Jaune's been in the Green Acre for about a month and a half now and he can't help but feel at home already in his small house. It even had functioning plumbing which Jaune is amazed by more than any of the other fantastical things he has seen so far.
The Tailings made their own products, farmed and even hunted some of the creatures here. Things like fabric for clothes and blankets were made from the extremely soft and light wool from the vegetable lambs and the even lighter silk from the spider plants. The Tailings would sew and weave until they had finished making whatever they needed. A solid chunk of the businesses in this place produced these things and they were delivered by package bird to the other acres to be sold and distributed.
While useful Jaune hates the spider plants which crawl around and produce little "seeds" that would invade your home and sprout into plants if you didn't take care of the problem quick enough. He's spent at minimum an hour and a half per week sweeping up the things. If the spider plants didn't produce such fine silk Jaune would have gone around eradicating the species, he much preferred the vegetable lambs to the spiders.
The vegetable lambs are also used for food and the Tailings eat the meat raw because they aren't very big fans of fire. Jaune tried the meat raw like the Tailings do, but something about the texture and taste of the meat while raw just didn't really sit with him right. Luckily for Jaune though he had a work around for that, and it wasn't just the little meat roots he learned of recently.
This brings Jaune to one of the other inhabitants of this acre. The fire foxes. The creatures which take their names very literally and start fires by beating their tails on the ground rapidly. They range in color from bright yellow to coal black, and very very rarely blue. Jaune has even been able to spot some of the extremely elusive blue fire foxes which from the stories he's heard can cause massive fires with one smack of their tail.
The foxes used to be hunted for population control and sometimes for food, fresh firefox even being a delicacy, but everytime one was killed even smarter and bigger ones appeared. The city realized this a while ago apparently and started a fire department and while some of the fire foxes are still hunted for their meat most usually are repelled by the fire department, and the ones that do start fires end up detained and the fires put out before they are released far away from the city hopefully to not come back and cause more trouble. The addition of the fire department along with the threat of death meant that the animals left the town mostly alone outside of the few who cause fires for fun.
Jaune on the other hand has to worry about them far more often seeing as he lives outside of the city and is considered easier pickings for the creatures. One even started to live close to his house and constantly raided the place until Jaune finally caught it. Since then Jaune has been taking good care of the small fox and even though it has caused several small accidental fires in his house due to its easily excitable nature It's also a valued companion, and knows when to start fires for him whenever he wants to cook something.
Jaune is very lucky that the small creature seems to enjoy his presence and it definitely enjoys not having to search for food and having a safe space to sleep, that space usually being curled up on Jaune's bed. Jaune doesn't really care to be completely honest, it's just nice to have some company. Today though Jaune has to leave for the whole day. The knight leaves several food roots hidden around the house for the smoke grey fire fox to find and entertain itself while he's gone.
The previous few days Jaune had been going around town and asking to see if anyone would be able to fix his armor. Unfortunately nobody could unless he wanted a completely new set made from wood and vines. Jaune, not liking either of those options, decided to see if anyone knew of any blacksmith in a different acre instead. Jaune got several different answers on where to go but the most common answer he received was that the Kings acre probably had someone who could help him.
After getting directions for the kings acre which consisted of following the dirt path through the green forest until he reached the bridge to the dessert acre and then after heading through dessert acre he should eventually come across another sign showing which way is the kings acre. All to do after that was go across the long bridge and he should end up right where he wanted to be. All Jaune had to do once getting to the King's Acre was follow the path to Toy Town or King's Town depending on who was asking. He was also told to be careful since the bridge sways a lot and to keep a very focused mind on not falling. When Jaune asked why he shouldn't think about falling, the answer that came from the Tailing was simple…
"-Because if you think about falling you'll fall. Don't worry though it only feels like it lasts for about an hour and you'll end up right back at the start of the bridge by the end of it. Basically if you don't think about it, it won't happen and you'll be completely fine with no setbacks" The large and slightly withered Tailing told Jaune in a gravelly voice.
Both Jaune and his little stalker made sure to note that point. Unknown to the knight he'd been followed for the past month. Neo didn't know how since she had been spotted several times by the Tailings and Jaune talked to them every day. She actually did try to steal her parasol back and kill the knight several times in his home, but she either had really bad luck and failed miserably or was attacked by the little demon that Jaune shared his house with. Even when she had her semblance active the rodent still sniffed her out and made her life hell.
Unknown to Jaune, a solid amount of the fox accidentally burning the house or scratching his face while sleeping was trying to warn him of or fend off the home intruder. Neo was going to drown the thing if she could ever get her hands on it. A skilled assassin and thief bested by a rodent. How embarrassing.
Neo thought about staying behind and trying to raid the house for Hush but the fox was there so that was a no go and she might as well follow Jaune since she was too curious about what might lie in the King's acre to stay behind. Neo hated that she couldn't just get her weapon but of course the knight would somehow befriend a fox that could take down a skilled combatant.
"So what do I do about payment over there?" Jaune asks the Tailing
"I would probably bring a few things to trade with them, and if that doesn't work out offer them your services they should be more than willing to give you what you asked for. The people there are fairly similar to us. If you get us what we need or are willing to do some heavy lifting then we can do whatever you need."
"It's that easy?" Jaune asks, perplexed.
"Yeah, it's that easy." The Tailing answers back.
"Thank you for the help truly." Jaune bows his head slightly before looking back at the old Tailing. "Do you have anything you want from the King's Acre as repayment for your help?"
The Tailing thinks for a moment before responding"I wouldn't mind if you brought me back something cooked from one of the vendors. They make incredible pies. I absolutely adore their vegetable lamb pies but I haven't had one in a long time now. I'll provide the meat, cheese and a couple of the vegetables you just have to get it made and keep it warm."
"How am I supposed to keep it warm?"
"That should be taken care of."
"What if it isn't?"
The Tailing sighs before speaking again "You know those red and orange flowers you pick in the forest acre so we can make red and orange dyes?" Jaune nods his head "If you pick a couple and let them dry for a little you can grind them up and turn them into little heaters. They don't give off enough heat to cook anything or else I would've been using them for that already. They do however mix into clothing and keep you a little bit warmer when it decides to storm."
"Why didn't I know this?" Jaune asks the Tailing and himself.
The man ignores him and keeps on talking "Just so you know the same thing works with the white and light blue flowers that are the same shape except they're used to cool things down. We usually use them to keep the meat and other food good for longer."
"Awesome. I'll make sure to get on that right now. Do you want me to stop by tomorrow for the meat, cheese and other stuff or do you want to just give me it right now?"
"Stop by tomorrow morning, it'll be easier that way."
Now Jaune was standing at the edge of the forest with Neo right behind him, not that he knew of course the knight was blissfully unaware that the assassin was right behind him and could take him out at any moment. Why she didn't though was one serious question. She could probably make a decent effort and might even succeed but unfortunately for Neo she didn't have access to hush and the chances of her actually succeeding were extremely low. She's also actually pretty interested in what might happen to Jaune since his team and Red's usually end up in interesting situations to say the least. She would much prefer if he died in these situations but she would settle on him getting seriously maimed. Beggars can't be choosers after all.
To Jaune's surprise and Neo's chagrin he had a fairly uneventful walk through the forest. The only interesting thing that happened was Jaune only getting caught in a trap that was hidden under some leaves in the middle of the pathway. He spent more time trying to fix the trap unsuccessfully than he did having to escape. Why there was a trap in the middle of the path Jaune has no idea, but at least Neo got a kick out of the knight desperately trying to free his legs from the rope…
Jaune smells the dessert acre as soon as he steps through. He walks for what feels like hours and hears the sounds of fighting the farther he gets down the brick path. Jaune eventually finds the source of the noise. A war between two factions of giant ants, one side green and one side black. The ants fight violently with mandibles, stingers, and legs alike, but that's not all they're doing. Some of the ants on both sides man catapults and trebuchets that fire candied cherries and sprinkles. Both sides have several even larger ant commanders on the side of the cake mountains screaming and helping load the ammunition into the catapults. On the top of two tallest cake mountains sit two massive ants. Each one wears a crown and is four times the size of normal ants.
Jaune tries sneaking through and manages to get fairly far before getting rammed by a green ant. The ant screams at Jaune to start fighting and Jaune pulls his sword off his belt. Unwilling to kill the ants he just whacks them with the flat of his blade and slowly tries to wade his way through the ants. Jaune eventually comes across an ant stuck under an avalanche of cake.
'Leave it. You don't want to get caught up any longer. It already took enough time to free yourself, and fix that trap.'
'Yeah, but the poor guy looks like he's struggling'
'It wouldn't be the best way to go, but it will come back anyways, probably even better than before.'
'I don't care. If he's struggling, that means he's still got enough willpower to keep fighting for his life, and I'm not going to let someone like that die.'
Jaune walks over to the trapped ant carefully avoiding the other fighting ants and their barrages of grapeshot sprinkles and cherry cannon balls. The ant squirms and writhes trying to get away from the knight. "Hey. I'm just trying to help you. I mean no harm." To show his point Jaune sets down his sword. The ant calms down a bit and Jaune starts removing the cake piece by piece.
"What's your name?" Jaune asks the ant trying to make small talk while freeing him.
"Antony but you can call me Tony." Jaune gives the ant an odd look and the ant sighs "Please call me Tony, it distinguishes me a bit from the others."
Jaune nods, making a guess that the ants all share similar names and asks his second question. "What are you even fighting over?"
"Land is the main reason, but I think it's really just because they like fighting."
"Why do you guys fight for them if the fighting is pretty much pointless?"
"It's what our Queen wants us to do? Why else would we, what else is there to do here other than build and fight?"
"I don't know? Explore, go see this place and have fun?"
"Would the Queen want me to do that though?"
"I don't know, but it has to be more interesting than fighting all the time. Maybe try it sometime if you have the chance." Jaune says letting the ant think about the question while he pulls the last pieces of cake off of him.
"That should do it." The knight says and Tony rises to his feet shaking his legs and walking around in a circle before turning back to Jaune.
"Thank you. I am in your debt. I hope to see you again someday." The ant states pointedly before he bows his head slightly and runs right back into battle."
'Hm. That was interesting. I wonder why he would choose to just follow someone who just wanted him to fight.'
'Why would you follow Ruby when she just wanted you to fight too?'
'Because I trust her to lead better than I could, and if I need to fight to help her then I'll do it' Jaune answers his own question before his mind goes to another more important question.
"Oh my gods are the ingredients okay?!" Jaune checks the bag on his waist and sighs in relief. Luckily the contents are only a bit jumbled up and nothing is seriously messed up. Jaune looks up at the sky and thanks whatever has granted him this small mercy…
Neo on the other hand did not get as lucky as Jaune. Vaulting and jumping over and through the ants worked for all of 5 seconds until she was shot out of the air by a candied cherry and launched onto the side of a giant marshmallow. She hated the knight so much. She didn't know how but this was his fault. Neo falls off the side of the marshmallow and onto one of the ants. Neo growls and stomps through the ants who give her a wide berth.
'I'm going to kill him.' Neo thinks Roman materializing besides her
"Good. Make sure to have fun with it." The master thief laughs
'I will.'
Neo quickly dissipates the false Roman who departs with a smile as usual and Neo continues on along the path thinking about killing the knight and his "stupid fucking pet." Neo is so lost in thought that she doesn't realize until it's almost too late that the knight stopped at another fork in the road. Jaune stands there for a couple minutes to Neo's confusion before he bursts out in laughter out of nowhere. Neo jumps and hides while the knight laughs until he cant, and slowly regains his composure.
Jaune takes the fork in the road to the king's acre and walks through the remaining part of the dessert acre taking in his surroundings and walking silently before coming across a very long rope bridge that seems to sway back and forth despite Jaune feeling no wind at all. Jaune can't help but feel sick just looking at it. "He wasn't joking when he said I would know it when I saw it."
Jaune is fine with short sturdy bridges but when he has to go across something that he can barely even see the end of, Jaune gets nervous and his motion sickness tends to act up especially on things that sway and move under his feet. Jaune stands at the edge of the bridge jumping up and down on each foot trying to hype himself up and telling himself he has nothing to worry about. Jaune calms himself down enough and he steps onto the bridge. The knight's nerves come back as soon as he steps onto the bridge but he is able to keep his mind off of falling and he focuses on how he's going to get his armor fixed and on trying not to vomit as the bridge sways beneath him.
Neo follows after Jaune her thoughts solely focused on controlling her semblance because she couldn't escape or maneuver on this bridge if Jaune caught her. Neo can't help but feel a little nauseous herself, the bridge's swaying isn't what bugs her stomach, it's the vibrations and shaking from the knight's heavy footsteps. Jaune gets off the bridge and onto the soft grass at the end and vomits for several minutes while Neo tries her best to stay still and keep her semblance up while the bridge sways and causes her stomach to do flips. After he's done vomiting Jaune turns back and curses the bridge before he starts to stumble along the path.
Neo gets off the bridge shortly after and almost steps in the vomit. Neo gags and holds her breath until she's well out of range following Jaune along a dirt path. This dirt path is much more taken care of than the one in the green acre that leads through the green forest, but the path definitely still has some rough patches when it almost disappears.
After fifteen minutes of walking They come across a sign that says "Kings Town just a hop skip and jump away." Jaune and Neo both cock their heads to the side and look at the sign. 'Do I have to hop, skip, and jump to get to the town or is it just a short walk away?' Both of them think and Jaune turns to Neo who shrugs and they both continue on their walk down the path not even realizing what just happened…
Jaune eventually makes it to the town with Neo on his heels. The knight goes around asking the toys that walked or rolled down the streets if they knew where a blacksmith was. While several of the odd inhabitants didn't know a few were able to lead him in the right direction. Neo takes the opportunity while Jaune was distracted to split up and explore the King's acre on her own seeing as he would probably be here for a while.
Walking through the busy streets Jaune looks at several of the shops making note to come back to them later. Jaune passes by the blacksmith not even realizing he missed it until a voice calls out to him.
"You are here to see me right?" Jaune looks back and sees a tall woman that almost looks like a robot wearing a leather apron. Jaune points to himself as if to ask if she was talking to him, and the woman nods.
Jaune walks over and asks "I'm guessing you're the blacksmith?"
"That would be correct." Her voice is soft but still sounds slightly metallic, the slight echo giving her a slightly ethereal feel "It seems like you need your armor fixed."
"Yeah…" Jaune looks down at the torn up and stained chestplate he's wearing "It seems that way."
"I can fix it if you would like me to." The Blacksmith offers
"That's why I'm here."
"Give me your armor then and I'll have it fixed in no time."
"What will the cost be?"
"Nothing as long as you allow me to upgrade it a bit. I can't help but be disappointed in how little the armor protects its wearer."
"That's it?" Jaune looks at the Blacksmith unbelievingly who simply nods affirmatively "Are you sure?"
"I am. Are you?"
"If I'm being honest? Not really."
"Rest assured Jaune Arc. Your armor will be safe with me."
"How do you know my name?" The young knight asks cautiously, his hand sliding towards his sword.
"It's a special talent." The Blacksmith answers smoothly the words having an immediate relaxing effect on the knight, his hand dropping back off of his weapon.
"Fair enough, lots of strange things here. Someone being able to know my name just off of a single look is nowhere near the oddest thing I've seen." Jaune answers honestly
"Nor is it the oddest thing you'll see." The Blacksmith retorts softly
"You're probably right." The knight sighs. "Still though I feel like I've seen enough odd things for several lifetimes in just a few short months."
Jaune and the Blacksmith stand silently for a moment and Jaune's hand knocks against his sword and a thought runs through his head. "You fix things right?" The Blacksmith nods and Jaune unclips his sword from his belt, and lays it on the counter "Can you fix this?"
The Blacksmith takes the sword and sheath into her hands and slowly slides the blade out. The woman looks at the sword for several minutes in silence before sliding the broken blade back into the sheath, and setting it onto the counter. "I can not. It is… out of my grasp."
Jaune looks down at the ancestral blade. "That's understandable. Thank you for looking at it at least." Jaune answers slightly sadly.
"If you wouldn't mind entertaining me a bit. I did see an interesting feature on your weapon. It looks like it is supposed to do something from my look at the handle. I'm curious to what the purpose is"
"Oh That. It turns the sheath into a longer blade. It's been a lifesaver since the main blade is broken." Jaune grabs the sword and presses the button and the two ends of the scabbard slide down and lock into its longsword form.
"It's an interesting choice for an upgrade. I'm glad it could serve you well." The blacksmith says examining the blade from a distance.
"Me too." Jaune and the blacksmith stand in a comfortable silence until Jaune asks another question. "Can you point me towards the pie maker? I have to meet with him and you seem familiar with this place."
"Two streets over, you'll know it when you see it"
Jaune thanks the blacksmith and strolls leisurely through looking at all the things the town has to offer. Jaune doesn't know why it's called a town and the green city is called a city when this place had to be three to four times larger. Jaune soon finds the pie maker who to Jaune's surprising unsurprise is a giant pie pan.
"You're the pie maker right?"
"That would be me. How can I help you today young man?" The voice of the pie maker is raspy and sounds like metal being ripped and dragged against a boulder. Jaune cringes slightly and the pie pan sees this holds up a finger as if to tell him 'One second please.' The pie pan reaches to a counter behind him which holds a glass of water and the pie pan takes several large drinks.
"Ahhhhh" The baker sighs, his voice still a bit raspy but overall much softer and deeper "Much better. Now as I said. How can I help you today young man?"
"O-Oh yeah my bad." Jaune stutters before pulling the bag off of his hip and opening it up. "One of the Tailings asked me to get him a pie since he hasn't had one in a while. He said you would know who it was for once I gave you the ingredients." Jaune starts to pull the ingredients from his bag and sets them gently onto the counter before the talking pie pan.
The metal dish makes a noise of recognition "Ahhh Phthalo. I haven't seen him in forever. I hope he's doing well. Hopefully he'll be able to come by soon."
"He told me to send his regards and that you should visit him."
"Ha! That sounds like him. I wish we could visit and trade in person more often. I have to ask you though. Are you his new errand boy?"
"I don't think so I just asked him for directions because I needed my armor fixed and he told me the directions to this acre and that there's someone who can help me. He told me that in return all he wanted was one of your pies."
The baker nods his whole body seemingly understanding what Jaune said before replying
"So you are his new errand boy then? Phthalo doesn't usually send anyone to do his bidding, which must mean you're working for him."
"I just sai- you know what? Sure, I'm working for Phthalo." Jaune sighs in defeat
"Great, then you don't mind coming back at least once a week to talk to me and update me on my old friend, how things are going in the Green Acre?"
"I can do that. What's your name so I can tell Phthalo you said to visit?"
"My name is Crusty, but I beg of you please just call me the baker or Bake for short." The pie pan pleaded to Jaune.
"Baker? Does this mean you make things other than pie?"
"Of course, young knight! Despite my looks I make a plethora of other baked goods." Crusty says "Speaking of baked goods, let me start on making Phthalo's pie, worry not it should only take a half hour at the longest. Go have fun, explore a bit and get to know some of the other shop owners and workers. You'll probably be asked to help them sooner or later and the quicker you familiarize yourself the easier it will be."
"Alright, thanks again Bake. I'll be back soon." Jaune says with a smile walking into the street
"Have yourself a good time." The Baker says warmly before calling out to Jaune once more. "Hold on a second. What's your name so I know what to call you?"
"It's Jaune Arc. Short Sweet and causes a lot more problems than I want." Jaune answers with a small chuckle, before he turns around and walks back into the streets of Kings Acre…
"So you're telling me you followed that boy from the forest acre to the green acre by going through the abandoned, snake, and dessert acre?" Neo nods. "All of this to get back an umbrella?" Neo nods again in confirmation. "You must like the umbrella a lot if you chased him through five acres for it."
Neo bobs her head up and down once more before handing the sentient puppet several trinkets she "acquired" from the houses of the Tailings. The tailing scoops up all the miscellaneous objects and dumps them in the back of his shop before grabbing a thin sword from the back wall. "You said you wanted the thin blade right?" Neo nods again as the man hands her the blade. It almost resembles a toothpick but it still has a single razor sharp edge.
"Personal favorite of mine. I found a piece of metal with very little rust in the rusty acre. I cleaned it and sanded it the best I could and had the blacksmith work on it. She doesn't come around much but I waited for weeks and she showed up and helped me forge it for free. After she was done I went to the woodworker who made a basic handle for the blade and even fitted it for me. He told me I should be the one to design the handle and left me to do the rest."
Neo looks at the blade admiring the craftsmanship all throughout and gives the thin blade a few test swings. Despite not having a handguard the blade felt really stable in her hand. It would be the perfect weapon while she didn't have Hush. "Her name is the Needle. Named after my sister. She may not look it but as well as being lightweight and well crafted she's also one of the most durable weapons I've got in this shop."
Neo looked at the man with a curious expression asking several questions silently which the puppet answered without a word spoken from her. "I usually make things with metal or stone I get from some of the other shopkeepers, the king, or other acres. My specialty is manipulation, as long as I can see and touch the object with my hands I can manipulate it into whatever shape I please. I can make nearly anything and do it on request as long as I am brought what I need. I can't really weave or have any control over thread or anything like that which is fairly ironic, but luckily I have my sister for that. The reason I make weapons on my own though is because nobody else creates them, and it gives me something to do and get better at."
Neo looks disbelievingly at the puppet. She's curious to say the least. This place had a bunch of odd things, but a talking puppet with matter manipulation powers who decided to become a weapons dealer sounded a bit too normal to be real in a place like this. "If you would like I can show you first hand how I do it." Neo nods eagerly and the puppet pulls out a small chunk of metal from underneath the counter before he places his hands over it. Strings shoot out of his fingers and connect to the piece of metal, and with some seemingly simple motions the piece of metal slowly turns into a small but intricate knife in the matter of seconds.
"See?" The puppet says proudly the threads sucking back up into his hands. Neo looks at the blade awestruck before she asks another silent question. The puppet rubs the back of its head before answering. "I get tired from just making stuff on a whim sometimes I want to do actual hard work and have more love put into some of my products than just me rearranging things into different shapes. When a customer wants something specific and wants it quickly then I'll make it in the back with my strings, but they have to provide the materials themselves. Most of the things you see on the back wall and lying around are projects I've been working on. The weapons sell better than you would think, considering I can just make whatever someone wants at the drop of a hat as long as they have the materials"
'Aren't they all hand made?' Neo teases silently
The puppet blushes "You know what I mean."
'What's your name since I'm guessing you already know mine seeing as you can read my mind.'
"I actually don't know your name. You haven't told me. I can only tell when you're speaking, and I did catch your internal monologue where you listed the pros and cons of 'killing the rodent and its owner.' Interesting topic if I do say so myself."
Neo looks at the puppet really worried. The puppet catches on quickly and reassures Neo. "Don't worry, not all of us can hear what you're thinking unless you're thinking loudly enough. If that makes sense." In a weird way it actually did make sense to her. "I also can't hear you usually unless you're talking directly to me. The best way I can describe it was you were screaming in your head and it caught my attention."
Neo can't help the slight look of relief that crosses her face. Neo's internal sigh is heard and the puppet laughs softly before looking at a clock at the wall. "I think it's time to be off to the blacksmith. Since she's back in town I only get a few chances to see her and have her help teach me to smith and work on projects. It was good talking to you. It's always nice seeing new faces around here. Please come see me again soon." The puppet smiles and turns around collecting several large pieces of metal to take with him. Neo stands for a moment more watching the weapons maker before she walks backwards a few steps and disappears into the crowd.
A little bit down the road a specific knight stares at where Neo had just been.
"Fuck."
Jaune was slightly freaking out. Neo was here and armed again. This probably did not mean good things for him. Not wanting to let Neo know he saw her, Jaune spins in a 180 and heads the opposite way, hopping into a large group that was heading that way already. He'd circle around or maybe just head back to Bake's place to see if the pie was ready; it had been close to half an hour after all.
"Ahhh you're back just in time young knight. I just finished the pie and even have it in a bag for you to carry it in." The man pulls a bright purple bag. "This bag should keep the pie from breaking and keep it warm. even if you started a fight and used the bag as a weapon the pie would be completely fine." To demonstrate his point Bake slams the bag against the counter with a loud crack. Jaune cringes at the sound and then watches with awe as the Baker pulls out a fresh and completely undamaged pie.
"That's incredible! Where do you get the bags from or do you make them yourself?"
"I get the supply of thread from tailings and from trading goods, but I buy them from the Weaver. Believe it or not but that's the sister of the weapons maker."
"Sister? From everything I learned the people here just kind of appeared after someone else died, I didn't realize there could be siblings."
"The cycle of life happens here too, don't get me wrong. Most siblings in this place were made by two loving parents and not by the tree. The Acre's do grow after all, sometimes a new one is even added, but not knowing that, you had a fair assumption. Those two are a bit of an odd case though. They leave and come back together. It's always been like that even before I was me. When you've been around as long as I have you tend to notice the fact that everytime they die a new set of siblings seems to take their place." Jaune looks a little shocked at the new information but notes it mentally and shoves it to the back of his mind.
"Wow… That's oddly sweet. Which one is the weaver?"
"She's the cloth doll with the large sewing needles sticking out of her back."
"That's good to know. What are their actual names?"
"Needle and Thread."
Jaune gives the pie maker an odd look "Kind of on the nose isn't it."
"I'm a giant pie pan named Crusty who makes baked goods. Everything is a little 'on the nose' as you put it."
Jaune couldn't help but nod stupidly in agreement. Despite all the weird things this place has and the several interesting people he's met. None of the people here lied and pretty much everything was what it told you it was.
'Maybe I'm just so used to the lies and the riddles of Remnant and its people, that when I started to get the truth with no loopholes I ignored the signs. Maybe I just need to care about what's right in front of me and stop worrying about the future so much. Just appreciate what I have.' Jaune felt like he was having a major breakthrough in his life even though the lesson he was learning was something known by most people already.
"Hey kid." The talking pie pan knocked Jaune back into reality. "You zoned out for like five minutes and looked like you just had a life changing realization."
"I think I did?" Jaune answered
"Sounds like a fun time, but we should probably get back to the bags. You seemed very interested and since you'll be helping me and Phthalo out it would only be natural you had something to help carry things around that's sturdy and reliable. Go to Miss Needle with this and tell her that The Baker sent you." Crusty hefts a giant roll of dull purple thread "It should be enough for whatever kind of bag you want made. Feel free to make small talk with her and get to know her. I'm almost positive you'll end up helping her out as well."
"Sounds good. I'll give her the thread and then I'll be back for the pie. Hopefully by then my armor should be done as well."
"A solid plan of attack, I'll be waiting for you. Try not to let her trick you though." Bake says as Jaune leaves walking down the road. "Other way."
"Thank you." Jaune calls back thread in hand
"Hello newcomer I am the weaver, but you may call me Needle if you wish. What can I help you with?" The extremely real looking doll behind the counter welcomed Jaune in a very pleasant voice who just stood motionless. "You seem fairly content to stand there though."
"S-Sorry! Bake sent me to have a bag made since I'll be his new helper."
"Bake? You mean Crusty the old baker?"
"Yeah? He would prefer it if you called him Bake though."
"I bet he would." The weaver scoffs. Was this the same person who greeted him less than 30 seconds ago? Her personality seemed to change in an instant from teasing to bitchy.
"Do you have some sort of problem with him? He seems like a nice guy and you're acting pretty rudely."
"I don't have a problem with him."
"Then why are you acting like this? It seemed out of nowhere and I can only assume that he did something to irritate you."
"It wasn't him that made me mad, it was my brother. I'm just in a bad mood right now because the blacksmith is back in town and that means Thread is going to coop himself up for the next two weeks and won't even stop by. I always hate when he does that, it means I have nobody to talk to or help me with anything new I want to try."
'Don't do it. Do not feel bad. Don't do-"
"I should be coming around a few times a week. If you want I can help and talk with you. As long as you can help me right now."
'Alright then.'
"Great! I don't think I've ever had anyone help me or really even talk to me outside of Thread."
"I feel like I might have been duped."
'Only because you lack a backbone.'
"He's right, you know. You were fairly easy to trick. You folded as soon as I feigned sadness. Kind of depressing to watch."
"Of course it was that easy." Jaune moans, completely ignoring the fact that the doll had just read his thoughts.
The doll speaks again in a much softer tone of voice "I actually meant the friend thing though I might have been teasing you a bit, but I wasn't kidding. I plan on holding you to that promise."
"Arcs word." Jaune says, smiling at Needle. "How long has your brother been practicing with the Blacksmith?"
"Since we came here. At first we would hang out all the time and he would just take a couple days as a break but as time has gone on he stopped spending time with me outside of when he would pass by."
"Have you tried telling him?"
"No I haven't because he looks so happy and fulfilled when he gets to learn from the blacksmith and forge new things."
"If you want we can talk for a bit. I have sisters of my own. I don't even have to talk, I can just listen if you want."
Needle gives Jaune a small smile "I would like that, but that will have to be the next time you visit because I have a bag to make, and you have to get back to Bake"
"You're right. I feel like I've been getting on a lot of tangents today. Is business usually like this?"
"Must be a you thing, business is usually straightforward for me."
'I guess it is a me thing then.' Jaune thinks
"Now onto your bag, what kind of bag would you like?"
"Do you know what a backpack is?"
"No I do not."
Jaune sighs. "Do you have anything to draw on?"
"No."
"Do you know anyone who makes things to write with and write on?"
"Yeah, the guy in the shop right next to me."
"Great. Could you hold on for just one moment?"
"Sure?"
Jaune hops over to the stall to the right and asks the sentient pen if he could borrow a pen and piece of paper and that he would return it as soon as possible. The Giant writing utensil just laughs at Jaune before handing him the paper and pen.
"Thank you. I'll pay you back I promise"
"Don't worry about it, Mr. Arc." The pen says before Jaune hops back over to the stall with Needle and starts to furiously scribble a backpack and labels all the pieces before handing the paper over to Needle.
"This is going to take at least a day and a half of work, you also seem to be missing the necessary materials for the padding for the straps and the zippers."
"So you know what zippers are but you don't know what a backpack is?"
"Correct."
"Does anyone here make zippers?"
"Thread does last time I checked."
"Your brother?"
"The very same, luckily it's a small thing so he should have enough time to deal with it while at his shop. You just have to get him the metal."
"And where would I get the metal?"
"The blacksmith. She usually has a good amount of scrap metal."
"Alright I guess I can stop by your brother's shop after I pick up my armor from the blacksmith."
"Ahh so you have already met her… He should be there right now. I doubt he would mind doing a favor for me. Tell him to come to me as well because we are going to have to work on the zipper together to get it to the right size, and make it so it attaches properly to the bag. You should probably get on with the task and probably see Bake about your thing. It has been close to 15 minutes since you got to my stall."
"Seriously?!" Jaune yelps. 'Where did the time go? I swear I just got here. I have to get back to Bake so he doesn't think I ran off on him'
"Yes."
"I've got to go. I'll be back in a few days. It was nice to meet you!" Jaune yells in a panic before he starts off on a frantic run down the street narrowly avoiding several inhabitants. Needle watches the knight go for a moment, amusement drawn onto her face. The doll turns back to see a small lady standing right in front of her waiting patiently with a sword on her hip.
"I see you met my brother and he even sold you Needle."
Neo nods before asking another question silently
"You're here about the knight then?"
Neo nods her head
"You want to know what he asked me to make him?"
Another nod
"He asked me to make a backpack for him."
'Why?'
"To carry things back and forth. Will that be all?"
Neo smiles and nods her head before turning and walking down the street twirling her new weapon. She didn't get any useful information, but it didn't seem like Jaune had seen her or else he would have warned the doll…
"Jaune it took you a while you're finally back." The baker smiles warmly at Jaune who huffs and braces himself against the pie pans counter.
"We started talking and I got carried away I also need to request a zipper for the bag so I have to see Thread about helping with that."
"Sounds like you're already busy." The baker laughs. "The pie is going to stay hot, don't worry about me, just be back to pick it up before you leave. Go on now."
"Thanks Bake I really owe you for being so welcoming."
"Don't worry about it." The baker says watching the knight run off again.
"Ahh Jaune you're back." The blacksmith stands at the counter while someone behind her grinds down some metal in the back. "You're here a bit early. Your armor isn't finished quite yet."
"That's alright I was told that Thread would be here, and that you would have some scrap metal I could use for another project."
"Thread is currently working on your armor, but since he already learned what he needed too today I can finish the small details, while you talk with him." The Blacksmith walks back to the heavily dressed puppet, and taps him on the back before speaking into his ear. Threads takes off his gear and walks over to the counter with a smile on his face.
"How can I help you?"
"Your sister asked me to get you. I asked her to make a bag and she needs your help with part of it."
"Can it wait? I have some new things to try out." The puppet whines
"I would prefer it if it didn't. Also this is your sister. You should make more time for her. The Blacksmith will come by again and you'll have time to work on what you want. Work and learning is great but spending time with the ones who you love and who are there for you. If you don't cherish them, you might regret it when they're gone. One brother to another. Sisters are the most important people in your life. Take it from me."
"You have sisters of your own?"
"Seven of them." Both the puppet and mute standing behind Jaune do a double take, and Jaune laughs. "I get that a lot. What I'm trying to say though is try to at least set one day aside for your sister, maybe starting this week because I would like my bag done soon after all."
"I'll make sure to talk to her." Thread says before his face scrunches up in confusion. "What do you even need metal for in a bag?"
"Zipper to close it."
"Ah you're having her make a backpack."
Now it's Jaune's turn to look confused. "I thought that nobody knew what a backpack was."
"They aren't common but they still are made."
"So she lied to me about not knowing what a backpack is? Damn."
"Yes."
"Fair enough." Jaune responds nodding, "You should be able to make a zipper for it right?"
"I should be able to. I'll also make sure to see her more often. I guess I just got wrapped up and lost myself a bit."
"I know how you feel, sometimes you just need something or someone to give you a jolt and knock you out of having tunnel vision." The puppet nods and walks back to the Blacksmith. After a quick talk and a warm smile from the Blacksmith the puppet takes off the rest of his protective gear, grabs the pieces of metal and walks out of the shop. "I'm going to go see her right now and we can work on the bag together. It was nice to meet you…" Thread fishes for Jaune to introduce himself
"Jaune Arc, but just call me Jaune." Jaune answers quickly.
"Jaune. Interesting name. I hope to meet you again soon. Feel free to stop by my shop sometime." The puppet puts out his hand which Jaune shakes, before the puppet walks away. Jaune watches the puppet go down the street for a moment when the sound of metal hitting wood catches his attention. In front of Jaune lies much more armor than he had before.
"This looks heavy and expensive. How did you get this done so quickly?"
"I had help from Thread." The blacksmith smiles "Unfortunately that is the only smithing I can do for you from here on." The Blacksmith says
"What do you mean?"
"Exactly what I just said. Now onto the armor I believe you'll find it much more durable than it was before, It should also be fairly light."
"Really?" Jaune says, looking at the armor slightly shocked and then back up at the blacksmith. "How can I repay you?"
"As I said before, it's a gift."
"Wow… Thank you." Jaune says as he starts to put on the armor. Despite how much more of it there was he barely felt a change in the weight.
"Wow! This is incredible. How did you make this?"
"I didn't do much, most of the work was done by Thread. I just made a few tweaks here and there."
"I'll thank him personally next time I see him. Still, thank you."
"You are very welcome young knight. You should probably be off to the baker now he isn't going to wait forever."
"You're right! I keep getting distracted. What's wrong with me! Thank you again!" Jaune starts running down the street and disappears behind the corner.
"Now onto you." The Blacksmith says looking at the mute who stands a bit taller, sizing the giant up. The Blacksmith isn't phased and continues talking "You aren't supposed to be here yet. But here you stand in front of me."
Neo can't help but feel slightly uncomfortable; the aura the Blacksmith is giving off doesn't give the small assassin good feelings. Neo tries to interject mentally hoping the Blacksmith like the siblings could hear her talking.
"Yes I know your predicament. I would tread carefully though…" Neo feels the hairs on the back of her neck rise. "For all your skills and ability to hide you might still end up stepping on someone's toes who you can not hide or run from no matter how many tricks you have up your sleeve."
'Is that a threat?'
"No, I have no ill will directed towards you and am not able to intervene even if I did."
Neo breathes out not even realizing she was holding her breath. 'Thanks for the warning.'
"You should not be thanking me. I will say this though. Even though I cannot intervene nor see what will happen, the knight has always been its favorite visitor."
Neo nods her head not understanding even a little what the Blacksmith was talking about.
"It was nice meeting you, Neopolitan. Please be sure to take what I said to heart. You shouldn't be seeing me again anytime soon after all" Neo blinks and suddenly the blacksmith is gone and the shop closed. A small layer of dust settled upon the counter as if nobody had been there for a while. If Neo hadn't just been talking to the Blacksmith and seen that the shop was open, she would have thought that it had been closed for months.
Before Neo leaves to find the knight once more a thought runs through her head. 'What the fuck just happened.'
'Thank the brothers that Bake is so patient. I feel bad that I kept wasting his time and running off. Let's just hope that Phthalo is even more patient.' Jaune thinks as he walks out of the town. 'That just leaves me with the most pressing issue. Neo.'
Maybe Jaune's paranoid but he can't help but feel like someone is following him. If it's Neo he doesn't want to let her know that he knows she's alive or that he knows she's following him because she might attack him right now. Jaune may have "won" the last two fights but he didn't want to try his luck again right now. She had a few months to prepare and probably had a full aura, Jaune didn't favor his chances.
Jaune makes it to a crossroads. And sees his two options for getting back to his house in the green acre. He could take the bridge again or go through the rusty acre. Jaune weighs his options. If he goes on the long bridge he risks getting trapped in a confined space against a much faster and skilled melee fighter. If he goes through the rusty acre on the other hand he should have enough space that if needed he can fight on a more even playing field and if Neo is far enough behind him he might be able to sneak off and hide and see if she even is following him in the first place.
"Through the Rusty Acre it is." Jaune sighs and steps down the road to his right…
Neo was in fact following Jaune. Not to attack him she would much rather have Hush when she was going to do that and she already had a plan in store. No she was following him because they both lived in the Green Acre for now. Neo watched the knight go to the right towards Rusty acre and thought nothing of it, maybe he just wanted to take a detour. She was going to take the long bridge since she had already been on it before and now since she would be the only one on it maybe it would sway less.
Neo's walk along the bridge is much easier this time around due to the lack of a knight stomping; the bridge didn't rattle or shake as much. Jaune on the other hand was not so lucky the bridge into the rusty acre just so happened to be a really rusty metal bridge that would creak with every step and at one point Jaune fell halfway through the bridge luckily catching himself and hoisting himself back up.
Jaune scrambles to his feet and sprints down the bridge and keeps on running even when his feet hit the solid ground of the Rusty Acre. Jaune stops to catch his breath and vomits as the adrenaline wears off. Leaning his hand on a mountain of metal
"I almost died!" Jaune screams to nobody "I am never going on that bridge again."
A groan is heard from right besides Jaune and the knight looks at the massive pile of metal he had just rested his hand on. The metal was slowly starting to shift and small pieces were already tumbling down. "Please no…" Jaune begs looking up to the sky…
Even from how far away she was Neo can hear the crashing of metal and above it all the sound of a knight screaming his lungs out. The small assassin can't help but be bummed that she missed whatever Jaune had got himself into.
'At least it didn't happen to me.'
Author's Notes:
This was a quickly written chapter I wrote if you couldn't tell I think once I get to chapter 20 I'll go back and rewrite. I didn't edit it so if you see anything that feels out of place or there are spelling or grammar mistakes I apologize. Most chapters' rough drafts are either 3500 words or between 8 and 11 thousand. I just wanted to get a nice semi fun chapter out.
Most people don't know about ascension except the old like Phthalos, Bake, and a couple others. The people of Ever After just know that soon after someone is replaced by someone even better for the job they had before or sometimes they take up a new job altogether. I think I'm gonna change a few minor things.
I also wanted to get a backstory for Jaune's upgraded armor, and introduce the blacksmith and a couple other minor characters. The conversation between Neo and Needle was originally about a thousand words longer but I couldn't find a way to make it fit the story. Jaune's helmet will come later on, around when Alyx and Lewis show up which will be pretty early. I do plan on having them be a fairly major part of the story but I also want to focus on Jaune and Neo.
I reread the professor arc and its sequel like 2 days ago. I still absolutely love both fics, and I consider them an alternate canon. Coeur has to be one of the craziest people for all the work he does. I always look forward to reading or rereading his work.
The next chapter should come out in two weeks at the longest but don't hold me to it. I'm not the most trustworthy when it comes to sticking to deadlines with this stuff. I think I'm also going to put something new out soon as well. It might be a one shot or the first a different story all together, either way I want to get it done by the 10th. I think I'm also going to start asking questions in the Author's Notes.
Do you guys ever associate songs with stories, characters or ships? Cause I do and I know it's probably kind of weird. I think the song I associate with this story is Choke by I Dont Know How But They Found Me (long name for a band I know.) or Stolen Dance by Milky Chance but I think I more so associate that song with Silent Knight as a whole. Do you guys have any characters, ships or stories you associate with music?
As always I hope you enjoyed the chapter and enjoy the story. Feel free to leave a review and tell me what you do and don't like as well as any theories or ideas you have. I love reading all of the reviews and I hope you all have a great day, night, morning or whatever time it is.
As always I thank you for reading Rusted Souls and Shattered Hearts, and I'll see you later.