The Grass is Always Greener 005 (Patreon)

Emerald was getting a pretty good feel for the relationship dynamics on display by just watching them interact with each other. Ruby and Weiss, for example, had a little bit of an antagonistic friendship going on. It was clear that Ruby adored her partner and it was equally clear that no matter how Weiss tried to hide it, she was beginning to feel the same way about the younger girl. But the Schnee heiress was a prickly one and prone to snippy remarks that often resulted in the pair needling each other. Ruby could be surprisingly sarcastic at times.

Yang and Ruby were as close as you’d expect sisters to be. Emerald caught the blonde watching the two partners bicker more than a few times, as if assessing whether she needed to step in or not. Protective; but not overbearingly so. Ready to back up her little sister should the need ever arise. When that wasn’t happening, she was more than happy to tease and embarrass Ruby, getting into her own fair share of arguments with her.

Must be nice to have family that loves you, she couldn’t help but think bitterly before chasing that thought away.

Weiss and Yang were a strange pair. On the surface, you’d think they would get along as well as oil and water but surprisingly, they were quite amicable towards one another. Sure, there were a few teasing insults bantered back and forth, something Emerald was beginning to understand was very much normal for this team, but even as vicious as some of their words could be, they rolled off each other with ease. That only came from a familiarity and confidence in one another, knowing how far was too far. They were closer than they appeared.

They all wished to help Blake and it was obvious their care for her, but the former White Fang wasn’t having it right now. Moody, depressed, exhausted – the fact that they even managed to get her here looked like a miracle with how down she was, and perhaps spoke to the bond they’d forged with her, even though she was doing her level best to fight against their attempts.

Ren and Nora were an odd combination. They were complete opposites; one was loud, one was quiet. One was thoughtful, the other – well, she was a complete spaz. Nora was a very warm person while Ren almost felt cold, not quite unwelcoming but aloof. Nora was willing to fill any silence with her voice while Ren only spoke when spoken to, or when he had something specific to share.

They were very close, though. That was clear enough.

Pyrrha was difficult to place. She seemed nice and engaged in conversation, but Emerald felt she was holding herself back. It was almost like she was afraid of opening herself up and whenever someone on the street would look over and notice her, Emerald saw the shutters preparing to slam shut. Even with her team, there was a hint of reluctance found there – with one exception.

When she spoke to Jaune, her expression appeared brighter.

She trusted him.

Emerald choice in target was just reinforced.

As for Jaune himself…

He was the happy sort, a little bit of a dork. Similar to Ruby in many ways, he was the type of person Emerald would have targeted as a child. A few tears and a pouting lip, and he wouldn’t expect a thing, her sticky fingers pinching his wallet while he did his best to comfort a lost, upset little girl. An easy mark, in her line of work. The best kind.

He was desperate to please Weiss, that was something that quickly became evident in the way he tried to engage the white haired girl in conversation but with the arrival of Neptune, Emerald could see the stress in the line of his smile, the tightening of his eyes as he tried to appear unaffected. A few words from the blue haired boy and the heiress was swooning, captivated.

“Vale seems pretty cool. I can see why you chose to come here, Snow Angel.”

It was a little sickening but it worked in Emerald’s favor.

All she had to do was wait for her moment to strike.

“—to party?”

Emerald blinked.

“Sorry, I missed that,” Emerald turned her eyes away from Jaune’s dejected form and focused on Yang.

“Do you like to party? You seem like the kinda girl that knows how to let loose,” Yang smiled widely. “Vale has a pretty good night life. Maybe we could hit some clubs some time, let our hair down. I know a few places.”

They were currently making their way downtown, following the river as it cut through the city towards the sea. The river walk as Nora called it was a wide boardwalk that flanked the river on both sides, lined with stalls every dozen paces and with trees between alongside benches and olden style lamp posts. It was the quickest way to get from one side of the city to the other on foot, and thousands of people were taking advantage of it, families, children, teenagers and the elderly alike. Emerald spotted a few older gentlemen fishing over the railing, puffing on cigars, while further down a row of influencers were snapping selfies and making videos for their social media accounts.

It was a beautiful spot, Emerald couldn’t deny that. The crystal clear waters rushed from the great lake fed by the waterfalls aside Beacon Academy, the surface glittering like gemstones in the morning sunlight.

“Sounds like fun,” Emerald replied. “Do you go out with your friends often?”

“What? This lot?” Yang jerked her thumb at her team. “Nah, they’re a bunch of homebodies and Ruby is too young.”

“What about Jaune and the others?”

Yang snickered. “I don’t know if Jaune would know what to do with himself, though Nora would be a treat. Hm, Pyrrha could do with a night out on the town, though. Maybe I’ll ask them.”

Apparently Jaune had overheard their conversation, finally pulling himself away from the flirting going on between Weiss and Neptune.

“I’ll have you know that I am an amazing dancer.”

Yang snorted. “Yeah, right. Somehow I can’t see you moving to a rhythm, VB. No offense.”

Jaune didn’t appear deterred by her doubts. “Laugh all you want but I’ll smoke you on the dance floor, and it won’t even be close.”

Yang blinked, taken aback. “Oho? Those sound like fighting words. You really want to be crushed that badly, huh?”

“I’ll be the one doing the crushing.”

Emerald couldn’t sense any falseness in what he was saying. He appeared truly confident in his ability.

“Fine, if you want to crash and burn, I won’t stop you,” Yang squared up, stepping in front of Jaune, hands on hips. “You and me. Next free night we get, we’ll come down to Vale and hit the clubs, I hope you’ve got your will prepared.”

Jaune laughed. “Don’t cry when I make you eat those words.”

Yang shot Emerald a look. “You’re welcome to join us. I’ll need a witness when I make him beg for forgiveness.”

This was… ridiculous.

“So… you two are going to have a dance battle?” Emerald asked uncertainly.

“Yup~!” Yang said with a pop.

Yeah, this was ridiculous. But it gave her a chance for more digging, one she wasn’t about to pass up.

“Sure, I’ll come.”

So apparently they had plans.

Yang offered her scroll. “Let me get your details and I’ll hit you up when it's time.”

Emerald retrieved her scroll and they waved them together, exchanging numbers. Jaune did the same.

“What are you guys doing?” Ruby called out. They’d been left behind. “Hurry up!”

“Right, right,” Yang jogged to catch up with the group, leaving Emerald alone with Jaune.

“So – think you can beat her?” she asked coyly, picking her spot.

“I might not look it but I’ve got style, you know?” he thumped himself on the chest.

“Really?”

Jaune sagged slightly. “Nah, I’ve just had years of practice. My sisters made me learn because my mom forced them all to take lessons. You know, trying to make sure they are proper ladies? My mom can be pretty old fashioned so they roped me into it. They needed someone to practice with and they didn’t want to practice with each other. Plus I think they just wanted to torment me.”

Emerald decided to dig a little. “You’ve got sisters, then?”

“Yeah. One for each day of the week.”

Emerald blinked, unsure if she heard him correctly. “Uh – what?”

Jaune snickered. “Yeah. My parents had seven girls and one boy.”

Eight children. Eight.

Emerald found that her brain needed a moment to process this. “That… is a lot.”

“Yeah. Growing up, I thought it was normal but it didn’t take long for me to notice that other families weren’t so big,” Jaune shrugged. “Being outnumbered by seven girls isn’t very fun, let me tell you. They turned me into their own personal dress up doll,” he shook his head. “I’ve worn my fair share of dresses.”

Emerald laughed – and she was surprised to find that it was genuine. “I’d pay to see that.”

Jaune grimaced. “Well – if you ever meet my sisters, I’m sure you could convince them to sell you a few photos.”

Many of the more affluent families in Mistral had multiple children but never that many. An heir, a spare, maybe a daughter – three at most. Eight just seemed ludicrous. How could they afford to feed so many children? Looking at him, Jaune didn’t appear rich. Emerald knew the look well. It was the type of person she targeted often in her youth.

“You are just full of surprises, huh?”

Overcoming her shock, she made her move. Jaune jumped when her hand brushed over his, the lightest of touches but it was more than enough. He looked at her in clear surprise, eyes widening slightly. There was no ignoring it this time. He wasn’t that dense.

“We better catch up with your friends.”

Jaune took a few moments to gather himself. “Uh, right – yeah, we should… er, go.”

It was too easy.

Emerald made sure to show her fair share of affection throughout the day. A touch here, a touch there, touching his hands, his arms, his back. But she also made sure not to do it in front of the others, picking her spots. She didn’t want to come across as too forward. Flirting was harder. Emerald hadn’t flirted with anyone before, at least not intentionally. All she had to go on was Cinder but she wasn’t sure she could pull off sultry like her mentor could. Instead she just decided to be positive in counter to Weiss Schnee’s scathing.

The girls outnumbered the boys so it wasn’t a surprise when their first stop of the day involved shopping. There were the chain stores like Malmart, Bullseye, Cohl’s – and then there were the more niche stores, some of them only found in Vale, some with only a single store in each of the four kingdoms.

The key was clothing. While Ruby appeared more interested in browsing the electronics, silver eyes inspecting a pair of headphones appreciatively, Yang, Weiss, Nora and Pyrrha made a beeline for the clothing racks. Blake was trying her level best to be invisible but Sun was practically glued to her side, yapping in her ear so much that the gloomy girl couldn’t keep her silence.

“This is all a waste of time,” she hissed at the monkey faunus, careful to keep her voice as low as possible. Not low enough that Emerald couldn’t overhear every word, though. “They’re looking at clothes when they should be trying to find out what Roman Torchwick is planning next!”

“Didn’t we already foil his plan?” Sun asked, perplexed. “You guys broke his mech. He’s probably laying low after suffering two defeats in a row.”

“Do you really think someone like that is just sitting around, doing nothing?” Blake glared at Sun, the bags under her eyes making it look more intimidating. He instantly raised his hands but that only seemed to infuriate her more. “He needs to be stopped! How can you be so calm when he is exploiting our people?”

Sun rolled his eyes. “You know how I feel about the White Fang.”

“They’re still our people, Sun! And do you really think it’s normal for a master criminal to steal military tech like that? They’re planning something big and here we are, shopping for clothes,” her disgust couldn’t be any more clear.

“Blake – I get why you are so gung ho about all of this but isn’t this something the authorities should be taking care of?” he asked, ignoring her scoff. “If you want to look into it, that is fine but anything you find, shouldn’t you hand over to your Headmaster?”

“We stopped Torchwick, remember?” Blake snapped, growing increasingly incensed as he tried to reason with her. “If we hadn’t been there, do you think the authorities would have found that gathering? The police are clueless and the Huntsmen are too damn slow.”

“I’ll help out if you have something planned – but you seriously need to chill a little. You look like you haven’t slept all week. How are you going to stop him if you can’t even keep your eyes open?”

The look on Blake’s face made it clear what she thought of that.

“Got your eye on anything in particular?” Jaune asked. If she was any less of a professional, she would have jumped but she kept her composure.

Emerald shifted her gaze away from the arguing pair and focused on the clothes in front of her. “Not really. I’m more of a pants girl,” she confessed truthfully. They were standing in front of a bunch of skirts.

“Pants do work for you,” he mused. “Though I think you’d look great in a skirt.”

Emerald turned his way quickly, surprised but Jaune seemingly hadn’t noticed what he said, moving over to the next rack and glancing through it.

Emerald followed after him.

“Sorry about those two,” he said suddenly. “It must have been alarming, hearing about that sort of stuff.”

Emerald felt her insides turn cold.

He’d overheard them as well. Not only that but he’d noticed her listening in. He was much more observant than she’d realized.

There was no point in trying to lie about it or deflect. It would only make her appear guilty of something. Overhearing people talk wasn’t suspicious, in and of itself. At this point, as far as Jaune was concerned, she hadn’t done anything wrong and she was going to keep it that way.

“A little,” she lied. “I did hear about what happened on the highway. It was a popular topic of discussion amongst the other Haven students.”

Jaune laughed. “Yeah, I guess it would be. It isn’t every day that a piece of military hardware goes on a rampage in downtown Vale. As far as stories go, it’s an interesting one.”

Emerald made sure to bump her shoulder against him as she moved around to his other side, making a show of browsing through the racks of clothing. “I was a little surprised to hear about the White Fang.”

Her eyes missed nothing. It was a brief tick, a tightening of his jaw before his face relaxed.

Jaune sighed. “Yeah, they’ve been making trouble around here lately.”

“I didn’t know they were so active in Vale. They’re a big problem in Mistral. It isn’t unusual to hear about a fight breaking out or some type of attack on a business that refused to serve faunus. Things have gotten quite dangerous in certain parts of the city.”

Mistral was the kingdom in which they had their strongest foothold, and the city was the main target of their ire. Anti-faunus sentiment was at its strongest in Mistral and Atlas, but causing trouble in Atlas or Mantle was much more difficult. While the Schnee Dust Company was based in the northern kingdom and one of their most hated entities due to their dodgy reputation around fair payment, abuse of labor and even covering up unsafe working conditions leading to death, it was easier to attack them abroad than it was in the seat of their power.

“I can’t tell you how common it was before I got here but they’ve been pretty active since I started at Beacon,” Jaune looked troubled. “It feels like they’re building towards something.”

He wouldn’t know just how right he was until it was too late.

Jaune made a sound of delight as he spotted something, walking over to another rack.

“This would look good on you,” he said, holding up a rather fetching leather jacket. It was of the short variety, the body tight to reveal the wearer's midriff while the shoulders were studded, the right side pulling across the body with an asymmetrical design, the zipper on the left.

Emerald smirked. “Oh? Trying to dress me up?”

Jaune flushed lightly. “Oh, er – hah?”

She snickered, letting him off the hook. “It does look like something I’d wear, I’ll give you that.”

The question was; did she buy it?

She wasn’t lying, it was the type of jacket she would wear but she hadn’t been planning on buying anything. But if she did buy it, something that he had suggested, well – that was something between them, wasn’t it? Any time she wore it and he saw, he would be reminded that it was his suggestion.

It could only endear him to her even more.

“I’ll try it on,” she held out a hand. Jaune hastily handed it over. “Come on, you can give me an opinion.”

She didn’t bother with a changing room since it was only a jacket. Removing it from the hanger, she shrugged it on, leaving it open as she spun around, making a show of it. It was brief but as Emerald turned back around to face him, she saw his eyes quickly move up to meet her eyes. Emerald blinked.

He’d been checking out her ass.

“So?” she asked. “What do you think?”

“...you look great. Uh, I mean – it looks great,” he cleared his throat. “It really does suit you.”

It would have been better if it was white instead of black but otherwise, Emerald liked it. It was comfortable.

“I’ll take it, then,” she nodded, shrugging it off. She checked the tag. It was pricey and a part of her, deep inside, balked at the idea of forking over so much money for a garment until it was reminded that she wouldn’t be using her money.

The pockets here in Vale would be paying for it.

“Really?”

“Why not? I like it,” she grinned at him. “So now that you’ve picked something out for me to wear, does that make this a date?”

His mouth opened but no words escaped.

Emerald snickered. “Though I guess not, we aren’t exactly alone,” she teased, rolling her eyes playfully. “But how about I pick something for you to try on? Don’t worry, I’ll go easier on you than your sisters.”

“Oh, uh – you don’t have to do that.”

She placed a hand on his chest, silencing him. Emerald paused, fingers taking in just how firm his chest was. It shouldn’t have been a surprise, he was training to become a Huntsman, of course he’d be built – but there was a softness about the way he carried himself, not in a weak way but it reminded Emerald of a civilian. Unassuming. For a moment, it had tricked her.

“I know I don’t,” she said, shaking that thought free. “I want to. Come on, I’m sure we can find something good.”

They were in the woman’s section so they moved over to the men’s. They could hear Nora making a racket over by the changing rooms and a quick glance showed that she was trying on outfits for Ren to make comments on, the dark haired boy looking like he wanted to be somewhere else. Yang and Pyrrha were also there, the latter critiquing the former as she modeled a new dress.

“You look good in a jacket,” she mused aloud, eyeing what he was already wearing. “But maybe a shirt?” Emerald wasn’t exactly a student of fashion but she knew what looked good and what didn’t. Jaune was broad through the shoulders with a slim waist so he needed something that matched his physique, not something that would just look boxy.

Emerald picked out a few shirts at random, holding them up. Black was always a good choice, it worked with anything but he also suited dark navy blue, gray, even a deep forest green. Pressing them against his chest, she looked him up and down as she traded one out for another, Jaune standing there obediently, a bemused expression etched on his face.

“I think this one is the best,” she said.

It was the navy blue shirt with a v-neck collar.

“Want to try it on?” she asked, giving it a shake.

They moved over to the changing rooms and Jaune stepped inside, pulling the curtain closed.

“Watch’cha got there?” Yang asked, eyes falling to the jacket she had clasped in hand. Emerald held it up for her to get a better look.

“Jaune picked it out.”

Pyrrha stared at it, eyes moving between Emerald and the jacket.

“Jaune did?” Yang whistled, giving it a once over. “Damn. He has better taste than I thought. I could rock a jacket like that, where’d you find it?”

It was by pure chance that Emerald just happened to glance back towards the changing room Jaune had vanished into. While he had pulled the curtain, it hadn’t been pulled all the way, leaving a small gap in which she could see through. From her angle, her eyes fell on the mirror which gave her a perfect view of the interior – including Jaune, who at that moment pulled his shirt up over his head.

Pale, muscled arms and chest, flexing as he set his shirt aside to try on the one she had picked out. Rugged abs, chiseled obliques and when he turned, a wide, powerful back mapped with defined muscle. The way each muscle rolled and shifted as he raised his arms and pulled the new shirt on captivating her, momentarily stealing the breath from her lungs.

Wow.

She quickly looked away.

“Uh – just over there,” Emerald pointed before realizing that was the wrong direction, shifting her hand to the correct one.

“C’mon, Pyrrha – we’ll get you one as well, I think you’d look mint in leather.”

The crimson haired girl looked as if she was about to protest but Yang seized her arm and pulled her along, and she was much too polite to fight against it. Further down, Ren met her eyes, and he appeared soulless.

“Renny, how does this look~!” Nora called moments before tearing open the curtain and prancing out in a brand new outfit; a cute white, frilly mini skirt with a tight, pink long sleeve shirt with a fashionable boob window and gold sandals with slender straps. Placing one hand on her waist, she cocked her hip as she posed aggressively, bending forward to afford him a better look at her cleavage through the ‘tasteful’ window.

“It looks good,” he answered automatically, the words delivered fast.

Jaune chose that moment to step out, pulling aside the curtain.

It was a tight fit but not to an uncomfortable degree, showing off the hard lines of his body but when Emerald looked at him, all she could see was his naked chest and back, his strong abs and the way his lower belly dipped in a V towards his—

What the hell was wrong with her? She was acting like a horny teenager.

Emerald clamped down on those ridiculous thoughts at once. It wasn’t like she hadn’t seen an attractive guy before. As much as Mercury pissed her off and was a total asshole, he was handsome and knew it with a body to match. Sun Wukong was walking around with his abs and chest out without a care. It wasn’t like Jaune Arc was special.

Playing nice was getting to her brain. She was turning into an idiot by being in close proximity to these losers. She needed to focus up.

“So?” he waved his arms, turning around to show his back before facing her again. “How is it?”

It was just a shirt. It looked good – but it was just a shirt.

“Perfect,” she said. “You should get it.”

Jaune smiled.

After they exhausted their bank accounts clothes shopping, their group made their way through the War Memorial Park and by the Tower of Vale. The lawns there were immaculately maintained, the gardens lush with colorful flowers. Dozens of families were found picnicking, seated on large mats or blankets in the shade of the monument built center stage, the names of all the known fallen Valean soldiers carved into the obelisk. It was flanked by two statues – on one side was a faunus and human, hand in hand, while on the other was the King of Vale, sword held high. They were lovingly sculpted, so detailed that Emerald could make out the runes inscribed on his crown from a distance.

The Tower of Vale was around a hundred meters tall and built from white stone, carved into a series of four pointed spires on each corner of the square structure. There were no windows, the tower entirely enclosed and only accessible from within the palace that was situated to the left, a squat castle that more resembled a fort than the opulent palace Emerald was expecting from her life in Mistral. The castle was made from the same white stone, a large wall surrounding it with battlements and crenellations, cover for defenders against an advancing army, with defensive towers built at regular intervals. An iron wrought gate within an old gatehouse protected the entryway, though it was currently thrown wide open, allowing tourists within.

It was a relic of a far distant past, a building built for endurance and war. But there was beauty to it as well, that odd white stone gleaming like a pearl beneath the rays of the sun.

This was once the home of the most powerful man on Remnant.

They didn’t linger long, just enough to take some snapshots. Emerald made a show of snapping a few selfies, making sure to lean heavily into Jaune for a double shot. She could feel how tense he was, unsure where to place his hand when she all but burrowed into his side but inevitably settled on her waist, his hand tickling her bared skin. She took a few with Ruby and Yang as well, just to show that she wasn’t targeting Jaune in particular. Ruby also thought it looked good fun and burrowed in on Jaune’s other side for a triple.

After that they made the trip down to the sea. The golden sands were teeming with beach goers, umbrellas and towels as far as the eye could see. The water was filled with people, children splashing in the shallows with teenagers daring to venture deeper. The ocean was calm, small waves lapping at the beach and several stalls were erected by the car park offering everything from burgers and fries, hot dogs and ice cream.

They all ended up with cones; Ruby had cookies and cream while Yang went for banana, Weiss claimed vanilla while Ren picked green tea and Nora got caramel, with Pyrrha selecting strawberry. Sun also went for banana and Neptune got blueberry, but only after eyeing the beach with trepidation, as if it was going to attack at any moment. Even Blake couldn’t resist the call of a good ice cream and ordered chocolate, with Jaune selecting triple choc fudge.

Emerald got peppermint chocolate chip.

Alongside meat and produce, Vale was known for its dairy and it certainly showed. It was one of the best ice creams Emerald ever had, cold and creamy, not overly sweet; just right. She found herself devouring the treat.

As they walked, Jaune lagged a little behind and just when Emerald was about to drop back to join him, her spot was taken by Neptune.

“Hey man,” Neptune held out a fist and Jaune bumped it after a second of hesitation. “What’s the deal with you and Emerald?”

Emerald kept walking, making sure to act natural. There was enough space between them that it didn’t look like she was listening in but she could hear every word clearly, even with the surrounding din of chattering parents, rambunctious teens and children’s laughter.

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“I mean I’ve never seen her so sweet on someone before. She usually glares at anyone that tries to get too close but she has been practically all over you today.”

Emerald fought to keep the scowl of her face. She hadn’t been all over him. That was an exaggeration. But for someone like Neptune who knew Emerald a little better, had seen her interact with other Haven students, it may have seemed that way.

“Really?” Jaune sounded surprised. “She seems really nice, though. I don’t think I’ve seen her glare once.”

“I’m tellin’ ya, man – back home, she pretty much just hangs out with her team. Seeing her act so normal is a little bit weird.”

She didn’t like where this was going. Neptune didn’t know her well but he knew enough. More than enough to be a nuisance. She wasn’t about to have her mission compromised because of some gossip from a wannabe playboy she’d shot down.

She was going to put a stop to this.

“That’s a bit mean, isn’t it?” Jaune asked, a little sharper than she expected.

“Woah, I’m not trying to be a jerk or anything. I just thought it was pretty interesting. She might like you.”

...or maybe she could let it play out.

“What?” Jaune returned, sounding unconvinced. “I – I don’t think she likes me. We only just met this morning.”

“You’ve never seen a girl and just thought, wow, she’s the one?”

Jaune struggled for words. Emerald had a good idea who he was thinking of.

Neptune snapped his fingers. “Exactly! Girls can feel the same way about guys. Now granted, I didn’t think Emerald was one of those girls but why not? You must be her type!”

“I – I don’t know,” Jaune wavered. “I think she’s just being nice, that’s all.”

“Trust me, bro – Emerald is never just nice. That isn’t her at all. She is totally sweet on you!”

He was making her sound like a lovesick buffoon but it worked in her favor. She wasn’t about to turn down free help...

“And look at those yams. Pure dump truck. Man, I envy you. That ass is one in a million.”

...she was going to kill him. When Cinder’s plan came to fruition, she was going to find him and end his life.

Emerald was about to hang back and make things incredibly awkward when suddenly, Pyrrha Nikos appeared by her side. Emerald blinked, startled. She hadn’t even heard her approach or felt her presence at all until she was right next to her.

“Hey,” she said quickly, smiling.

“Hello.”

Pyrrha returned the smile before taking a lick of her ice cream.

Emerald eyed her, uncertain. Pyrrha had been a little standoffish so far, so she wasn’t sure how to proceed with this sudden development.

“That any good?” she gestured at her cone. Pyrrha nodded.

“Mhm.”

Silence.

Okay, that was fucking lame.

Pyrrha was Cinder’s primary target, the one she believed could inherit the power of Fall. This was an opportunity to get to know her. She was a professional fighter but Jaune said she was a private person, and not to ask for an autograph. It was impossible for her to go unnoticed and many of the people they passed often looked back, craning their necks to get a better look. Some of that was because they recognized who she was but there were those that were just trying to glimpse her beauty.

Because she was a beauty; one of the most beautiful women Emerald had ever seen. Now that she was thinking about it, their group was drawing attention for more than just Pyrrha’s presence. Weiss was garnering her fair share of glances, as were the others. Yang enjoyed the attention but Weiss ignored it completely, looking a little lost without Neptune by her side, attempting to butter her up. Pyrrha seemed to almost shirk the attention.

She wasn’t a fan of it.

But what else was there to talk about with a person that wasn’t giving her anything. Sure, she could make inane small talk about the weather, about school but Emerald decided to be a little more daring.

“Sizing up the competition?” she asked and Pyrrha frowned.

“Excuse me?”

“For the Vytal Festival,” Emerald elaborated.

“Oh,” her face cleared at once. Whatever the crimson haired girl was thinking, it hadn’t been that. “No, I don’t believe that is needed.”

“Because you believe you’ll win, right?”

Emerald eyes considered her.

“Is that what you think?”

She seemed almost disappointed. Emerald scoffed.

“Hell no. I don’t know about the others but I’m not just going to roll over because you’re some big shot,” her smile became more of a smirk with a hint of teeth. “If you think my team is going to be easy, think again.”

Pyrrha looked surprised.

“We’re here to win,” Emerald continued and that was the truth. It was just that they weren’t here to win any tournament; their stakes were much higher, way more important than some competition. “And you aren’t going to stop us, I don’t care how strong you are.”

It was slow but a smile broke out on Pyrrha’s face, a hint of challenge in her eyes. “Oh?”

“Just make sure you get to the finals,” Emerald taunted. “It’ll be nice to be the one to take down the Invincible Girl.”

Pyrrha was way more talkative after that.

The day was already a success that Emerald had been hoping for it to last longer. Things had been going so well though that there was bound to be a hiccup at some point, though it was through no fault of her own. After walking along the beachfront for a while, they decided to hit up the seafood market that was only a five minute walk from where they were.

It had been Yang’s suggestion and on the surface, it seemed innocent enough – but Blake Belladonna thought otherwise. Emerald wasn’t sure what the problem was about but the partners ended up getting into a heated discussion, furious whispers gradually becoming a flurry of words that ended in the raven haired girl storming off angrily.

It completely ruined the mood.

“Sorry about that,” Ruby apologized, face pinched, displaying none of the usual cheer she carried. It was the most serious Emerald had seen her. “She’s just…”

Yang scowled, arms tightly crossed while Weiss shook her head, annoyance plain across her face. Sun had dashed off after Blake, leaving Neptune to flounder as he attempted to figure out what to do or say. Awkward didn’t even begin to cover it.

“Welp, that was a major downer,” Nora said bluntly.

“Nora,” Ren chided.

Pyrrha and Jaune shared a look.

“You shouldn’t have pressed her,” Weiss finally spoke up.

Yang scowled even harder. “I wasn’t pressing her!”

Weiss sighed. “She doesn’t want to be cheered up. I know she is being an idiot but it was a miracle she came out today as it is. Now she definitely isn’t going to listen to us.”

While it was an unfortunate and abrupt ending to their outing, Emerald thought she’d done rather well.

She was in.