#Jaune Has Trouble Seeing Signals

[vecnawrites]

Patreon Reward: Begging To Be Bred

Jaune has a problem. He swears that the girls on his team are seducing him and his willpower is not strong enough! Fortunately, they have a mission out in the field soon, so hopefully they have a chance to cool off...

As the team leader, only male, and only human member of Team JNPR, Jaune was used to dealing with odd things.

Everyone had either given him the stink eye, thinking the worst of him due to him being the only male in a team of women (in a position of authority, no less), incredible jealousy, or given him looks of sympathy. He wasn’t really sure why, considering he dealt with seven sisters growing up.

Oh, don’t get him wrong, each of the three girls were a true beauty. Pyrrha Nikos, an apparent four-time champion in Mistral (he couldn’t say anything about that, since he knew nothing really about the tournament scene. It had never interested him.) who was a Tiger Faunus, her trait being a red tail with black stripes, with long red hair held in a ponytail and bright, expressive emerald eyes.

Next to her was Lian Ren, a svelte beauty of a feline faunus, her trait being the ears emerging from her hair (from the ear shape, he suspected panther), with long black hair, broken by a single pink streak in the front bangs, and surprisingly pink eyes.

The final member of his team was Nora Valkyrie, a bombastic and incredibly energetic (and curvaceous) cow faunus, her trait being a small pair of horns on her head (although a tiny part of his mind whispered that her trait was really attached to her chest, due to her bust size) who seemed to ignore any idea of the concept of “personal space”.

To be honest, it wasn’t bad. They weren’t too different than wrangling his sisters, save the fact that he, well, he wasn’t related to them, so it made certain instances more awkward as they got more comfortable with each other. So much more awkward.

Like the times that Lian needed help stretching after class! He had no issue with that (he knew he was always sore as hell afterwards as well) but the fact that she wore only a sports bra and thong of all things made it awkward! Never mind the moaning and pushing her rear back against his pelvis! He swore it was on purpose!

Or the time (times, it happened multiple times…) where Pyrrha had forgotten to take in clothes or a towel into the bathroom when she showered, and came out naked as the day she was born and glistening with water, her muscles rippling and sizable bust and bottom bouncing as she walked shamelessly to get a towel and clothes.

Or Nora asking him for help with something personal, only for him to get the shock of his life when she whipped off her top and bra and she asked him for help milking herself, as she had gotten ‘extremely backed up’ and needed to have her breasts drained. That had been a long and hard (on several different levels) two hours, as not only did Nora have a lot of milk in her chest, like she said, the constant quivering and shaky “Moos” she released were hell on his libido.

If he didn’t know those three so well, he’d swear that they wanted him to do something…but no, he knew that they were just lonely and somewhat forgetful girls. Lian and Nora were orphans and often looked over by everyone, and Pyrrha had been put on an unfortunate pedestal by practically everyone. They simply trusted him not to be the same.

There couldn’t be more to it.

~

“OH MY GOD!” Nora exploded, tugging at her hair as she fell forward, burying her face into Lian’s lap. “WHY IS HE SO DENSE!?” she whined softly as Lian gently ran her fingers through her hair, rubbing the base of her horns tenderly.

“Now, Nora…it’s not Jaune’s fault…not really. You know he has seven sisters, so what we have been doing is probably something that he’s seen before…that, and we honestly haven’t actually overtly said anything about our interest, so it’s just as much our fault, if not more, for not telling him.” she soothed, even though Lian’s cat ears were twitching in agitation at the fact that their team leader hadn’t taken them and dicked them down yet.

Pyrrha was pacing about the dorm, her tail flicking back and forth slowly like the predator that she was on the prowl, her eyes narrowed. Her nostrils were flared as she drew in the scent of the room, and more importantly, Jaune’s scent.

All three were currently agitated and on edge, as their heat cycles were upon them, and while this normally meant between one to two weeks of intense discomfort, they now had someone that they could trust to help their needs…

They just had to get the lovably dense man to realize it!

Pyrrha froze, her tail going straight and still as she tilted her head, a slow smile forming on her face. “We have a training mission coming up…” she purred, getting both Lian’s and Nora’s attentions.

She turned to them, her eyes almost glowing with eagerness. “Listen to me very carefully~”

~

Juane hummed softly as he set his tent up. They were in a rather secluded area, one that they had placed traps around to warn them of any excess Grimm heading their way. While they were still technically in the village they had cleansed the Grimm from, the inn had been full, so they were in a slightly secluded and isolated area away, but still close enough to get food the next morning before heading back towards the pick up area.

As he crawled into his tent and laid down to sleep, he was oblivious to three sets of hungry eyes watching him.

~

LIck! Slurp! Smack! Jaune gasped, his eyes snapping open and his body lurching upwards as pleasure filled him, emanating from his groin. He glanced down, sure that he’d be met with the sight of a soaked blanket and boxers that he would have to hide from his three-

JauneLancelotArc.Exe Has Stopped. Would You Like To Reboot?

Before him were his teammates. His three sexy teammates. His three, sexy, naked teammates, all their curves bared as they rubbed their faces against his dick, pink tongues slipping from their mouths and lapping at his shaft and balls, sending great amounts of pleasure through him.

He gasped as their trailed their tongues over his shaft, starting at the base and working their way up towards his leaking tip, their tongues doing a seeming tango against each other on the sensitive helmet, making him release a louder, choked sound, one that made their attentions turn towards him.

Emerald, Pink, and Turquoise eyes stared up at him in lust. Somehow, Jaune found his voice, shaky as it was. “G-Girls? W-What’s going on?” he gasped out as Pyrrha and Lian licked at the weeping head of his cock again, being able to tell that their feline traits were more than just external; their tongues slightly raspy and dragging along his cock in such a way that made him thrash, even more when Nora buried her face into his balls and audibly inhaled, a slutty moan leaving her lips.

“Jaune…we need you…our pussies are so empty…our wombs need to be filled…we want to be bred…please help us~” the fact that it was LIan who was begging threw Juane, just as much, if not more, than the fact that Pyrrha of all people was shamelessly sniffing and rubbing her face against his cock and Nora was happily sniffing his balls, wiggling her fat ass as she did so.

A gentle caress to his abdomen brought his attention back to Lian, who had sat up somewhat, her modest (but still sizable) breasts jiggling, her dusky light brown nipples hard as diamonds as they pointed at him. “We all want you, Jaune~ Please? We’ll be good girls for you, we promise~”

Jaune swallowed at the earnest, hungry looks that the three gave him. But…they needed him. How could he say no?

~

“AH! AH! AH! YES! OH FUCK, JAUNE! FILL MY TIGHT LITTLE COW CUNT! BLOAT MY WOMB!” Nora cried out as he fucked her on her back, her legs wrapped around his hips as he thrust firmly in and out of her tight, burning little pussy, feeling the folds of flesh tighten and loosen in a rhythmic fashion as he moved.

~

“YES! YES! MORE! OH, GODS! DON’T STOP!” Lian wailed as she arched her back as Jaune hovered over her, pounding into her pussy with great intensity, wet smacks filling the tent as his balls smacked into the underside of her ass cheeks as he thrust with everything he had.

~

“MORE! MORE! WANTED THIS SINCE I GOT TO KNOW YOU! WANTED YOU TO MAKE ME YOURS! WANTED TO MAKE YOU MINE! DON’T PULL OUT! I WANT MY WOMB FULL OF YOUR SEED! MAKE IT LAND ONLY YOU WILL EVER CONQUER!”  Pyrrha screamed, being the most animated of the three, thrusting with Jaune, her own hands not idle as she roamed his body, her hungry eyes glowing with joy at the fact that she finally got what she wanted. Gotten the man she wanted.

And some pride sisters as well, since her moaning and well fucked teammates were curled up on either side of them.

A Jaune came again, for what must have been the fifth time in their mating, Pyrrha tipped over the edge with a scream of passion, her womb so full she swore she could feel his cum swirling around inside her.

As she slumped down, she started purring happily as Jaune followed, gathering her, Lian, and Nora up and cradling them all close.

They might be tired now, what with their heats sated properly for the first time in their lives, but they were going to continue in the morning, no matter who heard them!

[howlingday]

Knightshade Signals

Jaune: Hey, guys! (Sits down) How's your morning going?

Ruby: Fine.

Yang: Can't complain.

Nora: I ate a spider!

Ren: It was a pancake in the shape of a spider.

Pyrrha: Did your tie give you a lot of trouble?

Jaune: Uh, just a little bit. Say, where's Blake?

Yang: She was reading this morning, but she said she'd be down. Oh, and speak of the Grimm.

Blake: Good morning. (Sits down) Did everyone sleep well?

Pyrrha: I slept just fine.

Nora: Same.

Ren: Nora kicked me.

Jaune: I kind of got to bed late, but I slept pretty good, and woke up just fine.

Blake: I see. I also slept well.

Yang: Uh, are you sure you're not still sleepy?

Blake: No. Why do you ask?

Yang: Well, you're sitting awfully close to Vomit Boy.

Blake: Hm. So I am. I'm not invading your space, am I?

Jaune: No, not really.

Blake: That's good.

Ruby: (Thinking) Huh... She is sitting pretty close. But if Jaune's okay with it.

---------------------------------------------------

Blake: (Opens the door) Sorry I'm late. Professor Ozpin wanted to have a word with me.

Oobleck: Yes, yes. He informed me well beforehand. Please take your seat.

Blake: Yes, Doctor. (Sits next to Jaune)

Jaune: Glad you made it.

Blake: I'm glad to be here.

Pyrrha: (Glances over, Thinking) Was it just me, or did Jaune's eyebrows just raise at seeing Blake? Ah, I'm overthinking things, I'm sure.

---------------------------------------------------

Blake: (Taps Jaune's shoulder) Jaune.

Jaune: Huh? Wha?

Blake: You fell asleep.

Jaune: Oh, yeah... Sorry, I was studying and, uh...

Blake: It's fine. The lunch bell just rang.

Jaune: (Yawns) Did Professor Port notice me?

Blake: (Holding Jaune's hand) No, he was telling us how he killed a Deathstalker with his bare hands again.

Jaune: Oh, that one. I like that one.

Blake: It's one of his better stories.

Port: Hmph! (Thinking) To think the lad could sleep during study time! But he has such a dear friend to guide him right. And one who keeps her hands soft yet firm on him! Ah, the summer day springtime of youth...

---------------------------------------------------

Nora: Jaune, have you seen my fork collection?

Jaune: (Reading) Isn't it under your desk drawer?

Nora: No, that's the spoon diorama.

Jaune: Have you tried the closet corner?

Nora: Nope, not yet. Thanks, Jaune!

Jaune: No problem.

Nora: Hey, Blake.

Blake: Hello, Nora. Hello, Jaune.

Jaune: (Looks up from reading) Hey, Blake.

Blake: Jaune, have you seen Weiss around anywhere? Or Ruby? Yang's down in the gym, working on arm day with Sun.

Jaune: Is Neptune with them?

Blake: I think so.

Jaune: Weiss probably isn't far away, then. As for Ruby, well, she's probably over with them, too.

Blake: I'm not sure how I missed them.

Jaune: They can be pretty sneaky. Need some company?

Blake: I was about to ask you the same thing.

Jaune: I won't say no to it.

Blake: I was going to say that, too.

Nora: (Thinking) That's weird. Why didn't he talk that much with me? Wait, what was I- Oh, right! Closet corner!

---------------------------------------------------

Jaune: (Arms crossed) I'm telling you guys. I'm an open book; you can ask me anything.

Ruby: Okay! What's the best video game?

Jaune: Ninja Kung-Fu Ultimate Deathslayer 2 in my opinion.

Ruby: Eh, the first one was better.

Yang: Who do you have a crush on?

Jaune: W-Well, uh, I did like Weiss for a while.

Weiss: Ugh! Moving on. Where are you from?

Jaune: Around South Vale, a little village named Ansel. Anything else?

Blake: How are you today?

Jaune: Hm... (Opens arms, Rest hands behind head) Ah, well, my morning was kinda off, but I feel like I'm picking up.

Blake: That's good.

Yang: (Thinking) Why'd he bring his arms up like that? Heck, why were they crossed in the first place?

---------------------------------------------------

Blake: (Sighs) So much for simple field training. (Plucks debris off her outfit)

Jaune: (Rolls up sleeves) Yeah, and I don't know how they got inside, but they did, and I'm itchy.

Blake: You should wear something to cover your wrists better.

Jaune: Would they get stuck on your wrists?

Blake: No. See?

Jaune: (Takes wrist, Turns) Huh... Guess not. Oh, but you do have something here.

Blake: Where?

Jaune: On your neck. Do you mind if I...?

Blake: Sure. (Lifts chin)

Jaune: Yeah, see? It was just a... little... (Flushes) Anyway, we should get back to the others and-

Blake: Jaune, wait.

Jaune: Y-Yeah?

Blake: Do you... like me?

Jaune: I, well, uh...

Blake: I'm not asking for anything big and complicated. Simply yes or no.

Jaune: Y-Yeah, I do like you.

Blake: I see. (Pecks his cheek, Blushes) Then I guess the feeling is mutual.

Jaune: Yeah, I guess it is. Oh, and Blake?

Blake: Yes?

Jaune: (Pecks her cheek) To, uh, get you back.

Blake: (Smiles) That's fair.

Ren: (Watching from afar, Thinking) I knew it.

[arc-misadventures]

Nora’s Codenames

Jaune: Hi, guys!

Nora: Jaune-Jaune!

Pyrrha: Hey, Jaune.

Ren: Hey, Jaune. How did your talk with your family go?

Jaune: Went pretty well…

Jaune walked over to his bed, and pulled out his scroll, and waved it before the others. Quickly typing out a message to them in their private group chat.

Jaune: We talked about how things were going; asked her how my nephew, Adrian was doing.

Jaune’s Text: False Signals everyone.

False Signals: At first it was this silly little thing, Nora made them do. Codenames for various tasks they wanted to do but, didn’t want anyone else to know that they were doing. Most of the codenames, Nora came up with were, Nora trying to clue them in on what kind of pancakes she wanted. But, Ironically sometimes that came in use.

Such as, False Signals: To talk about something, something seemingly random vocally, while their true conversation was being held over text.

The others moved themselves into various locations, and pulled out their scrolls. The lot of them gave, Jaune a concerned look as the looked at their scrolls.

Pyrrha: Adrian, who’s, Adrian?

Pyrrha Text: What’s wrong?

Jaune: As I said, Adrian’s my nephew.

J Text: I’m being followed.

Nora: You have a nephew?! Is he cute? I bet he’s adorable!

Nora Text: How can you be sure?

Jaune: Oh, he’s a little heart breaker in the making; Wants to see some photos?

NP: YES!

J Text: I smelt something when I went to the CCT Tower to talk to my sister.

Ren: May I see as well?

Ren Text: What makes you think you were being followed?

Jaune: Here you go.

NP: Nawwww~!

Nora: I want one~!

Pyrrha: I want four~!

Ren: Okay…?

J Text: I was all alone during my call to my sister, then I smelt something near the end. Smelt someone.

P Text: How concerned should we be about this?

Jaune: Haha! Told you he was a little heart breaker in the making.

J Text: Okay, I’ll tell you the truth: Adrian is actually my biological son.

Ren: I don’t see it.

R Text: Beg pardon?!

Pyrrha: H-He r-r-really is…?!

P Text: HE’S YOUR WHAT?!!

Nora: Settle down girl.

Nora: Does that mean I’m an aunt?!

Jaune: Yep! You are now, Adrian’s seventh aunt!

Nora: FUCK YEAH!

P Text: WHY DO YOU HAVE A SON?!!

Jaune: Settle down, Nora, you’ll upset our neighbours.

J Text: My sister, Saphron, and her wife, Terra wanted a child, so they asked me to be the donor. So, I did, and as far as anyone knows, he is my nephew, not my son.

Nora: What?! No I won’t!

Ren: Shall I show you the complaints we’ve received?

R Text: Oh, that’s why you panicked, and went to call your sister; You’re scared for him because of your new found faunas status.

Nora: Who’s complaining?!

J Text: Damn right I am.

Pyrrha: Weiss is, but she’s usually complaining about something anyway.

P Text: You’re worried that something may happen to him?

J Text: They see me as a king, or a god. If they found out about him being my son. Well, if they even think about touching him, I will kill them.

R Text: Noted.

Nora: That’s because she’s used to sleeping on a pile of money; She’s too soft, and weak for the world!

Ren: I doubt sleeping on a pile of, Lien Chips would be comfortable.

N Text: Do you think whoever was spying on you overheard your conversation with your sisters?

Pyrrha: They once made me lay on a pile of fake Lien chips for a commercial; It didn’t hurt, but it wasn’t comfortable either.

Jaune: What was the commercial for?

Pyrrha: Perfume I think?

Nora: Did it smell nice?

Pyrrha: I still have some if you want try?

Nora: Yes please!

J Text: Fraid so. They may go after him to get to me. The odds of that happening depends on whether, or not he displays any faunas traits. If he has any traits, he could be in big trouble, if he isn’t… Well, he won’t be in as much trouble.

R Text: That doesn’t sound good at all.

Pyrrha: Here you go, Nora.

Nora: Thank’s, Pyrrha!

P Text: What did you smell?

J Text: Mixed paint. Mixed oil paints to be precise. I was all alone in the room, then I smelt it all of a sudden. I got out of there as soon as I could. And, as I left, thought I saw someone out of the corner of my eye as I was leaving.

R Text: Oil paints? That’s oddly specific.

Nora: (Sniff sniff) Mmm~! This smells nice!

Pyrrha: You can have it if you want.

Nora: Can I?!

Pyrrha: Of course you can; I found the smell was too sweet for me.

Nora: Naww! Thanks, Pyrrha!

Pyrrha: My pleasure, Nora.

N Text: How did you know it was oil paints?

J Text: One of my sister likes to paint.

P Text: Ah.

R Text so what’s the plan then?

Jaune: (Sniff, sniff) That is a nice smell. But, yeah it’s too sweet for you, Pyrrha.

Pyrrha: Oh? Since your sense of smell is so strong, what is a nice smell for me then?

J Text: Nora: Can you come up with an attack name, please?

N Text: Yay~! Attack plan names~!

Jaune: Uhh… W-Well… I don’t know if I can answer that really…

Pyrrha: Why not?

Jaune: Well, to other humans, and faunas they may think you smell nice with some sort of perfume, or deodorant. But, I think your natural smell smells nice as is…

Pyrrha: Do you now~?

N Text: Art Strike!

R Text: No.

N Text: Painters gala!

R Text: Too long.

N Text: Lubed up~!

R Text: Too sexualized.

Jaune: I find your natural smell… appeasing.

Pyrrha: How appeasing?

N Text: Canvas?

R Text: Too plain.

N Text: Easel? Oh! Mobile easel! Hows that?

R Text: That works?

P Text: I like it.

J Text: Alright; I’ll sniff them out, then I’ll point, yell out Mobile easel, and you go get ‘em. Got it?

NPR Text: Got it.

J Text: Good. Signals out.

And, with that the main conversation ended, and their scrolls were put away.

Pyrrha: Come on, how appeasing do I smell?

Jaune: …

Jaune: Nora?

Nora: Yes fearless leader?

Jaune: You’ve been hanging around with mom, right?

Nora: Yep! And, it was amazing~!

Jaune: That’s nice to hear. So then… You over heard, Oobaleck talk to her, and Ms. Goodwitch then?

Nora: Yep!

Jaune: So you overhead all that stuff about my sense of smell then, eh?

Nora: Yep, weird stuff that was!

Jaune: Did you tell, Pyrrha about that as well?

Nora: N-No…

Jaune: Nora, don’t you go lying to your big brother now.

Nora: Big brother?! T-That’s not far!

Jaune: Nora, come on you can tell your big bro the truth.

Nora: Mmmm…! Fine! Fine, fine… Haaa… I told her…

Jaune: Thank you, Nora. And, don’t worry, you’ll use the little sister card on me eventually.

Jaune smiled as he ruffled, Nora’s hair who grew a wide smile in joy before he left his new, adorable little sister. He then walked over, and stood face to face with, Pyrrha.

Jaune: Pyrrha.

Pyrrha: Y-Yes…?

Jaune: Haa… You know this whole, Faunas harem crap I’ve been dealing with. That’s a stupid question; Of course you do, you’re the most vocal about it all.

Pyrrha: I-I haven’t said anything…

Jaune: “Hormonal faunas bitches.” Or, something like that, no?

Pyrrha: You heard that?!

Jaune: I have incredible hearing remember?

Pyrrha: Oh right…

Jaune: Haa… Pyrrha… Look… This whole faunas harem thing people are trying to make me make… I won’t lie I find the idea appealing… And, there are a few people I’m… interested in… So… I… Uhh…? If you don’t mind…

Pyrrha: Uhh…? I have a faint idea of what you may be talking about, but…? Start over again from the beginning I’m so confused.

Jaune: …

Jaune: Haa, fuck it.

Jaune grabbed, Pyrrha’s cheeks, and pulled her into a deep passion filled kiss, causing, Pyrrha’s eyes to widened in shock before she hummed in satisfaction as her eyelids slowly closed as she deepened the kiss, and wrapped her arms tightly around, Jaune.

As the two delved deeper into their lust filled kissed, Nora eyes shinned with stars as she squealed in unbridled delight. Violently shaking, Ren as she lost her mind.

Nora: Ren, Ren, Ren, Ren, REN!!!! It’s finally happening?!!!

Ren: Yes?! I see?! S-Stop shaking me?!!

The duo slowly broke apart, with seep blushes across their faces as they stared deeply into one another eyes.

Jaune: Wow…

Pyrrha: I wanted to do that for so long!

Jaune: Sorry I took so long.

Pyrrha: It was well worth the wait. Now, we’ll talk about that whole faunas harem thing later, but for now~! Nora?!

Nora: We’re already out the door! Have fun you two!

Ren: Remember to use protect… Ahh?!

(Slam!)

Pyrrha slowly started to undress as she laid upon her bed, beckoning for, Jaune to come to her.

Pyrrha: Come on, Jaune… Claim me as yours, and yours, alone~!

Jaune: Hmm. With pleasure~!

[novankenn]

Altered Destiny

= Three =

Glynda Goodwitch's breath hitched as she saw the massive boarbatusk pacing along the top edge of the cliff. The shine of reflected light of two pieces of easily recognizable pieces of equipment made her heart race. Were they too late? With a sudden snarl as the bullhead slowly descended to get a better view of the area, Glynda lashed out with her semblance.

A purple light surrounded the massive grimm, lifting it into the air before dashing it against the ground, instantly turning it into a smear of inky ichor. Moments later the bullhead landed and Glynda followed by the medical team disembarked, and began their search. Using the tracker on their own, scrolls then zeroed in on the signal. A signal coming from the bottom of the chasm.

Glynda: No! No! No!

As Glynda's mind fell into her greatest fear, that of losing a student under her care, the EMT's moved into action. The bullhead lifted off, and then moved into a hover over the chasm, before two members of the rescue team repelled out of the air vehicle and down towards the source of the signal.

/=/

Glynda met the remainder of JNPR in the waiting room of the infirmary. Cutting them off from just rushing into the room that Jaune was currently occupying. The trio looked up at her, with genuine concern, Miss Nikos eyes the most telling. Glynda could tell she had been crying, the redness and puffiness tell-tale signs.

Glynda: Jaune is okay, and safe but in a coma.

Pyrrha: What... what happened?

Glynda: We still need Jaune to tell us, but what we can figure is he used the launch pads to go into the forest for some reason, and ran into some serious trouble. I must repeat, Jaune is okay, just currently unresponsive.

Nora: When can we see him?

Glynda: In a few minutes. I have a few things to inform you of, before you can. So, please take seats.

The trio moved and took seats on the uncomfortable hard plastic chairs that lined the walls of the waiting room. Once they had settled, and return thier full attention to Glynda, she spoke.

Glynda: We are no sure what has happened, and I am going to be speaking with the headmaster about the pads being active, but I must let you know... we found Jaune at the bottom of the chasm, surrounded by blood.

Ren: I thought you said he was okay? A drop like that should have killed him.

Glynda: The doctors believe that thanks to his massive aura reserves, he was able to survive the fall. Now, while that is a plausible scenario, what is not understood is how he suffered no injuries even though he was surrounded by a rather significant amount of blood.

Nora: So he was hurt?

Glynda: Yes, he was at one point, but upon our arrival we found him whole and breathing, just unresponsive. But that is not the end of the uncharacteristic situation.

Pyrrha: How did he manage to fall into the chasm?

Glynda: We found a rather large boarbatusk nearby, we think it knocked him over the edge. We disposed of it, and then set about securing Jaune. Who is now being thoroughly examined.

Ren: So he survived... which is explainable, but you said uncharacteristic situation. What do you mean?

Glynda: It is about the condition of him when we found him. His body has been altered, and we have no clue as to how.

Pyrrha: What do you mean?

Glynda: It is perhaps better that I show you. It would be faster than trying to explain it. Please follow me.

The trio rose from their seats and followed Professor Goodwitch into the main hallway of the infirmary. She led them in silence past many empty rooms, til they stood before the closed door of the last room. Glynda turned to regard the three before opening the door and stepping aside to allow them to enter.

What they saw caused them all to stop in shock. Their eyes wide and mouths agape.

Pyrrha: How? What? This is not Jaune!

Nora: Who is this?

Ren: (Turns to look at Professor Goodwitch) Is this some type of sick joke? Where is Jaune?

Glynda: This is not a joke. We have been running every test we can think of. We have checked her fingerprints, blood matching and are even doing a DNA sequencing and Aura Pattern analysis. So far, everything we've done tells us this is Jaune Arc.

Pyrrha: But...

Nora: That's a girl! That's not our Fearless Leader!

Glynda: I don't know what else to tell you. Or how to prove this is who we say it is. But this is how we found Jaune at the bottom of the chasm.

Pyrrha: This is not possible. I know people can change genders, but not magically like this! I mean, Jaune was a he this morning!

Glynda: Again I don't know what to tell you, and until Jaune wakes up and tells us what happened, we don't have any answers but what the tests are telling us.

Ren: Any idea when that may happen?

Glynda: The doctors are not sure, they are hoping because Jaune's body is apparently unharmed that it will be sooner rather than later.

Glynda watched as the trio slowly took control of their shock and apprehension and moved further into the room. Soon they had surrounded Jaune's bed.

Glynda: I'll leave you alone. If anything happens, or Jaune wakes up please use the call button.

Pyrrha: Yes professor.

Glynda gently closed the door behind her, giving JNPR the privacy they needed.

{Table of Contents}

[juanarc-thethird]

I Know You

Team Rwby is waiting outside in an alley in Mantle in order to make a deal with the mob.

Weiss: I really don't like this.

Yang: *Holding a gym bag on her back* But what can we do. After Ironwood brands us as criminals, not many people want to sell us what we need.

Ruby: Girls please be quiet for a moment. *On her phone* What was that Blake?

Blake *Phone*: Someone is coming from behind! I can't see who he or she is. They're hiding with a cloak!

Ruby: Girls get ready.

The three girls keep their hands close to their weapons. The sounds of footsteps echo through the alley. Someone's silhouette approaches. The girls are hoping for the best, but expecting the worst. The stranger finally comes out and surprises them.

Jaune: *Removes the hood* Hello girls

Ruby :Jaune? What are you doing here?

Jaune: I thought you girls might need a little backup.

Blake: *Show up* Is everyone ok?

Yang: We're fine, it was just vomit boy.

Jaune: *Annoyed* Can you please stop calling me that?

Weiss: And you have to tell us if you're coming. We thought you were from the Mantle mob.

Jaune: Sorry.

Ruby: It's okay. Just let us do our thing when they finally arrive, okay.

Jaune: You got it. *Puts the hood back on*

After a short wait, a group of dangerous men and women appear.

Capo: So you guys are the group that wants to do business with us?

Ruby: Yes, you have what we ask for.

The Capo snaps his fingers and his members show them the merchandise from afar.

Ruby: Great, here's the money we agreed on.

Yang then shows the inside of the gym bag.

Ruby: $10,000 cash as agreed.

Capo: *laughs* I'm sorry, sweetheart, but that amount is too small.

Weiss: What?! We have a deal. $10,000 for the equipment

Capo: Well, the deal has changed. Give us the money or you don't get your toys.

Ruby: Fine. The deal is off

Team Rwby and Jaune turned around but were surrounded by more mob members.

Capo: You know, Ironwood put a pretty good price on their heads. So I have a new deal for all of you. Drop the money and walk away, or we'll hand you over to him.

Jaune: Are you really going to do this for just $10,000? Is the mafia really in bad shape financially?

Capo: Watched kid or I'll put a bullet between your eyes.

Ruby: *Whispering* Jaune, let me handle it. *To the Capo* We don't want any trouble, we're just trying to save Mantle. You live here. You must understand the-

Capo: Blah blah blah, lady, we just want the money. So drop it, and you can go, simple.

Ruby: Please under-

Jaune: Ruby, don't waste your breath. *To the Capo* Just let us go, and no one will get hurt.

Capo: Are you threatening me?

Jaune: No, I'm just warning you.

Capo gives a signal to one of his guys who is behind Jaune. Jaune notices this and turns around to face the guy. He beats him with just his fists until he is unconscious on the ground. As all this happened, the hood fell back, revealing his face.

Capo: Wait a minute, I know you. You're the one who dragged us out of Watson. Thought you could get away with it, huh?

Weiss: What? Jaune could never-

Weiss turned to face Jaune and his expression had changed to something dangerous. A look she never thought she would see on his friend.

Capo: *Smiles* You are so done.

Jaune: If I were you, I'd think hard about your next move. Because you're right, I was the one who took out your men at Watson. Take them all out, like fish in a barrel. So why do you think this will play out differently? Because you have us surrounded?

He then opens his cloak, showing off his armor and weapon.

Jaune: Take a look at me. A real good one. It could cut you to shreds before you can pull the trigger.

Jaune: I know it.

Jaune: You know it.

El Capo looks at him for a moment.

Capo: Agh... Give them the merchandise.

His guys didn't move.

Capo: What, are you fucking deaf?! I said give them the merchandise! *to Jaune* This isn't over.

The mafia gave them the merchandise and they left without taking any of their money.

Yang: Holy shit!

Blake: I have seen many things during my time with the White Fang. But hearing you back there... that sent chills down my spine. Literally.

Weiss: *Nervous* That sure was something.

Jaune: *smiles* I'm always happy to help my friends

Ruby: Is that the case *hugs his arm* Can you help me out with a little problem?

Jaune: Of course. What is it?

Ruby: Can you carry me? My legs feel weak after you did that.

Jaune: I'm sorry, did I scare you?

Ruby: *blushes* Something like that.

[bssaz97]

2021 Lancaster Week Day 3: Text Chain

After a long day of huntress work, and a shower, Ruby lays prone on her bed trying to unwind and relax. Her hair was still slightly damp but it was nothing traditional air drying could fix. Also Yang held the hair dryer at the time, no one was getting that away from her.

With nothing else to do, Ruby takes out her new scroll, the one provided by General Ironwood, and scrolls through her transferred contacts. While she was happy with this new scroll, she was disappointed that her messages and chats from the previous device were unable to transfer. Nearly two years worth of memories were no longer there and this made Ruby feel slightly bummed out.

While scrolling through her contacts, she notices something that caught her eye. Upon looking carefully at Jaune’s contact icon, gone was Jaune’s old Beacon face, replaced with his Huntsman license picture with current Atlas hairstyle. She did her best to stifle herself from laughing.

Smiling, she taps on Jaune’s contact and opens a chat with her fellow leader and friend.

Ruby: Hey Jaune.

“New scroll, new memories,” Ruby chants to herself. She shifts on her bed, not sure when Jaune would reply to her message. May take a–

Vomit Boy: Hey.

–or he could respond instantly. This works as well.

Ruby: Like your new profile pic! 

Ruby: It looks professional. ^_^

Ruby waits for his reply, hoping Jaune was in the mood to talk.

Vomit Boy: Thanks! I’m still processing that we’re technically Huntsmen now. 

Ruby: I know, right?

Ruby: It’s so cool!

Vomit Boy: What are you girls up to rn?

Ruby: We got back from a mission, so we’re all pretty tired. 

Ruby: You?

Vomit Boy: I’m beat, so are Ren and Oscar. Nora is …well, Nora. 

Ruby: lol 

Vomit Boy: But we’re good.

Ruby: Nice!

Ruby is glad to hear that Jaune, Ren, Nora and Oscar are settling in nicely. After traveling two continents together, she had established an attachment with everyone on Jaune’s team, so to hear that they were doing well made her happy.

Ruby: Hope you aren’t mad about us leaving you to babysit all those kids. 

Vomit Boy: Ha. You don’t say? 

Vomit Boy: It’s alright though, I don’t think any of you minus Ren and your sis knows anything about kids.

Ruby: Hey Weiss has a younger sibling!

Vomit Boy: Isn’t he the reason she’s not an heiress anymore?

Ruby: …

Ruby: Fair.

Vomit Boy: Anyway, I took some pictures during the first day of the job. Wanna see? 

Ruby: Sure!

Ruby happily kicks her legs back and forth, she’s gonna have some new photos in her gallery, new memories!

Vomit Boy: *shows the front of a elementary school, called “Mantle Elementary”*

Vomit Boy: Here’s the school!

Ruby: I see! Cool!

Ruby knew it wasn’t all that amazing, but it was Jaune’s first day as a huntsman so she wants to support him. He deserves that and more.

Vomit Boy: *shows a group of children waving at the camera*

Vomit Boy: Here are the kids who I was escorting.

Ruby: Aw! ^v^

‘So these were the kids that Jaune looked after as a traffic guard, they look like a good group of kids. Hopefully they didn’t give him too much trouble,’ Ruby ponders while looking at Jaune’s proud face.

Vomit Boy: *A selfie of Jaune… shirtless, fresh from the shower*

Ruby’s face flushes at the sight, nearly dropping her scroll from her hands.

Vomit Boy: CRAP! 

Vomit Boy: I didn’t mean to send that!

Vomit Boy: Ignore that picture! DX

That was something Ruby could not do, her eyes were glued to screen as she observes the results of Jaune’s countless night training sessions. 

Ruby was no stranger to seeing muscular guys, there were many shirtless men during the first night she spent at Beacon. Seeing her friend shirtless, his chest bare and his abdomen exposed on her scroll screen, it made her cheeks glow as bright as her namesake.

Especially since she was starting to become aware of her budding attraction towards her fellow leader.

Her fingers twitch and hover over her scroll’s key pad, not sure how to reply to this little accident.

~ ~ ~

‘Crap! Crap! Crap! Why didn’t you delete that photo earlier,’ Jaune thought, chiding himself in his head.

He truly didn’t mean to send that embarrassing photo, he misclicked and absentmindedly sent his shirtless frame before he realized his mistake. 

How could he fix this? Ruby is an understanding person so she possibly may just brush it off as a simple accident. But the next time they meet will no doubt be awkward. 

As he was cursing himself his scroll pings, signifying that Ruby finally responded to his message.

His eyes shift down to look at his chat on this screen.

Crater-Face: You’re ok.

Jaune lets out a sigh of relief, nothing was awkward, at least he still hopes that is the case. Either way, it’s one disaster that was avoided.

He didn’t know what he would do if his long time friend, one that he admires and holds in high regard, found him to be weird, sending mixed signals.

He’s about to type a message of thanks when he sees that Ruby was still typing something.

‘Was there something else she wanted to say?’ Jaune asks himself. He shakes his head dismissively.

‘She probably just wants to make a joke about the picture, like how my hair looks like bananas or something,’ He concludes as he waits for his fellow leader’s reply.

He soon eats his own words quickly, for just as he receives her message though, his jaw dropped.

Crater-Face: *picture of Ruby in her pajamas in her dorm’s bathroom, her hair still damp and shining in the light. She even makes a, shockingly, less than adorable pouting face while her silver eyes star at the camera*

Crater-Face: You should be careful who you send those kinds of pictures to, mister VB. I’m all flustered now. >3<

Jaune was at a loss for words. Had Ruby– was she flirting with him!?

Crater-Face: Well? 

Crater-Face: How do I look? 

Jaune pauses then pinches himself to make certain that he was not hallucinating– “Ah!” –Nope, he was awake. 

This was real. This was his long time friend and newly found crush texting him a selfie and asking for validation. 

His validation.

Jaune’s fingers tremble over his scroll’s keypad.

~ ~ ~

Ruby sits down on the counter awaiting Jaune’s reply, nervously twiddling her finger. She really hoped that she wasn’t too forward, it took a lot of tries and effort on her part to get it just right. Nervously angling and posing for the picture she just sent, and even still that was the fourth one she had managed to take.

She feels her scroll ping, he replied. Taking a deep breath and exhaling, she looks down to see what he said.

Vomit Boy: You look amazing. <3

Ruby lets out a shaky laugh, next thing she knows her face is flushed again. Only this time, it’s accompanied with giggles of elation.

In the next room over, Jaune was having a similar reaction. Smiling ear to ear at the “heart” he got in reply.

Crater-Face: ^v^ <3

— Fin.

@knight-of-lancaster

[knight-dwx-09]

jaune branwen arc

(AN= i still troubled with the clothes, so forgive me)

‘though’

“speaking”

“narrator”

the screen open up to yang (same clothes) is hugging jaune (he didn’t wear a pumpkin pete jacket, he wear a normal black jacket and white t-shirt, arm guard, and blue jean) in the airship

“i am so happy that my little brother go to the same school with me” yang say

“you only 3 minute older than me” jaune say angrily

“but that still that mean i am your older sister” yang let go jaune “hey jaune, have you take the pills of motion sickness?”

“of course i have”

“great. we don’t want you have “sick” first impression” yang say with a smile

jaune groan “i don’t know where you get your bad pun from. all of our six sister, dad, mom and including me didn’t like your pun yang.”

yang gasp as she grab her chest “you hurt my heart bro” slowy she fake crying

jaune just roll his eyes

suddenly the screen show roman torcwick

“The robbery was lead by Roman Torchwick, who continues to evade authorities. If you have any information on his whereabouts please contact the Vale Police Department. Back to you Lisa”

The voice blared out of speakers, and Jaune turned to watch as the screen changed from a picture of what was

“Thank you Cyril. In other news, this saturday Faunus Civil Rights protest turned dark when members of the White Fang disrupted the ceremony. The once peaceful organisation has now disrupted-“

Jaune and yang didn't get to listen to the rest of the news as the screen shut itself off, it get replaced by a holographic projection of a blonde woman, hands clasped behind her back.

“Hello, and welcome to Beacon”

“who is she?”

“My name is Glynda Goodwitch”

“oh”

“You are among a privileged few who have received the honour of being selected to attend this prestigious academy. Our world is experiencing an incredible time of peace, and as future Huntsman and Huntresses it is your duty to uphold it. You have demonstrated the courage needed for such a task, and now it is our turn to provide you with the knowledge and the training to protect our world”

after jaune and yang listen to glynda, they look at the window.

“yo yang. we can see signal from up here.*sigh* you know, i kinda miss our home” jaune say

“beacon’s our home now” yang tell to jaune

jaune look at yang and smile

it cut into jaune and ruby that look like she is 17 years old

“so how do you know my mom name?” ruby ask

“welp, summer sometime visit our family, then mom and summer go to a mission together.” jaune answers

“oh…”

jaune and ruby just walking in silent

“so… i got this thing” ruby say as she pull out her Crescent Rose

“woah!, is that a scythe?”

“It's also a customizable, high impact sniper rifle”

“cool!!” jaune say with star in his eyes

the screen open up to beacon academy auditorium, on the stage there were 4 people ruby, blake, yang, and jaune.

“Ruby Rose, Jaune Branwen Arc, Yang Branwen Arc, and Blake Belladonna. The four of you have collected the white knight pieces. Henceforth, you four will now work together as Team RAYB  (rainbow) Led by Ruby Rose” ozpin say

ruby, jaune, and yang was surprises was ozpin just say. but jaune and yang have different reasons.

‘how did he know our second last name?’ yang and jaune though

the next show Jaune, blake, yang, and ruby talking to each other in a coffee shop, suddenly a yellow hair monkey faunus appear.

“i think i might know where the white fang will strike”

it now show yang fighting neo, yang keep trying to punch her. but neo just dodged her punch. even though yang took a lot beating. she just keep going while neo was getting tired.

the next show jaune running up to a faunus that wielding a chainsaw. jaune duck the slash before giving him a strong uppercut that make his head stuck to the ceiling.

it cut into ruby use her semblance to run through the army of Atlesian Paladin-290 and cutting their leg. the she use her sniper mode to fire ice dust to freeze some their gun.

it change again to show jaune and yang walking to the moving train in front of them.

“are you ready sis?” jaune say as his body glowing white

“born ready” yang say as her hair get on fire and her eyes turn into red

the final scene show team RAYB walk in to arena with everyone cheering before the screen turn back.

[kingangelrose]

RWBY Volume 8 Chapter 2 Recap

“Refuge” ----------

At the Atlas prison, Qrow, who looks at the bloody talisman of Clover, listens to Robyn Hill says to Jacques Schnee that this is all his fault, saying all she wanted was to bring Atlas together, to give them a chance at a better life, but he stood in way of that. Jacques replied by saying that he was a victim, he admits to being tricked and used, also going on to say that although his hands are figuratively not clean, at least he is no murderer, referring to Qrow.  

Robyn tells Jacques that Qrow didn’t kill anyone, and she wasn’t going to be lectured, calling Jacques “a snake with a mustache” who helped Arthur Watts tear Mantle apart. Watts, who was laying down on his prison seat, says that they are all stuck together now, Jacques replies by saying that he knows the right people and knows that his son Whitley Schnee, is calling them as he speaks, but before he could say another word, Robyn punches the hard light cell by Jacques, yelling at him to shut up.

Just then, three Atlas guards arrive to Watts’ cell, when they got, Watts asked if they realized they caught me, and one of the guards hits him with the back of their gun, knocking out and taking him away. Robyn says that she hates not being able to do anything, Qrow then says that they can do something, by killing the man that brought them their, that being Ironwood.

Speaking of Ironwood, he was on the news, the Atlas reporter says that the people of Mantle are scared and perplexed by the sudden withdraw of military personal, especially with a massive Grimm horde outside the kingdom, saying that it feels like the end of days, just then, Joanna walked by and took the microphone from the reporter, and looks at the camera, saying to everyone in Mantle that Ironwood has abandon all of them, but the Happy Huntresses have not, telling them to gather as much food and supplies they need to stay warm and head for the Mantle crater, saying that with the Grimm making their way into the city, they can hold the line if they all come together, if not, then they will all just be targets for the Grimm outside the kingdom. “It’s time to show your teeth, Mantle” - Joanna Greenleaf.

Team Yang made it to Pietro’s pharmacy, and when they opened the door for their new equipment, it made Yang have a big smile on her face saying that Ruby’s team is really missing out. Afterwards, Yang and Oscar were riding on a hover bike, in which she did a flip loop trick with him holding onto her, but tasting a bit of her hair in the process, all while Jaune and Ren were riding on their own.

Team Yang tries to evacuate a part of Mantle, suddenly, screams from citizens are heard as they run away from two Grimm, Jaune then activates and throws a device that holds up a hard light shield, blocking the Grimms path and giving Ren the chance to strike them down. “Way better than a hover bike” - Jaune Arc

Oscar asks Yang if the Grimm have already pushed that far into the city, she says that she thinks those two were just from the other night, she then asks Ren if Jaune uses his Aura Amplification on him, could he mask everyone’s emotions there, Ren says that it’s worth a shot, but a long trip through Mantle. Jaune approved of the plan, saying that it will be a Grimm free journey all the way to the carter, however, one lady asked Yang if they really need to sack up with those “animals in the slums” and that she would feel more safer up in Atlas, Yang says that she is sure that the lady would be, but “the people up top” decided that her along with the people of Mantle, aren’t worth the trouble, saying that the Faunus on the other hand and willing to help any way they can, regardless if some people deserve it or not.

As the now masked emotion people of Mantle, along with Team Yang while Ren and Jaune were controlling it, the lady from before kept complaining softly, Oscar says to himself, or rather to Ozpin, that it shouldn’t be this difficult to cooperate, Ozpin replies by saying that it’s something that he is really concerned about, Oscar didn’t want to hear this voice at the moment, Ozpin goes on to say that Oscar, along with everyone else has every right to be upset with him and that he apologizes for leaving, Oscar says that he wasn’t upset that Ozpin left, he was upset that he came back, going on to say he started to feel like himself, not who he was before, but who he is now, and that felt like he was apart of the team, Ozpin says that he understands, even though it didn’t feel like he was with him, he was never truly gone, and that Oscar is gaining control of his remaining magic, recollecting his lost held memories, meaning their souls are still on the path to becoming one soul, Oscar then says that he doesn’t want that, and Ozpin replies by saying neither does he. Ren’s semblance started to fade, Jaune asked if he was okay, Ren says that it’s just a lot to focus on, Jaune tried to cheer him up, but Ren says that he doesn’t need a pep talk from him, just focus. Ozpin then says that they need to find a way to work together, not just him and Oscar, but all of them.

Meanwhile, May Marigold helped Ruby’s Team get into the shipping area, Nora thanked May for coming with them, May says “don’t mention it”, saying that once Robyn knew about Amity Tower, she wouldn’t shut up about it and she would want them all to get it up and running and get the world talking again, also saying that Fiona Thyme is helping Team Yang in her stead, which left Nora feeling a bit uneasy.

Weiss explains that Snowshoe Shipping is a Schnee Dust Company subsidiary, where the drones there report to the company itself and not Ironwood, the pneumatic tubes help dust crates to go straight to Atlas, and all the team has to do is find the one to the military, Blake jokingly asked Weiss if there was any building in Atlas that Weiss’ family doesn’t own, Weiss says that that isn’t relevant at the moment.

Ruby went to check on Penny afterwards, Penny tells Ruby that she doesn’t like when friends fight, but when Ruby thought she meant with Yang and the others, she meant Winter and Ironwood, she says that they were their friends, but then the Ace Ops attacked them. When Penny mentioned what Ironwood said about people dying because her, Ruby immediately said that it was a lie, that he was just trying to hurt her, Penny says that she was the protector of Mantle, but she is more than that now, and she wishes she wasn’t. Ruby holds Penny’s hands and says that Penny is still Penny, and by becoming the Winter Maiden, she did protect Mantle, Penny smiled and thanked her as the two f them hugged. 

Nora wonders how the tube system works, Weiss demonstrated how simple it would if someone to lay back on the tube, which she did, but before she could even say anything else, Nora pressed a blue button that sucked Weiss through the tube to Atlas.

Nora wanted to try it out herself from the looks of it.

Meanwhile, while evacuating, Fiona contacts others in Mantle to help out in anyway in each sector, noticing that Fiona is tired, Joanna says, while putting fire dust crystals in a furnace, that Robyn would be proud of Fiona for her hard work, Fiona feels like Joanna should do the work after “flexing” on the news earlier, Joanna laughs and says that she was just trying to get the word out, and that it looks like its working.

Team Yang arrived with the other citizens of Mantle, Fiona said it was great that they cleared Sector 7 so quickly, she said honestly that she didn’t think they would make it without their teammates, which made Team Yang feel uneasy and causing Ren to walk off, Yang says that they’re doing just fine, Oscar asks where are all the people going, Fiona says that her, along with the rest of the Happy Huntress are working to get them into house or shelters, also using old mine shafts which a large portion of community is trying to make a living condition. Joanna says that looting the SDC refineries is their best source of the dust, the fortunate part is no one is getting arrest during all of this and it was an uneasy feeling knowing all the Grimm were out there circling, wondering what they are waiting for. The old man from before, who was Fiona’s uncle, tells Fiona that there was another fight breaking out between the citizens, which Joanna volunteered to break up, Fiona then gets a notification from Crimson, another member of the Happy Huntresses, saying that him and his group have spotted Grimm in the East, in which Team Yang would volunteer to take care of.

Afterwards, Yang was luring a flying Grimm to her, attacking it while riding the hover bike, while Oscar and Ren were on the other side of the block, waiting for the signal, when Yang and Ren rode where the bridge was, the flying Grimm swooped down from under the bridge, trying to attack them, but before he could, Oscar threw a dust bomb under the flying Grimm, causing it to hit up under the bridge, giving Jaune the chance to deliver a final strike, finishing it off.

Yang informs Fiona that they’ve taken care of the Grimm of the East, but Fiona says that there are Grimm now in the West, and that the huntsmen could use assistance, Yang says that they’ll take care of it, Oscar says that it’s the negativity in the atmosphere, Salem’s forces may not be moving, but that’s enough to attract straggling Grimm, Ren tiredly says that they’re not finished as they all see three Grimm headed for them, but before they could even fight, they all stopped and ran the other way, Team Yang wondered why they would do that, and that they’ve never see Grimm act like that before.

Then suddenly, out of nowhere, the Grimm that Salem sent swooped down and attacked Oscar off the hover bike, Oscar kicked it trying to break free from its grasp, but it was useless as this Grimm was too powerful, attacking Oscar, depleting his aura, this was no ordinary Grimm, Yang, Jaune and Ren tried to rescue Oscar, but the Grimm used him as a shield giving it the chance to counter their attacks, Jaune says that Grimm aren’t that smart, Ren then ordered The Grimm to give Oscar back, but the Grimm.....

The Grimm said no.... The team was shocked to hear a Grimm speak, then it started to transform, sprouting wings, grabbing Oscar by its jaws and flying away to Salem, Yang, Jaune and Ren rush to the hover bikes to rescue him, Fiona asks what was going on with the West sector, Yang said to Fiona that it was an emergency, when Fiona asked Yang what kind of emergency is it, Yang just said that she wouldn’t believe her if she told her as they chase down this new abnormal Grimm. -------- What is the new abnormal Grimm? Or rather, who is this new abnormal Grimm?

[pilot-boi]

Fifth Wheel

In my version of what happens post-Atlas, Jaune and Marrow have a talk about things that should be simple, but actually aren’t. Boats and sunsets and feelings galore, and maybe Marrow learning that it’s okay to belong to something.

AO3 LINK

It’s been about a week. Not that long in the grand scheme of things, but after Marrow’s whole world managed to fall down in a couple of hours, a week was a long time.

A week since Ironwood was arrested. A week since Atlas fell. A week since Marrow gave up on pretending that siding with Atlas was anything short of horrible.

He’d given up on following the orders of people who didn’t care about the people they were supposed to be protecting. He’d given up on the people who thought that a “shoot to kill” order against a bunch of kids was an okay order to follow.

A bunch of kids, ha. What a joke. He wasn’t much older than these so-called kids. And Marrow didn’t doubt for a second that if he’d been on the wrong side of that order, his former comrades wouldn’t have hesitated to fire on him, too.

They’d allowed those three to storm that whale. By themselves. How could he possibly claim that they were on the right side of history after Arc had to beg to be allowed to march straight into enemy territory? All to rescue a friend that the General had written off as “an acceptable loss.”

So he’d left. Without much fanfare, what with the whole world falling down around everyone’s ears in more ways than one. Marrow had helped them in the end, and they’d welcomed him with mostly open arms. Some animosity was expected, and he didn’t begrudge them of it for a second.

Team RWBY, as they’d been known at Beacon, were mostly amicable but still distant. He hadn’t really been friends with them before martial law was declared, at least not past casual coworkers. So they were kind and friendly, but mostly left him alone.

However Team ALPN, as they’d dubbed themselves, added him to their little family faster than he could blink. The supposedly professionally-clinical friendship that he’d had with Arc before wasn’t nearly as professionally-clinical as he’d thought. Jaune smoothed the transition by simply accepting him without a second glance, and Marrow couldn’t be more grateful.

He did wish he could stop feeling guilty though.

Every time Oscar winced when he moved wrong and one of his still healing injuries twinged, Marrow had to fight to stop his traitorous tail from drooping. Every time he caught sight of Nora’s scars he had to hide a flinch. Every time he was in a room with Ren, Marrow froze, certain that the kid was somehow going to find out more of the things he was trying to keep hidden.

And every time Jaune so much as glanced his way, Marrow had to avert his eyes to avoid eye contact and the damn feeling that the kid was x-raying him. His black-haired teammate was supposed to be the one who could read feelings, why was Jaune the one who he couldn’t keep eye contact with without feeling like he was reading him like an open book?

And always it ended with a look of sort of understanding, sort of pity, and more and more of the concerned glances. With how many of them Jaune kept giving him, he probably wasn’t hiding any of it as well as he’d hoped. That kid was too much of a worrier for his own good.

A message over the faulty CCT. Some of the kid’s friends were in trouble in Vacuo. With another Relic in tow, they’d set out at once, and Marrow had been allowed to tag along. That was a week ago.

A week of traveling, of worry for the future and fear of the past, and of trying to figure out where he fit in his new “team”. A week of slowly building up the courage to just talk to these kids like the friends they clearly saw him as.

After the events of a few days ago, everyone had been needing their space. Marrow could understand that, so he’d made himself scarce in the central gathering areas. He might not have been at the Fall of Beacon, but he’d seen enough of the footage and read enough of the reports to know that this had to have opened some old wounds for the kids.

Wandering the deck of their ship had become a pastime of his. He’d never really seen much of the world outside of Atlas, and seeing the water look more green and warm than steely and cold was more odd than he could put into words.

It was like his hair had decided to become liquid, which was the weirdest thought he’d had in years. Although judging by the sort of passing comments he’d heard from Nora and Ruby, it appeared that thinking irrationally came with the territory of associating (read: being almost friends) with these kids.

Currently, he was sitting perched on the railing of the ship, uniform jacket lying abandoned beside him. Double insulated, top of the line, silver buttons, expertly tailored. The mark of an Ace-Op.

A former Ace-Op. He’d defected and so no longer legally had the right to wear the uniform, but he had no other clothes. On a different note, he felt more than a little awkward wearing the uniform of the military that had knowingly abandoned the majority of its civilian population, and had instigated a retreat plan that involved leaving said civilian population to the proverbial dogs.

Plus it was just too freaking hot to wear right now. The ocean from Solitas to Sanus was no tundra, that was for sure.

“Mind if I join you?” came a voice to his left, shocking Marrow out of his thoughts. Only years of training kept him from pitching over the side of the ship into the frothy water below.

It was just Jaune, out of his armor for once, and looking like his smile had only just now been wiped away by Marrow probably looking like he was having a heart attack. They stared at each other for a few seconds, time ticking irrevocably onwards, Marrow’s brain simply refusing to process whatever the hell Jaune had just said.

A few more seconds passed, mostly consisting of Jaune just staring at him like he expected some kind of response. “Did you need something?” Marrow eventually asked, wincing at the edge that he hadn’t meant to put into his voice.

“Can I join you.”

“Oh. Oh yeah! Yeah sure, whatever,” Marrow replied quickly, “I mean if you want.”

“Thanks.” Jaune leant his forearms on the railing, wrists crossed, one ankle hooked around the other. He would’ve seemed perfectly casual if Marrow couldn’t see the tension in his shoulders and the dark circles under his eyes as clear as day. Kid wasn’t taking this any better than the rest of them.

The wind over the ocean ruffled his blonde hair and caught the red sash at his waist. Eyes that seemed to reflect both the sky above and the sea below stared out over the waves. Freckles that could never have been caused by the harsh cold sun of Solitas dusted their way across his cheeks and down his arms and-

-And Marrow abruptly realized he was staring and returned to gazing determinedly out over the waves.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, simply existing in each other’s presence. Jaune didn’t attempt to start a conversation, for which Marrow was supremely grateful. He honestly didn’t know what he would say in response even if a conversation started.

It was an awkward comfortable kind of silence. Teetering on the edge of concerning and companionable. But eventually Marrow found himself relaxing and settling back into the semi-slumped over posture he’d been in before Jaune walked up. His tail started to sway with the rhythm of the boat, but he put a stop to that as soon as it began moving.

“Ya know,” Jaune suddenly spoke, and Marrow froze. Still not taking his eyes off the ocean, he said “You don’t hafta do that.”

“Do what?” he couldn’t help asking, looking over at him in confusion.

“Your tail, you don’t have to stop it from… doing whatever it does or whatever,” Jaune explained vaguely, glancing away from the ocean to meet his gaze. Eyes too wide and too discerning, Marrow could only maintain eye contact for a second before returning his gaze to the waves.

“Yeah well, maybe I want to,” he replied, a little defensively. No, wait he wasn't getting defensive. Why would he be getting defensive? “Why do you care anyway? It’s not like it affects you.”

“That’s true,” Jaune conceded, shifting so his weight was resting on his other foot. “It just seems like it might get irritating after a while, to have to think about it all the time.”

Marrow resolutely kept his eyes on the ocean, not acknowledging what Jaune had said. “It’s fine.” He sighed, slumping a little. “I’ve gotten used to it.” This time he couldn’t keep the tinge of dejection out of his voice.

“Hey,” Jaune said sharply all of a sudden, voice more hard than it had been before. “Just because you’ve gotten used to it doesn’t mean you should’ve had to.”

Marrow hesitated at that, brow furrowing in confusion. “What?” he asked, turning to face the other. “What the heck does that mean?”

Jaune’s determined expression faltered slightly and he grinned sheepishly for a moment. “Yeah, wasn’t my best line I have to admit,” he shrugged, returning his gaze to the ocean and rubbing the back of his neck with one hand. Marrow didn’t turn away.

“So?” he prompted after a moment of silence.

“What?”

“What did you mean?”

“Oh! I guess…” Jaune paused to collect his thoughts, something that Marrow had already seen do several times. Even after only a couple weeks of knowing each other, Marrow could already tell that sometimes Jaune’s mouth went faster than his brain could keep up with.

“I guess what I meant was…” He kept his eyes trained on the waves, brow furrowed in some emotion that Marrow couldn’t identify. “...Was that Atlas freaking sucks for making you feel like you had to suppress a signal of how you’re feeling, just to fit in.”

Oh.

That was anger.

That expression was anger, anger on Marrow’s behalf.

Like the righteous anger Jaune had shown on the tundra when they’d refused to help the citizens of Mantle escape the river of Grimm. Like the desperate anger Jaune had expressed after nearly being denied permission to rescue Oscar. Like the raging anger Jaune had screamed at Ironwood after finding out that his friends had been injured and hunted on the General’s orders.

All in defense of someone or something the blonde cared about. Jaune wore his emotions on his sleeve, as far as Marrow could tell. He’d never seen someone’s face be so expressive, without even a hint that Jaune was trying to hide anything he felt.

But now that anger was targeted at someone else, and Marrow was the one who was being defended. With that same fire in his eyes.

“Sorry if I’m overstepping!” Jaune started backpedaling after Marrow didn’t respond. “Jeez, I probably just shouldn't have said anything, right?”

“No!” Marrow interjected. “No. It’s fine.” He unhooked his ankles around the railing beneath him and slumped slightly. “You’re right,” Marrow admitted reluctantly, kicking his feet and staring at the water below.

“I am?” Jaune asked, sounding astounded, and even without looking, Marrow could tell that Jaune had looked away from the waves.

Yeah, he was right, and that was a whole different thing he needed to unpack at a later date. But for now… for now he needed to ask…

“Why do you even care?” Marrow refused to look away from the water now, certain that Jaune was giving him one of those wide-eyed looks that he didn’t know what to do with. “It’s my tail after all, not yours.” My feelings, not yours. My institutionalized suppression, not yours.

“I guess I don’t really care,” Jaune admitted, and Marrow had to admit that hurt. He didn’t really know why it hurt, but it was definitely going on the pile of things not to unpack later. If he slumped any further, he was going to fall off the damn boat, and honestly he didn’t know if that was a bad outcome. “It is your tail, so it’s by all rights your business.”

“I guess partially I relate a little bit, but...” he admitted and hesitated again. A little astonished that they could possibly share common ground on something like this, Marrow risked a glance at him. That same damned look of sort of understanding, sort of pity.

“But man it’s not your tail I care about,” Jaune clarified, smiling softly at him, and Marrow didn’t know what exactly he’d done to earn that smile, “I couldn’t care less about that, I care about you.”

Gods above what the sweet hell was Marrow supposed to do with that?!

“Why?” Marrow heard himself ask from wherever the shock had sent his brain.

Jaune looked honestly taken aback by that, mouth slightly agape, eyes wide, eyebrows raised high enough that they were threatening to escape into his hairline. In any other situation Marrow might have laughed.

While Jaune pondered his question, Marrow’s brain struggled to process Jaune’s frankly ridiculous claim.

They were on the same team, fine. He’d been pleased to find that they didn’t insist on keeping the kind of distant professionalism that the Ace-Ops had always enforced. But Marrow clearly didn’t fit into the dynamic the four of them had set up.

He was the odd one out, the Atlesian defective, adopted into team ALPN because he had nowhere else to go. Academy teams were made up of four people: five was right out. It was just logical that with them already having bonds forged from fighting for their freaking lives, that Marrow be the odd one out.

On top of all that, they’d barely known each other for a month. A month during which Marrow had actively aided the former leader of the Atlesian military stage a coup and hunt down any and all of Jaune’s friends for treason.

And now Jaune was claiming to care about him? All with that damned smile on his face.

“Why wouldn’t I care about you?” Jaune eventually asked, not even bothering to hide the confusion in his voice.

“Answering with a question,” Marrow noted, a ghost of a smile on his lips for the first time in this conversation that had gone nowhere near where he thought it was going.

“Yeah shut up.” Jaune rolled his eyes. “Asking why I care is like…” he fumbled for the words for a moment. “...is like asking why the sun comes up in the morning, or why water is wet, or why the moon is shattered.”

“But you know why the moon is shattered.”

“Yes! Still shut up!” Jaune waved away his comments, the look of worried confusion finally being replaced by the sort of sad smile again. “I care because I do, okay? It’s just who I am.”

But that wasn’t the answer Marrow wanted to hear, because he needed concrete reasons and evidence. Wishy-washy “Because” wasn’t going to do, he needed to know the reasons why.

“But if it helps,” Jaune amended, and Marrow perked up unconsciously. “I care because you’re a great guy, and because quite honestly I think you need someone to just care about you without strings attached.”

That… maybe Marrow could work with that. No strings attached sounded nice.

“And I also care because you’re part of my team, and ‘round here that means something,” Jaune said, the ‘not like in Atlas’ going unspoken. “So you’re just gonna have to deal with it, because it’s not going away any time soon!”

His eyes were shining again. That same fire from when he’d been angry on Marrow’s behalf, angry at people who weren’t even here to see his expression. His eyes were shining, his shoulders were set defiantly, and even still leaning on the railing he looked like he was prepared to keep arguing the point until Marrow conceded. Fighting until he understood.

But he didn’t understand it. And he also didn’t understand why Jaune looked so upset. The silence stretched on. Marrow had no words, and it seemed like Jaune had nothing more to say. What was he supposed to say to all of that? What kind of response was an appropriate freaking follow up?

Marrow dropped Jaune’s gaze and went back to staring out over the waves. The sun was starting to set. Had they really been out here for that long?

“Thank you,” Marrow eventually said, voice quiet enough that he half hoped that Jaune wouldn’t hear. He may not understand it, but he could accept that for whatever reason, Jaune Arc had chosen to care about him.

Even though that was not how it was supposed to work. And even though that was not how it was supposed to work, somehow all of Marrow’s carefully built defenses had been chipped away. X-rayed away by eyes that reflected the sky and the sea.

Out of the corner of his eye Marrow could see Jaune un-tense. “No problem,” the blonde responded, matching Marrow’s volume. Relief was coloring his words, and Marrow had to wonder why. It was like Jaune had half-expected Marrow to fight him at the end of his heartfelt speech or something.

The sun sank lower to the horizon, and the two of them lapsed back into the companionable silence that they’d started the conversation with. But now the awkwardness was gone, and Marrow frankly had no idea why. It was like some invisible wall had come down.

“I meant it ya know,” Jaune murmured, some unknown amount of time later. “What I said before, I wasn’t just saying it. I meant it.”

Marrow glanced over at him. The wind ruffled his hair and caught his sash. Freckles danced their way across his cheeks and speckled the arms he was resting his chin on. His eyes were on the horizon, watching the sun sink into the ocean, blue eyes alight with the fire from the distant star.

He looked worried. Brows pushed together, eyes intent on the sinking sun. The bags were still under his eyes and the tension still hadn’t left his friend’s posture. Marrow realized with a start that he was one of Jaune’s worries.

The realization didn’t send him spiraling into confusion like it might have done earlier in the day.

“I know you meant it.” And although Marrow didn’t know what the little bundle of emotions he felt in the pit of his stomach meant, he knew with every fiber of his being that Jaune Arc meant it when he said that he cared.

And if a soft smile crossed his lips and if his tail swayed a little faster than the rhythm of the boat, who was to say?

[good-rwbyaus]

How does the gang react when it’s revealed that their Professor, Glynda Goodwitch, runs an Only Fans account.

// I can’t believe I’m actually writing this one, but the premise...ehehe. Also just to save people from getting in trouble, from the reviews I’ve looked up, Only Fans seems to be a content-creators site except the content leans more towards adult material. 

Also I can’t stop writing Blake as the covert pervert and Ruby being the oblivious / apathetic one. Please help. -  mod lilac

----

"We have to tell Professor Goodwitch about this!” Ruby exclaimed as she handed Blake’s scroll back to her, “This has to be some sort of plot from someone evil like that Torch guy on TV.”

Her other two teammates, Weiss and Blake, looked at each other. 

“And then what?” Weiss said as she glanced over at red-faced Blake, “How are we going to tell her how we know about this matter?”

“Uhh, isn’t that simple? We’ll just tell her the truth - that Blake found it,” Ruby nodded as if it was the obvious thing in the world.

Blake froze in place, her gaze horrified as she stared at Ruby. 

“No, No. No,” Blake replied frazzled, “I am not okay with this idea.”

“Why? You did a good deed.” 

“Ruby,” Blake slowly said, “Do you not see what sort of things are on that site?”

“Well yeah. I’m not blind,” Ruby replied sarcastically, rolling her eyes, “There’s a bunch of naked people on it. Isn’t that why we have to talk to Professor Goodwitch? Cause if her naked pictures are on there, chances are she wasn’t the one who posted them there.”

“...”

“...”

“Blake, I don’t think Ruby is capable of figuring out why going to a site like that is bad.”

“I don’t get it. It’s not like she’s a ki-”

“I’m not a kid!” Ruby growled defensively, being the only underaged member of team RWBY as of a month ago. 

As soon as Ruby said that, the pair could only look at each other in dawning horror as they realized whom exactly they’re showing pornographic material to.  

Bang. Suddenly, the door to their room was kicked open. 

"Alright! Who’s been showing my sis porn?!”

------

A clock ticks quietly as Professor Goodwitch stared at the scroll in her hands. 

“How did you find this?” the teacher spoke, completely composed as if she didn’t find her name attached to a porn-associated site.

“I found it,” Ruby said after noticing Blake was not forthcoming.

Professor Goodwitch paused, her lips twitching as if to suppress a laugh before finally saying, “Ok really. Who actually found it?”

“Why does no one believe me?” Ruby grimaced.

Patting Ruby’s head, Yang laughed, “I think it must be after you admitted out loud that Jaune’s sword and shield were more attractive than Jaune himself.”

“I remember Jaune being really put out about that. Muttered something about how Pyrrha at least likes his body,” Weiss snickered.

Shoving Yang’s hand away, Ruby grumbled, “What does that have to do with anything?”

The stern presence in the room slowly wore down on their joviality, and before long, Blake slowly rose her hand to admit that finding the site was her doing. 

“It’s always the quiet ones,” Goodwitch muttered under her breath before nodding her head to let Blake speak.

“Umm. Well...I...was just looking stuff for. Homework. Yes, homework. And I clicked on a bunch of links and somehow ended up on that site,” Blake nervously explained, “And we found your name, and we were worried that this is some sort of plot against you, since-” 

“- the site’s full of naked pictures, and we were worried yours might’ve been wrongfully posted,” Ruby said. 

Professor Goodwitch sighed.

"Girls, I’m glad that you brought this to my attention first before it became another rumor in the rumor mill. But as you can see...”

The professor clicked a couple buttons on the scroll, revealing the website. Videos with titles such as “Professor Goodwitch tells you to mind your manners” and “Professor Goodwitch tells you to sit in the corner and think about what you’ve done” appear, totaling almost a hundred. Meanwhile, the number of fans reached the tens of thousands. 

"As you can see, there’s nothing particularly sexual here. Someone once joked that I could make a lot of money by posting a video of myself scolding someone every week, and I didn’t believe them,” the professor said helplessly, “And well, now I do.”

“I do thank you for bringing this to my attention,” Professor Goodwitch said, “But as you can see, there’s nothing that’s going on, though I admit I’m not sure why my videos are so popular either.”

“In any case, it’s late, and you have classes tomorrow,” the professor continued, ”so you should all head to bed now.”

"That’s a relief. And sure.”

“Yup. I’m beat.”

“Thanks, Professor.”

“Good night.”

“Well, I think that clears up that mystery,” Yang announced as soon as they left Goodwitch’s room, “As the professor put it, we gotta get Ruby to bed.”

“Hey! Just because you’re all eighteen now doesn’t mean you can treat me like a kid!” Ruby argued back. 

“It’s not my fault you graduated from Signal two years early,” Yang laughed as she ran, “Kiddoooo~” 

“Yang!” Ruby yelled, chasing after her. The other two followed.

---------

In the dead of night, a cat-eared girl is staring intently on her scroll, finger hovering hesitantly over a button. 

“Do I do it?”

“Do I not?”

“Screw it.”

Click.

[ Ninjas of Love is now following Professor Goodwitch. ]

[littlemisssquiggles]

Aww man! The villains called the heroes plan and lunched an attack, Yang got knocked off, Ironwood and Winter are gonna fight, Team RWBJN having trouble dealing with Cinder and Neo, Now Oscar, Ten and Emerald can't go back to the staff and it looks Salem returns.😶

Hey there Bouquetdeer. Listen, for future reference, do you mind not inboxing me spoilers for episodes of RWBY until I’ve made my usual post discussing my thoughts on the episode since when I first got this message, I hadn’t seen the episode as yet. I still had to wait about an hour for it to be released on my end so when I first saw your message, I had to avert my eyes since you literally sent me a whole message of spoilers before I saw the episode for myself which… isn’t cool dude ^^;.

While I understand that may not have been your intention, obviously, still be careful next time, fam. That being said, I’ve now seen the episode and could actually answer you.

My response---not gonna lie, with all that’s happened for the last couple of episodes since CH10, I genuinely forgot that Salem is still in this story and still has to reincarnate at some point. I forgot about her just as how the CRWBY showrunners seem to have forgotten about Pietro Polendina and Maria Calavera still floating up in Amity Arena since we STILL don’t know what happened to the two old folks and this was since CH5. Did Maria and Pietro escape Amity? Did a portal open up for them to take them to Vacuo too? Seriously what happened to Pietro and Maria because it kind of bugs me a bit that Penny got the chance to become a real girl and…her own father, who literally created her doesn’t get the chance to share in this momentous moment with his daughter because the PLOT forgot about him.

Seriously, when Ambrosius told RWBY that he would have loved to have met the person who made Penny, I was like “You and me both Ambrosius because WHERE IS PIETRO?”. I hope this was a clear foreshadow to Pietro surviving for another season and us fans getting to see Pietro partnering with Ambrosius to…I dunno, create something together that services the PLOT for V9. I dunno. I just want to see Pietro meet Ambrosius since it bums me that Pietro couldn’t be there to see Penny become a real girl. But I digress.

Anyways, mini rant aside---resuming my original point. I didn’t automatically assume that the Batman Grimm we saw attacking the Atlesian and Mantlese refugees in Vacuo this episode were as a result of Salem---I simply just pegged those Grimm as being native to Vacuo Kingdom and the deserts of Sanus, similar to how the Saybers were native to Atlas Kingdom and Solitas and it just so happened that our heroes managed to carry the refugees to a spot where these beasts hold territory and in the middle of a blinding sand storm to boot.

Not only that but Jaune isn’t around to help boost Ren’s semblance to help mask the people. At this point, unless Jaune comes through the portal next, the refugees are screwed since I doubt Emerald, Ren and Oscar can do much to help defend the people from a swarm of Grimm.

Not unless Oscar takes a chance and uses more of the stored up kinetic energy in the Long Memory to kill the oncoming Grimm while simultaneously sending a signal to their comrades in Vacuo. Since obviously someone from the kingdom should be able to spot a giant magical lazer in the sky and send someone to check it out, right?

I mean that’s what happened last time in V4 with RNJR getting to Mistral. Back in V4, it was all the commotion in Kunoyuri from RNJR vs the Nuckelavee which caught the attention of a local Mistralian airship that was patrolling the area and was able to conveniently arrive in time to assist RNJR with the injured Qrow.

So if Oscar were to use the Long Memory again and launch a small nuke potent enough to protect the others, as much of a stretch as this may sound, perhaps…someone in Vacuo kingdom might see the beam and alert the local huntsmen about it. 

Who knows? Perhaps…Theodore---the Headmaster of Shade Academy and former ally of Ozpin--- might spot the beam and send help himself in the direction.

 After all, when Oscar first used the cane, Ironwood (and by extension RWBN_P at Schnee Manor) saw the explosion.

So what’s stopping Oscar from using the cane like that again to garner the attention of their allies in Vacuo Kingdom while taking out any Grimm in the process since; while powerful, the kinetic energy of the cane only seems harmful to the Grimm but not people since…Yang, Ren, Emerald and Jaune survived the blast. However Hazel was still blown to smithereens along with Salem so…

Bottom-line, I do think Oscar could play a part in protecting the refugees and alerting their allies in Vacuo through the power of the cane. That’s my hunch with that.

As for everything else, if I have any other predictions besides the “death” of Team RWBY---I’m not sure if Winter is going to make it to Vacuo either. I think Winter could potentially die in the process of killing General Ironwood.

Speaking of the Schnees, RIP Jacques Schnee everybody since I’m pretty sure Ironwood blasted him to smithereens too with his war machine gun canon.

But yeah, I think Winter could die. Unless Marrow is the one to arrive and drag her safely through the portal and to Vacuo as payment for saving him. Unless Marrow is actually on board of the airship with Robyn Hill working with Qrow to stop Harriet from dropping the payload onto Mantle which…at this point, I’m really NOT understanding what the jig is with Harriet.

What is the point of blowing up Mantle now? At this point, Harriet Bree is no different from Ironwood. Despite both claiming to “want to help the people”, what either are truly after is their own selfish desires which says a lot about them.

As a former fan of Ironwood as a character, it still sucks for me to see him go out like this man. But at least he’ll die by the hand of someone who genuinely believed in him or at least, used to. Still gotta appreciate his one gangster tear that he shed after Winter said she’s prepared to stop him. 

Despite losing himself to his fear, it’s nice to see that the tin soldier still had enough of a heart left to shed one tear of sorrow as he braced himself to duel the former most trusted ally---his solider and the person he probably genuinely cared about the most.

Winter was Ironwood’s top operative. His student. His right hand. He probably even loved her like a daughter. The comeuppance to come from their fated battle will be most glorious but we’ll have to wait and see.

Obviously Ironwood isn’t going to succeed. No way is Winter going to let him get the Staff of Creation. But at this point, who knows what the finale will bring. Next week is the last episode. 

We are officially at the end of V8. Time for this story to end and it’d be interesting to see what that ending will be and how V8 will set the stage for V9.

~ LittleMissSquiggles (2021)

[warsmith-38]

How I would do RWBY pt.8

Season eight.

Salem knows Cinder is coming back home.

Is patiently waiting for her to arrive with Myrmidon at her side.

Cinder shows up, hoping for mercy.

Salem suddenly has an inconvenient gap in her vocabulary when Cinder says that word.

Reminds Cinder that not only did she tell them her plan, she told them how to destroy said plan.

Cinder makes her excuses, “I had to. I didn’t have a choice. We can make another plan,” et cetera.

Salem decides to give Cinder one last chance after fucking up a plan that was older than she was.

Defeat Myrmidon and she can have her old position of number two again.

Myrmidon kicks the absolute shit out of her.

Cinder keeps making little mistakes, blames her new (metal) arm, and Myrmidon exploits every opening.

Myrmidon is sadistically playing with Cinder at this point.

Cinder pops smoke and runs the fuck away.

Myrmidon is stopped from chasing her, being told that Cinder’s execution can wait.

They must finish preparing Plan B.

She does in fact owe this latest plan to Cinder in a roundabout fashion.

The dramatics in Atlas have made Salem remember a little detail that has helped her in the past.

Nothing unites quite like a war.

The free peoples of the world either need a single enemy to face together or they need a factory reset apocalypse to recover from.

Either or, Salem isn’t picky.

The people will be all the stronger no matter which problem they have to overcome.

Ozpin getting directly involved is a snag, but she’s worked around him before.

Regardless of outcome she’ll go dormant for a few generations until most people forget she existed and then it’s back to work.

Her first target is Vacuo.

She would have preferred Vale, but she’s willing to compromise.

Grimm begin to swarm into Vacuo territory.

They had their own version of The Maginot Line, for all the good it does them.

Myrmidon is leading the charge and is the one that tears a big ass hole in their defenses.

Ozpin realizes that Salem has decided ‘fuck it’ on the whole illuminati conflict thing they’ve been doing.

Open warfare it is.

Ozpin has RWBY, JN(P)R, and SSSN sent to Vacuo to see if they can help while he calls the banners with the rest of his council.

RWBY, SSSN, and JN(P)R link up with the Vacuo Defense Force.

Meet the grimm assault with an assault of their own.

Fierce fighting pushes the grimm back to The Maginot Line.

Victory is at hand.

Everyone has a moment or two for a breather and conversations.

Then the second wave of grimm arrive.

They’re not acting like grimm usually do.

They’re using actual military tactics.

Feigning retreats, denying strategic points, and attacking weak spots you wouldn’t think would be weak.

The Black Myrmidon is directing them.

RWBY and JN(P)R have a go at her.

Myrmidon is giving a good fight, but it’s still eight on one.

Penny starts convulsing then starts attacking RWBY and JNR while saying she’s not in control.

Yang’s arm stops doing what she wants it to.

Suddenly nobody can land a hit.

Reminds people of old sparring matches.

Ren dumps his pistols and goes full kung-fu badass on Myrmidon.

Knocks off her helmet.

It’s Pyrrha. (Audience was meant to know because obvious. It’s more about the in story reveal)

She may be fucked up with grimm taint and looking like a mini-Salem, but it’s very much the Pyrrha they knew and mourned.

Everyone is stunned.

Grimm are starting to lose more ground.

Pyrrha sounds the retreat.

Grimm pull back and Grimm Blitzkrieg has been halted.

RWBY and JN(P)R are reeling from events.

Nora is inconsolable and even Ren is failing to hold it back.

Jaune is just quiet.

Penny is trying to help her new teammates as best as she can, but they’re only so much that she can do.

Ask Ozpin + The Council and EMN via video call if they knew anything about this. They didn’t.

Qrow theorizes that Tyrian was a prototype of what was done to Pyrrha.

A dead huntress revived and controlled via grimm corruption that emulates an aura.

Not only still capable as she was in life, still being able to use her semblance, and still as intelligent, but also being powered up by Salem herself.

The Council shudders to imagine an entire army of that.

To take their mind off of the thing, RWBY go scouting to see if they can find any sort of intel.

On mission they find a beaten and almost dead Cinder.

Ruby says there’s nothing to see here.

WBY say that she could have intel they could use.

Ruby says there’s nothing. To. See. Here.

WBY pick up Cinder and take her back to base.

Ruby wants it on record that this was munity from WBY.

Cinder regains consciousness and is genuinely shocked that they helped her.

Finally realizes that Salem does not give the faintest shit about her anymore if she ever really did.

Doesn’t really vibe with Ozpin, but wants to fuck over Salem as much as she can now.

Ozpin says he does not trust her, but does trust her desire for revenge.

Sends EMN, who are firmly on Ozpin’s side now (if only for self-preservation), as reinforcements and to try to help keep Cinder compliant.

Cinder tells Ruby not to worry.

After Salem is dealt with they can sort things out between them.

Cinder provides as much strategic and tactical advice as she can.

Her intel wins a few engagements and saves quite a few lives.

Despite this, Jaune says that he refuses to directly work with Cinder. Nora and Ren both mirror that statement.

They say that they’ll work with her intel, but can’t be held responsible for what might happen if they are left in the same room as her.

To them, the current situation with Pyrrha is actively Cinder’s fault.

It would have been less egregious if Pyrrha was just dead and not some insane zombie.

Penny volunteers to operate as the middlebot.

Ruby is on Jaune’s side and her clout helps keep Jaune at the strategist’s table.

The Myrmidon is spotted at a forward position without a large garrison.

JN(P)R take it on themselves to go to her despite everyone saying it’s bait.

JN(P)R fight through cursory amount of grimm and get to Myrmidon.

Conversation is mired with combat.

Nora says that Ozpin might be able to help her.

Pyrrha says that Ozpin ‘helping’ her is the reason she died.

Penny says that her team still love her and miss her.

Pyrrha says that they replaced her with a robot the first chance they got.

Ren tries to appeal to her sense of logic and morality that Salem is an evil shithead.

Pyrrha says that Ozpin is no better and would rather work with the one that brought her back to life and didn’t lead her to an early grave.

Gets to the point where N(P)R is down and Jaune is the only one standing.

Their duel is hard fought, but brief.

Jaune tells Pyrrha that he knows that even with Salem’s ‘enhancements’ she still won’t kill him.

If she does, then Pyrrha Nikos is still dead no matter what magic Salem does.

Pyrrha says that that’s one of Jaune’s worst plans ever.

He tells her to shut up and do it if she can actually do it.

Pyrrha is having troubles not talking and is clearly delaying herself.

Jaune is shouting ‘do it!’ Rorschach style.

Pyrrha doesn’t. Still gives Jaune a concussion to try and take him out of the strategic fight.

Jaune, when scolded for doing something so stupid, says that he now knows there’s still enough of Pyrrha in there that he believes he can plan around her style.

Now begins the wait for the next offensive.

Cinder has moment with EMN, trying to continue as was, giving them orders and such.

EMN call her a shit and say that they ain’t got to do shit she says. Neo flips her off double deuce style.

Cinder has moment realizing just how hated she is by everyone.

Gets sad, then angry, then sad again.

Ruby and Jaune have a moment talking about their time as team leaders.

Heavy is the head that wears the crown type of thing.

The assault happens in the middle of the night.

Salem herself is leading the charge, riding a huge-ass T-rex looking grimm.

Gives a great big ultimatum to the defenders.

Surrender and join her crusade or die.

RWBY get on the loudspeaker.

Call her a bitch.

Salem does not appreciate their humor and signals the assault.

Myrmidon directing the grimm was bad enough but Salem is terrifyingly worse.

Myrmidon was connected to a sort of grimm hivemind, but Salem directly controls said hivemind.

Salem hits them like a truck on steroids.

The defenders formed a strategy, sure, but that strategy was for Myrmidon.

This was preparing for a linebacker to hit you then getting hit by, y’know, a truck on steroids.

The defensive line is swarmed, ripped apart, and overrun with little effort.

RWBY is separated by the horde.

The fighting is desperate and vicious.

Plenty of jobbers are killed or taken away behind enemy lines.

Then it stops.

The grimm just stop moving for a moment and then they retreat.

Salem then tells everyone that she did this to prove that she could kill all of them whenever she wants.

Does kowtowing sound a little more appealing now?

All the people that were just taken are released to further the point that Salem can do as she pleases.

She gives them all forty-eight hours before her next assault.

She also says that she won’t be taking prisoners that time.

Everyone has a collective moment of ‘wow, we are fucked’.

Cinder has an epiphany and takes it on herself to force a conversation with Jaune.

Jaune is about to try (and fail) to tear her head off when she says that she might have the solution to their problem.

Fuck the grimm, fuck mitigating loss, they need to snipe Salem herself with everything they have.

They can’t permanently kill her, no, but dropping her should send a sort of mental shock to the grimm and stun them for a good amount of time and make them vulnerable.

Vulnerable enough that the large amount of experienced hunters and defense troops will have the breathing space to kill as many as possible before they even get back to their default state.

It’s not much but having a window of working space before Salem gets back up is better than nothing.

Jaune asks her how the fuck are they going to manage to even touch Salem to begin with.

Cinder says to leave that to team CEMN.

He tells her to tell him or else he’s going to call in Ruby.

The plan is to exploit Salem’s fear of Ozpin using Emerald’s hallucinations and Neo’s illusions.

Salem is rarely scared, but when she is she is panicky and rather cowardly.

Cinder has only seen it once when Salem believed that Ozpin had somehow snuck into her sanctum.

They just need her to panic for a moment and then hit her with the biggest single hit they can muster.

Jaune says it’s a longshot and with the remaining forty hours they have he’ll be thinking of a better one.

But, y’know, needs must.

The next day Jaune, having failed to think of another plan, tells everyone of Cinder’s idea.

They do not care for it.

Everyone is skeptical of Cinder’s intentions (even EMN).

Cinder reminds them all that Salem wants to kill her more than most of the people present.

Even if she lets the rest of them live, ha ha, Salem is probably going to take the time to brutally execute her just to make a point.

That or Myrmidon will.

Her intention is doing the thing most likely to keep herself alive, despite the risk.

Ruby is about to threaten her until Ozpin (via video call) tells them to go through with it.

It’s basically all they have and they can’t spend their remaining time bitching about without a plan.

With great reluctance, they begin to work out a proper strategy.

One hour remains.

Weiss and Ruby have brief conversation.

Weiss commends Ruby on her maturity of being able to deal with Cinder in a non-violent manner.

Cinder has moment with EMN telling them not to take unnecessary risks.

The plan relies on them more than it does her and if they fail/die then she does too.

She also, believe it or not, cares enough about them to not want to see them die.

Salem arrives early.

She didn’t lie about the time of her attack, she just allotted about half an hour for a speech.

She gets interrupted.

By Ozpin.

Ozpin says that it’s time to settle things.

Salem wigs out a little and shies back from the front.

This behavior is mirrored by the grimm.

Defense forces strike out.

Salem is trying to organize and fight but her terror of Ozpin is keeping her on the ropes.

Eventually gets annoyed enough to try and send grimm to attack Ozpin.

Can’t land a hit.

Gets angry enough to try and attack Ozpin directly.

Lands a hit.

The illusion breaks away, revealing Neo and Emerald.

She gets attacked by Cinder and Mercury as a distraction.

Ruby has Salem in the scope of her rifle (have we all just forgotten the sniper part of Ruby’s weapon?).

Ruby has a specialized incendiary round that she can infuse with her white fire in the chamber.

She designed and fabricated it herself.

Takes the shot.

It gets blocked by Myrmidon’s thrown shield.

Myrmidon begins fighting CEMN.

Salem realizes just what has happened.

She’s impressed. Incredibly mad, but impressed.

She orders a halt to the combat.

Says that they deserve a token chance for their effort.

She will take one of the defenders for a one-on-one duel.

She’ll even hold back on her more overpowered abilities to make it more sporting.

If they win she will end her assault (and probably go somewhere else instead or just come back later).

If they lose she will continue her swarm into Vacuo.

Ruby volunteers.

WBY say that taking more than two seconds to make the decision might be a good idea.

Ruby volunteers.

JNPR, CEMN, SSSN, and the rest all agree with WBY that-

Ruby. Volunteers.

Salem has Ruby swarmed with bat/bug/whatever type grim and carries her into occupied territory.

Deep enough that they shouldn’t be easily interrupted.

Salem tells her that what she did to Summer was nothing personal, and now with the grimm nuke failed, there isn’t any reason for Salem to be against her personally.

The Cabal could use a few more capable members.

She reiterates her points on Ozpin.

He just wants to dominate the world ‘for its own good’.

Can’t have wars if you no longer have the mental ability to think for yourself.

Offer freedoms that Ozpin could nor would never give.

Tells her that she recognizes Ruby’s personality type.

She’s in love with combat.

Ruby admits that fighting makes her happy, that kicking ass gets her engines running.

Salem offers her war eternal, the chance to be fighting and winning for all time.

Ruby, once again, calls her a bitch.

Says that fighting is pointless without a good reason, like peace, to give it a purpose.

Also says that after they’ve all finally beaten her, Ozpin’s next.

Salem thought that the offer wouldn’t work but had to try.

Salem boss fight.

Salem is able to form myriad magic weapons out of thin air and change her fighting style at random.

Ruby fights as hard as she’s ever fought before.

Salem is, to her word, holding back a good amount.

It’s not helping that much.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch.

Myrmidon and the grimm were left to just awkwardly stand around the battlefield.

JN(P)R tries to approach her but she (conveniently) approaches CEMN.

She was told not to continue attacking the defensive line, not the bitch that killed her.

JN(P)R is now conflicted.

They could go and help an ally fight an enemy.

The problem is that that ally is Cinder and that enemy is Pyrrha.

Myrmidon has her hands full until she starts using her semblance.

Magnetism vs a team where two members have metal limbs, you do the math.

Cinder tells her to leave the rest of them alone. It’s her she wants.

Myrmidon says that since they got involved, they die too.

This is what prompts JN(P)R to action, saying it’s more about helping EMN than C.

Myrmidon grows enraged, turning her attention to JN(P)R in earnest.

In fact, everyone is so engaged that they don’t notice a dropship flying past them overhead.

Ruby is growing tired while Salem has quite literally godlike endurance.

Salem commends her for lasting far longer than she imagined.

She hasn’t been this worked up in ages.

But all good things must come to an end.

Tells her to say hello to Summer for her.

Right as she’s about to deal the final blow she gets cut off with a dropship ramming (crashing) into her.

WBY file out and scold Ruby for agreeing to try and solo a fucking demi-goddess.

Ruby apologizes but points at the dropship that Salem just threw past them.

Salem amends the fight conditions to welcome the new challengers.

RWBY vs Salem.

First real fight against the main antagonist.

Challenging fight, magic bullshit, brutal close combat, the whole nine yards.

Sways both ways until RWBY gains the upper hand.

Culminates in a big team hit that finishes the fight.

Salem congratulates them and begins pulling the grimm back from Vacuo.

She says that this is not over and reminds them that, no, she was not fighting as hard as she could have.

They eked out a win by the skin of their teeth mostly because of Salem’s survival of the fittest/fight smarter not harder type ideology was being pandered too.

Salem is then swept away in a swarm of bat/bug/bird/whatever grimm.

Myrmidon abruptly pulls away from the fight along with the grimm, giving JN(P)R one last glance.

Ozpin finally shows up in person, tardy to the party.

Gets reports from everyone that Salem has turned the Grimmland’s southern coast into a deathtrap.

If they’re going to get at her through Vacuo they’ll need a lot to dislodge her.

Ozpin tells them that he never said they were going to get her through Vacuo.

Season eight done.

[howlingday]

nora the arc au) ozpin is super smug about bringing in jaune and nora when glynda didn't want to originally.

ozpin AND glynda are super smug to james when they bring up how great theri newest generation of huntsmen is.

basically lets have some happy times of ozpin being smug for a bit

Of Knights and Maidens

"You're looking well, James." Ozpin said as his close friend and headmaster rival, General James Ironwood entered, stoic as ever. In tow was his Lieutenant, Specialist Winter Schnee, the pride of Atlas and older sister of Ozpin's student, Weiss Schnee. The fact she chose Beacon over Atlas still warmed Ozpin's heart, or more accurately, his pride.

As rivals, Ozpin and James would constantly boast about their school's being superior to the other in one form or another. Was it childish? Perhaps, but a little friendly competition was good for the soul; kept the body young.

"And you as well, Oz." James replied. He stood next to the open seat, as he always did. For as long as Ozpin knew him, James never sat down in his office. When visiting Atlas, Ozpin would sit in the open chair, proving himself the more lax of the two. "I'm sure you understand if I stand, correct?"

"Oh, of course, James." Ozpin smiled, holding up an empty mug. "Coffee?"

"No thank you. I won't be long."

"Very well." Ozpin shrugged. He held up his mug, pouring coffee into it from the machine in his bottom drawer. As he lifted the steaming cup, he noticed Glynda rolling her eyes at him. She never understood his genius. "What brings you to Vale, old friend?"

"We're pursuing a rumor of a violent terrorist organization forming in Vale."

"Chasing rumors?" Glynda asked. "That doesn't seem like you, James."

"Normally, no, but one of my men reported something to us while he was on leave here in Vale. He said he saw this on an individual's shirt." James snapped his fingers, signaling Winter to present the photo of an armored chest-plate with three yellow lines curving upwards, each larger and more thick than the one below it. "Do you recognize it?"

"It appears to be the Arc family symbol." Ozpin answered.

"Indeed." James took the photo and handed it to Ozpin. "This photo came from an attack on one of our outposts in Atlas. The fool was shouting outside beforehand about how the Kingdoms have gone soft, and how we rely on Huntsmen Academies too much."

"So easy to call him a fool after the fact, right, James?"

"He was only armed with a baton he acquired from an antique shop weeks before." Winter explained. "His affiliates were also armed with similar old-fashioned self-defense weapons."

"I see." Ozpin looked the photo over as they spoke. "Have you spoken with the Arcs since then?"

"We have tried, but they refuse to answer. It seems rather suspicious."

"I see." He handed the photo to Glynda. "Glynda, would you be so kind as to contact the Arc household?"

"Of course, Headmaster." Flynda took the photo. "I will contact them as soon as-"

"Here you are." Ozpin said, handing her his scroll.

Glynda blinked. "Right now?"

"If that's no trouble."

"No." Glynda answered, taking the scroll. "That won't be a problem." She dialed the number and called. Almost immediately there was an answer. "Good afternoon, this is- Yes, hello, Mrs. Arc. I'm calling you about... No, Jaune isn't in trouble. He's... No, Nora isn't in trouble either... Yes, I'm certain... No, her grades have been passing..." Glynda blushed. "No, they haven't been- No, I haven't asked. I feel their privacy is their business... Yes, I would send her home if she was pregnant. I-"

James tore the scroll from her hands and placed the call on speaker. "Good evening, Mrs. Arc. This is General James Ironwood of Atlas Academy. We are calling in regards to your family being connected to a terrorist attack on an Atlas outpost." The other side was silent. There was a sound of shuffling on the other line, and muffled shouting. "Mrs. Arc?"

"Hello, Tin Boy." Nicholas answered. "How's the arm?"

"It's General." James growled. Ozpin tried his best to hide his smile in his coffee.

"I'm sure it is. Is this about the attack on the outpost in Atlas?"

"Yes. So you've heard about it."

"I did. Hard not to when it's my name in the mud. I'm surprised you're not making a bigger deal out of this."

"Why should we when it was a small, and completely failed, attack on an Atlas outpost?" Winter asked.

"Oh, Winny," Nicholas cooed, "I thought we taught you better than that." He returned his voice to normal. "It's not about the attack. It's what the attack means. Tell me, how many of your men were injured?"

"Three." Ironwood replied.

"So it took three of Atlas' finest to take down three untrained civilians? How does that make you feel, Jimmy?" James clenched his jaw. "I thought so. Oh, and in case you were wondering, my family has nothing to do with this. Believe me, if I wanted to fight Atlas, it would cost you a hell of a lot more than three men with booboos."

"Is that a threat?" Winter growled.

"More of an opinion." Nicholas replied. "Or is that too radical, Tin Boy?" A sigh was heard, and his voice shifted to a chipper tone. "Don't be afraid to call us again, though, Winny! You know you're more than welcome at our home." The call ended, and Glynda snatched her scroll from James' hands.

"Satisfied?" Ozpin asked.

Jaune and his team were out for a walk through Vale. The sky was blue with only a few patches of clouds here and there, the sun was shining, and he could have sworn he heard birds chirping in the dull roar of the bustling city.

He recieved a text from his mother. 'Be careful.' Jaune thought of calling her, but shrugged it off instead. She was probably just worried about him.

After all, what was there to worry about on a beautiful day like this?

[real-jaune-isms]

RWBY Volume 8 Chapter 4 Review/Remix

A pretty good episode this time, and only 30% pain and despair so things are looking up! But when it goes mean it goes real strong with the mean. Lots to think about here, and boy oh boy do I wonder what we’ll see next week!

For a nice touch of levity, we open on Robyn telling a funny story about a time Joanna lost a fight to try and pass the time. Maybe she’s trying to cheer Qrow up too, but as someone who gets very bored at work pretty often I get the appeal of talking just to keep sane. She sees Qrow is too lost in his brooding about Clover’s pin to listen to the story, and Jacques is too busy fussing over a fly buzzing around his head (the Pence jokes write themselves). Tough crowd indeed, though her joke about Ironwood needing to pay for cell block entertainment does get a smile and a chuckle from the sad old bird. She takes this chance to apologize, possibly again and we’re just seeing this conversation now, for what happened with Clover. Many would argue it is really her fault for getting trigger happy back in the airship when Qrow was the one under arrest, but that’s an argument not worth having because the blame soup was being stirred by way too many cooks to make a clear verdict. Qrow, however, blames himself for deciding to team up with Tyrian, which was certainly a bad move. It was a heat of the moment thing, and he makes it clear he really would have preferred working with Clover to re-detain Tyrian again, but Clover just wouldn’t let up on his arrest orders. The real pain though, he admits, is that he had really started to let his guard down around this guy and thought her could actually make a partnership work again without his Semblance tossing 1,000 monkey wrenches into the mix. Feels like a fairy tale dream, vanishing like a rose petal on the wind, like every other friend. I of course added the part about rose petals, because you know he meant Summer and the unity of STRQ she probably represents in his mind. Robyn knows a thing or two about having a Semblance that impairs your relationships. Not many people like being around someone they can’t keep anything private from, and she can call out and mistruthing with a touch of the hand. Qrow has to admit he hadn’t considered someone else having that kind of personal trouble like he does, but their conversation is ended by Harriet coming in to toss Watts back in his cell. She’s pissy at Qrow and says he shouldn’t have Clover’s pin, but he retorts he has no reason not to have it since he’s not Clover’s killer. She still has a hard time believing that since Harbinger was the murder weapon, but Robyn finally raises a very good point. Miss Hill is a literal walking polygraph and all they would need to do to prove Qrow’s innocence is let her out of her cell and take her hand. But they won’t do that because they don’t want to prove what’s really true here, they want to cling to a convenient story so they don’t have to admit what really happened. Cuz if they put those glasses back on and face the facts, that means reevaluating what side their on if Clover died because he refused to help detain a serial killer before arresting a former colleague and that’s the real problem. Hare had already threatened that if she was gonna open the cell she wouldn’t use her hands for a friendly shake, and the dig at her allegiances and her ignorance towards Ironwood’s sins almost riles her up to the point of taking Robyn’s bait. But Marrow calls her back down to sensibility and she leaves in a huff. Robyn lays back and sighs at how there was almost something exciting happening.

Cutting to an actually exciting scene, Yang Jaune and Ren are outside the city chasing the Hound through a mountainous canyon on their bikes. It can fly while they have to navigate the rocks, and their bikes aren’t handling the cold terribly well. Yang laments that none of them can fly, but that inspires Jaune to pull out his shield and get closer to Ren. He’s gonna get his teammate up there, and Ren immediately understands how. Leaping off his bike and onto Jaune’s shield, he’s launched through the air by the burst of Gravity Dust in the crest and uses his grapple line blade to wrap around the Hound’s leg... and get dragged through the air like Curious George at the end of a bunch of balloons. Still, he’s weighing it down some and can climb up the line to get in close... when he’s not getting swung around against the cliffside. To further slow it down, he shoots his other line around a big rock that gets dragged behind them for about 5 seconds before the Hound flies higher up and the line comes loose. Ren gets knocked around even more while Yang finds an inclined path that gives her enough height to start shooting at the Grimm. It handles this fairly well, by dropping Oscar from its mouth into its hands and flying ahead of her with a loud roar. Apparently one of its Grimm for all Seasons abilities is to call for backup, because dozens of Centinels suddenly burrow up out of the rocks and ground around them and several Teryx swoop in above. Navigating becomes that much more difficult for the blondes, especially when one Centinel spits acid and hits the thruster of Jaune’s bike. He thinks fast and leaps off his bike to launch off another Grimm in front of him and flip onto a rocky overpass where he almost loses his balance and falls back down. Luckily Yang instead zooms by and pulls him onto her bike where they continue their pursuit. She does a great job of bobbing and weaving around the insects, but a Teryx lands in their path. Jaune tosses his shield grenade in front of a large rock and they drive onto it to tilt it into a ramp, launching over the avian foe into a spin between two more big bugs. They bump on a rock, but the Grimm cannot touch them with Yang’s driving. Unfortunately, they have a far more dangerous problem: They’re heading towards the edge of a massive cliff. Yang tries to make a quick turn but instead flips the bike over and launches both of them off to go tumbling off the precipice. Jaune tries to plant his sword in the ground as an anchor, but he doesn’t keep hold of it with their momentum and they both fall with a very believable scream. Big props to Miles and Barbara for this and the dramatic performances soon to come. Ren comes swooping in for a massive save and grapples Jaune’s sword with one weapon and the poor guy’s leg with the other. Jaune grabbed Yang by the hand so she’s fine too, but an incoming Teryx might soon negate it all. Luckily, Ren instead negates all their emotions with his Semblance and the Teryx passes them by. Less lucky, Ren being here means he’s not hanging from the Hound. He let it get away with Oscar to save his friends, and you know he’s kicking himself for it.

Shifting scenes from that tense gloom, we see Weiss decided the safest place to take Nora for the time being is her own damn mansion. Whitley answers the door and is about to try and berate Weiss for this but she is having none of it. She holds him at swordpoint and insists that they are coming inside. Whitley is very against the idea of harboring fugitives after the hit the Schnee family’s reputation has taken in the wake of its patriarch’s arrest for war crimes, and Blake is quite frustrated that this is what he chooses to complain about. The staff is all gone, Willow has retreated to her room and assumable to the bottle, you gotta admit Whitley probably feels more alone now than ever and is... coping in less than ideal ways. Weiss still seemingly carries a chip on her shoulder of wanting to prove that she is doing something actually important and she made the right move by leaving home to be a Huntress, so she insists that Whitley has no right to nag them because they are saving the Kingdom here. At least, that’s what my 2 semesters of psychology classes would tell me. Ruby plays intermediary between the Schneeblings and lays down their very minimal terms. Let them stay here a little while so Nora can rest and recover, and then they will leave him to his sulking and riches. Whitley begrudgingly accepts and asks what he has to do, and Weiss seems to relish this chance to tell him to go to his room. Finally flexing her big sister authority without Papa around to veto her in favor of his adoring son. But like Willow said last Volume, Whitley has been stuck in this house just like Weiss and Winter, and they could certainly try to treat him with a bit more fairness and sympathy. I’m sure it hurt him a little inside to have yet another authority figure bossing him around without a care for his desires. Still, he’s not giving much reason to make us sympathize so I say wait a little bit to see if he’s got any softer moments to come. Weiss directs May on where to carry Nora, and Blake checks on Ruby while they have this quieter moment. Possibly because she wants the chance to talk to her too, Blake suggests Ruby should try calling Yang to make sure things are okay, both between the sisters and in general. But that’s just it. She did it 35 minutes ago. Okay not really, but I wanted to toss a Watchmen joke in. Still, as much as Ruby worries how that half of the team is doing, she’s already trying to call them and it’s not going through.

We fade back to our three battered teens as Yang collects what scattered pieces she can from her bike, the only one they still have. But like I said, it crashed into a rock after they tumbled off and it’s in no condition to run anymore. So Jaune is trying to call for help and transport back to Mantle, but either Ironwood shut down all communication in the lower districts or they’re just so far out in the tundra that a signal just won’t reach. The latter would make sense, and explain why Ruby couldn’t reach Yang. Giving up on the call, the three instead trudge through the snow in the light of the setting sun back more or less the way they came. Jaune is dragging the bike along while Ren leads the way to an outpost he saw while getting dragged by the Hound. Yang notes how low their auras have been drained due to protecting them from the cold this long, and like a kid on a car trip asks how much longer it will be. Ren has no immediate answer so she asks again and he gives a snippy “I don’t know”. She can tell there’s something more bugging him and tries to coax it out of him after sensing the hostility in his explanation that he only got a glimpse of their intended destination before he had to abandon Oscar in favor of saving them. He refuses to discuss his deeper feelings because he thinks it’ll just waste time. This riles Yang up and she demands to know what his deal is, to which he insists she not worry about it. The argument keeps escalating from there. Things aren’t going smoothly enough for Ren? No, they’re not going smoothly at all, but boohoo Ren, that’s part of the job as a Huntsman. He doesn’t think it’s a job they should have at all, they weren’t ready for it or to make the incredibly damming decisions they’ve had to since taking that position. Sure, they had a few lucky breaks and near miss successes, but then they entered this losing streak that they can’t seem to recover from because the losses are too drastic and every choice they’ve made has been the wrong one. Yang refuses to accept such pessimism and insists that even if they haven’t done everything perfectly they still had to do something because inaction would have made things worse. But how could they be worse than they are now, Ren demands to know as they freeze to death out here. Salem has the Lamp and Oscar, and they have nothing but the cold winds. They may not have an army but they have the Maiden, Yang tries to counter, but because they haven’t let her to open the vault for Ironwood all of Atlas is just a buffet waiting to be chowed down on and it will all be their fault when that happens. Yang rightfully asks him if he seriously thinks letting Ironwood try and float Atlas away to safety will work out for him or for the people of Mantle he’s abandoning, but he argues that they shouldn’t even be the ones asked to make that call. He’s trying to spit the hard truths no one else wanted to face, but this is way too harsh and mean, especially for Ren. What are these hard truths, you ask? That Ruby is still too young to be a leader, that he himself is an orphan from a town that doesn’t exist anymore (which I guess shows how unimportant he is for someone thrust into this decision making role), and that Jaune, who by the way has been trying in vain to get the two to cut the shit and quiet down this whole time, cheated his way into Beacon. A damn low blow there, bro. Bringing back the deep wound from Volume 1. And you can tell he regrets it immediately, but to say that would mean backing down from his point. Jaune doesn’t even address the personal callout and just says alright, you don’t think we should have the job, good for you. I’m still gonna keep walking and get out of the cold because like it or not we were given a goddamn job to do. Maybe not in those words, but the meaning was there. Ren and Yang silently let him take the lead, probably feeling the hot wash of shame distracting them from the arctic chill. Yang still takes one last dig at Ren though by asking if it’s his goal to push everyone away, implying he’s being an asshole and not even Nora is sticking by him. Well... in so many words anyway.

We get another change of scenery with a dramatic violin stroke like something out of a murder mystery movie. Oscar is regaining consciousness, and he hears Ozpin try to reassure him to stay calm and that it’s gonna be okay. When he looks up, however, he sees Salem leaning in a shadowy doorframe staring at a smoky apparition in her hand and welcoming back her long lost Ozma. Judging by the childlike laughter and general shape of her smoke display, I think she was manifesting a memory of her and Oz’s dead daughters to try and reminisce about the days when they were still lovers. Oscar realizes he’s being held in the air from the Hound’s mouth and tries to struggle free as Salem notes how young and weak this new vessel is. She’s not even acknowledging Oscar, just talking through him to Ozma. It’s been what may have truly been centuries or even a millennium since they’ve last met, and dear Oz has nothing to say to his wife? Oscar does his best Ozpin impression to try and fake it till he makes it, but Salem knows her man better than anyone and sees through it to grab him by the face and call his bluff. But he really is still a separate person from Oz, so maybe he can be more cooperative to her requests than that old wizard. She still wants to know where the Relic of Choice is, since Oz clearly must have used an extra layer of deception to hide it opposed to the others, and she wants Oscar to reveal the trick. But that’s not a memory he has access to, and he tells her plainly that he doesn’t know. She believes him, knows Oz would hold that one close to the chest longest of all, so she asks an easier question. How does she go about asking the Lamp questions? She gets the standard coverup answer, the Lamp is out of questions so it’s futile to even try, but she refuses to believe that one. Instead she blasts the poor kid with an evil magic rainbow laser and lets him scream himself hoarse for a bit. His chest has scorch marks, or at least his clothes do, and he fearfully tries to pull away from her “loving” touch. Lying so easily about these things, he truly was reincarnated into a like-minded soul... but sooner or later one of the two in this battered body will break and Salem will learn what she wishes to know. He tries to insist he won’t tell her anything, but that’s why she has backup. Hazel comes in to literally gut punch this 14 year old until he coughs up his guts or the truth, whichever comes first. And he justifies it all by saying this is revenge for his defeat at Haven and from the still unforgiven death of his sister.

Salem doesn’t stay to watch the savage beating, instead walking the halls of Monstra with her lovely new pet. Cinder has been waiting in this hallway for a chance to speak with her Mistress, but is distracted by her immediate discomfort in the face of the Hound. Salem claims it is an experiment that she is quite happy with the results of thus far, and wants Cinder to get on with whatever point she had so she can get out of the way. Cinder wants to search for Penny, she thinks she can make up for the past blunder and claim the Winter powers for herself. But Salem just laughs at this. “She thinks, she wants!” It’s like hearing a cockroach tell you about its hopes and dreams. Mommy Salami does not give a fuck what Cinder wants to do, she has done nothing to earn Salem caring about that. Cinder, to her credit, does not take this dismissal lying down and tries to argue that they are doing nothing to further their plans when Cinder could be achieving a great victory for her Mistress by securing their way into the Atlas vault. Salem does not slow her pace, and says when it is time to act she will tell Miss Fall what she needs her to do. Cinder tries to argue, and is met by the snarling maw of the Hound turning on its heels to send her shrinking back. Salem has been pretty damn patient with this bratty girl, but she will not repeat herself again. You are not going the the ball, Cinderella, you are staying here and doing what your godmother tells you to because if you don’t you will learn just how easily you can be replaced and forgotten. Cinder gives up her case and assumes the position of submission, which is to say taking a knee and repeating her self-depreciating mantra that without Salem she is nothing. This satisfies Salem and she walks away with her dog in tow, leaving Neo to glare at Cinder as if wondering who is really the domesticated little pet in this place. 

Cut to Cinder immediately rebelling against her given orders and heading for the airship insisting she just wants to go check on something and then they’ll come right back before anyone knows they left. Neo just floats along behind her because like hell she’s staying in the Satan whale when it’s this bitch’s fault she’s here at all. We get the last unseen shot from the trailer as Cinder looks out over Atlas and rationalizes that Salem doesn’t know Team RWBY like she does, she wouldn’t understand how determined they would be to try and save the world, and so it falls to her to check out Amity Colosseum again and see if they’re up to something. Neo seems annoyed and disinterested at Cinder’s petty little scheme, but they’re both caught off guard by Emerald arriving behind them and offering to tag along to help. She’s been getting better with her Semblance and asserts that she would be very useful. Poor misguided lass, searching so desperately for acknowledgement and praise you’re never gonna get... Cinder seems pissed that she was eavesdropping, but she’s not gonna turn down the assist. Time for an evil girls’ night out~

Back on the ground, night has fallen as JRY have found the outpost at last. Jaune hits a heater to get it running and prevent their freezing to death as Ren broods out the window and Yang is outside working on her bike. The leader takes this time to address the tension with his teammate. Yes, he did make a bad decision and cheat his way into the Academy. But when he found himself in that bad situation he realized he needed help and he asked for it. He turned his situation around and got better, became the strong person he is now. Holding onto this ideal that being strong means doing everything on your own? That was literally the issue Jaune faced in his mini character arc back in Volume 1, and he came out of it humbled and ready to accept support from his team. From Pyrrha. But she’s not here anymore, and Jaune is. Nora is, team RWBY is here for Ren. So Ren needs to understand that he can let them in, because the more he hides from how he feels the worse it’s gonna feel and hurt him inside. Ren goes outside to sulk under a streetlight, but Yang has come inside now to say that she’s found the part she needs to fix the bike so with a little more tinkering they can get it working and ride back into the city once they’ve got some R&R. Yang does take the time to say she’s sorry Ren said what he did because of her argument with him, but Jaune dismisses it for the time being as all three of them being under a hellish amount of stress. He’s been where Ren was before, he knows how much it hurts. Yang turns back to the tool bench to work on the thruster, but she’s got some inner turmoil of her own to vent about. She wants to know if Jaune thinks “She” thinks less of Yang for making the choice she did and staying to help Mantle instead of going to help fix Amity. Playing the pronoun game like this can be tricky, and Jaune fairly assumes she means Ruby since the two of them did have the verbal disagreement before splitting off, and Yang did question her leader’s decision making and leadership. He assures Yang that her sister will always love and believe in her even if they have squabbles like this. But it would seem Vomit Boy lost the pronoun game, and Yang was not actually asking about Ruby. Judging by the purple cannister she’s wrenching into the battered thruster, she was asking if Blake would think less of her because of these recent actions. 

A lot of people seem rather torn about this choice in priorities for Yang, but allow me to explain why I think it’s not that bad of a writing decision. If there is one thing that has been consistent in this Volume it has been the confidence of other characters that Yang and Ruby will endure this clash of ideals and remain loving sisters. Usually these sentiments have been given by characters who are siblings themselves and know the strength of that bond, like Weiss and now Jaune. We’ve never actually heard either sister personally express any anguish or regrets over that argument, but we can assume they’re both still a little sour about it. But they have been there for each other to a depth that few siblings have, as evident by Yang’s story in Volume 2 about how she had to step up in raising Ruby in a lot of ways after Tai went into grieving for Summer. They’ve been each other’s best friend and closest confidant for so long, I truly believe their bond is clad in iron and they know it too. Meanwhile, a lot of Yang’s recovery arc in Volumes 4 and 5 was dealing with being abandoned by Blake in a time of need and it continued into 6 as learning to accept her back into her life and find a way to make their partnership work again. Shipping or not, they do have a strong bond that has been renewed by dealing with their combined trauma and killing Adam. And when that happened they both promised they would stick together and back each other up, but now Yang has been the one to decide she wants to split paths and do something else. She has good reason to worry this might have upset Blake, and we the audience know Blake is worried about how she’s doing. So, when faced with a color that reminds her of her partner, it makes some sense that Yang would try and get an outside perspective of if she’s fractured their bond. And if you ship them, that more magnifies the interpersonal concerns than really changes the problems.

Regardless, Jaune realizes this is a problem he’s not quite equipped to deal with and decides he’s going to get some rest in one of the beds in the outpost. He gets the strong feeling he’s gonna need it cuz it feels like things will only get worse before they get any better. As we pan out past Ren, whom Yang promises she won’t let brood himself to death out in the snow, we see cracks start to form out on the ice. That can only bode poorly for these poor kids. Many folks think this is a frozen over lake with some scary aquatic Grimm waiting in the depths like a megalodon Grimm shark or the sulfur fish Grimm that apparently were the winners of a fan design contest this past year. Personally, I’m taking a note from the opening and saying it might be a cloister of Apathy since their gross grabby hands wrapped around Team RWBY when they fell through the ice at the end of the intro. But we will have to wait and see. Thanks for reading, hope to see you and your notes soon!~

Edit: this came out a week late and we did indeed see what it really was. Boy were we not ready for the truth...

[noneatnonedotcom]

The Enemy Above

Onboard the VCS Wicker Man a young huntsman sat, beside him, the crew of the ship hurried about their jobs. The previous captain, having suffered a wound in a recent skirmish with atlas, was missing leaving jaune in charge of the bridge and the team of huntresses down below. 

Team ABRY or ambry as they were known, had been formed in battle. The white fang had assaulted the dust stores used for the ships in Vale. Only a timely intervention by blake (their resident secret faunas who wasn’t so secret to jaune) had seen the scheme thwarted. And only the assistance of yang and ruby had let him actually pull off his plan to stop them.

After that, he’d claimed blake as a fellow hunter and ozpin had shown up to back his claim (a good thing too as a faunas outside of menagerie was unheard of and would have resulted in her getting jailed alongside her former comrades, it likely would have been death for her and they both knew it) the only cost for the assist was that their new team become permanent. They’d done more missions in their time as huntsmen-in-training of vale than most adults and with the war between atlas and vale heating up had been stationed on a frigate to hopefully stay out of trouble. The betrayal of team CVFY and the revelation of velvet to be a faunas had quickly put the kibosh on that.

Now having had the ship repaired they were returning to vale proper to get their new captain to work in concert with jaune.

“Sir Arc,” came a voice to his side “we’re picking up something strange on the radar”

He looked over at the crewman “what kind of something?”

“It looks like another ship”

Jaune frowned, he wasn’t sure they could handle another fight “have there been any reports around this route before?”

“No sir no reports”

Jaune frowned “none at all?”

An older crewman came over to look “ah, the kids just picked up a radar reflection, see there? The other ship is copying our exact speed and turning” the older woman looked to jaune “nothing to worry about Sir Arc”

Jaune frowned more, he could feel it in his gut something wasn’t right. And after the last few times, he wasn’t willing to risk it just being a feeling. He touched a button and called down to his team “ruby, yang, blake, report to the bridge immediately. Weapons with you. And pick up my armor as well, would you?”

It was yang’s voice that came over the line “feeling fancy captain? You want the cape with it?”

“I’m not a captain yang, and yeah I got the feeling I’m gonna have to make an impression here” he sighed as she signed off “helmsman alter our course a little, bring us close to that peak into cloud bank”

“Aye sir” came the voice and jaune went to the ready room, trying desperately to suppress the feeling of dread he felt 

Onboard the AS Anguilla, a young Weiss Schnee stalked her prey. She was young the youngest specialist in the Atlan naval core but she was the best, second only to perhaps her older sister winter. 

Some whispered of buying her station at the start of the war but she had shown through her victories that they were simply idle chatter of the lesser classes. She was the best of the best. And that was why she had to question the point of sending her after this Jaune Arc.

Yes, he was just as young as her and still in a command position but the valeian savages didn’t have their own robust command structure. He likely had no real tactical training and no further support. If there was any advantage to the lance doctrine of vale it was that it was utterly chaotic and the brutes seemed to thrive on that.

His ship was a standard ship of the primitive people, a frigate class. Though she noticed the above standard set of three five-inch guns of a strange make on the deck of the ship. It was a gravity dust forged hull, with hard light dust forged armor plating, it was faster than her own cruiser but her own weapons were something to behold. 

Nine eight-inch-guns, and ten smaller 5-inch guns of her own. Her hull was also made of gravity dust forged steel and her armor was a true hard light shield an advancement that had seen her ship through combat action after combat action. Her heavy cruiser was also equipped with a heavy MAC cannon. Something that was more than enough to see her through taking vale itself. For what ship or station could hope to survive a ball of molten plasma the size of a small ship fired at it?

Yes, this would be a simple mission and she would go home to her sister with just another feather in her cap.

“Okay so let’s assume you’re not going insane,” said blake sitting on a chair as ruby and yang helped their leader into his armor “why the cloud bank, all they have to do is wait for us to break out of it when we run they can just go above it. At least for a short while”

“And if it’s as big as you say,” said ruby grunting to latch a final strap “even out coil guns aren’t gonna do much”

“We have a couple of tungsten rounds left from our fight with CFVY,” said yang

“So… we’ll be able to hurt them a little before we blow up?”

“We can’t outrun them,” said jaune “we’re faster but the range they have would mean we’re gonna be full of holes before we can even get a radio signal out”

“We still don’t know they’re there,” said blake “there are no reports of anything being wrong around here”

“Exactly,” said jaune latching his cape onto his armor “we’ve got no reports, none! When was the last time you had a huntsman not complain about lack of combat? Or even Grimm?”

Blake’s eyes widened “oh shit, and you’re saying it has to be a big ship because-”

“ a small ship wouldn’t be able to destroy a cruiser before they could radio out for help,” said ruby

“And a ship without reach wouldn’t be able to stop the smaller ones,” said jaune nodding his head

Yang blew a strand of hair out of her face “this is why I prefer fighting on the ground, less thinking involved”

Jaune laughed “that’s typically because I’m too busy screaming to come up with a plan”

Ruby smiled “but you always look out for us”

Blake nodded “it might still be nothing,” she said closing her book “but I’m more than willing to trust your judgment”

Yang cracked her knuckles “so what’s the plan?”

“We go into the cloud bank, they’ll have t follow us because they’re trying to convince us they’re a radar reflection. We jam the radar once we’re in”

“We’ll be blind then,” said blake 

“But we still have that weather device thing installed, we’ll be able to see them based on cloud displacement,” said jaune with a smirk

“And they’re big enough that we’ll actually pick up on it unlike us who will look like an eddy in the wind if they’re even carrying meteorological equipment” blake finished for him

“They should be,” said ruby “a ship that big would be a shame to lose it to something as simple as a summer storm”

“WE’VE LOST RADAR” came the shout of her crew 

Weiss cursed “clever bastard, had us figured from the start, well you can’t hide for” she froze he wouldn’t be hiding, he was a smart enough commander to know she was chasing him  “ALL HANDS BRACE FOR IMPACT, SHIELDS UP! HELMSMAN GET US OUT OF THIS CLOUD BANK!” she shouted orders at a rapid rate barely getting her ship’s shields up in time to block five of the six rounds. The first somehow tearing through her hull like tissue paper.

“FIND HIM!” she shouted as her crew scrambled to get their other systems working “DAMAGE REPORT!” 

“HULL BREACH ON LEVEL FOUR. CIRCUITRY WAS HIT BUT AUXILIARY SYSTEMS ARE FINE. HE MISSED OUR WEAPONS AND ENGINES BY A FEW INCHES WE WERE LUCKY MA’AM” came the voice of penny hooked into their intercoms

“HOW LONG TILL WE’RE COMBAT READY?” asked Weiss shouting to be heard over the alarms

“WEAPONS ARE ONLINE, FUEL FOR SHIELDS IS LOW. WE’VE LOST THE ABILITY FOR A DRAWN OUT ENGAGEMENT MA’AM. I RECOMMEND RETREAT HE’S BEATEN US”

“NOT YET HE HASN’T!”  shouted Weiss “HOW MANY EDDIES DO WE SEE?”

“WHAT?”  asked a crewman

“HOW MANY!”

“SIX”

“FIRE ON ALL OF THEM!”

Jaune cursed as dust rounds flew past his ship exploding and tossing them about. She didn’t know where they were but she was just going to fire on every eddy. And eventually, she’d hit them, what was her game? She wouldn’t panic unless! “Full astern!” he shouted as the ship moved back rapidly not a second too soon as in the exact place he was before a massive light passed through the open-air scenting the air with ozone 

“OH FUCK!” shouted yang summing up everyone’s feelings on the matter

“WHAT WAS THAT?!” yelled blake covering her ears 

“JAUNE!” shouted ruby clinging too him

“Open fire and move us out of here, I want continuous fire! Not a second for them to get that ready. Use out light ammo we’re not getting through that shield!” he did his best to keep his voice level. Right now he needed to get distance. He just had to make it to nightfall but to do that he needed to prevent that weapon from firing and he was guessing that something like that required a lot of power. Maybe enough that they had to drop their shields to use it. If not…

Well, fuck it shooting it made them all feel better at least.

The gunbattle lasted hours as flashes lit up the clouds. The wicker man could fire and move but all it would take is one hit and they were toast more to the point the enemy ship had exited the clouds earlier and now the only reason he knew where the damn thing was was that it wanted him to shoot at it so it could shoot back, meanwhile unknown to the vale ship. The fuel for the shields was running low. The stockpile of hard light dust was not infinite and that initial shot had been plenty lucky but the constant firing gave her own crew a chance to catch them as the angle of impact gave them away. 

The sounds of battle faded with the setting of the sun as The Anguilla surveyed the cloud bank below it. 

“We’re out of hard light dust ma’am” came the words of Penny “I would recommend retreat”

“We run and he’ll gun us down,” said Weiss “the second we give away our position he’ll fire and now we don’t have the shields to protect us” she cursed her own temper. She just had to be the best. 

Now her crew’s blood was on her hands

“Our only hope,” she said raising her voice “ is to find them before they find us, and destroy them. I’m ordering complete silence”

She sat there, they sat there. For hours. Eight in total of complete silence. And in the first, she’d realized that jaune Arc had to be doing the same. It would be the one who blinked first that would lose. 

The tension was the worst part of it. The constant fear.

It was at the end of the eighth hour that she heard it

“MY BODY IS A CAGE OF FLAMES” came a voice in the darkness she sat stunned as the crew began to bring their guns about

“THE BURNING YET VERDANT GIANT!”  what was he doing?

“RETRIBUTION, A SHRINE THAT PRESIDES OVER HUMAN AFFAIRS AND PURIFIES THEM” had he lost his mind? Was the pressure just too much for him?

“I AM THE ONE WHO DESTROYS!” 

Weiss realised it too late “NO WAIT!”

Her men fired and the flash of her guns lit up an automated message buoy floating through the clouds

“THE WICKER MAN!” three sets of five-inch guns fired tungsten rounds from their electromagnetic barrels. 

Of course. That’s why he was able to pierce her hull so easily once he got past the shield

They tore through her ship hitting the engines. The force of the explosion knocked her out.

Her last thoughts were “he’s a sorcerer. Able to pull the very thoughts from my head”

Jaune stood overlooking his med bay, really it was the brig but they’d had to refurbish it for the crew they’d dragged from The Anguilla.

“This all of them?” he asked Ruby as she walked up behind him

“Yeah, only these ten, standard crew was three hundred and twenty-two”

Jaune tried not to let the number get to him “it’ll be worst for her” he said looking at the captain “I know the feeling”

“You did pretty well I’d say”

Jaune shook his head “I’m not made for this Ruby. That entire battle those men looked to me and…” they both fell silent

“What if I had made the wrong choice?” he asked in the quiet of the room

“Then we’d adapt,” said Ruby “we’re not like Atlas, we trust you jaune but we’re not helpless without you. If you made a mistake we’d have called you on it. Just like I’m doing now”

He turned to look at her only to catch a non plused look from Ruby  “you’re an idiot, jaune” she said in the stunned silence “you’re your own greatest critic and if we caught anyone talking about you the way you talk about yourself we’d kick their ass. You won today, against a ship you had no business winning against. They had you beat in firepower, tech, they had every advantage and a commander almost as good as you on top of it, and you pulled victory from the jaws of defeat. You saved us. Have some damn pride!”

He chuckled shaking his head “we’re taking a vacation the second we get back to vale”

“Oh can we visit patch?” asked ruby surprising jaune

“Yeah we really should check on the old man huh?” said yang appearing out of nowhere 

“Already taking him to meet your father huh? Asked blake with a teasing tone

“I-i- no it’s not, well I wouldn’t mind... The thing is” ruby flushed red and tried to force a sentence out 

“Eh captain here wants to give me or ruby a shot I wouldn’t mind,” said yang with a smirk. “or maybe you want us both, so greedy captain” a wink and Jaune let himself get caught up in the moment blushing and stammering.

When they got back to vale, he’d most likely get a bunch of medals or something. He’d be paraded around as a hero for all the little huntsmen in training and that would bring all sorts of troubles for his team and him but for now, he’d just bask in the comfort of yang ruby and blake all acting like they were flirting with him and pretend it might actually happen one day.

He had his team, that was all he needed

________________________________________________________________

so this was an experiment, please give my some feedback about it. but the general idea is that it’s based off the ideal huntsman system i speculated about a while back. it’s based off some space battles i watched way back when and i did my best with it. 

if you can guess which battle in particular i’m mimicking let me know too but seriously let me know what you thought of the story

[animefan299110]

Dragonslayer for the New Year

At the Xiao Long house, everyone is abuzz about the beginning of a new decade.  Everyone is holding a champagne glass, eagerly watching the TV at the celebrations in Atlas.  Yang walks through the crowd, greeting everyone there.  Her eyes soon fall on a certain blonde standing in the doorway looking outside. 

Yang: Penny for your thoughts, Lady Killer?

Jaune: Hey Yang, didn't see you there.

Yang: What you thinking about?

Jaune: Just how this year, I've been through so much.  It...it feels like it's a dream.

Yang: Need me to pinch you awake?

Jaune: Ha ha.  And once again, no girlfriend this year.

Yang (grinning mischievously): Lady troubles, eh?  Do tell.

Jaune: I don't know; I guess I just can't seem to find the right girl.

Yang: Well what's your kind?  Maybe I can help you.

Jaune: Well I'm mostly looking for a girl whose confident, brave, beautiful, strong, and an all-around good person...Someone like you.

Yang:.............Me?

Jaune: Yeah.  I mean, you're both the most confident and bravest woman I know, you're incredibly beautiful, you're more stronger in your care and love for others than your fists, I could literally go on for hours what you are like.

Yang's cheeks redden a bit at Jaune's kind words.  Looking at him now, she started to notice a few things about him.  Jaune wasn't the exact type of guy she would have dated back at Signal or Beacon.....he was somehow better.  What he lacked in skill and strength, he made up for in kindness, caring for others, and his willingness to help those in need.  He had also developed some muscle since the day they first met.  He wasn't as muscular as her previous boyfriends, but he sure was a far cry from being the noodle he once was.  Imagining the feeling of his arms wrapping around her caused her cheeks to redden even further.

Jaune: But what is the actual likelihood that someone like you could be interested in-MMPH!!

Yang interrupts him by crashing her lips into his.  Hesitant at first, Jaune slowly closes his eyes and returns it.  Yang soon parts from his lips and smiles at him.

Jaune:.......Wow.

Yang: Don't sell yourself short, Lover Boy.  So, (wraps her arms around his neck) want to see where this next decade takes us?

Jaune: S-Sure.

The two kiss just as the ball drops, signaling the end of the year and the beginning of a potential romance.