"-une. Jaune! Wake up!"
He groaned in annoyance as he felt himself being shaken. Unfortunately, that didn't stop the shaking, in fact, it only increased in speed. "C'mon, Saph, 5 more minutes…"
His mumbling causes the shaking to stop for a moment, and he sighs in relief as he tucks back into his blanket. For all of 5 seconds, before he felt himself get physically pulled out of his bed by the arms, just barely catching himself with his feet so that he didn't faceplant into the ground.
"I'M AWAKE!"
He hadn't meant to shout that, but as his brain had caught up with him, he had realised where he was and who had woken him up. Blinking at Ruby and Yang, both of whom were still holding an arm of his, he frowned.
"Oh, yeah, right. Beacon. Why did you have to drag me out of bed so violently?"
"THIS IS WHY!" Ruby answered him by letting go of his arm and shoving her scroll in his face, the image on the screen being her lock screen, her and Yang as kids hanging from the arms of a blonde guy he had to assume was their dad… As well as the big 6:54 on top of it.
"Wait… classes start at 7, right? OH SHIT, CLASSES START AT 7!"
He immediately joined in the group panic that it seemed all of Fireteam JSBYRR was experiencing, as he saw all of the others already in the middle of frantically getting into their uniforms.
Before he could actually see anything else, however, he winced as a hand was slapped over his eyes. As his sight went black, Yang's voice entered his ear. "No peeking, Chief! You're gonna go stand over there and face the corner with Ren until we're all done!"
He didn't even argue, his sisters having essentially conditioned him for this as well, and walked over to the corner where Ren was sitting, intently staring at the wallpaper, and dropped to his butt next to his partner's.
They waited a minute or two, sitting there staring at the wall before Jaune started to get bored. Looking over at Ren, he smiled, waving a hand at the wallpaper. "It's a quality design. Beacon has good taste."
Ren glanced over at him, before looking at the plain, blank, vaguely cream-coloured wallpaper, before raising an eyebrow at him. "I'm unfamiliar with interior design, so I'll take your word for it."
Jaune just sighed at how easily his attempt at comedy had been brutally shut down by his new friend. A moment later, he heard an argument between Weiss and Ruby spark up over who would get the bathroom first.
Neither of them seemed to notice the noise of the bathroom door sliding open and then closing and locking. That was probably Blake, seeing as he could hear Yang's arm guards clipping into place on her wrists behind him.
A few minutes after that, all of the girls seemed to be done, as Ruby came over and tapped the two of them on the shoulder. "You're good to go now, sorry for taking so long."
Ren didn't say anything, just hopping to his feet and going over to his bed to get changed. All Jaune could do was shrug, sighing as he smiled at her. "Nah, it's not your fault. Or at least, it's not just your fault. We'll all set up some alarms for tomorrow so this doesn't happen again."
Ruby nodded at that, giving him a salute, before vanishing into a cloud of petals and shooting off into the hallway. Spotting that the girls were already gone from outside the door, he chuckled to himself as he changed into the Beacon uniform.
"I guess we're not arriving as a team, then…"
It turned out that Beacon… wasn't entirely about learning how to pilot mechanical giants and fighting humanity's enemies.
Sometimes, it seemed, it was about sitting in a lecture hall while a man with more moustache than face rambled on for a solid thirty minutes about a mission he had gone on in his youth to take down a Sea Feilong, which would likely be interesting… If not for the man's terrible skill at telling stories.
They were currently three tangents deep, as Professor Peter Port, their History teacher, explained to them about what substances were best to clean the inside of a cockpit after you had been injured and bled all over the controls.
Vinegar and Baking Soda, followed by a thorough scrubbing, and finally rinsing it all off with water. That process was now a thing he knew after today's lecture, instead of learning more about Arks and Grimm.
No wonder a solid third of the class seemed like they were distracted, and or sleepy.
Jaune was trying his best to pay attention, he really was. But the man was so boring, and the song that Ruby was humming to herself as she doodled on the margin of her notebook, kicking her feet the whole while, was far more interesting.
He vaguely recognised the song from an old fairy tale, and with nothing else to do, started humming along. Ruby noticed after a moment, sending a small smile his way, before looking back down at her doodling.
"But really, the best method is to beat the Grimm so spectacularly that you don't bleed on your cockpit! Ah, I seem to have gotten distracted, where was I? Let's see…"
Jaune sighed as Professor Port went through the sheets of paper in his hands, jumping in his seat slightly as the bell rang, sending all of the students scurrying out of the room. Out of fireteam JSBYRR, Ruby was finished packing up first, blitzing towards the door with her semblance, but the others weren't far behind.
Jaune was almost out of the room when he noticed that Blake was still sitting at her desk, her face buried in her book (very clearly not Ninjas of Love). He jogged back up to her and tapped her on the shoulder, and she jumped in shock, her amber eyes locking onto him.
"Hey, the bell just rang, everyone is heading to the next class."
She paused for a second, glancing down to Professor Port, who was facing the other way and packing up his items, frowning. "Turn around for a second."
He was a little confused as to why, but he faced away from her for a moment, and heard… The 'click' of a plastic box closing? She hummed, and Jaune took it as the signal to turn back around. He noticed that she was holding an earphone case in her hand, turning off some music she had been playing.
He didn't know why he had to turn around while she took them out of her ears, especially if she wasn't going to hide what she was doing when he looked again, but he would leave the girl to her quirks. God knows fireteam JSBYRR had enough of them.
She packed her stuff up quickly and they walked down to the door. On the way there, Blake nodded to him, her expression still fairly blank as she spoke. "Thanks for the heads up."
With that, she sped up slightly, clearly not wanting to talk any further. He couldn't help but sigh at that. He was hoping that she would have warmed up to him, to everyone even, once they were on a team together…
'Still, that is progress from a nod and no words… Maybe by semester two, I'll get a full conversation out of her!'
B A M!
"OOF!"
He felt his knees buckle from the force as Yang created a fist-shaped imprint in his Aura, but instead of the vomit-inducing impact he was expecting, he was simply thrown backwards onto the floor, rolling and coming to a stop.
He was shocked at how little it hurt, his Aura being even more of a shield during a fight than he was expecting, and it meant that he was a little slow getting up. This, unfortunately, gave Yang plenty of time to sprint over and grab him, throwing him outside of the 'ring' that Miss Goodwitch had set up.
A crack of Miss Goodwitch's riding crop caught both of their attention at that. "Yang Xiao Long wins this spar! Good work, Mr Arc and Miss Xiao Long. You will find my notes on your fight will be sent to you after this lesson. I expect you to be able to tell me what you need to improve on by the next class, and have already improved on at least one point I make."
Jaune pushed himself to his knees, rolling his shoulders. Aura may protect someone from damage, but physics was still physics, and being thrown onto stone flooring stung. "Gods, Yang. You're really awesome at this, aren't you?"
Yang extended a hand to help him up, a smirk on her face. "Oh c'mon, I'm not that good, you're just kinda not great at it, Chief. But hey, if you want, I can give you some pointers now and then, and I won't even charge you for it!"
She then hauled him up like he weighed nothing, his feet even leaving the ground for a second, which was impressive seeing as he had a full 4-5 inches of height on her. He just shot her a grateful smile as they started moving back to the viewing stands.
"I'd really appreciate that. We'll just have to find some time to book the hall."
Yang gave him a soft slap on the back in acknowledgment, and to his surprise, he wasn't sent stumbling forward like he was expecting from someone so physically strong. She glanced at his back as the place she had slapped flashed with his aura, a soft golden-white colour.
"Wait, you've still got enough Aura to be visible? What's your meter looking like… Bruh, what the fuck?"
He'd pulled out his scroll at her question, and the bar that roughly kept track of how much Aura he had. He was glad to see that even after being smacked around by Yang for the entire 'sparring match', he was sitting at around 60%.
Yang paused on the steps up to the stands, looking at his scroll and the meter it showed, before meeting his eyes, a spark of… Something that worried him in it. "I just beat you up for something like… Let's say about 5 minutes straight, right? And you still have that much Aura left?"
Jaune shivered slightly at the excited tone in her voice but nodded anyway. "That's correct, y-yeah."
Her grin turned slightly feral, and her tone felt weirdly flirty for how scary she sounded as she seemingly enjoyed the fact that he made for a great punching bag. "And you've still got that much left… This is an interesting revelation, Chief. I'll be sure to make good use of your durability now that I know about it…"
Jaune couldn't help but gulp as he realized he had accepted the offer to train with someone who was now very excited to wail into him… had he made some sort of monkey's paw wish just now? He could feel his currently sore muscles complaining, and he could also hear them calling him an idiot for the pain he would be going through, of his own volition.
'It's gonna hurt, but getting kicked out would hurt more. Gotta make sure I do all I can to show everyone that I should be here…'
His thoughts quickly turned anxious again, he distracted himself by following Yang up to where fireteam JSBYRR was all sitting together, laughing as Ruby called him 'Yang's new punching bag'.
It was Ren's turn to spar next, so he just patted Jaune on the shoulder on his way past, giving him a small thumbs up, which he returned. He'd only known him for a little while but could tell that was a sign of encouragement from Ren.
Hell, he'd only known all of fireteam JSBYRR for about a day or so, less if you didn't count the time he was sleeping, but he already felt closer to them than he had with any of the other kids near his family farmland.
If that wasn't a good sign that he belonged here, then he didn't know what would be. All he had to do was prove it.
"Now, who can tell me the 3 major classifications for Grimm?"
Profes-Doctor Oobleck was a weird man. He moved fast and talked faster, and had been darting around his teaching space for the last 10 minutes, introducing himself and explaining what his classes were about.
Grimm Studies, he called it. Jaune had smiled at the name, excited to learn more about the Grimm, and his smile had stayed with him as the man didn't go off topic on a tangent like Professor Port, and instead posed a question for the class.
A few hands shot up, and Doctor Oobleck looked around, before landing on a student whose name he didn't know. The boy stood up, a smug sneer on his face. "Easy peasy, Prof. Fodder, Dogshit, and Weak."
His answer got a few chuckles from the people around him, but Doctor Oobleck didn't seem to be in the mood, coughing into his fist. "Firstly, I am Doctor Oobleck. I did not work four years to earn my PhD for that to be ignored. And secondly, incorrect. Does anyone have an actual answer?"
Jaune glanced back at the large boy, whose smugness had been quickly replaced by anger at Doctor Oobleck's words but couldn't do anything about it, as he was their teacher. The boy caught Jaune staring, however, and his glare fixed on him for a moment before Jaune turned around quickly, refocusing to hear Weiss once again giving a solid explanation.
"The three major classifications for Grimm are 'Small, Medium, and Large'. They help us categorise what level of threat a Grimm appears will most likely present, but specific abilities and anatomy can sometimes make even a 'Small' Grimm deadlier than a more docile 'Large' Grimm."
Jaune found himself amazed at Weiss for a moment. Man, she was smart! And she definitely seemed important, or at least she acted like she was important, calling herself an heiress… But truth be told he'd never heard of the Schnees before and hadn't had the time to look them up.
Maybe her family was, like, kinda rich and she had a really good tutor? She definitely seemed like the type of person to have had a tutor. Maybe even a butler, but that could be pushing it. Only the crazy-super-rich people got butlers.
"Indeed, Miss Schnee! Wonderful answer!"
Oobleck devolved into a rant about the exact, specific height, length and weight tables that went into the actual classification system, but the overwhelming amount of numbers thrown at Jaune for the next 5 to 10 minutes made it hard to remember them all.
He'd seen Weiss taking copious amounts of notes, though. So maybe he could borrow them later to review? He'd have to ask her later.
He did his best to keep up with Doctor Oobleck for the rest of the lesson with his notes, as the man moved on from a barrage of numbers to explain to everyone why Leviathans were used as the baseline for Grimm.
"To put it simply, Leviathan's are our baseline for the size and strength of Grimm for one simple reason… They're the most common. Yes I know it sounds like a cop out, but it's true. Every kingdom is land-based but surrounded by oceans, and Leviathans are amphibians which primarily come from the ocean."
He continued, pointing to a chart on his blackboard with five dots, each representing one of the five major Pilot schools. "And the shores around the five major schools are the biggest hotspots. Does anyone know why that is?"
Jaune chuckled as Weiss' hand shot up again, but Doctor Oobleck didn't pick her for the answer, instead turning to Ren. The boy paused, almost seeming surprised to actually have been picked, but spoke.
"Because Hunter Schools like Vale's Beacon, Atlas, Menageries' Fang, Mistal's Haven, and Vacuo's Shade, as well as the cities around them, are the largest concentrations of negativity and Aura on Remnant."
Doctor Oobleck smiled, nodding to Ren, as he tapped the board again. "Concise and Correct, young man!"
He strode over to his desk, leaning up against it and facing the class. "It has been quite well documented that negative emotions, primarily in Humans and Faunus, affect the destination that Grimm will move towards. But it is not the only thing Grimm are attracted to."
At the man's words, he started visibly glowing with his Aura, a light green colour. "Aura is a massively helpful thing for many people, but none more so than Hunters and Huntresses. My studies may not have focused on it extensively, and neither will my classes, but to have your very soul in your arsenal as both shield and sword can change everything."
The glow faded, and he picked up a coffee mug off the table, taking a long draw while he held up a finger towards the class. He paused, seeming like he was about to talk, before taking another draw, his finger raising again.
Finally, he put the cup down, smiling. "But, just like negative emotions, having your Aura unsealed, your soul out in view, also attracts Grimm. Not quite as much as negativity, but you should keep it in mind. By having your Aura unlocked, and being Hunters and Huntresses, you have placed yourself in the line of fire."
There was a deathly silence in the students at that, not even Ruby making any noise before Doctor Oobleck started chuckling to himself. "But no more in the line of fire than you would have already been! So don't fret, it's nothing you weren't already signed up for, I promise."
As that information sunk in, Oobleck paced slightly, before taking another draw on his mug, seemingly having finished it as he pouted slightly, placing it back onto his desk. "Unfortunately, as it is your introductory day, that seems to be all the time we have left in this lesson."
Seemingly timed perfectly, the bell rang right after his words, and he glanced down at this tablet, smiling. "It seems you all have the lovely Miss Greene's class on Tactics and Strategy as your next destination. Our classes often collaborate, due to the nature of your opponents in most instances of combat, so be sure to pay great attention to her teachings!"
Jaune packed up his gear and felt himself get even more excited about their next class. It wasn't quite the same as piloting an Ark, but learning about the tactics of combat sounded super interesting!
Plus, he was the fireteam leader of JSBYRR now. He needed to know what he was doing. So until he started learning how to pilot an Ark properly, it was probably for the best if he threw himself into these tactics lessons.
He just hoped the teacher was easier to listen to than the last two.
"Welcome, students."
Professor Anne Greene stood at the front of her classroom with her arms crossed, tapping her foot as she stared at them all. She was dressed in a short-sleeved green jacket with silver shoulder guards and fur around her collar, brown pants that had giant pockets on the side, and knee-high combat boots.
There was something in her gaze that seemed to freeze everyone, and he could tell she knew it. Maybe it was her semblance? Whatever it was, most of the students settled down at her words.
Professor Greene walked forward a little bit, grabbing a stool and sitting on it. He could see the handle of something poking out over her back. A sword maybe? "We will not be doing much of an actual lesson today. We are here merely to introduce you to the courses you will be taking over your time here."
"That does not mean, however, that I will tolerate any disorder in my classroom. Mr Levi, Mr Steward, shut your mouths and listen."
Jaune couldn't help but snort as he heard two 'sorry!'s' ring out from behind him. Professor Greene seemed to be happy with that, as she stepped forward and took the weapon off her back, stabbing the point into the ground. It was a greatsword, about three-quarters as tall as she was, and had all the markings of a form-shifting weapon, like Ruby's scythe.
Was it interchangeable, too? He didn't really know why they would need such complex weapons if they were just for practice until you got your mech, but he didn't know a lot of things, so that was probably fine.
"My name is Professor Anne Greene, and I will be overseeing your Tactics and Strategy classes for the entire time you study at Beacon. I will be covering a great many topics in that time, but to begin with, we will be going over basic two-mech formations and roles."
She glanced over the classroom and Jaune noticed a wave of people that she was looking at seemed to stiffen, including himself as her vision passed over him. She tapped a few buttons on her tablet, and all of their scrolls vibrated a moment later, a link having been sent to them, titled 'fighting styles and preferences'.
"All of you are to fill this form out. Your applications to Beacon went over the basics, but I need more than that."
She moved behind her desk and sat down, crossing one leg over the other. "The rest of today's class will be for this purpose. You may talk amongst yourselves, but any who do not finish the form by the end of class will have a detention during your break to finish it."
Jaune's eyes widened at that, as did many of the other students, and he tapped on the link and started filling out the form. None of the students were wasting any time talking, at least not until they finished.
Some students already had clear ideas of their fighting styles, like Ren, Ruby, Yang, Weiss, and Blake… O-okay his entire team other than him already had pretty clear ideas, but he was conflicted.
He wanted to use a sword and shield, to be up in the Grimm's faces, taking their attention and fighting them on even terms, but right now he could barely make an Ark walk, let alone fight with any skill, so could he really be trusted to fight like that?
Not that he had much skill to begin with, his life before Beacon had more manual labor on the family farm than any kind of training. 'Just like how mother wanted it, no matter what anyone else said…'
He grumbled but made sure to stay focused on the forms. Sure, it hurt that his mother had never trusted his talents enough to find someone who could give him any training, or whatever the reason was, but he was at Beacon now and would prove her wrong.
After a minute or two, Jaune sighed. If he wasn't sure, then it would be better for him to just put in whatever type of fighter he wanted to be, and then train like hell to get to the point where he could do it.
So that's what he did. He envisioned the Jaune Arc that would exist and wrote down what he would put down. 'Frontline fighter, Sword and Shield, Tank-ish role. An anchor for my teammates to fight around.'
It was a bit of a childish dream, he knew, to be the one that his team relied on, to be the big-damn-hero with a sword and shield, fighting horrible monsters that threatened innocent people… But it was all he had ever wanted to be. It was what he was going to be.
He submitted his form quickly after his decision and felt himself stiffen as Professor Greene looked his way. He leaned over to Blake, who was sitting beside him on their two-person wide desk, almost finished with her form, and whispered to her, his hand blocking his mouth from the front of the room.
"Do you think that's Miss Greene's Semblance ?"
The girl glanced over at him and shrugged as she quickly turned away from him again, going back to filling her form."I don't know. I don't think so, though. I think she's just intimidating."
Jaune felt the smile on his face as she spoke. It hadn't taken years to get a sentence out of her, just a couple of classes, and helping her out, apparently! Blake seemed focused on her form, however, and didn't see his grin, which was probably for the best.
The number of people still filling out the form dwindled as more and more finished, and eventually, the classroom was full of the sounds of people having quiet conversations with each other.
Blake didn't seem to want to talk any further with him for the moment, so he didn't try to push a conversation onto her. He just sat there, his cheek squished as it rested on his palm, as he looked around, spotting the rest of his team here and there.
Ruby was busy chatting Weiss' ear off, and Yang was talking with someone he didn't recognise. Maybe a friend from Signal? Didn't matter. Ren was sitting up at the back of the classroom, once again with that redhead girl he'd been texting. Were they a thing? They certainly seemed to like each other.
His people-watching was interrupted as the bell rang, and everyone left as quickly as possible. It was clear to him that everyone in the class was at least intimidated by Professor Greene, and were relieved to have been allowed to leave without a detention.
He could relate, she was pretty scary.
"Hello everyone! Welcome to your survival training class!"
After meeting Professor Greene for the first time, the contrast between her and Professor Peach was a little jarring. Professor Peach was bubbly and seemed to be excited to get started.
She was wearing a set of clear goggles on her head, a grey lab coat over a bright floral shirt and brown leggings, and some weirdly oversized gloves that went all the way up to her elbows. He thought he spotted some bright pink sneakers as well when he walked in, but she was standing behind her desk so it was hard to tell.
She placed both of her hands on her desk, pouting. "It's a shame that we don't have time to head out into the Emerald Forest and camp for a bit, but… We'll have plenty of time over the next 4 years for me to show you all there is to know about our environment! For now, you can just relax and wait for your next class."
Her enthusiasm was sweeping the students along with her, and he could feel himself getting excited to get the chance to head outside, as growing up on a farm had given him a love for nature.
He realized something and hummed, tapping a finger to his chin as he rested it on his palm. Would he actually be… Good at this class? He knew how to camp, and his parents had taught the whole family how to look after themselves in the wild…
His eyes widened and he grinned to himself. 'Holy shit, I might actually turn out to be really good at this class!'
As he sat back in his seat, waiting for the class to end, he felt someone bump his arm. Turning, he met purple eyes as Yang slipped into the seat next to him. "So, Chief, you know much about survival stuff? Patch had some basic lessons, so me and Ruby will be fine, but I'm a little worried about Weiss. Without her butler, she might not know how to make any food."
Jaune smiled, a suspicion of his having been confirmed. "Oh, so she is important enough to have a butler! I thought so with how everyone treated her, but I wasn't sure. Is she like, rich?"
He must have said something crazy, because Yang stared at him, her mouth agape, before a sly grin grew on her face, and she turned and shouted over the classroom. "Fireteam Jasper, come here, now! This is important!"
Some of the other class members looked over curiously for a moment, but lost interest quickly, turning back to their groups. Jaune gulped at the shit-eating grin that grew on Yang's face as Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Ren arrived next to them.
Huffing, Weiss crossed her arms and leaned forward slightly, putting herself over Yang, if only barely. "What is it, Xiao-Long? What's so important you had you yell over the entire classroom?"
Ruby cocked her head to the side. "Yea, sis. What's up?"
Jaune let out a yell of surprise as Yang threw her arm around his neck and pulled him close, smirking. "Chief, do you recognise Weiss from anywhere other than Beacon?"
Jaune frowned, and Weiss looked very confused at the question, her eyebrow raised in his direction. "Uh, no, I don't, sorry Weiss."
He'd expected that to clear up any confusion, but his answer seemed to make Weiss even more confused, as well as the rest of his team, who were all gaping at him like he was some oddity. "What? Am I supposed to know who she is?"
Yang and Ruby both burst out into laughter at that. Blake was giving him a weird look, and Weiss… Weiss looked like she was about to yell at him. "Y-you have no clue who I am. I told you my last name, right? Weiss Schnee?"
Jaune nodded, still not really getting it. "You did, yeah. I don't recognise the name, but the fact that you emphasize it so much… You weren't joking as much as I thought when you called yourself an heiress, were you…"
Weiss fell backwards onto a nearby chair, staring at him incredulously. "You… don't recognise the Schnee name?!"
Jaune just shook his head. The girl looked almost panicked at that and continued. "The Schnee dust company? Creator and Manufacturer for almost every single dust-based bit of technology in Remnant? A company over a hundred years old that had a hand in the construction of the first Arks?"
Jaune whistled in amazement. "Oh jeez, so you're not just regular rich, you're rich rich, aren't you? I've never really heard of the Schnee Dust Company before. We bought our family's farming mech from a guy named Jimmy down the road from us whose been mates with my mother for years. Plus, it ran on steam power, not dust."
A groan escaped Weiss' mouth as she faceplanted into the desk in front of her. "Oh my goodness, my fireteam leader is a hopeless country bumpkin from the middle of nowhere…"
He would be insulted by that… If it wasn't true in the most literal of ways. His mother had moved their family to the farm out in the countryside a few years after his oldest sister Saphron was born, so he'd lived his whole life there…
Jaune found himself laughing at her dramatics, joining Ruby and Yang, who hadn't stopped the whole while. Blake was seemingly trying to simultaneously ignore them and avoid being 'linked' to them in the eyes of their classmates as she subtly moved away from the group, but even Ren was smiling softly.
After a moment, however, Weiss seemed to pull herself together and stomped over and stuck a finger in his face. "If you are missing such crucial information as the biggest company in the world, then I shudder to think of other important information is missing from that brain of yours, replaced with the ratios of how much cow manure should be mixed into the soil each day."
"For vegetables, it's about a 1:4 mixture, that gets the most out of both the soil and the poop."
"I don't care about your poop ratios!"
The yell that escaped her caught the attention of their classmates, much to Weiss' horror, as well as Professor Peach, who smiled their way from the front of the room but didn't move to interrupt them.
Weiss flushed bright red but kept a snooty look on her face. A shame it looked so forced and faked, otherwise she might have made it seem like she actually wasn't embarrassed. "My point is that I am going to have to whip some common knowledge into you it seems."
Jaune raised his hands to her in surrender as he nervously chuckled, leaning back from her slightly. "A-are you sure? That will take time out of your studies! Surely you don't want-"
She poked him in the chest, narrowing her eyes and lowering her voice. "You owe me, remember? You will let me teach you things so that you don't make a fool out of yourself, myself, and the whole fireteam, got it?"
Jaune gulped at the reminder of the help she'd given him and wisely didn't bring up the fact that she'd said he didn't owe her anything at all. He just nodded, sighing in relief as she stopped poking him and leaned back.
"Good, then we'll begin tomorrow night, to allow me to gather some basic information. Basic for me, I mean, you might be missing it of course."
He heard Ruby and Yang snickering again, this time aimed at him, but didn't really mind. Blake had seemingly vanished while he was distracted, and Ren was heading back up to the orange-haired girl when the bell rang again.
Professor Peach jumped to her feet and clapped her hands, waving everyone out of the classroom. "Alright, students! One more class for the day! I do hope you enjoy Harold's class! The more technologically-minded of you certainly will!"
That made him a little worried, to be honest. He wasn't the greatest with technology… Hopefully, it was something simple to begin with.
"WELCOME, MY YOUNG FRIENDS, TO EQUIPMENT MAINTENANCE CLASS!"
Jaune sent a mental curse towards whatever controlled his luck at that moment, as he and every other student in the class stared directly upward at the man standing on top of an Ark, yelling down at them.
"HUP!"
There were a few shouts of surprise from the crowd of students as Professor Mulberry jumped from the top of the Ark that was standing in front of them, landing with a loud THUD as his Aura dissipated across the ground like ripples in a pond.
As the man stood to his full height, Jaune got a good look at him. And surprisingly, for the first time since arriving at Beacon, he had to look up at a teacher. The man was at least 6'8" maybe taller, and was built like an Ark himself.
Dressed in a white shirt, a leather overcoat with a single, well-tended shoulder pad, bluey-grey pants, and thick leather boots… Professor Mulberry looked more like a farmer with some armour than an engineer, but Jaune was quickly learning not to judge Huntsmen on their choice of outfit.
"IT'S SO GOOD TO SEE YOU ALL FOR THE FIRST TIME! I ALWAYS LOVE MEETING NEW BATCHES OF STUDENTS!"
The other thing Jaune noticed was that the man was loud. Like, really loud. He was actively causing a couple of students to wince at the noise, Blake included. She was being tough, though, and wasn't covering her ears. He could see her hands twitching as if she wanted to, however.
Professor Mulberry strode forward, rolling his shoulders and kicking his legs out, stretching from his fall. He passed by a nearby benchtop and swiped a tablet off it, the device looking almost comically small in the man's giant hands.
"WHILE THIS IS MERELY AN INTRODUCTION TO MY CLASS, A WAY TO SHOW YOU ALL WHAT TO EXPECT, I DO HAVE A SMALL EXERCISE PLANNED FOR YOU ALL!"
There was a pause as he tapped a few buttons on his tablet, sending a message to each student's scroll. "EVERYONE, GRAB OUT YOUR SCROLLS! I HAVE RANDOMLY ASSIGNED EACH OF YOU A NUMBER! FIND YOUR MATCHING NUMBER AND PAIR UP!"
Jaune frowned as the man's booming voice started to grind at his ears, but did as he was told. He tapped into the message he'd received and saw the number 26 written in bold writing.
Holding his scroll above his head so that the number could be seen, he looked around to find out who his partner for the exercise was. Ren? Nope, he had a 13. Yang and Blake had both gotten a 7, so neither of them… Weiss? She had a 59 on her scroll and was chatting with the redheaded girl whose number matched. Damn.
He was interrupted by a tap on his shoulder from behind. Turning to look, he was a little confused when there was no one there… and then he felt someone land on his back, his Aura stopping him from buckling under the sudden weight as Ruby sat on his shoulders.
"Hey, Jaune! I got a 26 as well! Guess we're partners for the moment. Hopefully, Ren won't mind me stealing his partner on the first day."
Jaune chuckled, looking upwards and meeting Ruby's eyes. They seemed to almost be glowing with silver light when in the shadows like they were, her face looking down at him. It was pretty cool. "I think he'll survive."
Ruby was about to speak when Professor Mulberry started talking again, and Jaune almost heard Ruby's jaw snap shut as her focus was stolen by the large man. "ALRIGHT. IN YOUR PAIRS, FIND A WORKBENCH!"
Ruby pointed over to their right at an empty workbench, and Jaune allowed himself to be piloted over to it as if he were a mech. The robot noises and gently using his hair to imitate control sticks were an excellent touch, he had to give it to her.
He pointedly ignored the stares of his classmates and the laughter of Yang in the distance especially so. When he arrived at the workbench, he was shocked when Ruby activated her Semblance, appearing next to him and giving him a faceful of Rose petals.
He sputtered for a moment, fanning his hands in front of his face to dissipate them, and when he opened his eyes, he saw Ruby looking guilty, tapping her index fingers together as she lasered him with puppy dog eyes. "Sorry Jaune…"
Goddamn, the puppy dog eyes were strong with this one. Waving her off, he grinned. "It's totally fine, I promise. Just warn me next time, okay?"
Ruby gave him a lazy salute, a goofy smile on her face. They must have been there long enough for all the pairs to meet up and reach their benches, as Professor Mulberry called out to all of them again.
"SOME OF YOU WILL HAVE HAD SOME EXPERIENCE MAINTAINING AND BUILDING YOUR OWN GEAR IN THE PAST, ESPECIALLY THOSE COMING FROM COMBAT SCHOOLS, BUT MANY OTHERS DON'T. THAT IS FINE."
He glanced around, tapping at his tablet, and it looked like he was making a list of the pairs… Were they going to be keeping these pairs in the next class? How long was this exercise supposed to go for?
"IN MY CLASS, YOU WILL BE GOING OVER THE BASICS OF ENGINEERING, SO THAT YOU CAN DO MINOR FIXES ON YOUR ARKS IN THE FIELD WHEN NECESSARY. TO THAT END, WE MUST MAKE SURE YOU KNOW YOUR WAY AROUND THE TECHNOLOGY THAT GOES INTO THE ARKS."
There was a hissing noise as the wall above the workbenches popped open, and a rack of tools slid out, locking into place in front of them. Jaune recognised maybe three or four of them, but Ruby looked like a kid in a candy store.
"Oh. My. God. Jaune! They have a plasma cutter! That I get to use! Oh, I'm going to make so many cool things with that!"
Jaune grinned at her enthusiasm, grabbing a screwdriver off the wall, and noting that it had a button on the bottom. Pressing it, he yelled and dropped it onto the workbench as it started sparking with electricity at the tip.
Ruby calmly tapped the button and put the screwdriver back as Professor Mulberry continued, having seemingly foreseen the student's distraction when the tools appeared, a grin on the man's face. "THE FIRST EXERCISE WE WILL BE DOING, WHICH WILL LAST THE FIRST FEW WEEKS OF CLASS, IS FOR BOTH OF YOU TO WORK TOGETHER TO CREATE A SMALL REPLICA OF AN ARK'S HUNTER WEAPON THAT IS FULLY MECH-SHIFT CAPABLE."
Jaune's whole body stuttered at that, even as he glanced over to Ruby, who had started literally vibrating with happiness. "Jaune. I apologize for the person I am about to become."
That was Jaune's only warning before Ruby released an ear-splitting shout of pure joy as she bent her entire body backwards and cheered to the roof so much she was almost horizontal to the ground as she pumped her fists so fast he was worried she would get airborne from the flapping.
After what seemed like an eternity, where the whole class was staring at them as they pointed and laughed, Ruby trailed off and settled down, going from embarrassingly excited to regular excited as she practically bounced on the spot.
Professor Mulberry was clearly trying to smother a laugh of his own and was doing a poor job of it. "AHEM, WELL. I AM GLAD FOR THE ENTHUSIASM, YOUNG LADY! BUT PLEASE SAVE THE BATTLE CRIES FOR THE GRIMM!"
That got another round of laughter out of the class, and Jaune was glad that it wasn't directed at them this time, but at the joke. Professor Mulberry seemed to know how to work a crowd.
"NOW, DISCUSS WITH YOUR PARTNER WHAT YOU WILL BE MAKING! YOU MAY COPY AN EXISTING WEAPON OR DESIGN A NEW ONE, BOTH WILL BE MARKED THE SAME! THIS IS MERELY TO DETERMINE YOUR ENGINEERING SKILL, SO BE AS CREATIVE AS LIKE!"
The manic grin that Ruby gave him as he met her eyes told him that if he didn't do anything to try to damper her rampant excitement, then they were about to get really creative, whether he liked it or not.
Jaune collapsed face down onto his bed.
'How am I so tired when all we did was get introduced to our teachers?' Oh, right, he was stressed and a little overwhelmed and shit, he still had to go to the Simulators later to practice with his Aura piloting…
He flipped himself over and stared at the bottom of the bunk above him for a moment, watching the mattress flex and bend as Yang jumped up. He heard a sigh of comfort from her a moment later.
"So, how we all feeling after today?"
Her voice filtering down through the mattress made it kinda muffled, but Jaune heard Yang's question all the same. "I'm bone-tired, and we haven't even really done anything yet."
Ren and Blake didn't seem interested in answering the question, but both Ruby and Weiss nodded. Ruby was fiddling with her mock-up weapon, still bouncing back and forth in excitement from Professor Mulberry's class.
"It was a bit overwhelming, but I'm really looking forward to Professor Mulberry's class especially. Me and Jaune are gonna make a super-crazy-awesome weapon, mark my words."
Weiss rolled her eyes at that, putting a hand on her hip as her expression turned smug. "I highly doubt you and Farmboy over here will come close to what Pyrhha Nikos and I are capable of making! With my talents and her experience, we'll dominate the class for sure."
"Oh is that her name? I saw you with that redheaded girl, and you seemed pretty excited. Do you know her from one of your family's rich-people parties?"
Weiss' smug look turned into a shocked glare as he spoke. "Brothers above, have mercy on me. Are you telling me you don't even know who Pyrhha Nikos is?"
Jaune just shook his head. Weiss almost looked like she was about to get angry for a moment before she got… unnaturally calm. "Excuse me for a moment, I must go destroy something."
Yang let out a cheer at that. "I'm comin' with! Can never go wrong with destroying stuff to relieve some stress!"
She landed next to Jaune with a 'thud!' and gave his legs a soft slap as she went. She then ran after Weiss, who had stormed out of the room with her sword in hand. There was silence for a moment before Ren spoke up.
"She's rather funny when she's mad."
The suddenness of the statement forced a laugh out of Jaune and Ruby, with even Blake giving a small smile before she turned back to her book, which was once again, not Ninjas of Love. He couldn't help but wonder if she was just too scared to read it now that she knew he knew what it was.
After that, they all seemed to settle in for the night, and Jaune let himself relax for a short while on his bed but got up before he allowed himself to start feeling properly sleepy. "I'll be back later, gonna head out for a bit."
Ruby hadn't even heard him with how focused she was on her scythe, Blake likely wouldn't have responded even if he was talking directly at her. That left Ren, who was meditating on his bed. He opened a single eye at Jaune's words and nodded. "I will let the others know when they return."
Sending him a thumbs up, Jaune left the room and closed the door behind him as he started jogging towards the training facility from yesterday. Now that classes were done, it was time for him to practice in the simulators.
It was going to suck, and likely wipe him out completely, even more so when proper classes started tomorrow, but it was necessary. Even though he was tired, he already really loved it here.
Now… Now It was just up to him whether he got to stay or not.
The AO3 version of this story includes both Character and Scene art for the chapters, so check it out there, too!