I am an idiot! There was meant to be a chapter of this for you guys last week, but I didn't post it! So FFN gets a double update to catch back up to AO3!

Jaune's forehead creased as he focused, his control over the simulated Ark he was piloting fragile at best.

With the help of the books from the library, he'd been able to piece together the basics of Aura Piloting… But he wasn't exaggerating when he said just the basics of it. It still felt like he was trying to juggle 6 beanbags while doing a handstand, and it took more focus than anything in his life ever had, but at least all 4 limbs were moving.

That was the only silver lining he could think of as he swung at a target, floating lazily through the air, while running at full speed, the strike being wildly inaccurate and missing the thing entirely.

Swearing to himself, he forced the Ark to turn around and slow down to the slowest walk he could manage without standing still. He approached the target and swung with the Ark's sword again, this time hitting it and shattering the holographic circle.

Nodding to himself, he pushed past the mistake and sped the Ark back up, his eyes fluttering around the screens that made up his 'sight' for more of the targets. He made the Ark bob and weave as best he could through a couple of hallways and doorframes, clipping them here and there and causing him to lose some speed, but he didn't fall over.

He frowned as the quicker movements caused his Aura to try and misbehave again, keeping as iron a grip on it as he could. There was always this… Claustrophobic feeling in his Aura when he did the simulators, as if it was trying to do its own thing instead of following the Ark's systems, and it was really frustrating to deal with.

But deal with it he must, as it was likely a feature of the Simulator, something to help with controlling your Aura. Probably? He actually didn't have a single flipping clue how the machines worked.

There were a few more targets to hit during the course, and he was frustrated to find out that he still needed to slow way down to be kind of accurate when trying to hit them, but he swept that frustration away as best he could.

'You've been able to move all 4 limbs for less than a day now, take what you can get…'

He swung and shattered the last of the targets, seeing the finish line pop up in the distance now that the 'objective' had been completed, and pushed the Ark to start running over to it. He dodged a few more surprise pillars, not wanting to faceplant right into them, and crossed the finish line, hearing the siren ring.

"[Beacon Aura Pilot Training Subroutine V1.7.3.] has been finished. Time of Completion: 19 Minutes, 52 Seconds. Completion Rank [C] has been granted. New Personal Best!"

"YES!"

He couldn't stop the cheer of happiness that escaped him at that moment, his fist pumping the air and the Ark's fist following along in his excitement. It was when he realised he'd just made the 40-meter-tall robot pump its fist that he started laughing, and his control over his Aura shattered.

Luckily, instead of damaging the machine, all it did was forcibly boot Jaune out of the simulation with a small headache, one that was already on its way to being healed by his Aura.

Something he had come to realise about Aura, mostly from reading the books, was that he did have a lot of it like Weiss and Yang had mentioned. He didn't know why, but he did know it helped with his passive healing, and let him fight or train for longer than most other people.

'It's probably how I haven't collapsed from exhaustion or muscle pain yet…'

It was a sobering thought, and it put a slight damper on the good mood he was experiencing from hitting a new PB in the Aura Pilot simulator, but he shook his head to send the bad vibes away.

Hitting the 'reset' button on the simulator, he plopped to the floor and sighed to himself as he leaned up against it. The machine let out its loud noises as the system rebooted, and he closed his eyes for a second.

'I'm glad that I'm improving, but I still feel so far behind… Well, probably because I am…"

"For today's sparring, let's have Cardin Winchester and… Hmm. Jaune Arc, you and Mr Winchester will be facing each other today."

Jaune couldn't help but gulp as he glanced over at the giant student who was too busy getting congratulated on the 'easy win' by his teammates to look over at him. It was unfortunately not a secret that he wasn't good at fighting, mostly thanks to Yang curb-stomping him in their first spar, even without her Semblance.

He glanced over at the rest of fireteam JSBYRR and noted that none of them were assigned to fight today, and sent them all a wave as they headed towards the gym area. They all waved back, and Yang pulled her fists up near her face, throwing a couple of punches out in front of her.

"Don't get punched in the face, Chief!"

The phrase set off something in Jaune's mind and his fists raised into position, causing Yang to burst out laughing. Ren sent him a small nod and a thumbs up, and the support from his partner made him smile. He returned the boy's thumbs up, as well as the smile that Ruby sent his way, and started heading down the stairs and towards the arena.

As he made it to the bottom, he was surprised to see a generic-looking sword and shield combination slowly floating his way, a purple aura around both of them. He realised what was happening quickly, however, and grabbed them out of the air, nodding to Miss Goodwitch.

"Oh, thank you, Miss Goodwitch."

She adjusted her glasses and frowned at him, her arms crossing. "Miss Greene informed me that you plan on using a sword and shield, so it would be best for you to be training with a sword and shield. Do you not have your own?"

He felt the back of his neck get a little sweaty at the intensity of Miss Goodwitch's glare. He shook his head anyway, to give himself time to get control of his voice back if nothing else. "No, Miss Goodwitch. It was… Made unusable before I got to Beacon."

Her glare softened slightly, although the frown remained. "Unfortunate. You may use the gear in our storage room for now, but it would be best if you sought out a replacement set quickly."

He mentally sighed to himself as Miss Goodwitch let him go after that. 'Suggestions for the future are good. It means she doesn't think I'm going anywhere yet. That's good!'

His happy thoughts were shattered as he stepped into the ring and met Cardin's eyes, the boy being one of the rare students who was even taller than him. (He still remembered seeing that second year for the first time, he was almost twice his height…)

Cardin sneered back at him, swinging his mace up onto his shoulder and cracking his neck. Jaune dropped into a stance that was mostly inspired by Yang's training, his shield up near his face and the blade of the sword outwards, like he'd held his leading hand.

"You ready to get your shit rocked, Arc?"

CRACK!

Cardin's mocking voice echoed through the arena as Miss Goodwitch's whip cracked, and Jaune crouched slightly as Cardin rushed him, his newly created instincts making him drop into his crouch more, darting to the side as Cardin sent a lunging strike at him.

"DON'T GET PUNCHED IN THE FACE!"

Jaune didn't even register himself yelling it as he slammed the shield forward, catching Cardin off guard after his attack, impacting the taller boy's face with a dull 'thud' alongside the sparkling noise of Aura.

Cardin was thrown backwards slightly, and Jaune got to marvel at the effectiveness of the shield bash for a solid second, max before the boy was back on his feet and storming towards him. The look in the boy's eyes screamed 'murder'.

Gulping, Jaune lifted his shield and caught another swing from Cardin, the vibrations shooting down his arm and making his shoulder slightly numb. He dodged the next attack, a horizontal swing, by darting backwards, his shield up and covering his chin.

Dodge, duck, dart away… The 'sparring' became more of a game of attempted whack-a-mole as Jaune dodged Cardin's attacks, the boy moving far slower than Yang could, especially with his mace. Jaune never thought that he would be thankful to Yang for punching him in the face so much, but he'd rather have her fist than that mace…

Ok, maybe that was a stretch. Yang was really strong.

The sheer frustration and rage on Cardin's face would have been amusing any other day, but when it was the day that Jaune was forced to be in the ring with him, Jaune wasn't a fan of it.

Charging at him again, Jaune tried to step back out of the mace's range, only to realize it was a feint when Cardin's armoured hand reached in and grabbed the edge of Jaune's shield, pushing it downwards.

Aura-enhanced strength would have normally allowed him to keep it up, but his opponent also had said strength and was bigger to begin with. Couple that with the surprise Jaune felt at the move, and It was little wonder why Cardin got a brief window of opportunity where the shield was facing the ground, Jaune completely open.

Jaune winced as he saw Cardin wind up for a moment, and felt the air get pushed out of his lungs in a retched cough as Cardin slammed his mace Jaune's torso… But nothing else happened.

Jaune felt himself coughing from the hit, and his Aura flared up where it made contact, glowing brightly and visibly, but he hadn't been knocked back, or thrown away… And hell, it had only taken around 6% of his Aura…

A silence fell over the arena as Cardin stepped backwards, staring at his mace for a moment as if the hit's lack of impact was some sort of mechanical fault, but there was none in his mace.

His eyes turned back and met Jaune's a moment later, and the sheer hate he had seen from the boy before had seemed to multiply. "What the FUCK was that?! You think you can embarrass me like that, Arc? Fuck you!"

Before Jaune could even try to explain that he wasn't trying to embarrass Cardin, he had hands wrapped around his biceps as Cardin reared back, physically throwing Jaune out of the ring.

Jaune let the sword and shield he was holding slip out of his grip as he felt himself become airborne, not wanting to accidentally impale himself on the blade of the sword as he tumbled. And boy-howdy, did he tumble.

A buzzer sounded as Jaune hit the ground outside the arena, signaling his loss, but he was forced to keep rolling along the ground, his Aura sparking and glowing as he skipped across the stone floor, before he met the wall outside the arena with a dull 'thud!', his shoulders drooping as he hissed in pain.

"Mr Arc has lost the match. Congratulations to Mr Winchester. However, next time, you will be careful to limit your strength on such throws. We don't want students without Aura left going through what Mr Arc just did."

The steel in Miss Goodwitch's voice made it pretty clear that if he didn't then she was going to tear him a new one. Cardin just grunted, putting his mace back on his belt and sauntering off, glaring at Jaune the whole way.

Jaune just sat there for a moment as he caught his breath… Or it might have been more accurate to say that his remaining Aura caught his breath for him and forcibly returned it. Letting his head roll backwards, he leaned up against the wall and sighed as his eyes closed.

His rest was interrupted by the sound of footsteps coming his way, however, and he opened one eye, seeing that the rest of JSBYRR had someone over to check on him. Putting a smile on his face, he shakily stood up, dusting his legs off.

"Hey guys, I guess you saw that? I didn't do too well…"

Ruby put on a small frown at his words, and Ren looked like he was about to say something, but he was surprised when Weiss spoke first. "Nonsense, Arc. You did fine. It's not your fault that Winchester has the size advantage over you."

Unspoken by her was 'and the skill advantage' but that didn't need to be uttered out loud, especially not as Miss Goodwitch was making her way over as well. Yang wrapped an arm around his shoulder before she got to them, and grinned at him. "Still, you did an excellent job at not getting punched in the face. I liked the footwork I was seeing out there!"

That got a snort out of the girls, even Blake, and Jaune couldn't help but laugh as well. But before he could say anything, Miss Goodwitch spoke up. "Your team is correct, Mr Arc. While you need to work on your aggression, on your offense in general really, wearing an opponent down like you were is a valid strategy in a spar like this. You just won't find the Grimm to be so quick to tire."

Did… Did Miss Goodwitch think that he actually had a strategy in that fight? It was almost laughable to think, but he would take that over her yelling at him about how bad he was at fighting and kicking him out of Beacon.

"Thank you, Miss Goodwitch. I'll work on it."

She nodded sharply, before turning to the rest of fireteam JSBYRR. "You are all dismissed. I wish to talk to your team leader for a moment, but he will meet up with you soon."

The team didn't seem to like that, Ruby especially pouting slightly before she waved goodbye and exploded into Rose petals, but they did all turn and left him alone with Miss Goodwitch.

Although he did really appreciate the small pat on the shoulder that Blake gave him, as well as the 'you'll get him next time.' she said. Turning back to Miss Goodwitch, he couldn't help but feel a little nervous.

What could she want with him?

"Collect your equipment and take them to the storeroom with me, we'll talk on the way."

Jaune nodded quickly, taking the momentary reprieve from her intense stare that she offered as he ran over and collected the sword and shield he'd been loaned, before returning to her. She was silent for a moment, before sighing.

"You are aware that you rank among the lowest in this class, correct?"

Jaune couldn't help but wince, but he did nod. He knew that he wasn't great at this… Yet! He would be, eventually, but it needed to be quick, especially if Miss Goodwitch was outright bringing it up.

"Good, far too many students are downright delusional when it comes to their skill at fighting. It's rather refreshing to have one who knows they need to improve."

Jaune stayed silent, letting Miss Goodwitch continue. Where was she going with this? "That being said, your spar today was a marked improvement from the one against Miss Xiao-Long. I believe she gave you a few pointers?"

"She punched me in the face a lot until I started getting my arms in the way instead."

He hadn't even meant to actually say that out loud, the words just spilling from his mouth at the question. He flushed red as Miss Goodwitch turned and met his eyes, and the woman just sighed. "That does sound like her, and her father…"

Jaune mentally noted that Miss Goodwitch somehow knew Yang and Ruby's dad, but held his tongue this time, wanting to let her finish whatever she was going for. They reached the storage room while she was seemingly lost in thought for a moment, and Jaune put the sword and shield away before returning to the woman's side.

Miss Goodwitch shook her head for a moment, before sighing. "I will be frank with you Mr Arc. The Admiral seems to think you have potential, and I trust that man with my life. I also trust him with yours. But I need to start seeing more from you myself, Mr Arc. If you are sure you want to stick with them, then you need to shape up in regards to your skill with a sword and shield quickly, or we will have problems later on."

Jaune gulped at the look in her eyes, the one that told him Miss Goodwitch clearly promised expulsion if he didn't start showing improvement. The woman continued. "You are very clearly not fighting to your full potential, but Beacon is an academy. We have resources that can help you if you need them, but you must find the time to use them."

Jaune nods at her words, knowing that she is right. He did have to get better with the sword, and he needed to do it as quickly as possible… Maybe there were books in the library that he could study? Or maybe he could ask Weiss for tips? She used a sword too…

"Thank you, Miss Goodwitch. Really. I know I'm not the greatest right now, but I'll try to put what you say into practice, and show you that I can get better at fighting."

The glare on her face softened slightly, and he could have sworn she was almost smiling at him. That was kinda weird. "I'm glad to hear it, Mr Arc. You are dismissed."

He thanked her again before scurrying out of the room, his brain already in overdrive as he tried to think of what time he could try and fit in some sword practice in his already incredibly busy schedule.

It was because he was distracted that he didn't notice the foot stuck out from behind the doorway, tripping him over and sending him sprawling to the floor. Already fairly certain of who it was, Jaune rolled over with a wince.

Cardin stared down at him, fury written all over his face, clearly still embarrassed about the fight. "Don't think you're the bee's knees just because you've got a big Aura, Arc. I'll beat you into the floor next time around."

He stomped away after that, and Jaune let his arms flop to his sides, his palms facing the roof. A sigh escaped his mouth as he lay there for a moment. Mentally, he cut into his precious sleeping time and cordoned a section off for sword practice.

It was clear that he needed to get better, and quickly. If not for his continued enrollment at Beacon, then to protect himself from Cardin Winchester…

"Welcome! Welcome to your new favourite class!"

Professor Peach was even more bubbly today than she had been in her introductory session. When Jaune and the rest of JSBYRR arrived at her classroom, they found her sitting cross-legged in the middle of her teaching area, waving for all of the students to join her on the floor.

"I can't wait to teach you all the wonderful ways that nature can keep you alive if you need it to! Most people forget that there didn't always use to be kingdoms and farms and that we once had to live off the land itself!"

Professor Peach seemed excited. On the other hand, the not-excited look on Weiss' face she had after having been told to sit on the floor by a teacher was as hilarious as it was terrifying.

When Yang was caught laughing at it, she almost got an icicle through her hand because of it.

Professor Peach either didn't see it or didn't care, because she just continued waiting for everyone to be seated, smiling. "Alright, so! My class is the one that most new students aren't super sure why they have to take it, and I do understand that!"

She hummed, continuing. "Well, something that most new pilots don't understand is that a lot of your fighting is going to take place in the middle of nowhere, and your Ark might not always be in the state to move, let alone fight, your way back to Beacon."

"That's why you have to be self-sufficient! Taking supplies will only get you so far, but it can take up to a week or more to get enough vehicles out to the most remote of places to bring a totalled Ark back for repairs."

Jaune was already pretty self-sufficient, his mother had made sure of it very early on in his life, so he understood the appeal of knowing how to scavenge and hunt, but it was interesting to hear why Huntsmen needed to know how."

Thinking back to the pair of Arks he saw heading off on a mission the other day, he raised his hand, his curiosity getting the better of him. Professor Peach seemed thrilled to answer his question. "How often do Arks get damaged enough that they can't return to Beacon on their own?"

Professor Peach tapped a finger to her chin as she thought about it. "If we count all active Huntsmen and Huntresses? Not super often. But just looking at students? Then that number goes up. Obviously, you're learning, so you're not as good as the professionals, meaning more mistakes."

The class around him grumbled at that, and he could see Professor Peach frown slightly, putting a hand up. "But that's a natural thing! It's not an insult to say that you are less skilled than those who have been doing this their whole lives. You will get there one day, that's why we're all here at Beacon!"

Her words did their job and put a stop to the grumbling, and Jaune could see her sag in relief a little. "Anyway, let's move on. After today, the classroom will be a place for theory only. The rest of our classes will be held outside, in the Emerald Forest!"

The general noise level of the classroom picked up a little as people whispered to each other about that, and he had to hide a laugh at the indignant noise Weiss let out at the new information. "I'm very much looking forward to showing you all Nature's beauties!"

"We'll be sticking to theory for the first week or two, however, which should give you all time to put together an outfit you wouldn't mind getting dirty while you sifted through bushes or dug holes if you had to."

The look Professor Peach sent Weiss' way made it clear that she had heard Weiss as well, and he wasn't able to stop the laughter this time as Weiss' face morphed into an embarrassed blush.

Neither could the rest of the class, however, Yang included, which might have been the only reason he hadn't immediately been frozen in a block of ice, the white-haired girl instead targeting Yang.

Professor Peach ignored the sudden Yangsicle in the middle of her classroom and continued. "And without further ado, let's get into said theory. I wanted to use today to gauge everyone's vague level of knowledge when it comes to nature and survival… Stuff, so let's start with the basics. Who can tell me some plants that are safe to eat, that you might find in the wilds of Remnant?"

Jaune raised his hand for that again, a bunch of plants running through his head, the voice of his mother going through an encyclopedia with him echoing in his mind. A bunch of other people in the class also raised their hands however, and seeing as he had asked a question before, Professor Peach seemed to avoid him for the moment, likely wanting it to be fair for everyone else.

"Dandelions can be eaten!"

"Clovers."

"Purslane!"

"Genuinely, what the fuck is Purslane?"

"Cacti. You can drain drinkable water from them."

Jaune glanced over at Weiss, who had just said something that was… Wrong. Weiss Schnee? Getting something wrong in class? Hell, he'd only known her for a short while and even he knew that was absurd.

The rest of the class seemed to feel similarly, going silent as Professor Peach shook her head. "Unfortunately not, Miss Schnee. The liquid in Cacti is actually a mixture of water, acids, and Alkaloids. And it is very much not a mixture that is edible."

Jaune and the class had been shocked, but it was nothing to the sheer disbelief on Weiss' face as her cheeks darkened, and her mouth opened and closed a few times. Luckily, it seemed Professor Peach was willing to take mercy on Weiss, as she moved on.

"Now that we've listed a few that are safe to eat, why don't we do the opposite? Who can tell me what signs might show that a plant will cause you either some sort of sickness, death, or other discomfort if you eat them?"

Jaune raised his hand again for this question, his arm up so straight it was shaking slightly. There was nothing that his mother had taught him more as a kid that was deemed more important than what plants not to eat… Other than how to hold a chicken down properly when removing its head… So that you didn't have to chase it around its coop for 6 hours, that is.

Professor Peach, perhaps sensing his excitement, or maybe just seeing the grin on his face, pointed his way. "Let's hear it, Mr Arc."

Jaune nodded, mentally going through the checklist that had been drilled into his mind. His finger tapped his other hand's fingers as he listed them off. "Things to look out for include; Milky or discoloured sap, Spines, fine hairs, or thorns, Beans, bulbs, or seeds inside pods, Bitter or soapy taste, Dill, carrot, parsnip, or parsley-like foliage, an "Almond-like" scent in the woody parts and leaves, Grain heads with pink, purplish, or black spurs, Three-leaved growth pattern…"

His rant was stopped as a hand landed on his shoulder, and he looked back down to meet Professor Peach's gaze as she grinned at him. "Oh, that was just Wonderful! It seems we have a star of the class already. You must be from outside the cities, aren't you?"

Jaune floundered at the excited praise for a moment before nodding. "U-uh, yeah. I mean, yes, Professor Peach. I grew up on a farm a little ways outside of Ansel. We lived pretty far out from Vale, so my mum wanted me to know all I could to keep myself safe."

Professor Peach nodded sagely, a smile on her face as she released his shoulder and hummed. "She sounds like a wonderfully intelligent woman, to value knowledge like this as she does!"

Professor Peach went into a lecture that went further into how to avoid plants that you would suffer for eating, but Jaune didn't get the chance to listen to it as a hand grabbed the back of his shirt and dragged him backwards.

He coughed softly at the treatment, and couldn't find it in himself to be surprised when he was finally let go and saw who had dragged him backwards. Weiss looked frustrated, to say the least, a frown etched onto her face.

"How on Remnant are you so good at this?"

Jaune cocked his head to the side, confused. "I mean, I just explained. Mum made sure we all knew what plants we could and couldn't eat. Sure, I've eaten a few that I shouldn't have over the years, but only once. Why?"

Her cheeks darkened at the question, but he could somehow tell that it was from her frustration, not any embarrassment. Okay… Not much from her embarrassment. "I-I… That is to say… Oh, to hell with it."

Jaune's aura flared slightly as Weiss stabbed a finger into his chest. "You, Arc, are going to assist me with this class. We did not cover such topics at great lengths during my schooling, but your… Rustic, upbringing did, so you will teach it to me. I refuse to face such an embarrassing lapse of knowledge during class again."

He opened his mouth to answer but was cut off as she continued. "Not that I couldn't study it myself! It is just important to know when someone else has more knowledge on a subject-"

Jaune chuckled, raising his hands. "It's okay, seriously, I'd be happy to help you."

Weiss, who looked like she was about to devolve into a deluge of excuses as to why she 'totally didn't need his help but was demanding it anyway' stopped at his words, but didn't say anything.

Smiling, Jaune pressed on. "Really, I'm more than willing to help out. I already owe you a bunch, so this can be step one in repaying you. Plus, what kind of fireteam leader would I be if I said no?"

Weiss didn't so much as roll her eyes as he mentioned his status as the fireteam's leader, but he could still see how she tensed up as he said the words, a small twitch of her eyes showing that she still wasn't quite happy with the fact he'd been selected. That was fine, though, he would just have to prove he could do it to her and Beacon's teachers.

She had quickly schooled her expression, however. An aloof, almost smug look appeared as she nodded sharply to him. "Well, thank you then, Arc. It's a deal. I'm sure you'll find me an excellent student."

Jaune laughed softly at that, his hand coming up to rub the back of his neck. "Oh, I'm certain I will. Definitely a better student than I am, at the very least."

The aloof look on her face dropped slightly, and she paused for a moment. "Well, look. You're not bad as a student… Just… Lacking context is what I'd call it, Not that I blame y-"

"Mr Arc! Miss Schnee!"

Jaune and Weiss both froze, a look of fear on their faces, as Professor Peach's voice called out over the classroom. They both turned slowly to face her, And Jaune wilted as he saw the upset look in her eyes.

"Glynda mentioned that you two were friends and that you liked to have chats while Professors were talking, but c'mon! I thought you were gonna be my star student, Mr Arc! Don't do this to your poor Professor Peach!"

The rest of the class was laughing openly at the two of them, with the rest of fireteam JSBYRR being the exception. Not because they weren't laughing, but because they were at least trying to make it subtle. Weiss immediately darted off from him at that, going and sitting next to Ruby, which showed how embarrassed she was by being called out like that, and Jaune sighed, his own embarrassment causing his shoulders to droop.

He purposefully forced himself to ignore the teasing kissy faces that a half-unmelted Yang Xiao-Long sent his way, and turned to refocus back on Professor Peach's class.

"JAUNEJAUNEJAUNEJAUNEJAUNEJAUNEJAUNE!"

Jaune couldn't keep the laughter from escaping as Ruby darted around their shared workbench so fast it looked and sounded like there were seven of her yelling his name out. Nor could he escape accidentally inhaling some Rose petals during said laughter, because of how many were showering down on their area.

He doubled over and coughed for a moment, Ruby appearing next to him and patting him on the back with some force, giving him some deja vu to their first meeting on the bullhead, where she'd given him a sick bag.

"Sorry, Jaune! I'm just really excited!"

Jaune looked down at the workbench and wiped off a pile of Rose petals almost half Ruby's height, revealing the small pile of blue paper she had dumped onto the table when they'd first arrived in the equipment maintenance classroom.

Looking at them, he could tell they were blueprints, but some of the ideas Ruby had sketched out were… Complicated as all hell. He didn't even know if some of these were possible!

A rocket launcher that could compress so much it became a dagger. A Warhammer Auto-shotgun, hell there was even… A sword that turned into a rifle? That seemed remarkably tame compared to the rest…

He could only see the top half of Ruby's head as she peeked over the edge of the workbench at him, a smile in her eyes as she saw he'd focused in on one idea in particular. Another puff of Rose petals had her sitting on the workbench in front of him, the paper snatched from his hands.

"Oh, yeah, this is a good one! A Longsword for melee range, and for medium ranges, a semi-automatic rifle! I was thinking you might have picked this one, seeing as you were using a sword and shield this morning…"

Jaune laughed awkwardly at getting caught, hopping up slightly to sit on the workbench next to her. Professor Mulberry didn't yell at them to get down when he did so, so he assumed it was fine.

"Yeah, I guess I just really like swords. My family has a really old one that has been passed down by my ancestors. It's called Crocea Mors. It's got a shield that can shrink down into its sheath when you're not using it."

Rocked cocked her head to the side, seemingly confused about something. "Wouldn't it still weigh the same?"

Jaune shrugged, kicking his feet. "I'm not sure, but probably. I've never actually even held Crocea Mors. It's like, a super-important family heirloom that apparently has a lot of history to it, so it's in a glass case… Not that my father was able to tell us much about it. Plus it's not like I could have used it when piloting an Ark, could I?"

Ruby laughed at that, her white pencil dropping to some free space on a blank blueprint sheet and doodling an Ark with a toothpick-sized sword held between its fingers. Jaune let out a bark of laughter as well, shaking his head.

"I guess I'm being a little selfish for choosing the sword, huh? I just thought, your scythe is super awesome, and we're meant to have a mock-up of your Ark's weapon, right? I was thinking I could maybe use the sword we made if we're allowed to keep them."

He was just being honest, but when Ruby went completely still at his words he glanced over and paused. The look on the girl's face made it seem like he had just offered her the entirety of Remnant on a silver platter.

Quietly, as if she didn't believe she had been hearing him correctly, he heard her mumble. "You'd wanna use a weapon I made?"

Jaune was a little confused as to where all of Ruby's weapon-based confidence had vanished, but he nodded anyway. "Are you kidding? Your scythe is literally the coolest weapon I've ever seen… Not that I've seen many other than Crocea Mors but still! If this sword is even half as good as your weapon, then it'll serve me well."

For a single instant, he could have almost sworn he saw tears of joy in the corner of her bright silver eyes, but when he blinked they were gone. What wasn't gone was a fresh new cloud of Rose petals as Ruby slammed into his chest for a moment, wrapping him in a hug, before allowing herself to fall back down to the floor.

"Let's do it! Oh! And if it's going to be your sword afterwards, should we work on a shield as well? OH, ALSO! Do you wanna name it, or save the naming for your Ark? My scythe was going to be called Cresent Rose, but I like that name better for my Ark. I usually just called this one Mini Rose."

Jaune couldn't really see how the absolutely giant war scythe could be called 'Mini' anything, but he would take Ruby's word for it. Humming, he tapped a hand to his chin, trying to think of a name. He also mentally filed the knowledge that he was likely expected to name his Ark something as well, and tried to remember to do that later tonight.

An idea popped into his head, and he smiled. "I'm not really the best with names, but I guess… Maybe I could call it something something like Crocea Twos?"

The hand that slapped the back of his head as the words left his mouth shocked him, not having expected it to come from Ruby. He turned and saw her surrounded by Rose petals, a frantic look on her face.

"NO PUNS!"

As the words left her mouth, however, she seemed to realize what she had just done and sunk into herself, looking incredibly embarrassed by her actions. "Oh my god, Jaune, I'm sorry. It's just that you're blonde, and you made a pun, and it set off my instincts…"

Jaune just sighed and nodded. "Yang?"

Ruby nodded in return as she shuffled her feet, her hands grabbing her skirt. "Yang…"

He laughed, shaking his head as he glanced over at his fellow blonde and saw her hip-to-hip with Blake as they scribbled on their own blue sheet of paper, still seemingly in the design phase. "Understandable, then. Wanna get started on this?"

"LET'S FLIPPING GOOOOOOOO!"