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"And bend down, touch your toes…" Jaune did as he was told while May watched, pacing around him in his quarters and nodding when he could straighten back up. Smiling, she said, "You look back to one hundred to me at least. Turning is good, no weird twitches in your back or stomach like I've read can happen with deep cuts, and no pain. Right?"
"Right."
"Then I'd say you have a clean bill of health, far as I can see." May smiled, pacing around him to gently run a hand along the ragged, pinkish scar along his front. She pressed down occasionally, looking up for a reaction, but he just shrugged each time and, finally, she nodded. "Good. Scar is healed properly, too."
"Can they heal wrong…?"
"Yeah." May nodded, "The skin can be too thin over muscle or, worse, the innards. Stress 'em too much and, well… Sploosh."
"Ew…"
"Yeah, 'ew' is underselling how bad it can be." May snorted, face darkening as she padded over to his bed and got to work packing up her supplies and bagging the barely-dirty bandages she'd unrolled off of him. She talked while she worked, "I haven't seen that, but… I've seen enough innards become outards to know that we do not want to see that here."
"Yeah, let's not…" Jaune shuddered at the thought - both seeing it and feeling it. "Especially because you, Fiona, Ruby and probably Gnarl would que up to kill me if I did something like that…"
"And half the work crews, yeah." May chuckled, waving him off and turning to leave. "Well, at least now you don't have to worry about me heckling you every day."
"And you," he smiled, "don't have to worry about Fiona heckling you every night."
"Smart ass…"
He snorted and let her go, grabbing his thin wool sweater and pulling it on - enjoying the much better heating system now that it had been fully installed and set up. It was still brisk, because Atlas would always be brisk, but it was nowhere near the piercing cold he'd come to expect if he didnt bundle up and the Minions forgot to stock the braziers. Now, though, his leather breeches and a simple sweatshirt were enough to get by. Not that he had a lot of choice, given his hoodie and jeans had been ruined when he…
Well, died.
"I'll have to add 'em to the list." He sighed, trying and failing to remember if he already had and just… Hadn't gotten around to it yet.
More importantly, he paced over to the corner by the door and sighed. His old armor hung there, set up on a wooden pedestal Ruby had made for him. The mail was ruined, twisted and warped all the way down his torso like it had been melted. And one of the shoulder pieces had fared just as poorly, melted on the front and hanging unevenly. He tapped it with a sigh and shook his head. It had done its job as best it could, but… It was a shame to lose it.
He'd gotten used to the weight of it.
"Good work, old friend." He murmured, trailing a finger down the ragged tear that had ruined it, and almost done the same to him. "Good work…"
"Jaune…?" He turned as Ruby shuffled in, wearing a pair of loose cargo pants and a black tank top and flanked by a couple of Minions. She saw what he was looking at and grimaced, pacing over towards it while the little creatures dragged a huge box on a rolling cart along behind her. When she joined him, she looked at the suit and frowned, reaching up to run her own fingers along the ruined metal. "It… Looks even worse than I remembered."
"Yeah, it felt pretty bad, too." He chuckled, "I think I'm gonna keep it. A reminder, you know?"
"Yeah…" Ruby hummed, turning to look up at him. "I don't much need one of those, though."
"Yeah?"
"I mean… I have you, right?" She smiled, leaning just a bit closer to him. Cocking her head to the side, she added, "You died, ya know? And then you almost did it again… For me. I don't think I'll ever say thanks enough for that."
"Eh." He shrugged, "You gave me a new axe. I'd say we're even."
"You're worth more than an axe, Jaune…"
"I know, I was only jok-" She thumped him on the chest and crossed her arms, pouting, and Jaune sighed and waved it off. "Right, right… Sorry, Ruby."
"You should be." She grunted, turning and leaning into his side. Rolling his eyes, he hugged her and she smiled. Which he took as her accepting his apology when she pulled away and waved the tired looking Minions over. Grabbing the crowbar off the top, she smiled and said, "Thanks, Wretch. Glint."
"Yes…" One rasped while the other just wheezed a bit, shuffling after the first while Ruby got to work on the crate.
"You named them…?"
"They all have names, Jaune." Ruby laughed, pushing the lid off and peeling open the packing cloth inside. "Now c'mere and help me get this out."
"Alright…" He sighed, coming over to help. "What is it?"
"Armor parts." Ruby chirped, pulling out an old looking Atlas breastplate with a deep gouge across the front and grimacing as she tossed it onto his bed, "Fiona had 'em packed up and sent over. It's only whatever the Huntresses could scrounge up, but…"
"Parts to work with?"
"And materials." Ruby nodded, "I'm not great at armor, not like I am weapons, but… Well, I should be able to manage with the right stuff."
"At least better than nothing, right?"
"I mean…" She shrugged sheepishly, "I can hope, yeah. Mostly I just want input on designs and materials."
In the end, they ended up with a mostly uneven pile of discarded Atlesian armor plates, lengths of layered armored gloves, and padded leather that wasn't thick enough to keep warm up in the Mantle weather. Another pile of cloth, tassels, ties and wraps was on the floor - along with about ten military caps, for whatever reason, that Ruby just casually bagged up with a little smile. Slowly, Ruby sorted them out better into smaller piles based on what kinds of metals they were, what she could do with them, and what kinds of cloth she had on hand. And, of course, how easy she expected it'd be to get more.
From there, Ruby just turned and asked, "So, what kind of gear do you want?"
"How do you mean…?"
"Well…" She frowned, pacing around in front of him, sighing, and leaning against his chest with her arms crossed. Jaune just blinked at the gesture, then shrugged and rested a hand on her hip to keep her steady, so she wouldn't fall into the mess of metal and cloth around them. "You were running pretty heavy before. I can try and get that again, but it'll cost a bit. Like, I can reforge the plates myself. That's just metal-molding, kinda sorta. But chain and padded cloth will be… Harder. I'll have to just buy sections and shape it."
"Which is expensive…"
"Yeah, but… No Aura." She waved a hand at him and shook her head. "So… I'm guessing you'll want it decently heavy?"
"Like before, yeah."
"Right." She sighed, pushing off of him and picking up a couple of armor plates. She held them up to him and said, "Which material do you like better?"
"What's the difference…?" He asked, taking one in each hand. The bigger one was the front of an Atlesian chest-plate, the one with the gouge down its middle that told Jaune exactly what had happened to its owner. The other, though, was a smaller blue ovular piece, wide enough to cover the chest but almost completely flat.
"An interceptor pilot's chest-plate." Ruby explained when she saw him looking, "It's a lighter material, so using it for your plates would make moving way easier. But…"
"It's not as sturdy?"
"It's a trade-off." Ruby defended quietly, sitting at the edge of his bed and pulling a little note-pad out of a pack on the small of her waist. Making notes in it, she went on, "Both will stop bullets and claws, neither will stop Crescent Rose or, like, an Ursa, and neither will stop a bullet from something like Crescent Rose. But the soldier piece will stop bigger, in exchange for a bit more weight."
"Then the second." He grunted, tapping the damaged plate with a thumb before letting Ruby take them and grimacing. "Right?"
"It's up to you, Jaune…"
"What do you suggest…?" He asked, shrugging when she gave him a flat, unamused little look. "I don't have any experience here, Ruby. I trust you more than I do myself on this."
"The first." She answered after a second, flicking him a nervous look and then looking back to her notebook, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "Most of what can break it will break you even if the armor holds, and… Speed matters, too."
"Then use the second." He smiled, "I already know how useful mobility can be, with my teleporting."
"O-Okay, then, if you're sure…" She smiled, busy sketching away in her notebook. "I'm just getting your preferences. I figured I knew the answer, but… Well, I wanted to be sure."
"Alright…" He hummed, leaning forward, "What'cha drawing?"
"Design drafts- Hey, no peeking!" She flushed, scowling up at him with her lips pursed. He held his hands up in surrender while she went back to sketching and Jaune knelt to look at the cloth. Seeing him working there, she said, "Cotton mixes, for texture. They're all about as protective as each other, but… Well, comfort is important."
"You're taking this very seriously…"
"I'm making you armor." Ruby answered, looking up and reiterating, "Armor. For you. So you don't almost die again, hopefully. It's important."
"Fair, fair." He chuckled, tossing a dark red strip tied in a tassel at her. She caught it and he grunted, "I like that one best. Feels nice on my skin."
From there, the next hour or so passed in the same way. Ruby asked him questions, he tried his best to answer, and he asked her questions. Questions she answered easily. And while they went back and forth, he kept trying to get a peek at her notebook. Which she did just as well at keeping him from seeing, no matter how hard he tried, or how slick he was trying to be. To be fair, whenever he managed to get too close she could just… Whoosh to another spot on his bed, away from him, with her Semblance. Which…
Well, wasn't fair at all, really.
Eventually, though, she clapped her notebook closed, stood, and stretched her back out with a groan Jaune politely turned away from. Sighing, she straightened and said, "Okay, I think I'm done… And besides, Fiona is expecting you."
"She is…?" His brows furrowed and he turned, just in time to feel Ruby's weight settle over a shoulder, leaning around from behind him to press a kiss to his cheek before she shot off towards the door.
"Yep!" She called, leaning around the corner with scarlet cheeks. "S-She's in the library!"
"Okay…?" He blinked, watching her vanish. Idly, he touched his cheek before he shrugged and looked at the mess she'd made. He had just long enough to process it when half a dozen Minions came shuffling in and started cleaning, stuffing everything back into the box on the cart. So, shrugging, he stepped past them and headed towards the archives.
When he got there, he found the door unguarded and open, the smell of…
"Spaghetti…?" He murmured, confused for a moment as he stepped in.
Inside, the room was dimly lit, with most of the lights only recently installed turned off and the torches lit instead. A table had been brought in, right next to the crystal, and a heavy bowl of pasta was waiting with a basket of bread beside it and a bucket of ice on the floor with a wine glass and a few cans of, he found when he went over to look, grape soda in it.
"Soda…?"
"I-I heard from Ruby you were still under-age for drinking." He heard behind him, turning to watch Fiona come in. Instead of her usual Huntress fatigues, though, she was dressed in a long black skirt and a new looking, tighter grey blouse, and had her hair brushed straighter. She smiled when, blinking, he finally stopped staring and turned to look at her. Waving her hands nervously, she said, "Um… Ruby and I talked and figured, you know… Date night!"
"Date night…?" He blinked, "But all Ruby and I did was talk about metals and armor and technical details and- Okay, starting to see it now."
"Yep, we're… Making the whole 'Overlord' thing work so- Sit!" She waved at the table and, chuckling, Jaune did as she said. Joining him, Fiona stammered, "I-I know spaghetti and grape soda isn't exactly, you know, the peak of romance, but… It'd hard to get stuff out here. Robyn tries, but-"
"I love spaghetti and grape soda, Fi." He smiled, grabbing her hand with his bare one and squeezing it reassuringly. "And I get it. It's hard to find things out here."
"Yeah…" She smiled, "Sorry, I'm just nervous. I don't really do dates. Not a lot of time, you know?"
"I can imagine." Even before coming here, he knew she's spent most of her time with the Huntresses, fighting Grimm. And Atlas, too. But beyond that… Scooping out a plateful of spaghetti and handing her the spoon, he said, "You know, I just realised I… Don't know much about Mantle."
"Mantle…?" She paused mid-scoop, brows furrowed, "Like, the city?"
"It's where you're from, isn't it?"
"I'm from Mistral, originally, but… That was as a baby." He raised an eyebrow and she grimaced, "Long, sad story."
"I don't mind hearing it anyways if you don't mind telling me." He smiled and, after she grimaced, added, "I just want to know you better, I guess. Plus, you know, I died. I think that puts me in the running for 'who has the saddest backstory' doesn't it?"
"I'd… Rather not talk about that, i-if that's okay?" She grimaced and scooped out her portion, sighing, "It'd ruin my mood. And I really want tonight to be, um… Special."
"Okay."
"Okay…?" She blinked, finally meeting his gaze.
"I want to know more, but I don't want to upset you. Defeats the point, you know?" He shrugged, grabbing a couple breadsticks and offering her one. She blinked and, breaking his breadstick in half, Jaune went on, "I'd still like to know more about after, though. If you don't mind?"
"...Sure, but you should eat before we end up wasting the spaghetti."
Jaune blinked and flicked her a look, "Why would we waste-"
"By the time I was nine," she cut him off, flushing brightly and pouring herself a glass of wine, "I was already living in Mantle with my aunt and uncle. It was… Nice, I guess. I went to a crummy school, like everyone in Mantle does, and played with my friends in the alleys. It wasn't bad, or anything, but… Kinda boring, I guess?"
"My story is the same," he smiled, "so I get it. But how does that lead you to the Huntresses?"
"How does a peaceful childhood lead you to dying in a canyon?"
"Oof." He grunted, playfully grabbing his side, "You wound me."
"To answer your question…" She sighed, buying some time with a bite of food. "Well, I played with Faunus and Humans. Growing up, more and more I started to see how people treated us differently. The straw that broke the camel's back was when I was sixteen, and got my first job. I made three dollars less an hour than the other three new hires, all Human."
"Racism…?"
"I also was barred from the kitchen and had police asking if I 'knew anything' about the White Fang, so…" She grimaced, "Yeah. From there, everything just sort of… Ran, one thing to another, until I was in politics. Then I met Robyn and yadda yadda, here we are after about seven years?"
"I still can't believe there are people like that…" He sighed, "Don't we have enough problems with the Grimm?"
"Exactly!" Fiona sighed, sounding exasperated just thinking about it. Stabbing her fork into what was left of her food, she went on, "Like, it's as if they don't know hatred and suffering will just make everything worse! And the worst part is, when people get upset about all of that, they say Faunus are bad luck!?"
"Seriously?"
"Apparently I 'lure the Grimm'." Fiona sighed, rolling her eyes around the last bite of her spaghetti. Waving her fork at him, she said, "So, ya know, you better watch out."
"Eh, let the Grimm come." He shrugged, "You're worth fighting every last one of 'em off."
"Y-Yeah?"
"Of course." He smiled, "Didn't we meet when I literally did that?"
"...Fair." She chuckled, shooting his empty plate a look and hopping up. He stood when she grabbed his dishes, but she just waved for him to sit and smiled brightly, if… Anxiously. "I-I have a little cart outside, the Minions can get it. Just, uh, wait a sec and I'll bring, um, desert!"
"Sure." He shrugged, easing back into his seat even if his instincts screamed at him to help her clean up. Instead, to pass the time while she took their empty bowl and plates away, he bent over to get a fresh drink. He'd only just started to pour it into his glass when Fiona came back and nervously pushed his cult out of his hand. Confused, he asked, "What-"
Then she slid into his lap and kissed him, pressing herself against his chest and pulling his hands around to her waist. And, a second later, just a bit further around and down. When she pulled away now, flushing brightly, Jaune could only see her smile and just barely registered her murmuring, "Um… Desert is here!"
He blinked slowly, for a second…
And then blinked again, "O-Oh!"
"Gods," Fiona smiled sheepishly, leaning back and pulling herself up onto the table, pulling him after her by the front of his shirt, "you are dense sometimes…"
He couldn't argue with that…
Mostly because his lips were a bit busy on her neck.
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Bit of a fluff chapter, but…
Eh, I needed to decompress a bit. And it was fun and cute, sue me. XD
Also, I wanted to pass ACTUAL TIME with Jaune recovering, getting new gear set up, and so on. I want very strongly to take my time with this fic, as rushing - or what I felt was rushing - in the first one lead to me feeling burnt out on it. And not fleshing out everything I wanted. So…
Hope you like it, lol.
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Red Demon Eye :
Yeah… 'Bonding'... .