distinction couldn't mean anything good.

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Argus 456 :

You shall (maybe) find out one day~ Hue hue hue~

Jaws on You :

I mean, it's a cool image, yeah. I honestly don't have the super end game of this story planned out as yet so who knows. Might happen.

Zenith Tempest :

The issue with his power scaling HERE is that the Trials were designed to counter a Force user and his saber. Their armor was resistant to his strikes and the larger droids were too big for him to easily move and crush. Without getting into it, I would put him on par with his contemporaries, where canon Jaune was definitively below par.

Blake does not 'get rewarded' for running away. Her 'reward' for running from the Fang was being stabbed and seeing her friend lose her arm. She ran for decent reasons - what else do you do when a terrorist says he'll hurt anyone you are close to - and aside from being forgiven, has never been rewarded. So I don't understand what you are getting at.

Winter Breath 0602 :

Who knows, that might be where I'm going with this? We shall see~