What's up, everyone? I told you I'd give you a timely update today. Reviewers seem to unanimously want this to be an Arkos-centric story, so that's what I'm going to deliver on. I'm thinking that I might end this particular story at the end of their first semester, and then type oneshots in this universe as inspiration hits. This chapter has more Dag battling and more Arkos snuggling, and there is never enough of that. Enjoy!
"Okay, everyone! Listen up! We are having an undead battle," Barty called as he paced in front of the gathered fighters. "Who here knows the rules of an undead battle?"
Jaune, Ruby, Velvet, Coco, and a few others raised their hands. Jaune was grinning eagerly. "Is that the skeleton one? Do I get to use my skeleton voice?"
"Yes, Arc Angel. It is the skeleton one," Barty replied with an indulgent smile. He paused to take a sip from his thermos. "Now, the rules of the game are as follows…"
The game starts with a certain number of zombies and humans. If a zombie kills a human, that human comes back as a skeleton. As a skeleton, they can only use one hand to fight (meaning no shields allowed) and can be killed permanently with a single blow anywhere. Zombies need to lose all of their limbs and get hit in the torso before dying. The game ends when either all the zombies and skeletons are dead, or all the humans are turned into skeletons. Also, zombies are only allowed to walk.
"Do the zombies die if they get hit in the head with a projectile?" Pyrrha asked, looking at her new javelin.
"I'm going to say no, in order to discourage people from aiming for people's heads," Barty said. "The foam on javelins may be soft, but we like to avoid headshots if at all possible."
"Understood."
"Now, let's decide who our zombies will be."
The game started with Coco, Sun, Pyrrha, Ren, and a few others as zombies. The rest were humans. The zombies started walking toward the assembled humans, some of them shambling for effect. Sun and Coco in particular were hamming it up with frequent zombie moans and cries for "Brains!"
Jaune turned to Nora. "Ready to fight the undead horde, shield-sister?"
Nora brandished her battle axe, a big smile on her face. "Let us kill the fiends for Odin's glory!"
The two rushed into the horde, hitting everything they could reach. A bunch of the other humans followed, whacking at limbs and jumping back from the retaliatory blows. Jaune was quickly killed. Grinning, he dropped his shield.
"Nyeh-heh-heh! Time to devour the puny fleshies!" he shouted in his best Skeletor-esque voice.
Pyrrha actually stopped fighting to stare at him. "Jaune, that is the most ridiculous voice you've ever done, and that includes some of your Pathfinder NPCs."
"Just trying to play the part. Nyeh! Die, humans!" Jaune started swinging at the remaining humans, still shouting in his goofy skeleton voice.
Pyrrha wasn't sure whether to laugh or roll her eyes, so she settled for focusing on the battle. It seemed that Jaune just kept revealing more things for her to love about him. He was such a dork, and was completely shameless about that fact. Whether it meant going to the coffee shop in a tunic, wearing a dress in public on a dare, or running around the battlefield acting like a silly skeleton, he didn't seem to care what anyone thought of him. Even Weiss spoke favorably of his clear sense of confidence.
Of course, he sometimes lost that confidence around people who actually meant something to him. The idea of complete strangers ridiculing him didn't even register in his mind, but the thought of a friend or family member thinking ill of him was enough to make him stress for days. That was why Pyrrha made sure to always show him that she cared, whether that meant snuggling close to him during water breaks, or comforting him after an argument with one of his sisters.
She turned a few more people into skeletons, including Nora, before the fight ended with an undead victory. When Barty called a water break, Pyrrha walked over to Jaune, who was still talking in his skeleton voice.
"Nyeh! Victory was ours! Nyeh-heh-heh!"
Pyrrha chuckled and ruffled his hair. "You are such a nerd," she murmured affectionately.
"Good thing I'm your nerd, huh?" Jaune replied without missing a beat. His face flushed at how corny the words were, but knew by now that Pyrrha didn't mind corniness at all. He blushed an even deeper shade of red when he was rewarded with a gentle peck on the cheek.
"Well, aren't you two as freaking adorable as ever?" Coco sauntered over with Velvet, smirking as she looked at the new couple.
"Oh, don't embarrass them, Coco," Velvet said, nudging Coco's arm lightly. "Your new weapons are looking pretty good."
"Thanks," Jaune said, looking at his new blue. "I'm glad they all turned out okay. I was a little worried about Nora being able to make a good axe during her first building session, but it's looking pretty sturdy so far."
"That's one word for it." Coco rolled her shoulder. "She got my arm pretty good during that undead battle. Anyway, are you nerds free tonight?"
"We were going to hit the coffee shop. Why? Were you guys planning something?" Jaune asked.
"Well, over at our dorm, we've secured the common area for the night. We were thinking, since Halloween's just around the corner, we'd watch some appropriate movies. You interested?"
Jaune's eyes lit up. "Oooh! Like Gojira? Or the black and white Universal monster movies? I could get the DVDs from my house!"
Velvet gently patted Jaune's shoulder. "Sorry, Jaune. Think more modern. Like, the Scream movies, Friday the 13th, and The Ring."
Jaune paled noticeably. "Uh, The Ring? Can we not?"
"Come on, man. Don't be a wuss." Coco punched his arm. "We're gonna start with the funnier, spoofy stuff and then go harder as the night goes on. Get it?"
"I mean, I like the Scream movies just fine…" Jaune looked at Pyrrha. "What do you think?"
Pyrrha nodded eagerly. "I'd love to! I've only ever seen the first Scream movie, and I haven't seen Friday the 13th. We can leave before they get to the really scary ones, if you want."
Jaune breathed a sigh of relief. "Okay. What time?"
"Nine. Plenty of time to get out of the sweaty Dag clothes and shower. Also, bring snacks if you can get any. And bring whoever else wants to come. We'll be asking everyone here." With that, Coco and Velvet walked off to talk to Nora and Ren.
"Well, this should be fun," Pyrrha said, smiling up at Jaune. "And I hope you show me those movies you were talking about eventually. Those are some of the classics, right?"
Jaune nodded. "Oh, yeah. Without the original black-and-white masterpieces, we wouldn't have horror as it is today. Maybe I'll bring them next week to Pathfinder, Ruby and I can stay over, and we can convince Weiss to stay up with us."
"Perhaps. She's starting to loosen up a bit, so there may be a chance." The two talked for a few more minutes before Barty called for another battle.
…..
"Honestly, why don't they just run?" Blake muttered as she stared at the screen impassively.
"I agree. Most of the issues in these movies could be solved by just running and not stopping to look behind you like a complete dunce," Weiss whispered in reply. "I mean, what are they looking at? Do they want to see how far behind the killer is? Newsflash, dolt: The killer is right behind you!"
"I feel that stomping on the killer's neck when he goes down would solve all the other problems," Sun said, shaking his head as the two protagonists ran fearfully away from the unconscious killer. "Morons."
Jaune was sitting in one of the armchairs in the common area of Coco and Velvet's dorm. To save room, Pyrrha was curled up on his lap. They listened to the commentary of their friends with silent smiles. Nora and Ren were sitting in an armchair nearby while Blake, Weiss, and Sun had taken one of the couches. Velvet and Coco were at the front in another armchair. Ruby, unfortunately, had not been allowed to come, since that would involve her getting home long after midnight, and she had a family event to go to the next day.
For Jaune, the movie was mostly background noise. Between the darkness of the room, and the fact that Pyrrha was very warm, he found himself falling into a half-drowsy state. Glancing occasionally at the screen, he contented himself with lazily running his hand up and down Pyrrha's arm while nuzzling sleepy kisses into her hair.
Pyrrha wanted to know what was happening in the Scream movies, but was finding herself incredibly distracted by her cuddly boyfriend. Is it okay to think of him as my boyfriend at this point? She felt her cheeks grow warmer and warmer with each soft kiss he planted on her head. Occasionally, she'd tilt her head up to brush her lips against his cheek. She could hear his heart steadily beating when she rested her ear against his shoulder. The last time she could remember feeling this content was that night after Pathfinder, when she and Jaune had slept on the futon together.
After the Scream movies came The Cabin in the Woods, and Jaune made sure to rouse himself and Pyrrha for that one. He insisted that she keep her eyes on the screen at all times. By the time it was over, she had to admit that he had been right.
When it was time to put in some of the scarier movies, the two didn't move. They were too comfortable and convinced that they could ignore the particularly freaky parts.
They were very wrong.
By the time The Ring was over, Jaune was clinging to Pyrrha in a way that was almost painful. His eyes were wide and he was shivering a little as he stared at the screen.
Pyrrha, while not trembling, was definitely shaken by the time Coco and Velvet turned on the lights. She looked at Jaune. "Are you okay?"
"Huh?" Jaune blinked. "Uh, y-yeah. I'm good." He was very reluctant to get up, but eventually forced himself to his feet once Pyrrha stood.
The walk to the dorm in the dark was tense, and both Jaune and Pyrrha found themselves jumping at the occasional sounds made by night animals or a gust of wind. When they got to Pyrrha's dorm, Jaune hesitated.
"Hey, Pyrrha? This is going to sound totally lame, but… Um…" He rocked back and forth on his heels for a moment, glancing nervously at the deserted sidewalk that led to his house.
"You want to stay in the dorm instead of walking home in the dark?" Pyrrha guessed. When Jaune sheepishly nodded, she smiled. "Truthfully, I'd rather have someone nearby after those last few movies."
Jaune let out a sigh of relief. "You're awesome, Pyrrha!" He sent a quick text to his parents before following her into the dorm. After an annoying sign-in process, the two went upstairs.
Weiss arrived a few minutes after them. Upon seeing them setting up the futon, she shook a finger at them. "Remember, no funny business while I'm in here."
"Yes, Mom," Jaune said in a nasally voice while Pyrrha covered her mouth to stifle her laughter. "Whatever you say, Mom. Anything else, Mom?"
"Ugh!" Weiss shook her head despairingly before taking her pajamas out of a drawer. "Turn your head, please."
Jaune exchanged an amused glance with Pyrrha before obeying, fixing his eyes on the wall until Weiss gave him permission to turn around.
Their second night together on the futon wasn't nearly as awkward as their first. Being used to each other's presence and aware of their own and the other's feelings helped immensely with that. Jaune lay on his side, holding up one arm invitingly. Pyrrha immediately snuggled against him, resting her cheek on his shoulder and nuzzling his chest.
Jaune sighed happily, closing his eyes. Snuggling with Pyrrha was already chasing away the lingering images in his head of ghostly girls crawling out of television screens. "Why don't we do this after every Pathfinder session?"
"Because the dorm has a monthly limit on how many times a person can have guests," Pyrrha murmured. "It would be nice, though."
"Mm hm." Jaune ran his fingers through her hair, loving the silky feel of it. Despite the lingering fear from the movie, he felt so ridiculously happy. He still couldn't believe that he could be so comfortable and content with someone he had only known for a few months. Being close to her like this just felt so natural. Talking with her never grew boring or awkward, like it did with other people. How on earth did he get so lucky?
His mouth started to open, but he closed it quickly, realizing that a certain three words had been about to spill from it. Hold up, dude, he told himself firmly. This is way too soon for that! Control yourself. Don't be an idiot. Instead of what he had almost said, he whispered: "Good night, Pyrrha."
Pyrrha yawned and snuggled closer, gripping gently at the front of Jaune's shirt. "Good night, Jaune."
The night was quiet and mostly dreamless. When a nightmare inspired by their marathon did pop up in one of them the other was quick to chase it away with a tighter hug and a wordless sound of comfort. By morning, they were both completely peaceful.
I could seriously write/read snuggle scenes for days. They are my shameless addiction when it comes to romance. I can't get enough of writing these two dorks! I love basically any AU where my precious babies are happy, after all. I also have the first chapter of the Werewolf AU Arkos fic ready for posting once I finish this piece. Mates for Life is being discontinued, as my various attempts to come up with a good chapter came to nothing, and the collection honestly feels like a chore at this point. On the plus side, that means getting to my other projects quicker.
On the subject of Shane's open letter… I have decided to reserve judgment until we get Rooster Teeth's side of the story, though it's not looking too good for them. The idea that corporate bullshit led to the corruption of Monty's vision and the firing of one of his biggest supporters disturbs me deeply. The fact that Sheena, Monty's wife, retweeted this letter worries me even more. If the contents of Shane's letter turn out to be true, I don't know if I can in good conscience continue watching RWBY or supporting RT in any way.
This doesn't mean I'll stop writing my fics. On the contrary, if RWBY is truly no longer Monty's RWBY, the only thing left is for the fans of his vision to create their RWBY. I intend to continue doing just that, regardless of what is unveiled in the future.
I'll see you with the next update. Peace out!