Chapter 2
Stepping off the transport somewhat light-headedly, Jane looked around at Beacon Academy.
Her eyes were keen as she analyzed the structures before her, only a thin veneer of awe present, dwarfed entirely by the practicality hammered into her by her experiences. She could see how the campus was designed both to be accessible, but also defensible. Considering the quantities of Huntsmen present at any one time, it'd take an army and a concerted effort to overwhelm the academy. Already she could see where she would run if a horde of beasts was assailing her, where would most likely grant her a brief respite should she need it.
The in-depth analysis of Beacon Academy she was performing did not mean she lost track of her spatial awareness, so when a young girl in red fell over backwards into a stack of crates, she noticed it. So did the presumed owner of the crates, if the inflamed diatribe that spewed forth from her lips was any indication. The vocabulary that particular girl used was both colourful and amusingly high-class, insults that would pass muster in an argument with Annalise herself.
However, at the same time, the girl was making a very unjust accusation. The red-clad girl had been rendered unsteady by Yang, the yellow girl from earlier, spinning her around then abandoning her, and while a little dizzyness shouldn't have equated to falling over entirely, she did look suspiciously young, so presumably she wasn't yet as well trained as other Beacon students. Jane snorted at that thought, her time on the airship having been spent focusing on her memories of the past, unearthing those details she hadn't thought about for a long time, and thus knowing her own transcripts were utterly fake. There was still a lot she couldn't remember, she still failed to grasp the faces of all but her twin brother, and even that was just because Yang reminded her of him.
Mentally, and with a mindset honed in Yharnam, she weighed the ups and downs of interfering in their argument. If she left now, the white girl would give the red girl the rest of her verbal dressing down, and presumably their relationship would never go beyond distant awareness of each other at the best, and at worst it'd start a vicious rivalry that'd make the girls fucking despise each other with a burning passion. Unlikely, absolutely, but that was why it was the at-worst option, because it was possible.
On the other hand, if she got involved, she'd have to pick a side. The white girl had the right of it, mostly. From what she inferred through their rather loud argument, along with her faint memories, Dust was like gunpowder, but more powerful in some ways, as well as potentially more or less volatile, depending on a variety of factors. Considering how the dust was in sealed containers, it was unlikely her fall would have set any of it off, though the way the white girl was now swinging a chunk of dust around as if she wasn't holding the equivalent of a bomb in her hand made her wary of getting any closer.
But at the same time, the red girl obviously was apologetic and didn't mean to fall on her cases, it wasn't entirely her fault, and it was an accident in the first place. A little dressing down was fine, but a multi-minute-long diatribe on dust, how fucking explosive it can be, how much of a klutz she had to be to just fall on a stack of dust crates, and everything else the white girl was levying against the red was far too much of an extreme reaction to a single accident.
Deciding to simply hang back and observe, Jane watched as the red girl fired back, and the two got into a heated argument which culminated in a sneeze which set off the dust. As soon as she realized that the red girl was going to sneeze, Jane had slipped behind a tree and watched the explosion, feeling momentarily bad for leaving the two girls to their fate, but seeing no true reason to intervene. If they blew themselves up in such a stupid way, they were going to kill themselves soon enough anyway.
When the smoke from the blast cleared, Jane was more than a little surprised to see them both basically unharmed barring a little soot staining their fronts. Unfortunately for her rather increased curiosity as to how the fuck they just survived a point-blank blast without any form of toughness techniques, neither seemed inclined to address their very abnormal durability. Just to be certain of her sanity, Jane drew out a throwing knife from her coat and lightly scratched herself with it, confirming that yes, that kind of durability was most certainly not normal in the waking world.
Putting the blade away again, she turned her gaze towards a black-clad girl who had just picked up one of the vials of dust, who met her gaze before turning her attention towards the bickering pair. Jane simply continued to observe the curious interactions, partly out of the fact that she needed information that she lacked, and partly because she had very few positive social interactions in Yharnam, and didn't feel very comfortable approaching any of the three.
She took note of how the black-clad girl entered with a leading statement, followed by pulling the rug out from under the now-named Weiss Schnee. At the same time, she watched the bow on her head and quickly put together that, from her tone and subject of choice, plus the very suspiciously-positioned bow, this girl was a faunus. Not that she particularly cared if the girl was a faunus, but it was curious that she was hiding it the same way a blood-drunk Hunter might hide their growing addiction to the Old Blood.
Frowning, Jane glanced at the faint cut she had made. While it had healed over thanks to the properties of the blood she had been infused with, she would need to be very careful that her blood was not comsumed by anything, as she dared not risk spreading a medium of the Beast Scourge into the waking world, or, worse yet, allowing any Great Ones a medium into the waking world. On the very top of her list then was to learn about what made those girls so durable, and if at all possible, replicate or at least mimic it. Being able to come out of an explosion on bar with a timebomb or the impact of a Boomhammer would be incredibly useful for preventing her blood from spraying anywhere.
All the thought of blood led her to glance down at the few blood vials attached to her bandolier and attached to straps sewn into her coat. Without any Beasts to harvest, was she now limited to the half-dozen and change vials she had left after her battle with the Moon Presence? Speaking of which, what had happened to her anyway? All the excitement had drawn her attention, but now she could focus on that very pressing issue.
She had slain a mature Great One, and as with the slaying of any beast within the Hunter's Dream, she had absorbed the Blood Echoes of a creature far beyond what mortals were ever supposed to perceive. To perform effectively deicide, and then to consume the essence of what she had killed...that frightened her more than a little, recalling how alien the Moon Presence had felt, how cloying and rank simply being near the cradle of Mergo had made her feel, the Insight she held more than enough to allow her to perceive the dead infant, far from a fully-realized Great One.
Did that mean she was now destined to become a Great One, to become inperceivable by any mortal who did not have the Insight to see the higher secrets of the cosmos? That, more than anything, chilled her to the bone, the notion of becoming as alien and distant to mortals as a being such as Oedon or the Moon Presence. Mortals mattered not unless they were in some way important to the schemes and plots of those existences. She didn't want that, nor would she wish that upon even those who had, in her early days in Yharnam, slaughtered her without mercy or respite.
Shivering off the chill that swept through her bones, Jane noticed distantly that the argument had ended, with the black girl striding off a moment later than Weiss and in the opposite direction, leaving the red-clad girl to slump to the floor and mumble to herself despondently. Deciding that now that the argument was over, a conversation would only serve as a benefit, Jane wandered over and extended a hand towards the girl. "Here."
Well, she tried at least, she wasn't exactly a conversational person considering what she had just spent an eternity suffering through, but at least she tried. The girl looked up at her for a moment before grabbing onto her hand and allowing herself to be hoisted up. "Thanks." She said quietly, obviously now quite upset about how her interaction had gone. "Uhh, how much of that did you hear?" Jane hummed, contemplating lying before shrugging.
"Saw you fall into the crates, then whitey ripping you a new one. Heard bits and pieces." She admitted easily enough, folding her arms over. "Don't agree with her entirely, but dizziness shouldn't mean completely losing your motor functions." She could see the girl getting happy for a moment, before deflating entirely at her rough but honest assessment. "You're young, Beacon is only meant to accept applicants that are 17, which means you're either short and underdeveloped for 17, or you've gotten in early somehow."
That at least got the girl to puff up with pride as well as a little indignity. "I'll have you know I'm growing just fine, because I drink milk!" And then deflated again quite suddenly at Jane's raised eyebrow. "Sorry. But yeah, I defeated this Torchwick guy during a robbery and it was all like 'wha-chaw' and-" She cut herself off upon noticing the slow but elegant rise of her other eyebrow, rubbing at the back of her head. "Uhh, anyway, Professor Ozpin decided to let me in two years early after that."
"Hm. Whatever he saw in you must have been truly impressive if he though it'd carry you through Beacon, lacking two years of training experience that every other student possesses. Foiling one robbery, no matter how...'wha-chaw' it was, wouldn't be enough to make up for that drawback." Jane saw in her eyes that she didn't really take that to heart, not truly, but it wasn't on her. If she wanted to assume that actually she saw just that badass, she was going to be in for a rude awakening. "Anyway, I don't believe we've introduced ourselves. Jane." She held out her hand, and the red girl took it.
"Ruby Rose!" She chirped happily, giving her hand a good shake before letting go. "Soooo...I have this." She swung the giant block of metal stuck to the small of her back outwards, and in a moment, it transformed from a boxy chunk of red metal into an exceptionally large scythe. Ruby flourished it for a moment before embedding the tip into the ground. Jane inspected the weapon for a moment, making sure Ruby was watching her, before silently dipping her eyes down to where the tip had carved a chunk of the ground out. "Uhh...oops?"
Raising a hand to rub her face, Jane sighed. "Maybe don't cause property damage solely to show your weapon off." She muttered, stepping around Ruby and inspecting the scythe more closely. She could see a bolt, and inferred from it that the box behind it on the shaft was a magazine, meaning the scythe was also a firearm. "So, scythe plus firearm?" Ruby nodded, patting and caressing her weapon almost lovingly. Seeing no harm in sharing herself, Jane jostled her left arm, drawing attention to where Crocea Mors rested. "Standard sword and shield for me. The sword sheaths into the shield, leaving me with a free hand if I need to grab or throw anything. Then there's these." She used her left elbow to open her coat and display the throwing knives, firebombs and other items stashed away there, though significantly depleted from what she would normally be carrying.
"Woah, that's so cool! How much dust do these use?!" Ruby pointed at one of the firebombs, then before she could even get a word in edgewise, she began to talk about all the different things she had on her. The knives, the bombs, the molotov cocktails, Crocea Mors, it all drew paragraph-long descriptions from the apparently weapon-fanatical girl. Of course, then she had to point at one of the blood vials. "So what are those?" She almost poked one, but Jane took a half-step back to avoid that, closing her coat.
"Those are...personal items." She closed off any socially-reasonable line of inquiry, and though Ruby seemed very tempted to ask, apparently she had just enough social ability to recognise when not to stick her foot in her mouth. Deciding to placate the girl before she got upset, Jane drew Crocea Mors, though of course, it was vastly different to what it used to be. Where before, the metal was just some generic metal alloy from back when it was first made, now it was made primarily of Blood Rock, though it still looked like metal. She swept the blade in a figure-eight, cutting the air itself with her swings before holding it before herself in a pseudo-salute.
Rolling the blade, she held it upside-down and allowed Ruby to look the weapon over, watching the girl's eyes practically gleam as she inspected it. "That's amazing, what did you use to make it?" Jane quirked the edge of her lip down and tapped one of her blood vials, causing the crimsonette to pout. "Aww, c'mon, not even a little hint? It looks so cool, I want to line the edge of Crescent Rose with it. Oh, that's my baby's name by the way." The girl hugged her scythe again, and Jane used that moment to sheath Crocea Mors.
"Well, this is Crocea Mors, an heirloom from back in the day, though only the shape and designs of the original blade and shield even remain any longer." She admitted with a sigh, ghosting her fingers over the pommel. It was true, the sword and shield couldn't withstand the sheer force her enemies could impart upon them, and so she had to basically reforge the entire thing, blade and shield, first just upgrading them using Blood Stone Shards, and when she had enough Blood Rock, reforging them entirely with the aid of The Doll and even Gehrman's advice, scarce as it was.
"Well I like it, not many people have an appreciation for the classics these days, and I think it's cool that you kept them looking the same even if you reforged them. If it protects you and also serves as a reminder of your family and your past, then who's to say it's not just as good as any other weapon?" Jane quirked a thin smile, amused at just how accurate Ruby was. Sure, the girl had no idea that she had kept Crocea Mors, shield and sword both, as an ever-present reminder that there was still the waking world waiting for her even in her darkest moments, but even without that knowledge, the sentiment was sweet.
"Thank you, Ruby, that's truly kind of you to say."
After spending a little time with the excitable young girl, they eventually found their way to the auditorium, where Ruby split off to go find Yang, who Jane had learned during their conversation was her sister.
With nothing better to do, she ambled in that general direction and found a spot to stand moderately close to the red and yellow duo, but not so close as to make them feel pressured to talk to her. Of course, she should have expected that Ruby would be too hyperactive and in the moment to contemplate that, since as soon as she noticed Jane, she all but arm-dragged her sister over. "And this is Jane, she's who I was talking about!"
Jane turned to give a cordial greeting, only for Yang to beat her to the punch. "Hey it's vomit-girl." Rolling her eyes, Jane still gave a smile when Yang stuck out her hand. "No hard feelings though, motion sickness is a pain." Taking her hand, Jane gave Yang's hand a shake. "So, she already give you the Crescent Rose guided tour?" Yang stage-whispered, followed immediately by Ruby destroying whatever mature credibility she had previously built up as she whined in a high pitch and tried to pull her sister's hair.
"Indeed she did, a very well-made trick weapon." She acknowledged, since Crescent Rose was certainly on par with any weapon she had beheld in Yharnam. While she may not have used them in combat over Crescent Rose, she had still seen their use and even practised with the handful she had found in the Hunter's Dream to blow off some steam. "Incorporating a powerful firearm into the weapon without sacrificing durability is certainly an impressive feat, and on such a large and force-defined weapon, even more-so."
The fact that almost the entire shaft of the scythe was a gun barrel, and yet it could still be swung around without bending or snapping really did impress her. The fact that Ruby could have simply made herself a lightweight sniper rifle to carry did occur to her, but she felt it was not her place to mention it to the girl. She obviously loved her weapon, and poking holes in the design wasn't her place. "Aww, you really think so?" Ruby replied, bashfully kicking the ground and looking down, her sister all but forgotten. Right up until said sister started pinching her cheeks and cooing of course.
Their playful antics came to a halt quickly though once a loud throat-clear was heard. Turning towards the source, Jane examined the man on the stage, and felt her hackles rise. Something was wrong about him, he felt displaced from the world, like a baby version of a Kin. Staring, she could see something astral wrapped around him, something that was not supposed to exist in the waking world. Her instincts told her to attack, but the atmosphere of the room and the fact that nobody else seemed at all ruffled stayed her hand. Obviously her Insight was letting her see something hidden to mortals, but this...this was still very disturbing.
Of course it was too much to hope for that the waking world would be simple, why the fuck would it not? So, Jane folded her arms and listened as the man began to speak. It was a brief speech and very melancholy. Wasted energy, knowledge that only carried them so far, he spoke as if he had seen their deaths already. Something was truly wrong with that man, he spoke as if he wasn't quite in the present, and not just in regards to living in the past. Whatever higher power was warping him, it obviously had twisted him. "Well that was weird." Yang chimed in somewhat lackadaisical.
"Indeed, it seems strange to address a new year of students with such pessimism." Jane watched as he left the stage, listening with one ear as Yang and Ruby argued about something to do with teams and the other listening as the blonde, Glynda Goodwitch she recalled after a moment, told them that they'd be sleeping in the ballroom, and that the next morning would be initiation. Humming thoughtfully, she turned to see Ruby and Yang already wandering off, and trailed along behind them somewhat bemused.
If that man, who was presumably the headmaster since he was giving the introduction speech though she couldn't actually recall his name, was truly touched by a Great One, then that stood to mean that the Hunter's Dream had not contained their influence. She would need to be careful lest she succumb to some manner of trap laid by an ornery Great One. She had probably pissed them all off quite considerably with her slaughtering the Moon Presence and absorbing those umbilical cords.
Speaking of which, she still had no idea what they had done to her, beyond the obvious of allowing her to resist whatever influence had bound Gehrman to the Moon Presence. All she could really do though was hope that she wasn't being warped by what she had done, as she had zero intention of becoming a Great One, secluding herself from the world and using mortals as tools for her ambitions, that notion honestly discomforted her more than she cared to admit. All of her training had been on how to fight, and beyond learning techniques like Quickening and Hardening, she hadn't delved very deeply into the mystical side of the Hunter's Dream, so even if she was, she would just have to grit her teeth and bear it.
It wasn't exactly a great plan, but it was the only plan that came to mind.
