34. Beacon Days 19
It was the best of times, was Friday afternoon. Classes were done for day, and the weekend has arrived. Buoyed by a sense of liberation, every face sported a smile along with a ready greeting for any passerby. How harmonious, how peaceful, this Friday afternoon.
Bang!
The male locker room door flew open. It slammed against the wall.
Out of that opening came a man swaggering at the head of a procession. Behind him, dozens marched in lockstep; all bore the colors of Beacon. More soon joined from the female locker room, swelling their ranks. To the world at large, they appeared as an army under one banner.
Of course, a closer look would reveal them to be a fractious lot. Insults and shoves interspersed normal conversations. Lifelong enemies took positions on opposite sides of the crowd. A sizable section were grumbling about their apparent leader's slow speed, with more than one plot to supplant him in the works. There was scant loyalty to be found beyond his immediate circle. That they followed Jaune -said leader- at all today had been by his machinations rather than their choice, what with him arranging his teammates and minions to fan out behind him so as to block the way forward.
Was it troublesome? Yes. Was it worth it? Yes. An opportunity to bolster one's image should be seized with both hands. That was how a king convinces the people to obey his rule, by conditioning them over time to see him as the person standing at the top and to accept their lowly stations on the hierarchy.
Or was that dogs?
Both, it's both. Boy, were monarchies messed up.
Anyways, Jaune was at the front. He's the captain of this ship. Where they were going, that enviable position translated to having the choicest picks of the litter. Hence, his insistence on being there despite the higher-than-moderate risk of a mutiny.
The 3rd Recreation Hall only had so many ping-pong tables. He'd be damned if he gets relegated to the dartboard.
In a generation addicted (and happily so) to scrollnet entertainment, the Recreation Halls of Beacon nevertheless attracted their fair share of enthusiasts. So much so, that after the grueling Combat Classes that punctuated each week, it stood as a legitimate option alongside activities like 'heading off to Vale' and 'gaming back in the dorm room'. Something about how the mindless click-clacks of ping-pong balls, air hockey pucks, arcade machines, and other such noises created by the available games all combining together in a raucous cacophony, really spoke to the social creature that were humans and Faunus. The 3rd Recreation Hall, being the one commandeered by this year's freshmen class, typically hummed with activity for the few hours they had to wait before evening fell and the interesting side of Vale came out to play.
They've made it their hangout. It was their territory.
Which was why they lost their minds upon arriving, when they saw the transfer students from Shade already there. There, and claiming all the wall outlets. Buying up the best snacks from Vendy-dum, and drinks from Vendy-dee. Inputting their gaming handles into the arcade machines' high score tables!
His JARC getting bumped off the Rank 10 slot in Grimm Invaders right before his very eyes, thereby banishing his legacy to off-screen oblivion, was what did it for Jaune. Hours and hours, Lien after Lien, all kaput.
He'd admit he teared up a little. Nobody in the Beacon group begrudged him that. Friends and enemies alike offered him their sympathies in soft murmurs. Nora clapped a commiserating hand on his shoulder. They understood the pain he felt.
"M-a-Z-e, there we go!"
Having typed her handle in the place where his once rested, the usurper spun around to face the new arrivals. Her eyes lit up (with triumphant glee, no doubt) when she spotted Jaune and she flashed him a grin (of smug condescension!).
"Hi, Jaune!" May Zedong jabbed a finger at the screen. "Check it out, I made the leaderboard!"
As if she did not know who she had just kicked off the leaderboard.
'MaZe'. How fitting for such a twisted mind, Jaune seethed.
Keeping up a mask of civility, he clapped in slow and soft applause; his face wore a thin smile. After the third clap, his hands remained clasped, and he tilted his head in faux inquisitiveness. His eyes narrowed to slits.
"You guys really made yourself at home, huh, Beanie Girl? I thought the International dorm had its own entertainment room." Brawnz Ni, draped over a couch, cut in.
"Ughhh, don't remind me. The way those rich snobs from Atlas and Haven looked at us killed the vibe there. Even their classmates don't want to hang around them."
"We figured, no big loss, let's go exploring. That's how we found this place," May said. She held up a beverage can, "Look at this, the vending machine here stocks coffee from back home! Have you tried it?"
'Found'. They believed this sanctuary and its treasures had been lying abandoned for any greedy thief to come by and plunder.
A low growl began in the back of Jaune's throat. His ears picked up the same coming from other coffee enthusiasts, in the crowd behind him. He steadied himself before answering.
"I have, and it's very tasty. Almost as good as freshly-brewed coffee. It's a favorite of mine, in fact." He panned his gaze across the room, seeing the same can in the grasp of, or resting near, many a Shade student's hand. A creeping suspicion sneaked over him. "Maybe I should get one for myself. Did you know, in all of Beacon, only that machine has them?"
May winced. A little ways behind the girl, her other two teammates knocked their coffee cans together in a toast and chugged down the drinks.
"Ahaha, ha… I think… it might have ran out."
Jaune calmly, calmly, nodded. May appeared unconvinced by his act. Was his eye twitching?
The transfers were picking up the bloodlust emanating from the Beacon students now, and reacted accordingly. Lounging bodies tensed up, coiled and ready to pounce. Those holding objects like pool cues and darts adjusted their grip, turning game equipment into makeshift weapons. Brawny stepped in front of May, with the other boys of Team BRNZ flanking him. May gave the spotlight over to them with an exhalation of relief.
The two sides stared down, one in anger and one in utter confusion. Silence reigned.
Then, in a hiss that reminded the Vacuan students too much of the desert snakes from their homeland, Jaune whispered.
"Oooout."
Team BRNZ's leader tried to defend his position.
"Hang on, now. We were the first ones here-"
"-And we'll be the only ones left!" Jaune shouted. "We made this place what it is today. You're not getting it without a fight!" Cheers followed Jaune's declaration.
In a move that proved why he was made team leader, Brawnz tried for diplomatic tact.
"Okay, uh, we didn't know that. Give us a sec to figure this out?"
Jaune mulled over the request with skepticism, suspecting a trick. Nods from his team and RWBY swayed his decision. The possibility of regaining the room without bloodshed and, more importantly, without damage to the furniture clinched it. Acquiescing, he raised a hand to signal that his side hold fast. The Shade students proceeded to put their heads together, discussing their options.
When they faced the incensed Beaconites again, it was with determination in their eyes...and a challenge on their lips.
"Talking it over, we decided that we like this place and don't want to give it up. If it's a fight you're looking for, then so be it. Let's settle this-" oh, it is on! "-through a series of duels!"
…huh. That's new.
Still, as Valeans, there could only be one response to such a provocation.
-o-
It was long, hard-fought struggle. Duel after duel the Valeans persevered, giving as good as they got. Not everything went their way, and even now it seemed all too possible that Beacon would lose the day. Yet, they pressed on. Ever onwards, until -with backs against the wall, at the end of their ropes- Jaune finally uncovered the route to attain his victory.
It all depended on this serve.
Jaune tossed the ping-pong ball into the air. His arm winded back, paddle creaking with barely-contained power. Through the haze of Aura surrounding him, he flashed a vicious grin at his opponents and-!
Just a second more…
Almost there…
The ping-pong ball reached the apex of its ascent, watched closely by every pair of eyes except Jaune's own. He kept his locked the true target that mattered. He saw his chance.
Jaune's arm whipped through the air with all its might! Imbued by the force of Aura-enhanced strength to achieve a deadly speed, the projectile blasted across the table. On the other side, Nolan Porfirio had a split second to notice the color red overtaking his vision; it was far too late to react. Paddle met face and sent him flying.
Carried off his feet, he made an arc through the air, flipping end over end to impact the ground with a meaty squelch. He laid there in a heap, unconscious.
The ball hit the floor by Jaune's feet, bouncing a few times. He bent down and scooped it up amidst the silent, judging atmosphere of the room. Straightening, he pasted on a cherubic smile.
"Oops, my mistake. You can take the point." And I'll take the victory.
May had good reflexes, but Nolan turned out to be the one with skill in this sport. A lot of skill, which translated to a sizable lead that threatened to win this match. Keeping up had proved impossible. Therefore, eliminating him from the game was the correct tactic.
In one maneuver, he had overturned the board. Here and now was their counterattack!
…Wait a minute.
"This isn't a duel at all! We're just straight up hanging out together!"
"Tsk. He noticed."
He wanted to puff up in indignation at how put out May sounded at him catching on, but it had taken him a whole hour (…and the better part of a second hour) to notice the ploy.
"Were you too scared to face us head on? I understand, Beanie Girl. I wouldn't want to fight me, either." Jaune taunted, but May coolly let it pass.
"Fight you, when you still hold any sort of advantage?" She gestured to the room at large, indicating the high number of Beacon students represented here. "Not on your life, Arc."
Jaune admitted in his mind that it was a fair stance to take, all things considered. He could certainly see himself attempting the same kind of trick in a similar circumstance. Negating the strengths of one's foe was the very basics of battle.
May continued, "Besides, you're having fun, too, aren't you?"
Furor draining away, Jaune hesitated, then took a step back and crossed his arms in thought. Mulling over the question, he looked around. His gaze swept across the boisterous room, with 'duels' taking place throughout, and spotted his friends, participating with clear enthusiasm. It traveled from the Emcee wearing a rabbit mascot helmet, whose unnoticed presence within the group before all of this kicked off shall forever remain a mystery, to the opponent before him, a spark of challenge in her mien.
Honestly, he had a blast. The past two hours had consisted of childish, silly fun, the kind that everyone needed after a hard week of studies. Kicking the Shade students out now would completely ruin the mood, a state of affairs no doubt planned by the person before him. Yet again, he lamented the presence of other underhanded people on campus. They made life both interesting and exasperating at once.
In the end, Jaune huffed, and threw up his arms in surrender.
"Ugh, fine. Replace Nolan, and let's get this round started, already. My serve."
It was Friday afternoon, the best of times. As he tossed the ping-pong ball into the air, an odd feeling of peace settled over him and Jaune relaxed. He can give his squabbles and rivalries a pass for today.
He's still coming back tonight to put up some signs to mark his territory, though.
And to get JARC back on the high score table, again. No compromises on that one.
Beep Beep.
Beep Beep.
Beep Beep. Beep Beep. Beep Beep.
Bleary eyes opened, as a muddled mind tried to comprehend what the incessant beeping meant. An image of a scroll popped into his thoughts, leading Jaune to recognize that noise as the ringtone he set for certain numbers, which allowed them to bypass silent mode when it was enabled. Someone on a very short list was calling him.
He fumbled for the scroll, last set on the desk next to his bed; his arms flailed without coordination in his half-conscious state. One hand banged on a desk corner and he bit back a yelp. Further exploration knocked over a few sheets of homework papers. Fingers touched a small object, one vibrating in time with the beeps. His scroll.
Cradling the throbbing hand, Jaune pulled the device close to his face and squinted at the bright screen.
Melanie. Or rather, as she had inputted in his contacts, ~Melanie!❤UwU❤✰~.
Proof, if proof was needed, that the twins, and Mistral from whence they hail, spoke a version of the common language that has wildly deviated from the rest of Remnant.
He flicked his thumb over the screen to connect the call. Immediate and loud giggles flooded the dorm room.
Jaune nearly dropped the scroll in surprise. Catching it, he adjusted the volume until it became a tiny sound audible only to him. A cursory glance around the room showed his teammates still deep within their peaceful slumber.
Good. There was nothing worse than an abrupt awakening at -he checked the time- 2:07 AM. Dammit, Mel!
"Is everything okay, Melanie? Why are you calling me so late?"
"Whaaaat?" "Jaune," "It's not" "pick me up" "that late," "some fries, with" "don't be so" "the dip." "dramatic!"
...huh?
Jaune had to pause for a bit while he tried to figure out the nonsense he just heard, a stream of babbles that did not even sound like human speech at certain points. Working through the fog of drowsiness, he realized that had been both Melanie and Miltia on the line, the sisters talking over each other. Their voices had thrown him off by how odd they sounded, more identical than usual to the point where he could not tell whom was whom. The nuances and verbal tics he used to differentiate the sisters were absent, replaced by the same tone that rang oh so familiarly. When had he heard it last? They sounded spacey, almost ditzy... the clues clicked into place. His teachers were drunk again.
And they had drunk-called him. Again.
This cannot be good.
It also wasn't bad, per se. There were many possible reasons for them to contact him in the middle of the night, of which this fell on the firm side of harmless. What had terrified him, and caused him to set the exception to the silent mode in the first place, was the idea that they might face mortal danger while he slept. Drunken antics were very much preferable, if vexing.
"Hey, Miltia. You're there, too? How was your night?"
It was the wrong question to ask. Miltia proceeded to recite her epic tale.
"Okay, so the party started out just fine, you know-"
"You're ignoring meeee!"
Closing his eyes, Jaune mentally readjusted his pace. When they get like this, the twins' rhythm tended to break down. Their near-telepathic trails of thought would diverge on separate tangents, throwing them off-sync. Navigating this mire required the patience to follow each thread.
First up, and most urgent, the Melanie whose mood has turned on a dime.
"I'm sorry?"
"You greeted Miltia, but not me." He could imagine her pouting right about now.
Of course, she was completely wrong, because he did...hang on.
Jaune played back their conversation in his memory to discover that Melanie was, in fact, right. After picking up, he had launched straight into figuring out the situation since, you know, nobody who got a call at two o'clock in the morning would think 'the other person must be ringing me up to say hi'. He had gone on to acknowledge Miltia's presence when he realized she was there, which Melanie's inebriated haze interpreted as a snub.
He took a second to pat himself on the back. Matching the twins' mental gymnastics in their current state while he was sober always qualified as an accomplishment in his book. As for the minor -very, very minor- faux pas that somehow turned into a point of contention, Jaune started by correcting his mistake.
"Hi, Mel."
"Hi, Jaune~"
And thus, there was silence. Jaune laid on his bed with scroll in hand, completely still. He stared up at the ceiling. As the moment stretched on, his eyes began roaming over the tiles, counting them as he waited for Melanie to continue talking. She never did.
That was the entirety of her reason for calling, wasn't it?
Deeming it safe to leave Melanie be (for now), Jaune addressed the other half of the duo.
"So, Miltia, what were you saying about the party?"
"Uhhhhh- Oh, yes! So, me, Mel, and our friends were all in our usual booth, right, and ordering some snacks to go with our drinks, cuz what idiots don't?" I can see the punchline, already. "But then this song I've never heard before came on and we had to get on the dance floor. And the minion who was gonna take our order? He must have just walked off because when I looked the table was totally empty! Like, you know we wanted something, so how hard is it to just put in an order? You always do that, you know, and it's not even your job!" It is in all but name. "Oh, but the song, Jaune! You should have been there! It had that thing you like where the song just, like, randomly pause and everybody freezes in whatever move they were doing, you know?" Yup. "Then, then, there's this one segment that was just begging for a belly dance so all us girls tried it. I was the best, obviously, but it's adorable how they tried to compete." Uh huh. "And after I won, we all went for another round, but guess what? Guess what? There still wasn't any food at our table, and that Bear decided it was the perfect time for another song I absolutely love so what were we supposed to do, not dance? As if! So we got out there again-" ...Zzzzz...
On a roll, Miltia kept on going. Gone was the girl content to let her sister lead the conversation, and the uptalk came out in force. She recounted everything of note (and a lot that were not) that happened to her in the past four or so hours, interjecting her story with enough tangents and extraneous words that the story doubled in length.
Jaune dozed through most of it, drifting in and out of consciousness as Miltia whispered in his ears a lullaby, or near enough once the words started blurring together. His ears picked up a snippet here and there, but the truly problematic phrases that would demand his attention did not crop up; 'we broke', 'we burned', 'it was hilarious', 'this one guy', 'Junior cried', and other such red flags. From what he gathered, she never actually received any of the food she tried to order. No wonder they reached this level of intoxication.
"-crispy, just a hint of salt. Can you imagine it?" Yeah... "Coated in sauce, tangy and sweet, its perfect accompaniment." Mmmm. "Each bite gives a satisfying crunch." *drools* "It's hands down the best dish for a late night snack, and that's why you have to get it for us! You will, right?"
"Ye-" His mouth snapped shut before it could make a careless promise. Turning his head, he looked at the scroll with a newfound wariness. Had she known what she was doing, the effects of her siren call? Now he was thinking about it, too. How sly.
Jaune swung his legs off the bed and sat up. One hand patted his empty stomach.
Fries, huh? A bit heavy for someone who had not drank a drop, but it sure would hit the spot. Well, if not for one glaring issue.
"I'm in Beacon right now."
"Exactly! Instead of us having to go out and double back, you can pick it up along the way. That makes it, like, half the distance. Hurry up, Jaune, I'm hungryyyy..."
Drunk math used different formulas, looks like.
"Mil, stop pressuring him!" Melanie interrupted, a touch of her usual authority bleeding into her voice. Jaune nodded along on his end, glad for the support. "If you make him rush, Jaune might forget his jacket." The volume rose as she addressed him directly. "It's cold out, so bundle up, okay?"
The note of concern when she spoke to him might have been touching, had her words not implied that she also expected him to run this errand.
"Look, it's an hour to Vale, and I don't even know what place serves fries this late."
Ding!
On the screen, an icon indicated a new text. Opening it, he saw a navigation link to –surprise! - a restaurant that fit their needs. An pretty high-end one going by the online menu.
"I got you, gopher! You're welcome!"
…Time to come up with a new excuse.
"Are you trying to come up with a new excuse?"
Cold sweat pour down his face. Jaune's lack of an answer said more than words ever could.
"Don't leave us to starve, Jaune!"
"Yeah, Jaune."
"Pretty please, Jaune?"
"C'mon, Jaune."
"Jaune." "Jaune." "Jaune?" "Jaune!" "Jaune." "Jaune?" "Jaune." "Jaune." "Jaune!" "Is it working, Jaune?"
*snrk*
A snicker leaked out to break his stolid control.
"Alright-pfft- alright, fine, it's working." The image of baby birds clamoring for food popped into his head, and Jaune bit down on his hand to stop a giggle. "Give me a bit, and I'll get the damn fries."
"With the dip!"
"Yes, yes, with all the dips."
He heard two hands slapping together in a high-five and his teacher's cheers of victory.
Unbidden, a smile sprang to his lips. Sometimes, he had to stop and marvel at their boundless energy. Half past two in the morning, and they were still so lively.
"We'll wait for you~"
"Don't take too long, or we might go buy it ourselves."
Too lively, perhaps. The thought of the inebriated twins heading out filled him with dread. For the city, that was. Melanie and Miltia would be fine.
Jaune was out the door like a shot.
Author's Notes: We'll have some actual violence next time.
If he stops spoiling them for once, they'd tone it down. He never will.
Xmas one-shot is done, Xmas Yakuza Arc chapter in the works. Two more regular chapters between now and then? New idea from the list slated to come out by New Year. One month to go. Clock's ticking.