2: Obstacles in Our Way
They traveled for 3 hours till the rain started to fall, and when it did, it fell hard.
Team RNJR was making a decent pace with the road they made their way back onto a half hour before. They made idle conversation, attempting to take their minds off other things as they went. Ren was just beginning to explain what the stubby trees the team had noticed were, they being interspersed to the left of the hard-packed road they were now journeying on.
Nora had wondered at them at first, contemplating whether or not the small black berries hanging from their branches in bunches might be edible, to which Jaune had worried they might be poisonous. Himself not being much of an outdoorsman, Jaune figured anything that looked relatively tasty out in the wilderness, was designed by years of evolution to kill you in the most awful way imaginable. Or so he thought, his views on nature's bounty likely having been soured from his childhood home being absolutely surrounded by poison ivy and strange berries that gave awful stomach cramps to any who ate of them.
"I will never understand why mom and dad never bothered to burn the rest of the property, even after we all got rashes for weeks...Even our dog." Jaune muttered, eying the innocent-looking trees to the side.
"What'd ya say, Jaune?" Ruby peered behind as she continued leading along the road.
"Nothing! It was nothing…But yeah, I wouldn't trust those berries, Nora. Just to be safe, you know?" It was then that Ren raised a hand in gentle interference.
"Actually, I'm pretty sure those are just currants. They're harmless, and pretty good to eat too. I'd suggest grabbing the dried out ones th-." Ren was rudely interrupted by a downpour of rain, hand still lazily held up, same way a scholar might mid-lecture.
They stood there in shock for several seconds, letting the fat droplets pelt them relentlessly. The hard-packed road, once dusty and true was quickly becoming slick and indistinct, the force of the rain hammering away at the dirt. As one, the team glanced upward and finally noticed that the grey-black clouds above, once foreboding yet distant, formed one massive sea of darkness, roiling and churning. The storm had indeed arrived, and would not be denied its release. The first to finally feel the chill soaking in, Ruby regained her wits and pulled her cape now darkly crimson from the rain soaking through, over her head in an attempt to find cover. It was her only defense.
"TEAM RNJR, SCATTER!" And like the sudden bolt of lightning and thunder that came a beat after, the panicking teenagers flashed away for the nearest available dry area. They ran, taking care not to slip on the growing puddles of mud as they wildly looked for anywhere to shield themselves from the rain. But there were none, it seemed. No great trees with heavy foliage, no convenient cave to hide away in, anything more distant hidden by the sheer volume of rain. Ruby craned her head back to her comrades as they pelted down the road, searching for any solace. At this point, she was willing to just rough it somewhere not in an indentation with their tents.
"I GUESS WE'LL JUST HAVE TO PIT-"Mud everywhere. The others slid to a stop as they gazed at their friend, once leading the charge, now having taken a bad step and gotten a face full of mud. There were bubbles lightly rising from where her mouth seemed to be. Nora, approaching cautiously, thought she could hear a low keening, coming from the fallen huntress.
"R-Ruby….Are you okay?" Nora bit her lip in sympathy as the keening only grew stronger. With an audible sucking sound, Ruby lifted her head from its position in the swirling puddle. Slowly, her eyes opened, them being the only clear areas on her face. All else was a dark, cakey mess of earth and shame. Nora grimaced at her visage. Helping Ruby up from the ground, she then lifted her shivering form into a Fireman's carry, Ruby giving an undignified shaky squeak. Over the almost literal monsoon upon them, Nora hollered to the only two able-bodied adventurers left.
"WE GOT A GAL PAL DOWN! HOW'S OUR COVER LOOKING!?"
"NORA, IT'S JUST WATER, I'M SURE RUBY'S F-"
Again, Ren was interrupted by a reappearing Jaune, coming from the opposite direction of the road.
"Hey guys, I think I found a place! Just a little further!" Jaune seeing Ruby take her dive, resolved to find something resembling shelter before they froze, or worse yet, had to suffer the agony of a teammate with deadly kicked-puppy eyes. Thankfully, just up the road a bit more was a solution. A half-buried drainage ditch to the right of the road, likely long forgotten but with enough room to climb into.
A few minutes later, and a little creative construction with their tents, team RNJR had adequate shelter from the storm just outside the tubular hole in the side of the ditch. With the boys' tent blocking off the entrance to the somewhat eroded pipe, the gang sat in near darkness, not quite cramped together, but still disoreiented. The thick skin of the tent barely letting through whatever light there still was outside. Taking a moment to shiver off the droplets still on them, each silently decided to shout out the next time a storm was likely to roll in.
"Sooooo...Anyone got a towel?" Peeped Ruby, holding herself stiffly as she tried willing away the gritty muck off her person.
"Gotcha covered, oh captain my captain!" A great floofy something flew out in the dark and smacked Jaune clean in the face, muffling his gasp as he floundered about in confusion now even more blinded than before. A moment later and he threw it back in the general direction of attack, hearing a similar gasp.
"Ya know last time I checked, I don't think my name was Ruby, Nora."
"Ha, missed me!"
"What?"
"Ahem. Jaune...Friendly Fire."
"Oh...Sorry Ren." A sheepish chuckle echoed through the pipe, as well as the rasp of a hand on the neck of one seemingly shamed by his words and deeds.
"Can I please have that towel now? I feel like Yang after one of her weird spa thingies..."
"Ooh! Wait, lemme make this easier." Jaune quickly felt around for his backpack, hoping he still had-
"Jaune."
"Yeah, Ren?"
"That's not your pack."
"...Woops..."
A moment later, and he had found it. Dragging it over he pulled a cylindrical object from a side pocket and smacked it against the wall. A brief shake, and suddenly the pipe was illuminated in an eerie blue light; revealing the shivering collection of huntsmen.
"Glowsticks? Cooooooool! Why don't I have one of those!?" Nora now visibly crossed her arms in a pout.
"You do, check the side pocket, I packed some for everyone before we left. How did you not know that?" Jaune raised an eyebrow. The rest looked to each other in confusion, shrugging in absentmindedness.
"Well then. Ruby, here's that towel. Don't worry about making a mess, I have another for everyone else." Ruby moaned in appreciation and immediately went to scrubbing her face free of grime and filth. Blowing a few lazy raspberries just to be clear of anything nasty.
'Blech. At least there weren't any worms,' She figured. Rolling and tossing the dirtied cloth to the side. she settled into the hard edge of the pipe, resolving to spend whatever amount of time they had to in here with a good attitude; though in the corner of her mind, she wondered how farther away their trail on Cinder and company was getting. scrunching her eyebrows and shaking her head, Ruby tried to keep faith that they would find what they needed, and not miss an opprotunity by playing it safe for just a while.
'Being risky lets the enemy get frisky. Uncle Qrow sure does have some cool tips,' her eyes shone a moment with admiration, giving a small smirk before redirecting her gaze towards her humble cadre.
"Right. The storm could take a while to clear up, so anyone got ideas?" The group looked amongst each other in indecision, JNR now sharing the sole unsullied blanket in a bid to dry off.
"Okay, well. I thought, maybe we could do with some music? Or cards? Or maybe charades? Ya know, team building..." Ruby mumbled out the last few words, now looking down and poking her hands together in discomfort.
Feeling bad for seeming offputting, Nora brainstormed for a moment before snapping her fingers, oddly enough a tiny little spark coming off between said fingers.
Hey, Jaune! Didn't you bring your little guitar with you? The one you tried to-"
"Nora..."
"What? I mean, sure it was kinda dorky and maybe a bit lame, heck it was downright hilarious to see ya do that song and dance for Weiss, though Pyrrha didn'-...Oh..." Nora's manic and slightly teasing tone immediately fizzled out. Jaune now staring down at the stony floor of the pipe, trying to rein in the bout of anguish brought out of nowhere. Deafening silence wriggled its way through the group, Nora holding a hand over her mouth in regret, Ruby wide-eyed at the slip-up, Ren staring sadly to the side.
"...I...All that time I...Stumbled around making a fool of myself. She watched. And she kept smiling. Why couldn't I realize." Jaune whispered, squeezing his eyes.
Every time he pined for Weiss, the Ice Queen herself, he was shot down. At the time, he figured 'keep trying, I just have to impress her enough to take me seriously'. But still each time he was met with either a whithering glare, or a shut door. Really, he should've stopped after the third or fourth attempt. And each time he'd trudge back to the dorm room, and sigh miserably into his bedspread, she would be there. Understanding as a saint, caring as a nurse. Pyrrha Nikos.
Jaune remembered a specific time when he tried wooing Weiss with a bouqet of fresh-picked white roses. Sure, it had taken an hour or two to head down to vale, find a florist with just the right flowers, and get back quick as can be to maintain that fresh aspect.
'Because girls love fresh flowers, Jaune.' His mother once told him.
'Not sad, wilted things. A little man like yourself should only give the best to a girl he thinks is the best!'
Well he sure did. Jaune got those flowers pronto back to Beacon, panting from the exertion of sprinting from the Bullhead docks to his target of affection's dorm room. But he made it. Giving himself a moment to catch his breath, Jaune steeled his will before knocking at team RWBY's door.
'You got this, pal. You got this. Just be dashing. Sauve. All that good stuff, and maybe she'll say maybe!'
Mid pep-talk however, the door swung open to reveal the object of his desires, Weiss Schnee. Staring at him as if looking at a crushed insect stuck under her shoe, she spoke before he could even take a breath to explain himself.
"Joy. You again. I'll save you the breath this time, no. I hope you didn't waste too much lien on those flowers, pretty as they may be. And next time, don't stand in front of our door huffing and puffing like a dirty vagabond, it's hard to conenctrate on my studies with that racket. Now shoo. Go bother some other poor girl, For all that is Oum." And just as quickly as she came, she was gone. The cold princess, his fantasy, his utopian dearest, closed the door with a final click.
Jaune wandered back across the hall in a daze, feeling not just defeated this time, but somewhat empty. He found himself sitting by his bed, staring out the window to the campus below, wondering what to do now. And in walked Pyrrha, full of life and confidence, curious to see what was wrong with her partner.
They talked, him explaining his dilemma this time, to a sadly nodding and understanding girl, flame-colored hair bouncing ever-so-slightly with each nod. Her emerald eyes tracking every word that left his mouth. When Jaune was done, he felt better, surprisingly. He began to notice that Pyrrha still looked a bit too sympathetic to his pain, smile just a bit too tight, eyes just a bit too hard with concentration. But what she said made him forget those signals.
"I know it's difficult to face such...Resistance, from one you seem to be so interested in. All I can say is..." A brief swallow and shiver of lips. "Keep trying, I suppose! You'll get the one you like in the end, I know it, Jaune." She uttered out warmly, placing a supporting hand on his shoulder.
'you'll get the one you like in the end.'
Jaune set his jaw forward, the tears nearly seeping past this time, but he had plenty of practice over the last couple weeks. He could get through this.
"AHEM. It-It's alright guys...No harm, no fowl. It's just the, ya know, the weather right now, pretty gloomy right? heh. Makes a guy think some silly stuff." Jaune raised himself back up from his downward position, meeting the eyes of his team in forgiveness with a small smile. Nora patted him on the back in apology, a small smile of her own emerging.
"But yeah, um, I still got that guitar in here somewhere, I could play a few tunes if you guys want?"
None objected.