It had only been a day since her little boys return but already he was rushing off to do something before she could stop him. Salem watched jaune vanish down the hall to who knows where with a large frown. Just what was he doing now? Especially this early in the morning. She tried to come up with an answer by following him a few times previously only to lose her son mysteriously around a corner.
It was definitely because of his training, she just knew it. So salem decided to get a little creative to find out what jaune was up too. She used the grimm pools to create a tiny grimm that would cling to her sons clothing when he snuck off to do whatever he was doing. The third day came around and jaune peeked out from within his room to make sure there wasn't anyone around. When the coast was clear the blonde moved quickly down the hallway while making sure to be as quiet as possible.
Unbeknownst to jaune a tiny caterpillar grimm was waiting for him outside his room and quietly attached itself to his pants leg without raising suspicion. The grimm took in it's surrounding and fed the knowledge back to it's queen. Salem walked after her son once more but this time she made sure to keep at least a hallway away from her target. After a little while she found herself at the doorway to the kitchen and decided to take a peek inside to see what jaune was up too.
"About time you got here, I'm wasting away here" a voice from the kitchen complained. Jaune raised a brow "if you were that hungry you didn't have to wait for me". Salem narrowed her eyes to see who her son was talking to and saw vernal along with cinder sitting at a small table.
"Your the cook so it's your job to feed me" the brunette said happily. Jaune started up the stove and went to work making breakfast "we are back home so I don't HAVE to do anything. Besides I don't see you running into the Grimmlands to hunt for ingredients, just like I don't see cinder boiling water". Cinder raised her hand up "and why did I get pulled into this conversation"?
"To make a point" both jaune and vernal answered at the same time.
Cinder rolled her eyes before looking back at her scroll. The sound of eggs being cooked filled the room since everyone felt content to sit in silence...at least until cinder put her scroll in rest mode. "Speaking of past events I loved that part where you ran up to salem like a puppy and hugged her. Talk about being a momma's boy". The blonde emptied the frying pan onto a plate "I haven't seen my mom in over a month, you can't blame me for being happy to see her" he said. Cinder chuckled "still it's kinda pathetic don't you think"?
Jaune didn't reply but vernal sure did "don't sweat it jaune, cinders just jealous of the fact that you got a mom who loves you while she got sold by her own parents". The raven haired girl growled angrily "you should watch how you talk to your leader"! Vernal raised a brow at the comment "who died and made you queen"? Cinder huffed slightly "I am the most logical choice, especially after training camp since it was thanks to my leadership that we all survived".
Vernal laughed loudly "the only thing you did was try to boss us around while we did all the work. Maybe you forgot when jaune and I forced you to purify water with your semblance since all you did for two days was lounge around".
"So what?! You think you'd make a better team leader then me"?
"Yeah I would" Vernal yelled back.
This time it was cinders turn to laugh out loud "a team leader is supposed to be smart, which is something you sorely lack". The two continued to argue for a while longer until jaune slide plates of food in front of them. "What about you? Surely you want more then to be a simple follower" cinder asked their cook. Jaune took his plate and sat at the table before answering "honestly, I just want to get strong for my goal. Being the team leader of you two is more trouble then I want to deal with".
Before he could dig into his meal, both vernal and cinder stood up from their seat with wide eyes as a figure found their way behind the blonde. Jaune noticed their gaze was on something behind him but as soon as he tried to look behind him two hands were placed on his shoulders. His head shot up and jaune was met with two red eyes looking back at him "uh, hi mom".
Salems hands tightened on his shoulders and jaune knew he had done something to make her upset. "Jaune" salem said calmly which ended up making the blonde very nervous all of a sudden "I've decided to make you the leader of your little team. As the new leader, I will expect you to come up with a suitable name within a one month time period".
Jaune slumped in his chair "but mom..."!
"But mom nothing. You are my son and destined for great things, not to become someone's lackey" she hissed while glaring at cinder. Seeing no way to refuse, the blonde merely nodded to salems words. Salem watched her boy shrink in her grasp "one day you will become one of my lieutenants, and then will lead like your master does with the rest of you. For that time to come we will need you to become the best you can be, so I will have all your teachers increase their training and lessons until your ready".
Jaune looked horrified but knew better then to argue with his mother. Salem raised a brow "in fact I'll have all of you doing something more since you don't know your place". The others looked as he felt, but the damage had already been done so all they could do was accept it. Like a personal hurricane, salem came and vanished just as quickly while leaving them all shaken.
When salem was gone, jaune groaned before looking at his friends "this is gonna be fun, I can just tell".. Everyone else could couldn't help but agree with him.