Chapter Five
After the scuffle between Team Beefcake and the Onesie Twins, things settled down. For most of the students anyways; they did not for Yang Xiao Long. Instead, the pair swaggered over and started shooting the breeze with her little sister.
As it turned out, the Onesie Twins were the two boys Ruby had met earlier. Yang’s violet eyes darted between the two as they talked with her little sister. She found her gaze being pulled down to the baby blue abominations they wore.
Again: I don’t get the appeal but, if it makes you happy Ruby, that's all that matters.
The buxom blonde wondered if this was a brazen display of self-confidence or if these two were just socially brain dead. Either way, they stood there proudly, despite the fact that the taller one’s sunglasses were now missing a lens.
“Oh guys this-” Ruby gestured back towards her, “is my big sister Yang.”
Yang waved and flashed a friendly smile, making the taller of the two blush. Meanwhile Ruby continued making the introductions, “Yang, these are my new friends: Sun Wukong,”
The shorter of the pair raised his hand, “Yo”
“And thi-” Ruby was cut off by the other onesie twin stepping forward. By process of elimination, this had to be…
“And I’m Jaune Arc.” Ruby cringed as if she knew what was coming, “It’s short, sweet, and rolls off the tongue, ladies love it.” He then winked at her, “Nice to meet you gorgeous.”
Yang glanced at Ruby. Her little sister, in turn, gave her an apologetic look. She looked back up at Jaune who was still trying to project confidence.
She was about to say something when Sun beat her to the punch; “Uh dude you need to rework your material, that's laying it on a bit thick.”
Yang nodded agreement and sat up, “And your delivery while you're at it. Nothing wrong with using a line, it’s a good icebreaker.”
Jaune actually had his scroll out, taking notes, “Any other tips?”
“How about instead of worrying about pick up lines we all just focus on learning how to fight Grimm and help people,” Ruby muttered with her arms crossed, looking annoyed. Yang continued with the conversation anyway; her little sister looked adorable when irritated.
“Yeah, burn that thing you're wearing,” Yang told Jaune who glanced down to look at his onesie, Sun, however, leaped to its defense immediately.
“Hey these ‘things’ are our way,” He used his tail to point at himself and Jaune, “of showing how secure we are in our masculinity.” Judging by the expression on his face that was news to poor Arc.
So Sun was being brazenly self-confident while Jaune was just socially...challenged.
“And these things are surprisingly comfy. Hey dude,” Sun glanced at Jaune, “where'd you get these by the way? I think I’m gonna get one in my color.”
“Oh my mom made them herself,” Jaune replied, as he gazed at his sleepwear appreciatively, “She says she puts a little love in every stitch.”
“Aw, that’s so nice of her,” Sun replied. Something Yang privately agreed with, and could in that context understand why Jaune would wear something that absurd. Why his mother made something like that for her near-adult son was still a mystery. Arc though, she got. Considering her favorite scarf was one of the last things her mom made for her before...
Now is not the time to unpack that!
“I’m the only one who takes this seriously, aren’t I?” Ruby said under her breath before asking: “So what do you all think of Beacon so far?”
“It’s pretty cool!” Sun said without hesitation,
“It’s not going like I thought it would.” Jaune said finally taking off the damaged sunglasses, with a shrug he added: “But I guess tomorrow's another day.”
"That's the spirit Jaune!" Ruby cheered while Sun gave him a pat on the back. Yang smiled at the sight, her little sister seemed to gel with the two lovable goofs. She was relieved to see that their interest was purely platonic.
Ruby glanced back her way like she was about to say something to her before something else seemed to catch her attention. She was looking past Yang with an uncertain expression on her face.
"Hey guys," She said getting the attention of her two friends, "isn't that girl from earlier?"
Yang glanced back over her shoulder to see they were talking about the dark-haired girl she had been admiring earlier. Did they know her? When did that happen? She remembered something Ruby had mentioned back in the auditorium:
“I actually met two nice boys and one girl who tried to be nice but wasn’t really good at it.”
“Yeah, that’s Blake,” Sun commented, Jaune and Ruby causing to look at him in surprise. “I caught up with her, we talked for a bit.”
“So what exactly happened?”
“A misunderstanding,” Jaune said sheepishly, as he and Sun sat down and scooted up to the two sisters. The three then, in a piecemeal fashion, explained the incident to Yang. She couldn’t help but bristle as they described Blake’s behavior. The only discriminating thing about Ruby was her taste in cookies.
“...she said we were treating Sun like a circus animal.” Jaune chipped in, becoming noticeably uncomfortable as he went on. “That’s...not that different from how I’ve seen some faunus get treated. If she’s seen stuff like that I can sorta get why she reacted that way.”
Yang barely registered Sun’s weirdly surprised reaction to that as she mulled that over. She had seen the kind of harassment faunus received on her frequent visits to the capital and the local coastal towns. The buxom blonde could envision her sister’s social awkwardness in close proximity to something as volatile as the human-faunus mess…
A bit like a firecracker near a puddle of gasoline...and Jaune, She glanced at his onesie, Nuff said.
“So wait, stuff like that really does happen[1]? I noticed some people here seem to make a bigger deal out of me being a faunus.” Sun’s voice lacked what seemed to be his typical cheer, and instead the guy sounded confused, “It wasn’t like that back in Vacuo.”
Oh man… Yang exchanged looks with Ruby and Jaune. The not-so-sunny-dragon sighed as she tried to think of a way to best explain things.
“Sun...Vale isn’t Vacuo, some people here have a serious problem with the faunus. They look down on them, think of them as being no different than animals. Why?” She shrugged, “Who knows, I've never really understood it, to me faunus are just people with furry or scaly bits."
"Huh...that kinda blows," Sun commented and just shrugged it off. "I guess that’s why she...er,” He seemed like he had been about to say something he shouldn’t. Instead, he laughed nervously, “See! It was all just a big misunderstanding.”
“Yeah, really sounds like it was,” Yang admitted. Ruby still looked bummed, so she added; “Hey misunderstandings happen, it sounds like you guys just need a fresh start.”
“I don’t kno-”
Sun's response cut Ruby off, “That's an awesome idea!”
He bounced to his feet and started dragging Jaune over towards Blake. Yang did likewise with Ruby, ignoring her protests. When Blake glanced up at them Yang smiled back at her and waved. She even threw in a cheerful "Hello!" for good measure. The girl just stared at them, with one hell of a poker face. Her amber eyes darted between all four of them.
I wonder what she's thinking?
---xxx---
What fresh new hell is this?
Blake regarded the quartet hovering over her with smiling faces. She recognized most of them from earlier. There was Sun, now wearing a onesie for some reason. He had that other blonde, the fanboy in tow, she neither knew nor did she care to know his name.
Then there was the silver-eyed young girl from earlier, sadly she didn’t know her name either. She apparently had been drug over against her will by someone as well. Unlike the others, Blake didn’t know this girl.
Yet another blonde, her hair a veritable mane of wild locks and her eyes were, admittedly, a striking shade of violet. Much like Sun, this girl seemed to radiate a sense of warmth. She gave the impression of being a nice person, really she did, but Blake really couldn’t help but wonder about one thing:
“Why have all of you invaded my personal space?” Seriously, she had been sitting alone in a corner, contentedly reading her book by candlelight. That should have made it obvious that she had no interest in socializing.
“Well, remember that misunderstanding earlier?” Sun asked to which Blake responded with a glare, “Okay, stupid question, anyways we,” He gestured to himself and the buxom blonde “figured we all just needed a fresh start.”
Did we, did we really? Blake wondered as she managed to keep her ears from flattening. Beyond that, she made little effort to hide her annoyance.
“Anyways this,” Sun threw an arm around the shoulder of his fellow onesie enthusiast, “is my buddy Jaune. He’s pretty a cool guy once you get know him.”
Somehow I find that hard to believe. What is even the point of thi-
“And I’m Yang.” The blonde girl said offhandedly before half turning to the silver-eyed girl whose hand she held. With a gentle tug and an encouraging smile, Yang coaxed the other girl to step forward. A scene, Blake realized, that could have come from her own childhood, “This is my baby sister, I think you two know each other.”
“Uh...Hi?” The smaller girl said in a barely audible voice. “I’m Ruby.”
The feline faunus felt a small pang of sympathy for Ruby, remembering her mother’s attempts to get her to socialize as a child. It rarely worked out, Blake almost never connected well with people her own age. She still didn’t really, often finding them self-centered and immature.
Furthermore, she had neither the need nor inclination to make friends. She was here to learn to be a Huntress, the ideal exemplar of the honorable, professional warrior. Friendship wasn’t really needed to rise to that plateau, so why bother with an unneeded complication? Plus she liked being alone, really she did!
...but I suppose I brought this upon myself given the way I acted earlier. Blake admitted to herself, and while they were pests, they were an inclusive bunch of pests. The faunus decided she’d indulge them for now.
“Hello,” Blake said finally, “It’s...interesting to meet all of you and, again, I’m sorry about my behavior earlier.”
“It’s fine,” Ruby replied shyly, “you did what you thought was right; that’s really what being a Huntsman or Huntress is about.”
“And I’ve made way worse first impressions on people so I have no room to complain.” Jaune chimed in, Blake found herself uncertain how to politely respond to such a statement. Rather than say something rude she turned to the silver-eyed girl.
“That seems like a pretty simplistic view, you do understand that a Huntress’s responsibilities are more complex than that, don’t you?” Blake asked, which seemed to perplex the other girl.
“We’re expected to combat the creatures Grimm, in both defensive and offensive roles.” Ruby seemed to become more self-assured as she spoke. “Or to fight crime and expose corruption, to devote ourselves to something as small as a single village or an entire kingdom. In other words, whatever we think is the right thing to do.”
I guess she really does understand and was just being succinct.
“So what you're saying is,” Jaune cut in, and at first Blake thought he was making an effort to join the conversation. Yet looking at him she noticed he wasn’t really, “Being a Huntsman is about following your conscience? What...what about following a family tradition? That’s sorta why I’m here.”
“There’s nothing wrong with that,” Ruby reassured him, “my mom is the biggest reason why I wanted to be a Huntress in the first place. She believed in helping people, whenever and where ever, she could. I wanna be just like her.” The crimson-haired girl declared proudly. Though Yang seemed even prouder.
“Aw, that’s so sweet,” Sun said with complete sincerity,
"I know right?" Yang squeed and scooped her little sister up into a massive bear hug, "I just love you so much!"
Merciful Gods, these two are going to give me diabetes.
"Ah let me go, Yang!" Ruby demanded, clearly embarrassed by her big sister's affections. The two siblings then started roughhousing with one another. Yang lost her balance, and the pair collided into Jaune. He tried to disentangle himself from the ‘fight’, unfortunately, Ruby grabbed him by the arm and slammed him into her sister like an oversized club.
“Oh god, it’s like I’m back home!” He lamented as Yang used him as a shield against her little sister. He made a squeaking sound like a child’s bath toy when Ruby crashed into him.
"These guys are so much fun!" Sun exclaimed, honestly looking like he wanted to join that juvenile display. Yang hurled a wailing Jaune at her sister, knocking them both to the ground. The buxom blonde jumped on the pair with an utterly joyous expression on her face.
"They're...interesting." Blake replied, "I'll give them that much." She glanced longingly down at her novel, a classic she had hoped to finish tonight. She suspected the next few weeks would be rather hectic and wouldn't leave much time for reading.
"Ah! Who bit my foot!?"Jaune's voice reached a high pitch she didn't think boys his age were capable of hitting.
"They're the kind of people you could let your hair down around." Sun commented and gave her a meaningful look, "Or not have to wear a certain hair-related acces-" Blake silenced him a withering glare. He held his hands up, "Hey, it was just a suggestion."
Alright, that's a sign I've indulged this long enough. Blake decided, "Excuse me, everyone?" The two sisters froze while the lesser onesie enthusiast scrambled away from the fight, "Not that meeting all of you was an unpleasant experience but I would very much like to resume reading my book, in peace."
They all glanced at each other and started to leave, save Ruby, "What's it about?"
"What?"
"Your book? What's it about?”
---xxx---
Notes:
[1] Sun has repeatedly shown he does not grasp how things outside of Vacuo work, particularly when it comes to human/faunus interactions.
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