Ruby Rose, her silver eyes briefly fixed on the sky, snapped back to her meal, only to find everyone staring at her. She flushed, shrinking into her cape.
"Um, what?" Ruby mumbled, her cheeks red.Yang grinned, leaning forward, her blonde hair catching the light.
"Huh… I think Mom used to do that, too."
Ruby's eyes widened, a pleased flush spreading.
"R-Really?"
Isabel Arc, seated with a regal air, her blonde hair tied back, nodded warmly.
"Summer did always have a keen sense of others. Even better than Arjun, at times."
May Zedong, picking at her sandwich, blinked.
"Really?"
"Yes, but I was always sneakier."
Everyone—save Isabel, May, and Glynda Goodwitch—jumped, startled by Arjun's sudden emergence. The King of Pandu smirked gently as he emerged from the trees, and walked up to squeeze his daughter's shoulder. Blake Belladonna's ears twitched, her amber eyes narrowing slightly. Emerald Sustrai, sitting across from May, stared in awe at the king.
"How are you so good at this? Better than a Faunus with four ears even!"
"Hey," Blake huffed.
"Long years of practice," Arjun said modestly. He smiled at his daughter. "I've heard you've become very good at stealth yourself."
May blushed, her voice soft. "Um… I-I had to learn how to be alert, in Vacuo. And quiet…"
Blake's scowl softened, her voice intrigued. "Impressive. I would love to learn."
Yang smirked, her lilac eyes teasing.
"Blake! Admitting she's not perfect?"
Weiss Schnee, her ice-blue eyes sharp, leaned forward.
"Are you feeling all right?"
Blake's scowl returned, her voice sharp.
"Must you be so obnoxious?"
Emerald snickered, covering her mouth. Arslan Altan raised an eyebrow, her expression unimpressed.
Ruby groaned, her voice pleading.
"Guyyyys! Come on! No being mean to Blake!"
Winter Schnee nodded in approval with a polite smile as she adjusted her glasses.
"Yes. Hello, Your Majesty."
Arjun smiled, hugging May tightly.
"Hello, Specialist." He turned his eyes back to May, his voice warm. "Your date is coming up. Saia and I would like to help you get ready." He glanced at Winter. "I believe it's time for you to get ready, too."
Winter's eyes widened, her voice flustered. "Y-Yes! I um, I should go." Weiss studied her sister for a moment. She then sucked in a deep breath, standing abruptly. "…I'll help you, Sister."
Winter blinked, surprised. "Weiss?"
"I… I should try to help," Weiss said, her voice firm but tinged with a slight hint of superiority. "After all… I know Jaune better than you."
Pyrrha Nikos, her crimson hair glinting, deadpanned, "She sure does."
Yang grinned wickedly.
"Oh, the best. Nobody's broken his heart more!"
Blake's ears twitched, her voice dry.
"Or stomped on it in front of him."
Ruby chimed in, her voice cheerful.
"I think she made him cry once!"
Nora Valkyrie, munching on a sandwich, paused.
"Nah! He wasn't crying from that! He was crying because he asked me to hit him in the gut with my hammer after!" She froze, her turquoise eyes widening. "Ohhh! That's why he made me hit him!"
Isabel's eyes narrowed, her voice sharp.
"He asked you to harm him?!"
Lie Ren, calm as ever, raised a hand up to try and calm Isabel Arc.
"It's not as bad as it sounds. Jaune can be… Melodramatic."
Nora winced.
"Sorry, Mom! He asked me to! I wanted to be a good sister!"
Pyrrha sighed, her voice soft.
"He thought it would toughen him up."
Nora grinned.
"And it worked!"
Weiss's face reddened, her voice indignant.
"See?! How am I the bad guy here?!"
Blake smirked, her voice sharp.
"Let me count the ways."
"Shut up, you-you two-timing cat!" Weiss snapped, pointing at Blake in accusation.
"Two-timing?!" Blake's eyes flashed, her bow twitching.
"You were dating Sun before all this!" Weiss accused. "Then you drop him for Jaune just because of time travel?!"
"Time-traveling future children, thank you very much!" Blake retorted. "Same as you!"
Ruby slammed her hands on the table, her voice desperate.
"GUYS! Seriously!"
Isabel's voice cut through, firm and commanding.
"Yes! Enough of that, please."
Winter nodded, her voice stern.
"Agreed, Weiss. You're acting like a grunt at the Atlasian military academy! What's gotten into you?"
Weiss's face flushed, her voice defensive.
"Well… One, my future husband—"Yang, Blake, and Emerald snickered in unison, their eyes gleaming with mischief at the innuendo that Weiss unintentionally made.
"SHUT UP!" Weiss snapped, her face redder as she realized it, "And two, well…"
Yang's grin widened, her voice teasing. "Her future husband not getting into her?"
"SHUT UP EVEN MORE!" Weiss shrieked, her ponytail swishing.Ruby's voice rose, exasperated.
"WEISS!"
Glynda Goodwitch, adjusting her glasses, sighed.
"LADIES! Please? We have been over this before, have we not?"
Isabel sighed in exasperation, her voice calm.
"After all, Arjun and May already left."
Winter's eyes widened, as all the other future brides, Nora and Ren all saw that the two were gone.
"What?!"
"He had a tendency to vanish from conversations he had no interest in," Isabel said, amused.
Winter bolted, practically flying to land on the nearest rooftop and sprinting fast as a shot. "W-Wait, Sister! Let me help!" Weiss called, chasing after her.
Ruby stood, her cape fluttering.
"We should go and help her—!"
"Nope! None of that!" Isabel said, her voice firm, her blue eyes glinting. "Not one of you will go and interfere in any of the dates. None of you. Not even you, Glynda."
Glynda's eyes widened, her voice defensive. "I-I wasn't thinking of interfering—!"
Isabel's glare intensified. Glynda fidgeted, feeling the glares of all the other women.
"…Fine," Glynda muttered, adjusting her glasses.
"Excellent," Isabel said, pleased. "So… I do have even more embarrassing baby pictures of my son to show off! Who would like to see?"
"Well," Arslan flushed, "I suppose I might."
"Same!" Pyrrha said eagerly.
"Yes!" Ruby enthused, "Especially any with me and Yang!"
"Absolutely!" Yang added, looking smug enough to annoy most of the other brides.
"ME TOO!" Nora cried, holding up her hand, "I wanna tease him!"
"As his sister, that is your right," Isabel nodded, a grin on her face, "Indeed, it is your duty."
"I KNEW IT!" Nora cried. "Renny? You want to join me so we can tease him together?"
Ren looked thoughtful for a moment before he nodded.
"Yes."
"YIPPEE!" Nora cheered.
With that everyone started to gather round Isabel to get a better view of her scroll. There was a bit of jostling as the girls jockeyed for the best spots, and some elbows proved sharper than others.
"Ow, hey!" Ruby glared over her shoulder to spot who was squeezing her out.
"Watch it!" Yang growled as she suddenly found herself stumbling out of the crowd.
"Whoops," Blake squeaked as her attempt to subtly push Arslan aside failed to budge the other faunus, causing Blake to stumble into Emerald.
Isabel sighed, "Look girls, I can make my scroll's screen extra wide, there's no need to-"
"PYRRHA! THERE YOU ARE!" The voice of Athena Nikos cut across the courtyard.
Pyrrha closed her eyes and swallowed the grimace that had tried to grow across her face, managing to display a more neutral expression as she turned to look to her approaching mother. The retired actress was coming from the direction of Ozpin's office, her butler Orestes and Arslan's parents trailing behind her at a more sedate pace.
"Yes Mother? What is it?" Pyrrha asked once Athena was close enough to address without shouting.
"Oh Pyrrha! We have wonderful news!" Athena enthused as she rushed up to her daughter and grabbed Pyrrha's hands. Her voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper that was still loud enough for the other's standing close to hear, "We've come up with a series of shorts to help sell the cover story to the public. All of you will have a chance to shine before the camera and-"
"NO!" The word escaped Pyrrha's mouth with a forcefulness and viciousness that surprised her, and it surprised her mother as well. The older redhead flinched at her daughter's sharp interjection, and Pyrrha found herself babbling to justify the outburst and the raw volume of venom that single syllable had carried. "Every time I've had to act has been awful. Just awful! Memorizing lines, improvising, doesn't matter because I'm always an awkward block of wood. Standing in front of a camera acting is horrible, so I refuse!"
"But, but," Athena blinked as if her daughter had told her two plus two equals extensive reshoots. "But you love doing the Swoosh commercials! You've always had a blast with Jordan and Mike!"
"Swoosh is a shoe brand mother!" Pyrrha dragged a hand down her face with exasperation at having to explain something that ought to be obvious. "The only thing Jordan and Mike want me to do in front of the camera is run through obstacle courses in the latest pair of athlete's sneakers!"
"My experiences in front of a camera run parallel to Pyrrha's," Arslan interjected. "Proper acting either takes natural talent or a lot of practice, preferably both, and all of us have spent time practicing other things. Why would you want us to act for these shorts?"
"It's an excuse to put you in the same frame as Jaune for an extended period of time," Logos explained with a casual shrug. "I mean officially these shorts are all about promoting peace and harmony and all that, but that's all secondary to you spending time with your fiancé."
"Oh?" Arslan asked with a quirked brow while the other girls curiously leaned in.
"Yes," Basara confirmed, picking the sales pitch up for the still stunned Athena. "We've spent some time brainstorming various little cute scenarios you can play out with Jaune, and without a studio breathing down our necks we can take our time and make sure this will be a fun bonding experience with your boy."
Pyrrha and Arslan shared a look, silently acknowledging that this was something their parents were doing to help them specifically. Then their eyes darted towards the other future brides, Emerald in particular, before silently agreeing with each other that their parent's plans might end up helping someone else more. Pyrrha scowled. Arslan quirked an eyebrow. Pyrrha frowned in response. Arslan shrugged. Pyrrha sighed in reluctant agreement. Arslan gave a supportive smile. Pyrrha nodded before squaring her shoulders.
"Alright, I can see the appeal of this idea," Pyrrha turned back to her mother, "But I don't appreciate you springing this on me with an audience, especially my friends. You should have talked to me about this before saying anything in front of everyone." She leaned in close a whispered lowly so only her mother could hear, "It smacks of entrapment."
Athena leaned back with wide eyes displaying what Pyrrha hoped was genuine horror. The older redhead's mouth worked for a few moments before the actress found her voice.
"I, I'm sorry Pyrrha," Her mother sounded sincere enough, which Pyrrha decided to accept as genuine for now. "I wanted to help, and this, this is what I know how to do. It's all that I know how to do."
Pyrrha bit her lip, keeping the words 'the acting or controlling my life' from seeing the light of day.
"We don't have to do this if you don't want to Pyrrha," Basara's contrite tone was so much easier for Pyrrha to wholeheartedly accept as real. "We're still at the earliest stages of planning, calling everything off is as easy as you saying no."
"It's fine, it's fine," Pyrrha heaved a heavy sigh through her nose. "I can already see how this could be helpful, and it's something I know how to grin and bear. We can do it."
"Well, if you're really okay with this, and not just saying you're okay with this for propriety's sake," Logos spoke gently, "Then I promise I'll do everything in my power to make this as fun and stress free as possible for you. We'll polish everything on our end to perfection so we won't do anything you're uncomfortable with and won't enjoy."
"I'm willing to see what you've come up with," Pyrrha allowed, finally calm again.
Silence hung in the air for a moment.
"Ahem, well," Isabel interjected before the silence could grow awkward, "I was about to share some stories from Jaune's childhood. If you want to join us you'll probably learn what kind of tomfoolery my son is and isn't willing to tolerate, so you'll have an idea of what avoid when you're planning the scenes involving him."
"Yes, that would be helpful," Athena gave an awkward smile in gratitude.
"Alright," Isabel expanded her scroll to its' maximum size, which was more than double a standard scroll's limit. "Everyone grab a comfortable seat, and no crowding this time, ya hear?"
And so everyone gathered round with much less fuss than there had been before Athena's arrival, and they were soon regaled about the time three year old Jaune had found the food dyes and just about gave his older sisters a heart attack from all the red he covered himself with...
