Reese had to give Arc some props. The mission had been an easy one—it was just "go kill some Grimm so the folks at home can hear about how great everyone gets along"—but he'd taken it as gravely and professionally as though they might find something serious coming up against them. Like he actually might die facing, what, some basic Beowolves? But honestly, it kind of worked for him. Reese wasn't much for authority and rules and all that, but he wasn't a jackboot about it, just a guy who took things really seriously. She respected that kind of passion. The Grimm were a threat, and a leader who never lost sight of that was respectable in her books.

Funniest thing, though—it was the Atlesian of all people that Reese was really getting. Nah, she didn't have Reese's vibe, none of them did, but hey, she was fun and laid back and Reese had to give her props for her skill on wheels. Crazy to think that she went around Atlas on rollerskates, but Reese had to give some serious props if she kept the spirit of anarchy alive while at Atlas Academy. Really, of everything she was expecting of a team, things were ackz-ually going great for ACKZ!

Eh, not her best work.

Relaxing under the shade of a tree, Reese appreciated how… how just pretty the Valean landscape was with its rolling, grassy hills and pleasant climate. She really felt like now was time to just kick back and zone out while they waited for the Bullhead to arrive. It'd be great if she could spark up with her new team—nothing boosted unit cohesion like a little smoke break—but her stash was back at Beacon. Either way, she could still enjoy a little peace and quiet and just vibe with her new teammates.

"That was some good work back there," Arc said, "You all… you really covered that well."

"Pfffft," Neon blew a raspberry, "That was nothing! In Solitas, we've got-"

"Well, I was impressed," Jaune said, not only cutting off Neon's ability to boast, but… well, Reese had to admit: it felt good to be appreciated. Even Neon's cheeks turned a little pink, simultaneously chastised and complimented like that. It really spoke to Jaune's ability as a leader right there, though, speaking of…

"I-it was a testament to your strategic insight!" came the squeaky voice of their Vacuan sniper, "I th-think you contributed considerably to our success!"

Oh-ho-ho, had someone's little crush gotten inflamed by seeing the knight in action? Ha, Reese wasn't gonna make fun of May for having feelings like that—after all, hearing her voice warble like that was adorable as all hell—but she might be barking up the wrong tree here. From what Reese had heard online, Mr. Arc here was Suspect Numero Uno with the rumor that a certain Invincible Girl had had a pregnancy scare. Reese lived for gossipy trash, and while she didn't really believe half the things she read online, it was fun to wind up Arslan about it. And hey, some stuff might have a grain of truth in it, especially with how vociferously Arslan refused to believe that Pyrrha Nikos might be involved in something so tawdry. Girl had a mental picture of Pyrrha from Sanctum that was probably just as wrong as the ScrollNet stuff, just from the opposite direction. And truth, as they said, was often in the middle.

"Betcha come up with all sorts of crazy strategies with your team," Reese ventured, feeling a little impish as she pressed the subject, "I mean, getting someone like Pyrrha Nikos doing everything you say? That's gotta be first class, if you know what I mean."

From the way his cheeks turned pink, he very much did know what she meant. But not as well as May did, turning bright red in response!

"Oh man, I forgot about Pyrrha!" Neon gushed, evidently oblivious to what Reese had been putting down, "Oh- oh shit, do we get to meet her? Like, for real? That'd be the craziest-"

"Well, she's, um, busy," Jaune awkwardly cut in, evidently preferring this line of conversation over where Reese was taking it, "But I mean… I guess we're hosting you guys, so I think JNPR wouldn't mind all of us hanging out and getting dinner together?"

From the look of things, May might die if she was in a space with both Jaune and Pyrrha. Either because she'd nosebleed to death or she was terrified that Pyrrha might kill her—Reese wasn't sure she had the full read on her deal yet—but man, she was cute when she was terrified. Though… maybe that was just her way of getting them all to let their guard down? She was Vacuan, and everyone knew that Kingdom was rough country. But… Neon was hardly what Reese expected from an Atlesian, so maybe things weren't all what they seemed. Though, speaking of…

"Hey Neon," she asked, nodding at her skates, "I'm surprised they let you use those at Atlas. Thought you were all, like… military "

"Ha!" Neon laughed, "Atlas is way more than just a military Academy! Well, I mean, we are a military Academy, but it's not like you think! Even the Specialist Corps is super diverse in their weapons and fighting styles, and, yeah," now she was coming back to a full brag, "we get to study under them. Directly. I've been coached by Specialist Harriet Bree on rapid attack-"

"We get it, we get it," Reese groaned, suddenly seeing that there was something to Neon that rubbed her the wrong way, "Elite of the elite, yeah, yeah."

Neon just puffed out her chest as she gave Reese a big smile. "Hey, shouldn't we all be talking up our schools?" she asked, "After all, we're on the International Team, but…" her eyes glanced over at Jaune and May, "we're all here to win, right?"

Reese shifted a little at that. Arslan was extremely competitive this year, possibly Haven's best shot… yeah, like Sun was going clinch this, after he came that close to being disqualified by an honest-to-the-Brothers desertion statute… but Reese probably wouldn't even be on the doubles team with Arslan. They hadn't officially talked about it yet, but Arslan fought better with Bolin and Reese would probably even accept it if Nadir was taken as her second. So she'd be rooting for ABRN to win, but was she really winner material?

Actually, come to think of it…

Jaune was a hardy, tanky knight guy and May was a sniper, both Huntsmen specializations that weren't particularly notable for Tournament success. More support than stars. And, yeah, Jaune was on Team-Probably-Going-To-Win, but he obviously wasn't going to be the one at the finale. Plus, wasn't the betting odds for Vacuo being more for NDGO? Neptune sure wouldn't shut the fuck up about them, and he kept insisting it wasn't because they were an all-girls team but because they were "such talented and capable fighters."

Yeah, right. Reese had had all of one conversation with Neptune that didn't involve some kind of flirting and it was "Have you seen Sun anywhere? He's vanished and all of our paperwork was due yesterday!"

Something was up with the International Team, but Reese wasn't sure what it was. Obviously, they all kicked ass, they'd just rocked a bunch of Grimm, but what did it mean that she was chosen to represent Haven? Was it that… that they didn't seem like their school's stereotype? Neon was peppy, colorful, and full of self expression… but then there was Jaune, right now giving a diplomatic answer about how they could all be here for individual glory while also seeking cooperation and unity, sounding every bit like old King Ostlack when he chaired the Vytal Accords. But next to Mr. Vale was the last person Reese would call Ms. Vacuo… unless it was all a front, which seemed more and more likely now that Reese had seen her gun down Grimm like they were nothing. And then… there was her.

Headmaster Lionheart had mostly been dealing with the whole "one of the school's prominent Team Leaders was facing felony desertion charges," and the man seemed more flustered by the day in the lead up to the Festival, so Reese had had this honor more or less dumped on her without warning. Lionheart seemed almost about to have a heart attack as he rattled off lines about "international brotherhood" and "representing the spirit of Mistral," so Reese felt more sorry for him with whatever it was going on than miffed he was kind of blowing off her big honor. There were rumors why he was so stressed, yeah, there were always rumors about everything, but Reese just… didn't buy all the "he has a gambling problem" or "Haven's finances had more holes than Argosian cheese," but there was definitely something up.

She didn't want to think she was chosen at random, someone who wouldn't look like a Mistralian stereotype like Nadir and also wouldn't cause an international incident like Arslan or Neptune definitely would… she wanted to think that she was chosen because she was something remarkable and deserving, but… well, with one girl personally trained by elite Specialists, another embodying everything Vale stood for… Reese shot May a glance, feeling like the two of them might be in strange company here. That was, if she wasn't a woman who knew her way around blood money.

Man… this was… heavy stuff, wasn't it? Shifting against the bark of the tree she was leaning against, Reese wished the Bullhead would get here sooner rather than later. Jaune was finishing up a speech that probably would have made her feel better if she'd been listening to it—all about how a Huntsman who upheld their duty to Remnant and protected the people was honor enough even without tournament wins or particular combat skill, damn he was good at this stuff—and now Reese felt the conversation was shifting back to them.

Another glance at May, looking as nervous and innocent as she had when Reese first met her. Something was up with that girl, but Reese got the feeling she was the only one on the team really noticing it. Which made sense—the other two had no reason to have self doubts, to see the other odd one out. But Reese would keep her eyes open. See if she could figure out their fourth member, and maybe, through that, figure out a bit on why she was chosen to represent Haven.

There was something up with May Zedong.

Neon knew a few things about stereotypes: she was a Faunus and an Atlesian, and she was on this team to show the world that—no matter what Ghira Belladonna said—there were Atlesian Faunus, that the terms weren't a contradiction, and also, that not every Atlesian was Ciel. Beneath her happy-go-lucky smile, Neon was constantly juggling a dozen different obligations and expectations that were best handled with a big smile and the kind of personality that bulled right through ignorance and prejudice. But it also meant that Neon didn't miss on the difference between stereotypes and background.

Simply put, a girl from Shade who was good enough to go to the Vytal and exceptional enough to be put on a team with her was the sort of person who'd risen through the ranks of Murder Academy. Which gave Neon some indication there might be a little murder in her background. Looking at her, strapped in on the Bullhead seat, Neon could see a girl who seemed more like a mouse than a woman, but Neon could also see a ruse, guise, a trick to get them all to lower their guard. As Ivori would say: simple deduction. Pffft, and Ciel thought she wasn't "responsible enough" to be High Champion of Atlas or whatever her title was.

"So!" she cheerfully began, moving to spring the trap, "Anyone on this Bullhead ever kill anyone?"

Reese's eyes shot wide, May choked, and Jaune… holy shit, Jaune Arc did not react at all.

"You've killed someone?" Neon squeaked in surprise as Jaune realized his cover was blown, "What- was it- an honor duel? Did someone insult your sister or- or-" her voice dropped to a terrified whisper, "Was it over wine?"

"Wh-what?" he stammered out in shock, "Did I- No- no, I've never killed anyone, what- why are you-"

"That is how a murderer would deny it," Reese nodded, sagely.

"I've never killed anyone!" Jaune protested, throwing his hands up in the air, "Why do you think I've killed someone?"

Neon stared at him, eyes narrowed as she read every inch of his body language. "When I asked the question, I noticed everyone reacted…" she paused for dramatic effect, before declaring, "with shock! Except for you, Mr. Jaune Arc. You reacted as though such a question was nothing out of the ordinary, as though you'd been waiting to be accused of… murder."

There was a momentary silence across the Bullhead, before Reese chimed in, "I'm convinced. So, Jaune, what's killing a man like? Did you use your sword, or-"

"N-no!" Jaune protested, "No, I- I've never killed anyone! I just… the reason I…" he took a long, deep sigh, "Listen, if you've met my teammates, you'd know that… sudden, unexpected questions are kind of… normal to me."

Huh.

Neon was learning some things about Pyrrha Nikos today. Bet Ciel would pay good money for that…

"So when you asked if I killed anyone, I just… figured I'd have to shake my head and say, 'No, I haven't,' like I have at the breakfast table every morning since I got to Beacon."

"And it's always about murder?" Neon asked, now starting to get some real questions about what kind of woman Pyrrha was. She always seemed so nice and polite, even as she beat a man into the floor with her spear. Honestly, she always looked almost apologetic. Like she was the last person you'd ever suspect could use her skills to actually hurt someone… just like May here. Oh no, the pieces were coming together!

May Zedong, a woman who maintained an aura of innocence even as she studied at the single-bloodiest Academy in the world—they didn't even have funerals for students!—had an obvious crush on Jaune Arc, a man completely inured to questions of violence, probably related to the fact that his partner was Pyrrha Nikos, who was a professional executioner of extreme violence and apparently had a morbid fascination with killing. Putting the points together, Neon now saw what was really going on.

Jaune Arc, the Black Knight of Vale, was drawing together a harem of bloodthirsty women who would- wait, no, that wasn't adding up at all.

"It's not about murder!" Jaune protested, "It's just that I'm used to getting asked questions like, 'Hey Jaune, has anyone ever tried to eat a Grimm?' or 'If I only eat pancakes, I probably wouldn't die, right?' or 'Anyone here ever commit document frau…'" Jaune's voice trailed off at the last one, his cheeks turning pink.

"What's this about document fraud?" Reese asked before shaking her head, "Nevermind, there's an easier way to solve this. May?"

The sniper bolted upright, clearly having thought the trio had forgotten her existence. How very like a sniper…

"Wh-what?" she asked, seeming not suspicious at all.

Not that Reese cared, her eyes narrowing as she suddenly seemed to focus up. "Jaune. He a killer?"

"Why- how would I know!"

Reese shrugged. "I dunno, you do go to Shade, where-"

"What?" she asked, "What do you- Wait… because I go to Shade, you think I'm a murderer?"

"No!" Neon cut in, finding Reese's sudden interrogation a little… discomforting. Before adding, "But you probably know some-"

"I don't!" May wailed, "That's- that's just a stereotype, we're not all killers!"

"But Shade does lead the Academies in student injuries!" Neon protested, "And you're literally the only law in a lawless waste-"

"Hey!" Jaune suddenly cut in, his voice… legitimately commanding as he fixed Reese and Neon with his gaze, "Knock it off! We're here to represent the Kingdoms, not- not stereotype them! Nobody in this Bullhead is a killer, okay?"

Neon felt her cheeks get hot as she saw Reese blush as well, mumbling an apology for the accusation.

"Shade…" May began, her voice heavy with an emotional gutpunch right to Neon's shame center, "I know people think of Vacuo as a… dangerous place. But it's so much more than that! In hardship, we always have each other, so our Teams are precious to us. We protect our communities with everything we have because we know how easily we can lose everything. And I'm…" she screwed her face up before announcing, "I'm proud to be from Shade, from Vacuo, and I'm proud to represent them both! To show people, to show the world, that we're not all bandits and thieves, that as harsh as the desert is, it's also beautiful! And teaches you so much! And…"

She spoke with the kind of admirable boldness and determination Neon would have never expected from her, and so, as soon as May noticed she was speaking like that, her self-doubts suddenly sprang up all around her and she shrank back into her shell of nervousness.

But Reese, surprisingly, spoke up to save May from the sudden, overpowering blush that now seemed to be poised to strangle. "I'm sorry," she said, her voice honest and heartfelt, "I… you know, with all this International Team honors and stuff hovering over me, I think I was just… taking out some of my stress on you. And that… really wasn't cool of me. Major foul on my part, and I'm seriously sorry about that."

Not to be shown up, Neon quickly chimed in. "And we should be championing our homelands and fighting misrepresentation!" she said with a wide smile, "I bet you can tell us all about your favorite things about the desert!"

Which… might have been the wrong thing to say, considering the way the redness of May's face shot right back up as Neon turned the spotlight back on her.

"I'm not getting this…" Jaune murmured, paging through the paperwork put in front of him, "It says that I can find my deductible from my I-09 form, but it doesn't say anything about… this doesn't make any sense!"

This was the price of being Team Leader. The rest of his Team had finished up their mission, thankfully not noticing how wildly unprepared Jaune was to fight the Grimm—seems like his deduction that they were all the weak links of their schools still didn't mean they were on his pitiful level—and now they got to go back and enjoy some downtime, just like Pyrrha, Nora, and Ren got to after JNPR missions. And now he had to handle the paperwork.

He heard the wet, unsympathetic rattle of his fellow Team Leader sipping her near-empty soda. Ruby gave a quick glance over the paper, then replied, "That's cause this is the IO-9 form, not the I-09 form."

Jaune threw up his hands in frustration. "Why- why do they even have- Why would you ever create a system where that could happen! Why!"

Ruby shrugged, taking another sip. "Why do you even have to fill out Mistralian paperwork, isn't Beacon hosting the-"

Burying his face in his hands, Jaune groaned, "Because I have to fill out reimbursement forms with every Academy because they each have to pay for a quarter of every expense."

"Wow," Ruby murmured, "and you're sure Goodwitch isn't punishing you with-"

"Maybe she is!" Jaune lamented. When he took the deal, he had thought he'd had the administration over a barrel, had outwitted them and won his team a number of evening visit passes, but now, now Jaune saw that he was only seeing half the deck. Or more accurately, a quarter of the deck, as Atlas, Shade, Haven, and Beacon all used completely different systems and terms and he was pretty sure Atlas's form required actual calculus to fill out. "I never should have taken the-"

"Don't say that!" Ruby said, making Jaune brighten for a moment to hear that Ruby believed in him… except, she continued, "Weiss wants your positions soooo badly and if she hears you don't want to head up the team, she'll make me try and get her on the team."

"I thought she was starting to respect you as a leader," Jaune said, a hint of annoyance creeping into his voice.

"And I thought you knew how to fill out an R-4," Ruby replied, holding up the form for dust ammo expenditures.

Jaune snatched up the form, looking it over for mistakes… and finding nothing. "What are you talking about?"

"Here," she jabbed at where he listed May's round expenditure, "You're pricing these like they're pistol ammo, not rifle. Those SonaTech dust core rounds cost way more than the kind of pistol shot Ren's using. Doesn't this come up for Pyrrha?"

Jaune shook his head. "No, she… Pyrrha's ammunition is covered by her sponsorship deals, she can't get reimbursed for them."

"Lucky…" Ruby groaned, "You don't use ammo, Pyrrha's not your responsibility, you have to do half the paperwork I do! And you have no idea how annoying Myrtenaster's dust rounds are for paperwork. And if I get the wrong dust purities, she flips out. Though…" she pointed at the ammunition again, "You've got May using tessellated dust ammo?"

"Yeah?" Jaune said, reaching through the paperwork mound to find May's ammo expenditure report, "Says… 'seven-seven-six, standard…' yep, 'tessellated,' right there"

"Huh," Ruby said, glancing to the paper, "Yeah… that's in the 103 series, so that's definitely tessellated dust ammo. She, uh, she say why she's using that kind of ammo?"

Jaune shrugged, infinitely out of his depth here compared to Ruby. "I… don't know?"

"Heh," Ruby chuckled, "I mean, she is Shade's representative…"

Putting his hands up in exasperation, Jaune groaned, "What does that mean, seriously? Why do people keep bringing it up?"

Ruby shrugged. "I'm just saying, she's using rounds primarily used for burning through aura, and if you copied it right, she's using high yield stuff. I don't carry dust rounds like this, cause, like, they're expensive. But also, when having adventures and all, I don't want to kill Roman, I'm just trying to send him to jail."

Jaune felt a chill enter his blood. Earlier, he'd thought it was just Neon and Reese taking things too far and teasing a girl for nothing more than what Kingdom she was from. And while Jaune would fight a Vacuan any day of the week on football, wine, or the 25th Meridian (everything east of which was rightfully Vale), he was nominally supposed to be representing the spirit of global camaraderie even if the Team was an abject fraud.

But if May really was a…

Shaking his head, Jaune refused to entertain the thought. "Hey, when was the last time you actually used your rifle as a rifle instead of a propellant?" he joked, "Maybe I should check with Pyrrha on rifle rounds before I jump to any conclusions."

"Pyrrha uses people-killing rounds," Ruby replied dryly, making Jaune choke in shock. "She's a tournament fighter, she's got to punch through aura ten times thicker than-"

"W-well, May's here for the Vytal, so maybe-"

"Eh-eh-eh," Ruby shook her head, "Most Huntsmen—who aren't prissy butts like Weiss—only carry one kind of round, because it's cheaper to buy in bulk. Especially if they're not rich. People like Ren and Blake only carry anti-Grimm rounds cause they mostly see themselves fighting Grimm, even if they have to spar in Goodwitch's class. The anti-person rounds they bought for the Tournament would have been bought special, so they wouldn't waste them on a field mission. Unless you're someone like Pyrrha who already buys them tessellated in bulk because she's always fighting people… and I didn't even know who May was until I saw her next to you on the stage, and I definitely wouldn't have missed another sniper who was tearing up the circuit." She gave Crescent a pat. "I like to think of us rifle girls as a kind of sisterhood, where-"

"I don't think she's… like that," Jaune said, more to himself, and his increasingly queasy stomach, than to Ruby, "Shade Academy wouldn't…"

But what Jaune had been able to piece together about… all the Academies was that they were a place more distressingly indifferent to the law than Jaune had ever wanted to know. These institutions encouraged the look he now saw on Ruby's face, the utter lack of concern or objection to the possibility that the shy, but nice, girl he'd met might actually be a cold blooded killer. Jaune hadn't gone to multiple years of combat school, so his brain was still normal…

And his new team was clearly experienced graduates of combat schools. Neon and Reese saw fighting Grimm as a game, and May… Jaune didn't want to go down that line. Not after she'd so passionately argued why she shouldn't be seen as a killer. But that was a discussion between three accomplished Huntresses, and Huntresses, Jaune knew, were not like him. They weren't stable or sensible or ever remotely aware of how civilians looked at the world. And Ruby's deduction that she was primarily grabbing rounds designed to punch through aura rather than Grimm hides… he'd seen her file when Ozpin named him Team Leader, and no, she did not have a Tournament background so… she might just actually be a contract killer. Wait, no, that was his invention, all those specialty rounds might just mean she was a serial killer or any other reason to want to specialize in killing people without financial incentive.

And, oh, if that sentence was what his brain was cooking up…

"It's gonna be real fun when she meets Nora!" Ruby laughed, "I bet she'll need to show off to the Vacuan that the wilds of Mistral-"

"Let's not-" Jaune interrupted, his stomach suddenly feeling queasy at the thought, "Let's not… imagine that. Might… might actually bring it into the world."

But it wasn't like Ruby cared about what would happen as ACKZ and JNPR met. She would be at a safe distance, after all. And he would be… oh, why had he told his teams that they'd get dinner together? Bringing out Nora without advanced planning? And they had all seemed so interested in Nora's… unique style of breakfast questioning that it would…

Suddenly, Jaune's paperwork woes looked like the least of his problems.

Alright. She could do this. Just… smile, make conversation, and just… be yourself. That was all May had to do and maybe… maybe she'd make friends! Jaune was very nice, so his teammates were probably- they were probably nice as well! Like Pyrrha! She surely was nice and wouldn't hate her for thinking her boyfriend was nice. That was all!

Looking into the mirror, May tried to project the kind of confidence that just came so naturally to all the other girls. Like Nebula. Or Reese and Neon who just… both always acted like they belonged on the International Team. Like they belonged everywhere they were, and that they could speak up without panicking about what they were going to say. But instead of anything like those girls, when May looked in the mirror, she just saw a pig farmer's daughter, one who'd be a pig farmer herself if she didn't turn out to have some skill with a rifle.

But none of her new team knew that. They… thought she was a murderer. Well, two of them did. Jaune didn't. In his eyes, May Zedong was an upstanding student at Shade Academy and a proud member of Team ACKZ.

…come to think of it, why was it called ACKZ? Not every team name was a color: Neon was on Team FNKI, after all. But "acts?" What was that supposed to mean? Were they just a hard set of letters to work with? "Act-ing on behalf of Remnant," the Headmaster said, but what did that really mean?

It might… might actually be good conversation for the team. She could bring it up tonight, and maybe Neon would laugh and make a joke and Reese would give some theory and they'd all… they'd all be hanging out like they were friends! And Pyrrha would laugh and tell May that if she kept making eyes at her boyfriend, she'd bury her spear-

Ooookay. She was not ready for tonight. She was not ready at all.

"Can you believe that Beacon dorms are this nice?" she heard Nolan scoff from behind her, "I can't even imagine what they're getting in Atlas. Do they get butlers up there? Hey May, you-"

"Don't bother her," Brawnz grunted, "She's getting psyched up for her dinner with-"

May turned bright red as she whirled around. "I am not!" she protested.

To no avail, as Brawnz gave her an unimpressed look. "So all that staring into a mirror and muttering about being a pig farmer's daughter was about…?"

May turned an even brighter red as she realized her internal monologue hadn't been as internal as she thought.

"Hey," Brawnz said, his voice gruff and forceful, but… May could hear the concern he had for her in it, "You got this, May. They made you represent Vacuo for a reason and-"

"And what reason is that!" she cried out in exasperation, "Seriously, can anyone tell me why I'm Shade's top pick when all the other schools are sending absolutely incredible-"

"Because who else could represent Shade?" Nolan asked, his calm honesty cutting right through May's frustration. "Sure as hell can't be NDGO, and you think anyone else at the school can make us look good?"

"You're diligent, you've got self control, and the Brothers know," Roy added with a laugh, "you've never killed anyone which-"

"Don't remind me," May groaned, "They asked about-"

"Then fuck'em!" Brawnz suddenly growled, "You think you're not fit to be on that team? Well, your teammates don't have an ounce of your class. I'm punching that Arc guy in the balls first chance-"

"Jaune didn't- didn't say anything!" May quickly cut in, "He… he's been nothing but nice."

Brawnz gave her a long look before giving her a quick nod. "Alright… I gotcha," then shifted tack, asking, "You do that trick I told you to do?"

"No!" May cried, shaking her head, "Jaune would know if I used fifty rounds, he can count!"

"Yeah, about that," Roy cut in, "you… learning anything about Jaune? Perhaps his team? There's a lot of-"

May cut him off with an annoyed glare. Roy put his hands up, replying "I'm just saying, could be really helpful if we knew how they fought."

"Yeah, that's what you're asking about," Nolan chuckled, "Sure, sure"

"Just tell me you billed them for the tessellated rounds," Brawnz grunted, "I don't want my team to be-'

"Yes, obviously," May said, rolling her eyes, "I'm not stupid, I said I used top end rounds, but he'd notice if I said I fired ten times more than I actually did!"

Nolan raised a teasing eyebrow. "You think a Valean like him would question the word of a lady? I'm half worried we might lose you to Beacon–guy like him would slap Nebula right in the face."

May… remembered him in the Bullhead. Standing up for her, gallantly challenging Reese and Neon to account for their words. How she hadn't swooned right there, she'd never know… and the thought of her knight in shining armor "stealing" him away…

"Ah, hell, we're losing her," Nolan groaned, "and there goes the only member of BRNZ who knows how to unstick the jukebox…"

"Eh, Valean or not, dudes are dudes," Brawnz shrugged, "He might seem all noble, but so did that Winchester guy I'm headbutting tonight and he's-"

May's mood was immediately replaced by annoyance as she heard that word and promptly glared at her leader. "Don't tell me you're still doing-"

"Hey, I don't tell you how to flirt with blondes, you don't tell dudes how to do dude things."

Raising a finger, she closed in on Brawnz. "It is not a 'dudes' thing, it's an idiot thing. It's not two guys headbutting each other until one collapses, it's two morons. And just because you've found morons in Vale who're willing to-"

"Wait, wait, wait!" Nolan guffawed, "How about: if some fancy Valean wants to date our May, he's gotta headbutt Brawnz for it!"

"I'll let him wear a helmet," Brawnz said with a toothy grin.

May rolled her eyes. "Idiots," she said, "I'm surrounded by idiots."

"Actually… about that…" Roy awkwardly cut in, "Isn't he… and Pyrrha…"

"Pfffft," Brawnz blew a loud raspberry, "Not a chance. If I was fucking the Invincible Girl, like hell I wouldn't be telling everyone."

"Because you're not Jaune," May shot back, feeling a hint of pride brimming on her lips, "He's a gentleman, he wouldn't be so crass as to brag about his relationship with Pyrrha!"

"So you do think they're together," Roy said, "And you're still making a go at him?"

Nolan leaned against the wall. "You know we've got your back, May, but if it's us against Pyrrha…"

"Then we go down swinging!" Brawnz declared, "Cause if she thinks she can push around our May," he clamped a hand down on her shoulder, "then she's messing with Team BRNZ!"

"Yes, but," Nolan replied, "she is a terrifying-"

"And May's our girl!" Brawnz cried, pumping his fist "And if she's looking to date some fancy Valean, we aren't letting some girl in a tiara tell us what she can't do!"

The team hooted in assent. May blinked away a tear. They might be… absolute lunkheads who had organized a headbutting-based fight club that they had somehow exported to Vale, but they were… three of the kindest, loyalest, most supportive men she'd ever known. And so… anything could happen tonight as she got dinner with JNPR! It didn't matter what, because she knew she had her team behind her!

…even if she was pretty sure tonight was going to go… really, really bad.

And she was still very scared of Pyrrha.

Thanks to Renarde for feedback on this work, and thanks to Danish for some notes on the ammunition.

Next up, a dinner party goes poorly.