Jaune found that, when one didn't really pay much attention, time really did fly. It was almost in the blink of an eye that the days and dreams had passed. It didn't help that he had managed to achieve very little in the Dream, mostly wandering around the ancient dwarvish city, learning a couple new things and skills. But he had finally decided on what to do with the dragonhide he had. He intended to turn it into a cloak, to replace the frankly drab and dire one he had now. He figured wearing a fraying and ratty scrap of black cloth that made him look like the grim reaper's overgrown cousin was not exactly the image he wanted to portray. However there was one small issue holding him back.

Dragon hide was surprisingly difficult to work with. It was tough, not partially mobile when it came to textiles, and also scaled. It made hammering nails or needles through it incredibly tedious and difficult. Beyond that, it took several hours of effort to beat and turn the skin into something really usable. He had spent some ages fashioning himself a rather ornamental blade, no larger than a particularly impressive letter opener, in the once cold forges of the Mountain. It was a simple blade, all things considered. Straight and pointed, ground into a sharpened edge with a whetstone. The handle he fashioned out of dragonbone, and felt like it had a vaguely old Vacuo origin to it with a built- in curve at the pommel and a flair at the top of the handle to support the circular crossguard. He had wrapped the surprisingly porous handle with the dragon hide. For something as simple as wrapping a handle, it took far, far too long. Countless dream days spent trying to figure out just exactly how one worked Dragonhide into usable leather. A pile of the stuff that was shredded, torn, cracked and other words for dismantled lay beside him, ruined in his attempts to turn it into a handle. He had done it in the end, after hours of learning, sweating, failing and trying again and again. Of shattering and rendering materials from a dying species that had yet to ever been seen to the eyes of man, a carcass worth its weight in gold, nay, platinum or even diamond, if it was even possible to price the corpse of a dragon.

Jaune sighed, looking away from the obstinate hide on his desk. He leaned back in his chair, staring at the ceiling. Today was the day that he would leave for his first mission. One that was deceptively dangerous, apparently. He counted his breaths, passing the time in a rather uninteresting boredom. Shaking his head and deciding that he simply must do something, anything, he moved over to his backpack quiver thing combo. He looked down at the top opening, practically spilling over with handles. Jaune pulled one out. It was a sword, one from the dwarven catacombs. He shrugged, putting it onto his bed. He pulled out another blade, but this one's origin was the Eternal City, as evidenced by its rounded pommel and crossguard, along with its non symmetrical pointed blade. He looked at his bed, trying to figure out where he was going to put it. Did he section them by origin, or by their typing?

He decided to put the blade in its own pile.

And so it began, a great sorting of his plethora of armaments. They piled on higher and higher, reaching towering scopes that he didn't think possible. Mostly because the ranger didn't think he had hoarded that much stuff. Scrolls, Scraps, Swords, Sheathes, Spears, Shields, Shanks, Sagas, Secrets, and other nouns that start with S and other nouns that did not start with S piled high upon almost every surface of his room. He had started cataloging them at one point, even bothering to go back and mark down the ones he had sorted previously. At first it was a single page, front and back. Then it became two, then it became ten, then it became twenty. Jaune stopped keeping track after page forty seven. He had ended up using a considerable amount more sheets than those forty seven however. He found himself interrupted, however, with a knock at his door.

Jaune straightened up, straightening his shirt from wrinkles. He stood up, marching to the door that led to the hall, walking through the common space he shared with his nonexistent suitemates. He cracked it open, looking at the collection of people that had gathered.

"Ms. Altan." He greeted the group's head, giving the dark lioness a greeting nod. "And company." he looked up at Reese, Sun, and Nadir. "What brings you to my humble abode?"

Reese craned her neck to peer over the tall man's shoulder. Jaune, confused at the action, turned his head to peer behind him. Upon seeing nothing there, he raised an eyebrow at the green head.

What does she want? Jaune pondered, perplexed slightly.

A shrugged. Maybe you should invite them in? I think that's a normal polite thing that normal people do. B nodded in agreement, distinctly remembering Mrs. Arc inviting people into their home many, many times.

Yeah, that sounds about right. Jaune responded, backing away from the door and holding it open for the group. "Would you like to come in?" He offered them. Arslan was frankly surprised at the offer, but accepted it anyway. She boldly strode into the poorly lit common room, looking around. Despite Jaune clearly doing his best to not have his stuff in here, his very presence seemed to bleed into the room. A tapestry was left in one of the chairs, some historical artifact from a place that doesn't exist. The flowers that were once in Jaune's hair were now lined up on the square side table, contained in temporary vases (in reality, they were glass bottles from the nights Jaune forced himself to sleep. But Arslan didn't need to know that.) But what was far, far more interesting was the armory of weapons

Reese, Nadir, and Sun soon followed after her, taking in the living space. Jaune gave them a small, embarrassed smile as he scratched the back of his head. "I apologize if it's a bit of a mess. I am in the midst of some reorganizing." He admitted. Sun just looked around at the plethora of weapons, peeping into Jaune's room.

"Damn, J, some reorganizing?" He asked him incredulously. "You sure you're not preparing to overthrow the government?".

Jaune tilted his head at the monkey faunus. "I mean, I suppose I could? I mean if anyone really wanted to, they could." he shrugged, pulling a spear from the farther corners of the abandoned flat lake he had started his venture into the dream from. He inspected it carefully, running a finger across the flat of the blade. "But I fear I would need some more modern weapons to overthrow a government. A spear is fine for breaking flesh and bone, but very few have the capacity to outpace a firearm with such an armament." he rested the polearm back to where it was, next to its small collection of lakeside weaponry that he had managed to scavenge.

Reese flopped down on a chair, immediately jumping up with her pale green aura flashing. "Ow!" She yelped, pulling out a rather ornamental looking dagger. "What the hell, man?" She asked Jaune, rubbing her butt. She was fortunate enough to have Aura, which protected her behind.

"Sorry." he apologized, taking the dagger from her and carefully placing it on a table. "Probably should have warned you. Don't sit anywhere."

"Right. So why don't you use guns?" She asked, sitting down much more carefully this time around. "I mean, if they're superior to the majority of your, ah, collection?"

Jaune made a puffing sound, giving her a small smile. "Because I don't like them. And besides, look around you. Does it look like, in my countless ages of collection and acquisition, I have any skill in such weaponry?"

Reese pieced the words together. Eventually coming to the intended interpretation. "Just exactly how long have you been, uh, collecting?" She asked him. Jaune made a growling sound, clearly not knowing the answer.

"I honestly have lost track. I don't even think I can really remember when I started." He admitted. Arslan peered into Jaune's room from the open door. Jaune walked over to her, looking into the room with her.

'`Yeah, it's quite a sight, isn't it?" he said, gazing into the impressive piles. "I wonder sometimes how many museums worth of history I have collected over my… stints in the Dream." he posed. Arslan tentatively walked in, waiting for Jaune to pull her away. But his firm grasp or warning words never came. So she took the opportunity to take in the rangers collection. It was indeed impressive. She ran a hand over some of the miscellaneous collections of Jaune's dreams. She looked at the tapestries, carefully folded and stacked on eachother. She inspected the books that he had, aged with the entire ravages of a desolate time. Her eye was drawn to the collapsed lump of red scaled hide. She ran her fingers through it, pooling it into her hands. It wasn't quite like anything she had seen before. This was unlike those snake skins. The scales were simply massive, almost plates alone, much less in conjunction with their brethren. It also had this luster and color she had yet to know to be from any reptile, and the sample was far, far too large to be easily available. Whatever beast these yards came from must have been truly gigantic.

"What is this?" She asked him, turning to show him the material. "This is-"

"It's a dragon's hide." he answered her simply, as though it was a common conclusion. Sun snorted, choking on air.
"Come on, man, don't pull our leg like that." he complained. Jaune ignored him, striding into his room to join the lioness. "I managed to make something of it though." he rummaged around one of the piles, pulling out the blade he had crafted in the dream. It was a ironically beautiful weapon, as rough as it's craftsmanship was. A jagged edge betraying it's straightened lines, a smoothed handle wrapped in dragonscale, hinting at it's tactile roughness. Simple, barbaric, but so oddly elegant. Arslan gently took the offered blade into her hands, deftly gripping it. Jaune backed away as she gave it an experimental swing, a small arc thrashing through the air. The feel of the dragon skin was interesting, but similar enough to snakeskin that it was not entirely unfamiliar.

"It's…" She started, finding herself almost at a loss for words. "It is a pretty blade." She finally managed.

"It is a pretty blade." Jaune agreed, gently taking it from her and putting it away in a matching dragon hide sheath.

Arslan decided to change the topic, moving to something she had meant to bring up over the last week, but somehow had failed to do so. Not that it was entirely her fault, as she had only seen the ranger once that week. That was during combat class, where she watched him mop the floor with a rather unfortunate student. He had promptly disappeared after that, seeing that he had met his weekly quota of classes apparently. "Have you managed to talk to someone yet?" She asked him, surreptitiously closing the door with the back of her heel. The others didn't need to be a part of this.

Jaune moved to lean against the window frame, resting his hand behind his back and more importantly, on the latch that opened the window.

"I did. I spoke to Dr. Cortez, who connected me with Dr. Cayton." Jaune answered. "I'll be honest, I am afraid I scared him." He chuckled.

Arslan raised an eyebrow. She was aware of who Dr. Cayton was, being Sebastian Cortez's therapist. The teacher had spent several classes worth of time telling them about particularly interesting sessions or good advice that Dr. Cayton had given him. Man, if Jaune scared the man who works with Dr. Cortez- She thought, worried. She wasn't sure who she was worried for, Jaune or his therapist.

"What did you tell him?" She asked, before immediately backtracking. "If you want to tell me of course. I fully understand that things between you and your therapist are confidential, I didn't mean to intrude-" Jaune stopped her with an open hand, a kind smile on his face.

He gave her a wheezing sound in between a laugh and a sigh. "It's fine, Ms. Altan. I… told him the truth, whatever it may be."

Arslan hummed, nodding. She wondered what the truth was, and how poor Dr. Cayton handled it. That being said, Dr. Dirk Cayton handled it as well as any sane man could. Being that he went immediately home after their several hour long session and opened up a bottle of whiskey. He had made it through about three shots when his wife came back from wherever she went today. "You're back early." she noted, then noted the open bottle. "Oh, no. did Sebastian break your brains again?"

Dirk laughed, wiping at his eyes. "Oh, baby, I wish it was Sebastian I had today. I was one of his students. A first year"

His wife, Bevere, let out a sigh as she took a seat next to him. "Well, that doesn't sound so bad. The first years are pretty tame."

Dirk gave her a wistful look. "I wish baby, I wish. You wanna know what the first thing he did was when he entered my office?"

"What?" Bevere asked, moving the bottle away from her husband. She knew that he, while no stranger to liquor, did not hold it as well as one might assume a slightly overweight middle aged man to.

"He moved his chair to the back corner. Facing the window and the door." he sighed. "He moved his chair to a place as though he had a hit on him." He shook his head, rubbing at the bridge of his nose. "He kept himself tucked away in that corner for the entire time." he reached for his glass, and was disappointed that it was empty. "You should have seen his Rorschach test. It was… frankly it was disturbing." He admitted to Bevere. "I haven't seen a patient like him, babe. I'm not sure I can help this boy." He managed to snag the bottle from his wife's lap, pouring himself another serving. "The things he's told me, it's…" he downed the shot, wagging his tongue to work the alcohol down. "He's a mess, Bevere, my god is he a mess." he sobbed, replacing the bottle in her lap with his head.

"I'm sure you can be of great help to this boy, D, You thought the same thing about Sebastian for a long time, and look where he is now?"

Dirk raised an eyebrow at her. "You mean a rampaging sociopath with an apathetic disdain and a taste for chaos?"

She shrugged. "But he's happy now, isn't he?" the woman asked Dirk, running her fingers through his hair

The pudgy man sighed in surrender. "Yes. I suppose he is. As much as I fear for the human race because of it." he chuckled, leaning into his wife's grasp. He didn't further elaborate his concerns.

Jaune shrugged. "I'm sure he's fine." he said, reading Arslan's face rather aptly. "He's a therapist. He probably has to deal with worse than me." He gave a small laugh, before cringing internally, really knowing that he was probably wrong.

"Did you find it useful?" The lioness asked him. He just shrugged, unsure.

"I don't know yet. He really didn't say anything down, Dr. Cayton just kind of wrote things down and then once we ran out time ushered me out." Jaune scratched the back of his head again, a kind of oddly humanizing tick for the otherwise unnatural ranger. Arslan was about to speak again, when their scrolls buzzed simultaneously. While Arslans was set on the silent buzzing sound, Jaune's played an oddly cheerily little whistling doot.

"That's your ringtone?" She asked him. He shrugged, sliding it open.

"Ah. Dr. Cortez has given us the warning that it's time to get ready for our most arduous adventure." He looked around his room, and his associated piles of stuff. "I fear that I won't be able to fit everything back where it belongs."

Arslan turned to look at him from the door. "Where does it go?" She asked him. He lifted his quiver. Arslan laughed.

"Funny. But seriously, where does all this stuff go? I can't imagine that you fit it in all of your locker-" She posed, her eyes landing on the quiver once more. He held it up, giving her his answer.

"No. Absolutely not. You have to be joking." She said in horror as Jaune grabbed a long sword from his bed. It slid easily into the quiver, despite the sword being at least a whole fourth longer than the quiver itself.

Arslan recoiled in disbelief and some form of existential fear as she watched it get stored away in the leather cylinder. "Madestre Fallal?" She said to herself, wide eyed. Sun instantly peaked his head in.

"Did I just hear Arslan curse?" he asked, sounding almost proud of her.

"Jaune just put a sword in his quiver!" She exclaimed, pointing at the quiver. Sun tilted his head, confused as to why this was a big deal. Arslan, seeing that the monkey faunus didn't quite grasp the point, asked Jaune to do it again. The ranger in question raised an eyebrow, grabbing a nearby spear. It slid into the quiver completely, seemingly collapsing down to a reasonable size. Sun jumped back, bug eyed at the miraculous thing that had happened in front of him. "What the fuck? How did you do that!?" the monkey faunus yelled, jumping forward to look down the quiver. Arslan grabbed him by the back of his shirt, pulling him away and flat on his ass.

"Sun! You can't just jump him like that!" She growled, chastising the monkey faunus. He just rubbed at his butt, soothing it from his harsh fall.

"Yeah, yeah mom." He rolled his eyes. "But seriously, how did you do that?" He asked Jaune. Jaune just shrugged.

"I've decided not to think about it. Many aspects of the Dream are confusing." he responded sagely, shoving another collection of weaponry into his quiver with great haste. Arslan hung her head in defeat after he had slid an entire greatsword into the thing without a trace being left.

And another chapter done! I wasn't really sure how to end this one, but I figured this would do about as well as any other. But as promised, Jaune did go to therapy. There has also been a time skip of about a week or so, just to clarify. I figured that it would be too long to one: recap the entire dream, and not necessary.

Poor Arslan and team conspiracy. They have just been confused, confuzzeled, bewildered, and quite possibly bamboozled by Jaune's magic Quiver (+3 magic item). And for those expecting a dream chapter, wait a little. it should be two(?) chapters until we get there. But we do set off in our first mission, which should really move forward some major plot points in the waking world, including the formation of [REDACTED].

As always, please leave your comments, reviews, and spinfoil theories in the reviews! Peace, and thank you for reading!