"It's weird having a Spring Equinox festival this early." Ren made small talk as he was getting measured. "We pretty much just got back from Winter Break."
"It's just because the Vytal Festival is coming around real soon. A lot of people from the other Kingdoms are going to be coming into Mistral from all over, so everyone wants to take advantage of the increased traffic for business. Even Sanctum, I guess." Neptune, their class president, scowled as he got his measurements done. "Apparently that means we have the Spring Equinox fest a week before the Vytal Fest that starts at the end of January, the teachers say that it's normal when a Vytal rolls around."
"We had two weeks of normalcy after getting back first." Jaune pretended to not notice his female classmates' hands lingering on his body just a bit too long as they took his measurements. As long as they didn't try anything weird he'd overlook it. "So we should take that as a positive."
"We have to crossdress in less than a month!" Neptune let out a despairing groan. "There are no positives! This is going to be so weird!"
"Emerald dresses as a butler, but that didn't stop you from confessing to her last year, prez." Jaune snorted, getting an "Urk!" from their class president.
The blue haired boy hung his head.
"That was stupid of me when she was so obviously taken." Neptune sighed, sounding depressed, though he didn't resist a small stinkeye in Jaune's direction. "I thought getting an ok from you would give me a shot."
"I said I'm not going to get in the way of Emerald finding love." Jaune deadpanned. "Not my fault you took that as encouragement. And she's not taken by anyone, so please don't accidentally get the rumor mill rolling again."
"Plus, you've confessed to every member of our fellow sixth years at this point." Ren pointed out. "Except Nora, but if you do that, I'll be the one that breaks your legs."
"Hey, hey. I get it, man. Shit, good on you, finally." Neptune gave Ren a sly smirk. "Happy for ya, man."
"...I want to be mad, but I'm not sure if that's fair." Ren grit his teeth with a sigh. "But at least I have a girlfriend, Neptune."
Neptune made a sour face.
"Tsh. Gimme another day. Neptune Vasilias isn't meant for a single man's life!"
"Hey, prez. Stop moving so much." His measurer complained. "I'm almost done, man."
Neptune looked even more depressed.
"And I'm the one that got the guy out of the three of us for taking our measurements." The blue haired boy groaned, his reflective yellow goggles catching the light as he threw his head back. "This is so unfair."
"Both of the girls in our class that are in the Tailoring Club dated you and broke up with you." Jaune pointed out, rolling his eyes, getting a hum of curt acknowledgement from the girl (Ivy, one of the two Neptune had two-timed) who was measuring Jaune up. "Plus they broke up with you because you tried to date them both at the same time without telling the other."
Neptune gave Jaune a baleful look, making him flinch and turn away, ignoring the slightly angry side eye of the girls that were measuring him and Ren.
"I don't want to hear that from the guy that's totally not dating Pyrrha Nikos and Weiss Schnee at the same time!" He spat jealously. "Leave some hotties for the rest of us, man!"
Jaune just sighed with his eyes closed. Of course Neptune would have no idea about Yang, Blake, Trivia, and his situation, but somehow that had caught him off guard anyways.
"You really need to read less tabloids, prez." Jaune sighed. "I'm not dating Pyrrha. We're just best friends. We're in the same class, for heaven's sake, you've seen us around each other. We hang out so much partly because we're the only ones that give each other any real challenge."
It wasn't his or Pyrrha's fault that most other people didn't understand their battlelust. They were talented and didn't have many others to sharpen themselves against. Ren and Nora were good sparring partners as well, especially when they paired up, but they didn't get into it like he and Pyrrha did.
He also didn't deny dating Weiss, as that was technically the truth on the surface (Yang and Blake had been aware of it for a long time, and he'd have to eventually break it off sometime after he reached Beacon), although in reality the two of them were using that as cover to just hang out as friends under disguise. Weiss was finally beginning to start to be better acting like a normal girl while wearing a wig and different clothes. Still proud as hell, though.
"So you don't deny dating Weiss Schnee!" Neptune crowed triumphantly. "I knew it!"
And this was why he wasn't friends with the class president, even if he was civil. Jaune thought he was struggling with hormones and all, but Neptune was girl crazy. At least he thought that was the term.
He'd heard girls be called boy crazy, so the opposite worked, right?
His Big Brother Juniper told him that he'd mellow out, though, so he bore with it. He was still way better than last year.
"Just think whatever you want at this point, prez." Jaune sighed. It was just a fake relationship, and even if he thought Weiss was beautiful, that didn't mean anything in the end.
They were just friends and their 'dates' were just an excuse for Weiss to go have some fun.
Gosh, Neptune had been a lot more bearable before puberty. Even with his hydrophobia making him a pain at times.
Dude used to have issues even washing his hands, and while everyone (girls mostly excluded) being somewhat inattentive kids didn't have much issue with that (especially when Aura helped a lot in keeping clean), for Jaune who was a lot more academically aware of germs… well. He wasn't friends with the Class President for a reason, despite getting along well enough with him.
Thank god he'd finally gotten over his hydrophobia enough to wash his hands (and his body) regularly now. People liked him before even when he was a bit grungy, but now that he was clean and getting more interested in fashion, he'd built up a lot of confidence, even officially becoming the new Class President two years ago.
The only issue was that he'd had a bit of a meteoric rise in popularity at Sanctum as puberty hit him and it could get to his head at times.
Neptune was a good guy so it was a shame. He was one of Ren's friends, so Jaune hung out with him on occasion.
He was a cool enough guy, though, so Jaune hoped he'd mellow out more than he'd done already and stop hitting on every girl he met like he had something to prove.
"Neptune. Ease up on my brother's love life. Jaune's got it complicated enough as it is."
"...alright, alright. Sorry man. My bad my bad." Neptune sighed. "I'm just stressed with all the work being put on my plate."
"No offense taken." Jaune was happy to let it be water under the bridge. "Rather, we're relying on you, prez."
Neptune's back straightened a bit at the flattery.
"Yeah," Ren nodded, picking up on what Jaune was doing, "none of this would be going so smoothly without you at the helm."
Neptune's nose rose in the air a bit.
"We're loads ahead of our other classmates right now. I've heard from my big sister Robin that the seniors of 7-A and 7-B haven't gotten all our paperwork done already like you have." Jaune continued to lay it on thick, not actually lying, as all of this was true. "Really, you're a huge help."
"Well, yeah, I am pretty great." Neptune grinned, fully back to his fully confident self. "And once we're done with this, I'll be chatting with Professor Kyrielight about getting a bit of extra security for our class' cafe for when we get to have Jaune perform! Those jerks in 6-C aren't going to hold a candle to the amount of traffic we're going to get with both him and Nikkos being in the same classroom!"
"You're all just lucky Pyrrha wanted to see me perform live." Jaune grumbled. "I wouldn't have agreed to it if the whole class didn't get that thought in her head. How did everyone know I agreed to perform with Weiss at this upcoming Vytal Festival anyways?"
"And for someone that claims he's not dating the Invincible Girl, you're waaaay too easy when she gets excited about something." Neptune gave him a knowing grin, thinking he had proof that Jaune liked his best friend romantically.
As if he even had room to contemplate that with already being in a triang- no, it was a… square? Pyramid? Fuck his sitation was complicated.
"It's called being a good friend, Neptune." Jaune shot back a little hotly, "Which might be hard for you to wrap your head around after getting caught with your hands under Haruka from 6-B's top."
Neptune flinched at the accusation, remembering when he'd lost his friendship with 6-B's Class President Sumita (Haruka's boyfriend) as a result of it.
"Tha-that was before Winter Break! C'mon, let it go already! It's been over a month! They're already back together, aren't they?!"
"Khe he he he he!"
"...m-monster…"
"Oh, you haven't seen real monsters yet." Tyrian crooned from within his Shinkiro Scorpio, the black, purple, and gold segmented armoring around his tail extending forwards.
The segments separated for extra length alongside his Grimm infused flesh beneath the metal alloy.
"The real monsters are the ones you see when you look in the mirror every morning. The ones that whisper to you asking why you continue to breathe instead of ending the misery that is life. The one that goes out day after day, working at the same end expecting things to change. THAT is a monster, devoid of reason, lacking purpose. I, my friend, am no such thing. I am the one eyed man amidst the blind. I am the only one that truly sees."
The tip of his stinger, the only part of his form being currently unarmored, tore a jagged line in the flesh of the Huntsman, making him scream in pain.
"Sh-sh-sh-shush." He hushed, his bladed claws scratched against the Huntsman's cheek, dragging against his dark blue Aura. "If you're not careful you'll attract the Grimm. Khe he he he! That would be bad, he he he. You're here to protect this little village from them, weren't you?"
His hand leapt forwards, twisting as it pulled up the Huntsman's head, forcing him to look at the burning village being overrun with Grimm. His tail dragged along the length of the Huntsman's spine, this time threatening to puncture the remaining Aura.
"Isn't it so pretty? A pure and holy sacrifice. The glory of my Goddess?"
"...f-fuck your G-"
His clawed hand began to hum, vibrating faintly as they began to glow red hot, eliciting a scream that was muffled as Tyrian slammed the Huntsman's face into the mud.
"Now that's just rude." How dare he. HOW DARE HE?! "For that I won't make this as fast as it could have been. Hm hm ha ha!"
He stood up, dragging the Huntsman, his armored tail lazily deflecting the Huntsman's futile struggles. What did he expect to even do when poisoned and with a broken haft of a polearm anyways?
The Heat Claws continued to scorch against the scalp of the Huntsman's head as it carried him along, eventually breaking the Aura and causing hair and flesh to scorch and bubble as they approached their destination.
Unfortunately that meant he had to turn off the fun function, though the metal was still hot and sharp, scorching and scarring away at flesh and hair as the man screamed in agony.
One of his Goddess's personal creations approached at the scent of blood and despair, a Drake Grimm (like a very small dragon the size of an SUV) heavily modified specifically with the sole purpose of human experimentation.
The failure rate was beyond high, as most mortals could not endure the blessing of his Goddess. But there had yet been ONE success. A single precious blessed survivor.
The head and neck had been turned into a fleshy elongated tube, large enough to encase a fully grown man. The mask warped into a segmented ring around the edge of a gaping toothed maw, not unlike The Burrower frozen by his Goddess's interest, Jaune Arc.
Despite how many had been fed to the humorously named Grimm, the Hero Maker, only one success had been formed of it. Only one that his Goddess called her new Arcana. A new child of the Goddess.
The Child of Death.
One blessed to roam and spread the light of his Goddess's dark glory to the ends of this star! Ah the precious angel of the promised future!
"Perhaps you too, might find yourself so blessed." Tyrian giggled at the thought.
If it was merely strength of body, the Queen's Arcana would never have survived being consumed by the Hero Maker. It was the strength of the soul that must have carried the new Child of the Goddess through. Thus as Tyrian was ordered to assist Arthur Watts in the development of his technology, a perversion of that which was created by Jaune Arc, he fed every Aura touched he could to the Hero Maker.
Sadly he'd little success yet.
But with enough bodies to fuel the fire, surely one day he'd manage to help his Goddess find a second blessed one.
Another child of the Death Arcana. If only he understood what exactly that meant.
But true faith was obedience without question.
"Please! No! No no n-"
Hero Maker swallowed the man whole, muffled screams ripping from within. The fleshy tube of Grimm shuddered and shook as the Huntsman inside attempted to break free from within, but after a minute of struggling there was silence. No movement or sign of life. He waited further, ready for Hero Maker to gain new motion, to give birth once more.
Nothing.
"A pity." Tyrian sighed.
He'd tossed as many Aura awakened children as adults at this point, but age too did not seem to be a discerning factor.
"But there is still the rest of his little supervised team." Tyrian mused, encouraging himself, reminding that the light of his Goddess still shone upon him, "And they had taken pity upon a pair of children they were offering training to. That's still six more to sup upon, my friend."
Hero Maker let out an echoing croon as the head elongated and stretched to rub against his armored side, feeling the blessing of their Goddess within Tyrian's body.
"Yes, yes. We are birds of a feather." He agreed with a giggle. "No come, friend. I've quite a meal to treat you to. No need to pay me back!"
Hero Maker's flesh rumbled in anticipation.
"...Father really just cleared up our schedules the week before the Vytal Festival to spend time in Argus." Whitley muttered in mild disbelief. "The full week. No other responsibilities… Wh-what we do, sister?"
His dear sister Weiss seemed a bit befuddled as well, though she'd been given the instruction of getting closer to her friend Jaune once more, expected to be seen with him publicly.
"Probably I'll have to do the bare minimum public 'dating' before I get to slip into my disguise and just get to explore Argus properly." Weiss shrugged, adjusting to the sudden change. "I'd even get to finally have that spar against Pyrrha as well. I've always wondered how I'd fare against the Four Time Champion of Mistral."
Whitley rolled his eyes as his sister pretended to not be so excited that she was nearly bouncing off the walls. Well. For a Schnee. She had a skip in her step as she wandered about her room, figuring out what she wished to pack, jotting it all down on a small personal notebook.
"Well I'm sure that-" His eyes spotted the door of his sister's room shift faintly, as if someone had begun to lean up against it. "... that it will be quite an experience."
Whitley stood up and slowly (he'd gotten good at quiet steps) began to walk towards the door.
"Just one thing, Whitley."
"Yes, dear sister?"
"You're still not planning on pursuing Clarent, right?"
Whitley turned with a sputter as his hand reached for the doorknob.
"Wh-what?! I-I don't quite know what you're talking about!" His face felt flushed.
"Oh?" Weiss grinned impishly, "Considering how you hang off her every word when she comes by visiting with Winter, I'd have assumed as such. Isn't that why you've been taking mock placement tests for the Academy? I'm actually impressed that you'd caught up in bookwork to qualify for the Upper Program, even if you physically can't keep up."
"This is slander, dear sister, and I will not entertain it further." Whitley sniffed, turning away. "Besides, it's not proper to discuss such with a third party-"
He flung the door ope-
Willow Schnee stared at him, her hand hovering over where the door had been mere moments ago as he pulled the door inwards. A bottle of wine sloshed in her other hand as she flinched, her face faintly flushed (as usual) from the influence of the bottle.
Weiss too was silent as the two of them stared at her.
Wordlessly, Willow took a step back (his hand briefly rose to reach for her) and turned, stumbling away.
"...coward." Weiss's voice accused, making their mother flinch, but she didn't turn back. Her feet simply carried her back to her room.
"...sister, please. She's still our-"
"Does that change the fact that she's still a coward?" Weiss's eyes were moist, but they'd hardened into chips of ice. "...she didn't even say hello."
Whitley turned, seeing the fleeting, fleeing back of his mother.
He closed the door with a sigh.
"Yes. She is. But she's still our mother."
"I hate her." Weiss spat quietly. "She's so powerless and does nothing to change that. I ha-"
Whitley threw his arms around his sister, feeling his throat tremble, his eyes were wet.
A part of himself did too, though the other yearned yet for her touch and affection.
"It's all father's fault. He made a mess of everything and we're the ones to suffer for it."
"No, it's her fault too." His sister insisted again. "She gave up on us. Gave up on Winter. Gave up on herself."
"...are we any different? Aren't we giving up on her right now?"
Weiss flinched.
"...stop pretending to be Jaune." She responded sourly.
Whitley chuckled.
"Found out already? Are you sure you share no torch for our dearest friend?"
"Brother, even if I did so, I don't wish to pursue it. Jaune's right in that I haven't even been allowed to discover who I am beyond my titles. Perhaps others our age would let their feelings get the best of them, but I am Weiss Schnee, Heiress to the SDC. And I have every intention of doing so before I consider any true romance."
"He'd make a great brother." Whitley pouted, "I'd like him as a brother in law."
"Wouldn't that make your pursuit of Clarent-"
"I-it's not like that!" He protested as Weiss laughed.
"Besides, no matter what happens with Jaune, if I decided to pursue him at all, all I'd have to do is smile at him, maybe flutter my eyes, and he'll crumble." Weiss snorted, completely self-assured in her beauty (though years Jaune's own subtle infatuation with his sisters' appearances weren't helping curb that arrogance), "He's my fallback."
"That's cruel to put it like that, sister."
Weiss did flinch at that.
"I-I didn't mean it like that." She argued hotly, "What's wrong with stating a fact?"
"I get the feeling that this is why his friend Yang dislikes you." Whitley sighed out. "You can sometimes be rather insensitive."
"It's not my fault that the ape hasn't confronted Jaune about her own feelings." Weiss frowned, "That's hardly my fault. Nor that Jaune, clearly, has good taste."
Weiss preened as Whitley frowned.
"Considering that the Vytal Festival will be in Mistral this year, it's very possible that she'll be visiting Argus the same time as you, the week before it begins in Mistral's Capital." Whitley reminded, making his sister's face form a complicated expression. "And that will be my first impression with the rest of Jaune's friends. I'd really appreciate it if you could be more civil."
Weiss let out a deep sigh.
"For you, dear baby brother. I will do it for you."
Whitley smiled, deepening the hug.
"Thank you, big sister."
Weiss let out a mumble that sounded vaguely like the words You're Welcome.
"If your desire is to merely copy the exacting details of my uniform, I will heavily object." Emerald warned, seeing her classmate flinch. "That is my one warning."
Her Huntress outfit had been designed by her master's hand with mere sketches by her untrained hands. Though he claimed he simply borrowed design ideas and the work was done by his machines, it yet had been something just for her, not unlike her Thief's Garnet Oaths. She wouldn't let that be insulted so easily by mere shoddy copies.
"I just want a reference photo from a few angles, Sustrai, chill." Canola held up her camera. "Most of us are just doing small alterations to look just enough of the part, but because we have your master to act as a big selling point alongside Nikkos they'll be getting something custom fit. While both of them could look pretty wearing paper bags, we want them to look the part and we have a prime example with you."
Pyrrha gave a polite, but weary, smile as she was forced to play the part of a mannequin, taking on and off various shirts and slacks.
"But we still had to tell Ren and Class President to join Jaune's fitting why?" Pyrrha asked, still a bit polite and formal. "Not that I don't think they wouldn't benefit, but it feels a bit… odd only those three are getting extra attention out of the boys in the class."
Though not at odds against any member of their class, aside from her master and his friend group, the majority of the other students tended to put the Champion on a bit of a pedestal.
Not entirely without good reason, mind. She was not only the reigning Four Time Champion of the Prepatorium Rank Cup, but she was the only one able to duel her master in Combat Class without accompaniment. And though Emerald now had an understanding of the girl's Semblance, Jaune always fought her with his normal fully metal spears, seeming to enjoy the challenge that brought. That did mean spars between the two often ended in draws or extremely prolonged engagements where he'd only win (in the eyes of the public) because neither cared for ring outs in their spars, enjoying battle over victory, and out endured Pyrrha.
There were those who even began spitefully calling Pyrrha the Pride Of Mistral in a way to try to snub her master, but they both rightfully ignored such base provocations.
Still before Pyrrha had joined Sanctum, the students had gotten more or less used to her master's oddities, allowing them to treat Pyrrha with a bit more normalcy, even if they kept a polite distance in the Mistralian way.
That didn't extend to others in their year or Sanctum as a whole, however. It was humorous how her master had affected the mindset of his fellow students so much despite not exactly being friends with any of them. At most they were mere classmates and acquaintances, people whom he treated kindly and politely, but kept at a distance.
Some of it seemed subconscious, as even though he'd never understood some of their advances, he clearly understood they had approached wanting something from him that wasn't friendship.
"Obviously we tricked Ren and President Vasilias to joining him for a custom fitting is because they're the best looking boys in class-"
"Darn tootin' my Renny is the best!" Nora proudly boasted as she tried to squeeze into a dress shirt, her chest being too large to accommodate most of the ones they were borrowing from the stores of the Drama Club. "And he's MINE!"
She glared around at a few grumbling female classmates who'd been heartbroken when they found out that Lie A. Ren had become taken over the recent Winter Break. Good for her fellow (pseudo) blade, though she sometimes acted oddly quiet at times of recent note.
"...yeah what our orange Arc said. Sure." Canola sniffed, checking the photos she took with a lazy swipe on her Scroll. "Plus there's plenty of us in 6-A that'd be happy to see Prez get a bit of embarrassment."
"He's had this coming." Someone else agreed, getting some giggles from the rest of the girls in the class. Only Teal, one of the more bookish (but pretty) girls seemed to frown in defense of their flirtatious Class President.
Unlike 6-C which was mostly boys, 6-A was mostly girls, which Emerald was subtly convinced was a result of some of the school authority taking a few bribes to connect the daughters of influential families to her master.
He'd never noticed that was why so many girls used to ask him for help with classwork. Most of them got the hint by this point, however.
"Besides, only the Arc boys would look good dolled up. For the rest of the boys we'll just give them whatever rental fits well enough. We girls need to wear the fancy suits this time around, so we'll just make some minor adjustments to make the borrowed clothes look more authentic. Actually we should try to make some mini-aprons to wear under the blazers cut to look like they're vests to make it a three-piece suit."
"That would be recommended." Emerald nodded. "It would be easy to put together and add a layer of authenticity should we choose a decent material."
"I'd really be fine if we did that for myself as wel-"
"Nikkos, you can't expect us to go do half measures for the Invincible Girl. Like hey, thanks for tryna make things easier on us, but we'd be a laughingstock if your uniform didn't turn out great. Only reason you're trying on anything with us is just so we get better color visuals for now and you already have full measurements on record."
Pyrrha gave a pursed smile.
"Just image things, I suppose."
"See, I knew you'd get it." Their classmate waved as she sent the reference photos to their classmates in the Tailoring Club.
Emerald quietly stepped around some lazily chatting classmates making some handmade decorations as she slid next to Pyrrha.
Her master was a Devil of Temptation, and Emerald had learned a few things under his influence.
"Do think of how my master would look at you in something more formal and elegant." Emerald didn't let any hint of a smirk form on her face. "It'll be a sight of you that hasn't yet been shared, correct? Are you not curious as to how he might react?"
Pyrrha let out a contemplative hum as the tips of her fingers fiddled nervously with the hem of her current dress shirt.
"I'm sure he shall be impressed. He shall shower you with compliments, genuine and true." Emerald pressed softly. "Would that not be worth bearing with a small share of discomfort?"
"I… yes. You're right, Emerald." Pyrrha gave her a somewhat sheepish smile. "Thank you, you're a good friend."
Emerald returned a smile, just bright enough to get a giggle of response from Pyrrha Nikkos. The corner of her eye caught Canola giving her a thumbs up, but Emerald ignored it.
She hadn't done this for the class, merely for the sake of her master.
Odd that her role as a blade had become not to cut away the bindings of her master, but to assist in the Devil's bindings, to keep him grounded and rooted to Remnant. She'd been given his blessing and permission to do so. To do whatever she determined necessary to keep him as the perfect master he'd been and strove to be, rather than the monster of logic his heart threatened to become.
It was a responsibility that she took with the utmost seriousness and Emerald Sustrai would use every single tool at her disposal to do so.
Even if those tools were the feelings of her own friends.