Ch. 22 Vacation
"Kids! I'm home!"
The Arc patriarch entered his home with a smile and a happy gait.
"In the kitchen!"
"Ah, there you all are."
"What's up dad? You're unusually cheery today."
Piped up Lily from the sink, currently washing up the collection of cups and plates that routinely pile up in her room.
"Just came from the comms centre. Jaune sent a message."
"Oh? What is this like the third one? Didn't he promise he'd write more, not less?"
"Quit it Sollei. What did he write? Is he alright?"
It was the youngest Arc that rebutled her elder sister. Lavender was currently snacking on some homemade vanilla pudding.
"Oh, he's alright, though they did recently come back from a survival exercise that went awry. Had to repair a classmate's armour, apparently one he himself originally made."
"That's…good? I mean at least he's using his knowhow."
Blanche, the eldest sister, contemplated the misfortune of the classmate that needed his armour repaired. She was relaxing after coming from work, a boring office job, but she was quite content with it as she could stay in Noreia and live in the Arc home.
"Yeah, that's not the most important thing though…"
"Well? Quit stalling dad, what did he get a girlfriend or something?" piped up Amethyst, who unlike Lavender, wolfed down her desert too fast and was left with an empty bowl.
"Not to my knowledge. No, he's coming home for two weeks and he's bringing his team with him."
"Jaune's coming home!?" yelled several Arc sisters at once.
And chaos ensued.
=O=O=O=
"Ruby! Wait up."
Ruby turned around to see Yang and Cardin running up to them. Yang enveloped Ruby in a hug and began the process of fussing over her younger sister and whether she packed everything she'd need.
Cardin meanwhile approached Jaune. He was wearing the repaired armour, the bronze coloured bird insignia mended with a dull silvery material filling the three gashes left by the Grimm Major.
"Arc, glad I caught up before you left. Here's the rest of the money. Father was being difficult about the repair, insisting I get a new one."
"Happy doing business with you Cardin."
"Why do you keep calling me Cardin?"
"Would you prefer Winchester Jr.?"
"No, Cardin is fine, Cardin is good."
"So… where's the rest of your team?"
"Pyrrha is doing drills with Lark. We'll be joining them soon. That's pretty much the plan for the whole vacation. We might take a mission though, if Goodwitch lets us."
"Good luck on that, they don't let first years take missions without supervision."
"Yang said she'd try to pull some strings. Don't know what connection she's got but she seems confident."
"Jaune! We're leaving."
"Ups, gotta go. Enjoy your summer."
Jaune waved goodbye to Cardin who just folded his arms over his chest before receiving a slap to the back from the enthusiastically waving Yang.
Jaune couldn't help but smile as he saw Cardin nearly double over from the force of Yang's strike.
"Jaune… did you remember to take your medication?"
"Oh shoot! Thanks Ren you're the best."
=O=O=O=
As the bullhead crested over the mountaintop the view changed abruptly, revealing the valley with the black lake nested between two settlements - Noreia and Velia.
The girls pressed their faces to the window and surveyed the lake and settlements. Ruby couldn't help but note how similar to the Patch settlement they looked. With the exception of Signal one could easily take any part of these settlements and swap them around without most people being the wiser.
"Do you see the birch woods over there, we'll be landing on that clearing. It's around ten minutes walking distance from there to the Arc manor."
"You live in a manor?"
"Used to be one, now it's mostly just a big house and with the amount of siblings I have it doesn't feel that big either."
=O=O=O=
Soon after landing, team RNJR was off on the short hike through the birch grove. The woods were pretty old and a few metres from the path the trees formed a thicket of bushes and branches.
"So… why do the Arc's live so far from the main settlement anyway? Was your ancestor some kind of recluse or something?"
It was Nora who broke the silence. Perhaps inevitably so as Ren was naturally quiet Jaune enjoyed the familiar walk home and Ruby was far too preoccupied by the thoughts of meeting her boyfriend's family.
"No, it's because we're a family of huntsmen. The path we're on actually continues beyond the house and used to lead to one of the easiest entrances to the valley. On this side of the lake anyway. My ancestors were the protectors of Noreia and this valley in general. It's actually fairly common in older settlements with families of huntsmen. It's mostly legacy nowadays though the entrance has been walled off and the only way of getting into the valley nowadays is by air."
"Jaune, since when were you so knowledgeable?"
"I'm not really, this is just common knowledge for those who grew up here, especially the Arc family. Topaz actually learned this stuff when she was like four. Though normally it's taught in first grade."
"Well I think it's pretty cool. I wish I had a cool family legacy…"
Nora's serious words brought the mood down some, but as the Arc manor came into view she quickly cheered up.
"Pffft, 'just a big house' he said. Jaune, that could be the picture in a dictionary next to the word manor." Nora blew a raspberry and started an over exaggerated argument.
"Really? I've never seen a manor, so I wouldn't know."
"You grew up in one!"
"Wait till you see the inside, then you'll agree with me. For all the size there's nowhere near enough bathrooms." defended Jaune.
As the two bickered, Ruby noticed a young blond girl spot them from a second floor window and run off inside. She assumed this was one of Jaune's sisters and they would soon be greeted by them.
Sure enough while Jaune was distracted the door flew open and a yellow comet ran out tackling him in a hug, pulling them both to the ground.
"Jaune!"
"Umpf! Topaz! Did you get heavier again?"
Jaune sported a teasing smirk on his face, taking the opportunity for petty payback for the physical mistreatment his sister subjected him to.
"Meanie! I got taller, I'm a growing girl you know."
As the young girl was about to start hammering her fist into her brother's chest she was abruptly picked up by a certain orange haired huntress. Topaz was now being spun around in the air to the sound of Nora's cooing.
"You're so cute! You are like a smaller girlier version of Jaune!"
Jaune soon picked himself up from the ground together with his luggage and put a stop to the amusing display.
"Nora, put her down. Topaz, this is Nora, that's Ruby and that's Ren. Top, why don't you take Nora and Ruby and introduce them to the rest of yous, while Ren and I take care of the bags."
"Ok! Hurry up you two! We've got five sisters home, plus mum and dad!"
As the girls hurried off Jaune turned to Ren. Despite his silence Jaune could tell that Ren was feeling emotional from the display they witnessed. Jaune put a hand on his shoulder reassuringly.
"She's going to fit right in… Oh and prepare to meet my mom. There's a good chance she'll pretty much adopt all three of you. Just know it has nothing to do with your situation, she does that to everyone her kids age… which is a fairly big range."
"Thanks… for the warning too."
=O=O=O=
When morning came to the Arc household chaos quickly ensued. True to Jaune's words there were too few bathrooms to accommodate the regular residents, let alone additional guests.
Luckily for Jaune he was out of the shower before the conundrum began, due to waking early as always. Ren had the advantage of rooming with Jaune and similarly took a shower early before accompanying Jaune to rescue Topaz from the clutches of the sleeping Nora.
Despite Saphron's room being delegated to a guest room when Topaz found out the team turned their dorm into one big blanket fort she immediately commandeered Nora to help her with the construction of a new blanket fort in her room.
Lavender naturally joined them in the endeavour but elected to sleep in her own bed instead of the fort.
Ruby, who had Saphron's bedroom to herself, slept in since Jaune didn't come to wake her up immediately after taking his shower. As a consequence of that Ruby was now pretty mad at him and kept grumbling about blonde girls and their hair routine's.
Jaune thought back to the last time they talked about their respective sisters' haircare and noted that Ruby's hair had gotten longer over the past few months.
Luckily Jaune recovered from his musings in time and stopped her before she went to take a shower since the warm water was gone for the moment and it would be smarter to wait until after breakfast like his mom and Sollei do.
Breakfast was a battlefield. While Juniper made plenty of food for all of them, she could only make so much at a time. And since everyone had plans for the day they tried to eat their fill as fast as possible and vacate the table. A feat made increasingly difficult thanks to Nora hogging all the pancakes, much to the delight of the Arc matron, who took pride in her food.
Jaune participated in the battle in the sense that he helped his team get some food on their plates. Though that only lasted a short while, since Nora quickly adapted to dominate the battlefield and Ruby was no slouch when it came to speed. Ren, being entirely content with the unpopular healthy options, faced little resistance in filling his plate and instead spent his efforts trying to restrain Nora's appetite.
Jaune had plans for his group, but he was in no hurry. The lake wouldn't go anywhere after all.
So while the older siblings corralled the younger ones to give the team some space, Jaune could only smile as his mum slid another stack of pancakes in front of Nora, much to her delight. Normal people would get fat from eating like this, but they were huntsmen and Nora especially burned far too many calories to ever gain weight in anything but muscle mass.
=O=O=O=
The team were making their way through Noreia towards the lake. They would have to walk some distance from the settlement to reach the pebble beaches but Jaune had a perfect spot in mind for what they had planned.
Both the boys wore swimming shorts and button up short sleeve shirts. While Ren had left his floral print shirt open, revealing not only his abs but his holstered weapons as well. His look attracted the stares of many women, from teenage girls to married housewives. Luckily for them he paid them no mind and so neither did Nora.
Jaune on the other hand kept his shirt closed. The dark blue shirt with white and yellow plaid sleeve borders and inner collar served a purpose, and wouldn't be coming off until they were away from prying eyes.
The girls of the group drew stares from the locals for several reasons. One of them was that they were girls from outside the valley and were accompanied by the son of the Arc family that until recently lived across the lake.
Though perhaps a more prominent reason was that both girls were wearing their beachwear. Nora sported a white and pink two piece swimsuit with an attached skirt and a loose white blouse with a knot tied to the side, exposing her toned stomach. As for Ruby, her two piece, in her signature black and red colours, was accompanied by a tied wrap skirt and her red cloak.
The biggest reason for the stares was the fact that they too were visibly armed. Ruby less so with Crescent Rose attached to a belt underneath her cloak, unlike Nora who sported Manghild in its grenade launcher form, magnetically attached to a bandoleer with extra grenade shells.
Ruby was visibly nervous about attracting so much attention and would have shied away from their gazes underneath her hood if it wasn't for Jaune holding her hand reassuringly. And while it served to calm Ruby's anxiety it also attracted even more attention. Jaune Arc, the silly hero wannabe, turned diligent but reclusive blacksmith apprentice was holding hands with a huntress. Now that caused a few double takes and more than one hushed discussion.
The group didn't engage in any of it though and as soon as they reached the lakeside edge of the settlement Jaune motioned for the others to follow him, before taking off at an impressive speed. His teammates followed suit and soon the only trace of them was a trail of slowly falling rose petals. A feat made all the more impressive by the fact that the whole quartet was wearing flip flops.
The hushed discussions grew louder and come nightfall team RNJR would be the talk of all of Noreia.
=O=O=O=
Jaune slowed down from the light jog to a walking pace as he reached a clearing on a small peninsula. In the middle of it was an old willow tree growing on the border between grass and the pebble beach. It leaned over the lake and some of its thicker branches reached several metres over the water. The water itself was perfectly clear, with only the reflection of the sunlight preventing them from seeing the lakebed.
"Well gang, we're here."
Jaune spoke as soon as he felt Ruby lightly bump into his back as she slowed down from another burst of her semblance. Her eyes lit up as she surveyed the area.
"So this is where we're going to train today?"
"Yup! The water is quite shallow left and right of the tree, but gets surprisingly deep under the branches."
"That's cool. How did you find this place?"
"I didn't, my parents did. We used to play here with my sisters when I was a kid. Haven't been here for a few years now though. Come here let me show you something."
Jaune walked towards the tree followed by Not just Ruby but Nora and Ren as well, the pair having caught up in the middle of his explanation.
"Look here, see this?"
Jaune was pointing to a carved out heart with the letters J+D in the middle of it.
"Is that…?"
"Yeah, Juniper and Doré. My dad carved that out over twenty years ago. That's not all though, see if you can spot it."
Ren being the most observant of them quickly spotted the other carvings. Letters and small pictures going up the tree.
"Those belong to your siblings and you?"
"That's right, the younger the higher up. Here's Blanche and her snowflake. That's Solei and her little sun. There's Saphron and her cogwheels. That J is mine. Lily and her ink and quill. Topaz's T and just above her's Lavender's L. Those two didn't carve an emblem yet. Lily's is new to me too. Guess she's gone all in on art since I last came here."
"Why don't you have an emblem here Jaune-Jaune?"
"I wanted to carve out a sword and shield when I got accepted to Signal. I never did though and now it no longer seems appropriate. Neither is a hammer and anvil, since I got into Beacon. I think I'll leave it empty for a while yet, until I figure out what would represent me the best."
The atmosphere got strange for a few seconds before Nora dispelled the heavy air by a cheerful proclamation.
"I bet we could jump from the tree into the lake!"
And immediately went to test out that theory. She threw down the bandoleer, pulled her blouse over her head, threw it all on a pile with her weapon on top and before anyone could stop her she was already running along the main branch above the lake.
Ren sighed and took off his own shirt and holsters with haste. Before he was done undressing a huge splash could be heard as Nora performed an impressive belly flop from several metres above the water surface. Aura would of course protect her from any damage such a stunt would normally cause, but the pain was still very much there and very real. So Ren ran up the tree and performed a perfect swan dive to make sure Nora didn't drown or otherwise injure herself.
"Should we go in too?"
Jaune cringed a bit at the question. He'd hoped he would get this out of the way before this, but he kept pushing it off.
"Actually… before we do, I need to show you something. It's… it's fairly personal for me…"
Jaune was fine sharing this with Ruby. His concern lay in how she would react to it. But when Ruby showed him that earnest look that drew him to her so much, he couldn't do anything other than steel his determination.
"Jaune what are you…"
Ruby's breath hitched in her throat as Jaune unbuttoned his shirt and revealed his chest to her.
=O=O=O=
Author's note:
Second line of this chapter I really contemplated using patriArc... Puns are fun.
I left this one on a cliffhanger but if you remember the very beginning of this story you likely already figured out where I'm going. As for why it hasn't come up before... Well you didn't think the team meeting all the way back then was just meaninless fanservice, did you?
On a separate note, clothes are hard to describe organically. I either feel like I'm dumping a wall of text on y'all or leaving you to imagine something and then overwriting you mental image afterwards with a late description. I hope I struck a balance here.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed and are looking forward to the next chapter: Ch.23 Reflecting the moon