We have a nice new rendition of travelling minstrel Jaune for an image.
Also, love the usual reviews:
"Why even tease Arkos when you'll never write it. Pyrrha never gets her Arc."
Pyrrha Nikos from "Raise" raising a family with Jaune after NTR-ing Weiss.
"Hmmmm? A Pyrrha not being able to get her man?" Sips from wine glass. "Couldn't be me. Hohohoho!"
Yeah, I wrote an Arkos. Only pairing I'll never write is the worst one in RWBY – Oscar x Ruby.
Ugh. Shudders.
Cover Art: Solace O' Autumn
Chapter 10
It was downright mortifying dealing with Saphron and Terra teasing them just because they were a guy and a girl, and it must have been even worse for Pyrrha because she went so red with shame that she had to excuse herself and go home, and in such a croaky voice as well. The only relief was that she'd suggested they trade scroll details first, though he wasn't sure if that wasn't out of pity. He hoped not. Pyrrha seemed like a nice person.
"You move fast, little brother-in-law," Terra teased. "Not one day in Argus and already bringing home a girl."
"It's not like that. Didn't you see how embarrassed all that talk was making her?"
"Oh, I saw."
"She must be horrified."
"Oh, I doubt that." Terra chuckled under her breath. "Anyway, Saphron and I bought a halfway decent home camera and also some fresh clothes for you." Her low laughter didn't make him feel very confident about what those were. "And we thought it'd be a good idea to get the filming out the way tonight! Get it all done in one go. Then you can have all tomorrow for exploring Argus and having fun with any redhead girls you happen to meet."
It probably was best to get it all over and done with. Get it out the way. "Can I request videos be posted in the mornings instead of at night?" he asked.
"I guess it's no different for us," said Saphron. "Any reason?"
It was so he could actually get some sleep without being bombarded by notifications.
"Just a preference."
"Then yes, that's fine with us." Terra crossed her arms and hummed. "How many do you think we should make? We could do a bunch and do an upload every other day, but people might start expecting that and then there's no leeway. Jaune isn't going to be here most of the time, so it might be better to do less."
"Once a week?" Jaune offered, hopefully.
One day a week of poor sleep because of notifications on his Charisma didn't sound so bad.
"Once a week should do it," Saphron agreed. "Honestly, I don't want those people thinking they have a right to her— him." Jaune pretended he hadn't heard that. "People online can get pretty entitled about videos from what I've heard, and a lot of people get burnt out trying to keep up with the demands."
"More reason why it's good for him to leave us to manage it, then," said Terra. "He won't feel pressured by the comments demanding more."
As if he needed more reason to leave it to them when the comments were already about how much people wanted to get into his pants. They'd have a nasty surprise if they managed it. At this point he'd have willingly given them half of everything just to keep that away from him, but they were asking a much lower figure.
I'd rather pay my way through live performances and busking anyway. At least then I can know I've earned it through skill rather than the prospect of boobies.
The pair of overly happy women dragged Jaune down to the house's basement, which had been made up into a games room of sorts. There, they upended all the new clothes they'd bought onto a big sofa and let Jaune go through it with increasingly frayed nerves. Oversized jumpers, thigh-high socks, short skirts, fluffy arm warmers, black chokers, belts that were three or more belts in one. He didn't know if they were intentionally going for a rock-goth look or if they were just picking out everything they thought he'd look cute in. Small mercies, they'd avoided women's underwear, but they had picked out several bras.
"Why…?"
"Some of the clothes have bare shoulders and people will expect to see a bit of strap," explained Terra. "Trust me, go without and the comments will only get worse."
"I hate the internet so much!"
Terra and Saphron advanced on him, thigh-high socks and skirts in hand.
"And I hate you as well!"
/-/
The morning came and breakfast was had, before Terra and Saphron worked to upload the first of around ten or so videos they'd made the night before. It hadn't been half as bad as he feared, with most of the clothes just being small changes here and there to give off the illusion that they hadn't all been recorded in one go. Saphron had even tussled and changed his hair slightly between each one to make it look like a week had passed between them.
It was easy to tell when the video had gone live because that was when the headache hit.
Through performing for an audience, you have gained +1 Charisma.
Through performing for an audience, you have gained +1 Charisma.
Through performing for an audience, you have gained +1 Charisma.
Ah, yes.
The "fun" part of having a Semblance that liked to drill it into your skill whenever it was active. Did other people have to deal with this? He doubted it. When the first notifications hit, he'd nearly stumbled off the sidewalk into the road. They weren't painful, but they were shocking – in the same way a person suddenly appearing behind you to scream into your ears might be shocking. Except the voice was inside his own head and couldn't be silenced.
After a while, it stopped surprising him and just annoyed him, though it was easier to deal with it in the daytime when there were distractions abound and he could sit down with a soda and a cake in a diner and just bury the sounds in listening to other people talk and stuffing his face with sugar. That didn't stop his scroll buzzing. He glanced down to see it was a text from Nora.
"Renny and I watched your new vid. You're such a cutie!"
He replied back with, "Bite me. Met someone from Signal btw. You know Pyrrha Neekos?"
"It's Nikos," her reply came, followed by a "…" as she started typing a new message. "And I know her but don't know her. Best in combat class but gets to skip class a lot for tournaments or something. Hangs around the more popular kids."
"You're not popular? You and Ren are pretty cool."
"Ren isn't sociable and I don't share well. We like it this way. Also, Ren wants you to know he totally did save your new video as his scroll background."
"…"
"Sorry, he said he definitely DIDN'T save it as that."
"Autocorrect, lol."
Jaune stared at the text darkly. Really, Ren? Really? So much for the Bro Code. Jaune sighed and texted her back to tell her to delete it the first chance she got. He didn't think it would stop him but he'd be damned if his first real guy friend was going to develop a crush on his own alter-ego.
Through performing for an audience, you have gained +1 Charisma.
Through performing for an audience, you have gained +1 Charisma.
"Ugh. How many views is this stupid video getting?" Jaune sighed and resisted the urge to look. The answer would only depress him. In fact, as he looked around, he could see several people looking at their scrolls as they ate.
Logic said they were probably reading emails, texts, or talking to people.
But paranoia had them all listening to GuitarC – which was not short for Guitar Cutie.
Through performing for an audience, you have gained +1 Charisma.
Jaune sighed and raised his hand. "Can I get the bill please?"
A young woman came over. "Did you hear?" she asked, as she set the bill down. "Guitar Cutie released a new video. It's all over the web."
Damn it all. Jaune winced as he fished out some money and a generous tip. "I'm not really into that."
"Not into it? Haven't you heard her play?"
"It's overrated. She isn't that good."
He should know.
"Not that—?" The woman eyed the guitar case at his side and Jaune tensed. Had she recognised it? Did she suspect? The woman looked away and laughed slyly. "Right. I get it. You shouldn't be jealous, you know. It's not a good look."
Jaune choked.
"I'm sure you can be just as good a guitarist as her if you put in the time and effort, but criticising other musicians isn't going to make you a better one." The waitress took the tip before he could snatch it back. "Thank you! Have a good day!"
Then, as if to add insult to injury, she swept away humming the song he'd played last night.
Jaune was stunned.
Jealous…?
Of himself?
These people were insane!
It was no better outside. People were all on their scrolls, and that wasn't unusual, but the music coming from them made it all too clear what they were listening to. He should have stayed home, barricaded the windows, and ridden this out like a zombie apocalypse. An internet-based plague that had to be avoided at all costs.
To hell with busking. He was going home.
/-/
"You understand me, don't you?" asked Jaune. "You're not interested in internet girls. I really feel like we can connect on a level no others can right now."
Adrian giggled and slapped his small hands over Jaune's face.
"Not that I don't appreciate the free babysitting because I totally do," said Terra, sitting nearby. "But is there a reason you're hiding away in here when you said you wanted to plan the next step of your travels?"
Through performing for an audience, you have gained +1 Charisma.
"The world is a bad place. I'm living here forever."
"It's just a few fans, Jaune." Terra chuckled. "You haven't even seen the response online."
"Do I want to?"
"No. Ahem. Anyway, it'll all blow over by tomorrow. Someone will record a cat making a stupid face and then it'll be that everyone is talking about – or a boy playing music to dolphins. The only thing that matches the horniness of random strangers online is their short attention spans. It's all my parents complain about. How things were better in their times and the internet ruined people, and so on and so on. All while they casually make use of online shopping and stalk my social media commenting on everything and anything I do."
Jaune paused, balancing Adrian over his head with the baby flapping his arms and giggling.
"You sound a little bitter there."
"Ah. It's parents being parents. Atlas parents are notoriously strict." Terra waved the concern off.
"About you and Saphron?"
"Actually, no, they were surprisingly okay with that. Probably because I already had a son. But they weren't fans of us living in Argus instead of Atlas, and they're not fans of me not working as a military engineer."
"I didn't realise you were from a military family."
"Pretty much everyone in Atlas is. It's baked into the culture. Part of the reason I wanted to raise a family outside of it. Anyway, that's not the point I was making." Terra paused. "What point was I making?"
That internet people suck."
"Right. Yeah. Just take the day off and ride it out. Or get used to it. I don't mean that in a bitchy way, either. I'm sure the second-hand embarrassment is something you can just get used to if you experience it enough. That's probably a thing every online creator has to get over when they start out."
"But I don't want to get used to this."
"So, you're just going to hide away from it like a coward?"
"Yep."
Terra paused, shrugged, and gave up. She'd probably been aiming to challenge his sense of masculinity or something, but he really wasn't interested in getting used to people fawning over him in women's clothing. So, no, he'd gladly connect with the last sane man on Remnant.
"Don't let the internet corrupt you, Adrian. There's more to life than boobies."
"Buu-bahhh!" cheered the child.
Terra's hands slapped down on the armrest. "I swear to any god out there, Jaune, if you make his first words boobies then I'll have you on those videos in lingerie! And I'll read the responses out to you!"
"Ahah. I'm sure it was just a random noise he's making."
"Buu-bayyy!"
"A—Adrian, please. Not like this. Don't do this to your uncle Jaune."
"Or your auntie Jaune."
"Terra, no!"
"Annija! Annija!"
"I'm baaack!" Saphron nudged the door open with her hip and stepped in carrying some booklets. "Here we go. These are all the travel brochures they'd let me take for free from the agent. I focused on the Vacuo and Atlas ones since they're the ones you were interested in."
Adrian instantly wriggled in Jaune's hands, forcing him to give the baby up to Saphron. Adrian gurgled and began playing with her hair. The little baby adored yellow hair as best they could tell. It apparently wasn't that common in Atlas, or at least around where Terra's parents lived. In exchange, Jaune took the brochures and laid them out.
"Thanks. I want to leave Vale and Mistral for last so I can sweep back through Mistral then go to Vale with Nora and Ren. Either Vacuo or Atlas will be great." He opened up a few brochures. Naturally, they'd found and taken some of the best photos they could of the various natural wonders. "I'm not sure which, though. I've heard good things about both."
"Vacuo is definitely more lad's weekend away from what I hear," said Terra. "Lots of gambling and drinking and partying there. I've heard some call it a paradise for hedonists, but that's coming from the most conservative of Atlas citizens so take that with a grain of salt."
"Isn't it dangerous?" asked Saphron. "I heard Vacuo has a lot of criminals."
"Eh. I mean, every kingdom is going to have criminals. Jaune will be fine as long as he's smart, and it's not like he has much worth stealing. Worst that happens is he gets scammed out of some money in a casino, but as long as he doesn't keep much cash on him and as long as he has a healthy bank balance, he'll be okay."
"I don't know if gambling is really my thing," he said.
"It might not be, but it'd be a place you could play music for accommodation really easily in."
He looked up. "Really?"
"City of experience and pleasure," said Terra. "And trust me, bars, restaurants, and casinos are the places that will gladly hire entertainment to keep people drinking and gambling. Even if you don't gamble, you can play. And there's nothing wrong with it as long as you're responsible."
That was true. Jaune slid a book on Vacuo over and opened it up. A lot of the pictures were of the party scene as she said, many being at night with bright lanterns and torches hanging from walls and people partying in the streets. He flicked a page to a beautiful building caught between cliffs in what looked like an oasis.
"Oh wow!"
"Huh? Oh, that's Shade Academy. Looks amazing, doesn't it? The other academies aren't really tourist destinations, but Shade is different. A place like that existing in the middle of the desert is a natural wonder and they run tours. I saw it when I was a child myself. Mom and dad took me. There are also some sights to be had in the desert."
"Really? Isn't it just sand?"
"Mostly, but not all. There are some tribal communes that do trading and they welcome visitors, and then there are some natural wonders too. I know there's this weird stretch of desert where dust has been exposed and baked by the sun. They call it the crystal expanse. You can't walk there as it's too dangerous, but they do fly-overs. Imagine a stretch of desert but instead of sand its sparkling dust crystals of every colour you can imagine. A sparkling rainbow of light reflected off the desert floor."
"Wow…"
"You could get a job in the travel industry if the engineering gig doesn't work out, babe." Saphron teased. "Nothing good to say about Atlas?"
"I mean…" Terra shrugged. "Atlas is great and all but it's where I was born and raised. I can give you the patriotic talk but it's all a little mundane to me because I've grown up with it. I know Atlas has a lot of good skiing and snowboarding resorts. It has some nice hot spas on the mountain. Don't bother with the academy, that's boring, but they have military museums. The SDC does factory tours if you really want to bore yourself to death. Oh, there is a good music scene there, but it's mostly concerts and classical music. They love their operas there. I hear Weiss Schnee has been dominating the music industry of late, but how much of that is talent and how much is daddy's pockets I can't say. I've never really been into mainstream music."
"Terra likes classical," Saphron snorted.
"More like it was drilled into my heads by my parents. I do like the oldies you play," she added, grinning Jaune's way. "But at the risk of sounding like an old woman, this new music everyone likes isn't my thing. I like the instruments over the singing, and it's all about the lyrics and voices now." She shrugged. "I know I'm in the minority on that."
It was a fair thing to like. He'd always been more of a mix of both, enjoying anything from rap to metal. Classical was okay as long as it had violin, but he'd never really gotten into the classical overtures that lasted for fifteen minutes or more.
"Does Atlas have many tourist attractions?"
"A few of them in the mountains, but the island is pretty industrialised. There was a lot of stuff that got damaged or destroyed in the Colour Revolution, too. Or so I'm told. Then again in the faunus rebellion. You can still visit those places, but they might not look so good."
"Speaking of faunus," said Saphron. "What about Menagerie?"
Terra grimaced. "I'd advise against it."
"Really? You go out drinking with your faunus colleagues, though."
"Oh, I'm fine with faunus but they're the ones who told me it's not a place humans should want to go check out." Terra grimaced. "Apparently, the island is pretty much fully taken over by the White Fang now, and even if a lot of people are relaxed toward humans, they can have their lives made difficult if they harbour them."
"That's a shame," said Jaune. "I wanted to visit every corner of Remnant."
"You should do your own research, then," she said. "Maybe it's not as bad as they make it sound. I can only tell you what I've heard."
Through performing for an audience, you have gained +1 Charisma.
Jaune winced.
"What's wrong?" asked Saphron.
"Nothing. Nothing. Just a bit said I might not be able to check Menagerie out. So, it sounds like you're saying I should visit Vacuo first."
"It's your choice." Terra tossed him back the Atlas brochure. "There's an argument for doing Atlas first because there's less to see. It'll be easier to visit the places and learn how to manage time. Go to Vacuo first and you might waste too much time in one place. Also, you need to learn to talk to people and ask to do live music for accommodation. That's not going to feel easy the first few times. With how everything in Atlas is around the city itself, you might find it easier to stay and work in one place."
Vacuo would be more complicated, basically. More travelling, more places to visit, so even if it might technically be more exciting, there was an argument to getting his feet wet with Atlas. With its close links to Argus as well, he could easily come back if he needed help, or call Terra and Saphron for advice. Also, it'd be hard to get in any real trouble if he was in one of the busiest and safest cities on Remnant.
"Then I guess I'll start with Atlas—"
DING-DONG!
The doorbell rang, silencing them and making them all look over. The living room had a window overlooking the front of the house where a black car with tinted windows had drawn up. Two suited men were doing their best to not look in through the window and invade their privacy as they stood on the front doorstep. They were covered in black, with black shades and earpieces. Jaune's instant thought was government agents of some sort.
"Uh…" Jaune pointed.
"Our bills are all paid," said Saphron, nervously. "Aren't they?"
"Even if they weren't, they'd lead with letters," said Terra. "Not whatever this is. You hold Adrian. I'll answer this." Terra stood and approached the door, opening it and standing in the doorway. "Hello. Can I help you?"
One of the men cleared his throat. "We're looking for a Jaune Arc."
"Welp." Terra backed up. "It's for you."
That's it!? That was the extent of her bravery? Jaune scowled at her, standing and walking up to them. Now felt like a good time to have spread his stats a little more than in Charisma. Maybe he could talk his way out of this.
"Hey. So, um. I'm Jaune. Nice to meet you. What can I do for you?"
"We're here to deliver a message." said the man, reaching a hand under his jacket and making Jaune tense. A white envelope, rather than a gun, left him feeling a little silly. "And here it is. Pyrrha Nikos respectfully invites you to attend as a guest of honour at her upcoming charity tournament and has asked if you would be prepared to provide live entertainment." He nodded to the envelope. "You can open it and read. We can wait for your answer."
By that point Terra, Saphron and Adrian had heard enough to feel comfortable coming up and reading over his shoulder. Inside the envelope were two letters, one printed off and very official looking and the other hastily scrawled in blue ink. The official one detailed a very wordy letter written and printed by professionals, inviting him to attend and provide live music entertainment.
The one actually from Pyrrha was much shorter.
"I told my mother about meeting you and how good your music was and how you wanted to travel, and she suggested I arrange this! She thought it would be a great way for you to have some experience you could show off to people when you're in Atlas or Vacuo, so they know you're not just some random guitarist trying to trick them out of a room. I'm hoping you can attend. It'd be great to see you there! – Pyrrha."
Performing live already? He'd said he planned to, but this would be the first time he'd done it for real. Busking didn't count as no one expected professional-level music from a teen busking for charity. These people would expect a lot more.
On the other hand, she made a good point about his odds of convincing people in other places. He was bound to come across a little fake, but if he could say – and prove – that he'd performed live at an official event before, they'd take him a lot more seriously. Especially if he did a good job of this.
And it'd be a chance to perform as me…
"It's a good opportunity," said Saphron. "Those don't come around often. And Pyrrha seemed like a nice girl when I met her."
"You're only saying that because you think she likes me."
One of the suited agents coughed.
"Sorry. Are we taking too long?"
"N—No," he choked, coughing rapidly into his hand. "Just coming down with something. Don't – snrk – mind me. Ahem. Yes. That's better."
Weird. Maybe he had a cold.
"You were wanting to see the world and all the crazy things going on it," Terra pointed out. "Why not start with tournament fighting? I hear it's a big deal in the cities, especially when it's future huntsmen and huntresses. They even have the Vytal Festival every other year. That'll be happening in a year or so, won't it?"
"Next year," said the other agent. "In Vale, in fact."
"That's perfect. You should check that out when you finish in Vale."
It did sound interesting, and he'd be in Vale anyway. Maybe Nora, Ren and Pyrrha would want to come along – if they weren't competing at that point. If they were, he'd go to cheer them on. And why not start early? A charity tournament watching Pyrrha compete and then playing some music for her and her fans.
"How big a crowd would this be?" he asked the people.
"You wouldn't be ring entertainment. I think this is for the private after-ceremony between the competitors, their families, sponsors, VIPs, and charity members. Maybe a hundred or so people. No more than two hundred. The venue isn't big enough for it."
"Oh, that's okay then. I thought this was going to be me performing on a stage in front of thousands of people for a second there." He wasn't quite ready for that. "Yeah, I'd love to do this! Shall I text Pyrrha, or should I write out a response?"
"You have her number?" asked the second agent. "Why are we even here?"
The first elbowed him in the side. "A verbal response will do, though I'm sure Miss Nikos would also appreciate you contacting her to let her know. The event is tomorrow. If you like, we can come and collect you and escort you there. You'll be afforded seats in the VIP area, so you won't need to join the queue." He glanced at Saphron and Terra. "Miss Nikos didn't mention your family but I'm sure she would be willing to provide tickets."
"Ah. No, we're okay." Saphron waved it off. "I don't think we want to expose Adrian to that at such a young age. Thanks for offering, though."
Once hands were shaken and plans were made – he was to be picked up at noon – the two left and the car drove away.
"You're moving up in the world," said Terra. "They do say it's who you know and not what you know. Having someone like Pyrrha open doors for you will be pretty handy."
"I know. It just feels like I'm exploiting her."
"Don't be silly. She's doing this because she wants to help you." Terra smirked. "Though, if you want to thank her properly for it then I'm sure she'd appreciate a private concert after, if you know what I mean."
"I don't know what you mean."
"Neither do I," said Saphron. "And I'm married to you."
"You know…" Terra made a few motions, then gave up and cupped her chest. "A little bit of—"
"Boo-bah!" Adrian happily parroted.
Terra froze.
"TERRA COTTA ARC!" Saphron boomed. "WHAT WORDS HAVE YOU BEEN TEACHING OUR SON!?"
That was Jaune's cue to escape stage right, slipping upstairs to tune his guitar while Terra frantically tried to explain herself and Adrian giggled, repeating his new favourite word over and over again. He'd have to learn a few new songs to impress at this show, too. Pyrrha was helping him out and he didn't want to embarrass her by putting on a poor performance. Not when it might bounce back on her. Maybe he could take a risk on some Bardis Music…
What was the worst that could happen?
Next Chapter: 4th February
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