บท 10: 10
"I can take a bath… ON MY OWN!" Jaune threw his hands in the air. "Get out, Rhona! You too Avaline!"
The twins giggled manically as they both pressed their faces in the gap of the door like horror movie villains.
"C'mon Jaune-Jaune let us innnnnn~"
"Let us innnnn~"
His dexterous fingers leapt out to tickle his sisters, getting them to scream out in laughter as they pulled back and away, allowing him to shut and lock the door, giving him a moment of peace.
Jaune sighed as he slumped with his back against the door.
His Big Brother Juniper chuckled as he floated above the bathtub, filling with hot water.
"Trouble in paradise, little brother?"
"Ugh, please. Just kill me."
"It's because they love you."
"I just want that love to not extend into the bath."
Juniper laughed again, a thrown towel passing through him before it landed on the lip of the tub.
"I… I'm glad to be back home." Jaune admitted, smiling. "But I don't miss how overbearing they can be. They're worse now that I've run away once."
"They are… a lot." Juniper agreed. "The fact that they even wanted to insist on making sure one of your sisters cuddled you to sleep is excessive."
"It used to be a weekly thing at most and we're keeping it that way." Jaune groaned in agreement. "I love my sisters but they're killing me here."
"Killing you with kindness."
"I really don't need this correction at the moment."
"How about you turn off the tap now then? It's about full."
Jaune groaned as he stood up and turned off the tap to the bath, settling into the warm water and soaking the stress out. The genuinely best part of Mistralian culture, if you asked him.
"..."
"You know," Juniper floated on his back above him, joining Jaune in staring at the ceiling. "It's not your fault."
"It just… doesn't even make any sense. I know my sisters are trying to distract me from it, but I can't stop thinking about it."
It seemed so selfish that he was worrying about it. Him overhearing it was also an accident to begin with. But the profits of the wine from the Arc family dropped overnight because Jaune was a Faunus now. How did that make any logical sense?
He saw that people in Atlas didn't care very much about Faunus, but they didn't have actual directly discriminatory laws against them. When his parents sent out bottles with pictures that stated they were looking for him, because he was a Faunus, they were being levied additional taxes due to him.
It wasn't even his business. It was his parents. And they were human!
Not only that but vineyards used Faunus labor all the time! They had lower minimum wages too. But somehow a vineyard that used Faunus labor didn't receive additional tax levies, but families that had Faunus children, not even being run by them did?
Jaune felt sick and miserable. He missed Patch where things were simple.
"Coming home was a mistake." He muttered miserably.
"Don't you dare say that." Juniper scolded. "Your family loves you. And they're doing everything they can to show you that. They don't care-"
"But it's making things harder on them! I'm not even a metaphoric burden, I'm literally a financial burden! And they won't take my money from working at Mechanicus!"
"All kids are financial burdens, Jaune."
"Not like this!"
"Clearly they are in Mistral." Juniper was frustrated too, honestly Jaune could feel his brother's fury on his behalf.
How was his Big Brother so cool?
"...Should we move? I… I could put up with imposter syndrome in Atlas if-"
"Don't do that to yourself, Jaune. You couldn't handle one day of being in Mechanicus without relying on Dreams of Purpose. You can get shadowed and help the good doc at best."
"I can do it for them!" Jaune hissed, lurching forwards in the hot bath as he stared up at Juniper with a guilty conviction. "I can do it for my family."
Juniper didn't even turn to him.
His brother believed it, but he also felt Jaune would self-destruct and wasn't allowing him to do so.
"We could… cheat a bit."
Jaune's eyes flashed. He knew his Big Brother could come up with a plan!
"W-what? What can we do?!"
Juniper let out a long sigh, as if he didn't want to do it.
"We'd have to get a favor from both Headmaster Ozpin and General Ironwood."
"Ok, sure! I-"
"Jaune. You'll learn that the more favors you trade, one day you'll find that you can't escape from any of them. You have to make them owe you. That's the key. Otherwise you'll never be able to be a hero."
"I… thats unfair! How am I supposed to do that?! I'm a kid!"
"Lucky for you, Ironwood always feels that he owes you a little. That Nikke tech really blew everyone out of the water. The problem is Ozpin. He's… well, he's a hero, sure. But remember what I've told you."
"If possible, Headmaster Ozpin is the one person I should never rule my life. But why-"
"Raven ran away from a family that she loves because of HIM. Don't ever forget that. You might not see it or understand it. But you've seen proof that he's not a perfect man. He does good. You can trust him to do that in a big picture. But you can't trust that his good is good for you. You'll get that one day."
Jaune nodded as he laid back, soaking in the water once more.
"What do I do then?"
"Luckily, Ozpin owes you right now for saving Summer. He'll pretend that you don't, but he does. Not only that, but even if Raven won't work for him, she won't let the rest of Team STRQ down anymore. Crazy that… hmmm. I guess hindsight is really twenty-twenty. Anyways. A guy like him will take any favor you take and try to make it clear all of the ones he owes you. Don't leverage Ozpin too much. Him specifically."
"I don't really get it, but I'll try."
"Trying's enough. That's why you've got me, Jaune. I'm here to help."
Jaune felt his brother's care and felt sheepish, his face sinking into the water and letting out bubbles.
"Channeling Weiss is hard." He heard his brother mutter as he soaked.
Who was Weiss?
"What do I do then?"
"We'll have to get out some messages to them. That does mean we have to convince your parents to let you use the booster relay to send a call forward to the CCT in Mistral. Then use that to send messages to our two Headmasters."
"Why can't we just use the boosters directly?"
"It's an issue of clearance. Boosters work fine for when you want to message Trivia, Blake, and the STRQ house, but the Headmasters are important people. CCT filters out people who quote unquote aren't important enough. It's different if they contact you first, but you can't be the one to initiate messages."
"That's dumb."
"It's usually helpful." Juniper replied, "Imagine if you're the Headmaster of a school dealing with a Kingdom-wide emergency. Then a random telemarketer keeps spam calling you as you're trying to message and direct people."
"Ok, ok, I get it." Jaune groaned. "How will the CCTs allow it then? We've never contacted them before, they won't even-"
"They'll both have your number white-listed, Jaune. Trust me."
That was enough reasoning for Jaune. He trusted Big Brother Juniper with anything. He just knew things. He was cool like that.
His next sentence was interrupted as the door rattled.
"Jaune? Let mommy come in and wash your back."
"Mommmmm! I can do it myself!"
Farbiglas adjusted her glasses as she watched her baby brother strum his guitar. It looked fancy and must have been from Atlas.
Jaune felt different nowadays. She was two years older, but he felt the elder now.
The way he held himself or the way he didn't really care about his comics and games nearly as much as before. She wasn't sure of the specific reason.
Oh he'd read it when their parents purchased it for them, but he'd just skim it in front of them, enjoying it briefly before he moved onto something else.
Silly Jaune. Didn't he realize that it was making Mother and Father worry about him more?
"Come at me and you'll see~ I'm more than meets the eye~
But despite being back at home for two weeks now, he was always busy and running about.
He finished his chores way too quickly before running back to his room, where he shoved seemingly random materials in one machine that now sat where his dresser used to be (lucky lout developed a Semblance that let him store objects) and was spitting out their base components.
It was fascinating!
He had claimed he had been responsible for its creation somehow but when she asked for one out of curiosity, he had told her that he didn't have the parts for a spare, but she was free to use it when she desired.
As if she could when it was more or less in permanent operation, even humming and churning in the night, audible if she walked by his room on the way to the restroom. Honestly. She had thought the house haunted the first few nights!
Then next to the fascinating disassembler machine, he had what he dubbed rather unceremoniously as a Multi-Fabricator, which was consistently spitting out something he was calling solar cells. Occasionally it'd make something else but it was mostly these solar cell objects at the current moment.
Now that was actually more fascinating.
He'd quickly whipped up a panel of plywood with the cells and other assorted objects and called it a solar panel, placing it outside and showing her an example of how it would charge a battery. Farbiglas had been immediately taken with curiosity, pulling Father Julius to observe its revolutionary genius.
Now that was a strange word for her brother.
Formerly idiot and maybe crybaby was the right word. But he had changed now and was fascinating. Clearly growing in his ears had freed some space in his cranium for more space for his brain to develop.
What a novel delight.
She wished she had also been so lucky. She did always enjoy developing her intellect, but perhaps she was simply better off doing it the old fashioned way rather than hoping for a one in a million sudden genetic mutation like her brother went through.
It certainly caused quite the martial heartache for Father and Mother.
Father Julius had been a bit confused at why Jaune would make such a thing instead of relying on Dust and Farbiglas found herself with the same exasperated expression at her now fascinating brother.
Instead of letting her intelligent, but simple brother explain, she stepped in, stating that should Father allow them to utilize some space on the manor roof, they'd show him first hand.
"You think that you'll break me~ You're gonna find it out in time~"
He seemed happy enough to see his progeny get along, but Jaune had given her a look as if he'd be bothered by the extra work.
"Saving on the power bill would be a sufficient apology to Father and Mother." She'd pointed out poignantly. "Especially since the Domremy valley gets plenty of sunlight. We also happen to have an optimal angle to the noontide light across the widest expanse of roofing, which I assume would be when these solar panels reach their maximum utility?"
"I mean, yeah, but I'd still need to make a strong enough battery to hook to the power grid and I don't really have all the rare earth metals I'd need for that. I'd need to use up a lot of space for mediocre battery storage."
Farbiglas didn't quite understand the issue, but already found herself requiring an elaborated explanation.
"Look, the current power to the house runs on Dust. We plug in Lightning Dust and it's got limiters to prevent from tapping too much power at a time and maintain consistent currents in the house, right? The solar energy we'd be capturing only really gives that kind of power around noon, that helps, but that's so inefficient and kind of a waste of material and time at that point. We need a battery to catch the overflow and then pump it back into the house when it needs it to prevent it from not being used at all."
"Ah. I'm beginning to understand bab- no. Brother. Not only that but it comes with the conundrum of the fact that we'd also need a method of drawing less from the Dust during the moments that the battery has charge as well."
Her brother nodded, seeing her understand the issue at hand.
"That'll be a bit of an overhaul. Luckily not too hard, but it's certainly some work. If it was just making and setting up the panels I wouldn't care at all."
"Then let us split the load. Teach me how to assemble these panels in detail and I shall be in charge of what is essentially already partially complete. You may then handle the other issues."
"I mean, that's still me doing most of- nevermind. Fine. You're right, they'll like this." Jaune chewed his lip nervously, his right foot tap/stamping nervously. It was a new tic that didn't take place until his Faunus features began to grow in. How interesting.
Despite his complaints, Jaune had taken the empty storage room next to the power grid for the manor and had set up a room of large batteries in the span of two days on top of the rest of the modifications to the power grid for their home. A little computing device apparently would handle all the nuances.
He'd end up joining her for assembly of the solar panels and before the week was over, but his versions were a series of much more impressive looking solar panels than the flimsy plywood ones she'd end up making.
His were scratch resistant and apparently self-repairing for minor surface level damage.
She recalled herself pouting.
If there was such a more impressive version, why wasn't she taught that version? Then again, she did acknowledge she didn't have what it took to operate her brother's Fabricators quite yet. At some point when she was engaged in assembly he'd found the time to piece together a second Multi-Fabricator together, the hulking steel device now held in a shed in the backyard.
They were indeed genius and fascinating and beyond her. How her brother managed to create such a thing was also a curiosity.
When had he had the opportunity to design such a thing? They certainly lacked the reading material at home to teach him such things.
Either way, Mother and Father were astonished that instead of needing a new Lightning Dust power crystal every week, they'd seem to (not enough time had yet passed to confirm for certain) only have to do so once every month and a half if the sunlight was good.
That would certainly save their large family unit a pretty sum of Lien.
Goodness, Farbiglas wished her parents were better at using protection. It was a wonderful thing that they still held a flame for the other, but really.
There was a reason none of the Arc children went up to the third floor if they could help it. Their parents were… nomadic in their lovemaking.
Then again, Jaune was proof there was rabbit and dog in their heritage. Both were known for large litters, so perhaps this was simply more of a fated inevitably?
"You're standing too close to a flame that's burning~ Hotter than the sun in the middle of July~"
Farbiglas subtly recorded her preciously fascinating brother play his new song for the family on her new Scroll. The whole family had been gifted a top of the line model from Atlas!
He claimed he was piecing together lyrics from a dream, thus it was important then to document. Who knew what constituted the subconscious mind of a young genius. She'd require the data. And have to spread it to observe the opinion of others and use that to accumulate more information, of course.
Everyone was enjoying the performance, though Jaune would occasionally stumble on a note on the guitar.
Farbiglas did too. It was nice. Their family unit had not fared too well when Jaune had gone missing. It was, undoubtedly, one of those you didn't know what you had until you lost it moments.
The therapy her mother and father attended to over the Scroll was also assisting quite well with their deeper-seated prejudice towards the Faunus.
Really, how childish. They just missed their parents. Why take that out on people not directly involved? Perhaps she'd also act irrationally as such, should something happen to her own parents?
That was an hypothesis Farbiglas Arc was happy to never test.
She had more fascinating observations to make about her precious brother's new habits.
Like how he would disappear every Friday morning at 1AM replaced by a shadowy blob of something that melted into the ground and returned approximately at 3AM before he went to bed.
Perhaps even, she'd confront him when it would go on a bit longer, let him trick himself into believing that he was suave enough to escape her notice when they slept next door to each other.
A little blackmail would be useful in leveraging some information about her dear brother's thoughts on her own personal future scientific endeavors.
She pressed pause on her Scroll as Jaune's little performance for the family concluded, they swarmed him with compliments and hugs as he laughed happily.
Farbiglas was lucky the free service plan covered by Atlas allowed her to forward the video files directly to the Mistral CCT and onto the internet, she decided.
She couldn't wait to see what strangers would say about her brother's music from his subconscious. Perhaps she should add the additional notes in the description of the file?
No matter, she'd remember to do it later. She had to administer compliments to her brother before she appeared suspicious.
Yang was in bliss.
The first Friday Jaune appeared in her bedroom after she was collapsed on the floor, sweaty and dirty after the training routine that Mommy Raven was putting her through wanted to make her bury herself in her sheets and pretend to be dead.
He was only keeping his promise to brush her hair once a week, but couldn't he call ahead so she wasn't gross and sweaty?!
She remembered Drunkle Qrow always muttering that Jaune was magic and she believed it. He was a magic Faunus. Like a unicorn.
If Aura was people's souls that protected people like a force field, Jaune could be magic.
She let out a relaxed sigh as Jaune ran a new brush through her hair that he said she'd like more as she laid her head in his lap, her new favorite ribbon wrapped around her neck like a little scarf.
Jaune was right. This new brush felt like magic too. All the stress from starting her Huntsman training early was just melting away.
Ruby was hanging off his back like a little koala as she pet his ears, nibbling blissfully on some cookies from a place called Tate's. She enjoyed them so much that she wasn't even spilling a crumb.
Chocolate chip and walnut crispy cookies were her favorite now, next to Mommy Summer's special double chocolate chunk.
Ruby later asked for walnuts out of nowhere to Mommy Summer and then spat them out with disgust, saying they were only good in cookies.
There were some awkward questions to be avoided then and Yang was pretty sure their mommies and daddy still were wondering what that was all about. They'd never given Ruby walnut cookies before, after all.
But both sisters refused to spill the beans, especially since Jaune's ability to come visit them was now a kids-only secret.
They had the house to themselves, too, now that Friday nights were Team STRQ bonding nights and they trusted the girls to stay at home, especially with their new Aura awakened corgi pup Zwei.
Daddy Taiyang was training Zwei to act as a guard doggie and Zwei was already smart enough to use the toilet.
Although he kept trying to steal Ruby's new stuffed animal Drei to use as a chew toy.
Ruby definitely had a love-hate relationship with Zwei.
Yang also had to often keep the little rascal from chewing on her special lucky ribbon. Jaune said it was a Ribbon of Midgard that it'd help keep her safe. Something about Lifestreams and status effects. Yang didn't get it.
But he was so sure of it and serious that it made her insides feel like warm jelly. She believed him, too. Drunkle Qrow was right. Jaune was magic.
Her fingers scratched at Zwei's ears as the pup laid on her chest, pulling him away from her special ribbon every time that he playfully snapped at it.
Sure she had to do some favors for Jaune as well, like dropping off some weird black mice that saluted Jaune like they were one of mister Ironwood's soldiers off in Vale for him when Yang got to tag along on an errand.
They were cold and didn't feel like they had fur when she hid them in her favorite shirt. It used to be daddy's but it was hers now.
They were squishy and weird like gelatin. And they disappeared into alleyways like smoke.
But Juane paid her back with fancy hair formulas from Mistral and his families vine-yard to make her hair really shine.
Jaune's fingers and brush slid through her precious hair like magic.
Yang fell asleep wanting these secret moments to last forever.
"Triv! You shouldn't do that! I have money! Neo, don't encourage her!"
Trivia giggled silently as Jaune slapped a stack of Lien on the counter and left the store in a panic to catch up to her and Neo.
It was adorable.
Neo agreed as she danced about in the light of nighttime Dust lamps, spinning around it with one hand on the metal.
"I am not adorable!" He huffed as he brought himself to the fullest of his height, ears extending to the maximum of their length. "I'm going to be a hero!"
Yes he was. Her special little hero and hers alone.
Trivia and Neo both grabbed him by the arms, headed to their next stop. The silver leather choker with black webbing patterns painted on it that she'd stolen from the Hotter Topic glistened against her neck.
They matched now.
"I-I'm not just yours!" Jaune blushed, "I'm going to be a hero that everyone can look up to!"
His Aura was fluctuating in his embarrassment as it flashed with the scent of juniper berries.
Nope. Just hers.
"Trivvvvv!" He groaned, then giggled as Neopolitan began to tickle him. "Akh! Neo! Stop!"
Trivia enjoyed their little game. She'd steal something, Jaune would rush to pay for it, and she'd pay him back with hugs, tickles, and kisses on his adorable cheeks.
"It's not a game, you can't just steal from people!" He hissed quietly with flushed cheeks, eyes flickering about to make sure they weren't being overheard. "Hero's don't steal!"
Neo rolled her eyes, pointing out that he didn't care when they stole the wallet off of an older teen that tried to bully them earlier that evening.
When Jaune's Aura deliciously boosted her own, she'd been able to make them lose track of them and pick his pockets.
"Well obviously! He was a bad guy." Jaune pouted. Adorable. Hers. Her pout. "It's not stealing if it's from the bad guys and I'm not adorable!"
Neopolitan's pink eyes flickered and turned to her.
Trivia could read her friend's thoughts in that moment.
So they could steal from bad guys and Jaune wouldn't be mad at them? It was cute how sulky he got, but it did make them feel just a little guilty. Not a lot though, but just enough that it killed the joy of it here and there.
"I mean we'd be doing a good thing, so yeah. Wait, Triv, Neo, hold up!"
They pulled him in a different direction giggling and skipping. Jaune struggled half-hearted in their arms, but Trivia knew if he really wanted to he could break out of their grip.
"I don't wanna accidentally hurt you!" He protested.
It was sweet. It made Trivia all warm and happy. She liked Jaune. They were the same.
"I mean I like you too, but-"
And with them together they could rob some bad guys!
"Hold up! That's what- stop, stop!" Jaune actually dug his heels into the ground and stopped their momentum, almost making Trivia stumble even though Neo just huffed cutely in annoyance.
Trivia glared. What was the matter?
"The matter is if we're going to go do this, we have to do this right obviously- hmm?" Jaune turned to empty air, Juniper obviously. "Yeah, so we need masks and, yeah I know. Uh huh. Ok, no, yeah, but- please please please! We'll take every precaution, Big Bro, pleeeeeeease!"
Trivia also got on her knees, pleading as cutely as she could where Juniper must be, Neo joining her with crocodile tears and puppydog eyes.
"Yes! I promise you can trust me! You won't regret this Big Brother Juniper, I promise! I've been itching to try using the Jade Wing anyways! Durindana isn't really good for anything on this level anyways, right? I'd never get to test it at home!"
Jaune grinned and whooped in joy as he pulled out some strips of black cloth and cut out some quick eye holes with scissors.
Trivia wrinkled her nose.
That mask wasn't cute at all.
"I'll make something better later, I promise!" Jaune couldn't keep the manic grin off his face.
That was fine. Jaune kept his promises. She and Neo would put up with it for one-
She turned to Neo who was already smartly disguised with a pretty domino mask.
Trivia scowled in jealousy. That wasn't fair.
Neo booped her nose as Trivia play bit at it, her teeth clacking in the air.
"We'll have to get changed too." Jaune started pulling a slew of girls' clothes out of nowhere for her. "We have to look as different from our normal outfits as possible."
Trivia crossed her arms.
She was already dressed in her personal adventuring outfit.
"Trivvvvvvv." Jaune whined.
No. Not unless he also dressed as a girl-
Jaune sighed and started slipping on a black skirt over his shorts.
Trivia blinked as Neo laughed silently hand hiding her toothy grin.
"I already told you I have seven sisters. I've worn girls clothes bef-"
Trivia and Neo smirked in sync as they latched onto his wrists with vicegrips.
"You'll do it if you two get to choose what I wear? Oh. Ok!"
The girls cackled silently in the darkness of the Valean sky with their new favorite dress up doll.
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