Residuum
Blood 1.4
iv
"Prowlers of the night. Yes, the creatures of Grimm have many names. But I merely refer to them as prey! Huh-ha!."
It was obviously a practiced speech, and not a successful one at that. Jaune certainly didn't think much of the man at first glance. There was a false bravado in him but not the same as he had seen in others. Certainly, Qrow came across as a drunk at first glance, but there was still a sense of danger to him.
The more he heard the man speak, the more the annoyance built inside of him. This was not the picture he got from Qrow when the man spoke about being a Huntsman.
The blond sighed, slumping in his seat. He saw the diagrams of different Grimm on the board behind the Professor, though he wasn't able to make out the letters or names. As the man droned on and on, Jaune's enthusiasm for the class dwindled further and further. Professor Port was nothing short of pompous as he told them of a story of him fighting a Beowolf.
This was Beacon? He knew Qrow had good intentions, that he and Ozpin would help find his family in exchange for becoming a Huntsman, but the blond couldn't help but feel he had been taken advantage of.
"Jaune," Pyrrha whispered to him, "You should take some notes."
He rolled his eyes even as he saw the girl diligently taking her own annotations. He probably wouldn't have bothered taking notes in this class even if he knew how to write.
"From this guy?" he whispered back incredulously, "That'd be the day."
The redhead looked taken aback at his callous disregard for the teacher, though he didn't quite understand why.
"O-oh," was all the girl could get out, looking back down at her notes. Jaune noticed her shoulders hunch and saw her lean away from him slightly. Was she… upset for some reason? Maybe he was a relative or something.
Feeling someone's eyes on him, he looked over to the adjacent row and found Blake's amber eyes meeting his own. She also seemed a bit surprised but she quickly looked away. Had she overheard him?
He slumped even further, putting his forehead on the desk and closing his eyes as he tried to drown out the sound of the man's drawling speech. The blond wasn't the only one missing the teacher's lecture, though probably the most obvious about it.
His fellow leader had outright fallen asleep much to her partner's consternation. Weiss spent her time between trying to diligently take notes and giving Ruby disgruntled looks. Yang hid behind her own book, at least keeping the image of a studious pupil. Nora had come prepared, wearing glasses with fake eyes for lenses as she leant back in her chair, sound asleep.
"Mr Branwen!"
The entire class looked at the blond who didn't react to his name being called.
"Mr Branwen!"
Pyrrha nudged him, looking slightly concerned. Jaune looked up at her for a moment, then realized that the eyes of the entire class were on him. The teacher was also looking at him with a less-than-pleased look on his face.
"Do you perhaps find my classes boring?" Port asked him, to which Jaune desperately wanted to reply yes. Qrow would have, but Jaune also remembered the shaken look Pyrrha had given him earlier when he refused to take notes, so he held his tongue.
"Hmm… I believe then you might be the perfect candidate," the teacher said, ignoring the rest of the class snickering at the blond, "Typically, I have a student test their mettle against a live Grimm in this class. I held off on it as I was hoping one of your group would do it."
"If I recall, you did kill a Deathstalker by yourself during your initiation," Port said, gesturing to the open floor near him, "Perhaps you can show us your prowess as a Huntsman-to-be?"
Despite his lack of social skills, Jaune knew it wasn't a suggestion. Grunting, the blond walked down to where the Professor was waiting with a caged Grimm. Looking at the cage, Jaune didn't notice another student stick his foot out at the last second and tripped over it.
The class erupted in laughter as the blond barely kept himself from falling. Jaune turned back to glare at the one who tripped him, a boy with burnt-orange hair and a nasty smirk. He shrugged innocently, causing anger to bubble up in Jaune.
"Are you coming, Mr Branwen?" Port asked in a no-nonsense tone. Jaune wanted to ignore him but saw the pleading look on Pyrrha's face and relented. Giving the boy one final glare, he made his way to the front of the classroom. Jaune noticed that Port had already summoned his locker, opening it to reveal his sword.
Port handed Jaune his weapon when he reached the floor but he was too angry to use Reaper. To the surprise of the class, Jaune kept it sheathed, holstering it in the usual place at his back. The teacher took it in stride, opening the cage to reveal a Boarbatusk.
"Let's see how you fare against a Boarbatusk," the man said, stepping back and watching Jaune carefully.
The blond looked at the Boarbatusk with familiarity. Qrow had called them Spinnypigs, though Jaune now knew that it had most likely been another joke on the man's part; probably the other names he had told the boy were as well. Instead of taking it for the teasing it was, it only fed into the deadly anger building inside the boy.
These creatures were exceedingly simple for him to deal with, even without a weapon. He knew they had weak bellies like Deathstalkers, but he also knew that they also had extremely weak jaws. A fact that he had learned about a few months into his exile, almost at the cost of his life.
His blood had saved him then, only just barely. With aura, this was just a joke. Jaune decided he would take Qrow's words to heart. His mentor had called his original fighting style savage and crude, but it was what he desperately needed right now. He felt the stirrings of old fury from when he was younger.
A young child against a nonstop attack of the creatures of Grimm, never given any rest. His anger had attracted more Grimm, which fed into more anger. It wasn't until Jaune had calmed a bit that he learned that they were attracted to negative feelings.
The Boarbatusk charged at him, not even using its more devastating spinning attack. Jaune stood there at the ready, not bothering to dodge. The class watched with bated breaths, even the teacher looked slightly baffled at his decision to not use his weapon.
"Jaune, move!"
Ignoring Ruby's warning, he deftly avoided the creature's tusks and shoved his hand into the Boarbatusk's open mouth. Grabbing onto its jaw, Jaune let a small trickle of blood escape into the beast before focusing his aura, strengthening his hand. Same as with the Deathstalker, it wasn't enough blood to convert it, but with his hand concealed in its mouth, the effect was perfectly hidden. He leaned his weight against the Grimm, stopping it's charge and grappled the closest tusk.
The use of aura came so naturally to him now. He knew it wasn't anywhere near the control Qrow or even his classmates displayed before, but for this creature it was more than enough. Utilizing the surplus of strength provided by his aura, Jaune pulled hard, using the leverage of his grip on the Grimm's tusk to break its jaw and completely rip it off.
Tossing the dying corpse onto the ground, Jaune saw the Grimm evaporate like the countless he had seen before. His aura already began healing the cut on his hand, the bandages soaking up the blood as best they could. The entire class was silent, everyone staring at him with a mixture of either shock, fright, and in Nora's case, excitement.
Jaune took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, feeling some of the anger fade away.
He felt better.
Notes: Aaaand that just happened.
I'm actually not going to say anything here, I'd rather see what people are going to say. But hey, there's actually going to be one more scene before 1-5, and it's a long one.
Cheers and let me know your thoughts! Not a huge response last time, so I'm hoping for a good amount of reviews this time.
knuckz
