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School Daze

Indigo ran us into the ground for hours, forcing us to skip lunch, and by the time the sun was sinking over the bay I was the only one standing. Even Indigo was leaning against the wall, flapping her vest to cool down and going over her final observations.

"You guys are way better than my team was starting out, I'll say that much." She held out her spear point-down, then dropped it, letting it vanish back into her shadow. "We had a pretty similar setup, which is why I have such specific advice: a tank, a speedster, a sneaker, and a technical fighter — well, I guess Mads was more of a backline than you, Pyrrha, but still very technical. Blake, get my number from Jaune and text me; I'll share some of the strategies I used to use with Beau. J, I don't have much for you, you're already ahead of where he was before…"

She trailed off, glancing toward the door, and then suddenly sank back into her shadow and vanished without another word.

Before we could do more than blink, the door flew open and a white-and-green blur resolved into Doctor Oobleck, his hair and tie even more askew than usual. He peered around the room, and his shoulders slumped before he finally noticed us. "Ah. Students. Pardon my intrusion. I was merely hoping…" He drew a breath, returning to his usual manic demeanor. "Nevermind! I shall see you all in class tomorrow! And Mister Arc, I expect your homework to be done!"

"Of course, Doctor," I agreed, though he was gone before the last syllable left my mouth.

Pyrrha, who had been slumped against the opposite wall with a faint smile following her last bout with Indigo, was now sitting up and frowning slightly. "Did that seem… odd to you all?"

"Yes."

"Definitely."

"Absolutely."

"Oh good," Pyrrha muttered. "At least it's not just me."

Before we could discuss it any further, the synthwave I'd put on for our cooldown exercises was interrupted again by Billy Joel.

"I don't want you to tell me it's time to come home. I don't care what you say anymore, this is my life–!"

I let out a groan, walking over to shunt the call to voicemail. "We clearly get our stubbornness from Grandma's side," I grumbled, disconnecting my Scroll from the speakers and pocketing it.

"Jaune, don't you think you should hear her out?" Blake said reproachfully.

I opened my mouth to ask if she'd called her parents yet, then bit the words back. No, that's a dick move. Instead I said plainly, "I'm still pissed, Blake. If I pick up it's going to turn into a yelling match and that's going to make things worse. Indigo just saw me, she can tell Isabella I'm fine."

"But why?" Ruby asked plaintively. "She's your mom, she loves you."

I let my expression soften, and walked over to sit down cross-legged in front of my team. "I guess I haven't been doing a great job about keeping you guys in the loop like I said I would, so let's talk about this." I took a moment to marshal my thoughts. "Let me try to put you in my shoes. I don't know if you've ever been knocked out, but it's not like falling asleep, and coming to is not like waking up. It happens all at once, very sharply, and it's extremely disorienting. Waking up in the hospital with no recollection of how you got there is downright alarming. Spotting a woman I didn't know waiting for me to wake up and realizing that I didn't remember my own name… Can you imagine?"

Taking in the round of nods, I continued.

"Indigo was the one to check me out of the hospital, get me the first meal I can remember having on Remnant, and bring me home. Olivia cut my hair and told me where to go shopping; she taught me enough about the scale of currency that I wouldn't get ripped off and gave me this knife." I patted the hilt of the fighting/utility knife sheathed at my right hip. "It was my sisters who talked to me, trained with me, even though I'd never trained before. Do you know where my parents were?"

Ruby shook her head.

"Neither do I," I said pointedly. "This was July, and they'd left home for some mission just after the new year. No calls, no messages, no sign they even existed except for the family portrait. A few months later, Azure hauled me up to Atlas to run some tests — that's when I met Bia, Pyrrha — and Sienna helped me arrest a traitor to their Kingdom. When my plane crashed North of Mistral, Violet not only rounded up enough medivacs to pick up all the survivors, she also pushed her Semblance to the limit to get there in time to help me kill Samiri. Where were my parents?" I didn't wait for an answer this time. "Still no idea."

Pyrrha was biting her lip.

"I've been acting as an adult since July," I went on. "I threw myself into training; I got stronger, I figured out my Semblance. I healed Amber from a coma and started a relationship with her. I got my sisters' respect enough that Bianca called me personally when the Legion received orders to terminate Amphivena. I have been a direct party to killing three Named Grimm in the last nine months, and when I got home from that, a woman I've never met tried to send me to my room because I declined to spar with her."

Blake looked pensive.

"I have a career I'm happy with, an antique sword that still cuts like it's brand new, a penthouse apartment in the city, a beautiful girlfriend, a kick-ass motorcycle, and almost a million lien in the bank. I don't need absentee parents suddenly showing up and trying to tell me how to live my life. I'm laid-back, not a doormat; whenever I decide I'm willing to talk to them again, they can get on board with how things are or they can get the hell out of my way."

My piece said, I got to my feet.

"Hit the showers, ladies; I know you haven't all finished the homework due tomorrow." I stared hard at Ruby, who avoided my eyes.

"I'll help you get started," Pyrrha offered, patting her partner on the shoulder.

We chatted about Oobleck's assignment on the way back to the dorm, where we picked up clothes and split up to the separate showers. Hanging a left toward the men's room, I was joined by Ren with a pair of towels slung over his shoulder and clutching a bottle of Samurai Shampoo. Both of us were wearing plastic sandals, which weren't exactly fashionable but were essential in communal bathrooms.

"Been well?" I asked conversationally.

"Well enough," he hummed. "You?"

"Don't get me started," I sighed.

He nodded amiably and didn't press. As we continued to the bathroom in comfortable silence I mused, I really need to hang out with Ren more.

While the bathrooms were communal, the shower stalls were thankfully separated in the dorms. I could see the top of Dove's head in one of the stalls, and Leo was stepping out of another, a towel tied around his waist and carefully drying the thin scars under his pectoral muscles. He paused at seeing us, but I just offered him a fistbump as I headed for the next open shower, which he returned hesitantly.

Leo too, I decided. We should have a guys' night.

Aside from Doctor Oobleck's lecture, which was still covering the legal repercussions of the Faunus Rights Revolution, we also had a Wilderness Survival lab with Professor Peach. The teacher who'd never been on-screen in the web show turned out to be an achondroplasic dwarf, with light red-blonde hair, freckles, and a cheerful demeanor.

‹Night Is Approaching›
LV 63
Thumbelina Peach

"The Forest of Forever Fall is generally off-limits to civilians, owing to the more dangerous species of Grimm that inhabit it," she lectured, adjusting her pince-nez and rapping a pointer on the blackboard. "Boarbatusks and Deathstalkers will take the unwary off-guard far more often than a simple Ursa. While you are unlikely to be forced to survive in Forever Fall while you are Beacon students, as it is relatively close to Vale, it is nevertheless the next biome we will be covering. The forest spreads North along the coast of Sanus for many hundreds of kilometers, so it is a good idea to familiarize itself with the hazards now.

"The distinctive red foliage that gives the forest its name comes from an abundance of anthocyanin pigments, making them more resistant to the cold air that blows in off the sea. This allows the forest to thrive despite being located to our North, in the shadow of Beacon Hill. Anthocyanins form due to high sugar content, which is also reflected in the trees' sap. The sap is also red in color, and attracts many species of insects, including insectile Grimm. While it is considered too sweet to be palatable to people in its raw form, it is most commonly refined into Valic Syrup."

"Ren, that's the stuff I love!" whispered Nora, a few rows behind me.

"I know," Ren sighed. "Please pay attention."

"The sap also sees use — in more or less refined forms — in cosmetics, adhesives, and baits for certain Grimm. The latter are of course quite illegal, as I'm sure you know. It is technically possible to obtain a permit to craft Grimm bait if you have an active Hunting license, but at that point the majority of Hunters know how to concentrate their Aura to attract Grimm and thus have no need of bait. If you want to know more about the circumstances behind that legislation, ask Professor Port."

Interested, I made a note to do just that.

"The Fall River — a distant distributary of the Winkie River which carved out the valley giving Vale its name — meanders through much of the Forest, providing the water necessary for the plants and non-Grimm to live. And you, if you should find yourself lost in the wilderness. Unlike the Emerald Forest to our South, biodiversity in Forever Fall is rather low. It is difficult for different species of tree to grow amid the dense leaf-fall that blankets the ground in red. Likewise, setting the matter of Grimm to one side, only highly-specialized and highly-generalized species can survive there. Either creatures like Rapier Wasps, which use their long stingers to draw the aforementioned sap from the trees, or else scavengers like raccoons that can eat almost anything.

"It is also frequently a challenge to navigate, as there is red in every direction, including up and down. Landmarks are in short supply, just endless red trunks, red leaves, and red grass. On a sunny day you might be able to stay oriented in the morning and evening, but just like I stress in every class–"

"–Take a rest at noon and don't travel at night," we all recited.

"I know having you all repeat that so often feels a bit juvenile," she twinkled. "But that just makes it more likely you'll actually remember it in a crisis situation. Now, as with most rivers on Sanus, Anima, and Menagerie, following the Fall river downstream will eventually lead you to civilization… or at least close to it. The Fall empties into the sea a few klicks North of Vale, and in the summer there are usually inhabitants who make a living fishing in the estuary. Yes, Miss Schnee?"

Weiss, whose hand was raised, asked, "Does the village have a name, ma'am?"

"You've misunderstood," Professor Peach said gently. "This isn't a permanent settlement, just a temporary shelter occupied by no more than a dozen fisherfolk — mostly Faunus — a little more than half the year. The Forever Fall's encroachment is cut back each spring, and the wood used to reinforce the palisade, which is not truly intended for defense so much as to buy time for the occupants to reach their boats in case of an incursion, which happens a few times each season."

"But… why would they keep coming back?" Weiss asked, perplexed.

"Not everyone has a trust fund to fall back on, princess," Blake snarked without looking up from her notes.

A round of chuckles circled the room, and Weiss flushed in humiliation. Yang, beside her, hesitated before glaring around, eyes flickering red. While it seemed she agreed with Blake's sentiment, she was nonetheless ready to defend her partner, at least until the professor intervened.

"Enough of that!" Peach said sharply, silencing the lingering chortles. "While the answer may seem obvious to some of you, I will not have honest curiosity derided in my classroom." She glared around the lecture hall, looking pointedly at the people who had laughed, before turning back to Weiss. "That said… Miss Belladonna's rather harshly-phrased response is accurate. These are working class people, often well below the poverty line. Food can be unreliable in lean times, and fishing is a way to both stretch provisions in the summer and stockpile for the winter."

"I- I see…" Weiss seemed deep in thought.

Across the room, Cardin scoffed. "Why don't they just get a job?"

Blake's hackles rose, but I spoke up first, leaning on a fist. "Where? The farms and factories that let Vale build the largest population of the five nations have been upgraded and industrialized with robotics tech from Atlas. It's cheaper to replace mortal labor with mechanization, after all."

Peach looked at her notes, then the clock, then hopped up to sit on her desk and waved me to continue.

"One robot can do the job of five minimum-wage laborers in half the time and doesn't need to eat or sleep," I went on.

"Isn't that a good thing?" Ruby asked hesitantly. "I mean, farming isn't an easy job, so people getting to relax while robots do the work is good, right?'

I glanced around, but nobody else volunteered, so I explained, "It would be, except that food still costs money, and the people who aren't farming anymore aren't getting paid anymore. Every time one of the corporations that owns a farm or factory places an order for a hundred robots, thousands of people, humans and Faunus, are let go. And when that happens, their competitors have to do the same, or their production will get outstripped by those that do. Leading to more and more food and goods being produced… and more and more people out of work." I turned to look at Winchester again. "The ideal solution would be to implement Universal Basic Income so that the food, shelter, and goods produced by robots can actually be enjoyed by everybody, but legislation trying to introduce something along those lines — or even just raise the minimum wage — keeps getting struck down by the Vale Council after extensive 'lobbying' from the same corporations that own the farms and factories." I let my disdain for legalized bribery hang thick in the air before shrugging. "There are other economic theories, and I won't claim the idea I proposed doesn't have flaws that need to be considered, but if you ask me it's a lot better than people, mostly Faunus, facing the choice between fishing in a Grimm-infested forest or starving to death."

"Why are we talking about animals scrounging for food anyway?" Cardin demanded.

"Detention, Mister Winchester," Peach said tartly. "Thank you for your insight, Mister Arc. The problems of mechanization are a subject I suggest you bring up with Doctor Oobleck, but I let this discussion happen because next month's classes will be about surviving in an urban environment, covering all the major cities of Remnant, much like those whose jobs are displaced by robots must often do." She hopped back down from her desk. "To jump briefly back to the subject of today's lecture, if you reach the mouth of the Fall River in the wintertime, when no fishers are present, you will still be able to spot the lights of Vale a few kilometers to the South."

Yang raised a hand. "You should see the lighthouse on Patch from there, too."

"Quite right," the professor agreed. "Now to the East, where the land is flatter, there is a rail that runs through Forever Fall which you can also use to orient…"

Blake leaned over to whisper in my ear. "Why did it seem like you were talking directly to Cardin when you talked about lobbying?"

"Because his family owns almost a quarter of the factories and has a seat on the Council," I replied softly. "Until this year, they were controlled by the executor of his father's estate, but Cardin's now an adult; he's technically the CEO of the conglomerate and will be sworn into the Council during their next session."

"And he's a blatant human supremacist," Blake sighed.

"He keeps getting slapped down for it," I reminded her. "By me, by Peach, by Goodwitch… What's the over-under that Oobleck nails him next?"

Blake's lips twitched. "No bet."

Unfortunately, we didn't have to wait long for our next encounter with Cardin. Fortunately, however, it happened when Goodwitch called him and Blake down for a match in Combat class. After a few minutes to change into their gear — Combat class doubled as quick-change practice, in case we were caught somewhere out off kit and had to call our rocket lockers — Cardin stalked back into the arena in his patchwork plate to find Blake already waiting for him, reading something on her Scroll since she had to leave her book in the stands.

"Shame I can't put your partner in his place, but your smug face will do fine," he jabbed at Blake, swinging his mace through the air as a warmup.

Blake's eyes flicked up and she raised an eyebrow. "Like you did the last time you fought him?" she asked, sounding bored as she tucked her Scroll away.

Cardin's face flushed with anger, and as soon as Goodwitch gave the signal he leapt forward with his mace wound up for a huge overhead swing, trying to club Blake over the head. If it connected it would probably knock her out, Aura or not, but frankly he never stood a chance of actually hitting her.

Quite aside from the practice she'd gotten with Indigo, Blake was used to sparring with me and I was over four times stronger than Cardin even without any buffs, not to mention about eight times faster. Maybe it was hypocritical coming from me, but my evaluation was that Cardin coasted too much on being stronger and tougher than his opponents. Even Pyrrha could almost match him in STR and doubled his DEX, and I'd bet on Ruby over Cardin, too.

Blake raised both halves of Gambol Shroud over her head in a cross block… then took a step back, leaving a shadow in her place. The shadowy copy of Blake vanished at the first touch of the mace, and Cardin stumbled at the lack of expected resistance, leaving him wide open for Blake's counterattack. She let loose with a flurry of slashes at his exposed neck and shoulders, battering his Aura and no doubt rattling his head despite the damage reduction before hopping away nimbly as he tried to catch her with a backswing.

Cardin took a deep breath, and looked like he was about to get a hold of himself, until Blake scoffed audibly and smirked at him. Teeth gritting, Cardin took the bait and charged again, letting Blake repeatedly dodge and whiff-punish him like a Dark Souls boss until Goodwitch called the fight. Blake's Aura wasn't full, since she had to spend it on her Semblance, but she was barely into the yellow range when Cardin finally dropped into the red. He ignored the buzzer and his final swing had to be halted by Goodwitch's Semblance, but aside from a sharp look she didn't comment on that.

"If you are going to engage in trash talk, Mister Winchester, I suggest you have a thicker skin yourself," she said tartly. "It is also important to notice when your current strategy is not working, so that you can regroup and decide on a new one. Miss Belladonna showed an excellent understanding of how to exploit an opponent of choleric temper, and the benefits of remaining calm even when physically overmatched. You two are dismissed." She waved them toward the locker rooms to shower and change back into their uniforms, then consulted her tablet-sized Scroll. "The next match will be… Mister Arc and Mister Lie."

Name: Jaune Arc
Level: 58 (Next: 04.72%)
Title: Academy Student
Race: Human
Age: 18
Job: Beacon Student
Class: Paladin
Semblance: The Gamer
HP: 7545/7545
MP: 4122/4122
STR: 212 (100)
CON: 261 (101)
DEX: 150 (53)
INT: 128 (50)
WIS: 105 (52)
CHA: 143 (52)
Points: 97
Money: 947,938L
Status: Cursed – Yellow Death [High]

A/N: Rehashing everything that's happened so far in the fic is probably not the best way to write this conversation, but I wanted to lay it all out in summary to best articulate where Jaune is at right now with regard to his family, and especially his parents. He's not at the 'sever all ties' stage yet, but he's not ruling it out, either.

Unsurprisingly, since this Jaune is based on me, he tends to react to things the way I would, or at least the way I think I would. I've gotten comments in the past on Jaune's apparent passivity, going along with whatever his sisters tell him to do, but stubbornly digging your heels in whenever anyone tries to help you or tells you what to do is stupid. That's canon!Jaune behavior.

I find it more reasonable to assess instructions or suggestions for whether I agree with them; if I do, the mild annoyance of being told what to do is outweighed by the fact that it's the same decision I would make on my own anyway.

Also, I didn't mean to get quite that openly political, especially in Wilderness Survival class, but after my urbanism sidetrack in Chapter 21 I figured I should point out that Vale is very much not utopian. Remnant is reaping the benefits of mechanization, but they're also facing the resultant troubles, and society isn't keeping up with the new reality as they keep trying to play by old rules.
Are there more problems to solve? Absolutely– There always are. But just because the problems of tomorrow aren't already solved doesn't mean the problems of today should be blindly accepted.

The status quo is not sacred. The devil you know is still a devil, so don't trust it.

Anyway, reminder that 'Lie' is Ren's family name in my fic. The Game displays his name in what we would call Western order, where the given name comes first, but he introduces himself with his family name first. I genuinely assumed this was the case in canon too, considering Nora, his best friend (or more if you ship it), calls him 'Ren'.