AN: I'm just going to copy and paste my AN from my other Fic because it still the same message basically. TLDR if you don't want to read this wall of text. Also i apolgize for the shorter chapter then normal. I try to hit the 4K-5K sweet spot, but i felt like with this chapter it would've just made it feel super bloated. Hey! Sometimes you can't win them all.

Simply put I'm getting burned out and i want to take a week break to basically reset my mindset. Also the next semester of college begins next week so my time is going to be dedicated to that for a bit. Honestly my life has been extremely busy, with me possibly moving, writing two fics and also college, it's been a bet stressful ngl.

Basically this week break is going to be used to reset my mind, college and to also planned out future arcs for this fic in better detail. Even though this is my first fic, i want to make sure it's as good as possible for not only you all, but also for me as a writer. I want to give everything i write 120% of my full potential.

I really been enjoying writing this fic a lot, and it's been a special part of my life the past couple of months.

Also there's a very real possibility i move to biweekly scheduling instead of a weekly one, but i'm gonna try to keep up this weekly schedule as much as i can.

TDLR: Feeling burnout, taking a week break, fic might become biweekly.

See everyone two mondays from now.

Ruby was not the biggest fan of her current circumstances. Their previous venture into the continent of Sanus was over with, and now she and her friends are now in Anima. It took them such a long time to make that little bit of progress and well, Ruby was of the opinion that she wasn't enjoying her time adventuring anymore.

Sure, it wasn't completely terrible! Mistral was a very beautiful country with a lot of trees… and uh, trees. The first two they past where extremely friendly and she felt really good about herself when she helped get a cat out of a tree for one of the town kids. However, despite these few positives, there were plenty of negatives.

Well, more like one negative. And she existed in a pink and white color palate.

Neo Politan was clearly an issue. Despite her: not doing anything to harm her or to slow her group down, has help them with hunting and fighting off Grimm, and also taught Nora how to play poker (Which is a sin in of itself) but that didn't matter.

Ruby couldn't find it in her heart to trust her.

It's been a month since the day Ren found her, and Jaune somehow managed to convince her to not be a meanie butt and be a good guy. How he did this, he never told him, and she expected that if she went to ask, he would probably clam up and try to change the subject. It's annoying that she knew that he would probably treat her like a kid.

And also, she was so worried about Jaune…

He and Neo would just spend everyday talking with one another. Ruby didn't even know what it was about to begin with because whenever she approaches or tries to eavesdrop, they suddenly shift to something else like food or politics for some reason.

Seriously, who discuss Vacuan politics anyways?!

She just wants her friend back… So badly.

"Goldfish!" Nora screamed of victory interrupted Ruby thoughts. Looking over she saw Nora slam down her cards with a manic grin, which only caused Ren to sigh.

"Nora we're playing poker… not goldfish." Ren tried to correct. Gazing at the cards just causes Ren sigh to deepen. "Of course, it's a royal flush…"

Ruby giggled at the standard Ren and Nora antics that played out before her. It was a nice distraction from her worries about Jaune.

Right now, JNPR plus Ruby and Neo, they really need a new name, found themselves in an Inn in the mistral port town of Dayport. It was a nice quiet settlement, obviously focused on the porting industry. The docks we're big and grand, showcasing to foreigners "Welcome to Mistral! The good kingdom!" Ruby found patriotism silly, but whatever kept the people happy she couldn't complain. The Inn they found themselves in was a little hole in the wall, making them one of the few people in it.

Which was probably a good sign since they were carrying a mass murderer around.

"So…" Ren started, cleaning up the card game. "We've finally reached the big problem of our journey?"

"What's that?" Jaune asked, curious enough to stop his conversation with Neo.

"We're basically broke." Ren said as flatly as possible, causing the rest of his time to wince.

"Well… how broke are we?" Ruby decided to bite.

"Broke enough that we probably only have enough lien for one more night here before we have to move on, and If we find another town, we'll have nothing."

Yikes… That sounds pretty bad… Ruby thought, kicking her legs under the table.

"Well, it's obvious right?" Nora said, causing all attention to be brought to her. "We should hunt Grimm for cash!"

Ren hummed in agreement, placing a hand on his chin. "That is the most logical, and we should all be rightfully skilled for it. The issue is we don't have licenses."

"Honestly, I don't that that matters that much in Mistral." Jaune argued, his blue eyes gazing around the Inn's tavern. There were only a few people there besides them, but to say they look like upstanding citizens would be quite a joke, especially since all of them were staring at Jaune like they wanted to beat him up. Thankfully Nora has a giant war hammer to persuade them to a different line of thinking.

"Well… I suppose to see your point." Ren grumbled. He started to sit up straight, gazing at each of them. "Alright then if we're going down that path then we'll get up early tomorrow morning. It's best if we all split into Groups. Me and Nora have been fighting together for a while, and we're used to Mistral Grimm." Jaune and Ruby nodded. It made sense for those two to stick together.

"Jaune." Ren turned to his leader. "It clear that you're the only one our new friend is going to listen to, so it's best if you two stick together."

Jaune nodded. Neo didn't bother to contribute to their conversation, too busy twirling her umbrella, she supposed that this type of conversation was simply beneath her.

Meanie.

"Ruby." Ren voice caused her to jump. "What do you want to do? I don't think the Grimm would be so bad where you can't run solo if you wished too."

Ruby thought it over. A part of her was screaming and kicking and making bullet points on how the obvious thing would be to join Neo and Jaune's group. Mainly to keep a watch on Jaune, but to also watch the little minx to make sure she didn't harm her best friend!

But also, Jaune is a big boy. Well, not exactly a big boy, he's still a bit noodley. But he's smart enough to make his own decisions.

… No, he isn't. She just didn't want to potentially be an accident whenever they hunt Grimm together. Ruby can see the picture all so clearly of Neo taking her umbrella sharp stick of doom and boom! Bye-bye Ruby Rose!

She can trust that she wouldn't do that to Jaune at least. For some bizarre reason, Jaune was the only person that Neo didn't immediately look like she wanted to stab and make pretty red paste out of them.

Well besides Nora, Neo loved to teach things to Nora that Ren had spent plenty of days to unteach.

"I'll join you guys it'll be the first ever hunt of Team Rest N Relaxation!" Ruby said, proud of her quacking thinking of the name choice. Good job Ruby!

"That isn't a color…" Ren word struck her heart like the power of a thousand's suns.

"B-But I thought it was cool…" Ruby grumbled.

Tomorrow is going to be a long day.

/-/

Jaune should've expected a simple Grimm extermination job to go off the walls as fast as possible when he was paired with Neo. Honestly what was he thinking expecting her to actually put in effort to have them out.

It very clear that Neo involvement with Jaune's group will only involve one thing. Killing Cinder, and potentially killing Ruby after she kills Cinder which Jaune still hasn't figured out a plan to stop that from happening. Neo has basically been a leech, taking their food but not joining their hunts. With six of them now, Grimm was attractive to them like Mayflies.

Did Neo help them with a pack of Ursas decided to drop by and say hello? Did she help them when crossing the waters from Sanus to Anima that a Sea Feilong decided to have them for lunch, and it took the combined effort of all of them and the ship to destroy the beast? No!

And now here he was, with a deeper fear of the ocean than ever before and excuse his Valian but quite a bitch of a new partner.

"You know… If you actually help instead of deciding to sunbathe, we can probably be done by now!" Jaune shield blocked the spinning body of the Boarbatusk. Jaune used his shield to bash the creature onto its back, then piercing the boar like Grimm right in its stomach. He turned to Neo to see the Girl laying on a rock, with her hands behind her head like she was at the beach.

What a fantastic partner he found himself with…

Jaune thought the plan of exterminating Grimm for Lien made sense. That was the entire reason they went to Beacon to begin with, and Jaune didn't think anyone would turn down Grimm hunting services, even if their group weren't actual license huntsman. Jaune's job was to hunt a pack of Boarbatusks that was messing up with Dayport's hunting parties. It sounded simple enough for him, and he saw Weiss kill one with ease.

Well, he was right on that part. He managed to kill three of them with ease, however getting to that point was a vastly difficult task. Checking his scroll, he saw his aura was around sixty percent. He decided not to notice Neo's aura of 100% because if he did, he knew it would piss him off.

Speaking of the minx. Jaune saw Neo rise up from her place on the rock. He foolishly got his hopes up that she would actually join and help. How he felt like a fool when Neo just opened her parasol and was watching Juane fight the Grimm like it was a theatre show.

He was slowly beginning to regret teaming up with her. Maybe it would've been best to just leave her tied up to a tree.

Jaune growled and rushed the last remining pair of Boarbatusk. With his mind clouded in annoyance and a hint of rage, he just wanted to get down with this job and didn't care for his safety anymore.

The first Boarbatusk didn't see it coming, with a simple bashing from his shield the creature found itself in it's grave as Crorea Mors turned the beast into black smoke. However, it seems the final Boarbatusk didn't take so kindly to Jaune turning its friends into dust and begin to do its spinning charge right at Jaune. Fortunately for the Boarbatusk, Jaune couldn't get his shield arm out in time, and the creature knocked the Huntsman right onto the ground.

Jaune felt the wind got knocked out of him as The Grimm hooves stuck deep in his gut. Jaune tried to pierce through the creature, but his sword couldn't reach the creature's underbelly, only being able to strike uselessly against the Boar's thick hide. The Boarbatusk raise it's front too paws to crush Jaune head but couldn't go through with it's planned as a flash of pink and white intercepted.

Neo managed to use Hush to pin the creature down to the ground. The creature whined in anger, but its cries were silenced as Jaune got up and quickly pierced its belly with his blade.

Jaune panted heavily, trying to regain his breath. He turned to Neo and narrowed his eyes. "I'm not going to thank you."

Neo just responded with a single eyebrow raise.

"… Fine, thank you." His words seem to make Neo happy. Or she was making fun of him by making a big deal with it. Honestly, he couldn't tell with her. Jaune inspected the area around them and was glad to see no more Boarbatusk or any strangler Grimm that decided to see what all the commotion was about.

"Alright, Let's head back- "Jaune statement turn into a sigh as he saw Neo already walking away, completely ignoring him in every way shape in form. It seems like Neo had two moods with Jaune. Sometimes listen to him, or completely ignore him and act like he was dogshit on the sidewalk. Honestly if she wasn't even going to participate or try to help him during his job, why did she even bother coming with? To make fun of him?

Actually, knowing her, it was probably that…

The return to Dayport was gladly uneventful. No bandits on the road or Grimm to mess with them as they made their way back to the porting town.

Just him and Neo… Who is a potential mass murderer slash very potential psychopath.

Again, why did he think teaming up with her is a good idea?

Jaune saw the town on the horizon, seeing that they were almost there Jaune thought to himself eh fuck it and decided to bring it up.

"So, are you actually going to help contribute to the group, or no?"

Neo stopped and looked at Jaune like he had gone insane. Honestly, it wasn't that far off. Why did he think he was getting into a potential argument with someone who could probably murder him ten ways from Sunday.

"Listen. You've been with us for a month now, I understand that your situation isn't the most…comfortable. But we all tried to be somewhat kind to you. Well Nora and Ren tried and Ruby just sort of tolerated you, but well, I expected you to try right about now."

Most people would have been embarrassed. Or somewhat thought provoking on what Jaune would've said. In fact, if he was in this situation, Jaune would look inward at himself and see what it was that he was doing wrong.

But Neo wasn't most people. He keeps forgetting that for some reason.

Neo just laughed. Like actually full belly laughing even with her muteness. Jaune felt his face flushed as he saw Neo began to Gripe her stomach in pain from laughing to much.

"Why did I even bother…" Jaune grumbled and stormed off, knowing that Neo was still laughing at him.

Today was a long day…

/-/

They were so hysterical. Thinking that she would actually put in effort in giving a shit about any of them. They should just be thankful that she hasn't sink hush into little red neck. Neo simply didn't get what the whole deal of whatever Jaune- The blonde fool was talking about.

The blonde fool was only right about one thing. Cinder needed to die. She'll help him kill that demon. That was their agreement, not do this whole 'be a part of our found family' schtick. She was perfectly fine with her current relationship with Little Red ragtag group idiots. They give her food, and she doesn't kill them.

The blonde fool was especially infuriating.

One day the boy was somewhat likeable, scheming together on their assassination for that demon in red. She would rather die then to say it to his face, but the blonde fool was pretty smart. He had some pretty good ideas about what to do when they face Cinder. Sure, he was probably weaker then a puppy, but Neo can work with that.

What makes it so infuriating is how he acts when they're not planning together.

But hey, it's not like all of this rag tag group was that awful. The loud one is really fun to manipulate, and the not girl one was generally too quiet for her to care, and hey, Neo can appreciate quiet.

Neo looked around and saw that Jaune had already walked away from her and headed to Dayport. Damn, she was hoping he could laugh in his face some more. Oh well, you can't win them all.

Neo paused for a second. Turning her head to gaze back into the Mistral Forest. She felt the back of her neck tingle like something was watching her. She keeps her gaze at the tree line, slowly gazing at every inch of the forest. She isn't a bitch to be assassinated by some forest hiding mercenary.

However, she didn't see or hear anything. Just the endless chirping of birds and some far-off roars of Grimm. Nothing that would immediately concern her. Neo let out a muted sigh and began to walk towards Dayport. Neo didn't believe she pissed off any crimes families in Mistral to send an assassin, but if they did, they'll learn not to mess with her soon enough.

With a skip in her step, and twirling her parasol, Neo ventured back to her least favorite group of morons.

/-/

His wishes are whatever his goddess wishes. Her enteral grace and wisdom have guided him for a decade, and Tyrian lives to please. Upon the treetops he was, gazing down at the Roads from Outer mistral to the port down of Dayport.

All the hunt for one little girl.

In Tyrian very humbled opinion, this girl is beneath her grace's attention. Her beautiful ideas and plans should not be sullied by suck weaklings.

But Tyrian is a good follower. He doesn't question. He does not falter. He does his duty that the eternal goddess of this world has given to him. The capturing of one Ruby Rose is what his goddess acquired? Then that is what she'll be gifted.

Tyrian cackled in mad glee. Thinking about the future where his everlasting queen rewards Tyrian for his eternal service.

Ruby Rose. From what few details Tyrian gathered she was quite the specimen. Those pesky eyes of hers has Tyrian wish he could rip them out one by one with his stinger, but her goddess has ordered the rabbit to be alive, so that is what he must do.

The most interesting part about Miss Rose is her relationship with a little bird who has been a thorn to their side, Mr. Branwen. Tyrian took some pleasure is knocking any and every birdie that flew close to the sun.

Alas! None of them was a little sucker. Suppose that one man can only get lucky once.

Tyrian dropped from the Treetops and gazed out to the main road. It was now empty besides that one girl that was a bit intriguing. She managed to sense him somehow. Perhaps semblance? Skill? Both scenarios might prove troubling, however it should be no matter.

Because he knew Ruby rose was here. Somewhere yes, but still here! Tyrian reached into his bag and pulled out a single rose pedal. What great luck he had, finding the little speck stuck in a branch. Unfortunately, no matter how long it been there, Tyrian had no clue. Perhaps two hours? A week? It very possible miss Rose had already left the port city onto greener pastures.

Tyrian decided to test his luck. Three days he'll watch Dayport. Especially during the night. He'll find Ruby Rose, he knows it! The goddess shall will it so!

And with a final whisk of his tail, Tyrian disappeared into the endless mistral forest to continue with his hunt. Nothing but the thought of his goddess in his mind, telling him what to do, how to do it, how to best please her.

Ruby Rose shall be a captured flower very soon.

Tyrian is one of the most fun characters to write. Also if you were expecting Jaune and Neo to immediately be romantically involved, i'm sorry to make you disappointed so far!

Soon tho i promise :)