Jaune Arc, The (Non)-Gamer
It was beautiful day in Jaune's rural hometown of Do-ri-mi-fa-so-la-di-do.
The birds were singing, the hens were crowing, and the sun was shining bright in the sky.
Yes, Jaune thought to himself, today was truly a wonderful day.
The only strange thing about about it was the semi-transparent screen that had suddenly popped up when had woken up.
Apparently, it was a screen that only he could see?
It had all sorts of weird terms and numbers on the screen, here and there. But Jaune didn't know what exactly it all meant.
It had his name at the top of it, though, so it was probably something that referred to him, right? Or so Jaune would guess, at least. It was really weird, though, especially since apparently only he himself could see it.
He asked his dad, and his mom, and his sisters about it, but they didn't seem to see anything at all. Jaune thought it might've just been one big elaborate prank, at first. But the confusion on his parents' and siblings' faces seemed very genuine, and so did the bepuzzlement in their voices. So, it didn't seem to be them, at the very least. Not that Jaune really ever doubted his own family, but being a family, they did tend to play pranks on each other, sometimes.
The holographic screen thingy-ma-bob seemed to be following him around everywhere, though.
Jaune didn't even think holographic technology had existed yet - or that if it had, certainly not to the point where it would be this advanced, to this extent. Well, that was one of the downsides to being a country hick - information would flow in and out of the town sometimes, but its accuracy was never really that clear.
If Vale was a more technologically advanced place, like how Atlas (or at least, what his impression of Atlas) was, they might not have had that problem, but it was what it was.
Still, though, Jaune was still half-convinced that this all was some sort of super-elaborate prank by somebody. It didn't look to be like a prank by any of his family, though - they all seemed to be genuinely puzzled when he tried to describe what he was seeing to them?
"Jaune, are you sure you're feeling alright?" His mom asked. He had been feeling fine, of course, and told her as much, though she hadn't seen quite convinced.
Still, maybe it was all just a prank played by one of the richer villagers in the small town. He wouldn't put it past them, though he wouldn't know why exactly they'd want to play this kind of prank on him.
But, everyone knew everyone in Jaune's small village, so maybe somebody just figured it'd be a funny prank. Jaune would go around and ask, and finally just stumble upon the right person to ask, and they'd go "Haha, gotcha, Jaune!", and Jaune would just laugh with them back, "Haha, yeah, you get me."
Or so Jaune was hoping, at least. Jaune really did not want to consider the possibility that he might actually be going crazy. Especially not in these few days right before he was planning to run away from home, off to Beacon Academy.
Still, the possibility couldn't be ruled out per say, but Jaune was really, really, hoping that was not the case.
And so, Jaune set out on his quest to ask everyone he knew.
Jaune's quest did not go well.
He had asked just about everyone who knew in their small village of about 1200 people, which amounted to just about 140 people or so.
Still, not a single one of them seemed to know what Jaune was talking about, even when Jaune tried to lure something out of them with his usual "haha, you got me!" response to any of their pranks. Instead, all of them seemed genuinely puzzled, and a few them concerned for Jaune's state of mind.
Jaune could only start worrying about his own state of mind, too. Of course, there was still the possibility that it was all just an elaborate by somebody he knew, and they had just gotten really good at acting.
Or, that it was just a prank that was being played on him by some rich villager that didn't know him (Jaune really hoped that was the case, though there wouldn't be much reason for a villager who didn't know Jaune to try to prank him, and even though the possibility of that seemed increasingly slim).
Jaune really was starting to worry about it now.
The screen had also changed a little bit while he had gone around asking. Apparently, something title "CHRS" had gone up from "17" to "21" in the time that he had spent going around the village, asking about it, and his "Vil. Aff" (whatever that stood for) with his hometown had gone from "Friendly" to "Very Friendly".
Jaune sighed. He had no idea what any of it meant, but why did something strange like this have to happen just days before he set out for Beacon?
Was it an ill omen? Or maybe even a good one? Jaune didn't know.
He could only hope that it wasn't a bad one, at least.
The Trip to Beacon
Oooph, that did not go well.
Landing in the plaza of Beacon Academy's courtyard, Jaune hurriedly rush to the nearest trash can to empty out the contents of his stomach.
It might not have been the cleanest mess, but at least it made him feel better, after riding on that mechanical monstrosity to get to Beacon. Jaune felt sorry for the poor trashman and/or janitor who'd have to through it away later, though.
It didn't help that the holographic screen also seem to be labelling him as "Vomit Boy" under "Title", though (at least it was better than what it showed before, though, "hunter wannabe", and "fraudster" - Jaune couldn't help but wonder if "title" was something he was thinking about himself. Maybe the whole holographic screen was).
Luckily, at least he managed to make a friend. Ruby, her name was. She seemed very enthusiastic about weapons, and just when join was thinking he's like to get know her better, some kind of strange supplementary screen also started to suddenly appear out of nowhere.
'Wha?!'
The screen (which was scarlet red, almost like a rose - as opposed to Jaune's own yellowish, jaundice-like screen) had these words on them:
"Register Ruby Rose as your friend?"
There was also a "yes" and "no" button right under that screen.
'Whoa, is this like one of those Facescroll things?'
Naturally, Jaune pressed "yes".
And the another screen popped up (although, thankfully, that one vanished), this time with a screen similar to Jaune's own.
Huh.
It was showing a bunch of stuff similar to Jaune had on his own hologram, but Ruby's numbers definitely seemed a lot higher. And her title was "Crater Girl".
'Wait, wasn't that what I just called her?'
Jaune's theory about the hologram being based off of his own thoughts seemed to be getting stronger by the day.
Interestingly though, she had some things on her screen that Jaune didn't have on his own.
For one, she had something called a class, which labelled her as a "reaper", whatever that meant (Jaune hoped she wasn't actually some sort of assassin or supernatural embodiment of death under a human guise, or something. Maybe he was just reading too many comic-books, though - that probably wasn't actually the case).
For another, under all the other things and numbers, she had something labelled an "aura" with a full bar, that showed a number, "1500/1500".
'Huh...' Jaune though to himself, 'I wonder what that is...?'
Before he had too much time to ponder, though, another holographic screen popped up, this time, saying "Ruby Rose registered as Friend. Share Information screen?"
Jaune shook his head. On one hand, it might've a good chance to see if he was really crazy or not.
But honestly, Jaune didn't really want to find out, and break through his illusion of normalcy. Jaune would be devastated, really, if he pressed "yes" and asked Ruby if she could see anything, only to find out that she couldn't.
And even if it turned out Jaune wasn't crazy, and Ruby could see something, then he wouldn't want to bother her with seeing such non-sensical stuff. She'd probably get really annoyed at him and stop wanting to be his friend. Jaune quickly pressed the "no" button as a result.
Luckily, Ruby's screen also had a red "X" button towards the corner, like any other old internet browser, so Jaune quickly pressed on that.
If only his own status screen was nearly as convenient to close...
"Jaune, are you alright?" Ruby asked.
"Huh? Oh, uh, yeah, why wouldn't I be?
"Well..." Ruby started, looking at Jaune with concerned eyes, "I mean...You've been kind of staring into space, and pointing your fingers at nothing for a while now..."
"Ha, hahaha? What, oh, I didn't notice, I must've zoned out, or something. Sorry to worry you, Ruby."
She didn't seem entirely convinced, but she didn't push the issue any further, thankfully.
Jaune breathed a sight of relief.
'Great, my first day here, and I'm already worrying people and making a bad impression.'
Jaune took one last look at his screen before heading off, though. Interestingly, after adding Ruby as a friend, some things on his own screen had changed, too.
Now, his screen had a "class (locked)" to it as well, showing it as "knight (lvl. 0)". At the bottom of his screen was also a descriptor titled "aura", though under his, where there was a bar under Ruby's, under his it only had a black screen with chains coming down diagonally, and a word, "locked" over the picture of a padlock.
'Wonder what that's all about...?' Jaune wondered. Besides that, though, there was also another interesting change. At the very bottom, there was now a "friends" section. One of the buttons said "share", but the other button had a heart on it. Jaune pressed it.
It pulled up another small screen which said "Compatibility".
Ruby Rose
Compatibility: Very High
Current Affinity: Friendly
'Huh, I wonder what this about, too? Is this saying we'd be good friends?'
Jaune clicked on it again, to close the screen, but then he accidently clicked on another button off to the side of his holographic screen, one he didn't even know existed.
On it, it read:
Enable Harem Option?
Jaune only had one though, in reply to that.
'What's a Harem?'
Author's Notes:
Jaune's Stats VS Ruby's Stats, by the way
STRG: 22 VS 129
AGLI: 25 VS 311
CHRS: 23 VS 35
INTL: 38 VS 45
WIS: 15 VS 12
Aura: LOCKED (3600/3600) VS (1500/1500)
Compatibility: (Jaune) Compatibility with Ruby - Very High; (Ruby) Compatibility With Jaune - Very High
Affinity: (Jaune) With Ruby - Friendly; (Ruby) With Jaune - Best Friends
If Jaune just shared and talked with Ruby, he probably would've been able to figure out what all this meant with Ruby's help, lol
O-ma-ke: The results of pressing "Yes" on the harem option
Ruby (Pyrrha) had done it. Now, every other girl was dead. Now, she, and she alone, was best girl. She giggled softly to herself.
"I don't blame you Jaune," She said, "All those other girls, those succubus, they must've been very charming to you Jaune. Poor, poor Jaune."
She smiled at Jaune. "But now, now that they're out of the way, you'll be all mine, Jaune."
Jaune didn't reply. He couldn't, after all.
But now, Jaune's love was hers, and all hers, alone.
"We'll be together, forever, now, right, Jaune?"
Jaune was silent, but she nodded his head yes.
Niw, the two of them could sail off into the horizon, happily.
Ruby (Pyrrha) and Jaune (Jaune's decapitated head), together, forever.