Here we are with another chapter. I think I'm back in the groove of things, work is doing the same so I think I can get on a more frequent update schedule. Though these next few chapters will be slow, expect to see a pace pick up afterward. Other than a couple things that need to be sorted out before Jaune and Cinder go back to Beacon, this is really just a good slice of life chapter(s).
I keep saying I don't do slow burn, but close to 30k words later I might be fibbing a bit. It should still be on a better pace than most, and the future pacing should help. So, stick around and see what you think.
CHAPTER 7 - Inconvenient Cliché
The world of crime had provided Cinder with many things. A new start was obvious, the opportunities she took advantage of only came from such a start. It also gave plenty of reasons to feed her greed, through any of the many directions that could be taken to do so. But what Cinder found fascinating about her time with the 'good guys' was how they valued and distributed their time.
Where Neo would spend her time catfishing and stealing, Jaune liked to spend his time with Cinder. While Roman allotted his time toward mischievous plans that she would approve or disapprove, Ruby spent her time flitting about with her team and sister team in whatever game she could rope them into. When Emerald would always see that her free time involved copious amounts of hits and runs, Blake seemed to be content with a slow and steady lifestyle of consistent training and breaks with books.
It was such a polar opposite experience on the other side, and Cinder couldn't help but fall back on her previous ways of life. For Cinder, greed plagued her decision making. Anything that could be hoarded and count toward a higher station compared to the average person on Remanent, whether it be cars, money, art, anything that was worth anything. Other than her transgressions under Salem, it was the only way Cinder found purpose for most of her time. Even with the months of easing off her tendencies, especially with Jaune helping her understand the second and third order effects of the lifestyle she was falling into. Not that she could tell him he helped in any way, the knight already was trying too hard to keep her on the right path. Lest he try any harder once he found out it was working.
Her convoluted thought process had stemmed from her current situation of a shopping spree with one of Jaune's sisters Joan. It had been mostly asked with no intention of letting Cinder choose, at least she knew what the intent behind such a question she had worded similarly many a time before meant too. What else could she do? Cinder might have been a heartless villain for most of her life, but she still understood social cues.
The introduction of herself to the many family members of Jaune, each reacting to her title of girlfriend especially in a different way, was entertaining to say the least. Most occurred while Jaune had been talking with his mother. Her introductions began with Corda, who after asking some questions on her future plans and her semblance among some other related questions directed her to Joan.
Joan was much more direct, asking how far she had gone with their twin, questions about future nieces and nephews or if she would be invited to the wedding, how often Cinder would visit with the kids, and too many things that filled Cinder's head with strangely pleasant thoughts. It had never crossed her mind to have kids, to be responsible for a whole life and the development of it. She hadn't been intimidated for years, other than when dealing with Salem, and for the first time in a while the pure thought of a child in her arms grounded her to the reality of the possibility.
Though plenty of more questions from Joan were on the tip of her tongue, Cinder eventually broke away to find the eldest sister that was present in the garage. Violet, a blonde like the rest of the family, had come back from her Junior year internship through her college. The garage had been transformed into a workshop for her engineering projects that she'd been tasked with for the break. After talking through the projects, Cinder discovered that Violet's internship was with Machine Dust Industries. A company that was known to produce weapons and products for the Atlesian military.
There was less personal questions with Violet, and more about what Cinder used for her weapons and what they were made from. It was a short conversation, but still seemed positive from Cinder's thoughts. Violet was left to her devices within a few minutes, giving some simple parting words.
The last Arc to introduce herself to, Olive, was the most grueling interrogation she had received in the house and ever. A constant barrage of questions about her and undressing gave little time for replies. Any answer was rebutted with a "why", and another question. It took several minutes for Cinder to escape, only being saved from Sylver finding her woozy from the mental strain of dealing with a tornado of energy.
Saving was the wrong way to put it, more like under new management. While Jaune went to talk to his father, Cinder was taken to the same spot her counterpart had been seated minutes before. Sylver studied her, lightly grazing her eyes over Cinder's features. There was normally no problem with eyes on her, she was used to it, but the way they lingered over her scars did pose some unease.
"So, Miss Fall?" Sylver sat upright and posed for attack. Cinder knew she was to be alert and ready or her cover could be blown. "I think you know the first questions I will be asking you might be. What are your intentions with my son? You're the first girl he's brought home, I'd hope it would be for good reason."
Though no real preparation for relationship questions had been practiced, Cinder was still practiced in deception. A mother would be her hardest battle yet, "Well, Mrs. Arc, I think it would be the same as any girlfriend. I only want the best for him, because he's always had the best interests of myself. His constant good intentions need constant good repayment in any way I can. It's why I asked to come with him to introduce myself, I'd like to broaden my impression on him."
Sylver nodded, "I see, that's an interesting spiel for a fake girlfriend. I'm curious why you two aren't really together yet, it looks like you already like Jaune enough. Why is that?"
"A-Wh-," Cinder couldn't believe she had failed so fast. Was this the motherly instinct she had heard so much about? "I don't know what you mean Mrs. Arc."
"Oh come now, even if I can see what he means to you, that doesn't mean I can't tell when you're lying." Sylver came to sit next to Cinder, placing a reassuring hand on her knee. "Please, tell me why. I won't tell Jaune I promise."
It would be a losing battle then, Cinder conceded. "I think to put it simply; I am not deserving nor worth such a honorable man."
"Is it because of what you've done, or what he's done?" Sylver asked.
Cinder smiled, thinking of their time spent together. "Both. I will not lie anymore to you, most of my time on Remanent has involved less than acts of goodwill. And Jaune, though I don't know how much he's told you." Negative confirmation was given to Cinder through a headshake from Sylver. "Well, his semblance saved my life."
"Oh really?" Sylver's eyebrows rose in surprise.
"Yes, from our knowledge we've gotten from studying it's effects on myself is that it's a sort of aura manipulation, amplification, and transfusion. The combination of the three saved my life, and for the last month has actually proactively healed what should have been permanent scarring and disability."
A sweet smile graced Sylver's lips, "But that's not the only reason you're so enamored with him is it?"
"It is not I suppose." Cinder blushed, thinking about the list of other reasons she had become infatuated with the knight. It was her chance to get approval for pursuing him. She would have full responsibility and attention if Cinder was given his mother's blessing. If any chance arose, she knew the backing of Sylver would give her the motivation she needed to go through with anything. That is, if Cinder could ever convince herself that she did in fact deserve a significant other. "While I would still like to keep some of these reasons private, you would likely be proud to know that your son is the definition of a modern knight. I would have been happy to have him under my command in the past years."
"In the past?" Sylver questioned, "Does this have to do with why you believe that you aren't deserving of him?"
"That would be correct." Cinder hid herself as best as she could from the woman sitting next to her, "I have not done pleasant things in my short life Mrs. Arc. And your son should not have his reputation tarnished by someone who threatened his life just months ago."
"I'm sure that the way he looks at you means he's forgiven whatever happened." Sylver moved her hand from Cinder's knee to her back, rubbing small circles. "You're welcome to tell me about it, anything. Jaune was adamant that he didn't break your trust by telling me too much."
It would be nice to branch out her worries to someone other than Jaune, not that he even had the full extent of everything. She likely wouldn't reveal her deepest problems to his mother either, it wasn't fair if she didn't tell him first. That was the least she could do for all his pleasantries he had provided for her over the last months. "It all began when I went from a petty thief to partnering with the White Fang..."
Their conversation lasted a good hour, cut short by Sylver after Cinder had arrived at her meeting Jaune. The rest of the story would be shared when they sat down for another chat. Cinder parted with a blessing from Jaune's mother, and a promise for a IOU blessing from her husband. It filled Cinder with warmth that she had only experienced with Jaune himself.
The Arc Family consolidated for dinner festivities within the end of the hour. Cinder hadn't experienced the chaos like itself since the mess hall at school. All she could do to keep up was nod and smile to anything directed at her. Jaune grounded her to reality with a simple hand in her own, a squeeze her and there calmed her nerves exponentially. The nodding and smiling worked for a short while, until it bit her in the back.
The family had decided that the best way to celebrate their only son's arrival back was a day on the lake. Grilling from Corda, festivities set up by the females of the family, and Cinder's first experience with any water other than the community pool she learned to swim in (because something could always go wrong with her previous job, and it didn't hurt to be safe) posed the day to be chocked full of new experienced for Cinder.
Which led the nodding to anything biting her in the back. Before she could say anything, only nod, Joan had offered to take her out shopping for a swimsuit. Violet had perked up at the mention, talking about it being a good excuse for her to get out of the house and take a break from working on her projects.
Cinder had volunteered herself for a morning of shopping, an outing she never thought she would be taking part in.
The trio of Cinder, Violet, and Joan took off after a quick breakfast the following morning in Violet's car. The sister's babbled and conversed about the different types, brands, and fashion of the different swimsuits they would try on. It was several minutes of nonstop discussion before they arrived at the shop, a business that only sold swimsuits and had them lining the walls and packing the inside with different swimwear.
The store put Cinder out of her element to say the least. Especially without Jaune to guide her, she needed to adapt fast before she fell into the rhythm that the two Arc sisters set. They found their sets of suits quickly, having already known the type they wanted. Once their shopping was done, it was Cinder's turn.
"This seems redundant. Why must I choose something when I can just purchase a simple suit." Cinder commented, picking up a red one-piece that looked like it would do it's job just as well at the others. "It is water, not a battle. Do different suits help any differently?"
The two sisters gasped. Violet ran over and snatched the suit out of Cinder's hands, "Of course there is! Unless you want to look like some Baywatch lifeguard," Cinder was given a look up and down, "Let me rephrase that. Just because you can look like some Baywatch lifeguard doesn't mean that you should. I know that my brother might be an easy catch with how little experience he has, but he's dense. And that means you need to show some skin to get his attention."
"No, no, no." Joan pushed Violet out of the way. "You need something that covers up just enough to keep him thinking. Like a good sports top and bottom. He's dense, so you need to get him thinking."
Cinder wasn't sure how the sisters were so on board with her seducing their brother. Based off her research from Blake, the family members were always the hardest to convince. "Ah, well, I suppose I see the benefits then."
Violet grabbed a couple suits off the rack, "Here try both types and see what you think. We're not letting you leave until we get something out of you."
Try on the suits she did. As inconvenient as it was, fitting herself into something showing so much skin, Cinder could see she would turn some more heads than she usually did. She begrudgingly admitted to herself that maybe it would be nice if Jaune's turned too. As much as she wanted to cover with the sports top, she went with a little more skin in the form of a bikini that had two separate strips of cloth that went parallel to each other from each shoulder to her midriff, kept in place with an o-ring. Her bottom piece was a tight string bottom.
Giving herself a quick side to side and turn to see how it fit, Cinder had some newfound confidence in herself. The mainly red with black accents reminded her of the dress she used to wear throughout her time before Beacon. The swimsuit strangely was grounding her to the freedom she had been given by Jaune. In her past, she would have never even considered what she was doing a possibility. Now, she was repaying his kindness with a treat she supposed. It would have to do for now, step by step she would walk into the world Jaune wanted to welcome her to.
Get it, cliché because it's my mandatory beach episode for the story.
Anyway with that, I give good news of continuation of the duo's time at the Arc household. I plan on having a few more chapters take place there to continue to slow the pace down a bit. Though, I will admit that a plot convenience pop up to get one of the loose ends I want to tie up before we delve into more diversion from canon.
Onto the end of chapter ramblings! To keep on topic of the chapter, I want to talk about Cinder. Cinder and every human being ever is prone to greed. Not only a seven sin, but a cornerstone of many decisions. One of the questions I wanted to ask was: does greed apply to selflessness, to good, and a want to selfishly be good for the reward.
See, we know greed as an essentially universally bad thing. Too much dilutes a person's decision making and causes them to become objectively bad. A big part of everyone's nature is the base level greed that comes innately with anyone. That greed is why loot boxes and gambling exist. It wouldn't be profitable if everyone wasn't apart of the market/target audience.
But why not think in the sense of two sides of the same coin? Cinder has only been taught things like greed. So it is safe to assume that she will apply it as one of her only tools available in dealing with situations. She has seen the benefits to being good through the relationships built with Ruby and Blake, the rewards from Jaune after showing her good side, and is greedy enough to want the praise and rewards to continue.
Cinder sees Jaune as the provider of such praise and reward, she is greedy to keep it to herself. What it will take is her realizing what it really represents, and how the two should be able to adapt in helping better each other because of their greed toward each other. A taste of Cinder's greed for Jaune was shown in this chapter, we still have some to go. I've stated before, I'm not one for slow burn and want to keep the train rolling.
It might be a far fetch of a ramble, but it's still a fetch and still a ramble. At this point I feel like I need to start titling these rambles to give direction. But for now I thank you for lasting through them.
Please enjoy the upcoming chapters and review with your thoughts. I read and consider all the points given in them.
P.S. Other stories are still on the 'thinking' board, not drawing yet. I truly want to do some Lancaster and Dragonslayer, especially a time travel Lancaster. But I want to focus on this story and only use them for writer's block. I also want to be careful about time travel, because reading the few others that do the same ship I can see how dangerously close the ideas get. I have one way I want to deviate, I just need another way before I feel comfortable with what I'm writing to know it will be unique for the reader and writer.