CHAPTER 7: LET'S NOT GO THERE

Remnant

City of Vale

November 20th,

80 Years After the Great War

Jaune couldn't say that he understood much about girls. Considering that most of the people he knew at Beacon Academy were girls and considering that his own partner was a girl, that was saying something.

After his last event with Penny, he was beginning to express doubt as to whether or not he was the right person for the job of teaching her about the world in general. He kind of assumed that when it came to teaching about ordinary things, that job was reserved for parents, but then he had to remember that his orange-haired friend had only one parent, and said parent seemed a little too overprotective for his own good.

The leader of Team JNPR found himself at a crossroad of sorts. He had all sorts of ideas as to how he was going to get his curious friend up to speed on all things related to a normal life, which was exactly the problem. His idea of normal was just that, his own idea. He didn't know whether or not what he did necessarily reflected the sort of things that she liked or not. He considered himself lucky that so far, she hadn't issued a single complaint, but that could be on account of her newness to friendship.

Jaune had to think about this a little more rationally. Any problem could be solved if he kept his cool and used his head. Maybe the key to solving all of this was thinking about it less like a problem and more like an opportunity. After all, Penny wasn't the only one benefitting from the friendship. He too had a lot of fun being with the girl as well. It also gave him an opportunity to practice being a little more social.

It's just nerves. Jaune calmed his chaotic thoughts. Calm down, take a deep breath, and just work through the problem.

His thoughts were swarming with ways of letting Penny experience the ways of normal life. He couldn't help but dwell on her request; that night, as the two of them danced simply, it was hard not to hear her request and not see the honesty behind the request. To turn it down would be like kicking a puppy: impossible. Her ears were full of hope and anticipation and maybe a bit of fear, if he saw things correctly.

But now that the heat of the moment was gone, thinking about what he was going to next made anxious. Only now did he realize the undertaking that he had willingly undertaken. While learning how to be "normal" might seem a simple thing to everyone, it really wasn't. What one person might consider normal might be unusual for another. Furthermore, normality in society shifted and changed with the times. Basically, being normal was practically the same thing as trying to forge a lifestyle.

But it was far too late to go back on his word. Plus, as her first friend, he really didn't want to be the first one to break her heart. Gods, he hoped nobody broke her heart.

"Jaune." That was Ren's voice calling to him. "Are you okay?"

"Huh? Oh, uh, yeah." Jaune snapped out of his thoughts in order to answer his fellow teammate. "I was just doing some thinking about… things."

"As most people do." Ren commented plainly. "What about?"

"Well… just some private stuff." Jaune wasn't comfortable with talking about this to his team. "Nothing that's going to affect the team."

He did promise that there would be no more secrets from his team. Whether or not this constituted as such a thing was debatable. While this was certainly an unrelated matter regarding Team JNPR and their overall dynamic, it was something that related to him personally. Pyrrha had made a point of letting the blonde know that should he need to, they would all be willing to lend an ear to his troubles. While it was flattering that they would all help him should he call, he still felt a slight desire to help himself first.

So maybe telling them all right off the bat wasn't going to do for him, but maybe he could get some hints from the only other guy that he knew well enough at Beacon Academy. He didn't stand to lose much. Plus, the guy with magenta eyes was the type that could keep a secret if asked to.

"Actually, I want to ask you something, Ren." Jaune gathered his thoughts before speaking. "How long have you and Nora been together? Like, how long have you known each other."

"Ten years at least." Ren replied almost without pause between them. "We're basically childhood friends. We've been through pretty much everything together."

"Ah, okay." Jaune now had an idea of what he was working with. "So… if you don't mind me asking, what were you two doing before coming to the academy?"

"What everyone else does. Sleep, eat, train, have fun, all of that stuff." Ren shrugged his shoulders. "It was just the two of us watching each other's backs, so where one of us went, the other followed."

"I see." Jaune said, detecting a sensitive topic and carefully maneuvering around it. "What is something you two did often?"

"Well, eat pancakes, as you've seen many times." Ren chuckled quietly. "I'm not quite sure how that came up. It just did one day."

"Mhm." Jaune nodded his head. "What else?"

"Um, fighting Grimm." Ren listed off another activity. "Nora discovered really quickly that she like breaking their legs."

"Right." Jaune laughed awkwardly. "That's… interesting. What else?"

"Well, anything that's spontaneous." Ren eyed him with a curious look. "You know how she is."

"Yeah." Jaune nodded his head, not quite satisfied.

"What is this about, Jaune?" Ren finally asked his own question. "I get the feeling that you're asking for more than just idle curiosity."

Lying to his black-haired friend was probably not going to end well. The boy had an eye for detail and contrary to popular belief, he was always aware of his surroundings, including what people talked about and did.

"So, how do I put this?" Jaune pressed his lips together. "You know how I introduced you guys to Penny?"
"I do." Ren replied. "What about her?"

"Long story short, she's got an overprotective dad and she wants to get out more and see the world." Jaune tried to sum it all up. "And man, is she clueless. She gets so excited about the most simple things. The last time we saw each other, she was asking me if I could show her all of the things that normal people do. I said yes because I don't know how to say no. Now I'm kind of stuck."

"I see." Ren gave it some thought before he continued. "You're trying to get some input as to how to carry out your promise."

"Yeah, that!" Jaune lit up. "I was hoping to get some ideas. As normal as I am, I don't have THAT many hobbies and interests."

"I think you're a bit too tense about this." Ren had a small smile on his face. "From what I can see, Penny isn't the sort of person to reject anything new. She seems like the sort to do anything new regardless of whether or not it interests her."

"What makes you say that?" Jaune leaned in.

"Because that's more or less how Nora acts." Ren explained. "And both Penny and Nora really hit it off when they met. I think they're similar enough that you can use Nora as a reference. You work well enough with her."

Combining Ren's advice with his memories of the first meeting of Nora nad Penny, Jaune could formulate a picture. Based on what he could recall in detail, he didn't recall a single instance that was a cause for concern regarding the two girls. They just got along and that was the end of it. They didn't even do anything in peculiar; they just kept doing things together and had fun while doing it.

"Just being together is good enough?" Jaune came to his own conclusion. "Is that what you're telling me?"

"As simple as the advice sounds, yes." Ren agreed. "Even the most boring activities can be made fun when you're with someone else and in this case, if Penny is just trying to learn more about normal life, I think you shouldn't overdo it. If there aren't any bad signs, then keep pushing forward."

While it wasn't exactly specific advice detailing a specific type of activity, there was no denying that it was sound advice all the same, not to mention kind of obvious now that the blonde boy thought about it. That was more or less what he had been doing prior to this conversation and it had worked out. Now he was simply finding the confirmation that he needed to ensure that he wasn't wrong.

So I can do something without messing up. Jaune felt himself grow a little lighter. Thank the gods.

RWBY - - - RWBY

Penny had some new memories to process.

They were important for her to properly understand because for one thing, they were completely new to her in the sense that never before had she felt such a strong connection to any memories whatsoever. Even taking into account her limited operational lifespan, the magnitude of intensity for which she felt for them was intense.

But with no reference point to help her build a foundation in which to begin comprehending what she was feeling, it was hard to say whether not the current pillars that supported her in-progress thinking had any basis in fact or substantial evidence. In short, she was merely going off of purely her "gut instinct" as living people seemed so fond of saying. She had no other way to describe the method she was working with.

Penny's train of thought went something like this; Jaune was her friend, that much he had said many times over. His actions proved as much, so she had every reason to believe him with all of her being. He chose to spend time with her in spite of the busy schedule that he no doubt kept. He took her to experience new things that she never would have discovered by herself or with the assistance of the people in her life that she did know. He made every effort to ensure that each unique activity they did together was as fun as possible. In simple terms, he was doing everything that a good friend would do, at least according to what she understood about friendship.

The main point of contention was that as much as the synthetic girl did enjoy whenever they were together doing something, what she felt didn't feel consistent with what defined friendship. If she were to describe what she felt about the time spent with the blonde boy, it would be apt to define all of their experiences in a single word: rapturous. That wasn't just a way to characterize past experiences. It was also the word that could express what she felt for things that were to come. She had a feeling that no matter might happen down the line, she could always count on her time with Jaune being nothing but worthwhile,

But none of this helped Penny understand why she felt so strongly for the brief but meaningful past they shared and the future that she anticipated, almost expected. It seemed almost unnatural what she felt in her circuits. Not even her father, the closest person she had to family, made her feel such heightened emotions. With her confusion came with it multiple questions for her to ponder on?

What was she feeling?

Why was she feeling these things?

Were these feelings natural for her situation?

Did other people experience these feelings?

If others felt the same thing she did, could others feel similar intensities?

What was the best way to address these feelings?

Did Jaune feel the same way she did?

If he did, what did that mean?

As she found herself wandering down the relatively busy streets of Vale, the orange-haired girl took care to watch where she was going, but then she found out that her half-hearted dedication to being mindful of her path wasn't good enough to stop her once again from colliding with another person. It was only thanks to her quick thinking that she avoided falling flat on her back. The person who collided with her wasn't so lucky.

"Salutations!" Penny automatically went into a friendly greeting.

"What?" The girl with the white dress, who was currently on the ground, didn't appear to be nearly as enthusiastic.

"Salutations!" Penny merely repeated what she had said.

"I heard you the first time!" The fashionably-dressed girl with pale blue eyes got up and was suddenly in her face. "You should mind where you walk!"

"Weiss, I think you're a little too worked up about this." A second voice, this time coming from a blonde girl. "C'mon, it was an accident."

"Perhaps you would care to fall over instead, Xiao Long?" The girl called Weiss rounded on her apparent companion. "Because I can arrange for that."

"Okay, okay, you've made your point. Sheesh." The tall blonde raised her hands to signal the gesture of surrender, then quietly muttered to herself. "Bitch."

The synthetic was fairly sure that it was rude to address another female as that term, but then again, it wasn't any of her business what other people said or did. Besides, she had to keep herself relatively unknown for the time being.

"I apologize for making you fall over!" Penny simply leaned in to the girl she made fall over. "My name is Penny Polendina. What's yours?"

"You… don't know who I am?" The girl with the scar across her eye appeared flabbergasted. "Impossible."

"Weiss." Now a girl with black hair ending in red tips chimed in. "Just introduce yourself. She apologized and gave her name. You should too."

"Fine then." The girl identified as Weiss puffed out her chest and adjusted her body to appear more imposing than she actually was. "I am Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company. Remember that."

"I know you are!" Penny nodded her head. "I'm from Atlas!"

Weiss's left eye twitched. "Then why did you ask for my name?!"

Penny tilted her head in confusion. "Is it not proper manners to give your name when you first meet someone in person, regardless of whether or not you know of their name?"

"She's got a point." Another one, this one with golden eyes. "I guess that means we should all introduce ourselves."

"I'm Ruby Rose!" The shortest of the four girls waved wildly. "I like cookies!"

"I see." Penny noted her name, her face, and a few other details.

"The name's Yang Xiao Long." The tall and busty blonde went next. "Nice to meet you."

"A pleasure." Penny smiled in greeting.

"Blake Belladonna." The girl with pure black hair rounded out the group.

"Greetings." Penny said this while noting the faunus cat ears concealed with the bow on top of her head. "My name is Penny Polendina! It's nice to meet you all!"

"You already told us your name." Weiss crossed her arms.

"So I did." Penny responded simply.

A thought occurred to the synthetic. Jaune had mentioned that he had a friend that was much like herself. He was likely referring to a fellow student at Beacon Academy and these girls were students at Beacon Academy by the looks of them. They were strong, that much she could see from a glance.

"Is there… something on my face?" Weiss took a step back when the girl with green eyes leaned forward.

"Nothing at all." Penny replied, her smile changing into a look of contemplation. "You are all students of Beacon Academy, correct?"

"Yeah!" Yang looked surprised. "How'd you guess that."

"You are strong, far stronger than the average civilian." Penny made her observations known. "Additionally, all of you have your auras unlocked."

"Wow, you can tell that much just by looking at us?" Blake crossed her arms. "Can you sense other aura users?"

"Yes!" Penny nodded an affirmative. "Very easily. I too have training. I'm from Atlas Academy! I am here to participate in the upcoming Vytal Festival!"

"You? Fight?" Weiss looked her up and down. "Pardon me, but you hardly strike me as a fighter of any kind."

"Jaune said the same thing." Penny commented on that. "I suppose that means that I really do look defenseless."

"Wait, Jaune?" Ruby rushed over. "As in, Jaune Arc?"

"Yes." Penny said.

"Tall, blonde hair, blue eyes?" Ruby listed off his features. "Weak at fighting?"

"Yes to all of those things!" Penny once again agreed. "But I'm offering to train him so that he can become stronger!"

"Hmph." Weiss appeared somewhat disinterested. "So that dunce actually has the ability to comprehend his incompetence. It's about time."

"Uh, Ice Queen, you do know that he's also training with Pyrrha?" Yang chimed in. "Like, you can hear them every night pretty much."

"I couldn't care less." Weiss dismissed her teammate, then regarded the orange-haired girl. "If that deviant ever does anything to you, I assume you know what to do."

"Why would Jaune do anything to me?" Penny was genuinely confused by this. "He's done nothing but help me. In fact, he and I are friends!"

"Friends? With a girl? Jaune?" Blake raised an eyebrow. "That's hard to believe."

"Um, again, Pyrrha." Yang raised her hand. "Does anyone not notice that."

"You say something?" Blake regarded the blonde.

"Seriously?" Yang palmed her face. "Does anyone other than me pay attention to the social scene at the academy?"

"In any case, the idea that the blonde fool can do anything with girls other than make woefully lacking attempts at courtship is laughable." Weiss shook her head. "Pyrrha aside, that is."

"You guys." Yang whined.

"Do you not like Jaune?" Penny couldn't understand such a sentiment.

"Of course not!" Weiss shouted. "He makes constant attempts at wooing me?"

"Oh." Penny had no other words.

She frowned.

RWBY - - - RWBY

Since Jaune took his duty of teaching Penny about normal life seriously, he made an effort to watch Penny during critical moments of their outings. He did ask her about her mood and how she felt about certain activities, but in order to make sure that he was getting enough details about his progress in familiarizing his friend with everyday life, he observed her for other small details.

One thing that he did note about the girl was how she walked with a sort of strange stiffness that was both awkward and in-character. The first part wasn't hard to understand; she was sheltered and she was trying to learn. The latter part was particularly confusing seeing as he didn't know any girls that could say that being somewhat mechanical was part of their personality, yet it suited her in a weird way.

The leader of Team JNPR also observed that her eyes, whenever they landed on something new and unfamiliar, the gingerhead would focus with a moment of high-intensity, something that he had never seen a girl do, or anyone for that matter. It was almost like she was piercing into the innards of whatever or whoever she set her sights on. It made for an amusing sight at times, but more than once, she had to remind her not to stare at people for too long because then she would be perceived as weird in a bad way.

Jaune could also list off a few other oddball quirks that were part of Penny's repertoire, but none of them were nearly as prominent as the two that he observed most often. Thus, he didn't give those ones much thought, just understood that they existed and moved on. The most important thing was that in spite of her numerous unusual features, as far as he could tell, none of them could be categorized in a negative way, at least not to the extent that she used them. It was actually kind of amazing that she could retain such innocence and naivety, which contrasted greatly with her competence as a fighter.

Speaking of fighting, he continued to do combat training with her at least once a week, supplementing his training regiment alongside Pyrrha's training. The bow-wearing girl knew quite a bit about close quarters combat, which made sense considering that her training came from Atlas Academy. She was now having him master basic maneuvers, something that he took seriously. He wanted to have more options when engaged in a fight. Ideally, if he could achieve the amount of skill that Yang had in unarmed combat, that would be great. One day at a time, he had to tell himself so as not to get too impatient.

But now wasn't the time to be thinking about huntsman-related business. He was here because Penny had called him and wanted to spend some time with him. His time with her would be relatively short in comparison to their other days together, but he agreed nonetheless.

And that's when he noticed that today, she was acting much different than usual.

"Hey, you okay?" Jaune asked her while gently placing a hand on her shoulder. "You look lost in thought."

They stopped walking and her eyes gazed at the hand reassuring her.

"I'm thinking about… you." Penny looked embarrassed to say that. "I was wondering… Jaune, do you… have anyone that you like romantically?"

"Romantically?" Jaune didn't answer immediately. "Um, where is this coming from?"

A few seconds of silence followed. He let his hand fall to his side and waited for her explanation. She appeared very reluctant to explain herself. Her posture was even more stiff than it usually was. Her eyes appeared to be moving everywhere and looking at everything but his face. It was like she couldn't decide on something.

"A few days ago, I met some girls from Beacon Academy." Penny quietly said. "Are you familiar with Team RWBY?"

"Familiar?" Jaune raised an eyebrow. "They're like the sister team to Team JNPR. They're all awesome. So you met them?"

"Y-yes." Penny still couldn't look him in the eye. "I did, by accident. I bumped into Weiss Schee."

"Ah, the Snow Angel." Jaune laughed. "Let me guess, she chewed you out, threw a temper tantrum for a bit."

"For a moment." Penny said. "Yes."

"That's just like her." Jaune chuckled, although he could still feel her nervousness. "But how is that supposed to be bad?"

"Um, w-well…" Penny finally looked him in the eye, albeit with a lot of effort. "Do you like her? Weiss, I mean?"

"Like her?" Jaune didn't need to give that much thought. "If we're talking romantically, then yes. I'm definitely interested."

"I… understand." Penny uttered.

He picked up immediately on her tone. After hearing her talk in nothing but happy or occasional confused tones, such a tone of defeat was completely alien and unique. He couldn't help but notice it. Even if her shift was subtle, even if she wasn't sobbing her eyes out or making a scene like those scenes in soap operas, the fact that she was even capable of being sad was all that he could see.

"Penny?" Jaune cautiously spoke.

"I'm happy for you." Penny was now smiling again. "As your friend, I hope that it works out."

That was way too sudden for him to process, but he knew that he didn't mistake the expression and mood that she had been displaying mere seconds ago. Still, as he looked at her in this moment, not a trace of that could be seen.

Should he push the topic?

But what if he made her sad again?

What would a good friend do?

"Jaune?" Penny moved closer to him.

His blue eyes noticed how her green eyes seemed to beg him for an answer. For a second, he contrasted her happy face with her sad face. With the experience still fresh in his mind, he could clearly see the differences between them.

And one thing became clear to him: he didn't like the idea of her not smiling. That was kind of stupid not to mention foolish, but he liked to be idealistic. She wanted him to be her friend, so he should do his best to keep her spirits up.

"Thanks." Jaune threw his willpower into appearing pleasant, even if he felt a slight tug at his heart. "I'll do my best to get her to like me back."

"Splendid!" Penny cheered. "Now what should we do today?"

[ "I don't know." Jaune shrugged. "Did we plan anything?"

"No." Penny shook her head. "I simply asked you to spend time with me."

"Right, we didn't make a plan." Jaune recalled her brief scroll call. "Well, I guess we'll just have to make something up as we go."

"You." Penny spoke.

"What?" Jaune didn't know what she meant.

"You decide for both of us." Penny elaborated on her meaning. "Whatever you choose, I will follow you."

"Are… you sure?" Jaune regarded her. "I've got no problem with doing something we both agree on. It doesn't have to be-"

"You decide!" Penny was more forceful this time. "Please."

His instinct told her that she was doing this to appease him somehow. That didn't sit well with him no matter how he sliced it, yet simultaneously he could also detect that should he go against her wishes, this outing might turn awkward beyond what was salvageable. He had no proof of this happening, but was he willing to chance it?

Apparently not.

"Okay." Jaune relented to her command. "I'll find something for us to do."

Maybe today wasn't the right day for an in-depth conversation. Maybe their last time out had fundamentally changed their relationship. Maybe something in their lives changed in a way that affected their relationship. None of these theories made any sense, but the team leader felt his mind formulating all of these concepts simply to fill his mind with something. If it helped him to stop focusing on the lack of conversation.

That, and he quickly surfed the web for something that could help him find an activity to do without the need for heavy amounts of verbal communication. He expanded his search parameters in the interest of shortening the time he needed to find something.

There was also the fact that plenty of people were making comments about the two of them.

"Just kiss and make up."

"They're so into each other."

"Get a room."

"Too much slowburn. Just get on with it."

Seriously, who did that? Who commented on a relationship that wasn't any of their business? Wasn't there a rule in the public conduct book that talked about never doing that? Was it too much to ask for that people not speculate?

This was not a date.

This was not awkward.

This was just… something.

RWBY - - - RWBY

November 21st,

80 Years After the Great War

Penny honestly wished that she could just melt into the floor. That was the feeling that she had the moment that she returned.

This most recent time spent with Jaune was both wonderful, yet overwhelmingly embarrassing at the same time. The worst part was that she couldn't reasonably explain why she felt this way. Well, she could to an extent, but she couldn't explain why the reason made her want to crawl into a hole and die.

When Weiss had made it known that Jaune was interested in her in a romantic sense, that should have been the end of it. Penny knew that her blonde friend had his own life to attend to, including his hopes, dreams, and desires. All individuals had these things and it would be disrespectful not to mention arrogant to think that he only thought about her.

Yet when he confirmed his interest in Weiss as more than just friends, it gave her a feeling that she couldn't accurately depict. She just knew that she didn't like the feeling. This was a problem because if someone were to look into her programming and discover this emotion, it could be perceived as a flaw or an indication of her A.I. being somehow imperfect. She was made to always be cheerful and bright, which signalled an ideal state of consciousness.

Even getting past the explanation of this feeling that clearly wasn't of a positive manner, how was she to truly come to a complete and clear perception?

Penny backed up her processors. Her path of understanding was being muddled and she needed to streamline it if she was to solve this problem.

Why was she feeling this?

Well, she liked Jaune as a friend, that much she knew for sure. Because they were friends, they spent time together, time that she considered precious and valuable. Whenever they were together, she would make sure that her memories preserved it all in perfect detail. She wanted to have something to remind her that she once lived somewhat normally before her time came to commit fully to her duties.

Why did she feel bad things at the idea of Jaune romantically pursuing Weiss?

Well, from what her information told her about romantic partners, such a union was considered more sacred and important than friendship. It led to dating, engagement, and ultimately marriage. All sources pointed towards this being the single most important relationship in a person's life. That meant a great deal of time had to be spent with a significant other, which meant less time for friends.

That meant that should Jaune and Weiss become involved, that meant she would lose her friend.

That was simply… inconceivable.

Impossible.

Unacceptable.

Penny searched for a reason not to fear. Maybe such a thing wouldn't happen. She didn't need to worry now. After all, it appeared that Jaune's interest in Weiss was strictly a one-sided affair. The heiress to the SDC had made the claim that she didn't reciprocate what he felt, or at least she hinted as much.

But was that reasoning enough to quell her fear?

THIS IS A GENERAL REMINDER TO ALL OF MY READERS. I WILL BE LEAVING FOR BASIC COMBAT TRAINING ON AUGUST 4TH. JULY, THIS MONTH, WILL BE THE LAST MONTH THAT I POST CHAPTERS FOR ANY OF MY STORIES. UPDATES WILL RESUME IF AND WHEN I AM ABLE. UNTIL THAT DAY COMES, EXPECT NO FURTHER UPDATES FROM THIS STORY.

ALSO, WHILE I'M GONE, I'LL PROBABLY DEVELOP SOME NEW IDEAS ABOUT STORIES, NEW AND EXISTING. I'VE GOT SOME IDEAS CURRENTLY ON MY PROFILE PAGE. IF YOU'RE INTERESTED IN ANY OF THEM, MAKE THAT INTEREST KNOWN BY VOTING ON THE POLE WHICH IS ALSO ON MY PROFILE PAGE.

Now to author notes.

I don't intend for this awkward phase to last that long or be all that intense. Like I said, this story is about the feels, the good kind. That said, I do have to address the fact of Penny being inexperienced in the ways of understanding nuances of relationships overall. There's also Jaune's (awkward and cringy) feelings for Weiss. He's got to overcome that in order for any progress to occur.

Thoughts? Reviews and feedback are greatly appreciated.

Thanks for reading and I hope to see you all on the flip side real soon.

-Ktyou