Chapter 60 – Teaching Moments with Professor Qrow
Jaune is blackmailed (no Cardins were involved).
"Jaune," Velvet said. "Blake's coming back."
Just in time, Jaune thought to himself. Once I rinse off the tombstone a few times, I think we should be all set. All of the plants and weeds have been plucked down to the roots, so Ruby's mom's grave should be safe for a little while.
"And she's brought company," Velvet followed up with.
That got Jaune's attention away from the wiping he was doing. Taking the hand that she offered him, Jaune rose up to his feet and looked out towards the forest from which Blake had just emerged. True enough, she walked alongside another monochromatically dressed man who was significantly taller than her and held a sword that was significantly larger than hers.
"Trouble?" Jaune asked Velvet.
"No clue, but we weren't expecting tagalongs," Velvet said.
"She doesn't look like she's being held hostage," Jaune said. Just in case, he placed a hand on the hilt of Crocea Mors.
Blake, carrying Gambol in one hand and a few daisies in the other, was probably weaker and less able to defend herself now than usual. This man could have somehow captured her and forced her to take him to her team, threatening to stab her if she resisted. The only piece of evidence against that theory was the fact that Blake wasn't trying to flash any secret hand signals or signs to Jaune or Velvet. She did look quite pressed about something, and Jaune imagined her new friend was the source of that gloom.
"Heya, kids," said the older man when they came within speaking distance.
"Hello, fellow youths," Blake said to Jaune.
"Greetings, dearest children of the world," Jaune said back.
"My fellow Valeans below the age of adulthood, I bid thee welcome to the domain I occupy," Velvet added to the chain.
The man looked between the three of them for a second in confusion. "W-What?"
Jaune just shook his head. "And who might you be, sir?"
"I'm –"
"A local huntsman," Blake said before the man could finish. "A teacher of Signal."
"Ruby's uncle, I was gonna say." The man eyed Summer's grave. "I take it you folks're here to clean that?"
"Yes, we are," Blake said. "Just like I told you when you asked me twice on the way over."
Jaune added a few more points to the adversary tally. He knew Blake could sometimes have a bit of snark in her tone, but rarely did she speak this pointedly to someone who hadn't done something to wrong her.
She stepped past Jaune and deposited the petunias in front of Summer's grave. When she returned, Blake didn't take the place next to the huntsman that she'd been in before, instead stopping alongside Velvet.
"Mr. Qrow Branwen was kind enough to accompany me the stone's throw back to Mrs. Rose's grave," Blake said. "After we confirmed that I was not, in fact, a criminal."
"Professor," said Branwen, only to immediately appear to regret it. "P-Professor Qrow Branwen."
Qrow Branwen…Jaune really had no idea how he fit into the Rose-Xiao Long family, and there was certainly zero resemblance between him, Ruby, or Yang. Maybe their skin tones were the same, but none of the facial features really matched up, and the hair of all three were wildly different in tone.
Is he even her uncle? Ruby used to live here, meaning her name might be known in these parts. If he's a creeper who's trying to get close to us, he might've claimed relation to a local kid in order to lower our guard.
"I suppose that it was kind of you to see to Blake's safety, Mr. Branwen," said Velvet. "But now that we're all back together, I think we'll be quite safe returning to our airship on our own."
"Where'd ya park?" the huntsman-teacher asked.
None of the three members of Team Job gave him any answer. Jaune lowered his other hand towards Eminence, readying himself for if and when things got ugly.
"Sweet mother of mustard, kids, I'm just askin'." Branwen raised his sword hand up, and Jaune's heart beat three times faster that day, but he only ended up sticking it into the ground. "I told you, I'm a huntsman." He shot them a toothy smile that probably looked sweeter in his head than it turned out to be in reality. "Not some baddio out in the woods."
Against most civilians, that defense might've worked. Against Team Job, who'd had more negative experiences with huntsmen than most, it held no water. Jaune was probably still green by most folks' standards, but he was jaded enough to know that 'huntsman' and 'baddio out in the woods' weren't mutually exclusive categories.
"Thank you for your service," Jaune said mechanically, stepping forward to be closer to the man that either of the Faunus. Blake had mentioned racism, so maybe a fellow human might be able to talk down this dude before any problems arose…before any more problems arose. "And make no mistake, we do appreciate you…looking after Blake? But now that our work here is done, we'll be heading home. It's still a business day, and the longer we leave our office unattended, the more work hours we burn."
"I would've thought Team Job charged by the hour," Branwen prattled.
It was tempting to shoot Blake a dirty glare for having apparently given away more personal information than necessary to this weirdo, but Team Job was a united front, and showing disunity in a potentially challenging time would be just as bad.
"As it happens, Mr. Branwen was familiar with Team Job," Blake demurred from behind him. "From his companions at Beacon Academy."
Ah. Forgive me for ever doubting you, partner.
"The point stands," Jaune said. "Daylight is burning, and Ruby and her…teammate must be eager for news on how the job went. Good day, Mr. –"
"How'd you kids like to swing by Signal on your way home?" Branwen suddenly offered, apparently out of the blue.
"That's very kind of you, but we –"
"I'm serious here," Branwen interjected. "I'm Ruby's uncle, so it'd be like part of yer job, right. Job for Team Job, eh? We've got a combat class in the afternoon hour, and mixing in some new blood into the mix other than just me, Tai, Kelly, or Pitt sparring for the trillionth time would be a huge help. It'd be real great, and I'd put in a good word with you three for Ruby. Consider it an apology for profiling Ms. Team Job here." He gestured to Blake.
Team Job didn't exactly need a good word put in with Ruby on their behalf, and their job had clearly been to clean Summer's grave, not spend time with her lunatic of an uncle who seemed hellbent on either not letting them leave Patch or molesting them.
Could be both, even.
"If you wish to hire Team Job, we'd be more than happy to accompany you, Professor," conversed Jaune. "Our current rates are 75,000 lien per mission."
He could practically feel Blake smiling behind him, even if he didn't see her doing it. She had spent more time with this guy than the rest of the team combined, and her distaste for him was apparent. The fact that he had ties with Beacon might've had something to do with that.
"Hot damn, you kids rea– shoot, I don't think I got that kinda pocket cash to drop."
Branwen caught himself mid-sentence, and Jaune decided to firmly place him in the adversary camp. His body language and manner of speaking had completely pointed to an insult coming, but he'd backed out of it halfway.
He doesn't like us, but he's trying not to show it. Too bad, Mr. Teacher-Man – we already know huntsmen don't like us.
"I just think it'd be a really great opportunity for all three of us," Branwen insisted, stepping towards them and leaving his sword behind. "Ruby'll love it to hear that you guys got to visit her alma mater, and she'd just be heartbroken to hear that you missed the opportunity."
Jaune had no idea if that threat in those words was meant to be as blatant as it came out or if Branwen thought he was cleverly planting a seed in their heads – probably the former, if he was getting desperate to drag them to Signal – but it was a pretty good threat.
For once, it's not about the immediate payment for this mission. Ruby may like us, but she's bound to side with her uncle over three acquaintances she's only spent a day or two total with. If she leaves us with another negative review after the previous one, we'd almost certainly lose business. Our rates would need to drop, and the time spent in debt would only grow longer. More debt, more interest…all bypassed if we just go with this guy.
"Very well," Jaune said. "But I'm sorry to tell you that Blake's still recovering from a minor injury on a previous mission, so she'll have to sit out the lesson. Furthermore, Velvet's Hard Light Dust supply was exhausted fighting the Grimm on the way over, meaning she will also be unable to join your…demonstration."
Taking his hand off of Crocea Mors and Eminence, Jaune instead put it on his hips. Of the three of them, Jaune was easily the most expendable, so hopefully limiting the 'lesson' to just himself would throw a wrench into however Branwen was seeking to manipulate them.
The teacher didn't seem pleased with it, but he nodded nonetheless with the affirmation of his plans. "Sounds like a plan, kiddos. C'mon, we can make it back to Signal in time if we hustle. You said it yourself – we're burning daylight."
Anytime Jaune tried to get one of the girls alone to talk to them, Branwen would come over, throw an arm over Jaune's shoulder, and try to talk about some macho BS – did you watch the game last night, that's a nice sword, did you make your own armor. It was all drivel, but Jaune couldn't slink away and discuss the situation with Blake or Velvet because of it.
The two of them were whispering to one another at a distance (Qrow couldn't babysit all three of them if they split into groups), but Jaune just knew that whatever conclusion they reached, he wasn't going to be privy to if the huntsman next to him had any say in the matter.
I guess that means I'll have to figure this one out on my own.
Branwen was droning on and on about some old war story of his, clearly more concerned with saying something to keep the conversation alive and not let Jaune out of his sight rather than to actually engage the younger man, so at least Jaune would have time to accomplish that.
He seemed pretty insistent on getting us to Signal, and we know he's been in contact with the folks at Beacon about Team Job in particular if he knew enough to recognize Blake. Is he trying to stall and keep us here while companions of his trash our office or the Job Hunter?
But that wasn't possible. By all accounts, Branwen had bumped into Blake by accident, meaning that this couldn't have been some premeditated plan, just whatever he'd thought of on the fly. Just as he'd been watching them this whole time, they'd been watching him, and none of Team Job had seen him discreetly sending out messages on his scroll to launch the attack, implying that there was no attack.
Maybe he just wants to beat me up…but this is a lot of effort for a victory that small. He has to be planning to do something to actually impact Team Job when we get there. Is there something at Signal waiting for us? Would we be arrested for trespassing?
He could simply claim that they hadn't been invited to the school once they set foot in. Worse yet, he could go for the angle that Team Job was comprised of bitter, recreant wannabes who'd forced their way onto the premises in a desperate bid to be 'real hunters.' Jaune knew that Beacon could spin it whatever way they wanted, given his own faked application.
Qrow was still rambling on about his old partner when Jaune cleared his throat, getting the attention of the huntsman.
"Hey, Professor…do you mind if I take a selfie?" Jaune asked, removing his own scroll from his pocket. "If we're doing an official collab with Signal, Team Job would really benefit from being able to post an image of it on our website."
"I…it's…"
Jaune smiled. "You were right about it being a great opportunity for all of us."
The professor no reason to decline, and he wore a bit of an awkward smile as Jaune snapped a photo, holding up two fingers in a peace sign and puckering up his lips.
"Say cheese!"
It wasn't much, but Branwen standing next to him and smiling would be proof that they'd been invited in and weren't just three random hobos sneaking onto school grounds.
That said, I'm still not convinced that's his plan. It's awfully full of guesswork, and it'd be our word against his. He did resist taking the photo a bit, but I'm not sure if that was just because he just didn't want to bolster Team Job's reputation using his own.
In the end, Jaune had no other option but to simply find out what Qrow Branwen had in store for him when they arrived at Signal.
The school was demarcated by a large fence that rose about ten feet in the air and consisted of huge metal joined at the top and bottom. There were very few nearby structures, and the biggest one was what appeared to be a small residential complex.
"Teachers' housing," Qrow explained as he caught Jaune staring. "The town's just north of here. Most folks don't wanna build a house in the shadow of a school where stray bullets may start flying."
"I can only imagine why," Jaune muttered.
For some reason, that earned Jaune a dirty stare.
It wasn't like I said anything bad about hunters or this guy's precious school. He was the one who brought up the poor real estate around it, not me.
The reason for Blake's disapproval was slowly becoming clearer. Though this man wasn't of Beacon, he seemed to be among their numbers in the belief that Team Job was some manner of vile hellspawns seeking to usurp the natural order of hunters and Grimm, even if he had to make up reasons out of nothing to justify it.
Of course he would. He's probably only ever heard Ozpin, Goodwitch, or whoever else he chats with from the academy badmouthing us and spinning things against us. I bet most of the stuff he's heard is either embellished to the shattered moon and back or just outright skewed.
Ozpin no doubt had brought up how Team Job regularly announced themselves as hunters in spite of lacking licenses, and Goodwitch must've mentioned the time Jaune broke into an active crime scene to try and steal evidence. From their perspectives, they may have even believed it, and Qrow would certainly trust his friends over three upstarts barely older than the students he taught.
Jaune had never seen the inside of a primary combat school before, but it was surprisingly similar to a normal…to a high school. The obstacle courses and shooting ranges he'd been expecting were absent, and in their places were a track and field (albeit slightly nice looking than his public school's one) and regular sized classrooms. One difference he did notice was that every building itself seemed to be a single room rather than a lecture hall with multiple, which was the layout to which he was accustomed.
"Where is everyone?" Jaune asked as the girls caught up to them, having lagged behind. "I thought you said class was on."
"It is," Qrow said. "And in about seven and a half minutes, a little bell's going to ring. And that bell means that all of the students –"
"The period changes," Jaune said, cutting Qrow's slightly condescending speech short.
"We call it the hour," said the professor. Jaune let it go, feeling no need to get in the last word.
We don't need to beat him here at whatever contest he's rigged up. All we need to do is play ball so that he doesn't badmouth us to Ruby and go home.
"So what's the plan?" Jaune asked. "You mentioned sparring?"
"I think it would be better to host a combat lesson," Qrow said. "We're both well-trained warriors with a lot of combat experience under our belts, aren't we? So we may do a couple of spars and then pick them apart for the class. You know, what we did right, what we did wrong…that sorta thing."
Ah. So he's not just here to beat me up. He wants to show off to an entire generation of young huntsmen- and huntresses-in-training what becomes of phonies like Team Job. Either way, I'm probably in for a world of pain.
Qrow, ironically, was smashing two birds with one stone. His entire class would continue to be indoctrinated in the belief that hunters were some sort of godlike being who had to descend from a…
Wait, what the hell am I on about? I'm getting way too worked up about this, and it's making me jump to conclusions without proof. I have no idea if this guy actually hates me, but I'm acting like it's a guaranteed fact!
Jaune was nearly guilty of what he suspected Branwen of doing – judging Team Job solely based on the negative experiences he'd had with Beacon. Sure, Ozpin was a shriveled-up D-bag and Goodwitch had a loose, floppy V-word, but assuming the worst in every hunter in existence, even down to teenaged students, was wrong.
Velvet was one of these 'indoctrinated' kids he was so ready to dismiss as bigoted against those not from huntsmen and huntress families, and she'd never treated Jaune as anything other than a brother in arms.
Well, aside from the one time she wanted to treat me like a casual sex partner, but that's just because of her, not because of Beacon and my stuff.
The point was, Jaune would be sticking to facts.
The fact was that he suspected, based on the plan to host a 'combat lesson,' Qrow Branwen intended to humiliate him in front of the class and use it to discredit Team Job while also proving a point to his students about the dangers of unlicensed security consultants.
The fact was not that Beacon and Signal were some sort of early-Mantle brainwashing farms. The fact was not that hunters were inherently evil or exclusive or rude. The fact was not that either of those two groups of people had given him any reason to hate them the way he was starting to.
Coming Soon: If You Can't Beat 'em…
…lose to 'em?
Author's Notes
Time for Jaune to kick some ass. Qrow, try to stay alive, bro.
Qrow might have overheard the name Team Job from Ozpin, and he might have overheard it in an ever so slightly negative tone.
Happy rats, and don't do crime!