Cover Art: Solace O'Autumn

Chapter 27

"It isn't a date."

"Jaune, you're taking her to the movies and for dinner," said Saphron, rolling her eyes. "It's a date."

"But we're not like that."

"You can have a date without romance."

Saphron shrugged but wouldn't relent on dressing him up. Thankfully, that was him being dressed up in nice men's clothing rather than as a cute girl. Small mercies. The night at Pyrrha's had been fun, but not much had happened. They chatted, played some games, and stayed up late until Athena came and sternly told them they were going to bed and that Pyrrha had school in the morning.

Again, he'd had to promise to having their moment next weekend and that he'd be here all week before she would go to bed. Come morning, he'd gotten to see bedhead and little-sleep Pyrrha, which was actually kind of cute, especially when she forgot he was there and walked downstairs in pyjamas with hair sticking out at odd ends. Until she saw him, panicked, and raced back upstairs that was.

"I don't know if that's true," Jaune said. "But whatever. It's not until next weekend."

"True. So, what's the plan for the week?"

"Go to the travel agents, find out stuff about Vacuo, plan my trip a little more in detail than I did the one to Atlas, and maybe practice my music a little." Saphron began to fidget excitedly, and Jaune sighed. "Yes, I'll make some more videos for you."

"Yes!"

"But we need to talk about that!" he stressed. "I left it all with you and I'm beginning to think that was a mistake."

"What? Why?" Saphron looked hurt. "We've done a great job."

"I didn't mean that way. I just meant that I didn't set any rules or ask what you'd do and now I know less about my own image than you do. I'm asking for a business meeting, not to fire you but to find out the stuff I probably should have asked in the first place."

Saphron agreed and, later that day, he, Saphron and Terra sat at the dining room table while Terra brought out a huge box of printed-off paperwork and other things. She set them down on the table, revealing way too many contracts and agreements and magazines and proposals and just... lots and lots of stuff.

"W—What is all this!?"

"Work," said Terra, a little surprised. "You did ask us to be your agents."

"I figured that meant you'd just post my videos online and manage my account!"

"That's not what an agent does..."

"And it'd feel like we were taking advantage of you if we only did that," added Saphron. "You're giving us a cut and we'd be doing next to no work for it. Mom didn't raise us to be lazy, Jaune. And Terra is from Atlas. The only way to force them to take a break from work is to literally break their kneecaps."

Terra laughed awkwardly. "I got better when I met you."

"Yeah, after years of not using any of your PTO." Saphron rolled her eyes, then turned back to Jaune. "Point is, you assigned us as your agents. We agented. If that's a word. We went out and did the big agent."

Jaune felt his stomach flop.

On the one hand, wow. Impressive. Saphron and Terra had really gone above and beyond, and that obviously said amazing things about them that they didn't want to mooch off him for nothing. Warm, fuzzy feelings and all that.

On the other, oh hell. Oh, bloody hell. What had they done!? He'd hoped that maybe his online femsona would maybe make a few videos, make a little money, but then dwindle in popularity and fall off the face of Remnant.

This was not falling off the face of Remnant!

"Just... give me an overview. How big is she?"

"You."

"I prefer she."

Saphron snickered. "Well, she's big. We started off just managing your account while we looked up how to be the best agents we could be, but that meant responding to comments and questions. We eventually admitted the channel was run by your agents while you study and practice music, and that meant businesses started reaching out to us in private messages."

"Fans too," added Terra. "You don't want to read what they've said. Or offered."

Jaune felt ill.

"But we said no to all the bribes asking for nudes," Saphron cheered, missing the way he shrivelled in his seat. "And we also said no to what I'm pretty sure was a lot of adult sites trying to pay you to do videos with people. But, among the nightmares, there were other, more serious offers. Since you told us to be your agents and manage your image, we decided to look into those."

Terra brought out another box and set it down. This one rattled.

"Merchandise!"

"Terra, no," he whispered.

"Terra, yes!" she replied, spilling the crap out over the table. "Guitar Cutie branded t-shirts and hoodies, Guitar Cutie branded underwear—" Women's underwear, of course. Jaune banged his head on the table. "Guitar Cutie plushies and models. But the biggest sponsors by far are musical equipment. We have Guitar Cutie plectrums being sold en masse, and at least one Guitar Cutie exclusive guitar. It's the same brand and make as what you use, and they've asked you to only use that if possible."

"And if it breaks?"

"Jaune, if it breaks then they will ship out a hundred new ones to you. You are the face of this brand right now. Their sales have doubled since your first video. There are also guitar straps, guitar cases, stickers and more. Oh, and there's a record label that wants you to put together a collection of songs for an album."

"Whaaaat!?" he cried. "But I don't have any original songs. I just cover stuff!"

"Yeah, that doesn't seem to matter. They're actually giving you a list of songs they'd like you to cover. We didn't sign that one yet," she added. "We wanted to make sure you were okay to actually do it, since you'd need to record them in their studio."

"Then it's impossible. I can't go out in public like that. People will figure me out in an instant."

Terra and Saphron stared at him.

"They'll figure me out," he repeated. "Because I am obviously a guy in a skirt."

Terra coughed and looked away.

Saphron glared at Terra.

"Obviously...?" he begged. "It's obvious, right?"

"Jaune..." Saphron spoke gently, like she was about to ruin the magic of Christmas. He knew that tone. The tone that told him she was about to deliver crushing news in as kindly a manner as she could.

"No. Saphron, no."

"You're very pretty, Jaune. And you don't have any facial hair."

"No..."

"And you're thin, and mom's genes are really good."

"No, no, no."

"You... well... how should I put this?"

"I honestly thought you were a girl," Terra interrupted. "Hence why I was down for the threesome back then. Face it, man. You're a hot piece of ass. Specifically, a hot woman's ass."

Terra did not deliver the news softly.

Jaune slumped in his chair.

"You don't have to," Saphron said. "But the studio is in Argus and the offer is there. There's other stuff we can do."

"Stuff that doesn't involve leaving the house?" he asked, hopefully.

"Yep. Stuff we can do right here. But, we need more photos. We took a load before you went to Atlas but we've started to run out and people... well, they're not getting bored, Jaune. They're getting impatient. They want more."

"Joy. It's a photoshoot, then?"

Terra raised a camera.

/-/

Jaune hated the skirt and too short top that exposed his belly, and he hated them all the more for being so damn comfortable to wear. Saphron enjoyed dressing him up far too much for his liking, but even he had to admit she was good at it. He was wearing knee-high black and white striped socks (and they felt nice and warm, too) and a black pleated skirt with a belt studded with little dots of silver with a chain on the side.

His stomach was exposed and sucked in, while a white cropped t-shirt with his own face on it didn't quite reach his shoulders. Black bra straps rose up from that over some pads he'd been loaned, and Saphron had "dolled him up" with a little makeup.

Annoyingly, both for him and Saphron, he didn't need much to look pretty.

"This is so unfair," she'd complained. "How are you so damn pretty!?"

Because he cheated. Because his Semblance altered things, practically applying a cosmetic filter to his appearance that absolutely worked on photos and films because Terra showed him some shots and he looked hot.

Damn it.

At that moment, he was laid on a bed with Terra above him, which sounded bad until one realised Terra was stood on the bed, one foot on the nearby bedrest, angling a camera down on him as he pulled a pose.

"Try to look a little flustered."

Jaune raised his hands helplessly. "What does that even mean?"

"Look like you're shy and nervous, submissive—"

"Breedable," Saphron couldn't help but say.

Jaune flashed her his middle finger.

"Bite your bottom lip and hold it," said Terra. "Now, bring one knee up – not that much, you're flashing your underwear." Jaune cursed and smoothed his skirt down, still not used to it. "A little less, enough to let it slide down your thigh but not reveal. That's it!" Terra took some quick shots. "Now, tug your shirt up to show your belly and hike your skirt higher."

"What!? Hang on! What kind of picture is this for?"

Terra smiled. "It's for a pillow."

"A pillow? Why does it need to be a full picture of me laying on a bed for a pillow...?"

"It's a big pillow, practically body length. Trust, Jaune. It'll have two sides. One where you're laying there looking normal and the other... um. Let's say dishevelled. Saphron, baby, can you help dishevel your brother?"

Jaune didn't much like that word, especially not when Saphron leaned over and began tugging his clothes around. A pull here to expose more shoulder, a tilt her so the strap went down his arm, and she pinched his cheeks until they were rosy and flushed less from embarrassment and more from blood rushing there. Then she tugged his bottom lip into a pout and applied some lip balm to it to make it shinier.

"Peeerfect," Terra purred and started snapping. "Can you cover yourself like you're embarrassed?" she asked him. "And glower at me like it's all my fault. That's it! Perfect!"

Yeah, well, it was remarkably easy to obey that last request and glare hotly at his sister-in-law. The worst part was when she climbed down and let him see the photos, because if that was another woman and not him then he'd say she was firmly in the "I would" category. In fact, she was teenage crush material.

Damn it all...

"This pisses me off so much," Saphron whined as she looked at it. "How is it fair you look so sexy? How am I meant to feel when my brother makes a hotter girl than I do?"

"Hey now," Terra cuddled her. "I still love you."

Saphron glared back. "You were meant to say I'm hotter than my brother, darling..."

"Oh. Um. You are...?"

It didn't sound convincing. Jaune sighed. "Can't I do angry photos instead? Holding up my middle fingers at the camera and being unapproachable or something?"

The couple turned back to him, Saphron shrugging. "You could, and I don't think your sponsors would mind too much. You're a teenage role model so you don't have to obey lots of draconian rules about not offending children. The problem is more what comes next."

"What do you mean?"

Terra answered for her. "The current story we're putting out is that you're shy and quiet and also mute, hence why you don't talk." Jaune nodded along. It was a good story. "And that influences how people see you. They'll fawn over images of you eating food cutely and looking flustered like this because it fits your brand. But, if we go with you being spunky and aggressive, they'll expect you to be more daring in photo shoots."

"I think I know where this is going..."

"Exactly." Saphron winked at him. "It's probably best to keep playing up the cute and shy angle. Right now, you're their innocent princess and they love you. But if you pivot to a more dominant personality then they might start asking you to step on them."

And the sexualisation would begin. It already had, obviously, because that was what happened on the internet, but at least most of the lewd fanart of him was slips and embarrassed accidents, and somewhat softcore in nature. It would be a whole lot worse if whips, chains, and domination started getting mixed in.

"I will bow to your expertise on this."

"Wise choice. Honestly, I'm not comfortable with half the things they want from you anyway," she said. "You're still my brother, even when you're dressed up as my sister, and it's weird to see talk about what they want to do with you. Or to you."

He could imagine. All the more reason to be grateful to them for taking it off his hands and managing it in his absence. Going through this now was embarrassing and annoying, but it'd only be a week of work and then they'd have months of material to drip out bit by bit. Put like that, it felt childish to complain, especially when Terra was taking time away from her job to be the camerawoman.

"But, you know," said Terra. "If you ever did come clean to Pyrrha then we could do photo ops with the both of you and really send the internet into a meltdown. Just imagine the shipping wars! They'd be so intense!"

"I'm imagining the fanart instead," he replied. "And Pyrrha's reaction to finding out I'm a weirdo."

"Jaune, this is the modern day. No one is going to freak out over this."

"All the men who fantasises about me will."

"No one who matters will freak out over this."

Maybe not, but maybe yes, and it wasn't as if he wanted to take a risk on Pyrrha with how many times he'd be coming to Argus. She was fun to hang around with, and she always kept in touch with him. If this were Penny, he might be able to convince her this was somehow normal, but Pyrrha could and would make her own judgments.

He didn't want to risk it.

Even if he was 95% certain she'd keep his secret, the 5% kept him back. The fear of losing his friend over something so trivial, or even of Pyrrha thinking he only befriended her because she and her brand could be an asset to his. Part of what she seemed to like about him was that he was normal while she was famous. If she knew he was famous as well, it might change something in their relationship.

So, even while he told her and only her the truth of his Semblance, he didn't have the balls to tell her about what he'd done to raise his Charisma so high. Instead, he would let her assume it came from playing guitar in public and at the various shows including the Schnee gala. That made just as much sense.

"I know that look," Saphron told Terra. "It means he's digging his heels in."

"It's your choice, Jaune," said Terra. "I only meant it as a jokey idea. We don't need to do that if you don't want to. These solo images are more than enough."

"Right. Yeah." Jaune let his stubbornness slip away. "Thanks, but I'd rather less people know about all this. Keeping it between us feels better."

"No worries. We'll do that."

/-/

The various photo shoots hadn't been all that bad, things considered. Saphron and Terra got a lot done in the single day and said they'd probably only need another in the week. There would have to be some more videos recorded of him playing to stock them up while he was in Vacuo, but they knew it wouldn't be fair to force him so encouraged him to take the afternoon off to visit the travel agents and get some material on Vacuo,

Getting a hold of the brochures was easy, each being priced relatively low and for sale on some stands at the front of the shop. The woman there encouraged him to come back if he had any questions, stressing that she'd be "more than happy to help him" in a way that had her coworker slapping her on the back of the head.

Jaune wasn't sure why. The woman was just doing her job.

It was on the way out, with his arms full, that he bumped into someone – literally. Being six foot tall, the expectation when crashing into a woman a few inches shorter than you was that they would fall back, with him possibly on top.

That rule did not apply to huntresses.

Jaune crashed into the smaller woman only to find himself hitting a brick wall and bouncing flat on his ass. The only sign of the impact she showed was a single foot sliding back to steady herself, and even that felt unnecessary.

"Hah," she said, sighing out loud, as if her entire day had been inconvenienced by this moment. "You should watch where you're walking." Then, as an obvious afterthought thrown in because she felt she should. "Are you okay?"

Jaune knew a question asked for politeness' sake when he heard one. "I'm fine. Sorry. It's my fault."

"Hmmm."

The woman offered a hand and dragged him to his feet none-too-gently when he took it. Jaune brushed himself down and looked at her properly. She was beautiful, that was his immediate thought, but he pushed it aside, having embarrassed himself enough already. Pale skin, pure black hair and smouldering yellow eyes. She wore a tan jacket over a bandaged chest, and baggy pants – and it was that outfit which made it obvious she was a huntress. To most, anyway. Jaune had an additional helping hand on that front.

.

Cinder Fall

Lvl. 45

.

Forty-five!? That seemed obnoxiously high for someone who only looked one or two years older than him. That was bordering on the strength of his father and Qrow Branwen – and they were professional huntsmen with decades of experience under their belt.

"Is there a reason you're staring at me?"

Jaune flushed and broke eye contact. "Sorry, I... uh..." A few less-than-suave words came to mind, but her cold expression warned him against them. "I'm just a little scattered. Sorry for running into you. I was distracted. It won't happen again."

"Hmm. You seem to get distracted easily. Here."

Cinder held out his reading material, which it turned out she'd all but automatically taken when he slammed into her. He'd essentially knocked the brochures into her chest and she'd closed her arms around them reflexively. Jaune took them back with an awkward smile that she absolutely did not return.

"I'm sorry again. I was lost in thought about what to do in Vacuo."

"Holiday?" she asked, not really interested.

"Something like that. I travel. Just got back from Atlas and staying with the Schnee—" He cut himself off before he could embarrass himself further. "Never mind."

"The Schnee?" But Cinder seemed just a little more interested, glancing back his way. "Interesting company. What were you doing for them? Consulting?"

"Entertainment, actually. I'm a musician and Mrs Schnee kept me around for a gala with her daughter, and to keep her entertained. I play guitar," he added, because he obviously didn't have it on him. "I'm pretty good."

Jaune winced as he said it. Everything before had been good but then he just had to open his mouth and insert his foot.

"Perhaps I'll have a chance to hear you play," said Cinder, so very obviously not interested. "But I have business here in Mistral. Farewell...?"

"Jaune. Jaune Arc. And you?"

"Cinder." A polite nod. "Perhaps we shall meet again."

"Right. Bye."

Cinder strolled on by, and Jaune forced himself not to watch her go – because he got the feeling she'd sense it, and he'd feel even more embarrassed for acting that way. It wasn't like he hadn't met good looking women before, but this was the first time he'd run into one and so thoroughly embarrassed himself because of it.

I wonder if she's actually older than she looks. Her level is so high she could be a professional huntress for all I know.

He was fairly sure there was a career route to becoming a huntress that didn't involve the academies, too. You could train or apprentice and earn a license through standardised tests and evaluations. Not everyone for into one of the academies, after all, and it'd be a waste to tell all those people who spent years training for the chance that their time had been wasted. Plus, there were people out in the countryside or living on Menagerie who didn't have access to an academy.

There was more than one way to become a huntress.

.

New Quest: A Maiden in Distress

The Fall Maiden is in grave danger and her life rests in your hands. Can you really do nothing and stand by as she is ambushed en route to Mistral and killed? The Fall Maiden must be protected at all costs.

Reward: +Rep Fall Maiden. +Rep Ozma. +Rep Vale. +EXP. +Title: Fall Guardian.

Failure: The Fall Maiden's Death.

.

Jaune's feet, in the process of carrying him forward, came to a slow and halting stop. It was hardly the first time he'd received a quest with obscure terms and seeming far above both his level and his understanding, but it was also the first time it had so brutally laid out the consequences of ignoring it.

If he didn't do something, someone was going to die.

The Fall Maiden. Who—?

The woman he'd just let walk away came instantly to mind. Cinder Fall, last name "Fall" and being a woman, aka a "maiden" in ye olde talk, the likes of which his Semblance occasionally referenced. He was a bard after all, so it could easily mean Cinder as a maiden. Cue the knights and saving maidens comparison.

How am I meant to save her, though? She's Level 50! Even if I tried to help her, I'd be too weak to do anything.

Except that wasn't true. Pyrrha herself had pointed out that his ability to enhance other people would have a more notable effect on those that were already stronger. Even if he was weak, he could make her stronger.

Or, maybe far more realistically, he could just warn her.

That would be a lot easier and much less dangerous. Obviously, he couldn't come out and tell her his Semblance was predicting the future – and that was a thought of his own. Was his Semblance predicting the future here? Or was it just reacting? On one level, telling him about an ambush on Cinder felt like it was giving a prophecy.

But, looking deeper, if an ambush had already been planned against her, then it wasn't actually reading the future at all, was it? It was closer to telling him something that had already been set in motion, like if Pyrrha booked a doctor's appointment without him knowing and his Semblance mentioned she'd be going to the doctor. No prophecy, just invasion of privacy.

So much better!

Not.

I can't sit by knowing she's going to die! I have to do something!

"Um. Cinder!" Jaune called out to her, making her pause and look back. There was irritation in her expression, but she hid it quickly. Sadly, his brain wasn't quite so quick at coming up with an excuse for having stopped her. "I... um... Are you staying in Argus long?" It was a dumb question. So very stupid. "Uh. I owe you for today, and I was thinking I could play some music for you as an apology."

Cinder rolled her eyes, rather understandably assuming this was some weak attempt to flirt with her. "I'll be staying here for a few days, yes. Don't strain yourself on my account, however. I'm not one for music."

"Right. Well—"

"Forgive me but I really must go."

Cinder turned and walked away, making it clear they were through. That was fair, especially with how creepy he must have sounded. Still, he knew she'd be in Argus for a couple of days and the quest made it clear she'd be ambushed on the way to Mistral. That was presumably her next destination. That gave him time to think up a way to divert or deflect that, if only he could find a way to make it happen.

"Pyrrha," he whispered, under his breath. "I'll ask Pyrrha if she has any ideas how I can stop this happening."

Maybe he could find proof and bring it to Cinder as a "concerned citizen" or maybe he could subtly influence the route she took to Mistral by pointing out her current one was dangerous. Pyrrha would be a good person to bounce ideas off.

Because he wasn't interested in most the quests that came his way but standing by and letting this woman die because he wasn't feeling it? That was a step too far.

He'd make sure Cinder survived.

Next Chapter: 16th June

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