Here's the chapter. Something of a mega-note at the bottom to address my AN last chapter and why I have been so displeased with this fic recently. No worries, it won't be scrapped or put on a hiatus. It's merely me highlighting some issues, explaining how they occurred and how the fic will hopefully be improved moving forwards.
Beta: College Fool
Cover Art: Kegi Springfield
Chapter 47
Jaune had thought he'd gotten social interaction down pat, at least in terms of understanding what people meant, and while some aspects still confused him and there were occasional mistakes, he felt he at least understood what people were doing.
Not now.
"Note to self. Humans turn into idiots when the word `dance` is invoked."
"Noted." the little parasite replied.
The reason for his not-so-kind opinion was the sheer number of people running around like it was the end of the world. With the dance being tomorrow evening, and thus imminent, those that had been unlucky enough to not have dates, or not confident enough to ask, were fast becoming desperate. Single women had become rarer, and the amount of people he'd passed carrying flowers, chocolates, or in some rare cases crying to themselves, was downright insane.
Wasn't this meant to be a good night or something? It was supposed to celebrate the year, yet he'd seen people look terrified, heart-broken and stressed in equal measure. They're acting like this is the last day before they go off for war. I thought Grimm were humanity's true enemy, but it seems it's actual formal occasions.
Honestly, it was one of the rare times he was grateful for not being entirely human.
"You don't have a date either," Remy pointed out.
That was true, but he didn't feel the same pressure everyone else seemed to. If he didn't have anyone to go to the dance with then he'd go alone. Was that really such a big issue? Everyone else in Beacon seemed to think so.
Humans were weird.
"There's always Penny."
"I'll just go on my own," he said. "Unless someone asks me, that is."
"You could go with your sister."
That was an option, but Lavender hadn't been answering her scroll for the last day or two, and the one message he'd sent had come back with a very pointed "Busy – talk later" response. No, it looked like he would be going stag, not that it was a big deal. If Yang weren't busy with her organisation of it all, he'd have asked her.
Oh well. He'd make sure to ask her for a dance, and probably Weiss, Pyrrha and Ruby too. And Cinder if I can convince her to even look at me without snarling. A dance might be a good way to apologise. Or get his head bitten off, but either way something had to give. He sighed and brushed his scroll against the dorm door, letting himself in.
"Jaune!" Ruby exclaimed, stood nervously inside.
"Ruby," he returned, glancing around. "Where are the others?"
"P-Pyrrha went for some light training and should be back soon. Weiss said something about being unable to study if I was pacing a hole in the floor. She said she'd come back when everyone is acting sane again."
Jaune blinked. "What did she-"
"Nothing! She meant nothing."
It didn't sound like nothing, but he nodded warily. Ruby was still stood in the middle of the room, which was odd enough since if she'd been in there before this, then why stand right there watching the door? She also looked nervous.
"Is something wrong?" he asked.
"No. Yes. Maybe…" She slapped a hand to her face. "Can I try again? Nothing is wrong but… well… there's something I need to ask you. Or want," she admitted. "No, well, want and need. There's something I have to ask you."
"Do you need me to take you to see the nurse?"
"What, no. Why would you think that?"
He coughed and looked away. "No reason. So, what's the big question?"
Ruby shuffled awkwardly and took a deep breath. Whatever it was it looked serious, so Jaune waited patiently for her to speak. When she eventually did, it was in a voice that was… strangely robotic, almost scripted.
"Jaune, I need to ask you something. The…" She swallowed and stared past his shoulder. "The school dance is coming up and… and I don't have a date." She clenched her eyes shut. "There's something I want to ask but I'm afraid of what they'll say."
His eyes widened. This was serious.
"Who was it you wanted to ask? Tell me and I'll make sure they take you to the dance."
He'd meant it to sound supportive, but Ruby took one look at him and burst into laughter. She clapped both hands over her mouth, and through her giggles he heard something about how someone had `predicted him perfectly`.
"Did I say something wrong?"
"N-No, it's not that," she laughed. "I'm just… ahem." She coughed to calm compose herself and took a deep breath. "I-I was serious about what I said. There is someone I want to go to the dance with and I… I did want to ask you for help."
"And I'm serious about what I said. Who is it?"
She took a deep breath.
"It's- the person I want to go with is-"
The door opened.
Ruby blurted out her answer.
/-/
Yang felt her insides tighten as she stared down at the message on her scroll, just three simple words from her sister. Her mouth was dry.
"I asked him."
Her mouth was dry. She swallowed once, and then swallowed again when that didn't help. Her heart beat in her chest but she wasn't sure what the pace of it meant. It was just like Ruby to provide exactly zero detail in a message, but was that good or bad? She typed back a message.
"You got your date?"
It took less than ten seconds for the reply to come but each felt agonising.
"Yes."
And just like that, it was over. Relief, happiness, and then an immediate rush of sorrow as the weight of what she'd just done settled over her. Jaune was going with Ruby. That was… no, there was no point lying to herself anymore. It hurt. It hurt a lot.
Things will be better this way, she thought to herself. He's a great guy. He'll make Ruby happy.
He could have made her happy as well, of course. She knew that. She also knew that despite her best efforts, she'd started to react a little to his innocent flirtations. It was hard not to since he was the first guy to ever treat her like a woman, and an actual woman that was, not just some teenage girl with a pair of watermelons strapped to her chest. He'd talked to her, listened to her, not her tits.
But what made him such a great guy was also what made her think he'd be better for Ruby. But also, that she thought Ruby might be better for him. I have too many of my own issues. Ruby would be way better for him, and she'd genuinely love him from the bottom of her heart.
Didn't mean the text hadn't hurt, however. A small and selfish part of her had been hoping Ruby might fail, as much as she'd never allow it to control her or make her actively sabotage her sister. She sighed and switched her scroll off, unwilling to hear anything more and afraid Ruby might send her messages asking what she should do with Jaune at the dance.
Giving advice to her sister on how to woo the guy she herself liked? She drew the line there. Tonight would be a night for bittersweet complaints, moody silence and eating all the chocolate she could get her hands on.
Tomorrow would be the dance, and she'd need to be ready to smile and wish her sister well come the moment. Well, that or kidnap her if she tried to weasel out of wearing the dress Yang had bought for her. If I go through all of this trouble to push Jaune on her and she goes in combat boots…. Gods Ruby, I will make you regret it.
She laughed at the image of it, though. It made her feel better, and as she rounded the corner towards Team RYBN's dorm room, she had a smile on her face once more. That was convenient since she ran straight into Blake, who looked positively aggrieved.
"What's up, kitty-cat?"
"I've told you not to call me that outside the dorm," Blake hissed, the little bell on her collar tinkling as she scowled in Yang's direction. The best part was that she didn't even seem to realise she was wearing it anymore. The time for Ren's punishment had technically ended, but Blake had forgotten to take it off.
"Eh, details. What's got you in such a rush?"
"I'm just trying to avoid a rather persistent individual."
"Sun?" Yang guessed.
"Who?"
"Your stalker."
"Yes, him." Blake stared back in the direction she'd come from, which was thankfully empty. She didn't seem to realise she'd forgotten the poor guy's name again. "I can't believe he asked me again when I specifically told him I already had a date!"
"Well, you can't fault him for trying. Besides, he's probably cottoned onto the fact you're lying."
"If he has, then it should make him realise just how little his chances of me agreeing are."
She had a point there and Yang laughed, quickly forgetting about Jaune and Ruby altogether. "What's so bad about him anyway? He's not bad looking."
"He's stalked me!"
"Apart from that, I mean."
Blake growled and pushed the door to their room open, ignoring Yang's teasing altogether. Could she really be blamed for pushing Blake's buttons, though? Ren was always so damned calm that he never reacted and Nora was more than capable of teasing back ten times worse than she received.
"You're still going to have to get a date, Blake," she said as she followed her teammate in. "Otherwise you'll be a spinster as well as a liar."
"I know. I'll figure something out."
"You could just ask some random guy. You are hot."
"Who is asking some random guy?" Ren asked, looking up from the book he'd been reading. Nora was behind him, also reading while perched with one hand on his shoulder. Blake made a sound halfway between a strangled gasp and a gargle, and Yang realised why when she saw the cover of the book the two were going through.
"Give me that!" Blake hissed, snatching it away. "And I'm not asking anyone anything. Yang's just being nosey, as usual."
"Ah." If Ren was upset to have the porn stolen away he didn't show it. In fact, he looked over in her direction and nodded to her bed. "A package came for you, by the way. I signed for it at the door. I hope you don't mind."
A package? Yang's curiosity was piqued.
"Nah, I don't mind. What is it?"
"I don't know. We didn't open it."
"Ren wouldn't let me," Nora complained.
Heh. That probably explained why Ren was reading Blake's smut. He'd probably looked for anything that could distract her. Nora was many things but patient wasn't on the list and an unopened parcel was probably a mystery she just had to figure out. Yang approached her bed, looking this way and that at the rather large and ornately wrapped box. She poked and prodded the side, half-wondering if a corgi would come jumping out of it. Zwei didn't, of course. Her Dad did some pretty weird things, but mailing their dog? That was a bit much.
"Yaaaang," Nora whined, practically salivating off to the side.
"You might as well open it," Blake sighed. "She'll be insufferable otherwise."
Yang shrugged and did so, unwilling to admit she wasn't much different. She hadn't been expecting any mail and hadn't ordered anything, but the name on the front was clearly hers and that meant the contents were too. As the packaging paper flew, her eyes lit up and she started to tear at it even faster. Her curiosity peaked as a pristine white box was revealed.
She picked the sides out carefully, working the seams until she could pull it open properly. Despite Blake's words, and tone, she also leaned in with Nora to take a look at the contents. Yang might have made a comment about cats and curiosity, but her throat caught when she saw what was inside.
"Oooh," Nora crooned.
"It's a dress," Blake said.
"It's a pretty dress," Nora corrected.
It… It certainly was. Yang's hands shook as she reached down to pick it up, and she marvelled at just how soft and smooth it felt. It was folded expertly, obviously brand new from the tailor and a rich black in colour. As she held the shoulders and stepped back it unfolded before her, falling down to just above her knees.
"It suits you," Blake said, looking at it as Yang held the fabric against her, mimicking the act of wearing it.
"It does," Ren agreed, still sat down. "I thought you already had a dress, though. I didn't realise you'd ordered another."
It took a second for Yang's brain to kick in. "I didn't…"
"You didn't order it?" Ren asked, getting a shake of the head in return. "Then who did?"
"There's a note in here," Nora chimed, fumbling around in the box it had come in. Rather than give it to Yang, she took it aside and read it herself. "Wear this. That's all it says. No name or anything else."
"Could it be a mistake?" Yang asked. She didn't want to let go of the dress; it felt nice and even when she wasn't wearing it she could imagine how good she'd look. It had to be designer, but if so then it was one she didn't recognise – and she had a feeling that wasn't because it was cheap or tacky, more like it was out of her price range entirely.
"It was addressed to you," Ren pointed out, "and to this exact dorm."
That was true…
"Oh, oh!" Nora jumped up and down excitedly. "What if it's someone's way of asking you to the dance!?"
"W-What?"
"Think about it. Maybe he's too shy to approach you or didn't get the chance, or maybe this is his idea of how to romantically do it. He sends you a mysterious parcel, inside of it a dress and a note with the words `wear this`. And then, when you show up tomorrow, a man steps out – dressed in a matching number and steps across the dance floor to take your hand in his…" She trailed off and stared at Ren for a second, before she giggled happily.
Yang's cheeks were bright red. That…? No way. That was nuts. There was no way that was the case, right?
"It could be," Blake said, hand on her chin. "It sounds like something I've read about before…"
"Life isn't like your smut books!" Yang practically yelped. "They're fiction!"
"Yes, but what's to say the person isn't taking inspiration from fiction?" Blake's argument silenced her immediately. "It could be that he read a romance story for the idea or that he's a fan and took something from his favourite movie or book. It wouldn't be the craziest thing I've heard and it might even be the first thing someone too shy to ask you directly might try."
How could she argue with that? It made sense…
"It's so romantic!" Nora crowed. "Oh my God, I wish someone would do that with me. I really, really do." She stared at Ren meaningfully, but it seemed the excitement was too much for she ignored him a second later and rushed over to spin Yang around. "Oh Yang, that's so cool. Tell me you'll wear it. You're going to, right? You're going to see who it is, right!?"
Yang's head continued to spin as Nora let go, and it didn't quite stop when her motion did. She had no idea what to say. She wanted to wear the dress, but that was only because it was so beautiful. The one she'd bought before and worn on her date with Jaune was nice, but affordably nice, and didn't really do much to make her look mature. It was a dress someone might buy if they intended to go to a dance on their own or with friends. This was a dress for lovers.
And she wasn't sure what she thought about that.
"I-I don't know," she whispered. "It's romantic, I'll agree." Her cheeks heated up and she pulled it a little closer to herself. "But I'm just… I've no idea who it could be. What if it's someone I hate?"
"Do you actually hate anyone in Beacon?" Ren asked.
"No…"
"It's just a dress," Blake followed up. "Wearing it means you're agreeing to see who this is. It doesn't mean you have to be their girlfriend if you don't get on with or don't like them."
Trust those two to hit her with logic, her biggest weakness. She was already wavering, heart beating rapidly in her chest. Sure, it wasn't Jaune, but this could be something else, and maybe that was what she needed, not as a rebound but as something to distract her, to make her feel wanted. In the end that was all Jaune had done to her, wasn't it? Maybe she could fall for this guy, too. Maybe she would fall harder than she had with Jaune.
And if she didn't? Well, she could let them down gently. She'd take them aside, talk to them, tell the truth and maybe even offer them a dance or two before trying to part as friends. No one had to be hurt, and it could even be a fun time for both of them.
When she thought of it like that, what was the harm in accepting?
"Okay. I'll do it. I'll wear it." The moment she said it, she felt energy rush through her. It was crazy, but also kind of exciting. Sure, it was maybe a little cliché, but was that necessarily a bad thing? If the guy wanted to make a big moment of this, then maybe that was a sign of how much he thought of her. She hoped so.
"Should we be worried he got your measurements right?" Blake asked.
Yang froze. Okay, that was a fair point, but if someone liked her then it made sense he'd have been looking. Maybe he'd guessed, or perhaps he'd taken a picture and the people at the dress shop had helped him work it out. There was a perfectly good explanation for it.
"More than just your dress size," Nora said, rummaging around the box some more. "There's something else in here."
Blood rushed to Yang's face as Nora brought out the raciest set of lingerie she had ever seen. Her mouth fell open but no words came forth.
"Well," Blake coughed. "That's forward…"
Nora checked the tag and whistled. "The exact right size. Wow."
Yang blushed even harder.
Okay, so maybe it was both romantic and creepy at once. She'd wear the dress and she'd meet her mysterious paramour, but if he thought she was wearing those see-through things, then he had another thing coming.
"He gets props for the romance but a knock to the head for that!" she said.
"It's still exciting!" Nora laughed and tossed the lingerie away, and Ren was forced to dodge lest it land on his head. "Oh Yang, this'll be so cool! I can't wait to see who it is. Do you think they'll be good-looking? At least we know they're romantic. Ah, I wish someone-someone would consider doing that for me. Wouldn't that be cool, Ren? I think it would be super sweet. Don't you think so, Ren!?"
As Nora continued to try and make her hints heard, Yang looked down at the dress once more. Maybe things wouldn't be so bad after all. At least she wouldn't be going to the dance alone, and if things played out well she might even have new reason to smile.
And as a bonus, she'd all but forgotten about Ruby and Jaune.
/-/
"Yo."
While he was no stranger to banter, Mercury wasn't quite so used to being cornered against a wall by a girl shorter than he, yet somehow far more intimidating. Coco had that effect however, even if it was nothing on Cinder's scale. She'd walked right up to him, waved, planted one hand on the wall next to him so that he couldn't escape, and then asked if he had time to talk.
He wasn't sure if it was a question he was allowed to give an answer to, since she'd effectively cornered him the second he stepped outside his dorm. She'd obviously been waiting – and for how long, he had no idea.
"Sure…?" he asked.
"Great! It won't take long." Coco flashed him a smile that wasn't quite as sincere or chummy as her usual ones. "Just thought we could talk about Vel, you know? She's been down in the dumps for the past few days. I'm taking it you know why."
"I do. I'm still not sure Jaune has a date though, so there might still be tim-"
"Nah, I think this is for the best. Between you and me, I'm not sure she actually likes him as much as she thinks she does." Coco winked and waved a finger before her lips to tell him to keep that secret. He nodded, if only because it wouldn't do him any good to share it. "It's a shame though," she went on. "She's been miserable ever since."
Miserable and absent, he felt like saying. He hadn't seen her for at least a day and while he'd originally looked forward to the whole thing being over so he could get a break from her, it now felt stilted and quiet without her. Unbearably so. Cinder and Emerald were busy with their own things, and he hadn't realised how boring the days could get. All they did was wait, lately.
He wished Velvet would drag him off to take photos of Jaune again, if just to brighten up his day.
"I'm sure Velvet will get over it," he said, realising Coco was waiting for him to speak. "She's no weakling."
Coco smirked at some joke only she understood. "She isn't. Still, she was really looking forward to going to the dance. It'll really upset her if she has to go on her own."
"Then why make her? You're her teammate. Why don't you stay back with her?"
"Ugh, it's like talking to a brick wall." Coco ignored him and palmed her face. "Men, I swear. Even Yatsu isn't this difficult and he talks like a self-help book of philosophical quotes."
Mercury blinked. "Um…?"
"No." She slapped his hand down before he could raise it. "I'll make this clear, okay? Velvet is upset. You're her friend. You need to do something to help cheer her up."
Shouldn't her team be doing that first? Well, it wasn't like he was going to say that when Coco was wearing so large a frown. The problem was that he didn't know how to go about it. The height of his social interaction was Emerald. He'd been raised – and he used the term loosely – by a drunken assassin. Who he'd then killed, by the way. That didn't exactly equip him for friendship.
"What should I do?"
"Fix the problem," she said simply. "Figure out what's upsetting her, then fix it. it shouldn't be too hard."
"And you can't just tell me what that is?" he snapped, losing what little patience he already had. He was already in a bad mood about the dance, though he had no idea why. Probably just the thought of loads of idiots prancing around like it mattered. "Throw me a bone here."
"I already have, and no, I can't give you the answer or it would defeat the point. I'll be doing my best to cheer her up on my end, but this is something only you can do." She brushed past him, but paused to rap her knuckles on his chest. "Figure it out, smart guy. See you at the dance."
Mercury growled to himself as she left. It wasn't his fault. Velvet was just supposed to be a contact to help him keep an eye on Jaune. She'd done that well enough and he'd tried to give her every chance he could to ask the idiot out.
It wasn't his fault if she'd fluffed it.
"Who was that?" Cinder asked, appearing behind him. She didn't sound angry, only curious. "Your special contact?"
"One of her teammates," he said.
"What did she want?"
"Honestly, I have no idea. It's probably not important."
Cinder nodded, content to believe him or perhaps just not sensing any lie. To be fair, it wasn't important, at least not to Cinder and their plans. Either way, he wasn't quite sure why he'd put so much effort into keeping Velvet away from his team leader. She didn't even know Velvet's name yet, and hopefully wouldn't.
Velvet had been useful for keeping an eye on Jaune. He was just paying her back by not getting her involved in the mess to come.
"I'll take your word on it," Cinder said. "There is something I need you to do, Mercury. It is of the utmost importance."
He took a quick look around to make sure no one was nearby. "Yeah?"
"Are you free at the dance?"
"Sure. I was waiting to see if you needed me."
It was the right thing to say, for Cinder's smile took on a pleased edge. "Perfect. I'll be visiting the CCT but I need you to act as a diversion for me." Cinder smiled at him and touched her hand to his chest. "I'll need you to be available the moment I return, and for you to pretend the two of us were together all night. Understood?"
"Sure thing. You can count on me."
"I'm sure I can, Mercury. You've been incredibly useful lately." She smiled at him and stepped past, trailing her hand across his chest. "I'll find you when I'm finished with the CCT. Don't draw attention to yourself before then."
"Got it."
Well, it looked like things were finally about to start heating up. He imagined the carnage ahead and smiled, but it lacked a little of the energy it had garnered before. People fighting and dying in a great big battle for survival had felt exciting at one point. Now it just annoyed him.
One thing was for sure, if Velvet was upset now, she was going to be devastated when she found out the truth. And why should he care? Mercury stuffed his hands into his pockets and walked away, grumbling to himself. He'd done his best to help her – even when he didn't have to. She had no one to blame but herself.
He was still bored, though.
I wonder what Ve-
He paused, shook his head, and then continued on.
I wonder what Emerald is up to.
/-/
"Will you go to the dance with me?"
"NO."
"How about now?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"No!"
"That's not an applicable answer…"
Emerald took a deep, deep breath and tried her hardest not to scream. The orange-haired, green-eyed girl in front of her didn't seem to notice, or was able to ignore the obvious frustration if she did. "Why are you following me?" Emerald growled.
"Because I have not yet received an answer…"
"You've had three!"
"It is not the answer I was looking for," Penny said, and somehow didn't see anything wrong with that sentence. If it were a guy, she'd have already buried her knee in his groin. As it was, she was hard-pressed not to bury her weapon a little higher.
"When someone says no, it's usually a sign to accept that and respect their decision."
"Oh, but I do respect your decision, best friend Emerald. I respect and accept it, but wanted to ask you again. My research suggests persistence is important." She blinked. "Did I ask too soon? Should I have given you more time to think?"
"YES!" Emerald cried.
"Then I apologise profusely." Penny bowed low, but looked up at the last second. "Is now long enough?"
"ARRGH!" Emerald threw her hands in the air and stalked away, and couldn't even bring herself to be surprised when she heard Penny following. She'd have used her Semblances on the annoying idiot long ago if Cinder didn't want it kept a secret.
It was bad enough Penny had decided they were going to be friends – and she still cursed the moment where she'd lazily accepted that proposition. She'd expected the girl's idea of friendship would be the occasional nod of the head in a corridor, or an annoying hour wasted pretending to listen to her between lessons. That was at worst, and she'd hoped at best it might be a way back into Cinder's good books.
Mercury wormed his way in by making a contact in Beacon. She could do that too! Gods, it had seemed like such a good idea at the time.
So much regret, Emerald thought, groaning into one hand. Penny wasn't a normal girl; that much was clear. Her idea of friendship seemed to be that they'd become conjoined twins. Apart from when she slept, she didn't seem able to get rid of the girl and even Cinder had started to notice and shoot questioning looks her way. She wasn't stupid enough to get involved, however. Cinder seemed more than capable of smelling the potential annoyance a mile away.
"Emerald?"
"NO!" Emerald yelled, spinning around.
Weiss Schnee leaned back, one fine eyebrow raised. "Excuse me…?"
"Weiss?" She blinked once, spotted Penny over the heiress' shoulder (she waved happily), and winced. "Sorry, I thought it was someone else. I didn't mean to shout at you."
"That someone being… Penny?"
Emerald's twitching eye was the answer.
"Do I want to know?"
"Probably not," she said, at least a little relieved for the distraction. Plus, she'd been meaning to figure out if she had any leverage over Weiss and whether that would mean anything if this competition between Jaune and Cinder continued. "What are you doing out here anyway?" she asked. "With the dance being tomorrow, I figured you'd be getting ready."
"I'm avoiding the most complicated tangle of drama and emotions ever, preferably before I snap and kill someone."
"Eh?"
"Everyone is trying to ask one another out," she explained, and Emerald made a sound of understanding. Yeah, that sounded like hard work. She supposed she was lucky there weren't any such feelings between their group, though goodness knows might have happened if Mercury did like her that way, or gods forbid, liked Cinder romantically.
"I take it you're not involved," Emerald said.
"Thankfully not. I will be working the entrance tomorrow so I won't be going with a date."
"Lucky you…"
"Speaking of dates," Penny said, non-so-subtly pushing into the conversation.
"NO!"
"I understand and accept your decision," Penny said. She turned to Weiss. "Friend Weiss, how long is too long before you are allowed to ask someone out after being rejected?"
"Uh…" Weiss looked between the two of them. Emerald shook her head in despair. "I'm afraid I don't know, Penny. Some time, at least."
"I see." Penny stroked her chin. "Unrequited love is indeed a painful phenomenon."
"An explanation, please?"
Weiss sounded confused. Emerald didn't blame her.
"She keeps asking me out to the dance. I keep saying no. She keeps asking. It's been continuing like that for a while… I'm not sure how long."
"Three hours, forty-nine minutes and thirteen seconds," Penny helpfully provided.
Emerald shot Weiss an agonised look.
"I see," the heiress said. She didn't. No one did, not even Emerald. "Why are you asking Emerald out to the dance anyway, Penny? I wasn't aware you… um… felt that way about women."
"You didn't? But I had intercourse with Ruby Rose."
Emerald's mouth fell open.
She did what!?
"You had conversation with Ruby," Weiss explained, hissing for Penny to be quiet lest anyone overheard. "I thought she told you it's called conversation… or if you need to, discourse."
"I thought the correct word was intercourse."
"Technically it is but it has several other connotations people will jump to first."
"Really? But why would anyone jump straight to sexual intercourse when the first word is absent? Isn't that the most important part? I did not realise people's minds were so far in the metaphorical gutter. This is a startling realisation."
Emerald looked between the two in abject confusion. Had Penny had sex with Ruby or not? Who was having sex with whom? Since when was anyone having sex? Why was everyone talking about it? Was someone trying to bang her? She felt she had a right to know this, but her head just continued to spin.
Seriously, Beacon was hell.
"I think there's been a misunderstanding," Weiss said, smiling sympathetically at her. "Penny, can I ask what exactly you imagined Emerald and you doing at the dance? What did you have in mind if she said yes?"
"We could spend time together and talk about school, boys and tenta- other things. I thought it would be a good opportunity to deepen our bonds of friendship."
Wait, she'd meant that!? Emerald's mouth fell open, but Weiss only nodded.
"That's what I thought. Penny, I think that's more a platonic and friendly scenario. Asking someone out implies something of a more romantic nature."
"It does?"
"Yes!" Emerald howled, finally losing patience. "Yes, it does. Where were you raised, a barn?"
"A laboratory," Penny replied innocently.
Both Emerald and Weiss froze.
Oh… well, that was a little awkward. Some kind of test-tube baby? Medical anomaly? It kind of explained why she was so weird, but Cinder had told her not to draw attention so she couldn't afford to cause offence to transfer students. They didn't have the excuse of being foreign themselves anymore, since Cinder had forced them to re-apply at Beacon.
"That aside," Weiss said, "I guess this clears up the situation, no? Penny is only asking to spend some time with you at the dance as a friend. Is that right, Penny?"
The girl nodded happily. "Yes."
Weiss nodded, and suddenly the two of them were looking in her direction. Emerald blinked and stared back, before she slowly realised they were waiting for her response. Oh right, Penny wanted them to go together. Her first instinct was to say no. Platonic or not, it sounded like a pain in the ass.
But Cinder wanted her to watch over Jaune…
If I go on my own I'll probably look like I want company and some idiot guy will try and chat me up. I can't watch Jaune and deal with someone like that at the same time. Of course, if she had someone with her then it wouldn't be an issue, and she didn't care if the rumour mill made some nonsense up. As a bonus, Penny was in with both Weiss and Jaune, and it was possible she could be convinced to have them hang out as a group, or at least go and talk with them as well. It would make my job easier and it wouldn't look suspicious for me to be hanging around him so much. It's win-win.
Well, apart from the fact it would mean she had to deal with Penny all night. Still, it would make Cinder happy…
"Oh, fine," she said, sighing as Penny cheered happily. "But only as a friend! Definitely nothing more and we're not dancing with one another."
"Sensational! I must go report on this!" Penny dashed away, leaving Weiss and Emerald behind.
Emerald shot Weiss a raised eyebrow.
"Maybe writing in her diary?" Weiss guessed. "I don't know. I'm not her translator."
"I guess not." Emerald sighed. "Still, thanks for helping me out, I guess. I was about to explode at her if she kept asking. Seriously, who thinks asking someone out means friendship? What the hell is wrong with her?"
"I've no idea, but I just came from watching Ruby, Pyrrha and Jaune dance about their feelings. I wasn't going to stand here and watch it happen again. It would have driven me insane. I'm already close to the edge as it is."
"You ever want to just grab the offending parties and lock them in a room together?" Emerald asked. She wasn't sure if she was talking about Cinder and Jaune or if that would get her killed. Either way, it felt like since coming to Beacon everything had taken a turn for the insane. "I mean, do they think no one notices?"
"Why do you think I came out here?" Weiss asked. "I'm hoping the situation fixes itself before I take your advice quite literally. I might just hire someone to marry them all together and call it done."
The two shared a quick look, followed by a round of laughter. How weird to imagine the only other sane person was the heiress to the SDC. A pickpocket orphan and the daughter to the richest man on Remnant; if she'd suggested the two might one day be commiserating over shared misery, Mercury would have laughed at her.
They were interrupted by a middle-aged man in a blue uniform.
"Excuse me, is that Weiss Schnee? I have a parcel here for you."
"Really? How odd. I wasn't expecting anything…"
Okay, there we go. Last chapter I said how I was dissatisfied with White Sheep and I wanted to go over that a little here, both to highlight the problem and let people know how it occurred. You can skip this if you're not interested.
BIG POST AHEAD
Essentially, it came down to a breakdown in communication between College Fool and I. This is not to say we fought or argued, because we really didn't - and maybe this could have been avoided if we did. In fact, it's more that we didn't argue enough, or maybe that I was too content to try and accommodate ideas without asking for clarification. In short, it's my fault. I am the writer, after all, and it's my story - so it's my responsibility to make sure CF is on the right page with suggestions, and to reject any that aren't.
When I originally plotted out this story and shared ideas with CF, it was as a pure comedy – and that's what it was for the longest time, and those chapters were fun to write and read. You'll notice that the tags for this are "Humour" and "Action Adventure" NOT "Romance". It may have romance, but that will be a small part of the overall comedy and plot. It isn't the main focus.
Sadly, somewhere in our planning, this got muddled between us and CF began to think the romance WAS a major focus. We both thought we were working from the same hymn sheet and for the longest time we were, but come the dance arc – this arc – we deviated. College Fool expected a huge and dramatic dance moment where this would be the seminal climax of the entire story, a point where relationships were set out and the romance was pushed forward.
I didn't. To me, the dance was just meant to be an event to gloss over, with some comedy but no more focus than any other chapter or part of the show. It was meant to be 4-5 chapters at most, and fairly fast-paced.
College Fool pushed for more. One of our recurring themes was me putting a line like "the dance was in a week" and CF saying it needed "more time" and that I "shouldn't give exact dates as we needed more chapters", all the while suggesting little tweaks and changes that would ratchet up the tension on what was supposed to be a climax of this story. These were all good suggestions for a romance and drama story and College Fool's input is always valuable.
I tried to implement all of those, and often ended up doing so poorly because I thought I knew how CF was suggesting them (as joke comedy), and CF would get frustrated because it was meant to be serious drama and thought I'd made a mistake. We were both working with the same material on different ideas.
I should have said it wasn't what I wanted, but I didn't realise that was what CF was aiming for. I thought the jokes were meant as jokes, but to CF they were serious relationship moments, and that confusion continued on for a long time with CF trying to get me to focus more on the romance, and me trying to bring back the plot by introducing Lavender, by bringing in Adam and Ironwood, and by trying to drag the story kicking and screaming back to Jaune being Hentacle and having trouble between him, the White Fang and the good guys - with jokes about tentacle hentai, and Cardin de-pantsing Jaune and such.
And each time I did this, CF would say something like "This isn't needed" or "this just pads things out unnecessarily", because CF thought we were working on a huge and important dance arc when we really, really weren't. It would have been great if that came up in conversation between us but it never did (mostly due to my work load and how even when it was different, the points CF raised weren't in themselves bad points), and we were always working on this one chapter at a time as we slowly moved towards this point, me trying to speed it up and get the dance over with, CF trying to slow it down and make sure the tension and drama were there, all the while the both of us still thinking we were on the same page as to where this was going.
It clashed recently, however – last week, in fact – when CF suggested a plot ahead and I was horrified by it. It was, to put it bluntly, pure drama. It was the kind of thing you might have expected to see in Entertainer, or Stress Relief or any other romantic drama. This would be GREAT if White Sheep were a romance story OR a drama, but it's not. It's comedy and CF's end-goal wasn't funny.
I think it was at that point I realised the problem and did my best to explain the situation – and words were exchanged but we're still working together and are still friends.
What does this mean for the fic? Well, it means that this dance arc is fucking stupid, if I can be blunt. It's dragged on forever because CF thought this was a major climax piece, and now that I DON'T want that climax (and never did), the result of it is going to fail to meet up to the drama of the 10 or more preceding chapters.
That's not to say it'll be bad.
It'll not justify the ridiculous amount of length that has been wasted here. I'm sorry about that. Even if I went with CF's idea, it would flop because it would be a dramatic ending, but then the fic would continue for ages, as this is meant to go on beyond S4 and 5. It just wouldn't work. It would be like having Voldemort killed in Book 2 of Harry Potter, and then having no villain for the next set. Were this one of my more drama-heavy stories I would have lapped CF's idea up without complaint.
So, I'll be trying to bring this back to what it was always meant to be, a comedy fic with jokes and easy laughs and less relationship drama bogging it all down. College Fool is now on the same page a little more, and we'll hopefully not have this breakdown again, especially if it leads to even ME losing interest in the fic. Because seriously, I've hated this slog of chapters recently, and have hated it for a long time. Tracking back, I realised recently that I started to hate it the moment the dance arc came, and that was likely my subconscious or just my author side telling me that this entire arc was at such a dissonance to the tone of the rest of the fic that it was pointless and not what I wanted.
I wish I'd listened to it earlier.
TL:DR – This fic is comedy, but the last ten chapters haven't been funny. They've been dull, monotonous and dramatic. That's going to be changing going forward and I'm going to bring this back to the comedy story it was meant to be.
To note, this is not an attack on College Fool in any way. I should have noticed this error sooner and corrected it, but there were a lot of times where I should have stood my ground and turn down ideas, but I felt bad because I'd done the same in other fics CF is beta for, and didn't want to always be the person saying "no". In hindsight that was silly. CF is hardly going to be offended if I stick to my principles, and all it's done is lead to me accepting ideas and suggestions I KNEW were bad even as I was struggling to fit them in.
Hopefully it will not happen again. The dance is next chapter and I'll be trying to get that finished and draw a line under it so that I can move on to plot pieces afterwards. No more dragging this out. #MakeWhiteSheepGreatAgain!
CF's Note
"I am College Fool, and I agree with this message."
Aka, when Beta's fuck up, since I can take my share of heat in turn. Great take away from this experience was, as always, the merits of clear planning. Clear plans, clear intents, and clear communication in vital. When those aren't present... it's not just an author who needs to press more, but also the beta. And sometimes what the beta needs to press for is clearer guidance, not ideas that look good in one's head but are incompatible with the writer's vision.
Coeur has his regrets, but I consider this a mea culpa on myself, since I was pushing for something that made the story actively worse, for a payoff that ultimately was never going to come. 'My bad' doesn't quite cover it, so please simply accept an 'I'm sorry' instead.
V/R
C.F.
Next Chapter: 21st December
P a treon . com (slash) Coeur