Chapter Two
When I woke up, I was lying in a luxurious bed wearing what were, quite possibly, the stupidest pajamas in existence. I was a grown man. . . okay, a grown teenager, I guess, as I was now seventeen again, but, regardless, no one over the age of five should wear a onesie. On babies? Cute. On adults? Creepy, and almost walking the line towards fetishistic, and not one of the fun ones.
Sitting up, I rolled over in bed, only for my head to catch on the sheets, dragging them. The hell? I thought, memories not my own giving me the answer. Horns.
Moving hands up by foreign reflex, I pulled off the twisted sheet from the small, almost antler-like protrusions, large enough to be noticed but small enough to not get in the way. At least until I ran them across my sheets like an idiot.
Standing, my balance wavered as two sets of memories and ways of standing vied for dominance. My real memories were pulling me backwards, countering weight I no longer had, but the fake memories, Jaune's memories, were the correct ones for how to move.
Even then Jaune's memories were. . . off. I didn't know that much about the character's history, only ever hearing mentions of his mother to embarrass him, but he definitely wasn't a. . . horned lizard Faunus? The fuck?
Oh, there weren't such things as Mythical faunus. So in a land where monster of hate roamed the land, and four magical maidens aligned with the seasons were created by a literal wizard, and anancient shadow-queen who hates all life, but thatwas where people drew the line?
Fuck it. Sure.
Jaune's, my sisters were all human, half-sisters now. To try to warp the world to let my decision to be a Dragon work, Jaune's dad died, and then mom had a fling with a Faunus, who ran when she found out she was pregnant.
Dick.
I/he was born, and grew up, practically smothered with affection, still gaining with no knowledge of how to act, still, apparently, with motion sickness. In fact I was the spitting image of my. . . father.
I was so glad I bought Destiny Defense, which meant that, even if I was, somehow supposed to become my own dad in this universe, I could tell the time loop to go fuck itself.
Though that did bring up the issue of whether or not Jaune's dad was dead in canon. Had I, by choosing this, killed him? I, for the life of me, never remembered him mentioning him, but that didn't mean much.
Either way, other than being buff, having horns, and, I noted, talons, Jaune Arc had still been Remnant's whipping boy for the last decade. His mother's and sister's attempts to help had just made things worse, never letting the kid stand on his own, and wrapping him in metaphorical wool, making sure his dream to become a Huntsman, and find his Father, never would happen. Given that this was a death world under constant attack by monsters of sentient hate, that seemed. . . ill advised.
Jaune bridled under the smothering affection, but had been so well conditioned that he'd never break out of it on his own, so he'd run. He still loved his family, at least on his mother's side, and was why he had his great-great-grandfather's (on his mother's side) sword and shield. His dad, well, his sisters' dad had been a warrior, and Jaune had wanted to be one too, to be more like the dad he wished he had, not the deadbeat that'd provided his genetics. The problem was that he had no idea how to wield them, other than what little he'd figured out on his own, which was. . . pitiful. Even living in a world where people didn't regularly fight werewolves made of animated darkness with melee weapons, I knew more about combat from messing around with my friends in the SCA than Jaune Arc did.
Thinking about going to Beacon, and how much training time I had to not suck before the term started, more memories filtered in, telling me that time had long since passed. In fact, his last memory before the merge? Awakening? Did I take over, or had I always been below the surface, waiting to wake up? It was unclear. The last memory before waking up here was going to sleep in a converted ballroom, along with the other Beacon Students.
So where the hell was I?
Walking down the halls of a mansion, I looked out onto a tropical island, which made zero sense. Heading back to the room I'd woken up in, opening drawers, I found clothing that both fit me, and that I'd never seen before. My, or rather Jaune's armor was up on a stand, which they shouldn't be as I distinctly remembered putting away in a locker, and Crocea Mors, my sword and shield, was on a display next to them.
Knowing that, at the very least, I could arm myself if I had to, I poked around until I found the bathroom, bigger than Jaune's bedroom at home by a factor of at least three, and cleaned myself up. I was tall, six foot two, maybe six three, and with Jaune's blond hair, though with the horns it fell back instead of in a disorganized mop, almost mane like. Given the minimalistic facial details of the series, I couldn't tell if Body Talent had fixed all my imperfections, or if Jaune just hadn't had any. He didn't really have any experience with the opposite sex that wasn't his family until yesterday.
Grimacing at the memories of losing my lunch on the ride over, I hoped I wouldn't be remembered as 'Vomit Boy' for much longer. If Ruby could put her 'Crater Face' name behind her, I should be able to do the same. This setting seemed to ever so slightly raise up the female characters while downplaying the male ones, but whether that was happenstance or some kind of universal constant of this dimension I couldn't say. However, my own purchased powers and Destiny Defense would negate that either way, and I'd be known for something other than a humiliating moment of weakness.
That. . . irked me for reasons I couldn't quite pin down. I'd been called worse, treated badly by others, and had learned to ignore those that had proven they'd only wanted to hurt me. Now the thought of braving those slings and arrows of malicious mockery unsettled me slightly, the actions of someone who was broken down instead of strong.
I shook my head, putting the thought out of my mind. worst case scenario, I just wouldn't answer to it.
Sorting through the last bit of recent history, I wondered what in the world made me introduce myself as 'Jaune Arc. Short. Sweet. Rolls of the tongue. Ladies love it.' Even denied a Social Talent, I knew that if something was short and sweet, you shouldn't spend more than a couple of seconds saying it, and you never said 'ladies love it' non-ironically unless you had ladies that already liked you primed to laugh to break the ice.
Instead Jaune just got awkward pauses. Lots of awkward pauses.
Towling myself off, still getting used to having visible muscles, my own before covered by my weight, I got dressed, using my new memories to easily maneuver the shirt over my horns. Armed with sword and shield, I explored the rest of the structure, finding it oddly reminiscent of Tony Stark's digs, minus the cases full of Iron Man suits, though I did have his lab, along with a forge, and containers of colored powder that must be the magical elemental substance known as 'Dust'.
Ignoring the excessive number of bedrooms, and what they implied, I eventually found my way into the basement, and apparently onto the set of Stargate SG-1.
This must be the portal room I thought, seeing the gate, not a single ring with thirteen symbols, but a dozen, each grey stone ring with more symbols than the last, each and every symbol a different material.
Looking to the other side of the room and up, I could see the gate-control room overlooking the large chamber but part of me really didn't want to go track that down, as I hadn't seen where I could get there from the path I'd taken to get here. Likely on purpose.
However, I felt an odd weight in my hand, and found I held an odd looking device, like a screen-less phone, with no memory of picking it up. A Scroll my memories told me, directing me to pull the halves apart to reveal a translucent display that shouldn't've been able to fit inside the case.
Mecha-shift, Jaune's experiences explained. He had no idea how it worked, never bothering to study, but, somehow, the people here had technology that used minor spatial folding to make their devices fold up smaller than they should be able to. Most of the time it wasn't egregious, but there was also the girl who's handbag folded out into what should've been a vehicle mounted minigun, so there was that.
Looking at the scroll, I realized it was the phone given to me by The Company, which would always teleport to my side, explaining where it came from. Scrolling through it, god that pun was physically painful, I saw had a large number of apps, finding the one that controlled the portal.
It was called 'Aperture'.
Because of course it was.
It listed one option 'return', the other options all covered in red boxes. That was to be expected, as was the writing on them. 'Earn 10 points', 'Earn 25 points', 'earn 50 points', and so on, the bottom option, this one actually having the readable label 'dimensional unlock' requiring the earning of one hundred points.
Capturing Salem, the big bad of this world, would barely give me that many.
At the top right was a zero, which I assumed was my total gained points count, which would very likely not change any time soon. Clicking the 'return' button, the gate started to spin, each ring moving seemingly independent of each other, stopping and firing off with a loud thunk in a staccato pattern that almost seemed musical, stopping after a few seconds as energy coalesced in prismatic patterns, part of it shifting and molding itself, colors settling into. . . a wooden door.
I mean, it was a very nice wooden door, it looked good and sturdy, but with the scintillating patterns of energy filling the air between its frame and the edge of the gate, and the enormous edifice of the gate itself, it just seemed a little. . . out of place.
Checking the app, I saw the gate would be stable for an hour, and unchecked the 'dismiss when used' box, in case I needed to leave in a hurry. Moving to the door, I grasped the handle and opened it, and stepped into a ballroom full of messy cots and bleary teenagers.
"Hey there, Vomit Boy!" a cheery voice called.
Glancing over, it was Yang, the Y of the titular team RWBY. While the blonde mane of hair was eye catching, it was her barely restrained bust that stood out the most. Her symbol, as every huntsman seemed to have one, was on her tube top, positioned so it made a pseudo areola over her left breast, half covered by her jacket. I was so glad that both she, and I, were 17. If we were younger, this could've gotten awkward. More awkward.
"Tits McGee," I nodded in greeting, not showing my irritation at the name, while also ignoring Jaune's first instinct to try to simultaneously be 'confident and suave', while also being 'respectful of women'. His attempts to try to follow those two vague directions, given to him by his family, translated into cheesy pick up lines while trying too hard, only to wilt under pressure and be unable to tease right back, resorting to whining when things didn't go his way. I was little better at his age, though I was still better.
God that guys' family messed him us something fierce. The more I remembered, the more pitiful this guy became, the more stepping into his life seemed like me doing him a favor.
Her friendly, if teasing, expression darkened as her eyes narrowed. "What did you call me?" she demanded, eyes narrowing and fists clenching in a way that promised pain if I didn't start to backtrack and grovel.
"Oh, I thought we were trading insulting nicknames," I smiled at her instead, not backing down. I wasn't Jaune, and I wasn't really me anymore either, I was both, but I was also a dragon, and dragons didn't grovel unless they were forced to. "Name's Jaune, Jaune Arc. Yours is?"
She glared at me for a moment before she smiled, offering me a fake smile and a hand. "Yang Xio Long. Remember it, you'll be screaming it later."
"In pain or pleasure?" I couldn't help ask trying to take Jaune's lines and making them not suck, accepting the handshake, and feeling as she gripped my hand what would've been painfully tight with Aura, and might have even bruised bone without it. But I wasn't a person anymore, I was a Dragon, and grinned toothfully, squeezing her right back.
She tightened her grip even more, starting to approach uncomfortably tight even with my altered physiology, and I returned the favor, a grimace flickering across her expression. I wouldn't break first.
"Yaaaaaaang!" a younger voice called, causing her to let go, and in a blur of motion almost too fast to see, a black clad girl appeared, the red tips of her dark locks swinging sharply the only indication that she must've pulled close to fifty-G's in that moment of deceleration. "No bullying my friends!"
"I wasn't bullying anyone," the busty girl defended, hands up. "I was just being friendly. Right?" she asked, sending a meaningful look, "Right?"
I laughed, shaking my head, "Everyone makes friends in their own way." And I win.
Ruby Rose, Yang's sister, narrowed her silver eyes at me. "You okay Jaune? You seem. . . different."
"Yeah, kinda made an ass out of myself. Sorry, nerves," I admitted with a bit of a grimace. It wasn't even a lie either. Jaune had been a nervous wreck. Still would've been today, though he would've been hiding it under bluster. I mean, so was I, on some level, trying not to mess this up and knowing I was starting from behind on the social front, but my bluster was better.
"No, you were fine! I mean, yeah, you were trying hard, but so am I, so it's okay, and we became friends!" Ruby exclaimed in a long stream. "You don't need to apologize for being friendly, wait, you aren't not wanting to be friends with me now, are you, because Yang keeps on stealing my friends-"
"Do not!" her sister objected.
"-and I was really happy I made at least one friend, even with Weiss being, like, a negative friend, so I was down back to zero-" she babbled.
"Pretty sure that's not how friends work," I observed, as she continued on, not pausing for breath.
"-and if you're not my friend, and that's what you're apologizing for, I'll be at negative one friend, and that's just not okay, so don't be sorry, because then I'll have negative friends that'd just be the worst first day ever!" she finished, eyes wide with worry, hands pulled tightly against herself, looking fucking adorable.
Laughing, I patted her on the head, getting a questioning look from Yang. "We're still friends Ruby. That is, if you want to be friends."
"Yes! Yes I want to be friends!" she zoomed forward giving me a hug, before freezing and zooming right back, face red. "Um, I gotta go get dressed, and stuff. Definitely stuff. Nothing weird. Bye!" she babbled, disappearing in a swirl of phantom rose petals that faded into nothing.
"So, that happened," I comment, getting a snort of laughter from Yang.
"Yeah, little sis is a bit intense like that," she agreed, seeming more welcoming, and without the teasing, hard edge she'd had a moment ago. "So, what were you doin' in the closet? Other than comin' out."
Saying the first that came into my head, I had the sense to make it come out as an 'isn't it obvious' way. Jaune's way would've had the question obviously be my begging for her to believe me. "Changing?"
That got a questioning look from the other blonde. "Changing? Why not use the bathrooms like everyone else?"
"... That's a good point. Sorry, I've got seven sisters and our house had three bathrooms. You just didn't use one unless you had to," I stated, lying my ass off. "Holy shit, that means I can actually take a warm shower without getting up at five in the morning. Things really are looking up!"
That prompted another laugh from the girl, "You're okay Arc-light. See ya around!"
"Arc-light?" I asked, her eyes flicking to my bright blonde hair. "Fair enough," I shrugged, getting a grin from her as she sashayed away with looked like an added swing to her hips. The girl had a confidence that was bordering on arrogance, but I was aware that I wasn't exactly without sin there either. The difference was, I knew I could back it up. Because Dragon. Or, at least I hoped I could.
Shaking my own head, I slipped out my scroll and closed the portal. While others might not be able to perceive that I walked out of a room bigger than the closet was when I entered the ballroom, whatever Somebody Else's Problem effect that shielded didn't extend to the fact that I walked out of the closet in the first place.
I wanted to work with my Draconic 'gifts', seeing if I could switch forms, but if I ducked back to my Home in this room full of people I might be spotted, and, checking the time, I only had an hour and change before we started. Following the others, I made my way to breakfast.
DR
Strolling through the lockers, I tried to find miner, which was apparently #636. Given that I already had all my gear, I wondered what I'd find. Ruby and Yang were arguing, not paying attention. "I think it might help you break out of your shell," the older sister argued, eyes flicking over to me as I approached, not as careless as she appeared. "Or I could ask your boy-toy to do it."
"Wha', who, Jaune!" the younger girl gasped, her back to me. "He's not my boy-toy, or my boy-not-toy, or any kind of toy!"
"Ruby, Yang," I nodded walking between them.
"We weren't talking about you!" the smaller girl lied, badly.
"Okay," I nodded. "Thinking about who you'll be partnered with?" I glanced to the next set of lockers over, as Weiss, the rich heiress and W of RWBY, tried to suck up to Pyrrha, the celebrity feeding her non-committal responses in return.
"You thinking about joining up with the Weiss-princess?" Yang teased in a carrying voice, "Or is big red more your speed?"
I smiled unabashedly, deflecting her attempts to embarrass me, "Honestly, any of the four of you seem like you would be good additions to my team."
"Excuse me?" the harridan heiress demanded, turning to stare. "Your team? Why do you think we'd want to be on your team. Who do you think you are that we'd want that?"
"Jaune Arc, Dragon Extraordinaire," I grinned toothily, causing her to flinch. Ah, right, her family had a bad history with Faunus. Whups. "And you are?"
Weiss folded her arms, turning her head away snootily, "As if you don't know!"
"Not a clue," I lied, glancing at her. "Slim build, and you showed up with tons of Dust, so some kind of caster/utility type." Moving over to Pyrrha, she grinned one of the most practiced fake smiles I'd ever seen and gave a cheery wave. "Athletic, balanced, likely a precision fighter," I rattled off, continuing to list of their capabilities.
I looked to Ruby, "Small, like the caster, but with a large weapon, likely a speedy type, good for long range and finishing strikes," and then to Yang. "Strong, athletic but more broad than big red is long, and the gauntlets are kind of a give away that you're a brawler, like Pinky over there," I finished jerking my head over to where Nora Valkyrie was still talking to, or really at, her childhood friend Lie Ren. Nora and Ren would end up on my team, the N and R of team JNPR, along with myself and Pyrrha.
I was cheating, oh god was I cheating, but it was better than hitting on Weiss and Pyrrha, badly, as Jaune had done the first time. "And you?" Weiss demanded. "What do you do?"
"Me, I'm a tank" I grinned, taking out my shield and opening it with a flick of my thumb. "I get hit so you don't have to."
"A real Light-Knight," Yang quipped, which got a laugh from me, even as the others just looked confused, not having been there for the first pun.
Weiss turned away, "As if I'd want to be on your team!"
"I might," Pyrrha offered, "but we might not get a choice."
Before she could say more, the announcement came to gather on the cliffside, and it was time to get started.
The explanation, how the first person we would make eye contact with would be your partner, and how we should destroy anything in our path, lest we die, was all as I remembered it. We'd be watched, and likely from the Scroll in Glynda Goodwitch's hands. The Telekinetic Vice Principal would know everything that happened in the forest below. That, however, kicked off something in my memory.
I had no Aura.
I mean, I hadn't forgotten, but I hadn't really thought what that meant. Everyone had their Aura awakened, which meant it likely happened in the Academies people went to before this, when they attended Huntsman High School, since, as it was, Beacon Academy more like a college then anything else. That also meant that, when I, or rather, Jaune, would have his Aura awakened in the middle of the initiation, they'd know I was a fraud.
And they hadn't cared.
Oh, I'm sure if it came to their official attention, they'd be forced to do something about it, but, until that point? I was okay.
And more than that, the way everyone was lined up without question, staring into the distance, they knew what this was. As everyone took up a launch stance, no one asking any questions, this was obviously something that they both had known was coming, and they had been prepared for, even Ruby who had skipped two years ahead.
Once again, had I acted like Jaune had, I would've been outing myself as someone that did not belong, so I kept quiet, and got ready. Going even to the mid-form, the ten foot tall bipedal dragon shape, would be something I would want to avoid, but I felt like, if I just pushed a little, I could let loose some features that were held back while Jaune hadn't been me. Doing so now, though, might cause some trouble, but I should be able to get away with it in the field.
Most Faunus' features were small, some only with animal ears, or just claws, but the non-mammal ones pushed the envelope a bit more, like scorpion tails, or patches of scales scattered across one's skin. With just the talons and horns, along with the lightest dusting of scales around my eyes, I'd matched that trend, but I wasn't a Faunus, and it was one difference I needed to be careful of displaying.
One after another the other students were launched into the air, the platforms were were standing on miniature catapults, as it came down the line towards me. Lie Ren, then Cardin, then Yang, then Ruby. As the last one left, I just grinned. "Enjoy the shooooooow!" I tried to quip, Goodwitch, having no time for that, clicking the launch button before I could finish, sending me hurtling through the air as well.
It was a wonderfully freeing feeling, the only downside the fact that I was now on a definite time-limit for making this work. Trying to focus, I started to shift, my body starting to expand in every direction instead of what I wanted, and I pulled it back. Not that, just a little, I thought, trying to make it work and failing, hitting the top of my parabolic arc and trying again, only now with a bit more panic.
I'd survive, but hitting the ground without Aura was not going to be fun, and I'd probably break something.
Closing my eyes, trying to focus, it started to shift, but I was hitting a block, something that wouldn't let it work. "Fuck!" I yelled, opening my eyes just long enough to see the trees getting dangerously close. Shutting them again, it was there I just needed to push.
"ShitShitShitShit!"
Then something gave, and extended, as wings burst from my back and opened wide. My fall started to smooth out, I was going to be fine, I was going to-
Thunk!
"Fuck!" I screamed in pain, as I suddenly found myself literally nailed to a tree.
"Sorry!" A distant voice called.
Reaching up, I grabbed the red and gold spear lodged in my wing, gritting my teeth even as I lifted myself up by it to take the pressure off the membrane it'd punctured. Holy shit that hurt! Note to self, getting stabbed sucked. Second note to self: Of course it did you dumbass.
I could hear voices in the distant, only to see Weiss walk out of the bushes, stop and look up at me. "You have a glider? Of course you do." Before I could say anything, trying to ask for help without gasping in pain, she turned around and walked away.
Bitch.
"It is a very impressive glider, Jaune. I apologize for damaging it," another voice called, the same one that had called out sorry when I'd gotten stabbed, and I looked down
Pyyrha stood there, smiling wryly up at me.
I wanted to smile, but I was a bit busy. "Not. A. Glider," I grunted, arching my back against the trunk and wrenching the weapon free. It came out with a cry from me and a small shower of blood, also from me, that I followed down.
Landing, hard, I got to my feet, gingerly trying to fold my wings against my back, hissing at the pain.
"Oh. Oh dear, that wasn't a glider, was it?" the red haired woman, her face dotted with crimson to match her ruby tresses, gasped, her gloved hands over her mouth.
"Nope," I replied, grinning weakly, offering her back her spear. "I'm sorry I got your weapon dirty."
"I, you, why did you do that?" she asked, horrified, and a little angry. "Why did you suppress your Aura?"
Waving her spear in her direction, she hesitantly took it. "Can't suppress what you don't have," I offered.
She stared at me, not understanding. "But, how were you going to fight Grimm without Aura?"
"Very carefully?" I smiled, which didn't seem to help.
"And how are you going to heal?" Pyrrha pressed.
I shrugged. "Like everyone else?"
Pyrrha just stared, before shaking her head. "No. No, this cannot be allowed to stand! I have injured you, and, if you permit me, I will be the one to ignite your Aura, to give you the defense you need."
She stared earnestly at me, her formal language just doubling down on the effect, upset that she'd hurt me, and I felt like an ass. I was going to ask her to awaken my Aura, but I didn't mean to make her feel guilty. I mean, she did pin me by my wing to a tree with her spear, but she meant well.
"Go for it," I said, holding out a hand.
"No, close your eyes," she disagreed, stepping close and placing her hand on my face as she smiled slightly.
"For it is in passing that we achieve immortality," she intoned once my eyes were closed, and I could feel something reaching out to me, warm, and strong, and somehow red, which didn't make sense. "Through this we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all."
Her other hand was pressed against my chest, over my heart, and I could feel whatever it was that was reaching out to me stop, sharply, hitting something that would be impossible for it to break through. My Soul Defense, I realized, letting the sensation in as I dropped my protctions, feeling incredible vulnerable in that moment.
"Infinite in distance and unbound by death, I release your soul, and by my shoulder protect thee," she finished, and there was a not-sound that filled my ears like a thunderclap, blasting outwards even I heard her fall, hitting the forest floor without so much as whimper.
My eyes shot open, "Pyrrha?" I asked, shocked, kneeling down next to her, even as my body glowed with blue light, shot through with golden streaks. Ignoring that, I felt her neck for a pulse, her body worryingly still then sagged in relief. It was there, though weak, and my wings extended, almost protectively, over us both, feeling no pain. She was still breathing, but they were short, shallow breaths, and I didn't know what to do.
Activating Jaune's Aura had made her stagger, but I was much,much more than he had been at this point, and that apparently mattered. If her soul was weakened by helping me, I did have something that could help. If Soul Defense could protect me, it could do the same for her. I felt a stamp in my hands without remembering even picking it up.
No, I told myself, putting it in my pocket. No she was fine, just tired. She recovered quickly the first time she'd done so, she'd do it again, and doing what I had, if only for a moment, been tempted to do wouldn't be right.
Pocketing it, I instead grabbed her weapon, tucking it into my belt. Then, gently, I gathered her up in my arms, and set off into the Forest.
DR
Ozpin stood overlooking the forest, filled with low-level Grimm that were already starting to close in on his newest students. Those with stronger Aura's would naturally attract more, providing a good challenge for all involved.
His assistant, the lovely, loyal, and talented Glynda Goodwhich was back watching the feeds from the cameras they'd hidden across the forest. He'd felt a stirring of something, not Aura, but something else. Something older. It'd flickered, just for a second, at the edge of his perception. It had been weak, so weak he was even now wondering if it hadn't just the delusions of an old man.
Then, there was a flash of golden light which gave way to blue, though the gold remained, and the disturbance he'd perceived return a hundred-fold. For a few, tense seconds he'd checked on the Silver-Eyed Warrior, but she was unharmed, still annoying the Schnee girl.
No, it was coming from the Arc boy, the ones with the interesting antlers, ones that were more reminiscent of the depictions found in the oldest of ruins than any 'horned lizard' he'd ever seen. The Arc boy, who apparently now had wings, which were more reminiscent of the other depictions in the oldest of ruins. The gold was promising. The blue was not, but neither was it as ominous as it could've been.
He'd seen the boy arrive, making an utter fool of himself, but that floundering child hadn't been before him today, though the overconfident teen hadn't been much better, and he had to wonder which was the mask, if they both were, or if there was a mask at all. Perhaps miss Belladonna would figure her fellow Faunus out, given her reading material.
No matter, the effect, while blatant at this range, should not reach his opposite half a world away, and thus he was content to watch, and wait, as the game continued.