A/N: Sorry this is a little later than usual. Still on the same day though so hoo rah. Let me know what y'all think!
"You know, for someone who prides themselves to have a scientific mind, don't you think you should've found a way to not puke all over everyone's shoes whenever you get more than two feet off the air." Nora said wryly, watching as Jaune turned a sickly green as the Bullhead started to rise. Pyrrha cast a sympathetic glance at Jaune, but made sure to keep her distance, knowing that Jaune wouldn't want her help with this.
"Can't… Nothing ever… worked." Jaune managed to squeeze out. And it was true. Using delicate sciences as well as alchemy and his understanding of the human body, Jaune had created many different types of solutions to try and get rid of his motion sickness. Not even one of them worked. Some of them, fortunately, did nothing to Jaune but cause him to suffer through the motion sickness that he was going to suffer through anyways. Others… well. Jaune quickly found out why many scientists who decided to self-test didn't live for very long.
"Have you ever known any Hunters that had motion sickness?" Pyrrha asked politely to the teacher that was chaperoning the trip.
The woman looked inquisitively at Jaune, who looked like he was about to die, and pushed up her glasses, simultaneously brushing her blonde hair aside.
"Honestly, I actually have. There was a man who always got violently sick when we got on any type of moving vehicle. He actually didn't like using mechashift weapons either." Professor Goodwitch nodded at Jaune, who ignored the gesture in favor of moaning a little. "It was his father actually."
"You knew my father?" Jaune finally was able to ask in between breaths. Professor Goodwitch nodded.
"Yes. Noah was a good man. Very dedicated in his studies." The last remark seemed to have been aimed for Jaune, who would've defended himself if he wasn't also worrying that he would throw up on everyone if he did.
"So what kind of mission are we doing?" Nora asked, sitting in a chair upside down. Jaune tried not to look at her. Pyrrha looked over at Nora with a curious look on her face.
"It was all in the mission briefing that we received in our scrolls. Didn't you read it Nora?" The Valkyrie giggled and shrugged, as if that was enough of an excuse for them. Actually, it was to their team, knowing Nora now for several months. Professor Glynda cleared her throat, glaring at the sheepish girl before going on to explain the mission briefing again.
"A few weeks back, several people have gone mysteriously missing. There was an unusual surge of Grimm attacks, as well as an unexplainable attack in the archives." Professor Goodwitch fixed her glasses and continued to speak. "A few days after that, a group of three people came to the town and ransacked it, destroying a lot of the property before disappearing again. Due to Ravenwood's location, another team from Mistral was already there." Professor Goodwitch glared at the orange-haired girl. "What the hunters had found then and the details are to be found on your scrolls, to be read before the mission starts. Is that clear?"
Nora nodded meekly before pulling out her scroll, opening it up.
The rest of the ride to Ravenwood was quiet, with only the brief punctuations of Jaune groaning during a particularly rough patch of turbulence hit interrupting the silence. Finally the pilot announced that they were going to be arriving in five minutes, and everyone started to prepare themselves for the mission to come.
As the doors opened up and Pyrrha helped Jaune hobble his way to the ramp, the group was treated with their first view of Ravenwood.
Dark.
That was their first impression. Even though they had touched down just before noon, the first vibes that they got from the town was dark. The moment the students stepped out of the Bullhead and into the open air, they couldn't help but shiver a little.
Something bad happened here, they could feel it.
"Welcome to Ravenwood, Hunters." The four of them jumped in surprise as a voice rasped up close to them. Turning, they met an old woman that seemed to barely reach five feet, holding onto a cane and looking at them with introspective eyes.
"Good morning. Would you be the town mayor?" Professor Goodwitch asked politely, stepping off of the Bullhead a few seconds after Team JNPR did. The old lady took the blonde witch's outstretched hand and shook it softly.
"Not exactly. They call me the Village Elder, and I represent the people of Ravenwood. Forgive me if this isn't the warmest welcome you all have had, but the people… they fear the outside."
Professor Goodwitch gave the elder her warmest smile, trying to find a way to comfort the lady. "No worries. We're used to this. Could you possibly point us out to where we'll be resting for the night?" The village elder nodded, before pointing to a somewhat tall building over in the distance.
"You will be staying at the Bloody Crow."
The inn looked a little worn around the edges, and by that, it meant that the inn was pretty much falling apart. Rotting wood, the sign looking like it's been through every single war that's ever been held on Remnant, and almost no lights emanating from the place.
If this wasn't the only inn in town, Jaune would've gotten the vibe that the villagers didn't want them here.
Then again, Jaune had felt the vibe that they didn't want the Hunters here the moment he stepped out of the Bullhead and got rid of his motion sickness.
"Thank you elder." The Professor said evenly, as polite and formal as ever, turning to the old lady. The village elder nodded.
"Please let me know if you need anything. I will most likely be in the center of town." And with that the elder disappeared, leaving the group a little confused and reluctant to enter the decrepit inn.
"Well," Jaune said, taking a deep breath in to steel himself. "Might as well see what it looks like, right?"
With Jaune leading the charge, the five of them opened the inn doors to scout out the insides.
Which… were a lot nicer than anyone expected them to be.
Team JNPR looked around in awe as they discovered the inside of the inn to be much homelier than the outside. A nice fireplace roared in the back of the room, and several chairs were propped up from all sides. There was a pleasant looking girl wearing glasses working the front desk, seeming to be about the same age as the Hunters- and Huntresses-in-training.
As they walked in together like lost sheep, the girl's bored expression lightened up, her face transforming into a bright smile as she went to greet the group.
"Oh! You all must be the group that came from Beacon! Hello! My name is Mirisu!" She said brightly, holding out her hand. Jaune, being the closest one to her, grabbed her hand and robotically shook it, hoping that he wouldn't accidently wrench her arm too hard.
"It's really neat to meet more Hunters and Huntresses! Let me tell you, the last group that came by here was just so boring, but I can just tell that you all are gonna be so much more interesting!" As the purple-haired girl was rambling, her eyes continued to rove back and forth to take in the sight of them, grinning to the point where it looked as if it would split her entire face.
"Uh, thanks?" Jaune was slowly getting overwhelmed by the amount of cheer that Mirisu seemed to have, and was on the verge of simply hiding behind his teammates. Taking a deep breath, Jaune centered himself.
Remember Jaune. You're the leader here. Be the leader.
"M-my name is Arc. Uh. Jaune. Jaune Arc. And these are my teammates." Jaune gestured to his teammates before quickly backtracking. "Except for uh, the older—I mean, the one with the glasses she's my teacher and uh."
At this point Jaune decided he was going to wilt away and hide behind his teammates after all. Doing just that, Pyrrha decided to be the mature one and step forward to right Jaune's wrongs.
"I'm sorry about that. Our leader is a little tired from the trip over. My name is Pyrrha. This is Nora and Ren, and our supervisor is Professor Goodwitch." Everyone nodded as a greeting while Mirisu kept her smile plastered on her face.
"Oh no worries. I thought that was actually pretty cute. Who knew big bad Hunters could have such an awkward side to them?" The grinning girl laughed and winked at Jaune, before turning around. "Come on, let me show you guys to your rooms."
Leading them up the stairs, Mirisu pointed out to two rooms on the far side of the hallway.
"We've got two rooms for the five of you guys. I hope that's alright with you all?"
Professor Goodwitch nodded, stepping up to the front. "That will suit us just fine. We'll divide the two rooms up into girls and boys." With that, Mirisu nodded and gave a small salute, once again winking at Jaune before departing back downstairs.
"What about you Professor?" Nora asked curiously. The professor raised an eyebrow.
"Am I not a girl?" Nora scratched her head, lips quirking a little.
"Well, I mean you seem a little too old to be a gi—" The rest of her sentence was cut off when suitcases rose up from beside Jaune and flew towards the valkyrie.
"It seems Miss Valkyrie has volunteered to bring our bags up to our rooms." Professor Goodwitch lowered her gaze menacingly. "All of them." Nora laughed nervously before setting off, muttering something about 'bad ideas'.
The blonde witch turned back to the remaining team members. "I think it would be a good idea for us to split into groups and gather information about the attack, to see if the Grimm are still prowling around. You can all start now, or take a break and start after dinner."
"What do you suggest for us to do?" Pyrrha asked, her face set in grim determination, the mind already set to 'work mode'.
Surprisingly, with an action that no one had ever seen from the Professor before, the woman shrugged almost nonchalantly.
"I would rather you all make your own decisions. This mission is supposed to be something to expose you all to a taste of a real mission. Me telling you to do everything would defeat the purpose."
Pyrrha nodded, a little stunned that the professor everyone deemed 'a control freak', would let them do as they wanted. Satisfied that the team understood what they needed to do, Professor Goodwitch nodded and set off, reminding them that her scroll was on and ready to receive any message the team needed to send.
Pyrrha turned to Jaune, who still looked a little uncomfortable.
"What would you like to do right now Jaune? You are our leader." Pyrrha pointed out politely, having no menace in her voice.
Even if Pyrrha hadn't said it with a hint of accusation, Jaune could feel himself slowly falling into a bit of self-hate.
Pyrrha should've been the team leader. Not some awkward, unsociable guy that can't even talk right. Jaune thought a miserably to himself.
"Jaune?" Pyrrha repeated his name again, wondering what was taking so long for him to reply. Snapping out of his reverie, Jaune looked up, trying to put on some semblance of a reassuring grin.
"Sorry there Pyrrha. Head lost in the clouds again. Uh, actually, I think I'm a little worn out right now, I think I'm going to take a short nap. Why don't you guys, uh, go and look around. I'll catch up to you guys." Jaune promised. Pyrrha looked a little uncertain, but was finally swayed when Ren laid a hand on her shoulder, smiling serenely.
"I think it would be a nice change of pace working with you for once Pyrrha." Ren added helpfully, finally getting the Amazon to relent.
"Okay then… just remember to call us the moment you decide to set out." Pyrrha said warningly, which Jaune waved aside. Sure he was a little independent, and tended to move according to his own rules, but he was learning, if only a little, to rely on his teammates.
Finally, Jaune was able to go into his room without any further interruptions, finding a double bed set out for him and Ren. Without another word, Jaune fell onto his bed face first, letting the sheets smother his face.
I need to be a better leader.
Jaune didn't know when he fell asleep, but he must have, because when he opened his eyes up, he could hear a continuous knocking at the door.
"Jaune?" A muffled voice said. "Are you there?"
With a little bit of effort, Jaune stood up, trying to shake the grogginess out of his system and walked up to the door, opening it to reveal Mirisu. The purple-haired girl looked up and scrunched her nose a little nervously, shifting her glasses back up to her eyes.
"Hey," She said softly. "Could I talk to you?"