A/N: Thanks for the support everyone!
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pa tr eon.c o m (slash) MrLightbringer0
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With none of the boys present, Nora grumbling to herself, and Pyrrha wincing awkwardly at them, it was a strange and awkward atmosphere that greeted Team RWBY at their usual table during breakfast.
They could hardly just stand there however, so they gingerly took their seats while trying to lighten the mood. In an uncharacteristic display different from her usual quiet nature, it is Blake who takes the first shot.
"Good morning, Pyrrha. How was your night?" Blake asks stiffly as she starts on her breakfast.
"Why, it was delightful, Blake. Thank you for asking. How was yours?" Pyrrha replies with a brittle smile of her own but they can at least feel the mood lightening up.
"Well...you know how it is. It would have been better if I woke up with warm arms wrapped around me though." Blake responds, emboldened by the better atmosphere.
"Oh my, I certainly understand how you feel." Pyrrha giggles, smiling more naturally at her friend.
"Ehem!"
The sound causes the two of them to snap out of their bubble. Turning to the source, they see Nora staring at them as the rest of Team RWBY blushes, unable to look at their eyes.
Silence fills their table again as their conversation ceases and the tense atmosphere returns.
The first to break was Yang as she slams her hands on the table, ignoring her breakfast.
"Alright! I can't take it anymore! What's happening? Did you get caught? Come on, P-money. Details now. Spill. Is he really that good?!"
"Yang! Shhhh! You can't just ask that out in public!" Ruby whispers as she looks panickedly across the cafeteria.
She shouldn't have been worried because one thing Team RWBY and JNPR'S shenanigans have done was give their fellow students of Beacon some immunity to any commotions they make as evidenced by the students not even turning their heads to listen when Nora replies.
"No, we didn't catch them. They were as-"
"Nora!" Pyrrha interrupts with a blush at Nora's casual reply.
"Then what's the problem? VB not getting it up?"
"Yang!" Ruby admonishes her sister's crass words with a blush.
"Shhh. It's okay, Ruby." Pyrrha comforts her young friend with a smile, getting a twinkle in her eye from an idea to break the strange atmosphere surrounding them.
"Pyrrha? Pyrrha? I don't like the look on your face." Ruby asks worriedly, seeing Pyrrha's smirk usually reserved in the heat of battle.
"Do you really want to know what we did, Yang?"
"I-uh. Y-yeah, I do!" Yang stutters at Pyrrha's uncharacteristic reply first before regaining her confidence.
"Well...as you saw, we kissed."
"By the way things sounded, you did more than kissing." Yang replies with a flat voice, causing Pyrrha to blush.
"Well...we hugged." Pyrrha continues, using all her training as a celebrity to deliver it with the perfect amount of bashfulness to reel them in.
"I doubt a hug could make you sound like you did." Weiss grumbles, and Pyrrha knows then that she's succeeded in pulling all of their attention to her words.
"It would depend on where he puts his hands on Pyrrha though." Blake points out, unknowingly setting the stage for Pyrrha perfectly.
"Yes, there is that. He embraced me and then we..." Pyrrha adds softly, trailing off as she puts her hands around herself.
"And then…?"
As expected, the pause pulls them even more with both Weiss and the currently gloomy Nora leaning further to hear her words.
"We slept."
Silence before Yang slams her hands on the table.
"You slept?! That's it?!"
"Careful, Yang. If I didn't know any better you I'd think you were looking forward to how Jaune would have ravaged me." Pyrrha narrows her eyes at her only to be surprised by Yang's bold reply.
"Damn straight, I am! VB has to have some moves if he could get kitty-cat over here wanting to join in last night." Yang answers back, pointing a thumb towards Blake whose own ear twitches at the mention of her name.
"So you really just slept?" Weiss interrupts with furrowed brows while biting her nail.
"Yes, Weiss. He fell asleep shortly after you all left." Pyrrha rolls her eyes at the Atlesian.
"Wow. Poor form, Vomit Boy."
"Contrary to what you expect, Yang, sex is not the center of a healthy relationship."
The fact that she and Jaune woke up sweaty in the middle of the night and had hot shower sex need not be shared. Nora's next words throws that plan right out of the window however.
"Nah, they had hot shower sex in the middle of the night."
"Nora!" Pyrrha yells in mortification as she could already see Yang wiggling her eyebrows at her.
"What? You think wearing different clothes when you wake up from when you slept wouldn't clue anyone in that something happened in the middle of the night?" Nora arches an eyebrow at her.
"T-that doesn't tell you we did anything in the showers." Pyrrha stutters back, trying to muster a denial through her blushing face.
"It doesn't but your reaction right now does." Nora waggles her eyebrows at that with a grin.
"Not the center of a healthy relationship, eh?" Yang adds with a smirk of her own.
Pyrrha could only blush and squeak at that. Mortified that Nora apparently knew what they were up to. Though she is happy that she managed to pull her ginger friend out of her own…problem.
"Why didn't you do it before Nora and Ren got back?" Ruby squeaks out with a blush while looking at her, unknowingly she gives Pyrrha the perfect ammunition to shift the focus from her.
"W-well, apparently someone tired him out making babies."
"I'm sorry!" Mortification blooms across Ruby's suddenly pale face and Pyrrha couldn't help the laugh that bursts out of her.
"I'm sorry, Ruby. I just couldn't resist. I had to do it."
"Y-you're not mad?"
"I'm not. I know it was just a misunderstanding."
"Oh thank you so mu-"
"Besides, I was already prepared for something like this to happen. Though I had thought it would happen when you're older."
"I-uh, what? What do you mean?"
"To be honest, before Jaune and I became a couple I always thought you would have been my biggest rival."
"Eep! What?! W-what makes you think that?"
"Because you two are best friends. Who else other than me would notice Jaune's qualities this early but you?"
"Ehem."
Turning towards the source, Pyrrha sees Blake pouting at her after clearing her throat.
"No offense, Blake. I'm not saying you never would have seen it but it literally took us looking for you for you to even see Jaune in that light."
"...Fair enough. I'd like to put it on record however that I still think I would have seen his qualities eventually."
"I'm sure you would have but by then you would never have pursued a relationship with him once you've noticed Ruby had feelings for him."
"I-I don't have feelings for him! Not in that way at least!"
"Not yet." Pyrrha smiles serenely as Blake pouts at Ruby's blushing face.
"Ha! Ha! Ha! I didn't know you could make jokes like that, P-money!" Yang laughs woodenly.
Pyrrha's reply to that is to wave her hand towards Ruby who is awkwardly blushing and squirming on her seat.
"...You're serious aren't you? You really think Ruby's in love with Jaune. Or at least will be in love with Jaune." Weiss replies in shock as Yang gapes at her sister.
"Hmm. It's not so much as a thought. It's more of a feeling. Jaune is a wonderful person after all."
The next question comes from an unexpected source however.
"And you're not worried about Ruby falling in love with him? Or that Jaune would love her more than you?" Nora asks, tilting her head and looking at her intensely.
"I….will admit that before being with Jaune I was very worried. They had a close bond where they could be comfortable and frank with each other. But seeing Jaune interact with Blake showed me he has a heart big enough to love us equally." Pyrrha answers slowly before smiling at Ruby and Blake to cause the girls to heat up even more at the mention of Jaune loving them.
"T-thank you, but I haven't done much with him just yet to call it love right now."
"Nonsense, you did leave him in my care last night with a kiss. It is obvious that you feel for him."
"I-uhm, yes, I did."
"So it all leads back to Jaune-Jaune being able to take care of all of you equally?" Nora frowns thoughtfully, her eyes gazing distantly past Pyrrha.
"Hmmm, to put it simply, yes. At first, I was only okay with Blake joining us because it was she who pushed us together. But seeing him worry about our feelings assured me that he would never hurt either of us intentionally." Pyrrha answers with a small smile remembering these past days where Jaune worried cutely about both of them.
"T-then do you think sharing is okay?"
Pyrrha is pulled out of her thoughts by Nora's shaky voice.
"Is something wrong, Nora?" Pyrrha asks with furrowed brows.
Nora's shaky frown turning into a broken teary-eyed expression shocks all of them.
"Okay, walk me through it one more time."
"For the last time, Jaune. Nora just started acting strangely all of a sudden." Ren sighs out with uncharacteristic harshness.
Jaune's reply to that is to raise an eyebrow. This is Nora they are talking about. Strange is normal for her.
"Strange for Nora I mean." Ren clarifies with a sigh when he sees Jaune's look.
What should have been a morning of light training in Aura Manipulation turned into…a therapy session? Guys talk?
Whatever it is, it started with Ren dragging him outside first thing in the morning. Apparently, having a girlfriend or two qualified him for…this, not that he knows what exactly this is. Suffice to say, this caught him completely by surprise.
Still, it's not as if he is completely clueless about this. Does he use his observation skills honed by Beacon's huntsman training? Or how about his newfound instinct to navigate relationships brought forward to the fore by having a girlfriend and a mistress? No, he uses something else.
Spruce Willis movies have shown Jaune that when people start acting strange, it is important to learn when exactly did it start. So that's what he does.
"Humor me. When did Nora start acting strange? Was it when you got back to the dorm room or before?" Jaune says patiently while waiting for Ren to think through his answer.
"...Before. It was definitely before."
Progress. Keeping true to his movie knowledge, Jaune zeroes in on what they were doing at that time.
"And what were you doing before you got back to our room?"
"We were spending time with Penny and Ciel to give you and Pyrrha some alone time." Ren answers promptly with a straight voice, determined to get to the bottom of things himself.
"Ahem…Yes, thank you for that." Jaune coughs out with a blush before continuing. "Did something happen with Penny and Ciel?"
"You are welcome. As for Penny and Ciel ... .there was nothing strange that I could think of that was going on."
Breathe. This is Ren he is talking about. Ren, who Jaune is now sure is either dense to Nora's feelings or deliberately ignoring it. One, undoubtedly worse than the other but one thing is clear. Ren did or said something that upset Nora during or after their time with Penny and Ciel.
"Okay. So whatever happened, it was between your returning to our room and spending time with Penny and Ciel."
"Yes, I have come to that same conclusion myself."
Jaune pinches the bridge of his nose at that before sighing. If Ren already knew then he should have said so from the start and not say something vague like Nora started acting strange. Still, a timeline has been established. He just needs to get to the details.
"Alright, tell me every single detail you remember. Every action, every word, up until you got back to our room."
"Is this really necessary?"
"Ren, do you really want to get to the bottom of this or not?"
"...I do."
"Then details now, spill."
"He's cheating on me!"
Pyrrha and Team RWBY glance at each other before looking worriedly back at Nora's teary face after listening to her story.
"Nora, I hardly think Ren talking to another girl counts as cheating." Pyrrha starts patting her friend comfortingly.
"You don't understand Pyr-Pyr! He was smiling at that hussy Ciel while trading tea recipes!" Nora hisses harshly before a weak sob rushes out of her mouth causing Pyrrha to wince.
With their table now gathering commotion because of a crying woman, Weiss slams her hands on the table just to get this to stop.
"Oh enough of this! That is hardly cheating. Besides, Ren and I have traded tea recipes before and you never reacted like this."
Blunt but at least she didn't say out loud that they weren't even dating in the first place.
"That's different! You're flat! You were never in the competition!"
Everyone freezes as Nora delivers that retort without hesitation. Silence other than the sniffles from a teary eyed girl fill their table as everyone looks at Weiss Schnee in shock.
"Damn, there's no coming back from that." Yang breaks the silence with a low whistle.
"W-what?! How dare y-hmpf!" Weiss snaps but her mouth is promptly covered by Ruby's dainty hands.
"What my partner is trying to say is that maybe Ren was just being friendly like he was with Weiss?" Ruby asks as she struggles to get her partner under control.
"It was more than that, Ruby! Renny told me he wanted to spend more time with Ciel!"
That gets all of them to shout at the same time in surprise.
""HE WHAT?!""
—-
"YOU WHAT?!"
"Calm down, Jaune." Ren replies, rubbing his temples to fight off a coming headache.
Jaune, not to be deterred, grabs his shoulders with a panicked expression.
"You told Nora you wanted to spend more time with Ciel while you were walking back to the dorm?!"
"No, I told Nora I wouldn't mind spending time together with Penny and Ciel. Together as in with Nora together."
"And you don't see the problem with that?!"
"...No, no I don't."
"Think, Ren. Think! How did you spend your time with Ciel and Penny?!"
"Well….I left Nora with Penny while I talked to Ciel."
"Oh this is bad, this is very very bad! Why would you even do that?!"
"You don't understand, Jaune! You weren't there! Could you even imagine the chaos that happens when Penny and Nora come together for a prolonged period of time?" Ren bursts unexpectedly, a manic gleam invades his eyes as he looks into the distance.
Jaune couldn't. He can't imagine it because his mind refuses to harm him and all he manages is a small nod as a response.
"You need to understand Jaune, when my eyes met Ciel's I knew we had something special….." Ren starts calmly to Jaune's own horror.
When his eyes took a manic glean, that's when Jaune does something he never thought he would ever do.
"...I finally found someone who could understa-"
Slap!
He slaps Ren out of it.
"No! Bad! Ren, that's bad!"
"I-you? Wh-"
"No! Do you understand how that would look to Nora?!"
It was at that moment that Ren knew, he fucked up.
"Shit."
"There, there. I don't think he really meant to hurt you, Nora."
"B-but, he left me to talk with Ciel. He kept saying she was nice. That he wanted to spend time with her."
For some strange reason, the pain in her voice actually resonates with Pyrrha. For all that has happened, it hasn't even been a month since Jaune was acting like that himself towards Weiss.
All those days where he kept talking about Weiss and looking for ways to ask her for a date sure did a number on Pyrrha's heart. And who was the one who kept her spirits up and stayed by her side through all of that? Nora, that's who.
"If he wants to spend time with other girls then maybe you should let him, it's not like the two of you are even dating." Weiss' blunt words snap Pyrrha out of her thoughts and she takes comfort in the fact that she's not the only one glaring at the heiress. Figures that she'd be the one to say something like that.
"That was mean, Weiss." Ruby looks sternly at her partner when Nora whimpers in pain at the thought.
"What?! She calls me flat and I'm the one who's mean?!" Weiss pouts and to her embarrassment, everyone just looks at her chest to drive it in.
"Stop looking at me you pervs!" Weiss continues as she crosses her arms in embarrassment and anger.
"What are you? A child? That doesn't give you the right to be mean to Nora." Yang rolls her eyes at her teammate.
"I am not being mean, you dolts! I'm just saying…..If Jaune Arc could…be friendly with two beautiful ladies, what's wrong with Ren doing it?" Weiss yells at first before she takes a deep breath to finish her question with a blush.
That…..was actually a good question yet it seems Nora has the perfect answer to that.
"Renny's different! Renny is…Renny is going to replace m-."
"Nora!"
A voice cut through their conversation.
They were so focused on Nora that none of them noticed Ren rushing to their table. Hands on his knees, breath coming in heavily, and sweat soaking his skin, Ren looks at his partner with wide eyes.
Nora, for her part, just freezes and turns to look at her own partner's eyes.
"Ren, wait!" Jaune yells from behind Ren, breathing heavily on his own and scrambling to follow their quick teammate.
"Nora, I-" Ren starts only to be cut off by Nora's squeak.
"Eep! Look at the time! Come on, guys! Let's go! Time to go to class! Ha! Ha! Ha!" Nora panickedly with wide eyes and stands up quickly to run away.
"Wait!"
Not to be deterred, Ren grabs her wrist and everyone freezes to watch the drama unfold.
Nora stops but does not turn around to face Ren. From her angle, Pyrrha could see her friend bite her lip in anticipation.
"I..." Ren starts and their whole side of the cafeteria falls silent to listen in
"I'm..." Ren continues before gulping his own saliva.
Jaune leans in from behind Ren. Pyrrha leans in from right beside Nora. Team RWBY leans in across from her. Even strangers from neighboring tables lean in to get a piece of the drama.
"Yes, Ren?" Nora says slowly, still refusing to look at her partner.
The words hung between them like live wire. Electricity flowing freely between the contact between their hands.
There was a moment when the tension became so unbearable that it felt like it was going to erupt and yet...
The moment passes. Ren lets go of Nora's hand. The world breathes again and slowly Nora walks away.
Jaune's facepalm is the one that breaks the silence that ensues as everyone glares at Ren. To his credit, the man groans harshly as he pushes his palms to his eyes in frustration.
"Well, that just happened." Yang pipes up and Pyrrha has never thought this possible but Ren glares at her in frustration.
In response, Yang raises her hands placatingly while looking at Ren with a straight face.
"Don't look at me like that. I'm not the one who made my partner walk away."
"...I'm going to change." Ren sighs resignedly and begins to walk back to their dorms.
"Wait, what about your breakfast?" Jaune asks but is dismissed by his friend letharlagically waving his hand.
Jaune was just about to follow but his stomach grumbling in protest stops him with embarrassment.
Pyrrha smiles at that, trust Jaune to unknowingly defuse the situation as everyone laughs or giggles at him.
"I think you should have some breakfast first, Jaune. Don't worry about Nora. I'll go after her." Pyrrha says softly as she stands up beside her boyfriend.
She would love nothing more than to peck his cheek but in this public setting, she settles for pushing him down to sit on their table.
"Thanks, Pyrrha. I'm sorry...it blew up like this."
"What are you apologizing for? It wasn't your fault."
"I talked to Ren. I told him th-" Jaune answers but is again interrupted by his now growling stomach.
Pyrrha could only laugh at that lightly as her boyfriend blushes even more.
"You'll have to tell me later. Now eat, Jaune."
"Yes, dear."
Jaune throwing out the endearment with a teasing tone right in front of everyone catches her off guard. Well there's a ray of sunshine coming after a storm of drama.
"Don't worry about, Nora. I'll go handle her." Pyrrha says lightly to hide the blush invading her cheeks, try as she might however, she couldn't fight the grin down.
As Pyrrha Nikos walks away, she hears Jaune ask Team RWBY.
"So that happened. What else did you talk about?"
She doesn't notice Team RWBY blushing at him while looking at Ruby.
This day was strange, Ruby Rose decided.
It started with Pyrrha throwing her for a loop in the morning. Then drama between Ren and Nora exploded in front of their faces. Then there was Jaune just being Jaune. And finally Team JNPR as a whole being wet blankets in their room.
"Well, I'm glad that class was over. I thought Professor Port was never going to end his story" Yang pipes up, trying to lighten the mood as she pulls Ember Cilica over her hands
"You're right, we got lucky we don't have afternoon classes because of an emergency faculty meeting too." Blake replies, doing her best to put some positivity in the conversation
Not to be outdone, Weiss interjects with her own words.
"I believe the meeting is about the upcoming Beacon Dance."
That finally manages to perk some people from the corner Team JNPR has decided to occupy.
"The Beacon Dance?" Ren asks from beside Jaune with a lilt in his voice as he looks at Nora standing away from him.
She could see how thankful Jaune was to them for trying to lighten the mood but Ruby isn't done yet. She had a better idea than just talking about some dance to clear the strangeness in the air.
"Alright! Talk about the dance later. Today's the day everyone! The investigation begins!" She shouts, getting everyone's attention.
"...The White Fang, right." Jaune says slowly as his eyes light up in recognition.
"That's right, Jaune! We are going to investigate the White Fang!" She points enthusiastically as her cheeks heat up with Jaune smiling at her.
This is weird. Shaking her head to remove any strange thoughts, Ruby focuses back on what matters.
Nothing like beating bad guys to bond and fix any issues in a team. The fact that they'll be helping Blake with her White Fang obsession just means that this is like killing two baby Nevermores with one bullet.
"So I'm assuming you already have a plan?" Jaune asks and Ruby just has the answer.
"Better than that, we have more than one plan!"
"Let's hear it then."
"Right! Everyone remember their roles?" She asks, turning towards her team who give her nods of their own.
"Yes. You and I will head to the CCT to check the Schnee Records for any inconsistencies or robberies. Seeing as I'm in the family, it should be no problem." Weiss answers back.
Ruby smiles as she sees Team JNPR nod in response. Great! They are off to a good start.
"Right. Meanwhile I'll go visit a friend in the shady side of the city. He typically knows of everything going on in Vale. Getting information from him should be doable." Yang adds as she pumps her arms in excitement.
"It's Junior, isn't it?" Jaune sighs, already knowing who it is based on Yang's description.
"It's Junior. Careful sis, you remember what happened last time we went there?" Ruby nods, looking worriedly at her sister.
"Ahhh, don't worry yourself squirt. I actually read up on Vale's laws after what the twins said. Turns out, I just need to say I'm sanctioned to use force during an investigation and I'm all good. Who knew Doctor Oobleck's lessons would be useful?" Yang only grins back, ruffling Ruby's hair to assuage her concern.
"You don't need to go that far, Yang. If you do that, he'll most likely never help us again. We want to be able to ask him questions even in the future. We'll go together and let me do the talking."
"Wow, look at you. Taking charge."
"Anything else?" Jaune only rolls his eyes at that before asking to continue.
"As a matter of fact, yes. The White Fang has regular faction meetings to recruit members and hand out orders. If I could snea-" Blake nods back only to be interrupted in the middle of her speech.
"Out of the question." Jaune barks sternly contrary to his earlier laidback responses.
"What? Why?" Blake tilts her head in surprise and confusion.
"Blake, you don't think your former comrades wouldn't recognize you if you just suddenly walk into one of their meetings?" Jaune replies slowly, emphasizing the danger Blake is putting herself in.
"I'll wear a mask."
Everyone just looks at Blake weirdly at that.
"You-, Blake are you even hearing yourself? It's too dangerous." Jaune sighs exasperatedly before throwing his hands up.
Not to be deterred, Blake stands her ground and Ruby is worried that another batch of drama is going to explode between her friends.
"If not me then who?"
Luckily for them, someone cuts through the conversation to save the day.
"Me, I can go."
"Pyrrha?"
That's right. Pyrrha freaking Nikos pipes up from between Jaune and Nora, successfully defusing the tension in the room before it could even grow further.
"I suppose no one would recognize you in your Pyrene disguise." Jaune reluctantly nods slowly in agreement.
Blake, however, refuses to give up that easily.
"That's all well and good, Pyrrha, but you don't even know what to look for to find their meeting place."
"Then you could come with me. Not to the meeting itself, but you could point the signs to me while we walk around Vale." Pyrrha replies placatingly, giving Blake a small smile.
"That...that could work. Even better actually because if something goes wrong then I could rush in to help you." Blake answers hesitantly, finally agreeing with Pyrrha.
Ruby starts to sigh in relief only for her to be cut short by Jaune's words.
"Now if that's how it's going to be then I'm coming with you."
Now that wasn't so bad. Someone else has to go with Yang but more people to help Pyrrha if things go bad is also good. Pyrrha seems to think along the same vein because she nods in agreement.
"I don't see the pro-"
"Inside the meeting." Jaune cuts all of their thoughts off.
"What? Yo-"
"Tell me, Pyrrha. What are you bringing with you into the meeting?"
"I suppose I'll bring Milooo, okay I see where you are going..."
That gets all of them to realize something. Miĺo and Akuou are too recognizable. Ruby however gets what else Jaune is trying to say and she can't stop the excitement running through her.
"That's right. Your weapons are too recognizable. In fact, every weapon here is liable to be recognized by the White Fang since we fought them at the docks."
"So what, are you just going to make Pyrrha go there unarmed?" Weiss asks disapprovingly but Jaune only smirks at her.
Reaching his pants with both hands, Jaune pulls out...
"Damn, VB is packing." Yang whistles as Ruby rushes forward to take a hold of it.
"Ooohhh baby, come to mama."
"Uhhh, maybe don't use those words, Ruby?" Jaune asks with a blush but Ruby couldn't hear it because she is busy taking the base from his hands and handling it with care.
"Impressive." Blake remarks with a smirk.
"Yes, I have to admit that it is quite impressive to look at." Weiss huffs but doesn't look away as Ruby rubs her palms on every surface.
"What is it?" Pyrrha asks in curiousity from behind Jaune. She saw him pull it out but it was too fast for her to actually observe what it is.
"It's called Argent Rose. Named for it's color and my best friend who helped me make it." Jaune says with a smile the same moment Ruby finally looks up and locks eyes with him.
Ahhh. She understands what Pyrrha was saying now. Jaune really is a wonderful person. Especially now that he has let her hold his impressive piece of weaponry.
Her heart beats faster as his hands come into contact with hers, grabbing the base together before pulling. She lets go without a fight not because she wants to, but because she was too enthralled with how he just smiled at her.
"Thanks for this Ruby."
Clap!
The sound snaps her out of her haze and the only thing stopping her from pedaling back in a panic are her knees weakening that she has to grab onto Jaune to stop her from falling. She hides the action by patting him quickly and mumbling thanks with her head down before stepping back.
"Alright, as nice as this is, what really is the plan now? Who's coming with me to Junior's?" Yang asks after gathering everyone's attention again.
"I am." The unexpected voice comes from Nora who was keeping her distance from Ren.
"Nor-" Ren starts but Nora bulldozes on.
"It's the most logical action. Yang needs a companion Junior would be familiar with, while Jaune-Jaune and Pyr-Pyr needs our fastest fighters to get them out of trouble if it comes to it." Nora finishes glancing at Blake while avoiding Ren. Something about what she said unexpectedly pricks at Ruby however.
"If we need the fastest with Jaune and Pyrrha then why am I not with them?" Ruby asks, looking at both Jaune and Pyrrha.
What she sees shocks her. Pyrrha, smiling at her knowingly and Ruby has the distinct impression that she just revealed something she doesn't know she did.
Luckily for her, Blake intervenes.
"We need to be stealthy as well as fast so as not to tip anyone in that something else is going on." She remarks as she nods at Ren and herself.
Sighing to herself, Ruby accepts the reason as excuse to back down and at least get her some space from Pyrrha's gaze.
"Alright, so here's the plan. Me and Weiss are going too the CCT-" Ruby starts to outline the plan.
"Weiss and I-" Weiss interjects but everyone ignores her. Everyone ignores a grammar nazi, whatever a nazi is anyway.
"Yang and Nora will head to Junior's to get some information. While Jaune and Pyrrha sneak into a White Fang meeting with Blake and Ren as reinforcements. Everyone good with this?"
Receiving a round of yes and agreements, Ruby shakes her head to get in the game. No weird thoughts for now. Just hunting bad guys and having fun.
"Alright, let's meet up near Yang's after so we can party after getting what we need! Everyone ready?!"
"""Ready!""" Everyone replies back.
"Alright, let's do this!" Raising her hand up, she leads the charge by rushing to exit, not knowing the mess she was leading her friends into.