Pyrrha felt like her heart was going to burst out of her chest with pride as she entered her changing room with the sound of the crowd roaring in applause behind her.
She'd done it.
It hadn't gone perfectly and her Aura had ended up a bit low edging into the yellow, but there were only a single match per day in the actual five day tournament, unlike the qualifiers which had been a more brutal slog of multiple one on ones almost back to back.
Well, that was if you won.
Losers' Bracket was right after the main events were over and those would have to be fought for the ones who lost today. Hu ChoRok would have a decent advantage as he'd have less lost Aura to recover compared to his peers as she'd only gotten him with a Ring-Out.
She'd even managed to decisively knock out a top contender in one of the faster matches in the Prepatorium Circuit's history.
"...I just became the dark horse, haven't I?" She almost breathlessly wondered, riding the high, ever so slightly. "I-I did it!"
She whooped, jumping up and down with excitement, Polarity enhancing her jumps subconsciously akin to how it had during her match.
There was the squeak of a familiar little mouse on the bench of her changing room and Pyrrha this time had no hesitation, leaping for it as the little thing (weirdly cool and almost rubbery) squeaked again in her grip as she rubbed her cheek against the tiny thing.
"You're my new good luck charm, little magic mouse!" She squealed happily as the mouse just chirped and pat her temple with a little scabby hand on her temple, as if mimicking a movement it had seen before. "Thanks for the tea!"
She spun the little magic mouse around before placing him on the bench, finalizing it with a little pat on the head.
The mouse just squeaked, becoming a large blob of shadow, replaced by a slightly different looking magic mouse, this time accompanying a large bowl filled with-
The smell was heavenly.
Some sort of bowl of rice topped by what looked like one wide and flat piece of meat that had been deep fried and cut into long strips, topped with small bits of shredded vegetables and a layer of cooked golden egg. A rich, dark, glossy sauce shimmered on top as it was almost artistically dressed in long, thin, tight zig-zags.
There was a post it note on the rim, but she just pulled it off and slapped it on the bench as she reached for the spoon the mouse was holding up for her, eyes on the prize.
She hadn't really been able to eat much earlier today before the match as she'd seen some athletes talking about only eating a bare minimum before they competed. Something about meeting a minimum standard and leaving yourself hungry for a win. She wasn't sure how much to take stock in that, but she'd given it a go, just in case.
But normally Hunstmen and Huntresses ate twice if not three times more than normal people. Those in training included.
And all she'd had for breakfast was a slice of toast, two boiled eggs with salt, and some stir fried bok choy.
What she now chewed in her mouth was the taste of victory.
The soft sweet crunch of onion, a little carrot and bell peppers (she loved bell peppers) layered in fluffy egg and the crispiness of fried pork whatever it was called. All that melted in with a mouthful of hot, piping hot, fluffy rice and flavorful and almost mysteriously perfect sauce and Pyrrha melted as she took mouthful after mouthful.
With a satisfied (and a bit unladylike) burp that she was glad her mom wasn't here to see, Pyrrha set down a large, suddenly empty bowl back on the bench.
"Thank you for the meal, magic mice." She grinned contentedly, reaching with her eyes closed for the little critter, petting the smooth rubbery thing as her fingers brushed against a bit of paper.
"Oh the post-it. Almost forgot."
She pulled the note, the very light adhesive flicking off easily from the top of the bench.
"Congratulations!" She read aloud, feeling warm. Whoever sent her the tea and that delicious meal with their magic mice (she knew it was probably a Semblance, but Pyrrha was allowed to feel special and think of them as magic mice) must have been the one to write this.
Unless magic mice… could write? She didn't know. These were uncharted waters.
"To celebrate your victory, a Katsudon. A 'Victory Bowl' in the old east Mistralian tongue."
This felt nice. Like… like having her own personal, well not cheerleaders per say, but a… support group? A fan?
…maybe a friend?
This was nice. Pyrrha could get used to this.
With a grin she reached over to her bag, pulling out her wooden pencil case again, writing on the back of the post-it.
"Does that mean, if I win my next match, I get another? What do I call you?" She wrote while speaking softly out loud.
She wondered if maybe she was feeling a bit lonely after stealing away in the middle of the night almost a week ago. Maybe she was and that's why this suddenly weird pen-pal situation just sort of felt right, even if her parents told her not to talk to strangers.
Maybe she was.
She saw the mouse reach over to snatch her note in its mouth, wrapping its long tail around the spoon and placing a hand on the other.
With a slightly muffled squeak it disappeared into a blob of shadow, replaced by another new mouse who just saluted and melted into shadows, seeping into the bench.
She waited a bit, hearing the knock on her door from one of the employees of the Circuit requesting her presence for an interview soon.
"I'll be there in another few minutes!" She called out, "I-I just have some jitters I'm still shaking off!"
That was a lie. All of her post fight jitters had melted in the aftermath of the, what was it? Yes. The Katsudon. She really wanted another one.
There was a squeak, the reformation of a mouse before it was replaced once more by another mouse with another cup of earthenware ceramic, filled to the brim with a familiar lemon green tea and a note.
Pyrrha this time, gleefully went for the note first.
"Sure." She read, "You can call me Jaune."
There was a surge of satisfaction at knowing her new… were they friends? She'd like to be. Sure, why not? Jaune (she wasn't sure if a boy or girl) had sent her tea and food and just cheered her on in general. That was cool of them.
That was like, most of the way to friendship, right?
Pyrrha had been homeschooled to this point and most of her neighborhood didn't have any kids her age so this was…
Honestly it was really nice.
She scribbled back.
"Thanks, Jaune. I hope we can be friends." She smiled as she stuck the note back on.
"Ok. Now I have an interview." She took a deep breath, reaching over for the cup and taking a long relaxing drink. "Ah. I should re-read the ad Uncle Tulius helped me write, just in case."
New friends were always good.
That coupled with the fact that Qrow was celebrating that he hadn't burned a full paycheck on nothing, or as he said, "Gaddamn, I thought we were gonna lose that bet right out the first match! Still, the little red billboard's actually got a real shot at this."
Everything was going well enough.
He had to get back to Atlas with Emerald, though he did drop her off with Weiss's butler Klein to both shadow under him (as she'd requested some more formal instruction into becoming a better butler in her own words) as well as passing alongside some letters from Winter to Weiss and Whitley as the older girl was taking some extra electives that summer and would be busier than normal.
On the other hand Jaune returned to give another lecture, this week doing a focus on geothermal energy, hoping to incentivise the meritocratic Atlasean scientists to maybe go and sort out the heating and energy issues down in Mantle for him. If they didn't figure it out in two or so years, he'd just approach the General directly and personally make some intervening requests to help Mantle.
And then Jaune took a nap.
He was going to be… busier than normal for the next few evenings.
Although it was Wednesday, that evening he warped into Vale.
Immediately he was wrapped up in the scent of Trivia's Aura, the sweet cream and strawberries, swirling with chocolate and vanilla, the sharp edges of glass scratching gently at his senses, dangerous, but playful and tickling.
He gave the older girl a hug back, feeling the girl, two in one, bury her nose and face into his hair, his ears curling up against her temples.
"Y'know I think this is the first time I've ever been in your room." Jaune whispered, his eyes curiously darting about the neatly decorated bedroom. It reminded him of Weiss's but a bit less cold and impersonal. Much warmer colors of soft beige and a splash of pink stripes that added a bit of life to the walls. "It's nice. Neater than I expected, too."
Trivia grinned, her eyes both flashing pink as Neo pulled through to the surface to tease him that not everything was always as it appeared with the two of them.
"I guess that's true." He replied. "Lemme guess. A secret hole in the wall? Loose floorboards under the bed or the closet?"
Trivia frowned with a cute huff, blowing an annoyed hot huff of air at one of his rabbit ears, sending a shiver down his spine, as she got up and showed him that yes there was a hole in the crawl space behind a wall that was covered by a mirror and a very well placed flap of perfectly matching wallpaper that had some duffle bags filled with ill-gotten gains in it.
Alongside some floorboards under her bed covered by a small rug that she seemed to have pried up loose with the back of a hammer, where more duffle bags were laying innocuously.
"So that's why you're having me hold on to the rest of it huh? Can't keep the rest of your little hoard up in your room?" Jaune laughed as he sat up on top of the edge of her bed.
Trivia's eyes flashed a bit possessively as brief flickers of pink and brown flames edged at her irises.
She crawled over to where he was sitting on her bed, pushing him down and pulling the sheets over them both as she cuddled into his side.
Trivia had never been very tall, so he was actually starting to catch up to her size a bit now that his growth spurts were beginning to kick in. Still wasn't tall enough to match up, but he was getting there!
He took another short nap as the two of them just relaxed into the other.
An hour later they were both up, he was placed under the invisibility of Trivia's Semblance (she'd gotten really good at keeping it up for extended periods of time now) as he held her left hand for support.
Her left was just as important and good as her right due to her ambidextrousness. Something her parents would train, or try to train out of her if they knew about it. Maybe in another life they might have succeeded.
That didn't need to be the case now that he was here.
"Thank you, Professor Branwen, for coming here in person. This is quite an honor."
"Huh." He heard Juniper humm in interest, "So the dusty old Qrow still became a teacher, just at Beacon, eh? Man that's gonna be weird down the line."
Jaune's tail wagged a bit.
That was cool. Uncle Qrow was a Beacon Professor. That was actually really cool.
He had so many questions for him later.
"Don't worry too much about any formalities." Qrow smiled, being so professional that Jaune found it jarring. Juniper was just struggling to not laugh as he floated behind him. "I'm more of a talent scout, despite my shared duty as a Combat Instructor with soon-to-be Deputy Headmistress Goodwitch. Rather, I'm the one thankful for allowing me to come here on such short notice."
"Oh how could we not?" Trivia's mom Carmel smiled beautifully. Jaune could see where Trivia got her good looks from. "Imagine, an educator from Beacon in my own home! We'll be bragging about such a thing for weeks to come."
A little pin, a swirling triskelion engraved upon it, gleamed from the collar of her dress.
Trivia caught him staring briefly at it and squeezed his hand.
He nodded back, showing he understood. Her mother seemed to wear it to big social events or important events in general. Something about her old alma mater?
"Well actually, my brother in law works over in Signal Academy, where his co-worker Aurelia has always been bragging softly about a very talented private student. Never mentioned her name or details, but it was enough that I've heard it from him over drinks on occasion. And then we got an application and letter of recommendation signed by Huntress Aurelia and, well, I couldn't help myself. I reached out to her to come and see if she was the real deal."
"Ah." Jimmy Vanille, Trivia's father seemed calm on the surface, but faint sweat was forming at the edge of his hairline. He was nervous. "I wasn't aware that any applications for my daughter had been sent in, which was, as you might imagine, much to my surprise."
"Understandable." Qrow was polite, something that he could actually do since he'd stop binge drinking three years or so back, "But while it isn't necessary for young miss Trivia here to accept the offer, instructors are allowed to fill out and apply for their students under Valean Huntsmen Bylaws if they feel their student is exceptional enough. It's understandably rare, however, as no Huntsman is allowed to perform this action legally more than the one time, success or no."
"This feels strange seeing Qrow like this." Juniper whispered, Jaune just nodded.
It really was.
"I see, I see." Jimmy Vanille maintained his calm voice and attitude well, but Jaune could see that it was because Qrow was a legal Huntsman that made him nervous, not that he was even a prestigious guest. The man dabbled in something illegal. That was… that was actually worrying. He'd have to tell Trivia later and see how she wanted to handle it. "Well we are incredibly honored that you'd come for my Trivia and believe her to be so talented."
Trivia squeezed his hand.
She didn't believe her dad cared for her like that at all.
He did though. Just a bit under all his nervousness, desire for control, his burning need for normalcy in his life that he did love her, under it all. Not intensely or obviously. But he did care for her. Although even Jaune wasn't sure where the lines between care and obligation were in this case.
There was a lot of selfishness on top of that though. He got the feeling that there was no way that Trivia had ever seen that through the thick surface, though she might have known a bit subconsciously that her parents did care for her in their selfish, twisted way.
Trivia had definitely gotten a bit of that from him as well. She was honestly the second most selfish person he knew.
Raven would always be first.
"Well, I know the two of you were out of the house the last time that Aurelia would have informed you that she was coming with a sparring partner for young miss Vanille, here, but that was me. And I'll tell you I'm impressed enough to put my own name down as an additional backer. Frankly, we want to give her a full ride. All four years out of Beacon's pocket, plus a stipend for her to spend on any weapon and gear upgrades she needs."
Maybe before this whole mess with Maidens Trivia might have been a bit more excited about that, but she just looked and felt bored as Qrow and the Vanille parents talked shop.
He squeezed her hand reassuringly, smiling up at her to show that he knew she would have gotten in even without the Maiden bullshit.
Her eyes watered faintly and she turned to face him entirely, proving his theory that she'd made her Semblance a full illusion over the both of them as she leaned down to plant a strong kiss on his forehead, her lips crushing softly against his skin.
Their Aura mingled, juniper berries adding spice to her gently scratching edges of shattered glass, the scent of strawberries and creme, vanilla and chocolate filling his nostrils.
His face flushed as his tail wagged. Something about that felt intensely intimate. Probably because she'd been radiating her trust to him as well. They trusted each other. Even if he could be a bit of a hardass about how they did things and she still had bad habits and was too mischievous for her own good, they trusted each other.
"You two need to get a room." He heard Juniper snicker, "To think Neo would become so docile. Who would have ever seen this coming? The pre-reform actually worked, good gods."
He rolled his eyes as he looked up at his brother with a pout.
Juniper just shrugged at him.
"Believe me. It's a compliment. She might have ended up a villain without you, you know. You really did good, Jaune. I'm proud of you, even if I sound incredulous. I mean, I am a little incredulous."
Jaune had grown up enough to know what his brother meant. Trivia and Neopolitain were in an almost loveless house with no positive influences. He now truly understood that he himself might have been an anchor for her. Nobody seemed to be able to understand her, not helped by her inability to speak.
But she'd saved him as much as he'd saved her sometimes. Escaping all his responsibilities and hitting the town with her those Friday nights had been the one of his few true escapes. One of the few things that acted as stress relief from everything that built up inside of him from all the pressures of being Jaune Arc.
Still he couldn't talk and express those emotions to her right now. She couldn't read him like he could her. He thought about what would portray that feeling. Of how much he trusted her too.
So he kissed her on the back of her left hand, the one he had been holding on to. His cheeks flushed with embarrassment as his tail wagged. Even if it was just on the hand he'd never really kissed a girl that wasn't one of his sisters or mom before. It was embarrassing.
Her eyes flickered with passionate flames.
And they had to quickly adjust and pretend nothing was wrong as the weight of magic, Trivia's Od, flared for a moment.
Her parents just looked confused while Qrow gave Trivia a wary look, not knowing that Jaune was in the room to keep her in control. After all…
None of them could see what had occurred at all.
Jaune and Trivia shared a world of their own.
Ren held still as Aurora taught Nora how to paint his nails.
Years ago he might have thought that painted nails were for girls, and even now he still felt that way a little, but he didn't care much nowadays. He'd just become used to it by this point. The Arcs were family. So much so that there were days when he didn't see himself as Lie Ren, but Lie Arc.
That was… kind of terrifying, as much as he relished in the feeling. He loved his new family as much as his old one. He just couldn't, wouldn't, let the memory of his birth parents go. Luckily his adoptive father Julius and adoptive mother Noelle knew and understood that.
Ren gazed at the youngest of the Arc siblings, Aurora. This sister wanted to grow up to be a beautician, her dream not having changed since when he'd first met her almost five years ago.
He wondered if that one-mindedness was just a standard trait of the Arc family.
"So now that the black is fully dry, sis, we can put these little strips of tape over them and give them a stripe of pink." The small girl meticulously put the tape over the nails of his left hand, leaving a little gap with parallel lines. "Just like this."
Nora was hyperfocused, trying not to let her hands tremble as she layered a bit of tape over the nails of his right hand. They weren't perfect, though, and she seemed frustrated.
"Nora." Ren assured with a smile. "It's fine. It's your first time with this. Just take it as practice. You'll get better, I promise."
Nora stared into his eyes, nodding as she chewed her lip.
Her faintly flushed face focused on his hands, her fingers caressing his own carefully.
His pulse quicked faintly. Ren didn't really know why. It was… rare to ever see Nora being gentle in anything. She was a girl that loved life and was energetic and passionate, throwing her full self into everything.
She was sort of like Jaune, actually. Female Jaune without his ridiculous genius/magic BS. That was a funny image.
He laughed, only for Nora to look up suddenly, seemingly panicked.
"Don't worry. It just tickled a bit. You're fine. Really."
Nora seemed to take that assurance in stride as she quickly returned to adjusting the tape to her liking before reaching over to Aurora for the pink nail polish she'd already finished using.
Soon his nails had a thin stripe of pink that descended down the middle, coated with clear polish to even it all out.
Nora held out her own nails, the tips of her fingers lacing between his own as hers had already been painted with a single black stripe over her bright pink ones.
"We match." She smiled softly.
Ren found his fingers sliding forwards and curling around her hand as their fingers laced fully, observing her nails.
"Mm." He agreed. "We match." He nodded.
For some reason he didn't understand, he and Nora devolved into giggles.
Trivia always felt empty when Jaune left.
He was really cute today. Neo chimed.
Though she supposed she was also Neopolitain in the end, wasn't she?
They'd see him in two more days, so it would be fine.
Trivia changed into her pajamas and slipped into her bed.
The sheets smell like him. Neo sighed contentedly.
It did. Despite how she normally loved wearing it, Trivia had purposely avoided perfume for a week or two just to get as much of a neutral scent into her sheets so that when Jaune would come by early to give her some moral support she could steal some of his scent.
He didn't suspect a thing~
Well Trivia hadn't exactly been subtle in her desire for a cuddle. Actually it had more superseded her plan to cuddle with a purpose and it just more happened to coincide when she'd realized Jaune was sitting on her bed.
She'd have to wait until Jaune was properly grown before she did anything because he cared so much about doing things the 'right way' like that, which irked her, but he still hadn't exactly gone through puberty either.
And if anything she was also a bit shy about kissing and the like. The only boy she wanted to date was way younger than her, which made it all weird. But once he was legal, everything would be fair game.
She'd heard that boys her age were often into older girls anyways, she'd have the home field advantage there.
And after two years of Huntress experience we can apply for an apprentice teacher's position at Beacon. Neo reminded her. If we take advantage of the Headmaster that Juniper doesn't fully trust's desire to keep us close, we can get in with only one easy peasy. We could be junior teachers at Beacon during his first year.
She did like how Neo looked in that little teacher's outfit last time.
We've got a nice butt.
Trivial rolled her eyes with her eyelids closed as she took another deep breath.
The smell of Jaune didn't feel complete without his Aura. She should just get some juniper berry air freshener once she eventually got into Beacon. It would annoy whoever she'd be stuck with maybe, but she wanted her room to always smell like juniper berries.
She'd get some special treatment for being a Maiden, so they could suck it.
Actually the reality that she'd be leaving the Vanille manor was extra exciting because Trivia would finally be able to even start dumping her money into a bank account that Beacon would be setting up for her.
That would be neat.
She didn't really like carrying much, preferring to stay light, having been spoiled by Jaune's ability to carry whatever she'd needed or wanted. A bank card would be really good for that. She could even get a Scroll bound one and get a fancy expensive Scroll that needed her Aura specifically to open.
That sounds good. Neo agreed. We'll have to dump the cash in small amounts though.
That didn't matter. They could just have Jaune hold onto it for her during that time.
Our little personal baggie boy.
Trivia smiled at Neo as she inhaled in Jaune's scent again, her mind filled with the thought of juniper berries as she curled up under her sheets.
She couldn't wait for it to be Friday.