Good Morning 'Archaeologists'

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Betas : Flaccid Snek, Pocket Ren

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"Morning sleepy bone boys!" Nora cheered excitedly when they all began climbing out of bed drowsily, reaching for their uniforms while Nora - already dressed in hers - shoved thermoses of warm liquid into their hands. Coffee, he found after a surprised sip, but he didn't get a chance to worry over Nora having coffee before he was shoved towards the door and she ordered, "Five-minute shower, caffeine, get dressed, go."

"Nora, what's going-"

"Nope, Fearless Leader!" Nora cut him off, hands on his shoulders pushing him towards the bathroom, rattling off quickly, "We have a big day, you guys were tense, and some coffee, a nice shower, and a good breakfast will get you all running right." At the door, she spun him around and grinned, tapping a finger against his nose, "Boop!"

"Why did you-"

"Sign of affection." Ren and Nora both explained, the former tired but bemused and the latter bouncing on her heels excitedly. Too tired, and uninterested to care about what that looked like and how his hormones should react to it, he turned to Ren and the man explained in a dry voice that mirrored his own apathy to it, "I don't know why or when, but she started tapping people's noses and going 'boop' when she likes them. It's… Just a thing she does."

"It's cute!" Nora asserted, spinning on her heel and planting her feet with her arms at her sides like a cartoon character. Then she cocked her head to the side and bounced on one heel cutely and added, "Plus. it's my catchphrase! I'm cute, it's cute, everyone knows this, come on!"

"All true, Nora. And yes, you are very cute." Ren nodded, agreeing to her claims as easily as breathing and giving Jaune a look while Nora blushed and seemed to shut down. Ren's eyes met his over her hunched, giggling and stammering form, and he smiled. "That should keep her contained for a moment. I suggest enjoying your shower before your nose gets another visit."

His chuckle as he closed the door turned into a loud laugh when Nora finally recovered and whined, long and loud, "Reeeeen! You can't just… Just say things like that, it isn't fair to do that!"

Stepping out of the warmth of the shower, he gave himself a look in the mirror and pursed his lips, scratching at the stray and loose spurts of his beard around his braid and along the side of his face unimpressedly. The reason was simple and obvious, as distracted as he'd justifiably been lately with Pyrrha, but the look wasn't a good one. Instead of the 'Sith Warrior' vibe he'd left the temple with now he looked more 'homeless' than anything, with spurts of uneven, ungroomed hair everywhere along his chin and jaw.

Even his braid was sloppier than normal, with stray hairs longer than strictly acceptable stuck in every direction possible.

His razor and a pair of trimming scissors saw an end to that and, by the time the steam from his shower had faded, the sides of his jaw were clean and his goatee trimmed back to, well, a goatee. His hair was past his shoulder and wild, but he let that be, satisfied that it fit into a more rugged look than the homeless he'd had before.

"Better." Pyrrha remarked when she saw him emerge, dressed in his uniform and looking far fresher then when he'd gone in. He offered a small smiled and then she was gone, calling out, "I won't be long."

By the time she traded spots with Ren, Nora had returned with several trays of pancakes, as well as sausage and biscuits, some eggs, and some bacon. Together with Pyrrha, he sat down on the floor between all their beds with the trays in front of them and Nora handed out small plastic plates for them to eat. Nora launched into a story about a dream she'd had last night, where she ruled as queen of the Grimm and had a dozen knighted Beowolves and an Ursa mount, and he let her intended effect take hold and relaxed. It was manipulation and underhanded on her part, to be sure, but he found that he didn't mind it even as he noticed it.

She was just trying to make everyone happy, after all, after the night of tension. And he just couldn't find it in himself to begrudge her that, or dislike it for the means she used to pull it off.

"This was a great idea, Nora." He complimented, smiling thinly and pulling a biscuit apart as Ren finally joined them. With a murmur of thanks, he took the plate Nora offered and Jaune added, "Unless it was your idea, Ren?"

"No, all hers." The man chuckled, taking a sip of his still-warm coffee, no doubt glad of the thermos and Nora's foresight, before he went on. "About three hours before morning I woke up with her sitting on on waist and staring at my face. Like some kind of ginger gargoyle, and me her castle."

"I am too cute to be a gargoyle, and I was waiting for you to wake up!" She pouted, after a second of thought, she grinned and nodded. Seeing her grin, Ren sighed knowingly and started to eat while she leaned over to steal a piece of his bacon and giggled, "I am Queen of the Castle, though~! At least you got that part right~!"

"The queen of his castle, perhaps." Pyrrha prodded, grinning when Nora flushed, fell back on her rear and started flailing her hands in front of her like she was warding off bees. Amid her stammer of protests, Pyrrha burst out laughing and nearly fell over, grabbing onto his forearm to steady her instead. "Gods, Nora, you are so easily teased. And energetic as well, this morning!"

"I maaaaybe snuck in some coffee. Just a lil' bit, since I was off on my own." She giggled when Ren scowled at her and held up a hand, pinky and forefinger just barely apart in a show of how much she'd had. Then she started miming squishing his head, murmuring a 'Boop' each time and giggling more as he glowered. "Not my fault, Renny~!"

"It most definitely is your fault, though." He stated simply, pausing long enough to take a bite of his biscuit, chew, and look to her. Gently and slowly, he reached a hand out and thumped her nose. "Bad Nora, getting into the coffee. You know you aren't allowed in there. Now you're going to be hyper all day."

Nora blinked and then, very suddenly, flopped back onto the floor between Ren's back and his bed. He took another bite and, loudly, she whined, "Jaaaaaaune!"

"Uh, yes, Nora?"

"Ren killed me!"

"But…" He blinked, sat his half-eaten biscuit down and sighed, before he finally asked, "One, how did he kill you? And two, how are you telling me about it if he killed you?"

"I'm a ghost Nora! Back from the dead to haunt the living!" She said simply, springing up off the ground in a way that had him question gravity, somehow spinning and turning in the air, and then landing on her knees behind Ren with more agility than the sum total of a house full of cats. He didn't blink as her arms closed around his chest and her hand came around, gently tapping Ren's nose, "Boop."

"And now you're not allowed to hang around Yang." The Mistralian young man said with a heavy sigh but a small smile, holding a piece of bacon up on a fork. She snapped it up and, growing more sober, Ren sighed, "This is nice. I hope we get to do this again soon, in spite of the mission assignments."

That somewhat brought the mood down, though no one seemed upset. Instead, forks and plates were set down and eyes turned to Jaune, whose Scroll had been muted through the night. Quietly, he drew it out of his pocket and clicked it open and, sure enough, there was a message with the Beacon profile picture. As well as around fourteen from Ruby, and ten from his mother, but both of those were normal and - while preferable - largely unimportant at the moment.

"We're to leave at two o'clock to head into the city, where we will meet Atlesian archeologists and receive details for our escort mission." He relayed quietly, giving his team a look to see if they had any reaction to the statement. "It will be a week long mission, to scout ruins far off the main, patrolled routes throughout Kingdom territory. Further, Grimm presence in the region is moderate. A military patrol is in the area, but you are to expect delays and pack for two weeks, and expect to fight class two and below Grimm."

"Class two." Pyrrha noted quietly, echoing anxiety until she took a breath and nodded, forcing herself to relax. Something she was becoming tragically adept at doing, to his mind at least in spite of her self-mutilating heroism. "Well, we fought worse than that in Initiation. Boarbatusks were the only of those we failed to encounter. We'll be fine."

"Hm." He nodded, pinching off a piece of his biscuit and taking a bite idly. Sensing a pang of anxiety from his team he added, somewhat mutedly, "I'm sure we'll be fine, as long as we're careful."

"Jaune." Pyrrha's voice was edged and, when he turned, her eyes were just as sharp. Hard, green and icy shards that met his in a way he was sure told Nora and Ren something was up. They'd need to be blind to miss it when it was so blatant, but she seemed uncaring as she went on, "We'll be fine. We just need to keep our heads and act in a way that brings honor to our names and fellows."

"Y-Yeah." He nodded, for a brief moment more afraid of Pyrrha than for her. Coughing to clear his throat and collect himself, he turned to the other, wide-eyed partner pair and added with a small smile, "We'll be fine, as long as we fight well and hard. I mean, we have me, the prodigal son, Pyrrha the champion of Mistral, and Nora, rider of Ursa. Who could face us?"

"Who." Ren parroted carefully, Nora's bright eyes on her blonde leader like a predator locked on prey. "Don't you mean what?"

"I… I, Ren..." Damn, but Ren was sharp. Normally the wordage wouldn't have mattered, but with Pyrrha and he's back and forth, he was suspicious. Jaune could feel it radiating off him in waves that turned the sea to a frothing mess. "I mean, it's outside patrol routes. Bandits will be out there, probably. But I meant Grimm, it's just a phrase."

And that sounded weak, but Ren grunted and nodded regardless, either pretending to be convinced or actually convinced. And with no way to know which, Jaune was forced to just move on, and hope all was well enough for now.

"Well, we should get our things together, then." He did his best to make it sound like an order and stood, giving Ren and Nora both a look and asking, gently, "Could you two run the dishes out, please? We'll get all our packs and head to the lockers, meet you there."

"Sure." Ren nodded, giving Nora's hand a tug and then starting to gather the dishes together. With their packs on their backs and plates in their hands, Ren gave them a nod, and a smile, and bade a simple, "Farewell. See you shortly, at the lockers. And don't take too long."

What that meant took approximately one minute to find out, when Pyrrha rounded on him with her own pack on her back.

"You're letting this situation affect your judgement again, Jaune." She chided, gentle even with the sharpness in her eyes. When he didn't respond, she pressed his own pack into his chest and gave a small shake of her head. "Don't let what is happening between us, or too us, have effects beyond us, Jaune."

"It's not that easy, Pyrrha. You know that" He argued, quiet and ever wary of people hearing, senses reaching around them to feel… Anyone at all.

Students around him, tense and anxious for their own reasons, sprang out but nothing else aside from that and the pervading sadness that hung over the Academy uniformly. Why that was, he wasn't sure, but the easiest and thus most likely explanation was teenage angst. Which some would call what they were having, looking in from the outside, not knowing the certainty behind everything and the dread.

"It…" He failed, looking for more words while she waited. When he found none, he gave up, pulling his backpack on and placidly finishing, "It just isn't easy, Pyrrha. One of us- You, Pyrrha, could die."

"No." She shook her head, and turned to leave, speaking over her shoulder as she went. "It isn't easy at all. But we must do it, as out duty, our honor and our obligation as Hunters of Grimm. I am happy to have this conversation as many times as there are those Grimm, Jaune, if it will see you on the right course."

"Mad woman…" He murmured, moving to follow her without another word when she didn't respond.

Regardless, he had a job to do, even if Pyrrha made it harder to do that job. He was used to stubborn women though, his family was stuffed full of them.

The 'archeologists', as it turned out, weren't normal archaeologists waiting nervously with some soldiers like he'd at first imagine. Instead, a pair of white-uniformed and lightly armored Atlesian. They were waiting for the four of them at the open ramp of the back of an Atlesian shuttle, stocked with axes, shovels, picks, and dull grey crates stacked to one side of the compartment. In the other, a trio of dull silver robots stood with their heads bowed and rifles held across their chests, inactive at the end of a quintet of chairs set against one side of the compartment for them. One, stockier and with a sparse dusting of white hair on his chin, had red-lined armor.

Officer's armor, Jaune knew from his studies under his father.

"Team Juniper?" The red-armored soldier asked as they approached, returning the nod Jaune gave him. "Lieutenant Black, Atlesian Special Research Division. Have you been briefed?"

"Technically, yes. Beacon sent us a message, told us to come and meet you." And the fact that the message they'd gotten hadn't mentioned the SRD had his hackles raised. Either because he was anxious lately over what was going on or natural suspicion, he couldn't be sure. Suspicion came so easily to Sith, like breathing, so he could never be sure. For those reasons he added a gentle, "They… They also said that you'd give us more details about the mission?"

"Old mountain ruins were spotted by a patrol that ranged too far out on accident, due to malfunctioning navigational equipment." Lieutenant Black reported stiffly, gesturing with a hand towards the equipment and the airship. "Our orders are to go there, look for historical artifacts, and withdraw with our findings. Do you four know of the SRD?"

"Nope!" Nora quipped, bright and happy as always, bouncing on her heels eagerly. "Don't know a thing, 'cept you're archeologists. And soldiers. Oh! Are you guys like Doctor Jones, from the movies? How many ancient Mistralian ruins have you blown up?!"

"Uh, well… No, but… We haven't blown up any Mistralian ruins, no." The man's stunned state only lasted a moment, which was better than most fared against a caffeinated Nora Valkyrie. "The Special Research Division have archeologists, historians and rangers alongside soldiers, air support and sappers, but we try to avoid damages to ruins wherever possible. Our goal is to search out and obtain knowledge from the past, to better understand the world. He who forgets the past-"

"Is doomed to repeat it." Jaune parroted the saying, if not from their motto but instead from Instructor's audio synthesizer.

"You know our motto?"

"My master taught me the same lesson, yes." He didn't answer that it was a Revanite's motto, though that they held it in such esteem was an interesting fact. Curious in spite of himself, he prodded, "His master taught it to him, but he never said where it came from."

"Our organization has existed for decades, after a group of Mantle scouts found an old, iced over and buried temple." Jaune tried to hide his reaction to that, eyes widening slightly before he schooled himself. The man spoke softly, and from him Jaune could sense a kind of guilt and underlying need to conceal."The structure was unsafe, and damaged in the fighting when grimm arrived, but the motto was written in an old language a hobby historian knew. They brought back relics as well, which contained unfortunately classified knowledge of a forgotten age."

Half-truths, then. It had to be, to feel like this.

"Interesting." He smiled, offering a hand for the man. He took it and they shook, the young Force wielder smiling in as friendly a way as possible for him. "I won't press you, but thanks for satisfying my curiosity, Lieutenant."

"Of course." The soldier nodded, turning to board the ship when they released each other and calling over his shoulder, "We need to go, however. We have work to be doing, and Atlas only paid for your sword arms, not your words."

Together, the team boarded the ship and stowed their full packs with the rest of the equipment, settling in for a trip. Not a long one, luckily, but he let meditative relaxation overtake him regardless to fight off the oncoming motion sickness.

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"No, no, no! Bad animals, no." Roman sighed, sauntering through the warehouse full of crates and masked Faunus, watching two of the White Fang soldiers manhandling a crate of Dust. Standing between them, he gripped their shoulders and smiled, meeting furious gazes through their masks and smiling wider for it, "You can't handle these boxes like you do your mothers, come on now. You'll blow us all sky high!"

"We understand, Torchwick." The larger one said, ram horn on one side curling around the base of his skull. On his other side was nothing but a stump, clearly burnt off and enough to earn a distant pang of sympathy from the rogue. Snarling, the ram added, "Your woman was looking for you before."

"Neo?" No one was fool enough to call Cinder anyone's woman, after all, so it was a formality to ask. That she felt the need to look for him rather than wait until he found her spoke of a problem, even if he'd been out of the Kingdom for a while. When the man nodded and hefted the crate, he asked, "Which way did she go?"

"That way." The man grunted, gesturing off past several rows of high-stacked crates towards where Roman knew the offices for the warehouse were. "In a hurry, too." She's got some legs on her, for someone so small."

"You can say that again." The other Faunus murmured with a flick of his lion's tail. Roman's eyes narrowed and the man snorted, giving him a look through his mask. "They go all the way up too. Not bad for a Human, at least."

Roman knew baiting when he saw it and smiled, patting the lion heavily on the shoulder and chuckling, "Yeah, she does. And she loves compliments and a good lay. Young Faunus like you, you're bound to meet her standards. So hey, go for it, might have some fun. And in this line of work, you never know when a day is your last, right?"

"True…" The Faunus nodded, "Ain't she your woman, though? Ain't the type to go house wrecking."

"Nah, don't worry about that. Grab the gazelle by the horns and dig in, you animal!" He laughed, clapping him on the shoulder, "But do it after work. And don't blow yourself up, that's no fun for me, you, or the cleaning crew."

He didn't wait for the lion to respond, turning and stalking off before he could, but he never stopped smiling. Stupid young bastard like him would go for it, and Neo would enjoy cutting him apart for daring to. Before or after having fun with him, he couldn't be sure. Little minx was random like that, but that was her business.

Halfway to where he'd been told Neo had run off looking for him, he felt a small hand grab his and looked down, meeting pink and white eyes, "Ah, Neo."

"I missed you." She signed for him, releasing his hand with hers and wrapping her arm around him in a hug, face pressed against his side. He gave her head a pat, chuckled, and watch her other hand moving rapidly, "You were gone so long. I got worried something happened."

"Worried?" He snorted, and then sighed when she pulled away to scowl up at him. "About me? Neo, you know your old man always survives. People he's with, maybe not, but..." He shrugged and smiled, "I always come back, even from Atlas or hell itself."

"You repeated yourself, Pops. Starting to lose it up there?" She smiled, releasing him and bouncing away happily.

Roman watched her and followed her for a bit while she wandered. Enjoying having him around, he knew from her earlier explanations. Finally, she turned and smiled thinly up at him, walking backwards towards the sleeping areas around the offices, the latter being where the duo did their planning with the bitch and the bull. A behavior he knew meant

"You were looking for me?" He asked, carrying Melodic Cudgel in one hand and walking where she lead. She nodded and he raised an eyebrow, "Normally you just wait somewhere to surprise me, or sneak around. The animals spotted you."

"Oh?" She said in her way, one eyebrow raised and her head cocked to the side.

"Yeah." He smirked, "A lion boy complimented your legs, too."

"I do have nice legs." She signed, grinning and giving him a look that demanded a compliment.

"Yeah, you're the most beautiful girl in the world. No one could want a more pretty adopted midget assassin." She laughed and fanned herself silently and he rolled his eyes at her antics, already refreshed just from their short time together. After a moment of her mimed blushing maiden routine, he coughed and asked, "So, what were you wanting to show me?"

"So I stole someone's uniform and did the whole 'go to work' thing, you know pretending to be a normie." She rolled her eyes at the term and he mirrored her gesture, amused at her referring to the average bear as 'normie'. Just because she was crazy and they were thieves didn't mean she could judge people.

Rob them, maybe, but judge? They had standards!

"Well, I went to a little karaoke bar thingy, and found something." She smiled, fishing her Scroll out of her blouse and rolling her eyes at his rolling his eyes. "We're not actually related you know. It's okay to look."

"I'm good, thanks." He assured her, smiling patronizingly and earning a theatrical, overblown sigh. He really didn't need to encourage her teasing, so he left it there, asking, "What did you find that was so interesting?"

She didn't answer him, instead holding her Scroll out and grinning widely. He took it, punched in her weak security code and looking at the image frozen on the screen. Then he blinked, turned to get it in some shadow for a better look, and smiled, "Fuck me… Red's little gang has the Schnee in it?"

Leaning over, he flicked by the picture of them all sitting to another, and pointed at the Schnee's hands. Fixed firmly to the kitty's ears, while the Faunus flushed and smiled. Either the Schnee made the Faunus let her get some petting in, or the Faunus offered, but either way it was damn sure to rankle some hides. And that meant he had leverage on a certain bull and through him, the bitch.

"Good job, sweetheart!" He praised, ruffling her hair and smiling widely, "Now I have an idea…"

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You guys and your long reviews, needing long responses, sheesh. I mean, go to town, I love it. But yeah, looooooong Reviewer Responses below. Sorry for somewhat padding the word count. And to said Reviewers, if I come across as short, it's because I'm avoiding padding the word count too much. If anyone wants to DM me for more detailed chat, feel free. Or join my server to do the same. Advertising neither, merely offering for those so inclined.

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(Review Responses)

Dr Killinger :

Take care, man. I know how you feel, I used to have to work at, uh *checks notes to avoid lawsuit* 'Penny Approximate', if you catch my drift. Ten hour shifts, clopen-ing often, near enough to no pay and incompetent staff around me. Glad my stories provide some manner of relief!

Makuaraymi :

My character dialogue and actions are based on the show, in all cases I default to it. Yang play-flirts with Blake from nearly the word go in the show, so respectfully, I disagree. Further, I specifically talked to a bisexual person I know and had them review their interactions and got a seal of approval. The difference they detailed is that the discomfort and anxiety comes from a place of anxiety over not being accepted, which we have little indication is a thing in Remnant.

It also comes down to individuals in the whole 'sexual awakening' thing. I, personally, am asexual, and coming to that took about a year. Then it was over. I accepted it, no one but my stereotypical - and I mean SUPER stereotypical - Republican mother cared, and everyone moved on inside a day.

Basically, I see your concern, and can only say that in Remnant things are easier, if just a bit. There are giant monsters of living shadow, who puts their diddles where is… Less of a thing. XD

They are only tagged since some requested I tag them since they will be important to the plot. Also, yes, they may be - or seem, at least - unconnected to the Star Wars stuff. So is Cinder herself probably, but I assure you she will drive plot too. Their involvement will be demonstrated in full in time. Another good concern, and I really do get it and appreciate the offered critiques, but another 'Wait and see' kinda one.

You feel me all the way through all that?

Argus :

Poorly. XD

Mahina Fable :

Pyrrha is my favorite to write, and the hardest. Chapters have been delayed hours and more because I wanted to get her lines right. And I appreciate your support in the other things, too, though I get the pushbacks there.

Some people don't like the Bees, or think that they don't fit being shipped properly or convey the right ideas, and that's fine. I disagree and will hash things out as seen above as to why and how I disagree, but again it's fine. And people are sensitive to racism being shown right now.

For those reading, I will point out here that Weiss was a racist in this story. However, she was also a good person, and once challenged changed her mind. This is the case for many people like this, raised with an un-challenged belief. I made a point of showcasing BOTH of the kinds in this story. One is just more neatly dealt with, owing to how easily dismissed it is. Fun fact! I was the second kind, see mention of my uber-Republican mother, until I was abouuuut twelve and met an African-American kid named Lemar.

I appreciate you seeing and looking for the nuance.

Chris Adair :

That… Is a good criticism, actually. Now I wish I'd done that.

Knightwolf :

That isn't a terrible idea, actually, though fuel and ammunition would be a thing. And if I allow space-travel, I don't know how that would go, so it would have to be on-planet preferably. Good ideas, but needs me working on it, is my point.

Connor Worsnop :

No, yeah, he's popular for a good reason.

Zenith Tempest :

Oh he will face down against different, graver threats than normal Huntsman. But not right now. Not yet. He needs to be stronger, and a lot of that is on the Huntsman end of things. Instructor simply couldn't have helped him learn any of that, and spent the time focusing more on Force lessons than saber lessons, though he taught him that well enough too. Instructor neither had the space to teach him wild and crazy acrobatics, or the knowledge to teach him to use his Aura, so those are intrinsic weaknesses to his background.

Remember though, Jaune hasn't lost a fight yet because he was weaker. He won against the Grimm at Ansel handily, and only lost the first fight against Yang because Glynda called the fight against his will due to injury. Now, he's learning to balance - see the theme? - his Aura skills and Force utilities more readily thanks to Pyrrha's help.

As for sensing Glynda's intentions he was in a full room of anxious, chattering teenagers and staff. With a lot of effort, and knowing who he was targeting, he could have. But he had no reason to suspect them - yet - and thus no motivation to put such effort into getting a basic read. And had he sensed guilt and anxiety, that could easily be chalked up to sending kids on dangerous missions, since Jaune doesn't know about the Maidens and so Ozpin is only a well-connected Headmaster in his eyes currently.

On the note of ships, someone suggested a fighter or something rather than a capital ship. Thoughts there? As it stands, I don't plan on doing space stuff, but I could easily hear reasons to do so.