Jaune and Pyrrha continue to experiment.

Cover Art: Solace O'Autumn

Chapter 29

"Huff-huff-huff..."

Jaune gasped for breath as he fell to the ground, sweat covering his face and his shirt clinging to his frame. Pyrrha had personally felt that no one looked good as a sweaty mess, but Jaune somehow put fault to that assumption.

I wouldn't mind if he sweated all over me...

Pyrrha grimaced at her own thoughts. It was disgusting and didn't even make much sense, but then she'd also never really had a crush like this before. Oh, there'd been celebrity crushes and the odd boy she'd thought looked cute, but those were just physical things. This was the first time she'd liked someone so thoroughly inside and out.

And so what if his Semblance was cheating things a little? She didn't feel like she was under mind control of some sort. Personally, she accepted it might be making him look a little better to her, but she still felt in control of her own thoughts and feelings. If she was under some hypnotic suggestion, she'd probably be more impressed by Jaune's workout.

"H—How was that?" he asked, panting harshly. "Pretty good, huh?"

"Great!" she lied. "You did great!"

Jaune's workout had obviously been hard for him but she could have done it with her eyes closed, and a lot of other guys wouldn't have had any trouble. That was fine, though. Pyrrha interacted with lots of strong men and had never particularly cared for them, so maybe this was more her type. It kind of made sense in her head, what with her enthusiasm for the competition scene fading.

Maybe she just saw guys in intense training regimes as being unhappy reminders of the work she had to do on her own. Because training and fighting had begun to feel more like a job than a passion of late, so she'd surely be interested in a romance that took her away from all that.

"Did you get any points from this?"

"No." Jaune groaned and swigged some energy drink, heedless of the fact it probably contained more calories than he'd burned. "It sucks, because I can perform for a few people and get points in charisma but it feels like I have to work my ass off to get the same from fitness training."

Pyrrha hummed, but she wasn't as surprised about it as he was. Physical training was a slow process and you had to work the bad out before you started seeing the good coming in. It took time, dedication, and also money. Healthy and fresh food cost more, as did gym memberships, and then there was the cost in time of needing to spend two hours a day at the gym, which wasn't always possible for people balancing jobs and lives.

Comparing that to picking up a guitar and busking in a park for half an hour, to possibly a hundred or more people walking by, and it made sense to her that his charisma would raise faster. He could also keep it up for longer without exhausting himself. His throat might get sore, but he could continue playing instrumentals, and it was probably easier to work off sore fingers than it was a training injury.

Plus, it came down to effort. Most people didn't train to failure. Oh, they thought they did, but they really didn't. Pyrrha hadn't either before her personal trainers had stepped in to really show her what training to failure felt like.

There was always a little more energy in the tank your body tried to keep hidden from you.

Jaune could work harder now, but he just didn't realise it. He felt bad, and so his mind was telling him he was at his breaking point when really he'd just done an average workout and stopped at the first signs of fatigue.

But that was fine.

It was enough for their needs.

"We'll log your scores today into the computers," she said, doing just that. It was yet more expensive equipment the average person couldn't hope to afford. "This will measure all your biometrics. We'll then give you a day to rest and recover and test again with your... what were they called? Perk points?"

"Attributes. Or stats. Just call them stat points."

"Right. We'll test again once you've allocated your stat points and from that we'll be able to track how much of an improvement there's been."

And she was curious. Everyone who worked in fitness liked to imagine their parameters as numbers, be it weight, reps, calories burned or anything else. No one actually got to see it, though, and she was deathly curious as to what it'd end up looking like.

Jaune was, too. "Yeah, it'll be good to see what it's worth investing into and what to avoid. You're pretty good with all this."

"Biometrics are kind of important when you're an athlete, but I didn't understand any of this until my trainers showed me how to use it."

"Will they mind my details being on there?"

"It's fine. I'll delete your stats after. If they ask, I'll just say I was showing you how it all worked." They wouldn't mind. In fact, they'd not say anything and risk upsetting her. "But the question is what to put your stats into."

"Yeah. Do you think I should put them all in one so it's easier to test it? Or spread them out and test different things?"

It was a good question. While it would be nice to accurately gauge every single stat he had, she wasn't sure how scientific it would be. Strength obviously sounded like it related to weightlifting – or at least that was how they should test and measure it – but couldn't it be argued that constitution would influence that as well? If they spread it around, it'd be hard to tell what improvements were because of what stats.

The ideal solution was to level up several times and test each, putting all points into one stat each time, but she knew that was unrealistic. Jaune was only level nine, whatever that meant, and it had taken foiling a murder for him to get another level. Things like that weren't just going to fall into their laps.

Though he does have a question we could help him with, her treacherous mind whispered. And it'll involve us climbing into his lap...

Pyrrha shook her head quickly.

"Pyrrha?"

"Nothing! I was thinking. So, um, I think it's best to do one stat. Then we'll know for a fact the improvement is because of that stat and nothing else. Do you have a preference from the ones you have?"

"I've been levelling constitution since it seems to boost health and, well, I kind of don't like the fact my health is numbered as hit points. Especially when they get low. But I don't mind putting into strength or dexterity if you think it's wise."

"Constitution is fine." She didn't like the idea of him dying either. "I think all three of those will translate in fitness tests, just maybe in different ways. Dexterity might make you faster – but strength could, too. You'd generate more force when running. Maybe. Constitution should be easy to test with endurance, though."

Jaune looked a little unhappy at that, mostly from the fact it'd mean working himself to this level of fatigue again. Science was science, though, and his Semblance was so strange that it deserved to be tested this way.

"Okay, I've put them into it now. It's strange that I don't feel any more rested."

"Why would you? You're already tired."

"Some games have mechanics like that. Where you recover all your stats when you level up."

Pyrrha hummed and pretended she understood what he meant. It wasn't like she didn't play the odd game – she and Jaune had even played some at their sleepover – but those were party games, and she only played them for the express purpose of having fun with other people, back when her friends had been her friends. She never played on her own because it just felt lonely, and the kinds of games his Semblance were like seemed to be singleplayer.

Maybe I should start playing one to better understand his Semblance, she thought. It couldn't hurt and it's not like I'm struggling for money.

Maybe they could even play it together...

"heh heh heh..."

"Pyrrha?"

"Heh?" Snapping back out her fantasies – mild as they were, involving Jaune playing a videogame while she leaned on his shoulder – she stammered out, "Nothing! Just thinking about fitness stuff! Weights and treadmills! Wow, I really love treadmills!"

"Okaaaay..." Jaune leaned away from her. "To each their own, I guess."

Pyrrha changed the subject quickly. "Have you gotten any other quests?"

"No. They're not that common. Actually, I used to go a while between them but they seemed to pick up speed in Atlas. At least towards the end. Join the military, become a specialist, become the king of Vale. Then I come here and get one to prevent a murder in no time at all." He snorted. "But there haven't been any since. It's almost like it's relaxed now I've completed a quest. I wonder if it's pacing me."

"Pacing...? You think your Semblance is intentionally pushing you to do quests? That it's sentient and wants things from you...?"

He squirmed, realising how weird that sounded. "Not like that. I guess I made it sound bad. I don't think it's a living entity or anything but... well... do Semblances like to be used? Do they have some psychological effects on people?"

"Not that I know of. I hardly ever use mine, not even in private." Pyrrha tried to think of some of her competitors and old friends in training. "I knew a few people who leaned on them more, even around their homes, but it was more out of convenience than any urge. I can go weeks without using mine and I don't feel an itch or a stiffness in my soul like I'm neglecting to work a muscle. Do you?"

"No. I just get these quests. But they feel more... I don't know. Proactive? No one else's Semblance up and tells them what to do from what I know. Mine doesn't command me to do things, but it as good as bribes me. Isn't that a little strange?"

Of course it was. Everything about his Semblance was strange, and that was what made it so interesting. Even had she not fallen head over heels for him, she'd have loved the chance to explore his Semblance like this. The fact she wanted him was just a bonus. A big bonus that made her feel giddy inside.

"It's definitely a little odd but none of the quests have tried to harm you, right?" He nodded. They would have been harmful had he tried to complete some of them, but they hadn't forced his hand in any way. "If anything, maybe you should see it more as your Semblance warning you of bad things about to happen. If you see it as a danger sense rather than it throwing you into danger, then that should make it feel better."

"A danger sense? Like in comics?"

"Yeah," said Pyrrha, having precisely no idea what comics he was referring to but being eager to sound like she did. "Just like those. And it rewards you, but other Semblances can also evolve and change over time. Yours is just faster, and conditional on you doing things first. It's still possibly a one-of-a-kind semblance but I don't think you have to worry about it forcing you to do things just yet."

"The wording on the last one made it sound like it wanted me to. It said I'd feel guilt if I didn't. Doesn't that sound like it was guilt-tripping me?"

"Would you have felt guilty?"

"Well... yeah..."

"There you have it. Less guilt tripping and more accurate summary of how you would feel if you'd done nothing."

That seemed to calm him down, drawing a nod and an overall relaxing of his shoulders. Pyrrha did understand his caution, and she even approved of it if it meant not rushing in to fight terrorists, but Semblances weren't conscious and aware. They were a facet of your own soul, working alongside their body to benefit the wielder. Jaune's was unusual in the extreme, but she didn't want him to be afraid of it.

No one should be afraid of their own soul.

Even if she disliked her own because it felt too close to cheating in tournaments, she didn't fear or hate it. Her polarity was just something she chose not to use because she didn't need to. And when she graduated and went against the Grimm, she'd feel no such compunction to hold back with it. Any weapon was worth using when it came to saving people from the Grimm.

"I'd best get home," she said, feeling a little sad to be parting already. "I have school tomorrow." Stupid school, she was so far ahead of it anyway that she could afford to lose a week to spend with Jaune. "We're still on for this weekend, right?"

"Of course! I have a big day planned."

Pyrrha squealed in her own head. "G—Great! And we'll meet up the day after tomorrow to do some more training and see how much of an improvement five points of constitution means." Pyrrha winked, adding, "Try not to get attacked by any birds."

Jaune's groan had her giggling.

/-/

In between hellish training with Pyrrha and hellish photo shoots with Saphron and Terra, Jaune spent most of his time chatting on his scroll with Penny, Nora and Ren, and flicking through websites and booklets about Vacuo. Nora was eager for every photo he'd taken in Atlas, especially the fancy ones of the Schnee manor, and she'd even gone so far as to send him a checklist of places he had to visit and photo for her in Vacuo.

He didn't much mind the presumption given it provided ideas of places to go. A lot of them were outside the city of Vacuo, but apparently the kingdom wasn't like Atlas where most people stayed in the city. In Vacuo, people weren't afraid to travel. They were cautious, but the vast deserts provided opportunity to spot Grimm a long distance away, and as long as you were careful around spider-like Grimm that burrowed in the sand – and the idea of that made him shiver – you were fine.

Nora also wanted pictures of Shade Academy, and the holiday brochure did say it was a popular visiting spot for tourists, though it also made it clear tourism was limited to certain areas during school hours, and only available on certain days of the week. It was an academy after all, and it had a job to do. The tourists must have just been helpful to pad the school's budget. For all that Vacuo was apparently a den of gambling, drugs, drink and a prime stag and hen destination, it wasn't a very wealthy kingdom from what he was reading.

Too much corruption, maybe. Or tax evasion. Keeping track of the finances of casinos couldn't be easy, and many of them were owned and operated by companies outside of Vacuo, and thus paid their taxes elsewhere. There were also plenty of warnings in the brochures about crime, but most of it was about scams and tricks to steal from unwary tourists. There wasn't much in the way of crime that could damage tourism because businesses and crime depended on it to make money of their own. So, weirdly enough, criminals in Vacuo tried not to intimidate tourists.

I'll have to be careful but I'll probably be performing late in the evenings when most of this happens anyway.

Though he had money aplenty thanks to his online persona and the generous payments from Willow Schnee, he still wanted to try and perform for a room. Call it a challenge or just wanting to stick to the original plan to see if he could, but he wanted to give it a shot. The money could serve as a backup in case it didn't work out.

More normal music and less Bardic Skills though. Don't want a repeat of Willow. I guess it'll be fine with less pressure, though I should practice some songs to play while I'm there. I wonder if I should call ahead to try and ask or just show up and perform.

A few searches online had given plenty of hotel options. The luxury ones probably wouldn't be willing to offer him a room, and he didn't want to be performing for one or two people. The cheap ones were too budget, and potentially dangerous, but he managed to find some moderately priced and well-reviewed hotels and saved their details on his scroll.

I'll try each one and then pay for a room in the last one if all the ones before it fail. I can always keep trying the next day. Maybe one of the casinos would put me up. I bet they'd pay my room costs if I could bring people in.

Or bars or restaurants, of which there seemed to be a lot in Vacuo's tourist districts. There was no shortage of options.

"Making plans?" asked Saphron, letting herself in. Jaune hummed and handed her one of the brochures. "I'd always wanted to visit Vacuo but mom would have freaked. She thinks it's a den of vice and pleasure."

"According to these, it is."

Saphron laughed. "Yeah, but I was more interested in the historical stuff. Ruins, temples, ancient structures."

"You can come—"

"No, no. I'm just settling in here. I'm just bored since Terra is out and Adrian is with his grandparents."

"No work with my brand?"

"Nope."

"I'd been meaning to mention something on that," he said, closing his brochure. "I ran into someone who was actively looking for Guitar Cutie." He left out Cinder's name and how he found out, making up a story instead. "She saw I could play and assumed I might know of a girl my age and height who also played."

"Hmm. There's been a lot of speculation like that. I hear people in the four major cities have been clamouring to find her. You."

"I prefer her."

Saphron smirked. "Whatever floats your boat, little sister."

"Why, Saphron. Are you jealous I'm a hotter girl than you?"

"Oi!" She swiped at him, scowling at having her teasing turned on her. Served her right in his opinion. "Don't get arrogant. You may be a hot piece of ass but you're still an idiot on the inside. And I have embarrassing photos of you on my scroll from when you were younger. Don't think I won't show them to Pyrrha."

"As if I don't have just as many of you," he shot back. Then he frowned. "But I'm serious here. This woman knew Guitar Cutie was in Argus, or she thought she did. She mentioned money having come here." Saphron seemed to catch the implication, for she became a lot more serious. "I think people are starting to look into our finances and have found you and Terra as my agents."

"Damn it. How? All those brand agreements were meant to be confidential."

"I mean, there are still people behind those contracts. All it takes is someone being a little too curious and taking a look, or letting it slip in conversation, or a hacking attack works and gets the details."

He wasn't sure which it was with Cinder but she'd known for sure, and Saphron and Terra were the weak links. Not even because of any mistakes on their part, but because this was where the money from his channel went. There was never going to be a way to get the money to him without it going to someone's bank account.

"I'm just worried about you all. I don't think they'll break in here and threaten you but they might make your life harder in other ways. Paparazzi, reporters, weirdos trying to get a glimpse of me. Pyrrha tells me about the things that she's had happen and it's made me realise that could happen here to you two and Adrian."

Saphron sighed and sat on the bed with him. "Crap. We really thought this'd be safe but... ugh. I guess we'll have to invest in some security for the house. Argus is safe so we just kind of assumed we'd be fine with the normal burglar alarms and locks, but we can try and improve them."

"Use my money."

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely. You're taking the heat from me, plus you and Terra have made most of that money with all your ideas. We can call it a business expense too, I bet. It's a cost needed to keep you safe while you're my agents. You should get locks on parts of the house so they'd have to break through multiple, then get a panic room."

"Ahah. Aren't you taking this a little too seriously?"

"Aren't you not? This is yours and Adrian's safety."

Saphron looked ill suddenly. "But... But it's just music. It's just some fans. Right?"

"Fans do crazy things. Pyrrha says she's had people try to steal bits of her hair. There is literally terabytes of adult content of me on the internet that people have commissioned artists to draw. Don't underestimate these people. Especially not when I won't be here to help you out. What if a nutcase decides it's worth it to try and threaten one of you to tell them who Guitar Cutie is or where she is? What do you think will happen when some obsessed guy with a knife finds out the so-called `love of his life` is actually a crossdressing man."

He'd be angry.

And he'd do something stupid.

"This is insane," groaned Saphron, placing her face in her hands. "This was just meant to be some fun dressing my brother up, then we got lost in all the zeroes. But you're right. If they're willing to write six and seven figure amounts to have your face on their products, then it's because they'll make ten times that amount back. Because people are obsessed with you. I'll tell Terra tonight," she promised. "We'll make some calls tomorrow."

"Good."

He was glad she was taking this seriously. Hopefully, his Semblance would bring its danger sense element to bear and let him know via a quest if Terra and Saphron were ever about to be in danger. Then he could intervene or warn Pyrrha, and she could rush over to protect them. That was another benefit of coming clean to her, though he hadn't realised it before now. If anything bad happened here, Pyrrha would be available.

"You could go one step further and go public."

Saphron jolted. "What?"

"I'm not saying you should but, if things ever get bad or you are in danger, you should go public as my agents and hire actual security."

"Like bodyguards? What about you? Wouldn't people guess it's you?"

Would they? His Semblance made it so his disguise as a woman looked a whole lot more realistic than it should. As a guy, he was maybe above average. As a woman, he was hot. They didn't look similar side by side.

"I think that'll be fine and I wouldn't take the risk with your lives anyway. If they see me, well, I'm obviously a guy. I'll show them proof if they want. You can just say I'm your brother who is staying with you, but Guitar Cutie is your friend. Or Terra's friend. Make up a story."

"Won't that mean even more people staking out here?"

"Maybe in the short term but once it's clear she doesn't live here then they'll realise you're remote agents and leave. Some might try and push you to reveal things, but that's what the security would be for."

"Yeah..."

"It's a last option," he said, sensing Saphron was against the upheaval in her personal life. He didn't blame her. "Don't do it out of hand, but if someone does threaten you and you do feel like you're in danger, don't waste time asking me if it's okay. Do what you need to do in order to keep yourselves safe."

Saphron let out a sigh. "Right. But we'll hope it doesn't come to that. Better security should be okay, and maybe we can speak to the bank about doing a better job hiding where the money goes. I'm sure they can advise something. They must do the same for celebrity clients."

"I could ask Pyrrha but I get the feeling she's given up and doesn't care if people know where she lives. Plus, she can fight off anyone who comes after her. I'll help in any way I can," he assured her. "In fact, it might be a good idea for me to be spotted in Vacuo."

Saphron gasped. "You mean...?"

"Yes," he said, with a groan. "If it means protecting you, Terra and Adrian, I am prepared to put on the disguise and cross-dress in another country."

He was less excited for what would probably be a hectic chase through the streets, or people crowding him to ask for autographs, but he'd put up with it for their sake. Him being spotted in Vacuo would draw every stalker and reporter away from Argus, and he could always vanish back into being Jaune Arc the moment he could remove the wig.

No one would ever know.

"If they think I'm from Vacuo, they should leave you alone. They're only after you because they don't have any clues on where I am. I'll give them one while I'm there, even if I have to take a photo of me myself and post it like I'm the guy who snapped it."

Saphron sagged, then gave him a huge hug and whispered her thanks.

He almost expected a quest to pop up, because it felt like the kind of task that deserved one, and yet nothing happened. It really did feel like his Semblance had taken a break now that he'd completed one, but that was silly thinking. Maybe it was just exhausted. Perhaps his Semblance needed time to recharge after a "level up". It was altering his body to make him stronger and that couldn't be anything but energy intensive.

Yeah, that sounded reasonable. His Semblance wasn't a living, thinking thing trying to push him forward. It was just expelling energy to produce a spike in power, then taking time to recover its strength afterwards.

Anything beyond that was just paranoia.

Next Chapter: 30th June

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