Cuts of RWBY
A RWBY Fic Collection by AndrewJTalon
DISCLAIMER: This is a fan based work of prose. RWBY is the property of Rooster Teeth and WB Animation. Please support the official release.
Just a collection of plot bunnies and ideas for RWBY fics. Free for you to take and make use of.
For instance... What if Jaune showed his qualities as a leader?
Blake had not been enjoying this mission at all if she were being honest. Weiss even less so, which made their bickering worse.
They were to accompany Team JNPR on a low-level mission to a village out in East Sanus to protect it from Grimm, and to resolve the issue that caused Grimm to multiply. Apparently the local farm workers were demanding higher wages, and the company that employed them was denying them those raises.
Blake had initially sympathized with the farm workers when they arrived and started killing Grimm. She'd even encouraged a few of them to strike back at the company. Then they'd gotten mad with her, and so had Ruby and Jaune.
Jaune had taken her aside when they got a moment of peace between Grimm raids in one of the fields.
"Blake," Jaune stated, "This isn't helping the mission."
"These people are clearly being oppressed by those with more power-"
"Blake!" Jaune growled. "I thought that a reformed terrorist would have realized the world isn't so black and white."
Blake winced.
"I-How do you-?"
"Ruby told me," Jaune stated, "I asked for information on anything that might compromise the mission. I think that's a pretty big red flag."
"So what, you're going to hold my past against me-?"
"I won't hold anything against you as long as you obey Ruby and I and keep these people alive," Jaune retorted, his voice hard as steel. That took Blake aback briefly.
Blake glared heatedly at him, expecting the goofy young man to back down. He always did when Weiss snarled.
"Injustice isn't something you can just ignore-!"
"The argument between these people is going to get everyone here killed," Jaune stated firmly, glaring back at her, "If we don't resolve it, more people will die. We can fix people being poor or rich later, but right now? The priority is people's lives. Got it?"
She frowned, and slowly nodded. In all honesty, she'd gotten used to Ruby's style of leadership: Get yelled at until they finally did what she wanted done and fight whatever was threatening them.
Jaune... His team obeyed him without question. He didn't have to yell, except when things were loud. Even Nora, the hyperactive ball of energy, followed Jaune's orders. Not always to the letter, but she got it done.
He was very... Focused. Honestly, he hadn't hit on Weiss once. Something the heiress seemed to disbelieve, given the looks she kept giving him.
The real eye opener was the meeting at the village hall, with the company representative on one side of the wooden assembly room, the worker's rep on the other, the village mayor at her desk on the top of the square, and Teams RWBY and JNPR on the bottom.
The farm workers rep began. She was a built woman with her brunette hair in a tight bun and wore overalls. She angrily decried the company not paying them overtime due to the Grimm attacks, accusing them of being like the SDC with price gouging.
Weiss had very nearly leaped to her feet at that, but Jaune had reached out and held her back without looking. All of Team RWBY was very surprised at that. Pyrrha had just smiled warmly, while Ren remained calm and Nora grinned.
Then the company rep, a local, equally well built balding redheaded man in somewhat nicer clothes than the rep, gave his side of things.
"We haven't been able to increase wages because the Grimm attacks are hurting our ability to get resupply through," he stated, "We're not hording anything. We're not being greedy. Those are the damn facts, you stubborn jackass! If we could get spare parts for the farm equipment, we wouldn't have this issue! But you keep attacking us and drawing these damn Grimm here!"
"You're the one who keeps sending our workers out to the fields when Grimm are around!" The worker rep shouted back.
"Would you rather starve?! We paid Hunters to come out here-!"
"Hunters in training! A bunch of kids!" The worker rep sneered.
"And they did the job!" The company rep shouted. He glared. "If I could hire them instead of you bozos, I'd do it in a heartbeat!"
"Oh you'd like that, wouldn't you?! What if we all walk off the job?!"
"Where's the food gonna come from, jackass?!"
"You've got plenty of fertilizer coming out of your damn-!"
Jaune nodded to Nora. She slammed her hammer onto the floor, making a loud BANG! Everyone started. Jaune nodded.
"Okay, now that I have your attention," Jaune said, "We were asked to arbitrate and settle the dispute. So that's what we're going to do." Jaune turned to the farm worker's rep.
"It is true, given all the work I've seen you guys doing under these conditions, you could definitely use a raise," he said, "Fighting Grimm even as a Hunter is difficult, fighting them off while farming? That's really tough. So yes, you're absolutely right. Under these conditions, you should get more money."
The farm worker rep smirked in triumph, as Weiss balked. Blake smirked a little herself.
"However," Jaune turned to the company rep, "The company isn't your enemy here. If they don't have the money and can't get supplies through, then that's the fault of the Grimm, not them. You both need eachother. Plain and simple. The company rep is a guy from your village-You're in this together, he's not some guy with no stakes in this at all."
The company rep smirked nastily back at the farm worker rep. She glared back.
"And both of you need to stop treating this like your own personal feud," Jaune went on, and both reps glared at him.
"How dare you-!"
"You little-!"
"You're divorced," Jaune said blandly. The village mayor coughed and shrugged as both reps glared at her.
"He did ask about you two before we began," the mayor said.
"So," Jaune said, "With that in mind? Let's work on figuring out what we can do about the current situation, in a way that we can all agree on. At least for the time being."
As it turned out, the farming equipment all required one main component to function: An energy converter for Dust to electricity. Jaune had some of the worn out ones brought in. He handed them to Yang and Ruby.
"You guys know motorcycles and engineering," he said, "Is there any way we can fix these?"
"Hmm," Ruby hummed, "Maybe. The thing is, the conversion coils wear out and get warped over time. If we had a really strong magnetic field, we might be able to get them into some kind of working condition?"
"It wouldn't be a long term fix," Yang warned, "But I've been able to keep Bumblebee running on refurbished converters for a few months longer than they would have lasted otherwise."
Jaune turned to Pyrrha.
"Pyrrha?"
Happily, Pyrrha used her Semblance, with Ruby and Yang's guidance, to warp the coils back into some shape. They then went out to a tractor, and tested it out. The converter failed to start once, but the next time, the machine roared to life.
"Okay," Jaune said, turning back to the mayor and the two reps, "If we can refurbish some converters for you, can you resume work long enough to get the supply chain going again?"
The farm worker rep frowned, but slowly nodded her head.
"I think we can," she said, side eyeing her ex-husband, "We'll have to go slow but it's doable."
"Slow is better than nothing," the company rep agreed, "If you could do the same for a few of the supply trucks, we might be able to get some more from a trading outpost nearby?"
Jaune looked at Pyrrha, who beamed.
"Leave it to me, Jaune!"
"All right," Jaune said with a warm smile, "I'd call that a done deal!"
Pyrrha worked very hard with Yang and Ruby to fix as many converters as possible. Blake and Weiss had helped out wherever they could, mostly by going on patrols around the village with Ren, Nora, and Jaune. On one such patrol, she went out with Jaune around the perimeter. They didn't say much until they got outside. Then...
"You were... Surprising," Blake admitted.
Jaune blinked.
"Hm?"
"Tonight," Blake said, "You stayed calm and in control the whole time. You found a solution to the problem."
Jaune sighed and shook his head.
"We bought them some time. Pyrrha, Yang and Ruby figured out the solution," he said, "It's temporary, and it doesn't solve a lot of their other problems-"
"No, but it keeps people alive," Blake said quietly. "Isn't that the main priority?"
Jaune stared at her for a long moment... Then he smiled. She found it in herself to smile back.
"Yeah," he said.
"I do have to ask," Blake continued, "How did you... Keep cool? Negotiate so well?"
Jaune shrugged, scanning the horizon.
"My dad's head of Radian's militia. We don't have a police department, just a Ranger station. They mainly deal with crimes outside the walls, so the militia has to handle a lot of disputes. Domestic stuff, whose cow tramples whose fence, stuff like that. My dad did a lot of conflict resolution, and brought my sisters and I along. My mom's a doctor and pretty well respected, too, so she handles stuff like that as well. And my sister Tanya? She's a really cutthroat businesswoman. She was trading in candy, toys and money since she was like, seven."
"But you're... At Beacon, you're always so..." She trailed off.
Jaune shrugged.
"I guess... I feel more comfortable here," he admitted, "At Beacon, I... I know I don't know what I'm doing, so I..."
"Overcompensate," Blake said.
He smiled and shrugged. "I guess, yeah. Everyone at Beacon is judged based on how well they can be Hunters and... And I'm not good at that. Here I know what to be."
"I think... Being like this would be a lot better at Beacon," Blake said softly.
"Really?" Jaune asked, blinking.
"Definitely," Blake smiled. "Even if you don't know what you're doing, acting it up to be goofy? That doesn't inspire confidence. But here... You're someone who does. That can definitely make all the difference."
Jaune nodded.
"Maybe... Thanks Blake."
"Any time."