Despite the fact that the four kingdoms were currently in a time of peace and therefore were almost acting as one cohesive union with combined people's, there were still ways to tell the denizens of the different kingdoms apart without even having to talk to them. Atlassian's were the easiest, the richest and most advanced nation's resources and political clout meant that most Atlassian's walked with the strutting confidence that came with a subtle belief that they were better than those around them.
This Weiss girl had that self-confidence down to the point that Jaune was surprised that she didn't actually strut whilst she walked, an view on her character only reinforced by Ruby's recollections of her encounters with the white clothed girl yesterday. Now he knew he was going to be in for a repeat encounter with the haughty girl whilst trying to find his weapon locker, which he knew had been right next to Amber's yesterday but was now somehow on the other side of the school, and given she had stopped to talk to another girl in the mid 500 region he would have to get past if he wanted to get to his locker in time.
"Sorry, do you girls know where locker 636 is?" Not an entirely clever question, but the way Jaune saw it the question would give Weiss the opportunity to move out of the way and let him get on with his preparations for initiation.
"Of course, it's..." The redhead girl, who was already dressed in her battle gear, seemed surprisingly eager to help him given her companion.
"You! Do you even realise how rude it is to just interrupt someone's conversation?" Okay, if he had disliked this girl for how she had treated Ruby the day before he was verging on anger regarding her at her over the top reaction to his question, time to show he wasn't going to be pushed around, even if it was by a pretty girl.
"Eh, about as rude as mocking a guy for being scraggly despite not having talked to him or even introduced herself?" There was a giggle from somewhere behind him, from the sounds of it Yang had appreciated his response even if Weiss was looking torn between embarrassed and furious, the white haired girl seemingly stuck in a shocked pose at the nerve of him using her own complaint against her.
"So, the name's Jaune by the way, and you are?" Deciding that leaving Weiss to reboot was probably the best plan, Jaune decided to try and put all of the social anxiety lessons his family had given him into practice on her companion, who looked a little confused at his comment but still had a warm smile on her face.
"I'm Pyrrha, it's nice to meet you Jaune..." Jaune sensed rather than saw Weiss recover as a cold feeling on the back of his neck made itself known in the form of his instincts screaming at him to draw Crocea Mors, distracting him from the feeling he was getting in the back of his mind that he should know Pyrrha from somewhere.
"Jaune was it? Do you have any idea who it is you are talking to?" The niggling feeling was back, but Jaune merely shrugged and did his best smile.
"My new friend and potential new member of team Jaune? And by that I mean Pyrrha rather than you Weiss before you get into another fit..." Despite his attempts to clarify who he was talking to, it merely seemed to inscence Weiss further, stabbing forward with one of her perfectly manicured finger nails into his chest plate.
"This is THE Pyrrha Nikos! You know, the one who graduated top of her class at Sanctum? Won the Mistral tournament for 4 years running! A new record!" Whilst the first 'accolade' flew straight over Jaune's head, he had a vague memory of a newspaper with some headline along those lines after managing to escape the badlands the year before, but he knew that wasn't where her thought he knew her from.
"Eh okay, not really been paying much attention to the news over the last 3 years, lets just say that for the most part I was off the grid..." Whilst he guessed Amber had already disclosed some information to Yang and Ruby about her injury, given she was determined not to be thought of as a weakling hiding her missing arm, Jaune was not going to be opening his time here with 'oh and I spent two years fighting for my life everyday in the badlands...'. He didn't want to sound whiny or cocky damn it, and those were the only two ways such a statement would come out.
"She's on the front of every Pumpkin Pete's Marshmellow Flake's box!" Weiss seemed to be at the end of her tether, waving her arms manically in a frustrated manner he would probably have found cute if he had not focused solely on Pyrrha at that particular revelation.
"You!" He saw Pyrrha's smile become slightly strained, and if he had to guess it was because Weiss had almost referred to her as an unattainable goal or being, but he had promised himself he would pay his respects if he ever got out of the badlands and this seemed to be the perfect chance.
"You're the one who headed the supply donations push for the towns beyond the '4 kingdom's safe zone!' I can't even count the number of lives those supplies saved out in the Vale Badlands alone, and those are just in the towns that we rescued the supply drops for, there must have been dozens of others." Judging by the shocked expression on Pyrrha's face Jaune could tell she hadn't been expecting that from him, though it soon broke into a wide smile that seemed to fill her entire face in a way that her previous smiles hadn't.
"I-It really helped? Whilst it was one of the things I insisted on when we were writing up the contract but they seemed to think it wouldn't actually mean anything in practical terms..." Jaune nodded, glad to have told her now it seemed to have had such a meaningful impact on her mood.
"Sorry to interrupt, but are you telling us you grew up in the Badlands?" Weiss' composure seemed to have returned a little, but there was an odd steel in her eyes as she raised the secret he had accidentally brought to the fore after moments ago telling himself he wouldn't.
"Will all new students please report to the cliffside for initiation immediately, this is your last call. All late comers WILL fail initiation." Saved by the bell, or in this case the Deputy Headmistress with the scary voice.
"Long story, will explain later." Moving past the two of them, who seemed to be in a similar rush after the announcement, Jaune smirked as he realised there was last comment he could make to make sure he got the last laugh.
"Oh, by the way..." Seeing both of them turn back towards him, Jaune made a shooting action with his free hand.
"I prefer the term rugged, because the ladies love a man who can handle himself in a fight, though for you snow flower I can be your scraggly man anytime." Weiss' screech of outrage was still audible as he turned and sprinted down the corridor, along with several sets of chuckling in it's wake.
Maybe he'd gone a little too far? Nah he should be fine, it's not as if he or any of his friends would pick her as a partner right? So long as she didn't straight out try and kill him there shouldn't be any problems...
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"Are you sure about this headmaster?" Amber's question as she watched her brother and their new friends fly off into the distance seemed to surprise Ozpin, who looked at her as if she had just broken a cardinal rule of his.
"Would you prefer to follow in your friends footsteps Ms Arc? As you pointed out earlier this morning there are an odd number of first years this year, primarily because you were meant to join last years class before your brother made his miraculous return, so if I let you go into that forest I would be denying someone their rightful partner..." The words were probably not meant to cut her as deeply as they did, but she still flinched slightly at the rebuke, way to make her out to be the bad guy there...
"So I won't be getting a partner then? How am I going to be able to do missions without a team?" Suddenly there was a giggling noise from behind her, a giggle that had become increasingly familiar over the last year, before a pair of fur covered arms wrapped themselves round her waist.
"I wouldn't say that Amber-chan... Ozpin-Sama has an idea he wants our help with." As the arms relaxed around her Amber spun round, to be confronted by a fox Faunus that stood just shorter than her at 5'3 and was dressed in the furs of animals she had probably killed and skinned herself.
Her slitted eye was filled with mirth of a prank well executed as her tail wagged back and forth behind her, the Faunus seemingly content to wait for her to say something rather than carry on speaking. While Amber couldn't say she was unhappy to see the Faunus again, the anger that was building up inside of her needed to be released.
"YOU!" Her half bellow made the fox wince, but any response she might have given was interrupted by a polite cough from Ozpin.
"As much as I don't want to interrupt, you girls have an initiation to complete, I am sure your partner can fill you in on the plan as you go..." What was Ozpin talking about, he'd already said...
Any further musing was cut short as the 'fake' jump point he had made her stand on to look like she was joining the others activated, sending both her and her new 'partner' careening skyward. Realising this had been his plan all along, Amber had the presence of mind for just one response.
"Fuck you Sir!" Whether he had heard her or not she wasn't sure, but it sure as hell made her feel slightly better as she separated herself from her Faunus jump point buddy and reached back to grab her main weapon from her back, chain unfurling with a soothing set of clanks as she focuses on her next objectives.
First she had to land safely, then she needed to find Jaune and make sure he was okay, and then they could both find out what SHE was doing suddenly reappearing back in their lives again. And if she didn't like what she heard, Ozpin might be moved down the list of people whose ass she was going to kick today...
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"Thank you!" His call was meant to be sincere, but Jaune wasn't entirely sure he had managed to keep the annoyance out of his voice at being pinned to a tree with a giant javelin, which he thankfully managed to remove from the tree itself with some difficulty.
It's not as if he could be too upset, given his actual 'strategy' had been to curl into a ball and summon his aura to tank the damage for him, as wasteful as that could have potentially be. Hefting Pyrrha's spear in his hand Jaune couldn't help but be impressed by the weight of it, to throw it that far and that accurately was an astounding feat all things considered.
"But we are meant to be partners!" The familiar whining call pre-empted the appearance through the bushes of the one person he didn't particularly want to see right now.
"Eh, Hi there." To her credit Weiss could give a really good glare when she wanted to, Jaune would almost have been intimidated if it hadn't been for the sight of a despondent Ruby behind her.
'Maybe pissing her off hadn't been the best idea I've ever had...' One of the other things his Dad had told him was that women didn't like fawning yes men, they wanted someone with some backbone, though given the way Weiss' rapier was twitching in her hand it may have been some more bs that his dad told himself to convince him that he was smooth.
Without a word Weiss turned on her heel, striding confidently back towards Ruby and grabbing her by her hood, Ruby's face lighting up as she was dragged away, catching sight of Jaune and waving pleasantly before the duo disappeared from sight.
'Should I tell them that they are walking entirely the wrong way? Nah, that will probably only encourage Weiss to go even further south.' So now all he had to do was wait for Pyrrha to arrive so they could team up, the growling from behind him letting him know that he had something with which he could pass the time at least.
"Let's see, four minor beowolves lead by a normal... Man the kingdoms have it easy." Embedding the spear into the ground next to him, as it wasn't polite to use another hunter's weapon without their permission, Jaune drew Crocea Mors from his shield/sheathe with a serene smile on his face.
Landing strategies and making friends, those he needed to work on. But killing Grimm? That was one thing that he could do REALLY well.
His mind was running through every piece of knowledge and encounter he had ever had with beowolves, condensing it down into one of two possible strategies, depending on which Grimm attacked first. Readying his blade, Jaune was unsurprised when he heard the rustling behind him of one of the minor's coming into attack him from his 'blindside', spinning with now practiced ease to deflect the claw swipe off his shield and lopping the offending limb off before performing three quick steps backwards.
Out of range of the now maimed Grimm, Jaune let himself fall into the 'motions' following the strategy in his head as he ducked and slashed his way through the other four Beowolves, modifying his plan to the subtle changes in how the Grimm reacted but not really consciously thinking about what he was doing until his blade was buried into the neck of the normal Beowolf and it collapsed with one final growl to the floor.
The sound of clapping filled the air, Jaune turning to see Pyrrha stood at the entrance to the clearing, spear back in her hand and two more minor's decomposing at her feet. Glad to have an appreciative audience, Jaune performed a slight bow before nodding gratefully up at the tree she had transfixed him too.
"Thanks for the save back there, it was far more efficient than my actual landing strategy was going to be, probably would have attracted every Grimm in the forest with the noise. Looks like you really wanted me as a partner..." The small whiff of black smoke from behind him distracted him back to the Grimm corpses, meaning he missed the blush that spread over Pyrrha's face at his comment as he grabbed a small book from inside his armour, pulling the attached pencil from the holder on it's side and opening it up to make some notes.
"Sorry, one minute and we can introduce ourselves properly, but given the rate of dispersal these Beowolves will not be here much longer and there are several obvious differences between them and the ones I have fought outside of Vale." To his surprise Pyrrha didn't seem to mind, the sound of her footsteps made it clear she was approaching and standing behind him, probably deliberately louder than she normally walked so as not to potentially catch him off-guard.
"What is it that you are writing in there? Your strategy in that fight seemed flawless, in fact I don't think I have seen anyone react so well to different Grimm attacking them from all sides before, so I don't see what you would need to critique." That was probably a compliment and a half given how much Weiss had idolised the girl in the locker room, so Jaune felt there was no harm in revealing what he was doing, especially given they would now be working together for the next four years.
"Thanks, but I know my sister could have taken these guys apart in half the time and with straight kill-shots rather than having to cripple some of them first. My strategy was fine as you said, but in the badlands if you want to survive more than a few days you have to do one of three things. Run faster, be stronger or fight smarter than the Grimm around you, and I decided that I would prefer to at least two of those." Finishing his current note on how the shoulder joint in the Beowolf's carapace was actually better protected on this Grimm than on most the one's he fought in the Badlands, Jaune offered the notebook up over his shoulder to the girl, who grabbed it enthusiastically and started leafing through it appreciatively.
"This is very interesting, the notes are surprisingly detailed, though the spelling could use some work in places. I'm very impressed Jaune, let me know if I can be of any help with this cataloging process." He ignored the obvious attempt at a joking dig about his spelling, it had really not been at the top of his list of concerns in the first few months, and instead turned to face her with a smile and extending his hand.
"That sounds great, looking forward to working with you Pyrrha, I can be the Dr Waltes to your Sherlock Holmson." She giggled again at the popular literary reference, a sound that he was finding he liked more and more each time he heard it, before accepting his hand and shaking it firmly.
"I think it would be the other way round Jaune, I am not sure I could come up with the idea that an Ursa's greatest weak point is the back of it's neck based simply on how they move their head, that's far more Holmson than Waltes." It was certain then, whilst his sister would be more than a little annoyed at not having him as a partner, there would be no complaints from him at Pyrrha having taken her place...
A/N: So, that chapter was a thing... As you can see I have started making some changes to the storyline, primarily regarding the relationship between Weiss and Jaune. At this point, Jaune only see's her as an arrogant and entitled Atlassian, he doesn't even know she is a Schnee yet.
Whilst his rather brutal straight talking methods haven't earned him a friend with her, it is also the kind of attitude that Weiss just doesn't know how to deal with, and she isn't one to back down from a challenge so easily. Expect her to come back for more in the next few chapters, and it won't be all Jaune's way as it was in this chapter.
Amber's partner will be explained further in the coming chapters, though you are all welcome to speculate as always. She is there to support an idea I have currently in my 'Ozpin' head, all about preparing the board and strengthening his position before the Queen decides to attack, as well as changing how his idea of Beacon's teams should operate out in the field.
Jaune's book? This is to reinforce the fact that I will not have Jaune become a super awesome fighter without any real reason, instead he is going to be acting more like Robert Downey Jr's Sherlock Holmes. Fight smarter not harder will be his motto, and studying the Grimm is exactly the sort of thing I would see Holmes doing, despite the fact that Jaune is seemingly built like a tank.
Let me know what you think guys!
Defias Out!