Chapter Twelve: I May Fall

(a/n-Like my writing style? Check out my book on Amazon: The Gray: Asa's Awakening)

The next few days were confusing for Curative Cuisine.

The lack of a menu, combined with a new system of ordering and a waitress no one had ever seen before meant a lot of people would simply go up to Jaune at first. He helped them happily, but pointed out the sign at the front (which, granted, was probably a tad smaller than it should've been) which told them to seat themselves.

Blake did fairly well, all things considered. She was polite, loud enough to be heard over the noise of Curative Cuisine (thank you Malachite Twins), and didn't forget where things went after Jaune got the food ready.

All in all, things were going pretty well.

It was the end of a rather busy Wednesday when two customers walked in—despite the obvious 'CLOSED' sign out front. Blake, currently helping Jaune and Rogue clean up tables and the floor, simply looked up. "I'm sorry, but Curative—"

She stopped when she saw the familiar brown beret.

She stood upright, leaning against her broom to stare at Coco and a girl Blake didn't recognize. Her hair was a touch lighter than Coco's, and far longer, reaching down past her waist. Unlike Coco—who was still clad in the sharp, brown suit—the other girl was wearing a brown cashmere sweater that hid all but the tips of her fingers. Though, her most noticeable feature was atop her head.

Two long, dark-brown rabbit ears.

Unlike Coco, who walked in with a confident stride as if she owned the place, her friend (at least Blake assumed they were friends) shuffled along behind her, a faint blush on her face as she kept her arms firmly at her sides.

Jaune looked up, giving a faint smile as he saw Coco walk toward him. "Oh, hey Coco. We're closed right now, but—"

She placed her voucher against his chest. "Dinner for each of us, okay?"

Jaune blinked twice. "Um, we're closed, Coco. You'll have to—"

Coco stepped back, the other girl yelping as Coco wrapped an arm around her shoulders, yanking her closer. "Come on, Jaune! We wanna celebrate Velvet's twenty-second birthday properly! You know, without anyone coming over and trying to get us to leave."

Velvet hid her face in her hands. "Coco…"

Jaune gave a faint smile, letting out a sigh as he took the voucher. "Well, I can't say no to that, can I? Mind sitting on the barstools?"

Velvet nodded, practically dragging Coco there before the fashionista could say anything else.

Blake, meanwhile, locked the door so no one else came in and assumed they were still open. Her eyes flicked over the two as she did so, narrowing a bit on Velvet. This is the girl she wanted to introduce me to, right? Is it because she's a faunus? No, wait, I don't even know if Coco realized that about me. Maybe her stand? Hmm…

Jaune, meanwhile, leaned over the counter a bit, holding a hand to each girl. "Now, hold out your hands, and we'll see what you want to eat today."

Coco did so without hesitation, her hand soft—and he knew immediately she moisturized all the time. Within a few seconds of viewing her aura, Jaune knew what she wanted: Chicken Cordon Bleu with a coffee to drink and fries as a side.

Velvet was a bit more hesitant, her face tinted pink as her eyes flicked between Coco and Jaune. Then, with some egging on by Coco, she placed her palm in his. His hand practically swallowed hers up, her soft palm even smaller than Coco's—which was already small compared to his. Maybe I just have big hands.

Unlike Coco, Velvet wasn't practically screaming with her aura what she wanted, so it took a bit more searching. Though, finding out she wanted a Caesar-Salad with grilled chicken wasn't that shocking. The fact she wanted milk to drink? A bit more so.

He stepped back, pointing at the two in sequence. "You want Chicken Cordon Bleu, fries, and coffee. You want a Caesar salad with grilled chicken as a topping, and a glass of milk to drink."

Velvet's eyes widened.

Coco, meanwhile, simply smirked. "Actually I wanted a glass of white wine to drink."

Jaune gave her an apologetic smile. "I know, but I don't serve alcohol. Coffee was the next best thing."

"How come you don't serve it?"

"I'm two months too young to buy it."

Coco's eyes widened at that one, Velvet's remaining wide from earlier. They looked at each other as Jaune began to prepare their respective dinners, Coco speaking for both. "Wait, you own a restaurant and you're only twenty?"

"Yep."

"And you have a daughter?" That one was Velvet.

Jaune's eyes flicked to Rogue. "Yeah?"

He handed the two their drinks, waiting to infuse anything until he got to the main course. He could guess what they needed—Coco restraint and Velvet confidence—but he could definitely be more precise when it was only himself and two customers to worry about. "Well, anyway, happy birthday, Velvet! Did you make a big day of it?"

Velvet looked at Coco. "I didn't want to…but, uh…"

"Come on, Vel! You only turn 22 once!"

"You say that about every year."

Jaune looked off to the right. "I mean, she's not wrong."

Velvet groaned, laying her chin on crossed arms and staring at the grill. "I just wanted a nice, simple birthday. A cupcake with a candle in my dorm would've been fine—but instead you drag me around the city window-shopping for things I can't afford."

Coco placed a hand on her shoulder, giving her a bright smile. "I don't care if you can't afford them, I can! It's your birthday, you deserve something nice."

Velvet sighed, her ears drooping a bit. "I don't need expensive clothes, Coco. I need to get back to my dorm and study for my exam next week, remember?"

"What are you studying?"

The two turned, seemingly just remembering Jaune was there and—despite fixing food—avidly listening.

Velvet looked down. "I…I'm planning to be a social worker."

Jaune nodded, giving her a patient smile. "Planning to help people, huh? That's good. World could always use more people who'd rather help than hurt."

Velvet looked up, rising just a bit as she spoke further. "Actually, it's…not really people I plan to help. It's, um…faunus—like me. Most social workers won't take cases involving them, so I plan to."

Jaune nodded again. "Like I said, the world could always use people who want to help people."

"You…you don't think—"

Jaune chuckled. "No, I don't think you're any less human because you have rabbit ears."

Jaune didn't catch the faint smile Blake flashed at him.

Velvet, meanwhile, simply smiled, staring at her hands. She wiped her eyes, a few tears gathered at the edges. "That's…that's really nice to hear, mister. Most people at Beacon are…well, they're not like that."

Jaune paused as he was cutting vegetables to look up and raise an eyebrow.

Coco spoke before Velvet could stop her. "A lot of the Beacon students are either jerks or part of one of those 'Human First' clubs. Vel refuses to let me help—"

"The last time you 'helped' you burned down a house!"

"I let them get out in time!"

Jaune's eyes flicked between the two as he quietly infused literally every ingredient in Coco's dish with restraint. In Velvet's, meanwhile, he infused both confidence and courage. "School bullies, huh? Yeah, that's not fun as a human—can't imagine how bad it is for a faunus."

Velvet's ears (all four of 'em) perked up at that. "You were bullied?"

Jaune gave a solemn nod as he cooked. "Yeah, when I was little. Spitballs, being shoved into lockers, swirlies—you name it, I've probably dealt with it."

Velvet opened her mouth, only to close it and shake her head. "How did you deal with it?"

Jaune gave a faint smile, applying the dressing to Velvet's salad from well over two feet above it. "This, mostly. I learned to cook, gave me something to focus on besides how bad they made me feel, you know? It helped that I had my sisters to talk to…"

Jaune frowned for a moment, slowly shaking his head. "So, yeah, hobbies and people to talk with. That's how."

Coco pat Velvet's back, eliciting a 'meep!' from the shy girl. "Welp, you're halfway there already, Vel! You've got me, and…" Coco's brow furrowed. "Aaaaaand…uh, what're your other friends' names again?"

Velvet shook her head, tears welling up again.

"Blake Belladonna."

The two turned, seeing Blake standing just behind their stools. Her face held a strange mixture of sympathy and determination, eyes meeting Velvet's as she held out her hand. Her usual stoic expression was replaced with a patient smile.

Velvet stared in shock, blinking back tears.

"Rogue Arc!"

She looked down, seeing Rogue standing to the left of her, holding up a little hand.

Jaune set her plate in front of her before holding out his hand. "Jaune Arc."

Velvet's head was on a swivel, looking at each of the people who—within minutes of meeting her—were offering to be her friends. She bit her lip, choking down sobs as she shook each of their hands in turn. "I…thank you."

She turned around, surprising everyone—herself most of all—by pulling Blake and Rogue into a tearful embrace.

Jaune set Coco's meal in front of her before walking around the side, joining in and (with a little help from September) lifting all three into his arms. Velvet was sobbing at this point, burying her face in Blake's shoulder as Rogue moved around, effectively riding on Velvet's back.

After a few moments, Velvet sat back, wiping away her tears with a napkin Coco provided.

Blake sat down next to her, Rogue climbing into her lap as Jaune went back into the kitchen, cleaning up for the night…again. "You okay, Velvet?"

Velvet blew her nose into the napkin before giving him a bright smile. "Never better."

Blake leaned on the counter, looking past Velvet and Rogue to Coco. "Hey, you said you wanted me to meet Velvet, right? When you were making my clothes?"

Coco stared blankly for a moment before she snapped. "Oh, yeah! Hey, Vel," she gave a smirk as she stared at her now confused friend. "Your three new friends have something very interesting in common with us. Show her!"

Coco sent out Fabulous.

Jaune summoned September.

Blake released From Shadows.

Rogue curled her tongue.

Velvet's eyes widened as she saw the three (technically four) stand users surrounding her. "Wait, so…we're all stand users?"

Fabulous formed the word 'YEP' in mid-air.

Jaune walked around the counter, hanging his apron and taking a seat at the fourth barstool. "So…what's your stand?"

Velvet blinked twice, looking between them all before clearing her throat. "Um, well, it's…it's name is I May Fall, but…it uh…it's kind of hard to explain."

Coco rolled her eyes. "Just show 'em, Vel."

Velvet nodded, taking a breath before slowly releasing it.

She held out her hands, what looked like Fabulous stands emerging from her palms. Her eyes flicked to Jaune, and to all but Coco's wondering eyes they flew together, melding and emerging from her back as a dark-brown September. "That's what, um…my stand does."

Blake rubbed her eyes, From Shadows mimicking the action as both the stand and the user were shocked. "You can copy other stands?"

Velvet nodded. "Mm-hm."

Coco leaned over, giving a faint smirk toward Blake. "I was curious what would happen if she copied From Shadows. You know, since it has a mind of its own and all that."

Velvet looked over, shivering as she stared at the dark manifestation of Blake's spirit. "I, um…I don't think that's a good idea. No offense, Blake, but…your stand's kind of…well—"

"Creepy? Intimidating?"

"Yes."

Jaune leaned back, scratching his chin as he stared at the faux-September. "Wait, so, if you can copy the stand's look, can you copy their abilities too?"

Velvet sheepishly rubbed the back of her head. "Well…sort of. I can only copy the ability of the stand at its most basic—like how you'd have been able to use it when you first manifested the stand. I can only summon two Fabulous right now," she shifted the stand into Fabulous as she spoke, "because I've been practicing with her stand. I could only do one at first."

Jaune slowly nodded. A power like that could, if trained well enough, be terrifying to fight against. "So what can you do with September?"

Velvet shrugged, shifting I May Fall into September before picking up a spoon. With a bit of effort, she bent it into a circle before turning it into a ring. "I can…put stuff into other stuff? Change things? I'm…I'm not really sure."

Jaune nodded a few times. "I call it 'infusion', I was confused at first, too. It's why my food's so popular—I infuse emotions into it to make people feel better or deal with what they need on that day. If you've got my stand from when I first manifested it, you probably infused that ring with durability."

Velvet nodded, looking at her food. "So, what did you—"

"Confidence and courage."

Velvet gave a grateful smile. "Yeah, I could definitely use that."

Coco leaned over, pushing down her glasses and smirking at Jaune. "What'd you put in mine, nothing? I don't blame you," she leaned against his shoulder, gesturing at herself, "hard to improve upon perfection."

Jaune smirked. "In retrospect, I should've infused yours with some humility."

The group shared a laugh at that, the two eating as they spoke with Velvet's (and Coco's by association) friends. The topics drifted between stands, school, fashion (that was mostly Coco), work, and other things of little consequence.

It wasn't until the two were done that Jaune finally stood, taking their dishes to the kitchen. Rogue had—given it was nearing 10 o'clock now—fallen asleep in Velvet's lap, said faunus threading her fingers through her hair as she and Blake listened to Coco regaling them with her latest 'fashion rescue' as she called it.

Jaune smiled at the group as he set the dishes in the dishwasher, running the cycle the way he always did. He could tell (mostly by her droopy ears) that Velvet was growing tired, and based on From Shadows' hand lazing down over the edge, so was Blake (that or her stand was trying to freak him out…and it was working).

Coco, meanwhile, seemed perfectly fine.

Put it down to either the coffee or her being used to pulling all-nighters, but if you told Jaune she'd just woken up, he'd believe you. The girl had the same energy as the moment she walked in, still telling Blake and Velvet of a man that—apparently—believed socks with sandals was 'in' right now (a fact even someone as fashion oblivious as Jaune knew to be false).

Velvet yawned louder than usual, rubbing her eyes. "Coco, I need to get back."

Coco paused mid-story, head snapping to the left to look at the wall-clock.

"Seriously? It's not even midnight yet!"

Jaune leaned over the counter, giving the two a tired smile. "As interesting as your stories are, Coco, you two should leave. I've gotta lock up and I'm not staying up until midnight."

Coco frowned at him, crossing her arms. "You're no fun. Alright, fun," she stood, walking to the door with her typical swagger. "Come on, Vel. Let's get back to Beacon."

In response, Velvet pointed at the sleeping child in her lap.

Jaune walked over, hefting Rogue into his arms and guiding the two out the door. With a wave he locked it behind them, turning back to Blake.

"I'm really glad she only had one voucher."

…

Stand Name: I May Fall

Stand User: Velvet Scarlatina

Stats:

Power: -

Speed: -

Range: -

Persistence: -

Precision: -

Potential: -