"…I guess the first thing I would say is that you shouldn't be doing it all alone," said Tai. "Is your team from Beacon still in town?"

"Yeah, the four of us actually started a business together," Jaune replied. "The last couple of weeks have been a little rough, but otherwise, things have been great."

Tai smiled in response. "That's great to hear. While you shouldn't be asking them to do all the work for you, having a solid support network can make a big difference…

"Ruby! Where on Remnant could she have gone? We've been looking for over half an hour." Tai said to no one in particular as he pushed his way through a particularly thick bush. In hindsight, playing hide and seek with his two children in the Patch forest may not have been the best idea. Especially when one of those children had a semblance that granted her incredible speed.

"Ruby!" Yang called out from beside her dad. Luckily for Tai, he had been able to find Yang quite easily. Even though she had chosen a good hiding spot up in the branches of a rather leafy tree, her hair stood out particularly well against the green and brown colors of the forest. He had considered offering her some sort of cap to keep her hair hidden. However, he knew she'd never wear it; Yang loved her hair more than life itself.

"I'm telling you, Tai, you're going about this all wrong." Qrow chirped from behind the father-daughter pair, having chosen to watch the rest of the family play rather than join the game before being recruited into the impromptu search party. "You'll never find her if you're looking for her. You have to make her come to you."

In frustration, Tai whirled on his ex-brother-in-law. "Well, how would you suggest going about finding her, bird brain?"

"Oooh, spicy. And I thought the Yang was supposed to be the fiery one. Speaking of which, Firecracker, I don't think that's how you're supposed to ask people for help, is it?" He directed the question towards Yang herself, who shook her head. "Dad says that you should always use the magic word when you're asking people for help, or they won't want to help you!" Nodding at Yang, Qrow gave Tai a knowing smile. "Well, Tai? You heard her. What's the magic word?"

Tai rolled his eyes, before giving Qrow a glare that looked like a carbon copy of Raven's. "Qrow, would you please help me find Ruby? I would really appreciate it." He forced out the words through gritted teeth.

Qrow smirked as he held up a hand to Yang, who gave it an enthusiastic high five; she seemed oblivious to the subtext of the conversation between her father and uncle. "Was that so hard? That's much better. Now, Firecracker, what can you think of that would make your sister come running to you faster than the wind?"

Yang thought for a second, before clapping her hands in delight. "Cookies!"

Qrow raised his voice slightly. "Good job. Cookies! Now, what kind of cookies does she like?"

Catching on to Qrow's idea, Yang responded by talking even louder. "She really likes chocolate chip, they're her favorite. Especially right when they come out of the oven! When the cookies are still hot, and the chocolate chips are still melted!"

Ruffling her hair good-naturedly, Qrow turned to Tai. "I think she's smarter than you already. Now, turn around."

Tai turned to notice Ruby standing behind him, seemingly having appeared out of nowhere. She swayed slightly from side to side, with her hands behind her back and a hint of puppy dog eyes in her expression. "Um, I know I'm supposed to be hiding from you, but…I think I heard Yang mention chocolate chip cookies?"

"…as much of a snarky pain in the butt he can be, without Qrow, things might have ended up a lot worse. That was when Ruby was 7 and Yang was 9. The semblances can be problematic to deal with at first - how old are your sister's kids?" Tai asked.

"I think Adrian is 7, and Julianne is about a year younger, which would make her 6." Jaune replied. "As you know, I was a bit of a late bloomer when it came to unlocking my semblance, so I don't know much about how it usually works. Do you think either of them would know about theirs?"

"That's just a little earlier than the age most kids unlock their semblances, which is 8. That being said, it varies from person to person, something you're well aware of. Julianne probably wouldn't, but there's a chance Adrian might. He could also unlock it some time in the next year. It's possible that both of them could unlock their Semblances while you're taking care of them. I wouldn't say that's very likely, though…"

"I wouldn't say that's very likely, though. Hah."Jaune muttered to himself in a bad impression of Tai's voice as he pulled a small metal sliver out from his foot. High likelihood occurrence or not, Adrian and Julianne had indeed both unlocked their semblances while in Jaune's care. Furthermore, it had happened on the same day.

Apparently, Adrian's semblance was being able to freeze anything he touched, while Julianne's semblance allowed her to turn objects to pure iron. Naturally, upon discovering their semblances, the first thing the siblings had tried to do was combine them. Unfortunately, while Adrian's semblance protected him from the cold, Julianne's did not. She ended up dropping the vase they had chosen to experiment on as soon as Adrian froze it.

…Jaune had returned home from work to find the siblings in the center of the living room, surrounded by sharp pieces of metal.

"Seriously, Pyr, I cannot thank you enough for this," he said to Pyrrha as she removed a diamond-shaped shard that had somehow embedded itself in the room's ceiling with her semblance. "You too, Ren and Nora. I have no clue how I would deal with this on my own."

"Really, Jaune, it's no problem at all." Pyrrha responded as she moved the piece into a recycling container, where it joined hundreds of similar pieces. "I'm just astounded that both Adie and Julie unlocked their semblances on the same day."

"Tell me about it." Jaune moaned. Following Tai's advice, he'd asked Pyrrha, Nora, and Ren if they would all be willing to help him out with the kids from time to time. While they'd all agreed happily, he hadn't expected to need their help quite so soon; it had been less than a week since Saphron and Terra had left.

"We're sorry, Uncle Jaune," said Adrian. "We should have waited for you to get home before doing anything with our semblances."

Jaune sighed softly. "It's okay, I understand; you two were excited. You're right though, it's dangerous to be using your Semblances for the first time without an adult around." He gave the children a small smile. "I'm just glad the two of you weren't hurt. Once we get this all cleaned up, we can go play with our Semblances in the backyard. Does that sound good?"

"Yeah!" replied Julianne happily. "Can Auntie Pyrrha come play with us too? I want to see what our Semblances can do together!"

Jaune gave a questioning look to Pyrrha, who seemed happy to receive the invitation. "I think that's a great idea, Julie," she said. Amid the cheers of the two children, she turned back to Jaune. "It's still hard for me to believe that the two of them unlocked their semblances on the same day," she said. "I can't help but think there's something more to it than just coincidence."

"I remember Ruby mentioning that her and Yang unlocked their semblances on the same day!" Nora chimed from the corner of the room, throwing a few pieces of iron into the bag Ren was holding open. "Maybe being siblings has something to do with it?" She looked towards Ren inquisitively.

Ren tilted his head thoughtfully as he tied up the bag. "It's possible. I've heard that children with strong bonds tend to unlock their semblances around the same time."

"Yes, that's all well and good, but I really wish that they could have waited until after I'd had a little time to get used to being their caretaker," Jaune said, drawing laughs from his companions. Truthfully, he didn't mind the extra work, since he had his friends there to help him.

"…yeah, what are the odds of that happening?" Jaune laughed as he replied. "That would be pretty crazy."

Thanks so much for all the love, everyone! Hopefully you all have a better idea of how the story will look from here on out! Tai's chapters will be set a few years in the past from the present day, while Jaune's will be a few weeks or months in the future. Most chapters will follow the same format. What do you all think of this style? Any recommendations to improve it?

Thanks for your support! See you next week!

-Linen